The first stop is the majestic Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the primate of the Anglican Church and a destination for millions of pilgrim-visitors who come to pay homage to the memory of Thomas Becket, the hero-saint, killed right in the cathedral by King Henry II’s assassins in 1170. Inside you can admire masterpieces such as the stained glass windows decorating the aisles, the Altar of Sword’s Point (the altar where Becket fell under the sword blows of the murderers), a Norman crypt, countless chapels, and other architectural elements that summarize a full seven centuries of overlapping styles (from Celtic-Roman to Norman; from French to Gothic).
After Canterbury (naturally the rest of the city also deserves a visit), you can head 200 km west to Winchester, home to the Cathedral with the longest central nave in Europe: a full 167 meters. Here rest many famous figures: the writer Jane Austen, buried in 1817; Bishop William of Wykeham, promoter of the church’s 14th-century remodeling; Cardinal Beaufort, who sent Joan of Arc to the stake; and the beloved “diver,” an exceptional diver (William Walker, his given name) who, from 1906 to 1911, dived thousands of times into the water that periodically floods the lower parts of the building to replace the Norman wooden foundations with concrete ones. It is thanks to him that the cathedral still stands today.
Only 40 km from Winchester lies Salisbury, whose spire reaches 123 meters and is considered the tallest in Europe. A 14th-century masterpiece, the Cathedral is especially noted for the purity of its lines: early Gothic triumphs everywhere, in the large square cloister as well as in the Chapter House.
Here lies another historical curiosity: one of the four existing copies of the Magna Carta, the famous 1215 treaty between King John Lackland and the kingdom’s barons.
Heading west, you quickly reach Devon, where, in Glastonbury, the fascinating and enigmatic ruins of an abbey built in 1200 lie dormant. According to many, this would be a place charged with energy, none other than the legendary Avalon, where sea and land meet, and the dead pass on to another level of existence.
The Holy Grail and King Arthur passed through here; Arthur was buried right in the abbey’s graveyard, and a sign indicates the exact spot. Legends aside, it is worth strolling among these ruins because from their beauty and richness one can understand how prosperous and powerful this Norman abbey once was. The dissolution of the monasteries, decreed by Henry VIII in 1536, led Glastonbury to total abandonment; chronicles say the last abbot was hanged three days later.
