Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal SeeAddleshaw, Percy
Religion
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Exeter: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See
Addleshaw, Percy
Exeter Cathedral
The decoration of the choir vault is by Messrs. Clayton and Bell. The
attempt to give life to the roofing by gilding the bosses and painting
the ribs red and blue and gold, while the ground colour is a dull white,
is not without merit.
#Pulpit in Choir# of Devon marbles and alabaster, erected in 1871. The
beautifully carved panels represent our Lord blessing the children; the
Sermon on the Mount; St. Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost; St.
Paul at Athens; and St. Paul before Festus.
#The East Window.#--Henry de Blakeborn, a canon of the cathedral,
enlarged "this Gable window in the Perpendicular style." Although it was
damaged a good deal in Cromwell's time, much of the old glass remains.
The shields on the upper part of the window are modern, but those at the
bottom are those of the first bishops and benefactors. The three centre
figures in the lowest row were added in Brantyngham's day.
[Illustration: PULPIT IN THE CHOIR.
The Photochrom. Co. Photo.]
[Illustration: ST. JAMES' CHAPEL (DRAWN BY H.P. CLIFFORD).]
#St. James' Chapel.#--In the aisle on the south of the choir. In the
north aisle immediately opposite is the companion chapel of St. Andrew.
It will be noticed how frequently one part balances another throughout
the building. These chapels are partly Marshall's work. When the apsidal
chapels were pulled down at the time the apse was destroyed, Marshall
built the present chapels of St. James and St. Andrew. Bronscombe
altered them considerably, and the first item in the Fabric Rolls is,
"for 3 windows for St. James Chapel 8s. 9d.; for glass 16s." This is the
last year of Bronscombe's episcopate, and proves he had, at any rate,
almost finished the renovation of this chapel. The most noticeable
features are the upper chamber, and the magnificent but half-destroyed
monument popularly known as Leofric's tomb. The chapel contained two
altars, one dedicated to St. James and the other probably to St. Thomas
of Canterbury.
Nearly opposite this chapel are the effigies of two knights, dating from
the fourteenth century; their cross-legged attitude leading to the
erroneous notion that they were Crusaders. They probably represent
Humphrey de Bohun, father of Margaret, wife of Hugh Courtenay, 1332, and
Sir Arthur Chichester of Raleigh, 1301. Old histories describe armorial
bearings painted on their shields, but these have long since perished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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