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St. Mildred's Church, Canterbury, England

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This ancient church is the oldest pre-Norman Conquest (1066) church still standing within the city walls of Canterbury. It is a few short steps from the remains of Canterbury Castle.

St. Mildreds dates back to the Saxon period, but was badly damaged by a fire in 1246. Much of the current building is 13th century. The large quoins of the south west corner of the church are reused Roman stones. The majority of the windows are 14th century, while the north aisle was added in 1486.

One of the most interesting features of the interior is the king-post roof construction. This is 14th century work, and utilizes huge timbers.

Another interesting feature is the font. This is fairly plain, and dates to 1420. What makes it interesting, though, is that it retains its original cover and lifting mechanism for raising the cover. The carved bench ends date from 1520 and were brought from St John's church when that building was demolished.

The south east chapel was built in 1512 by Thomas Attwood, four times Mayor of Canterbury. Unusually, a small fireplace is set into the wall of the chapel. Just above and to the left of the fireplace is a window containing a small section of 13th century stained glass depicting St Mildred.

Near the pulpit is a monument to Sir Thomas Cranmer (d. 1640). Cranmer was the nephew of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer of Reformation fame.

In the churchyard, behind the east end of the church, is the grave of Alderman Simmons, who donated Dane John Gardens to the city of Canterbury.

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Canterbury Castle is a Norman Castle in Canterbury. It was one of the three original Royal castles of Kent (the other two being Rochester Castle and Dover Castle). They were all built soon after the Battle of Hastings on the main Roman road from Dover to London. This was the route taken by William the Conqueror in October 1066, and they were built originally as motte-and-bailey castles to guard this important route.

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