The Lantern Tower of Westminster Abbey, 1060-2010 : Reconstructing its History and Architecture
Westminster Abbey is one of the most important and well-known medieval buildings in Europe but, despite being studied by generations of scholars, there is still much to learn about its history and architecture. The lantern over the centre of the church is a case in point. Edward the Confessor built a great tower here, which is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry. When Henry III was rebuilding the Abbey in the 1250s, a new tower was begun which was to have dominated the Westminster skyline, but it was never finished and 150 years later an octagonal lantern like that at Ely Cathedral was built on th
1 online resource (113 pages)
9781842177617, 1842177613
841909231
Print version:
Cover; Foreword by The Very Reverend Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster; Acknowledgements; 1 Westminster Abbey: the Crossing; 2 Edward the Confessor's Crossing Tower and Lantern; 3 Henry III's Unfinished Crossing Tower; 4 The Late Medieval Stone and Timber Lantern; 5 The Disappearance of the Medieval Lantern; 6 Sir Christopher Wren's Ambitious Tower and Spire; 7 Begun, but still Incomplete: Nicholas Hawksmoor's Crossing Tower and Spire; 8 James Wyatt and the Fire of 1803; 9 Sir George Gilbert Scott and 'some ameliorations in the Lantern' 10 The Early Twentieth Century, World War II, and the Aftermath11 New Surveys of the Crossing and Lantern, 2009-10; 12 Summary and Conclusions; Appendix: Function and Variety in Early Crossing Towers and their Superstructures by Richard Gem; Notes and References; Index