Salisbury Cathedral

33 The Close
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 2EJ
England

Website

www.salisburycathedral.org.uk

E-mail

Visitor Services

visitors@salcath.co.uk

Education Centre

education@salcath.co.uk

Telephone

Visitor Services

01722 555120

Education Centre

01722 555180

All information is supplied by the venues or providers themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

Discover over 750 years of history, including Britain's tallest spire, the world's best preserved original Magna Carta and Europe's oldest working clock, on a tour with one of our volunteer guides. Built between 1220 and 1258, in one architectural style, Salisbury is Britain's finest 13th century Gothic Cathedral.

A beautiful and historic building, Salisbury Cathedral is an impressive stage for concerts and major services, yet also a place for private prayer and reflection. The Cathedral and the Close are visited by over 500,000 people a year. Many come as tourists or to worship, while others attend some of the many events taking place here. The Cathedral is open to all and seeks to provide facilities for, and a warm welcome to our many visitors.

Features of the Cathedral include:
Britain's tallest spire (123m/404ft).
The best preserved of only four surviving original Magna Carta (AD1215).
A unique 13th century stone frieze of bible stories in the Chapter House.
Europe's oldest working clock (AD1386).
The largest Cathedral Close in Britain (80 acres).
Britain's largest Cathedral Cloisters.
The largest and earliest set of Quire stalls in Britain.
Boy and girl choristers continue a tradition of worship that goes back nearly 750 years.

Venue Type:

Heritage site, Sacred space

Opening hours

CATHEDRAL

Mon-Sat: 09.00-17.00 All Year
Sun: 12.00-16.00 All Year

CHAPTER HOUSE WITH MAGNA CARTA

Mon-Sat: 09.30-16.30 April-October
Sun: 12.45-15.45 April-October
Mon-Sat: 10.00-16.30 November-March
Sun: 12.45-15.45 November-March

Refectory Restaurant and gift shop open 09.30-17.30 all year except for Christmas Day

Admission charges

Voluntary Donation

Adults: £5.50
Children: £3.00
Seniors and students: £4.50
Family (2+3): £13.00

Group rates (minimum 15 people)
Adults: £4.25
Children: £2.50

General services and facilities

Foreign language leaflet or brochure available
Guided tours
Pre-booking service for groups
Cafeteria
Gardens open to public
Picnic area
Refreshments
Restaurant
Shop
Toilets

Children and families

Activities for pre-school children
Events and resources for children and families
Baby changing facilities

Disability access

Events/teaching/resources for people with disabilities
Induction loops in exhibition spaces
Large print information and/or interpretation
Touch exhibits
Parking for disabled available
Toilets for disabled
Wheelchair access to all public areas
Wheelchairs available for loan

Schools services and facilities

Direct teaching services for schools
Member of staff available with responsibility for education
Primary school education service available
Printed/audio-visual information available for schools
Secondary school education service available
Education facilities available

Research and adult learning

Adult lectures and courses held
Teaching/resources available for HE/FE students

Commercial and hire services

Licensed for weddings
Facilities for private functions and events
Meeting room available

33 The Close
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 2EJ
England

Website

www.salisburycathedral.org.uk

E-mail

Visitor Services

visitors@salcath.co.uk

Education Centre

education@salcath.co.uk

Telephone

Visitor Services

01722 555120

Education Centre

01722 555180

Collections services

General guide to collections available
Object identification and/or written enquiry service
Object study facilities available (enquire in advance)

33 The Close
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 2EJ
England

Website

www.salisburycathedral.org.uk

E-mail

Visitor Services

visitors@salcath.co.uk

Education Centre

education@salcath.co.uk

Telephone

Visitor Services

01722 555120

Education Centre

01722 555180

Resources listed here may include websites, bookable tours and workshops, books, loan boxes and more. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all.

Boxes, objects and other kit

Cathedral Construction

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

How did they do it? How did they build a vast structure with little more than a pulley and an adze? Find out who the medieval craftsmen were, what they did, what tools and structures they used and how they worked their magic. Through using a working model of the Cathedral’s windlass, children see how the medieval masons were able to move their huge amounts of heavy stone. But how did they build a spire? Children are set a variety of tasks to put into practice some of the medieval construction skills.

How to obtain

This 1 hour workshop costs £1.50 per child. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Chronology Challenge

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Time is ticking. Children have a limited period in which to research particular events and dates of Salisbury Cathedral’s history using the physical building and its contents. Solving various clues they then have to fit this information into a wider national context, complete an overall time-line and answer a final chronological challenge.

How to obtain

This 1 hour session costs £1.50 per child. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Cracking the Sarum Code

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

An intriguing maths investigation, Cracking The Sarum Code follows the premise that much of the magnificent medieval building at Salisbury Cathedral was constructed based on the Golden Ratio or Divine Proportion. This session looks back at the Fibonacci sequence, explains the Golden Ratio and sets the students the ultimate challenge of finding out if the Cathedral’s layout really does hold these precious secrets.

How to obtain

This 1 hour session costs £1.50 per student. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Hands-On Art Activities

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

To complement a visit to the Cathedral, why not look at one of the traditional arts and crafts. See real examples, find out about their history and then let the students create their own. Choose from: stone rubbings, heraldry, stained ‘glass’, bookmaking, medieval clay tiles/gargoyles, illuminated letters. Or let the students use the Cathedral as a source of ideas, to collect patterns and images and produce 2D or 3D work of their own in response, with a variety of media.

How to obtain

This workshop takes up to 1 hour and costs £1.50 per student. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Historical Evidence Interactive Activities

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Investigating various Cathedral artefacts and historical sources, students will be collecting evidence of significant events, people and changes which have affected the Cathedral, covering a variety of political, religious, social and technological perspectives and building up a picture of life in medieval Britain.

How to obtain

This 2 hour workshop costs £3.50 per student. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Material World Interactive Tour

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Take a tour of the Cathedral and see how strong you are - balance a block of tufa stone on your little finger and bend a huge bar of lead. With whole forests of trees and three and a half football pitches worth of glass, there are many materials which have gone into making Salisbury Cathedral, to see, touch and find out more about.

How to obtain

This 1 hour workshop costs £2.50 per child. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Maths Investigations

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

How many blue whales can you fit into the Cathedral? How many giraffes tall is the spire? How do you tile a room with eight sides? Children work in small groups to solve one of these thorny issues, practising a range of mathematical skills in a very different context from normal school-based activities.

How to obtain

This workshop can last from 1 hour up to a full day, with the price per child depending on the length of the session.Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Shape Up

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Using the Cathedral with its wealth of different patterns and shapes, children have to classify quadrilaterals with their properties, recognise and explain patterns and relationships, consider perimeter and area and solve mathematical problems and puzzles.

How to obtain

Symbolism and Religion in Art

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Understanding the language of symbolism provides the key to the beliefs, teachings and practices of the Christian faith. Looking at the physical building itself and with special access to the Cathedral vestments, artefacts and textiles, more common symbols will be revisited and new ones introduced. The session may be used to explore the connections between religion and art, by incorporating discussion-based activities and/or the creation of a piece of artwork produced as an individual’s response.

How to obtain

This 1 hour interactive session costs £1.50 per student. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Face to face resources

2D and 3D World - Special Interest Tour

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

This tour of the Cathedral takes in everything from paintings, brasswork, engravings, stained glass, banners, tapestries and textiles to modern sculptures, wood and stone carvings. Students can use these examples as a stimulus for their own artwork.

How to obtain

This 1 hour tour costs £2.50 per child. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Art Activities (Key Stage 2)

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Choose one traditional Cathedral art or craft to try: stone rubbings, stained ‘glass’, bookmaking, clay tiles, or illuminated letters. Or let the children use the Cathedral as inspiration for practising printing techniques, working with different paints, creating collages, making candles and bookmarks or producing sculptures. Alternatively, children can work on a collaborative piece such as a giant stained glass window, a stone rubbings collage, a Medieval tiled floor, a full-size altar frontal or a complete Lord’s Prayer manuscript.

How to obtain

This session lasts up to 1 hour and costs £1.50 per child. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Cathedral Stories Special Interest Tour

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Travel around the Cathedral and hear the stories of the characters that have all played their part in the history of this ancient building. With brave knights, foolish knaves, gentle saints and the odd eccentric organist, the Cathedral is full of amazing, gruesome, amusing and fantastical stories.

How to obtain

This 1 hour session costs £2.50 per child. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Managing Resources (Key Stage 4)

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

As a hugely popular and accessible local tourist destination which receives in the region of half a million visitors a year, the Cathedral makes a fascinating case study or possible topic for coursework. With the conflicting demands however, of being a place of worship and a heritage site, difficulties can arise. Students are invited to appraise the facilities, analyse data, conduct their own surveys, meet with the Tourism Co-ordinators and see first-hand how the Cathedral deals with the socio-economic and environmental consequences of the visitors. Information pack also included.

How to obtain

This 2 - 3 hour experience costs £3.50 per student. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

Myths and Legends Special Interest Tour

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

With stories such as the deer and the archer, the murderous organist, the Virgin Mary’s robe, Elizabeth Sadler’s night-time habits and even a Medieval murder mystery thrown in for good measure, the fascinating characters in these tales will make this historic building come alive.

How to obtain

Pattern and Shape Interactive Tour

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

Explore the Cathedral looking at all the details from circles to octagons, to intricate floral motifs. Look closely at the Cathedral to find patterns all around – repeats, reflections, rotations, symmetry, tessellation. Use these as a starting point for further exploration with shape and pattern or link it to some artwork.

How to obtain

Prisoners of Conscience Roleplay

http://www.salisburycathedral.co.uk/education.key.php#

The scene is a boardroom and students are all equal citizens of an emerging new nation. Elections are held, a government formed and policies discussed – a democratic process. But as the session progresses, corruption creeps in. What will happen to the citizens? The session's aim is to highlight the issues faced by prisoners of conscience. Linking these ideas to the Prisoners of Conscience window in Salisbury Cathedral, the work of Amnesty International and real case studies of current prisoners, students are encouraged to discuss their own responses and take positive action in the form of writing letters of appeal.

How to obtain

This 2½ hour session costs £2.50 per student. Please make your booking through the Education Centre office 01722 555180 or education@salcath.co.uk. The Education Centre will be delighted to discuss your visit and tailor it to your exact requirements. The Centre is open all year and bookings may be made for holiday periods, weekends and evenings as well as during school terms.

33 The Close
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 2EJ
England