Exeter is distinguished among English cathedrals in not having a central tower. This gives the exterior a unique appearance and the interior gains by the absence of tower piers to block the view. Exeter has, therefore, the most open and impressive vista of any English cathedral. The screen being low, the whole design is immediately comprehended. It has been compared to the Cathedral of Bourges.
In our walks through Exeter it may be well to remember that Quivil’s architect determined to see what he could do with lowness and breadth.
“Everything should be broad and low, outside as well as inside. Look at the east end of the choir—its two arches broad and low; above it the great window—broad and low. Nowhere but at Exeter do you find these squat windows with their truncated jambs; here they are everywhere—in the aisles, in the clerestory, in choir, chapels, transepts and nave; even in the great window of the western front: broad and low windows everywhere. Still more original is the external realisation of the design; central tower and spire, western towers and spires, alike are absent. Long and low, massive and stable stretches out uninterruptedly the long horizontal line of nave and choir. Breadth gives in itself the satisfactory feeling of massiveness, steadfastness and solidity; and this is just what is wanting in the all-too aërial work of Salisbury and Beauvais; vaulted roofs at a dizzy height resting on unsubstantial supports and sheets of glass. But the Exeter architect has emphasised this satisfactory feeling of stability still further. The window tracery is heavy and strong; the vault is barred all over with massive ribs; in the piers there are no pretty, fragile, detached shafts; the massive clustered columns look as if they were designed, as they were, to carry the weight of a Norman wall.”—(F. B.)
The heaviness was counteracted by transparency: the arrangement of the windows flood the Cathedral with light; for the aisle and clerestory are almost a continuous sheet of glass.
“Another distinctive feature in Exeter as in Salisbury, is that the architect produces his effect mainly by architectural means—is not driven to rely on sculpture. All the principal capitals have mouldings not foliage. Only in the great corbels of the vaulting shafts and in the bosses of the vault does he permit himself foliage and sculpture. Wonderful carving it is; the finest work of the best period, when the naturalistic treatment of foliage was fresh and young. Very remarkable these corbels are, with their life-like treatment of vine and grape, oak and acorn, hazel leaf and nut. Unfortunately the corbels, and still more the bosses, are so high up that their lovely detail is thrown away; and they are out of scale.
“And the patterns of the window tracery are wonderfully diverse. It is not, as in Lichfield nave or King’s College Chapel, where every window is like its neighbour; when you have seen one, you have seen all. Here, all down each side of the church every window differs. In dimensions, in general character, they agree; in details they differ; each window is a fresh delight; we have, what even in Gothic architecture we rarely get—diversity within simplicity.”—(F. B.)
First we examine the splendid Nave.
“The first view of the NAVE is rich and striking. Its present length is 140 feet. The view looking east is intercepted by the organ, which is placed above the screen at the entrance to the choir; but the general impression, notwithstanding a want of height, is that of great richness and beauty. The roof especially, springing from slender vaulting shafts, studded with delicately carved and varied bosses, and extending unbroken to the east end of the choir, is exceeded in grace and lightness by no other of the same date in the kingdom and by few on the Continent. The carved bosses, all of which retain traces of colour, represent foliage, animals (near the centre of the nave is a sow with a litter of pigs), grotesque figures, heraldic shields, subjects from early ‘bestiaries’ and romances, such as the centaur with a sword, and the knight riding on a lion toward the eastern end, heads of the Virgin and Saviour, the Passion and Crucifixion, and in the centre of the second bay, the murder of Becket. Grandisson wrote a life of the great Archbishop, which remains in MS., but was very popular in its day. The episcopal figure on the adjoining boss may either represent Becket or Grandisson himself. Clustered pillars of Purbeck marble (contrasting well with the lighter stone from Silverton and Bere) of which the walls and roof are constructed, separate the nave from the aisles and divide it into seven compartments or ‘bays.’
“The corbels between the arches, which support the vaulting shafts of the roof, are, perhaps, peculiar to this cathedral, and should be especially noticed. They are wrought into figures, twisted branches and long sprays of foliage, and afford excellent examples of the very best period of naturalism. Every leaf is varied and the character of the different kinds (here for the most part oak and vine) is admirably retained. The second corbel on the south side of the nave exhibits the Virgin treading on an evil spirit, and carrying the Divine Infant. Above is her coronation. The easternmost nave-corbels display on the north side Moses with his hands supported by Aaron and Hur; and on the south the risen Saviour, with cross and banner. The brackets at the foot of these corbels are crowned heads; and possibly represent Edward I. and Edward II., the first beardless as usual, the other more defaced. The second corbel on the north side represents St. Cecilia, with a somewhat grotesque angel listening to her music.