“Not only is there built into a mediæval cathedral the accumulated thought of all the men who had occupied themselves with building during the preceding centuries, but you have the dream and aspiration of the bishop, abbot, or clergy for whom it was designed; the master mason’s skilled construction; the work of the carver, the painter, the glazier, the host of men who, each in his own craft, knew all that had been done before them, and had spent their lives in struggling to surpass the works of their forefathers. It is more than this: there is not one shaft, one moulding, one carving, not one chisel-mark in such a building, that was not designed specially for the place where it is found, and which was not the best that the experience of the age could invent for the purpose to which it is applied; nothing was borrowed; and nothing that was designed for one purpose was used for another. A thought or a motive peeps out through every joint; you may wander in such a building for weeks or for months together, and never know it all.”—(Fergusson.)
Most English cathedrals are built in the form of a Latin cross, the arms of which are called the transepts. Over their point of intersection the central tower is usually erected. The part of the church running westward from this point to the entrance door is the nave and that running eastward to the high altar is the choir.
Behind, or east of the choir, is situated the Lady-Chapel, or Chapel of the Virgin, which sometimes contained additional altars to other saints. Along the aisles we frequently find side chapels, containing tombs and chantries of dignitaries, local saints and benefactors.
The nave usually consists of the main arcade; the triforium (which opens into a passage or gallery); and the clerestory.
The triforium is the arcaded story between the lower range of piers and arches and the clerestory. The name is supposed to be derived from tres and fores—three doors or openings, for such is often the number of arches in each bay. Professor Willis, however, believed that the word is traced to a monkish Latin word for thoroughfare.
Clerestory, or clearstory, is the upper story of the nave of the church above the aisles and pierced with windows. The windows of the clerestories of Norman work are less important than in the later styles. They become larger in the Early English period and more important in the Decorated, always lengthening as the triforium diminishes.
Sometimes the choir occupies two bays of the nave, but usually begins with the screen placed on the east side of the central tower. In olden days this was the rood-screen, so called because a large crucifix, or rood, stood on it. All roods were destroyed during the Reformation. At the present time the organ is frequently placed here; and there is diversity of opinion about the artistic propriety of its position.
Entering the choir we see the high altar often with a reredos (French l’arrière dos, i.e., embroidered hangings). Along the sides of the choir are the seats, or stalls, usually of carved oak, surmounted with tracery, arches and pinnacles. Among these is the bishop’s seat, or throne. Frequently the stalls exhibit beautiful tabernacle-work and the misereres (miséricorde), which turn up and afford support to a person in a position between sitting and standing, are generally carved with grotesque and quaint figures and caricatures. Vestries for the use of priests and choristers are often situated near the choir.
At the back of the choir (the retro-choir) was placed the chief shrine, where relics of the great saint of the cathedral were kept and to which the streams of pilgrims passed. In many churches the steps and pavements are worn away. Near the shrine was a watching-chamber, where a monk guarded the shrine and its treasures.
Further east the Lady-Chapel was situated, though in a few cases it is found on the north side, e. g. Bristol and Ely.