H. J. L. J. Massé

“ Beautiful as the choir is, it owes much of its effect to its vaulted roof, which is a fine specimen of early Decorated work. The vaulting ribs spring from small engaged shafts, which are carried up the face of the wall from the main piers, and then radiate from very ornate capitals over the vault. A fine colour effect must have been presented by the original ceiling painted and frescoed.
The bosses are less elaborate and less varied than those in the choir at Gloucester, but are well carved, consisting for the most part of vine-leaves delicately treated. ”

“ How Morwent would have made the whole body of the church "of like worke" is another matter for speculation. Would he have kept the Norman piers in their present position, and revaulted the roof after the model of his vaulting in the second bay from the west end, or would he have diminished the number of piers so as to give a distance between them equal to the space between the west wall and the first pier he erected? It is difficult to realise how such a herculean task would have been carried out with safety to the fabric. ”

“ The doorway from the cloister to the south aisle is a beautiful piece of fifteenth century work. It consists of a low pointed arch, struck from two centres, in the hollow moulding of which are canopies. Below are pedestals for figures. At the top the arch is embattled, and above it are niches, seven in all, with pedestals and canopies, richly ornamented and carved. On either side, over the canopy is an angel bearing a plain shield. This doorway was filled with stonework up to 1892, and had been so filled for many years, but has since undergone restoration of a very careful kind. ”

“ The square flanking towers, with their later spires, the arcading over the head of the window, and the graceful curve in the battlement are all worthy of attention, and will serve to confuse visitors before they realise that the Norman architecture is concealed under a later casing, and that there is a great deal of old work re-used in the new.
There is a curious buttress, too, which goes across the west window of this transept to strengthen the south-west corner of the great tower. In fact, the south side of the church is the only side that, as builders say, has "settled" at all. ”

“ Formerly the old font, of which portions remain in the church, stood in the apsidal chapel in the south transept, and the choice of position for the new one is not quite happy. The canopy is very fine work, but the font as a whole is as much too high as the choir screen is too low. It is also placed at far too great a height above the surrounding floor to be comfortable for a party of sponsors, and from its height it interferes with the beautiful vista of the nave as viewed from the outside of the open west door on a fine day in summer. ”

“ In the days that are to come, possibly, the Georgian flooring may be taken up, and the tiles now hidden from view will be revealed in places where they have not been broken up, where graves have been dug in the nave and aisles.
Perhaps the weakest point in the cathedral is the modern glass. There is much that shows careful work and thought, but there has been no systematic controlling spirit at work to suggest, to guide, or to check. The chief blots, too, are the so-called memorial windows, and the reason is not hard to find. ”

“ There are, however, many fine bosses, and, like those in the nave, they have been treated in a tentative way with colour and gold. As a whole, the effect of decorated bosses standing out in such strong relief from the simple, unadorned stonework is rather spotty and distracting. The arms of the Despenser family are to be found on some of the bosses in the south aisle, and it is to the munificence of that powerful family that the execution of the work is due. The Norman roof of the aisles was a lean-to roof of wood, as is indicated by the half-arch between either aisle and the transept. ”

“ To fully appreciate the beauty of the cathedral, it must be studied under different aspects and at different times. Much will depend upon the mood of the visitor, much, too, upon the time of day. The Lady Chapel at 7 A.M. is quite a different thing from the Lady Chapel at 10:30 or 12 noon, though always beautiful. The same holds good with the choir and the nave. A slanting light through the south clerestory playing fitfully upon the lace-work of the north side of the choir, or the sturdy pillars of the ever-impressive nave, gives a charm that cannot be described. ”

“ The old shafting has been chipped away on the west face of the stonework opposite to the north-east tower pier. As one turns round the corner into the north ambulatory or choir aisle, it will be noticed that on the wall is a monument by Flaxman to Lady Clarke; it is small and unobtrusive, but the sculpture is thoroughly good and worthy of a great artist.
On the right hand opposite is the Warwick Chapel (p. 83) , of which the glory in part has departed, viz., the decoration in colour and in gold, and much of the architectural detail. ”

“ There are still to be found enthusiasts who would like to remove the screens from our cathedrals on the ground that they interfere with the utility and the beauty of the nave and the choir. But these well-meaning people quite overlook the fact that the beauty of the interior would be entirely marred by such a change. Firstly, the organ would have to be chopped into two and stowed away in the triforium, unless these enthusiasts would prefer to revert to an organ-gallery blocking up one of the transepts. Secondly, the stalls would have to be mutilated and rearranged. ”

“ Would it not be of some use once for all, and with the least delay possible, to set on foot an association for the purpose of watching over and protecting these relics, which, scanty as they are now become, are still wonderful treasures, all the more priceless in this age of the world, when the newly-invented study of living history is the chief joy of so many of our lives? ”

“ The coffin lid bears a rich floriated cross, with a representation of an abbot at the one end, and that of a lamb at the other. The arch over the tomb is crocketed, and is enriched with a profusion of ball-flower ornament in the moulding. The finial is very heavy, though beautifully wrought to represent birds and foliage. At the spring of the arch is the very curious figure of a devil. Two pinnacles [28] at the sides have most grotesque faces at the corners instead of the conventional foliage. This idea has been adopted in the decoration of the tomb-recesses in the nave in Bristol Cathedral. ”

“ The last window in this south alley is a memorial to R. B. Cooper, Esq., as the brass tablet sets forth. The glass, which is by Hardman, represents the conversion and the execution of St. Paul.
Some of the windows in the cloister are glazed with a peculiarly charming white glass, which admits plenty of light, but is not transparent. The effect is most restful to the eyes after examining some of the bizarre creations in the other windows.
When the cloister windows are entirely filled with glass they will contain a history of the Life of our Lord. ”

“ At present what the present Dean, in his article on the Great Abbeys of the Severn Lands, calls its "pathetic scarred beauty," is temporarily veiled by a very modern screen. The reredos, though a ruin, has a charm all its own, and it is better to leave it frankly as it is now than to partly hide it. There are some, no doubt, who would restore it, but it is to be hoped that funds will not be forthcoming. Restoration has effectually marred the beauty of the pavement of the choir, and given us a flashy reredos there, of which the less said the better ”

“ Close to Abbot Alan's tomb is another recess which now is without its coffin. The arch is pointed and crocketed with pinnacles at the sides. In the absence of a tomb the chief interest consists in the old encaustic tiles which have been transferred here from other parts of the building, a few of them having been found in 1875 under the then stone pavement of the choir. They are now safe here from the destroying power of the ubiquitous tourist's foot. ”

“ Seen from the gardens in the side streets close by when the pear-trees are in bloom, or in the full blaze of a hot summer day, or again later in the autumn when the leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still, in snow time, it is always full of beauty. ”

“ Once again the Manor of Tewkesbury passed by the female line, and into the distinguished family of the Beauchamps, with whom Richard le Despenser's sister Isabelle was connected by her marriage with Richard Beauchamp, or Ricardus de Bello Campo as the Register calls him when it does not give his name as Becham. He was killed at the siege of Breaux in France in 1421, and his young widow erected the sumptuous chantry chapel known as the Warwick Chapel over his remains. ”

“ The nave is lighted by rows of gas jets along the triforium or gallery, extending over the arches of the nave. The effect is good when the building requires to be lighted by artificial light, but the fumes and smoke from the gas have sadly discoloured the small columns and the arches in the triforium, and no doubt in time to come more serious mischief to the stonework will be developed. The fumes of the gas will also be fatal to the decorative pipes of the organ, and, with the assistance of the fumes from the radiators, will ruin any memorial brass that may be erected in the building. ”

“ What I wish for, therefore, is that an association shall be set on foot to keep a watch on old monuments, to protest against all 'restoration' that means more than keeping out wind and weather, and, by all means, literary and other, to awaken a feeling that our ancient buildings are not mere ecclesiastical toys, but sacred monuments of the nation's growth and hope. ”

“ The bosses will repay careful examination with a glass.
Viewed from the door in the screen, the choir looks in very truth a piece of Perpendicular work, as the Norman substructure is then for the most part concealed. A closer examination, however, will prove that the Norman work is all there—that it has been veiled over with tracery from the floor level to the vaulting with open screen-work, fixed on to the Norman masonry, which was pared down to receive it. ”

“ Blunt in "Tewkesbury and its Associations" says, there are many people who cannot hear about monks without immediately thinking of nuns. It would seem that the room communicated with the dorter or dormitory, and was designed for invalid monks, who from it might hear mass sung in the church without going downstairs. In the south-east corner of the transept a staircase gives access to this chamber, and communicates with the triforium of the transept, the clerestory of the choir, the vaulting of the ambulatory as well as that of the tower. ”

“ On a bright hot day the pinnacles seem so far off in the haze as to suggest a dream of fairyland. On a wet day, after a shower, the tower has the appearance of being so close at hand that it almost seems to speak. Viewed by moonlight, the tower has an unearthly look, which cannot well be described. The tower is 225 feet high to the top of the pinnacles, and the effect of it is extremely fine. From the main cornice upwards, the whole of the stonework is open, and composed of what at a distance appears to be delicate tracery, and mullions, and crocketed pinnacles.23
THE CATHEDRAL IN 1727. ”

“ Whether the wooden roof decayed or was destroyed by fire, it was found necessary in the early part of the fourteenth century to re-roof the nave, and the present vaulting was then constructed. Beautiful though it is architecturally, it has the effect of dwarfing the nave, as it springs directly from the tops of the piers in the nave. In character it is a simple pointed vaulting, and the ribs at their many points of intersection are lavishly decorated with bosses. ”

“ Anthony on her left. At her feet there was to be an escutcheon, bearing her arms impaled with those of her late husband—who had died just three months before her—supported by two griffins; and at the [87] side there were to be statues of poor men and women in humble apparel with their beads in their hands. From the Abbey Register this part of the lady's last will and testament seems to have been carried out; but nothing remains of these added figures or of the tomb. The chapel is less perfect on the south, or choir side, than on that which faces the north aisle. ”