I find it puzzling that I can’t remember which of Britain’s cathedrals was the first I visited.  I was born and raised in London, so commonsense tells me it ought to have been St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, or Westminster Cathedral, yet it’s a visit to Wells that’s lodged in my mind as my oldest “cathedral memory”.  But what was I doing in Somerset as a child?  I have no idea, but since that time I’ve spent countless hours exploring many (but not all) of these magnificent buildings.  I’m not alone.  Cathedrals such as Salisbury, Canterbury, and York are among the most visited attractions in the country.  Hundreds of guides to them have been written and published over centuries.  Some celebrate the architecture, others the history and spirituality of these ancient monuments to faith, community, and power.

With his Ships of Heaven, Christopher Somerville has added to the pile a very personal reflection on what some of these cathedrals mean to him and an affectionate book that celebrates some of the people who built them and those who maintain them today. He selects seventeen of the hundred-plus cathedrals in the UK and offers a vivid account of how they were built and what it takes to ensure their survival.  It’s not a book for anyone looking for the minutiae of religious or architectural history but it’s certainly an accessible introduction for those who want to learn more about these buildings that seem to grip people’s imaginations, delight the senses, and inspire affection, faith, and wonder. Most of my favorites are here, with one exception (Winchester – a cathedral I grew to love in the years I lived nearby), plus a few I’ve never seen such as remote Kirkwall.  I can’t think of a better way of saying how much I enjoyed Somerville’s book than it made me want to visit all of them.

Cathedrals project permanence and solidity with their overwhelming weight of ancient stone and wood, but their true story is a more surprising one of vulnerability and change.  All were built on fragile and decaying foundations.  Time and weather have been unkind to the structures, as have men determined to rob, spoil, and vandalize them.  In truth Britain’s cathedrals are marvels of evolution and survival, living structures protected, nurtured, and shaped by generations of faithful custodians determined that the buildings and their treasures, like the faith they represent, should be handed on to those that come after.