The tracery of the large north window was inserted in 1704.
The South Transept contains the tomb of Bishop Butler, more famed as the author of the Analogy of Religion than as Bishop of Bristol (1738-1750). The epitaph is by Southey.
The Cloisters, on the south side of the cathedral, are entered from the south transept. From them the Chapter-House is entered.
The entrance, or vestibule, of the Chapter-House shows a very early example of what may be called a pointed arch. The mouldings and members are quite of the circular style and character. From north to south the arches are round-headed, but east and west they are pointed. This Transitional Norman work—dating from Fitzhardinge’s time—is of special interest.
“The chapter-house is one of the oldest parts of the earlier fabric of the cathedral, and as Britton truly says, ‘in its original state must have been one of the most interesting of the kind in the kingdom and perhaps in Europe.’ In spite of what it has undergone at the hands of architects, restorers and rioters, it is most interesting still, a regular parallelogram in shape, measuring 42 feet in length by 25 in breadth and 25 feet in height, divided into two bays.
“The eastern wall, which dates from 1831, has three windows, and the west wall has also three round-headed arches, the central one being the main door, while the side ones serve as windows, each being subdivided by a small pier. Each of these main openings has a label of cable-moulding. Above this cable-moulding is an arcade of interlacing arches, borne by thirteen tall piers, alternately plain and twisted; and above this is a semicircular space, also filled with rounded-headed intersecting arches, so arranged as to fill the semicircular space. The north and south walls have a plain round-headed arcading below, with a bold round moulding, while above is an elaborate arcading, similar to the lower tier on the west wall, but with much richer capitals. Above this is interlaced lattice-work, and above this in one bay a space covered with zigzag mouldings. The shafts of the arcading on the walls are alternately richly carved or almost plain. The clustered shafts, from which the main arch of the vaulting springs, are peculiarly rich in ornamentation.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)
In the Chapter-House there is preserved a fine piece of archaic sculpture, which was found under the floor in 1831 after the destructive fire of that date, in use as a slab covering an ancient coffin. It represents the descent of the Saviour into Hell and the delivery of Adam, and is probably of the same date as the slabs in Chichester.
The famous Great Gateway, the arcading of which is much in the style of the Chapter-House, is supposed to stand on the site of the principal entrance to Fitzhardinge’s monastery. Though Norman in style and probably containing a lot of Norman masonry, critics believe that it is a Perpendicular restoration of the old work.
This archway is composed of four recessed orders enriched with chevron and other mouldings and ornaments. This must not be confused with the less elaborate Gateway in Lower College Green, probably of Fitzhardinge’s time and strengthened by Abbot Newland. The latter was the gateway to the abbot’s dwelling and afterwards to the Bishop’s Palace.