Unabashedly Baroque, the Cathedral Church of St. Philip was initially a parish church, joining the Cathedral ranks only in 1905, and is one of the smallest of their number. In the early 18th century, Birmingham's burgeoning metal industry prompted building of a larger...

The Diocese of Blackburn was carved out of the Diocese of Manchester in 1926, and the parish church of St Mary the Virgin became Blackburn Cathedral. Blackburn asserts evidence of Christian activity since 596. In 1820, when the foundations of the oldest part of the...

Bradford is one of three Cathedrals in the Diocese of Leeds, the others being Ripon and Wakefield. The present church, the third on the site, was built in the 15th century and incorporated elements from the previous building. Standing high on the hillside above the...

Most medieval cathedrals grow younger from west to east. The western portion, almost invariably the nave, was built first. Fancy add-ons—choirs, presbyteries and lady chapels—were tacked onto the east as energy, war-free interludes, and funds permitted. Bristol is the...

Bury St Edmunds is a gorgeous little market town in Suffolk, East Anglia with a very colourful history. Originally called Beodericsworth (I'm so glad language has evolved, aren't you?), the Bury part is a derivation of borough though, given the disputes, riots and...

Canterbury Cathedral is magnificent in and of itself. Still, it's probably most famous for being the site of the murder of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop who repeatedly butted heads with King Henry II (husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine, a pretty powerful woman in her own...

The diminutive Carlisle Cathedral is the most northerly of the medieval cathedrals and larger than only Derby Cathedral, the smallest. Throughout the middle ages, the town of Carlisle was the site of constant border skirmishes between the Scots and the English, and...

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin became Chelmsford Cathedral following a cranky contest in 1913 to choose a suitable site for the new Cathedral to serve East London. Unfortunately, funds proved short, so plans for a new building were quickly abandoned, but in 1923,...

A former Benedictine Abbey set in a walled Norman city, Chester Cathedral, has the works. Its architecture comprises 11th-century Norman to 18th-century Gothic revival and every style in between. Chester, a cathedral city (obviously), has some of the best-preserved...

If Exeter Cathedral is a sumptuous white wedding gown, Chichester Cathedral is a grey morning suit with a particularly vibrant waistcoat. Chichester Cathedral's predecessor, Selsey Abbey, was founded in 681 by the irascible Wilfred of Ripon, famous for championing the...