Salisbury Cathedral

(click on images to enlarge)




During my last visit to see Mathias, I went on an overnight trip to Bath. One of the English cathedrals Susan and I have wanted to see since our first trip to the UK way back in 2001 was Salisbury Cathedral. However, it is too far away from Birmingham to be a reasonable day trip by train. I discovered, however that it was only 50 minutes away from Bath. So in the morning of my Bath trip I went to Salisbury to visit the Cathedral. What an incredible place! The Cathedral construction began around 1320 and finished approximately 30 years later! This is astounding for cathedral construction and explains why there is so little change from its original structure. I will not ramble about the Cathedral, but please go to this link to read more about the Cathedral. The Cathedral showcases one of 3 original copies of the Magna Carta and a medieval clock that is the oldest operating clock in the world. I spent over five hours during my visit which included a tour of the construction of the spire, which is over 440 ft. above ground. The tour itself lasted over two hours and was by far the best guided tour of a building's history and construction I have ever been on. We even ventured outside the Cathedral at 220 ft above ground for some incredible views of the city. Of course, I had great weather again and took many pictures. Here are a few. Later this week Susan and I leave for Oregon for a long weekend (real cheap airline tickets) and will be spending the nights in very interesting accommodations. These will be posted in Susan's family blog.



A view of the interior of the Cathedral for the organ level. This view is only available for those who go on the tower tour and is a MUST!



This is a view of the Cathedral's spire which climbs 440 ft. above ground. The tower tour takes you to the 220 ft. level.



Here is a picture of some of the support beams used in the construction of the church's upper levels. Many of these beams are over 600 years old



This photo shows the support beams of the spire which extends over 200 ft higher than the point where this picture was taken. Unfortunately we could not go higher which is probably a good thing since all ladders extend vertically and look really scary.



Here is a view of Salisbury from 220 ft above ground.



The picture above is a view of the Cathedral's spire which towers over 200 ft above this position. The walkway outside the church is barely 3 ft wide which makes taking these types of pictures a challenge and not for people that suffer from vertigo.


Please look at my very amateur video of Salisbury.