Day Trips
Convener: Ken Arkell
To contact Ken: email ken.arkell@hotmail.co.uk or telephone 023 9247 6950.
The next day trip is to Canterbury on Wednesday the 4th December. Travel will be by coach with departure at 08:30 or thereabouts, pick-up points and actual times to be announced nearer the time. Arrival back in Havant around 19:30. The cost will be around £20.00 per person if we can fill the coach. Details of individual and group admission to the cathedral will be obtained and added to this website page as soon as available.
Canterbury, a cathedral city in southeast England, was a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. Ancient walls, originally built by the Romans, encircle its medieval centre with cobbled streets and timber-framed houses. Canterbury Cathedral, founded 597 A.D., is the headquarters of the Church of England and Anglican Communion, incorporating Gothic and Romanesque elements in its stone carvings and stained-glass windows.
A UNESCO World Heritage Site, striking Canterbury Cathedral reflects components of various architectural styles from different centuries. A must-visit when in Canterbury, it's famous for having been the place where Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in 1170. Becket had crossed paths with Henry II, whose knights misinterpreted a comment he made wishing the Archbishop "gone" as an order to kill him. Nearly 900 years later, it's still chilling to stand in the exact spot in the Northwest Transept where this heinous crime was committed.
The pedestrianized area of Old City Canterbury is home to numerous historic timber-framed buildings. An unbroken row of particularly fine houses with typical overhanging upper floors can be seen in narrow Mercery Lane, many of them pre-dating Queen Elizabeth I. One remarkable survivor is the Tudor Queen Elizabeth's Guest Chamber, notable for its attractive plasterwork. In the corner of Mercery Lane is The Chequer of the Hope, successor to the pilgrim hostel mentioned by Chaucer in The Canterbury Tales. Another High Street landmark worth visiting is the 12th century Eastbridge Hospital.
And, of course, there is the Christmas Market with more than 70 festively decorated stalls and 2 craft and produce areas. The Christmas Market is situated within the award winning Whitefriars Shopping Centre and St George's Street.