The Choir, Decorated, is very fine:
“We approach the choir, entered by a door in the beautiful screen supporting the organ. This was the old rood-screen, on which formerly stood the rood, or figure of our Lord on the Cross. It was erected in the Fourteenth Century.
“The bosses of the vaulted roof are worthy of especial examination, so remarkable are they for the delicacy of the carved foliage. The choir has been carefully restored in recent years, and the stalls, pulpit and reredos are modern and were designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. Notice the old misereres, which are very remarkable and probably the oldest and most curious in England. The foliage denotes the Early English period and they were probably designed by Bishop Bruere (1224-1244). Notice the mermaid and merman on the south side, the elephant, knight slaying a leopard, a minstrel, etc. The lofty bishop’s throne was erected by Stapledon, and is said to have been taken down and hidden away during the Civil War period. The painted figures represent the four great bishops—Warelwast, Quivil, Stapledon and Grandisson. The sedilia by Stapledon are very fine. Notice the carved lions’ heads and the heads of Leofric, Edward the Confessor and his wife Editha. The east window is Early Perpendicular, inserted by Bishop Brantingham in 1390, and contains much old glass.”—(P. H. D.)
The miserere seats (Thirteenth Century) are curious and beautiful. They are probably the earliest in England.
“They are fifty in number and their subjects are of the usual character,—foliage, grotesques, animals (among which is an elephant) and knights in combat, whose heater shields, flat helmets and early armour are especially noticeable. Remark, on the south side of the choir a mermaid and a merman holding some circular instrument between them, the elephant mentioned above and a knight sitting in a boat drawn by a swan, an illustration of the romance of the Chevalier au Cygne. On the north side a knight attacking a leopard, a monster on whose back is a saddle with stirrups, a minstrel with tabor and pipe, a knight thrusting his sword into a grotesque bird and a mermaid holding a fish. The Early English character of the foliage, as well as its graceful arrangement, should be noticed throughout.”
“On the south side, the superb Bishop’s Throne towering almost to the roof. This was the gift of Bishop Bothe (1465-1478). It is said to have been taken down and hidden during Monmouth’s Rebellion.”—(R. J. K.)
“The Bishop’s Throne (A.D. 1316), intended for his Lordship with a chaplain on either side; ‘a magnificent sheaf of carved oak, put together without a single nail, and rising to a height of 57 feet. The lightness of its ascending stages almost rival the famous sheaf of fountains of the Nuremberg tabernacle. The cost of this vast and exquisitely carved canopy (about twelve guineas) is surprisingly small, even for those days. The carved work consists chiefly of foliage, with finials of great beauty, surmounting tabernacled niches, with a sadly untenanted look, however, for lack of their statuettes. The pinnacle corners are enriched with heads of oxen, sheep, dogs, pigs and monkeys.’ Next came what is perhaps the most exquisite work in stone in England, as the throne is unparalleled in woodwork—the SEDILIA; the seats of the priest to the east and to the west of him, those of the Gospeller and Epistoler. The sedilia have been preferred even to the shrine of Beverley and the Lady-Chapel of Ely. ‘The canopy of the seat nearest the altar,’ says Mr. Garland, ‘deserves particular attention. It is adorned with a wreath of vine leaves on each side, which meet at the point and there form a finial; and never did Greek sculptor of the best age trace a more exact portrait of the leaf of the vine, nor design a more graceful wreath, nor execute his design with a more masterly finish.’ It is regrettable that the carving of the sedilia is attributed to a Frenchman.”—(F. B.)
Of the high altar and reredos, perhaps the most magnificent in Europe, carved at the same period, not a fragment remains.
The two most important tombs in the choir are those of Bishop Lacey, who died in 1455, and Walter de Stapledon, who was murdered in London in 1326. Lacey has but a plain slab at which many miracles are said to have been done. Bishop Stapledon lies under a Perpendicular canopy, a fine figure holding a crozier with his left hand and a book with his right. Under the canopy is a figure of the Saviour, and at its side the small figure of a king crowned and wearing a scarlet robe, supposed to be Edward II. Bishop Stapledon’s body was removed from London to Exeter Cathedral by the Queen’s command and interred with great magnificence.
From the choir two chapels open. On the north, St. Andrew’s, very early Decorated, is exactly like the opposite one, St. James’s. Beneath the latter is the ancient Crypt. Both chapels have chambers above them.