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Exeter |
The Misericords and history of Exeter Cathedral,
St Peter’s.
Exeter Cathedral has fifty beautiful 13th century misericords.
Please launch the complete misericord description page here
Please click on the thumbnails for larger images.
Nick Jones has kindly let me have a design based on some of the misericords at Exeter Cathedral
History of Exeter Cathedral, Devon.
There has been a Christian foundation at Exeter since at least 690 AD. In 1050 the existing Saxon Minster church was upgraded to a cathedral and the Bishop’s seat for Devon and Cornwall was moved to Exeter from Crediton due to fear of sea raids. The present cathedral, which is in the Norman (Romanesque) style, took many years to build, and although building was started in 1112 its official foundation wasn’t until 1133.
The late 13th century brought more rebuilding, but unlike so many other cathedrals this was not caused by disaster, but by the prosperousness of the diocese, and the desire of the bishops to upgrade the cathedral to the most up to date and beautiful styles. The misericords dating from two periods, 1220-1230 and 1250-1260 are the oldest complete set in England. This new and improved cathedral was completed by 1369, made almost entirely of local materials including Purbeck Marble. Although some of the Nave walls and all of the Norman towers were retained, all of the rest of the fabric was replaced in this 13th to 14th century re-building frenzy, which was in the Gothic style.
As Expected Cromwell and his pal’s had their normal bad effect on the cathedral, including the destruction of the cloisters in 1655.
Sir George Gilbert Scott was commissioned with Exeter’s refurbishment in the 19th century.
World War II was even harder on the cathedral than the puritans - in 1942 German bombing of the city destroyed the chapels of St James & St Thomas, most of the cathedral’s stained glass and much other sundry damage.
Sadly the misericords are now roped off so I only have a few from a visit several years ago, however, Exeter does have photos of all of its misericords on its website
RSS feed for Automated updates of the regular upgrades to misericords.co.uk
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