#ChurchExplorer : Daisy & Sarah

Dog Friendly Pilgrimage

by Sarah Morris, currently making a pilgrimage to every dog friendly cathedral in the UK

Last year I obtained my Pilgrim Passport.

It was during a visit to St Albans Cathedral and I have been visiting ‘dog-friendly’ cathedrals around England. At each cathedral I visit I present the passport at the welcome desk and the passport is stamped with a design unique to each cathedral. Most cathedrals now are dog friendly, but there are still about nine which still do not allow well behaved dogs to visit.

I have been taking photographs of my dog Daisy in cathedrals to promote my pilgrimage on Instagram with the hashtag #CathedralDog.

Last year I wrote to the new Dean Andrew at Gloucester Cathedral, one of the few that did not allow dogs to visit. I asked if he would consider changing their policy. I was so pleased that in early March this year Gloucester Cathedral changed their policy and joined the majority of dog friendly cathedrals.   

The cloisters at Gloucester cathedral will be familiar as the film location for a corridor at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films. I also love the unexpected points of interest I find when visiting cathedrals. For example, I now know that the composer John Stafford Smith was born in Gloucester, son of the organist at the cathedral. John Stafford Smith was the composer of ‘Star Spangled Banner’ the tune of the National Anthem of the USA.   

On my road trip, it was only a short distance to visit another dog friendly cathedral at Worcester, once again with my Labrador Daisy. As a keen choral singer and a lover of classical music I was particularly keen to visit Worcester, the birthplace of Sir Edward Elgar. Ivor Atkins was the organist at Worcester Cathedral and with Elgar he prepared the standard edition of St Matthew Passion which is still in use today. Elgar dedicated one of his Pomp and Circumstance marches to Ivor Atkins. There is a superb memorial window to Edward Elgar inside Worcester Cathedral.

The final destination on my road trip was a long-awaited pilgrimage to Coventry Cathedral. As a child of the 1960’s the Second World War was fresh in our minds, with stories of German air raids and the Blitz in London. The old Coventry Cathedral built in the 13th and 14th centuries was destroyed during an air raid in 1940. With this in mind and walking through these ruins I was stopped in my tracks by two words on the walls of the ruin. FATHER FORGIVE.  

The new Coventry Cathedral was built adjoining and connected to the old ruins designed by the architect Sir Basil Spence. This new cathedral is a testament to peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.

I also had a more personal reason to want to visit Coventry Cathedral. We had family links to the artist John Hutton who created the magnificent glass screen on the West of the cathedral. My late Father worked in the New Zealand High Commission in London and knew John Hutton. He lived in England but was born in New Zealand. Hutton engraved the glass entrance to the New Zealand High Commission in London’s Haymarket and very generously presented my Father with some of the sketches for some of his ‘Angels’. John Hutton engraved the West Screen at Coventry Cathedral, taking ten years to create the 66 ‘Saints and Angels’ depicted on these glass engravings.   

The staff on the desk made us feel so welcome at the cathedral. Daisy enjoys meeting everyone and had quite a fuss made of her there. Staff allowed us to visit the choir stalls to take a photograph of Daisy to mark our visit. I always thank the staff in cathedrals for welcoming well behaved dogs on a lead, and for the free dog biscuits. Much appreciated.