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Canterbury Castle

Norman Castle in Kent, England

Summary

Norman Castle in Kent, England

Field	Value
image	File:Canterbury - Castle02.jpg
caption	The interior of Canterbury Castle
name	Canterbury Castle
location_town	Canterbury, Kent
location_country	England
map_type	Kent
coordinates
embedded	{{Designation list
embed	yes
designation1	Grade I Listed Building
designation1_offname	Canterbury Castle
designation1_date	3 December 1949
designation1_number
designation2	Scheduled Monument
designation2_offname	Canterbury Castle
designation2_date	8 April 1915
designation2_number

Canterbury Castle is a ruined Norman castle in Canterbury, Kent, England (). It is a five-minute walk from Canterbury East Station and the main bus station around City Wall.

Canterbury Castle was one of the three original Royal castles of Kent (the other two being Rochester Castle and Dover Castle). They were built soon after the Battle of Hastings, on the main Roman road from Dover to London. This was the route taken by William the Conqueror in October 1066; the castles were probably built to guard this important road.

Phases

Norman era

A wooden motte and bailey castle was erected in 1066 - its motte may be the mound which is still visible in the Dane John gardens near the stone castle (which may, in turn, be a Roman burial mound), with Dane John deriving from donjon.

Stone castle

The great stone keep was largely constructed in the reign of Henry I as one of three Royal castles in Kent. This massive structure, which has dimensions of about 98 by 85 feet externally at the base, was originally probably at least 80 feet high. It is mainly made of flint and sandstone rubble. By the 13th century, the castle had become the county jail. It was given up to the invading French in the First Barons' War. In 1380 a new gate was built.

By the 19th century, it had been obtained by a gas company and used as a storage centre for gas for many years, during which time the top floor was destroyed.

Tourist attraction

The Castle has been owned by the local authority since 1928. It has been closed because of falling masonry since 2018.

Canterbury Council was successful in securing a Levelling Up fund of £19.9m in 2023 for regeneration and cultural investment in restoration of historic sites, including the Castle. Work on the restoration was delayed by a bat roosting but work will begin in 2025 for one year.

Images of Canterbury Castle

Image:Norman Castle at Canterbury.jpg|Canterbury Castle, built between 1100 and 1135. Image:Canterbury 20-2-07 082.jpg|The mound in Dane John gardens - a probable motte Image:Norman Castle at Canterbury 2.jpg|Canterbury Castle

Governors of Canterbury Castle

The Governors were responsible for the upkeep and security of the castle, which passed into private hands at the end of the reign of King James VI and I (1625).

1216–1232: Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (also Governor of Dover and Rochester Castles)
1232–: Stephen de Segrave (also Governor of Rochester Castle)
1259–: Nicholas de Moels (also Governor of Rochester Castle)
1261–: Robert Walerand (also Governor of Rochester Castle)
1272–: William de Eschetesford
From the late 13th century onwards the castle was used as a jail

References

"Canterbury Castle". Pastscape.org.uk.
[https://www.webarchive.org.uk/wayback/archive/20051124120000/http://www.canterburytrust.co.uk/schools/keysites/castle.htm Canterbury Trust]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20030826161247/http://www.canterbury.co.uk/cgi-bin/buildpage.pl?mysql=314 Canterbury Castle 1 canterbury.co.uk]
[http://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/castle/4590809462 "Canterbury Castle"] Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society (CHAS), Retrieved 10 January 2020
"The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 11.". British History Online.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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