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Monument details

HER Number:TR 15 NE 666
Type of record:Listed Building
Name:REMAINS OF THE CHURCH OF ST GEORGE THE MARTYR

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1400 to 1499


Grid Reference:TR 1510 5765
Map Sheet:TR15NE
Parish:CANTERBURY, CANTERBURY, KENT

Monument Types

  • SITE (Medieval - 1400 AD to 1499 AD)
Protected Status:Scheduled Monument 1005163: St George's Church tower; Listed Building (II) 1241984: REMAINS OF THE CHURCH OF ST GEORGE THE MARTYR AND TOWER

Full description

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The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 944 ST GEORGE'S STREET
Tower (remains of the Church of St George the Martyr)
TR 1557 NW 5/59 3.12.49.
II
2. C15. Flint faced with stone quoins and dressings. Crenellated parapet. Windows are restored lancets. Clock is supported by a stone bracket with crouching figure. Plaque states that Christopher Marlowe was baptised here in 1564.
Listing NGR: TR1510457658

From the Register of Scheduled Monuments:

Medieval Church Tower. Built of flint with occasional ragstones and large ragstone quoins. At ground level in the W face is 12th cenury doorway-round head, attached shafts with scallop caps - apparently in situ. Base of buttress at top of NW quoin. Remainder of tower with two-light traceried windows in each face at top of tower arch to nave and arches to N and S walls all of 14th century plus. A four centred headed door, close to SE angle of tower led to stairs to top of tower. Stairs removed long since when road widened (?) and doorway blocked. Remainder was rebuilt 100 years ago when St Mary Magdalene's church was abandoned and the parishes combined. Flooring inside consists of monumental slabs.

From the National Heritage List for England:

List entry Description
Summary of Monument
St George’s Church tower, 109m ESE of Whitefriars.

Reasons for Designation
A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little fabric of the first church being still easily visible.

Despite later alterations, St George’s Church tower 109m ESE of Whitefriars survives well. It includes some well-preserved architectural details such as the 12th century doorway and the 15th century traceried lancet windows.

History
See Details.

Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 18 December 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a medieval parish church tower situated on the east side of St George’s Street in Canterbury.

The tower is built of flint with occasional ragstone including ragstone quoins and dressings. At ground floor level in the north-west face is a 12th century round headed doorway with attached shafts and scallop caps. The tower has a crenellated parapet. At the top of the tower on each elevation and between two string courses are 15th century two-light traceried lancet windows. Below these are small rectangular windows. On the south-west elevation is a clock supported by a stone bracket featuring a crouching figure. At the north corner is a buttress.

The flooring consists of monumental slabs. A plaque on the site states that Christopher Marlowe was baptised here in 1564. A four-centred headed door close to the south-east angle originally provided access to a stairway but was blocked at a later date.

St George’s Church was apparently extant in 1200, although much of the surviving fabric in the church tower dates to the 15th century. The nave of the church was orientated north-west to south-east, the tower being situated at the north-west end. There was a churchyard to the north-east. The church was restored and enlarged in 1871. However much of the building was destroyed by bomb damage in 1942. Partial excavation in 1991-2 recorded remains in the area of the former church and cemetery destroyed in the air raid.

The church tower is Grade II listed.(1)


English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<1> Historic England, National Heritage List for England (Index). SKE29372.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
---Map: English Heritage. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.
<1>Index: Historic England. National Heritage List for England.