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Day
Trips From London - Canterbury, Kent
Kent,
to the south east of London, is a beautiful and historic county
whose orchards, market gardens and hopfields have given it
the name The Garden of England. The nearest towns to London
like Beckenham and Bromley are really suburbs of the capital
but the city of Canterbury is about 60 miles away. You can
go by train but hiring
a car is the ideal way to visit as it gives you the chance
to explore the surrounding countryside. Since
prehistoric times Canterbury
has been the location for human settlement. When the Romans
arrived in Britain, they set up an administrative settlement
there and the existing medieval city walls follow the lines
of the Roman ones. Even the gates correspond to the earlier
Roman ones. In AD 597 St Augustine landed in Kent and he
built his priory on the site of the present cathedral precincts.
He also built an abbey outside the city walls where he was
buried, as were other early archbishops. The abbey was torn
down during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the reign
of Henry VIII in the 16th century.
 Canterbury
Cathedral
Vannini,
Sandro
The
Archbishops of Canterbury were usually extremely powerful
and often they were counsellors to kings. The stories attached
to Canterbury
Cathedral are many. Amongst the most famous is the murder
in December 1170 of Thomas
à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Becket had
long been a favourite of Henry II but then they quarrelled
over the legal privileges of the clergy. The king is said
to have asked 'Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?'
and four knights went to the Cathedral and murdered Becket
in front of the altar.
It
could be said that Becket triumphed in death. It was claimed
that miracles occurred by his tomb in the cathedral and
he was canonised (made a saint) in 1173. Becket's tomb became
a major object of pilgrimage. In atonement for what his
knights had done, Henry II visited the tomb, walking barefoot
and clad in sackcloth while monks flogged him with branches.
Canterbury Cathedral is an
extremely beautiful building and it contains one of the
most important collections of 12th century stained glass
in the world, paid for by the money received from pilgrims
to the tomb of Thomas à Becket. For more information
and a virtual guided tour visit the cathedral's official
website.
Although the cathedral, the
Church of England's premier cathedral, is undoubtedly the
most important and impressive building in the city, there
is much else to see in the city.
Canterbury has crooked streets
and timber framed houses projecting over the pavements.
There are also long stretches of the original Medieval city
walls still standing. Of course, a city so rich in history
has numerous museums including the Canterbury Centre in
St Alphege Lane and the Canterbury Heritage Museum in Stour
Street, both housed in Medieval buildings. If you are interested
in earlier relics, take a look at the Roman Mosaic in Butchery
Lane.
The city of Canterbury, as
you can see, is well worth a visit for a day, if that's
all you can spare. You will travel through beautiful English
countryside to get there and then see one of the country's
most important and beautiful cathedrals as well as an historic
and picturesque city.
More
sites of interest on Canterbury
Copyright © 2002
by Carol Fisher
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