View FULL SIZE to see the Beauty - British History - Magnificent North Entrance - Westminster Abbey, London, England.
British History - Magnificent North Entrance - Westminster Abbey, London, England.
The north side of the church is supported by nine buttresses, each of five gradations, with pointed windows between them; the buttresses are connected with the clerestory of the nave by slender arches, and the wall finishes with battlements.
The great door of the northern transept is an arch sprung from four large pillars on either side, with foliated capitals. The wall is of considerable thickness, and on each side of the great door it is formed into two arches by handsome pillars; the lesser entrances to the aisles are four pillars in depth, with ribbed roofs, having figures of angels at the intersections of the ribs. Above the doorways is a colonnade or range of pierced arches. Four massive buttresses secure the front; those at the angles terminate in octagons, and are connected with the upper part of the walls, over the side-aisles, by strong arches. Between the colonnade and the point of the roof is a beautiful "rose window," which was rebuilt in the year 1722. A great part of the north transept was rebuilt in 1828. "Time was," writes Mr. Charles Knight, "when this front had its statues of the twelve apostles at full length, and a vast number of other saints and martyrs, intermixed with intaglios, devices, and abundance of fretwork; and when, on account of its extreme beauty, it was called 'Solomon's Porch;' and now, even injured as it is, the whole forms a rich and beautiful façade."
The north transept became known as Statesmen's Aisle following the burial of Prime Minister William Pitt, Earl of Chatham in 1778. Here also can be found the graves of Charles James Fox, William Gladstone and Lord Palmerston and memorials to Benjamin Disraeli and Sir Robert Peel among others. The stained glass in the north rose window was designed by Sir James Thornhill in 1722, although it was altered in the late 19th century by J.L.Pearson. The three small chapels on the eastern side of this transept contain some fascinating monuments including that by Roubiliac to Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (pictured) which shows a skeletal figure of Death emerging from a cavern to aim his dart at the dying lady.
In the north ambulatory can be found the large memorial to General James Wolfe. The upper Islip chapel was dedicated as the Nurses Memorial chapel in 1950 in memory of UK and Commonwealth nurses who died in the 1939-45 war (this chapel can be viewed on application to the information desk). Many fine Elizabethan monuments can be seen in St John the Baptist's chapel and St Paul's chapel, including the tallest monument in the Abbey (36 feet) to Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon.
View FULL SIZE to see the Beauty - British History - Magnificent North Entrance - Westminster Abbey, London, England.
British History - Magnificent North Entrance - Westminster Abbey, London, England.
The north side of the church is supported by nine buttresses, each of five gradations, with pointed windows between them; the buttresses are connected with the clerestory of the nave by slender arches, and the wall finishes with battlements.
The great door of the northern transept is an arch sprung from four large pillars on either side, with foliated capitals. The wall is of considerable thickness, and on each side of the great door it is formed into two arches by handsome pillars; the lesser entrances to the aisles are four pillars in depth, with ribbed roofs, having figures of angels at the intersections of the ribs. Above the doorways is a colonnade or range of pierced arches. Four massive buttresses secure the front; those at the angles terminate in octagons, and are connected with the upper part of the walls, over the side-aisles, by strong arches. Between the colonnade and the point of the roof is a beautiful "rose window," which was rebuilt in the year 1722. A great part of the north transept was rebuilt in 1828. "Time was," writes Mr. Charles Knight, "when this front had its statues of the twelve apostles at full length, and a vast number of other saints and martyrs, intermixed with intaglios, devices, and abundance of fretwork; and when, on account of its extreme beauty, it was called 'Solomon's Porch;' and now, even injured as it is, the whole forms a rich and beautiful façade."
The north transept became known as Statesmen's Aisle following the burial of Prime Minister William Pitt, Earl of Chatham in 1778. Here also can be found the graves of Charles James Fox, William Gladstone and Lord Palmerston and memorials to Benjamin Disraeli and Sir Robert Peel among others. The stained glass in the north rose window was designed by Sir James Thornhill in 1722, although it was altered in the late 19th century by J.L.Pearson. The three small chapels on the eastern side of this transept contain some fascinating monuments including that by Roubiliac to Lady Elizabeth Nightingale (pictured) which shows a skeletal figure of Death emerging from a cavern to aim his dart at the dying lady.
In the north ambulatory can be found the large memorial to General James Wolfe. The upper Islip chapel was dedicated as the Nurses Memorial chapel in 1950 in memory of UK and Commonwealth nurses who died in the 1939-45 war (this chapel can be viewed on application to the information desk). Many fine Elizabethan monuments can be seen in St John the Baptist's chapel and St Paul's chapel, including the tallest monument in the Abbey (36 feet) to Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon.