ZEPHYRINUS.

14 February, 2026

Ash Wednesday At The York Oratory.

Illustration: THE YORK ORATORY

Web-Site

Text is from
THE LATIN MASS SOCIETY
DIOCESE OF MIDDLESBROUGH

Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday, which is a day of Fast and Abstinence
and the beginning of Lent, is on 18 February 2026.

There will be two Latin Masses at The York Oratory,
with Blessing and Imposition of Ashes at both Masses.

The usual weekday Low Mass will be at 0815 hours
and, additionally, there there will be
a Solemn High Mass at 1800 hours.

The Musical Setting will be
Palestrina’s “Exaltabo Te Domine”
with Motets by Byrd and Palestrina.

Wells Cathedral (Part Eleven).

The Great West Front,
Wells Cathedral.
Photo: 30 April 2014.
Source: Own work.
Attribution:
Photo by DAVID ILIFF.
Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.
Author: Diliff
(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

To the North-East is the large octagonal Chapter House, entered from the North Choir Aisle by a passage and staircase.

To the South of the Nave is a large Cloister, unusual in that the Northern range, that adjacent to the Cathedral, was never built.[93]

In Section, the Cathedral has the usual arrangement of a large Church: A Central Nave with an Aisle on each side, separated by two Arcades. The elevation is in three stages: Arcade; Triforium Gallery; Clerestory.[92]

The internal elevation of the Nave in Wells Cathedral
is in three levels: Arcade; Triforium Gallery; Clerestory.
The Triforium has a unique form, with the Arches
not divided into Bays.
Photo: 2 July 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lamiai
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Triforium is separated from the Arcade by a single horizontal String Course that runs unbroken the length of the Nave. There are no vertical lines linking the three stages, as the Shafts supporting the Vault rise above the Triforium.[92]

At Wells Cathedral, later changes in the Perpendicular Style were universally applied, such as filling the Early-English Lancet Windows with simple Tracery, the construction of a Parapet that encircles the Roof, and the addition of Pinnacles framing each Gable, similar to those around the Chapter House and on the Great West Front.[92]

The Great West Front,
Wells Cathedral.
Photo: 2 July 2008.
Source: Own work.
This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-
Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
Author: Lamiai
(Wikimedia Commons)

PART TWELVE FOLLOWS.

The Saturday Of Sexagesima Week.

The Blessed Virgin Mary

is Crowned “Queen of Heaven”

by Her Beloved Son,

Illustration: CALEFACTORY.ORG

Text is from “The Liturgical Year”.
By: Abbot Guéranger, O.S.B.
Volume 4.
Sexagesima.

On the Saturday of the preceding week [Editor: Septuagesima Week], which was devoted to the consideration of the fall of our first parents, both in its own malice and in its sad consequences upon us, we turned our thoughts towards Our Blessed Lady, who, though a daughter of Eve, was, by the special mercy of God, preserved from the stain of Original Sin.

Let us end this week with a like set of Veneration and Love towards this Immaculate Queen of Heaven. We, even the most Saintly among us, have not only been stained with Original Sin, we have our actual sins to grieve over and do Penance for.

This should give us a higher appreciation of her, the one single member of the human family who never committed the slightest sin. Let us turn towards her, and give expression to our feelings.

We, O Mary, have corrupted our way; we have disobeyed Our Lord; we have broken His Law; we have preferred our own selfish gratifications to the service we owed Him: But thou wast ever filled with His Holy Love, and there passed not even a shadow of sin upon thy Soul.

O Spotless Mirror of Justice and Holiness !!!

Virgin Most Faithful !!!

The Grace of thy Son ever triumphed in thy heart.

Mystical Rose !!!

The fragrance of thy virtues unceasingly ascended to His Throne, changing only in its daily increase of sweetness.

Tower of Ivory !!!

Fair beyond measure, without one spot to mar thy purity.

House of God !!!

Thou didst ever reflect the precious gifts of The Holy Ghost. Have pity, then, upon us, for we are sinners.

We have obliged Our God to repent that He made us; but in thee, dear Mother, He has ever been well pleased. Thou art the good land, wherein His Divine Seed yielded its thousandfold of fruit; Pray for us, that He give fresh fertility to our hearts, and root up from them the thorns, which choke the Heavenly Plant.

We are defiled by sin. May He, through the merits of the tears thou didst shed at The Foot of The Cross, mercifully cleanse us. If thy Divine Son have already pardoned us, there are the consequences of our sins, which still weaken and humble us, like the sores of wounds that have been cured.

Take us, Sweet Mother of Our Jesus, under the mantle of thy tender care. We have too little dread of sin. We are so often on the verge of offending Our God. Oh, obtain for these poor children of thine courage and firmness of resolution, and ambition for holiness of life.

Thy intercession must win for us that precious devotedness to God's Honour, which kills self-love, the root of sin. Oh, accursed self-love, which may lead us to Hell, who are now perhaps in the Grace of thy Divine Son.

The deluge, brought on by our sins, is hurrying its vengeance against mankind. And we, O Mary, are resolved to seek our refuge in The Ark of The Church, the safe shelter created for us by thy Jesus. But, we presume to Pray to thee for our brethren throughout the World. Our God has given thee a power to stay His Anger, and to win for guilty mortals an extension of mercy.

Show this power, now, for our World is provoking its Master to destroy it. If the flood-gate of His Just Indignation bursts upon the face of our Earth, millions of Souls that have been redeemed by The Blood of thy Divine Son would be lost eternally.

If the Sweet Dove of Peace bring her Olive-Branch only when that terrible justice is appeased, it would be too late for thy Loving Heart. Come before the deluge, O Beautiful Rainbow of Our Father's Reconciliation. The Love of a Mother, who is the very Queen of Mercy, emboldens us to sue for Universal Mercy.

Can the Prayer of her, in whose purity and innocence the very God of Holiness finds no blemish, be denied ?

Pray Him, then, to pardon us, and all sinners !!!

The Roman Station Liturgy.

Basilica of Santa Sabina, Rome,

where the first Lenten Station is kept on Ash Wednesday.
Illustration: THE PONTIFICAL NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGE

This Article is taken from, and can be read in full at,
THE PONTIFICAL NORTH AMERICAN COLLEGE

The Roman Station Liturgy.

This information comes largely from "The Urban Character of Christian Worship", by Rev. John Baldovin, S.J.

Each year, The North American College follows the ancient Tradition of The Roman Stational Liturgy.

All are invited to join us for the Celebration of Mass each day.

Mass will begin each day at 0700 hrs, with the exception of Mass on Ash Wednesday, which begins at 0645 hrs. Please note that we do not Celebrate either Sunday Mass or The Paschal Triduum at the Station Churches.

The Schedule of Station Churches can be seen at
THE NORTH AMERICAN PONTIFICAL COLLEGE

History.

Our modern observance of The Stational Liturgy traces its roots back to the practice of The Bishop of Rome Celebrating the Liturgies of The Church Year at various Churches throughout the City of Rome, a Tradition dating back as far as the Late-2nd-Century A.D. or Early-3rd-Century A.D.

One reason for this was practical: With The Church in Rome being composed of diverse groups from many cultures, regular visits by The Bishop of Rome (The Pope) served to unify the various groups into a more cohesive whole.

Another reason, particularly following the legalisation of Christianity in 313 A.D., which permitted public Worship, was to commemorate certain Feast Days at Churches with a special link to that Celebration. Therefore, Good Friday came to be Celebrated at the Basilica of The Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem, and Christmas, at Saint Mary Major, where a Relic of The Manger was Venerated.

In time, the original Churches in the City, known as Tituli (singular: Titulus), because they often bore the name of the donor, took on an additional significance as the places that held the Relics of The Martyrs and the memory of the early history of The Church in this City.

As time passed, the schedule of these Stational Visits, which had earlier followed an informal order, took on a more formalised structure. By the last half of the 5th-Century A.D.,

a fairly-fixed Calendar was developed, having the order of

the places at which the Pope would say Mass with the Church Community on certain days throughout the year.

In the weeks before the beginning of Lent, the three large Basilicas outside-the-Walls were visited, forming a ring of Prayer around the City before The Season of Lent began. During Lent, the various Stations were originally organised so that the Masses were held in different areas of the City each day. During The Octave of Easter, The Stations form a Litany of The Saints, beginning with Saint Mary Major, on Easter Sunday, and continuing with Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint Laurence, The Apostles, and The Martyrs.

The Liturgy of these Masses had several elements, many

of which developed over time. According to the structure of the Late-First-Millennium, the people would gather in mid-afternoon, with the Pope, at one Church, known as the Collectum. There, after some Prayers, the group would move in Procession to the Statio, at which Mass would be said. The use of the term Statio, for this ending point, has a connection with the practice of Fasting on these days.

The Christians of this time made a comparison of their Fasting and Prayer during Lent with the Guard Duty of Soldiers, seeing their actions as something to be approached with a similar seriousness of purpose. The term Statio came to be applied to The Eucharistic Celebrations that took place on Fasting Days. Later, the term Statio came to be used for all Churches at which the major Liturgical Celebration in the City was to be held on a certain day.

The order of the Stations, originally organised in the

5th-Century A.D., would undergo several changes over the following three Centuries. The current order was essentially fixed by the time of The Council of Trent. Over the last several Centuries, two of the original Stations have been lost, although most older Liturgical Books still list their name as the Station for their original day.

The Church of Saint Augustine has taken the place of Saint Tryphon, an older Church which once stood on a nearby site. The second lost Church is that of Saint Cyriacus, which originally stood near the Baths of Diocletian. Having fallen into ruin, its Stational Day was transferred to Santa Maria-in-Via-Lata, possibly because a Monastery, also dedicated to Saint Cyriacus, once stood behind this Church.

The other Churches have not passed the Centuries without their difficulties, either; many have been destroyed and rebuilt; some fell into ruins, being saved only when on the verge of final collapse; all have been modified in various ways throughout the ages. Yet, what remains through all the changes is the memory of those past Christians who Worshipped at these places.

While other Cities, such as Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Milan, once had similar Stational Liturgies, Rome is the only City in which these continue in some regular form. Therefore, just like the Writings of the Fathers of The Church and the Art of the Early Christian Era, the Stational Cycle comes down to us as a Monument of the Early Church, a living connection to those days when the witness of the Martyrs was still fresh and the echo of the Apostles’ voices could still be heard in the City’s streets.

Puccini. “Vissi d’Arte”. Be Still My Heart.

English: The Title Page of the First Edition
of the Piano Score to Puccini’s Opera “Tosca”, published by
G. Ricordi. Stylised drawing showing Tosca standing over Scarpia’s body, about to lay a Crucifix on his chest. The Text reads: “Tosca: libretto di V Sardou, L Illica, G Giacosa.
Musica di G Puccini. Riccardi & C. editori”.
Čeština: Titulní strana prvního vydání klavírního
výtahu k Pucciniho opeře Tosca, vydání G. Ricordi.
Date: 1899.
Source: http://www.studioesseci.net/
mostra.php?IDmostra=62
Author: Adolfo Hohenstein (1854–1928).
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Tosca is an Opera in Three Acts by Giacomo Puccini, to an Italian Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The Work, based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 French-language dramatic Play, La Tosca, is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples’ control of Rome threatened by Napoleon’s Invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccini’s best-known lyrical Arias.

Puccini saw Sardou’s Play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some vacillation, obtained the Rights to turn the Work into an Opera in 1895. Turning the wordy French Play into a succinct Italian Opera took four years, during which the Composer repeatedly argued with his Librettists and Publisher.

Tosca premiered at a time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed for a day for fear of disturbances. Despite indifferent reviews from the critics, the Opera was an immediate success with the public.

Musically, Tosca is structured as a through-composed Work, with Arias, Recitative, Choruses and other elements musically woven into a seamless whole. Puccini used Wagnerian Leitmotifs to identify characters, objects and ideas.

While critics have often dismissed this Opera as a facile melodrama with confusions of plot —musicologist Joseph Kerman famously called it a “shabby little shocker”—the power of its score and the inventiveness of its orchestration have been widely acknowledged.

The dramatic force of Tosca and its characters continues to fascinate both performers and audiences, and the Work remains one of the most frequently performed Operas. Many recordings of the Work have been issued, both of studio and live performances.

“Vissi d’Arte”.
Composer: Puccini.
Opera: “Tosca”.
Sung by: Mirella Freni.
Available on YouTube
HERE

“Vissi d’Arte”.
Composer: Puccini.
Opera: “Tosca”.
Sung by: Renée Fleming.
Available on YouTube
HERE

“Vissi d’Arte”.
Composer: Puccini.
Opera: “Tosca”.
Sung by: Maria Callas
at Covent Garden, London, 1964.
Available on YouTube
HERE

“Pur Ti Miro”. Sung By Núria Rial And Philippe Jaroussky. From Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppæa”.

“Pur ti miro”.

Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppæa”.
Available on YouTube
HERE

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

“L’incoronazione di Poppea” (SV 308, “The Coronation of Poppæa”) is an Italian opera by Claudio Monteverdi. It was Monteverdi’s last opera, with a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello, and was first performed at the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo in Venice during the 1643 carnival season.

One of the first operas to use historical events and people, it describes how Poppæa, mistress of the Roman emperor Nero, is able to achieve her ambition and be crowned empress.

The opera was revived in Naples in 1651, but was then neglected until the rediscovery of the Score in 1888, after which it became the subject of scholarly attention in the Late-19th- and Early-20th-Centuries. Since the 1960s, the opera has been performed and recorded many times.

Saint Valentine. Feast Day 14 February. Red Vestments.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Valentine.
Priest and Martyr.
Feast Day 14 February.

Simple.

Red Vestments.

Stained-Glass Window depicting Saint Valentine.
Illustration: GREG GARRISON

Saint Valentine.
Available on YouTube
HERE

Saint Valentine was a Holy Priest of Rome, who was Martyred under the Roman Emperor, Aurelian, in 270 A.D.

He co-operated in the Saviour’s Redemption “by bearing The Cross after Him” (Gospel). “Having made the sacrifice of his life for Him, he finds it again"“ (Ibid.), for, "victorious in his terrible fight” (Epistle), God “Crowns him in Heaven with glory and honour” (Offertory).

Sharing, in a spirit of penitence, the Redeeming Sufferings of The Saviour, let us ask Him, “through the Intercession of Saint Valentine, to be delivered from all the ills that threaten us” (Collect).

Mass: In virtúte.

Saint Valentine receives a Rosary from
The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Artist: David Teniers III
Date: 1600s.
Source: http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/David-III-
Teniers/St-Valentine-Kneeling-In-Supplication.html
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

Saint Valentine (Latin: Valentinius) is a widely-recognised 3rd-Century A.D. Roman Saint (Feast Day 14 February) and associated, since the High Middle Ages, with a Tradition of Courtly Love.

All that is reliably known of the Saint is his name, and that he was Martyred and buried at a cemetery on the Via Flaminia, Rome, close to the Milvian Bridge, to the North of Rome, on
14 February. It is uncertain whether Saint Valentine is to be identified as one Saint or the conflation of two Saints of the same name. Several different Martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.

Saint Valentine Baptising Saint Lucilla.

Artist: Jacopo Bassano

Date: 1500s.

Source: http://www.1st-art-gallery.com/

Jacopo-Bassano-%28jacopo-Da-Ponte%29/

St.-Valentine-Baptising-St.-Lucilla-%28

san-Valentino-Battezza-Santa-Lucilla%29.html

(Wikimedia Commons)

Because so little is known of him, in 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed his name from the General Roman Calendar, leaving his Liturgical Celebration to Local Calendars. The Roman Catholic Church continues to recognise him as a Saint, listing him as such in the 14 February entry in the Roman Martyrology, and authorising Liturgical Veneration of him on 14 February in any place where that day is not devoted to some other obligatory Celebration.

English: Altar of Saint Valentine,
Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church, Dublin, Ireland.
Polski: Ołtarz z relikwiami św. Walentego w Kościele Karmelitów przy Whitefriar Street w Dublinie.
Photo: 27 August 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: blackfish
(Wikimedia Commons)

Use of the Pre-1970 Liturgical Calendar is also authorised under the conditions indicated in the Motu Proprio “Summorum Pontificum” of 2007. Saint Valentine’s Church in Rome, built in 1960 for the needs of the Olympic Village, continues as a modern, well-visited, Parish Church.

Saint Valentine's Day, the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an official Feast Day in the Anglican Communion, as well as in the Lutheran Church. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Saint Valentine, the Presbyter of Rome, is Celebrated on 6 July, and Hieromartyr Valentine (Bishop of Interamna, Terni, Italy) is Celebrated on 30 July.

Notwithstanding, because of the obscurity of these two Saints in The East, Members of the Greek Orthodox Church named Valentinos (male) or Valentina (female) may observe their “Name Day” on The Western Ecclesiastical Calendar date

of 14 February.

13 February, 2026

The Twenty-Six Mediæval Cathedrals Of England (Part Seventeen).

Canterbury Cathedral.
Photo: September 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: Hans Musil
(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Worcester Cathedral, unlike Salisbury, has important parts of the building dating from every Century from the 11th-Century to the 16th-Century.

The earliest part of the building at Worcester is the multi-columned Norman Crypt, with Cushion Capitals remaining from the original Monastic Church begun by Saint Wulfstan in 1084.

Also from the Norman period is the circular Chapter House of 1120, made octagonal on the outside when the walls were reinforced in the 14th-Century.

Worcester Cathedral Crypt.
Photo: 23 February 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: TheElfFromAbove
(Wikimedia Commons)

The Nave was built and re-built piecemeal and in different styles by several different architects over a period of 200 years, some Bays being a unique and decorative transition between Norman and Gothic styles.

The Nave dates from 1170 to 1374. The East End was rebuilt over the Norman Crypt by Alexander Mason between 1224 and 1269, coinciding with, and in a very similar Early-English style to, the greater part of Salisbury Cathedral.

From 1360, John Clyve finished off the Nave, built its Vault, the Great West Front, the North Porch, and the Eastern range of the Cloister. He also strengthened the Norman Chapter House, added Buttresses and changed its Vault.

The history of Worcester Cathedral.
Available on YouTube
HERE

His masterpiece is the Central Tower of 1374, originally supporting a timber, lead-covered Spire, now gone. Between 1404 and 1432, an unknown architect added the North and South ranges to the Cloister, which was eventually closed by the Western range by John Chapman, 1435–1438. The last important addition is the Prince Arthur’s Chantry Chapel to the Right of the South Choir Aisle, 1502–1504.[2][4][10]

Bristol Cathedral.

Begun in 1140[b] and completed in 1888, Bristol Cathedral’s fame lies in the unique 14th-Century Lierne Vaults of the Choir and Choir Aisles, which are of three different designs and, according to Nikolaus Pevsner, “ . . . from a point of view of spatial imagination, are superior to anything else in England.”[4]

Canterbury Cathedral.

Founded as a Cathedral in 597 A.D., the earliest extant parts are from 1070, completed in 1505, except the North-West Tower of 1834.

Canterbury is one of the biggest Cathedrals in England, and is the Seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is famous for the Norman Crypt, with sculptured Capitals, the East End of 1175–1184 by William of Sens, the 12th-Century and 13th-Century Stained-Glass, the “supremely beautiful” Perpendicular Nave of 1379–1405 by Henry Yevele,[12] the Fan Vault of the Tower of 1505 by John Wastell, the tomb of the Black Prince, and the site of the murder of Saint Thomas Becket.[4][10]

The Great East Window,
Carlisle Cathedral.
Illustration: VISIT CUMBRIA

Carlisle Cathedral.

Founded in 1092 and completed in the Early-15th-Century, Carlisle Cathedral is one of England’s smallest Cathedrals since the demolition of its Nave by the Scottish Presbyterian Army in 1649.

Its most significant feature is its Nine-Light, Flowing Decorated, East Window of 1322, still containing Mediæval Glass in its upper sections, forming a “glorious termination to the Choir”[4] and regarded by many as having the finest Tracery in England.[4][10]

PART EIGHTEEN FOLLOWS.

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Bayeux, France.

Notre-Dame Cathedral,
Bayeux, France.
Photo: 22 July 2011.
Source: Own work.
Author: Anton Bielousov.
(Wikimedia Commons)

Bayeux Cathedral, Normandy.
Cathédrale de Bayeux.
Photo: 21 July 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Marianne Casamance.
(Wikimedia Commons)

English: Bayeux Cathedral, France.
Deutsch: Kathedrale “Notre-Dame de Bayeux”.
Bayeux ist eine französische Gemeinde in der Normandie.
Photo: 1 May 2018.
Source: Own work.
Author: W. Bulach
(Wikimedia Commons)

Bayeux Cathedral.
Photo: 1 April 2011.
Source: Flickr: Bayeux Cathedral
Author: James Woolley
(Wikimedia Commons)

Bayeux Cathedral.
Available on YouTube
HERE

Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

Bayeux Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Bayeux (French: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Bayeux), is a Roman Catholic Church located in the Town of Bayeux, in Normandy, France.

A National Monument, it is the Seat of the Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux and was probably the original home of The Bayeux Tapestry, which is still preserved nearby. The Cathedral is in the Norman-Romanesque Architectural Tradition.

The site is an ancient one and was once occupied by
Roman sanctuaries. The present Cathedral was Consecrated on 14 July 1077 in the presence of William, Duke of Normandy, and King of England.

It was on this site that William may have forced Harold Godwinson to take an Oath of Support to him, the breaking of which led to The Norman Conquest of England – meaning that the Oath must have been made before 1066.

Following serious damage to the Cathedral in the 12th-Century, it was rebuilt in the Gothic-Style, which is most notable in the Crossing Tower, Transepts, and the East End. However, despite the Crossing Tower having been started in the 15th-Century, it was not completed until the 19th-Century.

Bayeux Cathedral.
Photo: 22 August 2016.
Source: Own work.
Attribution: Andreas F. Borchert.
This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-
Share Alike 3.0 Germany Licence.
Author: Andreas F. Borchert
(Wikimedia Commons)

The following Text is from BAYEUX MUSEUM

Bayeux’s origins go back to the Gallo-Roman period. In
924 A.D., it was incorporated into the lands of Rollo, Viking warrior and first Duke of Normandy. At that time, Bayeux was the second largest City in Normandy, after Rouen.

The Romanesque Cathedral was completed during the Reign
of William the Conqueror. It was built in less than fifty years, and for several Centuries it housed the famous Bayeux Tapestry, commissioned by Odon de Conteville, Bishop of Bayeux and half-brother of William.

English: Bayeux Cathedral Choir Stalls.
Français: Stalles du chœur de la cathédrale
Notre-Dame de Bayeux à Bayeux.
Photo: 10 July 2013.
Source: Own work.
Author: Roi.dagobert
(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1204, when Normandy became part of the Kingdom of France, it was a prosperous City, dominated by the Church. In the 18th-Century, the Town began to modernise and the Castle and Walls were dismantled.

The Notre Dame Cathedral of Bayeux, a masterpiece of Norman Romanesque and Gothic Architecture, is at the heart of the Old Town’s conservation area. Its history is as grand as the two Towers which flank its facade.

The Cathedral was Consecrated on 14 July 1077, in the presence of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, and his wife, Matilda. All that survives from the construction of this period is the Crypt, the Towers at the Western End, and the first level of the Nave.