Canterbury is an unincorporated community in York County, in the Canadian province of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. It held village status prior to 2023. The community is west of the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

at the intersection of Route 122 and Route 630. It is named for Thomas Manners-Sutton (1814–77), later third Viscount Canterbury, who served as Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick from 1854-1861. Parrish erected in 1855.

History

Tracing its roots to the forestry and railway industries, Canterbury was once was home to over 1,000 residents and served as a service centre for the surrounding area of western York County. There were at least three general stores, a small department store, a railway hotel, bank, and a butcher as late as the mid-1960s, but they are all gone now. Early settlers of the area were Loyalists ( possibly disbanded soldiers of the

King's American Regiment The King's American Regiment, also known as the "Associated Refugees", were a Loyalist regiment during the American Revolutionary War. The King's American Regiment was raised on Staten Island in the Province of New York in December 1776 by Colon ...

and their families ) displaced by the end of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

(1780s) later augmented by immigrants from Ireland (

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...

and Donegal, circa 1840 or so). In the winter of 1865, Canterbury was briefly the focus of much military activity when some 9000 British troops passed through the village on their way to "The Canadas" (Ontario and Quebec). The British government had become alarmed about the possibility of an American invasion following the end of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and sent this military contingent to reinforce the garrisons in The Canadas. As it was winter, the shipping season in the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

was closed leaving overland travel from British colonies in the Maritimes as the only option. The closest rail connection to Quebec from the Atlantic coast in the 1860s was the New Brunswick and Canada Railway line extending from the port of St. Andrews through Canterbury to the end of rails in nearby Richmond Corner. The large contingent of British troops debarked passenger trains at the station and were then driven by horse-drawn sleigh up the Saint John River and then across to St Lawrence to Levis (opposite Quebec City) where they re-boarded passenger trains operated by the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

. Prior to 1966 Canterbury was a local improvement district governed by a chairman and secretary and 3 councillors and then in 1966, it was incorporated as a village, with a mayor, secretary and 3 councillors later adding a fourth councillor and at present has a village office on Main Street. On 1 January 2023, Canterbury amalgamated with the village of Meductic and all or part of five local service districts to form the new village of

Lakeland Ridges Lakeland Ridges is a village in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. It was formed through the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reforms. History Lakeland Ridges was incorporated on January 1, 2023 via the amalgamation of the former vill ...

. The community's name remains in official use.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by Statistics Canada, Canterbury had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Infrastructure

The New Brunswick and Canada Railway extended the former St. Andrews and Quebec Railway line to Canterbury in 1859, placing Canterbury roughly halfway between

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

to the north and McAdam to the south. The New Brunswick and Canada Railway was purchased by the New Brunswick Railway in 1882. In 1890, the New Brunswick Railway was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which operated the line through Canterbury to serve its rail network in the upper Saint John River valley until rail service was abandoned in the early 1990s. The original CPR passenger station on Water Street in Canterbury was demolished in the 2000s and the rail line is now a rail trail and part of the

Sentier NB Trail The Sentier NB Trail is a network of hiking trails in New Brunswick, Canada built on abandoned railways. The trails are mostly closed to motorized vehicles. The network is operated by the New Brunswick Trails Council, a non-profit organization. So ...

system.

Education

Canterbury has a school called Canterbury High School, which educates students from kindergarten to grade 12 all in one building. The school has escaped closure several times but had its future sealed in 2002 with an extensive construction overhaul and addition of a new gym. Prior to 1975, Canterbury High School held grades 7–12, The Old Green School house beside Mill Street housed Grade 1, 2, 3 and 6 and Grades 4 and 5 were held in Meductic School.

Notable people

References