Study-elevation of the clock/belfry stage with square rather than concave corners, and alternatives for the lower drum of a 12-column lantern

WRE/6/2/1

c.1701

Sir Christopher (1632–1723) Wren, Nicholas (c.1662–1736) Hawksmoor

Pen and brown ink with pencil. Laid paper. 24.0 x 31.8 cm. Watermark: Strasbourg lily WR

A study a square-cornered clock/belfry stage, developed from the scheme with concave corners, WRE/6/1/6-9, and corresponding to the diagonal section in WRE/6/2/2 (stage 3). Drawn by Hawksmoor. Datable 1701. Implied scale, about 5.7 ft to 1 inch (10 ft = 45 mm). The clock/belfry stage is roughly the same height as in WRE/6/1/9 but the pedimented opening has been moved outwards by about 2 ft and widened by about 1 ½ ft (compare WRE/6/1/7). The belfry corners are square, without concave recesses, and the plinth is in two flush stages, separated by a groove moulding. This groove is found in subsequent elevations and sections up to the final one of 1703-04, WRE/6/2/9, but not in the fabric, begun in the summer of 1705. Sketched in pencil on the right half is a trial for the elevation in ink on the left. The roundel panel is narrower and the drum of the lantern is lower, matching the one in WRE/6/1/9. Removing the concave corners allowed Wren to accommodate a spiral staircase in the inner angles of the tower. The spiral staircase is shown on the right-hand side of the related diagonal section, WRE/6/2/2, and in the upper right-hand corner of the first version of the plan in WRE/6/2/4. The staircase was to run over the vault of the clock/belfry to join a narrower spiral staircase set between two columns of the peristyle. Sketched in pencil on the lower left side of the roundel on the present drawing is a diagonal line of stairs rising halfway up the wall. A spiral staircase in this position was sketched in pencil on the second version of the plan in WRE/6/2/4 (stage 4), in which the hollow corners were reinstated. Also sketched in pencil are relief ornaments on the roundel and clock face similar to those carved in the fabric. The drawing can be dated around the time Jan Kip completed his engraving of the north prospect of the cathedral in June 1701 (Wren Society 14, pl.10). Revisions to the west towers in this engraving began immediately. In September John Smallwell was paid for altering the model he had finished a year earlier: ‘For 52 days 1 man Altering the Modell of one of the Towers at the West End, to show the Winding Staires & Raising it higher and making the corners square which were hollow before at 3 s per day [£7 16s]’ (Wren Society 15, p.74). It belongs with a pen-and-wash elevation of the west front at All Souls (Geraghty 2007, no.106; Wren Society 1, pl.25). This scheme was superseded by the elevation of the west front drawn by Gribelin and engraved in 1702; see WRE/6/2/7 (scheme 4).

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.

WRE/6/1/5, WRE/6/1/6, WRE/6/1/7, WRE/6/1/8, WRE/6/1/9