CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 7, 8 July 1938, Page 7

CATHEDRAL CLOISTERS

QUEEN AT NORWICH

RESTORATION WORK

PEEPS BACK INTO HISTORY

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON* June 1.

Queen Elizabeth went to Norwich, from Sandringham, to unveil statuettes of the King and herself in therestored cloisters of the cathedral. The beauty of the Caen stone has been pbscured for years by soot and grime. The restoration work took four years. The Queen herself -was responsible for the restoration of one bay.

Prior to the cathedral ceremony, the Queen took luncheon at the deanery » with the Dean and Mrs. Cranage. Table napkins used when Queen Elizabeth dined in 1578 in the north cloister were lent by Mr. and Mrs. Blofeld, in whose family they have been preserved for •* many years. A dozen were made for the original occasion, but after the departure of Queen Elizabeth only eleven could be found, a souvenir hunter haying appropriated one. They' are larger than the modern napkin, and are in a conventional Tudor damask design, now worn to a velvety thinness, but still showing a crown on each." HISTORIC THRONES. After luncheon, the Queen-walked to, the cathedral, outside which she inspected a guard of honour of 200 exservicemen. Members of the Veterans* Association sounded a fanfare, and after various presentations at. the gate and the west door of the cathedral the Queen took her place in the procession at the nave, her flag being now flown from the top of the spire. At the service she sat on the throne, believed to have been made for the Emperor Maximilian in 1512, which had been placed beside the bishop's throne. Afterwards she walked in procession from the great west door t» the throne with the bishopj Dr. Pollock, the dean, and chapter, and.other officers « of the cathedral. • The Maximilian, throne is made of sandalwood, inlaid " with pearl and ivory. The bishop's throne, of stone, is part of the original church built by Herbert de Losinga: it is claimed that there is no such throne in Europe north of Venice. The .. throne dates from the time when th« bishops sat behind the high altar. e MR. G. LEDWARD'S FIGURES. During the singing of the hymn, "Jerusalem the Golden," , the Queen passed through the south transept and the prior's doorway into the cloister, supported by the bishop and dean, and followed by the robed clergy,- the Lord Mayor and Corporation, and the subscribers. In the south-west" corner of! the cloister the dean asked the Queen to declare the cloister open and unveil the statues of herself- and the King. For these miniature figures in white Portland §tone the King and Queen, in their Coronation robes, gave a number of sittings to Mr. Gilbert Ledward, R.A. They are about 2ft 6iri high, the King's statue being slightly higher than that of .the Queen. The statues were given by Sir Henry Holmes, who also restored the bay in which they are placed: They are on the original capitals. In declaring the cloister open, Quen Elizabeth said: "It is a ■very-real pleasure to me to-.visit this great cathedral, the Mother Church of the diocese, in which our home at Sandringham'lies. "I "rejoice to see the ancient cloisters restored to their old beauty, and I congratulate the dean and chapter on the work which, aided by many friends of the cathedral, they have accomplished so successfully. I am proud and glad to unveil these statues of the King and myself, and to open the beautiful old cloisters once again to the glory of God and for the delight of many generations yet to come." The Te Deum had been composed for the occasion by the cathedral organist, Dr. Heathcote Statham, and a copy bound in red leather was placed on the Queen's desk. HER MAJESTY TASTES MEAD. In the north walk to the bay restored by Lord Leicester, High Steward, of the cathedral, a small table had beea arranged, on which one of the precious Elizabethan napkins was laid and a salver with a decanter of mead and some eighteenth century funnel-shaped port glasses from the dean's'house. The Queen had expressed a wish to taste mead, and Lieutenant-Colonel Purdy, of Aylsham, who makes it, .was there to explain the old drink daipig from Saxon times. The Queen drank trte dean's health and expressed herself delighted with xthe smooth, silky liquor. Colonel Purdy, who began to keep bees on his return from the war; has his^own recipe for mead.. He boils four pounds of honey in a gallon of water, with the rind _, of two lemons. This is strained and casked; when at the proper temperature brewer's yeast is added. It is bunged up and left for six months before bottling. The mead served toJ the Queen was about twelve years old. Those who were privileged* to taste it found it excellent.