St Alphege’s Church is on the corner of Palace Street and St Alphege Lane, opposite Walpole House. It is named after an Archbishop of Canterbury who was stoned to death by Vikings in 1012. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: “they pelted him with bones and ox-heads, and one of them struck him on the head with the back of an axe.” The church was rebuilt in the late twelfth century and has been much modified since. The Church closed in 1982 and for several years was the Canterbury Environment Centre.

It has long been closely connected with the School. Many OKS were baptised or married there, some are buried in the churchyard and there are several monuments to them inside. Headmaster John Birt was Rector of St Alphege’s from 1824 to 1832.

The building was acquired by the School in 2007 and was used for musical and dramatic events, lectures and examinations. In 2015 it became the School Shop.