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6 unusual facts about Chester Cathedral


Cobweb painting

Chester Cathedral possesses a cobweb image of the Virgin Mary, painted on the net of a caterpillar species Hyponomeuta Envoymella L. It is probably by Johan Burgman (d.1825) from the Tyrol and it is a copy of the original image as painted by Lucas Cranach I (1472-1553).

Downpatrick

In 1183, John de Courcy brought in some Benedictines from the abbey of St. Werburgh in Chester (today Chester Cathedral) in England and built a cathedral friary for them at Downpatrick.

Edmund Morison Wimperis

They were close friends of Charles Kingsley of Water Babies fame, who at that time was canon of Chester Cathedral.

European Medical Students' Orchestra and Choir

The union of the orchestra and the choir was so successful that the cooperation of EMSO and EMSC continued with concerts in Chester Cathedral and the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester in 2010 under the conduction of John Anderson and Daniel Parkinson, and in Giessen and Frankfurt, Germany in 2011, under the leadership of Stefan Ottersbach and Anna Katharina Kalmbach with once again spectacular concerts that astonished the local audience and media.

Organ and organists of Chester Cathedral

See also the List of Organ Scholars at Chester Cathedral.

The organ of Chester Cathedral is the major source of instrumental music at the cathedral, being played for daily services and accompanying the choir, as well as being used for concerts and recitals.


James Slade

On May 18, 1812, he married Augusta Law, daughter of George Law, Bishop of Chester and under his patronage Slade was made Rector of Teversham, Cambridgeshire in 1813 and Prebendary (later Canon) of Chester Cathedral in 1816.

St Oswald's Chambers, Chester

Widening the street had opened up the view of Chester Cathedral from Eastgate Street, but beyond the terrace the view was partly obscured by structures belonging to the business of Dicksons, seed merchants and nurserymen.

Thomas Bateson

He is said to have been organist of Chester Cathedral in 1599, and is believed to have been the first musical graduate of Trinity College, Dublin.


see also

Chester Cathedral Choir

Chester Cathedral choir toured the USA for the first time in October 2007 and toured France in the summer of 2012 (performing in the cathedrals of Troyes and Albi, and the basilica of St-Sernin, Toulouse).