Visitors to Shrewsbury Cathedral, where seven of Margaret Rope’s windows are to be found, will have noticed the large amount of renovation work that has been going on over the last five years or so. It was starting to look its age.
The cathedral, built by architect Edward Pugin (the son of the great Augustus Pugin) with the money of the Earl of Shrewsbury supporting him, opened nearly 200 years ago.
Much of the recent work is an attempt to reinvigorate, not change, the building, especially the project to reclaim the original tiling and mosaics of the sanctuary/chancel.
Baptistry
Another of the main achievements has been to restore the baptistry area in the cathedral’s north-west corner. It now has a new floor of tiles, all designed to be in keeping with the aesthetic of the building.
The baptistry’s font, designed by Pugin, has now been re-sited to its original position too. A decade ago, it was almost in front of Marga’s wonderful Baptism Window, which made studying the window slightly difficult, but now it is a few feet away from the window, so it is now much easier to examine the window close up.
The Baptism Window (see pic right) is one of Marga’s greatest and is worth anyone’s time and effort to go see.
Much has been written about the symbolism in the work; one can find much about that in the booklet ‘Letting In The Light’, an account and interpretation of all Marga’s windows in the cathedral, on sale in the cathedral cafe.
Works
The work in the cathedral has slowed down a little, which perhaps is not surprising as costs rise. It is a happy thing therefore that the restoration of the large East Window (by Hardman) was in the first tranche of works.
It remains to be seen if there is any hope of restoring or re-doing the century-old stencilling (by Joseph Aloysius Pippet) which once adorned the walls around the rood area. It was whitewashed over in the middle of the last century.
In the meantime, the cathedral is to be congratulated for managing to keep the cathedral open to visitors for so many hours of the day. Winter hours, when visiting will be more restricted, are different though. Check the cathedral website for updates to opening times.
And it’s good to know that it is even easier to gaze on the Baptism Window – with ‘Letting in The Light’ in hand of course!
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