The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Cathedral church formerly Augustinian priory
Cathedral church formerly Augustinian priory
The church is situated within Christ Church College, lying E of Tom Quad, which largely conceals it from the W. It is open to gardens on the N and E sides, with a 13thc Chapter House, a 16thc cloister, and college buildings enclosing it to S. The church is cruciform with a central tower. All four main arms have aisles, though the S transept lacks a W aisle where it abuts the cloister. The chancel has a square projecting E bay and four main bays; the 12thc nave had seven bays (reduced to four by the incursion of Tom Quad in the 16thc); the transepts have three bays, though the southernmost bay of the S transept is incorporated into the slype, and oversailed by what are now vergers’ offices. The elevation of the main vessels throughout is three-storey, the arcade and false triforium enclosed within a ‘giant order’; above is a clerestory with wall passage. There are traces of work before c.1150, but the present Romanesque building dates from the 1160s onwards. The chancel was built before the translation of St Frideswide’s relics to a chapel E of the N transept in 1180. The transepts and the nave were built soon after, to a grander, but not essentially modified, vision. In the 13thc the N chancel aisle was extended northwards to form a Lady Chapel, and an upper storey and spire added to the central tower. The Latin chapel was built N of the Lady chapel c.1338, to replace the reliquary chapel as a setting for St Frideswide’s shrine. The 12thc vault of the chancel was rebuilt c.1500, and those of the nave and transepts were replaced by timber ceilings in the 16thc, with modifications to the clerestories. There are quadripartite rib vaults in all aisles.