1888 – Reredos & High Altar, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London

Designed by Thomas Garner and unveiled in 1888, the monumental high-altar reredos in St Paul’s. Cathedral was both a response to liturgical changes. The completed reredos was dedicated on St Paul’s Day, 29th June 1888. While Bodley’s partner Thomas Garner hailed it as ‘the most important work of the kind ever erected in England in the Italian style’ and the Cathedral Chapter considered it a fitting focus for contemplation, the introduction of the screen was not universally welcomed and it became a point of contention between different strands of Anglicanism. The future of the screen was decided on the evening of 10 December 1940 when a bomb penetrated the roof of the Quire. Although it failed to explode, it caused significant damage to the screen and High Altar. As published in The Building News, January 27th 1888

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