Did you know that the cathedral of the Archbishop of Southwark, who has jurisdiction over the part of Greater London which lies south of the Thames, is slightly further north than that of the Archbishop of Westminster, who has the souls of the rest? This is the sort of information that will no doubt help with pub quizzes all over the world, for which you’re welcome.
Opened in 1848, and designed by AWN Pugin, St George’s was raised to cathedral status in 1852, in the wake of the restoration of the English Catholic hierarchy, Cardinal Wiseman’s not-entirely helpful pastoral letter “From Without the Flaminian Gate”, and the petulant response of the Anglican establishment, the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1851.
