Nottingham Cathedral

Nottingham received its city charter in 1897 as part of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. There’s been a settlement in Nottingham since Anglo-Saxon times. In 1068, During the Norman Conquest, King William the Conqueror built a castle in Nottingham, which was entrusted to William Peverel.

It grew steadily through the years, and in the 15th Century, it was a centre of a thriving export trade in religious sculpture made from Nottingham alabaster. During the Industrial Revolution, it became a major textile-producing location and an internationally important centre of high-quality lace manufacturing. After the Second World War, the textile industry fell into decline.

Many of the buildings of the Lace Market have been converted into apartments, bars and restaurants. The largest building in the Lace Market is the Adams Building, built by Thomas Chambers Hine for Thomas Adams (1807–1873), and currently used by Nottingham College. The Georgian-built Shire Hall, which was once Nottingham's main court and prison building, is now home to the National Justice Museum.

Nottingham Cathedral or The Cathedral Church of St. Barnabas is a Roman Cathedral cathedral that was built between 1841 and 1844 and is located on the corner of Derby Road and North Circus Street, on the opposite side of which are the Albert Hall and the Nottingham Playhouse.

It was built in the Early English plain Gothic style by Augustus Pugin. with the exception of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel, which was richly decorated, and Pugin's later churches were built in that Decorated Gothic style. Upon completion, the cathedral was the largest Catholic church built in England since the Reformation. Bishop Wiseman brought relics of St Barnabas from Rome to be included in the altar stone of the high altar.

Following the establishment of a new Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850 by the decree of Pope Pius IX, it was raised to cathedral status in 1852, becoming one of the first four Catholic cathedrals in England and Wales since the English Reformation.

After the Second Vatican Council, most of Pugin’s decorative elements were destroyed to bring it in line with the updated doctrine when the old high altar was discarded. The exception being the Blessed Sacrament Chapel.

Despite the desecration, the cathedral is still lovely as these photos show.