Worcester Cathedral, Worcestershire, England

 Above: Worcester Cathedral, a Norman and Gothic-style cathedral, was founded as a Benedictine church in 680 A.D. It was rebuilt in 1084 and 1504 and became an Anglican church in 1540.  Credit:  Wikimedia Commons


Worcester Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England; situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is The Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester. Built between 1084 and 1504, Worcester Cathedral represents every style of English architecture from Norman to Perpendicular Gothic. It is famous for its Norman crypt and unique chapter house, its unusual Transitional Gothic bays, its fine woodwork and its "exquisite" central tower which is of particularly fine proportion.

 Above: Worcester Cathedral, looking west at the Rood Screen, Nave and West window.  Below:  Worcester Cathedral organ

The Cathedral was founded in 680 with Bishop Bosel as its head. The first cathedral was built in this period but nothing now remains of it. The existing crypt of the cathedral dates from the 10th century and the time of St. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester. The current cathedral dates from the 12th and 13th centuries.

Monks and nuns had been present at the Cathedral since the seventh century (see Bede). The monastery became Benedictine in the second half of the tenth century (one author gives the time range 974-7, another considers 969 more likely). There is an important connection to Fleury as Oswald, bishop of Worcester 961-92, being prior at the same time, was professed at Fleury and introduced the monastic rule of Fleury to Worcester. The Benedictine monks were driven out at 18 January 1540 and replaced by secular canons.

360-degree Panoramic Views:

Interior view by Abigail Phillips
BBC 360-Pano Tour by Bob Bilsland

Official Website:

Worcester Cathedral website
Worcester Cathedral on Film

Worchester Cathedral Picture Tour:

Pictures of Worchester Cathedral

Map and photos from Panoramio:

Worcester Panorama by Matthew Walters

Worcester Cathedral Crypt

The Cathedral contains the tomb of King John in its chancel. Before his death in Newark in 1216, John had requested to be buried at Worcester. He is buried between the shrines of St Wulstan and St Oswald (now destroyed).

The cathedral has a memorial, Prince Arthur's Chantry, to the young prince Arthur Tudor, who is buried here. Arthur's younger brother and next in line for the throne was Henry VIII.

Other notable burials include:

• Richard Edes (d.1604), a chaplain to Elizabeth I and James I.
• William Hamilton, 2nd Duke of Hamilton (1616-1651), Scottish Royalist commander during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
• John Gauden (1605–1662), Bishop of Worcester
• Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947), Prime Minister