Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury, a local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican Communion owing to the importance of St Augustine, who served as the apostle to the pagan Kingdom of Kent around the turn of the 7th century. The city’s cathedral became a major focus of pilgrimage following the 1170 martyrdom of Thomas Becket, although it had already been a well-trodden pilgrim destination since the murder of St Alphege by the men of King Canute in 1012. A journey of pilgrims to Becket’s shrine served as the frame for Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century classic The Canterbury Tales.

The city has been occupied since Paleolithic times and served as the capital of the Celtic Cantiaci and Jute Kingdom of Kent. Many historical structures fill the area, including a city wall founded in Roman times and rebuilt in the 14th century, the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey and a Norman castle, and the oldest extant school in the world, the King’s School.

There is also a substantial student population, brought about by the presence of the University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University for the Creative Arts, and the Girne American University Canterbury campus. 

 The choice of Canterbury Christ Church University as a venue for our yearly DPUK Seminars came about  by happenstance.

In 2002, one of the early DPUK members, Barry Bullock attended a lecture at the college, as it was then. This was given by the head of the History and American studies dept Tony McCulloch. Barry mentioned his interest in JFK and soon after Ian Griggs was invited to give a presentation to students on the Mannlicher Carcano. It just happened at this time discussions were going on about the possibility of holding a DPUK Seminar. The offer of the college with its superb facilities and the location of historic Canterbury settled it. Over the years since the first Seminar in 2003, we have used most of the lecture halls that Christ Church has. These ranged from the Powell Building with its large hall and its smaller more intimate one. We have also used the Ramsey, Newton, Laud and more recently the Old Session House. All have excellent Audio/Visual equipment which we have taken full advantage of.

The city of Canterbury, with its long history and beautiful buildings is a wonderful backdrop to the Seminars proceedings. Canterbury has numerous fine pubs and restaurants, many of which have been patronised by our delegates. The Seminars have been very well attended, and the general consensus was that they have all been extremely informative. And the social aspect of each of the weekends, has added tremendously to every one’s enjoyment.

Canterbury 2016 seminar.

Use the drop down at the top Canterbury menu to explore the many years of talks given at our conferences.