HERNE BAY, a seaside resort of Kent, England, 8 m. N. by E. of Canterbury, on the S.R. Pop. of urban district (1931) 11,244. It has grown up since 183o, above a sandy and pebbly shore. The church of St. Martin in the village of Herne, I2 m. inland, is Early English and later; the living was held by Nicholas Ridley (1538), afterwards Bishop of London. At Reculver, 3 m. E. of Herne Bay, is the site of the Roman station of Regulbium. The fortress occupied about 8 ac., but only traces of the south and east walls remain. In Saxon times it was converted into a palace by King Ethelbert, and in 669 a monastery was founded here by Egbert. Parts of the Early English church, taken down early in the 19th century owing to the encroachment of the sea, are preserved in the modern church of St. Mary, but its twin towers, known as the Sisters, from the tradition that they were built by a Benedictine abbess of Faversham in memory of her sister, were preserved by Trinity House as a conspicuous landmark.