St Mary's Hall Appeal

Visited Mon 17 July

Even hotter than at Exeter. Decided to remove my leathers and strap them to the bike while I visited the cathedral (an exercise repeated at subsequent cathedrals this week as the weather grew ever hotter!). Fascinating beginnings: bishop based at Wells 909-1088, but William the Conqueror wanted dioceses at major towns, so transferred to Bath. A century later, bishop wanted to return to Wells, so he started building in 1180. But it wasn't till 1245 that his successor's efforts to have the cathedral status restored bore fruit and he became bishop of "Bath & Wells". Speculative building or what?