Yes, I am still doing the 30 Day Blog Challenge, but it’s Wednesday, and I always go for a Wander on Wednesday. Today’s prompt was: Very Loud. I thought about places I’d been that were loud – rock festivals, waterfalls, train stations, airports. Then the phrase ‘louder than bombs’ came into my head, and I knew where I wanted to wander.
So this week we are heading to a place I know fairly well. This is the ruined cathedral of St Michael, in Coventry, England.
Built in the late 14th/early 15th century, St Michael’s was the largest parish church in England until 1918, when it was elevated to cathedral status. However, on the evening of November 14, 1940, the city centre of Coventry was almost destroyed by a ferocious bombing campaign, courtesy of the Luftwaffe. One of the casualties was the cathedral, a direct hit burning the roof and interior away, leaving only the walls standing.
On the day after the destruction of the cathedral, the cathedral stonemason, Jock Forbes, found two charred roof beams lying in the shape of a cross. He tied them together, and they were placed on the altar. The provost, Richard Howard, had the words ‘Father Forgive’ engraved into the wall behind. Howard was also responsible for the Cross of Nails, made from two of the medieval roof truss nails – there are now 160 such crosses made from the roof nails across the world, including one donated to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin. Like St Michael’s, it was also destroyed in a bombing raid, the ruins of the old building preserved next to the new.
In 1950 a competition was announced to design a new cathedral. The winning design was by Basil Spence (later Sir), who insisted that the ruins of the old cathedral be preserved as a garden of remembrance, joined to the new building. Nowadays it is a popular place with visitors, and has appeared in several movies, including Nativity. It still remains hallowed ground. Recent excavations have uncovered a crypt, as well as exposing burned timbers – when I was there recently you could still smell the ash, an eerie reminder of a night seventy-six years ago.
Death has now taken many of the survivors of the war, their voices silenced, one by one. So the charred cross and simple message of the cathedral are powerful reminders of a night when bombs fell, yet spirit remained. Louder than bombs, indeed.
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Helen Glynn Jones 
lovely and powerful Helen; so many of these awful destructive events still happening somewhere.
Thanks, Geoff. Yes, sadly, it seems our talent for destruction is as strong as that of creation. Perhaps more. 😕
It’s certainly easier, for some folk, to destroy rather than create. 😦
Yes. I suppose it teaches us to appreciate what we have, but it’s still difficult.
I think you may have posted about this before, but it’s still awesome. The fact that you could still smell the fire decades later is powerful. Are there any “before” photos in existence?
I have mentioned the bombing raid before in other posts – it’s such a huge part of Coventry’s history. Being able to smell the burning was really weird – they had cordoned off the part that was being excavated, but you could see in, and the smell was quite powerful. Amazing how such things are preserved. There’s a story in that somewhere, I think.
We visited a few yearc ago – very powerful place.
It is, isn’t it? Beautiful, too 😀
Yes, it is. 🙂
Wonderful that he insisted on keeping the ruins preserved and built around them. I think, in general, we are too quick to knock old building and history down to rebuild.
Oh, I so agree! The destruction has slowed a little in recent years, but so many wonderful places have been lost in the name of ‘development’
What an amazing place, Helen! Thanks for taking me there.
Thanks, Diana – glad you enjoyed today’s wander. It is a very special place, I think 😀
Lovely sentiments, Helen. I graduated in the New Cathedral, so the place has special memories…
Thank you, Stu – I hadn’t realised your connection to Coventry. It’s a wonderful building, isn’t it?
Spectacular!
Reblogged this on Stuart France.
Thanks for sharing, Stu 😀
Helen, fascinating to learn about the cathedral and I’m surprised it even remained standing after the bombing. How touching with the charred remains and that the cross tied up is still there. Moving final sentence, yes the spirit is louder than bombs.
Thanks so much, Annika – glad you enjoyed the post. It is amazing that it’s still standing – I believe parts are quite fragile and it is constantly maintained by the city. However, the spire is still solid, I’ve even been up there, a long time ago. I suppose they built these things to last.
Damn you, you made me cry again. 🙂 War sucks so bad. But I love the human spirit that puts a “Father Forgive” on the ruined walls, sends a reconciling nail cross to the revenge-destroyed church in Berlin, and puts restful benches in the middle of the ruins, thumbing its nose (very loudly, if you will) at hate and destruction. So there, bombs!
One of these days I’ll come visit and see this in real life.
Sorrynotsorry? I am sorry, I don’t like making people cry, though I’m pleased you felt the emotion in the words. I agree, I do think this place is a tribute to the human spirit in the most wonderful way. It is definitely well worth a visit, whenever you can 🙂
It wasn’t a bad cry, just a “this is so moving” cry, so it’s okay. 🙂
Glad to hear it 🙂 It’s quite a moving place, even though I’ve been there so many times. Very powerful.
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