How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“Entering the chapel by the steps leading from the Norman nave, the
visitor is at once impressed with the lightness and delicacy of the
work before him, as compared with the massive grandeur of the
Norman cathedral behind. Here we have, in fact, one of the latest
uses of the round arch influenced by the rapidly developing Early
English Gothic. In plan the chapel consists of a nave with double
aisles, which perhaps might be more properly called five aisles.
These are divided by arcades, each of which is of four bays. These
arches and the columns which support them are the chief beauty and
characteristic of the chapel. The arches are semicircular, of one
order, with three lines of chevrons, one on each face, and one on
the soffit between two roll mouldings. The capitals are light and
graceful and carved with a volute, and the columns clusters of
marble and freestone shafts. The whole seems to have been coloured
in fresco, and remains of this are still to be seen. The stone
shafts, which alternate with those of marble, do not carry any of
the weight of the arch, and are, undoubtedly, an addition, probably
in the time of Cardinal Langley, when they must have been added,
with a view to improving the appearance. The dimensions of the
chapel are forty-seven feet from east to west, and seventy-six
feet from north to south. The existing roof and the three
Perpendicular windows on the west end are also additions by
Cardinal Langley. On the walls above what were once the altars of
the Virgin and Our Lady of Pity, remains of fresco painting may be
noticed, all that remains of what has evidently been beautiful
work. These were only brought to light by the removal of successive
coats of whitewash with which they had been covered.”--(J. E. B.)
The two doorways at the end of the north aisle and south aisle of the
nave were made by Cardinal Langley, who closed up the great =West door=,
reopened in 1846. This was built by Flambard (1099-1128) and consists of
an arch of four orders decorated with chevrons. Grotesque animals also
appear in medallions. Langley also made a new roof, for which he raised
the walls.
In front of the principal altar stands =Langley’s Tomb=, erected by
himself; but of far more interest is the resting-place of a greater man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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