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 Ightham Mote
Originally dating to around 1320, the building is of note as, after the completion of the quadrangle with a new chapel in the sixteenth century, its successive owners effected relatively few changes to the main structure. It was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1985 by an American businessman, Charles Henry Robinson, who had bought it in 1956. The house is now a Grade I listed building, and parts of it are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
There are over seventy rooms in the house, all arranged around a central courtyard. The house is surrounded on all sides by a square moat, crossed by three bridges. The earliest structures on the site include the Great Hall, the Chapel, Crypt and two Solars. The courtyard was completely enclosed and the battlemented tower constructed in the 15th century. The structures include unusual and distinctive elements, such as the porter's squint, a narrow slit in the wall designed to enable a gatekeeper to examine a visitor's credentials before opening the gate, and a large kennel which was built in the late 19th century for a St. Bernard named Dido. The kennel is the only Grade I listed dog house.
The moat of Ightham Mote
It therefore remains a snapshot of how such houses would have looked in the Middle Ages. Nikolaus Pevsner called it "the most complete small medieval manor house in the country". During the 19th century a female skeleton was found walled up behind a blocked service door.
In 1989 the National Trust began an ambitious restoration project which involved dismantling much of the building and recording its construction methods before rebuilding it. The project ended in 2004 after uncovering numerous examples of structural and ornamental features which had been covered up by later additions. It is estimated to have cost in excess of £10million.
Ightham Mote and its gardens are open to the public
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 Dover Castle
No fortress in England boasts a longer history than Dover Castle. Commanding the shortest sea crossing between England and the continent, the site has served as a vital strategic centre since Roman times.
William the Conqueror strengthened the existing Anglo-Saxon fort in 1066, both Henry II and Henry VIII made their own additions, and Vice Admiral Ramsay famously oversaw the Dunkirk evacuations from the tunnels built into the cliffs beneath the castle.
Dover's wartime secret The White Cliffs are one of England's most celebrated sights, yet hidden inside them is a fascinating and secret world. Deep underground lies an extensive network of tunnels – some first dug during the Napoleonic Wars, but so strategically useful that they continued to be used right through to the 20th century.
Dunkirk evacuation – Operation Dynamo In May 1940 these tunnels provided the nerve centre for Vice Admiral Ramsay to plan The Secret Wartime Tunnels Operation Dynamo – the evacuation of British and allied troops from the Dunkirk beaches of northern France.
Today you can tour the Secret Wartime Tunnels and experience life as it was lived by the 700 personnel based here in the worst days of World War II. You can see the Command Centre where Sir Winston Churchill viewed the Battle of Britain, and relive the drama as a surgeonThe 1216 Siege Experience, a stunning presentation using light, film and sound technology, highlights the stronghold's key role in resisting invasion. It recounts the epic sieges of 1216-17, when Dover Castle held out almost alone for King John against rebel barons and their French ally Prince Louis.
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Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral is alive with history and many fascinating stories. The information below gives a brief insight into the history of this magnificent building.
The Origins of Canterbury Cathedral
St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, arrived on the coast of Kent as a missionary to England in 597 AD. He came from Rome, sent by Pope Gregory the Great. It is said that Gregory had been struck by the beauty of Angle slaves he saw for sale in the city market and despatched Augustine and some monks to convert them to Christianity.
Augustine was given a church at Canterbury (St Martin's, after St Martin of Tours, still standing today) by the local King, Ethelbert whose Queen, Bertha, a French Princess,, was already a Christian. This building had been a place of worship during the Roman occupation of Britain and is the oldest church in England still in use.
Augustine had been consecrated a bishop in France and was later made an archbishop by the Pope. He established his seat within the Roman city walls (the Latin word for a seat is cathedra, from which the word cathedral is derived) and built the first cathedral there, becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Since that time, there has been a community around the Cathedral offering daily prayer to God; this community is arguably the oldest organisation in the English speaking world. The present Archbishop, The Most Revd and Right Honourable Dr Rowan Williams, is 104th in the line of succession from Augustine.
Until the 10th century the Cathedral community lived as the household of the Archbishop. During the 10th century, it became a formal community of Benedictine monks, which continued until the monastery was dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1540.
Augustine's original building lies beneath the floor of the nave– it was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and the Cathedral was rebuilt completely by the Normans in 1070 following a major fire. There have been many additions to the building over the last nine hundred years, but parts of the quire and some of the windows and their stained glass date from the 12th century.
By 1077, Archbishop Lanfranc had rebuilt it as a Norman church, described as "nearly perfect". A staircase and parts of the North Wall - in the area of the North West transept also called the Martyrdom - remain from that building.
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More recent times
 The work of the Cathedral as a monastery came to an end in 1540, when the monastery was closed on the orders of King Henry VIII. Its role as a place of prayer continued – as it does to this day. Once the monastery had been suppressed, responsibility for the services and upkeep was given to a group of clergy known as the Dean and Chapter. Today, the Cathedral is still governed by the Dean and four Canons, together (in recent years) with four lay people and the Archdeacon of Maidstone.
During the Civil War of the 1640s, the Cathedral suffered damage at the hands of the Puritans; much of the medieval stained glass was smashed and horses were stabled in the nave. After the Restoration in 1660, several years were spent in repairing the building.
In the early 19th Century, the North West tower was found to be dangerous. although it dated from Lanfranc's time, it was demolished in the early 1830s and replaced by a copy of the South West tower, thus giving a symmetrical appearance to the west end of the Cathedral.
During the Second World War, the Precincts were heavily damaged by enemy action and the Cathedral's Library was destroyed. Thankfully, the Cathedral itself was not seriously harmed, due to the bravery of the team of fire watchers, who patrolled the roofs and dealt with the incendiary bombs dropped by enemy bombers.
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Canterbury, which is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Situated between the capital and the continent, Kent is a primary trade route and has been in the front line of a number of conflicts. Kent has land borders with East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London, and a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames estuary. Kent also has a nominal border with France halfway along the Channel Tunnel. Its name comes from the Kingdom of Kent. "Ightham Mote,")
 "Dover Castle")
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