Everything about Canterbury totally explained
Canterbury (; ) is a
city in eastern
Kent in the
South East region of
England. In
Latin the city was called
Durovernum Cantiacorum, it lay at the junction of three roads from the ports of
Regulbium (
Reculver),
Dubris (
Dover) and
Lemanis (
Lympne) and stood on what has become known as
Watling Street. Much of the city walls and one of the city gates remain.
The city is the seat of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England, head of the
Church of England and of the worldwide
Anglican Communion.
Thomas Becket was murdered in
Canterbury Cathedral;
King Henry IV was buried along with the
Edward the Black Prince.
Geoffery Chaucer wrote the
Canterbury Tales about a group of people travelling from
London to Canterbury. This literary heritage was continued with
Christopher Marlowe who was born here.
The city became a
county corporate in 1461. Canterbury was made a
county borough under the
Local Government Act 1888. Canterbury is now part of the local government district which is called the City of Canterbury with the historic cathedral city itself being a small part of this larger district.
History
» History of Canterbury redirects here. For the history of the regional area of this name in New Zealand, see History of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Prehistoric and Roman history
There has been a settlement in Canterbury since
prehistoric times.
Bronze Age finds, and
Neolithic round barrows have been discovered in the area and before the
Roman arrival
Durovernon (British
duro "fort",
verno "swamp") was the most important settlement in Kent.
Saxon history
The town was abandoned at the end of the Roman period, only to be resettled by the
Saxons. The name Canterbury derives from the Old English
Cantwarebyrig, meaning "fortress of the men of Kent". The
bury element is a form of
borough, which has cognates in words and place names in virtually every
Indo-European and
Semitic language, as well as others.
For a fuller explanation, see under borough.
In 596AD,
Pope Gregory the Great sent
Augustine to convert England to Christianity. Since 431, when
Pope Celestine I sent
Palladius to convert the Irish to Christianity, this was the second papal mission, and
King Aethelbert of
Kent allowed Augustine to build a
priory on the site of the present cathedral precincts in AD
597, to be the
cathedra for a diocese centred on the town. Its remains were found in post-war excavations of the nave of the current
Canterbury Cathedral. Augustine also built an
abbey outside the city walls where he was buried as were other early
archbishops. Though St. Gregory had planned the division of England into two archbishoprics, one at
London and one at
York, Augustine's success at Canterbury explains how the southern archiepiscopal see came to be fixed there instead of at London.
The first beginnings of the diocese are told by
Bede (
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, I, xxxiii):
» "When Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, assumed the episcopal throne in that royal city, he recovered therein, by the King's assistance, a church which, as he was told, had been constructed by the original labour of Roman believers. This church he consecrated in the name of the Saviour, our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and there he established an habitation for himself and all his successors".
The church was
St. Martin's, which is still in use today, and is considered the oldest church in England still in use. The abbey (originally dedicated to St Peter, later posthumously re-dedicated to
St Augustine himself), cathedral and Saint Martin's together make up a
World Heritage site.
Jewish community
The earliest record of a Jewish community in Canterbury dates from 1160. The community is known to have been prosperous and to have traded in corn (grain) and wool as well as banking. Despite
pogroms in 1261 and 1264, the community flourished until the
Edict of Expulsion, given by
Edward I of England in
1290. Its presence is commemorated in the street name, Jewry Lane.
16th century
Canterbury was the home town of
William Roper, son in law of
Thomas More, and More's head was therefore buried at the church of
St. Dunstan's, Canterbury (whereas his body is at
St Peter ad Vincula at the
Tower of London).
St Augustine's Abbey was destroyed during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by
Henry VIII on his split from Rome. Ruins remain. Already having
primacy over the English church, Canterbury's priory was saved to become a cathedral and the centre of the new
Church of England. At the same time, the cathedral's ancient religious school was refounded as the
King's School.
French
Protestant Huguenot refugees settled in the city during the sixteenth century: here they introduced
silk-making. They were granted the
crypt of the cathedral for their worship by
Edward VI and, though the Huguenot chapel now extends only to the Black Prince Chapel in the crypt rather than the whole crypt,
French Protestant services are still held there every Sunday afternoon.
17th century
On Wednesday,
22 December 1647 Canterbury's
town crier proclaimed the county committee's order for the suppression of Christmas Day and its treatment as any other working day. However, a large crowd gathered
3 days later to demand a church service, decorate doorways with holly bushes, and keep the shops shut. This crowd - under the slogan 'For God, King Charles, and Kent' - then descended into violence and riot, with a soldier being assaulted, the mayor's house attacked, and the city under the rioters' control for several weeks until forced to surrender in early January. This was a precursor of a full Kentish revolt against Parliament in May 1648.
18th century
A Jewish community was reestablished in Canterbury by the 1720s.
Post 1900
During
World War II the city was severely damaged by bombing after it was targeted by the
Luftwaffe in the
Baedeker Blitz; much of the city was flattened although the cathedral escaped. Footage of the devastation can be seen in the 1944 film
A Canterbury Tale.
Post-war large scale redevelopment of the city centre started with the rebuilding of much of the bomb-damaged east of the city, including what is now the Whitefriar's development. The ring-road was constructed some time after in stages to alleviate growing traffic problems in the city centre, which was then pedestrianised.
Canterbury is a major city for tourism with
Canterbury Cathedral alone attracting 1.2 million visitors in 2001. It still contains many ancient buildings and modern building development within the medieval city centre is strictly regulated.
During 2004-5 the Whitefriars area of the city underwent major redevelopment and the associated archeological research was called the
Big Dig. Canterbury now has a much larger shopping attraction due to this, many of the shops have undergone major redevelopment, as has the city's bus station. Locally, however, the development has been criticised for causing empty buildings in other parts of the city due to shop movement and the closure of several local shops under competition from the increased chain store presence. For example, the
Boots the Chemist seen in
A Canterbury Tale remained at that High Street location until 2005, when it moved to Whitefriars.
Geography
The city is on the
River Stour or
Great Stour, flowing from its source at Lenham north east through
Ashford to the
English Channel at
Sandwich. The river divides south east of the city, one branch flowing though the city, the other around the position of the former walls. The two branches rejoin or are linked several times, but finally recombine around
Fordwich, on the edge of the marshland north east of the city.
The Stour is navigable on the tidal section to Fordwich, although above this point canoes and other small craft can be used. Punts are available for hire in Canterbury.
Demographics
- Population (Census figures):
- 1801: 9,500
- 1861: 16,700
- 1921: 18,900
- 1961: 30,408
- 2001: 42,258
Economy
Canterbury district retains approximately 4,761 businesses, up to 60,000 full and part time employees and worth £1.3 billion in 2001. This makes the district the second largest economy in Kent. In
April,
2008, the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, controversially demanded that
salary caps should be implemented to curb the pay of the rich in an attempt to manage to growth of the economy. The city's economy benefits mainly from significant economic projects such as the Canterbury Enterprise Hub, Lakesview International Business Park and the Whitefriars retail development.
Today, Canterbury has two
railway stations,
Canterbury West and
Canterbury East. Canterbury West is almost due north of Canterbury East. The services from these are operated by
Southeastern.
Canterbury West station, on the
South Eastern Railway from
Ashford was opened by on
6 February 1846, on
13 April the line to
Ramsgate was completed. Canterbury East is the more central of the two stations, although it came later, being opened by the
London, Chatham and Dover Railway on
9 July 1860. A fourth station in Canterbury was
Canterbury South on the
Elham Valley Railway, which opened in 1890 and closed in 1947.
Canterbury West is served primarily from
London Charing Cross with limited services from Victoria as well as by trains to
Ramsgate and
Margate. Services from
London Victoria stop at Canterbury East (journey time around 88 minutes) and continue to
Dover.
Faster services are promised from 2009 with the introduction of high speed trains. It is expected the journey time will be reduced by 35-40 minutes when travelling to London.
Road
Canterbury is by-passed by the
A2 London to Dover Road. It is about from the
M25 London orbital motorway, and from central
London. The other main road through Canterbury is the
A28 from
Ashford to Ramsgate and Margate. Canterbury is legendary for traffic congestion throughout the day, and the City Council has invested heavily in Park-and-Ride systems around the City's outskirts. There are three sites, at Wincheap, New Dover Road and Sturry Road. There are plans to build direct access sliproads to and from the London directions of the A2 where it meets the congested Wincheap (at present there are only slips from the A28 to and from the direction of Dover) to allow more direct access to Canterbury from the A2, but these are currently subject to local discussion.
The hourly
National Express coach service to and from
Victoria Coach Station, which leaves from the main
bus station is typically scheduled to take two hours.
Education
The city has many students as it's home to several Higher Education institutions and other colleges. The
University of Kent's Canterbury campus stands on a hill about two miles outside the city centre.
Canterbury Christ Church University is located in the city as is one of the campuses of the
University College for the Creative Arts. Near the University of Kent is the Franciscan International Study Centre, a place of study for the worldwide Franciscan Order.
Chaucer College is an independent college for Japanese and other students within the campus of the University of Kent. There is also the
Further Education institution,
Canterbury College. There was also the
St Augustine's College, Canterbury (1848-1976), a
Church of England theological college.
Independent secondary schools include
St Edmund's School,
Kent College, and what may be the world's oldest extant school
The King's School.
State secondary schools include
Archbishop's School,
Barton Court Grammar School,
Chaucer Technology School,
Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys,
Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School,
The Canterbury High School and
St Anselm's Catholic School.
Local radio
Canterbury is served by:
kmfm for Canterbury, Whitstable & Herne Bay based in St Georges Place, Canterbury. The station broadcasts on 106FM. It was formerly known as kmfm 106 and before the Kent Messenger Group took control was known as CTFM based on the local postcode being 'CT'. CTFM was based round the corner from kmfm on Lower Bridge Street.
CSR FM, an acronym for 'Canterbury Student Radio', broadcasts on 97.4FM from studios at both the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University. In 2007 it became the first student radio station to be awarded a Community Radio License. The station is run by a collaboration of education establishments in the city including the three universities. The transmitter is based at the University of Kent, offering a good coverage of the city. CSR FM provides a wide range of programming with a 50% speech/50% music format and operates non-commercially as, under OFCOM's rules, a community station within an area served by an existing commercial radio station can't carry advertisements.
CSR is a joint collaboration between three universities and replaced two existing radio stations:
C4 Radio serving Canterbury Christ Church University and the first student radio station in the country to broadcast online.
UKC Radio known as UKCR serving the University of Kent
Canterbury also has a hospital radio station known as:
Canterbury Hospital Radio (CHR) serving the patients of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
Simon Langton Boys School also has a radio station, SLBSLive, however it can only be picked up on the school grounds.
Culture
Music
The city gave its name to a musical genre known as the Canterbury Sound or Canterbury Scene (a subgenre of Progressive Rock). Shortly after there was a decline in the music scene and it's only just starting to pick itself back up again due to students running live music nights within the city. UKC Kent Bar has hosted many famous bands, including, during the late 60s, Led Zeppelin and The Who in the bands very early days. During the mid-70s many bands that are now considered obscure, but were highly influential at the time, such as Soft Machine, The Fall and the The Fairies played at Canterbury adding to a strong alternative prog rock reputation. During the late seventies and early eighties the Canterbury Odeon and University played host to a number of major acts, and was the peak of the city's status as a centre for live music. The legendary shows would include The Cure supported by Joy Division (1979), The Clash (1978), The Ramones (1980), Ozzy Osbourne (1980), at the Canterbury Odeon and shows by U2 (1980), Duran Duran (1981), The Smiths (1984) and Depeche Mode (1982) at the University. The Marlowe Theatre is also used for many musical performances, such as Van Morrison in 2005 and Don McLean in 2007.
Theatre
The town's theatre and concert hall is the Marlowe Theatre named after Christopher Marlowe who was born in the city in Elizabethan times. This is to been found in The Friars. The old Marlowe Theatre was located in St Margaret's Street and housed a repertory theatre. Another theatre - the Gulbenkian - also serves the city and can be found at the University of Kent. Theatrical performances take place at several areas of the city, for instance the Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, etc. The premiere of Murder in the Cathedral by T. S. Eliot took place at Canterbury Cathedral.
The oldest surviving Tudor theatre in Canterbury is now 'Casey's Bar' in Beer Cart Lane. Formerly known as 'The Shakespeare Pub' the ticket booth can be found on the stairs up to the managers accommodation and a door was provided to 'The Buttery Pub', formerly 'The Olive Branch', so patrons could easily go to the pub during the interlude.
There are several theatre groups based in Canterbury, notably the University of Kent Students' Union's T24 Drama Society, who operate both on campus and in town itself.
Sport
St Lawrence Ground is notable as one of the two grounds used regularly for first-class cricket that have a tree within the boundary (the other is Pietermaritzburg cricket ground in South Africa). It is the home ground of Kent CCC and has hosted several England games.
Canterbury City F.C. reformed in 2007 as a Community interest company and the mens team will compete in the Kent County League Division Two (East) in 2007/08. The previous incarnation of the club folded in 2001. Canterbury's Local Rugby Union team was promoted to the National League Division 3 South in 2006.
The Tour de France has visited the city twice. In 1994 the tour passed through, and in 2007, it held the finish for Stage 1.
Canterbury Hockey Club is one of the largest clubs in the country, often succeeding to top the English leagues in all age and sex categories. Former Olympic gold medal winner Sean Kerly is one of their coaches.
Mills
Canterbury has been well served by mills over the centuries. These include animal engines, watermills and windmills.
Animal engines
A rare survivor is the treadwheel in the Bell Harry tower of Canterbury Cathedral.
Watermills
There were a total of ten watermills at various time on the River Great Stour. They are covered in the article on the Stour watermills.
Windmills
A total of six windmills are known to have stood in Canterbury.
St Martin's Mill, (TR 165 578 ) a tower mill built in 1817 and working until 1890, now a house conversion.
St Martin's Black Mill, a smock mill that was marked on the 1819-43 Ordnance Survey map and demolished in 1868. The sails and major machinery being installed in New Mill, Blean.
St Lawrence Mill, a smock mill marked on the 1819-43 Ordnance Survey map that was burnt down on 15 May 1873. This mill stood on or near the site of Canterbury's earliest recorded windmill, which stood at Little Foxmould in the Ridingate area. This mill was granted to the Hospital of Eastbridge by the Prioress and Nuns of the church of St Sepulchre early in the thirteenth century.
Dane John Mill, (TR 148 574 ) a post mill advertised for sale in the Kentish Post in 1731 and rebuilt in 1790 by James Simmonds. and Orlando Bloom. Mary Tourtel, the author of Rupert Bear lived in the town. As a schoolboy David Gower boarded at The King's School, Canterbury.
Twin towns
Canterbury is twinned with the following city:
Reims, FranceFurther Information
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