A Portrait in Decorated Gothic

Mark Cottle’s lecture, “A Portrait in Decorated Gothic”, reminded us of the warm magnificence of our local cathedral at Exeter. Its Anglo-Saxon foundations remain but Bishop Grandisson and Master Mason Thomas Witney saw the work on the present building through to its conclusion in the 1370s. Features include the Norman towers, flying buttresses, pointed arches, high windows, geometric tracery and the longest continuous roof vaulting in the world, like an avenue of palm fronds covering a mass of light. The medieval East window represented the gateway to another life. Five hundred roof bosses depict various religious symbols and scenes, including the martyrdom of Becket, but also a miscellany of contemporary characters. A collection of fabric rolls details the progress of the building between the 1290s and 1370s, confirming the use of local stone and timber. The decoration on the bishop’s chair rises to an imposing sixty feet, alongside the oldest complete set of misericords. Exeter cathedral lacks its own saint, hence no pilgrimages or associated pecuniary extras, but its peaceful green has only suffered from the odd Victorian revellers and their bonfires and a bomb which destroyed two buttresses during the Blitz. The walls just held. As well as a stone carving of a complete minstrels’ gallery, there is the very well preserved assembly of figures at the front of the cathedral, their impact rivalling Wells : imagine the newly consecrated cathedral when these would have been a riot of colour.