Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1119 to 1299. Former monastery refectory, later school hall. Circa 1139 refectory to St Martin's Priory, refounded by Archbishop Corbeuil in 1131, with some C13 replaced shaft capitals converted into school hall after 1868 by G E Street. Flint with horizontal bands of Caen stone 100 feet in length. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information).

Monument Types

• REFECTORY (Medieval - 1131 AD? to 1536 AD?)
• BARN (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1536 AD? to 1868 AD)
• SCHOOL HALL (Post Medieval to Modern - 1868 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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The School Hall Dover College (Formerly the Refectory of St. Martin's Priory) GII* Listed Building. Former monastery refectory, later school hall. Circa 1139 refectory to St Martin's Priory, refounded by Archbishop Corbeuil in 1131, with some C13 replaced shaft capitals converted into school hall after 1868 by G E Street. Flint with horizontal bands of Caen stone 100 feet in length. Roof has been re-tiled. Two storeys with 8 round-headed windows to south divided by pilaster buttresses. Windows are shafted inside where they alternate with blank arches. Renewed eaves corbels, but at the east end the gable springs from stones carved with symbols of the Evangelists greatly worn. On the east wall springing of a tunnel-vaulted passage. Internally many shaft capitals which were not scalloped or with volutes were replaced in C13. Four east arch capitals treated with rich foliage and heads. Medieval wall painting of last supper much worn to full width of east wall. A better preserved fresco of a subject not yet identified is reported underneath. (1)

Taken from Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 4 (1861): 'At the east end, where we may presume was the dais for the high table, there are traces of painting of a very early date on the wall under the arcade. It is apparently intended to represent the Last Supper; but the colouring is so much decayed, that it is very difficult to make out the design satisfactorily. The position of the 13 figures, sitting may be traced by a kind of numbus round the head, which has been cut into the plaster. The centre figure is somewhat higher than the others, and the nimbus rather larger. This may be presumed to represent our Lord. The head of the figure sitting on the left leans towards it, very much in the same attitude as that in which St. John is represented in old paintings. The line of the table may be clearly traced, and some indistinct folds of drapery; while underneath may be seen the outlines of the feet of some of the sitting figures, turned up'. (2)

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> Rev. F. C. Plumptre, 1861, Archaeologia Cantiana: Some account of the remains of the Priory of St. Martins and the church of St. Martin-Le-Grand, at Dover. Vol 4 (Article in serial). SKE31811.

Sources and further reading

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