Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Thursday, 23 March 2023

Chester Cathedral. (Part Six).

 


Side Chapel of Saint Erasmus, Chester Cathedral.
Photo: 19 July 2016.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.

The Perpendicular Gothic Cloister is entered from the Cathedral through a Norman doorway in the North Aisle. The Cloister is part of the building programme that commenced in the 1490s and is probably the work of Seth Derwall.[1]

The South Wall of the Cloister, dating from the later part of the Norman period, forms the North Wall of the Nave of the Cathedral, and includes Blind Arcading.[35]

Among the earliest remaining structures on the site is an Undercroft off the West Range of the Cloisters, which dates from the Early-12th-Century, and which was originally used by the Monks for storing food.[36] It consists of two Naves with Groin Vaults, and Round Piers with round, scalloped, Capitals.[4]


Chester Cathedral’s Memorial Garden
for The 22nd Cheshire Regiment.
Photo: 2 June 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Clint Heacock en:User:Clintheacock66
(Wikimedia Commons)


Leading from the South of the Undercroft is the Abbot’s Passage, which dates from around 1150 and consists of two Bays with Rib-Vaulting.[37]

Above the Abbot’s Passage, approached by a stairway from the West Cloister, is Saint Anselm’s Chapel, which dates from the 12th-Century. It has three Bays and a 19th-Century, Gothic-Style, Plaster Vault.

The Chancel has one Bay and was remodelled in the Early-17th-Century. The Screen, Altar Rails, Holy Table, and Plaster Ceiling of the Chancel, date from the 17th-Century.[36][37]


This Stained-Glass Window in the Cloisters of Chester Cathedral depicts Ranolf Bigden (1299-1363), Lay Brother of Saint Werburgh's Abbey (since 1541 Chester Cathedral). He is depicted writing his "Chronicle of Saint Werburgh's Abbey".
This Stained-Glass Window is Dedicated to the Memory of Thomas Moore of Cheshire, an Engineer, and was donated by his daughter, Mary, in 1931.
Photo: 24 June 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Hystfield
(Wikimedia Commons)


The North Range of the Cloister gives access to a Refectory, built by Simon de Whitchurch in the 13th-Century. It contains an Early-English Pulpit, approached by a staircase with an ascending Arcade. The only other similar Pulpit in England is in Beaulieu Abbey.[36]

By the 19th-Century, the fabric of the building had become badly weathered, with Charles Hiatt writing that “the surface rot of the very perishable Red Sandstone, of which the Cathedral was built, was positively unsightly”; it perpetually seemed to hover on the verge of collapse.[31]

Between 1818 and 1820, the architect Thomas Harrison restored the South Transept, adding Corner Turrets.[32] This part of the building served until 1881 as the Parish Church of Saint Oswald, and it was ecclesiastically separate.[21]


Chester Cathedral.
Photo: 19 July 2016.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The most extensive restoration was carried out by the Gothic Revival architect, George Gilbert Scott, who, between 1868 and 1876, “almost entirely re-cased” the Cathedral.[15][17]

The current building is acknowledged to be mainly the product of this Victorian restoration, commissioned by the Dean, John Saul Howson.[38]

In addition to extensive additions and alterations to the body of the Church, Scott remodelled the Tower, adding Turrets and Crenellations.[4] Scott chose Sandstone from the quarries at Runcorn for his restoration work.[39]

In addition to the restoration of the fabric of the building, Scott designed internal fittings, such as the Choir Screen, to replace those destroyed during The Civil War; the Roof had also been melted down to make Musket Balls.[20] He built the Fan Vault of the South Porch, renewed the Wooden Vault of the Choir, and added a great many decorative features to the interior.

PART SEVEN FOLLOWS.

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