Carlisle Cathedral The cathedral at Carlisle can be seen from many areas of Carlisle, especially in the city centre. Life for the cathedral started out as a Norman Priory Church in 1122, eleven years later it became a cathedral. It was probably built on the foundations of an earlier church which was ravaged by Viking attacks and stood as a ruin. During the reign of Henry I of England, what is now the cathedral was started by a community of Canons Regular following the reform of the Abbey of Arro