How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
The north side of the nave shows two-lighted Perpendicular windows with
irregular quatrefoils in their heads; the north transept (Early English)
a high gable with three circular windows and pinnacles. And on the north
side of the choir =Gundulf’s Tower= to which there are two entrances,--one
through an opening in the north wall, the other through a doorway in the
south-west corner. In the angle between the south aisle and transept we
note the Lady-Chapel (Perpendicular) with three-lighted windows three
bays long from east to west and well-buttressed; the south side of the
choir contains three lancet windows and a fine doorway that used to open
into the cloisters. The south transept (Early Decorated) is well
buttressed and its gable adorned with pinnacles and gargoyles. The
lowest row of windows belongs to the crypt.
=The West Front= has been restored. The great central window, and the flat
gable above, are Perpendicular (restored), but all the rest is either
original Norman work, or as accurate a reproduction of this as possible.
The great =West Doorway= (late Norman) dates from the first half of the
Twelfth Century.
“It is formed by five receding arches and every stone of each of
these is carved with varying ornamental designs. Between the second
and third of them runs a line of cable moulding, an ornament which
occurs also inside the door. Each arch has its own shaft and the
groups of five on each side are elaborately banded. The shafts have
richly sculptured capitals, and in those on the south side, as well
as in the tympanum, the signs of the Evangelists appear. The shafts
second from the door on either side are carved with statues, two of
the oldest in England. These are much mutilated, but they were
thought worthy of great praise by Flaxman. That on the spectator’s
left is said to represent King Henry I. and the other his wife, the
‘good Queen Maud.’ This attribution is probably correct, as these
sovereigns were both great benefactors to the Cathedral and were
living when the front was being built. The figure of the Queen has
suffered the more; it is recorded to have been especially ill-used
by the Parliamentarians in the days of the great Civil War. The
tympanum contains a figure of Our Lord, seated in Glory, within an
aureole supported by two angels. His right hand is raised in
benediction and his left hand holds a book. Outside the aureole are
the symbols of the four Evangelists: the Angel of St. Matthew and
the Eagle of St. John, one on each side above the Winged Lion of
St. Mark and the Ox of St. Luke similarly placed below. A straight
band of masonry crosses beneath the lunette, and has carved on it
twelve figures, now much mutilated, but supposed to have
represented the twelve Apostles. All the sculptured work of the
portal has suffered greatly from age and exposure and from the hand
of man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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