Bradford Cathedral
Encyclopedia
Bradford Cathedral full name Cathedral Church of St Peter, is situated in the heart of Bradford
in West Yorkshire
, England
, on a site used for Christian worship since the 8th century when missionaries based in Dewsbury
evangelised the region. For most of its history the building was the parish church
of St Peter
.
times and fell into ruin during the Norman Invasion
in 1066. The Norman lady of the manor Alice de Laci built a second church that 300 years later would be destroyed by raiding Scots.
During the 14th century the church was rebuilt and some of the older masonry may have been used in the reconstruction of the nave
. The nave arcades
, the oldest parts of the present building, were completed in 1458. A clerestory
above them was added by the end of the 15th century. Chantry
chapels were founded, on the north side of the chancel by the Leventhorpe family, and on the south by the owners of Bolling Hall
. The tower in the Perpendicular style was added to the west end and finished in 1508.
Originally in the Diocese of York
, the church was in the Diocese of Ripon before becoming a cathedral in 1919, when the Diocese of Bradford was created.
The building was extended in the 1950s and 1960s by Sir Edward Maufe
. The east end of the Cathedral (shown in the photo) is Maufe's work, but he reused the Morris & Co.
stained glass
from the old east window—there is therefore Victorian stained glass throughout the building including at the west end a window showing the women of the Bible
. The many wall monuments include a sculpture by John Flaxman
. Maufe also extended the west of the Cathedral on either side of the tower.
In 1987 the nave and west end were re-ordered so as to provide the setting and amenities needed for the increasing number of visitors and the many varied occasions when large numbers of people come to the Cathedral. New entrances were made through the tower walls to the offices and Song Room. The roof panelling was cleaned and restored and new lighting was installed.
To enable flexibility of use the Victorian pew
s were replaced by chairs. The nave organ
was removed to give more light and space at the west end, and a Bradford Computer Organ was installed, complementing the pipe organ in the choir with loudspeakers in the nave.
The hassocks
were embroidered by people from many parishes in the Diocese. They depict Christian symbols and also a woolsack and the White Rose of York
. The finest embroidery is seen on the cushions in the Sanctuary and the Choir.
At the beginning of the 21st century the cathedral authorities decided to develop a museum of religion in St Peter's House (built in the 19th century as Bradford's main Post Office
). The visitor numbers were much lower than expected and the project collapsed leaving the cathedral in debt, from which it was discharged in 2007.St Peter's House is now owned by a South Asian arts group, Kala Sangam .
The cathedral is set in a small conservation area
which includes the close to its north. The close provides modern housing for the Dean and Canons
, the Bishop's official residence being in Heaton
, approximately three miles from the city centre.
The cathedral and its predecessors were built on the shelf of alluvial land that had formed on the outside of the bend where Bradford Beck turns north, but the town grew up on the lower ground on the other side of the beck, so the church was always just outside the centre of town. In the 20th century the cathedral was partly hidden from the centre by buildings, first by the Post Office just below it, and subsequently by the 1960s developments of Forster Square and Petergate. The latter areas were demolished in 2006, and pending redevelopment the cathedral is more visible than for many years.
, Wakefield Cathedral
and a possible Leeds Pro-Cathedral
), although the area Bishop of Bradford would presumably continue to have a "seat of honour" there. The Canons from the Colleges of the three cathedrals would merge into a new diocesan College, the Deans of each would retain day-to-day authority in their own cathedral, while one would become presiding dean of the College (initially the senior one by tenure – i.e. David Ison, Dean of Bradford – but later the one appointed by the diocesan bishop).
.
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, on a site used for Christian worship since the 8th century when missionaries based in Dewsbury
Dewsbury
Dewsbury is a minster town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Huddersfield and south of Leeds...
evangelised the region. For most of its history the building was the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of St Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
.
Background
The first church on the site was built in Anglo-SaxonAnglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
times and fell into ruin during the Norman Invasion
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
in 1066. The Norman lady of the manor Alice de Laci built a second church that 300 years later would be destroyed by raiding Scots.
During the 14th century the church was rebuilt and some of the older masonry may have been used in the reconstruction of the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
. The nave arcades
Arcade (architecture)
An arcade is a succession of arches, each counterthrusting the next, supported by columns or piers or a covered walk enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians....
, the oldest parts of the present building, were completed in 1458. A clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
above them was added by the end of the 15th century. Chantry
Chantry
Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...
chapels were founded, on the north side of the chancel by the Leventhorpe family, and on the south by the owners of Bolling Hall
Bolling Hall, Bradford
Bolling Hall is one of the oldest buildings in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is currently used as a museum and education centre. The building is about a mile from the centre of Bradford. Its surroundings are suburban in character....
. The tower in the Perpendicular style was added to the west end and finished in 1508.
Diocese of York
The Diocese of York is an administrative division of the Church of England, part of the Province of York. It covers the city of York, the eastern part of North Yorkshire, and most of the East Riding of Yorkshire....
, the church was in the Diocese of Ripon before becoming a cathedral in 1919, when the Diocese of Bradford was created.
The building was extended in the 1950s and 1960s by Sir Edward Maufe
Edward Maufe
Sir Edward Brantwood Maufe KBE, R.A, F.R.I.B.A. was an English architect and designer, noted chiefly for his work on places of worship and remembrance memorials. He was a skilled interior designer and designed many pieces of furniture...
. The east end of the Cathedral (shown in the photo) is Maufe's work, but he reused the Morris & Co.
Morris & Co.
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. and its successor Morris & Co. were furnishings and decorative arts manufacturers and retailers founded by the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris...
stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
from the old east window—there is therefore Victorian stained glass throughout the building including at the west end a window showing the women of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
. The many wall monuments include a sculpture by John Flaxman
John Flaxman
John Flaxman was an English sculptor and draughtsman.-Early life:He was born in York. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire...
. Maufe also extended the west of the Cathedral on either side of the tower.
In 1987 the nave and west end were re-ordered so as to provide the setting and amenities needed for the increasing number of visitors and the many varied occasions when large numbers of people come to the Cathedral. New entrances were made through the tower walls to the offices and Song Room. The roof panelling was cleaned and restored and new lighting was installed.
To enable flexibility of use the Victorian pew
Pew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
s were replaced by chairs. The nave organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
was removed to give more light and space at the west end, and a Bradford Computer Organ was installed, complementing the pipe organ in the choir with loudspeakers in the nave.
The hassocks
Tuffet
Tuffet, pouffe or hassock are all terms for a piece of furniture used as a footstool or low seat. It is distinguished from a stool by being completely covered in fabric so that no legs are visible. It is essentially a large hard cushion that may have an internal wooden frame to give it more rigidity...
were embroidered by people from many parishes in the Diocese. They depict Christian symbols and also a woolsack and the White Rose of York
White Rose of York
The White Rose of York , a white heraldic rose, is the symbol of the House of York and has since been adopted as a symbol of Yorkshire as a whole.-History:...
. The finest embroidery is seen on the cushions in the Sanctuary and the Choir.
At the beginning of the 21st century the cathedral authorities decided to develop a museum of religion in St Peter's House (built in the 19th century as Bradford's main Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
). The visitor numbers were much lower than expected and the project collapsed leaving the cathedral in debt, from which it was discharged in 2007.St Peter's House is now owned by a South Asian arts group, Kala Sangam .
The cathedral is set in a small conservation area
Conservation area
A conservation areas is a tract of land that has been awarded protected status in order to ensure that natural features, cultural heritage or biota are safeguarded...
which includes the close to its north. The close provides modern housing for the Dean and Canons
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
, the Bishop's official residence being in Heaton
Heaton, West Yorkshire
Heaton is a Ward of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. It includes the villages of Frizinghall, Heaton and Daisy Hill, extending to Chellow Heights reservoir on the western edge and the Bradford-Shipley railway line on the eastern edge...
, approximately three miles from the city centre.
The cathedral and its predecessors were built on the shelf of alluvial land that had formed on the outside of the bend where Bradford Beck turns north, but the town grew up on the lower ground on the other side of the beck, so the church was always just outside the centre of town. In the 20th century the cathedral was partly hidden from the centre by buildings, first by the Post Office just below it, and subsequently by the 1960s developments of Forster Square and Petergate. The latter areas were demolished in 2006, and pending redevelopment the cathedral is more visible than for many years.
Future
Under the Dioceses Commission's Draft Reorganisation Scheme, the Diocese and See of Bradford would be entirely dissolved to facilitate the creation of a new Anglican Diocese of Leeds. Bradford Cathedral would become one seat for the new diocesan bishop of Leeds (his or her other equal seats being Ripon CathedralRipon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...
, Wakefield Cathedral
Wakefield Cathedral
Wakefield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of All Saints Wakefield is the cathedral for the Church of England's Diocese of Wakefield and is the seat of the Bishop of Wakefield. The cathedral has Anglo Saxon origins and the tallest cathedral spire in Yorkshire...
and a possible Leeds Pro-Cathedral
Leeds Parish Church
Leeds Parish Church, or the Parish Church of Saint Peter-at-Leeds, in Leeds, West Yorkshire is a large Church of England parish church of major architectural and liturgical significance. It has been designated a grade I listed building by English Heritage...
), although the area Bishop of Bradford would presumably continue to have a "seat of honour" there. The Canons from the Colleges of the three cathedrals would merge into a new diocesan College, the Deans of each would retain day-to-day authority in their own cathedral, while one would become presiding dean of the College (initially the senior one by tenure – i.e. David Ison, Dean of Bradford – but later the one appointed by the diocesan bishop).
Organ
A specification of the fine William Hill pipe organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ RegisterBritish Institute of Organ Studies
-Aims:The aims of BIOS are* To promote objective, scholarly research into the history of the organ and its music in all its aspects, and, in particular, into the organ and its music in Britain....
.
List of organists
- Absalom Rawnsley Swaine ???? - 1893
- Henry Coates 1893 - 1939
- Charles Hooper 1939 - 1963
- Keith Vernon Rhodes 1963 - 1981
- Geoffrey John Weaver 1982 - 1986
- Alan Graham Horsey 1986 - 2002
- Andrew Teague 2003 - 2011
- Alex Woodrow 2012-
See also
- List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom
- List of Organ Scholars at Bradford Cathedral