The Cathedral Church of St John the Baptist is the Roman Catholic

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominat ...

of the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England.

History

The cathedral, located on Unthank Road, was constructed between 1882 and 1910 to designs by

George Gilbert Scott, Jr. George Gilbert Scott Jr. (8 October 1839 – 6 May 1897) was an English architect working in late Gothic and Queen Anne revival styles. Known in later life as 'Middle Scott', he was the eldest son of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott), ...

as a parish church dedicated to John the Baptist, on the site of the Norwich City Gaol. The funds for its construction were provided by

Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, (27 December 184711 February 1917), styled Lord Maltravers until 1856 and Earl of Arundel and Surrey between 1856 and 1860, was a British Unionist politician and philanthropist. He served as Postmas ...

, as a gesture of thanksgiving for his first marriage to Lady Flora Abney-Hastings. In 1976, it was consecrated as the cathedral church for the newly erected

Diocese of East Anglia The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church covering the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Peterborough in eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic Ass ...

and the seat of the

Bishop of East Anglia The Bishop of East Anglia is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), Ordinary of the modern Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia in the Province of Westminster, England. The incumbent is Bishop Peter Collins (bishop), Peter Collins, who was installed o ...

. In 2014, for the first time since 1558, a

Pontifical High Mass A Pontifical High Mass, also called Solemn Pontifical Mass, is a Solemn or High Mass celebrated by a bishop using certain prescribed ceremonies. Although in modern English the word "pontifical" is almost exclusively associated with the pope, an ...

was celebrated in this

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

's cathedral. It is one of two cathedrals in the city of Norwich, the other being the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, begun in the Norman style in 1096.

Resources

Just off the south aisle of the cathedral is the Duckett Library. It was named after Canon Richard Duckett who was rector of the church from 1876 to 1910. It was opened on 22 February 2012. People need to become a member of the library to join, and that membership is available to all the cathedral's congregation. It has 3,000 religious publications and is staffed by volunteers. Also, within the cathedral ground is the Narthex. It opened in March 2010 and is the cathedral's visitor centre. It comprises an Education and Interpretation Gallery, a shop, a refectory with outdoor patio, a function hall, licensed bar and community garden.Cathedral Narthex
Retrieved 15 January 2013

Parish

The cathedral's parish also covers Holy Apostles Church, West Earlham, in a suburb of Norwich.

Interior

File:St John the Baptist Cathedral Tower, Norwich, Norfolk, UK - Diliff.jpg, Tower interior File:St John the Baptist Cathedral Sanctuary, Norwich, Norfolk, UK - Diliff.jpg,

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

File:St John the Baptist Cathedral Nave 1, Norwich, Norfolk, UK - Diliff.jpg,

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-typ ...

References

External links

St John the Baptist Cathedral homepage
(Simon Knott, norfolkchurches.co.uk, accessed 29 October 2012)
Image of the cathedral
(accessed 24 September 2007)
Floor plan of the cathedral
(accessed 23 August 2017)
Narthex opens March, 2010''Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Baptist, Norwich''
(British Listed Buildings)
Interior view at Google Maps
{{DEFAULTSORT:Norwich, Saint John the Baptist Churches in Norwich Roman Catholic cathedrals in England Roman Catholic churches in Norfolk Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia Grade I listed cathedrals Grade I listed churches in Norfolk Roman Catholic churches completed in 1910 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom