Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal SeeSergeant, Philip Walsingham
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Winchester: A Description of Its Fabric and a Brief History of the Episcopal See
Sergeant, Philip Walsingham
Winchester Cathedral
Another period of disturbance follows the comparatively quiet rule of
Bishop De Lucy, and it is not until we reach 1346 that we come to a
fresh outburst of architectural zeal on the part of the incumbents of
Winchester. But Edingdon, and still more his successor Wykeham, left
very lasting monuments of their occupancy at Winchester. It must not be
forgotten that, while to Wykeham is due the credit of most of the actual
transformation of the building, Edingdon must have first conceived,
however vaguely, the design. Edingdon's attachment to Winchester is well
illustrated by his quaint reason for refusing the offer of Canterbury:
"if Canterbury is the higher rack, Winchester is the better manger." He
is, indeed, charged with having left a considerable debt on the
building, since his successor seems to have recovered a large sum from
his executors, who had also to compensate Wykeham for large numbers of
cattle which had "disappeared from the various farms of the bishopric."
Yet it appears from Edingdon's own will that he began rebuilding the
nave and left money for the continuation of the work.
Wykeham, as we shall see, had already a reputation for architectural
skill when first introduced to Edward III., and this reputation stood
him in good stead in the matter of preferment. When he was elected to
Winchester he found the bishop's palaces of Farnham, Wolvesey, Waltham,
and Southwark in a very dilapidated condition, and he set these in order
before he turned his attention to anything else. New College, Oxford,
and Winchester College practically occupied him up to 1393; whilst his
work in the cathedral was really the last great undertaking of his life,
inasmuch as it was not finished at the time of his death. The actual
method of Wykeham's transformation of the interior is described more
fully elsewhere, and we will not therefore do more than quote a few
words from Willis on the work done. "The old Norman cathedral was cast
nearly throughout its length and breadth into a new form; the double
tier of arches in its peristyle was turned into one, by the removal of
the lower arch, and clothed with Caen casings in the Perpendicular
style. The old wooden ceilings were replaced with stone vaultings,
enriched with elegant carvings and cognizances. Scarcely less than a
total rebuilding is involved in this hazardous and expensive operation,
carried on during ten years with a systematic order worthy of remark and
imitation.... Judging from the provision of his will of the expenditure
for the last year and a half, the cost of this great work to the bishop
in present money cannot be estimated at less than L200,000."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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