(Part 1 here)
The first service at Salisbury Cathedral was held in 1225 A.D., when Bishop Richard Poore deemed that enough of the church had been completed. The next year, in March, the Earl of Sarum, William Longspee, who had been present at the dedication of the foundation (he laid the fourth stone)—died.
He is the first person to be buried in the cathedral.
The effigy of William Longspee, Earl of Sarum, at Salisbury Cathedral. Source.
The old Cathedral at Sarum; the new one at Salisbury
When the bishop conducted services at the cathedral at Old Sarum during a story, gales raged high and howled strong, snuffing out his voice.
The sparse congregation, huddling together, strained forward to listen as the wind grabbed the words from his mouth and flung them into the uninhabited corners of the building. Rain streamed through the leaky roof, drip-drip-dripping with a clatter onto metal plates strewn around the church to catch the water.
It was cold, it was damp, and the fireplaces threw out a miserly, grudging heat. Continue Reading
