Mother church of the Anglican communion and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, this wonderful cathedral has featured heavily in English history—most notoriously in 1170 when Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the cathedral, since when the cathedral has attracted thousands of pilgrims. It also featured in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The Cathedralwas founded in 597AD by St Augustine—sent to convert the heathens of Britain by Pope Gregory the Great.

Augustine's original building under the nave was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. A staircase and parts of the North Wall—in the area of the North West transept, also called the Martyrdom—remain from that building. The church was substantially rebuilt at the end of the 14th century in the high English gothic style.