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Somerset Historic Environment Record

15381

Site Name:	Wells Cathedral
Civil Parish:	Wells
Comprises:	PRN 12291 Excavation (1987-1989), Wells Cathedral West Front, Wells
	PRN 14333 Evaluation (2005, 2006), the Chapter House and Undercroft, Wells Cathedral, Wells
	PRN 15113 Excavation (1978-80), Wells Cathedral, The Camery
	PRN 16135 Possible Romano-British mausoleum, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 20308 Cathedral Church of St Andrew, Chapter House and Cloisters, Cathedral Green (east side), Wells
	PRN 20425 Excavation (1989), Camery, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26689 The Lady Chapel-by-the-Cloister, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26690 Stillington's Chapel, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26691 The cloisters, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26692 The Camery, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26693 The Chapter House, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26694 Watching brief (2005, 2006), the Masons' Yard, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 26696 The water distribution systems, Wells Cathedral
	PRN 28240 Watching brief (2009), Wells Cathedral, Wells
Grid Ref:	ST 551 459 (ST 54 NE)
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Image:
	HER 15381 - Photo by Somerset County Council (November 1986)

Public access:

As far as we are aware this site is open to the public at certain times. [Information last updated on 02 September 2003]

Details:

Wells (Wielea) is first mentioned in a charter of 766, in which Cynewulf, king of Wessex, endowed St Andrew's Minster beside 'the great spring' with an additional eleven hides of land. Wells and its church are not mentioned again until 909, when diocesan reorganization took place once again. Three new see were created: Wells, Ramsbury (Wiltshire) and Crediton (Devon). The diocese of Wells was alternatively known as the See of Somerset. St Andrews Minster Church was elevated to the status of cathedral church. Its first bishop was Athelm, a Benedictine monk of Glastonbury.

The existing cathedral (seen today) is a wholly gothic building, and very little is know about the physical structure of the church at Wells in the Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods.

The old minster church was swept away to be replaced by the new Cathedral in the 12th century. The whole project was regarded as complete (albeit not properly finished) by 1239, when dedication took place. It consisted of an aisled quire of three bays ending in a rectangular east end with a projecting Lady Chapel. The cathedral church also had aisled transepts, a nave with a monumental north porch, and the twin-towered western front. At this point there was a cloister on the south. By c.1319 the eastern arm of the cathedral had been extended; a new polygonal Lady Chapel had been built; then the quire was lengthened by a further three bays. A retroquire and pair of lesser (eastern) transepts were provided at the same time, culminating to it being brought to its present form by 1325. {1}

There are three pieces of Anglo-Saxon Sculpture recorded from the Cathedral, including the font. {2}

There is a war memorial in the form of three two-light stained glass windows to commemorate the Boer War. The windows depict an array of Saints and military and royal heroes and symbolic emblams.. These include Ena, Egbert, Alfred, Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edgar the Peaceful, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Gideon and David. The girdle of truth, breastplate of righteousness, sandals of peace, shield of faith, helemt of salvation and sword of the spirit. Also depicted are Jonathan and Nehemiah, Judas Maccabeus and the centurions of the gospel, King Arthur, King Edmund, A Crusader, Edward the Black Prince, Henry V, Prince Rupert, Admiral Blake, The Duke of Wellington, General Nicholson and General Gordon. There are five panels of dedicatory glazed ceramic tiles below the windows. Another fourlight stained glass window, depicting St George and with a bronze dedicatory plaque below, is a memorial to D H Mclean who died in the Boer War. {3}

There is a rectangular bronze plaque erected as a general regimental war memorial to the Somerset Light Infantry. The regimental badge is depicted on the left hand side. Another memorial situated above the high altar, consisting of the figures of St George and St David with an accompanying bronze plaque, commemorates the Somerset Freemasons who fell in WWI. Another rectangular bronze plaque commemorates H R C Tudway, a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, who died in 1914. There are also plaques to WWI and WWII within the two memorial chapels, those of St Calixtus and St Martin. {4}

Almost certainly a minster. {5}

The Saxo-Norman minster is suggested to lie beneath the medieval cloister at a slightly different East-West alignment to the actual cathedral. An angle that later structures, laid on top, followed. {6}

The building of the western part of the nave was carried out from 1213 onwards. {7}

The western façade was said to be completed in 1239 - although some of the sculptures may not have been finished for another decade. {8}

A total of fourteen samples were taken from the roof of the south-east transept of the cathedral to be tree-ring dated. The results are in keeping with stylistic and documentary evidence, giving a date of felling of AD 1325. {9}

In March 1340 Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury obtained licence to crenellate. This was assumed to be related to the palace, however by this point the Bishop had already walled the palace (see PRN 25370) and so this most likely demonstrates a bid to build defences, including a series of towers surrounding the heart of the liberty of St. Andrews and the cathedral. It included the cathedral churchyard, the houses of the canons and Ralph's own palace. {10}

Dendrochronology gave felling dates of 1212-1214 for timbers from the 11 easternmost bays of the nave roof. {12}

Around the east end of the cathedral against the backs of the choir stalls there are seven episcopal effigies. The first group of five effigies, are characterized by the use of heavy drapery and the second group are partially undercut from their backgrounds and have a more naturalistic drapery. This stylistic evidence suggests they are separated by a considerable period of time. The effigies are generally thought to have been created in the thirteenth century. However, carved around 1180, the effigies at Wells were part of a wider program to remember and celebrate the Anglo-Saxon heritage of the cathedral. {15}

The statuary of the west front was recorded and analysed during restoration works of 1974-86. {16}

References:

Record created on 28 March 2002

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