St Mary Magdalene Tower - Burgate, Canterbury, UK
N 51° 16.707 E 001° 04.983
31U E 366300 N 5682535
The church of St Mary Magdalene was demolished in 1871 and the tower is all that remains.
Waymark Code: WME60C
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/08/2012
Views: 8
The plaque, on the western wall, reads:
"Church of St Mary Magdalene
Founded before 1165 Tower built 1505
Church demolished 1871
Richard Harris Barham
Author of 'Ingoldsby Legends'
baptised here 1788".
Within the tower, best viewed fro the eastern or southern sides is the monument
of the Whitfield family dated from about 1680.
The tower is Grade II listed and the entry at the English Heritage website (visit
link) reads:
"All that remains of St Mary Magdalen's Church. 1503. The front elevation is
stone faced, the side is of flint and rubble. 4 storeys having lancets with
foliated heads. First floor has a double lancer. Ground floor has a doorcase
with decorated spandrels. Cl7 memorials. A scheduled AM."
The Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society (visit
link) has the following information in respect to the tower:
"All that remains of the parish church of St Mary Magdalen is the tower in
Burgate standing close to the city’s Roman Catholic church, the lower courses of
the original church now forming a low garden wall. The church had 12th century
origins, and the surviving perpendicular gothic tower was built around 1500. The
writer Richard Harris Barham was baptised here in 1788. The church closed for
worship in 1866 and demolition of all but the tower took place in 1871. The
parish united with that of St Georges – but war damage to that church has left
us with two old parishes having no church but two towers between them. The font
was removed to River (near Dover), the arcades went to St George’s, and the
bells seem to have left for Madagascar!
What to see:
- Two plaques on the outside walls of the tower
giving basic history and dates - one also notes the baptism of Richard
Harris Barham here in 1788
- The memorial to John Whitfield housed behind
glass in the tower and floodlit at night – a remarkable Canterbury
benefactor who claimed to have invented the fire engine
- The wooden door to the ringing chamber which
still survives beside the feint traces of a spiral stair case.
Access: Free public access but the Whitfield memorial
is behind a fixed glass window."