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Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire

Salisbury and its cathedral were originally located a few miles north of its present position at Old Sarum. This site had grown up within the ramparts of a huge Iron Age hill fort. In the early thirteenth century the practical disadvantages of Old Sarum's high and exposed position began to tell. Then Sarum's religious and military authorities fell out, which gave impetus to plans to move the cathedral. By 1220 it had been decided to move Sarum's cathedral and indeed the entire town, down the hill to a new location at Salisbury. The new cathedral's foundation stone was laid in April 1220, and work continued for the next thirty eight years. The town followed its cathedral, and Old Sarum was left abandoned. But even though the cathedral had left its symbolic position within protective ramparts, the ancient parallels between buildings built for physical and spiritual security continued in the new Salisbury Cathedral. Just as the castle at Old Sarum had played a dual role as fortification and church, so the new cathedral continued this duality. Fortified gates, using stone from Old Sarum, were built at the entrance to Cathedral Close. These fortified gates can still be seen in Salisbury today.

Salisbury Cathedral's gothic architecture has itself also been described in terms of military symbolism. G.K. Chesterton, in describing similar gothic architecture at Lincoln Cathedral, has written: "The truth about Gothic is, first that it is alive, and second that it is on the march. It is the Church Militant... All its spires are spears at rest; and all its stones are stones asleep in a catapult. In that instant of illusion I could hear the arches clash like swords as they crossed each other. The mighty and numberless columns seemed to go swinging by like the huge feet of imperial elephants. The graven foliage wreathed and blew like banners going into battle; the silence was deafening with all the mingled sounds of the military march... And amid all the noise I seemed to hear the voice of a man shouting in the midst like one ordering regiments hither and thither in the fight; the voice of a great half-military master builder; the architect of spears." (From A Miscellany of Men by G.K. Chesterton. Quoted in The Plantagenets by John Harvey P92)

Chesterton's architect of spears built Salisbury Cathedral with a spire 404 feet high, the highest in Britain. Special modifications had to be made to withstand the structure's massive weight. Tower tours are provided. John Constable painted a famous view of the cathedral in 1825, the spire serving perhaps to emphasise the skies he loved to paint.

Salisbury Cathedral is also home to the world's oldest working mechanical clock dating to 1386. This ancient clock works by ringing out the hours on a bell - the word clock comes from the Latin word meaning "bell." The cathedral also keeps one of four surviving copies of the Magna Carta.

 

 

Entrance to Cathedral Close

Directions: Salisbury Cathedral stands in Cathedral Close in the centre of Salisbury. Click here for an interactive map centred on Salisbury Cathedral.

Opening times: Open daily, 7.15am - 6.15pm. Extended opening to 7.15pm on weekdays, 8th June to 31st August.

Opening times may vary, especially around Easter and Christmas.

Access: There is wheelchair access throughout the cathedral, but not in the tower.

Contact:

telephone: 01722 555120

infoline: 01722 555113

to book tower tours: 01722 555156

e-mail: visitors@salcath.co.uk