stone carving – greenbenchramblings

Welcome to the next cathedral in my Three Cathedral series of posts.

We visited Wells Cathedral decades ago and we remembered very little of it apart from a wide sweeping stone stairway. So when we returned in the autumn we looked forward to reacquainting ourselves with its architecture. We guessed where the Cathedral would be in the little city of Wells by following the wide street with its market right to its very end. The market stalls almost funneled us towards the cathedral gates.

Just before entering the cathedral grounds we came across this beautifully colourful National Trust shop.

An open green with specimen trees showed us the way to go.

Wells Cathedral is a tall imposing structure designed to dominate the city and its inhabitants.

A modern entrance had been added in recent years to give visitors a comfortable way in and to preserve the main doorway in. The use of green oak and matching stone ensured that the modern extension fitted beautifully and most sympathetically. the new entrance also carefully led us to a new cafe again designed to match. From every one of its windows we got views to entice us onward to explore.

The vaulted ceiling of the cloister walk has been sensitively restored to show its intricate complex web of wooden beams.

As well as architecture it is the craftsmanship displayed in our old ecclesiastical buildings that impresses us most. It is good to see them well preserved and carefully, lovingly looked after.

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Often when exploring church buildings it is possible by looking up, to discover carvings of characters. like this “impish” character below left. He looks like he is plotting his next trick. The wooden carving on the left was high up and hard to see in detail and he was part of an ancient complex clock.

Let us finish this first part of two posts about Wells Cathedral by looking at other characters we managed to find hidden here and there throughout the great building.

In part two we carry on with our tour and discover an amazing curved staricase and some modern additions.

Back at the cathedral in Hereford, we found colour flowing in through the windows even though it was a dull day. The stained glass windows seemed to capture the little light there was. The majority were typical of such windows found in any church building anywhere in the UK …..

……. but a few were very different indeed. These were of recent design with a original art work and a style and technique we had never seen before.

Hereford is famed for being the home of one of the most famous of ancient maps ever produced, the Mappa Mundi. The detail was amazing and it was hard to imagine that this was the work of someone’s imagination. How could it have been conceived? Other ancient books were displayed in glass topped cases.

The craft of wood carving is not left out, as we discovered fine examples on misericords and chair backs.

The smith was not left out either. We found these very detailed carvings on gates at the entrance to a walkway within the cathedral.

Our final craft we discovered was the work of the stonecarvers. These two dragons topped off pillars in a tiny chapel.

Once back outside we were disappointed not to be able to walk around the the building to view it from all sides but we were very pleased to find a courtyard containing this beautiful piece of sculpture and close by some intricate ironwork on a pair of gates.

As we returned to the car we found a few interesting buildings left in the centre of the city. A row of old cottages close to the Cathedral, the Victorian Public Library and an old warehouse now restored and extended to provide modern apartments. So there ends the look at the first cathedral in this little series.