City Wall

History of City Walls by Purcell Architecture

Roman origins to viking invaders

Canterbury’s city walls have Roman origins, initially constructed between AD 270 and AD 290. The walls had five gates, with a possible further two, intersecting with known Roman roads. The Roman gates include the Riding Gate, Burgate, the Worthgate, the London Gate and the Queningate. In 1955, excavation work associated with the bus station revealed an internal tower dating to the Roman period, which had been built into the inner face of the city wall and survived to a height of 1.3 metres.

Despite the subsequent decline of Roman Canterbury in the 5th century, the city walls survived and may have contributed to Augustine’s decision to found Canterbury Cathedral within the city in AD 597.

The line of the walls was maintained in the late Anglo-Saxon remodelling of the city’s internal street layout. However, the walls were largely neglected by the time of the Norman invasion and were in ruin by the 12th century. The Chronicle of Roger of Hovedon records Danish invaders being thrown from the walls in 1011, during a Viking attack on the city which saw the cathedral plundered and the archbishop captured and eventually murdered.

Protection and peril

All of the Roman gates except the London Gate were re-used, with the addition of the Northgate and Westgate. Murage, a tax levied for repairing the walls of a town, was applied to trade entering the city to fund the repairs. A survey in 1402 suggested that most of the city was walled, except for part of the stretch between the West Gate and North Gate. In 1409, the city’s bailiffs were granted lands worth £20 a year to support the maintenance of the walls and Canterbury was permitted to draw funding from the royal customs duties for the walls.

As a result, the walls remained in good condition, following the line of the Roman and Anglo-Saxon walls and incorporating both in parts. The rebuilt walls included a continuous wall walk, were crenellated and featured gunports.

During the Hundred Years War, the strategic importance of Canterbury to the south-east coast was considered important to protect the area from French raids. An enquiry was carried out into the state of Canterbury’s defences in 1363, which concluded that the city was in a perilous position, as the walls “are for the most part fallen because of age, and the stones thereof carried away, and the ditches under the walls are obstructed”. Repairing and rebuilding the walls took around 30 years to complete, despite the intention for rapid works. 24 towers were built around the circuit, incorporating the older walls where they remained.

Adaption over the centuries

A second wave of work took place to the city walls in the late 15th century, with various works to sections of the wall throughout the period. The most notable addition was the Whitecross Tower, which was added to the section of city wall adjacent to Dane John Mound in the late 15th century.  Speed’s mapping from the early 17th century indicates the full coverage of the wall with its extensive repairs. During the Civil War, the walls near the castle were deliberately damaged during its recapturing by the Parliamentary forces.

Towards the end of the 18th century, the city streets and gateways were extensively altered to accommodate an increase in horse-drawn traffic, as the city lay at the centre of a turnpike road system. By 1779, Northgate and Burgate had been destroyed to accommodate wider entrances for the city. Riding Gate was demolished in 1782 and the Worthgate shortly after in 1791, with a new entrance built in its place. Newingate’s drum towers were used as a water reservoir for the city, and the gatehouse was demolished in 1801.

Sections of the wall were cut away to allow new roads to be built; the walls near St Radigund’s Public Baths were demolished in 1794 and the city wall around London Gate was demolished around 1800. West Gate survived, functioning as the city gaol.

James Simmons and beyond

Some sections of the wall were used for promenades, including at Dane John Gardens, laid out by James Simmons in the 18th century in the south-east corner of the walls. Simmons remodelled the old castle motte and incorporated the Roman bank and the medieval wall walk into his garden design. Simmons also replaced the medieval Riding Gate (itself a replacement of the Roman gateway) in the 1790s. His new gateway was constructed from brick, with a white keystone to the apex. A brick parapet served to enclose the elevated walkway which connected the stretch of city wall between Burgate and Worthgate.

In 1883/1884, Simmons’s Riding Gate was demolished and replaced with a new cast iron structure. This new bridge was made by the Canterbury-based foundry of H.M. Biggleston and Sons and paid for by the munificence of Frederic Flint. The Biggleston gate remained in situ until 1942, when bomb damage led to its disassembly and later re-erection at Heathfield Safari Park. The extant bridge over Watling Street dates to 1970.

Seventeen of the original 24 medieval towers along the walls remain intact, and one of the historic gates into the city is the West Gate. The two bastions which are extant between Watling and St George’s Street are post-war reconstructions of lost towers.