A History of Canterbury

Canterbury is dominated by its cathedral but hidden amongst the streets and ally ways is a history of 2000 years

Sited on the River Stour the town has always held a strategic position being on the main route between the coast and London.

Romans

Before the Romans, settlements had been built on both sides of the river. The Romans arrived in AD 43 and named the town Durovernum. The town became important as it was on the route from the main Roman port at Richborough Castle and London.
The centre of the Roman town was near the river and by the end of the 1^st century had an amphitheatre and 2 public baths.
In the 3^rd century raids by Saxon pirates forced the town to built defences and walls were built similar to the ones that can be seen today.
In the 5^th century the town was abandoned after being burnt and pillaged and lay deserted for more than 100 years. The name of Durovernum ceased to exist.

6^th Century

In the 6^th century Canterbury came back to life, this time known as Cantwarabyrig. In 561 AD Ethelbert became king of Kent, despite being a pagan he married a Christian Bertha, a Frankish princess. Bertha worshipped at St Martins a small church on the outskirts of the town, which had been founded in Roman times.
Augustine landed at Ebbsfleet in 5AD and made his way to Canterbury, Ethelbert converted to Christianity after no little pressure from Bertha. Augustine was given land for both a cathedral and an abbey; his cathedral lasted 400 years before being burnt in 1067.

Lanfranc.

Lanfranc a Norman was appointed ArchBishop of Canterbury in 1070. In 7 years he had rebuilt the cathedral, a Norman castle was started in 1100AD. In 1216 it surrendered to the French peacefully.

Thomas Beckett.

Probably Canterbury is remembered mostly for the death of Thomas Beckett who was killed in the cathedral by 4 knights. Beckett was once King Henry II Chancellor, he was the king favourite but when he became archbishop in 1161AD their friendship began to fade. Thomas enjoyed the privileges of office and in 1163 he was charged with treason and fled to France.

Beckett returned to Canterbury in 1170, Henry was dismayed and fearing a rebellion he made comments to his courtiers which some of the knights took to be a command to arrest Beckett.

On the 29^th December they confronted him in the cathedral but the confrontation turned to murder. Beckett had his skull split and died in the cathedral.

The king was full of remorse and in 1174 returned to Canterbury to pay homage to Beckett.

Canterbury became a place of pilgrimage after the death of Beckett, which brought immense wealth to the town. Lodging houses were built to sleep the pilgrims. The Chequer of Hope (Mercy Lane) had 100 large beds but catered for 600.

The city walls were rebuilt in the 14^th and 15^th century largely following the Roman model. West Gate still standing today was started in 1380.

The church retained its independence from the monarchy until Henry VIII established the Protestant faith in 1536. Henry closed all the monasteries and abbeys, Beckett's shrine was dismantled and Beckett himself declared a traitor.

As the pilgrims stopped coming to Canterbury the wealth of the town began to dwindle but fortunately at this time Huguenot refugees from Flanders began to settle bringing with them textile industries. The immigrants also brought other trades such as silversmiths, brewers, papermakers and dentistry.

Civil war broke out in 1642 between the parliamentarians known as cavaliers (Cromwell) and the Royalists known as Roundheads (Charles 1^st). Canterbury mainly supported Cromwell but some Roundheads who occupied the town pulled down the statue of Christ from Christ Church Gate. This statue was not replaced until 1992, some 350 years. Cromwell visited the city in 1651.

In 1659 the mob hung the Puritan governor of the city from a window in West Gate the now Charles II returned in triumph to the city in 1660 on route for his coronation at Westminster.

The streets of Canterbury were widened in 1787 to improve the flow of traffic (Of course the whole thing was a waste of time as the city is now pedestrianised)

Most of the city gates were destroyed and houses had bay windows, porches and overhanging projections removed. Canterbury had become a trading centre and the county town.

Towards the end of the century invasion by the French looked possible, Canterbury was therefore strategically placed; large barracks were built capable of holding 5000 men outside the city.

There was a rail link with Whitstable in 1830 the first in the country, naturally the engine was called Invicta the county motto, and can be seen today in the Heritage Museum.

Canterbury settled down to a period o steady growth until the 2^nd World War when bomb damage destroyed about a quarter of the mediaeval city.

Christ Church Gate the spectacular entrance to the cathedral was built in 1517-1520, the large wooden doors date from 1660 and bear the coat of arms of Archbishop Luxan.

The cathedral dominates the whole area, Bell Harry the central tower being the last part to be built in the late 15C. The stone facing conceals 1 1/2 million bricks, a technique once used by the Romans.

Inside the cathedral the Lierne Vaulting of the ceiling by Henry Yevele, Edward III mason,dates from 1400C and is quite magnificent. Henry's effigy can be found in one of the cloister roof bosses.

The oldest part of the cathedral is the crypt, here will be found 22 massive columns which are the original columns of the cathedral built by Archbishop Lanfranc in 1070-77.

The screen of Six Kings splits the cathedral in two. The kings depicted are Henry V, Richard II, Ethelbert, Edward the Confessor, Henry IV, and Henry VI. The twelve saints that were also depicted were destroyed in the time of Oliver Cromwell.

Visitors to the cathedral today can see Thomas Becketts shrine, the tomb of Henry IV and his Queen, the Black Prince.

St Michaels chapel also known as Warriors Chapel because regimental colours hanging in it also contains some elaborate tombs. Archbishop Stephen Langton (1228) is buried here; interestingly the chapel was shortened in 1430, which left his feet outside of the chapel. The end of his tomb can now be seen protruding through the wall on the south side of the cathedral.

Entering the cloisters through Dark Entry you will pass the ruins of the infirmary for the old monastery (1160). On the ceiling of the cloisters are hundreds of family crests (Story Here).

Green Court next to the cloisters, which is surrounded on three sides by Kings School and the fourth by the cathedral itself. The whole scene is very pleasant and it is easy to miss the arcaded water tower, which supplied running water to the monks or the remains of the lavatories, which could be occupied by 56 people back to back.

The staircase in the north west corner of the square is Norman and leads to the North Hall were the poorer visitors to the monastery went.

When King Ethelbert converted to Christianity he gave land to St Augustine within the roman walls for the cathedral and monastery. He also gave land outside the city walls for the creation of another Benedictine Abbey; this Abbey was dedicated to the Saints Peter and Paul but in 978AD Archbishop Dunstan re-dedicated the Abbey St Augustine’s. The Abbey had become a centre of excellence for scholarships and manuscripts; it also became the burial place of Kings.

When Lanfranc became Archbishop in 1070 the Abbey had fallen into disrepair, he ordered a new Abbey to be built which can be seen today. Henry VIII desolved the Abbey in 1538.

Robert Cusham was an assistant grocer who played a key role in negotiating the charter of the Mayflower, which took the Pilgrim Fathers to America.

The charter was negotiated in a house in Palace St., which now has become a restaurant, The Pilgrims Bar.

Cusham and his family reached America in 1621 with Phillipe de la Noye a resident of Palace St. once settled in New Plymouth, he changed his name to Delano. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was his descendent.