Christ Church Gateway - Butter Market, Canterbury, UK - Official Local Tourism Attractions on Waymarking.com

The Britain Express website tells us:

The main visitor entrance to Canterbury Cathedral precinct is through this highly decorated gateway, which was originally built to celbrate the marriage of Arthur, Prince of Wales, to Catherine of Aragon in 1502. Arthur, unfortunately, died a few months later, and the gate was not finished for another 20 years.

It was worth the wait, however, as Christ Church Gateway is an extraordinary monument; it is highly embellished and decorated with heraldic motifs, includings coats of arms and mythical beasts.

At the centre, above the gateway arch, is a very large figure of Christ. This is a modern statue, replacing the orignal statue which was damaged during the Civil War by Parliamentary troops. Apparently the troops decided to use the statue for target practice, then, not content with the damage they had inflicted, attatched ropes to the statue and pulled it down.

There are two doors through the gate; a large door to the right, and a much smaller portal to the left. Both doors are beautifully carved and embellished with more heraldic symbols.

Christ Church Gateway has been the subject of numerous paintings over the years, including several by JMW Turner which can be seen in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the Tate Gallery in London.

The gateway is a Grade I listed building with the entry at the English Heritage website telling us:

The entrance to the Cathedral Precincts. Built in 1517 and restored by Caroe in the 1930s. 3 storeys ragstone and artificial stone. A square building with octagonal turrets Lierne-vaulted ground noon entered through a wide 4-centred arch and a foot arch. Rooms on 2 storeys above the vault. The lower floor has bands of shields on quatrefoils, the upper floor has half-length angels carrying shields. The heraldic shields commemorate Prince Asthur, the eldest son of Henry VII who died in 1502. The wooden doors are C17.

The Canterbury Historical & Archaeological website also tells us:

This gate is the principal entrance to the cathedral, from whose dedication to Christ it takes its name, and forms the dramatic highlight of the Buttermarket over which it stands.

History
Cathedral records,indicate the gate  was built between 1504 and 1521 with funds provided by Priors Goldstone and Goldwell.  This is despite the inscription of 1507 on the stonework “Hoc Opus constructum est anno Domini  millesimo Quingentesimo decimo septimo,” - a matter of ongoing dispute between historians.  It was probably built in honour of Prince Arthur, Henry VIII's elder brother who married to Catherine of Aragon in 1501.  He died the following year aged just 16, allowing Henry VIII to become King and marry Katherine himself in 1509.  Imagine the consternation of the sculptors responsible for the heraldry trying to keep up with changing family dynamics! The original statue of Christ and the wooden gates were destroyed by the Puritan iconoclast Richard Culmer in 1643. The gates were restored by Archbishop Juxon in 1660 and still bear his arms.  The original towers were torn down in 1803 by Jesse White, the surveyor to Cathedral, at the request of Alderman James Simmons. He wanted to see the Cathedral clock from his bank Simmons & Gipps, now the Lloyds Bank building on the High Street! The towers were replaced in 1937 during another restoration, this one funded by Dame Janet Stancomb-Wills (of the Wills tobacco family) and her sister.  The statue of Christ was replaced in 1990 after a gap of 347 years.

What to see
 

• The gate today constructed with a stone four centred arch and two stone faced brick stories above, surmounted by two octagonal towers , all decorated with blind perpendicular tracery.
   
• Arms of Tudor Dynasty including (centre) the royal arms supported by the Welsh Dragon and the white greyhound of Henry VII's father Edmund Tudor, (left) the Prince of Wales outside the Beaufort portcullis and (right) Spanish history in the arms of Catherine of Aragon (red and yellow of Aragon, castle of Castille, lions of Laon, eagles of Sicily and the pomegranate of Grenada) outside the Tudor rose.
   
• A 1990 bronze sculpture of Christ by Klaus Ringwald of Schonach, Germany, with the coat of arms of the Wills family  above the left shoulder.
   
• Very early renaissance pilaster and capitals, dating amongst the earliest in the country.
   
• A hermaphrodite, difficult to spot and possibly a mason having some fun!
   
• Within the gate the bosses of the stone vault include that of Prior Goldwell and the Archbishop of York.
   
• The rear of the gate (Image 9) including  two small statues, possibly  Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon.
   
• A scallop shell, symbol of baptism and pilgrimage, has been used to create the wooden frame over the interior of the gate.

Access:  The front of the gate can be viewed at all times, the rear between  0900-1600 by entrance fee to the cathedral or free between 1700-2100 (when entrance to the whole of the precincts is free).

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