Canterbury has been a centre of pilgrimage since the Middle Ages. Ever since Archbishop Thomas Becket was made a saint, following his assassination in 1170, pilgrims have flocked from all over the world to this city near the Kent coast. The stained-glass windows of its magnificent Norman cathedral where the murder took place – now a UNESCO World Heritage Site – depict the healing powers of Canterbury’s holy waters. Small flasks called ‘ampullas’ filled with the holy waters made from diluted drops of Becket’s blood — spilled as his skull was cracked open by the swords of knights answering King Henry II’s call to “rid me of this turbulent priest” — were sold to pilgrims who came in search of physical healing or spiritual salvation. Up to 200,000 of them came each year, that’s nearly a tenth of the entire population of medieval Britain.
Today, most visitors come to drink in the rich history and splendour of this
