By John Harding. 



109 



building ; all that can be known of it, therefore, is furnished by the 

 old views of the Cathedral in which it appears. One of the best of 

 those is the large north-east view of the Cathedral published by 

 Easton in 1759 ; upon this print the Belfry is a conspicuous object. 

 Price, in his " Observations upon the Cathedral" which he published 

 in 1753, " For the Use and Amusement of GENTLEMEN and other 

 curious PERSONS," gives a plan and section of the Belfry drawn to 

 a small scale, and also an elevation of the lower portion of the edifice, 

 which was of stone, in order to show his design for covering in 

 the building when the tower and steeple should be taken down, as 

 was at that time contemplated and soon after carried into effect — 

 when, however, Price's scheme was not adopted, but a plainer and 

 less expensive roof, covered with slate, substituted. 



The Belfry was a building of great strength and solidity, admirably 

 adapted to its purpose of containing a great peal of bells. The 

 sub-structure was 33ft.. square in the clear of the walls, which were 

 of stone, about 8ft. thick, flanked by three buttresses on each of 

 its four sides, and rising to a height of nearly 80ft. from the ground 

 to the top of the parapet. On each side were four lancet windows, 

 and in the centre of the interior an octagonal stone shaft, from 

 which projected corbels supporting the timbers of the floors. On 

 the exterior there was a boldly-moulded plinth to the walls and 

 buttresses, similar to that on the outside of the Cathedral. This 

 was repeated in the interior and around the central shaft. The 

 buttresses were divided into four slightly diminishing stages by 

 moulded weatherings and string-courses, the latter being continued 

 along the walls and as a hood mould over the arches of the 

 windows ; the buttresses terminated in gablets at the level of the 

 parapet. 



Above this massive and lofty stone base was a superstructure of 

 oak, consisting first, of a square tower, each external face being 

 divided into eight arched compartments with tracery heads and 

 spandrels, four of these divisions were pierced as windows, and the 

 openings filled with louvres. Above the tower rose an octagonal 

 turret, divided into stages by horizontal strings and covered with 

 lead-work of herring-bone or zig-zag pattern, finished by an 



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