Bells Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle | Page 4

finished with a very fine panelled ceiling. The building was finished 1375-1400, and in the roof were placed the arms of those who had helped in the rebuilding--the Lacys, the Nevilles, and the Percys.
The material used for the new choir was red sandstone, both for the interior and the exterior, giving in some cases a curious patched appearance to the walls.
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AND PRECINCTS. From an old Plan in Lyson's "Magna Britannia."]
About 1380-1384 the east window was filled with glass.
In 1392 the cathedral once again suffered from fire, and the damage was repaired by Bishop Strickland (1400-19). No efforts appear to have been made to bring the nave into correspondence with the extended choir, and the end of the thirteenth century marks the close of the cathedral's history in the direction of its enlargement and beautifying.
On a review of the cathedral we find in the aisles thirteenth-century work, on a small scale, in its perfection.
The south aisle shows development of window tracery, and the gradual steps taken towards uniting single lights under one arch.
Tracery carried to its perfection can be seen in the east window.
Early English carving is shown in St. Catherine's Chapel, especially in the corbels; and the more naturalistic carving which was developed at a later period, is exhibited in the corbels of the roof of the choir and the capitals of the piers. The latter afford the most complete representation of the seasons known to exist. On the south side (from east to west) are the first six months, and on the north side (west to east) the remainder.
About 1401, William Strickland being Bishop of Carlisle, the tower was rebuilt on its original scale, probably because the foundations would not permit one to be erected proportioned to the size of the choir. It was capped by a short wooden spire covered with lead; this, however, was removed in the seventeenth century.
The forty-six stalls in the choir, erected on a plinth of red sandstone, belong to this period (1401-19). The elaborate tabernacle work by Prior Haithwaite (1433) was originally gilded and coloured, and the niches were filled with images.
Prior Gondibour (1484-1507) painted the backs of the stalls. The remains of some screens he added to the choir may still be seen in St. Catherine's Chapel.
He had the roof painted in red, green, and gold, on a white ground; painted the choir pillars white, diapered with red roses nearly 12 inches in diameter, and with the letters I.H.C. and J.M. in gold; and no doubt finished whatever decorative work of the choir still had to be done.
Laurence Salkeld, last prior, and first dean, erected the very fine Renaissance screen on the north side of the choir, near the pulpit. It bears his initials, followed by the letters D.K. (Decanus Karliolensis), of his new title.
The priory was surrendered to the Crown in January 1540, and the last prior--Salkeld--was made dean of the chapter founded by Henry VIII. The revenue was at that time estimated at �� 481 per annum. Five years later, June 1545, the present foundation was settled, and the dedication changed to that of the Holy and Undivided Trinity.
We get a glimpse of the cathedral in the first half of the seventeenth century, in the record left by some officers who visited the English cathedrals in 1634. Carlisle they curtly speak of as "more like a great wilde country church" than a fair and stately cathedral.
After the capture of the city in 1645 the parliamentary troops pulled down part of the nave in order to repair the fortifications. It is very probable that the Norman church was partly built of stones taken from the Roman wall; and it is strange to find the western part of the same church being destroyed nearly six hundred years after in order to repair the city walls.
George Fox, the intrepid founder of the Society of Friends, came to Carlisle in 1653 and preached in the cathedral. Some of the congregation being opposed to him, he was guarded while preaching, by certain soldiers and friends who had "heard him gladly." At length the "rude people of the city" rushed into the building, and made a tumult, so that the governor was forced to send musketeers to quell it.
Fox thus describes the scene, in his "Journal":
"From thence we came to Carlisle.
"On the First-day following I went into the steeple-house: and after the priest had done, I preached the truth to the people, and declared the word of life amongst them. The priest got away, and the magistrates desired me to go out of the steeple-house. But I still declared the way of the Lord unto them, and told them, 'I came to speak the word of life and salvation from the Lord amongst them.' The power of the Lord was dreadful amongst them