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Celebrating Exeter cathedral
Tuesday 7 April 2009
Writing to Pope John XXII in the early fourteenth century, the Bishop Grandisson said this about the cathedral in town where I was born: ‘if the church should be worthily completed, it would be admired for its beauty above every other of its kind within the realms of England or France.’
One of the most beautiful features of Exeter cathedral is the unbroken length of roof at the same height through nave and choir, the effect intensified by the exquisite richness and grace of the vaulting. And the spreading fans gain an added grace, springing as they do from that ‘distinctive group of shafts’ which, says Canon Edmonds, ‘makes the Exeter pillar the very type of the union of beauty and strength.’ In the central bay of the nave, on the north side, is the Minstrels’ Gallery, one of the few to be found in England. It is delicately and elaborately sculptured, and each of the twelve angels in the niches holds a musical instrument—a flageolet, a trumpet and two wind instruments, a tambour, a violin, an organ, a harp, bagpipes, the cymbals, and guitars.
The choir is unusually long, and from the north and south aisles open chapels and chantries, in some of which the carving is very rich and fine. The Bishop’s throne is elaborately carved, and more than sixty feet high, and yet there is not one nail in it. During the time of Cromwell a brick wall was built across the west end of the choir, completely dividing the Cathedral. This was done to satisfy the Presbyterians and Independents, each of whom wished to hold their services here, and the two churches formed by this division were called Peter the East and Peter the West. The screen in the west front was added after the cathedral was finished; it is covered with statues in niches, figures of kings, warriors, saints, and apostles. High above them, in the gable niche, is the statue of St Peter, to whom the cathedral is dedicated.
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