The floor of the whole choir has been laid with tiles, manufactured (as are those throughout the church with the exception of the nave) by Godwin of Lugwardine. The pavement of the sacrarium is especially rich and elaborate.
The organ (by Renatus Harris, but remodelled and reconstructed by Davison under the direction of Sir Frederick Ouseley) is to be placed within the first archway on the south side of the choir.
XI. Through the north arch of the tower we pass into the north transept, [Plate III.]; one of the finest and most interesting parts of the church, which fortunately remained untouched until the cathedral was placed under the care of Mr. G. G. Scott, by whom this transept has been carefully restored. The date of its erection has not been recorded; but we cannot be wrong in assigning it to the period between the death of Bishop Cantilupe (1282) and his translation in 1287. The Bishop was at first buried in the Lady-chapel, but was
BAY OF THE NORTH TRANSEPT.
Plate III.
removed to this transept in 1287. The miracles reported at his tomb had already brought large sums to the Church; and the rebuilding of the transept for the reception of his shrine must have been completed before the removal of his body in 1287.
The Norman arches opening to the aisles of nave and choir resemble those which correspond to them on the south side of the church. The transept beyond them was, as we have seen, entirely rebuilt, and is one of the most remarkable examples of the period remaining in England. The unusual form of its arches, and its pure, lofty windows, are sufficiently impressive now; but their effect must have been wonderfully increased when the windows were filled with glass displaying the history and miracles of the sainted Bishop, and when the shrine itself was standing on its pedestal within the eastern aisle, rich with the gold and jewels offered by the numerous pilgrims who knelt daily before it.
The west side of the transept (which is of two bays beyond the aisle passage) is entirely filled by two very lofty windows, of three lights each. The heads of the narrow lights are sharply pointed; and the tracery above is formed by three circles enclosing trefoils. These windows are set back within triangular-headed arches. On the north side is a double window of the same character, divided by a group of banded shafts. The triple lights on either side of these shafts, and the foiled circles above them, precisely resemble the windows on the west side of the transept. The central tracery of the window is formed by a foiled circle, with a larger circle, enclosing a sexfoil, above it. The whole window is set back within a segmental pointed arch, with banded shafts at the angles of the jambs. The eastern aisle of the transept is divided into two bays by a clustered pier, the shafts surrounding which are alternately of sandstone and dark marble. Their capitals are enriched with foliage, and small knots of foliage are placed between the bases. The main arches are sharply pointed, and have many plain mouldings, with one band of dog-tooth ornament, highly detached. The triforium above (which extends beyond the actual transept, over the Norman arch opening to the choir-aisle) is especially striking. In each bay are two sharply pointed arches, each subdivided into three lesser arches, with foiled headings; and with three open quatrefoils as tracery above. The main arch is surrounded by a row of dog-tooth. The large spandrel spaces between the arches are entirely covered with a diaper of leaf-ornament, in low relief. The clerestory windows are octofoils, set far back within pointed arches. On the exterior, the form of the window openings is triangular, like those of the triforium at Westminster and those in the clerestory of the nave at Lichfield. On the interior, the sills of the windows slope forward with overlapping courses of stone, to the stringcourse at the top of the triforium. The sills of the great windows in the transept are formed in a similar manner, with overlapping courses of stone.