Newcastle Cathedral
Newcastle Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of St Nicholas is a Grade I listed Church of England cathedral on St Nicholas Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, seat of the Bishop of Newcastle and mother church of the Diocese of Newcastle.
- Location
- Newcastle, Tyne & Wear
- Country
- England
- County
- Tyne & Wear
- City / town
- Newcastle
- Address
- St Nicholas Churchyard, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear, NE1 9PF
- Postcode
- NE1 9PF
- Built
- C12 origins; largely C14; tower and lantern C15; cathedral status 1882
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Nicholas
- Diocese
- Newcastle
- Parish
- St Nicholas, Newcastle upon Tyne
- Grade
- I
- Style
- English Gothic; Perpendicular lantern tower
- Materials
- Squared sandstone with ashlar dressings; arch-braced panelled roofs
- Grid reference
- NZ 250 640
- Opening hours
- We are open: Sunday from 7.30am until 5.30pm. Monday to Friday from 7am until 6.30pm. Saturdays and bank holidays from 8am until 4pm. Entry is free, although donations are requested (we suggest £5 per adult visitor). The Cathedral has disabled access and is a registered Safe Place.
- Access
- Ramp or level access available on request. Non-accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets in church
Overview
A church is recorded from the later twelfth century; Wikipedia and local HER notes place a foundation in 1091, destruction by fire in 1216, and a largely fourteenth-century rebuild completed around 1350. The crossing tower is noted for its fifteenth-century lantern spire. The parish church of St Nicholas was raised to cathedral status in 1882. Historic England describes squared sandstone with ashlar dressings and arch-braced panelled roofs with heraldic bosses.
The four-bay nave and chancel arcades have octagonal columns without capitals, the triple-chamfered arches springing directly from them. Fittings include an octagonal stone font with the arms of the fifteenth-century benefactor Robert Rhodes and a high crocketed cover, a pre-Reformation brass eagle lectern, and the large incised brass of Roger Thornton. Monuments include work by Bacon, Flaxman and others. The tower was spared in the 1644 siege after Scottish prisoners were held in it.