Why canterbury is important

Return to the High Street and head for the West Gate Museum and an unrivalled view over Canterbury from the battlements.

Enjoy lunch in a local pub or restaurant and then head back into the city centre and enjoy a stroll around the cathedral precincts and a visit to the cathedral. Enjoy a cream tea in one of the nearby coffee shops. Explore the hidden Roman Canterbury that exists beneath street level with a visit to the Roman Museum in Butchery Lane.

Have lunch in one of the excellent local pubs or restaurants, then make your own pilgrimage to the Cathedral. Why not stay to Evensong and hear the world famous Cathedral choir sing in this magnificent setting? One of the 'top jobs' in England, but not always very safe: archbishops through the ages have been beheaded, murdered, burnt at the stake, banished from the realm Development pressures in, or adjoining, the buffer zone are present and require ongoing careful management.

Individual ruins within the property suffer from weather and erosion and require regular inspection, maintenance and repair. The structure of the Cathedral was said in to be under threat and a major fundraising campaign was launched to fund ongoing maintenance.

This campaign is ongoing and the South East transept is undergoing extensive repair. However, the ruins remaining from Christ Church Priory are still considered to be in need of repair work.

In , at the time of inscription, it was noted that the condition of preservation of the three parts of the property did not meet the same standards. The separateness of the three parts is still reflected by different conservation regimes. Work is ongoing to regularise this and a Conservation Plan has been prepared for the Cathedral. At the time of inscription the Bureau recommended that the Cathedral, St. Augustine's Abbey and St. Martin's Church should be included in one and the same protection area.

This has been largely achieved by the designation of scheduled monuments and conservation areas. The Cathedral also thrives as a place of learning and pilgrimage including the site of the shrine of St Thomas Becket. The majority of the property therefore maintains its historic use and function. The Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Canterbury and is also known throughout the world as the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the church which welcomes the ten yearly Lambeth conferences of the bishops of the Anglican Communion.

The Abbey was largely destroyed during the Reformation and is partially in ruins. The Cathedral and its precinct make up a diversified but coherent assembly of medieval architecture.

The vast Cathedral, and particularly its Bell Harry Tower, still dominates the city as it has done for five hundred years. The monks were afraid that Becket's body might be stolen.

To prevent this from happening, Becket's marble coffin was placed in the crypt of the cathedral. The monks also built a stone wall in front of the tomb. There were two gaps in the wall where pilgrims could insert their heads and kiss the tomb. In , Becket's bones were moved to a new gold-plated and bejewelled shrine behind the high altar. The shrine was placed on a raised platform supported by pillars.

Canterbury, because of its religious history, had always seen a large number of pilgrims. At the eastern end of the cathedral is a massive stained glass window that shows stories from the Bible. Beneath it is the patriarchal chair cathedra , made of Purbeck marble, on which since the 12th Century all archbishops have been enthroned. It was originally thought that this chair was the one used by St. Augustine as his cathedra, but it is now accepted that the chair came about during the time when the choir was reconstructed.

It was in the vicinity of the cathedra that the scalp of Thomas Becket was displayed. The murder of Becket in led to a major growth in pilgrims coming to Canterbury.