Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Saxon Church incorporating re used Roman material with Medieval and post medieval alterations. It is located to the south east of the inner bailey and Keep of Dover Castle within the scheduled monument and is a GI listed building.. The lates possible foundation for the church is c. 1020 A.D. and consists of a nave, chancel, transepts and a low central tower. The fabric of the church is of mixed composition, the walls are of flint, but with some stone and tile, while the facings of the windows are largely of tiles, and the quoins are partly of tile and partly of large dressed stones. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Abandoned, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Post Medieval - 1000 AD? to 1700 AD?)
• FIVES COURT (CHURCH, Post Medieval - 1803 AD to 1815 AD)
• COAL SHED (CHURCH, Post Medieval - 1815 AD to 1862 AD)
• MILITARY CHAPEL (Post Medieval to Modern - 1862 AD to 1958 AD)
• CHURCH (Modern - 1958 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The latest possible date for the foundation of the church is C.1020AD. The exterior is of 2 storeys flint with some reused Roman brick window dressings and some modern ashlar dressings. Modern tiled roof and restored tower. The Church was roofless and used as a coal store in the C18 but was restored for use as a garrison church to the Castle by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1862. The interior contains a Chancel arch of Roman brick, a blocked Saxon doorway and the site of a Military or soldiers altar of A.D. 1225. There is a Victorian wooden roof and stained glass windows. Mosaics by Butterfield 1888.


There is nothing definite to indicate a date for the church of St Mary-in-the-Castle, Dover, but it is probably early 11th century, altered in the 12th century and restored in the 19th century. It contains some Roman brick. (2-8)

In normal use. (9)

(TR 32634182) St Mary's Church, Dover Castle, Dover. The church of St. Mary has a commanding position within the castle on the eastern heights at Dover is unique in having had a Roman lighthouse as a western annexe, to which an upper door in the west wall of the church appears to have communicated. The church may be dated to about 1000 AD consisting of a nave, chancel, transepts and a low central tower. Only the lower stage of the lighthouse is now Roman, the upper part having been rebuilt or refaced in the 15th century; and the church itself was left roofless in the 18th century, to become a ruin, which was used as a coal-store for the barracks until it was restored in 1860-62 under the direction of Sir George Gilbert Scott. Drawings of the church before the restoration showed it not only roofless but with most of its gables fallen. Much of the present detail depends, therefore on Scott's interpretation of what he saw as vestiges of the original fabric. The double-splayed windows, faced externally with re-used Roman tiles, are replicas rather than the genuine Saxon ones. The fabric of the church is of mixed composition, the walls are of flint, but with some stone and tile, while the facings of the windows are largely of tiles, and the quoins are partly of tile and partly of large dressed stones. The church is surrounded by a plinth upon which the walls stand. It is possible that St Mary in Castro was the site of a pre-Conquest minster, transferred to the new site in the town at some date in the later 10th or early 11th century. (10,11,12)

Details of the church tower. (13)

1050 Church of St Mary Sub-Castro, Dover Castle. TR 3241 1/49 Grade A The latest possible date for the foundation of the church is C.1020 AD. The exterior is of 2 storeys flint with some reused Roman brick window dressings and some modern ashlar dressings. Modern tiled roof and restored tower. The church was roofless and used a s a coalstore in the C18 but was restored for use as a garrison church to the Castleby Sir Gilbert Scott in 1862. The interior contains a Chancel arch ofRoman brick, a blocked Saxon doorway and the site of a Military or soldiers altar of AD 1225. There is a Victorian wood roof and stained glass windows. Mosaics by Butterfield 1888. (14)

Additional bibliography - not consulted. (15,16,17,21)

Dover Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument but the church of St Mary is not included, however the ground beneath it is included (18)

A note is included in Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 1 pp. 177 (1858) about exhumed gravestones at the church: 'result of researches made in 1776, when the gravestone was exhumed, and displayed the extent of its original ornamentation, by the number and variety of its chasings. This stone, he says, was erroneously described by Weaver as of marble, whereas it was of a coarse grit, full of marine petrifactions. No doubt Weaver meant the favourite Bethersden marble, so extensively used in early periods in our county. So little regard was paid to these remains, that, although at a greater depth another large stone was found covering a slightly plastered grave, in which a few bones still remained, the soldiers were permitted to break up this venerable relic, and to use it for various purposes'. (19)

An archaeological watching brief was maintained during a major conservation project at the Church of St Mary in Castro, Dover Castle, during August-November 2016. The work was necessary to deal with long-standing severe damp penetration into the Anglo-Saxon and medieval fabric of the south transept and crossing tower - problems that had been caused mainly by Victorian and Edwardian alterations. The watching brief focussed on areas where the work exposed original/early fabric but also recorded some of the modern interventions. It provided a useful opportunity to record the built fabric, but did not lead to any major changes in our understanding of the church, or its constructional phasing. (20)

Photographs plans and section (22-24)

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

<2> Arts in Early Eng 2 1925 353-4 illust (G B Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE37357.

<3> MHLG (1050/11/A/Dec 1947) 1 (OS Card Reference). SKE46907.

<4> Arch J 53 1896 327 (J T Micklethwaite) (OS Card Reference). SKE36649.

<5> G. Gilbert Scott, 1863, Archaeologia Cantiana: The Church on the Castle Hill, Dover. Vol. 5 (Article in serial). SKE31810.

<6> JBAA 41 1885 284-288 (J T Irvine) (OS Card Reference). SKE44978.

<7> JBAA 40 1884 109-110 (Scott Robertson) (OS Card Reference). SKE44967.

<8> Arch J 78 1921 229 (R Graham) (OS Card Reference). SKE36683.

<9> F1 ASP 20.05.64 (OS Card Reference). SKE42198.

<10> Arch J 130 1973 131-133 (C A Raleigh Radford) (OS Card Reference). SKE36577.

<11> AS Architecture 1 1965 214-217 (H M & J Taylor) (OS Card Reference). SKE37377.

<12> Bldgs of Eng NE & E Kent 1983 291-292 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37758.

<13> AS Towers 1969 159-160 (E A Fisher) (OS Card Reference). SKE37387.

<14> DOE (HHR) Dist of Dover 1973 4 (OS Card Reference). SKE40241.

<15> Ant & Topo Cabinet 4 1808 (J Storer) (OS Card Reference). SKE33103.

<16> Munimenta Antiqua 3 1804 143 (E King) (OS Card Reference). SKE47473.

<17> Eng Ro Arch before the Conquest 1930 102 (Clapham) (OS Card Reference). SKE41597.

<18> Field report for monument TR 34 SW 42 - May, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5990.

<18> English Heritage, 1965, Dover Castle (Scheduling record). SKE6594.

<19> By Herbert L. Smith Esq, 1858, Archaeologia Cantiana: Notes of the Brasses formerly existing sewer scheme in Dover Castle, Maidstone and Ashford Chruches. Vol. 1 (Article in serial). SKE31813.

<20> Keevill Heritage Consultancy, 2016, The Church of St Mary in Castro, Dover Castle, Kent, Report on an archaeological watching brief during conservation work to the tower and south transept (Unpublished document). SKE32446.

<21> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2013, Area adjacent St. Mary’s Church, Dover Castle, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE31712.

<22> DOORWAY IN NORTH TRANSEPT (SAXON?) Types: CHURCH (Photograph). SKE473.

<23> LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH CHOIR,LOOKING SOUTH Types: CHURCH (Photograph). SKE474.

<24> PLAN AND ELEVATION OF OLD WINDOW.NORTH SIDE OF CHANCEL(C11/12) Types: CHURCH (Photograph). SKE475.

Sources and further reading

Related records

Related thematic articles

• Anglo-Saxon Kent (Period Overview)