Yesterday I had one of my best days so far in my trip to England.

We went to Canterbury, home of the famous cathedral. If I had to pick a favourite thing about Canterbury Cathedral (which thankfully, I don’t) I couldn’t overlook the statues of former monarchs and archbishops decorating the outside near the main entrance.

Meet the most famous of Canterbury’s many archbishops, Thomas Becket, who was in charge from 1162-1170, when he was murdered inside the cathedral itself (a heinous and unheard of crime in the 12th century) by four knights of King Henry II:

Most likely the statue’s head was struck off around the time of Henry VIII, who also destroyed Becket’s shrine inside the cathedral. Symbol of Catholic power and all that…

Thomas Becket’s actual head was partially struck off by his attackers. Later on, the church retrieved the crown of his head to be used as a holy relic (ewww…)

And his murderer-by-proxy (“Geez, I sure wish someone would go kill that annoying Archbishop Thomas Becket for me, wink wink, nudge nudge…”) King Henry II (notably still possessing his head):

I spent ages in mounting excitement reading “HENRICVS II REX…omigod…that’s Henry the Second! … HENRICVS V REX…omigod…that’s Henry the Fifth! … HENRICVS VIII REX…omigod…that’s Henry the Eighth!” Ahh…that’s a lot of Henrys. As the tour guide pointed out, the English were a bit unimaginative when it came to naming their kings!

Then we went inside the church. I was absolutely awed by the sheer history of the place. Everywhere you turn there is someone famous buried…Henry IV and his wife Queen Joan; Edward, the Black Prince…after touring all the big tombs in the quire (aka choir), we walked through a tunnel under the steps and back in time eight hundred and thirty-eight years. We emerged into the spot, just inside the cloister door, where Thomas was murdered all those years ago. Unfortunately, my camera battery died just then and the picture I took of it didn’t turn out. I did manage to get a picture of the door as seen from outside, in the cloisters…it’s just a bit ajar…try to imagine you are a monk running after the Archbishop to warn him that armed knights are awaiting him in the cathedral…you get there just in time to see the door close fatefully behind him…

Here’s a picture I’m actually proud of…it’s a shot of one of the cathedral spires framed by the archway of the cloisters. I’m trying to become more aware of composition and light when taking photographs now:

And lest you think that all I care about is history, here’s a lovely shot of the new juxtaposed on the old in Canterbury:

And what a picturesque town it is:

The old medieval town walls still stand: this is the West Gate, through which Chaucer’s pilgrims would have had to pass (and pay a toll):

See you again tomorrow…pictures of the Surrey & Sussex countryside to come!