Winchester Cathedral
Winchester Cathedral is vast. It is the longest cathedral in Britain, stretching 169m from the west entrance to the east end, and one of the biggest medieval churches in the world. Its stone floor is cracked and uneven, worn by centuries of pilgrims, and part of it even slopes But whatever its physical state, its spiritual place is among the elite. The cathedral is in the one-time capital city of England and is one of the country’s most important. Winchester was established as England’s capital by the Saxon King Alfred, centuries before London laid claim to the title.

Salisbury Cathedral
It’s one of the most quintessentially English cathedrals and its spire is the tallest in the country. Set in lush meadows by a river, Constable painted about 300 different versions of it over his lifetime. It is unusual among its medieval counterparts in not evolving piecemeal, section by section, but was built as a single creation in the 13th century. And it’s actually the third establishment to hold the name of Salisbury Cathedral, but the first one to occupy this site.

Wells Cathedral
It was a Roman mausoleum in the 5th century and the Church of Aldhelm in the 8th. It was a cathedral in 909, though subsequently lost its status for nearly 200 years. The present building was started in the 12th century, and the magnificent west front, the first part of the cathedral that most people see, is decorated with one of the largest collections of medieval statues in Europe. Though the days when it was a beacon of colour, covered in bright reds, blues and greens and alive with song as the voices of choristers and the sounds of trumpets rang out between the statues, are long gone.

Gloucester Cathedral
It has crowned a king and buried a king and is one of only six former abbeys refounded as cathedrals after Henry VIII closed all the others during the Reformation. And it’s considered one of the finest examples of the Perpendicular Gothic style in all of Britain. But if Westminster Abbey claims to have crowned every monarch since William the Conqueror, who’s telling lies? All shall be revealed…

Exeter Cathedral
The site of Exeter Cathedral has been a Christian place of worship since the Roman period. In its time it has been an Anglo-Saxon monastery that educated the county’s most famous saint, a home for part of the true cross, and the site of a grisly murder. The cathedral that exists today was started by a nephew of William the Conqueror. Though not much of it has lasted. The most obvious remains of that mighty Norman building from the 1100s are the solid twin towers, best appreciated from the green lawns that surround the cathedral. By the 1270s the Romanesque cathedral was being demolished to make way for a bigger, grander and much brighter Gothic building with magnificent architectural features. Today the Gothic stone vaulted ceiling at Exeter is the longest in the world.

St Davids Cathedral
Walking down the gentle slope from the city of St Davids, the cathedral unfolds itself dramatically against the sky, stretched across a lush green valley and enjoying one of the most stunning settings of any cathedral in the country. It is built on the site of St Davids Monastery, the former priory that became a place of pilgrimage after David’s death in 589, eight years before St Augustine arrived in Kent to spread Christianity.

St Asaph’s Cathedral
In a tiny city, the second-smallest in Britain, you’ll find the nation’s smallest cathedral. St Asaph’s measures just 182 feet from the west door to the east end and is 68 feet wide. And this city close to the north coast of Wales has an interesting connection with Scotland, which is the reason the cathedral exists here today.

Cathedrals of Britain: West, South West and Wales by Bernadette Fallon is published by Pen and Sword books, £12.99, buy online here

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Around the UK in 30 cathedrals

Cathedrals of Britain: London and the South East – Canterbury, St Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, Southwark, Westminster Cathedral, Rochester, Chichester

Cathedrals of Britain: East and Central – Ely, Lichfield, Norwich, Lincoln, Peterborough, St Edmundsbury, Oxford

Cathedrals of Britain: North of England and Scotland – York, Durham, Ripon, Wakefield, Sheffield, Bradfield, Edinburgh, Aberdeen

Image credit: Salisbury Cathedral by Ash Mills