23. Wells Cathedral

Where: Wells, England
When: August 17, 2013
With: Emma and Jad

The first day of my month-long-English-send-off, courtesy of Emma, was a day trip through the English countryside to check off two items in the Book. We rented a car from Heathrow, brought our favorite Lebanese along (Jad), and headed off for our first stop, Wells Cathedral.

The town of Wells was small and adorable - a typical Medieval English town nestled into the green countryside. As you approach the city (the smallest in England), the four, thick spires of Wells rise up over the hills to guide you into town.

We parked the car next to the cathedral and hurried inside as it started to rain - nothing like a good ol' English summer day - 60 and rainy!

Inside, I was again pleasantly surprised, on this, my fifth and penultimate English cathedral, to see just how unique each cathedral had been so far and continued to be. You would think they would eventually start running together! But no. The interior of this 900 year old structure contained thick, elegantly carved stone archways that cross-crossed over our heads in beautifully unique patterns. 

As we wandered the rest of the cathedral, there were several interesting things within the church. First, there was the world's oldest clock...with a face. (The oldest clock in the world- without a face - was at Salisbury.) Built in 1392, we were lucky enough to come upon it at the hour so we could watch the old figurines spin and dance around, chiming the bells that announced the hour. Just before the show, the church's deacon addressed the crowd, saying a really nice prayer for world peace, specifically calling out the conflict in Egypt. I thought it was lovely.

We noticed there was a walking tour going around and decided to "hop on" to learn some history. We were led up a worn stone staircase to a back room we hadn't even noticed. It had 8 sides covered in gorgeous stained glass and a high ceiling. The pillars holding the ceiling looked like palm trees, giving the illusion you were in some colorful, tropical forest. 

This room was used to hold important meetings of the top church officials in the area. Each official had their own seat, carved into the stone walls. Overhead, there were these funny little gargoyle heads. The carvers decided to have a little fun, as many of the gargoyles made funny faces or stuck out their tongues.

What cathedral would be complete without some cloisters? This one doubled as a cemetery. 

After we finished inside the cathedral, we took a quick loop around the town. The town was surrounded by thick, stone walls, complete with a moat for ultimate defense. Floating in that moat was a gigantic, plastic swan that our darling Jad thought might be real. 

While we wanted to do more exploring, we were on a tight schedule! On our way back to the car, the rain had stopped, so we took a closer look at the intricately carved exterior. It has 365 life-size carvings and is considered the most extensive surviving array of medieval sculpture in Britain. 

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by this cathedral. England never ceases to amaze with how different each cathedral is, and I'm glad I got to check this one off the list as well!

On to our next stop: Stourhead Garden!