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)
The pillars of the nave also present problems of some difficulty. They
are alternately circular and octagonal, and the masonry of six of them
points with something like certainty to a date considerably earlier than
the twelfth century restoration. In the four western pillars the stones
are a good deal smaller than those in the two octagonal ones of the next
bay: this makes it highly probable that they are of earlier date than
the octagonal pillars, which are certainly Norman of the period of the
restoration c. 1160. Mr. Harrison believes there is also considerable
evidence that the two cylindrical pillars were reduced in girth in order
to make them of the same size as the octagonal pillars then introduced;
for the lower half-capitals project nine inches on either side beyond
the pillars, while in those of the choir, which are unreduced, their
projection is only five. There is also reason to suppose that the other
pair of octagonal pillars, those by the organ-screen, were cut out of
older ones at the same time.
[Illustration: EARLY ENGLISH MOULDING.]
The clerestory windows are transitional, as is proved among other things
by their being pointed, for purely æsthetic reasons, and not (as in the
case of the north and south tower-arches) from any structural necessity.
Each window has a smaller blind arch on either side of it, making a
triple opening within to a single window in the wall; and the shafts of
this triple opening are made to carry small attached shafts which bear
the arches above. The capitals of the larger and lower shafts spread in
an unusual manner, having to support a mass of walling.
=The Roof= is a fine example of sixteenth century woodwork, and doubtless
replaced a simpler Norman roof of wood; but the brackets which support it
were added later to the Norman shafts, in order to carry a Perpendicular
vault of stone, which was never carried out. It is divided into small
panels, whose ornament, though rich, is rather mechanical.
The nave and choir are used as the College Chapel of Christ Church. In
the returned stalls by the organ-screen sit the two censors; most of the
undergraduates occupy the benches of the nave (which are modern woodwork
carved by Chapman after Sir G.G. Scott's designs), as far as the raised
seats where the choir sits; the central benches under the tower are
reserved for the freshmen; while the dean, canons, students (_i.e._,
fellows), and graduates fill the stalls of the choir, the other seats
of the choir being occupied by the Scholars. The public use the aisles,
transepts, and chapels on Sundays, but on weekdays are free of the nave
for the two special cathedral services.
[Illustration: NAVE AND CHOIR, LOOKING EAST
(_from a photograph by Carl Norman & Co._).]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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