History of the Cathedral Church of Wells: As Illustrating the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old FoundationFreeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)
History
History of the Cathedral Church of Wells: As Illustrating the History of the Cathedral Churches of the Old Foundation
Freeman, Edward A. (Edward Augustus)
Wells Cathedral
"Multum Roma tamen debet civilibus armis,
Quod tibi res acta est."
Dean Jenkyns, however, did not employ fire; the stoves were reserved
for the next æra.
[55] There is much in the details of the work at Llandaff
which is fairly open to censure, but the principle of arrangement is
thoroughly good throughout, and the general effect is admirable.
[56] It is proposed to "restore," as it is called, the west
front at a cost of many thousand pounds, while there are no signs of
any movement towards getting rid of the crying abuses in the inside
of the church. I believe there is no fear of the wanton destruction
of any of the ancient work, or of any such absurdities as putting up
new statues. Still it seems to me to be a strange putting of the cart
before the horse to spend such a sum, or indeed to spend a single
farthing, on purely ornamental work, while the arrangements of the
inside are such that the church does not properly fulfil its first
duty as a place of worship. When the nave of Wells Cathedral is again
applied to its proper use, it will be time enough to think of canopies
and carved work on the outside. And I am by no means clear that purely
ornamental work of this kind ought to be restored at all. Anything that
is really needed for the safety of the fabric should be done with all
boldness, and all really essential features should be made good. If
the western towers were likely to fall, it would be a matter of duty
to support or to rebuild them, as the case might call for. And as the
doors and windows are essential parts of the building, I should without
scruple restore their decayed bases, mouldings, and other portions.
But as to the purely ornamental work, the statues and their canopies,
it seems to me that their value comes wholly from their being genuine
parts of the original work, and that any modern repair is out of place.
I should take every means to preserve them and keep them in their
places; but, if they fall or crumble away, I should not replace them.
I therefore greatly regret, on every ground, to see a work undertaken
which can hardly fail to have the effect of putting off the real
restoration of the church of Wells for many a day.
[57] If the screen is, which I do not believe that it is, of
any constructive use in keeping up the piers of the eastern arch of the
tower, the obvious thing is to build a fourth Saint Andrew's cross in
the eastern arch as in the other three.
INDEX.
A.
_Abbeville Collegiate Church_, west front of, 125.
_Abbey Dore_, east end of the church, 177.
_Adalbero_, Archbishop, his changes in the Church of Rheims, 32, 165.
_Adam of Domersham_ quoted, 170.
_Adeliza of Löwen_, wife of Henry the First, 43.
_Ælfsige_ detains lands of the Bishoprick, 29.
_Ælfsige_, last Abbot of Bath, 36.
_Æthelhelm_, first Bishop of Somersetshire, 26.
_Alby Cathedral_, absence of transepts in, 116.
_Alexander_, third Dean of Wells, 170.
_Alien Priories_, suppression of, 147.
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