The name ‘Canterbury’ is thought to derive from the popularity of the chest with Pilgrims travelling to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. Its popularity was due to its compact size, light weight and ability to expand its dimensions. They may have been used by pilgrims to carry holy relics back home.
These chests were also associated with the Hospitaller Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. This order of warrior-monks was also known as the Knights Hospitaller and they would have used the Canterbury can for transporting money and small religious relics during the Crusades.
Canterbury cans were also known as Pilgrim Bottles, Travelling Bottle Banks or Travel Boxes and, despite their historic religious associations, were widely copied and used by ordinary travellers right through the 18th century. This is probably because they were one of the first lockable travel chests that could also provide a comfortable seat or head rest while waiting for an inconvenient or unreliable carriage to arrive.