The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal see — John Shaqi
The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal seeDearmer, Percy
History
The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal see
Dearmer, Percy
Christ Church Cathedral (Oxford, England)
Towards the end of the fifteenth century the Perpendicular style began
to spread over the church. Besides the windows of the nave and north
transept aisles, the clerestory of the choir was remodelled to carry the
elaborate vaulting, which was probably also added in this century, and not
by Wolsey as has been supposed, though the work may have been completed
in his time. The similarity of the vaulting to that of the Divinity
School in Oxford enables us to fix the date pretty accurately at 1480.
Another characteristic feature of the church was made at this time,
to wit, the fine chantrey tomb, called the Watching Chamber, but very
probably the third and last "shrine" of the patron saint. The cloisters
were also reconstructed, and, in order to make room for their eastern
side, the western aisle of the south transept was destroyed.
We are able to fix the date of the great north window of the north
transept, and of the commencement of vaulting in its northern bay,
because they were paid for out of a bequest of a monk, James Zouch,
who died in 1503, and is buried under the window. One may conjecture
that the whole of the church would have been vaulted in a style similar
to that of the choir, if the dissolution of the priory had not come,
and left this one bay as a pathetic little protest against the sweeping
reconstructions of Cardinal Wolsey.
Indeed Wolsey, who in 1524 created Christ Church as a college, did
nothing but harm to Christ Church as a church. It used to be thought
that he had thrown the vault over the choir, and even that he had
built the palpably early English spire!--an idea which throws a curious
light upon the architectural knowledge of our grandfathers. But, alas
for his reputation, the only work connected with the church that can
with certainty be attributed to him is the destruction of one half
of the nave. For, in order to build the great quadrangle now known as
"Tom Quad," he demolished its three western bays, and was apparently only
prevented from carting away the whole church by his sudden fall from the
royal favour in 1529. His scheme for "Cardinal College," as Christ Church
was at first called, was one of extreme magnificence; and he began--much
to the amusement of Oxford--with the splendid kitchen, still in daily
use. Tom Quad gives one some idea of the scale on which he formed his
plans: it, however, has never been properly finished, as it is too large
and too much inhabited to be fit to receive the cloister for which it was
designed. The real cloisters are of much more modest dimensions. Wolsey
destroyed one side of them in order to build the college Hall.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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