Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral, 24th floor.jpg
Basic information
Location Southwark, London
Full name Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St. Saviour and St. Mary Overie
Country England
Ecclesiastical information
Denomination Church of England
Province Canterbury
Diocese Southwark
Diocese created 1905
Bishop vacant see
Dean Colin Slee
Director of
Music		 Peter Wright
Website www.southwark.anglican.org
Building information
Dates built 1106-1897
Architectural style Romanesque, Gothic

Southwark Cathedral or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge.

It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. It has been a place of Christian worship for over 1,000 years, but a cathedral only since 1905. The present building is mainly Gothic, from 1220 to 1420.

The main railway line from London Bridge station to Cannon Street station passes close to the cathedral, blocking the view from the south side. Borough Market and the Hall of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass by the river are in the immediate vicinity.

Contents

History

Saxon and medieval

The nave of Southwark Cathedral

The earliest reference to the site was in the Domesday Book survey of 1086, wherein the "minster" of Southwark seems to be under the control of Bishop Odo of Bayeux (William the Conqueror's half-brother). It is unlikely that this minster pre-dates the conversion of Wessex in the mid-seventh century, or the foundation of the "burh" ca AD 886. There is no proof of any claims, as presently made by the Cathedral authorities, that a convent was founded on the site in 606 nor of the claim that a monastery was founded by St Swithun in the ninth century. The Saxon minster was a collegiate church servicing a south Thames area. In 1106, Henry I's reign, the latter became an Augustinian Priory: Norman stonework can still be seen, and Thomas Becket preached here before departing to Canterbury, days before his murder in 1170.

The main structure of the present church was built between 1220 and 1420, making it the first Gothic church in London. Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, repaired the church after a 1212 fire. In the 1390s, it was again devastated by fire, and in around 1420, once again a Bishop of Winchester Henry Beaufort, assisted with the rebuilding of the south transept and the completion of the tower.

The 15th century poet John Gower is buried there, with a good church monument, whose painting has been kept renewed (picture below).

16th and 17th centuries

A drawing showing Old London Bridge with Southwark Priory (the Cathedral) in 1616, in the foreground

Heresy trials occurred in the Galilee chapel in 1555, under Mary I of England.

Shakespeare buried his brother, Edmund, here in 1607. (The Cathedral contains a 19th century large stained glass window dedicated to William, depicting scenes from all of the plays he wrote, at the base of the which is a statue of a reclining William Shakespeare holding a quill.) It was a popular resting place for dramatists - John Fletcher and Philip Massinger are also buried here. Lancelot Andrewes, part-author of the Authorised Version, is buried by the high altar and John Harvard was baptised here.

It was from the tower of Southwark Priory that Czech Wenceslas Hollar drew the "Long View of London" in 1638, a panorama which has become a definitive impression of 17th century London.

19th century to present

It was designated as a cathedral in 1905 when the Church of England Diocese of Southwark was created. Its first and longest serving organist was Dr E. T. Cook who would broadcast daily on BBC radio during the 1920s and 1930s.

There are memorials to Isabella Gilmore, the victims of the Marchioness disaster, and monuments to Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. On 16 November 1996 the cathedral became a focus of controversy by hosting a twentieth-anniversary service for the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans and former bishop-elect of Reading, was Canon Theologian of Southwark. In 2001, Mandela opened a new northern 'cloister' on the site of the old monastic one, with a refectory, shop, conference centre, education centre and museum. In 2002, these Millennium buildings received an award for being one of the best new buildings of the year.

Other information

The 15th century church monument to the poet John Gower. Rather unusually, the polychrome painting has been kept renewed.

The cathedral is used by London South Bank University for its annual honorary degree ceremony, and by King's College London for its medical and dental degree ceremonies, an association stemming from the merger with Guy's and St Thomas' teaching hospitals. Indeed, St Thomas' started as an infirmary attached to the Priory of St Mary. The cathedral is also used to host The London Nautical School's annual Christmas Carol Service.

There are two other cathedrals in Southwark — the Roman Catholic St George's Cathedral Southwark and the Greek Orthodox St Mary's at Camberwell New Road.

Parts of the Doctor Who episode "The Lazarus Experiment" take place at Southwark Cathedral but, although the exterior appears, the interior shots were filmed at Wells Cathedral.

Cathedral choirs

Main Cathedral Choir

The Cathedral Choir is supported financially by the St Olave's & St Saviour's Schools Foundation, which stems from the two parochial schools set up in the 1560s which still hold their commemoration and annual services here as their 'foundation' church[1].

Southwark Cathedral does not have a choir school and so the boys and girls of the Cathedral Choir are drawn from schools throughout London and the surrounding areas. There are six Lay Clerks in the Cathedral Choir and up to six Choral Scholars. Three of the Lay Clerks are supported by endowments from The Ouseley Trust; the Vernon Ellis Foundation and the Friends of Cathedral Music.

The Cathedral Choir performed the theme song to the television series Mr. Bean.

Merbecke Choir

In 2004 the Cathedral founded the Southwark Cathedral Merbecke Choir. This Choir is intended to be the place both for boys and girls who leave the Cathedral Choirs and also other young singers who wish to maintain their sight-reading skills acquired as choristers and explore a wide range of repertoire under expert tuition. Several members have gone on to university as choral scholars. The upper age for membership of the choir is 25.

The choir sings Compline on the 4th Sunday of each month at 6.30pm and performs a seasonal concert of music in each of the terms. In addition the choir sings for livery companies in the City of London and for other organisations. A highlight of their career has been singing as part of Her Majesty The Queen's Christmas Broadcast recorded at Southwark Cathedral in 2006.

The Choir is named after the Tudor composer, John Merbecke (1510–1585), who composed one of the most popular settings of the Book of Common Prayer Communion Service. Merbecke with three other companions was tried for heresy in 1543 in the Retrochoir at Southwark, which was used for this purpose at the time. He was found guilty and condemned to be burned at the stake. His sentence was commuted however by Bishop Stephen Gardiner the then Bishop of Winchester, who decided that as a mere musician Merbecke 'knew no better' and so was released to continue his music making.

Thursday Singers

The Thursday Singers are made up of people from the local community, residents and those in work in the shops and businesses around the Cathedral, who simply enjoy singing. There is no audition, just a love of choral music. The Thursday Singers sing for Festival Eucharists which fall on a weekday and also sing one service of Choral Evensong most terms. They also lead the singing at the Cathedral's Carol Sing-In before Christmas.

Organ

The Cathedral's organ was built by Lewis & Co. of Ferndale Road, Brixton, south London, and completed in 1897. Thomas Christopher Lewis, the company's founder, was renowned for building instruments that had a bright, vibrant tone which, in part, was due to his use of low wind pressures. Consequently, he was somewhat out-of-step with the trend at the time, which was tending towards high wind pressures and rather thicker tone. The instrument's action was, and is, electro-pneumatic with slider chests, and the main case was designed by the noted Victorian architect Arthur Blomfield.

Apart from routine maintenance, the instrument remained untouched until 1952, when Henry Willis & Son undertook a major rebuild, during which the wind pressures were increased. The balanced Swell pedal and the hitch-down Solo pedal were replaced by Willis's Infinite Speed and Gradation pedals. The Choir organ - which had been housed in front of the Swell - was relocated to the north side and a new console was installed adjacent to it (the original console was on the south side). The Choir organ's Flauto Traverso was replaced by a Nazard, and a Tierce was provided on a new slider. A number of new couplers were also provided and the Violon unit (32'-16'-8') was extended by 12 pipes to create a Viola 4'.

Some years after the rebuild it was thought that the Willis changes, though undoubtedly well-intentioned, detracted too much from the original concept, so the decision was taken to restore the instrument to the Lewis specifications. The Durham-based firm of Harrison and Harrison was engaged and the work was carried out in two stages. Firstly, in 1986, the electrics were renewed and although the Willis console was retained, it was given a solid state action with eight memory levels for the combination pistons and four for the Crescendo pedal. Also, the Willis swell pedals were replaced by balanced pedals. In 1991, the main work was undertaken, including the re-voicing of the stops on Lewis's original wind pressures. A Lewis Flauto Traverso rank was obtained for the Choir organ, to replace the one discarded by Willis, and the Nazard and Tierce were removed - meaning that the Great organ's Octave Quint is now the instrument's only mutation register. The two prepared for drawstops on the Pedal were also disposed of. Thus, the stop list is now as Lewis left it, except for the Viola 4' which was retained because it was a gift in memoriam.

A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.

List of organists

Assistant organists

Transport links

Public transport access
London Buses London Bridge Station 47, 343, RV1
London Bridge 17, 21, 35, 40, 43, 47, 48, 133, 141, 149
London Underground London Bridge Jubilee roundel1.PNG Northern roundel1.PNG
National Rail London Bridge

See also

See also the List of Organ Scholars at Southwark Cathedral.

References

  1. ↑ St Olave's Grammar School and St Saviour's and St Olave's Church of England School for Girls.
  2. ↑ Who's who in Music. Fourth Edition. 1962. p.224
  3. ↑ Who's who in Music. Fourth Edition. 1962. p.244

External links

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