The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St George, usually known as St George’s Cathedral, Southwark is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark.
The Cathedral is the Mother Church of the Roman Catholic Province of Southwark which covers the Archdiocese of Southwark (all of London south of the River Thames including Kent and north Surrey) and the Dioceses of Arundel and Brighton, Portsmouth, and Plymouth. It is the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Archbishop of Southwark.
The Cathedral is situated opposite the Imperial War Museum on Lambeth Road.
St George’s was built in 1848. Previously, the local Catholic community had used a small chapel on London Road, but the arrival of Irish immigrants in the area necessitated the construction of a larger house of worship. In 1852, it became one of the first four Catholic churches in England and Wales (and the first in London) raised to cathedral status since the English Reformation. It was designed by Augustus Pugin, famous for his work with Charles Barry on the design of the rebuilt Houses of Parliament. Pugin was the first person to be married in the church on 10 August 1848 to his third wife Jane. The Cathedral was badly bombed during World War II and the rebuilt Cathedral was opened in 1958. Since then it has resumed its role as a focal point in the local community and has played host to many notable visitors, including the Dalai Lama (1998) and Pope John Paul II (1982), the latter being depicted in one of the Cathedral’s many fine stained-glass windows.
Easter 2011 saw the partial restoration of the 1958 John Compton organ and the installation in the chancel of the George Pace Choir Stalls, a gift from the Anglican St Alban’s Cathedral. The Cathedral has strong links with both the Paderborn Cathedral, North-Rhine-Westphalia, which suffered bombing by the British in the Second World War, and Southwark Cathedral, the local Anglican cathedral
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The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St George, usually known as St George’s Cathedral, Southwark is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark.
