The ruined abbeys of Yorkshire . octagonalchapter - houseand some of thedomestic build-ings clearly, ifsomewhat has-tily, outlined. Ithas been conjec-tured that thecentral tower,which certainlyformed part ofthe original de-sign and as cer-tainly no longerexists, may havefallen with suchdisastrous effectsas to necessitatethe rebuildingof the choir andtransepts in thefourteenth cen-tury. Howeverthis may be, thewestern tower was begun in 1520, after the fashion so oftentraceable in parish churches. That is to say, thebuilding of towers being a long process, the navewas left intact meanwhile ; and
The ruined abbeys of Yorkshire . octagonalchapter - houseand some of thedomestic build-ings clearly, ifsomewhat has-tily, outlined. Ithas been conjec-tured that thecentral tower,which certainlyformed part ofthe original de-sign and as cer-tainly no longerexists, may havefallen with suchdisastrous effectsas to necessitatethe rebuildingof the choir andtransepts in thefourteenth cen-tury. Howeverthis may be, thewestern tower was begun in 1520, after the fashion so oftentraceable in parish churches. That is to say, thebuilding of towers being a long process, the navewas left intact meanwhile ; and as in this particularcase the work was never finished, we have the in-structive spectacle of a thirteenth-century west frontstanding close to the tall arch of a sixteenth-centurytower, which rises only to the height of the usual monastic arrangement of screens, whichseems to have been adopted by the canons, was es-pecially suitable when, as was so often the case, partof the building was used as a parish church and part. BOLTON PRIORY. Part See, however, Wordsworths Ecclesiastical Sonnets,II., Sonnet IV. as the chapel of the priory. The choir, it must beremembered, was separated from the nave by twovery solid screens extending respectively across theeastern and western arches of the tower. Of thesethe eastern, called the pulpitum, was capable ofsupporting a broad gallery from which parts of theservice were sung, and which still survives as theorgan-loft in some of our cathedrals. Westwardswas the rood-screen, equally solid, and having analtar in the middle, with a small door on each , which was known as the Jesus Altar, or Altar of , served, insuch cases as theone , forthe parish ; andhere, at Bolton,where the naveis still used asa parish church,the altar standsprecisely in thisposition, and thepiscina may beseen close athand in thesouth wall. AtMarrick, a con-vent of Benedic-tine nuns nearRichmond, andstrangely nearthe Cisterciannunnery of El
Size: 1453px × 1719px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1883
