Canterbury - St. Mary Northgate

Canterbury - St. Mary Northgate 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 Northgate with original parish registers commencing 1563.

The living is a vicarage of St. Mary Northgate.¹

This church was later united with the church and living of St. Alphage.²

The Church

St. Mary Northgate church is built partly over the city gate, called Northgate, and partly on the west side of it, from which is a staircase to go up to that part over the gateway, in which divine service is performed. It consists of only a body and chancel, being remarkably long and narrow, having a square tower steeple at the west end, rebuilt of brick, in the room of the old one, which fell down a few years ago.

Under the choir, or chancel of this church, is a vault, with an open space or loop-hole in the wall, fashioned like a cross. It was sometime a hermitage, but is now belonging to the parsonage.

There is a modern burying-ground belonging to this parish, on the north side of Broad-street, a little Westward of Ruttington lane.

This church, which is now a vicarage, was part of the ancient possessions of the prior and convent of St. Gregory, in Canterbury, with whose consent as Patrons of it, archbishop Stratford, in the year 1346, endowed the vicarage of it as follows: that the vicar and his successors, vicars in this church should have all and all manner of oblations in the church of Northgate, and in every other place within the bounds, limits or tithings of it, of whatsoever sort made, or to be made, or accruing to it, or in it, or liable to increase in future, the oblations or obventions of the hospital of Northgate alone excepted; and that the vicars should receive and have all tithes of wool, lambs, pigs, geese, apples, pears, hemp, flax, beans and other fruits and herbs, growing in orchards or gardens, and the tithes of mader arising within the parish; and also all other small tithes of whatsoever sort belonging to this church, and all other profits, which the vicars of it had been used to take in former times, except all great tithes (estimated of the yearly value of four marcs) belonging to it, which the religious had reserved to themselves; and that the vicars should undergo at their own costs and expenses, the burthern of performing divine offices in the church and the finding of the books and ornaments of it, of the processional tapers, and of one lamp which ought to burn in the chancel of it, and the administering of bread, wine, lights, and other things there necessary for the celebration of divine rights; and also the payment of tenths, and the imposition of any other matters which should happen to be imposed on the English church, for the moiety of the tax of this church; but that the religious should acknowledge for ever, and undergo the burthen of rebuilding and repairing the chancel of it, within and without, and the payment of the tenths of this sort and the imposition of whatsoever sort for the other moiety of the taxation of it, and all the other burthens, ordinary and extraordinary incumbent, or which ought to be incumbent on it, and which were not allotted above to the vicar of it.

After this, both the appropriation and advowson of the vicarage continued with the prior and convent of St. Gregory, till the dissolution of it in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when coming into the king's hands, both of them were granted, among the rest of the possessions of the priory, to the archbishop of Canterbury and his successors, where the appropriation still remains, his grace the archbishop being the present possessor of it.

The heirs of George Gipps, Esq. late M. P. for this city, are the present lessees of this parsonage, worth, as estimated, only three pounds per annum.

The advowson of the vicarage likewise passed by the above grant to the archbishop and his successors, and this vicarage being in 1681, united to the adjoining rectory of St. Alphage, as such, still continues in his grace's patronage, who has ever since collated to that rectory, with the vicarage of Northgate united to it.

This vicarage is valued in the king's books at £11 19s. 4-1/2d. and the yearly tenths at £1 3s. 11-1/4d.

Richard Mascall, of Christ-church, in Canterbury, in his Will, proved 1703, recites, that whereas he had by deed indented and inrolled in chancery, and dated in 1692, and by other conveyances purchased of Joseph Wells, yeoman, of Ash, one annuity or yearly rent charge of four pounds, issuing out of the manor of Mardall, in Hothfield and Ashford; he then gave one moiety of the same to the poor people of St. Mary Northgate for ever, to be distributed among the most indigent poor people of it, by the minister, church wardens and overseers of the poor of it, within ten days after they should receive the same; and the other moiety he gave to the parish of Chart next Sutton Valence, for the purposes therein mentioned, with power of distress, on non-payment, et cetera and reimbursement of all costs and charges, from time to time, out of the said manor, lands and premises; and he directed a copy of the deed to be kept in the book of accounts of the parish officers of St. Mary Northgate for ever, and the original deed to be kept in the parish chest of Chart Sutton, there carefully to be preserved for ever.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 Northgate 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 Northgate: 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