Wells, St Cuthbert's Church 1890
Photo ref: 23902
Made in Britain logo

Photo ref: 23902
Photo of Wells, St Cuthbert's Church 1890

More about this scene

THIS is the third church to be built on the site. The first was a 9th-century wooden Saxon church. The second was a 12th-century Norman church - the shaft of a Norman piscina remains in the Lady Chapel - and the third church, built in the 13th cen- tury in Early English style, was restored in the 15th century. The two side chapels each have a medieval reredos, which were hidden behind plain walls from the time of the Reformation until they were re-dis- covered in 1848. The skill of the medieval craftsmen is still discernible, although iconoclasts destroyed the carvings and plastered over them. The Tree of Jesse, which formed the reredos of the chapel in the south transept, was erected in 1470. The figure of Jesse at the base can still be distinguished, and some of the carvings survived. The niches once contained painted statues surmounted by a statue of Christ.

An extract from Wells Photographic Memories.

Featuring this image:

Wells Photographic Memories

Wells Photographic Memories

The photo 'Wells, St Cuthbert's Church 1890' appears in this book.

View Book

A Selection of Memories from Wells

For many years now, we've been inviting visitors to our website to add their own memories to share their experiences of life as it was, prompted by the photographs in our archive. Here are some from Wells

Sparked a Memory for you?

If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?

I'm surprised there are so few memories of Wells. In the late '60's to '70's I lived in nearby Shepton Mallet as a schoolboy & later worked on a farm there. At weekends my elder brother, Colin, would arrive on the coach from Bournemouth, where he worked for the MoD. This was usually on a Friday night, & he would bring fish & chips - a great treat, picked up from the Shepton chippy. Saturday we would ...see more
During the Second World War there was an Italian prisoner of war camp at Penleigh, on the outskirts of Wells in Somerset. The Italian POWS were put out to work on local farms, and one of them was Gaetano Celestra, who had been a sculptor and mason before the war. When a stray enemy bomb fell at Beech Barrow and damaged a wall belonging to the farm where he was working, he rebuilt it and ...see more
I think the date at 1974 is correct but I would have been 6 then!! We owned all of what is Beechbarrow now and as a young man I had the run of the place! I hope the beech walk is still there, I built my first tree house in there! It was on the other side from the barn that Ron Chard had. Ron Chard was the farmer that used the paddocks we had. His son Tom is hopefully running it now, if Ron is not. Romulus & ...see more