A Day in Canterbury

Don't worry!  My blogs will not all be about Evensong.  However, considering the title of my blog, I thought it fitting that my first blog be about our day in Canterbury ending with the service of Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral.

Last weekend was a Bankers Holiday (three day weekend in the U.K.) So Tom and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and hopped on a train out of Victoria Station on Sunday morning to explore the town of Canterbury. It's an easy 1 1/2 hour ride from Victoria and the Canterbury station is an easy walk to town.    Canterbury~ the place where Thomas Becket was murdered in the cathedral in 1170.   Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.  St. Augustine's Abbey, where Augustine came to convert England to Christianity.  There is so much history in this one town that it would be impossible to say much about it but here is a glimpse of Canterbury, Kent, England.

Canterbury from the top of Roman burial mound

The town of Canterbury was originally an important settlement for a Celtic tribe.  The Romans invaded Britain and took over the Celtic settlement. The town flourished for about 300 years until the Romans left Britain. The Roman walls surrounding the town are walkable and have been maintained also as a bike path.  It was a great way to see the town from all angles.

Roman walls in background 

                                                                                                                                                                                           

Ruins of St. Augustine Abbey

               St. Augustine Abbey was a fascinating look into life at the beginning of Christianity in England.  The grounds are now an outdoor museum of ruins where you can see what it was like during these early days of Christianity. In 597, Pope Gregory sent Augustine to England to reconvert the English people to Christianity. Augustine settled in this part of England and founded a monastery just outside the walls of Canterbury.

From the grounds of St. Augustine Abbey, we walked toward the Cathedral which is in the center of town.  It was easy to find because of it's massive size.  You could see it from anywhere you were in the town.

Canterbury Cathedral is the "seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury as Primate of all of England, Diocesan bishop for the diocese of Canterbury, and leader of the Anglican Communion throughout the world." Wow!  I had to copy that from the Canterbury Cathedral short tour guide because I couldn't have written that by remembering it!  I can't imagine what the long tour guide was because by the time we got done with the short tour my brain was on overload.

the front of Canterbury Cathedral

shrine to Thomas Becket 

Thomas Becket was murdered in this part of the Cathedral where you see the picture of the shrine .  He was getting ready for an Evensong service and two of Henry II's knights attacked him with swords.  It is this place where thousands of people made pilgrimages to see the shrine of this martyr.  This was also the inspiration for Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, a collection of tales by a group of pilgrims as they journey from London to Canterbury to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket.     

Canterbury Cathedral has some of the most important medieval stained glass in Europe.  These are just a few examples of the windows in the cathedral.  

The choir stalls

After touring the Cathedral we attended the 3:15 Evensong service.  Because the regular choir was on summer holiday, they had a visiting choir from Wallingford parish in Oxfordshire.  I love Evensong (no surprise there!) because it's all sung.  The organ postlude, Bach's fugue in E flat Major was a perfect ending to our cathedral tour.  The organ filled the cathedral and everyone sat mesmerized by the beauty of the music.

                               

                            our final stop of the day

We couldn't head back to London without a stop at the local pub.
 Evensong and pubs.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.