EXETER CATHEDRAL

I have posted pics of Exeter Cathedral before, but haven't posted a tour of the inside.  So when we visited last weekend, I righted this omission. 

The cathedral is, like so many others, set in largish gardens, a popular gathering place on sunny days.

 

You can see the mediaeval buildings that still surround it in the background on the left.  The oldest parts of the present structure are the 12th century Norman towers and nave walls.   The building was extensively remodelled in the 13th century, hence the more ornate Gothic exterior.

The main feature of the Cathedral though is the ceiling - the longest mediaeval vault in the world.

 

The central bosses are carved and painted and hold the whole thing together.  This is the Becket Boss (top middle), depicting the murder of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170.

Here is a boss up close to give you an idea of size.

Unusually, there is also a minstrel gallery in the nave.  This was added in the 14th century.

Note the various musical instruments being played by the angels.  And this is a side window.

Glass from the main windows and many of the greatest treasures were removed during the War and thus survived when a bomb damaged the building in 1942.  The cassocks are embroidered with British plants and birds.  Although I thought they might have found some different birds to depict.

Across the centre of the nave is a 14th century screen and balcony.  The paintings were added in the 19th century.

Many of the tombs hark back to Britain's colonial past.

As do some of the carvings - this is on the pulpit, depicting the martyrdom of St Alban.

This is not quite the oldest tomb in the cathedral (there is a similar one dating from the 13th century), but I was quite shocked to see that someone had carved their initials in it.

 

An interesting 14th century husband and wife tomb.  Note the swans for her and the lion for him.

Those are the bass pipes of the organ in the background.  And this is the tomb of Bishop Oldham.

His name was apparently pronounced 'Owldom' and so the chapel is decorated throughout with owls - you can see them carved into the wall and embroidered on the kneeler

Here's a memorial that needs to be shown as a reminder to our present leaders.

This is the 15th century astronomical clock.

Note the hole in the base of the door underneath the main dial.  This was the mediaeval cat-flap for the Bishop's cat.  The clock ropes used to be greased with animal fat, a great attraction for mice, and so the cat was to make sure the mouse didn't run up the clock.

Some of the choir seats date from the construction of the cathedral and are the oldest in Britain.  But I was fascinated by the imaginative animal carvings.

There are more, even more fantastical, on the Bishop's throne.

The throne itself is supposed to be one of the finest examples of mediaeval carpentry; it's about 18m tall and constructed without any nails or screws.

 
And just to finish off, here is a modern bronze that I liked.

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL

So I've posted my walk around Salisbury (here).  Here are some pics of the cathedral.

Construction began as soon as the city was founded in 1220 and the main body was completed in just 38 years.  This makes it unique among cathedrals as being built in one architectural style (instead of being added to over the centuries).

 

It is an imposing building, standing in 80 acre grounds, the largest open green space in Britain.  The most noticeable feature however is the spire, which was only added in the 14th century.

The spire weighs over 6,000 tons and was destined to suffer the same fate as many other mediaeval spires - the supporting pillars began quite early to bend inwards under the stress - until reinforcing tie beams were added in 1668 by Sir Christopher Wren.  You can see on the floor of the cathedral where the centre of the spire was remeasured in 1737 some 12 inches from the original centre.

 

Anyway, as you can see, it has survived and is now the tallest spire in the UK. 

 

Inside the cathedral is the largest cloister in Britain.

Although quite ornate, I thought it rather elegant.  It contains two large fir trees.

The nave seems quite narrow, but leaving it open makes it the more impressive.

  

The tombs and memorials are an interesting slice of British history.

 

This is the earliest tomb, of Bishop Osmund (died 1099), moved here after the cathedral was finished.

 

This is the tomb of William Longespee, illegitimate son of Henry II and half-brother of King John, the first to be buried in the cathedral.  He attended the foundation of the cathedral but died in 1226.

 

 Here is a typical plaque on another tomb.

The tombs would originally have been decorated, like this one from the 17th century.

 

 A more modern one.

And this is the famous 'Walking Madonna' by Dame Elisabeth Frink (1981).

The original bell tower was removed in the 18th century, so this is now one of the only cathedrals without bells.  But the 1386 clock is still running, ringing bells every 15 minutes, making it the world's oldest working clock.

Two other features make this cathedral unique - it has the longest surviving original choir

 

and it houses the best preserved of the only 4 surviving original copies of the Magna Carta - no pics allowed unfortunately, so here's the one in the British Library.

 

  

The decoration on the  pillars fascinated me.  Even between cats and dogs there can be love!

    

 

I also liked the font, a modern structure, but impressive for all that.

 

And I liked the angels that decorated the walls at Christmas but which still hang there.

 

PORTSMOUTH CATHEDRAL

Portsmouth is another city we visit often and in which we have never given time to look in to the Cathedral.  So this weekend we went to Portsmouth just to visit the Cathedral.  I think I have posted pics of the outside before, but anyway here it is again.

 

The building is interesting - the original 12th century church is the 2-storey structure on the right. 

In the 17th century, the red roofed section and central tower was built.  Further modifications were added in the early 18th century.  And here the first of the building's links with the sea were set with the addition of the wooded cupola on the tower with a light to assist ships entering Portsmouth harbour.

In the 1920s the church was confirmed as the new Cathedral of Portsmouth (there was already a Catholic Cathedral) and the extensions to the left and right of the tower and the additional nave were added soon after.  By the 20th century, the brick end wall had become unstable, but work to replace the end wall with a small extension eventually ran out of funds in the Second World War.  The new entrance, with its flanking towers, was eventually completed in 1991.

From the moment you enter the doors, you are reminded of the sea, but not only the strong naval connection.

I thought the lighting in the choir resembled ships bells, but the cathedral officials assured me that was coincidence.

You can see the maritime influence too in the badge worn by the officials.

This then is the interior, viewed from the modern section into the mediaeval sanctuary.

The simple mediaeval altar in the old church somehow has a clean contemporary look. 

 

On the exterior wall of the original church there remains a fragment of the original  fresco

 

and some  ancient carved figures, now looking as if they are carved out of driftwood.

 

But it is the gravestones which give the lie to the modern feel.

In another grave, an unknown representative seaman from the 1545 sinking of the Mary Rose has been reintered.

I thought this was a nice, and moving, touch, given the number of other military monuments in the various chapels (inevitable in a town with so much naval history).

And I liked the cross above it

This is the D-Day memorial

 

and this is the more modern memorial to the men of HMS Glamorgan, which was lost in the Falklands War.

This is the oldest memorial, to the Captain who led the expedition to capture Cadiz in 1596, but who died on return to Britain in 1600.

 

And this is a copy of the marriage certificate of Charles II who was married here in 1662.

The maritime theme is continued in the hassocks (the one on the left bears the curious Islamic lookalike Portsmouth arms).

 

The original weathervane, again nautical in design, is now inside the church, having been replaced on the spire with one which is lighter in weight.

Afterwards, we didn't have to go far to find a cafe for lunch.

I had not heard it put quite this way before, but one of the guides told me that the streets used once to crowd in on the Cathedral, such that it was almost invisible except from the air, but one benefit of the constant wartime bombing of Portsmouth was that the surrounding alleyways and narrow lanes were cleared, leaving the Cathedral visible in all its glory.  The nearest surviving houses are now a street away.

The Cathedral itself emerged almost unscathed from the War.