Wells, Somerset in the context of Bishop's Palace, Wells

Somerset (/ˈsʌmərsɛt, -sɪt/ SUM-ər-set, -⁠sit), archaically Somersetshire (/ˈsʌmərsɛt.ʃɪər, -sɪt-, -ʃər/ SUM-ər-set-sheer, -⁠sit-, -⁠shər), is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Bristol, and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. The largest settlement is the city of Bath.

Somerset is a predominantly rural county, especially to the south and west, with an area of 4,171 km (1,610 sq mi) and a population of 1,012,934 in 2024. Bath is located in the north-east of the county, Yeovil in the south-east, Taunton in the south-west, and the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare in the north-west. The city of Wells, the second-smallest city by population in England, is located in the centre. For local government purposes, the county comprises three unitary authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset, and Somerset. Bath and North East Somerset Council is a member of the West of England Combined Authority.

The bishop of Bath and Wells is the diocesean bishop of the diocese of Bath and Wells in the Church of England. The bishop's seat, or cathedra, is at the Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew in the city of Wells. The diocese covers most of Somerset and a small part of Dorset.

From 1090 until the Reformation the Abbey Church of St Peter and Paul in the city of Bath was also a cathedral of the diocese, and the double name has been retained. The bishop has the right, together with the bishop of Durham, to escort the sovereign at the coronation. The bishop's residence is the Bishop's Palace, Wells.

A co-cathedral is a cathedral church which shares the function of being a bishop's seat, or cathedra, with another cathedral, often in another city (usually a former see, anchor city of the metropolitan area or the civil capital). Instances of this occurred in England before the Protestant Reformation in the dioceses of 'Bath and Wells', and of 'Coventry and Lichfield'. These two dioceses were each named for both cities that served as bishop's seats.

As of March 2020, the Catholic Church had 322 co-cathedrals, mainly in Europe (140 in Italy alone).

The earliest record of a church on the present site is a charter of 766. A bishopric was established in 909; however in 1090 the cathedral of the diocese was moved to Bath Abbey and remained there until Wells became co-cathedral in 1218. The remains of the tenth-century cathedral lie to the south of the present building, beneath the cloister. The present cathedral has a cruciform plan with a chapter house attached to the north and a cloister to the south, and is largely the result of two building campaigns which took place between c. 1180 to c. 1260 and c. 1285 to c. 1345. The western half of the cathedral, including the nave and western transepts, belongs primarily to the first building phase and is constructed in the Early English style of Gothic architecture. The east end, including the lady chapel, eastern transepts, chapter house, and central tower, belongs to the second phase and uses the Decorated Gothic style and retains much medieval stained glass. Two towers were added to the west front between 1385 and 1410 in the Perpendicular Gothic style, and the cloisters were remodelled in the same style between 1420 and 1508. The cathedral was restored over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.