Blackburn Cathedral, officially known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary the Virgin with Saint Paul, is a Church of England cathedral situated in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. The site on which the cathedral stands has been home to a parish church for over a thousand years, and the first stone church was built there in Norman times, though the building was completely rebuilt in the 19th century. In 1926, the church was raised to cathedral status with the creation of the Diocese of Blackburn leading to a major programme of enlargement and enrichment.
History and architecture
Medieval parish church of St Mary the Virgin The site on which the present cathedral stands has been associated with Christian worship for many centuries. A settlement is listed at Blackburn in the Domesday Book and the foundations of a Norman stone church were discovered - and destroyed - as part of the 19th century rebuilding. Nevertheless, a much older foundation has been postulated. In his in 1347 work De Statu Blagborneshire, John Lindley, 5th Abbot of Whalley, claimed a foundation in the year 596 and this is still frequently cited.
19th century church Despite the church's much older origins, the earliest extant fabric of the present building dates only to the late Georgian era. The medieval church of St Mary the Virgin, which had been despoiled by Parliamentarian troops during the English Civil War, was found to be in a state of disrepair by the turn of the 19th century. As a result, the decision was taken to demolish and rebuild. Between 1820 and 1826 an entirely new church was constructed by the architect John Palmer of Manchester. Palmer was a pioneer of the Gothic Revival, the style that would come to dominate British ecclesiastical architecture by the middle of the 19th century, and this specific interest is noted in the building's heritage listing. Palmer's design for the church was done in imitation of the Decorated Gothic style, with a west tower of three stages rising above the western portal, tall three-light windows to both aisles, a clerestory over the nave, and a complete set of battlements.
Cathedral status and initial expansion plans The Diocese of Blackburn was founded in 1926 by the then Bishop of Manchester, William Temple. Temple recognised the need to ensure that the expanding cotton towns of north Lancashire were provided - and seen to be provided - with the dedicated pastoral care of a newly created bishop. This intent was underlined by the translation of the parish church in Blackburn into the cathedral seat of the new bishopric.
Following the decision to elevate the church to a cathedral, fundraising began with the aim of aggrandisement to reflect the building's new-found importance. In 1933 an extension scheme devised by the architect William Adam Forsyth was approved. Forsyth's plan was to retain Palmer's church, extending the building east with a large choir and transept arms in a modern Gothic style. The centerpiece of the design was to be a central tower rising above the new transept crossing.
Work on Forsyth's design began in November 1938 with the laying of the foundation stone by Her Royal Highness Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. However, wartime shortages of labour and construction materials bought progress to a virtual halt in 1941. Although construction did resume after the end of the Second World War, inflation had eroded funds. This would ultimately lead to the abandonment of Forsyth's plan following his death in 1951. Although both transept arms had largely been completed, Forsyth's intended choir and crossing tower remained on the drawing board.
Post-War expansion
Plans for completing the cathedral remained uncertain until 1961, when Laurence King was appointed as architect. His brief was to shorten Forsyth's intended eastward extension and provide a more economical solution to the planned central tower. King was attached to Faith Craft, a specialist provider of ecclesiastical fixtures and furnishings that had been established by the Society of the Faith in 1916. At the time of his appointment, King was in the later stages of rebuilding the Church of St Mary-le-Bow in the City of London, which had been ruined during The Blitz. Both projects shared a brief to work within a constrained budget, to which King's response was to utilise modern construction materials and design. His solution at Blackburn was to replace Forsyth's crossing tower with an octagonal roof lantern constructed from reinforced concrete, topped by an aluminium flèche. The sanctuary would be bought forward and placed directly beneath the lantern, reducing the need to extend the building east to the extent that had been proposed by Forsyth.
Work on King's plan began in 1962 and the crossing lantern was completed in 1967. Work then progressed to the east end of the cathedral where, beyond the crossing and eastern ambulatory, King constructed the Jesus Chapel. This truncated space was built as an alternative to Forsyth's intended choir. This intimate and lightly decorated chapel is frequently the venue of morning and evening prayer and weekday services. Annexed to the south of the Jesus Chapel is the smaller Chapel of St Martin of Tours, which serves as the regimental chapel of the East Lancashire Regiment.
Almost 50 years after the original expansion plan for the cathedral had begun, construction was finally declared complete in 1977. The consecration ceremony was held on 18 November that year in the presence of Princess Alexandra of Kent, marking the completion of a project that has transformed a 19th-century parish church into a modern cathedral.
Rebuilding of the lantern tower King's reinforced concrete lantern tower began to show evidence of structural failure within a few years of completion. While attempts were made to manage the situation and arrest further deterioration, ultimately, the decision was taken to rebuild. The project was led by the architect Brian Lowe and undertaken between 1998 and 1999. Lowe, replaced the central structure in stone rather than concrete, while otherwise closely following King's original design. However the lantern's original glazing scheme, designed and manufactured by John Hayward, was not reinstated. Hayward had made use of an innovative applique glass technique to make the windows, which had also failed. As a result the lantern was entirely reglazed with new stained glass to an abstract design by Linda Walton.
21st century developments In 2001 a new piece of art was commissioned for the exterior east wall of the building to mark the Millennium. The sculpture by Mark Jalland, titled The Healing of The Nations, is formed of a steel and copper disk measuring 8m in diameter that contains thousands of interwoven fibre optics to create moving patterns of light. It reportedly cost £100,000. The artwork takes its name from a passage in the Book of Revelation, that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
In 2009 the flagpole that rises above the parapet of the western tower was replaced with one carved by Mark Bridges. It is topped with a finial in the shape of a bishop's mitre, painted and gilded in gold leaf with the Red Rose of Lancaster emblem. The majority of the funding came from a bequest by Harold Thornber, who had worked at the cathedral as a warden and archivist.
On 17 April 2014, the cathedral played host to the Royal Maundy service. In keeping with tradition, Queen Elizabeth II handed out Maundy money to 88 men and 88 women. It was the Queen's first visit to the cathedral.
In 2016, Cathedral Court - a 16-year, £36 million project to expand the cathedral grounds - was completed. This development included the first new ecclesiastical cloister to be built in the United Kingdom since the 16th century, providing the cathedral with new residences for clergy and staff, a library, a refectory, and administrative offices. The project also transformed the surrounding area into a public square featuring a new hotel, office space, and a transport interchange, linking the historic cathedral buildings to the modern town centre. Funded through a partnership between the cathedral, local government, and community donations, the expansion included the Temple Gallery, a glass corridor named in honour of Archbishop William Temple.
The cathedral continues to form an important part of the diocesan and town community. It is open to visitors and has a café in the crypt, as well as hosting numerous religious and secular events. In 2021, the crypt of the cathedral was used as a major public vaccination centre during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Internal fixtures and fittings
The cathedral is noted for its bright and spacious interior, largely unencumbered by the accretions of centuries of patronage that can be seen in many English cathedrals and churches. This was a deliberate conceit of architect Laurence King and the artist John Hayward; by 1926, Palmer's church had been embellished with many monuments, a large collection of stained glass, pews and other liturgical furniture, all of which were removed at the beginning of the enlargement, with only a small number of examples reinstated, mostly moved into the transepts.
It was on King's recommendation that Hayward was engaged as effective artist-in-residence to the cathedral, either in 1961 or 1962. They would work together on the fixtures and fittings for the building into the mid-1970s. King and Hayward had met at Faith Craft and, while Hayward had since established an independent studio, at the time that King was awarded the Blackburn commission, they were both also engaged on the reconstruction of St Mary-le-Bow. Despite the loss of his stained glass for the lantern tower when it was rebuilt in the 1990s, Hayward's work can still be seen throughout the cathedral.
For the sanctuary, Hayward designed the oak cathedra and choir stalls, the four gilded sculptures of winged seraphim in the pendentives, the large sculptural Corona in bronze and steel that hangs above the altar, and the Portland stone altar itself. Hayward was also responsible for the large fibreglass and aluminum sculpture of Christ the Worker that dominates the west wall of the nave. At its centre is the figure of the Risen Christ, arms outstretched and wearing a worker's scapular. Christ appears to be mounted in a mandorla that closely resembles a cotton loom, an intended allusion to Lancashire's textile manufacturing heritage.
Further works by Hayward can be found throughout the building. At the centre of the south transept stands Hayward's egg-shaped baptismal font, sculpted from stone and topped by a bronze cover with figures of Christ and John the Baptist. On the altar wall of the Jesus Chapel is a painted icon showing the Risen Christ emerging from the cloth that bound his body in the tomb. Hayward also designed the etched glass screen that divides the Jesus Chapel from the Chapel of St Martin of Tours. It depicts three soldier saints, Martin, Michael and George, reflecting the military dedication of the St Martin chapel. For the stained glass window inside that chapel, Hayward created an abstract design in green and yellow said to be in imitation of camouflage. A statue of St Martin by Yves le Pape, a gift of the Tours Cathedral, is also kept here.