Impressive cathedrals and churches

[Nigel]

Which are your favourite cathedrals? Some wonderful churches. I love Salisbury, Lincoln, York (£10 to get in though) Wells, St Davids and the Liverpool two. I seem to recall Tangerine Dream played a few cathedral concerts back in the seventies. Bet that was pretty amazing.

 

[droodzilla]

Good topic & good choices.

When I lived in Winchester I used to love to walk through the cathedral grounds and then out of town along the Itchen Navigation to St Cross:

http://hospitalofstcross.co.uk/

It's a former hospital and almshouses rather than a church but I hope I can bend the rules as it's such a peaceful, beautiful spot. It's a shame that by the time you climb nearby St catherine's Hill sound of the Newbury bypass becomes hard to ignore.

Also, coming from Chesterfield it would be remiss of me not to mention the beloved Crooked Spire (aka St Mary's). The sight if it from the train window is a sure sign I'm back "home" even though I live in Sheffield these days.

 

[Mullardman]

The bombed out Coventry Cathedral and the adjacent 'new one'. I have relatives in Coventry and watched the new one being built over a period of years.

Live near Liverpool and have explored the Anglican Cathedral from top to bottom.. but never set foot in the RC one. ( No prejudice.. I've just not got around to it.)

Lincoln is on my 'bucket list'. I recall passing below it on steam trains in the 1950s/early 1960s, on seaside trips from Nottm. It used to have red lights on top of the spire to warn aircraft from the many nearby airfields. A bugger to get to from here by car or train, but I'll make a point of it by train from Nottm, next time I spend a few days back home.

 

[richardg]

Strasbourg is epic.

Completely over the top in everything, footprint, height, detail inside and out.

It feels like a skycraper even today, dwarfing everything around it.

 

[Mullardman]

Well if we're straying into 'That Europe'...
Amiens, the Sagrada Famalia in Barcelona, Notre Dame... Ghirlandina (Modena)

 

[richardg]

That's more like it. Which one is the biggest, most badass in the world?

 

[Mullardman]

St Peter's Basilica in Rome allegedly..

 

[martin clark]

The definitive, and exhaustive, guide in the UK is the wonderful Cathedrals of England series by Nikolaus Pevsner.

Anyway- since I grew up near it, I retain a soft spot for St Albans; Norman chunkiness, and essentially a recycling of Roman bricks robbed from Verulamium and later, most of teh nave is C12- C13 Early English Gothic as bits of it fell down. The egregious affront is actually the West Front, remade by Lord Grimthorpe c 1870-77 in his own image while paying for a bit of Victorian 'restoration' (and celebrated by an unflattering boss in the porch)

Pic taken by younger self, c 1990:

(Minolta X700, 28mm lense iirc)

 

[TheDecameron]

Is the largest gothic not Seville followed by Milan?

 

[Sue Pertwee-Tyr]

Not a cathedral, but I do like Beverley Minster, partly because it stands out for miles, being the only building of any size in the town. Durham is impressive, and the cathedral close with its university faculties has a lovely air of quiet academia about it.

 

[kendo]

Le Mont-Saint-Michel

 

[kendo]

I knew this place before the Da Vinci Code hoohah...

 

[avole]

Good topic & good choices.

When I lived in Winchester I used to love to walk through the cathedral grounds and then out of town along the Itchen Navigation to St Cross:

http://hospitalofstcross.co.uk/

It's a former hospital and almshouses rather than a church but I hope I can bend the rules as it's such a peaceful, beautiful spot. It's a shame that by the time you climb nearby St catherine's Hill sound of the Newbury bypass becomes hard to ignore.

Also, coming from Chesterfield it would be remiss of me not to mention the beloved Crooked Spire (aka St Mary's). The sight if it from the train window is a sure sign I'm back "home" even though I live in Sheffield these days.

That’s funny, I used to do that walk twice a day, on the way to the station and back.

 

[richardg]

Not a cathedral, but I do like Beverley Minster, partly because it stands out for miles, being the only building of any size in the town. Durham is impressive, and the cathedral close with its university faculties has a lovely air of quiet academia about it.

Obscure choice. You from East Yorkshire?

 

[snowman_al]

Yes excellent topic.
For atmosphere it has to be St Davids, then Wells and Liverpool Catholic cathedral.

For their memories has to be Ely, Truro, Litchfield and Hereford.

Not cathedrals, but humble churchs you have to see St. Teilo's 12/13th century church in St. Fagans Museum https://museum.wales/stfagans/buildings/st_teilos_church/
and All Saints Brockhampton, Herefordshire 20th century Arts and Crafts http://www.allsaintsbrockhampton.org/

 

[PaulMB]

St Peter's Basilica in Rome allegedly..

I've been told that the facade is so wide that it expands and contracts by about 30 cm between the cool of the night and the heat of the day. But it may be an urban legend. Certainly overwhelmingly huge, but I like the colonnade in front better than the church itself.

 

[Pete MB&D]

Sailsbury spire tour is something everybody should do.

Pete

 

[Michael J]

The bombed out Coventry Cathedral ...

I almost immediately thought of that too, it is spooky and poignant.

Here is a little beauty, such a lovely setting, Tideswell, in the Peak District.
http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/visits/tideswellch.php

 

[narabdela]

Seville, Durham, Lincoln. Not necessarily in that order.

 

[slavedata]

Well I have to stick up for my local church St Mary's Bottesford Massive Spire, Home Church to the Belvoir estate so stuffed full of Marble Tombs for the Manners Family and its predecssors thr De Roos & De Albini back to the Norman Conquest. Plus it's famous Witches
https://www.le.ac.uk/emoha/leicester/bottesford.html

Google Earth has a wonderful 3D tour of the church