Cathedral Church Of St Mary And Cloisters And Chapter House And Libraries

Lincoln Cathedral is among England's most architecturally important medieval buildings, representing nearly a thousand years of continuous construction and alteration. The cathedral was established between about 1072 and 1092 by Bishop Remigius. Following a fire, it was restored and extended from 1123 to 1148 for Bishop Alexander. Around 1180 to 1200, Richard the Mason and Geoffrey de Noiers undertook a major remodelling for St Hugh of Avalon. The transepts were extended and completed between about 1230 and 1235 by Michael "magister operis" (master of works). The crossing tower was rebuilt around 1240 by master mason Alexander and heightened from 1307 to 1311 by Richard of Stow.

The Angel Choir was added between 1256 and 1280, probably by Simon de Tresk. The cloisters date from about 1290 to 1300. The chapter house is 13th century, as is the early 13th-century song school. A Galilee porch west of the south transept was built in the mid-13th century. Several chantries followed: the Cantelupe Chantry in 1355, the Fleming Chantry in 1431 by John Porter, the Russell Chantry in 1494, and the Langland Chantry around 1547 by William Kitchin.

The Old Library dates from about 1422. The Honywood Library, north of the cloister, was built in 1674 by Sir Christopher Wren and retains contemporary bookcases. Rooms under the west towers were added around 1730 by James Gibbs. The Dean Wickham Library was constructed from 1909 to 1914 by Hodgson Fowler.

Major restorations were carried out by James Gibbs in 1725, James Essex in 1761, J.C. Buckler in the mid-19th century, J.L. Pearson from 1870 to 1893, and Sir Charles Nicholson and Sir Francis Fox in 1921. The spires were removed from the towers in 1807.

The cathedral is built of dressed stone and ashlar with lead roofs. It combines Romanesque, Early English, Perpendicular and Tudor Revival styles in a Latin Cross plan. The complex includes a nave with aisles, major and minor transepts, a morning chapel, Galilee porch, choir and Angel Choir, four chantries, a cloister with library above, a chapter house, and a former library now used as a café.

Exterior

The west end has five bays with a blind arcade, an elaborate central gable and corner turrets topped with octagonal spires. Three graduated Romanesque doorways are flanked by niches. Above them is an outstanding 12th-century frieze depicting biblical scenes. Two towers rise above, each of two stages with octagonal corner turrets, Decorated bell stage openings and traceried parapets.

The seven-bay nave has flying buttresses and an arcaded clerestory. The buttressed aisles have single lancet windows flanked by blind arches. The north-west morning chapel and the corresponding former Consistory Court, each of four bays, have four single lancets.

The major transepts of three bays have ranges of chapels and flying buttresses to the east. The north and south gables feature outstanding traceried round windows from the 13th and early 14th centuries. The cruciform Galilee porch from around 1240 has a vaulted interior and ornate restored doorways.

St Hugh's choir and aisles, five bays, has flying buttresses, single and double lancet windows, and an arcaded clerestory. The crossing tower of three stages has octagonal corner turrets topped with spires and a crocketed traceried balustrade. The lower stages are arcaded, and the bell stage has two openings on each side below ornamented gables. The eastern minor transepts have spire-topped buttresses throughout.

To the south-west stands the early 13th-century song school of two bays. To the north-east is a chapel remodelled in 1772 by James Essex.

The Angel Choir, built from 1256 to 1280, has five bays with north and south aisles and flying buttresses throughout. The aisles have elaborately carved off-centre portals remodelled in the late 14th century. The arcaded clerestory has four-light windows on each side. The east end has blind arcading, buttresses with spires, and a crocketed gable. The east window has Geometrical tracery with two groups of four lights, with a five-light pointed arched window above. The north side has the attached Fleming Chantry from about 1431, and the south side has the Russell Chantry from about 1494 and the Longland Chantry from about 1547, all in Perpendicular style with three-light windows.

The mid-13th-century chapter house is decagonal with eight freestanding flying buttresses, a quatrefoil frieze and a pyramidal roof. Each segment has a headed bay with a two-light pointed arched window. The entrance passage to the west has two flanking stair towers with saddleback gables.

The cloister from 1296 has nine by fourteen bays with traceried unglazed arcades on three sides and an unusual wooden rib vault. To the south-east is a vaulted arcaded vestibule. The north side has a Tuscan arcade of nine bays, and above it the Honywood Library with eleven cross casement windows, the central one with a cornice on brackets. To the east is a single timber-framed bay of the Old Library from about 1422. Further east stands the two-storey Dean Wickham Library.

Interior

The interior has vaulted west porches with 14th-century blind arcading and wall cladding and doorways from about 1730 by James Gibbs. The 13th-century central opening to the nave has a strainer arch with balustrade from 1761 by James Essex.

The morning chapel has a rib vault and a central pier. The former Consistory Court has a similar unsupported vault. Both have arcaded screen walls.

The seven-bay nave has arcades of clustered piers of varying design with stiff-leaf capitals. The gallery has two multi-shafted triple arches per bay. The clerestory has multiple shafts. Moulded arches are used throughout. The tierceron vault dates from about 1233. The aisles have blind arcades with detached shafts and rib vaults.

The main crossing piers have Purbeck shafts and stiff-leaf capitals. The lierne vault is late 14th century.

The major transepts have eastern arcades of three bays with stone or wood screens, some of them reproductions. The east walls have syncopated blind arcading attributed to Geoffrey de Noiers. Each aisle has three vaulted chapels to the east. Both transepts have multiple-shafted galleries and clerestories and rib vaults. The south gable has a round window with a double-tiered filigree surround.

St Hugh's choir of four bays has rectangular piers with clustered shafts and crocket capitals and multiple-shafted openings throughout. It features a unique asymmetrical rib vault. The aisle outer walls have syncopated blind arcading and rib vaults. The western screen has a crest and central doorway with a crocketed ogee gable, flanked on either side by four gabled vaulted niches, with single multiple-shafted doorways beyond.

The eastern minor transepts have syncopated blind arcading and vaulted east chapels with simpler blind arcading.

The Angel Choir, five bays, built from 1255 to 1280, has north and south aisles. Its clustered piers are alternately of limestone and Purbeck marble. The gallery has two double traceried arches in each bay with noteworthy sculptured angels in the spandrels. The clerestory windows have an unglazed inner screen mirroring the window tracery. The rib vault has noteworthy foliate and figure bosses to both choir and aisles.

The chapter house has blind arcading and a central round pier with ringed shafts and a lierne vault with moulded ribs and bosses. The entrance passage has blind arcading and a rib vault with a moulded west doorway flanked by single recesses.

Fittings

The fittings include a rare Tournai marble font from the 12th century with four shafts to a square bowl decorated with a relief of beasts. An Easter sepulchre of six bays dates from about 1290.

St Hugh's choir has wooden stalls in three tiers from 1365, restored in the late 19th century, with traceried panelled fronts, misericords and elbow rests to the two upper tiers, and spired canopies above. A brass eagle lectern from 1667 is by W. Burroughs. A large wooden pulpit from 1708 came from St Mary's Church, Rotterdam, and has a curved stair and sounding board. There is a Gothick mahogany pulpit from about 1760 and a canopied pulpit from 1863 by Sir George Scott.

Stained Glass

Both Angel Choir aisles have 13th-century stained glass, possibly resited from the nave aisles. The north transept rose window has 13th-century coloured and grisaille glass, with a 14th-century stained glass window below. The south transept rose window has stained glass fragments from the 12th, 13th and 14th centuries, with 13th-century medallions in the windows below. The north-east transept has a gable window from 1762 by W. Peckitt. The nave south aisle and west end have stained glass from 1861 by the Reverends Sutton, from 1854 by Hedgeland, and from 1860 by Clayton & Bell. The north aisle has mid-19th-century glass by Ward & Hughes. The south-east transept has mid-19th-century stained glass by the Suttons and by Hedgeland.

Memorials

Memorials include an inscribed Tournai marble slab from about 1140 to Remigius and part of the shrine of St Hugh from the early 14th century with canopied niches. Chest tombs from about 1340 with figure carving and single effigies commemorate Robert Burghersh and Bishop Burghersh. A canopied chest tomb with effigy from 1355 commemorates Lord Burghersh.

The Cantelupe Chantry has a chest tomb with effigies under an ogee arched canopy to Lord Cantelupe (1355) and Prior Wymbysh (1461). Katharine Swynford's chantry has tomb chests from 1410 and 1440 under a lozenge-panelled four-centred arched canopy. An early cadaver tomb with vaulted canopy from 1425 commemorates Bishop Fleming. A Perpendicular-style chest tomb with crested back wall from 1538 commemorates Sir George Tailboys. A pedimented tablet from 1681 commemorates Dean Honywood, and a tablet with bust from 1699 commemorates Dean Fuller. A chest tomb and effigy from 1857 to Bishop Kaye is by R. Westmacott. A canopied chest tomb with effigy from 1885 to Bishop Wordsworth is by Bodley & Garner. A seated bronze figure from 1913 to Bishop King is by W.B. Richmond.