Ca. 100: Romans take over the Celtic settlement of Durovernum and rebuild it, calling the new town Durovernum Cantiacorum.

Ca. 200: The Romans build a wall around the town.

Ca. 400: After the Romans leave Britain, town life breaks down and Canterbury is probably abandoned. A few farmers continue living inside the walls and may even grow crops and raise animals there but Canterbury ceases to be a town.

597: The man eventually canonized as St. Augustine, sent to England on a papal mission, builds a priory on the site of the present Canterbury Cathedral.

602: St. Augustine rededicates a deserted Roman church in Canterbury.

603: Canterbury is chosen to be the seat of the first archbishop.

Ca. 630: A mint is active in Canterbury. The earliest coins are silver.

842: The Danes first raid Canterbury.

851: The Danes raid Canterbury again.

1011: The Danes return and lay siege to Canterbury, capturing it after 20 days. They kill the archbishop and burn the cathedral, which is quickly rebuilt.

1067: The original Saxon church is destroyed by fire.

1070-1077: The newly powerful Normans rebuild the church.

1072: The Accord of Winchester designates Canterbury as the supreme archdiocese in England, taking primacy over that of York.

1170: In Canterbury's most infamous crime, Archbishop Thomas Becket is murdered within Canterbury Cathedral on orders from King Henry II.

1174: The Norman church burns and is rebuilt after 1175.

1190: Eastbridge Hospital is built as a shelter for poor pilgrims.

1220: Becket's body is entombed in a new shrine within the cathedral.

1376: Edward the Black Prince, heir to King Edward III, is buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

1380: Archbishop Sudbury orders the construction of a new West Gate to the city.

1387: Geoffrey Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales, assuring Canterbury of lasting literary fame.

1413: King Henry IV is buried in Canterbury Cathedral.

1517: Christchurch Gate is built.

1535: The head of Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More is buried at the church of St. Dunstan's, Canterbury.

1538: Troops of King Henry VIII destroy Becket's shrine.

1558: Cardinal Pole, the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, dies.

1564: The dramatist Christopher Marlowe is baptized in St. George's Church.

1567: The first Belgian weavers fleeing religious persecution arrive in Canterbury from the Continent.

1573: Queen Elizabeth I visits Canterbury in 1573 and entertains the Duke of Alençon at the Crown Inn, perhaps considering -- then rejecting -- marriage to the gentleman.

1642: The Puritans sack the cathedral in the Civil War.

1660: Upon the Restoration, the Church of England is re-established at the cathedral and repairs begin.

1704: Cathedral repairs are finally complete.

1780s: The gates of Canterbury (except Westgate) are demolished because they impede traffic flow.

1790: Dane John Gardens are laid out.

1830: The pioneering Canterbury & Whitstable Railway opens with Canterbury as its terminus.

1832: The remains of King Henry IV are disinterred to disprove the old story that his body had been tossed overboard in a heavy storm on its final trip to Canterbury. Onlookers are shocked that his russet beard is still visible.

1846: The South Eastern Railway opens the Canterbury West station, the city's first. The line to Ramsgate is completed two months later.

1860: The London, Chatham & Dover Railway opens the Canterbury East station, the more central of the two.

1906: The Westgate museum opens in, where else, the city's West Gate.

1942: The Luftwaffe targets the city in the Baedeker Blitz. Canterbury is severely damaged.

1944: Film directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger celebrate the city in their film A Canterbury Tale.

1953: The pioneering Canterbury & Whitstable Railway closes.

1954: The Cathedral's library is finally rebuilt following the Blitz in a timeframe typical for damaged English cities.

1962: Canterbury University is built.

1976: St. Augustine's College, a Church of England theological college, closes. It had opened in 1848.

1982: Pope John Paul II visits Canterbury and, with Archbishop Robert Runcie, prays at the site of St. Thomas Becket's martyrdom.

1986: The Altar of the Sword's Point (site of the martyrdom) is restored.

2001: A local metal detector enthusiast makes a spectacular discovery while scanning a newly plowed field: a solid gold Bronze Age cup.

2003: The present Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is enthroned as the 104th archbishop.

2004-2005: The Whitefriars area of the city undergoes major redevelopment and the associated archeological research is known as the "Big Dig."

Related Articles:

Canterbury: Still the Perfect Pilgrimage!, by Julia Hickey

https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/towns/canterbury.shtml

Canterbury Cathedral, by John P. Seely

https://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/churches/canterbury.shtml

Read More about:

The Hospital of St. Thomas

St. Augustine's Abbey

The History of the Archbishop of Canterbury

The Canterbury Tales

Thomas Becket