Wednesday 28 February 2024

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



Bristol Cathedral.
Photo: 22 August 2017.
Attribution: Gary Campbell-Hall
Licence: CC BY 2.0 DEED


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


The researches of John Harvey have uncovered the names of many English Mediæval architects, and, by tracing stylistic characteristics, it has sometimes proved possible to track their careers from one building to another.

Leading architects were highly paid - especially those employed in the King’s works - and they can often be identified from regular payments in Cathedral accounts.[20]

No architectural drawings survive for any English Cathedral earlier than 1525 (although an engineer’s design for a proposed new water supply at Canterbury Cathedral Priory exists in a 12th-Century Plan).



Bristol Cathedral.
Available on YouTube


Architectural details, such as window tracery designs, were not executed as scale drawings, but were incised full-size onto a large flat, gypsum, Tracing-Floor, examples of which survive at York Minster and Wells Cathedral.

Mediæval construction was seasonal, work on-site being undertaken only in the Spring and Summer, when the light was good and the weather more reliable.

Each Autumn, all exposed surfaces were covered and lagged against frost damage. The architects worked over Winter in the Tracing House (that of York Minster has both a fireplace and a privy) to prepare designs for the next season’s campaign.


“800 Years In Eight Minutes”.
Bristol Cathedral.
Available on YouTube


They translated the designs into sets of Planed Oak cross-sectional templates, which were given to the Stone-Cutters. Construction of Cathedrals and major Churches almost invariably started at the Eastern End, and then proceeded Westwards, with Towers erected last.

Mediæval Masons:

Robert the Mason, circa 1100, Saint Alban’s Abbey;
William of Sens☩ 1184, Canterbury Choir;
William the Englishman ☩ 1214, Canterbury Choir;
Elias of Dereham ☩ 1246, Salisbury;
Michael of Canterbury ☩ 1321, Canterbury;
Henry Wy circa 1324, Saint Alban’s Nave;
John de Ramsey ☩ 1349, Norwich; Ely;
William de Ramsey ☩ 1349, Norwich; Ely; Old Saint Paul’s Chapter House; Lichfield Presbytery;
William Hurley ☩ 1354, Ely Lantern;


Worcester Cathedral.
Available on YouTube


Richard of Farleigh ☩ 1364, Salisbury North-East Gate and Wall around the Close; Exeter;
Alan of Walsingham ☩ 1364, Ely Octagon;
John Clyve ☩ 1374, Worcester Nave, Tower, West Front;
Henry Yevele ☩ 1400, Canterbury Nave; Durham Neville Screen;
William Wynford ☩ 1405, Winchester Nave; Wells West Towers;
Thomas Mapilton ☩ 1438, Canterbury South-West Tower;
William Smyth ☩ 1490, Wells Crossing Tower Fan Vault;
William Orchard (architect) ☩ 1504, Oxford Vaults;
John Wastell ☩ 1515, Canterbury Tower; Peterborough Retro-Choir; Manchester.

PART TWENTY-FOUR FOLLOWS.

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