The day Parliament abolished cathedrals
In 1649, cathedrals were abolished. Three years later, Parliament resolved that they should be demolished. At Lichfield, the lead was stripped from the roof and the cathedral left a ruin. Carlisle lost most of its nave, the stone being used for fortifications.
Yet the English cathedrals survived, even if it was a close-run thing. Something of how they managed it is told in Nicholas Orme’s wellinformed and very readable The History of England’s Cathedrals, which connects their story to the fortunes of the country.
During the Civil War, the wind blew in one direction. Soldiers at Canterbury shot at an ancient statue of Christ above the south gate. Organs were broken up, for (as an MP asserted during a debate in 1641) church music had been introduced by a pope to usher in Antichrist. The cathedrals had, with the universities, been the principal engines of church music.
Copies of the Book of Common Prayer from Norwich cathedral were burnt outside and in 1645 use of the Prayer Book was forbidden. Under the Directory for Public Worship that replaced it, music was limited to unaccompanied chanting of metrical Psalms.
In 1646, bishops were abolished and when, in 1649, 668 cathedral clergy were dismissed without pensions, lay singers and choirs also lost their jobs.
Durham cathedral was used to house Scottish prisoners and in St Paul’s, troops and horses were quartered. At Exeter, a wall was built so that Presbyterians could worship in the choir and Independents in the nave.
If the Protectorate had continued for a generation, it could have led to the physical ruination of the cathedrals (as largely happened in Scotland), but Cromwell died in 1658 and, as we know, in 1660 the remarkable Restoration of the monarchy ensued when Charles II came back.
Between June and September 1660, he made 223 appointments to fill some of the 410 vacancies among cathedral clergy. The king had promised to choose the most learned and pious “presbyters” – a word used to avoid alienating those who hated the idea of a priest. But, despite an attempt to consult Presbyterians, none of their party would accept a bishopric. The worship imposed by the Prayer Book of 1662 reinstated with little change the services in the Prayer Book of 1559.
The cathedrals had their property restored, and those who had bought their land could acquire leases by paying an introductory fee. From these payments Durham, for example, got £22,500 in three years. The value of that sum may be judged from the £5,500 that Exeter spent in repairs, including the demolition of that “monstrous Babylonish wall” between nave and chancel. But it took until 1669 for Lichfield to be rededicated.
In London, St Paul’s raised £6,051 for repairs and made plans for a cupola above its central crossing. The Great Fire, of course, changed these plans.
Organs were built for Hereford and Exeter. For the new St Paul’s, the organ was installed above the pulpitum – an unbabylonish solid screen between the crossing under the dome and the choir. This was taken down in the 19th century, for in 1888 a reredos was built behind the high altar that incorporated a scene of the Crucifixion. This, in turn, was removed when damaged by bombing in the Second World War and, as Wren had envisaged, a suitably baroque baldacchino was constructed, to the designs of Stephen Dykes Bower.
Perhaps it seems natural to enjoy the architectural glory of our cathedrals, as if they inevitably existed. History shows how near they came to destruction.