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.HistoryAugustus 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.
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