Bradford Cathedral

Bradford is one of those places that I’ve heard quite a bit about and thought I knew it but when I got there, I realised that it was nothing like the image I’d created of the city. The parts that I saw were a mixture of mid to late Victorian with some relatively sympathetic modern buildings.

Bradford is another of the Yorkshire cities that was a boomtown during the industrial revolution as a centre of textile manufacturing. Bradford was a Saxon settlement In 1170, there was an uprising against William the Conqueror. The town grew steadily, especially after Edward IV gave it the right to hold two annual fairs and by the time of Henry VIII, it was a bigger manufacturing centre than Leeds. Since the middle of the 20th century, the decline of manufacturing has caused social and economic issues similar to the rest of the North of England.

The Cathedral Church of St Peter is one of a trinity of cathedrals that form the Anglican diocese of Leeds, created in 2014; the other two being Wakefield and Ripon. It was made a cathedral in 1919 when the diocese of Bradford was created.

The first church on the site was built in the 8th century but fell into disuse and a new Norman church was built that was destroyed by the Scots. The basis of the current building was started in the 14th century with late 15th and earlier 16th century additions.

In 1854, Robert Mawer carved reredos for the church that were lost or destroyed in 1950/60’s extension to the cathedral made by Edward Maude. In 1987, further work was done to improve the building to cater for the larger number of people visiting the cathedral. For example, the Victorian pews were removed.

Here are some photos of this charming building.