St Mary Blackburn (Now Blackburn Cathedral)

The parish church dated from 1820‑6 and was designed by John Palmer. After a fire in 1831 it was reconstructed and restored by Thomas Stones, clerk of works, in consultation with T. Rickman. High three‑light Dec windows with a transom, buttresses between. Clerestory. The w tower looks later but isn't. The nave piers are tall and round with four thin attached shafts. Tierceron‑star vaults of plaster. The w wall has a nice composition of three ogee arches, the middle one for the entrance, the others crowning vaulted niches.

(STALLS. Eight, with MISERICORDS, in the underground choir vestry. One has Adam and Eve's Temptation, one the fox preaching to the geese, one a fine angel with a scroll, one an ape, one a bearded monster.  Stained glass. Some Morris glass now in various lights in the transepts. Fine gate of c.1825 towards Church Street. The parish church of St Mary was raised to cathedral rank in 1926. W.A. Forsythe, the architect selected to do the necessary alterations, kept the w tower and nave and added an E end with transepts in a conventional, if simplified Gothic. Only the corona over the crossing with its pinnacles and its long spire brings in a modern element. This is by Lawrence King, 1961. The intended octagonal lantern tower proved too costly.

PARISH CHURCH, BLACKBURN. TO BUILDERS, ETC. - TO BE LET BY TENDER, on Monday the 29th day of March instant, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon, at the office of Messrs. Carr and Hargreaves's, solicitors, Blackburn, the Completing of the Parish Church, from its present state, including Masons', Carpenters', Slaters', Plumbers' and Glaziers', and Painters' Work. The whole to be included in one Tender. Plans and Specifications of the Work may be seen, on application to Mr. PALMER, Architect, No. 37, Granby-row, Manchester; or to Mr. JAMES COLLINS, Clerk of the Works, and all necessary information on the subject may be obtained from either of them. Blackburn, 18 March, 1824. [Manchester Guardian 27 March 1824 page 1]

Reference : W.A. Abram, History of Blackburn, 1877, 100; I.C.B.S.
Reference : Manchester Guardian 20 March 1824 page 2
Reference : Manchester Guardian 27 March 1824 page 1