One of the more unusual features of a visit to Beverley Minster is the Roof Tour. Sure you might have to pay for it and there're 114 (someodd) stairs but it takes you behind the scenes of the cathedral construction like nothing I've been before. You literally are walking above the vaulting (remember this is Late Gothic-these are tall vaults) getting to stare at medieval timbering and a peek at the various caretakers of the cathedral over the years.
One of the roof windows
When they were constructing the cathedral additions during the Victorian period, they were building on marshy ground-the sudden change of plans is visible from this half finished clerestory carving rising out of the unfinished roof
some of the lead pieces awaiting roof placement
the last man-powered treadmill that literally lifts a boss (for transporting material from the church floor to the metal workers workshop)
the lifting of the boss
a look down into the organ
we're above the saint's burial place actually
a joke etched on the roof window panes by a 1950s caretaker
signatures of Beverley town elders and caretakers ranging from 1798 to modern times (in this photo)
medieval pristine timbering
No comments:
Post a Comment