On the south side of the transept is a large Perpendicular window of good design, below which is a passage, behind an open arcade. The passage is entered from a Norman staircase-turret in the south-west angle, and leads upward to the triforium. The effect of this arcade, with its unusual depth of shadow, is very good.
THE “PRENTICE’S” BRACKET.
CONFESSIONAL.
IN THE SOUTH TRANSEPT.
In the wall under this passage are two doorways, now closed, above one of which (eastward) is a grotesque monster; the other forms what is called the confessional. [Plate II.] Three steps ascend to the door, between panels which slope like the sides of a chair, and are supported by figures which seem to be those of angels. The heads, however, are gone, and the figures are otherwise much defaced. The local tradition asserts that those who came to confess entered by the first door, with the monster’s head above it, typical of sin; and left by the other, with the sorrowing angels, representing penitence. How far the doorways were at all connected with a confessional is, however, quite uncertain.
Against this wall is an ugly Elizabethan monument for Richard Pates, (died 1588); and the high tomb with effigies of Alderman Blackleech, “who was admitted to the glory of eternity 1639,” and his wife Gertrude. The figures are in alabaster, and are wonderful examples of costume. All the details—boots, rosettes, sword-belt and sword-handle, and the lady’s lace and short jacket—deserve notice. It was not for her beauty that Dame Gertrude was thus commemorated.
In the west wall is a Perpendicular window, with blank panelling below. An open screen-work covers the arch into the nave, and the choir-buttress runs through its upper division. The roof is a plain lierne, without bosses, and “one of the earliest specimens of this complex class of rib-vaulting. Owing to the difference of the angles of the ribs, such a vault was very difficult of construction; most skilful workmanship was necessary to make the ribs join at the intersections; and this led to the use of bosses, which while they concealed defective work, greatly enriched the roof. But in this example there are no bosses. The ribs join perfectly; and it appears as if the masons desired that the skilfulness of their work should be shewn[13].” The very light and beautiful effect of the flying-arch apparently carrying the choir-vaulting, which crosses the main tower-arch, should here be noticed. The whole arrangement is singularly picturesque and original; (see § X.)