Slide Shows on Cathedral and Church Architecture - by Michael G Hardy

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Norwich Cathedral

Details of Slide Show - by Michael G Hardy

Description of Slide Show      Timings of Slide Show      Some Illustrations

Contents, Important Dates, and Number of Slides Shown

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Description of Slide Show

 

We start by considering that a diocese for East Anglia was only the fifth to be established in England, but after just 42 years was divided into two in 673. The see had three other homes before finally settling in the expanding town of Norwich in 1094, as part of the Norman policy of moving sees to large towns.

Norwich is the only English Cathedral to maintain its original Norman floor plan. The foundation stone was laid in 1096 and the Norman builders completed their cathedral in 1145. The apsidal east end with its ambulatory and some of its original chapels all make a unique survival. Most of our Norman Greater Churches lost such features when east ends needed to be enlarged, this was usually achieved by total rebuilding. We take a detailed look at the Norman building work, following its progression from the Eastern arm to the transepts and finally to the Nave. The transepts have some interesting features, in particular we study the eastern walls and find differences between them, and particularly at the upper levels we notice that some bays are rather narrower than others. The nave arcade has a double bay arrangement, with main piers surrounded by 16 shafts, and subsidiary piers having just 7 shafts. This alternating pattern and its decoration forms one of the most complicated patterns of any Romanesque church. The pattern changes at the eastern end of the nave, where there were originally four circular piers, and we consider why they might have been built like this. One very distinguishing fact about the nave is the height and width of the gallery arches, these being single arches and not sub-divided as we see in most of our greater churches. The last part of the Norman work was the central tower, and we look at its unique and bold decoration, obviously designed to catch the eye. Although much of the stonework has been replaced, we can confidently say that the original layout has been preserved.

The medieval history of the building has largely been dominated by a series of fires which damaged the building and led to extensive repair work having to be done on many occasions. However this history eventually led to all four arms of the cathedral being vaulted in stone to prevent further risk of wooden ceilings catching fire. These perpendicular style vaults were all built between 1463 and 1509 and they blend amazingly well with the Norman walls that support them. To end Part One we look at the remarkable vaulting of the nave, which is 250 feet or 76 metres long and has a wonderful collection of stone bosses. There are 339 in total, and 255 of them represent scenes from the bible, telling the story from the creation to Doomsday. Each of the 14 bays features a separate story, 7 from the Old Testament, and 7 from the New. We are able to take a detailed look at the figures and scenes that are portrayed in the carvings of some of these remarkable bosses which are now 540 years old.

 

Part Two commences with the spire being built around 1473 to replace a wooden one which had been destroyed by fire.  This work was closely followed by the Presbytery vault, where we find it quite impossible to forget the name of Bishop Goldwell who had it built, as his rebus of a gold well appears on 94 of the 128 bosses of this vault. We see other changes to the cathedral, which all date from around the same time, such as the panelling of the presbytery walls and the raising of the nave gallery walls.  I have been lucky enough to have permission to closely inspect and photograph the 15th century misericords of the choir stalls, and I show many details of this wonderful surviving medieval craftsmanship. Luckily this woodwork was saved when the cathedral suffered its fourth major fire in 1509.  After this the transepts were vaulted and we take a brief look at these vaults which have 150 bosses of biblical scenes.

We look at restoration work and some rather regrettable changes that were made to the west front, making Norwich another English cathedral that has a less than perfect west front.

However one of the most memorable parts of the cathedral is studied next, the medieval cloisters with their fine arcades and vaulting gradually built over a period of 130 years. The arcades are a splendid example showing how tracery developed during the 14th century, and the vaulting has a wonderful set of bosses where one can trace how styles and designs changed as the different sections were added. Compared to those in the cathedral at 70 to 80 feet above the floor, the ones in the cloisters are far easier for people to see and appreciate, but I am sure that only a small fraction of visitors take advantage of them being just above their heads.

In the Full Version of the show, we then look at some of the buildings around the cathedral close which is the largest in England and see the gates which lead into the close from different directions, and for different purposes. We then conclude by looking at a few of the monuments in the cathedral, which recall some of the people we have already mentioned in the history of this magnificent building.

 

 

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Timings of Slide Show:

Norwich Cathedral

 

Full

Version

Abridged

Version

Part One

  49 minutes

45 minutes

Part Two

  54 minutes

39 minutes

TOTAL

103 minutes

(maximum)

84 minutes

(minimum)

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Tiers of arches on south side of nave

 

Rare SE Chapel (c1110)

 

 

 

Nave (1121-1145)

 

Nave Vaulting (c1463)

 

Nave Vaulting Boss of Noah

 

 

Two views of the cloisters at Norwich Cathedral

 

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Contents, Important Dates, Number of Slides Shown

 

Please note that some of the dates quoted are only approximate

 

Part One

Subject

Date

Full

Version

Abridged

Version

Introduction

x

4 4

Early History of Diocese

631 - 1094

7 6
Bishop's Throne x 6 5

Foundation of Cathedral

1096

1 1

East End

1096 - 1120

29 28

Transepts

completed 1120

34 32

Nave

1121 - 1145

35 34

Tower

completed 1145

26 26

1st Fire (26 years after completion)

1171

1 1

Wall Paintings in Nave S Aisle

c1175

3 x

Lady Chapel rebuilt

1245

10 10

2nd Fire after Riots

1272

3 3

Cathedral Re-consecrated

1278

1 1

Reliquary Arch

1272 (and 1424)

8 8

Wooden Spire collapses

1361

1 1
Presbytery Clerestory rebuilt 1362 - 1369 3 2
3rd Fire 1463 1 1
Nave Vault added after 1463 21 20
Nave Bosses after 1463 29 24
Choir Screen renewed after 1463 5 x

Conclusion of Part One

x

3

3

Total Slides in Part One:

231

210

 

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Part Two

Subject

Date

Full

Version

Abridged

Version

Spire built c1473 6 6
Presbytery Vault c1472 - c1499 10 10
Presbytery Bosses c1472 - c1499 9 9
Presbytery Arcade Panelling c1499 4 4
Nave Gallery Walls raised late 15C 7 7
Choir Stalls 1420, 1480, etc 32 32
4th Fire 1509 1 1
Transepts Vaulted 1509 5 5
Transepts Bosses 1509 7 7
Catton Screen, S Transept/Aisle c1501 - c1536 5 5
Dissolution 1538 4 4
Victorian Restorations 19C 2 2
West Front x 20 20
Cloisters - Arcades 1297 - 1395 10 10
Cloisters - Vaulting 1316 - 1430 5 5
Cloisters - Bosses 1316 - 1430 26 26
Cloisters - Miscellaneous Features x 17 17
Conclusion (Abridged Version) x x 3
Other Monastic Buildings x 10 x
Cathedral Close x 10 x
Cathedral Close Gateways x 9 x
Miscellaneous in Cathedral x 7 x
Monuments x 27 x

Conclusion

x

4

x

Total Slides in Part Two:

237

173

 

Slide Show on "Norwich Cathedral"

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This page last modified on 15th December 2005