Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Important evidence of Anglo-Saxon urban development was revealed during excavation by B Philp in 1972 ahead of the York Street bypass and development of the town centre. Evidence of settlement from the 5th to the 7th centuries was uncovered. Documentary sources also point to an important settlement at Dover in the early Medieval period. (location accurate to the nearest 100m based on available information)

Monument Types

• SETTLEMENT (SETTLEMENT, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD to 1065 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

At the time of the Norman Conquest Dover was clearly the most strategically important seaport in south-east England, and the very first page of the Domesday Book starts with a long account of the place. It lists a guildhall and four churches, and it is quite clear that Dover was already a borough and the head-port of a group of south-east coastal towns doing ship-service for all the late Saxon kings. Edward the Confessor (1042-1066) recognised the capabilities of these mariners and also the strength of their ships. It was also evident to him that the ports were in an excellent strategic position from a military and naval point of view. In consequence, Dover in 1036, was the base for the royal fleet and in 1041 the King officially augmented his fleet by giving the Portsmen a much-prized Charter. Domesday Book specifies that in exchange for exemption from `sac and soc' the burgesses had provided Edward the Confessor with 20 ships for 15 days each year, each ship containing 21 men. It also states that the town was burnt in 1066, but that by 1086 it had clearly recovered completely and was flourishing. The rebuilding of the huge early Norman church of St-Martin-le-Grand was certainly underway before 1086. Among other strange little details, a mill at the entrance to the harbour (presumably a tidal mill) is mentioned which has been built after 1066 and which damaged nearly all the shipping that entered the port. (1-2)

Perhaps the best evidence available is the mint starting at Dover before the middle of the 10th century (perhaps under Athelstan). This is the earliest of the mints in the Cinque Port towns and suggests that from the middle of the 10th century at least, there was a sizeable trading community here. The churches mentioned in the Domesday Book were perhaps St Peters (on the north side of Market Square), St Martins (founded by King Withred in the 690's), and St Mary's (later a parish church). The fourth church mentioned in the Domesday Book may be either the Church of St. James situated on the western side of the Dour or may have been the great church of St Mary (de-Castro) situated on top of the hill just east of the Roman lighthouse (and inside the later castle). This exceptional building is now generally agreed, on architectural grounds to have been built in the late 10th or early 11th centuries. (3)

Important evidence of Anglo-Saxon urban development was revealed during excavation by B Philp in 1972 ahead of the York Street bypass and development of the town centre. Settlement from the 5th to the 7th centuries in Queen Street was associated with metalling, occupation debris and multiple huts some of which containing burnt daub and loom-weights. Native pottery and a sceat of c.720 were also found. In Market Street, close to the west entrance of the 3rd century Saxon Shore Fort, a deep deposit of occupation-rubbish lay over and under a metalled area. Finds included imported pottery of the sixth to seventh centuries, fragments of glass vessels, decorated bone objects and a gold finger-ring set with a garnet. (4-5)

It is likely that at Dover in the 7th century the still visible Roman defensive walls on the western side of the Dour provided a partial framework for the growth of the Saxon town. Recent research has shown that the settlements of Medieval Dover were distributed in three main areas. The settlement remains excavated at Townwall Street were part of a larger suburb, focused around the Norman parish church of St James the Apostle. It was located on the eastern side of the Dour, about 150m inland from the present sea-shore, and midway between the other two centres of Medieval activity, the others being the settlement within the shore fort and the occupation of Castle Hill where it has been suggested that a late Saxon burh may have been located. (6-7)

Discussion of the Anglo Saxon settlement remains in relation to the Dover Western Docks Revival Scheme (8)

<1> Dr. Ann Williams and Prof. G. H. Martin (ed.), 1089, The Domesday Book (Monograph). SWX7210.

<2> Lorraine Sencicle, 2016, The Dover Historian - Origins of the Cinque Ports and Dover (Website). SKE32110.

<3> Haslam, J. (ed.), 1984, Anglo-Saxon towns in southern England (Monograph). SWX7211.

<4> Brian Philp., 2003, The Discovery and Excavation of Anglo Saxon Dover (Monograph). SKE31831.

<5> Leslie Webster and John Cherry, 1973, Medieval Archaeology: Medieval Britain in 1972 . Vol. 17, Med Arch 17 1973 145 (L E Webster & J Cherry) (Article in serial). SKE32082.

<6> Keith Parfitt, Barry Corke and John Cotter, 2006, Townwall Street, Dover: Excavations 1996 (Monograph). SKE31840.

<7> Oxford Archaeological Unit, 1990, Historic Dover: an archaeological Implications Survey of the town (Unpublished document). SKE31352.

<8> Maritime Archaeology, 2008, Dover Terminal 2 EIA: Historic Environment Baseline Report Volume 1 (Unpublished document). SKE31717.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• Anglo-Saxon Kent (Period Overview)