The Priory of St.
Mary the Virgin
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
and
St. Martin of the New Work, or Newark, commonly called Dover Priory, was a
priory
A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...
at
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
in southeast England. It was variously independent in rule, then occupied by
canons regular
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...
of the
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
rule, then finally monks of the
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
rule as a cell of
Christchurch Monastery, Canterbury.
The priory was located just east of what is now
Dover Priory railway station, in fact the railway was built on the western part of the site. Housing has been built on the eastern part of the site where the church once stood, between Priory Road and the later Effingham Street in the area of Norman Street and Saxon Street.
Dover College
, motto_translation = I cannot refuse the task
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding
, religion = Church of England
, headmaster = Simon Fisher
, r_head_label =
, r_head ...
, a private boarding school, occupies the land between the station and Effingham Street and has rescued some of the medieval buildings for use by its pupils. The 12th-century Strangers' Refectory on Effingham Street retains its function and is also used for concerts; the gateway to the priory is now a music school and the priory guesthouse has been consecrated as the school chapel.
History
Saxon origins
In the early 7th century, a community of 22
secular canon
A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule.
Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, ...
s was instituted in the Saxon
burgh
A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...
at
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some sources say it is the ...
by King
Eadbald of Kent (616-640), possibly related to the Saxon church of
St Mary de Castro there. Taking their existing rights and privileges with them, these canons were transferred to a new small church dedicated to St Martin in the land now occupied by Market Square towards the end of the 7th century, by King
Wihtred
Wihtred ( la, Wihtredus) ( – 23 April 725) was king of Kent from about 690 or 691 until his death. He was a son of Ecgberht I and a brother of Eadric. Wihtred ascended to the throne after a confused period in the 680s, which included ...
in fulfilment of a vow to that saint. Their living was dependent on land and tithe grants, and the grant of half of some of the dues levied at the port, held in common.
Odo
The original small church at Market Square was granted to
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux
Odo of Bayeux (died 1097), Earl of Kent and Bishop of Bayeux, was the maternal half-brother of William the Conqueror, and was, for a time, second in power after the King of England.
Early life
Odo was the son of William the Conqueror's mother ...
upon the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
. He rebuilt it on a grander scale, probably on or near the same site, and so was henceforth known as St. Martin's Le Grand (the Great). It was built above the much earlier foundations of
Roman baths
In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...
, with its churchyard covering most of the present Market Square.
New foundation
Since the Castle church, which had been their original Saxon home, was in some sense a Royal Chapel, the canons had always been a
Royal peculiar
A royal peculiar is a Church of England parish or church exempt from the jurisdiction of the diocese and the province in which it lies, and subject to the direct jurisdiction of the monarch, or in Cornwall by the duke.
Definition
The church par ...
, outside any episcopal control and only recognising the authority of the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
, and later the
Pope
The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
. The then
Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
,
William de Corbeil
William de Corbeil or William of Corbeil (21 November 1136) was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. Very little is known of William's early life or his family, except that he was born at Corbeil, south of Paris, and that he had two brothers. Ed ...
, wanted to bring an end to this and extend his influence to Dover. Therefore, in 1130, using the canons' behaviour as a pretext, he persuaded
Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the No ...
to give him a
charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
allowing him to transfer their assets to a new Priory of St Martin in Dover, whilst leaving their Market Square church to be used as the principal
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
of the town for the use of the townsfolk. The parish church remained dedicated to St Martin - the new priory was called "St. Martin's of the New Work", or "Newark", to distinguish it from the parish church - and under the new Priory's control (its few remains can now be seen on the western side of Market Square, near
Dover Museum.)
A site having been secured (probably from land that belonged to the former canons of St. Martin's le Grand), building began there in 1131, and within five years it was partially occupied by 12
canons regular
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...
as a Priory dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Martin. Archbishop
Theobald completed the buildings in about 1140 and in 1143 confirmed the transfer of the assets of St Martin le Grand and established that thereafter the new priory would follow the
Benedictine Rule and remain in possession of
the Cathedral church at Canterbury as a mere "cell", at the disposition of the
Archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
. Much controversy thus ensued over the following two centuries between the monks of the cathedral and the canons of Dover Priory.
1150-1500
King
Stephen was said to have died on a journey whilst staying at the Priory in 1154. Repaired and extended in 1231 after much damage in a fire of 1201, it was pillaged by the French in a raid in August 1295, during which a monk called Thomas de la Hale was murdered. Extensive repairs were made in the 1480s.
The abbey's church seems to have been a very large one - the
King's Commissioner sent to assess it by
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
(just prior to its dissolution) described it to him in a letter as "the fairest church in all that quarter of Kent." It was probably three times as long as St. Mary's Church in Dover, with a general plan perhaps comparable to
Repton Priory, or to the Cistercian
Stanley Abbey
Stanley Abbey was a medieval abbey near Chippenham, Wiltshire, England, which flourished between 1151 and 1536.
Foundation
The abbey was given by Empress Matilda in 1151 to monks from Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Originally at Loxwell, t ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. Its tower would have stood almost at the present junction of Effingham and Saxon Streets. Of its estimated area of about , about square of this were its
cloisters, with a
chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
joined to the church's
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
's north wall, and about an eighth was a
refectory.
It had an impressive scriptorium and library which vanished from the records at the Dissolution - parts of it re-appeared on the open market later and are now in colleges of the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, including the
Dover Bible
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
(one of only six surviving giant
Romanesque Bibles) in the
Parker Library
The Parker Library is a library within Corpus Christi College, Cambridge which contains rare books and manuscripts. It is known throughout the world due to its invaluable collection of over 600 manuscripts, particularly medieval texts, the ...
of
Corpus Christi.
Dissolution
In 1538 it was suppressed in the
Dissolution of the Monasteries. The inventory made of the Priory's goods just beforehand suggest that the monks were living in straitened circumstances by that time (although that may be a fictional pretext for dissolution), but that some provision was still made for the entertainment of visitors to the town.
After its suppression, leading townsmen plundered the buildings for stone, lead and other building materials, leaving just two barns, the gate-house, the refectory and a large hall still standing. Fishermen speaking in court in 1565, said that they had in the past taken their
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
s of fish to the Priory "whiles it stood".
[Canterbury Cathedral Library X.10.12] These buildings were adapted to agricultural use (apart from the 'large hall', which might have been used to house guests). The town records (the new
poor law
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
demanded that vagrants be rounded up periodically by the mayor and his officers for questioning and then usually ejected from the town) show that one of these buildings, known as the "Priory Barn", was frequently used as a refuge for
vagrants, particularly at times of poor harvests, plague and low employment such as the 1590s and 1620s. This may have been because of a folk memory of a time when the Priory, like other religious houses, was a place of refuge and hospitality for the poor.
Its lands were granted first to a cleric called Richard Thornden or Thornton, but passed on shortly afterwards to Archbishop
Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...
when Thornton received an important
benefice
A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...
. In December 1538, Cranmer leased them out to Henry Bingham of
Wingham, gentleman, on a 999-year lease, who then (as the Archbishop had always done when the monastery was still active) in turn leased them out to others. Probably some active, entrepreneurial men who were later to become very influential in the life of the town first came to Dover with the express purpose of exploiting the lands and tithes of this and other suppressed religious houses of the area.
Dover Priory (1b).jpg, Former ruins Where Dover Priory railway station now stands, 1780
Dover Priory (7d).jpg, Priory site, 1786
Dover Priory (6b).jpg, Priory gatehouse, 1829 (now occupied by Dover College)
18th and 19th centuries
Illustrations from the 18th and early 19th centuries of the Priory Farm show its decaying Norman buildings and its two ponds as a
picturesque ruin and a pleasant spot on the edge of the town. Upon the
Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...
's installation as
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom. The post dates from at least the 12th century, when the title was Keeper of the Coast, but may be older. The Lord Warden was originally in charge of the Cinqu ...
in August 1839, a grand fete was held in the Priory meadow.
Much of the buildings were demolished during the first half of the 19th century, including the two barns, one in the north-west corner of the grounds some time after 1850, and one in the south-west corner in 1868.
In 1840 the Priory site's owner (a farmer called John Coleman) the south-eastern parts of the enclosed site was let on a building lease to Parker Ayres. This damaged the remaining buildings but fortunately, between 1845 and 1847, the local cleric Dr. F.C.Plumptre had already noted everything he possibly could about the foundations of the original buildings. His reconstruction suggests that the builders probably created Effingham Street along the site of the dormitory, chapter house and transepts, Effingham Crescent along what might have been the reredorter, and Saxon Street and the houses and gardens of the north side of St. Martin's Hill along what was once the nave of the church.
From c.1840 to 1868, the local timber merchant Steriker Finnis leased or owned the western portion of the site. In 1868 the ponds were drained and this portion of the grounds became Priory Gate Road and part of the yard of
Dover Priory railway station.
Dover College
In 1869 Robert Chignell, who had a private school at Westmount, in Folkestone Road, leased part of the Priory buildings for a private school. He passed on his interest, however, to a group of leading citizens in Dover who had formed the Dover College Company to promote the foundation of a public school on what remained of the Priory site with the dual intention of providing a public school education for local boys and of using and thus preserving the Priory's remaining ancient buildings.
Dover College
, motto_translation = I cannot refuse the task
, established =
, closed =
, type = Public SchoolIndependent day and boarding
, religion = Church of England
, headmaster = Simon Fisher
, r_head_label =
, r_head ...
opened modestly in 1871. It acquired the large hall, or guest-house, in 1879 and converted it into a chapel for the school by enlarging the east end into an apse. In time, the Ecclesiastical Commissioners made over the whole property to the College Trustees. The Strangers' Refectory was restored and an important but damaged fresco was found there. The gatehouse was restored in 1881, to mark a charitable act by Sir Richard Dickenson the then mayor of Dover. Famous alumni of Dover College include
Simon Cowell, Air Marshal Sir Hugh Walmsley, Sir Frederick Ashton, J. Lee Thompson, Admiral Sir Peter White, George Lam, Michael Kuhn, Guy East, and Dai Fujikura.
Dover College gatehouse (1).jpg, Dover College gatehouse, before 1914
Dover College pageant (a).jpg, Priory 1136 foundation celebration, at Dover college, 1937
Dover College 5297834 f0807099.jpg, Dover College, 2016
See also
*
Maison Dieu, Dover
The Hospital of St Mary, Domus Dei, or Maison Dieu (Latin/Norman French – house of God), is a medieval building in Dover, England which forms the oldest part of Dover Town Hall. The Town Hall and remains of mediaeval Maison Dieu were Grade I ...
- across Priory Road, founded in 1203 to provide hospitality to pilgrims
*
St Edmund's Chapel
St Edmund's Chapel is a church in Dover, England, dedicated to St Edmund. It was completed in 1262 as a wayside chapel or chapel of rest for the cemetery for the poor beside the Maison Dieu, just outside the enclosed part of the medieval town ...
- a wayside chapel on Priory Road, serving a cemetery set up by the Priory
References
Bibliography
* - has old engravings of the priory
Further reading
* Includes photograph of the interior of the chapel (former guesten house).
* This is an introduction to the library catalogue of the Benedictine priory of St Martin at Dover, compiled by the precentor, John Whytefield, in 1389.
External links
Website of Dover MuseumPicture of Priory Building
{{Authority control
Monasteries in Kent
Augustinian monasteries in England
Benedictine monasteries in England
Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation
History of Dover, Kent
Buildings and structures in Dover, Kent
1130 establishments in England
1538 disestablishments in England
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
Former Royal Peculiars