The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Cathedral church
Cathedral church
Nave and chancel with transepts added later. W gable has blocked trabeate doorway with inclined jambs. Plain round-headed window in S wall of nave, splayed, with chamfered label.
Cathedral church
Made a cathedral in 1888; Pevsner thinks this building still looks like 'a large and proud parish church'. It has the tallest spire in Yorkshire, 75m high. Little of the 12thc. building survives, although in 1974 archaeologists found 'Norman' foundations (Speak and Forrester 1976, 4-6; Swann, Roberts and Tweddle 2006). Restored in 1858-74 by Sir Gilbert Scott (Pevsner 1967, 527-28). Building has continued into the 20thc.: most recently the nave has been paved and the pews removed. Plan in Speak and Forrester 1976.
Originally a simple cruciform building, there are remains of a N arcade of c.1150, also walling in various parts, although some features noted by Micklethwaite, when he had oversight of the building between 1864 and 1874, later disappeared (Micklethwaite, 1888, 37n.). There is a Norman wall which contained a staircase on the SW angle of the S transept at end of S nave aisle. Micklethwaite (1888, 37) says: 'The large block of masonry in the south-west corner of the south chapel is the corner of the twelfth-century transept, though the facing is all of later work. Inside it there are the remains of a stair which were exposed during the work of Sir Gilbert Scott.'
Sculpture is confined to pier bases in the N arcade.
Cathedral church
Ripon cathedral is on the south side of the old town; it stands above the river Skell, a tributary of the Ure, with sloping ground on all sides but the north. The building is largely composed of severe but satisfying Transitional and Early Gothic, and is especially striking for its crisp (restored) W front. There is a short central tower, nave, choir and transepts, all aisled. The two W towers were united with the 12th c. nave by the later aisles: nothing W of the crossing was recorded for this Corpus, but the elevation of the un-aisled late 12th-century nave has been reconstructed (Leach and Pevsner 2009, 656-8). In 1836 the church became the cathedral of the new diocese of Ripon and in theory the ancient title ‘minster’ became obsolete though it is still used occasionally. Along with Bradford and Wakefield cathedrals, Ripon is one of the three cathedrals of the diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales, which was created in 2014.
Structural weakness in the tower has meant that in this area twelfth-century work remains only in the N and W arches and the NW pier. Both transepts have E arcades of two bays (S transept arcade modified in late 15th century). Much of the C12th architecture in transepts and choir has pointed arches predominating and only subsidiary use of round-headed arches. Dates suggested cover the period from c.1175-80 to c.1220-30. The stone used for the late 12th- and early 13th-century work at the cathedral is, according to Leach and Pevsner, 'a warm light brown sandstone said to be from a quarry at Hackfall 9 miles up the River Ure; the later phases mainly use Magnesian limestone' (Leach and Pevsner 2009, 643).
To the S of the S choir aisle is a building which appears to be separate from the cathedral, but is interconnected. It has three floors, the top floor being added as a Lady Chapel about 1300. This top floor is now the cathedral library and treasury; it is entered by a wooden staircase from the S transept. Its N wall is formed by the original outside face of the S wall of the choir aisle, on a level with the capitals of its priincipal windows. Similarly its W wall is the outside E wall of the transept. The intermediate floor is occupied by the chapter house or cathedral office, with a small chapel or vestry in the apsed E end; the chapter house opens off the S choir aisle. There is sculpture in corbels of its vaulting, but this is likely to have been constructed to support the chapel added above. The undercroft has a small chapel in the E apse, and rooms for the choir school to the W. In the undercroft the exterior wall of the S choir aisle forms the N wall of the chapel, and at least one buttress intrudes into the space. Entrance to the undercroft was from the chapter house by a stair in the thickness of the transept wall; a modern doorway is from outside just below ground level.
Areas with sculpture include: interior and exterior parts of the N and S transepts and the three levels of the chapter house; vaulting supports in the S choir aisle. Photography concentrated on round-headed arches or recognisably Romanesque forms. Sculpture of a mechanical, architectural, kind, is seen in corbels of vaulting, capitals to doorways and windows, also in the NW pier of the crossing. A large weathered font is included. There were several C19th restorations, the latest by Sir G. G. Scott, 1862 etc (Pevsner 1967, 404). Phased plan available in Leach and Pevsner 2009, 639. The discussion of the cathedral in that volume is by Christopher Wilson (pp. 637-664).
Cathedral church
The former cathedral church at Dunblane is built around an earlier tower, which appears to have been free-standing when first built. This tower has four 12th-century levels, each separated from the next by an exterior stringcourse. Above these are two further levels which were built in the late-15th/early-16th century. The tower was entered by a doorway on the north side, which has worn capitals, bases, label and imposts; the shafts no longer exist. The interior face of the doorway is plain, with a taller opening, it's arch formed of simple voussoirs. Inward from this and lower, is the N face of the doorway proper, with plain lintel stone and coursed stonework above it. The ground-floor level has a recess in the E wall, which may have served as an altar. The label arch over it is carved with a series of lozenges. Inserted into the ground-floor ceiling at some later time is a stone barrel vault. Access to the upper levels of the tower is via a spiral staircase in the interior SW corner. The top story of the 12th-century tower has an arched opening on each face. The outer, exterior arch of each is plain, but further into the depth of the arch are two smaller arches resting on a shaft and associated features. On the exterior, no other decorative features occur. Following the Reformation, although the eastern part of the church was preserved, along with the tower, the nave was allowed to became derelict, and by 1622 was said to be roofless. Restoration work and some reorganisation was undertaken on parts of the church structure in the early- and late- 19th century. During this time a wooden barrel vault was built over the nave and a new roof erected.
Cathedral church
Nave and chancel church with the remains of a southern transept, the site of a
northern transept , and a sacristy projecting northwards from the chancel. The nave
appears to be the earliest part of the building, possibly dating from the 10thc.,
with antae projecting from both the east and west ends. The chancel is probably an
early 13thc. addition, whilst the transepts, sacristy and tower are 15thc. additions.
The impressive Romanesque west portal is probably an insertion to the original single
cell building.
Cathedral church
St Laserian is one of Ireland’s smallest cathedrals. It comprises a 12thc. nave and chancel, a late 15thc. central tower and a 16thc. N chapel to the chancel. The chancel was rebuilt in the 16thc. A plain 11thc. font is located in the chancel, under the E arch of the tower on the N side.
Cathedral church
Fragments associated with the original monastic site in Downpatrick, now reset within the late 18th - 19thc. cathedral.
Cathedral church
Chichester Cathedral is situated within the SW quadrant of the city, which was originally laid out by the Romans. A small, irregular cloister ('Paradise') on the S side gives access to the Chapel of St Faith, the 15thc.Vicar's Close, and St Richard's Lane. The Bishop's Palace lies to the SW, and there are a number of clergy houses to the S, along Canon Lane (see separate entry for No.4 Canon Lane). A detached tower stands to the NW.
The Cathedral was erectedc.1075-1130 (see VII History, below), and despite centuries of alteration, enlargement, conflagration and collapse, it is still, predominantly, a Romanesque building. Many alterations and additions were madec.1187-1240, in a mature Early English style, but later medieval work is minimal. The building will be described from E to W.
The E End:
The E end of the original building comprised a choir of three aisled, straight bays, a seven-bay ambulatory and three radiating chapels. Of these elements, only the straight bays survive today. Initially the choir was unvaulted, but the remains of transverse arches (i.e. concealed buttresses) in the choir galleries have generated the theory that a barrel vault was planned, but never built (see Andrew 1980 and 1982). The remains of plinths, discovered in 1860, show that a transverse arch on shafts marked the beginning of the apsidal termination, and surviving stumps of walling in the fourth choir bay reveal that it was slightly stilted in plan.
In the early 1180s, the central apsidal chapel was replaced by a three-bay, Transitional-style Lady Chapel, and a consecration ceremony in 1184, led by Bishop Seffrid I, may have marked the completion of that work. After a serious fire in 1187, the remainder of the original apse was replaced by a two-bay choir extension (retro-choir) and, flanking the W bay of the Lady Chapel, the square-ended chapels of St Katherine and St Mary Magdalene. At the same time, the internal three-storeyed elevation of the choir straight bays was remodelled: the outer order of each arcade bay was refashioned in Purbeck marble, and vertical vaulting shafts were inserted between the bays. The gallery, with its twin openings and opus reticulatum spandrels, was left largely untouched, but the clerestorey passage was given a new arcade. Stone rib vaults were erected over the main vessel of the choir, and were supported externally by flying buttresses. The choir aisles, which may have had groin vaults originally, were also given rib vaults, and it has been suggested that blind arcading was removed from their inner walls at the same time.
The post-fire work is in a mature Early English style, and must have continued beyond the rededication ceremony of 1199, as a royal licence was granted to transport Purbeck marble by sea in 1206, and there are various references to work on the fabric throughout the first half of the 13thc. The most significant later work in the E arm is the two-bay Lady Chapel extension, dating fromc.1288-1304, with tierceron vaults and Decorated window tracery. Around 1300, the clerestorey walls of both choir and nave were raised, and the roofs rebuilt (dated by dendrochronology c. 1280-1315).
The Transepts and Crossing:
The two-bay transepts are simple, aisleless spaces, but may originally have had end galleries which would have permitted circulation around the entire building at triforium level. The original semi-circular E chapels, on two levels, were replaced by single-storeyed square chapels after the 1187 fire, and at the same time the inner clerestorey arcades were remodelled and the transepts vaulted. The chapel of the Four Virgins (i.e. the Treasury) on the E side of the S transept is the only post-fire work to incorporate Romanesque features (i.e. chevron). The great window in the S wall of the S transept dates from the early 14thc., and the N window of the N transept from the late 14thc. There is evidence that the crossing suffered from subsidence in the 12thc., and the piers had to be rebuilt or repaired. The tower was heightened in the late 13thc., and later given a Perpendicular spire based on that of Salisbury. The crossing was entirely rebuilt after its dramatic collapse during restoration work in 1861 (see VII History, below), and the piers, tower and spire are the work of Sir George Gilbert Scott, as is much of the stonework in the adjacent bays to E, S, W and N.
The Nave and W End:
The eight-bay nave is flanked by aisles and terminates in two W towers, positioned within the aisles. Like the choir, it has a three-storey elevation and was originally not vaulted, therefore the interior elevation would have had a strong horizontal, rather than a vertical, emphasis. A building break occurs in the fourth bay, but the same basic design is maintained throughout. After the fire of 1187, the elevation was remodelled in much the same manner as the choir, and rib vaults were erected. The nave aisles, which may have had groin vaults from the outset, were now given rib vaults. The N porch (bay N7) was also built in the late 12thc. St Richard's Porch (bay S3) and the Sacristy (bays S1-S2, with the Song School and Choir Library above) date from the 13thc. In the later 13thc., chapels were erected against the outer aisle walls (bays N2-N6 and S4-S7); their window tracery dates from 1847. The original aisle corbel tables may be viewed from the roof spaces of these chapels, and in the chambers over the porches.
The W façade comprises a gabled bay between two towers. The lower stages of the SW tower belong to the mid-12thc., but the upper stages have pointed apertures and were added in the late-12th or early-13thc., probably after 1210, when a storm reportedly wrecked two towers, variously identified as the central and SW tower, or the SW and NW towers. The S doorway is the most elaborate piece of Romanesque architectural sculpture in the cathedral. The 12thc. NW tower was rebuilt in 1901 by J L Pearson, having collapsed in 1630. Pearson seems to have been able to incorporate much original fabric into the east and south walls. Neither tower has a spire.
The façade between the towers has been wholly reconstructed since the 12thc., although the bases of the original W doorway were uncovered in the 1970s (boxed in, 1989). The W porch, with its quatrefoil blind arcading and Early English doorway, dates from the late 12thc., as does the triplet above the porch, and the W gable, although the decorative facing is probably reused 12thc. material. The great W window contains wooden mullions of 19thc. date.
Miscellaneous:
Aside from the architectural sculpture which is still in situ, Chichester Cathedral possesses the 'Chichester Reliefs' (Bethany and Lazarus), now displayed in the S choir aisle, and fragments of one or more reliefs, now in the Library.