A cathedral is born
In 1901 a meeting was held at the Town Hall where it was proposed that Liverpool should have a cathedral worthy of its standing as an important city. It took two years for the final design to be accepted and this wasn’t without some controversy. The architect who was finally chosen was a 22-year-old Roman Catholic named Giles Gilbert Scott. In a bizarre twist of fate the architect for the Roman Catholic Cathedral was an Anglican.
Even though Scott’s design was chosen he was felt to be too young to take on such a task by himself. After all this was only the third cathedral to be built since the sixteenth century Reformation, the other two being St Paul's Cathedral (completely rebuilt after the fire of London in 1666) and Truro Cathedral begun in the nineteenth century. Therefore an assistant was appointed to work alongside him in the form of the much older George Frederick Bodley. Bodley’s role was to oversee the work and his influence can be seen in the first part of the cathedral to be finished. This was the Lady Chapel which was completed in 1910 six years after the foundation stone was laid by King Edward VII and three years after the death of Bodley.
After Bodley’s death Scott resubmitted his design changing several features. The Lady Chapel has several Gothic elements and in the original design the main building did too. Scott removed the two proposed towers and replaced them with one extra large tower to be topped with a lantern. A lot of his changes removed the gothic elements introducing instead a monumental style with even some aspects of Rennie Mackintosh’s style. Mackintosh was a rival in the initial design bid for the work. The supervising committee approved the plans which made the interior of the cathedral more spacious.
Vestey Tower
The new tower, named after the Vestey family who donated most of the money for the building, is the largest bell tower in the world. It houses the thirteen Bartlett Bells, named for Thomas Bartlett who provided the funding via his will. The bells, the heaviest in the world, vary in weight with the heaviest being just over four tons. They are grouped around Great George, named for King George V, weighing in at 14.5 tons it is the second heaviest bell in the country. The heaviest is Great Paul which can be found in St Pauls Cathedral.
The cathedral was consecrated in 1924 in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary. The High Alter, Eastern Transepts and Chancel were now complete despite delays caused by the Great War. The previous year had seen the appointment of Albert Augustus David as Bishop. Seven years after its consecration the first Dean was appointed, this was Frederick William Dwelly who had organised events in 1924.
The tower was finally completed in 1942, the final stone being placed by Scott, now Sir Giles. So far the cathedral had been under construction for over thirty years and seen two world wars. Although the church was consecrated in 1924 it wasn’t used regularly for services until 1940. The cathedral has many beautiful stain glass windows but unfortunately the original windows in the Lady Chapel were badly damaged during the Second World War after German bombing raids. Not too far away on the corner of Berry Street and Luke Street the church of St Luke was burnt out after being hit by an incendiary bomb. The burnt out church still stands as a memorial.
Recent History
Work continued until 1961 when the Bridge and the first bay of the Nave were completed and officially handed over to the Dean and chapter. Unfortunately Sir Giles Scott didn’t live to see this, he had passed away the year before. The final work on this monumental project was finally completed in 1978. Queen Elizabeth II attended a service on October 25th 1978 to mark its completion. Six years before the cathedral was finally completed the adjacent area formally used as a quarry and then a cemetery was turned into a public park. Both the area around the cathedral and the park itself fell into disrepair but a number of works have been carried out to improve the area. The Queen returned in 1991 to formally open the Queen’s Walk, a much improved area in front of the cathedral.
The last few years have seen several improvements to the cathedral, with the addition of a visitor’s centre and a restaurant.
Part of the series Liverpool Cathedral Origin and History
sources
Hollinshead, Janet Liverpool in the Sixteenth Century, Carnegie Publishing (2007)
Pollard, Richard and Pevsner, Nikolaus Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, Yale University Press (2006)
Belchem, John (Ed.) Liverpool 800, Liverpool University Press (2006)
www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/about/history.aspx
