Editing Canterbury (section)

=== History of Huguenot refugees  ===
{{Main article|History of the Huguenots in Kent}}
In the mid-16th century many [[Huguenots]], experiencing persecution and conflict in the [[Low Countries]], fled and resettled in [[Reformation|Reformed]] regions such as England. Canterbury hosted the first congregation of so-called 'refugee strangers' in the country.<ref>Cross, Francis William (1898). ''History of the Walloon & Huguenot Church at Canterbury''. p. 3.</ref> This first Huguenot church in Canterbury was founded around 1548, in part by [[Jan Utenhove]] who relocated from [[Strasbourg]], alongside [[Valérand Poullain]] and [[François Peruçel de la Rivière|François de la Rivière]].<ref name=":2">Cross, Francis William (1898). ''History of the Walloon & Huguenot Church at Canterbury''. pp. 4-6.</ref> When Utenhove travelled to London in 1549, Francois de la Rivière remained to lead the congregation. With the accession of [[Mary I]], the Huguenot residents of Canterbury were compelled to flee in 1553–4 alongside the English [[Marian exiles]] to [[Emden]], [[Wesel]], [[Zürich]], Strasbourg, [[Frankfurt]], and later [[Basel]], [[Geneva]], and [[Aarau]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Garrett |first=Christina Hallowell |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511707957/type/book |title=The Marian Exiles: A Study in the Origins of Elizabethan Puritanism |date=2010-06-10 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-01126-6 |edition=1 |pages=47 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511707957}}</ref>

After the accession of [[Elizabeth I]], a small number of Huguenots returned to London, including Jan Utenhove in 1559.<ref name=":2" /> In 1561, a number of Huguenots in London were sent to [[Sandwich, Kent|Sandwich]], a settlement which began to grow rapidly with new refugees arriving from [[County of Artois|Artois]] and [[County of Flanders|Flanders]]. This settlement, in June 1575, almost entirely relocated to Canterbury, which had in the previous year gained a small Huguenot population. A number of refugees also arrived around this time from the temporary Huguenot settlements at [[Rye, East Sussex|Rye]] and [[Winchelsea]].<ref>Cross, Francis William (1898). ''History of the Walloon & Huguenot Church at Canterbury''. pp. 13–23</ref> In 1575, the Huguenot population of Canterbury were granted use of the church of [[St Alphege|St Alphedge]] but in the following year had begun to use the crypt of [[Canterbury Cathedral]] as their church.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The church in the 16th century: The Walloon period {{!}} Église Protestante Française de Cantorbéry |url=http://www.frenchchurchcanterbury.org.uk/history/the-church-in-the-16th.html |access-date=2024-01-19 |website=www.frenchchurchcanterbury.org.uk |archive-date=19 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119233725/http://www.frenchchurchcanterbury.org.uk/history/the-church-in-the-16th.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Church of the Crypt swiftly became the nucleus of the Huguenot community in Canterbury.   

By the 17th century, French-speaking Huguenots comprised two-fifths of Canterbury's population. The Huguenots had a large influence on the economy of Canterbury, and introduced silk weaving into the city which had outstripped wool weaving by 1676.<ref name="Lyle">{{harvnb|Lyle|2002|p=107}}.</ref>