Brighton Sassy at Sussex: A Canterbury (and Leeds) tale

Thankfully, this Saturday our weekend trip departed somewhat later than last week so I only had to roll out of bed at around 7:30, which is still rather difficult on a Saturday morning. My flatmates all question my sanity for voluntarily no, even paying to wake up early on the weekends, but this trip was pretty nice. Fist we went to Canterbury Cathedral, which I had already been to with the parental unit, so I'm sure you're probably all heard all about it. When my parents and I visited Canterbury, the place was being overtaken by school groups of french teenagers who would all troop through the place without audio-guides or seemingly any information about the place at all. This weekend, I became one of those french teens, except not french or actually a teen. Two coachloads of us were dropped at Canterbury Cathedral without an prior info on Canterbury cathedral and no guides. Here are the basics on the Cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral's history goes back to 597 AD but the current building dates from 1070. . Of course, the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the Church of England. The current Archbishop is 104th in the line of succession from the original founder, Augustine. Canterbury Cathedral is big in part because its the site of the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, that's why all of Chaucer's pilgrims were heading here anyway. But, while looking around the cathedral, I was astonished to find that Kelly hadn't even heard of Thomas Becket. So just in case it isn't as common knowledge as in thought, here's the story. Back in 1162, Henry II made is friend and Chancellor, Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury thinking that Becket would remain loyal to him and Henry would essentially be able to control the church. This didn't pan out. The formerly worldly Becket became a super religious ascetic. Henry II and Becket had a number of political clashes over stuff like the jurisdiction of secular courts over English clergymen. In 1170, when Henry II had some other bishops crown his son, Henry the Young King, Becket upset because crowning was the privileged of the bishop of Canterbury. So what's an angry Archbishop to do? Becket started excommunicating the other bishops. Henry II finally was fed up and said something like "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" (there are lots of versions of what was actually said). Some knights interpreted this as a command and though 'oh, oh me!' and then proceeded to break into the cathedral and kill Becket during Vespers. So, Becket became a martyr and was eventually canonized while Henry II had do to penance. Canterbury became a big spot for pilgrimage because of Thomas Becket. But the Becket shrine is no longer in Canterbury. Instead you can see several places that the shrine used to be. This is all thanks to yet another King Henry. In 1538 while Henry VIII was getting rid of all the monasteries following the establishment of the Church of England (including the monastery at Canterbury), he also destroyed the shrine and Becket's body, going so far as to order that all mention of his name be obliterated (remember those very rare Becket Windows in Oxford?) because he just couldn't let someone who famously defied a fellow King Henry be a popular saint. Anyway, a candle in Canterbury now marks the place whee the shrine once was.

entrance to the Cathedral grounds

on the floor where Becket was killed

Where the shrine used to be

King Henry IV and Queen Joan of Navarre

Hanging out with the Black Prince (Edward, eldest son of Edward II, d.1376). We hit it off right away.

looking out of the Chapter-house into the Cloister

Chapter house

After the Cathedral, we just had time to grab lunch and walk around the town a little before the next stage of our trip. It was about an hour drive to Leeds castle and as we walked up the long driveway from the parking lot to the entrance of the grounds it was misting on us. As we went through the ticket booth it started to rain full out on us. Luckily, the path to the castle was lined with trees and by the time we reached the end of the covered area, it had stopped raining. Just in time! Leeds Castle is beautiful and surrounded by huge grounds and gardens. This is the first Castle/estate that I've been too outside of a city and man can I safely say now that I wanna live somewhere like this.

The grounds around the castle were lovely. There were roses and other flowers everywhere. Our student-guide-person recommend we go tot he maze first so we wouldn't end up stuck there right before the coach was leaving. It wasn't a particularly big or difficult maze but it was fun. Lady Bailie loved birds, so not only is the entire castle filled with prints of birds, there is an aviary on the grounds. Swans, ducks, geese and peacocks also wander around the grounds. The peacocks seems to particularly like to hang out around the restaurants and snack stands.

Arg! I'm lost in the maze!

But most of all the Castle, which stands on an island is just really rally pretty. The castle dates back to 1119, though a manor has stood on the site from the 9th century. The castle has been the dower of several queens beginning with Eleanor of Castile, the wife of King Edward I, around 1278. The Castle was also home to Queens Isabella, Philippa of Hainhault (wife of Edward III), Joan of Navarre, Catherine de Valois and Catherine of Aragon. In addition, Queen Elizabeth I was imprisoned here for a while before her coronation. The last private owner of the Castle, Lady Baillie, bought in in 1926 and most of the castle is decorated as it was in her day. The whole place looked rather 1940's-ish and made me feel like I could be in an Agatha Christie novel. It was so pretty and after the brief of rain turned it turned out be a fairly nice day so I was reluctant to leave. Although I'd already been to Canterbury it was nice to look around the town some and Leeds castle was great! So, I guess the only question left is how do I buy my own castle?