The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is an
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...
cathedral church in the centre of
Old Portsmouth in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most d ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. It is the cathedral of the
Diocese of Portsmouth and the seat of the
bishop of Portsmouth.
The Anglican cathedral is one of the two cathedral churches in the city, the other being the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth, about one mile to the north.
History
Around the year 1180,
Jean de Gisors, a wealthy
Norman merchant and Lord of the Manor of
Titchfield, gave land in his new town of Portsmouth to the
Augustinian canons of
Southwick Priory
Southwick Priory or Our Lady at Southwick () was a priory of Augustinian canons founded in Portchester Castle on Portsmouth Harbour and later transferred north to Southwick, Hampshire, England. It ceased at the Dissolution of the Monasterie ...
so that they could build a chapel "to the Glorious Honour of the Martyr
Thomas of Canterbury
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
, one time Archbishop, on (my) land which is called Sudewede, the island of Portsea". It was given so that they could build a chapel dedicated to the honour of
St Thomas of Canterbury
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
, who was assassinated and martyred ten years earlier. This chapel was to become, in turn, a parish church in the 14th century and then a cathedral in the 20th century.
The medieval building, dedicated in 1188, was
cruciform
Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly describe ...
in shape, with a central tower, which was used as a lookout point and lighthouse, over the crossing. Of the original building, only the chancel and the transepts remain. The church survived a French raid in 1337 which had laid waste most of Portsmouth during the
Hundred Years War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of England and France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French throne between the English House of Plantagene ...
. However, in 1449,
Adam Moleyns,
Bishop of Chichester, was murdered by local sailors. The town's inhabitants were excommunicated and the church was closed. In 1591,
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
worshipped in St Thomas's Church.
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
, when the Parliamentary forces
attacked the town in 1642, the Royalist garrison used the church tower to observe the movement of enemy forces. Parliamentary gunners positioned in
Gosport
Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite ...
fired on the tower and inflicted damage to the church. This resulted in the ruin of the medieval tower and nave. With the
restoration of the monarchy
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
*Restoration ecology
...
in 1660 came the authorisation by
Charles II for a collection in churches across the country to raise the £9,000 required to rebuild the tower and nave, which took place from 1683 to 1693. The nave was built in the
classical style.
Galleries were added in 1708 to cater for growing congregations, and were extended in 1750. The wooden
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, f ...
with a lantern for shipping was added to the top of the tower in 1703. A ring of eight bells was given at the same time. Two additional bells were cast in 1957 and currently the central tower contains a total of 12 bells. All of the bells were cast at
Taylor's Bell Foundry and are hung in the wooden octagonal part of the tower. Various repairs and alterations were made during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1902, the church was closed for two years so that much-needed work on the foundations could be carried out. During this period, St Mary's Colewort, a
chapel of ease
A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently.
Often a chapel of ease is deliberately bu ...
, served as the temporary parish church.
Cathedral
The establishment of the Diocese of Portsmouth out of part of the
Diocese of Winchester in 1927 brought about significant changes. On 1 May of that year, the parish church of St Thomas of Canterbury became the
pro-cathedral of the new diocese, becoming the second cathedral in Portsmouth, as the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist had already opened in 1882. At a
chapter meeting in October 1932, a first sketch plan for an extension to the church was submitted by
Charles Nicholson. He was called upon to extend the church to a size that would dignify its cathedral status; by 1935 the "provisional" nature of its title had been dropped.
The style that Nicholson chose is that of a round-arched "
Neo-Byzantine" style that echoed the "classical" style of the late seventeenth century quire. By 1939 the outer quire aisles, the tower, the
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 with ...
s and three bays of the nave had been completed.
The base of the seventeenth century tower had been opened up to form the tower arch. However, with the Fall of France in June 1940 during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, work on the extension scheme stopped and the bays of the nave were blocked off with a "temporary" brick wall. This wall remained there for over fifty years. During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, the Cathedral suffered minor damage to the windows and the roof. Nicholson died in 1949 and attempts headed by
Bernard Montgomery
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, (; 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty", was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War, the Irish War of Independence an ...
to finish the structure in the 1960s proved unsuccessful due to substantive failure to find sufficient funds. Plans published in 1966 by
Seely & Paget, with
Pier Luigi Nervi as consulting engineer, envisaged a large semi-circular western extension 76 feet wide, constructed of reinforced concrete. The vast extension would have allowed for a congregation of 1,200 to have an interrupted view of the nave altar. However, as the building had been used for many years without its extension, it was quite usable and there was no urgency to finish the work. By the mid-1980s, however, the "temporary" brick wall was found to have become unstable and in danger of collapse, which made the completion work pressing. The task of the architects was to find a solution to the problem of finishing Nicholson's truncated nave: the nave was originally intended in the 1930s plans to be longer, in the traditional style of an English cathedral, but the changing needs of the diocese meant that the building was finally built with a foreshortened nave, the final west wall being located close to where the temporary structure had been. Efforts were started to raise the £3 million necessary to carry out the plans. Work began in January 1990 and eventually a fourth bay of the nave, western towers, tower rooms, rose window, gallery,
ambulatory, together with the stone altar beneath Nicholson's tester and the new stone
font
In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a " sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design.
In mo ...
were added. In November 1991, the completed building, much smaller than the original plans envisaged, was consecrated in the presence of
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was th ...
.
Architecture
The formal entrance into the cathedral is through the bronze west doors, designed by
Bryan Kneale
Robert Bryan Charles Kneale (born 19 June 1930) is a Manx artist and sculptor, described by BBC News Online as "one of the Isle of Man's best known artists."
Biography
Born in the island's capital, Douglas, Kneale studied painting at the Doug ...
. The design is based on the
tree of life
The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A Hist ...
, an ancient symbol representing the renewal of life. The completed nave is a square space that is enclosed by an outer ambulatory. The ambulatory is low and
vaulted. Because the furniture in the nave is not fixed, it can be used for various means, including concerts and exhibitions as well as services. On the
rood screen, beneath the nave organ case is a sculpture called ''Christus'' by
Peter Eugene Ball
Peter Eugene Ball (19 March 1943) is an English sculptor. He is best known for his religious work which can be seen in churches and cathedrals throughout Britain. He also produces secular sculpture using predominantly driftwood and found obje ...
. The nave organ case was designed by Didier Grassin in 2001; the inside of the panels were designed by
Patrick Caulfield. The left side depicts night, with a stylised
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses m ...
shining on the sea (which alludes to the
City of Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most ...
's motto, "Heaven's Light Our Guide"). The right door depicts day, showing the sun and the hull of a
fishing boat.
The tower is pierced to provide an organ loft raised on a low dark passage. The font (1991), made to a
Greek design of the ninth century, is placed centrally between the nave and the
quire. In the south tower transept is the bronze statue of
St John the Baptist by
David Wynne. It was cast in 1951 as a memorial to a
Winchester College
Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...
pupil killed on the
Matterhorn. On the north wall of the south tower transept is the painting ''The Miraculous Draught of Fishes'' by
William Lionel Wyllie. The north tower transept contains a ceramic plaque of the
Virgin and Child
In art, a Madonna () is a representation of Mary, either alone or with her child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word is (archaic). The Madonna and Child type is very prevalent ...
by the
Florentine sculptor
Andrea della Robbia. The principal
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in pagan ...
stands on a podium of
Purbeck stone, with
mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
work by Richard Noviss. The lectern was the gift of
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910.
The second chil ...
in 1903. The
pulpit
A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...
was installed in 1693 and is all that remains of a three-decker pulpit. The organ case, built by
Francis Bird
Francis Bird (1667–1731) was one of the leading English sculptors of his time. He is mainly remembered for sculptures in Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. He carved a tomb for the dramatist William Congreve in Westminster Abbey and ...
, with carved figures of
cherubs
A cherub (; plural cherubim; he, כְּרוּב ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'', likely borrowed from a derived form of akk, 𒅗𒊏𒁍 ''karabu'' "to bless" such as ''karibu'', "one who blesses", a name for the lamassu) is one of the u ...
and
King David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
playing his harp, belongs to the Nicholson Organ and bears the date 1718.
In 1939, an extension of the Portsmouth Cathedral used granite from a quarry as far away as
Pulau Ubin,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
, which was then a British colony.
Music
Music department
There are three choirs at the cathedral. The cathedral choir consists of up to 20 boys and a 'back row' of adult alto, tenor and bass singers made up of six
choral scholars and six
layclerks. They sing Choral Evensong each Monday (low voices only), and Tuesday, Friday and Sunday (with the boys). Cantate is the girls' choir, established in 2006 to sing
Choral Evensong
Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...
each Thursday. The Cathedral Consort (previously known as the Parish Choir) is a mixed choir of adults and younger singers which sings Choral Evensong on Saturdays and other periods outside term time. Often, the choirs combine to form the Great Choir, usually at large services and events.
The choirs regularly go on tour, with recent European visits including destinations such as
Tallinn
Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...
(
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
),
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
(
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
),
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
(
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
),
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...
(
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
),
Gozo
Gozo (, ), Maltese: ''Għawdex'' () and in antiquity known as Gaulos ( xpu, 𐤂𐤅𐤋, ; grc, Γαῦλος, Gaúlos), is an island in the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After ...
(
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
),
Ypres
Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though
the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality ...
(
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...
) and
Notre Dame des Neiges in the
Alpe d'Huez
L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the Central French Western Alps, in the commune of Huez, which is part of the department of Isère in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
It is part of ...
(
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
).
The Organist and Master of the Choristers, currently
David Price, oversees the Music Department and is assisted by the sub-organist and Michael James Organ Scholar. Sachin Gunga has been sub-organist since January 2018. The Michael James Organ Scholar is appointed annually and is usually undertaken by an undergraduate during their
gap year.
Cathedral organs
The cathedral's three-manual and pedal, forty-nine stop organ was installed in 1994 by
Nicholson & Co Ltd. The pipes were taken from the John Nicholson organ of 1861 built for
Manchester Cathedral, which had been relocated to
Holy Trinity Church, Bolton
Holy Trinity Church, Bolton is a redundant Church of England parish church in Trinity Street, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It a Grade II listed building. It was a Commissioners' church, having received a grant towards its construct ...
, in 1874; it was rebuilt by Jardine & Co in 1905. In 2001, the West Great Organ was added, in order to provide music direct into the nave, which is pretty much a separate space. The renovated organ was officially inaugurated in November 2001, by a recital given by
Olivier Latry, titular organist at
Notre Dame de Paris. Finally, in 2017, horizontal Trompete de Maris fanfare reed division above the main entrance was added.
In 2007, the cathedral introduced a single manual, three-stop chamber organ built by Kenneth Tickell & Co of Northampton.
Dean and chapter
As of 30 December 2020:
*
Dean —
Anthony Cane (since 16 March 2019 installation)
*
Canon Chancellor
According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. In ...
and
Vice Dean — Kathryn Percival (since December 2019)
*
Canon Precentor — Jo Spreadbury (since September 2015)
*Diocesan Director of Social Enterprise and Engagement (
Diocesan Canon) — Nick Ralph (since 2009)
*Diocesan Head of Mission, Discipleship, and Ministry (Diocesan Canon) — Anthony Rustell (since 2014)
See also
*
List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom
NK = Not known
See also
* List of Anglican churches in the United Kingdom
*List of Catholic churches in the United Kingdom
A list of Catholic churches in the United Kingdom, notable current and former individual church buildings and congr ...
*
List of places of worship in Portsmouth
The English port city of Portsmouth has a wide variety of places of worship representing many Christian denominations and other faith groups. There were 101 in the city: 76 churches, chapels, halls and meeting rooms for various Christian groups ...
References
External links
Official websiteCathedral Innovation CentreFlickr images tagged Portsmouth Cathedral
{{Authority control
Anglican cathedrals in England
Church of England church buildings in Hampshire
Religious buildings in Portsmouth
Tourist attractions in Portsmouth
Grade I listed churches in Hampshire
Grade I listed cathedrals
Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth
Religious organizations established in the 1180s
Thomas Becket