Clifton Cathedral

Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA · EN · 04/10/2026

The Cathedral Church of SS. Peter and Paul is the Roman Catholic cathedral of the city of Bristol (not to be confused with the Church of England Bristol Cathedral). Located in the Clifton area of the city, it is the seat and mother church of the Diocese of Clifton and is known as Clifton Cathedral. It has been a Grade II* Listed Building since 2000. A 2014 study noted it to be the only Catholic church built in the 1970s to have been Grade II* listed. It was the first cathedral built under new guidelines arising from the Second Vatican Council.

History

Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles

Prior to the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 (31 Geo. 3. c. 32), Roman Catholics in Britain were banned from having public places of worship, and simply being a Catholic priest or running a Catholic school was liable to punishment with life imprisonment. By the time of Catholic Emancipation, and the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, Roman Catholics in Bristol had established a number of local places of worship, some of them in private houses, and in Clifton by the discreet purchase, through a third party, of a plot of land known as 'Stoney Fields' in what is now Park Place, Clifton. In 1834, the construction of a church began there, but it was built on a challenging hillside site and had a history of problematic construction work, making work there difficult. Building stopped 1835, started again in 1843, stopped shortly after and the building lay abandoned until 1848 when a roof was placed on the half-completed building so that it could be used as a church. Two years later, in 1850, Clifton was made an episcopal see and the church became the Pro-Cathedral of the Holy Apostles (1850–1973), intended to act in this capacity until a more fitting cathedral church could be constructed.

Move to Clifton Park

The people of the ProCathedral parish had raised some £250,000 (1970) for restoration of the ProCathedral. However, with reports from the civil engineers in 1964 indicating that the ProCathedral site in Park Place was unsuitable, an anonymous group of local people added to this a donation of £450,000 (1970), on the condition that a new site was found.

From 1962 to 1965 the Second Vatican Council met in Rome, discussing the renewal of the Church in its relationship to the world. The council's decree on liturgical worship focused on the role of the people, with the bishop and their priests in the celebration of the Eucharist. This was to be a strong influence in the design of the new Cathedral and, when built, the cathedral would be the first worldwide to be designed following the new guidelines.

In 1965, architects were commissioned by the Bishop of Clifton, Rt Rev Joseph Rudderham to undertake the design of a new Cathedral on a different site in Clifton. The design was primarily by Ronald J. Weeks, working with Frederick S. Jennett and Antoni Poremba of the Percy Thomas Partnership. Although the firm had little experience in ecclesiastical architecture, Ronald Weeks had contributed a design to the competition for Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, and had worked on a new Catholic church in Machynlleth.

Design

The design brief

The design brief was for a 1,000-seat church, with the congregation grouped closely around the High Altar so that they should feel and be a part of the celebration of the Mass, in a building that would last 300 years. Ronald Weeks worked closely with the Church team to develop their ideas for the cathedral. 'We are sure that only...a close working relationship between Architect and Client can achieve the level of 'Architectural Seriousness' advanced by the New Liturgical Movement.' Although Weeks was not a Catholic, he thought that this was an advantage: 'It's surprising how much people take for granted. Not being Catholics we could ask all sorts of questions which appeared naïve – like – "What is an altar?", in which one would get conflicting answers... each question would lead to a discussion which in turn helped to banish pre-conceived notions so we could plan right from scratch.' Kulić, comparing the design to that of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (completed 1967), said: 'Neither its bishop nor its architects appeared to wish to use architecture as a way of leaving a mark for posterity, as did both Heenon and Gibberd [at Liverpool]...Liverpool could be proved to be liturgically conservative and naïvely designed, while Clifton could be seen as a model of liturgically advanced and sophisticated planning...Weeks and the Clifton clergy...should be praised for their intimate and knowledgeable collaboration.'

A design emerges

Ronald Weeks presented many potential shapes and forms for the basic ground plan: one like a conch shell; a fan-shaped plan (rejected as it covered the whole of the available site); a circular plan; a coil-shaped plan, and a helix-shaped plan with great concrete beams in a swirling staircase reaching into the sky. The final design was based on groups of hexagons. For Ronald Weeks the 'architecture then flowed logically form the functions, ...moulded in three dimensions to create the internal environment.'

The arrangement of the different parts of the church placed those of least (liturgical) importance on the periphery leading progressively to the more important elements and to the High Altar. The volume of the church expands from an intimate height to a soaring hexagonal spire over the High Altar, and the amount of daylight increases in proportion to the liturgical significance of the space. The concept was that on entering the cathedral at the Baptistery the people would be reminded of their own baptism (and entry into the Church), and from their places in the Nave participate fully in the celebration of the liturgy at a maximum of 15 metres [45 feet] from the High Altar with no pillars or columns intervening. Every effort was to be made to ensure that the interior should be free from distraction in order to help the worshippers to focus their attention on the Gospel being proclaimed and the service of worship in the liturgy, with no windows in the sight-line of the nave.

Kulić compares Clifton to Liverpool:Bishop Rudderham pronounced the final design satisfactory: 'Having studied the drawings and the model inside and out I am very much more in tune with the design than I was at the beginning. It has a fine spacious feeling to it. And I think it will be a splendid setting for the liturgy. It brings the people as close as possible to the Altar without crowding them, and there will be plenty of room for our ceremonies.'

'Its planning is more succinct and successful than that at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral because it places the altar to one side, with a horseshoe of seating for the congregation. This quickly became a preferred alternative to the notion of seating entirely 'in the round' because of the clearer view it gave everybody of the celebration.'

The contract construction price was agreed at £601,268 (1970), with the additional cost of the site and other fees this brought the total cost of the new building to £800,000 (1970) [estimated equivalent £11,764,705] – the tender included social space, with car parking for 200 cars and living accommodation for the clergy serving the parish.

Brutalist architecture

Often assumed to take its origin from the English word 'brutal', it is more likely from the French term béton brut' meaning 'raw concrete', a term said to have been popularised by the Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier during the construction of the Unité d'habitation in 1952. Brutalism is characterised by simple, block-like structures, that are massive (if not necessarily large) and often repeated in a modular fashion. It typically features bare building materials, with the structure exposed entirely and without interior finishes wherever practicable. Concrete is often used for its raw and unpretentious honesty, revealing the basic nature of its construction, by showing the texture of the wooden planks used for the in-situ casting forms. Another key aspect of Brutalism is that the form of the building should be driven by its intended function, and fundamentally, the cathedral design at Clifton is inspired by the analysis of the practical liturgical requirements arising out of the decisions made about the Sacred Liturgy by the bishops assembled in Rome for the Second Council of the Vatican. In that sense it is functionalist, and the design, to a greater or lesser extent may have also been driven by the need for stringent cost economy.

Construction

Construction began in March 1970 by John Laing & Son Ltd, with the contract price agreed at £601,268 – with the additional cost of the site and other fees this brought the total cost of the new building to £800,000. Phil Smith, of Felix J Samuely & Partners was the site engineer; IE Symons & Partners were the Quantity Surveyors, with Engineering Design Consultants having a responsibility for the environmental control, and Ken Murray acting as Clerk of Works. The foundation stone, carved by Simon Verity, was laid on 26 September 1970, and beneath the stone was placed a copper time capsule.

In May 1972, the construction came to a sudden halt due to a national building industry strike and did not resume until September that same year. By November 1972 the brick supports for the internal star beam were removed. Parish Priest Monsignor Thomas Hughes, Fr Peter Harrison & Ken Murray carried out the traditional 'topping out' ceremony in the Spring of 1973.

The building was completed in May 1973. That same year, on 29 June, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, the new cathedral was consecrated and opened. Present were John Cardinal Heenan (Archbishop of Westminster), and twenty-nine bishops from around the United Kingdom, with Bishop Joseph Rudderham (7th bishop of Clifton); civic officials and councillors of Bristol; the Italian and Belgian consuls; the architects; Sir William 'Kirby' Laing (representing John Laing Construction Ltd); the Anglican bishops of Bristol, of Bath and Wells, and of Salisbury. The pro-cathedral was closed and its sale provided fund for the new parish school, SS Peter and Paul on Aberdeen Road, Clifton.

Inscribed into the outside wall of the turret to the right of the Portal of Saint Paul and contained within an equilateral triangle is the symbol '√3' along with the letters PTP. This engraving makes a reference to the architects [Percy Thomas Partnership] and to the controlling mathematical formula used by Ronald Weeks in the design.

Exterior

The cathedral is made from in-situ cast reinforced Portland concrete, with some pre-cast panels. The particularly fine, pale concrete has aged well. The imprint of the timber formwork used to mould the concrete can still be seen in the building. All the concrete was mixed by a single man. The vertical walls of the lower part of the building are clad with red Aberdeen Granite composite panels (made by

Marble Mosaic Ltd), with roofing in lead. Rainwater is channelled through simple gargoyles into a number of semi-hexagonal pools around the building.

Inscribed into the outside wall of the turret to the right of the Portal of Saint Paul [see Exterior Plan]. Contained within an equilateral triangle is the symbol '√3' along with the letters PTP. This engraving makes a reference to the architects [Percy Thomas Partnership] and to the proportions of the equilateral triangle (and therefore regular hexagon) used by Ronald Weeks, which provide a deep symmetry in the design.

Flèche and spire

The hexagonal flèche rises to support a three-pronged spire, enclosing a cross. The spire contains two bronze bells, one of the few things transferred from the ProCathedral, by John Taylor & Co (1901, tuned to F and C with diameters of 1'10" and 2'5", and weights 1-3-26 and 4-2-26).

Ceremonial doors

The three original ceremonial doors (sponsored by Bristol City Council) were made of plywood pivoting on a central point, rendered with an artistic fibreglass by the artist William Mitchell, and bearing the Coat of Arms of the City and County of Bristol on one side and the arms of the Bishop of Clifton Dr Joseph Rudderham on the other side. The fibreglass render was similar to that found on the Ambo (Lectern). The current glass doors, installed in 1995, still bear the same crests.

Katyn Memorial

Close to the West Door [see Exterior Plan] is a large stone memorial to the Katyn Massacre, by Alexander Klecki, installed in 1985. Nearby are the graves of Rt Rev Mervyn Alexander, eighth Bishop of Clifton (1974–2001) and of Rt Rev Mgr Thomas Hughes, Vicar-General and first Parish Priest of the new Cathedral (1973–1981). The inscription on his gravestone reads: 'Si monumentum quaeris circumspice or 'If you are looking for a monument, look around you'.

Presbytery

The clergy accommodation – Cathedral House – is located to the south of the cathedral and was designed by Irena Weeks, Ronald Weeks' wife, who was a designer and also trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture

Interior

Narthex

The narthex is a zone of transition from the busy world of everyday life outside, to a quieter and more intimate spiritual space within the cathedral.

Source and attribution

Adapted from “Clifton Cathedral” by English Wikipedia contributors. Main paragraphs and sections are retained; tables, reference markers and technical markup are omitted. This is an encyclopedic adaptation, not a personal review. Original revision and contributor history ↗. Text is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗. Check current visitor access, tickets and transport with the relevant operator.