The next monument in the north transept is the effigy of Bishop Thomas Charlton, treasurer of England, 1329. This[pg 047] effigy and its richly decorated alcove or canopy was most luckily not touched by Wyatt.
Here are stained-glass windows to Captain Arkwright, lost in an avalanche; Captain Kempson, and Rev. S. Clark, Headmaster of Battersea College.
In a line with the central pier of the eastern aisle is the most important monument in the north transept, viz.:—the pedestal of the celebrated shrine of St. Thomas de Cantilupe, 1282, who died at Civita Vecchia, near Florence, on his way to Rome, August 25th, 1282. His heart was sent to Ashridge in Buckinghamshire, part of the body was buried near Orvieto; and the bones were brought to Hereford and deposited in the Lady Chapel.
The pedestal is in shape a long parallelogram, narrower at the lower end. It is of Purbeck marble, and consists of two stages, the lower having a series of cinquefoiled niches and fourteen figures of Templars in chain armour in different attitudes, for Bishop Cantilupe was Provincial Grand Master of the Knights Templars in England.
All the figures are seated with various monsters under their feet. The filling of the spandrels between these niches and that of the spandrels between the arches of the upper stage is especially noteworthy. It belongs to the first Decorated period, and while the arrangement is still somewhat stiff or formal, the forms are evidently directly copied from nature.
The slab inside the open arcade, which forms the upper stage, still bears the matrix of the brass of an episcopal figure having traces of the arms of the See (i.e., the arms of Cantilupe).
By the dedication of the north transept especially to Bishop Cantilupe was avoided the secondary part which his shrine must have played if it had been placed in the usual post of honour at the back of the high altar. The shrine of St. Ethelbert was probably already there, and wisely enough a distinguished position was specially created by rebuilding the north transept for the purpose. There is a similar state of affairs at Oxford Cathedral with the shrine of St. Frideswide, and in the south transept of Chichester Cathedral with that of St. Richard de la Wych.
We note also a brass to Dean Frowcester, 1529; and another to Richard Delamare and his wife Isabella (1435).
Near the Cantilupe shrine is a bust of Bishop Field (died[pg 048] 1636), and on the floor is an effigy of John D'Acquablanca, a Dean of Hereford (died 1320), and nephew of Bishop D'Acquablanca, whose beautiful monument is close to it, between the north choir-aisle and the eastern aisle of the transept. Beholding the exquisite grace of this tomb we are reminded of the more elaborate and equally beautiful chantry of the same period (1262) in the south choir transept of Salisbury to Bishop Giles de Bridport.
Over the effigy, which is a most interesting example of minute ecclesiastical costume, delicate shafts of Purbeck marble support a gabled canopy, each gable of which is surmounted by a finial in the form of a floriated cross.