| 5. THE CROSSING We proceed up the central aisle to the four high stone arches that make the crossing. The fluted arches rest upon clustered columns with "foliated capitals" (leafy tops). Above each arch is a circular opening filled with tracery, and the whole space is roofed by hammer beams springing to meet at the centre from a leafy corbel of carved stone in each corner. The vigorous stone leaves of the piers are almost coarse in their carving. They seem to be a cross between oak and vine leaves. The nave altar is a richly carved Renaissance table with six legs, which served as the High Altar until 1916 and then as the altar in the Bishop Mesac Thomas Chapel. When the platform area was installed in 1994 the altar was moved to its position in the crossing. |
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