George Edmund Street: Unpublished Notes and Reprinted PapersStreet, George Edmund
History
George Edmund Street: Unpublished Notes and Reprinted Papers
Street, George Edmund
Architecture, Gothic; Church architecture -- Europe; Europe -- Description and travel; Street, George Edmund, 1824-1881
Of the various steeples which adorn the church, and whose character is
generally very similar, the most beautiful is, I think, that of the
south transept. The lower stages are lighted with couplets of lancets,
and have buttresses at their angles; above the roof line square
pinnacles are set diagonally at the angles, and in the topmost stage
the tower is an octagon in plan with octagonal angle pinnacles resting
on the square pinnacles below, and lighted by lancet windows of very
light proportions. The octagonal pinnacles are composed entirely of
shafts supporting arches, and are of two stages in height; and within
them are contrived some newel staircases of exquisite design. They
consist of a series of delicate shafts--one on each step, supporting
another above; the capitals of these shafts are all well carved and
with great variety; the effect of this winding cluster of shafts, seen
through and behind the shafts of the pinnacles, is a great lesson in
the beauty of shafts and the value of scientific construction. Much of
the beauty of the design is owing to the very light and airy character
of these angle pinnacles, and it is much to be deplored that the spires
shown in du Sommerard’s view no longer exist.
The small cloister on the south side of the nave is one of the features
to which it would be unpardonable not to refer. It forms only one side
of the enclosure, the east and west ends being occupied by the chapter
room and a groined chapel projecting from the south wall of the nave,
whilst the wall of the aisle forms the north side. The merit of this
cloister is, therefore, not its extent, but the beauty of its design.
The windows are of two lights, and above these is a quatrefoil opening
enclosed within a circular moulding, round which are pierced sixteen
small circles. The tracery was glazed, though the lower part of the
windows appears to have been always open as it is at present. The whole
design is a very good example of plate tracery. The outer wall of the
cloister abuts on the street, and though only pierced with small square
windows, is yet so skilfully buttressed and finished with a cornice so
finely sculptured, as to be a very successful architectural feature. At
the angle of this wall near the south transept doorway, a buttress is
brought out from the transept, and against it is placed, standing on
a corbel under a canopy, a grand angel which now holds a sundial; and
though the dial is not old, I suppose, to judge by the position of the
hand, that it takes the place of one coeval with the fabric. The angle
of this buttress, coming forward rather awkwardly in front of the door,
is cut back in a very skilful manner, and has two recessed shafts with
capitals and bases, affording a capital example of angle decoration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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