I’m guessing that Lincoln Cathedral has identified a couple of problems with the places in which people light candles at the east end, the culmination point of any pilgrimage through the building, defined as focal shrine space. One is disabled access; there is always a step up to where large sand filled bowls are positioned and the need to bend or kneel down when placing a candle in them. The other might be fire safety as candles are so lit and placed.
Possibly as a result, three new candle stands have just appeared, each of a metal trolley type, in two cases with basic embossed crosses on them. The aesthetic design might have originally been to sit at the foot of a raised plaster statue or against a wall or pillar most often in a Victorian or later building, where one’s eyes would be looking up and over them.
The areas in which they now stand will have been developed under the scrutiny of arts based permission granting bodies over the last fifty years. The ‘Gilbert Pots’ (by potter Robin Welch in 1985) at the north end, beneath a window of mediaeval glass. The Fourteenth Century St Hugh Head Shrine, enhanced by brass covered spikes (by jeweller David Poston in 1986) in the centre. The statue of Our Lady of Lincoln (by Aidan Hart in 2014), with circular benches (by wood worker Nicholas Hobbs as part of a scheme for the whole shrine areas in 2017) defining a gathering space in front of it, in the south, again beneath mediaeval glass.
The new candle stands been placed free standing at the foot of the steps. In each case they become part of a reshaped visual ensemble, and not one for which anyone would claim they contribute any artistic merit in their own right. The spiritual need to light candles in this shrine space is strong, and they are instantly well used. But I cannot believe that an advisory group of artists and disabled access advisers reflecting over time with others about this space would have recommended this solution.
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