Canterbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Canterbury | |
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| Population | 42,259 (2001) |
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| OS grid reference | |
| District | City of Canterbury |
| Shire county | Kent |
| Region | South East |
| Constituent country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CANTERBURY |
| Postcode district | CT1, CT2 |
| Dial code | 01227 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | Canterbury |
| European Parliament | South East England |
| List of places: UK • England • Kent | |
Canterbury [ˈkæntəˌbɹi] is a cathedral city in east Kent in South East England and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Primate of All England, head of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
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[edit] History
[edit] Prehistoric and Roman history
There has been a settlement in Canterbury since prehistoric times. Bronze Age finds, and Neolithic round barrows have been discovered in the area; and before the Roman arrival Durovernon (British duro "fort", verno "swamp") was the most important settlement in Kent.
Canterbury (known in Latin as Durovernum Cantiacorum) became a Roman administrative centre: it lay at the junction of three roads from their ports of Regulbium (Reculver), Dubris (Dover) and Lemanis (Lympne); and it stood on what has become known as Watling Street. The city walls and one of the city gates remain.
[edit] Saxon and Norman history
The name Canterbury derives from the Old English Cantwarebyrig, meaning "fortress of the men of Kent". The bury element is a form of borough, which has cognates in words and place names in virtually every Indo-European and Semitic language, as well as others. For a fuller explanation, see under borough.
A Motte and Bailey castle was constructed in Canterbury by the Normans soon after the Norman Conquest, but this was soon replaced by the stone keep of Canterbury Castle which still stands today.
[edit] Religious significance
In 596 Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to convert England to Christianity. Since 431, when Pope Celestine I sent Palladius to convert the Irish to Christianity, this was the second papal mission, and King Aethelbert of Kent allowed Augustine to build a priory on the site of the present cathedral precincts in AD 597. He also built an abbey outside the city walls where he was buried: as were other early archbishops. Though St. Gregory had planned the division of England into two archbishoprics, one at London and one at York, Augustine's success at Canterbury explains how the southern archiepiscopal see came to be fixed there instead of at London. The first beginnings of the diocese are told by St. Bede (Hist. Eccl., I, xxxiii). "When Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, assumed the episcopal throne in that royal city, he recovered therein, by the King's assistance, a church which, as he was told, had been constructed by the original labour of Roman believers. This church he consecrated in the name of the Saviour, our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and there he established an habitation for himself and all his successors". The church was Saint Martin's, which is still in use today, and is considered the oldest church in England still in use. The Ancient Diocese of Canterbury was the Mother-Church and Primatial See of All England, from 597 till the death of the last Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal Pole, in 1558.
In the 16th Century the Church of England split from Rome under Henry VIII.
St Augustine's Abbey was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries ordered by Henry VIII, although ruins remain. During this time Canterbury became the centre of the new Church of England, although a Catholic shrine remains. At the same time, the ancient religious school was refounded as the King's School. Canterbury Cathedral is the burial place of King Henry IV and of Edward the Black Prince, but is most famous as the scene of the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. As a result of this event, Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site, inspiring Geoffrey Chaucer to write The Canterbury Tales in 1387. The Hospital of St Thomas was a place of lodging for pilgrims in the city. The city is also associated with the family of Thomas More (his head is buried at the church of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury, and his body at St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London [1]).
The city is also the start/finish point for many pilgrimage routes, such as the Via Francigena to Rome, the Pilgrims' Way to Winchester and the route from Southwark taken in The Canterbury Tales.
[edit] Later history
The city became a county corporate in 1461.
French Protestant refugees settled in the city during the sixteenth century: here they introduced silk-making.
As a historic county corporate, Canterbury was made a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888. It was the smallest such county borough, and never exceeded the 50,000 population limit initially required - the 1971 cenuss reported a population of 33,175. Under the Local Government Act 1972 it formed part of the larger Canterbury district of Kent.
During World War II the city was severely damaged by bombing after it was targeted by the Luftwaffe in the Baedeker Blitz. There is footage of the devastated areas in the 1944 film A Canterbury Tale, by film directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film is a celebration of the city, the Pilgrim's Way, and the Chaucerian stories, not a re-telling of the original tales.
Post-war large scale redevelopment of the city centre started quickly with the rebuilding of much of the bomb damaged east of the city, including what is now the Whitefriar's development. The ring-road was constructed some time after in stages to alleviate growing traffic problems in the city centre, which was then pedestrianised.
Canterbury today is a major city for tourism with Canterbury Cathedral alone attracting 1.2 million visitors in 2001. It still contains many ancient buildings and modern building development within the medieval city centre is strictly regulated.
During 2004-5 the Whitefriars area of the city underwent major redevelopment and the associated archeological research was called the "Big Dig". Canterbury now has a much larger shopping attraction due to the Whitefriars development, many of the shops have undergone major redevelopment, as has the city's bus station. Locally, however, the development has been criticised for causing empty buildings in other parts of the city, due to shop movement and the closure of several local shops under competition from the increased chain store presence. For example, the Boots the Chemist seen in the 1944 A Canterbury Tale remained at that High Street location until 2005, when it moved to Whitefriars.
[edit] Demographics
- Population (Census figures):
[edit] Government
The local government district City of Canterbury covers an area some 13 times larger than the city of Canterbury itself, and includes Herne Bay and Whitstable. The city contains the district wards of Barton, Northgate, St Stephens, Westgate and Wincheap, plus part of the University of Kent (which straddles the city boundary) in the otherwise rural Blean Forest ward. Since October 7, 2004 the 5 wards entirely within the city have been represented by 9 Liberal Democrat, 3 Conservative and 2 Labour councillors, out of the total 50 members of the district council.
The south-western end of Canterbury comprises the parish of 'Thanington Without', the rest of the city is unparished.
The parliamentary constituency of Canterbury is represented in Parliament by the Conservative MP Julian Brazier, the Shadow Transport Minister.
[edit] Transport
[edit] Railway
Canterbury has two railway stations, Canterbury West and Canterbury East. Paradoxically, Canterbury West is almost due North of Canterbury East. The services from these are operated by Southeastern. Canterbury West is served primarily from London Charing Cross with limited services from Victoria as well as by trains to Ramsgate and Margate. Services from London Victoria stop at Canterbury East (journey time around 88 minutes) and continue to Dover.
Faster services are promised from 2009, with the introduction of Japanese "bullet" trains which will cut 30-45 minutes off the travel time to London. [2] It is expected that this reduction in commuting time will have an impact in property prices in Canterbury.
Canterbury West station was the earliest to be built. It was opened by the South Eastern Railway from Ashford on 6 February 1846; on 13 April the line to Ramsgate was completed. Canterbury East is the more central of the two stations, although it came later, being opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on 9 July 1860.
Canterbury was also the terminus of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway (known locally as the 'Crab and Winkle' line) which was a pioneer line, opened in 1830, and finally closed in 1953. Despite claims by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the Canterbury and Whitstable was the first regular passenger steam railway in the world. It included the first significant railway tunnel in the world, which is located at the Archbishop's School and the first railway bridge in the world. The locomotive which originally worked the line, Invicta, was until recently displayed at the museum at Canterbury, but now can be found in the National Railway Museum, York. Part of the former route of the line can be walked along near Tyler Hill. Part of one of the buildings of the University collapsed into the closed railway tunnel a number of years ago, extensive rebuilding and the filling in of the tunnel was required.
[edit] Road
Canterbury is now by-passed by the A2 London to Dover Road. It is about 45 miles from the M25 London orbital motorway, and 61 miles from central London. The other main road through Canterbury is the A28 from Ashford to Ramsgate and Margate. Canterbury is legendary for traffic congestion throughout the day, and the City Council has invested heavily in Park-and-Ride systems around the City's outskirts. There are plans to to build direct access sliproads to and from the London directions of the A2 where it meets the congested Wincheap (at present there are only slips from the A28 to and from the direction of Dover) to allow more direct access to Canterbury from the A2, but these are currently subject to local discussion.
The hourly National Express coach service to and from Victoria Coach Station, which leaves from the main bus station is typically scheduled to take 2 hours.
[edit] Rivers
The city is on the River Great Stour, flowing from Ashford to the English Channel at Sandwich, but is currently navigable only on the tidal section from Sandwich to Fordwich, north east of Canterbury.
[edit] Educational establishments
The city has many students as it is home to several Higher Education institutions and other colleges. The University of Kent at Canterbury stands on a hill about two miles outside the city centre. Chaucer College is an independent graduate college for Japanese students within the campus of the University. Near the University of Kent is the Franciscan International Study Centre [3], a place of study for the worldwide Franciscan Order. Canterbury Christ Church University [4] is located in the city as is one of the campuses of the University College for the Creative Arts. There is also the Further Education institution, Canterbury College. There was also the St Augustine's College, Canterbury (1848-1976), a Church of England theological college.
Independent secondary schools include St Edmund's School, Kent College, and what may be the world's oldest extant school The King's School.
State secondary schools include Archbishop's School, Barton Court Grammar School, Chaucer Technology School, Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, Simon Langton Grammar School for Girls, The Canterbury High School and St Anselm's Catholic School.
[edit] Local radio
Canterbury is served by:
- kmfm for Canterbury, Whitstable & Herne Bay based in St Georges Place, Canterbury. The station broadcasts on 106FM. It was formerly known as kmfm 106 and before the Kent Messenger Group took control was known as CTFM based on the local postcode being 'CT'. CTFM was based round the corner from kmfm on Lower Bridge Street. KMFM 106 Website
A new community station will also be operating in the city from January 15th 2007 under the new OFCOM licensing laws it will be operating for 5 years with a broadcast area of Canterbury city and three miles around. It will be known as:
- CSR FM standing for 'Canterbury Student Radio' and will broadcast on 97.4FM with studios at both the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University. The station will be run by a collaboration of education establishments in the city including the three universities. The transmitter will be based at the University of Kent offering a good coverage of the city. CSR FM will provide a wide range of programming with a 50% speech/50% music format. The station will be non commercial as under OFCOM's rules a community station within an area served by an existing commercial radio station cannot carry advertisements. It will be the first community licence given to a student radio station in the country. CSR FM Website
CSR is a joint collaboration between 3 universities and is the combining of these two former student radio stations:
- C4 Radio serving Canterbury Christ Church University and the first student radio station in the country to broadcast online.
- UKC Radio known as UKCR serving the University of Kent
Canterbury also has a hospital radio station known as:
- Canterbury Hospital Radio (CHR) serving the patients of the Kent and Canterbury Hospital. CHR Website
[edit] Trivia
The city gave its name to a musical genre known as the Canterbury Sound or Canterbury Scene (a subgenre of Progressive Rock). Shortly after there was a decline in the music scene and it is only just starting to pick itself back up again due to students running live music nights within the city.
The homeless charity the Scrine Foundation is based in Canterbury.
Some of Canterbury's famous offspring include: Christopher Marlowe, Michael Powell, Sir Freddie Laker, Orlando Bloom and Rupert Bear.
Canterbury is a World Heritage site because of the three following places:- Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey and St. Martin's.
[edit] Affiliations
Canterbury is twinned with the following city:
The district also participates in the Sister Cities programme, with links to:
[edit] External links
- Canterbury City Council
- Canterbury Tourism
- Canterbury Cathedral
- Archbishop of Canterbury - official website
- Marlowe Theatre
- The Canterbury Tales
- Canterbury Buildings website - Archaeological and heritage site of Canterbury's buildings.
- Canterbury Archaeological Trust
- TimeTeam: Canterbury Big Dig
- Peter Collinson, "The Canterbury Tour" - virtual tour, with historical and archeological references.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre - World Heritage profile for Canterbury.
- Conversation Among The Ruins - Canterbury based website
- Michael Pead :: Photos of Kent - features pictures taken in Canterbury.
[edit] References
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with the surrounding suburbs, villages, towns and parishes : |
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Adisham • Barham • Bekesbourne • Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne • Bishopsbourne • Blean • Bridge • Chartham • Chartham Hatch • Chestfield • Chislet • East Stourmouth • Fordwich • Greenhill • Hackington • Harbledown • Herne • Herne and Broomfield • Herne Bay • Hersden • Hoath • Ickham • Ickham and Well • Kingston • Littlebourne • Lower Hardres • Marshside • Patrixbourne • Petham • Plucks Gutter • Reculver • Stourmouth • Sturry • Swalecliffe • Tankerton • Thanington Without • Tyler Hill • Upper Harbledown • Upper Hardres • Waltham • Westbere • Whitstable • Wickhambreaux • Womenswold |
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| The district of the City of Canterbury List of places in Kent |
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Boroughs & Districts: Ashford | Canterbury | Dartford | Dover | Gravesham | Maidstone | Sevenoaks | Shepway | Swale | Thanet | Tonbridge and Malling | Tunbridge Wells
Unitary authorities: Medway
Main Settlements: Ashford | Canterbury | Maidstone | Sevenoaks
