Description
Canterbury, a parliamentary and municipal borough, and a county borough in Kent. It is also a county in itself. It is the metropolitan see of all England, the capital of the county, an important market-town, a principal station on the L.C. & D.R., and also on the Ashford and Margate branch of the S.E.R., is 55 miles from London by road and 62 by railway, 14 from Margate, 16 from Dover, and 7 from Whitstable. Its site is a valley surrounded by hills, its appearance as seen from any point is highly picturesque, and its environs are diversified and very pleasant. Canterbury returned two members to Parliament until the Redistribution of Seats Act in 1885, when it was deprived of one. Area of the parliamentary borough, 3834 acres; population, 22,710; area of the county and municipal borough, 3971 acres; population, 23,062.
History.£Canterbury rose prior to the era of authentic history, and comes into view as a British town under the name of Dwrhwern. The Romans made it one of their principal stations, rebuilt and strengthened it over nearly the whole area occupied by the modern town, and called it Durovernum. The Saxons made it the capital of the kingdom of Kent, and called it Cantwarabyrig, "the stronghold of the men of Kent." The arrival of Augustine in 597, followed by the conversion of Ethelbert, gave it consequence as the source of Christianity to England, and as the cradle of the metropolitical see. The Danes took it in 843, 852, 918, and 1011, but were repelled successively by Elfleda and Canute. It had a castle before the Conquest, and was called Civitas Cantuariae at Domesday. It had begun at the fall of the heptarchy to be eclipsed by Winchester and London, and it continued for ages to decrease in comparative importance, but at the murder of Thomas £ Becket in its cathedral in 1170 it burst into celebrity as one of the most notable towns in Europe. Pilgrims of all ranks from all parts of Christendom crowded to its gates, and the romancers placed it side by side with Cologne and Compostella.
Walls and Streets.£Walls most probably were built around the town by the Romans, walls certainly stood around it in the time of the Saxons, new walls and a ditch were formed in the time of Richard I., and these were renovated in 1374-81 by Archbishop Simon of Sudbury. The area within them has been found to contain many Roman bricks, pavements, vases, lachrymatories, and personal ornaments at about 6 or 9 feet beneath the surface, and therefore was occupied by Roman houses. The walls were 6 feet thick, composed of large masses of chalk cemented with a strong mortar and lined and faced with flint, were surmounted by twenty-one turrets at equal distances, and had six gates. Portions of the walls, with two or three of the turrets, still stand in Broad Street, and on the south side of Dane John. The west gate also still stands contiguous to the river, and is a noble embattled structure flanked by two lofty round towers. The ditch around the walls was originally 150 feet wide, but most of it is now built upon or converted into gardens, the chief of which is the picturesque Dane John. Part of the present town is without the walls, and much is modern, handsome, and substantial, but most of it within the walls is ancient. The High Street presents gabled ends and projecting fronts. Alleys and lanes toward the cathedral and its precincts look antiquely picturesque. Mercery Lane, leading on the High Street, was named from the mercery-stalls at which pilgrims bought memorials of their visit, and contains some window arches of the "Checquers of the Hope," noted by the lively and laughter-loving Chaucer, and the first opening west of this lane shows part of the court into which the pilgrims rode. An inn still standing, called the Red Lion, entertained the ambassadors of Charles V. in 1520, and another ancient bat modernized inn, called the Star, in the suburb of St Dunstan, on the way from the railway station to the centre of the city, was a hostel for pilgrims who arrived after the shutting of the gates at nightfall.
Public Buildings.£The guildhall, situated in High Street, was built in 1439 and rebuilt in 1697, has been exteriorly modernized, and contains pieces of ancient armour and some curious portraits. In 1880 the whole of the interior was rearranged and redecorated. The court or sessions-house is a modern structure in the suburb of St Augustine. The prison, a red brick building, adjoins the court-house in the suburb of St Augustine, is an erection of 1808 on the radiating plan, with the keeper's house and chapel in the centre. The music hall is in St Margaret Street. The theatre is in Guildhall Street, was built in 1861, and will hold 800 persons. The royal cavalry barracks were built in 1794, form three sides of a square, and present a striking appearance. The old infantry barracks were built in 1798, with accommodation for 2000 men, formed for some time a station for the horse and foot artillery, and are now used for depots of cavalry. The present infantry barracks were built in 1811. The military hospital is situated behind the barracks. The keep of the ancient castle stands in Castle Street, adjacent to the site of one of the city gates, measures 88 feet by 80, and is now occupied by the Gas and Water Works Company. The castle was taken without resistance in the time of King John by Louis of France, became afterwards a prison, and was notable for the incarceration of the Jews. The mound on which the donjon stood (now called the Dane John), has, along with part of the city walls, been converted into a city-mall 1130 feet long, laid out in spiral walks and shrubberies, and commands a grand view of the cathedral. An adjacent field outside the walls was the scene of the martyrdoms in the reign of Mary, and bears the name of the Martyrs' Field. The Archbishop's palace, founded in the time of the Saxons, rebuilt by Lanfranc and extended by Hubert Walter and Stephen Langton, stood in Palace Street, and its remains are now used partly as the junior department of the King's School, and partly as the house of the surveyor of the chapter. This was the scene of the death of the Black Prince, of the prelude of the murder of Thomas £ Becket, of the bridal feast of Edward I., and of banquets to Henry VIII., Charles V., and Elizabeth. The Canterbury Museum and Free Library, in Guildhall Street, was founded in 1826. The library has over 5000 volumes. The museum contains many curiosities and Roman antiquities. There is a school of art in connection with the Art Department, South Kensington. A swimming bath in Whitehall Boad was built in 1876. The Agricultural Hall, a very fine building just outside the city wall, is much used for cattle and flower shows. The Masonic Temple, situated in St Peter's Street, is a fine building. The town has an excellent system of sewage; the works are situated on the Stun'y Road. The cattle market is a large one; the markets are held fortnightly on Mondays. Other markets are held on Wednesday and Saturday in each week.
The Cathedral.£A church was built by St Augustine on the site of the cathedral, greatly injured by the Danes in 938, restored by Archbishop Ido in 940-60, damaged again by the Danes in 1011, and almost destroyed by fire in 1067; it contained the bodies of St Blaize, St Wilfred, St Dunstan, St Alphege, and St Andoen, the heads of St Swithin and St Furseus, and the arm of St Bartholomew. The present edifice was commenced in 1070-86 by Archbishop Lanfranc, extended, altered, and restored by successive prelates till 1495, and has undergone great and costly renovations. It exhibits, in its various parts, all the styles of architecture, from Early Norman to Perpendicular, makes grand displays of them, both in then respective features and in their junctions with one another, and is especially rich and large in Transition Norman and Perpendicular English. It has a crypt with vaulted roof 14 feet high, supported on massive pillars, and the whole building stands aloft on a height of base and with a force of character unsurpassed in any other cathedral, dominating over the city around it like an abrupt, isolated, spiry hill over some miles of plain. It consists of a south porch; a nave of nine bays, with aisles; a central transept, with two chapels; a choir of six bays, with aisles; a choir-transept, with two apsidal chapels in each wing; a presbytery of two bays, with aisles, and with northern and southern apsidal chapels; an eastern ambulatory, with aisles; a main apsidal chapel of four bays, with magnificent procession-path and aisles; and a circular structure to the east of this, called Becket's Crown; and it has a central tower and two western towers. The dimensions of the cathedral are£nave, 220 feet long and 72 in breadth; choir, 180 feet in length and 40 in width; great transept, 124 feet long; choir transept, 154 feet long; cloisters, 144 feet square; Trinity chapel, 71 feet long and 69 in breadth; external length, 530 feet; internal length, 514 feet; western towers, 157 feet in height; central or Bell Harry Tower, 235 feet; including its pinnacles, 249 feet. The nave has no triforium; the main transept has no aisles; the choir is approached by noble flights of stairs, and offers the earliest instance of the pointed arch in England; the screen is of the 15th century, with niched imagery of founders and saints, and was recently restored; the throne was carved by Flemish workmen, and cost £E1200; the pulpit is of stone, by Butterfield, and was put np in 1846; the main apsidal chapel is approached by broad nights of stairs, contained the gorgeous shrine of St Thomas a Becket, and has a curious mosaic pavement, with the signs of the zodiac; the central tower is of two stages, with octagonal turrets at the angles, and has been called the glory of all towers; and the western towers are each of six stages and much beauty, one of them rebuilt in 1840 at a cost of £25,000. Effigies, altar-tombs, and other monuments, in great variety, are dispersed through the various parts of the pile to the memory of the archbishops and many other notable persons, including Henry IV., Queen Joan of Navarre, Edward the Black Prince (whose surcoat, gauntlets, and shield hang above his tomb), a Lady Mohun, a Countess of Athole, Admiral Sir G. Rooke, Sir John Boys, Hadrian Saravia, Orlando Gibbons, W. Shuck-ford, Odo Coligny, a Marquis of Dorset, and a Duke of Clarence.
The edifice served, throughout Roman Catholic times, both as a cathedral and as a conventual church. A Benedictine priory stood connected with it, and was known as the convent of Christ's Church. A massive wall surrounded the precincts, and served at once for defence and for seclusion. The passage from the priory led to the choir-transept through a circular chamber, now used as a baptistery. The old library, on the site of the prior's chapel, contains many valuable books and manuscripts belonging to the late venerable Benjamin Harrison, M.A., archdeacon of Maidstone. The Cathedral library contains a large collection of Greek and Roman coins and old Bibles. The Chapter House, approached from the east walk, is a fine building with an exquisitely carved roof of Irish oak; its dimensions are£90 feet long, 37 broad, and 54 high. The cloisters are on the north side of the nave, measure 144 feet by 144, and have eight bays on every side. The space southward of the choir formed the cemetery, or God's acre, sown with the seed of the resurrection. ' The Oaks' was the convent garden; the Norman doorway is in the precinct gate eastward of the choir. The ancient stone house on the left side turning round the Becket's Crown formed the Honours, the guest-hall (a nave and aisles 150 feet by 40 feet), for the reception of visitors. Considerable remains of the infirmary are observable, the chapel and common-hall, of flint, with three tall pointed windows, built in 1342. Near it was St Thomas' well. At this point occurs ' the Dark Entry,' a Norman cloister built by Prior Wibert about 1167, with a curious bell-shaped tower, which served as the monks' conduit; above it is now the baptistery. On one side is the gate of the great cloisters. The arch and ruins towards the Green Court are those of La Gloriette, the prior's rooms built by Prior Hathbrand in 1379. Passing the chapter, once the prior's chapel library, the Prior's or Court Gate leads into the Green Court. In the Green Court is the Deanery, a fine house, containing the portraits of many former deans of Canterbury. It was built by Dean Godwin in 1570, after a fire on the site of the Prior's lodgings. In it Hooper welcomed Queen Mary. At the north-east corner a large gateway opens into the fellings or foreigns, the space beyond the conventual jurisdiction. On the north side were the ancient dean's great hall, water-house, granary, refectory, frater-house, brew-house, bake-house, and domestic buildings, among which great part of the dormitory remains, with a gateway and steps. At the north-west angle is the Norman precinct gate of the priory, which stood on the south side of the court; the back entrance to it or Larder Gate still remains. At the south-west angle is the arched door which led to the palace. The strangers' hall was on the west side. In the north-west angle is likewise the Norman staircase, with an open arcade which led into the north hall, 150 feet by 40 feet, allotted to the stewards of the prior court; the arches on which it was supported alone remain; above them the King's School was built by Mr Austen in 1855. They form a passage into the Mint yard. It is the only staircase of the period known to be in existence. In the King's School were educated Harvey the physician, Lord Thurlow, and Lord Tenterden. Within the ancient almonry, on the northwest of the Green Court, stood the chantry of St Thomas £ Becket, which Henry VIII. converted into a mint, and Cardinal Pole made the King's school. In the high wall, probably a portion of Lanfranc's building, leading to the northwest entrance of the cathedral, are the remains of the covered way to the cloisters, by which the primates entered, but their ordinary approach was through a large gateway with a square tower of flint and ashlar.
Ancient Monasteries.£An abbey was founded by St Augustine outside the walls in the eastern suburb of Long-port. It was designed by him mainly as a mausoleum for bishops and kings; it became the burial-place of himself and his successors, and of Ethelbert and his successors; it possessed much grandeur as an edifice, and great wealth and consequence as a monastery; it was always regarded as more sacred and important than the cathedral, till the latter outshone it by means of the glory of Becket's shrine, and it competed to the last with the convent of Christ Church in the splendours and fetes of its guest-hall. The buildings of it were greatly injured at the Reformation, were, some time after, partly converted into a royal palace, were subsequently given to Lord Woton, were several times damaged by fire and by flood, were eventually degraded to the uses of a brewery, and were purchased in 1844 by Mr Beresford Hope, and the Augustine Missionary College was erected on the site. Richard II. and his queen were gues
