nt. This belt represents the existence, in early
historic times, of a sea-strait, and Fordwich, little more than 2 m.
north-east of Canterbury, was once accessible for shipping. The city
surrounds the precincts of the great cathedral.

_The Cathedral_.--It was to Canterbury, as the capital of Aethelberht,
the fourth Saxon king of Kent, that in 597 Augustine and his
fellow-missionaries came from Rome, and their settlement by Aethelberht
in his capital became the origin of its position, held ever since, as
the metropolis of the Church of England. Aethelberht, whose queen,
Bertha, was already a Christian, gave the missionaries a church whose
mythical founder was King Lucius. Augustine was a Benedictine and
established the monastery of that order attached to the cathedral; this
foundation was set upon a firm basis after the Norman Conquest by
Archbishop Lanfranc, who placed its charge (as distinct from that of the
diocese) in the hands of a prior.

History of the building.

Preparatory to the description of the cathedral, the principal epochs in
the history of its erection may be noted. The Romano-British church
occupied by St Augustine, of basilica form, remained long in use, though
it was largely rebuilt by Archbishop Odo, c. 950; after further
vicissitudes it was destroyed by fire in 1067. Archbishop Lanfranc,
taking up his office in 1070, undertook the building of an entirely new
church, but under Anselm (c. 1100) Prior Ernulf rebuilt the eastern
part, and his successor Conrad carried on the work. A fire destroyed
much of this part of the building in 1174, and from that year the
architect, William of Sens, took up the work of rebuilding until 1178,
when, on his suffering serious injury by falling from a scaffold,
another William, commonly distinguished as the Englishman, carried on
the work and completed it in 1184. In 1376 Archbishop Sudbury entered
upon the construction of a new nave, and Prior Chillenden continued this
under Archbishop Courtenay. The building of the central tower was
undertaken c. 1495 by Prior Goldstone, with the counsel of Selling, his
predecessor, and Archbishop Morton.

Exterior.

This Perpendicular tower is the most notable feature of the exterior. It
rises in two storeys to a height of 235 ft. from the ground, and is
known variously as Bell Harry tower from the great bell it contains, or
as the Angel steeple from the gilded figure of an angel which formerly
adorned the summit. The