Coventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of St Michael is the Grade I seat of the Bishop of Coventry, on Priory Street in Coventry, West Midlands, built beside the ruined medieval cathedral.
- Location
- Coventry, West Midlands
- Country
- England
- County
- West Midlands
- City / town
- Coventry
- Address
- Priory Street, Coventry, West Midlands, CV1 5FB
- Postcode
- CV1 5FB
- Built
- 1951–62
- Consecrated
- 25 May 1962
- Architect
- Sir Basil Spence
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Diocese
- Coventry
- Parish
- Cathedral Church of St Michael
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Mid-twentieth-century modern
- Materials
- Red sandstone ashlar with green slate cladding to chapels; concrete roof
- Grid reference
- SP 336 790
- Opening hours
- We are open daily to the visiting public (with the exception of Christmas Day). We are normally open: Monday to Saturday 10am to 4pm. Sunday: 12noon to 3.30pm, with last entry one hour before closing time.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Non-accessible toilets in church
Overview
Historic England records the new cathedral of 1951–62, designed by Sir Basil Spence, in red sandstone ashlar with green slate cladding to the chapels and a concrete roof. A lofty seven-bay nave with full-height aisles and no clerestory stands at right angles to the ruins of the old cathedral and is attached at its north-east corner. Nave and chancel walls are canted in vertical bands to a saw-toothed plan; the west wall is fully glazed with nineteen lights by John Hutton. The roof is crowned by an openwork metal fleche with a cross by Geoffrey Clarke.
Queen Elizabeth II laid the foundation stone on 23 March 1956. The cathedral was consecrated on 25 May 1962. The listing and cathedral histories note major commissioned works: Jacob Epstein’s St Michael and Lucifer on the baptistry wall, Graham Sutherland’s Christ in Glory tapestry, the Piper–Reyntiens baptistry window, and nave glass by Lawrence Lee, Geoffrey Clarke and Keith New. The ruined medieval church of St Michael, gutted in the Coventry Blitz of 14 November 1940, remains a Grade I structure in its own right.