£5751 was raised by subscription and of this less than £150 came from local sources, the bulk coming from the families of Lord Forbes and the Hon.

This was enough to build the chancel and one bay of the nave and the north wall to its full eventual length, to be consecrated on 10 December 1850.

Stained-glass to the design of Butterfield and made by Alexander Gibbs was added in 1876 to the east window, showing "The one seated on the throne" from Revelation 4:1ff.

Under its first provost St Ninian's Cathedral was a centre for advanced Ritualism in worship, which was wholly unacceptable to the Rt.

George Howard Wilkinson who had earlier retired as Bishop of Truro was elected to succeed him, and he engaged John Loughborough Pearson, the architect of Truro Cathedral to carry out alterations and additions, the work beginning in 1900 including a design for the Chapter House and Lady Chapel completed in 1908 with an east window by Whitefriars Glass.

[2] Former provosts of the cathedral include Edward Fortescue; he resigned in 1871 before he converted to Roman Catholicism.