Lincoln

An old favourite

I’m sometimes asked which is my favourite among England’s fine group of cathedrals. I start by giving an evasive answer that goes a bit like this: I like Durham for the majestic Norman architecture of its interior, York for its stained glass, Southwell for the dazzling carving in the chapter house, Ely for the unprecedented ‘lantern’ crossing, Gloucester for the vaulting, Wells for the west front, Salisbury for the spire. But I also add that more than any of these* my favourite is Lincoln cathedral. It has so much: a hilltop setting that makes is visible for miles,† three towers of surpassing elegance, a masterful interior in which different stones are combined effectively, good misericords, and excellent carving in the Angel Choir and elsewhere. And, well, I was born in Lincolnshire, and I just like it.

It’s one of those cathedrals that’s also linked in my mind to music, partly because I’ve had some cherished visits when the choir has been singing. The accidental experience of a musical performance can be one of the best kinds of musical experience there can be and I’ve been bowled over by impromptu organ recitals and orchestral rehearsals in Gloucester cathedral and a mesmerising piano trio in Oxford’s small secretive cathedral tucked away within the vast college of Christchurch. Lincoln is also linked in my mind with William Byrd, one of England’s greatest composers, who was organist and master of the choristers in the 1650s and 70s.

So I’m not going to go on about the magnificent architecture of Lincoln cathedral, which deserves a whole book to itself, never mind a blog post. I’ll limit my comments to saying simply, if you’ve not been: go; if you’ve been: go again. Without further ado, I’ll offer below some music by the great William Byrd, with my very best wishes to all my readers.


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*And more indeed that the sometimes surprising architecture of Canterbury, than Lichfield with its three graceful spires, than Peterborough with its dramatic front, than Norwich, than Winchester, than domed St Paul’s, all wonderful, but…

† Almost as good as the setting of Durham.

William Byrd, Ave Verum Corpus, sung by the Tallis Scholars 

Round-up time

Some of you will have noticed that a new page link has appeared in the list headed PAGES in the right-hand column. This takes you to a short and selective history of English architecture in the 16th and 17th centuries and the few years on either side – roughly speaking, the Tudor and Stuart periods. As with the previous page on Medieval architecture, links within the page take you to relevant posts from this blog, to illustrate the development of the architecture. There are rather fewer links than in the previous page, which covers the vast sweep from the Saxon period to c 1500, but enough, to give a broad idea of some key developments.

Medieval round-up

I've now added to the 'round-up' page I began a couple of weeks ago, taking my very short history of English architecture up to the year 1500, so that it now covers the Saxon and Norman periods, plus the various phases of medieval Gothic architecture. Links in the text of this page lead to posts in the English Buildings blog that cover typical buildings and features of the various style.

You can access the page from here or from the link in the 'PAGES' section in the right-hand column.

Pulling it together

The joy of blogging is its randomness and variety, and I hope that this blog is no exception. But since the number of posts I’ve done is now up in the hundreds, embracing structures from post boxes to cathedrals and buildings from the Dark Ages to World War II, I thought it might be interesting to organize some of them in a different way. So I have hatched a plan: to write a series of short introductory pages to different periods of English architecture, illustrated with links to relevant posts from this blog.

The first of these currently covers buildings of the Saxon and Norman periods – from the centuries leading up to the year 1200 – and you can access it from here and from a link in the PAGES section over in the right-hand column. As you read it, you will ifnd links to buildings from this era included in past posts.

In a week or two I’ll add to this page, extending the text and links to cover the rest of the medieval period up to around 1500. If this works, I’ll later add further pages on the Tudor, Stuart, and Georgian periods, and so on. I hope what emerges is interesting, and a worthwhile way of linking together some of the posts. Meanwhile, the day-to-day randomness continues.