Next Bishop Jocelin's Palace:
Everybody in book club who read "Pillars of the Earth" will appreciate the fact that Wells is the home of the Bishops Palace (Bishop Jocelin). The fact that they wanted great cathedral's erected at their seat of power is evident here. I quote the sign below:
The ceiling
The Quire
The bishops chair
Terry scavenging the left over clotted cream. Spooned it into an empty jam jar to take home with us for our toast in the morning. She is so thrifty.
"On the side of this lawn is the earliest buildings of the Palace. When Jocelin became bishop in 1206, a stream followed its natural course across the area someties flooding it.
To the north the new cathedral was only part built. It stood on the site of a 40 year old minster church, which had recently been demolished.
Jocelin used stone from local quarries and employed the skilled cathedral masons to build his Palace".
Again I quote the sign below
"The Palace Moat
Well springs rising just east of the Cathedral fill this moat around the Bishop's Palace.
Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury created the ramparts and the moat in the 1340's. He had little need to protect himself, but the defences symbolise his status as bishop.
The moat was also a reservoir of water for powering mills. Now that the mills are gone, the sluice here is the main exit for water from the moat. It controls the level by letting some water escape into the Chicote stream".
Two swan's and their babies live in the moat. We watched them for quite awhile. This big guy (I think the male) is very territorial. A dog in the area went down to the moat to drink and this swan hissed, squawked and chased the dog away from the water.
Perhaps because of the babies we discovered as we walked around the moat. He kept flying up and down the moat and if you haven't heard a swan flapping its wings to take flight, it makes quite a racket. Take off was like watching a stone skip across the water.
Croquet anyone. They are playing on the bishops lawn. Note the all white outfits.
The great Wells Cathedral (Church of England)
The Diocese: Quoted from a sign at the Cathedral
"The diocese of Bath and Wells covers over 1600 square miles, all of Somerset and South Avon and a small part of Dorset and Wiltshire. It was founded in 909 AD by taking part of the old diocese of Sherborne and the bishop's seat was placed in Wells.
Today is a very varied area with industrial and rural parishes and with a population of over 770,000 people. Some of the churches are very ancient while others are modern, responding to movements in population over the years.
The diocese is divided into three archdeaconries, Bath, Wells and Taunton and the diocean bishop is assisted by a suffragen bishop based in Taunton. With its 500 churches and thousands of people, activity in the diocese is always varied".
This 12th Century building and again, I quote "This has been a site of religious worship for over 2,000 years. Long before the birth of Christianity, the wells which can be seen in the gardens of the Bishop's Palace attracted men and women to pray and be close to their gods".
"For the Romans too, this was a holy site. the remains of a late Roman burial chamber were discovered here. Although this building was propbably Christian, it was not until the early 8th century that the first church was built at Wells. In 705 AD, the Saxon King Ine founded a church on this site. In time, that simple wooden structure would become the great cathedral you see today".
"Silent Witness: Wells Cathedral has stood witness to man remarkable events over the centuries. Its old stones have watched over 800 years of life and death, plague, rebellion, war and Reformation.
"The Cathedral has housed prisoners during the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, and played host to kings, King John, King Edward III and King Henry VII all visited Wells and in 1993 Queen Elizabeth II distributed the Maundy Money (small silver coins traditionally distributed by the Monarch on Thursday before Good Friday) here at the Cathedral. Queen Elizabeth also visited Wells Cathedral in 2003 on her Golden Jubilee Tour".
As an aside, according to Wikipedia, Queen Elizabeth has attended a different church usually a Cathedral every year of her reign with the exception of four times (reasons not listed).
I had thought they had all begun to look alike, but his one is stunninglly beautiful, the nave
and especially the Scissor Arches. "In the nave the eye is drawn to the unique 'scissor arches'. The simple yet stunning design, often mistaken as modern, was a mediaeval solution (1338-48) to sinking tower foundations".
Jesse's Window
The clock: "The Wells clock was installed circa 1390 and is one of the oldest mediaeval clock faces in the world. On the quarter hour, watch jousting knights go round in tournament". See my facebook page to see a video of this. The same knight has been killed for 600 years.
After the cathedral we had a nice "Cream tea" which means tea served with warm scones, clotted cream and jam. YUM!
As we sat waiting for our bus Terry was talking to a lady sitting next to her and she told us that "Wells is the smallest city in England" (there is one smaller in Scotland). Imagine this beautiful huge Cathedral in the smallest city in England. History is indeed fascinating.
1 comment:
absolutely one of the loveliest (catch that English word) Cathedrals you have photographed. And there was sun!!!!! A stunning place. karen
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