The choir well merits the attention of every visitor of taste. From the
organ loft to the Bishop’s throne, the sides are ornamented with rich
spiral tabernacle work, underneath which are massive and highly
ornamented stalls. The choir is separated from the nave and broad aisle
by a Gothic stone screen; there are five pointed arches on each side;
above them, is an arcade of pointed arches, resting on slender shafts,
and above it are the clerestory windows. The pavement of the choir is of
black and white marble. At the west end of it, are four stalls on each
side of the entrance, and there are twenty others on each side of the
choir; over these are rich canopies, with pinnacles and pendants in great
profusion. Above the stalls on the right hand, opposite the pulpit, is
the Bishop’s throne, which formerly stood at the east end in St. Mary’s
Chapel, and is said to have been the shrine of St. Werburgh, or as
suggested by Pennant, the pedestal on which originally stood the real
shrine which contained the sacred reliques. At the Reformation it was
removed to its present position, and converted into a throne for the
Bishop. It is a rich specimen of Gothic architecture, decorated with
carved work, and embellished with a range of thirty curious small
statues, variously habited, holding scrolls in their hands, and
originally inscribed with their names, but now defaced. Dr. Cowper
published in 1799, an elaborate history of these figures, and was of
opinion that they represented kings and saints of the royal Mercian line,
ancestors or relations of St. Werburgh. Very great improvements have
recently been effected within the choir. The restoration of the bishop’s
throne was effected by the munificence of the Rev. Canon Slade, as an
obituary testimonial to his late father-in-law, Bishop Law, in memory of
whom, the following inscription, engraven upon a brass plate, is affixed
to the throne:—
In gloriam Dei hanc cathedram reficiendam curabit A.D. MDCCCXLVI.
Jacobus Slade, A.M. hujus ecciesiæ Canonicus. Necuen in piam
memoriam Georgii Henrici Law, S.T.P. per xii. annes Episcopi
Cestriensis. dein Bathoniensis.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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