Worcester Cathedral
Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the mother church of the diocese of Worcester; it is administered by its dean and chapter. The cathedral is a grade I listed building and part of a scheduled monument.[1][2]
Worcester Cathedral
United Kingdom
Worcester Priory
Active
1084–1504
130 m (426.51 ft)
53 m (173.88 ft)
44 m (144.36 ft)
9 m (29.53 ft)
20 m (65.62 ft)
1
62 m (203.41 ft)
16 hung for change ringing
48cwt - 0qr - 2lb in B
Worcester (since 670)
Stephen Edwards (Interim Dean)
John Paul Hoskins
Stephen Edwards (Vice-Dean) Kimberly Bohan (Canon Librarian)
- Samuel Hudson (Director of Music)
- Nicholas Freestone (Assistant Director of Music)
The cathedral was founded in 680. The earliest surviving fabric dates from 1084, when the cathedral was rebuilt in the Romanesque style by Bishop Wulfstan. The chapter house dates from 1120, and the nave was extended in the 1170s. Between 1224 and 1269 the east end was rebuilt in the Early English Gothic style. The remainder of the nave was rebuilt in the 1360s, and the "exquisite" central tower completed in 1374.[3] The cathedral retains a set of medieval misericords, now set into Victorian choir stalls; the cathedral was heavily restored in the nineteenth century, and contains a set of furnishings by George Gilbert Scott. It contains several funerary monuments, including those of King John; Arthur, Prince of Wales; and the prime minister Stanley Baldwin.
As of January 2023:[27]
The Cathedral contains the tomb of King John in its chancel. Before his death in Newark in 1216, John had requested to be buried at Worcester. He is buried between the shrines of St Wulfstan and St Oswald (now destroyed).
The cathedral has a memorial, Prince Arthur's Chantry, to the young prince Arthur Tudor, who is buried here. Arthur's younger brother and next in line for the throne was Henry VIII. Worcester Cathedral suffered badly from iconoclasm but was spared total destruction by Henry VIII during the English Reformation because of his brother's chantry in the cathedral.
An epitaph in Latin to Henry Bright, headmaster of the King's School, Worcester, can be found near the north porch.[28] Other notable burials include:
Library[edit]
The Cathedral Library at Worcester, located since the 19th century in the loft above the South Nave, contains 289 medieval manuscripts, 55 incunabula, and 6600 post-medieval printed books. The library and archive of Worcester Cathedral also has a total of 19000 archived documents, along with a music collection containing works from famous composers such as Edward Elgar and Thomas Tomkins. Of particular note are the Worcester Antiphoner (the only book of its kind to survive the Reformation), the will of King John, and a 1225 copy of Magna Carta.[30] The large scriptorium at Worcester produced many manuscripts and was a place of work for many famous scribes, such as the chronicler John of Worcester and the unnamed monk identified by his distinctive handwriting as The Tremulous Hand of Worcester.[31]
Misericords[edit]
Thirty-nine of the misericords date from 1379 and include a complete set of the Labours of the Months. The subject matter includes biblical stories, mythology and folklore including N-07, The Clever Daughter, which shows a naked woman draped in a net, riding a goat and carrying a rabbit under her arm. Three of the misericords are Victorian replacements such as N-02, Judas in the jaws of Satan.
Bells[edit]
The tower has a ring of twelve bells plus four semitone bells and a 4.1 tonne non-swinging bourdon.[32] The current peal of 15 ringing bells were cast in 1928 by John Taylor & Co., of Loughborough, from the metal of the original ring cast in 1869. The bourdon bell was cast in 1869 and retuned in 1928. It is only used by the clock to strike the hours and sometimes tolls for special events. The ring is the sixth heaviest ring of twelve in the world; only the bells in the cathedrals of Liverpool, Exeter, York, and St Paul's in London, and of St Mary Redcliffe church in Bristol are heavier. The bells are also considered to be one of the finest toned rings ever cast, a close contender to York Minster. The bells hang in a wooden frame that was constructed in 1869 for the previous ring. Worcester Cathedral is unique in having a purpose-built teaching centre equipped with eight special training bells, linked to computers.[32] The Cathedral is also famous for being the only church in the world to have a ring of ten bells in a harmonic minor key.
Events[edit]
Worcester Cathedral hosts the annual graduation ceremonies for the University of Worcester. These ceremonies are presided over by the vice-chancellor of the university, and take place over four days in November.[37]
Since 2018 Worcester Cathedral became the host to the annual honours celebration of the Royal Life Saving Society UK, celebrating the long service and meritorious achievements of their lifesaving members.
College Green
View of the cathedral from College Green
Worcester and the River Severn
Quire organ cases and decorative ceiling
The rood screen, nave and west window
The altar area
The high altar
Painted ceiling
Statues above the portal
1836 Cathedral floorplan
Taken from the choir
