St Martin's Church

St Martin’s Church stands in Canterbury, a short walk north-east of the cathedral. It is the oldest church in continuous use in the English-speaking world and forms part of Canterbury’s World Heritage Site alongside the cathedral and St Augustine’s Abbey. The building began as a small Romano-British chapel which Queen Bertha of Kent restored around AD 580 for her Christian worship. Her Frankish chaplain Bishop Liudhard served here before Augustine arrived from Rome in 597. Augustine then used the chapel as his mission base while rebuilding Canterbury’s Christian community. The church’s walls still show reused Roman bricks and tiles, including parts of a Roman tomb built into the structure. A blocked square-headed doorway in the chancel may mark the original entrance from Bertha’s time. The nave dates from the 7th or 8th centuries, while the Perpendicular tower was added much later. Inside, the Grade I listed building keeps early fabric alongside later medieval work. A hoard of late 6th-century gold coins, including the Liudhard medalet, was unearthed in the churchyard before 1844. The churchyard holds graves of notable figures such as theologian Henry Alford, 19th-century evangelist Canon William Cadman, artist Thomas Sidney Cooper and Rupert Bear’s creator Mary Tourtel. Eleven Commonwealth service personnel from both world wars are also buried here. The tower contains three bells set for swing-chiming, with the tenor bell weighing 330 kg. Music has flowed through the building since Augustine’s monks first sang there, continuing an unbroken tradition to the present day.