Architecture – The Cathedrals of Edward Welby Pugin

Paul Waddington looks at some of the larger works of one of the most prolific architects of the Gothic revival

During the final illness of Augustus Welby Pugin, the great protagonist of the Gothic revival, the management of his architectural practice fell into the hands of his teenage son, Edward Welby Pugin. In overseeing the completion of several of his father’s works, it seems that he conducted the business with remarkable proficiency for someone so young. Edward was 17 when his father died in 1852 and found himself the bread-winner for a large family that included his stepmother and six siblings.

After exploring the possibility of joining the practice of Sir Charles Barry, Edward determined to set up as an architect on his own account, and to continue the work of his father, which mostly involved the design of Catholic Churches. In a career lasting only 23 years – he died at the age of 41 – Edward’s output was staggeringly prolific, amounting to some 220 new buildings, as well as modifications to many existing ones. Although mostly parish churches, his works included presbyteries, convents, monasteries, schools and an orphanage. This article focuses on the three cathedrals which were completed in his lifetime, as well as mentioning a further three cathedrals that he designed, but were never built.

Shrewsbury Cathedral

The site of the Cathedral of Our Lady Help of Christians and St Peter Alcantara in Shrewsbury had been donated by a Mr Perks, and Bertram Talbot, the 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, undertook to fund the project. Before his death in 1852, Edward’s father, Augustus, had done some work on the design, but the start of building was delayed due to Augustus’ illness. Thus it

became one of Edward’s first projects.

The site occupied a prominent position on sloping ground close to the city centre, but it was scarcely large enough for a cathedral. With this constraint, Edward designed a compact building accessed from the road by steep steps. In conformity with his father’s understanding of the needs of a cathedral, the chancel was relatively large which only left space for a short nave. A clerestory gave the building some height, and a detached tower with spire reaching a height of 227ft was proposed for the south-west corner.

Before construction began, it was discovered that the ground conditions were unstable, and Edward was forced to reduce the scale of the building. The tower and spire, which would have been a prominent feature of the Shropshire landscape, were replaced by a modest belfry at the apex of the western gable. The height of the nave was also reduced. Changes were made to comply with the liturgical thinking of the time, which favoured bringing the altar closer to the people. This resulted in a reduced chancel and a slightly expanded nave.

In common with most of Edward Pugin’s early works, the chancel is demarcated from the nave by having a lower roofline, and by a prominent chancel arch. Shrewsbury Cathedral suffered from some disastrous reordering in the 1980s, but happily, some of the worst damage is currently being reversed.

Northampton

The cathedral of Our Lady and St Thomas in Northampton has a complicated history that has completely changed its character. Following the 1850 re-establishment of the hierarchy in England and Wales, a cathedral was required for the new Diocese of Northampton, but it seems nothing was done until 1859, when Edward Pugin produced plans for a cathedral on a site where his father had built a modest chapel dedicated to St Felix. A drawing survives that shows a large building with a tall tower with spire in the northwest corner and an apsidal chancel under a common roofline. This was never built, but if it had been built, it would have been among Edward Pugin’s finest works, incorporating many features found in his middle-period churches, such as gabled fenestration around the apsidal chancel and ironwork cresting to the chancel ridge.

Cobh: arguably Edward Pugin’s finest work

Clearly funds were short, causing the version that was opened in 1864 to be drastically cut down and devoid of decoration. The tower was omitted. The diminished chancel and nave were within a single square ended structure which, although retaining its clerestory and lean-to side aisles, lacked the grandeur of the original. The chapel of St Felix was retained, presumably as an economy measure, with part of it serving as an entrance and narthex at the west end of a rather functional cathedral. A smallish rose window at the west end, fitting above the roofline of the former chapel was one of the few decorative features.

In 1881, an improved High Altar was installed and a pulpit added, but the building was never considered satisfactory. Radical changes were made in 1959, when, to increase its capacity, the orientation of the cathedral was reversed. The original A.W. Pugin chapel was demolished to make way for a new sanctuary, and a balcony was inserted into E. W. Pugin’s chancel to form a choir loft. A doorway inserted into the apsidal wall of the former chancel, allowed for a new entrance with a narthex beneath the choir loft.

Cobh

Arguably Edward Pugin’s finest work is the Cathedral of St Colman for the Diocese of Cloyne in Ireland. Situated in a commanding position overlooking the harbour at Cobh in Co Cork, it retains every aspect of its splendour to this day. Seemingly, it was considered too majestic for it to be given the usual post Vatican II treatment – that was until well into the 21st century, when it became a battleground between conservationists and progressive liturgists. Fortunately, the conservationists eventually won the day.

Cobh Cathedral is attributed to Pugin & Ashlin, the partnership that Edward set up with George Coppinger Ashlin in 1860 to handle his activities in Ireland. The foundation stone was laid in 1868, but the project was not completed until 1914, some 40 years after Pugin’s death, much of the work being supervised by the successor partnership of Ashlin & Coleman.

Like all E.W. Pugin’s larger churches, the Cobh cathedral is cruciform. It is also very large, having a six-bay nave, twobay transepts and a three-bay chancel terminating, unusually, in a rounded apse. It is also unusual for Edward Pugin in having a triforium beneath the clerestory making the structure very tall and thus necessitating flying buttresses. It has a tower surmounted by a slender spire which is located at the south-west corner and attains a height of 300ft.

Unrealised Cathedrals

In 1853, Edward Pugin produced plans for a large cathedral at Everton in Liverpool. Only the Lady Chapel and two smaller flanking chapels were built. These eventually became the basis of the Church of Our Lady Immaculate when the project was abandoned. If the cathedral had been built as planned, it would have been Edward Pugin’s largest and grandest church. The design was inspired by the great medieval cathedrals of England and had a central spire mounted above the crossing.

Pugin also designed a cathedral for Birkenhead, which would have been just across the Mersey from Everton. It stems from a period when the Diocese of Shrewsbury was undecided where its cathedral should be located, Birkenhead, Shrewsbury and Macclesfield all being considered. Shrewsbury won out in the end and, in 1860, the Birkenhead site was used to build the Parish Church of the Immaculate Conception. Naturally, Edward Pugin was the architect.

In 1859, Edward Pugin was commissioned to design a cathedral at Nenagh in Co Tipperary for the Diocese of Killaloe. It was never built due to lack of funds. Instead, an existing church at Ennis became the cathedral. The Nenagh design was unusual in that, although essentially Gothic in its shape, all its detailing was in a Romanesque style.

Cobh: the interior