Tag Archives: Religious History

Wolvesey Palace and the Bishops of Winchester

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Wolvesey Palace and the Bishops of Winchester

In my recent post about London Bridge City and The Shard, I spoke about the area’s early history and why there were several large houses belonging to important religious figures lining the southern bank of the Thames – and the most imposing of these was Winchester Palace, the remains of which can still be seen in Southwark’s Clink Street.

At the time of the Norman Conquest, Southwark was in the county of Surrey and part of the Diocese of Winchester, one of the most important religious centres in the country, but not only that, Winchester was also the capital of England.

Being an astute and religious man, William the Conqueror not only engaged the services of the bishops to help him keep religious order, he also used their influence and power to advise him on state affairs.

Two of my earlier posts, Winchester – the First Capital of England, and Winchester Cathedral – From the Saxons to the Normans, may help to explain why the city and cathedral of Winchester were so important to the new King of England.

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Originally posted 2020-09-28 13:53:11.

Westminster Abbey – Pt 5 St Edward’s Shrine and Medieval Tombs

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Westminster Abbey - Pt 5 St Edward's Shrine and Medieval Tombs

Our  tour has now reached the most sacred part of the abbey – St Edward’s Shrine. His body lies in a chapel located behind the High Altar and circumnavigated by the North and South Ambulatories, but before I go any further I have to tell you that access isn’t freely available to the general public. The reason given is that the Cosmati studded shrine is very fragile, and whilst that is undoubtedly true, I suspect it’s also to do with the fact that the abbey would prefer the chapel to be treated with the utmost reverence. There are however, a few ways to gain admittance, and I’ll come to that in due course. Meanwhile, I’ll try and explain who St Edward was, why he was revered by Henry III, and what other tombs you can see here.

Edward was born in Islip, Oxfordshire sometime between 1002 and 1005. His parents were the Saxon king, Ethelred ‘the Unready’ and Emma of Normandy, but his father’s altercations with the Danes ultimately led to the House of Wessex losing control of England to the Vikings, and most of Edward’s early life was spent in Normandy.

While in exile, Edward developed a love for the simple life, and although there would have been doubts as to whether he would get to inherit his father’s kingdom, he pledged to make a pilgrimage to Rome if ever he was. In 1042 the opportunity came when his half-brother King Harthacnut died, and Edward’s claim to be the rightful successor gained general acceptance. He was crowned King of England in Winchester Cathedral on 3rd April 1043.

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Originally posted 2023-03-20 15:25:48.

Westminster Abbey – Pt 3 The Nave

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Westminster Abbey - Pt 3 The Nave

Visiting Westminster Abbey to see the grand architecture and explore its history is one thing, but getting a spiritual experience from it is another. If you want the full spiritual experience, there’s no substitute for going to a service whether you’re religious or not, but that’s a different thing to wandering around and taking personal photographs, and as soon as you walk into the Nave you’ll see what I mean.

Standing next to the Grave of the Unknown Warrior looking up towards the Quire Screen is one of the abbey’s classic views: Inevitably though, the occasion will be somewhat let down by large numbers of people wanting to do the same thing as you, but as you can see from the featured image above, it is possible to have a much better experience if you know what to do, and you don’t have to be a magician or need special permission to achieve it. The answer is much simpler than that: Just make sure that you’re one of the last people to leave!

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Originally posted 2023-03-10 14:52:31.

Westminster Abbey – Pt 2 The Tour Begins

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Westminster Abbey - Pt 2 The Tour Begins

The featured image at the top of the page shows the north side of the abbey at evening time, and this is where the tour begins. After passing through the security checks, we enter the abbey through the medieval North Porch where there are two ticket desks – one on each side of the doors. I believe at busy times those with pre-booked tickets are ushered through on one side, and those without, on the other. I can’t say with certainty, as I’ve never been involved in a queue, but it does seem to make sense.

As you walk into the North Transept, you’ll see a desk in front of you with free audio guides being dished out, and if you haven’t been before, I recommend that you take one. In actual fact, you can download an app to your phone, but the audio guides are better. Over to your right are maps in different languages which are useful, but not detailed.

The North Transept is also known as the Statesmen’s Aisle, which is an apt description given all the statues and monuments to politicians here. The problem with trying to photograph them though is that the benches with the audio guides get in the way somewhat.

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Originally posted 2023-03-07 05:58:00.

Westminster Abbey – Pt 1 An Introduction

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Westminster Abbey - Pt 1 An Introduction

When I started blogging back in 2017, Westminster Abbey was one of my earliest attempts at connecting with the blogosphere, but things have changed since then. Not only has my style changed, but also the rules regarding photography in the abbey, and rather than update the post again, I thought it made more sense to start afresh with a new approach.

Through a series of posts I want to take you on a virtual tour of this magnificent building, but if you intend coming in person it has to be remembered that Westminster Abbey is primarily a place of worship. I’m a spiritual person rather than a religious one, but whatever your reason for coming is, whether it’s to admire the building, immerse yourself in its history, see where every English monarch has been crowned for the last thousand years, or just to pray, I guarantee that you’ll find it a most welcoming place to come.

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Originally posted 2023-03-05 15:42:10.

Wells – Vicars’ Close and the Last Fighting Tommy

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Wells - Vicars' Close and the Last Fighting Tommy

My final post on the city of Wells ends at Cathedral Green, and in particular, the famous Vicars’ Close. This isn’t going to be a lengthy post, but I’m not the sort of person who’ll condense something into a few words when a thousand will do, so what is a vicar exactly?

I think those of us who have been brought up in a country where Christianity is the main religion will regard a vicar much the same way as we do a priest, but the word in actual fact comes from the Latin Vicarius meaning substitute, and in medieval Wells a vicar was someone who deputized for the canons in providing music for the church while the cleric leaders were occupied with their other business.

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Originally posted 2025-11-02 15:45:05.

A Look Around Wells Cathedral and why such a Grand Cathedral was built in such a Small City

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A Look Around Wells Cathedral and why such a Grand Cathedral was built in such a Small City

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.

Wells Cathedral – Why it’s here and a look at the magnificent West Front

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Wells Cathedral - Why it's here and a look at the magnificent West Front

I had originally intended to do just two posts about Wells, one about the palace and one about the cathedral, but I’ve had a change of heart and decided to increase the number of posts but reduce their length, and if you stick with me, hopefully you’ll see why.

In the previous post I explained how the name of England’s ‘smallest’ city originated from the springs that surface in the grounds of the Bishop’s Palace. I also briefly touched on how it achieved its city status, but to put things in perspective I’m now going to delve a little deeper to explain how the cathedral came into being, and then follow it up with some information about its most prominent feature – the magnificent West Front.

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Originally posted 2025-10-05 07:24:39.

Wells – England’s ‘Smallest’ City – The Bishop’s Palace

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Wells - England's 'Smallest' City - The Bishop's Palace

The title of this post is a bit misleading because it all depends on how you define a city. In actual fact, the City of London is smaller, both in size and population, but as it’s surrounded by another 9 million people and 600 square miles of urbanization, it hardly registers in people’s minds the same way as this small town in Somerset does.

Now that’s cleared that up, the next question is what constitutes somewhere being called a city? In Britain at least, it was traditionally a place that had a cathedral. I’ll refrain from delving deeper into why that’s no longer the case but keep to the script instead and try to explain why Wells has such a magnificent cathedral for such a small place.

For that I really need to go back to 705 AD when Ine, the King of Wessex, founded a minster church here dedicated to St Andrew. A couple of hundred years later it became the seat of the newly formed bishopric of Wells, but when the episcopal headquarters moved to Bath, the canons of Wells and the monks of Bath fell out, and it was only when it was agreed to rename the bishopric the Diocese of Bath and Wells that ecclesiastical order was restored: That was back in 1245, but today’s bishop is still known as the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

It may have come under joint administration, but when the cathedral was built during the first half of the 13th century, Wells not only became a city, it also became the principle seat of the diocese, and so it remains.

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Originally posted 2025-09-16 16:32:35.