Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral is the finest example of Early English Gothic architecture in Britain and one of the most beautiful medieval buildings in the world, a cathedral built almost entirely in a single phase between 1220 and 1320 that gives it an architectural coherence and purity of style unmatched by any other English cathedral. The spire, at 123 metres the tallest in Britain, was added in the mid-fourteenth century to create the most recognisable and most celebrated cathedral silhouette in England, the image that Constable painted repeatedly and that has defined the identity of Salisbury and its surrounding water meadows ever since.
The building was constructed with remarkable speed for a medieval cathedral, most of the structure completed within less than forty years, and the consistency of the Early English Gothic style throughout the nave, choir, transepts and lady chapel reflects the continuity of vision achieved by building so quickly. The white Chilmark limestone of the exterior and the grey Purbeck marble of the interior columns create a colour scheme of cool elegance entirely appropriate to the Early English aesthetic of sharp mouldings, lancet windows and restrained ornament.
The cathedral's Chapter House contains one of only four surviving original copies of Magna Carta, the 1215 document limiting the power of the monarchy and establishing the principle of the rule of law that was one of the foundations of English constitutional development. The copy at Salisbury is in excellent condition and its display in the cathedral provides one of the most direct connections available in Britain between an accessible historic building and a document of world-historical significance.
The Cathedral Close, the largest in England, contains a collection of historic buildings including the Mompesson House, managed by the National Trust, and provides one of the finest examples of a complete medieval cathedral precinct surviving in England.