HertfordshireTompkins, Herbert W. (Herbert Winckworth)
History
Hertfordshire
Tompkins, Herbert W. (Herbert Winckworth)
Hertfordshire (England) -- Guidebooks
(1) _The Tower_, which is seen to greater advantage since Sir Gilbert
Scott removed the exterior plaster, thus exposing the wonderfully
preserved Roman tiles with which it was faced by Abbot Paul de Caen. The
four enormous piers upon which it rests were weakened by the ignorance
of early restorers, who cut into them freely, and dug graves in such
manner as to imperil their foundations. The most arduous work of Sir
Gilbert Scott was the strengthening of these piers, effected piecemeal
by partial reconstruction of the piers themselves and by laying a
durable substratum of cement right down to the chalk. The fine ring of
eight bells was rehung. Visitors will find the ascent of the spiral
staircase long and arduous, but will be rewarded by the almost
unrivalled view from between the merlons on its summit.
[Illustration: The Shrine of St Alban]
(2) _St. Alban's Shrine_ (in the Saint's Chapel between the Altar Screen
and the Lady-chapel), already referred to (p. 188), disappeared about
the time of the suppression of the monastery (1539), and all traces of
it were lost except the fragment of Purbeck marble marking its former
site on the chapel floor. Yet that shrine, its genuineness unquestioned,
stands to-day on the site which it occupied centuries ago! Hundreds of
fragments of Purbeck marble were discovered when the central arches of
the Lady-chapel were opened by Dr. Nicholson previous to the
restorations of Sir Gilbert Scott. Subsequently, other fragments were
discovered and the whole collection, the importance of which was
suspected, was pieced together with indefatigable ingenuity by the late
John Chapple. The _feretry_ itself, mentioned by Matthew Paris, which
was supposed to contain the relic of the martyr, has not, and probably
never will be, discovered. The vaulted niches are of clunch, but the
rest of the shrine is of Purbeck marble. Note the beautiful tracery of
these groined niches, the cusps of the arches and crocketted
pediments, and the carvings in the tympana, representing scenes from
the martyrdom of SS. Alban and Amphibalus.
(3) _Shrine of St. Amphibalus_ (in N. aisle of presbytery). This was
discovered in fragments and pieced together in the same manner as that
of St. Alban. The whole, however, is of clunch, and, unfortunately,
incomplete. Note the fret-like sculpture round the basement, and the
name of the saint (imperfect) in carved capitals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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