Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See — John Shaqi
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal SeeEley, C. King
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See
Eley, C. King
Carlisle Cathedral (Carlisle, England)
The Clerestory in each compartment has a window which differs from the
aisle windows in having the billet as decoration of its outer moulding.
The string-course at the spring of the round head runs without a break
from one to the other.
There is also an unbroken corbel table above the windows, of very
expressive, life-like heads, no two of which are alike.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH. _A. Pumphrey, Photo._]
#North Transept.#--The north window is Debased Gothic, the tracery of
the previous window having been similar to that of the great east
window, while the west window is early English.
[Illustration: NORTH DOOR OF NAVE. _A. Pumphrey, Photo._]
The #Tower#, the latest part of the cathedral, was the work of Bishop
Strickland early in the fifteenth century. He erected it upon the piers
of the ancient Norman tower. Its height is not much over 100 feet, and
is very disappointing, because in England "cathedral towers are apt to
be good, and really make their mark" (Pater). In fact, it does not at
all give the impression of being part of such an important building as a
cathedral. This is caused by its having been rebuilt on the scale of the
Norman nave, and not on that of the enlarged choir. It takes up only
about two-thirds of the width of the choir, and to mask this defect a
turret rising to the top of the third stage of the tower is introduced
on the north side, and another turret is added at the north-east angle.
The tower rises in four stages above the transepts. The second storey is
pierced with loopholes. The third has two pointed windows lighting a
room immediately below the belfry. Between these, in a niche with a
canopy, is the figure of an angel holding a drawn sword. On his head is
fixed a tablet to support another figure. There is only one window in
the fourth storey, which gives light to the belfry, and is very large.
Its labels are ornamented with very vigorously carved heads, and the
cornice above is decorated very much like that of the clerestory. The
tower terminates in an embattled parapet.
All the windows have been thrown out of centre by the addition of the
lower turret.
Originally the tower was crowned by a leaden spire about fifteen feet in
height, but this was removed at the end of the seventeenth century on
account of its decayed condition.
On the east side of the tower there is a single window in the third
storey. In place of a second window there is an opening into the roof of
the choir. This leads into a passage running from the tower to the east
end.
The bold attempts to veil the inadequate size of the tower by the
addition of two turrets can be best studied from this side.
The North Aisle of the #Choir# consists of eight bays, all Early
English, except the easternmost one (the retro-choir), which is Late
Decorated; while the western bay has a Perpendicular window.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account