St Paul’s Cathedral (above) is viewed as being Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece. It was built on the site of a medieval church destroyed in the Great London Fire of 1666.  It was consecrated for use in 1697 but not declared officially complete by Parliament until 25 December 1711.

Westminster Cathedral (below) is the largest Catholic church in England and Wales and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster.  Construction started in 1895 and it opened in 1903.

The English poet, John Betjeman, called it “a masterpiece in striped brick and stone in an intricate pattern of bonding, the domes being all-brick in order to prove that the good craftsman has no need of steel or concrete”.

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Copyright Debbie Smyth, 18 December 2015