FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   >>  
urse. The last addition to the fabric was the present vestry, in which was a chantry founded by the Hall family. This was built out at right angles to the north aisle, at the point where the old work was met by the later extension. Not until the church had been fully aisled, and afforded no further room for new altars, were chantry chapels usually added in the shape of excrescences from the fabric. [Illustration: Fig. 16. Plans of Grantham church: (3) about 1350; (4) present day.] Sec. 75. One interesting feature in the planning of chancels, which has been much discussed, is worth a note. This is the fact that the axis of the chancel is frequently out of line with the axis of the nave, and generally has a slight northward inclination. Sometimes, as at Henbury in Gloucestershire, the inclination is very considerable, so that, from the west end of the church, nearly a quarter of the east wall is out of sight. Usually, the inclination is very slight; and there are many cases in which it is not northward, but southward--Sidbury and Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth, Eastbourne in Sussex and Aldwinkle St Peter in Northants, are cases in point. The popular explanation is that it symbolises the leaning of our Saviour's head upon the cross. Like most symbolical explanations, this is founded entirely upon fancy: the inclination is by no means confined to churches with cross plans, and, if it were, the theorists who argue from this standpoint confound the symbolism of the cross-plan between the cross itself and the Body which it bore. Others have sought to explain the phenomenon by suggesting that the orientation of the chancel followed the direction in which the sun rose on the morning of the patronal feast. A succession of visits at sunrise to churches on appropriate dates has not hitherto been attempted upon a comprehensive scale: if it were undertaken, it probably would be found that the sun, instead of rising obediently opposite the middle light of every east window, as the theory requires, would have many puzzling exceptions in reserve. The marked divergence of axis at Henbury is explained by the site of the building, which is on a gentle slope, with the axis of the nave distinctly from south-east to north-west. When the chancel was rebuilt in the thirteenth century, the masons kept as high upon the slope as they could, and so twisted the axis of the chancel a little further east. But we must also remember that, when chancel
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   >>  



Top keywords:

chancel

 

inclination

 

church

 
Henbury
 
slight
 

northward

 
churches
 

present

 

fabric

 

founded


chantry
 

patronal

 

explanations

 

morning

 

confined

 
sought
 

Others

 

symbolism

 

confound

 
direction

orientation

 
suggesting
 

standpoint

 

explain

 

phenomenon

 

theorists

 

rebuilt

 
thirteenth
 

century

 

distinctly


gentle

 

divergence

 

marked

 

explained

 

building

 

masons

 

remember

 

twisted

 

reserve

 

exceptions


comprehensive

 

attempted

 

undertaken

 

symbolical

 

hitherto

 

succession

 
visits
 

sunrise

 

window

 

theory