English Cathedrals Illustrated / Second and Revised Edition

by Francis Bond

NAVE.

V. Transitional.—From 1154 to 1181 there ruled at York a man of the greatest energy and power—Archbishop Roger. He condemned his two Norman churches at York and Ripon; made no attempt, as at Peterborough and Ely, to improve them; simply pulled them down, and started again de novo. The two new minsters seem to have been somewhat similar: both had square east ends, both had exceptionally broad naves. But Ripon minster was merely the church of Augustinian canons, therefore it was not planned in cathedral fashion. Our ancient collegiate and parish churches seem to have followed some other model than the early Christian basilicas which furnished the plans of the cathedrals. Most of our parish churches originally were without aisles; and even large churches of the regular canons frequently had no aisles to the nave. This was the case in Roger’s new church at Ripon, and at Bolton Priory (also Augustinian). Later on, indeed, the Ripon canons added north and south aisles to their nave, and the Bolton canons a north aisle to their nave—they could not add a south aisle also, as they had a cloister to the south. But originally both churches had aisleless naves. That of Ripon was 40 feet broad—broader than any nave in England, except York, which is of the breadth of 45 feet. The combination of unaisled nave and aisled choir must have produced a very remarkable interior; quite unlike anything now existing in England, but to be paralleled by the Spanish cathedral at Gerona (illustrated in Street’s “Gothic Architecture of Spain”).

Of this Transitional nave nothing is now left except two fragments, one at the east, and one at the west end on either side. All the rest has been replaced by sixteenth-century piers, arches, and clerestory. But if in imagination the two ends of the Transitional nave are joined together—it is well to do so in an actual drawing—the design of the whole of the original nave can be recovered with exactitude. A very remarkable design it was. It consisted of three stories; the lower story was simply a blank wall. The second, the triforium, was merely a passage in the thickness of the wall, ornamented in front by a tall pointed arcade. The clerestory had three tall slender lancet windows in each bay, all of the same height, separated by two detached piers. The strangest feature of the nave was that neither in the ground-story nor in the triforium were there any windows. Everywhere else people were trying to get all the windows possible into their churches; here alone a “dim, religious light” was preferred. And filtering in, as it did, through small lancet windows at a great height, as in Pugin’s cathedral at Killarney, the effect must have been most dramatic. The destruction of this unique nave is one of the heaviest losses that English architecture has sustained.

Of the central tower, the south-east pier has been rebuilt; the north-east and south-west piers have been cased. The north and west arches of the tower survive; the south and east arches have been rebuilt. The nave was considerably wider than the central aisle of the choir; the tower was therefore not built square; the northern arch being set obliquely, and not parallel to the southern one. Outside, however, the north side of the tower is corbelled out till the tower becomes square.

NORTH TRANSEPT.

The design of the choir is best seen in the east side of the north transept, which retains the original round-headed windows. In the choir the western windows of the north aisle were converted into lancets in the thirteenth century. The design of transept and choir is almost Greek in its severity. Very effective is the contrast of broad wall-surface and plain splayed window with the light and slender shafted arcades of triforium and clerestory. In proportions, too, it is superior to nearly all later designs. The pier-arches are tall and narrow, and the triforium thoroughly subordinated to the tall clerestory; the proportions approximate closely to those of Westminster Abbey and Beverley Minster. It is remarkable, too, for the studied absence of foliated ornament. Not that the builders could not design a foliated capital; they have left one or two, in unnoticed corners of the north transept, to show their powers. All the capitals of the choir are moulded capitals, as at Roche Abbey—perhaps occurring here for the first time. Being a first attempt, they can hardly be considered a success; they were soon to be improved upon in the French crypt of Canterbury. The designer relied on architectural effects pure and simple, and was followed in his ascetic self-restraint sixty years later in the eastern transept of Fountains and at Salisbury. Even more remarkable is the complete abolition of Norman ornament. The billet, the zigzag, the whole barbaric congeries of Norman ornament is contemptuously cast aside. In this respect, indeed, Ripon is much more advanced than Canterbury choir, which was not commenced till 1174. The clerestory, however, is of a familiar Norman type, being an adaptation of that of Romsey and Waltham Abbey, and Peterborough and Oxford cathedrals; it was reproduced a little later in Hexham choir.

The vaulting-shafts rest on the abaci, French fashion. In the choir there are five vaulting-shafts, which in the clerestory diminish to one. The effect is not satisfactory, and a different treatment is adopted in the transept. It is noteworthy that the vaulting of the north transept aisle contains an exceptionally early example of ridge-ribs, both longitudinal and transverse.

In spite of round-headed windows and round-headed arches here and there, the whole design of the interior is light and graceful, thoroughly Gothic. Externally it is just the reverse; but for a pointed arcade in the clerestory one might imagine one was back again in the early days of the twelfth century. But when one compares the interior with that of Oxford Cathedral, which is precisely contemporary, and in which the spirit of Gothic is wholly absent, suspicion rises to certainty: Ripon Minster must have been designed under French influence. The tall, acute, pointed pier-arches of Notre Dame, Chalons-sur-Marne, and Sens (commenced c. 1140) reappear in Ripon choir, and the undoubtedly French choir of Canterbury. The Chalons triforium reappears in the north wall of Ripon transept; the Chalons clerestory in that of Ripon nave. The clerestory of Ripon choir is practically that of the French choir of Canterbury, itself probably suggested by that of Sens. French too, are the vaulting-shafts of the choir, insecurely balancing on the abaci; and the broadness and plain splays of the windows.