Cathedral Treasures Competition – Second Place

We can now reveal the Cathedral Treasure that came second on our Cathedral Treasures competition.

The competition to find Britain’s favourite treasure from our winter campaign, #CathedralTreasures has now closed, the votes have been counted, and the winners are in!

Cathedral Treasures – The Results

Almost 4,500 people voted on their favourite cathedral treasure from the top ten finalists in our campaign that showcased 50 remarkable treasures and glories cared for and preserved by cathedrals in England and the Church in Wales taken from the latest publication Deans’ Choice: Cathedral Treasures of England and Wales by Janet Gough, OBE, author, lecturer and advisor on historic churches and cathedrals.

4,477 voted for their favourite.

And we can now announce that in second place is: The nave ceiling at Peterborough Cathedral

The Bakewell Screen at Derby Cathedral was our third placed treasure. You can read about that here.

Commenting on the announcement, Janet Gough said:

“So wonderful to see the cathedral treasure at Peterborough cathedral voted into the number 2 slot.

“Peterborough Cathedral, a 12th century Norman Abbey which became a cathedral under Henry VIII, greets the visitor with an extraordinarily powerful West front – also visible from the railway.

“Inside, its remarkable CathedralTreasure – the early 13th century painted nave ceiling – runs from the east end to the crossing and is the largest medieval painted ceiling in Europe.

“It is made up of 57 lozenge shapes each filled with a painted figure, from the Lamb of God to Luna (the moon) and St Peter – after whom the cathedral and town are named.

“I love the figures of the seven Liberal Arts, but most unusual is an image of a monkey riding backwards on a goat while talking to an owl – perhaps an image of folly which may be the key to the whole ceiling being a metaphor of good prevailing over evil,” she added.

Find out more about the ceiling at Peterborough Cathedral here.

Janet’s latest volume, Deans’ Choice: Cathedral Treasures of England and Wales tells the story of the treasures from 44 Church of England cathedrals and six cathedrals from the Church in Wales, each one chosen by the Dean or senior clergy of the cathedral featured.

Together the treasures span over 1,000 years of history with the earliest treasure, Ripon Cathedral’s ancient crypt of St Wilfrid established in 672 AD, the oldest building of any English cathedral still in use today, to the newest, the Newport Cathedral Rood, a modern work of art by Singaporean artist Tay Swee Siong that was installed in 2020.

We revealed one treasure every day for 50 days throughout Advent, we whittled them down to just ten based on the likes, shares and engagement throughout this social media campaign and launched a competition to find Britain’s favourite cathedral treasure from those top ten.

All participants in the competition go into a random draw this Friday to be in with the chance to win one of three copies of Deans’ Choice: Cathedral Treasures of England and Wales.