England Guide
Kent and Sussex
St Augustine's Abbey
Opening time: April– June Wed– Sun 10am–5pm; July & Aug daily 10am–6pm; Sept– March Sat & Sun 11am–5pm
Price: £4.20
Address: Monastery Street
The vestigial remains of St Augustine's Abbey occupy the site of the church founded by Augustine in 598. Built outside the city because of a Christian tradition forbidding burials within the walls, it became the final resting place of Augustine, Ethelbert and successive archbishops and kings of Kent, although no trace remains either of them or of the original Saxon church. Shortly after the Normans arrived, the church was demolished and replaced by a much larger abbey, most of which was destroyed in the Dissolution so that today only the ruins and foundations remain.