The North Transept

The North Transept was reconstructed in the time of Bishop Peter of Aigueblanche (1240-68), a Frenchman in the service of King Henry III, who did much to reform and develop the cathedral's organisation: the Hereford Breviary and the earliest cathedral statutes are part of his legacy.

The French style of the transept, with its striking sharply pointed arches, is very close to King Henry's rebuilding of Westminster Abbey at this time, and would have seemed very modern to Peter's contemporaries.

The North Transept also houses the tomb/shrine of Bishop Thomas Cantilupe, who died in 1282, and was canonised as St Thomas of Hereford in 1320. The campaign for his canonisation was led by his successor, Bishop Richard Swinfield, supported by many stories of miracles performed at his tomb.