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Ship of Fools: Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool, England

The Mystery WorshipperThe Mystery Worshipper Shipmate
edited December 2019 in The Mystery Worshipper

imageShip of Fools: Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool, England

Mince pies, friendly introductions – and uncertainty

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here


Comments

  • Box PewBox Pew Shipmate
    Thanks for your MW report ..... but Liverpool Cathedral a monstrosity?!

    For me it is one of the most sublime and moving religious building of Europe (even if Zone 2 doesnt grab me)
  • UrgandaUrganda Shipmate
    So glad it works for you. That ability to bring heaven to earth is subjective as well as being there in the place. Finding what works for whom is a lifework.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited December 2019
    @Urganda said:

    A kindly gentleman at my table told me I could catch the end of the service upstairs, so I did. It struck me as equally far-removed from the people of Liverpool.

    In what way? The Cathedral's Choral Eucharist is only one of a myriad services in various churches, and may well connect with at least some of the people of Liverpool!
  • UrgandaUrganda Shipmate
    I'm sure it did connect with some. I know I'm always saying numbers aren't important. I just got the feeling of an alien culture being imposed
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    Is the picture here really meant to be a of a cemetery....
  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    The picture shows The Oratory, originally a mortuary chaple, not the actual Cathedal,which is considerably more massive

    The now redundant cemetery is in the little rather magical little glen below. Most of the gravestones have been relocated to the periphery of the garden.

    There are several steep paths in the garden some of which lead past former burial vaults - when I was a boy a number of these had decayed and been vandalised - skulls and other unpleasant things were clearly visible in many.
  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    Should have added the the Oratory predates the cathederal by about a century.
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    Robertus L wrote: »
    ... not the actual Cathedral,which is considerably more massive

    Which is why I was a confused! I was expecting a picture of the cathedral itself. Wiki suggests the Oratory is now part of the Walker Art Gallery....
    It just seems somehow odd to have a picture of a totally different building.

  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    The cemetery would be a most suitable setting for an eldritch tale by H P Lovecraft...
    :scream:
  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    I believe that some 'ghost' tours include it on their itinaries (it doesn't close at night). It contains the mausoleum of William Husskision, an MP for the city and the first person recorded as dying in a rail accident on the day when the world's first every passenger rail service began ( between Liverpool and Manchester).

    Oddly, the cemetery does not belong to the cathedral
  • Amanda B ReckondwythAmanda B Reckondwyth Shipmate
    kingsfold wrote: »
    I was expecting a picture of the cathedral itself. It just seems somehow odd to have a picture of a totally different building.

    I try to use what the reporter submits unless it is unsuitable (too small, over/underexposed, out of focus, etc.). Liverpool Cathedral has been reported on several times, with photos of the cathedral itself included in those reports.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited December 2019
    Robertus L wrote: »
    I believe that some 'ghost' tours include it on their itinaries (it doesn't close at night). It contains the mausoleum of William Husskision, an MP for the city and the first person recorded as dying in a rail accident on the day when the world's first every passenger rail service began ( between Liverpool and Manchester).

    Oddly, the cemetery does not belong to the cathedral

    Pedant alert/

    The Liverpool & Manchester Railway was NOT the world's first ever passenger-carrying railway (that honour goes to the Swansea & Mumbles line of 1807)...but its trains were the first 'inter-city' services worked wholly by steam locomotives.

    Poor Mr Huskisson (correct speeling) was, it is believed, the first member of the public to be killed in a railway accident (he inadvertently stepped out into the path of an oncoming train).

  • Robertus LRobertus L Shipmate
    Didn't know about Swansea/Mumbles - no excuse for getting the name wrong, I used to live in Huskisson St, near the Cathedral as it happens
  • Baptist TrainfanBaptist Trainfan Shipmate
    No excuse for spelling "spelling" wrong, either! The S&M actually ended up as an electric tramway but closed in 1960 (or thereabouts). What a shame, it would have been much nicer riding on the top deck of a tram than driving along the congested parallel road. Sadly Huskisson was killed by Stephenson's famous and still-extant "Rocket".
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    My speeling mistake was a Joke.
    :grimace:

    Yes, shame that the Swansea & Mumbles closed. They used the Bigliest Trams in the UK (at that time).
  • UrgandaUrganda Shipmate
    So was my photo.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    :lol:

    Very brave of you to admit it! I liked the pic - as I said, it called to mind one of my favourite authors, H P Lovecraft...
    :scream:

    In a way, it's part of the Cathedral's 'ambience', if that's the right word, and, as Miss Amanda points out, photos of the Cathedral itself are Legion.
  • Box PewBox Pew Shipmate
    Climbing down into the cemetery provides dramatic views upwards of the Gilbert Scott cathedral - making it look even taller than it already is. Sadly it is now quite difficult to get the same view from the West (liturgical South) and the city centre. The distant views of Liverpool Cathedral from the Mersey ferry or even from the Birkenhead terminal are worth it. From this distance you realise how big it is - though I acknowledge that size isn't, as they say, everything.
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