Cathedral

Latest Episodes

• Season 1 Episode 5: Fire at York

  The series concludes with the story of York Minster, whose origins were shrouded in mystery with no documents charting how it was built. However, in 1829, religious fanatic Jonathan Martin would inadvertently reveal the truth when he set the edifice on fire under the delusion that he was carrying out God's will. Ironically, the damage done was to reveal hidden secrets of the cathedral's construction, and antiquarian John Browne was able to piece together both its history and the way biblical imagery inspired the shape of the building

• Season 1 Episode 4: Rebellion at St Giles'

  The history of Edinburgh's St Giles' Cathedral, which witnessed the beginning of the end for Charles I. When the King visited Edinburgh in 1633, he was appalled that in place of a cathedral, the city had a simple Presbyterian parish kirk and demanded the appointment of a bishop and the transformation of this humble chapel into a cathedral. However, the prospect of an English king forcing religious practices on Scotland was greeted with rioting, and when Parliament sided with the protesters, the stage was set for civil war five years later

• Season 1 Episode 3: Flood at Winchester

  The story of how engineers came to the rescue of Winchester Cathedral in the early 1900s, when it was discovered the medieval masterpiece had been built on a swamp and was literally sinking. As the foundations were found to be flooded, the Dean and leading architect Thomas Jackson turned to the engineering firm behind the London Underground for help. The survival of the cathedral was ultimately in the hands of diver William Robert Walker, who undertook a perilous journey into the flooded trenches beneath the church