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Monument details

HER Number:TR 15 NE 1321
Type of record:Monument
Name:Abbey Church additions to south side, St. Augustine's Abbey

Summary

Three small structures were added at different times to the south side of the Abbey Church.


Grid Reference:TR 1544 5774
Map Sheet:TR15NE
Parish:CANTERBURY, CANTERBURY, KENT

Monument Types

  • CHURCH (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1299 AD? to 1540 AD?)

Full description

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Three small structures were added at different times to the south side of the Abbey Church. The first of these was built between the sixth and seventh nave bay during the late 13th century. This was a small square shaped structure, built as a Charnel Chapel onto the south wall of the church, serving the Lay Cemetery into which it projects, the fabric of the building was it was built by 1287, but it was not dedicated until 1299 by the Bishop of Hereford. It was built over two storeys, the upper one for the celebration of masses for the dead, and the lower one was used as an ossuary.

The second building was a small square shaped chapel, with buttresses, added to the south wall of the church immediately adjacent to the west side of the south transept between c. 1363-67. This was the Chapel of St. Anne, or the Countess's Chapel - so called after Juliana de Leybourne, Countess of Huntingdon, who, on account of her great possessions, was known as the 'Infanta of Kent'. She had given to St. Augustine's the Manor of Dene in Thanet, and in 1367 was buried in the chapel, leaving money for a daily mass to be said at this altar. Here also were the tombs of Abbot's Bourne (1334) on the south side, and Colwel (1375) on the north.

A further small square shaped building lay directly adjacent to the west. Thisappears to have been built during the 16th century as a temporary workshop for the men given the task of dismantling the church buildings during the Dissolution period c. 1540. This appears to have been constructed between the Charnel Chapel which it respects, and a large buttress which was added to the S-W end of the south wall of the chuch in the 14th cetury for additional stability and support.


Colvin, H. M., 1982, History of the King's Works (1485-1660), Part II, (Canterbury, Kent). (Monograph). SKE30322.

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

Cross-ref. Source description
---Monograph: Sherlock, D. & Woods, B. A.. 1988. St. Augustine's Abbey: Report on Excavations, 1960-78.
---Monograph: Roebuck, J.. 2002. St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury.
---Monograph: Colvin, H. M.. 1982. History of the King's Works (1485-1660), Part II, (Canterbury, Kent)..