Bell's Cathedrals: St. David'sRobson, Philip A. (Philip Appleby)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: St. David's
Robson, Philip A. (Philip Appleby)
St. Davids Cathedral
On either side of these again traces of a four-centred arch showed
faintly through the smooth ashlar at the back, and on removing the
ashlar two beautiful windows were disclosed. They have their saddle-bars
and stancheons _in situ_, in some places almost rusted through, and it
is clear that the windows have not been, nor were they intended to be,
glazed. Another interesting point is that they seem scarcely to have
been finished before they were walled up again, for the masonry has not
even been rubbed down. This seems so unusual a treatment for windows of
such refinement, that one is tempted to conjecture that some zealous
subordinate of the Bishop’s, anxious to give him a pleasant surprise,
had, during his absence, caused these windows to be made, but on his
return the incensed prelate promptly ordered their immurement. A squint
was, however, left in the centre light of each window, so that from the
Trinity Chapel altar the celebrations at those at the east end of the
north and south aisles could be seen. When removing the masonry in 1898,
it was decided to leave these squint-stones in order not to destroy an
important link in the history of these windows.
[Illustration: NICHE, BISHOP VAUGHAN’S CHAPEL.]
Curiously enough, the backs of the windows, towards the ambulatory are
different from the fronts (one of which we illustrate) and have merely
four-centred arches.
[Illustration: BISHOP VAUGHAN’S CHAPEL.]
At the north end of this chapel is the tomb of Archdeacon Hiot and that
of Sir John Wogan, recently brought here for the sake of preservation.
The former stood in the chapel of St. Nicholas. Bishop Vaughan’s own
tomb is in front of the altar, the leger-stone once bearing a brass on
which was engraved his effigy.[64]
Several Celtic stones bearing crosses, which were found at Pen Arthur,
are at present in this chapel. The earliest--from the eighth to the
eleventh century--Professor Westwood found doing duty as a gate-post on
a farm. The holes show the marks where the hinges were. At the top, on
the left, can be read Α Ω and (?) JHS. On the right is XPS, cut after
the corner was broken away, and below is “Gurmarc.” On the back is
another cross of a still earlier character. It is supposed to have
commemorated some battle fought in the neighbourhood, and was found on
the moor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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