Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION FOUR.
THE HISTORY OF RELIGION.
II. THE CANONS OF DOVER.

About the year 697, King Withred removed the College
of Secular Canons from their first location in the Castle to
a Church and Monastery which he built for them on the
left side of the River Dour, near the site of the present
Market Place. Some have assumed that the Church in
question was that which, after the Conquest, came to be
known as St. Martin-le-Grand ; but the ancient Canons'
Ward included the Market Place and King Street, while the
Canons' residences covered a considerable area south of
the Market Place, including Market Lane and Last Lane,
with a frontage to King Street. In this area, about the middle
of King Street, there are still under the surface the founda-
tions of a Church, which has been identified as that of St.
Martin-the-Less, and all the evidence available points to
this as having been the actual Church which Withred built
for the little colony of Secular Canons which he removed
from the Castle. The actual situation of that Saxon Church
of St. Martin is not a matter of clear documentary evidence ;
but Darell, in his history of Dover Castle, says that Withred
" built a Church in that very spot where, before the reign
of Arviragus, ships used to ride at anchor." The middle of
King Street, under which the foundations of St. Martin-the-
Less are, seems to agree with the above description better
than the higher level on the site of Market Street. However
that may be, it seems that the first Saxon Church of St.
Martin was, to a great extent, destroyed by fire at the
Norman Conquest, and the Collegiate Church of St. Martin
was built by the Conqueror's half-brother, Odo, Bishop of
Bayeux, in a style that entitled the fabric to the name St.
Martin-le-Grand.

We are as yet, however, more than three centuries in
advance of that Norman structure. When King Withred
built the residence of the Canons and their first Church on
the west side of the Dour, the valley was not regarded as
a safe place, the main part of the Civil population being
then clustered under the walls of the Castle and on the
unenclosed part of the hill-top next the sea-cliff. The
population, according to Darell, had two Churches — the



174 ANNALS OF DOVER.

ancient Church of St. Mary, in the fortress ; and a small
Church dedicated to St. Giles for the civil population.
When King \\ithred planted his little colony in the
valley they were followed by other inhabitants, and it
is stated by Darell: " That the people of Dover might
live in greater security and be better able to defend
themselves against their enemies in time of war, he
caused a wall for that purpose to be erected on the side
towards the sea."

The Secular Canons of Dover, who formed that Dour-
side Mission, were a remarkable body, and, as pioneers of
Christianity in East Kent, they had great privileges, being
free from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and responsible only to the Pope and to the King. They
were granted special franchises at a Royal Council held at
Bapchild A.D. 697, and, being directly patronised by the
King, their College was endowed with large grants of land.
For three centuries before the Norman Conquest the Canons
of Dover exercised a missionary influence, and were the
living embodiment of Christianity in I ) ver and East Kent.
The Gospel which they preached tinged with light and hope
the grey and toilsome lives of the tc.iants, borderers, and
bond-servants employed on the land ot some nineteen manors
around Dover. They were called Secular Canons because,
instead of being isolated in a monastery, they lived and
worked amongst their people, teaching them that the religion
which they proclaimed had to do with their daily lives and
conduct as well as their future state. These Canons were
in no sense monks ; they lived domestic lives as heads of
families on the manor lands of East Kent, as far inland as
Sibertswold, and as far north as St. John's, Thanet. On
their manors they had churches, at fir ;t constructed of wood,
but, later, more substantially built. A:^ the centuries rolled
on, towards the close of the Saxon Period, tney became
richly endowed, holding, in common, about 4,800 acres of
land. They would not have been human if this increase of
riches and dignities had not clogged their spiritual activities.
Eight of the Canons — Baldwin, Alwi, Spirites, Alric, Esmelt,
Lewin, Edwin and Aldred — were Chaplains of the King, and
it is alleged that in consequence their lives lost their primitive
purity and simplicity. They were ceri dnly exposed to the
envy and jealousy of the Norman ecclesiastics who came over
with the Conqueror, although they were not forthwith deprived



THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 1 75

of their land, as other Saxon landowners were. Their
Church was destroyed by the fire which occurred when the
Town and Castle were taken, and probably the greater part
of their dwellings were destroyed, for it is recorded that Odo,
the new Earl of Kent (better known as the Bishop of
Bayeux) provided dwellings for them annexed to their manors
at Sibertswold, Buckland, Charlton, Farthingloe, Guston,
and St. Margaret's-at-Clifife. This Odo had not the reputa-
tion of being a philanthropist. It is not recorded that he
provided a re-housing scheme for the poor burgesses of Dover
who were burned out at the Conquest, and it is assumed that
his great interest in the Canons of Dover was excited by
their wealth. At their expense he built the new Church
of St. Martin, in a style justifying its new name
of St. Martin-le-Grand, and befitting a rich collegiate
body. Also, it is probable, that under the guidance of Odo,
the Canons built other Churches soon after the Conquest,
in Dover, at St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe, and in Thanet. Odo
was noted for his greed in seizing Kentish manors which had
been held by Saxons, but he appears to have left the manors
held by the Canons of Dover untouched; and when Odo was.
banished by the Conqueror for insubordination, it was
alleged of the Canons, as a body, that their lives had
become tarnished by vice. Some say that they were
slandered for the purpose of having their wealth and
privileges transferred to a new religious house directly
controlled by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whether
there was any foundation for these slanders or not, the
transfer was eventually effected.



176 ANNALS OF DOVER.