Friday, May 27, 2022

Wells Cathedral, 2022

Even after our fifth visit to Wells, it is still our favorite British cathedral: its great age, Gothic innovation, its great west facade, best in the UK, the miraculous Scissors Arch, the Chapter House and its pre-fan vaulting, its complete mechanical clock, the world's first such, and its many interesting quirks and facets. I've posted about it 5+ times:

but even with this fifth visit, we found new things to admire. So, after a few basic pix of the cathedral, I'll focus on those new things. For pix of the clock, the windows, more of the sculpture, see the posts above.
West facade, best in the UK, maybe best intact north of the Alps

Nave view

The west Scissors Arch; three were required to
buttress the subsiding central tower; work completed
in 1348

View under two of the Scissors, of the organ,
looking past into the tower

Stairs leading to the Chapter House

In the beautiful Chapter House; anticipating fan vaulting...

Quire

Remaining original floor tile

At the tomb of Bishop John Harwell, a sculptural pun on his name

New to us department: Wells' chained library; we've seen them
before in places like Hereford and Florence, but did not know
Wells even had one...and this day it was open and the librarian
was pleased to chat with another librarian...next time we'll try
for the chained library tour


Unchained books too

Just what you'd expect

Even fiction

In the cloister

A view new to us

And a view of St. Andrew's Well, in the Bishop's
Palace garden; Wells' wells are fed from the
nearby Mendip Hills


Through a peep-hole in the Cathedral wall

And, finally, an external clock face, no doubt connected
to the internal clock


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