Absolute Touring

Salisbury Cathedral

• Begun in 1220, building was completed in just 38 years – thus uniquely consistent in style
• The spire, added in 1334, stands 404 feet high – the tallest in England. As it contains 6000 tons stone, and the foundations penetrate only six feet into marshy ground, its survival is miraculous!
• Sir Christopher Wren (architect of St Paul’s Cathedral) surveyed it and found the spire was leaning 29½ inches out of true: when the iron tie-rods he inserted were replaced in 1951, the spire had moved no further
• 70,000 tons of Stone were used to build the Cathedral; 28,000 tons of oak to construct the roof; and 420 tons of lead covering 4 acres used on the roof
• In the north aisle of the nave is the oldest working clock in Europe (1386)
• The library has one of only four original copies (brought back by one of the witnesses to the sealing by King John in 1215) of Magna Carta – which formed the basis of the American Constitution
• The surrounding cathedral Close is the largest and finest in Britain – its gateways and many of the buildings inside are medieval
• A full-time team of stonemasons works on preserving the fabric
• www.salisburycathedral.org.uk

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Approx 1 hour 30 minutes south of Oxford - visit may be combined with Stonehenge.