nty CouncilIt is both a department of Canterbury Cathedral and an office of the Kent Archives Service of the Arts and Libraries department of KCC. It houses the records of the Cathedral, Canterbury Diocese, parishes in the Canterbury Archdeaconry, Canterbury City Council and its predecessors, and other organisations, businesses, administrations and individuals in the Canterbury area. These records are all accessible to the public in a searchroom (run jointly with the Cathedral Library) adjacent to the Cathedral.The Water Tower The water supply of the Monastery was established in the 12th century, the supply being piped in (the original pipes are still in place) from springs nearly a mile away. There were several water towers in the Precincts, which acted as storage cisterns from which more pipes distributed the water to where it was needed. It is said that because of its own water supply the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, escaped many of the usual depredations of plague and infection. The Chapter House Each day the Benedictine monks met in the Chapter House, first to hear a Chapter of the Rule of St Benedict read to them (hence its name), and then to transact the Community's business. The Chapter House had previously been extended from its 11th century length in the 13th century. The Prior's Stall remains and a lovely feature is the roof vault, inserted in 1405 and made of Irish oak.Stained GlassTwo events occurring in 1170 and 1174 laid the foundations of what today is regarded as one of the most important stained glass collections of the late 12th century in the world. The murder of Thomas Becket, as despicable as it was, provided the Cathedral with a powerful attraction to pilgrims, who came to Canterbury in enormous numbers to make offerings. When disaster struck again with the destruction by fire of the Romanesque Quire in September 1174, it was the proceeds from this lucrative pilgrim trade that enabled the monks to build the...
