Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During an archaeological excavation undertaken after a landslide on the souther side of St. Mary's Church at Dover Castle, the profile of an early ditch and associated bank was recorded. This ditch appears to pre date many of the other Medieval earthworks at the castle and is of a possible early medieval origin. (location accurate to the nearest 10m based on available information)

Monument Types

• DITCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 1000 AD? to 1100 AD?)

Full description

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During an archaeological excavation undertaken after a landslide on the southern side of St. Marys Church, at Dover Castle, a ditch, 27 ft. wide and 18 ft. deep, had been cut through the Saxon cemetery located next to the church and a bank thrown up on its N. side, entirely filling the space between the S. wall of the S. transept of St. Mary's and the inner lip of the ditch. Neither ditch nor bank contained datable material, but both are subsequent to the cemetery and both were soon slighted, the bank being thrown back into the ditch, to allow the reconstruction of the defences on a larger scale about 70 ft. to the S. The second bank, about 60 ft. wide at the base and r z ft. high, overlay the early ditch. On the back of the second bank timber buildings were constructed and occupation took place. No sign of the second ditch was found, as it had presumably been removed by the construction of the final earthwork defences. The elucidation of this sequence shows that from an early date the Pharos and St. Mary's Church were included within the defended area of Dover Castle by a linear defence, part of the main defensive perimeter of the castle. The date of the first bank and ditch remains open. They might be part of the defences which William the Conqueror added to Dover immediately after Hastings; they might equally be part of the bailey defences of a castle erected by Harold in 1064-66, whatever form this may have taken; there is also the possibility that they were part of the defences of a Saxon burh, for the existence of which there is perhaps some slight documentary evidence. (1)

<1> M. Biddle, 1964, Medieval Archaeology: Medieval Britain in 1962 and 1963; Kent: Dover (Article in serial). SKE52161.

Sources and further reading