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Monument details
| HER Number: | TR 15 NE 1404 |
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| Type of record: | Monument |
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| Name: | Original West Gate, St. Augustine's Abbey |
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Summary
The Original West Gate situated on the west side of the Abbey in Monastery Street and the adjacent Guest Hall appears to have been built when the principal gates and the boundary wall along the western road frontage were constructed in the early 13th century, as part of Abbot Hugh I of Fleury's works of 1099-1124.
| Grid Reference: | TR 1538 5781 |
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| Map Sheet: | TR15NE |
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| Parish: | CANTERBURY, CANTERBURY, KENT |
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Monument Types
- GATE (Medieval - 1099 AD? to 1309 AD?)
Full description
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The Original West Gate situated on the west side of the Abbey in Monastery Street and the adjacent Guest Hall appears to have been built when the principal gates and the boundary wall along the western road frontage were constructed in the early 13th century, as part of Abbot Hugh I of Fleury's works of 1099-1124.
The Hall built over two floors, was rectangular in shape on a long N-S axis fronting Monastery Street, measuring about 80 feet long by about 30 feet wide. Access to the Guest Hall from outside the precincts was via the Original Gateway which was built at the same time and situated at the south-west corner of the Guest Hall. The Gate had a chapel above it. Another door at the south-east corner of the Hall led into the great Court within the precincts to the east.
Later, during the early 14th century, c. 1300-1309 a new gate the 'Great Gate' also known as Fyndoin's gate, was built 100 feet further to the north, onto the north end of the Guest Hall, incorporating part of the hall as a possible porters lodge or gate lodge. Meanwhile the earlier original gateway was closed and blocked up.
The Structure survives still and was heavilly restored in the 19th century
Tatton-Brown, T., 1980, St Augustine's Abbey (Article in serial). SKE29810.
Tatton-Brown, T., 1985, Three great Benedictine houses in Kent: their buildings and topography (Article in serial). SWX7319.
Roebuck, J., 2002, St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury (Monograph). SKE30293.
Sources and further reading
| Cross-ref.
| Source description | | --- | Article in serial: Tatton-Brown, T.. 1980. St Augustine's Abbey. |
| --- | Monograph: Roebuck, J.. 2002. St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. |
| --- | Article in serial: Tatton-Brown, T.. 1985. Three great Benedictine houses in Kent: their buildings and topography. 100, pages 171-88. |
