Historic banner believed to mark Southwell Minster’s elevation to cathedral status 140 years ago to be displayed after conservation work
A Victorian banner believed to have been commissioned to mark a church’s Cathedral status 140 years ago is to be put on display.
The processional banner has undergone conservation treatment at the People’s History Museum in Manchester, and has since been used in two services at Southwell Minster, ahead of it being put on display.
It was processed at both the Patronal Festival Eucharist at 10am, and at Festal Evensong at 3.30pm, on Sunday, January 28, offering attendees a rare glimpse of the banner in action.
The banner is theorised to have been made at the time of the Minster's elevation to cathedral status in 1884.
In news of the conservation published by the Friends of the cathedral, Emma Frith, tutor to the Needlework Guild said: “We are delighted that our processional banner has been conserved and stabilised, due to prompt action from the Friends and the team at the People's History Museum.
“Thanks to a note found inside the banner, we know it was designed by two well known priest architects with local links, Ernest Geldart and Charles Hodgson Fowler, and it is our working assumption that it was commissioned at the time of the Minster becoming a cathedral. It is therefore especially fitting to be getting it back for our patronal festival in the year that we celebrate the 140th anniversary of the Diocese. Sunday [was] a very rare glimpse of the banner in use before it is put on permanent public display in the Minster as a valuable part of the story of our cathedral's heritage.”
The banner was found when Mrs Frith cleared the Minster’s storage cupboards and discovered “a large rolled up bit of fabric”, as she described in an issue of the cathedral’s Pepperpots publication.
It features the Madonna and child, with details in Japanese gold thread.
While it is believed time in the cupboard had helped preserve the historic banner, with its colours remaining bright, it was affected by dry rot meaning the specialist conservation was required and was funded by the Friends.
A plan for its display has yet to be finalised.
