Canterbury’s Royal Heritage: A Walk from the Cathedral Gate to St Martin’s

Canterbury’s medieval streets echo with tales of the kings, saints and ordinary folk who shaped English history. On this 90-minute walking tour, you’ll hear the hidden stories behind the bustling city where ancient walls and cobbled lanes hold centuries of intrigue.

The tour starts at the magnificent Christchurch Gate, the entrance to the majestic Canterbury Cathedral, where pilgrims have flocked for centuries. I’ll take you beyond the medieval centre and show you the other two historic places that form Canterbury’s UNESCO World Heritage Site: St Augustine’s Abbey and St Martin’s Church, which is England’s oldest site of continuous Christian worship.

You’ll follow the same streets where Roman legionaries once marched and I’ll tell you about the places where Henry VIII’s romantic intrigues unfolded. I’ll show you hidden gateways and ruined churches with their own surprising stories, an eccentric philosopher’s prison and an underground battle headquarters. The tour ends at St Augustine’s Conduit House, a masterpiece of monastic engineering, tucked away in a corner of the city that even locals rarely discover.

Along the way, you’ll have a chance to:

• Hear the tragic tale of England’s second King Arthur
• Find out the history of the St Thomas of Canterbury Roman Catholic Church, built in 1870 to symbolize the growing tolerance of Catholics in England
• Discover spectacular medieval walls and their mysterious gates.
• Meet the greatest king of Kent and find out why he looked like Joseph Stalin
• See the surprising resting place of the creator of Rupert, the beloved cartoon bear
• Learn why Canterbury’s water and beer share an unexpected source
• Stand in the place where Charles I spent his wedding night

This walking tour peels back layers of history to reveal why Canterbury became the cornerstone of English Christianity, and how it continues to shape our world today.