Canterbury Cathedral

Thomas Becket was murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral on a December evening in 1170, and for the next 350 years it was one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Europe

Four knights killed the Archbishop of Canterbury in his own cathedral on the orders of Henry II, who had apparently said “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” as an expression of frustration rather than a literal instruction. The knights took it literally. Henry later did public penance for the murder. Becket was canonised within three years. And Canterbury Cathedral became the destination of the most significant pilgrimage in medieval England – the one that Geoffrey Chaucer documented in the Canterbury Tales in the 1380s, when the pilgrim road from London was busy enough to support a cast of characters ranging from a Knight to a Pardoner.

Henry VIII dissolved the shrine in 1538, melted the gold and jewels, and scattered Becket’s bones. The pilgrimage stopped. What remains is the site where it all happened, and the building is remarkable on its own terms without the shrine.

The Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral dates in its current form from the 12th and 13th centuries, though the foundation goes back to 597 AD when St Augustine established the first Christian church in England here. The nave is Perpendicular Gothic, soaring and light. The stained glass windows are among the most important in England: many panels survive from the 12th and 13th centuries, depicting biblical scenes and the life of Thomas Becket. The Jesse Window in the Corona is 12th century and among the oldest in the country.

The spot where Becket was killed, the Martyrdom, is marked in the northwest transept. The shrine itself is gone, but the worn stone of the steps leading to the Trinity Chapel – worn by millions of pilgrims’ knees over centuries – remains. The crypt is Romanesque and predates the Gothic nave above it; the earlier building survives below the later one.

St Augustine’s Abbey, a UNESCO-listed site a short walk from the cathedral, represents the first Christian foundation in England. It is partially ruined but excavated and accessible. The combination of the two sites gives a complete picture of early English Christianity from a single street.

Visiting

Canterbury Cathedral is a working church with daily services; it is not exclusively a tourist site, and evensong is worth attending. Adult entry runs around £19. The Goods Shed restaurant in a restored Victorian goods shed near the station uses locally sourced Kent produce in a farmer’s market setting – the building and the cooking are both good. Deesons Restaurant in the city centre does well with British seasonal cooking at a higher price point. The Old Weavers pub near the River Stour is the historic option for lunch.

Canterbury is 60 miles from London, 56 minutes by high-speed train from St Pancras International. A day trip is practical but the city rewards an overnight stay – the city walls are a free walk with good views, and the streets in the early morning before the tour groups arrive have a quality the midday visit doesn’t.

Whitstable, 8 miles north on the coast, is worth an afternoon: the oysters, the coloured beach huts, the small harbour. The combination of Canterbury and Whitstable in a single day is a reasonable circuit from London if you catch the early train.