Monument record TR 15 NE 1364 - The Chapter House, St. Gregory's Priory

After the church, the Chapter House was the most important building within the claustral range. It was here that a new chapter was read daily from the rule book of the order. The Chapter House was also the official centre for communal business, wher repremands were meted out, confessions heard and forums were held for day to day running of the priory. The Prior would have sat on an ornate chair at the east end, whilst the canon's sat in order of seniority along either side of the building on stone benches. The Chapter House lay to the north of the church and west of the north-east transept. Access into the building was via a single doorway from the main cloister.

The Chapter House, along with the rest of the eastern range, appears to have been one of the first buildings finished 1175-1181, and in contemporary use with the church by 1181, between the late 12th and early 13th century at least two burials were made within the house. A few decades after it's completion it appears to have been destroyed by a serious fire, and was subsequently rebuilt in the early 13th century c. 1220-1250. Further burials were made within the house during the mid 13th to late 14th century. The Chapter House remained unchanged until the late 14th or early 15th century when it was extensively refurbished, perhaps after the earthquake of 1382. Generally it was the canon's stone benching and floor surfaces that were replaced. Later further burials were placed within the house.

During the Dissolution the western end of the building was demolished, the eastern end surviving buried under an artificial bank of spoil forming a feature of the post-medieval ornamental garden. All were swept away during re-development work in the 19th century.

Hicks, M., 1989, 'St. Gregory's Priory: The Church and Conventual Buildings' (Article in serial). SKE30366.

Hicks, A. & Hicks, M., 2001, St. Gregory's Priory, Northgate, Canterbury, Excavations 1988-1991 (Monograph). SKE30367.