April 18-19 – Canterbury, England. Many of you may wish to drop out for a while because this is going to be a bit of an ABC (Another Bloody Cathedral) tour for a few days. Much of the conversation is going to be about churches. Sorry but we both love them. There's some public parking in the city and we're going in pretty early so I think we'll be ok.
The real issue is not parking, the real issue is driving. Actually it's not the driving it's the roads. When you drive through a village the streets are barely wide enough for two cars. You can tell that they are not legally wide enough for two lanes because they haven't striped the road in any way. To really complicate matters they allow people to park on the street reducing the useable are to just about a car and a half in width. Everything is a negotiation. You are approaching one end of the parked cars as another car approaches the other end. Who goes first? It seems that you negotiate. If it's easy for you to pull over and stop you do. If it's easier for them they do. Since they drive these roads a lot they are very accommodating for the most part. I learned quickly that two quick flashes of the headlights means, "You first." I don't have any trouble with the round-abouts; they seem to be a very civilized answer to the intersection question. To complicate the issue the rental agency gave me a large Ford station wagon, great for our luggage, bad for the narrow parking spaces and driving lanes.
We arrived in Canterbury about 10am and easily found a parking space. It's about ₤12 for parking. The weather has been sunny but it's windy and chilly. I'm not bothered by it but D is freezing. Thanks to tour trusty map we found the Buttermarket (main square) easily. Our first stop was at the Canterbury Cathedral (actual name Church of Jesus Christ, the Savior). The cathedral and many of its buildings are another UNESCO World Heritage Site. This cathedral is important for three reasons, first it's one of the oldest Christian structures in England, second, it's the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of the Church of England and the greater Anglican Community worldwide and third it's the site of the assassination of Thomas Becket by knights of King Henry II but apparently not under the king's orders.
Becket's story is an odd one. He was close to Henry II and it is thought that when the current Archbishop of Canterbury died Henry wanted Becket to have the job. Problem was that Becket was not even a priest. Where there's a will, there's a way. Becket was ordained as a priest on June 2, 1162 and was consecrated as Archbishop on June 3, 1162. Layman one day, priest the next day and Archbishop the next day. Obviously the Roman Catholic Church was not a meritocracy during the 1100s. By that standard I should have been Secretary of the Air Force three days after I arrived at basic training. To put it bluntly, it was a joke. Unfortunately for both Henry and Becket it was a joke that backfired. Becket took his new position seriously and had increasingly acrimonious disagreements with Henry. When Becket felt that the Church's rights had been usurped he started excommunicating everyone in sight. Henry heard about this and, although his exact statement is in question it is felt that this is the most likely, "Will no one rid me of the vexatious priest!" Regardless of the actual words, four knights interpreted it as an order of the king and confronted Becket. They asked him to go with them to Westminster to give an account of his actions. When he refused, they killed him. True to tradition, Becket was canonized about two years after his death.
Denominational Split Note: Lately the worldwide community of the Church of England has become smaller than it once was. As the result of theological differences many Episcopal churches in the USA and elsewhere have broken off their relationship with Canterbury by separating themselves from The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In at least 9 cases the entire diocese left the organization. This led to the decision by the national organization to sue separating churches for the control of the church's property. That suit proved to be as flawed as their theology and the local congregation won the rights to keep the property in which they worship. It's always sad when churches fall out over silly things but in some cases you have to take a stand. If you don't believe me, ask Martin Luther, John Wycliffe or Jan Hus. There are lots of others but these three are my favorite characters of the Reformation.
Back to the visit. To get into the cathedral precincts you have to go through the very tall and ornate Christchurch Gate. The Pope sent Saint Augustine (not a saint at that time) as a missionary to the Anglo-Saxons in England. He founded the cathedral in 597 and archeological research as discovered that the Anglo-Saxon church was built on the site of a Roman road. He also founded an Abbey outside the city walls that was eventually renamed in his honor. St Augustine's Abbey, the Cathedral and the Church of St Martin are the UNESCO sites in the city.
It's a very large church. From the entrance to the choir (the nave) is about as large as a normal church. From the choir to the farthest end of Becket's Crown (the central chapel in the apse is farther than the distance from the entrance to the choir. The design is the result of many additions and revisions. Because of St Augustine's role in bringing Christianity to England the church has always been a very popular pilgrimage site but after the death and canonization of Becket that popularity increased dramatically, bringing the church a great deal of money in addition to the income from its holdings. Consequently, funds were always available for construction.
The original building ended just past where the nave ends now. It was constructed in cruciform style with transepts. Later the western end was torn down and a choir was added at the east end of the nave. The Archbishop at the time was French and made the choir in the style of a church with its own transepts and an aisle on each side. Later the Trinity Chapel was added where an apse would normally be. Still later the Becket's Crown Chapel was added to the east end of the Trinity Chapel bringing the church to its final length.
During this time a monastery was added to the church necessitating a Chapter Room and Cloisters plus a library. Also chapels were added off each of the original transepts. It was in the South East transept that Thomas Becket was assassinated. That area is now called the Martyrdom. There's a granite block in the floor simply inscribed 'Thomas'. On the wall behind it there's an altar and sculpture with four sword blades two of which are broken and form a cross. Unfortunately someone has decided to place a wooden kneeler right over the Thomas stone so I couldn't get it into the picture with the sculpture.
Becket was buried in a monument that stood in the crossing of the church for a long time but with the dissolution of the monasteries and the takeover of church properties it was felt that he would be desecrated so they buried him in the crypt below the church. Where his original monument stood they have retained the tile floor and a single candle is placed on the floor where his monument was. Because Becket was there the entrance to the area looks more like the entrance to a church building than the entrance to a choir. This is one strange church. One of the pastors invited us back to Evensong at 5:15pm. We might just do that.
D wanted to see the 'Canterbury Tales' attraction. It's in an old church building across the old town. As you probably remember Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' from high school. I know we had to read it at Fountain Hill High School in Bethlehem Pennsylvania. Since the original is written in Middle English it was pretty tough for a ninth grader to read. I had an advantage over most of my schoolmates because I was very familiar with the King James Bible. Granted that was written in the 1600s, 300 years after Canterbury Tales, but the similarities help. Understanding the KJV really helped with Shakespeare as they are contemporaries.
Chaucer's tale is a compilation of 20+ stories told as part of a wager between some pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. No one is sure how many tales there were because no copy of the work that is still in existence is complete. So they are not sure how many stories there were or even in what order they were told.
The attraction takes you through several of the tales with a combination of multi-media sets and live action. You move through various rooms that are set with life sized people and things you stand amid while you hear that part of the story. There was an introductory room where a live actor in period costume introduces you to the setting and story line of the tales. The setting is that you are sitting around a fire during an overnight stay on the pilgrimage. We met the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and a monk. In the next hour we were led from room to room, sometimes by an actor, sometimes by narrator's instructions. Each room was the setting for a tale. Some rooms were set up as scenes a pilgrim would encounter on his trip, for example a sleeping room in a rustic inn, complete with snoring. The stories were done with lots of humor and sometimes elements intended to startle us.
In one room where we apparently have gone to see the doctor, his assistant, a lady, tells us we can see him right away. He's lying on the autopsy table so she just lifts the blanket and shows him to us. Several times during her presentation the lights would go out. While they were out she would silently move right in front of or next to one of us to that when the lights came back on it would startle you. It was a fun visit and a warm way to spend an hour on a chilly day.
We headed back to the Buttermarket Square to get something to eat. We selected Number 12 Tearoom and Restaurant. It was very pleasant inside with large windows looking out on the square. A nice place for lunch.
On the way back to the hotel we decided to tour around a bit. One sight close by is the White Cliffs of Dover so that's where we headed. It's a British National Trust Site so it's free. We parked and followed the path out onto the cliffs. The cliffs are clearly very white especially in contrast to the green grass and dark topsoil of the area. There were two paths leading out so we went out on the higher path and walked back on the path along the cliff edge. No safety rails and the lower path had plenty of things to trip on. Apparently the Brits feel that if you're stupid enough to mess around at the cliff's edge, that's your problem. How utterly rational.
On the way back to the hotel we passed the site of Augustine's Abbey. He started this monastery shortly after finishing the church in Canterbury. Shortly after his arrival in 597AD, his missionary work was well under way. Just to place this in British history the Romans were in charge in 43AD, the Anglo Saxons took over in 450AD, followed by the Vikings in 793A and the Normans in 1066AD, the start of the medieval era. So Augustine arrived in the Anglo Saxon period and his missionary efforts were so successful that the Abbey, then known as the Saints Peter and Paul Abbey, became the burial place for Anglo Saxon kings. The invading Normans destroyed most of the Anglo Saxon structures and built a large church, about the same size as the Canterbury Cathedral. It was renamed for Saint Augustine and thrived for over 400 years before Henry VIII disbanded all the monasteries and took over or destroyed the buildings after looting all the valuable possessions.
The Victorian buildings from the 1800s are still standing and in use as a school. Much of the history of the place is evident in the footings and bases that have been uncovered. The outline of the original church can be seen from its foundations. The larger church's outline can be seen around it. The Saint Peter and Paul Church was big but not nearly the size of the cathedral in Canterbury in its final configuration. Henry VIII built a palace on the grounds using some of the abbey's buildings and adding to them. Some walls from this palace are still standing. They have a small museum on the site that does an excellent job of putting the development of the abbey over the centuries in perspective.
On our drive back to the motel we were on the lookout for somewhere to eat. This are is filled with very small villages and while passing through one, we saw the Queen's Head Pub. We dropped in and were warmly greeted and shown to a table away from the bar. The menu said that the meat pies here were real crust pies not just a stew mixture with mashed potatoes' on top so we got the pie of the day, chicken and vegetables with peas and mashed potatoes. The potatoes had chopped green onion in them. The menu was very accurate; the pies were in face encased in water crust and absolutely delicious.
Back to our hotel after a long day of driving around the countryside.
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