1253 AD St Edmund's Chapel, Priory Road, Dover CT16 1BB, UK

St Edmund's Chapel is probably the smallest church in England still in regular use (1):

The path on the right is "St Edmund's Walk" and leads to the Biggin Street shopping precinct.

Hidden for 400 years, the chapel was restored to public view during the Second World War following a German artillery bombardment in 1943 that demolished two of the surrounding buildings (one of which was "Bicknell's", H. R. Bicknell, a newsagent and tobacconist, also of Priory Road).

This 13th century building, some 28 feet by 14 feet, is the only chapel dedicated by one English saint, St Richard of Chichester, to another English saint, St Edmund of Abingdon (Edmund Rich, or Edmund of Canterbury, consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury on 2 April 1234):

Extracted from information plaque: "St Richard celebrates the Eucharist in the Chapel of St Edmund."

St Edmund's Chapel, built in 1253, is now a Listed Building and originally belonged to the Maison Dieu, which ministered to pilgrims, and was under the control of a Master appointed by St Martin's Priory, then the most important institution in the medieval town except for Dover Castle.

A 'Cemetery of the Poor' had been established outside the Priory and the Town Walls, and the chapel was built in its grounds, probably as a Chapel of Rest,

It was consecrated in 1253 by Richard, Bishop of Chichester, in the name of Edmund, a former Archbishop of Canterbury under whom Richard had first studied and who was canonized in 1246:

Richard fell ill and died in the Maison Dieu only 4 days later. Before his body was returned to Chichester Cathedral for burial, his internal organs were removed and buried in a Cist, or pit, under the Chapel altar. This Cist, now empty, can still be seen.

When Richard was canonized in 1262. St Edmund's Chapel became a place of pilgrimage in its own right. It is still the only church in existence that was dedicated to one English Saint by another.

After the Reformation in 1534. the Priory, the Maison Dieu and St Edmunds were forced to close. The chapel was surrendered to King Henry VIII in 1544 (Dissolution of the Monasteries).

Over the years, new buildings concealed the old chapel and its sacred status was forgotten.

It had many uses including, in late Victorian times, use as a blacksmith's forge.

In 1965 Father Tanner, Dover's Roman Catholic Parish Priest, arranged for both the private purchase of the chapel and its restoration, using only genuine medieval materials - at least 75% of the building is original however:

Extracted from information plaque: "1965 restoration of the building"

The Chapel was re-consecrated in 1968 and is now owned by a charitable trust who maintain it solely from gifts placed in the wall boxes.

A nighttime photograph of St Edmund's Chapel that was taken on the 8th of January 2011:

Extract from "The History of the Castle, Town and Port of Dover" by Reverend S. P. H. Statham, Rector of St Mary-in-the-Castle (Longmans, Green, and Co., 1899), page 209:

A Wayside Chapel

    The remains of a very interesting thirteenth century chapel are still to be seen hemmed in by the shops in Biggin Street and Priory Road. It is a small building some twenty-eight feet in length by fourteen broad. 

The walls, which are fairly intact, are built of rubble masonry two feet thick, with Caen stone quoins and dressings. The west doorway is plain pointed with roll mouldings. 

The north and south walls are pierced by two lancet windows each, widely splayed, and a moulded string course ran round the interior below their sills. The roof was of a good pitch, and had tie-beams, collars and struts. 

The chapel is now entirely given up to trade purposes and is difficult of access. 

We conjecture that it was erected by the canons of St. Martin's and St. Mary's Priory, and was used as a wayside chapel, although it is not impossible that it may be the remains of the Hospital of St. Bartholomew's Chapel.

In addition to once being a victualling store for the Royal Navy, a store room, and a blacksmith's forge, prior to the 1965 restoration St Edmund's Chapel was also a Talbot House (Toc H) meeting place.

Internal views of St Edmund's Chapel can be seen in the photo section of the St Edmund Of Abingdon Facebook page.

The main (first) photograph was taken on the 6th of April 2020 during a permitted Coronavirus bike ride.

Covid-19 lockdown: a cycling route map and biometrics can be seen on this Polar Flow web page.

Abridged versions of this post are also on  Facebook and Twitter.

(1) From St Edmund's Chapel

Sundial of St Mary the Virgin Parish Church, Dover, England, UK

The sundial is located 30 feet above ground level on the southern side of the 12th century Norman West Tower, or Bell Tower, as shown in the third photograph.

It is a vertically-declining sundial and was installed in 1656 during the time of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth that followed the English Civil War.

There are no markings on the sundial:

The 1914 publication, Ye Sundial Booke by T. Geoffrey W. Henslow contains a drawing of the sundial and a verse that is attributed to it:

This is a photo of the Bell Tower showing the sundial and weather vane that I took some years ago:

The earliest remains found on the site of St Mary's are of Roman Baths beneath a Saxon church.

The Saxon building was burned down in the Invasion of Dover that followed William the Conquerors victory over King Harold of England at Battle, near Hastings in 1066.

This St Mary's Church web page currently states:

In light of the Government guidance, the Church of England has said that all churches are to close to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The church is a Grade II* Listed Building.

The photo was taken on the 5th of April 2020 during a permitted Coronavirus lockdown bike ride from the point marked "P2" on the map :

Cycle route: Tower Hamlets, Buckland Bridge, St Mary the Virgin church, Eastern Docks, sea front, Marina, Dover Priory station, then back to Robsons Yard in Tower Hamlets.

Original map and biometrics are on this Polar Flow web page.

Abbreviated versions of this post are also on Facebook and Twitter.

Gatehouse Ruins of St Radigund's Abbey, Bradsole, Dover, UK

Gatehouse Ruins of St Radigund's Abbey, Bradsole, Dover, UK

The photo was taken on a permitted coronavirus lockdown bike ride (route map below). Note that Radigund is a modern spelling of Radegund:

St. Radegund's Abbey at Bradsole was a medieval monastic house in the parish of Hougham Without near Dover in southeast England.

It was dedicated to Radegund, the sixth-century Merovingian princess, who, once married to the unsavory King Chlothar I, turned to a life of asceticism and charitable works.

The remains of the abbey buildings have since have been incorporated into a farm:

The abbey was founded in 1191 on the land of Bradsole Manor, which had been donated by King Richard I.

The community was established by Premonstratensian Canons sent over from the mother abbey of Prémontré in Aisne, France, and building commenced in 1191, lasting some fifty years.

Although the abbey benefitted from its control of several local churches, the site itself proved fairly inhospitable.

By the end of the 13th century the monks were occupied in increasingly secular activities such as supervising the building of Dover Castle.

And by the end of the following century the monastic buildings had fallen into a state of neglect, with only 8 canons still in residence.

In 1538 the abbey was dissolved as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries and much of the stone carried away to help build Sandgate Castle.

The site was sold to Simon Edolph in 1590, who converted the refectory building into a farmhouse. Still standing, it is a Grade II* listed building.

The remaining ruins, part of which act as a gateway to the farmhouse, have also been Grade II* listed.

Source: St. Radegund's Abbey

The location the photo was taken from is marked "P1" on the  map at the bottom left hand corner of the red triangle:

Cycle route: Tower Hamlets in Dover to St Radigunds Abbey via Coombe Valley. From ruins of St Radigunds Abbey to Kearsney Abbey via Minnis Lane. Returned to Dover through the village of River.

Original map and biometrics are on this Polar Flow web page.

Abbreviated versions of this post are also on Facebook and Twitter.