Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Chichester (1901): A Short History & Description of Its Fabric with an Account of the Diocese and See — John Shaqi
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Chichester (1901): A Short History & Description of Its Fabric with an Account of the Diocese and SeeCorlette, Hubert C. (Hubert Christian)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Chichester (1901): A Short History & Description of Its Fabric with an Account of the Diocese and See
Corlette, Hubert C. (Hubert Christian)
Chichester Cathedral
Some new buttressing had been added to the south-west tower when the
upper part of the tower itself was rebuilt; but the larger works were
the addition of a vaulted sacristy in the corner between the west side
of the south end of the transept and the nave. On the opposite side of
the same part of the transept a square-ended chapel with a vestry
attached was added in place of the original shallow apsidal chapel.
The original chapel on the east side of the north end of the transept
was also removed to make way for another and much larger one. This is
now used as the cathedral library.
The scheme planned after the second fire having been completed by
about the middle of the thirteenth century, little further work was
undertaken in comparison with that then finished; but before 1250 the
wall of the south aisle of the nave was pierced in four bays, and two
more chapels were added. Then, on the north of the nave, the outer
wall of the aisle was cut through in the second bay, going west from
the transept, and a small chapel was built. The other chapels west of
this one were added during the latter half of the century. In each
case the deeply projecting buttresses which had been introduced
against the earlier walls after the second fire were used, where they
were available, to form parts of the masonry of these new chapels, and
were therefore not disturbed unnecessarily. The old walls having been
altered, and the earlier buttresses being changed in their nature, it
became necessary to carry the original thrust from the nave still
farther out from its source in order to find for it some satisfactory
abutment, and in doing this there was that new force, introduced by
the vaulting of these added chapels, to be reckoned with in addition.
Consequently, to the earlier buttressing more was added. The exact
nature and the approximate date of this work are shown by Professor
Willis in the sections and plan given in his monograph on the
cathedral. The addition to each buttress amounted to an elongation of
it as a pierced wing wall which provided lateral support. Upon the end
of it a greater mass of masonry was introduced to serve as a weight
for steadying the structural device; and this necessary structural
idea was the means of introducing another architectural feature--the
pinnacle. Between the pinnacles of these buttresses rose the gabled
ends of each of the chapels. Professor Willis suggests that a great
part of the work done after the fire of 1186-1187 was completed by the
time of the dedication ceremony in 1199, and he is no doubt a safe
authority to follow. But the nature of many architectural features
tends very strongly to confirm the idea that much of the work in the
ambulatory eastward of the sanctuary had been delayed. It may have
been that the activity which prevailed during the early half of the
thirteenth century was caused by the desire to see this portion of the
church completed; and the energy with which the plea for new interest
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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