There are many great cathedrals in England: Salisbury, Ely, York Minster, Lincoln, and Durham, but I chose Norwich.
This magnificent Anglican cathedral’s spire is higher than any in England except Salisbury’s and its cloisters must be the largest. The church is almost identical to the original. I took a wonderful guided tour.
Work began in 1096 by the Anglo-Normans who brought the limestone used to construct it by boat from France. It is 141m long.
Its most striking feature is the superb 1461 rib-vaulted ceiling – among the spidery stonework are 1200 sculpted roof bosses depicting Bible stories – one of the finest achievements of medieval masonry. Bring binoculars to see them well. A local high school band was practicing when I was there.
The font is unique – two huge bronze bowls kept to a high shine that came from a local chocolate factory.
Similar bosses are much easier to see in the cloister (1297-1430), originally built to house 100 monks. The differing tracery of the arches shows its long construction timeline.
Outside is the grave of WW I heroine Edith Cavell, a Norfolk-born nurse executed in 1915 for helping hundreds of Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium. A mountain in the Rocky Mountains of Canada is named after her.
