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

see § XX. The cathedral is generally entered by the south porch, a part of the Perpendicular work erected by Abbot Morwent, (1420-1437). (This abbot pulled down the towers at the west end of the cathedral, and the two west bays of the nave. The present western portion of the nave, as far as the end of the second bay, including the west front and the south porch, is his work.) The porch, which has an upper chamber, is greatly enriched with niches and canopies, and has buttresses at the angles. [Frontispiece.] The arms in the spandrils of the doorway are those of England and France, and of the Abbey. The pinnacles and open parapet are of the same general character as those (earlier) above the gable of the great east window, and as those (later) of the central tower. The ogee arched moulding, with its finial, which rises in the centre is the feature already noticed (§ III.) as characteristic of this cathedral. It occurs throughout the Perpendicular work. Within the porch, the peculiar tracery of the side windows should be noticed. “The internal arrangement of the panelling of the side walls is continued to the exterior, and made to form the mullions of the windows.”

V. The first impression, on entering the nave, is produced by the lofty Norman piers. [Plate I.] The whole arrangement differs much from that of the great Norman naves of the Eastern cathedrals, Norwich, Ely, and Peterborough. In them the divisions of the nave-arcade and of the triforium above it are very nearly equal in height and width, whilst the clerestory range is of little less importance[5]. At Gloucester, the massive nave piers are carried to such a height (30 feet) as to afford little space for the triforium, which is only a narrow wall passage; and the original Norman clerestory, the circular arches of which may still be traced below the Perpendicular windows, was of nearly the same dimensions. The height of the piers is thus made to seem greater than it really is. They must have been still more remarkable when the floor of the nave was at its original level, ten inches lower than at present. The bases of the piers stood on square blocks; and there still exist some remains of an encaustic floor on the lower level. These massive circular piers, which are found also at Tewkesbury, at Pershore, and at Malvern Priory, seem to be peculiar to England. They do not, at any rate, occur in any church in Normandy, where the rectangular form prevails. The good effect of carrying them to such a height as at Gloucester is perhaps questionable, since the necessary result is to deprive both triforium and clerestory of all dignity and importance.

The nave consists of nine bays, from the west front to the central tower. Of these all are Norman to the top of the triforium, except the two western bays, which are Perpendicular, (Abbot Morwent’s work). The Norman clerestory was altered, and the Norman portion of the nave was newly vaulted, in the first half of the thirteenth century. (The nave roof was completed in 1242. The monks themselves, according to Froucester’s Chronicle, laboured at it,—considering, suggests Professor Willis, that they could do the work better than common workmen.) The nave piers have plain bases and cushioned capitals. The arches have the zigzag in the outer moulding and a double cable in the soffete. A cable moulding runs along above them. In the triforium, two arches in each bay circumscribe four smaller ones, the tympana above which are quite plain. In constructing the new clerestory, the Norman work immediately above the triforium arches was entirely removed; and only the jambs of the side lights which extended beyond the triforium arches, with the wall between them, were allowed to remain. The jambs of these Norman lights, with zigzag moulding, may still be traced in each bay of the clerestory. The windows of the Early English clerestory were filled with Perpendicular tracery, possibly by Abbot Morwent.

The Norman portions of the nave may have belonged to the church of Abbot Serlo, (completed in 1100); but it is impossible to say how much alteration or rebuilding was rendered necessary by the fires of 1122, 1179, and 1190. The red colour of parts of the piers where the stone has become calcined, still bears witness to the fierceness of, most probably, the last of these fires; by which the wooden roof of the Norman church was destroyed. This was replaced during the abbacy of Henry Foliot, (1228-1243,) by the existing vaulting; which is plain quadripartite, with a central rib and bosses at the intersections. The groining, of a light porous stone, is plastered on the underside. The vaulting-shafts, (of the same date as the roof,) in groups of three, are of Purbeck marble, with stone capitals of leafage, and Purbeck abaci. These rest on a series of brackets supported by shafts which descend between the pier-arches. The first five of these brackets, counting from the third (the first Norman) bay of the nave, are perhaps Transitional Norman, and the cable-moulding at the head of the pier-arches passes round them. The next three eastward have the cable-moulding cut away for them; and on either side is a shaft of Purbeck marble with foliaged capital, from which a moulding is carried round the bay of the clerestory. This part was perhaps more injured by the fire, so that the earlier work required greater alteration. (The peculiar arrangement, suggests Professor Willis, may have been one of the consequences of the monks’ amateur workmanship.) The capitals and corbels of the vaulting-shafts were richly coloured[6]; and remains of painting were found on the great piers themselves during the late restorations. Against three of the piers on the north side are Perpendicular brackets, for lamps or for statues.

The two western bays of the nave were the work of Abbot Morwent, (1420-1437,) who pulled down the Norman front, which had towers north and south, intending to re-construct the entire nave,—a design fortunately prevented by his death[7]. The contrast between the noble Norman columns and the Perpendicular piers is sufficiently striking. The westernmost bay is much wider than the others; there is no triforium; the clerestory windows resemble the others, all of which were probably inserted by Morwent; and the vaulting is a rich lierne, with bosses of leafage. The west end is filled with a large Perpendicular window of very good design, the glass in which, by Wailes, is a memorial of the late Bishop Monk, (died 1856,) erected at the sole expense of the Rev. Thomas Murray Browne, Honorary Canon of Gloucester, “in grateful remembrance of many years of sincere friendship.” (It should be remarked that the tracery heads and cusps, as seen from the inside of this window, are not repeated on the outside,—a plain transom only crossing the lights. This peculiarity is repeated in the great east, and in some other windows.) The glass is of unusually pictorial character; and if not entirely successful, is at least better than most recent attempts in a similar direction. The subjects are:—Lowest tier, beginning south—Noah passing out of the Ark after the Deluge; Moses dividing the Red Sea; the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. In the second tier—The Annunciation to the Shepherds; the Nativity; the Adoration of the Kings. In the third tier—The Presentation in the Temple; the Baptism of our Lord; St. John Preaching in the Desert. Above are the Baptism of St. Paul, of St. Peter, and of the Jailor of Philippi. Below the window is a brass plate with an inscription recording its erection as a memorial to Bishop Monk.

The west doorway and the panelling at its sides are very plain. At the angle between the nave and the south aisle is a statue of Edward Jenner, by R. W. Sievier. Dr. Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, was born at Berkeley in Gloucestershire, in 1749; and died there in 1823.

The view eastward from this point is intercepted by the organ; but beyond the massive piers of the nave, portions of the light choir-roof are seen; and the superb glass of the east window terminates the choir with such a glow of colour as few other cathedrals can display.

VI. The north aisle of the nave is, like the nave itself, Norman, except the two western bays, which are Abbot Morwent’s. The half piers against the wall are of the same height as those of the nave, but are divided into several members with shafts at the angles, the capitals of which are in some cases enriched. In each bay the Norman window-opening remains, with zigzag mouldings and side-shafts. All are filled with Perpendicular tracery, which is continued on the Norman wall under the windows. A Perpendicular stone bench runs below. The windows in this aisle are raised high, in order to clear the roof of the cloister outside. The vaulting is ribbed, Norman.

In the Perpendicular portion of this aisle (second bay) is a very fine doorway into the west walk of the cloister—(the monks’ entrance). A crocketed canopy rises above it, with panellings on either side, in which were painted figures of the Apostles. On each side of the door are niches for figures. In the easternmost bay of this aisle is the abbot’s entrance—also Perpendicular, but not so richly decorated. In both these doorways, the half-groined recesses, so constructed as to admit of the doors opening into them, should be noticed.