How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“The east windows of the choir aisles are filled with glass
coloured with enamels in accordance with the practice of the
Seventeenth Century instead of glass coloured in its manufacture.
They date from the reign of Charles II.; and although it is
traditionally said that they were presented by Nell Gwynne, it is
more probable that they were the offerings of Henry Glenham, Dean
of Bristol from 1661 to 1667, and afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph.
The arms of Glemham (Or, a chevron gules between three torteaux)
are repeated three times in the window of the south aisle and once
in that of the north. The subjects (arranged as type and antitype)
in the north aisle are--in the centre, the Resurrection; below
Jonah delivered from the whale. On the right, above, the Ascension;
below, Elijah taken up to heaven. On the left, above, the Agony in
the garden; below, Abraham about to offer up his son.”--(R. J. K.)
In the third bay of the north wall of this north-choir-aisle a doorway
opens into a peculiar passage designed by Abbot Knowle to take the place
of a triforium. The passage leads to a staircase communicating with the
central tower and the belfry.
North of the north-choir-aisle we come to the greatly admired Early
English Chapel, the Elder Lady-Chapel.
“The Lady-Chapel (generally called the Elder Lady-Chapel because
the altar of the Virgin was removed to the east end of the church
after Abbot Knowle had rebuilt the choir) is entered from the
north-east corner of the transept. The chapel is Early English, and
dates, according to Mr. Godwin, from the time of Abbot John
(1196-1215). The chapel is of four bays, the windows in which are
triplets with inner arches, of which those at the side are
gracefully foliated. The detached vaulting-shafts are of Purbeck
marble. The sculpture of the capitals and string-courses is
unusually good; and the spandrels of the wall-arcade are filled
with grotesque designs which are full of spirit and character,
greatly resembling the sculpture in Wells Cathedral, much of which
is of the same date. Remember especially--a goat blowing a horn and
carrying a hare slung over his back; a ram and an ape playing on
musical instruments; and St. Michael with the dragon(?); below is a
fox carrying off a foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
stamp the English character.”--(R. J. K.)
This chapel was originally detached from the rest of the Cathedral.
Beneath the two arches
[Illustration: BRISTOL: NORTH]
[Illustration: BRISTOL: NAVE, EAST]
between it and the north-choir-aisle stands the =Tomb of Maurice=, ninth
Lord Berkeley (died 1368). Here he lies with =Elizabeth=, his wife. The
knight is in armour and his head lies on a mitre. A good groined canopy
overshadows these figures.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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