Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral
Bristol Cathedral was founded as St Augustine's Abbey in 1140. The chapterhouse, still standing, dates from 1165, and the Elder Lady Chapel from 1220. The Norman abbey church was rebuilt from 1298 onwards, but the new church was still incomplete at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 and its nave was demolished. In 1542 the church was made the cathedral of a new Diocese of Bristol and was dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
The nave was eventually built during the 19th century and the building was completed by two towers at the west end in 1888. It is a "hall church" with nave, aisles and choir all at the same height, and the most significant example of a hall church in Britain.
Bristol is also home to a Roman Catholic cathedral, Clifton Cathedral. The Anglican parish church of St Mary Redcliffe is so grand as to be occasionally mistaken for a cathedral by visitors.
