C. H. B. Quennell

“ The billet enrichment on the main arches, and the chevron or zig-zag on those of the triforium, have been looked upon as indicating that this part of the building—the five western bays of nave—is later than the presbytery, the arches there lacking this ornament. But as these are quite the earliest forms of ornament used by the Norman builders, their occurrence here at Norwich cannot prove much. It is better perhaps to reserve judgment, and be content with merely stating the facts and the more generally accredited theories as to the age of the western part of the nave. ”

“ An amusing tale is told by Harrod of Roger Bigod's burial in the cathedral. He was the founder of Thetford Priory, and died in 1107, leaving directions that his body should be buried in his own monastery. The prior of Thetford was much perplexed to hear that Bishop Herbert had taken possession of the body, and had determined that it should be interred with all the due solemnities at Norwich. Herbert was anxious to secure for his own foundation so valuable a source of income as the offerings and celebrations at the tomb of a pious man like Bigod ”

“ The Tower and Spire mark the crossing of the choir and transepts, the tower only being Norman, and square on plan, with flat Norman buttresses, covered with vertical shafts on the face of each. These buttresses start from the level of the parapets to Nave, Transept, and Presbytery, and rise right up until, well over the parapet of the tower, they are finished by crocketted pinnacles. Between these buttresses are horizontal bands of design: the lowest, a Norman arcade of nine arches, three of which are pierced as windows; then, above this, a smaller wall arcade with interlaced arches ”

“ In height it is composed of what, at first sight, appears a [32] bewildering confusion of arches, arcades, and windows. Over the aisle windows, hidden by the north walk of cloisters, comes a Norman wall arcading; and over this the Norman triforium windows blocked up, and again, above the later Perpendicular triforium, superimposed on the old, and finished with a battlemented parapet. Behind this come the triforium roof, and then beyond the original Norman clerestory, each bay with a triple arch formation, the centre arch pierced for a window. And then above all, the lead roof over nave vault. ”

“ The Bauchon Chapel—corrupted to Beauchamp—dedicated to St. Mary-the-Less, projects to the south of the third bay of the presbytery aisle past the tower, (marked B on plan) . It was founded in the fourteenth century and the vault added in the fifteenth century. Its bosses represent the Life, Death, and Assumption of the Virgin. The chapel is now used as the consistory court. The bishop's throne, erected by Dean Lloyd late in the eighteenth century in the choir, has found a resting-place here. ”

“ Herbert de Losinga was the first bishop of Norwich, to which town the see was transferred in compliance with a decree of Lanfranc's Synod, held in 1075, that all sees should be fixed at the principal towns in their dioceses.
Felix was the first bishop of East Anglia, and fixed his see at Dunwich in 630.
The see was divided by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 669 into those of Elmham and Dunwich; and these again were united under Wildred in 870, and the see fixed at [6] Elmham, and where it remained till 1070, when Herfast, a chaplain of William the Conqueror's, moved his see to Thetford. ”

“ He had been Prior of Fécamp, Abbot of Ramsey, Sewer to William Rufus, had governed the East Anglian bishopric first from the episcopal [98] see at Thetford, had transferred it to Norwich, and founded the Cathedral Priory, and if this were not sufficient, he founded and endowed many other churches and monasteries in the East Country. His repentance had been sincere, and in one of his letters he refers to "my past life, which, alas! is darkened by many foul sins." ”

“ Gothic or Christian art was developed from the remains of a Roman civilisation, and so long as it had the healthy organic growth which was consequent on the evolution of a series of constructive problems fairly faced and in turn conquered, and again, stimulated by the growth of the Church, to which it was handmaiden, developed style after style in regular sequence, until the builders, finding they had conquered construction, took to imposing ornament. ”

“ The dormitories in all monasteries were connected with one of the transepts, usually the south, so that the monks could at all hours easily gain access to the cathedral for the performance of the offices of their order; it is probable, therefore, that the rooms over this east walk of the cloisters here at Norwich may have been used as dormitories, with a staircase on the western side of the south transept leading to them. The dormitories are supposed by some antiquarians to have been placed south of the destroyed chapter-house ”

“ The South Transept projects boldly forward from under the tower; without aisles, its ridge and parapet correspond in height to those of the nave; this narrowness, with the [35] tower and spire showing over behind, gives it an appearance of height, as approached from the lower close. This effect of height is emphasised by the partition of the design in its width, by flat Norman buttresses, with shafts in the angles, and by the flat faces of the flanking turrets. ”

“ The Jesus Chapel formerly belonged to the bishop. On plan its shape is that of segments of circles joined, the altar placed in the smaller part. A simple wall arcade runs round the lower half, the whole being covered by a plain [84] quadri-partite vault. The windows are insertions of Perpendicular work, varied in character from the Norman work of the chapel itself. The mural colouring is a restoration; it may be something like the original, but the general effect is somewhat garish.
The Ante-Reliquary Bridge Chapel.
[85]
Doorway and Screen between South Transept and Aisle of Presbytery. ”

“ In Britton's "History of Norwich" is a drawing which is reproduced at p. 15. It will be seen that the turrets at each side of the west window are shown finished with stone cupolas, the tops of which were level with the apex of the gable. The two outside flanking turrets are shown finished by circular [31] drums above the parapet, and covered with leaden cupolas; these, with the Perpendicular battlements, were probably added as the mask before referred to, and necessitated by the imposition of an additional storey at the triforium level. ”

“ Bishop Lyhart left to his successor, Bishop Goldwell, in his will 2200 marks for repairing the dilapidations caused by the fire of 1463. During this bishop's episcopate we find that the cathedral was brought nearly to that state in which we have it now,—the tower was still further adorned with Perpendicular battlements, the presbytery was vaulted in with stone, and the flying-buttresses added around the eastern apse to take the consequent thrust of the new vault. ”

“ The Tower and Triforium Walks, to which access is gained by a staircase in the east wall of north transept, are of much interest. In the triforium the imposition of the later work on the Norman is clearly noticeable, and the original Norman triple windows walled up with the wall shafts which once supported the semi-arches of the triforium roof. Some of the best views of the interior are to be gained from the triforium and clerestory paths. ”

“ The nobility at this time were securing church preferments for their families to keep pace with the formation of the professions and general advance of learning. He died August 8, 1369, and was buried in the cathedral, before the rood loft.
Henry le Dispencer (1370-1406) was consecrated at Rome, 21st April 1370. He was hated by the monks, who had no share in his election. He was of martial feeling, and took a prominent part in quelling the local disturbance incident on Wat Tyler's rebellion, 1381. He was employed by Urban VI. against his rival, Pope Clement VII. ”

“ There is enough metal in this piece of mediaeval work to make a dozen modern replicas.
The Presbytery consists of two double severies, or four compartments, terminated by a semi-circular apse of five compartments. The four compartments on either side have, in the lower stages of their design, rich four-centred arches of Perpendicular period, with niches between on the piers; the spandrels are filled in to a horizontal line, above which, at the level of the triforium floor, is an elaborate cusped cresting. The triforium is Norman, lofty in scale. ”

“ Bishop Nykke died in 1535-6, and was succeeded by William Rupgg or Repes, who was the last bishop elected by the chapter of the monks of the Benedictine monastery of Norwich. Monasticism was doomed; Wolsey had fallen, and his property had been confiscated in 1529. The smaller monasteries were dissolved in 1536, and in 1538 the greater shared the same fate, among them Norwich. ”

“ He was consecrated to the see on Mid-lent Sunday, 1289, at Canterbury, by John Peckham archbishop. His election, however, was displeasing to the diocese. He was translated to Ely in 1299.
John Salmon (1299-1325) , prior of Ely, had been elected bishop by the monks, but was appointed to the see at Norwich at the same time that Walpole was translated to Ely. He was consecrated by Archbishop Winchelsey October 3, at Canterbury, and was one of the envoys sent to the Court of Philip the Fair King of France, to arrange the marriage of the young king Edward II. (1307) . ”

“ On the 9th of July 1189, King Henry died, and was succeeded by his third son, Richard: John of Oxford assisting [101] at the coronation. Richard had no sooner been crowned than he led the crusade to the Holy Land, which had been preparing in Henry's time, and John of Oxford was forced to proceed to the Pope to ask for his absolution of the oath he had taken to follow the Cross, on account of his old age and infirmity. ”

“ Though we, in this part, are following up the history of the cathedral structure, yet it may be interesting to note that it was during the episcopate of Bishop Eborard that the boy saint, St. William of Norwich, was said to have been martyred. He was the son of country folk who gained a living by agriculture. During his life he worked many miracles, and by his death gave Norwich a share of his glory. It is related that he was tortured by the Jews, and on the spot where they were discovered secretly burying him, in Thorpe Wood, a chapel was erected called the Chapel of St. ”

“ This lengthy preamble may seem somewhat unjustifiable, but if we are to study any building aright, and if we are to interpret in any measure its meaning and symbolism, it cannot wholly be done on any line of abstract aestheticism or [7] archaeological instinct, however intuitive it may be: we must in some measure think of the builders of old times and of the influences which with them produced its inception and have left it to come down the ages to us. ”

“ Felix (630-47) must needs have been a man strong in his Faith; he christianised the whole of that district which now includes Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. He died on the 8th of March, and was canonized after death. Felixstowe, where he is said to have founded schools, keeps his memory green in the East Country; but Dunwich, where he fixed his see, has long since been covered by the encroaching waves.
Sigeberht resigned the crown to his kinsman Egric, and had entered a monastery to finish his days in peace. ”

“ The aim of each writer has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the student of Archaeology and History, and yet not too technical in language for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist. ”

“ This vault at Norwich may be taken as typical of the last legitimate development of the stone roof; it was the precursor of the later fan vaulting, such as we find in Henry VII.'s chapel at Westminster, where legitimate construction was replaced by ostentatious ingenuity and the accumulation of needless ornament and detail.
The carved bosses here at Norwich, occurring at the intersection of the ribs, are worth careful study. ”

“ He had also a morbid belief in the power of money—he probably would have agreed that "every man has his price," and his simoniacal dealings with William Rufus, which procured his preferment to Norwich, afford evidence of this weak trait in his character.
Herbert's birthplace is disputed, and, as Dean Goulburn remarked, this is but natural: a man so justly celebrated would not, or, rather, historians will not be content with one ”