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
Bishop Seffrid II. (1180-1204) rebuilt the clerestory, and made it
loftier than the triforium. The style is Early English. It will be
noticed that the middle arch of the windows is round and higher than
the side arches, which are pointed. The windows are separated by small
shafts of Petworth marble, and the capitals are carved with leaves of
palm trees. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and the
builders seem to have wished to express symbolically the threefold
nature of the Deity by the triplicity of the work. Triple clustered
shafts appear everywhere. The vaulting is of stone, and is a little
later than Seffrid's work. Alarmed by the fires, the architect
determined to build a stone and chalk roof instead of wood. In the
sixteenth century this vaulting was painted in gaudy colours by Bishop
Sherbourne.
Two storeys of the south-west tower are original Norman work, with
rude cushion capitals, and formed part of the first church finished by
Bishop Ralph. This is used as a baptistry, and has a modern font, an
imitation of that at Shoreham.
In the _South Aisle_ are the Chapels of St. George and St. Clement.
The latter has been restored in memory of the last good bishop,
Durnford. The figures placed in the old wall arcade are SS. Anselm,
Clement and Alphege. The old piscina and aumbrey remain, as also in
the other chapel. The chapels were added in the second half of the
thirteenth century. The _North Aisle_ resembles the south. Here were
the Chapels of St. Anne, St. Theobald or the Four Virgins, and SS.
Thomas and Edmund. The screen, pulpit and lectern are all modern, and
also the glass. The _monuments_ here are:--in the south aisle, Bishop
Durnford (1895), and Captain Cromwell (Flaxman); and in the north
aisle, Poet Collins, Richard Fitz-Alan, Earl of Arundel and his wife
[the earl was a supporter of the Duke of Gloucester, uncle of Richard
II., and was beheaded in 1397], an unknown lady, supposed to be
Countess of Arundel (1270). This tomb is of Decorated design, and is
beautifully executed.
[Illustration The Presbytery.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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