The Twenty-Six Mediæval Cathedrals Of England (Part Ten).

“The Lantern” viewed from “The Octagon”,

Ely Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, England.

Photo: 29 July 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution: Photo by DAVID ILIFF.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

By contrast with their tendency towards extreme length, the Vaults of English Cathedrals are low compared with many of those found in other Countries. The highest Mediæval Stone Vault in England is at Westminster Abbey at 102 feet (31 metres),[5] that at York Minster being of the same height but, despite its appearance, not actually of Stone, but Wood. 

The majority of English Cathedrals have Vaults ranging in height up to 26 Metres (85 feet).[2] These contrast with Cathedrals such as Beauvais, Amiens, and Cologne, with internal heights of over 42 Metres (138 feet).[6]

An important feature of English Cathedrals, uncommon elsewhere except in Normandy, is the large and often elaborate square Central Tower over the Crossing.[5] 

Gloucester Cathedral.

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The largest of these Towers range from 55 Metres (180 ft) at Wells to 83 Metres (271 ft) at Lincoln.[2] The Central Tower may exist as a single feature, as at Salisbury, Gloucester, Worcester, Norwich, and Chichester, or in combination with paired Towers at The West Front, as at York, Lincoln, Canterbury, Durham, and Wells. 

Among the Cathedrals that have three Towers, the Central Tower is usually the tallest. At Southwell, the two Western Towers are capped by pyramidal Spires sheathed in Lead.

Tall Gothic Central Spires remain at Salisbury and Norwich, that at Chichester having been rebuilt in the 19th-Century after its collapse. The Spire of Salisbury at 404 feet (123 metres) is the tallest in Britain. It is also the tallest 14th-Century Spire, the tallest Ashlar masonry Spire (in contrast to the open-work Spires of Germany and France), and the  tallest Spire in the World that remains from the Mediæval period that has not been entirely rebuilt.

The Fan-Vaulted Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral, which was a Benedictine Abbey from 1022 to 1539.

Photo: 26 May 2007.

Source: Own work.

Author: William Avery

(Wikimedia Commons)

However, it was greatly surpassed in height by the Spires of Lincoln and Old Saint Paul’s. At Lincoln, between the Early-14th-Century and 1548, the Central Tower was surmounted by the tallest Spire in the World at about 170 metres (557 ft), but this fell in a storm. Lichfield Cathedral, uniquely in England, has three Mediæval masonry Spires.

Although single Western Towers are common in English Parish Churches, only one Mediæval Cathedral, Ely Cathedral, retains a centrally-placed Western Tower, and, in that case, it was framed by two lower lateral Towers, one of which has since fallen down.[a] 

Ely, alone among England’s Cathedrals, has a central feature over the Crossing that somewhat resembles the polygonal Vaulted Lantern Towers of Spain. This elaborate Lantern-like structure, known as “The Octagon”, spans both the Nave and the Aisles, and is thus said to have inspired Christopher Wren’s design for the Dome of Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Its upper parts are supported by hidden wooden Hammer-Beams, an architectural device unique to English Gothic architecture.[4]

PART ELEVEN FOLLOWS.