Stelling Minnis
| Stelling Minnis | |
|---|---|
 Davison's Mill |
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 Stelling Minnis
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| Stelling Minnis shown within Kent | |
| Population | 578 (2011) |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Canterbury |
| Postcode district | CT4 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Stelling Minnis is a village and civil parish in the Shepway District in Kent, England. The village lies 13 kilometres (8 mi) to the south of Canterbury, and to the east of the B2068, Stone Street, the Roman road, which takes traffic between Lympne and Canterbury.
Stelling was a village a mile from the Stelling minnis. A minnis was ancient common pasture land cleared from the wooded upper slopes on the high clay caps of the Kent chalk downland. The word 'minnis' is believed to derive from the Saxon word (ge)maennes, which means 'common land used as pasture'. It has been suggested that these areas, which were characteristically on the higher reaches of the Downs, formed large tracts of common unenclosed 'waste' grassland used by a number of distant settlements. In the 17th century, most of these minnises were incorporated into the manorial lands and the commoners excluded. The enclosure acts took most of the Kent minnises, but commoners retained access to Stelling Minnis, and a village grew to take its name.
Stelling Minnis Common comprising 124 acres (50 Ha) is privately owned by the Trustees of the estate of the late Lord Tomlin of Ash and is one of the last remaining manorial commons in Kent. The Minnis is managed by volunteers drawn from the local community to act on behalf of the owners. Their work is guided by a management plan produced by Kent Wildlife Trust to enhance the biodiversity of the Minnis and promote the well-being of local residents and the wider community.
There are several active ponds on the Minnis providing a mix of open water, aquatic and marginal plants attracting dragonflies, damselflies, frogs, toads and newts.
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Wikipedia