Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.]: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal SeeMassé, H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Gloucester [2nd ed.]: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espicopal See
Massé, H. J. L. J. (Henri Jean Louis Joseph)
Gloucester Cathedral
In 1679 we find an insensate prebendary securing an order from the
Chapter for destroying some of the old glass in the west window of the
choir. Bishop Benson (1734-1752) spent vast sums of money on the
building, and to him are due the paving of the nave, and pinnacles to
the Lady Chapel, which were removed at a recent restoration. A stone
screen (removed in 1820) was erected at the entrance to the choir by
this energetic Bishop, and his architect, Kent, in whose hands he was,
suggested the fluting of the pillars of the nave.
Fifty years ago, in 1847, under the energetic administration of Dr
Jeune, the Treasurer, extensive repairs and improvements were begun by
Mr F. S. Waller. The crypt was drained, concreted, and later on glazed.
The grounds round the cathedral have been lowered, enlarged, and laid
out, and the drainage has been properly done. Of the restorations during
the last fifty years mention has been made in detail in the description
of the various parts of the building that have been restored, and there
is no need to repeat.
Restoration is a cause of much strife, and in the hands of many
architects it means destruction of the original features of the
building. Gloucester has suffered somewhat at the hands of Sir Gilbert
Scott, but probably not a tithe of what would have been inflicted upon
it had Wyatt been turned loose with an absolutely free hand. Mr Waller,
writing in 1890, said: "Forty years ago everything not 'Gothic' (the
fashion of the day) was destroyed; but were it possible now to reinstate
the Chapter-House book-cases, the Renaissance Reredos of the Choir,
Wygmore's pulpit, the aisle screens, the remains of the Rood Loft, and
the Choir fittings, and to put them all back--odd mixture as they would
be--to the positions they occupied in 1727, few would be found to
object, even though the replacement of the monuments on the columns of
the nave became one of the conditions."--Truly "_Tempora mutantur_,"
and fortunately _nos et mutamur in illis_.
#Dedication.#--The building of Osric was dedicated to St Peter by
Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bosel, Bishop of Worcester. When
Bishop Wulfstan ejected the secular canons, and brought in his
Benedictine monks, he reconsecrated it to St. Peter and St. Paul.
Bishop Aldred after building _de novo_ re-dedicated the church to St.
Peter, as the chief of the apostles. Abbot Serlo seems to have
remembered the earlier dedication to St. Peter and St. Paul, for he
caused the foundation-stone to be laid in 1089 on the festival of those
two apostles in June, but his dedication in 1100 was to St. Peter. Both
St. Peter and St. Paul are now represented among the statues on the
front of the south porch. After the dissolution of the monastery Henry
VIII. ascribed the Cathedral Church to the Holy and Individed Trinity.
The Cathedral is traditionally by many called "St. Peter's," and by some
"The Abbey Church," but this, of course, is quite inaccurate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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