A guide to Ripon Harrogate, Fountains abbey, Brimham rocks, and several ...

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A GUIDE

TO

EIPOK, HAEEOGATE, FOUNTAINS
ABBEY, BOLTON PEIOEY,

AND

SEVERAL PUCES OP INTEREST IN THEIR

.«#

' /.-li-

st

JOHN RICHARD WALBRAN, F.S.A.

MAYOR OP RIPON,

CorrMponding Member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotiand ; Honorary Member of the Society

of Antiqnaries of Meitcaetle-npon Tyne ; and Local Secretary of the Archaological

institate of Great Britain and Ireland.

&xA) aita.

R 1 P N 1
PUBLISHED BY A. JOHNSON & Co., MARKET-PLACE ;

BELL AND DALDY, 186 FLEET STHEfiT, LONDON.
1856.

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BIPON: VRINTBD BT ANN JOHNSON AND COMPANY.

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CONTENTS.

TJie initial letters at pp. 14, 24, 58, 65, 103, 96, 108, and 138, are fac-nmilet from m
ChartuUtry qf Fountains^ written about the close qf the fourteenth century.

Page

AxLOT Hiu .. ..5

Alofibld Spa .. ..100
Babdbn Bbiogb, Chapel, & Tower 135

Bolton Fbiobt .. ..122

Barn .. .. ..136

Bridge and Chapel .. ..124

Chapter-bouse .. •• 132

Churchyard.. .. ..133

Cloister Court .. ..132

Close .. .. .. 132

Conventual Church •. 126

Dormitory .. .... 132

Gate-house .. ..124

Bolm-terrace .. ..136

Lodge •• .. .. 136

Mill .. .. .. 133

Park .. .. .. 135

Strid .. .. .. 133

White Doe of Bylstone . . 133

BoLTOH Hall .. .. ..124

Bolton Woods .. ..136

Bbiuhau Rooks '.. .. 103

EuBSAT Fbiobt .. ..123

Fountains Abbbt, List of Abbots 69

Abbot's House .. ..94

Brewhouse .. .. ..90

Buttery.. .. .. 94

Bridge .. .. 71

Cellar .. .. .. 90

Chapter-house .. .. 86

Church.. .. .. 74

Cloister .. .• .. 72

Cloister Court .. ..85

Close .. .. ..70

Court-house .. ..90

Coins, discovery of .. .. 90

Dissolution of .. ..67

Dormitory .. .. ..72

Frater-house .. ..90

Gard-robes .. .. 73,94

Gatehouse .. ..71

Historical notice of .. •• 65

Hospitium .. ..71

Infinnary .. .. .. 72

Page
Fountains Abbey— continued

Kitchen .. .. .. 92

Library .. ..88

Mill .. .. .. 70

Muniment Boom . . . . 92

Offices .. .. .. 70

Orchards ... ..70

Owners of .. .. .. 68

Park .. .. .. 70

Pavements.. .. ..82,98

Prisons .. .. 94

Ponds .. .. .. 70

Befectory .. .. 92

Belies, arranged in Court-room 91

Scriptorium .. .. 88

Yew Trees .. .. 70

Fountains Hall .. .. 71

Haokfall.. .. ..105

Halikbld .. .. .. 3

Habbogath .. ..108

BaUs .. .... 121

Baths .. .. .. 119

Churches and Chapels .. 110

Harlow Carr and Tower 118, 121

Hospital .. .. ..120

Hotels.. .. ..120

Origin of .. .. .. 108

Beereation .. .. mi

Victoria Rooms ., .. 121

WeUs, Cheltenham .. 116

Crown .. .. 114

MontpeUier .. 114

MontpeUier Cheltenham 1 17

Starbeck .. ..115

Sulphur .. .. 112

Sweet ,. .. 112

Tewit .. .. Ill

Walker's Saline . . 117

How-Hill and Chapel .. .. 63
Hutton, Celtic Temples and Bar-
rows at .. .. 3
Knabbsbrouoh Fobbst 108, 124
Latbb Riybb .. .. .. 17

LiNDBICK .. .. .. 4

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CONTENTS.

Mabkbnpiblo Hall..

Arms of Markenfield .,

Tombs..
NiDD BiTsa ..
Skbll Bivbr .. 9,17,

Btudlbt Hall

Gardens

Park
BoBiN Hood's Well
Thornbbouoh» Celtic Temples
BiPON, Abbey of

Bathing-house . .

Canal ..

Cathedral, Historical Notices

■ Survey of

Chapel of our Laidy . .

Chapels, Dissenting

Church, Trinity

College of Vicars..

College, Projected

Corporation, Municipal

Court-house . .

Common

Cross, Market ••

Dispensary

Fairs

Gas Works

Page
101
103

40,41
104

59,95
59
60
59
65
3
18
57
57
84
31
82

55,56
58
51
88

10,14
58
8,58
18
56
16
57

of

Page
Riro^f—eontimted

Hospitals .. .. 54

Local Government .. .. 14

Liberty of .. .. 14

Library, Public .. .. 56

Limekilns .. .. 17

Manor .. .. .. 5,14

Manufactures at . . . . 8, 15

Markete .. .. .. 16

Market-place .. ..55

Mechanics* Institution . . 56
Palace and Park of Archbishop

of York .. ..7,58

Palace of Bishop of Bipon . . 53

Population.. .. .. 57

Baces .. .. .. 16

Booms, Public .. .. 56

Sanctuary .. .. 81

School, Grammar .. .. 55

National .. .. 56

Town Hall.. .. .. 55

Waterworks .. .. 57

Wells .. .... 57

BouAK Bioa .• .. 4

Urb BivBB .. .. 8.17,105

Watling-Stbbbt .. .. 4

Wha&vb and Wbabfboalb .. 136

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BIPOM, r«OM TBI rrtTDLBT UVI KIUI8.

EIPON.

mSTOBICAL INTRODUCTION.

F all the divisions of our favoured island, the
County of York has pre-eminent claims to
the attention of that numerous class of the
community who delight in reviewing the
abundant beauties of their own insufficiently
appreciated country. Comprising an area
sufficient for a principality, meted by great
natural features, containing the proudest
memorials of ancient piety and chivalry, as well as the most
diversified and ingenious applications of modem science, it is, in
itself, an epitome of the kingdom, and needs not the aid of its
peculiar natural beauties, to allure those who are uncertain whither
to direct their steps, with the greatest certainty of enjoyment

There is however, unfortunately, another class of persons who
are tempted to this particular part of the kingdom, not so much
from inclination as necessity. Its mineral springs and salubrious
climate offer a most powerful remedial influence to those for whom
restoration to health would be the greatest earthly blessing. And
it is not less singular than fortunate that the central portion of the

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2 WPON.

county, which is thus chiefly resorted to, has, within the compass
of moderate excursions, an imusual variety of most interesting
ohjects, hy the inspection of which the mind may he refreshed and
engaged, whilst physical strength is invigorated or attained.

It is, on this account, that the vicinity of Kipon is particularly
deserving of consideration to those who would, thoroughly, enjoy
their visit to Harrogate. Situated on the immediate verge of t^t
" Yorkshire plain," of which, the competent judgment of Bancroft
has affirmed the like is not to he seen on this side the Alps, yet
elevated gently ahove commingling streams, on the last slope of
the great western hills, its landscape scenery comprehends all those
features on which a lover of the cultivated aspect of Nature loves
to dwell, — ^pervaded everywhere hy a feeling of order, tranquility,
and continuance, and enriched hy ^ose associations and memorials
incident to a hye-past centre of progress and civilisation.

To the consideration of these monuments, and of the institutions
which originated them, the greater part of the following pages will
necessarily he devoted ; and seldom may he who recognises, even
in local history, "philosophy teaching hy example," ohserve a more
diversified series and intelligihle development of those elements
which have produced our present social and political condition.

As early, indeed, as shelter for himself and pasturage for his
cattle were among the most pressing necessities of uncivilised man,
it is evident that the advantageous position of this place would
often induce its temporary occupation, and several conical pits oji
the "High Common" have heen considered the site of these dwell-
ings. Yet— even in this migratory and unsettled period — ^we have
far more direct and conclusive evidence, that the immediate vicinity
of Eipon was regarded with peculiar interest and veneration; since
one of the trihes of the Brigantian Celts had chosen it as their
station for the dispensation of justice and the celehration of reli-
gious rites ; in fact, had made it the seat of their government.
This position — novel as it may he — ^is, I helieve, sufficiently proved
hy a remarkahle earth-work on the high land near " Blois Hall,"
commanding extensive prospects up and down the Vale of Ure, as
well as of the distant ranges of hills which form the side screens
of the great Yorkshire plain. like Ahury and Stonehenge, which
it rivals in antiquity, its outline is that of a circle, of which the
diameter is not less than 680 feet; hut no stones remain, nor in-
deed does that material seem to have heen used in its formation.
Though ^cent agricultural operations have partially effaced the

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HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION. 3

regularity and proportion of its plan/it is sufficiently evident that
it was enclosed by a lofty mound and corresponding trench. — the
latter being inside, and a platform or space about thirty feet wide
intervening. This opinion, however, may be reduced to certainty,
by an inspection of the three similar temples at Thombrough, near
Tanfield, about six miles hence, one of which remains perfect. At
two opposite points, bearing nearly north and south, the mound
and trench, for about the space of twenty-five feet, have been dis-
continued, in order to form an approach to the area of the temple.
Outside the mound, also, are some slight vestiges of a forther
avenue, but too indefinite to be traced. But, however obscure the
denotation of its several parts may have become, the antiquity
and purpose of the place, as a temple for the performance of Dru-
idical rites, is satisfEtctorily ascertained by the eadstenoe of, at least,
eight large Celtic barrows in its immediate vicinity ; one of which,
being on the very ridge of the vale, and planted vdth fir trees,
forms a conspicuous and useful object to guide a stranger to the
site. Two of these barrows were opened ten years ago, but I
found nothing except a few calcined human bones, the ashes of the
oaken funeral pile, and some fragments of flint arrow-heads, such
as are still used by the North- American Indians. Several bronze
spear-heads and celts have, however, been found in the neighbour-
hood, within recollection.

There is, unfortunately, no access to the earth-work by a public
path; but its situation is rendered visible, from the high road
leading from Bipon to Rainton, by the presence of two small pyra-
mids or obelisks, built on the mound of the temple, about fifty
years ago ; in the place, it is said, of two similar erections, appa-
rently of high antiquity.

It may not be unreasonable to believe, that a spring which rises
in a piece of enclosed ground, called ^'Halikeld Field," about
midway between this earth-work and the village of Melmerby,
was the ^^fonfi sacer " necessary for the due performance of Dru-
idical rites ; and, in the absence of all direct evidence, may, by its
consequent pre-eminent sanctity, be supposed to have given a
name, in Saxon times, to the Wapentake of Halikeld, in which
both it and the earth-work are situated. << Hailekelde landes,"
in Melmerby, are mentioned in charters of the thirteenth century.

Besides the remains of the temple, several evidences of the Celtic
occupation of the immediate neighbourhood of Kipon have been
found in the shape of celts, Druid beads, and fragments of coarse

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4 BIPON.

pottery ware. The most interestmg object, however, is a splendid
golden torque, found about thirty years ago near Studley Hall,
concealed between two large stones, which had probably once
formed a portion of the substratum of a barrow. Within 640 yards
of this place, and near some broken ground in lindrick farm, was
also found a large sword of bronze, which the discoyerer — ^inhe-
riting the spirit of the age when it had been fabricated — ^immedi-
ately threw away, lest, as he sagely averred, he might be bewitched
by its possession.

The few opportunities that have fsivoured investigation of the
soil have not presented proof that there was any considerable
settlement, either on the site or in the immediate vicinity of
Eipon, during the Roman period ; though its position, on a lingula
of land declining between two converging rivers, and its proximity
to their city of Isurium, may induce the idea that it was not
entirely unoccupied by that people. Indeed, among the papers of
the learned Gale, was the sketch of a tesselated pavement of that
period, which was discovered here ; and, a smaU vase of Homan
workmanship— now in my possession — ^was found not many years
ago at the depth of seven feet, on the west side of the "Horsefair."
But these indicia, with a few silver and copper coins, dating from
the reign of Vespasian to that of Constantine, turned up in and
near the streets, comprehend, at present, all the evidence I can
offer on the subject. The great Homan road, which retained, here,
its name of " Watling Strete " in the thirteenth century, passed
Bipon, at the distance of three miles, on the east ; and a vicinal
way, still called <* Roman Rigg" — stretching towards the explora-
tory camp behind Hackfall — ^may be traced, through Lindrick
fann, to the river Laver, at an equal distance on the west side of
the city.

Descending, now, to the period when written evidence imparts
the assurance of detail and dates to our narration, we find that, as
early as the seventh century, the industry of Saxon agriculturists
was rewarded, here, by the fertility of the Vale of Ure. Alchfrid,
king of Deira, or the southern portion of the kingdom of North-
imibria, was lord of the soil, and about the year 660, bestowed on
Eata, abbot of Melrose, a portion of ground, at Ripon, whereon
to erect a monastic foundation.

It is probable, notwithstanding, that the village which, conse-
quently, arose might have remained in the same insignificant
condition which was the doom of many places where monasteries

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HISTOKIGAL INTBODVGTION. 5

were fonnded in the Saxon times, if it had not happened that, on
the expulsion of the Scottish monks, king AlchMd gave the
monastery to WilMd, a pious, learned, and enthusiastic character,
who had been his tutor, and who, ever after, regarded the place
with peculiar affection. With the monastery was bestowed the
lands appurtenant to thirty, or, as some write, forty dwellings,
being probably the whole adjacent territory which was then
brought into cultivation. After Wilfrid was elevated to the see of
York, he rebuilt this monastery with all the superior elegance and
taste he had acquired during his sojourn in Italy and foreign lands ;
and by his patronage and exertions, unquestionably, the huts that
had been reared round the oratory of the holy feithers became the
centre of civilisation to the adjacent country, and the germ of the
future town.

The silence of the early chronicles allows us to hope that there
was peace at Kipon, during the warfiEure and brutal devastation
that prevailed in the north during the eighth and ninth centuries.
According, however, to some indefinite accounts, it shared this
cruel £Eite towards the close of the latter period; for about the year
860, when the Danes were rav6iging the country with insatiable
fury, they are said to have razed the town to the ground, and done
much injury to the monastery.

There remains, indeed, to our own day, a monument of some
dreadM carnage that occurred here awhile after. This is a large
conical tumulus at the east side of the town, about a bow shot from
the cathedral, composed throughout of sand, gravel, and human
bones, mingled in that indiscriminate manner that would occur
when the victims of the battie-field were hastily collected in one
vast mound, that served alike as their memorial and their tomb.
The teeth and bones of horses, too, have been found in quantities
within a short distance around its base. This singular and myste-
rious object, which was called in Leland's time Bshow, but now
Ailcy Hill, measures about three hundred yards in circumference
at its base, and about seventy in eloping height. Etymologists
have connected its name with a presumption that Ella, the North-
umbrian king, fought, or was subsequentiy slain here in 867, and
that he, or those who fell with him, were deposited in a " how "
or hill that was designated by his name. The fact of his death
having occurred here is, however, clearly disproved by several
ancient chroniclers,* who state that he fell with king Osbert, at
• Chron. Sax. ed. Wheloe p. 532. Asserij Annales XV Scrip. 159.

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6

BIPON.

York; and the Saxon personal appellation of ''EIsi" harmonifles
better with the vulgar pronunciation, which has been ibimemoriaUy
« Alley ." Still its own internal eyidence has proved that it was
thrown np, in, or very shortly after, Ella's time j for, in^ digging
in the hill, — ^which, until the late enclosure of the common where
it stood, was used as a gravel pit, — ^there was fonnd, in the early
part of 1695, several stycas of Osbert and Ella, Ethelred, Eanred,
and Aelred. Within memory, also, many have been fomid in the
hUl ; but, through ignorance of their vahie, have all been dispersed
or lost.

Hitherto, the soil of Kipon may have been possessed by the suc-
cessive monarchs of Northumbria, with the exception of what had
been given by them to Wilfrid and his monastery ; if the statement
— ^believed as early as 1280* — is correct, that Athelstane, who
reigned from 926 to 940, gave the Manor of Kipon to Wolstan,
Archbishop of York. Yet little reliance can be placed on the
medisBval interpretation of a Saxon grant, and the truth, — as
suggested both by the authentic portion of the charters of Athel-
stane, printed in the " Monasticon,"t as well as by the petition of
Archbishop Bowet to Parliament, in 1415,:( — seems, rather, to be
that Athelstane, when he came with his army to Bipon, on his
expedition against the Scots, vowed, that, if it should prove suc-
cessful, he would endow the churches of York, Bipon, and Beverley,
with profitable privileges ; and that his grant consisted in the cre-
ation and conveyance of peculiar and exempt legal jurisdiction
over those manorial and appurtenant lands already ;acquired by
the see of York, and, since, comprehended in what is termed the
franchise, or " Liberty of Bipon.**

When king Edred proceeded to the north, to revenge the perfidy
of the Northumbrians, about the year 948,§ he devastated and
burned the town and monastery of Bipon, in consequence, as is
supposed, of Archbishop Wolstan, its lord, being implicated in the
rebellion. Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, visited the province of
York very soon after this devastation.|| He had pity, as Leland
observes,^ on the desolation of Bipon monastery, and began, or
caused a " new work to be edified wher the present minstre now
is." Prosperity seems to have folbwed his exertions so effectually

• Flacita de Quo Warr. R. C. p. 197. t Mon. Angl. i 178.

% Eot. Pari. vol. iv., p. 85.

$ A. D. 948, says Matt. Westm., p. 368 ; but A. D. 950, Sim. Dunelm., X Scrip, i., c. 166.

II B. de Dieeto. X Scrip, c. 455. % Itin. L 91.

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HI8T0BIGAL Iin!BODUCnON. 7

that, after the lapse of a century, and in the reign of Edward the
Confessor, the manor had acquired the annual value of 32/.* Arch-
bishop Aldred was then its lord. He was the last Archbishop of
York under the Saxon dynasty, and crowned William the
Conqueror.

It has been fortunate for the town that the Conqueror bestowed
the manor on Aldred's successor, Thomas,t rath^ than on a layman,
who might have neglected it, in consequence of its comparatiyely
defenceless position. He had been a Qmon of Bayeux; and having
aided William with a large sum of money to prosecute his expedi-
tion, was thus rewarded with the primacy of York. During his
time the town shared, so severely, in the devastation that succeeded
the siege of York in 1069, that, when Domesday survey was taken
sixteen years after, the value of the manor was depredated to
7/. lOs. ; and most of the appurtenant berewics were still desolate
and waste. Under the fostering and powerful patronage of the
Archbishops of York, with whom Bipon was a favourite residence^
until Walter Qrey erected the palace at Bishopthorpe, the prospe-
rity of the town increased apace. The death of Archbishop Thomas
occurred here Nov. 18th, 1100 ;$ and Murdac retired hither, when
at issue with his Chapter. The hosts of retainers and followers
that these great dignitaries, daily maintained* together with the
influx of persons who attended Qie £Burs they had been privileged
to hold by kings Henry and Stephen, could not fail in tiiat day —
when commerce was confined to chartered localities — ^to confer
lasting benefit on the town. The number of persons employed in
the erection of the church, and the several ecclesiastical structures
around, must, also, from the long period over which these worics
extended, have contributed to the same result. Before the close of
the thirteenth century, and, probably, at a £90* earlier period, the
manufacture of woollen cloth had been established in the town,
which had arrived at such importance as to be deemed worthy of
representation in parliament.

On the drd of October, 1295,|| it was summoned to send two
members to a parliament, to be held at Westminster on the 13th
of November following. It was summoned four times afterward,
and until the 19th Edward II., when it ceased to send members,
until the last parliament of Edward VI.,5[ from which period it
has been summoned to the present time.

• Domesday Book. t Ibid. t Stubbs, Aet. Pont. Ebor. X Scrip, ii., e. 1709.

1 Bromton., X Scrip, ii. 801.

li Palgrave*8 Pari. WriU, L 36, 85. IT WiUis's Not Pari., viii., p. 66-7.

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8 BIPON.

About the year 1319, when the country was distracted by the
contentions of the imbecile Edward and his barons, Robert Brace
seized on several of the towns and military stations in the north.
He sacked and ravaged the Yorkshire towns of Northallerton,
Boronghbridge, Skipton, and Scarborough ; and having turned his
army in this direction, remained at Bipon three days, where he
imposed a tribute of one thousand marks on the terrified inhabi-
tants ; two hundred and forty of which they immediately paid,
fearing lest he should put his threat of burning the town into
execution.

The evil day was only protracted for a while : for, after his
pursuit of King Edward to York, his army again visited Bipon,
when, finding the wretched inhabitants unable to comply with
their demands, they perpetrated many brutal atrocities : putting
to death, among others, several ministers of the collegiate church,
which, according to Walsingham, they endeavoured to destroy
by fire.

Notwithstanding the calamity which had befallen the town.
King Edward smnmoned a parliament to meet here on the 14th
of November, 1322 ; but it did not assemble, being removed, by
writ of proclamation, to York.

Though this incident may be indicative only of a temporaiy
condition, yet the manufacture of woollen cloth, on which the
staple and progressive character of the town depended, was, pro-
bably, never after prosecuted with its former success. Indeed the
woollen trade, generally, was, at this period, in a very hopeless
condition, and never revived, until Edward III. induced certain
Flemish manufacturers to settle in England, one of whose estab-
lishments at York would, alone, interfere unfevourably with the
more unskilful operations conducted here. Yet the resort of the
country people to its Mrs and markets, where — ^in the deficiency
of shops — goods of all descriptions were sold, together with the
presence and patronage of two great ecclesiastical establishments,
must have maintained the town in a reputable commercial
position.

During the remainder of the fourteenth century, nothing occurred
of general interest in the annals of Bipon; and through that which
succeeded it, we would hope that the absence of striking incident
is indicative of a state of peace and contentment; escaping the
vicissitudes and troubles to which it might have been exposed by
the possession of a permanent fortification, and subjection to a

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mSTOEICAL INTRODUCTION. 9

military lord of the fee, during the desolating wars of York and
Lancaster.

Bnt whatever may have been the degree of vigour with which
the staple manu&>ctiire was prosecuted here, during these periods,
in the middle of the sixteenth century, when a new combination
of the elements of social progress was evolved, it sensibly declined ;
and the trade was transferred to the more congenial site of Halifax.
Leland, who was here about the year 1534, observed that " there
hath bene, hard on the farther Bipe of Skelle, a great numbre of
tenters for woollen clothes, wont to be made in the town of Bipon.
%ut now idelness is sore encresid in the town, and clothe makeing
almost decayed."

The simultaneous dLssolution of the religious houses interfered
also, unfavourably, with the social comfort and temporal prosperity
of the town ; not only by diverting the proceeds of large and dis-
tant estates, which had been fireely expended here, into absent or
avaricious hands, but, by exchanging the solace of ancient ties and
associations for the poisonous infusion of theological strife ; sd that
when a "great plague" visited Bipon, in 1546, the full measure
of its affliction was filled up.

This state of derangement and discord continued with little
abatement until the famous " Rising in the North," in 1569, when
Bichard Norton and Thomas Markenfield, the lords of domains
hard by Bipon, that had bestowed on their race these ancient and
chivalrous names, allowed the long suppressed bitterness of their
religious discontent to plot and urge on that ill-starred expedition,
in which the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland were put
forward as the ostensible leaders. The former of these noblemen
had a seat at Topcliffe, seven miles from Bipon, where the rebels
held their early meetings. They came here, on their road from
Durham, on Friday, the 18th of November, 1569, and were here
on the 19th, when many joined them. They had a muster at the
Market-cross; and the earls made a proclamation, which Sir
George Bowes — ^their adversary— describes as the most effectual
thing they did. Here Norton displayed his memorable banner,
and mass was celebrated in the collegiate church. After putting
Sir William Ingilby, who had opposed them, to flight, they
marched to Knaresborough ; and at length to Clifford Moor,
whence they, injudiciously, returned to the north ,* but the foot-
men risen in Bipon and the vicinity had seen enough of the
campaign ; and refused to pass their homes. On the night of the

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10 BIPON.

16th of December, the lords Warwick and Clinton arriyed at
Kipon, in pursuit of the rebels ; and in the next month a dreadful
demonstration of their victorious arms was exhibited in this place.
As a significant and memorable warning, there was ordered to be
executed here, all the rebel constables of the West-Biding, except
those of Wetherby, Boroughbridge, and Tadcaster; aU the of-
fending serving-men of the West-Biding; and lastly — ^within
sight of their neighbours, and homes, and kindred — ^the misguided
townsmen of Bipon.

Towards the close of the sixteenth century, there seems, also, to
have prevailed much animosity and discord in the borough, chiefly
caused by the uncertain mode of electing the chief officer, who was
called ** the Wakeman," and the irregular constitution of the mu-
nicipal body ; which, having existed — ^though, perhaps, originally
as a Merchant Guild — ^apparently from the Saxon times, became,
in the absence of legally defined powers, a law xmto itself, and
therefore unable either to command respect, or to withstand that
rising spirit of inductive argument which waa not to be satisfied
merely with traditional authority. With the consent of Archbishop
Hutton — Lord of the Manor and Liberty — whose predecessor,
Cardinal Wolsey, had similarly interfered in 1517, a definite
arrangement was attempted in 1598 ; and a code of By-laws
framed for the general constitution of the body and government
of the town. Much of the irregularity being " supposed a long
time by y« most p'te of y« wisest and best accompt in and about
y« said Towne to have fallen out by reason of y« confusion and
ye number of aldermen being never limited w^ any certaine
number," they were then reduced from twenty-nine to twelve.
Twelve more were added not long after ; but the system being
still open to objection, the inhabitants, soon after the accession of
king James, petitioned the monarch for a ''more certain and
xmdoubted mode of election."

This was granted to them, June 26th, 1604, in a Charter of
Incorporation, obtained chiefly by the eflbrts of Mr. Hugh Bipley,
a '' merchant and mercer" of the town, who was Wakemon at that
time, and was nominated by the Crown, as the first mayor.

In consequence of the plague raging at York in 1604» the Court
of the Lord President of the North was adjourned to Bipon, where
it was held a short time.

When King James I. was on his progress to Scotland in 1617,
he honoured Bipon with a brief visit He left York on Tuesday,

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mSTOEICAL INTRODUCTION. 11

Angiut 15th, and came here that evening ; when as the official
minnte in the Corporation Register says, he lodged at " the honse
of Mr. George Dawson, and at his Highnes comynge to the said
towne, Mr. Thomas Procter, Beoorder of this corporation, made a
speech vnto his Ma^«, vr^^ done, there was presented nnto his
Highnes, by Mr. Symon Browne Maior, the Aldermen and Bur-
gesses of the said Corporation, a gilte bowle and a pair of Bippon
spnrres, vr^^ spmxes coste yU and were snch a contentment to his
Ma^« as his Highnes did weare the same the day followynge at his
dep'ture forth of the said towne."

The plague again visited Bipon in 1625, so severely, that the
country people dreaded approaching the town, and their children
were, more than once, baptised on the common pasture. From the
commencement of its fatality on the second of June, 1625, to its
teraiination on the 4th of May, 1626, there died in all ninety-six
persons, whose names and places of abode are entered, separately,
in the Parish Register.

In the spring of the year 1632, Charles I. passed through Bipon
on his way to Edinburgh, where he was crowned on the 18th of
July following.

The untenable position of the town exempted it from sharing,
severely, in the horrors of the Grand Rebellion. One of those wars
of words that preceded that most dire explosion was, however,
for a while, maintained here : for the Scottish lords having reused
in 1640, to treat, at York, vdth the English Conmiissioners, Ripon
was the place agreed on for their meeting.

The house in which this extraordinary conference was held,
together with the table and benches that remained in the apart-
ment used by the Commissioners, are still remembered by several
persons. The great interest that attached to this building could
not preserve it from destruction. It was pulled down many years
ago, and Its site now forms part of Mr. Cayle/s gardens, near
Ailcy HiU.

Another brief incident of this sad drama was enacted here, in
March, 1642-3, when Sir Thomas Mauleverer entered the town
with a detachment of the parliamentary forces. In the exercise
of their usual blasphemy and licentiousness, they riotously and
profanely intruded themselves into the Collegiate Church, and
showed what kind of liberty they desired, and were worthy to
enjoy, by breaking the painted windows, and defadng the memo-
rials of the dead. " But," says Gent (writing about ninety years

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12 SIPON.

after, in his nsnal quaint style), "they were soon after attacked
hy a detachment of Eoyallists from Skipton Castle, then goyemed
hy that glorious sufferer for his loyalty, Sir John Mallory, of
Studley Eoyal, assisted hy several Bippon champions, whose duty
and allegiance were unalterable ; who, coming upon the rebels hy
surprise, in the Market-place, where they had kept their main
guard, made them feel the sharpness of tiieir swords, by a better
&,te than they deserved." Some were taken prisoners, and sent
"to Skipton and other places."

But the energies of many " glorious sufferers for loyalty " could
not quench that fierce blaze that was so soon to scathe the land.
In the very streets where the "Eippon champions" had enjoyed
their little triumph, they soon after beheld their unfortunate and
misguided king a captive in the hands of his subjects. On his way
from Newcastle to Holmby, he came here on the 6th of February,
1646, having then left Blchmond ; and remained imtQ the 8tik,
when he was conveyed to Wakefield. He was attended by a strong
guard of horse and foot, and it is remarkable that Bipon was the
only place, of the ten stages, where he was allowed to remain two
nights.

The ascendancy of the Parliament affected materially the insti-
tutions of the town, which were all in antagonism with the popular
feeling. The Manorial rights were seized, and sold to Lord Fairfax
in 1647. The lands appurtenant to the Boyalty were alienated
between that year and 1650. The Chapter of the Cathedral was
suppressed : and many members of the Corporation became so
insensible to the welfare of their country and their town, as to
advocate the principles of puritanical dissent and licentious insub-
ordination.

When order was restored by the accession of King Charles 11.,
the Corporations were purged of their unworthy members ; and
a Commission for that purpose sat here, the 23rd of September,
1662. The vacancies were supplied by persons of great respect-
ability, who did all that corporate influence could effect for the
advancement of the town. For some time, they directed their
attention to the renewal of their charter, and the grant of two
fiEurs for cattle and horses, that they deemed would be beneficial
to the inhabitants. Nothing, however, was effected imtil the
accession of James 11., when, after a consultation with the Arch-
bishop of York, they surrendered their charter, September 2nd,
1684, to the King, who was pleased to restore it, with another

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HISTOKICAL INTRODUCTION. 13

from himself, dated 12th Januaiyi 1686, confirming the privileges
of the Corporation, and conceding the fairs they desired.

From the close of the seventeenth centmy, the history of the
town becomes devoid of general interest. It had its own little
squabbles about the Pretender and the Pope ; but, basking in the
sunshine of agricultural prosperity, and restrained by the influence
of a wealthy and benevolent family, in one bond of political feeling
that taught " Whatever 'is, is right," there was generated a dis-
belief in the possibility of change, that has, too often, been ruth-
lessly dispelled, in the great social and commercial struggles which
have ensued.

During the last twenty years, the ancient institutions of the
town — and, especially, from that exclusive character in which their
original efficacy existed — ^havebeen despoiled in silent antagonism
with those measures by which legislators have attempted to re-
direct their operation, in a changed condition of society. The
special privilege of the burgage holders to elect the members of
Parliament was taken away by the Eeform Bill. The numerical
as well as the administrative power of the Corporation was reduced
by the general statute of 1835. The manorial jurisdiction of the
Archbishop of York has been abridged, his Court of Pleas all but
absorbed in the County Court, and his once lucrative franchise of
fairs and markets infringed even within the parish. The consti-
tution of the Chapter of the Cathedral has been remodelled : and,
lastly, the mercantile competition of other and distant places is
encouraged, by the formation of a railway to the city.

The last, however, is the only change which may, ultimately,
affect the prosperity or settled condition of the place. Although,
of course, it was expected to work — ^here as elsewhere — such an
hopefiil effect as no man would limit, even in imagination ; it may
be as probable that — with no peculiar advantage of mineral wealth,
nor of position, except an unlimited water power — ^Bipon vrill not
escape that dominaat conunercial influence which has risen on the
ruin of local immunities and associations ; but that-, henceforth, it
vrill be, exclusively, sought and enjoyed by those who would retire
from successful contention vrith the world.

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14 MPON.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

IRCUMSCRIBING the city is a district-KJompre-
hending 33,330 acres and twenty-four townships —
in which, from the time of the Saxon king Athel-
stane, the Archbishop of York, in right of his manor,
has exercised an exclnsive.franchise or jurisdiction,
immemorially known by the name of " the Liberty
of Bipon,'* and, occasionally, by that of "Riponshire." Its outline
— which has diverted the boundary of the West Biding from its
natural and general direction with the river Ure, — agrees, as might
have been supposed, nearly with that of the parish ; but several
townships which are included, geographically, in the parochial, are
without the civil district; in consequence, I presume, of their ancient
feudal dependence on the barony and castle of Kirkby Malzeard.
It comprehends also the adjacent parish of Nidd.

Within this district, xmtil successive restrictions of the legisla-
ture, the Archbishop enjoyed those extraordinary privileges termed,
legally, ^^Jura Regalia" the nature of which cannot be detailed
here. Suffice it to say, that by the exclusion of the High Sheriff,
he had unlimited judicial authority, both over the property and the
lives of the resiants, the one branch remaining in the Court of
Pleas, the other represented, in an abridged form, by the Court of
Quarter Sessions. The "Liberty" also maintains its exempt
character, in its offices of High Steward, Justices of the Peace,
Coroner, Clerk of the Peace, Chief Constable, and Gaoler.

The incorporation of the borough has been already alluded to,
as well as that reformation in 1835, by which it has obtained
neither an accession of influence nor energy, but an additional
element of excitement and contention, and the burthensome admi-
nistration of formal provisions, unnecessary to the welfere or
government of a small commimity. The Corporation now con-
sists of a Mayor, four Aldermen, and twelve Councillors. The
Mayor and his predecessor are Justices of the peace for the
Borough, by virtue of the Act 5 and 6 William IV., c. 76, s. 57,
together with other gentlemen named in Her Majesty's Commission
dated 23rd September, 1854. The Mayor is also in the commission
for the Liberty of lUpon, during his year of office.

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COMMEKCIAL POSITION. 16

If a visitor should remain in the city during the evening, he may-
hear the sounding of the Mayor's horn, one of the most ancient
customs that lingers in the kingdom. It formerly announced the
setting of the watch, whence the chief officer of liie town derived
his Saxon style of " Wakeman," hut has, of course, now lapsed into
a formality. Three hlasts, long, dull, and dire, are given at nine
o'clock at the Mayor's door, hy his official Hom-hlower, and one
afterwards at the market-cross, while the seventh heU of the cathe-
dral is ringing. It was ordained in 1598 that it should he hlown,
according to ancient custom, at the f(mr comers of the cross, at
nine o'clock j after which time, if any house " on the gate syd
within the towne " was rohhed, the Wakeman was hound to com-
pensate the loss, if it was proved that he " and his servants did not
their duetie at yt time." To maintain this watch he received fix)m
every householder in the town that had hut one door, the annual
tax of twopence ; hut from the owner " of a gate door, and a hacke
dore iiij hy the year, of dutie." The original horn, worn hy the
Wakeman, decorated with silver hadges and the insignia of the
trading companies of the town, hut shamefully pillaged in 1686,
has heen several times adorned, especially hy John Aislahie, Esq.,
Mayor in 1Y02 ; and in 1854. Since the year 1607 it has heen
worn on certain days hy the Serjeant-at-Mace, in procession.

The other corporate hodies and institutions in the city may, most
conveniently, he noticed, in surveying the places where they are
held or administered.

COMMERCIAL POSITION.

There is no staple manufacture carried on in the city, unless the
estahlishment of three individuals may he allowed to represent the
trade of saddle-tree making, carried on here as early as the time of
Queen Elizaheth. After the manufacture of woollen cloth declined,
in the sixteenth century, that of spurs was carried on with such
skill and success that the phrase *<As true steel as Bipon rowels*'
— applied to express the character of a man of honest principles —
hecame proverhial throughout the kingdom. Ben Johnson in his
" Staple of Newes," has,—

" Why, there *8 an angel, if my spurs
Be not right Sippon."

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16 Bipoy.

and Davenant, in his " Wits," —

** Whip me with wire, beaded with roweli of
Sharp Bippon Spurs.**

This trade, together with that of button-making, and some other
kinds of hardware, prospered throughout the seventeenth and part
of the eighteenth century, but the advantages obtained, in the
great seats of general hardware manufacture, by the division of
kbour and a more liberal application of capital, at length caused
its decline, Alderman John Terry, who occupied the site of the
second house westward from the Town-hall, and died within recol-
lection, having been the last spurrier. Subsequently, no kind of
manufacture has been peculiarly followed in the city, though well
directed and persevering individual exertion, in several branches
of trade and manufacture, has been successAilly rewarded.

The weekly market is held on Thursday, and ia well supplied
with all kinds of agricultural produce of superior quality, large
quantities of butter, eggs, and fowls, being particularly required by
agents from the manufacturing districts. There is a supplementary
market on Saturday evening, for the sale of garden produce and
butcher's meat ; and a wool market, held in the " Old Market-
place,'' occasionally during the season.

There are fairs here, also, on the first Thursday after the 20th
day succeeding old Christmas day ; on the 13th and 14th of May;
on the first Thursday and Friday in June ; on the first Thursday
in November ; and on the 2drd of November, which is a general
hiring day for servants. A most graphic idea of the scenes
enacted, occasionally, at the mediaeval fiiirs here, may be gathered
from an interesting narrative, recently published in " the Plumpton
Correspondence."

From a very early period — doubtless far more remote than the
thirteenth century, when there is record of the feet — Ripon seems
to have been a noted place for horse-fairs, and the most spacious
street in it is still called " the Horsefeir," though it is now used
rather for the periodical exhibition than the sale of horses. It also
promoted, at a comparatively early period, the breeding of horses,
by the establishment of races ; a course having been formed, on the
High CiJmmon, in 1713, at the expense of the Corporation. During
the time of the Aislabies, they were well encouraged; but subse-
quently fell off considerably in character, and finally were aban-
doned on the enclosure of the common in 1826. With a view
chiefly to afford amusement, at the annual feast of St Wilfrid in

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TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY. 17

August, they were re-established, on a new course on the opposite
side of the river, in 1837, and have since been continued with
increasing prospect of success.

TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY.

The general position of the city is sufficiently indicated by the map,
and the vignette at the head of our first chapter, showing its bear-
ing with reference to the vale of Ure,and the great Yorkshire plain
beyond. It will be sufficient^ therefore, now, to say that Ripon
stands chiefly on a sheltered situation, declining from the north-
west towards the confluence of the river Ure with the Laver and
the Skell. The geological stratiflcation, in its inmiediate vicinity,
is of the Tertiary character, the city standing on the boundary
between the new red-sandstone of the Yorkshire Plain, which
shows itself prominently in a quarry beyond the railway station,
and its great western terrace of magnesian limestone, which ap-
pears on the opposite side of the valley at Studley, Whitclifle,
Morkershaw, and especially at Quarry Moor, where extensive
lime-kilns have long been established. The soil — occasionally af-
fording usefiil beds of clay — ^is generally of a gravelly nature,
though there is much fertile land aroxmd the city, and trees show
their satisfeiction in its quality, both in their unusual size and
exuberant foliage.

The antiquary Leland, who was here in the time of king Henry
YIII., observed — and appearances still conflrm his position — that
" the olde Towne of Ripon stoode much by North and Est " as he
" could gather by veuing of if Stammergate and Allhallowgate,
from their proximity to the Monastery that was the germ of the
town, were therefore indubitably the most ancient portion of it ;
and from them the dwellings diverged, until the Market-place and
its western and southern adjacencies were formed, before the six-
teenth century. These later parts, in Leland's day, were " the best
ofthetounej" and he remarks, too, what few could have other-
wise imagined, that " the very place wher the Market stede and
Hart of the Towne is, was sumtyme caulled holly hille, of holy
trees ther growing, wherby it apperith that this parte of the Towne
is of a newer Buyldynge."

The plan and prospect of Ripon, recorded upwards of a hundred

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18 SIPON.

years ago, in the seyeral works of Oent and Bnck, exhibit much
the same appearances as remained until the beginning of the pre-
sent century, since which time many improvements have been
effected by paving, flagging, and draining streets ; the enclosing
of the adjacent common lands; the rebuilding of many old, humble,
and inconvenient houses ; and the erection and embellishment of
new ones, especially in the immediate environs. The era of recon-
struction preceding the present, appears to have been during the
seventeenth century ; but the outline of the picturesque gable, that
was so channing a feature in our old street architecture, is still
unwittingly retained in many of the modem erections. Most of
these fronts were but formed of timber frames, covered with lath
and plastei>— each story projecting over that below. One by one,
they have been gradually superseded by more convenient arrange-
ments, and substantial materials; and, I believe, an ancient
hostelry, in the north-west comer of the Market-place, remains
now the least mutilated example.

Most of the streets are narrow, like those of other ancient towns,
where, originally, little more was required than passage for man
and horse. The chief Market-place is very spacious, and nearly
square, measuring at the widest points 115 yards by 81. It is
adorned by a handsome Cross 90ft. high, erected in 1781, by
William Aislabie, Esq., of Studley, who represented the borough
in Parliament sixty years : and an elegant Town-hall, of which
more will be said hereafter.

"THE OLD ABB AY OF RIPON."

We have already noticed that Eata, abbot of Melrose, obtained,
about the year 660, certain lands in Eipon, from Alchfrid, king of
Deira, whereon to construct and maintain a monastic establish-
ment The monks, however, had scarcely erected their humble
dwelling, before AlchMd was dissatisfied with their discipline,
particularly their mode of computing the time of Easter. Having
the option, therefore, given, either to quit the place, or to conform to
his wishes, they chose the more independent alternative, and de-
parted.*

On this untoward circumstance, which occurred before 664,

• E4diJ. Vit WUfridi, c. Tiii. Bede Hist Bed.. L. ▼., e. 80. and L. iU., c. 8S.

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OLD ABBEY OF HIPON.

19

King Alchfrid bestowed the monasteiy, and the lands appnrtenant
to thirty dwellings, on one WilMd, whose learning and piety had
captivated the monarch and his court; and who henceforth fills
an important page, not merely of the annals of the town, but of
the whole Christian church.

The intercourse of this monarch with Wilfrid, and the peculiar
tendency of his own mind to adopt the ceremonial practices of the
Church of Home, in several matters that agitated the clergy of
this island, inclined him to join his fieither in holding a synod,
which might furnish grounds for regulating the ecclesiastical
practice of Northumbria in these particulars. This assembly met
at Whitby, in 664, King Oswi himself being present, who, although
educated in the Scottie^ discipline, pronounced now in favour of
the Church of Home.

The Bishoprick of York or Northumbria being soon aft^ vacant,
Wilfrid, who had shown much zeal and ability iu supporting the
Romish cause at the Synod, was elected to that important office.

Soon after his elevation, he began to realise those principles of
architecture, he had acquired in his continental tours, in the im-
provement of his Cathedral church at York i and, immediately
after, it would seem, from the consecutive narrative of his Chap-
lain,* determined to erect a new monastery at Bipon. Of what
form and extent the old Abbey had been, is, of course, unknown.
Its site, occupying upwards of two acres and a half, is still circum-
scribed, I presume, by a portion of Stamm^gate, Priest-lane, and
a nameless road on the south ; and has immemonally been called
" Scots' Monument Yard." The buildings were undoubtedly of
wood— judging alike from the fEushion of the SootSyf and the
ability of the times. When the present National School was built
in 1853, the raised platform-— on which Dean Waddilove planted
two poplar trees, to mark the presumed site of the monaatery —
was foimd, as I previously conjectured, only to be composed of
gravel: but there are foundations divei^ging from it that have
disclosed large stones. Several Saxon stycas, of the Northumbrian
king Ethelred, have been dug up in this field ; and a portion of a
oylindxical column of grit-stone 4fL 5in. in circumference. This
might, however, have formed part of some subsequent oratory.

Wilfrid, from some cause now unintelligible, chose the site of
his new foundation about 200 yards from the old building ; and on

• Edd^. Vita Wilfridi, c xvii. f BediB Hist. EccL, L. UL, c. zzIt.

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20

KIFOy.

the western side of what is now the public street ; but we have,
nnfortimately, no more definite idea of its design and magnitude,
than is suggested in the observation of his Chaplain Eddi, that it
was built of wrought or polished stone, and that divers columns
and porticos entered into its construction. William of Mahnesbuiy ,
however, amid the more magnificent erections of after ages,
records its curious arches, fine pavements, and winding recesses.
Yet these particulars, combined with the fact that Wilfrid brought
workmen from Italy, who wrought in the Koman manner, and
guided by the description Richard, Prior of Hexham, gives of that
church, which was built by Wilfrid in 674, will afford us a toler-
able idea of the celebrated Monastery of Bipon.

The foundation of this structure seems to have occurred between
the first regnal year of King Egfrid, who was present at its con-
secration, and 678, when that monarch, by the advice of his wife,
persuaded Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, to depose Wilfrid,
who then departed to Rome to receive justice from the Pope.
Theodore substituted two bishops in his stead — ^Bosa having his
see at York, and £ata at Hexham or UndLsfame. At the same
time he ordained, at York, Eadhead, Bishop of Sidnacester ; and
three years after Wilfrid's departure, placed Trumbert over the
church of Hexham, and Tromwine over the province of the Picts*
-~£ata being removed to lindisfame.

StiU deeming that a more minute supervision was required, the
Church of Bipon was constituted an Episcopal See, and Eadhead,
who had returned from Sidnacester, was appointed its Bishop.f

From the continual aim and endeavour of Wilfrid to subject the
Saxon Kings to the papal infiuence, he was allowed but brief and
occasional enjoyment of his monastery here ; yet he outlived or
wearied out his most pertinacious adversaries, and, after the synod
of Nidd, was allowed to retire here in peace. Shortly after, on a
journey, he was taken ill at the Abbey of Oundle, in Northamp-
tonshire, where he died on the 12th of October, 711, in the
seventy-sixth year of his age ; but in obedience to his own par-
ticular request his body was brought to Bipon for interment,
where it was deposited on the south side of the altar of his con-
ventual church.

King Athelstane, as I have previously observed, granted certain

• BediB Hift Eed., L. W., e. 18, Whdoe, 891.
t Ibid.— •• Bhipend Ectlesis prafeolt.*' Ibid. L. iiL, e. 8»-«* Hrypentis Eecleda
pnetul &ctiu ett.*'

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OLD ABBEY 07 EIPON.

21

valuable inmmnities to the Monasteiy of Bipon ; the particulaTB
of which are defined in two charters of that monarch, printed in
the Monasticon. I presume, however, that both these documents
were &brications of much later days,* and framed more in the
nature of an inspeximus, than that of an original grant, particu-
larly the one in prose, which is witnessed by " G," or Geoflfrey,
Archbishop of York,t and natural son of King Henry 11. By the
rhyming charter, which is a curious specimen of English verse, as
written at the end of the thirteenth century, the valuable privi-
lege of Sanctuary was conceded to the church, together with the
ordeal of fire and water ; freedom from tax and tribute ; and other
immunities.

The boimdary of this place of refuge was marked, at the end of
the thirteenth century, by 6^A^ crosses circumvallatingthe church,
and called mile crosses ; where, at that period, the Archbishop of
York claimed that his bailiffs had the right to meet the homicide,
who should fiee thither ; and, after administering to him the ne-
cessary oath, admit him within the privileged jurisdiction. The
position of three are only now distinguished. Athelstane's cross
was situate on the road between Bipon and Nunwick, by a field
stiU called Athelstane-close. The stump of Archangel cross was
lately sunk in the hedge of a lane leading from the Navigation
bridge to Bondgate ; and Sharow cross still remains entire in the
highway from Bipon to that village. Another nameless cross
formerly stood on the farther side of Bishopton toll-gate; but
whether one of this series I cannot at present ascertain. The
Grithstool that stood in the church, and conferred the last degree
of security on its occupant, is now destroyed, and I am unable to
say in what part of the choir it stood.

The monastery had no sooner received these valuable immunities
than it was doomed to irretrievable destruction ; for in 948 or 950,|
when King Edred devastated the North, it was destroyed by fire
and rendered no longer tenable.

• lion. Angl. V. 1., p. 173. t Camden** Bemains, p. 198.

X Sim. Danelm. X. Scrip., vi., e. 16S.

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RIPON.

"THE CHAPELLE OF OUR LADY."

Yet the ruin of the " Old Abbay of Bipon " was not entirely
abandoned to desolation. A chapel weis founded there, no doubt,
within the walls of some portion that wsis left undisturbed — ^for
the ravages of Edred could scarcely have extended to the shell of
the building" — and Leland* has left us the following circumstan-
tial account of what otherwise would have perished irretrievably.

" The Old Abbay of Bipon," says he, " stode wher now is a
Giapelle of our Lady, in a Botom one close distant by * * * * ,
from the new minstre.

" One Marmaduke, Abbate of Fountaines, a man familiar with
Salvage, Archebishop of York, (1501-7) obteined this Chappelle
of hym, and Prebendaries of Bipon : and having it gyven onto
hym and to his Abbay, puUid down t?ie est end oj^it, a pece of
exceding auncient Wark, and buildid a feir pece of new Werk
with squarid stones for it, levtng the west ende of very old toerk
stonding,

" He began also and finished a very fair high waul of Squarid
ston at the est end of the Garth that this chapel stondeth yn : and
had thought to have inchsyd the hole garth with a like tcatdle,
and to have made there a cell of white monks. There lyethe one
of the Englebys in the est end of this chapell, and there lyith
another of them yn the chapelle garthe, and in the chapel singith
a cantuarie prest.

" One thing I much notid, that was 3 crossis standing in row at
the Este Ende of the Chapelle Garth. They were things anti-
quissimi operis, and monumentes of some notable men buried
there, so that of al the old monasterie of Bipon and the toun, I
saw no likely tokens left after the dex>opulation of the Danes in
that place, but only the WauUes of our Lady chapelle and the
crossis."

The indefatigable antiquary was, noLjioubt, correct in his sup-
position ; and little did he imagine, as he viewed the venerable
remains which would have thrown a most vivid light on the inte-

• Itinerary, Vol. t, p. 92.

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CHAPEL OP OUR LADY.

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resting snbject of Saxon architecture, could we now see them as
he did, that in a few years, the ** fair pece of new werk,*' and the
"pece of exceding anncient wark," would be involved in one
common rmn. The chapel having been suppressed in 1547, the
fabric became, no doubt, a quarry for all who were wicked enough
to remove " the remnants of the shattered pile j " though, I have
reason to suspect that the hands of fidse Mends contributed not a
little to its demolition. There is now nothing above ground to mark
the site : nor any fragmentary relics of the building, unless the capi-
tal of a transition Norman column, now in the Deanery yard, has
been brought from thence ; for the adjacent large round font — deco-
rated with a deeply trifoliated arcade supported on circular shafts —
has more probably been brought from the Cathedral when the pre-
sent Tudor font was introduced. Abbot Hub/s wall, which merits
Leknd's encomium of a Mr piece of work, remains at the East
end of the " Chapelle garth." I have reason to believe the foun-
dations and outline of the Saxon Monastery might still be traced,
and such an operation on a building, whose pre-eminent antiquity
is so well ascertained, could not fail to be deeply interesting.
Nothing of any importance has been found within memory, except
a few small and curious tesserae of the floor, that were turned up
in 1837.

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TBS CATHB0B.1L FROM THB BIMKS OF THB SKBLI..

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PETER AND
ST. WILFRID.

OT long after the destruction of Wilfrid's
Monastery, Leland informs us it was " the com-
mune opinion" in his day, that "Odo, Arch-
' bishop of Cantewarbyri, (Canterbury) cuniming
ynto the Northe partes with King. . . . (Edred ?)
had pitie on the desolation of Ripon Chirch, and
began, or causid a new work to be edified wher the Minstre now
is ; '* but that no part of this structure then remained. Odo him-
self, in his preface to Frithgode's Metrical Life of Wilfrid, also
informs us that, on visiting the old Monastery, he found the grave
of Wilfrid in a state of scandalous and indecent neglect ; and
removed his bones to a proper receptacle in his Metropolitan Church.
This statement has, nevertheless, been questioned.

K the Benedictine monks obtained the benefit of the new erec-
tion, they did not retain it long. Between 1060 and 1069 Aldred,

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THE CATHEDRAL. 25

Archbishop of York, and Lord of the manor, had fotmded certain
Prebends in the church, either in addition to a preyions number,
or as an original endowment, and these Canons of St. WilMd
were in the enjoyment of their privileges when the Domesday
survey was made.

In the beginning of the century succeeding the Norman Con-
quest, Archbishop Thurstan gave to the " church of St WilMd,"
one carucate of land, " in dedicatione,'' and also two oxgangs of
land in Sharow, for the foundation of a prebend that has since
borne that name. An erroneous interpretation of the intent of the
former donation has induced the general statement, most promi-
nently developed in the seventeenth volume of the Archseologia,
that Thurstan built the Collegiate Church of Bipon ; and that,
except the additions and alterations in the Decorated and Perpen-
dicular style, it remains a monument of his genius and liberality
to this day.

This noble work, I have, however, had the pleasure to ascertain,
is another of the many benefits which the See of York derived from
the Pontificate of the wealthy and talented Roger of Bishopbridge,
who held it from 1154 to 1181 ; for the chroniclers have recorded
comparatively nothing of one whose generosity and piety, in raising
the ancient choir of York Cathedral, and the adjacent Collegiate
Chapel of St. Sepulchre, will now acquire, at the distance of nearly
seven centuries, the honour of another most important work. It
was fortunate, therefore, that in this instance he had evaded their
neglect ; and, in a record which he caused to be prepared, has
himself notified — " quod dedimus operi beati Wilfiidi de Ripon ad
eedificandam basilicam ipsius quam de novo inchoavimus mille
libras veteris monetse." With this treasure a noble pile was begun,
as is still evident in those members of it which remain in the
transepts, and north-west portions of the choir.

We are not informed how much of the structure was perfected
before the Archbishop's decease, though the state of the nave at
that period seems only doubtful. After the plan, originally devised
by Roger, was completed, the elegant taste and ample resources of
some unknown benefactor, dissatisfied with the tall nave, termi-
nating abruptly without aisles on the west, renewed that front in
the lancet style, and produced a noble and imposing fa9ade, by the
addition of a tower on each side, adorned with lofty spires of tim-
ber and lead. The centre tower had, perhaps, been originally
adorned by a similar termination, though of much less altitude.

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BIFON.

It was, I apprehend, in fortherance of this work, that Archbishop
Wickwane in 1284, and Archbishop Bomayne in 1287, had issued
their letters of indulgence for forty days to those who should con-
tribute to the works of this chnrch.

Thus efficiently completed, the chnrch remained in beauty and
strength until the inroad of the Scots, in 1319, when they set fire
to the building, and destroyed some of its inmates.

At this time William de Melton, who had endeavoured to repulse
the Scots, held the Archiepiscopal staff with a firm and apostolic
hand. His generosity and efficient patronage of architectural
science, confirms the statement that he applied himself to the
reparation of the misfortone, and the eastern portion of the choir
is pointed to as his work.

Though the injuries caused by the Soots had not probably
extended beyond tiie Boof, Screens, Stalls, and other inflammable
portions of the building, the work of renovation and amplification
proceeded slowly. We do not learn how the valiant Archbishop
Zouch, who resided awhile at his palace here, encouraged his
Canons in the undertaking ; but immediately after the appointment
of the great Thoresby to the Archiepiscopal chair, he issued, 26th
October, 1354, his Letters of Request to Thomas Button and others,
to 'collect the charitable ahns of all faithful and well disposed
persons within the diocese of York, to the use of the &bric of this
Church, and, with the money thus obtained, the work was no
doubt completed.

A century had but just elapsed before the Canons were again
called upon to repel the attacks of an enemy more insidious and
irresistible than the violence of man. The Lantern Tower, *< which
at first was so sumptuously built, was then, as well by neglect of
workmen that first made it, as by thunder, and frequent storms and
tempests, so much shaken and broken that the greatest part thereof
was already fSEdlen, and the rest expected to follow, if no speedy
remedy was applied." The &bric fimd being unable to meet the
emergency, William Booth, Archbishop of York, was moved, on
the 4th of February, 1469, 37 Henry VI., to grant an indulgence
of forty days pardon to all such as should afford their charitable
relief towards the re-edification, construction, and snstentation of
the said steeple.

The rebuilding of the steeple was not folly accomplished. The
south and east sides, that called for immediiate restoration, were
rebuilt after a noble and elegant design; and a preparation, that

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27

now disfigures the interior of the nave, denotes that the rest was
intended to be removed ; but the east wall of the transept, and the
southern portion of the choir contiguous to the vitiated angle of the
tower, seem to have demanded such immediate attention, that I
presume it was deemed more advisable to expend the ftmds in their
reconstruction, than in the completion of the tower. The arms of
the See of York, Fountains Abbey, the families of Pigot of Clother-
holme, and Norton of Norton, that adorned the late wooden ceiling
of the south transept, showed who were the chief contributors to
this work. The masses of masonry that had been projected from
the tower, had, it is probable, so mutilated the rood-screen and the
wooden lattices of the choir, with their contiguous stalls, tiiat a
new series of stalls was begun in 1489, and completed in 1494,
about which period the rood-screen and sedilia were erected. The
lady-loft likewise was built before 1482.

Having thus vigorously " set their hand to the plough," our
Canons proceeded, with that enthusiasm and lofty unity of purpose
that actuated, so triumphantly, the architectural works of those
earlier days, and next turned their attention to the ruined condi-
tion of the nave. Its monotonous lengUi, inaccordant with the
aided amplitude of the rest of the structure, probably suggested
its removal, in preference to its restoration ; and it must be allowed
that he who was selected to prepare the new design, wrought with
no ordinary or unskilful hand.

The precise time when the work was commenced, is at present
unknown. The arms of Pigot of Clotherholme, in conjunction with
those of the town, on the lower portion of one of the pillars, has
been supposed to indicate that this part was erected while Ran-
dolph Pigot was Wakeman, in 1471 ; but this is doubtful authority.
A local Chronicle, written in 1615, says that, " On the 6th day of
Febmarie, 1502, did the Chapter of the Church of Eippon make
ordinances & statutes for the repaire & Re-edifiing of the same,
heinge at that tyme in great decay e 8^ Ruine ; " and the arms of
Savage, Archbishop of York, and tiiose of his successor, Baynbridge
— as a Cardinal — are good evidence that an interval of at least
nine years elapsed before its completion. Leland, who was at
Bipon about 1634, observed " the body of the Church of late dayes^
made of a great widnesse by the Treasour of the Church and the
Gentilmen of the Cuntery."

Even when an unprophetic eye might note the surging clouds of
an impending and most fearful reformation, the Chapter once more

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BIPON.

met under the preddeiicy of the rich and learned Bradley, late
Abbot of Fountains, and Snffiragan Bishop of Hull, to deliberate on
the renovation of a pile in which they could not reasonably predict
that their imposing rites and ceremonies could be celebrated long.
On Sunday, the 31st of October, 1546, they set apart a certain
portion of their revenue to repair the bell-tower and wall of the
north aisle,* which threatened to fall; but before their plan could
be brought into operation, the structure had passed into ruthless
and unfriendly hands.

After the dissolution of the Collegiate Church, with its Chantries,
by virtue of the statute of 1 Edward VI., their possessions were
leased out by the Crown, and but the pittance of a few pounds
reserved to the minister who was appointed to conduct the
parochial services. Archbishop Sandys, aided by the influence of
the great Burghley, and the Lords Huntingdon and Shef&eld, en*
deavoured to obtain from Queen Elizabeth an endowment equal at
least to the dignity of an extensive and populous parish; but
<< they never obtained anything but £Edr, unperformed promises."

In the awfiil state of spiritual destitution which then prevailed,
not only here, but generally in the North, the establii^mient of
"An Ecclesiastical College" at Bipon was proposed in 1596 — as
well to supply the parochial cure of souls, as to maintain the Pro-
testant £Edth by the creation of a learned and intelligent ministry.
The list of patrons contained the names of many persons of rai^
and learning, including Dean Nowell and Hooker, and improvable
frmds were provided; yet neither then, nor in 1604, when the
burgesses influenced Ajine of Denmark in its favour, could the
project be carried into effect, although there is evidence that the
building was in a state of preparation, and other arrangements
made for the reception of students.

The local necessity of the case, however, was so &r recognised,
that on the 2nd of August, 1604, King James constituted ti^e late
dissolved Collegiate Church of Austin Canons, a CoUegiate Church,
to consist of a Dean and six Prebendaries for ever, and granted to
them many of the ample sources of revenue which the old foundaF-
tion had received from the piety and charity of numerous benefac-
tors. In consequence of arrangements which need not be detailed,

* The trords of the act of Chapter are " Sunt nonnulli defectus et Buinoaitat'
aperte tarn Campanilis qtutm inuri lapidis insnle borealis ^aad*m Eeerie qui
inrumpunt*r,** fte. Yet the north aisle of the Nave tras of recent work, and that of
the Choir is still in no danger. Was it their intention to renew the old and still
fractured sides of the central tower 1

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THE CATHEDEAL. 29

the Dean and Chapter surrendered the said revenues, hy deed
enrolled 8th of June, 1608, to the King, who, by charter dated the
same day, constituted the office of Sub-dean, and granted to them,
with their ancient Canon Fee Court and many other privileges,
the source of revenue they have since enjoyed.

The architectural history of the structure since the Keformation
may be briefly narrated. Alderman Theakstone's MS. Chronicle,
written in 1615, says, on the 5th of May, 1593, " wsis the greate
speare of Sainct Wilfray steeple in Bippon sett on fire by lighten-
inge about thre of the clocke in the morning, and by God's ayde,
& helpe of the Towne's men, it was quinshed before seaven of the
Clocke in ye mominge." From intentions more commendable for
their reverence for antiquity, than prudence for the safety of the
fSa,bric, the shattered << speare '^ was allowed to remain until the 8th
of December, 1660, when, " by reason of a violent storm of winde,
the great steeple (by which the brief I quote designates the spire)
was blown down,'' and demolished the roof of the chancel, "which
was the only part where the people could assemble for the duties
of public worship." "The body, likewise, of the said church, which
was before very ruinous, being, by the fell of the said steeple, sorely
shaken and much weakened, insomuch as the charge for the more
necessary repair of the said church, without rebuilding the steeple,"
was supposed to amount to 6000/., the inhabitants obtained the
King's letters patent, enabling the Mayor of Bipon, with the Dean
and other Commissioners, to receive the contributions of those who
should wish to forward the good work — pertinently remind-
ing them that '4he Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all
the dwellings of Jacob."

The people responded liberally to the royal exhortation ; but, in
consequence of the embezzlement of a great portion of the contri-
butions, little more was accomplished than the imperative resto-
ration of the choir roof, and the woodwork it had crushed in its
descent. In 1664, the spires of the western towers were removed
to obviate the recurrence of another catastrophe.

From this period, though the Chapter paid all the attention
which their funds would allow to the immediate requirements of
the febric, the hand of time was effectually performing its insidious
and lamentable work, until the appointment of Dr. Webber to the
Deanery, in 1829, when it was found that serious and most exten-
sive renovation was required in all portions of the building. Mr.
Blore having reported that 30967. would be required to effect an

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EIPON,

efficient and substantial repair, and 2*JS5L more "to give to the
interior a uniform and consistent dLaracter," the Chapter, according
to ancient precedent, publicly stated the urgency of the case to
their parishioners and Mends, who provided fimds which ulti-
mately amounted to upwards of 3000/.

A new roof and ceiling was now bestowed on the nave, and its
clerestory lights were repaired. The choir was groined, its win-
dows re-glazed and repaired, a new altar-screen was erected, and
some minor operations effected in the choir.

In consequence of the Report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,
and under the provisions of an Act of Parliament, 6 & 7 Will. IV.,
c. 77, an Episcopal See was erected at Ripon, consisting of that
part of the County of York heretofore in the Diocese of Chester,
of the Deanery of Craven, and of such parts of the Deanery of
the Ainsty and Pontefract, in the County and Diocese of York, as
lie to the westward of the Liberty of the Ainsty afid the Wapen-
takes of Borkstone Ash, Osgoldcross, and Staincross — a district
containing the great towns of Leeds, Bradford, HalifiEuc, Wakefield,
and Huddersfield, among a host of lesser note.

By this act, also, the Collegiate Church of Ripon, and the
Chapter thereof, were made the Cathedral and Chapter of the new
See ; and, according to ancient precedent, the town of Ripon
became dignified with the appellation of a City.

The Hev. Charles Thomas Longley^ D.D., the amiable and
learned head master of Harrow School, was appointed first Bishop
of Ripon ; and was ccmsecrated in York Minster, Nov. 6, 1836.

The couBtitutLon of this Chapter was further changed by the
Act 3 & 4 Vic, c. 113, which directs that the Prebendaries shall
in future be designated Canons, and be reduced to four — each one
of whom shall keep residence three months in each year, and the
Dean eight months ; that the first vacant Canonry shall be
suspended, and the second filled up, and that the Sub-deanery,
also, shall be sui^pended on the next avoidance; that the Canonries
shall be in the patronage of the Bishop of Ripon, who is consti-
tuted visitor of the Chapter ; and that a certain sum shall be paid
by the Ecclesiastical Conmiissioners, to provide for the efficient
performance of the duties of the said Chapter, and /or the mainte-
nance of the fabric thereof - It had been previously directed, by
2 & 3 Vict, c. b^i that upon the vacancy of any two Canonries or
Prebends Residentiary in the Cathedral Church of Ripon, among
others, that a successor should be appointed to the second of such

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THE CATHEDRAL. 31

vacant stalls respectively. It is enacted, also, by the 4 & 5 Vict.,
c. 39, that Honorary Canons shall be forthwith established in this,
among other Cathedral Churches; but none, as yet, have been
appointed.

SURVEY OF THE CATHEDRAL.

*' They dreamt not of a perishable home.
Who thas could build. Be mine, in hours of fear
Or groTelling thought, to seek a refuge here."

The first Christian chnrch that occupied the site of the present
Cathedral was, doubtless, that of which we find remains in the
Saxon crypt, called St WilMd's Needle ; but since, according to
Leland, tiie monastery was situated elsewhere, and the original
parish church of Rix>on stood in Allhallowgate, we must conclude
that WiL&id built another, besides his conventital church at Ripon,
as he did at Hexham, and that this was its identical site.

This structure would certainly not escape that devastation of
King Edred, in 948, when even the monastery was not spared ;
and the next which arose on the site was a chm*ch which, Leland
says, Odo, then Archbishop of Canterbury, " caused to be edified
wher the Minstre now is." Of this building no traces remain ;
and the ruthless visit of William the Conqueror to the North will
sufficiently account for its disappearance.

This state of destitution, I apprehend, then called on Thomas
the Norman, whom the Conqueror had appointed Archbishop of
York, to commence a new work, of which a portion — apparently
the south aisle of the choir — remains attached to the corresponding
member of the present church.

The rapid development of architectural science, rather, perhaps,
than the necessity of the case, next prompted the taste and liber-
ality of Roger, Archbishop of York, to begin, between the years
1154 and 1181, the erection of anew "Basilica," of which the
proportions are amplified only in the present structure, by the
addition of the western towers, the aisles of the nave, and the
elongation, by one bay, of the clerestory of the choir. The greater
part of this work is now re-edified, yet sufficient remains to indi-
cate the entire plan and design of a work which deserves consi-
derable attention ; not merely as the work of a noted builder and

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a member of the Church of Canterbury when the << glorious choir
of Conrad" was in existence, but as haying respect to a Conti-
nental, rather than to an English development of the Romanesque
method; and as forming a useful study in comparison with the
neighbouring and contemporary structures of Fountains and
Kirkstail, Jeryaux and Byland. ^

The several alterations, which were subsequently introduced,
have been sufficiently indicated in the brief historical account of
the building; from which, also, it will ]^ve been perceived that,
the Cathedral contaiDis an example of every style of Christian archi-
tecture that lias been used in England, from its introduction in the
Saxon times, to its debasement in the sixteenth centoiy.*

WEST FBONT.

On approaching the church by Elirkgate, which leads thither
from the market-place, the western facade rises before the spectator
in imposing dignity and beauty. Except the modem addition of
pinnacles and battlements to the towers, it remains free from those
Buperinductions which, however intrinsically beautiful, often offend
the eye in this portion of cathedral and conventual churches, aad
presents one of the most majestic specimens of the Early English
style in this kingdom. Though it was erected nearly a century
after the death of Archbishop Roger, in amplification of his west
end of the nave, which probably resembled ia spirit ^hat of the
north transept ; yet, with all its more artistic subdivision of indi-
vidual parts, the general spirit — allowing for just assimilation — ^is
strongly respective of Romanesque distribution, as exhibited in
Roger's work, as the particular treatment of the design ia shown
to be, by the west end of Southwell Collegiate Church.

The elevation exhibits a gabled compartment, 103 feet high
and 43 feet wide, flanked by two towers of little superior altitude.
In the basement story are three deeply -recessed doorways,

* fieferences to the plan : —
A Nave.

B West entrance.
CC West Towers.
D D North and South Transepts.
E Centre.or St. Wilfrid*8 Tower.
E The Markenfield Chapel.
G The Mallorie Chapel.

H Steps leading to the Librarj.
I Choir.
K Altar.

L Chapter House.
M Vestry.
N Entrance to St. WUfiid** Needle.

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BIFON.

sonnoimted by two tiers of lancet lights, occupying its whole width
— and divided by dnstered and banded shafts, enriched with the
toothed ornament, and terminated by foliated capitals. Each of
these ten windows is divided into trefoil-headed lights, and a snr- .
mounting qnatrefoil — an arrangement which has been thought
subsidiary to the original design ; though the date I have assigned
to the work will prove not to be incongruous vnth the last grada-
tion of the Early English style. Above the upper tier — ^the centre
window being the tallest, and the rest receding- in proportion,
according to the spirit of the old Lombard fronts— are three lancet
lights conjoined, in the swiftly declining pediment, which
is finished by a bold corbel table, and crovmed by a modem
cross.

The towers are on the same plane as the central compartment,
though divided from it by unstaged buttresses, that give a slight
projection to each of their angles, and relieve the flatness that
pervades the vast expanse of the western elevation. They are
divided, above the basement story — ^which shows in front a trifo-
liated arcade — into three stages, in each of which, the face
originally disengaged from the old nave has an arcade of three
members ; the centre compartment of each being pierced vdth a
lancet light, and the archivolt supported by tall banded shafts,
some single, some clustered. A corbel table surmounts the last
stage, and prepared originally for the lofty octagonal spires of
timber and lead, that long and ably completed the effect of an
original and striking design.

To finish the curtailed extremities, battlements were erected;
but these having been much injured by a violent wind iin 1714,
the offensive appearance remained until 1797, when Dean Waddi-
love added a similar work, vnth pinnacles — ^the best relief Ihat,
under circumstances, could have been devised.

The southern tower contains a peal of eight Bells, of the
aggregate weight of 90cwt. Oqrs. 31bs., cast by Lester and Pack,
in March, 1762. There hung there previously five bells; and one
in the opposite tower, which was said to have been brought from
Fountains Abbey.

The Clock was put up by Thwaites, of London, at the cost of
400J., in the south tower, in 1809, in the.place of a wTm'Kr public
convenience, provided by Dean Dering, in 1723.

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THE CATHEDBAL. 35

EXTKRIOB OP THE NAVE.

Before a yisitor enters the church, I would advise him to examine
its northern elevation, in order to obtain a definite idea of some
features that might, otherwise, seem inexplicable within ; though
the eye — ^refreshed by the beautiful western facade — ^may not
relish the more severe character of the transept, or even tliat of
the nave that rises by his side. The nave is divided in length into
six bays ; the windows of the clerestory, from the absence of a
triforium, being each sufficiently capacious to contain five lights,
while those of the side aisles have but three, and consequently less
ramified tracery. On the south, and, perhaps, earlier side, the
tracery of the aisle windows, as well as the section of the vaulting
shafts, are of less angular character than that of the opposite
members, and the buttresses have also a third or additional stage.
On both the sides, the buttresses have been prepared for pinnacles,
which should be supplied, as also to the battlement of the cleres-
tory ; where they would contribute much to break the monotony
of its long horizontal lines and the gloom of the slated roof.

TRANSEPT.

The north transept is the best example of the style of Archbishop
Roger's " Basilica,'' — ^the corresponding member having been par-
tially rebuilt in the fifteenth century. Each side is divided into
bays by a pilaster process, though — ^from the addition of an eastern
aisle — difierently treated in detaQ. Yet, in front, the unfashionable
Norman arrangement of a central pilaster — easily to be contrasted
at Fountains — is discarded, and those at the angles are expanded
and elevated sufficiently to form two square beU turrets, which
rise to a level with the apex of the pedknent. They are pierced
in the summit of each face by a plain round-headed aperture,
divided by a mullion, while cylindrical shafts enrich the angle of
each turret; and form rudely-pointed pinnacles to its pyramidal
" termination, surmounted by a plain knob or pommel j the whole
being a good example of an arrangement which shows the germ
of a spire and pinnacles. The semicircular-headed lights of the
transept are arranged in two tiers, between which the triforium

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36 MPON.

intervenes in the interior. Below the six windows of the front is
the doorway, not placed in the centre, but towards the west, and
immediately opposite to one of nearly similar design in the south
transept. This doorway is very remarkable, having a plain trefoil
head, rising from a corbel-like projection, placed at the impost of
the soffit, and is flanked by three receding shafts, whose elegantly
foliated capitals assimilate with this Komanesque trefoil, and sup-
port an archivolt of bold but undecorated mouldings.

Above the aisle of the north transept was originally a chapel,
communicating with the triforium both of the transept and of the
choir ; but, when that member of the structure was considered
superfluous, its apertures in the transepit wall were closed, and the
roof settled to the crown of the vaulting below. A parapet wall,
and a mullion to some of the windows, is all that intrudes on the
original integrity of this part of the church.

The original design of the. Central Toweb may here be ad-
vantageously observed. The extreme pitch of the ancient roofe
nearly hid its exterior walls, except where the space on each side
of the gables was pierced with a semicircul^-headed window. A
shaft that runs up the angle is checked only from forming a pin-
nacle, by a capital that ranges with the corbel table ; and may
have suggested the moulding that was afterwards used in the same
portions of the western towers. The octagonal spire of timber and
lead, that surmounted this tower until 1660, was of the height of
120 feet — Shaving four spurs of the height of 21 feet, and a battie-
ment at its base.

On passing towards the Choib, we see' the most perfect speci-
men, there, of Archbishop Koger's work in its three western bays ;
though, from the intrusion of Decorated windows in the side aisles,
we may judge better of the original effect, by inspecting the con-
tiguous side of the transept. The elevation of the clerestory
exhibits, simply, a succession of bays — ^made by pilaster strips —
each occupied by an arcade of one round, between two pointed,
members, the central one being pierced for a window — alloman-
esque design, which was, judiciously assimilated in the subsequent
construction of the western front. The remainder of this side of
the Choir — ^being the two bays of the Presbytery — ^was rebuilt in
the Decorated style, probably by Archbishop Metton (1319-1340)
and is worthy of examination, if only from the amount of evidence
it contributes to the disputed history of the Chapter-House at
York, to which it bears strong resemblance in much of its character
and detail.

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THE CATHEDBAL. 37

The elevation of the east end, though simple in outline, is
rendered extremely effective by the massy buttresses, surmounted
by corresponding pinnacles or rather miniature turrets, which
break it into three divisions, and flank its sides. Each of the
aisles shoves but a plain window like the lateral lights ; but the
great vdndow of seven lights, occupying an area 51 feet high and
25 vdde, is a magnificent example of the Early Decorated style,
though not so rich as the ruined east vdndow at Guisbrough
Priory, vdth which the whole of this facade may, indeed, be very
usefully compared^

The south side of the church, being enclosed by the waU of the
burial ground, cannot be conveniently viewed by a visitor, before
he is conducted through the interior.

INTERIOR OF THE NAVE.

On entering the church, by the western door, an imposing
perspective, to the extent of 270 feet, is presented to the eye,
intercepted only by the rood screen and the superincumbent organ j
but presenting, in the unseemly protrusion of one of the piers of
the central tower, an anachronism, which a previous external
inspNBction could alone instantly explain. The harmonious design
of the spacious nave, captivating even to a spectator unacquainted
vdth the principles and capabilities of Gothic architecture, vdll
fill him vnth astonishment, who finds that, at least, the proportions
of the plan were defined by antecedent operations ; and that a
judicious apportionment of its constituent parts has effected all
but this triumphant result The tall and graceful pillars that
support, vnthout an intermediate triforium, a range of lofty
vnndows of elaborate tracery, extending from the summit of the
arcade to the panels of the roof, range on the foundation walls of
Archbishop Boger's nave; the aisles having been obtained by
comprehending a space defined by the towers that projected to give
breadth to the western front Iliis combination has rendered the
nave the widest of any cathedral in the kingdom, except those of
YcMrk, Chichester, Winchester, and St. Paul's — ^measuring 87 feet
K we may judge from the bays still incorporated^with the extremi-
ties of the present nave, the structure which preceded it must have
had a sombre, though singular effect, having presented a lofty
pointed triforium, surmounted by plain round-headed lights, and

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MPON.

diidded into bays by shafts resembling those in the transept. Tlie
aisles remain open to the roof; but it is evident that they were .
intended to have been groined, from the springers, whose capitals
are adorned with angels holding shield^, five of which are charged.
On the north side are,

Three horse-shoes, for Fountains Abbey.

Quarterly, 1 and 4, two hattleaxes in pale, in chief two mullets;
2 andSf a squirrel sejant, cracking a nut, surmounted by a CardinaVs
hat : being the arms of Archbishop Bainbridge, created a Cardinal
in 1511, and poisoned at Home in 1514.

Three stars of six rays ; the mediaeval insignia of St. WilMd.

On the south side, the last-mentioned shield ; and that of

Savage, Archbishop of York, 1501-7 — a pall imp. a pale Justly*

On the west pillar of the northern colonnade are sculptured, also
two contemporary shields :

1st. Three mill-picks, two and one — ^Pigot of Clotherholme.

2nd. A hugle-horn, belted and garnished ; being the arms of the
town. The letters k.i.p.p.o.n., now interspersed on the seal of
the city, are here omitted ; but the belt is studded with bosses
similar to those of silver on that worn by the Serjeant-at-Mace in
procession. Bandal Pigot was the Wakeman in 1471.

The font, an octagon of blue marble, supported by a shaft jand
splayed base of the same mystical form, is coeval with the present
Tudor nave, and stood in its canonical — ^but inconvenient — situation,
at its western extremity, until 1722, when it was removed to that
end of the south aisle.

BIS-KBUKV OM A TOMB

THB aOCTH AltLS.

Near the font, and contiguous to the outer wall, will be observed
an Altar-tomb covered with a slab of grey marble, on the hori-
zontal surface of which is sculptured, in low relief, the representa-
tion of a man and a Hon in a grove of trees ; its romantic allusion

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THE GATHEDBAL. 39

being rendered more tantalimng by a black-letter inscription,
which is irretrievably de&oed on the vertical stone below. A
century ago, tradition recounted that it covered the body of an
Irish Prince, who died at Eipob, on his return from Palestine,
whence he had brought a Hon that followed him with all the
docility and Mthfulness of a spaniel; bat the precatory position
of the man induces me rather to suppose that the sculpture is in
memory of his consequent providential deliverance from the fero-
cious animal, whose attitude is indicative of fear.

Near the north-west pier of the central tower is a monumental
bust and quaint inscription commemorating Hugh Bipley, the
last Wakeman and first Mayor, who died in 1637 ; restored, after
its destruction by the Quixotes of the Civil War, by Mr. Harvey,
at the expense of the Corporation, in 1725.

It is much to be regretted that the fall of the sonthem and eastern
sides of the Central, or St. Wilfrid's tower, previously to 1459,
should have deprived us of the e£fect of its four elegant Eoman-
esque arches, springing from an altitude of little less than forty
feet. Though the eye will be o£fended by the mixture of the
Perpendicular with the original style, and especially — on entering
the church — by the obtSfusion of its south-western pier, it is some
consolation to find that this defection in the design — or rather in
the Chapter fimds— has preserved such an interesting specimen of
art as the remnant of Archbishop Koger's tower. On the &ce of
the western piers opposite the nave, there remain, at the height
of 28 feet, two brackets, for the support of the original rood beam,
which must have formed a most conspicuous object on entering
the church.

The Transept demands particular attention from the architec-
tural antiquary, as it presents, in all but the eastern wall of the '
southern member, a specimen of imperfectly developed Early
English work ; which, by comparison with the two transepts of
the adjacent Abbey of Fountains, will alone afford a valuable
illustration of the progress of architectural design in the latter
half of the twelfth century.

Though the original arches of the eastern aisle, and the triforium
above, with its germ of double lights and tracery, apparently give
to the interior of this part of Roger's church a more developed
character than the exterior ; yet, in its round and fiat trefoils, its
lintels, its alternating round and pointed arches, a strong attach-
ment is still manifested for the Romanesque ; which must have

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40 RIPON.

been considerably increased, when the original flat roof neutralised
the upward aspiring tendency, which was the sonl of the pointed
style. This feeling may be also observed in each end of the tran-
sept, where the three bays are not continued on one plane upwards
to the roofy^but are each crowned with a semicircular head rising
from the shafts that divide the windows of the clerestory.

I need not, unfortunately, warn even a careless observer that
the groining of the Transept is a recent work — in which papier
mache has been used ; — ^nor that its character is aggravated by
grafting new capitals on the old shafts, in a style and position
wholly inconsistent vdth the origuial design.

In the aisle of the North Transept — the groining of which, still
lingering with the square bay and flat dividing arch, merits notice,
on account of its early character — ^was formerly the Chantry of
St. Andrew : the piscina, a roundly trifoliated aperture, with a
projecting basin, remainiag in the south wall. This chapel was
also the burial-place of the Markenfields of Markenfleld, near
thi^ city ; but no other memorial of them now remains in it, except
a fine altar-tomb of Sir Thomas Markenfield, a warrior in the time
of Eichard II., and Dionisia his vnfe,N daughter of Sir William
FitzwiUiam, of Elmley. He is vested in a suit of complete armour,
and wears a collar, which exhibits the design of a park-pale and
a stag couchant, above the elongated, but depressed, pales in front.
His arms (argent) on a bend (sable J three bezants, are sculptm^d
on his breast, and on the hilt of his richly-decorated sword ; as
weU as repeated, impaling Fitzv^liam and Miniot, in a series of
15 shields, graven round the tomb, commemorative of the alliances
of his powerful and chivalrous race.

There has been removed from the north-east angle of this chapel
— ^without the rails — ^that noble altar-tomb, of unusual height, on
which are placed the effigies of Sir Thomas Markenfield and
Elenor his wife, daughter of Sir John Conyers of Hornby Castle.
On the champ or filleting of this tomb is the following memorial,
in defaced and obscure characters, which consanguinity with the
persons commemorated has alone famished me with patience to
explain.

|l^c iaccnt tomajs m'littcfen^ xa}U^ et (Unot uxor ((fu$( ille
rtijt pri)mo menc' mat} anno l>['ni mcc]cc«biiibij q* fult
^enedc^allud W ffilU tt iturlt6i mall^eDe et elenor loix\i] f^
We menc' malj a® D'ni mcccc%xii"J»

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41

The arms on the end and side are, a saUire ; a chevron ; a cross
Jhry 4)r Ward of Givendale; a maunch, for Conyersj Marken-
field ; and three water bottgets, probably, for Boos.
. The Markenfield Chapel has been used, since the seventeenth
century, as the burial-place of the Blackets of Newby-on-Ure ;
and, among several tablets to their memory, contains a cumbrous
pile, recently restored, in honour of Sir Edward Blacket, Bart.,
who died in 1718, and is represented in a recumbent position, with
two of his wives standing by him. The inscription is diffuse, but
fortunately genealogical.

fi.

TOMB OP MB THOMAS MABUWriBU), 1497.

A Stone Pulpit, of Early Perpendicular character, and unu-
sual form— inasmuch as it is without a stem — stands by the entrance
to the north aisle of the Choir. It has evidently been removed
from another position, though it has been, originally, attached to a
wall or a pillar.

The destruction of the east and south sides of the Great tower,
about the year 1459,* caused the renovation of the contiguous
side of the transept, in massy Perpendicular character, which may

* See page 26.

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42 BIFOIC.

»

be usefully contrasted mth the original Early English mode of
treatment, in the corresponding member of the north transept.

The South Tbansept has been, immemorially, the burial place
of the Lords of Studley BoyaL Here, among many other of their
less renowned ancestors and descendants, rest Sir WiUiam Mallorie»
one of the Conncil of the North under Queen Elizabeth ; Sir John
MaUorie, who defended Skipton Castle for King Charles, in the
grand rebellion ; his grandson John Aislabie, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and his son William Aislabie, Auditor of the Imprest,
and Member of Parliament for Bipon, sixty years. The south
aisle was appropriated especially for their use in 1733.

It will be almost needless to observe that the memorial of Mr.
Weddell, at the end of the sotith transept, is designed after the
Choragic monument of Lysicrates at Athens. The bust is by
Nollekens, and the tripod, on which it is placed, was modelled,
from an antique, in his noble statue gallery at Newby. ' •

The stone Screen at the entrance to tiie Choir — " a work of
rich entayle and curious molde " — was erected when the Perpen-
dicular piers between which it is placed were renewed, after the
ruin of the tower, about the year 1469 ; but whether to replace
another, cannot at present be ascertained, since the Choir may
have been previously prolonged to the rood screen which once
stood between the western piers of the tower. The present work is
19 feet high, and presents the arrangement, simple in outline, but
elaborate in detail, of a doorway having four niches on each side,
a tier of twenty-four smaller niches above, and a cornice bearing
shields with rests, that appear to have been coloured and charged.
On the lower pedestals are shields, bearing a cross flory, for Ward
of Givendale ; three mill-picks for Pigot ; a chevron between three
muUets, for Pudsey ; three billets ; and the mark of a merchant.
The folding doors, adorned with, elaborate tracery, are a good
example of their style. They bear, carved on shields, a mitre ;
three mascles ; three stars of 5 rays ; a stoord in pale ; two keys
in saltire, surmounted by a regal croton, for the see of York j and
a cross of Calvary ragtUed,

The Oegan, above this screen, usurped, in 1833, the place of
one constructed, on the spot, by Gerard Schmidt, in 1695 and 6,
and accounted one of the sweetest-toned in the kingdom. The
diapasons of the great organ were of rich, full, inimitable melody ;
but there was no swell, and only eighteen stops. The whole of
its choir-organ comprehending the open and stop diapason, prin-

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THE CATHEDEAL. ^ 43

cipal, dnldana, and flute, are, however, fortunately, retained in
the present instroment, which was hnilt by Mr. Booth of Leeds.

THE SAXON CETPT, OB "ST. WILFEID's NEEDLE."

Before quitting the nave, an antiquary must not forget to
examine the far-£Eimed Crypt under the Central Tower, the posi-
tion of which — and therefore of the tohole of Roger's Church — ^it has
directly influenced. After a narrow and inconvenient passage of
45 feet from the nave, he will arrive in a cylindrically-vaulted cell,
7 feet 9 inches wide, 11 feet 3 inches long, and 9 feet 4 inches
high, dark and cheerless as the grave. As it is all but destitute of
those indicia by which its precise antiquity might be determined,
a wide scale of chronology has been applied to it, and some have
supposed it to have been, originally, a Roman sepulchral vault ; in
imitation of which it has indeed been coastructed. By the com-
parison, however, of its ground plan, with that of a crypt at
Hexham in Northumberland, it will become evident that both
these crypts were built on the same very peculiar plan, and in the
saine mode of construction ; and that as we know, on the authority
of Richard Prior of Hexham, that Wilfrid introduced a crypt of
this remarkable character into the Conventual Church of Hexham,
it is reasonable to conclude that this also was of his foundation.
Yet, since Leland has proved that the Monastery of'Ripon did not
occupy the precise site of the present Cathedral, this crypt has,
doubtless, not been in immediate connexion with the Conventual
Church, but with another of Wilfrid's churches, now forgotten.
The annexed ground-plan will explain the arrangement of the
crypt better than any other description I can adopt. It may,
however, be added, in its illustration, that in consequence of the
subsequent construction of the piers of the tower, it is uncertain
whether the passages remain on their original plan. That the
western portion of the passage from the nave has been disturbed,
is evident, indeed, both from the masonry of the walls, and an
early monumental stone, bearing a plain cross, that forms a portion
of the roof. It may be added, too, that the space at the west end
of the chapel is covered biL a semi-vault rising towards the east,
which has originally carried the stairs of the superincumbent
altar, and that the doorways, corresponding in size and form with
those at Hexham, are but rude apertures in the wall, each covered

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44

KIPON.

by a lintel, in which the semicircalar heads are gained. The
niches also are but plain recesses, with semicircalar heads. One
in the western wall, has the addition of a deep basin in the base;
and others, a funnel-like aperture behind the arch, as if to cany
off the smoke of a lamp. " The Needle " has been formed by
perforating the niche— 13 inches wide and 18 inches high — on the
north side, through the thickness of the wall to the parallel pas-
sage behind, said to ascend to the porch, in the choir screen,
behind the residentiary's stall.

The purposes to which this very singular place has been suc-
cessively applied, are not certainly ascertained — though there
seems no doubt but that, originally, it was intended to serve as a
place of retirement, hiuniliation, penance, and prayer. Camden
was told, within memory of the reformation, that females were
drawn through the needle as an ordeal of their chastity — the
culprit being miraculously detained ; or, as Fuller wittily observed,
" They prick'd their credits who could not thread the needle." As
far, however, as the contraction of space was concerned, the frailest
of the frail might have rioted in intrigue unconvicted. A conscious
reluctance to assume the necessary prostrate position was, I appre^
hend, the real difficulty.

As it is very evident that the " Needle " is but an enlargement
of one of the original niches of the Crypt, it may be presumed
that its purpose, whatever it may have been, has been devised at

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THE CATHEDBAL. 45

a period long subsequent to the construction of the bnilding, when
anxiety prevailed in the religious houses of exhibiting miraculous
agency through the intervention of their patron saint, or of some
notable person connected with their foundation. The manner in
which this purpose was developed, is, however, in this case, very
pecidiar, and may have been derived from an extremely ancient
heathen superstition, which ascribed miraculous powers, though
generally of a sanitary nature, to certain objects, such as cloven
rocks and ash trees, through which the patient was to pass ; the
practice being perhaps symbolical of a *' second birth, whereby a
living being is ushered into the world free from those impurities
and imperfections incorporated with a former life."

Although a knowledge of the legerdemain practised by our
Canons wiU support the belief of an ordeal more absurd than that
which Camden has recorded ; it was, perhaps, through its medium
as a confessional, that the Needle mortified the spirit rather than
the flesh; the penitent kneeling by tihe narrow orifice he had
reached from the nave, while the priest sat near the expanding
embouchure, to which he descended from the choir.

Lastly, this convenient peculiarity of ingress and egress might
also render the vault a fit sepulchre, whence the host, or image of
Christ — ^removed on Good Friday from the nave, a type of the
church militant on earth — ^wonld be brought up into the choir, the
emblem of the church trium'pKant in heaven, on the anniversary
of the mom of the resurrection.

INTERIOR OF THE CHOIR.

On emerging again to the nave, the visitor must torn to the
elegant and spacious choir, where many interesting considerations
will arise. Its proportions, I apprehend, are defined by Archbishop
Roger's plan ; but, of his main saperstructure, three bays on the
north side and a pillar on the south alone remain, though the outer
wall of the south aisle proves the prolongation of the work east-
ward, within a few feet of its present extremity. It may, however,
be assumed, as well from its imusual length as from a fashion of
the style — exemplified in the kindred Abbey of Byland — ^that the
original clerestory was shorter by one bay than ike present, and
that an aisle circulated round its eastern extremity. The three
bays opposite Roger's work were built after the ruin of the

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46 BIPON.

oontigaons angle of the centre tower, about 1459 ; the rest of the
ohoir, on both ddes, having been renewed, in the Decorated style,
in the former half of the fourteenth century. This work— elegant
in spirit though simple in detail — comprehends the Presbytery;
though its special character is now only indicated by a double
suite of tracery in the clerestory windows, an arcade round the
basement of the walls, and the elevation of the floor. Its most
powerftd effect, however, was probably contributed by its stained
glass, if we may judge from those fragments of the East Window
which escaped destruction in the Grand Rebellion ; and having
been collected in 1724, into twelve circular compartments in the
tracery, remained there until the present window was erected in
1854.* The date of this decoration, and consequentiy of the
completion of the Presbytery, is fixed after the year 1340 by two
shields, that, until this recent period, occupied their- original
position in the spandrils of the sub-arches — ^the one being that of
England within a bordure of France, and surmounted by a label
of three points, azure: the other that of France, azure aemi de
lisy oTf as assumed by King Edward III.

The glass which now occupies the east window was executed
by Mr. Wailes, of Newcastie-on-Tyne, at a cost of 1000/., defrayed
by a public subscription throughout the Diocese. The subject is
that of our Saviour giving his commission to. the twelve Aposties;
and in compartments below are represented, the Descent of the
Holy Ghost ;. Philip baptizing the Eunuch ; Peter preaching to
the Jews ; Peter baptizing Cornelius and his household ; Paul
preaching to the Gentiles ; and the first preaching of the Gospel
to the ancient Britons. On a fillet at the foot is inscribed : This

WINDOW WAS ERECTED IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CREATION
OF THE S^ OF RlPON. AnNO DoMINI 1836. C. T. LONGLEY,
D.D., FIRST ELECTED BiSHOF.

Besides a remarkable assimilation of the Early English, Deco-
rated, and Perpendicular styles, all of which meet in the third bay
from the east end on the south side, the Choir presents also another
remarkable spectacle in the arrang^nent of the windows in two
tiers. This, however, formed no part of an original design ; but
v^as gained by glazing the traceried apertures of the triforium,

* This glus is now placed in a window of the nave, near the Font Among the
fignret that can be identified, will be observed those of St. Peter with his golden
key ; St. Paul with his sword; 8t. Andrew with bis cross ; and St. Cornelius with
the same symbol foliated at the extremities.

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THE CATHEDRAL. 47

the roof of wMch was then settled to the vanltiiig of the aisles.
Uninformed of this fSa^t, the stadent has often gazed in astonish-
ment on the two pointed lights of the ronnd-headed arch, divided
by a slender colnnm, and ornamented with those sharp cusps,
which are, in reality, shown from the more modem mnllion behind.
The partial fisdl of the central to^er, about 1459, occasioned
ultimately the uniform re-decoration of the choir throughout ; and
nobly did the Canons accomplish their design. Elaborate lattioe
work of exceeding beauty screened it from its aisles, and thirty-
two canopied stalls occupied the western extremity and the space
of two intercojumniations on each side. When the roof ^as burst
in by the shattered spire in 1660, the storied tabernacles of the
damaged stalls on each side were repaired by an incongruous work ;
and subsequently, from time to time, the lattices have been care-
lessly and ignorantly mangled, to form the gallery fronts, and
portions of the pews below. One portion in the north aisle, with
a singular and contemporary iron scutcheon, contains a fragment
of the inscription recorded by Dodsworth, that was " cut in wood
about St Wilfrid's Quire," and the date mcccC<>JxiII®[b]i J®* At the
eastern extremity of the south range was the ancient throne of the
Archbishop of York, still identified by a carved mitre behind.
The space of two stalls was comprehended for this purpose in 1684 ;
but the unseemly canopy was supplanted in 1812 by the present
throne, which was executed by Archer of Oxford, at an expense
of 200/., defrayed by Archbishop Markham. The shield on its
ancient finial, bears three estoiles, the insignia of St. Wilfrid, sup-
ported by angels, and surmounted with a mitre ; the date below,
Anno D'nt 1494 — ^the latest on the woodwork of the stalls — vindi-
cating the time of their completion. The poppie above, fashioned
as an elephant bearing a military tower, with its defenders, is one
of the most singular of its class of ornament j and the fidelity with
which the animal is detailed is very remarkable. The stall oppo-
site to the Bishop's throne is occupied by the Mayor, as it probably
was by the Wakeman, since it is larger and more adorned than
the rest of the adjoining range. A shield charged with two keys
in saltire, one of the armorial bearings of the See of York, adorns
the finial on which the Mace has been supported since 1646. Of
the western range, the Dean occupies the first stall on the south ;
the Canon in residence that of the late Sub-Dean on the north ;
and the rest are assigned to the Canons by labels over each. The
Archdeacons of Eichmond and Craven occupy lateral stalls, and

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EIPON.

the rest on the north are used by the members of the Mnnidpal
Corporation. The appurtenant subsellia display a number of
curious and satirical conceits, in the majority of which more is
meant than meets the eye, or I can now attempt to explain.

The Altab-scbeen was erected in 1832, after a design by Mr.
Blore ; a large painting by Streator, serjeant-painter to Charles
n., representing an Ionic colonnade, having previously occupied
its place. On removing it, a panelled screen of wood, rudely
painted, was discovered, and. behind it the original Decorated
reredos of Melton's work, which should have been allowed to
remain, though it was merely a continuation of the arcade, which
may still be seen in the aisles. The altar-stone, with its five
crosses, was found below the present table.

The original Piscina of the high altar was displaced by the
erection of the present screen ; but that of a chantry at the ad-
joining end of the south aisle remains, in the shape of a basin
resting on a cylindrical shaft In this aisle, too, a remarkable
Lavatoky, near the vestry door must be noticed.

Three Sedilia, with a curtailed Piscina, occupy the whole of
the second intercolumniation from the east, and have richly
crocketed ogee heads, resting on square pillars, the surfaces of
which are adorned with the Tudor rose. The grotesque capitals
and quaintly devised cusps, are interesting specimens of our pro-
ficiency in sculpture at the close of the fifteenth century ; though
the general design betrays the decline of sound architectural prin-
ciples. It will be needless to warn a practised eye that the upper
portion is an unauthorised " restoration.**

From indications ia the wall, it is evident that there was a
chapel in each aisle of the Presbytery ; that on the north side
having contained, I apprehend, the Shrine of St. Wilfrid.*

The elegant wooden bosses of the Perpendicular Yaultino of
THE Choib, which was broken in by the fall of St. Wilfrid's spire
in 1660, are replaced in the modem groining ; and viewing them
from the west, thus appear : a King seated ; a Bishop seated ; the
Annunciation of the Virgin ; the Good Samaritan ; a King and a
Bishop seated ; the angel expelling Adam and Eve from Paradise
— a group where motion is wonderfrilly expressed ; a King seated ;
a Bishop, in exquisitely cast robes, giving the benediction ; and
an aged man conducting a female to the door of a church.

* On the Northe Syde of the Quiere, S. Wilfridi reliquis sub arcu pn^ mag.
altare sepalte, nuper sublata.— Lei. Itin, v. 8» p. 22,

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THE GATHEDBAL. 49

CHAPTEB-HOUSE AND YESTBT.

There is attached to the south aisle of the Choir a building, or
rather a part of a building, which, being evidently of unusual
antiquity, and unconnected either in style or plan -with Roger's
Church, has loilg been confidently supposed to be the original Church
of Wilfrid, or, at least, the structure erected by Odo about the year
950. I should contentedly concur in this latter proposition, if each
characteristic part of the building had not satisfied me tha^ its age
is subsequent to .the Norman Conquest ; and historical evidence
concurred to warrant the supposition. I suggest, therefore, that it
is the south aisle of a Collegiate Church which the devastation that
ensued in these parts after the year 1069, demanded from Thomas
Archbishop of York, who was Lord of Ripon at the time when the
Domesday Survey was made, and died here on the 18th of
November, 1 100. The rest of that structure was doubtless destroyed
by Archbishop Koger, when he commenced his " Basilica," this
portion being retained, as convenient lor the Chapter-House and
Sacristy ; — ^the arcade by which it joined its original structure
having been closed and flanked by the wall of the Choir. This
arcade, which has no capitals to the square piers, and but a cham-
fered margin, is hid from a casual observer in the Chapter-House,
and encimibered in the Vestry by two buttresses, formed in the
Decorated period, to balance the intended vaulting of the Choir.
The south and east sides of the building only are detached from
Roger's Church, and present a peculiar appearance; since the Crypt,
which runs its whole length, has, in consequence of the favourable
declivity of the ground, a tier of lights, which appear prominently
in the elevation. During or very soon after Roger's time, the
Chapter-House, and probably the Vestry, was vaulted with plain
chamfered ribs, to cylindrical pillars, and ihe freestone buttresses
applied to the southern wall ; but in the Vestry ail traces of this
work have disappeared, except some brackets, perhaps in con-
sequence of the intrusion of the Decorated buttresses. The Vestiy,
however, presents a more interesting appearance in its apsidal
termination ; where, on account of the contiguity of the Choir, the
central window is accompanied only by a light on the south, below
which is a square recess and a small round-headed piscina, with a
projecting basin. The altar does not appear to have been of stone,

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50 BIPON.

but its platform, a concrete mass bounded by wrought stones,
remains attached to the wall.

On the south side of the Vestry is a closet or small apartment,
formed in the lateral apse, which has been, originally, a kind of
Sacristy, and, subsequently, a receptacle for the valuables of the
Church. On its west side is a recess, communicating with the
churchyard, which has contained a sink or lavatory, and, from
the trace of an arch in the exterior of the Norman wall, appears
to have been formed for that purpose.

Above the Vestry and Chapter-House, a chapel, yet called the
Lady Loft, was erected about 1482. It is reached by a flight of
stairs from the south transept, which also served,,a Chantry chapel
over the west end of the choir aisle. There were, formerly, two
divisions of the Lady Loft, of which, the eastern was used as the
Collegiate Library ; but the partition was removed in 1840, and
the whole apartment is, at present, appropriated to that purpose.

The foundation of the Libraky dates only from 1624, when
Bean H^gins bequeathed his collection of books to the Chapter,
and laid the foundation of a design that has not received the at-
tention it deserves. Such books as the Canons possessed before
the Reformation were probably deposited in the Vestry, where
Leland, a little while before, was shown the Life of St Wilfrid,
by Peter Blesensis, of which he has preserved some passages in
his Collectanea. None of these books can be identified in the
present Collection ; nor, indeed, can any be certainly ascertained
to have belonged to the Chapter before the bequest of Higgins.

From the Chapter-House, there is a descent to that portion of
the Crypt now used as a sepulchral vault ; but our survey of this
interesting portion of the Church must be obtained from its con-
tinuation in the celebrated " Bone-House," to which, siace its
division, an entrance has been formed from the churchyard;
whither the visitor must now proceed to complete his inspection
of the exterior of the Church.

The head of the Saxon Cross, now placed over the Bone-House
door, was found in 1832, in taking down a wall of the time of
Henry VIII., at the east end of the Choir. It has been supposed
to be the head of one of those seen by Leland, in the garth of the
Abbey ; but the Minster-yard might, with equal probability, have
furnished such an object.

From the vaulting of the Crypt, stiU unshrouded by the bones
that have been amassed around, the age of the structure is

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THE CATHEDRAL.

51

definitely ascertained. It is supported by square pillars, each with
a plain, concave capital, on which rest the semicircular arches, of
nearly equal width. These rise from pillar to pillar and pier in a
rectangular form, and have been strengthened in the Perpendicular
period, when additional substance has been added to the pillars
themselves. The windows, 3ft. 7 in. high« and 9 in. wide, retain
the double splay which has been supposed to characterise the
Saxon style, and flange inward considerably; but all further exami-
nation of the Crypt is prevented by the piles of bones, that extend
nearly half its width on the north side, and for three feet beneath
our feet.

There are collected' under •

the great eastern window of
the choir seven sepulchral
slabs as early perhaps as the
thirteenth century. They
were discovered in 1832, t<>-
gether with the cross head
above alluded to, on the re-
moval of a high wall that
had screened the space be-
tween the adjacent massy
buttresses from the church
yard; and had been erected,
with what precise intent it is
impossible to imagine, about the time of the Reformation. Two
of them bear the plain foliated cross ; another the addition of a
book ; another of a chalice and a book; the fifth of a chalice and
a wafer ; the last of the blade of a sword and some other object,
indistinct even on their discovery, I apprehend they have been
taken from the floor of the Old Nave by the Tudor builderis, and
that there are more concealed in the steps leading to the Lady
Loft. The two small stones, represented in the engraving, were
discovered on pulling down a wall near the west end of the church.

Before the Reformation, Leland observed "that thePrebendaries'
Houses," the sites of which may still be defined, " be buildid in
Places nere to the Minstre, and emong them the Archebishop hath
a fair palace. And the Vicars* houses be by it in a fair quadrant
of square stone buildid by Henry Bowet, Archebishop of York."

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52 RIPON.

These six members of the church having been formed into a body
corporate by King Henry V., had ordinances made for their
government by the Archbishop, when he allotted them a part of
his Manor Garth for the site of their honse, in 1450. In the time
of Queen Elizabeth, when a college was projected at Kipon, this
house was to have formed part of the fabric, and was repaired for
that purpose ; but before 1625, it was almost entirely destroyed,
and a new house erected, which became the Deanery.

The Palace or Manor Hall, where the Archbishop of York had a
residence — ^most probably from the Saxon, but, certainly,' from the
Norman times — stood on the north side of the nave of the Cathe-
dral, in a site which retains its Saxon appellation of " The HaU-
yard." It was **& Mr Palace " at the time of the Beformation, but
went so fSax to decay after that period, that at the request of the
CSorporation in 1629, Archbishop Harsnet offered "to bestowe his
great howse, or some part thereof," as a workhouse for the poor.
It probably was not long used for this purpose ; but became so
dilapidated that, within recollection, little more than a portion
sufficient for holding the Quarter Sessions and Manor Court was
left, and this was ruthlessly and wantonly destroyed in 1830 —
when the present Court House was erected on the site.

The Park appurtenant to the Palace, and in Leland's time
" vj miles in cumpace," is on the north side of the city, beyond
the High Common ; but having long been divided into £arms, re-
tains little trace of its original condition, except the remains of
two Lodges — in the perpendicular style — incorporated with
ferm-houses. .

TRINITY CHURCH.

There are eleven chapels of ease appurtenant to the cathedral and
parish church, but this only within the city. It was built and
endowed, under the provisions of a local act of parliament, 7 Geo.
IV, c. 50, by the late Rev. Edward Kilyington, M.A., at an expense
of 13,000/., bequeathed for Christian purposes, by his relative,
Thomas Kilvington, Esq., M.B., a noted medical practitioner in this
city. The first stone was laid on the 28th of July, 1826, and
such expedition was used that it was consecrated by the Archbishop
of York on the 31st of October, 1827. It is of cruciform arrange-
ment, and designed by the late Mr. Thomas Taylor, whose

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THE EPISCOPAL PALACE.

53

successfiil practice in the delineation of our ancient and genuine
architecture should have suggested something better than this
absurd and incongruous compilation. The spire is the most toler-
able portion, and forms a conspicuous object at a considerable
distance. The edifice contains 1000 sittings, and a powerful organ,
built by Eenn and Boston, of Manchester. On the north side of the
chancel is a fedthM bust of the late Kev. E. Kilvington, by Mr.
Angus Fletcher, which, " in grateful remembrance of his name and
work, his Mends and hearers caused to be erected." He died
January 28th, 1835, aged 68 years.

A house was erected, by subscription, for the Incumbent of this
church, on the opposite side of the road, in 1849 ; and may, at
least, suggest the existence of a mode of building different to that
which has hitherto disfigured the many beautiful sites around tl^e
city.

THE EPISCOPAL PALACE,

A SPACIOUS stone building, designed in the Tudor style by Mr.
Itailton, occupies a slight eminence about a mile north-west of
the city, commanding agreeable prospects down the Talleys of
the Laver and the Ure, as well as of the cathedral and the city.
The foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Kipon, on Monday,
the 1st of October, 1838, and the structure was prepared for his
reception in the autumn of 1841.

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54

Ripoir.

The appurtenant demesne, wluck adjoins the ancient manorial
park of the Archbishop of York, contains one hundred and nine
acres, and was gratuitously ceded by Mrs. Lawrence, the lessee of
that prelate, who also provided the building stone.

A small chapel had been originally included among the apart-
ments of the Palace, but a disposition haying been manifested by
the inhabitants of a neighbouring hamlet to attend the services that
were more particularly intended for the Bishop's household, the
late Archbishop of York, who had witnessed the inconvenience of
their number, and their inability regularly to visit the parish
church, munificently placed the sum of 3000/. at the disposal of the
Bishop of Ripon, wherewith to erect a more suitable structure. A
site having been accordingly chosen on the east side of the Palace,
the foundation of a chapel, designed by Mr. Kailton, in the
Perpendicular style, was laid on the 24th of June, 1846.

PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS.

The Hospital of St. Mart Magdalene, founded by an
Archbishop of York, who was forgotten so early as 1341, stands
at the northern extremity of Stammergate, not far from the river
Ure. The Alms-houses were rebuilt in 1674 : but the Chapel, on
the opposite side of the way, remains as it was left at the Keform-
ation. The original structure of the twelfth century, containing
a rudely-ornamented Norman doorway, has been repaired during
the Perpendicular era, when the screen and its appurtenant
blanched stalls were constructed. A low-side-window of this date
in the middle of the south wall has been partially waUed up.
Besides these relics, there is a stone high altar remaining in its
proper position, and on its south side a smaller slab in the floor
that appears, from the incised crosses, to have served a similar
purpose, probably before the elongation of the chapel. The jJave-
ment before the altar, 11 feet long and 3 feet 8 J inches wide, is
worthy of attentive consideration ; for if it is not actually Eoman,
as is generally supposed, it has certainly been copied from a work
of that period, in the twelfth century.

The Hospital of St. John the Baptist, nigh Bondgate
Bridge, owes its origin to Thomas, the second Archbishop of York,

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PUBLIC BXTELDIKOS AND INSnTUTIONS. 66

who was translated to that See in 1109. The Chapel, which seems
to have been built about the time of Edward II. , and is in nowise
remarkable, was much enlarged in 1812, and converted into a
National School, which was very properly removed elsewhere iq
1853, when the building was again dedicated to its sacred purpose.
Two poor women, recipients of the charity, reside in an adjacent
cottage.

The Hospital of St. Anne, in High St Agnesgate, of the
foundation and structure of an uncertain benefactor about the time
of Edward lY., acconunodates eight poor women with apartments
and a small pension. Its little Chapel, in a state of picturesque
decay, retains the piscina and altar-stone, on which tradition
asserts that the ransom of a Scottish king was paid. A stone
bearing the arms of Sir Solomon Swale, of South Stainley, with
the date 1664, has been walled into the window towards the
street The burial-ground is now used as a garden.

Jepson's Hospital, in Water Skellgate, was founded in 1672,
by Zacharias Jepson, of York, apothecary, and a native of this
place, who bequeathed 3000/. to feoffees to purchase lands for the
maintenance and education of twenty orphan boys, or poor free-
men's sons, of the town of Kipon, who were to be admitted at the
age of seven years. This laudable institution has subsequently
received benefactions, but the injudidoos investment of the original
funds, and a claim made upon the estate by the testator's widow,
had caused the number of boys to be reduced to ten.

The Free Gkammar School, in St Agnesgate, and on the
south side of the church-yard, was first founded in 1546, by King
Edward VI., but incorporated by Philip and Mary, 27th June,
1555, and endowed chiefly from the revenues of certain chantries
in this church and parish. Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of
Canterbury; Bishop Porteus; and Archdeacon Thomas Balguy,
were among the eminent men who have been instructed here.

The Town Hall, on the south side of the Market-place, was
built from a design by Wyatt, in 1801, at the expense of Mrs.
Allanson, of Studley. In the Assembly Room, which occupies the
upper front story, is a Ml-length portrait of Mrs. Allanson; and
a characteristic bust in marble, of Mrs. Lawrence, her niece, by
Mr. Angus Fletcher. A lower aplbrtment is used as a News
Koom. The eastern part of the building is occupied by the Town-
clerk.

The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, on Coltsgate Hill, was

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56

BIPON.

built in 1777 ; that of the New Connexion of Methodists, in Low
Skellgate, in 1795; the Temple, or Calvinist Chapel, in 1818;
and a Chapel for Primitive Methodists, in Priest Lane, in 1821,
which was enlarged in 1841.

A great local accommodation was acquired in 1833, by the
institution of the Public Rooms in Low Skellgate. A commodious
mansion, with a garden extending to the river behind, was first
purchased by shareholders, and appropriated chiefly to the estab-
lishment of a Circulating Library and a News Boom; but the
project having been encouraged, another building, containing an
apartment 52 feet by 26 feet, and suitable for general public
assemblies, was erected in addition in 1834.

The Mechanics' Institution was established 26th February,
1831, and associated with a literary society in 1844. Its advan-
tages having been long misunderstood and neglected, it was held
in an insufficient and hired apartment until 1849 ; when, on the
manifestation of a more enlightened perception, an independent
building was erected by subscription at the east end of the Public
Booms. Besides apartments for the resident secretary, it contains
a Class and Lecture Boom, 40 ft. by 20 ft. ; a Beading Boom
24 ft. by 20 ft. ; and another Class 'Boom 20ft. 6in. by 15 ft. 9in.
There are, at present, nearly two hundred members, of whom
a few of the most active and zealous have succeeded, within
the last nine years, in establishing kindred institutions in the
neighbourhood.

A National School for boys, conducted on Dr. Bell's plan,
was held, from its commencement in 1812, in St. John's Chapel,
Bondgate, until 1853; when a more spacious and convenient
building was erected, at a cost of 900/., on a site granted by the
Dean and Chapter, in a field adjoining Priest-lane. The school is
now conducted on the National Society's system. Another for
girls, established originally in 1803 as a Sunday School, is kept in
a building in High St. Agnesgate, erected by the late Mrs.
Lawrence of Studley. There are also National Schools in connec-
tion with Trinity Church, and the Wesleyan Methodist ChapeL

A Dispensary was commenced in Bipon as early as 1790, and
has recently been conducted with a most beneficial result ; but,
lacking sufiicient endowment, it was held in a dwelling-house,
until the bequest of 1000/. by the late Mrs. Lawrence was judici-
ously expended, in 1850, in the erection of a suitable building in
Ferraby Lane.

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PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND INSTITUTIONS.

57

A jointHstock company established Gas Works here in 1830,
and so p|*ovided a public convenience, which — ^with reference to
the interests of the inhabitants — should have been anticipated and
conducted by the Municipal Ck)rporation. The capital of the com-
pany is divided into one hundred and eighty shares of 25L each.
The Gas-house is in Stammergate.

It was left, also, to the enterprise of an individual to construct
the Water-Works, by which a daily supply from the river Skell
— ^raised ia the mill at Duck-hill bank — ^is forced to taps in the
main-streets, and such houses as may require it.

A public Bathing House was erected on Skell-bank by sub-
scription, in 1812, and is supplied from St. Wilfrid's Well,
which rises in a field a little to the west of it, and not &r from the
close where " the Gospel tree" stood. Its stream, however, as well
as that of a spring on B'orrage Green, had been protected and
collected in stone basins, for public use, by Dr. Richardson, of
Eipon, in 1758 and 1762, being both of exceedingly pure quality,
and much frequented. There is, also, another valuable spring
called St. Helen's Well, about a mile from the city, by the
side of the Leeds road ; and a Sulphuretted Spa, at the
north end of Stammergate, which, though slightly impregnated,
is not useless.

As early as 1736, the disadvantages of the inland position of
Eipon, induced an enterprising party to attempt to render a por-
tion of the Biver Ure navigable, and to form a canal from thence
hither, at a period when such projects were but little regarded.
After much discouragement, they succeeded in this undertaking
by the aid of the celebrated Smeaton, and under the provisions of
an act of Parliament obtained in 1767. The management was
originally vested in Commissioners, but this system being unsatis-
factory, another act Vas obtained in 1820, whereby the proprietors
became a body corporate by the name and style of "The Company
of Proprietors of the Biver Ure Navigation to Ripon." Under
the provisions of an act of Parliament, which received the royal
assent July 2oth, 1845, the interests and property of this Corpo-
ration were transferred to the Leeds and Thirsk Railway Company.

According to the enumeration made on the dlst of March, 1851,
there were in Ripon and the appurtenant township of Bondgate,
1513 houses, and 6160 inhabitants, being an increase of 2453
inhabitants since the census of 1801.

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-^S^^^-^;5^^

STUDLEY KOYAL.

In ihodier bdwfl'
More laorcd and ««queiter'dp thou:?h but feigned.
Pan 4T SylvanQfl never ebpC, laor N^riuph,
Nor F Alio us hauDted.

1 1^ agreeable stroll tJirough out western subntb, and
tile wooded copses that ri^ in gentle undnlation
from the banks of tlie Laver beyond, preparet^ our
transition to the far-fiimpd Becnes of Studley Koyal*
A volume would be insufficient to discuss the divert
sified beauties with which it abounds ; and the
utmost that can be attempted here is to state facts that may be
useful to the enquiring eye, and become a memorial for the retro*
spective mind.

For five centuries, the famiiiea of Aleman, I^ Gras, Tempest,
and Mallory, each of which produced men eminent and useful in
their generation^ enjoyed, aueeessively, a domain which the pitency
of their neighbtmrs forbade them to enlarge ; and found in their
deep meads and waving woods, a quiet and simple enjoymentp

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BTUDLET PABE. 59

which until the jawn (k the eighteenth century was not deemed
capable of being transmuted to that source of intellectnal gratifi-
<»tion, in which countless thousands have since participated. John
Aislabie, who from the rank of a country gentleman raised himself,
by the vigour of his intellect, to the office of Chancellor of the
Exchequer, was then possessed of Studley Royal in right of his
mother, Mary, the eldest daughter and co-heiress of Sir John
Mallory, an heroic and loyal knight. He saw the rare beauties
that nature offered in profusion around his ancestral home, and^
after he had exchanged the tumult of the political arena, for the
more sincere pleasures and occupations of a country life, nobly and
energetically devoted himself to their development The little
copses that surrounded the antique manor house were changed
into an extensive park ; diverging avenues supplanted intersecting
hedge rows, the beck was expanded in a lake, the mansion was
fjEishioned into correspondence with its noble accompaniments ; and
lastly, but chiefest of all, a portion of the little valley of the Skell,
that intersected his park, was transformed into a most delectable
pleasure ground. William Aislabie, his only son, enjoyed the
leisure of a long life in maintaining and extending what his father
had done. His eldest co-heir, Mrs. Allanson, was precluded, by
the delicacy of her health, from residing at Studley ; and on her
decease, in 1808, it devolved, with the rest of her extensive pos-
sessions', on her niece and heir, Mrs. Lawrence, the late most
benevolent proprietress ; than whom none could have tended them
with a more liberal and faithful hand. On the decease of MrS.
Lawrence, in July, 1845, the whole of the estate at Studley became
vested^ by the provisions of her will, in the Kight Hon. the Earl
de Grey, one of whose ancestors married a sister of the Chancellor
Aislabie. *

After passing through the village of Studley, and arriving at
the Park Lodge, the eye is restrained from excursion into the
woodlands by a noble Avenue of Limes, above a mile in length,
that guides our path and directs the eye to An Obelisk, whence
the towers of Kipon and Fountains may be seen in conjunction,
with many other interesting and more distant objects. The
Mansion House, which retains a fragment as early as the fifteenth
century, may be seen whilst rising the hill, at some distance on
the right ; but it is not shown to visitors. Comfort and convenience
have been sought in its several alterations, rather than grandemr
and effect ; but the home where so much talent and worth for

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60 8TUDLEY*

centuries reposed, has not yet needed sucli a distinction, nor -will
cease to be invested with a deep interest, so long as the purest
henevolence and philanthropy shall command the homage of
mankind. '

Midway the Park, we diverge to the left, down a Beechen
Avenue to the little valley of the Skell, where the* stream, con-
ducted by a formal cascade with all due accompaniment of balcony
and turret, expands into a Lake covering twelve acres. A number
of domestic fowls enliven its expanse with their gambols and
evolutions, while anon

*' The Swan, with arched neck
Between her white wings, mantling, proudly rows
Her state with oary feet."

The banks rise swiftly from the water's edge, clothed with dense
woods, through whose commingled beech and chesnut shade we
reach the gates ; where guides are in attendance irom the hour of
seven in the morning until that of five in the evening.

The disposition of the grounds may be easily perceived. The
original design of the Chancellor Aislabie, who commenced opera-
tions about 1720, aided by his skilful gardener, Mr. William
Fisher, was to contract the devious beck into a level parallelogramic
canal, adorned with statues on its terraced banks, and bounded by
dense hedges of evergreen which sheltered an ample alley, whence,
through openings artfully contrived, a diversity of prospects could
be obtained. A prudent and judicious respect for the old arrange- ^
ment is still preserved, but modified so as not to offend modem
hypercriticism by its antiquated state. The extreme contraction
of the valley, and the proportionate inclination of its declivity,
favoured the design, and ajlowed the extension of walks through
the luxuriant thickets above, whence a new and more extensive
series of prospects could be obtained, and more natural beauties
developed. An interchange of scenery from a few hundred yards
on each side of the river (crossed then, as now, at the rustic bridge)
was thus, with the upper walks on the right, all that the adjacent
demesne of Fountains allowed the projector to obtain ; but when
his son, who, wisely relying on his own ability, often declined the
officious offers of Kent and Brown, purchased the Abbey, he con-
tinued the walk from below Anne of Boleyn's seat, up the southern
bank of the circling stream, and after circumventing that

'* Noble wreck in ruinous perfection,"

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THE GROUNDS. 61

brought it down the opposite side of the valley, and so joined the
old decorated grounds at Tent Hill, where he erected a temple,
long since fortunately destroyed.

With this rough outline we will proceed. After leaving the gates,
shrouded in lofty and luxuriant trees and evergreens of stately
growth, that remind us, especially when looking towards the bal-
cony of the lake, of the incomparable Versailles, and many a delec-
table but ever-banished scene of our own << fair good lande,'* a bank
of closely-shaven laurel first meets the eye, that would wander
more willingly up a long and solemn glade that diverges from the
valley called Kendall's Walk.

By the side of one of those gigantic beeches, whose altitude is for-
gotten while passing under their grateful shade, we have a glance of
tiie Octagon Tower rising abruptly on the other side of the valley;
and, by the water below, a cast in lead of two Contending
Gladiators.

Still passing behind the dense wall of yew, with iti? lofty canopy,
we are surprised by a prospect, set in a verdant frame, of the valley
in its widest part ; the Temple of Piety in the opposite encircling
wood; thetMooN and Crescent Ponds, and their accompanying
statues of Neptune, Bacchus, and Galen.

The uninformed lover of nature, as well as the scientific observer,
will alike gladly halt on the declining lawn to view the noble trees
that tower aloft before them in wonderftd procerity and beauty.
A Norway Spruce Fir, near the walk, and straight to the top,
displays luxuriance seldom equalled but in its native land. It is
132 feet high, 12 J feet in circumference above its roots, and would
form sn impervious shade to an assembly of at least fifty persons.
Another fir nearer the canal, which canopies the statue of the Dying
Gladiator, is 11 feet 2 inches in circumference, and equally symme-
trical as its companion, which being more disengaged claims readier
attention. A third, near ike last, is but 8 feet in circumference.
None of these, however, should disengage the eye from a Hemlock
Spruce, of most graceful form and foliage, the stem of which has
attained the height of 60, and the circumference-of 7 feet. These
trees having been planted by the Chancellor Aislabie, about 1720,
may be a useful criterion in estimating the growth of their species.

The antique arrangement is now for awhile unperceived, and the
murmur of fiedling waters attracts the eye from the parterres, and
evergreens, and groves that adorn the declivity, across which we
now proceed towards the unrufiBied stream that flows from a cavern
o'er-canopied with dense and luxuriant beech.

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62 BTUDLET.

Thb old " peeps ** are soon resumed, and the first is a snTprise,
across a declining bank of lanred and yew overhung with more
gracefdl foliage, down the long canal, and so to the great lake in
the park — the Moon and Crescent Ponds, with their several terraces
and stataes fiUing the bosom of the valley on the right, and the
Octagon Tower rising in the mid distance from a clump of firs.
Soon after, we have another diversion through the laurels towards
the statues of Hercules and Ant^us in contention, in the most
contracted pass of the dell ; and a pillared Dome in the hanging
woods beyond.

Diverging, reluctantly, from the path rising through the woods
towards the Abbey, but still canopied by

'* A covert of old tree*, with trunks all hoar.
But light leaves young as Joy,"

we cross, to the opposite side of the valley, over a Rustic Bridge,
where the stream is seen, gliding tranquilly through a verdant space
adorned with terraces, and begirt with ancient trees. But, before
we reach the other side of the valley, we stray into a wooded
amphitheatre, filled with a translucent Lake, whose* refreshing
expanse, crisped by the circling breeze, mirrors but the embrowned
shades of accliving woods, and the airy forms of an inconstant sky.

Anon, and the eye that will be gladdened by nothing but Nature
naked and unadorned, will peer joyfrdly through the thicket on an
irregular pool, where circumambient boughs image their glistening
spray, and lave in waters that seem black and bottomless as oblivion.
It is called " Quebec,'* and on its little island is a Pillar to the
memory of the gallant Wolfe, now hid in the tangled foliage.

A few steps more and the expanse of the valley,inall itsformality,
yet, perhaps, in all its peculiar beauty, opens upon us near the
Temple tlmt rises in the grove by our side. The chief apartment
being adorned with a mural basso-relievo of a female nourishing
her captive father from her breast, the building is named the
"Temple of Piety." The bronze busts in the niches below
contrast the characteristic heads of Titus and Nero.

Awhile, and the scene which has been so airy and vivid is sud-
denly changed. Striking aside from the lawn into the wood, we
wind up a toilsome path — by the sides of which, yews of no recent
growth are rooted in the fissures of the shelving crag — and enter,
at length, a subterranean Passage, hewn, partially, in the rock.
It seems neither long enough nor dark enough for tiie majority of

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THE OBOUNDS. 63

its yoathful Tisitants, bat a local difficulty was thus pleasantly
oyercome.

From the " Octagon Tower," which during^ our ramble we
have often seen, and now reached at last, we have a bird's-eye
view of many of the objects we have visited. Studley Hall, too,
is seen on the right ; and, from the opposite window, How Hill,*
with its mimic tower, rears its majestic head, begirt with verdu-
rous shade.

Though now passing a long and artless avenue of beech, unfor-
tunately mingled with the grisly fir, we seem to tread the wood-
land slopes of the park, and are gladdened, through the slanting
boughs, by its lowing herds and- coursing groups of agile deer;
we turn again, ere long, down a lofty aisle

** Of beechen green, and thadowt numberlees/*

where the fitful murmur of tlie rushing stream reminds us of our
elevated position. An opening towards the Park presents a view
of MoRKEBSHAW LoDGE ; and another, of the Roman Monument,
impending high above the Skell. At length, we turn on the
opposite side to a circular pillared dome, jutting into the valley,
dedicated to Fame, and on all other sides similarly difficult of access.

Pursuing hence the ample path, which noble oaks " high over
arch'd embower," snatching, nevertheless, through the airy spray,
occasional glimpses of the coming " Fountain dale," the guide,
with innocent triumph, will, at last throw open the doors of
** Anne Boleyn's Seat," and unveil to the amazed and enrap-
tured eye a scene where pen and pencil must fail.

Now, all attention is, naturally, centred in the Abbey, and,
fortunately, there is nothing intervening to distract the eye. We
begin, immediately, to hasten down a precipice, arched, deeply
and picturesquely, in the woods ; and, on arriving at the path by
the side of the stream, will perhaps scarcely glance at the diversity

* Thit hill, which rite* in a eonical form tnlBeientlx high to form a remarkable
object at the distance of more than twenty miles, is ivorthj of a visit from those
whose time is not limited, and would consider themselves repaid by an almost
boundless view of the great plain of York. It was anciently <ialled Herleshow, as
probably from being the place where the Saxon Earl of the county held his Court,
as from the early possession 'of one who bore the name of Herle. The monks of
Fountains had on the top of this hill a Chapel dedicated to St Michael, which from
an inscription walled into the present little tower, erected by Mr. Aislabie in 1718,
appears to have been rebuilt or repaired by Abbot Huby, between 1494 and 1586.

iboli Beo lonor et gloria. ^. K.

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of scenes which the union of the dense woods with their liquid
mirror presents.

rOCHTAJMS JLBBET, FROM LKK* OF BOLETH'S SBAT.

Yet awhile may fancy beguile us with merry visions of the past.

On this glade — doubt who can — the " Curtal Friar" of Fountains

encountered Robin Hood, whom, as the old ballad goes, he at

length threw into the Skell, and so grievously belaboured, that

Hobin, for once, turned coward, and called in the aid of his fifty

stalwart yeo>men ; also that then the Friar whistled out as many

of his good ban-dogs, but that Little John let his arrows fly so

fast among them that the Friar, who

** Had kept Fountain-dale,
Seven long years and more,"

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 65

was brought to his senses and a truce. Before we reach the Abbeys
we shall be seduced to halt on a shady knoU ; and while reclining
by the crystal Well that stiU bears the Outlaw's name, may
chant the " Bime of Robin Hod" in one of the sweetest spots
associated with his name.

Tradition points to a large bow and arrow and hound graven on
the north-east angle of the Lady Chapel, as a record of this dire
afiray. They bear no affinity to the symbols used by the masons,
but have, I &ncy, induced the report, mentioned by Bitson, that
Bobln's bow and arrow were preserved at Fountains Abbey.

FOUNTAINS ABBEY.

I LTHOUGH we have, some time ago, entered within
the Close, we now pass into the immediate pre-
cinct of the Abbey, and feel at once disclosed " a
captivatmg scene of landscape and architectural
beauty, a highly-interesting subject of contempla-
tion, and a source of that pensive and pleasing
melancholy in which the mind sometimes loves to indulge."
Before, however, we proceed to a particular survey of the structure,
it will be necessary to premise a few facts illustrative of its origin
and history.

The site of the Monastery was granted, in 1132, by Thurstan,
Archbishop of York, out of his Liberty of Bipon, " to certain
monks who had separated themselves from what they deemed the
lax discipline of the Benediotine Abbey of St. Mary, in York, and
resolved to adopt the Cistercian rule, which wias then becoming
fieunous from the reputed sanctity and daring enthusiasm of St.
Bernard. Bichard the Prior, with the sub-Prior, ten monks of
St. Mary's, and Robert a monk of Whitby, retired, in the depth
of winter, to this secluded and, at that period, wild and imculti-
vated dell, where their territory was defined by the Archbishop,
who had previously maintained them in his house. At first, their
qnly shelter was under the impending rocks ; but, after a while,
they thatched an enclosure under an umbrageous elm, in the
middle of the valley, which was even flourishing at the dissolution

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8TUDLET.

of the Abbey. Some yew-trees, also, near the min, are tradi-
tionally said to have sheltered these enthusiastic men. Having
endnred for two years sach hardship as at length to subsist on
boiled leaves and herbs, they prevailed on St. Bernard to remove
them to one of the granges of his Abbey of Clairvaux, in Cham-
pagne ; but the sudden accession of great wealth not only diverted
them from their purpose, but laid the foundation of that magmfl-
cence of which such ample testimonies remain."

The history of the Abbey is minutely related in the " Monas-
ticon," from the narrative of Hugh, a monk of Kirkstall ; written
between the years 1225 and 1247, at the request of. John, Abbot
of Foimtains, from the dictation of the venerable monk, Serlo,
who was present at the departure of the brotherhood from St.
Mary's, at York, and had witnessed most of the chequered scenes
he has so pathetically and graphically recorded. Yet, as he was
more anxious to recount the spiritual trials and triumphs of his
brethren than the secular history of their house, we find few
allusions to the progress of the structure, or to the scientific
acquirements of those by whom it was promoted. 'We learn,
however, that after the election of the Abbot, Henry Murdac, to
the See of York, about 1146, some partisans of his deposed prede-
cessor, disappointed in their expectation of finding Murdac here,
set fire to the monastery, which, with half of " the Oratory ,** was
consumed. The convent, aided by the neighbouring gentry,
immediately repaired an injury which, however extensive, hsid
doubtless been confined to the inflammable portions of the build-
ing ; but, since every part of it had been erected within fourteen
years, existing remains cannot aid us in the investigation. During
the remainder of the twelfth century, the work of building never
can have ceased, though it is probable, from our knowledge of the
characters of the Abbots Fastolph, and his successor, Robert, that
in their time it progressed with unnsual vigour. On the decease
of Ralph, the seventh Abbot, in 1203— a period when there was
such an unusual nimiber of monks in the house, that there was
no fitting place for the performance of their devotions — ^John, his
successor, a stout-hearted Yorkshireman, who maintained in the
retirement of the cloister the politic temper of the world, projected
the erection of a choir, to the astonishment-^nay, the indignation
-—of his contemporaries. He lived only to lay the foundation
and raise some pillars, but he left a kindred spirit in John Fherd,
who succeeded him in 121 1, and after a diligent superintendence of

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FOUNTAINS ABBET^ 67

eight years was elected Bishop of Ely. The Canyent then availed
themselves of the ability of another John, a Kentish man, who, with
a vigoiur of mind like that of the original projector, brought the
. design to a conclusion. He not on]j instituted the nine altars, and
added a " painted pavement," but, in prosecution of an original
project, constructed the southern part of the great cloister, and built
the Infirmary, with the Hospitium, or houfie of entertainment for
strangers, on the south side of the first court. He died in 1247,
having probably seen the buildings of the Abbey nearly completed.
" A period of subsequent poverty and distress was followed by
great prosperity in the next century. Many persons of power and
opulence purchased, by large donations, a sepulture within the walls
of the Abbey. Favoured by popes, kings, and prelates, with various
immunities and privileges, and enriched by a succession of princely
gifts. Fountains Abbey became one of the wealthiest monasteries in
the kingdom. The church ranked amongst the fairest structures
of the land, and the possessions attached to it comprehended a vast
extent, embracing the country from the foot of Pennigent to the
boundaries of St. Wilfrid, of Ripon, an uninterrupted space of more
than thirty miles. Besides many other wide domains, the lands in
Craven, contained, in a ring fence, a hundred square miles, or sixty
thousand acres, on a moderate computation."

After obtaining a high reputation for sanctity, and the possession
of great power and immense wealth, the Monastery was surrendered
by deed, enrolled 26th November, 1539, by Marmaduke Bradley,
the thirty-third Abbot, and Suffiragan Bishop of Hull ; a man who,
by the character of " the wysyste monke within Inglonde of that
cote, well lemede, and a welthie felowe," was recommended to
Cromwell by the visitors, Layton and Legh, to fill the office which
Abbot Thirsk, whom they thought " a varra fole, and a miserable *
ideote," had privately resigned into their hands. Bradley had then
an annuity of 100/., Thomas Kydde, the Prior, another of 8/., and
the thirty monks who were priests, allowances of a similar nature,
varying in value from 6/. ISs, 4 J. to 5/. each; the whole amounting
to 277/. 6«. 8rf.; an acknowledgment, certainly liberal, of their
interest in the estates of the Abbey, which in 1535 had been
certified to the Commissioners to be worth 998/. 6«. 7|c/. annually,
including the tenths. These terms, however, from the changed
value of money, the nature of tenures, and many other causes, hacte
now become difficult of interpretation ; and a juster idea of the
nature and extent of the establishment Df the Convent may be

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68 . BTITDLET.

formed from the faxit, that> at the time of the dissolution, they
possessed 1976 head of cattle, 1106 sheep, 86 horses, and 79 swine.
They had also stored in their granges at Sutton, Morker, Haddock-
stanes, Swanley, and Brimham, 117 quarters of wheat, 13 of rye,
134 of oats, and 192 loads of hay, hesides the temporary provision
of 160 loads of hay, and 128 quarters of com, which tliey had in
the park and granaries of the Abhey.

Whilst the King found it politic to promise tiie application of the
revenues of some of the Abbeys to their legitimate purpose of
religion and education, the revenues of " Fontayne " and of the
•* Archdeconry off Rychemond " were assigned for the endowment
of a Bishopric of Lancaster ; but his evU genius prevailed, and, on
the 1st of October, 1540, he sold the site of the Abbey, with its
franchises, and the greater part of its estates, to Sir Bichard
Gresham, &ther of the munificent founder of the Royal Exchange.
• From Gresham's representatives, who had previously alienated
the extensive estates in Craven, the site of the Abbey, vrith its
privileges, some of its adjacent granges, and a considerable tract of
land in Nidderdale, were sold, in 1597, to Sir Stephen Procter of
Warsell, an ambitious and speculative character, who pulled down
the Abbot's house and the minor offices of the Abbey, to obtain
materials for the noble house which he built near the west gate.
His &mily having been burthened, after his decease, by his pecu-
niary embarrassment, the property was sold by his widow, in 1623,
to Sir Timothy Whitingham, from whom it passed, two years after-
veards, to Humphrey Wharton, Esq., of Gillingwood. From him it
was purchased, in 1627, by Bichard Ewens of South Cowrton, Esq.,
whose daughter and heiress carried it into the family of Messenger
of Newsham, who resided at Fountains Hall until John Michael
Messenger, Esq., in 1768, sold the Abbey, with its franchises and a
small estate, for 18,000/., to WiQiam Aislabie, Esq., of Studley,
maternal grandfather to Mrs. Lawrence, the late possessor, and
nephew to the ancestress of the present owner, the Eight Hon.
the Earl de Grey.

Before the excavation of the Abbot's House — ^undertaken by Lord
de Grey — a visitor approaching the Abbey from the garden, was
unable to see the greater part of the outside, before he was conducted
through the interior of the building. Tins inconvenience has
ifecently been very judiciously obviated by the direction of the path,
along the kitchen bank on the south side, where, from its elevated
position, hitherto buried in brushwood and rubbiidi, by &r the most
picturesque views of the building are not only obtained, but also a

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 69

bird's-eye view or synoptical idea of the plan and relative position

of the apartments, before

proceeding to a particular survey.*

* The following i> the saccession of the Abbots of Fountains. For facility of

reference to inscriptions and records, the enameration used by the monks themselves

is adopted ; but it must be observed that it excludes Mauride and Thorald, who,

I presume, were only deputies

to Archbishop Murdae, and also Alyngs, Otley, {

rhomton,and Frank.

NO.

ABBOTS' NAMB8.

PBRIOD OF
ABBACY.

WHBRB BUBXID.

HOW VACAKT

1

Richard, ex-Prior of St?
Mary's, York. .J

1132-1139

At Rome .

Death.

2

Richard . . .

1139-1143

Clarevall. . .

Death.

3

Henry Murdae, elected )
Archbishop of York 5
Maurice of Rivaux . .
Thorold of Rivaux

1143-1153?

About 3 mths
About 2 yrs.

York Cathedral .

Death?
Resignation

4

Richard Fastolph, Prior >
of Clarevall. . i

1153-1170

Death.

5

Robert, Abbot of Pipewell

1170-1179

Chapter House, F.

Death.

6

WiUiam,AbbotofNew->
minster . • >

1179—1190

Chapter House, F.

Death.

7

Ralph Hagret .

1190-1203

Chapter House, F.

Death.

8

John de Ebor . .

1203-1211

Chapter House, F.

Death.

9

John Pherd, afterwards }
Bishop of Ely . >
John de Cancia .

1211—1219

Ely Cathedral

Promotion.

10

1220—1247

Chapter House, F.

Death.

11

Stephen de Eston . .

1247—1252

Chapter H. Vaudy

Death.

12

William de Allerton

1252—1258

Chapter House, F.

Death.

13

Adam. .

1258—1259

Chapter House, F.

Death.

14

^ Alexander .

1259—1265

Chapter House, F.

Death.

15

Reginald . . .

1265-1274

Chapter House, F. .

Death.

Peter Alyngs

1275—1279

Chapter House, K.

Res.orDep.

16

Nicholas . . .

6 months

Chapter House, F.

Death.

17

Adam Ravensworth

1280—1284

Chapter House, F.

Death.

Henry Otley . . .

1284-1289

Chapter House, F.

Resignation?

Robert Thornton .

1289

Chapter House, F.

Resignation?

18

Richard Bishopton . .

1289—1310

Chapter House, F.

Death.

19

William Rigton .

1311-1316

Chapter House. F.

Death.

20

Walter Coxwold . .

1316—1336

Chapter House, F.

21

Robert Copgrove .

1336-1345-6

Chapter House, F.

Death.

22

Robert Monkton . .

1346—1369

The Church, F.

Death.

23

William Gower, B.D

1369-1383

Lady Chapel, F.

Resignation

24

Robert Burley . . .
Roger Frank, intruder .

1383—1410
1410—1414

Choir, Fountains .

Death.
Expulsion.

23

JohnRipon . . .

1414—1434-5

• Nave of Church, F.

Death,

26

Thomas Passelew.

1434-5-1442

Nave of Church. F.

Resignation

27

John Martin . . .

Seven weeks

Nave of Church, F.

Death.

28

John Qreenwell, D.D. ,

1442—1471

29

Thomas Swinton . .

1471—1479

. . . .

Resignation

80

John Damton

1479-149J

31

Marmaduke Huby . ,

1494—1526

« . . . .

Death.

32

WilUam Thirsk, B.D. .

1526-1536-7

.

Resignation

83

Marmaduke Bradley . .

1536-7—1539

Resignation

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BTUDLEY.

On leaving, therefore, Robin Hood's Well, and rising immediately
above the recently discovered foundations of the Abbot's House and
the domestic offices of the Abbey, we see the several parts of the con-
ventaal church. Lady chapel, choir, transept, tower, and nave,
successively developed ; nearer us — and parallel with the south end
of the transept — ^the chapter house, distinguished by the double
tier of round-headed windows ; next, but placed in a contrary
direction towards the river, comes the Frater-house. After that the
kitchen, with its taU chimney, and the court-house above. Then
the refectory, with its graceM lancet lights ; then, receding to the
cloister-court, the buttery and its little garth ; and, lastly, in con-
nection with the main structure, the vast range of the dormitory
above the cloisters, stretching nearly jfrom our feet to the nave of
the church. Turning in a contrary direction, we may observe, on
the slope of the hill above, a part of the wall which bounded the
site* of the Monastery ; the intermediate broken ground having
been chiefly occupied by the Common Stable, Guests' Stable,
Barns, Kilns, Tan-House, Bare-Mill, Dove-Cotes, Forge,
and other similar offices. Of these, the Mill — to which large
granaries were formerly annexed — ^is alone left entire, and will be
observed immediately before us, shrouded in tall trees, and running
on, merrily, as in days of yore.

On a little knoll, above the mill, stands the remnant of the Yew
Trees, that are said, by tradition, to have sheltered the monks
before the erection of the Abbey ; which, in some measure, they
may be said to have survived. Their original number is forgot.
From the appellation of "the Seven Sisters," by which the trees are
always known, they may not have lately exceeded that number ;
though one of coeval antiquity stands at the south end of the Abbey
bridge near the mill. Dr. Burton, writing in 1757, remembered
seven trees, but remarked that one of them had been blown down
a few years before. One, and the greater part of another, fell in
the great gale of the 7th of January, 1839. Another rears but a
withered sapless trunk. The rest vegetate with astonishing vigour,

• The walled close of the Abbey, which was a parish of itself, contained abor^
thirty acres. Of these the site of the building, with its orchard, gardens, and several
adjacent garths, occupied, at the dissolation, twelve acres on the north side of the
Skell ; the rest, which lay on the south side, was divided into the east Applegarth, ,
in which was a fish-pond ; three West Applegarths of twelve acres ; and the Kitchen
bank of three acres, covered with brushwood. But besides the close, there was on
its south-west side a pleasant park of above two hundred acres, of which the batter
half was covered by woods and fish-ponds. It still retains its name, and, though
divided into farms, much of its ancient and picturesque character.

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FOXJNXAINS ABBEY. 71

aod last year bore their accustomed supply of berries ; though their
giant stcans are but mouldering skeletons.

Candolle, deriTing his information from Pennant, who stated,
that in 1770 one of ihem was 1214 lignes in diameter, supposes that
they were then upwards of twelve centuries old ; but, as we cannot
ascertain when they ceased to expand, and the process of decompo-
sition commenced, this computation probably falls far short of their
actual age. The tortuosity of their rifted boles forbids an accurate
measurement, but one of them is at least 25 feet in circumference.

Immediately on crossing the Skell by a picturesque bridge, built
in the thirteenth century, we come to the Gate-House,* now reduced
indeed to a mere fragment, but bearing, in the traces of the apart-
ments on each side, abundant testimony of its former magnitude
a^d importance.

The two gabled ruins, passed soon after entering what was
formerly called the first court, appear to have been the Hospitium,
which in the records of the Abbey, is said to have been built by the
Abbot, John de Cancia ; though, either from the rule of the order
enjoining a severe character of architecture, or the inferior conse-
quence of the building, displays none of the scientific progress that
was rapidly developed in his time. In the basement story of the
eastern house, 73 feet long and 23 feet wide, and vaulted from a row
of five pillars, is an apartment which may have been the dining-
hftll of the guests ; and in the upper apartments of each, a domestic

* At this point, however brief the time at the viaitor's disposal may be, he should
turn aside a few paces to Fountains Hall, which is not generally included in the
guide's route, unless requested. It stands at a very short distance from the Abbey
gate, on the side of a densely wooded and precipitous declivity, and was built by Sir
Stephen Procter of Warsell, in the time of King James 1., at an expense of 90002.,
though he ruthlessly quarried his stone from the walls of the Abbey. Its yenerable
aspect, however, accords so well with the scenery, that it mitigates ** the regret with
which the antiquary would otherwise contemplate so wide a scale of spoliation."
The chief front sleeping in a summer's sun, with its picturesque gables and balcony
and statues, and glistening

' ** Bay windows, goodly as may be thought,"

ia peculiarly imposing and beautiful. The arrangement of the principal apartments
is still undisturbed ; but they contain nothing remarkable, except the dining-room,
which is hung with tapestry, representing the Kape of Proserpine, Jupiter an4
Ganymede, and Vulcan receiving directions from Thetis about the making of armour
for Achilles. In the Hall al80--<iow called the Chapel— is a sculpture over the fire-
place, of the Judgment of Solomon, and in its great embayed window, the armorial
bearings of the Procters and their connexions, displayed in confused and fast-fading
glass. Over the chief entrance to the house, are the family crests of Sir Stephen and
Honor his wife, and between them a motto, difficult of application, at least, to his
secular condition.

KIBN TBOVANT, OAINBRAY TOTT.

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STUDLET.

eharacter is indicated by fire-places, with flues curiotisly constructed
in the gables.

To the east of these buildings stands a wall containing the chief
doorway, and three upper windows of a structure built above the
Skell, which may have been the Infirmary, erected also by John de
Cancia. The other walls are destroyed ; but on a recent excavation
of such parts of the floor as had not fallen into the river, it was
found to have had three aisles, divided by four arches on each side.

. The main fabric of the Abbey now engages attention, and the
West Cloister, being the nearest part of it, will perhaps, be first
entered. It is not less than 300 feet in length, but was built at two
difierent periods ; the upper portion, extending from the nave of
the church to the porter's lodge, being of the same transition
Norman character, very curiously shown in the buttresses ; the
rest forms the ambulatory, or ^^ Novum Claustrum,** built by
John de Cancia. Along the outside of the upper pa^^t, which was
once divided into store-houses, has been a pent-house, communi-
cating, like the cloister, by a large and handsome doorway with the
• church. The large octagonal stone basin, in the east aisle, has origi-
nally been a lavatory, but converted into a cider miU.

Above the cloister, and extending its whole length, was the
Monks' Dormitoey, divided into forty cells by wooden partitions,
which left a passage down the middle, lighted by a large window
at the south end, and, by night, by a great cresset or lamp. At

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THE ABBOTS BOVSE.

l.RMaaie ttom the Clointer Ci>uLl.

a.The Great HaJI.

3. RefWctopy.

♦ Buttery?

5- Store HoiiaeK ■

6. The Chapel.

7.TlieSatcb«»i].

S.Aah Iftrd.

9. Coid andAiili Ymvd .

10. The Sitrhvxx li auk ■

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 73

the south-wiest comer are the walls of two spacious gard-robes,
communicating with the dormitory, and placed conveniently aboTC
the river. The dormitory is still approached by spacious and
original stairs winding over the porter's lodge ; and by another
staircase at the northern extremity, by which tiie monks descended
to their nocturnal offices in the church.

THE CONVENTUAL CHUBCH.

Before we proceed to examine the church, it will be proper to
state that the whole of its floor was excavated, or cleared of rub-
bish, during the winter of 1854. The general result is, that,
though as regards the mere discovery of relics, or speculative
objects of curiosity, the work has not entirely ftdfilled tiie antici-
pations of those who had eagerly entertained them ; yet many im-
portant facts, general and local, have been, both directiy andinfer-
entially elicited, and the architectural and picturesque appearance
of the building has been amplified and improved to such a high
degree, that, to any one who has not since visited it, any description
would seem exaggerated. The accumulation of rubbish varied in
depth from little more than twelve inches, in the middle of the
choir, to that of three feet in the nave. The whole mass appeared
to have been disturbed, probably during Mr. Aislabie's " improve-
ments,'* in the last centmy; so that, unfortunately, whatever frag-
mentary objects were found among it, could not be generally
assigned to their original positions. There needed not, indeed,
such an intrusion to disturb the last vestiges of evidence *that
might have been left; for the work had not proceeded &r, before
it became evident that, on the dissolution of the house, its spolia-
tion had been conducted with no ordinary wantonness or avarice.
The stalls, screens, and other wooden fittings had, apparentiy,
been used, as we know was the case at Hoche Abbey, to make fires
for melting the lead of the roofs ; for, here and there we found,
within the walls, heaps of ashes — ^nay, in the nave, part of the
furnace where the operation had been conducted. All the glass had
been removed from the windows, so that not more than a handful
has been found. The large slabs had been torn from the graves
and removed; nearly the whole of the tiled floor had been taken
up ; even the very graves had been ransacked in search of valu-
ables, if we may judge from the condition of those that were

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STXJDLET.

accidentally observed, and the indiscriminate mingling of bcmes
•with the rubbish.

It will astonish those who have viewed the familiar face of the
west end of the nave in a picturesque rather than in an architec-
tural point of view, to find that throughout its whole &9ade, and
at a period not very long after its erection, a porch or " Galilee,"
with a double open arcade in front and of the width of fifteen feet,
has been added, and also repaired in the succeeding century. It
seems, like similar porches elsewhere, to have been preferred as a
place of burial ; since there were found within it, six graves
covered by large ornamented slabs. Of the four to be seen, at the
south end, nothing is to be particularly observed, except the mode
in wl^ch the graves are united : but, in the opposite extremity,
is a remarkably fine and perfect slab— still fixed by heavy leaden
clamps to the coffin — ^which bears the device of a processional
cross of the early part of the thirteenth century.

There was foimd, also, within this unexpected appendage to the
church, a large image of the Blessed Virgin,

** With har Almighty Infant in her anus,*'

that had been thrown down from the niche that it occupied above
the great western window. Both figui'es are headless, and there
is little in the composition to attract admiration ; yet, there might
be even now, not inaptiy restored to a position whence for
three centuries it has been ignominiously deposed, that emblem of
the great patroness of the house, to which generations of faith
tiave directed their eyes with feelings of piety and veneration.

THE NAVE.

The nave — a good plain example of the Transition Norman period
— exhibits only, on each side, both of the clerestory and the aisles,
a succession of eleven bays, divided by broad and shallow pilas-
ters, and occupied by as many round-headed lights without shaft
or moulding. On entering at the great western door, the effect is
exceedingly solemn and impressive : the point0d arcade, resting on
massy columns 23 feet high and 16 feet in circumference, without
the reKef of a triforium intervening between them and the plain
splayed windows above. The great west window was introduced
by Abbot Darnton, in the place of two or three plain Norman
lights, surmounted probably by a round one in the gable, and has

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY.

75

a gallery in the base, whence processions might be viewed. Above
the outside of this window is a niche supported by the figure of a
bird, holding a crosier, and perched on a tun, from which issues a
label inscribed " \>txn 1494." If the bird represents an eagle, it
may, as the symbol of St. John, perhaps signify the Christian
name of Damton ; but if the sculptor thus took leave to represent
a thrash, a rebus on the name of the founder, Thurstan, was also
intended.

Each bay of the aisles has been covered by a pointed but tram-'
verse vault, divided by semi-circular arches, of which the imposts
are plaoed considerably lower than those of the pillars to which
they are attached. Nearly the whole of the eastern half of these
aisles has been divided by lattices into chapels, of which there are
some indications in the painted devices and matrices of their
fdrnitore, traceable on the piers. There has been, also, a wooden
screen across the nave at the seventh pillar eastward.

Shortity after its very fragmentary foundation was cleared, an
arrangement was discovered, on the transept side of it, not more
unusual than inexplicable ; for, on each side of its processional
passage are to be seen two walled spaces of the form of the Koman
capital letter L, and of the size represented on the plan (Nos. 1
and 2) depressed about two feet below the level of the floor. In

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that on the south side nothing was then discovered, but, in the
other, a mass of charcoal ashes ; and thoroughly imbedded in its
west and north sides nine large vases of rude earthenware, each
capable of containing nearly two fluid gallons, and also partially
filled with charcoal. These ashes have, no doubt, been cast
here from the adjacent furnace, where the lead stripped from the
church had been evidently melted into a marketable shape at the
time of the dissolution; but, why the vases shoiild,have been

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STUDLEY.

introduced, is, so £eu: as I can learn from anything that has been
observed in English architecture, unaccountable. The most pro-
bable supposition. seems to be that they were acmtstic instruments,
intended to increase the sound of an organ placed on the |screen
above ; inasmuch as Vitruvius, when speaking of " The vases of
the theatres," in the fifth chapter of his fifth book on architecture,
observes, that it was the practice in constructing some of the
provincial theatres of Italy, where brass vases could not be afforded,
to insert earthen vessels within the seats, for the express purpose
of augmenting sound.

Besides these vases, and the bases of three altars attached to
the pillars, no particular objects of interest were observed in the
nave ; except that, towards the west end, two blocks of limestone,
each two feet three inches square, with a circle incised on the
surface, were found inserted in the floor ,* which led to a more
particular examination — ending in the discovery oi fifty of similar
character, occupying the space, and arranged in the form expressed
on the plan. They marked the-positions observed by members of
the Convent, before they moved in procession, on high days, to
meet their patrons or benefiEUitors — the cross-bearer standing
first ; and the abbot, in front of the entrance, last. The faces of
the greater number of the stones were, however, so much crumbled
and decayed that, with the exception of those which occasioned
the disclosure of the rest, it was thought expedient to allow the
turf to remain above them.

THE TRANSEPT.

The transept was built in the same transition period of archi-
tecture as the nave, but manifests so little progressive or pointed
character, that it might have been considered, particularly outside,
as pure Norman. At its intersection with the nave, was originally
a tower, though elevated probably not more than one of its squares
above the roof. All trace of it, however, is now lost, except frag-
ments of its arches, which have been pointed and moulded, at the
south-east and north-west angles. It was probably the insecure con-
dition of this tower — ^incapable of such considerable improvement
as, unfortunately, was effected at Kirksta}l — ^which led to the erec-
tion of the present magnificent substitute ; since Abbot Huby was
obliged to disfigure the transept by the erection of a massy buttress

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY.

11

against its south-east pier, and also to constmct an arch under that
of the adjacent aisle of the Choir. The corhels of its hood mould-
ings display, on shields, Three Horse Shoes, the arms of the
Abhej ; and his initials, ^ ^.^ surmounted by a mitre enfiled by
a crosier.

Two melancholy chapels, divided by a thick wall and covered
with a barrel, but pointed, vault, abut on the east side of each wing
- of the transept, and occupy a space, which, if we may judge from
the like arrangement at Kirkstall, would not have been transformed
into the less monastic form of aisles, even at a more advanced
architectural period. Their gloomy character has also been in-
creased, at the north end, by walUng up the arches of the transept
in order to give increased stability to the new tower. In the chapel
that adjoins it— dedicated, it appears from a mouldering inscrip-
tion, to St. Peter — ^there has been placed, within recollection, under
a broken monumental arch in the north wall, the effigy of a cross-
legged warrior in chain-mail, bearing a shield, charged with a lion
rampant, and said, by tradition, torepresent the great Baron Roger
de Mowbray, who died at Ghent in 1298, and was buried in this
church.

The dedication of the next Chapel is shown to have been to
St. Michael the Archangel, by a weather-beaten inscription over
its entrance : Altare %'d mic{^aett$( &xct\ In its south wall—
part of the original or first Choir — ^is a large round-headed piscina,
with a recess or locker in the side ; and, at the east end, some frag-
ments of the stone altar and of a geometrical pavement may be
observed.

The South Chapels have been partitioned, by lattices, from the
transept, and that adjoining the Choir has gained an entrance also
from its aisle, in the Perpendicular period, when it was also briefly
elongated and improved by the insertion of a large east window.
The piscina has been of wood.

The next and last Chapel has been but recentiy cleared of the
rubbish of its vault, which was re-set with most rigid attention to
the original work. Sufficient remains of the tesselated pavement
were found, during the excavation, to show that it had been of
John de Canda's time, as indeed may be inferred from the frag-
ments of the border still attached to tiie wall.

Near the entrance of this Chapel is, also, placed part of the
monumental slab of one the Abbots. In its present inconvenient
position, it is difficult to decipher the worn and mutilated oircnm-

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scription J but from the occurrence of the word ¥Oiiertttj$» and the
character of the design, I presume, it has conmiemorated Robert
Burley, the twenty-fourth Abbot, who died 13th of May 1410.

A MS chronicle of the Abbots of the house induced me, when the
floor was cleared, to hope for some curious memorials of them in the
transept With the exception, however, of two slabs, the floor pre-
sented only a hopeless blank. One of these slabs will be found
at the angle of the transept joining the north aisle'of the nave,
but it is uninscribed. Its position, receding so humbly from the
east, is somewhat singular, and if it really can be diown that
Abbot Thirsk was interred at Fountains, after his execution at
Tyburn, fancy may suggest to some, that he rests below. The
other slab is in the south wing, but the broken circumscription
tells us nothing more than that it thus records " Brother John
de Ripon."

®ra[te pro a]'('a fr'i^ 3)o!)*tJS Kgpon ftui' CIO

quonDa' t)lc tacct • cut' al'am lie a: [poJ^^iOcat

ame* • oiijtil.. .m'cij — 4.

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY.

•79

From the character of the letter, he seems, however, to have
heen an inmate of the hoose long after the time of Abbot Eipon.

His grave had been ran- ___,.

sacked, the bones being I ^ f

found in a disturbed posi- — ^ ^

tion, as they were also in
another grave on the north-
east side of it.

At the south end of the
transept, and below the
Sacristy, has been originally
a passage from the Qoister
Court to the Burial Garth,
south of the Choir ; the ex-
tremities of which had been
closed not long before the
dissolution. In clearing it
out, a mass of human bones,
representing not less than
four hundred skeletons, was
found in comparatively mo-
dem rubbish. They were in
a rapid state of decomposi-
tion; and were committed,
for the last time, to their
kindred dust, on the day
when they were found, to
a grave prepared for " this
little city of the forgotten,"
at the west end of the church, opposite to the entrance of the
dormitory.

Abutting on the west side of the south wing of the transept
is to be seen the foundation of a staircase leading to the Sacristy,
which occupies the space above this passage. In it is a fine round-
head Lavatory of the transition Norman period. Near the foot
of the staircase — ^but in the nave — ^is the base of an Early English
stoup, whose very elegant basin now serves, I believe, for the font
in the adjacent chapel of Aldfield.

i

THE TOWER.

This majestic and scientific specimen of the Perpendicular style

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80 STUDLEY.

is placed at the end of the north transept, since its introduction
could not have been conveniently effected on the site of the old
tower, and, at the west end of the nave, it would not have grouped
so effectiyely with the chief buildings of the Monastery. It is
composed in a grand and bold outline, unMttered by minute detail,
or elaborate decoration. The height is 168 feet 6 inches, and the
internal area of the base about 25 feet With the exception of the
floors of the several chambers, pinnacles, glass, and the tracery of
a single window, which fell out many years ago, the goodly struc-
ture remains as perfect, sound, and stable, as when .the builders
left it ; and, for anything that appears to the contrary, will rear
its noble head above the dell, and defy the storm, when many proud
structures of to-day shall be crumbled to their base. On fillets
above and below the bel&y windows are inscriptions in the Tudor
black letter, boldly relieved, and also round the top of the tower ;
but this latter series is so weather-beaten as to have become
illegible.

ON THE EAST SIDE.

JdeneUccio et catitajs et jsapienda [1] et [2] graciantni atcto ionot.
&oU Uo I'Jtt x*fo [3] Jonor [4] et g'lia in jS'cIa %*tlou

NOKTH SIDE.

iSt btttttis et f ortitttl^o l^eo nosttto [5]in [6] jserula stecttlorum amen*
SboU l^eo i'j^tt x'po j^onor et gl'ia (n st'cia st'clor ame'.

WEST SIDE.

Iftegl autem steculorum [7 8] immortali inbtoitt

iboli l^eo V^u x'fo l^onor et [9] gria [10] in %'chi 0*clot*

SOUTH SIDE.

SboU l^eo l^ont et gloria [11] in [12] iserula iseculorum amen*

The numerals introduced into this copy indicate the correspond-
ing position of armorial shields in the inscriptions, thus charged: —
1, Three Horse-shoes, two and one, the arms of the Abbey ; 2, a
Maunch, surmounted by a bend, Norton of Norton Conyers, and
Sawley ; 3, a Gross flory, between a Mitre and Key erecl^ in fMet,
and a Key erect and Mitre, in base ; 4, the arms of the Abbey, as
the first ; 5 and 6, Norton, as before ; 7 and 8, the Abbey and
Norton ; 9, as the third ; 10 and 11, the Abbey ; 12, Norton, and

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 81

individually, perhaps, Sir John Norton, grandfather to old Eichard,
the memorable promoter of the " Rising in the North."

Above the lowest window is an angel standing on the canopy
of a vacant Niche, holding a shield, on which is carved a mitre
enfiled with a crosier, and the letters 01* ?^., the initials of Mar-
maduke Huby. In a niche on the north side is a crowned female
figure holding a palm branch in her right, and a book in her left
hand ; in another above is a mitred figure, probably Archbishop
Savage, holding a crosier; and in one above the ridge of the
transept roof a gowned effigy, no doubt of his friend Huby,
holding a crosier in his right, and a book in his left hand.

During the excavation of 1854-5, when the whole of the exte-
rior of the north side of the church was cleared, it was discovered,
from a wall a little in advance of the east side of the tower, that
an addition had been made, in the Decorated period, to the end
of the north transept. The building has been at least 19 feet
wide, with a doorway to the east ; and has had a vaulted roof,
of which two of the springers remain a few inches only above
the level of the floor.

THE CHom*

The outer walls of the Aisles are of elegant and powerful design.
Each bay contains, indeed, only one plain lancet light, but as it is
placed in the interior, under an arcade of one pointed, between
two round-headed, members, a remarkable effect is produced by
the archivolt of its adjuncts ; which, resting one extremity on the
single columns flanking the light, descend on the opposite side, with
the curve of the groining, to a shaft, capped at an inferior eleva-
tion, and clustered with that which has carried tbe ribs of the vault.
A very appropriate and picturesque effect is contributed also by
the deeply recessed and trifoliated arcade which supports this
arrangement, though it is now much diminished by the absence
of the grey marble shafts.

The excavation of the choir developed little or nothing that
had not previously been ascertained. Its floor, raised two steps
above its aisles, had been totally removed, together with all its
sepulchral slabs. The pillars supporting the clerestory had been,
with the exception of two fragmentary bases, not only torn down
to the ground, but to the very foundations ; and in Mr, Aislabie'^i

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CTTTDLEY.

" improyements," in the last century, the mbbifiih had been so
much disturbed that little of the detail of the superstructure could
be satisfactorily inferred. It must be observed, however, that
the foimdation of the original aisleless choir, like that of Kirkstall,
was discovered immediately below the level of the floor, as it was
left upwards of six hundred and fifty years ago by John de Ebor,
the builder of the present structure, together with those of the two
side chapels which he included in his work. The inner and outer
surfaces of the wall are now indicated on the turf by correspond-
ing lines of thin flag-stones, and also shown on the annexed
general plan.

When the work reached the west end of the choir, it was found
that the screen had been torn down to the ground. It had been
of limestone, and probably the work of Abbot Huby, when he
fortified the eastern side of the old central tower ; but as to its
general outline no idea can be formed, as very few fragments were
foimd that could reasonably be supposed to have formed a portion
of it. Within its porch was rediscovered that magnificent sepul-
chral slab of blue marble — ^9 feet 6 inches long, 4 feet 8 inches
wide, and 7 inches thick — ^the disturbance of which in 1841 caused
the cessation of the excavation commenced by Mrs. Lawrence.
The design represented in graven brass, as will readily be observed,
the figure of a mitred Abbot, under a canopy, holding his pastoral
staff in his right hand ; and, no doubt covered the Abbot, John de
Bipon, who died at the Abbey Grange at Thorpe Underwood, on
the 12th of March, 1435, and is said, in the records of the monas-
tery, to have been buried before the entrance to the choir. The label
around, of which the circular comer pieces had, perhaps, symbolical
figures of the Evangelists, contained the inscription. Iliere is, of
course, no trace of the brass, but the rivets by which the plates
were fixed to the grooved stone still remain, with the incised pas-
sages to them by which the solder was introduced.

The tesselated pavement of the high altar is doubtless part of
the **pictum pavimentum ** that was bestowed on the church by
Abbot John de Cancia between the years 1219 and 1247 ; and*
therefore, an early and valuable example of this elegant mode of
decoration. The simple patterns, divided in the upper and chief
platform into three chief compartments, are formed of many-shaped
tesseree of red, black, and yellow, which have been relaid, I am
informed, with proper attention to the original design.

The reredos behind the high altar presented, both to the choir

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 83

and Lady Chapel, but a contiimation — prolonged also for one
bay or more on each side — of that beautiM arcade which circum-
scribes the Lady Chapel and the choir. Part.of its materials are
now in a modem and obtnisiye gaUery mider the east window, and
more of it will be found in other parts of the abbey.

Not far from the north-west comer of the altar is a stone coffin,
6 feet 3 inches long, which is usually said to have contained the
remains of Henry, Lord Percy, of Alnwick, who died in 1316.
As, however, the herald Tong, who learned on his visit to the
Abbey, in 1530, that he was buried "before the high auter,"
observed that " also in the quere lyeth buried the Lord Mowbray,*'
it is as probable that the coffin was covered by the effigy of
Mowbray, now in the North Chapel; more particularly since it is
remembered to have stood against the wall opposite to it

THE LADY CHAPEL.

This most beautiful portion of the Abbey Church was completed
by Abbot John de Cancia, who had superintended, probably, the
greater part, if not the whole, of its erection. " This addition to
ecclesiastical structures, though not common, is productive of great
magnificence, for the eastern £a9ade thus formed here extends 150
feet in length, and presents a specimen of Early English architec-
ture—plain and somewhat massive in its general appearance, but
witii many well-proportioned details. Some additions which have
been made to this portion of the Abbey are, however, as late as the
end of the fifteenth century. The great east window and appur-
tenant buttresses display ^e magnificence of the latest style of
Gothic architecture, which, guided by judgment and taste, are
combined with the earlier style of the adjoining portions of the
building. It had nine lights and a transom, but exhibits now a
void space of 60 feet in height, and 23 feet 4 inches in width. The
other and original windows of this front are adorned, outside and
in the lower range, with banded shafts, and divided by semi-
octangular and imusually massive buttresses.

Besides the east window, one of large dimensions, but plain
detail, has been inserted, at the same period, in each gable of the
Lady ChapeL Below that in the southern elevation, tilie keystone
of one of the three Early English lights has received a Sculptube

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STUDLEY.

which shows these innoyations to have been made in the time of
Abbot Damton, who presided over the house from 1478 to 1494.
It is indeed a rebus on his name, displaying the bust of an angel
holding a tun, with the word Ocm inscribed on its breast. Above
this is a large bird, apparently an eagle — as seen before above the
nave — and a scroll, which bears the same allusive character in its
legend, Wxi't} ionM l^'no {Benedicite fontea domino). In the
inside of the Chapel, the same keystone bears an angel holding a
blank shield, a mitred head, and the figure of a pilgrim, or perhaps
St. James of ComposteUa, standing on two encircled fishes. The
keystone of another lancet light, at the north-east angle, displays
a human head entwined with foliage ; and in the interior, the
figure of an angel, holding a scroll, inscribed awiO Bomint 1483.
On receding to either end of the Lady Chapel, the amplitude of
its dimensions, the graceful, aspiring, heavenward tendency of its

component parts
must captivate and
astonish even a vul-
gar and careless
mind. Not a little
of its peculiar effect
results from those
lofty arches which
span it in prolonga-
tion of the clerestory
of the choir, sustain-
ed on each side only
by an octagonal pil-
lar, 2 feet 5 inches in
diameter; but much
of the original effect
is lost by the destruc-
tion of the marble
shafts that enriched
the angles, and were banded midway in the elevation.

In this transept or Chapel, nine altars were instituted by John
de Cancia, but none of their dedications have, as yet, been ascer-
tained. During the excavation, portions of six of these altars
were discovered ; but with the exception of two, much broken
down, and all without their covering slabs. The piscinas of two
that were inserted in the floor, will be found in the museum

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY. 85

above the abbey kitchen ; and, on the walls, several indications of
such as have been of wood ; and one, nearly perfect, and a curious
example, in stone. The pavement of the Chapel had been entirely
removed, with the exception of some plain inserted Tudor work
near the outer doors. K an opinion can be based on the very
trifling scraps of stained glass that were found here, some or all
of the windows had retained a portion of their original decoration
to the last. Of the immense quantity that filled the great east
window, it is strange to say that not one particle was observed;
as however, at the time of the Keformation, even plain glass was
so costly, that it was generally placed in wooden frames, and
removed from the windows of domestic buildings when the apart-
ments were not in use or occupation, and this winddw had not
then been erected fifty years, it is very probable that this, and the
rest of the glass that was marketable, was at once removed and
sold.

THE CLOISTEE COURT.

From a door at the south-east angle of the nave, a few steps
descend to a quadrangular court, formerly environed with a
penthouse or cloister, of which a portion of the round-headed
arcade remained in the last century. Part of the foundation waU
has recently been discovered, and also a base of masonry in the
centre of ike quadrangle, which most likely has supported the
lavatory now placed in the Cloister. The north and west aisles
were occupied, I believe, by the carrels where the monks studied,
and the place where the novices were taught; the other must
necessarily have been used as passages.

The area of the court — about 128 feet square — ^is still surrounded
by the buildings of the Monastery. The north side is formed by
the lofty walls of the Church. On the west, the Cloisters, sur-
mounted by the Dormitory, stretch in one unbroken line. The
Buttery, Kefectory, and Kitchen flank the southern range ; and
on the east, the portals of the Chapter-house join the south Tran-
sept, which stiU, by its massy strength, retains its original elevation.

In front of the Chapter-house several graves were discovered in
the winter of 1856. The bottom of a wooden Coffin was also
found, and a few sepulchral slabs much broken ; but none were
inscribed except the shattered fragments of one which has borne

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a circumflcription in raised letteis, wbidi date about the middle
of the fifteenth century.

THE CHAPTEB-HOUSE.

The Chapter-house, divided by the Sacristy from the north
Transept, is of a date between it and the Early English Choir, bnt
bears no local assimilation of style to any cont^nporary building
of the Abbey. It is, indeed, I apprehend, judging from certain
peculiarities of style and the magnificence of its dimensions, the
work of Bichard, the fourth Abbot, who had been preyiously Prior
of Qarevall, in France, and may haye brought or procured ihe
design from that great head of the Cistercian houses. In si^e it
is little inferior to any rectangular Chapter-house in the kingdom,
being 84 feet 7 inches long, by 41 feet wide ; though a yestibule
of inferior height, formed by the intervention of a wooden screen,
has occupied 24 feet of the western extremity. The ten round
marble columns that divided tlie area into three aisles, have been
ruined to their bases ; but the triple tier of benches, used by the
Convent in their deliberations, still remain.

From the decease of Abbot Eichard, in 1 170, to that of Copgrove,
in 1345, the Chapter-house was the invariable burial place of the
Abbots, except of Pherd and Eston, who died elsewhere ; and
during that period nineteen of them were interred here* These
&ctB, partially communicated by Dr. Burton, in his "Monasticon,'*
from a chartulary of the Abbey, led, in 1790, to the excavation of
the apartment, when the following evidence of their particular
graves was obtained.

Within the last bay eastward are four coffins, laid side by side,
that most probably have contained the remains of Abbot Bichard
Fastolph and his three immediate successors. Two of them have
lost their proper slabs; the cover of another is uninscribed; and
that of the last indicates, only, in the sacred emblem i{i incised on
its head, that it covers one who preferred the expression of his
dying faith to the remembrance or gratitude of posterity.

At their feet, and immediately below the seat where he so long
and worthily presided, is this memorial of the great Abbot, John
de Cancia, who died November 25th, 1247, inscribed in Longobar-
dic characters, on a ridged slab of grey marble : —

ff- REQIESCIT : DOMPNVS . JOH's . X : AbSAS. DE FONTIBV.'
QVJ • OBIJT • VII KL • DECEMBRIS.

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Close by its south side is a slab of similar character, but some-
what humbler dimension, on which the following inscription is said
to have appeared on its discovery;
though, in consequence of the heedless
steps of visitors, such parts of it only
as are inclosed by brackets can now be
deciphered : —

[>J< m]. REQI[E8CIT dompnvs] joh's
X[II ABBAS DE FONTIB* QI : OBIJT] . . .

This reading was, however, certainly
erroneous ; since, according to the enu-
meration used on the adjacent stone,
supported by the records of the Abbey,
William AUerton was the twelfth
Abbot — and imperfect also, by the sup-
plementary words, "qui obiit," still
visible. It commemorates, perhaps,
John de Ebor, the eighth Abbot, who
died June 14th, 1211.

A plain ridged gravestone on the
south of the last, covers, I apprehend,
the said Abbot AUerton, who died
December 11th, 1258.

On four detached fragments, which
have formed part of the tomb of the
thirteenth Abbot, who died April 30th,
1259, are the words

ADAM . Xm . ABBAS. . .

Near the middle of the room is a flat
stone, from which, though now much
shattered, has been rescued the follow-
ing fragment —

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STUDLET.

retains the matrix of a figure that has held a crosier, and of a
circumscription with comer pieces.

On the opposite side of the aisle is a stone that has had a similar
design ; hut so worn that the head of the crosier can only he dis-
tinctly traced. Here is also a fragment of another memorial of
the same date, and part of a plain-ridged stone of the thirteenth
century.

The slah near the entrance may he placed over Ahhot Otley,
who died 24th Dec, 1290 ; though he is said, more particularly,
to have heen huried " in hostio Cefi de Fontihus."

Ahove the Chapter-house, was the Lihrary and Scriptorium,
with other apartments, the extent of which is indicated on the
outside of the south transept, which they joined, and from which
they were approached.

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The notes of Leland, who saw the Library just before the
Dissolutioii, do not suggest the idea that it was of that importance
that was demanded, at least by the wealth and high position of

the house.* Several of its members in the first century after its
foundation were learned men, and authors of considerable reputa-
tion jf but in after days, though several of the abbots were

* Collectanea, vol. iii, pp. 44, 45.
f See Leland de Script., vol. i, pp. 232, 235, 245. Pitseus de Bebus Angl. vol. i, pp.
216-217 Bale, Script lUast c. U. p. 198.

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8T0DLEY.

possessed of high inteUectual attainments, the general literary
character of the house was insufficiently maintained. The sketches
on page eighty-eight, selected at random from a hook written in
this Scriptorium, may show, howeyer, that it was occasionally
tenanted hy men not wholly deficient in sarcastic and graphic
power of expression. The middle figure is that of a knight who
had a law-suit with the Convent.

South of the Chapter-house is a groined-passage, of the same
date, leading to the Base Court, and the alley or cloister communi-
cating with the Abbot's House.

Next and last, in the Eastern range of the ClcHster, and entered
by a doorway which still bears traces of painted enrichments of
its Early English mouldings, is the Fbateb-house, a fine vaulted
apartment of transition Norman work, 104 ft long, and 29 fb.
wide. From the upper end, which extends to the river, is a
communication on the east side with the Cellar, of the ample
dimensions of 59 ft. by 18 ft., beyond which was the Beew-house,
30 ft. by 18 ft. Before the walls of these buildings were pulled
down to the present level, about eighty years ago. Dr. Burton's
plan indicates what, apparently, was the site of the great boiler
in the massy partition wall; and on its recent excavation, the
ruined sur£Eu;e bore marks of subjection to intense heat. For the
advantages of drainage and refrigeration, one side of these places
was built on arches above the river, which, ultimately, seems to
have endangered the stability of the eastern end.*

From the south-east angle of the Cloister Court a spacious
staircase, recently cleared out and repaired, leads to the Court-
House, or, as it is called in the records of the Abbey, " The Hall
CF Pleas," — an interesting apartment 42 J by 22 J ft., groined to
a central pillar without base or capital. The Court of the Liberty
of Fountains — a large and privileged district — ^was held here until
a period within recollection, when, in compliance with modem
habits and associations, it was transferred to Fountains Hall.
The compartment at the upper end, where the seneschal and his

• Under the arch, at the eastern extremity of this water-course, wai fonnd daring
the recent excavation, a hoard of silver money, consisting of 354 pieces, generally ia
excellent preservation, ranging in date from the reign of Philip and Mary to that of
Charles the First ; a few clipped pieces being Spanish coin. They were laid, at the
depth only of a foot, on a piece of slate, and were doubtless committed to this par-
ticular place by an inhabitant of the acyacent country who had been slain suddenly
during the Great Rebellion ; for it was easy to be identified by any one who shared
the secret.

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officers sat, is shown by i3ie grooves of the canoeDi or bars by
which they were enclosed, in the central pillar.

The accnnmlation of relics that has been discovered during the
progress of the excavation since 1848, having become so numerous
that they could not be conveniently viewed by visitors, this
apartment was fitted up for their reception in 1855. They have
not, as yet, been arranged in classified order, but the objects men-
tioned in the subjoined note will be easily identified.*

• A list of the mora interttting relies disoorered during the recent excavations
at Fountains, pieces of sculpture, and casts of sculpture, now deposited in the
ancient Court-Boom of the Abbey.— Afay, 1856.

Initials of Marmaduke Huby (original
and plaster cast) formed of winged ser-
pents and a stately-looking raven, re-
oeatly retrieved from an ati^aoent cot-
tage.

Plaster casts of the Coronation of the
Blessed Virgin, and of the Nativity ;
from alabaster tablets, found in the iU>-
bey, but now preserved at Studley Hall.

Figures of two Evangelists in panels —
one of them St. Luke. (Originals and
casts.) Taken from a wall adjoining
the Kitchen Gardens, Studley Park.

Cast of a "Perpendicular** niche and
canopy, frt>m the east side of the tower.
On the canopy stands the figure of an
angel holding the armorial insignia of
the abbey.

Oast of an Early-EngUsh groining-
springer, from the gate-house of the
abbey.

Broken figure (original and cast) of the
Virgin and Child, found in front of the
west door of the nave. (See p. 74 ante.)

Cast of a crowned female Martyr-saint
from the north side of the tower.

Oast of the marble-basin now used as the
font in Aldfield Chapel ; formerly the
holf water stoup that stood near the
door leading from the Cloister Court
to the south aisle of the nave. (See p. '
79 ante.)

Figure of a chained dragon found in the
chapel of the Abbot's House.

A beautifnl sitting figure ; (headless) eut
in limestone, found in the choir.

A large sculptured and rude representa*
tion of the AHNUNOianoN of thh
Virgin. The inscription, in black

letter, is the SaluUtion of Gabriel,
AUB M'aiA PLBNA d'm's tbcv*. This
stone was retrieved from a neighbour-
ing building, higher up the valley,
erected by the late Mr. Aislabie to re-
present a dismantled ruin.

A rude upright figure of a monk— 5 feet 8
inches high— holding a book in the left
hand ; formerly placed, along with two
or three fragments of other lesser
figures of the Perpendicular period,
at the north end of the Frater-house.

Part of a Tudor cornice representing a
monkey, fiowers, &c., from the abbot*s
house.

Broken scraps of Elisabethan figures,
similar to those on the balcony at
Fountains Hall. One inscribed lib * .

Fragments of stained glass.

Perforated devices in lead: formerly
inserted in the windows for the pur-
pose of ventilation.

Portions of a wooden coffin, found in the
Court in front of the Chapter-house.

Two floor piscinas, from the Nine Altars.

Half of a blue-marble fluted basin, frt>m
the same place.

Part of a blue-marble gravestone found
near or in the Gallilee, inscribed in
Lombardic letters . . . mai ob a . . . b.

'Perpendicular*' panelling cut in lime-
stone and found in the Lady-Chapel.

A collection of broken pottery, keys,
picks, masons' tools, knives, pincers,
a trowel, stizmps, six prick and row-
elled spurs, bridle-bits, horse-shoes,
buckles, &c.

A brass ladle, and other fragments of
nU

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STUDLEY.

The apartment over the Court-house^ now nearly mined, may
have been the place where the records and muniments of the
Abbey were deposited, if the room above the Gate-house was not
appropriated to that purpose.

On descending to the Cloister Court, we enter the Kitchen, a
valuable example of the domestic architecture of the twelfth
century ; vaulted like the Court House above, to a single pillar.
A more interesting instance, however, of the skill and confidence of
the architect, may be observed in the heads of the two fire-places —
each not less than 16| ft long and 6| ft. deep— the heads of which
are straight and formed of huge stones, dovetailed together on
the principle of an arch. Hence, too, another requisite must have
been contributed ; for the kitchen is entirely destitute of windows
on three sides, and the triangular apertures to the south seem
intended rather for the admission of air than of light The two
openings in the west wall have been, no doubt, the hatchways by
which provisions were served to the Refectory, but enlarged in
modem times, to obtain a prospect.

The Refectory, which forms the central apartment on the
south side of the Cloister Court, is a very beautiful structure, of
the Early English period, of the dimensions of 109 by 46| feet.
As it could not, therefore, be conveniently covered by one
ridged roof, it was divided by a row of four marble columns, of
which, however, all renmants but the foundations of one have
been destroyed, within the last century. During the excavation
of 1856, it was found that the tables had not ranged down the
length of the apartment, but had been placed, along with their
seats or stalls, on a dais of the width of 5| feet ; raised 13 inches

Litt Cff relies in the Courtroom continued:

A larg^e collection of pilaster capitals,
bands of columns, mask oraaments,
and other fragments of that beautiful
Nidderdale-marble work so lavishly
used by the builders of the choir, refec-
tory, and other parts, between 1204 and
1260. Some of these were found in the
abbot's house ; but most of them in the
choir and Liady-chapel. Two of the
most delicately-carved caps were turned
up during the excavation of the Frater-
house in 1856.

A few medieval bricks and roofing tiles.

Scraps of John de Gancia's " painted
pavement*' The floor of the Court-

room was laid in 18S5, with the old
tiles that formerly strewed the floor of
the passage under the vestry; along
with others of the Early-English and
Tudor period found during the ezoa-
vations,

A quantity of lead piping.

A brass buckle, and chain, and book-
clasp ; and a piece of metal, having im-
pressed on one side a regal crown, and
on the other the initials & P. in black
letter. And, finally

A portion of *' The last supply of coal
that the Abbot needed."

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above the floor j and occupying the upper end, aud 89 feet each of
the east and west sides. From the recess on the west side, a

I portion of scripture was read during the repast. The parapet of the

I staircase has been broken down and unskilfully repaired, but the

I bracket of the pulpit remains, in the form of an expanded flower.

1 A door at the south-west comer of the Cloister Court leads to

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94 STUDLET.

The Butteby, a curioiuly contrived rooxn, wMch has, also, an
outlet towards the river, and an opening to the Refectory, which
was the Hatchway. On excavating this place a quantity of ashes,
fish and animal bones, broken pottery, oyster shells, flooring tiles,
the remains of a boiler, some lead piping, and a stone drain lead-
ing from where the sink stood, were discovered.

The west cloister having been, no doubt, already examined, we
now pass to the Base Coubt, on the south side of the Chapter-house.

The whole area of this Court, as well as that of the buildings
which enclose it, on the south and east sides, have been discovered
only in a recent excavation from the kitchen to the Chapter-house ;
which, by restoring the old level, has both added considerably to
the ground-plan, and increased the picturesque appearance of the
Abbey. On the west side, it will be observed to luive had a pent-
house attached to the Frater-house ; on the south, the cellar and
brew-house, before mentioned; and, on the east, three apartments
which will attract attention chiefly from the fsM^t, that they were
the prisons of the Abbey. These fa^vourite localities of the novelists
were used for the punishment of such monks as had been found
guilty of felony or other heinous crimes ; but, in this instance, the
larger cell, on the south, may have been required by the secular
authority which the convent enjoyed within "The Liberty of
Foimtains." In each, however, it is evident, solitary confinement
and the most strict isolation was inflicted, from the consequent
presence of a convenience, which added only to the offensive
character of the place. The apartments on the east side of them,
as well as those in the upper story, may have been used only for
subordinate purposes, since the former were approached through
the Abbot's coal-yard ; indeed, an ash-heap was found in front of
the round-headed door- way, at the time of its discovery. The
stair-case at the north-west comer, may have served some apart-
ments of the Abbof s-house over the passage.

The whole of the apartments of the Abbey have now been
visited, and an idea probably formed of the nature, wants, and
arrangement of the most definite and perfect exponent of the
monastic system remaining in the kingdom. The recent excava-
tion has, however, disclosed, in the ruin of the Abbot's house, now
before us, an equally interesting example of our early domestic
architecture, which fiimishes, also, additional evidence of the
dignity, hospitality, and general social condition of the rulers of
these influential establishments.

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Previously to the month of Noyember, 1848, the site of this house
remained in the oondition in which it was left when Sir Stephen
Proctor pulled it down to obtain building materials for Fomitains
Hall — a shapeless mass of rubbish, overgrown with weeds and
brushwood, which rendered it inaccessible, and entirely concealed
any trace of foundations that might have been sought From a
practice, however, which prevailed in the Cistercian houses, sup-
ported, locally, by inferences derived from the records of the Abbey,
I had been induced, for some years past, to point out this as the site
of the Abbot's house, in opposition to the received idea that the
Hospitium, on the west side of the great cloister, had been appro-
jxriated to that purpose ; but beyond this suggestion, nothing, until
the period in question, was ascertainedi At that time, the arched
space above the river requiring repair, and, consequently, a removal
of the soil, a pavement was discovered, which indicated the im-
portant character of the ruined building ; and ultimately led — ^by
the noble owner's direction — to the extensive and interesting
excavation which has ensued.

Before proceeding to a survey of the ruin, it should be observed
by how great a sacrifice of labour the site of the house has been
obtained in this particular and favourite locality ; for, as the vaUey
is extremely contracted, and the Skell incapable of pennanent
diversion, the only expedient of the monks was to build above the
river; and four parallel tunnels, each nearly 300 feet long, still
attest their perseverance and skilL

As far as remains enable us to judge, the building of the house
was undertaken by Abbot John de Canda, after he had completed
the Choir and Lady Chapel of the Conventual church. The wealth
and reputation of the monastery was, in his time, nearly at its
height; and the sweeping donations it had received from the
Percys, and Mowbrays, andBomillies, and their sub-infeudatories,
had enabled them to realise their architectural designs on the
grandest scale. Until this time, the residence of the Abbot was
probably of the humble, but not unusual, materials of wood and
plaster ; as, indeed, the lodgings of the Prior of Bolton seem to
have been at the time oi the Dissolution.

The character of the structure, like that of the Abbey, has been
plain and substantial, depending more on the grand proportion and
combination of the main outlines than on the elaborate decoration
of particular features or parts. The arrangement must, however,
either have been very commodious, or the domestic economy inva-

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96 STUDLEY.

liable ; for it seems to have remained unaltered mitil that era of
social change which heralded the sixteenth century, when one of
those great architectural reformers — Damton or Huby — ^built a
separate Refectory, and formed several apartments, by dividing
the Great Hall, which decreased simplicity of manners had ren-
dered of unnecessary dimensions.

The chief or state approach to the house was by a spacious Alley,
from the east side of the Cloister Court, richly, hut not continu-
ously, decorated by a trefoil-headed arcade, supported by a double
row of shafts, and so deeply recessed, as, subsequently, to have
required the insertion of solid masonry behind the foremost shaft.
The Hall, to which this passage led, has been, unquestionably,
one of the most spacious and magnificent apartments ever erected
in the kingdom, and admirably adapted for the entertainment of
those distinguished persons and their hosts of gentilitial retainers
by wh(»u the Abbot was continually visited. Its internal length
is not less than 171 feet, and its width 70 feet; the bases, or foun-
dations, of eighteen cylindrical columns, shafted and banded with
marble, — vindicating its division into a nave and two aisles, the
latter having circulated round the extremities of the former. The
number and position of its windows cannot be ascertained; but the
jambs and bases dug up within the area, show that they were
plain lancet Kghts similar to those of the Lady-chapeL Of the
existence of clerestory windows there is no trace.

The chief entrance to the Hall has been torn down to the ground;
but from the bases of the shafts by which it was flanked, it ap-
pears to have been of similar design to those of the Lady Chapel.

On each side of the Hall, which stands directly across the river,
occupying the whole width of the house jfrom north to south, the
other apartments have been grouped. Immediately opposite the
entrance is the principal staircase. On the left, in the north wall,
one of the great fire-places, now ruined to the heartb. To the right
of the staircase, has been a room not yet fully cleared out. The
next apartment, southward, was the Chapel, where the founda-
tions of two buttresses on the south side suggest the idea of three
windows ; and a base still attached to the north-east angle, the
only other feature left, that three lancet lights occupied the eastern
extremity. The stone altar is still tolerably perfect, but has lost
its slab. On its north side has been a narrow staircase, leading
either to the Vestry, or the apartments of the Chaplain ; and, be-
yond, the long but narrow base of a work erected in the Perpen-
dicular period, of which the use is uncertain.

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On the north side of the CSiapel is a pictoreaque apartment
partially yaulted, which, being below the general level of the other
rooms, and, from the declivity of the gronnd, always accessible,
has often been delineated as '^a crypt," bnt stontly asserted by the
country people to have been "the place where the Abbot's six
white chariot horses were kept ! '' " Sex equi ad higam^ the Abbot
certainly had in his stable at the time of the Dissolution ; but,
from the position and character of the place, it appears to have
been the Cellab and Stobe-hoube of his establishment

To the south of the Chapel, but detached from it by the inter-
vention of the scullery-yard, has been the Kitchen — ^an apartment
corroborating, in its dimension and appliances, the most romantic
ideas of monasticiiospitality. At the south side are the foundations
of two great fire-places and a boiler, in a wall which has divided a
narrow "back-kitchen" from the chief apartment; and, in the
north-east angle, a stone grate in the floor, which was covered by
wooden doors, and communicates with the river below. This very
singular object, of which I do not remember another example, has,
most probably, been used as a ventilator, to mitigate a temperature
which must always have been sufficiently oppressive, but which, on
festive occasions, would not only be increased by a subsidiary fire
and boiler, but also by two huge ovens, the one at the west, and
the other, and larger, at the east end of the apartment

These buildings, with some indefinite appurtenances of the
kitchen, have flanked the east side of the Great HalL The ar-
rangement on the west side has been nearly obliterated by the
lapse of the arches above the river. There may be traced, how-
ever, towards the north, the foundation of a room, which, from
the amplitude of its dimensions and the elevation of a dais at the
west end, may be considered to have been the Refectory, erected,
it seems, either by Damton or Huby, and perhaps the apartment
which, in a homage done to the latter Abbot, in 1501, is styled
" Nova camera versus ecclesiam."

On the north side of this room was another, where stood a re-
servoir of water fed by a lead-pipe (still partly visible) from a
spring above the kitchen bank. To the west of it, was the coal-
yard, in which the last supply that the Abbot needed, remained
undisturbed until the recent excavation. There was found here,
also, a large heap of ashes and cinders, just as they had been cast
from the window above— the sill having been worn down by the
frequent attrition of the shovel.

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98 STUDLET.

The removal of the mass disclosed what every honsekeeper's
experience vrould have suggested. First, of course, there was a
silver spoon, weighing about an ounce, with a capacious bowl, slen-
der octagonal stem, and a head like a plain inverted Tudor bracket;
then, broken pottery of different kinds and sizes — from the painted
ware that had disappeared from the Abbot's table, to the large
coarse jugs that, after many " a mere crack/' had, at last, been
broken in the kitchen ; a small silver ornament resembling a lion's
head, and, apparently, detached from an article of table plate ; a
silver ring ; a brass ring ; several Nuremburg tokens ; part of a
perforated leaden ventilator, designed like Tudor window tracery ;
vnth a number of venison and beef bones, and bushels of oyster-
shells, mussel-shells, and cockle-shells, as fresh and pearly as when
they left Abbot Bradley's table. Yet, trifling and worthless, in
every respect, as most of these objects might be, they seemed, as
they came from the hiding-place where forgotten hands had cast
them, to connect the spectator with those whom three centuries
have divided from personal sympathy and association, more inti-
mately than the disclosure of that ruined scene in which they had
so long been consigned to oblivion.

The Encaustic Tiles, found in excavating the several apart-
ments — and it is singular that two additional patterns only have
been subsequently discovered in the Conventual church — are nu-
merous and singular ; and the evidence obtained on the subject of
medieeval brickwork, important and interesting. The floors of the
principal apartments have been paved either with encaustic or
plain tiles ; but the greater part of them had been torn up and
removed before the house was pulled down, when the specimens
that remain were so much disturbed that it is difficult to determine
to what particular apartment they belonged. The presence of a
few geometrical tiles, similar to tliose vdth which John de Cancia
decorated the church, seems to indicate that he bestowed also a
pavement on the hall and other chief apartments of the house;
but none were found fixed, unless the small square tiles east of the
refectory may be referred to that early period. The rest of the
tiles, that have been found in different parts among the rubbish,
are generally of the Tudor period ; of which character, also, is a
tolerably perfect pavement, upwards of 30 feet square, at the south
end of the Great Hall. Although no general device has been
attempted in its arrangement, beyond a few plain borders or
bounding courses, respective of the bases of pillars, yet several

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FOUNTAINS ABBEY.

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patterns^ which are yery intecestmg, are introduced withmit refe-
rence to equi-^Ustance or principle.

One pattern, of four tiles, displays the arms of the Abbey
(avurejf three horse-shoes C<>^Jj and the yery appropriate drcum-
Bcription, nsed by Damton in the Lady Chapel, idntel)(cite fotttest
Domino* Another, and nearly similar pattern, of four tiles, exhibits
the same arms, but circumscribed by Sb^U 19eo JbOltOt tt gloria*
— a motto always used by Huby, and identified more particularly
with him in two fragmentary tHes, where the shield has displayed
his initials, with the mitre and crozier. There is also a pattern,
bearing the initials, J. D. J. D., but without legend, and similar
to a much better impression, stolen, soon after its discoyery, by
some prowling " collector," from the centre of the dais in the
Refectory. It was, no doubt, the deyice of Abbot Damton.

On clearing the ground on the north side of the alley leading
from the Cloister-court to the Abbot's house, in 1852, it was found
that a passage of similar date and character had led from it to
the opposite door of the Lady chapel. Except the great effect
gained by the remoyal of yery deep rubbish from the walls of the
Chapter-house and the choir, little of particular interest was
acquired, except the basement story of a large apartment that had
been erected in the Tudor period ; and, it may be, of that ^' nova
camera *' just alluded to, «f I am mistaken in its identity with the
Abbot's Refectory. On tiie other and east side of this supplement
tary passage, had been another small apartment that had been
added at this great period of change, but whose foundations were
discoyered all but leyel with the ground ; a wide door-way leading
to the burial ground on the east side of the Lady-chapel ; and
attached to its outer wall, in the position indicated by the plan,
considerable remains of an oyen with its ashes — since unfortunately
remoyed — ^that, I apprehend, had been used for the preparation of
the eucharistic wafer.

From the south-east angle of the Lady-chapel, a wall whose
position can now only be traced below the sward, was continued
— as is shewn also on the plan — to the opposite angle of the
Abbot's house. Beyond this, and in front of the east end of the
church, were found the early sepulchral slabs represented on the
annexed plate. It may be that the armorial design of a *' bend "
displayed on one of them, has commemorated a member either of
the Yorkshire houses of Mauley, or Stopham, or Pannal j for, of
course, the colours are unrepresented.

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100 BTITDLET.

The Abbof s garden and orchard were at the east end of the
church, enclosed by a high wall, pnlled down, with another which
crossed the yalley a little i^irther eastward, soon after Mr. Aislabie
pnrchased the place. Bnt, beyond these limits, a range of buildings
extended even to the site of the present east lodge — about 500
yards — the foundations still remaining under the terraced walk.
In a particular position under the rocks — easy to be found by the
beaten pathway — ^an echo can be heard, remarkable for its powerfdl
reflection from the Abbey; though often more amusing to a
bystander by its discovery of the mental capacity and social
position of those who, by some characteristic war-cry, endeavour
to provoke its powers.

On leaving the Abbey Close,* we enter a portion of the Studley
grounds, not already visited ; and* after the enjoyment of much
sylvan beauty, enhanced in a remarkable degree by our elevation
above the contracted and deeply-wooded dell, emerge on a delicious
lawn, befDre a beautiM casino or Banqueting-house. In the
chief apartment, adorned with a superb ceiling and other elaborate
decorations of the last century, is a bronze statue of the Venus de
Medids, and, over the mantle-piece, a painting of the Governor
of Surat going a-hawking.

As we recede from this seductive spot, we continue to recognise
many pleasing objects, which, being old acquaintance, need no
introduction, l^ough invested with new interest by the reversal of
our former position and approach ; until, descending the well-walk,
we speedily arrive at the lodge, and so bid adieu to scenes that,
for many a year, may make

Thy mind a muiBion for all lovely forms.

Thy memory a dwelling place

For all sweet sounds and harmonies.

• It may be useftil to observe, that a foot-path, by the river side, leads lirom
fonntains Bridge to Aldfield Spa ; a most valuable sulphuretted spring, in one of the
most picturesque passes of Bkeldale. It was discovered accidentally, about the year
1698, but has hitherto been unproductive of its capability, chiefly from the want of
accommodation for visitors. I am not able to state minutely its component parts, but
the following analysis, prepared by Mr. Brunton, a skilful chemist of Ripon, about
56 years ago, will at least give an idea of its importance. A gallon exhibited :
Solid Conienti, On. Oaseoui CotOents, C.In.

Carbonate of Lime
Carbonate of Magnesia
Sulphate of Magnesia .
Muriate of Soda .
Muriate of Magnesia .

Total .

18.5 Carbonic Acid ... 8.

ZA Azote 4.

5. Sulphuretted Hydrogen . . 21.
208.

96. '

385. Total . . ! SI.

Very pure azotic gas, in a free state, emitted at intervals, was collected at the rate of
a gaUon in 56 minutes, though several bubbles escaped.

" " ' bigi^^byCjOOQlC

MAEKENFIELD HALL.

HE antiquary who is gifted with tolerable pe-
destrian powers, and has " the bump of locality"
well developed, will find the profit he has
received at Fountains, enhanced by a visit to
Markenfield Hall. . It may be seen from the
east side of How Hill, rising among the saplings
of its ancient park, about two miles from the
Abbey 5 but the road will not be easily found, without more par-
ticular direction.

From time immemorial, Markenfield was the residence of a
powerful and well-allied family of that name, until the prominent
part which was taken by Thomas Markenfield in the Bising in the
North in 1569, occasioned his attainder, and, consequently, the
forfeiture of his estates to the Grown.

In its general aspect, it remains much as he left it, a most
valuable and picturesque example of that style of domestic archi-
tecture — ^<< hesitating between hospitable confidence and armed
precaution" — ^which illustrates a deeply interesting era of our
social progress ; having been built by John de Markenfield, Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, who obtained license to castellate it in
1309.

In the fifteenth century, some alterations were made, chiefly in
the doorways and lights on the east side of the quadrangle, and,
in the great change of society which ensued in the Elizabethan

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102 MABKENPIELD HALL.

period, a general Bub-division of the several apartments became
necessary. Since tliat time, however — ^though for awhile it was
inhabited by the Egertons — it has been occnpied as a farm-house,
and so lost more and more of a character, which has been recently
restored under the direction of the author.

Though the original ground-plan is probably undisturbed, the
entire shell of the present structure is not, wholly, of the founder's
work. Indeed, the Gate-house is only of the Elizabethan period,
and the range of stables, on the west side of the court, though
highly curious, have then been partially renewed.

The principal apartments were in the north-east angle, elevated,
as usual, above the basement story, in which were the kitdien,
cellars, and other offices, still evident and partly vaulted. The
north wing is entirely occupied by the Hall, a noble apartment
about 40 ft. long, and the whole width of the building. On its
east, is the equally spacious Chapel, which has a fine altar window,
with geometrical tracery ; and a richly decorated piscina, with the
arms of the fiamily. To the south of the Chapel is the Solar,
communicating wilh a suite of apartments worthy of close examina-
tion ; and on the north several apartments, occupied perhaps by
the Chaplain, one of which has been partially paved with tiles of
the rose and fret pattern, obtained, no doubt, from the kiln at
Fountains, where they are found in abundance.

Within the recollection of aged persons, several large buildings
and offices are remembered to have stood outside the moat ; but all
trace of them, and of a ponderous drawbridge before the gate-house,
have long since disappeared.

No furniture, pictures, nor any memorial of the fiunily remains
in the housei except a piece of oak bearing their arms, carved in
the sixteenth century : Quarterly, 1st and 4th (Argent) on a bend
(sable), three bezants ; 2nd« a fess between six escallops; 3rd, three
tilting helmets, for Miniot Supporters, two stags regardant.
Crest, a hind's head affi*ontee.

Shortly after Markenfield's forfeiture, this estate was granted to
the Lord Chancellor Egerton, by whose descendant, the celebrated
Buke of Bridgewater, it was sold to Sir Fletcher Norton, ancestor
to Lord Orantley, the present worthy owner.

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BEIMHAM ROCKS.

" Nature here.
Wantoned as in her prime, and played at will

her virgin fancies.
Wild above rule or art."

Fabadisb Lost.

HIS interesting, and, probably, unique place of
resort is generally visited, either by following the
road that leads jfrom Eipon to Studley ; or, by
a direct drive from Harrogate — a road formerly
all but impassable.
The mighty hand of nature has seldom left a more magnificent
impression, than on this stupendous scene. Afar off, the precipi-
tous site seems crowned by the inextricable wreck of a long deso-
lated city. On a nearer view, the grim and uncouth forms defy all
discrimination and definition ; and, when standing at length
among them, our uncontrollable impression continues to be of
perplexity and astonishment.

An attentive examination, however, soon satisfies us as to their
origin, and leaves us in the enjoyment of the rude similitudes they
present, and contemplation of the volcanic power that has rent
their vast blocks asunder, and projected them, in all forms, to

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104 BBDCHAM B0GK8.

vast distanoes. Impending higli on the ridge of Niddeirdale, tiM
storms and floods of nnnnmbered ages have washed away the soil
that had been accumulated around their forms, and exposed their
bare bleak sides, in piles, the Titans might credibly have heaped
np. The Mable nature of their composition, wasted by the corro-
ding blasts sweeping both from the Atlantic and Northern Seas,
across miles of unsheltered moors, has aided the distorted formation,
and. created grotesque and singular shapes, analogous to those
presumed to have been used by Druidical superstition. When the
learning and imagination of Borkse had awakened the minds of
scholars to the existence of extensive monuments of this ancient
priesthood in England, it was natural, therefore, that such a
mysterious assemblage of erratic forms should not remain unappro-
priated, or unpeopled with visions of the past. Major Kooke
dissertated at length on them, before the Society of ^tiquaries,
in 1786. Minor tourists, of course, caught the infection; and,
since then, they have generally been considered, and almost daily
described, as the great veritable abode of Droidism in the northern
parts.

That the Druids may not have availed themselves of &cilities
thus appropriately furnished, imperfect investigation does not sufiier
me to deny. From the BocMng Stones, whidi are considered the
best evidence, I think nothing has been satisfEustorily inferred ;
and, of the fiEibrication of the rugose tubes, penetrating rocks some-
times of 30 feet in length, and deemed to be passages for the im-
pressive conveyance of mysterious sounds and words-^correlative
proof, difficult to be obtained, can only certainly decide. One stone,
however, presents an appearance for which many think it has
been indebted a little to the hand of man. It stands on the brink
of the northern precipice, and consists of an irregular columnar
mass, 19ft. high, and 47 in circumference, resting on a truncated
cone, whose apex is but one foot, and base 2ft. 7in. in diameter. A
glance at ihe very Mable consistency of the general stratification
of the groups, at this level, may probably solve the mystery.

In the midst of the rocks, the late Lord Giantley erected a
house, with suitable out-offices, for the aoconmiodation of those who
were attracted to a place which— as Bums said of his &nn at
EUisland—seems to be << the riddlings of creation.''

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HACKFALL.

105

HACKFALL.

^O THOSE who are gladdened by the works of
Nature) and a ramble in an nmbrageous retreat,
there cannot be afforded a richer treat than a trip
to Hackfall. It is a sufficient recommendation
to know that its beauty was commemorated by
Gilpin ; and that Pennant, who had seen much, and generally
saw that much well, styled it ''one of the most picturesque scenes
in the north of England."

This peculiar diaracter is occasioned by the expanding em-
bouchure of a precipitous glen, that guides a leaping stream,
opposite a grand sweep of the river Ure, where it ploughs its way
at the bottom of a deep and densely wooded ravine. Naked and
rifted scars create, apart from their intrinsic majesty, a charming
contrast by their protrusion from the long sylvan steeps ; while
simple erections, artfrilly contrived and judiciously distributed,
blend, as four as fiction may, the associations that gather around
the ruined arch and broken tower.

The entrance to the woods is by a simple wicket, found imme-
diately after leaving the village of Grewelthoipe, on the road side
to Masham. The little rivulet, gurg^g over its stony bed, accom-
panies our dedining jpath, until joined by the Alum-spring
gliding noiselessly through the woods on the brae side, though
blemished by the artificial character of its mossy channel. The
path is contjnned to the river ; but we cross the bum, and, for-
getting the steep ascent of the glen, in the diversity of prospect
which every footstep acquires, surmount the wooded vale at
"Mowbray Castle;" where the view extends uninterruptedly
from our feet, to the long range of acdiving land that shelters the
town of Bichmond.

We sink by slow gradations to the high bank of the river, passing
reluctantly each recurring prospect of its waters and peering down
gullies that headlong torrents have ploughed in the steep brae side.

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106

HACKFALL.

Haying thus attained the extreme southern point, screened only
by slender boughs from the perilous stream, we may enjoy the
seclusion of the dell, by winding down the long terraces that have
been laboriously hewn athwart the impending scar. High, over-
arching, boughs have entwined their grisly roots among the bare
bleak rocks, and often may be observed, protruding themselves, at
considerable distances, from t^e parent stem.

After a short stroll by the river — ^interrupted offensively by the
scroggy plantation that has superseded t^e ancient woods on the
further bank — ^we cross the bum that accompanied our early walk,
and embrace t^e opportunity of rest, and restorative appliances, at
" Fisher's HaU." From this little grot— formed chiefly of petri-
factions collected in the grounds — ^the river rolling on under the
sombre hill, attracts, from its proximity, at least, imdivided atten-
tion, until a glance-— perhaps casually and at departur&— discloses,
in the contrary direction, two rills stealing down the mossy rocks,
embosomed in verdant shade. ** Mowbray Point'' and " Castle"
€rown, at a considerable elevation, the sylvan canopy; but much of
their beauty is lost in the assimilation of the objects.

Having crossed the dell of the " Town-beck," and turned away
from the river, we halt in the solitude of the woods, to view, from
a rustic bower, a rill skipping ami^ tail gracefol stems ; and — in
another direction — down a lofty avenue, the ruin on " Mowbray
Point," relieved only by the clouds.

As you seek the brow of the impending hill, various distant
prospects of the coimtry beyond Masham object themselves, even
to a careless eye ; until, having gained the jutting brow, you ob-
tain a foretaste of the coming prospect of the far-&med vale of
York. Yet, another glimpse, and a few hurried paces more, and
the long expected gratification bursts on you, in all its grandeur
and beauty, at " Mowbray Point."

From tiie abyss at your feet — where black waters sleep in
cavernous gloom — ^the eye rises, joyously, to the bold massy fore-
ground of deep woods and sweeping toxrents, to meads and corn-
fields, and forests, and an interminable succession of flood and fell
— ^bewildered amid the myriad shapes and shades inextricably
woven into their web ; nor dreams of the immensity of that
gorgeous expanse until the &int blue lines mingle with the
Hambleton hills, and it finds the amplitude that converges to its
.vision comprehends the sixty miles that intervene between the
tpwers of York and the estoary of the Tees.

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BACKFALL. 107

To detail, then, to strangers, the nnmherless ohjects that may-
be observed, would be both unnecessary and unavailing. Yet, it
may detain many a lingerer to know that, where the twin towers
of Tanfield rise by the gleaming stream, the last home of the great
Marmions is canopied by the one ; and that the chivalry of the
north have approached the halls of Fitzhugh through the other :
That in the gabled pile to the right, ** Old Norton " mused on the
treason that has inmiortalised his name ; and that at Topcliffe—
receding further jfrom the view— the regal hearted Percys enjoyed
a retirement from the world, until the avenging hand of Elizabeth
entailed misery and ruin on the representative of their race :
That — still beyond — ^towers Craike, the embattled patrimony of
the sainted Cuthbert ; and — ^turning quickly aside — ^that North-
allerton, forgetful of the stately palace of the bishops of Durham,
and looking upon the plain of the Battle of the Standard, nestles
at the left of the mountain ridge ; and that, glancing over the
Priory of Mountgrace, and Harlsey the stronghold of the Strang-
wayes, and Whorlton of the Meinells and the Darcies, and
Stokesley of the Baliols and the Eures, Roseberry rears its volcanic
peak among ^e clouds ; while, still beyond, the high lands of
Eston die into a line of gleaming light, that may, reasonably, be
deemed to be the ocean.

Few having looked on so much beauty, would now desire further
entertainment. The path favours our return, and by a circuitous
route, that agreeably mitigates our transltlony we presently regain
the lanes and fields.

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108

HAEBOGATS.

HARROGATE.

Bee resolnta sennm eonflrmat membrm trementamt
Et refovet nervos lotrix hec lympha gelatos.
Hue infirma re^nt baeulis vestigia elandi,
Ingrati refenint baeulis vestigia spretis.

HOBBBS, DB HUABILIBUS PlOOI.

ARROGATE, like most watering places of renown,
had but an humble and obscure origin. In the
earUest periods to which our written history extends
it lay an undistinguished and probably imtenanted
spot in the forest of Knaresbrough ; and it was not
until the emparkment of a portion of that great
sylvan range at Haywra, that— from the road which led thither
from the fortress on the Nidd — ^it became known as Haywragate.
As the time of the emparkment of Haywra is uncertain, so must
be the designation of the road that led thither. In a charter granted
by Richard Earl of Cornwall, about 1257, to the house of St Ro-
bert at Knaresbrough, there is mention of the road which turns
from that town towards " Heywra," and the application of sainted
appellations to some of the springs at Harrogate, indicates that
they — ^if not their present efficacy — were obseryed during the medi-
aeval period. Yet the. huts that were scattered by the way-side
might not, even in this century, have lost much of their humble
character, if the occurrence of an accidental circumstance had not
suddenly changed their fortune.

It was this : Captain William Slingsby, a younger brother of the
family that for several centuries has resided at Scriven, about three
miles from this place, visited, during the latter half of the six-
teenth century, the waters of Sauveniere in Germany, and received
benefit. On his return he observed, as too many have done, that
he had left a remedy of equal efficacy at home; — ^was wise enough
to avail himself of the benefit;— gratefully built a protection over

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HABBOOATE. 109

the spring ; — and spread the glad tidings of its utility among the
maryelling population around. «

While a series of cures were in performance, some of which, says
Dr. Short, '< are perhaps the greatest and most remarkable filed
up in the authentic records of ph3rsic, down from Hippocrates to
this day," Dr. Stanhope, an ingenious physician of York, disco-
vered in 1631, at High Harrogate, anotlier Chalybeate spring, to
which, in distinction to the Sulphur Waters, he gave the name of
the ** Sweet Spa." In the year after, when he wrote his disser-
tation on the Mineral Waters near Enaresbrough — for, by that
general designation, be it remembered, these springs at Harrogate
were then, and long after, comprehended — ^the Sulphur Waters
were rising in reputation, though they were chiefly frequented by
the common people ; and our author confessed *' what axe its in-
ward uses we know not yet" It was fortunate, however, that in
this absence of information, the merits of ihe sulphuretted springs
forced themselves on attention ; for a controversy soon after arose,
touching the relative merits of the Scarborough and Harrogate
Chalybeate Waters ; and, with the fiEite that has attended many
once fiuthionable watering places, our Spa might have become
unfrequented and unregarded, had not the Sulphur Water main-
tained its popularity.

With the social progress of the eighteenth century, Harrogate
rose and prospered. Its accommodations increased with the
domestic economy and civilization of the times, and the number of
visitors with that accumulation of wealth, which commercial skill
and enterprise had dealt to the hands of so many — until, at the
present day, by the centralisation of many species of medicinal
waters — the superiority of the most important class-— the beauty
of the surrounding country — and the diversity of amusements,
Harrogate has become, and by its many undeveloped attractions
and the permanent character of its excellencies, bids fetir to remain^
one of the most interesting, eligible, and beneficial watering places
in the Empire.

High and Low Harrogate form, as &r as parochial matters and
other greater local interests are concerned, two distinct villages,
whose line of division, two brooks, is not obvious to the eye. The
former is in the parish of Knaresbrough, ihe other in that of
Fannal ; but, until the formation of t^e Bishopric of Eipon, a more
singular distinction prevailed ; for the former was in the jurisdic-
tion of the See of Chester — ^the latter in that of York.

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110 HABBOGATE.

The Parisbioners of High Harrogate attended divine service, by
an inconvenient journey of three miles, until the year 1749, when,
by the subscription of the interested parties, and a donation of SOL
from Lady Elizabeth Hastings, a chapel was erected. In 1831 it
needed so mnch extension that its removal was deemed preferable,
and the materials were alienated for the formation of '' The
Independent Chapel,^ near Prospect-place. The stnictnre which
succeeded it was built in the same year, and affords an accommo-
dation of 1200 sittings, of which 800, designated by labels, are
"free." Under the providons of the Act, 58 Geo. III., c. 45, a
district parish has very properly been assigned to this Church.

Low Harrogate, which is three miles from its parish church,
first obtained the benefit of a separate place of worship in 1824,
when St. Mary's Church was erected, after much exertion, aided
by the Commissioners of the Million Act.

The inhabitants and visitors attached to the Romish faith,
perform their devotions in the spacious chapel lately erected at
Knaresbrough.

The Dissenters have exhibited their wonted alacrity, in provi-
ding spiritual instruction for the strangers of their several per-
suasions. The Wesleyan Chapel, erected in 1824 — the old one
that had arisen so early as 1797 having been abandoned to the
purposes of a " Lounge " — ^will be foimd in Central Harrogate,
and of capacity sufficient to accommodate 800 souls. The Inde-
pendents erected a commodious structure in 1831 near Prospect-
place ; and the Quakers built a Meeting House in Chapel-street,
in 1854.

And now of the Watebs themselves. In a publication nke the
present, intended for general circulation, it is of course unavailing
to dissertate on the component parts and application of waters, of
which it is sufficient for the majority that they drink " in faith,
nothing doubting." The Chemist has had, already, the advantage
of several careful and judicious observations and analyses ; and to
those who are driven hither more by necessity than pleasure, I
would recommend, in the words of Dr. French, that they apply
themselves to some experienced Physician, who shall be able to
understand their constitution, distemper, and the nature and use
of the waters themselves ; that accordingly, as cause shall require,
the more successful preparations may be administered, and the
tnore effectual directions given.

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HARBOGATE.

Ill

THE TBWIT WELL

on the Common, to the east side of the Brunswick Hotel and near
the Leeds and Harrogate road, has not only precedency of its com-
panions, but of all similar waters in the county. Its history,
which has been much garbled, is best conveyed in the original
words of Dr. Dean's Spddacrene Anglica, published in 1626. *'It
was discovered first," says he, "about fifty years ago, by one
Mr. William Slingsby, who had travelled in Germany in his
younger years, seen and been acquainted with theirs j and as he
was of an ancient family near t^e place, so he had fine parts, and
was a capable judge. He lived sometime at a Grange house near
it ; then removed to Bilton Park, where he spent the rest of his
days. He, using this water yearly, found it exactly like the
German spaw. He made several tiyals of it, then walled it about
and paved it in the bottom with two large stone flags, with a hole
in their sides for the free access of the water, which springs up
only at the bottom through a chink or cranny left on purpose. Its
current is always nearly the same, and is about the quantity of the
Sauvenir, to which Mr. Slingsby thought it preferable, being more
brisk and lively, fuller of mineral spirits, of speedier operation : he
found much benefit by it. Dr. Tim. Bright, about thirty years ago
(1596), first gave it the name of * The English SpawJ Having
spent some time at those in Germany, he was a juc^e of both, and
had so good an opinion of ours that he sent many patients hither
yearly, and every summer drank the waters upon the place himself.
And Dr. Anthony Hunter, late Physician of Newark-upon-Trent,
often chided us Physicians in York for not writing upon it, and
deservedly setting it upon the wings of fame."

Though it has of late been indulged with the old cast-off dome
from ihe Sulphur well, the memorable "English Spaw" still
remains, after all the benefits it has conferred and all the praise it
has received, in something like its pristine humility, and deserted,
until lately, for those that have better advocates and a more com-
modious position. For a trifling gratuity .to the inmates of an
adjacent cottage, the visitor may still enjoy the imduninished
benefit that it offers, and test, in his own person, the truth of
Dr French's recommendation : that ^*it occasions the retention of
nothing that should be evacuated, and, by relaxation, evacuates

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112 HARBOGATB.

nothing that should be retained ; that it dries nothing bnt what 's
too moist and flaccid, and heats nothing but what 's too cold, and
e contra ; and that, ' tho' no doubt there are some accidents and
objections to the contrary/ it makes the lean f&t, the f&t lean,
cures the cholick, and melancholy, and the vapours ; " and that —
£Etir reader — ^**it cures aU aches speedily, and cheareth the heartJ^

THE SWEET SPA.

In 1631, only five years after Dr. Bean had set the Tewit well
" on the wings of Fame," Dr. Stanhope discovered another Chaly-
beate well, about a quarter of a mile from it, not &r from the
Flumpton and Wetherby road, and took << leave to advertise '' the
public of the same, in that now rare tract, styled " Cure9 without
Care^ or a summons to all such as find little or no help hy the use
of Physkk to repair to the Northern 8paw,*^ It has the advantage
of a more elevated and commanding situation than the Tewit well.
It seems to have acquired distinction soon after its discovery;
for, in 1656, great pains were taken to form a square terrace,
sixty yards on each side, no vestiges of which remain* In
1786, Alexander, Lord Loughbrough, who owned some property
in the township, and was interested in the prosperity of Harrogate,
generously erected a stone canopy over the spring, which was
removed in 1842, when the present neat building, called ^ The
Boyal Chalybeate,'' was substituted.

THE OLD SULPHUB WELLS.

Though the Sulphur waters engaged attention in the early part
of the seventeenth century, and were then used, both internally
and externally, it seems doubtM whether the well, now so justiy
celebrated, was much resorted to until the concluding period of the
Commonwealth, when Dr. George Neale, of Leeds, a benevolent
and enlightened man, applied himself to the promotion of their
use, and the advancement of their condition, with a spirit that
deserves a lasting memorial at the hands even of this distant
generation. In a posthumous paper that has been published by
Dr. Short, he thus records the preservation of the means by
which thousands have been blessed : — " There are (ctVc. 1676), and

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HABBOGATE,

113

were about twenty years ago, three springs close together, very
hw and scarce of water, that all of them did not afford mffkient
water for drinking and bathing. Wherefore, for the convenience
of the drinkers, I thought it convenient to take up the uppermost
spring, which is weakest and slowest of them, and made a large
basin to contain several hogsheads of water, and covered it with
a large stone to preserve it from the sun and rain water ; and for
a week together we rammed its , sides with clay to prevent other
springs from getting in. The event answered expectation: for we
had afresh spring of much better and stronger water, which afforded

MfW rUHr WDOX, •VUPHUA WBtU

as much in one hour now as it did in twenty-four before, more loaded
with the minerals than ever, and so of greater efficacy for either
bathing or drinking." It is a remarkable fact, in the impregna-
tion of these waters, that the second spring, which has been
generally covered up, is not half the strength of the first or chief
well, though it is but a yard distant from it. The third, which is
about 16ft. removed, though very potent, contains, like the weak
well, a trace <^ sulphate of soda, which the old well does not.
Being open to the public like the rest, it has been chiefly reserved
for baths, and transmission to distant parts of the kingdom. To
these three wells, an a4dition, very unwelcome at the time but very

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114 HAKEOGATE.

useful since, was made about a ceatiuy ago, when a man, who,
under the protection of a lease from the Earl of Burlington, had
acquired a right of searching for minerals in the Forest of
Knaresbrough, pretended to dig for coal, where the three sulphur
wells are situate. From this attempt, the Innkeepers and others
at Harrogate, who were interested in the preservation of the wells,
persuaded him to desist by the payment of 100/. "Sulphur water,
however," says the late Bishop of Llandaff, who records the story,
" had risen up where he had begun to dig : they enclosed the
place with a little stone edifice, and, putting down a basin, made
a fourth well."

In 1804 the principal well was distinguished by a large dome
supported by pillars; and thus it remained, with some minor
improvements, until 1842 ; when, in justice to the importance of
the Spa, and the proper and prudent conservation of its waters, the
Commissioners, under the Harrogate Improvement Act, resolved to
enclose the springs in a reasonable and efficient manner. An
octagonal Pump Room, of ample dimension and appropriate deco-
ration, was erected from the design of Mr. Shutt, a native of Har-
rogate, and opened on the 23rd of July in that year ; but that this
laudable arrangement might not interfere with the means or
inclination of those who could not or would not afford a trifling
gratuity to the attendant, a pump — available under restrictions
consequent only on the preservation of the water — is placed with-
out the walls.

Analysis of the Contents of one gallon of the Sulphur Water :

SoUd Contents. On. Gaseous Contents, G. In.

If nriate of Soda . . . 903*4 Solphuretted Hydrogen . . 16*8

Mariateof Lime . . . 78-9 Carbonic Acid ... 5-1

Muriate of Magnesia . 35. Azote . . . ; . 9*6

Bi-Carbonate of Soda . . 15*4 Carbnretted Hydrogen . . 4*98

Total . . . 1031*7 Total . . 36*48

THE MONTPELLIEB OB CROWN SULPHUR WELL,

about 200 yards east of the old wells, is private property. It
was found in 1822, and is enclosed together with tiie Saline
Chalybeate pump, connected with a spring at a small distance, in
an octagonal apartment, in <* the Chinese style." The public have
the benefit of these powerful springs by a trifling subscription ;

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SoUd Contenti. Gn.
Mariate of Soda - . - 88S*
Muriate of Lime- - - 858
Mariate of MagnesU - - 51*6
Bi-Carbonateof Soda- - 17-7

Total - -

- 1037-1

HABB06ATE. 115

obtaining also thereby the gratification of walking in the adjoin-
ing pleasure-ground.

One gallon of this Sulphur Water has been found to contain :

Oeueout Contents, G. In.

Sulphuretted Hydro^n - 19*68

Carbonic Acid ... 6*3

Aiote 7*8

Carburetted Hydrogen - . 5*58

Total ... 3936

In the antmnn of 1835 the proprietor of the Crown Hotel sunk
a well on his premises, 82 ft distant from the old sulphur well,
which was supposed to be thereby seriously injured. He was,
consequently, indicted under the provisions of l^e Knaresbrough
Forest Enclosure Act : but before the arguments were concluded,
consented to surrender the room which enclosed it to the use of
the public, for whose use he was required also to put down a pump.
The order of the Court, which was also made a rule of the Court
of King's Bench, enjoined that "the room be opened to the
public from six in the morning until six in the evening, of each
day, and that the defendant shall only use the pump and water in
common with the rest of the public ; " though he was allowed to
possess a key, apart from that used by the commissioners. He
engaged also not to deepen any of the other wells on his premises.

THE KNASESBBOUGH, OB STARBECK SPA

is situate midway between Harrogate and Knaresbrough, and
about 200 yards from the Starbeck Station, on the North-Eastem
line of railway. It obtained notice at an early period, and was
one of the the three sulphur springs which Dr. Dean, in 1626,
considered '* worthy of the Physician's observation." The subse-
quent improvement of the wells at Low Harrogate superseded its
benefits, which — elsewhere— would have been invaluable j and, in
1822, neglect and some degree of jealousy had so far combined,
that its site was almost unknown. In that year the inhabitants of
Knaresbrough did justice to the valuable gift committed to their
charge, by erecting an appropriate building over it, with a suite
of baths, and a residence for the attendant Its quality seems
particularly adapted to delicate constitutions, and it has afforded
relief when stronger waters have fedled.

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116 HABBOOATE.

Analysis of one gallon :

SoUd ConterUi. Gra. Oaseotu Content*. G. In.

128* Sulphnretted Hydrogen . . 5'

2-5 Carbonic Acid .... 8*3

10* Azote 11*7

Chloride of Sodium
Solphate of Soda .
Chloride of Calcium
Chloride of Magnesium
Bi-Carbonate of Soda

Total.

8*85
8'

146'T5 Total .

SALINE CHALYBEATE, OB BOTAL CHELTENHAM PUMP BGOM.

The discovery of a water, whicli united the properties of a tonic,
an aperient, and an alterative, was one of tlie greatest benefits
that had occurred to Harrogate since the establishment of the old
Sulphur well. It was found, together with the adjacent but dis-
used Chalybeate, by Mr. Oddy, in 1819, while searching for sulphur
water to supply the baths; and at the lower end of the little valley
that has disclosed the chief wells of Low Harrogate. When the
reputation of Harrogate became fixed on something more than the
ephemeral attractions of a place of fashionable resort, the original
pump-room was superseded by a spacious building, erected by the
proprietor Mr. Williams, in 1835, in which the Doric style is
applied to the exigencies of the case with taste and judgment.
Not only the conservation of the water, but the amusement of its
visitors is secured in this saloon, which is 100 feet long, 33 feet
wide, and 27 feet high ; for, it affords, besides a most comfortable
and luxurious promenade, an agreeable resort for the perusal of
the newspapers, and such current literature of the day as can be
selected £rom a library of several hundred volumes. The enter-
prise, also, of the present manager affords the frequent enjoyment
of the first musical talent in the kingdom ; and other similar
sources of refined pleasure. The appurtenant grounds are laid out
with considerable effect, and afford — within limits more diversified
than the site would induce many to suppose — a promenade of more
than a mile in extent ; and, of comfort, to be estimated best by
those who have been, elsewhere, driven to the highways for tiieir
imperative ambulation. A sheet of water — albeit neither delec-
tably clear nor dangerously deep — completes, as yet, the result of
a meritorious undertaking, which few, interested in the prosperity
of Harrogate, will be disinclined to patronise.

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HABBOGATE. 117

The constituent parts of a gal. of the Saline Chalybeate Water are

Solid Contents, Qn. Gaseous Contents. G. In.

Oxide of Iron ... 5*8 Carbonie Acid .... 5*75

CUoride of Sodinm - - 5765 Azote 7.75

Chloride of Calcium
Chloride of Magneeiiun-

Total - - 634-95 Total - - 13-5

THE MONTPELLIEB CHELTENHAM SFBING

was discoyered, some years ago, in the Gardens of the Crown
Hotel. It was not, generally, nsed, for some time after; bnt is
now supplied from a pump, adjoining that of the sulphuretted
spring previously noticed. A gallon exhibits

said Contents.

Grs.

Gaseous Contents.

C.In.

Sulphate of Soda - -

- 199

Carbonic Acid ...

- 18-5

Muriate of Magnesia -

- 84*3

Carburetted Hydrogen -

- 3-5

MoriateofLime - -

. 174-7

Aiote ....

- 8-

Muriate of Soda -

. 645-6

Carbonate of Soda -

- 6-4

Oxide of Iron -

- 3-1

Total - - 884- Total- • - 30*

WALEEB's STBONG SALINE SFBING

was added to this unique assemblage of waters in 1783 ; when it
was obseryed in the cellar of tiie Crescent Hotel, in the garden of
which, a spring, called tiie ** Crescent old well,'' partaking of tiie
nature of both chalybeate and sulphuretted waters, was found
about the same period. It is enclosed in a plain pump-room ; and
considered of importance in all cases when the Leamington waters
are applicable.

The solid contents of a gallcm are found to be

Grs.
Chloride of Sodinm ----- 610*
Chloride of Calcium ..... 44*5
Chloride of Magnesia ..... 14*5
Carbonate of Soda ...... 53*

Total - - 772-

The gases are Oxygen, Azote, and Carbonic Acid, but we haye
not been able to ascertain their volume or proportions.

There are several other springs, both sulphuretted and chalybeate
at Low Harrogate ; but none require particular observation here.

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118

HABBOGATE.

HABLOW CABB SPBINGS.

The recent introduction of these wells to public notice has not
only afforded a valuable remedy by which the sufferings of a large
class of the Visitors to Harrogate may be more effectually miti-
gated, than by the use of any of the numerous collection already
to be found tiiere ; but at the same time, an agreeable place of
resort will be gained when seclusion is also necessary, or exercise
can be induced or enhanced by scenes of rural beauty.

Their situation is in Harlow Carr, one of those small but pic-
turesque valleys that intersect this part of the country ; upwards
of a mile from the Brunswick Hotel, and beyond the tower, on the
road from Harrogate to Otiey. A small rivulet runs not far frx)m
the wells, and afterwards contributes, in a series of pools and
bubbling falls, in its rocky passage throtgh the woods, to produce
a pleasing and effective variety in this secluded sylvan retreat.

There are several springs, both of Sulphur and Chalybeate water,
in the grounds ; but three only of the former, and one of the latter
quality, are used at present. The Analysis of of a gallon of each,
made by Mr. West of Leeds, in May 1844, is as follows : —

SoUdContemt.

Ors.

Gcueout Oontentt.

C.In.

Mariate of Lime . .

. 4-73

Sulphuretted Hydrogen .

. 315

Sulphate of Magnesia .

. 115

Carbonic Acid

. 605

Carbonate of Magnesia •

. 6-93

Nitrogen . . .

. 8-34

Carbonate of lime .

. 5i«

• 1411

Total . .

. 38-8

Total . .

. 1754

SULPHUR SPEIMO MO. 2.

Solid CofUenti,

On.

Ocueous Contents,

C. In.

Muriate of Lime • .

. 8-85

Sulphuretted Hydrogen.

2-8

Sulphate of Magnesia .

. 291

Carbonic Acid

5-75

Carbonate of Magnesia .

8-48

Nitrogen . . .

. 7-97

Carbonate of Lime .

•18

Carbonate of Soda .

. 17-64

Total . .

. 38.

Total . .

- 16-52

.

8ULPBUE SPRINa NO. 3.

SoUdOoiUerUi.

Grs.

Oateotu Contents,

C.In.

Muriate of Lime .

4-77

Sulphuretted Hydrogen

. 2-92

Sulphate of Magnesia .-

. 1-56

Carbonic Acid

. 61

Carbonate of Magnesia .

. 8-23

Nitrogen . . .

. 7-98

5-84

Carbonate of Soda .

. 129

Total . .

. 33-3

Total ; .

. 17-

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HABBOGATE.

119

OHALTBBATB IPRIIIO.

Solid CofUenti,
Protoxide of Iron
Muriate of Lime
Salphate of Ma^rnesiA
Salphate of Soda
Carbonate of Lime
Carbonate of 8oda

Total

Org.
2*16
1-83
•77
1.65
8-93
1-27

ioT"

Mr. West observes: ** The Sulphur waters are extremely similar,
and might for medidnal pmrposes be considered as the same. The
similarity is much greater than is represented by the fignres, the
total of the lime and magnesia being nearly tiie same in each,
though in somewhat different combinations. I suggest for them
the name of the Harlow Sulphuretted Alkaline Springs."

It will be at once perceived that the peculiar value of these
sulphuretted springs consists in the total absence of Muriate of
Soda, or common salt; which — as it exists in the old sulphur water
to the extent of 902 grains, and, in the Montpellier water, to 882
grains in a gallon — ^neutralises, by its irritating quality — ^particu-
larly in cutaneous cases — ^the beneficial effect that might otherwise
ensue from their application.

The Chalybeate water, of which the analysis is given above, is
the strongest of that character at present discovered in the Carr.
It rises from the hiU side, a short distance from the sulphur
springs, and is considered by Mr. West ''to be of very desirable
strength."

The proprietor of this fortunate place, the late Mr. Wright, of
Pannal, erected a substantial and comfortable Inn, designed in
good Elizabethan character, which commands an agreeable pros-
pect, and forms a pleasing object from several points in the grounds.
A suite of ten Baths, either for hot or cold water, with two shower
baths, have also been provided in a detached building near the
wells, each side having a waiting-room and every other requisite
convenience.

THE BATHS.

The benefit of an external application of the waters was per-
ceived, and the absence of the means lamented, by Dr. Dean, in
his tract of 1626. Dr. Neale — the great patron of Harrogate—

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120 HABKOOATE.

introduced warm sulplraretted bathfl, "and procured one such
vessel for a pattern as are used, beyond sea, for that purpose. To
this primeeyal provision — the purgatory of which Smollett amus-
ingly records in "Humphrey CUnker" — the inhabitants were
content to subject their patrons, until the late Mr. Williams had
the spirit to construct the Victoria Public Baths, which now
belong to the Victoria Company.

Two years afterwards, Mr. Thackwray fitted up the Mont-
PELLIBK PtTBLlC Baths ; and by their luxurious and varied
aooommodation and peculiar adaption for invalids, completed all
that this "useful branch of medical hygiene requires.''

The peculiarly mild quality of the Staebeck water has also
been made available to those who ate deterred from the Baths at
Low Harrogate, by the erection there, in 1828, of suitable apart-
ments, and the provision of respectable attendants.

A spring of the purest water, known by the name of St. Mimoo's
Well, but confounded, I apprehend, with the &mous spring of
old, supplies agreeable refrediment by shower and other baths, at
"The Cold Wells," by the road leading to Harlow Tower. It is
supposed to be equivalent to the famed Bkley well, and has been
so much frequented that the proprietor found occasion, in 1847, to
enlarge and improve the accommodation.

And lastly, it may not be irrelevant to remind those who have
experienced the remedial effects of these waters, that their grati-
tude may not find a more appropriate or beneficial course than by
alleviating, through the medium of the Harbooate Bath
Hospital, the sufferings of those unfortunate fellow-creatures, for
whom Providence has provided a remedy, which their dream-
stances has not enabled them to apply.

HOTELS.

The accommodation afforded by the several Hotels — ^too well
known to need enumeration here — ^is such as will cause no class of
society to regret the appliances and comforts of their own homes.
" The Queen " was erected first, and as early as 1687. For those
whose constitution or disposition forbids public association, there
are several highly respectable boarding-houses, and above two
hundred and fifty lodging-houses — offering every grade and class
of comfort and conv^ence.

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HAREOOATE. 121

BECREATION.

An abundance of recreatiinL is afforded to those who -visit
Harrogate as a periodioal itelaacation from sedentary pursuits and
engrossing avocatioiis. The Bage Course, laid out in 1793, fa-
vours equestrian exercise, and, occasianally, the amusement for
which it was intended. There are Billiard Tables in all the
principal Hotels, and two Public Rooms at Low Harrogate. I
need remind none who remember Harrogate, and retain a soft
side of the heart, of the attractiye Balls that are enjoyed at the
Dragon, Granby, and Crown Hotels ; nor, of those excursions, by
which many acquaintances that have been acquired there, are, and
we hope long will be, renewed and improved.

In unfiEtYourable weather — and as a lounge while taking the
adjaoent sulphur water, or perusing the news and periodical litera-
ture of the day — " The Victona," better known as the " Promenade
Booms," a spacious apartment, 75 feet by 30 feet, offers an agree-
able retirement It was opened in 1805, and deserves patronage,
especially from i^e elder visitors, if only from its pleasing associa-
tions of by-gone days, and the gratification it afforded when most
of the existing agremem of Harrogate were not.

And, lastly, there is an infinity of amusement at the Tower on
Harlow Hill, which, though of the altitude of 596 feet above
the level of the sea, is easy of 4iscent The elevation of the tower
to the height of 100 feet gained a bewildering and most imposing
panoramic prospect, which can be viewed by the aid of seven
mounted telescopes. I have tmderstood from those, whose optical
capacities are more fortunate than my own, that the Peak in
Derbyshire, and the tower of a «hurch in Hull, may be seen in a
clear atmosphere — though the latter is distant sixty miles !

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s¥^''^

BOLTON PKIORY.

Now is then tUnneM in the vale.
And lonf ontpeakinf torxow,
Wbarfe shall be to pitying hearts
A name more sad than Tanow.

WouMwoBTH's Force of Pkatsk.

URING a visitor's sojofom at Harrogate, one
day, at least, must be spent at Bolton. I have
appended, therefore, though beyond the limits
assigned to my pages, the following brief no-
notices, which may, consequently, be considered
as suggestive, rather than descriptive, of the objects to be seen or
anticipated.

In the year 1120, William de Meschines and Cecily his wife, the
heiress of Bobert de Bomilld, to whom William tlie Conqueror

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BOLTON PBIOSY. 123

granted vast possessions in Crayen, founded at Embsay — ^two miles
east of Skipton — ^a Priory for Austin Canons, to the honour of the
Virgin Mary and St Cuthbert.

After the death of the founders, and in the year 1151, Alice,
their elder daughter and coheiress, who retained her mother's
name of RomilU, and had married William Fitz-Duncan, nephew
to David king of Scotland, is said, in a record which formerly
belonged to the Priory, to have translated the foundation to Bolton.

There is generally some wild legend connected with the origin
of our monastic foundations ; and a tradition, that had not passed
away in the middle of the seventeenth century, affirmed that this
circumstance took place in consequence of "the Boy of Egremond,"
the only surviving son of the second foundress, having been
drowned in attempting to cross the Strid, an unusually narrow
part of the river Wharfe ; and that Bolton was selected as the
nearest eligible site to where the misfortune happened.

This legend cannot, however, be implicitly received ; for, when
Alice gave the Canons her manor of Bolton, in exchange for their
manors of Skibdun and Stretton, her son William — ^and in a pedi-
gree, exhibited to Parliament in 1315, he is set down as her only
son — appears in the charter as a consenting party to the transac-
tion. Dr. Whitaker conjectured, therefore, that it might refer to
one of the sons of the first foundress, both of whom died young ;
but, I think it may be better reconciled with this stubborn piece
of evidence, by supposing that the manor of Bolton had been
exchanged, for the convenience of Alice, before the accident, and
that, subsequently, the Canons were glad to find a pretext, in her
disconsolate lamentation, for descending, from the cheerless heights
of Embsay, to the warm and sheltered seclusion of their newly-
acquired possession.

But, whatever may have been the truth of this dim and faded
story, we should rejoice that it lingered long enough to be
revivified — phoenix-like— from its ashes, in the memorable lays of
Kogers and of Wordsworth.

After having existed upwards of four hundred years, the founda-
tion was surrendered by Richard Moon, the prior, and fourteen of
his brethren, on the 26th of January, 1540. On the 3rd of April,
1542, the site, with many of the possessions of the house, was
granted to Henry CUfford, first Earl of Cumberland, but nineteen
days before his death, for the sum of 2490/. From him they have
descended to the present worthy owner, the Duke of Devonshire.

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124 BOLTON PBIORY.

** The niiitB of this oelefarated Priory stand upon a beautiM
carvature of the Wharf, suffioieiitly elevated to protect it from
inundation, and low enough for every purpose of picturesque
effect : " in which respect the competent judgment of Whitaker
has pronounced that <<it has no equal among the northern houses
— perhaps not in the kingdom." Its site is so shut in by rising
ground and embosomed in trees, that the visitor, who has come
from Harrogate across ** Knaxesbrough forest,'' may not be aware
that he is approaching it until he is almost on the spot.

The Bbidoe retains no vestige of that structure which was
erected or rebuilt in 1314, nor of the Chapel that was attached to
it for the benefit of passengers ; but the following inscription may
yet be seen graven on an oaken beam in a cottage at the south-
west angle, that most likely occupies its site : —

SjftoiD s^ jpa^fitf i& fito (Das ^^^ ^^ n^^ 1^^^ 5^ ^S*

There is a pleasant footpath from the bridge, across <<the Town-
field," to the abbey ; but strangers, generally, proceed a few
hundred yards frirther down the road, and enter the Abbey-dose
by an opening in the boundary-wall, which remains there in good
preservation.

BOLTON HALL.

The gateway of the Priory is nearly opposite the west front of
the church, and is a substantial work of the Perpendicular era,
constructed with an idea of defence. As it had not been erected
long before the dissolution, the arches were closed, and it was,
soon after, fitted up as an occasional place of retirement for the
Cliffords, or as a residence for one of their stewards. The house
has recently been enlarged by the Duke of Devonshire, who occa-
sionally retires here in the shooting season. It contains nothing
of general interest except some curious jNlctttres, chiefly £unily
portraits, which visitors are allowed to im^ct.

Outside the hall window aze placed sevend rtmrions Early-
£^glish bosses, which, I apprehend, have becai removed from the
passage leading from the Court to the Chapter-hoofleof the. Priory.

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SOLTON FBIO&T. 125

HISTOBICAL NOTICE OF THE PEIOEY.

The shell of the Priory Church remains entire, and the nave is
still used as a parochial chapel. It exhihits all the styles of archi-
tecture that prevailed from the period of its foundation to that of
its dissolution; and some of them in a degree of excellence that
has not often been surpassed. The choir was eyidently the first
work of the Canons, after, or, more probably, a Kttle prior to, their
translation from Embsay ; and from thence the work proceeded
westward — a considerable time having apparently elapsed before
they brought it to a conclusion.

The domestic buildings were, probably, built in the intermediate
period between the erection of the choir and the nave ; and after,
or nearly contemporary with, the completion of the church may
have been the erection of the Chapter-house, and the introduction
of the Sedilia in the choir.

But the Canons were not long content with the structure of their
church. We are not, directly, informed at what period they
resumed operations ; but, as the Compotus of the Priory from 1290
to 1325 contains no payments on that account, we have this con-
firmation of existing architectural evidence, that it was soon after
the latter period that the old choir was deemed incompatible with
the condition of their house, and that a structure, exhibiting the
more elegant forms of the decorated style, was substituted on its
foundation. Except a portion of the inner wall, as high as the
base of the windows, and fragments at the junction with the tower,
the whole of this part of the church was rebuilt at this period.
The south transept was also then, apparently, renewed from the
foundation, and ramified windows introduced into the opposite
member of the cross aisle. So great, indeed, was their disposition
for improvement that they rebuilt the aisle of the nave, and added
a parapet and battlements to the clerestory above.

After the lapse of nearly two centuries, the spirit of renovation
again moved the house, and while Eichard Moon — a native of the
adjacent village of Hazlewood — ^was Prior. In 1520 he began to
erect a tower at the west end of the church, after a florid and
ambitious design; but the days of monachism were numbered, and
the rude hands of Henry were laid up<Hi him, ere the work had
risen above the nave.

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126 BOLTON PBIO&T.

8XJBVEY OP THE PSIOBY.

The first part of the Priory that attracts the notice of a stranger
is this Tower. The exterior exhibits great originality of design;
but, internally, the sectional outline of the arch by which it should
have communicated with the nave is of very insufficient projection.
The arms of Clifford and those of the Priory — derived from the
bearing of the Earls of Albemarle — are introduced in the spandrils
of the doorway. The mouldings of the niches above, after making
the heads, expand into the resemblance of embattled turrets — ^thus
betraying a tendency, in the decoration of the work, at least, to
ihe cinque-cento vitiation. A frieze above presents the inscription
by whidi alone Moon has retained the credit of the work :

In tjfte get of oior lorl^ mUxx. H. w fctsaun tjftnt fobnlmd^oii
on qiDJfto fiofol gol^ Iftaiu matte* amen*

On the first stage of the south-west buttress stands a figure in a
cap and gown reaching to his knees, holding a short staff in his
right hand and a round shield under his left arm, a cross-flory
being embossed on his breast. Whitaker considered that it repre-
sented a pilgrim with his staff and slouched hat ; but it may be
doubted whether one of those champions by whom wager of battle
was conducted was not intended.

The West Front of the nave exhibits a deeply-recessed door-
way, surmounted by three lancet-lights, and enriched with a series
of arcades, true to the still lingering spirit of the old Lombard
works, but detailed^ of course, in the Early-English style.

The South Side of the nave is earlier than the north. At its
western end, we see indications of the roof and wall of the Dormi-
tory ; and of the Store-houses, or whatever might have been the
buildings below. From the point of junction of these buildings
with the nave, its south side is decorated with a pointed arcade on
cylindiical shafts — exhibiting a good example of the transition
from the Norman to the Early-English style. Above this arcade
may be observed the corbels and groove by which the penthouse
roof of the Cloister has been supported. At the east-end of it has
been a doorway communicating with the church, and a stoup,
exquisitely foUated in undulating lines, like the boss over the
western door.

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BOLTON PBIORY.

127

On viewing the Interior, it will be found that the six fine
lancet lights of the south side of the nave occupy the space of three
opposite arches, and are made, by two shallow pilasters, into three
corresponding compartments. These coupled lights — the first
approach to a ramified window — ^are divided in height by a plain
and original transom. Some fragments of the coeval Stained
Glass remain in them, the principal pattern being a red quatre-
foil — enclosing a mascle — placed between two vertical borders.
The triforium, or gallery from the Dormitory of the Canons to
the church, crossed the base of these windows ; the passage still
remaining by which they entered and left the nave.

The opposite side of tiie nave is divided from its aisle by one
cylindrical column placed between two of octagonal form. Above
these are four single and plain lancet lights, based on a ponderous
string course. On the outside, they are not divided by buttresses,
but connected by a dog-toothed string-course passing over the
heads, with an elegant and characteristic foliated boss at the point
of springing.

The North and only Aisle of the Nave has been renewed
from the ground in the Decorated period, and is, economically
rather than unskilfdlly, plain. It has three windows, with tracery
of elegant design, and a deeply-moulded doorway towards the west
end, surmounted by a trefoil-headed niche.

Of the Stained Glass, with which these windows appear to
have been finished, there was left, only, before the recent introduc-
tion of the present glass, fragments of a ruby border in the tracery,
enriched with cinquefoils and fleurs-de-lis ; some red roses ; and the
heads of two kings, which, though evidentiy coeval with the stone-
work, and characteristic of the period, were inadvertently sup-
posed by Dr. Whitaker to have been " a compliment to the
unhappy monarch for whom two of the Clifibrds successively
fought and died."

The space of one arch at the east end of this aisle is enclosed by
a wooden lattice, in the Perpendicular style, except that part which
abuts on the pier of the tower, where there is a low wall. This
was a Chantry Chapel, founded, no doubt, soon after the trans-
lation of the house by one of its chief benefactors, the Mauleverers
of Beamsley ; and retains that character by an altar stone, now
prostrate on the floor, and the piscina — a plain semicircular-headed
recess— of which the basin has been partially destroyed. At the
east end are eight large rough stones, above 7 feet long, laid side
by side, and risen above the floor about 20 inches. These cover

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128 BOLTON PRIOBY.

the Yaulx of the Ct.afhaimw, of Beamsley, -who, aooordiiig^ to
tradition, were interred there upright f bnt though we may "look
down" throogh the ''chink in the fractured floor," we ghall miss
" the griesly sight/' which, if it ever existed^ materially, I am sorry
to say has long since disappeared.

" Fa88» pass who will, yon chantry door,
And, through the chink in the fractured floor
Look down and see a griesley sij^ht ;
A Vault where the bodies are buried upright ;
There face by face, and hand by hand.
The Claphams and the Mauleveren stand ;
And in hit plaee among son and sire.
Is John de Clapham, that fierce Esqoire,
A valiant man, and a man of dread
In the ruthless wars of the White and Bed ;
Who dragged Earl Pembroke from Banbury Church,
And smote off his head on the stones of the porch."

At the opposite side of the nave was another altar; the Piscina
— a plain round arch and sqnare basin — ^remaining.

The wooden Scbeen, which divided the nave from the transept,
has been removed, since the dissolution, the space of one arch
from the western pier of the central tower. It is a plain specimen
of Tudor open-work, surmounted by a heavy cornice of quatrefoils;
of which, nevertheless. Prior Moon need not lose the credit.

He may be thanked also for the Roof, a good specimen of
carpentry, painted, like many coeval works, with broad lines of
Vermillion. The beams rest on figures of angels, one of which
holds a staff like that exhibited by the statue in the tower, and
stands on a crescent or moon ; evidently an allusion to the Prior.
The cornice is painted in panels, with flowers and heads much
faded ; and three sculptured bosses of similar design adorn the
centre beam. One of these is sagely conjectured, by the country
people, to represent the devil ; and, certainly, the great enemy of
mankind can have little cause to rejoice at the comparison.

When the nave was retained, after the dissolution, as a place of
worship, a wall was raised under the arch by which it communi-
cated with the central tower, and two windows were inserted in it
The upper part, which was merely of lath and plaster, was com-
pleted, in masonry, by Mr. Carr, the late amiable and respected
incumbent of Bolton ; who, after a faithful discharge of his duty
for fifty-four years, died in 1843, and rests immediately below,
among scenes and objects he had loved in life, and tended and
appreciated so well.

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BOLTON P&IO&Y. 129

We must now leave the nave, and, in the usual routine, pass to
the Central Tower. This structure might, originally, have been
raised the height of its square above the roofs ; but the arches
alone now remain. They are of unequal width : that of the choir
being 28 feet and very obtuse ; that of the transept but 18 feet,
and, consequently, elegant and acute.

It is probable, from the progressive character exhibited in the
tower, that the South Transept was, originally, erected before
the other. It was afterwards rebuilt, but is now totally rased,
except the west wall, which retains two very beautifully decorated
windows, and a doorway, of like character, leading to the Cloister-
court "When this transept was cleared of rubbish, several years
ago, a floor of plain tiles was found, nearly perfect, but depressed
by the lapse of graves; and, towards the north-west comer, a
curious, but worn sepulchral memorial of grit stone. It bears a
rudely-incised figure of an Austin Monk, with his hands joined in
the attitude of prayer, and this brief record :

l^ic jacft Vn*ii Xjpofet Wiot^ qmVm ]P'ot«

by which the tenant of this lonely tomb is identified as Christopher
Wood the eighteenth Prior of the house, who resigned his office
on the lOth of July, 1483.

The North Transept is perfect, except the eastern wall of the
aisle, which is entirely demolished. It is divided from this part
by two chamfered arches, rising from an octagonal pillar, with a
boldly moulded capital. Except this work, and perhaps the inner
half of the other walls, the whole transept may have been rebuilt
in the Decorated period. At all events, a large ramified window
was then inserted in the north wall ; two in the west ; and twO|
with ungraceM triangular heads, but very good tracery, over the
arches on the east side.

The side aisle, which was divided from the transept by a wooden
lattice as high as the capital of the column, communicates with the
choir by its original semicircular arch ; and near its side remains
an equally uninteresting piscina — a mere round-headed recess, like
those in ike nave.

The Choir. — Except a portion of the interior of the lateral
walls, and fragments attached to the piers of the tower, this inte-
resting part of the structure displays that scientific beauty which
has vindicated the Decorated style as the perfection of Gothic
architecture. It has neither aisles nor triforium, but each side is

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130 BOLTON PKIOKY,

occupied by five tall lights, all now, but one, diyested of their
exquisite tracery. In the east window a few fine flowing frag-
ments still cling to the arch.

The internal effect of the choir is considerably improved, if not
in classical, certainly in picturesque effect, by an arcade of semi-
circular but intersecting arches, which are continued from its
junction with the aisles of the transept to the steps of the altar.
They are in two tiers — the western series of nine arches on each
side being elevated a little above the other. To amend the irregu-
larity as well as to harmonise this decoration — which the rebuilders
in the fourteenth century took some pains to retain — ^with the
general effect of the choir, these skilftd and ingenious men inserted
a bold and flowing trefoil cornice above the lower range, which
brought it level with the base moulding of their windows and the
crown of the upper arcade. The mouldings of the archivolt, as
well as the capitals of the shafts, are of good character, and the
latter are ingeniously diversified.

Beyond this arcade, in the north wall, is an arched Kecess, about
9 inches deep, 9 feet 6 inches in height and width, and flanked by
two paneled shafts. It is difficult to say whether this work, which
was respected by the rebuilders of the choir, though rude and un-
geometrical in the curvature of the arch, has been originally in-
tended for a tomb for the Paschal play of the Kesurrection, or for
a real interment. It may, indeed, ultimately, have served both
purposes ; for the plinth, which is continued round the back from
the bases of the shafts, retains traces of grout-work, which has
been superinduced on it, to the height of 2 feet 6 inches, if not
half-way up the recess. Whitaker says a skeleton was once found
beneath the arch, and part of a filleting of brass, with the Longo-
bardic letters nevi j from which he presumed it might pertain to
Lady Margaret Neville, whose fimeral is mentioned in the Bursar's
account of 1318.

Not fer from hence is laid the comer of a blue marble Slab,
which is said to have been found in the rubbish, near the arch ;
but which maybe considered to be a fragment of the tomb of John
Lord Clifford, K.G., who was slain at Meux, 10 Henry V., and,
according to the Chronicle of KirkstaU, was brought home and
interred at Bolton. A corresponding fragment, now laid on the
opposite side of the choir, is, I believe, the stone which Whitaker
observed in the wall of an out-hoase at Bolton.

A little westward is a large sepulchral slab, much shattered.

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BOLTON PKIORY.

131

which has borne an elaborate memorial or effigy in brass, with a
circiimscription. It probably covers one of the later Priors, for
the outline of a pastoral staff may, apparently, be traced on it.

In their usual position on the south side of the choir are the
remains of four Sedilia and a Piscina of Early-English character,
much mutilated ; though, when Johnston saw them in 1670, they
remained in tolerable perfection. Little more, however, is now
left than the bases of the stalls, enriched with a trefoil panel,
enclosed in a triangle, alternately reversed in the design. A small
portion of three of the niches alone is left; though sufficient to
show that the work has been covered with armorial shields, placed
in a perpendicular series, double on the back, but single on the
sides ; the intermediate space being adorned with the rose, which
was introduced m the stalls of the Chapter-house, and many Early-
English works. As the relief is very slight, the charges of the few
remaining shields are totally obliterated. The description of what
Johnston observed is recorded in the History of Craven ; but it
seems to afford no decisive evidence as to the period of their erec-
tion, unless the appearance of the shield of Castile and Leon can be
required to carry back the style beyond the close of the thirteenth
century.

On the south side of the choir were two Chapels, which ex-
tended half its length, and were coeval with its original construc-
tion. As the roofs rested on corbels placed in the wall of the
church, the portion of it below was suffered to remain when the
choir was rebuilt ; though, from the appearance at the angle of the
acyoining transept, the outer wall of the chapel was then renewed.
The dedication of the western chapel, which has been entered from
the transept, is forgotten. The other has, unquestionably, been
" the last resting-place of the Lords of Skipton, and patrons of
Bolton." It communicates with the choir by a doorway, rebuilt
together with it, and a contiguous arch, which, having been left in
a rude state at its original erection, was then also decorated in the
inner surface with blank tracery ; and assimilated further with the
character of the choir, by the addition of a triangular canopy, of
which the outline and finial remain. Under the arch, I doubt not,
was laid the effigy of the ^< Lady Komille," which Johnston saw in
1670, but which is now entirely lost ; and, in the recess in the wall
below, I feel equally confident, were deposited the remains of that
great patroness of the house, when called to her everlasting reward.

We shall now complete our survey of the ruins most effectually

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132 BOLTON PEIOBT.

by turning to the Quadranottlar Court, of which the honndary
ou the north side is marked hj the wall of the nave. On the west
was a range of lofty buildings, the lower apartment being, I pre-
sume, the Store-house; the upper, the Dormitory of the
Canons. Of the Kefectort on Uie south, sufficient remains only
to show that it has been a spacious apartment ; and, from its shal*
low buttresses, coeval with the translation of the house. At its
eastern end has been a wide passage, leading to a much larger
Court behind ; around which, and about the site of the present
minister's house, were ranged the Kitchens to the west, some
unappropriated offices to the south, and a long chamber, not im-
probably the Guest's Hall, to the east Still beyond this court
is a small detached building, now used as a School-house, and
proved by the flat and shallow buttresses to have been of an age
little inferior to the refoundation.

The east side of the Cloister-Court is formed by the transept of
the church, and at its southern extremity is the passage leading to
the Chapter-house. The entrance from the Cloister was rebuilt in
the decorated period, but the arch alone remains — a bold and
conspicuous object, mantled with ivy, and emulating nature in the
foliated capitals of its colunms. There is an exquisite glimpse, to
be had through it, of the waterfall above the rivei* in one direction,
and of Bolton hall in the other.

The passage has been worthy of the building to which it led, and
was of the same age and style. From some fragments of shafts,
which adhere to the wall, the sides appear to have been enriched
by an arcade, and — ^if I am right in my assignation of the bosses
that remain before the windows of the hall — ^to have had also a
handsome and groined roof.

The site of the Chapter-house has been discovered only within
recollection, but — Shaving been torn down nearly to the foundation
-—is even yet sought in vain, by many an unpractised eye. It was
an octagonal building, in the Early-English style, of about 30 feet
in diameter, the west side having been entirely voided by the
passage. There have been, apparently, five stalls on each side,
resting on a base of quatrefoils, and ornamented at each angle
with three roses of exactly similar character to those exhibited in
the sedilia of the choir.

On the south side of the Chapteivhouse passage, are foundations
supposed to have been those of the Prior's Lodge. Another
demolished structure at the south-east angle is considered to have

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BOLTON PMORT. 133

been his chapel. Still eastward of the Chapter-house are swel-
ling mounds, indicative of an enclosure ; and of two buildings,
which Whitaker thought might have been the Pbioey Mill. If
the site had been more propitious, I could have believed them to
have been, the lodgings of Ihe Prior.

But we may not linger here ; for the banks and braes of Wharfe
now begin to develope their attractions, and the summer's sun
will set ere one half of them can be enjoyed.

Yet, hard and unenviable is the heart that turns away &om
Bolton Church-yard, without a sigh ior Eimly N<Mrton —

«« Exalted EmUy,
Maid of the blasted family "—

or glances not at the track, up the woods and o'er the fell, by
which the memorable White Doe of Rylstone, after the death of
her mistress, sought this hallowed sanctuary, each Sabbath morn-
ing, and returned again, on the dispersion of the congregation.

After some charming views of the Priory, particularly one
including the curvature of the Wharfe, made familiar by pictorial
illustrations, the path sinks to the bed of the valley, and enters
the woods.

Although visitors are permitted to ramble, at pleasure, through
the woods, except on Sunday, when ingress is strictly prohibited,
the great diversity of paths renders it advisable to avail themselves
of a guide, without whose direction many interesting points of
view must pass unobserved.

" About half a mile above Bolton the valley closes, and on each
side the Wharf is overhung by deep and solemn woods, from which
huge perpendicular masses of grit-stone jut out at intervals." For
awhile, the river sweeps on in majestic undtdations, exasperated
by rocks and swelled by a tributary stream bursting from a woody
glen, exhibiting "its native character — lively, impetuous, and
irregular."

Then for a few moments it reposes by a delicious and verdant
holm ; lingering noiselessly in the shade of luxuriant trees, whose
slanting boughs stoop to kiss its bosom.

At length its subdued and solemn roar, " like the voice of the
angry spirit of the waters," disturbs the deep solitude of the woods,
and announces the tremendous St rid, which suddenly greets the
eye, struggling and foaming in a narrow trench in the rock, through
which the whole of the impetuous torrent is poured "Avith a
rapidity proportioned to its confinement."

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134 BOLTON PBIOBT.

Hither, says the shadowy tradition that, for seven oentnries,
has invested this awfiil spot with a mysterious interest, came "the
Boy of Egremond," only son of Alice de Romilld, Lady of Skipton,
ranging the woods of Bolton with his greyhounds and huntsman ;
and attempted to cross the gulph.

'* He sprang in ^lee»— for what cared he
That the river was strong, and the rocks were steep ?
But the greyhound in the leash hung back.
And checked him in his leap.

The Boy is in the arms of Wharf,
And strangled by a merciless force ;
For never more was young Romilly seen
Till he rose a lifeless corse.'*

The Forester hastened to Lady Alice, and, with despair in his
countenance, intimated misfortune hy the significant enquiry,
" What is good for a hootless heane ? " by which we may undeK-
stand, What remains when prayer is unavailing ? Yet it was
enough: for the presentiment of the anxious mother instantly
rejoined, ^^Endless sorrow "; and, on being assured that such was
her lot, she vowed that many a poor man's son should be her heir,
and so became the second foundress of Bolton.

The language of this question — ^now become all but unintelligible
— ^proves the antiquity of the story, which is the next thing to
establishing its truth ; but — alas — on how many a bright and beau-
tiM dream, has its meaning since intruded!

After all, " no one can stand long by it, without feeling a sense
of its power and savage grandeur grow upon him ; " and many,
inspirited by its majestic tone, may feel that it is a place " how
tempting to bestride." But its real contraction, which I am told
is 4 feet 5 inches, deceives the eye ; and there is the greater danger
that — ^in the confusion of insecurity — the attrition of the rocks may
betray the bounding step, which — ^like many another erring and
needless act — can never more be recalled.

The contraction of the rock extends about sixty yards j and,
"being incapable of receiving the winter floods, has formed on
either side, a broad strand of naked gritstone, fall of rock basins
or pots of the lin, which bear witness to the impetuosity of so many
northern torrents."

By following the main path — sometimes skirting, sometimes
rising high above the river bank — ^you wind up the curvature of
the valley, and at a sheltered bower called Pembroke Seat, instinc-

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BOLTON PBIOBY.

135

tiyely halt, to contemplate the glorious prospect of the torrent
sweeping, in an << homed flood," far down before you, from the
old tower of Barden, shrouded in « ancient woods and backed by
the purple distance of Thorpe-felL

Beyond this point, the excursion of those whose time is limited
is seldom protracted ; but no true lover of nature, or of those asso-
ciations of by-gone days by which it is enhanced, should refrain,
undismayed by the apparent distance, from passing on through
Barden Park, to the Tower. It is indeed but a plain Tudor house,
enlarged or rebuilt by Henry Clifford, " the Shepherd Lord," from
one of the Lodges by which the ancient Chace of Barden was pro-
tected ; but the scenery around is so exquisitely beautifrd — the air
of primaDval simplicity so pure and refreshing — and the profound
seclusion and tranquillity so congenial to the sympathies of the
imagination and of the heart, that it needed neither the associa-
tion of the virtues, or of the fisime of its founder, nor the lays
of him by whom they have been sung so worthily and well, to
invest its crumbling walls with another and an indistructible
enchantment.

The tower was repaired in 1658, by Lady Pembroke, after it had
been in ruins about seventy years, but it is abandoned once q^ore
to desolation. The chapel — a small and coeval building — attached
to the adjoining £Euin-house, is still preserved, and served by the
minister of Bolton.

After you have passed the tower and reached the high road, turn
aside down the footpath to Gill-beck fidl — a mountain stream
dashing down a precipice of forty feet to meet the Wharfe —
but return to the picturesque old bridge, to be greeted by the
broad sylvan-bounded stream, and Greenhow hiU rising in the
distance.

At the foot of the bridge it will be well to pass to the opposite
side of the river by which you came, and then along the holm ; not
forgetting often to turn and catch the varying glimpses of Barden,
nestling in its dense sylvan repose.

For the gratification which follows, every lover of beauty must
be grateful to Mr. Carr, who, " working," as Wordsworth has said,
^* with an invisible hand of art in the very spirit of nature," guided
the path along the hill-side, and " laid open the more interesting
points, by judicious thinnings in the woods." From one of these
stations, there is a lovely view of the river, towards Barden, and
little further on, another, in the opposite direction towards the

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136 BOLTON PRIOET.

Strid, where the extreme oontractian of the yalley, at that inteiv
esting point, may be, yery definitely, obflerved* At length, we ore
brought, immedktely above the raging torrent, and, while the eye
rises from the depth and luxuriance of the valley, to the green
knolls and dreary fells sweeping beyond, the ear is charmed by
that hoarse roar of " the angry spirit of the waters,'' that for un-
numbered ages, has never been subdued nor stilled.

Before the Laund House, on the site of one of the Lodges of
Barden, it is worth while to turn aside to an " unwedgable and
gnarled oak " that may have, successively, sheltered Eomilld and
Albemarle, Clifford, and Boyle. It is 25 feet 4 inches in girth, at
4 feet 6 inches from the ground, for the tortuosity of the trunk
prevents its measurement lower.

It needs no persuasion to allure the most careless step towards
Posforth-gill — a woody glen that now branches from the vale of
Wharfe, implying in its antiquated name the character of its lively
stream. Far down below our path, we are accompanied by the
rich, deep umber-coloured but sparkling and translucent beck;
sometimes eddying in deep shady pools, then — ^with renewed force
— ^bursting forth and tossing down its rocky bed, fringed and
canopied by the mountain ashes that sometimes fill the bosom of
the gill with their elegant and graceful luxuriance. After an en-
chanting prospect down the glen, to which it will be hard to say
farewell, the path declines towards " the Valley of Besolation,"
and crosses Fosforth-beck in front x)f its finest fall, where it is
poured, in two main streams, from the height of 54 feet, with a
force that dashes up the spray more than 15 yards. It then as-
cends the upper or high park, and continues outside l^e pale : —
a judicious arrangement, by which the repetition of Fosf(»rth-gill,
however intrinsically interesting, is avoided, and you gain from
the superior elevation, views of the fells on the opposite side of
Wharfdale. After crossing an angle of " the lower park," you
regain the woody banks of the Wharfe, where you can have the
last and not least interesting view of Barden ; and, on descending
to " the holm," pass over the wooden bridge to the path by which
you set out.

If you did not approach the Friory by the path tlmmgh the
fields, you may return by that way, to see the Priory Barn, which
is still occupied ; and as a singular specimen of ancient carpentry,
deserves attentive examination. But, if that should be no attrac-
tion, then, at least, cUmb " the Holm Terrace " to enjoy the last

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BOLTON PRIORY.

137

and most delicious prospect of the lovely scene from which you
are now quickly departing ; and to stand —

• not only with the sense

Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That, in that moment, there is life and food
For future years.

And now, patient companion, — young or old, lettered or un-
lettered, fair or unfavoured, — ^with whom — alike unseen and un-
heard — I have traversed these beauteous and diversified scenes,
and mused on the legends of the past, I quit my pleasing occupa-
tion ; sufficiently happy, if I have, for one hour, induced their
juster appreciation, or awakened, more sensibly, in thy breast, the
patriotic sentiment of the chronicler of old :

^ngrlonDc i^ a foel goD lonDe, I foene of ecj^e lonDe it^t.

RiFON : Printed by A. Johnson and Company, Market-place.

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MR. WALBRAN'S RIP ON GUIDE.

^\J3VERTISEMENTS.

BRUNSWICK HOTEL

AND FAMILY. BOAKDING HOUSE,

EICID. DUCKITT, PEO PEIETOE.

TERMS: £. «. d.

Board and Lodging in Public, per Week 2 2

Bo. do. in Private, per Week 2 9

Servants Board and Lodging, per week 1 4

Private Sitting Boonifl cliaxged Extra.

Attendance, including Waiter and Chambermaid, One Shilling

per day, each person. Boots and Hostler Extra.

The Botel is contiguous to the North Eastern Railway
Station,

Good Stables and lock-up Coach-houses, Cabs, Post Horses, ^c.

H. SHAEPIN, MAMGEK.

BRIMHAM ROCKIS.

THE Sixth Edition, Demy 12mo., of A DESCRIPTIVE AC-
COUNT OF BRIMHAM ROCKS; with numerous pen and
ink lithographic Sketches, Woodcuts, and a lithographic view of
the Idol Rock, Yoke of Oxen, &c., price Is.

Published and sold by A. Johnson and Co., Printers, Mipon ;
and may also be had of Richard Wetherhead of Brimham House.

Demy 12mo., neatly bound in cloth, price 2s. 6d.

THE HAKEOGATE MEDICAL GUIDE:

A popular and practical Treatise on the Mineral Waters of Har-
rogate and the Diseases in which they are useful ; with supple-
mentary Remarks on Diet and Exercise; and some select cases.

By ALFRED SMITH, M.R. C.S.
May he had of A. Johnson and Co., Printers, etc., Ripon.

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SOLD BY A. JOHNSON & Co., BOOKSELLERS, EIPON:-

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ON AN OATH TAKEN BY MEMBEES OP THE PARLIAMENTS
OP SCOTLAND, EBOM THE lOth OP AUGUST 1641 to 1649.

This work contains a AiU, minute, and historical account of this curious Record,
which was supposed to have been lost when the late Commissioners of the Public
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