Canterbury Christchurch Cathedral, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Canterbury Cathedral, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
Canterbury Christ Church Cathedral was founded around 604 AD and rebuilt following fire in 1067 to form the present building Canterbury Cathedral Wikipedia

A history of the church is available at Kent Family History Society

The Cathedral church of Christ Church has been designated as a grade I listed building and many other buildings within the precincts have also been listed British listed building

The Canterbury Cathedral Archives contain the deposited records of the Archdeaconries of the Diocese of Canterbury and are located within the Cathedral precinct. The Archive is staffed by archivists from Kent County Council and some records for the diocese will in future be available at the developing Kent Archive Family History Centre and the existing Centre for Kentish Studies has copies of deposited records for Diocese of Canterbury parishes in East Kent.

The church is referred to in Edward Hasted, 'History of the cathedral', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 11 (1800), pp. 306-383. British History Online and Hasted has further description of the Cathedral Precincts.

Civil Registration
See Canterbury Registration district

Kent County Council (KCC) has a certificate centre at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells which holds all the completed registers for Kent since 1 July 1837 and can supply a certified copy of any Kent birth, death or marriage entry from any register within its custody or a Kent civil partnership registration from the government online database.

The Mansion House (Certificate Centre) Grove Hill Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1EP

Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church Records
Canterbury Christchurch Cathedral parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Family History Library (FHL) film numbers (especially see a "Comprehensive List of Parishes within Canterbury, Kent" for a list of all available church registers on microfilm at FamilySearch's FHL. Parish registers for Christ Church, Canterbury, 1564-1961 original records in possession of Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Canterbury, Kent, England. Canterbury Cathedral Archives no.: U3/146/1/1-11

Bishop's transcripts for Christ Church, Canterbury, 1813-1862 original records housed at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives, Canterbury, Kent. Canterbury Cathedral Archives no.: DCb/BT2/46

For an overview of the City Canterbury Kent Online Parish Clerks

FamilySearch microfilm holdings are not readily pin pointed due to the hierarchy of the currently available catalogue online, the search terms England, Kent, Canterbury produce 206 microfilm holdings.

Deposited records are described at Kent Family History Society

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images

Census Records
Family Search microfilm for Census Returns for the city are at Census returns for Canterbury, 1841-1891

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * England Family History Centres to locate local Family History Centres in UK
 * Introduction to Family History Centers to locate outside UK.
 * Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable).

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.


 * Ancestry UK Census Collection


 * Find my Past census search 1841-1901

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Kent Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain