How Time flies. 

Nearly a week’s gone-by, since I joyfully accompanied a merry throng – ‘The Torrington Senior Citizens’ – on a pilgrimage to the historical heart of the small City of Wells in Somerset. I was a guest of my Mother——and the Almighty.

I don’t think even a year would be time enough to fully appreciate the magnificence and sheer awesomeness of ‘Wells Cathedral’ – let alone a few hours out of one bright, sunny day in May. However, I put my best foot forward plus these…

Wells Cathedral is quite the biggest ‘Labour of Love’ I’ve witnessed in quite some time, maybe this lifetime. It’s the Blood, Sweat and Tears——the Devotion, the Dedication——the Skill of all those long forgotten hands that caused me to stand back and think to myself ‘WOW’ over and over again. After much neck craning, eye popping and mind boggling, my Mother and I retired outside into the sunlit garth for a contemplative half-hour before catching the comfy ‘Taw ‘n’ Torridge’ coach home to Devon. Under a quadrangle of heaven-sent blue sky – we each found our own space. My mother sat in the light – content to rest on one of the sun-warmed seats to bask, whilst I trod my own circular path in the shade of a much revered Evergreen. Round and round and round in a clockwise direction I went – only stopping to pick up a fallen stick that was lying on the hallowed ground…Outside in, the cloistered space seemed to emanate an even greater feeling of peace, warmth and tranquility – it felt like we’d arrived at ‘journey’s end’ – at the still centre of the turning World, the Universe – in Somerset, in England. Really quite extraordinary! 

Even the clustered bole of the Yew seemed to magically mirror the soaring shapes I’d seen inside the cool cathedral…So much so, I fancied that the great Gothic edifice of Wells had ‘squared’ the Yew even though in reality the Cathedral is older by quite a few centuries. In truth, the Wells ‘centre of gravity’ is about 300 years old – a youngster in Yew terms, where as the Cathedral was built between 1175 and 1490!

Apart from a collection of ‘stained glass’ window clings that I’d bought in the cathedral gift-shop, I carried nothing else home from Wells other than an ongoing sense of peace and eternalness, all of which were as light as a feather about my person. The only other memento that I kept held in my hand, was a precious bone-like twig that ‘found me’ under the spreading Yew… 

The Cathedral also houses one of the oldest working clocks in the World; an astronomical, horological masterpiece – that has been chiming the passage of time since about 1390. Here’s a video I found on YouTube of the clock in action…

Beneath the celestial cogs and dials, there’s a gleaming figure of ‘Christus Redemptor’ carved from Yew wood – which is incredible in itself as Yew is so hard! I had an impulse to gently touch his wounded feet but took this photo instead…And then there are the colossal strainer or ‘scissor arches’ – mega constructions that literally keep the whole place from collapsing in on itself. And thankfully not on top of me and my dear Mum – and all the ‘Torrie Town’ Senior Citizens, to name but a few pilgrims on this day – Tuesday 22nd May 2018…To my mind, ‘the scissors’ more resembled an hourglass on a grand scale. Huge Gothic style ‘figures of eight’ that encased a space to wander through and marvel at the supporting structures. Awestruck and gasping, I followed invisible footsteps in and out the silently groaning arches – those of ‘hundreds of thousands’ of pilgrims who’d gone on – down the days, the weeks, the months, the years——the centuries – as particles of light passing through time and space.

Wells Cathedral is truly monumental, a testament to the masons that imagined this soul-soaring place and then painstakingly shaped it with hammer and chisel. 

The wonderment of ‘Wells’ has led me to find this wonderful rendition of my all time favourite pilgrim’s song. I’ve been waiting all my days for a rendition as brilliant as this one, I absolutely love it and I’m sure Mr. Bunyan would love it too!

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Magnificent Art on a Very Small Scale!

Added on Sunday, 1st May 2022. See comments below!

Ellie’s finished mini masterpiece of Wells Cathedral’s Great Yew —— the painting measures just four centimetres square!