a municipal and parliamentary borough in the county of Kent, 55 miles S.E. from London, or 81 miles by the South-Eastern railway. N. Lat. 51. 17., E. Long. 1. 4. It is situated on the river Stour, but its trade is carried on through the small port of Whitstable in Herne Bay, with which it communicates by rail. The municipal corporation consists of 6 aldermen, one of whom is mayor, and 18 councillors. By a very ancient statute, it is entitled to return two members to parliament. In a commercial point of view, Canterbury is a town of little importance. Its inhabitants are principally engaged in the corn, wool, and hop trades. The mills in the neighbourhood are driven by water-power derived from the river. The manufacture of silk was introduced here by the French refugees, to whom Queen Elizabeth granted the use of the cathedral crypt; but, as in other places of the empire, it became extinct with the original colony which had projected it. Recent improvements have rendered Canterbury a very desirable place of residence, and in the vicinity are several handsome villas and gentlemen's seats. Its principal modern public buildings are the corn-exchange, philosophical museum, and town-hall. It contains some mineral springs which are highly valuable for their medicinal properties. Pop. (1851) 18,398.

Ecclesiastical Antiquities.—The most famous is the cathedral, the foundation of which is said to have been laid in the time of Augustine, when that monk was sent by Gregory I. to convert the Angles, although the present building cannot be traced beyond the twelfth century. Since the date of its foundation it has suffered severely, at first from the fires of the Danish invaders, and at other times from accidental conflagrations; but from the zeal of its archbishops (amongst whom Lanfranc and Anselm are most conspicuous), and the treasures which it amassed from the crowds of pilgrims who resorted to it, it quickly recovered from its disasters. From the frequency of these repairs arises the motley character of its architecture. The cathedral is built in the form of a double cross, and has an extreme length of above 500 feet. The most remarkable objects are the great Bell Harry tower, and Becket's crown which forms the eastern part. The crypts, which are of immense size, contain the remains of several ancient paintings; and the monuments of Henry IV., Edward the Black Prince, &c., are of the most magnificent description. After the canonization of Thomas à Becket, who was assassinated beside the altar by the emissaries of Henry II., the shrine was visited, and the cathedral gifted with a small endowment by Louis VII. of France, and it was enriched by costly presents from the nobility and ecclesiastics of both nations. Mercy Lane, the name still given to the principal approach to the cathedral, shows that traffic was not forgotten by the pious visitors. The treasures of the cathedral were confiscated by Henry VIII., and fresh exactions were levied from it in the time of Edward VI. It was partly demolished during the parliamentary contests, and it is only in recent times that it has been thoroughly repaired.

Next to the cathedral in importance are the remains of the monastery of St Augustine, by whom it is said to have been founded. The greater part of it was destroyed by fire at the same time with the cathedral; and since the Reformation the remaining portion has been occupied successively as a royal palace, a private residence, and a public brewery. The old edifice has been recently restored and constituted by royal charter into a missionary college in connection with the establishment.

Of the churches of Canterbury the most ancient is that of St Martin in the suburbs. It is partly built of Roman and Norman remains, and has been carefully repaired. In the vaults of the Roper family, underneath St Dunstan's church, the head of Sir Thomas More was deposited after it had been exposed on Temple-Bar. The churches of Saint Mary Magdalen and St Mildred are also edifices of considerable antiquity. Of the numerous hospitals and almshouses which once existed in the neighbourhood, scarcely any trace can be found.

Canterbury is a town of great antiquity, and held an important place both during the Roman occupation and under the Saxon heptarchy. Its Roman name was Durovernum, part of which is a corruption of the British ther, and seems to refer to the Stour. It was the capital of Kent, and the residence of King Ethelbert, when Augustine landed on the island. Of its walls and gates the ruins have long since disappeared.

The archbishop of Canterbury is primate of all England and metropolitan. The jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical province comprehends the dioceses of Canterbury, Bangor, Bath and Wells, Bristol, Chichester, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester and Bristol, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Llandaff, London, Norwich, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochester, St Asaph, St David's, Salisbury, Winchester, and Worcester. Present value of income, £15,000. The succession of archbishops has been as follows; the dates give the year of appointment.

| A.D. | Name | |------|-----------------------| | 596 | St Augustine | | 611 | St Lawrence | | 617 | St Miltius | | 624 | St James | | 635 | St Adelactus | | | Vacant four years | | 654 | Wigard (died before consecration) | | | Adrian (declined) | | 668 | Theodore | | 692 | Birthwald | | 732 | Tatwine | | 736 | Nothelmus | | 742 | Cuthbert | | 759 | Bregwin | | 764 | Lambert or Jeambert |

| A.D. | Name | |------|-----------------------| | 793 | Athelard | | 806 | Willfred | | 832 | Syred (died before consecration) | | | Tillohild | | | Geolnoth | | 871 | Athelred | | 889 | Pleigmund | | 915 | Athelm or Adelmus | | 934 | Wulfhelm | | 934 | Odo Severus | | 959 | St Dunstan | | 988 | Ethelgarus | | 989 | Siricius | | 993 | Alfric | | 1005 | St Elphege |