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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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The crossing (11/13)
Twelfth-century Cistercian legislation prohibited the construction of either stone bell towers or high wooden towers. However, low wooden towers, set in stone bases were often built at the crossing of the church, to illuminate the choir and presbytery. These were known as lantern towers. A lantern tower rose from the crossing of the twelfth-century church at Fountains, and although little has survived, enough remains to show that it was not part of the original design but a late-twelfth-century addition. By the end of the fifteenth century the lantern tower was in need of repair. Abbot Marmaduke Huby evidently considered it more worthwhile to build a new tower, which he, rather unusually, constructed outside the north transept. This magnificent stone structure was about fifty metres tall and loomed over the site. It still stands almost to its full height and for many modern-day visitors is the hallmark of the abbey. Huby was concerned to personalise his work and inscribed his motto, ‘Honour and glory to God alone’ [Soli Deo Honor et Gloria] on the tower. He also added an inscription of his shield bearing the initials, ‘MH’, between a mitre and crozier; a carving of a head on the second story may be a representation of St Bernard, or even of Huby himself.(23) |
