Southwark Cathedral
Southwark Cathedral is the oldest cathedral church building in London.
According to the church statement there has been a church on this site since AD 606. There may well have been a church here even earlier. An archaeological evidence even shows that there was Roman pagan worship here well before that.
It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. It has been a place of Christian worship for more than 1,000 years, but a cathedral only since the creation of the diocese of Southwark in 1905.
Significantly, Southwark stands at the oldest crossing point of the tidal Thames at what was the only entrance to the City of London across the river for many centuries. It is not only a place of worship but also of hospitality to every kind of person: princes and paupers, prelates and prostitutes, poets, playwrights, prisoners and patients have all found refuge here.
The tradition continues in modern ways, as multitudes pass every day by road, river and rail. The last ten years have seen regeneration of this side of the river in an unparalleled way so that the church has a renewed role offering hospitality and quiet reflection to thousands of visitors. There are usually five services every day, with the congregations reflecting the age, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation and status diversities of a comprehensive world-class capital city; thus the variety of past centuries is multiplied and magnified many times over.
History about attractions
Between 1106 and 1538 it was the church of an Augustinian priory, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, it became a parish church, with the new dedication of St Saviour's.
The church was in the diocese of Winchester until 1877, when the parish of St Saviour's, along with other South London parishes, was transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The present building retains the basic form of the Gothic structure built between 1220 and 1420, although the nave is a late 19th-century reconstruction.
Southwark Cathedral is the oldest cathedral church building in London.
According to the church statement there has been a church on this site since AD 606. There may well have been a church here even earlier. An archaeological evidence even shows that there was Roman pagan worship here well before that.
It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. It has been a place of Christian worship for more than 1,000 years, but a cathedral only since the creation of the diocese of Southwark in 1905.
Significantly, Southwark stands at the oldest crossing point of the tidal Thames at what was the only entrance to the City of London across the river for many centuries. It is not only a place of worship but also of hospitality to every kind of person: princes and paupers, prelates and prostitutes, poets, playwrights, prisoners and patients have all found refuge here.
The tradition continues in modern ways, as multitudes pass every day by road, river and rail. The last ten years have seen regeneration of this side of the river in an unparalleled way so that the church has a renewed role offering hospitality and quiet reflection to thousands of visitors. There are usually five services every day, with the congregations reflecting the age, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation and status diversities of a comprehensive world-class capital city; thus the variety of past centuries is multiplied and magnified many times over.
History about attractions
Between 1106 and 1538 it was the church of an Augustinian priory, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Following the dissolution of the monasteries, it became a parish church, with the new dedication of St Saviour's.
The church was in the diocese of Winchester until 1877, when the parish of St Saviour's, along with other South London parishes, was transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The present building retains the basic form of the Gothic structure built between 1220 and 1420, although the nave is a late 19th-century reconstruction.
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