St Mary's Cathedral

About St Mary's Cathedral

St Mary's is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, listed Grade I, and Historic England describes it as a major composition by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, opened in August 1844. It was built as a large parish church and raised to cathedral status in 1850 when the Catholic hierarchy was restored, which makes it older in that role than the Anglican cathedral across the city, St Nicholas' having become a cathedral only in 1882. The spire that makes it a landmark is not Pugin's work: he designed a tower and spire but the budget would not carry them, and the upper stages of the tower and the spire were added in 1872 to designs by Dunn and Hansom, paid for by a bequest from Elizabeth Dunn. The listing's description of the belfry, with its crocketed dripmould and what it calls fantastic beast finials, is worth reading before you look up.

The interior repays a slow circuit. The great east window is a Tree of Jesse showing the kings and prophets of the Old Testament, the bishop's chair was carved by the Tyneside painter and craftsman Ralph Hedley, and one window near the west end shows the church itself being built. A window by Cate Watkinson, unveiled in 2004, commemorates Adam Wakenshaw, the Newcastle-born VC who died in 1942, and several of the modern windows replace glass blown out by wartime bombing on the south side. A Kenneth Tickell organ was installed in 2013. Outside is the Cardinal Basil Hume Memorial Garden, with a bronze of the Newcastle-born cardinal by Nigel Boonham, opened by the Queen in 2002. Entry is free and the cathedral's own guide says it is open every day, though published hours vary between listings, so check the website. There is a café in the precinct and a Pauline Books and Media shop on site. It stands directly opposite Central Station.

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