Norwich Cathedral. Church Of The Holy And Undivided Trinity.

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Norwich Cathedral,

Norfolk, England.

The view from the Choir

to the Presbytery.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Pulpitum,

behind the Altar,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Pulpitum is a common feature in Mediaeval Cathedral and Monastic architecture in Europe. It is a massive Screen, most often constructed of stone, or, occasionally, timber, that divides the Choir (the area containing the Choir Stalls and High Altar in a Cathedral, Collegiate or Monastic Church) from the Nave and Ambulatory (the parts of the Church to which Lay worshippers may have access). Typically, the Pulpitum is lavishly carved and decorated, and those of York Minster and Canterbury Cathedral preserve complete Mediaeval sets of statues of the Kings of England.

The word "Pulpitum" is applied in Ecclesiastical Latin, both for this form of Screen and also for a Pulpit; the Secular origin of the term being a theatrical stage, or Speaker's Dais. It is thought that this form of Screen originated in Monastic practice, providing a raised stage from which Members of a Religious Community could address Pilgrims attending to Venerate the Church's Relics, while still maintaining their Monastic seclusion from Lay contact.

English: Norwich Cathedral's Spire, seen from the Cloister.

Note the Two-Storey Cloister.

Français: La tour, la flèche et le transept sud de la

cathédrale de Norwich, vus depuis le cloître.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Norwich Cathedral is an English Cathedral located in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to The Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the Cathedral Church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich Twelve Heritage Sites.

The Cathedral was begun in 1096, and constructed of flint and mortar, and faced with a cream-coloured Caen limestone. A Saxon Settlement and two Churches were demolished to make room for the buildings. The Cathedral was completed in 1145, with the Norman Tower, still seen today, topped with a Wooden Spire covered with Lead. Several episodes of damage necessitated rebuilding of the East End and Spire, but, since the final erection of the Stone Spire in 1480, there have been few fundamental alterations to the fabric.

The large Cloister has over 1,000 Bosses, including several hundred carved and ornately-painted Bosses.

Norwich Cathedral Cloisters.

Photo: 24 July 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Fæ.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Norwich Cathedral has the second-largest Cloister, second only to Salisbury Cathedral. The Cathedral Close is one of the largest in England, and one of the largest in Europe, and has more people living within it than any other Close. The Cathedral Spire, measuring 315 ft (96 m), is the second-tallest in England, despite being partly rebuilt after being struck by Lightning in 1169, just twenty-three months after its completion, which led to the building being set on fire. Measuring 461 ft, or 140.5 m, long, and, with the Transepts, 177 ft or 54 m wide at completion, Norwich Cathedral was the largest building in East Anglia.

In 672 A.D., the Archbishop of Canterbury, Theodore of Tarsus, divided East Anglia into two Dioceses, one covering Norfolk, with its See at Elmham, the other, covering Suffolk with its See at Dunwich. During much of the 9th-Century, because of the Danish incursions, there was no Bishop at Elmham. In addition, the See of Dunwich was extinguished and East Anglia became a single Diocese once more. Following the Norman Conquest, many Sees were moved to more secure Urban Centres, that of Elmham being transferred to Thetford, in 1072, and, finally, to Norwich in 1094. The new Cathedral incorporated a Monastery of Benedictine Monks.

Norwich School Playing Fields in snow,

showing Norwich Cathedral (centre) and the Lower School (right).

Photo: 16 January 2013.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaeljohnbutton/9041454890/

Author: Michael Boulton.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The structure of the Cathedral is primarily in the Norman Style, having been constructed at the behest of Bishop Herbert de Losinga, who had bought the Bishopric for £1,900 before its transfer from Thetford. Building started in 1096 and the Cathedral was completed in 1145. It was built from flint and mortar and faced with cream coloured Caen limestone. It still retains the greater part of its original stone structure. An Anglo-Saxon Settlement and two Churches were demolished, to make room for the buildings, and a Canal was cut to allow access for the boats bringing the stone and building materials, which were taken up the River Wensum and unloaded at Pulls Ferry, Norwich.

The Ground Plan remains almost entirely as it was in Norman times, except for that of the Eastern Chapel. The Cathedral has an unusually long Nave of fourteen Bays. The Transepts are without Aisles and the East End terminates in an Apse, with an Ambulatory. From the Ambulatory, there is access to two Chapels of unusual shape, the Plan of each being based on two intersecting circles. This allows more correct orientation of the Altars than in the more normal kind of Radial Chapel.

Norwich Cathedral,

from The Lawns.

Photo: 12 September 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: Mn.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Crossing Tower was the last piece of the Norman Cathedral to be completed, around 1140. It is boldly decorated with circles, lozenges and interlaced Arcading. The present Spire was added in the Late-15th-Century.

The Cathedral was damaged after riots in 1272, which resulted in the City paying heavy fines levied by King Henry III, Rebuilding was completed in 1278 and the Cathedral was Re-Consecrated, in the presence of King Edward I, on Advent Sunday of that year.

A large two-storey Cloister, the only such in England, with over 1,000 Ceiling Bosses, was begun in 1297 and finally finished in 1430, after the Black Death had plagued the City.

Norwich Cathedral Cloisters.

(Note the Two-Storeys).

Photo: 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ziko-C.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Norman Spire was blown down in 1362. Its fall caused considerable damage to the East End, as a result of which the Clerestory, of the Choir, was rebuilt in the Perpendicular Style. In the 15th-Century and Early-16th-Century, the Cathedral's flat timber Ceilings were replaced with Stone Vaults: The Nave was Vaulted, under Bishop Lyhart (1446–1472); the Choir, under Bishop Goldwell, (1472–99); and the Transepts, after 1520.

The Vaulting was carried out, in a spectacular manner, with hundreds of ornately-carved, painted and gilded Bosses. The Bosses, of the Vault, number over 1,000. Each is decorated with a Theological image, and, as a group, they have been described as without parallel in the Christian world. The Nave Vault shows the history of the world from The Creation. The Cloister includes a series showing The Life of Christ and The Apocalypse.

In 1463, the Spire was struck by Lightning, causing a fire to rage through the Nave, which was so intense it turned some of the creamy Caen limestone a pink colour. In 1480, the Bishop, James Goldwell, ordered the building of a new Spire, which is still in place, today. It is made of brick, faced with stone, supported on brick Squinches, built into the Norman Tower. At 315 feet (96 m) high, the Spire is the second-tallest in England. Only that of Salisbury Cathedral is taller at 404 feet (123 m).

Squinches, supporting a Dome,

in Odzun Basilica, Armenia.

Early-8th-Century.

Photo: 8 September 2008.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rietje/2931193595/

Author: Rita Willaert.

(Wikimedia Commons)

A Squinch, in architecture, is a construction filling in the upper angles of a square room, so as to form a base to receive an octagonal or spherical Dome. Another solution of this structural problem was provided by the Pendentive.

Squinches may be formed by masonry, built out from the angle, in Corbelled courses, by filling the corner with a vice, placed diagonally, or by building an Arch, or a number of Corbelled Arches, diagonally across the corner.

The Squinch was probably invented in Iran. It was used in The Middle East, in both Eastern Romanesque and Islamic architecture. It remained a feature of Islamic architecture, especially in Iran, and was often covered by Corbelled Stalactite-like structures, known as Muqarnas.

The Choir,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The total length of the building is 461 feet (140 m). Along with Salisbury Cathedral and Ely Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral lacks a Ring of Bells, which makes them the only three English Cathedrals without them. One of the best views of the Cathedral Spire is from St. James's Hill, on Mousehold Heath.

Norwich Cathedral was partially in ruins, when John Cosin was at the Grammar School in the Early-17th-Century, and the former Bishop was an absentee figure. In 1643, during the Reign of King Charles I, an angry Puritan mob invaded the Cathedral and destroyed all Roman Catholic symbols. The building, abandoned the following year, lay in ruins for two decades. Norwich Bishop Joseph Hall provides a graphic description from his book "Hard Measure";

It is tragical to relate the furious Sacrilege committed under the authority of Linsey, Tofts the Sheriff, and Greenwood: what clattering of glasses, what beating down of walls, what tearing down of monuments, what pulling down of seats, and wresting out of irons and brass from the windows and graves;

what defacing of Arms, what demolishing of curious stone-work, that had not any representation in the world but of the cost of the founder and skill of the mason; what piping on the destroyed organ-pipes; Vestments, both Copes and Surplices, together with the leaden Cross which had been newly sawed down from over the greenyard pulpit, and the singing-books and service-books, were carried to the fire in the public market-place;

a lewd wretch walking before the train in his Cope trailing in the dirt, with a Service-Book in his hand, imitating in an impious scorn the tune, and usurping the words of the Litany. The ordnance being discharged on the guild-day, the Cathedral was filled with Musketeers, drinking and tobacconing as freely as if it had turned ale-house.

The Nave,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The mob also fired their Muskets. At least one Musket Ball remains lodged in the stonework.

Only at The Restoration, in 1660, would the Cathedral be restored under Charles II.

About 1830, The West Front was remodelled by Anthony Salvin. In 1930 – 1932, a new Lady Chapel, designed by Sir Charles Nicholson, was built at The East End, on the site of its 13th-Century predecessor, which had been demolished during The Elizabethan Period.

The Organ,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ziko-C.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Norwich Cathedral has a fine selection of 61 Misericords, dating from three periods – 1480, 1515 and the Mid-19th-Century. The subject matter is varied: Mythological; everyday subjects; and portraits.

The Precinct of the Cathedral, the limit of the former Monastery, is between Tombland (the Anglo-Saxon Market Place) and the River Wensum, and the Cathedral Close, which runs from Tombland into the Cathedral Grounds, contains a number of buildings from the 15th-Century to the 19th-Century, including the remains of an Infirmary. The Cathedral Close is notable for being located within the City's Defensive Walls and its considerable size, unusual for an Urban Priory. At eighty-five acres in size, it occupied, in Mediaeval times, one tenth of the total area of the City.

Stained-Glass Windows,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Ziko-C.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Choir,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

An alternate view of The Choir,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Diliff.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

License: CC-BY-SA 3.0.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Grounds also house The Norwich School, statues to The Duke of Wellington and Admiral Nelson and the grave of Edith Cavell.

There are two Gates leading into the Cathedral Grounds, both on Tombland. The Ethelbert Gate takes its name from a Saxon Church that stood nearby. The original Gate was destroyed in the Riot of 1272 and its replacement was built in the Early-14th-Century. It has two storeys, the upper storey was originally a Chapel, Dedicated to Saint Ethelbert, and decorated with flushwork. In 1420, Sir Thomas Erpingham, benefactor to the City, had the Gate, which bears his name, sited opposite The Great West Door of the Cathedral, leading into The Close.

Stained-Glass Windows

and 

Fan-Vaulting,

Norwich Cathedral.

Photo: 31 July 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: Maria.

(Wikimedia Commons)