Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:56:53.898Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

RECONSTRUCTING THE ROMANESQUE CLOISTER OF NORWICH CATHEDRAL

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2019

Roland B Harris*
Affiliation:
Roland B Harris, 61 The Street, Hindolveston, Norfolk NR20 5DA, UK. Email: [email protected]

Abstract

Works to the south side of the Gothic cloister at Norwich Cathedral in 1900 produced a series of finely sculpted double-capitals, which have long been identified as deriving from the Romanesque predecessor that was progressively demolished and replaced in 1297–1430. Additional discoveries in 1900 included twelfth-century voussoirs and jamb stones, which probably came from one of the larger doorways – perhaps to the chapter house – that opened off the cloister. These fragments have attracted considerable interest since 1900, almost entirely focused on art historical analysis of the subjects, style and date of the historiated double-capitals. Discovery of further fragments from the Romanesque cloister during works to the easternmost bay of the south walk (Bay 15) in 2018, however, allows us to understand more of its architecture. Although lacking the impressiveness of the earlier finds, these newly revealed sculpted stones include voussoirs and a shaft from the cloister arcades, and allow reconstruction of the overall form of the twelfth-century cloister. Moreover, the discovery of the use of calc-sinter – a faux marble sourced from the Eifel aqueduct – for the shafts of the arcades reveals that the Romanesque cloister had a hitherto entirely unsuspected lavishness.

Type
Research paper
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baxter, R 2006. ‘The construction of the west doorway of Rochester Cathedral’, in Ayers, T and Tatton-Brown, T (eds), Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Rochester, Brit Archaeol Ass Conference Trans xxviii, 8596, Maney, Leeds Google Scholar
Borg, A, Franklin, J, Sekules, V, Sims, T and Thomson, D 1980. Medieval Sculpture from Norwich Cathedral, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, Norwich Google Scholar
Britton, J 1812. The Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain: 3, Longman, Hurst, Rees and Orme, London Google Scholar
Emery, G 2013. ‘Archaeological monitoring during the installation of a new lighting system within the garth of Norwich Cathedral’, unpublished report no. 27, Norvic Archaeology, NorwichGoogle Scholar
Emery, G 2019. ‘Archaeological supervision and monitoring with targeted excavation associated with the creation of a new ramped access in the south-east corner of Norwich Cathedral Garth’, unpublished report no. 118, Norvic Archaeology, NorwichGoogle Scholar
Fernie, E 1993. An Architectural History of Norwich Cathedral, Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar
Fernie, E C and Whittingham, A B 1972. The Early Communar and Pitancer Rolls of Norwich Cathedral Priory with an Account of the Building of the Cloister, Norfolk Rec Soc 41, NorfolkGoogle Scholar
Franklin, J 1983. ‘The Romanesque cloister sculpture at Norwich Cathedral Priory’, in Thompson, F H (ed), Studies in Medieval Sculpture, Soc Antiq Occas Paper 3, 5670, The Society of Antiquaries of London, London Google Scholar
Franklin, J 2015. ‘The Romanesque sculpture of Norwich and Norfolk: the city and its hinterland – some observations’, in Heslop, T A and Lunnon, H (eds), Norwich: medieval and early modern art, architecture and archaeology, Brit Archaeol Ass Conference Trans xxxviii, 135–61, Maney, Leeds Google Scholar
Gilchrist, R L 2005. Norwich Cathedral Close: the evolution of the English cathedral landscape, Boydell Press, Woodbridge Google Scholar
Gunn, J 1879. ‘Saxon remains in the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral’, Norfolk Archaeol 8, 19 Google Scholar
Harris, R B 2016. ‘Norwich Cathedral cloister conservation trials 2015: bays 25–7’, unpublished report, Norwich CathedralGoogle Scholar
Harris, R B 2018. ‘Norwich Cathedral cloister garth access’, unpublished report, Norwich CathedralGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S 2006. ‘Benedictine and Augustinian cloister arcades of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in England, Wales and Scotland’, J Brit Archaeol Ass 159 (1), 105–30 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S and McNeil, J 2015. ‘The Rom-anesque monastic buildings at Westminster Abbey’, in Rodwell, W and Tatton-Brown, T (eds), Westminster: medieval art, architecture and archaeology, Brit Archaeol Ass Conference Trans xxxix part 1, 69103, Maney, Leeds Google Scholar
McNeil, J 2006. ‘The east cloister range of Rochester Cathedral Priory’, in Ayers, T and Tatton-Brown, T (eds), Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Rochester, Brit Archaeol Ass Conference Trans xxviii, 181204, Maney, Leeds Google Scholar
McNeil, J 2015. ‘The Romanesque cloister in England’, J Brit Archaeol Ass 168 (1), 3476 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierce, S R (ed) 1965. Norwich Cathedral at the End of the Eighteenth Century: John Adey Repton, Gregg Press, Farnborough Google Scholar
Sekules, V 2006. ‘Religious politics and the cloister bosses of Norwich Cathedral’, J Brit Archaeol Ass 159, 284306 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tanner, N 1996. ‘The cathedral and the city’, in Atherton, I, Fernie, E, Harper-Bill, C and Smith, H (eds), Norwich Cathedral: church, city and diocese, 1096–1996, 255–80, Hambledon Press, London and Rio Grande Google Scholar
Tatton-Brown, T 2006. ‘The two mid twelfth-century cloister arcades at Canterbury Cathedral’, J Brit Archaeol Ass 159 (1), 91104 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tatton-Brown, T 2014. ‘Gossenstein: discovering an unexpected source of English cathedral columns’, Current Archaeol 289, 3841 Google Scholar
Wallis, H 2006. ‘Excavations on the site of Norwich Cathedral refectory 2001–3’, E Anglian Archaeol rep 116, East Anglian ArchaeologyGoogle Scholar
Wilson, C 2011. ‘Canterbury Cathedral’s mystery “marble”: a double imposture unmasked’, in Fergusson, P (ed), Canterbury Cathedral Priory in the Age of Beckett, 156–60, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Google Scholar
Worssam, B C 2006. ‘The building stones of Rochester Castle and Cathedral’, in Ayers, T and Tatton-Brown, T (eds), Medieval Art, Architecture and Archaeology at Rochester, Brit Archaeol Ass Conference Trans xxviii, 238–49, Maney, Leeds Google Scholar