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Sunday 2 September 2012

Bradford Cathedral


A hidden treasure on the same side of the city as Little Germany, Bradford's Cathedral Church of St Peter provides a little oasis of green gardens and calm space. It started life as a parish church, and lacks the soaring grandeur of many of our cathedrals - but I like it because of that. It is an attractive building with a warm and intimate feel inside. Parts of the building date back to the mid-15th century and the tower was added in 1508 but it only became a cathedral in 1919 when the Diocese of Bradford was created. It was extended in the 1950s and 60s and a major re-ordering in 1987 also freed up space to enable it to cope with the big civic and religious occasions that are part of the life of a cathedral.

It has recently gone though some hard times, caused largely by the collapse of an ambitious but fundamentally flawed project to found a museum of faith in St Peter's House, the old Post Office building which is at the front of the cathedral. That left the cathedral authorities with a mountain of debt which had to be tackled. The former Dean, David Ison, did a great job of steering the church into a much better place. He left earlier this year to take up the post of Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. Their gain is definitely our loss!

7 comments:

  1. This Cathedral has a very 'village church' look to it. Will we get to take a peep inside?

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    1. Not this time, Martin, as we couldn't go in - there was a wedding taking place.

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  2. What a charming church. That bench outside looks like a good place to sit and rest for a while.

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  3. Charming is the word I would use too. I love the tower!

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  4. A fine parish church and a fitting cathedral. Many of our Episcopal cathedrals began life as parish churches, so we're used to cathedrals that are less grand than some of the European ones.

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  5. Lovely! Intimate and cozy...it would be the perfect place for a wedding!

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  6. OK, we just don't have these really cool old building here in the US...I would love to travel along with you...thanks for taking us along through your photos.

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