Wells Highlights and Heritage: Bell-ringing Swans and Bloody Assizes

Wells is England's smallest city, but it packs in more than a millennium of history, intrigue, and quirky traditions. On this walking tour, you'll pass all the city’s main sights and hear the most colourful stories attached to each.

The tour starts at the Wells Tourist Office on the Market Place, where stallholders have been trading since the 12th century. You'll pass through the Bishop's Eye gateway into the Liberty, once an area controlled by bishops who made their own laws and dodged taxes. There you’ll see the Bishop's Palace and meet the swans who live on the moat and are trained to ring a bell when they want food.

You'll then pass picturesque spots linked to Wells Cathedral, such as Penniless Porch and Cathedral Green, stopping outside the magnificent West Front to hear its story. Then, it’s off to discover Vicars’ Close, a complete 14th-century street built to keep cathedral choirmen away from worldly temptations. Next, you’ll explore streets lined with medieval almshouses and St Cuthbert's Church, whose magnificent painted wooden ceiling means some visitors mistake it for the cathedral.

Finally, you’ll make your way back to the Market Place, hearing tales of three periods in the history of Wells, from the drama of the Civil War and the bloody Monmouth Rebellion to the over-zealous May-day merrymaking in the 1600s.

On this 60-minute tour, you’ll also have a chance to:

• Picture the cathedral in its medieval glory, when trumpeters welcomed worshippers into a building painted in vivid azure, vermilion, and gold
• ‘Hear how the 1685 Bloody Assizes saw 542 men tried in Market Place, with 94 executed
• Spot the jousting knights that perform every 15 minutes on the 1392 Cathedral clock
• Visit the City Arms pub, whose ladies' toilet was once a jail cell
• Meet the city’s iconic swans and hear a quote or two from their blog
• ‘Meet’ some famous Wells residents including Harry Patch (the ‘last fighting Tommy’) and Olympic gold medallist Mary Rand

Wells rewards curiosity at every corner. Give yourself extra time to peek inside the cathedral, linger by the moat, and explore beyond the tour’s route.