Notes on the Numbering System
Plan and 'concertina' elevation of the west front, showing the 'faces' and the sculpture numbers from Jerry Sampson’s "Wells Cathedral West Front: Construction, Sculpture and Conservation" (1998)
How to organise the West Front?
As Jerry Sampson explains in his book Wells Cathedral West Front: Construction, Sculpture and Conservation, “the topography of the west front presents a major problem of communication. In order to designate a particular area of a building that has fifty ‘sides’, three major and at least a dozen minor horizontal divisions, and supports just fewer than 300 figure sculptures, some form of shorthand to designate the position of the various features of the building is needed.” The system designed by the Victorian-era architect and historian William Richard Lethaby and antiquary William St John Hope in their paper, “The Imagery and Sculptures on the West Front of Wells Cathedral Church,” were considered difficult and unreliable. For that reason, in the 1970’s the West Front Specialist Committee adopted and and enhanced the system developed by L.S. Colchester in 1951.
“Zones” on the Front
The West Front is divided in to five horizontal tiers based on string-courses or other obvious lines. On the main part of the façade there are three principal registers based on the position of the three unbroken string-courses. The third zone includes the majority of the life-size sculpture. The other main divisions are at the top and include the angels and apostles (Zone 4) and the seated figure of Christ (Zone 5)
Niche 338
Many of the niches on the lower level of the cathedral are empty due to damage wrought by the Parliamentarians during the Monmouth Rebellion (1685). As this niche was empty and had evidence of modern concrete on its plinth — thus limiting the risk to the cathedral fabric — it was one of the few niches offered for consideration to Antony Gormley for his sculpture, DOUBT (2020).
