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England Canterbury (city)

Guide to Canterbury (city) history, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.



HISTORY
Canterbury is one of the oldest areas to be populated in the British Isles. The Canterbury area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Lower Paleolithic axes, and Neolithic and Bronze Age pots have been found in the area.

Canterbury was first recorded as the main settlement of the Celtic tribe of the Cantiaci, which inhabited most of modern day Kent. The Romans entered South East England early in their quest to conquer the area known as Britnania, and, in the 1st century AD, the Romans captured the settlement and named it Durovernum Cantiacorum. After the Romans left Britain in 410 Durovernum Cantiacorum was abandoned except by a few farmers and gradually decayed.

In 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to convert its King Æthelberht to Christianity. After the conversion, Canterbury, being a Roman town, was chosen by Augustine as the center for his episcopal see in Kent, and an abbey and cathedral were built. Augustine thus became the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

Kent was one of the primary focuses of the Vikings for their raiding parties during the ninth and tenth centuries AD. Canterbury suffered great loss of life during the Danish raids.

Remembering the destruction caused by the Danes, the inhabitants of Canterbury did not resist William the Conqueror's invasion in 1066.

After the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket at the cathedral in 1170, Canterbury became one of the most notable towns in Europe, as pilgrims from all parts of Christendom came to visit his shrine.

In 1448 Canterbury was granted a City Charter, which gave it a mayor and a high sheriff; the city still has a Lord Mayor and Sheriff.

By the 17th century, Canterbury's population was 5,000; of whom 2,000 were French-speaking Protestant Huguenots, who had begun fleeing persecution and war in the Spanish Netherlands in the mid-16th century. The Huguenots introduced silk weaving to Canterbury, and this became a major source of industry, in cottages throughout the city. However by 1820 the city's silk industry had been killed by imported Indian muslin.

The twentieth century saw little development. Canterbury was too far from both the coast and London to become a major player in any industrial development. The biggest expansion of the city occurred in the 1960s, with the arrival of the University of Kent at Canterbury and Christ Church College.

LOCATION
Canterbury is located in east Kent, about 55 miles from London. The Thames Estuary is about 8.5 miles away, to the north.

The city is on the River Stour or Great Stour, flowing from its source at Lenham north-east through Ashford to the English Channel at Sandwich. The river divides south east of the city, one branch flowing though the city, the other around the position of the former walls. The two branches rejoin or are linked several times, but finally recombine around the town of Fordwich, on the edge of the marshland north east of the city.

The area around Canterbury is rich in alluvial soil, and is very fertile. This part of Kent provides a market culture for the London area. It is well known for growing hops, used in the brewing of beer. Additionally there are many areas of the South Downs nearby to Canterbury that are used for the raising of sheep.

RELIGION
From its earliest Christian history, Canterbury has been a critical and important center of world Christianity. Canterbury Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion and Seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Founded in 597 AD by Augustine, it forms a World Heritage Site, along with the Saxon St. Martin's Church and the ruins of St Augustine's Abbey.



Next to the Monarch, since the time of Henry VIII, the Archbishop of Canterbury has been the preeminent leader of the Anglican church.

As such, Canterbury has been the location of pilgrimages from earliest times to the present. The pilgrimages were few in number until the death of Thomas a Becket within the walls of the cathedral. Today, with one million visitors per year, it is one of the most visited places in the country. However most of these visitors are here to see the magnificent architecture, rather than for religious reasons. Services are still held at the Cathedral three or more times a day.

INDUSTRY
Canterbury has always been primarily the market and commercial center for the county of Kent. It has never been known as an industrial city, relying primarily on the Cathedral and its central location for the city's income.

Canterbury district retains approximately 4,761 businesses, up to 60,000 full- and part-time employees and was worth £1.3 billion in 2001. This makes the district the second largest economy in Kent.

Tourism contributes £258m to the Canterbury economy and has been a "cornerstone of the local economy" for a number of years; Canterbury Cathedral alone generates over one million visitors a year.

CIVIL REGISTRATION
Birth, marriages and deaths records have been kept by government since July 1837 to the present day. Prior to that, local parishes of the Church of England, and local branches of other faiths were the only repositories of this information. The following link provides access for Canterbury records:


 * Kent Records


 * All English Records, Kent

CENSUS RECORDS
Census records for Canterbury can be found using the following links:


 * UK census records


 * Ancestry.com Kent census records

PROBATE RECORDS
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by several locations for Canterbury. Please follow the links below:


 * Canterbury Cathedral notes


 * Ancestry.com Canterbury Probate information

CEMETERIES AND GRAVES
There are presently one central cemetery, and several outlying cemeteries within the Canterbury city district. The link follows:


 * Canterbury city cemeteries

Other useful sites follow:


 * Findagrave, Canterbury


 * Billiongraves, Canterbury


 * Kent county online records

GENEALOGY SOCIETIES AND GENEALOGY

 * The Kent Family History Society


 * FamilySearch Kent information


 * KFHS, Canterbury Branch


 * Forebears.com, Canterbury


 * Genuki Kent page