Salisbury Cathedral

The see moved down from the hilltop at Old Sarum, where the clergy complained of wind and of the garrison, and the new cathedral was built between 1220 and 1258, almost the whole thing in one campaign, which is why it is stylistically unified Early English Gothic rather than the usual accumulation of centuries. The spire was added around 1330 and reaches 123 metres, the tallest in Britain; it weighs some 6,500 tonnes on foundations barely more than a metre deep in gravel, and it leans about seventy centimetres out of true. Christopher Wren surveyed it in 1668 and iron ties were added. The chapter house holds one of four surviving 1215 Magna Carta originals and the best preserved of them. The cathedral also has the oldest working mechanical clock in the world, from about 1386, with no face.

Highlights

• The 123-metre spire - the tallest in Britain, leaning seventy centimetres.
• The Magna Carta - the best-preserved of the four 1215 originals.
• The 1386 clock - the world's oldest working mechanical clock, faceless.
• The unified Gothic - a cathedral built almost entirely in thirty-eight years.

When to go

Year-round; tower tours climb 332 steps into the spire's timber scaffolding and run daily in season with fewer dates in winter. The close, the largest in Britain, is worth the walk around.

Practical notes

Entry asks a substantial donation that functions as a charge. The tower tour is booked separately, involves a long narrow climb and is not for anyone uneasy with heights or confined spaces. Magna Carta is in low light and cannot be photographed.

Nearby

Old Sarum lies two miles north; Stonehenge is fifteen kilometres away.

Key facts