Church Heritage Record 636001

The origins of the Christianity on the Isle of Man are traditionally associated with the arrival of St German in 446 and his establishing a base on St Patrick’s Isle, off Peel. The original Cathedral is not known, but by the Medieval period Bishop Simon (former Abbot and builder of Iona) in the 13th century had built a new Cathedral on St Patrick’s Isle. By the early 18th century the Cathedral had fallen into decay. This resulted in the Chapel at Bishopscourt becoming the pro-cathedral. During this time the parish of St German was served by the small church of St Peter in Peel which by the turn of the 19th century had become inadequate for the needs of the local population. As early as 1841 Bishop Short had suggested a new church for Peel but the real initiative was taken by Bishop Hill in 1878 when he began raising funds for this purpose. A vestry meeting in 1879 accepted his offer of £1,000 for the building of a new church, after his original idea to restore the old Cathedral has been rejected. The site chosen by Bishop Hill was purchased for £505 from Miss Elizabeth Groves and Mr Caesar Corris.
The architect of the new Cathedral was T.D. Barry and Sons of Liverpool. The red sandstone is characteristic of Peel, though a more robust section of the same seam emerges in Cheshire. Some of the stonework comes from this Cheshire seam, for example, the internal pillars.
 The foundation stone was laid on 21st August 1879 and was opened as the ‘new church’ on 26th August 1884 and was consecrated as the parish church of Peel on 5th October 1893. Prior to 1893 it was legally a chapel-of-ease of St Peter’s. Bishop Rowley hoped the church would become the new Cathedral, but the debate continued for almost a 100 years before an all-Island vote of Anglican members chose St German’s from a short-list of 3 as its new Cathedral. The inauguration took place on the 1st November 1980. 

Exterior walls are coursed red sandstone quarry faced blocks with dressed stones to the quoins, door and window openings and other features are of local stone though the columns between the nave and aisles (alternating circular and octagonal in section) are of a harder Cheshire sandstone.

The main roof supports are of pine with the Nave and the apse having chevron planking behind the rafter. The Transepts are aisles are plain. It is possible that the transepts and aisles indicate an earlier design before the Nave roof fell in in 1903 associated with a storm that blew in the west window.

Large cast iron pipes throughout the Cathedral carry hot water associated with heating. There are two gas fired boilers in the basement

The Cathedral has been built to a cruciform plan with north and south transepts and aisles, two vestries at the eastern end either side of an elongated semi-hexagonal apse and a tower at the north western end. The walls are in coursed red sandstone quarry faced block with dressed stone to the quoins, door and window openings and other features. The main roof is to a scissor truss design with deep-arched-braces under, resting on corbels with three purlins in each slope. The aisle roofs are single pitch with purlins and braces on the outer walls taken from corbels and in the inner walls from pitching plates. The transepts have scissor rafter roofs with puncheons going down the wall plates. The main entrance at the north western corner of the building forms part of the tower, and has double entrance doors and quarry tiled floor. The inner doors connect to a glazed porch in the nave. The font is at the western end of the nave and has a square stone polypod front with marble legs and a simple oak and wrought iron cover. The columns between the nave and the aisles are in hard sandstone alternating in section in octagonal and circular form with varying style capitals upon which rest pointed equilateral arches. In the south western corner of the nave is a secondary access porch. The choir stalls replaced earlier ones in 1935. In the crossing is a carved Caen stone pulpit with ornamented panels supported by marble columns with a sounding board over. The blind arch fronting the north vestry in the north transept has an oak screen. The organ is in located behind the choir on the south side with access by a door that also leads via a corridor to the south vestry.

At the approach to the choir and apse there are black marble steps. The high Altar stands on a predella with a carved Caen reredos behind with inset decorative panels. On the south side of the Apse is Bishop Rowley’s chair and footstool which is surmounted with Diocesan crest.