List of former cathedrals in Great Britain
Wikimedia list article
This is a list of former or once proposed cathedrals in Great Britain.
Introduction
The term former cathedral in this list includes any Christian church (building) in Great Britain which has been the seat of a bishop, but is not so any longer. The status of a cathedral, for the purpose of this list, does not depend on whether the church concerned is known to have had a formal "throne" (or cathedra) nor whether a formal territory or diocese was attached to the church or bishop concerned. Before the development of dioceses, which began earlier in England than in Scotland and Wales, "such bishops as there were either lived in monasteries or were 'wandering bishops'". This list, therefore, includes early "bishop's churches" (a "proto-cathedral" is similar).
A former cathedral may be the building that lost its cathedral status or its site, whether now vacant or not. The loss of status may be because that bishopric is extinct, or was relocated. Sometimes a new cathedral was built near an older one, with the older building then used for other purposes, or demolished. Such a building or site counts as a former cathedral. Where a cathedral is modified or rebuilt on substantially the same site in a series of developments over time, the earlier versions are not counted here as former cathedrals (except for cases where the original cathedral was totally rebuilt on broadly the same site but on a visibly different alignment, such as London's "Old St Paul's" and Winchester's "Old Minster" which are listed here).
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