Cemetery Gate, Canterbury

Cemetery Gate, Canterbury

Sometime in the late 14th century the abbot of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, built an imposing gateway into the abbey grounds to provide an entrance for laypeople.

This grand gateway allowed access to the abbey's burial ground and became known as the Cemetery Gate (or, alternatively, as the St Ethelbert Gate, after King Ethelbert of Kent, who provided land for St Augustine to build his abbey).

History

Cemetery Gate has been attributed to 'Abbot Thomas Ikham', or Ickman, however no such abbot served St Augustine's Abbey. There is, however, a Thomas Ickham who served as an MP for Canterbury and as a city bailiff around that time.

One frequently quoted date of construction is 1399, though Historic England suggests an earlier date of between 1361 and 1375.

Detail of the gateway stonework

The construction is a mix of brick, flint, and ashlar, and the gateway consists of a stone arch with a chamber above, flanked by octagonal turrets. The gateway is surmounted by a crenellated parapet, and built onto the gate is an 18th-century residence known as Bailey House.

The chambers built into the Cemetery Gate must have been luxurious for the time, for they were leased to Sir William Brooke in 1563 on condition that the monarch could stay there on state visits to Canterbury. As it happened, Elizabeth I did visit Canterbury during Brooke's tenancy, but she stayed elsewhere.

The gateway was restored in 1839 and this date is carved above the gateway arch. The gate is similar in style to the nearby Fyndon Gate, but is much plainer in style.

Visiting

It is extraordinary to find two such imposing medieval gateways to the abbey precincts only a few hundred yards apart, both facing onto Monastery Street. Cemetery Gate is at the southern end of the street where it meets Church Street and the impressive Fyndon Gate is two hundred yards further north, at the western end of Lady Wotton's Green.

Cemetery Gate is easy to access on foot from the city centre, standing almost directly opposite the eastern end of Burgate.

The gateway is a private residence and is not open to the public, but you can get a very good look from Monastery Street. Don't miss Fyndon Gate when visiting the area on foot.