Kent Past
The History of Kent
Copyright Kent Past 2010
St Mary in Castro -
St Mary in Castro, or St Mary de Castro, is a church in the grounds of Dover Castle.
It is a heavily restored Saxon structure, built next to a Roman lighthouse which
became the church bell-
The Romans built forts here in c. 130AD and c. 270AD, and the
town had fortifications from many eras since. The Romans also built two pharoses
on the Eastern and Western Heights above the gap in the cliffs. St Mary in Castro
is on the Eastern Heights.
There are records of a church being built within the castle
by Eadbald of Kent in the 630s. However, it is unclear whether this means within
the Saxon burgh (usually dated to later than 630) on the Eastern Heights, or within
the ruins of old Roman fortifications in the valley. The large, late-
Tiles
from the octagonal Roman pharos were reused in the Saxon church.
Whether or not it
had a predecessor, the present Saxon church was built on the Eastern Heights around
the 9th Century. It is immediately adjacent to the surviving eastern pharos, which
was used as a source of spolia: Roman tiles can be still be seen in the church fabric,
particularly in the window arches (usually of stone), and flint and tile from the
pharos is used throughout the church's walls. The plinth that projects out from beneath
the church and on which it stands, however, is of new stone. The church is cruciform
with a central tower the same width as the nave but broader than the chancel and
transepts. The nave has no aisles. The door arch is the earliest to survive in any
standing church in England.
The Early English vault and the altar recess in the nave's
southeast corner of the nave were probably both added to the existing church at the
end of the twelfth century. As part of his building works at the castle, in 1226
Henry III instructed that the church be repaired and twenty-
A new stage was added to the
four surviving Roman stages (out of a possible original eight) of the pharos to turn
it into a bell tower, together with a short passage to connect it to the church.
In 1252, three bells were cast at Canterbury to be hung in the pharos. In 1342-
Other works on the church
included repainting between 1324 and 1334 by John of Maidstone. The latter work was
by Sir Edward Poynings, who may well have been deputising for Prince Henry, then
the Castle's Constable.
From 1555 to 1557 the church was walled up as it was unsafe
due to lack of repairs, though nineteen years later recommendations were made to
repair the chancel in stone, glaze (or reglaze) the windows and provide seats for
men to hear divine service. It took another six years, but in 1582, fourteen small
chairs were, at last, bought. Public worship then lasted until 1690, though burials
of troops from the garrison in the surrounding churchyard continued for some time
after that.
The remaining ruin was turned into a storehouse and cooperage in 1780,
but a further collapse in 1801 led to its becoming a coal store by 1808, and thus
it remained until 1860. That year began the first of two Victorian restorations.
The first lasted until 1862 and was carried out by George Gilbert Scott, and the
second restoration for only a year in 1888, by William Butterfield. Butterfield's
restoration completed the tower and added mosaic work in the nave and a vestry, but
was generally held to be less sympathetic than the first by Scott.
Today Saint Mary
in Castro is still a thriving church serving the Army and local people, and is the
Dover Garrison Church. The Dover Castle Statutes of 1267 on display in Saint Mary
in Castro offer a fascinating insight into life in Dover Castle during the medieval
age. The Statutes demand order and discipline from the guards, with heavy penalties
imposed on any who swear or brawl; they lay-
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