THE EXTERIOR
Of the building as originally constructed, practically the whole, as far as the outline is concerned, may be said to remain as it was at the beginning of the twelfth century. The massive Norman nave, the slype or covered passage that is between the Deanery and the north-west wall of the cathedral, the two transepts with their turrets, the choir with its various chapels and aisles, the chapter-house, and the Abbot's cloister, are all parts of the original building, although later additions have partly concealed them.
In Mr Waller's "Notes and Sketches of Gloucester Cathedral"[1] a very interesting view is given of the cathedral stripped of every addition of a later date than the original structure, and by his permission it is here reproduced.
With reference to this sketch Mr Waller says:
"This sketch is given to shew what is left of the old Abbey Church of the twelfth century, and looking to the fact that it was not too reliable a structure to begin with, as regards foundation and settlements (not forgetting the "earthquake"), it certainly is wonderful what extraordinary liberties have been taken with the old fabric, and what really great risks have been incurred. Look at and consider this sketch with reference to the building as it now stands, and excepting in the aisles of the Choir, the north aisle of the Nave, and part of the Chapter-Room, where the original vaulting remains, it will be seen that it is a mere shell, the walls have been pulled about in the most reckless manner, and in all directions, and in the Choir they have actually been pared down and an outer casing has been entirely removed—large pieces have been cut out of the piers for the introduction of monuments (mediæval, not modern!), window heads have been removed to make way for the more recent works, and nearly the whole of the Cathedral has been covered with a sort of appliqué work of mullions and tracery, erected chiefly in the fourteenth century (see sketch on plate 4). The large central Tower (forty feet square on the leads) has been built on the old Norman walls; new walls, new vaulting, and new roofs have been erected on old foundations; and, strange to say, scarcely a settlement of any kind can be seen in any of the building operations which have been undertaken since 1200! It is not too much to say that a man of the present day who would even suggest such works as have been here successfully accomplished, would be most severely condemned; but in those days the Abbots had only themselves to please, there were no well-educated reporters and writers to discuss their doings in morning papers: they felt, therefore, quite at their ease, hoping for the best, and in this instance succeeding admirably, not only as regards their own wishes and intentions, but in leaving for posterity a splendid architectural history in stone."
"The plan of the building is cruciform, and consists of a Nave and Choir, with Aisles on the north and south sides of each; North and South Transepts, at the intersection of which with the Choir rises the Tower; and at intervals round the Choir Aisles are four small apsidal Chapels. At the east end is the Lady-Chapel, prior to the erection of which, a fifth Chapel, similar in form and dimensions to the other four, existed at the east end; as may be seen in the plan of the Crypt."
The whole building, according to Professor Willis, is full of peculiar fancies, which all appear to be characteristic of a school of masons who were extremely skilful, and glad of an opportunity of showing their skill. The mediæval masons, he thinks, were "perfectly practical and most ingenious men; they worked experimentally: if their buildings were strong enough, there they stood; if they were too strong, they also stood; but if they were too weak they gave way, and they put props and built the next stronger." That was their science—and very good practical science it was—but in many cases they imperilled their work, and gave trouble to future restorers.
The arrangement of the buildings differs in one very essential point from almost every other in the kingdom. The cloisters and the claustral buildings were, as a rule, on the south side of the church, for the sake of shelter, and also of sunshine. At Gloucester they are on the north side of the church, the reason being (according to Mr Fosbroke) that when Aldred laid the new foundations farther south, the cloisters found themselves on the north side.
Dallaway has said very truly that "Few churches in England exhibit so complete a school of Gothic in all its gradations from the time of the Conquest as the Cathedral of Gloucester." This is true with the exception that of "Decorated" architecture there are but few examples, and it is probable that very little new work was done in connection with this cathedral until the monastery became vastly enriched by Abbot Thokey's policy in causing the body of Edward II. to be brought from Berkeley Castle for interment in his abbey. It is said that the amount of offerings made at the tomb during the reign of Edward III. was enough to have entirely rebuilt the abbey. In consequence of this the Cathedral is full of some of the finest examples of the styles known as "Transition from Decorated to Perpendicular" (anticipative Perpendicular) and pure "Perpendicular"—a style which, in Professor Willis's opinion, originated at Gloucester. From every side there is something to interest the careful observer.
As a rule, visitors see it first from the south side, and the south-west general view is one of the best, equalled, but not surpassed, by that from the north-west. The north view from the Great Western Railway, with the school playing-fields in the foreground, makes a striking picture, but it is more sombre than the picture formed by the south front. Viewed from the north-west corner of the cloister-garth, the pile is seen perhaps at its best. From this point it is easy to study so much of the varied architecture of the whole, and with little effort to transport the mind back for a space of four hundred years. The eye first rests upon the turf of the garth, now tastefully laid out after many years of comparative neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are the exquisite windows of the Cloister—a cloister which no other can surpass. Above the Cloister will be seen on the eastern side the sober, impressive Norman work of the Chapter-House in which so much of our English history has been made. To the south of this is the Library, built close against the walls of the north transept, which tower above, and lead the eye upward to the great tower which, "in the middest of the church," crowns the whole.
Looking for a moment at the Norman windows in the north aisle, one sees how they have been altered in their details since they were built, though their bold outline remains the same. The windows in the clerestory tell the tale of a later time, probably that of Abbot Morwent.
The West Front.—Compared with many others of our cathedral fronts, this front may seem to be of less interest, but it has the great beauty of simplicity, which prevents it, when viewed in the foreground, from killing the rest of the picture. The buttresses of the great window are ingeniously pierced, so as not to cut off the light; and the parapets, also of pierced or open work, should be carefully noted.
Plain transoms cross the lights, whereas in the inside the tracery and cusping is elaborate. This will be noted also in the east window of the choir and elsewhere.
Of the western towers which formerly existed no traces now remain. The north-west tower, owing to badly-made foundations, collapsed in the latter half of the twelfth century between 1163-1179.
A south-west tower was begun in 1242 by Walter de St. John, Prior at the time, and subsequently Abbot for a few weeks, and it was finished by his successor, John de la Feld.
When Abbot Morwent altered the west end and front, the western towers disappeared altogether. This front was restored carefully, where necessary, in 1874.
The South Porch.—This portion of the building is the work of Morwent, who was Abbot from 1421-1437. The rich front of what Bonner called "Saracenic work," was formerly disfigured by an uninteresting dial with the motto Pereunt et imputantur. This was removed at the Restoration, when the canopies were restored, and niches filled with statues by Redfern. Over the doorway in the centre, stand St. Peter and St. Paul, and the four Evangelists. Below are King Osric and Abbot Serlo, the two founders of the Abbey Church. The four figures in the niches of the buttresses represent St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory. The windows of the porch have been formed by piercing the internal tracery. This has a very curious effect when viewed from the inside. From the outside the windows do not seem unusual.
The Porch was in such a very ruinous state, that it was scarcely possible to use any of the old stone on the outside. Within, the old work can be seen, and the bosses are worthy of attention. Over the porch is an unfinished parvise. The doors are very good specimens of fifteenth-century work.
The South Transept (or St. Andrew's Aisle), as far as the walls are concerned, is thought by some to have been built by Serlo, but there have been so many alterations in the exterior that it is difficult to say anything with certainty. Fosbroke, writing at the end of last century, noted that there was an inscription on the outside wall making mention of one William Pipard, who was sheriff of the county about sixty years after Serlo's time. The windows have been enlarged and much altered, and later tracery has been inserted.
In spite of the many alterations and some restoration, the south front of this transept contains much interesting Norman work, which has been re-used in a very clever way. The square flanking towers, with their later spires, the arcading over the head of the window, and the graceful curve in the battlement are all worthy of attention, and will serve to confuse visitors before they realise that the Norman architecture is concealed under a later casing, and that there is a great deal of old work re-used in the new.
There is a curious buttress, too, which goes across the west window of this transept to strengthen the south-west corner of the great tower. In fact, the south side of the church is the only side that, as builders say, has "settled" at all.
In 1867 a Roman tesselated pavement was discovered near the south front of this transept.
The Tower.—Of all the exterior beauties, the most striking is the beautiful and graceful tower. Placed where it is, almost in the centre of the long line of the nave, continued in the choir and Lady Chapel, at the point where the transept line intersects it, it is the chief feature of the massive pile. All else seems to be grouped with a view to the enhancing of the effect of the central position of the tower. The other members of the building seem merely to be steps, by means of which approach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most impressive feature of the outside. No matter from whence one looks at it, the charm is there. Seen from the gardens in the side streets close by when the pear-trees are in bloom, or in the full blaze of a hot summer day, or again later in the autumn when the leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still, in snow time, it is always full of beauty. On a bright hot day the pinnacles seem so far off in the haze as to suggest a dream of fairyland. On a wet day, after a shower, the tower has the appearance of being so close at hand that it almost seems to speak. Viewed by moonlight, the tower has an unearthly look, which cannot well be described. The tower is 225 feet high to the top of the pinnacles, and the effect of it is extremely fine. From the main cornice upwards, the whole of the stonework is open, and composed of what at a distance appears to be delicate tracery, and mullions, and crocketed pinnacles.
It is, in all probability, the third tower that has been built since Aldred's time. There are piers still remaining of the Norman tower erected by Serlo in the years that elapsed between 1089 and 1100; and, as we are told in the "Saxon Chronicle," that in 1122 a fire which originated in the upper part of the steeple burnt the whole monastery, it must be inferred that the superstructure was of wood. A hundred years later it is known that the great eastern tower was built with the help of Helias of Hereford. This tower was in great part taken down by the monk Tully, and rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in the time of Abbot Seabroke (1450-1457).
The Bells at Gloucester are peculiarly interesting from the fact of their age, and from the fact that they escaped the clutches of the despoilers at the time of the Dissolution. The truth of the matter seems to be that all the "Churche goods, money, juells, plate, vestments, ornaments, and bells" had been inventoried and handed over to the king's commissioners in Bishop Hooper's time. The commissioners returned to the Dean and Chapter "to and for the use and behouf of the seid Churche, one chalys being silver and whole gilte without a paten waying xi oz. and also one grete bell whereuppon the cloke strykithe, and eight other grete bells whereupon the chyme goethe hangynge in the towre there within the seid church save and surely to be kept untill the King's Majesty's pleasure shall be therein further knowen." This was dated May 27th, 1553, and as the king died within three months his pleasure in the matter was never "further knowen," and Gloucester rejoices still in its bells.
The chimes[2] play four tunes, which are changed every other day. The first tune was composed by Dr Jefferies in 1791; the second by Dr Hayes, who died 1777; the third by Dr Malchair, 1760-1770; and the fourth by Dr Stevens. The composers of the second and fourth tunes were both natives of Gloucester, and at one time choristers in the cathedral.
"The shape of the east end of the old Church, as will be seen by a reference to the ground plan and plan of the Crypt, is partly round and partly polygonal; round as regards the outer wall of the main building and the inside and outside of the small Chapels in the Crypt, but polygonal in the interior walls of the main building in the Crypt; whereas on the ground-floor the main building and the Chapels are all polygonal.[3] An examination of the remains of the Eastern Arches, as seen above the last Norman piers eastward of the Choir, shows the direction of the lines distinctly, following as they do the lines of the Crypt below, but with less heavy construction. The whole of the edifice, with the exception of the Lady Chapel and the Cloisters, remains, as regards general outline, as it stood in the early part of the twelfth century. (See illustration, p. 15.) The Nave with its large circular columns, the slype adjoining the Deanery (probably indicating the extent westwards of the Norman Towers prior to the erection of the present west end), the North and South Transepts, with their Turrets at the west and east angles, the Choir and its Aisles and Chapels, the Chapter-House and Abbot's Cloister, although more or less masked by later additions, are all parts of the original building."
The method of joining the Lady Chapel to the choir is best noticed from the outside. It is a piece of exceedingly clever and graceful construction, and there is the minimum of obstruction to the light passing through to the east window, and the maximum of support to the elliptical east window.
Another interesting feature in this part of the exterior is the construction of the two passages—chiefly of re-used Norman work—which make up the greater part of the so-called Whispering Gallery—i.e. the passage connecting the north and the south triforium of the choir.
One of the distinguishing features of the exterior of the building is the variety and arrangement of the battlements and pinnacles. Bishop Benson did his best to spoil the effect of those on the Lady Chapel by removing the upper part of the parapet and by substituting other pinnacles. These have been restored, but the east-end pinnacles do not seem quite in keeping with Gloucester. Viewing the Lady Chapel from the north side, the play of light through the windows on the south side has a very grand effect. Under the east end of the Lady Chapel is a passage which has given rise to much speculation in bygone times.
The Lady Chapel at the time of its erection was carried out to the farthest limit of the land possessed by the Abbey, shown on the plan at F.F. As the east wall of the chapel was actually on the western boundary wall the passage was made to give access from the north to the south of the grounds, without the need of going right round the precincts by the west front.
Modern improvements have increased the facilities for studying and admiring the building. In 1847-8 the garden was laid out, and from it the outside can easily be carefully examined.
