Around the three cathedrals... Search this site:

St. Michael's - the Old Coventry Cathedral... Introduction - St. Michael's Church in 1900 The South Porch The Ruins Today Surviving Stained Glass Inside the Cathedral Now and Pre-War The Charred Cross & Cross of Nails Bishop Yeatman-Biggs The Tower & Spire The Bells The "Misaligned" Pillars Coventry Rose Poem by Neville Macaulife St. Michael's - the New Coventry Cathedral... Introduction Sir Basil Spence Building Milestones Coventry Cathedral Floor Plan St. Michael and the Devil & the West Window Great West Window of Saints & Angels Old reflected in the New! The Nave The Baptistery Window 360 degree Panoramic View Chapel of Christ in Gethsemane The Tapestry Chapel of Industry Stained Glass Side Windows Chapel of Unity Pennies in the Floor St. Mary's - Coventry's First Cathedral... Introduction Comparison with Lichfield Cathedral The North-West Tower The Building of the Cathedral What Remains of St. Mary's today? The TV Time-Team dig What did they find there?

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St. Michael's - The Old Coventry Cathedral

he building that we now know fondly as "The Old Cathedral" was formerly the parish church of St. Michael. The present structure originates from the 1300's to 1400's but originally a smaller chapel of Norman design stood on the site - first mentioned in 1138 during the reign of King Stephen, although it might have predated this time.
Above is a photograph from around 1880, its stonework looking rather worse for wear before the huge restoration programme which was carried out in that decade. This picture was have been taken from the tower of nearby Holy Trinity Church, and the building you can see jutting out to its right is St. Mary's Guildhall.

The South Porch.

The South Porch (pictured on the left) is the oldest remaining part of the building, and was built around 1300. This ancient part of the cathedral can be located in Bayley Lane opposite the entrance to St. Mary's Guildhall.
With its towering spire of 295 feet, a building length of 293 feet, and a width of 140 feet, St. Michael's was the largest parish church in England, covering a floor area of just over 24,000 square feet. However, with the revision of the diocese in 1918, after Coventry had gone nearly 400 years with no cathedral since the demolition of St. Mary's after the Dissolution, the church of St. Michael was finally given cathedral status.

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Introduction - > The Ruins Today

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