Brentwood Cathedral
Encyclopedia
The Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Helen is the Roman Catholic cathedral
in the English
town of Brentwood
, Essex
. It is the seat of the Diocese of Brentwood.
. The original church building on the south (liturgical east) side was retained
The new Brentwood Cathedral was dedicated by Cardinal Basil Hume on 31 May 1991. The donors chose to remain anonymous and the money was given solely for this purpose.
crossed with the English Baroque
of Christopher Wren
. This, it was felt, would be appropriate for the town and its conservation area, but above all it would provide the right space and light for the liturgy to be celebrated. The cathedral was designed along a square plan, focussed on the high altar, placed in the nave
to accommodate the changes in liturgical fashion after the Second Vatican Council
.
Work began in 1989 and was completed two years later. The north elevation consists of nine bays each divided by Doric
pilasters. This is broken by a huge half-circular portico, which was inspired by a similar one at St Paul's
. The handmade traditional Smeed Dean brick of the clerestory
leads up to the octagonal lantern, or cupola
, the high point both of the outside and inside.
A conscious decision was taken to retain part of the Gothic revival church of 1861 alongside the new classical cathedral. The east elevation juxtaposes the old and the new, linking them through the scale of the 1991 building and the sympathetic use of ragstone and Welsh slate roof tiles.
All the Classical architectural orders are represented in the interior - the four giant Doric pilasters, the Tuscan
arcade of arches, the Ionic
pilasters of the Palladian windows in the east and west aisles, the Corinthian
and Composite
influences evident on the cathedral and the organ case
.
While the interior of the cathedral has a deliberately 'restrained' feeling to it, richness is to be found in the ceiling. The Roman key pattern and the double guilloche pattern, picked out in gold leaf, are dominant here. All the round-headed windows are in the Classical-Wren style, with clear leaded lights of hand-made glass.
With clear windows on all four sides, the cathedral is flooded with light at any time of the day. This, together with the white walls and stone floor, combines to give a translucent effect which uplifts the spirit and conveys its own sense of the presence of God. The cathedral is lit by brass English Classical chandeliers (one of which was formerly in the church at Epping
) and, above the cornice, concealed lighting.
The processional cross is a copy of a medieval design. The figure represents a transitional period in the theology of design where Christ still wears the crown of the Risen Lord, but the corpus is that of the crucified Saviour. The Bishop's chair or cathedra
is a tangible sign of his presiding over the diocese. It was made in Pisa
, in Nabrassina stone, and has steps of Portland stone. In the centre is the coat of arms of the diocese. The base of the seat is inlaid with slate, to match the floor.
Consecration crosses are incised into the stone of the Doric pilasters that hold up the clerestory. They were anointed like the altar, as a sign that the whole building is dedicated to God.On the feast of the Dedication the candles in front of the gilded crosses are lit. In the east aisle, there are two rooms set aside to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. Opposite them is a crucifix, formerly in the church at Stock
, Essex.
Around the arcade are terracotta roundels representing the 15 Stations of the Cross. These were modelled by Raphael Maklouf
, the well-known sculptor, who was responsible for the Queen's head on Commonwealth
coinage from 1985 to 1997. Their milky glaze perfectly complements the subtlety and intimacy with which the familiar scenes have been expressed.
[Cathedral:http://architecture.nd.edu/news_and_events/driehaus/images/brentwood_cathedral2.jpg,http://architecture.nd.edu/news_and_events/driehaus/images/brentwood_cathedral.jpg
The Choir is affiliated to the RSCM and enjoys particularly close musical and ecumenical links with the Diocese of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Cathedral Choir, involving liturgical events and also shared training through the Bishops' Chorister Award.
The Master of Music, Andrew Wright, former Assistant Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, was appointed in 1982 and is also Director of Diocesan Music.
The organ came from the redundant Anglican
church of St Mary-at-the-Wall in Colchester, as a gift from the Diocese of Chelmsford
. Dating from 1889 by Hunter and rebuilt in 1931, it was completely rebuilt and restored by Percy Daniel & Co Ltd. of Clevedon
.
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
town of Brentwood
Brentwood, Essex
Brentwood is a town and the principal settlement of the Borough of Brentwood, in the county of Essex in the east of England. It is located in the London commuter belt, 20 miles east north-east of Charing Cross in London, and near the M25 motorway....
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. It is the seat of the Diocese of Brentwood.
History
Brentwood Cathedral began in 1861 as a parish church built in a gothic style.This relatively small building was raised to Cathedral status in 1917. Between 1989 and 1991 the church was enlarged in an Italianate Classical style by Quinlan TerryQuinlan Terry
Quinlan Terry is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom he formed the partnership Erith & Terry....
. The original church building on the south (liturgical east) side was retained
The new Brentwood Cathedral was dedicated by Cardinal Basil Hume on 31 May 1991. The donors chose to remain anonymous and the money was given solely for this purpose.
The Cathedral
Architecturally, Quinlan Terry took his inspiration from the early Italian RenaissanceItalian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
crossed with the English Baroque
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London and the Treaty of Utrecht ....
of Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
. This, it was felt, would be appropriate for the town and its conservation area, but above all it would provide the right space and light for the liturgy to be celebrated. The cathedral was designed along a square plan, focussed on the high altar, placed in the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
to accommodate the changes in liturgical fashion after the Second Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council
The Second Vatican Council addressed relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the modern world. It was the twenty-first Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church and the second to be held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. It opened under Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and closed...
.
Work began in 1989 and was completed two years later. The north elevation consists of nine bays each divided by Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
pilasters. This is broken by a huge half-circular portico, which was inspired by a similar one at St Paul's
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
. The handmade traditional Smeed Dean brick of the clerestory
Clerestory
Clerestory is an architectural term that historically denoted an upper level of a Roman basilica or of the nave of a Romanesque or Gothic church, the walls of which rise above the rooflines of the lower aisles and are pierced with windows. In modern usage, clerestory refers to any high windows...
leads up to the octagonal lantern, or cupola
Cupola
In architecture, a cupola is a small, most-often dome-like, structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome....
, the high point both of the outside and inside.
A conscious decision was taken to retain part of the Gothic revival church of 1861 alongside the new classical cathedral. The east elevation juxtaposes the old and the new, linking them through the scale of the 1991 building and the sympathetic use of ragstone and Welsh slate roof tiles.
All the Classical architectural orders are represented in the interior - the four giant Doric pilasters, the Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
arcade of arches, the Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
pilasters of the Palladian windows in the east and west aisles, the Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
and Composite
Composite order
The composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The composite order volutes are larger, however, and the composite order also has echinus molding with egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes...
influences evident on the cathedral and the organ case
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
.
While the interior of the cathedral has a deliberately 'restrained' feeling to it, richness is to be found in the ceiling. The Roman key pattern and the double guilloche pattern, picked out in gold leaf, are dominant here. All the round-headed windows are in the Classical-Wren style, with clear leaded lights of hand-made glass.
With clear windows on all four sides, the cathedral is flooded with light at any time of the day. This, together with the white walls and stone floor, combines to give a translucent effect which uplifts the spirit and conveys its own sense of the presence of God. The cathedral is lit by brass English Classical chandeliers (one of which was formerly in the church at Epping
Epping
Epping is a small market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. It is located north-east of Loughton, south of Harlow and north-west of Brentwood....
) and, above the cornice, concealed lighting.
The processional cross is a copy of a medieval design. The figure represents a transitional period in the theology of design where Christ still wears the crown of the Risen Lord, but the corpus is that of the crucified Saviour. The Bishop's chair or cathedra
Cathedra
A cathedra or bishop's throne is the chair or throne of a bishop. It is a symbol of the bishop's teaching authority in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and has in some sense remained such in the Anglican Communion and in Lutheran churches...
is a tangible sign of his presiding over the diocese. It was made in Pisa
Pisa
Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...
, in Nabrassina stone, and has steps of Portland stone. In the centre is the coat of arms of the diocese. The base of the seat is inlaid with slate, to match the floor.
Consecration crosses are incised into the stone of the Doric pilasters that hold up the clerestory. They were anointed like the altar, as a sign that the whole building is dedicated to God.On the feast of the Dedication the candles in front of the gilded crosses are lit. In the east aisle, there are two rooms set aside to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. Opposite them is a crucifix, formerly in the church at Stock
Stock, Essex
Stock is a village and civil parish in south Essex, England. It is located approximately south of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the borough of Chelmsford and in the parliamentary constituency of Maldon.-Facilities:...
, Essex.
Around the arcade are terracotta roundels representing the 15 Stations of the Cross. These were modelled by Raphael Maklouf
Raphael Maklouf
Raphael Maklouf is a sculptor, best known for designing the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II used on the coins of many Commonwealth nations....
, the well-known sculptor, who was responsible for the Queen's head on Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
coinage from 1985 to 1997. Their milky glaze perfectly complements the subtlety and intimacy with which the familiar scenes have been expressed.
[Cathedral:http://architecture.nd.edu/news_and_events/driehaus/images/brentwood_cathedral2.jpg,http://architecture.nd.edu/news_and_events/driehaus/images/brentwood_cathedral.jpg
Cathedral Music
The Cathedral is known for its prestigious Choir, which was founded in 1984 by Andrew Wright, Master of Music. Over the years the Choir has expanded from the original Boys' Choir of some thirty voices, to its present membership which includes the Choir Ladies and Gentlemen, together with the Cathedral Lay Clerks. Over the years a number of recordings and broadcasts have been made and tours undertaken in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Holland and Ireland. The most recent tour was to Paris in 2002 where the Choir sang High Mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. May 2008 will see the Choir's next tour which will be to Rome.The Choir is affiliated to the RSCM and enjoys particularly close musical and ecumenical links with the Diocese of Chelmsford and Chelmsford Cathedral Choir, involving liturgical events and also shared training through the Bishops' Chorister Award.
The Master of Music, Andrew Wright, former Assistant Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral, was appointed in 1982 and is also Director of Diocesan Music.
The organ came from the redundant Anglican
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
church of St Mary-at-the-Wall in Colchester, as a gift from the Diocese of Chelmsford
Diocese of Chelmsford
The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers Essex and the five East London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, and Waltham Forest, and is co-terminous with the boundaries of the Catholic Diocese of...
. Dating from 1889 by Hunter and rebuilt in 1931, it was completely rebuilt and restored by Percy Daniel & Co Ltd. of Clevedon
Clevedon
Clevedon is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, which covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset, England...
.
See also
- Bishop of BrentwoodBishop of BrentwoodThe Bishop of Brentwood is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brentwood in the Province of Westminster, England.-Overview:The diocese covers the historic county of Essex, an area of comprising the non-metropolitan county of Essex, the unitary authorities of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock,...
- Bishop Thomas McMahonThomas McMahon (bishop)Thomas McMahon is the current Roman Catholic Bishop of Brentwood.-Life:Bishop McMahon grew up in Harlow and attended St. Bede’s Grammar School, Manchester, before training for the priesthood at St. Sulpice, Paris...
- Bishop George Andrew BeckGeorge Andrew BeckGeorge Andrew Beck was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Liverpool from 29 January 1964 to 7 February 1976....
- Quinlan TerryQuinlan TerryQuinlan Terry is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom he formed the partnership Erith & Terry....