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Beyond Tourism
In 1170, four knights left Henry II’s court in France and traveled to Canterbury to murder Archbishop Thomas à Becket beneath the massive columns of his own cathedral. Three centuries of innumerable pilgrims in search of miracles flowed to St. Thomas’s shrine, creating a great medieval road between London and Canterbury. Chaucer caricatured the pilgrimage in The Canterbury Tales, which have done more to enshrine the cathedral than the saint’s now-vanished bones. In summer, hordes of tourists descend upon the cobbled city center, while for the rest of the year, Canterbury remains a lively college town.
Canterbury’s center is roughly circular, defined by the eroding medieval city wall. The main street crosses the city northwest to southeast, changing names from Saint Peter’s Street to High Street to The Parade to Saint George’s Street. Butchery Ln. and Mercery Ln., each only a block long, run north to the Cathedral Gates, while numerous other side streets lead to hidden pubs and chocolatiers.
Canterbury attracts visitors throughout the year, and single rooms are scarce; always reserve ahead. B&Bs cluster around High Street and near West Station. The less expensive options (£18-20) on New Dover Road, half a mile from East Station, fill fast; turn right from the station and continue to Upper Bridge St. At the second roundabout, turn right onto St. George’s Pl., which becomes New Dover Rd.
The Safeway supermarket, St. George’s Center, St. George’s Pl., is a 4min. walk from the town center. (☎769 335. Open M-F 8am-9pm, Sa 8am-8pm, Su 11am-5pm.) A farmers’ market fills the streets near the cathedral on Wednesday afternoons.
Canterbury Cathedral. The massive gate and stony facade of Canterbury Cathedral command attention and advertise opulence. Pilgrims’ contributions funded most of the cathedral’s architectural wonders, including the early Gothic nave, constructed mostly between the 13th and 15th centuries on a site allegedly consecrated by St. Augustine 700 years earlier. The shrine to Saint Thomas à Becket, destroyed by Henry VIII in 1538, is marked by a single candle. The Martyrdom stands where Becket fell—the fatal strike was supposedly so forceful that the blade’s tip shattered as it sliced Becket’s skull. Henry IV, possibly uneasy after having usurped the throne, had Becket’s body entombed near his sacred shrine instead of in Westminster Abbey. Across from Henry lies Edward, the Black Prince, and the decorative armor he wore at his funeral adorns the wall. The treasury houses a 1200-year-old Saxon pocket sundial among other excavated objects. The Corona Tower rises above the eastern apse but is closed to visitors. Stand under the Bell Harry Tower, at the crossing of the nave and transepts, to see the perpendicular arches supporting the 15th-century fan vaulting. (☎762 862; www.canterbury-cathedral.org. Cathedral open Easter-Sept. M-Sa 9am-6:30pm, Su 12:30-2:30pm and 4:30-5:30pm; Oct.-Easter M-Sa 9am-5pm, Su 12:30-2:30pm and 4:30-5:30pm. 1hr. tours, M-Sa 3 per day; check nave for times. Evensong M-F 5:30pm, Sa-Su 3:15pm. £6.50, concessions £5. Tours £4, concessions £3. Audio tours £3.50, concessions £2.50.)
Saint Augustine’S Abbey. The skeletons of once-magnificent arches and walls are all that remain of one of the most significant abbeys in Europe, built in AD 598 to house Augustine and 40 monks sent from Rome to convert England. Indoor exhibits and a free audio tour reveal the abbey’s history as a burial place, royal palace, and pleasure garden. Don’t miss St. Augustine’s humble tomb under a pile of rocks. (Outside the city wall near the cathedral. ☎767 345. Open Apr.-Sept. daily 10am-6pm; Oct.-Mar. W-Su 10am-4pm. £4, concessions £3.) Just beyond the abbey, the Church of Saint Martin, the oldest parish church in England, witnessed the marriage of pagan King Æthelbert and the French Christian Princess Bertha in AD 562, which paved the way for England’s conversion to Christianity. The church also holds the final resting place of author Joseph Conrad. (North Holmes St. ☎463 469. Open Jul.-Aug. daily 10am-6pm; Apr.-Jun. W-Su 10am-5pm; Sept.-Mar. Su 11am-5pm. £4, concessions £2.)
Museum Of Canterbury. Housed in the medieval Poor Priests’ Hospital, the museum spans Canterbury’s history from St. Thomas to WWII bombings to children’s book character Rupert the Bear. Browse displays to learn about Roman foundations and Becket’s unsanitary undergarments. (20 Stour St. ☎475 202. Open June-Sept. M-Sa 10:30am-5pm, Su 1:30-5pm; Nov.-May M-Sa 10:30am-5pm. Last admission 4pm. £3.30, concessions £2.20. The Museum Passport grants admission to the Museum of Canterbury, the Westgate Museum, and the nearby Roman Museum. £6, concessions £3.60.)
The Canterbury Tales. Interested in literature but not in reading? Chaucer’s medieval England is recreated in scenes complete with ambient lighting and moving wax characters. The smell isn’t the guy standing next you—the facility actually pipes in the “authentic” stench of sweat, hay, and grime to help bring you back in time. Headphone narrations take you through the scenes in a 45min. abbreviation of Chaucer’s bawdy masterpiece. (St. Margaret’s St. ☎479 227; www.canterburytales.org.uk. Open daily July-Aug. 9:30am-5pm; Mar.-June and Sept.-Oct. 10am-5pm; Nov.-Feb. 10am-4:30pm. £7.50, students £6.50.)
Greyfriars. England’s first Franciscan friary, Greyfriars was built over the River Stour in 1267. It was used as a prison in the 19th century, and prisoners’ etchings still mark the cell walls. Now the building has a chapel and a museum about the local order. For a quiet break, walk through the riverside gardens. (6a Stour St. ☎462 395. Chapel open Easter-Sept. M-Sa 2-4pm. Gardens open daily 10am-5pm. Free.)
Westgate Towers Museum. The Westgate Towers have guarded the road to London for centuries and are one of the few medieval fortifications to survive wartime blitzing. Built in 1380 as an English defense against France in the Hundred Years War, the structure was a town prison before it was converted into a museum for armor and old weapons. Up a steep, winding staircase sits James, the perennially incarcerated wax figure, enjoying commanding views and plotting his escape from his cell atop the gates. (☎789 576; www.canterbury-museum.co.uk. Open M-Sa 11am-12:30pm and 1:30-3:30pm. Last admission 15min. before close. £1.25, families £2.70, concessions 70p. Westgate gardens free.)
Best Of The Rest. Canterbury Historic River Tours runs 30min. cruises several times per day. (1 St. Peter’s St. ☎07790 534 744; www.canterburyrivertours.co.uk. £6.) In the city library, the Royal Museum and Art Gallery showcases paintings by locally born artists of earlier centuries and recounts the history of the “Buffs,” one of the oldest regiments of the British Army. Don’t miss the newly acquired Van Dyck and collections by T. S. Cooper. (18 High St. ☎475 221. Open M-Sa 10am-4:45pm. Free.) Near the city walls to the southwest lie the remnants of Canterbury Castle. (☎378 100. Open daily 8:30am-dusk. Free.) The vaults of Saint Dunstan’s Church contain a buried relic said to be the head of Thomas More. However, legend claims that his daughter bribed the executioner for it. (St. Dunstan’s St. ☎ 463 654. Open daily 8am-4pm; call to confirm. Free.)
The TIC distributes brochures on up-to-date entertainment listings. Buskers, especially along St. Peter’s St. and High St., play streetside Vivaldi while bands of impromptu players ramble from corner to corner, acting out the more absurd of Chaucer’s scenes. Marlowe Theatre, The Friars, across from the Pilgrim Hotel, puts on touring productions in the largest theatre in Kent. (☎787 787; www.marlowetheatre.com. Box office open M and Sa 10am-9pm, Tu 10:30am-9pm, Su 2hr. before curtain. Tickets £10-35, concessions available. £5 student standbys available from 30min. before most performances.) The Gulbenkian Theatre at the University of Kent shows films in Cinema 3 and stages dance, drama, music, and comedy performances. (University Rd., west of town on St. Dunstan’s St. ☎769 075; www.gulbenkiantheatre.co.uk. Box office open M-F 11am-5pm, Sa-Su 5:30-9pm. Tickets £7-25; £7 rush available from 7pm on performance nights.)
In the fall, the Canterbury Festival fills two weeks in mid-October with drama, opera, cabaret, chamber music, dance, talks, walks, and exhibitions. (☎452 853, box office 378 188; www.canterburyfestival.co.uk.) In Ashford, 5 mi. southwest of Canterbury, the popular Stour Music Festival celebrates Renaissance and Baroque music for seven days in mid-June. The festival takes place at All Saint’s Boughton Aluph Church, on the A28 and accessible by rail from West Station. Call the bookings office a month in advance. (☎812 740. Tickets £5-14.)
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For 52 years, we have published the world’s favorite budget travel guides, written entirely by students and updated every year. With pen and notebook in hand and a few changes of underwear stuffed in our backpacks, we spend months roaming the globe in search of travel bargains.
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