Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

St Mary Northgate Church incorporating the remains of the Roman town wall and rampart.

Monument Types

• RAMPART (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• WALL (Roman to Medieval - 270 AD? to 1086 AD?)
• CHURCH (CHURCH, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 410 AD to 1065 AD)
• CHURCH (CHURCH, Medieval to Modern - 1066 AD to 1912 AD)
• INHUMATION (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• BURIAL VAULT (Post Medieval - 1600 AD? to 1700 AD?)
• PARISH HALL (Modern - 1912 AD to 1975 AD)
• SECONDARY SCHOOL (Modern - 1975 AD to 2050 AD)

Associated Finds

• WALL PLASTER (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Full description

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A complete survey has been made of the whole of St Mary Northgate Church. This incorporates the reconstructed plan and elevations of the chancel of the church which was demolished in 1830. (1) St Mary Northgate: extant by 1086. The chancel, a Saxon church?, was over the Roman Northgate [TR 15 NE 160] until pulled down and rebuilt as a new south aisle in 1830. A 12th century nave was added to the west with a tower beyond. Church closed in 1912 and converted for useas a parish room. It became a school gym in 1975. The north wall is the Roman city wall heightened, traces of an earlier parapet remain. A small late medieval graveyard to the west. (2) (TR 15105819) St Mary Northgate Hall (NAT). (3)

Evaluation in 2003/4 and a watching brief in 2007 confirmed the existence of the Roman wall inside the north wall of the church. The wall consisted of large flints bonded by mortar and was incorporated into the later medieval structure. The possible remains of a rampart were also identified. The watching brief confirmed, though, that the eastern end of the Roman wall, that would have joined with the gatehouse, had been removed by later activity.

The watching brief also revealed a substantial remnant of the south wall of the medieval church. The wall (13th to 15th century in date though possibly earlier) was 17 m long with a break at the west end where a doorway had existed. . External plaster and rendering was identified. A limited area of metalling from the orignal Church Road was also identified. Inside the church was a floor of crushed chalk and mortar.

Four post-medieval graves were recorded but not excavated in the nave of the church. Further burials were probably cut into the area by the north wall.

In the 18th century a brick-built structure, possibly a burial valut, was constructed as well as a wall that abutted the south wall outside the church.

Extensive evidence of refurbishment and remodelling in the 19th century was also observed dating to the period after 1830 by which time the remains of the Roman gate had been demolished (4)

Historic England archive material: BF052981 ST MARY NORTHGATE HALL, CANTERBURY File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued. Copyright, date, and quantity information for this record may be incomplete or inaccurate.

<1> CAT Ann Rep 5 1980-1 15 (T Tatton-Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE38672.

<2> CBA churches Comm Bull 25 1989 - compiled 1984 - 12 (T Tatton-Brown) (OS Card Reference). SKE38775.

<3> OS 1:1250 1971 (OS Card Reference). SKE48183.

<4> Canterbury Archaeological Trust Ltd, 2009, The former church of St Mary, Northgate, Canterbury, Evaluation, watching brief report (Unpublished document). SKE53422.

<5> Canterbury Archaeological Trust?, UK, Detached excavation plans from St Mary Northgate (2007 excavation CAT Ref: SMN04EV) (Unpublished document). SKE52917.

Sources and further reading