Chichester Cathedral.
Chichester Cathedral
Last weekend I went to Chichester, and made quite the discovery. It turns out that secretly, up and down the country, dogs are allowed in lots of our cathedrals. It blew my mind. In fact, it hadn’t remotely occurred to me that dogs would be allowed in a cathedral, and it was only when the lovely lady working at the ticket desk saw me saying goodbye to my husband and dog just outside the door that she beckoned us in to tell us that the dog could in fact come in for a wander. With that discovery, a new blog series for the website was born - A Pilgrimage of Paws. Unfortunately, I didn’t decide to write the series until after I was already home so I don’t have as many photos as I would have liked for this first installment - I’ll do better going forward.
Of course, it won’t just be about dogs in cathedrals, there will be history too, but hopefully I’ll be able to create a mini guide for all the other dog lovers out there that want to hit up historical landmarks with their furry friend but didn’t know they could.
Chichester Cathedral is, this year, celebrating the 950th anniversary of the formation of the Diocese of Chichester and the cathedral itself. In 1075 construction began, and remarkably only 33 years later it was completed. Unfortunately, a series of fires in 1114 and 1187 destroyed a large chunk of the building along with the wooden roof and work began again before the building was re-consecrated in 1199.
Check out the height on that!
One of the things I particularly enjoyed in the cathedral was the astonishing range of art, some of which I’ve included here. There’s a 14ft x 32ft painting on oak date from the 1530s and shows, among others the monarch of the time - Henry VIII - in what is thought to be his first full length portrait; the Arundel Tomb; an altar of St George slaying the dragon with the cathedral behind him; and Victorian textiles with delightful goldwork (which prompted a mini lecture from me on use of materials). There’s also a large amount of modern work with textiles, paintings, stained glass and sculpture from artists commissioned throughout the twentieth century. There’s clearly a commitment on the part of the church to curate their art collection and not to allow it to remain still and stagnate. If they’d like to commission me for a new piece of textile art for the collection, I would not say no!
Chichester Cathedral can also bring you art that is much MUCH older, which I wasn’t expecting. Chichester was, of course, a Roman city so when in 1966 they were doing work to the foundations, they perhaps were less surprised than I was when they came across a range of Roman mosaics from the 2ndC AD, some of which is now displayed here, in a wonderfully dog friendly way.
The Lady Chapel
In 1642 civil war broke out in England, an event that is well outside of my time period and that others have covered much better than I could hope to. Broadly speaking however, the country was divided with those supporting the King and his right to rule, and those who supported the parliament. When it came to Chichester a group of royalists seized the city in November 1642 leading to a festive stand off when parliamentary army of 6,000 headed to the city laying seige to it on 21st December. By 28th December the gates of the city were opened to the parliamentary forces.
It’s here that the cathedral gets drawn into the war, as after the parliamentary forces gained entry to the city they rampaged through the building defacing statues and paintings with the cathedral plate (fancy silverware) taken. Over the course of the war the stained glass across the cathedral was all smashed, and what we have now is largely from the 19thC. For example, the window above, in the Lady Chapel was created by Clayton and Bell of London (1873-1888) with scenes from Jesus’ life, and particularly with the role played by his mother. This small chapel at the far end of the cathedral was a particularly relaxing, and gorgeous space.
Of course it wouldn’t be a trip out without a visit to a garden, and the cathedral doesn’t disappoint with the Bishop’s Palace Garden on offer - a fairly hidden little gem with a formal garden, an alpine garden, a wildlife garden, a rose garden and even an arboretum with rare and unusual trees and shrubs, Or so I’ve read. Unfortunately, the garden doesn’t allow dogs, which was spectacularly disappointing. I popped my head inside (leaving the dog outside with my husband) and did the quickest walk around a very small amount of the park before leaving. If you don’t have a dog, or are happy to leave them for longer with someone, I suspect the park is a wonderful space to spend some time, particularly in the summer when the photos I’ve seen look gorgeous.
Overall, would I recommend a visit to Chichester Cathedral with a dog? Absolutely! The staff were lovely (offering to take a photo of the three of us with the lovely Christmas tree in the entrance was particularly nice), the art was great and wide ranging, the tickets were affordable (£7 each was recommended, but it’s largely a pay what you want system), and it was a lovely way to spend some time. The only couple of downsides were that when we were there the shop (which I will never get used to in a church) was so busy I bailed without really looking around for a souvenir; and the fact that dogs aren’t allowed in the garden which I would have loved to walk around.
Want to read a bit more about Chichester Cathedral? Check out the articles I used to write this blog:
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