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Hundreds see hidden places at Norwich RC Cathedral

Hundreds of people visited the Cathedral of St John the Baptist over four Heritage Open Days from September 8 to 11, exploring its tower, cellars, Narthex and hidden gardens.


Cathedral Dean, Canon David Paul and a dedicated team of dozens of volunteers opened up almost every possible place with the cathedral to visitors who flocked to the free event.

Fr Paul said: "We have had really good positive feedback from visitors and on the sunnier days we were packed out."

On offer were DeaconPatrick Limacher's interesting Cathedral Hidden Places Tour and the ever-popular Tower Tour, from the highest vantage point overlooking Norwich, with views as far as Happisburgh to the north and Great Yarmouth to the east.

There were also displays of: Canons & Their Books; Vestments through the Liturgical Year; and the Duckett Library with its 4,000 publications.

The Cathedral was built between 1882 to 1910, in an early English Gothic style, by Duke Henry Fitzalan Howard, as a generous gift to the Catholics of Norwich.

It was built on the site of the former Norwich goal and some of the stones from that have been used to pack the pillars and, over the last few weeks, to build a stone wall around the latest addition to the cathedral gardens, a huge urn, brought from the Bishop's White House gardens at Poringland.

After finally closing the doors on Sunday afternoon, volunteers and priests enjoyed a curry evening supper together.

One of the next events at the Cathedral is the latest Peter's Pints evening on Friday September 17, at 7pm in Mac's Bar in the Narthex.

It is an opportunity to enjoy a pint of real ale and a talk on the Catholic faith. The guest speaker this month isFr Stephen Brown,a priest of St Wilfreds Oratory, York.

Organiser,Fr Henry Whisenant, said: "It is an opportunity to enjoy a guest ale from a different localbrewery each month, along with a talk on faith by a guest speaker."

For more information email:peterspints@gmail.com

Pictured above are volunteers, priests and staff in the cathedral gardens surrounding the urn which has just been installed.

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