Finished elevation of the eastern bay and half-bay of the south choir aisle, nearly as built

WRE/2/3/5

1675–76

Pen and brown ink over pencil under-drawing and incised lines, with additions in pencil. Smooth laid paper. 27.8 x 43.3 cm. Watermark: Strasbourg lily WR (very faint)

A near-final elevational design, drawn by Wren, for the narrow eastern bay of the south choir aisle and half the adjoining full bay (incomplete beyond the centre-line), from the top of the basement to the bottom of the entablature above the aisle windows. Datable 1675-76. Drawn scale, just over 4 ft to 1 inch. Contracts for masonry construction of the external walls of the choir from the top of the basement to the top of the sills of the aisle windows (nine masonry courses in total) were signed by Joshua Marshall and Thomas Strong on 11 January 1677 (Wren Society 16, pp.14-15). This drawing may be preparatory for these contracts. The centre line of the left-hand bay on the elevation marks the division between the east end of the choir built by Thomas Strong's team of masons and Joshua Marshall's to the west of this line. The aisle window has alternatives for the acanthus drops on the corbels below the window sill, the left one with roundels above the drops, the right one with long drops sprouting from quatrefoil flowers (a thicker variant of this was adopted); compare WRE/2/3/2. The preparatory nature of the design is apparent from the addition in pencil of two small staircase windows, rectangular and circular, at the bottom of the right-hand bay. The upper window was set a stone course higher, and a third small window was added in the single course above the niche.

Access to the Wren office drawings held at London Metropolitan Archives is available only with advance notice and at the discretion of the Heritage Services Director, London Metropolitan Archives, 40 Northampton Road, London, EC1R 0HB.

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WRE/2/4/2, WRE/2/4/14