In these alterations to the choir here the Norman triforium had to be sacrificed; and those who wish to see on a larger scale what the original triforium was like must study that at Gloucester. In fact the two choirs alone will form the basis of much interesting study, the Gloucester choir having been left comparatively intact below the clerestory, and veiled over with richly wrought Perpendicular stonework.
The windows and the roof are of about the same date, i.e., early fourteenth century; the roof is anticipatively Perpendicular. A great feature of the choir is the skilful way in which the work of different times has been so effectively combined, and brought into a harmonious whole.
Photo A.H. Hughes.
THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.[ToList]
It is interesting to compare the ground-plans of Gloucester and Tewkesbury, and to see how the two originally Norman choirs have been treated. At Gloucester the apsidal formation has been destroyed, traces only of it being left under the present reredos, but there the actual removal of Norman work stopped. The Norman piers of the choir and presbytery and the Norman triforium of the choir are all there, though they are partly concealed by the later Perpendicular casing. The choir at Tewkesbury has lost its distinctively Norman character, as nearly all the original outside wall of the church to the east of the tower was removed, but it has retained its apsidal formation.
Photo. W.G. Bannister.