Catholic Cathedral of St John Hampshire hotels:

Victorian church, with wooden vaulted ceiling. Built in five phases from 1882-1925, and consecrated in 1887. During World War II it was extensively damaged and Bishop's House was destroyed by a bomb. All stained glass windows, except rose window over the organ, were either damaged or destroyed, and were repaired or replaced. The sanctuary walls, where the High Altar was positioned, were covered by paintings by Nathanel Westlake. These were also damaged and in 1972 were painted out. In 1906 the High Altar was moved forward and placed under an elaborate baldacchino.This Cathedral was built in 1882 to accommodate Portsmouth's rapidly increasing congregation of Roman Catholics. It replaced a Chapel built in 1796 in Prince George Street, Portsea, half a kilometre to the west. In 1767 there were only two Catholics recorded as living in Portsmouth. But by 1791 there were at least one hundred and thirty. Many of these were descendents of people who, at the time of the Reformation in the mid 16th century, refused to recognise the Sovereign as head of the Church in Britain. They kept the pre-Reformation faith, which recognised the Sovereign as their temporal head but the Pope as their spiritual head.The Cathedral was completed in four phases: 1882, the nave; 1886, the crossing; 1893, the chancel and 1906 the narthex and west Porch. The Cathedral was badly damaged when enemy bombing in 1941 destroyed Bishop' House next door. Since restoration in 1950 after the war the inside of the Cathedral has been re-ordered three times, in 1970, 1982 and work has just completed in 2001 restoration which has brought back much of the colour and design of the building as it was intended. The Cathedral may be described architecturally as 19th century French Gothic because it has a curved apse and shallow trancepts. It was originally designed by John Crawley to have a tall spire at the south-west corner, but the underlying geology made this impossible. The Church is built of Fareham Red Brick with Portland Stone dressings.