Wells Cathedral
Built between 1175 and 1490, and set in the medieval heart of England’s smallest city, Wells has the earliest English Cathedral to be built in the Gothic style. It has many interesting features that are accessible to people with mobility issues, but, inevitably, also has many treasures that are inaccessible for people with disabilities. We have asked the Cathedral to introduce a reduced price entry for those visitors (watch this space), whilst Wells residents should apply for a free entry pass.
Accessibility Rating: 4/5
Visit Length: 60-90 minutes
“I particularly recommend this as a rainy day visit – the Choir is my favourite area – and you have the café and disabled toilets all to hand.”
Shirley Montague, walking frame user
Accessible marvels include the:
- Loft café, via wheelchair lift, and disabled toilets in the Cloisters and below the café.
- Iconic West Front, with its statues, which was originally painted in vibrant colours (see mediaeval illustration, deduced from flakes of paint found on the surfaces)
- Scissors arches constructed in 1338 to support the central tower, when it was discovered that the weight of a new spire on the tower threatened to bring it all down
- Jesse Window regarded as one of the most splendid examples of 14th century stained glass in Europe
- Wells Clock, believed to be the second oldest clock mechanism in Great Britain, with its astronomical face based on the pre-Copernican belief of the Sun and Moon revolving round the Earth, with attendant jousting knights and bell-ringing Jack Blandiver
- External clock face (of the same Wells clock), with two quarter jacks in the form of knights in armour striking bells on the quarter-hour
- Choir area, separated from the nave, creating an intimate “church” within the Cathedral
- Misericord stalls in the Choir (seats that tip up to provide a ledge for cleric to lean on) considered some of the finest in Britain.