Canterbury - St. Mildred

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

St. Mildred is one of the oldest parish churches in Canterbury. It incorporated the medieval parish of St. Mary de Castro after it's demolition in 1486. The church building, which has Anglo-Saxon origins, has much work of the 13th and 14th centuries. Described by one writer in 1847 as 'one of the most interesting relics of antiquity in Canterbury', the church has a 15th-century font, and bench-ends reputed to have come from the lost church of St. John, which disappeared from history around 1520.

The living is a rectory of St. Mary in the Castle and St. Mildred.

St. Mildred's church occupies the site of a previous church; is partly later English; consists of three aisles and three chancels, with a square tower; includes Roman bricks in its walls; and contains monuments of the Attwoods, the Cranmers, and others.¹

This church was later united with the church and living of All Saints, which already had been united with the church of St. Mary de Castro.²

The Church

St. Mildred's church is situated at the southwest extremity of the city, near the Old Castle and the river Stour, in the church-yard belonging to it. This church is a large handsome building, of three isles and three chancels, with a square tower steeple on the north side, in which are five bells. This church and a great part of the city, was, according to Stow, burnt in the year 1246, anno 30 Henry III. but as it should seem not entirely so, for at the west end of the south isle there is a very fair Roman arch, remaining over the window, and by all appearance the work of those times.

This church is a rectory, the patronage of which was part of the possessions of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, with whom it continued till the dissolution of that monastery, in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when it came into the hands of the crown, where it has continued ever since, the King being the present patron of it.

The church of St. Mildered is valued in the ancient taxation at eight marcs per annum.

This rectory, with that of the ancient desecrated church of St. Mary de Castro, or of the Castle, is valued in the King's books, at £17 17s. 11d. and the yearly tenths at £1 15s. 9-1/2d. In 1588 it was valued at fifty pounds. Communicants three hundred and sixty. In 1640 it was valued at seventy pounds. Communicants one hundred.

Archbishop Sancrost, by his decree, dated Sept. 29, 1684, united the rectory of All Saints, in this city, with St. Mary de Castro, of the king's patronage likewise, to this of St. Mildred, in which state it continues at this time. It is now about the clear annual value of eight pounds.

The neighbouring church of St. John, becoming desolated after the reformation, tacitly devolved to this church of St. Mildred, and it has ever since been esteemed as part of this parish.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. Mildred 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. Mildred: 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