If you are at all into early English Gothic architecture, then Salisbury Cathedral is a must see while in the UK. This marvel was begun in 1220 from the stones of the old Sarum Castle site and was completed 38 years later. It has since (of course) been added on to and restored here and there… but nothing significant. What you see is pretty much how it was originally. It is a gorgeous building.
I am not into religion at all, of any kind. It isn’t that I do not believe in god, it is more so that I believe that all gods ever worshiped by anyone did actually exist… but I do not give any of them the title Capital-G God. That is as far as I’m going with that for now. I say this only to show you that you do not have to be of the Christian mindset to enjoy a stroll through Salisbury Cathedral.
This place is huge and simply glorious to look at. Every nook and cranny here was carefully pondered and hand-made. The craftsmanship is just amazing. All those beautiful carved things everywhere will just keep your mouth agape for quite awhile.
We came with an Astral Tours group of about 15 folks, so the fee here was included in our package. I do know that the Cathedral has numerous tour options though starting at around �6 up to �20.50. Their website can tell you what each of the tours include. We opted to forgo a guide and wandered around on our own for about an hour.
The main part here is of course the church area. It is enormous. The ceiling is a real neck strain to see, it’s so high. Worth the effort, though. As I said, no inch of this place was forgotten in the design and the ceiling is simply fabulous to behold. As you are walking along ogling the walls and ceiling, do take a minute to look down at your feet. Yep. You see correctly. There are numerous folks buried right there in the floor. More prominent folks of the day have their own raised tombs surrounding the
center of the place. It is very cool to see who all ranked in this area.
In the very center is this kind of water sculpture that we didn’t quite ever figure out the purpose of, but it is pretty awesome just to look at. A bit mesmerizing, that.
While we were making our way around the various tombs and marvelling at the carving, an announcement came overhead to please stop and take a seat to join them in prayer. This was a bit annoying at first, but the truth is that if you are going to stroll around on their turf, then these things are to be accepted, right? So we stopped in respect of their request and used the time to admire more of the architecture.
Another very cool item on display here is Europe’s oldest working clock. It dates from 1386 and is just very neat to look at.
Aside from all this is a room that houses the best kept of the 4 remaining original Magna Carta. This 1215 document was the basis for many Constitutions elsewhere, including the USA. You can see it here in all its glory, and there are English translations for you if you’ve never read the thing and don’t already know what it is all about. You can buy copies if you like. In the Magna Carta room are also mini-thrones for all the folks who were involved in the thing, with short takes on who they were, exactly. Very interesting, that.
All of this is very wheelchair-accessible and fairly close together, making it a nice, easy stroll. There are plenty of places to sit and rest should you need to. Also, there is a good-sized restaurant on premises. We didn’t eat here though as our next stop on our tour was to be for lunch and we didn’t want to ruin that.
We did spend a goodly amount of time in the decently sized gift shop. Luckily, the things in here are not just all about the church, per se. I grabbed a metal shield for my cane (�1.75), a hatpin, a box of nice chocolates for Lars’ mom, and he snagged a hand-etched crystal whiskey glass from Scotland (�10.75) Beautiful glass! I might mention here that they have quite a bit of touristy stuff from Stonehenge also because they are so close in proximity.
Four Stars for Salisbury Cathedral, and I do recommend it to everyone, whether you are Christian or not. It is a wonderful place to stroll around and be awed by the gothic-ness of the place. As with most places in England, there is just a ton of history here…
