Noel Chavasse VC – Musings of a curious individual

Continuing where we left off, this post deals with Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool and not the Catholic one. I have also merged images from both visits that I made to the building.

Where to start? the building is huge and I felt the exterior gave it a very gloomy and brooding look. Make no mistake though, it is so big you can see it from the waterfront.

The cathedral seen from the ferry terminal at Birkenhead. (1500 x 358)

From close up it is even bigger and does not easily fit into the lens when you try to photograph it in it’s entirety.

Contrary to what you would think it is a relatively new building, having been built in the last century between 1904 and 1978. It is correctly called the Cathedral Church of Christ in Liverpool (as recorded in the Document of Consecration) or the Cathedral Church of the Risen Christ, Liverpool, being dedicated to Christ ‘in especial remembrance of his most glorious Resurrection’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_Cathedral)

To say it is big is somewhat of an understatement. The total external length of the building is 189 m, making it the longest cathedral in the world; while in terms of overall volume, it ranks as the fifth-largest cathedral in the world. it is also one of the world’s tallest non-spired church buildings and the third-tallest structure in the city of Liverpool. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building, and it is the largest Anglican Cathedral ever built. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_Cathedral)

The interior is incredibly difficult to photograph because of the sheer size of the building, so everything is just so much bigger or further away. Unfortunately I was unable to get into the Lady Chapel as it was closed off during my visits.

The building was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and the foundation stone was laid by Edward VII in 1904.

Looking towards “the Well” (# 3 on the map) from The Central Space (# 1 on the map)

Unlike so many of the ancient cathedrals I have visited, this one does not have a lot of wall memorials, and I suspect not too many burials beneath its floors. There is however, a memorial commemorating Giles Gilbert Scott set into the floor under the tower.

The architect is buried outside the building in a grave very close to it.

While affixed to the one wall is a memorial to Francis Chavasse, the second Bishop of Liverpool from 1900-1923, and father of Noel Godfrey Chavasse VC* MC.

Even the organ is large, and is the largest pipe organ in the UK. It was built by Henry Willis & Sons, and has two five-manual consoles, and 10,268 pipes.

The War Memorial Chapel is not marked on the map but is on the left hand side just before the organ (# 5 on the map). I did not really think much of it and found it really bereft of memorials and really very plain.

The Roll of Honour is placed in a glass topped cabinet in the front of the chapel, and it is opened on the page with the Victoria Citation of Noel Chavasse, while a bust of the Captain is affixed to the wall close by.

I was really battling to photograph in the cathedral which tended to be dark in some area’s and of course trying to avoid including people in my images was sometimes impossible.

And talking of towers…

The bell tower (aka Vestey Tower) is named after its benefactors, the Vestey family, and has a floor to top height of 101m (331ft). The bells housed in the tower are the highest and heaviest ringing peal in the world. There are two lifts (thankfully) and only 108 stairs to the top. The peal proper consists of thirteen bells weighing a total of 16.5 long tons. They vary in size and note and all thirteen bells were cast by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel in London.

The bells from the forth floor platform in the tower

I went up the tower on the 2nd day of my Liverpool visit as it was too late to do on the day before (although I should have done it considering what the weather was like on my 2nd trip) . The two lifts can only take 6 people at a time so it can take some time to ascend or descend. Fortunately there are only 108 steps. Had they only been steps I would not have climbed the tower at all!

It was miserable outside though so the view was not as far as I would have liked, or as good as it could be.

And then it was time to descend. There was a young woman wearing very high heels tottering around the tower and I did not want to get stuck behind her while she went down the stairs in them. It was also time to leave the cathedral.

There is no doubt that it is a mighty space, it is a very overpowering building and well worth multiple visits because there is so much more that I have not covered due to constraints on the blog platform. I have surprisingly few photographs of the interior simply because much of the interior is too large to photograph without proper equipment. The amazing thing is that the building is not as old as some that I have seen, and it will probably be around long after I am gone. What will people 100 years down the line have to say about it? will it even exist? given how long lived cathedrals tend to be I am sure it will be.

And that was the Anglican Cathedral in Liverpool, I created a post about the Catholic Cathedral which was totally different. As usual I will close off with some random images.

In which we go looking for Abercromby Square.

Having checked into my hotel and showered I still had some time to kill as the sun was still high and bedtime was nowhere close. Marked on my navigation was “Abercromby Square” which sounds kind of obscure but there was a reason for my interest.

Liverpool was home to members of the Chavasse family, the most famous of whom was Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse. VC*, MC. while his father was the second Bishop of Liverpool. I was keen to find the place because there was a statue of him in the square. It was more like a pilgrimage though, and one of the many reasons I was visiting this city originally. Unfortunately my street map did not show the square, but I knew it was close to the Catholic Cathedral so technically should not be too difficult to find as long as I went up the right street in the first place. Unfortunately I did not and while I could see the cathedral I could not work out where the park was on the ground in relation to it.

My mapping app did not work either because it would never refresh and if you tried to refresh it manually all you would end up was a “mapping app has stopped functioning” error. Bah humbug! I decided that my best course was to try the roads at the front of the cathedral (this is the back) and see what happens. Fortunately a kind hearted soul took pity on me and pointed down the road to a green area 3 blocks away. Huzzah! the destination was in sight.

The statue was not in the square but on the pavement next to it, and it was such a moment to see that statue.

The statue was engraved:

“Liverpool Heroes.
This scuplture commemorates the life and death of captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse
VC and Bar, MC, RAMC. Medical officer to the 10th battalion (Liverpool Scottish)
King’s Liverpool Regiment, and fifteen other recipients of the Victoria Cross who were
born in Liverpool and whose names appear around the base

Captain Chavasse, son of the second Bishop of Liverpool, was the only man to be
awarded two Victoria Crosses during World War I, and died on 4th August 1917 of
wounds received in Flanders

Several of the other’s also made the supreme sacrifice. May this memorial remind
us all of the debt we owe to such men.

“Greater love hath no man than this
that a man lay down his life for his friends”

The names around the base are:

The sculptor is Tom Murphy of Liverpool.

It was time to move on. The Catholic Cathedral was closed so I started to head towards the direction of town. Unfortunately for me, the Anglican Cathedral loomed close by at the end of a street. It just seemed so close.

The sun was still shining and I had some time to kill so I thought I would head down in that direction and have a quick recce before returning the next day. There were really two spaces I wanted to visit at what is known as “St James Mount”:- the first was the actual cathedral, and the second was a cemetery known as St James Garden (aka St James Cemetery). Situated behind the cathedral it was created below ground level in a former quarry that was in use till 1825, and until 1936 was used as the Liverpool city cemetery and contrary to what you would think, the cemetery is not associated with the cathedral. It is a very beautiful place and I was very glad that I saw it in the evening light.

I went in through the gate by the Oratory, which is the former mortuary chapel of the cemetery. It was designed in 1829 in classic Greek architecture by John Foster Jnr, as a re-creation of a Greek temple.

It was all downhill from here…

Once flat ground was reached I was in a quiet park, dotted with headstones, flowers, pathways, mausoleums and trees. People were sitting around and enjoying the coolness of the air, others were walking their dogs or just strolling. It was hard to believe that you were actually in a cemetery that held close to 60 000 people.

The domed cupola in the last image is the Huskisson Monument, it was designed to house the statue of William Huskisson who holds the distinction of being the world’s first reported railway passenger casualty; when he was run over and fatally injured by George Stephenson’s pioneering locomotive engine Rocket. The statue is no longer there, but the monument is. A mineral spring also flows through this area (the Chalybeate) although I did not see it at the time. From the flatness of the bottom of the quarry it was time to ascend. I was starting to tire and needed to make my way home so I followed the path upwards to the gate and to ground level.

This was the back of the cathedral and even here people were enjoying the warm evening air. I really felt like staking a spot for myself but I still had a long walk ahead of me so resting was not an option at this point.

I walked past the huge building and it is a mighty, lofty, looming building. It is reportedly the largest Anglican Cathedral ever built. I came to the spot where I had entered the area and saw that the Cathedral was open so decided to pop in and have a quick look….

When I saw what was inside it my plans for heading back to the hotel went for a wobbly because there was an event going on in it called:

The Museum of the Moon.

Museum of the Moon is a new touring artwork by UK artist Luke Jerram. Measuring seven metres in diameter, and internally lit, the moon features 120dpi detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. At an approximate scale of 1:500,000, each centimetre of the spherical sculpture represents 5km of the moon’s surface*. (https://my-moon.org/about/)

I kid you not, the moon was shining in the cathedral, and it was magnificent. Photographs do not do the work justice.

It was one of those things that children would love and adults would be amazed by. Everywhere people were taking photographs and just staring. The huge cavernous interior of the cathedral just made it so much more impressive. It was like something out of the original “Despicable Me” movie. The coloured lights on the walls of the image above is caused by the sun shining through the stained glass windows of the cathedral. I am not covering the cathedral in this blogpost but will cover it on it’s own page, these images are all about the moon….

And having stood in awe at the moon and the cathedral I shall now turn the page and cover the cathedral on the next page.

I headed off home after a quick walk around and spent a restless night trying to get to sleep. I was bushed, but the reality is that I had accomplished all that I wanted to see and do in half a day. The only thing left was the ferry trip across to Birkenhead and of course the cathedral.

Tag: Noel Chavasse VC

Loving Liverpool (4) The Anglican Cathedral

Loving Liverpool (3) Museum of the Moon