Blackburn Cathedral

After completing photographing Bradford Cathedral and grabbing a quick sandwich for lunch, I got the train to Blackburn. After a very pleasant 75 minutes or so traveling through some beautiful scenery, I arrived in Blackburn.

The city is another that grew up around a Roman military settlement and owes its wealth and growth to the wool trade and the textile industry. It grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution and started to decline after the second world war. In the mid-1970s, there were 2,100 looms down from almost 79,500 70 years earlier.

Blackburn Cathedral or the Cathedral Church of Blackburn Saint Mary the Virgin with St Paul became a cathedral in 1926. A church has been on the site since the Norman conquest. It’s believed that the site was a Christian place of worship as early as the 6th century. The present church was built in 1826 by John Palmer after the earlier parish church was demolished in about 1820.

Starting in the 1930s, a series of building projects greatly expanded the building with John Palmer’s church becoming the nave of the current building. In 1977, the cathedral was finally consecrated.

When I was there. the crypt was being used for COVID vaccinations and so I wasn’t able to visit.

There’s no denying that the cathedral is a magnificent building but I didn’t like it. Not sure why. Here are some photos of it. Make up your own mind about it.