The City and its recent past.

All places where people live undergo change but many of the changes in Canterbury have been sudden and drastic over the last 60 years. The main reason for the majority of those changes was as a result of the bombing that took place in the Second World War. Unfortunately for Canterbury it was very much on the flight path to London for German raiders and bombers and if the intruders did not make their targets around London, Canterbury, Dover and Folkestone were often places that they found convenient to 'dump' their unused bombs before trying to make it home across the English Channel. The Bell Harry Tower of the Cathedral was a very distinctive marker for these pilots and as anyone knows that has driven down the A2 over the hill at Dunkirk, can be seen for miles on a clear day. One such incident took place on Monday, September 9, 1940 during The Battle of Britain when raiders being chased away from London dropped a total of 55 bombs across the City from St. Stephen's to Thanington and nine people were killed.

However, the largest impact on the City in physical terms were what were to become known as "the Baedeker Raids" which were reprisal attacks for heavy R.A.F. raids on German Cities. The largest of these concentrated raids on Canterbury came on the Sunday, May 31, 1942 following a thousand bomber raid on the German City of Cologne by the R.A.F. Canterbury, being a Cathedral City, was an obvious choice for retribution for the destruction of 600 acres of the City of Cologne with it's own towering and beautiful Cathedral that also dominates the surrounding landscape. So, in the middle of that fateful night following the dropping of parachute flares, a group of bombers approached from te direction of Whitstable and set the South end of the City ablaze. A third of Canterbury was destroyed in that one raid. Anyone that lived in Canterbury after the War will still remember the gaping holes and scars on the City from which always sprouted the ever present buddleia with their lilac flowers attracting the numerous tortoiseshell and peacock butterflies. You can now see the damage that was caused in my new section on Canterbury at War.

Gradually, following the end of the War the City started growing again, the holes got filled in, the "prefab" type buildings that formed the Longmarket were replaced and the Cattle Market that had been held for many years in the shadow of the City Walls at Upper Bridge Street with its seeming acres of wooden hurdles moved to a "modern" site at St. Stephen's. It wasn't long before another invasion threatened the City, that of the increasing flow of traffic, including heavy TIR lorries (trucks, if you're from North America) from the Continent by way of Dover and Folkestone. The direct route to London was mainly by way of Canterbury. This resulted in the construction of the Rheims Way around the outskirts of the City Walls and the loss of even more older buildings that the German planes had failed to find. It did however, take the pressure off the centre of the City except for the increasing flood of tourists that now found their way by the coach load to the City. The once almost sleepy City of Canterbury is no more. The old family stores like Hopper's the bakers, Longley and Young's the pork butchers, Lipton's the grocers, Wrights the stamp shop, Ben Lee's the second-hand shop, even Kinnard's the fish and chip shop and many others have all gone and, dare I say it, the City will never be the same again. No more does the Hunt meet outside the old coaching Inn, The Falstaff in the Westgate, as it did when I was growing up. The tourist that comes to the City today may see an old town, in places, and the magnificent Cathedral but none of us will ever see the real Canterbury again.

The History of Canterbury.

It is always difficult to know where to begin when discussing the history of this City. Should the emphasis be on the place, the location or the people, all of which have combined over time to make the City was it was or even what it is today. One of the people I have had very great respect for in my life and whom I have mentioned in another section of these pages was my English teacher at the Simon Langton School, Miss. Mary Smith. The reason I mention Miss. Smith again here, is for her theory about the people of Canterbury and East Kent. They are friendly but suspicious, generous yet wary and all for a very good reason. The majority of times that England has been invaded or even threatened with invasion the place that has faced the onslaught, either partially, or totally has been Kent. If Kent was invaded then the natural place to stop and settle was Canterbury.

There is some evidence of settlements in the area as far back as between 3,000 B.C. - 2,000 B.C. although by the time the Iron Age had arrived in about 700 B.C. there was definitely a fortified site where Canterbury now stands. When the Romans arrived in approximately 43 A.D. Canterbury soon became an important centre and was named Durovernum Cantiacorum. (I should make a note here that I do realise that Julius Caesar came to this area in 55 and 54 B.C. but there was no permanent settlement established at that time - he had told his wife that he was only going out for a pint of milk and had to get back). The Romans and their influence remained in Canterbury until about 410 - 450 A.D. when the Roman Empire was in a state of collapse and could no longer support its far flung outposts. Canterbury under the Romans was a large and extremely important settlement and even boasted what is believed to be the largest theatre in Britain. The existing City Walls are one of the few things that remain which still follows the original Roman layout of the City.

Following the departure of the Romans and the gradual decline of their influence on those that remained in England, the Saxons started their raids and soon took control of the Country until the next group of interlopers arrived in the middle of the 9th Century, the Vikings who did a lot of pillaging in Kent. For some time they were satisfied with sending raiding parties but eventually they established their own influence in Britain and this remained the 'status quo' until a young Norman by the name of William decided the Crown of England would better fit his own head than that of Harold, the Saxon King. To the Norman Kings the City of Canterbury was a strategic site and the original fortifications were soon replaced with a stone castle which was erected at the end of what is now called, naturally enough, Castle Street. (Actually, just near the gas works - in fact, the coal for the gas works was stored in the castle although not until after the Norman Kings had finished with it). The shell of this building still stands and is ignored by the local traffic that now floods passed it on the Rheims Way every day. It was also during the reign of the Norman Kings that the Cathedral started to take on its present shape replacing the previous Saxon Church.

Canterbury was really brought into prominence following the murder of Archbishop Thomas à Beckett (the Richard Burton look-a-like) in the Cathedral in 1170. Following the reports of miracles being performed at the burial site in the Crypt of this "meddlesome priest", the popularity of the City as a tourist trap began and the Pilgims Way through Kent to Canterbury was established. It is hard to realise the importance of the shrine, built in 1220, until you examine the evidence in the Cathedral itself. The pilgrims would enter the Cathedral on their knees and make their way up the stairs to the Trinity Chapel at the East end of the Cathedral and remain on their knees as they worshipped at the tomb. If you stand at the West end of the Chapel and catch the light correctly, it is possible to see the groove in the marble floor made by the kneeling pilgrims which clearly outlines the dimensions of the original structure. It takes a lot of kneeling to make a fold in marble! Also, look at the amount of wear on the steps that take you from the level of the Nave to that of the Choir on the South side of the building. When old Henry VIII decided to dissolve the monasteries because he couldn't get the Pope to see his point of view, it is said that it took five ox-carts to carry away the gold and jewels that made up the tomb of the Saint.

Prior to the dissolution, Canterbury had grown in importance and was a great religious centre. It had at that time twenty-two parish churches, three friaries and three priories and several hospitals run by religious orders for the care of the sick, poor and elderly. It was a centre of commerce and the merchants thrived. Following the dissolution things went downhill very quickly as the flow of visitors just came to an end. However, with religious unrest in other parts of Europe, Canterbury started to gain a population of immigrants, the Walloons and the Huguenots, who fled the Lowlands and the Northern areas of France, brought weaving to Canterbury. Even these days, it is still interesting to note the number of French and/or French sounding names in the area. At the same time, what suits one group does not suit another and some of the inhabitants of Canterbury, James Chilton, Robert Cushman and his son who was born in the City, Thomas Cushman decided to hire a little boat to leave England from the West Country and called "The Mayflower".

With the coming of the weavers the City again began to flourish and the location of the City, being very central to the rest of East Kent, also came into play. In the 17th and 18th Century money was made from Smuggling and in the 19th Century it's importance grew as a market town and as a centre for the brewing industry as a result of the growth of the famous Kentish hop fields. In the 19th Century the City had 13 breweries and over 100 hundred public houses when the total population was about 15,000. There were still more than 90 public houses in Canterbury before the outbreak of WWII by which time the population had risen to around 25,000.

The importance of Canterbury by way of its location was really established by the Romans. There was a ring of forts around the East Coast of Kent at Reculver (Regulbium), Richborough (Rutupiae), Dover (Dubris) and Lympne (pronounced Lim)(Portus Lemanis). Canterbury was more or less central to all these places and therefore made an ideal supply depot and therefore roads were made from the forts directly to Canterbury. Where there's a supply depot, there is a need for trade and that is how Canterbury built on its importance in the area.