Canterbury is where Saint Augustine, who revived christianism on the islands, started building an abbey in 597. Since then, it has been the mother church of the Church of England. In 1170, archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in his cathedral at the instigation of king Henry II. After Thomas Becket's fast canonization in 1173, pilgrims began to pour into town. Canterbury's rising fortunes prompted the construction of the current cathedral. The first major Gothic cathedral built in England, the impressive and evocative Canterbury Cathedral is considered one of the masterpieces of Gothic religious architecture. It sits in a mostly pedestrian medieval old town enclosed within moats. The Canterbury Cathedral is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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