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Truro Cathedral
Having been advised by a friend to take the Park and Ride into Truro rather than attempt parking meant a short bus journey into town. Truro is in Cornwall and our most southerly Cathedral. On arriving I noted one of the statues looked just like Edward VII!
Inside a friendly volunteer pointed out that Truro was a relatively new cathedral and that Edward VII was incredibly involved in its conception, laying the foundation stone in 1880, but died before it was completed in1910. It includes a part of the former parish church and remarkably Gilbert Scott was not involved in anyway. The guide, learning that we were visiting all the cathedrals wanted to know which three cathedrals were newer? (Coventry, Liverpool, and Guildford you knew)
The cathedral has a traditional feel to it, no bricks and has a lovely nave. There is a beautiful 14th century Pieta, of Mary holding the body of Christ, where we lit candles. The Threads of Creation exhibition was there when we visited which we had seen before but it appears more stunning each time that I see it.
Notable features of the cathedral include a font made up from Breccia Marble from Africa, a marble mosaic from Italy and green serpentine rock from Cornwall.
The Great East Window is magnificent but has one plain piece of blue glass in it, clearly visible when one looks. Apparently in the 1940s a chorister accidentally fractured a pane of glass by firing his rifle nearby. The blue glass pane was only intended to be temporary.
Colin joined us for this visit, and we were discussing what one of the animals in the embroidery was when a guide heard us mention ferrets and explained that when the organ was moved to avoid damaging the mosaic floor a ferret was sent down with a harness and dragged the wiring under it. It obviously worked as we enjoyed a young organist practising whilst we were there.
Not to be missed is a terracotta frieze of Christ carrying the cross to Calvary which uses Edward VII’s face for the head of Pontius Pilate. Bizarrely it is behind a pillar so difficult to see the whole thing at once.
