St Woolos Cathedral is one of those very strange religious buildings in the Country. Perhaps you first come upon its massive East End as you climb the steep slope of Stow Hill. On the other hand, from the railway you might see its long back and complex outline straddling the hilltop over the city. There again, you might see its mysterious silhouette from the ancient causeways far away over the marshlands – the levels. You might even see it from the Somerset coast – or from a ship at sea, where it can be picked out from 30 miles away.

One elderly visitor who had first glimpsed it from far out on the Caldicot levels referred to it as the old Welsh dragon lying atop the hill!

Sadly though, it is a dragon in desperate need of major restoration – to its mediaeval roof – its crumbling tower – its walls – its floor – and its electrics.

Indeed it needs some £2,500,000 to be spent on it over this next decade.

But the effect when you do see the dragon is always the same. Firstly there is a wonder that the place should be here at all – presiding from its steep scarp over the whole area. Secondly it excites curiosity: why is the building the complex shape it is? Again, why does it have that odd and much more ancient Western Chapel stuck on the West End? But above all it’s worth asking why it should hold such fascination all over the world for those who have so grown up in its shadow - or who have visited it, and then whose hearts have been captivated by it?

St Woolos on Diocesan Website Back to Top Page 2