Burgate

Burgate was one of the seven Roman gates of Durovenum Cantiacorum, was probably constructed around AD 270-90. As the point of entry of the Roman road from Richborough (Rutupiae), Burgate would have been one of the principal Roman gates and was probably similar in size and style to Roman Ridingate with two carriageways. During roadworks in 1988 the metallings of the Roman road, which predated the construction of the defences, were uncovered, but insufficient Roman material survived later remodelling to provide any more information about the form of the Roman gate., The gate remained an important one in Anglo-Saxon times when it became the main gate leading into the Inner Burgh of the town. Shortly after the arrival of St Augustine in AD 597, the first cathedral was established inside the gate and St Augustine's Abbey outside it. The abbey became the burial place for all the first archbishops and the early Christian kings of Kent., By the twelfth century documentary evidence suggests that, as at Northgate and Westgate, a church was associated with the gate. The earliest chapel, dedicated to St Michael, may have occupied a chamber above the carriageway, but from later in the Anglo-Saxon period the church was located on the north side of the gate against the inside of the city wall. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century wills record various bequests to the church, but in 1516 the parish was united with that of St George's. Most of the church was then dismantled, but a tower remained until 1684., Some building work, probably refurbishment and alterations to the church, took place at 'St Michael's Gate' in 1475. In 1502 plans were being made to completely rebuild the gate and the master mason Robert Vertue was consulted about this. He died in 1506, but it is thought likely that the new Burgate, completed in 1525, was built to plans submitted by him. The design of the gate, depicted on various maps and drawings, appears to have been more decorative than defensive. Brick was used in semi-octagonal towers. Over the centre Arch, three large windows were decorated with trefoil heads and were surrounded by plaques bearing the arms of citizens who had contributed towards the building work. (Two shields survive today rebuilt in the wall immediately to the north.), Some defensive features were included in the design of Burgate. There were gunloops on each of its three floors and the towers were surmounted by crenellations. A portcullis is depicted on a seventeenth-century map., Shortly after the dissolution of St Augustine's by Henry VIII in 1538 the gate was repaired using stone taken from demolished buildings at the abbey. In 1648, during the Civil War, the wooden doors in the gate were burnt by the Puritans. They were replaced in 1660 by Archbishop Juxon who also paid for new doors at Westgate, St George's Gate and Christ Church Gate. By the seventeenth century the gate had been convened into a dwelling. More windows were inserted and the central chamber and towers roofed with tile. This dwelling was in bad repair by 1781 and the middle part of the gateway was removed. The wooden doors were finally removed in 1785. In 1809 the south tower was taken down and in 1822 the north tower was demolished so that the street could be widened. The outline of the foundations of the 1525 gate is marked out in brick in the road., A map of c1640 shows houses built over one side of the ditch outside Burgate. Later in the seventeenth century a large timber-framed budding, was erected on the other side. This inn known as the 'Saracen's Head' since the 1690s, survived until 1969 when it was demolished to make way for the city's ring road., (French, German, and Dutch not transcribed)