In the same county are the two noble minsters of Christchurch and Romsey, the former of which I will mention presently; meanwhile I will carry you in thought to Ely, where Walkelyn’s brother, Abbot Symeon, undertook, a little later and in his extreme old age, the reconstruction of his abbey church on a vast scale. The parts built or commenced building by Symeon were the eastern arm, the transepts, the central tower, and probably a bay of the nave; for, be it
Fig. 258.—The Nave, Winchester Cathedral.
remembered, the eastern arm was, not in those days, as afterwards became customary, the choir, but rather the sanctuary, or, more correctly, the sanctuary and presbytery conjoined. The choir,—that is to say, the stalls for the monks or canons who sat in choir,—was under the central tower, and often ran a little into what we call the nave. It resulted from this that, in cases where funds did not permit the completion at first of the entire building, it was customary to build from the east end up to the second or third pillar of the nave, so as to provide for the actual requirements, and also to give an abutment to the central tower.
Fig. 259.—Plan, Ely Cathedral.
Abbot Symeon’s plan was formed on the largest scale ([Fig. 259]). His transepts had each four bays in length, and, like those of his brother’s church at Winchester, were aisled on both sides. He also built the gallery across the transept, as at Canterbury and at Winchester. His eastern arm was of four full bays, added to which was a smaller bay and an unaisled apse. The aisles of the eastern arm were square-ended. The pillars of the transept were generally round, though in some cases clustered, and their capitals were totally different from those used by his brother, being a quaint reminiscence of the Corinthian.
The proportions of the interior, in point of height, differ from those of Winchester; and it would seem, that the height being divided into three, one was here given to the gallery or triforium, the remainder being divided between the great arcade and the clerestory, with proportions of four to three; so that the main arcade retaining the same proportion as at Winchester, there is more triforium and less clerestory, differences which were increased in building the nave.