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WITH THE OLD CATHEDRAL |
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The
sole surviving furnishing from the Anglo-Saxon Cathedral
is the font which now stands in the south transept.
It is the drum which is over one thousand years old,
the plinth was constructed around 1200 when the font
was brought into the new church. Careful study has revealed
that the eight arches were once rounded and a crude
attempt has been made to give them Gothic points. The
piers (small pillars), bases and capitals have been
chiselled back and eight haloed figures removed.
The final and very important link with the old cathedral
lies in the bones of the Saxon bishops, placed round
the quire with boxed tomb-chests covered by life-sized
effigies of the early 1200s, made to look like Saxon
sculpture to emphasise their antiquity. Two studies
in 1914 and more detailed in 1979 revealed that although
there are seven effigies, the partial remains of nine
bishops are there and an extra skull marked by a deep
sword cut on the forehead. It was also apparent that
the bones were revered as relics. Some of the bones
were wrapped in bundles in red silk.
In Giso's tomb, probably the most complete, a leaden pectoral
cross was found which would have accompanied the original
burial in 1088. Attached to the back was a thin foil
of lead bearing fragments of an inscription, later identified
as part of the Latin Mass for the Dead.
Recent archaeology has shed much new light on the springs
and the associated medieval water works. These springs
were harnessed to drive mills, flush drains and provide
a piped supply of drinking water. The holy well of St.Andrew
provided a culverted supply for the needs of the cathedral
from the late 12th century onwards. The water still
flows under the Camery and cloister where the remains
of the medieval "dipping place" are preserved. |
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