Photos from the roof of Southwark Cathedral

Although old churches and Cathedrals are increasingly overlooked by modern towers, they can still offer stunning views of London from their rooftops.

All the more delightful thanks to the hair-raising climb that is often needed to get up to a location that was never intended for casual visitors.

By courtesy of Southwark Cathedral, and arranged by Better Bankside, a small group were allowed past the locked doors and to climb up seemingly endless spiral staircases to the very top of the clock tower.

A journey made more exciting/scary due to the fact the bells were in full bonging state at the time, and climbing up a staircase right next to the bells was an utterly deafening experience. Oh, and the roof shakes and wobbles when the bells are in action, which in no way whatsoever wasn’t at all alarming.

I would have taken better photos with the big camera, but also probably have got stuck half way up as the staircases were really too narrow for the big bag.

So here are some cameraphone photos -click on them to enlarge.

The walkway above the nave – just a few inches of stone beneath your feet.

Squeezing around the upper walkway to the top of the tower.

The Cathedral and the Shard

God looks down on you from CCTV.

The night of our visit was also one of the occasional candlelit photography evenings, where the Cathedral lets people in with tripods and cameras to take photos in the dark.

from IanVisits http://bit.ly/2RiXAuS