How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“There are five windows in the upper chamber and the groined roof
is distinctly good. The boss in the centre represents the Virgin
crowned in glory. On other parts of the ceiling are the arms of
Bishop Audley and those of the Deanery, as well as a shield bearing
the letters R. I. The upper part of the chantry, which is divided
from the Lady-chapel by the top of the screen which serves as a
kind of rail, may have been used as an oratory; but no remains of
an altar have been found. On the door opening on the staircase is
some good iron-work, and Bishop Audley’s initials may be noticed on
the lock. Standing by the door of this chapel, the visitor has a
lovely view westward: two pillars rising in the roof and across the
top of the reredos; to the right, the Norman arches of the north
transept and further on still the nave.”--(A. H. F.)
From the south side of the Lady-Chapel we enter the =Crypt= by steps
leading down from an Early English porch. It is 50 feet long, and
consists of a nave and aisles. Because the crypt was used as a
charnel-house, it is called _Golgotha_. It is lighted by plain lancets.
There are only a few fragments of old glass in the windows, some of the
best (early Fourteenth Century) is in one of the lancets on the south
side of the Lady-Chapel. The subjects are Christ surrounded by symbols
of the Four Evangelists; Lamb and flag; Angel and Marys at the
Sepulchre; Crucifixion; Christ carrying the Cross.
A window in the north-east transept contains Fourteenth Century glass,
restored by Warrington in 1864: St. Katherine; St. Michael; St. Gregory;
and St. Thomas of Canterbury. In the south-east transept a similar
window exhibits St. Mary Magdalene; St. Ethelbert; St. Augustine; and
St. George. The many memorial windows do not call
[Illustration: HEREFORD: CHOIR]
[Illustration: WORCESTER: SOUTH-WEST]
for special attention. One, however, in the north transept, erected to
Archdeacon Lane =Freer=, is to be noticed on account of the tracery. It is
one of the largest in England of the period of Edward I.
From the south-east transept we enter a narrow passage, the =Vicars’
Cloister=, that leads to the College of Vicars-Choral (1396). It is a
picturesque quadrangle with an inner cloister (Perpendicular, about
1474).
The Bishop’s Palace lies south, between the Cathedral and the river
Wye.
WORCESTER
DEDICATION: THE BLESSED VIRGIN, ST. PETER AND THE HOLY CONFESSORS,
OSWALD AND WULSTAN. FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE MONASTERY.
SPECIAL FEATURES: NAVE; CHOIR-STALLS; TOMB OF KING JOHN; CHANTRY OF
PRINCE ARTHUR; ARCADE ACROSS TRANSEPTS AND LADY-CHAPEL; CRYPT.
The Cathedral of Worcester is severe and plain; but its very severity
appeals to some critics, as do the general lines of the entire edifice.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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