Historic Sites of Lancashire and Cheshire: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.Croston, James
History
Historic Sites of Lancashire and Cheshire: A Wayfarer's Notes in the Palatine Counties, Historical, Legendary, Genealogical, and Descriptive.
Croston, James
Cheshire (England); Lancashire (England)
There are other parts of the church that bespeak our attention. The
north aisle, commonly known as the Piper Choir--though how it acquired
that name nobody seems to know--retains its original stone vaulting,
and is lighted by Perpendicular windows, in which some fragments of
mediæval painted glass still remain. The south aisle is perfect, and
appears to have been widened at some period subsequent to its original
foundation. In the church books it is described as "Lord Harrington's
Queare," but is now usually designated the parish or town choir, from
the supposition that it constituted the former parish church, which the
prior and his canons had been obliged to enlarge owing to some dispute
between the parishioners and themselves. The windows lighting it are
of early Decorated character of varied design, and on one side is the
original sedilia for the officiating priests, as well as the piscina
in which it was their custom to rinse the chalice at the time of the
celebration of the mass.
Having completed our inspection of the various chapels, the faithful
custos who accompanied us, and who, by the way, though a _rusticus
abnormis sapiens_, is an enthusiast about the church, led the way up
to the triforium, and thence to the top of the lower lantern or tower,
where we had an opportunity of examining more closely the peculiar
disposition of the superstructure. It would seem that a century or
two after the completion of the original tower the fraternity took
it into their heads to erect a bell-tower, but instead of removing
the parapet and raising the walls of the existing structure, as at
Kirkstall, or building a new tower like that of prior Moon at Bolton
Abbey, they determined on making the most of the one they possessed,
and constructed four cross arches, each springing from the centre of
the side walls, on which they reared their campanile with a result that
said more for their originality than their regard for architectural
effect. A few steps lead up to the roof of the second tower, whence a
good view of the surrounding country is obtained, though the range is
somewhat restricted by reason of the comparatively low position the
church occupies and the nearness of the hills which environ the Cartmel
Vale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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