The church where an archbishop was killed at the hour of Vespers, and where Europe came for three centuries to pray at his tomb.
Location
Canterbury, United Kingdom
51.2798° N · 1.0830° E
Type
Cathedral of the Church of England; Mother Church of the Anglican Communion
A Romanesque crypt beneath a Gothic quire rebuilt after the fire of 1174, the Trinity Chapel and Corona added beyond it, and a Perpendicular nave of the late fourteenth century
Dedication
Christ: the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ, Canterbury
The Martyrdom and the site of the shrine in the Trinity Chapel
Time Needed
1 hour to half a day
01 · Why Go
Becket's church
Come for two places a few yards apart in time and stone: the transept where Thomas Becket was killed, and the floor of the Trinity Chapel where his shrine stood. Since the Reformation it has been a cathedral of the Church of England, and today it is the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion, so a Catholic pilgrim arrives as a guest. The welcome is real. Clergy offer a pilgrim blessing through the day, and coming to pray costs nothing.
Augustine's see, Becket's shrine
Augustine, sent from Rome by Pope Gregory the Great, reached Kent in 597 and set his see in Canterbury; Bede records that he restored a church from Roman times and dedicated it to Christ. The present building was begun by Archbishop Lanfranc in 1070. On December 29, 1170, four knights from Henry II's court killed Archbishop Thomas Becket in the northwest transept. He was canonized in 1173, and in 1220 his body was carried from the crypt to a shrine in the Trinity Chapel. In September 1538 the shrine was destroyed on the orders of Henry VIII; what became of the body is not known.
Christ Church Gate opens on the precinct. Inside, the nave climbs toward the quire screen. The Martyrdom lies down a few steps to the north. Beyond the quire, worn steps rise to the Trinity Chapel, where a single candle burns on the floor. The Romanesque crypt lies beneath the quire.
Read the Place
A martyr's church, now in another communion's keeping.
Medieval Catholic pilgrimage and a living Anglican cathedral meet here.
01Begin where he fellThe Martyrdom comes first. The shrine came later, and is gone.
02Read the candle as an absenceThe Trinity Chapel held the shrine from 1220 to 1538. Nothing of it remains.
03Hold Augustine and Becket togetherThe see is Augustine's foundation; the pilgrimage is Becket's.
Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Robert Runcie knelt together at the Martyrdom on May 29, 1982.
Relics of Becket are venerated five minutes away, at the Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury.
02 · Spiritual Significance
Spiritual Significance
The Trinity ChapelThe candle on the floorA candle marks the place of the shrine of Saint Thomas, destroyed in 1538.
This is a place of martyrdom first. Becket died refusing to let the Church's liberty be bargained away, and for the medieval Church that refusal made him a martyr within two years of his death. The place where he fell is still a place of prayer. Kneel there before you look at anything else.
The Trinity Chapel teaches differently. A shrine that drew kings and the poor alike is gone, and the candle on the floor marks an absence. The cathedral now belongs to the Church of England, and its own worship is Anglican. Catholic memory is honored here, carefully and generously, and the pilgrim can let the empty floor become part of the prayer.
Becket was killed late in the afternoon, as the monks were at Vespers.
His first tomb was in the crypt. In 1174 Henry II came there barefoot to do public penance.
The Trinity Chapel and the Corona were added when the quire was rebuilt after the fire of 1174.
The steps to the Trinity Chapel are hollowed by the knees of medieval pilgrims.
Augustine's own abbey and St Martin's Church, where Queen Bertha prayed before he came, stand a short walk to the east.
The Via Francigena remembers Archbishop Sigeric, who traveled to Rome for his pallium in 990 and recorded the stages of his journey home.
The NaveThe fourteenth-century naveThe nave rebuilt between 1377 and 1405, seen from the screen toward the west window.
03 · Do Not Miss
Do Not Miss
5 Stops
01
The Martyrdom
The northwest transept where Becket was killed, with the Altar of the Sword's Point and his name cut in the floor.
02
The Trinity Chapel candle
On the floor where the shrine stood from 1220 until 1538. Climb the steps worn by medieval pilgrims to reach it.
03
The miracle windows
Medieval glass around the Trinity Chapel, among the oldest in the cathedral, telling the cures reported at Becket's tomb.
04
The Corona
The round eastern chapel beyond the Trinity Chapel, where a relic of Becket's head was kept in the Middle Ages.
05
The crypt
The oldest part of the building. Becket's first tomb lay at its eastern end for fifty years.
See all 5 · 2 more
The CoronaThe round eastern chapel beyond the Trinity Chapel, where a relic of Becket's head was kept in the Middle Ages.
The cryptThe oldest part of the building. Becket's first tomb lay at its eastern end for fifty years.
04 · Visit Plans
Visit Plans
1 plan · add to a journey
About 90 minutes Pilgrims following Saint Thomas Becket
From the Martyrdom to the candle
Pray at the Martyrdom, walk through the quire, climb to the Trinity Chapel and the candle, and end in the crypt where his first tomb lay.
Prayer at the Martyrdom
The Trinity Chapel, the candle and the miracle windows
The crypt and the place of the first tomb
05 · How to Visit
How to Visit
A practical sequence
Cathedral of the Church of England and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury
Choral Evensong on most days and a Sunday Sung Eucharist
Becket's martyrdom kept on December 29 and the Translation of his relics on July 7
06 · Planning your visit
Come early, and come to pray before you tour.
Reviewed October 6, 2026·Official sources
The cathedral publishes its visiting hours and service times. Visiting carries a charge; attending a service, or coming on pilgrimage to pray, does not.
Address
The Precincts, Canterbury CT1 2EH, United Kingdom
Time needed
About 90 minutes
Primary devotion
Saint Thomas Becket, at the place of his martyrdom
Before setting out
Visiting and worship
Visitor admission is charged. Services are free, and the cathedral welcomes pilgrims who come to pray.
Pilgrim blessing
Cathedral clergy offer a blessing through the day to pilgrims setting out and prayers of thanksgiving for those arriving.
Catholic Mass
The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury on Burgate, a short walk from Christ Church Gate, is the city's Catholic parish and a diocesan shrine of Becket. Check its Mass times.
07 · Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
The MartyrdomWhere he fellThe Altar of the Sword's Point in the northwest transept, where Becket was killed on December 29, 1170.
Place of martyrdom
The Martyrdom
Yes. A place of prayer, marked by the Altar of the Sword's Point and Becket's name cut in the floor
Documented
Eyewitness accounts, among them Edward Grim's, place the killing of December 29, 1170 in this transept, by the door from the cloister
Canterbury Cathedral · Catholic Encyclopedia
Former shrine, destroyed in 1538
Site of the Shrine of Saint Thomas
The site is marked by a candle and an inscription
Documented
The shrine stood in the Trinity Chapel from the translation of July 7, 1220 until its destruction in September 1538; no relics remain there
Canterbury Cathedral
Source noteTraditional attributions are presented as tradition, with documentation named where it exists.
Canterbury Cathedral is a cathedral of the Church of England and the Mother Church of the Anglican Communion; the page presents its Catholic history without implying present Catholic custody. The founding of 597 and the dedication to Christ follow Bede (Ecclesiastical History I.25-26, I.33) and the cathedral's own chronology; Lanfranc's rebuilding (1070-1077), the shrine of 1220, its destruction in 1538 and the dissolution of 1540 follow the cathedral's timeline. Becket's dates, the canonization of 1173 and Henry II's penance follow the Catholic Encyclopedia. The 1982 prayer at the Martyrdom follows the Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society; John Paul II's homily that day is on vatican.va. The relics at St Thomas of Canterbury Church follow the Archdiocese of Southwark. Visiting hours and charges change; check the cathedral's page.
Hero.
Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury - geograph.org.uk - 6126876.
Christine Matthews, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.Source.
CC BY-SA 2.0.
Where he fell.Andy Li, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.Source.
CC0.
The candle on the floor.
Canterbury Cathedral interior, Trinity chapel (32625518638).
Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.Source.
CC BY 2.0.
The fourteenth-century nave.
Canterbury Cathedral Nave 1, Kent, UK - Diliff.
Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.Source.
CC BY-SA 3.0.
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