Roman Christianity in Britain is referred to by
Tertullian as early as 208 AD and Origen mentions it in 238 AD. In 314 three Bishops from Britain attended the
Council of Arles. Following the end of Roman life in Britain, during the first three decades of the fifth century, and the subsequent arrival of the
heathen Anglo-Saxons, Christian life in the east of the island was disrupted. This Western British Christianity proceeded to develop on its own terms. According to the writings of the later monk
Bede, these Augustinian missionaries gained permission from the Kentish king to restore several pre-existing churches. When other dioceses were founded in England, Augustine of Canterbury was made archbishop. Augustine also founded the
Abbey of St Peter and Paul outside the
Canterbury city walls. This was later rededicated to St Augustine himself and was for many centuries the burial place of the successive archbishops. The abbey is part of the
World Heritage Site of Canterbury, along with the cathedral and the ancient
Church of St Martin.
Early Medieval Bede recorded that Augustine reused a former Roman church. The oldest remains found during excavations beneath the present nave in 1993 were, however, parts of the foundations of an
Anglo-Saxon building, which had been constructed across a Roman road. a Benedictine abbey named Christ Church Priory was added to the cathedral. But the formal establishment as a monastery seems to date only to and the community only became fully monastic from
Lanfranc's time onwards (with monastic constitutions addressed by him to Prior Henry). Dunstan was buried on the south side of the high altar. Anglo-Saxon King
Æthelred the Unready and Norman-born
Emma of Normandy were married at Canterbury Cathedral in the Spring of 1002, and Emma was consecrated "Queen
Ælfgifu". The cathedral was badly damaged during Danish raids on Canterbury in 1011. The archbishop,
Ælfheah, was taken hostage by the raiders and eventually killed at Greenwich on 19 April 1012, the first of Canterbury's five martyred archbishops. After this a western apse was added as an oratory of
Saint Mary, probably during the archbishopric of
Lyfing (1013–1020) or
Aethelnoth (1020–1038). The 1993 excavations revealed that the new western apse was polygonal, and flanked by hexagonal towers, forming a
westwork. It housed the archbishop's throne, with the altar of St Mary just to the east. At about the same time that the westwork was built, the arcade walls were strengthened and towers added to the eastern corners of the church.
Norman The cathedral was destroyed by fire in 1067, a year after the Norman Conquest. Rebuilding began in 1070 under the first Norman archbishop,
Lanfranc (1070–1077). He cleared the ruins and reconstructed the cathedral to a design based closely on that of the
Abbey of Saint-Étienne in
Caen, where he had previously been abbot, using stone brought from France. The new church, its central axis about 5 m south of that of its predecessor, As with many Gothic church buildings, the interior of the quire was richly embellished.
William of Malmesbury wrote: "Nothing like it could be seen in England either for the light of its glass windows, the gleaming of its marble pavements, or the many-coloured paintings which led the eyes to the panelled ceiling above." A bird's-eye view of the cathedral and its monastic buildings, made in about 1165 A detailed description of the plan can be found in the classic paper by
Willis. It shows that Canterbury employed the same general principles of arrangement common to all
Benedictine monasteries, although, unusually, the
cloister and monastic buildings were to the north, rather than the south of the church. There was a separate
chapter-house The buildings formed separate groups around the church. Adjoining it, on the north side, stood the cloister and the buildings devoted to the monastic life. To the east and west of these were those devoted to the exercise of hospitality. Also to the east was the infirmary, with its own chapel. To the north, a large open court divided the monastic buildings from menial ones, such as the stables, granaries, barn, bakehouse, brewhouse, and laundries, inhabited by the lay servants of the establishment. At the greatest possible distance from the church, beyond the precinct of the monastery, was the
eleemosynary department. The almonry for the relief of the poor, with a great hall annexed, formed the paupers' hospitium. Priors of Christ Church Priory included
John of Sittingbourne (elected 1222, previously a monk of the priory) and William Chillenden, (elected 1264, previously monk and treasurer of the priory). The monastery was granted the right to elect their own prior if the seat was vacant by the pope, and – from
Gregory IX onwards – the right to a free election (though with the archbishop overseeing their choice). Monks of the priory have included
Æthelric I,
Æthelric II,
Walter d'Eynsham,
Reginald fitz Jocelin (admitted as a confrater shortly before his death),
Nigel de Longchamps and Ernulf. The monks often put forward candidates for Archbishop of Canterbury, either from among their number or outside, since the archbishop was nominally their abbot, but this could lead to clashes with the king or pope should they put forward a different man – examples are the elections of
Baldwin of Forde and
Thomas Cobham.
14th and 15th centuries Early in the 14th century, Prior Eastry erected a stone quire screen and rebuilt the chapter house, and his successor, Prior Oxenden inserted a large five-light window into St Anselm's chapel. The cathedral was seriously damaged by the
1382 Dover Straits earthquake, losing its bells and campanile. and
transepts 1890–1900. From the late 14th century the nave and transepts were rebuilt, on the Norman foundations in the Perpendicular style under the direction of the noted master mason
Henry Yevele. In contrast to the contemporary rebuilding of the nave at
Winchester, where much of the existing fabric was retained and remodeled, the piers were entirely removed, and replaced with less bulky Gothic ones, and the old aisle walls were completely taken down except for a low "plinth" left on the south side. The Cathedral reverted to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'. According to the cathedral's own website, it had been a Benedictine monastery since the 900s. The New Foundation came into being on 8 April 1541. The shrine to St Thomas Becket was destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII and the relics lost. In around 1576, the crypt of the cathedral was granted to the Huguenot congregation of Canterbury to be used as their
Church of the Crypt. In 1642–1643, during the
English Civil War,
Puritan iconoclasts led by
Edwin Sandys (Parliamentarian) caused significant damage during their "cleansing" of the cathedral. Included in that campaign was the destruction of the statue of Christ in the Christ Church Gate and the demolition of the wooden gates by a group led by
Richard Culmer. The statue would not be replaced until 1990 but the gates were restored in 1660 and a great deal of other repair work started at that time; that would continue until 1704.
Furnishings In 1688, the joiner Roger Davis, citizen of London, removed the 13th-century
misericords and replaced them with two rows of his own work on each side of the quire. Some of Davis's misericords have a distinctly medieval flavour and he may have copied some of the original designs. When
Sir George Gilbert Scott carried out renovations in the 19th century, he replaced the front row of Davis' misericords, with new ones of his own design, which seem to include many copies of those at
Gloucester Cathedral,
Worcester Cathedral and
New College, Oxford.
Statues on the West Front Canterbury Cathedral 001.jpg Canterbury Cathedral 002.jpg Canterbury cathedral (21008413461).jpg Canterbury cathedral (21000865795).jpg Most of the statues that currently adorn the west front of the cathedral were installed in the 1860s when the South Porch was being renovated. At that time, the niches were vacant and the Dean of the cathedral thought that the appearance of the cathedral would be improved if they were filled. The Victorian sculptor Theodore Pfyffers was commissioned to create the statues and most of them were installed by the end of the 1860s. There are currently 53 statues representing various figures who have been influential in the life of the cathedral and the English church such as clergy, members of the royal family, saints, and theologians. Archbishops of Canterbury from
Augustine of Canterbury and
Lanfranc, to
Thomas Cranmer and
William Laud are represented. Kings and Queens from
Æthelberht and
Bertha of Kent, to
Victoria and
Elizabeth II are included.
18th century to the present The original towers of Christ Church Gate were removed in 1803 and were replaced in 1937. The statue of Christ was replaced in 1990 with a bronze sculpture of Christ by Klaus Ringwald. In September 1872, a large portion of the Trinity Chapel roof was completely destroyed by fire. There was no significant damage to the stonework or interior and the damage was quickly repaired. During the bombing raids of the
Second World War its library was destroyed, but the cathedral did not sustain extensive bomb damage; the local Fire Wardens doused any flames on the wooden roof. In 1986, a new Martyrdom Altar was installed in the northwest transept, on the spot where Thomas Becket was slain, the first new altar in the cathedral for 448 years. Mounted on the wall above it, there is a metal sculpture by Truro sculptor Giles Blomfield depicting a cross flanked by two bloodstained swords which, together with the shadows they cast, represent the four knights who killed Becket. A stone plaque also commemorates
Pope John Paul II's visit to the United Kingdom in 1982.
Antony Gormley's sculpture
Transport was unveiled in the crypt in 2011. It is made from iron nails from the roof of the south-east transept. In 2015,
Sarah Mullally and
Rachel Treweek became the first women to be ordained as bishops in the cathedral, as
Bishop of Crediton and
Bishop of Gloucester respectively. In 2022, it was announced that
David Monteith, who is gay and in a
civil partnership, would serve as dean of the cathedral. His appointment was criticised by the
Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches (GSFA) and the
Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON); the Church of England defended the decision stating that Monteith lives chastely with his partner. In 2024, the cathedral began offering blessings for same-sex couples "already in civil partnerships or civil marriages" or in "covenanted friendship" during ordinary or regular church services in accordance with "
Prayers of Love and Faith". The cathedral is Regimental Church of the
Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment and a graduation venue for the
University of Kent and
Canterbury Christ Church University. == Conservation ==