MARCH 2024 · ROAM
Wells
Somerset
Wells is the smallest city in England by most measures. The city status comes from the cathedral, a 12th-century building that dominates the centre in the way medieval buildings were intended to — not visible from everywhere, but appearing suddenly at the end of a street of terraced cottages, filling the gap between rooflines and sky where you weren't expecting it.
The Bishop's Palace has a moat. The moat has swans. One of the swans was on the moat when I arrived and later appeared on a "WANTED" poster pinned to a street notice board, which is the sort of detail that makes Wells what it is. The swan's whereabouts: unknown.
Film crews know it as Sandford from Hot Fuzz.
Wells — March 2024
The cathedral's west facade is carved limestone — a programme of figures in niches running from top to bottom, weathered to varying degrees depending on which direction the rain comes from. Up close the surface is complex. A Gothic arch at the main entrance, then the nave beyond it, the interior's proportions at odds with how it reads from outside. The cloisters and the grounds of the Palace are accessible from the street.
The streets around the cathedral are stone — Georgian houses in red-gold limestone, terraces with the cathedral spires appearing above rooflines at odd angles depending on where you're standing. A wooden gate in a stone wall has a chain latch and ivy filling the gaps in the mortar beside it.
Small-city quietness. Market towns have more life. Wells has the cathedral and it is enough. Film crews know it as Sandford from Hot Fuzz. On the ground you can see exactly why they chose it.
White swan with orange beak floating on dark rippled water
Wanted poster with swan image displayed on street notice board
Stone row of terraced cottages with cathedral spires rising behind tree-lined cobblestone street
Red-gold stone terraced houses with cathedral's tall spires visible in background
Wells Cathedral dominating street vista with crenellated roofline of stone cottages in foreground
Weathered stone wall with wooden gate and chain, green moss and ivy growth
Gothic cathedral façade with pointed arch windows, ornate stonework and carved details
Bishop's Palace stone walls reflected in still moat water with ivy-clad masonry