The links above supplement information provided on the third of three displays in the Friends’ Cloister Gallery.
Changes to the Cathedral
Work on the first purpose-built cathedral in Exeter began early in the 12th century, more than 900 years ago. During its subsequent development, the towers and lower walls of the nave and quire were retained to support the enlarged building still in use today.
Completed in 1342, Exeter Cathedral is one of the finest examples of Decorated Gothic architecture. In the centuries since, the building has been subject to many changes and a few additions. It was built for the services of the Roman Catholic Church and some details from that time, such as carvings of popes, have surprisingly survived whilst others, such as the massive screen behind the high altar, were swept away during the Reformation when the English church separated from Rome.
Originally most services were held in the quire. Since the middle of the 19th century, large congregations have also worshipped regularly in the nave. The organ was expanded several times, to support services in the nave as well as in the quire.
Over the centuries, Exeter’s congregation required the cathedral for worship and commemoration, and burial. Ledger stones marking graves can be seen throughout the building. However, not all are in their original locations. When the quire was first repaved in the 18th century all the ledger stones in this area were removed and relocated in the building, leaving buried remains in place. A large collection of wall memorials and other monuments commemorate individuals and groups of people. Some relate to people buried in the cathedral. However many commemorate people who were buried far from Exeter yet retained a connection with the city. Some of the cathedral’s former chapels became so full of monuments that one was referred to as a mausoleum.
In the early 19th century, a combination of well-informed antiquarianism and a movement within the Church of England sympathetic to the old Catholic liturgy and arts brought a re-established heritage and tradition to medieval churches, including the restoration of cathedrals.
During his work on the east end of this great building between 1871 and 1876, Sir George Gilbert Scott designed new choirstalls based on the ancient furnishings of Winchester Cathedral which harmonise with Exeter’s ancient bishop’s throne canopy. He moved many monuments and restored original features in chapels so that they could later be fitted with altars and used for worship once again. In some areas, Scott restored the coloured decoration of the vaults, such as the stars and moons in the chapels flanking the Lady Chapel. In 1876-7, Scott also carried out some work in the nave where, most notably, he designed the nave pulpit still in use today.
Many of Exeter Cathedral’s windows were filled with stained glass during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often as memorials, and throughout the 20th century altars were re-introduced in chapels and beneath the pulpitum. Weekday services may take place at any of these altars.
The devastation caused by the wartime bombing of Exeter in 1942 and the post-war restoration work is described here.
Some work has taken over a century to complete. During the Victorian era a demolition programme was underway to clear away many of the buildings that had filled the medieval cloisters since the 1650s. In 1887-8 a two storey building designed by John Loughborough Pearson was constructed in the south east corner to house the cathedral’s library and archives on the upper floor with an open cloister walk below, later enclosed. Pearson’s building was a small part of a shared desire to re-create the four cloister walks. Nearly 140 years later a new east cloister walk has been completed to designs by the cathedral’s consultant architect Camilla Finlay.