Brief History of Coventry Cathedral by Janice Lyall

 

 

The first cathedral in Coventry was originally founded as a Benedictine priory of St Mary's in 1043 by the Saxon Earl Leofric of Mercia and his beautiful and pious wife Lady Godiva. It became a Cathedral in the 12th century, but was later dissolved in 1539 by Henry VIII.

 

St Michael's was designated as a Cathedral as recently as 1918, but was destroyed in the blitz of November 1940 and today stands as a testament towards forgiveness and reconcilliation.

 

Coventry Cathedral was rebuilt as the new Cathedral solidly appended to the remaining stonework. Its dramatic, modernist architecture, so very different to that of St Michael's, shouts out even more loudly of colourful, simplistic, rich transformations from new beginnings. The past is not forgotten...., life moves on.

 

It costs around £4000 each day to keep the cathedral and the ruins open to visitors and receives no state funding for this.