Manchester Cathedral Tours

MANCHESTER Cathedral is often bypassed or ignored by Mancunians. People on trips to Chester and York will always take in the cathedral yet on a zillion shopping trips to Manchester city centre will ignore a truly exquisite late-Medieval gem - a building which lies at the heart of the Manchester story.

Details in the cathedral include woodwork as good as it gets anywhere in the nation with carved scenes full of wit and charm from five hundred years ago.  

Manchester Cathedral - the lovely ceiling and modern stained glass

The Cathedral can even claim the widest nave in the UK (ok, that involves a bit of jiggery-pokery) plus angelic musicians, stunning stained glass and the most moving poem carved on a wall in the North West.

Of course this needs a bit of seeking out, you have to know where to look, then you need the stories to give it all a bit of context. 

In August and September there are three public guided tours which solve this problem. Professional Blue and Green Badge Guides will lead tours lasting up to ninety minutes inside and outside the cathedral. 

The tours take place on at 2pm on Monday 7 November, Monday 5 December, Monday 2 January, Monday 6 February, Monday 5 March.

Adults £6, Concessions £5 and you pay the guide on the day. 

Pre-booking is recommended - telephone, call-in or email: Manchester Visitor Information Centre, Piccadilly Plaza, Portland Street, City centre, M1 4BT. 0871 222 8223, touristinformation@visitmanchester.com 

Pictures: thanks to Pew, pew, pew (click here) and Roostery (click here) both from Flickr.