Did you know many of the festive traditions we take for granted started in the Victorian era? asks Judith Field.

Having a Christmas tree – with an angel on the top – was a fashion started in 1848 by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and ‘Nine Lessons and Carols’ started right here at in Truro on Christmas Eve 1880.

That Christmas, the city centre was a massive building site due to the construction of the new cathedral. ‘Nine Lessons’ was an innovation of the first Bishop, Edward White Benson, and took place in the large wooden shed that served as a temporary cathedral until the first phase of the new building opened in 1887.

The cathedral always has a beautiful Christmas tree and crib, but its angels can be seen all year round. Several are to be found in St Mary’s Aisle, the last remaining part of the old parish church of St Mary that was largely demolished in 1880.

There, you can see small angels in memorial windows dedicated to the Daubuz family, originally Huguenot refugees from France who made their fortune in tin smelting and gave their name to Daubuz Moors nature reserve.

Another angel appears in the St Mary’s Aisle altar piece painted by Frank Pearson - son of cathedral architect John Loughborough Pearson. At its centre is a beautiful Madonna and Child, and in one of the panels, an angel comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him in Latin “fuge in Aegypti” (“flee to Egypt”) with Mary and the baby to save them from King Herod.

A survey in 2016 found that one in three Britons believe that guardian angels watch over us, an idea reinforced in Christmassy Hollywood movies like It’s a Wonderful Life. The idea of angels protecting the working people of Cornwall goes back centuries: legend has it that in 459AD, the Archangel Michael appeared to fishermen at St Michael’s Mount to warn them of danger.

The theme of guardian angels is taken up in two of the most popular windows in Truro Cathedral. The first features the guardian angel of fishermen, wearing blue and carrying a bulging fishing net full of fish. Beneath the angel’s feet, a fishing boat sets out from Newlyn Harbour.

The second window shows an angel watching over mineworkers, wearing a red robe and carrying a pick and a Davy lamp. The scene underneath shows Cornish miners working at Dolcoath Pit – a location most likely selected to commemorate the terrible mining accident there in 1893, in which seven miners lost their lives.

Both windows were installed in 1907 and both were quite nostalgic at the time, looking back to fishing and mining as they would have been decades previously.

Angelic voices and Christmas carols go together, so why not treat yourself at this time of year? Free cathedral events include a special Family Service (Sunday, December 22, 3.30pm to 4.15 pm) and traditional Nine Lessons and Carols (December 23 and Christmas Eve at 7pm). Full details at www.trurocathedral.org.uk

Merry Christmas, one and all!