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Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Canterburie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

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.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TR14545743

Modern Map from Good for landscape form and features	Modern Map from Good for general location
Air Photo from	1st edition OS Map from

Sources of information, references and further reading

PastScape Defra ELS number; 464740

• Web site links
  • http://www.thycotic.com/guide/sights/norman.html
    http://www.canterburytrust.co.uk/schools/keysites/castle.htm
    http://www.ecastles.co.uk/canterbury.html
• Books
  • Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern) p21-2
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p111-13
    Drage, C., 1987, 'Urban castles' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p117-32
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p228
    Newman, John, 1983, The buildings of England: North east and east Kent (Harmondsworth) p246
    Bennett, P., Frere, S.S. and Stow, S., 1982, The Archaeology of Canterbury Vol1, Excavations at Canterbury Castle, (Kent Archaeological Society for the Canterbury Archaeological Trust)
    Renn, D.F., 1982, 'The decoration of Canterbury Castle keep’, in Medieval Art and Architecture at Canterbury before 1220, (British Archaeological Association) p125-8
    Fry, P.S., 1980, Castles of the British Isles (David and Charles) p201
    Smithers, David Waldron, 1980, Castles in Kent (Chatham)
    Guy, John, 1980, Kent Castles (Meresborough Books)
    Newman, John, 1976, The buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (Harmondsworth) p237-8
    Renn, D.F., 1973 (2edn), Norman Castles of Britain (John Baker)
    Colvin, H.M., Brown, R.Allen and Taylor, A.J., 1963, The history of the King's Works Vol2: the Middle Ages (London: HMSO) p588-90
    Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann) p72-74
    Toy, Sidney, 1939, Castles: A short History of Fortifications from 1600 BC to AD 1600 (London) p72-3
    Braun, Hugh, 1936, The English castle (Batsford) p35, 38
    Enderby, 1932, The Norman Keep Canterbury Castle (Canterbury)
    Armitage, Ella, 1912, The Early Norman Castles of the British Isles (London: John Murray) p116-121
    Thompson, A. Hamilton, 1912, Military architecture in England during the Middle Ages (OUP) p46, 120, 128
    Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co)
    Sands, Harold, 1907, 'Some Kentish Castles' in Ditchfield and Clinch, Memorials of Old Kent (London) p16-23
    Mackenzie, J.D., 1897, Castles of England (Heinemann) Vol1 p6-7
    Timbs, J. and Gunn, A., 1872, Abbeys, Castles and Ancient Halls of England and Wales Vol1 (London) p333-4
    Hasted, Edward, 1778-99, A History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Vol4 p408-11
    King, Edward, 1782, Observations on Antient Castles (London) p28-30, 124-34
    Buck, Samuel and Nathenial, 1774, Buck’s Antiquities (London) Vol1 p123
    Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol3 p14-18
• Journal Articles
  • Harfield, C.G., 1991, 'A Hand-list of Castles Recorded in the Domesday Book' English Historical Review Vol106 p371-392 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28199104%29106%3A419%3C371%3AAHOCRI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q
    Renn, D.F., 1983, ‘Canterbury Castle: a case study' Château Gaillard Vol11 p253–5
    Bennett, P., Frere, S.S. and Stow, S., 1982, ‘Excavations at Canterbury Castle' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol98 p236
    Selkirk, A., 1981, ‘Canterbury' Current Archaeology Vol7.9 p269-75
    Tatton-Brown, T., 1978-80, ‘Canterbury' Current Archaeology Vol6 p78-82
    Tatton-Brown, T., 1976, ‘Excavations in 1976 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust: Canterbury Castle' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol92 p240
    Millard, L., 1972, 'A Note on the Excavations at Canterbury Castle, 1971' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol87 p205-8
    1972, Medieval Archaeology Vol16 p181 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
    Renn, D.F. , 1970, 'The defences of Canterbury' Archaeological Journal Vol126 p238-9 [Plan]
    Brown, R, Allen, 1959, 'A List of Castles, 1154–1216' English Historical Review Vol74 p249-280 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p90-121] http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28195904%2974%3A291%3C249%3AALOC1%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
    Brown, R. Allen, 1955, 'Royal Castle-building in England 1154-1216' English Historical Review Vol70 [Reprinted in Brown, R. Allen, 1989, Castles, conquest and charters: collected papers (Woodbridge: Boydell Press)] pp19-64
    Webster, 1940, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol53 p143-5
    Horne, G., 1929, Archaeological Journal Vol86 p243-7 [plans]
    Armitage, E., 1904 April, 'The Early Norman Castles of England' The English Historical Review Vol74 p219-22 http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0013-8266%28190404%2919%3A74%3C209%3ATENCOE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-1
    1875, Archaeological Journal Vol32 p490-494
    King, Edward, 1782, 'Sequel to the observations on Ancient Castles' Archaeologia Vol6 p300-10 [reprint in Antient Castles]
    King, Edward, 1776, 'Observations on antient castles' Archaeologia Vol4 p390-2 [reprint in Antient Castles]
• Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
  • The Anglo-saxon Chronicle; Laud Chronicle AD1140
    Rickard, John, 2002, The Castle Community. The Personnel of English and Welsh Castles, 1272-1422 (Boydell Press) [lists sources for 1272-1422] p259-64
• Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/kenteng.html#kent24]
    Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p259