Canterbury history and interesting facts - Meetupfiles.meetup.com/18133022/Canterbury-history-UK-Explorers.pdf · Canterbury history and interesting facts Roman Canterbury: Canterbury's

Canterbury history and interesting facts Roman Canterbury: Canterbury's long history started in 0 AD as a Celtic Iron Age settlement. In 43 AD the Romans invaded Britain and took over the settlement for 400 years. They rebuilt it in a grid pattern with a wall around it, a market place in the centre, and temples and public baths. Saxon Canterbury: After the Romans left Britain in 407 AD town life broke down and Canterbury was probably abandoned. There may have been a few farmers living inside the walls and growing crops or raising animals but Canterbury ceased to be a town. In 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to convert the king of Kent to Christianity, and an abbey and cathedral were built in Canterbury. In 603 Canterbury was chosen to be the seat of the first archbishop. Once it was chosen to be his seat the town began to revive. It now had a new importance. By the 9th century Canterbury had grown into a busy little town. However it suffered severely when the Danes began raiding England. Because it was close to the eastern shore of England, Canterbury was a natural target and was raided twice, in 842 and 851. Both times many people were killed. In 1011 the Danes returned and laid siege to Canterbury. They captured it after 20 days, burned the cathedral and most of the houses, and killed the archbishop.

Canterbury in the Middle Ages: When William, the Duke of Normandy, invaded England in 1066 Canterbury surrendered without a fight. The cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1067 and rebuilt. In 1174 it again was severely damaged by fire, requiring major reconstruction. The Normans also built a wooden castle in Canterbury. In the 12th century it was replaced by a stone castle. In 1170, the Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered at the cathedral, and pilgrims from all parts of Christendom came to visit his shrine. This pilgrimage provided the framework for Geoffrey Chaucer's 14th­century collection of stories, The Canterbury Tales. Canterbury from 16th to 19th century: From the 16th century, Canterbury became a relatively quiet market town, which had the effect of preserving much of its medieval heritage. Canterbury in the 20h century: By the 20th century, its importance had grown again, as improvements in transport (including the channel tunnel) made it accessible to visitors from the UK and the continent. Canterbury now receives almost 2 million tourists each year.

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. It’s the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. A pivotal moment in the history of the cathedral was the murder of the archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170 by knights of King Henry II. The king had frequent conflicts with the strong­willed Becket and is said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" Four knights took it literally and murdered Becket in his own cathedral. The posthumous veneration of Becket made the cathedral a place of pilgrimage. This brought the need to expand the cathedral. The income from pilgrims who visited Becket's shrine, which was regarded as a place of healing, largely paid for the subsequent rebuilding of the cathedral and its associated buildings. This revenue included the profits from the sale of pilgrim badges depicting Becket, his martyrdom, or his shrine. The shrine was placed directly above Becket's original tomb in the crypt. A marble plinth, raised on columns, supported what one visitor described as "a coffin wonderfully wrought of gold and silver, and marvellously adorned with precious gems". The shrine was removed in 1538. Henry VIII summoned the dead saint to court to face charges of treason. Having failed to appear, he was found guilty in his absence and the treasures of his shrine were confiscated.

The Westgate The Westgate is a medieval gatehouse in Canterbury. This 60­foot (18 m) high western gate of the city wall is the largest surviving city gate in England. Built of Kentish ragstone around 1379, it is the last survivor of Canterbury's seven medieval gates, still well­preserved and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. The road still passes between its drum towers. This scheduled monument and Grade I listed building houses the West Gate Towers Museum.

Westgate Gardens This is one of the city’s showpiece gardens, admired and enjoyed by residents and visitors. The river, with its ever­present ducks and summertime punts, is just one of the features which makes Westgate Gardens special. It is situated alongside Westgate Towers, the city’s 600­year­old gatehouse, and has been a public open space since the Middle Ages, making it one of England’s oldest parks. Part of the gardens is an official ancient monument site because it covers the remains of the old Roman wall and London road gate. There’s a Norman archway which may have been brought here in Victorian times from the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey. It has a 200­year­old Oriental plane tree – the one with the huge trunk – which is believed to be the oldest specimen in the country.

City Wall Canterbury was surrounded by a wall in Roman times. The walls are mentioned in several Anglo­Saxon documents. In 1011 the Danes succeeded in breaking into the city, slaughtering the inhabitants, and tossing them over the walls. There were six gates in use in medieval times: Northgate, Burgate, Newingate, Ridingate, Worthgate and Westgate. Later another came into existence, Wincheap Gate. The walls were frequently rebuilt and reconstructed but never called upon to withstand any real siege after 1011, though the city represented an important strongpoint in the system of national defence. Traces of the wall survive here and there. A fragment of the Roman Queningate can be seen in the city wall opposite St. Augustine's Great Gate, and further up nearer Burgate the Roman foundation of the wall is visible.

Dane John Gardens The historic gardens, located within the city walls of Canterbury, date back to 1551. The gardens contain a mound believed to date from the first century AD and later a Norman motte and bailey castle after which the gardens are named.

Dane John mound Sitting just inside the city walls in Dane John gardens, a conical mound, rising 80 feet, which historical records date back to at least the 1st century AD. Visitors can take a spiral path to the top where there is a monument, dated 1803, to Alderman Simmons, who paid for much of the landscaping in the gardens.

Norman Canterbury Castle The ruined Canterbury Norman Castle is amongst the most ancient in Britain, begun by William the Conqueror around 1070. The stone castle replaced an earlier motte and bailey fortification built at the nearby Dane John. The keep was largely constructed in the reign of Henry I (1100 ­ 1135) as one of three Royal castles in Kent. By the late 1300's it had been overshadowed by the bigger fortifications at Dover and became a prison ­ by the seventeenth century it was already ruined. Today the roofless shell of Canterbury Norman Castle is surrounded by a quiet garden ­ inside you can climb part way up one of the towers. The castle grounds and ground floor of the keep are accessible, but there is a narrow gateway through the stone walls into the keep itself. At the entrance on Gas Street there is a tactile 3­D model of the castle as it would have been in 1200AD.

The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge + Tourist information centre The Beaney House of Art and Knowledge is the central museum, library and art gallery. It is housed in a Grade II listed building. The Beaney's collections include a nationally important body of work by English cattle artist Thomas Sidney Cooper; displays on Canterbury's explorers; archaeological collections from ancient Egypt and Anglo­Saxon Kent; Greek and Roman antiquities collected by Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford; and fragments and roundels of Dutch stained­glass. Star exhibits include Harrriet Halhead's painting Little girl at the Door (1910), an Egyptian mummified cat; and an exquisitely decorated South Indian gauntlet sword.

Canterbury Heritage Museum Discover the story of Canterbury from millions of years ago to the present, within one of England's finest surviving medieval buildings. The ancient Poor Priests' Hospital with its magnificent medieval beamed roofs and displays of Anglo­Saxon treasures, Oliver Postgate's cartoon­strip story of Thomas Becket, rare Tudor painted plaster, the original 'Invicta' steam engine, Joseph Conrad's study, and Bagpuss and Rupert Bear.

Canterbury Roman Museum Built around the remains of an original Roman town house with mosaics and under­floor heating, the museum includes significant Roman finds and a brand new timeline which tracks the journey back in time from present day Canterbury to the original Roman street level. See how the Roman town was built, stroll through the marketplace, handle replica dishes in the recreated Roman dining room, and discover amazing objects including rare tools, glass and a hoard of hidden treasure.

Eastbridge Hospital Eastbridge Hospital was founded in the 12th century to provide overnight accommodation for poor pilgrims to the shrine of St Thomas Beckett. It is a hospital in the old sense of the word ­ a place of hospitality. It is now one of the ten almshouses still providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury and is a grade I listed building.

St Augustine’s Abbey St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery, founded in 598 AD, and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent dismantlement until 1848. Since 1848, part of the site has been used for educational purposes and the abbey ruins have been preserved for their historical value.

St Martin’s Church the oldest church in Britain England's oldest Parish Church is still regularly used for Christian worship as it has been for over 1,400 years. It was here that St Augustine worshipped in 597AD with his 40 companions until King Ethelbert granted him the land for the abbey and the cathedral which, with St Martin's, now form the Canterbury World Heritage Site. St Martin's was the private chapel of Queen Bertha of Kent in the 6th century before Augustine arrived from Rome. Shortly before 1844, a hoard of gold coins which may date from the late 6th century was found in the churchyard, one of which is the Liudhard medalet from the 6th century AD.