Canterbury and its cathedral

We arrived in Maidstone fairly late on Saturday afternoon, and then Sunday was a miserable rainy day. On Monday, we decided to go on a little adventure. Our first stop was Canterbury to visit the famous Canterbury Cathedral. We spent a few hours there. 

We parked at a car park just outside the old Roman city walls and walked the short distance to the cathedral. We passed this shop on the way. Look at that build date.

This is the Catholic Church of St. Thomas of Canterbury. It was built in the late 19th century.

Next to the Catholic Church is this tower. It was once a part of the parish church of St. Mary Magdalen. The church dated to Norman times, and the tower was built in 1503. The church was demolished in 1871, but the tower was left standing.

The street was a mix of architecture.

This is Canterbury Cathedral. St. Augustine arrived in Kent as a missionary in 597 A.D. When he was later consecrated an archbishop by the pope, he built a cathedral within the Roman city walls and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. The Normans completely rebuilt the cathedral in 1070 after a major fire, but Augustine's original building lies beneath the floor of the nave.

Of course, there was restoration work. What's interesting is the difference between the back portion and the front. Look how clean that back section is. The front looks a lot like Winchester with many years of dirt clinging to the stones. I could only get a portion of the tower in the shot.

The clean back end of the cathedral, and a view of the top of the tower.

The view in the naveI was rather put off by the cheap wooden chairs. This is a cathedral, for goodness sake! Invest in more appropriate seats. 

Looking toward the north aisle of the nave. The nave is over 600 years old, and the vault is 82 feet high.

The pipe organ is also along the north aisle of the nave.

The rather ornate lectern.

This chapel was dedicated to British soldiers who died in war, hence all the flags.

Some of the exquisite stained glass. Much of the windows date back over 800 years. You may have noticed that when I take a photo that requires me to rotate my camera 90 degrees, I actually go more like 95 degrees and my picture is crooked. I don't know why I do that. I've done it with every camera I've used. 

This shot is looking up into the fan vaulting of Bell Harry Tower. The tower is 285 feet tall and was built over 500 years ago. The uppermost bit reminds me of a kaleidoscope.

This is the pulpitum screen located in the crossings between the nave and the quire. In the Middle Ages, the screen would have been brightly painted and contained statues of the Twelve Apostles. These statues were destroyed during the Puritan iconoclasm in 1642.

This is the quire. It was built in 1174 after another disastrous fire. The wooden choir stalls date from the 19th century. The high altar is in the back. The vault here is 59 feet tall.

A closer view of the high altar.

I was attracted from a distance by the vivid coloring of this stained glass. I was a bit disappointed when I got a good look at it. It's obviously a modern piece. I prefer older stained glass.

A view of the chapel wall with all the modern stained glass. They're beautiful, don't get me wrong. I just prefer the classic style.

Insanely intricate carving.

Another beautiful window in the style I prefer.

This is the tomb of Edward Plantagenent, also known as The Black Prince. He died in 1376, aged 46. He was the eldest son of King Edward III. He died one year before his father, making him the first Prince of Wales who did not ascend the throne. An interesting tidbit: He was the father of Richard II. On November 7, I'm going to Stratford on Avon to see David Tenant star in Shakespeare's Richard II.

I'm not entirely sure what this animal at the prince's feet is supposed to be. I'm guessing a lion, which is the symbol of England. Maybe a lion cub? But it looks like a big rat!

This is the tomb of King Henry IV (1367-1413) and his wife, Joan of Navarre.

Some more exquisite stained glass. I think these windows are my favorite.

And more. These windows in the Trinity Chapel depict the miracles that occured after Thomas Becket was murdered. I will talk more of Becket, who later was named St. Thomas of Canterbury, in a bit.

This very ornate tomb is that of Henry Chichele. He was Archbishop of Canterbury and founder of All Souls College in Oxford (I've shared a few photos of All Souls). Henry was only 29 years old when he died in 1443.

A look at his tomb from a different angle. I find it interesting that royalty have fairly simple tombs, and a young archbishop has the Las Vegas equivalent. I understand church hierarchy would place high clergy above royalty (especially before England's break from the Church of Rome), but the contrast is still a bit startling.

I don't know if you can read the sign very well. The candle marks the spot where the shrine dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury stood from the early 13th century until Henry VIII destroyed it after the dissolution of the monasteries in the 16th century. 

More stunning glass.

This memorial, called the Martyrdom, marks the spot where Thomas Becket was murdered. Becket was a close friend of King Henry II and a clergyman. During Henry's reign, the Church had its own courts and an individual could ask to have his case tried in the Church court instead of a royal court. It probably comes as no surprise that Church courts doled out less severe punishments than the royal courts. The king felt this undermined his authority. So when the Archbishop of Canterbury died in 1162, Henry II appointed his close friend, Thomas, to the position. The Archbishop of Canterbury was the most powerful church position in England, and Henry figured his good pal would help him gain more control over the Church courts. Alas, Thomas took the side of the Church and thwarted the king's efforts. In 1170, when the Archbishop of York sided with the king, Becket asked the pope to excommunicate York. When the king learned of this, he is said to have shouted, "Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?" Four knights overheard this and on 29 December 1170, they rode to Canterbury and killed Becket within the cathedral. Becket was declared a saint within three years.

There are a lot of tombs in the cathedral, but the pose on this one is unique . . . and a little odd. It's a pose you'd expect to see in a magazine.

The elaborate baptismal font presented to the Cathedral in 1639. During the Puritan iconoclasm of 1642 the font was badly damaged. William Somner, an antiquarian scholar, buried it in his garden to protect it. It was uncovered twenty years later, repaired, and reassembled in this spot.

A view of one of the windows from the outside. I find it just as pretty from this angle.

An amusing, and overpriced, toy in the cathedral gift shop.

This is Cemetary Gate, also known at St. Ethelbert's Gate, which was built in 1399.  

Here is a portion of the Roman city wall. This public car park, which we used, was once the Roman ditch (aka moat). It was 25 feet wide and over 15 feet deep.

I was intrigued by the variety of repair work done on the wall. Modern restoration work would endeavor to duplicate the original. I assumed the red brick patches are Victorian, but now I'm not so sure. In researching Queningate, which was the name of the car park, I learned that the gate was in this city wall and was stopped up by the Romans, and they used red bricks. These patches aren't Queningate, that's further along to the right out of sight by where we parked, but it does show that Romans used red bricks. So, who knows?