Taphophile Tragics

I came across this tomb tucked into a corner of St Andrews Cathedral and thought it was a very strange place to put a tomb. Turns out its not the real thing but a copy of the tomb of Bishop William Grant Broughton who built the Cathedral. The original tomb is in Canterbury Cathedral as the Bishop died while on a visit to England.

In the year after his enthronement Broughton began to build his cathedral. Macquarie had laid the foundation stone of a great metropolitan church of St Andrew in 1819 but Commissioner John Thomas Bigge had very soon stopped the work on it. Broughton enlisted strong support for his project, and Governor Bourke laid the stone anew near the same place at the old George Street burial ground. In the prosperous times good progress was made, but it faltered with the depression and revived only in 1850. Broughton did not see his cathedral completed, but used St James's until a temporary wooden church, the second on the site, was built in 1842 as the pro-cathedral. Broughton had some success with parish churches and schools, of which he was an indefatigable promoter. Although the Acts of 1836-37 gave material impetus to church expansion, Broughton's organizing ability and lengthy travels proved invaluable in a situation where the population was newly arrived and thinly spread. During his episcopate Broughton consecrated or dedicated almost a hundred church buildings on the Australian mainland.

There is much more about Bishop Broughton in the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

This is an entry in Julie's Taphophile Tragics meme.