Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

A large fire in 1168 destroyed parts of the church which required the choir to be re-built between 1176-1212. The Church was demolished in 1541 after the Monastery was surrendered at the Dissolution in 1538 and was then used and converted into a Royal palace by Henry VIII.

Monument Types

• ABBEY (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1073 AD to 1541 AD)

Full description

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Soon after the arrival of Lanfranc as archbishop in 1070, a monk from Mont St. Michel called Scotland was appointed Abbot of St. Augustine's. Scotland almost immediately demolished the seventh century church of St. Mary and Wulfric's unfinished octagon to the west of it and in the years 1073-87 built the crypt, presbytery, transepts and two bays of the nave of a great new church. His successor as Abbot Wido or Guido (1087-99) demolished the original church of Saints Peter and Paul after having translated the bodies of all the early archbishops and kings to the various shrines his predecessor had created for them in the new church. The translation ceromony was actually carried out by Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester, in 1091, and once this was done, work continued on the new nave which was probably completed early in the twelfth century under Abbot Hugh I. This abbot also probably completed the western towers of the church, and both he and his predecessor must have been responsible for the building of the principle monastic buildings.

The church building was some 402 feet long externally (386 feet internally), the internal width of the nave and aisles was 72 feet; while the nave by itself was 215 feet long and 34 feet wide and was divided from the aisles by arcades of eleven bays. The north wall was very lofty and unusually contained in it both the lower and the clerestory windows. The eastern end once ended in three circular chapels, as St. Martin-le-Grand at Dover. Later the central apse was replaced by a new square end, probably in Tudor times. The three chapels were dedicated to the Blessed Trinity (formerly the altar of St. Augustine) in the central one; that of the Holy Innocents on the north; and that of St. stephen on the south. In the centre of the church was the matin-altar, or altar of St. Gregory, at which was said early daily mass. The ritual choir was added by Abbot Fyndon in 1292 and was extended into the nave. There were a pair of western towers, each built over six storeys, with corner turrets terminating in octagonal tops, and were decorated with Norman arcading. The norther tower known as St. Ethelbert's tower was probably used as a bell tower, containing six bells, it survived to the 19th century before being demolished. The re was also a short central tower at the transept crossing. Beneath the church was a crypt containing more altars.

A large fire in 1168 destroyed parts of the church which required the choir to be re-built between 1176-1212.

The Church was demolished in 1541 after the Monastery was surrendered at the Dissolution in 1538 and was then used and converted into a Royal palace by Henry VIII.

Boggis, R. J. E. (Rev.), 1901, A History of St. Augustine's Monastery, Canterbury (Monograph). SKE30288.

Tatton-Brown, T., 1985, Three Great Benedictine Houses in Kent: Their Buildings & Topography (Article in serial). SKE8094.

Sherlock, D. & Woods, B. A., 1988, St. Augustine's Abbey: Report on Excavations, 1960-78 (Monograph). SKE30287.

Roebuck, J., 2002, St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury (Monograph). SKE30293.

Sources and further reading