PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PETERBOROUGH 



which in its earlier parts shows no evidence of any 

 attempt actually to construct such a vault. 



The triforium openings have main arches of two 

 orders, with a line of horizontal zigzag on the outer 

 order, and two moulded sub-arches with a central 

 shaft, the tympanum over the arches being ornamented 

 with an imbricated pattern, or in the first two bays on 

 the north side with sunk circles, of which there are 

 four in the second bay and one in the first. The 

 arrangement of the piers of the triforium, unlike that 

 of the main arcade below, is symmetrical, the central 

 pier and the responds having half-shafts at the cardinal 

 points and recessed quarter-cylinders on the oblique 

 faces, while the other two piers have pairs of nook- 

 shafts in place of the cylinders. Above the triforium 

 is a string which in the original design was to have 

 been worked with zigzag, but only a short length at 

 the south springing of the arch which formerly spanned 

 the chord of the apse, and another at the north-east 

 angle of the crossing, remain in evidence, and it is 

 clear that when this point was reached there was a 

 pause in the work, and when it was again taken up 

 the string was worked with a plain roll and no zigzag. 

 The triforium galleries are wide, and roofed with 

 lean-to timber roofs of flat pitch. Originally lighted 

 by single round-headed windows in the outer walls, 

 they now have three-light 14th-century windows, and 

 the walls have been slightly heightened and parapets 

 added. The clearstories have a round-headed light 

 in each bay, and on the inner face of the wall three 

 round-arched openings with monolithic circular shafts 

 and scalloped capitals, the central opening being taller 

 than the others, and having at the level of the spring- 

 ing of its arched head a chamfered string which 

 is continued horizontally along the wall face, stop- 

 ping against the half-round shafts which run up to 

 the top of the wall. All the original clearstory win- 

 dows have been filled with poor two-light tracery of 

 the 15 th century. In each bay of the clearstory holes 

 are left in the masonry a little above the level of the 

 floor of the clearstory passages, apparently to take the 

 ends of timbers. The holes vary in size, some being 

 as small as 7 in. by 2 in., and these probably took the 

 ends of the timbers used in raising stones to this 

 height, rather than the beams of the temporary roof, 

 which must undoubtedly have existed here during the 

 pause in the building.' 



The apse of the presbytery is slightly stilted in 

 plan, and is divided into five bays by compound 

 shafts running up to the ceiling, and consisting of a 

 half-round on a rectangular pilaster, flanked by en- 

 gaged shafts. At the west of the apse was an arch of 

 about 32 feet span, with its springing at the level of 

 the clearstory string, and flanked by turrets containing 

 vices connecting the triforium and clearstory passages, 

 and leading up to the roof The ground story of the 

 apse, ranging with the main arcades of the presbytery. 



had a window in each bay, with a string of zigzag 

 above, and probably wall arcades below, with inter- 

 secting arches like those in the aisles of the presbytery. 

 The windows were replaced in the 14th century- by 

 three-light windows' with flowing tracery, two of 

 which still remain entire in the north-west and south- 

 west bays, while the other three have lost the r 

 tracery, their sills having been cut down to the floor 

 level when the New Building was added by Abbot 

 Kirton. The wall arcading has disappeared for the 

 same reason in the three eastern bays. In the 

 north-west bay two lockers under gabled heads 

 were inserted at some time in the 13th century,' 

 now either destroyed or masked by the modem 

 Gothic canopies which fill all the bays of the apse, 

 and are relics of the elaborate quire fittings set up 

 about 1820. 



The triforium of the apse has single arched open- 

 ings in each bay with horizontal zigzag in the heads, 

 and in the western bays, which are wider than the 

 others, a blank arcade to fill the space between the 

 opening and the responds of the west arch of the 

 apse. The original windows of this stage have been 

 replaced by three-light 14th-century windows with 

 flowing tracery, those in the west bays being some- 

 what narrower than the others. Under the windows 

 in the three east bays is a modern wall-arcade of 

 intersecting arches. 



The string above the triforium was designed, like 

 that in the presbyter}-, to be worked with zigzag, but 

 here also the work was interrupted, and the existing 

 string has a plain roll only. The clearstory here has 

 been much altered, the compound shafts between the 

 bays being probably of 13th-century date, while the 

 inner arches, which may at first have been like those 

 of the presbytery, have been altered to a single wide 

 arch in each bay, probably at the date of the insertion 

 in the three central bays of the present wide three- 

 light tracery windows in the 14th century. The 

 windows of the other two bays have remained un- 

 altered, save for the insertion of 15th-century tracery 

 like that in the clearstory. The great arch which 

 spanned the west end of the apse has been destroyed, 

 though at what date is not clear ; its jambs are sur- 

 mounted with ijth-centur)' niches, running up to the 

 beam which carries the west end of the present flat 

 wooden ceiling of the apse. The many alterations to 

 the clearstory here, especially in the case of the com- 

 pound shafts, suggest that the original design was to 

 vault this part of the church in stone, and this may 

 actually have been done and afterwards destroyed 

 through the failure of the w.ills to resist the thrust of 

 the vault. When the vault was taken away * the 

 shafts would be continued upward to the flat ceiling, 

 and the west arch might well be taken down at the 

 same time, as being no longer constructionally 

 necessar)-. 



1 These beamholes do not occur at all 

 in the north transept, and there arc only 

 two in the south transept — in the second 

 bay from the tower — having nothing to 

 correspond with them on the west side of 

 the transept. They occur in every bay of 

 the nave, being larger and more numerous 

 at the east end, and are always arranged 

 to avoid the shafts of the clearstory arcades. 

 In some cases they seem to have been 

 blocked by the rubble masonry inserted in 

 the passage to abut the proposed vault of 

 the nave. 



^ The windows have feathered rear 

 arches with pierced spandrels under square 

 heads with ball flower ornament, the 

 interval between the rear arches and the 

 window tracery being ceiled with hori- 

 zontal stone slabs, supported by arched 

 ribs springing diagonally from the jambs 

 of the opening. In the heads of the three 

 east windows open quatrefoiled tracery 

 of the date of the New Building has 

 been inserted in place of the original 

 tracery. 



^ These arcades are shown in a drawing 

 of the interior of the presbytery made in 

 1721, and now in the British Museum 

 (Add. MS. 32467, fol. 203). 



* See the parallel case in the nave, 

 p. 439. Mr. J. T. Irvine noted that the 

 upper parts of the walls of the apse 

 had been slightly thrust outwards, ind 

 the parapet here has been built in the 

 13th century, while elsewhere in the 

 church the parapets are of 14th-century 

 date. 



