The Ethelbert Tower of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury

Abstract

The great Romanesque church of the abbey of St Augustine, Canterbury, was begun shortly after 1070 and was probably substantially complete by the end of the century. Now almost totally destroyed, its west façade was an imposing one with two great towers. One of these, the so-called Ethelbert Tower, survived the general destruction following the Dissolution mostly intact. Its gradual decay, collapse, and final demolition in 1822 is recorded in a series of drawings and prints, beginning c.1615, which allow a reconstruction of the tower in some detail. Usually dated as late as 1120–30, it is here suggested that the internal spatial relationship of the tower to the former nave and aisles indicate that the construction of the west towers and façade must have proceeded simultaneously with the west bays of the nave, c. 1100, at least up to the eaves level, if not, as is more likely, for their full height. Consequently, the chevron ornament which appeared in the Ethelbert Tower's lower stages is to be dated prior to the appearance of the motif at Durham Cathedral, c. 1110, and should not he used, as it has been, to date the tower (and façade) to the third decade of the twelfth century. The abbey's twin-tower façade would have been one of the earliest completed in Great Britain, and could have served as the model for that of Durham (and Westminster Abbey) with regard to the integration of the towers into the basic design of the nave.