There's a long list of places in town that you really shouldn't be able to run around on top of. And although hardly being well known compared to others elsewhere in the City, Westminster Cathedral makes the list for sure. It is most definitely not a mosque, which is probably a good thing as god knows what the ramifications would be if you got caught doing that.
We visited a few times, with Monkey, Gabe, The Raw, Maniac, Sentinel, Extreme Ironing, SirjonnyP and JohnSmith.
I'm not going to lie, I'd only recently found out it's existence whilst on a crane down the road, but it's such a majestic looking structure from above that I was instantly attracted to it.
The land that it stands on was previously home to the Tothill Fields Bridewell prison until it was purchased in 1884 by some religious guy. Construction eventually started in 1895 and took 8 years to complete, finally being consecrated in 1910.
It's reasonably historical, so when I heard that there was currently scaffold going up around it I knew it was somewhere that would be fascinating to get up close and personal with. The ornate red brick and stonework is something you don't really find in the UK, and those giant green domes? Yes please!
I had a right crack whilst referring to them as nipples when we were up there. And although the slippy lead panelling provided a bit of a challenge to scale at first, they provided a nice little chill out place. Somewhere to drink a can closer to God.
We tried to find a way into the main tower, hoping for some higher views over Westminster and the Victoria areas, as well as to the rest of the cathedral below. However that turned out to be locked up, so that annoyingly was a no go.
We did however find our way down into the roof space at the top of the main hall. Small balcony-like alcoves allowed you to look down on the massive Jesus chamber below, which was incredibly eerie and surreal. Candles burning below filled the air with that musty smell of sulphur, and the stark quietness of the space was somewhat euphoric. None of my associates or I are particularly religious, but we discussed the notion of our acts being sacrilegious.
"Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object or person. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical, it is often called desecration."
We'd not damaged or impaired the building in anyway, and I'm fairly sure it's difficult to offend a building by speaking obscenities to it. But violating the place? Yeah I'd say that probably happened.
I really liked the delicately ornate domes that encircle the cathedral roof. Most of them appear to house spiral staircases to various floors and rooms below, others just appear to be purely decorative.
It's a shame none of the other buildings around the cathedral are made of brick and stone, as most of the area has been rebuilt with metal and glass. It doesn't seem to fit in, and as you're walking down Victoria Street and first lay eyes on it you're left feeling more bewildered than amazed. Or at least I was.
We happened across an open staircase and ventured down into the chapel balconies and bell rooms that were seemingly hidden around. The internals of the cathedral are very maze-like, with doors shooting off the stairwells in each direction.
A bit more poking around and someone found a way to get down onto the floor of the main chamber. This just felt silly now, with still lit candles flickering away, and lines and lines of empty seats waiting for the next day's worshippers. My main observation was the seemingly unfinished nature of the ceiling and upper walls. Unlike the external façade, and marble lower interior walls, the upper internals look bland and completely unfitting to the rest of the building. Which is a shame.
We felt pretty exposed down there, so after a short amount of time we retreated back up to the roof and enjoyed another can whilst taking a few more shots.
We finished up, said our "hail marys" and fucked off back into the night, hoping we hadn't created a rift in our karma. Forgive us and our trespasses, right?
We visited a few times, with Monkey, Gabe, The Raw, Maniac, Sentinel, Extreme Ironing, SirjonnyP and JohnSmith.
I'm not going to lie, I'd only recently found out it's existence whilst on a crane down the road, but it's such a majestic looking structure from above that I was instantly attracted to it.
The land that it stands on was previously home to the Tothill Fields Bridewell prison until it was purchased in 1884 by some religious guy. Construction eventually started in 1895 and took 8 years to complete, finally being consecrated in 1910.
It's reasonably historical, so when I heard that there was currently scaffold going up around it I knew it was somewhere that would be fascinating to get up close and personal with. The ornate red brick and stonework is something you don't really find in the UK, and those giant green domes? Yes please!
I had a right crack whilst referring to them as nipples when we were up there. And although the slippy lead panelling provided a bit of a challenge to scale at first, they provided a nice little chill out place. Somewhere to drink a can closer to God.
We tried to find a way into the main tower, hoping for some higher views over Westminster and the Victoria areas, as well as to the rest of the cathedral below. However that turned out to be locked up, so that annoyingly was a no go.
We did however find our way down into the roof space at the top of the main hall. Small balcony-like alcoves allowed you to look down on the massive Jesus chamber below, which was incredibly eerie and surreal. Candles burning below filled the air with that musty smell of sulphur, and the stark quietness of the space was somewhat euphoric. None of my associates or I are particularly religious, but we discussed the notion of our acts being sacrilegious.
"Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object or person. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical, it is often called desecration."
We'd not damaged or impaired the building in anyway, and I'm fairly sure it's difficult to offend a building by speaking obscenities to it. But violating the place? Yeah I'd say that probably happened.
I really liked the delicately ornate domes that encircle the cathedral roof. Most of them appear to house spiral staircases to various floors and rooms below, others just appear to be purely decorative.
It's a shame none of the other buildings around the cathedral are made of brick and stone, as most of the area has been rebuilt with metal and glass. It doesn't seem to fit in, and as you're walking down Victoria Street and first lay eyes on it you're left feeling more bewildered than amazed. Or at least I was.
We happened across an open staircase and ventured down into the chapel balconies and bell rooms that were seemingly hidden around. The internals of the cathedral are very maze-like, with doors shooting off the stairwells in each direction.
A bit more poking around and someone found a way to get down onto the floor of the main chamber. This just felt silly now, with still lit candles flickering away, and lines and lines of empty seats waiting for the next day's worshippers. My main observation was the seemingly unfinished nature of the ceiling and upper walls. Unlike the external façade, and marble lower interior walls, the upper internals look bland and completely unfitting to the rest of the building. Which is a shame.
We felt pretty exposed down there, so after a short amount of time we retreated back up to the roof and enjoyed another can whilst taking a few more shots.
We finished up, said our "hail marys" and fucked off back into the night, hoping we hadn't created a rift in our karma. Forgive us and our trespasses, right?
