Canterbury has a rather lengthy history, having been settled even before the Romans invaded Britain, so it may be unsurprising that the city’s past isn’t entirely just sunshine and flowers.

Labelled the ‘UK’s postcard city’ by UK Hidden Gems, Canterbury is a city and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Kent, and it’s stunning roads and idyllic waterways certainly explain why it’s been dubbed this.

Canterbury began life as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci people, who inhabited much of what is modern-day Kent.

Remaining inhabited throughout the Roman era and both before and after the Norman invasion of England, the city has a long history and plenty of historical structures that can still be seen today.

Perhaps the city’s most famous historical site is Canterbury Cathedral, which was founded in 597, before being completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077.

The home cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Canterbury Cathedral, holds significant importance as one of the oldest Christian buildings in the UK.

The Gothic cathedral is certainly beautiful, but it also holds a rather dark part of history within it’s walls. It was the site Archbishop Thomas Beckett was murdered by knights of King Henry II on December 29, 1170.

Although the pair were once friends, in the years after Beckett became Archbishop in 1162, the pair had had numerous conflicts. During Christmas 1170, the King is said to have exclaimed the now-immortal phrase: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”

Taking this as an instruction, four of the King’s knights proceeded to ambush Beckett in his own cathedral and murder him. In the years following his death, a number of miracles were attributed to the Archbishop and he was canonised as a saint.

A shrine was then constructed in honour of Beckett and the cathedral became a site of Catholic pilgrimage. Following the English Reformation, the cathedral became a Church of England religious house.

Beckett’s shrine was removed in 1538 when King Henry VIII is claimed to have found the saint ‘guilty of treason’ and the shrine’s treasures were confiscated by the crown.

Over the centuries, the story of Beckett’s murder has become a key part of the Cathedral’s history, and in 1986, a new Martyrdom Altar was constructed on the very site that the murder occured.

And to this day, a lit candle can be seen at the site of the murder, honouring the murdered Archbishop, who has remained a significant figure in both the Catholic and Anglican churches.