Exeter: South-west
pillar is a series of carvings taken probably from one of the many books of fables so popular in the Middle Ages. These were reproduced from the originals, which are preserved in the cloisters.”—(G. W.)
The vaulted roof is re-painted in accordance with the original.
The Cloisters are on the south-west side of the Cathedral, their western wall being on a line with the west front. These fine covered walks, the largest in England (181 feet long), surround a great sward (140 feet square), where a group of dark cedars contrasts beautifully with the grey walls. The style is late Thirteenth Century. The windows formed of double arches with quatrefoils united at the main head with a large six-foiled circle are much admired.
EXETER
Dedication: St. Peter. A Church served by Secular Canons.
Special features: Screen on west front; Misereres; Bishop’s Throne; Minstrels’ Gallery; Lady-Chapel; East Window.
“As the last cathedral church we visited, namely Salisbury, may be taken as the most complete example of Early English work, so Exeter in its present state is the best specimen of the Decorated style that is to be met with in England. For though, unlike Salisbury, it was not built afresh from the ground, yet under Bishops Quivil, Bitton, Stapledon and Grandisson, between the years 1280 and 1369, the fabric was so entirely remodelled that it may be regarded as practically a new building; and since the work of remodelling began about the time that the Early English style was passing into the Decorated, and was completed before the time when the Perpendicular had superseded the Decorated, it naturally is characterised by the features of that style which flourished during the first half of the Fourteenth Century. Much indeed of the work found at Exeter is the very finest that the Fourteenth Century produced.”—(T. P.)