Dancing King Stories: Southwark, the Human-Scale Cathedral

When you visit London, especially for the first time or two, two great churches are on the must-see list – St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. And with good reason. Both churches are known for their soaring architecture, structural beauty, and the fact they are filled with English and British history. Right down Victoria Street form Westminster Abbey is another monumental church – the Roman Catholic Westminster Cathedral. London is a big city with big cathedral churches.

Southwark Cathedral is another church, smaller than its more famous London relatives. But of all the churches and cathedrals I’ve seen in London and England, it may be my favorite. Size has something to do with it – it’s smaller, more human-scale, still impressive, but the human eye can take it in without being completely overwhelmed.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Dancing Priest.

In the shadow of the Shard

I didn’t know, did you, that

Shakespeare’s brother

(his name was Edmund) is

buried somewhere on the grounds

of Southwark Cathedral

not far from the Globe

where Julius and Romeo

both had bad days with knives.

No one’s sure where Edmund

actually is, a short curtain call

from the rail station and the Shard,

the newest skyline drama

playing the London landscape.

But Edmund is there, asleep,

perhaps dreaming of the light

breaking through the windows

above, the windows around,

occasionally falling near

the sculpture of his brother.

Photograph: Southwark Cathedral on the south bank of the Thames, with the Shard in the background. Edmund was buried there in 1607 when the church was known as St. Saviour’s. There has been a church on this spot since the 600s.