Liverpool Cathedral

A competition in 1903 was won by Giles Gilbert Scott, who was twenty-two, a student, and a Roman Catholic designing an Anglican cathedral, which caused some difficulty; he worked on it for the rest of his life and died in 1960, and it was completed in 1978, seventy-four years after the foundation stone. It is the longest cathedral in the world at about 189 metres and the largest in Britain by volume, built in red sandstone from a quarry in Woolton. The tower is 101 metres and holds the highest and heaviest ringing peal of bells anywhere, the tenor weighing over four tonnes. The central space under the tower is a single enormous volume rather than a crossing. The Metropolitan Cathedral, a completely different modernist building of 1967, stands at the other end of Hope Street.

What you actually see

• The scale - the longest cathedral in the world and the largest in Britain.
• The bells - the highest and heaviest ringing peal anywhere, at 101 metres.
• The tower climb - lifts and stairs to a roof view over the Mersey.
• Hope Street - a road with a cathedral at each end, of opposite styles.

When to go

Year-round; entry is free and the building opens daily. The tower is ticketed and closes in high wind. Services and concerts use the central space and occasionally restrict access.

Honest expectations

The building is twentieth-century Gothic revival, not medieval, and readers expecting age will not find it. The interior is vast and can feel cold and empty. The tower involves two lifts and 108 steps, and the queue builds at weekends.

Nearby

The Metropolitan Cathedral is at the far end of Hope Street; the Georgian Quarter lies between.