The current Cathedral building started in 1118 with the rounded apse at the east end, which still survives today. The construction took 120 years – about 5 generations of stonemasons and workmen would have helped with the construction. The men who started the work would have known that they or their sons would not live to see the church’s completion. The Cathedral has a rare example of some of the original winding gear used in the building work still surviving inside the West Front.
