Dunblane Cathedral West Door and Great West Window
Dunblane Cathedral dates to the 12th century. Most of what stands was built in the 13th century during the bishopric of Clement. The building is now maintained by Historic Scotland as a church of the Church of Scotland. The Church of Scotland refers to its medieval cathedral churches as Cathedral to honour their role in the development of the Christianity throughout Scotland's history. The Roman Catholic Bishopric was founded by the Earl of Strathearn around 1150. When the Dominican Friar Clement was appointed Bishop in 1233 he found only an incomplete tower with attached church. He removed the church in order to build a larger one. In 1237 the Pope authorised the Bishops of Glasgow and Dunkeld to visit Dunblane and, if they saw fit, to give a fourth of the tithes of the churches of the diocese to build a Cathedral and organise the diocese. With this Clement was able to build the Lady Chapel and most of the Cathedral as it now stands. Over the following 300 years the Cathedral was gradually filled with more elaborate furnishings. In 1560 Scotland was declared Protestant by an act of Parliament and a National Reformed church was established. The use of the Cathedral was now drastically altered and the congregation needed only the Choir for use as the parish Church. The roof of the Nave fell in towards the end of the 16th century and remained roofless for 300 years during which the congregation worshipped in the Choir. In 1889 a restoration of the whole Cathedral was begun under Sir Rowand Anderson when the Nave was re-roofed with worship restored in 1893. A further restoration of the Choir was carried out in 1914 under another noted Scottish architect, Sir Robert Lorimer. Between the arched pillars in the nave is the Dunblane Commemoration; a tall engraved stone tablet unveiled on 12 March 2001 commemorating the tragedy of 31 March 2006 in which 13 children and their teacher were shot dead by Thomas Hamilton with four legally-held handguns.
Size: 3600px × 5400px
Location: Dunblane Scotland GB Great Britain UK EU Europe
Photo credit: © Gus Nicoll / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: architecture, britain, building, cathedral, christianity, door, doorway, dunblane, entrance, eroded, eu, europe, exterior, faith, gb, great, heritage, historic, historical, medieval, scotland, uk, window, worshi
