Exeter Cathedral (Cathedral Church Of Saint Peter). The Longest Uninterrupted Mediæval Vaulted Ceiling In The World. (Part Two).

Vaulted Ceiling of Exeter Cathedral.

Photo: 10 January 2017.

Source: Own work.

Author: DeFacto

(Wikimedia Commons)

Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,

unless stated otherwise.

It was constructed entirely of local Stone, including Purbeck Marble. The new Cathedral was complete by about 1400, apart from the addition of the Chapter House and Chantry Chapels.

Like most English Cathedrals, Exeter suffered during The Dissolution of The Monasteries, but not as much as it would have done had it been a Monastic Foundation.

Further damage was done during The Civil War, when the Cloisters were destroyed. Following the restoration of King Charles II, a new Pipe Organ was built in the Cathedral by John Loosemore.

The Quire (Choir) of Exeter Cathedral.

Photo: 30 April 2014.

Source: Own work.

Attribution: "Photo by David Iliff.

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0"

Author: Diliff

(Wikimedia Commons)

Charles II’s sister, Henrietta Anne of England, was Baptised here in 1644. In 1650, an independent Church was meeting in the Cathedral and this small Church caused upset when the Minister “excommunicated” Susanna Parr.[4]

During the Victorian era, some refurbishment was carried out by George Gilbert Scott. As a boy, the composer Matthew Locke was trained in the Choir of Exeter Cathedral, under Edward Gibbons, the brother of Orlando Gibbons. His name can be found scribed into the Stone Organ Screen.

During The Second World War, Exeter was one of the targets of a German air offensive against British Cities of cultural and historical importance, which became known as the “Baedeker Blitz”.

The Great East Window, 

Exeter Cathedral.

Photo: 10 January 2017.

Source: Own work.

Author: DeFacto

(Wikimedia Commons)

On 4 May 1942, an early-morning air raid took place over Exeter. The Cathedral sustained a direct hit by a large high-explosive bomb on the Chapel of Saint James, completely demolishing it.

The Muniment Room, above, three Bays of the Aisle, and two Flying Buttresses, were also destroyed in the blast. The Mediæval Wooden Screen, opposite the Chapel, was smashed into many pieces by the blast, but it has been reconstructed and restored.[5]

Many of the Cathedral’s most important artefacts, such as the ancient glass (including The Great East Window), the Misericords, the Bishop’s Throne, The Exeter Book, the ancient Charters (of King Athelstan and Edward the Confessor), and other precious documents from the Library, had been removed in anticipation of such an attack.

PART THREE FOLLOWS.