~ ST. MARY BREDMAN / ST. MARY ANDREWSGATE ~
ALSO CALLED "Little Lady High-Street" "St. Mary Breadman" "St. Mary Fishman's"
HIGH STREET, CANTERBURY
The register dates from 1558
The Kent Family History Society has a fiche for sale of Marriages & Banns for this church c. 1752-1852 (dates vary by parish) fiche no. 1839, see their website
Rebuilt in 1822 & 1882, and torn down in 1900
*February 13, 1822 began to take down the church in High Street, March 25th the Foundation Stone laid for a new church in High Street (notes from Westgate)
The church possessing no burial ground of its own, the parishioners (when not buried in the Church) were interred in the Churchyard of St. Mary of the Castle e.g."1558 - xxviith day of November was buried Robert Fowler in St. Mary Castle Churchyard in the olde Churchyard beside his wife"
WTHBH - April 15, 1899 - St. Mary Bredman's Church. The acting Town Clerk (Mr. T. Wells) reported that notices were served on the Rector and overseers of St. Mary Bredman's to put the church into a state of repair and the Rector had replied that personally he was most anxious to do anything he could to secure the safety of the public in repairing the church, but owing to the abolition of church rates he had no funds for the purpose. As to the removal of the church, it would be illegal for him to take it down without a faculty, which would take some time to obtain. It was agreed that the Town Clerk should take the necessary steps before the magistrates to get the order enforced.
The last remains of St. Mary Bredman (the south wall) being demolished in 1959, to make way for the new Nason's store.
write-up and photo courtesy of Paul Crampton www.paulcramptonbooks.co.uk/
My sketch of the remodelled St. Mary Bredman Church, High street (the newly rebuilt church c. 1882)
"So-called from the bread market formerly held close by. A modern church on the site of an older one. This church, now pronounced unsafe, is shortly to be demolished, a fate, perhaps not undeserved."
Handbook for Canterbury, British Association for the Advancement of Science Dover Meeting 1899
My sketch of the earlier St. Mary Bredman Church, High street
1900 - The removal of the memorials to Alderman CORFE, Mr. Edward AGAR and Rev. John DUNCOMBE.
Death, January 21, 1795 in St. George's Canterbury, in his 60th year, Mr. Edward AGAR, formerly a wine merchant in that city.
In the chancel, against the wall:
"Neere unto this place lyeth interred the body of Joseph Colf, Esquire,
Alderman, sometime mayor and justice of the peace of this citye. He departed this
life the 24h of June An. Dai 1620. His first wife Budwine, by whome he had issue
nine children, whereof fowre were deceassed before his death; left behind him his
second wife Margaret, three sonnes and two daughters, Joseph, Thomas, Charles
Margaret and Ann who too shewe their loves, his well-beloved wife Mary with his
three sonnes and the husbands of his too daughters hath caused this small
monument of their equal charges too be erected in memorial of him. Thomas
Jackson, Joseph Colf, Thomas Colf, Charles Colf, and Richard Henley."
The tombstones are placed in amongst the flagstones on the floor where the old church used to stand, my assumption is these came back here after St. Andrews was taken down. (as the memorials had been moved there in 1900)
In the chancel was formerly a brass plate and inscription for Thomas Alcock, rector, anno 1500. And another in the body for William Megg, some time alderman, obt. 1519. The following monuments and gravestones are, among others, remaining in it, a mural monument near the altar, for Joseph Colfe, esq. alderman, and sometime mayor, obt. 1620; arms, Colfe, or, a fess between three colts current. A memorial for Sir Paul Barrett, sergeant at law, obt. 1685. Another adjoining, for Mary, wife of Paul Barrett, esq. of this city, only daughter and heir of Thomas Stanley, gent. late of this city, obt. 1672. A memorial for John Lee, gent. of this city, obt. 1722. He left one daughter Mary, who married Mr. John Warly, surgeon, of this city. On a stone adjoining, on a brass plate, for Matthew Gibbon, of London, obt. 1657. Below the above, is a stone, having on brass the small figure of a priest, and inscription for Robart Richmond, rector, obt. July 8, 1524. A memorial for the Rev. John Duncombe, rector of this parish and St. Andrew's united, vicar of Herne, and one of the six preachers of the cathedral, obt. Jan. 19, 1786. In the cross space, a memorial for Mr. William Powell, obt. 1694. A memorial within the north door, shewing that in a vault underneath lies George Knowler, son of George Knolwer, of this parish, alderman of this city, obt. 1778. A mural tablet for Edward Agar, obt. 1795. Hasted
DUNCOMBE
"Was on a small stone close to the South side of the stone noted below"
The Memorial to Rev. John Duncombe
"The Rev.
John Duncombe, M.A.
rector of this parish, with
that of Saint Andrew annexed;
vicar of Herne,
and one of the six preachers
in the cathedral.
Ob. Jan. 19, 1786, aet. 56"
"...In 1794, the MS. of this tragedy, by John Hughes, was in possession of the family of the Rev. John Duncombe, the son of William Duncombe, Esq., who married Elizabeth, sister of Mr. Hughes: and edited both the letters and the poems of his brother-in-law. The Rev. John Duncombe was vicar of Herne, in Kent, and a six preacher at Canterbury Cathedral, rector of St. Mary Bredman, and Master of Harbledown; he died early in 1786. His widow, who was the daughter of Joseph Highmore, Esq., an eminent portrait and historical painter and a man of letters, nephew and pupil of Thomas Highmore, Serjeant painter, survived until 1812; and their only child Anna Maria until 1825; the widow and daughter resided and died at Canterbury. I think it probable that the Rev. John Duncombe's papers are with some of the Highmore family and perhaps this may meet the eye of the depository."
After that it talks of his wife, but it's very hard to read.
*one daughter and two sons died as infants viz. Sarah-Elizabeth, October 17, 1764, William February 26, 1767 and John February 13, 1769.
For more on the family see St. George's Terrace
"GM - In this church is the following epitaph on our worthy friend and correspondent, Mr. Duncombe, and his family, p. 397, 398
"Sarah Elizabeth Duncombe
daughter of the Rev. Mr.
John Duncombe rector
of this parish and Susanna
his wife, who died Oct.
17, 1764, aged 10 months.
William Duncombe, son of
the above, died Feb. 26,
1767, aged 2 weeks."
LEE
Here lieth interred y Body
of John Lee of this City
Gent. He departed this life
Oct 4th 1720 Aged 59 Years
He left issue by Mary his
Wife one Daughter Mary
who married to M John Warly**
Surgeon of this City.
**There is a painting in the Royal Museum and Museum of Canterbury of Mr. John Warly surgeon of Canterbury (List 2004 inv. no. 8379.1 as 1700-1780) PCF Kent 2004 p. 28 illust. Mary, wife of surgeon John Warly and daughter of Alderman Lee of Canterbury.
"...The library (Elham, Kent)... a collection of books, constituting a family library, was bequeathed, with some other endowments by Lee WARLY (1715-1807) to the Minister and Church warden of the parish of Elham....Civil War tracts collected by Henry Oxinden, of Barham (1609-70); history, theology, travels, literature and some medical books belonging to his grandson John WARLY (1674-1732), a Canterbury surgeon and some law books from the working library of his son, Lee Warly, an attorney in Canterbury.
BARRET
Here lieth tinterred ye body of
Paul Barret Knt Serjant at Law
He had three Wives the first was
Mary Daughter and Heiress of
Thomas Stanley of this City Gent
by whome he had issue four sons and
four Daugrs five of which Survived
He died Jany 9, 1685 (stone is broken on this line)
in the 53 year of his Age
One of his wives "Dame Sarah Barret, Daughter of Sr. George Ent Knight", her memorial is in St. John the Evangelist Church, Ickham, and she was also previously married to Francis Head of Rochester, Esq.
"1803 - DEATH Jan 8th. At his seat at Lee, in the parish of Ickham, near Canterbury, Kent, aged 59, after a lingering illness, of a dropsy of the chest, Thomas Barrett, esq. He was great grandson of sir Paul Barret, of Lee, serjeant-at-law, recorder of Canterbury, and M.P. for New Romney, knighted by Charles II. at Whitehall, Aug. 7, 1683. His father, Thomas Barrett, esq. who died about 1757, was a well-known collector, and possessed many valuable pictures and curiosities, to which his son made material additions. In 1773, on the death of Sir Thomas Hales, Mr. Barrett, was elected M.P. for Dover, after one of the most violent contests ever known, with the present Mr. Trevanion. At the general election the next year, his love of quiet induced him to decline again entering the lists. About 1783, he began to alter and new-model his house at Lee in the gothic style, under the direction of Mr. James Wyatt; and it will scarcely be deemed too much to say, that it has been made the most beautiful speciment of the kind existing...etc. He died unmarried, and has left his estates to his great nephew and heir, Thomas Barret Brydges, a minor, at Harrow-school eldest son of his niece, by Samuel Egerton Bridges, of Denton, esq. on condition of taking his name." AR
BARRET
*It's possible that this stone reads (it was in St. Mary Breadman Church in 1792)
"Here lieth the body of Mary the wife of Paul Barrett, Esq., of this
city, only daughter and heir of Thomas Stanley of the same city, gent.
who departed this life the 9th day of Sep.
Anno Salutis 1672
AEtatis 32
"The church of St. Mary Bredman, situated in High street which now serves for both parishes, was rebuilt in 1882, replacing an older church; it is a plain, rectangular chamber, possessing no object of interest but a tablet to the memory of the Rev. John Duncombe* M.A. one of the six preachers of the Cathedral and vicar of Herne, well known as a writer on local topography. There are 200 sittings, 20 being free; the joint population is 695; the register dates from 1558. St. Andrew and St. Mary Bredman constitute a joint rectory; the living is in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury; the net value is £230, with residence in Ethelbert road, erected by subscription supplemented by a grant of £1500 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners; the living has been held since 1877 by the Rev. Samuel Campbell Lepard M.A. of Worcester College, Oxford."
1882 directory of Kent *John Duncombe - Corpus Christi College Oxford, Ob. Jan 19, 1786, see below
Here lieth ye Body
of Hester [wife] of M. John
Warly.... of
the Chy..... of
London ..
...e A.... 24
Years of ... Age
RE: Memorials 1792
"Here lieth interred underneath this stone, the body of Hester, the only daughter of Mr. John and Hester Warly, who departed this life the 19th of June, 1707"
"Here lieth the body of Mr. William Powell, of this parish who departed this life July 23, 1694 in the 42d year of his age"
"In a vault under this stone rest the remains of George Knowler, only son of George Knowler, of this parish (alderman of this city) and Elizabeth his wife, who died Feb 22, 1778, in the 18th year of his age; likewise Mrs Ann Brisenden, aunt to the above. She died the 23d of February 1783, aged 65 Years."
Here
lieth interred ye Body
of Sarah Garratt
late Wife of
John Garratt who
departed this life
July ye 15th 1714
Aetatis 55
1562. Morning prayer is to be said every day, being no holiday, at six in the morning, in the parish church of our Lady, in the High-street; unto which prayer shall come Mr. Mayor with his brethren, and the rest of the house of Burghmote, having no lawful let. HT
1838
Patrons, The Archbishop of Canterbury, 2 turns; the Dean and Chapter, 1 turn
Incumbent & Rector - W. Spencer Harris BRAHAM, Green Court
Churchwardens:
J. BROWN, High Street
John BILBE, Guildhall Street
Parish Clerk, J. PENN, Burgate Street
Sexton, J. REED, White Horse Lane
*the plaque shows the church was rebuilt 1828
"St. Mary Bredman's Church, situated on the south side of High Street, has a plain front, with three pointed windows, and was rebuilt in 1822 on the site of an old Norman structure. It has two aisles, and a tower at the west end with one bell. The only thing of interest in this church is a monument to John Duncombe, Vicar of Herne, who wrote the "History of Reculver and Herne, and the Hospitals of Canterbury." It was called St. Mary Bredman, to distinguish it from the other Maries in and about Canterbury, from the bread market being held near it. The living was united to St. Andrews in 1681. It is a rectory, in the patronage of the Archbishop and Dean and Chapter; the former enjoying two appointments and the latter one.
Directory 1847
The red square is where the church was located on High Street, the map is from my "A walk in and about the city of Canterbury", by William Gostling 1777 ed.
Isaac TERRY, M.A. Rector of St. Mary, Bredman, and St. Andrew, in Canterbury. "Sixteen Sermons upon select subjects," Cant. 1746, 8vo. Bibliotheca Britannical 1824
Sixteen Sermons upon Select Subjects. By the Rev. Isaac Terry, A.M. late Rector of the United Parishes of St. Mary Bredman and St. Andrew in Canterbury, price 4s bound 3s stich'd. Kentish Post September 1756 *information kindly supplied by Richard, please do not copy the above Newspaper information without prior permission from him - the links to his site are as follows:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dutillieul/ZOtherPapers/NewKent11Sep1756.html (Kentish Post)
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dutillieul/ZOtherPapers/Index.html (Main Newspaper Site)
"Here begins our High Street; on the south side of which, and not far from the corner, is the church of St. Mary Bredman's parish, (united to that of St. Andrew) against the wall of which a stone shews it is fifty-six miles from London; but some late improvements of that road have been made, which, if a new survey of the walls was taken, would remove this considerably eastward."
"A walk in and about the city of Canterbury" by William Gostling 1777 ed.
Where the church used to stand is where Nason's is now.
You can also see the Royal East Kent Yeomany memorial that used to be located near St. George's Gate/Terrace
"John Paris, A.M. was admitted that same year; he was rector of the united parishes of St. Mary Bredman and St. Andrew, in Canterbury, and vicar of Bekesborne, in this county. He died on November 5, 1709, and was buried in St. Andrew's church." (He was also master of Eastbridge Hospital)
The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Edward Hasted 1801
"Dr. John Gregory left three sons and two daughters. His second son, William of Baliol College, Oxford, obtained the rectory of St. Mary Breadman and was appointed one of the six preachers in the Cathedral church of Canterbury." The Public Characters 1801
Royal East Kent Yeomanry War Memorial and Horse Trough on the left
"In the small Church of St. Mary Bredman was buried Sir Paul Barrett, Knt. Sergeant at Law, who died January, 1685, at the age of fifty-three."
Topographical, Historical, Descriptive, and Literary, Delineation's in Kent, E.W. Brayley, October, 1807 & The Beauties of England and Wales, 1808
"Marriage, October 30, 1845, at Brighton, John Hollams, esq. of Mincing-lane, to Rice, third daughter of the late Rev. E. M. Allfree, Rector of St. Andrew with St. Mary Bredman, Canterbury, and Vicar of Shorne, Kent." The Gentlemen's Magazine 1845
"St. Mary Breadman. - Brass, small, Rob. Richmond, rector, 1524. (Hasted.)"
Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey 1852
"...She has not left any literary work to perpetuate her fame; but her story of "Fidelia and Honoria" in the Adventurer, and some small contributions in the Poetical Calendar, and Nichols's Poems, and a few transient effusions of genius that never met the public eye, principally in the Gentlemen's Magazine, have assisted to chear her friends with the remembrance of her with respect and delight. She was interred in the church of St. Mary Bredman, in the same vault with her husband, whose tomb is thus inscribed:
"The Rev. John Duncombe, M.A. Rector of this Parish, with that of St. Andrew annexed, Vicar of Herne,
and one of the Six Preachers in the Cathedral.
Ob. Jan. 19, 1786, aet. 56"
"St. Mary Breadman, which was afterwards about the center of the city, owing to a later extension of the walls eastward, used to be so close to the old eastern gate that it was called St. Mary Andrewsgate. St. Mary Bredman was so called it is said from a bread market which formerly stood next to it. The church is a plain oblong building without arches or divisions whatever. The adjoining Church House has a somewhat curious window looking into the church."
Rambles round old Canterbury, 1884
"The adjoining Church House has a somewhat curious window looking into the church"
Its possible that one of these windows from the old Church House was "the curious window"
In 1900 the memorials to Alderman Corfe, Mr. Edward Agar* and Revd John Duncombe were removed.
*Death, January 21, 1795 in St. George's Canterbury, in his 60th year, Mr. Edward AGAR, formerly a wine merchant in that city. (possibly married to a Mary Bass PATEMAN Janury 8th, 1780 at Boughton under Blean, Kent)
"The church of St. Mary Bredman, High street, was taken down in 1900, and the site railed in and planted with shrubs; the mural tablets were removed to St. Andrew's Church." (where were all the memorials moved to when St. Andrew's was taken down?) 1903
"The parishes of St. Margaret, St. Andrew and St. Mary Breadman were ecclesiastically united in 1888. The site of the old church of St. Mary Breadman (said by Somner to be so called from its nearness to the Bread-market) in the High Street is now planted with shrubs."
Canterbury, A history of the ancient City, J. Charles Cox 1905
ST. MARY BREDMAN BURIAL SITE
The church possessing no burial ground of its own, the parishioners (when not buried in the Church) were interred in the Churchyard of St. Mary of the Castle e.g."1558 - xxviith day of November was buried Robert Fowler in St. Mary Castle Churchyard in the olde Churchyard beside his wife"
John Duncombe, son of William Duncombe (English writer), was born in 1730. He was educated at private schools at Romford and Felsted, where he displayed great regularity, uncommon application, and superior talents. At the age of 16 he was admitted at Benet's college, Cambridge, at the recommendation of archbishop Herring his fathers friend. In 1750 he was chosen fellow of his college, and three years after took orders, and became assistant preacher at St. Anne's Soho, where his eloquence as an orator, and his amiable manners in private life, gained him the respect of a populous neighborhood. In 1757, the primate Herring gave him the livings of St. Andrew and St. Mary Bredman, Canterbury, but the death of that excellent patron, two months after, cut off all hopes of further and more valuable preferment. He married in 1763, the daughter of Mr. Highmore the painter, with whom he enjoyed 23 years of uninterrupted domestic happiness. In 1766, Seeker appointed him one of the six Canterbury preachers, and the next primate, Cornwallis, presented him, in 1773, to the living of Herne, six miles from Canterbury. He was also master of Harbledown and St. John's Hospitals, which, though places of trust and not emolument, enabled him to display his regard for the poor, and his humane endeavours to relieve their necessities. He was also an active magistrate, and in this office he was the means of encouraging virtue and of checking vice. He was attacked by a paralytic stroke 21st June 1785, from which he never recovered, and died on the 18th of the following January. He left only one daughter. His works are chiefly fugitive pieces published in Dodsley's collection, and in periodical magazines, besides the Semincad, and a poem on the death of Frederick prince of Wales. He also greatly assisted his father in his translation of Horace, and published the seventh satire of the second book in 1752, imitated, and inscribed to R. Owen, Cambridge. Universal Biography 1810
1840 - Preferments, Rev. J. White, to the Rectories of St. Andrew with St. Mary Breadman, Canterbury
1841 - Rev. Edward Penny, M.A., of St. John's College, Oxford, Curate of Hythes, has been collated to the united Rectories of St. Andrew's and St. Mary Breadman, in the City of Canterbury, Kent, diocese of Canterbury; patron, his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury
1842 - Rev. E. Penny, R. of St. Andrew with St. Mary Bredman, Canterbury, to the P.C. of Ash, Kent, vacant by the promotion of the Rev. F. R. Nixon to the bishopric of Tasmania; pat., the Archbp. of Canterbury
1843 - Ecclesiastical Preferments - Mr. Barlow, St. Andrew and St. Mary Bredman, Canterbury
"Preferments - Rev. C. E. Smith, St. Andrew R. Canterbury." The Gentlemen's Magazine 1847
1847 - Rev. Charles Edgar Smith is rector
1858 - Rev. C. E. Smith (Charles Edgar Smith)
1871 - Joseph M. Ward, Curate of Andrew and St. Mary Bredman (10 St. Dunstan's Terrace)
1871 - Thomas S. Huxley, born c. 1823 in Quebec, CANADA, Rector of St. Andrew with St. Mary Bredman Canterbury & Landowner (living on Castle street with his wife, and two sons and his wife's mother Margaret Day) 1881 finds him as the Rector of Keston, Kent. 1891 Thomas and Elizabeth are back in Canterbury. They are living in the Dane John "The Vicarage Parish?", Thomas is noted as Clerk in Holy Orders (clergy). There was a death of a Thomas Scott Huxley in 1898 in Canterbury, age 75.
1877 - 1882 - Rev. Samuel Campbell Lepard M.A. (of Worcester College, Oxford) - Hours of Service; 11 am. 7 pm.
Index of Wills
Christopher FRANCK, Sadler, St. Mary Breadman, Canterbury 1654 Folio 156