Recycling Roman Canterbury

By Sydney Burgess

The Historic Towns Trust map of Canterbury offers a view of the centuries of societies that have occupied Canterbury. One of the oldest of these is Romano-Britain, in which, after the Roman conquest of Britain in AD 43, the Roman town of Durovernum Cantiacorum was established. It once boasted baths, temples, theatres and townhouses, but today, very little of this survives above ground. However, using the multi-period view HTT map, it becomes evident that rather than disappearing completely, Roman Canterbury was gradually taken apart and reused. Its materials were recycled, and its layout adapted. In many ways, the medieval city that followed was not simply built on top of the Roman one, but was built from it.

One of the clearest examples of this is in the street layout. Roman towns were often carefully planned, with straight roads and organised grids. In Canterbury, these routes can still be traced. For instance, major roads from the Iron Age, such as the route from Richborough (Rutupiae) to Londinium, continued to shape the roads long after the Roman period ended. On the Historic Towns Trust map, you can see streets running in strong east–west and north–south lines still following these earlier alignments. (Figure 1) Watling Street, for example, had previously run straight through the town. There were many practical reasons for this continuity. Reusing existing roads meant builders could take advantage of solid foundations and drainage systems, saving time and labour. Over time, this created a layered city where each generation built upon the decisions of the last.

Figure 1: Extract from HTT’s Canterbury map showing Watling Road on the East-West side.

This pattern of reuse is also visible in the berthas, shown on the map as dark blue dashed lines. (Figure 2) These mark early Anglo-Saxon land divisions and appear to converge largely in the centre of what was the Roman settlement. There are also boundaries of medieval precincts, these were enclosed areas controlled by the church, including the precinct around Canterbury Cathedral. These boundaries were shaped by the existing city layout already begun by the Romans and therefore show how later communities adapted inherited spaces rather than starting again. 

Figure 2: Extract from HTT’s Canterbury map showing boundaries of berthas.

The city walls seen in the HTT map provide another striking example of historical recycling. The thin red circuit on the map marks the medieval walls that followed the line of earlier Roman defences, built largely between 270 and 290 AD. The maintenance of which was funded in part by medieval taxes known as murage. Although later rebuilt and modified, these walls heavily contain reused Roman stonework from the 14^th century. Primarily, these materials included Kentish ragstone and tile-laced flint. Medieval builders often quarried abandoned Roman buildings within the city, repurposing their materials for new construction. The rubble stonework can be seen most evidently in the north wall at St Mary Northgate, where part of the Roman masonry was incorporated into the Church structure in the 1300s, and at parts near Dane John Gardens. (Figure 3) In this way, the Roman city literally became part of the medieval one. 

Figure 3: Photograph of Roman materials used in St Mary Northgate (Source: https://www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/northgate) 

Extending this, Roman gates along the walls were also not simply abandoned but incorporated into the medieval city in a variety of ways. Many medieval gates were constructed directly on Roman foundations. On the map, the gates are positioned at intervals around the city wall, marking the points where major roads entered and exited Canterbury. These gateways, such as Westgate (D5), Burgate (G4) and Northgate (F6), show how the Roman street system continued to shape the medieval city. In some cases, elements of the Roman structures themselves were reused and modified, such as at the Riding Gate (F3), where Roman arches were blocked and reshaped. (Figure 4) 

Figure 4: Extract from HTT’s Canterbury map showing the Roman Riding Gate in F3.

Just beyond these walls stands St Martin's Church, one of the oldest churches in England. The map highlights it as an early religious site, marked by a blue dashed square filled with blue lines. This too contains Roman materials reused in its construction, in particular Roman bricks. The church is closely linked to Bertha of Kent, and its survival reflects a continuity of use stretching back to the Roman period. This reinforces the idea that early Christian Canterbury developed by adapting and reusing existing Roman and pre-Roman landscapes rather than replacing them entirely. (Figure 5)

Figure 5: Extract from HTT’s Canterbury map showing St Martin’s Church. 

Ultimately, it becomes clear how the HTT map reveals a city shaped by continuous adaptation. Roman roads became medieval streets, Roman walls became medieval defences, and older landscapes guided later boundaries. Canterbury was not rebuilt from scratch; it evolved by reusing what already existed. The result is a richly layered urban landscape, where the HTT map exposes traces of the Roman past that are still embedded in the streets and structures of the city today.