St Edmund's Chapel, Priory Road, Dover, Kent, UK (2)

A front view of the tiny (28 x 14 feet) St Edmund's Chapel in Priory Street, Dover.

Click for more background info and to see a three-quarters view (front and righthand side).

Standard Info

A plaque on a nearby wall reads:

Saint Edmund's Chapel

This Chapel is the property of the Saint Edmund of Abingdon Memorial Trust

This Chapel was consecrated by St. Richard of Chicester on March 30th 1253. It is the first and only chapel ever dedicated by an English saint to the honour of an English saint and the first building ever dedicated to St. Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury 1234 - 1240.

On March 30th 1253, St. Richard preached his last sermon and said his last mass here. He died in the Maison Dieu, Dover on April 3rd, 1253. Laus Deo.

Prior to its restoration, I think the building had a connection with the Reverend/Chaplain Philip 'Tubby' Clayton's Talbot House organisation ('Toc H') - any info would be welcome

From "The History of the Castle, Town and Port of Dover" by Reverend S. P. H. Statham, Rector of St Mary-in-the-Castle (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899), page 209:

A Wayside Chapel.

The remains of a very interesting thirteenth century chapel are still to be seen hemmed in by the shops in Biggin Street and Priory Road. It is a small building some twenty-eight feet in length by fourteen broad. The walls, which are fairly intact, are built of rubble masonry two feet thick, with Caen stone quoins and dressings. The west doorway is plain pointed with roll mouldings. The north and south walls are pierced by two lancet windows each, widely splayed, and a moulded string course ran round the interior below their sills. The roof was of a good pitch, and had tie-beams, collars and struts. The chapel is now entirely given up to trade purposes and is difficult of access. We conjecture that it was erected by the canons of St. Martin's and St. Mary's Priory, and was used as a wayside chapel, although it is not impossible that it may be the remains of the Hospital of St. Bartholomew's Chapel.

[Journal of the British Archaeological Association, xl.]

Another contributory factor to St Edmund's Chapel survival was probably its location.

In the following link to an Old Dover photograph, for example, you can see how a shop called, "Bicknell's" once occupied what is now the chapel's forecourt: Old Dover: The Town Hall from Priory Road .

John Latter / Jorolat

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John Latter, on April 25, 2007, said:

A front view of the tiny (28 x 14 feet) St Edmund's Chapel in Priory Street, Dover.

It should be Priory Road, not Street.

John Latter / Jorolat

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A 2011 updated three-quarters view taken with a higher resolution camera:

The Unique St Edmund`s Chapel of Priory Road, Dover

Two 2011 night views of St Edmund's Chapel:

The Unique Medieval St Edmund`s Chapel at Night, Priory Road, Dover

Night View of the Unique St Edmund`s Chapel, Priory Road, Dover

questa cappella appartiene alla Via Francigena

zampailbassotto, on 16th of March 2012, said:

Questa cappella appartiene alla Via Francigena ("This chapel belongs to the Via Francigena")

Thank you, Zampailbassotto!

More information:

"The Via Francigena is a historical itinerary leading to Rome from Canterbury, a major route which in the past was used by thousands of pilgrims on their way to Rome."

ti invito ad entrare nel gruppo http://www.panoramio.com/group/68607 The Via francigena e dare il tuo contributo di conoscenza e foto per ricostruire questo tracciato che percorse il vescovo di Canterbury Wilibrando che per primo descrisse in forma di diario questo percorso in Toscana stiamo tentanto di ripristinarlo completamentte attraverso un tracciato pedonale Spero che ci siano iniziative sivili in Inghilterra francia e svizzire Un saluto dalla Toscana Complimenti per la tua ricerca storica che correda ogni tua foto