Manchester Cathedral
Manchester Cathedral | ||
---|---|---|
Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George | ||
Style Gothic (Perpendicular) | | |
Years built | 1421–1882 | |
Specifications | ||
Tower height | 135ft | |
Administration | ||
Province | York | |
Diocese | Manchester (since 1847) | |
Clergy | ||
Dean | Rogers Govender | |
Subdean | vacant | |
Precentor | vacant | |
Archdeacon | David Sharples, Archdeacon of Rochdale | |
Laity | ||
Director of music | Christopher Stokes (Organist and Master of the Choristers) | |
Organist(s) | Geoffrey Woollatt (Sub-Organist) | |
Organ scholar | Jed Hughes |
Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George,[1][a] in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the city's parish church. It is on Victoria Street in Manchester city centre and is a grade I listed building.
The former parish church was rebuilt in the Perpendicular Gothic style in the years following the foundation of the collegiate body in 1421. Then at the end of the 15th century, James Stanley II (warden 1485–1506 and later Bishop of Ely 1506–1515) was responsible for rebuilding the nave and collegiate choir with high clerestory windows; also commissioning the late-medieval wooden internal furnishings, including the pulpitum, choir stalls and the nave roof supported by angels with gilded instruments. The collegiate church became the cathedral of the new Diocese of Manchester in 1847. It was extensively refaced, restored and extended in the Victorian period, and again following bomb damage during World War II. It is one of fifteen Grade I listed buildings in Manchester.
History
Origins
The origins of Manchester's first churches are obscure. The Angel Stone, a small carving of an angel with a scroll, is preserved in the cathedral. It was discovered in the wall of the cathedral's south porch providing evidence of an earlier, possibly
Parish church
Construction of the predecessor
The church had a six-bay aisled nave and six-bay chancel with aisles and a west tower in the perpendicular style of the late-medieval period.[9]
Collegiate church
Thomas de la Warre became Baron de la Warre in 1398. A priest for more than 50 years, he was granted a licence from
Traditionally the third warden, Ralph Langley (1465–1481), is credited with rebuilding the nave but the nave and choir were substantially reconstructed again by
The college was dissolved in 1547 in the reign of
Chantry chapels
In the early 16th century an almost complete sequence of chantry chapels was constructed along the north and south sides of the church creating a double aisle around the parochial nave, which is consequently much wider than it is long. Manchester is commonly claimed to have the widest nave of any cathedral in England. On the south side, the oldest of the
The western chapels are no longer demarcated, as the screens that divided them have been removed giving the appearance of double aisles on either side of the nave.[11]
Batch marriages
Until 1850, the Collegiate Church remained the parish church for the whole of Manchester (this is the ancient parish, including almost the whole area of the modern City of Manchester excepting
As the population of Manchester increased further; so the numbers of christenings, weddings and funerals celebrated in the collegiate church also grew. In 1838, there were 5,164 christenings, 1,457 funerals, and 2,615 weddings.
Cathedral
Under the
During the Manchester Blitz in 1940, a German bomb exploded a few yards from the north-east corner, severely damaging the cathedral roofs and demolishing the medieval lady chapel and James Stanley's chantry chapel. All stained-glass windows were blown out, the organ-case over the pulpitum was destroyed, and the medieval choir stalls toppled inwards so as to meet one another. It took almost 20 years to complete the repairs, in the course of which the Lady Chapel was rebuilt to the designs of Hubert Worthington and the St John the Baptist Chapel was refitted as the regimental chapel for the Manchester Regiment. The cathedral was again damaged in the IRA bombing in June 1996.
The cathedral houses extensive parish and historical
Architecture
The cathedral is constructed of three types of stone. The walls and internal piers were originally constructed in a dark purple-brown
Restorations
By the 1840s the external and internal stonework was in a poor state, partly due to the poor weathering qualities of the Collyhurst sandstone, but also because of an ill-advised attempt to lighten the interior by coating the internal surfaces of the nave with Roman cement by John Palmer. The external stonework was replaced between 1850 and 1870 in a restoration by J. S. Crowther, who also replaced the internal stonework of the nave walls and arcades with exact reproductions of the originals. The west tower was heightened in 1868 by J.P. Holden, who also replaced its external stonework. Basil Champneys added the vestry, canons' library and western porches in 1898; while Percy Worthington provided further accommodation to the South-east, originally as a choir school, but subsequently converted to offices. [15] Consequently, the cathedral gives the impression of being a 19th-century structure.
To accommodate upgrading work on the cathedral's heating system, in 2013 a temporary wooden cathedral was built on Victoria Street to allow worship to take place.[16]
Furniture
Angel minstrels
The nave roof brackets are supported by fourteen angel sculptures, each playing a different late medieval instrument, believed to be the gift of James Stanley II.
South side (from the east):
Portative organ, harp, psaltery (plucked), dulcimer (played with hammers), lute, fithele, hurdy-gurdy
North side (from the east):
clavicymbal, trumpet, shawm, Scots pipes (mouth-blown), Irish pipes (bellows-blown), recorder, tabor
It is supposed that, in the 19th century restoration of the nave, the clavicymbal and organ were inadvertently transposed; as otherwise the south side has stringed instruments, and the north side mostly wind instruments. Only the organ presents an instrument that would commonly have been heard in church in the early 16th century; the other instruments would have been more typically used to accompany secular songs and dances. All these instruments, however, might well have been heard accompanying mystery play performances in the street, and in popular religious processions.
Misericords
The cathedral has thirty 16th-century misericords, considered to be among the finest in Europe. They are similar in style to those at Ripon Cathedral and Beverley Minster. Although Manchester's are of a later date, they were probably carved by the same school at Ripon. One of the most notable is N-08, the earliest known depiction of backgammon in the UK.
Stained glass
All the Victorian stained glass was destroyed during the Manchester Blitz in 1940. Until the late 1960s, only two windows had been replaced, notably the Fire Window by Margaret Traherne (1966). The dean and chapter commissioned Tony Hollaway to prepare a scheme for reglazing the cathedral, with priority to the five western windows: St George (1973), St Denys (1976), St Mary (1980), The Creation (1991) and The Apocalypse (1995). To commemorate the restoration of the cathedral following an IRA bomb in 1996, the Healing Window by Linda Walton was installed in 2004.
Bells
The ten bells in the cathedral tower hung for change ringing were cast by Gillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1925. The tenor (largest) bell weighs 1.3 tonnes and the bells are tuned to the key of D. The bells are rung for church service on Sunday mornings and on special occasions including a visit by Elizabeth II to distribute the Royal Maundy. One of the recipients was the tower captain, Roland Eccles, for 35 years of service to ringing and the cathedral community.
Dean and chapter
As of 9 December 2022:[17]
- Dean — Rogers Govender (since 14 January 2006)
- Precentor — Márcia Wall (canon since 2016; Canon Pastor 2016–2018; Acting Precentor September 2017 – 2018;[18] Precentor since before 1 July 2018)[19]
- Archdeacon of Rochdale (Archdeacon of Salforduntil 1 July 2020 collation as Archdeacon of Rochdale; Canon since 2017)
- Canon Pastor — Nigel Ashworth (since 20 November 2022 installation)[20]
- Sub Dean and Canon for Theology & Mission — vacant since 31 May 2022[21]
In literature
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration, Collegiate Church, Manchester, to an engraving of a picture of the interior by Thomas Allom was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833.[22]
Visitor centre
The visitor centre by the cathedral's south porch costing £3 million was opened by Elizabeth II. It has a shop and an exhibition room.[23] The main attraction is the 15th-century Hanging Bridge,[24] a scheduled monument,[25] that was once the main approach to the church but was buried for more than 100 years.[24]
Music
Organ
In the course of the 19th century restorations of the interior, the cathedral was provided with an organ mounted over the medieval pulpitum in an elaborate case designed by
Details of the former Hill organ installed in 1871
Details of the former Harrison organ installed in 1952
Organists
Organist and Master of the Choristers: Christopher Stokes. Sub Organist: Geoffrey Woollatt.
Notable previous organists include Edward Betts (d.1767), Joseph John Harris (1848–1869), Frederick Bridge (1869–75), Sydney Nicholson (1908–1919), Norman Cocker (1943–1954), Allan Wicks (1954–1962) and Gordon Stewart (1981–1992).
Choir
The 1421 foundation statutes of the collegiate church provided for an endowed choir of
See also
- Controversy over the usage of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man
- Grade I listed churches in Greater Manchester
- History of Manchester
- List of churches in Greater Manchester
- List of works by J. S. Crowther
- Listed buildings in Manchester-M3
- Manchester Cathedral Steps
References
Notes
- ^ The college governing the cathedral is titled the College of Christ in Manchester founded by King Charles.[2]
- ^ It is thought St Michael's Church was on the site of St Michael and All Angels' Church in Ashton-under-Lyne.[8]
Citations
- ^ Manchester Cathedral, ManchesterCathedral.org, retrieved 30 December 2014
- ^ a b c d Scott 1915, p. 35
- ^ a b Corpus of Anglo Saxon Stone Sculpture, retrieved 9 February 2019
- ^ a b Shanks 2010, p. 2
- ^ a b Timeline, Manchester Cathedral, archived from the original on 16 April 2016, retrieved 11 December 2013
- ^ History, ManchesterCathedral, retrieved 11 December 2013
- ^ Hylton 2003, p. 9
- ^ Hylton 2003, p. 10
- ^ a b c Hartwell 2002, p. 45
- ^ a b c d Shanks 2010, p. 4
- ^ a b Hartwell 2002, p. 46
- ^ a b Timperley, C.H. (1839), Annals of Manchester, Bancks & Co., p. 78
- ^ Historic England, "Cathedral Church of St Mary (1218041)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 26 January 2014
- ^ What is a listed building?, Manchester City Council, retrieved 12 August 2007
- ^ Hartwell 2002, p. 144
- ^ "Work begins on Manchester Cathedral's temporary church". BBC News. 11 February 2013.
- ^ Who's Who (Section: Chapter), Manchester Cathedral, 9 December 2022, archived from the original on 9 December 2022, retrieved 9 December 2022
- ^ Manchester Cathedral News, September 2017 Archived 7 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved 7 January 2018)
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Cathedral welcomes Canon Nigel Ashworth as Canon Pastor". Manchester Cathedral. 20 October 2022. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 9 December 2022.
- ISSN 0009-658X.
- ^ Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1832). "picture". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833. Fisher, Son & Co.Landon, Letitia Elizabeth (1832). "poetical illustration". Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833. Fisher, Son & Co.
- ^ Welcome to our Visitor Centre, mcvc.info, archived from the original on 7 September 2008, retrieved 8 January 2010
- ^ a b "Bridge to Manchester's past revealed". BBC. 18 December 2001. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ Historic England, "Hanging Bridge (76682)", Research records (formerly PastScape), retrieved 7 January 2010
Bibliography
- Hartwell, Clare (2002), Manchester, Pevsner Architectural Guides, Yale University Press, ISBN 978-0-300-09666-8
- Hylton, Stuart (2003), A History of Manchester, Phillimore and Co, ISBN 1-86077-240-4
- Kidd, Alan (2008), Manchester: A History, Carnegie Publishing, ISBN 978-1-85936-128-3
- Scott, J. J. (1915), "Manchester Cathedral" in Manchester in 1915, Manchester University Press
- Shanks, Andrew (2010), Manchester Cathedral: The old church of the world's first great industrial city, Scala Publishers, ISBN 978-1-85759-658-8
External links
- Manchester Cathedral website
- A plan of the Cathedral
- The Cathedral Church of Manchester by Thomas Perkins