Manchester Cathedral

A one-day pilgrim route of six miles reaches here from Eccles parish church

‍Highlights

• ‍‍Saxon angel sculpture

The dark interior of Manchester’s cathedral is illuminated by the presence of a little stone sculpture of an angel, dating from Saxon times. It is displayed at the front of the nave, in the pillar to the left of the elaborate wooden screen. The sculpture was re-used as building material for the south porch of the cathedral, where it was discovered in the 19th century. It could date as far back as 700, which would make it one of the oldest pieces of Anglo-Saxon art to survive – older even than the famous angel at Breedon on the Hill. Its inscription sounds like it comes from a tomb, translating as “into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.” The sculpture has similarities to fragments of Saxon shrines, particularly one recently discovered at Lichfield Cathedral. The note next to the sculpture suggests that it was a decorative feature placed over a doorway, rather than a shrine – though Manchester’s earliest church was probably wooden. I can find no record of a saint being venerated here, however, so perhaps it is merely a structural decoration, as the note indicates.

Most of the current building is 15th century. The interior looks more eroded than the exterior, which is a surprise. It was coated with cement at one point in an attempt to lighten the dark stonework, but it had to be chipped off again. The choir has a fine set of misericords – carved wooden seats – dating from the 16th century. The building was formerly a church, and became a cathedral in 1847. A blue plaque outside the east end of the building facing Cathedral Street is a memorial to two martyrs from the city, John Bradford, a Protestant reformer burned to death in 1555, and St Ambrose Barlow, a Benedictine monk executed in Lancaster for his Catholicism in 1641. The plaque refers to the saint as Edward Barlow. His skull relic remains in Manchester, kept at Wardley Hall, the official residence of the Roman Catholic bishop of Salford.

Incidentally, a piece of pottery found during an archaeological dig at Deansgate in 1976 might be England’s oldest surviving Christian inscription. Dating from perhaps the year 182, it is a word puzzle that appears elsewhere in the Roman empire. The original is kept in the Manchester Museum.

Directions‍

Manchester Cathedral Victoria Street, Manchester M3 1SX

www.manchestercathedral.org

W3W: memory.puts.radioGPS: 53.4850N 2.2446W

Manchester Victoria railway station 300m‍

The cathedral is in the middle of the city, near the Manchester Eye and Exchange Square. It opens at 8:30 am every day and closes at 6:30 pm Mon–Thurs and Sun, 5:30 pm Fri–Sat. It is free to enter, donations welcome.

Manchester Museum is part of the University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL; its website is: www.museum.manchester.ac.uk.