Three Cathedrals – Wells Cathedral – Part Two

Welcome back to Wells Cathedral. In part two we will be looking at an amazing staircase and some recent features.

The staircase is wide and gently rising and even more gently curving. They have a design that has elements of modern ideas.

 

Truly modern design exists in the wooden furniture used by the Bishop and his cohorts. Clean lines and pale wood create beautiful sculptural pieces. Fine examples of beauty working with function.

 

 

Another modern item is this fabric hanging in delicate shades of blue and purple. Every breeze adds movement and each fold catches the light.

 

In contrast let us look at a few of examples of work wrought by ancient craftsmen, in stone, metal and glass.

 

 

 

At the top of the stairwell we looked at earlier we discovered the Chapter House, a place of quiet and peace. Whenever visitors such as us entered this room they sat and talked quietly to their companions or else just sat alone looking around them. They looked upwards at its complex vaulted ceiling and the striped columns rising to meet it, or read the scripts found on the brass plaques around the walls.

We shall finish off this look at the cathedral at Wells with a few shots of its famous archway shaped like a number 8, which is called the Scissors Arch. It is beautiful and as far as I know unique, but there is such a simple reason for being there. It is to prevent the collapse of the central tower.

 

 

Whilst at Wells we wandered around the Bishops Garden which we enjoyed immensely. Look out for a post about it coming soon.