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Monument details
| HER Number: | TR 15 NW 2236 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Medieval Canterbury Castle |
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Summary
The date of the forebuilding is thought to be contemporary with the consruction of the castle, around the end of the 11th century.
| Grid Reference: | TR 1454 5743 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR15NW |
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| Parish: | CANTERBURY, CANTERBURY, KENT |
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Monument Types
- CASTLE (Medieval - 1101 AD? to 1200 AD?)
- CASTLE (Medieval - 1293 AD? to 1400 AD?)
Full description
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In 1971 the Canterbury Archaeological Society excavated on the NW side of Canterbury Castle in advance of landscaping work. The site was later coded CC71 for CAT records. The excavation was funded by the Department of the Environment.
The excavators hoped to discover remains of an original forebuilding, the remains of which appear on a print of 1800. The foundations were found to exist to a height of about 46cm. They indicated a rectangular gatehouse placed centrally with regard to the west wall of the keep, and a staircase support wall running parallel with the keep from the north wall of the gate house and returning to meet the plinth on the north side of the keep. The foundations were in a good state of preservation with the exception of the north gatehouse wall which had been substantially robbed and the north end of the staircase which had been in modern times. The date of the forebuilding is thought to be contemporary with the consruction of the castle, around the end of the 11th century.
Andrews, however, states that this forebuilding was a later addition, the main entrance to the keep being via a forebuilding on the west side onto the first floor. There are two possible occassions when the later forebuiulding might have been added. One is c. 1293, when the Castle first began to be used as a prison and when, perhaps, a ground floor entrance may have been thought necessary. The other is at the end of the 14th century when the nkeep was I need of repair, and when the original forebuilding may have been among those parts of the Castle in a ruinous state necessitaing the construction of a new entrance.
Millard, L., 1973, A Note on the Excavations at Canterbury Castle (Article in serial). SKE29769.
Cherry, J. & Webster, L. E., 1973, Kent: Canterbury, Medieval Britain in 1971 (Article in serial). SKE29768.
Andrews, G., 1985, The Archaeology of Canterbury: An Assessment (Unpublished document). SKE30429.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | --- | Article in serial: Cherry, J. & Webster, L. E.. 1973. Kent: Canterbury, Medieval Britain in 1971. |
| --- | Article in serial: Millard, L.. 1973. A Note on the Excavations at Canterbury Castle. |
| --- | Unpublished document: Andrews, G.. 1985. The Archaeology of Canterbury: An Assessment. |
