Turner seems to have visited Canterbury, perhaps for the first time, in the autumn of 1792; he exhibited a ‘Gate of St. Augustine’s Monastery, Canterbury’ at the R.A. in 1793 (316). In the following August he made a tour of Kent, including Rochester, Canterbury, Dover, Maidstone and Tonbridge. Two more Canterbury views were shown in 1794: ‘Christ Church Gate, Canterbury’ (388) and a drawing with the present title. This drawing has been known as ‘the East End of Canterbury Cathedral’, but is identified by Finberg (1961, p.458, No.13) with the exhibited watercolour, which was presumably that in Dr Monro’s sale, Christie’s 26 June 1833 (122) as ‘St. Anselm’s chapel, upright, colours’, bought back by Turner himself.