Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

By the early medieval period, certainly a road is still known to have passed through the city wall at about this point before the Castle was built, after which it became the south gate of the Castle. In c. 1548 the Worth gate was blocked, but traces of a Roman arch survive in Stukeley's drawings of c. 1724

Monument Types

• GATE (Roman to Medieval - 43 AD to 1539 AD)

Full description

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In summer 1955 the Canterbury Excavation Committee dug two trenches near and on the site of Worthgate, adjacent to the Castle. The site was coded CXXVIII Castle, trenches IX and X.
Trench X was located east of Trench IX and was sited over the north end of Castle Street, on the site of the Roman Worth Gate. A small oven and a series of gravel and loam floors was found pre-dating the city wall and indicating occupation of the site prior to the construction of the defences. The footings trench for the city wall extended across the excavated area and masonry foundations of the Roman and Medieval defences were uncovered. Traces of loose flint chippings running north close to Castle Street may have represented the foundation for a guard chamber but had been partially destroyed by a 13th century pit and a more recent well so a positive interpretation was not possible. The remains found seem to indicate that the Worth Gate was set at an angle to the main city wall, so that it was at right angles to the street. <ref 143>.

By the early medieval period, certainly a road is still known to have passed through the city wall at about this point before the Castle was built, after which it became the south gate of the Castle, the public troad to Lympne and Wye, being diverted eastwards and leaving the city by a new exit at the end of Castle Row. In c. 1548 the Worth gate was blocked, but traces of a Roman arch survive in Stukeley's drawings of c. 1724 and these show a single portal with an opening about 3.8m wide and 4.27m high. In c. 1791, the Castle ditches were filled up and the gateway re-opened, but the old arch was now removed.

Jenkins, F. & Lyle, L., 1961, Appendix III (Unpublished document). SKE30765.

Jenkins, F, 1969, The Roman Worthgate at Canterbury (Serial). SKE30767.

Frere, SS, Stow, S, and Bennett, P, 1982, Excavations on the Roman and Medieval Defences of Canterbury. (Monograph). SKE28530.

Ward, A., 1995, A Watching Brief at the Roman Worth Gate, Canterbury (Excavation archive). SKE30759.

Ward, A., 1997, Worthgate (Article in serial). SKE30766.

Sources and further reading