Where is Thomas Becket's grave?

Answer 1

Saint Thomas Becket was interred in a huge and elaborate shrine at Canterbury Cathedral from 1220 to 1538, when commissioners acting for king Henry VIII destroyed and pillaged all shrines, monasteries, religious books and other valuables belonging to the Church.

In other churches and cathedrals, shrines were stripped of all gold, silver and jewels, statues and images were broken and the bones of Saints were burned or thrown out into rubbish pits. At Canterbury there is a considerable amount of mystery surrounding what really happened to the bones of St Thomas.

It is recorded that on 20 December 1538 the huge stone shrine was destroyed and large quantities of treasure (amounting to 26 wagon loads) were stolen and taken to the Tower of London to be added to the king's treasury. There is no record of what was done with the bones of the Saint, but various theories have been put forward:

• The bones were removed by monks before the commissioners arrived and secretly buried somewhere else
• The body of the Saint was swapped with that of someone else, so the commissioners destroyed the wrong bones
• The commissioners destroyed the bones of Thomas Becket by burning them
• The commissioners agreed to the body being re-buried somewhere secret, either within or outside the cathedral

A bull of excommunication issued against Henry VIII by Pope Paul III charged the king with having burned the Saint's bones, but this may have been guesswork on the part of the Pope. It is also possible that a report of events (now lost) stated that the bones had been buried, which was mis-read as burned.

What happened remains a mystery and nobody alive today knows (or is prepared to tell) where the Saint's remains are hidden. The various interesting possibilities are explored in John Butler's 1995 book "The Quest for Becket's Bones" (Yale University Press).

Answer 2

Thomas Becket is buried in Canterbury Cathedral

Answer 3

Thomas Becket.

Answer 4

It is in Canterbury Cathedral, Kent