Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

The Frater, or refectory is a large hall built for the monks to eat their meals within. The original Frater, was built by Lanfranc, sometime between 1079 and 1089, to the north of the cloister. At the west end of it was originally the Locutorium, or monk's parlour, a large room in a monastery set appart for conversation.

Monument Types

• PRIORY (Medieval - 1070 AD? to 1500 AD?)
• REFECTORY (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1079 AD? to 1546 AD)

Full description

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The Frater, or refectory is a large hall built for the monks to eat their meals within. The original Frater, was built by Lanfranc, sometime between 1079 and 1089, to the north of the cloister. At the west end of it was originally the Locutorium, or monk's parlour, a large room in a monastery set appart for conversation.

The Frater, or Refectory was largely re-built in the period when Stephen Langton was Archbishop and John of Sittingbourne was Prior, c. 1226 to 1236. This period was characterised by exceptional expenditure, amongst other things the building of a new Refectory north of the Great Cloister. This new Refectory was built in Early English style, with trefoil-headed arcading, as in the Cloister walk, and formed a continuation of the Norman wall of the dormitory. The arcading was at the dais end of the refectory, which was thus raised above a passage, into which led the north-east doorway in the cloister walk. Opposite the main doorway from the Great Cloister to the Refectory was the Lavatorium, where the monks washed before their meals.

Many of the monastic buildings were demolished or converted into housing at the Dissolution, the Refectory was large demolished in 1546. Now only part of the east wall survives, the west end of the refectory however gone but for the north-west angle, which was the service end, to which was joined the kitchen and quarters of the man in charge of the nourishment of the monks, the cellarer, i.e. the Cellarer's Hall. The site of the former refectory is now part of the Archbishop's garden.

Willett, C., 1960, Canterbury Cathedral A Pictorial Guide (Monograph). SKE29722.

John Newman, 1969, The Buildings of England: North East and East Kent (Monograph). SKE7874.

Blockley, K., Sparks, M. & Tatton-Brown, T., 1997, Canterbury Cathedral Nave, Archaeology, History and Architecture (Monograph). SKE29723.

Sources and further reading