The Great Cathedrals of the Southwest by Dr Emma J. Wells

We begin, admiring at Britain’s tallest spire which rises uncluttered out of the Wiltshire countryside, some 8 miles from Stonehenge, in Salisbury—and for those brave enough to journey up it to the heavens, just a few moments inside this early Gothic masterpiece will reveal why it holds a reputation as one of England’s greatest treasures and an icon of our nation’s history. The beauty waiting to be discovered throughout this entire church, one of the most quintessential and homogeneous models of the Early English Gothic style, is incomparable; we even manage a glimpse of a facsimile of one of only four remaining engrossments (copies) of Magna Carta dated to 1215, in the cathedral’s chapter house—which we will visit towards the end of our time here and are even treated to a peek inside the cupboard in which the original document was housed.

Medieval cathedrals were never really finished. While Salisbury’s architecture appears serene and ethereal, a glimpse behind the scenes reveals centuries of improvised engineering designed to resist later plans which came close to pulling the entire building apart. The high tower and spire were an afterthought of the 1320s. But the tremendous weight bearing down began to distort and crack the internal stone skeleton.

To the rescue came leading West-Country master mason William Joy, who began a series of experimental reinforcements. Greatest of all were Joy’s ingenious strainer arches which, like half-moons appearing through a masonry sky, acted as internal scaffolding to distribute the force pushing downwards—and became a prototype for the famous angry owl eyes at nearby Wells, which we will stare into tomorrow.

The afternoon takes to the south-east corner of the walled city of Winchester—an outstanding example of all the main phases of English Norman and Gothic design—the capital of Anglo-Saxon Wessex and seat of the king’s court, as well as the main burial place of the royal line of Wessex (and, henceforth, of England’s kings until the Norman Conquest).

Bishop Walkelin, on his appointment, immediately began constructing a new Norman cathedral in the late eleventh century, now the longest medieval cathedral in Europe. From the intricately decorated fourteenth-century oak choir stalls adorned with beasties, contortioned figures and frolicking animals, to the exquisite architectural designs of the seven late medieval chantry chapels, which Winchester is so well known for, we get to know every inch of this breathtaking sacred site.

Thus, we end our journey in “the most poetic of the English Cathedrals”. Set in the heart of England’s smallest city, the history of Wells Cathedral is a story of tragedy and ingenuity. In 1180, Bishop Reginald de Bohun brought the idea of a revolutionary architectural style from France, and construction began on the Gothic structure. It featured numerous carved statues that depicted the biblical history of the world – the most heavily-decorated cathedral front in the world at the time.

And staring back towards you as you enter the great church are those enormous angry owl eyes—this bestial ingenuity are again mason William Joy’s effective remedy to another weakening tower and now one of the most memorable sights of all English architecture, propelling the mason and his risky yet inventive design to international prodigy status. We will unravel why, as we again journey heavenwards up the tower, through the pages of the chained library and upon the iconic West Front, during our time here.

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