Miscellaneous buildings
THERE WAS formerly in this city AN EXCHANGE,
a royal exchange, called in Latin Cambium Regis, mention of which often occurs in the old rentals and other
records of the priory of Christ church. It appears to
have been granted by king John in his 6th year, by
the name of the King's Change, to the archbishop for
one hundred marcs per annum, (fn. 1) and I find an order of
his successor king Henry III, that none should make
change of plate or other mass of silver, but in his exchange of London or Canterbury. (fn. 2) It was standing it
seems, till king Edward III.'s reign, and in all probability received its final period from him, for that prince
gave the scite and building of it, called le chaunge, then
almost wholly in ruins, situated in the High-street,
and in the parish of All Saints, to the master of the
hospital of Eastbridge, in this city, in augmentation of
the endowment of it. (fn. 3) Of the antiquity and continuance of this exchange here, I have not found much,
further than that king Henry III, in the 6th year of
his reign, wrote to the Scabines and men of Ipre, that
he and his council had given prohibition that none,
Englishmen or others, should make change of plate,
or other mass of silver, but only at his exchange at
London or at Canterbury; (fn. 4) and that in the iter of
H. de Stanton and his sociates, justices itinerant here,
in the 7th year of king Edward II, Hugh Pykard,
clerk, was indicted within the liberties of the priory
of Christ church, for stealing 32lb. of silver, which
was in the change of Canterbury.
An exchange relates of course to A MINT or place
of mintage and coinage of money; but antiently, as
appears by the statute of the 1st year of king Henry VI,
cap. 4, they were not allowed to be together, but
were to be kept apart, and accordingly there was a
place formerly neighbouring to the above-mentioned
exchange, on the other side of the same street, (fn. 5) where
the mint was kept. The officers and ministers belonging to it, had their dwellings close by it in some
tenements belonging to the priory of Christ church;
from which circumstance, in their old rentals, there is
frequent mention of the mints or offices belonging to
the mint, in the parish of St. Mary Bredman. This
mint was most probably abolished at the same time
with the exchange, for there is no mention of it of
latter years. How long it had been kept at this place,
or of what antiquity it was, I know not; but among
the places in England, which king John in his letters
mentions as having mints kept in them, this city is
one, (fn. 6) and it had been so, I suppose, for many ages, for
king Æthelstane appointing the places for mints and
the number of minters throughout the kingdom, (fn. 7) began
with Canterbury, to which he allowed seven mints; a
greater number than to any other place, except London, which was allowed to have eight.
Of these seven mints at Canterbury, four were the
king's, (fn. 8) two were the archbishop's, and the seventh
was the abbot of St. Augustine's, (fn. 9) of these the three
latter will be mentioned in their proper places. (fn. 10)
These mints, as well as all others throughout the
realm, were answerable to the king, and the officers
belonging to them were amenable to him for all offences committed by them in the coinage of money;
that is to say, these mints were under the direction of
the exchequer at London. (fn. 11) Thus we read, that in
1126, anno 26 Henry I. the principal moneyers of all
England, being discovered to have made pennies adulterated, and not of pure silver, and being by the king's
command assembled together at Winchester, had all on
the same day their right hands cut off. (fn. 12)
In the 3d year of king Edward III. I find that William de Latimer, having purchased the office of coinage
in the tower of London and city of Canterbury, from
Maud, the widow of John de Botetourt, who held it
by inheritance of the king in capite, obtained his pardon
for that transgression. (fn. 13)
AT A SMALL DISTANCE from this place, on the
same or south side of the High street, is another,
where once the Jews, who antiently for a long time
together were suffered to dwell in most of our chief
cities, kept their residence, having their dwellings in
this street and in the lane by it, from thence till very
lately called Jury-lane, and at this time Cross-lane, (fn. 14)
their dwellings, amounting in the whole to almost
twenty; all which, together with their synagogue, or
as it was more frequently called, their school, upon
their general banishment out of this city and all other
parts of the kingdom, in king Edward II.'s reign,
chiefly on account of their immoderate usury, and
their barbarous practice of crucifying Christian children, about the feast of Easter, (at which time their
whole number, according to Matt. Westminster,
amounted to 16,511) (fn. 15) as confiscate, escheated to the
king, and were soon afterwards by him given or alienated to different persons; but the most part to the
number of twelve tenements at the least, and a void
piece of ground which belonged to the community of
the Jews, or in common, was granted to the monks
of Christ church. (fn. 16) By all that can be collected from
antient rentals and boundaries, it is conceived that
the present stone parlour of the King's-Head inn, in
the High-street, which is mounted upon a vault, and
ascended by many stone steps, as the Jewish synagogues and schools were always built alost, is the remains of a good part of that which was the Jews synagogue or school, in this city. (fn. 17) At present the habitations of the Jews, who are very numerous in this
city and its suburbs, are mostly in the parish and
street of St. Peter's, and in the suburb of Westgate;
in which latter they have a synagogue, and at some
distance farther westward, a burying-ground, as has
been already mentioned more at large in the History
of the County.