In January St Wilfrid’s was commissioned to repair and restore the famous Sheffield Inner City Churches Cross.
The Ecumenical Cross is a massive (10 metre high) steel cross that is erected outside the Sheffield Town Hall during Holy Week as a public, ecumenical symbol of the Easter festival. The cross serves as a focal point for Christian witness and community prayer in the city centre. The cross stands from Palm Sunday through to Easter Saturday for Ecumenical public worship service. Volunteers from City centre churches offer prayer and conversation with passers-by during 11 am – 3 pm. A sandbox is placed around the cross, where over 1,000 “prayer sticks” are often placed by members of the public. On Good Friday a guided prayer walk brings worshippers to the cross at noon and on easter Sunday the cross is adorned with cloth.
Over a period of six weeks, clients, staff and metal workers rose to the challenge repairing and restoring the Cross ahead of this year’s Easter celebrations. The Cross arrived at St Wilfrid’s in a very sorry and damaged state – exhibiting many signs of metal failure / fatigue and damaged couplings. With a dedicated team working hard to bring the Cross back to its former glory, we achieved the task in good time
Here below is the story of this journey in pictures. Please come and see the Cross outside Sheffield Town Hall from Sunday 29th March 2026 . The Cross will be in the city centre, outside the town hall, from shortly before Palm Sunday until shortly after Easter Sunday – if the clients come to the town hall during Holy Week (this year: Sunday 29th March–Sunday 4th April), they will see it. Dominic Maloney
