Congregational Church, Guildhall Sreet. Built 1876, closed 1948

The Congregationalists were founded in 1646, and their first church was built in 1696. The Presbyterians broke away in 1875, and moved to Gas Street. The replacement building, which could seat 800, built in 1876, was designed by John Green Hall, who also designed St Thomas' Roman Catholic church. In 1942, the Congregationalists merged with the Countess of Huntingdon Connexion at their Watling Street church. In 1948 the church was declared unsafe and closed, subsequently being purchased by William Lefevre to incorporate into his shop, removing the top of the building. Lefevre's was taken over by Debenhams.

Records at Cathedral Archives

Wincheap Burial Ground, 1849-1962

For Baptist, Congregational and Countess of Huntingdon Connexion.

Only surviving records 1911-1927 at Cathedral Archives.

Upon the breakaway of the Presbyterians from the Congregational church in 1875, a tiny chapel in Gas Street, next to Canterbury Castle, was used as their place of worship. A few remains attached to the adjacent oast house is the only trace of this chapel today.

The Presbyterian Chapel in Gas Street, and St Andrew's, Wincheap Green

In 1881, a much grander church was constructed on Wincheap Green, at a cost of £5000, in red brick and Bath stone, and named St Andrew's. The church was designed by John Green Hall, who also designed St Thomas' Catholic church, and the Congregational church in Guildhall Street.

By the 1960s, St Andrew's Presbyterian church became redundant. In 1972, the Presbyterians merged with the Congregationalists at the United Reform church in Watling Street. After use as a youth club, St Andrew's was finally demolished in 1973 to make way for a new development; the site then remained empty and derelict for about twenty years, until St Andrew's House was finally constructed there in the 1990s- a sad end for a striking building.

Records at Cathedral Archives