People often wonder why such a small city has such a large cathedral and that’s because we’re looking at the situation through modern day eyes. Back in medieval England the country was administered by two separate entities of equal importance. We tend to think of the King of England as being the most powerful man in the realm, but that was in the secular world. However, the most powerful man in the English spiritual world (other than the Pope) was the Archbishop of Canterbury. That may be a rather simplistic view of things, but the church held much of the country’s land and was extremely wealthy as well as powerful – and the Diocese of (Bath and) Wells was both.

The size of the cathedral at Wells was built, I believe, not just to make a statement of spiritual influence and authority over its worshippers, but also to win the struggle with Bath over where the bishop’s seat should be. In other words the size of the local community really had nothing to do with the stature of the cathedral, and for those who are interested, the population of Wells today is still only around 11,000.

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Originally posted 2025-10-21 09:34:09.