Churches & Cathedrals in United Kingdom

Canterbury Cathedral is the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the senior bishop of the Church of England. The original cathedral was founded in 597 CE by St Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert England. The present building dates primarily from the 12th to 15th centuries. On 29 December 1170, Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered inside the cathedral by four knights of King Henry II, making Canterbury the most important pilgrimage site in medieval England — Geoffrey Chaucer immortalised the pilgrimage in his Canterbury Tales (c.1390). Becket's shrine was destroyed by Henry VIII in 1538. The cathedral's most remarkable features include the Romanesque crypt (c.1100, the largest in England), the magnificent Great East Window (1207, containing medieval stained glass), the tomb of Edward the Black Prince, and the site of Becket's martyrdom.

The coronation church of English and British monarchs since 1066, Westminster Abbey has hosted every coronation since William the Conqueror. It is also the burial place of 17 monarchs and many of Britain's greatest figures including Newton, Darwin, and Hawking.

Sir Christopher Wren's masterpiece, rebuilt after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Its dome, rising 111 meters, features the famous Whispering Gallery where a whisper against the wall can be heard on the opposite side, 34 meters away.

Considered the finest example of late Perpendicular Gothic architecture, its fan vault ceiling is the largest in the world. The chapel's 26 stained glass windows and Rubens' Adoration of the Magi are artistic treasures.

Known locally as 'Paddy's Wigwam,' this modernist circular cathedral designed by Frederick Gibberd features a stunning conical lantern tower with stained glass by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens.

Once the largest cathedral in Scotland, now an evocative ruin. At 119 meters long, its remains give a sense of the immense scale of medieval Scottish architecture. The adjacent 12th-century St. Rule's Tower still stands.