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Article DURHAM CATHEDRAL. ← Page 3 of 4 →
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Durham Cathedral.
reveals itself gradually as one mounts the walks , aud the first complete view of it is obtained on the side on which , protected by the cloisters and the monastic buildings , its somewhat gaunt length is less apparent , and Wyatt ' s misdeeds are not so painfully
consp icuous . The Abbey-yard of Durham which we have now entered , wants the calm loveliness of the Close of Salisbury or the dignified repose of that of Wells , and the houses surrounding it are for the most part singularly plain and ugly ; but
it has a stern grandeur of its own in keepin" with tho locality . Some fine trees shade the area , which is broken by a picturesque ivy-clad conduit of an octagonal shape . To our left rises , huge and bare , the conventual kitchen , in shape and dimensions recalling
one of our polygonal Chapter-houses . Beyond stretches the long , niullionecl front of the refectory , now the library , containing uurivalled manuscript treasures , which presents in its modernised garb and its plate-glass windows but few features of the monastic d miner-hall . Further still is the
deanery , a large and not unpicturesque pile , in which the Dean has simply taken the Prior ' s place , using the same rooms , for the most part , for the same purposes to which they were assigned four or five centuries back , and displaying the liberal and refined hospitality for which his monastic
and decanal predecessors have ever been famous . The Prior's chapel , we must remark , has been unhappily secularised , and its Early English walls contain two stories of bedrooms—a fireplace taking the place of the altar , the chimney of which
obliterates the central lancet of its eastern tri plet . Passing into the Cloister Court , a spacious but decidedly common-place quadrangle , from which Wyatt has most successfull y wiped out the traces of those curious traditional customs which that
unique little record , "The Rites of Durham , " sets so vividly before us , we have to wie west the massive walls of the monastic Dormitory—here , as at Worcester , contrary to usual custom , occupying the western instead of the eastern side of the cloister court—now "the New Library "
, bookcases having , to the regret of all lovers of anti quity , been substituted for the cjibicles of the monks , which , Mr . J . II . barker tells us , existed till a comparatively
recent period—and we enter the nave of the cathedral by the Monk ' s Door . Here all criticism is at once stopped . We can only gaze and in silence admire that which Mr . E . A . Freeman has so truly styled " the perfection of northern Romanesque , "
" the church which , above all others , is all glorious within , presbytery , lantern , and nave unequalled in their stately and solemn majesty , aud notice how "the faultless proportions of the mighty channelled piers avoid" alike " a mere
massiveness which seems to grovel on the earth , " and " the vain attempt at a soaring height "—as at Gloucester and Tewkesbury — " consistent only with pillars of either an earlier or a later form . " The works of
restoration being now happily completed , and the temporary screen which has long cut the building in two removed , the eye is once more at liberty to roam unchecked through every part of the vast and harmonious pile , and delightedly to pursue
the long perspective which the perfect adjustment of the proportions — length , breadth and height exactly of the right measure—saves so effectually from the long , low , tunnel-like aspect presented by some of our cathedrals . We notice also
with satisfaction how during the restoration—the close of which was marked by special services—much of Dean Waddington ' s well-intentioned but mischievous
work has been undone—the choir , till lately so perfectly open , being decorously divided from the nave and transepts by a light open screen protecting , but not , like Cosen's black oak barrier , concealing the sacred enclosure beyond—Cosin ' s canopied stalls , so remarkable an effort of Gothic
art , rising with a convulsive effort after the long sleep of the Protectorate before it expired altogether , which Dean Waddington had cut up and placed back within the choir arches , once more ranged in dignified order in their accustomed
placethe font again standing at the west end of the nave , with its tabernacle of coarse but gorgeous elaboration soaring almost to the vault—the organ placed on one side , so as not to break the vista , and the whole church rearranged with
admirable taste and judgment for the clue celebration of our Anglican ceremonial in its stateliest form , " to the glory of God and the edification of His people . " We are
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Durham Cathedral.
reveals itself gradually as one mounts the walks , aud the first complete view of it is obtained on the side on which , protected by the cloisters and the monastic buildings , its somewhat gaunt length is less apparent , and Wyatt ' s misdeeds are not so painfully
consp icuous . The Abbey-yard of Durham which we have now entered , wants the calm loveliness of the Close of Salisbury or the dignified repose of that of Wells , and the houses surrounding it are for the most part singularly plain and ugly ; but
it has a stern grandeur of its own in keepin" with tho locality . Some fine trees shade the area , which is broken by a picturesque ivy-clad conduit of an octagonal shape . To our left rises , huge and bare , the conventual kitchen , in shape and dimensions recalling
one of our polygonal Chapter-houses . Beyond stretches the long , niullionecl front of the refectory , now the library , containing uurivalled manuscript treasures , which presents in its modernised garb and its plate-glass windows but few features of the monastic d miner-hall . Further still is the
deanery , a large and not unpicturesque pile , in which the Dean has simply taken the Prior ' s place , using the same rooms , for the most part , for the same purposes to which they were assigned four or five centuries back , and displaying the liberal and refined hospitality for which his monastic
and decanal predecessors have ever been famous . The Prior's chapel , we must remark , has been unhappily secularised , and its Early English walls contain two stories of bedrooms—a fireplace taking the place of the altar , the chimney of which
obliterates the central lancet of its eastern tri plet . Passing into the Cloister Court , a spacious but decidedly common-place quadrangle , from which Wyatt has most successfull y wiped out the traces of those curious traditional customs which that
unique little record , "The Rites of Durham , " sets so vividly before us , we have to wie west the massive walls of the monastic Dormitory—here , as at Worcester , contrary to usual custom , occupying the western instead of the eastern side of the cloister court—now "the New Library "
, bookcases having , to the regret of all lovers of anti quity , been substituted for the cjibicles of the monks , which , Mr . J . II . barker tells us , existed till a comparatively
recent period—and we enter the nave of the cathedral by the Monk ' s Door . Here all criticism is at once stopped . We can only gaze and in silence admire that which Mr . E . A . Freeman has so truly styled " the perfection of northern Romanesque , "
" the church which , above all others , is all glorious within , presbytery , lantern , and nave unequalled in their stately and solemn majesty , aud notice how "the faultless proportions of the mighty channelled piers avoid" alike " a mere
massiveness which seems to grovel on the earth , " and " the vain attempt at a soaring height "—as at Gloucester and Tewkesbury — " consistent only with pillars of either an earlier or a later form . " The works of
restoration being now happily completed , and the temporary screen which has long cut the building in two removed , the eye is once more at liberty to roam unchecked through every part of the vast and harmonious pile , and delightedly to pursue
the long perspective which the perfect adjustment of the proportions — length , breadth and height exactly of the right measure—saves so effectually from the long , low , tunnel-like aspect presented by some of our cathedrals . We notice also
with satisfaction how during the restoration—the close of which was marked by special services—much of Dean Waddington ' s well-intentioned but mischievous
work has been undone—the choir , till lately so perfectly open , being decorously divided from the nave and transepts by a light open screen protecting , but not , like Cosen's black oak barrier , concealing the sacred enclosure beyond—Cosin ' s canopied stalls , so remarkable an effort of Gothic
art , rising with a convulsive effort after the long sleep of the Protectorate before it expired altogether , which Dean Waddington had cut up and placed back within the choir arches , once more ranged in dignified order in their accustomed
placethe font again standing at the west end of the nave , with its tabernacle of coarse but gorgeous elaboration soaring almost to the vault—the organ placed on one side , so as not to break the vista , and the whole church rearranged with
admirable taste and judgment for the clue celebration of our Anglican ceremonial in its stateliest form , " to the glory of God and the edification of His people . " We are