Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

This was the main church of the Saxon monastery, the construction of which was started during Augustine's lifetime, perhaps by 598. It became the burial place of the early archbishops of Canterbury, and the Kings of Kent.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Medieval - 598 AD to 1070 AD)

Full description

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This was the main church of the Saxon monastery, the construction of which was started during Augustine's lifetime, perhaps by 598, although it was completed by his successor, Archbishop Laurence, probably in around 613. It became the burial place of the early archbishops of Canterbury, and the Kings of Kent.

The first church was built from re-used Roman bricks and originally consisted of a simple rectangular nave with a narthex or porch at the west end and side chapels known as porticus on the north and south. These side chapels were used for burials, as it was not customary to bury people in the main body of churches at this time. The east end was destroyed by the building of Wulfric's Rotunda, but studies of other churches of this date such as Reculver, indicate that it would have had an eastern apsidal end. During the tenth century, probably under the direction of Archbishop Dunstan (959-88), the church was again extended further to the west and rededicated in 978 to include the name of St. Augustine. Further west was another chapel, together with the foundations of a freestanding square tower which probably date from the early 11th century.

Gem, R., 1997, St. Augustine's Abbey Canterbury, English Heritage (Monograph). SKE30335.

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

Sources and further reading