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Category: Cathedrals

September 19, 2014

Durham Cathedral – photography evening 1 (up the tower)

When I came and worshipped here at the start of my sabbatical – and I realise I still haven’t read the Dean’s book – I took two photos inside. I now realise I was breaking the rules. This Cathedral does not allow internal photos. Their reasoning is given on their website – and that makes some sense. They offer photography evenings, so Mike from Ponteland Photographic Society and I went for one on Monday 8 September 2014. I came home with 171 photos – here are some of the better ones. It was lovely being able to go almost anywhere, the staff...
Categories Cathedrals/Durham Comments: 0
September 19, 2014

Newcastle – St Nicholas Cathedral

Having spent so many years in a Cathedral I expected to come and enjoy Newcastle Cathedral when I moved north. I went a couple of times, and that was about it. No one’s fault, just life. In recent months they have vastly improved their website and you can now download their music list here. On the evening of Thursday 4 September 2014 we had a dinner in the Hall and a talk from the Dean. The talk was in two parts – before dinner while looking round the Cathedral, afterwards in the hall. It was the same evening as the launch event for the...
Categories Cathedrals/Newcastle upon Tyne/Railway History Comments: 0
July 11, 2014

The Cathedral Church of St James and St Edmund, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

How can I write a shortish blog post about the Cathedral where I was ordained; where my four children were baptised (to be precise Theo was baptised at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and later welcomed into the congregation); where three were confirmed; where they sang as choristers (to be precise Hannah was only in the St Cecilia Chorale, the Cathedral Choir is boys-only); where I started as a Minor Canon in 1996, became Chaplain in 2001, then Canon Pastor in 2003 (or was it 2004 – I can’t be bothered to go and find the paperwork); where I baptised, married and...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland/Personal/Suffolk Comments: 5
July 10, 2014

Lincoln – The Forest Stations

Southwell Minster had a set of “Stations of the Cross”; so does Lincoln (they are on the north wall of the Nave – you can see them in the photo above). “Please touch” says the sign – so, once again, photography can only go so far. I purchased the book (“The Forest Stations, William Fairbank, Frontier Publishing, 1998) from the  Cathedral shop. Fairbank was involved in a car accident in 1987 in which he received a brain injury. He spent several years recovering, using sculpture to help him – and has gone on to do much more. More details here. A...
Categories Cathedrals/Lincolnshire/Outside Northumberland Comments: 2
July 7, 2014

Lincoln Cathedral

Julie and I lived in Lincoln for the three years I was training at Lincoln Theological College – as you stand on Castle Square facing the Cathedral (photo above), our house was 2 minutes walk to the left, the College one minute to the right. It was a smashing three years. Harry was born shortly after we arrived, so we had three small children. I did not work particularly hard as a student, and we spent a lot of time exploring the County, visiting churches, signal boxes and windmills (what else do you visit?). We loved Lincoln as a...
Categories Cathedrals/Lincolnshire/Outside Northumberland/Personal Comments: 7
June 24, 2014

Wakefield Cathedral, Yorkshire

Wakefield and Bradford are the two Cathedrals I have never visited. I have a North East Rover ticket this week, so got up early on Sunday 22 June 2014 and was on the 0755 from Newcastle. It was a slow journey due to “over running engineering works” and I reached Wakefield Cathedral about 15 minutes before the 11 am Common Worship (Traditional). I went in through the glass doors and was hit by the smell of incense. It was a bit noisy waiting for the service to start – difficult balance between getting a congregation to be friendly and keeping...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland Comments: 0
June 19, 2014

Salisbury Cathedral

I have mixed memories about Salisbury Cathedral – www.salisburycathedral.org.uk. I last visited ten years ago when Hannah was doing an Eton Choral Course and came and sang Evensong here. It was while Gareth was waiting for his transplant, so a day with mixed emotions. Previously to that I had come to a conference at Salisbury Theological College (now Sarum College) and went across to the Cathedral to book for a Spire Tour. When we gathered for the tour there was only me and the Clerk of Works. He took me to all sorts of places normal members of the...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland/Railway History Comments: 2
June 16, 2014

Truro Cathedral, Cornwall

Truro was not particularly lively first thing on a Bank Holiday Monday (26 May), but we found a little cafe in Duke Street. We went into Waterstone’s and I found a book about Agatha Christie’s houses which I sat and read while J perused the whole of the rest of the stock. Then WHSmiths – another brush with the self-service tills (am I the only one who hates them?). We sought calm in Truro Cathedral – the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was a wet day and disabled access is temporary through the West Door – a...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland/Railway History Comments: 3
June 15, 2014

Blackburn Cathedral

One of the suggestions I had for this Sabbatical was to visit all 42 English Cathedrals by local bus. I had plans to start at Newcastle and end at Carlisle, working down the east side, then along the south coast until we reached Truro, then returning north. Julie has a disabled bus pass (pass for disabled buses), but NO, she does not want to do this marathon trip, and NO I can’t go by myself. There are three Anglican Cathedrals I have not been to – Bradford, Blackburn and Wakefield – so I’ll try and do those (by car...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland Comment: 1
June 14, 2014

Christ Church, Oxford

I have managed to get out of order. We did Claydon, then Oxford, then Little Moreton Hall, then Nantwich. Sorry – as a holder of half a geography degree from the premier University (Cambridge, in case you don’t know), I now have to write about Oxford having got my geography wrong … . We are in Oxford on Tuesday 13 May. Christ Church is a 12th century church, one of the oldest buildings in Oxford. Cathedral and College Chapel. A nice welcome, a friendly leaflet (it invites us to attend a service), which tells us that “Cathedral time is...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland/Oxfordshire/World War 1 Comments: 2