Manchester Cathedral

Manchester Cathedral has been centre stage in its city's history for nearly 600 years. In 1421 Henry V signed a royal charter granting permission for a collegiate church to be built. In 1847 a new Manchester diocese was created and this historic church became a Cathedral. This Grade I listed masterpiece has not only provided a stage on which the city of Manchester's compelling history has been played out but also provided some of the leading actors for this narrative. Century after century the stone walls have survived wars and bombings (particularly in 1941), Henry VIII's reformation and Queen Elizabeth I's spy, witnessed the birth of the world anti slavery movement and lived the Industrial Revolution first hand. There are medieval quires and ancient archives, bees on the roof and kangaroos carved on thrones, choristers running to practice and artists drawing in aisles. Classical music concerts served with coffee and wines fairs set to jazz. The misericords are thought to be some of the finest in Europe. Many of them depict a moral, in one of them a woman is scolding a man for breaking a cooking pot, a warning to careless husbands perhaps? In another, men are playing backgammon, no doubt the carvers had heard the medieval priests denouncing the game as the devil's own device for hindering church attendance.