At one time or another Canterbury had twenty parish churches within its city walls. Today only six are in evidence. But of the other ten very little, may be found to mark their whereabouts nowadays.
1. St Mary Bredin: Prior to WWII the Victorian church stood at the end of Gravel Walk. Sadly, it was a casualty of the Baedeker Raids in 1942. The site may be ascertained today from the plan on a plaque on the Rose Lane wall of Primark. Whitefriars and Marlowe Shopping centres now stand on the site of church and its graveyards; it had two.
A 12th century church, with the same dedication, once stood on the site. The suffix Bredin (Saxon for wood) indicated it was built of timber. This fact was verified by Edward Hasted who visited the church in the 18th century and writes about it in his History and Topographical Survey of Kent. Hasted added that the church was known locally as Little Mary Dungeon reasoning that it was because the building was set low and was damp. Nonetheless, I think it was more likely named Little Mary Dungeon because it’s in the Manor of the Dungeon. St Mary Bredin is the only church to be rebuilt after WWII. It now stands outside the city walls on the corner of Old Dover Road and Nunnery Fields.
2. St Edmund King & Martyr Ridingate: Many of Canterbury’s early churches started off life in the guardhouses vacated by the Romans in the city gates. In 1986 Canterbury Archaeological Trust investigated the site of the Ridingate and found the position of this 11th century church on the Dane John side of the gate. It was dedicated to the 9th century Christian King of East Anglia martyred by the Vikings. St Edmund was England’s patron saint until the 14th century when King Edward III chose St George for that honour. By 1349, the city’s population had declined due to the Black Death and St Edmund’s parish was united with St Mary Bredin.
3. St George’s Church: Only the tower of this church stands today. Although associated with a gate it was a post conquest church there being no known gate at this point during the Roman era. Newingate was a corruption of the Saxon Neowangat meaning New Gate and was occasionally called East Gate it being opposite the Westgate. Nowadays its more commonly known as St George’s Gate.
St George's church held the city’s Watch Bell which acted as an alarm clock for citizens when it tolled every morning at 4am! In 1942 the church was bombed along with its school and graveyard. Although the shell was still standing in the 1950s, it was scheduled for demolition. However, an 11th hour appeal managed to save the tower which was repaired minus the steeple but it kept its iconic clock. The tower holds two signs. One being a memorial to the Baedeker Raids of 1942. The other commemorates the baptism, on 26th February 1564, of Canterbury’s famous son, the playwright Christopher Marlowe. The Marlowe family once lived opposite the church on the corner of the medieval St George’s Lane, lost in WWII its footprint lies under the 21st century Whitefriars development.
4. St Michael Burgate:This church started off life in the Roman Burgate (Borough Gate). A new church was rebuilt in Norman times in what is now the Burgate end of the garden of 15 The Precincts. It was last mentioned in a 15th century charter when defining land boundaries in the Burgate area. St Michael was well established by the 12th century when it was listed in the papal bull of 1160. St Michael’s was made redundant with St Mary Queningate in 1381, when both churches were given to St Paul’s for a chantry.
5. St Mary Queningate: It is unlikely that this church started in a gate as the Roman Queningate (Queens Gate) was a postern gate. The site of this church was in the corner of the Kent War memorial gardens in the Cathedral Precincts. A marker stone is set in the West Wall and the SW grass quadrant to denote the church’s footprint. St Mary’s was an early church listed in the 1160 papal bull. In the medieval era a lost lane, Queningatelane, ran along the top of the city wall between St Mary and St Michael making it a few minutes’ walk between the two churches whose histories appear to run parallel. St Mary Queningate was last documented in 1381, when it was given to St Paul's for a chantry.
6. St Mary Magdalene: Standing in the gardens in front of St Thomas of Canterbury RC church in the Burgate is a 15th century church tower. This is all that remains of the post conquest church of St Mary Magdalene, demolished in 1871. Felix Sommerly writing in 1843 appears not to have been greatly enamoured by the decoration as he says, ’It has been soaked with paint; which indeed, has spread itself all over the church in strange incongruous medley. The pews are of a light lavender colour, reminding you of a Quaker's meeting-house; whilst the altar, with its bad imitations of marble, seems to have been brought from a theatre, where it had served as part of a heathen temple.’ The Whitfield monument, that once stood in the South Aisle of St Mary’s, is now housed in the tower. John Whitfield was an amateur inventor and a wealthy benefactor who died in 1691. Amongst many beneficiaries he left the two fire engines he had built for the benefit of the city. He also gave the rental from a house to provide grain for the poor. St Mary Magdalene was once the Fishermen’s church before the fish market was moved to St Margaret’s Street.
7a. Four Crowned Martyrs: This church is thought to have stood on or near to the same site as St Alphege. It was an early Saxon church and is mentioned as being near the Archbishop’s Palace in a report of a fire in the church in the 9th century. Archbishop Mellitus tried to halt the flames by prayer but had to be carried from the burning building for his own safety. Whether the Church of the Four Crowned Martyrs was subsequently rebuilt is unknown.
7b. St Alphege: Another church needing more research as there must have been a church here in the 11th century as it was where the body of Archbishop Alphege lay whilst awaiting reburial in the Cathedral. However, the current building is mainly of 12th and 14th century construction. St Alphege was martyred by the Vikings in 1012 and was originally buried at St Pauls (later Cathedral) London. King Canute ordered the archbishops body to be returned to Canterbury in 1023 for reburial. Three churches, at Greenwich, Seasalter and Canterbury, involved with his murder and return to his cathedral, were subsequently dedicated to him. However, as St Alphege was not canonised until 1078 this church must have had a previous dedication (maybe, to the Four Crowned Martyrs?) but whatever the dedication was it appears lost in the mists of time. By the 1980s St Alphege was the Urban Study Centre and at that time housed our Society’s library. The church is now part of the King’s School and is not open to visitors.
8. St Mary Northgate: This church was still part of its gate as late as the 19th century, and was the last of Canterbury’s churches in a gate. In 1381 the gatehouse was enlarged with the Nave filling the entire width of the carriageway into the city. Unfortunately, in 1832, all Canterbury’s city gates, except the Westgate, were ordered to be demolished by the Commission for Paving and Lighting. The nave was then extended in the opposite direction. Still in existence is 18 ft of original Roman wall which remains part of the building today. St Mary Northgate once served the Military before St Albans Garrison Church, was built in 1830. When St Gregory’s was built in 1850 it was united with St Mary Northgate. Only occasional services were then held in St Mary until 1928 when it became the parish hall. It was a British Restaurant and Feeding Station from 1946 to 1954 and is now in the care of the Kings School.
9. Holy Cross Westgate: In 1381 Archbishop Sudbury ordered repairs to the city’s Western defences and a new church to be built next to the gate. Holy Cross has undergone several alterations since that time. By by 1972 it was made redundant and refurbished as the City’s Guildhall where the elected members of the council meet and Mayors and Freemen are made.
10. All Saints: Not to be confused with the 19th century All Saints church in Military Road the medieval All Saints once stood on the corner of High Street and Best Lane. The small garden in Best Lane (now the Three Cities Twinning Garden) was the churchyard with some gravestones remaining in the flower beds today. It was a post conquest church which even in the 13th century was said to be of unsightly build and damp. When Kingsbridge was widened in 1769 All Saints steeple had to be removed as it encroached on the new highway. In 1828 a new church was built, with a square tower added in 1878. All Saints ended its days as community hall until it was demolished in 1937.
11. St Helen: The position of this church was once defined by an inscribed paving stone on the north side of the High Street. However, in 1942, C. Everleigh Woodruff (Hon. Cathedral Librarian) found documents relating to the Eastbridge Hospital that placed St Helens on the south side of the High Street on a corner with the medieval Heathenmans Lane (Stour Street). The last documented evidence of its existence was in the early 14th century.
12. St Mary Breadman: Also known as Andrewsgate and Fisherman, was probably Norman in origin and was mentioned in the papal bull of 1160. St Margaret’s Street Fishmarket backed onto Pikenot Alley, a lost lane behind the church with the Bread market being close by. We were able to sit in the small square left from the church’s footprint. Despite being rebuilt in 1822, it was declared unsafe by 1897 as masonry was falling on passers-by and neighbouring businesses. Orders for its repair went unheeded and it had to be taken down in 1900. The graveyard, which was behind the church, still exists today but access to it is currently problematic whilst Canterbury Tales is closed. However, none of St Mary Breadman’s monumental inscriptions are readable today.
13. St Andrew: Not to be confused with the non-conformist churches dedicated to St Andrews, of which there have been three in recent years. It is incredible that the churchwardens’ accounts for the ancient parish of St Andrews start from 1485. A pity that the BMD registers do not also start from that era. The original church was on land owned by Augustine’s Abbey which had been chosen by the Normans for their castle. Hence, a land swap was arranged for a plot in the city centre. Not a great position, but I suppose you don’t argue with the conquerors! St Andrews was built in 1090 in the middle of the main thoroughfare through the city. Hence it was a very narrow church. It had to be demolished in 1763 by an Act of Parliament as it was an obstruction to vehicles passing through the city. A third St Andrews parish church was then built behind The Parade with the entrance where NatWest bank cashpoints are today. It became a parish Hall in the late 1800s but was destroyed in WWII.
St Andrewsgate (not an actual gate) was where the City’s Watch (forerunner of the Police) could be located. In 1647 this was one of the sites of the Plum Pudding Riots when the Puritan Parliament banned Christmas insisting all shops and markets were to remain open and no church services of celebration were to be held. However, Mr Aldy minister of St Andrews held a Christmas service which was disrupted by Puritans. Scuffles broke out all over the city and a passer-by was shot. The riot then became totally out of hand spreading throughout Kent and to other counties. Parliament lost control for about 6 months and when they regained the city Cromwell ordered Canterbury’s Western defences removed so the citizens could not hide behind the city walls.
14. St Margaret: Founded in the 12th century the building seen today is now mainly 14th century with a Sir Gilbert Scott upgrade in the 1850s. The original chancel was lopped off in 1791 to allow coach access to the Royal Fountain Hotel. “Royal” Fountain Hotel because Princess Victoria (later Queen) stayed over on her way to Margate which, before the railway, was a resort for the upper classes. Church courts were held here and the Pilgrim Father Robert Cushman was up before court on several occasions for pamphleteering. In 1957 the Deaf and Dumb Association used the church for their services but in 1986 St Margaret’s became redundant. An archaeological survey of the building was undertaken prior to the occupation of The Pilgrim’s Way (later Canterbury Tales) a sight, sound and smell museum, which since Covid has been closed. St Margaret's is now awaiting a new lease of life. The graveyard to the rear, with the churchyard of St Mary Breadman, could be accessed by courtesy of Canterbury Tales. However, St Margaret’s is currently boarded up. But we were able to see part of the medieval Pikenot Alley on the other side of the church which once linked buildings in St Margaret's Street with St Mary Breadman and the High Street.
15. St Mary de Castro: was an early Saxon church rebuilt, possibly on the same site, to serve the Norman castle. In 1349 the parish of St Mary absorbed the nearby parish of St John the Baptist. In 1486, the joint parishes were joined with St Mildred, and St Mary’s was said to have been demolished. However, the local Historian William Somner living close by in Castle Street writes in the 17th century that the Chancel of St Mary de Castro was still standing in his day. Today only the Churchyard remains as a public garden off Castle Street. There are some remaining headstones aligning one of the garden walls. The actual position of the church is debatable. Although, the widely held view is that the church once stood on the site where the White Hart Inn stands today.
16. St John the Baptist: This church is of Saxon origin being known to have existed in 746. It was known as ‘St John the Poor’, owing to its meagre income and by 1349, was said to be ruinous. St Johns was then absorbed into the parish of St Mary de Castro and later to St Mildred. Its carved pew ends were installed in St Mildred and were said to have been still in use in 1884. The remains of St Johns church were used as a Malthouse, with Brewing carried out on the site until 1936 when, Ash & Co, was sold to the Council for £8,250. The plan was to build new civic offices on the site as pre-war the main council offices were close by. However, the area was bombed in WWII and the site has now become Watling Street car park. St Andrews United Reform Church (where Canterbury Branch meet) occupies the corner of the site where Ash & Co’s Brewery once stood.
Having completed our circumnavigation of Canterbury we were back at the start. The walk took just over 2 hours but most of the 16 member we started with stayed the course. David Wood, Canterbury Chairman, thanked branch member Tricia on behalf of thegroup for researching and organising the Walk for the branch.