Southwark Cathedral

NAVE
Norman Door

[Home]  [Search]  [E-mail]


* Explore

Nave
Arcade
Marchioness Memorial

Roof bosses
Norman door
Gower Tomb

Hollar Memorial
Shakespeare Memorial
Wanamaker Memorial

Crossing and Transepts

Choir and Retro-Choir

 

In 1212 a disastrous fire swept through Southwark, badly damaging the church, priory and hospital. Only a few traces of the Norman work survive, including the internal arch of a doorway in the north aisle of the nave. The bases of this arch are about two feet below the floor level of the present building. Peter des Roches who was Bishop of Winchester at the time of the fire, immediately arranged for the rebuilding of the priory church. The new church was to be a magnificent Gothic structure with pointed arches instead of rounded Norman arches, and it was quite unlike any other church in the area. It was designed along the lines of the church architecture then becoming popular in France, in the first of a number of styles that came to be known as 'Gothic'.

[Previous]   [Next]

© 1999 Diocese of Southwark
Last updated: 10/12/04

Webmaster