Christ Church Cathedral (Falkland Islands)

Christ Church Cathedral
The cathedral and whalebone arch.
Location Stanley
Country Falkland Islands
Denomination Anglican
History
Consecrated February1892 (February1892)
Administration
Parish Falkland Islands

Christ Church Cathedral on Ross Road, in Stanley, Falkland Islands, is the southernmost Anglican cathedral in the world, consecrated in 1892. It is the parish church of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the British Antarctic Territories. The Parish of the Falkland Islands is part of the Anglican Communion. The Rector of the Cathedral is under the ordinary jurisdiction of the Bishop of the Falkland Islands; since 1978 this office has been held ex officio by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is both ordinary and metropolitan for the small autonomous diocese. In practice authority is exercised through a bishop-commissary appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and known as the Bishop for the Falkland Islands.

Cathedral interior

The Cathedral is built on the site of Holy Trinity Church, which was destroyed by the peat slip that destroyed part of Stanley in 1886.

The building was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield and built in 1890–1892 from the local stone and brick.[1]

The Cathedral incorporates a tower with a ring of five bells, 19th and 20th-century stained glass windows and a two manual pipe organ built in Ireland.[2]

Bishop Waite Hockin Stirling consecrated the new Cathedral on Sunday 21 February 1892.[3]

The Cathedral is in possession of the Garter banner of Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, which hung in St. George's Chapel in Windsor during his lifetime.[4]

On the South wall of the Cathedral (The furled flag at the back on the right hand side wall of the photograph of the cathedral interior) is a Ensign flown during the Battle of the River Plate by HMS Achilles a Leander Class Light Cruiser. A wooden plaque below the flag has the following inscription "One of the ensigns worn by HMS Achilles at the Battle of the River Plate 13th December 1939".[5]

In the front of this church stands a monument—a whalebone arch, made from the jaws of two blue whales. The monument was raised in 1933 to commemorate the centenary of the British rule in Falkland Islands.

Special services are held throughout the year at the Cathedral including those to commemorate Liberation Day (14 June) The liberation of the Islanders after the Falklands War, Remembrance Sunday (the Sunday closest to 11 November) and Battle Day (8 December) Commemorating the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914 . Church Parades are also held on each of these days as well as on the Queen's actual birthday (21 April). [6]

An image of the church is featured on the reverse side of all Falkland Islands pound banknotes.

See also

References

  1. ↑ https://www.outdoortrust.com/single-post/2016/1/15/Princess-Royal-supports-the-Falklands-Walkway
  2. ↑ https://www.falklandislands.com/things-to-do/christ-church-cathedral-p673891
  3. ↑ http://www.wondermondo.com/Countries/SA/Falkland/East/ChristChurchStanley.htm
  4. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-18. Retrieved 2015-11-17.
  5. ↑ Email and photos to editor from T. Ormond Museum Assistant - Reading Room F.I. Museum & National Trust Historic Dockyard Museum.
  6. ↑ https://www.falklandislands.com/things-to-do/christ-church-cathedral-p673891

Coordinates: 51°41′32″S 57°51′31″W / 51.69222°S 57.85861°W / -51.69222; -57.85861

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