Salisbury Cathedral

Alright now we're onto the cathedral. It was a lovely cathedral in Salisbury, and since it wasn't all snug up to all sorts of other buildings, you really got a good idea of how freaking huge it was!

Here's some background information for you:

Salisbury Cathedral was located just outside our B&B, and is considered to be one of the leading examples of Early English architecture. While most cathedrals take decades if not centuries to complete, Salisbury Cathedral took only 38 years, making its design very cohesive.

As a response to deteriorating relations between the clergy and the miliary at Old Sarum (which you'll see in a bit), the decision was made to resite the cathedral and was moved to its present place in Salisbury. Legend has it that the Bishop of Old Sarum shot an arrow in the direction he would build the cathedral - the arrow hit a deer and the deer finally died in the place where Salisbury Cathedral is now.

The foundation stone was laid on 28 April 1220 and due to the high water table in the new location, the cathedral was built on only four feet of foundations, and by 1248 the nave, transepts and choir were complete. The west font was ready by 1265 and the cloisters and chapter house were completed around 1280.

There is just a huge amount of detail crammed into every possible corner.

This gargoyle man was easily the most impressive. And that little bugger chomping on his face doesn't help. Ouch!
Inside it was super impressive. Crazy tall and spacious - pretty empty, too.


This water feature was tons of fun to photograph - reflections and everything. I only wished I had a tripod.

Salisbury Cathedral has the tallest church spire in the UK at 123 metres. The cathedral also has the largest cloister and the largest cathedral close in Britain, comprimising 80 acres.

The cathedral also contains the world's oldest working clock from AD 1386, and has one of the four surviving original copies of the Magna Carta. (I didn't take pictures of the former, and wasn't allowed to take pictures of the latter).



We did end up walking through the cathedral grounds again one evening as the sky darkened. I tried to take some nighttime pictures, but as I didn't bring a tripod I was stuck putting the camera on anything flat - rocks, benches, etc. So it was hard to get a good composition.

It's a beautiful cathedral though, and a great way to kick off church-seeing for the rest of the trip.