VII. A flight of steps, rendered necessary by the elevation of the crypt, which extends eastward from this point, ascends to the choir-screen, between the two eastern piers of the tower; an atrocious composition of lath and plaster, erected in 1812, and shortly, no doubt, to be removed. Some of the small figures in the frieze were taken from misereres in the choir, and will eventually be returned.
Passing beyond the screen, we enter the most interesting portion of the cathedral. The whole building, east of the tower, is far richer and better in detail than any part of the nave. The convent, in all probability, was receiving larger sums from the pilgrims to the shrine of St. Wulfstan during the thirteenth century, when the choir and the parts connected with it were built, than during the fourteenth, when the nave was erected. By that time the neighbouring churches of Hereford and Gloucester had each their great shrine[72], which must have attracted much of the wealth that would otherwise have found its way into the treasury of Worcester.
Bishop William of Blois is recorded as having “begun the new work of the front” in the year 1224. The plan of the new building involved a great extension of the cathedral eastward. Beyond the site of the crypt, the work was carried “to a length equal to double that of the Norman presbytery, (exclusive of the probable Lady-chapel of the latter,) and so adjusted as to place the central tower of the church exactly midway between the east and west extremities of the entire building[73].” Eastern transepts were also adopted. Professor Willis has been the first to shew the order in which, in all probability, this new work was erected. This is indicated by a difference in the moulding of the vaulting-ribs. “The transverse vault-ribs of the side aisles and centre of the work between the great tower and the small transepts (namely, the present choir) have a hollow mold in their soffits; and this is also the case
PART OF CHOIR AND LADY-CHAPEL.
in those pier-arches of the work which have the dog-tooth. But the transverse vault-ribs throughout the remainder of this work, namely, the eastern transepts and Lady-chapel, have a projecting rib in their soffit, corresponding to the moldings of their pier-arches[74].” “The ribbed soffit, in fact, is confined to the portion of Early English work which is founded upon the open ground of the cemetery, and was capable of being erected complete, without disturbing any more of the existing Norman presbytery than the circumscribing aisle and radiating chapels. The hollow soffit, on the contrary, is used throughout the part of the Early English work, which is based upon the walls of that portion of the crypt which was allowed to remain. I conclude, therefore, that the ribbed soffit-work was begun in 1224, and carried on without disabling the Norman presbytery and the high altar; so that the services of the Church continued in their original place, until the completion of this first portion of the work made it necessary to pull down the Norman presbytery, and erect the hollow soffit-work in its room, by which the Early English structure was connected with the tower[75].”
The choir, [Plate I.,] like all the cathedral eastward of the tower, has been restored under the direction of Mr. Perkins, architect to the Dean and Chapter. (A design has (1866) been supplied by Mr. G. G. Scott, for the stalls and fittings of the choir, a reredos and a western screen, to be of metal and wood combined. This, it is hoped, may soon be carried into execution.) The choir consists of five bays, the easternmost of which, in a line with the eastern transepts, is considerably wider than the others. The destruction of the Norman choir was not complete; a portion of its walls was allowed to remain; and in the present triforium, which extends over the aisles, Norman buttresses exist, of the same character as those in the triforium of the two western bays of the nave. Except at the southern surface of the north wall of the choir, however, where it joins the tower, whatever Norman masonry remained was entirely hidden by the rich Early English work of the new choir. This has been compared to the Early English of Salisbury Cathedral, begun in 1220, with which, no doubt, there is a certain general resemblance. On the other hand, Lincoln Cathedral—probably the first great Early English church built in England—was far advanced at the death of St. Hugh in 1200; and there are some peculiarities at Worcester—especially the ornamentation of the tympana in the triforium arches, and the sculpture in the spandrils of the wall-arcades—which strongly recall Lincoln. At any rate, Worcester Cathedral was one of the earliest churches in England built in the new style, which, there is much reason for believing, was invented by St. Hugh’s architect at Lincoln.
The design first seen in the transition Norman portion of each bay of the nave—one arch below, two in the triforium, and three in the clerestory, (see § IV.)—was followed in this Early English work, as it was in all the later portions of the cathedral. The octangular piers of the choir have large shafts of Purbeck marble, alternating with white stone; the Purbeck shafts ringed half way up. The shafts have foliaged capitals; and the dog-tooth ornament is used (as at Salisbury) in the mouldings of the main arches. The triforium in each bay consists of two large arches, each enclosing two smaller, divided by a slender shaft, with a plain capital of Purbeck. The groups of shafts between and at the sides of the larger arches have capitals of leafage worked in oolite, with Purbeck above. In the spandrils or tympana above the small central shafts are sculptured figures. At the back of the outer triforium arches is a wall, covered by an arcade with semi-detached shafts, so arranged that the crowns of the arches are nearly on a level with the capitals of the shafts in the main arcade. A very rich and intricate effect is thus produced, which may be compared with that of the double arcades in the choir-aisles of Lincoln Cathedral,—in all probability part of St. Hugh’s work. The triforium passage itself, which extends over the aisles, is shut out, by this arcaded wall, from the choir, which was no doubt rendered much warmer by this arrangement. The clerestory has in each bay three sharply-pointed arches; that in the centre being much higher than the two others, with slender shafts and capitals of Purbeck marble. The windows at the back, which had been filled with mean Perpendicular tracery, have been restored to their original Early English condition. A single vaulting-shaft of Purbeck rests on a corbelled head at the intersection of the main arches, and terminates in a capital of leafage at the base of the triforium. A second shaft rises through the triforium stage, and terminates in a small capital at the base of the clerestory. The vaulting itself is quadripartite, with carved bosses.
The restoration of the choir, under Mr. Perkins, was begun in 1859. Much of the stone-work was in so ruinous a condition that it was necessary to replace it with new; but although the building has thus lost something of its interest in the eyes of archæologists, it should here be said that the repairs have been made with good judgment, and that no unnecessary destruction of ancient work has taken place. Wherever it was possible the old stone-work has been carefully cleaned, and is otherwise untouched. This is the case with nearly all the leafage of the capitals, which is unusually good and varied. The greater part of the figures in the tympana of the triforium arches, however, were unfortunately sculptured in the local stone, and had crumbled away so completely, partly from the effects of time and partly perhaps before the matchlocks of Cromwell’s troopers, that their subjects were hardly to be deciphered. They have been restored, in accordance, as far as could be ascertained, with the original design, by Boulton of Worcester, under the direction of Mr. Perkins.