What is Salisbury Cathedral?
Salisbury Cathedral, in Wiltshire, is a medieval Gothic cathedral famous for having Britain's tallest church spire, at 123 metres. It also holds one of the four surviving original copies of the 1215 Magna Carta.
The cathedral was built between 1220 and 1258, an unusually short time for a medieval cathedral. This gave it a consistent Early English Gothic style.
The spire was added in the early 1300s. It weighs about 6,500 tonnes, and the cathedral's columns visibly bend slightly under its weight.
Magna Carta and the clock
The cathedral's Chapter House displays an original 1215 copy of Magna Carta, considered the best preserved of the four.
Salisbury Cathedral also has one of the oldest working mechanical clocks in the world, dating from around 1386.
The cathedral's cloisters are the largest in Britain, and its close, the area surrounding the cathedral, is the largest in Britain.
The painter John Constable painted the cathedral several times. Salisbury is close to Stonehenge, and many visitors see both on the same day. Tower tours let visitors climb into the base of the spire.