unless otherwise stated.
Fan-Vaulting in
Wells Cathedral.
Image: SHUTTERSTOCK
The West Front,
Wells Cathedral,
Somerset, England.
Photo: 30 April 2014.
Source: Own work.
Author: Diliff.
Photo by DAVID ILIFF.
License: CC-BY-SA 3.0
(Wikimedia Commons)
The building programme, begun by Bishop Reginald FitzJocelin in the 12th-Century, continued under Jocelin of Wells, who was a Canon from 1200, then Bishop from 1206. Adam Locke was Master Mason from about 1192 until 1230.
Wells Cathedral Choir,
recognised as the Top Choir in the world
by Gramophone magazine, based on recordings
between 2008 and 2011.
Available on YouTube at
By the time the Cathedral, including the Chapter House, was finished in 1306, it was already too small for the developing Liturgy, and unable to accommodate increasingly grand Processions of Clergy.
Bishop John Droxford initiated another phase of building, under Master Mason Thomas of Witney, during which the Central Tower was heightened and an Eight-Sided Lady Chapel, completed by 1326, was added at the East End.
"O Magnum Mysterium".
Choir of Wells Cathedral.
Available on YouTube at
Bishop John Harewell raised money for the completion of the West Front by William Wynford, who was appointed as Master Mason in 1365. One of the foremost architects of his time, Wynford worked for the King at Windsor, Winchester Cathedral and New College, Oxford.
At Wells, he designed the Western Towers, of which the North-West was not built until the following Century. In the 14th-Century, the Central Piers of The Crossing were found to be sinking under the weight of The Crossing Tower, which had been damaged by an earthquake the previous Century. Strainer Arches, sometimes described as Scissor Arches, were inserted, by Master Mason William Joy, to brace and stabilise the Piers as a unit.
The Baptismal Font,
Wells Cathedral,
from the Saxon Church of Bishop Aldhelm (circa 705 A.D.),
predates the Cathedral by more than 400 years.
Photo: 22 July 2005.
Source: From geograph.org.uk,
this File from Wikimedia Commons.
Author: Gene Hawkins.
(Wikimedia Commons)
While Wells Cathedral survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries better than those Cathedrals of Monastic Foundation, the abolition of Chantries, in 1547, resulted in a reduction in the Cathedral's income. Mediaeval Brasses were sold, and a Pulpit was placed in the Nave for the first time. Between 1551 and 1568, in two periods as Dean, William Turner established a Herbal Garden, which was recreated between 2003 and 2010.
Queen Elizabeth I gave the Chapter and the Vicars Choral a new Charter in 1591, creating a new Governing Body, consisting of the Dean and eight Residentiary Canons, with control over the Church Estates and authority over its affairs, but no longer entitled to elect the Dean (that entitlement thenceforward belonged, ultimately, to the Crown).
The Clerestory (top) and Triforium Gallery (upper-middle)
above the Arcade Arches (bottom), viewed from the Nave,
Wells Cathedral.
The Triforium has a unique form
with the Arches not divided into Bays.
Photo: 2 July 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Lamiai.
(Wikimedia Commons)
His jailer, the shoe-maker and City Constable, David Barrett, caught him writing a Letter to his wife. When he refused to surrender it, Barrett ran him through with a Sword and he died six weeks later, on 10 October 1646. He was buried in an unmarked grave, in the Choir, before the Dean's Stall.
During the Commonwealth of England, under Oliver Cromwell, no Dean was appointed and the Cathedral fell into disrepair. The, then, Bishop went into retirement and some of the Clerics were reduced to performing menial tasks.
The 13th-Century West Front, Wells Cathedral, by Thomas Norreys.
As a synthesis of form, architectural decoration and figurative sculpture,
it is considered to be unsurpassed in Britain.
Photo: 27 October 2010.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Author: Ad Meskens.
(Wikimedia Commons)
PART THREE FOLLOWS
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