PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PETERBOROUGH 



present 15th-century tracery was inserted. The 

 intersecting wall arcades of the ground story were 

 continued round the transept as far as the end of the 

 work in the north-west and south-west angles of the 

 transepts. 



The tall three-light windows in the gable walls of 

 the west transepts are best taken with the third stage 

 in the history of the west front, which now comes 

 under consideration. 



The builders who resumed the work after the break 

 just described carried it on, as far as regards the two 

 towers and the transepts, on the lines already laid 

 down. But they were in no way tied as regards the 

 external west elevation, and it was set out without 

 regard to the position of the responds on the east 

 face of the west wall. 



The gable walls of the two transepts were con- 

 tinued westwards to the line of the present west front, 

 and the space thus bounded was divided into seven 

 bays, the middle bay being wider than the rest, but 

 the unit of setting-out was the width of one of the 

 two outer bays at either end, as may be seen from 

 the fact that the width of the middle bay, plus that of 

 the narrow bays on each side of it, is three times that 

 of each of the other four bays. In the middle bay was 

 set the main doorway, and lesser doorways in 

 the second bays from either end. From the still 

 existing bases of vaulting shafts, it is clear that 

 it was proposed to have a portico or narthex 

 vaulted in seven bays corresponding with the 

 seven divisions of the wall surface. Two 

 triangular piers were therefore set out on either 

 side of the large central bay with their apices 

 to the west and bases to the east, the bases 

 being equal in width to one of the narrow 

 bays on either side of the central doorway. 

 By this means the vaulting shafts at each end 

 of the bases of the triangular piers were set 

 opposite the shafts at each side of the narrow 

 bays, and it is a reasonable deduction that the 

 shafts whose bases still remain at the north 

 jamb of the north doorway and the south 

 jamb of the south doorway had similar shafts 

 set opposite them on the west, attached to 

 jambs corresponding to the splayed sides of 

 the triangular piers. The plan thus obtained 

 results in a west front with three openings, 

 as at present, but with a central opening of 

 greater width than the side openings instead 

 of being narrower, and with sufficient length 

 of wall at either end of the front to give 

 abutment to the arches. The central arch 

 would no doubt be taller than the others, as 

 at Lincoln, where an arrangement of some- 

 what the same kind still remains ; with this 

 difference, that it is in the west wall of the 

 nave, and not in a porch. 



But this design in its turn was abandoned 

 before it had gone very far. The 

 triangular piers were carried to some 

 height, and the west wall of the nave 

 built probably as high as the string over 

 the heads of the doorways. The break 

 in the masonry shows in the north and 

 south walls of the porch, and slopes 

 down from the eastern angles, the work 

 of this date being only two courses 

 above the level of the old bases at 

 the western angles. 



3ca.ie of Feet 

 Peterborough Cathedral. Diagrams showing the 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRESENT WeST FrOXT. 

 441 56 



