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Our Canterbury Tale

(This is a view of Canterbury Cathedral from the abbey of St. Augustine.)

On October 1st we took a trip to meet our friend Sean (who attends the "other place") in London and then go to visit Canterbury.  We attempted to meet at Westminster Abbey in London, but did not realize that that was the day that every judge in London was attending service and it was closed to visitors.  Luckily we were able to find Sean in the crowd of spectators and we headed to the train station.  We arrived in Canterbury mid-afternoon and proceeded to see the sites.  We happened upon the church of St. Thomas Beckett, the town's Catholic church, which holds the few relics of the saint that weren't scattered to the wind by King Henry VIII.  For Chaucer and other medieval pilgrims, a visit to the saint's relics were the purpose for a pilgrimage to Canterbury.  We proceeded on to visit the abbey of St. Augustine (of Canterbury), which is probably the site where the saint first brought Christianity to England.  We then went to the Cathedral.  Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, the Cathedral was closed because Evensong was being broadcast live on the BBC (and we got there too late to get tickets).  We were able to walk around the grounds of the Cathedral and visit the chapter house, but we were a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see the inside of the Cathedral.  But we had seen Beckett's relics.  We finally visited the town's Norman castle, where unfortunately it was raining too much for us to get any pictures.  We returned to London for curry before we returned to our respective university towns.

 St. Augustine's Abbey  

       
The abbey dates all the way back to a Saxon foundation.  The two pictures on the left are later Norman structures.  The center picture is a later cloister.  Second from the right is a crypt chapel.  The far right picture is of the Saxon church.

     
St. Augustine of Canterbury is credited with bringing Christianity to England.  The two right pictures are of the site of his grave, within the abbey church.  Second from the right, Sean poses before the Norman wall.  Far right, Robin poses in the crypt chapel.

     
We were impressed with the details of the abbey that could still be seen.  The on-site museum has even better example of decoration.

24-Oct-2003

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