St Edmund`s Chapel's Church, Dover , Kent

St Edmund`s Chapel's Church, Dover Church

Image Source: Rob Baker

Affectionately nicknamed 'The Miracle Chapel,' here is a heartwarming example of a long lost medieval chapel being rediscovered, restored and then brought back into ecclesiastical use after a gap of over 400 years. Measuring only 28ft by 14ft, it is a tiny single-cell structure built between 1252-53 as a cemetery chapel for the town's poor. It was administered by the monks of St. Martin's Priory. It was dedicated by Bishop Richard of Chichester in memory of his friend and teacher, St. Edmund of Abingdon, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1233 until his death in 1240. Richard himself died four days later at the Maison Dieu, Dover's medieval pilgrims hospital located barely a hundred yards away. Although his body was taken to Chichester for a ceremonial funeral, his internal organs were buried in a cist in the chapel floor, now partly covered by the reconstructed 20th century altar. Richard was later canonised, and the chapel later became a place of pilgrimage. Today it remains the only place of worship dedicated by one English saint to another. Like many other chapels in monastic use, St. Edmund's was dissolved in 1544 during the Reformation. The building then went through a long period of secular use. It was used as a victuallers store for the Navy before being converted into a two-storey dwelling and later used as a smithy. In the 18th and 19th centuries various buildings were built around it, and consequently it was largely forgotten about until 1943. During World War II bomb damage resulted in the demolition of some of these later buildings leading to the chapel's eventual rediscovery. During the 1960s the Parish Priest of Dover's Roman Catholic church of St. Paul's, the Rev. Fr. Terence E. Tanner, took a keen interest in restoring it to ecclesiastical use. He had to battle against the town council, who considered it of no historic value and planned to demolish it as part of a (now abandoned) road widening scheme.Including much support from local Anglicans, in particular those from Dover's Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin, it was purchased in 1965 and restored during 1966-67.The consultant architect, Anthony Swaine, used a variety of medieval materials to restore the chapel.The roof structure contains re-used beams from a medieval barn; while the 12th century flagstones came from Faversham Abbey. These have been laid alongside an original cobblestoned floor dating from the 14th century. The Rev. Fr. Tanner's ashes have been interred in the floor close to the altar.The altar was reconstructed using recovered stone from the Bell Harry Tower at Canterbury Cathedral. The mensa (top slab) came from a farmyard adjacent to St. Clement's church at Old Romney. The modern crucifix on the east wall was manufactured by Robert Forsyth. It is officially a non-denominational chapel and can be used by any Christian church. Each Saturday at 10.00 it hosts a Parish Mass administered by clergy from Dover's Roman Catholic church of St. Paul's. In 2014, Justin Welby said prayers in this chapel, marking the first time since the Middle Ages that a serving Archbishop of Canterbury had both visited and worshipped in this ancient and very spiritual place. Text by Rob Baker

1851 Census Details

None

Architecture Details

Original Build Date/Architect: Medieval

Restoration: -

Second Restoration: -

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