How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“_North side_:--(1) (CANON IN RESIDENCE) lion attacked by dogs; (2)
dragon attacked by dogs; (3) angel with shield; (4) dragon and
birds; (5) hart’s-tongue ferns; (6) conventional flowers; (7) ape
attacked by lion; (8) vine; (9) birds pecking fruit; (10)
antelopes; (11) fox preaching to goose and cock; (12) fox running
off with geese; (13) fox caught by dogs; (14) dragons fighting;
(15) fruit and flowers issuing from inverted head; (16) man holding
club with oak leaves and acorns; (17) (MAYOR’S STALL) griffin
catching rabbit.
“_South side_:--(1) (DEAN) angel with book; (2) angel with shield
bearing date 1489; (3) lion _versus_ griffin; (4) griffin devouring
a human leg; (5) owl; (6) mermaid with mirror and hair-brush; (7)
two pigs dancing to bagpipe played by a third; (8) Jonah thrown to
the whale; (9) man wheeling another who holds a reed and a bag;
(10) fox caught carrying off goose by dog and by woman with
distaff; (11) winged animal; (12) hart, gorged and chained; (13)
pelican feeding young; (14) Jonah emerging from the whale; (15)
Samson carrying the gates; (16) head (modern); (17) (BISHOP’S
THRONE) Caleb and Joshua carrying the grapes and watched by Anakim.
“Most of these _misereres_ have exquisite conventional flowers
(especially roses) cut upon them in addition to the
figure-subjects. The desks in front of the stalls have rich
finials, and their panelled fronts form the backs of a lower tier
of seats, the arms of which are supported each on a square shaft
set diamondwise. In front of these lower seats the desks again
have carved finials and panelled fronts and on those parallel with
the Rood-Screen the tracery is distinctly Flamboyant. The finial
before the stall of the Canon in Residence has a griffin attached
to it and that in front of the Dean’s stall a lion. Before both
these stalls the ends of the two tiers of desks are richly carved.
The Bishop’s throne and Mayor’s stall have each a canopied niche on
the exterior toward the east, and two small apertures in the east
side to enable the occupant to see the altar, and in front of these
two stalls the ends of the two tiers of desks are again richly
carved. The Mayor’s stall is wider than the others, and attached to
the finial in front is a grotesque ape, beneath which the
supporting shaft is of open work. The end of this desk displays a
shield charged with two keys in saltire, for the see of York.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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