Church of St John Escomb

Church of St. John at Escomb

Image by https://escombsaxonchurch.co.uk/

Church of St. John at Escomb represents one of the oldest buildings in United Kingdom, being a Saxon church. The building materials used in building this building date back in Binchester employing the Old Roman Fort. It is evident that most of the stones comprises Romanian inscription on them, which basically describes the main source of the materials used in constructing the building (Rodwell 2013). The church date around 670 to 690 as when the building started serving as a church, without a common denomination.

The church integrates a simple layout described in an old setting. To the south, the building comprises of a porch leading to a narrow nave. To the west of this south door the building exhibits the font. On the other hand, the high alter is at the left of the nave and in between there is a high channel arch. The high alter is a small sanctuary that mainly facilitates the worshiping purposes of the believers Rodwell 2013).

Image by https://escombsaxonchurch.co.uk/

The interior side of the church comprises of a wide array wealth of Saxon. The font present in the nave is quite simple and dates at around 13th century, which is just an estimate for it could date earlier than that. On the north of the arch there exists the Chancel Arch, which mainly is built of the Binchester Roman old fort.  The south porch of the building comprises of two Saxon stone crosses (Rodwell 2013). Besides, there is the availability of other materials such as bit of carvings that contribute to attributing the origin of materials used during the construction of the building.

Image by https://escombsaxonchurch.co.uk/

Moreover, there exists the Roman stone, which is present on the north wall.  The roman stone mainly supports the Saxon window that is slightly aside of it. As stated earlier, most of the stones used in constructing the building comprises of inscribed Roman words.  The Roman stone contains “bono rei pubucae nato,” Roman words that mean to the man born good of the state (Rodwell 2013). The building further houses many paintings that are visible outside the arch. Most of these paintings are of 12th to 13th century and the shape of the cross is one of the painting present in the building.  The building and its structural layout are very ideal and well united in its own way of process. 

References

Rodwell, W. (2013). The Archaeology of Churches. Amberley Publishing Limited.

"Chapter 4: Local Party Government." Local Government Institutionalization in Hungary (n.d.): n.                         pag. Web.

Lincoln Cathedral

          The Cathedral itself begun sometimes around 1088 by Regimus de Fecamp, Bishop of Lincoln, possibly on the site of the old Saxon church of St. Mary Magdalene, which now occupies the area just outside Exchequer's Gate. While Regimus lived to see the completion of the original cathedral, the building itself would fail to last a century, being gutted in fire in 1141.

           Being extensively rebuilt and expanded in size by Bishop Alexander, this new cathedral also met its end in a natural disaster, being destroyed (with the exemption of a small part of the west end and its towers) by an earthquake on April 15 1185-the magnitude of which has not been felt in Britain since. The rebuilding of the cathedral, under Hugh of Avalon (later St. Hugh of Lincoln, for whom the south-western tower is named) began in earnest in 1192 and completes roughly around 1235. While greatly enlarged, the structural integrity of some of the building work was questionable, and in 1237 the central tower collapsed under its own weight. This was to be rebuilt under the orders of Henry III 1255.

   

          About 62 years later, work Begun to enlarge the central tower, and to top it and the other towers with magnificent wooden spires, capped with lead. When construction work was completed four years later, in 1311, the central spire reached a height of 525 feet. This would have made Lincoln Cathedral the tallest building in the world, and first to have surpassed the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, which had held the title for some four millennia.

         The spires themselves added significant weight to the towers of St. Mary and St. Hugh. The strain of this weight was exacerbated by the bells within the tower, particularly Great Tom, the large hour bell. By the beginning of the 18th century iron braces had to be placed upon the towers due to the force of the bells and the weight of the spires making the towers lean significantly.

          By 1720, architect John Gibbs consulted with the Dean of the cathedral, and a decision was made to remove the spires and cease the ringing of the bells for the time being. Locals misunderstood this, they thought that the towers are taken down, not just the spires were to be removed, they rioted and demanded that bells should ring non stop.

          Finally in 1807 the spires were removed, alleviating some of the strain upon towers, though structure repairs have continued unabated for the past 200 years and probably well into the future.

Source:   http://acidadebranca.tumblr.com/post/71082798154/architecture-section-elevation-england
               http://thelincolnite.co.uk/2013/11/when-lincoln-cathedral-was-the-tallest-building-in-the-world/

          

York Cathedral

                  

                      The York Cathedral is one of the largest cathedrals in all of Northern Europe. The cathedral was established in 627 A.D. The cathedral is known for its vast stained glass windows that stretch across the walls. The length of the cathedral is 173 yards and the height of the tower is 230 ft. The wooden roof is light enough to be held up by the buttressed walls. The far northern end of the 

cathedral houses the chapter house, geometric patterns were used in the windows. The east end houses the sanctuary and the choir area. The northern and southern end hold the transept. 

Nave of the Cathedral 

                     The nave is located at the western end of the church. The nave is the body of the church. The massive organ was destroyed in multiple fires (1829 and 1984) and was rebuilt quickly. The central tower of the cathedral was built between 1407 and 1472. The central tower is very decorative and is in the perpendicular style. York Cathedral has a long tradition of making stained glass windows. Most of it came from Germany. The Great East window is 76 ft tall. 

                      The chapter house has many sculptured heads above the canopies, representing some of the finest Gothic sculpture in the country. The nave was built between 1291 and 1350 and is also decorated Gothic style. In 1137 the Minster endured serious fire harm once more. The choir and tomb were remade starting in 1154, and an expansive house of prayer committed to St. Catacomb was added to the nave. In any case, at this point the Norman Minster was positively out of venture with the new Gothic form then clearing Europe. 

                      A moderate makeover of the Minster started in 1220 with the South Transept, trailed by the North Transept. The styles of these transepts are very special, however they were manufactured yet a couple of years separated. The North Transept is well known for its "Five Sisters"; five agile lancet windows beat by five littler gabled lancets. An awesome focal tower was worked at an indistinguishable period from the transepts, yet this crumpled in 1407. The sensitive Chapter House, where the everyday business of the Minster was run, was started in around 1260. It is a wonderful case of the Gothic Decorated style which was then in vogue.

Chapter House 

Five Sisters 

                   The ribbed wooden rooftop is genuinely a perfect work of art of medieval design, and the traceried recolored glass windows puts even the Five Sisters to disgrace. The old Norman nave was remade, starting around 1280. The new nave was precisely twice as wide as the old, making it the amplest in Europe and the second tallest (after Westminster Abbey) in England. The last surviving part of the Norman house of God, the choir, was modified in 1395. 

Richard Scrope was selected Archbishop by Richard II in 1398. Scrope then opposed Richard's successor, Henry IV in 1405, however he was caught and executed before the dividers of York. Another focal tower was started in 1420 to supplant the one which fallen in 1407 (see above). In 1472 the work of reconstructing the minster was proclaimed finished and the Minster was rededicated. York Minster endured vigorously duriing the English Reformation and its repercussions.

Works Cited:

[1]"York Minster." York Minster History. http://www.yorkshire-england.co.uk/YorkMinster.html.
[2] Pepin, David. Cathedrals of Britain.