May 19 2012

Place(s) visited: Canterbury and Dover, England

Morning beauty before train ride to Canterbury and Dover, England

Dover, England

Dover is a giant among castles. It has the longest recorded history of any major castle in Britain. Indeed Dover Castle began before history itself, its earliest rampart defences date back to the prehistoric Iron Age. Then the Romans built a pharos (lighthouse) here in the first century AD. The same tall headland, already partially defended, was resettled in the tenth century or earlier by the Anglo-Saxons. They built a burh, a fortified town, of which St Mary-in-Castro was the church.The bulk of Dover Castle, as we know it today, dates from a century after the Norman Conquest. Soon after the Battle of Hastings, in the autumn of 1066, William the Conqueror spent eight days at Dover strengthening fortifications which had only recently been rebuilt by the defeated Harold. Yet neither William's works nor those of Harold are identifiable today and, with the exception of the church and pharos, the masonry of Dover Castle dates from the twelfth century or later.Most monumental is the great square tower, or keep, built in the 1180s for King Henry II (1154-89). Also of the1180s are the walls of the keep's surrounding court (the inner bailey), as is a stretch of outer curtain walltowards the east. The remainder of this substantial outer curtain, with its sophisticated gate houses and many flanking towers, is chiefly the work of Hubert de Burgh, Constable of Dover (1202-32), and his successors under Henry III. After the thirteenth century little of substance was added to the Castle before the present barracks were built and the defences remodelled, starting in the 1740s. It was then that the Castle, after years of neglect, entered a new lease of life. The Georgians and Victorians stripped Dover bare, towers were lowered to create positions for artillery and the outer defences strengthened.The Castle continued in use as a military base until the second half of the twentieth century. The underground tunnels cut into the cliffs in Napoleonic times came into their own during the Second World War as a bomb proof base for military command in the area. After the war the barracks within the Castle fell into disuse and some were demolished. However it wasn't until the end of the Cold War that Dover's defensive role finally came to an end when the Regional Centre of Government, deep in the cliffs, which would have been activated in the event of a nuclear war, was decommissioned.

Dover, England Today

History of Dover Harbour

Originally established in 1606, Dover Harbour Board is responsible for the administration, maintenance and improvement of the harbour at Dover.

It operates right at the heart of the UK's and Continental Europe's cross-Channel transport network, managing and piloting what has become one of today's busiest drive-on, drive-off terminals in the world.

Canterbury, England

Canterbury is world-famous, primarily because of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but its roots go back much further than that. The Canterbury Tales were written seven hundred years ago, in the late 1300's - by then, Archbishop Thomas Becket's murder (which led to the pilgrimages immortalised by Chaucer) was already 200 years in the past. By Chaucer's time there had been settlement in Canterbury for over 1,300 years!

The History Of Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral is alive with history and many fascinating stories. The information below gives a brief insight into the history of this magnificent building.

The Origins of Canterbury Cathedral

St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. It is said that Gregory had been struck by the beauty of Angle slaves he saw for sale in the city market and despatched Augustine and some monks to convert them to Christianity.

Augustine was given a church at Canterbury (St Martin's, after St Martin of Tours, still standing today) by the local King, Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, a French Princess,, was already a Christian. This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain and is the oldest church in England still in use.

Augustine had been consecrated a bishop in France and was later made an archbishop by the Pope. He established his seat within the Roman city walls (the Latin word for a seat is cathedra, from which the word cathedral is derived) and built the first cathedral there, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Since that time, there has been a community around the Cathedral offering daily prayer to God; this community is arguably the oldest organisation in the English speaking world. The present Archbishop, The Most Revd and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, is 104th in the line of succession from Augustine.

Until the 10th century the Cathedral community lived as the household of the Archbishop. During the 10th century, it became a formal community of Benedictine monks, which continued until the monastery was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1540.

Augustine's original building lies beneath the floor of the nave– it was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the Cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. There have been many additions to the building over the last nine hundred years, but parts of the quire and some of the windows and their stained glass date from the 12th century.

By 1077, Archbishop Lanfranc had rebuilt it as a Norman church, described as "nearly perfect". A staircase and parts of the North Wall - in the area of the North West transept also called the Martyrdom - remain from that building.

It was a beautiful day in Canterbury and Dover. We were all very happy we got to relax at the beach and walk the reach of the place where the birth of The Canterbury Tales was originated. All of us also learned quite a bit about the history of Canterbury and Dover and its significance to its prospective town.

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~Lucky :) <3