Wells Test for Paternity

To the residents of Wells and the surrounding area DNA Bioscience provide paternity and other DNA relationship testing. As we have dealt with a number of customers from Wells we wanted to also take the opportunity of providing information about this city.

The ancient and very beautiful Cathedral City of Wells lies on the slopes of the Mendip Hills and is now one of the administrative centres of the Mendip District. Travellers come from all over the world to explore the unspoilt streets of this City and to visit its Cathedral, an architectural gem that has come down through the centuries unscathed by such turbulent events as the Dissolution which destroyed its neighbour at Glastonbury.

Although our earliest ancestors settled in the Mendips at such places as Wookey Hole, there is little evidence of a settlement at Wells until Saxon times. King Ina of the West Saxons founded the place when he built a church beside the fresh water springs at the foot of the Mendips in an area that was then a part of the vast diocese of Dorchester-on-Thames. In 909 this huge diocese was divided into three parts, Wells becoming the see of a Bishop of Somerset. Through the centuries since then Wells has been closely knit with its Cathedral and bishops but has had an equally long history of its own - it was important enough to be granted a Borough Charter by King John in 1201.

Much of relevance to the story of Wells can be found in the City's Museum which is housed in one of the historic buildings beside the Cathedral Green. There are other ancient houses, too, in this delightful area - including the Vicars' Close, the Cathedral School and the Bishop's Palace, the latter with a moat on which live swans who are one of the most visited features of the City. Over all rises the Cathedral which is one of the most beautiful examples of Early English architecture with its great west front, the Chapter House and the unusual strainer arches as particular treasures.

Although it would be hard to find a city of greater charm and interest, Wells does not just live on its past. It is a busy place of some 10,000 residents with markets and shops in profusion and well designed areas of modern housing that are served by good schools, leisure amenities and a range of unobtrusive industries.