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Hugh de Beaulieu, Carlisle
Cathedral
THE ABBOTS OF BEAULIEU AND THE CHOIR OF CARLISLE.
MR. URBAN, - In your report of the meeting of the
Christchurch Archaeological and Natural History Society,
held on the 25th of September, 1862d, you state
"the second abbot of Beaulieu was appointed third bishop of
Carlisle, and built the choir of Carlisle." Although the
name of this dignitary is not stated I presume Hugh de Bello
Loco is meant. He was elected bishop in 1218, on the
application of King Henry III. to the then reigning pontiff.
He alienated several of the possessions of the see, and died
miserably at the abbey of La Ferte, in Normandy, in 1223. I
therefore conjecture (and, as Mr. Clayton very justly
remarked at the last monthly meeting of our Society of
Antiquaries, "it is the business of an antiquary to
conjecture,") that De Bello Loco had no hand in the erection
of the present choir, which was not commenced until the time
of Silvester de Everdon, who became bishop in 1245. It was
approaching completion when, in 1292, a disastrous fire
occurring, rendered extensive reparation necessary. The
arches which escaped destruction were propped up by what Mr.
Parker calls a clever piece of engineering, until the piers
were rebuilt. The choir was elongated one bay in the
fourteenth century, and the beautiful east window erected.
It may, perhaps, be objected that the abbot of Beaulieu
might have designed a previous choir; this I would meet by
inferring that the Norman choir, which was finished in 1101,
remained intact until the time of De Everdon. - I am,
&c.
EDWARD THOMPSON.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Jan. 12, 1863.
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