How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
On either side of the high altar are canopied recesses containing
monuments. The reredos is a memorial to Bishop Ellicott and is rather
too high, therefore interfering with a good view of the splendid east
window in the Lady-Chapel. The mosaic pavement is new, and the stalls
are also modern. Some of the old =Misereres= have been preserved, however,
and consist of grotesques. Some of them illustrate _Reynard the Fox_.
In both aisles of the Choir we are struck by the very peculiar vaulting
designed by Abbot Knowle to strengthen the building and help carry the
lateral thrust occasioned by the heavy central vaulting. These bridges,
or transoms, therefore, do the work of flying-buttresses as faithfully
to-day as when they were erected six hundred years ago.
“The transoms, features which were repeated in the windows of the
aisles of the choir, and in a much heavier form in the windows of
the nave, are additionally strengthened by the graceful arches
below which spring from capitals almost similar to those on the
choir side of the piers. From the centre of each transom rises a
cluster of groining ribs. It has been customary to speak rather
disparagingly of this clever piece of work of Abbot Knowle and to
term it carpentry work in stone. It may be so, but the student of
to-day may thank the Fourteenth Century Abbot for a most
instructive lesson. The transoms have crowned heads at either end
and in the centre, and they, unlike the transoms in the aisles of
the nave, are ornamented with little flowers. Beneath the windows,
which are Decorated in character, is a string-course, with
ball-flower ornament, a feature which is found all round this
eastern part. In the south aisle the vaulting was intended to be
the same as in the north aisle, having been planned by the same
architect, but a difference in the westernmost bay shows it was
superintended by a different mind. In all probability it was
Knowle’s successor, Abbot Snow, who, from 1332-1341, went on with
his predecessor’s work, adding that part called the Newton
Chapel.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)
There is not a great deal of old glass in Bristol, but some of the
=Windows= in this east end are worthy of careful study.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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