Canterbury Heritage A to Z An Encomium in honour of Professor Jackie Eales and Professor Peter Vujakovic Contributions edited by S. Sweetinburgh & D. E. Heath 1 Canterbury Heritage A to Z An Encomium in honour of Professor Jackie Eales and Professor Peter Vujakovic Contributions edited by S. Sweetinburgh & D. E. Heath Copyright held by individual contributors Designed by D. E. Heath Centre for Kent History & Heritage, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU 2020 Contents Encomium 5 A is for St Augustine by Jeremy Law 6 B is for Baobab by Sadie Palmer 8 C is for Cathedral by Cressida Williams 10 D is for Dunstan by Diane Heath 12 E is for Elizabeth Elstob by Jackie Eales 14 E is also for Education and Eales by Lorraine Flisher 16 F is for Folklore and Faery by Jane Lovell 18 G is for Graffiti by Peter Henderson 20 H is for Herbal by Philip Oosterbrink 22 I is for Ivy by Peter Vujakovic 24 J for Jewry by Dean Irwin 26 J is also for Jewel by Lorraine Flisher 28 K is for Knobs and Knockers by Peter Vujakovic 30 L is for Literature by Carolyn Oulton 32 M is for Mission, Moshueshue, McKenzie, and Majaliwa by Ralph Norman 34 N is for Naturalised by Alexander Vujakovic 36 O is for Olfactory by Kate Maclean 38 P is for Pilgrims by Sheila Sweetinburgh 40 P is also for Phytobiography by Chris Young 42 Q is for Queen Eleanor by Louise Wilkinson 44 R is for Riddley Walker by Sonia Overall 46 S is for St Martin’s by Michael Butler 48 T is for Tradescant by Claire Bartram 50 U is for Undercroft by Diane Heath 52 V is for Via Francigena by Caroline Millar 54 V is also for Variety by Chris Young 56 W is for Wotton by Claire Bartram 58 X is for Xylophage by Joe Burman 60 Y is for Yew by Sheila Sweetinburgh 62 Z is for Zyme by Lee Byrne 64 Map of Canterbury (1588) 66 4 Encomium The on-line Christ Church Heritage A to Z celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the inscription of the Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. Each letter represented an aspect of heritage associated with ourWorld Heritage Site. The entries were written by colleagues from the University, King’s School, Canterbury Cathedral, and St. Martin’s Church. The project was led by the two people to whom this Encomiumis now dedicated. Some new pages highlight the legacy of Professor Jackie Eales and Professor Peter Vujakovic and the admiration and affection they enjoy. Canterbury Heritage A-Z Encomium has been edited by Dr Sheila Sweetinburgh and Dr Diane Heath with grateful thanks to the original contributors and to two new writers, Dr Lorraine Flisher and Dr Chris Young. Professor Peter Vujakovic, Editor of the Heritage A to Z and Chair of the University’s Biodiversity and Herbal from St Augustine’s Abbey, c. 1070-1100, Heritage Working Group Oxford, Bodleian Library, Ashmole 1431, fol. 15v Photo: © Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford Professor Jackie Eales, Chair of the 30th Anniversary Conference Committee and CCCU Representative on the Canterbury World Heritage Site Management Committee 5 A is for Augustine Without Saint Augustine there would be no World Heritage Site in Canterbury. He is that significant. Yet history has rendered Augustine a figure of humility. We know comparatively little about him. Augustine has not left us a single written word (unlike his illustrious North African namesake). And there seems to have been no immediate interest in preserving Augustine’s memory in Canterbury. Thus Albinus (died c.732CE), Abbot of St Augustine’s Abbey and key source for the Venerable Bede’sThe Ecclesiastical History of the English People(c.731CE and on which we must rely for most of what follows), does not seem to know the year of Augustine’s death! So what do we know? On the archaeological evidence of baptismal spoons, there had been a Christian community in Canterbury as early as the Third Century. But the Fifth Century collapse of the western arm of the Roman Empire meant the waning of Christian influence, under the impact of the ‘pagan’ culture associated with the Saxons and Jutes. While Celtic Christianity remained firmly established in the west, in the east its Roman form survived in pockets; one such was the Royal Court of King Ethelbert; King of Kent andBretwalda(overlord) of the tribes south of the Humber. He had married Bertha, a Frankish princess, on condition she be allowed to practice her Christian faith. To this end she had in attendance Bishop Liudhard, her chaplain, together with, one presumes, other Christians who came with her. Augustine is unknown to history until 596CE when Pope Gregory the Great selected the Prior of St Andrew’s Detail, St Augustine’s Gatehouse, monastery in Rome for a special task. Augustine is chosen to J M W Turner, watercolour, 1793 lead a mission to help reintroduce Christianity to England, and Bertha’s Christian faith (and respected Merovingian connections) makes Ethelbert’s Kent the place to begin. Augustine seems to have had some reservations about the wisdom of his allotted task. While the mission party was still in southern France, at the monastery of Lérin, there was a change of heart and Augustine seeks to call off the whole enterprise. 6 Bede provides a reason for this hesitation: “For [Augustine and his party] were appalled at the idea of going to a barbarous, fierce, and pagan nation, of whose very language they were ignorant” (Ecclesiastical History1.23). Indeed, in a later letter to Eulogiousof Alexandria, Pope Gregory himself describes England as, “placed in a corner of the world and until this time worshipping sticks and stones”. Gregory strengthens Augustine’s resolve through the bestowal of higher status —that of an Abbott —and the gift of Frankish interpreters. The word interpreter suggests more than translation. These new additions were to be expounders, explainers, negotiators mediating between the message of the Gospel and the pagan suspicions of its would-be recipients. The two groups meet for the first time in 597CE on the Isle of Thanet (when it really was an island separated from the mainland by the WantsumChannel) and in the open air for fear that Augustine’s party might use unfair magical powers of persuasion. The encounter is a success. Ethelbert invites Augustine to set up his mission in Canterbury, initially using St Martin’s Church which was already Bertha’s place of worship. According to Bede, Ethelbert coverts to Christianity very soon after; but it is not until St Martin’s Church 601CE that Gregory writes to Ethelbert and Bertha on the duties of Christian monarchs suggesting more of a delay. Work on the construction of St Augustine’s Abbey now begins, perhaps around 602CE, together with (re-)construction of what will become Canterbury Cathedral. Within a couple of years Augustine is dead, but Canterbury remains a spearhead of Christianity. In fact, one can draw a line, albeit wiggly and faint in places, from Augustine to today’s 80 million strong Anglican Communion that sees Canterbury as its foundational centre. To understand the claim of the past we need to link the tenses of time together. Here we are in thepresent, remembering Augustine, a figure of thepast, who as part of his mission proclaimed a particularfutureto Ethelbert. According to Bede, Augustine “came from Rome bearing very glad news, which certainly assured all who would receive it of eternal joy in heaven Revd Dr Jeremy Law is Dean of Chapel and an everlasting kingdom with the living and true God” at Canterbury Christ Church University (Ecclesiastical History1.25). Seen within the perspective of this Gospel message, we and Augustine are no longer separated by 1400 years; rather we become contemporaries in hope. 7 B is for Baobab Green is the plane‐tree in the square The other trees are brown They droop and pine for country air The plane‐tree loves the town. Amy Levy Amy Levy wrote her poem “A London Plane-Tree” in the late 1880s, following a period of expansion in tree planting in urban areas. What would later be known as the Victorian street tree movement sought not only to improve the appearance of towns and cities, but was also part of a wider concern of poor public health arising from rapid urban development and overcrowding in cities. The London plane proved a street tree ideal for this purpose, as it thrives in urban environments where other trees do not, shedding what Levy calls its “recuperative bark”, by which it was believed to cleanse and improve air quality for the inhabitants of the city. London planes are still a familiar sight in many cities and Canterbury is no exception. London Road in St Dunstan’s boasts a long avenue of mature London planes which were planted in the Victorian period. But Canterbury is also home to a more striking cultivar of the London plane, which has become more commonly known by the nickname of “baobab” plane, after its resemblance to the African trees of that Plane trees: in Westgate Garden above name. There are seven of these trees and St Gregory’s churchyard, below Credit: Sadie Palmer known in the city; the largest of which resides in Westgate Gardens. This tree is especially eye-catching because of the enormous width of its trunk. 8 Despite its unusual appearance experts broadly agree these are London planes, though in the past they were believed to be Oriental planes (a parent tree of the London plane).