IX.—The Imagery and Sculptures on the West Front of Wells Cathedral Church

Abstract

In July, 1902, one of the images on the upper part of the north tower at Wells suddenly fell to the ground and was broken into many pieces. There had not been any reason for supposing that this or any other of the many images that adorn the west front was in a dangerous condition, but the Dean and Chapter at once took the wise and prudent course of ordering an inspection of the images, so far as this could be done without scaffolding. The report of the Surveyor to the Chapter, Mr. Edmund Buckle, was far from reassuring, and he recommended the substitution of proper bronze holdfasts for the decaying iron cramps by which most of the images were then secured. As a consequence of this report the Dean and Chapter ordered a section of the work to be taken in hand, beginning with the north tower, and when this was finished the scaffolding was moved to another section, and so eventually across the whole of the front and to the gable of the nave. All the images have thus as far as possible been made safe, and a deep debt of gratitude is due to the Dean and Chapter for thus helping to prolong the lives of these priceless sculptures, many of which were found to be in a very precarious state.