Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Norwich: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See — John Shaqi
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Norwich: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal SeeQuennell, C. H. B. (Charles Henry Bourne)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Norwich: A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See
Quennell, C. H. B. (Charles Henry Bourne)
Norwich Cathedral (Norwich, England)
He also built the episcopal palace on the north side of the cathedral,
of which some parts remain to this day incorporated with work of a later
period; he seems to have founded and built other churches in Norwich and
Yarmouth. He died on the 22nd of July 1119, in the twenty-ninth year of
his episcopate, and was buried before the high altar in his own
cathedral church.
[Illustration: The Cathedral in the Seventeenth Century.]
Bishop Eborard, who succeeded in 1121, is credited with having finished
the nave from the point where Herbert had left it. The evidence which
goes to support this theory is taken from the _Registrum Primum_.
"Moreover, the same Herbert completed the church of Norwich in his own
time, as I have learned from the account of old people, but have not
found in writing, as far as the altar of the Holy Cross, which is now
called the altar of St. William. He also built all the episcopal
dwelling-house, except the great hall." The altar referred to was on the
north side of choir screen.
Herbert also provided the base for the tower only, probably up to the
roof level; the remainder, up to the parapet, was finished about the
time of Henry I., but at that earlier period it was without the stone
spire which now adds dignity to the cathedral from any point of view.
The roofs at this time were generally of a flat wooden construction
throughout (similar to that of Peterborough Cathedral), and probably
decorated with lozenges, flowers, and symbolical devices. When recently,
under Dean Lefroy, the whitewash and paint were cleaned off from the
stonework, many indications have been found of a most beautiful scheme
of colour decoration.
Though we, in this part, are following up the history of the cathedral
structure, yet it may be interesting to note that it was during the
episcopate of Bishop Eborard that the boy saint, St. William of Norwich,
was said to have been martyred. He was the son of country folk who
gained a living by agriculture. During his life he worked many miracles,
and by his death gave Norwich a share of his glory. It is related that
he was tortured by the Jews, and on the spot where they were discovered
secretly burying him, in Thorpe Wood, a chapel was erected called the
Chapel of St. William in the Wood. Very little now remains of this
structure, but the site can still be traced. The altar before referred
to was set up to his memory in Norwich Cathedral, on the north side of
the screen leading into the ante-choir.
Bishop Eborard resigned the see, or was deposed in 1145, and retired to
the abbey of Fontenay, Mont-Bard, Cote d'Or, in the South of France. He
had re-enforced a mandate of Herbert's that the clergy of the diocese
should contribute to the fund in aid of the fabric.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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