Salisbury

Well we left the lovely IOW to proceed on our journey with the next stop being the cathedral town of Salisbury. A fairly uneventful trip until we got to the outskirts of Salisbury and Doris lead us astray again but Peter has admitted that it might be operator error not putting in the exact address, so hopefully the last of these problems.

After arriving in the town centre we found our next accommodation but there was no parking near so we were directed to a car park just around the corner but finding a space was easier said than done. We did 3 turns in and out before we found one. By this stage we were hungry and decided to unpack the car after we had lunch and been to Salisbury Cathedral. 

Our lunch stop was an old fashioned pub called the Cloisters because it was right near the cathedral. It  is a Grade II listed building dating back to approximately 1350 AD. It had the dark wood and low ceiling that you would expect in a building of this type. The food was good and the owner very pleasant. After a lovely ploughman's lunch we set off for the cathedral.

From the time you approach Salisbury the cathedral spire dominates the landscape. As you approach you realise just how magnificent the structure is. The building from the outside is so impressive. It was hard to get a photograph that would do it justice as there were so many angles from which to shoot from. I took a few shots as did Peter and then we went inside. There were a lot of people visiting with quite a number of large groups following the ubiquitous umbrella. We decided to visit the Chapter House and look at the best preserved of the four originals of the Magna Carta. The basis of the Magna Carta was that everyone should be treated fairly and no one was above the law. The premise of the Magna Carta has inspired the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, the American Bill of Rights and the constitutions of many democratic nations. It was amazing to see something that was written nearly 800 years ago.

From there we went into the cathedral proper and as I wanted to do a guided tour Peter and I parted ways. My tour started after the 3pm prayers which were lead by one of the chaplains of the church. Our guide's name was Joyce and she started by telling us the history of the cathedal's conception and why this site was chosen. The original site which is now called Old Sarum was on the outskirts of Salisbury but while it expanded over time the site had a shortage of water and there was no more room for expansion so a new site was found on land the Church already owned by the river and on this land the Salisbury Cathedral was founded.

The foundation stones were laid in 1220 and construction began using local limestone quarried just 18 miles from the centre of Salisbury. The quire, nave and transepts were completed by 1258 with the rest completed in 1265. It is in the Early Gothic style so is fairly plain on the inside. The tower and spire were added between 1297 and1320.

A view down the centre of the Cathedral

As we moved around the cathedral Joyce was a very informative and interesting guide, adding anecdotes from English history that were pertinent at the time. The tour was fantastic and the highlights for me were many but a couple stand out. One is the Bumping Stone which is a stone that shows the wear from centuries of "bumping" boy choristers' heads as part of their welcome to the choir. It is only done gently in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

The Bumping Stone

The other one is that the foundations for the cathedral are only 4 feet deep. It then stands on a gravel and weathered chalk bed that is 27' deep which in turn is on a medium hard bed of chalk. In the middle of the cathdral is a square stone with a metal pull in the middle. Joyce lent down and pulled the stone out of its place and put a long dowel type piece of word with markings on it into a small hole. She lowered it in until she could feel bottom and when she pulled it out you could see that the wood was wet to a mark of 4 feet. This shows the level of dampness below the cathedral foundations from the gravel which the River Avon keeps damp. If the gravel dries out then there will be movement of the cathedral and this wouldn't be very good. The River Avon wraps around the city of Salisbury and it is this water course that keeps the gravel wet. A very interesting demonstration.

Salisbury Cathedral has been a source of inspiration for many writers. Thomas Hardy, Anthony Trollope and Susan Howatch to name a few. In the Starbridge series by Susan Howatch she lived in the close while writing the novels.  William Golding the author of Lord of the Flies taught English at Bishop Wordsworth's School in the close from 1939 to 1961.

Another interesting fact is that the Cathedral wasn't bombed during WW2 because the Germans used the spire as a marker and were on strict instructions not blow it up.

The tour was an hour but so well worth it. I left to find Peter and we walked a little bit before going back to the hotel for a rest and to get ready to go to dinner.

We had dinner in the Red Lion Restaurant and were pleasantly surprised at the quality of the meal. It is very nice here that most meals come with vegetables which are not an added extra. After dinner it was off to bed.

Tomorrow is Mompesson House and Stonehenge.