Last week on Thursday as y’all know, Sophie and I went into Newcastle to have lunch with the cats. Afterwards we had a wander around and then visited the Cathedral and the Castle, so loads of photographs to come 🙂 We dipped into the cathedral to kill a bit of time as we were early for our luncheon appointment, but decided we would go back after lunch as there was so much to see. The Cathedral isn’t very big, not like Durham or Canterbury,York etc, but some beautiful artwork and stonework inside. All shots with Fuji XT1.

The History Bit

Founded in 1091 during the same period as the nearby castle, the Norman church was destroyed by fire in 1216 and the current building was completed in 1350, so is mostly of the Perpendicular style of the 14th century. Its tower is noted for its 15th-century lantern spire. Heavily restored in 1777, the building was raised to cathedral status in 1882, when it became known as the Cathedral Church of St Nicholas.

The cathedral is notable for its unusual lantern spire, which was constructed in 1448. For hundreds of years, it was a main navigation point for ships using the River Tyne. On each corner of the lantern are gilded statues, of Adam eating the apple, Eve holding out the apple, Aaron is dressed as a Bishop, and David holds a harp. The interior of the church was badly damaged by Scottish invaders during their brief occupation of the city in 1640, and in 1644, during a nine-week siege, Scottish invaders threatened to bombard the lantern tower, but were deterred when the mayor Sir John Marley put his Scottish prisoners in it. 🙂 Good chap!

So here’s my pics of the inside.

The Font was made in the 15th century and the wooden canopy used to be directly above it, but at some point the spire shifted and so now is not quite symmetrical!

The Pulpit was carved in the 1880s from Uttoxeter alabaster by Robert Beall to the design of R J Johnson, who was the church architect at the time. The niches contain the figures of the Saints Barnabas, Philip, Paul, John the Baptist and Peter, as stated on the information board at the base

A lot of the original stained glass was lost in the civil war, so most of it is 18th & 19th Century.

This next window detail made us smile as we’d not long ago visited that Island.

Well that’s enough for now, will leave some for another post, last day at work tomorrow and off to the wild west, then hopefully going to visit my son Ben & grandson Lewis and best friend Helen on Thursday, lots of driving this week.

laters gaters

😉

part 2 HERE