Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury Cathedral is one of the finest buildings to be found anywhere in England. The story of how it came to be built is as fascinating as the cathedral itself.

Salisbury Cathedral

Great cathedrals usually take several centuries to reach completion, with new additions being made as circumstances dictate, sometimes involving the demolition of earlier walls or sections. Their appearance today is therefore a mish-mash of various periods and styles. However, this is not the case at Salisbury, which is unique amongst English medieval cathedrals for being constructed in the same architectural style throughout, namely that of Early English Gothic. The main building work took a mere 38 years to complete.

The old cathedral

There is little to be seen today of the original Salisbury Cathedral, built around 1075-92 within the earthwork now know as Old Sarum, about two miles north of the present cathedral. The first cathedral was burnt down only five days after its consecration in 1092 and the rebuilt cathedral was only completed a century later around 1190. However, it too had a very short lifespan.

The walls of Old Sarum contained not only a cathedral and city but a castle and royal palace. Constant friction between the church and castle authorities led Bishop Poore to the conclusion that a new cathedral must be built in a location where there would be less interference from the castle inhabitants, and the water meadows near the confluence of the Avon and Wylye rivers seemed to be an ideal place.

There is a legend that the site was decided by shooting an arrow from Old Sarum, but it would have been a remarkable shot to travel that far. Another legend has it that the arrow hit a deer, and the cathedral site marks the spot where the deer eventually died. A more prosaic deciding factor might have been the better access to water supplies away from the windy hilltop of Old Sarum, where only the outline of the walls of the old cathedral are visible today.

A new cathedral rises

Nobody knows for certain who the architect of Bishop Poore’s cathedral was, although the name of Elias de Derham is sometimes mentioned. Whoever he was, he must have been a master of his craft. On the gravel (overlaying soft clay) of the water meadows, with foundations that only go down four feet, 70,000 tons of stone and 3,000 tons of timber were erected in a structure that has stayed in place for more than 750 years. Other early cathedrals, such as Winchester and Lincoln, have suffered major collapses, but Salisbury has not, even when an extra 6,500 tons, in the form of the famous spire, were added as an afterthought.

This is not to say that all that weight has not had its consequences. The central columns that support the tower and spire now bow inwards by about ten inches, and action to prevent a possible collapse has had to be taken at various junctures.

The ground plan of Salisbury Cathedral is the standard pattern of a nave and choir with transepts where the nave and choir meet. There are two, shorter, transepts leading off the choir, and an extended east end behind the high altar. The main crossing is therefore half-way along the length of the building, which adds to the symmetrical appearance that is emphasised by the tower and spire that rise from this point.

Salisbury Cathedral is the epitome of the Early English style, which was actually introduced from France. The chief characteristic of the style is the lancet, meaning the tall pointed arch that is usually found in groups of two or three. These lancets are seen in the internal stonework and also in the windows, which are unbroken by internal stone traceries. This feature gives an even greater impression of height than the reality, which is 85 feet from floor to ceiling in the nave and choir.

The slender columns, which do not block light from the aisle windows, plus the light coming from the high clerestory windows, serve to give the interior a sense of lightness and airiness, as does the light colouration of the stone used in the construction. This is mainly fine-grained Chilmark limestone from quarries not far from Salisbury, and Purbeck stone from Dorset which can be polished to make excellent stone for columns and pillars. One variant of Purbeck stone is the so-called Purbeck marble which is very dark in colour and provides contrast at Salisbury. It is said that the cathedral has as many windows as days in the year (365) and as many columns as hours in the year (8760).

Construction at Salisbury began in 1220, and by 1258 the main part of the building was complete and the dedication to St Mary took place. The cloisters, which are the largest in Britain, were built between 1240 and 1270. The chapter house was built between 1263 and 1284, and the bell tower in 1265, which is about when the west front, with its 67 statues, was finished.

The famous spire

However, the feature that marks Salisbury out from all other cathedrals is its spire. It is hard to think of Salisbury Cathedral not having a spire, but that was indeed the original plan, with only a low tower being in the design. Construction of a higher tower began in about 1310, and the spire was finished by 1333. The spire itself is 180 feet high, octagonal in shape and with a base diameter of 30 feet. The total height of the cathedral is therefore 404 feet, which makes Salisbury Cathedral the world’s tallest surviving medieval structure.

As noted above, the extra weight of the tower and spire caused some problems, and extra buttresses, internal supports and iron ties had to be added (at the time of construction and in later centuries). This was despite the deliberate use of thin slabs of stone to form the fabric of the spire and keep the weight down.

Much of the spire was damaged by a severe storm in 1362, and recent research has shown that the timbers that form the internal scaffolding of the spire are younger than the age of the original spire, which was probably built using external scaffolding. Other major repairs were carried out in 1945-51, when the top 30 feet were rebuilt, and between 1986 and 1992.

Given the relatively primitive techniques available to the medieval masons, and the Cathedral’s shallow foundations, it is hardly surprising to learn that the spire is not aligned perfectly, and that it has a lean of about 30 inches from the vertical. In 1668, Sir Christopher Wren was contracted to survey the spire. He inserted iron tie-rods to prevent any further movement and, when these rods were replaced in 1951, it was found that no more movement had occurred.

The work of Wyatt and Gilbert Scott

Apart from general repairs and replacement of such things as window glass, two major events that affected the fabric of the Cathedral were the restorations by James Wyatt in 1788-91 and Sir George Gilbert Scott in 1860-78. The debate continues over whether their changes, which reflected the taste of their times, were to the benefit or otherwise of Salisbury Cathedral.

Wyatt’s main change was to demolish the bell tower, which stood in the Cathedral Close, and to replace the original choir screen. He also demolished two porches and re-arranged the medieval tombs into symmetrical lines on either side of the nave. His tidying extended to the Close where, as well as removing the bell tower, he raised the overall level and flattened all the gravestones. Undoubtedly this improved the exterior view of the Cathedral, but whether the internal change from medieval clutter to neo-classical purity was justifiable is another matter.

Gilbert Scott, who was a keen exponent of the Gothic revival, sought to undo some of the work done by Wyatt, but some of his efforts have in turn been removed in later years. In particular, he installed wrought iron screens that had more to do with his own ideas than those of the cathedral’s original builders, although the screens were indeed masterpieces in their own right and have been preserved elsewhere. However, his pure restoration work, such as to the west front where many missing statues were replaced, must count in his favour.

The future of Salisbury Cathedral

Given today’s preference for preserving ancient monuments in the style originally intended, rather than constantly “improving” them, we can be assured that the overall appearance of Salisbury Cathedral is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. However, the expensive work of maintaining a fragile fabric goes on, and it is to be hoped that many future generations will be able to marvel at the magnificent edifice that has been already been admired for three-quarters of a millennium.

Incidentally, one of my own abiding memories, from the 1980s, is of working in a room that had a clear view of Salisbury Cathedral from a distance of no more than a quarter of a mile. To be able to glance out of the window at any moment and see such a magnificent building was a huge privilege, not to mention a considerable distraction!

© John Welford