Historic Buildings Group Conference 2024
On Saturday 5th October over 40 people attended the Historic Buildings Group (HBG) Conference, the first since 2019, at Aylesford Priory with the theme ‘Kent’s Religious Houses’.
After a Welcome by HBG Chairman Debbie Goacher, David Carder gave a talk entitled Introduction to Kent’s Religious Houses. He discussed the various types of medieval religious houses - monasteries, houses of canons, secular colleges, houses of the military orders, hospitals and granges - and the various orders who occupied them.
After discussing the typical layout of a monastery, David briefly described most of Kent’s 50-odd religious houses, excluding hospitals. The most significant order was the Benedictine Monks who controlled the three largest monasteries: Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, and Rochester Cathedral. These all have significant monastic remains, as does the Augustinian Abbey at Lesnes, now in Greater London, but for most of the other Kent houses what little remains has often been converted to secular use. Perhaps the most extreme case was St Saviour’s Abbey, Faversham, a very large Benedictine house of which almost nothing survives above ground.
Of Kent’s twelve Friaries only four have any significant remains, the most complete being Aylesford, and all their churches have gone. By contrast, the churches of all but one of Kent’s ten Secular Colleges have survived as parish churches, with Maidstone, Wye and most notably Cobham also retaining some medieval collegiate buildings.
[fg]jpg|Fig 1. Former entrance route to Aylesford Priory, leading towards Outer Gatehouse. View from N.|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Fig 2. Aylesford Priory - Former Cloisters. View from NE.|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Fig 3. Aylesford Priory - Medieval roof structure of present ‘Pilgrims Hall’. View to N.|Image[/fg]
In her talk ‘The Priory’, Orpington: exploring an ecclesiastical estate centre, Dr Janet Clayton explained that the building known as ‘Orpington Priory’ was never a religious centre but simply a grange or manor of Canterbury Cathedral which it was given in 1032 - the name ‘Priory’ is post-Reformation.
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Domesday Book shows that the local estates were re- distributed following the Norman Conquest: Canterbury Cathedral retained Greater Orpington, with three mills and two churches, but the ‘Archbishop’s knight’ now held Little Orpington and Bishop Odo now held Sandling and South Cray. These estates could broadly be identified on historic Ordnance Survey maps.
The Priory and its outbuildings could be traced back to 1290 using documentary sources which show that a new hall and chapel were built in the 13th century with further improvements in the 1470s, including extra chambers.
Apart from its use as a local estate centre, it also provided accommodation for church officials and for the parish priest.
After the Reformation, the Archbishop retained the Priory but the land went to the Crown. Eventually it was sold and it remained in private hands until 1947 when it was acquired by the local authority. It was subsequently used as a library, in an extension built in 1961, and museum, but these had both closed by 2016. It is now used as artists’ studios.
The surviving fabric has building phases dating from c.1393 and c.1471 for the stone-walled buildings, while the roof timbers in the timber-framed service wing have been dendro-dated to 1521.
The morning’s final talk was Medieval Hospitals by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh, who explained that Kent was very rich in medieval hospitals and almshouses with over 70 recorded, the largest number being along Watling Street - Canterbury had eight. However the idea of a ‘typical’ arrangement’ did not really apply in Kent; by and large Kent’s hospitals adopted a wide range of layouts influenced by pragmatism, the identity of the patron and whether the hospital was urban or rural. Moreover the layout often changed over time.
Sheila identified four main types, based on their use, with examples: for lepers (St Nicholas, Harbledown, and St Bartholomew, Chatham); for the poor and infirm (St John, Canterbury); for poor pilgrims (St Thomas (Eastbridge), Canterbury, and St Mary (Maison Dieu), Ospringe); and later medieval almshouses (St Bartholomew, Sandwich, and St Mary (Poor Priests’), Canterbury).
She then discussed the ways in which hospitals adapted in the late medieval period, such as restricting the types of sick persons housed and officially banning corrodians but then admitting some. Moreover there was increasing emphasis on working for the hospital’s community - in the brewhouse, bakehouse, and home farm - as well as chantry provision, schooling, alms as out-relief and the community of the living and the dead. Finally, in the early Tudor period, there was a move away from communal living in dormitories to living in [pg26]individual dwellings; chimneys were introduced and there were changes to the value placed on communal feasts and other rituals, and to the gender balance of residents.
[fg]jpg|Fig 4 and Fig 5. Progress on the SPAB old house project.|Image[/fg]
[fg]jpg|Fig 6. St. Andrew’s Chapel. External east wall of former chapel, with adjacent timber-framed south east wing. View from NE.|Image[/fg]
After lunch, Jonny Garlick and Matthew Slocombe of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) gave a talk entitled Boxley Abbey and St Andrew’s Chapel: the SPAB’s Old House Project. Starting with SPAB’s history, conservation approach and some recent projects, they then discussed the archaeological and historical research recently carried out on the Cistercian Abbey of St Mary, Boxley, and in particular its 15th century outlying chapel of St Andrew, known as the ‘Old House’. It was converted into a house in the late C16 or early C17 and within living memory had been a grocer’s shop and post office, but was then unoccupied for many years and had fallen into serious disrepair. It was purchased by SPAB in 2018 to be an exemplar in sensitive conservative repair and to provide opportunities for craft training and working parties[fn1].
The Conference ended with a short talk on Aylesford Priory by David Carder, who briefly outlined its history and buildings. It was a house of Carmelite Friars from its foundation in c.1242 until its dissolution in 1538, after which it was converted for secular use and passed through several private owners until 1949 when the Carmelites were able to purchase and re-establish it, building several new chapels and other accommodation.
David and Debbie Goacher then guided two groups on tours of the Priory, looking at the various pre- and post- Reformation buildings .
The venue was ideally suited to the Conference theme, and by general consent the day was very successful. The HBG hope to run another Conference in 2025.
All photographs by D. Goacher, except Fig 4. & Fig 5. courtesy of SPAB/Jonny Garlick.
[fg]jpg|Fig 7. St. Andrew’s Chapel. Viewing interior of South east wing, with re-opened timber doorway, during recent visit of November 2024. View to E.|Image[/fg]
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For further information on Aylesford Priory you can access two articles via the valuable research resource, the Internet Archive, the issues are dated Oct 27th and Nov 3rd 1923. Also see article ‘The Carmelite Friary of Aylfesford’ By Hugh Braun in Arch. Cant. Vol. 63 1951.
[fn]1|Following interest expressed at the conference, Jonny Garlick of the SPAB offered several dates for visits to St. Andrew’s Chapel - subject of the SPAB OHP, (near Boxley Abbey). Several KAS members and conference attendees enjoyed the opportunity to visit the site in November 2024.[/fn]