Modern Britain

The Old Church inside Canterbury's city walls was destroyed by enemy bombing in 1942, along with a large southern swathe of the city. The ruins were quickly demolished, and all that could be rescued was the old collection plate, taken red hot from the ruins. A new church was needed, and the present brown-brick building was opened in 1957, with a church centre opening next to it in 1993 (on the far left here). The church was fully renovated between 2008-2009.

Canterbury Baptist Church is on the busy St George's Place. To replace the failing Unitarian Baptist Chapel, on 16 June 1863 the foundation stone for the new Baptist chapel was laid by Sir S M Peto Bart, MP in the presence of a large crowd, and building work was handled by Mr H Wilson of Canterbury. The building opened for worship the following year, on Thursday 17 March 1864, and it came complete with a school and lecture hall (which is visible on the far left here).

The Church of St George the Martyr stood on the southernmost part of St George's Street, although nothing now remains of it save the bell tower. The church existed for over 900 years, with the nave stretching back to the right of the tower as seen here. The Tudor playwright, Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), was born and lived in a house almost directly opposite the church for the first ten years of his life, and was baptised here on 26 February 1564.

The site may have been occupied by a Saxon church at first, and a Norman church can be dated to before 1100. In 1871 its parish was united with that of St Mary Magdalene (see below), and the church was enlarged. On 1 June 1942, it was gutted by a German bombing raid which laid waste to much of the district (seen on the right). The bells partially melted and were later lost. The ruins were cleared in October 1952 and the tower was only just saved from demolition.

Whitefriars Monastery occupied an area which was focused alongside St George's Church, with a main entrance on Rose Lane, and Lambert's Lane forming its northern boundary. The White Friars settled in Canterbury about1325, but by the time of the Dissolution they were was so poor that they petitioned the mayor for relief. Of the city's priories, this one has been most completely erased. It now lies underneath the Whitefriars Centre (shown here).

The remains of St Mary Magdalene stand in Burgate. The main church building was a thirteenth century construction, situated where the small garden is today, while the Perpendicular Gothic tower was built between 1502-1503. The parish was united with that of St George the Martyr in 1861, and the church was closed down five years later and demolished in 1871. Some of its columns and pillars were used to extend St George's, while the tower was fully restored in 1974.

The Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury was built behind the former site of St Mary Magdalene (whose tower is on the right here). The church name plaque on the wall outside the building states. 'In the chapel of the English martyrs are some relics of St Thomas, martyred in Canterbury on 29th December, 1170'. The church, which was built about 1750 following the re-establishment of Catholism in Canterbury, has one bell in the enclosed central turret.

In 1855, Mary Ann Wood gave the house at 60 Burgate Street (now 59 Burgate) for the use of 'a priest in the city of Canterbury', which allowed Catholic worship to begin in the city for the first time since the reign of Mary Tudor. The church was built on the old St Mary Magdalene burial ground in 1874-1875. It was designed by John Green Hall, who was also responsible for St Lawrence in York and the Guildhall Street Church, and was opened for worship on 13 April 1875.

St Michael Burgate existed close to the northern side of the approach to the Burgate. The church was probably Norman, erected during an ecclesiastic building-boom. Its date of closure is not known, but 1349 (the closure of both St John's and St Edmund's) or 1486 (St Mary de Casto) would be most likely. Its parish was united to St Mary Magdalene and the church's remains converted into a dwelling house. By 1852, some of the old church walls still stood.

Two photos on this page contributed by Dickon Love.