The six windows high in the apse comprise the only surviving fragments of the cathedral’s medieval glazing, the relaxation possessing been deliberately smashed by Cromwell’s troops throughout the Civil War. For the most component only a collage of fragments stays although the two central home windows keep some groups of figures.
Peterborough Cathedral is just one of England’s greatest buildings, an virtually complete Romanesque church on an amazing scale sitting powering a person of the most distinctive and eccentric Gothic facades discovered anyplace in medieval Europe. The church we see currently is minimal altered since its completion in the 13th century aside from unavoidable 19th century restorations and the significant depradations of Civil War damage in the mid 17th century.
The bulk of the church is 12th century Norman, retaining even its apse (a rarity in England) and even the primary flat wood ceilings of nave and transept. The nave ceiling retains its early medieval painted decoration with an assortment of figures set within just lozenge formed panels (primarily overpainted in the 18th and 19th centuries but the over-all result is preserved). The 13th century west facade is the most remarkable and unforgettable function of the setting up, with 3 huge Gothic arches forming a large porch in front of the setting up, a unique layout, flanked by modest spires and supposed to be surmounted by two pinnacled towers increasing just guiding the facade, though only that on the north aspect was concluded (and initially surmounted by a wooden spire which was eradicated c1800). The central tower is a shockingly squat framework of 14th century date (with a hanging vaulted ceiling inside of) and together with its counterpart at the west end tends to make amazingly small existence on the city’s skyline for such an huge creating. The final addition to the church prior to the Reformation is the ambulatory around the apse, a superb case in point of late medieval perpendicular with a stunning admirer-vaulted ceiling.
Given the large scale of the building it is perhaps surprising to find out that it has only experienced cathedral position given that 1541, prior to that it had been basically Peterborough Abbey, but it was 1 of the most nicely endowed monastic houses in the region, as witnessed by the architecture. It was the moment the burial place of two queens, Katherine of Aragon lies on the north facet of the choir and Mary Queen of Scots was initially interred right here before her son James I had her overall body moved to the additional prestigious surroundings of Westminster.
Sadly the cathedral experienced miserably all through the Civil War when Parliamentarian troops ransacked the church and former monastic properties in an orgy of destruction, a lot of which was overseen by Cromwell himself in particular person (which aids reveal its thoroughness). Tombs and monuments were being brutally defaced, and approximately all the initial furnishings and woodwork were being ruined, alongside with every single bit of stained glass in all the huge home windows (only the merest fragments continue to be nowadays in the high windows of the apse). Even worse nevertheless, the delightful cloisters on the south aspect, when famed for the natural beauty of their painted home windows, ended up demolished leaving only their outer partitions and some tantalising reminders of their previous richness. The impressive 13th century Lady Chapel attached to the north transept (an uncommon arrangement, comparable to that at Ely) was a different key casualty, demolished quickly soon after the war so that its supplies could be marketed in get to elevate cash for the restoration of the cathedral adhering to the Cromwellian rampage.
In the following generations significantly was completed to repair service the developing and deliver it again into buy. There ended up big restorations throughout the 19th century, which included the dismantling and rebuilding of the central tower (pursuing the exact style and design and reusing initial materials) owing to impending structural failure in the crossing piers.
What we see today is therefore a marvel of architecture, a church of fantastic attractiveness, but a rather hollow 1 owing to the misfortunes of heritage. 1 consequently will not uncover at Peterborough the very same litter of the hundreds of years that other cathedrals frequently have (in phrases of tombs and furnishings) and there are handful of home windows of serious note, but for the grandeur of its architecture it is one particular of the quite best church buildings we have.
For a lot more historical past see the connection underneath:-
www.peterborough-cathedral.org.british isles/background.aspx
Posted by Aidan McRae Thomson on 2017-06-12 19:01:41
Tagged: , Peterborough , Cathedral , Cambridgeshire , stained glass , window , fragments , medieval
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