Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Nothing remains of the ancient gateway of Northgate today, though it was the last of Canterbury's gates to be demolished. The pillars supporting the chamber over the gateway can be seen in the corner of the accompanying detail from a city terrier made in 1828-1829, a year before demolition.

Monument Types

• GATE (Unknown to Post Medieval)

Full description

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Nothing remains of the ancient gateway of Northgate today, though it was the last of Canterbury's gates to be demolished. The pillars supporting the chamber over the gateway can be seen in the corner of the accompanying detail from a city terrier made in 1828-1829, a year before demolition.

The gateway was built as part of the Roman defences, at the point where the road from Reculver (Regulbium) enetered the town. Nothing is known of its appearance or layout, but the fact that it later housed a small chapel suggests that it may have had a large upper room. The road would have passed through a vaulted tunnel beneath this. Sometime during the Anglo-Saxon period the small church of St. Mary Northgate was established over the old Roman gateway, not an uncommon event in Canterbury. The chancel of the church appears to have extended a short distance east of the gate against the inside of the city wall. In the early medieval period a nave and perhaps a tower was added to the west. The city wall was heightened and re-used as the north wall of the new nave. A small Romanesque window (now blocked) dates this work to the late eleventh or early twelfth century. Below the level of the window, the north wall of the church is entirely Roman work.

Improvement to the city streets and an increase in the volume and size of road traffic, led to all of the city gates, with the exception of Westgate, being demolished around the turn of the nineteenth century. Northgate was widened by four feet in 1787. Later still wooden columns were inserted to strengthen the structure, but despite these late modifications, the gate was finally demolished in 1830.

Ward, A. & Bennett, P., 1995, St Mary Northgate (Article in serial). SKE30262.

Elder, J. & Duncan, M., 2002, Canterbury City Wall Trail (Monograph). SKE29730.

Sources and further reading