Another competition to get you visiting places around the British Isles! I was given this by an elderly aunt who wanted me to find the answers for her so that she could impress her local Mothers' Union; she decided against entering in the end because she couldn't bring herself to cheat!
I enjoyed it, and hope you will too. Bo Peep has kindly offered a prize - a copy of the CD 'The One Stop Web Site List - UK'. Fifty questions, answers to me by PM by 24 August. To avoid this being too long, I'll post the first twenty five questions here - closely followed by the rest on the next post!


Each of these clues describes a cathedral in the British Isles; some may not be classed as cathedrals now, but were once.

1 This cathedral ought to be “ship shape”; from the top of the tower, you can see that Great Britain certainly is!
2 The hornblower here is definitely not Captain Horatio, RN.
3 There’s only been half a cathedral in this border city since Cromwell’s men knocked down most of the nave in 1645.
4 This cathedral includes a French saint in its dedication; the choristers attend an internationally famous music school.
5 Where the Bishop’s swans used to ring a bell when they wanted feeding!
6 Don’t forget your waders here if it is raining on 15 July!
7 We are in the wet in this Irish diocese, but at least there is somewhere to cross.
8 This cathedral is used as a sign of good insurance.
9 The local saint sounds like a foreigner, and the cats aren’t all there in the sexist diocese.
10 This former priory was the cathedral for most of north west England from 1542 to 1847.
11 Look up – 404 feet, to be exact!
12 A nickname of the RC cathedral here might imply that American Indians have Irish ancestry!
13 Two great northern saints are buried at opposite ends of this huge cathedral of the Prince-Bishops.
14 The earlier cathedral was destroyed by a great fire; it had a spire taller than number 11!
15 Jenny Geddes threw her stool at the Dean here when he read from the Book of Common Prayer.
16 Services here are constantly interrupted by the noise of passing trains. In the time of Elizabeth I, only the laughter from Shakespeare’s theatre disturbed the peace – but this church was not a cathedral then.
17 Built partly from the remains of a Roman town, this cathedral and city commemorate the earliest English martyr.
18 No black puddings here, but there was the tomb of a saintly English king in the now ruined abbey.
19 There’s an imp in the choir of this cathedral, which once had a spire taller than either number 11 or number 14!
20 Its “Air” is famous, but the shorter version of the city’s name is deemed more politically correct these days!
21 The seat of the Primate of England – but not all of it!
22 Goldsmith’s Vicar could have been promoted by now!
23 “There was a young man of Bengal” – not so much a clue, more a sort of poem!
24 Crowds watched the spire of this cathedral lowered into place by helicopter where centuries earlier Peeping Tom caught a glimpse of a famous bare-back rider.
25 Charles Dickens lived here – but Charlotte Bronte had obviously heard of it too!