CANTERBURY, a city and county borough, the metropolis of an archdiocese of the Church of England, and a municipal, county and parliamentary borough of Kent, England, 62 m. E.S.E. of London by the S.R. Pop. (1931) 24,450. It lies on the river Stour, which here debouches from a beautiful narrow valley of the North Downs, the elevations of which command fine views of the city from the west and south, while the river presently enters upon the flat belt of land which separates the elevated Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent. This belt represents the existence, in early historic times, of a sea-strait, and Fordwich, little more than 2 M. N.E. of Canterbury, was once accessible for shipping. Along the North Downs ran the prehistoric track which was to become the Pilgrims' Way, ending at the focus which marked the site of Canterbury. Hither came routes from the numerous ports clus tering round the south-eastern angle of Great Britain, and here continental influences found a common expression. The various forms of artistic inspiration seen in the numerous ecclesiastical buildings are only one aspect of the rich culture produced by the intermingling of thoughts at this famous entry. In detail this ancient human site is seen to be related also to a ford over the river Stour where navigation received a check and where the east west ridgeway along the open chalk had to face the crossing of a marshy valley. The Romans utilized the Canterbury f ord, and the Romano-British Durovernum was a flourishing town on the road from the Kentish ports to London. The city, known by the Saxons as Cantwaraburh, the town of the men of Kent, became the metropolis of the kingdom of Aethelbert, the fourth Saxon king of Kent. It was here that Augustine and his fellow-mission aries came from Rome, and their settlement in the capital in 597 originated its position, maintained ever since, as the metropolis of the Church in England. Aethelbert, whose queen, Bertha, was already a Christian, gave the missionaries a church whose mythical founder was King Lucius. Augustine was a Benedictine and es tablished the monastery of that order attached to the cathedral ; this foundation was set upon a firm basis after the Norman Con quest by Archbishop Lanfranc, who placed its charge (as distinct from that of the diocese) in the hands of a prior. At the time of the Domesday survey Canterbury formed part of the royal demesne. In the 13th and 54th centuries, two bailiffs presided over the burghmote, assisted by a larger and smaller council. Henry II., by an undated charter, confirmed former privileges. In 1256 Henry III. granted the city to the citizens at an annual fee farm of £6o, and the right of electing their bailiffs. Additional liberties were granted by later sovereigns, and Henry VI. incor porated Canterbury, which he called "one of our most ancient cities," under the style of the mayor and commonalty, the mayor to be elected by the burgesses. James I. confirmed these privileges, giving the burgesses the right to be called a body corporate and to elect twelve aldermen and a common council of twenty-four. Can terbury was first represented in parliament in 1283, and it re turned two members until 1885, when the number was reduced to one. A fair was granted by Henry VI. to the citizens to be held in the city or suburbs on the 4th of August and the two days fol lowing; other fairs were in the hands of the monasteries ; the corn and cattle markets and a general market have been held by pre scription from time immemorial.. Canterbury was a great centre of silk-weaving in the I 7th century, large numbers of Walloons, driven by persecution to England, having settled there in the reign of Elizabeth. In 1676 Charles II. granted a charter of incorpora tion to the Walloon congregation under style of the master, war dens and fellowship of weavers in the city of Canterbury. The market for the sale of corn and hops was regulated by a local act in 1801.