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 interior of the Cathedral is full of interest. We enter by the
south porch, and we are at once struck by the extraordinary width of
the church. On each side of the nave there are two aisles. The outer
aisles both on the north and south sides were formerly separated from
the rest of the church by screens, and were occupied by chapels or
chantries. By a somewhat drastic restoration at the beginning of the
nineteenth century these screens were removed, and the outer aisles
thrown open. This procedure rendered the church more useful for
congregational purposes, though we may regret the disappearance of the
historic chapels, a few piscinæ being the only remains. We will
commence our pilgrimage at the west end, and from this point view the
length of the church, which is shrouded in "a divine religious light,"
perhaps a little too dim. Most of the windows are filled with modern
glass which is generally of beautiful design; but modern glass lacks
that transparency which ancient glass has. The sunlight streams
through the old glass, and it is quite possible, as at Fairford, to
read the smallest print; while modern glass effectually shuts out the
light, and at the best too much sunlight is not usually observable in
this region of smoky chimneys and polluted atmosphere. The piers of
the nave are modern imitations of the original Perpendicular ones, and
are lofty and graceful. There is no triforium, and the clerestory is
somewhat contracted. The windows have five lights of Perpendicular
tracery, and most of them are filled with modern glass. The roof is
ancient, but has been much restored. In the distance we see the
handsome choir-screen with the organ over it. The spandrels of the
chancel arch are richly carved with shields in quatrefoils, and above
is the Tudor rose. Shields adorn the spandrels of the main arches.
Above us is the ceiling of the tower, which is a good example of
fan-tracery. The modern baptistry is on our right. Passing the south
porch, erected in memory of Mr. James Jardine, we see the extreme
south aisle, formerly consisting of chantries separated from the rest
of the church by screens. In a recess east of the porch was the Brown
Chapel, and north of this St. George's Chantry (to which saint,
together with St. Mary and St. Denis, the church was formerly
dedicated) founded by W. Galley in 1508. At the dissolution of the
collegiate institution John Barlow and Edward Smyth, priests of this
chantry, received pensions of £6 and £4, 12s. 6d. respectively. Then
comes the Trafford or St. Nicholas Chantry, the priest of which
received a pension of £5. The Traffords of Trafford are an ancient
Lancastrian family who have held the manor, near Manchester, since the
Conquest, and the name of Edmund Trafford appears upon the list of
parishioners given in the licence to erect the collegiate church. A
piscina shows the position of the altar of this chantry. Next follows
the Jesus Chapel which has a fine sixteenth-century screen. It was
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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