Plymouth Cathedral

I first visited Plymouth in June 2021, as part of a trip covering Truro and Exeter as well as Plymouth. Due to bad timing on my part, I wasn’t able to visit the cathedral until September 2023. 

Plymouth Cathedral, like most Catholic cathedrals in the UK, was built after the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829. The Diocese of Plymouth was created in 1850 and covers Devon, Cornwall and Dorset. 

Since the diocese's foundation, the small church of Saint Mary, erected in 1807 at Saint Mary Street, had served as Pro-cathedral. 

In 1858, the new cathedral was opened and put under the patronage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Boniface, the latter thought to have been born in Crediton in the area of the diocese. The new cathedral was built by  William Vaughan from Bristol who was the second  Bishop of Plymouth.

Joseph Hansom, who designed the cab, and his brother Charles Hansom were the architects and local men from Stonehouse built it. Work commenced on 22 June, during which a Royal Navy officer fired new Turkish Man-of-war guns in Plymouth Sound, which caused subsidence. 

The cathedral was opened with Mass on 25 March 1858 (the Feast of the Annunciation), and consecrated by Vaughan on 22 September 1880.

Here are some photos of this very charming building.