The Cathedral Church of St. Anne, Donegall Street, Belfast, County Antrim, BT1 2HB

The Cathedral Church of St Anne, Belfast

The Cathedral Church of St Anne is a free-standing, triple-height, gable-fronted limestone church built in the Hiberno-Romanesque style for the Church of Ireland. The main body of the building was erected in 1904 to designs by Thomas Drew and William Henry Lynn, replacing an earlier church built around 1775. That earlier church had been gifted to Belfast by Lord Donegall, who named it in honour of his wife, Lady Anne, Countess of Donegall. The site, in what was then called Linenhall Street, had previously been occupied by the Brown Linen Hall.

The building has grown continuously over the course of the 20th century and into the 21st, through a series of additions designed by several notable architects. The result is an exterior of varied and sometimes contrasting character — a flamboyant west front, completed around 1927, sits alongside the comparative austerity of the transepts — but the interior reveals the coherence of purpose underlying these changes: a lofty, richly decorated place of worship befitting the principal cathedral of a major city. A remarkable range of historic fabric and fine craftsmanship survives throughout, representing the full span of the 20th century.

Origins and Early History

The original St Anne's church was designed by Francis Hiorne of Warwick, with Roger Mulholland as supervising architect, and built in 1774–76 as a replacement for the old Corporation Church on the site of what later became St George's, which had become structurally unsafe. However, the new building was also unstable from the outset. The weight of its tower caused structural problems in the west front, which had to be rebuilt in the early 1830s. To reduce the load, the upper portions of the tower were finished in timber, which meant a bell could never be installed. St Anne is traditionally held to be the name of the mother of the Virgin Mary.

The first proposal to build a proper cathedral for Belfast came in 1862, but was abandoned because the rapid growth of the town meant all available funds were needed for new parish churches. The idea was revived in 1895, when the Lord Bishop argued that a centre of diocesan unity was needed in Belfast, noting that the congregation had sometimes had to use the Ulster Hall for lack of any large enough building. The proposal was not without opposition: critics argued that funds should go to new churches in poor districts rather than, as one correspondent to the Belfast Newsletter put it, "an elaborate cathedral where operatic music would be performed from Lord's Day to Lord's Day and where the ladies and elite of the city would assemble to hear the music."

Rather than hold an open competition, Thomas Drew and William Henry Lynn were approached directly and agreed to collaborate, though Lynn subsequently agreed to leave the working designs in Drew's hands. John Lanyon was also approached but declined due to pressure of work. The cathedral was to cost no more than £100,000, exclusive of foundations, and was to be built in phases as funds permitted, with divine service continuing on the site throughout. In practice, the old St Anne's church remained standing until the first phase of the new building was nearly complete. Part of the old sanctuary survived until 1922, when it was demolished to make way for the piers supporting the central crossing.

Drew initially produced a Gothic design in 1896, but reworked it in a Romanesque style in 1898. The foundation stone was laid by the Countess of Shaftesbury on 6 September 1899. The initial building contract, with Henry Laverty and Sons, was worth £19,384 and covered the piling and erection of the shell of the nave. The building was consecrated on 2 June 1904 before an enormous congregation. At that stage it was very plain: the floor, windows, and carved decoration were all added later as gifts and memorials. Work continued in stages after Drew's death in 1910, with Lynn taking over the supervision.

Plan and Structure

The cathedral is cruciform in plan. The additions made across the 20th century are as follows: the Baptistery was added to the south aisle around 1923 to designs by W H Lynn; the central crossing was added around 1925 to designs by Peter McGregor Chalmers; the west front was added around 1927 to designs by Sir Charles Nicholson; the Chapel of the Holy Spirit was added to the north aisle around 1932, also to Nicholson's designs; the eastern apse and ambulatory were added around 1958 to designs by John MacGeagh; the south transept was added around 1974 and the north transept around 1981, both also to MacGeagh's designs. In 2007, a 40-metre steel spire was installed at the crossing to designs by Robert Jamison and Colin Conn.

The cathedral faces west onto Donegall Street and Writers Square and occupies an island site bounded to the north by Academy Street, to the east by Exchange Street, and to the south by Talbot Street. It stands adjacent to the University of Ulster, at the northern edge of the Cathedral Quarter, with a public park to the north.

Exterior

The roofs are steeply pitched and clad in natural slate with leaded ridges and lead finials. The crossing is housed within a natural slate-clad cubic structure from which the suspended stainless steel tapered spire rises. The north and south aisles have single-span natural slate roofs with corbelled eaves and lead rainwater goods. All roofs are set behind a limestone ashlar parapet wall with corbelled courses; decorative box hoppers and downpipes break through the parapet at intervals. The walling throughout is limestone ashlar with a stepped and moulded plinth course and shallow buttresses flanking all nave windows. Window openings are round-headed, set within shallow round-headed panels with flush splayed sills, hood mouldings with label stops, and leaded stained glass with weather glazing, except where noted otherwise.

West Front

The west front, completed around 1927 to Sir Charles Nicholson's designs as a memorial to those who fell in the First World War, is the most elaborate element of the exterior. It comprises a triple-height central gable framed by octagonal towers, with lower screen walls fronting the north and south aisles, each terminated by an octagonal tower. The entire composition is fronted by a triple portal entrance.

The octagonal towers have slender openings to alternating faces and are surmounted by diminutive arcaded drums with conical stone roofs. The west gable has a central round-headed window with a compound surround rising from a diminutive arcaded balustrade with a stiff-leaf course below, running the full width of the gable and towers. The gable has decorative moulded coping and is surmounted by a Celtic cross. Below the balustrade are three round-headed window openings with clustered colonettes supporting stepped heads, with carved figures in the spandrels. The outer lower towers terminate the screen walls to the side aisles, each with a blind arcaded parapet with saddleback coping and an oculus below containing a sexfoil stained glass window.

The triple portal entrance has a larger central projection flanked by lower side projections, each with an elaborate round-headed door opening. The portals appear to have flat roofs concealed behind parapet walls with offset stone coping.

The principal central entrance is deeply recessed, with five slender colonettes with foliate capitals clustered into the splayed surround, supporting a continuous fluted frieze and impost moulding, which in turn supports a stepped and carved head. Within the doorcase is a bipartite square-headed opening with hardwood doors fitted with decorative copper panels and hinges, framed by fluted Corinthian piers supporting a nail-head lintel inscribed "He Shall Reign For Ever And Ever." Above is an elaborately carved stone tympanum representing the Triumph of Peace and Righteousness. The bronze doors were designed by Nicholson and made by the Tudor Art Company of London in 1929. The tympanum carving throughout the west front was carried out by Esmond Burton in 1927. The central west door depicts the enthroned Christ surrounded by saints; the north porch tympanum depicts the Crucifixion; and the south porch tympanum depicts the Resurrection. Below the arcade are four sculptures representing, from left to right, toil, strife, love, and avarice.

The left entrance has a square-headed door opening with a foliate carved surround, a copper door, and an overpanel. It is set within a round-headed opening with compound colonettes and capitals supporting a stepped head framing a carved stone tympanum depicting the Crucifixion, with the inscription "He That Loseth His Life Shall Save It" below. The right entrance has a square-headed door opening with an Arabesque carved surround inscribed "O Grave Where Is Thy Victory" and bronze gates, set within a round-headed opening with compound colonettes and capitals supporting a stepped head and carved stone tympanum.

All three entrances open onto a stone-paved platform approached by six steps with painted iron railings. Tapered octagonal stone lamp standards with elaborate bronze lanterns flank the entrance steps. Curved stone walls with iron railings extend from each end of the west front to the street, terminated by large octagonal stone piers with conical finials.

North Elevation

The north side elevation is abutted by the double-height north aisle, the Chapel of the Holy Spirit to the west, and the full-height north transept to the east.

The Chapel of the Holy Spirit, built in 1930–32 to Sir Charles Nicholson's designs to mark the 1,500th anniversary of St Patrick's arrival in Ireland, is a symmetrical double-height addition built in Portland limestone ashlar. It has a steeply hipped slate roof with lead finials set behind a corbelled parapet with cast-iron rainwater goods, and diminutive round-headed window openings with colonettes, billet mouldings, stained glass, and latticed windows.

The north transept houses the Regimental Chapel and has a large square window opening with stone transoms and mullions framing nine lights, each glazed with nine panes of coloured glass. A 28-foot square memorial window in the transept was designed by Dublin artist Patrick Pollen. The cheeks of the transept project forward to frame a large stone Celtic cross fronting the transept, with iron railings enclosing its base.

East End

The eastern apse and ambulatory, completed in 1959 and designed by John MacGeagh assisted by Thomas Johnson Rushton, extend the body of the church as a five-sided canted apse with a single-height ambulatory responding around it. Two square-plan towers rise above the parapet to frame the apse, which has a hipped roof set behind a corbelled parapet with offset coping and a series of loopholes. The ambulatory has a lean-to slate roof treated in the same manner. Stepped buttresses frame all planes, and round-headed window openings are set on continuous splayed sill courses with continuous hood mouldings and stained glass windows. The triple window behind the altar was retained from the old St Anne's church and is late Victorian; it was given in memory of Sir William Johnston, who was mayor of Belfast at the time of Queen Victoria's visit in 1849.

South Elevation

The south side elevation is abutted by the double-height south aisle, the Baptistery to the west, and the full-height south transept to the east.

The south transept houses the Chapel of Unity and is built in pale Portland limestone ashlar with a hipped slate roof behind a parapet, as described above, with various carved mouldings, string courses, pilaster strips, and a cross motif to the upper level. The ground floor has round-headed window openings with splayed surrounds, hood mouldings, and leaded stained glass.

The Baptistery is a diminutive semi-circular structure in plan with a conical stone roof and iron trim. Its limestone ashlar walling and stepped moulded plinth course are seamless with the south aisle elevation. It has three round-headed window openings with roll-moulded surrounds, flush splayed sills, and stained leaded glazing, with a blind colonnade of squat colonettes with stiff-leaf and Romanesque capitals below the eaves.

The Spire of Hope

Designs for a spire were first proposed by John MacGeagh in the 1960s, but it was not until 2007 that the present "Spire of Hope" was erected. Designed by Belfast architects Colin Conn and Robert Jamison, it is a 40-metre stainless steel tapered flèche mounted at the crossing. It was fabricated in Zurich and delivered to Belfast in two sections, which were welded together on site and levelled using Swiss microsurgical technology. The flèche is mounted in glass, giving an uninterrupted view from beneath, creating the impression that the structure floats in space. It was funded by contributions from inter-denominational groups and dedicated on 11 September 2007 in the presence of the Bishop of New York.

Interior

The interior is notable for the quality and survival of its historic fabric, with craftsmanship spanning the entire 20th century.

The second major phase of interior work began in 1923 under Richard Mills Close, who realised Peter McGregor Chalmers's designs for the foundation, crypt, floor, and pillars of the central crossing. The Baptistery floor, font, and capitals were designed by Sir Charles Nicholson, as was the mosaic ceiling representing the Creation, executed by Gertrude and Margaret Martin, who created all the mosaics in the cathedral over a period of seven years during the 1920s. Rosamond Praeger designed and carved the children's heads at the ends of the string courses.

The ten nave capitals, all different from one another, depict Belfast industries and more abstract themes including music and motherhood. "Courage" and "Agriculture" were designed by Chalmers, and "Justice" was carved by Rosamond Praeger. The four responds represent the four cardinal virtues, and above each capital is a corbel depicting a leading figure of the Anglican communion, including Jeremy Taylor, George Berkeley, and the hymn writer Cecil Frances Alexander. The four archangels — Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel — are carved into the four corners. Much of the interior carving from the 1920s and 30s was carried out by Morris Harding under Nicholson's direction. Morris Harding also sculpted the statue of a bowed soldier surmounting the war memorial.

The organ, built by Messrs Harrison and Harrison of Durham, has four manuals and seventy speaking stops. Originally installed in 1907, it was moved to its current position in 1975.

The only person interred in the cathedral is Lord Carson, buried in the south aisle in 1935 and commemorated by a plaque executed by Rosamond Praeger.

The aisles and part of the nave were paved with Irish marble to designs by Charles Nicholson in 1929. Stained glass in the aisles and west window is by James Powell and Sons, and the two rose windows in the west front were added by Archibald Nicholson in 1927. The clerestory windows are the work of Edward Marr of Belfast College of Art, inspired by the abstract approach pioneered by John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens at Coventry Cathedral; they were given by Sir Robert Ernest Herdman in memory of his wife Lucy Herdman in 1976.

Setting

The cathedral occupies an island site facing west onto Donegall Street and Writers Square, bounded to the north by Academy Street, to the east by Exchange Street, and to the south by Talbot Street. It stands adjacent to the University of Ulster at the northern edge of the Cathedral Quarter, with a public park to the north. The entire site is enclosed by steel railings dating from around 1990, set on stone walls with matching steel gates, and laid out in granite setts to the south and east.