GREAT CATHEDRALS AND CHURCHES
NEAR THE TOWPATH
 
The Cathedrals and Churches of England are  undoubtedly some of the finest buildings produced in this country. The large range of architectural styles and building materials produce many different structures, but the sense of calm and peaceful contemplation is common to all the great ecclesiastical places of worship.
 
 
The following is a short list compiled by Nigel Hamilton , of some of the best that I have enjoyed over the last few years of cruising around the Inland Waterways of England, it is not meant to be comprehensive and they are not ranked  but are in alphabetical order. Although I am not particularly religious I do enjoy visiting churches and Cathedrals and the calm other worldliness they can produce.
 
One of the pleasures of narrow boating is to arrive in cities by the backdoor.
Once you have arrived instead of just cutting another notch on a list of places visited, take the time to explore. The typical tourist honey pots are probably worth visiting, but boaters are an inquisitive lot so why not the next time you are on the cut why not visit one of these amazing parts of our heritage, admission is free to all, I am sure you will find the visit worth while.
 
For details on suitable moorings please see “Towpath Shopping”
 
Coventry Cathedral
 
 Cathedral was designed by Sir Basil Spense and was finished in 1962, the ruined St Michael’s is adjacent , it was destroyed by a German Air Raid on 14th November 1940. The very modern building has a calm atmosphere within its simple uncluttered interior, the nave is 300ft by 70ft with a marble floor. The exterior is red sandstone, and has the huge bronze Epstein sculpture of St Michael vanquishing Satan. The stained glass is stunning , 10 huge windows in pairs with the colours symbolising, the Beginning, God’s Intervention, Human Contradiction, Maturity and Redemption. The altar is dominated by the huge Graham Sutherland tapestry of “Christ in Glory”, the largest in the world. There is a small round side chapel which is devoted to peace and reconciliation.
The building was voted by radio four listeners, Britain’s favourite modern building in 2000.
 
Chester Cathedral
 
 Cathedral is built on the site of an earlier 7 th Century church dedicated to St Werburgh.
The interior and exterior are an amazing mishmash of building styles and materials reflecting the 700 years of construction and additions. The interior is cool and rather dark with lots of nooks and crannies, numerous doors open out into side chapels or steep passages to crypts. The layout is rather complicated, and has a large well preserved 13 th Century Cloister complete with adjacent Refectory and Chapter House. The Cathedral is very close to the main shopping streets and provides a good contrast to the prosperous Cheshire shopoholics
 
Gloucester Cathedral
 
 The Cathedral was founded in 1089, but earlier churches date back to 681, most of the building is 13th  Century Norman Perpendicular Architecture. It was the Benedictine Abbey of St Peter until the dissolution. King Edward II is buried here following his murder at Berkeley Castle, in 1327. Edward III endowed the Monastic Church and its role as a subsequent pilgrimage centre, provided the income for the lavish building programme.  There is very fin
e stained glass dating back to 1352, built to commemorate the Battle of Crecy.  The fine carving of the 14 Century Choir, The oldest cathedral organ in England, the Lady Chapel, and the tombs of the Saxon King Osric and William the Conqueror’s eldest son are among the highlights. The large building is surrounded by an extensive precincts with some wonderful Georgian Houses, and form an oasis of calm from the busy neighbouring shopping streets. The extensive cloisters dating from 1412  have very fine fan vaulting, and are complete with the Monks Lavatorium. The Cathedral is very close to Gloucester Docks and its bulk dominates the sky line of the city.
 
 
Leicester Cathedral
 
Leicester Cathedral of St Martin is really a large church elevated to Cathedral status in 1926.
St Martins was originally Romanesque with 14 Century Gothic and then rebuilt as Victorian Gothic.
The Cathedral is on a small scale and is a lovely oasis of peacefulness, with a large number of interesting Georgian and Victorian monuments on the walls, often to men who died in colonial wars.
Very helpful volunteers help you to interpret its long history.
 
 
 
Peterborough Cathedral
 
Most of the  current Peterborough Cathedral was built between 1118- 1220 as a Benedictine monastery, becoming a cathedral in 1541 following the dissolution. It is one of the finest Romanesque buildings in England and built on a huge scale, dominating the flat landscape on the edge of the Cambridge Fens. The original church was founded by King Penda of Mercia in 656 and was destroyed by a Viking raid in 870.  The interior is light with a very high nave , a tall 14C Norman Tower soars above the earlier nave and transepts. The tomb of Queen Catherine of Aragon and the oldest wooden Norman ceiling in England c.1220 are found inside. There are few interior memorials and monuments due to Peterborough being a quiet backwater for hundreds of years, having a very small population despite being a cathedral city.
 
The Church of St Mary and All Saints Fotheringhay
 
The Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay, has a magical setting with green fields sweeping down to the River Nene. It is possible to moor directly in front of the Church. The Church is impressive 15 th Century Perpendicular in style, dominated by a large tower complete with flying buttresses. The interior is very simple with a long nave. St Mary and All Saints was originally part of a large monastic college, which disappeared after the dissolution. Two monarchs are buried in the church and it was the temporary resting place of Mary Queen of Scots who was beheaded at the adjacent Fotheringhay Castle. It is hard to image that this sleepy small village was once at the centre of England’s power struggles, and the castle a mighty fortress and prison. King  Richard III was born here.
 
St Dionysius, Market Harborough
 
St Dionysius dates 13-15 C and dominates the centre of Market Harborough, which has had a weekly market since 1203. The adjacent two storey half timbered 1614 Grammar School on stilts  gives a unique setting in a well preserved High St of Georgian Coaching Inns built in a typical Midlands style. The interior is light with some fine stained glass Gothic windows. Market Harborough is still an important regional shopping centre mainly due to its relative isolation being about 15 miles from the next major town in any direction.
 
St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury
 
The Abbey  Church of St Mary the Virgin, Tewkesbury dates back to 1092 on the site of a Benedictine Monastery from 715, construction spanned 600 years, but most from 1471 when the abbey was rebuilt following the bloody Wars of the Roses battle just outside the town. The Abbey is huge 330ft long by 130ft wide, with a high square tower 165ft dominating the landscape for miles , and seems far too big for the small town of Tewkesbury. After the dissolution the town council bought it for £400 and converted it into  a parish church, the adjacent large monastery has disappeared. The nave has Romanesque columns and Norman transepts, the Lady Chapel houses Raphael’s Madonna del Passeggio. The interior contains many fine tombs and memorials, including one to Richard III brother,  the Duke of Clarence murdered in 1478. The Abbey flooded for the first time in 300 years in the summer floods of 2007.
 
St Cross, Pershore
 
Pershore Abbey is hidden away from the main shopping street of the mainly Georgian Worcestershire Town which has numerous old Coaching Inns. The Abbey is now the parish church of St Cross, and dates back to 689, when it was probably dedicated to St Eadburga. Much rebuilt over the years it is essentially 12 Century Norman , heavily restored by Scott in the 1860s. The choir dates fro 1223, and the early Gothic Tower from c.1330,  The light and airy interior has a very fine ceiling, with a wonderful Green Man carving. Edward the Confessor seized much of the abbey’s wealth to fund the building of Westminster Abbey .
 
St Mary’s, Warwick
 
St Mary’s, Wa
rwick was originally Norman but most of the current large church is early Georgian rebuilt after a fire in 1694 in Renaissance style, with a tall pseudo Gothic Tower, fine views of which can be seen from the Hatton Flight.
 
The Church is just off the well preserved Georgian redbrick High St, and has a wide light nave. The crypt is 12th Century. The most striking features are the 14 Century chancel and highly decorated Beauchamp Chapel 1443-64, there is also fine stained glass. The Chapel contains the alabaster recumbent Knights tombs of the Earls of Warwick and Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester , Elizabeth I favourite. The Beauchamps were one of the most powerful noble families during the wars of the Roses, leading to the nickname “Warwick the King Maker”.
 
St Alkmund, Whitchurch
 
St Alkmund, is a light and airy Georgian honey coloured stone church set at the top of a steep high St of Half timbered buildings and impressive Coaching Inns. It dates from 1715, built by William Smith of Warwick after the previous White Church “fell ye 31 of July 1711”. The town is named after this now disappeared ecclesiastical feature, originally a white Norman 12C  building leading to the name Blancminster. The church entrance is rather grand up a flight of stone stairs with a sweeping balustrade. The dominant feature is the imposing Grecian style tower.
 
 
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