The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth

Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral church in Portsmouth, England, located in the centre of Old
Portsmouth. It is the cathedral of the Diocese of Portsmouth and the seat of the bishop of
Portsmouth.
The Anglican cathedral is one of the two cathedral churches in the city, the other being
the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth which is located about one
mile to the north.

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Cathedral
 2Architecture
 3Music
 4Dean and chapter
 5Prayer
 6See also
 7References
 8External links

History[edit]

The font in the chancel, part of the original medieval building

Around the year 1180, Jean de Gisors, a wealthy Norman merchant and Lord of the Manor
of Titchfield, gave land in his new town of Portsmouth to the Augustinian canons of Southwick
Priory so that they could build a chapel "to the Glorious Honour of the Martyr Thomas of
Canterbury, one time Archbishop, on (my) land which is called Sudewede, the island of
Portsea".[1] It was given so that they could build a chapel dedicated to the honour of St Thomas of
Canterbury, who was assassinated and martyred ten years earlier. This chapel was to become,
in turn, a parish church in the 14th century and then a cathedral in the 20th century.
The medieval building, dedicated in 1188, was cruciform in shape, with a central tower, which
was used as a lookout point and lighthouse, over the crossing. Of the original building, only the
chancel and the transepts remain. The church survived a French raid in 1337 which had laid
waste most of Portsmouth during the Hundred Years War. However, in 1449, Adam
Moleyns, Bishop of Chichester, was murdered by local sailors. The town's inhabitants were
excommunicated and the church was closed. In 1591, Elizabeth I worshipped in St Thomas's
Church.[2]
During the English Civil War, when the Parliamentary forces attacked the town in 1642, the
Royalist garrison used the church tower to observe the movement of enemy forces.
Parliamentary gunners positioned in Gosport fired on the tower and inflicted damage to the
church. This resulted in the ruin of the medieval tower and nave. With the restoration of the
monarchy in 1660 came the authorisation by Charles II for a collection in churches across the
country to raise the £9,000 required to rebuild the tower and nave, which took place from 1683 to
1693. The nave was built in the classical style. Galleries were added in 1708 to cater for growing
congregations, and were extended in 1750. The wooden cupola with a lantern for shipping was
added to the top of the tower in 1703. A ring of eight bells was given at the same time. Two
additional bells were cast in 1957 and currently the central tower contains a total of 12 bells. All
of the bells were cast at Taylor's Bell Foundry and are hung in the wooden octagonal part of the
tower. Various repairs and alterations were made during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
In 1902, the church was closed for two years so that much-needed work on the foundations
could be carried out. During this period, St Mary's Colewort, a chapel of ease, served as the
temporary parish church.[2]

Cathedral[edit]

Quire

The establishment of the Diocese of Portsmouth, which had split from the Diocese of
Winchester in 1927, brought about significant changes. On 1 May of that year, the parish church
of St Thomas of Canterbury became the pro-cathedral of the new diocese, becoming the second
cathedral in Portsmouth, as the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John the Evangelist had already
opened in 1882. At a chapter meeting in October 1932, a first sketch plan for an extension to the
church was submitted by Charles Nicholson. He was called upon to extend the church to a size
that would dignify its cathedral status; by 1935 the "provisional" nature of its title had been
dropped.
The style that Nicholson chose is that of a round-arched "Neo-Byzantine" style that echoed the
"classical" style of the late seventeenth century quire. By 1939 the outer quire aisles, the tower,
the transepts and three bays of the nave had been completed.[2] The base of the seventeenth
century tower had been opened up to form the tower arch. However, with the Fall of France in
June 1940 during World War II, work on the extension scheme stopped and the bays of the nave
were blocked off with a "temporary" brick wall. This wall remained there for over fifty years.
During the Second World War, the Cathedral suffered minor damage to the windows and the
roof. Nicholson died in 1949 and attempts headed by Bernard Montgomery to finish the structure
in the 1960s proved unsuccessful due to substantive failure to find sufficient funds. However, as
the building had been used for many years without its extension, it was quite usable and there
was no urgency to finish the work. By the mid 1980s, however, the "temporary" brick wall was
found to have become unstable and in danger of collapse, which made the completion work
pressing. The task of the architects was to find a solution to the problem of finishing Nicholson's
truncated nave: the nave was originally intended to be longer, in the traditional style of an English
cathedral, but the changing needs of the diocese meant that the building was finally built with a
foreshortened nave, the final west wall being located close to where the temporary structure had
been. Efforts were started to raise the £3 million necessary to carry out the plans. Work began in
January 1990 and eventually a fourth bay of the nave, western towers, tower rooms, rose
window, gallery, ambulatory, together with the stone altar beneath Nicholson's tester and the
new stone font were added. In November 1991, the completed building, much smaller than the
original plans envisaged, was consecrated in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen
Mother.

Architecture[edit]

Nave looking west

The formal entrance into the cathedral is through the bronze west doors, designed by Bryan
Kneale. The design is based on the tree of life, an ancient symbol representing the renewal of
life. The completed nave is a square space that is enclosed by an outer ambulatory. The
ambulatory is low and vaulted. Because the furniture in the nave is not fixed, it can be used for
various means, including concerts and exhibitions as well as services. On the rood screen,
beneath the nave organ case is a sculpture called Christus by Peter Eugene Ball. The nave
organ case was designed by Didier Grassin in 2001; the inside of the panels were designed
by Patrick Caulfield. The left side depicts night, with a stylised lighthouse shining on the sea
(which alludes to the City of Portsmouth's motto, "Heaven's Light Our Guide"). The right door
depicts day, showing the sun and the hull of a fishing boat.[2]
The tower is pierced to provide an organ loft raised on a low dark passage. The font (1991),
made to a Greek design of the ninth century, is placed centrally between the nave and the quire.
In the south tower transept is the bronze status of St John the Baptist by David Wynne. It was
cast in 1951 as a memorial to a Winchester College pupil killed on the Matterhorn. On the north
wall of the south tower transept is the painting The Miraculous Draught of Fishes by William
Lionel Wyllie. The north tower transept contains a ceramic plaque of the Virgin and Child by
the Florentine sculptor Andrea della Robbia. The principal altar stands on a podium of Purbeck
stone, with mosaic work by Richard Noviss. The lectern was the gift of Edward VII in 1903.
The pulpit was installed in 1693 and is all that remains of a three-decker pulpit. The organ case,
built by Francis Bird, with carved figures of cherubs and King David playing his harp, belongs to
the Nicholson Organ and bears the date 1718.[2]
In 1939, an extension of the Portsmouth Cathedral used granite from a quarry as far away
as Pulau Ubin, Singapore, which was then a British colony.[3]

Music[edit]
See also: List of musicians at English cathedrals
Music department
There are three choirs at the cathedral. The cathedral choir consists of up to 20 boys and a 'back
row' of adult alto, tenor and bass singers made up of six choral scholars and six layclerks. They
sing Choral Evensong each Monday (low voices only), and Tuesday, Friday and Sunday (with
the boys). Cantate is the girls' choir, established in 2006[4] to sing Choral Evensong each
Thursday. The Cathedral Consort (previously known as the Parish Choir) is a mixed choir of
adults and younger singers which sings Choral Evensong on Saturdays and other periods
outside term time. Often, the choirs combine to form the Great Choir, usually at large services
and events.
The choirs regularly go on tour, with recent European visits including destinations such
as Tallinn (Estonia), Stockholm (Sweden), Salzburg (Austria), Berlin (Germany), Gozo (Malta), Y
pres (Belgium) and Notre Dame des Neiges in the Alpe d'Huez (France).
The Organist and Master of the Choristers, currently David Price, oversees the Music
Department and is assisted by the sub-organist and Michael James Organ Scholar. Sachin
Gunga has been sub-organist since January 2018. The Michael James Organ Scholar is
appointed annually and is usually undertaken by a postgraduate during their gap year.

(L-R) The West Great Organ and the Nicholson Organ.

Cathedral organs
The cathedral's three-manual and pedal, forty-nine stop organ was installed in 1994 by Nicholson
& Co of Worcester The pipes were taken from the John Nicholson organ of 1861 built
for Manchester Cathedral, which was relocated to Holy Trinity Church, Bolton, in 1874; it was
rebuilt by Jardine & Co in 1905.[5] In 2001, the West Great division was added, in order for the
organ to speak into the nave. The renovated organ was officially inaugurated in November 2001,
by a recital given by Olivier Latry, titular organist at Notre Dame de Paris. Finally, in 2017,
horizontal Trompete de Maris fanfare reed division above the main entrance was added.
In 2007, the cathedral introduced a single manual, three-stop chamber organ built by Kenneth
Tickell & Co of Northampton.

Dean and chapter[edit]

 Dean — Anthony Cane (since 16 March 2019 installation)[7]

Prayer[edit]
As the Cathedral of the Sea,
we pray for all those at sea this day/evening/night,
and for those whose task it is to support them in their work.
Creator and Father of all,
we pray for those who go down to the sea in ships,
and serve upon the waters of the world.
Bless them and those who serve their needs,
that they may put their trust in you
and find in you a strong anchor for their hopes
and so be filled with your peace,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

See also[edit]
 List of cathedrals in the United Kingdom

References[edit]
1. ^ "History of Portsmouth Cathedral". Cathedral website. Archived from the original on 4 October
2013. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Knowles, Graeme (2006). Portsmouth Cathedral. Shropshire: RJL Smith &
Associates Much Wenlock. ISBN 1-872665-94-2.
3. ^ http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblio/202560351 Page 18
4. ^ "Girls to join new cathedral choir" (PDF). Pompey Chimes. March 2006. Archived (PDF) from the
original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
5. ^ "Portfolio - Portsmouth Cathedral, Hampshire". Nicholson Organs. Archived from the original on
28 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
6. ^ Portsmouth Cathedral — About Us Archived 6 January 2018 at the Wayback
Machine (Accessed 29 May 2019)
7. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 2 February 2019.
8. ^ https://www.newportminster.org/may-services

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related
to Portsmouth
Cathedral.

 Official website
 Cathedral Innovation Centre
 Flickr images tagged Portsmouth Cathedral
 32 Cathedral Images With Descriptions