Around Canterbury

Although I spent quite a bit of time at the cathedral while in Canterbury, I also had time to do a few other things in the town. The group I was assigned to for visiting the cathedral didn't have its time slot until noon, so during my free time in the morning I went to the ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey, about 10 minutes away from the cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful (I know I sound like a broken record by now) and I couldn't believe how deserted it was. I saw a total of 3 other people over the entire site during the hour and a half I was there. 

St. Augustine's Abbey was founded c. 600 CE! It was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII (in the 1530s). 

tower of Canterbury Cathedral as seen from
the Abbey grounds

museum/visitor centre on the Abbey grounds

I also really enjoyed getting the chance to just walk around Canterbury. It was fun looking in some of the shops and exploring!

I've noticed this in many places in England so far: many
random buildings have dates on them, demonstrating how
much more constructed heritage England has than Canada.
There are so many buildings like this that they aren't really
even 'special', just function as regular stores but have
the date stamp as a reminder of their antiquity.

Very popular store in England!

I couldn't get good pictures of this, but
there were Christmas lights strung across
the streets and lit decorations
on the lamp-posts and over some
of the streets, so it looked really
pretty in the dark!

My visit to the cathedral with my group from art history ended, and I had a few hours until the Evensong service began (we weren't obliged to attend, but most of us were very excited and made sure to go back for it!).

So, I found the Roman Museum. It's built over the excavations of part of a large Roman house under Canterbury, including several floor mosaics. The museum was right across from the cathedral but on a tiny, narrow pedestrian lane, and not very well advertised in the surrounding area, so this was another museum that I had basically to myself! There was one older couple that I saw near the beginning, but otherwise it was just me.

I feel like England just has so much more visible history- historic sites, ancient churches, museums, etc- that something that would be a major attraction in Canada, due to the lesser availability of such sites, receives much less notice in England. Think back to the number of times on this blog I've said 'I was the only one in such-and-such museum/historic site!'. There is such an abundance of fascinating historical sites here that it seems like they're almost taken for granted; there are so many amazing and well-known sites that other worthwhile ones, which are astonishing in their own right, get lost in the shuffle.

Lastly, here's a video I took while standing in the square outside the Christ Church Gate entrance to the cathedral grounds:

Canterbury Cathedral, Part 2

I thought it was a bit too much for one post, so here are the rest of my Canterbury Cathedral photos and videos.

Christ Church Gate leading to the cathedral

 Canterbury Cathedral is famous for being the site of Thomas Becket's murder in 1170. He had argued with his former friend King Henry II about the rights of the Church, and Henry supposedly said (half-joking), "will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?". Some of his knights thought he was serious, and rode to Canterbury and murdered Thomas in the cathedral. It quickly became a popular pilgrimage site, and even Henry II made a pilgrimage there to demonstrate his guilt. Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' chronicles the trip of a group of pilgrims making a journey to the cathedral.

shrine to Thomas Becket

the candle burns where the original shrine to Thomas Becket
stood, before it was destroyed by King Henry VIII at the end
of his Dissolution of the Monasteries.

the marble columns around the candle are
tinted pink to represent Thomas Becket's blood;
in the rest of the cathedral, the marble is white.

Memorial to the famous 'Black Prince' of England, son of Edward III

plan of the cathedral; it's massive! 

After we left Evensong, the cathedral's bells started playing (I didn't keep track but it was for at least 20 minutes). Below is a video of one of the cathedral's towers, seen from the cloisters, while the bells are playing.

Lastly, as I was leaving the cathedral grounds I stopped and turned around to take this one last video, again with the purpose of capturing the bells. They sound much louder and clearer in this video than the one above! You can also see some of the scaffolding being used for restoration work on the exterior stone.

Canterbury Cathedral, Part 1

Last weekend we got to go to Canterbury Cathedral! I've been fortunate enough to see some beautiful churches and cathedrals during my time here, and this was definitely one of the most impressive ones. It's the 'mother church' of the Anglican Church, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is the highest bishop in England.

We learned about the architecture of the cathedral in my Art History class, and when we were there it was our Art History prof who showed us around and pointed out things we had learned about in class. Here's a video of the Chapter House in the cathedral (that's my prof you can hear talking in the background):

Chapter House 

Nave

Quire

Below is a video I took of the nave. It doesn't do it justice and the sun had set so it was quite dark, but hopefully it gives you the idea at least!



My favourite part of the visit was attending the Evensong service. It lasted about 45 minutes, and included lots of singing by the cathedral's incredible men and boy choristers. The service was held in the Quire, and unfortunately no photography or recording was allowed. However, earlier I took this video of the Quire, which you can see below: