Wakefield Cathedral

Wakefield’s one-day pilgrimage route offers a gentle eight-mile walk from Dewsbury’s appealing minster church, winding through countryside and city suburbs

Highlights

• Anglo-Saxon church foundation
• Prayer labyrinth in the nave
• Bridge chantry chapel

The existence of an early church on their site is something that many cathedrals are understandably keen to proclaim, continuity and tradition being part of the DNA. In Wakefield’s case the evidence is conclusive. Remains of an Anglo-Saxon church were discovered during building work in 1900, while documentary evidence comes in the form of a reference in the Domesday book of 1086.

Like so many churches in central England it was elevated to cathedral status around the end of the 19th century to keep up with population growth, Wakefield receiving its own bishop in 1888. A more recent reorganisation in 2014, also prompted in part by changing demographics, has seen the creation of a combined diocese of Leeds, which has three co-equal cathedrals: this one plus Ripon and Bradford. Despite the diocesan name, Leeds itself doesn’t have an Anglican cathedral, although it does have a Roman Catholic one.

Institutional change aside, Wakefield remains a haven of peace and reflection in the everchanging urban landscape. A perfect pilgrim feature in the centre of the nave is a newly designed labyrinth, laid out on the floor in 2013, its beautifully cut stone curves an attractive design that sees active use during cathedral services. It also has a short guide for using the labyrinth as a focus for personal prayer. It might be worth a careful search through your sock drawer on the morning of a visit because the

cathedral encourages visitors to consider taking off their shoes.

Further reflective space is provided in the chapel dedicated to St Mark, at the east end beyond the sanctuary. And from the outside it radiates its peace far and wide: its spire is the tallest in Wakefield and indeed the whole of Yorkshire. The cathedral is dedicated to All Saints, a patronage it has probably had since Anglo-Saxon times.

Away from the cathedral building itself lies a pilgrim’s curiosity, a chapel built in to the foot of a bridge crossing the nearby river Calder. One of only three surviving bridge chapels in Britain, its counterparts found in Rotherham and St Ives in Cambridgeshire (page 122). In Wakefield the chapel is still used for Sunday services, having come under the care of the cathedral due to yet another institutional reorganisation, this time in the year 2000. Chantry chapels are places where special services and prayers are read out for the souls of the dead, in order to reduce their time in purgatory. It seems an eminently suitable adjunct to a cathedral that is dedicated to All Saints, the congregation of heaven itself.

Directions

Wakefield Cathedral, Northgate, Wakefield WF1 1HG

www.wakefieldcathedral.org.uk

W3W: icons.taped.luxury | GPS: 53.6829N 1.4972W

The cathedral is open Mon-Fri 9am4:30pm, Sat 9am-4pm, Sun 8:30am-4:15pm. It is free to enter, donations welcome.