Perpendicular tracery was inserted in some of the windows in the Fifteenth Century, when the Cathedral was at the height of its beauty.
The present West Front is a restoration of the beautiful work of the Middle Ages.
In 1820 the west front was completely covered with cement which concealed all its beauty until 1877, when the authorities began to remove it. Only five of the original statues remained and it was decided to fill all the 113 niches. Tradition said the long row of figures over the doors represented the Saxon and English kings with St. Chad in the centre; but the others were unknown. They are now as follows:
“The two rows on the northern tower to the north of the great west window: higher row, St. Editha, David, St. Helena, Solomon, St. Gabriel, Zechariah, Nahum, Amos, Jeremiah; lower row, Dean Bickersteth, St. Mark, Queen Victoria, St. Luke, St. Uriel, Malachi, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Daniel (Jeremiah just above Daniel by the window).
“The two rows on the southern tower to the south of the great west window: higher row, Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, Zephaniah, St. Michael, Bishop Hacket, Bishop Lonsdale, Bishop Selwyn; lower row, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah, Haggai, St. Raphael, Bishop Clinton, Bishop Patteshall, Bishop Langton.
“Next is the long row of kings with St. Chad in the centre, stretching right across the cathedral: William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., John, Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., St. Chad, Penda, Wilphere, Ethelred, Offa, Egbert, Ethelwolf, Ethelbert, Ethelred, Alfred, Edgar, Canute, Edward the Confessor.
“Lowest row, broken three times by the doors: St. Cyprian, St. Bartholomew, St. Simon, St. James the Less, St. Thomas (northern door), St. Philip, St. Andrew (central door), St. Paul, St. Matthew (southern door), St. James the Greater, St. Jude, St. Stephen, St. Clement, St. Werburga.”
The Duke of York (James II.) gave the money for the tracery of the large West Window after the original had been destroyed during the Civil Wars. This was removed in 1869, for another more in sympathy with the style of the Fourteenth Century.
The West Door is one of the most beautiful in England, taking rank with the Prior’s Door of Lincoln Cathedral. The porch is recessed and the outer arch, cusped. Within, a central support rises to form two arches. The whole is richly carved. Above the central pillar is a bas-relief representing Christ in Glory, with angels by his side. On the central column stands a figure of the Virgin and Child, and on either side of the door beneath canopies are Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist (north), and Mary, wife of Cleophas, and St. Peter (south).
What the original statues were is not known. Most of the ironwork on the doors is supposed to be original.