THE BAPTISTRY

To the left of the vestibule is the Baptistery, which used to be the former choir robing room, then it became the Alexander Chapel and is now a Baptistery in memory of Mrs. Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), who lived in the City for 28 years as wife of the Bishop of Derry. William Alexander (1824-1911). The font in the middle of the Baptistery is dated 1747 and the silver insert was presented by Mrs. Macrory in memory of her brother in 1946. The stained glass window to the west is in memory of Mrs. Dorothea King, wife of Dean Richard King who died in 1940. The other stained glass window in the north waIl is in memory of Mrs. Alexander, the famous hymn writer and depicts three of her famous hymns ie 'There is a Green Hill', 'Once in Royal David's City' and 'The Golden Gates are lifted up'. On the walls are two tablets, one a hymn written by Mrs. Alexander for the building of the Chancel in 1887 and the other is an epitaph to the Rev. Robert Higinbotham who died in 1857 of a fever contracted while ministering to the sick. He had been a fellow curate in the Cathedral at the same time as Bishop Alexander in 1850.