Canterbury - St. Peter

Canterbury, St. Peter is, ecclesiastically, a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Canterbury.  The original parish registers commence 1560.¹

Canterbury, St. Peter is a parish in Canterbury district, Kent and is within the borough of Canterbury.  The church is at the corner of St. Peter's Lane, has very thick walls, curious square columns, and an old square font.  The living is a rectory of St. Peter. Value of the living is £120, with a habitable glebe house.  Patron, the Archbishop and the Dean and Chapter, alternately.¹

Patron of St. Martin, the Dean and Chapter.¹

This church was later united with the church and living of Holy Cross, Westgate.²

The Church

St. Peter's church is situated at a small distance from the north side of the street of that name; the church, which is not large, consists of three narrow isles and a chancel, with a square tower at the west end of the south isle, in which are three bells.

By the survey of the king's commissioners, anno 2 Edward VI. it appears, that there were lands given by William Bigge, mentioned before, for one obit, and a lamp to be maintained within this church for ever. And that there were light-lands given by Thomas Ikham, likewise mentioned before, for the maintenance of two tapers before the sacrament in this church, and other works of charity for ever.

The parsonage-house was given to Thomas, then rector of it, by one Richard de Langdon, of Canterbury, with the king's licence, anno 25 Edward III.

In the register are frequent entries of the Nethersoles, Spraklyns and Hales, et cetera.

This church, which is a rectory, was part of the possessions of the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, and at the dissolution of it, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. came into the king's hands, who granted it in his 33rd year, by his dotation charter, to his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury; since which, in 1681, archibishop Sancroft, with the mutual consent of the dean and chapter, and of the archbishop of Canterbury, patron of the adjoining rectory and church of Holy Cross Westgate, this church of St. Peter has been united to it, so that the patronage of these united churches is now become alternate in the archbishop and dean and chapter; in which state it continues at this time.

This church, in the ancient taxation, is valued at four pounds per annum, but on account of the slenderness of its income, was not taxed to the tenth.

This rectory is valued in the king's books at £3 10s. 10d. and the yearly tenths at 7s. 1d. In 1588 it was valued at twenty pounds. Communicants one hundred and fifty-three. In 1640 it was valued at forty pounds. Communicants one hundred and twenty.

There is a terrier of this rectory, dated anno 1630, in the registry of the consistory court of Canterbury.

The Alms Houses

Henry Sworder, of this parish, by his Will in 1504, ordered, that his three messuages, next to one of his, situated next the corner, beside the shell in St. Peter's-lane, be founded for ever for three poor people to dwell in, they keeping sufficient reparations; these have been for a long time vested in the parishioners, to place in them such poor people of their parish as they should in their discretion think proper; and in 1599, anno 41 Elizabeth, it was agreed on, at a meeting of them, that whoever should be placed in any of these houses, should pay at their entrance 6s. 8d. towards the reparations of the house they were to enter into; and also should pay yearly to the churchwardens six-pence every quarter, for so long time as they should continue therein, and that the churchwardens should have power to distrain for the same.

At the same time a legacy of thirty shillings, given by Leonard Bonner, late of this parish, deceased, towards the reparation of these houses, was paid into the hands of the churchwarden.

¹ John Marius Wilson, comp.  The Imperial Gazatteer of England and Wales. (London, England: A. Fullerton & Co., 1870).

² Edward Hasted, Canterbury: The churches within the city and suburbs, in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 11 (Canterbury, 1800), pp. 209-288 https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol11/pp209-288.

Canterbury - St. Peter Bibliography

-- various. 'Archaeologia Cantiana'. Publisher: Kent, England: Kent Archaeological Society, various dates.  [Note:  The following volumes can be found on archive.org:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (1876), 11, 12, 13 (1880), 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, vol. 1907 supplement.]

• General references to Canterbury - St. Peter: vol. , pp.
• Currently in revision

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Calendar of the patent rolls preserved in the Public Record Office--Edward II, Vol. 1. 1307-1313'Each volume has own index. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Inquisitions and assessments relating to feudal aids : with other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office, A. D. 1284-1431', Vol. 3. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Great Britain, Exchequer. 'The book of fees commonly called testa de nevill, pt. 3'. The Book of fees contains information about the holdings of feudal tenants. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Hall, Hubert, 1857-1944. 'The Red book of the Exchequer - Liber rubeus de Scaccario, Vol. 3'. The Red book of the Exchequer was a register intended to preserve important documents comprising charters, statutes of the realm, public acts (Placita), private deeds and ordinances, correspondence. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Glencross, Reginald Morshead. 'Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Vol. 1. 1559-1571'. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Hasted, Edward. 'The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent; Containing the ancient and present state of it, civil and ecclesiastical; collected from public records, and other authorities: illustrated with maps, views, antiquities, etc. The second edition, improved, corrected, and continued to the present time'. 12 volumes. Publisher: Canterbury: Printed by W. Bristow, 1797-1801. URL: British History Online

Hussey, Arthur. 'Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, mentioned in Domesday book, and those of more recent date'. Publisher: London J.R. Smith,(1852).

Letters, Dr. Samantha. 'Kent', Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (2005).  URL: British History Online.

Page, William, 1861-1934, ed.. 'The Victoria history of the county of Kent'. Publisher: London: Constable (1908).  URL: British History Online

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward I, File 39', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 2: Edward I. Published:(1906), pp. 315-323.  URL: British History Online.

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry III, File 45', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 1: Henry III. Published:(1904), pp. 296-302.  URL: British History Online.

Location of Records

The following list of records is not intended to be exhaustive.  There are many records that are awaiting discovery in archive offices throughout Kent and England.  This list is intended only to set out those records that are available via at least two relatively easy-to-access avenues.  If you have used or discover a record that would be of benefit to other researchers, that is not on this list, please send me an email with the details of the archive - name, address and archival call number.

Census | Church of England | Non-Conformist | Parish chest | Workhouse and Poor Law | Land | Assizes and Sessions | School

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Church Records, Church of England

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Parish chest records

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Land Records

Assizes and Sessions Records
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School Records