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
A Late Perpendicular gateway at the north-east, erected by Abbot
Kirton, whose rebus appears over the side door, leads to the Deanery.
It has a Tudor arch, with the arms of the see in spandrels, and is
ornamented with Tudor rose and portcullis, and Prince of Wales's
feathers. Here is the old burial-ground, and a fine view of the
Cathedral is obtained from the north-east. The Norman character of the
building is evident, though there have been many changes. The Norman
windows in the clerestory have been filled with Perpendicular tracery.
The low Norman aisles have been raised, the windows taken out and
replaced by thirteenth-century substitutes in the lowest range and by
Decorated ones in the triforium. Below this the old Norman arcade
remains. A good Norman door, called the Dean's Door, is in the centre
of this north wall. An Early English parapet crowns the aisle walls,
and a Decorated one surmounts the clerestory, which is continued in
the _North Transept_, where similar alterations have taken place, and
Perpendicular tracery inserted in Norman windows.
The central _Tower_ was rebuilt in 1884. The necessity for continued
rebuilding and restoration at Peterborough is much to be deplored.
Probably the cause is the draining of the fens, which makes the clay
to contract and thus produces insecure foundations. It has some good
windows. We have already recorded the history of the previous
structures. As much of the old work as possible was preserved in the
rebuilding of the present tower.
Walking around the church we come to the east of transept, where
formerly stood the Lady Chapel, pulled down at the Restoration by the
townspeople, and its materials sold in order to provide funds for
restoring the church after Puritan destruction. Notice the marks of
the gable of Lady Chapel in the transept wall. The thirteenth-century
builders pierced the Norman wall with lancets.
The east end of Peterborough is rather peculiar. There remains the old
Norman apse, with Decorated windows inserted, and this is surrounded
by what is called the _New Building_, though it is 400 years old,
formed by extending the walls of the choir and building a square end
to the Cathedral. This was erected by Abbot Kirton. His work possesses
the best features of Perpendicular style. It is richly ornamented, and
when we examine his work we cannot say that the glories of Gothic
achievement had quite departed. We see the twelve buttresses, each
terminated with a seated figure, usually said to be one of the
Apostles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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