y of S. Piran, a Cornish missionary and a friend of S. Patrick, who
was buried within its walls before the year 500 A.D. On removing the
sand, the accumulated deposit of centuries, the church was found to have
consisted of a nave and chancel containing a stone altar.

[Illustration: The Church of S. Martin, Canterbury.]

The building measured 29 feet in length, 16-1/3 feet in width and 19
feet from the floor to the roof, and probably shares with S. Mary's
Church in Dover Castle, and S. Martin's, Canterbury, the honour of being
one of the earliest links we possess with the ancient British Church. S.
Mary's, Dover, appears to have been built of Roman bricks and cement, a
combination which antiquaries consider is found only in those buildings
which were erected during the Roman occupation.

[Side note: S. Martin's Canterbury.]

S. Martin's Church, Canterbury has many claims to be considered one of
our most interesting churches, no less on account of its associations
than for its structural interest. The date of its building has been a
source of endless controversy, as it contains many features attributable
to either Roman or Saxon architecture. It is thought that it may
possibly have been used for worship by the Christian soldiers of the
Roman army. Be this as it may, it is established beyond doubt that it
was the oratory of Queen Bertha, the first English Christian queen, who
here worshipped, with her chaplain Liudhard, long before the advent of
S. Augustine, who himself in later times preached here; and within the
walls of this cradle of English Christianity, Ethelbert, King of Kent,
the husband of Queen Bertha was baptized. The Venerable Bede, writing
within a hundred years of the death of S. Augustine states that there
was in 597 A.D. in Canterbury, a church "dedicated to the honour of S.
Martin and built while the Romans still occupied Britain." On the
departure of the Romans it is probable that the church was still used by
a small band of Christian worshippers until the heathen Jutes overran
the Isle of Thanet in 449.

Little is known of the progress of Christianity on this island from that
date until the landing of S. Augustine in 597, and the first fruits of
his mission, as we have seen, was the conversion and baptism of King
Ethelbert. As one would naturally expect, the aspect of the structure
to-day, though suggestive of antiquity, is lacking in uniformity of
treatment. The brick courses in the nave are at