A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



build a spire, or octagon,** an intention never 

 carried out. 



THE TRANSEPTS with their eastern aisles 

 nearly resemble each other in their details. 

 Each transept consists, or rather was originally 

 intended to consist, of two double bays of 

 unequal size. The double bay next the crossing 

 on each side is considerably longer than the 

 other, and the bays are separated by a semi- 

 circular transverse of two orders, with shafted 

 responds of the same type as those of the former 

 transverse between the double bays of the quire. 

 The widths of the arches next the crossing are 

 governed by the width of the quire aisles, and 

 consequently they occupy in each case more 

 than half the width of the first double bay, so 

 that the span of the adjoining arch is less by 

 nearly 3 ft. The same relative diminution is 

 preserved in the pair of arches in the narrower 

 end bay, but the crowns of all are kept approxi- 

 mately at the same level by the expedient of 

 stilting their springing. The southern cylindrical 

 pier of the south transept has an incised cheveron 

 pattern upon it in place of the spiral fluting of the 

 others, and the bases and plinths of the piers 

 and responds all follow the design of those of 

 the crossing piers, but with these exceptions the 

 detail of the arcades is the same as that of the 

 quire arcades. It should be noted, however, 

 that the main piers between the double bays are 

 made shorter on plan than the crossing piers, so 

 that the shafts carrying the transverses form 

 continuous suites with the shafts of the re- 

 sponds of the adjoining arches. 



The east walls of both transepts up to the 

 top of the triforium stage belong to St. Calais' 

 work, and nearly resemble in their general design 

 the original portion of the quire, both showing 

 preparation for a high vault. The ground-stage 

 of each double bay is occupied by a pair of 

 arches to the aisle springing from heavy cylin- 

 drical minor piers and from shafts attached to 

 the main piers. The face of the triforium wall 

 is set back to receive the vaulting shafts, as in 

 the quire, with the difference that the shafts 

 over the minor piers are double instead of 

 triple. The triforium openings are of the same 

 character as those in the quire, with their pro- 

 portions modified to suit the narrower middle 

 bays ; in the still narrower end bays the opening 

 is single. The semicircular abutting arches 

 beneath the triforium roof are repeated. 



Above the triforium stage the details of the 



^* Sir Gilbert Scott was of opinion that the inten- 

 tion was to erect a ' crown ' like that at St. Nicholas, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, but the squinches seem to sug- 

 gest either a spire or octagon. Wyatt's drawings, 

 now in the Dean and Chapter Library, only show that 

 he intended to give the tower a top of this type ; 

 there is no reason for supposing that this was the 

 origin.ll design. 



east walls of the transepts vary. As already 

 mentioned, when the building of the walls had 

 advanced thus far the intention to vault the 

 transepts was for the time abandoned, but in 

 the case of the north transept it was resumed 

 without modification of the original conception. 

 The triple shafts on the face of the major 

 pier and the vaulting shafts in the double bay 

 next the crossing, which start from the tri- 

 forium string, are finished with capitals at 

 the same height as those of the crossing pier, 

 and the clearstory arcade was designed for and 

 built with the vault.*' The shafts in the tri- 

 forium stage w'ere planned for vaulting each 

 double bay in two compartments, but the nar- 

 rowness of the northern bay, together with the 

 projecting staircase in the angle, made this 

 difficult and the whole space was covered with 

 a single bay of vaulting ; the double shafts over 

 the minor pier thus became useless and were 

 carried up to the curve of the vault. Each of 

 the four clearstory openings has a plain semi- 

 circular highly stilted arch in front of the 

 window, flanked in the double bay next the 

 crossing by a narrow and lower arch on each 

 side, the arches springing from plain outer 

 jambs and from monolithic shafts with cushion 

 capitals. In the northern bay, owing to its 

 single vault, the position of the clearstory 

 windows left room only for a narrow opening on 

 each side of the double wall-shaft, the space for 

 corresponding openings on the other side of 

 each window being insufficient. These openings 

 were therefore omitted and square jambs built 

 to receive the window arches, over which the 

 lateral cell of the vault passes, forming an 

 elliptical lunette. The vaulting of the double 

 bay next the crossing introduces the type of 

 vault which was afterwards followed in the 

 south transept and nave (which probably 

 existed originally over the quire), consisting 

 of two quadripartite compartments without any 

 intermediate transverse, and a strongly empha- 

 sised transverse between it and the adjoining vault 

 on the north. The curve of the transverse, 

 like that of the crossing arch, is a semicircle 

 slightly stilted and the diagonal ribs are seg- 

 ments of circles struck from centres below the 

 springing line. The transverse is of two orders, 

 the outer square and the wider inner order 

 moulded with a roll between two hollows, similar 

 to the inner order of the crossing arches. The 

 ribs also are moulded with a roll between two 

 hollows (as in the quire aisles) and are con- 

 structed of thin stones with lozenge-shaped 

 keys. 



In the south transept the east clearstory was 

 built to receive a flat wooden ceiling, and 

 differs considerably from that just described. 



*' Bilson, Arch. Jour. Ixxix, 136. 



no 



