Blackburn Cathedral Oct/Nov 2015
Official name…………
Cathedral Church of Blackburn Saint Mary the Virgin with St Paul
Visited with Mr Pink and Mr X (non member)
The Cathedral is undergoing an extension costing 6 million pound (cathedral court) which is part of the Cathedral Quarter development which is costing 34 million pounds which will include a commercial office block, premier inn, and brand new open space boulevard with the original restored queen Victoria statue.
HISTORY…………..
Well theres too much history about this place so I will include a couple of links if anyone fancies a read.
Blackburn Cathedral is one of England's newest Cathedrals, yet it is one of the country's oldest places of Christian worship. For many centuries, this has been the Parish Church of Blackburn dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin.
It continues as a place of prayer and worship and is at the centre of the Diocese which takes in almost the whole of Lancashire.
With the creation of the Diocese of Blackburn in 1926 (taken from the Diocese of Manchester) the impressive parish church of St Mary the Virgin was raised to cathedral status. The church, which was built in 1826 and designed by architect John Palmer, now forms the cathedral's nave.
In the early 1930s, fundraising began to enlarge the cathedral so that the building complemented its newfound importance. By 1938, enough money had been raised and work began on enlarging the new cathedral. Although work was interrupted by the war, it was resumed afterwards and continued through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. After the death of architect W.A. Forsyth in 1950, architect Laurence King joined the project and designed the distinctive lantern tower. The lantern tower, which consists of 56 different panes of coloured glass, with a modernist slender aluminium spire, was completed in 1967.
The cathedral was finally completed in 1977 and what had been built over the past decades was finally consecrated as Blackburn Cathedral that year.[1]
The North transept contains eight misericords dating from the 15th century. It is not known at what time they arrived at the Cathedral, but they are believed to have originated at Whalley Abbey. This could mean that they were removed to a builder's yard after the Dissolution, but with the cathedral not being built until the 19th century, this allows for the possibility that they had lain unused for some 300 years.
In 2009 the tower was topped with an ornate bishop's mitre finial painted and gilded in gold leaf by Mark Bridges of Sussex and bearing the Lancashire Rose emblem[2]
On 17 April 201 the Cathedral hosted the Royal Maundy service. In keeping with tradition, The Queen handed out Maundy money to 88 men and 88 women. It was the Queen's first visit to the Cathedral
Link to some history http://www.blackburncathedral.com/levels.asp?level_id=301
Link to wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Cathedral
This isn’t by far the biggest Cathedral around but it sure is I lovely historical structure.
We had spotted that this iconic structure was being worked on up so we went to have a closer look!
With a bit of jiggery pokery we found ourselves stood above the main roof apex, with a nice view of town down below and accompanied by the sounds of the choir, bells and organ practice making a fair old din disguising our access onto the building.
We just had to top out on the glazed mock belfry, the colours were amazing and so were the views inside through the windows we passed whilst walking along some hanging scaffolding.
we found a way to get up higher up the building and chilled out for a while taking pictures.
On with the pics……
Thanks for looking.
Stonemonkey
Official name…………
Cathedral Church of Blackburn Saint Mary the Virgin with St Paul
Visited with Mr Pink and Mr X (non member)
The Cathedral is undergoing an extension costing 6 million pound (cathedral court) which is part of the Cathedral Quarter development which is costing 34 million pounds which will include a commercial office block, premier inn, and brand new open space boulevard with the original restored queen Victoria statue.
HISTORY…………..
Well theres too much history about this place so I will include a couple of links if anyone fancies a read.
Blackburn Cathedral is one of England's newest Cathedrals, yet it is one of the country's oldest places of Christian worship. For many centuries, this has been the Parish Church of Blackburn dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin.
It continues as a place of prayer and worship and is at the centre of the Diocese which takes in almost the whole of Lancashire.
With the creation of the Diocese of Blackburn in 1926 (taken from the Diocese of Manchester) the impressive parish church of St Mary the Virgin was raised to cathedral status. The church, which was built in 1826 and designed by architect John Palmer, now forms the cathedral's nave.
In the early 1930s, fundraising began to enlarge the cathedral so that the building complemented its newfound importance. By 1938, enough money had been raised and work began on enlarging the new cathedral. Although work was interrupted by the war, it was resumed afterwards and continued through the 1950s and into the early 1960s. After the death of architect W.A. Forsyth in 1950, architect Laurence King joined the project and designed the distinctive lantern tower. The lantern tower, which consists of 56 different panes of coloured glass, with a modernist slender aluminium spire, was completed in 1967.
The cathedral was finally completed in 1977 and what had been built over the past decades was finally consecrated as Blackburn Cathedral that year.[1]
The North transept contains eight misericords dating from the 15th century. It is not known at what time they arrived at the Cathedral, but they are believed to have originated at Whalley Abbey. This could mean that they were removed to a builder's yard after the Dissolution, but with the cathedral not being built until the 19th century, this allows for the possibility that they had lain unused for some 300 years.
In 2009 the tower was topped with an ornate bishop's mitre finial painted and gilded in gold leaf by Mark Bridges of Sussex and bearing the Lancashire Rose emblem[2]
On 17 April 201 the Cathedral hosted the Royal Maundy service. In keeping with tradition, The Queen handed out Maundy money to 88 men and 88 women. It was the Queen's first visit to the Cathedral
Link to some history http://www.blackburncathedral.com/levels.asp?level_id=301
Link to wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Cathedral
This isn’t by far the biggest Cathedral around but it sure is I lovely historical structure.
We had spotted that this iconic structure was being worked on up so we went to have a closer look!
With a bit of jiggery pokery we found ourselves stood above the main roof apex, with a nice view of town down below and accompanied by the sounds of the choir, bells and organ practice making a fair old din disguising our access onto the building.
We just had to top out on the glazed mock belfry, the colours were amazing and so were the views inside through the windows we passed whilst walking along some hanging scaffolding.
we found a way to get up higher up the building and chilled out for a while taking pictures.
On with the pics……
Thanks for looking.
Stonemonkey
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