Christ Church Cathedral

Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Anglican Diocese of Fredericton. It is located in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Construction of the cathedral began in 1845 and it was consecrated in 1853. The Gothic Revival cathedral is modelled after St. Mary's Church, Snettisham, Norfolk.

History

Origin

The Anglican diocese of Fredericton was established in 1845, with John Medley as its first bishop. Medley was a Tractarian and a proponent of Gothic Revival architecture. As a clergyman in the Diocese of Exeter he had supervised the restoration and building of several churches according to the Gothic Revival principles of the Eccelesiological Society, and had been the founder and secretary of the Exeter Ecclesiological Society.:128 Ecclesiology held that new church buildings should imitate those of the 13th and 14th century Decorated Gothic period, which displayed three essential characteristics lacking in Fredericton's existing wooden parish church: "reality", which meant that the building's structural elements such as rafters must be visible; a large chancel clearly separate from the congregation; and open bench seats rather than box pews.:15

Medley chose the 14th century St. Mary's Church in Snettisham, Norfolk as the model for the new Fredericton cathedral. Before leaving England, Medley hired the Exeter architect Frank Wills to visit St. Mary's and make detailed plans, which Medley had with him when he arrived in Fredericton on 10 June 1845.

The Ecclesiological Society's newsletter, The Ecclesiologist, took issue with Medley's choice of St. Mary's, "though magnificent as a parish church", as his model. A principal objection was that the choir roof was lower than that of the nave, which was not considered appropriate for a cathedral. In the course of construction, the roof heights were equalized, and other modifications were made either for economic reasons or because of the limited skills of local artisans.:97 However, Medley consistently followed the ecclesiological practice of finding authority for all the architectural details in one or another existing English Gothic church.

Construction (1845-1853)

Upon his consecration as Bishop of Fredericton in May 1845, the Exeter Diocesan Architectural Society gave Medley £1,500 toward the building of the cathedral, and a public meeting in Fredericton on June 23 raised a further £3,100.:15 Medley chose a site beside the Saint John River, near the existing parish church, and was given 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) by the landowner.:112 Site preparation work began in August, and the cornerstone was laid by Lieutenant Governor William Colebrooke on 15 October 1845.

Frank Wills, who had followed Medley to Canada, supervised the work on the cathedral. He also designed and oversaw the building of St. Anne's Chapel of Ease, which Medley had built in order to hold services while the cathedral was under construction.:130

The cathedral's nave and aisle walls were completed by the end of 1847, but further work was delayed by lack of funds. Bishop Medley returned to England for several months in 1848 to raise more money and to consult with the Ecclesiological Society about how to proceed, since Frank Wills had left Fredericton in early 1848 to set up an architectural practice in New York City.:132 On the recommendation of the Ecclesiological Society, the British architect William Butterfield designed a choir and tower, and Medley succeeded in raising a further £2,000. The choir and tower were completed in 1849, Medley having changed Butterfield's design to make the choir longer and the tower higher.:19 In 1851 Medley visited the United States and England, raising more funds and receiving donations of cathedral furnishings.

Medley himself designed the cathedral's spire, which was erected in 1851. It was a simple broach spire built of wood and covered in zinc.:21 Medley intended the tower to be 198 feet (60 m) tall but because of doubts about the strength of the cathedral's foundation it was built 26 feet (7.9 m) shorter.:98

Tracery in the east window of Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton

Most of the cathedral's stained glass windows were installed between 1850 and 1852.:97 The east window is by William Wailes. Its tracery is a copy of that in the east window of Selby Abbey, and its seven panels depict Christ and six of his apostles. It was jointly donated by Wailes and by New York City's Trinity Episcopal Church.:40

The west window, by William Warrington, is a "virtual likeness" of the west window of St. Mary's, Snettisham, which Warrington had restored in 1846.:44 The Beer studio of Exeter supplied the aisle windows, most of which are also copies of those at Snettisham.:97 The clerestory windows are copies of those at Exeter Cathedral.:47

Fire and restoration (1911-1912)

The cathedral was struck by lightning on 3 July 1911, causing a fire that completely destroyed the spire. The cathedral's eight bells melted and the organ and much of the furniture, which had been designed by William Butterfield, were destroyed.:28 During the restoration the foundation was reinforced and the spire was rebuilt to the height of 198 feet (60 m) as Medley had intended.:98 The financier James Hamet Dunn replaced the bells, and added seven more. 2500 new organ pipes were installed in the north transept in 1912. The cathedral was rededicated on 24 August 1912.:29

1990s restoration and 2006 fire

In the 1990s the cathedral underwent a $2.5 million restoration consisting of refacing its stonework, repointing tracery, cleaning its woodwork, refinishing of pews and shoring up the masonry on the east end. The copper plating and a new cross were installed on the spire.

A fire in the bell tower on 6 August 2006 activated the sprinkler system, causing water damage to the choir area. Complete repairs took several months, during which the cathedral was closed.

National Historic Site of Canada

The cathedral was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981. According to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board it is "one of the best examples of ecclesiological Gothic Revival architecture in Canada and it established an architectural pattern followed in the design of many large and small churches in 19th-century Canada".

Music

The four-manual Casavant Frères organ console was built in 1957 and renovated in 1981. It replaced an instrument which was built in 1912 after the fire. The console is identified as Opus 2399.

There are two choirs: an adult choir which provides music for the principal Sunday worship and monthly evensong; and a contemporary choir and band which sings at the Sunday morning (informal) contemporary worship. David Drinkell is the current director of music and organist.

Governance

The cathedral has a congregation, which acts in many ways like a parish, but it does not exist within the diocese as a parish. Christ Church Cathedral, Fredericton is the only Cathedral in Canada that is not itself a parish. A Cathedral by-law defines the operation of the corporation and its governance. While it exists within the geographical boundary of the Parish of Fredericton, parish lands of downtown Fredericton belong to the Corporation of the Parish of Fredericton (Christ Church (Parish) Church and St. Anne's Chapel). St. Anne's is the former Chapel of Ease constructed by Bishop Medley upon the demolition of the original parish church on the present cathedral site. As a community, the Cathedral is governed by the "Bishop and Chapter" whose function is similar to a parish corporation (incumbent, churchwardens, and vestry) and that of the usual "chapter" of other cathedrals. There are congregational representatives on Bishop and Chapter elected by the congregation along with other members appointed by the Bishop of Fredericton.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Christ Church Cathedral (Fredericton)" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.