Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The component of Langdon Abbey surviving only as earthworks.

Monument Types

• FISHPOND (Undated)
• ABBEY (Medieval - 1189 AD? to 1535 AD)

Full description

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From the National Heritage List for England:

Details
The monument includes a Premonstratensian monastery, known as West Langdon Abbey, and two associated fishponds situated on gently undulating chalk downland c.4km north east of Dover. The abbey buildings survive partly as ruins incorporated within a later house, Listed Grade II*, and also within the Grade II Listed, north eastern wall of a 19th century agricultural barn. Elsewhere, the abbey survives in buried form and as earthworks. The abbey was founded between 1189-1192 by Sir William de Auberville of Westhanger for the use of white canons from Leiston in Suffolk. The church was dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Thomas of Canterbury. In 1535 the abbey was suppressed with the lesser religious houses, at which time it is recorded as accommodating an abbot and ten canons. After being granted initially to the Archbishop of Canterbury, the abbey soon passed into secular ownership. A red brick manor house was built on the site of the ruins for the new owner, Samuel Thornhill in the 1590's, and his descendants lived in the house, gradually extending and altering it, until 1700, when it was sold to the Waldershare estate. The abbey was partially excavated in 1882 when the flint footings of many of the monastic buildings were discovered within an area of levelled ground now occupied by the later manor house and garden. In common with most religious houses, the main buildings range around a square, inner courtyard, or cloister yard, which contained a central, open area, or garth, surrounded by a covered walkway. To the north is the roughly east-west aligned abbey church, originally constructed as a simple rectangular building c.43m by 9m, to which flanking aisles were added at a later date. Running along the eastern side of the cloister is an originally two-storeyed building containing the chapter house, slype and calefactory, or warming room, at ground level, and the dormitory on the first floor. The frater, or refectory, fronts the southern side of the cloister yard. The later manor house adjoins the western side of the cloister, and the standing remains of an earlier, medieval undercroft, or below ground room used for the storage of provisions, have been incorporated within its cellars. These can be dated by their Late Transitional/Early English architectural style to the 12th century, and include a barrel vaulted ceiling in finely-gauged chalk, several stone springers for groined vaulting, and round-headed doorways with ashlar dressings. To the south east of the inner cloister yard is a subsidiary cloister which incorporates the infirmary in its north western corner. Boundary walls and the remains of other structures were found to continue to the east, north and south of the identified conventual buildings. Further buried features, representing associated agricultural and industrial buildings, will also survive in these areas. A disused, roughly circular pond c.20m in diameter and 2m deep, dug into the north eastern corner of the modern garden, is interpreted as a later feature, post-dating the earlier abbey remains. Around 100m to the west of the main complex is a length of stone and flint boundary wall, dating to the medieval period, which has been incorporated within the rear wall of a later, 19th century barn. The north west-south east aligned wall survives to a height of up 1.8m in places, and runs along the north eastern side of the modern access road to the manor house for a length of around 50m. The wall has been interpreted as forming part of the south west boundary of the abbey precinct. Lying to the south west of the main complex are the earthwork remains of two, adjacent, now dry, medieval fishponds. These are clearly visible on aerial photographs as roughly oval ponds, formerly fed in series from a natural source, although clear traces of the water management system which regulated them are no longer visible. Along the north eastern side of the northerly pond are the lower courses of an originally higher, stone-built revetment. A later, small brick building, dating to the late 19th/early 20th century and now ruined, covers a disused well situated on the south eastern side of the northerly pond. The Listed Grade II* manor house, including the 12th century portions of its cellars, all modern outbuildings, sheds, barns, except for the Grade II Listed barn wall, all stores, modern garden structures and ornaments, all modern walls and fences, and the surfaces of all modern roads, tracks and paths are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

Reasons for Designation
From the time of St Augustine's mission to re-establish Christianity in AD 597 to the reign of Henry VIII, monasticism formed an important facet of both religious and secular life in the British Isles. Settlements of religious communities, including monasteries, were built to house communities of monks, canons (priests), and sometimes lay-brothers, living a common life of religious observance under some form of systematic discipline. It is estimated from documentary evidence that over 700 monasteries were founded in England. These ranged in size from major communities with several hundred members to tiny establishments with a handful of brethren. They belonged to a wide variety of different religious orders, each with its own philosophy. As a result, they vary considerably in the detail of their appearance and layout, although all possess the basic elements of church, domestic accommodation for the community, and work buildings. Monasteries were inextricably woven into the fabric of medieval society, acting not only as centres of worship, learning and charity, but also, because of the vast landholdings of some orders, as centres of immense wealth and political influence. They were established in all parts of England, some in towns and others in the remotest of areas. Many monasteries acted as the foci of wide networks including parish churches, almshouses, hospitals, farming estates and tenant villages. The Premonstratensian order, or "White Canons", were not monks in the strict sense but rather communities of priests living together under a rule. The first Premonstratensian establishments were double houses (for men and women), but later they founded some 45 houses for men in England. The Premonstratensian order modelled itself on the Cistercian values of austerity and seclusion and founded all its monasteries in rural locations.

The abbey with its associated fishponds at West Langdon is a comparatively well documented example of a Premonstratensian monastery with historical records dating from its construction at the end of the 12th century through to its dissolution in the 16th century and beyond. Although they have been incorporated into a later house and its grounds, the standing architectural fragments and earthworks reflect not only the religious aspects of monastic life but also domestic and agricultural elements. Partial excavation has confirmed the presence of below ground archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landscape in which it was constructed. Around 2.75km to the east is the now ruined church of St Nicholas, parish church of St Margaret's at Cliff, which originally belonged to Langdon Abbey and was served by its canons. The close association of these monuments provides evidence for the involvement of the monastery in the life and institutions of the surrounding community. The parish church is the subject of a separate scheduling. (1)

<1> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

Sources and further reading