Salisbury Cathedral facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Salisbury Cathedral
Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Salisbury
Salisbury Cathedral from the north-east
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Location	Salisbury, Wiltshire
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
Architecture
Previous cathedrals	2
Architect(s)	Richard Poore; Elias of Dereham (possibly)
Style	Early English Gothic
Years built	1220–1330
Groundbreaking	1220; 804 years ago (1220)
Specifications
Length	442 feet (135 m)
Nave length	234 feet (71 m)
Nave width	78 feet (24 m)
Choir height	84 feet (26 m)
Number of towers	1
Tower height	225 feet (69 m) (without spire)
Number of spires	1
Spire height	404 feet (123 m)
Administration
Diocese	Salisbury (since 1220)
Province	Canterbury

Salisbury Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England. The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Salisbury and is the seat of the Bishop of Salisbury.

The building is regarded as one of the leading examples of Early English Gothic architecture. Its main body was completed in 38 years, from 1220 to 1258. The tower and spire were completed by 1330; it was heightened to 404 feet (123 m) and has been the tallest church spire in England since 1561. The cathedral contains a clock which is among the oldest working examples in the world, and has one of the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta. In 2008, the cathedral celebrated the 750th anniversary of its consecration.

History
- 21st century
Building and architecture
Depictions in art, literature and television
Dean and chapter
Burials
Music
- Organ
- Organists
- Choir
Cathedral constables
Peregrine falcons
Gallery
See also

History

Sculpture on the west front of the cathedral of Bishop Richard Poore who oversaw the early years of its construction, beginning in 1220; he is holding a model of the cathedral

Plan showing the double transepts with aisles and extended east end, but not the cloisters or chapter house

Salisbury became the seat of a bishop in 1075. At the time, the city was at the now-abandoned site of Old Sarum, on a hill about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the present-day cathedral. Old Sarum Cathedral was built in the years after and was consecrated in 1092.

In 1197, bishop Herbert Poore sought permission to re-site the cathedral, possibly due to deteriorating relations between the clergy and the military at Old Sarum. Permission was granted but the move was delayed repeatedly until the tenure of his successor and brother Richard Poore. A legend tells that Bishop Poore shot an arrow in the direction he would build the cathedral; the arrow hit a deer, which died in the place where Salisbury Cathedral is now.

Construction was paid for by donations, principally from the canons and vicars of southeast England, who were asked to contribute a fixed annual sum until the building was completed. The foundation stones were laid on 28 April 1220 by William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, and by Ela of Salisbury, 3rd Countess of Salisbury. Much of the freestone for the cathedral came from the Teffont Evias Quarry. As a result of the high water table on the new site, the cathedral was built on foundations only 4 feet (1.2 m) deep. By 1258, the nave, transepts, and choir were complete. As a result of being mostly built in only 38 years, Salisbury has by far the most consistent architectural style of any medieval English cathedral. The style used is known as Early English Gothic or Lancet Gothic, the latter referring to the use of lancet windows which are not divided by tracery.

The only major sections begun later were the cloisters, added in 1240, the chapter house in 1263, the tower and spire, which at 404 feet (123 m) dominated the skyline from 1330. In total, 70,000 tons of stone, 3,000 tons of timber and 450 tons of lead were used in the construction of the cathedral. Upon completion, it had the highest masonry spire in England and the third highest overall, after Lincoln and St Paul's. The collapse of the latter two spires in the mid-16th century left Salisbury's as the highest overall.

In the 17th century, Christopher Wren designed restoration measures to strengthen the central pillars, which by then had visibly deformed under the weight of the tower and spire. Significant changes to the cathedral were made by the architect James Wyatt in 1790, including the replacement of the original rood screen and demolition of a bell tower which stood about 320 feet (98 m) northwest of the main building.

21st century

In February 2016, the cathedral chapter placed Sophie Ryder's sculpture The Kiss (of a pair of hands) straddling a path on the grounds where it was to remain until July. After only a few days, the work had to be moved, as pedestrians kept bumping into it while texting.

On 25 October 2018, there was an attempted theft of the cathedral's copy of Magna Carta; the alarms were triggered and a 45-year-old man was later detained on suspicion of attempted theft, criminal damage and possession of an offensive weapon. The outer layer of a double-layered glass case containing the document was broken, but the document suffered no damage. In January 2020 Mark Royden, from Kent, was found guilty of the attempted theft, which caused £14,466 of damage, and of criminal damage.

From 16 January 2021, while closed to services during the COVID-19 pandemic, the cathedral was used to accommodate the vaccination programme in the United Kingdom, a day after Lichfield Cathedral became the first place of worship to become part of the immunisation plan against the pandemic in England. A selection of music was played on the organ as people received their vaccinations. In February 2024, the full exterior of the cathedral could be seen for the first time in 38 years after the removal of scaffolding that had been erected for extensive renovation works.

Building and architecture

West front

The western façade, with the spire visible behind.

The west front is of the screen-type, clearly deriving from that at Wells. It is composed of a stair turret at each extremity, with two niched buttresses nearer the centre line supporting the large central triple window. The stair turrets are topped with spirelets, and the central section is topped by a gable which contains four lancet windows topped by two round quatrefoil windows surmounted by a mandorla containing Christ in Majesty. At ground level there is a principal door flanked by two smaller doors. The whole is highly decorated with quatrefoil motifs, columns, trefoil motifs and bands of diapering.

The west front was almost certainly constructed at the same time as the cathedral. This is apparent from the way in which the windows coincide with the interior spaces. The entire facade is about 108 feet (33 m) high and wide. It lacks full-scale towers and/or spires as can be seen, for example at Wells, Lincoln, Lichfield, etc. The facade was disparaged by Alec Clifton-Taylor, who considered it the least successful of the English screen facades and a travesty of its prototype (Wells). He found the composition to be uncoordinated, and the Victorian statuary "poor and insipid".

The front accommodates over 130 shallow niches of varying sizes, 73 of which contain a statue. The line of niches extends round the turrets to the north, south and east faces. There are five levels of niches (not including the mandorla) which show, from the top, angels and archangels, Old Testament patriarchs, apostles and evangelists, martyrs, doctors and philosophers and, on the lower level, royalty, priests and worthy people connected with the cathedral. The majority of the statues were placed during the middle of the 19th century, however seven are from the 14th century and several have been installed within the last decade.

Nave

The nave, with William Pye's decorative font visible in the foreground

Salisbury Cathedral is unusual for its tall and narrow nave, which has visual accentuation from the use of light grey Chilmark stone for the walls and dark polished Purbeck marble for the columns. It has three levels: a tall pointed arcade, an open gallery and a small clerestory. Lined up between the pillars are notable tombs such as that of William Longespée, half brother of King John and the illegitimate son of Henry II, who was the first person to be buried in the cathedral.

Another unusual feature of the nave is an unconventional modern font, installed in September 2008. Designed by the water sculptor William Pye, it is the largest working font in any British cathedral, and replaced an earlier portable neo-Gothic Victorian font. The font is cruciform in shape, and has a 10-foot-wide vessel filled to its brim with water, designed so that the water overflows in filaments through each corner into bronze gratings embedded in the cathedral's stone floor. The project cost £180,000 and was funded entirely by donations. Some parishioners reportedly objected to the new font, considering it 'change for change's sake', although Pye argued that the majority opinion was in favour: "I would say 90 per cent are in happy anticipation, five per cent are nervously expectant and five per cent are probably apoplectic".

Tower and spire

The tower seen from ground level.

Although the spire is the cathedral's most impressive feature, it has proved troublesome. Together with the tower, it added 6,397 tons (6,500 tonnes) to the weight of the building. Without the addition of buttresses, bracing arches and anchor irons over the succeeding centuries, it would have suffered the fate of spires on other great ecclesiastical buildings (such as Malmesbury Abbey, 1180 to 1500; Lincoln Cathedral, 1311 to 1548; Old St Paul's Cathedral, London, 1314 to 1561; and Chichester Cathedral, 1402 to 1861) and fallen down; instead, Salisbury became the tallest church spire in the country on the collapse at St Paul's (as the result of a fire) in 1561. The large supporting pillars at the corners of the spire are seen to bend inwards under the stress. The addition of reinforcing tie-beams above the crossing, designed by Christopher Wren in 1668, halted further deformation. The beams were hidden by a false ceiling installed below the lantern stage of the tower.

The bell chamber is in the middle level of the tower. The bells strike the hour and quarters and are now operated by a Victorian clock, which is not to be confused with the better-known medieval clock that is on display downstairs. Salisbury is one of only three English cathedrals to lack a ring of bells, the others being Norwich Cathedral and Ely Cathedral.

Visitors can access the tower by taking the "Tower Tour", allowing them to climb as high as the base of the spire. From this level, there is a view of the interior of the hollow spire and the ancient wooden scaffolding inside it. There are 332 steps from ground level to the base of the spire, ascending a height of 225 feet (69 m).

Maintenance workers have sometimes climbed the spire, including to service the aircraft warning light and weather station at the pinnacle. The first 144 feet (44 m) of the spire can be climbed by internal ladders. The remaining 39 feet (12 m) requires climbing out of a small door and up the exterior. In 2010, Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton climbed the spire to assist the changing of the lights.

Chapter house and Magna Carta

The medieval clock

The chapter house is notable for its octagonal shape, slender central pillar and decorative medieval frieze. It was redecorated in 1855–9 by William Burges. The frieze, which circles the interior above the stalls, depicts scenes and stories from the books of Genesis and Exodus, including Adam and Eve, Noah, the Tower of Babel, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The chapter house displays the best-preserved of the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta. This copy came to Salisbury because Elias of Dereham, who was present at Runnymede in 1215, was given the task of distributing some of the original copies. Elias later became a canon of Salisbury and supervised the construction of the cathedral.

Clock

The Salisbury Cathedral clock, which dates from about AD 1386, is supposedly the oldest working modern clock in the world. The clock has no face; all clocks of that date rang out the hours on a bell. It was originally in a bell tower that was demolished in 1792. Following this demolition, the clock was moved to the Cathedral Tower, where it was in operation until 1884. The clock was then placed in storage and forgotten until it was discovered in an attic of the cathedral in 1928. It was repaired and restored to working order in 1956, and is now displayed in the nave. In 2007, remedial work and repairs were carried out.

Depictions in art, literature and television

Salisbury Cathedral by John Constable, ca. 1825

"Salisbury cathedral" (2018) by Stephan Wolf

The cathedral is the subject of a famous painting by John Constable. As a gesture of appreciation for John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, who commissioned this painting, Constable included the bishop and his wife in the canvas (bottom left). The view depicted in the paintings has changed very little in almost two centuries.

The cathedral is apparently the inspiration for William Golding's novel The Spire, in which the fictional Dean Jocelin makes the building of a cathedral spire his life's work. The construction of the cathedral is an important plot point in Edward Rutherfurd's historical novel Sarum, which explores the historical settlement of the Salisbury area. The cathedral has been mentioned by the author Ken Follett as one of two models for the fictional Kingsbridge Cathedral in his historical novel The Pillars of the Earth. It was also used for some external shots in the 2010 miniseries based on Follett's book and was shown as it is today in the final scene. Another mention of this cathedral was made by Jonathan Swift in The Travels of Gulliver, part II, chapter IV, making a comparison between its spire and the tower of the main temple of Lorbrulgrud, Brobdingnag's capital. In 1990, Channel 4 marked the official launch of its NICAM stereo service with a live broadcast of Mahler's 9th Symphony from the cathedral. The cathedral was the setting for the 2005 BBC television drama Mr. Harvey Lights a Candle, written by Rhidian Brook and directed by Susanna White. Kevin McCloud climbed the cathedral in his programme called Don't Look Down! in which he climbed high structures to conquer his fear of heights. The cathedral was the subject of a Channel 4 Time Team programme which was first broadcast on 8 February 2009.

Dean and chapter

As of 1 January 2021:

Dean – Nicholas Papadopulos (since 9 September 2018 installation)
Canon Precentor – Anna Macham (since 5 May 2019 installation)
Canon Chancellor – Ed Probert (since 4 April 2004 installation)
Canon Treasurer – Kenneth Padley (since June 2022 installation)

Burials

Notable burials include:

William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury, (c. 1165–1226)
Lady Katherine Grey, Countess of Hertford (1540–1568)
Saint Osmund, Bishop of Salisbury (1078–1099)
Roger of Salisbury, Bishop of Salisbury (1102–1139)
Josceline de Bohon, Bishop of Salisbury (1142–1184)
Robert de Bingham, Bishop of Salisbury (1229–1246)
Giles of Bridport, Bishop of Salisbury (1256–1262)
Walter de la Wyle, Bishop of Salisbury (1263–1271)
Nicholas Longespee, Bishop of Salisbury (1291–1297)
Simon of Ghent, Bishop of Salisbury (1297–1315)
Roger Martival, Bishop of Salisbury (1315–1330)
Walter Hungerford, 1st Baron Hungerford (1378–1449)
Richard Mitford, Bishop of Salisbury (1395–1407)
Robert Hungerford, 2nd Baron Hungerford (1409-1459)
Robert Hungerford, Lord Moleyns and 3rd Baron Hungerford (1431–1464)
John Cheyne, Baron Cheyne (c. 1442–1499)
Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury (1450–1482)
John Blyth, Bishop of Salisbury (1493–1499)
John Doget, Renaissance humanist (died 1501)
Edmund Audley, Bishop of Salisbury (1501–1524)
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford (1539–1621), nephew of queen-consort Jane Seymour
Thomas Gorges, (1536–1610) and wife Helena, Marchioness of Northampton, (1548/1549–1635)
John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury (1559–1571)
Edmund Gheast, Bishop of Salisbury (1571–1577)
Mary Sidney (1561–1621), writer and patron
William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke (1580–1630), politician and courtier, buried in a family vault in front of the altar.
Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke
Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke
Michael Wise (1648–1687), organist and composer
Alexander Hyde, Bishop of Salisbury (1665–1667)
Seth Ward, Bishop of Salisbury (1667–1689)
John Seymour, 4th Duke of Somerset (before 1646–1675)
Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset in the Seymour Chapel (1662–1748)
John Thomas, Bishop of Salisbury (1761–1766)
Edward Heath, former British Prime Minister (1970-1974)

Music

The Choir

The Trinity Chapel (Lady Chapel). The artwork below the window is a Nicholas Pope installation "The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit By Their Own Lamps", exhibited in the summer of 2014

Organ

Throughout its history, there have been several organs in the cathedral. Of particular interest are the two fine four-manual instruments, the first by Renatus Harris (c. 1652–1724), which was replaced at the end of the 18th century, and the current organ, whose present fame has eclipsed the reputation of the former.

The four-manual instrument by Harris had been installed in 1710. The abundance of reed stops was typical of Harris' instruments and bears witness to the influence of the classical French organ. The instrument, not only spectacular in style but also of good quality, had remained practically unaltered (beyond occasional repairs) for nearly 80 years, until it was replaced at the same time as the cathedral was "restored" by James Wyatt between 1789 and 1792: the Bishop had convinced George III to furnish the cathedral with a new instrument once the work was complete.

This organ, by Samuel Green, was presented by the king in 1792 and was installed on top of the stone screen, which, unusually, did not divide the choir from the nave, but rather came from an unknown location in the cathedral. The organ was later taken out and moved to St Thomas's Church. When the new Willis organ was installed, its distinct sound from 55 powerfully-voiced stops, directly in the choir with little casework, was quite a contrast to Green's more gentle 23-stop instrument.

The present-day instrument was built in 1877 by Henry Willis & Sons. Walter Alcock, who was organist of the cathedral from 1916, oversaw a strictly faithful restoration of the famous Father Willis organ, completed in 1934, even going to such lengths as to refuse to allow parts of the instrument to leave the cathedral in case any unauthorised tonal alterations were made without his knowledge, while allowing some discrete additions in the original style of the organ (as well as modernisation of the organ's actions) by Henry Willis III, the grandson of Father Willis. The instrument was extensively restored between 2019 and 2020.

Organists

It is recorded that in 1463 John Kegewyn was organist of Salisbury Cathedral. Among the notable organists of more recent times have been a number of composers and well-known performers including Bertram Luard-Selby, Charles Frederick South, Walter Alcock, David Valentine Willcocks, Douglas Albert Guest, Christopher Dearnley, Richard Godfrey Seal and the BBC presenter Simon Lole.

Choir

Salisbury Cathedral Choir holds annual auditions for boys and girls aged 7–9 years old for scholarships to Salisbury Cathedral School, which housed in the former Bishop's Palace. The boys' choir and the girls' choir (each 16 strong) sing alternate daily Evensong and Sunday Matins and Eucharist services throughout the school year. There are also many additional services during the Christian year particularly during Advent, Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter. The Advent From Darkness to Light services are the best known. Choristers come from across the country and some board. Six lay vicars (adult men) comprise the rest of the choir, singing tenor, alto and bass parts. In 1993, the cathedral was the venue for the first broadcast of Choral Evensong (the long-running BBC Radio 3 programme) to be sung by a girls' cathedral choir.

Cathedral constables

The cathedral previously employed five cathedral constables (known as "Close Constables"), whose duties mainly concerned the maintenance of law and order in the cathedral close. They were made redundant in 2010 as part of cost-cutting measures and replaced with "traffic managers".

The constables were first appointed when the cathedral became a liberty in 1611 and survived until the introduction of municipal police forces in 1835 with the Municipal Corporations Act. In 1800 they were given the power, along with the city constables, to execute any justices' or court orders requiring the conveyance of prisoners to or from the county jail (at Fisherton Anger, then outside the city of Salisbury) as if it were the city jail (and, in so doing, they were made immune from any legal action for acting outside their respective jurisdictions). The right of the cathedral, as a liberty, to maintain a separate police force was conclusively terminated by the Local Government Act 1888.

Peregrine falcons

Between 1864 and 1953, there were records of peregrine falcons being present at the cathedral. More arrived in 2013, and have been hatching every year since, with their nests on the cathedral's tower.