The smallest city in England 英格蘭最細小的城市

Historically, if a community in England's has a cathedral it is called a city. That's why often you will find small towns in England called a city. The smallest of this is Wells in south west England.

If you go to Wells, you have to visit the Cathedral which was built between 1175 to 1490. However, prior to that an old church had already been on the same spot since 705. The cathedral was the first to be built using what was then a new architectural style from France, this later became to be known as the new Gothic style.

The front of the cathedral is called the West Front and is 100 feet (30 m) high and 147 feet (45 m) wide. Built of limestone, they think it used to be painted in bright colours as previously flakes of paint were found on the surface. Some say the colourful front made the cathedral look like a gigantic picture book. If that was true, it would have been even more beautiful than it is today.

The West Front has a magnificent display of statues and represents the finest medieval carving in England. Originally there were around four hundred but now only three hundred remain. They include angels, the twelve apostles, and many other religious figures including of course Jesus and Virgin Mary. Many of these statues are life-sized or larger.

I arrived at Wells quite late in the afternoon and couldn't get inside the cathedral, but I have something better for you. This beautiful street next to the Cathedral is Vicars' Close, and was built over 650 years ago. It is very well preserved and said to be the only completely medieval street in the UK.

Forty four houses were originally built for the vicars of the cathedral hence the name of the street, but now only 27 are inhabited. The most stunning feature of this street are the iconic chimney shafts. Originally the houses had normal chimneys, but by the mid 15th century the Vicars had started to burn coal instead of wood and it is believed that the chimneys were extended for this reason. You can see the original chimneys and the extension if you look carefully. Another interesting feature of this street is that it looks longer from one end than the other. That's because the width of the street at one end is narrower by 10 feet. I took the photos above and below from different ends of the street. Do you see the difference in street length?

Wells also has many other interesting historical architectures such as Bishops Palace. This is the main entrance and as soon as you walk towards it you already feel that you're walking back into the medieval times.

There is a moat surrounding the palace but you can't see it in this photo and they were doing restoration works which made it very messy so I didn't take any phots. Next you have to go through the gatehouse.

This is the Croquet Lawn, and the 800 year old Bishop Palace on the left. It was winter time and they were nearly closing for the day so there weren't many people about.

This is the ruins of The Great Hall. The Great Hall was built around 1290 and was used by the Bishop to entertain guests. It was a massive building which reflected the power held by the Bishop during his time and from the beautiful tall arch windows one can imagine its grandeur in its heydays. Sadly, it fell into disrepair over the years and most of the walls had to be demolished.

There is so much more to England's smallest city Wells, such as wandering through the quaint streets and visiting the pub which used to be the The Olde City Jail, but I'll leave you to explore that for yourself.