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
Much history is also contained in the carvings of the pulpit and
bishop's throne. The altar has a marble canopy over it, which is a
magnificent piece of work, but perhaps hardly suitable for its
position. The mosaic pavement is remarkably fine. We now pass into the
_Choir Aisles_, which have Norman vaulted roofs, and formerly had
apsidal ends, but these were removed when Abbots Ashton and Kirton
built the _New Building_ or square end to the church, or perhaps
earlier, as there are some aumbreys and double piscinæ of the
thirteenth century, and also on the south wall some painted shields
and a scroll border of the same date. The windows are later insertions
as in the nave. Traces of the old entrance to the destroyed Lady
Chapel may be seen in the north wall.
We have noticed the building of the ambulatory called the New Building
from the exterior of excellent Perpendicular work. Perhaps the most
striking features of the interior is the fan-tracery of the roof, the
curious bosses, the rebuses of the two Abbots Ashton and Kirton, and
the monuments. The principal ones in the choir and aisles are a modern
memorial stone of Catherine of Arragon (the old tomb was destroyed by
the Puritans, of which fragments have been discovered); the tablet in
memory of Mary Queen of Scots; Archbishop Magee's marble monument;
Sir Humprey Orme's mutilated tomb; several abbots' tombs and tablets
to bishops; Late Saxon tombs of two Archbishops of York, and the
famous Monks' Stone which popular tradition associates with the
massacre of the Peterborough monks by the Danes in 870. Recent
investigators have assigned a later date, and attribute it to Norman
work, but we are inclined to favour the Saxon theory.
We will now visit the _Transepts_, which are of Norman character.
Norman fish-scale ornament and cable and saw-tooth mouldings are
plentiful. In both north and south transepts there is an eastern aisle
separated by pillars and forming several chapels, which are divided
off by Perpendicular screens. The Morning Chapel occupies the aisle of
the north transept, formerly the Chapels of SS. John and James, and
here is preserved two pieces of old Flemish tapestry, and portions of
the old nave screen, and ancient tiles. In this transept are some
interesting Saxon coffin lids. In the south transept are the Chapels
of SS. Oswald and Benedict. In the former the relics were kept. Here
Abbot Sutton's heart was buried. The window is modern. A
pre-Reformation inscription is carved round the edge of a stone much
worn by time. The old chapter-house, now a music-room, is on the west
of this transept. It is Late Norman. A Perpendicular doorway has been
inserted here instead of the old Norman door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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