V. THE ANCIENT CHURCHES OF DOVER.
Turning to the evidences of religious life in Dover, in early times, outside the walls of the Priory, St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and the Maison Dieu, we have to consider the seven ancient Churches in Dover mentioned by local historians, and two in adjoining parishes in its Liberties.
Within the narrow limits of the little town of Dover, which had grown up along the Dour-side, the Canons of Dover are said to have built seven Churches, namely: —
I. — St. Martin-le-Grand, Market Place.
2. — St. Martin-the-Less, King Street.
3.— St. Peter's, Market Place.
4. — St. Nicholas', Bench Street.
5. — St. John the Baptist, Biggin Street.
6. — St. Mary's, Cannon Street.
7. — St. James's, Warden Down.
Of these Churches probably all, with the exception of St. Martin-the-Less, were built after the Conquest, and only two of them — St. Mary's and St. James's — now remain. To widen Bench Street, in 1836, the tower and ruins of St. Nicholas' Church were removed. Some remains of St. Peter's Church were found on the north side of the Market Place when Lloyds Bank was built early in the Twentieth Century. St. John's, in Biggin Ward, on the west side of the street, not far below the Maison Dieu, was demolished in 1537. St. Martin-the-Less was on the west side of King Street, and probably was the original Saxon Church of St. Martin. Of the Church of St. Martin-le-Grand, built after the Conquest, there are some parts on the west of the Market Place built into the modern premises of Messrs. Hart and Co. and the Carlton Club. The Market Place, in ancient times, was St. Martin's Churchyard, in the centre of which was a cross around which the weekly market and the annual St. Martin's Fair were held, under the jurisdiction of the Prior of Dover until the Reformation.
It might be wondered what all these Churches were built for, in such a circumscribed area ; but in those days church- going was a great duty, in which rich and poor, old and young, bond and free took part; and as the population in the Century after the Conquest was supposed to be about 10,000, there were plenty to fill all those Churches. Those seven centres of religious worsliip, grouped about the river bank, with the chief Church of St. Martin-le-Grand in the midst, formed a striking demonstration of the vitahty of Christianity in Norman times.
Although the town of Dover, in ancient times, was not reckoned to extend beyond the Maison Dieu, the bounds of the Liberties included Charlton and part of Buckland ; therefore, in considering the religious life of Dover in ancient times, we must take in the Churches of those two parishes.
Buckland is the oldest, being mentioned in Domesday, but that was a small Saxon Church, of which no trace is left. Harris says it was a chapel, and for that reason was not mentioned in the King's books. That old chapel was built by the Canons of Dover, who erected rude structures, often of wood, on the principal manors round Dover, for which they, as land owners, were responsible. Godrie, one of the Canons, having a residence there in the time of Edward the Confessor, it is probable that this chapel was built for his manor. Buckland did not share in the church building activity which prevailed in Dover during the Norman Period.
Charlton Church, a small cruciform edifice, was built on the right bank of the River Dour during the Primacy of Archbishop Theobald, about the middle of the Twelfth Century. The manor on which this Church was built was a part of the possessions of the Dover Canons, and was held as a prebend by a Canon named Lewin during the reign of Edward the Confessor. A century later, during the process of depriving the Canons and installing the Benedictine Monks at the Dover Priory, this Charlton Manor was detached from the Canons' lands and became the private property of one of the Knights of Dover Castle. In the Thirteenth Century it had become annexed to the Barony of Chilham, which was then a knight's fee attached to Dover CasMe. This left the rectory isolated, and the fact that the advowson was held by an outsider may account for the Church remaining small and the living poor for many centuries. There is in the Lambeth Librar}' an interesting manuscript, dated 1258, relating to land adjoining the Churchyard, which the Rector had then bought, making it clear that the Prior of Dover had then lost control of the Manor of Charkon.
Buckland Church was entirely re-built by the Monks of Dover Priory in the Thirteenth Century, no traces of the old Saxon Chapel having been left, although it is presumed that the present building is on the site of the old one.