How to Visit the English Cathedrals

by Esther Singleton

“The whole of this, the loveliest choir in England, is lit by a mighty wall of jewelled glass behind the great golden reredos.

“This vast east window which floods the choir of Gloucester, beautiful as a dream with its soft, silvery light faintly coloured with jewelled shafts of the richest blue and red, and here and there a vein of pale gold—this vast window could not have been seen out of England, or, at least, one of the grey and misty northern countries, where gleams of light or shafts of sunshine are exceedingly precious. In south or central Europe the effect of such a mighty window would be simply dazzling to the eye, would be painful from its excess of light.

“This great east window is the largest painted window in England—the largest, the writer believes, in Europe. Its stonework exceeds in size the magnificent east window of York, which stands next to it. The respective measurements are Gloucester, seventy-two feet high by thirty-eight wide; York, seventy-eight by thirty-three feet. The lower parts of the centre compartments at Gloucester are not completely glazed, owing to the opening into the Lady-chapel. The glass of Gloucester is, on the whole, light-coloured, the designers being evidently anxious that the beautiful stone panels and screen-work should be seen in all their exquisite details. The glass has suffered marvellously little from the ravages of weather and the fanaticism of revolutionary times; the busy restorer, too, has dealt gently with it. There are forty-nine figures, and of these thirty-seven are pronounced by our lynx-eyed experts to be absolutely genuine. Of the eighteen armorial shields in the lower lights thirteen are certainly the identical shields inserted by the survivors of Cressy. The whole of the gorgeous canopy-work has been untouched. The subject of the paintings is the Coronation of the Virgin and the figures consist of winged angels, apostles, saints, kings and abbots. The coats-of-arms are those borne by King Edward III., the Black Prince, and their knightly companions, such as the Lords of Berkeley, Arundel, Pembroke, Warwick, Northampton, Talbot and others who took part in the famous campaign in which occurred the battle of Cressy, and who in some degree were connected with Gloucestershire. The window was, in fact, a memorial of the great English victory, and may fairly be termed the Cressy window.”—(S.)

The Vestibule to the Lady-Chapel is a beautiful work. The lower portions of the west wall, parts of the old Norman apsidal chapel, are pierced by the opening for the door and by two perpendicular windows.

The lierne vaulting is very delicate (the ribs are run differently in the four quarters of the roof), and the pendants form a cross. Over the vestibule is the small chapel which is entered from the Whispering Gallery.

The beautiful Lady-Chapel was built between 1457 and 1499 on the site of a smaller one.

The Lady-Chapel, 91 feet 6 inches long, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46 feet 6 inches high, consists of four bays, which, as the wall of the chapel is so low, are chiefly composed of fine tracery and glass.

“All the wall below the windows is arcaded with foiled arches, with quatrefoils above them. The wall between the windows is panelled with delicate tracery like that in the windows, and in its three chief tiers contains brackets for figures, with richly carved canopies overhead. Many of these canopies (like the walls) show traces of colour.

“Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandest Perpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in the roof is worth minute inspection, and since the restoration (1896) it is possible to see the bosses in practically the same condition as they were when they left the masons’ hands in the Fifteenth Century. With three exceptions they are all representations of foliage.

“It has been said above that the chapel is cruciform. The arms of the cross are represented by the two side chapels, like diminutive transepts on the north and south sides, with oratories above them, to which access is given by small staircases in the angles of the wall. Both these side chapels contain some exquisite fan-tracery vaulting, which is supported upon flying arches, fashioned in imitation of the graceful flying arches in the choir.