Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Mound, probably Roman tumulus, and public gardens The Dane John mound is the remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle centred on the Dane John mound. It is likely that the motte and bailey castle was constructed just after the Norman Conquest, c. 1066-70 and was subsequently abandoned at about the turn of the 11th-12th century in favour of the new stone-built Norman keep, the new Canterbury Castle.

Summary from record TR 15 NW 51:

High mound within the line of the city wall, perhaps of Roman origins, and reused as a castle motte. In more recent times the mound has been refashioned as a landscape feature. It has been suggested that its origins are a Romano-British burial mound of the 2nd Century but it is just within the line of the city walls. The mound appears to have been re-formed to create a motte which was the earliest castle site within Canterbury. The name Dane John appears to be a corruption of donjon. Archaeological excavations in 1981 produced evidence for the earthwork enclosure to the north and further work in 1989 suggested another bailey-like enclosure to the south outside the line of the city wall. The mound was raised in 1790 when Alderman James Simmons transformed it into a feature for a pleasure garden.

Monument Types

• BARROW (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• TOWN DEFENCES (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• MOTTE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• MOTTE AND BAILEY (Medieval - 1066 AD? to 1080 AD?)

Full description

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From the Schedule of Ancient Monuments:

Mound comparable in type to the Bartlow Hills, Essex. Probably Roman tumulus. Rather altered in shape in 1790 by its sides being smoothed and the materials off the slope being placed on the top thus raising its height by 18ft.
Small stone monument on top of late C18/early C19 date.
Small stone monument on top was erected in 1803 to commemorate James Simmons who paid for the improvement of the hill, the laying out of gardens and terraces in 1790. The mound itself still has a spiral path leading up with hedges at its edge.
Large area of public park within the city walls. One would expect to find outworks of the original defences (and ditch) of the Dane John Mound. It also contains the remains of the Roman bank inside the City wall (a section cut here by Prof Frere).
A large area of public open space, mainly grassed with trees, with wide asphalt path running through.

From the National Heritage List for England:

List entry Summary
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Name: Dane John Mound and Roman and medieval remains in Dane John Garden

List entry Number: 1003780

Location


The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County District District Type Parish
Kent Canterbury District Authority

National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.

Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.

Date first scheduled: 11-Apr-1934

Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.

Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System: RSM - OCN

UID: KE 44

Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

List entry Description
Summary of Monument
A motte and bailey castle known as Dane John Mound, 58m south of Chantry Hall.

Reasons for Designation
Motte and bailey castles are medieval fortifications introduced into Britain by the Normans. They comprised a large conical mound of earth or rubble, the motte, surmounted by a palisade and a stone or timber tower. In a majority of examples an embanked enclosure containing additional buildings, the bailey, adjoined the motte. Motte castles and motte and bailey castles acted as garrison forts during offensive military operations, as strongholds, and, in many cases, as aristocratic residences and as centres of local or royal administration. Built in towns, villages and open countryside, motte and bailey castles generally occupied strategic positions dominating their immediate locality and, as a result, are the most visually impressive monuments of the early post-Conquest period surviving in the modern landscape. Over 600 motte castles or motte and bailey castles are recorded nationally, with examples known from most regions. As one of a restricted range of recognised early post-Conquest monuments, they are particularly important for the study of Norman Britain and the development of the feudal system. Although many were occupied for only a short period of time, motte castles continued to be built and occupied from the 11th to the 13th centuries, after which they were superseded by other types of castle.

Despite some disturbance in the past, the motte and bailey castle known as Dane John Mound survives well. The motte of the castle is of additional significance in incorporating likely remains of a Roman burial mound. The site will contain archaeological and environmental information relating to the construction, use and history of the castle.

History
See Details.

Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 18 December 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a motte and bailey castle, known as Dane John Mound, surviving as earthworks and below-ground remains. It is situated on the south-east side of the old town of Canterbury, within the city walls east of the River Great Stour.

The motte and bailey castle abuts the inner edge of the city wall. The motte of the castle is a circular earthwork or mound approximately 50m wide and 31.85m high. It is thought to overlie a Roman burial mound, which formed part of a barrow cemetery and is included in the scheduling. A ditch formerly surrounded about two thirds of the motte and is likely to survive as a buried feature having become infilled in the past. Partial excavation has also revealed the outer ditch of the castle bailey surviving as a buried feature. It has become infilled but is a large flat-bottomed ditch about 17m wide and 3m deep. The site also includes the remains of part of the Roman bank inside the city wall, which has been recorded during partial excavation.

The Dane John would have been an ideal site for a castle, protected on the south and east by the remains of the Roman defensive wall and rampart, and it is thought that the motte was built on top of an already existing mound dating to at least the Roman period. The military life of the castle appears to have been short, probably ending with the construction of the Norman stone castle to the west in about 1130. In the late medieval period the bailey ditch was recut and used as a drain or dyke - possibly the documented ‘Black Ditch’ or ‘Black Dyke’ - an open sewer which skirted the Dane John gardens until the early eighteenth century. The former motte of the castle was apparently used as a gun platform during the Civil War. In the later eighteenth century the site was temporarily abandoned and used for the deposition of rubbish, until, in 1790 the ‘Dane John Land’ was made over to Alderman James Simmons, who undertook to ‘level the land called Dane John except for the great hill there’ and landscape the entire area, at which time the mound was enlarged to its present dimensions. Simmons later surrendered his lease of the land after an argument, and by the 1800's the works had been abandoned. Alderman Cyprian Bunce took up the landscaping works thereafter, creating the gardens almost as they stand today. The site was partially excavated in 1961 and 1981.

The monument is within the bounds of a Grade II registered park and garden. The Dane John Mound Pinnacle, Sundial, Memorial to Christopher Marlowe, and the Invicta Engine set on a plinth within the Dane John Gardens are Grade II listed. (1)

Description from record TR 15 NW 2241:
The Dane John mound, which once also had a large defensive ditch around it, is the remains of a Norman motte and bailey castle centred on the Dane John mound. It is likely that the motte and bailey castle was constructed just after the Norman Conquest, c. 1066-70 and was subsequently abandoned at about the turn of the 11th-12th century in favour of the new stone-built Norman keep, the new Canterbury Castle.

During July 1996 a survey of the Dane John mound was undertaken, The work formed part of the preparation of a lottery commision bid to renovate the Dane John Gardens and to restore, where possible, to Alderman Simmons' design, set out in the 1790's.
Two profiles of the mound were surveyed using an E.D.M. total station. The survey showed that the mound is circular, its diameter being almost 60m. The height of the mound is c. 16.5m, excluding the monument. The profiles showed that the upper 5m of the mound is slightly off centre, probably representing the addition to the mound's height made by Simmons in the late eighteenth century. The hieght of the original Norman motte was c. 12m, with a platform about 30m in diameter at its summit. The mound has changed little since Simmon's landscaping; three recesses cut into the mound (presumably for benches) are still visible, together with a fourth probably created in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. The original post and chain fence and quickthorn hedges bordering the paths ascending the mound are long gone. Of more concern were the extensive areas of erosion, which were mapped in order to assist the restoration and future management of the site.

Description from record TR 15 NW 51:
Large area of public park, Dane John Gardens, (centred at TR 147573) contains the remains of the Roman (revetment) bank inside the City Wall which was sectioned here by Prof SS Frere. Scheduled monument 346. (1)

Description
14
Conical mound within a park within the south side oft the city wall. A spiral path takes the visitor to the summit where there is a stone columnor structure bearing a vase placed there in 1803.


Importance
15
Its significance lies in its survival as a residual Romano-British burial mound, part of a former cemetery of mounds in the area. Secondly as the motte of the first Norman castle in Canterbury. Thirdly as a picturesque garden feature.

Historic importance - C

Structural survival - C


Condition
16
In good condition within a park and in the process of refurbishment.

Current condition - A


Ownership (or tenancy)
17
Canterbury City Council


Use(s) of the site
18
Public open space and garden


Statutory protection
19
Scheduled ancient monument

Conservation Area - Central Area, Canterbury


Nature conservation interests
20
Historic Park/Garden - Dane John, Canterbury


Public access to the site
21
Within public park


Relationship to other sites
22
Immediate physical relationship with the city wall but closely associated with the slightly later Norman castle.





Potential as part of an economic regeneration package
23
Inappropriate


Interpretational potential as an educational resource
24
This is catered for in the interpretation panels at the castle


Tourism potential
25
**
As part of the many historic structures and sites within Canterbury


Potential for other beneficial reuse
26
Not appropriate(1)

Historic England archive material: PC40617 A view from the north of Dane John Mound with a fountain in Dane John Gardens in the foreground This postcard has an original number of 7 printed on the front and a postmark dated 28th June 1946.
PC40618 A view from the north of Dane John Dane Mound and the memorial to James Simmons Esquire, an alderman of Canterbury This Peacock 'Stylochrom' postcard, published by Pictorial Stationery Co Ltd, has M C 1388 printed on the front and 66299 on the back. It also has a postmark dated 23rd June 1906.

Wilson, D., 1961, The King's School, Canterbury, Disc Brooch (Article in serial). SKE30376.

Andrews, G., 1985, The Archaeology of Canterbury: An Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE30429.

Jarman, C., 1999, The Dane John Mound (Article in serial). SKE30886.

<1> DOE (IAM) Rec Form 28 6 78 & map (OS Card Reference). SKE40717.

<1> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

<2> Victor Smith and Andrew Saunders, 2001, Kent's Defence Heritage (Unpublished document). SKE6956.

Sources and further reading

Related thematic articles

• Kent's Castles (Thematic Essay)