St. Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham — Visitor Guide & Things to Do Nearby

St Philip's Cathedral is an elegant Baroque church in the centre of Birmingham, notable for being one of the smallest and youngest cathedrals in England. It sits in its own tree-lined square, surrounded by the bustle of the city. The church was built between 1711 and 1715, designed by Thomas Archer in a style influenced by the Italian Baroque churches he had seen on his Grand Tour. Unlike the more restrained English church architecture of the period, St Philip's has a warmth and theatricality that sets it apart. The tower, completed in 1725, was the tallest structure in Birmingham for decades. St Philip's only became a cathedral in 1905, when the Diocese of Birmingham was created. Before that, it was simply a parish church, one of several serving the city's rapidly growing population. The building's greatest treasures are its stained glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones, one of the leading figures of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. These windows, installed between 1885 and 1897, are among the finest examples of Pre-Raphaelite glass in the world. During World War II, they were removed for safekeeping just before the cathedral was gutted by a German bomb in November 1940. The building was restored and reopened in 1948, with the windows reinstalled. Entry is free. If you're on a Questo quest through Birmingham, St Philip's is a stop where Italian design, Pre-Raphaelite art, and wartime resilience come together in a single building.