Ethelburga, the daughter of King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha of Kent. Christianity had come to Kent in the form of St. Augustine and as a consequence, Ethelburga was influential in converting her husband, Edwin, King of Northumbria to this new religion at York. When he was killed in battle in 633 A.D., Ethelburga returned to Lyminge in Kent where she had been given the land in the area by her brother, King Eadbald, who had succeeded his Father. The original construction here at the church of st. Mary and St. Ethelburga was supposedly a minster or convent which was used by both monks and nuns with Ethelburga becoming the first Abbess.

When she died in 647 A.D. her remains were buried in the Abbey and having achieved the status of a Saint, the Abbey became a place of pilgimage. A stone tablet in the South wall of the Church gives details of the fact:
Perhaps, the stone should say, "the original burial place" because in 1085 at the time of Archbishop Lanfranc, the relics of Saint Ethelburga were moved to Canterbury. In the 9th Century the area and the Abbey was overrun by the Danes The nuns left the Abbey at this time and the remaining Monks moved to Canterbury in 965 A.D. It is said that at this time the present Church was then rebuilt on this spot by St. Dunstan. There are parts of the Chancel and Nave that are late Saxon in origin.