Printed and Published at the Dover Express Works. 1916.

TO BE FORMATTED

ANNALS OF DOVER.
SECTION FOUR.
THE HISTORY OF RELIGION.
V. THE ANCIENT CHURCHES OF DOVER.

Turning to the evidences of religious life in Dover, in
early times, outside the walls of the Priory, St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, and the Maison Dieu, we have to consider the seven
ancient Churches in Dover mentioned by local historians, and
two in adjoining parishes in its Liberties.

Within the narrow limits of the little town of Dover,
which had grown up along the Dour-side, the Canons of
Dover are said to have built seven Churches, namely: —

I. — St. Martin-le-Grand, Market Place.

2. — St. Martin-the-Less, King Street.

3.— St. Peter's, Market Place.

4. — St. Nicholas', Bench Street.

5. — St. John the Baptist, Biggin Street.

6. — St. Mary's, Cannon Street.

7. — St. James's, Warden Down.
Of these Churches probably all, with the exception of
St. Martin-the-Less, were built after the Conquest, and only
two of them — St. Mary's and St. James's — now remain. To
widen Bench Street, in 1836, the tower and ruins of St.
Nicholas' Church were removed. Some remains of St.
Peter's Church were found on the north side of the Market
Place when Lloyds Bank was built early in the Twentieth
Century. St. John's, in Biggin Ward, on the west side of
the street, not far below the Maison Dieu, was demolished
in 1537. St. Martin-the-Less was on the west side of King
Street, and probably was the original Saxon Church of St.
Martin. Of the Church of St. Martin-le-Grand, built after
the Conquest, there are some parts on the west of the
Market Place built into the modern premises of Messrs.
Hart and Co. and the Carlton Club. The Market Place,
in ancient times, was St. Martin's Churchyard, in the centre
of which was a cross around which the weekly market and
the annual St. Martin's Fair were held, under the jurisdiction
of the Prior of Dover until the Reformation.

It might be wondered what all these Churches were built
for, in such a circumscribed area ; but in those days church-
going was a great duty, in which rich and poor, old and
young, bond and free took part; and as the population in
the Century after the Conquest was supposed to be about
10,000, there were plenty to fill all those Churches. Those



THE HISTORY OF RELIGION. 1 85

seven centres of religious worsliip, grouped about the river
bank, with the chief Church of St. Martin-le-Grand in the
midst, formed a striking demonstration of the vitahty of
Christianity in Norman times.

Although the town of Dover, in ancient times, was not
reckoned to extend beyond the Maison Dieu, the bounds of
the Liberties included Charlton and part of Buckland ;
therefore, in considering the religious life of Dover in ancient
times, we must take in the Churches of those two parishes.

Buckland is the oldest, being mentioned in Domesday,
but that was a small Saxon Church, of which no trace is left.
Harris says it was a chapel, and for that reason was not
mentioned in the King's books. That old chapel was built
by the Canons of Dover, who erected rude structures, often
of wood, on the principal manors round Dover, for which
they, as land owners, were responsible. Godrie, one of the
Canons, having a residence there in the time of Edward the
Confessor, it is probable that this chapel was built for his
manor. Buckland did not share in the church building
activity which prevailed in Dover during the Norman Period.

Charlton Church, a small cruciform edifice, was built
on the right bank of the River Dour during the Primacy
of Archbishop Theobald, about the middle of the Twelfth
Century. The manor on which this Church was built was a
part of the possessions of the Dover Canons, and was held
as a prebend by a Canon named Lewin during the reign of
Edward the Confessor. A century later, during the process
of depriving the Canons and installing the Benedictine Monks
at the Dover Priory, this Charlton Manor was detached from
the Canons' lands and became the private property of one
of the Knights of Dover Castle. In the Thirteenth Century
it had become annexed to the Barony of Chilham, which
was then a knight's fee attached to Dover CasMe. This left
the rectory isolated, and the fact that the advowson was
held by an outsider may account for the Church remaining
small and the living poor for many centuries. There is in
the Lambeth Librar}' an interesting manuscript, dated 1258,
relating to land adjoining the Churchyard, which the Rector
had then bought, making it clear that the Prior of Dover had
then lost control of the Manor of Charkon.

Buckland Church was entirely re-built by the Monks of
Dover Priory in the Thirteenth Century, no traces of the old
Saxon Chapel having been left, although it is presumed that
the present building is on the site of the old one.



lS6 ANNALS OF DOVER.