CITY OF DURHAM 



five detached marble shafts. The repair to the 

 southernmost pier referred to above consists 

 of the renewal in stone, with plain bell-capitals, 

 of about 2 ft. of the upper part of the detached 

 shafts next the wall. The rear-arches of the outer 

 lancets of the group of three which occupy the 

 lower stage of the central bay spring on the north 

 and south respectively from twin marble shafts 

 with foliage capitals and water-table bases with 

 circular plinths standing upon the sill. The 

 splayed jambs of the middle window meet those 

 of the side windows, and at the apex of each pair 

 of meeting splays are three similar shafts, the 

 rear-arches thus forming a continuous arcade. 

 All these jamb shafts are ringed at the level of the 

 upper annulets of the vaulting-piers. The rear- 

 arches are of two orders moulded with filleted 

 rolls, the soffits of the inner orders being enriched 

 with dog-tooth. They are inclosed by labels 

 decorated with a foliage ornament set at inter- 

 vals on their undersides, and having headstops 

 at their intersections and at the extremities. 

 The spandrels are plain, and the heads of the 

 labels touch the hollow string set with stiff-leaf 

 knobs which divides the two stages of the chapel 

 here and elsewhere. The jambs are pierced by 

 shouldered openings to take the lower wall- 

 passage, and at the level of the heads of these 

 openings the triple shafts at the splay-angles of 

 the middle lancet are cut short, and rest upon 

 short shafts of marble with plain bell-capitals. 

 These windows, as well as all the other lancets 

 in the east wall of the chapel, were filled with 

 two-light tracery in the 15th century like that 

 which still remains in the southern windows, 

 but this was removed by Wyatt at the end of 

 the 1 8th century. Beneath the sill, which is 

 emphasized by a moulded string-course con- 

 tinuous with the lower annulets of the vaulting- 

 piers, are nine bays of the waU-arcading, the 

 northernmost shaft of which has been curtailed 

 by the insertion of a later aumbry in the plinth 

 beneath. A second aumbry has also been formed 

 in the plinth near the middle of the bay. These, 

 with a third aumbry in the north wall, make up 

 the ' 3 or 4 little anvryes in the wall ' described 

 in Rites.^ In the upper stage the wall is set 

 back nearly to the face of the tracery of the great 

 wheel window, and the passage at this level 

 pierces the piers on either side as far back from 

 their inner face as possible, to ensure the 

 maximum amount of stabiUty. The tracery of 

 the wheel window, which consists of thirty-six 

 trefoiled lights radiating from a central multi- 

 foiled circular light, was inserted by Wyatt in 

 1795. This window is described in Rites as 

 a ' goodly faire round window called St. Kath- 



« Rites of Durh. (Surtecs Soc. no. 107), 2. Dr. J. T. 

 Fowler's edition has been used throughout this 

 description. 



erns window, the bredth of the quere, aU of 

 stone . . . hauingeinit 24 lights' verye artificially 

 made, as it is called geometricall . . .' * The 

 glazing of the window is known to have been done 

 in the early 15th century at the cost of Thomas 

 Pikeringe, rector of Hemingbrough, 1409-12,' 

 but whether the tracery removed by Wyatt was 

 of this period, or contemporary with the 

 building of the chapel, is uncertain. 



The lancets in the lower stage of the side 

 bays are slightly narrower than those in the 

 central bay, but are of the same general design 

 except that the outer jamb shafts are of stone 

 instead of marble.^" 



The jambs are pierced by the wall-passage and 

 the labels touch the enriched string-course 

 which divides the stages ; the inner orders, 

 however, have dog-tooth enrichment on the 

 face as well as on the soffits. ^^ Below each window 

 are three bays of waU-arcading. 



In the upper stage the three lancets to the 

 south of the central bay have marble shafts to 

 their inner orders, but the outer orders are 

 continuous ; the three windows north of the 

 centre bay are different, having attached double 

 jamb shafts of masonry, except the south jamb 

 of the innermost opening, which has a single 

 shaft of marble made out at the top with stone. 

 The jambs of all these windows are pierced by 

 the upper wall-passage, and the heads, which are 

 partly hidden by the vaulting, are inclosed by 

 labels. All this work was probably completed up 

 to the vault within a few years after 1242. 



In the four angles of the chapel the vaulting- 

 piers consist merely of three attached stone 

 shafts with annulets of the same material and 

 foliage capitals and bases similar to those of the 

 other piers. The south wall is divided into two 

 equal bays by a central vaulting-pier, each bay 

 being filled by two tiers of coupled lancets. In 

 the north wall the idea of a central vaulting-pier 

 appears to hare been abandoned after the work 

 had reached the lower siU-level, and the whole of 

 the area above was filled by the present large 

 six-light window. This window, which cannot 

 have been constructed much before 1280, is 

 described in Rites as a ' goodly faire great 

 glass window called Josephs window, the w"^** 

 hath in it all the whole story of Joseph most 

 artificially wrought in pictures in fine coloured 

 glasse accor(d)inge as it is sett forth uerye good 



' This probably referred to the outer lights, the same 

 number as at present. 



8 Rites of Durh. (Surtecs Soc), 2. 



* Durh. Acct. Rolls (Surtees Soc.). The present 

 glazing and that of the three lancets below date from 



1873- 



1" On the inner side of the two windows adjoining 

 the central bay both the shafts are of marble. 



1* The soffits of both orders are enriched. 



97 



»3 



