The Mediaeval Cathedrals of England - Part 2

Here is a video about nine of England's beautiful Madiaeval Cathedrals. They range from tiny little Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, which is only as large as a parish church, to Norwich and Peterborough which are 48o feet long. All these cathedrals have been extensively restored during the 19th century, but all of them are substantially intact ancient buildings, with the exception of the spire at Chichester..... and thereby hangs a tale.

The Mediaeval spire at Chichester was 277 feet high, was completed in 1402, and could be seen from the English Channel and for miles across the countryside. In 1861, a small boy was appraoching Chichester on the train, when his Grandmother said to him "Look out and you will see the spire of Chichester Cathedral!"
He looked out, and saw the spire. And while he was watching, it suddenly caved in on itself, like a telescope. As it was a masonry spire, there was nothing left except a huge pile of rubble on the floor at the crossing of the cathedral. The people of the little cathedral city of Chichester were devastated at the loss of their famous landmark. The famous Gothic Revival architect, Sir George Gilbert Scott, rebuilt it, faithful to the original.

I mentioned her that Chichester is a "Cathedral City". That term is usually applied only when the town in which the Cathedral stands is too small to be a city in its own right. Some cathedrals stand in large towns that have always been cities, or have become cities because of industrial growth in the 18th and 19th centuries. Norwich, for example, has been a city for hundreds of years, but Chichester, for nearly a thousand years, has been a Cathedral City in which the entire population of the town can fit inside the cathedral itself.

Like the cathedrals of the previous video, most of these buildings were begun shortly after the Norman invasion, although several of them have been the location of cathedrals since the 7th century. All of them were extended in the Gothic period, with Peterborough remaining the most Norman, and only Lichfield being entirely Gothic.
Some of these cathedrals are remarkable for their overall lovlieness, such as Chichester, while others are renowned for an architectural feature which is either unique in England, such as the Early English Gothic West front of Peterborough, and the Reticular interior in the choir of Gloucester, or is a superb example such as the vault at Norwich, and the central tower at Worcester. The cathedrals here are Chichester, Exeter, Gloucester (pr. Gloster), Lichfield, Norwich (pr. Norrich), Peterborough (pr. Peterbruh) , Ripon, Worcester (pr. Wooster like wood) and Oxford.

The Mediaeval Cathedrals of England, Part 1

One of the delights of my life is visiting old churches and cathedrals. Firstly, what exactly is a cathedral? Is it just another name for a very large church?
No. A cathedral is a church with a very special function - it contains the seat of a Bishop. From the Cathedral, the Bishop administers the churches of a region known as a Diocese.
The Bishop is not actually the Head Priest at the Cathedral; that role belongs to the Dean, who is assisted by Clergy and Layity called Canons.

Because Mediaeval England became unified politically at a comparatively early date, this also brought about a centralising of the church organisation. The result was that in England in the Late Middle Ages, there were far fewer cathedrals than in other countries, such as Italy and France, with Mediaeval England having about 18 cathedrals and France more than 180. In the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries, a number of churches that were ancient Abbeys have joined the ranks of cathedrals. More recently, a number of large parish churches have also become regional cathedrals, as the region around them became more populated.

Some cathedrals of England such as Salisbury, Durham, York and Wells, are internationslly renowned for the importance of their architecture. But among the less famous of the ancient buildings, every one of them has features that are remakable in some way.

Here is the first in a series of videos that shows some of the lesser known amoong the mediaeval buildings with their architecture and artworks.