Dr Emma Wells, author of *Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals*

Walking around a cathedral today can be a solemn and an awe-inspiring experience, but what if we could stand inside the same building and travel back 800 years or so? In this episode we do exactly that. Our guide is Dr Emma J. Wells, a historian, broadcaster and author of Heaven on Earth: The Lives and Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals.

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In this beautifully illustrated book, Emma visits sixteen world-renowned cathedrals ranging from Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, to the “northern powerhouse” of York Minster. She describes their origins, the striking and unusual stories attached to them and the people central to their history.

As Emma tells us in this episode, her interest in cathedrals was sparked while she was studying history of art at university, where she became fascinated by “the elements of ecclesiastical buildings that you wouldn’t know were there unless you studied them”. Thanks to the expertise and insight Emma provides in this episode, we are also able to uncover some of the secrets and stories of these beautiful buildings that might otherwise pass us by.

*Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds by John Constable, c.1825 (Wiki Commons*)

We visit Canterbury Cathedral the moment St Thomas Becket's shrine is moved to a new location after a fire nearly fifty years earlier destroyed much of the original cathedral. Not only was Becket one of the most celebrated martyrs and saints in England, but Canterbury was also, in Emma’s words, a “veritable monastic theme park”. Pilgrims traveled from far and wide to visit Becket’s new “super-shrine” as well as several other shrines to saints' relics besides.

Next we head west to witness the building of Salisbury Cathedral, after it is moved from its original location in ‘Old Sarum’, where it was hidden away on top of a bleak and windy hill, inside a forbidding Norman fortress. Thanks to meticulous planning and generous patronage, the new cathedral is built efficiently and incredibly quickly, and becomes one of the leading examples of the English gothic style.

Finally, we cross the channel to visit Chartres Cathedral, a masterpiece of the French gothic style. Legend has it that a congregation of devout lay-people worked for free to help build this extraordinary cathedral, which had higher vaults and a longer and wider nave than seen anywhere else in Christendom.

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Dr Emma J. Wells’s new book Heaven on Earth is out now.

* Listen to the Podcast *

Show notes

Scene One: Canterbury cathedral, trinity chapel, the scene of St Thomas Becket’s elevation and translation into his new shrine.

Scene Two: Salisbury, the ceremonial laying of the first five foundation stones of the new cathedral after its move from Old Sarum.

Scene Three: Chartres, France, William me Breton described the growing cathedral’s vaults as bringing to ‘look like the shell of a tortoise’ referring to the higher vaults and a longer and wider nave than any other in Christendom.

Memento: To restore the “super-shrine” of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

People/Social

Presenter: Artemis Irvine

Guest: Dr Emma J. Wells

Production: Maria Nolan

Podcast partner: Ace Cultural Tours

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About Dr Emma J. Wells

Emma defines herself as an historian, author, and broadcaster. She is an ecclesiastical and architectural historian/buildings archaeologist as well as public historian, specialising in the late medieval/early modern English parish church/cathedral, pilgrimage, the cult of saints, and the ‘senses’, as well as built heritage more generally.

After almost a decade in academia teaching at University of York and University of Durham, in summer 2022, Emma decided to move back into the consultancy world and was appointed Principal Historic Buildings Consultant for SLR Consulting. Her first book, Pilgrim Routes of the British Isles, was released in 2016, and her most recent book Heaven On Earth: The Lives & Legacies of the World’s Greatest Cathedrals, was published by Head of Zeus in 2022.