Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral: Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour, Otherwise St. Mary Overie. A Short History and Description of the Fabric, with Some Account of the College and the SeeWorley, George
History
Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral: Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour, Otherwise St. Mary Overie. A Short History and Description of the Fabric, with Some Account of the College and the See
Worley, George
Southwark Cathedral (London, England)
Starting our perambulation at the =East End=, it will be noticed that
the so-called Lady Chapel is actually an enlargement of the choir,
such as we find on a much grander scale at Durham or Fountains, and
may be compared to the "Presbytery" at Chichester, from which the Lady
Chapel projects, or to the "New Building" at Peterborough Cathedral.
This addition was made to the church by Peter de Rupibus in the
thirteenth century, as a retro-choir or ambulatory. It was carefully
restored by Mr. George Gwilt, in 1832, from much external mutilation
to something like its original state. The eastern side consists of
four bays, divided by buttresses, and surmounted by pointed gables,
with ornamental crosses on the apices. In each of the gables there is
a triplet of narrow lancet windows, which light the space between the
internal vault and the roof. They have sculptured heads in the
moulding above the central light in each triplet. The bays below are
lighted by a similar series of larger windows of simpler
construction, the moulding of the sides being carried over the lancet
points in unbroken continuity. In the north-east corner there is a
short hexagonal stair turret, but the opposite corner is simply
supported by ordinary buttresses. The walls are made up of rubble and
flints, with ashlar dressing, as is supposed to have been the case
throughout the original church, where, however, the flints are said to
have been squared. In the reign of Edward III, a small Lady Chapel was
built against the east end of this retro-choir: it projected from the
second bay from the south, where the window was removed to connect it
with the church. After the interment of Bishop Andrewes within it,
this little appendage became popularly known as the "Bishop's Chapel."
It was demolished in 1830, on the ground of its supposed interference
with the approach to the new London Bridge; but as it only projected
thirty-four feet (a distance which would have placed it well within
the present churchyard railing) its destruction seems to have been an
unnecessary act of vandalism. The retro-choir itself narrowly escaped
sharing its fate, but was fortunately spared, and the tomb of Bishop
Andrewes was removed to its present position immediately behind the
high altar. The true Lady Chapel being destroyed, the dedication seems
to have been popularly transferred to the structure so closely
associated with it, and most people concerned are now very unwilling
to part with the familiar name.[15]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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