CANTERBURY CASTLE

Kent

In a City like Canterbury a ruined Castle such as this one vanishes amongst the wealth of spectacular ancient buildings.  But that is perhaps a little unfair, in a lesser town a keep with the huge size of Canterbury Castle would be the centrepiece of the tourist trade, still when you have the most important Cathedral in the country what can you do!

Canterbury's keep is indeed massive, and was once much bigger, at least one more storey bigger. There was almost certain a wooden Castle in Canterbury first of all; possibly even built by the Conqueror on his somewhat erratic route from Hastings to London.  It seems very likely though that the huge stone keep we see today was the work of Hubert de Burgh who was Constable not only of Canterbury but of Dover, Rochester, Windsor, Odiham, Hertford and Colchester Castles!  A busy man indeed.

Although an integral part of Canterbury's extensive City Walls, the Castle spent most of its life serving as a prison - and a particularly unpleasant one by all accounts.  It was almost brought back to life at the end of the Civil War, but the treaty was signed before it could be brought into action - which was probably as well as it was hardly defensible by this point.

An attempt was made in 1817 to demolish the keep, the remainder of the Castle having long gone. The attempt was abandoned after only one storey had been removed so strong was the Castle's structure.  For years the Castle was used by the Council first as a coal store and then as a tool store - before finally being re-opened to the public fully in 1996.

At long last Canterbury Castle is being given the place it deserves amongst Canterbury's riches.

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© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. Müller and Roy Barton
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2018