This Summer The Church of England has launched the #ChurchDoorChallenge – and here is our entry!
The Song Room was built in the early 1950s, but its doorway dates from 1681, as you can see if you look closely. So, why is this?
The doorway is the only remaining part of what was originally a bone house built in the 17th century.
In the Middle Ages most people were buried within the church. Yet it seems that by the early 1600s Bradford Parish Church, as the Cathedral was then called, was filling up inside. So it was cleared of remains already buried inside, with a bone house built next to the church to house these remains. It was then possible to once again have burials inside the church for a time.
The old Bone House was destroyed when the Song Room was built in the 1950s, as it was past repair, but its date-marked doorway was retained, along with the names of 2 churchwardens of the time – John Greenwood and Josiah Niccoll, as an intriguing link to its past.
The Song Room is the home of the Bradford Cathedral Music department, where the chorister and adult choir rehearsals take place.