England -- Description and travel; Wales -- Description and travel
Next the clerk called my attention to the fine old fifteenth-century
stained glass of the west window, found some years back under the floor
of the church, presumably placed there for safety from the Puritan
fanatics. Also he pointed out the boldly carved royal coat-of-arms
set up against the north wall of the church "to celebrate the capture
of Napoleon Bounaparte." Then he showed me the old Collegiate Choir
stalls, on one of the panels of which is a very curious and cunningly
conceived carving representing the Annunciation; at the base of the
panel is shown a vase with lilies growing from it, and these are so
contrived to subtly suggest the Crucifixion where the flowers expand.
A quaint and poetic conception cleverly carried out. "A carving quite
unique," the clerk told me; certainly I had seen nothing like it
before. I wonder how the medieval carver got his inspiration?
Next we inspected the Golden, or the Vernon Chapel, built in 1510, a
copy on a smaller scale of the Henry VII. Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
The fan-vaulted roofing of this is very fine, and both the roof and
walls still plainly show traces of gilt and colouring. In a niche in
the west wall and under a richly carved canopy is the figure of Sir
Arthur Vernon represented as preaching, this Sir Arthur Vernon being "a
priest of the College." During the restoration of the church his brass
was discovered beneath the floor of the chapel, though why it should
have been floored over I cannot imagine; now it has been recovered and
exposed for all men to read who know the Latin tongue. The original
altar stone (of rough sandstone with five crosses on it) has also been
recovered from the floor, and has been returned to its former rightful
position, suitably elevated, at the east end of the chapel, and above
it is a faded fresco of the Crucifixion. On the south wall is also a
quaint brass to Ralph Elcock--Cellarer of the College.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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