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

English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed arches, rib vaults, buttresses, and extensive use of stained glass. Combined, these features allowed the creation of buildings of unprecedented height and grandeur, filled with light from large stained glass windows. Important examples include Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and Salisbury Cathedral. The Gothic style endured in England much longer than in Continental Europe.

The Gothic style was introduced from France, where the various elements had first been used together within a single building at the choir of the Abbey of Saint-Denis north of Paris, completed in 1144. The earliest large-scale applications of Gothic architecture in England were Canterbury Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Many features of Gothic architecture had evolved naturally from Romanesque architecture (often known in England as Norman architecture). The first cathedral in England to be both planned and built entirely in the Gothic style was Wells Cathedral, begun in 1175. Other features were imported from the Ile-de-France, where the first French Gothic cathedral, Sens Cathedral, had been built (1135–64). After a fire destroyed the choir of Canterbury Cathedral in 1174, the French architect William of Sens rebuilt the choir in the new Gothic style between 1175 and 1180. The transition can also be seen at Durham Cathedral, a Norman building which was remodelled with the earliest surviving rib vault. Besides cathedrals, monasteries, and parish churches, the style was used for many secular buildings, including university buildings, palaces, great houses, and almshouses and guildhalls.

The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th century and rebuilt in the 12th and 16th centuries; major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s. It is one of the largest examples of Perpendicular Gothic architecture in the West Country. The medieval abbey church served as a sometime cathedral of a bishop. After long contention between churchmen in Bath and Wells the seat of the Diocese of Bath and Wells was later consolidated at Wells Cathedral. The Benedictine community was dissolved in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

The church architecture is cruciform in plan and can seat up to 1,200 patrons. An active place of worship, it also hosts civic ceremonies, concerts and lectures. There is a heritage museum in the cellars.

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.

Wells (/wɛlz/) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Somerset, located on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills, 21 miles (34 km) south-east of Weston-super-Mare, 22 mi (35 km) south-west of Bath and 23 mi (37 km) south of Bristol. Although the population recorded in the 2021 census was only 11,145, and with a built-up area of just 3.244 km (1.253 sq mi), Wells has had city status since medieval times, because of the presence of Wells Cathedral. Often described as England's smallest city, it is actually the second smallest to the City of London in area and population, but unlike London it is not part of a larger urban agglomeration.

Wells takes its name from three holy wells dedicated to Saint Andrew that lie within the grounds of the Bishop's Palace and cathedral and supply water to the marketplace. A small Roman settlement surrounded them, which grew in importance and size under the Anglo-Saxons when King Ine of Wessex founded a minster church there in 704. The community became a trading centre based on cloth making and Wells is notable for its 17th-century involvement in both the English Civil War and the Monmouth Rebellion. In the 19th century, transport infrastructure improved with stations on three different railway lines. However, following the Beeching axe in 1964 the city has been without a railway link.