Whitefriars Shopping Centre

Whitefriars Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Canterbury, Kent.

History
The Whitefriars Shopping Quarter is situated on the site of a former multi-storey car park and the Ricemans department store. Following the demolition of these buildings a new multi storey carpark and a Fenwick department store were constructed.

A "Big Dig" archaeological excavation was carried out on the site by Canterbury Archaeological Trust in conjunction with Channel 4's television programme Time Team from 2000–2003, unearthing mostly Roman and Mediaeval finds.

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During the construction of Whitefriars, the Canterbury Archaeological Trust undertook the largest excavation programme ever seen in the city.

Known collectively as THE BIG DIG, this immense project saw an almost continuous series of minor investigations, evaluations and watching briefs, as well as three major open-area excavations. What they discovered has helped reshape our understanding of the city’s history.

Roman The Roman wall bastion was another fascinating and unexpected find. Built in AD 270-90 against the line of the Roman wall, it was discovered with masonry walls intact to a height of 1.5m, and has provided valuable information about the town’s defences during the Roman period. This tower, together with a video presentation and BIG DIG artefacts, are on permanent display in a specially constructed facility alongside the cycle centre in St George’s Lane.

Perhaps the most intriguing Roman discovery, however, was a line of eight bodies buried unceremoniously within a shallow ditch. The bodies had been placed in the ditch at different times, since the burial of some of the later had cut away parts of the earlier. They also appeared to have been buried with little care – one lay face down, another with its limbs tucked under the body. Their nature and location suggests scant regard for normal Roman burial practices.

Anglo Saxon Highlights of the Anglo-Saxon period included the remains of cobbled roads, perhaps the origins of Canterbury’s street plan today, and a number of sunken-floored, timber-built structures. Interestingly, these were nearly always positioned along or adjacent to the former Roman roads, suggesting Tag Heuer Replica some form of continuity for these early routes well beyond the end of the Roman era. A particular Anglo-Saxon feature of note, probably of tenth century date, was a cellared structure containing the body of a young woman.

Medieval The medieval remains were dominated by the Austin friary founded in 1324. The church, main cloister, infirmary cloister, kitchen, refectory and dormitory were all identified, with walls standing 2m high in places, plus superb fireplaces and beautifully carved stonework. An impressive latrine was also excavated, formed from a barrel-vaulted structure set down into the ground to a depth of some 5.5m. It was found to contain a large collection of medieval pots and jugs probably thrown into the latrine when the friary was cleared out at the time of the dissolution.

https://www.whitefriars.co.uk/whitefriars/archaeology/

Whitefriars is located on the site of a former monastic complex occupied by the Austin friars, or ‘white’ friars, whose monastery was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538.

The friary site became home to Sir Henry Finch and his family and was noted for its fine gardens and orchards. In the late 19th century, the Simon Langton Girls and Boys Grammar Schools were established on the site.

The Whitefriars area was extensively damaged during Second World War bombing raids and was gradually redeveloped between the 1950s and 1970s with a mix of offices and retail units and a multi-storey car park.

This redevelopment proved to be largely unsuccessful, both from an economic and visual perspective, and the decision was taken to redevelop the site in the 1990s to provide a new scheme more in-keeping with its historic setting and the demands of modern retailing. Enabling works for the new scheme began in late 1999 and the new Whitefriars was finally completed in September 2005. https://www.whitefriars.co.uk/whitefriars/history/ --> The Marlowe Arcade is built on the site of a theatre that opened shortly before World War I. It was converted to the Central Picture Cinema in the 1920s and reopened as the first Marlowe Theatre in 1949, originally for amateur dramatics and then repertory. After financial difficulties in 1981, it was demolished in 1982.

Whitefriars
The Whitefriars shopping centre is made up of shops mainly spread over two floors, but with some shops over three floors. The multi-storey car park is in the same block as Tesco, with two bridges between the carpark, Primark and Marks and Spencer. The layout of the centre consists mainly of squares, namely Rose Square, Clocktower Square and Whitefriars Square, small streets and arcade. An older part of the centre is part of the high street. The three floors are connected by two main lifts, in the stair room and Fenwicks. There are public toilets and facilities in Fenwick, Eat, Cafe Nero, Costa and Marks and Spencer.

Whitefriars Shopping Centre is adjacent to Canterbury Bus Station.

The Marlowe arcade is the only part of the centre with a full roof, and contains more specialised shops. In late 2012, it was announced that the arcade would be renamed 'Whitefriars Arcade', a move which has received criticism from some locals.