Derek Ingram Hill

Canon Derek Ingram Hill (11 September 1912 - 20 October 2003) was an Anglican priest, notable as a pastor, administrator and historian, active mainly in the south-east of England and particularly in the city of Canterbury and its cathedral.

Derek Ingram Hill was born in Wimbledon, London but moved to Margate in 1916 for health reasons. At the age of 11, he was sent to The King's School, Canterbury, where he first formed a strong attachment to the cathedral and its pattern of worship and wrote a short guide to it. He then went to Trinity College, Oxford, to study modern history. At Trinity he developed a wider interest in the medieval churches of England. He visited every cathedral in the country by bicycle and wrote a study of the stained glass of Oxford. Moving to Wells Theological College to study for ordination, he again wrote a study of stained glass in local churches.

Ingram Hill was ordained in 1935 and became curate at Buckland-in-Dover. This facilitated his developing interest in the cathedrals and abbeys of northern France, which he explored each summer, as usual by bicycle. However, he also built a growing reputation for his parish work, moving to a further curacy at St Andrew’s, Croydon, in 1939, and later taking over as priest-in-charge and then vicar at Holy Innocents, South Norwood. This was at a time of constant danger during the London Blitz, but he made a great success of Holy Innocents, where he ministered for 14 years.

Ingram Hill was invited to return to Canterbury by Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher in 1957, to take up the post of Vicar of St Gregory's. From there he moved a short distance in 1965 to become Rector of St Peter and St Alphege and Master of the Hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr, Eastbridge. In 1972 his work was extended to St Mildred with St Mary de Castro, the oldest church within the city walls, which had to be restored after a fire. In common with most English cities, Canterbury was undergoing a process of suburban growth, greatly intensified by the rapid development of the centre as a tourist attraction and the growth of the University and teacher training college (now Canterbury Christ Church University). Ingram Hill initiated a series of changes in use of church buildings, with St Alphege's itself ultimately becoming the Canterbury Environment Centre.

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