How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
We have yet to examine the =Sacristy= of the Chapter-House. The sacristy
is on the south side (Early English). Its upper floor was the =Chapel of
St. Chad=, which, as we have seen, was entered from the minstrels’
gallery (see page 211). The restored chapel was re-dedicated on St.
Chad’s Day (March 2), 1897.
“The Chapel of St. Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, and, with the
Blessed Virgin Mary, patron of our Cathedral Church, was destroyed
in all probability when the rest of the Cathedral was laid in ruins
in 1643, the siege beginning on St. Chad’s Day, March 2nd of that
year. Little was left: the four walls remained in a broken
condition, with the vaulting-shafts and caps for the springers of
the stone groining, and the wall-ribs, to mark its original lines;
also the very beautiful Early English windows--twelve lancets in
groups of three--which, singularly enough, were little injured.
Externally these are very plain, but internally they are full of
interest, and there is nothing better of the kind in the Cathedral.
The site of the old altar is clearly marked; indeed, a small
portion of it has been preserved. The piscina also still remains.
The aumbry remains in which antiquarians suppose that St. Chad’s
relics were preserved.”--(L.)
The =Chapter-House= and the vestibule leading to it were built about the
middle of the Thirteenth Century (Early English). The vestibule contains
beautiful arcading; the capitals of the pillars are finely carved. The
entrance door into the Chapter-House is very handsome, with deeply cut
mouldings, and capitals of the grouped shafts richly carved with leaves.
Dog-tooth and trefoils are also used as ornamentation. The Chapter-House
is octagonal. The central pillar, composed of clustered shafts with
richly carved capitals of foliage, carries the eye upward, where the
ribs spread out beautifully over the roof and bosses mark their
intersection. The windows are Early English, of two lights. Below them
runs a fine arcading.
CHESTER
DEDICATION: CHRIST AND THE BLESSED VIRGIN. ORIGINALLY THE CHURCH OF
A BENEDICTINE ABBEY.
SPECIAL FEATURES: CHOIR; CHOIR-STALLS; CHAPTER-HOUSE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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