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Hereford Cathedral

Hereford Cathedral
Cathedral Church of
St Mary the Virgin and
St Ethelbert the King
Hereford Cathedral Exterior from NW, Herefordshire, UK - Diliff.jpg
Hereford Cathedral from the north-west
Hereford Cathedral is located in Hereford Central
Hereford Cathedral
Hereford Cathedral
Shown within Hereford
Coordinates: 52°03′15″N 2°42′58″W / 52.0542°N 2.7160°W / 52.0542; -2.7160
Location Hereford, Herefordshire
Country England
Denomination Church of England
Website www.hereford cathedral.org
Architecture
Previous cathedrals 1
Style Gothic (Early English)
Years built 1079-c.1250
Specifications
Length 104.2m
Nave length 48.2
Choir length 22.9
Nave width 22.3m
Width across transepts 78m
Height 50.3m
Nave height 19.5m
Choir height 19m
Number of towers 1
Tower height 50.3m
Administration
Diocese Hereford (since 680)
Province Canterbury
Clergy
Dean Michael Tavinor
Precentor Andrew Piper
Canon(s) Chris Pullin, Canon Chancellor
Kay Garlick, Cathedral Chaplain

The current Hereford Cathedral, located at Hereford in England, dates from 1079. Its most famous treasure is Mappa Mundi, a mediaeval map of the world dating from the 13th century. The cathedral is a Grade I listed building.

The cathedral is dedicated to two patron saints, namely Saint Mary the Virgin and Saint Ethelbert the King. The latter was beheaded by Offa, King of Mercia in the year 792. Offa had consented to give his daughter to Ethelbert in marriage: why he changed his mind and deprived him of his head historians do not know, although tradition is at no loss to supply him with an adequate motive. The execution, or murder, is said to have taken place at Sutton, four miles (6 km) from Hereford, with Ethelbert's body brought to the site of the modern cathedral by 'a pious monk'. At Ethelbert's tomb miracles were said to have occurred, and in the next century (about 830) Milfrid, a Mercian nobleman, was so moved by the tales of these marvels as to rebuild in stone the little church which stood there, and to dedicate it to the sainted king.

Before this, Hereford had become the seat of a bishopric. It is said to have been the centre of a diocese as early as the 6th century. In the 7th century the cathedral was refounded by Putta, who settled here when driven from Rochester by Æthelred of Mercia. The cathedral of stone, which Milfrid raised, stood for some 200 years, and then, in the reign of Edward the Confessor, it was altered. The new church had only a short life, for it was plundered and burnt in 1056 by a combined force of Welsh and Irish under Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the Welsh prince; it was not, however, destroyed until its custodians had offered vigorous resistance, in which seven of the canons were killed.


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