English Cathedrals Illustrated: Second and Revised EditionBond, Francis
History
English Cathedrals Illustrated: Second and Revised Edition
Bond, Francis
Cathedrals -- England; Cathedrals -- Wales
Quivil commenced his work in the two Norman towers, in which he inserted
tall arches, thus making them an integral part of the church. He also
built the arches of the crossing, and provided abutment to the west
by building one new bay on either side of the nave. All that one sees
here—the first bay of the nave, and the alterations in the transepts,
the window tracery, the piers and arches, the pierced balconies hung up
on the walls of the towers, the substitution of Purbeck marble for stone
shafts—is Quivil’s work. As to the easternmost bay of the nave on either
side, it differs from the rest of the nave in having a wider arch; while
its clerestory windows have the same straight-spoked wheel as Quivil’s
windows in the transept; the mouldings of the capitals of the first two
piers correspond with those of the transeptal arches; the bases are lower
than those elsewhere in the nave; the bosses of the aisles are flatter;
even the flying-buttresses differ.
Now that he had remodelled the centre of the church, Quivil set to work
to recast the eastern parts of the church, commencing at the far east
end, so as to interfere with the services as little as possible. He
first transformed the Lady chapel; to him are due the shafts, sedilia,
double piscina, and the vaulting, the rib-mouldings of which are of
earlier character than those of the choir; and the windows, which closely
resemble those of Merton College, Oxford, which we know was commenced in
1277. In the centre of the Lady chapel Bishop Quivil is buried; he died
in 1291. The chapels on either side may have been remodelled or partly
remodelled by Bronescombe; but the east windows are later in style, and
are Quivil’s.
The piers hereabout are very interesting. Those of the Lady chapel
looking into the side chapels are composed of four columns. The
north-east and south-east piers of the choir have clusters of eight
shafts instead of four; while in the pier between them the cluster of
eight is developed into a cluster of sixteen columns. Finally, notice
that these piers are set diamond-wise, with four flat faces, and the
angles to the north, west, south, and east.
BISHOP BITTON (1292-1307).
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.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account