Hereford Cathedral, North West Elevation
The site of Hereford Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin
and Saint Ethelbert the King, became a place of worship in the 8th century or earlier although the oldest part of the current building, the bishop's chapel, dates to the 11th Century, just after the Norman conquest.
Having been destroyed in the last decade of the Saxon period, construction of the current building began as early as 1079. Some fragments of this Norman building survive, but most of the current superstructure is 13th-16th Century. The central tower, which dominates this shot, dates from the first half of the 14th Century. The North Porch, visible here, was the last part of the Cathedral’s structure to be completed, some time before 1535.
On Easter Monday 1786, the great West Tower of the Cathedral collapsed and has not been rebuilt; the current shorter, double spired, West Entrance, dates from 1902-8, the culmination of a long period of Victorian and early Edwardian ‘restoration’ which remains not entirely accepted.
Hereford Cathedral, North West Elevation
The site of Hereford Cathedral, dedicated to Saint Mary the Virgin
and Saint Ethelbert the King, became a place of worship in the 8th century or earlier although the oldest part of the current building, the bishop's chapel, dates to the 11th Century, just after the Norman conquest.
Having been destroyed in the last decade of the Saxon period, construction of the current building began as early as 1079. Some fragments of this Norman building survive, but most of the current superstructure is 13th-16th Century. The central tower, which dominates this shot, dates from the first half of the 14th Century. The North Porch, visible here, was the last part of the Cathedral’s structure to be completed, some time before 1535.
On Easter Monday 1786, the great West Tower of the Cathedral collapsed and has not been rebuilt; the current shorter, double spired, West Entrance, dates from 1902-8, the culmination of a long period of Victorian and early Edwardian ‘restoration’ which remains not entirely accepted.