'Peterborough has two buildings of cathedral-like proportions:
'one, a shopping centre, built to the glory of consumerism.
'It's very doubtful, though, whether all this glass and concrete and steel
'will outlive the city's other great structure...
'that masterpiece of Norman craftsmanship
'which has already stood for 750 years.
'Peterborough Cathedral is one of the least-known cathedrals in England.
'Surprising, really,
'because it was one of the most important of the Benedictine abbeys,
'a medieval marvel. '
White horses, white horses
Who'll ride the white horses?
Welcome to the cathedral.
I hope you'll have a very nice visit and you'll find it interesting.
We do get so many visitors.
They come in the cathedral,
they don't expect there to be a service on
because they want to look round the building.
Reminding me of the day when I had a dear, old soul.
He says to me,
"Well, don't you think it's a bit of a pity that you've got a service on
"just when we want to walk round?"
I said, "Well, give and take 800 years,
"there's been a service on here every day. "
And I said,
"Don't you think it's a bit of a pity that your coach driver
"just decided to come here at this time,
"when there is a service on?"
"Aye," he said. "Maybe you're right.
"Oh, we'll come back. We'll go and have a cup of tea and come back. "
Glory be to Father
And to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost
As it was in the beginning
Is now and ever shall be
World without end
Amen
'In the dawn of English history,
'Peterborough seemed destined never to have a cathedral.
'This was the third attempt by abbots and monks
'to establish a religious and political stronghold in this corner of fenland. '
'Fire destroyed the monks' first two attempts.
'First, it was the invading Vikings who murdered the abbot and his monks.
'That was in 870.
'Then, 100 years later, Hereward the Wake set his torches to it.
'And an accidental fire burned the rest down 50 years later.
'A chronicler of the day, Hugh Candidus,
'reported that the flames raged for over a week.
'Almost before the embers were out, building began again.
'Generations of stonemasons and carpenters took a century to complete it.
'Inside, the crowning glory,
'a painted ceiling for the 230-foot-long nave.
'Only three other examples
'of such magnificent medieval art exist in the world.
'Being of monastic origins, it's surprising, that it's still around today.
'When Henry Vlll was busy dissolving all the monasteries,
'somehow Peterborough was left off his shopping list.
'It could have had something to do with the fact that his first wife,
'Catherine of Aragon, was buried here.
'Though some historians don't believe King Henry
'was that sentimental about his wives.
'More likely, it's thought, the abbot had friends at court
'and it was they who persuaded the king
'to make Peterborough's monastic church
'into one of his new generation of cathedrals. '
'While Henry Vlll was generous towards Peterborough,
'Cromwell certainly wasn't.
'His parliamentary soldiers ransacked the place.
'Everything in sight was smashed -
'the altar, the organ, candlesticks and paintings.
'Just one precious book was saved,
'the 12th-century chronicle and register of the old abbey.
'A minor canon managed to bribe one of Cromwell's soldiers
'with ten shillings to let him keep it.
'He kidded him it was a Latin bible.
'Fortunately, they missed a few pieces of silver plate
'out in the churches of the diocese.
'They are now in the cathedral treasury. '
Many of these items are extremely valuable.
In fact, probably too valuable to be in regular use nowadays.
And a lot of them have in recent years
been kept in bank vaults, which kept them secure
but also meant that they were invisible.
Here is the very oldest piece that we have,
which comes from Preston in Rutland.
It's the only piece of pre-Reformation plate in the treasury.
It dates from somewhere between 1460 and 1500.
It will be produced by a local craftsman
and it has on it the hand of God, the manna stave,
which was a fairly common symbol on pre-Reformation plate.
Well, most of the medieval plate
was either melted down to be used as bullion,
or there's one very famous incident really connected with this abbey.
When Richard I, the Lionheart as you recall, was being held prisoner,
a king's ransom was needed in order to rescue him.
It was actually an abbot of Peterborough
who suggested that the church plate right across the land
should be sold in order to raise the money.
That was done in 1193.
And, obviously, for reasons like that,
many items of medieval plate are no longer available.
'It's this sense of history and continuity that fascinates the present bishop.
'Parts of his palace, next door to the cathedral,
'go back 700 years.
'This is where the last abbot and very first bishop lived. '
Of course, this place means a lot to me,
because where I lived before, you see, I was a bishop in London before,
and we lived just by the British Museum,
and about 100 yards from Oxford Street.
And there was three perpetual lines of traffic outside our door.
Day and night. All hours.
Well, you got used to it and we really enjoyed it, you know.
I could indulge my speciality in wine bars, you know.
Now we've moved here. What I value is all this marvellous space.
What the history has done is give us all the old buildings
but it's given us also a lot of space which is ours.
'They reckon there were abbots here
'in the year 640, 650.
'We're not sure where they lived originally,
'but from about 900, 1,000 years ago,
'they lived actually on this site.
'So, I live on the same site
'as people have been doing the job for 1,000 years.
'We have a couple of ghosts,
'but they're both positive, nice ghosts. One in the garden, one in the house,
'I don't see ghosts but the records are there.
'And to live here with...
'Well, we counted 29 variety of birds in the garden in our first year here.
'And the kestrel who feeds on our sparrows,
'I'll get him one of these days.
'And last year, the RSPB put in cameras there.
'And the birds actually got quite used to them very quickly.
'There are some wonderful shots in the cathedral of them feeding their young. '
'It was the eighth year they'd nested in a water drain
'high up in the southwest tower.
'By mid May, the fledgling kestrels were three weeks old
'and giving their young wings a shower in the rain,
'a rare sight.
'Within a few more days, they could make their first flight.
'Next to stir, after the kestrels on this particular day,
'was the head verger, Bob Bolton, an ex-coal miner.
'After 17 years down the pit,
'he decided to seek a fuller spiritual life in the Church. '
'The average day begins at 6:45.
'And you open the Norman gates in the precincts,
'giving the public access to the precincts.
'It's like opening up the gates to an oasis.
'And as a head verger, I'm in charge of 200 keys.
'It takes 19 keys to open the cathedral
'to get to the public in the morning. '
'Of the three clergy on duty for this 7:30 matins was the archdeacon,
'one of the two resident canons and the dean. '
Come, let us sing unto the Lord.
Let us heartily rejoice in the strength of Thy salvation.
We believe that Thou should come to be our judge.
'I've been dean for seven years now.
'I came in march '81 from Notting Hill in west London.
'It was a very surprising development for me.
'The appointment of dean is a curious thing. It's a crown appointment. '
So all that happened was
that I had a little envelope dropped through my letter box which said,
"I have in mind a change of work for you.
"I will either come to Notting Hill or you can come to the office. "
Well, since the office was number 10 Downing Street, I couldn't resist going.
So I went to see the prime minister's appointment secretary. And he said,
"I was just wondering what you think about going to Peterborough as dean?"
So I was fairly shattered by that and er...
I came to see Peterborough Cathedral
and had no hesitation that this was something I'd like to do.
'It's marvellous. The stillness of that building
'does do something for me every day.
'And I think that's one of the great privileges of being here.
'I know it's cold in the winter but actually one can live through that.
'I mean, it's not that desperate. '
Our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered death upon the cross,
who made there by His one oblation of Himself once offered
a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice for the oblation and satisfaction...
'It is amazing that some people do have this idea
'that the clergy only work on Sundays.
'And yet, I find Sunday probably the most relaxing day.
'Because on Sundays, it's very, very rare that we have meetings.
'And meetings of an administrative nature
'occupy a good deal of a dean's time,
'because you can't afford to be inefficient
'about running a place of this importance. '
There's one or two things I want to bring you up to date on
- that have been taking place. - Fine.
The first one refers to the development
- along causeway 37 to 39. - Oh, yes.
Is that affecting the head verger's house?
Yeah.
We've now reached agreement, I think,
with our own architects and the developers' architects about the wall.
'I suppose because it's a small community,
'some very trivial things can be built up.
'We really can make mountains out of molehills very easily in a place like this.
'I think we spent weeks seeing whether we could get any consensus
'about the kind of chair we would have in the cathedral.
'I think the consensus took about three years to get
'on the kind of chair that would be suitable.
'Terribly important to try and keep the perspective right. It's not easy always. '
'In the town hall, the dean finds the secular world
'far less patient with cathedral consensus. '
I got the usual complaint that the cathedral was far too cold.
I mean, November, sitting there for an hour and a bit.
Now, your predecessor told me
that it takes four days of the central heating going full blast
to raise the temperature by about 10 degrees.
But I wonder if we could try this year?
I'll have a good effort, Peter, I'll certainly try and do that.
And it's in the appeal, anyway, a new heating system,
so in a brave new world, we'll have a new setup.
'Replacing the Victorian Gurney heating machine
'is just one of a long list of repairs and replacements
'at present concentrating the mind and prayers of the cathedral's management.
'For such a great age,
'the old cathedral's main structure is in amazingly good shape,
'thanks mainly to past restoration.
'But wind and weather and air pollution have taken their toll.
'Plaster is falling from the vaulting,
'and emergency repairs are needed in the cloisters.
'Mosaic floors are breaking up
'and stone statues are fast corroding out of existence.
'At the last count, 60 windows needed help.
'There's a never-ending conservation campaign.
'The present one spearheaded by the Duke of Gloucester,
'who fortunately has a good head for heights. '
- Is this stair 750 years old? - Yes, it is. Yes, it is.
We've only a few more stairs to go now, before we get to the top.
It's a wonderful view, isn't it? Just as well you put these railings in.
Yes, there weren't rails when I was appointed
but we thought it was so dangerous that we ought to have some.
I understand that when Cromwell sacked it,
left it more or less wrecked, that children used to come and play,
and inevitably one or two would topple over the edge.
Yes, it is very dangerous.
And now we can see some repairs which we're actually doing.
And it shows the state of the glass. This is a very typical window, indeed.
You see, the wind howls through the gap.
- Is it safe to go up? - I will hold the ladder.
Now you can see how the panes have buckled.
The glass itself has broken.
And the joints admit cold air and are rotten.
What has the lead done? Has it sort of flowed down?
It's so old that it's lost its essence, as it were,
and become very brittle and crystalline.
You ought to take the whole thing away.
The whole thing is being taken away to the glazier's workshops
and will be releaded, the glass cleaned,
and then put back with new bars to support it.
And now we come to the remaining medieval glass,
which has all been set in the apse windows.
As you know, Cromwell did a great deal of damage in this building,
which is curious because he was a local resident almost.
So these were just sort of fragments
swept up and left in a pile on the floor?
Yes. Or probably left in other windows in the tracery and brought together.
All the windows have been put together in a collage?
In the apse windows, yes.
And you get a bit of this and a bit of that and very little complete.
- It does show the wonderful colours. - Beautiful colour, yes. It's magnificent.
'For Bob Bolton, cathedral life must go on.
'His problems are stage-managing
'the cathedral's heavy schedule of services and ceremonies,
'concerts and confirmations. '
Testing, testing. One, two, three, four, five.
Testing over.
'From time to time,
'men have said,
"'When I retire, I'm gonna have a job just like you. "
'When they see the verger dressed up with the silver rod,
'that appeals to some men.
'But what they don't understand is what lies behind that verger. '
'Dealing with the suffering of people
'who make their way into the cathedral from the cities outside
'is all part of a verger's day.
'But drug addicts and drunks don't all suffer in silent prayer.
'This one was blaming his condition on Jesus.
'Bob remembers others. '
'The other day, we had an alcoholic at the high altar
'and he was pouring his heart out...
'to God.
'And then he broke down and cried.
'So I let him cry.
'And then when I thought he cried long enough, I put my hand on his head...
'and I asked him his name.
'His name, his christian name was Jim. '
And I said to Jim,
"Jim, stand up... and look at me, man to man. "
Which he did do.
And then I said to him,
"Would you like a cup of coffee and something to eat?"
He said, "I would love that. "
This man,
I know must have had a decent upbringing,
because...
the next day he came back to the cathedral
and started to play the piano.
So he must have had some training.
And er...
So I said, "I'd like to know your life's history, Jim. "
But he never spoke, he just kept quiet,
and went on his way.
- It just goes on like that. - That's quite hard to play.
Try that link into the...
Go from there and let's see what that change of key is like.
I dread to think how many Magnificats I've directed
during the course of my career in cathedrals.
But the hardest thing to do is to,
if you like, motivate the members of the choir
to always see what you're doing as something new and fresh.
I think people find it hard to believe that you can spend your time
organising music in the cathedral and music around the diocese,
and wonder what on earth you do the majority of the day.
'When Catherine was born and I registered her birth,
'and I told the registrar what my job was,
'he then followed that by saying, "Well, what's your proper job?"'
Glory be to the Father
Glory be to the Father!
And to the Son
And to the Holy Ghost
As it was in the beginning
Is now
And ever shall be
World without end
Amen
I'm a great one for bad taste hymns.
I've got no taste at all.
I like them the louder, the better, where they all sway.
And I like them dancing. I got the dean swaying, you must ask him about it.
But I think it's very important to use the cathedral for the occasion.
'We have all our ordinations in the cathedral,
'which is the mother church of the diocese.
'And all the young men, and young women now of course,
'who are entering into ministry come here, really to begin it.
'It's a very emotive moment for them
'because a lot of them have been thinking about this for years.
'And so it sums up a lot of their hopes because this is the key.
'Whatever you believe about it, once you put this collar on,
'you are in a different relationship with people. '
Send down the holy spirit,
upon your servant Richard
for the official work of a deacon
in your church.
'And even a dean needs time to relax,
'to switch the cloth for a pair of shorts. '
'I do try to get on the rowing course once a week.
'When I came here, providentially there was a rowing club.
'We used to row on the river here, the River Nene.
'The rowing club's been moved, actually,
'from close proximity to the river to a place called Thorpe Wood,
'where there's actually a man-made course.
'And it's on that course that I do it most of the time.
'I enjoy that greatly,
'and I mean I even was able to do a sponsored scull
'for 10,000 metres a few weeks ago.
'And that helped raise a bit for the appeal.
'So, it's great. That's great relaxation. I enjoy that inordinately. '
Very glad to welcome you to the cathedral
on your Sunday school pilgrimage.
We're glad to see so many of you with your wonderful banners.
Hello there.
You're all right. You haven't dropped it.
'All the children you see have come from parishes all over the diocese.
'And some parishes are quite small, so their Sunday school is quite small.
'It's a marvellous thing for them all to be together.
'But it's getting them being part of what the cathedral's about,
'a slightly larger vision than your own home parish. '
Would this cathedral be here now?
Would we be up here on this pilgrimage?
No.
I would like you to look up and you'll see on the wall
a painting of Robert Scarlett.
Robert Scarlett was better known in his day as Old Scarlett
because he always wore a red tunic.
Robert Scarlett buried both the queens.
And when his own turn came to be buried,
Robert Scarlett, or Old Scarlett,
is buried just under that table.
Somebody's kindly put a table right on top of his gravestone.
But he doesn't know anything about that.
One of the great things about being a bishop
is that you know where you're going to be buried.
And here in the cathedral is my great predecessor Bishop Magee behind me,
and the wonderful Bishop Mandell Creighton in front.
And I've chosen to be buried here.
my ashes right in the middle of the south choir aisle,
on the grounds that they didn't walk over me much when I was here,
but they're very welcome when I've gone.