Sir Gilbert Scott tells
the story of its reparation in 1870, of the triumphs of the skill of
modern builders, and their bravery and resolution in saving the fall
of that great tower. The greatest credit is due to all concerned in
that hazardous and most difficult task. It had very nearly gone. The
story of Peterborough, and of several others, shows that many of these
vast fanes which have borne the storms and frosts of centuries are by
no means too secure, and that the skill of wise architects and the
wealth of the Englishmen of to-day are sorely needed to prevent them
from vanishing. If they fell, new and modern work would scarcely
compensate us for their loss.
We will take Wells as a model of a cathedral city which entirely owes
its origin to the noble church and palace built there in early times.
The city is one of the most picturesque in England, situated in the
most delightful country, and possessing the most perfect
ecclesiastical buildings which can be conceived. Jocelyn de Wells, who
lived at the beginning of the thirteenth century (1206-39), has for
many years had the credit of building the main part of this beautiful
house of God. It is hard to have one's beliefs and early traditions
upset, but modern authorities, with much reason, tell us that we are
all wrong, and that another Jocelyn--one Reginald Fitz-Jocelyn
(1171-91)--was the main builder of Wells Cathedral. Old documents
recently discovered decide the question, and, moreover, the style of
architecture is certainly earlier than the fully developed Early
English of Jocelyn de Wells. The latter, and also Bishop Savaricus
(1192-1205), carried out the work, but the whole design and a
considerable part of the building are due to Bishop Reginald
Fitz-Jocelyn. His successors, until the middle of the fifteenth
century, went on perfecting the wondrous shrine, and in the time of
Bishop Beckington Wells was in its full glory. The church, the
outbuildings, the episcopal palace, the deanery, all combined to form
a wonderful architectural triumph, a group of buildings which
represented the highest achievement of English Gothic art.
Since then many things have happened. The cathedral, like all other
ecclesiastical buildings, has passed through three great periods of
iconoclastic violence. It was shorn of some of its glory at the
Reformation, when it was plundered of the treasures which the piety of
many generations had heaped together. Then the beautiful Lady Chap
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