THE Bishop of Blackburn, Julian Henderson, has laid the foundation stone for the £6 million centrepiece of the town’s new £33 million Cathedral Quarter.

The £6 million clergy court will be the first suite of residential buildings complete with cloister garden at a major Church of England complex for 600 years.

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On a misty day, Bishop Julian used a trowel to place the cement as the stone was lowered on to a plinth. He then used a mallet to tap the inscribed stone from a Longridge quarry.

He was watched by civic and county dignitaries, including Blackburn with Darwen mayor Alan Cottam and Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire Lord Shuttleworth, as well as clergy from the diocese and members of the congregation.

The trowel was handed to the bishop by cathedral architect James Sanderson. And the mallet was handed to the bishop by John Clarke, managing director of John Turner Construction Group which is building Cathedral Court.

Earlier, at choral evensong, the Dean of Blackburn, Christopher Armstrong, said the plans for Cathedral Court had been 14 years in the making.

He said: “We are delighted to have reached this milestone and we are indebted to the vision of William Temple, Bishop of Manchester, who was responsible for creating the Diocese of Blackburn in 1926.”

Cathedral Court will provide a library, refectory, conference room, an enclosed cloister garden, underground car park for 50 cars, four townhouses for the dean, cathedral canons and the director of music, six apartments for cathedral staff, and six accommodation units for organ and choir scholars. Building is due to be completed by October.

Maureen Bateson, the borough council’s regeneration boss, said: “The laying of the memorial stone within the forthcoming clergy court marks the beginning of one of the final phases within the development of the Cathedral Quarter and the continuing transformation of the town centre.”