St George's Cathedral, Southwark

St George’s Cathedral stands in the London Borough of Southwark, opposite the Imperial War Museum on Lambeth Road. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Province of Southwark, covering London south of the Thames, Kent and parts of Surrey. The present building was completed in 1848 and rebuilt after war damage in 1958. Augustus Pugin designed the cathedral in decorated Gothic style using yellow stock brick and Portland stone. The cathedral occupies the site of an earlier St George’s chapel which had become too small for the growing Catholic community. The cathedral is worth visiting for its architecture and its place in history. Pugin, famous for his work on the Houses of Parliament, designed the original building and was married there in 1848. After wartime bombing, Romilly Craze rebuilt the interior in 20th-century Gothic revival style while preserving Pugin’s chantries and Blessed Sacrament Chapel. The cathedral has hosted notable visitors including Pope John Paul II in 1982 and the Dalai Lama in 1998. Its Compton organ, installed in 1958, is a major musical feature, and stained-glass windows by Harry Clarke and William Wailes survived or were recreated after the war. Inside, visitors find a 72-stop John Compton organ and choir stalls gifted by St Alban’s Cathedral. The East Window shows the Crucifixion and Saints of England and Wales, while the West Window depicts the Coronation of Mary. A cross by Salvadoran artist Fernando Llort was added in 2013 as a shrine to Archbishop Óscar Romero. The cathedral remains a working church with a Spanish Mass each Sunday and hosts graduations for London South Bank University every summer. Its location near the Thames and major landmarks makes it easy to reach from the South Bank and Waterloo station.