Bells Cathedrals: Chichester | Page 7

substitute is quite a perfect piece of work of its kind. This
ambulatory, or presbytery, as it is commonly misnamed, was nearly all
newly built from the foundations during the first half of the thirteenth
century. The continuation of the arcade, the triforium, the clerestory,
and the vault, the vaulting of the aisles and the chapels forming their
terminations eastwards,--all this, with the new arch at the entrance to
the earlier lady-chapel, was work of the same date.
[Illustration: PIER-CAPITALS IN THE RETRO-CHOIR. _From a
photograph by S.B. Bolas & Co_.]
Some new buttressing had been added to the south-west tower when
the upper part of the tower itself was rebuilt; but the larger works were
the addition of a vaulted sacristy in the corner between the west side of
the south end of the transept and the nave. On the opposite side of the
same part of the transept a square-ended chapel with a vestry attached
was added in place of the original shallow apsidal chapel. The original
chapel on the east side of the north end of the transept was also

removed to make way for another and much larger one. This is now
used as the cathedral library.
The scheme planned after the second fire having been completed by
about the middle of the thirteenth century, little further work was
undertaken in comparison with that then finished; but before 1250 the
wall of the south aisle of the nave was pierced in four bays, and two
more chapels were added. Then, on the north of the nave, the outer wall
of the aisle was cut through in the second bay, going west from the
transept, and a small chapel was built. The other chapels west of this
one were added during the latter half of the century. In each case the
deeply projecting buttresses which had been introduced against the
earlier walls after the second fire were used, where they were available,
to form parts of the masonry of these new chapels, and were therefore
not disturbed unnecessarily. The old walls having been altered, and the
earlier buttresses being changed in their nature, it became necessary to
carry the original thrust from the nave still farther out from its source in
order to find for it some satisfactory abutment, and in doing this there
was that new force, introduced by the vaulting of these added chapels,
to be reckoned with in addition. Consequently, to the earlier buttressing
more was added. The exact nature and the approximate date of this
work are shown by Professor Willis in the sections and plan given in
his monograph on the cathedral. The addition to each buttress
amounted to an elongation of it as a pierced wing wall which provided
lateral support. Upon the end of it a greater mass of masonry was
introduced to serve as a weight for steadying the structural device; and
this necessary structural idea was the means of introducing another
architectural feature--the pinnacle. Between the pinnacles of these
buttresses rose the gabled ends of each of the chapels. Professor Willis
suggests that a great part of the work done after the fire of 1186-1187
was completed by the time of the dedication ceremony in 1199, and he
is no doubt a safe authority to follow. But the nature of many
architectural features tends very strongly to confirm the idea that much
of the work in the ambulatory eastward of the sanctuary had been
delayed. It may have been that the activity which prevailed during the
early half of the thirteenth century was caused by the desire to see this
portion of the church completed; and the energy with which the plea for

new interest and further funds was urged at this time would no doubt be
indicative of a supervening lethargy following on the great effort
necessary for the completion of so much in these few years. But it
should be remembered that these great works of mediæval art were
none of them built in a day; they represented the accumulation of even
centuries of developing thought and continually improving skill.
Therefore must we realise that after this fire had occurred in 1186-1187
not more than eleven or twelve years elapsed before the building was
again in use after the consecration in 1199.
Note.--For remarks on Chichester Cathedral, see Archaeologia, xvii.,
pp. 22-28: "Observations on the Origin of Gothic Architecture." By G.
Saunders, 1814.
[Illustration: TRANSVERSE SECTIONS FROM WILLIS'S
ARCHITECTURAL HISTORY. North Aisle, original. (Scale 27 ½ feet
to 1 in.) South Aisle, as now existing.]
This process of reconstruction shows that the mediæval builders did not
restore in duplication of what had been lost. Where their work was
destroyed they built anew and improved upon what had gone.
We need not suppose that this repair, renewal, and addition