Canterbury

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Canterbury is not known for its Castle. Hardly surprising, given the badly dilapidated state of the remains.

One of three Royal Castles in Kent, along with Rochester and Dover, it protected the route between London and Channel. Originally begun in around 1100CE, soon after the Norman Invasion, the castle boasted the fifth largest keep in England, with walls 2.5m (8ft) thick.

The castle fell into ruins, and most of it was demolished in 1826 when the area became a gas and water works. The keep was used as a coal store and acted as the base to a large water tank.

It was bought by the city council in 1928, the keep was restored, and it is now open to the public all year round. For opening times contact the Canterbury Visitor Centre on +44 (1227) 378100

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

From the outside Conquest House (17 Palace Street) looks like an unremarkable (for Canterbury) 16th century timber-framed house.

However in 1170, this is were four knights: De Tracy, De Moreville, Fitzurse and Le Breton left their armour before attending an interview with Thomas Becket in his palace over the road.

It didn't go well, and they later returned to rearmed themselves for the murder.

Apparently, the Norman undercroft and galleried hall still survive, buried in the fabric of the later building.

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Canterbury once boasted three friaries:

• The Blackfriars, of which only the refectory and parts of the guest house remain;
• The Whitefriars, the remains of which were destroyed by bombing in 1942 and were replaced with the Whitefriars Shopping Shopping Centre;
• And the Greyfriars, of which only this small two story building remains.

Now a small chapel associated with the nearby Eastbridge Hospital , it was presumably the rere-dorter of the friary, as it is situated over an artificial water channel fed by the River Stour.

The entrance to the Greyfriars Chapel, and the surrounding Franciscan Gardens, is through an arch in Greyfriars House (site of the former friary guest house) in Stour Street. For opening times, please see the official web site detailed below.

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

The date 1573 displayed prominently on the front of the Queen Elizabeth's Guest Chamber, originally the Crown Inn but now a Café Nero, refers not to the date that it was built (which was probably some ten years earlier), but to the date Elizabeth I entertained the Duc d'Alencon here, possibly with a view to marriage.

However, the most notable features, the four pink and white plaster panels, are later dating from 1663.

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Talking of crowds and boat touts, another small haven of peace is the punts operated by the Canterbury River Navigation Company (currently off line) from near the Westgate.

These are operated by local Kentish Lads (or more likely Lads of Kent, but we won't go into that now), and their views on the 'Cambridge Mob', who run the city centre boats, are less than complementary.

They prefer to avoid the City Centre (following a number of 'incidents'), and operate trips through the delightful Westgate Gardens and out into the countryside.

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

The Westgate is the only one of Canterbury's seven medieval gates to survive. It has done so because it is enormous.

The corresponding gate on the opposite side of the city, the St George's Gate, was pulled down in 1801 as it was barely wide enough for a horse and cart.

Double decker buses, however, still regularly pass through the Westgate, albeit very, very carefully.

One of the few remains of the city walls on the this side of the city, it was built in around 1379, and once housed the West Gate Towers Museum. Currently (2014) closed to the public.

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

Whilst the Westgate is difficult to miss (particularly if you are driving a bus) and the St George's Gate is at least marked out in setts in the paving, to the north west the Northgate exists only as a street name and to the south east the original gate, known as the Worth Gate is no longer to be seen.

However, as explained on the display board, in 1548 the Worth Gate was blocked in order to turn the castle bailey into a private garden, and a new gate was built to the south west known as the Wincheap Gate

This gate was rebuilt in 1670, but after a hundred years it was pulled down as it had become ruinous and dangerous. Only the eastern jamb of the gate survives, complete with its stone inscribed with the word 'Farewell'. There used to be a similar stone inscribed 'Welcome' on its opposite number.

Location

Last Visited: 2012 View Google Map, Geocoding, Google Earth pushpin, what3words, etc.

The green linking Abbot Fyndon's fine early 14th century gate to St Augustine's Abbey to the Dean and Chapter's Postern Gate into the Cathedral Close (and indeed the earlier, now blocked, Queningate), has been known as Lady Wootton's Green since the 17th century.

It was named after Lady Mary Wootton, the widow of Thomas Lord Wotton of Boughton Malherbe, (or possibly her step mother-in-law Lady Margaret, sources differ) who lived in St Augustine's Palace, as it was then called, until her death in 1658 (or 1652 in the latter case).

During the war and all bar one of the houses flanking the green were destroyed by a bomb that also damaged the Fyndon Gate. The mock Georgian post-war replacements are unremarkable but do not distract from what is a surprisingly peaceful and atmospheric spot, given that it is right next to the busy ring road.

The two fine statues by Stephen Melton of Ramsgate of King Ethelbert of Kent and his Christian wife Queen Bertha were installed in 2007. She worshiped at nearby St Martin's, and it is through her that Christianity got a foothold in this country.