Canterbury city walls are a sequence of defensive walls built around the city of Canterbury in Kent, England. The first city walls were built by the Romans, probably between 270 and 280 AD. These walls were constructed from stone on top of an earth bank, and protected by a ditch and wall towers. At least five gates were placed into the walls, linked to the network of Roman roads across the region. With the collapse of Roman Britain, Canterbury went into decline but the walls remained, and may have influenced the decision of Augustine to settle in the city at the end of the 6th century. The Anglo-Saxons retained the defensive walls, building chapels over most of the gates and using them to defend Canterbury against Viking incursions.
The Norman invaders of the 11th century took the city without resistance, and by the 12th century the walls were ill-maintained and of little military value. Fears of a French invasion during the Hundred Years' War led to an enquiry into Canterbury's defences in 1363. The decision was taken to restore the city walls and for around the next thirty years the old Roman defences were freshly rebuilt in stone, incorporating the older walls where they still remained. 24 towers were constructed around the circuit, and over the coming years many of the gatehouses were rebuilt in stone and brick, defended by some of the first batteries of guns in England. Parts of the wall were deliberately damaged by Parliament during the English Civil War of the 17th century and the doors to the city's gates burnt; with the restoration of Charles II in 1660, new doors were reinstalled.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, Canterbury's city walls came under extensive pressure from urban development. All the gates but one, West Gate, were destroyed and extensive parts of the walled circuit were knocked down to make way for new roads and buildings. German bombing during the Second World War caused further damage. Despite this, the remaining walls and gatehouse survived post-war redevelopment intact and some portions were rebuilt entirely. Over half the original circuit survives, enclosing an area of , and archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham consider the city wall to be "one of the most magnificent in Britain".
History
3rd–4th centuries
The first city walls in Canterbury were built by the Romans. Canterbury, then called Duverovernum Cantiacorum, was initially probably defended by a small fort but had not required any other civic defences. The security situation in Britain deteriorated in the late 3rd century AD and a circuit of defensive walls were built around the city, probably between 270 and 290. They enclosed an area of , cutting off the old industrial parts of the western side of the city, but incorporating a cemetery area to the south-east that had formerly been outside the city boundary.; New coastal forts were also built across the region at around the same time, and a headquarters for them may have been established in Canterbury.
The walls were typically inches thick and built of flint and mortar, with some limited use of larger sandstone blocks. The height of these walls is uncertain, but sections have survived that are up to high. The walls stood on a bank of earth between and wide and at least high, protected by a ditch, typically wide and deep, but in places up to wide.; A wide cobbled berm ran between the ditch and the wall.
The walls had at least five gates, typically positioned near angles in the city wall, although, judging from the location of Roman roads, it is possible that another two Roman gates may also have existed.; The gates linked to the network of major roads that ran across Kent. The Riding Gate, which took its name from the red bricks with which it was built, had two protective towers and a pair of entrance arches for pedestrians and carriages, as probably did Burgate.; ; The Worth Gate, the London Gate and the Queningate had simpler entrance arches. A sequence of square towers protected the walls, and at least one additional wall tower was constructed following the Saxon invasion of Britain in 367.
5th–11th centuries
During the 5th century, Canterbury went into decline and its Roman institutions and buildings crumbled, although the city walls survived. In 597, Augustine was sent to Kent by Pope Gregory I to convert the local population to Christianity. Augustine established Canterbury Cathedral within the city, possibly because the walled site gave them additional protection or because it was symbolically important as a former Roman city.; Canterbury, now called Cantwaraburh, prospered and its population and trade increased. Much of the land within the walls had become water meadows and farmland, and a palisade may have built around the cathedral and its precinct to form a secure inner stronghold.;
In the late Anglo-Saxon period, the internal street layout of Canterbury was remodelled, but the line of the outer walls remained the same. A cattle market was created outside the city to the south-east, and Newingate, later renamed St George's Gate, was inserted into the walls to allow easy access to it. During this the period the main axis of the city shifted from the older line of streets running from London Gate and Riding Gate, to the new route between West Gate and Newingate. A lane was built running around the inside of the walls, in a similar way to the intramural streets built around the same time at Exeter and Winchester. Churches and chapels were built over the gates, including St Mary's above the North Gate; the Holy Cross over West Gate; St Michael's over Bargate; St Edmund's within Riding Gate; and, potentially, St George's Chapel over Newingate.; Canterbury's walls were mentioned by the early chronicler, Bede, in his history of England.
Despite Canterbury's walls, a Viking army successfully attacked the city in 835, killing many of the inhabitants. Scandinavian raids recommenced from 991 onwards and in 1011 a Danish army demanded fresh tribute from the city. The city walls were used to defend the city during an 11-day siege, and the chronicler Roger of Hoveden recounts how the attacking Danes were thrown off the tops of the walls to their deaths by the citizens. Roger's account may be an exaggeration, but the story shows that the city walls were in sufficiently good condition for such a story to be considered plausible at the time.; After a fire broke out in the city, however, the Danes entered and pillaged Canterbury.
11th–13th centuries
The inhabitants of Canterbury put up no resistance to the Normans during their conquest of England in 1066. William the Conqueror instructed that a castle was to be built in the city; Canterbury Castle was built on the south side of the city and formed part of the circuit of defence, with property being destroyed to make room for it.; ; Despite its location along the walls, archaeologists Oliver Creighton and Robert Higham have observed that the castle was not an "addition" to the defences, but more an "imposition" on the town within it. The first timber motte and bailey castle was later abandoned and a second, with a square, stone keep, built in 1123.; The Worth Gate became the south entrance to the castle site, and a new gate was put into the walls to the east for general use.
In 1086, the Domesday Book recorded that 11 houses had been built in the ditches around the city walls, which by then appear to have been in a poor condition. The encroachment was possibly the result of population pressures on the inner, walled city, as Canterbury had spread out well beyond the walls by the mid-11th century. It is unclear how the walls were maintained during this period, and by the 12th century they were in ruins and of little practical defensive value.; In the late-12th century, the walls were assigned some limited royal funding through the local sheriff, probably for the maintenance of existing structures, and just over £5 was spent in 1166–67 on these repairs.
Wooden "bars" had been placed outside many of the city gates to regulate the flow of traffic by the 12th century, including Riding Gate, Worth Gate and North Gate. One area of the city beyond the wall, called the baggeberi, may also have been protected by its own earthworks during the middle of the 12th century. Canterbury was divided into wards by the 12th century, although these may potentially have been created as early as the Anglo-Saxon period.; These administrative districts, named after the city gates, were termed berthae and were linked to maintenance and manning of the city walls.; The wards took the form of segments, spreading out from the centre of the city, incorporating the relevant gate and sometimes the suburbs beyond that had spread outside the walls. By the 1160s Canterbury's wards included Burgate, Northgate and Newingate, with the wards of Riding Gate, Worthgate and West Gate being formed by the end of the century.
After the 12th century, work on the walls appears to have stopped until the second half of the 14th century. The city walls fell further into disrepair as a result. In some places, over of debris came to cover the remaining stonework of the old Roman walls, while in another case a building was constructed directly over the top of the former defences.
14th century
In the early 1360s, during the Hundred Years War, there was an increased level of concern about potential French raids or invasion along the south of England.; Canterbury was particularly important for the defence of the south-east, as it formed a potential barrier to any invaders marching on London. An enquiry was carried out in 1363 into the state of Canterbury's defences, which concluded that the city was in a parlous position, as "the walls of Canterbury are for the most part fallen because of age, and the stones thereof carried away, and the ditches under the walls are obstructed".
Canterbury's bailiffs were ordered to repair the walls, with similar instructions being issued to the authorities in vulnerable cities such as Colchester, Bath and Rochester. The result was what historian Hilary Turner has described as a "well-planned operation", designed to build the walls rapidly, but which still took around 30 years to complete.; The city and the cathedral authorities worked closely together on the project, an unusual situation, given the local political tensions that existed between them.
Money was needed to pay for this work. During the previous century, a method of taxation had been introduced to support the creation or maintenance of city walls, called murage, which was authorised by the king and applied to trade entering a city. In total, Canterbury was assigned 31 years of murage grants for its walls, starting in 1378, when five years of murage was granted by Richard II, along with a writ allowing them to use stonemasons from across the county. In 1379, a new 10-year murage grant was issued. In 1385, £100 from the issues of Kent was given to Canterbury, and the murage tax extended for a further five years. In the financial year of 1385–86, approximately £619 was spent on the walls. Despite the walls, during the Peasants Revolt of 1381, Wat Tyler and his army were able to enter Canterbury unopposed. 1399 saw another five years of murage granted, followed in 1402 by a final grant of three years.
Despite this, progress was not fast enough to suit the royal authorities. Richard II ordered the city to force workmen to repair the defences, and intervened in Canterbury's local elections in 1387 to ensure that two trusted bailiffs – Henry Lincoln and John Proude – were returned to office, in order for the King to have confidence in the walls being maintained. In 1403, Henry IV sent messages to the city complaining that the defences were not being adequately maintained, and that the city was still insecure.
15th–16th centuries