Demand hits new heights for cathedral tower and rooftop tours

More than half a million people have climbed towers and high walkways in British cathedrals this summer, keen to explore new perspectives of the historic buildings. Cathedral towers offer magnificent viewpoints over cities and many roofs are architectural marvels, often with highly decorated, and carved ceilings.

The Association of English Cathedrals ran a successful summer campaign focusing on wonders such as the asymmetrical vaulting above St Hugh’s Choir, Lincoln and the pendant vaulted ceiling at Christ Church. Oxford. Ely offers tours of its unique lantern roof within its octagon tower and is planning a new hidden heights tour.

Tour towers at St John the Baptist RC Cathedral in Norwich have run from May through to October. Lasting about an hour, they take visitors up to “the best vantage point over the city of Norwich” according to Richard Maguire, the cathedral’s heritage and learning officer. “The feedback has been fantastic and our scheduled tours have completely sold out. We have had to add extra ones on where we can,” he told The Tablet. The main limitation has been the number of available guides and recruits are currently being sought. “This is in the context of a general increase in visitor numbers to the cathedral this year, on top of our growing congregation,” he added. He reported that private bookings for tower tours for groups are also offered, “which are popular for local groups, schoolchildren, and even marriage proposals”.

Cathedral visitors have learnt about the work involved in maintenance of the buildings and have been willing to take on climbing challenging staircases. The steep spiral staircase at Worcester Cathedral has 235 steps and narrows towards the top. The tower at Salisbury has 255 steps. Reaching the top of the dome of St Paul’s, London means a climb of 528 steps. At Truro cathedral, visitors have to climb a tight, steep 120-step spiral staircase and walk along narrow wooden gangways. At Winchester, tour groups climb 213 steps, stopping off along the way to walk along the clerestory corridor and discover the cathedral’s 16 bells.

Among the cathedrals offering tower and rooftop tours are Chester, Chichester, Exeter, Gloucester, Guildford, Hereford, Lichfield, Lincoln, Liverpool, Peterborough, Salisbury, St Albans, St Edmundsbury, Winchester, Worcester and York.

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