Editor Pick
Stunning Architecture in Wells
- July 18, 2009
- Rated 3 of 5 by
eilidhcatriona from London, United Kingdom
Wells Cathedral is located in the city of Wells in Somerset – which proudly calls itself the smallest city in England, it is in fact the cathedral which makes it a city. The current cathedral building was started in 1180 and was more or less in its present form when Henry VIII came to the throne of England.
The cathedral is open to visitors every day of the week, 7am to 7pm April to September, and 7am to 6pm October to March. There is no admission fee, but they ask for donations, with the suggested donation for an adult being £5. This is because the maintenance and running costs of the cathedral can amount to £3000 per day.
I visited with my parents in June 2009, on a Saturday. I should point out at this point that neither I nor my parents are religious, and I sometimes find myself feeling uneasy in religious buildings – I don’t mean that in an offensive way, I respect those with religious beliefs but as I choose not to, I sometimes feel out of place in places of worship. However, I had enjoyed my visit to Westminster Abbey last summer, so I thought I would enjoy Wells Cathedral.
The architecture in the cathedral is beautiful. The main section, where services take place is stunning, with a high roof and columns along the side. At the end are the scissor arches, which are, oddly enough, arches shaped like scissors. Thinking about the times when cathedrals like this were built (pre-16th century), it amazes me to see the craftsmanship and also the scale of the building. It makes you wonder how they did it. But then, you can take that further and look at the pyramids – that really is amazing construction.
We walked along the length the cathedral, past the altar. At the sides there are places where you can light a candle – which is one thing I do like about churches and cathedrals. I do however always have an overwhelming urge to blow out candles when I see them, no matter where – fortunately I have always managed to hold it back in churches.
The altar itself had an attractive mural-cloth on it. It was in bright colours and depicted some fish, which may have been relevant to the Christian calendar at the time of our visit. Interestingly, there were display cases around the outer walls displaying several other altar cloths, presumably for different times of year – there was a Christmas one. They were all designed by the same person, and they were very nice and really quite arty and clever.
At the rear of the cathedral there are various tombs and small chapels for prayer and reflection. There are also some attractive stained glass windows – another thing which amazes me about these buildings, the intricacy of the stained glass. There is a book of remembrance on display, with a page for every day of the year showing names and messages.
Despite the architectural beauty of the cathedral, I didn’t feel at ease there, and was itching to get out. I’m not sure why, perhaps because it was so obviously a place of worship whereas somewhere like Westminster Abbey also celebrates monarchs, literary figures, musicians and great leaders such as Churchill. Wells Cathedral really is beautiful, but it wasn’t for me.
There is fairly new extension which houses the gift shop and café. Even it is a very attractive building! We didn’t go into the gift shop, but it was a reasonable size and would be of interest to anyone wanting to pick up some souvenirs or reading material about the history of the cathedral.
We went up to the café, which all in all was not a good experience. We had my mum’s wheelchair, so we took the lift. If you decide to visit the cathedral, DO NOT TAKE THE LIFT TO THE CAFÉ UNLESS IT IS UNAVOIDABLE. It is not easy to use. You have to hold down a button and stand a certain distance from the door or it will get stuck. We got stuck before we figured it out, and we saw a number of elderly visitors getting stuck and a little distressed.
We got to the café, my mum found a table and my dad and I went to get food and drinks – it is counter service. The first thing we noticed was how rude an awful lot of the other customers were. That of course is no reflection on the café itself, but the number of older women who pushed in front of us in the queue, and then pushed their chairs in front of my dad when he was carrying a tray with hot drinks was unbelievable. I may be stereotyping, but I would expect customers at a cathedral café to be polite and well mannered. We eventually stuck our elbows out and got served by the staff, who, in contrast, were very polite and helpful. We had two paninis between the three of us, two coffees and a water. The total cost was around £13, which isn’t too bad. The paninis were nice, and served with a small salad.
After that visit to the café, we were quite glad to get out of the cathedral. It’s a shame the other customers were so rude, because it was a nice and clean café, the food was fine and the staff were friendly.
Wells Cathedral is a beautiful place, even though I felt out of place there. There is a lot of interesting history to learn, and stunning architecture to look at. I was disappointed with the café as I felt unable to relax, but perhaps we were just unfortunate on the day we visited. The cathedral is definitely worth a visit if you are in Wells.
From journal A Weekend in Somerset