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Restored during the Victorian era, there is still much of the magnificent original medieval architecture (its long, convoluted history stretches back to 1421) to be seen in Manchester Cathedral. Located in the oldest part of the city— overlooking the river Irwell, between St Ann's Square and Victoria Station—it is a popular tourist attraction with fine stained glass windows, wonderful carvings, a large religious bookshop and the widest nave of its kind in Britain.
Because of the extensive refurbishment carried out both inside and outside the church during the nineteenth century, many people can be forgiven for thinking that, from appearances at least, Manchester Cathedral is a relatively modern church. The Angel Stone is a fragment of a Saxon Church, possibly 8th century. The Saxon words mean, ‘into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit’
In fact evidence of an early Saxon church in Manchester comes from the Angel Stone, which was discovered embedded in the wall of the original South Porch of the Cathedral in the 19th century, and which has been dated to around 700 CE.
t was around the year 1075 that King William the Conqueror gave all the land between the River Ribble and the River Mersey to Roger de Poitou, son of the Earl of Shrewsbury. He in turn gave the Manor of Manchester to the Greslet or Gresley family.
In 1086 Manchester was recorded in William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book, which mentioned that the place had a Parish Church and it is believed that this church was located at the corner of St Mary’s Gate and Exchange Street.
However, this site was deserted when in 1215 Robert Greslet, Lord of the Manor and 5th Baron of Manchester decided to build the current church adjacent to his manor house (now Chetham’s Library). This became the Parish Church of Manchester.
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Records show that there has been a church on this site since 1215, although the discovery of the 'Angel Stone' embedded in the wall of the south porch points to a Saxon church dating back to possibly the 8th. century. The present church was built mainly in the 15th. century (it became a Collegiate Church in 1421) but it underwent extensive refurbishment, both inside and outside, in the 19th century. The church became the Cathedral in 1847 when the Diocese of Manchester was formed.
There are different little chapels within the Cathedral -- one of particular interest is the Chapel of the Manchester Regiment and the King's Regiment (see 'more photos') with books of remembrance for the various batallions listing those who fell in conflict. This particular chapel was originally built in 1513 as a Chantry dedicated to St. John the Baptist by Bishop Stanley as a thanksgiving for the return of his family members from the battle of Flodden Field in Northumberland. After extensive damage in WW11 it was rebuilt and completed in 1951. It was subsequently changed to a regimental chapel in 1986.
The Cathedral now has a Visitor Centre and a restaurant in the basement.
Opening hours :-
Monday to Saturday -- 10-00 to 16-30
Sundays -- 11-30 to 16-00 Leave a Comment Address: Victoria StreetPhone: 0161 833 2220Directions: Victoria Street is at the northern end of Deansgate -- it's about 10 minutes from Piccadilly.Website: http://manchestercathedral.org/
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It was a bit of a tight squeeze on the extremely narrow spiral staircase (esp after eating angel cake!) but we managed to climb up to the top of the tower. There are 60 steps to the bell ringing room - hear we had an explanation of how the bells are rung, another 50 to where you could see the bells and a final 50 steps to the top of the tower.
Traffic is only allowed in one way for obvious reasons!
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One of the most intersting features of the Cathedral's interior was the choirstalls. Ornately decorated on the outside facade and the seats had intricate carvings on them, all with their own story to tell - similar to the ones seen in Chester Cathedral. The ones in Manchester Cathedral are a couple of centuries younger though.
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Our visit to the cathedral just happened to co-incide with an angel theme and this day was an open day too. The cathedral was "dressed with angels" (as seen in this pic) and pictures and other artwork relating to angels on display. Free refreshments too - angel biscuits and angel cake no less - hadn't had angel cake since I was a kid!
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In case you don't make it to the top of the Cathedral tower here's one of the views - looking across to the Urbis Gallery. This was probably one of the better views you have - its quite a narrow area on the top - not as big as the one at Liverpool. Judging by the stormy clouds we were glad to be going inside at this point.
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The ceiling in the cathedral is magnificent - dark, wooden like an upturned keeel of a ship. A round mirror reflects the view to save you craning yoour neck..and provides an ideal reflection shot (as seen in my reflections travelogue!)
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wonderful and inspiring 14th century medium sized church building with later additions; most noteworthy the wonderfull 20th-century stained glass windows by Anthony Hollaway
TIP: attend a service, they have a remarkable choir (close connection to the nearby Chetham's School of Music) Leave a Comment Address: City Center Victoria / Cathedral StreetOther Contact: http://www.dws.ndirect.co.uk/mc.
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Manchester Cathedral seems tucked out of the way in the city centre and its not a huge building when compared to somewhere like York Minster but its still worth a peep inisde to see some of its features.
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There were several lovely stained glass windows in the cathedral to admire - this is just one of them that I liked - one of the more traditional ones. The more modern ones didn't hold my attention as much.
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on June 8, 2008
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