| Manchester Cathedral | |
|---|---|
| Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George | |
 Manchester Cathedral and skyline | |
  Manchester Cathedral Shown within Greater Manchester | |
| 53°29′07″N2°14′41″W / 53.48528°N 2.24472°W /53.48528; -2.24472 | |
| Location | Victoria Street,Manchester M3 1SX |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Previous denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Tradition | Central churchmanship |
| Website | Cathedral website |
| History | |
| Status | Active |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade I listed |
| Architectural type | Gothic Revival |
| Style | Gothic (Perpendicular) |
| Years built | 1421–1882 |
| Specifications | |
| Tower height | 135ft |
| Administration | |
| Province | York |
| Diocese | Manchester (since 1847) |
| Clergy | |
| Dean | Rogers Govender |
| Subdean | Ian Jorysz |
| Precentor | Ian Jorysz |
| Canon Missioner | Grace Thomas |
| Archdeacon | Karen Smeeton |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Christopher Stokes (Organist and Master of the Choristers) |
| Organist | Benjamin Collyer (Sub-Organist) |
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Manchester Cathedral, formally theCathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George,[1][a] inManchester, England, is themother church of theAnglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of theBishop of Manchester and the city'sparish church. It is on Victoria Street inManchester city centre and is a grade I listed building.
The former parish church was rebuilt in thePerpendicular 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 highclerestory windows; also commissioning the late-medieval wooden internal furnishings, including thepulpitum, choir stalls and thenave roof supported by angels with gilded instruments. The collegiate church became the cathedral of the newDiocese of Manchester in 1847. It was extensively refaced, restored and extended in the Victorian period, and again following bomb damage duringWorld War II. It is one of fifteenGrade I listed buildings in Manchester.
The origins of Manchester's first churches are obscure. TheAngel 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, possiblyAnglo-Saxon, church. It has been dated to around 700 AD, however the Corpus of Anglo-Saxon sculpture dates the sculpture to the twelfth century.[3] Its Latin inscription translates as "into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit".[4][3] The first church, possibly sited on or near the site ofSt Ann's Church, was destroyed by Danish invaders in 923 and a church dedicated toSt Mary, built byKing Edward the Elder,[5] possibly where St Mary's Gate joins Exchange Street,[6] was mentioned in theDomesday Book in 1086.[5] The Domesday Book entry for Manchester reads "the Church of St Mary and the Church of St Michael hold onecarucate of land in Manchester exempt from all customary dues except tax".[7][b]
Construction of the predecessorparish church between theRivers Irk andIrwell and an ancient watercourse crossed by theHanging Bridge started in 1215 within the confines of the Baron's Court beside themanor house on the site of Manchester Castle.[9] Thelords of the manor were the Grelleys whosecoat of arms is still associated with the cathedral. The Grelleys acted as stewards, building andendowing the firstchancery, the St Nicholas Chancery. In 1311, the Grelleyestate passed by marriage to thede la Warres. In 1349 the St Nicholas Chancery was endowed by thede Traffords. In 1382Thomas de la Warre became itsrector.[10]
The church had a six-bayaisled nave and six-baychancel with aisles and a west tower in theperpendicular style of the late-medieval period.[9]
Thomas de la Warre became Baron de la Warre in 1398. A priest for more than 50 years, he was granted a licence fromKing Henry V andPope Martin V to establish acollegiate church in Manchester in 1421. The college was established by royal charter, with a warden, eight fellows, four singing clerks and eight choristers. The parish church was dedicated toSt Mary and to that dedication were addedSt George, the patron saint of England, andSt Denys, the patron saint of France, perhaps reflecting de la Warre's French heritage,[10] or Henry V's claim to the French throne.[9] The college of priests was housed in new buildings on the site of the former manor house that survive asChetham's Library paid for by de la Warre. He appointed John Huntingdon as the college's first warden who, between 1422 and 1458, rebuilt the eastern arm of the parish church to provide the collegiatechoir. Huntington's monumental brass (much restored) is laid on the chancel floor. Huntington is also commemorated in Victorianrebus, carvings of a manhunting and a man with atun (barrel of ale), on either side of the arch accessing the Lady Chapel.[10] The church's 14th-century west tower andLady Chapel were incorporated into the current structure although little or no fabric of that date is still visible, and the Lady Chapel was lost in 1940.
Traditionally the third warden, Ralph Langley (1465–1481), is credited with rebuilding the nave but the nave and choir were substantially reconstructed again byJames Stanley II (1485–1506) a few years later, when he raised theclerestory and provided the richly decorated timber roofs and choir stalls. James's stepmother,Lady Margaret Beaufort was mother ofHenry VII and through their alliance with the Tudor dynasty the Stanleys acquired both fabulous wealth and access to architects and craftsmen working on royal commissions. On stylistic grounds, the chancel arcades and clerestory of the cathedral are attributed toJohn Wastell, the architect for the completion ofKings College Chapel, Cambridge. The choir stalls, carved at the workshop of William Brownflet ofRipon, are the finest of a series which includes the surviving stalls atRipon Cathedral,Beverley Minster andBridlington Priory. The carving of themisericord seats is exceptionally fine.[10] James Stanley was responsible for the embellishment of the nave roof with supports in the form of fourteen life-size angel minstrels; and for the endowment of his own chantry chapel (now destroyed) near the north-east corner, in which he was buried in 1515.
The college was dissolved in 1547 in the reign ofEdward VI by theChantries Act, but refounded by his sisterMary in 1553. Its future was uncertain whenElizabeth I succeeded in 1559, but was assured when she granted a new charter in 1578, allowing a warden, four fellows, two chaplains, four singing men and four choristers. The dedication of the college (but not the church) was changed to thecollege of Christ.[2] Manchester andSouthwell Minster were the only two medieval collegiate foundations where daily choral worship was maintained after theReformation until they were joined by Ripon when its collegiate foundation was restored in 1607.John Dee,magus and astrologer for Elizabeth I was warden from 1595 to 1608 and occupied the wardens' lodgings now incorporated intoChetham's Library. The present charter, the fourth, was granted byCharles I preserving the dedication of the college to Christ.[2]
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 thechantry chapels, the St Nicholas Chapel, was rebuilt by the de Traffords in 1470. St George's Chapel was endowed by William Galley in 1503 and Richard Beswick endowed the Jesus Chapel in 1506. On the north side, William Radcliffe ofOrdsall Hall endowed the Holy Trinity Chapel in the northwest corner in 1498. Huntington left money and land for the St James' Chapel which was built in 1507. The largest of the chantries, the St John the Baptist Chapel, was begun by James Stanley the Bishop of Ely in 1513. The attached funerary chapel for James Stanley, the Ely Chapel, was destroyed by bombing in 1940.[11] The brass from atop Stanley's tombchest was rescued from the wreckage, and remounted vertically against the rebuilt north wall of the Regiment Chapel.
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]
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 exceptingWythenshawe), an area which in 1821 had a population of 187,031.[12] Within this vast parish there were considerable numbers ofchapels of ease andproprietary chapels for parochial worship – as well as other chapels fordissenters andRoman Catholics. Nevertheless, the Wardens and fellows of the Collegiate church maintained their legal right to a fee of 3s. 6d. for all marriages conducted within their parish; so, unless a couple were able and willing to pay two sets of marriage fees, the only place in Manchester where a marriage might legally be contracted was the collegiate church. In practice, this religious duty fell on the pastoral chaplain employed by the Warden and fellows; who from 1790 to 1821 was the eccentric figure of the Revd.Joshua 'Jotty' Brookes. In 1821 a total of 1,924 marriages were solemnized in the collegiate church; commonly in batches of a score or more. The couples to be married were most often desperately poor but Brookes was no respecter of status, so all were subjected to his 'production line' methods. Commonly, the groom and friends would decamp to a nearby ale-house while the bride kept place in the queue; but if there was one groom too few when a group of couples were lined up in front of the altar, Brookes notoriously would countenance no delay, but would continue the marriage with any passer-by (or even one of the other grooms) as a proxy stand-in. Brookes is commonly reckoned to have conducted more marriages, funerals and christenings than any English clergyman before or since.[12]
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.
Under theEcclesiastical Commissioners Act 1840, the warden and fellows of the collegiate church were translated into a dean and canons in preparation for becoming the cathedral of the new Diocese of Manchester which came into effect in 1847. Initial proposals for a new cathedral to be built to the designs ofR. C. Carpenter onPiccadilly Gardens were not proceeded with. The building was extensively renovated in 1882.[2]
During theManchester 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 thepulpitum 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 ofHubert Worthington and the St John the Baptist Chapel was refitted as the regimental chapel for theManchester Regiment. The cathedral was again damaged in theIRA bombing in June 1996.
The cathedral houses extensive parish and historicalarchives, dating back to 1421. In 2003, a project began to provide an exhaustive catalogue of the archive's contents to the public. The cathedral was grantedGrade I listed building status in January 1952.[13] Grade I structures are considered to be "buildings of exceptional interest".[14]
The cathedral is constructed of three types of stone. The walls and internal piers were originally constructed in a dark purple-brownCollyhurst sandstone formed in theEarly Permian period. This is now visible only in the tower arch of the nave, in the interior of the Jesus Chapel and in the chancel; as in the early 19th century all the surfaces of the nave and aisles were scored to be encased inRoman Cement. This damaged the structure so severely that most internal and external stonework had to be replaced in the later 19th century restorations in buff-grey Fletcher Bank Grit fromRamsbottom. The nave floors have, since the 1960s, been relaid inlimestone from thePeak District which containscrinoidfossils.[4]
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 withRoman cement by John Palmer. The external stonework was replaced between 1850 and 1870 in a restoration byJ. 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 thevestry, canons' library and western porches in 1898; whilePercy 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]
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 accompanyingmystery play performances in the street, and in popular religious processions.
The cathedral has thirty 16th-centurymisericords, considered to be among the finest in Europe. They are similar in style to those atRipon Cathedral andBeverley 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 ofbackgammon in the UK.
All the Victorianstained glass was destroyed during theManchester Blitz in 1940. Until the late 1960s, only two windows had been replaced, notably the Fire Window byMargaret Traherne (1966). The dean and chapter commissionedTony 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 anIRA bomb in 1996, the Healing Window by Linda Walton was installed in 2004.
The ten bells in the cathedral tower hung forchange ringing were cast byGillett & Johnston of Croydon in 1925, and dedicated on 10th November that same year. 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 byElizabeth II to distribute theRoyal Maundy. One of the recipients was the tower captain, Roland Eccles, for 35 years of service to ringing and the cathedral community. On 10th November 2025, the centenary of the bells' dedication, a fundraising campaign to re-hang and augment the bells was launched.
As of 28 July 2024:[17]
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's poetical illustration, Collegiate Church, Manchester, to an engraving of a picture of the interior byThomas Allom was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1833.[21]
The visitor centre by the cathedral's south porch costing £3 million was opened byElizabeth II. It has a shop and an exhibition room.[22] The main attraction is the 15th-centuryHanging Bridge,[23] ascheduled monument,[24] that was once the main approach to the church but was buried for more than 100 years.[23]
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 byGeorge Gilbert Scott. This instrument was destroyed in theChristmas Blitz of 1940, and was replaced in 1952 with an organ built into the north and south choir aisles. In 2016, this organ was itself replaced by an entirely new instrument, once again mounted over the pulpitum, and funded from the Stoller foundation. The new organ case and letterings were designed by Stephen Raw.
Details of the former Hill organ installed in 1871
Details of the former Harrison organ installed in 1952
Organist and Master of the Choristers: Christopher Stokes. Sub Organist: Geoffrey Woollatt.
Notableprevious 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) andGordon Stewart (1981–1992).
The 1421 foundation statutes of the collegiate church provided for an endowed choir oflay clerks andsinging boys; and these endowments were renewed when the college was refounded after the Reformation. However, although from the 17th century, there were twogrammar schools close by -Manchester Grammar School andChetham's Hospital School - there was, until the 20th century no provision for a choir school; dedicated choir school premises only being constructed byPercy Worthington in 1934. This school did not resume following war damage; so in 1969, when Chetham's School was refounded as a dedicated school of music, scholarships were established to enable boys aged 8–13 to serve the cathedral choir. These scholarships were subsequently modified in the 1970s, so as to support both girls' and boys' voices; the first statutory choir in the Church of England to make this change. There are now places for 20 choristers and 6 lay clerks.
Bibliography
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