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The city of Wells gets its name from five springs, found just behind Wells Cathedral, that were considered holy in pre-Christian times. There was a settlement here during Roman rule, and sometime later a small Christian chapel was built. In AD 705, King Ina of Wessex gave land to the local bishop who built a church dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle. In 909 the church was enlarged and elevated to the status of a cathedral. The first bishop of Wells was St Athelm, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury.
Work began on a beautiful new church in 1180 just to the north of the old cathedral and on a better east-west alignment. The old Saxon cathedral began to be demolished by 1196 and much of its stone was re-cycled in construction of the new building. The cathedral was designed and built using the new Gothic style. This style is distinguished by its use of pointed arches, allowing walls to be raised to a greater height and much larger windows to be installed, compared to the old Norman or Romanesque style with its rounded arches and thick walls. Wells Cathedral was the first in England to be planned and completed entirely in this new Gothic style.
Wells is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in all of Europe. The magnificent west front, 150 feet tall by 300 feet wide, is covered with 13th-century stone carvings of people: apostles, kings, bishops, saints, angels, men, and women. The Virgin Mary is directly above the main door, while Christ sits at the top of the west front. Just below him are the twelve apostles with St Andrew, the patron saint of the cathedral, in the middle. The west front represents the largest gallery of medieval sculpture in the world. (Click on photos for larger views.)
The photo at right shows the nave with its unique feature known as the scissor arches. The scissor arches might look like a relatively modern feature of the church, but in fact they are of medieval origin. In 1313 an addition to the tower was built, but then the foundation began to sink and the tower began to lean and crack. A master architect came up with the ingenious idea of constructing a scissor arch on each of the three sides under the tower. Built during 1338-48, the set of three arches successfully redistributed the weight of the tower and saved the cathedral.
In the north transept is a rare astronomical clock. One of the oldest clocks in the U.K., it still has its original face over 600 years after it was installed. First mentioned in 1392, the clock's original mechanism has been removed to the Science Museum in London and replaced with an 1880 movement. It is a full 24-hour clock, starting at the top with 12 noon and midnight at the bottom. The inner circle counts the minutes. A third inner dial counts the days elapsed since the last new moon. The figure above and to the right of the clock is called Jack Blandiver; he strikes the bells every hour and every quarter-hour. The clock is still in use today: services begin "when the clock strikes".
Among the other noteable features of the cathedral are the "capitals", the carvings at the tops of the pillars. Each one tells a story from everyday life in medieval England. Scenes depicted include: a man suffering from a toothache, a boy stealing grapes, a cobbler mending shoes, and someone removing a thorn from his foot.
Perhaps the most saintly of all the men who have served as bishop here was Thomas Ken (1637-1711, bishop 1685-91). Ordained an Anglican priest in 1662, he served as rector in several parishes before becoming chaplain to members of the royal family, and then Bishop of Bath and Wells. A man of principle and strong conviction, he was one of seven bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II's "Declaration of Indulgence", the purpose of which was to allow Catholics to resume positions of political power in England. After strong expressions of popular support by the people of London, Bishop Ken was quickly tried and acquitted.
After King James II was forced to flee the country, William and Mary became co-regents of England. They began their reign by demanding oaths of allegiance from all persons holding public positions, including the bishops. Thomas Ken and others (known as the Non-Jurors; the older meaning of "juror" is "one who takes an oath", hence "perjurer" as "one who swears falsely") refused to take the oath, on the grounds that they had sworn allegiance to James, and could not during his lifetime swear allegiance to another monarch without making such oaths a mockery. Bishop Ken took this stand as a matter of principle despite his strong disagreement with much that James had done. He and the other non-jurors were put out of office.
(The bishops of Scotland also refused the oath, and William and Mary retaliated by disestablishing the Church in Scotland and making the Presbyterians the official state Church there instead. Thus, the Kirk of Scotland is the established Church in Scotland today.)
Bishop Ken retired to become a private tutor for the remainder of his life. The Thomas Ken window, shown at left, was installed at the cathedral in 1885, in honour of the bicentennial of his consecration as Bishop of Bath and Wells.
Bishop Ken was also a poet and hymn-writer. He wrote the text for the well-loved doxology "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow", which is actually the last verse of a longer hymn by Bishop Ken, "Awake My Soul, and with the sun".
A fine Anglican blog has as its banner this quotation from Bishop Ken's will: "I die in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith, professed by the whole Church, before the disunion of East and West".
This site has many more photos of the cathedral, including two breath-taking shots taken under the scissor arches looking up toward the tower. For more on the history and architecture of Wells Cathedral, click here. The Christian History Institute has a brief biography of Bishop Thomas Ken.
Wells is located about 20 miles south-west of Bath. Here’s a map.
Links to all my blog posts about British churches and Christian sites can be accessed through the box located at the top of the page.
