Christ Church Cathedral is the main Protestant church on the island. It stands on Ross Road and is deemed to be the most southern Anglican cathedral in the world. It serves as the parish church for the Falklands, South Georgia, and the British Antarctic Territories. It is overseen by the Bishop for the Falkland Islands, under the auspices of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The cathedral was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield (1829-99) and built between 1890 and 1892 on the site of Holy Trinity Church, one of the victims of the peat slip of 1886. It was consecrated on 21 February 1892.
The clock tower, built-in 1904, was paid for by Orissa Dean (who died in Stanley on 10 September 1920), widow of George Markham Dean, a great benefactor of the island. It was to have been 125 feet high but, in the end, for financial reasons, it was only built to 90 feet. The Cathedral contains a number of service memorials and the colours of 2 Paras. The Garter banner of Lord Shackleton, KG (1911-94) hangs to the left of the chancel. He bequeathed this to the Cathedral. Lord Shackleton was the son of the explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton. A Labour peer, he presented a report in 1976 to improve the welfare of the island. This was largely ignored at the time, but his subsequent report, commissioned by Margaret Thatcher, following the war of 1982 was given fuller attention. Lord Shackleton’s Garter banner hung over his stall in St George’s Chapel following his appointment to the Order of the Garter in 1974. Interestingly his Garter stall was next occupied by Baroness Thatcher when she was appointed in 1995.
On the south wall is the White Ensign flown by HMS Achilles during the Battle of the River Plate in 1939. In front of the cathedral stands the Whalebone Arch monument. Special services are held at the cathedral, notably on Liberation Day, 14 June, which marks the end of the 1982 war, Remembrance Sunday each November, Battle Day on 8 December, remembering the Battle of the Falkland Islands in 1914, and on the Queen’s birthday on 21 April. On these occasions, church parades are held.
HRH The Princess Royal unveiled the second Commonwealth Walkway disc outside the Cathedral on her visit to the island on 25 January 2016.
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