Ever since AD 597 when St Augustine arrived with his band of missionaries , Canterbury Cathedral has been the cradle of English Christianity.

Augustine and his missionaries landed at the isle of Thanet in north-east Kent where they met with King Ethelbert, the ruler of Kent and all English that side of the Humber and it was Ethelbert that allowed Augustine to stay in peace and convert many of the English soldiers to Christianity. Ethelbert gave Augustine a house in the Roman town of Canterbury and Augustine used the church of St Martin, built by Christians during the Roman occupation 200 years earlier.

The most momentous event in the church's history was the murder in 1170 of Thomas Becket. In 1170 a conflict which had been dividing England for six year came to it's bloody conclusion. Henry II's friend Thomas Becket, the archbishop of cantebury, had defied the Kings demands to control the power of the church and in a fit of anger he railed at the 'idle cowards of my court who stand by while this miserable priest insults me to my face' while he was in the royal court (at that time in Normandy, France). These are the words which inspired a deed which shocked the whole of Christendom.

Four of the King's knights took his words at face value and left immediately to England with the intention of arresting Becket and having him face the King. When they arrived at Canterbury Cathedral however Becket would not be bowed and the chaos that ensued saw the four knights murder Thomas Becket where he stood in the chapel of the cathedral. One of the knights placed his foot on the dead mans neck and scattered his brains on the floor with the point of his sword. 'Here' he cried 'is one traitor that shall not rise again'

William fitzStephen wrote that 'the sun's gaze was averted, it's rays hidden from the earth and the day veiled in darkness . . . a terrible storm cloud overhung the firmament, the rain fell suddenly and swiftly and the thunder rolled round the heavens. After this the sky turned a deep red in token of the blood which had been shed and in horror at the outrage.'

Within three years Becket was cononised by Pope Alexander III and his tomb became a shrine for pilgrims from all over Europe.

In 1174 the cathedral was destroyed by fire. On the afternoon of September 5th the cry went up that the church was on fire. As the monks and townsmen rushed to get water and hatchets the foof crashed down onto the chior stalls and set fire to the tapestries that hung from every wall. By nightfall there was nothing left of the great church but the arches of the nave.

The cathedral was rebuilt by the French architect William of Sens. As pilgrim's offerings flowed into the building fund the reconstruction of the church proceeded rapidly. By 1184 the monks were able to hold their first services in the new completed church.

The chior of the cathedral is the burial place of the greatest English warrior of the hundred years war. Edward, Prince of Wales, known to later generations as the black prince was buried only a few feet away from St Thomas on his death in 1376.

The Black Prince's tomb was to survive longer than that of the martyred archbishop when Henry VIII began his war against idolatry. Becket's shrine was removed by the royal commissioners and it's removal ended the pilgramages to the church that had paid for it's upkeep and made it the richest church in England.