Charles Dickens

The House of Agnes was a travellers inn as far back as the 13th Century, and is so named as it was the home of Agnes Wickfield in Charles Dickens' story David Copperfield. Several passages in the book describe aspects of both the exterior and interior of our historic building.

Geoffrey Chaucer

The 'Canterbury Tales' written by Chaucer during the years 1387-1400 was the story of a group of characters on a pilgrimage from London to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury cathedral. Their route down St Dunstans St reet into Canterbury through the historic Westgate would have passed the House of Agnes.

The Astrolabic quadrant

During renovations in 2005, an historic scientific instrument, now known as 'The Canterbury Quadrant', was unearthed at the House of Agnes. A flurry of media and scientific interest followed its discovery as it was realised to be one of only eight such objects in existence. It is now on permanent display at the British Museum, London. Our 'Gallery' section on this website displays some of the media reports surrounding its discovery.

Roman Heritage

The site on which the House of Agnes now stands was once a Roman pottery kiln, one of several located along St Dunstans Street, a safe distance from the city walls. Also, within our garden stand two ancient Yew trees, a remnant of its previous incarnation as a Roman cemetery.