Reading the Stones: archaeological recording at Gloucester cathedral (original) (raw)

Abstract

The ridicule which formerly attached to the pursuits of Antiquaries, no longer exists …a proper view of their importance is entertained, and their connexion with history forms now the pri-mary…object of their application. 1 The British Archaeological Association congress at Gloucester in 1846 was significant because it promoted interest in the history and archaeology of the cathedral at a moment when the building was in dire need of sympathetic repair and restoration. 2 The chairman's opening address recognised the importance of studying buildings. Nevertheless, it was to be another 140 years before the Cathedrals Measure established as a legal principle that the fabric of any cathedral should be recorded before being altered or replaced. Yet the building is a document, and like a medieval document needs to be copied and preserved. For Gloucester cathedral these documents in stone are all the more important because the medieval building accounts do not survive. All we have is a few chance mentions in chronicles, 3 and Abbot Frocester's Historia. Written c.1400, this is a sparse summary of the events of the reign of each abbot including the building which each achieved 4an account which has been described as 'suspiciously tidy'. 5 Gloucester cathedral most commendably appointed a consultant archaeologist in 1983-some years before such appointments became mandatory. However, the assumption then was that archaeology involved holes in the ground: buildings were the province of the architect alone. Nowadays the cathedral archaeologist is concerned with the whole of the precinct and its buildings 1. T.J. Pettigrew, opening address, in Transactions of the British Archaeological Association at its 3rd Annual Congress held at Gloucester 1846 (London, 1848). In the following notes references to the Gloucester Cathedral Archaeological Archive are designated GCAR: titles with an asterix are available on the website of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society (bgas.org.uk). 2. Evidenced by the survey of the fabric a few years later: see C. Heighway, 'Gloucester Cathedral in 1855: the First Ever Quinquennial', in Archives & Local History in Bristol & Gloucestershire: Essays in Honour of David Smith, ed. J. Bettey (BGAS, 2007), 198-221. I am grateful to Arthur Price for pointing out the significance of the visit to Gloucester of the British Archaeological Association, whose delegates included influential antiquaries and architects. 3. See M. Hare's summary in C. Heighway, 'Gloucester Cathedral and Precinct: an archaeological assessment' (3rd edition, 2003)*, 27. 4. Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestriae, ed. W.H. Hart (Rolls Series 1863-87): referred to in this article using the translation by W. Barber published as appendix XV of D. Welander,

Figures (14)

g.1. Drawing of two bays of the south aisle by F.S. Waller, published as illustration 19 in his General Architectural Description of the Cathedral Church formerly the Abbey Church of St Peter at Gloucester (1856).

g.1. Drawing of two bays of the south aisle by F.S. Waller, published as illustration 19 in his General Architectural Description of the Cathedral Church formerly the Abbey Church of St Peter at Gloucester (1856).

g.2. Aplan of Serlo’s church by Gemma Bryant based on a survey by Cartographical Surveys Ltd of Worcester.

g.2. Aplan of Serlo’s church by Gemma Bryant based on a survey by Cartographical Surveys Ltd of Worcester.

‘ig. 4. The remains of a bay of blind arcading, and the lower part of the Romanesque turret, on the north side of the choir (photograph by C. Heighway).

‘ig. 4. The remains of a bay of blind arcading, and the lower part of the Romanesque turret, on the north side of the choir (photograph by C. Heighway).

Fig. 5. The remains of one of the Romanesque turrets in the nave roof space at the east end (photograph by C. Heighway).

Fig. 5. The remains of one of the Romanesque turrets in the nave roof space at the east end (photograph by C. Heighway).

Fig. 6. Drawing of the north-eastern chapel by F.S. Waller, published as illustration 13 in his General Architectural Description of the Cathedral Church...at Gloucester (1856).

Fig. 6. Drawing of the north-eastern chapel by F.S. Waller, published as illustration 13 in his General Architectural Description of the Cathedral Church...at Gloucester (1856).

Work on the clerestorey produced a different example of the ‘contrasting stones’ phenomenon. Bagshaw noticed, built into the nave walls which were heightened in the 14th century, a number of stones cut with a pattern of recessed circles and displaying Romanesque masons’ marks and tooling (Fig. 8).3? The pattern can be arranged to fill a gable end. This sort of decoration can be seen on Romanesque churches elsewhere; the circles were originally filled with contrasting stone. It is unclear where the circle patterns were originally positioned, perhaps the west end. Their unweathered nature hints that they were rapidly superseded.

Work on the clerestorey produced a different example of the ‘contrasting stones’ phenomenon. Bagshaw noticed, built into the nave walls which were heightened in the 14th century, a number of stones cut with a pattern of recessed circles and displaying Romanesque masons’ marks and tooling (Fig. 8).3? The pattern can be arranged to fill a gable end. This sort of decoration can be seen on Romanesque churches elsewhere; the circles were originally filled with contrasting stone. It is unclear where the circle patterns were originally positioned, perhaps the west end. Their unweathered nature hints that they were rapidly superseded.

Fig. 8. Recessed circles, with Romanesque mason’s mark, on a stone re-used in the raising of the nave walls (photograph by C. Heighway).

Fig. 8. Recessed circles, with Romanesque mason’s mark, on a stone re-used in the raising of the nave walls (photograph by C. Heighway).

g.9. The east side of the south transept, showing re-used Romanesque decoration (photograph by C. Heighway).

g.9. The east side of the south transept, showing re-used Romanesque decoration (photograph by C. Heighway).

Fig. 10. Flying buttress formed out of Romanesque soffit rolls, and a re-used Romanesque capital, on the north side of the choir (photograph by C. Heighway). The south choir elevation appears from a distance to be new 14th-century work, but the window jambs are lengths of Romanesque shaft joined together with Romanesque capitals and bases used interchangeably.*? Even some of the roof-space windows have Romanesque jambs with a window- head new-made to match in the 14th century.** And of course plenty of Romanesque detail was made use of as recycled stone. The flying buttresses against the tower are made of soffit rolls from a Romanesque arch and one buttress springs from a massive capital (Fig. 10): these are probably from the Romanesque choir apse.

Fig. 10. Flying buttress formed out of Romanesque soffit rolls, and a re-used Romanesque capital, on the north side of the choir (photograph by C. Heighway). The south choir elevation appears from a distance to be new 14th-century work, but the window jambs are lengths of Romanesque shaft joined together with Romanesque capitals and bases used interchangeably.*? Even some of the roof-space windows have Romanesque jambs with a window- head new-made to match in the 14th century.** And of course plenty of Romanesque detail was made use of as recycled stone. The flying buttresses against the tower are made of soffit rolls from a Romanesque arch and one buttress springs from a massive capital (Fig. 10): these are probably from the Romanesque choir apse.

Fig. 11. The north gable of the north transept before restoration in 2007 (photograph by Rita Dawe).

Fig. 11. The north gable of the north transept before restoration in 2007 (photograph by Rita Dawe).

Fig. 12. Lion sculpture at the apex of the north transept gable (photograph by Richard Bryant).

Fig. 12. Lion sculpture at the apex of the north transept gable (photograph by Richard Bryant).

Fig. 13. Mid 15th-century sculpture of a knight’s head (drawing by Richard Bryant).

Fig. 13. Mid 15th-century sculpture of a knight’s head (drawing by Richard Bryant).

Fig. 14. Masons’ marks, mostly of the 11th century, from the south-east ambulatory walls and chapels: unpublished record by S. Bagshaw in archive of GCAR 00/F.

Fig. 14. Masons’ marks, mostly of the 11th century, from the south-east ambulatory walls and chapels: unpublished record by S. Bagshaw in archive of GCAR 00/F.

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

References (18)

  1. For some preliminary results, R. Bryant, C. Heighway and G. Bryant, The Tomb of Edward II: a royal monument in Gloucester Cathedral (King's Stanley, 2007).
  2. The funding derived either from pilgrim offerings or royal gifts: J. Luxford, The Art and Architecture of English Benedictine Monasteries, 1300-1540 (Woodbridge, 2005), 157-62.
  3. Wilson, 'Origins of perpendicular style', 130-4.
  4. The transformation of the church is graphically demonstrated in a film called 'Building Wonders', made by Available Light for ITV West and available on DVD from the cathedral gift shop.
  5. Heighway, 'Gloucester Cathedral and Precinct,' 27. The building itself tells us of more than one rebuild phase here. The vaulting in the interior of the west end is of two phases, the first having two equal west- ern bays, the second two unequal ones as we see today. See S. Bagshaw, C. Heighway and A. Price, 'The South Porch of Gloucester Cathedral: A Study of Nineteenth-century Stone Repair types', Jnl. British Archaeol. Assoc. 157 (2004), 91-114, at 97.
  6. Welander, History, Art and Architecture, 331.
  7. See Wilson, 'Origins of perpendicular style' and 'Serlo's church at Gloucester'; J.P. McAleer, 'Some Re- used Romanesque material in the Choir Tribune at Gloucester Cathedral', Trans. BGAS 104 (1986), 157-74;
  8. M. Thurlby, 'The Elevations of the Romanesque Abbey Churches of St Mary at Tewkesbury and St Peter at Gloucester', in Medieval Art and Architecture at Gloucester and Tewkesbury, ed. Heslop and Sekules, 36-51.
  9. Ibid. 99/G: C. Heighway and P. Mychalysin, 'Gloucester Cathedral Cloister Lavatorium Buttresses 2001'*, figs. 9 and 10.
  10. Some very curious marks on the tower represent weapons and seem too elaborate to be banker marks; Pascal Mychalysin suggested they were to indicate positioning: Heighway and Mychalysin, 'Masons' Marks at Gloucester Cathedral Tower', Trans. BGAS 117 (1999), 159-63.
  11. For a summary of the stone used in building Gloucester abbey and later in its repair see Bagshaw, Heighway and Price, 'South Porch of Gloucester Cathedral', also Heighway, 'Gloucester Cathedral and Precinct'*.
  12. GCAR 95/E.
  13. All details in Bagshaw, Heighway and Price, 'South Porch of Gloucester Cathedral'.
  14. 'Fulljames and…other church architects of his day were technically good but they were backward- looking at their aim to re-medievalize, to recreate a past age rather than to conserve existing detail': B. Carne, 'Thomas Fulljames, 1808-74: Surveyor, Architect, and Civil Engineer', Trans. BGAS 113 (1995), 14.
  15. David Cole, The Work of Sir Gilbert Scott (1980), 101.
  16. R.K. Morris, 'Ballflower work in Gloucester and its vicinity', p. 102 and n. 15.
  17. Gloucester Cathedral Library, letter from Sir G Scott: I am grateful to the cathedral librarian for draw- ing my attention to this.
  18. Carne, 'Thomas Fulljames', 9.