Canterbury - St. Mary Magdalen

Canterbury - St. Mary Magdalen is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Canterbury.  The church is named for St. Mary Magdalene with original parish registers commencing 1559.

St. Mary Magdalene's church, in Burgate Street, shows Norman features, of the earliest Norman time; has a tower, added in 1503; and contains a fine, old, octangular, Norman font.  The living is a rectory of St. Mary Magdalene.

The Church

St. Mary Magdalene's Church, in Burgate, stands on the south side of the middle of Burgate-street, being rather a small building, consisting of two isles and a chancel, having a square tower at the north-west corner, in which are three bells.

This church, which is a rectory, was part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, and continued with it till the final dissolution of the monastery in the 30th year of king Henry VIII.'s reign, when it came into the King's hand, who granted it soon afterwards in his 33d year, to his new-founded dean and chapter of Canterbury, where the patronage of this church, since united in 1681, as mentioned before, to that of St. George's, remains at this time.

One Richard Wekys, butcher, of this parish, in 1471, was a great benefactor to this church. The steeple of it was new built in 1503; towards which one Sir Harry Ramsey, of St. George's, was a benefactor. John Fremingham, Esq. who was mayor in 1461, gave by his Will, among other acts of piety, twenty nobles to this church.

By the return of the king's commissioners, anno 2 Edward VI. it appears, that there were lands given by Edmund Brandon, by his Will, for one priest to say the masse of Jesus weekly within this church for ever. That there was light-rent given by J. Brande, for a light, as well to burn nightly before the body of Christ, as also at the celebration of divine service within the church for ever.

This rectory is valued in the king's books at £4 10s. and the yearly tenths at 9s. In 1588 it was valued at twenty pounds. Communicants ninety-three.

At a visitation holden anno 1560, it was presented that there belonged to the parsonage-house, a piece of ground called Maudelen crost, which had been wrongfully detained by Mr. Hyde, auditor of Christchurch, to the great impoverishment of the parsonage.

There is a terrier of this rectory, dated April 27, 1630, in the registry of the consistory court of Canterbury.

St. Michael Burgate, was another church, situated, as appears by its name, in Burgate-street, and probably on the north side of it near the gate itself, and within the city walls. Upon its dissolution, the parish of it was united to the church of St. Mary Magdalen, in Burgate. The patronage of it belonged to the priory of Christ-church, to which it paid an annual pension of two shillings, and it appears to have been confirmed, among others, to that priory, by the bull of Pope Alexander III. and of divers succeeding popes. When it was desecrated, is not known, but probably it was long before the reformation; the scite of it, as well as that of St. Mary of Queningate, having been seemingly afterwards included within the bounds of the precincts of the priory, now of the dean and chapter.²

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. Mary Magdalen 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. Mary Magdalen: 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

Census

Church Records, Church of England

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Parish chest records

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Land Records

Assizes and Sessions Records
(poor laws, jail terms, oaths, and other municipal and public records)

School Records