So first stop Wells. It is England's smallest city and it is quite nice. It would be nicer if they stopped cars going down the main high street and it had a few less chain coffee shops and more independents. There is one bit you can have a coffee on a relatively nice area near to the cathedral.
Any how Wells is one of the nicer English cities and part of that is of course its smallness (it is like a small market town) but it does feel historic. It also has, in my opinion, the finest Cathedral in England. There was a Roman Mausoleum here and an Abbey was built in 705. The first Bishop of Wells was Athelm in 909 but building of the current church begun in 1175 and it is mostly the Early English style of the 12th and early 13th centuries.
I will let the photos speak for themselves.
My aunt passed away at the weekend so I lit a candle for her.
I didn't think I had time to visit the Bishops Palace and justify the £16 entry fee BUT it is included in by Historic Houses membership (lucky I checked!!) so woo hoo....
The Palace has been the home of the Bishops of Bath & Wells for 800 years. Building of the palace started around 1210 by Bishops Jocelin of Wells and Reginald Fitz Jocelin. The chapel and great hall were added by Bishop Robert Burnell between 1275 and 1292. The walls, gatehouse and moat were added in the 14th century by Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury. The Bishops House was added in the 15th century by Bishop Thomas Beckington. The great hall later fell into disrepair and was partially demolished around 1830.
You get some great views of the Cathedral and the gardens are more extensive than I realised.
Apparently the swans have been trained to ring the bell and then get fed.
So back to my car and seen on route.
I had 10 minutes so a quick sprint around St Cuthbert's a very fine parish church. Which I have always found strangely quiet. It is well worth a visit.
So on to Glastonbury Abbey. The abbey was founded in the 8th century and enlarged in the 10th. It was destroyed by a major fire in 1184, but subsequently rebuilt and by the 14th century was one of the richest and most powerful monasteries in England.
The abbey has had long association with the legend of King Arthur and some legends have it that the abbey was founded by Joseph of Arimathea. The tomb of Arthur and Guinevere was "found" in 1191 just after a fire had devastated the church in 1184... odd timing that.
Glastonbury is an "odd" place. Shall we say unconventional.
With the sun shining I found a garden, a seat and read some of my book chilling out :)
No comments:
Post a Comment