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Christchurch Parish, CanterburyKent Online Parish Clerks |
 Canterbury Cathedral (Click photo for larger view) |
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A View of the ParishTo view a plan of Canterbury as it was in 1825 click here. if you are using Internet Explorer hold your mouse over the lower right corner of the image. In a few minutes a "resize" square will appear. Click on that square to make the plan larger. If you are using Firefox, as soon as the image loads your cursor should be replaced with an enlarging eyeglass. Simply click on the image to make it larger.
Your Online Parish Clerk for Canterbury Cathedral is: VACANT. Canterbury, Christchurch Cathedral is, ecclesiastically, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Canterbury. The church is named Christ Church with registers commencing 1564. Canterbury, Christchurch Cathedral is a precinct in Blean district, Kent; within Canterbury city. It is also within the Borough of Canterbury. Population in 1861 224. Houses, 34. A church was built, by St. Augustine, on the site of the cathedral; greatly injured by the Danes in 938; restored by Archbishop Ido, in 940-60; damaged again by the Danes in 1011, and almost destroyed by fire in 1067; and contained the bodies of St. Blaize, St. Wilfred, St. Dunstan, St. Alphege, and St. Andoen, the heads of St. Swithin and St. Furseus, and the arm of St. Bartholomew. The present edifice was commenced in 1070-86 by Archbishop Lanfranc; extended, altered, and restored by successive prelates till 1495; and has undergone great, costly, recent renovations. It exhibits, in its various parts, all the styles of architecture, from early Norman to perpendicular; makes grand displays of them, both in their respective features, and in their junctions with one another; and is especially rich and large in transition-Norman and perpendicular English. It has a crypt, with vaulted roof 14 feet high, supported on massive pillars; and it stands aloft on a height of base and with a force of character unsurpassed in any other cathedral, dominating over the city around it like an abrupt, isolated, spiry hill over some miles of plain. It consists of a south porch; a nave of nine bays, with aisles; a central transept, with two chapels; a choir of six bays, with aisles; a choir transept, with two apsidal chapels in each wing; a presbytery of two bays, with aisles, and with northern and southern apsidal chapels; an eastern ambulatory, with aisles; a main apsidal chapel of four bays, with magnificent procession path and aisles; and a circular structure to the east of this, called A'Becket's Crown; and it has a central tower and two western towers. The nave is 178 feet long, 71 feet wide, and 80 feet high; the choir, 180 feet long, 40 feet wide and 71 feet high; the central transept, 124 feet long; the choir transept, 154 feet long; the central tower, 35 feet square and 235 feet high; and the western towers, 130 feet high. The nave has no triforium; the main transept has no aisles; the choir is approached by noble flights of stairs, and offers the earliest instance of the pointed arch in England; the screen is of the 15th century, with niched imagery of founders and saints, and was recently restored; the throne was carved by Flemish workmen, and cost £1,200; the pulpit is of stone, by Butterfield of London, and was put up in 1846; the main apsidal chapel is approchaed by broad flights of stairs, contained the gorgeous shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, and has a curious mosaic pavement, with the signs of the zodiac; the central tower is of two stages, with octagonal turrets at the angles, and has been called "the glory of all towers"; and the western towers are each of six stages and much beauty, one of them rebuilt in 1840, at a cost of £25,000. Effigies, altar-tombs, and other monuments, in great variety, are dispersed through the various parts of the pile to the memory of the archbishops and other notable persons, including Henry IV, Queen Joan of Navarre, Edward the Black Prince, a Lady Mohun, a Countess of Athole, Admiral Sir G. Rooke, Sir John Boys, Hadrian Saravia, Orlando Gibbons, W. Shuckford, Odo Coligny, a Marquis of Dorset, and a Duke of Clarence. The edifice served, throughout the Romish times, both as a cathedral and as a conventual church. A Benedictine priory stood connected with it; and was known as the convent of Christ's Church. A massive wall surrounded the precincts, and served at once for defence and for seclusion. The passage from the priory led to the choir transept through a circular chamber, now used as a baptistery. The library is to the north of this; and occupies the site of the prior's chapel. The chapter house stands parallel with the north side of the north-west transept; and is 87 feet long, 35 feet wide and 52 feet high. The cloisters are on the north side of the nave; measure 144 feet by 144; and have eight bays on every side. The space southward of the choir formed the cemetery or God's acre, sown with the seed of the resurrection. 'The Oaks' was the convent garden; the Norman doorway is in the precinct gate eastward of the choir. The ancient stone house on the left side turning round the Becket's Crown formed the Honours, the guesthall (a nave and aisles 150 feet by 40 feet), for the reception of visitors. Considerable remains of the infirmary are observable; the chapel and common hall, of flint, with three tall pointed windows, built in 1342. Near it was St. Thomas' well. At this point occurs 'the Dark entry', a Norman cloister built by Prior Wibert about 1167, with a curious bell-shaped tower, which served as the monks' conduit; above it is now the baptistery. On one side is the gate of the great cloisters. The arch and ruins towards the Green Court are those of La Gloriette, the prior's rooms built by Prior Hathbrand, 1379. Passing the chapter, once the prior's chapel library, the Prior's or Court Gate, leads into the Green Court. On the east side is the deanery, built by Dean Godwin, 1570, after a fire on the site of the Prior's lodgings. In it Hooper welcomed Queen Mary. At the north-east corner a large gateway oepns into the follings or foreigns, the space beyond the conventual jurisdiction. On the north side, were the ancient dean's great hall, water house, granary, refectory, frater house, brew house, bake house and domestic buildings, among which great part of the dormitory remains, with a gateway and steps. At the north-west angle is the Norman precinct gate of the priory, which stood on the south side of the court; the back entrance to it, or Larder Gate, still remains. At the south-west angle is the arched door which led to the palace. The strangers' hall was on the west side. In the north-west angle is likewise the Norman staircase, with an open arcade which led into the north hall, 150 feet by 40 feet, allotted to the stewards of the prior court; the arches on which it was supported alone remain; above them the King's school has been built by Mr. Austen, 1855. They form a passage into the Mint yard. It is the only staircase of the period known to be in existence. In the King's school were educated Harvey, the physician, Lord Thurlow, and Lord Tenterden. Within the ancient almonry, on the north-west of the Green Court, stood the chantry of St. Thomas à Becket, which Henry VIII converted into a mint, and Cardinal Pole made the King's school. In the high wall, probably a portion of Lanfranc's building, leading to the north-west entrance of the cathedral are the remains of the coverd way to the cloisters, by which the primates entered, but their ordinary approach was through a large gateway with a square tower of flint and ashlar.1
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