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Cathedral Church of St Mary & St Ethelbert,
Church Street,
Hereford, Herefordshire.

Cemeteries

This Church has (or had) a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded before 825, and we understand it is still open.

"Previous to the erection of the present edifice, more than one large church had already at various times existed in Hereford. So early as the reign of Offa, King of Mercia, a church stood here, which was afterwards pulled down by Milfred, a governor of Mercia, in the reign of Egbert, to give place to a more imposing edifice. Concerning the erection of this second church, tradition has handed down the following account:-

Offa having, at the instigation of his wife, murdered Ethelbert, King of the West Angles, in expiation of his crime caused Ethelbert's remains to be deposited in the church at Hereford, and erected a tomb over them, at the same time making large donations to the church. On becoming Governor of Mercia, hearing that miracles had been performed at Ethelbert's tomb, and satisfied with the results of his inquiries as to their genuineness, Milfred resolved upon erecting a new church in place of the old one, for which purpose he made a large addition to the valuable treasures which the church had already acquired from the munificence of Offa and the offerings of the numerous pilgrims who resorted hither.

This church was completed in 825. After the lapse of 200 years, Milfred's church had fallen into decay. Athelstan, Bishop of Hereford, commenced the erection of a new one, which was completed about 1030. This church was destroyed by Gryffyth in 1055. After the destruction of Athelstan's church, the present cathedral was commenced by Bishop Robert, of Lorraine, and completed by Bishop Raynelm about the year 1115." [Source: The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland, 1868. Transcribed by Colin Hinson ©2003. Note: most other sources say Ethelbert was king of the East Angles]

There may be more information available by by selecting one or more of the accompanying images on the right.

Denomination

Now or formerly Church of England.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church is located at OS grid reference SO5099639781. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Cathedral Church of St Mary & St Ethelbert, Hereford shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Hereford shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)