Our History

People have prayed on this site since 1957 but the church community is much older than that. There has been a St Mary Bredin in Canterbury since Saxon times; "Bredin" is a Saxon word for "boarded", so called to distinguish it from the other five churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Canterbury. The original wooden church was probably sited in Rose Lane. In Norman times it was replaced by a small stone building with a wooden turret and this survived until Victorian times. In 1867 a new flint building with a tall spire and three bells was erected on the corner of Rose Lane on a site partly covered by the open pavement outside Bhs, and partly now under Bhs. On the night of 1st June 1942 the old St Mary Bredin church was destroyed during enemy bombing, along with many other buildings in Canterbury; only the old collection plate, taken red hot from the ruins, survived the fire, and is still in use. The present church was built on the new site in 1957, with the addition of the Church Centre in 1993.

SMB in 1957	SMB with 1993 extension

There has been steady growth at SMB over a number of years now. Several of the families at the heart of the church's life today have been active in the church over several generations. In particular, significant renewal and growth began during Jonathan Gledhill's time as vicar (1983-1997). Many of the things planned for and asked for in prayer during his time have come about, including the building up of a pastoral network; the development of our worship and prayer life; the training of members of the church; the building of a church centre; an Alpha programme and much more.

Church attendance figures reveal that the members attending church were stable in 1995 and 1996 but that after 1997 the congregation began to grow so that by the year 2000 we had to introduce another Sunday morning service. We then decided to hold four services on a Sunday; 8am, 9.30am, 11.15am and 6.30pm. A building project to revamp the church was completed during 2008/9 during which time we dispersed into Clusters.  Some of these groups still continue once or twice a month and we currently hold three services on a Sunday; 8am, 10am and 6.30pm.