The Catholic community came together in Shrewsbury to celebrate the 170th anniversary of the building of Shrewsbury Cathedral.

The congregation that filled the Cathedral was joined by His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Shropshire, Mrs Anna Turner; the High Sheriff of the County, Mrs Jane Trowbridge; the Mayor of Shrewsbury, Councillor Alex Wagner and the Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury, Mrs Julia Buckley.

The Mass was celebrated by the Rt Rev. Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, to give thanks the construction of the Cathedral on Town Walls which first opened in 1856.

In his homily, Bishop Davies paid tribute to the vision of John Talbot, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, who funded the construction of the Cathedral and commissioned one of England’s most famous architects, Augustus Welby Pugin to design a Cathedral in the orchards which stood on Town Walls.

Bishop Davies said: “We might wonder why the founders had sought to place a cathedral in these orchards above Town Walls, and concluded they were aware of the ruins of 12th Century St Chad’s and the earlier churches which stood in this place.”

Shrewsbury Cathedral was built in the style of the Gothic revival and contains famous stained-glass windows by Shrewsbury’s Margaret Rope, a noted artist of the Arts and Craft movement.

(Photos by Simon Caldwell)