Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Wells: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See — John Shaqi
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Wells: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal SeeDearmer, Percy
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Wells: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See
Dearmer, Percy
Wells Cathedral
"The thirteenth century," he concludes, "had done its great creative
work, and had left to future ages only to improve and develop
according to the principles which the thirteenth century had laid
down. That is to say, the thirteenth century had done for the local
church of Wells what it did for England, what it did for Europe, and
for the world."
The choir, however, was not so cramped as Mr Freeman thought, for it
included one bay of the nave, as we now know from a notice of the
making of Haselshaw's tomb, which was dug at the entrance to the
choir; and, indeed, the marks where the screen was fixed are still
visible on the piers at this point. From the top of the screen the
great rood looked down the nave, and on each side of the doorway stood
an altar, that on the north dedicated to Our Lady, that on the south
to St. Andrew. The aisles of the choir were also screened off from the
nave, and outside their gates were two more altars--St. Saviour's on
the north, and St. Edmund's on the south. Thus the nave, where men
were ever coming and going, walking and talking, and in laxer times
buying and selling as well, was quite shut off from the more sacred
places. Yet here, too, were altars and shrines, and here came the
processions on Sundays and holidays.
Within the choir the chapter said their offices, the dean and
precentor facing east in their returned stalls, and the other
dignitaries in their allotted places, with the junior canons, vicars,
and those in minor orders below them, and the boys on the lowest forms
of all. Just beyond these stalls was the bishop's throne; and east of
the tower the presbytery stood open, with the tombs of the early
bishops, on either side, under the arches. The rest of the space
enclosed within the screen belonged more especially to the clergy; the
north transept was probably used as a chapter-house, when the
undercroft was yet unfinished, and its western aisle was used as the
chapter library. The chamber leading to the undercroft was the vestry,
and the stout walls of the octagon, when it was finished, protected
the vestments and treasures of the cathedral.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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