The unique remnant of this lane is known as Quenengate or Queeningate
Lane, and if we can borrow a canon's key and pass through the Norman
archway of the Bowling Green, near the east end of the Cathedral, we
may see not only Queeningate Lane but also the postern door in the
outer wall through which Queen Bertha, in the sixth century, went to
her daily prayer at St. Martin's. Nay, as we open that door we are
face to face with the turreted fourteenth-century gateway of St.
Augustine's, founded by and named after the great man, and once
ranking second only to Subiaco among the Benedictine monasteries of
Europe. Time was when St. Augustine's looked down upon Christ Church,
as upon a little brother who should not presume. When, at the
invitation of Edward I, Archbishop Peckham went to the Abbey to dine,
he was refused admission, unless he would lower his cross or crozier
on entering. He declined this indignity, and was absent from the royal
dinner-party. Ethelbert's Tower, a splendid remnant of the Norman
abbey church, stood till 1822, when it was battered down by the
Philistines to provide cheap building material and make room for a
tea-garden. In Bede's time this church had a tomb inscribed: "Here
resteth the Lord Augustine, first Archbishop of Canterbury A.D. 605".
To share the sanctity of a spot so consecrated, saints, nobles, and
kings were brought hither on their last journey. Cuthbert turned the
tide when he so cunningly gained the right of sepulture for Christ
Church, and eventually, as we know, Becket's shrine quite eclipsed St.
Augustine's. After the dissolution the abbey became for a time a
royal lodge, and Queen Elizabeth and the First and Second Charles have
occupied the guest-chamber over the gateway.
Returning to the Precincts, we are again reminded that the makers of
Canterbury were the pilgrims and the monks. Of the three houses on our
right, the first is Master Omer's, the guest-house for pilgrims where
Odet de Coligny was murdered; the second incorporates part of the
infirmary; the third was its frater and kitchen; while the long arcade
of ruins, still reddened with the fire of 700 years ago, and
stretching along the north side of the choir to the Dark Entry, was
the monks' hospital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account