A tall Victorian stone cross above Pegwell Bay commemorating St Augustine's arrival in England in 597
Open accessfree to visit at any reasonable time
Earl Granville put up this cross in 1884, carved in an early medieval style borrowed from the 8th and 9th-century Sandbach Crosses in Cheshire. He chose the site for an ancient oak that had stood here until recently, on the spot where King Æthelberht of Kent is thought to have first met the monk Augustine after Augustine’s traditional landing nearby in AD 597. Augustine had arrived on a mission from Pope Gregory I to bring Christianity to the Anglo-Saxons, and Æthelberht converted soon after they met. The cross stands around seven metres tall, carved with apostles, early saints and a Latin inscription recording the meeting. The cross stands in the open with no fence or charge, close to Pegwell Bay Country Park, and Richborough Roman Fort is a short drive further south.
