The cathedral was founded in 597 by Augustine of Canterbury who was sent by Pope Gregory I as a missionary to the English. Augustine dedicated the church to Jesus Christ, the Holy Saviour. During the reforms of Archbishop Dunstan in the mid 900's a Benedictine abbey named Christ Church Priory was added to the cathedral.
The cathedral was badly damaged during Danish raids on Canterbury in 1011. The church was then destroyed by fire in 1067. Rebuilding began in 1070 under the first Norman Archbishop Lanfranc . He cleared the ruins and reconstructed the cathedral to a design based closely on that of the Abbey of Saint-Étienne in Caen. A pivotal moment in the history of the cathedral was the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket by knights of King Henry II. A shrine to the Archbishop occupied the Trinity Chapel from 1220 until it was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. In 1576, the Wallon or Stranger's Church were allowed to gather for worship at the church and were granted use of the Western Crypt of the cathedral. When the numbers of Walloons declined they were moved from the main crypt into the Black Prince's Chantry. The Huguenots are still remembered today in Canterbury Cathedral. Their descendants' worship, in French, every Sunday at 3pm at the Huguenot Chapel in the Cathedral's Crypt. The original towers of Christ Church Gate were removed in 1803 and were replaced in 1937. The statue of Christ was replaced in 1990 with a bronze sculpture of Christ by Klaus Ringwald. The original Norman northwest tower, which had a lead spire until 1705, was demolished in 1834 owing to structural concerns. It was replaced with a Perpendicular-style twin of the southwest tower providing a more symmetrical appearance for the cathedral. This was the last major structural alteration to the cathedral to be made. In 1986, a new Martyrdom Altar was installed in the northwest transept on the spot where Thomas Becket was slain. This was the first new altar in the cathedral in 448 years. The cathedral is open seven days a week, from 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and 12:30pm to 5pm on Sunday.