Almost towards the end of my stay in London, I headed to Canterbury, the only reason – it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site! First of all, I didn’t even know of it! When I was returning from Dover, I saw a road sign that said Canterbury World Heritage Site.
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Very much amused, I started to read about the place and on one fine day, I took a bus to Canterbury. It was a 3 hr ride and I was there! Since I was there on a day trip, my prime targets were 3 places – Canterbury Cathedral, St.Augustine’s Abbey and St.Martin’s Church!
From there I headed to St.Augustine’s Abbey. This pathway that connects the 3 UNESCO sites is called the Queen Bertha’s Walk! St.Augustine’s Abbey is an English Heritage property. Here was the churches to St.Peter and St.Paul with an attached monastery. In 605 CE, St.Augustine died and was buried here. By 978 CE, the church was dedicated to him too along with St.Peter and St.Paul and thus was the name St.Augustine’s Abbey. However during Norman take over, the Anglo Saxon church was destroyed and a huge cathedral was built (1072-1100 CE). Later on during the times of King Henry VIII in 1538 CE, this was totally destroyed again and a palace was built here. Later, by late 1600s, this fell into ruins.
Beyond this, to the right was some architecture that was still in a decent shape. This was once the Abbey’s cloister and was once the place were some great books and illustrated manuscripts were written. Obviously the books were all handwritten and hand painted. The dyes were natural dyes and shells were used as palettes! Some of these shells with remnants of the paints were excavated here and are in display in the in-house museum! This is where the monks lived, cooked, ate and slept!!!
To get there:
From London: 100km
From Dover: 27km
It's connected from both London & Dover via National Express & South Eastern Railways.
All 3 UNESCO sites are about a km & walkable from Bus & Railway Station.
From London: 100km
From Dover: 27km
It's connected from both London & Dover via National Express & South Eastern Railways.
All 3 UNESCO sites are about a km & walkable from Bus & Railway Station.
St.Martin’s Church:On Google Maps
Timings: Tue, Thu & Fri (11:00AM to 3:00PM) and Sun (9:45AM to 10:30AM).
Also Saturdays during Summer alone (11:00AM to 4:00PM).
Also Saturdays during Summer alone (11:00AM to 4:00PM).
Entry fee: Free
St.Augustine’s Abbey: On Google Maps
Timings: 10:00AM to 6:00PM Mon-Sun in Summers; 10:00AM to 5:00PM Mon-Sun in Oct; 10:00AM to 4:00PM Sat-Sun in Winters.
Entry Fee: £6.20