Wells Cathedral and St Cuthbert's Church

Please note this T-W-T was originally advertised as Wells Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace. Due to unforeseen circumstances we are replacing the Bishop's Palace with a visit to St Cuthbert's Church, Wells.

Wells is England's smallest city and the wells or springs which can still be seen in the grounds of the Bishops' Palace, are the reason for the original settlement of this area. The earliest evidence of worship is a Romano-British burial chamber, which may have been Christian. Over this a Saxon mortuary chapel was built and in about 705, A.D. King Ine of Wessex gave permission for a minster church to be founded here.

Wells Cathedral has been called one of the most beautiful and poetic of English cathedrals, begun about 1175 and was the first English cathedral to be built entirely in the new Gothic style. The defining architectural feature of the cathedral are its scissor arches, constructed in the 14th century as an engineering solution to prevent the tower from collapsing.

The west front of the cathedral has around 300 sculptures and is the finest display of medieval carving in England. The cathedral Library was the largest in England when it opened in the 1450s and is one of only four chained libraries in the country. The cathedral also contains one of the most substantial collections of medieval stained glass in England and the Jesse Window is one of the most splendid examples of 14th century stained glass in Europe. The cathedral clock is considered to be the second oldest clock mechanism in Britain, probably in the world, to survive in original condition and still in use.

Our walk will start in the Cathedral and then explore its associated buildings and precincts. Notable photographic opportunities are the architecture, scissor arches, quire, stained glass, chained library, and chapter house with its iconic "Sea of steps". The cathedral precincts include Vicars' Close, a unique 14th-century street built to house the Cathedral Vicars Choral, considered to be one of the oldest surviving residential streets with original buildings in Europe. 

In the afternoon we will visit St Cuthbert's Parish Church. It is such an impressive building that visitors often mistake it for the cathedral. St Cuthbert's dates from the 13th century and its 15th century tower is the third highest in Somerset. Other notable features are: 

• Remains of the 13th century reredos on the east wall north transept.
• Another stone reredos dating from 1470, based on the Tree of Jesse theme, in the Lady Chapel in The south transept.
• The superbly carved and beautifully painted "angel roof".  This was originally built in the 15C and restored and recoloured in 1963.
• A carved wood pulpit from 1636, with an elaborate stair and the carved coats of arms of Charles I, and Charles II.