1842.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



375 



downwards into the foundation thrtnigh the vertical space of SJ inches with 

 respect to tlie wall of the south trausept, which is of the same age as itself; 

 but as the foundation is thus shown to he compressible, it must be supposed 

 that the wall itself must have sunk, although in a less degree than the pier, 

 and therefore that the actual sinking of the pier must have been greater than 

 3J inches. In fact, by levelling the courses of masonry in the clerestory 

 wall of this transept, immediately above tlie vault, from E to K, I find a 

 difference of level of about 10 in. between the southern and northern extre- 

 mities, which is manifestly due to sinking, and not to inaccurate workman- 

 ship, because the courses run nearly level over the piers, and sink in stages 

 over the window heads. 



A great settlement or subsidence is thus shown to have taken place be- 

 tween the Norman pier and the Norman wall in connexion with it, as well as 

 a positive sinking of each into the foundation. The Norman wall of the 

 choir has also sunk to the same extent, and as the Early English string 

 moulding of its clerestory exhibits the same depression, we must either sup- 

 pose that the depression happened after the clerestory was added, or that 

 this string moulding was laid upon the Norman wall without levelling it, a 

 supposition which is not inconsistent with the known roughness of the work 

 of that age. The settlement of the south wall of the south transept cannot 

 now be measured, because a large Perpendicular window was inserted on this 

 side, and the wall over it entiiely rebuilt during the fifteenth century; most 

 likely because this part of the wall bad been entirely shattered by the sub- 

 sidence of the tower. Neither can the settlements of the tower piers, with 

 respect to the walls of the nave, be ascertained, in consequence of the entire 

 rebuilding of the clerestory and triforium by Mr. Wyatt. 



The two southern piers of the tower being in immediate connexion with 

 walls of their own age, their subsidence is thus as it were recorded for our 

 information. But the two northern piers, as R, Fig. 3, are now connected with 

 the northern orCantilupe transept, which was built more than two centuries 

 later, and probably replaced a Norman transept similar to the southern. 



The eastern clerestory wall of this north transept, is. however, not at all dis- 

 turbed by dragging downwards with the pier, and we may therefore conclude 

 that the subsidence of the piers had ceased before the year 1300, for it will be 

 shown, from other symptoms, that the two northern piers had in themselves suf- 

 fered quite as much, if not more, from settlements than the southern ones- 

 If then, their junction with walls two centuries later, exhibits no signs of rela- 

 tive motion, we may plainly infer that all the subsidence of the piers had taken 

 place before these walls were connecteii to them. It is true that the western 

 wall of the north transept exhibits a great dislocation of form ; the entire 

 mass of masonry which forms the southern side of the lofty window, forty 

 feet high, has shrunk and slipped away from its junction with the Norman 

 ■wall, and settled downwards and northwards, bulging out and bending the 

 iron bars of the window, and rendering an immediate repair necessary. But 

 this is a local settlement, unconnected with that of the Norman pier, and 

 occasioned by the difiiculty of establishing a lirm bond between new work 

 and old, for the clerestory and the upper part of this wall between the roofs 

 exhibit no signs of having been dragged downwards by the tower pier. 



■When the great piers themselves are examined below, especially the two 

 western, it is evident that they have suffered great disturbances. The 

 greater part of the original Norman ashlering is now either covered by sub- 

 sequent casing, or has been removed and rebuilt ; nevertheless, the Norman 

 capitals, from which the four tower arches spring, remain, and on several 

 faces of the piers, the position of the corresponding shafts can be ascertained. 

 This is the case with the southern face of the north-western pier, POT, 

 Fig. 2. The lower portion of the pair of Norman shafts, L M, remains with 

 the bases, and one of them, M, still exists to the height of 33 feet. These 

 shafts are still vertical, but the capitals, II K, which undoubtedly were ori- 

 ginally placed immediately over them, are now removed by settlements, 

 together with the entire western arch of the tower, through the enormous 

 space of lOi in. to the west. Also two cylindrical piers, E,F, of the nave on 

 each side, and contiguous to the piers of the tower, are pushed bodily over 

 so that their impost mouldings are now 4.j inches to the west of their true 

 position ; in fact every pier of the nave has gone to the west in a slight 

 degree. 



The Norman nave-arches which rest upon them have suffered a corres- 

 ponding distortion of form, which is the most evident in that arch which 

 connects the first cylindrical pier E on the north side, with the half column 

 G that projects from the tower pier ; for the half column has remained up- 

 right while the cylindrical pier has been pushed over as already described. 



The Norman triforium and clerestory which once surmounted these piers, 

 were destroyed by Mr. Wyatt, but the nature of the settlements just de- I 



scribed — niamely, that the capitals of the tower piers have gone so consider- 

 ably to the west, while the lower half of the same pier remains vertical, and 

 yet that all the piers of the nave are also driven to the west — demonstrates 

 that the upper part P Oof the pier must have separated itself from the 

 lower, G, by a diagonal fissure extending from tlie upper eastern portion to the 

 lower western, and that the western half of the mass so separated must have 

 slipped downwards, and by pressing against the walls and columns of the 

 nave, have produced their present change of position. 



And that the upper part of this pier with the entire western tower arch, 

 sank in this manner downwards and westwards, will also be shown from the 

 present state of the Norman string course, A B, over the great tower arches. 

 I should also mention that the capitals of the shafts on the western face of 

 the north-eastern pier, Q R, have been similarly driven to the north about 

 four inches, and that the south-western pier has undergone nearly the same 

 settlement as the north-western. Now the upper extremities of the great 

 piers having thus moved from their true position, the four great Norman 

 tower arches which rest upon them, are necessarily distorted in a verv great 

 degree. 



Two of these arches, the north and south, are smaller than the east and 

 west, the respective spans being about 10 and 31 feet. Immediately above 

 these arches, the Norman string course, A B, projects from the wall ; this was 

 of course horizontal when first executed, and its deviations from horizontality 

 serve to mark the extent of the dislocations of the arches below it. The 

 western arch appears to have preserved its form tolerably well, and in fact, 

 as the two piers upon which it rests have gone together towards the west, 

 without diverging, this arch appears to have settled bodily with them without 

 change of form. The other three arches have suffered great disturbance ; 

 their original semicircular outline being now converted into an ellipse by the 

 sinking of the crowns, occasioned by the divergence of the piers ; for since 

 the capitals of the north-west and south-west piers have each moved 10 in. 

 to the west, and that of the north-east 4 in. to the north, it follows that all 

 the four arches, except the west, have spread at the feet, and therefore must 

 have sunk at the crown. 



I have levelled and examined tbe present state of the Norman string 

 course, and I find that its north-west extremity, A. Fig. 2, is 7 in. lower than 

 its north-east, B, showing the sinking of the north-west pier, which has 

 been already detected from other appearances. Also the north-east end, A, 

 Fig. 3, is 2 in. higher than the south-east end, B, and on this side the string 

 course has sagged in the middle so as to fall about C in. lower in the centre 

 than at the two ends, this is produced by the sinking of the crown of the 

 eastern arch; again, the south-east angle is \}, in. higher than the south- 

 west, and the string sags about 4 in. in the middle; over the western arch 

 the string course has been removed, but the south-western angle is 3^ in. 

 higher than the north-western. These differences are too great to be attri- 

 buted to bad workmanship, and they all point to the same facts that have been 

 attested by the other appearances described, namely, that the piers have all 

 subsided and that the north-western has suffered the most ; besides these 

 appearances, the masonry of the spandrils — that is, of the walls included be- 

 tween the Norman arches below, and the string course above, is in a frightful 

 state of dislocation ; for the change of form in the arches has twisted and 

 fractured the stones in all directions, besides drawing them asunder so as to 

 open the joints in many places to the extent of 2 in. or more. The rubble 

 work in tbe heart of the wall has lost all cohesion. 



Upon these arches, however, and in this state of ruin or very nearly so, 

 did the architect of the tower in 1300 proceed to erect his work. That this 

 was the case is shown by the following evidence : — The masonry of the new 

 tower begins at the level of the Norman string, A, B, or a little above it, 

 the junction of the two works being very easily traced. About 4 feet above 

 tbe Norman string, a second or Gothic string course, C, D, Figj. 2, 3, 4, 5, 

 is placed at the same level as the passage or gallerv' which runs in the thick- 

 ness of the wall all round tbe tower, and upon this string course is sup- 

 ported the singular row of piers, W, W, Figs. 2 and 3, or P, Q, R, Fig. 4, 

 which constitute the interior lining of tbe tower. 



Now the Norman string course has been shown to be completely out of 

 level at the corners, besides sagging in the middles. But this gothic string 

 course on the contrary, is now so nearly level with respect to the corners, 

 that the diiftrence may be attributed to errors of workmanship, and it has 

 only sagged in the centre about half an inch on the east and north, and not 

 at all on the other two sides. Also the lower bed of the first course of 

 gothic masonry which rests upon the Norman wall, is eTnctly shapcil to ac- 

 comodate, the sagging already described, but its upper bed is straight and 

 level, proving decidedly that the entire present settlement of the Norman 



