Canterbury Attractions

Venue: Canterbury Cathedral    When: Daily

Canterbury Cathedral is one of two archbishoprics in England (the other is York) and one of England's greatest sights. It is a hallowed place of pilgrimage and the church buildings date back to 597AD. The soaring nave of the existing church was built in the Perpendicular style, completed in 1405.

A site of worship has stood on the present site of Canterbury Cathedral since Roman times, but it did not become a Christian church until Augustine's proselytising mission was successful in 597AD. A long line of distinguished archibishops has kept the church on its spiritual feet for nearly 1500 years and the current Archbishop, Dr Rowan Williams, is the 104th cleric to have held the position.

The most famous Archbishop of Canterbury was Thomas Becket, who was hacked to death in his own church by ambitious knights after King Henry II famously declared, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" in 1170. Other important figures have included Archbishop Lanfranc, who presided over the English church following the Norman Conquest and was responsible for the construction of the church in a Romanesque style, and the great scholar St Anselm, who followed on Lanfranc's heels.

Despite Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, a sacking during the Civil War in the 17th century and bombing raids over Kent in the Second World War, the church has continued to prosper. Having undergone extensive renovation in the 20th century, it is impressive for the sheer scale and splendour of its medieval architecture, and it also boasts one of the world's most precious collections of late 12th-century stained glass and some rare examples of Romanesque church frescoes.