For many years, the area's Christian community lived with the archbishop in the cathedral. In the 10th century, a Benedictine monatery was added to the cathedral. Henry VIII dissolved the monastery in 1540, and the cathedral became part of the Church of England.
The original building constructed by Augustine lies beneath the nave of the current cathedral, which was rebuilt and enlarged by the Saxons, and then, in 1070, completely rebuilt after a fire.
On this day in 1170, as Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, was in the cathedral's northwest transept preparing for vespers, knights of Henry II cut him down with their swords and killed him.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw