“were busy ones at Lincoln. Contemporary records enable us to picture him encouraging the workmen by his presence and example, even shewing his zeal by carrying the stones on his own shoulders. He did not live to see his work completed, as Remigius had done. But he had set the example and given the pattern, and the work was continued by his successors until the building was again entire. Hugh had already finished the apse, the eastern transept, the choir, and part of the western transept (i.e., the whole eastern portion of the church) when he fell ill. Finding
Lincoln: West front
Lincoln: Great West Door
his death approaching, he sent for his architect Geoffrey de Noyers, and enjoined him to hasten the completion of the altar of St. John the Baptist, his patron. He then gave directions for his funeral, and instructions that he was to be buried in the mother-church of his diocese dedicated to the Mother of God, near the altar of St. John the Baptist. The personality of the great bishop comes vividly before us when we read that he also wished his tomb to be placed near the wall, in a convenient place, lest it should be a stumbling-block to those approaching. On the 16th of November, 1200, Hugh breathed his last, lying, as he had wished, on the bare ground, on a cross of consecrated ashes. His instructions regarding the funeral were carried out; but such a light as Hugh’s could not be hid, and within a century we find his remains enclosed in a costly golden shrine, borne on the shoulders of kings and bishops, and placed at last in a structure erected specially for their reception, ‘one of the loveliest of human works,’ the celebrated Angel Choir. The original place of Hugh’s burial has been somewhat disputed. The Magna Vita tells us that he was buried near the altar he had named, a boreali ipsius aedis regione. On the east side of the eastern transept, Hugh had placed four apsidal chapels, two north and two south of the central apse. From the words above quoted, it has been considered that the northern-most of these chapels was the site of his tomb.”—(A. F. K.)
The western transept and the nave were next finished (Thirteenth Century), and a central tower was built to replace the one that fell in 1237-1239. To this period belongs Bishop Hugh de Wells, brother of Jocelin ([see page 108]), who contributed largely to the funds for building and roofing.