CATHEDRAL VIEWS

by Hattie Ellis (Salisbury)

The masons know each hand-hewn stone is different. They imagine melting lead on hurdle scaffolding high in the sky — ‘Frightens you to death to think of it!’ - and know how the place was built by trial and error, at times by medieval bodgers.

The 404ft spire has not just 4ft foundations but is above a deep bed of gravel, which gently breathes the water in and out. Architectural flourishes make the eye soar; the masons see their practical use: “90 per cent is to keep off the rain.”

The most famous view is tragic. John Constable put the cathedral beyond the water meadows in clouds that suck in the dark of fate; a picture postcard of turmoil and despair. His wife Maria and best friend Archdeacon John were dead (aged 41 and 45).

Yet on one side, beyond the façade and the clouds, within the darkness and bouncing, heavenly light, he lands a rainbow on his friend’s house. Present agony and grief, somehow, mix with the hope of the past and the love that can ever exist.

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What Hattie Ellis says about CATHEDRAL VIEWS:

This story started from talking to the Chargehand Mason, Chris Sampson, and Works Manager,Ted Hillier, in the yard beside the Cathedral. The consultant archeologist at Salisbury Cathedral, Tim Tatton-Brown, then told me the mystery of the spire: nobody quite knows how it stays up. (As a result, most of its problems come from people trying to make sure it continues to stay up!)Outside his house in Mill Road is a patch of grass where Constable painted his late, famous painting of the Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, which can be seen in the National Gallery in London and on countless b&b bedroom walls in Salisbury.Tim told me the story behind the painting.