Basil Spence's 1962 cathedral, built onto the bombed shell of the old one, the two together a place of peace and reconciliation
Coventry has had three cathedrals. The first was the Benedictine St Mary’s Priory, pulled down after Henry VIII closed the monasteries and now only excavated foundations. The second was St Michael’s, a large 14th and 15th-century parish church made a cathedral in 1918 and burned out by German bombs on the night of 14 November 1940. Its red sandstone walls, tower and 87 m spire still stand, open to the sky, with “Father Forgive” inscribed on the wall behind the old altar. The third is Basil Spence’s new cathedral, consecrated in 1962 and set at right angles to the ruins, so you walk from one into the other. Inside are Graham Sutherland’s enormous tapestry of Christ in Glory and John Piper’s baptistry window, and Jacob Epstein’s bronze of St Michael standing over the Devil is on the outside wall. The cathedral is in the centre of Coventry, about 1 km from Coventry station.
