Nottingham Cathedral

• Restoring Pugin Project Update •

✝️ For the first time in nearly forty years, Pugin’s great Cross is being moved.

High on the sanctuary, it has watched over us for decades: out of reach, and rarely seen up close. ✨

As part of our Restoring Pugin project, scaffolding has gone up, and our conservators have come face to face with it: carefully lowering it, and inspecting it more closely than anyone has in a generation.

⬇️ Swipe to see what nearly forty years leaves behind.

The soot of countless candles. The breath of every prayer. The dust of the city, settled into every fold and gilded leaf. Not damage, but a record. A century and a half of devotion, written in grime most of us would never get to see.

Where we can, we hope to give it a gentle clean in situ, though the heart of this work is simpler: returning the Cross to its rightful place.

There is something quite moving in it: the figure of Christ, lowered from on high and tended by careful hands. IYKYK. 🙏

Soon the Cross will return to its original height, where it originally sat on Pugin’s Rood Screen.

We’ll keep you posted every step of the way.

Nottingham Cathedral: all welcome, always.

📸 Restoring Pugin at Nottingham Cathedral, with

[ 🏷️ Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Nottingham Cathedral, AWN Pugin, Restoring Pugin, heritage treasures ]

It was the Diocesan Clergy Conference this week, let's pray for our priests!

You can read the full story here: https://www.dioceseofnottingham.uk/news/the-five-or-six-people-your-parish-priest-is-prayerfully-looking-for

✨ Our May carousel catch-up • Restoring Pugin

Work continues - and what a month it’s been. Here are just some of the things our team have been up to. Swipe through ➡️

⛪️ Up in the Lady Chapel, our conservators have been recreating 11 different stencil patterns along the beams - slow, careful, beautiful work.

✨ And the showstopper: 240 elaborate gilded stars, brought back to life.

🎨 We held three paintmaking workshops this month - one for the grown-ups…

❤️ …and two for families over half term.

🙏 The feedback said it all: “Amazing opportunity to learn for adults and children in a creative and personal way.”

☕️ And new this month: Places of Welcome - a warm welcome, every week, hosted by Eva. Whoever you are, whatever kind of week it’s been, there’s a seat for you.

🗓️ Every Wednesday ⏰ 10:30–12:30 📍 Cathedral Hall - all welcome.

📍 Behind the scenes, the team have been working out where our new information panels will go- so there’ll be even more to discover next time you visit.

🕊️ And Mark Pearce (Cathedral Architect) and Jane Hellings (Project Manager) shared the Restoring Pugin story with 100 architects and diocesan staff at a national conference.

Watch this space for more updates, and if you’d love to get involved, our Places of Welcome runs every Wednesday, with more workshops and events to come. All welcome, always.

With thanks to The National Lottery Heritage Fund, whose players make this work possible 💛

📸 Restoring Pugin Project Team

[ 🏷️ Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, Catholic Church, Catholicism, Nottingham Cathedral, AWN Pugin, Restoring Pugin, heritage treasures ]

✨ When the Lady Chapel ceiling used to look like that … but now it looks like this. ➡️

Swipe through for a peek at what’s emerging behind the scaffold: Pugin’s stars, the gilded “M” for Mary, and the team bringing it all back to life.

Every star, every rose, every flick of gold leaf - painstakingly done by hand, up a scaffold, often in a respirator.

That’s our Restoring Pugin project in one carousel.

The Chapel isn’t open yet, but pop into the Cathedral and you’ll catch glimpses through the archways if you know where to stand. (IYKYK 👀)

🗓️ Cathedral open daily
⏰ Mass & visiting times in bio
📍 Nottingham Cathedral, North Circus Street, NG1 5AE

📸 Restoring Pugin team

With thanks to - none of this happens without you. 🙏

[ 🏷️ Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, Lady Chapel, AWN Pugin, Restoring Pugin, Nottingham Cathedral, Catholic Church, Catholicism, heritage treasures, gilding, conservation ]

🎨 Half term plans, sorted.

Looking for free family things to do in Nottingham this May half term?

Join us at Nottingham Cathedral on Wednesday 27 May for Pugin’s Paints - a free, hands-on workshop where families can grind real pigments, mix natural paints, and craft their own paintbrushes.

Led by artist Alex Vincent Turner, the workshop is inspired by the colourful designs Augustus Welby Pugin created for our cathedral in the 1840s. It’s a chance to slow down, get a little colourful, and see the building through fresh eyes.

✨ FREE to attend, donations welcome
👧 Ages 7+ with an adult
🕙 Two sessions: 10am–12pm or 1pm–3pm
📍 Nottingham Cathedral, North Circus Street, NG1 5AE
🎟️ Booking essential, link in bio

Part of our Restoring Pugin Project at Nottingham Cathedral, made possible by a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.