A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



and godly to the beholders thcrof.''- The 

 window is of six trefoiled lights under a two- 

 centred main head, and the tracery is of two 

 orders, the master-mullions dividing the lights 

 into three groups with as many two-centred 

 sub-heads, each filled by a trefoiled circle. The 

 tracery in the main head is formed by the inter- 

 section of the master-mullions, which meet 

 considerably above the sub-heads, and the com- 

 partments thus formed are filled by cinquefoilcd 

 and trefoiled circles. The stiffening of the 

 enormous window surface is effected by an inner 

 system of tracery, consisting of clustered stone 

 shafts*' with moulded bases and capitals carry- 

 ing finely moulded arches, which repeats the 

 main order of the outer tracery and is connected 

 with it by through-stones. The lower wall- 

 passage is continued along the sill, the jambs 

 being pierced by shouldered openings, but the 

 upper passage is of course interrupted. The 

 wall arcade is continued below the sill, the 

 plinth being stepped upwards at the east end to 

 clear the altar-pace. In the easternmost bay of 

 the arcade is the aumbry above referred to, 

 while the westernmost bay, which is nearly equal 

 in width to three of the others, has a stilted 

 two-centred head, and incloses a doorway, now 

 blocked, with a rear-arch of the same form. The 

 fact that the arcading is purposely designed to 

 allow room for the doorway leaves no doubt that 

 the work is all of one date, despite the tradition 

 which declares that it was made for the admission 

 of the body of Bishop Bek in 1311." The 

 foundations of the intended central vaulting-pier 

 are visible in the pavement, and indications 

 exist in the stonework of the arcading which lead 

 to the conclusion that the pier was actually 

 carried up some distance above the base before 

 the change in plan was decided upon. On the 

 exterior the beginning of the intended sustaining 

 buttress remains, terminated by a gablet below 

 the sill of the window. 



The south wall with its four coupled lancets 

 is the least satisfactory feature in the design of 

 the chapel. This may have been felt by the 

 builders themselves, and possibly determined 

 the change of treatment adopted in the north 

 wall which resulted in the substitution of the 

 magnificent six-light window for the somewhat 

 haphazard fenestration necessitated here by the 

 retention of the constructionally superfluous 

 central vaulting-pier, the design of which shows 

 a curious indecision. When the lower portion of 

 the pier was in course of building, it was not 

 foreseen that the vaulting-rib which it would 

 have to receive would be of an entirely subsidiary 



12 Rites of Durh. (Surtees Soc), 3. The present 

 glass dates from 1 877. 

 " The jamb shafts are of marble. 

 " RiUi oJDurh. (Surtees Soc), 2. 



character, and would therefore need but a single 

 shaft for its support. The plan at the ground- 

 stage is therefore identical with that of the 

 smaller vaulting-piers on the east wall, but the 

 attached marble shafts rise no further than the 

 annulet at the sill-level of the lower windows. 

 At the springing-level of the window heads the 

 three empty hollows between the outer stone 

 shaft-rolls of the pier are terminated by gablets, 

 and the plan of the pier changes to a rectangle 

 with a central attached filleted shaft, flanked by 

 attached shafts at the angles. The twin rear- 

 arches of each pair of coupled lancets spring in 

 the upper stage from filleted shafts attached to 

 the extreme jambs and in the lower from shafts 

 of marble, and are received upon a central 

 mullion consisting of a cluster of shaft-rolls 

 connected to the front of the window by slender 

 through-stones at two levels. In the lower 

 windows the rear-arches of each pair are inclosed 

 by a two-centred containing order and in the 

 spandrel thus formed is a circular quatrefoil 

 panel : owing to the unequal splay of the jambs, 

 the rear-arches next to the vaulting-pier are 

 wider than the others, with the result that the 

 containing arches are very perceptibly out of 

 centre with the rear-arches beneath. All the 

 windows are filled with early 15th-century 

 tracery, each window having two transomed 

 lights with vertical tracery in the head. The 

 whole group is described in Rites as a ' good 

 glazed window called St. Cuthberts window, 

 the w<=h hath in it all the whole storye life and 

 miracles of that holy man St. Cuthbert from 

 his birth of his natiuitie and infancie unto the 

 end and a discourse of his whole life, maruelously 

 fine and curiously sett forth in pictures in fine 

 coloured glass accordinge as he went in his 

 habitte to his dying day.'*^ At the west end of 

 the wall is a doorway like that on the north, 

 the wall arcade being similarly spaced. 



The west side of the chapel, like the east, is 

 divided by the vaulting-piers into seven bays, but 

 only the central bay (which is open to the quire 

 for its whole height) corresponds in width with 

 the bay opposite. The two bays next to the 

 central bay are governed by the width of the 

 quire aisles, which are also open to the chapel 

 for their whole height, and exceed the width of 

 the opposite bays by about one-half. Of the 

 two remaining bays on either side, which project 

 transeptally beyond the body of the church, 

 those at the extreme north and south are spaced 

 so as to correspond very nearly with those 

 opposite, and consequently the bays next the 

 quire aisles are very narrow. The only windows 

 on this side are a skewed lancet, now blocked, in 

 the lower stage of each of the two end bays, and 

 a window in the clearstory of each of the bays 



1^ Ibid. 3. Thevvindows are nowfilledwith plain glass. 



98 



