Canterbury Cathedral Stock Photo

Tower of Canterbury Cathedral, England, with contrasting rooftops in foreground. Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD and built the first cathedral there, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Augustine’s original building lies beneath the floor of the Nave – it was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the Cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. There have been many additions to the building over the last nine hundred years, but parts of the Quire and some of the windows and their stained glass date from the 12th century.