Manchester Cathedral
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| Manchester Cathedral | |
The front entrance to Manchester Cathedral |
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| Basic information | |
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| Location | Manchester |
| Country | England |
| Ecclesiastical information | |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Province | York |
| Diocese | Manchester |
| Diocese created | 1847 |
| Dean | Rogers Morgan Govender |
| Website | www.manchestercathedral.org |
| Building information | |
| Dates built | 1421-1882 |
| Architectural style | Gothic (Perpendicular) |
Manchester Cathedral is a Medieval church located on Victoria Street in central Manchester and is the seat of the Bishop of Manchester. The cathedral's official name is The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George in Manchester. It has also variously been known locally as St Mary's, Christ Church and, simply, t'owd church.[1]
Although constructed over a period of 600 years, its main architectural style is Perpendicular Gothic, replete with tall windows and flat fan-vaulted ceilings. The interior of the church contains many pieces of period art, notably the medieval woodcarvings of the Ripon Carvers. It is one of the Grade I listed buildings in Manchester.
The Cathedral's current Dean, as of 2005, is the Very Reverend Rogers Morgan Govender. The previous Dean, the Very Reverend Kenneth Riley retired in 2005.
Services are currently held on Mondays to Fridays at 9:00am (Morning Prayer), 1:10pm (Holy Communion), and 5:30pm (Evensong); on Saturdays at 9:00am (Morning Prayer), 9:15am (Holy Communion), and 3:30pm (Evensong); and on Sundays at 8:45am (Morning Prayer), 9:00am (Holy Communion), 10:30am (Sung Eucharist) and 5:30pm (Evening Prayer (Anglican)|Evensong).
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[edit] History and furniture
[edit] The Middle Ages
The first Christian church on the site of the current cathedral was built in the 8th century. Evidence for this comes from the Angel Stone which dates to the period; the Old English inscription on the stone translates as "into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit".[2][notes 1] The Saxon Church was recorded as St Mary's in the Domesday Survey. The entry for Manchester reads "the Church of St Mary and the Church of St Michael hold one carucate of land in Manchester exempt from all customary dues except tax".[4][notes 2]
Work on the current building began in 1215 within the confines of the Baron's Court beside the Manor House. The occupying Lords of the Manor were the Grelley family, and their coat of arms is still associated with the Cathedral to this day. The Grelley family acted as stewards of the church, building and endowing the first chancery, the St. Nicholas Chancery.
In 1311 the succession of the Grelley family ended, and the estate passed by marriage to the de la Warre family. Between 1330 and 1360 the ornately carved entrance to the Lady Chapel and its former tower were constructed. In 1349 the St. Nicholas Chancery was endowed by the de Trafford family. The involvement of the de la Warre family was furthered in 1382 when Thomas de la Warr, later to be appointed Baron of Manchester, became Rector of the parish church.
King Henry V chartered the church as a collegiate foundation in 1421 and it has had close ties with education ever since. The priests of the college were housed in collegiate buildings to the north of the church. The buildings survive as Chetham's Hospital, founded by Humphrey Chetham on his death in 1653. They retain the fifteenth century hall, cloister and spectacular library. The library is the oldest surviving public library in Britain and among its readers was Karl Marx. Chetham's school was refounded in 1969 Chetham's Hospital School of Music, which rapidly attained international prestige as Britain's leading music academy for pre-university students. The boys of the Cathedral Choir are drawn from among its students.
[edit] The Modern Period
The church was expanded many times over the following centuries by various town notables, and had its treasures plundered several times (notably by Edward VI in 1550 and during the English Civil War in 1649).
In 1847, the Diocese of Manchester was created, and the church was named its cathedral. Some extensive rebuilding and refacing also took place during the 1800s, so that the buildings do not look as old as other buildings of comparable antiquity.
During the Manchester Blitz, a German bomb severely damaged the cathedral; it took nearly twenty years to repair all of the destruction.
The cathedral became a Grade I listed building on 25 January 1952.[1]
The building was again damaged by an IRA bomb in 1996. The cathedral houses extensive parish and historical archives, dating back to 1421. In 2003, a project began to provide an exhaustive catalogue of the archive's contents to the public. It was the setting for a marriage at the start of the 2006 episode of Cracker.
[edit] Misericords
The Cathedral has thirty, 16th century misericords, which are considered to be amongst the finest misericords in Europe. It is worth noting that the misericords have a stylistic similarity to those at Ripon Cathedral and Beverley minster - and although Manchester's post date-these, they were probably carved by the same school at Ripon. One of the most notable is N-08, which is the earliest known mention of backgammon in the UK.
[edit] The Cathedral Bells
There are 10 bells in the cathedral tower hung for change ringing, which were cast in 1925 by Gillett & Johnston. The tenor (largest) bell has a mass of 1.3 tonnes and is tuned to the key of D. The bells are rung for church service on a Sunday morning and for special occasions, the latest being for a visit by HM the Queen for The Royal Maundy. One of the recipients of the Maundy Money was the tower Captain, Roland Eccles, for 35 years of service to ringing and to the Cathedral community.
[edit] Manchester Grammar School Founders' Day
Every year, on the third Friday in October, the Manchester Grammar School's Founders' Day Service is held in the Cathedral. Before moving to Fallowfield in the 1930s, MGS was situated in the building that is now Chetham's School of Music, right next to the Cathedral. It is believed that this service is the oldest tradition in Manchester.
[edit] Organ and Organists
[edit] Organ
Details of the organ from the National Pipe Organ Register
[edit] Organists
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- 1980 - 1992 Stuart Beer (Choirmaster)
- 1981 - 1992 Gordon Brodie Stewart (Organist)
- 1992 - 1996 Stuart Beer (Director of Music)
- 1992 - 1996 Christopher Stokes (Organist)
- 1996 - Christopher Stokes (Organist and Master of the Choristers)
[edit] Assistant organists
- Herbert C. Morris 1895 - 1896 (later organist of St. Davids' Cathedral)
- Joseph Bridge (later organist of Chester Cathedral)
- Henry Coleman 1908 - 1912 (later organist of Peterborough Cathedral)
- Ernest Bullock 1912 - 1914
- Norman Cocker 1920 - 1921
- Thomas Armstrong 1922 - 1923 (afterwards organist of St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, London)
- Jonathan Bielby 1968 - 1970 (afterwards organist of Wakefield Cathedral)
- Brian Hodge 1970 - 1974
- Stephen Drew Pinnock 1975 - 1980 (afterwards organist of Newcastle Cathedral)
- Jeffrey Makinson 1999 - (previously assistant organist of Lincoln Cathedral)
[edit] See also
- Controversy over the usage of Manchester Cathedral in Resistance: Fall of Man
- Grade I listed buildings in Manchester
- History of Manchester
- List of churches in Greater Manchester
- Cathedral Steps
[edit] Notes
- ^ Despite the Old English inscription, according to historian Alan Kidd, the stone is probably of a later date, however he does not explain how he reached this conclusion.[3]
- ^ It's thought that the St Michael's Church mentioned in the Domesday Survey was on the site of St Michael and All Angels' Church in Ashton-under-Lyne.[5]
[edit] References
- Notes
- ^ a b "A-Z of Listed Buildings in Manchester". Manchester City Council web pages. Manchester City Council. 2007. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=1908&pageNumber=6. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ History of Manchester Cathedral, ManchesterCathedral.org, http://www.manchestercathedral.org/content/view/36/41/, retrieved on 14 January 2009
- ^ Kidd 2008, p. 2.
- ^ Hylton 2003, p. 9.
- ^ Hylton 2003, p. 10.
- Bibliography
- Hylton, Stuart (2003), A History of Manchester, Chichester: Phillimore and co. Ltd., ISBN 1-86077-240-4
- Kidd, Alan (2008), Manchester: A History, Carnegie Publishing, ISBN 1-85936-128-5
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Manchester Cathedral |
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