Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the BishopsKendrick, A. F. (Albert Frank)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lincoln: A History and Description of its Fabric and a List of the Bishops
Kendrick, A. F. (Albert Frank)
Lincoln Cathedral
The vault of the three ancient walks is of oak, with stone springers.
There is a fine series of oak bosses, carved with figures, grotesque heads,
animals and foliage. An interesting set of photographs was taken from
these bosses when the cloister was in process of reconstruction a few
years ago; they are reproduced in the _Builder_ of July 19th, 1890. In the
cloister garth are the tombs of Dean Butler (to whose memory a monument
has recently been placed in the angel choir) and his wife, and Precentor
Venables (d. 1895) and his daughter. The late precentor will be long
remembered by those who are interested in the history of the minster;
the results of his patient investigations, published chiefly in the
_Archæological Journal_, cannot fail to be of great service to any
who are desirous of information with respect to the architecture of
the minster, or the antiquities of the city. The cloisters still bear
marks of the rough usage they received in the last century, when they
served the purpose of sheds for scaffolding and building materials. The
doorway opening into the vestibule of the chapter-house is in the east
walk. The oak door is a gift of the present bishop (Dr. King). Over the
door inside is an arcade of slender arches with a large round window
above, which would look better filled with coloured glass.
The =Chapter-house= is one of the earliest of the series of polygonal
chapter-houses in England, dating from the early part of the thirteenth
century. It is a decagon with two windows in each bay; nearly all of these
have now been filled with stained glass, in memory of different dignitaries
connected with the minster. The glass is by Clayton and Bell, and deals
with the history of the minster from its foundation. Below the windows
an arcade runs right round the walls, with Purbeck shafts, foliaged
capitals (see page 142), and a profusion of tooth ornament. Below the
arcading is a projecting stone seat. The stone vault is a little later
than the rest of the chapter-house. It is supported by a cluster of
shafts, against the wall, in each angle, resting on corbels carved with
foliage. Besides these, there is a massive central column, surrounded
by ten hexagonally-fluted Purbeck shafts, banded in the middle. Greater
experience was necessary before the Gothic architects were able, as at
York, to dispense with this central pillar, and to produce a perfect
Gothic dome of such large dimensions. A corbel, carved with oak foliage,
formerly supporting a figure of the Virgin Mary, is attached to the
eastern side of this central column. In front of this is a socket in
the pavement for holding a processional cross. The dean's chair, at one
time in the library, is a fine piece of early fourteenth-century carved
woodwork. On the arms are crouching lions; the front panel below the
seat is carved with rows of quatrefoils. The canopy over the chair is
modern. The chapter-house was restored under the directions of the late
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account