Christ Church Cathedral is the

cathedral church A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral ...

of the Anglican

Diocese of Fredericton The Diocese of Fredericton is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada of the Anglican Church of Canada. Established in 1845, its first bishop was John Medley, who served until his death on September 9, 1892. Its cathedral and diocesan ...

. It is located in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada. Construction of the cathedral began in 1845 and it was consecrated in 1853. The

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

cathedral is modelled after St. Mary's Church,

Snettisham Snettisham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It is located near the west coast of Norfolk, some south of the seaside resort of Hunstanton, north of the town of King's Lynn and northwest of the city of Norwic ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

History

Origin

The Anglican

diocese of Fredericton The Diocese of Fredericton is a diocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada of the Anglican Church of Canada. Established in 1845, its first bishop was John Medley, who served until his death on September 9, 1892. Its cathedral and diocesan ...

was established in 1845, with

John Medley John Medley, (19 December 1804 – 9 September 1892), was a Church of England clergyman who became the first bishop of Fredericton in 1845. In 1879 he succeeded Ashton Oxenden as Metropolitan of Canada. Education and family John Medley was b ...

as its first bishop. Medley was a

Tractarian The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

and a proponent of

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. As a clergyman in the

Diocese of Exeter The Diocese of Exeter is a Church of England diocese covering the county of Devon. It is one of the largest dioceses in England. The Exeter Cathedral, Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter is the seat of the diocesan Bishop of Exeter. It is pa ...

he had supervised the restoration and building of several churches according to the Gothic Revival principles of the Eccelesiological Society, and had been the founder and secretary of the Exeter Ecclesiological Society. Ecclesiology held that new church buildings should imitate those of the 13th and 14th century

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

period, which displayed three essential characteristics lacking in Fredericton's existing wooden parish church: "reality", which meant that the building's structural elements such as

rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as wooden beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof shingles, roof deck and its associated ...

s must be visible; a large

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

clearly separate from the congregation; and open bench seats rather than

box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in chu ...

s. Medley chose the 14th century St. Mary's Church in

as the model for the new Fredericton cathedral. Before leaving England, Medley hired the

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

architect Frank Wills to visit St. Mary's and make detailed plans, which Medley had with him when he arrived in Fredericton on 10 June 1845. The Ecclesiological Society's newsletter, ''The Ecclesiologist'', took issue with Medley's choice of St. Mary's, "though magnificent as a parish church", as his model. A principal objection was that the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

roof was lower than that of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, which was not considered appropriate for a cathedral. In the course of construction, the roof heights were equalized, and other modifications were made either for economic reasons or because of the limited skills of local artisans. However, Medley consistently followed the ecclesiological practice of finding authority for all the architectural details in one or another existing English Gothic church.

Construction (1845-1853)

Upon his consecration as Bishop of Fredericton in May 1845, the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society gave Medley £1,500 toward the building of the cathedral, and a public meeting in Fredericton on June 23 raised a further £3,100. Medley chose a site beside the Saint John River, near the existing parish church, and was given by the landowner. Site preparation work began in August, and the

cornerstone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over time ...

was laid by Lieutenant Governor

William Colebrooke Sir William MacBean George Colebrooke, (9 November 1787 – 6 February 1870) was an English career soldier and colonial administrator who became lieutenant governor of New Brunswick in 1841. Life The son of Colonel Paulet Welbore Colebrooke, R ...

on 15 October 1845. Frank Wills, who had followed Medley to Canada, supervised the work on the cathedral. He also designed and oversaw the building of St. Anne's Chapel of Ease, which Medley had built in order to hold services while the cathedral was under construction. St. Anne's Chapel of ease was Constructed in eight months between 1846 and 1847. The cathedral's nave and aisle walls were completed by the end of 1847, but further work was delayed by lack of funds. Bishop Medley returned to England for several months in 1848 to raise more money and to consult with the Ecclesiological Society about how to proceed, since Frank Wills had left Fredericton in early 1848 to set up an architectural practice in New York City. On the recommendation of the Ecclesiological Society, the British architect

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was born in Lon ...

designed a choir and tower, and Medley succeeded in raising a further £2,000. The choir and tower were completed in 1849, Medley having changed Butterfield's design to make the choir longer and the tower higher. In 1851 Medley visited the United States and England, raising more funds and receiving donations of cathedral furnishings. Medley himself designed the cathedral's spire, which was erected in 1851. It was a simple

broach spire A broach spire is a type of spire (tall pyramidal structure), which usually sits atop a tower or turret of a church. It starts on a square base and is carried up to a tapering octagonal spire by means of triangular faces. File:Leicester Cathedral ...

built of wood and covered in zinc. Medley intended the tower to be tall but because of doubts about the strength of the cathedral's foundation it was built shorter. The clock in the cathedral is an exact copy of

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England, and the name is frequently extended to refer also to the clock and the clock tower. The officia ...

in London. The clock dial is in the cathedral above the choir. It measures four feet in diameter. The literal clock mechanism is just above, in the tower. It was designed by

Dent Dent may refer to: People * Dent (surname) * Dent May (active 2007), American musician * Dent Mowrey (1888–1960), American composer, musician and music teacher * Dent Oliver (1918–1973), international speedway rider Places France * Dent d' ...

of London, UK and was built in 1853, later being installed in 1854. The clock still needs to be hand wound. It is currently wound by three different people on a monthly basis. The weights that drive the clock measure approximately 454 kg or 1,000 lbs and 136 kg or 300 lbs separately. A narrow spiral staircase of 51 steps must be climbed to access the room housing the clock and bell mechanisms. Then a very narrow wooden latter must be climbed to reach the 15 bells. The hour strike of the clock no longer rings. It was stopped in 2007 due to noise complaints from neighbours. However, the chimes still ring the

Westminster chime The Westminster Quarters, from its use at the Palace of Westminster, is a melody used by a set of four quarter bells to mark each quarter-hour. It is also known as the Westminster Chimes, Cambridge Quarters or Cambridge Chimes from its place of ...

to mark the quarter hours. The 15 bells, are played by means of compressed air. The small manual sits in a closet behind the organ console. A switch under the manual turns on the air compressor in the tower. After approximately 10 to 15 seconds the bells may be played. When a key is pushed, an electronic flap opens, releasing a shot of compressed air into the chamber underneath the bell cable and eventually pulling the clapper of the bell to ring it. The bells are stationary. The clapper inside the bell is pulled over to one side of the bell and is moved just slightly to ring it. The system is called a chime of bells. As of August 2019, only four other churches in Canada use the same method of ringing their bells. One of those churches is Trinity Anglican Church in Saint John, New Brunswick. Christ Church Cathedral Fredericton tracery

Christ Church Cathedral Fredericton tracery

Most of the cathedral's

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows were installed between 1850 and 1852. The east window is by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

. Its

tracery Tracery is an architecture, architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of Molding (decorative), moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the s ...

is a copy of that in the east window of

Selby Abbey Selby Abbey is an Anglican parish church in the town of Selby, North Yorkshire, England. It is Grade I listed. Monastic history It is one of the relatively few surviving abbey churches of the medieval period, and, although not a cathedral, ...

, and its seven panels depict Christ and six of his apostles. It was jointly donated by Wailes and by New York City's Trinity Episcopal Church. The west window, by

William Warrington William Warrington, (1796–1869), was an English maker of stained glass windows. His firm, operating from 1832 to 1875, was one of the earliest of the English Medieval revival and served clients such as Norwich and Peterborough Cathedrals. W ...

, is a "virtual likeness" of the west window of St. Mary's, Snettisham, which Warrington had restored in 1846. The Beer studio of

supplied the aisle windows, most of which are also copies of those at Snettisham. The

clerestory In architecture, a clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey) is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, ''clerestory'' denoted an upper l ...

windows are copies of those at

Exeter Cathedral Exeter Cathedral, properly known as the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter in Exeter, is an Anglican cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Exeter, in the city of Exeter, Devon, in South West England. The present building was complete by about 140 ...

. On either side of the west window, sit two smaller windows. They were installed in 1879 and are the only two windows in the cathedral made with gold dust. The final window installed in the cathedral was installed in 1908 and sits in the choir vestry. It has a similar design to a 14th-century church stained glass window.

Fire and restoration (1911-1912)

The cathedral was struck by lightning on 3 July 1911, causing a fire that completely destroyed the spire. The cathedral's eight bells melted and the organ and much of the furniture, which had been designed by William Butterfield, were destroyed. During the restoration the foundation was reinforced and the spire was rebuilt to the height of as Medley had intended. The financier

James Hamet Dunn Sir James Hamet Dunn, 1st Baronet (October 29, 1874 – January 1, 1956) was a Canadian financier and industrialist during the first half of the 20th century. He is recognized chiefly for his 1935 rescue and subsequent 20-year presidency and propri ...

replaced the bells, and added seven more. 2500 new organ pipes were installed in the north

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...

in 1912. The cathedral was rededicated on 24 August 1912. Of note, the only aspect of the tower saved, was the clock. Erected by Dent Co. of London, UK in 1853.

1990s restoration and 2006 fire

In the 1990s the cathedral underwent a $2.5 million restoration consisting of refacing its stonework, repointing tracery, cleaning its woodwork, refinishing of pews and shoring up the masonry on the east end. The copper plating and a new cross were installed on the spire in 1995. A fire in the bell tower on 6 August 2006 activated the sprinkler system, causing water damage to the choir area. Complete repairs took several months, during which the cathedral was closed.

National Historic Site of Canada

The cathedral was designated a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of t ...

in 1983. According to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board it is "one of the best examples of ecclesiological Gothic Revival architecture in Canada and it established an architectural pattern followed in the design of many large and small churches in 19th-century Canada".

Music

The four-manual

Casavant Frères Casavant Frères is a Canadian organ building company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, which has been building pipe organs since 1879. As of 2014, the company has produced more than 3,900 organs. Company history Brothers Joseph-Claver (1855–1 ...

organ console was built in 1957 and renovated in 1981. It replaced an instrument which was built in 1912 after the fire. The console is identified as Opus 2399. There are two choirs: an adult choir which provides music for the principal Sunday worship and monthly evensong; and a contemporary choir and band which sings at the Sunday morning (informal) contemporary worship. J. Thomas D. Gonder is the current organist and director of music.

Governance

The cathedral has a congregation, which acts in many ways like a parish, but it does not exist within the diocese as a parish. Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton is the only Cathedral in Canada that is not itself a parish. A cathedral by-law defines the operation of the corporation and its governance. While it exists within the geographical boundary of the Parish of Fredericton, parish lands of downtown Fredericton belong to the Corporation of the Parish of Fredericton (Christ Church (Parish) Church and St. Anne's Chapel). St. Anne's is the former Chapel of Ease constructed by Bishop Medley upon the demolition of the original parish church on the present cathedral site. As a community, the cathedral is governed by the "Bishop and Chapter" whose function is similar to a parish corporation (incumbent, church wardens and vestry) and that of the usual "chapter" of other cathedrals. There are congregational representatives on bishop and chapter elected by the congregation along with other members appointed by the bishop of Fredericton.

Clergy

The

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

and incumbent is the only stipendiary cleric currently associated with the cathedral. Several members of staff assist the dean in its ministry. including the director of music (half-time), office administrator (four-fifths-time), director of Christian formation (half-time), parish nurse (half-time), sexton (full-time), verger (by honorarium), and Vocational Deacon (non-stipendary). There are several retired clergy who serve as honorary assistants. The canons of the cathedral chapter typically do not have a liturgical or governance role at the cathedral, unlike other foundations. In the Diocese of Fredericton, these positions are largely honorary rather than collegiate to the cathedral itself. The first dean of Fredericton was Francis Partridge. The

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an official, office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seek ...

is Geoffrey M. Hall, formerly diocesan archdeacon and executive assistant to Claude W. Miller, ninth bishop of Fredericton. Deans of Fredericton * Geoffrey M. Hall * Keith R. Joyce * William J. Hockin * John vanNostrand Wright * Donald W. Noseworthy * H. Rhodes Cooper * Harold L. Nutter * W. H. Moorhead * J. F. H. Holmes * Scovil Neales * Charles D. Schofield * Francis Partridge

References

{{Commons

External links

Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton website
Anglican cathedrals in Canada Anglican church buildings in New Brunswick Buildings and structures in Fredericton National Historic Sites in New Brunswick 19th-century Anglican church buildings in Canada Churches completed in 1853 Gothic Revival church buildings in Canada Tourist attractions in Fredericton Churches on the National Historic Sites of Canada register