insideKENT Magazine Issue 81 - December 2018 | Page 55

TOWNSPOTLIGHT
Spotlight on
CANTERBURY
IN KENT THERE ARE MANY FAMOUS, FASCINATING AND OTHERWISE FABULOUS TOWNS, BUT
WHEN IT COMES TO SOMEWHERE WITH HISTORY SPANNING OVER A THOUSAND YEARS, SOMEWHERE
THAT OFFERS UP BEAUTIFUL ARCHITECTURE, SOMEWHERE THAT IS THE SEAT OF THE CHURCH
OF ENGLAND (AND HAS THE IMPRESSIVE CATHEDRAL TO PROVE IT) AND SOMEWHERE THAT
PILGRIMS DID AND STILL DO (IN ALL THEIR GUISES) FLOCK TO, WE REALLY CAN BE SPEAKING OF
NONE OTHER THAN CANTERBURY. THIS IS TRULY A SPECIAL PLACE INDEED, AND ONE THAT, NO
MATTER HOW MANY TIMES YOU VISIT, OR HOW WELL YOU THINK YOU KNOW IT, WILL ALWAYS
HAVE THE CAPACITY TO SURPRISE AND DELIGHT.
Canterbury Cathedral
Westgate Gardens
HISTORY IN BRIEF
Canterbury has always been a popular spot and, in the first century AD,
was an Iron Age settlement. It was considered a sacred place even then,
and it was the Cantiaci tribe of Celts who determined that this is where
they wanted to be, and where they would build their home. When the
Romans arrived in 43AD, they had much the same idea. They razed
the Cantiaci’s primitive dwellings and created their own, much more
sophisticated buildings. In honour of the first people to live there, despite
having destroyed the place they called home and displaced them, the
Romans named the place Durovernum Cantiacorum. And so Canterbury
began to grow.
That is, until 407AD when the Romans left Britain and Canterbury was
left to fall into ruin. It was abandoned by all but a few farmers, and the
beautiful buildings that had been so cleverly and painstakingly designed
and built, simply rotted along the straight Roman roads. Had it not been
for Pope Gregory’s decision to send Augustine and 40 other monks to
Kent to meet the king, Ethelbert, and start the arduous task of converting
England to Christianity, Canterbury might have completely disappeared.
However, Augustine landed in Thanet in 597AD and, after a short search,
he discovered what had been a gorgeous Roman town. This, he felt,
was a good place to start his mission. Soon enough Canterbury became
a thriving town again. Not only houses, but inns, shops, and even a
mint were quickly built.
Since then (despite being raided by both the Danes and the Normans,
and despite Henry VIII taking a dislike to the monasteries) Canterbury
has gone from strength to strength, growing more and more fascinating
as the years go by.
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