The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal SeeSweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
History
The Cathedral Church of Peterborough: A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See
Sweeting, W. D. (Walter Debenham)
Peterborough Cathedral
Dean Kipling (1798-1822) is chiefly remembered from his alterations to
the lantern tower. He erected unsightly turrets at the four corners and
removed the octagon. These turrets, commonly spoken of with derision as
"Dean Kipling's chimneys" were of unsuitable height, and poor detail;
they were terminated with battlements. They were happily removed when
the tower was rebuilt.
Dean Monk (1822-1830) inaugurated and carried out an extensive scheme of
reparation. The appeal to the public for subscriptions is dated 31st
July 1827. It states that the altar screen, choir screen, and all the
woodwork in the choir are unworthy of the structure to which they
belong: that the Dean and Chapter had substantially repaired the
exterior of the church at their own expense; that they had procured
plans from Mr Blore, and an estimate of upwards of £5000 for the
projected work. The members of the chapter in their corporate capacity
had given £1000, and had further individually subscribed £1050. The
result of this appeal was that by June 1828 a sum of £5021 11s. had been
collected.
The improvements effected before this appeal to the public was made are
enumerated by Britton. As has been intimated, the cost was defrayed by
Dean Monk and the Chapter from their own resources. The chief repairs
and restorations were these:--new roofs were put to the transepts and
bell-tower; columns, mouldings, and ornaments in various parts of the
church were renewed; several windows, till then blocked up with rubble,
were opened and glazed, and in some cases the stonework made good; the
pinnacles, spires, and shafts of the west front were carefully restored;
two Norman doorways, which had been obscured for ages, were exposed to
view. The work in the choir included new stalls and seats, pulpit, and
throne; an altar screen of clunch, filling up the lower part of the
apse; and an organ screen, also of clunch, with an open parapet, and
enriched with much diaper-work and many canopies, and adorned on the
west face with large shields of arms,[17] very brightly coloured,
charged with the heraldic bearings of the principal subscribers. At
first there were only four stalls on each side of the entrance to the
choir; others were added, in front of the ladies' pews, when Honorary
Canons were created in 1844. This organ-loft did not occupy the place of
the former screen, which was where the monastic choir had always
terminated, at the second bay west of the tower, but was placed under
the eastern arch of the lantern tower. The former screen was called by
Rickman "a barbarous piece of painted wood-work." It was either sold, or
taken by the contractors as a perquisite; it ultimately found its way
into a little garden at Woodston, just across the river, where it was
transformed into a summer-house, or arbour.[18]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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