beverley minster
Rochester Cathedral in Kent, where Emil had also been Surveyor from1950, and I was latterly his assistant. Architecturally, two buildings of similar size and similar historical development could hardly be more different. The city of Rochester is very proud of its literary associations with Charles Dickens, and I always refer to the cathedral as an architectural Old Curiosity Shop. It is full of good things and excellent features, but they simply do not hang together as an architecturally coherent whole. Beverley Minster, on the other hand, is a supreme work of architecture which is often, and justifiably, acclaimed as the most handsomeGothic building in the British Isles. When I first came to Beverley Minster with Emil
Godfrey in the early 1970s the Minster staff consisted ofHarry Lorenz, a remarkable, fearless individual whosemethod for testing the soundness of projecting gargoyles, corbels or other stone features, I recall, was to climb over the parapet and stamp on them! At the top of theWest Towers that was a truly alarming spectacle.Health& Safety at work had yet to be invented, let alone implemented. Harrywas later joined by Des Hunt, a phlegmatic
but very skilled carpenter/joiner. Over the years Harry Wigham, a bricklayer and general all rounder, Alan Hunsley, a plumber/glazier, and, eventually, the Steves and, briefly, Ken Kirkby joined as others retired – but there have never been more than three staff at any one time. They operate from their little yard and workshop, tucked away behind the Vicarage off Minster Moorgate, and a secondary base in the Central Tower.
THE Beverley Minster Trustees also used to own a considerable number of properties in the town, and it fell to theMinster staff to carry out maintenance on these buildings aswell, under the Surveyor’s direction. As those properties have been sold, the staff now concentrate almost exclusively on the Minster. Their work of routine but essential maintenance
includes regular inspection, cleaning and repair of parapet gutters, lead rainwater outlets, hoppers and fall
pipes.Most building defects derive from water in thewrong places, and swift attention to rainwater disposal problems is the best sort of preventative maintenance – especially in these days of climate change,when gentle British rainfall seems to be giving way to suddenmonsoons. Another routine task is taking and recording
measurements atmovement-monitoring stations all over the building. Recent projects of underpinning foundations to the nave and the Percy Chapel at the north-east corner of the Minster are a direct result of this patient recording over decades, work which revealed a steady but progressive spreading of vaults and settlement of foundations. In addition to the routine work, the Minster Staff
continue to be involved with major projects, either on their own account or in conjunction with outside contractors. These have included completely re-leading the glazing of sometimes very large windows aswell as a host of smaller ones, all the carpentry repairs required for a number of phases of recovering aisles’ roofs and gutters, and major works
Right, decayed stone can now be repaired using the same local limestone from which the Minster was first built
42 Cornerstone, Vol 32, No 2 2011 Heaven’s own parish church
THE origins of Beverley Minster lie in the Dark Ages, when amonastery was founded near the site by northern English bishop John of Beverley in the early 8th century. He was canonised in the 11th century, and his bones still lie beneath the nave.A large church was built in the 12th century, but its central tower fell in the early 13th century, taking much of the building with it. This led to a complete rebuilding, from around 1220.Work was largely completed by 1425, employing limestone sourced from nearby Tadcaster. The subsequent twin towers of the West Front are hailed as one of the finest examples of Perpendicular work in Britain. The East End is largely Early English, but the East Window is Perpendicular, and contains the only surviving medieval stained glass. In 1550 theMinster’s status changed from a collegiate to a parish church, which, despite its grandeur and scale – it is 333ft (102m) long – it remains to this day. In the 1700s a central tower was built, and this contains a large treadwheel crane used in its construction. The Minster interior boasts many fine historic survivals, including one of the great achievements of Gothic art in Britain, the tomb of Lady Eleanor Percy. The canopy to the tomb is thought to have been created by a team of five masons between 1340 and 1349, and it escaped the Reformation and CivilWar almost without harm. The Minster contains the largest set of carved misericords, 68 in all, surviving in Britain. They date from around 1520. RS
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