Wells Cathedral (Part Seven).

The Great West Front,

Wells Cathedral.

Photo: 30 April 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.

His Brass Lectern, given in thanksgiving, can be seen in the Cathedral. He donated the Nave’s Great West Window at a cost of £140 [Editor: £20,000 in 2024 money].

During Bathurst’s long tenure, the Cathedral was restored, but, in the Monmouth Rebellion of 1685, Puritan soldiers damaged The Great West Front, tore Lead from the Roof to make bullets, broke the Windows, smashed the Organ and Furnishings, and for a time stabled their horses in the Nave.[57]

Restoration began again under Thomas Ken, who was appointed by The Crown in 1685 and served until 1691. He was one of seven Bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II’s “Declaration of Indulgence”, which would have enabled Catholics to resume positions of political power, but popular support led to their acquittal.

Decorated Vault, Wells Cathedral.

Source: Own work.

Author: Josep Renalias

This File: 7 February 2008.

User: Lohen11

(Wikimedia Commons)

Ken refused to take the Oath of Allegiance to William III and Mary II, because James II had not abdicated and with others, known as the Nonjurors, was put out of Office.[58]

His successor, Richard Kidder, was killed in the Great Storm of 1703, when two Chimney Stacks on the Palace fell on him and his wife, while they were asleep in bed.[59][60]

By the middle of the 19th-Century, a major restoration programme was needed. Under Dean Goodenough, the monuments were moved to the Cloisters and the remaining Mediæval paint and whitewash removed in an operation known as “the great scrape”.[61]

Handel’ s “Largo”.

Played on Wells Cathedral’s Organ.

Available on YouTube

HERE

PART EIGHT FOLLOWS.