Canterbury City Wall

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Wall built along line of the roman wall. Rebuilt in stone from 1370's, more than half the circuit survives with bastions with early gunports and the West gate also survives. Murage granted in 1378, 1379, 1385, 1399 and1402.

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Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Richard and Gill Long. All rights reserved. More images at Flickr

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Richard and Gill Long. All rights reserved. More images at Flickr

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Richard and Gill Long. All rights reserved. More images at Flickr


 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Richard and Gill Long. All rights reserved. More images at Flickr

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

Canterbury City Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


Name Canterbury City Wall 
Alternative Names  
Historic County Kent 
Civil Parish Canterbury 
Type Urban Defence 
Confidence Certain 
Remains Major 
Listed Grade 1
Scheduled Ancient Monument No
Ordnance Survey Reference TR145574
Eastings 614500
Northing 157400
Images of England Reference440028
PastScape Reference464679
Historic Environment Record TR 15 NW 116

Multi Map

StreetMaps

Books

  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p18, 23, 37, 40, 43-5, 52, 55, 65, 67-70, 90, 95-6, 104, 106, 111, 114, 133, 139, 163, 171, 176, 178, 180, 185, 187-8, 193, 194, 203, 209, 239-44, 246, 259
  • Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Kent (Malvern) p23
  • Bragard, P., Termote, J. and Williams, J., 1999, Walking the walls: historic town defences in Kent, Côte d'Opale and West Flanders (Maidstone)
  • Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p111-13
  • Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116 [plan]
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p239
  • Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71 plan p6
  • Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p148-54
  • O’Neil, B.H.St.J., 1960, Castles and Cannon: A Study of Early Artillery Fortifications in England (Oxford: Claredon Press) p7, 12, 19-20, 38-9, plates 4, 6, 10
  • Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p204-5
  • Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p302-3
  • Hasted, Edward, 1778-99, A History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Vol4 p412-15 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63644
  • Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol3 5-7, 113-14, 120

Antiquarian

  • Speed, John, 1611-12, The Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain [http://faculty.oxy.edu/horowitz/home/johnspeed/Cities6.htm]
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p246, 253, 259

Journals

  • Frere, S.S., Stow, S. and Bennett, P., 1982, The Archaeology of Canterbury Vol2, Excavations on the Roman and Medieval Defences of Canterbury (Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society for the Canterbury Archaeological Trust)
  • Selkirk, A., 1981, ‘Canterbury' Current Archaeology Vol7.9 p269-75
  • Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p207-8
  • Tatton-Brown, T., 1981, ‘Building recording: West Gate, Canterbury' Annual Report 1980-81, Canterbury Archaeological Trust p14, 16
  • Tatton-Brown, T., 1978-80, ‘Canterbury' Current Archaeology Vol6 p78-82
  • Tatton-Brown, T., 1976, ‘Excavations in 1976 by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust: 16 Pound Lane, Canterbury' Archaeologia Cantiana Vol92 p241-41
  • 1973, Medieval Archaeology Vol17 p169 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • 1970, Medieval Archaeology Vol14 p182 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • Millard, 1969, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol84 p252-3 [on the ditch]
  • 1960, Medieval Archaeology Vol4 p149 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • Livett, 1933, Archaeologia Cantiana Vol45 p92-114
  • 1929, 'Canterbury walls [RAI meeting]' Archaeological Journal Vol86 p243, 270-2, 275-8

Guidebooks

  • Elder, J., 2003, City Wall Trail (Canterbury: Canterbury City Council)
  • Buckingham, C., 1980, The City Gates of Canterbury (Thomas Becket Books)

Primary Sources

  • Rot. Parl. III, 53; CPR (1381-1385) p555; (1385-1389) p103; CPR (1396-1399) p592; CPR (1401-1405) p118; CPR (1405-1408) p85 [murage grants]
  • CPR (1377-1381) p274 [writ to take stonemasons for wall]
  • CPR (1408-1413) p104 [licence to buy property to aid maintenance of walls]

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 commerical 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. This site is based upon the databases collated and maintained by Philip Davis who kindly gave permission for its use.