This website is for visiting St Martin's, Canterbury, if you are looking for our parish website please visit www.martinpaul.org 

England's oldest parish church still in continuous use.

St. Martin’s Church is England’s oldest parish church still in regular use for worship. Predating both Canterbury Cathedral and St Augustine’s Abbey, St Martin’s dates back at least to the late 6th century, when King Ethelbert gave the building to his Christian wife, Bertha as her private chapel. Bede relates that St. Augustine worshipped here at the very start of his mission to convert the English. Such is the historical significance of this church that, along with the ruins of the Abbey of St. Augustine and Canterbury Cathedral, St Martin’s is one third of the Canterbury World Heritage Site and is in a good state of repair.