Pugin's Gem

A bit different for me but we had a two month long spell of rain here in the UK and what do you do when it's raining and you like taking outdoor photos? - go find something indoors!

 

There is much to say about this place but I'll do my best to keep it succinct. This is the interior of the Roman Catholic church in the small market town of Cheadle in the Staffordshire Moorlands. I was born in this town and I lived there for 44 years, and, seeing as the Cope family were Catholics until just before I was born when the family fell out with the church and all left, I went to many funerals and a few weddings in this church - it was just a regular part of life.

 

and yet there is something remarkable about this place that I never appreciated until I was an adult - and that is that people have have come from all over the world to see this place ever since it was completed in 1846! It holds a unique and hugely important place in the history of the Gothic Revival of the 19th Century due to it's sublime and intricate interior design features.

 

Built by the famous architect Pugin, (most famous for designing the Palace of Westminster/Houses of Parliament in London), it was one of a number of local designs that he was commissioned to design and oversee (including the great hall at nearby Alton Towers) by the then Earl of Shewsbury and this stunning and unique example of interior church design became known as 'Pugin's Gem'

 

 

Done