The morning after the cathedral’s destruction, its stonemason, Jock Forbes, found two burnt medieval roof timbers lying together in the shape of a cross; he lashed them together and set them up in the rubble as a symbol of rebirth. A replica of his cross still stands there, in the ruins of St. Michael’s, behind a simple stone altar made of the rubble of the destroyed cathedral. Behind the altar are the carved and gilded words, ‘Father Forgive.’ The ruined medieval cathedral remains consecrated, a sanctuary dedicated to reconciliation. The ruins of the tall red outer walls enclose a quiet place of red flagstones and pots brimming with flowers. People sit on wooden benches to talk quietly, read, or pray. Miraculously, the 300-foot spire stands unharmed and since 1987 has had a full peel of 12 bells to ring in services and festivals.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in British Heritage magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

The new Cathedral Church of St. Michael, completed in 1962, stands connected to the ruins of Old St. Michael’s by a great 50-foot porch, supported by gracefully thin red sandstone columns. Designed by Sir Basil Spence (who was knighted for it), it is an uncompromising modernist structure of red sandstone. Its outer walls, seven stories high, curve gently outward and around sawtooth bays of stained glass. The cathedral’s vice-provost has described its interior as ‘a theatre for worship,’ a modernist interpretation of its great Gothic forebears. Perhaps its most impressive sight is the baptismal font, carved from a large, rough boulder of Bethlehem stone, surrounded by stained glass. On the opposite end of the cathedral an enormous tapestry of Christ in Glory covers the entire wall behind the simple concrete altar. Each stained glass window, set in its bay, is fully visible only to a worshiper returning from Communion; the plain wall of each bay, visible to the main floor, is clad with a great marble slab carved with Bible verses. The Chapel of Christ in Gethsemane sits to one side, a cave-like recess with a gilded mosaic of the Angel of Agony, its entrance framed by a giant sculpture of a crown of thorns; it is dedicated as a place of prayer for those experiencing pain or problems.

The unifying theme of this great modernist structure remains reconciliation. The Most Reverend John Petty, its current provost, says, ‘Reconciliation is the primary mission of our ministry.’

For more great articles be sure to pick up your copy of British Heritage.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to