Hereford Cathedral Close

Hereford Cathedral Close. . , Demolished Houses , The four 19th century houses at the south end of Broad Street, which hid the view of the Cathedral from the west, were demolished in 1935 following a fare. By the early 20th century, they were occupied by tenants of the Dean and Chapter., At the time of demolition the premises were, from left to right, a ladies hairdresser; a boarding house (previously the Globe Inn), a saddler and a land agent's office., The Appletree , The mosaic takes the form of a huge apple tree encircled by words from Joshua Smith's 18th-century New England carol "Jesus Christ the Apple Tree", reminding us that Jesus is always in our midst. The apple symbolises Herefordshire, its people, and our long tradition of cider making, with the Cathedral's great Norman arches reflected in the upper design of the tree. The boughs also include visual reference to the Cross of Christ, the Crown of Thorns, and the Twelve Apostles, represented by the apples themselves. The outer circle, a symbol of eternity, is constructed in Forest of Dean sandstone. The apples are cut from red, green, and amber coloured stone, are inspired by varieties with local and sacred associations. The leaves are cut from Burlington slate and the porphyry seas convey the rolling Herefordshire countryside. The Apple Tree is designed by Sandy Elliott and made by Forest Pennant., West Front , The Norman west end of the Cathedral, built around 1300, was surmounted by a tower in the Decorated style. By the 18th century, it had become decayed and unsafe and its spectacular collapse around 7pm on Easter Monday 1786 took with it the last two bays of the nave seriously damaging more of the cathedral structure. James Wyatt, a leading architect of the day, appointed by the Dean and Chapter to design a replacement., Owing to financial considerations, he was also instructed to shorten the nave by one bay. Although Wyatt's gothic west front of 1790 was approved in its day. It quickly fell out of fashion and was replaced by the present structure, built to a design by the architect Oldrid Scott and completed in l908., New Library Building, Mappa Mundi and Chained Library , The New Library building, designed by Whitfield and Partners, was completed in 1996 and opened by the Queen. The award winning budding provides an environmentally controlled, permanent home for many treasures of outstanding historical importance. These include Hereford's famous Mappa Mundi, the largest surviving medieval map of the world, drawn at the end of the 13th century and the Chained Library with books dating from the 8th century onwards.