Salisbury Cathedral, in Wiltshire, has the tallest spire in the United Kingdom, 123 metres, and is one of the masterpieces of English Gothic. Built in just 38 years, it has a remarkably unified style and is surrounded by the largest cathedral close in Britain, a great green lawn enclosed by historic houses. In its Chapter House it holds the best preserved of the four original copies of Magna Carta of 1215.
History
The first cathedral stood at Old Sarum, a fortified hill about three kilometres to the north, where the king's castle and the bishop's church coexisted uneasily, without water and battered by the wind. In 1220 Bishop Richard Poore decided to move the cathedral to the plain, near the rivers, and to found a new city, New Sarum, that is Salisbury. The new cathedral was built between 1220 and 1258, which is why it has a consistency of style rare among great medieval churches.
Between about 1310 and 1330 the tower and spire were added, weighing thousands of tonnes on shallow foundations: the crossing piers are still slightly bowed under the weight. The painter John Constable painted the cathedral several times in the 19th century, and the writer William Golding drew on the building of the spire for his novel The Spire.
- 1220Building of the new cathedral begins
- 1258The cathedral is consecrated
- c. 1330The spire is completed
- c. 1386The mechanical clock is built
- 1823John Constable paints the cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds
What to see
The nave
The long, light-filled nave is lined with columns of dark Purbeck marble. In the centre is the modern cross-shaped font, with water flowing from its four corners and reflecting the vaults and windows like a mirror. In the north aisle stands one of the oldest working mechanical clocks in the world, with no face, which struck the hours on a bell.
Magna Carta
In the Chapter House, an octagonal room with a central column and a frieze of Old Testament scenes, one of the four original copies of Magna Carta is on display, the charter sealed by King John in 1215 that limited the power of the monarch and is considered one of the foundations of modern rights.
The tower tour
The guided tower tour climbs 332 steps through the medieval timbers to the base of the spire, with a view over the city, the Close and the plain as far as Old Sarum.
The Close
The Cathedral Close is the largest in Britain, with houses from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. You can visit Mompesson House, an 18th-century National Trust house, and the Salisbury Museum, with finds from Stonehenge.
Getting there
- By train: from London Waterloo in about an hour and a half; 15 minutes' walk from the station.
- By car: via the A303 and A36, about 15 minutes from Stonehenge.
- By air: Southampton Airport is about 40 minutes away.
Nearby
- The city of Salisbury and the hill of Old Sarum.
- Stonehenge, about 15 kilometres away.
- The garden of Stourhead and the New Forest.
Tips
- How long: two or three hours, half a day with the tower.
- When to go: all year round.
- A tip: after your visit, walk along the river to the Harnham water meadows: it is the spot from which Constable painted the cathedral, and the view has hardly changed.