London (England) -- Antiquities; London (England) -- History
Of the building carried out at this time, except the screen of the
chantry chapel and some portions of the restored cloister, but little
remains, and all the evidences which might have enabled us to determine
how far the east wall was a restoration, or an entirely new work, were
swept away when the apse was rebuilt. That this east wall was not merely
a reredos is shown by the fact that the upper part rose clear of the
aisles, and was pierced by two large traceried windows in the same
position as the Georgian windows which lighted the church in the last
century, and it is quite possible that it was only a restoration of an
earlier wall, which had been built across the apse so as to make it
conform to the Austin Canon rule. The screen of the chantry chapel, the
two eastern bays of which have been destroyed, but which is shown
complete in our illustration (fig. 5), may have been continued across
the east wall, and formed the reredos itself, but all traces of this
were effaced in subsequent alterations.
[Illustration: FIG. 5--SCREEN OF ROGER DE WALDEN'S CHANTRY, AND RAHERE'S
MONUMENT.]
One alteration was made in the choir which very much affected the
proportions of the building between the date of its first building and
the erection of Rahere's monument. Perhaps because the ground outside
the church had become raised by the building operations, which had gone
on around it, and the drainage of the interior had become defective, or
for some other reason, the floor over all the eastern part was filled in
for a depth of nearly three feet, dwarfing considerably the Norman
arcades, and burying the bases of the columns; and it was upon this
altered level the screen of Bishop Roger de Walden's chantry was built.
Having undergone such extensive repairs the priory received no further
alterations until, after another hundred years, William Bolton became
prior in 1506. It has been asserted, on what seem very insufficient
grounds, that Bolton was the architect of Henry VII.'s Chapel at
Westminster; but although this is very improbable, he was associated
with those who were engaged on the work, and seems himself to have been
disposed to architectural display. He has been credited with very large
alterations to the conventual buildings, and the erection of a tower
over the crossing; but nearly all traces of his work have disappeared,
except a doorway in the south aisle, and the beautiful window in the
triforium, overlooking the choir, which is always, known as "Prior
Bolton's window," and is distinguished by his rebus, a bolt in a tun, in
the centre lower panel, as is shown in the illustration (fig. 6).
Bolton's successor, Robert Fuller, was the last of the priors, and with
him is ushered in the era of dissolution and decay, when--
"The ire of a despotic King
Rides forth upon destruction's wing."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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