26 July 2026

‘Living Stones: English Cathedrals as Sacred Spaces in Changing times’ is a report produced by Theos, a think tank for understanding the Christian faith. It was based on a YouGov Poll of 1,300 cathedral visitors and qualitative fieldwork done across six Anglican cathedrals including Derby, Rochester and St. Albans.

75% of adults in England have visited a cathedral at least once in the last three years. This compares favourably with those who have attended a sporting event (30%) or engaged with a museum or gallery (41%). However,  this doesn’t extend to a sense of responsibility for sustaining cathedrals.

One of the most interesting statistics refers to what are known as Nones, people with no religious affiliation. One in three cathedral-visiting Nones  say they experience God through the calm and quiet. Spiritual experiences are mediated through art, music and the building itself which is also a work of art.

In the last fifteen years, there have been two major developments. The first is the commercialisation of the cathedral.  The importance of generating finance cannot be underestimated. They bring in non-religious people to the building but threaten to redefine the cathedral as an events venue.

The second is professionalization. People are recruited with specialist skills in administration, finance, education, events management etc. Most of them do not have a Christian faith and are not church-goers. The advantages generated by their expertise is offset  by the subtle ways in which the cathedral is redefined.

Of lottery funding, the report stated that, ‘We heard in several cathedrals how lottery-funded projects had influenced and in some cases largely erased, the religious meaning of spaces and objects in favour of heritage interpretation.’ In this way, daily worship,  the very thing that makes a cathedral distinctive, is down-played!