Chapter VI: Part 6

The general effect of the Nave is that of length rather than height, largely due to the continuous arcade of the triforium which leads the eye irresistibly eastwards, and the comparatively restricted height of the Cathedral has been increased by bold vaulting, and by the way the lantern arches fit into the vault. A little study will show the visitor the separation between the late Twelfth Century work of Reginald de Bohun, or Fitz-Jocelyn, and the Thirteenth Century work of Jocelin. These differences lie in the masonry and the carved heads and the capitals.

The heads of a king and bishop, projecting from the south side between the fourth and fifth piers, mark the point of change eastward: the masonry of piers, walls and aisle walls is in small courses of stone; westward, the blocks are larger, eastward, small human heads project at the angles of the pier-arches and westward there are none; eastward, the tympana of the triforium arcade are filled with carvings of grotesque animals and small heads at the corners, and westward, the tympana are filled with foliage and ornamented with larger heads. There are also other differences.

“Certainly it is an unusual instance of an architect deliberately
setting himself to complete the works of an earlier period in
faithful accordance with the original plan; and we may well be
grateful to him for his modesty.

“All the carving is most interesting and beautiful: the caps and
corbels of the vaulting shafts; the little heads at the angles of
the arches, which are vivid sketches of every type of contemporary
character; and the carvings in the tympana, which are best in the
seventh, eighth and ninth bays (counting from the west end), those
on the north excelling in design and execution, while those on the
south are more grotesque. But the capitals of the piers are the
best of all, and the most hurried visitor should spare some time
for the study of these remarkable specimens of sculpture, vigorous
and lifelike, yet always subordinated to their architectural
purpose. Those in the transepts[4] are perhaps the best, but the
following in the nave should not be missed:--

North side, Sixth Pier (by north porch): Birds pluming their wings:
Beast licking himself: Ram: Bird with human head, holding knife
(?).

“Eighth Pier. Fox stealing goose, peasant following with stick:
Birds pruning their feathers. (Within Bubwith’s Chapel) Human
monster with fish’s tail, holding a fish: Bird holding frog in his
beak, which is extremely long and delicate.

“Ninth Pier. Pedlar carrying his pack on his shoulders, a string of
large beads in one hand. Toothless monster with hands on knees.

“South side, Seventh Pier. Birds with human heads, one wearing a
mitre.

“Eighth Pier. Peasant with club, seized by lion: Bird with curious
foliated tail (within St. Edmund’s chapel). Owl: Peasant with
mallet (?).”

If we look back towards the west end of the Nave we note an arcade of five arches, the middle one widest of all to accommodate the two small arches of the doorway. The three lancet windows are Perpendicular, remodelled, and some of their dogtooth moulding, medallions in the spandrels and little corbel heads of Early English work remain. There is a gallery below the sill of the window.

The two western towers form two small transepts that project beyond the aisles. Each is connected with the aisle by an arch. The Chapel of the Holy Cross under Bubwith’s Tower (north) is the choir-boys’ vestry. The chapel under Harewell’s Tower (south) is used by the bell-ringers. An Early English doorway leads from it into the Cloister.

“The nave, as far as the piers of the central tower, consists of
ten bays, divided by octangular piers, with clustered shafts in
groups of three. The capitals are enriched with Early English
foliage, much of which is of unusually classical character,--one of
the many indications of a lingering local school, with its Norman
traditions. Birds, animals and monsters of various forms--among
which is the bird with a man’s face, said to feed on human
flesh--twine and perch among the foliage. Above the pier arches
runs the triforium, very deeply set, and extending backward over
the whole of the side aisles. The roof retains its original
position. (The whole arrangement should be compared with the Norman
triforia of Norwich and Ely, both of which extend over the
side-aisles; but their exterior walls have been raised and
Perpendicular windows inserted). The narrow lancet openings toward
the nave are arranged in groups of three, with thick wall-plates
between them. The head with each lancet is filled with a solid
tympanum, displaying foliage and grotesques, of which those toward
the upper end of the south side are especially curious. At the
angles of the lancets are bosses of foliage and human heads, full
of character. In the upper spaces between each arch are medallions
with leafage. Triple shafts, with enriched capitals, form the
vaulting-shafts, the corbels supporting which deserve examination.
A clerestory window (the tracery is Perpendicular, and was inserted
by Bishop Beckington (1443-1464)) opens between each bay of the
vaulting, which is groined, with moulded ribs and bosses of foliage
at the intersections.”--(R. J. K.)

In the clerestory of the sixth bay on the south side there is a =Music Gallery=, early Perpendicular, the front of which consists of three panels with large quartrefoils containing shields. It is very fine, but not equal to the Minstrels’ Gallery in Exeter. It is finished with an embattled cornice.

The aisles of the Nave are of the same architectural character as the Nave itself. Among the striking capitals are:

Fifth shaft. Peasants carrying sheep, with a dog.

Ninth shaft. Man in a rough coat carrying foliage on his back.

Tenth shaft. Mason carrying a hod of mortar and a mallet; opposite side of arch: Peasant in hood with staff and opposite this two heads, evidently with toothache.

The greater part of the glass of the =West Window= was collected by Bishop Creyghton in 1660-1670, excellent Sixteenth Century representations of the history of _John the Baptist_. Possibly Creyghton added the figures of _King Ina_ and _Bishop Ralph_ in the other lights, for the southern one also bears his arms. The top and bottom of the middle light are said to have come from Rouen in 1813.

Now we will examine the =transepts=.

“The transepts seem to have been built before the nave, but some of
the carved work of the capitals and corbels is of later date than
the nave. The capitals on the west side of both transepts are among
the finest in England. Many refer to the toothache.

“North Transept: first Pier.--(Inside the Priest Vicars’ vestry) A
prophet(?) with scroll on which there is no name: Man carrying
goose. (Outside) Head with tongue on teeth.

“Second Pier.--Aaron writing his name on a scroll: Moses with the
tables of stone.

“Third Pier.--Woman with a bandage across her face. Above this cap
the corbel consists of a seated figure, naked, with distorted mouth
and an agonised expression.

“South Transept, second pier (from the south end). Two men are
stealing grapes, one holds the basket full, the other plucks
grapes, holding a knife in his other hand: The farmers in pursuit,
one carries a spade and

the other a pitchfork: The man with the fork, a vigorous figure, catches one thief: The man with the spade hits the other (whose face is most woe-begone) on the head.

“Third pier.--Woman pulling thorn out of her foot: Man with one eye, finger in his mouth: Baboon head: Cobbler; this figure shows very plainly the method of shoemaking at this time; the cobbler in his apron, sits with the shoe on one knee, his strap passes over the knee and round the other foot, his foot is turned over so as to present the side and not the sole to the strap: Woman’s head with long hair.

“Fourth pier.--Head perfectly hairless: Elias P. (the prophet) with hand on cheek as if he, too, has the toothache: Head in hood, with tongue on the one remaining tooth.

“It may be well here to say a word about the general classification of these earlier capitals, since their date is a matter of great architectural interest. I would venture to divide them into five groups--

“(1) Those of the three western bays of the choir: simple carved foliage of distinctly Norman character, as in the north porch: these belong to the time of Reginald (1174-1191).

“(2) The four eastern bays of the nave and its aisles. Some of these may belong to the first period, though later than the choir: they are more advanced in the foliage, and teem with grotesque birds and beasts. Some, however, of the caps in these bays are of quite different character; they contain _genre_ subjects of perfectly naturalistic treatment, very different to the St. Edmund of the north porch capital; but exactly similar to the figure caps of the transepts. They must therefore have been carved later than the death of Saint William Bytton.

“(3) The western bays of the nave. These, which are of much less interest, belong to the period of Jocelin’s reconstruction (1220-1242). They are characteristic examples of rich stiff-leaf foliage, freer than that of the earlier work, but much less varied and without either human figures or grotesques.

“(4) On the eastern range of transept piers. These would seem also to come within Jocelin’s period, with the exception of the third pier of the south transept.

“(5) On the western range of transept piers, with which must be
classed those later caps already referred to in the nave under
group 2. Their date is settled by the fact that they abound in
unmistakable representations of the toothache. Now Saint William
Bytton died in 1274, and his tomb became immediately famous for
cures of this malady. In 1286, the chapter decided to repair the
old work, no doubt because the offerings at his tomb had brought
money to the church.”--(P. D.)

In studying these fascinating grotesques, however, we have neglected to examine the two chantries in the nave--=Bishop Bubwith’s= and =Dean Sugar’s=. They are opposite one another and are alike in general characteristics. The screen work and cornices of Bubwith’s composed of light and elaborate tracery are very much admired. Light doorways permit entrance. The altar here was dedicated to St. Saviour. Bishop Bubwith (who built the north-west tower) died in 1424. His arms, containing holly-leaves, are beautifully carved.

Sugar’s Chantry, about sixty years later in date, is even more elaborate. Like Bubwith’s, it is hexagonal and the canopy over the altar is vaulted with delicate fan-tracery. Critics now consider it the finer of the two.

Adjoining Sugar’s Chantry the stone =Pulpit=, built in the reign of Henry VIII., calls for attention. In front are the arms of Bishop Knight, who built it and who is buried near it (he died in 1547). Beside it, is a brass lectern presented in 1660; upon this rests a Bible of the same date.

In the =South transept=, we find the =Font=, interesting because it is the one relic of Bishop Robert’s Norman church. It may have stood in the earlier Saxon cathedral. The cover is Jacobean.

In the south end of the south transept is the =Tomb of Bishop de Marchia= (died 1302). The effigy of the bishop, lying in a recess under a canopy bristling with crockets and finials and brilliant with scarlet and crimson, green and gold, is very striking. Some of the angels surrounding the figure are charming. It is interesting to compare this with the =Tomb of Lady Lisle=, also adorned with crockets and brightly coloured.

Perpendicular stone screens divide the transepts from their small chapels. The chapels of the south transept are =St. Martin’s= (now the canon’s vestry) and that of =St. Calixtus=, enclosed on the side of the choir-aisle by some beautiful ironwork from Beckington’s tomb. On the south side of St. Calixtus’s chapel we must pause to examine =Dean Husse’s tomb=, of alabaster, and noted for its carved panels even in this cathedral of splendid carvings.

=St. David’s Chapel= in the =north transept= compels us to pause again to look at the capital of the second transept pier--a handsome head with curls and a smile on his face--and a fine corbel carved into the form of a lizard eating leaves of a plant with berries. In this chapel lies an interesting effigy of =Bishop Still= (1543-1607) in a red robe lined with white fur. Next comes the =Chapel of the Holy Cross= in which is the =tomb of Bishop Cornish= (died 1513), thought also to have been used as the Easter Sepulchre, where the Host was laid during Holy Week.

The north transept contains a relic of the past that delights every one who happens to be there at the striking of the hour. The famous clock that once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey is still in working order. A little figure known locally as “Jack Blandiver” kicks the quarters with his heels on two little bells and at the hour four figures on horseback above the clock rush around and charge each other. The curious clock was made by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of the abbey. It was said to have been in constant use at Glastonbury for 250 years before it was removed to Wells at the Dissolution of the monasteries.

From the east aisle of the north transept a door opens to the =Staircase= that leads to the Chapter-House and also to the celebrated Chain-Gate, or carved bridge that connects the Vicars’ College with the Cathedral. Through this gallery the Vicars could pass from their own Close into the Cathedral. The common hall of their college (1340) opens from it.

“There are few things in English architecture that can be compared
with it for strange impressive beauty; the staircase goes upward
for eighteen steps and then part of it sweeps off to the
Chapter-house on the right, while the other part goes on and up
till it reaches the chain-bridge; thus the steps lie, worn here and
there by the tread of many feet, like fallen leaves, the last of
them lost in the brighter light of the bridge. Here one is still
almost within the cathedral, and yet the carts are passing
underneath, and their rattle mixes with the sound of the organ
within.

“The main gallery of the Chain-Gate is shut off by a door, which,
if it were kept open, would make the prospect even more beautiful
than it is. Two corbels which support the vaulting-shafts of the
lower staircase should be noticed; they both represent figures
thrusting their staves into the mouth of a dragon, but that on the
east (wearing a hood and a leathern girdle round his surcoat) is as
vigorous in action as the figure on the west side is feeble. A
small barred opening in the top of the east wall lights a curious
little chamber, which is reached from the staircase that leads to
the roof.”--(P. D.)

The =Chapter-House= is famous among these beautiful adjuncts to English cathedrals. It has been called “a glorious development of window and vault.” It was built in the latter half of the Geometrical period (1280-1315). Note the profusion of ball-flower ornament round the windows and the ogee dripstones outside.

“Of octagonal plan, its vaulting ribs branch out from sixteen
Purbeck shafts which cluster round the central pillar, typifying
the diocesan church with all its members gathered round its common
father, the bishop. Each of the eight sides of the room is occupied
by a window of four lights, with graceful tracery of an advanced
geometrical type. These windows, which are among the finest
examples of the period, have no shafts, but their arch mouldings
are enriched with a continuous series of the ball-flower ornament.
Most of the old glass in which ruby and white are the predominant
colours, remains in the upper lights. Under the windows runs an
arcade which forms fifty-one stalls, separated into groups of seven
by the blue lias vaulting-shafts at the angles, but in the side
which is occupied by the doorway there are only two stalls, one on
either side of the entrance. Two rows of stone benches are under
the stalls, and there is a bench of Purbeck round the base of the
central pier.”--(P. D.)

Another authority says:

“At the springs of the arches are sculptured heads full of
expression, kings, bishops, monks, ladies, jesters; and at the
angles, grotesques of various kinds. A line of the ball-flower
ornament is carried round above the canopies.

“The double arches at the entrance show traces of a door on the
exterior. Remark the curious boss in the vaulting, composed of four
bearded faces. The diameter of the chapter-house is fifty feet, its
height forty-one feet. Its unusual, and indeed unique, features
are--its separation from the cloisters from which the chapter-house
generally opens; and its crypt, or lower story, which rendered
necessary the staircase by which it is approached.

“A most striking view of the chapter-house is obtained from the
fourth angle of the staircase, close to the doorway of the Vicars’
College. The effect of the double-door arches with their tracery,
of the central pier, the branched ribs of the vaulting, and the
fine windows is magnificent; and when the latter were filled with
stained glass, must have been quite unrivalled. The chapter-house
is by no means the least important of the many architectural
masterpieces which combine to place Wells so high in the ranks of
English cathedrals.”--(R. J. K.)

The =Crypt=, finished by 1286, represents the last development of the Early English style. It was used as the treasury where valuables were kept. It is reached by a dark passage from the north-choir-aisle. The odd corbels should be noted. The walls are very thick, the windows narrow with wide splays and the vaulting-ribs spring from round and massive pillars with much effect. This Crypt is unusually high, because the many springs at Wells would not permit of a subterranean chamber.

But again we have been led astray from the main body of the Cathedral. Returning the same way, we again enter the north transept and stand beneath the splendid fan-tracery vault of the tower, a vault, beautiful as it is, that hides the lantern with its arcades. These, however, can be seen during the ascent of the tower.

The =Screen= dates from the Fourteenth Century.

“The first impression on entering the choir will not readily be
forgotten. Owing to the peculiar and most beautiful arrangement of
the Lady-chapel and the retro-choir, to the manner in which the
varied groups of arches and pilasters are seen beyond the low altar
screen, to the rich splendours of the stained glass, to the
beautiful architectural details of the choir itself, and to the
grace and finish of the late restorations, it may safely be said
that the choir of no English cathedral affords a view more
impressive or more picturesque. It is difficult to determine
whether the effect is more striking at early morning, when the
blaze of many-coloured light from all the eastern windows is
reflected upon the slender shafts of Purbeck and upon the vaulted
roof, or at the late winter services, when the darkened figures of
saints and prophets in the clerestory combine with the few lights
burning at the choristers’ stalls to add something of mystery and
solemn gloom to the maze of half-seen aisles and chapels.

“The first three piers and arches of the choir are Early English,
of the same character as those of the nave and transepts, and are
probably the work of Bishop Jocelin. The remaining portion,
including the whole of the vaulting as well as the clerestory above
the first three bays, is very rich early Decorated (geometrical)
and deserves the most careful study.

“The tabernacle work and the window tracery of the first three
bays, although of the same date, are less rich than those of the
eastern half of the choir. In this latter portion remark the triple
banded shafts of Purbeck, carried quite to the roof as
vaulting-shafts, and the tabernacle-work occupying the place of the
triforium, deeper and wider than in the lower bays. Under each arch
is a short triple shaft, supporting a bracket richly carved in
foliage. The sculpture of the capitals and of these brackets is
very good and should be noticed. The foliage has become
unconventional, and has evidently been studied from nature. Its
diminutive character, as compared with the Early English work in
the nave, is very striking.

“The east end of the choir is formed of three arches divided by
slender piers above which is some very rich tabernacle-work,
surmounted by an east window of unusual design. At the back of the
altar, and between the piers, is a low diapered screen, beyond
which are seen the arches and stained windows of the retro-choir
and Lady-chapel.”--(R. J. K.)

The stone vault is unusual, a sort of “coved roof,” Freeman calls it, “with cells cut in it for the clerestory windows.”

The three western bays are Bishop Reginald’s of the Twelfth Century. Here we are in the very oldest part of the Cathedral. Triple vaulting-shafts of Purbeck marble are carried down to the floor.

“The clerestory windows contain flowing tracery of an advanced and
not very good type. In some the plain mullions are carried on
through the head of the window and intersect each other. Above the
tabernacle-work of the east end is the EAST WINDOW of seven lights,
the last bit of the Fourteenth Century reconstruction, the last
flicker of Decorated freedom. Its curious tracery is still
beautiful, doubly so for the glass it enshrines, but the rule and
square of Perpendicular domination have already set their mark upon
it; the two principal mullions run straight up to the window head,
and part of the tracery between them is rectangular.”--(P. D.)

The Cathedral possesses sixty-four =Misericords=, from the old choir-stalls, regarded as among the best examples of mediæval wood-carving in England. The skilful hand of the carver has wonderfully represented griffins fighting, mermaids, apes, goats, dragons, wyverns, popinjays, cats, foxes, peacocks, monsters, angels, eagles, hawks, rabbits, kings, peasants--and many other birds, animals and grotesques.

The soft yet brilliant light sifts in from the =Jesse Window= above the high altar. We lift our eyes and with some pains discern the twining branches of the vine with the recumbent figure of Jesse at the base, resting his head on his hand. From him rises the leading shoot of the tree, with the figures of the Virgin and the Child each with radiant nimbus and beneath a golden canopy. The tendrils of the vine enwreath prophets, priests and kings,--the ancestors of the Babe of Bethlehem. Above is a representation of the _Crucifixion_; and at the very

top of the window, the outstretched wings of the Holy Spirit.

The choir-aisles are of the same character as the choir itself and are entered from the transepts through ogee arches, ornamented with crockets and finials.

The south-choir-aisle contains the =Tomb of Saint William Bytton=, at which (the oldest incised slab in England) offerings were made by those suffering from toothache, as we have already seen. Further away is the =Tomb of Beckington=, surrounded by a beautiful iron-screen of the same date as the tomb (1452). The carving is very fine, especially the wings of the angels. A little colour is left here and there. His effigy rests upon it, with old and wrinkled face. This bishop said mass for his own soul here in January, 1452, thirteen years before he died.

In the south-east transept, we find the =Chapel of St. John Baptist=, where a Decorated piscina with canopy deserves attention.

At the extreme end of the north-choir-aisle is =Saint Stephen’s Chapel= and at the extreme end of the south-choir-aisle is the corresponding =Saint Catherine’s Chapel=. Both contain effigies of bishops, tombs and monuments. Between and back of these is the Lady-Chapel.

We now return to the =Retro-choir=. Four slender piers of Purbeck marble bear up the vault. The arrangement of the columns should be particularly noticed here. It is hard to realise that this =Retro-choir= was merely a device for connecting the Lady-Chapel with the Choir, it seems so entirely a part of the scheme.

“The beauty of the retro-choir, or ‘procession aisles,’ the
arrangement of its piers and clustered columns, and the admirable
manner in which it unites the Lady-chapel with the choir should be
here remarked. It is throughout Early Decorated. The foliage of the
capitals and the bosses of the vaulting will repay careful
examination. Many of the vaulting ribs appear to spring from two
grotesque heads--one on either side of the low choir-screen--which
hold them between their teeth. The four supporting pillars and
shafts are placed _within_ the line of the choir-piers, thus
producing the unusual intricacy and variety of the eastward view
from the choir. At Salisbury, and in all other English cathedrals,
the piers of the procession-aisles are placed in a line with those
of the choir.”--(R. J. K.)

Mr. Bond thinks the Wells architect got his idea for the octagonal Lady-Chapel by tacking on the elongated octagonal of the Lichfield Chapter-House to the rectangular retro-choir of Salisbury.

“The Lady-chapel is an early work of the Curvilinear period; for it
seems to have been complete in 1324. The windows have beautiful
reticulated tracery of early type. There is lovely carving in the
capitals, bosses, reredos, sedilia and piscina. The Curvilinear
foliated capitals here and in the choir should be compared with the
somewhat earlier capitals of the chapter-house, with the early
Geometrical capitals of the staircase, the Lancet capitals of the
west front and the late Transitional ones of porch, nave and
transepts. The ancient glass here and in the Jesse window of the
choir is superb in colour.

“As every one knows, it is the most beautiful east end we have in
England. It may be worth while to see how this design was arrived
at--a design as exceptional as it is effective. The simplest form
of an east end in English Gothic is seen at York and Lincoln: it
consists merely of a low wall with a big window above it. The next
improvement is to build an aisle or processional path behind the
east end; at the same time piercing the east wall with one, two or
three arches. This was done at Hereford about 1180; and on a
magnificent scale in the Chapels of Nine Altars at Durham and at
Fountains early in the Thirteenth Century. But the French apsidal
cathedrals--of which we have an example in Westminster--have not
only an encircling processional aisle, but also a chevet of chapels
radiating out from it; thus providing ever-changing vistas of
entrancing beauty. The next step in England also was to provide our
rectangular choirs with a chevet as well as with a processional
aisle. An early example of this plan is to be seen at Abbey Dore,
in Herefordshire, about 1190. It occurs early in the Thirteenth
Century on a still grander scale at Salisbury, where one finds not
one but two processional aisles, as well as chapels to the east of
them; and, in addition, a Lady-chapel projecting still farther to
the east, thus producing a design of great complexity and beauty.
Nevertheless, at Salisbury, since the chief supporting piers of the
retro-choir and the chevet are in a line with those of the choir,
there is by no means the same changeful intricacy of vista that
affords one ever fresh delight in an apsidal church. At Wells,
however, the architect attained all the success of the Continental
builder simply because he built his Lady-chapel not rectangular but
octagonal. For to get this octagon, of which only five sides were
supported by walls, he had to plant in the retro-choir two piers to
support the remaining three sides; and these piers are necessarily
out of line with the piers of the choir. He had got the Continental
vista. He saw it; but he saw also that it could be improved upon.
And he did improve it, by putting up an outer ring of four more
piers round the western part of the octagon of the Lady-chapel. It
was an intuition of genius: it makes the vistas into the
retro-choir and the Lady-chapel a veritable glimpse into fairyland;
and provides here alone in England a rival to the glorious eastern
terminations of Amiens and Le Mans. And that is not all. We saw in
the chapter-house the grand effect of the central stalk branching
upward and outward in all directions, like some palm tree
transmuted into stone. This beautiful effect he transfers to the
retro-choir, but multiplied--four palm trees in place of one; for
each of the four external piers of the octagon emulates the
chapter-house’s central stalk.”--(F. B.)

The large windows are filled with fine specimens of Fourteenth Century glass unfortunately now jumbled together. The =East Window= is composed of odd pieces put together by Willement. David and other patriarchs occupy the upper tier, and the Virgin, Eve and the Serpent and Moses and the Brazen Serpent, the lower tier. The upper lights display angels with the instruments of the Passion, emblems of the Evangelists and busts of bishops and patriarchs.

“From the south-west transept we pass into the CLOISTERS, which
occupy an unusual amount of space, but have only three walks
instead of the usual four.

“The difference between a true monastic cloister and this of Wells
should be remarked. The canons of Wells were not monks and did not
require a cloister in the ordinary sense. This is merely an
ornamental walk around the cemetery. It did not lead to either
dormitory, refectory or chapter-house. It served as a passage to
the Bishop’s Palace; and the wall of the east walk is Early English
of the same date as the palace itself. The lavatory in the east
walk should be remarked, as well as the grotesque bosses of the
roof in the portion built by Bishop Beckington. Over the western
cloister is the Chapter Grammar School. The central space is known
as the ‘Palm Churchyard,’ from the yew-tree in its centre, the
branches of which were formerly carried in procession as palms.
From the south-east angle of the cloisters we descend into the open
ground within the gateway adjoining the marketplace, and opposite
the episcopal palace. This is surrounded by a moat, as well as by
strong external walls and bastions, and would have been capable of
sustaining a long siege according to the mediæval system of
warfare. The moat is fed by springs from St. Andrew’s, or the
‘bottomless well’--the original ‘great well’ of King Ina,--which
rise close to the palace and fall into the moat in a cascade at the
north-east corner. Both walls and moat were the work of Bishop
Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-1365).”--(R. J. K.)

Wells is famous for its ancient houses. The old Palace and the Deanery are still occupied by the bishop and the dean; the canons and vicars also live in the individual houses built for these ecclesiastics. Wells was never a monastery with a common refectory and dormitory: there were always secular priests here and each man lived in his own house. Of all the domestic buildings the Bishop’s Palace is the most beautiful. It is considered the most perfect specimen of an Early English house that exists.

BATH ABBEY

DEDICATION: ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL. A CHURCH SERVED BY SECULAR
CANONS.

SPECIAL FEATURE: WEST FRONT.

Standing before the =West Front=, we notice, first of all, that upon the angles of the nave on either side of the great window are two turrets, on the face of each of which is carved a ladder with angels ascending or descending. The space above the window is also carved with angels; and, under a canopy above the group, stands a figure of God the Father. Of this strange decoration the following story is told:

Oliver King, Bishop of Exeter, was translated to the See of Bath and Wells in 1495. He went at once to Bath, and found the church in a dilapidated condition. While there, he had a repetition of Jacob’s famous dream of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth with angels ascending and descending. Above them stood the Lord, who said: “Let an Olive establish the crown and a King restore the church.” Taking the hint, Bishop Oliver King immediately set to work to rebuild the church and had his dream recorded upon the west front. He also had an olive-tree and crown carved on each of the corner buttresses.

Bishop King’s new church was smaller than the old one. It only occupied the site of the former nave. He died before it was finished. Prior William Birde continued the work, not forgetting a chantry for himself, which is regarded as the best thing in the church. Birde died in 1525; and the work was still unfinished when it was seized by the king’s commissioners. The roofless and neglected church soon fell into decay; but in 1572 it was patched up a little in order that services might be held in it. The east window was glazed and the choir was roofed. The nave, however, was not roofed until Bishop Montague’s rule (1608-1616).

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, many mean houses that had clustered around Bath Abbey were removed, and buttresses and pinnacles were added to strengthen the walls. Repeated restorations have made it exceedingly trim in appearance.

About 775, Offa, the Mercian king, founded here a college of secular canons, who were expelled by Dunstan in the Tenth Century and superseded by monks.

One great event in the abbey church was the coronation of King Edgar on the Feast of Pentecost, 973; and for centuries afterwards it was the custom to select on Whitsunday a “King of Bath” from among its citizens, in honour of this circumstance.

John de Villula, a Frenchman from Tours, who was Bishop of Somerset in the reign of William Rufus, greatly preferred Bath to Wells. He was able to merge Bath Abbey into the bishopric; and then he began to rebuild the church dedicated to St. Peter. When it was finished, he transferred the bishop’s seat from Wells to Bath. This did not satisfy Wells, however, and when Robert of Lewes became bishop of Bath and Wells, he seems to have arranged matters by allowing the Bishop of Somerset to have a throne at St. Andrew’s in Wells and at St. Peter’s in Bath, the bishop to be chosen by the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells (See page 108).

The church built by John of Tours having suffered from fire, Robert was compelled to rebuild it; but subsequent bishops neglected Bath; and at the end of the Fifteenth Century, when Oliver King was removed here from Exeter, he found the church was in a ruinous condition and began to rebuild it, as we have seen.

Bath Abbey is a very interesting example of late Perpendicular. It was nearing completion when it surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, and is, therefore, the last expression of Gothic Art. The most interesting part of the church is the =West Front=, with its large window flanked by the turrets with the ladders, already described. Each turret contains a staircase; rises far above the parapet of the nave; and terminates in an embattled parapet surmounted by an eight-sided and crocketed pyramid.

“The great west window is one of seven lights, divided horizontally
into four parts. Below it is a battlemented parapet with a niche in
the centre, in which, no doubt, a statue formerly stood, and in
which a new statue has recently been placed. At the base of it are
the arms and supporters of Henry VII. Below it is the west door,
beneath a rectangular label. The spandrels contain emblems of the
Passion. On either side stand statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, to
whom the church was jointly dedicated; these seem to be of
Elizabethan date. The doors themselves were the gift to the church
of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Henry Montague, brother of the
bishop who completed the church. On them may be seen shields
bearing the arms of the Montagues and of the Bishop of Bath and
Wells.”--(T. P.)

The =Central Tower= is oblong and rises two stages above the roof. It contains two pairs of windows

with rectangular heads and each corner is ornamented by a heavy octagonal turret also terminating in octagonal pyramids decorated with crockets. Similar pyramids terminate the turrets that flank the sides of the east window of the choir.

There is no Lady-Chapel.

Let us survey the exterior:

“The nave consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are
unusually lofty, and are divided by transoms; they are of five
lights. Along the top of the clerestory wall is a battlemented,
pierced parapet; but the pattern of the pierced openings differs
from that of the parapet which runs along the top of the aisle
walls. The aisles have five light windows without transoms; their
heads are four centred arches; between each bay are projecting
buttresses of three stages with gabled offsets, finished with
crocketed pinnacles; against them rest flying-buttresses formed of
a lower semi-arch, with a straight rectilinear truss. From the
points where the arched flying-buttresses abut against the
clerestory walls, vertical, slightly projecting buttresses are
built upwards against the wall and rising above the parapet, are
finished by crocketed pinnacles. The same design is carried right
round the church. The clerestory of the transepts resembles those
of the nave and the choir.”--(T. P.)

Entering, our first and general view is impressive, because of the fan-vaulting and height of the =Nave=. Owing to the absence of horizontal lines, the vault seems higher than it really is. There is no triforium. A string-course runs above the arches of the main arcade beneath the clerestory windows, which are unusually tall. On account of the enormous windows and the absence of painted glass, Bath Abbey received the name of the “Lantern of the West”; but now that the windows of the nave and choir-aisles have been supplied with painted lights, the name is less appropriate. The tracery of these windows is, of course, Perpendicular. The one in the south-transept is a thanksgiving for the recovery of the Prince of Wales in 1872. The lower lights depict the recovery of Hezekiah and the royal arms of the Prince and Princess of Wales and also those of the city of Bath. The upper part represents the Tree of Jesse. The great east and west windows have seven lights. The west window contains subjects from Old Testament history, and the east-window, representations of the life of Christ.

“There is little variety in the arches and shafts throughout the
church. This repetition is a well-known feature in Perpendicular
work. The piers have no general capital. The shaft which carries
the inner order of the arch has a capital, and so, at the same
level, have the vaulting-shafts of the high vault and that of the
aisles. These shafts spring from the bases of the main pillars. The
capitals at this level are plain, and so are the capitals of the
vaulting-shafts of the nave from which the vaulting-ribs spring.
But in the choir the place of these plain bands is taken by carved
angels. Carved angels also form the termination of the
hood-moulding of the lower windows of the south transept, and
probably those of the north transept also, though these windows are
hidden by the wooden pipes of the organ.

“Over the heads of the clerestory windows of the nave are small
shields, and shields may also be seen in the centre of the
fan-tracery in the nave, choir and transept. In the aisles the
fan-tracery is somewhat different, as in the centre of each bay
there is a pendant. The vaulting of the nave and its aisles and
that of the south transept are modern, put up, under the direction
of Sir Gilbert Scott, to match the roof of the choir and its aisles
and north transept respectively. The reredos was designed by the
same architect. The oak screen across the eastern part of the south
choir aisle is due to his son. The font is also modern. In fact,
beyond the walls and the roofing of the eastern part of the church,
there is little old about it. In the clerestory windows are a few
fragments of Seventeenth-Century glass--heraldic shields.”--(T. P.)

Although Bath Abbey is full of monuments (there are over six hundred memorial tablets besides statues), the only tombs that deserve attention are those of =Bishop Montague=, in the fourth arch of the nave on the north side, and =Lady Waller’s Monument= under the southern window of the transept. The figure of her husband, Sir William Waller, who commanded the Parliamentary army in the Battle of Landsdown, near Bath, clad in mail, gazes down upon his dead wife. Two weeping children kneel at her feet.

Between the choir and the south-aisle =Prior Birde’s Chantry= occupies two bays. It is a most elaborate piece of carving. The rebus of the founder (a bird and a W) appears frequently. Fan-tracery decorates the vault.

The very fine organ is placed in the transept. The bells of Bath are famous.

BRISTOL

DEDICATION: THE HOLY TRINITY. A CHURCH SERVED BY AUGUSTINIAN
CANONS.

SPECIAL FEATURES: EAST WINDOW (TRACERY AND GLASS); CHAPTER-HOUSE;
GREAT GATEWAY.

The =West Front= of Bristol gives us a slight suggestion of a French cathedral, for here we find a rose window and a large doorway, at the side of which rise two square towers. The balustrade above the crocketed gable of the doorway partly hides the rose-window.

The towers were built in 1887 and 1888: the north-west is Bishop Butler’s Tower and the south-west, the Colston Tower. The Butler tower is enriched with statues of St. Michael, St. Gabriel and the Angel of Praise; the Colston, with the Angel of the Gospel, St. Raphael and the Angel of the Sun. On our right is the Great Gateway.

The exterior of Bristol is not very striking. The buttresses of the Elder-Lady-Chapel are Decorated and of the same date as the east window of the same chapel. We should also view the great east window of the Lady-Chapel from without and the =Central Tower=.

“Early in the Fifteenth Century a central tower was added. Here
again one is struck by the originality of the British people: it is
as beautiful as it is original. The designer had noticed how
beautiful is the effect of a close-packed range of tall clerestory
windows, such as those of Leighton Buzzard Church. So instead of
restricting himself on each side of the tower to one or two
windows, he inserts no less than five. The range of clerestory
windows, which the Fourteenth Century builder refused to the
choir, becomes the special ornament and glory of the tower.”--(F.
B.)

As we enter through the =North Porch=, which occupies the space between two buttresses and is adorned with statues of the Four Evangelists, we may remember that when Henry VIII. created the diocese of Bristol there had been a church and monastery of Augustine canons on this site for four hundred years. This monastery was founded in 1142 by Robert Fitzhardinge, Lord of Berkeley Castle. Of his Norman church little remains but portions of the walls in both transepts, a staircase in the north-aisle leading to the tower, and some fragments in the choir. The Norman nave was removed in 1542, because it was thought unsafe. The new nave and western towers were completed in 1888 by Mr. Street, who copied from the old, repeating the vaulting and the recesses of the eastern end.

The ground plan consists of a nave with an aisle on either side; a central tower and transepts; then the choir with north and south aisles; and finally, the Lady-Chapel at the end. On the north of the north-choir-aisle is the first Lady-Chapel--built in the Early English style, and called Elder-Lady-Chapel to distinguish it from the later Lady-Chapel at the east end.

At the south-east end of the south-choir-aisle we find the Berkeley Chapel; and at the end of the south transept, the Newton Chapel. Beyond it is the Chapter-House with its Vestibule, and on the south and west the remains of the Cloisters.

Our best position for viewing the =Nave= is from the north or between the two big towers. It is 120 feet long, 60 feet high and 69 broad including the aisles. One peculiarity of Bristol is that the aisles are of the same height as the Nave; and another, that this Cathedral has neither clerestory, nor triforium. The windows of the Nave are very large and are strengthened by transoms.

The =West Window= has for its subject the _Adoration of the Lamb_. The =Choir= consists of four bays. It is in the Decorated style and dates from 1306 to 1332.

“The piers of the choir carry triple shafts which support the
vaulting of the choir, and others for the aisles, which are here of
the same height as the choir. Capitals of great delicacy and
beauty, modelled from real foliage, serve to break the line of the
mouldings and accentuate the springing of the vault. Graceful
though the span of the roof is admitted to be, the lines of the
arcade of the choir are finer, and the effect of the contrast of
their soft mouldings carried up and around without a break is
excellent. The iron screen-work that separates the choir from its
aisles is uninteresting and too small in scale.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

On either side of the high altar are canopied recesses containing monuments. The reredos is a memorial to Bishop Ellicott and is rather too high, therefore interfering with a good view of the splendid east window in the Lady-Chapel. The mosaic pavement is new, and the stalls are also modern. Some of the old =Misereres= have been preserved, however, and consist of grotesques. Some of them illustrate _Reynard the Fox_.

In both aisles of the Choir we are struck by the very peculiar vaulting designed by Abbot Knowle to strengthen the building and help carry the lateral thrust occasioned by the heavy central vaulting. These bridges, or transoms, therefore, do the work of flying-buttresses as faithfully to-day as when they were erected six hundred years ago.

“The transoms, features which were repeated in the windows of the
aisles of the choir, and in a much heavier form in the windows of
the nave, are additionally strengthened by the graceful arches
below which spring from capitals almost similar to those on the
choir side of the piers. From the centre of each transom rises a
cluster of groining ribs. It has been customary to speak rather
disparagingly of this clever piece of work of Abbot Knowle and to
term it carpentry work in stone. It may be so, but the student of
to-day may thank the Fourteenth Century Abbot for a most
instructive lesson. The transoms have crowned heads at either end
and in the centre, and they, unlike the transoms in the aisles of
the nave, are ornamented with little flowers. Beneath the windows,
which are Decorated in character, is a string-course, with
ball-flower ornament, a feature which is found all round this
eastern part. In the south aisle the vaulting was intended to be
the same as in the north aisle, having been planned by the same
architect, but a difference in the westernmost bay shows it was
superintended by a different mind. In all probability it was
Knowle’s successor, Abbot Snow, who, from 1332-1341, went on with
his predecessor’s work, adding that part called the Newton
Chapel.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)

There is not a great deal of old glass in Bristol, but some of the =Windows= in this east end are worthy of careful study.

“The east windows of the choir aisles are filled with glass
coloured with enamels in accordance with the practice of the
Seventeenth Century instead of glass coloured in its manufacture.
They date from the reign of Charles II.; and although it is
traditionally said that they were presented by Nell Gwynne, it is
more probable that they were the offerings of Henry Glenham, Dean
of Bristol from 1661 to 1667, and afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph.
The arms of Glemham (Or, a chevron gules between three torteaux)
are repeated three times in the window of the south aisle and once
in that of the north. The subjects (arranged as type and antitype)
in the north aisle are--in the centre, the Resurrection; below
Jonah delivered from the whale. On the right, above, the Ascension;
below, Elijah taken up to heaven. On the left, above, the Agony in
the garden; below, Abraham about to offer up his son.”--(R. J. K.)

In the third bay of the north wall of this north-choir-aisle a doorway opens into a peculiar passage designed by Abbot Knowle to take the place of a triforium. The passage leads to a staircase communicating with the central tower and the belfry.

North of the north-choir-aisle we come to the greatly admired Early English Chapel, the Elder Lady-Chapel.

“The Lady-Chapel (generally called the Elder Lady-Chapel because
the altar of the Virgin was removed to the east end of the church
after Abbot Knowle had rebuilt the choir) is entered from the
north-east corner of the transept. The chapel is Early English, and
dates, according to Mr. Godwin, from the time of Abbot John
(1196-1215). The chapel is of four bays, the windows in which are
triplets with inner arches, of which those at the side are
gracefully foliated. The detached vaulting-shafts are of Purbeck
marble. The sculpture of the capitals and string-courses is
unusually good; and the spandrels of the wall-arcade are filled
with grotesque designs which are full of spirit and character,
greatly resembling the sculpture in Wells Cathedral, much of which
is of the same date. Remember especially--a goat blowing a horn and
carrying a hare slung over his back; a ram and an ape playing on
musical instruments; and St. Michael with the dragon(?); below is a
fox carrying off a foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
stamp the English character.”--(R. J. K.)

This chapel was originally detached from the rest of the Cathedral. Beneath the two arches

between it and the north-choir-aisle stands the =Tomb of Maurice=, ninth Lord Berkeley (died 1368). Here he lies with =Elizabeth=, his wife. The knight is in armour and his head lies on a mitre. A good groined canopy overshadows these figures.

Retracing our steps into the choir and passing into the =South-choir-aisle=, we examine the Glenham window, which is of the same date as the corresponding one in the north-choir-aisle.

The subjects are--in the centre, above, _Our Lord Driving the Money Changers from the Temple_; below, _Jacob’s Dream_; on the right, above, the _Tribute Money_; below, _Melchisedec_ and _Abraham_; the subject on the left, above, is uncertain; below, the _Sacrifice of Gideon_.

From the western bay of the south-choir-aisle we enter the =Newton Chapel=, where members of the Newton family lie. This dates from 1332-1341. The style is late Decorated. The south wall divides it from the Chapter-House, with which it is parallel.

On the right, after passing out of the Newton Chapel, we come to one of Abbot Knowle’s recesses. The foliage consists of oak leaves and acorns interspersed here and there with tiny sprays of mistletoe, an unusual ornament, in church decoration.

We next pass the =Tomb of Thomas, Lord Berkeley=, who died in 1243. He is represented in armour. His crossed legs show that he was a knight-templar. This is the oldest monument in the cathedral. The next recess contains the effigy of =Maurice, Lord Berkeley=, who died in 1281. He is also in armour. In the next bay we pass up one step to the entrance of a =Vestibule= (once a sacristy, now a music-room for the choristers), a fine specimen of Decorated work. Through this we pass into =Berkeley Chapel=.

“Opposite the entrance door on the south side are three ogee arches
with niches between. In one of these, the third from the west, was
a hearth upon which the sacramental bread was baked. The
ornamentation in the spandrels and the finials is curiously
interesting work in foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
stamp the work as that of Abbot Knowle. It consists of curved ribs,
quite detached, large in section, springing from small capitals.
The bosses are particularly fine, the foliage being very flowing
and free. It is difficult to realise that the mason has here done
in stone what many wood-carvers would fail to do in their softer
material. The door into the Berkeley Chapel is enriched with a
niche overhead, and a moulding below consisting of medlers.”--(H.
J. L. J. M.)

The Berkeley Chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is thought that an altar also stood here to St. Keyne, who turned to stone all the snakes in the vicinity. The ammonites were probably suggested by finding one or two in a piece of stone.