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As you gaze up at the spectacular remains of Fountains Abbey, in its heyday one of the richest monasteries in medieval Britain, it strikes you as somewhat ironic that its founders had abandoned a comfortable lifestyle in favour of simplicity, servitude… and a considerable degree of suffering.
In December 1132, the atmosphere in the nearby Benedictine Abbey of St Mary’s in York was somewhat less than peaceful. Far from following the discipline prescribed by St Benedict in the sixth century, the monks at St Mary’s were indulging themselves a little too freely for the liking of some of their brethren.
According to reputable sources, a riot broke out and the rebels – 13 monks who craved a more spartan existence – fled to the Archbishop of York for protection. The Archbishop was not too badly off himself, owning extensive lands around Ripon, and he granted them permission to establish a new monastery in the valley of the River Skell.
Snowdrop carpetView from west, showing dormitory and cellariumGreat news for the monks… they could build a new life for themselves! The bad news was that it was winter, and they had nowhere to stay. The valley, far from being the rural idyll that it appears today, was considered at that time to be “more fit for wild beasts than men to inhabit.” It did, however, offer a degree of shelter as well as a plentiful source of building materials and a good supply of drinking water. The National Trust guidebook says that the monks lived under an elm tree and covered themselves with straw; if this was indeed the case, they were hardy and committed individuals.
Although the Archbishop of York sent regular supplies of bread, the monks needed support of a different kind. They wrote to Bernard, the Abbot of Clairvaux Abbey in France, who despatched a monk to instruct them in the observance of Canonical Hours; he would also teach them how to build an abbey in accordance with Cistercian principles.
DoorwayThe first church was made of wood, but soon afterwards a much more impressive edifice was rising from the valley floor: the present Abbey church, with its magnificent west front, was finished around 1160. Stonemasons used locally-hewn sandstone, and massive oak beams supported the roof. Inside, the white-painted walls reflected the sunlight that streamed in through the many windows, and the effect must have been both stunning and uplifting. What must it have been like to hear a choir singing in there?
The Cistercian order, which the monks had adopted, called for a life of self-imposed hardship; they wore coarse wool habits and followed a strict routine of prayer and meditation, which involved long night vigils as well as daytime worship. They must have been freezing for most of the time… although there is a crumb of comfort in the survival of a ‘warming room’, where huge log fires allowed them a precious few minutes of warmth before embarking on their next duty. In the south end of the transept there is still a doorway, through which the monks would have emerged at two o’clock in the morning as they made their way from their dormitory and down some stairs towards the church, their steps lit only by candlelight.
In 1170, around 60 monks were living at Fountains Abbey, along with 200 lay brothers. The lay brothers were essential to the survival of the Abbey, because they were skilled craftsmen such as stonemasons, shoemakers, smiths and tanners. Many more were farm labourers and shepherds, managing the monastery’s ever-expanding estates. Some of them slept in the large dormitory at Fountains Abbey, while others lived on neighbouring farms. The system worked so efficiently that, by the mid-1400s, the monastery was one of the richest in England, and fleeces from the sheep were being sold as far afield as Italy. Hardly the spartan establishment to which its founders had aspired.
With guest houses, abbots’ quarters, dormitories, a refectory, kitchens, a cellarium for food storage, an infirmary, and a muniment room for the safe keeping of important books and papers, this large complex required precise and careful management. The monks were pretty much self-sufficient: there was a mill just across the river, grinding wheat, rye, barley and oats for bread; in the wool house, fleeces from the Abbey’s sheep were made into clothes and blankets; a tannery ensured an ongoing supply of leather and skins, and fishponds offered a healthy source of food. Hillside springs provided fresh water, while the toilets or ‘reredorter’ were contained in a two-storey extension over the River Skell. Not a bad idea! Although chilly, I should imagine.
Passing travellers were always welcome, and beggars were given food left over from the monks’ table. While ordinary visitors were shown into modest accommodation, the more prestigious guests were entertained in style; there are records of minstrels, travelling players and a ‘strange fabulist’ in the Abbey’s expense sheets. The elderly and the sick were cared for in the infirmary, which was a sizeable building in itself. But no women were admitted within the sacred walls: they had to remain in the Outer Court.
Blood-letting was one of the monks’ less attractive pastimes, as if they didn’t already subject themselves to enough rigours. The practice, which was carried out three or four times a year, was intended to purify the body. (If I was ever in any doubt of my absolute unsuitability for a cloistered life, this seals the matter). The extracted blood was later buried in reverence.
It sounds as if they all did pretty well – blood-letting notwithstanding – but that’s not to say that the Abbey and its inhabitants never suffered hard times. There were years of poor harvests and famine, and these in turn led to skirmishes by desperate raiders from Scotland. In the mid-1300s the Black Death reared its ugly face, carrying away at least a third of the Abbey’s inhabitants and leaving a shortage of labourers to till the fields.
East frontThe Abbey’s most noticeable feature, the 167-foot tower known as Huby’s Tower, was a comparatively late addition; prior to this, there would have been a smaller ‘lantern tower’ placed centrally over the church. Built in 1500, Huby’s Tower was the inspiration of Abbot Marmaduke Huby, and it bears a Latin inscription on each face, as well as carvings and statues. Today its broken crenellations are home to a flock of jackdaws; when they all take flight, they look like bees around an enormous beehive.
Old bridgeThings went very badly pear-shaped in 1539, as they did for monasteries up and down the kingdom. Henry VIII, furious with the Pope for denying him a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, hit on an ingenious but ruthless solution. He turned his back on the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself head of the new Church of England. No more Pope-worship for him – he preferred the seductive delights of Anne Boleyn.
England’s abbeys and nunneries, which had been rising to a state of comfortable wealth over the centuries, were now in the firing line. To Henry, they represented an establishment that he hated with a vengeance – but their assets would come in very handy. He lost no time in destroying the buildings, evicting their occupants and seizing their estates.
A deed of surrender was signed at Fountains Abbey in 1539. In keeping with Henry’s orders, the place had to be made unfit for worship. The roof was pulled off, the lead and glass were stripped from the windows and any remaining religious relics were removed. Stone was plundered for new buildings elsewhere, and nature began to reclaim the broken bones of former glory.
The story of Fountains Abbey didn’t end at that point, though it was over 200 years before it entered a surprising new chapter. In 1767 the estate was acquired by William Aislabie, who soon set to work designing an elegant pleasure park. He planted trees, dug lakes and created paths that led past Gothic-style temples and summerhouses to a point on the opposite side of the valley, where guests could enjoy a ‘surprise view’ of the Abbey in its picturesque state of decay. Poets and artists came to explore and be inspired: J M W Turner painted the Abbey on several occasions.
Today, the ruins of Fountains Abbey are carefully tended, so they don’t have quite the same romantic abandon which they must have presented in Turner’s time. On the other hand, they are in much less danger of imminent collapse! As you walk down the nave towards the Chapel of Nine Altars the great east window gapes in front of you, bereft of its beautiful tracery and glasswork, but breathtaking all the same. Anyone who entered the church in its heyday would have been almost struck dumb with awe.
Huby's TowerBlind doorways in Huby's TowerColumns and arches soar to dizzying heights, and as your gaze follows them upwards, your attention is drawn to isolated wooden doors, once clasped by cold, pious hands, now leading into nothing but thin air. Deep shadows lurk in the aisles and transept, intriguing but not unkindly. Sacrilegious though it might appear, I searched for ‘Fountains Abbey hauntings’ and found that the voices of a ghostly choir sometimes echo through the Chapel of Nine Altars. That’s something I’d quite like to hear.
With a sudden flapping of wings, a pigeon launches itself from a window ledge. The songs of blackbirds and thrushes float across from the woodland. Otherwise, silence reigns – and it’s a peaceful silence.
Another view of one of the nine green men in the Southwell Minster Chapterhouse, from around 1290, and more examples of the “Leaves of Southwell”.
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter (York Minster), begun 1220, consecrated 1472; Chapter House completed by 1296; Great West Window, 1338–39; Great East Window, 1405–1408
Looking out from the top of the tower of Lincoln Cathedral, in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Known in full as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral, is a Grade I Listed Building and the seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. Building commenced in 1088 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549) before the central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt. It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."
Remigius de Fécamp, the first bishop of Lincoln, moved the Episcopal seat there between 1072 and 1092. Up until then St. Mary's Church in Stow was considered to be the "mother church" of Lincolnshire (although it was not a cathedral, because the seat of the diocese was at Dorchester Abbey in Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). However, Lincoln was more central to a diocese that stretched from the Thames to the Humber.
Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 9 May of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1141, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Bishop Alexander rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185. The earthquake was one of the largest felt in the UK. The damage to the cathedral is thought to have been very extensive: the Cathedral is described as having "split from top to bottom"; in the current building, only the lower part of the west end and of its two attached towers remain of the pre-earthquake cathedral.
After the earthquake, a new bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France, who became known as St Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. Rebuilding began with the choir (St. Hugh's Choir) and the eastern transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early English Gothic style. Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time – pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting were added to the cathedral. This allowed the creation and support of larger windows. The cathedral is the 3rd largest in Britain (in floor space) after St Paul's and York Minster, being 484 feet (148 m) by 271 feet (83 m). Until 1549 the spire was reputedly the tallest medieval tower in Europe, though the exact height has been a matter of debate. Accompanying the cathedral's large bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, is a quarter-hour striking clock. The clock was installed in the early 19th century.
The two large stained glass rose windows, the matching Dean's Eye and Bishop's Eye, were added to the cathedral during the late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye in the north transept dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh, finally being completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop's eye, in the south transept was reconstructed 100 years later in 1330.
After the additions of the Dean's eye and other major Gothic additions it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237 the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the Cathedral petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the Cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger east end to the cathedral.
In 1290 Eleanor of Castile died and King Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. After her body had been embalmed, which in the 13th century involved evisceration, Eleanor's viscera were buried in Lincoln cathedral, and Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster tomb there. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and replaced with a 19th-century copy.
Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower was raised to its present height of 271 feet (83 m). The western towers and front of the cathedral were also improved and heightened. At this time, a tall lead-encased wooden spire topped the central tower but was blown down in a storm in 1548. With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (which would have made it the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which held the record for almost 4,000 years).
Kirkstall Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery in Kirkstall, north-west of Leeds. It was founded in 1152 and was disestablished during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII in 1539.
Lincoln Cathedral visited during the 2015 Spark Engineering Festival in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Becoming established as Lincolnshire’s premier engineering event, the Spark Engineering Festival aims to engage, excite, stimulate and inform each and every visitor in the inspiring surroundings of Lincoln Cathedral, itself a remarkable achievement of medieval engineering
With hands-on activities for all ages, displays of the latest in local technology, access to experienced engineering professionals from local businesses, along with exhibits and tours of our rich engineering heritage, visitors will gain a practical appreciation of the role of engineering in society and business, how science and technology is impacting our lives.
From the local Schools’ day on Friday the 17th, a busy Visitors’ day on Saturday 18th to the calmer and reflective Sunday 19th, you will find a wide range of people from all around the world will pass through the Cathedral
During the event public admission to the cathedral is free of charge; groups and businesses that would like to exhibit and support the Festival event should contact the organisers for information about the fees and special sponsorship package deals available.
Known in full as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral, is a Grade I Listed Building and the seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. Building commenced in 1088 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549) before the central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt. It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."
This is the chapter house (Kapitelsaal) of the monastery Kloster Eberbach in Germany. Originally built before 1186, it was rebuilt with the gothic star-vaulted roof and the central supporting pillar around 1350, and the vines were painted on the ceiling around 1500.
Hand-held using the little light that was available.
For those who like to know a bit more:-
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
York Minster
Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter
Transept and crossing tower of York Minster from the south east
York Minster is located in North Yorkshire
York Minster
Location within North Yorkshire
53°57′43″N 1°4′55″WCoordinates: 53°57′43″N 1°4′55″W
Location York, North Yorkshire
Country England
Denomination Church of England
Website www.yorkminster.org
York Minster is a Gothic cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York; it is run by a dean and chapter under the Dean of York. The formal title of York Minster is The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York. The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title. Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.
The minster has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic choir and east end and Early English north and south transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 16 metres (52 ft) high. The south transept contains a famous rose window.
History
York has had a verifiable Christian presence from the fourth century. However there is circumstantial evidence pointing to much earlier Christian involvement. According to Bede missionaries were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain in AD 180 to settle controverted points of differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. Tradition speaks of 28 British bishops, one for each of the greater British cities, over whom presided the Archbishops of London, York and Caerleon-on-Usk.
The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. Moves toward a more substantial building began in the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter. The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the see of York. He repaired and renewed the structure. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in northern Europe.
In 741 the church was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure containing thirty altars. The church and the entire area then passed through the hands of numerous invaders, and its history is obscure until the 10th century. There was a series of Benedictine archbishops, including Saint Oswald, Wulfstan, and Ealdred, who travelled to Westminster to crown William in 1066. Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the church.
The Minster's western front
The church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, but the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, arriving in 1070, organised repairs. The Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Built in the Norman style, it was 111 m (364.173 ft) long and rendered in white and red lines. The new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, all in the Norman style.
The Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to compare to Canterbury; building began in 1220. The north and south transepts were the first new structures; completed in the 1250s, both were built in the Early English Gothic style but had markedly different wall elevations. A substantial central tower was also completed, with a wooden spire. Building continued into the 15th century.
The Chapter House was begun in the 1260s and was completed before 1296. The wide nave was constructed from the 1280s on the Norman foundations. The outer roof was completed in the 1330s, but the vaulting was not finished until 1360. Construction then moved on to the eastern arm and chapels, with the last Norman structure, the choir, being demolished in the 1390s. Work here finished around 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed; the piers were then reinforced, and a new tower was built from 1420. The western towers were added between 1433 and 1472. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472.
Interior of York Minster
The English Reformation led to the looting of much of the cathedral's treasures and the loss of much of the church lands. Under Elizabeth I there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral; there was much destruction of tombs, windows and altars. In the English Civil War the city was besieged and fell to the forces of Cromwell in 1644, but Thomas Fairfax prevented any further damage to the cathedral.
Following the easing of religious tensions there was some work to restore the cathedral. From 1730 to 1736 the whole floor of the minster was relaid in patterned marble and from 1802 there was a major restoration. However, on 2 February 1829, an arson attack by a Non-Conformist, Jonathan Martin, inflicted heavy damage on the east arm. An accidental fire in 1840 left the nave, south west tower and south aisle roofless and blackened shells. The cathedral slumped deeply into debt and in the 1850s services were suspended. From 1858 Augustus Duncome worked successfully to revive the cathedral.
During the 20th century there was more concerted preservation work, especially following a 1967 survey that revealed the building, in particular the central tower, was close to collapse. £2,000,000 was raised and spent by 1972 to reinforce and strengthen the building foundations and roof. During the excavations that were carried out, remains of the north corner of the Roman Principia were found under the south transept. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, can be visited by stairs down to the undercroft.[citation needed]
On 9 July 1984, a fire believed to have been caused by a lightning strike destroyed the roof in the south transept, and around £2.5 million was spent on repairs. Restoration work was completed in 1988, and included new roof bosses to designs which had won a competition organised by BBC Television's Blue Peter programme. In 2007 renovation began on the east front, including the Great East Window, at an estimated cost of £23 million.
[edit] Architecture of the present building
The cruciform plan of York Minster by Georg Dehio
York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe and clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 158 metres (518 ft) long and each of its three towers are 60 metres (200 ft) high. The choir has an interior height of 31 metres (102 ft).
The North and South transepts were the first parts of the new church to be built. They have simple lancet windows, the most famous being the Five Sisters in the north transept. These are five lancets, each 16 metres (52 ft) high and glazed with grey (grisaille) glass, rather than narrative scenes or symbolic motifs that are usually seen in medieval stained glass windows. In the south transept is the famous Rose Window whose glass dates from about 1500 and commemorates the union of the royal houses of York and Lancaster. The roofs of the transepts are of wood, that of the south transept was burnt in the fire of 1984 and was replaced in the restoration work which was completed in 1988. New designs were used for the bosses, five of which were designed by winners of a competition organised by the BBC's Blue Peter television programme.
The chapter house
Work began on the chapter house and its vestibule that links it to the north transept after the transepts were completed. The style of the chapter house is of the early Decorated Period where geometric patterns were used in the tracery of the windows, which were wider than those of early styles. However, the work was completed before the appearance of the ogee curve, an S-shaped double curve which was extensively used at the end of this period. The windows cover almost all of the upper wall space, filling the chapter house with light. The chapter house is octagonal, as is the case in many cathedrals, but is notable in that it has no central column supporting the roof. The wooden roof, which was of an innovative design, is light enough to be able to be supported by the buttressed walls. The chapter house has many sculptured heads above the canopies, representing some of the finest Gothic sculpture in the country. There are human heads, no two alike, and some pulling faces; angels; animals and grotesques. Unique to the transepts and chapter house is the use of Purbeck marble to adorn the piers, adding to the richness of decoration.
The choir screen.
The nave was built between 1291 and c. 1350 and is also in the decorated Gothic style. It is the widest Gothic nave in England and has a wooden roof (painted so as to appear like stone) and the aisles have vaulted stone roofs. At its west end is the Great West Window, known as the 'Heart of Yorkshire' which features flowing tracery of the later decorated gothic period.
The East end of the Minster was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Despite the change in style, noticeable in details such as the tracery and capitals, the eastern arm preserves the pattern of the nave. The east end contains a four bay choir; a second set of transepts, projecting only above half-height; and the Lady Chapel. The transepts are in line with the high altar and serve to throw light onto it. Behind the high altar is the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world.
The sparsely decorated Central Tower was built between 1407 and 1472 and is also in the Perpendicular style. Below this, separating the choir from the crossing and nave is the striking fifteenth century choir screen. It contains sculptures of the kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI with stone and gilded canopies set against a red background. Above the screen is the organ, which dates from 1832. The West Towers, in contrast with the central tower, are heavily decorated and are topped with battlements and eight pinnacles each, again in the Perpendicular style.
[edit] Stained glass
West window of York Minster
York as a whole and particularly the Minster have a long tradition of creating beautiful stained glass. Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the twelfth century. The 76-foot (23 m) tall Great East Window, created by John Thornton in the early fifteenth century, is the largest example of medieval stained glass in the world. Other spectacular windows in the Minster include an ornate rose window and the 50-foot (15 m) tall five sisters window. Because of the extended time periods during which the glass was installed, different types of glazing and painting techniques that evolved over hundreds of years are visible in the different windows. Approximately 2 million individual pieces of glass make up the cathedral's 128 stained glass windows. Much of the glass was removed before and pieced back together after the First and Second World Wars, and the windows are constantly being cleaned and restored to keep their beauty intact.
In 2008 a major restoration of the Great East Window commenced, involving the removal, repainting and re-leading of each individual panel. While the window was in storage in the Minster's stonemasons' yard, a fire broke out in some adjoining offices, due to an electrical fault, on 30 December 2009. The window's 311 panes, stored in a neighbouring room, were undamaged and were successfully carried away to safety.
Towers and bells
The two west towers of the minster hold bells clock chimes and a concertcarillon. The north-west tower contains Great Peter (216 cwt or 10.8 tons) and the six clock bells (the largest weighing just over 60 cwt or 3 tons). The south-west tower holds 14 bells (tenor 59 cwt or 3 tons) hung and rung for change ringing and 22 carillon bells (tenor 23 cwt or 1.2 tons) which are played from a batonkeyboard in the ringing chamber. (all together 35 bells.)
The clock bells ring every quarter of an hour during the daytime and Great Peter strikes the hour. The change ringing bells are rung regularly on Sundays before Church Services and at other occasions, the ringers practise on Tuesday evenings. York Minster became the first cathedral in England to have a carillon of bells with the arrival of a further twenty-four small bells on 4 April 2008. These are added to the existing “Nelson Chime” that is chimed to announce Evensong around 5 pm each day, giving a carillon of 35 bells in total (3 chromatic octaves). The new bells were cast at the Loughborough Bell Foundry of Taylors, Eayre & Smith, where all of the existing minster bells were cast. The new carillon is a gift to the minster. It will be the first new carillon in the British Isles for 40 years and first handplayed carillon in an English cathedral. Before Evensong each evening, hymn tunes are played on a baton keyboard connected with the bells, but occasionally anything from Beethoven to the Beatles may be heard.
Shrines
When Thomas a Becket was murdered and subsequently enshrined at Canterbury, York found itself without a rival major draw for pilgrims. More specifically pilgrims spent money and would leave gifts for the support of the cathedral. Hence Walter de Gray, supported by the King, petitioned the Pope. On 18 March 1226, Pope Honorius issued a letter to the effect that the name of William (Fitzherbert) of holy memory, formerly Archbishop of York. was "inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Militant." Thus there was now St. William of York (whose name is perhaps more often associated with the adjacent St. William's College). York had its saint but it took until 1279, when William de Wickwane (William de Wykewayne) was elected Archbishop, for the remains of the canonised William to be transferred to a shrine prepared for them behind the high altar.[15] This was placed on a platform raised upon the arches of the crypt removed to this position for that purpose. On 29 [December [Edward I of England]], himself, together with the bishops who were present, carried on their shoulder the chest or feretory containing the relics to their new resting-place, and Anthony Beck, consecrated the same day Bishop of Durham, paid all the expenses.
The tomb of Walter de Gray was erected in the South transept. His remains were interred on the vigil of Pentecost, 1255[15] under his effigy in full canonicals carved in Purbeck marble under a canopy resting on ten light pillars. It was subsequently somewhat hidden behind a screen of ironwork erected by Archbishop William Markham in the early 19th century.
[edit] Organ
Evensong in York Minster with Anglican choir music
The fire of 1829 destroyed the organ and the basis of the present organ dates from 1832, when Elliot and Hill constructed a new instrument. This organ was reconstructed in 1859 by William Hill and Sons. The case remained intact, but the organ was mechanically new, retaining the largest pipes of the former instrument.
In 1903, J.W. Walker and Sons built a new instrument in the same case. They retained several registers from the previous instrument.
A small amount of work was undertaken in 1918 by Harrison & Harrison when the famous Tuba Mirabilis was added and the Great chorus revised. The same firm rebuilt this Walker-Harrison instrument in 1931 when a new console and electro-pneumatic action were added together with four new stops. The smaller solo tubas were enclosed in the solo box. In 1960, J.W. Walker & Sons restored the actions, lowered wind pressures and introduced mutations and higher chorus work in the spirit of the neo-classical movement. They cleaned the organ in 1982.
The fire of 1984 affected the organ but not irreparably; the damage hastened the time for a major restoration, which was begun in 1991 and finished two years later by Principal Pipe Organs of York, under the direction of their founder, Geoffrey Coffin, who had at one time been assistant organist at the Minster.
Details of the organ from the National Pipe Organ Register
Looking out from the top of the tower of Lincoln Cathedral, in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Known in full as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral, is a Grade I Listed Building and the seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. Building commenced in 1088 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549) before the central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt. It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."
Remigius de Fécamp, the first bishop of Lincoln, moved the Episcopal seat there between 1072 and 1092. Up until then St. Mary's Church in Stow was considered to be the "mother church" of Lincolnshire (although it was not a cathedral, because the seat of the diocese was at Dorchester Abbey in Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). However, Lincoln was more central to a diocese that stretched from the Thames to the Humber.
Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 9 May of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1141, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Bishop Alexander rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185. The earthquake was one of the largest felt in the UK. The damage to the cathedral is thought to have been very extensive: the Cathedral is described as having "split from top to bottom"; in the current building, only the lower part of the west end and of its two attached towers remain of the pre-earthquake cathedral.
After the earthquake, a new bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France, who became known as St Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. Rebuilding began with the choir (St. Hugh's Choir) and the eastern transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early English Gothic style. Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time – pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting were added to the cathedral. This allowed the creation and support of larger windows. The cathedral is the 3rd largest in Britain (in floor space) after St Paul's and York Minster, being 484 feet (148 m) by 271 feet (83 m). Until 1549 the spire was reputedly the tallest medieval tower in Europe, though the exact height has been a matter of debate. Accompanying the cathedral's large bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, is a quarter-hour striking clock. The clock was installed in the early 19th century.
The two large stained glass rose windows, the matching Dean's Eye and Bishop's Eye, were added to the cathedral during the late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye in the north transept dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh, finally being completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop's eye, in the south transept was reconstructed 100 years later in 1330.
After the additions of the Dean's eye and other major Gothic additions it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237 the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the Cathedral petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the Cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger east end to the cathedral.
In 1290 Eleanor of Castile died and King Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. After her body had been embalmed, which in the 13th century involved evisceration, Eleanor's viscera were buried in Lincoln cathedral, and Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster tomb there. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and replaced with a 19th-century copy.
Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower was raised to its present height of 271 feet (83 m). The western towers and front of the cathedral were also improved and heightened. At this time, a tall lead-encased wooden spire topped the central tower but was blown down in a storm in 1548. With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (which would have made it the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which held the record for almost 4,000 years).
Wide angle view looking up the central supporting column at the spectacular vaulted ceiling of the octagonal Chapter House in Wells Cathedral.
These are actual medieval carvings from York Minster's Chapter House, grotesques and portraits in this non-consecrated aprt of the Minster where the Dean and Chapter administered the Minster, and still do, from its completion in 1270. These carvings date from the late 13th to the 15th centuries and because of the total protection from the elements they represent some of the finest medieval carvings in the country, as well as being quite amusing.
ceiling of the Spanish Chapel - by Andrea Bonaiuto (1365-1367) - Santa Maria Novella Florence
Costruita tra il 1343 e il 1355 dall’architetto Fra Iacopo Talenti, a spese del mercante Buonamico (detto Mico) Guidalotti, l’ampia aula anticamente era la Sala Capitolare del convento di Santa Maria Novella. Prese definitivamente il nome di Cappellone degli Spagnoli nel 1566, quando venne ceduta alla colonia spagnola di Firenze che era solita radunarsi in questo luogo dal tempo in cui Eleonora di Toledo, divenuta moglie del duca Cosimo I de’ Medici (1539), ne aveva ottenuto l’uso per le funzioni religiose dei suoi connazionali.
Mico Guidalotti, alla sua morte, lasciò anche una somma per dipingere e ornare l’interno del Capitolo che, tuttavia, venne affrescato dal pittore Andrea di Bonaiuto, detto Andrea da Firenze, solo dieci anni più tardi, tra il 1365 e il 1367.
Built between 1343 and 1355 by the architect Fra Iacopo Talenti and paid for by the merchant Buonamico (called Mico) Guidalotti, the vast hall, in the past was the Sala Capitolare (The Chapterhouse) of the convent of Santa Maria Novella. It finally and definitely took the name of The Spanish Chapel in 1566 when it was given over to the Spanish colony in Florence who used to meet in this very place since when Eleonora di Toledo, wife of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici (1539), had been granted use of it for the religious services of her fellow countrymen.
When he died, Mico Guidalotti also bequeathed a sum of money in order to paint and decorate the interior of the Chapterhouse which, nevertheless, was frescoed by the painter Andrea di Bonaiuto, called Andrea da Firenze, only ten years later, between 1365 and 1367.
A detail of the wonderful chapter house roof at Canterbury cathedral, England. The chapter house dates from the 14th century, and the roof is made of Irish oak, and is hand-painted.
Best in full size and/or on black.
Elgin Cathedral is a historic ruin in Elgin, Moray, north-east Scotland. The cathedral—dedicated to the Holy Trinity—was established in 1224 on land granted by King Alexander II outside the burgh of Elgin and close to the River Lossie. It replaced the cathedral at Spynie, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the north, that was served by a small chapter of eight clerics. The new and bigger cathedral was staffed with 18 canons in 1226 and then increased to 23 by 1242. After a damaging fire in 1270, a rebuilding programme greatly enlarged the building. It was unaffected by the Wars of Scottish Independence but again suffered extensive fire damage in 1390 following an attack by Robert III's brother Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, also known as the Wolf of Badenoch. In 1402 the cathedral precinct again suffered an incendiary attack by the followers of the Lord of the Isles. The number of clerics required to staff the cathedral continued to grow, as did the number of craftsmen needed to maintain the buildings and surrounds. The number of canons had increased to 25 by the time of the Scottish Reformation in 1560, when the cathedral was abandoned and its services transferred to Elgin's parish church of St Giles. After the removal of the lead that waterproofed the roof in 1567, the cathedral steadily fell into decay. Its deterioration was arrested in the 19th century, by which time the building was in a substantially ruinous condition.
The cathedral went through periods of enlargement and renovation following the fires of 1270 and 1390 that included the doubling in length of the choir, the provision of outer aisles to the northern and southern walls of both the nave and choir. Today, these walls are at full height in places and at foundation level in others yet the overall cruciform shape is still discernible. A mostly intact octagonal chapterhouse dates from the major enlargement after the fire of 1270. The gable wall above the double door entrance that links the west towers is nearly complete and was rebuilt following the fire of 1390. It accommodates a large window opening that now only contains stub tracery work and fragments of a large rose window. Recessed and chest tombs in both transepts and in the south aisle of the choir contain effigies of bishops and knights, and large flat slabs in the now grass-covered floor of the cathedral mark the positions of early graves. The homes of the dignitaries and canons, or manses, stood in the chanonry and were destroyed by fire on three occasions: in 1270, 1390 and 1402. The two towers of the west front are mostly complete and were part of the first phase of construction. Only the precentor's manse is substantially intact; two others have been incorporated into private buildings. A protective wall of massive proportions surrounded the cathedral precinct, but only a small section has survived. The wall had four access gates, one of which—the Pans Port—still exists.
A new Gargoyle sculpture by Paul Ellis' of showing the depiction of greed, on the outside of Lincoln Cathedral in Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Known in full as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral, is a Grade I Listed Building and the seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. Building commenced in 1088 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549) before the central spire collapsed in an Earthquake in 1549 and was not rebuilt. It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."
Kirkstall Abbey
A cloister is the area in a monastery around which the principal buildings are situated. This allows a means of communication between the buildings. The cloisters usually followed either a Benedictine or a Cistercian arrangement.
In Cistercian monasteries like Kirkstall, the western side of the cloister was usually occupied by two storey lodgings for the lay brothers. Their day rooms and workshops would be situated beneath the dormitory. The buildings generally stood on the south of the church to get as much sunshine as possible.
The cloister was the centre of activity for its inhabitants. The younger members were educated and the elders studied. The west walk was traditionally the place of educational instruction. The other walkways, especially the one next to the church, were devoted to the studies of the elder monks. The cloister also served for exercise and general recreation, particularly in bad weather, and its central area and walkways were the customary places of burial.
The cloister at Kirkstall is now a picnic area. Through the large double arches on the right is the chapter house, now full of straw and chairs, giving the appearance that it’s used for school visits. To the right of the chapter house is the entrance to the parlour, and to the left the library. Behind me to the right would have been the kitchen, refectory and warming room. Off to the left the cellarium where the all important stores of food, wine and ale were stored.
Thank you for your visit and your commments, they are greatly appreciated.
The Grade I Listed Bristol Cathedral, in Bristol, Avon.
Bristol Cathedral was founded as St Augustine's Abbey in 1140 by Robert Fitzharding, a wealthy local landowner and royal official. As the name suggests, the monastic precinct housed Augustinian canons. The original abbey church, of which only fragments remain, was constructed between 1140 and 1148 in the Romanesque style, known in England as Norman. The dedication ceremony was held on 11 April 1148, and was conducted by the Bishops of Worcester, Exeter, Llandaff, and St Asaph.
Further stone buildings were erected on the site between 1148 and 1164. Three examples of this phase survive, the chapterhouse and the abbey gatehouse, now the diocesan office, together with a second Romanesque gateway, which originally led into the abbot's quarters. T.H.B. Burrough, a local architectural historian, describes the former as "the finest Norman chapter house still standing today".
Under Abbot David (1216–1234) there was a new phase of building, notably the construction in around 1220 of a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, abutting the northern side of the choir. This building, which still stands, was to become known as the "Elder Lady Chapel". The architect, referred to in a letter as 'L', is thought to have been Adam Lock, master mason of Wells Cathedral. The stonework of the eastern window of this chapel is by William the Geometer, of about 1280. Abbot David argued with the convent and was deposed in 1234 to be replaced by William of Bradstone who purchased land from the mayor to build a quay and the Church of St Augustine the Less. The next abbot was William Longe, the Chamberlain of Keynsham, whose reign was found to have lacked discipline and had poor financial management. In 1280 he resigned and was replaced as abbot by Abbot Hugh who restored good order, with money being given by Edward I.
Under Abbot Edward Knowle (1306-1332), a major rebuilding of the Abbey church began despite financial problems. Between 1298 and 1332 the eastern part of the abbey church was rebuilt in the English Decorated Gothic style. The Black Death is likely to have affected the monastery and when William Coke became abbot in 1353 he obtained a papal bull from Pope Urban V to allow him ordain priests at a younger age to replace those who had died. Soon after the election of his successor, Henry Shellingford, in 1365 Edward III took control of the monsatery and made Maurice de Berkeley, 4th Baron Berkeley its commissioner to resolve the financial problems. In the late 14th and early 15th centuries Abbots Cernay and Daubeney restored the fortunes of the order, partly by obtaining the perpetual vicarage of several local parishes. These difficulties meant that little building work had been undertaken for nearly 100 years, however in the mid 15th century, the number of Canons increased and the transept and central tower were constructed. Abbot John Newland, (1481–1515), began the rebuilding of the nave, but it was incomplete at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539.
The partly built nave was demolished and the remaining eastern part of the church closed until it reopened as a cathedral under the secular clergy. In an edict dated June 1542, Henry VIII and Thomas Cranmer raised the building to rank of Cathedral of a new Diocese of Bristol. The new diocese was created from parts of the Diocese of Gloucester and the Diocese of Bath and Wells. Paul Bush, (d. 1558) a former royal household chaplain, was created the first Bishop of Bristol. The new cathedral was dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
[ENG] The Chapterhouse is placed in the side east of the cloister, it has the typical configuration of the Cistercians, and it is the architectural space of major singularity, perfection and beauty of the monastic set. The interior of the chapterhouse is a wide piece of an alone nave of square form, covered by a ribbed vault of eight arches, without intermediate columns, unique in the Cistercian abbeys of the Iberian Peninsula. The quality of the working of the corbels and capitals is very similar to what we see in the cloister, coming to a virtuosity in his fretworks to trepan in corbels and the rosette of the key, now broken. The hall is surrounded by a stone pew run, coated on a rough wooden chairs of the 20th century. In the interior they find two sarchofagi, to the right is the Doña Mencia, the first abbess of the monastery, and to another side that of her cousin and second abbess Doña María. Also it includes San Andrés's image of the 13th century (she is not the one that says the legend that was found in the nearby stream) placed on a shaft decorated as the column of the corner southwest of the cloister.
[ESP] La Sala Capitular está situada en la panda este del claustro, tiene la configuración típica del Cister, y es el espacio arquitectónico de mayor singularidad, perfección y belleza del conjunto monacal. El interior de la sala capitular es una amplia pieza de una sola nave de forma cuadrada, cubierta por una bóveda de crucería octopartita, sin columnas intermedias, caso único en las abadías cistercienses de la Península. La calidad de labra de las ménsulas y capiteles es muy similar a la que vemos en el claustro, llegando a un virtuosismo en sus calados a trépano en ménsulas y en el rosetón de la clave, hoy roto. La sala está rodeada por un banco de corrido de piedra, revestido por una tosca sillería capitular de madera del siglo XX. En el interior se encuentran dos sarcófagos, a la derecha está el de doña Mencía, primera abadesa del monasterio, y el de de su prima y segunda abadesa Doña María al otro lado. También incluye una imagen de San Andrés del siglo XIII (no es la que dice la leyenda que se encontró en el arroyo vecino) colocada sobre un fuste decorado como la columna de la esquina suroeste del claustro.
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Looking from the top tower of Lincoln Cathedral towards Lincoln Castle and the west end of Lincoln. In Lincoln, Lincolnshire.
Known in full as The Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln, or sometimes St. Mary's Cathedral, is a Grade I Listed Building and the seat of the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England. Building commenced in 1088 and continued in several phases throughout the medieval period. It was reputedly the tallest building in the world for 238 years (1311–1549) before the central spire collapsed in 1549 and was not rebuilt. It is highly regarded by architectural scholars; the eminent Victorian writer John Ruskin declared: "I have always held... that the cathedral of Lincoln is out and out the most precious piece of architecture in the British Isles and roughly speaking worth any two other cathedrals we have."
Remigius de Fécamp, the first bishop of Lincoln, moved the Episcopal seat there between 1072 and 1092. Up until then St. Mary's Church in Stow was considered to be the "mother church" of Lincolnshire (although it was not a cathedral, because the seat of the diocese was at Dorchester Abbey in Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire). However, Lincoln was more central to a diocese that stretched from the Thames to the Humber.
Bishop Remigius built the first Lincoln Cathedral on the present site, finishing it in 1092 and then dying on 9 May of that year, two days before it was consecrated. In 1141, the timber roofing was destroyed in a fire. Bishop Alexander rebuilt and expanded the cathedral, but it was mostly destroyed by an earthquake about forty years later, in 1185. The earthquake was one of the largest felt in the UK. The damage to the cathedral is thought to have been very extensive: the Cathedral is described as having "split from top to bottom"; in the current building, only the lower part of the west end and of its two attached towers remain of the pre-earthquake cathedral.
After the earthquake, a new bishop was appointed. He was Hugh de Burgundy of Avalon, France, who became known as St Hugh of Lincoln. He began a massive rebuilding and expansion programme. Rebuilding began with the choir (St. Hugh's Choir) and the eastern transepts between 1192 and 1210. The central nave was then built in the Early English Gothic style. Lincoln Cathedral soon followed other architectural advances of the time – pointed arches, flying buttresses and ribbed vaulting were added to the cathedral. This allowed the creation and support of larger windows. The cathedral is the 3rd largest in Britain (in floor space) after St Paul's and York Minster, being 484 feet (148 m) by 271 feet (83 m). Until 1549 the spire was reputedly the tallest medieval tower in Europe, though the exact height has been a matter of debate. Accompanying the cathedral's large bell, Great Tom of Lincoln, is a quarter-hour striking clock. The clock was installed in the early 19th century.
The two large stained glass rose windows, the matching Dean's Eye and Bishop's Eye, were added to the cathedral during the late Middle Ages. The former, the Dean's Eye in the north transept dates from the 1192 rebuild begun by St Hugh, finally being completed in 1235. The latter, the Bishop's eye, in the south transept was reconstructed 100 years later in 1330.
After the additions of the Dean's eye and other major Gothic additions it is believed some mistakes in the support of the tower occurred, for in 1237 the main tower collapsed. A new tower was soon started and in 1255 the Cathedral petitioned Henry III to allow them to take down part of the town wall to enlarge and expand the Cathedral, including the rebuilding of the central tower and spire. They replaced the small rounded chapels (built at the time of St Hugh) with a larger east end to the cathedral.
In 1290 Eleanor of Castile died and King Edward I of England decided to honour her, his Queen Consort, with an elegant funeral procession. After her body had been embalmed, which in the 13th century involved evisceration, Eleanor's viscera were buried in Lincoln cathedral, and Edward placed a duplicate of the Westminster tomb there. The Lincoln tomb's original stone chest survives; its effigy was destroyed in the 17th century and replaced with a 19th-century copy.
Between 1307 and 1311 the central tower was raised to its present height of 271 feet (83 m). The western towers and front of the cathedral were also improved and heightened. At this time, a tall lead-encased wooden spire topped the central tower but was blown down in a storm in 1548. With its spire, the tower reputedly reached a height of 525 feet (160 m) (which would have made it the world's tallest structure, surpassing the Great Pyramid of Giza, which held the record for almost 4,000 years).
Getting down low in The Abbey Chapter House after moving the furniture around to my own satisfaction. I returned it all to where it came from I promise. Just wanted to get a different angle on things.
This is the Chapter House, notable for its octagonal shape, a slender central pillar and decorative medieval frieze, which is 58 feet in diameter and 52 feet in height. It was built between 1263 and 1284 in Edward I’s reign by Richard the Mason, and around the walls are 49 seats for the members of the Chapter. Quite apart from the Protestant determination to remove statuary, the Chapter House was also used as a prison in the 17th century and was in a perilous state before it was restored and redecorated in 1855–9 by William Burges.
Medieval fresco depicting the Annunciation,
located above the Chapter House portal, in Lichfield Cathedral, Staffordshire, England.
The centre of the Christian diocese of the anglo-saxon kingdom of Mercia was relocated to Lichfield from Repton in Derbyshire in 669 by the then-bishop of Mercia, Chad.
The existing gothic-style cathedral of Lichfield was begun at the end of the 12th century AD on the site of the destroyed anglo-saxon cathedral. The cathedral is built of red sandstone from quarries on Borrowcop to the north of Lichfield.
- image © Phil Brandon Hunter - www.philbhu.com - P6270822a2
Lichfield Cathedral: www.flickr.com/photos/191876035@N02/albums/72177720318341...
Please > View On Black
Set deep in the beautiful Washford Valley on the borders of Somerset and Devon lie the substantial remains of Vallis Florida, a 13th century Cistercian monastery. More familiarly known as Cleeve Abbey, the monastery was founded by the Earl of Lincoln's grandson in 1198, and colonised with monks from the Cistercian house that his grandfather had founded in Revesby over half a century earlier.
Cleeve Abbey never ranked as one of the great Cistercian houses and, even during the short period it prospered, only 28 monks lived at the monastery. During the 14th century Cleeve Abbey suffered badly from financial instability which, in turn, resulted in little additional building work, staffing problems, and a general lack of discipline amongst the Order. In the 15th century, when Abbot David Juyner was first appointed to Cleeve Abbey, the situation began to improve, and throughout his long rule much new building was undertaken. His successors, the most noted of whom was Abbot Dovell, continued this trend until Cleeve Abbey was eventually surrendered to the Crown in 1536.
Linhof Technikardan S45
Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 5.6/72 XL
32mm front rise
f22
15 seconds
Kodak Portra 160 (EI 100)
Gitzo GT3532LS
Arca-Swiss Z1
Lab development
Digitised using 16-shot pixel-shift capture
Note: my images are processed to appear correct on a calibrated, professional grade colour-accurate monitor set to Adobe RGB output / 6500 K temperature / gamma 2.2. Many consumer grade screens (particularly mobile phone screens) at default settings will display these images with too much saturation and contrast, so please bear this in mind when viewing on such devices.
(best viewed fullscreen in the lightbox)
[ENG] The chapterhouse it has remained in excellent condition, and it is probably the most valuable of the whole Piedra Monastery, specially after his modélica restoration that all his brilliance has returned it. It is, simply, spectacular. It has square plant and covered by ribbed vaults, and his ribs rest -in the style of the branches of a palm- on props with multiple small columns in the center (with remains of original painting in his capitals of vegetable flora) and supports in the walls in the shape of brackets. Also there is spectacular the communication of the mentioned chapterhouse with the cloister by means of arches pointed with eyes of six lobes and multitude of elegant columns with capitals adorned with vegetables. Definitively, we would not exaggerate on having said that the Chapterhouse of the Piedra Monastery is one of the most elegant and attractive of the Císter in Spain. (Source: www.arteguias.com)
The Monastery of Piedra (Stone) (Nuévalos, Saragossa, Aragon, Spain) was founded in 1194 by thirteen Cistercian monks come from Poblet's Monastery, in the former castle of Piedra Vieja (Old Stone) and and next to the Piedra river. It was dedicated to St. Mary of the White and it was catalogued as National Monument on February 16, 1983. His construction respond to three styles: Gothic primitive (13th century), Renaissance (16th century) and Baroque (18th century). . (To see the history of the Monastery of Piedra in the note of the album)
[ESP] De la panda del capítulo, lo que se ha conservado en excelente estado es la sala capitular, que es probablemente lo más valioso de todo el Monasterio de Piedra, especialmente tras su modélica restauración que la ha devuelto todo su esplendor. La sala capitular del Monasterio de Piedra es, sencillamente, espectacular. Tiene planta cuadrada. Las bóvedas son de crucería y apoyan -al estilo de las ramas de una palmera- sobre pilares fasciculados con múltiples columnillas en el centro (con restos de pintura original en sus capiteles de flora vegetal) y apoyos en los muros en forma de ménsulas. También es espectacular la comunicación de la citada sala capitular con el claustro mediante arcos bíforos apuntados con óculos hexalobulados y multitud de elegantes columnas con capiteles vegetales a base de "crochets". En definitiva, no exageraríamos al decir que la Sala Capitular del Monasterio de Piedra es una de las más elegantes y atractivas del Císter en España. (Fuente: www.arteguias.com)
El Monasterio de Piedra (Nuévalos, Zaragoza, Aragón, España) fue fundado en 1194 por trece monjes cistercienses venidos del Monasterio de Poblet, en el antiguo castillo de Piedra Vieja y junto al río Piedra. Fue dedicado a Santa María de la Blanca y se catalogó como Monumento Nacional el 16 de febrero de 1983. Su construcción responde a tres estilos: Gótico primitivo (siglo XIII), Renacentista (siglo XVI) y Barroca (siglo XVIII). (Ver la historia del Monasterio de Piedra en la nota del álbum)
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Fountains Abbey, floodlit evening. The Chapter House from the Cloister.
My first ever photograph, fifty years ago, when 14, was a black and white, on 120 size negative, of this row of archways, (though not floodlit.) I wonder if and how I've improved over the years?!
(Perhaps I still have it, I'll have a look.)
"For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies....Father, unto You we raise, this our sacrifice of praise"
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Taken at Canterbury Cathedral Chapter House - detail below from www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/chapter-east/4590809637
The glass in this window dates from 1896 when the Chapter House was restored to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of the coming of Augustine. It was donated by the Freemasons of Kent. There are 21 main lights and these depict the people that were seen to be important in the history of the cathedral as at that time
Starting at the top left, there is Queen Bertha who together with King Ethelbert, next but one, welcomed Saint Augustine, who is shown between them, when he arrived in Canterbury in 597. Archbishop Theodore of Tarsus is next, he organised the church into parishes. Following windows in row 1 are of St Alphege, who was martyred by the Danes in 1012; first Norman archbishop, Lanfranc who rebuilt the Saxon church in 1070; and St Anselm, who was the second Norman archbishop and had the present crypt built around 1100.
In the second row, there is St Thomas Becket who was martyred only a few metres away in the Martyrdom as a result of the anger of Henry II (recorded incorrectly as III) who is shown next. Archbishop Stephen Langton was responsible for the translation of Becket’s body into the new Trinity Chapel in 1220 with great ceremony. Another archbishop, Edmund Rich follows after which is recorded Edward I who married his second wife, only a few metres away on the steps of the Martyrdom in 1199. The Black Prince is buried in the Trinity Chapel and is shown on black armour as the Victorians considered, incorrectly, that that is how he received his pseudonym. Lastly is Archbishop Simon Sudbury who was decapitated during the peasants' revolt and buried (minus head) in the cathedral in 1381.
On the bottom row is Henry IV who is buried close to his uncle the Black Prince followed by his namesake, Henry VIII, who was responsible for the destruction of Becket’s shrine and subsequently the dissolution of the priory in 1540. There now follow three archbishops of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer and William Laud who both died for their faith and John Tillotson. Next, Archbishop Benson appears, followed by the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria.