No.17 Palace Street Canterbury

NO. 17 PALACE STREET, CANTERBURY By E. W. PAKKIN PALACE STREET, Canterbury, dates from 1086, when Archbishop Lanfranc extended the western boundary of the cathedral grounds by pulhng down twenty-eight tenements, and divertMg the Roman road which led south from Northgate around the awkward bends now known as The Borough, into the present hne of Palace Street.1 The tenants thus displaced were presumably compensated with plots on the west side of the street, as these stiU number twenty-eight there today. Along the east side of the street runs the outer waU of the palace grounds, beMnd wMch are several bmldMgs, some of wMch now belong to King's School. In tMs wall is a large gateway wMch has always been the entrance into Palace Court, and formerly into the palace. It was originaUy constructed of stone and flint, but was rebuilt in red brick by Archbishop Parker in 1561, though the stone jambs of the early gateway still remain. Directly facing the gateway on the west side of Palace Street is a narrow lane or passage, now closed by double doors. TMee doors south of tMs is no. 17, reputed to have been the site of the house of one, Gilbert the Citizen, wMch became for a few brief hours the headquarters of the four knights who murdered Becket on the fateful day in December, 1170. It is mdeed MterestMg to look more closely at tMs house, and at any evidence there may be to support tMs tradition. We are fortunate in having the unique plan of the cathedral bmldings as Becket knew them. TMs is the famous Norman drawing of c. 1165, discovered in the great Psalter of Eadwin at the hbrary of Trinity CoUege, Cambridge. It has been reproduced a number of times, and was traced by Wilhs in 1867,2 though unfortunately the plan does not include Lanfranc's palace, nor the street beyond it. We know little enough about Gilbert, except that he hved close to the palace gateway.8 A reference of 1215 gives the name 'Gilbert de 1 Arch. Cant., Ixxxiv (1969), 201. s ArcJi. Cant., vii (1868), plates 1 and 2. 3 W. G. Urry, Canterbury under the Angevin Kings, 184. 183 E. W. PARKIN Aula', who was then m possession of ground here to the east of the Stour, and perhaps taMng Ms name from the proximity of Ms dwelhng to the archbishop's haU.4 No. 17 PALACE STREET No. 17 has recently (m 1972) been made available for mspection by the pubhc, and it is Mdeed a very MterestMg building. It has a Norman undercroft set back from the street, wMch is old enough to have been part of Gilbert's house. The present street front is finely timbered, but tMs is a reconstruction by an owner named PoweU, early tMs century (PI. IA). The ground floor room has a fine seventeenth-century fireplace of narrow red brick, 8 ft. wide (2-44 m.), above which was discovered the paMted royal coat of arms of Charles I (PI. IB). The room above has a smiilar, but smaUer fireplace and coat of arms. Immediately to the right of the ground floor one is a square-headed doorway with seventeenth-century mouldmgs and stops, giving on to a steep stairway leading down Mto the undercroft (Figs. 1 and 4). TMs undercroft has waUs of flint rubble 2 ft. 6 in. tMck (0-76m.), and measures internally 12 ft. 6 M. by 15 ft. 8 in. (6-55 by 4*78 m.). It has a doorway with a semi-circular stone arch at its north end, wMch is the entrance to a short tunnel, blocked by modern breeze blocks at 5 | ft. (1-68 m.). On the east side of the ceUar is a similar blocked stone doorway, and two deeply splayed loop windows. Facing these in the west waU is a fourteenth-century stone doorway with a poMted arch, leadMg up into the garden. TMs doorway is obviously Mserted, as the joists above it have been cut away and a trimmer put m. South of it is part of a two-light stone window of similar date. The arches of the two round-headed doorways are only 6 ft. 1 in. (1 -55 m.) above the existing seventeenth-century brick floor, and tMs suggests that the original floor must he at least a foot below tMs. The two loop windows on the east side (PI. IIA) make it reasonably certain that the Norman house wMch once stood here had a smaU courtyard between it and the street, no doubt made necessary by external stairs both to the haU above, and down to the survivMg cellar doorway. TMs arrangement was not uncommon in towns at that time, where the proximity of other braidings made difficult the siting of the usual external stairs. Known examples of tMs in Canterbury include the haU and undercroft bmlt as the first pilgrims' hospice by Edward FitzOdbold about 1175, and now part of Eastbridge Hospital; also the Norman bmldmg wMch preceded the fifteenth-century Guild- * Ibid., 185. 184 NO. 17 PALACE STREET, CANTERBURY haU M Canterbury.5 TMs stood back from the street, and is beheved to have been the Borough Gmld mentioned in Domesday. The undercroft at no. 17 Palace Street was never vaulted, it was ceiled with 10 M. (0-25 m.) square oak joists set close together, which were probably designed to take flagstones and a hearth in the haU above. TMs arrangement was fairly common in smaU Norman houses in Garden up aa> w in a Cellar Tunnel m \ u No 18 I 0 10 20 30ft 0 2 4 6 8 9m PIG. 1. Plan of Shop and Cellar of no. 17. s Arch. Cant., Ixxxiii (1968), 8. 185 E. W. PARKIN Garden Gallery Hall up- :&TSrs®: 5 S Charles I fireplace Shop * « « * 'P SSWiSH ^ =LJ— Palace Street JL 20 3 , °" 0 3 6 9m Pio. 2. Plan of Shop and Old HaU. Kent; m fact, of those exammed less than half had been bmlt with stone vaultMg. The first-floor Norman haU here also had tMck waUs of flint, as is shown by a small part of the walhng wMch still survives above floor level at the north end of the present haU. SometMie in the fourteenth century, the stone and flMt haU was replaced by the present, timber-framed one. TMs is unusual, in that half 186 NO. 17 PALACE STREET, CANTERBURY of it is still open to the roof, presumably as a smoke bay, the southern half being occupied by a large gallery or openJofb. Although the gaUery rail has been renewed, there is no doubt that tMs was built as part of the timber-framed hall, and always was an open gallery, and not an enclosed upper room. The principal beam is morticed and pegged into the main central posts of the hall, and is supported by heavy curved braces at each end. Above the gallery, the main posts and other timbers show no mortices, wMch would be there if there had ever been a partition. A curious feature is the roof, wMch is of the collar purlin type, but without a crown post, and set transversely across the hall, ending in a half Mp on the west, or garden side (Fig. 3), Some repair work is evident, but the hall, with the exception of the wMdows is very much as it was bmlt. The garden facade is particularly fine. The seventeenth-century shop, with the two floors above it, retains aU its origMal timber-framMg except the rebuilt street front. TMs Gallery V^ Garden Ce ar 20 ft PIG. 3. Section of Building looking South. 187 E. W. PARKIN part of the binldMg has a number of MterestMg features, though one has to be a little wary of the late Mr. PoweU's sMU as a restorer. Inside the street entrance is some gemrine seventeenth-century panelhng, though it must have been brought from elsewhere, as a tMough passage existed here until recent times. The shop has matcMng, but imitation panelhng, and genuMe seventeenth-century floorboards beheved to have been brought from upstairs. The four fireplaces have aU been restored to their original condition, there beMg one on each of the tMee floors, and another inserted into the hall under the gallery. Gallery I & wdv % p*1"^. % i w Ha Ml • • U U L • • • • I i c i ^Z^ Tunnel Cellar up \N\ INOJ •iiU' 0 5 10 20 ft 0 3 6m Pio. 4. Section of Hall looking JEast. 188 PLATE I n II '8^. i A. The Street Front of no. 17 Palace Street. B. The Charles I Fireplace and Coat of Arms. [face p. 188 PLATE II . mmm. A. The north-east Corner of the Norman Cellar. B. The Gallery and Part of the Hall. NO. 17 PALACE STREET, CANTERBURY The oak joists seen in the front rooms are origMal; mortises and marks on these show that tMs part was built with a bay wmdow on the ground floor and an oriel above, but shaUower than the present ones. Most of the doors and other fittmgs are old, but of various dates. THE CONNECTION WITH No. 18 The purpose of the tunnel leading off from the north end of the undercroft was at first a mystery, until permission was obtaMed to examine the property next door, no. 18. TMs is maMly a seventeenthcentury timber-framed buildmg standMg on a narrow 11 ft. wide plot (3-35 m.). Some ancient walhng stiU survives in the cellar there, and shows that a very early stone and flint braiding stood here on the street line, and end on to it. A massive brick arch supports the inserted fireplaces above it, and under this is the third round-headed stone doorway wMch marks the north end of the tunnel. This tunnel was obviously designed to connect the two ceUars beneath a stone flagged passage wMch has always existed between the two buildings. Although it is now blocked inside the lobby entrance of no. 17, the rear part of the passage still remains; in fact, within hving memory, it is said to have been used by a horse to gain access to the yard and stable at the rear. The upper rooms of the rear of no. 18 extend over the flagged passage. It would seem thus that the narrow stone building wMch once stood on the site of no. 18 may have been an outbuilding belonging to the Norman house. The site was in any case the largest and perhaps tht most important one in the street, no. 17 alone occupying 30 ft. of the frontage (9*15 m.), and appears to confirm Dr. TJrry's sketch map of the street,6 wMch shows the house of Gilbert the Citizen here, with Anselm, secretarious, as Ms neighbour on the north side, and Eadward, the son of Odbold, beyond Mm, about the middle of the twelfth century. In medieval times, the most important family hving hereabouts was that of the Staplegates, who took the old name of tMs district. A deed pertainMg to Eastbridge Hospital and dated 42 Ed. I l l (1369) gives as witness the name of Edmund Staplegate, bailiff of the city,7 wMle in 1524 the death of Robert Staplegate is recorded. He is described as being of 'St. Alphege', and of '. . . possessmg several tenements in tMs hamlet'.8 The affluent seventeenth-century owner who added the two storied timber front cannot so far be traced. The royal coats of arms suggest 0 W. G-. Urry, op. cit., map seotion. ' Hasted, History of the County of Kent, 2nd edn., vol. XI, 293. 8 Op. cit. 189 E. W. PARKIN the date 1625, for M that year Charles I not only acceded to the tMone, but also married PrMcess Henrietta of France at the Abbey of St. Augustme at Canterbury on I3th June. The undercroft is part of what must be one of the oldest houses yet discovered in Canterbury, or indeed anywhere else in the Mngdom. As already mentioned, visitors are welcomed to see for themselves tMs ancient place; a smaU fee is charged to aid diocesan funds. 190