Fig. 575.—St. Mungo’s Cathedral. Fragments in Chapter House.
It is most difficult, owing to the darkness of the place, to obtain accurate sketches, but the annexed diagram ([Fig. 577]) gives an idea of the shaft in the east wall of the south-west chapel and its cap, on which Mr. Honeyman lays stress as proving their transition character. The abacus is transitional in section, but the carving is undoubtedly first pointed. Mr. Honeyman thinks that the cap may have been left rough at first, and the carving executed in first pointed times.
Whether this shaft and cap and the vaulting of the south-west chapel are transitional, or of the early first pointed date of the lower part of the nave walls, there can be no doubt that Mr. Honeyman’s main contention is correct—viz., that part of the south-west chapel and the lower part of the walls of the nave were constructed before the rebuilding of the lower church and choir was carried out by Bishop Bondington about the middle of the thirteenth century.
Fig. 576.
St. Mungo’s Cathedral.
Detached Rib.