PL37 - Can we get much higher?

And a tale as old as time...

Mar 16, 2025

Salisbury is a remarkably complete day trip. You see the cathedral and you trace the poisonings. It’s beauty and the beast, high and low, exultant and execrable – yet also awe and awe; the two scenes share a surreal, deathly elegance. You see them then get out. You sleep well but have weird dreams. £39.50 for changeless return from Waterloo.

Alighting at Salisbury a few spires were visible above the roofs. The first of three key facts about Salisbury cathedral is that it has the highest spire in the country. But, disconcertingly, the perspective means that from the station it is not immediately obvious which of those you can see is the highgest. With some inspection I could sort it, though. I entered the streets, let the spires disappear, and tried to follow my sense.

After only five or so minutes I halted at a pub, squinting at its sign. It was, indeed, the Bishop’s Mill. And hadn’t I just passed a Sainsbury’s? I walked less than a minute that way and was suddenly in a tiny park. I followed a short arcade and there was Zizzi’s. I went back to the park. A man passing said to his friend, “There’s novichok park.”

On the 4th of March 2018 Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia parked in Sainsbury’s, spent half an hour in the Bishop’s Mill, had lunch at Zizzi’s, then headed back in the direction of their car. They were found on a bench in the park, foaming at the mouth, unconscious with eyes open and totally white.

The town was so town-like, the people were so people-like, and I’m sure if I’d had the appetite the Zizza pizza would have been so Zizzi pizza-like. But it was all a bit too creepy for Rusticas. All the photos involved huge opaque contamination tents, but I figured out where the bench had been, and that it had been removed. I needed some air.

And I got it at the cathedral. We’ve had the first key fact: at 123m, it’s the tallest spire. It also has the largest cathedral close (park). So the spire’s drama gets a good open aspect. However, I could not tell if that drama was helped by the rest of the cathedral. No other part seems to acknowledge or justify the one tower’s vertiginous climb.

Which is especially odd given the second key fact: it is the only cathedral built from a single design. That was possible because Henry III donating 700 oaks enabled a speedy 38-year construction. Usually the initial architect dies before completion and the new hot-shot wants to contribute. It’s funny that in many arts committee interference is death, but that Salisbury’s coherence leaves it a little bland. There's not quite enough chaos for the order to satisfy. You want an exuberant chord. It’s actually considered a fine exemplar of Gothic design – but of the dweebier ‘Early English’ or ‘Geometric’ phase.

The last key fact is that Salisbury contains one of only four surviving copies of the original Magna Carta. The oldest by far of our three great constitutional documents. Two of the other copies are in the British Library and one is in Lincoln Castle.

So the Magna Carta, size mattering in spire and base, and a unique unity, all accented by the eerie ghosts of 2018. It is also the subject of this great work of art:

No, not that one, even though I do call that pretty talented. The one I meant is this Constable, which I saw on my recent trip to New York.

The ranking

Doubtless a big kahuna. Not one entirely to my taste. But mustn’t being regularly voted England’s favourite view put it in the top ten? Ten.

Afterbirth

I hope you liked that first cathedral profile. I’m doing more and not precious so suggest improvements. And share my graphic!

Now until April I have gotten really busy. The three biggest commissions of my life all suddenly exist and have their deadlines at the end of March. If I’ve ever asked you to do a guest issue here – or if I haven’t – now would be handy. But no presh. See you next Sunday.

Very best wishes,
GM