II. THE CANONS OF DOVER.
About the year 697, King Withred removed the College of Secular Canons from their first location in the Castle to a Church and Monastery which he built for them on the left side of the River Dour, near the site of the present Market Place. Some have assumed that the Church in question was that which, after the Conquest, came to be known as St. Martin-le-Grand ; but the ancient Canons' Ward included the Market Place and King Street, while the Canons' residences covered a considerable area south of the Market Place, including Market Lane and Last Lane, with a frontage to King Street. In this area, about the middle of King Street, there are still under the surface the founda- tions of a Church, which has been identified as that of St. Martin-the-Less, and all the evidence available points to this as having been the actual Church which Withred built for the little colony of Secular Canons which he removed from the Castle. The actual situation of that Saxon Church of St. Martin is not a matter of clear documentary evidence ; but Darell, in his history of Dover Castle, says that Withred " built a Church in that very spot where, before the reign of Arviragus, ships used to ride at anchor." The middle of King Street, under which the foundations of St. Martin-the- Less are, seems to agree with the above description better than the higher level on the site of Market Street. However that may be, it seems that the first Saxon Church of St. Martin was, to a great extent, destroyed by fire at the Norman Conquest, and the Collegiate Church of St. Martin was built by the Conqueror's half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, in a style that entitled the fabric to the name St. Martin-le-Grand.
We are as yet, however, more than three centuries in advance of that Norman structure. When King Withred built the residence of the Canons and their first Church on the west side of the Dour, the valley was not regarded as a safe place, the main part of the Civil population being then clustered under the walls of the Castle and on the unenclosed part of the hill-top next the sea-cliff. The population, according to Darell, had two Churches — the ancient Church of St. Mary, in the fortress ; and a small Church dedicated to St. Giles for the civil population. When King \\ithred planted his little colony in the valley they were followed by other inhabitants, and it is stated by Darell: " That the people of Dover might live in greater security and be better able to defend themselves against their enemies in time of war, he caused a wall for that purpose to be erected on the side towards the sea."
The Secular Canons of Dover, who formed that Dour- side Mission, were a remarkable body, and, as pioneers of Christianity in East Kent, they had great privileges, being free from the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and responsible only to the Pope and to the King. They were granted special franchises at a Royal Council held at Bapchild A.D. 697, and, being directly patronised by the King, their College was endowed with large grants of land. For three centuries before the Norman Conquest the Canons of Dover exercised a missionary influence, and were the living embodiment of Christianity in I ) ver and East Kent. The Gospel which they preached tinged with light and hope the grey and toilsome lives of the tc.iants, borderers, and bond-servants employed on the land ot some nineteen manors around Dover. They were called Secular Canons because, instead of being isolated in a monastery, they lived and worked amongst their people, teaching them that the religion which they proclaimed had to do with their daily lives and conduct as well as their future state. These Canons were in no sense monks ; they lived domestic lives as heads of families on the manor lands of East Kent, as far inland as Sibertswold, and as far north as St. John's, Thanet. On their manors they had churches, at fir ;t constructed of wood, but, later, more substantially built. A:^ the centuries rolled on, towards the close of the Saxon Period, tney became richly endowed, holding, in common, about 4,800 acres of land. They would not have been human if this increase of riches and dignities had not clogged their spiritual activities. Eight of the Canons — Baldwin, Alwi, Spirites, Alric, Esmelt, Lewin, Edwin and Aldred — were Chaplains of the King, and it is alleged that in consequence their lives lost their primitive purity and simplicity. They were ceri dnly exposed to the envy and jealousy of the Norman ecclesiastics who came over with the Conqueror, although they were not forthwith deprived of their land, as other Saxon landowners were. Their Church was destroyed by the fire which occurred when the Town and Castle were taken, and probably the greater part of their dwellings were destroyed, for it is recorded that Odo, the new Earl of Kent (better known as the Bishop of Bayeux) provided dwellings for them annexed to their manors at Sibertswold, Buckland, Charlton, Farthingloe, Guston, and St. Margaret's-at-Clifife. This Odo had not the reputa- tion of being a philanthropist. It is not recorded that he provided a re-housing scheme for the poor burgesses of Dover who were burned out at the Conquest, and it is assumed that his great interest in the Canons of Dover was excited by their wealth. At their expense he built the new Church of St. Martin, in a style justifying its new name of St. Martin-le-Grand, and befitting a rich collegiate body. Also, it is probable, that under the guidance of Odo, the Canons built other Churches soon after the Conquest, in Dover, at St. Margaret's-at-Cliffe, and in Thanet. Odo was noted for his greed in seizing Kentish manors which had been held by Saxons, but he appears to have left the manors held by the Canons of Dover untouched; and when Odo was. banished by the Conqueror for insubordination, it was alleged of the Canons, as a body, that their lives had become tarnished by vice. Some say that they were slandered for the purpose of having their wealth and privileges transferred to a new religious house directly controlled by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Whether there was any foundation for these slanders or not, the transfer was eventually effected.