Northampton Cathedral
| Northampton Cathedral | |
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| Cathedral Church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury, Northampton | |
The east end of the cathedral, built 1948-55
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 Northampton Cathedral
Shown within Northamptonshire
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| Coordinates: 52°14′53″N 0°53′55″W / 52.248°N 0.8985°W | |
| OS grid reference | SP7529061672 |
| Location | Northampton, Northamptonshire |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | www.northamptoncathedral.org |
| History | |
| Former name(s) | Chapel of St. Felix |
| Dedication | Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury |
| Consecrated | 1864 |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Active |
| Functional status | Cathedral |
| Heritage designation | Grade II |
| Designated | 22 January 1976 |
| Architect(s) | Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin |
| Groundbreaking | 1840 |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | Northampton |
| Province | Westminster |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop(s) | Peter Doyle |
| Dean | Mark Floody |
| Laity | |
| Director of music | Teresa Brown |
| Organist(s) | Christopher Weaver |
The Cathedral Church of St Mary and St Thomas is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Northampton, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Northampton and mother church of the Diocese of Northampton which covers the counties of Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and part of Berkshire (formerly in Buckinghamshire) north of the River Thames. The cathedral is situated in the north of the town, along the Barrack Road.
In 1823, Bishop John Milner Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District sent a Fr William Foley to Northampton to establish a permanent catholic presence in the town. His first base was a small house, used by a catholic priest for the previous two years, which had one room as a chapel. Fr William Foley bought a piece of land on the site of the original St Andrew's Priory, Northampton, from where Thomas Becket went into exile. It was there that he decided to have a purpose-built chapel constructed. The chapel, dedicated to Saint Andrew, was opened on 25 October 1825.
The origins of the current building date back to 1840 when the first Bishop of Northampton, William Wareing, commissioned Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin to design a collegiate chapel of St Felix. The chapel of St. Andrew was too small for the larger congregation. The new chapel was built in 1844. The number of worshippers soon outgrew the size of the building and Pugin's son Edward Welby Pugin was chosen by Bishop Wareing's successor, Francis Amherst to design an extension in order to make the building into a cathedral. This extension came in the form of the current nave which was opened in 1864, dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate and St Thomas of Canterbury. Dating from 1860's the stained glass windows were made by John Hardman of Birmingham. Richly coloured, they depict St Peter and other local saints, such as St Edward the Confessor and St Thomas Becket.
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