Canterbury is a cathedral city in east Kent in South East England and is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
head of the Church of England and of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
The name Canterbury derives from the Old English Cantwarebyrig, meaning "fortress of the men of Kent".
The bury element is a form of borough, which has cognates in words and place names in virtually every Indo-European and Semitic language, as well as others.
The city is on the River Great Stour, flowing from Ashford to the English Channel at Sandwich,
but is currently navigable only on the tidal section from Sandwich to Fordwich, north east of Canterbury.
Canterbury today is a major city for tourism with Canterbury Cathedral alone attracting 1.2 million visitors in 2001. It still contains many ancient buildings and modern building development within the medieval town centre is strictly regulated.
During 2004-5 the Whitefriars area of the city underwent major redevelopment and the associated archeological research was called the "Big Dig".
Canterbury now has a much larger shopping attraction due to the Whitefriars development, many of the shops have undergone major redevelopment,
as has the city's bus station.
Bus Links
The hourly National Express coach service to and from Victoria Coach Station,
which leaves from the main bus station is typically scheduled to take 2 hours.
Railway
Canterbury has two railway stations, Canterbury West and Canterbury East.
The services from these are operated by Southeastern.
Canterbury West is served primarily from London Charing Cross with limited services from Victoria as well as by trains to Ramsgate and Margate.
Services from London Victoria stop at Canterbury East (journey time around 88 minutes) and continue to Dover.
Canterbury East is the more central of the two stations, although it came later, being opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on 9 July 1860.
Road Links
Canterbury is now by-passed by the A2 London to Dover Road.
It is about 45 miles from the M25 London orbital motorway, and 61 miles from central London.
The other main road through Canterbury is the A28 from Ashford to Ramsgate and Margate.
Canterbury is legendary for traffic congestion throughout the day,
and the City Council has invested heavily in Park-and-Ride systems around the City's outskirts.
Education
The city has many students as it is home to several Higher Education institutions and other colleges.
The University of Kent at Canterbury stands on a hill about two miles outside the city centre.
Chaucer College is an independent graduate college for Japanese students within the campus of the University.
Near the University of Kent is the Franciscan International Study Centre, a place of study for the worldwide Franciscan Order.
Canterbury Christ Church University is located in the city as is one of the campuses of the University College for the Creative Arts.
There is also the Further Education institution, Canterbury College.
Independent secondary schools include St Edmund's School, Kent College, and what may be the world's oldest extant school The King's School.
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