The Three Choirs: A Handbook to the Cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester / A Complete Description of the Buildings, a History of Each Diocese and Biographical Notices of the Bishops

by R. J. King

a monk of the house. In 1460 Tully became Bishop of St. David’s, and died in 1481.

The light arches which, cross the main arches of the tower, north and south, and which look like “pieces of carpentry in stone,” do not in reality support the vault, which rests securely on the wall behind. They were not, however, intended to deceive. “Unless some resting-place was provided, the builders must have allowed the capital to hang down to a level with the others without anything to support it, or altered the arch above, and thus have disturbed the curvature of the vault. The flying-arch was contrived to get rid of these defects. All this appears to be characteristic of a school of masons who were extremely skilful, and glad of an opportunity of shewing their skill; as a modern engineer likes to carry his railway through a chain of mountains when he has a plain valley before him[17].”

The stalls ranged below the tower are Perpendicular, (those north the work of Abbot Staunton, those south of Abbot Horton,) with, rich projecting canopies. The misereres [Plate V.] below are of the usual character, but are so fixed that they can only be seen with difficulty. Behind the first stall on the north side is a fragment of Early English work, probably of the date of Elias de Lideford, who erected stalls in the choir, which were removed by Abbots Staunton and Horton.

The open screen-work which covers the Norman arches of the presbytery, is carried upwards into the lofty clerestory windows, so as to cover the entire bay with a uniform panelling. Light vaulting-shafts run up between, and carry the lierne roof. The termination of the Norman choir was originally circular, as at Norwich; but in order to insert the great east window, the two last bays, eastward, were entirely removed, and the walls, from this point, now slope outwards north and south. This part of the work is, in Froucester’s Chronicle, assigned to Abbot Horton, (1351-1377). The tiling of the sacrarium, which displays the arms and devices of Abbot Parker, (1515-1534,) is no doubt of his time; as are the sedilia on the south side, which indicate the coming change in their arabesque ornaments. The frieze, a knotted stick passed through a riband, should be noticed. On the canopy above are three figures,—one with a drum or tambourine, the others with trumpets.

XI. The great east window, which terminates the choir, is the largest in England, and is, owing to the ingenious construction of this part of the choir, wider than the side walls which contain it: it is filled with what is, in many respects, the finest stained glass of the period in this country. The window itself, in its general design and tracery, corresponds with the panelling of the choir and with the windows of the clerestory, and is part of Abbot Horton’s work. The tracery-heads and cusps on the inside do not appear without, as usual, since the glass (probably to save expense) is fitted into a square-headed panel, sunk in the back of the window. A peculiar effect is produced by the roof of the Lady-chapel beyond, which rises against the lower part of the window, (from which it is separated by the ante-chapel); the glass above is consequently always in brighter light than that below. The stone-work of the whole window has been repaired (1862) at a cost of £1,400; and £600 has been expended on the re-leading of the glass by Hughes[18], under the very careful supervision of Mr. Winston, one of the best authorities on the subject.

The window, like the rest of the choir-work, has decided Perpendicular features; but the glass “is in all respects thoroughly Decorated in character;... As a general rule, it is true that a change in the style of architecture has always preceded, by some years, the corresponding change in the style of painted glass....

“The two first tiers of lights from the ground are filled with coloured borders and ornamented white quarries; a shield of arms in a panel is inserted in each light, and a small ornamented roundel placed at some distance beneath it. The three next tiers of lights throughout the window are filled with figures and canopies, and, in the central part of the window, another tier likewise, the spires of this row of canopies running into the tier of lights above. This arrangement, as might be expected, imparts a grand pyramidical character to the whole design. All the tracery lights of the window are filled with ornamented white quarries, and enriched with small roundels of ornament inserted here and there....

“The colouring of the lower lights—containing figures and canopies—is arranged on a principle not uncommon in early Perpendicular glass. The figures are almost entirely white, having yellow stained hair, and borders to their robes: the architectural work of the canopies is wholly composed of white and yellow stained glass. The positive colouring is confined to the spire backgrounds of the canopies, and the tapestry which lines the interior of the niche; and it is carried in uniform streaks, or columns, down the window. Thus the spire grounds and tapestries of the central column—which is two lights broad, all the other columns being only of the width of one light—are coloured red; those of the next column on each side the centre one are coloured blue; those of the next red, and so on. The large proportion of white used in the most coloured parts prevents any violent transition, from the figure and canopy part to the quarry part of the window....

“The full effect of the Gloucester window, no doubt, depends not only on the simplicity of the composition, the largeness of its parts, and the breadth of its colouring, but also on the excellence of the material of which the window is composed....