How tall is worcester cathedral

Worcester Cathedral is home of the famous Three Choirs Festival , an annual choral event which is rotated between the cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester. There is an exhibition in the crypt on the early history and Archeology of the cathedral. Aside from King John, mentioned above, Worcester Cathedral is the final resting place of several other luminaries. Prince Arthur, the eldest son of Henry VII and heir to the Tudor throne, is buried in the choir, while in the nave lie two royal commanders-in-chief.

The best views of Worcester Cathedral are to be had from the cricket grounds on the opposite bank of the Severn. Most photos are available for licensing, please contact Britain Express image library. Website: Worcester Cathedral Email: info worcestercathedral. We've 'tagged' this attraction information to help you find related historic attractions and learn more about major time periods mentioned.

Saxon Victorian. Heritage Rated from 1- 5 low to exceptional on historic interest. Tudor House - 0. Museum of Royal Worcester - 0. Commandery - 0. The Greyfriars - 0. Worcester Guildhall - 0. Worcester, St Swithun's Church - 0. Worcester City Museum and Art Gallery - 0. George Marshall Medical Museum - 1. More self catering near Worcester Cathedral. More Hotels near Worcester Cathedral. More bed and breakfasts near Worcester Cathedral. Worcester Cathedral Cathedral.

Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings Museum. Almonry Heritage Centre Museum Museum. The west alley has vaulting shafts of nine sides representing the number of ribs, with bases but without capitals; the east alley has semi-octagonal shafts with bases and capitals; the north and south alleys have similar shafts next the garth, but the vaulting is carried on corbels in the main walls.

The transept towards the cloister is built with Wulstan's rubble walling; it had a pilaster buttress at the south-west angle, which has been cut away, and the old Norman stones re-used as facing in line with the wall. Adjoining the transept is a passage to the monks' cemetery, which here, as at Durham, was doubtless used as the parlour. It is of Wulstan's work, with wall panelling of round arches grouped in two bays on either side.

It has a barrel vault with cross barrels opposite the bays of the wall arcade. The parlour is entered from the cloister by a pointed archway having a large niche in each jamb and of the date of the cloister. There are two openings at the east end; the northern leads to what was the monks' cemetery, and the southern to the prior's lodging.

In the south-west angle is a square-headed doorway to the triangular space formed by the chapter-house which now contains a staircase of comparatively modern construction. The treasury, built in , occupies the space over the parlour, and was originally gained by steps through the doorway, already described, in 'St. John's chapel.

This room, which may be called the hall of the treasury, has besides the entrance three other doorways. That in the south-west angle leads into the space occupied by the present stairs, off which is another door to a second vaulted room over the western part of the parlour. In the south-east corner of the hall is a pointed door to an irregular space covered by a wagon vault and lighted by a small window in the east end: in the north-east corner is a doorway to a semi-octagonal chamber, which was apparently a garderobe.

In the midst of the north wall of the hall is a pointed doorway to a wall stair leading up to another story over the entrance lobby and garderobe; the northern part is vaulted in two bays and had a wide opening towards the treasury; a doorway at the south end leads to an irregular-shaped chamber vaulted into two bays.

In the cloister the two bays southward of the parlour door have deep recesses with square joggled heads made to hold wooden cupboards for books for the use of the monks in the cloister.

The chapter-house is to the south of the parlour, and is entered from the cloister by an arched doorway having two large niches in either jamb of the same date as the cloister alley. The chapter-house is circular on plan, and built with alternating bands of white and green stone of the work following the fire of Internally the circumference is divided into ten bays by half-round columns with cushion capitals, from which spring half-round vaulting ribs which converge upon a central round column with moulded capital.

Each bay is of three stages; the lowest has a stone seat with hollowed recesses in a continuous range round the wall, the second stage is a wall arcade of seven round-headed arches resting on detached columns, above which are interlacing arches, and the top stage had originally a roundheaded window in each bay. The exterior of the chapter-house was cased early in the 15th century, and large buttresses added opposite the vaulting bays.

The outside face of the wall was made straight between the buttresses, and in each free bay were inserted large four-light windows. Blank windows of similar pattern were put internally to the two northern bays. The cloister wall from the chapter-house door to the south-east angle was rebuilt at the same time the alley was made.

The southernmost bay, owing to the deflexion of the south side, has been rendered square by a wide vaulting shaft in the angle. The frater occupies the whole of the south side of the cloister raised upon a sub-vault which has the cloister entry at the east end. The sub-vault and entry are of about The entry has a barrel vault and a round-headed doorway, of five moulded members resting on jamb shafts, at the south end.

The sub-vault is now divided up into three parts, but originally was open from end to end and entered by a segmental-headed doorway from the cloister entry. It is roughly of six bays of unribbed vaulting resting on middle columns, of which the eastern one is square with a half-round respond, the next three are circular, and the fifth is like the first.

Each bay on the south had a pair of small round-headed windows with deep splays, and between each externally are wide pilaster buttresses with bold splayed plinths, having a roll string-course carried round the heads of the windows as a label.

There is another entrance to the sub-vault in the fifth bay with a lamp niche inside; and yet another entrance was in the west wall at its south end. The frater itself was rebuilt in the 14th century by the same hand that built the north aisle of the nave.

It has a high dais at the east end over the cloister entry. In the east wall is a modern square window, but beneath it is a finely carved Majesty, which has been mutilated and all projecting points cut off in line with the wall. It consists of a seated figure of our Lord within a quatrefoil, in the surrounding spandrels of which are emblems of the Evangelists, and on either side are two niches with lofty canopies.

The whole is supported upon a hollow moulded shelf enriched with leafwork and heads. Each side wall has five three-light windows with modern tracery. In the second window on the north was the pulpit; the middle light is filled up for a short distance with a canopied panel; the pulpit is gained by a staircase in the thickness of the wall from a small doorway near the dais.

The west wall is carried on a great construction arch and has a modern window above. The entrance from the cloister is in the western bay, and is of two moulded members with an enriched label; the steps inside now go in a straight flight, but originally turned eastward over the thickened wall in the sub-vault. There is another doorway on the south side which led to the kitchen.

The whole of the western bay is, and always seems to have been, filled by a gallery, forming the screens and containing the buttery; it may have been used for the dining room for the old monks, as at Durham. This gallery, the roof, and all the woodwork are modern, and the frater is used for the school hall of the king's scholars.

At the east end of the frater was the checker of the hosteler, which communicated with the east alley of the cloister by a small doorway in the second bay from the south.

In connexion with this checker was the spital for poor guests, said to have measured 50 ft. The hosteler having to attend to the guests, his checker was placed conveniently for that purpose. The guest-hall was therefore placed north and south, eastward of the chapter-house, and had a small gatehouse or entrance next the hosteler's checker.

The hall was standing with its original roof in , but was then pulled down with the exception of part of its east wall, and the roof was given to the new church of the Holy Trinity to cover its nave. It was of five bays, and entered by a porch at the south end of the west side. The side walls had in each bay two-light windows with flowing tracery, over which externally were wall arches similar to those at Penshurst.

The windows in the two northern bays of the east wall are kept high up in order to clear the roof of a building to the east, into which is a small doorway from the hall. The hall roof was divided into eight bays by arched principals resting on carved wooden corbels and having three moulded purlins on each side with richly feathered wind-braces.

At the north end of the hall was a low building of which the south wall remains, containing two windows of two lights, and which seems to have been a chapel. Between this and the chapter-house was a two-storied building divided into two parts. The western part was of the 15th century divided into two bays by a buttress on the north side, and the upper floor was a large room with panelled ceiling lighted by a large window of two lights with a transom. The eastern part was a timber structure.

Eastward of the guest-hall was the prior's lodging, which was appropriated to the use of the dean, whose house also included the guest-hall and the rooms to the north, and was destroyed in It was entered from College Green by a doorway to a lobby, corresponding with the porch of the guest-hall, to the east of which was a timber-built hall 55 ft.

At the west end of the frater was the lodging of the sub-prior, conveniently placed adjacent to the dorter, and was allotted to the third prebend, but the present house retains no old features. Southward of this was the checker of the pittancer and cellarer, which were allotted to the sixth prebend, but the house was destroyed in These were described as of 'a spacious octagonal apartment 34 ft. If this means the lodging of the shrine keeper it would appear that the site of the house has been altered, as this position is too far away from the church for that official.

At Durham his chamber was in the dorter, and he does not seem to have had a checker. The west wall of the cloister is full of interesting features; in the southern bay is a modern door to the house of the third prebend. The next two bays are occupied by the arched recesses to hold the lavatory, of which the basin has been renewed. Just to the north is the base of a 13th-century nook shaft, evidently of the earlier lavatory. In the fourth bay is a round-headed 13th-century doorway now blocked up.

The next bay is filled with a wide square-headed doorway inserted at the end of the 15th century. In the sixth bay is a small late doorway with a two-light window to the north, all now built up; above are two square recesses, one of which may have been for a lamp and the other for a bell. In the seventh bay is a tall round-headed doorway of two members with nook shafts of early date, which has been filled in by a small late 15th-century doorway.

In the next bay was a cupboard, and in the northernmost bay is a fine pointed archway of the same work as the western bays of the nave, having three members, of which the middle one is enriched with zigzags and carried by nook shafts.

This archway is to a passage of the same date vaulted in four bays, which led originally to the infirmary. From the lavatory northward the cloister wall is built in alternating courses of narrow and deep stones with rough faces. The great dorter of the monks ran westward from the cloister and was one of the first buildings erected after the eastern part of Wulstan's church. It was built on a sub-vault of eight bays in length and four in width.

Of this building the whole of the western end remains, but recased, two bays of the south wall, three bays of the north wall forming the south side of the infirmary passage, and the east wall, which is the west wall of the cloister.

These remains show that the sub-vault had pilasters for cross arches with small members in the angles for the vault which was unribbed. On the north side is a doorway from the infirmary passage, and in the north-east corner is a small doorway with steps in the thickness of the wall to the floor above. Over the sub-vault was the dorter itself, of which next to nothing remains; it was originally entered by steps through the early Norman doorway in the cloister, but in late days this was blocked up and the wide square-headed doorway took its place.

Most of the dorter fell in , after which it seems to have been patched up, for in a new dorter was begun and finished the following year. In the rebuilding, like the frater, the original spacing was not followed, and the new dorter had two roofs side by side carried on five stone columns, fn. In continuation westward of the dorter, occupying the ground up to the Severn bank, is an interesting building of similar date to the west bays of the church, and of which the lowest story at 30 ft.

On plan it consists of two chambers side by side built against the earlier west wall of the dorter. The northern chamber is five bays in length and vaulted in two alleys carried by round columns down the middle. In the north wall in each bay is a pair of lancet windows within a deep recess.

Above this chamber were two stories level with the sub-vault and dorter respectively, of which the upper was the reredorter of the convent and had the seats arranged against the south wall over the great drain. A small piece of this wall is standing, in which are four small loops with deep splays, and further south a fragment of the inner wall of the reredorter pit remains.

In the opposite wall are said to have been stately windows whose arches were elaborately wrought, fn. The southern chamber is also vaulted, but in one span, and the south wall has deep recesses for windows. There is a small vaulted garderobe at the west end. At the second bay is a wide doorway to the northern chamber, eastward is a small chamber in the thickness of the wall, presumably a garderobe, and the remainder of the wall westward contains the pit of the reredorter.

Over the southern chamber was one story only, which had a pentice roof against the reredorter and was the lodging of the master of the chapels. This was allotted to the prebend of the ninth stall, whose house was pulled down in Northward of the reredorter was the house of the eighth prebend, to whom originally had been appointed the lodging of the master of the chapels.

The site of this house could not have been monastic, as it would have blocked up the rooms under the reredorter; therefore it is probable that the lodgings allotted to the eighth and ninth prebends were too small, and a new house was built on this site for the accommodation of the occupant of the eighth stall.

This house was removed in Across the west front of the church was the infirmary with the lodging of the infirmarer, which latter was allotted to the fifth prebend, and the house occupying the site was destroyed in At the west end of the infirmary passage is a pointed doorway to the vice in the south-west turret of the nave which leads to the floor over the south aisle.

The two western bays were precisely similar to their companions on the north, but the remainder up to the transept were formed into the library in by raising the roof and outside wall. Each bay has two windows of two lights, except the easternmost, which has a three-light window. The library now contains three distinct collections: 1 the mediaeval MS.

On the north side of the nave of the church was the charnel chapel, hallowed in honour of our Lady and St. Thomas of Canterbury, now represented above ground by the lower parts of either ends of the north wall, with buttresses forming part of the boundary of the deanery on either side of the front gate. The only vestiges of the chapel are part of the north and south walls, which now inclose the court before the house of William Bromley, esq.

It contains a vast quantity of bones, which seem to have been curiously assorted and piled up, but are now in some disorder. The entrance of it is on the south side, but is generally stopped up. At the time of the restoration of the church the arched vaulting was partially destroyed in order to lower the approaches to the north porch of the cathedral.

The college for four priests, of whom one was to be master, stood at the west end of the chapel, and was destroyed about , when a new house was built on its site. As already stated, the sacrist's lodging stood on the north side of the presbytery, and in front of it was a lofty stone cross; 'at this place the sermons were wont to be delivered in the open air, on the south side of it near the church walls were seats for the accommodation of the principal citizens.

Northward of the eastern transept stood the belfry; it was octagonal on plan, 61 ft. Upon this stood a wooden spire covered with lead, ft. There were originally five bells. The stonework was not pulled down immediately, and is shown on an old drawing of about , but quite devoid of any architectural features, though it was probably of 12th-century date, as otherwise it would not have been erected so close to the church.

The present Deanery was, until , the Bishop's Palace from the beginning of the 13th century and perhaps before. In Bishop Blois built the charnel between the cathedral church and the palace, and in Bishop Giffard obtained a licence from the king to crenellate or fortify his houses within his close of Worcester.

The portion of ground belonging to the bishop is an irregular area, just under two acres, cut out of the north-west angle of the precincts of the priory. The palace had a strong gatehouse containing divers chambers opening from the street called Bishop Street now Palace Yard and was surrounded with strong walls. The present house contains much work of Bishop Giffard's time, especially in the cellars, but received its present outward form in the 18th century.

Bishop Hough — is accredited with 'entirely rebuilding a good part of the Episcopal Palace of Worcester. Bishop Johnson — 'made some valuable additions The house is placed close to the north boundary of the site and although considerable remains exist of the 13th-century building the arrangements are not easy to make out. In the middle of the building is the bishop's hall, placed east and west over a subvault. The latter, which was probably used by the servants, is vaulted with four bays, lighted at either end by a two-light window and has a lancet and a fireplace in the north wall.

It is entered through a large moulded doorway at the east end of the south wall, and there is a small doorway in the opposite wall which communicated by a vice with the hall above.

There is also a small doorway in the west wall opening outwards. The main entrance to the subvault is covered by a vaulted porch having a wide outer doorway to the east flanked by two small loops which remain complete in the entrance hall of the present house. The hall itself has been much modernized but retains its original entrance, exactly over that to the subvault.

This was also covered by a porch but entered by a moulded doorway to the south which appears to have been originally gained by steps from the courtyard.

The east end of the hall was divided off by screens and there was an original fireplace in the north wall, with a window to the right of it. To the west of the porch is the chapel now placed north and south and entered directly from the hall. The southern part of this chapel was the eastern part of the original building and retains a trefoiled piscina in the south wall. In the west wall is a wide double chamfered arch, now blocked, which connected to the nave of the chapel which has been destroyed.

The north end of the present chapel is contemporary, as shewn by the window in the west wall, and was probably the vestry. Northward of the hall, at its west end, is an original wing of which the subvault remains to two-thirds its length. This is divided into two square chambers with semi-octagonal ribbed vaulting. The southern chamber was entered from the west through a small doorway and has in its south wall one of the original buttresses of the hall.

The northern chamber is entered from the other by a small doorway at the east end of the dividing wall. The room or rooms over this subvault are entirely destroyed by the present dean's study but were doubtless the guest chambers of the palace.

Eastward of the northern division are the remains of a large room added in the 15th century, in the south wall of which are a doorway and a two-light window and in the north a fireplace. This latter was in contact with the precinct wall of the palace. Southward of the chapel are the subvaults of an L-shaped building. The western part runs southward from the nave of the chapel and is of four vaulted bays entered through a doorway at the north end.

It has a doorway in the northernmost bay on the east and a window in the next bay, while on the west are lancets in the first, second and southernmost bays.

At right angles to the south end of this subvault is another subvault of two bays vaulted like the rest and with a doorway in the south wall. The superstructure is much altered but there are two 14th-century windows of two lights in the east wall with a block for a garderobe between.

These were probably the private rooms of the bishop and the kitchen was to the north of the southern block in connexion with the subvault under the hall through the porch.

The whole arrangement of the place is most unusual and is due apparently to altering existing buildings to suit the new scheme of Bishop Giffard. The considerable space southward of the present house suggests that here, as at Wells and Lincoln, was a great hall and kitchen so necessary for the entertainment of the bishop's guests. From the late seventeenth until the nineteenth centuries there were several campaigns to restore parts of the cathedral, but the Victorians from carried out the largest of these.

With royal tombs of King John and Prince Arthur, medieval cloisters, ancient crypt and chapter house, and magnificent Victorian stained glass. There is also a fascinating ancient library and archive, which houses the second largest collection of medieval manuscripts in any cathedral in the UK.

Opens daily from 9. It offers a range of hot and cold food, a variety of delicious light meals including soups, sandwiches, baked potatoes and salads, as well as home made cakes. Refresh yourself with a filter coffee, cappuccino, latte, expresso, choice of teas, fresh orange juice, bottled water or range of soft drinks from the fridge. Takeaway food is available. Parties and groups are welcome, but prior booking is essential.

To enquire about booking, email our coffee shop manager Suzanne Byrne. There is a wonderful shop with an extensive range of books and guides not only about Worcester but other English cathedrals, abbeys and churches, history, music especially Elgar! Also a comprehensive selection of children's books. If you want a tasteful and affordable memento of Worcester Cathedral, the shop has a wide choice of postcards, pens, notepads, mugs and bookmarks not to mention spoons, thimbles and of course fridge magnets!