Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Remains of Saxon church observed in 1889 and 1998. It is thought that these remains formed part of a cathedral church dedicated to St Andrew and built in AD 604 by Justus, the first bishop of Rochester.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 604 AD to 1100 AD? (between))

Full description

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During the repaving of College Yard, outside the west front of the cathedral and just 0.20m below the modern road surface, the substantial remains of an Anglo-Saxon church, first exposed by Livett in 1888, were discovered. The newly exposed footings were a short distance west of those recorded by Livett and included the foundations for north and south nave walls and a thickening of both foundations for a chancel arch. A sleeper wall separating the nave and the apsidal chancel was also identified for the first time.
It is thought that these remains formed part of a cathedral church dedicated to St Andrew and built in AD 604 by Justus, the first bishop of Rochester. It is believed that this structure had an internal width of 8.5m and length of 22m. Alan Ward speculates in his report that the structure may have formed one of a number of early churches, set in a line, as at St. Augustine’s Abbey and Jarrow. As yet however, no trace of another Anglo Saxon church has been found beneath the present Cathedral (TQ 76 NW 97), despite numerous campaigns of excavation in the late nineteenth century.
It is of note that the foundations of the early nave and other deep cut Saxon features may survive in the existing open ground, formerly graveyard, west of College Yard (additional monument marker added to arcview map).
The reports further speculate that the ‘porticus’ identified by Livett to the south of the structure, was part of an earlier perhaps Roman building [1 and 2].

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1999, DRAFT Archaeological Observations undertaken during the Boley Hill, Rochester Repaving Project 1998. Volume 1: Report (Unpublished document). SKE12475.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2001, Boley Hill repaving, Rochester (Article in serial). SKE12479.

Sources and further reading