Salisbury Cathedral
Interesting facts
- Because the water table beneath the meadows is so high, the cathedral rests on foundations only about four feet (1.2 m) deep.
- Building it consumed roughly 70,000 tons of stone, 3,000 tons of timber and 450 tons of lead.
- The tower and spire alone add about 6,400 long tons to a structure whose foundations were never planned to carry them.
- The medieval clock of about 1386 went missing after 1792 and was only rediscovered in 1928, lying in an attic of the cathedral.
- The west front, around 33 metres high and wide, has more than 130 shallow niches; 73 hold statues, seven of them from the 14th century.
- Much of the freestone for the building was quarried at Teffont Evias in Wiltshire.
- Peregrine falcons nested on the tower from 1864 until 1953, returned in 2013, and have raised chicks there every year since.
- The modern font by William Pye, with a vessel about three metres wide, was paid for entirely by donations.
- The chapter house frieze carves scenes from Genesis and Exodus; William Burges restored and recoloured it in 1855-59.
- The foundation stones were laid on 28 April 1220, with the Earl and Countess of Salisbury among those placing them.
Why it is worth it
Salisbury Cathedral was built in one go, which is rare for an English cathedral and is what gives it its calm. The foundation stones were laid in 1220 on open meadows by the rivers, after the clergy abandoned the cramped hilltop of Old Sarum a couple of miles to the north, and the nave, transepts and choir were complete by 1258. Only the cloister, the chapter house and, by 1330, the tower and spire were added later. The result is the fullest single statement of Early English Gothic, with its tall lancet windows and a unity of style unusual in medieval England.
The spire is the landmark: at 123 metres it is the tallest in Britain, and it was an afterthought, adding thousands of tonnes to foundations never designed for it. Christopher Wren was called in during the 17th century because the crossing piers had visibly bent, and the tilt can still be seen by looking up from the crossing. A guided Tower Tour climbs 332 steps to the base of the spire, where the original medieval timber scaffolding can be seen inside the hollow stone cone and the view opens over the Close and the Wiltshire countryside.
Two exhibits carry the cathedral beyond architecture. In the octagonal chapter house is the best-preserved of the four surviving original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta, which reached Salisbury through Elias of Dereham, who was present at Runnymede and later became a canon here. In the nave, the faceless iron clock of about 1386 is among the oldest working mechanical clocks in the world. The cloister is the largest in England.
Leave time for the Close outside. It is the largest cathedral close in Britain, a green enclosed by walls and gates and lined with houses from the 13th to the 18th centuries; Pevsner thought it the most beautiful in England. The cathedral is also the subject of John Constable's painting of about 1825, commissioned by Bishop John Fisher, who appears with his wife in the corner of the picture.
Getting there
The cathedral is in the centre of Salisbury, about 0.5 km from the city centre. The nearest airport is Bournemouth (BOH), about 32 km away. Old Sarum, the site of the first cathedral, is about 3 km north of the city.
Plan your visit
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Nearby places
- Stonehenge 12.9 km · stone-circle
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From the encyclopaedia
Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Salisbury, England. The cathedral is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English Gothic design. Built over a relatively short period, some 38 years between 1220 and 1258, it has a unity and coherence that is unusual in medieval English cathedrals. The tower and spire were completed by 1330. The cathedral's spire, at 404 feet (123 m), is the tallest in England.
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