Canterbury Cathedral

I first went to Canterbury Cathedral when I was 11 with a school trip, so it's been a while. I think I appreciated it more this time, plus I could still remember some Thomas Becket facts to impress (bore) my parents with.

As usual, I'm splitting my visit over two posts, first up is my photos from the outside.

There has been a place of worship on the site since the Romans. St Augustine, the first archbishop of Canterbury arrived in Kent 597 CE.

In the middle ages thousands of pilgrims would come to the cathedral, which of course brought a lot of money to the church and the city. There's a display inside where you can see all the donations of gold and silver ornaments and tableware gifted by worships- personally, it made me uncomfortable to see how much wealth the church has, when so many people struggle, I really can't get behind organised religion.

According to a leaflet I read on the way in, the cathedral costs £19,000 a day to run and over the past six year they've raised £16 million to put towards conservation. No wonder it costs a tenner to get in.

 
If I remember correctly, this statue is of St Augustine, he was sent to Kent as a missionary. He is considered to be the patron saint of printers, brewers, theologians and (rather oddly) sore eyes.

There is a garden to the far right of the cathedral, it was completely deserted by the tons of school parties. The magnolias are looking really pretty at the moment.

 Memorial to those who died in the First World War.

These houses are off-limits, I presume they belong to priests etc. or perhaps accommodation for modern-day pilgrims.

There's zero info about these ruins, but most likely they're just from when the cathedral was larger, maybe part of a monastery. The could do with putting up some signs really. 

I would recommend you take the time to go round the back of the cathedral, there was hardly anyone there and you get to see more clearly how the building has been added to throughout the years.

Another top tip if you're planning a visit- the toilets are inconveniently located, and the cathedral is huge, so bare this in mind if you don't want to do a mad dash!