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 fifteenth century, and is now used as a chapter-house. There is a
fine reader's pulpit here. The gateway was erected by Prior Slee in
1527. The Deanery is a fine old house, and was formerly the prior's
lodging. It was rebuilt in 1507.
[Illustration
Carlisle
from S E]
THE INTERIOR
The _Nave_ was formerly used as the Parish Church of St. Mary, and was
filled with high pews and galleries. These have all been cleared away,
and it is possible to admire the plain and massive Norman building,
which now, alas! consists of only two bays, the rest having been
destroyed in the Civil War period. Before that act of vandalism there
were eight bays. The work before us, for the most part, belongs to the
earliest church, begun by Walter, finished by Henry I. about 1130.
Formerly a low ceiling shut out the triforium and clerestory from our
view, but this, too, has happily been removed. The piers are low (14
feet high, 17 feet in girth), the arches being semi-circular, some of
the capitals having evidently been carved later with some Early
English foliage. The triforium consists of plain, open, round-headed
arches, and is a little later than the main arcade. The clerestory has
in each bay three arches, resting on shafts with carved capitals. The
west end is modern. The tattered colours of the Cumberland Regiment
tell of the Indian Mutiny, and there is a window in the south aisle to
the memory of the men who died in that melancholy time. Sir Walter
Scott was married in this nave, when it was a church, in 1797, to Miss
Margaret Charlotte Carpenter. The font is modern and also the organ.
The _North Transept_ was rebuilt by Bishop Strickland in the fifteenth
century, and its north end was again rebuilt in modern times. Here a
large modern window of Decorated design has been erected in memory of
five children of Archbishop Tait, who died here of scarlet fever when
Dr. Tait was dean. In the west wall is an Early English window, which
is a good example of plate-tracery. The arch of the choir aisle is
Decorated; the roof is modern. Crossing over to the south transept we
notice the piers which support the _Tower_. These are Norman, and
have additional columns erected by Bishop Strickland when he rebuilt
the tower. The latter have foliated capitals, and are in the
Perpendicular style. On the capitals of the eastern arch are the
badges of the Percy family--the crescent and fetterlock. The most
famous scion of this house--Hotspur--was governor of Carlisle. On the
western side are the rose and escallop shell, badges of the Dacres and
Nevilles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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