Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their BuildingsPerkins, Thomas, Rev.
History
Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings
To the east of the transept may be seen the #Choir# and #Presbytery#,
with its four clerestory windows; the #Choir Aisle#, also with four
windows; the #Lady Chapel#, with the octagonal turret-staircase leading
into Saint Michael's Loft above it. It will be noticed that there is no
window in the aisle under the western clerestory window of the choir,
as the space where this would have been found is occupied by the two
chapels to the east of the transept, and also that the aisle extends
beyond the choir and flanks the western part of the Lady Chapel. The
whole of this part of the church is of Perpendicular character. The
windows of the choir aisles are low, the arches are depressed, and the
curvature of each side of the arch is so slight that they appear almost
straight lines. The body of these windows contains four lights; in the
head, each of these is subdivided into two. Between the aisle windows
are buttresses, which, with the exception of the one opposite the east
wall of the choir, which terminates in a gable, have pinnacled cappings;
and from each of these, save the gabled one, a flying buttress is
carried over the roof of the aisle and rests against the choir wall.
The aisle roof is flat, and at the top of the outer wall runs a plain
parapet pierced with quatrefoil openings. The clerestory windows are of
great size and are set close together. The choir roof is flat and is
quite invisible from the exterior. There can be little doubt that a
parapet at one time ran along the tops of the clerestory walls, but
this has disappeared. The Lady Chapel has on either side three large
Perpendicular windows; the arches of these as well as those of the
clerestory have pointed heads. The western half of the central window
of the Lady Chapel is blocked up by the later-built octagonal turret
containing the staircase to Saint Michael's Loft. The staircase
commences in an octagonal turret at the north-east corner of the choir
aisle,--this rises above the aisle roof,--the stairs are then carried
above the east wall of the choir aisle and then into the octagonal
turret, which runs up the wall of the Lady Chapel and the loft above,
and rises to some height above the parapet. There is a similar staircase
on the south side, but the turret does not rise quite so high above the
roof. There are five square-headed two-light windows on either side of
St Michael's Loft, the lights being divided by transoms, the upper parts
foliated. At the east end is a three-light window without any transom,
with an obtuse arch under a dripstone. The loft has a parapet all round
it pierced with quatrefoil openings. Some of this parapet, at any rate,
is modern, as, in a photograph of the north side taken in 1884, the
parapet is only shown to the east of the turret. As restoration work
is constantly going on at the church, the money paid by visitors for
viewing the interior (sixpence a head, which produces over L500 a year)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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