St Augustine's Abbey Ramsgate

St Augustine's Abbey

Divine Retreat Centre, UK
St Augustine's Church, St Edward's Presbytery, and the gate of The Grange: opposite the abbey site
Location within Kent
Monastery information
Order	Benedictine
Established	1856
Disestablished	2010
Dedicated to	Augustine of Canterbury
Diocese	Southwark
People
Important associated figures	Edward Pugin Peter Paul Pugin
Architecture
Status	Active
Functional Status	Retreat Centre
Heritage designation	Grade I listed
Architect	Edward Pugin Peter Paul Pugin
Site
Coordinates	51°19′43″N 1°24′37″E / 51.328644°N 1.410229°E / 51.328644; 1.410229Coordinates: 51°19′43″N 1°24′37″E / 51.328644°N 1.410229°E / 51.328644; 1.410229

St Augustine's Abbey or Ramsgate Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey in Ramsgate. It was built in 1860 by Augustus Pugin and is a Grade II listed building. It was the first Benedictine monastery to be built in England since the Reformation. In 2010, the monks moved to St Augustine's Abbey in Chilworth, Surrey. The site is now owned by the Vincentian Congregation from Kerala, India. The church of St Augustine, across the road from the abbey site, belongs to the Archdiocese of Southwark and is a shrine of St Augustine of Canterbury.

Augustus Pugin had built his home, The Grange, in Ramsgate, and St Augustine's Church next door. He donated the church to the Catholic Diocese of Southwark before his death in 1852, and The Grange remained in private hands.

In 1856, the Bishop of Southwark, Thomas Grant, invited the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of the Benedictines to form a monastic community in Kent and take over the running of the church. The abbey was built across the road from the church and this was designed by Edward Pugin and Peter Paul Pugin.