Preston Heritage Weekend Tour – St Walburges Church

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You would be forgiven if you mistook this Catholic parish church for a Cathedral, as it has the third tallest spire in the UK, at 309 feet, and the two taller ones are on cathedrals, at Salisbury and Norwich. It is the most striking site on the Preston skyline as you approach the city. St Walburge’s was designed in a modern neo-Gothic style by Joseph Hansom, also famous for creating the Hansom Cab. It was completed in 1873, though much of it was opened in 1854. It is named after an English saint originally called Walpurga who lived from c.710 to about 777. She was born in Devon, daughter to a minor Saxon King called Richard The Pilgrim, as he spent much of his life roaming the Holy Land. When his sons, confusingly named alike with the names Willibald and Winibald, decided to join him on the pilgrim’s trails, Richard had Walpurga sent to a nunnery where she stayed for 26 years. She was a keen writer, and wrote up Winibald’s biography. She eventually travelled to Germany to help convert Pagan Germans to Catholicism there, becoming a leading abbess in Heidenheim. She died peacefully, a highly respected senior nun and scholar, regarded as England’s first recorded female author. Though her official feast day is February 25th, her canonization day was May 1st, and her name was tied forever to Walpurgis Night, the eve of May Day, tying pagan and Christian traditions together. Her body was placed in a special niche in a church at Eichstatt which soon started exuding a strange oil that was quickly labelled Walburge’s Oil, and many Catholics still buy it to this day. It was originally planned to dedicate the church in Preston to St Joseph, but a lady who was cleaning the church during final preparations for it’s opening, had severely injured her knee and used some St Walburge balm on it, which allegedly cured her knee instantly. The story reached the Bishops and the decision was made to name the church after St Walburge instead in honour of the little miracle. The church is situated in an area rich in Catholic history. The region is known as Maudlands, a shortened version of the land of Mary Magdalene, and the site of a major Catholic run leper colony in the middle ages. The church boasts some of the finest stained glass windows in Europe and its spire can be climbed, though this is stopped when rare but frequently visiting peregrine falcons nest there or the weather makes the steep ascent too dangerous. The queue to go up the tower was too long on this visit though I hope to go up there soon. I would have been waiting for at least an hour as only ten can ascend at any given time. There are statues within the church of many saints including Walburge, St. Ignateous of Loyala (founder of the Jesuits) and all the apostles, many of them made in paper mache. Its 14 Hammerbeam ceiling nave is breath-taking, resembling the hull-frame of a ship quite appropriately as the word nave comes from naval vessel, and a church is often defined as a ship of souls. Hansom modelled the rose window at the back of the church on one at York Minster but made his window larger. The church was threatened with closure by the diocese of Lancaster in 2007, but saved due to its architectural value and restoration work by many dedicated volunteers. Many masses at the church are conducted in Latin. Our tour took in much of the beauty of the church, its altars, confessional rooms, and beautiful life-sized statues, tryptic art, and more besides. The spire was climbed by Fred Dibnah, the famous Northern Steeplejack, in what was to be his last media project before his death. His ladders were passed on to his successors. The church is undoubtedly Preston’s most beautiful building, a cathedral in all but name. Though not believing in God, there is still much joy to find for me in such architecture. The heritage weekend was a great series of events and I was only able to get to seven of the 24 listed walks and tours, many of which ran at the same time, but I hope to see more next year. Arthur Chappell