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Canterbury Castle

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Canterburie

In the civil parish of Canterbury. In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Kent, 1974 county of Kent).

This site has been described as a;
Masonry Castle.
  This site was certainly a medieval fortification or palace.   Masonry ruins/remnants remains.
First mentioned in the Domesday book. Walls of the rectangular castle are made from stone and flint and range from 9 to 14ft thick in places. It stands on a platform made from rubble and roman brick and it originally stood 50ft high. The first floor housed the kings hall and chambers, as well as a large fireplace and its own chapel. There were no ground level entrances to the castle but a staircase (demolished in 1817) gave access to the first floor. There was also a steep stairway down into the cellar from 1st floor. The castle stood on 4 acres of land surrounded by fortress walls, towers and a defensive ditch. After 1170 the keep became the county jail under the Sheriffs of Kent. The castle passed into private ownership in 1597, it fell into a bad state of decay. Between 1770 and 1792, the surrounding walls were demolished, the ditch filled in and houses were built on top. Demolition attempts in 1817 succeeded in removing the top storey.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 170504)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TR14545743

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 464740
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is TR 15 NW 63 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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This record last updated on Monday, June 15, 2009

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