Stavanger Cathedral is said to have started construction of the cathedral around 1100. It was finished around 1150: the city of Stavanger counts 1125 as its year of foundation. The cathedral was dedicated to Saint Swithun, an early Bishop of Winchester and subsequently patron saint of Winchester Cathedral. The church was initially the seat of the Diocese of Stavanger within the Roman Catholic Church until the Protestant Reformation. Stavanger was ravaged by fire in 1272, and the cathedral suffered heavy damage. It was rebuilt under Bishop Arne (1276–1303) at which time the Romanesque cathedral was enlarged in the Gothic style. In 1682,
Saint Alban June and he continues to be venerated in the Anglican, Roman Catholic, and Orthodox Communions. In 2006 some Church of England clergy suggested that Alban should replace St George as the patron saint of England. The Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius is also named in part after Alban. Every year, during the weekend closest to his feast day, St Albans Cathedral hosts the "Alban Pilgrimage", with huge puppets re-enacting the events of Alban's martyrdom around the city of St Albans. Besides his abbey, churches in England dedicated to Saint Alban include the former St Alban, Wood Street in