The Bishops Palace Wells Somerset 14th March 2017

[Dave]

The Bishops Palace Wells Somerset

Tuesday 14th March 2017

Before I visit any place I have never been to before, I normally learn as much as I can about the place and everything to do and see there. That clearly was not the case when I went to Wells a number of years ago when the main reason going there was to see one of the most magnificent buildings I have seen Wells Cathedral.

It was only later when ever I talked to anyone about Wells Cathedral I was always ask if I had also seen the Bishops Palace that is right next door to the cathedral. Well the answer was always no and I can not believe that something so very close to the Cathedral was missed and not seen.

My fifteen years working for Toolfix ended at Christmas after being put in a position where I felt I could no longer work there. I was instantly offered a job at Toolbank a company who have known me for a very long time and I was so grateful to be able to step from one job straight into another one at my age.

I started the new job on the 3rd January and was told a few weeks ago I needed to take six days holiday before the start of April which surprised me but it was not something I was going to say no too. The only problem with taking a holiday so early in March is the fact that a lot of the places on my to do list have not opened for the season yet and so they will have to remain on the list a little longer.

It takes about one and three quarters of an hour to drive from Paignton to Wells mainly thanks to our new road out of Torbay and off Lyn and I set heading for a car park in Wells that offered all day parking at a reasonable charge, only as might be expected it was full when we got there.

It took a drive around that ended up in us going down the same road three times before we finally found another car park that we drove into and parked in not caring about the high price it was to park there.

Car parked it was now time to try and find our way to the Bishops Palace and then Lyn saw St Cuthbert's Church and like so many other people who visit Wells thought it was the Cathedral. I quickly pointed out that it was not and said as soon as you set your eyes on the Cathedral for the first time you will stand looking at in wonderment.

We stopped by a map on a board to check where we were in Wells and then Lyn looked to her left and saw for the first time the Cathedral and it look her breath away. She could not believe something so big was built in such a tiny place, tiny maybe but Wells is a city and the smallest one in the UK.

You do not have to pay to go into the Cathedral but are you asked if possible to make a donation, soon Lyn was handing over a ten pound note which was a bit more than I would have offered. After spending some time in the cathedral it was time to find the Bishops Palace and yes it is right next door and I still do not know how I missed it the last time I was there. If you stand in the City Square( more like a village one) in the left hand corner is a archway that leads to Cathedral Green. To the right of this archway is a much bigger one that leads to the Bishops Palace.

Through we went and we soon saw the moat and the main gatehouse that once had a drawbridge complete with a portcullis. This part is free to enter but to go into the Palace and its grounds you have to pay so time for me to get my wallet out.

One part of the palace the Great Hall is now a ruin with just two walls standing, but it forms a part of the gardens and it was this part we explored first as it will take you to the Wells that the city took its name from. It seems around 1550 the then Bishop Barlow nicked all the lead of the roof of the Great Hall and sold it which in time caused great damage to the hall and it was in the 1800’s the two walls were removed.

We enjoyed our walk around the gardens and along the top of the defensive wall above the moat, the garden is not that big and soon we were heading towards the palace.

It is not really a palace as such and the bishop still lives on one part of it so there is not a great deal of it you get to see. A few rooms downstairs and then up the stairs to a room I just loved to bits. Unlike being inside a National Trust property there is no one inside of the building keeping their eyes on you, but then to be honest there is nothing of any great value in any of the rooms you can walk around.

There was one more thing I wanted Lyn to see, the oldest purely residential street with original buildings surviving intact in Europe, Vicars' Close,.This street was build in the mid-fourteenth century and really is a must see when in Wells. By the nineteenth century the buildings were reported to be in a poor state of repair but were later all fully restored.

Just one last thing to do and that was find somewhere to have a meal, the cafes close to the Cathedral are well over priced with fish and chips for example costing nearly thirteen pounds a go. We walked away from the square and soon found a café that seems to be used more by the locals and we were soon seated ordering our meal. It was then time for our traditional ice-cream that we ate as we walked back to our car which for some reason caused some of the locals to stare at us.

We both really enjoyed our day out and it pleases me that Lyn is now enjoying such visits and leaning about the history etc behind it all.


Some of the pictures from our day in Wells in the order they were taken starting with the Cathedral.