Dane John Mound, also known as the Dane John Gardens, is a former Roman cemetery in the city of Canterbury, Kent. It was converted into a motte-and-bailey castle in the 11th century, and turned into a civic park between 1790 and 1803.
History
The first construction on the Dane John site was a burial mound, built during the Roman occupation of Canterbury between the 1st and 4th centuries AD. In 1066, Canterbury was occupied by the Normans. William the Conqueror instructed that a castle was to be built in the city; it was built on the south side of the city using the Dane John Mound and formed part of the circuit of defence, with property being destroyed to make room for it. This timber motte and bailey castle was later abandoned and the second Canterbury Castle was built just to the north in 1123.
The Dane John Gardens were built between 1790 and 1803 by alderman James Simmons, in the south-east corner of the walls, remodelling the old castle motte, and incorporating the Roman bank and the medieval wall-walk into the design, although their design was later accredited to William Masters, the Canterbury nurseryman. The ownership of the land was disputed, and the park was taken into the control of the city shortly after its construction.
During the Second World War, part of the city walls near the Dane John Gardens were turned into an ammunition depot, dug into the bank of the wall.
Bibliography
- Creighton, Oliver; Higham, Robert (2005). Medieval Town Walls: An Archaeology and Social History of Urban Defence. Stroud, UK: Tempus.
- Lyle, Marjorie (2002). Canterbury: 2000 Years of History (Revised ed.). Stroud, UK: Tempus.
- Turner, Hilary L. (1971). Town Defences in England and Wales. London, UK: John Baker.
Attribution
The text of this page was adapted from “Dane John Mound” on the English language website Wikipedia, as the version dated 9 August 2018, and accordingly the text of this page is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Principal editors have included Hchc2009, No Swan so Fine and Ptelea, and the contributions of all editors can be found on the history tab of the Wikipedia article.
Photographs on this page are drawn from the Wikimedia website, as of 9 August 2018, and attributed and licensed as follows: “Canterbury Park“, author Heather from Atlanta, US, released under CC BY-SA 2.0.
