Decay and Renewal
The cathedral suffered severe damage in storms in the early eighteenth century.
“February 6, 1722-23 [1723 by our current calendar] Wednesday, ten o’clock at night, the main couples of the roof and the south-west tower fell down, and bore with it the timbers of the loft that lay under it, and shattered and bruised a great deal of the tower wall. The other battlements of the north tower, at the east side, were blown down by a storm. November 20th, on Sunday, 1720, they fell on the north side, and beat down 20 feet of it in length to the ground. The storm also threw two pinnacles off the south tower, so that there is but one pinnacle now left. It broke the windows in divers places, and did about £100 damage. On September 3rd, 1723, there fell down 50 feet of the roof at the west end, near the font, and on or about September the 6th the roof of the south aisle fell in, whereupon the choir service was removed to the Lady Chapel, and the west door shut up, and the entrance is now by the south door.” 36
John Wood of Bath constructed an "Italian Temple" in the presbytery and the four eastern bays of the nave, leaving the rest of the nave to decay.
The local architect John Pritchard restored the cathedral in the mid 19th century, and it is interesting to try to ascertain what is mediaeval and what is 19th century work, and to gauge the extent to which mediaeval design was recovered in the restoration.
In the print of 1820 by J Buckler (Figure 17), the central part of the west front is shown complete. Just enough of the south aisle wall survived to preserve the Norman south door. The aisle windows in the Italian Temple are mediaeval ogee arched reticulated windows, as can be seen more plainly in the print of c.1800 by C Warren (Figure 18). These were used as the model for the reconstruction of the aisle windows in the western part of the nave. The part of the arcade arch next to the Italian Temple is missing, presumably due to demolition. Crucially, half a bay of the clerestory is visible, though its parapet is missing. The same half bay of the clerestory is shown as surviving to full height internally (if that is the word) in the engraving of c. 1800 by B Winkles (Figure 19). In addition there are fragments of the clerestory attached to the towers. Figure 18 shows that the fragment against the north tower included a window.
The height of the nave parapet is of 19th century determination therefore, as is the geometry in Figure 8. The external height of the presbytery walls is the same as that of the nave parapet, and may also be ascribed to John Pritchard, as may the whole of the clerestory in the presbytery. Here he very properly designed a clerestory such as might have been built in the 14th Century, rather than reconstructing the upper range of Norman windows. He also reconstructed the presbytery arch, and the presbytery aisle windows. Apparently, the bases of the central member of the presbytery arch as well as parts of the other mouldings are mediaeval. They provided clear evidence for the design of the presbytery arch.
Half a bay of original clerestory, preferably from the geometrically more exact western bays of the nave, would have been sufficient to permit an accurate reconstruction. The presence of the intricate pentagonal geometry is evidence that this is precisely what John Pritchard achieved.
The gable of the Lady Chapel (Figure 15 left) is 19th Century (c.f. Figure 18) but the geometry is perfect. A print of 1857 shows a steeply pitched gable, but the corresponding roof was not persisted with as it would have blocked the east window of the presbytery.
Figure 18 shows the reduced 18th century east window of the Lady Chapel, together with its mediaeval outline. The tracery is Pritchard's, inspired by the side windows of the Lady Chapel, and the chapter house windows at York. Pritchard also replaced the crown of the Jasper tower.
A conscious difference of approach is discernible in the design of the new south west tower and spire. Careful reconstruction gave way to new designing. Because of the spire, the tower had to be square in cross section. Its mediaeval base is rectangular, and the adjustment was made by a series of set backs on the east face of the tower. The turrets are pentagonal.
In 1941 a land mine destroyed the roofs of the nave, south aisle and chapter house, and the tracery of the windows in the south aisle, also the sedilia and most of the furnishings. The spire was damaged, and the upper part of it was rebuilt, without the crockets shown in Figure 20. There was no geometrical loss as a result of the explosion. Considerable aesthetic gain was made by George Pace in the reconstruction. He inserted a wooden ceiling over the nave, which involved the resetting of the presbytery arch at a lower level and with smaller radii of curvature. The existence of a mediaeval ceiling is indicated by the ledge immediately under the upper lancet in the west front (Figure 10, Figure 13 right) at a height governed by the large pentagon in Figure 11. He removed the reredos, re-designed the floor levels in the choir and presbytery, and inserted a pulpitum of carefully considered design bearing the Majestas statue by Epstein.