Bangor Cathedral: Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Bangor
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- English, Kingdom of Gwynedd
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Cathedral
On this page15 sections
History
Bangor Cathedral is a Christian cathedral in the United Kingdom, dedicated to Saint Deiniol and developed from a Norman church with Romanesque and Gothic elements. Its origins reach back to a monastery founded around 525–530, and the site has been used for Christian worship since the sixth century. It became the cathedral church of the Church in Wales and the Diocese of Bangor, an Anglican diocese governed by a bishop.
Saint Deiniol and the early cathedral
The original institution was Saint Deiniol’s Monastery, founded on land given by Maelgwn Gwynedd, the sixth-century king of Gwynedd. Deiniol, a sixth-century Welsh Christian leader, is traditionally said to have been consecrated by Saint David and to have become Bangor’s first bishop. The cathedral was consecrated in AD 546. The monastery was sacked in 634 and again in 1073, and no part of its original building survives.
Measures to restore Bangor Cathedral were recorded at the Synod of Westminster in 1102. The earliest surviving part of the present building was constructed during the episcopate of Bishop David, who held office from 1120 to 1139, with financial assistance from Gruffudd ap Cynan, king of Gwynedd. Gruffudd was buried beneath the high altar after his death in 1137. His son Owain Gwynedd and Owain’s brother and co-ruler Cadwaladr were also buried at the cathedral.
Medieval destruction and rebuilding
In 1188, the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrated Mass at the cathedral, an event described by Giraldus Cambrensis, a twelfth-century Welsh cleric and chronicler. King John’s army destroyed the cathedral in 1211 during a raid into Gwynedd. In the thirteenth century, the original apse was removed and the choir was extended to its present length.
The cathedral suffered further serious damage during Edward I’s invasion of Gwynedd in 1282. In 1284, the dean and chapter received £60 in compensation. Extensive rebuilding followed under Bishop Anian, including work on the transepts and crossing, the part of the church where the nave, choir, and transepts meet. His building activity is also associated with the central tower and Lady Chapel, a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The nave was rebuilt in the late fourteenth century.
Bangor Cathedral may have been damaged during the rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr in 1402, although no contemporary evidence confirms that it was burned to the ground. Extensive reconstruction began near the end of the fifteenth century and was completed in 1532. A Latin inscription above the tower doorway records Bishop Thomas Skevington’s construction of the tower in that year. The tower remained unfinished when Skevington died in 1533.
Reformation and later restoration
The cathedral was formerly Roman Catholic and is now the cathedral church of the Church in Wales. Rowland Meyrick, Bishop of Bangor from 1559 to 1566, was the first Bishop of Bangor after the Reformation. He is buried beneath the cathedral, alongside the bishops Nicholas Robinson, Henry Rowlands, Edmund Griffith, Robert Morgan, and Humphrey Lloyd. Later burials in the Lady Chapel include Gwilym Owen Williams, Bishop of Bangor from 1957 to 1982 and Archbishop of Wales from 1971 to 1982; Phillip Anthony Crockett, the eightieth Bishop of Bangor; and Thomas Erwyd Pryse Edwards, Dean of Bangor.
Further work was undertaken in the eighteenth century. Repairs costing £2,000 were carried out in 1824, followed by interior alteration and refitting in 1825 at a cost of £3,252. John Hall of Bangor directed the restoration, John Foster supervised the interior work, and Henry Kennedy reroofed the choir in 1857.
George Gilbert Scott supervised an extensive restoration from 1868, which continued until 1880 and particularly affected the eastern part of the cathedral and the crossing. A high central tower and spire were planned, but cracks indicating possible foundation subsidence led to the scheme being abandoned. The central tower was left low. In 1879, £11,000 was spent on the nave, chapter house, and central tower, including a £2,000 contribution from Lord Penrhyn. Restoration of the external walls and roof began in 1987. The cathedral was listed as a Grade I building in Wales on 27 May 1949.
Music and worship
An organ was recorded at Bangor between 1350 and 1370, when the poet Gruffudd Gryg described the arrival of a new instrument funded by parishioners. An organist received a stipend under Bishop Rowlands, whose episcopate lasted from 1598 to 1616. The organ was removed or destroyed during the Commonwealth, the republican period between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the restoration of Charles II in 1660, when authorities ordered organs and images to be removed or destroyed in cathedrals.
A new organ was installed after the restoration of Charles II, funded by a £100 legacy from Bishop William Roberts and erected by his successor, Bishop Robert Morgan. Samuel Green supplied a replacement in 1779 for 360 guineas, or £378. William Hill built the present organ, installed in 1873 and enlarged in 1897. John Compton rebuilt it in 1954, and David Wells Organ Builders of Liverpool rebuilt it again between 2006 and 2008. Worship continues in both Welsh and English, including separate regular Holy Communion services in each language and bilingual Choral Evensong.
From July to September 2021, the cathedral served five days a week as a COVID-19 vaccination centre while socially distanced worship continued. This temporary use formed part of the building’s modern history without changing its continuing ecclesiastical role.
Remains
Bangor Cathedral developed from a cruciform Norman church measuring about 44 yards, or approximately 40 metres, in length. The stone building combines Romanesque features, associated with massive construction and rounded arches, with later Gothic work, associated with pointed arches and more vertically oriented forms. Its plan includes three naves, a central tower, transepts, a crossing, a nave, a choir, a chapter house, a Lady Chapel, a western bell tower, and a sacristy. The cathedral stands on a low-lying site that may have been chosen partly to reduce its visibility to Viking raiders approaching from the sea.
Plan and principal spaces
The eastern part of the cathedral reflects successive medieval changes. The original apse, the rounded termination normally found at a church’s eastern end, was removed during the thirteenth century as the choir was extended. The transepts and crossing were rebuilt after the damage of 1282, while the nave belongs largely to the rebuilding of the late fourteenth century. A chapter house, where the cathedral chapter conducts its formal business, and a sacristy, used to store liturgical objects and prepare for worship, had been built by 1721.
Tower and chapels
The tower doorway carries the inscription associated with Bishop Thomas Skevington’s work in 1532. The tower’s unfinished state and its later low form also reflect the abandoned nineteenth-century plan for a taller central tower and spire. The Lady Chapel forms another named part of the cathedral’s medieval arrangement and contains later burials of bishops and a dean.
Carved and commemorative features
Mostyn Christ
The cathedral contains the Mostyn Christ, a late-fifteenth-century oak carving depicting the Pensive Christ. The figure shows Christ seated on a rock before the Crucifixion and wearing the crown of thorns, presenting a devotional image of Christ in contemplation.
Robert Thompson woodwork
Woodwork by Robert Thompson survives inside the cathedral and includes five of his characteristic carved wooden mice.
Biblical Garden
The cathedral grounds contain a Biblical Garden planted with an example of every plant mentioned in the Bible.
Clock and organ
Cathedral clock
In 1842, Bishop Christopher Bethell presented the cathedral with a clock made by J. B. Joyce and Co. of Whitchurch. Its frame measures 5 feet 6 inches, or 1.68 metres, and its main wheel has a diameter of 18 inches, or 46 centimetres. A maintaining-power mechanism allowed it to continue running while it was being wound. The clock has a half-deadbeat escapement, a mechanism regulating the timekeeping gear through a pendulum, together with a 13-foot, or 4-metre, pendulum and a 160-pound, or 73-kilogram, pendulum bob.
Present organ
The present organ has 4,210 pipes supplied mainly by William Hill. Its rebuilding between 2006 and 2008 altered the arrangement of the instrument. The solo soundboard, the structure supporting and distributing a group of organ pipes, was placed in the crossing arch to the north transept, where it functions as an unenclosed choir organ. The former choir soundboard became the solo soundboard and was turned towards the transept arch. The instrument was raised to create space for ground-floor toilet and kitchen facilities, a first-floor vestry was added, and the new console, or organist’s control desk, was placed in the north transept.
