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Some Details and Mouldings used by Yevele

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

Extract

The standard corpus of English Romanesque and Gothic mouldings is that of Edmund Sharpe: The Mouldings of the Six Periods of British Architecture from the Conquest to the Reformation, 1871. This work was never completed, and is particularly defective for the period after 1350, also unrepresented in Sharpe's Architectural Parallels, 1848. F. A. Paley's Manual of Gothic Mouldings contains profiles on small and diverse scales, and the sources of many examples are not given; of greater general use is the appendix of mouldings in Francis Bond, Gothic Architecture in England, 1906, but no dates are indicated, and many of the specimens are chosen from buildings of very uncertain date. So far as I am aware, no collection has yet been prepared to illustrate the mouldings used by one master mason or by one school. What follows is an attempt to relate a number of details and mouldings to a particular master and to closely approximate dates. In the hope that similar collections will be formed from the work of other schools, I mention the few rules to which I have adhered:

1. To include as primary evidence details attributable on documentary grounds to a specific master mason.

2. To include for comparison similar details which

(a) can be connected with the master on definite but inconclusive evidence;

(b) are known to be of comparable date;

(c) have peculiarities suggesting a closely cognate origin.

3. To draw all mouldings to a uniform scale of not less than one-eighth full size (1½ in. to 1 ft.).

4. To give the source, date, and master (where known) of each example on the drawing itself.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1947

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References

page 51 note 1 Though individual comparisons have of course been made, e.g. Lethaby, W. R., Westminster Abbey Re-examined, 1925, p. 91.Google Scholar

page 51 note 2 Roughly 1350–1550.

page 52 note 1 With the more obvious aspects of stylistic comparison I have dealt in Henry Yevele (2nd ed., 1946), which includes illustrations of Yevele's known and of some of his suspected work. References here given, prefixed with the letters HY, are to the figure numbers of the book.

page 52 note 2 Pugin, Specimens, i, 28, no. 3. A drawing at the Ministry of Works (Plan Room no. 210/8) shows the north front before restoration in 1819, and proves that the existing work is in most respects an accurate copy. I here record my deep indebted ness to Mr. G. H. Chettle, F.S.A., who kindly investigated the drawings preserved by the Ministry of Works.

page 52 note 3 Pugin, Specimens, ii, pl. xxxii.

page 52 note 4 A. Gardner, Alabaster Tombs, 1940, fig. 23.

page 52 note 5 Brandon, Analysis, ii, Perp., 1, 2.

page 52 note 6 Britton, York, xiv, h (to very small scale); photo in York Minster Restoration, 9th Occasional Paper, 1906, p. 25.

page 52 note 7 Parker, Glossary, i, 182; Pugin, Specimens, i, 8.

page 53 note 1 Colling, Details, ii, Perp. 48–50.

page 53 note 2 Parker, Glossary, ii, pt. ii, Pl. 158.

page 53 note 3 Weale, Papers, iv (Maidstone), pl. xi.

page 54 note 1 Vallance, Old Colleges of Oxford, p. 38.

page 54 note 2 Billings, Durham, pl. xxxi.

page 54 note 3 See p. 52, note 6, for photograph.

page 54 note 4 Weak, Papers, iv.

page 54 note 5 Pugin, Specimens, ii, pl. xvii.

page 54 note 6 Dollman, Ancient Domestic Architecture, ii, 33 F.

page 56 note 1 The case for Yevele's design of work at the Abbey prior to the rebuilding of the nave, suggested by Lethaby (Westminster Abbey Re-examined, 1925, p. 137), rests upon two factors: the date of Yevele's arrival in London, or emergence as a mason of standing; and the evidence of his connexion with the Abbey. It has long been known that on 1st February 1355/6 Henry Yevele was already one of the most skilful mason-hewers of London, but no evidence of his previous career has been forthcoming. In fact, an earlier item has been preserved in connexion with the last scene of all—the grant of probate of his will. This, long known from the enrolment of a portion only upon Husting Roll 129(7), is also registered in its entirety in the Commissary Court of London, 453–5 Courtney. As evidence of Yevele's privilege, as a citizen of London, to dispose of lands by will, the entry of his admission to the Freedom was copied into the register, as follows: Copia libertatis Henrici Yeuele. Henricus Yeuele Masoun admissus fuit in libertate Ciuitatis London. Et iuratus tempore Ade ffranceys Maioris et Thome Maryns camerarij et intratur in viridi papiro de empcionibus libertatum et apprenticiorum videlicet die martis proxima post festum Sancte Andree Apostoli Anno regni Regis Edtoardi tercij post conquestum vicesimo septimo. [i.e. on 3rd December 1353].

Yevele's first documented connexion with the Abbey (referred to by Jervoise, E., The Ancient Bridges of Mid and Eastern England, 1932, p. 134Google Scholar) seems to be the following entry in the Treasurer's Roll for Michaelmas 1371–2 (W.A.M. 19,866): Et in factura vnius noui pontis apud Moulsham per conuencionem factam cum magistro Henrico de Yeuele in grosso lxxiij.li. vj.s. viij.d. Et pro factura indenture de conuencione dicti pontis ij.s. Et in j. Roba empta pro dicto cimentario ex conuencione facta cum eodem per Dominum Priorem xvij.s. iij.d.

page 56 note 2 In amplification of the condensed information inserted in the 2nd edition of Henry Yevele (p. 68), the evidence for the association of the royal master craftsmen with the building of New College is to be found in the Steward's Hall Book:

1389, March 25 th. magister Henricus Yueley. Wynford. Herlond. … vnus famulus Yueley … venerunt … ad prandium cum sociis … ffamulus Yueley ffamulus Wynford ffamulus Herlond venerunt … ad prandium cum familia.

1390/1, February (? 16th). Willelmus Wynford Hugo Herlond venerunt … ad prandium in alta mensa … ffamulus Willelmi Wynford ffamulus Hugonis Herlond venerunt … ad prandium cum sociis.

1391, September (? 15th). Willelmus Wynforde (venit) ad prandium cum sociis … ffamulus Wynforde … (venit) ad prandium cum sociis … ffamulus alius Wynforde venit ad prandium … cum familia.

It will be noticed that both Yevele and Wynford had assistants of differing social status. That Wynford and Herland were the master craftsmen engaged in regular supervision of the work is made highly probable by Mr. R. L. Rickard's discovery of an entry in the Bursar's Account Roll for 1388/9: Custus Necessarij … Et in rewardis datis Dispensatori pro diversis victualibus per ipsum emptis Custode Magistro Nicolao Wykeham Magistro Hugoni Herlond et Willelmo Wynford diversis temporibus ad Collegium venientibus iiij.s.

page 58 note 1 It is interesting to recall the view of the late Canon Greenwell, written in 1885: ‘The screen was no doubt designed by a great mediaeval architect, and the details of each of its parts were carried out, if by different hands, in a manner subordinate to the scope and feeling of the whole.’ Proc. Soc. Ant. Newcastle-on-Tyne, 3 S., ix.