How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“Notwithstanding the cruel mutilation of the sculpture all round
this chapel, it can be seen that for perfection of exquisite work
there is no building of the size in this country worthy for one
moment to be compared with this in its unmutilated state. Its
single defect strikes the beholder at once: the span of the roof is
too broad and the vaulting too depressed for the size of the
chapel. The windows on the north have been restored. The end
windows, which are of great size, are of later date; that to the
east has a look of Transition work about it. The building was
finished in 1349, and the east window was inserted by Bishop
Barnet, _circa_ 1373. The great beauty of the interior consists in
the series of tabernacle work and canopies that run round all the
four sides below and between the windows. The heads of the canopies
project. In the tracery beneath, at the head of the mullion, was a
statue. The delicate carving of the cusps and other tracery is
varied throughout. On the spandrels were incidents connected with
the history of the Virgin Mary (mainly legendary) and of Julian the
Apostate; and though in no single instance is a perfect uninjured
specimen left, yet enough remains, in all but a few cases, for the
original subjects to be identified. All was once enriched with
colour, and many traces remain; and in various parts of the windows
there are fragments of stained glass. Most of the monumental
tablets which once disfigured the arcade below the windows have
been happily removed into the vestibule. The arches and canopies at
the east end are arranged differently from those on the sides. In
the roof, which reminds us of the contemporary roof in the choir,
are some carved bosses, not large, but singularly good. Among the
subjects can be recognised a Crucifixion, with half-figures beside
the cross; Adam and Eve; the Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, holding
between them a book inscribed ‘Magnificat’; the Annunciation, with
‘Ave Maria Gratia plena’; the Ascension, indicated by the skirt and
feet of the Saviour and five heads of apostles; the Coronation of
the Virgin; and the Virgin in an aureole.”--(W. D. S.)
NORWICH
DEDICATION: THE HOLY TRINITY. CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE MONASTERY.
This Cathedral was begun in 1096 by Herbert de Losinga, the bishop
appointed by William Rufus, who had received his education in Normandy,
and who became prior of Fécamp. No earlier church stood on the site. It
was dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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