The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and ArchitectureDitchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
History
The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and Architecture
Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
Cathedrals -- Great Britain; Church architecture -- Great Britain
The Early English builders began to build a new choir about 1200 A.D.,
of which only the lower part of the three westernmost bays and the
sacristy on the south side remain. About 1220 they began to replace
the Norman transepts with Early English work, beginning with the south
transept and ending with the north. The nave was constructed about the
middle of this century and central tower added, and the chapter-house
belongs to the same period of architectural activity. In the last
quarter of the century the west front was begun. At the end of the
century a notable bishop was appointed, one Walter de Langton, Keeper
of the Great Seal and Treasurer of England in the reign of Edward I.,
who incurred the hatred of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward II., and
was several times imprisoned by him. He led a very stormy life, but
found time to begin the building of the beautiful Lady Chapel at
Lichfield, surrounded the close with a wall and a fosse, thus making
it a fortress, erected a grand shrine for the relics of St. Chad and
built the Palace. This chapel was finished by Bishop Northburgh, who
had fought at Bannockburn and been taken prisoner by the Scots, and at
the same time the presbytery and clerestory of the choir were rebuilt
in the Decorated style.
The church was now complete, and very perfect must it have been,
glorious with the best achievements of true English Gothic art when
that art was at its best. Quaint Thomas Fuller describes it as "the
neatest pile in England," and tells us that Bishop Heyworth "deserved
not ill of his Cathedral Church of Lichfield, which was in the
vertical heights thereof, being, though not augmented in the
essentials, beautified in the ornamentals thereof. Indeed the west
front thereof is a stately fabric, adorned with exquisite imagery, of
which I suspect our age is so far from being able to imitate the
workmanship, that it understandeth not the history thereof." Quoting a
saying of Charles V. of Florence, "that it was fit that so fair a city
should have a case and cover for it to keep it from wind and weather,"
he adds, "so in some sort this fabric may seem to deserve a shelter to
secure it." It was also a church rich in relics and costly ornaments,
and kings and nobles loved to adorn it with bounteous offerings, while
the shrine of St. Chad brought many a pilgrim to fill its treasury
when they paid their vows. The fifteenth century made few alterations
to the fabric. Dean Heywood built a library, which has now
disappeared. Some Perpendicular windows were inserted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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