Then came the great building-prelate of St. David’s, Bishop Gower (1328-1347). (1) He completed the processional aisle, building the whole of the south walk and completing the north walk. (2) Like Abbot Thokey, at Gloucester, he transformed the Norman south aisle of the nave into the style of his day (Curvilinear), and built a south porch. (3) East of the north transept he built a three-storied building, the lower part as a chapel to St. Thomas of Canterbury, the upper part as a chapter-house. (4) He raised the tower one stage above the roofs. (5) He raised the walls of the aisles, and inserted Curvilinear windows. (6) He separated the presbytery from the choir, which as at Gloucester is beneath the central tower, by a parclose screen—a very rare feature. (7) He built the wood throne of the bishop; it seems, however, to have been reconstructed in the fifteenth century. (8) He built for himself the magnificent palace, and another at Lamphey, besides Swansea castle and church. (9) His most beautiful work is the magnificent choir-screen, one of the grandest examples of mediæval art. It consists of three compartments of stone, surmounted by a coved cornice of wood. The southern compartment has two pointed arches, with compound cusping and rich crockets; and within, the tomb and effigy of the bishop. The central compartment is occupied by the doorway and vaulted vestibule leading from the nave to the choir; on either side of the vestibule are effigies of priests. The northern compartment seems to consist of thirteenth century arcading, which has been worked up to serve as a reredos to an altar.
To the Perpendicular period belong the stalls, which have good misereres (1460-1480); the elaborate wooden roof of the nave (1472-1509) and that of the presbytery, which is a little earlier.
Early in the Tudor period Bishop Vaughan (1509) added another story to the tower, and built himself a chapel in the empty space between the east wall of the presbytery and the east walk of the processional aisle, vaulting it with fan-tracery.
Externally, the cathedral is simple and plain, in harmony with its bleak and wild surroundings. Internally, like Canterbury and Winchester, it gains dignity from the greater height of the choir. The whole floor of the nave slopes upwards from west to east, and the choir is elevated eight steps above the level of the nave.
| Abacus | The flat slab on the top of a capital. |
| Ambulatory | The processional aisle at the back of the high altar. |
| Apse | The eastern termination—semicircular or polygonal—of
a choir or its aisles, or of a transept. |
| Arcade | A series of arches. |
| Pier-arcade | The piers and arches separating the side-aisles from
the central aisle or nave. |
| Battlement | A notched or indented parapet. |
| Bay | The space between two piers from the floor to the roof. |
| Bosses | The ornamented keystones of a vault. |
| Buttress | A projecting support to a wall. |
| Cathedral | Any church, large or small, which contains the seat
(cathedra) of a bishop. |
| Chantry-chapels | Private chapels; in which were chanted masses for the
repose of the soul of the founder of the chapel. |
| Chevet | The ring of chapels round the east end of a choir or
its aisles: e.g. Westminster. |
| Choir | (1) That part of the church where the clergy or monks
sat. (2) The whole eastern limb of the church. |
| Clerestory | The upper story of a church. Also the row of windows in
the upper story. |
| Corbel | A bracket of stone or wood. |
| Corbel-table | A row of corbels supporting a parapet or a projecting roof. |
| Crockets | Tufts of leaves arranged in bands.
|
| Crossing | The space where nave and transepts intersect. Above it is
often a central tower. |
| Crypt | The underground portion of a church. |
| Cusps | Spikes in the tracery of a window. |
| Dripstone | A projection running round the head of a window to throw
off the rain. |
| Eaves | That part of a roof which overhangs the wall. |
| Elevation | (1) A geometrical drawing (i.e. not in perspective)
of a vertical portion of a building. (2) The portion so drawn. |
| Façade | The principal external elevation of a building. |
| Feretory | (1) A portable shrine. (2) That part of the church which
contained the pedestal of the shrine: e.g. Winchester;
also called Saint’s Chapel. |
| Fillet | A narrow projecting stone band, like a piece of tape;
square in section. |
| Flying buttresses | Tilted arches rising from the buttresses of the aisles
to the clerestory wall to resist the thrusts of the high vault. |
| Gargoyle | A projecting water-spout. |
| Groined vault | A vault which, instead of ribs, has sharp edges or arrises. |
| Hood-moulding | An ornamental dripstone employed in interiors; especially
over pier-arches. |
| Jambs | The sides of a window or doorway. |
| Label | A dripstone over the exterior of a doorway. |
| Lancets | Sharp, pointed windows; in the shape of a surgeon’s lancet. |
| Lierne-vault | Any vault which contains liernes: i.e., tie-ribs
on the surface, which do not spring from an abacus, nor
rise to the central boss.
|
| Miserere | A carved bracket beneath the movable seat of a stall. |
| Moulding | Any architectural member is said to be moulded when its
edge or surface presents continuous lines of alternate
projections and recesses. |
| Mullions | Vertical bars in a window. |
| Nave | The western limb of a church, (1) including or (2)
excluding its aisles. |
| Ogee arch | An arch, each side of which has a double curve; the upper
part concave, the lower part convex. |
| Order | A compound arch is one which is built up of two or more
Orders, or sub-arches, usually recessed. |
| Parapet | A low wall, not embattled, but with a horizontal upper
surface, at the foot of a roof. |
| Piers | The supports of arches; sometimes cylindrical, sometimes
polygonal; sometimes clusters of columns; sometimes masses
of masonry ornamented with shafts. |
| Pilaster | A flattened column. |
| Pinnacles | Small spires employed to weight buttresses, etc. |
| Plinth | The pedestal of the base of a pier or shaft or wall. |
| Piscina | A water-drain, appertaining to the high altar. (1) A niche.
(2) A shaft. (3) An opening in the pavement. |
| Presbytery | (1) The sanctuary only. (2) The whole of the space between
the ritual choir and the east end: e.g., York and
Lincoln and Ely—i.e., sanctuary plus retro-choir. |
| Quadripartite vault | One in which each compartment is divided into four cells
by diagonal ribs. |
| Quatrefoil | An ornament with four lobes. |
| Refectory | The dining-hall or frater of a monastery.
|
| Reredos | The screen at the back of a high altar: e.g.,
Winchester. |
| Ribs | The arcs which intersect to support the filling-in of a vault. |
| Romanesque | The style of Northern architecture intermediate between that
of the Early Christian Basilican churches and that of the
Gothic cathedrals. Anglo-Norman or Norman is one of its
geographical subdivisions. |
| Roll | A rounded projecting moulding. |
| Rood | The crucifix. |
| Rood-loft | A beam, carrying the rood, placed above the rood-screen.
The place of the rood-screen was at the west end of the
ritual choir. |
| Sanctuary | The space between the ritual choir and the high altar. |
| Sedilia | Seats for the priest and his assistants on the south side
of the sanctuary. |
| Sexpartite vault | One in which each compartment is divided into six cells by
four diagonal and two intermediate ribs. |
| Shaft | A slender column. Vaulting-shafts
supported a vault or ceiling. |
| Spandrils | The triangular spaces on either side of an arch. |
| Splay | A window-jamb which slants outwardly or inwardly from the glass. |
| Springers | The lower stones of the ribs of a vault. |
| Stilted arch | An arch elevated above the abacus by vertical masonry. |
| String-course or String | A projecting moulding, usually horizontal, running along a wall. |
| Thrust | The pressure exerted laterally and downward by an arch or vault. |
| Tracery | The straight or curved bars of stone which separate the lights
in the arched part of a window. |
| Transept | A cross-arm of a church. |
| Transoms | Horizontal cross-bars of stone in a window. |
| Trefoil | An ornament with three lobes.
|
| Triforium | (1) The space between the vault and the lean-to roof of
an aisle. (2) The arcade in front of it. The triforium-space
often forms a Blind Story. |
| Tympanum | (1) The space between the lintel and arch of a doorway. (2)
The space enclosed by the triangular outline of a gable. |
| Vault | An inner roof of stone. |
| Voussoir | Each stone in an arch or rib is a voussoir. The principal
voussoir is the keystone, which may be enlarged so as to
form a boss, or still further enlarged so as to form a
pendant. |
