Cathedral in Wells - England

It was raining when we got up this morning, and then cloudy and cool, so we decided to do indoor things. The Wells (St. Andrews) Cathedral is close and sounded very interesting so we programmed the GPS with an intersection in town for a car park and set off.

It isn't that hard to find the cathedral and the Bishop's Palace, Wells isn't that large of a town. Actually, Wells can be called a city because it has the cathedral and it is England's smallest cathedral city with a population of around 9,400. Here is a picture of the square in front of both the cathedral and the Bishop's Palace.

Fun fact - the movie "Hot Fuzz" was filmed in Wells and we watched it when we got back to our home away from home here in Badgworth. We had fun identifying all the landmarks we had seen that day, including the square pictured above.

The cathedral and surrounding buildings are amazing and OLD (especially by American standards), it dates from about 1200. It is the first instance of gothic architecture in England.

One of the most amazing things inside is the double arch ("scissors" or hourglass arch) that transfers the weight from the south, where the foundations were sinking under the tower's weight, to the east where they are firm. Added in 1338 they are still doing a marvelous job. The design is quite striking.

Look how beautiful! One of the most magnificent cathedrals I've seen.

Here is a close up view of that double arch, what amazing construction.

There is a lot to see in the cathedral, take a free tour, but you should also have a guide book that tells you about a lot of interesting things that the tour doesn't cover. There is the "cope chest" which is still used to store the clergy's garments. It is so large it can't be moved out through any of the cathedral doors. Historians believe it is older than the existing building and was originally installed around A.D. 800 in the Saxon church that predated the cathedral.

The fan vaulted ceiling in the Chapter House.

I could go on and on about the cathedral but it takes a lot of time to load these pictures. Here is one of the Vicars Close (all part of the cathedral buildings), these are 14th century houses, and is the oldest continuously occupied complete street in Europe (since 1348).  We could hear lots of music practice going on behind those doors and windows, a flute duo sounded really nice.

On to the Bishop's Palace and moat which is just next door. Built in the 13th century it is still in use today as the residence of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

We first went for a stroll around the outside of moat and rampart walls.

There are swans in the moat. 

I wish we had known to bring some food for them, the swans swam right up to us, it is obvious that they are used to being fed by the tourists. 

The grounds inside the Bishop's Palace are really lovely, there is a lot of sculpture, flowering trees and plants, the wells themselves that give the name to the city, a reflecting pool, etc. 

According to our guide book the interior of the palace itself is dull but the grounds are the most tranquil and scenic spot in Wells. We will have to take that on faith, we didn't have time to see the inside of the palace, just the beautiful grounds. I thought we would have enough time to see the everything in 6 hours (that's how much parking time we paid for) plus eat lunch at the Fountain Inn , however, the next time we have to pay for parking when we're sightseeing we'll just pay the extra pound and park for all day (which was Don's suggestion and I vetoed him).