Bath Abbey

In 1107, the Bishop of Wells raised the Abbey at Bath to the status of a cathedral and built an enormous cruciform church, which by 1500 had become ruins. Its successor, the last complete cathedral building to be erected before the Reformation, occupies only the space of the Norman nave. It is severely perpendicular in design, with simple, beautifully considered details. Elimination of the triforium stage permitted the insertion of vast clerestory windows, whose high light is complimented by large five-light windows on the aisles. The spatial character of this reduction of the fabric to a proportion of six parts window to one part wall, corresponds to the lantern quality of the chantry chapels on a greater scale, and gives a unique relationship between interior and exterior- as if the greater vault of heaven.