Church · England · Still standing

St Martin's Church

St Martin's Church in Canterbury is a Church of England parish church and the oldest surviving church building in the English-speaking world. It began as a small Romano-British structure reused and enlarged around the arrival of Augustine (late 6th century) and remains in ecclesiastical use as part of the Canterbury World Heritage Site.

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Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

AD 600

Its prime

AD 597

Today

Still standing

As it stood in AD 597

What St Martin's Church looked like in its prime.

Low, compact church of coursed flint rubble punctuated by bands and patches of Roman brick and tile spolia, with a steep red clay-tiled roof and pale stone window and door surrounds. The building reads as a single-storey nave and chancel with a rounded eastern apse in its early form; walls are rough-faced, mortar seams visible, and small narrow windows sit high in the walls. The church stands within a grassy churchyard dotted with weathered gravestones and yew trees.

Step inside

7 places to explore in AD 597.

The record describes 7 distinct spots at St Martin's Church, including 3 interiors: nave interior looking east, chancel with rounded apse, integrated roman tomb in fabric. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

South churchyard approachClose detail of flint-and-brick exteriorNave interior looking eastChancel with rounded apseIntegrated Roman tomb in fabricChurchyard among yews and gravesExposed archaeological wall section

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