163 Bristol, England, Bristol Cathedral, remembering slavery.

Formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity. What impressed me with Bristol Cathedral was their moves to commemorate, apologize for, and inform about the history of slavery and the important role the Church of England played in this  horrific exploitation. Some of the prettiest chunks of the church were paid for by money  which came from slavery two or three centuries ago, in particular through the patronage of Thomas Daniel, buried in the cathedral, who “owned” more than 4 000 enslaved individuals. Not only is this acknowledged, but the cathedral wanted to do a little something to apologize concretely. They managed to find the names of a few of the enslaved workers involved at the time, tracked down their descendants and allowed them to tell their story in an exhibition in the cathedral. When I visited this time, there was another exhibition on Black people’s links to the cathedral, way back.

There are a couple of hundred enslavers buried in the cathedral in all, but there is now also a monument to John Isaac, one of the enslaved workers.

It was great to hear that the cathedral did a survey and 96% of people surveyed said they wanted the cathedral to continue addressing this issue.

Twin towers from 1888. Lovely stone pulpit and another little wooden one; modern stained glass, too. There is a plaque to commemorate the first bunch of women ordained priests in this building. The cathedral has a cool inclusive rainbow service from time to time. It’s respect and unity gone mad, I tell you.