St Mildred's Church - Chapels and Monuments

The chapel to the North of the high altar was added in the 1400s with a small vestry to the side. After a fire in 1974 this area was turned into a kitchen and a Parish Room. The organ which stood where the vestry now is, was damaged by the water after the fire, and was removed to its present position at the back of the church.

The South East chapel was built in 1512 by Thomas Attwood who was four times Mayor of Canterbury. Later the chapel was used as a grave diggers' store. It was restored in 1905 and refurbished in the 1990s. Note the Tudor fireplace and the 13th centruy figure of St Mildred in the window and on the outside, the Tudor checkerwork masonery and rare consecration crosses.

 

Notable amongst the monuments is the one by the pulpit to Sir Thomas Cranmer, d.1640, son of Edmund Cranmer, Archdeacon of Canterbury, and brother of Archbishop Cranmer.

Note the hatchments high on the walls. These coats of arms were used first in the funeral processions and then hung in the church. Above the Head tomb is that of Alderman Simmons, a Mayor of Canterbury, who gave the Dane John Gardens to the City. His grave, recently restored by the King's School where he was a pupil, is in the churchyard.