How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“The east window of the choir is filled with Perpendicular glass, a
little earlier than 1525, the work of Bishop Fox, whose arms
impaled with those of the sees he held (Exeter, Bath and Wells,
Durham and Winchester) and his motto _Est Deo Gratia_ are
introduced in it.”--(R. J. K.)
Winston thinks that the only part of the glass in its original position
consists of the two figures occupying the two southernmost of the lower
lights and all the tracery lights except the top central one and the
three immediately below it.
“The top central light is filled principally with some glass of
Wykeham’s time and all the rest of the window with glass of Fox’s
time, removed from other windows. In point of execution it is as
nearly as perfect as painted glass can be. In it the shadows have
attained their proper limit. It was at this period that glass
painting attained its highest perfection as an art.”--(C. W.)
Beyond the tower-piers in the presbytery a plain tomb of Purbeck marble
was once the resting-place of =William Rufus=, killed in the New Forest in
1100 and first buried, as we have seen, under the Tower. His bones were
removed in the Twelfth Century by his nephew Bishop Henry de Blois and
are now mingled with those of Canute, Queen Emma and two Saxon bishops
in one of the mortuary chests on the screen of the Presbytery.
The piers and arches of the Presbytery are Decorated, dating from 1320
and 1350.
At the High Altar of the Choir Queen Mary was married to Philip of Spain
in July, 1554, by Bishop Gardiner. In Philip’s train were Alva, the
future scourge of the Low Countries, and Egmont, his famous victim. The
chair in which the bride sat is preserved in the Chapel of the Guardian
Angels.
At the back of the altar rises the magnificent =Reredos=, dating from the
latter end of the Fifteenth Century. In 1899 the final restoration of
the screen was completed by filling a niche that had been vacant for
three centuries. The altar-rails are of the time of Charles I. A
representation of the _Incarnation_ hangs over the altar placed there in
1899, when Benjamin West’s _Raising of Lazarus_ was removed to the South
Transept.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account