Find your ancestors in Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry marriages

Marriages

These records provide both transcripts and images of the original marriage registers. Most transcripts will include your ancestor’s

  • First name(s)
  • Last name
  • Birth year
  • Marriage date
  • Place of marriage
  • Spouse’s first name(s)
  • Spouse’s last name

Additionally, the records will usually provide the following details:

  • Groom’s age
  • Groom’s father’s name
  • Bride’s age
  • Bride’s father’s name
  • County

The images of the registers often include additional information, such as

  • Witnesses
  • Occupation of bride and groom
  • Occupation of bride’s and groom’s fathers
  • Residence at the time of marriage for both bride and groom
  • Who officiated the ceremony

Discover more about these records

These registers come from Canterbury’s historic archdeaconry. Before 1841, Canterbury was the only archdeaconry in the diocese of Canterbury. From 1841 until 2011, the diocese of Canterbury was divided into two archdeaconries: Canterbury in the east and Maidstone in the west. In 2011, the Archdeaconry of Ashford was created and the archdeaconry boundaries redrawn.

All parishes within the Archdeaconry of Canterbury that consented to online publication are included in these records. Four parishes withheld consent for publishing images of their records, therefore, where available, you will only be able to search transcripts of their records: Cheriton St Martin, Harbledown St Michael, Ramsgate St Luke, and Shepherdswell (also known as Sibertswold) St Andrew. Original records for these four parishes can be consulted on microfilm at Canterbury Cathedral Archives.

Three ancient Thanet parishes can be found under the names St John in Thanet, St Lawrence in Thanet, and St Peter in Thanet (rather than under Margate, Ramsgate, and Broadstairs respectively).

For data protection and personal privacy, there is an 84-year cut-off for publishing marriage records.

These records have been provided in conjunction with Canterbury Cathedral Archives.