Canterbury St Dunstan, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
Canterbury St Dunstan is an Ancient Parish in the city.

The church is referred to in 1174 as the place in which King Henry II, during his penitential pilgrimage following the murder of Thomas a Becket in the Canterbury Cathedral, changed into sackcloth.

The church contains memorials to the Roper family, Margaret daughter of Sir Thomas More and wife of William Roper.

St Dunstan also contains a recent stained glass window to commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul II to Canterbury.

See also Kent Archaeological Society and St Dunstan Canterbury Wikipedia See also Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (1800), pp. 33-42 at British History Onlineand Kent Churches website

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

Civil Registration
SeeBlean Registration District 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 St Dunstan parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Description of the deposited records at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives is available at Kent Family History Society.

Family History Library film numbers: Canterbury St Dunstan Archdeacon's transcripts, 1560-1813; Bishop's transcripts, 1603-1907 Canterbury St Dunstan Parish registers 1559-1969 original records at the Canterbury Cathedral Archives, The Precincts, in Canterbury, England. Canterbury Cathedral Archives call nos.: U3/141/1/1-24.

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.
 * Category: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

Poor Law Unions

 * Blean Poor Law Union, Kent

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.


 * See England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records

Local Family History Centre

 * Canterbury Family History Centre, Kent
 * Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent
 * FHC Portal This centre has access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access in the centre to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Publication of the restricted access images England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records and England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records means that it is advisable to telephone the centre to reserve a computer if you wish to view these

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