The Blackfriars Canterbury

RJ•:SEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES THE BLACKFRIARS, CANTERBURY In 1969 and 1970, a small housing development was put up on that part of the site of the Dominican Priory, or Blackfriars, Canterbury, which lies on the west side of King Street, on e ither side of Blackfriars Street. In 1929, A. R. Martin published a study of the Priory1 which included a suggested plan based on a drawing made in 15952 and on comparisons with other Dominican sites. In advance of the recent building operations, trial excavations were made by the writer and Mr. F. Jenkins for the Canterbury Archreological Society with the help of a grant from the then Ministry of Public Building and Works, with the object of checking on this plan. In addition, a watch was kept on the builders' excavations. The area in question contained the north-east corner of the cloister, the ea>St ends of the chapter house and church and part of a domestic building on the north-east corner of the Blackfriars site. ( 1) Cloisters This part of the sire had recently been a timber-yard and was badly disturbed by saw pits. It is possible, however, to establish the line of the inner and outer walls of the north wing of the cloister and the outer wall of the east wing. The walls were constructed of coursed flints with occasional chalk lumps set in a hard yellow mortar. The external face of the east wall had a plinth made from a single course of chamfered Caen stone blocks. The cloister floor consisted of thick rammed chalk on top of which was a thin layer of clay, presumably for bedding tiles. The external walls were in line with those shown on Martin's plan (Fig. 1), but the north wing was only half the suggested width. This might affect Martin's siting of the dorter on top of this part of the cloister (see below). Two sherds of Tyler Hill pottery came from the 1 A. R. Martin, 'The Dominican Priory at Canterbury', Arch. J., lxxxvi (1929), 152-77. 2 Ibid., 153, fig. 4; 156, pl. ii. The plan, an isometric drawing of the Priory from the west, was made by Thomas Langdon in 1595. The original plan disappeared in the early nineteenth century and is now lmown from an engraving published by J. Robson of Bond Street in 1792. 215 􀀄., ii􀀅:.:. I o • •1 I !t ,, ,',, ,, I ,, I :I •t.􀀅J I I :.-s;, 1' .. , , .I. I I ,, 􀀕􀀖:r; 􀀗􀀘 II1 1II v ,,,􀀙 ".. :;; .§ I .! l w .. .. 􀀅 l 1 ] z r ! i 1 m II 0 ----­ Flo. 1 The Dominican Priory, Canterbury: Plan showing the Relationship of Features found in 1969/70 to Martin's plan. RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES foundations and pieces of stone moulding and Tyler Hill-type floortiles were found in unstratified contexts during building operations. (2) Ohapt.er House The chapter house and church stood to the south of the present Black:friara Street and the site was disturbed by foundations and wells belonging to a row of nineteenth-century cottages that had stood here. It was possible to establish the positions of the south and east walls of the chapter house. The south wall followed the line suggested by Martin, while the east wall was about 10 ft. further east. The walls were similar in construction to those of the cloisters and the floor was made of gravelly yellowish mortar. Part of what may have been an internal wall was found in the builders' trenches. It was not possible to investigate the junction of the chapter house and the church with the cloister as this part of the site is below the gardens of the houses still standing in Blaokfriars Street. (3) Church The north wall of the church followed the line suggested by Martin, but as in the chapter house, the east wall was about 10 ft. further to the east. The walls were made of uncoursed flints set in a. hard, light yellow mortar and the east wall had a Ca.en stone plinth similar to the one on the east cloister wall. The east wall was similar in width to the walls of the cloisters and chapter house, but the north wall was massively built and a.bout 8 ft. wide. This wall contained an interesting feature, a narrow passage leading to a room on the north side of the church (Fig. 2). The passage was 3 ft. in width and, at either end of it, there were slot.a made from dressed chalk blocks to hold screens or sliding doors (Fig. 2). A column base of Caen stone with a carved moulding stood at the south-west corner of the passage facing into the church and a less elaborate column base stood at the north-east corner facing into the room. The floor of the passage was paved with Tyler Hill tiles set in soft mortar. These were very worn but had originally been printed and glazed. Nineteenth-century disturbance prevented any investigation of the room on the north side of the church but it, apparently, had a floor of rammed chalk and part of a wall belonging to it was seen in the builders' trenches. No indication of this room is given in the 1595 plan. There seem to be two possibilities as to the nature of this room. It may have been a vestry. There was a small rectangular room, no longer existing, on the north side of the quire of the church of the Dominican Priory at Norwich and it was suggested by F. C. 217 18 RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES • • , • • l=-LOOI\ • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .. .. . .... . . . . . . . . . . N \ . . .. . . . _.,. .... . . . .. . !"'!"'!-􀀎􀀏􀀐􀀑􀀒􀀓􀀔'l"'!'o􀀕􀀖'"""'--􀀗 ........ 􀀘--􀀙----􀀚; ..... ....... ........ .. .. . . . ,' . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . ···• ..... : : .................. . . . . . . . .. . . " . .. . . . . . . . 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" . ... . ......................... ..• ."' .• .0 t,. .• .• .4 .t ." .O ." .. ... .• .• .'I .• .I . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . · CHVC\c.tt f"l.00 A, • · · () bi.= s peatr· J F10. 2. The Dominican Priory, Canterbury: Plan of Passage in north Wall of Church. Elliston-Erwood that this was a vestry.a The church at Norwich is more elaborate than the Canterbury one and dates from the fift.eenth century. The other possibility is that the room may have been a night stair from the dorter. This would fit with the position of the room in relation to the church and cloist.er if the dort.er were in fact over the east wing of the cloister rather than over the north wing as suggested by Martin. The narrow width of the north wing has already been noted. A somewhat similar arrangement of church, cloister, night 3 F. C. Elliston Erwood, 'The Norwich Blackfria.rs', Report of the Summe􀁺 Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute at Norwich, 1949. Arch. J., CVl (1949), 90, pl. vi. 218 RESEARCHES AND DISCOVERIES stair and dorter occurs at the Augustinian Abbey oflnchcolm.4 Again, Inchcolm is a more complex building than the Canterbury Blackfriars and later in date, the cloisters dating from the fourteenth and the church and night stair from the fifteenth centuries. The floor of the Canterbury church was of rammed chalk and mortar and had presumably originally been tiled. No burials were found in the church or elsewhere on the site. (4) Dome,stic Building The 1595 plan shows a building at the north-east end of the site, interpreted by Martin as an L-shaped building on the corner of Blackfriars Street and King Street. 0 A watch was kept on the builders' excavations in this area, but considerable disturbance by saw pits made it difficult to build up a coherent picture. Walls and floors from more than one domestic building were recorded, the most southerly wall found in this area probably representing the north wall of the building shown on Martin's plan. The build of this wall differs from the other walls in this area, being of chalk lumps set in hard, bright yellow mortar, while the other walls are of uncoursed flints and chalk in soft, ochrecoloured mortar. If this is the north wall· of Martin's building, the projecting wing of the house would be under the present Blackfriars Street. Doidge's Map of 17526 shows a solid block of building on the west side of King Street from the entrance to the Blackfriars almost to 􀂌fill Lane. Presumably, the foundations found on this part of the site, including those of Martin's building, formed part of this block. The floor levels of the buildings in this area were of chalk and mortar and were separated from each other by thin, dark occupation levels. The church was the first building of the Priory to be erected. It was begun in 1237 and was almost completed by 1244, while the other buildings seem to have been built by about 1260. 7 There was no trace of any earlier medieval occupation on the site: the priory buildings lay directly above the black post-Roman build-up which, in this area, was about 1 ft. 6 in. deep. Indications of destruction levels and floors from a substantial Roman building were found in the builders' trenches on the north-east part of the site. L. MILLARD 􀁽 J. W􀁾lson Paterson, Inchco1:m Abbey, Ministry of Public Building a.nd Works Official Gwde Book, 2nd ed., H.M.S.O., 1950, 21-3, plans 8-11. • The 1792 engraving of the plan shows a rectangular building with an addition at the east end fronting on to King Street and two additions on the south side, one of which seems to be a porch and the other is a building that gives the L-shaped outline shown by Martin. 6 W. and H. Doidge, A Plan of the Ancient Oity of Oanterbury, 1752. 7 Martin, op. cit., 155, 159. 219