Roman Catholic Cathedral Of Our Lady Help Of Christians And St Peter

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Peter was built in 1856. It was designed by Edward Welby Pugin, although initial designs may have been prepared by his father, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. The cathedral is constructed from coursed and squared sandstone rubble, with a plain tiled roof.

The plan consists of a nave and two aisles, alongside a chancel. The west front features a bellcote projecting over a five-light window, a western porch with a cusped moulded arched doorway and traceried windows, and an ornate canopy above a statue on the gable apex. A deep moulded west doorway, flanked by short shafts, is also present. Lean-to aisles extend to eastern chapels with steeply pitched roofs. The bays of the nave are defined by slim buttresses, each featuring a three-light Decorated window with triple quatrefoils in the clerestory. A porch and ante-room were added to the south side of the south aisle, featuring a quatrefoil frieze to the parapet and a gabled porch entrance with a shouldered archway.

Inside, the five-and-a-half-bay nave arcade showcases an Early Gothic style, with octagonal shafts and steep pointed arches. A western gallery is also present, and the nave roof features wall posts with wrought-iron ties, and alternating cross-bracing and arched trusses. The chancel arch has deep moulding, and a rood was installed in 1885. A coved, panelled ceiling defines the chancel. A gilded reredos with triangular arched traceried panels, displaying figures in high relief, is a prominent feature. The south aisle chapel has a canted apsidal end designed to resemble a reliquary, with marbled shafts to the sedilia and entrance arch, heavy foliate capitals, and cusped triangular arcading around the walls. The north aisle chapel is distinguished by its richly gilded and traceried altar. Decorative work in the chapels and chancel was undertaken by J Pippet of Hardman and Co.

The cathedral is exceptionally rich in stained glass, largely in a medieval style. The large west window depicts the English Martyrs, and various south aisle windows were added between 1898 and 1906. Two windows in the north aisle chapel, by Margaret Rope, show scenes from the Lives of the Saints, dated 1917. Stained glass is also found in the chancel and south aisle, largely dating to 1911; some is by Margaret Rope, with the remainder likely from Hardman and Co. The chancel east window was created in 1862 by Hardman. Low relief stone Stations of the Cross, sculpted in 1952 by Philip Lindsey Clarke, are also incorporated.