The Romans built Durovernum Cantiacorum here and it flourished as a trading centre, being on the most direct route between London and the Continent. In 597AD St. Augustine was sent by the Pope Gregory the Great to convert the Angels to Christianity. Saxon King Ethelbert was on the throne and his wife was already a convert. The King gave Augustine the Church of St. Martin and permission to preach to his people. Within six years Augustine had built an Abbey, established a ‘cathedra’, or seat, and the country had its first ever diocese. The extensive ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey features the tombs of many of the early saints and is 5 minutes from the cathedral precincts.
From the 7th to 11th centuries the church and city grew in strength and number, despite Viking and Danish attacks and was considered to be among the country’s most important seats of learning. When the Normans arrived they protected the city with a studded-wall and wasted no time in building their own grand Cathedral, which would become the mother church of Anglicans the world over. The work began just one year after the invasion in 1067 and was overseen by Bishop Lanfranc.
Nearly one hundred yeas later in 1162 Canterbury got its most famous Archbishop, Thomas Becket. King Henry II wanted to seize church powers for himself, a move that was fiercely resisted by the Archbishop. In 1170 the King lamented, ‘who will rid me of this turbulent priest? ’ and four obsequious nobles answered his call by murdering Becket in Canterbury Cathedral. For the next 350 years the shrine to the murdered Archbishop became a place of mass pilgrimage, until Henry VIII had it removed from the cathedral. During the Middle Ages people would cross the North Downs via the Pilgrims’ Way and their stories are told in one of the English language’s most significant works, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
During the Reformation period it was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cramner, who compiled the first two prayer books that ultimately formed the basis of the Anglican religion, though it wasn’t until after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660 that the Church of England was re-established and Canterbury’s position as the head of the Church was consolidated.
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Liverpool was awarded the European Capital of Culture 2008. The vibrant city is renowned for its arts & culture and is home to numerous museums & galleries including a branch of the Tate Gallery. Read more ...
