Canterbury - very long post and photo heavy alert!

 Morning, everyone.  I managed to get the photos uploaded yesterday but not to put them into any sort of coherent post, sorry.

I was so lucky with the weather - It was raining here when we set off but by the time we got to Canterbury, it was dry again.  The sun refused to shine and it was windy but that was OK.  In the afternoon, I went into M&S for a coffee and a visit to the loo before going back to the coach and while I was there the heavens opened for a short time - I am assuming, anyway, because when I came out, the ground was very wet.
Wasn't that fortunate!

As some of you said, Canterbury was very busy and bustling.  There were so many school groups around, all secondary, all with worksheets in one hand and phone in the other (or so it looked like) but they all looked busy and pretty focused on their work and very polite.  Of course, it is the ideal time for secondary trips.  Exams are all over, the reports have been finished and the students have to be occupied.

Anyway, I got off the coach and headed straight to Fenwick to use their loo and treat myself to a fairly nondescript coffee.  I'd booked the Cathedral for entry between 11 and 12 so I meandered up, getting my bearings (it wasn't difficult) and noting shops I might want to look round, if I had time.

What can I say about the Cathedral?  It's massive, of course.  Huge.  It has stunning impact now; I can't really imagine the effect on people back then.  In AD597, Roman missionaries converted the king of Kent to Christianity and their leader, Augustine, was consecrated as Archbishop with his official seat at Canterbury and so it has been ever since in a pretty unbroken line.

You enter into the Precincts through Christ Church Gate which was renovated between 1931 and 1937 and again in 2019-20.
It is early Tudor, probably (the guide says) as a memorial to Henry VII's son, Arthur who died at sixteen, leaving the path open for the notorious Henry VIII to take the throne on his father's passing.

Look who turned up!!

Quite a lot of the exterior was covered in scaffolding which rather spoils the overall effect but, I am sure, the work is necessary and it will look great once it's done.  Quite a lot of the stonework has already been repaired, cleaned, renovated or whatever as it looks quite clean and fresh.

It was all very impressive.

Hard to get any sort of good photos though and the light was poor which doesn't help.

In I went and wow, the impact is immediate.  

I went to the info desk and bought a glossy booklet entitled Canterbury Cathedral, A Walking Guide which was exactly what I needed as I hadn't booked a guided tour as the times didn't quite work for me.

It was one of those 'Turn right and you can see abc, then turn left and continue on until you reach xyz, with info, descriptions and photos. 

A very fancy font, given to the Cathedral in 1639 - I wonder how much it cost him!

Reputedly, the Puritans smashed the cover, it was hidden for a while and then repaired after the Restoration in 1660.

This is the Compass Rose, the symbol of the world-wide Anglican Communion.  You can't see it but there's an inscription around the centre that reads, in Greek, 'The Truth will set you free'.

The pulpit is what the guide book describes as a 'Gothic Revival' one, designed in 1898 - so Victorian!

It's the one used by the Archbishop at Christmas, Easter and other special occasions.

I'm sorry it doesn't show up better.

This is the historical heart of the Cathedral, the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered at dusk on Dec 29th, 1170 by some knights of Henry II.  By all accounts it was a horrifically violent act  and the impact of it shook the monarchy and has resonated down through the centuries.  He was made a saint soon after his death, un-made by Henry VIII as part of his efforts to destroy the power of the Papacy in England, and, I guess, re-canonised - or at least accepted as a saint again at some point later.

The whole issue of the reasons behind why two former friends became such enemies relates to the conflicts between Church and State.  It's actually a really interesting story which I won't go into now but if you're interested, look it up.

Photos were not permitted in the crypt and some of the other photos I took haven't come out well, sadly.  I saw the tomb of the Black Prince and the candle that marks the place where the shrine to St Thomas was originally built.

I forget where this is - it might be in the Quire, looking to Trinity Chapel.

Paschal candles, very beautifully made.

I have to say that although the Cathedral was very big and there were lots of people, it was calm and quiet and gentle.  The crypt was quite mysterious with all the little chapels and the acoustics were amazing.  One of the choral scholars, a tenor, was having a last minute warm up before giving a recital in the afternoon: it was stunningly lovely and I was sorry I didn't have the time to stay and listen more.

My abiding memory of the cathedral is one of peace and tranquility.  Beautiful.

I loved this - explanation below.

I failed to notice the ladies beneath when I took the photo but it does give a sense of the size.  It had real impact.

A very old plane tree in the gardens.

Old ruins.  As with many of these historical cities, bits of old wall pop up all over the place, remnants of very old buildings and boundaries.

Yes, I can see why.

I had lunch in the Cathedral lodge and then left the Cathedral grounds to find the Roman Museum.

It was all underground, generally poor lighting but it was so interesting.

Wiki tells me that the area has been populated since prehistoric times.  The Romans rebuilt the city with all mod cons which, over the next centuries, were covered over, built on and 'lost'.

In WWII, the city was bombed and some roman mosaic were uncovered which, when excavated, turned out to be part of a Roman Town House

The museum gives lots of information about Roman life and culture, shops, entertainment, etc.
I'm not sure about the fish sauce and I might use cardamom instead of cumin, but actually, this Roman recipe sounds quite nice.

It has the only in situ Roman mosaic pavement in the UK.  I hope when schools visit they have better lighting as it was hard to see much at all.  It was originally flat; the bumps are due to subsidence and pressure from on top.

This was easier to see.

I walked up to the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge which is basically an art/culture gallery and a library.  This was particularly packed with students so I wasn't able to take any photos.  It was OK, not, for me, the most interesting place generally although there was some nice china and a very interesting special exhibition about Aphra Behn, the earliest and most prolific professional woman playwright who lived in Parliamentarian, Restoration and Stuart times.

No, I hadn't heard of her either, but it was interesting, all the same.  An awful lot of women have been written out of the history they contributed to so much and it was good to see one recognised in this way.

I made my leisurely way back to where the coach would pick us up.  

This is the Great Stour which goes under the bridge and under the Eastbridge Hospital of Thomas the Martyr the other side of the road before popping out again.

I think there might be river tours, I'm not sure.

And finally, I can't stop without mentioning Geoffrey Chaucer.  I believe his writing were the first to be published in the English of the time, they have contributed considerably to the English language in the same way Shakespeare did a couple of centuries later and he is the first poet to be buried in Poets Corner in Westminster Abbey.

The base that depicts all the pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales.

I had a lovely time, there's so much that I didn't see or just glanced over and I suspect that, should there be another coach trip there in the future, I'll be on that coach again.