Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Boniface

Introduction

The Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Boniface in Plymouth was built in 1855-58 by J A and C F Hansom for Bishop Vaughan, with the spire added in 1866. The cathedral is listed at Grade II, first listed on 01-May-1975. The cathedral's style is Middle Pointed, with Early English lancets.

History

Since the diocese's foundation, the small church of Saint Mary, erected in 1807 at Saint Mary Street, had served as Pro-cathedral. In 1853 the Chapter of Plymouth Cathedral was erected. In November 1853, Bishop Errington selected Dr George Oliver to be the first Provost of the new Chapter, along with seven Canons.

The purchase of a meadow in Fivefields was made possible by Edmund Bastard of Kitley, and an appeal was launched for further funds. The architects engaged were Joseph Aloysius Hansom and his younger brother Charles Francis Hansom; Plymouth Cathedral was the first of the Hansoms' many churches in the South West.

The Hansom Brothers, Joseph and Charles, became the architects and Mr. Roberts of Stonehouse the builder; his tender came to £3904 and was accepted on 22nd May 1856. The Bishop's house was constructed and the clergy moved in on the 23rd September 1857.

The Hansoms also designed the adjoining Bishop's House (1857) and, it is thought, the school to the south, as well as the Convent of Notre Dame (1865) to the west. The Cathedral was opened at the Feast of the Annunciation on 25th March 1858, and the Te Deum was sung at the close of the ceremony. The opening ceremony on the Feast of the Annunciation 1858 was placed under the direction of the Rev John Bonomi of Llansanfreed and Canon Talbot. The music at the opening was Weber's in G conducted by Organist, M. Leopold de Prins, and at the end of the Mass the Te Deum was sung.

The completion of the tower and the addition of the spire, also to the Hansoms' design, was delayed until 1866. In March 1888 Bishop Vaughan, celebrating the fiftieth year of his priesthood, increased the number of Canons in the Chapter to nine.

The interior has a five-bay nave with chamfered arches of two orders set on octagonal granite columns with bell capitals. Reordering took place in 1920-7 by F A Walters, with further major work in 1972 and in 1994 by Harrison Sutton of Totnes. The triple-arched screen was removed in 1972, along with the low stone screen that formerly separated the chancel from the nave, during reordering following the Second Vatican Council.

Architecture and furnishings

The new ambo or lectern stands near the west end, the original pulpit in the chancel having being removed; the original stone font stands to the north-west, in front of the aumbry with beaten copper doors in Art Nouveau style. At the east end of the chancel, the presbyterium contains the new cathedra (Bishop's chair) and clergy seating are backed by a timber screen with a hanging rood or crucifix above, dating from F A Walters's work of the 1920s. To the east of the south transept is the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament containing a carved reredos with gilt decorative canopy, placed here in the 1920s; the chapel is protected by decorative wrought-iron screens.

The north transept forms the Sacred Heart Chapel, with carved panels and niches, with the chapel to the east now containing the organ, a replacement of 1997. The tower is two-stage, very slender, with clasping buttresses, a south doorway with a moulded pointed arch, and a broached spire with lucarnes. The entrance is enclosed by a covered way or narthex with steeply pitched gables on cruciform concrete posts, linking the cathedral with the Cathedral Centre. In the south-east chapel, the Pietà, a sculpture of the Virgin holding Christ taken down from the Cross, is inspired by Michelangelo's sculpture in St Peter's, Rome.

The sacristy, to the north-east, adjoining the Clergy House, contains an eighteenth-century Flemish altarpiece. Around the walls of the nave are Stations of the Cross carved in Beer stone by Joseph Cribb of Ditchling, who had been apprenticed to Eric Gill, dating from 1958. The cathedral contains a number of stained glass windows by Hardman. In February 2022, the cathedral installed a Wyvern Concerto 354, 3 Manual Drawstop digital organ.

Visiting

The cathedral's celebration of First Holy Communion usually takes place on the weekend of Corpus Christi each year. The Cathedral stands at the corner of Wyndham Street West and Cecil Street, between North Road West and the A388 Western Approach. A tall spire on the tower over the North Porch, two hundred and five feet high, serves as a clear landmark. The Railway Station is within walking distance of the Cathedral. Limited parking is available at the rear of the Cathedral, or in the Western Approach public car park a short walk away.