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Chester Cathedral.
Cathedral Church of Christ and The Blessed Virgin Mary,
Chester, England.
The Cathedral, seen from the South-East, looking towards the Choir, right, with the Lady Chapel projecting, extreme right, and the South Transept, left. The Lady Chapel is in the Early-English
(or Lancet) Gothic Style, marked by the simple windows. The Choir is in the Late-Geometric Decorated Gothic Style. The South Transept has Flowing Decorated Windows in the Aisle,
and Perpendicular Gothic Windows in the Clerestory. The friable Red Sandstone building
was heavily restored in the 19th-Century.
Photo: May 2012.
Source: Family Album.
Author: Stephen Hamilton.
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: Chester Cathedral's Nave
and North Aisle.
Deutsch: Chester, England.
Kathedrale: Mittelschiff (14./15.Jhdt.)
mit nördlichem Seitenschiff.
Photo: 13 July 2011.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Author: Wolfgang Sauber.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Chester suffered badly at the hands of the Parliamentary troops during the English Civil War. As a consequence, its Stained-Glass dates mainly from the 19th- and 20th-Centuries, and has representative examples of the significant trends in Stained-Glass design from the 1850s, onwards. Of the earlier, Victorian firms, William Wailes is the best represented, in the South Aisle (1862), as well as Hardman and Co., and Michael Connor.
Glass, from the High-Victorian period, is well represented by two leading London firms, Clayton and Bell and Heaton, Butler and Bayne. The Aesthetic Style is represented by Charles Eamer Kempe. Early-20th-Century windows include several commemorating those who died in World War I.
There are also several notable modern windows, the most recent being the Refectory Window of 2001 by Ros Grimshaw, which depicts The Creation. The Eight-Light Perpendicular Window, of the West End, contains Mid-20th-Century glass, representing The Holy Family and Saints, by W. T. Carter Shapland.
Three modern windows in the South Aisle, designed and made by Alan Younger, were installed to replace windows damaged in the Second World War. They were donated by the 6th Duke of Westminster to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Cathedral, and contain the dates 1092 and 1992 to reflect the theme of "continuity and change".
English: Chester Cathedral's Nave.
Deutsch: Chester, England.
Kathedrale: Mittelschiff (14./15.Jhdt).
Photo: 13 July 2011.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Author: Wolfgang Sauber.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The stone Nave Pulpit was designed by the restorer, R. C. Hussey, and the Lectern, dated 1876, is by Skidmore. The mosaic floor of the Tower Bay was designed by Dean Howson and executed by Burke and Co. The same firm installed the mosaics which decorate the wall of the North Aisle, depicting the Patriarchs and Prophets, Abraham, Moses, David and Elijah. They were designed by J. R. Clayton, of Clayton and Bell, and date from 1883 to 1886.
Monuments in the Nave include those to Roger Barnston, dated 1838, by John Blayney, to Bishop Stratford, dated 1708, to Bishop Hall, who died in 1668, to Edmund Entwistle, dated 1712, to John and Thomas Wainwright, who died, respectively, in 1686 and 1720, to Robert Bickerstaff, who died in 1841, by Blayney, to Dean Smith, who died in 1787, by Thomas Banks, and to Sir William Mainwaring, dated 1671.
The most famous feature of the Choir is the set of Choir Stalls, dating from about 1380, and described, above. The Lectern, in the form of a wooden eagle, symbol of Saint John the Evangelist, dates from the first half of the 17th-Century. The Candlesticks also date from the 17th-Century and are by Censore of Bologna, Italy, who died in 1662.
English: Chester Cathedral's Rood Screen.
Deutsch: Chester, England.
Kathedrale: Lettner.
Photo: 13 July 2011.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Author: Wolfgang Sauber.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Choir is entered through a Screen designed by George Gilbert Scott, with Gates made by Skidmore. The Rood was designed by Scott, and was made by F. Stuflesser. The Bishop’s Throne, or “Cathedra”, was designed by Scott to complement the Choir Stalls. It was constructed by Farmer and Brindley, in 1876. The Reredos and the floor mosaic date from 1876, and were designed by J. R. Clayton. The East Window has Tracery of an elegant Decorated Gothic design, which is filled with Stained-Glass of 1884, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
The 13th-Century Lady Chapel contains the stone Shrine of Saint Werburgh, which dates from the 14th-Century, and which used to contain her Relics. The Shrine, of similar red sandstone as the Cathedral, has a base pierced with deep Niches. The upper part takes the form of a miniature Chapel containing Statuettes. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it was dismantled. Some of the parts were found during the 1873 Restoration of the Cathedral and the Shrine was re-assembled in 1888 by Blomfield.
A carving of Saint Werburgh, by Joseph Pyrz, was added in 1993. Also in the Chapel, are a Sedilia and a Piscina. The Stained-Glass, of 1859, is by William Wailes. The Chapel contains a Monument to Archdeacon Francis Wrangham, made by Hardman and Co., and dating from 1846.
Early-16th-Century Double Piscina
in the South Wall of the O'Donellan Side Chapel,
Kilconnell Friary,
County Galway, Ireland.
Photo: 16 September 2009.
Source:Own work.
Author: Andreas F. Borchert.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Chapel contains a Piscina, dating from the 14th-Century, and Monuments to Bishop Graham, dated 1867, and to William Bispham, who died in 1685. Other Monuments in the North Aisle include a Tablet to Bishop Jacobson, dated 1887, by Boehm, to a design by Blomfield.
The small Norman Transept has Clerestory Windows, containing Stained-Glass by William Wailes, installed in 1853. The Sacristy, of 1200, has an East Window, depicting Saint Anselm, and designed by A. K. Nicholson. In the North Transept, is a free-standing Tomb-Chest Monument to Bishop Pearson, who died in 1686, designed by Arthur Blomfield and carved by Nicholas Earp, with a recumbent effigy by Matthew Noble.
Other Monuments in the Transept include one to Samuel Peploe, dating from about 1784, by Joseph Nollekens. The Wall Monuments include Cenotaphs to Members of the Cheshire (Earl of Chester's) Yeomanry, killed in the Boer War, and in the First and Second World Wars. At the corner of the Transept with the North Aisle, is a 17th-Century Tree of Jesse, carved in whale ivory. A Niche contains a rare example of a "cobweb picture", painted on the web of a caterpillar. Originating in the Austrian Tyrol, it depicts Mary and the Christ-Child, and is based on a painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1565).
Photo: 30 September 2012.
Author: Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1526 – 1569.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Chapter House has Stained-Glass in its East Window, by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, and Grisaille Windows in the North and South Walls, dated 1882–1883, by Blomfield. It contains an oak Cope Cupboard, from the Late-13th-Century. The front of the Chapter House was rebuilt to a design by Hussey.
The South Aisle was shortened in 1870 by Scott, and given an Apsidal East End, becoming the Chapel of Saint Erasmus. The Stained-Glass in the Apse Window is dated 1872 and is by Clayton and Bell. Below this, is a mosaic designed by J. R. Clayton and made by Salviati, and a fresco painting by Clayton and Bell, dated 1874.
Elsewhere, the Stained-Glass in the Aisle is by Wailes, and by Hardman & Co., to a design by Pugin. The Aisle contains the tomb of Ranulf Higdon, a Monk at Saint Werburgh's Abbey in the 12th-Century, who wrote a major work of history, entitled Polychronicon; a Monument to Thomas Brassey (a Civil Engineering contractor who died in 1870), designed by Blomfield and made by Wagmuller; a Monument to Bishop Peploe, who died in 1752, and three painted Monuments by a member of the Randle Holme family.
English: Chester Cathedral Lectern.
Deutsch: Chester, England. Kathedrale: Lesepult.
Photo: 13 July 2011.
Source: Wikimedia Commons.
Author: Wolfgang Sauber.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Other Stained-Glass in the Transept is by Clayton and Bell, by C. E. Kempe and by Powell. The Monuments include those to: George Ogden, who died in 1781, by Hayward; Anne Matthews, who died in 1793, by Thomas Banks; John Philips Buchanan, who died at Waterloo in 1815; and the 1st Duke of Westminster, designed by C. J. Blomfield.
On the wall of the South-West Crossing Pier, are Monuments which include a Cenotaph to the casualties in HMS Chester, in the Battle of Jutland in 1916, who included the 16-year-old John Cornwell VC. The West Wall of the South Transept has many Memorials, including Cenotaphs to The Cheshire Regiment, The Royal Air Force and The Free Czech Forces.
The Cloisters were restored in the 20th-Century, and the Stained-Glass Windows contain the images of some 130 Saints. The Cloister Garth contains a modern sculpture, entitled "The Water of Life", by Stephen Broadbent. The Refectory Roof is dated 1939 and was designed by F. H. Crossley. The East Window, with reticulated Tracery, was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and is dated 1913.
The Bishop's "Cathedra" (Chair),
Chester Cathedral.
Date: 25 March 2008
(original upload date).
(Original Text : 17th March 2008).
Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia.
Author: Original uploader was Joopercoopers
at en.wikipedia.
(Original Text : Joopercoopers.
(Wikimedia Commons)
A Library has been present since the time of Saint Werburgh's Abbey, and, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it became the Cathedral Library. It continued to grow over the Centuries, but, by the 19th-Century, it had become neglected. Between 1867 and 1885, it was enlarged and, in the 1890s, new book-cases were added. A further reorganisation took place in the 1920s, but, by the 1980s, the contents were contained in five separate sites around the Cathedral. A programme of repair and re-cataloguing of the contents was instituted. During recent years, more work was carried out and the refurbished Library, housed in three rooms, opened in 2007. The Library is available for research and for organised visits by groups.
The Choral tradition at Chester is 900-years-old, dating from the foundation of the Benedictine Monastery. In 1741, Handel heard the first recital of his Messiah at Chester. There are usually eight Choral Services in the Cathedral each week. Chester has a Cathedral Choir of male Lay Clerks, Choral Scholars, and boy and girl Choristers. They rehearse in the Song School, built on the site of the former Monks' Dormitory. In addition to singing at Services, the Choir perform in concerts, tour abroad, and make recordings on CDs. There is no Choir School at Chester, so the Choristers come from local schools. There is also a Mixed Choir of adults, the Nave Choir, which sings Compline on Sunday evenings and in other services. This Choir also takes part in concerts, and undertakes tours. Having been founded during the 1860s, it is the longest-running voluntary Cathedral Choir in Britain.
Burials at Chester Cathedral include: George Clarke of Hyde, former Colonial Governor of New York, America, between 1736 to 1743; Frederick Phillips, a wealthy landowner from New York, America, who was loyal to the British Colonial Government and who was forced to quit his estates.
THIS COMPLETES THE ARTICLE ON CHESTER CATHEDRAL.
