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Nave
Crossing
and Transepts
Choir and
Retro-Choir
High Altar
Organ
Humble monument
Wooden effigy of a knight
Nonsuch chest
Chapels
Bishop Andrewes' tomb
Bishop Talbot's tomb
Roman mosaic |
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The Choir is a fine example of Early English work. There are
five bays and the piers, alternately circular and octagonal, attach to triple vaulting
shafts. In the triforium is a range of pointed arches, also attached to slender shafts,
while the clerestory has triple arcading. The pulpit, stalls and bishop's throne all date
from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The High Altar
in the sanctuary has furnishings designed by Sir Ninian Comper, and a reredos depicting
the Risen Christ. |
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The sanctuary is divided from the
Retro-Choir by Bishop Fox's
magnificent altar screen. It was completed in 1520. The statues were added from 1905
onwards. The lower part of the screen was gilded and repainted by Comper in 1930, and in
1949 he designed the stained glass window above the screen, showing the Lord in Glory.
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The Retro-Choir
is thought by many to be the loveliest part of the Cathedral, with superb spatial
qualities. It is hard to imagine that it was once used as a pig sty! The design is
thirteenth century Early English, though the blind tracery on the west walls dates from
the following century. |
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The four chapels
are divided by screens designed by Sir Ninian Comper. He also designed the chapels'
furnishings. In what is now the Chapel of St Andrew, Bishop Stephen Gardiner set up his
consistory court during the reign of Queen Mary Tudor and condemned seven men to death for
heresy.
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