AN innovative new architectural feature which champions accessibility and heritage has been installed at Chester Cathedral’s West Doors.

The Pilgrim Porch has been designed by the renowned sculptor, Stephen Broadbent. It comprises a shell-like patinated cast bronze arch set behind the medieval timber doors of the Cathedral’s Perpendicular Gothic West front.

Donald Insall Associates is proud to have initiated the design and implementation of the installation to coincide with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

The bronze arch, hung with a pair of large and heavy laminated glass doors, is patterned with a labyrinth design composed of images of every church in the diocese of Chester. A digital installation in the cathedral will allow visitors to find out about all the churches represented in Stephen Broadbent’s labyrinth.

The Pilgrim Porch at Chester Cathedral. Picture: Donald Insall Associates.

The Pilgrim Porch at Chester Cathedral. Picture: Donald Insall Associates.

With the porch complete, the venerable timber doors of the West front can be left open, so that the cathedral appears open, allowing visitors views into the heart of the building.

Internal door handles cast in bronze form part of the door frame.

Shaped in the abstracted form of geese, these refer to St Werburgh, patron saint of Chester. An Anglo-Saxon princess and nun, Werburgh is said to have resurrected one of her favourite flock of geese after it was eaten by her convent steward. A badge depicting a basket of geese was worn by medieval pilgrims to St Werburgh’s shrine in the Lady Chapel of the cathedral.

The blue-green bronze of the porch arch matches the colour of proposed cathedral nave furniture while also referencing that of Stephen Broadbent’s The Water of Life bronze in the cloister garth and his Celebration of Chester sculpture standing outside the city’s Victorian Gothic Town Hall opposite the cathedral, and commissioned to celebrate its 900th anniversary in 1992.

The Pilgrim Porch sits on a new stone platform, designed by Donald Insall Associates which has transformed the cathedral’s west end incorporating new steps, handrails and balustrade and accommodates tiered seating for large events.

Its new position symbolises Baptism into the Christian faith with the entry into the Cathedral.

Tony Barton, chairman of Donald Insall Associates and cathedral architect to Chester Cathedral, said: “As architects, we are delighted to have the opportunity to collaborate with the Dean of Chester Cathedral, Dr Tim Stratford and artist Stephen Broadbent to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee on the installation of the Pilgrim Porch which will enrich the interior and further strengthen the connection between the cathedral and the city of Chester”.