Captivating Cathedrals: Shrewsbury Cathedral

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SSA051: England’s smallest cathedral harbors some of its most layered art — and a history of faith under fire that most visitors never suspect.

Alix Murray and Kathryn Laffrey take a detailed walk through Shrewsbury Cathedral in Shropshire, tracing its origins, its art, and its ongoing restoration.

The cathedral was born in turbulence. The 1850 papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae recreated the Catholic hierarchy in England — extinguished since the death of the last Marian bishop under Elizabeth I — and triggered fierce Protestant backlash. A.W.N. Pugin was commissioned to design the building, backed by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, under the oversight of Bishop James Brown, the first Bishop of Shrewsbury. Both Pugin and Talbot died before construction was complete; their sons — Edward Welby Pugin (age 18) and Bertram Talbot (age 20) — carried the plans to completion. Unstable sandy ground forced them to abandon the tower and scale back the building. The mayor of Shrewsbury refused the bishop’s groundbreaking invitation and declined to donate even five pounds toward the local poor.

Inside, the cathedral rewards close attention. The baptismal font has been returned to its original location — beneath a window by Margaret Rope, a Carmelite nun and Arts and Crafts stained glass artist trained at the Birmingham School of Art. Her baptism window weaves together Noah’s ark, fire, a baptismal candle, and what may be a rendering of the cathedral’s own font. Her other windows include the Visitation with St. Cecilia, a Franciscan window featuring Sts. Clare, Francis, and Anthony, and a window of the English martyrs.

The nave pillars are each crowned with a distinct carved capital: roses, lilies, strawberries (a northern European equivalent to the pomegranate), and passion flowers placed closest to the altar. The intimate Sacred Heart Chapel and St. Winifred’s Chapel — home to the relics of the Welsh martyr and two glowing alabaster angels — anchor the devotional life of the building.

A recent restoration has uncovered frescoes by Joseph Aloysius Pippet, whitewashed in the 1950s after his homemade pigment formulas deteriorated. Workers pulling up 1980s-era carpet found intact Pugin-designed mosaics underneath. The altar rail is back; the altar — an older piece sourced from nearby Ely — was consecrated by Bishop Mark Davies, whose early confidence in the cathedral’s renewal has been vindicated.

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