Liverpool Cathedral

Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool
Cathedral Church of Christ
Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, St. James's Mount
Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool Shown within Merseyside
53°23′51″N 2°58′23″W / 53.3975°N 2.97306°W / 53.3975; -2.97306Coordinates: 53°23′51″N 2°58′23″W / 53.3975°N 2.97306°W / 53.3975; -2.97306
Location	Liverpool
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	liverpoolcathedral.org.uk
Architecture
Architect(s)	Giles Gilbert Scott
Style	Gothic Revival
Years built	1904–1978
Specifications
Length	188.67 m (619.0 ft)
Nave height	35.3 m (116 ft)
Choir height	35.3 m (116 ft)
Number of towers	1
Tower height	100.8 m (331 ft)1
Administration
Diocese	Liverpool (since 1880)
Province	York
Clergy
Dean	Myles Davies (Acting) Pete Wilcox (announced)

Liverpool Cathedral is the Church of England cathedral of the Diocese of Liverpool, built on St James's Mount in Liverpool and is the seat of the Bishop of Liverpool. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool but it is dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin. The total external length of the building, including the Lady Chapel, is 189 metres (620 ft) making it one of the longest cathedrals in the world; its internal length is 146 metres (479 ft).

The Anglican cathedral is one of two in the city. The other, the Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Liverpool, is situated approximately half a mile to the north. The cathedrals are linked by Hope Street, which takes its name from William Hope, a local merchant whose house stood on the site now occupied by the Philharmonic Hall, and was named long before either cathedral was built.

History

Background

J.C. Ryle, first Bishop of Liverpool

Francis Chavasse, second Bishop

John Charles Ryle was installed as the first Bishop of Liverpool in 1880, but the new diocese had no cathedral, merely a "pro-cathedral", the parish church of St Peter's, Church Street. St Peter's was unsatisfactory; it was too small for major church events, and moreover was, in the words of the Rector of Liverpool, "ugly & hideous".^[1] In 1885 an Act of Parliament authorised the building of a cathedral on the site of the existing St John's Church, adjacent to St George's Hall.^[2] A competition was held for the design, and won by Sir William Emerson. The site proved unsuitable for the erection of a building on the scale proposed, and the scheme was abandoned.^[2]

In 1900 Francis Chavasse succeeded Ryle as bishop, and immediately revived the project to build a cathedral.^[3] There was some opposition from among members of Chavasse's diocesan clergy, who maintained that there was no need for an expensive new cathedral. The architectural historian John Thomas argues that this reflected "a measure of factional strife between Liverpool Anglicanism's very Evangelical or Low Church tradition, and other forces detectable within the religious complexion of the new diocese."^[4] Chavasse, though himself an Evangelical, regarded the building of a great church as "a visible witness to God in the midst of a great city".^[4] He pressed ahead, and appointed a committee under Sir William Forwood to consider all possible sites. The St John's site being ruled out, Forwood's committee identified four locations: St Peter's and St Luke's, which were, like St John's, found to be too restricted; a triangular site at the junction of London Road and Monument Place;^{[n 1]} and St James's Mount.^[5] There was considerable debate about the competing merits of the two possible sites, and Forwood's committee was inclined to favour the London Road triangle. However, the cost of acquiring it was too great, and the St James's Mount site was recommended.^[5] A historian of the cathedral, Vere Cotton, wrote in 1964:

Looking back after an interval of sixty years, it is difficult to realise that any other decision was even possible. With the exception of Durham, no English cathedral is so well placed to be seen to advantage both from a distance and from its immediate vicinity. That such a site, convenient to yet withdrawn from the centre of the city … dominating the city and clearly visible from the river, should have been available is not the least of the many strokes of good fortune which have marked the history of the Cathedral.^[5]

Fund-raising began, and new enabling legislation was passed by Parliament. The Liverpool Cathedral Act 1902 authorised the purchase of the site and the building of a cathedral, with the proviso that as soon as any part of it opened for public worship, St Peter's Church should be demolished and its site sold to provide the endowment of the new cathedral's chapter. St Peter's place as parish church of Liverpool would be taken by the existing church of St Nicholas near the Pier Head.^[5]

1901 competition

In late 1901, two well-known architects were appointed as assessors for an open competition for architects wishing to be considered for the design of the cathedral.^[6] G. F. Bodley was a leading exponent of the Gothic revival style, and a former pupil and relative by marriage of Sir George Gilbert Scott.^[7] R. Norman Shaw was an eclectic architect, having begun in the Gothic style, and later favouring what his biographer Andrew Saint calls "full-blooded classical or imperial architecture".^[8]

Giles Gilbert Scott's winning design, with twin towers

Architects were invited by public advertisement to submit portfolios of their work for consideration by Bodley and Shaw. From these, the two assessors selected a first shortlist of architects to be invited to prepare drawings for the new building. It was stipulated that the designs were to be in the Gothic style.^[9] Robert Gladstone, a member of the committee to which the assessors were to report said, "There could be no question that Gothic architecture produced a more devotional effect upon the mind than any other which human skill had invented."^[10] This condition caused controversy. Reginald Blomfield and others protested at the insistence on a Gothic style, a "worn-out flirtation in antiquarianism, now relegated to the limbo of art delusions."^[11] An editorial in The Times observed, "To impose a preliminary restriction is unwise and impolitic … the committee must not hamper itself at starting with a condition which is certain to exclude many of the best men."^[12] Eventually it was agreed that the assessors would also consider "designs of a Renaissance or classical character".^[13]

For architects, the competition was an important event; not only was it for one of the largest building projects of its time, but it was only the third opportunity to build an Anglican cathedral in England since the Reformation in the 16th century (St Paul's Cathedral being the first, rebuilt from scratch after the Great Fire of London in 1666, and Truro Cathedral being the second, begun in the 19th century).^[13] The competition attracted 103 entries,^[13] from architects including Temple Moore, Charles Rennie Mackintosh^[14] and Charles Reilly.^[15]

In 1903, the assessors recommended a proposal submitted by the 22-year-old Giles Gilbert Scott, who was still an articled pupil working in Temple Moore's practice,^[16] and had no existing buildings to his credit. He told the assessors that so far his only major work had been to design a pipe-rack.^[17] The choice of winner was even more contentious with the cathedral committee when it was discovered that Scott was a Roman Catholic,^{[n 2]} but the decision stood.^[16]

Scott's first design

Although young, Scott was steeped in ecclesiastical design and well versed in the Gothic revival style, his grandfather, George Gilbert Scott, and father George Gilbert Scott, Jr. having designed numerous churches.^[18] George Bradbury, the surveyor to the cathedral committee, reported, "Mr. Scott seems to have inherited the architectural genius so marked in the Scott family for the last three or four generations ... He is very pleasant, agreeable, enthusiastic, tall, and looks considerably older than he actually is."^[4] Appearances notwithstanding, Scott's inexperience prompted the cathedral committee to appoint Bodley to oversee the detailed architectural design and building work. Work began without delay. The foundation stone was laid by King Edward VII in 1904.^[1]

Cotton observes that it was generous of Bodley to enter into a working relationship with a young and untried student.^[19] Bodley had been a close friend of Scott's father, but his collaboration with the young Scott was fractious, especially after Bodley accepted commissions to design two cathedrals in the U.S.,^{[n 3]} necessitating frequent absences from Liverpool.^[16] Scott complained that this "has made the working partnership agreement more of a farce than ever, and to tell the truth my patience with the existing state of affairs is about exhausted".^[16] Scott was on the point of resigning when Bodley died suddenly in 1907, leaving him in charge.^[20] The cathedral committee appointed Scott sole architect, and though it reserved the right to appoint another co-architect, it never seriously considered doing so.^[4]

Scott's 1910 redesign

Scott's 1910 redesign, with central tower

In 1909, free of Bodley and growing in confidence, Scott submitted an entirely new design for the main body of the cathedral.^[21] His original design had two towers at the west end^{[n 4]} and a single transept; the revised plan called for a single central tower 85.344 metres (280.00 ft) high, topped with a lantern and flanked by twin transepts.^{[23][n 5]} The cathedral committee, shaken by such radical changes to the design they had approved, asked Scott to work his ideas out in fine detail and submit them for consideration.^[21] He worked on the plans for more than a year, and in November 1910, the committee approved them.^[21] In addition to the change in the exterior, Scott's new plans provided more interior space.^[25] At the same time Scott modified the decorative style, losing much of the Gothic detailing and introducing a more modern, monumental style.^[26]

The Lady Chapel (originally intended to be called the Morning Chapel),^[4] the first part of the building to be completed, was consecrated in 1910 by Bishop Chavasse in the presence of two archbishops and 24 other bishops.^[27] The date, 29 June – St Peter's Day, was chosen to honour the pro-cathedral, now due to be demolished.^[28] The Manchester Guardian described the ceremony:

The Bishop of Liverpool knocked on the door with his pastoral staff, saying in a loud voice, "Open ye the gates." The doors having been flung open, the Earl of Derby, resplendent in the golden robes of the Chancellor of Liverpool University, presented Dr. Chavasse with the petition for consecration. … The Archbishop of York, whose cross was carried before him and who was followed by two train-bearers clad in scarlet cassocks, was conducted to the sedilla, and the rest of the bishops, with the exception of Dr. Chavasse, who knelt before his episcopal chair in the sanctuary, found accommodation in the choir stalls.^[29]

The Lady Chapel, the first part of the cathedral to be completed.

The richness of the décor of the Lady Chapel may have dismayed some of Liverpool's Evangelical clergy. Thomas suggests that they were confronted with "a feminized building which lacked reference to the 'manly' and 'muscular Christian' thinking which had emerged in reaction to the earlier feminization of religion."^[4] He adds that the building would have seemed to many to be designed for Anglo-Catholic worship.^[4]

Second phase

Work was severely limited during the First World War, with a shortage of manpower, materials and donations.^[30] By 1920, the workforce had been brought back up to strength and the stone quarries at Woolton, source of the red sandstone for most of the building, reopened.^[30] The first section of the main body of the cathedral was complete by 1924. It comprised the chancel, an ambulatory, chapter house and vestries.^[31] The section was closed with a temporary wall, and on 19 July 1924, the 20th anniversary of the laying of the foundation stone, the cathedral was consecrated in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary, and bishops and archbishops from round the globe.^[30]

Major works ceased for a year while Scott once again revised his plans for the next section of the building: the tower, the under-tower and the central transept.^[32] The tower in his final design was higher and narrower than his 1910 conception.^[33]

From July 1925 work continued steadily, and it was hoped to complete the whole section by 1940.^[34] The outbreak of the World War II in 1939 caused similar problems to those of the earlier war. The workforce dwindled from 266 to 35. Moreover, the building was damaged by German bombs.^[35] Despite these vicissitudes, the central section was complete enough by July 1941 to be handed over to the Dean and Chapter. Scott laid the last stone of the last pinnacle on the tower on 20 February 1942.^[36] No further major works were undertaken during the rest of the war. Scott produced his plans for the nave in 1942, but work on it did not begin until 1948.^[37] The bomb damage, particularly to the Lady Chapel, was not fully repaired until 1955.^[38]

Completion

Scott died in 1960. The first bay of the nave was then nearly complete, and was handed over to the Dean and Chapter in April 1961. Scott was succeeded as architect by Frederick Thomas.^[39] Thomas, who had worked with Scott for many years, drew up a new design for the west front of the cathedral. The Guardian commented, "It was an inflation beater, but totally in keeping with the spirit of the earlier work, and its crowning glory is the Benedicite Window designed by Carl Edwards and covering 1,600 sq. ft."^[40]

The completion of the building was marked by a service of thanksgiving and dedication in October 1978, attended by Queen Elizabeth II. In the spirit of ecumenism that had been fostered in Liverpool, the Roman Catholic Archbishop Derek Worlock played a major part in the ceremony.^[41]

Completed building

The interior of the cathedral, looking up into the vault below the central belltower.

The Cathedral's official website gives the dimensions of the building as

• Length: 188.7 metres (619 ft)
• Area: 9,687.4 square metres (104,274 sq ft)
• Height of tower: 100.8 metres (331 ft)
• Choir vault: 35.3 metres (116 ft)
• Nave vault: 36.5 metres (120 ft)
• Under tower vault: 53.3 metres (175 ft)
• Tower arches: 32.6 metres (107 ft)

The cathedral was built mainly of sandstone quarried in the Liverpool suburb of Woolton. The belltower is the largest, and also one of the tallest, in the world (see List of tallest churches in the world). It houses the world's highest (67 m (220 ft)) and heaviest (31 UK tons; 31.5 tonnes) ringing peal of bells.^[42]

The cathedral's west window. The uppermost window is the Benedicite window.

Services and other uses

The cathedral is open daily all year round from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm, (except Christmas Day when it closes slightly earlier to the public at 3 pm), and regular services are held every day of the week at 8:30 am (Morning Prayer). 12:05 pm (Communion) and Monday – Friday at 5:30 pm (Evensong or Said Evening Prayer according to day and time of year). At the weekend, there is also a 3 pm Evensong service on Saturdays and Sundays with a main cathedral Eucharist at 10:30 am, which attracts a large core congregation each week, and also by Evensong at 3 pm and a more intimate Communion at 4 pm. The core services at 5:30 pm, 10:30 am on Sundays, and 3 pm Saturdays and Sundays are supported on each occasion during term time by the cathedral's choir.^[43]

The Liverpool St. Andrew's congregation of the Church of Scotland uses the Radcliffe Room of the cathedral for Sunday services.

The cathedral viewed from ground level.

Admission to the cathedral is free, but with a suggested donation of £3.^{[n 6]} Access to the main floor of the cathedral is restricted during services.^[44]

The building also plays host to events including concerts, academic events involving local schools, graduations, seminars, conferences and corporate events. Its maximum capacity for any major event including special services is 3,000.

Liverpool Cathedral has its own specialist constabulary to keep watch. The Liverpool Cathedral Constables together with the York Minster Police are the only specialist cathedral constabularies in the United Kingdom.

Bells

At 67 m (220 ft) above floor level, the bells of Liverpool Cathedral are the highest and heaviest ringing peal in the world. ^{[n 7]} The peal proper (hung for full-circle change ringing) consists of thirteen bells weighing a total of 16.5 tons, which are named the Bartlett Bells after Thomas Bartlett (d September 4, 1912), a native of Liverpool who bequeathed the funding.^[45] The bells vary in size and note from the comparatively light 10 cwt treble to the tenor weighing 4 tons. The 13th bell (sharp 2nd) is extra to the main 12-bell peal, and its purpose is to make possible ringing in a correct octave in a higher key. All thirteen bells were cast by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel in London.^[46] The initial letters of the inscriptions on the thirteen bells spell out the name “Thomas Bartlett” (from tenor to treble).^[47]

The Bartlett bells are hung in a circle around the bourdon bell "Great George".^{[n 8]} At 14½ tons, Great George is the second most massive bell in the British Isles. (Only the 16½ ton "Great Paul" of St Paul's Cathedral in London is heavier.) Great George, cast by Taylors of Loughborough and named in memory of King George V, is hung in a pendant position and is sounded by means of a counter-balanced clapper.^[48]

Music

A K6 telephone box, also designed by Giles Gilbert Scott, in the cathedral

Organ

The organ, built by Henry Willis & Sons, is the largest pipe organ in the UK with two five-manual consoles, 10,268 pipes and a trompette militaire. There is an annual anniversary recital on the Saturday nearest to 18 October, the date of the organ's consecration. There is a two-manual Willis organ in the Lady Chapel.^[49]

Organists and directors of music

• 1910 – Frederick William Burstall
• 1915–1955 – Walter Henry Goss-Custard
• 1931–1982 – Ronald Woan (director of music)
• 1955–1980 – Noel Rawsthorne
• 1980 – Ian Tracey (later organist titulaire)
• 2008 – David Poulter (director of music)

Assistant organists

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

• Noel Rawsthorne 1949–1955 (afterwards organist)
• Ian Tracey 1976–1980 (afterwards organist)
• Ian Wells 1980–2007
• Daniel Bishop 2010–present

Organ Scholars

• Ian Tracey (organist) (later organiste titulaire)
• Ian Wells (later, Holy Trinity, Southport)
• Stephen Disley (now assistant organist and director of the girls' choir, Southwark Cathedral)
• Paul Daggett
• Martin Payne 1994–1995
• David Leahey 1995–1997
• Keith Hearnshaw 1997–1998
• Michael Wynne
• Gerrard Callacher
• Daniel Bishop (later associate organist)
• Shean Bowers 2004–2006 (later assistant director of music at Bath Abbey)
• Samuel Austin 2007–2008 (later assistant director of music at Aldenham School)

Artists and sculptors

The high altar

In 1931, Scott asked Edward Carter Preston to produce a series of sculptures for Liverpool Cathedral. The project was an immense undertaking which occupied the artist for the next thirty years. The work for the cathedral included fifty sculptures, ten memorials and several reliefs. Many inscriptions in the cathedral were jointly written by Dean Dwelly and the sculptor who subsequently carved them.

In 2003 the Liverpool artist, Don McKinlay, who knew Carter Preston from his youth, was commissioned by the cathedral to model an infant Christ to accompany the 15th century Madonna by Giovanni della Robbia Madonna now situated in the Lady Chapel.^[50]

Stained glass

The firm of Powell & Sons (Whitefriars), Ltd., of London, provided most of the stained glass designs. John William Brown (1842–1928) designed the Te Deum window in the east end of the Cathedral, as well as the original windows for the Lady Chapel, which was heavily damaged during German bombing raids in 1940. The glass in the Lady Chapel was replaced with designs, based on the originals, by James Humphries Hogan (1883–1948). He was one of the most prolific of the Powell & Sons designers; his designs can also be seen in the large north and south windows in the central space of the cathedral (each 100 feet tall). Later artists include William Wilson (1905–1972), who began his work at Liverpool Cathedral after the death of Hogan, Herbert Hendrie (1887–1946), and Carl Edwards (1914–1985), who designed the Benedicite window in the west front.

Burials

Chavasse and Scott are buried in the precinct of the cathedral, the former in Founder's Plot, and the latter at the west end of the site.^[51] Clergy buried within the cathedral include the bishops Albert David and David Sheppard. Among the benefactors whose remains are buried in the cathedral are William and Edmund Vestey and Frederick Radcliffe. The ashes of the donor of the cathedral bells, Thomas Bartlett are interred in a casket in the ringing room.^[51]

See also

Anglicanism portal

• Architecture of Liverpool
• Liverpool Cathedral Constables

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

• Bailey, F A; R Millington (1957). The Story of Liverpool. Liverpool: Corporation of the City of Liverpool. OCLC 19865965. 
• Cotton, Vere E (1964). The Book of Liverpool Cathedral. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. OCLC 2286856. 
• Powers, Alan (1996). "Liverpool and Architectural Education in the Early Twentieth Century". In Sharples, Joseph. Charles Reilly & the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904–1933. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. pp. 1–23. ISBN 0-85323-901-0. 

Further reading

• Cotton, Vere E (1964). The Liverpool Cathedral Official Handbook. Liverpool: Littlebury Bros for Liverpool Cathedral Committee. OCLC 44551681. 
• Vincent, Noel (2002). The Stained Glass of Liverpool Cathedral. Norwich: Jarrold. ISBN 0-7117-2589-6. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Liverpool Anglican Cathedral

• Liverpool Pictorial Images of Liverpool Anglican cathedral
• Liverpool Cathedral website
• http://choral-evensong.spaces.live.com/ [website containing daily Cathedral blog, and all sermons, talks, lectures and courses given in the Cathedral in text and mp3 file format
• The Liverpool Shakespeare Festival Annual theatrical performance inside the Cathedral
• Virtual Tours of Liverpool Cathedral Virtual Tours of Liverpool Cathedral
• New Bridge design
• Description and pictures of the cathedral organ.
• Details of the main organ from the National Pipe Organ Register
• Details of the organ in the Lady Chapel from the National Pipe Organ Register
• Interview with Canon Justin Welby, dean of Liverpool Cathedral
• St. Andrew's Church of Scotland Liverpool website

Map of the cathedral at Grid Ref SJ 354 894

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