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THE SIGHTS THAT CANTERBURY PILGRIMS COME TO $EE:
-St. Michael's Chapel
On
most fine days
in
August about five thousand people visit Canterbury Cathedral. One of the first things they ask
to be
shown
is
St. Michael's Chapel
in
the south-west transept . For Kentish men this
is
now thought of chiefly as the Buffs' Chapel, since.it contains
so
many memorials of that regiment.
T~e
Ch!?-pel of Our Lady of the Undercroft
This chapel, which has been deserted since
153S, is
again being used for worship. I.t i s situated
in
the Crypt, which
is
open, free
IJf
charge,
to
the public. The Black Prince directed that he
44
should
be
buried ten paces from the altar, but his wishes were disregarded .
tectural cl1aracter shows
a1mos~ every >~tyl~
from early Norman
to Perpendicular.
r
'
•• "
-
"
~anfranc's
new chutch was completed in seveI). years, and
. its lines are preserved in the present nave and west transepts ;
while some parts of his building survive in the north-west
transept and
~t.
The latter is a splendid example of
early Norman work. With its rounded arches and groined
vaulting, supported by slender columns and sturdy piers, it
remains verY much as it was in the eleventh century. Under
Lanfranc's successor, St. Ausden, a larger choir was built, ;
only to be destroyed by fire forty-four years later. William' of
Sen~,
a famous French archjtect, was ca.Qed to' redesign the
cnou:. The east 'end of the Cathedral as a result reproduces
many ofthe characteristics ofWilliam's French work. One can
see this particularly clearly in the choir arcades and vaulting
as far as the east end of the eastern transepts, and also in the
,'-l.
upper part of the outer wall of
the
choir.. This work ig,. ' .
notable for a transition in style from the round tO 'the pointed
."f
arch. , Even the stone'used was French. It was transporte'd- -
{tom Caen in barges, unloaded at Fotdwiah by means 'pf
"ingenious machines" invented by the architect himself.
After a bad fall from the scaffolding, William of Sens handed -
over his work to William the Englishman, "sIl).all
in
body, but
in workmanship of. many kinds' acute and honest," who
followed his predecessor's plans and
in
l
SOIl}e instances- im-
proved on them.
'
The
~W11Wl
.nwe,wwlri<1h
~~ ~~fIl~d.
serioultndamage \
during
- . to a ruino
t
,
end ,ef
the fo
.
,
whe
.~
t was-
then
th
'f
S;JW-
the reb .... ·...
_UIL I
transept
transept.
.
, :-
Of all the additions and aj.terations, that wbich
h~s
changed
the external appearance of the
C~thedral
most was the
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