Monument record TR 15 NW 224 - Roper Gate, St. Dunstan's Street

A complete survey of the Roper Gate was commissioned by Canterbury City Council prior to a scheme of refurbishment and repair in 1989.

The Roper Gate is an excellent example of decorative Tudor brickwork, once the entrance to a great sixteenth century house belonging to the Roper family. All that exists now is an isolated gate façade situated along the north side of St. Dunstan's Street. No known evidence for the location of 'Place House', to which the gate gave access, has survived.

The gateway comprises an elegant four-centred arch with prominent brick hoodmould supporting a crow-stepped gable with a triple light window and blind roundel. Tumbling of the south-east buttress and diamond diaper work add to the decorative features of this impressive gateway. Built with small, predominantly red brick, laid in courses of headers and stretchers, a method known as 'English bond' was adapted in the early Tudor period 1485 - c. 1550. It seems plausible that the gate was constructed during the lifetime of William Roper and a date in the 1550's seems apparent. Place House was in the 1530's the home of Master William Roper and his wife Margaret, who was the daughter of Sir Thomas More.

Austin, R., 1990, Roper Gate, St. Dunstan's Street, Canterbury (Monograph). SKE30885.