Sir George Gilbert Scott and ‘some ameliorations in the Lantern’
Sir George Gilbert Scott (Surveyor, 1849–78) characteristically took an interest in the archaeological problem of the crossing tower: ‘It is a question on which much difference of opinion exists, whether a central tower was ever contemplated’.147 Uncharacteristically, though, he did not explore the subject in depth or reach a firm conclusion, musing, ‘I cannot, however, think that the comparatively slender piers … could have been intended to carry, at the most, more than a very light structure’. That was penned in 1859–60, before Scott became involved in the construction of new towers, and the wholesale restoration of medieval ones.148 His penchant for designing soaring Gothic towers and spires was about to develop.
In the 1850s Scott was engaged on numerous restoration projects around the Abbey, and the slate roof of the lantern was repaired in 1856.149 In the early 1860s he embarked on a major and expensive enhancement of the quire and sanctuary. It therefore occasions no surprise that he saw fit to tinker with the interior of the lantern, in an attempt to achieve a more purist Gothic feeling: he tersely described this work as making ‘some ameliorations in the lantern’.150 In 1859 the plain windows and high-level doorways were all cut out and embellished with new arch mouldings, flanking Purbeck marble shafts, hood-mouldings and label-stops.151 The mouldings are in Box Hill Ground (Bath) stone. [95, 96] Painted inscriptions were added above the wall-arches, and the windows were filled with angels in stained glass by Clayton and Bell. These were given by Lord John Thynne, Sub-Dean, in 1860.152
In 1866 Scott mentioned the fireproof iron doors to the openings, which he himself had probably installed in 1860.153 [97] He also noted that the roof of the lantern was covered with slate slabs laid in cement on timber, an arrangement which is recorded in a photograph of the 1870s. [94] By this time, Scott was turning his attention to roof repairs, and doubtless had views on what should be done with the lantern. Unfortunately, they are not recorded, but it is highly likely that he would have given consideration either to the construction of a full-blown lantern tower or, at the very least, to ‘finishing’ the existing structure in what he considered to be an appropriate manner. The stumpy, featureless termination of the lantern would certainly not have satisfied Scott. Wherever he worked on Gothic buildings, he restored – or created anew – gables, parapets, crenellations, turrets and spirelets, all intensively decorated. We need look no further than the chapter house to witness Scott’s appetite for Gothic embellishment.154
The chapter house was a huge and exhausting project for Scott (1866–72), and other urgent works on the Abbey (including roofs and the north portal) consumed the modest funds available for the fabric. Add to this, the fact that in 1869 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners sequestered almost all of the Abbey’s ancient endowments, and that Scott suffered a breakdown in 1870, and it is clear that the opportunity for completing the lantern tower simply did not arise. But I am in no doubt that, given more favourable circumstances, Scott would have adorned the roofscape of Westminster Abbey with a grand Gothic centrepiece. Instead, one of his successors removed the slate slabs and laid a conventional lead roof on the lantern.155 Scott does not mention the lantern in his autobiography, but the straightened circumstances under which he operated are confirmed by his rueful remarks: ‘My own works at the Abbey have not been extensive. … I have planned a great sepulchral cloister on the south side … but I see no prospect of its being carried into execution’.156 Scott died in office in 1878, and his successor, J.L. Pearson (Surveyor, 1879–97), devoted much of his considerable energy to completing the drastic remodelling of the north transept.
95 Interior of the west side of the lantern, showing Hawksmoor’s windows and the large arch which was blocked by Wyatt in 1803. The windows and doorway were embellished with mouldings and Purbeck marble angle-shafts by Scott in 1860, and the stained glass is a mixture of Victorian fragments salvaged and reset in 1957. Author
96 Detail of the doorway in the east side of the lantern, with Scott’s added shafts and mouldings. Author
