A detail from the wall surrounding Canterbury Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, just next to the Christ Church Gate.

It’s hard to comprehend how old the Cathedral is; on the website, the history of the Cathedral is broken down into “Origins” and “More Recent Times” – the latter section picking up in 1540. (The town I live in wasn’t even founded until 1890.) A comment on the same website puts it further into perspective: the Cathedral stands as a place where prayer to God has been offered daily for over 1,400 years.

Goodness.

(The gate was constructed in 1517, and has undergone several renovations through the centuries, including the removal of the battlements “to allow some residents in the vicinity to see the time by the Cathedral clock”, an accommodating change. I found no mention of the state of that window, seemingly stuck forever halfway between open and closed.)

Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury, UK
photographed 10.17.2007