Stand in the awe-inspiring Gothic nave of Canterbury, look up St. Paul's Baroque dome and ponder the complex history behind Dublin's Christ Church to feel the breath of the ages and the sheer sense of majestic beauty send shivers down your spine. The best of English and Irish cathedrals combine historic significance with visual appeal and technical achievements. Some Baroque and modern gems are dotted all around the British Isles, but Gothic predominates among the best buildings.
London
- Next to the Gothic Revival pile of the Houses of Parliament you'll find the beautiful, history-laden Westminster Abbey, a must-see for the majesty of its 12th-century early English Gothic and for the events that it has witnessed and commemorated. English monarchs have been crowned here since William the Conqueror in 1066, and many are buried in the Abbey. Nods to illustrious commoners include tombs of Chaucer, Dickens, Hardy, Kipling, Newton and Handel and memorials to Shakespeare and Austen. It's impossible to imagine London's skyline without the dome and towers of St Paul's, built to Christopher Wren's design after the 1666 Great Fire of London. The prime example of English Baroque, the cathedral is ornate and monumental but understated and elegant in comparison to Italian Baroque frenzies. Inside, climb the 99 feet up to the Whispering Gallery at the base of the dome, then up a claustrophobic staircase to the 280-foot-high Golden Gallery for views of the City and beyond across London.
South and West of England
- If you want to see just one cathedral in England outside London, make your way to Canterbury, in Kent, an hour-and-a-half's train journey or drive from London. The site has been associated with Christian worship for close to 1,500 years, its history intimately connected to the history of Britain. A place of pilgrimages since the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170, Canterbury has been the a spiritual center of the Anglican denomination since its foundation. The magnificent, tall nave, with light streaming in through multi-colored stained glass windows, is just one of the highlights of the whole cathedral complex. Similar distance from London, but to the west, Salisbury Cathedral is a true English Gothic gem, best known for its spire scraping the sky above the flat of the Salisbury plain, the tallest surviving medieval structure in Britain. Also west of the capital, Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest medieval churches in the world, with a 530 feet long nave surrounded by ornate chapels and exceptional wood carvings.
Midlands and the North
- One of the two British cathedrals inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, Durham Cathedral and castle complex dominate the skyline of that northern industrial city, the pile of brownish-red stone with square towers rising on the steep banks of the River Wear. The cathedral dates to 11th and early 12th centuries and is one of the best examples of Norman Gothic extant. Inside, thick pillars decorated with severe, geometric grooves line the majestic nave. York Minster, the largest Gothic cathedral north of the Alps, dazzles with its stained glass, the light flooding in to light up the golden stone of the interior. Don't miss the climb to the tower for the view of the jumble of medieval alleys of the old town. German air raids in 1940 destroyed the Gothic cathedral of Coventry. Instead of reconstructing it, a new church was built at the site, incorporating what was left of the original structure -- the building's roofless shell and spire -- into a modern steel and concrete design by Basil Spence. Originally very controversial, St Michael's of Coventry quickly became a symbol of reconciliation, forgiveness and resurrection. Built in the 1960s to the unashamedly modernist, circular design by Frederick Gibberd, the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King in Liverpool features the world's largest stained glass window encircling the lantern and bathing the interior in blue light.
Ireland and Northern Ireland
- If you are in Belfast, Northern Ireland, make a side trip to Armagh, 40 miles away, a small city that boasts two cathedrals, both dedicated to the patron saint and the founder of Irish Christianity. Both built in the Gothic Revival style, the more modest but more attractive Catholic one and the huge Anglican one eye each other from their hilltops. The Republic of Ireland's capital, Dublin, is also a two-cathedral city. Despite Ireland being largely Catholic, both medieval Dublin cathedrals belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland. St Patrick's marks the spot where its patron baptized first Irish converts and is one of the oldest medieval buildings in the city. The oldest surviving structure in Dublin is, however, the crypt of the other cathedral, Christ Church. While there, don't miss the creepily fascinating “Tom and Jerry,” mummified cat and rat with Joycean associations.
