A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



next the responds of the main transvcrscs 

 without regard to their unequal length from 

 east to west, the western nook- shafts of the 

 western double bay are exactly above the shafts 

 of the outer orders of the westernmost arches of 

 the arcades, while the eastern nook-shafts are 

 a little to the east of the corresponding responds 

 beneath. The same relative positions of the 

 nook-shafts are repeated in the eastern bay, the 

 eastern nook-shafts answering exactly in position 

 to the western nook-shafts of the western bay, 

 a circumstance which can only be explained by 

 the former existence to the eastward of shafted 

 responds of the same number of orders as those 

 of the eastern arch of the crossing. In each of 

 the vertical subdivisions formed by the vaulting 

 shafts is an opening to the triforium with a clear- 

 story window above it. The triforium openings 

 are double, each having a pair of semicircular 

 arches, wth hollow- chamfered edges and a 

 half-round on the soffit, contained under an 

 outer inclosing arch of the same form moulded 

 with a quirked angle-roll below a hollow. Both 

 orders spring from half-shafts attached to the 

 jambs, and the inner pair of arches rest in the 

 centre upon a circular shaft of the same detail 

 as the jamb shafts. The triforium is lighted 

 by pairs of small semicircular-headed lights in 

 the outer walls of the aisles. There is no clear- 

 story passage ; the windows in this stage have 

 plain internal openings with semicircular heads 

 and stepped sills. 



The double bays were evidently each designed 

 to carry two compartments of quadripartite 

 vaulting, the middle shafts of the groups of 

 three vaulting-shafts placed over the cylindrical 

 piers of the arcades supporting a transverse rib, 

 while the flanking shafts and the nook-shafts 

 received the diagonals.-*'" The thrusts of the 

 vault were counteracted at the points of 

 support by semicircular arches which still span 

 the triforium beneath the aisle roof, and by 

 broad pilasters on the outer wall. In the 

 western double bay, which is a little shorter 

 than the eastern, the arches of the arcades 

 next the crossing-piers are considerably narrower 

 than the eastern arches, and consequently, as the 

 triple vaulting-shafts are placed exactly over the 

 cylindrical piers of the arcades, the western 

 compartment of the double vault of this bay 

 must have been, as it still is, much narrower 

 than the eastern compartment. Even had both 

 bays been subdivided equally with respect to 

 the ground-stage, as is the case in the eastern 

 bay, the compartments of the vaults next the 

 central main transverse would still have been 

 slightly wider than the other compartments, 

 owing to the greater width from east to west 



29uf}jg lines of the lunettes of the original vault 

 still exist in p.irt here. 



of the eastern arch of the crossing and the former 

 great sanctuary arch. 



The remains of the apse, which were un- 

 covered in 1895, show that an interlacing 

 arcade like that which runs round the outer 

 walls of the original portions of the church 

 occupied the lower part of the ground-stage, 

 and that there were two vaulting-responds 

 similar to those of the central transverse of 

 the surviving portion of the quire. The ground- 

 stage of the original single bay next the apse 

 must have been blank, as it was flanked by the 

 eastern apses of the aisles. The interlacing 

 arcades were most likely continued from the 

 apse along the foot of the walls, and the tri- 

 forium and clearstory probably repeated the 

 design of each subdivision of the upper stages 

 of the double bays. The vault was almost 

 certainly a single quadripartite compartment 

 carried by triforium shafts, and it was probably 

 separated by a transverse arch of two orders 

 from that of the apse. 



The 13th-century rebuilding entailed the 

 demolition of all this bay except the substance 

 of the piers which divided it from the original 

 double bays. Single arches open to the eastern- 

 most bays of the aisles, which were also rebuilt 

 to join up with the new eastern transept. These 

 arches are of the same type as those which open 

 from the east end of the aisles into the Nine 

 Altars. They are each of three richly moulded 

 orders, the outer order stilted, and the inter- 

 mediate order ornamented with the dog-tooth. 

 Their western responds are the counterpart of 

 the eastern responds, which form part of the 

 great piers terminating the side walls of the 

 quire. The labels are enriched with knobs of 

 foliage and touch the enriched string-courses 

 which mark the sill of the triforium. The walls 

 are not set back above the ground-stage as in 

 the original western bays. The triforium open- 

 ings are nearly alike on both sides ; each consists 

 of three two-centred drop arches with dog-tooth 

 enrichment inclosed by a nearly semicircular 

 arch with an enriched label and headstops. The 

 subsidiary arches spring from circular shafts 

 with foliage capitals and moulded bases, the 

 shafts at the responds being flanked by smaller 

 detached shafts with similar capitals and bases. 

 Outside these again on both quire and triforium 

 faces are slender marble shafts with capitals and 

 bases of the same character, those towards the 

 quire carrying the inclosing arch. In the tym- 

 panum above the subsidiary arches are two 

 circular quatrefoiled panels, those of the 

 northern triforium opening being filled with 

 rich foliation, while those of the southern opening 

 are plain ; below these panels, immediately over 

 the intersections of the arches, are richly carved 

 bosses of foliage. The abaci of the jamb shafts 

 of the northern opening are continued as string- 



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