The Canterbury Tales attraction sits on St Margaret’s Street, two minutes from the cathedral, in a former church. It walks you through a selection of Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories using built sets, lighting, sound and — in the current incarnation — live costumed actors.
It has been in the city for decades and was substantially reworked in recent years. That matters, because a good number of people carry a memory of the old version, which was a static walk-through of animatronic tableaux, and the current one is a different and better thing. Visitors returning after a long gap consistently say so.
The Canterbury Tales was written around 1387: a company of pilgrims riding from the Tabard Inn in Southwark to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, agreeing to tell stories on the way to pass the time.
There are twenty-four tales, told by a cross-section of fourteenth-century society — a knight, a miller, a prioress, a pardoner, the Wife of Bath — and the whole thing is funny, obscene, devout and observant by turns. It is the foundation text of English literature written in English, and it exists because Canterbury drew pilgrims.
That connection is the point of the attraction: the pilgrimage trade that filled the cathedral is the reason the poem was written.
A guided walk-through of a series of scenes, with actors in character, taking around forty-five minutes to an hour. The tales covered are a selection — the Knight’s, the Miller’s, the Wife of Bath’s and others — chosen for narrative and staging rather than completeness.
It is theatrical rather than academic. There is no attempt to teach Middle English, and the treatment is broad and comic where Chaucer is broad and comic.
Ages: it suits primary-age children upwards, and families report that the actors carry it with sceptical teenagers better than a static display would. Some of Chaucer’s material is bawdy; the presentation handles that lightly.
Time: forty-five minutes to an hour.
Booking: advisable in summer and school holidays; timed entry.
Indoors throughout, which makes it a reliable wet-weather option in a city that has plenty of them.
Access: the building is a converted church with some steps and uneven floors; check with the attraction in advance.
Location: St Margaret’s Street, off the High Street, two minutes from the cathedral.
The cathedral itself — the shrine site in the Trinity Chapel, marked by a candle, is where the pilgrims were heading.
The Pilgrims’ Way and the North Downs Way, which come into Canterbury from the west over the chalk, are the route in outline.
Mercery Lane and the approach to Christ Church Gate follow the medieval pilgrim approach through the city.
The King’s Mile and the lanes north of the High Street preserve the medieval street pattern the pilgrims would have walked.
No. It was substantially reworked in recent years and now uses live costumed actors alongside the sets. Visitors returning after a gap generally find it much improved.
Forty-five minutes to an hour.
Primary-age children upwards, and adults. Chaucer’s material is bawdy in places and is handled lightly.
It is advisable in summer and school holidays; entry is timed.
Yes, two minutes’ walk on St Margaret’s Street.