
MEDIEVAL PAINTED WINDOW GLASS,
WHITEFRIARS, CANTERBURY
The Whitefriars archaeological project was undertaken by CAT between November 1999 and November 2004. It was carried out in response to large-scale development of the Whitefriars area, Canterbury. The site covered an area stretching north to south from St George’s Street to Watling Street and east to west from the city wall to Rose Lane.
The excavation revealed elements of the former Augustinian friary (founded AD 1324), perhaps about one half of the entire complex. Elements included the church, cloister, east and south ranges, infirmary, dormitory, latrine and kitchen. The artefact assemblage provided further evidence of standing structures and internal decoration with collections of stained glass, worked and painted stone.
A large assemblage of painted window glass, comprising over one thousand individual shards of glass, was recovered during the excavations and included this fragment found in the former southern precinct of the friary.
Date: Medieval (probable mid-to-later 14th century)
OBJECT
Origin and discovery
During the late Iron Age period, from about 150 BC, population and settlement numbers were growing and it was a time of great change in southern Britain. This period witnessed the introduction of several new technologies in Britain including the use of the wheel for pottery production, the first use of coinage and the importation of luxury goods including wine and possibly exotic foodstuffs from the expanding Roman world. Coinage first began to be used in Britain under the influence of the Roman Empire. A large assemblage of Iron Age coins comes from a settlement site at East Cliff, overlooking East Wear Bay. Whilst a good number of coins have been recovered during archaeological excavations here, many have also been found on the beach below the site, eroded out of the cliff. Most of the coins have been produced locally, within Kent, but some examples are from much further afield including coins minted in Gaul (modern France and Belgium). This suggests occupants from the Folkestone settlement had extensive trading connections. Other examples were produced from within Britain including coins from Dorset and areas well to the north of the Thames. Elsewhere in the surrounds of Folkestone, a hoard of late Iron Age coins was discovered by a metal-detectorist on the southern slopes of Round Hill in 1979. The hoard comprised at least 67 coins that belong to the Kentish Primary potin Series. Folkestone town had long been known as an important settlement since the Anglo-Saxon period, but it was not until the early twentieth century that archaeological discoveries at East Cliff, to the north-east of the main historic settlement, revealed traces of Folkestone’s earlier, Roman and pre-Roman past. Roman remains had first been discovered eroding from the cliff-top at East Cliff, above East Wear Bay in about 1919. Extensive excavations led by Sussex archaeologist S.E. Winbolt followed in 1923–4. These succeeded in exposing the foundations of a large Roman villa complex, with impressive sea views across the Channel to the French coast. Throughout the period prior to the Second World War (1939–45) these archaeological remains were a major attraction for tourists visiting the town. Winbolt’s investigations, although not of the highest calibre by today’s archaeological standards, established the basic sequence of events on the site and exposed a complete ground plan for the main buildings of the Roman villa. He was also able to identify the presence of pre-Roman activity on the site, although the extent, complexity and significance of this was not fully understood then. Gradually, the exposed Roman walls started to deteriorate and damage and neglect during the Second World War, combined with declining visitor numbers in the post-War years, led to the covering of the villa site with soil in 1957. The gradual erosion of the coastal cliffs which first brought the site to light in the early twentieth century has not stopped. Excavations carried out by the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit in 1989 established that up 10 metres of masonry at the south-eastern end of the Roman villa complex had been lost since Winbolt’s day. When the villa was first excavated in 1924 there was around 30 metres of land between the North-East Wing of the main villa house and the cliff edge. By 2010 this figure had been reduced to 2.25m. The site is therefore in an increasingly precarious position! This is the most exceptional single piece of glass from the Whitefriars site both in terms of its subject matter and in the style of painting and colouring. It is thought to either depict Christ feeding the poor or, more likely, a priest administering the host. The Christ or priest figure has highly-detailed wavy hair, downturned or closed eyes, with one hand on their head, and is wearing a garment whose sleeve has been coloured by infilling with yellow stain. In contrast to this beatific figure, the man receiving the host (a portion of bread used in Holy Communion) – only the head of this figure being present on the panel – has an altogether coarser appearance. He is very much a ‘northern European peasant’ in the style of Brueghel or Bosch. The glazing scheme suggests a date of mid to late fourteenth century. The colouring is subtle, utilising yellow stain with a fineness and skilful touch of draughtsmanship. Undoubtedly, the glazing and glass painting works at Whitefriars, Canterbury was undertaken by highly-skilled artisans and at what must have been a considerable cost to the friary to use decorative work of such great technical accomplishment. This fragment of glass was found within one of the large open-area excavation sites within an area now occupied by Gravel Walk, during summer 2001. The almost S-shaped quarry or panel was recovered from the fill of an east to west aligned trench located within open ground in the former southern outer court, and was found as part of a large collection of both stained and plain glass fragments. Other finds from the trench included structural debris and domestic material including pottery and glass bottles. The trench is likely to be associated with demolition of the south range of friary buildings, shortly after the Dissolution in 1538.
Use
The fragment comes from a window panel within the former religious house, but from precisely which building remains unknown. Stained glass windows were commonly used in medieval churches and other significant religious buildings for decorative and informative purposes. Along with illuminated manuscripts, stained glass window decorations remain a major form of surviving medieval pictorial art. A large collection of painted window glass associated with the friary was recovered from the site and represents an exceptional, highly significant and very important group. The entire window glass assemblage represents just a tiny remnant of what must have been extensive painted windows in the former friary.
ARCHIVE
Current Location
Canterbury Archaeological Trust archives.
Catalogue Entry
Site code: CW50
SF993. Almost S-shaped quarry or panel carrying a depiction of Christ or a priest feeding a poor man, or administering the host. Executed in brown/red-brown, with yellow staining. Length 80mm, width 22-50mm. Grozed edges all around. CW50 (m9.26) C3009 (from pit [3071]); F78.














