Find your ancestors in Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry banns

Banns

These records contain both transcripts and images of the original banns registers. Most transcripts will include the following information about your ancestor:

  • First name(s)
  • Last name
  • Banns date
  • Place
  • Marriage year
  • Spouse’s first name(s)
  • Spouse’s last name
  • Groom’s parish
  • Bride’s parish
  • County

    The images of the register will often provide additional information, such as the dates on which banns were read and whom they were read by.

    These records can provide you with valuable information about your ancestor. For example, we learn that John Adams married Elizabeth Slapp in 1754. Both bride and groom were from the parish of Deal. By looking at the image of the register, we learn that John was a widower and Elizabeth was a spinster. We also discover that Herbert Randolph was the one to read the banns on 15 December, 22 December, and 29 December 1754 at Deal, St Leonard.

    These banns registers come from Canterbury’s historic archdeaconry. Up to 1841, Canterbury was the only archdeaconry in the diocese of Canterbury. After 1841, 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 represented in these records. Please note that four parishes withheld consent for publishing images of their records, therefore, where provided, 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 each of 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).

    Banns are the publications on three successive Sundays of a couple's intention to marry. Note that many entries in the banns registers include the date of marriage as well. The banns registers, however, are also interesting for identifying marriages that took place outside the parish in question (usually in the parish of the bride when different) and, of course, for marriages which, for whatever reason, were planned but never took place. The majority of marriages were preceded by banns; however, a minority were by licence and, of course, such marriages will not appear in these records.

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

    We are pleased to be working in association with Canterbury Cathedral Archives to bring you this crucial resource for the history of Kent, which is part of the Canterbury Collection.