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 _Choir_ has had a chequered history, which, as Sir G. Scott
states, is of a threefold nature. The Norman choir had an apsidal
termination. This apse was removed, and the length of the choir or
presbytery greatly increased in Early Decorated times. After the
destruction wrought by Owen Glendower, Bishop Deane (1496-1500)
restored it, and the main object of Scott's restoration was to make
the present choir conform to the condition in which Bishop Deane left
it. The Civil War brought much destruction to this excellent work of
the Perpendicular period, and decay had also left its marks upon it;
but during the recent restorations all has been again renewed, and all
that we see conforms as nearly as possible to that produced in the
days of Henry VII. Cromwell's soldiers left none of the fittings
untouched. The stalls were destroyed. Now all has been restored, and
most of the fittings are new. The modern tiles of the floor are worthy
of notice. Some mural paintings have been added at the east end. The
tombs on either side are probably those of Bishop Anian (1328), the
rebuilder of the church, and one Tudor ap Tudor (1365). In the south
transept is recorded the burial of Owen Gwynedh (1169), the son of the
last King of Wales, Gryffydh ap Gynan, who also was buried here. A
rude representation of our Lord upon the Cross appears over the
supposed Royal tomb. In the north transept is a memorial to a Welsh
bard, Gronovil Owen (1722).
Sir G. Scott entirely rebuilt the old chapter-house and muniment room
on the north side of the choir in the Early Decorated style.
The Bishop's Palace is a large mansion, but has no great architectural
merits. The Deanery and some old almshouses and an Elizabethan school
are all near the Cathedral.
LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL
The history of the Welsh sees carries us back to the early days of
British Christianity. When the Saxon tribes swept over the land they
destroyed the churches and monasteries, and drove the British
west-ward, who found a refuge in the hills of Wales, in Devon,
Cornwall and Somerset, and in the regions north of the Mersey, and
there the British Church continued to exist and flourish, though the
rest of England was submerged in the flood of Paganism. When Augustine
came he found in these parts of England a church governed by its
bishops, who did not recognise the authority of the Pope, and whose
customs differed somewhat from those of Rome. He summoned them to a
conference, which was held at a place called "Augustine's oak," where
by his haughty demeanour he offended the representatives of the
ancient native church, who refused to abandon their accustomed usages,
especially in the matter of the time for observing Easter and the
forms of the tonsure.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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