some signs of the rich blue with which it used to be covered. The face of the figure appears to be badly mutilated, but the damage to the features has been done principally by an endeavour to preserve them.”—(H. C. C.)
In the choir we find stalls that have been in use since the Fourteenth Century. On the backs of the choir-stalls pictures by Bernardi represent Ceadwalla and Henry VIII. confirming privileges to the bishops of their day.
In the south transept is a beautiful window, better seen from the Cloisters because the bad glass spoils the effect of the tracery.
At the end of the south side in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene St. Richard’s head was preserved in a silver reliquary in the aumbry in the north wall.
The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene is balanced by the Chapel of St. Katherine at the end of the north-choir-aisle. In the south-choir-aisle, two curiously carved Slabs, representing the Raising of Lazarus and Martha and Mary meeting Jesus, are supposed to have been brought from the first Cathedral in Selsey when the See was transferred to Chichester in 1082.
A doorway in the north-choir-aisle leads to the old Chapel of St. John the Baptist and St. Edmund the King. The vaulting is unlike any other in the Cathedral. The zigzag, or chevron, occurs upon the moulding of the ribs. A finely carved head appears on the spring of the arch. This chapel is now used as the Library.
“At Chichester there were built, one after another, four sets of chapels—of St. George and St. Clement on the south of the south aisle, and of St. Thomas, St. Anne and St. Edmund on the north of the north aisle. The WINDOWS should be studied in the above order; they form quite an excellent object-lesson of the evolution of bar-tracery from plate-tracery, itself a derivative from such designs as that of the east window of the south transept chapel. When the chapels were completed, the Norman aisle-walls were pierced, and arches were inserted where Norman windows had been; and the Lancet buttresses, which had been added when the nave vault was erected, now found themselves inside the church, buttressing piers instead of walls. The new windows on the south side were built so high that the vaulting of the chapels had to be tilted up to allow room for their heads; externally they were originally crowned with gables, the weatherings of which may be seen outside. In St. Thomas’s chapel is a charming example of a simple Thirteenth Century reredos.”—(F. B.)
Above the south porch there is a small chamber popularly known as the “Lollards’ Prison.”
Between the back of the reredos (modern) and the entrance to the Lady-Chapel is the Retro-choir, or presbytery, which many critics consider the chief glory of Chichester.
“The design in detail of these two bays is very different in character from the three in the choir, which are like those in the nave. The two piers of Purbeck marble are circular, and about them are grouped four detached shafts of the same material. They are united only at the base and by the abacus above the capitals, which are beautifully carved. The main arches in the two bays are not pointed, but round, like those in the nave and choir; but, unlike the latter, they have deeply cut mouldings in three orders. The triforium arcade above, on the north and south sides, has moulded and carved details of a similar character. Some of the beautifully carved figure-work still remains in the spandrels between the subsidiary pointed arches. But the most beautiful piece of design in all this work is in the arches of the triforium passage across the east wall, above the entrance to the Lady-Chapel.”—(F. B.)
St. Richard’s Shrine stood on a platform in the bay in the presbytery immediately behind the High Altar. This platform was removed at the time of the general restoration in 1861-1867.
The Lady-Chapel was once decorated with designs in colour, remains of which are still to be seen. The new Reredos is of alabaster. The glass of the window is also modern. Here is the Tomb of Bishop Ralph, founder of the original Norman church.
The visitor should walk around the Cloisters for the sake of the exterior views of the Cathedral. The south transept window is well seen here. Note the beautiful tracery of the circular window above it. The position of the Cloisters, lying eastward under the Transept and Choir, instead of westward along the Nave, is unusual.
“The cloister which was added in the Fifteenth Century is of a peculiarly irregular shape, and encloses the south transept within the paradise. It has been much restored at different times. The present roof is of tiles and is carried on common rafters. Each has a cross tie, and the struts are shaped so as to give a pointed arch form to each one. The old Fifteenth Century wooden cornice still remains in some sections. The tracery is divided into four compartments by mullions, and each head is filled with cusped work. Round the cloister are placed the old houses of the Treasurer, the Royal Chaplains, and Wiccamical Prebendaries. Above the door leading to the house of the Royal Chaplains is an interesting monument of the Tudor Period. It is a panel divided into two compartments by a moulded stone fragment. Leading out of the south walk is a doorway, through which the deanery may be seen beyond the end of a long walled passage known as St. Richard’s Walk. Looking back northwards, there is fine view of the spire and transept from the end of this walk.”—(H. C. C.)
In the south-east corner the Cloister passes under the west end of St. Faith’s Chapel, founded in the Fourteenth Century.
SALISBURY
Dedication: St. Mary; a Church served by Secular Canons.
Special features: Spire; Chapter-House.
Salisbury, on the edge of the great Salisbury Plain, haunted by Ingoldsby’s “Dead Drummer” and not far from weird Stonehenge, is famous for its beautiful Early English Cathedral.
“The visitor who sees it first on a bright day can never forget the impression it has made on his mind. Unlike the architects of the so-called ‘Great Gothic Revival,’ the builders of Salisbury put their trust in proportion. Incidentally they made their details as elaborate and as perfect as possible; but they were subordinated to the general effect, and when, during the frightful ravages of the ‘restorers,’ let loose upon the church in the past and present centuries, many of the best and most precious of these details and ornaments perished or were renewed, the main building survives, raising its exquisitely graceful spire into the blue sky, its thousand pinnacles all pointing upward and gleaming white against the deep green of the old trees and the emerald turf of the surrounding close. England can show no fairer sight. ‘How long,’ asked an American visitor, ‘does it take to grow such turf?’ ‘Oh! not long,’ was the reply; ‘only a couple of centuries.’ One feels at Salisbury that whether the answer was given there or at Oxford, of no place could it be more true. Though, when we look near enough, we can see that fresh and white as is the general effect, the masonry of Salisbury is of great antiquity, except of course where it has been restored; and antiquity adds another charm, for Salisbury was the first complete cathedral built after the Romanesque tradition had died out, as St. Paul’s is the first built after it had been revived. In other cathedrals there are fragments of the same style, and they are always the most
beautiful features of the whole building. We can recall the western porch at Ely, and the Angel Choir at Lincoln, and the chapter-house at Southwell; but, here, at Salisbury, we have the whole vast cathedral, all in the same supreme style, every part fitting into its place, and adding its contribution to the general effect, never in contrast but always in harmony until the effect is attained. What that is may be read in countless books of travel or criticism. Salisbury Cathedral, like the Parthenon and all other—there are not many—buildings which tempt one to call them poems in stone—produces a different feeling in the minds of all who see it.”—(W. J. L.)
Salisbury was built on a site unoccupied by a former church. The “Bishop’s Stool” had long been at Old Sarum on Salisbury Plain, a fortified castle and cathedral; but the castle became too important and Bishop Poore and his canons removed the See in the early part of the Thirteenth Century. An old legend says that the site of the new Cathedral was determined by an arrow shot by an archer from the ramparts into the green vale below.
The first stone was laid for the Pope, who had consented to the removal of the church from Old Sarum; the second, for Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, then with young Henry III. in Wales; the third, for Bishop Poore; the fourth was laid by William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury; and the fifth, by the Countess Ela, his wife. When the King returned from Wales many of his courtiers visited Salisbury, “and each laid his stone, binding himself to some special contribution for a period of seven years.”
The building was undertaken by Elias of Dereham, clerk of the works; and his successors were Nicholas of Portland and Richard of Fairleigh. The latter completed the spire in 1375.
The Cathedral was consecrated in 1258, by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of Henry III. and his Queen.
The Cloisters and Chapter-House were built in the Thirteenth Century and the Spire (which seems, however, to have formed part of the original plan) in the Fourteenth.
“The history of no English cathedral is so clear and so readily traceable as that of Salisbury. It was the first great church built in England in what was then the new or pointed style (Early English); of which it still remains, as a whole, one of the finest and most complete examples. The Abbey Church of Westminster, commenced in 1245, and completed to the east end of the choir in 1269, is the only great building of this age in England which can be considered finer than Salisbury; and it is probable that Henry III. was induced to undertake the rebuilding of Westminster from admiration of the rising glories of the new Wiltshire cathedral, which he had several times visited. On the Continent, the great rival of Salisbury is Amiens; commenced in the same year (1220) and completed, nearly as at present, in 1272.
“The usual alterations took place in Salisbury Cathedral at the Reformation, when much of the painted glass is said to have been removed by Bishop Jewell. Although desolate and abandoned, it escaped material profanation during the Civil War, and workmen were even employed to keep it in repair. On the Restoration, a report of the general condition of the cathedral was supplied by Sir Christopher Wren, and certain additions for the strengthening of the spire were made at his recommendation. The great work of destruction was reserved for a later period and more competent hands. Under Bishop Barrington (1782-1791) the architect Wyatt was, unhappily, let loose upon Salisbury; and his untiring use of axe and hammer will stand a very fair comparison with the labours of an iconoclast emperor, or with the burning zeal of an early Mohammedan caliph. He swept away screens, chapels and porches; desecrated and destroyed the tombs of warriors and prelates; obliterated ancient paintings; flung stained glass by cartloads into the city ditch; and levelled with the ground the Campanile—of the same date as the Cathedral itself—which stood on the north side of the churchyard. His operations at the time were pronounced ‘tasteful, effective and judicious.’ The best point of view is from the north-east, which Rickman has pronounced ‘the best general view of a cathedral to be had in England, displaying the various portions of this interesting building to the greatest advantage.’ The Cathedral is built (and roofed) throughout with freestone obtained from the Chilmark quarries, situated about twelve miles from Salisbury towards Hendon, and still worked. The stone belongs to the Portland beds of the oölite. The pillars and pilasters of the interior are of Purbeck marble. The local rhyme in which the cathedral is celebrated may here be quoted; it is attributed by Godwin, who gives a Latin version of it, to a certain Daniel Rogers:
So many windows in this church you see.
As many marble pillars here appear
As there are hours through the fleeting year.
As many gates as moons one here does view,
Strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true.’
The great point to which the attention of the stranger is at once drawn is, of course, the grand peculiarity of Salisbury, the ‘silent finger’ of its spire. This is the loftiest in England, rising 400 feet above the pavement (Chichester said, but very doubtfully, to have been built in imitation of it, is 271 feet in height; Norwich 313 feet) and its summit is 30 feet above the top of St. Paul’s.”—(R. J. K.)
Dean Stanley said that Westminster is all-glorious within and Salisbury, all-glorious without.
“Much has been written on the beauty of the Cathedral church of Salisbury, the chastity of its style and the purity of its detail. The east end may be said to display the utmost refinement of the Early English era. Every subordinate feature is so perfectly disposed, so admirably carried out and adapted to its purpose, so necessary to the full effect of the whole, so simple and yet so rich, that nothing, even by the most critical, can be found wanting there or considered de trop. The northern side is scarcely less perfect; the simple lancet openings of its eastern transept, the more fully developed quatrefoils of the central gable and the still more advanced northern porch beyond these, all mark the progress of construction. At the intersection rises the still later tower and spire, the final limb of the whole, on an embattled lower stage of earlier date. It is rich to the utmost limit. Every ballflower, every projecting shaft and moulding sparkles for itself and casts its own diminutive shadow upon its fellow, entirely relieving the wall-surface of that flatness which is and must be the fault in every view purporting to suggest its elegance. The church stands alone; like a model of itself; in its entirety perhaps the most stately of which we can boast.”—(A. A.)
In the close, which is about half a square mile, there are three gates: the South, or Harnham; the East, or St. Anne’s; and the North, or Close Gate, built about 1327.
“The first thing to be noticed in Salisbury is the ample breadth of the space in which its cathedral stands, the beauty of which space is enhanced by rows and avenues of magnificent trees; so that it is difficult to conceive a more appropriate enclosure in which to find ‘the most chaste of English’ churches. Salisbury covers no less than eight acres of ground.
“Entering from the High Street, the visitor finds himself almost in another township. A street lined with houses conducts to the Cathedral lawn, where from the north-eastern extremity the full proportions of the church may be comprehended. The whole north side of the close is thus open. On the east we find another gateway and the entrance to the Palace; on the other side the Choristers’ Green, in itself another little close. The west is occupied by a group of interesting and extremely handsome houses of various dates. Here are the Deanery, standing in its own grounds opposite the Cathedral façade; the King’s House, a long, many-gabled mansion of the early Fifteenth Century, with mullioned windows and a vaulted porch, the occasional resting-place of the English monarchs on their passage through Salisbury; and the Wardrobe, distinguished by its heavy roof, its projecting double gables, and the immense square windows, back and front, through which the evening sun penetrates with a curious half-ghostly gleam. These form the most effective line of buildings of the enclosure, which at this least trim but not the less picturesque side, terminates at the Harnham Gate.”—(A. A.)
Raising our eyes to the Tower and Spire, we note:
“The Early English portion, however, terminates with the first story, about eight feet above the roof; the two additional stories and the spire above them date from the reign of Edward III. The walls of the upper stories of the tower are covered with a blind arcade, richly canopied, and pierced for light with double windows on all four sides. Above each story is a parapet with lozenge-shaped traceries, which are repeated in the three bands encircling the spire. At each angle of the tower is an octagonal stair-turret, crowned with a small crocketed spire. The great spire, itself octagonal, rises from between four small richly-decorated pinnacles. Its walls are two feet in thickness from the bottom to a height of twenty feet; from thence to the summit their thickness is only nine inches. The spire is filled with a remarkable frame of timber-work, which served as a scaffold during its erection. While making some repairs in 1762, the workmen found a cavity on the south side of the capstone in which was a leaden box, enclosing a second of wood which contained a piece of much decayed silk or fine linen, no doubt a relic (possibly of the Virgin, to whom the cathedral is dedicated) placed there in order to avert lightning and tempest.”—(R. J. K.)
Entering by the west door we look down the Nave.
“The interior is indeed very fine. It could hardly help being fine; a nave so spacious and so proportioned could under no circumstances be a failure. It is immensely high and as long in proportion. The proportion of height to span (2⅛ to 1) is better than in most English churches. The harmony of the design—practically the same from east to west and from north to south—is unique in England, and is most impressive. The charming way, too, in which the architect has contrived that we should have a vista of another miniature church in the Lady-Chapel—a cathedral within a cathedral—is worthy of all commendation. But, as in Lincoln nave, to the eye every support is alarmingly insufficient for the work it has to do; the piers are too tall and slender, the walls too thin and pierced with too many openings. The triforium is a most unfortunate design: in harmony neither with the arcade below, nor with the clerestory above; its outer arches ugly in themselves and discordant with every other arch in the church; nor could it be expected that its dark marble shafts would tell against a dark background—black on black. Add to this the dreadfully new look of everything—partly due to the very perfection of the masonry, partly because Scott has been here—and the overpowering glare: one almost feels as if one were in the Crystal Palace.”—(F. B.)
The most interesting tomb in the nave is that of William Longespée, the first Earl of Salisbury, son of Henry II. and Fair Rosamond, who died at his castle of Old Sarum in 1226.
“The effigy is entirely in chain-mail, covering the mouth as well as the chin in an unusual manner. Over the mail is the short cyclas, or surcoat. On the earl’s shield are the six golden lioncels also borne by his grandfather Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. Longespée acquired the earldom of Salisbury through marriage with its heiress, the Countess Ela. He took an active part in public affairs throughout the reign of John; joined the Earl of Chester in an expedition to the Holy Land, and was present at the battle of Damietta in 1221, where the Christians were defeated. He fought much in Flanders and in France; was present on the King’s side at Runnymede; and was one of the witnesses to the Great Charter.”—(R. J. K.)
The curious monument of the Boy Bishop was removed to its present position about 1680, when it was found buried under the seating of the choir. It is Early English and represents an effigy of the boy in bishop’s robes and mitre, holding a crozier in his left hand. The boy-bishop was elected by the choir-boys in many of the English cathedrals on St. Nicholas’s Day (Dec. 6) and he held office until Holy Innocents’ Day (Dec. 28), during which time he was practically bishop. Law provided that if a boy-bishop died during his term of power, he was to be buried in his vestments and with all the pomp of an episcopal funeral; and, therefore, we must conclude that this boy died during his short rule.
From the nave we enter the North Transept,
“passing under the wide Perpendicular arch, which (as at Canterbury and Wells) was inserted early in the Fifteenth Century by way of counter-thrust against the weight of the central tower, under which the central piers had already given away to some extent, as will be at once perceived. It is owing to this settlement of the piers that the spire is out of the perpendicular. The triforium and clerestory of the nave are carried round the transept; the triforium on the north side, being replaced by two-light window of very elegant character. The clerestory window above, with its slender pilasters, and graceful flow of lines, deserves especial notice. Each transept has an eastern aisle divided by clustered piers into three bays. The screens which formerly enclosed the chapel in each of these bays were swept away by Wyatt. A staircase in the angle of the transept leads upward to the tower, which may be ascended by staircases in each of its flanking turrets. The top of the tower is called the Eight Doors, from the double doors on each side, through which the visitor will obtain magnificent views over the town and surrounding country. The first story of the tower is of Early English date, and originally formed a lantern, open to the nave. It is surrounded by an arcade of slender pilasters. The ascent of the spire—which is a formidable undertaking—is made internally by a series of slender ladders as far as a little door about forty feet below the vane, and from that point the adventurous climber has to scale the outside by means of hooks attached to the walls. The interior is filled with a timber frame consisting of a central piece with arms and braces.”—(R. J. K.)
The South Transept is a counterpart of the north transept. The windows at the south end are filled with stained-glass. The glass in the upper lights is Early English.
The lierne vault above the central tower arches is Perpendicular. From here we enter the Choir, passing under a screen of wrought metal (modern). In the second arcade on each side of the choir is placed the new and divided organ built by Willis.
“The Choir and Presbytery are very similar to the nave in the main features of their design. The piers show a different plan, which provides for eight shafts of Purbeck marble to each. The inner mouldings of the arches exhibit the dog-tooth ornamentation of their period. The triforium and clerestory differ slightly from the corresponding parts of the nave. In each of the last two bays of the presbytery the triforium has five small cinquefoil arches. At the east wall of the choir above the reredos is an arcade of five simply-pointed arches, below a triplet window in the gable, which is filled with stained glass, given by the Earl of Radnor in 1781, and representing The Brazen Serpent, after a design by Mortimer.
“The choir still bears traces of Wyatt’s destruction. He removed the original reredos behind the high altar and the screen before the Lady-Chapel, so that both, with the low eastern aisle, were thrown into the choir. He shifted the high altar from the choir to the extreme east end of the Lady-Chapel, sacrificing several chantries and tombs to do so. Views of the cathedral after his reign of terror fail to show any gain to compensate for so much loss; the extreme length is not apparently an advantage, while the bare look of the interior seems decidedly intensified by the increased vista that he was so delighted to obtain, and for which, with a light heart, he effaced the silent records of dead centuries. The decorations of the roof of the choir and presbytery are reproductions of the original series of paintings, dating, it is thought, from the Thirteenth Century. The subjects are the prophets and saints, Christ and the four Evangelists and the twelve months.”—(G. W.)
On the north side of the choir is Bishop Audley’s Chantry, built by the bishop in 1520, four years before his death. It is late Perpendicular and resembles the chantry of Bishop Fox at Winchester. The fan-tracery of the roof was originally coloured. In the corresponding bay on the south side is the chantry founded by Walter, Lord Hungerford, in 1429. It was removed from the nave in 1778.
The Choir-Stalls are composed of pieces of various dates with some additions by Sir Christopher Wren and canopies by Wyatt. The Reredos is modern, the gift of Earl Beauchamp in memory of his ancestor, whose chantry Wyatt destroyed. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott.
Many of the Earls of Pembroke and their wives are buried near the choir.
In the South-choir-aisle an interesting monument to Bishop Davenport, probably one of the translators of the Bible, is of white marble with black Corinthian pillars. Near it is the tomb of Sir Richard Mompesson and his wife. He is in armour and Katherine in a black robe with gold flowers. The black Corinthian columns with vine leaves and grapes in green and gold twisted around them are striking. Near the south transept, still in the choir-aisle, is the altar-tomb of Bishop Mitford (1407), with carved shields. On the cornice with the lilies, birds are holding in their beaks scrolls with the words Honor Deo et gloria.
In the floor of the north-east-choir-aisle is the brass to Bishop Wyvill, generally regarded as one of the most wonderful existing examples. Bishop Wyvill (1329-1375) recovered for this See the castle of Sherborne and the chase of Bere. The brass, therefore, represents the contested castle with keep and portcullis. At the door of the first ward the bishop appears, bestowing his benediction on his champion, who stands at the gate of the outer ward with battle-axe and shield. The rabbits and hares before the castle refer to the chase of Bere, within Windsor Forest.
Bishop Giles de Bridport (died 1262) lies opposite William of York’s tomb, between the choir-aisle and the eastern-aisle of the transept. His monument is one of the most important and interesting in the Cathedral.
“All the details of this remarkable monument deserve the most careful examination. The effigy, at the head of which are small figures of censing angels, lies beneath a canopy, supported north and south by two open arches with quatrefoils in the heads. Each arch is subdivided by a central pilaster, and springs from clustered shafts, detached. A triangular hood-moulding, with crockets and finials of leafage, projects above each arch; and between and beyond the arches pilasters rise to the top of the canopy, supporting finials of very excellent design. The whole character of the tomb is most graceful, but an especial interest is given to it by the reliefs with which the spandrels of the arches are filled, and by the small sculptured figures on various parts of the monument. The subjects, beginning on the south side, have been thus interpreted. The first, a female figure with an infant and attendants, represents the birth of the future bishop: in the three next spandrels are his confirmation; either his own education or his instruction of others; and, possibly, his first preferment. The shield hung from a tree in this compartment, bears Az., a cross, or, between 4 bezants, no doubt his own arms. On the north side of the monument are the bishop doing homage for his see—a procession with a cross-bearer, perhaps referring to the dedication of Salisbury Cathedral—the bishop’s death and the presentation of his soul for judgment. Little or nothing is known of the life of Bishop Bridport.”—(R. J. K.)
At the end of the north aisle of the Lady-Chapel and at the end of the south aisle, directly opposite, are two monuments that will interest the visitor. The first is a medley of obelisks, globes, spheres and the Four Cardinal Virtues and effigies of Sir Thomas Gorges and his widow, maid-of-honour to Queen Elizabeth. The second is a gorgeous tribute to Edward, Earl of Hertford, son of the Protector Somerset and of his wife, Catherine, Lady Jane Grey’s sister. The effigies are praying; the Earl is in armour. The whole piece is gilded and coloured.
Very little ancient glass remains in Salisbury.
“The fragments that survived were collected some fifty years since, and placed in the nave windows, and in parts of some of the others. The most important are in the great west triple lancet, wherein the glass ranges in date from the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Century. Mr. Winston, in his Paper read in 1849 before the Archæological Institute and printed in the Salisbury volume for that year, considered that the earliest fragments are from a Stem of Jesse about 1240 and some medallions about 1270. He describes two of the ovals that are on each side of the throned bishop, a prominent figure in the lower half of the central light, one of the Christ enthroned, the other of the Virgin. The two medallions below them he believes represent Zacharias in the Temple and the Adoration of the Magi. The later glass now in the same window may be either Flemish work brought hither from Dijon, or possibly partly from Rouen, and partly from a church near Exeter. It has been conjectured that in the south lancet the figures represent SS. Peter and Francis, in the central one the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin and the Invention of the Cross, and in the north light the Betrayal of Christ and St. Catherine. In two of the side windows of the nave are the arms of John Aprice (1555-1558) and Bishop Jewell (1562).”—(G. W.)
In the south-choir-aisle is Jacob’s Dream in memory of the Duke of Albany and there are also two of the proposed six angel-windows—Angeli Ministrantes and the Angeli Laudantes—designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and made by William Morris. These are considered among the best examples of glass-painting since the Middle Ages.
The Chapter-House is a very fine type of an English chapter-house of the Thirteenth Century, when geometrical tracery was in vogue. It probably dates from the reign of Edward the First.
“The architecture is somewhat later in style than that of the cloisters, and if it be not, as its admirers claim, the most beautiful in England, it has few rivals. Like Westminster, Wells and other English examples, except York and Southwell, it has a central pillar, from which the groining of the roof springs gracefully in harmonious lines. A raised bench of stone runs round the interior. At its back forty-nine niches of a canopied arcade borne on slight Purbeck marble shafts marked out as many seats. They are apportioned as follows: those at each side of the entrance to the Chancellor and Treasurer respectively, the rest to the Bishop, Dean, Archdeacons and other members of the chapter.
“The plan of the building is octagonal, about fifty-eight feet in diameter and fifty-two feet in height. Each side has a large fan-light window with traceried head. Below these windows and above the canopies of the seats is a very remarkable series of bas-reliefs. The bosses of the roof are somewhat elaborately carved: one north of the west doorway has groups of figures on it, apparently intended to represent armourers, musicians, and apothecaries, possibly commemorating guilds who were benefactors to the building; the others have foliage chiefly with grotesque monsters. On the base of the central
pillar is a series of carvings taken probably from one of the many books of fables so popular in the Middle Ages. These were reproduced from the originals, which are preserved in the cloisters.”—(G. W.)
The vaulted roof is re-painted in accordance with the original.
The Cloisters are on the south-west side of the Cathedral, their western wall being on a line with the west front. These fine covered walks, the largest in England (181 feet long), surround a great sward (140 feet square), where a group of dark cedars contrasts beautifully with the grey walls. The style is late Thirteenth Century. The windows formed of double arches with quatrefoils united at the main head with a large six-foiled circle are much admired.
EXETER
Dedication: St. Peter. A Church served by Secular Canons.
Special features: Screen on west front; Misereres; Bishop’s Throne; Minstrels’ Gallery; Lady-Chapel; East Window.
“As the last cathedral church we visited, namely Salisbury, may be taken as the most complete example of Early English work, so Exeter in its present state is the best specimen of the Decorated style that is to be met with in England. For though, unlike Salisbury, it was not built afresh from the ground, yet under Bishops Quivil, Bitton, Stapledon and Grandisson, between the years 1280 and 1369, the fabric was so entirely remodelled that it may be regarded as practically a new building; and since the work of remodelling began about the time that the Early English style was passing into the Decorated, and was completed before the time when the Perpendicular had superseded the Decorated, it naturally is characterised by the features of that style which flourished during the first half of the Fourteenth Century. Much indeed of the work found at Exeter is the very finest that the Fourteenth Century produced.”—(T. P.)
As early as the reign of Athelstan a Benedictine monastery, dedicated to St. Peter, existed at Crediton and was much injured by the Northmen in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. When the Sees for Devon and Cornwall were removed from Crediton to Exeter in 1050, the old church of St. Peter was chosen for the new Cathedral. Of the Saxon church, however, nothing remains. William Warelwast (1107-1136), the third bishop after the Conquest, began the new church about 1112, in the “marvellous and sumptuous” architecture of the Normans. During its erection it suffered from fire when Stephen besieged Exeter in 1136. Of this building the two transept towers remain. Bishop Peter Quivil built the greater part of the present Cathedral before 1291; Bishop Stapledon, who was murdered by the Londoners at the “great cross in Chepe” in 1326, the eastern part of the Choir, the sedilia and the choir-screen; Bishop Grandisson finished the Nave about 1350 and the west front, in all probability, a little later; and Bishop Brantingham, the Cloisters. The Lady-Chapel was built during the episcopates of Bronescomb and Quivil, and the chapels of St. Mary Magdalene and of St. Gabriel the Archangel, north and south of the Lady-Chapel, are the work of Bishop Bronescomb.
Many of the ancient decorations and arrangements were either removed, or defaced, by Queen Elizabeth’s “visitors,” who, in 1559, were appointed to compel the general observance of the Protestant formularies. During the Commonwealth the Cathedral was divided into two portions by a brick wall so that an Independent preacher named Stuckeley, one of Cromwell’s chaplains, could preach in “West Peter’s,” and a Presbyterian, named Ford, in the Choir, or “East Peter’s,” as the Puritans now named these portions of the Cathedral.
The finest view is perhaps from Waddlesdown, about four miles from Exeter. Taking a view of the exterior,
“The visitor should especially remark the Norman towers, the cresting of the roof, the flying-buttresses and the north porch. The Norman towers, in connection with the long unbroken roof, should perhaps be regarded as constituting the specialty of Exeter. At all events, the peculiarity of their present position is so great and so striking as at once to attract attention; and the question of their place in the original Norman church is one of very considerable interest. Each tower consists of six stages, the two lowest of which are plain: the other four have blind arcades and circular window openings, the details and arrangements of which vary in the two towers. At the angles are square buttresses, which rise above the uppermost story. The south tower is Norman throughout; that on the north was altered by Bishop Courtenay for the reception of the great bell from Llandaff, and its final stage is Perpendicular. The fleur-de-lis cresting of the roof is of lead (with which the whole of the roof is covered), and its form is very graceful and effective. The flying-buttresses derive a very grand effect from the fact that the aisle-roofs slope outwards, and not, as usual, inwards. Resulting also from this peculiarity are, the great height of the aisles on the exterior, and an unusual development of the clerestory, without any intervening space between it and the aisle-roofs; and within the nave, the absence of the triforium; the place of which is, however, indicated by the blind arcade above the piers. The north porch with its triple canopy is part of Grandisson’s work, and very beautiful.”—(R. J. K.)
Many people are at first disappointed with their first view of the West Front and more particularly of the Screen with its noble array of statues. The impression that it produces has been well described by W. D. Howells, who writes on his visit to Exeter:
“To the first glance it is all a soft gray blur of age-worn carving, in which no point or angle seems to have failed of the touch which has blent all archaic sanctities and royalties of the glorious screen in a dim sumptuous harmony of figures and faces.”
Now let us examine it more in detail.
“The west front, usually regarded as the latest work of Bishop Grandisson, who died in 1369, is of very high interest; and although it cannot compete with those of Wells or Lincoln (both of earlier date), may justly claim great beauty as an architectural composition. It recedes in three stories, the lowest of which is formed by the sculptured screen; the second contains the great west window, on each side of which is a graduated arcade; and in the third, or gable, is a triangular window surmounted by a niche, containing a figure of St. Peter, the patron saint of the cathedral. The SCREEN deserves the most careful examination. It is pierced by three doorways, and surrounded by a series of niches, in which are the statues of kings, warriors, saints and apostles, guardians, as it were, of the entrance to the sanctuary. These figures are arranged in three rows. From pedestals crowned with battlements spring angels, each of whom supports a triple pilaster, with capitals. The statues on these capitals, forming the second row, are for the most part those of kings and knights; above the canopies which surmount them appears the third row, chiefly saints and apostles. The positions of the angels are admirably varied.
“The two statues with shields of arms in niches above the upper row are certainly those of Athelstan and Edward the Confessor, the Saxon king who expelled the Britons from Exeter, and the founder of the existing bishopric. In all these figures the general arrangement of the hair as well as the fashion of the crowns and of the armour, are those of the reign of Edward III., in which the work was probably completed.
“The platform above the screen no doubt served, as in many foreign cathedrals, as a station from which the church minstrels and choristers might duly welcome distinguished persons on their arrival; and from which the bishop might bestow his benediction on the people. The three doorways are much enriched. Round that in the centre, within the porch, is a moulding of carved foliage which deserves notice. On the central boss of the groining is a representation of the Crucifixion. The recess within the south doorway contains two sculptures, The Appearance of the Angel to Joseph in a Dream and The Adoration of the Shepherds. Both, like the figures on the screen, have suffered not a little from time, and the assaults of Cromwell’s Puritans.”—(R. J. K.)
Exeter is distinguished among English cathedrals in not having a central tower. This gives the exterior a unique appearance and the interior gains by the absence of tower piers to block the view. Exeter has, therefore, the most open and impressive vista of any English cathedral. The screen being low, the whole design is immediately comprehended. It has been compared to the Cathedral of Bourges.
In our walks through Exeter it may be well to remember that Quivil’s architect determined to see what he could do with lowness and breadth.
“Everything should be broad and low, outside as well as inside. Look at the east end of the choir—its two arches broad and low; above it the great window—broad and low. Nowhere but at Exeter do you find these squat windows with their truncated jambs; here they are everywhere—in the aisles, in the clerestory, in choir, chapels, transepts and nave; even in the great window of the western front: broad and low windows everywhere. Still more original is the external realisation of the design; central tower and spire, western towers and spires, alike are absent. Long and low, massive and stable stretches out uninterruptedly the long horizontal line of nave and choir. Breadth gives in itself the satisfactory feeling of massiveness, steadfastness and solidity; and this is just what is wanting in the all-too aërial work of Salisbury and Beauvais; vaulted roofs at a dizzy height resting on unsubstantial supports and sheets of glass. But the Exeter architect has emphasised this satisfactory feeling of stability still further. The window tracery is heavy and strong; the vault is barred all over with massive ribs; in the piers there are no pretty, fragile, detached shafts; the massive clustered columns look as if they were designed, as they were, to carry the weight of a Norman wall.”—(F. B.)
The heaviness was counteracted by transparency: the arrangement of the windows flood the Cathedral with light; for the aisle and clerestory are almost a continuous sheet of glass.