Page:Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal, Volume 1, 1869.djvu/758

 616 The Architectural Review and American Builders' Journal. [April, eludes the great Rose, or Catherine- wheel window, which was rebuilt in the year 1722. This elegantly-constructed ornament consists of a vast circle, di- vided by its tracery into a small eight- leaved concentric circle, from which expand sixteen trefoil-headed leaves, forming the lower divisions of a similar number of large pointed leaves, which extend to the extremity : open trefoils ornament the spaces between the larger leaves ; and the spandrels, which com- plete the design, are each filled with a small rose of six divisions, and trefoil- headed leaves. A paneling of sunk qnatre-foils enriches the parapet of this division. The last compartment, which extends to the apex of the roof, is occu- pied by a handsome arrangement of paneled arches, at bottom ; and three circles, a trefoil, and other sculptured work, above. The arch-buttresses at the sides, which spring from the great octagonal buttresses, have sunk trefoil- headed panels, and angular weatherings. The entire height of this front, to the top of the central pinnacle, is 110 feet. The east and west sides of this transept are nearly similar, each being separated by graduated buttresses, into three divisions containing the windows. The piers, which rise from the angle ©f the aisle-battlements, and sustain the arch- buttresses, are duplicated in a peculiar manner. The large pointed windows are each divided, by a mullion, into two principal lights, over which are circles ©f six divisions, and smaller lights in the angles. The second tier of windows may be regarded as of a peculiar charac- ter ; their general form being that of a spherical triangle, enclosing a large circle, within which are eight lesser cir- cular divisions, besides a central one. This mode of construction is geueral in all the side windows, on the same story, in both parts of the transept ; and also, with four exceptions only, in all the chapels eastward of the transept. The walls between the transept and the west front are supported by nine graduated buttresses, terminating pyra- midically ; and from these a two-fold range of arched, or flying buttresses, extend to the upper part of the nave. The parapet of the clerestory is sur- mounted by a battlement, nearly level with which there is a turreted niche in each buttress: the four westernmost niches contain the statues of Abbot Islip, James I, and, probabby, Hertry III and Edward the Confessor ; but the whole are much damaged. Between every two buttresses, in the lower story, is a large pointed-arched window, of two compartments below and circular and quatre-foil lights, &c, at the top. Another range of windows, each con- sisting of three circles, inscribed within a triangle, extends over the former range, and rises to the water-tables of the aisle parapets. Another range, cor- responding with those first described, but not so high, admits light into the upper parts of the nave. An embattled parapet terminates the elevation. The Choir aisles are surrounded by six chapels, viz. : three on each side, in- dependently of Henry Vil's Chapel, which forms the eastern termination of the entire pile. These chapels are of the same era as the oldest part of the fabric, and the architecture is of similar character, except that of Abbot Islip, which adjoins to the northeast side of the transept, and was altered into its present st}de in the reign of the above sovereign. The four largest chapels project octagonal^, and rise to the same height as the battlements of the aisles. The eastern termination of the church itself, as seen ever the chapels, displays four windows on each side, and three at the end, which finishes in a half-decagon ; these windows are more acutely pointed than those of the upper range already described, but are of similar character and arrangement. The southern division of the transept, it must be remarked, has a far less ele- gant facade, or front, than that of the