Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1100 to 1554 consecrated in 1253. This was originally the Chapel of the Cemetery of the Poor, attached to the Maison Dieu and used as a pilgrims' chapel. It was dedicated to St Edmund of Canterbury. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CHAPEL (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1150 AD to 1544 AD)
• FORGE (Post Medieval - 1544 AD? to 1889 AD?)
• WORKSHOP (Post Medieval to Modern - 1889 AD? to 1939 AD?)

Associated Finds

• POTTERY ASSEMBLAGE (Roman - 43 AD? to 299 AD?)
• POTTERY ASSEMBLAGE (Medieval - 1101 AD? to 1199 AD?)

Full description

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ST EDMUNDS CHAPEL, Northeast side of Priory Street, Dover. GII* Listed building. Dates from the C12. This was originally the Chapel of the Cemetery of the Poor, attached to the Maison Dieu and used as a pilgrims' chapel. It was dedicated to St Edmund of Canterbury. 1 storey flint-faced. The interior has a restored king-post roof with some tie-beams reused from another Mediaeval building. 2 lancets. In 1544 the chapel was dissolved and the building had varied uses including a victualling store for the Navy, a store room and a forge. It has recently been restored for ecclesiastical purposes. (1)

The remains of the Chapel of St. Edmund at Dover, consecrated in 1253, and still in existence as a workshop between Biggin Street and Priory Road. With its burial ground it belonged to the Domus Dei. (2-3) The chapel is now used as a Toc H meeting place, and has been converted into a two storey building. Restoration of the chapel commenced on 16th November 1966, and it was re-consecrated on 27th May 1968. Excavations took place in December 1967 and January 1968 inside St Edmunds Chapel, Dover. The chapel, originally consecrated in 1253 was probably surrendered under the Dissolution at about 1544. It was re-discovered in 1883. An immediate examination of the structure showed it to be rectangular in plan, about 27 ft by 14 ft internally with walls about 2 ft thick. The east wall contained a twelfth century window, the north and south walls each contained thirteenth century windows and the west wall a central thirteenth century doorway. It seemed that although most of the building was probably constructed just prior to the consecration of 1253, at least the east wall of an earlier building had been incorporated. An examination of the foundations proved that there was a larger rectangular building on the site probably of twelfth century date. A small rectangular pit or cist was found near the centre of the church and may have contained the relics of St Richard of Chichester 'Bishop of Chichester' who died in the church shortly after its consecration in 1253. The pit had been robbed in about 1300, thereby removing all traces of the original artifacts. A layer of silt below the chapel contained some Roman sherds. (4)

St. Edmund's chapel was not built as one original building, the north and east walls date back to 1150 and the south and west walls were built in 1253, The foundations of the older north and east walls continue, underground, beyond the walls they support. Added to that, these foundations are 4ft - 4ft 8ins thick and 5ft deep, so they once could have supported a rather large building. (5)

The Chapel of St Edmund was the first and only chapel ever dedicated by an English saint to an English saint. It was also the first chapel to be dedicated to St Edmund of Abingdon, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1234 to 1240. Bishop Richard of Chichester was appointed by the Pope to preach the seventh crusade, and by the royal council to collect funds. In 1253, while on a journey through Sussex and Kent on this task, worn out by his travels and his strict lifestyle, Richard was taken ill. He had accepted the invitation of the brothers of the Maison Dieu to consecrate a chapel in the cemetery they had provided for the burial of the poor, and on Sunday 30 March he consecrated it in honour of the Archbishop. It was to be his last act as bishop. The next day he was taken ill at Morning Prayer, and four days later, in the night of 2–3 April, he died in the Maison Dieu. Richard’s heart was buried in Dover but his body was taken back to Chichester and interred in the chapel of St. Edmund in the Cathedral. Three years later the bishop and canons petitioned for his canonization, and on 22 January 1262, he was “placed in the catalogue of saints”. The chapel continued to be used by the Maison Dieu until the dissolution. When the houses in Biggin Street were built the chapel was absorbed into the back part of the properties and by 1889 it was in use as a blacksmiths, and then a workshop until WWII when the houses surrounding it were destroyed by bombing. (6)

The GIS polygon associated with this record does not represent the full extent or curtilage of the listed building but merely defines the outline of the building. For further information on the extent of the listed building please contact Dover District Council.

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> Hussey, A., 1911, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 29. Chapels in Kent, Arch Cant 29 1911 234 (A Hussey) (Article in serial). SKE8032.

<3> Stratham, S. P. H., 1899, History of Dover, Hist of Dover 1899 209 (SPH Statham) (Monograph). SKE7834.

<4> C. Buckingham, 1968, Kent Archaeological Review: St. Edmunds Chapel, Dover Vol. 12 (Article in serial). SKE32316.

<4> Brian Philp, 1970, Kent Archaeological Review: Excavations at St. Edmunds Chapel, Dover 1968 Vol. 21 (Article in serial). SKE31838.

<5> Kent History Forum (Digital archive). SWX15715.

<6> C. Buckingham, 1968, Kent Archaeological Review: St. Edmunds Chapel, Dover Vol. 12 (Article in serial). SKE32316.

Sources and further reading

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