In travelling about England one is struck by how greatly the colour of
the building-stone varies. One sees greenish grey around Tavistock in
West Devon; golden brown in the country just north of Oxford;
silver-grey in many parts of Yorkshire, &c. &c. One might continue to
enumerate instances, but in the end the most marked of all would surely
be the red seen about Exeter. Not only are many of the edifices built of
this ruddy stone, but the earth in any ploughed field thereabouts shows
the same unusual colouring. The Normans must have been struck by this
fact, for they called the hill on which they built their castle
"Rougemont." In view of this marked peculiarity of the Exe Valley, it is
noteworthy that the exterior of the rugged cathedral, with its mighty
transeptal towers, is blackish grey. Within, it shows the reddish hue
which one would expect hereabouts, but outside is similar in tone to
Westminster Abbey. If one be so whimsically-minded as to group
cathedrals by colour, one must class Exeter with Peterborough as black,
while Lincoln will be golden brown, York and Canterbury soft grey, &c.
&c.
Very fine as well as decorative glass is to be seen in this cathedral.
It fills the east window, and another near it in the north choir
clerestory, as well as a large window in each of the chapels that close
the easterly end of the choir aisles. These charming little chapels are
each reached by an entrance from the choir ambulatory, and are only
separated from the Lady chapel between them by a light screen. The east
window of the northerly chapel has five lancets, although the glass was
seemingly made for one of six, the number which still exists in that of
the southerly chapel. The treatment in both is the same, a handsome and
well-balanced combination of quarry-panes relieved by gaily-tinted
heraldic shields, and all surrounded by coloured borders. In the
northerly chapel there has been introduced into the central lancet a
Decorated panel, showing a kneeling chantry priest within a canopy
praying for the donor. This appears to have been removed hither from the
chapter-house, where there still remain a couple of similar panels. The
two windows just described are excellent examples of one of the glazing
methods of the epoch, while of still another style (the figure in
canopy), equally good ones are above in the choir clerestory, the fourth
from the east on the north side showing in each of its four lancets a
figure under a canopy with a shield of arms at the feet. It is
practically complete, except that the shields have lost their heraldic
bearings.
[Illustration: EAST WINDOW, EXETER CATHEDRAL
Perpendicular stone frame glazed chiefly with very typically
decorated figure-and-canopy glass preserved from the earlier and
smaller window. Below and beyond appears the Lady chapel]
The archives tell of a large purchase of glass in Rouen in 1301 and
again in 1317 for use in this cathedral. Much of these purchases is
still to be seen in the large east window. Here we are struck by a
strange anomaly of obviously Decorated glass in purely Perpendicular
masonry. Nothing could be more distinctive of the later period than the
Perpendicular mullions surmounted by stiffly upright tracery lights,
and yet the glazing could not be mistaken for anything but Decorated.
Evidently old wine has been put into new bottles. Although a great deal
of restoration is noticeable in this window, the strongly brassy tone of
the canopies in the three outer lancets on each side clearly indicate
that they antedate the discovery of yellow stain. An explanation of this
anachronistic clash between the glazing and its framing stonework
appears upon the rolls of the Chapter. April 21, 1389, one Henry de
Blakeborn, then Canon, moved by the fine appearance of the newly
constructed west window, offered 100 marks towards properly enlarging
the eastern one. This offer was accepted and the work at once put in
hand. The glazing of the earlier east window was saved to put into the
new and larger embrasure. As yellow stain was not known at the time of
glazing the first east window, it is absent from the early glass,
although it is plentifully used in the heads, &c., of the additions made
necessary in 1389 by the increased size of the window. One must not
quarrel with the judicious restoration which has preserved so charming
an _ensemble_. But this indulgent mood will be abruptly dismissed when
one examines the lights along the north side walls of the choir aisles,
for here the colour in the patterns upon the white panes proves to be
Decorated glass cut up into bits for this purpose by some modern
glazier! Any further comment upon his taste is unnecessary. It is one of
the instances which causes one to query if it be always wise to impose a
punishment for murder!