Weavers & Three Kings Yard

Sandwich Weavers 

Strand Street runs behind Sandwich’s medieval waterfront. It was probably first laid out as a formal street during the late 14th century, and there are many old timber-framed houses along its course. Originally, there seem to have been just two large building plots between St Peter’s Street and Three Kings Yard. Each would have been occupied by a substantial courtyard building that fronted onto Strand Street and the medieval quayside. The buildings no doubt belonged to well-off local merchants. Later, such large buildings were subdivided to form smaller tenements. 

The ‘Sandwich Weavers’ (numbers 13-15), and ‘Chanters House’ (number 11) are a fine range of surviving medieval buildings, dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. Numbers 13-15 once formed part of the Bull Inn, which was first recorded in 1466. 

Half of an original medieval archway remains between two buildings here. It displays a carving of a dragon’s head breathing flames. This probably provided access to a courtyard behind the old inn. Some original medieval windows also still survive, although most are now blocked up. It is thought that in later times, numbers 13-15 were a weaving shop run by Flemish immigrants. This was part of a long tradition of textile production that they first brought to the town during the 16th century. Looms continued to work here until well into the 20th century 

Three King’s Yard

 Further along at number 9 Strand Street, and set back from the street front, ‘Three Kings’ is now a private home. It used to be the Three Kings Inn. Much of the building dates from the 18th century, but the original inn here was established during the 17th century. It closed in 1970. There is a pump in the front corner of the inn that would have provided fresh water and prevented a long trip to the Delf. A passageway on one side of the building gives access to Three King’s Yard. A carved wooden lintel over this passage is decorated with grapes and vine leaves and has a date of 1603. 

When you enter Three King’s Yard, you can see the ruins of a small medieval building behind ‘Chanters House’. This dates to the late 13th century and is two storeys high. It is built of stone and brick with original lancet windows surviving in the east wall. This ruin is sometimes thought to be the remains of a chantry chapel, but all the evidence indicates that it was built as a domestic hall with a storage room below. It formed the rear part of a larger timber-framed house that fronted onto Strand Street. 

Other parts of this complex were later rebuilt, but the stone walls at the back survived. During the 17th century, the structure seems to have been converted into a self-contained dwelling with fireplaces added. At this time, it was probably the home of an immigrant family from the Low Countries, of which there were many in the town, but by the late 18th century the building had become a ruin 

Brick production 

The window surrounds of the remains of this building are made of Caen stone that was imported from Normandy, while the bricks used in the upper levels were imported from the Netherlands. The use of brick here is noteworthy. Bricks were re-introduced into medieval Britain from the Low Countries during the 13th century. Their early use at Sandwich reflects the general scarcity of suitable local building stone at a busy port with strong links to the Continent. Documentary evidence shows that there was a corporation-owned brickworks at Sandwich by 1467, making bricks for local use. Production of these yellow-buff bricks continued into the 16th century 

Other Buildings

On the opposite side of Three King’s Yard there is a row of yellow brick cottages, which date to about 1840. The old houses on the opposite side of the street to the ‘Weavers’ were drastically altered during road widening in the early 1900s. The house at number 10 is early 17th century in origin but it was refaced in brick during the early 19th century, and further alterations were made in the 20th century