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Gentleman's Magazine 1863 part 1 p.495
THE CHOIR OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL.
MR. URBAN, - The authorities quoted by Mr. Mackenzie Walcott
in your last number agree in ascribing the choir of Carlisle
to the latter half of the thirteenth century, with the
exception of the Rev. G. A. Pole. who assigns it, without
quoting any authority, to Hugh of Beaulieu, which must be an
erroneous supposition. It is the most beautiful choir of its
style that we possess, and was erecetd at the time the early
English was fully developed, which was not until at least
fifty years after the death of Hugh. Besides, having
alienated the possessions of the see, it is not at all
probable that he would have the welfare of the convent so
much at heart as to design (even supposing he were capable)
so beautiful a structure.
The quotation from Nicholson and Burn of entries for works
about the altar in 1188, so far from confuting my opinion of
the Norman choir remaining until the commencement of the
present one, rather confirms it, by presuming that the
structural choir having been completed, the attention of the
monks was directed to the decorations of the altar. - Iam,
&c.,
EDWARD THOMPSON.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
March 16, 1863.
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