Exeter Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of St Peter in Exeter, to give it its full name, is one of the greatest English cathedrals, but its greatness lies not in its size but in its form. It is built in an extraordinary mixture of styles, from Norman through Gothic to Perpendicular – but its features blend and harmonise into a whole that’s pleasing to the eye from any direction.

As is so often the case with churches, the building we see today stands on the site of an earlier church; but what is different at Exeter is that the great Norman church that was built from 1114 was almost entirely demolished just over 100 years after it had been started. Only its twin towers remain, standing either side of the later building.