Places
Canterbury Cathedral’s pale stone west towers, long nave and tall central tower seen from the south.
The west front, nave and central tower, seen from the south. Photo: Hans Musil, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Place · Pilgrimage site · Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

Seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the place of Thomas Becket's murder in 1170, which made it one of medieval Europe's great pilgrimage churches.

Location
Canterbury, Kent, England, United Kingdom
Building
Cathedral (metropolitical see)
Tradition
Anglican (Church of England)
Religious use
In use as the cathedral of the Diocese of Canterbury, with daily services.
Official website
Canterbury Cathedral

Map Building location: Apple Maps · Google Maps — the building, not a confirmed visitor entrance.

The cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop of the Church of England and focus of unity of the Anglican Communion. After Archbishop Thomas Becket was killed in the cathedral in 1170 and canonised in 1173, his tomb and later his shrine drew pilgrims from across Europe.

In the Atlas

  • Thomas Becket — Killed in the cathedral in 1170; his shrine made it a pilgrimage church.
  • Anglican Communion — The Archbishop of Canterbury is its focus of unity.

Each paragraph says whether it is documented history, a tradition handed down, or disputed.

  • Documented

    The see goes back to the mission of Augustine, sent from Rome, who arrived in Kent in 597. The present building was begun after the Norman Conquest and much rebuilt; the eastern arm was rebuilt in Gothic style after a fire in 1174.

  • Documented

    Becket's remains were moved to a shrine behind the high altar in 1220. The shrine was destroyed in 1538 on the orders of Henry VIII. The site is now marked, and the cathedral's stained glass still shows miracles attributed to the saint.

  • Documented

    The cathedral, with St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.

Editorial draft. Some sources below were read (Wikipedia and Wikidata) and the text was corrected against them; others were located but could not be read, so the profile stays a draft.

  • Reference work · Located, not read

    Canterbury Cathedral — Encyclopaedia Britannica

    Address confirmed on 28 Oct 2026 (it is indexed for this subject); the page itself could not be opened in this session, so no statement here has been checked against it.

  • Official source · Located, not read

    Our story — Canterbury Cathedral

    Address confirmed on 28 Oct 2026 (it is indexed for this subject); the page itself could not be opened in this session, so no statement here has been checked against it.

  • Official source · Located, not read

    Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey, and St Martin's Church — UNESCO World Heritage Centre

    Address confirmed on 28 Oct 2026 (it is indexed for this subject); the page itself could not be opened in this session, so no statement here has been checked against it.

  • Reference work · Read in a build session

    Canterbury Cathedral — Wikipedia (English)

    Read on 28 Oct 2026 at revision 1377006772, fetched by the research workflow (research/fetched/places/canterbury-cathedral/wikipedia.txt). A general reference work, not a scholarly source; the statements here were checked against it.

  • Reference work · Read in a build session

    Wikidata item Q29265 (Canterbury Cathedral) — Wikidata

    Read on 28 Oct 2026: instance of, religion, diocese, coordinates and official website.