Open Precincts Trial 29th January-10th March
24 Jan 2024
FREE entry to Canterbury Cathedral Precincts
The perfect chance to discover England’s First Cathedral.
Enjoy free entry to large parts of Canterbury Cathedral’s Precincts daily from 9am to 9pm during our Free Precincts Trial (29 January – 10 March 2024). Sightseers will only need to pay to enter the Cathedral building and areas including the Cloisters, Herb Garden and Chapter House during standard sightseeing hours.
It is always free to attend a service of worship or to come into the Cathedral to pray.
Discover World Heritage on your doorstep
Canterbury Cathedral is for everyone – a unique place of worship, a major pilgrimage destination, a masterpiece of art and architecture, and one of the UK’s most-visited historic sites. As stewards of this special place, we want as many people as possible to enjoy it.
However, the financial reality is that it costs nearly £30,000 per day to keep the Cathedral open to all, and we typically receive no funding from Government or the Church of England. This is why we introduced admission charges for sightseers. Income from sightseers is our principal source of revenue, and the Cathedral simply couldn’t survive without it.
Our 6-week Free Precincts Trial is intended to test the feasibility of balancing free access to large parts of the Cathedral estate with our need to attract paying visitors in order to cover the substantial costs of running and maintaining this unique site and community.
Lounge Trial
In light of the upcoming Precincts trial, the Lodge are pleased to announce that we will be offering savoury and sweet treats, as well as hot and cold drinks in the Lounge.
The Lounge will be open between 10am-4pm each day from the 29th January-10th March, and will still be serving alcoholic beverages during this time also.