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St John the Baptist Catholic Cathedral of East Anglia, Earlham Road, Norwich
This great church sits just beyond the inner ring road, on the site of the former city gaol. Four lanes of traffic cut it off from Upper St Giles and the city centre, but as they drop sharply down Grapes Hill they accentuate the position, power and sheer bulk of this magnificent building as it rises above the west side of the city. The massive tower seems a fatherly companion to the thirty-odd surviving medieval towers in Norwich, and it may surprise you to learn that it was only completed in 1910. At that date, St John the Baptist was the largest post-Reformation church in England, for this building only became a Cathedral as recently as 1976. Many people consider it to be the finest Gothic Revival church in the country.
These days, the Catholic Church has the largest number of practising members of any of the Christian Churches in England. It's been that way for several years, and with the recent influx into the country of hundreds of thousands of East Europeans, it is unlikely to change in the near future. It is salutary to remember, then, that it is less than two hundred years since the practice of the Catholic Faith in this country was decriminalised.
The Catholic Church had been expelled from England at the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, and consequently thousands of Catholics suffered grim punishments for their adherence to the faith of their forefathers. Many of the government reformers of the 1540s had wanted to go further, and to establish a fully protestant Church in England without any traditional hierarchy; but the early death of Edward VI, the similarly short reign of Mary, and the Anglican Settlement of the Elizabethan years, ensured that protestantism in England would retain the administrative structures of the banished Catholic Church, and some of the outward aspects of its worship. Mind you, it would be a rocky ride for the Anglicans over the next century or so.
Catholicism became increasing irrelevant and marginalised during the long, penal years. In retrospect, this was a good thing. After the furious martyrdoms of the Elizabethan period, the English Catholic community settled into an introspective retreat from public view. During the 17th Century, it would on occasion be forced unwillingly into the glare of controversy by 'Popish plots', real or imagined, but by the 18th century it had become a rare and exotic flower, occasionally encountered, but significant more for its strangeness than for its influence. By the start of the 19th century, there were perhaps less than a thousand Catholics in all East Anglia.
During these times, England was treated as a missionary territory by the Catholic Church. In the early years, the Faith was largely maintained and ministered by Jesuits, but by the 18th century there were Vicars Apostolic appointed by the Vatican to carry out the work of Bishops in designated Districts. East Anglia was in the vast Midland District. The work of these proto-Bishops was quite illegal, and they would be arrested if they were caught. Catholics relied for the sacraments on the itinerant Priests maintained by certain large country houses. Catholics in London had access to the chapels of foreign embassies, which welcomed the indigenous Faithful to Mass. It was not permissible for Catholics in England to build their own churches, and there was no right of assembly. However, there were already mission chapels in most towns, which were tolerated as long as the local Catholic community kept a low profile. There was one in Norwich in a room in the St Swithin's district, off of St Benedict's Street, run by Jesuits. It was followed soon after by a purpose-built chapel in Maddermarket Street, dedicated to St John the Baptist.
In 1780, a Reform Act began the process of decriminalisation; in response, an anti-Catholic pogrom in London, the Gordon Riots, resulted in hundreds of deaths. There was widespread public revulsion against this event, resulting in an increased sympathy for the Catholic community. A few years later, the fear of the French Revolution caused further support for the Catholic minority in England, and this contributed to more reform in the 1820s and 1830s. At last, it was possible for Catholic churches to be built, and for Catholic communities to be formed.
During the 1820s, the first proper Catholic church in Norwich since the Reformation was built. The Holy Apostles Chapel, a grand classical building in Willow Lane, survives as the headquarters of a firm of solicitors. It was ministered by Jesuits. It would be true to say that the Catholic Church in England had become very visible, very quickly, in these early decades of the 19th century. This led to further difficulties, because for the first time in centuries the possible influence of the Church led to a reaction. Would newly-liberated Catholics be loyal to the Crown? Would a Catholic Church which was given its head threaten the legitimacy of the Church of England?
A group of Anglican dons at Oxford University issued a series of tracts in an attempt to assert the primacy of the Church of England as a National Church. The teachings of the Oxford Movement, as it was known, spread like wildfire through the Church of England, turning it upside down, and reinventing it in terms of its medieval past. Anglican parish church buildings became sacramental and liturgical spaces once more, no more the preaching houses they had become under the influence of protestantism.
Religion was a popular thing in the middle years of the 19th century. At the time of the 1851 Census of Religious Worship, perhaps one in three of all English people attended an Anglican church service on a Sunday. Many others were drawn to the non-conformist chapels, especially in East Anglia.
The Catholic Church barely registers on the radar of the 1851 census, especially in East Anglia. Yet, in a little over 150 years, it would become the largest Church in England in terms of attendance. How did this happen?
One of the major rites of passage for the newly-legal Catholic Church happened the same year as the census. This was the re-establishment of the Church hierarchy in England and Wales. For the first time, there would be a college of Bishops, led by the Archbishop of Westminster, each Bishop having his own diocese. These Catholic dioceses, of course, would overlay those of the Church of England. Because there were far fewer Catholics, the Catholic dioceses were much larger - Norwich was in the vast Diocese of Northampton. The sees of Catholic dioceses were chosen carefully by the hierarchy; no city which already had an Anglican cathedral would be given a Catholic one, so as not to stir up anti-Catholic feeling. The new Cathedrals were in places of significance to Church history: Southwark and Westminster, Leeds and Middlesbrough, Salford and Clifton.
The dioceses were carved up into Catholic parishes, again overlaying the Anglican ones, and again much bigger than their pre-Reformation counterparts. Whereas 16th century Norwich had perhaps 36 Catholic parishes, there was now just one.
By 1870, the Holy Apostles Parish had a community of 1,200 Catholics, and a further town centre church followed in Fisher Lane. Yet Norwich was a staunchly protestant town, looking askance on the ritualist movement within the Church of England, and barely tolerating the increasing Catholic presence within its midst.
It was the industrialisation of England which had led to the emergence in the 19th century of a large, urban, mainly poor, Catholic population. This sat ill-at-ease with the Country House-led Catholicism of previous generations, but it was often the philanthropy of the landed Catholics which enabled the Catholic Church in urban areas to thrive. In the 1870s, Our Lady and the English Martyrs, a vast Catholic church, was opened in Cambridge. It had been erected thanks to the fortunes of Mrs Lynne-Stephens of Lynford in Norfolk, and was one of the largest churches built in England in the 19th century. It was clear that if, as seemed likely, the Diocese of Northampton was one day split into two smaller dioceses, the Cambridge church would be ideal as the Cathedral of the new eastern diocese. Cambridge, after all, had no Anglican cathedral, while Norwich did. A similarly large church was begun in Ipswich, although it was never completed. All over England, the Catholic communites were becoming more confident, even triumphalist. Larger and larger churches were being erected. And yet, the mood seemed not to have affected Norwich, with its two little Catholic chapels.
However, this hedging of bets for the future was complicated by one unusual, but ultimately significant, fact. The leading Catholic family of England then, as now, were the Dukes of Norfolk. The Duke of the day had been very generous with his money towards the building of the Cathedral at Southwark, and was responsible for the building of two great churches at Arundel and Sheffield, two places where the family had great influence. Norwich was a third.
In 1877, Henry Fitzalan Howard, the 15th Duke of Norfolk, married Lady Flora Hastings, and he decided to commemorate the event in stone. In 1892 he would write a letter to the Mayor of Norwich, remembering the occasion. "When, shortly after my most happy marriage, I wished to build a church as a thank-offering to God, many places were suggested to me. Bearing in mind the title that I hold, I decided to build this church in Norwich, the chief city of Norfolk." A site had been purchased in Coslany, but before any clearance began, the 1827 city gaol came onto the market. This was also bought, and in 1881 the buildings on it were demolished. The Duke selected as architect for the new building George Gilbert Scott Junior, a convert to Catholicism. It would be dedicated to St John the Baptist, in memory of the chapel in Maddermarket Street. The style was to be Early English Gothic. The size would be immense. There seems to have been no competition. The foundation stone was laid on the 17th July 1884.
Construction proceeded smoothly until 1892, when it was discovered that there was no planning permission for the full length of the building. This was the occasion for the Duke's letter mentioned in the previous paragraph, throwing himself somewhat on the mercy of the Corporation. "After considerable hesitation", he wrote, "I venture to address you on the subject of the church I am building in Norwich. As you are aware, difficulties have arisen... and I fear that there is danger not only of the city and myself being driven to great expense in litigation, but of its appearing as if I was acting in a hostile spirit towards the Corporation of Norwich in my attempt to add one more to the beauties of their beautiful city. It is this last consideration which chiefly induces me to trouble you with this letter."
The Duke went on to observe that "I have now built half the church, and I do not think any member of the corporation will suggest that it is a building of which Norwich has any cause to be ashamed... Norwich has got half my church. If it does not want the other half, perhaps I had better build it in some place which will appreciate it more. To me, of course, the result will be a disappointment."
This combination of charm and bluff seemed to do the trick, and by 1894 the nave had been completed, and services were moved from the two smaller churches in the parish into St John the Baptist. Scott died in 1897, and the work was finished by his brother, John Oldrich Scott. And so, on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8th 1910, the great church was opened with a Blessing and High Pontifical Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Northampton, Dr Keating. Within the lifetime of people who had known the end of the penal years, the greatest Catholic church in England was complete.
The church is a magnificent, cruciform structure, 275 feet long. The chancel roof rises to a height of 80 feet, the top of the crossing a further 80 feet above that. Although the harmony and confidence of the Early English style here is perfection, the glory of the cathedral is perhaps not in its stonework at all, but in the extensive scheme of glass by Powell & Son. The style is entirely in keeping, entirely traditional. The overwhelming colour is blue, and on a bright day it can be like standing inside of a vast jewel.
You enter the building through the north porch. On a bright day, it can take a moment to accustom the eyes to the dim light within, although, because of the glass, this church could never be described as gloomy. The great arcades lead the eye down the long bays to the light of the crossing, and the sanctuary beyond. The walls climb high to the triforium and clerestory. As in all large churches, the nave would be greatly improved if it were cleared of the 19th century benches and these were replaced with modern chairs. But these are not too intrusive, not least because the aisles are clear and punctuated by devotional statues, a pleasing route to walk around the church. Incidentally, it is not unusual to find yourself alone in this vast space. Even today, Norwich has a much smaller Catholic population than either Cambridge or Ipswich, and you can wander here as if you owned the place in a way which would never be possible in Cambridge's Our Lady and the English Martyrs. This is true even since the completion of the brilliant narthex complex to the north, with its very fine café.
Beyond the crossing, smaller chapels let eastwards off of the transepts, including the Walsingham Chapel and the chapel of Christian Unity. The Second Spring of the Catholic Church in England has flourished into a vigorous Summer, and today the Catholic population of East Anglia continues to grow rapidly. In 1961, an Auxiliary Bishop was appointed to the Diocese of Northampton, with special responsibility for East Anglia. Fifteen years later, on the 13th of March 1976, the Diocese of Northampton was split in two, and the three eastern counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk formed the new Diocese of East Anglia. There was never any question that the Cathedral would be here in Norwich. Since the sensitivities of the 19th century, the Church of England had created a number of Cathedrals in cities already served by Catholic Cathedrals, most significantly Birmingham and Liverpool, but in deference to the spirit of those times this Church is always known as the Cathedral of East Anglia, or St John's Cathedral, without any reference to the name of the city.
A friend observed to me recently that you could see everything there was to see in St John the Baptist in an hour, while it would take a week for the Anglican Cathedral to give up all its treasures. This is certainly true, and while I would observe that the Anglican Cathedral was itself a Catholic Cathedral once, I would also say that it is a good thing. For, as Bill Wilson observes in the revised edition of Pevsner, this "amazing church... is of course an end and not a beginning". He goes on to describe the style as "self-effacing historicism... with nothing of the new freedom and licence of Sedding or Caroe, i.e. the Arts & Crafts". And amen to that, for here we have the best example in England of a great Gothic Revival church, a perfection of the late Victorian imagination in stone. As with its Anglican counterpart, it is certainly a great national treasure.
Coloratssimi messaggi post-it lasciati dai passanti sul "cerotto" di quella vetrina rotta l'altra notte da alcuni passanti poco educati... Messagi d'amore,di gioia,di affetto, di pace, un tale Luca era alla ricerca di una bionda...e qualcun altro ha avuto la mano pesante con la volgarità.
Sample of packaged food and beverage handed out at Red Cross relief center, Freret Street near Napoleon Avenue, Uptown New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina. Photo October 2005.
The good folks of the Galveston area are apparently getting a chance to sample such cuisine right now. Most of this stuff is bland but edible. Avoid the canned Anheiser Busch Emergency Water-- nicknamed "Floodweiser"-- which is simply vile tasting and suitible for nothing but washing.
I uploaded this image to Wikimedia Commons 17 October 2005; it is now up for deletion there since it contains copyrighted commercial packaging.
[Update: Deleted from Commons.]
In front of a famous location for Rail Buffs, at Teignmouth sea front -and not a 'Western' to be seen!
Close up of the front of the post office I built for an event the Irish postal service are holding with a speaker from Lego. I really should remember to keep my fingers out of the way when photographing models with reflective surfaces.
SET 3 – Olive Branch Kroger, Post-Remodel
The main signage itself reads “DAIRY fresh from the farm,” and is affixed to some almost-shutter-like structures hanging forward off of the wall. Behind the signage are some stencils reminiscent of rolling hills, similar to what is also seen in the produce department wall décor in fresh and local (which is not present in this location, since produce isn’t against a wall, but can be seen here, as an example).
(c) 2024 Retail Retell
These places are public so these photos are too, but just as I tell where they came from, I'd appreciate if you'd say who :)
In the mountains, even in June, it gets cold pretty fast once the sun goes down around 8pm. If you want to extend your time outdoors, snuggling in a zero degree duck down sleeping bag is a good solution.
I enjoy both dawn and dusk in terms of observing wildlife and also just witnessing the majestic light transformation from night to day or vice versa.
The plan for the new van is to build an observation/sleeping deck on the roof, accessible by a boat hatch directly above the bed. The view from there should be impressive, especially in the desert.
A much better attempt at a post-apoc rifle. Comments are welcome!
Feel free to make any alterations to it, just gimme some credit, will ya? Here's the pastie: pastiebin.com/?page=p&id=4d541be3e81bb
designed/made by me
Each work is made from a single square paper. And here' s my post about these works: ori-interior.com/ori-plant/
Being in an MRI machine sounds like your head's
inside a jet engine that is being jack-hammered,
while also agitating like a spin cycle. I think the
idea of the possible results was scarier than
the actual procedure.
The posts on a fence overlooking the beach ~ and it did rain!!
Flickr Lounge - Weekly Theme (Week 31) ~ Repetition ....
Thanks to everyone who views this photo, adds a note, leaves a comment and of course BIG thanks to anyone who chooses to favourite my photo .... Thanks to you all.
Sneak peek from Lacey Davis' and Sean Cannon's proposal/engagement session. Honored to be part of a big moment for two wonderful people.
Many thanks to Jessica Smith for being my lighting assistant.
Another one from back in Noissy, this time straight down the central axis of the development. Nice bit of dirty concrete and a, ahem, 'classic' example of how post modernism raped the classical orders for token architectural gestures.
Check this link to see why this guy used the housing as a set for a few shots in Star Wars (as imagined on earth)
www.architizer.com/en_us/blog/dyn/35798/on-earth-as-it-is...
Third and fourth pictures down....
I was approached by a film company because they wanted to use my Delica while shooting a short film set in the near future.
They asked me to make it look as 'Post Apocalyptic' as possible. I did my best!
Fliming took place in South London on an abandoned/dereclict housing estate. A massive place with 2000+ apartments all empty. Quite eery!
I took these shots just after filming had finished and the crew had gone home. It made for a nice setting.
Hello again Flickr :)
Here's a little post van I made in Digital Designer and rendered with Bluerender. I'm not sure why it hovers slightly above the ground, but I can't fix it...
I'm am currently on a four-month work placement at LEGO in Billund, so I'm living the dream right now! :DDD If you want to read a bit more aout it, go to my blog here: hardingco.tumblr.com/post/148805088036/dream-come-true
Anyway, I hope you like my little build and as always, I appreciate any feedback!
About these posts.
Neville Balgue came to Wynnum in 1922 to work on the recently installed electricity service. He converted a 25’ sailing boat to a bay boat and called her “Lizzie”. He applied to the then Town Council of Wynnum to build a slip for her at the bottom of Havelock (Penfold) Parade. The boat and the slip passed to his son-in-law and the hardwood posts stand today a useful perch for the pelicans and the seabirds. Note the holes in the posts. The boat to be serviced is floated between the posts on high tide and the bearers adjusted beneath. When the tide ebbs, the barnacles can be scraped off the bottom of the boat in readiness for painting.
This information was kindly provided by Jill Greenhill, Librarian, Wynnum Manly Historical Society Inc
In the mid 1970s, or so, I “rescued” a small number of old newspapers; alas they started disintegrating so I dare not try to make more copies of interesting adverts or articles
It was almost unknown for London Transport to buy second-hand buses until the run-up to privatisation, by which time it traded as London Buses Ltd. Amongst the most surprising purchases were a pair of traditional front-engined double deckers with manual gearboxes for driver training duties.
LE1 was a former Warrington Corporation Leyland PD2 with traditional exposed radiator and a rear-entrance East Lancs body of an attractive but dated design. By contrast RV1 was a former East Kent East Regent V with a forward-entrance Park Royal body to a particularly boxy design. In addition to driver training, the latter was used for all sorts of special duties including rail replacement work.
This image is based on RV1 (which fortunately survives in preservation), modified to represent a rear-entrance Leyland PD3A. Northern Ireland registrations were briefly fashionable for re-registered vehicles and this particular registration is not intended to suggest origins. To further cloud the latter, it has clearly been fitted with a standard London destination display (24-Apr-10).
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