New facilities blessed at cathedral
A new visitor's centre and shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Pity has been officially opened and blessed by the Bishop of Shrewsbury.
Bishop Mark Davies formally blessed the new entrance to the Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Peter of Alcantara, on Town Walls at an event on Friday attended by civic and ecumenical guests.
And on Sunday, he blessed the visitor facilities and a newly-constructed shrine to Our Lady of Pity overlooking a piazza which has been created at the 19th century Gothic-style building.
The development also includes a series of rooms available to men contemplating a life in the priesthood and there is a common room and a new chapel for those in the cathedral house.
The piazza and balconies provide the perfect backdrop to the newly-opened Orchard Café and visitors’ centre and there is a new car park within the landscaped grounds.
Renovations to the entrance cost £350,000, with £250,000 coming from a government First World War Cathedrals grant and the remaining £100,000 from a bequest.
The service of prayer for the blessing of the new entrance was attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, Sir Algernon Heber-Percy, and Lady Heber Percy; Jane Mackenzie, the Mayor of Shrewsbury, and by Charles Lillis, the High Sheriff of Shropshire. Anglican Bishops Michael Ipgrave of Lichfield and Alistair Magowan of Ludlow also attended along with Emeritus Bishop Brian Noble of Shrewsbury, and Auxiliary Bishop David McGough of Birmingham, representing Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham.
The construction of Shrewsbury Cathedral began in 1853 and it was opened by Cardinal Nicholas Wiseman in 1856.
The original design for the cathedral was drawn up by Pugin at the request of John Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, but both the Earl and Pugin died in 1852 before the cathedral moved off the drawing board.
The Earl’s 20-year-old heir, Bertram, continued the project and turned to Pugin’s eldest son, Edward, to complete his father’s work. Bertram died aged 23 – just two months before the cathedral, one of the smallest in the country, was completed.
The next phase of works scheduled to begin will be to the cathedral perimeter and lychgate. This is expected to cost about £244,000 and is also funded by the First World War Cathedrals grant.
