How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“(4) On the eastern range of transept piers. These would seem also to
come within Jocelin’s period, with the exception of the third pier of
the south transept.
“(5) On the western range of transept piers, with which must be
classed those later caps already referred to in the nave under
group 2. Their date is settled by the fact that they abound in
unmistakable representations of the toothache. Now Saint William
Bytton died in 1274, and his tomb became immediately famous for
cures of this malady. In 1286, the chapter decided to repair the
old work, no doubt because the offerings at his tomb had brought
money to the church.”--(P. D.)
In studying these fascinating grotesques, however, we have neglected to
examine the two chantries in the nave--=Bishop Bubwith’s= and =Dean
Sugar’s=. They are opposite one another and are alike in general
characteristics. The screen work and cornices of Bubwith’s composed of
light and elaborate tracery are very much admired. Light doorways permit
entrance. The altar here was dedicated to St. Saviour. Bishop Bubwith
(who built the north-west tower) died in 1424. His arms, containing
holly-leaves, are beautifully carved.
Sugar’s Chantry, about sixty years later in date, is even more
elaborate. Like Bubwith’s, it is hexagonal and the canopy over the altar
is vaulted with delicate fan-tracery. Critics now consider it the finer
of the two.
Adjoining Sugar’s Chantry the stone =Pulpit=, built in the reign of Henry
VIII., calls for attention. In front are the arms of Bishop Knight, who
built it and who is buried near it (he died in 1547). Beside it, is a
brass lectern presented in 1660; upon this rests a Bible of the same
date.
In the =South transept=, we find the =Font=, interesting because it is the
one relic of Bishop Robert’s Norman church. It may have stood in the
earlier Saxon cathedral. The cover is Jacobean.
In the south end of the south transept is the =Tomb of Bishop de Marchia=
(died 1302). The effigy of the bishop, lying in a recess under a canopy
bristling with crockets and finials and brilliant with scarlet and
crimson, green and gold, is very striking. Some of the angels
surrounding the figure are charming. It is interesting to compare this
with the =Tomb of Lady Lisle=, also adorned with crockets and brightly
coloured.
Perpendicular stone screens divide the transepts from their small
chapels. The chapels of the south transept are =St. Martin’s= (now the
canon’s vestry) and that of =St. Calixtus=, enclosed on the side of the
choir-aisle by some beautiful ironwork from Beckington’s tomb. On the
south side of St. Calixtus’s chapel we must pause to examine =Dean
Husse’s tomb=, of alabaster, and noted for its carved panels even in this
cathedral of splendid carvings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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