If I had read The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, I would open this entry with a clever tie in. But I’ve never read any Chaucer. I have no segue to lead you into this piece. And, let’s be honest, I’m not really that clever. So I’ll start by telling you we went to Canterbury on the train the other weekend. This is a story of some stuff we saw.

Canterbury existed as a settlement before the time the Romans controlled Britain, so there have been people on this site for at least two millennia. It has been a centre of the Christian faith since 597AD when the Pope sent some Augustine monks to convert the Saxons. It was chosen as the seat of the first archbishop.

Upon exiting the rail station, you cross over a foot bridge and find yourself on the medieval wall that surrounds the city. The current wall is likely built on foundations laid by the Romans. It is quite a sensation to walk around the guard towers of these walls and look down onto a four-lane ring road, a Renault dealer and a night club.

As you walk to the centre of what was the centre of the city you find a pedestrian area. It features the usual selection of touristy tea room and souvenir shops, but in centuries old buildings. It is easy to imagine it as the centre of daily life. Instead of a chain shoe store, a cobbler and a butcher with carcasses hung in his window instead of the Cornwall Meat Pasty store. There are buildings wobblier that a traghetto ride which form narrow alleys and passageways

There is also a worrying number of shops dedicated to the slacker lifestyle. Their stock in trade is studded dog collars, Iron Maiden t-shirts and hookah pipes. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, just strikes me as an odd contrast to the usual businesses that you find in a town that features a UN World Heritage Site. There also appears to be plenty of slacker customers to be seen, well, mostly standing around. Although some manage to summon the energy to do a few ollies on the skateboard .

Looking at the outside of the cathedral it is easy to see the various pieces that have been built and modified over the years. The brick work differs showing areas built at different times and the style of the arches is not consistent around the entire building. The original stained glass windows were smashed during the Civil War of 1640. These windows have, of course been replaced and some as recently as 2000.

During the second world war, because Canterbury is close to the south east coast of England, it was heavily bombed. The cathedral’s library was destroyed by air raids. Teams of watchers patrolled the roof of the cathedral at night to deal with incendiary bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe.

For people who claim not to be religious, we do seem to go to quite a few churches. When you read the Italy entries that will soon follow, you will follow us into even more still. The link that they help provide to the past makes them worth exploring.