Venue Type & Location
Performance Spaces
Overview
Canterbury's 15th c. Court Hall was a 3-storey timber-framed building, located on the NE side of High Street adjacent to the Red Lion Inn.
The remodelled ground floor hall was described in the 18th c. as 'a handsome and lofty room, with a spacious gallery over the door' (Gostling, Canterbury 32). A mayor's parlour was adjacent to the hall at the upper end.
Only the Norman cellar survives, incorporated in a mid-20th c. low rise commercial building.
Performance History
As the seat of civic government and centre for festive occasions, Canterbury's Court Hall was probably the venue for most performances by touring entertainers before the mayor and city officials between 1450 and 1612, after which payments were consistently made to dismiss playing troupes from the city.
Current Status
History of the Venue
ca. 1400 Guildhall regularly mentioned in records.
1438--9 New timber-framed hall commissioned and built.
1689 Remodelling of the Court Hall began with the rebuilding of the mayor's parlour.
1697 S end of the hall rebuilt.
1806 Red Lion Inn demolished when Guildhall Street was cut through to join High and Sun Streets. The E wall of the Court Hall was rebuilt with a side entrance and windows added.
1904 Rusticated podium and Corinthian pilasters along the High Street facade extended to reface the brick wall along Guildhall Street.
1950 Declared unsafe and demolished. Site redeveloped for commercial use.
Record Source
REED Kent: Diocese of Canterbury 1.72--260
Patrons who owned this venue
[No data found.]
Bibliographic Sources
- Braun, Georg, and Frans Hogenberg. Civitates orbis terrarum. 6 vols. Cologne: Georg Braun, 1572--1618
- Brayley, E.W. The Beauties of England and Wales; or Delineations, topographical, historical and descriptive of each county. 18 vols. London: Vernor and Hood, 1801--16
- Brent, John. Canterbury in the Olden Time. London; Canterbury: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Hal Drury & A. Ginder, 1879
- Canterbury Mayoral Quincentenary. Canterbury: Canterbury City Council, 1948
- Gostling, William. A Walk in and about the City of Canterbury. Canterbury: Simmons and Kirkby, and W. Flackton, 1774
- Lyle, Marjorie. English Heritage Book of Canterbury. London: B.T.Batsford Ltd., 1994
- Rigold, S.E. 'Two Types of Court Hall.'. Archaeologia Cantiana 83 (1968): 1--22.
- Salzman, L.F. . Building in England down to 1540: A Documentary History. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1952
- Somner, William. The Antiquities of Canterbury. Or A Svrvey of that Ancient Citie, with the Svbvrbs, and Cathedrall. London: Richard Thrale, 1640
- Wood, Margaret. Norman Domestic Architecture. London: The Royal Archaeological Institute, 1974