| Shrewsbury Cathedral | |
|---|---|
| Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Peter of Alcantara | |
 | |
  Shrewsbury Cathedral Shown within Shropshire | |
| 52°42′19″N2°45′14″W / 52.7053°N 2.7540°W /52.7053; -2.7540 | |
| Location | Shrewsbury, Shropshire |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | shrewsburycathedral.org |
| History | |
| Status | Cathedral |
| Consecrated | 1856 |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II*[1] |
| Designated | 1953 |
| Architect(s) | E. W. Pugin |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1852 |
| Completed | 1856 |
| Administration | |
| Province | Birmingham |
| Diocese | Shrewsbury (since 1856) |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop(s) | Rt Rev. Mark Davies |
| Dean | Very Rev. Canon Christopher Matthews[2] |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Jon Barton |
| Organist(s) | Jon Barton |
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Peter of Alcantara, commonly known asShrewsbury Cathedral, is aRoman Catholiccathedral inShrewsbury,England. It is the seat of theRoman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury andmother church of theDiocese of Shrewsbury, which covers thehistoric counties ofShropshire andCheshire.
The cathedral is particularly notable as being the only cathedral in the county. Unlike most other English counties and county towns, neither Shropshire nor Shrewsbury has aChurch of England cathedral.
The building of the cathedral was originally commissioned byJohn Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, the intended architect beingAugustus Welby Northmore Pugin, but both men died in 1852 before the work was expected to start. The succeeding nephew, the17th Earl, Bertram Talbot, offered to fund the building of the cathedral[3] from which the new diocese of Shrewsbury would be based. The cathedral's design was taken over byEdward Pugin, the son of Augustus.[3] Originally, a larger cathedral with a tallspire was planned. However, two years into the building of the cathedral, astratum of sand was discovered very close to the building's foundations, resulting in weaker foundations that led to the scaling down of the cathedral's size and the abandonment of the spire.[4] The Earl of Shrewsbury then agreed to meet the cost of a smaller church, finished at a cost of £4,000, though the Earl died three months prior to its completion. In 1856, the cathedral was completed and was opened byCardinal Wiseman.[5]
On 30 October 1956, a Mass was said in the cathedral to commemorate itscentenary. The Mass was celebrated byArchbishop Francis Grimshaw ofBirmingham,Bishop John Murphy ofShrewsbury,Bishop Cyril Restieaux ofPlymouth,Bishop Edward Ellis ofNottingham,Bishop John Rudderham ofClifton andBishop John Petit ofMenevia.[4]
In 1984, the cathedral was re-ordered, bringing it in line with the revised liturgy of theSecond Vatican Council. LocalGrinshill stone was used for the newaltar, which was consecrated in 1985 byBishop Joseph Gray.
In 2019, it was decided byBishop Mark Davies that the cathedral's interior would be restored to its original state.[6] The resulting programme of conservation work in the cathedral found a series of 19th century wall paintings byJoseph Aloysius Pippet. The paintings had been hidden under two layers of paint from previous refurbishments in the 1970s and 1980s, described by Sophie Andreae, of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, as "unsympathetic". It is hoped that the paintings can be restored to their former glory.[7]
The cathedral has a seating capacity of 300.[3]
The cathedral has a number of outstanding stained-glass windows. The older set of windows are mostly from the stained glass companyHardman & Co. from Birmingham. The cathedral also has seven windows made during the second and third decades of the 20th century by an artist inspired by theArts and Crafts movement,Margaret Agnes Rope, the daughter of a localdoctor; Rope had a studio in theGlass House inFulham from 1911 to 1923.[8] Later, Rope became aCarmelitenun at Woodbridge, Suffolk and later at Quidenham, Norfolk. She also designed and made a notable series of five large lancets atSt Peter and Paul Church, Newport. Her cousinM. E. Aldrich Rope was also a stained-glass artist.[9]
Rope also designed the cathedral's war memorial, in the west porch, dedicated to the 63 men of its congregation who died serving inWorld War I. It consists of apieta, with a wooden plaque below displaying the regimental badge of theKing's Shropshire Light Infantry (the main county regiment), and the arms of Shropshire and Shrewsbury. The list of names is inscribed below the plaque, and at its foot is inscribed the opening line in Latin of theRequiem Mass. Nearby was placed a plaque to mark the 50th anniversary of the end ofWorld War II in 1995.[10]
The cathedral is on a street called Town Walls, adjacent to the historictown wall, within the main meander of theRiver Severn in the centre of Shrewsbury. It is surrounded by a mainly residential neighbourhood.
| England and Wales |
|  | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland |
| |||||||||||||
| Ireland |
| |||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
 Buildings and structures inShrewsbury | |
|---|---|
| Civic | |
| Railway stations | |
| Educational | |
| Hospitals | |
| Churches | |
| Pubs | |
| Complexes | |
| Sports venues | |
| Historic | |
| Monuments | |
| Bridges | |
