KENT RESOURCES: The Church of St. George the Martyr, Canterbury, Kent.

St. George the Martyr and
St. George's Street, Canterbury
- before the bombing of the City in W.W.II

Ruins of St. George's Church, Canterbury.

Following the bombing of the City centre.
© Kent Messenger Newspapers

Repairs to St. George's Church, Canterbury.

Repair work and rebuilding - 1952

The Tower at the top of Canterbury High Street, which has for many years been known as "The Clock Tower" (picture above), is just part of the Canterbury landscape for the local residents and now is used for little more than telling the time. It was, however, part of the large and ancient church of St. George the Martyr. On the side of the Tower is a small plaque which states that the dramatist Christopher Marlowe was baptized in this Church. In the registers the entry appears as:
"The 26th day of February was christened Christofer the sonne of John Marlowe".
In fact, Christopher was born in a house almost opposite the Church on the corner of St. George's Lane which unfortunately, no longer exists.

An early Church guide claims that there was originally a Saxon Church on this site but there is no physical evidence of this fact. Because of the name of the Church and there having been associations with the "cult" of St. George and The Archbishop of Canterbury in the late 7th Century, Theodore of Tarsus, there is a strong possibility that there was a very early Church in this location. However, there were remains of Norman work in the lower part of the Tower and the West door which points to there certainly having been a Church on this site since before 1100 AD

The Church went through a series of enlargements over the centuries, the last of which was in 1872 when the neighbouring Church of St. Mary Magdalene in nearby Burgate was demolished (other than the Tower which still exists) because it was in such a poor state of repair. At this time a North Aisle was added so that the additional population from the larger Parish could be accommodated. Much of the material for this construction was robbed from the remains of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. The Nave as viewed in the picture below was formerly the old North Aisle and was seperated from the old Nave by iron columns. With the addition of the new North Aisle, the old North Aisle became the Nave and the old Nave became the South Aisle. The rows of imitation Transition Norman Columns were made of the stone brought from St. Mary Magdalene. A new Chancel was added at the same time from the former Chapel to Our Lady. Three of the five bells were made by Joseph Hatch, the family of well known local bell founder from Ulcombe in Kent.

The various stages of the changes to the Church and the area are shown down the left-hand side of this page. The destruction of the main part of the Church occurred in 1942 during bombing raids on Canterbury and more detail can be found in the Canterbury at War section of this site.

The Nave and Chancel, St. George's Church.

The Nave and Chancel of
St. George the Martyr
- approximately 1910.