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THE

CATHEDRALS OF
ENGLAND AND WALES

ir History
architecture
and Associations

WITH A SERIES OF REMBRANDT
PLATES AND MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
IN THE TEXT

IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I.

CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED

LONDON, PARIS, NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE. MCMVI

r;
0

« n

6 , 1

/VA

v. I

O apology need be offered for yet another work upon those monu-
ments of " petrified piety " which among material things are the
•^- ^ chief glory of our land. The great age of architecture, indeed, is
past, never probably to return ; but none the less is it true that never
were our cathedral churches so prized and treasured as they are now. In
this respect the present generation need fear comparison with none of those
that had their little day when architecture was a living organism. The
Early English builders felt no compunction in making away with the
Norman work of their predecessors, and although, out of deference
to some great master-builder whose influence survived his death, an
unfinished scheme was occasionally continued in accordance with the
original conception, the same indifference to earlier work which charac-
terised the creators of the first Pointed style was betrayed by those
who built in the later styles, and most of all by the Perpendicular
builders. That this should be so was inevitable. While the Gothic
was passing through its predestined phases it was not to be expected
that men would properly appreciate work which they looked upon,
rightly or wrongly, as but rudimentary. Theirs was the joy of creation ;
and the sense of antiquity which is now so sedulously cultivated only
became possible when the period of evolution was succeeded by an era
of comparison and imitation.

Yet we of these later days may easily plume ourselves over much
upon our reverence for the work of past ages. Admirable as are the
pious zeal and liberality that have made possible the restorations recorded
in the following pages, who can maintain, on a survey of church restora-
tion as a whole, that it has not been carried too far ? In many in-
stances the architect has indulged in reconstruction when reparation
would have sufficed. Too often the church committed to his mercies

vi PREFACE.

has emerged from the ordeal as spick-and-span as though it were fresh
from the chisel of the original builder, and years must pass before the
gentle hand of time can mellow the rawness of the scarified stonework.
In the pages of these volumes no name occurs so frequently as that of
Sir Gilbert Scott. Of his considerable learning, his amazing facility and
industry, his happy reconstructive guesses, no praise could well be
excessive ; and when we think of the achievements of his predecessors
it may seem ungracious even to hint at excess of zeal ; but it would have
been possible to take more unqualified delight in his work had it
been marked by somewhat less vigour and rigour, and by more of that
" tender spirit of archaeological conservatism " with which a recent writer
credits him.

To the scathe wrought by Reformers and Puritans many references will
be found in these pages. But it is questionable whether our cathedrals have
suffered much more from iconoclastic rage than from the neglect and
vandalism to which they were exposed when sectarian violence had done
its worst. One may suspect, indeed, that Cromwell's men have been
saddled with not a little blame that belongs rather to the custodians of our
churches during that dismal eighteenth century which may be called the
dark age of architecture. In any case, it is at least as easy for the
historic sense to find extenuation for ebullitions of frenzied zeal at times
of national tumult as for callous and slothful indifference.

In the present volumes no rigid system of arrangement has been
attempted. Canterbury, York, and St. Paul's come first, and after them
Durham and Winchester, but for the rest, except that the more recent
cathedrals bring up the rear of the English churches, and that the
Welsh churches form a group by themselves, the order has been
prescribed by nothing more technical than a regard for variety. The
Editor has enjoyed free access to the pages of " The Cathedral Churches
of England and Wales," published some years ago under the competent
and judicious editorship of Professor Bonney, and containing much
matter of permanent value. He desires to acknowledge indebtedness
also to Mr. John Murray's classic Handbook, to the excellent monographs
in Bell's Cathedral Series, to the fresh and luminous studies of Mr. Francis
Bumpus, to Sir Gilbert Scott's " Personal and Professional Recollections,"
and to the volumes of " The British Isles."

CANTERBURY

YORK .

ST. PAUL'S

DURHAM

WINCHESTER

NORWICH

LINCOLN

SALISBURY

PETERBOROUGH .

ELY .

WELLS

EXETER

CHICHESTER

ROCHESTER .

PAGE

45
65
83

101

119
137
155
171
187

203
219

233

CANTERBURY, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST

YORK MINSTER, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST ....

ST. PAUL'S, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST .....

DURHAM, FROM THE SOUTH- WEST .....

WINCHESTER, FROM THE NORTH-WEST .....

LINCOLN : THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST ....

SALISBURY, WITH THE BISHOP'S PALACE, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST
ELY, FROM THE NORTH-WEST ......

WELLS. FROM TOR HILL ....

EXETER : THE SCREEN AND WEST WINDOW

Frontispiece

To face p. 32

„ 128

146
176

„ 198
216

TH£CflTH£DR}lLSOF€N6LJlND6(DJII£S

CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE STOUR.

CANTERBURY.

Situation — The First Cathedral — Fires — Lanfranc Builds Anew — Conrad's Glorious Choir and its
Destruction — The Murder of St. Thomas — William of Sens and Knglish William — Bucket's
Shriiu; — Bell Harry Tower — Christ Church Gateway — Nave— Choir — Trinity Chapel — Becket's
Crown — Transepts— Crypt — Remains of the Conventual Buildings — The New Palace — The
Grammar School.

HOUGH the cathedral of Christ Church
at Canterbury, standing as it does in
the open valley of the Stour, and
surrounded in the distance by higher
ground, has not the advantage of situation
possessed by that of St. Cuthbert at Durham,
yet there is no church in England of which
the far view is more impressive. Above the
clustering houses of the city, above the neigh-
bouring meadows and fields, it rises like a three
peaked mountain of stone. And from no point
of view is it seen to greater advantage than

THE PATRIARCHAL CHAIR. r ., -,, r TT Ul 1 U '1

from the village of Harbledown, where pilgrims

such as those whose journey is described by Chaucer caught their first sight
of the fane which had drawn them from their distant homes.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

The
tine, to

Scale of Feet

- reference to Plan.-

g 101184,

cathedral occupies a site that carries us back far beyond St. Augus-
the earliest days of Christendom in Britain ; for when, towards the

end of the sixth century,
Augustine, with his band
of missionaries, came at
the bidding of Pope
Gregory to win back
England to the faith of
Christ, Ethelbert gave to
him, wherein to worship,
an already ancient build-
ing, which had formerly
been a church of the
British Christians. This
Augustine restored, and
not improbably enlarged ;
and so, as the centre of
his monastery of Christ
Church, it became the
first cathedral of Canter-
bury, the mother church
of English Christianity.

Of that Roman basilica
no trace is now to be
seen, though some vestiges
no doubt remain in the
crypt. In the days of
Odo, the latter half of
the tenth century, it wa?
re-roofed, and at that time
the walls were raised,

probably by adding a clerestory. But an evil time was coming in the
days of Alphege. In the year ion the monastery and city were stormed
and sacked by the Danes, the church was plundered and set on fire,
the monks were slaughtered, the Archbishop was dragged away a prisoner to
be insulted and at last murdered. Twelve years later, with a Dane upon
the throne, quieter times returned, and the remains of the Archbishop
were translated with great pomp to a resting-place among his predecessors,
Canute himself giving his crown of gold as an atonement, to be hung
up "at the head of the great cross in the nave."

But worse things were to follow. In 1067, the year after Harold's
death at Senlac, the city was assailed by fire ; the flames quickly fastened

A. Backet's Crown

B. Trinity Chapel

C. S.Anselm's do. Circa l

D. Henry IV Chapel. fji2.

E. Dean's urLady do. 1449(01 ft>S

F. St. Michael's do. Circa 14*00.

G. Martyrdom or N. W.Transent
H.S.W. Transept. jjv{.

\.N.E. Transept. 1
K.S.E. Transept. I"7*
L. Chapter Library.
M.Tnmtury,
N. Prebend'* Vestry,
3. Central or Great Tuwvr.

1486 o /f/?. j l^.ofr.

P.SS Andrew's and Ans,.,,,,'*
Q.S.W. Tower. \
K.S.W.Porch.}'"9'0146*-
S. West Door.
T. Baptistry,

U .Presbytery. ti'Stoiiyy.
V. Subterranean Passage.
W.CAoiV Screen, rjoj to 1305.
X. Window of Anse!m'sChap.rjjf>
Y . Stairs to Roof.
Z. Entrance toCloistera.

PLAN OF CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL.

CANTERBURY.]

LANFRANC'S CATHEDRAL.

on the monastery, and
almost all its buildings,
including the mother
church and the tomb-
house of the archbishops,
perished. At this time
Stigand, an Englishman,
still held the arch-
bishopric, but three years
later he was dispossessed
in favour of Lanfranc
the Norman. So, in a
double sense, began a
new era for Canterbury
Cathedral. For Lanfranc
utterly swept away so
much as was left of

Christ Church monastery, and addressed himself so vigorously to the work of
building its successor that in seven years the new cathedral was completed.
But it was not long before it ceased to give satisfaction to the rapidly growing
sense of architecture. In the days of Anselm, who succeeded him in the
archiepiscopal chair, Lanfranc's choir was taken down, and was rebuilt on
a much more magnificent scale. The work was begun by Prior Ernulph,
but it was reserved to the next Prior, Conrad, to bring it to completion,
and ever since has it been known by his name. Two kings, Henry I.
of England and David I. of Scotland, the " sair sanct " of the northern
kingdom, together with all the English bishops,

were present at the dedication, -. which was "the

most famous," says Gervase, the /* Canterbury monk,

CANTERBURY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Photo : Chester Vaughin, Acton.

VIEW FROM THE NORTH-EAST.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

" that had ever been heard of on the earth since that of the Temple
of Solomon."

This was in the year 1130 : less than fifty years afterwards (1174),
" Conrad's glorious choir " was consumed by the same foe that had
devoured the church of St. Augustine. The fire, of which a description

has come down to
us from Gervase, an
eye - witness, broke
out in some cottages
on the south side of
the church, just be-
yond the monastic
precincts ; a strong
gale was blowing
from that quarter ;
the glowing embers
were carried up and
hurled against the
roof of the church,
and, dropping through
some interstices, ig-
nited the woodwork

within. For a while the fire smouldered unperceived, and was not discovered
until it had got firm hold upon the roof. The people flocked to save the
pride of their city, working, praying, even raving and blaspheming in the
excess of their grief ; but all efforts were in vain, and the choir was
utterly destroyed, the stones in many parts being so calcined by the
heat of the conflagration that rebuilding became a necessity.

Four years before this event, the walls of the cathedral had witnessed
the tragedy which was to bring to the church multitudes of pilgrims
from far and near, and wealth almost beyond the dreams of the most
avaricious of priors. Into the causes of the estrangement between
Henry II. and the Archbishop who had once been his favourite we need
not enter. On Tuesday, the 2gth of December, 1170, the four knights,
entering the cathedral in search of their prey, passed round the pillar in
the centre of the north-west transept, and seeing in the gathering gloom — it
was about four o'clock on a winter's afternoon — a group of figures mounting
the steps, called to know where was the Archbishop. Becket turned and
descended again to the level of the transept floor ; then, as the knights
sprang back startled, passed on, and halted between the central pillar
and the massive wall which still forms the south-west corner of what was
then the Chapel of St. Benedict. Angry words were exchanged ; and then

Photo: A. F. Colboitrne Canterbury.

INTERSECTING ARCHES IN PRIOR ERNULPH'S WORK.

After a photo by T. G. Cliailion, dinteibttry.

THE "BELL HARRY" TOWER.

6 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [CANTED.

the knights — anxious, probably, to avoid an act of sacrilege — laid hands
upon the Archbishop, and tried to drag him from the church. But he
was no weakling ; and, aided by Grim, a Saxon monk, who still remained
by his side, he resisted successfully, and even threw one of his assailants
on the pavement. It was hopeless to remove him ; the work had to be
done there and then if at all. They closed around him with their drawn
.•.vVoTtts'. One struck off his cap, another smote him on the head, but
the blow was partially parried by Grim, who received it on his arm.
The bone was fractured by the stroke, and the wounded monk took
refuge at the nearest altar ; Becket was left standing alone before his
murderers. Two more blows were dealt, and then the Archbishop, to
quote from Stanley's "Memorials," "sank on his knees, his arms falling,
but his hands still joined as if in prayer. With his face turned towards
the altar of St. Benedict, he murmured, in a low voice . . . ' For the
name of Jesus, and the defence of the Church, I am willing to die.' With-
out moving hand or foot, he fell flat on his face as he spoke, in front of
the corner wall of the chapel, and with such dignity that his mantle, which
extended from head to foot, was not disarranged." In this posture one
of the knights struck him with such force that the crown of the head was
severed from the skull, and the sword-blade snapped on the marble pave-
ment. Another thrust his sword into the wound as the Archbishop lay
dead ; then they hastened away to plunder the palace. " As the murderers
left the cathedral, a tremendous storm of thunder and rain burst over
Canterbury, and the night fell in thick darkness upon the scene of the
dreadful deed."

It was not long before the murder of Becket, whatever the provocation
might be — and it was great indeed — proved to be " worse than a crime, a
blunder " ; and a scene was enacted in Canterbury happily without a parallel
in our history : Henry came to do penance at the saint's grave, and purge
himself of complicity in the murder. On July 8th, 1172, in the garb of
a penitent pilgrim, he came barefoot to the cathedral. He knelt in the
southern porch, replaced now by a later edifice ; he passed along the
sombre nave — also subsequently rebuilt — to the scene of the martyrdom.
Here he knelt at the pavement where the Archbishop had fallen. Then he
descended into the crypt and proceeded to the tomb, again knelt in prayer,
and made his profession of regret ; then, removing the rough cloak which
he wore, " placed his head and shoulders in the tomb, and there received
five strokes from each bishop and abbot who was present, beginning with
Foliot (Bishop of London), who stood by with the ' balai,' or monastic rod,
in his hand, and three from each of the eighty monks." After this discipline
he passed the night in the crypt, " resting against one of the rude Norman
pillars — such as those which still remain close at hand — on the bare ground,

BECKET'S CROWN" (p. 8). 2. MURDER OF BECKET (From an Old MS.). 3. HENRY II.'S PENANCE AT BECKET S
TOMB (From n Tainting on Glass). 4. TRANSEPT OF THE MARTYRDOM (t'holo : Chester Vaughan, A cton\

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

Itv permission of Dr. Field, Abingdon.
GLASS MEDALLION IN CATHEDRAL WINDOW
SHOWING SHRINE OF ST. THOMAS.

with bare feet, still unwashed from the

muddy streets, and passed the whole night

fasting."

When Conrad's choir had perished in

the flames the task of rebuilding the eastern

part of the church was entrusted to one

William of Sens, a man " of lively genius

and good reputation," under whose charge

the work went on from 1174 to 1178,

when " through the vengeance of God or

spite of the devil " he fell from a scaffold-
ing, and received such serious injuries that

he was obliged to give up the charge of

the work. He was succeeded by an

Englishman, also William by name, " small

in body, but in workmanship of many

kinds acute and honest," by whom the work was completed in the

course of six years. The architects followed the lines of Conrad's choir as

far as its eastern extremity, where it ended in a chevet, flanked by two

towers, and terminated by an oblong chapel dedicated to the Holy Trinity.

These towers were retained, but the Trinity Chapel
was rebuilt on a grander scale and practically in-
corporated with the building, the floor being raised

yet higher to make a more
stately resting-place for the
relics of the new saint — Thomas
of Canterbury ; and beyond
this, and thus considerably to
the east of the uttermost wall
of Conrad's building, was raised
the singular structure called
" Becket's Crown," which un-
fortunately was left incomplete
in the upper stage.

It was on Tuesday, July 7th,
1220, that, with all fitting
solemnity, the relics of Becket
were transferred from the crypt
to their magnificent shrine in
the new Trinity Chapel. To it

/•/,„„.. r,^, , -aui!han,A ,,,„, w~ for more than three centuries

MONKS'—AW. . > « LlJj4H1l II crowds of pilgrims flocked ; gold

CANTLKBUKV.]

BECKET'S SHRINK.

and gifts were poured into the cathedral coffers ; the worship of St.
Thomas of Canterbury became a feature of the religious life of England,
almost of Europe. Here Richard I. gave thanks for his deliverance from
captivity in Austria, and Henry V. for his victory at Agincourt. The
pilgrims, whose annual gifts amounted to many thousand pounds, were
content to gaze upon its splendours through the iron rails which en-
closed it.

Nor was the shrine guarded with iron bars alone. High in the tower
of St. Anselm, to the south, was the Watching Chamber, provided with a fire-
place so that the watchman might
not be tempted on cold nights to
desert his post of observation. And,
not content to rely wholly upon
human fidelity, the Prior kept a
kennel of ban-dogs, which were
placed on guard during the night
watches. Such precautions were
by no means excessive. Not only
was it necessary to guard the
shrine from thieves, but the
relics which it contained had also
to be protected from the depreda-
tions of the pious. Becket had
not been dead more than half a
dozen years before two of these
pious robberies were perpetrated.
In 1176 Benedict, a Christ Church
monk, created Abbot of Peter-
borough, took away with him to
his new church two vases of
blood and some of the saint's
clothing, with the flagstones im-
mediately surrounding the spot where Becket was murdered, and out of
these stones two altars were constructed. Not less enterprising were the
monks of St. Augustine's Abbey here at Canterbury. Unable to bear
the thought that Christ Church should have all the glory associated
with the martyrdom of the saint, they offered to make Roger, the custodian
of the Altars of the Martyrdom, Abbot of St. Augustine's if he would
acquire for them some part of Becket's skull. The theft was committed by
the man whom his brethren had chosen to guard the precious relics, and he
received the promised reward ; nor were the chroniclers of St. Augustine's
ashamed to boast of the transaction, compounded though it was of robbery

MERCERY LANE, LOOKING TO CHRIST CHURCH
GATEWAY.

io CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[CANTERBURY.

and treachery. So completely may religious zeal be divorced from the very
elements of morality !

When the choir which replaced Conrad's was completed, the architects
had not yet done with Canterbury. Between 1378 and 1410 the nave and
transepts were rebuilt, and not till the early years of the sixteenth century
was the central tower carried up to its present height by the younger Prior
Goldstone. This tower — " Bell Harry Tower," as it is too colloquially
called, from a bell hung at the top — replaced the " Angel Steeple," from
whose summit a gilded angel, glittering from afar in the sun, first
attracted the eyes of pilgrims as they approached the sacred shrine at
Canterbury. It was the last great work executed in the cathedral, if we
except the rebuilding of the north-west tower in the nineteenth century,
and it was the crowning glory. It would be impossible to find its equal in
England, difficult in the world. We may admire the more ideal perfection
of the- spire of Salisbury or Chichester or Norwich, or the triple group of
Lichfield, but the central tower of Canterbury, like that of Gloucester, is
a marvellous combination of grandeur and of grace.

Time has dealt gently with the cathedral, blending the older and the
less ancient parts with a touch of benignant magic. Thus the two western
towers stand in appropriate companionship, though the southern was the
work of Archbishop Chicheley and the elder Prior Goldstone in the fifteenth
century, whereas its northern neighbour was finished only in 1840, when it
replaced one of the old Norman towers which had survived the reconstruction
of the nave, and bore the name of the " Arundel Steeple," from a peal of bells
placed in it during the primacy of Archbishop Arundel. Similarly no violent
sense of transition is experienced when we pass from the severity of Prior
Ernulph to the milder fertility of William of Sens, and so to the graceful
lightness of English William.

What portal more majestic could have been conceived than the
younger Prior Goldstone's Christ Church gateway, which gives entrance to
the precincts from Mercery Lane ? Built on a bold Perpendicular design,
its great height sets off the soaring western towers of the cathedral and the
still more stupendous proportions of " Bell Harry." It affords access to
the south porch, the work of Prior Chillenden at the end of the fourteenth
century, which occupies an unusual position, since it opens into one of the
western towers. As we enter the mighty nave the eye is immediately caught
by one of the cathedral's most distinctive features — the beginning of the
great ascent by which the pilgrims went up to the house of their Lord, the
first of the flights of steps which led to the elevated platform in the retro-
choir that supported the shrine of Thomas Becket. Commencing beneath
the central tower, the floor rises in a gradual ascent of three stages to the foot
of the massive screen of stonework, which almost shuts off the choir from

12 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[CANTKRBUKl-

TOMB OF CARDINAL MORTON
IN THE CRYPT.

but made short work
of the figures of Christ
and the twelve apos-
tles in the thirteen
mitred niches which
encircled the arch.

Of the choir, the
most salient feature is
its great length, not
less than 180 feet, or,
with the presbytery,
225! feet. We seem
to have entered a
second church, style
and arrangement are
so different from
those of the nave.
Even Conrad's choir,

the nave, while shorter but
j> steeper staircases lead from
the floors of the transepts to
the choir aisles. The beauti-
ful fifteenth - century screen
between nave and choir was
mutilated by the Puritans, but
has been well restored. It is
enriched with six crowned
figures believed to represent
kings of England, of whom
one has been identified with
the pious Ethelbert. Crom-
well's men spared the kings,

TOMB OF HENRY IV. IN TRINITY CHAPEL

CA-T«.«V.] SHRINES OF ST. DUNSTAN AND ST. ALPIIEGE. 13

without Trinity Chapel, fully equalled the nave in length, but the design
of William of Sens gives us the longest choir in England. Another feature
is the contraction of the walls beyond the eastern transept. This marks
the position of the chevet of Conrad's choir, and is caused by the desire
of the architect to retain the two flanking towers which had escaped the

f ?»

CHRIST CHURCH GATEWAY.

conflagration, while he carried the building on considerably to the
east of the ancient Trinity Chapel.

Right and left of the altar there once stood the shrines of St. Dunstan
and St. Alphege, the former of whom, once Abbot of Glastonbury, was
Archbishop from 960 to 988, and the latter from 1005 to 1012, when he
was murdered, as we have seen, by the Danes. St. Alphege's shrine has
utterly disappeared ; of the other, the position of its altar is indicated by
some diaper- work. The reredos is an erection of about the middle of
the last century, when it replaced an elaborate Corinthian screen, and
it is an imitation "of the screen -work of the Lady Chapel in the

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[CANTERBURY.

crypt/' a fine piece of fourteenth-century work, which fell a victim to Puritan
zeal. Sir Gilbert Scott's choir stalls harmonise well with those for members
of the chapter, the work of Grinling Gibbons. Early in the eighteenth century
Archbishop Tenison presented to the cathedral a canopied and wainscoted
throne, the canopy carved by Gibbons, but under Archbishop Howley
(1828-48) this was replaced by a lofty throne of tabernacle-\vork, his own
gift. Tenison's throne is now to be found in the south-eastern transept.

I'liotu: Chester Vaughaiv, .-titan.

TOMB OF THE BLACK PRINCE IN TRINITY CHAPEL.

St. Thomas's shrine stood, as we have said, in the centre of Trinity
Chapel, otherwise the retro-choir. We have already briefly described it,
and spoken of the pilgrimages to it, but it must be added that the last
sovereign to do reverence to it was the sovereign who was ruthlessly to
destroy it. Henry VIII. visited it with the Emperor Charles V. no long
while before he broke with Rome. When the breach had taken place
nothing short of the annihilation of the saint, in so far as he could compass
it, would satisfy him. So determined an opponent of royal authority as
Becket could never have been much to his taste, and he could not forgive
him for having brought upon his royal namesake the most humiliating penance
ever endured by a monarch of this realm. So, in April, 1538, if the story
be true — and it may well be — he issued a writ of summons against Thomas
Becket, sometime Archbishop of Canterbury, calling upon him within
thirty days to give account of his treasons and rebellions. Service of the
writ took the form of reading it at the saint's tomb. There was no return
to it, and the defendant was tried at Westminster in his absence, the

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CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[CANTERBURY.

defence being undertaken by an advocate nominated by the King, while
the Attorney-General was briefed for Henry II. The sorry farce ended in
Becket's condemnation, and it was decreed that his bones should be burnt
and all his offerings forfeited to the Crown. The burning appears to have
been evaded or remitted, and by Dean Farrar and others it was believed
that bones discovered so recently as 1888 in a stone coffin in the crypt,
almost under the site of the shrine, the skull severely fractured on the left
side as from a violent blow, were those of the Archbishop. But the late

HUGUENOTS' CHURCH IN THE CRYPT.

Father Morris was strongly opposed to this view, and the learned and
careful Dr. Cox, in the volume on Canterbury which appeared in 1905,
expresses his full agreement with the conclusion of that writer. How-
ever this may be, it is certain that the shrine was destroyed, the gold and
the precious stones with which it blazed being taken away by the
spoilers in six-and-twenty carts.

For many years the martyr's remains occupied this Trinity Chapel in
solitary state. At last, at a time of national mourning, Edward the Black
Prince was entombed, not, as he had directed, in the crypt below, but here
on the floor above, " on what was then thought to be the most sacred
spot in England." The tomb has fortunately escaped well the chances of
some five centuries. From the canopy hang the Prince's gauntlets and
helm, his surcoat and shield, and the scabbard which once held his sword ;

CANTERBURY.]

"BECKETT'S CROWN"

this, men say, was taken away by the hand of Cromwell, though Dr. Cox
rejects the story. On the north side of the chapel is the tomb of Henry IV.
and his second wife, Joan of Navarre, who survived him. Yorkist stories
asserted that the tomb did not contain the King's body, that having been cast
into the sea during a storm ; but an examination in the year 1832 showed the
tale to be untrue. East of this King's monument is one to Wotton, first
Dean of Canterbury, after the Reformation, placed here, it may be, in order to
show that the reverence for the great Thomas was indeed a thing of the past.

THE WESTERN PART OF THE CRYPT.

At the extreme eastern end of the chancel stands " Becket's Crown," which
is an octagon in plan. In this remarkable structure some have seen a
memorial of the tcmb-house of the Saxon archbishops, others a remem-
brance of the scat assigned by Pope Pascal II. to the altcrius orbis papa
in the "Corona" in the Lateran. Others hold that "Crown" is a
reference to a portion of Becket's skull sliced off by Richard Ic Breton's
sword, and preserved in this part of the church. But " Corona " is
shown by Professor Willis to be a general term, and not one special to
Canterbury, and there is no evidence that a fragment of the saint's skull
was treasured here. Whatever may have been its motive, the building
is the work of English William, and one of the most graceful parts of
his design, a miracle of lightness in stone. Of late years the massive stone
chair, in which the archbishops are enthroned, has been brought back to the

i8 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. iCAKnamr.

Corona. Tradition states that it was the throne of the heathen Kings of
Kent, given by Ethelbert to Augustine, and that it has ever since been the
patriarchal chair of the Archbishops of Canterbury ; and though some recent
authorities assign it to the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the
thirteenth century, and it has been suggested that it may have been con-
structed for use at the translation of St. Thomas's relics from the crypt to
Trinity Chapel, yet Mr. Micklethwaite sees no ground for supposing that it
may not date from the days of St. Augustine. And, as Dr. Cox pertinently
asks, how could such a chair as this be required at such a function as a
translation ?

The transepts have much the same general character as the nave,
but they are distinguished by a wealth of sculptured detail. Opening
out from the south-west transept is the small chapel sometimes styled
the Warrior's Chapel, because it is dedicated to St. Michael — an excellent
piece of Perpendicular work dating from about the end of the fourteenth
century. Here is the elaborate altar-tomb erected by Margaret Holland to
the memory of her two husbands — John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, half-
brother of Henry IV., and Thomas Duke of Clarence, second son of that
monarch, killed by a lance-thrust on the field of Bauge, 1421. But the
chapel also contains a tomb of yet greater interest — a stone coffin, over-
arched, so that the head alone projects into the building — wherein rests
the dust of Stephen Langton, who has left his mark upon the Bible by
the division into chapters, and a yet more important mark upon the
history of England as the contriver of the Great Charter.

To the east of the north-west transept, the Transept of the Martyrdom,
is the Lady Chapel, which is usually styled the Deans' Chapel, from the
number of those dignitaries who are commemorated here. It was built
by the elder Goldstone in 1460, in place of that chapel of St. Benedict
in which the faithful Grim took refuge when he had intercepted the stroke
intended for Becket. It is worthy of note rather for its fan vaulting and
its graceful carving than on account of its monuments, which for the
most part have small claim to admiration.

The crypt, supporting all the eastern part of the building, is the
largest in the country, except that of St. Paul's, and is one of five English
crypts which are anterior to the year 1085, the others being Winchester,
Gloucester, Rochester, and Worcester. No cathedral of later date has in-
cluded a crypt in its design, though one -which had previously existed
may have been rebuilt. The western or lower part of Canterbury crypt
is the older. A little of Lanfranc's work remains, but in the main it
is a relic of the cathedral of Ernulph. The eastern part, beneath the
Trinity Chapel and the Corona, was the work of English William, whose
unfettered composition, says Willis, it may be considered to be.

THOMAS CRANMER (1533-56 .

I'toiii the Painting l>\- G. Flitcitis in the

.\atinnal I'm trait Gallery. Photo: Emety

Walker, Clifford1* Inn, E.G.

REGINALD POLE H556 58'.

/•"/mil tht Painting In- Titian in the hnsstisinn
nfthe Kt, Him. Lent Aiumitii of War dour.

JOHN WHITGIFT '1583 1604'.

From a I\iinting in the \ntiitna '

I'ort ait Gallerv. I'liolii : l-'inov

Walker, Clifford's Inn, E.<\

WILLIAM LAUD (1633 -45'.

From the riiintinx fir I'd it Dvck nt Lamheth
Palace.

WILLIAM JUXON ( 660-63'.

I' row the ruinting ri the />osi«sio *
of the Marquess nf Hath.

WILLIAM SANCROF , (1678 -9V.

From the Painting bv P. I,ens at Lambeth
Palace.

JOHN TILLOTSON ( 1 6 9 ! - 9 4 >.
From the Engravijig In Faber.

SOME ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.
19

2o CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. RU««*«

Towards the eastern end of the crypt, enclosed by open stonework
of Perpendicular age, is the chapel of Our Lady Undercroft, once the
richest treasure-house of the cathedral, surrounded in the days of Erasmus
by a double rail of iron, and displayed only to a chosen few among
the thousands of pilgrims. So late as the nineteenth century, according
to Dr. Cox, the eastern portion of the crypt was walled off and used by
one of the prebendaries as a wine cellar !

In the days of Elizabeth a number of French and Flemish refugees,
mostly clothiers and silk-weavers, settled at Canterbury ; and the crypt
was granted to them by the Queen. They are often said to have set
up their looms here, but Mr. F. W. Cross, the librarian of the cathedral,
denounces the story as improbable and as unsupported by a scrap of
documentary evidence. Their descendants still meet in the crypt for
worship, after their fathers' ways and in the French tongue. In these
days they worship in the charmingly vaulted chantry which the Black
Prince founelcd in the crypt when he obtained dispensation from the
Pope for his marriage with his cousin Joan, the " Fair Maid of Kent."
His arms, anel those of his father, with a face which is believed to
be that of his wife, are still to be traced on the vaulting. The chapel

of St. Gabriel or St. John, in the
south-east corner of the crypt,
bears upon its roof some primi-
tive paintings, probably from the
brush of a Norman artist, which
have of late years been recoloured.
The central pillar is remarkable
for its carved fluting and for the
grotesque figures carved upon the
capital.

The interior length of the
cathedral is 510 feet, and the
exterior length 537 feet ; the
nave (with the aisles) is 71 feet
in breadth and 80 feet in height ;
the height of the choir is 71 feet,
of the western towers 130 feet, of
the central tower 235 feet.

At Canterbury the conventual
buildings of the great Benedictine
monastery of Christ Church were
for the most part grouped around
THE BAPTISTERY. the Green Court, on the north

CANTERBURY.]

THE CHAPTER HOUSE.

side of the cathedral, there
being no room for them on
the south side, where other-
wise they would no doubt
have been built. The cloisters
are late Perpendicular, the
work of Prior Chillenden, with
traces of the Norman stone-
work which they super-
seded. On the east side of
the cloisters is the chapter
house, which, superseding a
Norman structure, was begun
by Prior Henry of Eastry in
the later years of the thir-
teenth century, and finished
about a hundred years later
by Prior Chillenden, to whom
are due the upper storey
and the barrel vaulted roof
of Irish oak, richly carved.
Oblong in shape, it is a
magnificent hall, go feet by 35 feet. Its restoration by the late Sir
Arthur Blomfield, zealously promoted by Dean Farrar, who is commemorated
by stained glass in the west window, was completed in 1897, when it was
reopened by the Prince of Wales, now King Edward VII.

Of the more famous Archbishops of Canterbury, some have already
been named, and of others we give portraits (page 19), but it would be
an oversight not to mention Archbishop Tait, one of the most judicious
and statesmanlike of prelates. Only an archway of their ancient Palace
now remains, in what is known as Palace Street. Its fine hall was
destroyed during the Commonwealth, and after the Restoration the Primate
had no official residence at Canterbury until Archbishop Temple, selling
the Palace at Addington, built the present Palace, a comely building which,
when it has been toned by the elements, will sort not ill with its
venerable surroundings. Dr. Temple, who died at the end of 1902, was
buried in the cloister garth ; his immediate predecessor, Dr. Benson,
buried in the nave, under the north-west tower, was the first Primate
to be interred in his cathedral since Reginald Pole in 1558 ; and both are
commemorated by monuments within the church. The Deanery, on the
east side of the cloister, was originally the " New Lodging " which the
younger Prior Goldstone built as a guest-house early in the sixteenth

Photo: Chester VtMghqn, Atton,

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[CAN TKR BURY.

century ; this it was that Wotton, the first Dean, chose for his abode.
The canons of the cathedral dwell in what used to be the cellarer's house,
the bakehouse, and the brewhouse. On the north side of the Green Court
the Porter's Gate and Lodge still retain their rugged dignity. The ruins
of the Infirmary include some Norman arches, which still bear traces of the
fiery ordeal through which they passed more than seven hundred years ago,
when Prior Conrad's choir perished. Attached to the north-eastern transept
is a beautiful little structure which is usually styled the Baptistery, but
should rather be called, as it used to be, the Lavatory Tower. From this
building, of which the lower part is late Norman, while the upper part
was rebuilt by Prior Chillenden, water was distributed to the inmates of
the monastery from springs which still supply the cathedral and precincts.

The Grammar School occupies a part of the old almonry. This,
with some adjoining buildings, was appropriated by Henry VIII., who
set up a mint in one part and founded a school in the other. Since
then the buildings of the school have been augmented, as its numbers
and its fame have increased. Its hall is a modern structure, but the
external staircase leading to it is a fine specimen of Norman work, and
is the only one of its kind that remains in England.

rhoto : J. G. Charlton, Canterbury.
THE CHAPTER HOUSE.

Photo: Wilson, AterJecn.

THE MINSTER, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

YORK MINSTER.

The Building of the Minster — Narrow Kscapes from Destruction — The West Front — The Nave —
Wealth of Stained Glass — Rivalry between Canterbury and York— The Lantern — The "Five
Sisters" Window— The Transepts, Choir, and Lady Chapel — Historic Relics in the Vestry —
The Crypt — The Chapter House— The Library — Reminiscences — Archbishops of York.

dignity and massive grandeur, this " glorious Temple in the
North," rising high above the roofs of the neighbouring houses,
with its noble triplet of towers and its great clerestory
windows, is excelled by scarce any of our cathedrals. A grand
object at all times and from every point of view, it makes, perhaps, its
deepest and most enduring impression when its superb western front is all
aglow with the light of the setting sun. On the whole, the v/est front, the
chapter house, and the north transept are its most characteristic features,
and happily their surroundings admit of their being fairly well combined
in a single view. Though they present less variety, the south-west and
south-east views also are admirable, and are distinctly to be preferred to
the view of the east end, though this has for its chief feature the grand
cast window.

Where the first Christian church of Eboracum was situated is not
known, and the memory of it appears to have been wholly lost in the

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[YORK.

days of Paulmus ; for in the seventh century King Eadwine was baptised
in a small wooden church, hastily erected while he was receiving in-
struction as a catechumen, and dedicated to St. Peter. Afterwards the
King, as recorded by Bede, " set about to construct in the same place,
at the suggestion of Paulinus, a large and more noble basilica of stone,
in the midst of which the oratory which he had first built was to be
included." The foundations of this structure were duly laid, but before
the walls had risen far the new convert was slain at Heathfield in the
year 633, and the work was completed by Oswald, his successor, about
the year 635. This building appears to have rapidly fallen into decay,

for it was so found by
Archbishop Wilfred less
than forty years after-
wards, and by him was re-
paired. Eadwine's church
came to its end by fire,
in 741 ; and, according
to Alcuin, " a most mag-
nificent basilica was built
by Archbishop Albert,
who came to the see
in the year 767." The
latter was undoubtedly
on the site of the present
minster, and there seems
no reasonable doubt that
it was also on that of
Eadwine's church, so that
the minster of York has
been " holy ground " for
more than twelve cen-
turies.

Albert's church was
consumed in the great
conflagration during the
uprising against William
the Conqueror, so that
the first Norman pre-
late, Thomas of Bayeux,
came to a devastated see and a ruined cathedral. The latter he
rebuilt from the foundations. Rather less than a century after-
wards, Archbishop Roger (1154-81) pulled down the choir of

REFERENCE.

A falro-choir.

B Hij;li Alur.

C Preshyterr

D,D Choir .uicl Presbytery Aisles.

E Ch,,,i.

F,F T,,,,,,,,,

G,G The- Xa>e.

H,H A,,ks

J \L-siibiili.. ul Ch,ipfei House tm , A.

K Cli.nik-r Huusc.

L.L Ki-cunl Kouins

M Treasury.

N VcJry.

PLAN OF YORK MINSTER.

YORK.)

BUILDING AND REBUILDING.

this church and reconstructed it on a grander scale. The present
south transept is believed to have been the work of Archbishop Gray,
and so dates from between 1215 and 1255 ; and the north transept,
with the central tower, was probably erected about the same time at
the expense of the Sub-Dean. After these alterations, only the nave of
Archbishop Thomas's cathedral remained, and this was removed by Arch-
bishop Romanus, son of the builder of the north transept, who occupied
the see from 1285 to 1296. The work of rebuilding does not appear to have
progressed rapidly, for even the walls were not completed till 1345, and the

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

wooden roof was added about ten years later. The chapter house was
being built at the same time as the nave. The latter was now too
grand for the choir, so some time after the middle of the fourteenth
century the architects set to work upon that, and by the year 1400 the
present choir was completed, and a few years afterwards the central tower
was recased. The western towers, however, were still unfinished ;
of these the southern was erected about 1432, and the northern, com-
pleting the structure as we now see it, about 1470 ; the church being
reconsecrated on July 3rd, 1472, in the name of St. Peter the
Apostle, under whose guardianship the first church of Paulinus had been
placed. Thus the transepts of York are Early English ; the nave and

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[YORK.

chapter house are Decorated ; and the Lady Chapel, presbytery, choir,
and towers belong to various dates in the Perpendicular period.

In modern times the cathedral has had more than one narrow escape
from destruction. In the afternoon of the 2nd of February, 1829, one
Jonathan Martin, a brother of John Martin the apocalyptic painter,
being possessed of the notion that it was his duty to destroy the minster,
secreted himself behind the tomb of Archbishop Greenfield in the north
transept and there lay hidden when the doors were locked for the night.
During the evening he set fire to the woodwork of the choir ; but the
outbreak was not noticed from without until next morning ; and the
fire could not be stayed until the roof of the choir had perished, and
with it the carved oak tabernacle-work, the pulpit, the stalls, and the
organ. The work of reparation, carried out by Sir Robert Smirke, involved
a cost of £65,000, but so deep and so widespread was the interest felt in
the minster that within two years the money had all been found, the State
contributing the timber. Martin, who had been apprenticed to a tanner,
had already distinguished himself as a disturber of religious services, and

in 1817 had been
confined in an
asylum for
threatening to
shoot the Bishop
of Oxford ; he
was now put
upon his trial for
his act of in-
cendiarism and
incarcerated as a
lunatic. Eleven
years after this
occurrence the
carelessness of
workmen who
were repairing
the clock in the
south-west tower

of the minster brought about a conflagration in which that tower was burnt
out, only its shell being left standing, and the flames spread to the
wooden vault of the nave, which they entirely consumed. A restoration
was at once undertaken by Sydney Smirke, and was finished within a year,
at a cost of £23,000, raised by public subscription.

Having briefly outlined the growth of the cathedral from its origin

THE MINSTER IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, AFTER HOLLAR'S ETCHING.

YORK.]

THE WEST FRONT.

in Eadwine's chapel in the seventh century to its completion towards
the end of the fifteenth, let us attempt some description of the noble
fabric. In plan it is a Latin cross, formed by a nave, with north
and south aisles ;
a choir, also with
aisles, and with a
retro-choir ; and
transepts. Over
the intersection of
nave, choir, and
transepts rises a
great tower ; at
the west end are
two others, scarcely
inferior in height,
though noticeably
less massive. The
west front " has
been compared
with the celebrated
fagade at Rheims
Cathedral for rich-
ness, sublimity,
and beauty of

architectural design ; it is certainly not surpassed by that of any church
in England in its fine proportions, chaste enrichments, or scientific arrange-
ments." It is divided into three parts by massive buttresses, enriched
with tabernacle-work on every face, and in each of these divisions is
an entrance to the church. In the two side divisions are three windows,
one above the other, the two lower ones Decorated, those in the towers
Perpendicular, the upper and lower having enriched pediments. The
central doorway is divided into two by a slender shaft, as is not unusual,
but the space beneath the deep vaulting of the arch is filled with a circular
six-light window, which is an uncommon, if not unique, arrangement-
Over this is a crocketcd gable, in the centre of which is a niche con-
taining a statue of Archbishop Melton, who finished the building of
the western part of the nave. He sits, graven in stone, in his archiepis-
copal attire, his hand still raised in the attitude of benediction. Above
him is the great central window, perhaps the most beautiful specimen
of its age in Britain, rivalled only, if at all, by the famous east
window of Carlisle, of which the design may be bolder, but is certainly
less varied.

THE LANTERN, LOOKING UPWARDS.

28 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. rv0«

Entering one of the western doors, we have before us the largest
nave of any English cathedral, though the proportions are so exquisite
that the eye takes some time to realise the size. All is so simple, so grand,
and, fault-finders add, " so cold." Perhaps there is a little want of
colour, but where form is so perfect one could scarcely wish, even for
the sake of warmth, to risk the loss of purity. Most of the windows
retain their original glass, fairly perfect, and here and there a shimmering
bit of colour is cast to the ground, but this never by the oldest glass,
which always transmits pure light. The reason is that the outside sur-
face of the old glass has been roughened by the corrosive action of the
weather, so producing interference.

Here let us pause to point out that one of the minster's great
glories — perhaps its greatest glory — consists in its wealth of superb ancient
stained glass, of which it possesses at least as much again as any other
of our cathedrals. This in the nave forms, as has been well said, " the
most perfect and perhaps the most extensive assemblage of painted glass,
dating from the early part of the fourteenth century, of which this
country can boast." The still more ancient glass, of the Early English
period, in the clerestory windows, was probably removed from the Norman
nave, and is believed by Mr. Winston to date from the beginning to
the middle of the thirteenth century. The west window is later, having
been filled in 1338 by Archbishop Melton. All but one of the chapter
house windows are filled with Early Decorated glass. The north transept
shows in the famed Five Sisters window pale-coloured diaper-work of Early
English age. The glass of the choir and of its aisles is throughout
Perpendicular, but of more than one date. Of the east window, " a glorious
wall of colour," as Mr. T. Francis Bumpus most happily terms it in a
volume on our cathedrals published in 1906, we shall have to speak on
a later page.

The nave is divided into a centre and two side aisles by seven
clustered columns, which support acutely pointed arches, rising to the
height of about forty feet. Above these is the triforium, which
forms, so to speak, the lower part of the clerestory windows, as
the same mullions continued upwards separate the arcades of the
one and the lights of the other. The roof is of wood painted
like stone, and covered with lead — new since the fire of 1840 ;
the aisles retain their original stone vaulting. The nave is paved
in a geometrical pattern, designed by Kent under the supervision
of the Earl of Burlington, about the year 1736 ; the materials
used being partly Huddleston stone, given by Sir Edward Gas-
coign, of Parlington, partly old gravestones cut into shape. The
former pavement must have been interesting and peculiar. It had a

VOBK.]

ARCHBISHOP ROGER.

row of circular stones about two feet in diameter and two feet apart
up each side, and one row of fewer and larger ones down the middle, the
intention being, as is supposed, to show where, on grand occasions, the
different Church dignitaries should stand. The intervening space was filled
with graves, all trace of which is, of course, now lost.

THE EAST END.

Among the monuments in the nave is one commonly ascribed to
Archbishop Roger (though dates are irreconcilable), which, being absolutely
in the wall, could not be easily removed. This Archbishop Roger,
who not only rebuilt the choir with its crypts, but also the archi-
episcopal palace to the north of the cathedral, and the Chapel of
the Holy Sepulchre between the two buildings, gave one of St. Peter's

30 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. CYOKX.

bones and part of his sandals to the church. These were put into a
crucifix of gold, and were among the things sent for the ransom of
Coeur-de-Lion, though they were afterwards redeemed. He waged long
and actively the war with Canterbury . about the supremacy. At a
Council held at Westminster, in the chapel of St. Catherine, connected
with the Abbey, he vindicated his claims in an exceedingly ludicrous
fashion, and with consequences not at all to his liking. Huguccio, the
Pope's legate, of course sat in the middle, and the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York were to be one on each side. When Roger
arrived he found that Richard of Canterbury had got there before him,
and had taken the place of honour on the right. Whereupon,
says quaint Thomas Fuller, " in springs Roger of York, and finding
Canterburie so seated, fairly sits him down in Canterburie's lap (a baby
too big to be dandled thereon)." This the Canterbury people could
not suffer. They pulled Roger off, threw him to the ground, and beat
and trampled him unmercifully, and when at last they allowed him to
rise, it was in sorry plight, with a torn cope and " covered with dust
and shame " ! Off he rushed to demand reparation of the King (Henry
II.), who was hearing mass in the Abbey, but when Henry learned what had
happened he laughed in the outraged archiepiscopal face. Pope Alexander
put an end for a time to such brawls by settling the question according
to the decree of Gregory the Great, which gave precedence to the senior ;
but long afterwards, in 1353, a composition was effected by the reigning
monarch between the Archbishops, which practically made Canterbury the
head, though on all public occasions they were to be as equal as possible.
In addition to this the Pope ordained that York should be styled
" Primate of England," but Canterbury " Primate of all England." At
coronations the sovereign is usually crowned by Canterbury, the consort
by York.

Passing up the nave, we find ourselves under the lantern, the largest
cathedral tower in England, built about 1260 by John Romanus the
elder, treasurer of the cathedral, who enclosed the Norman piers in the
present many shafted pillars. It was "clothed upon" by Archbishop
Thoresby, with help from his friend and private chaplain, Walter Skirlaw,
afterwards Bishop of Durham. The bells were removed from it about
1409, when the lantern tower was made open to the top. The
tower is Perpendicular, with a groined roof and two fine windows
on each face. A rich arcade runs round it between the arches and the
windows, and in each of the eight spaces below this is the coat of arms
of some donor to the fabric.

Across the two eastern pillars of the tower is the magnificent screen
which supports the organ. The carved work of the canopies is very

THE "FIVE SISTERS" WINDOW
THE CHOIR. LOOKING WEST.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[YORK.

HORN OF ULPHUS.

rich. There are seven niches on one side of the central doorway, and

eight on the other, containing statues of the Kings of England from the

Conqueror to Henry VI., and the last of the series is the only one which

is not contemporary with
the screen itself, which
dates from 1475-1505.
The iron gate was given
in the early part of the
eighteenth century by a
Mistress Mary Wandes-
ford, a maiden lady,
who also endowed an
" old maids' hospital "
for her poorer sisters.

York has always been a great place for single ladies, and the memory

of five of the number is exquisitely perpetuated in the next lovely

object which meets our gaze — the celebrated window of the " Five Sisters,"

consisting of five equal-sized lancets of the most perfect Early English,

in the north front of the transept. The sisters are each said to have

done one panel in needlework, and then had it copied in glass by

foreign artists, but the exact

when and where are not known.

It is a most beautiful specimen

of late thirteenth-century painted

glass, and the peculiar blending

of the grisaille tints is almost

unrivalled. Behind one of the

pillars of this transept is the

monument of a man who was

worn to skin and bone. It

commemorates John Haxby,

treasurer of the minster, of

whom it is said that he died

of starvation (in 1424) in an am-
bitious attempt to fast for the

forty days of Lent. Close by

is the fine tomb of Archbishop

Greenfield (1306-15), associated,

as we have seen, with the

ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPTER HOUSE.

destructive fire of 1829.

Both the transepts have two aisles, and each transept is divided
into four bays. The transepts are of unusual dimensions. The length from

I-

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in

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YORK.]

THE SOUTH TRANSEPT.

north to south is not less than 223 feet, the length of a considerable
church ; in width they measure 93 feet ; the height to the summit of
the roof is 99 feet, and to the top of the lantern 180 feet. The front
of the south transept has a pretty rose window, with lancets under-
neath, the lower ones spoilt by bad modern glass. This part of the
church was re-
stored by Street,
under Dean Dun-
combe, and is
thought to be
architecturally the
most perfect of
any. The painted
grey roof has been
removed, and a
wooden one with
emblazoned bosses
substituted. In
the central bay of
the eastern aisle
is the tomb of the
founder, Walter
Gray --a noble
monument to a
noble man, who

died on the ist of May, 1255, having been archbishop thirty-nine years.
He is represented in his mitre and robes, his head resting on a cushion, his
right hand raised to bless, his left hand holding the pastoral staff, and
thrusting it into the mouth of a dragon under his feet. Over his head is
a massive canopy supported by nine slender pillars, and it was long believed
that he was buried in this canopy and not in the earth, because as he was
under excommunication he might not be buried in consecrated ground !
But unfortunately for this tale he was never excommunicated, and when
the canopy was examined by Drake, the historian, it was found to contain
nothing more interesting than rubble. Side by side with Walter Gray's
is another beautiful monument, a modern one, but in wonderful harmony
with the surroundings. It is in memory of Dean Duncombe, the restorer
of this transept, and a great benefactor of the church and city. The
slender columns of dark grey Purbeck marble, interspersed with the grey
stone clusters, form a striking feature of this part of the building ; until
a few years ago they were whitewashed, to preserve them from iconoclastic
hands.

THE CRYPT.

34 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [YORK.

As one enters the choir, the magnificent east window bursts into
view. Measuring 78 feet by 33 feet, it is the largest in England which
retains its original glazing, and its only superior in size is the east window
of Gloucester. The number of subjects represented in glass is about one
hundred and fifteen, from the Old Testament and the Revelation. The
figures are generally about two feet high ; the drawing is good, and the
faces are exquisitely finished, resembling in style the work of the early
Italian painters. The window was begun in 1405 by John Thornton, of
Coventry, who was to have four shillings a week, and five pounds a year
in addition, and to finish it in three years, and, if the work were really
well done, ten pounds at the end of that time.

The architecture of the choir is much the same as that of the nave,
though rather later ; the clerestory is Perpendicular instead of Decorated.
The roof, like that of the nave, is of wood, painted stone colour, and
dates from after the fire of 1829. The present stalls and the glazed
altar screen are a reproduction of those that perished in 1829. The reredos,
of Street's designing, is satisfactory neither in form nor in colour. The
moulding of Tinworth's terra-cotta " Crucifixion " and the wood-carving
are both good, but cannot atone for covering so much of the east window.
Still less to be admired are the pulpit and the archbishop's throne, both
of them modern.

A noticeable feature of the choir is the small transepts, midway
between the great transepts and the east end. They indicate the
position of eastern transepts and towers in Roger's Norman choir — for
he had been Archdeacon of Canterbury before he came to York, and
with him he brought the idea of having a tower on either side of the
choir. These eastern transepts are one bay only in width, and do not project
beyond the aisle walls, but they produce an admirable effect, whether
viewed externally or internally. The north and south walls are each
entirely occupied with a huge window, and these windows, which have
been restored, were perhaps intended to give additional light to the altar,
which formerly stood between them, and was only put backwards into
its present position about a century ago. The windows are filled with
lovely stained glass, that on the south depicting scenes in the life of
St. Cuthbert, that on the north illustrating events in the life of St.
William, a great-grandson of the Conqueror, who, it has been suggested,
owed his repute for sanctity more to the popular belief that he was
poisoned out of the Holy Cup than to any unusual measure of grace.

In the choir and Lady Chapel are the principal monuments, and it
must be owned that very few of them possess any great interest or beauty.
To the left, by the choir-screen, is that of Archbishop Dolben, in his youth
a Royalist soldier ; to the right, that of the Hon. Thomas Wentworth,

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[YORK.

nephew of the Earl of Strafford. Near this is an amusing inscription to
a certain Lady Downe, which, after twenty-seven lines enumerating her
perfections, refers the inquiring reader to the Gentleman's Magazine of
May, 1812, for further particulars. The splendid tomb of Archbishop Bowet,
who died in 1423, was injured in the last fire, but from either side it
is a lovely study in light and shade. In the best style of Henry VI. 's
time, and similar to the tomb of Cardinal Kemp at Canterbury ; it fills the
space between the two pillars of the easternmost end of the south aisle.
In the corresponding position on the north side rests Archbishop Scrope,
beheaded for high treason after a mock trial, June 8th, 1405, in a field
between Bishopthorpe and York— the first prelate who suffered death in
England by any form of law.

Between these two monuments are, in various states of repair,
memorials of Archbishops Rotherham, Frewen, Matthew, Sewell, and
Sharp. We are now immediately beneath the east window, but cannot
see it so well as in the choir, where it has been described, but the

stone arcading which doubles each mullion
can be well seen, as can the gallery that
crosses the window half-
way up, with an effect
at once beautiful and
peculiar. In front of
where the present altar
stands was the gorgeous
shrine of St. William, to
which his bones were re-
moved from the nave,
January 8th and gth,
1284, in the presence of
Edward I., Queen Eleanor,
eleven bishops, and the
whole Court. Thirty-six
miracles are recorded of
him, and oil is said to
have flowed from his
tomb, so no wonder
pilgrims flocked to it.

ARCHBISHOP BOWETS TOMB. "*I^BHI _, . . . ,

The shrine was entirely
swept away at the Re-
formation. Just in front of this is the place where Thoresby
laid six of his predecessors, leaving room for himself to rest in
their midst. The monument of Archbishop Sterne, great-grandfather of

YORK.]

A LINK WITH ROYALTY.

Laurence Sterne, which looks down the north aisle, is amusingly
realistic, for he died of the gout, and his statue shows one leg thicker
than the other. Passing the tombs of Charles Howard, Earl of Carlisle,
Chancellor Swin-
burne, and Sir
Henry Bellasis,
and the St. Wil-
liam window in
the little transept
on the right, we
come to the only
link with royalty
the minster pos-
sesses, the tomb
of William of Hat-
field, second son
of Edward III.
and Philippa, who
died at the age
of eight ; the feet
rest on a lion ;
a series of can-
opies reaches
to the roof. In
this aisle are
two large triangu-
lar boxes, ornamented with beautiful ironwork, in which copes were
kept.

On the south side of the choir is the beautiful Decorated room
called Archbishop La Zouche's Chapel. He began building it in 1350,
intending to be buried there, but was called away in 1352, before it
was ready for him, so he was laid in the nave, and his chapel was
rebuilt towards the end of the same century, when the present choir was
erected. It is now used as a record room. The Archbishop, it will be
remembered, beat the Scots and took their King prisoner in a battle at
Bewre Park, near Durham, while Queen Philippa remained at York to
pray for his success.

In the vestry, adjoining the record room, a great many interesting
relics are preserved. First and foremost of these is the horn of Ulphus,
a Saxon prince, who, hearing his sons quarrelling about the division of his
property, punished them by giving it to the minster (about 1036), and
laid his drinking-horn on the altar, as the tenure by which it was to

THE MINSTER FROM THE MARKET PLACE.

38 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [YORK.

be held. It is an elephant's tusk, beautifully carved with winged quad-
rupeds, thought to be of Oriental workmanship. The lands lie to the
east of York, and some of them, at any rate, are still in the possession
of the Dean and Chapter. There are some silver chalices and rings
taken from the tombs of the archbishops ; a silver pastoral staff given
by Catherine of Braganza to her confessor, James Smith ; an ancient
chair, rather like the throne of Dagobert, in which several kings are
said to have been crowned ; a magnificent oak chest of the time of
Henry VI. ; a mazer bowl, given by Agnes Wyman, wife of the Lord
Mayor, to the Guild of Corpus Christi in the time of Richard II., and
used at the " love feasts of the Guild " (Archbishop Scrope, according to
the legend on the rim, promised forty days' indulgence to all who drank
out of it !) until the Reformation, when it came into the hands of the
Guild of Cordwainers, and was profaned to the use of a punch-bowl
until the beginning of the nineteenth century ; two velvet-bound books,
given to the church by Charles I. ; and, last but not least, the head of
a wooden effigy of Archbishop Rotherham, the figure, in a coffin, being
interred with great pomp, as representing his body, in the minster. He
himself was buried at Cawood, having died of the plague, in the year
1500.

Until the fire of 1829, au that was known of the crypt was the
eastern end, which is nearly square, with a groined roof resting on six
short pillars, some of them with Norman capitals. The structure, how-
ever, as it now exists, is not Norman, for the side piers are undoubtedly
Perpendicular, and the four centred transverse arches of the ribs conform
to the same type. Professor Willis therefore concluded that the crypt
was constructed, out of old materials, when the present choir was built,
in order to support the platform of the altar and to provide chapels
beneath it. In the course of examinations which were made after the
fire, the true crypt of the minster was discovered, stretching from the
one just described to the west end of the choir, and extending the full
width of choir and aisles. This has been cleared of earth and arched
over so that the whole can be seen. It is a Late Norman structure,
built no doubt by Archbishop Roger some time prior to 1180. There
is also a small portion at the western end which is probably older, and
a part of Archbishop Thomas's cathedral, and there are remains of a yet
earlier structure. Between a thin inner and a massive outer wall is a
third, evidently of great age, 4 feet 8 inches thick, faced with herringbone
masonry, and almost certainly Saxon work. Possibly it is a fragment
of the church commenced by Eadwine ; if so, it is one of the oldest
relics of ecclesiastical architecture in Britain.

In area, York Minster covers more* ground (84,860 square feet) than

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

TYORK.

any other of our cathedrals, St. Paul's coming next to it with 84,025
square feet. Its long-drawn roof, which stretches to a length of 486 feet,
varies only in height from 99 feet in the nave to 102 feet in the choir.

The nave is 262 feet in length, the choir
224 feet ; in breadth, the nave and its aisles
measure 104 feet, the choir and its aisles
99 feet ; of the transepts the dimensions have
already been given. The central tower rises
to a height of 198 feet, only two feet higher
than the western towers.

The chapter house, the gem of the cathe-
dral, restored in 1844, is entered from the
north transept through a very beautiful
doorway, divided into two by a slender
shaft, and leading into an L-shaped vestibule.
This doorway, with the vestibule beyond,
forms an exquisite study in light and shade.
The chapter house is octagonal in shape, with
no central pillar, a window on each side
with six arches below each, and a seat under
each arch, with pillars of Purbeck marble
separating one from another. All sorts of
quaint little carvings are in the canopies of
these stalls. One shows a devil taking the
crown from a king's head ; another a monk
and a nun kissing. The original glass, mostly
heraldic, of Early Decorated date, remains
in all except the east window, which is
mostly modern and very humiliating. The
ceiling was covered with frescoes coeval with the building ; remnants may
be seen in the vestibule. On a pillar by the door is the celebrated
inscription, " Ut rosa flos florum, sic est domus ista domorum."
The vestibule, later than the chapter house, contains some good-
carving, and the window arches are peculiar, not having their points
in the middle.

To the north of the north transept, and adjoining the Deanery, is
a stone building with an Early English five-light window very like the
" Five Sisters." It is now the minster library, but anciently it was the
private chapel of the archbishops, and adjoined their palace. Of the palace
itself nothing remains except a few arches. To his everlasting disgrace^
Archbishop Young (1560-68) sold the lead off the roof and pocketed
the proceeds, and Roger's palace fell into decay. Young was, notwith-

ARCHBISHOP SCROPE.

From a Water-colour Drawing by Powell of a.

Stained Glass Window formerly in the Minster.

(National Portrait Gallery.)

YORK.]

ASSOCIATIONS OF THE MINSTER.

standing, deemed worthy of sepulture in the north aisle of the choir,
but the exact place is not known, nor need one be anxious to identify it.

To the Yorkshireman the minster is to-day, as it has always been,
an object of peculiar regard, nor is it any wonder, as Mr. Bumpus
remarks, that a church so majestic, and so abounding in august associa-
tions, should be " a bond of union between the many sects, parties, and
classes scattered over the three Ridings." So glorious a heritage from
the past is held to be a sacred trust, and the extensive renovations-
such as that of the stonework of the west front — that have from time to
time to be undertaken are far from being regarded as a burden. Looking
back along the vale of years, how many memories come thronging up as
we gaze upon the minster from without or linger beneath its overarching
roof ! Kings and saints have knelt where we kneel, have prayed where
we pray. Here from age to age have come the warrior in his strength,
the old man with his " crown of glory," the sinner with his burden,

Photo : Pcrcival Spencer, A tronattt.

VIEW OF THE MINSTER, FROM A BALLOON.

the maiden with her joy. Here (in 1221) the Princess Joan, daughter
of King John, though only eleven years old, was married to Alexander II.
of Scotland, and here, thirty-one years later, came her little niece, Margaret
of England, to be united to Alexander III. That was indeed a gay
Christmas. Henry III. and his Queen and Court were there, and the
royal family of Scotland, to witness the union of the two children.

42 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [YoRx.

Neither the bride nor the bridegroom was yet eleven ! A thousand
knights in robes of silk attended the bride, while the King of Scotland
was surrounded by the most distinguished vassals of his crown and
by the highest dignitaries of the Scottish Church. Tournaments and
balls and processions succeeded each other for many days ; and such
was the number of the guests and the profuse hospitality of the hosts
that six hundred oxen were killed for one feast. In the midst of the
festivities an attempt was made to get the King of Scotland to do
homage for his kingdom to the King of England ; but the boy, with a
spirit and discretion above his years, refused to take a step of such
consequence without the consent of the estates of his realm. It will
be remembered that King William had been entrapped into that very
act of homage at York by Henry I. (1175), and placed his spear and
shield on the altar. At that altar (January, 1328) another and even
more distinguished young couple began their long and happy married
life, Edward III. and Philippa of Hainault — he not yet seventeen, and she
only fourteen. Yet another princess bride came to York, Margaret Tudor,
sister of Henry VIII., when on her way to be married to James IV.
of Scotland (July, 1503). She lodged in the palace of the archbishop,
and, wearing a gorgeous cloth of gold dress, went more than once to the
minster, and St. William's head was brought for her to kiss. In after years
she would perhaps look back at the days in York as among the palmiest
of her life, for her husband hated his father-in-law, and visited his repug-
nance upon his wife.

From wedding to funeral — so is the way of the world. Here was
buried the head of King Edwin, founder of the church, and Eadbert,
one of his successors on the throne of Northumbria. Here the remains
of Tosti, Tiger of the North, brother of Harold, were brought after the
battle of Stamford Bridge, to rest quietly at last. Here, when pious
hands brought Archbishop Gerard home to his grave (1108), the crowd
pelted his coffin with stones, because he had died with his head on an
astronomical book ! Here is the last home of two of our noblest arch-
bishops, Scrope and Neville, the first a victim of the fourth Henry,
the second done to death by the fourth Edward, in revenge for the
deeds of his brother, the King-maker ; and here was laid in the cold
earth the fiery Harry Hotspur. These are the towers which Cardinal
Wolsey, Archbishop of York, saw from Cawood ; he was summoned south
before he had taken a nearer view.

Of some of the more distinguished occupants of the archiepiscopal
see, from Paulinus downwards, mention has incidentally been made. The
list also includes Geoffrey (1191-1207), the illegitimate son of Henry II.,
whose career was full of vicissitudes, and whose fate it was to die in

TOBIAS MATTHEW (1600-28'

(.Vati(tH<it Fart ruit Halleru.)

SOME ARCHBISHOPS OF YORK.
43

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[YORK.

exile ; Edmund Grindal, the Puritan (1570-76) ; his immediate successor,
Edwin Sandys (1577-88), one of the translators of the Bishops' Bible; and
Richard Neile (1632-40), a successful time-server, who was rewarded with
six bishoprics (with a deanery thrown in) — those of Rochester, Lich-
field, Lincoln, Durham, Winchester, and York. Edward Vernon Harcourt
(1808-47), s011 °f Lord Vernon and grandfather of the statesman, should
be named because of his generous benefactions to the cathedral after the
fires of 1829 and 1840. Coming nearer to the present day, we find that
Charles Thomas Longley, appointed in 1860, was two years later translated
to Canterbury. The see was next held for close upon thirty years (1863-91)
by William Thomson, the author of the " Laws of Thought," whose suc-
cessor, William Connor Magee, one of the finest orators and most
vigorous controversialists of his generation, died in the year of his trans-
lation from Peterborough.

THE MINSTER AND BOOTHAM BAR.

ST PAUL'S, FROM BANKSIDE.

ST. PAUL'S.

The First St. Paul's— Old St. Paul's— Shrine of St. Erkenwald— Destruction of Old St. Paul's— Clearing
away the Ruins— Wren's Designs — Building for Eternity — How the Great Architect was Treated —
The Old and the New Cathedral Compared— Exterior of the Present St. Paul's— The Interior-
Its Recent Enrichment — Monuments— The Crypt — Wren's Tomb — Painters' Corner— The Library
— Bishops and Deans of St. Paul's— A Unique Thanksgiving Service.

LD St. Paul's was not the first Christian temple to be
built upon the hill of Ludgate. That distinction is
claimed by the church of the monastery which was
founded on this spot in the seventh century by
Ethelbert of Kent. What it was like we have no
means of knowing, nor do we know the precise year
in which it perished by fire, but probably it was either
1087 or 1088. Now it was that under Bishop Maurice
the mighty fane which we speak of as Old St. Paul's was begun. At
first it progressed but slowly ; forty years had passed and it was
still unfinished. Then, in the year 1136, another great fire broke out,
and raged all the way from London Bridge to St. Clement Danes in
the Strand, greatly injuring, if it did not destroy, the still incomplete
cathedral. At last, however, the work was ended ; and then, in no
long time, men began to desire a more sumptuous structure, so in the
early part of the thirteenth century the central tower was rebuilt.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ST.

and afterwards the whole of the choir, the work being completed in 1240.
Other alterations and important repairs were made towards the end of
the same century, but after this the building remained almost unaltered
until after the Reformation.

As thus completed, the Cathedral of St. Paul was the largest, and

perhaps the finest, church in
England. The central tower
rose from the intersection of
the transepts to a height
of 260 feet, and the spire
in which it terminated added
at least 200 feet more to
its stature, so that it was
nearly a hundred feet higher
than the golden cross which
soars above the dome of
the present St. Paul's. In
length Old St. Paul's ex-
ceeded Winchester, being at
least 596 feet. The ridge
of the roof of the choir was
142 feet from the ground;
that of the nave slightly
less. In plan the structure
was cruciform, and both
nave and choir consisted of
twelve bays. The nave, a
fine Norman building, in-
ternally not unlike that of
Gloucester, with a rather
plain west front, remained
unchanged, at any rate ex-
ternally, except that the
clerestory had been altered
and a vaulted roof added. The transepts and choir were rich examples
of the Decorated style, and — an uncommon feature in English cathedrals
—there was a grand rose window in the east end. A wall and gates
surrounded the building, and in the churchyard, at the north-east angle,
on the spot now marked by tablets, stood the famous Paul's Cross,
where our forefathers assembled in fine weather to hear sermons from the
most eloquent preachers of the day.

Of all the treasures of Old St. Paul's — and it possessed a bewildering

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48 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ST. PAUL-..

variety — the most precious in the eyes of the devout, through long ages,
was the shrine of St. Erkenwald, one of the early Bishops of London,
which stood between the high altar and the Lady Chapel. It was not
the original shrine, but a much more magnificent one, constructed early
in the fourteenth century, and enriched from time to time with gold and
silver and precious stones as successive devotees lavished upon it their
wealth.

In 1561 the steeple of Old St. Paul's was set on fire by lightning
and destroyed, nor was it ever rebuilt, and from this time onward the
story of the cathedral is one of neglect and decay, until the end came

in the Great Fire of 1666. At
first the authorities were all for

GARDEN OF ST PAUL'S: NORTH-EAST SIDE.

restoring the cathedral, but presently Christopher Wren persuaded them that
the task was a hopeless one. The work of clearing away the ruins was one
of immense difficulty, and the use of gunpowder being forbidden, owing
to an indiscretion of one of Wren's subordinates, the great architect
bethought him of the battering-ram. As we read in the " Parentalia,"
compiled by his son, " he took a strong mast of about forty feet long,
arming the bigger end with a great spike of iron, fortified with bars
along the mast, and ferrules. The mast in two places was hung up to
one ring with strong tackle, and so suspended level to a triangle prop, such
as they weigh great guns with ; thirty men, fifteen on a side, vibrated
this machine to and again, and beat in one place against the wall the
whole day. They believed it was to little purpose, not discerning any

ST. PAUL'S.]

WREN'S DESIGNS.

..——-.-'

>^'«i. jfi--~- -^s .-•^V'.^wvM'VjkjM

OLD ST. PAUL'S AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD IN 1540.

From a Copy, in the possession of F. G. Grace, Esq., of the earliest known view of
London, taken for Philip II. of Spain.

immediate effect ; he bid
them not despair, but
proceed another day : on
the second day the wall
was perceived to tremble
at the top, and in a few
hours it fell." Thus the
architect's calculations
were justified, and the
battering-ram was con-
tinued in use until all
the remaining walls were
level with the ground.

Of the first design
which Wren produced
after getting his commission from Dean Sancroft, a model is preserved
to this day in the library of St. Paul's. The plan is a Greek cross,
with the angles filled in by quadrants of a circle. The arms are
short ; a large dome rises from the centre, and a smaller dome
from behind the west facade. The novelty of the design, as imper-
fectly cruciform, displeased the clergy, and it was accordingly rejected.
Then Wren prepared various designs, one of which was approved by
King Charles, licence, however, being given to make alterations. Of
this clause Wren fortunately availed himself, construing the permission
in the widest sense, so that the present cathedral has but little resem-
blance to the design which was approved by the
King. In this case second ^^^^^^ thoughts proved far
the best, for the design as ^| ^^ originally prepared was
distinctly inferior
both to the present
building and to the
design which had
been rejected.

With what ex-
treme care Wren
laid his founda-
tions, "his en-
deavours," in the
noble words of the
" Parentalia," being
"to build for
eternity," how he

WREN'S FIRST DESIGN.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ST. PAULS.

KEFEKENTES.
1. Kolx-rl Mylne
1. John Hermit!
3 CI.as.RolK.Cockcn.01K. A.

4. Arrlidnwon IJale

5. Canon Melvill

6. Sir Thos. I^wn'lioe I'.U.A.

7. Rvnjamin ttV.t It K.A.
S,. Thos.Xewton(lVan &
9. Lord Lcigliton I'.U.A.

in. Sir Christopher Wren
ll.Sir JolmMillaM'llA

1.1 M W.Turn.T K .A.

3. James Barry It A
. John II.Kol.y K.A
Sir Jutliua Kf.rnulil. P.lt.A.

<;. Geo.Uanot'R.A

-,. John Oiiie K.A.

s. Henry Fuseli K.A,
I'J. lieu l>awe K.A.
Si. Sir Kdwin Tjniilseer K.A.

REFERENCES.
?!. Bishop Cruighum
31 11,-an Milmui
13. SirJo*t'»h,Ktlgar l«nh]n It. A
24.\Vm.lit»yc« A M.Ki- ••iu> M 1M-
So. Sir Arthur Sullivan Mas l),.v
26. C'anon LUKlou

. III. Unas An wood
3S. Lt Gen Sir T. Eicton
?A The Dnkeof AVflliupton
.liner Charrington Gill
31. Lord NelanfsSarcortueiis
XL K.-.r Admiral U..Vonl»sk
33 I.oi,l I •..lliiii;. . ....!

34'Field Marshal Lonl Xapk-r

36 George Cruiksluuit

36 Sir Henry Bartle Ktx-re

37. Sir<Je<»rge (jrey

3S. G.S.N'oiuge Ld.Myr.of Lond

39 Sir U. \Villiama

dug down to a. depth of forty feet to find out what there was to
support them ; how, in consequence of there being a pit just where
the north-east angle of the choir had to stand, he had at this point to
build up a pier ten feet square from the London clay, nearly fifty feet

below the surface,
all the world
knows. So it was
that, having be-
gun to cleai away
the ruins on May
ist, 1674, he was
not ready to lay
the first stone
until June 2ist,
1675. The work
of building was
vigorously pro-
secuted, \Yren
personally super-
intending it all,
though as the
rebuilder of the
City he had on
his hands enough
other work to
occupy the whole
time of any or-
dinary man. By
1685 the walls of
the choir were
finished, and the
piers of the dome
reared ; the north
and south porti-
coes also were completed ; but not until December 2nd, 1697, Thanks-
giving Day for the Peace of Ryswick, was the choir opened, and the dome
was not finished until 1710.

It is painful to relate that the closing years of Wren's work at
the cathedral were darkened by wrongful and insulting treatment. There
had been a commission appointed to superintend the progress of the
works, the majority of whom were no more fitted for the duty than
have been some modern ediles. An idea took possession of their minds

THE EASTERN AND CENTRAL PORTIONS OF THE CRYPT, SHOWING BURIAL

PLACES.
/>V permission, from the Official Guide to St. Pauls.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ST. PAUL'S.

that Wren wanted the work prolonged as much as possible in order that
he might continue to enjoy his sumptuous salary (£200 a year !) as
architect. Accordingly, three years before the close of the seventeenth
century, a clause was inserted in an Act of Parliament which author-
ised them to suspend the payment of one-half his salary till the
work was finished. When the building was substantially complete Wren
was still only able to obtain the arrears by petitioning the Crown. But
disputes about this comparatively paltry sum were not all ; the commis-
sioners continued to meddle with the work and to thwart the architect.
Contrary to Wren's strongly expressed wishes, they cooped up the cathe-

dral within an enclosure
wall surmounted by a
which since, and with
been removed from the
missioners insisted upon
of the cathedral with a
to quote Wren's words,
sons of little skill in
ladies, who " think
an edging." At last
putes to a close by a
and ingratitude. As the
Court intrigue they
the dismissal of the

DEAN COLET.
After the Porttait by Holbein at Windsor.

consisting of a stone
heavy cast-iron railing,
such good effect, has
west front. The corn-
crowning the side walls
balustrade, since this,
" was expected by per-
architecture," and by
nothing well without
they brought their dis-
crowning act of insult
result of a miserable
obtained from George I.
illustrious architect from

his office of Surveyor of Public Works in favour of a Court minion of
the name of Benson, who has not been judged worthy of a place in the
Dictionary of National Biography, and would have been forgotten had

ST. PAUL'S.]

DIMENSIONS.

he not been pilloried in the " Dunciad." Wren, then in his eighty-sixtli
year, but in full possession of his faculties, bore this ill-treatment with
equanimity, retired to his house at Hampton Court, and resumed his

studies in philosophy
years later, he passed
The old and the
speaking, occupy the
latter is considerably
and as the end of its
away from the east wall
the present west front is
boundary of the former
ing is broader in every
transepts — than the old
in orientation, the former
eight degrees north of
almost due east and
Wren's cathedral, if we

SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN.

from the Painting by Kneller in the
National Porttait Gallery.

and theology, until, four
quietly away,
new cathedrals, roughly
same site, but as the
shorter than the former,
eastern apse is not far
of the earlier building,
some distance within the
one. But the new build-
part—nave, choir, and
one, and the two differ
pointing some seven or
east, the latter lying

YVP^t TllP Ipnjrth nf

WCSt. UC ICllglU

include the portico, is

500 feet ; the greatest breadth, across the transept, but without reckon-
ing the porches, is 250 feet ; the general width of the nave is 115 feet ;
but this at the western end is augmented by the projection of the
towers ; the dome rises, in the golden cross, to a height of about
365 feet. St. Peter's at Rome, with which it is natural to make a
comparison, is 630 feet in length and 440 in breadth ; the width of the
nave is 220 feet ; the height of the dome is 437^ feet, and it covers an
area of 227,000 square feet, against the 84,025 square feet of St. Paul's.
The ground plan of the cathedral is a Latin cross, at the centre of

rhoto : ffegttv, Clai>fon.

DR. WINNINGTON-INGRAM.

54 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ST. PA^,

which is placed the dome. The exterior consists throughout of two
orders, the lower Corinthian, the upper composite. After the dome the
chief feature of the building is the west front, with its noble portico,
divided, like the rest of the structure, into two storeys, the lower con-
sisting of twelve coupled columns, the upper only of eight, above which
is an entablature and a pediment decorated with sculpture by Francis
Bird depicting the conversion of St. Paul. This portico is flanked by
the lower storeys of the western bell-towers ; each of them, where it
rises above the mass of the building, consisting of a square base sup-
porting a circular turret flanked with columns and crowned by a cupola.
Around the drum of the dome is a colonnade of thirty-two columns,
the base of which is some twenty feet above the roof ridge of the church.
Every fourth intercolumniation is filled with masonry, a most ingenious
device for masking the projecting buttresses of the true wall of the
dome.

It should be understood that the dome is not that which one
sees within the building, but a quite separate structure ; nor does it
bear the weight of the lantern above it, supporting a globe crowned by
the golden cross. Called upon to provide an external dome of greater
height than was consistent with a graceful interior, Wren decided to
build two separate domes, and, by what Fergusson deems a master-stroke
of mechanical skill, hit upon the device of building up between the two
a strong cone of brick eighteen inches in thickness, springing from the
main walls and great arches of the building, as a support for the lantern,
which is a structure of enormous weight, computed at seven hundred
tons. By some critics the double dome has been objected to on the
score that the spectator is deceived, since he supposes that the ceiling
he sees within is the inside of the dome he sees without. Dealing with
this criticism, Wightman asks, " If the spectator, amazed at the dignity
of bulk and altitude without, gives to the expanse within the credit
of equal size and altitude, is it not better than well ? " And he very
pertinently adds that " it will be time enough to insist upon it that
a church dome shall be simply an inverted cup of masonry, when all
the remainder of the building shall have no roof but the vaulting which
forms its ceiling."

Another structural peculiarity of St. Paul's must also be noticed. Of
the two stages of which it consists, the lower alone is a true wall, and thus it
is that in the upper stage instead of windows there are niches. By one critic
this upper stage has been denounced as "a mere empty show with
nothing behind it," and it is added that " when once this is known it
is impossible to forget it, or to have the same feeling towards the building
which a spectator might have, despite its defects of detail, who believes

ST. PAUL'S.]

THE UPPER STAGE OF THE OUTER WALL.

its external mass to represent its interior arrangements." Here we find
raised an interesting question in the ethics of architecture. That the
upper stage is something other than it appears to be must be conceded ;
but all the same it is much more than " a mere empty show." It serves
a very important structural purpose. Besides masking the flying but-
tresses which support the walls of the clerestory, it dispenses with the
need for buttresses for the walls of the church, the pressure of its weight

THE INTERIOR, FROM THE WESTERN GALLERY.

preventing any outward thrust from them ; and it forms a continuous
buttress that absorbs the tremendous thrust of the great arches which span
nave, choir, and transepts, and support the vast weight of the superstructure.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ST. PAUL'S.

Hardly less impressive than the exterior is the interior of St. Paul's.
It is divided by two massive arcades, supported by pilasters, into a body
and two aisles, the latter being low compared with the former. The
roofs are vaulted ; there is a clerestory, but no triforium, the windows

being introduced into
the curved space formed
by the intersection of
the vaulting with the
outer walls ; this does
much to avert monotony
from the design. Below
the drum of the dome
is the well-known
Whispering Gallery, a
rather conspicuous fea-
ture in the interior view,
so called from its re-
markable acoustic
properties ; and the pierc-
ing of the centre of the
cupola allows the eye
to travel as far as the
summit of the cone which
supports the lantern. The view of the dome from the interior, its great
expanse and elevation, is by far the most impressive part of the cathedral ;
could it be completed — as doubtless it existed in the mental conception of
the architect — with marble and mosaics, glowing with rich colour, instead
of disfigured with the monochromes of Thornhill, even the most unfriendly
critic of classic art would have to admit that Christopher Wren had
produced a work which few could rival. In the choir is much of Grinling
Gibbons' wood carving, in the best style of that superb artist, and separ-
ating the choir from its aisles is some exquisite wrought-iron work by
Jean Tijou.

Of late years much has been done for the enrichment of the in-
terior of St. Paul's, and gradually it is being brought into conformity
with Wren's intentions. The organ no longer blocks the view of the
choir from the dome, for now, divided into two, it is placed on either
side of the choir, and the screen which supported it has been removed.
The eight spandrels of the dome are filled with mosaics representing the
four evangelists and the four major prophets, designed by Alfred
Stevens, by G. F. Watts, and by A. Brittan, and executed by Dr. Sal-
viati, of Venice, who finished his task in 1894. The quarter-domes now

TOMB OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

ST. PAUL'S.]

DECORATION OF ST. PAUL'S.

glow with the much more brilliant mosaic work of Sir William Richmond,
R.A., who has also similarly adorned the walls and roof of the choir
and its aisles, and of the apse behind. Sir William Richmond has not
only supplied the designs for the mosaic, but at every stage has super-
intended their execution, according to a method prescribed by himself.
Going back for guidance to the earlier workers in mosaic, he has secured
much greater brilliancy of effect, and also much greater durability, than
is obtainable from more modern methods, as represented by Dr. Salviati's
work. The great reredos of Parian marble, enriched with other stones
and with gilt, may still, to some eyes, seem too large for its situation,
and it is certainly of much greater dimensions than the baldachino
which Wren intended for this position; but that it fits admirably into
Sir William Richmond's exquisite colour scheme none can deny. Designed
by Messrs. Bodley and Garner, it embodies sculptures by Guillemin
representing the chief events in the life of the Redeemer, from the
Nativity to the Resurrection, with a crucifix as the centre of the design.
The pulpit under the dome, designed by William Butterfield, and executed
by Mr. F. C. Penrose, a former surveyor of the cathedral — to whom,
by the way, we owe the identification of the site of Paul's Cross- -
is a work in
marble of
many colours.
On the op-
posite side of
the dome, sus-
pended from
the great
north-east
pier of the
nave, there
hangs G. F.
Watts's alle-
gorical pic-
ture, " Time,
Death, and
Judgment,"
the gift of the
artist. The

electric light, with handsome fittings designed by Mr. Somers Clarke, the
surveyor of the cathedral, has been installed throughout the building at the
expense of Mr. Pierpont Morgan; and Mr. Somers Clarke has himself pre-
sented a gilt-iron balustrade for the enrichment of the cornice of the nave.

THE GEOMETRICAL STAIRCASE, SEEN FROM ABOVE.

58 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ST. PW*.

Since the apse was separated from the choir by the reredos it has
been known as the Jesus Chapel, after the chapel of that name in Old
St. Paul's. The altarpiece, which contains a copy of Cima's " Doubting of
St. Thomas," one of the treasures of the National Gallery, was designed
by the same accomplished architects as the reredos, and, together with the

recumbent effigy which it looks
down upon, forms a memorial
of Canon Liddon, whose ser-
mons in St. Paul's were for
twenty years a leading feature

^^^PIHQP^IA of the religious life of the

capital.

Chief among the monu-
ments in the body of the
church is Alfred Stevens's
great but exquisitely pro-
portioned memorial, in white
marble and bronze, of the
Duke of Wellington, formerly

MEMORIAL OF LORD LEIGHTON. J

hidden away in the south-
west chapel, but now placed under the central arch on the north
side of the nave, though still unsurmounted by the equestrian figure
which its designer intended. Next to it in power to claim attention
is Mr. Thomas Brock's monument of Lord Leighton, in one of the bays
of the north aisle, of which another bay is occupied by Boehm's cenotaph
of General Gordon, with a mural tablet commemorating Sir Herbert
Stewart, who lost his life in the attempt to relieve Khartoum. Although
the four first monuments to be reared in the church, one at each of
the great piers of the dome, are commemorative of men distinguished
in civil walks of life — John Howard the philanthropist, Samuel Johnson,
Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Sir William Jones the Orientalist — many of
those who are honoured with statues in St. Paul's have been warriors. In
the south aisle of the choir are George Richmond's monument of Bishop
Blomfield, Thomas Woolner's of Bishop Jackson, Chantrey's of Bishop
Heber, Hamo Thornycroft's of Bishop Mandell Creighton, and Williamson's
of Dean Milman, author of the picturesque " Annals " of the cathedral.
Close by, in the perpendicular posture, is the shrouded figure of an earlier
Dean, Dr. Donne, which is specially interesting as the only monument of Old
St. Paul's that was left intact by the Fire. In 1904, just inside the south-
west door, a bronze relief, by W. Goscombe John, A.R.A., was erected by
their comrades to the officers and men of the Coldstream Guards who
perished in the South African War, and in the following year a monument

A FESTIVAL REHEARSAL

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[Sr. PAUL'S.

by the Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, to the Colonials who fell in the

same great conflict was unveiled in the south transept.

The crypt extends beneath the whole area of the church, its vaulting

supported by piers answering to
each of the piers above, but of
far more massive structure. Be-
neath the very centre of the
dome lies Admiral Nelson, whose
sarcophagus, of black marble, is

^ M elevated above the pavement of

•_-l the chapel. The history of this
H^HSfifiBH tomb is a curious one : executed

M •/ by Benedetto da Rovezzano, it

was originally intended for Car-
dinal Wolsey, and was to have
been placed in his memorial chapel
at the eastern end of St. George's,
at Windsor, now the royal vault.
But he died in disgrace, and a

THE GORDON CENOTAPH.

less honourable place of sepulture

was deemed good enough for his corpse, so the sarcophagus remained
without a tenant until it was at last removed from Windsor to serve as
the tomb of Nelson. The great seaman's remains were enclosed in a
coffin made of the mainmast of a French ship destroyed in the battle of
the Nile, and as it could not be got into Wolsey's tomb it was enclosed
in the masonry at the foot. To the east
is laid the body of Wellington in a huge
sarcophagus of simple form, sculptured from
a great block of one of our rarest British
rocks, that known as luxulyanite. The pon-
derous car, designed by Alfred Stevens, on
which the coffin was borne through the streets
of London, is at the west end of the crypt.
Wren's plain tomb is in the south aisle
of the crypt, and above it are the famous
words, written by his son, "Lector, si monn-
mentum requiris, circumspice." Close by is
Painters' Corner, where rest Reynolds, Turner,
Lawrence, James Barry, Lord Leighton, and
his successor as President of the Royal
Academy, Sir John Millais, who followed
him to this august resting-place within

THE WELLINGTON MONUMENT.

LLJ

H
3
O

§3

cc s

u. "•

. 6

C/3 <->

J *

C^ I

THE CRYPT OF ST. PAUL'S.

ST. PAUL'S.)

a few short months. In the crypt, too, rests Sir George Williams,
honoured with sepulture here as the founder of the Young Men's
Christian Association. In the chapel of the crypt lie Dean Milman,
Canon Liddon, and Bishop Creighton, and
here are preserved fragments of the few
monuments in Old St. Paul's which es-
caped total destruction
in the Fire. As in
Westminster Abbey, so

here in the (•^^•M"*
crypt of St.
Paul's, there
are tablets
commemora-
tive of some
who sleep
elsewhere -
Frank Holl
and Ran-
dolph Calde-
cott, Archi-
bald Forbes
and other
war corre-
spondents,
Charles

Reade and Sir Walter Besant, and Mr. George Smith, the publisher to
whom we are indebted for the Dictionary of National Biography.

The cathedral library is over the chapel which formerly contained the
monument of Wellington ; the ancient collection was almost wholly
destroyed in the Great Fire, but the present library contains many
valuable books. It owes its beginning to the munificence of Bishop
Compton, whose portrait hangs upon the wall. The proper approach to
it is by the " geometrical staircase," one of the sights of the cathedral,
a spiral staircase attached only to the outer wall — seemingly almost
hanging in the air. Another flight of steps leads to the famous
Whispering Gallery, which runs around the inner dome. Here one may
understand, if not admire, ThornhilTs monochromes, which have for their
subjects incidents in the life of St. Paul.

Until the Great Fire the Bishop of London's palace stood on the
north side of the cathedral, and is still kept in memory by London
House Yard, between St. Paul's Churchyard and Paternoster Row. The

Pluto: Thiele, Chancery Lane.

FUNERAL OF SIR JOHN MILLAIS.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ST. PAUL'S.

Bishop's town house is now in St. James's Square, Pall Mall, and his country
house a few miles up the Thames at Fulham. The Deanery is in Dean's
Court, on the south side of the cathedral, on the slope of the hill that
descends to Thames side. First built by de Diceto, the historian, who

was Dean of St. Paul's at
the end of the twelfth
century, it was rebuilt
after the Great Fire of
1666 by Dean Sancroft,
from designs by Wren.
Close by is the Choir
School, a building in the
Renaissance style, de-
signed by Mr. F. C.
Penrose, who provided
it with a flat roof
which, protected by net-
ting, is used as a play-

- GREAT PAUL," IN THE SOUTH TOWER. gTOUnd. TllC CaUOns'

residences are in Amen

Court, on the north side of Ludgate Hill — a veritable haunt of ancient
peace, so secluded are they, although a stone could easily be flung from this
enclosure into one of the busiest streets of the City.

Of the distinguished men who have occupied the see of London, five
have been translated to the archiepiscopal chair of York, and no fewer
than fourteen to that of Canterbury. Among those who in our own
day have been elevated to the Primacy of All England have been
Archibald Campbell Tait and Frederick Temple, the latter of whom
had for his successor Mandell Creighton, historian and humanist, as well
as divine. At his untimely death, in 1901, his mantle fell upon Dr.
Winnington-Ingram, who, as Bishop of Stepney, had won golden opinions
by his religious and social work in the East of London, and who
quickly proved himself to be one of the most energetic and most popular of
prelates. Among less recent bishops who have not been named already
are Nicholas Ridley the martyr and Robert Lowth the Hebraist.

Hardly less distinguished is the list of deans, many of whom have
been preferred to bishoprics, and four of them — Sancroft, Tillotson, Seeker,
and Cornwallis — to the throne of Canterbury. Among other names of high
renown are Colet, the founder of St. Paul's School, now carried on at Ham-
mersmith ; Nowell, author of the Church Catechism ; Donne, eminent as
a poet as well as a preacher ; Joseph Butler, Bishop of Durham and —
grander title to fame — author of the "Analogy" and the "Sermons on

64 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ST. PAUL'S.

Human Nature"; Milman, the historian, to whom belongs the glory of
initiating the modern movement for decorating St. Paul's ; Mansel, the
metaphysician, one of the keenest of dialecticians, who, after a three
years' tenure of the office, died suddenly in 1871, and gave place to the
saintly and accomplished Church. The last time Dr. Church officiated in
the cathedral was at the burial of his friend, Canon Liddon, in September,
1890, when he read the sentence of committal to the grave. He him-
self died on December gth in the same year, and by his own wish was
buried at What by.

We must not close this account of St. Paul's without recalling what
history may perhaps regard as the most memorable of the services of
which it has been the scene. In her progress through the capital on
Diamond Jubilee Day, June 22nd, 1897, the late Queen Victoria's carriage
was halted at the foot of the steps before the west front, and there
was held a short service, in which a congregation representing all that
was most distinguished in the Empire poured out its gratitude to Heaven
for the blessings that had attended a reign so long and so illustrious.
The service was to have ended with the Old Hundredth, but the feelings
of the congregation demanded further expression, and the National Anthem
was spontaneously sung. Finally Archbishop Temple called for " three
cheers for the Queen," and she was sped upon her journey by acclamations
enthusiastic beyond description.

THE PULPIT.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL.

DURHAM.

Situation— St. Cuthbert's Wanderings— The First Cathedral— The Present One begun by Bishop Carileph— The
North Front — The Towers — The North Porch and its Bronze Handle — The Interior — Chapel of the Nine
Altars— St. Cuthbert's Tomb— The Galilee Chapel— Altar-tomb of the Venerable Bede— How Jarrow was
Robbed of his Remains— Fittings of the Choir— Monuments— Destruction and Rebuilding of the Chapter-
house— Dimensions of the Church — The Bishops of Durham.

N situation, Durham has no parallel among the cathedral
towns of England. The country around is an undulating
tableland, carved into trench-like valleys by winding streams.
Of these streams the chief is the Wear, which by a sudden
turn forms a horseshoe peninsula — a mass of cliff that
rises sheer above the river. The city of Durham descends
the gentler slopes on either side to the stream, and mounts
the opposite bank. Across its centre the peninsula is
spanned by the cathedral, with the old monastic buildings, the Deanery,
and the houses and gardens of the canons to the south, while to
the north stands the castle, for centuries the fortress of the Prince-
Bishops of Durham, and now the home of the University.

How this spot came to be chosen for the building of the abbey has often
been told. For nearly two centuries the body of St. Cuthbert, Prior
and afterwards Bishop of Lindisfarne, lay in peace in his own church.
Then came the Danes, and, that the sacred relics might escape destruction
at their sacrilegious hands, the brethren hastily placed them in a coffin

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[DURHAM.

A Xine Altars.

B High Altur.

C Choir.

D Transepts.

[

of wood and fled to the mainland. After long wanderings they settled
at Chester-le-Street, where for more than a century the relics rested,
and were honoured by the Kings of England, in the more peaceful days
that commenced with the victory of Alfred. But in the year 995 another
inroad of the sea-kings sent the body of Cuthbert once more on its
travels, and this time it was conveyed to Ripon, whence, after the danger
was overpast, it was being again removed to Chester-le-Street, when an
event occurred which arrested the procession on its way, and caused
the foundation of Durham. According to the legend, the coffin was
being transported on a carriage, and the attendant band had arrived
at a spot somewhere to the east of the headland on which, at the present
day, the cathedral is standing, when suddenly the carriage stopped, and
was found to be immovable. The event obviously had a meaning,
and at the end of three days the saint appeared to his devotees in a vision,
and announced that he had chosen Durham for his future abode.

Here, in the wilderness,
a tabernacle to shelter their
ark was constructed from
the boughs of trees ; for
this structure another of
a more permanent nature,
but also of wood, was as
soon as possible substituted,
and in it the relics re-
mained for a space of three
years, while a church of
stone, the first minster of
Durham, was a-building.
In this, on the 4th of
September, in the year 999,
the body of St. Cuthbert
was solemnly enshrined. No
trace of the structure now
remains ; it was, of course,
far humbler than the pre-
sent lordly pile, but it was
still standing when, after
the Norman Conquest, the
Earldom of Durham was
conferred upon Bishop Wal-
cher, then tenant of the
see, by the Conqueror, and

E Central Tower.

F The Xave.

G Galilee Chapel.

H TcmiboI'Bede.

K Chapter House.

L Cloisters.

M Cloister Garth.

N Dormitory.

O Dean's House.

P Kcfettorv.

PLAN OF DURHAM CATHEDRAL.

DURHAM,]

THE PRESENT CATHEDRAL.

the palatinate jurisdiction of the Bishops of Durham had its beginning. The
present building was begun during the episcopate of Bishop Carileph, in
1093, a few years after the introduction into the monastery of monks
of the Benedictine order, the body of the saint being deposited, while
his new home
was preparing, in
"a fi ne and
beautiful tomb
in the cloister
garth, a yard
above ground."
The choir was
soon finished, to-
gether with the
transepts, and
before a quarter
of a century was
over the nave
walls were raised
up to the roof
by Ralph Flam-
bard, while not
long afterwards

in all probability the roof itself was completed and the western
towers were built. The Galilee, to be noticed presently, was added in
the latter part of the twelfth century ; and the peculiar eastern end,
called the Chapel of the Nine Altars, replaced the apsidal termination
of the Norman structure in the next century, and was the work of Bishop
Poore, the founder of Salisbury Cathedral. We have, then, only mentally
to restore this apsidal end, and to remove the Galilee, in order to have
a picture of Carileph's church in all its essential features.

From the wide, open space known as Palace Green, between the gate-
way of the castle and the northern entrance of the cathedral, the whole
length of the building is visible, without any intervening obstacle.
The plan is in some respects exceptional. As is common in cathedrals,
there are a central and two western towers ; but from its position
on the edge of a precipitous cliff there is no accessible western front
or entrance. The western facade approaches to within a few feet of
the extremity, and the steep slope is built up with massive masonry
to form a platform on to which the Norman west door once opened,
but which is now covered by the Galilee or Lady Chapel, thus placed
at the west instead of the east end. Yet more remarkable is the eastern

SOUTH-WEST PROSPECT OF THE CITY OF DURHAM.
(From an Old Print.)

68 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [DUKHAM.

termination, for this has neither an apsidal end nor a Lady Chapel.
The eastern facade, however, is much wider than the choir. Several of
our cathedrals have a pair of shorter transepts east of the principal
arms of the cross ; at Durham the plan may be said to terminate abruptly
with these shorter transepts, so that their eastern wall is also the eastern
wall of the cathedral. Externally the result can hardly be called satis-
factory ; when viewed from the east, notwithstanding the centre gable
and fine rose window, the outline is hard, and the aspect suggestive of
incompleteness, while from the north the latter effect is even more con-
spicuous. The exterior, also, of all the northern flank of the building,
with the exception of the towers, is rather bald ; the severity of the
Norman work, of which an unusually large portion remains, being intensified,
and its enrichments impoverished, by the reckless treatment which it received
from Wyatt at the beginning of the nineteenth century. This first and
worst of the " restorers," by paring four inches from the whole surface
of the north front, as well as from the east facade, and by the wanton
destruction of canopies, and effigies, and other ornamental details, irre-
trievably destroyed the depth and boldness of the mouldings and pilasters,
and gave to the fabric an effect of flatness. Happily no disappointment
waits upon a distant view of the cathedral which enshrines St. Cuth-
bert's bones : seen from even a little distance, it presents an aspect of
great dignity and boldness, which rises under appropriate conditions to
grandeur and magnificence.

Before passing into the interior we must recall that the upper part
of the central tower, including the galleries of the lantern, was gradually
rebuilt between the years 1406 and 1474, and that the tower was
restored by Sir Gilbert Scott in 1859. Much more interesting and
beautiful are the imposing western towers, built, no doubt, before
the central tower, although we have no record of their exact date.
The series of arcades, from the Norman below to the fully
developed Early English shafts of the upper stages, points to the comple-
tion of the towers at a period not later than the beginning of the
thirteenth century. The arcades are formed of round-headed and pointed
arches alternately, and the only modern portions are the parapets and
turrets, added in the later years of the eighteenth century by Wyatt,
in lieu of the wooden spires covered with lead which had surmounted them
till the time of the Commonwealth.

The principal access to the cathedral is by the northern porch from
the Palace Green. The arch is a fine specimen of Norman work, but
it is encased in a sort of porch of nondescript Pointed. To the heavy
wooden portal is affixed a great bronze handle or knocker of quaint design.
This was in former days one of the " horns of the altar " to the fugitive,

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[DURHAM.

for among the other privileges of the shrine of Cuthbert was a right
of sanctuary. When the suppliant had grasped this handle he was safe,
for over the door, in chambers now destroyed, two monks kept perpetual

watch and ward, one waking while the
other slept, to open at the first stroke
of the bronze ring upon the portal.
As soon as the suppliant was admitted
he was required to make confession of
his crime, whatever it might be. This
was taken down in writing, a bell in
the Galilee tower was tolled to announce
the fact that someone had sought the
" peace of Cuthbert," and the fugitive
was clothed in a black gown with a
yellow cross on his shoulder. If after
thirty-seven days no pardon had been
obtained, he abjured his native land
for ever, and, bearing in his hand a
white wooden cross, was sent out of
the kingdom.

Once we are inside the cathedral,
any sense of disappointment which the
near view of the exterior may have occasioned is dispelled. We find
ourselves, indeed, gazing upon what is perhaps the grandest Norman
interior to be seen in these islands. Homogeneously majestic is it in its
wondrous solemnity. The great rose window at the eastern end, the
vaulting of the choir, and several other details, are indeed of subsequent
date ; but the general effect of the whole is that of a nearly complete building
of the earliest part of the twelfth century. The pillars of the nave are
shorter and more massive than at Gloucester, loftier than at Peterborough
or Ely ; thus arcade, triforium, and clerestory are all in happy propor-
tion, no one suffering from the prominence given to the others.
Besides this the nave has a vaulted roof of stone, only slightly, if at all,
later in date than the walls, but harmonising with them well in style ; the
only instance of the kind in England, other cathedral naves of this period
having either ceilings of wood or vaultings of later date. The alternate
columns are clustered in plan, and their middle shafts extend from floor
to roof, thus dividing the nave into four bays, each containing a pair
of arches. The intervening columns are enriched with various patterns
—zigzag, lattice, spiral and vertical flutings, another peculiarity of Durham,
such ornamentations being rare in English cathedrals. The choir is com-
posed of two bays, each of them subdivided, like those of the nave.

THE SANCTUARY DOORWAY.

Dl'KHAM.j

CHAPEL OF THE NINE ALTARS.

Originally the east end of the cathedral, now formed by the short
eastern transepts, consisted of three apses, a large one which terminated
the choir, and two smaller ones in which ended the aisles. Those of
the aisles, however, were rounded within only : externally they were square.
All this was placed beyond doubt by excavations undertaken in
1895. The eastern transept, known as the Chapel of the Nine Altars,
from the nine bays of the eastern facade, each of which contained an
altar, was built in the middle of the thirteenth century, the apsidal
end of the choir having by this time become ruinous. It forms what
is still styled the " New Work," and is a beautiful specimen of Early
English. The floor is on a lower level than that of the body of the
church, and one descends to it from the aisles by steps. This singularly
beautiful structure is the only post-Norman portion of the cathedral, and
is a specimen of the highest perfection of the Early English style.
The arcade, with
its graceful trefoiled
arches supported by
slender marble
shafts, the lofty
clustered columns
which divide the
bays, with shafts
of Frosterley black
marble and sand-
stone alternating, the
sumptuously decor-
ated vaulting of the
roof, crowded with
various and graceful
sculptures both of
foliage and figure
subjects, fitly com-
plete the building,
in harmony, not in
contrast, with the
Norman simplicity
of the rest of the
structure. For the
east bay of the
choir is beautifully
enriched, both in
the capitals and the

CHAPEL OF THE NINE ALTARS, LOOKING NORTH, WITH ST. CUTHBERTS
TOMB ON THE LEFT.

72 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [DuRHAM.

vaulting, with sculpture, so that it blends admirably with the later style.
The lancet windows in the eastern wall, which lighted the altars beneath
them, are filled with excellent stained glass of modern date ; the tracery
of the rose window above the lancets of the middle bay is a " restoration"
of Wyatt's ; the large window in the north wall, of six lights, is
Early Decorated.

In the Nine Altars Chapel is the cathedral's great treasure, the tomb
of St. Cuthbert, which stood under the apse that the chapel replaced.
The tomb now consists of a simple massive platform of masonry, with
a slab in the centre, under which lie the bones of the saint. Very
different was its appearance before the visit of the Commissioners of Henry
VIII. We can yet see in the flooring the sockets that once held the
supports of the rich canopy, under which lay the relics of St. Cuthbert,
laden with costly gems and gifts, which are said to have surpassed in
value those of the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury, " and accounted
to be the most sumptuous and richest jewels in all this land." From the
year 1104, when with solemn pomp St. Cuthbert's body was trans-
ported to this shrine, up to the dissolution of the monastery, it
remained here undisturbed, shrouded in the deepest mystery, held in
the most reverential awe, watched, like that of Thomas of Canterbury,
day and night by monks, stationed in an adjoining chamber of wood.
But on the visit of the Royal Commissioners the treasures were scattered,
the shrine was destroyed, the coffin — which, as usual, rested beneath a
movable canopy on the platform — was opened, and St. Cuthbert's body
was buried, so that now the sole remnants visible of all this treasure,
" more precious than gold or topaz," are the furrows in the adjoining
pavement worn by the feet of the worshippers.

But where was St. Cuthbert's body reinterred ? One tradition has it
that the secret was known only to the Roman Catholic bishops of the
Northern Province ; another that it was originally confided to three
Benedictine monks, and had been handed down from them through a
long line of successors to the present day. In May, 1867, one of those
traditions, which pointed to the steps leading to the tower from the south
transept as the place of burial, was made public, but excavation yielded no
result. Nor was this surprising, for evidence had already been furnished that
the saint's body lay under the slab in the centre of the platform. A full
and precise description of the opening of the coffin by the Commissioners at
the dissolution of the monastery still remains. The iron-bound chest was
rudely broken open, when the corpse of St. Cuthbert was found within,
" whole, uncorrupt, with his face bare, and his beard as of a fortnight's
growth, and all the vestments about him, as he was accustomed to say
mass, and his metwand of gold lying by him." Again, in the year

DURHAM.]

ST. CUTHBERT'S COFFIN OPENED.

1827, the marble slab was raised in the presence of certain officials of
the cathedral. At a depth of about half a yard another slab was found,
beneath which was a stone grave about seven feet long, and four wide
and deep. This was almost filled by an oaken coffin, much decayed,
made to the same shape as the grave. The fragments of this were
carefully removed, when another coffin was disclosed, still more decayed.
Within this were found many detached bones of different individuals,
several of them children's, and two skulls, one apart from the rest, and
yet a third coffin,
crumbling into dust.
At the bottom lay
a skeleton, shrouded
and vested in mould-
ering robes, and with
it a small altar of
oak covered with thin
plates of silver, rest-
ing upon the breast,
a bag for holding the
sacramental elements,
an ivory comb, and
a golden cross. Of
these latter relics three
are stated to have
been present in St.
Cuthbert's coffin when
it was opened in the
year 1104, and the
robes also accord with
descriptions of those
in which he was attired
for entombment.

Dr. Raine, author
of " The History of
St. Cuthbert," who
was present at the
opening of the grave,
traces the history of
its contents in the
fullest manner, so that it seems impossible to doubt that the true
body of the saint was once more brought to the light of day. The
inner coffin was the identical one in which the remains of St. Cuthbert

Photo: C. f. Ma&anity, Esq.

RELICS OF ST. CUTHBERT.

I and 2, Portions of St. Cuthbert's Portable Altar ; 3, His Pectoral Cross ; 4, Portion of the
Stole found in his Coffin ; 5, Fragment of the Coffin ; 6, Ivory Comb found in his Coffin.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[DURHAM.

were placed in the year 698, eleven years after his death ; the second,
that wherein the former had been subsequently encased long previous to
the twelfth century ; and the outermost, that which was made when
the shrine was destroyed and the body buried. The altar and certain
of the vestments were those used by St. Cuthbert himself. The separate
skull was that of St. Oswald, known to have been placed in his coffin ;
and the other bones were relics, some reputed to be those of the Holy
Innocents, which were among the treasures of the cathedral. The skeleton,
together with the bones found in the outer coffin, was placed in a new one,
and reinterred at the same spot ; but the ornaments, with parts of the vest-
ments and of the two inner coffins, were deposited in the Dean and Chapter
Library, where they are still carefully preserved.

Next in importance, as in date, after Cuthbert, of the holy men of
Durham, comes the Venerable Bede. To visit his tomb we make cur
way to the west end of the building, and, descending several steps,
enter the Galilee Chapel. Before reaching it, between the piers just west
of the north and south doors, we cross a line of blue marble, eastward
of which no woman was allowed to pass, such was the reputed distaste
of St. Cuthbert for the sex. That the Galilee Chapel, whatever the

origin of the term, was intended for
women, and that they were not allowed
access to the eastern part of the
church, is certain ; but the dislike of
women which is attributed to St. Cuth-
bert himself was by no means in ac-
cordance with the character of the friend
and guide of St. Hilda during his life,
and is a monkish invention which cannot
be traced further back than four hun-
dred years after his death.

How it was that the Lady Chapel
of the cathedral, for such it virtually is,
came to be built in this position must
briefly be told. In the second half of
the twelfth century Bishop Pudsey set
himself to rear a Lady Chapel at the
east end of the cathedral; but, inferring
from the occurrence of accidents and the appearance of cracks and fissures
that the undertaking was displeasing to Heaven, he relinquished it, and
began this chapel at the other end of the church, using for it the
shafts and bases he had brought from over sea for the now abandoned
enterprise. Its rich simplicity, and the contrast its delicacy offers to the

THE GREAT BEDE ROLL OF DURHAM.

DURHAM ]

TOMB OF THE VENERABLE BEDE.

massiveness of the body of the church, render it one of the most inter-
esting portions of the fane. This unique structure had a narrow escape
from destruction at the hands of the unspeakable Wyatt, who condemned
it to be pulled down that he might construct a drive all round
the cathedral ! The lead was actually in process of being removed
from the roof ; but happily, even at that day, there were in England
some for whom such vandalism was too gross ; and an outcry was made
that caused the cathedral authorities to stay his hand.

THE NEVILLE SCREEN.

Near the south-eastern angle of the Galilee is a plain low altar-
tomb, on the slab of which (in modern characters) is the well-known
inscription, " Hdc sunt in fossa Bcedce Venerabilis ossa." This marks the
resting-place of Bede, whose title of " Venerable " is- said to have been
supplied by angelic hands to the verse when the author was at a loss
to fill the gap. Bede was " the founder of mediaeval history, and the
first English historian " ; a gentle simple scholar, whose story may be
summed up in his own words : "I spent my whole life in the same
monastery, and while attentive to the rule of my order and the service
of the church, my constant pleasure lay in learning, or teaching, or
writing." Though peculiarly Durham's saint — for in this county he was born,
lived, and died — Bede is the common possession of the English Church.
Born at Fulwell, close to Wearmouth, about 674, he spent his whole

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[DURHAM.

life in the monastery of Jarrow, a voluminous author on arithmetic,
geography, history, astronomy, and theology. His great work, " The
Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation," is still a mine of informa-
tion for students. Two manuscripts,
claiming to be in Bede's own hand-
writing are to be seen to this day in
the Chapter Library.

But, it may be asked, how has it
come to pass that the body of Bede
has deserted that home to which in
life he was so constant ? It was " con-
veyed " to Durham, or, in plain English,
stolen. The facts of the robbery are
on record : how a certain Elfred—
almost three centuries after Bede's
death — set himself to despoil J arrow
of the precious relics, with as much
deliberation as a modern burglar might
scheme for the jewels of a countess ;
how on this occasion and on that he
was baffled, and how at last he suc-
ceeded, and never ventured near J arrow
again. The relics were for a time

preserved at Durham in St. Cuthbert's shrine, but were afterwards
removed into a separate one, which in the year 1370 was placed
in the Galilee. At the Reformation the shrine shared the fate of
St. Cuthbert's, and the bones were buried beneath the spot on
which it had stood. The tomb was opened in the year 1831,
and many human bones were found within it ; these had evidently been
buried in a coffin, and were in all probability the remains of the great
scholar. After careful inspection they were enclosed in a lead-lined coffin
and replaced in the tomb, with a parchment record of the exhumation ; and
at the same time the slab was incised with the familiar Latin inscription.
A ring and some coins which were discovered at the same time are to
be seen in the Dean and Chapter Library.

Returning to the choir, we may examine the insertions or fixed
furniture. One of the most beautiful features of the interior of Durham
is the reredos, or Neville screen, which separated St. Cuthbert's shrine
from the high altar west of it. It was built, chiefly at the cost of Lord
Neville, between 1372 and 1380, and is of very graceful form ; it is of
Dorsetshire stone, though commonly said to be Caen, and till the
Reformation it had a hundred and seven figures in its niches, the removal

INTERIOR OF THE ABBOT'S KITCHEN.

DURHAM CATHEDRAL. FROM THE SOUTH WEST.

DURHAM.]

FITTINGS AND MONUMENTS.

of which, though lamented by some, adds to the grace of the structure. In
the next bay, on the south of the choir, is the bishop's throne, an
integral part of the tomb of Bishop Hatfield, who lies below, with his
recumbent figure in alabaster, in pontifical robes, under a beautifully
sculptured canopy. The throne has once been richly gilded and coloured,
and is the loftiest episcopal seat in England. The whole was erected
by Bishop Hatfield in his lifetime (1345-81). Opposite Hatfield's tomb,

on the north side of
the choir, is the altar-
tomb of Bishop Light-
foot, of black and
coloured marble, with a
recumbent figure of the
bishop in white marble,
his feet resting on three
books, his hands on his
breast. The memorial
was designed by Boehm,
and finished after his
death by Mr. Alfred

In the north
aisle of the choir is a
stone bench with the
arms of Bishop Skir-
law (1388-1405), who
is buried close by ;
elsewhere the letters
"W. D.," on the
pavement, mark the
resting-place of

William Van Mildert (d. 1836), the last Prince Palatine of Durham, whose
marble monument by John Gibson, R.A., showing him seated on a throne,
book in hand, is a conspicuous object in the Nine Altars Chapel. The only

78 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [DuR1,AM.

remaining monuments to be noticed are the altar-tombs of Ralph, Lord
Neville, who led the English army at the battle of Neville's Cross, 1346,
and died in 1367 ; and of his son, John, Lord Neville, and Matilda Percy,
his wife — both defaced, and removed to their present position from what
was once the' Neville' chantry' in the south aisle of the nave. Many
tombs of bishops -.and priors have disappeared. The interior of the cathe-
dral was literally • gutted by . the unfortunate Scottish prisoners whom, to
the number of 3,000, Oliver Cromwell, after the battle of Dunbar, shut
up in the church. It is not to be wondered at that they destroyed
the woodwork for. fuel, and that scarce a fragment of old stained glass,
one of the glories of * Durham, remains. The liberality of many friends
has, however, within the last few years supplied the place of much that
had I been destroyed, and few finer specimens of modern stained glass can
be - found than the compositions which mellow the light in the west
window; the great transeptal windows, and many others.

It is to Bishop Cosin that 'we owe the thorough restoration of the interior
after 1662. He' erected the stalls with the canopy work over them, a magni-
ficent close screen of elaborately and richly carved oak surmounted by an organ
of Father Schmidt's, and the canopy over the font. This woodwork, though
characteristic of the time when it was executed, harmonised well, by
its bold and vigorous carving, with the building in which it was placed.
About the middle of the last century the screen was made away with,
and the organ placed on the floor, -the stalls were mutilated and set back
within the arcade of the choir, and the canopy was removed from the
font, to which, however, it has since been restored. Bishop Cosin also
paved the choir with white marble, effectively relieved by chequers of
black, which a few years ' ago were replaced by a costly and elaborate,
though feeble and ineffective tesselated mosaic of Byzantine design.
Some interesting specimens of woodwork of different epochs escaped
destruction by the Scots, only to be reserved for unprovoked demo-
lition in the nineteenth century.

Thus has the cathedral experienced the effects of revolving cycles of
destruction and of intrusion. Some years ago most important but
questionable changes were made in its interior furniture. The present
sumptuous Byzantine pulpit was erected under the lantern ; and opposite
to it the massive metal lectern, scarcely to be admired either for
material, design, or execution ; while the choir, which since the destruction
of Bishop Cosin's woodwork had been open to the nave, was barred off
from it by the introduction of the heavy though richly carved Decorated
screen of alabaster, which is not only in its florid ornamentation incon-
gruous with the rest of the church, but cuts the perspective of the reredos
and the grand east end when viewed from the western part of the building.

THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[DURHAM.

Under the flooring of the Chapter-house are laid most of the illus-
trious bishops of olden time. This once noble building, adjoining the
south transept on the south, but separated by the monks' parlour, is
entered from the cloister, and was the finest Norman Chapter-house in
England. Within it were buried the first three bishops — Aldhune,
Eadmund, and Eadred, Carileph and his eleven immediate successors, and
Bishop Kellow. The bones of Aidan, first Bishop at Lindisfarne, were
brought here from Holy Island. The treatment of the tombs of those
buried in the Chapter-house ought not to be forgotten. By an act of
barbarism, scarcely credible, in 1796 this splendid hall, 77 feet long,
and paved with the slabs of sixteen bishops, was destroyed in order to make a
comfortable room for the Chapter. The keystones of the groining were
knocked out, when the whole vaulting fell in and crushed the pavement below.

DURHAM.]

CHAPTER-HOUSE AND CLOISTERS.

Of the stone throne at the east end, in which every bishop, from Pudsey
to Barrington, had been enthroned, not a relic remains. Upon the ruins-
of the western portion of the Chapter-house a flooring was laid, and
a room for the Chapter erected, part of the. old walls being utilised, but
the arcading plastered over. A few years ago the Chapter-house was
rebuilt on the original site, and on the old lines, by Mr. Hodgson
Fowler, as a memorial of Bishop Lightfoot ; but the fourteenth-century
windows which existed at the time of its destruction have been replaced
by windows of the Norman style.

The cloisters, which existed from the earliest times of the monastery,
were rebuilt by Bishops Skirlaw and Langley, but have been much altered.
They are enclosed on the south and west by the ancient refectory and

CASTLE, BRIDGE, AND CATHEDRAL TOWERS.

dormitory, both now occupied as the Chapter Library. The dormitory is a
magnificent chamber, finished in 1404, 194 feet long and 41 feet wide, and
still covered with its original solid and massive roof of oak trunks, scarcely
touched by the axe. Underneath the dormitory is a crypt (see p. 82),
which formed the common hall of the monks. In the refectory, now called
the Old Library, rebuilt by Dean Sudbury, are many priceless treasures.
Not the least interesting of the documents preserved in the cathedral is
the great Bede-roll, which invites prayers for the souls of two priors who
ruled the monastery in the fifteenth century.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[DURHAM.

The entire interior length of the cathedral is 469^ feet, the nave
being 205 feet, and the choir 132 feet. In breadth the nave (including
the aisles) is 60 feet, the choir 583- feet. The height of the central
tower is 218 feet, and of the western towers 145 feet ; the vaulting of
the lantern is 155 feet high, of the choir 74^ feet, of the nave 72 feet,
and of the Nine Altars Chapel 77 feet.

Several of the Bishops of Durham claim especial mention. First of
them is Ralph Flambard, Chancellor of William Rufus, and completer
of Carileph's work. Not only the cathedral, but the castle and the city,
owe him much, for he built a bridge over the Wear, on the site of
the Framwellgate Bridge. Hugh Pudsey, King Stephen's nephew and
eleventh Bishop of Durham, was one of the most prominent statesmen
of his day. He has left his mark on Durham, by the building of Elvet
Bridge, the founding of Sherburn Hospital, and especially by the erection
of the Galilee Chapel. A great warrior-bishop, a man of noble birth,
large private fortune, and more at home in court or camp than in church,
was Anthony Bek (d. 1310), who lies under a blue slab in the Nine
Altars Chapel. Among his successors are Fox, afterwards Bishop of Win-
chester, founder of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and Cardinal Wolsey,
who, for the six years he held the see never visited it, and on the
death of his predecessor, Fox, resigned it for Winchester. Butler, the
greatest of the Bishops of Durham, only lived for two years after
his translation from Bristol; Joseph Barber Lightfoot, who died in 1889,
and Brooke Foss Westcott, who died in 1901, were two of the profoundest
scholars who ever sat upon the throne of Durham.

THE CRYPT.

••-. t

I'hoto: II. W.Salmon, Winchester.

WINCHESTER, FROM ST. GILES'S HILL.

WINCHESTER.

The First and Second Cathedrals — St. Swithun — The Present Cathedral — Falling of the Central Tower
— Burial of William Rufus — Alterations in the Karly English Period — Bishop Edington
Begins the Transformation of the Church — The Process Continued by William of VVykcham
—The Work of Bishops Langton and Fox — The Nave — William of Wykcham's Chantry—
— Bishop Edington's — The Choir — Screen and Rcrcdos — The Mortuary Chests — The Feretory
and the " Holy Hole " — Chantries of Bishops Fox and Gardiner — The Retro-choir — Chantries
of Bishops Beaufort and Waynflete — Lady Chapel— Transepts — The Crypt — The Library—
Dimensions — Men of Name Buried in the Church — Stirring Scenes — The Close.

cathedral in the valley of the Itchen, begun
by Bishop \Valkelyn in 1079, was preceded by at
least two other churches, though these did not
occupy quite the same site. Probably, indeed,
there was a Christian church here, dedicated to
St. Amphibalus, during the Roman occupation ;
but, if so, it was completely destroyed by the
Saxons. It was in 635 that the first English
church was begun, in the year in which King
Cynegils was baptised, and it was finished
and endowed with lands by his son Cenwalh.
Dedicated to St. Birinus, the first apostle to
the West Saxons, and to St. Peter and St. Paul,
it became towards the end of this century
the cathedral church of the diocese of Wessex,
the Bishop's chair being transferred hither from
Dorchester. Round it there grew up a great religious community, who

STATUE OF KING ALFRED IN THE
BROADWAY.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WINCHESTER.

1NDKX TO PERIODS.

p— nth Century.
M Xornian.

rmyj I2th Century.

t ] Late Norman.

IXIIKXT01-KKIOD8.

I4th Century.
Perpendicular.

isth Century'.
The Lady Chapel.

had for their first Prior Swithun, afterwards Bishop. Dying in 862,
he was buried outside his cathedral, where his grave caught the droppings
of the eaves, and when, after he had lain there for over a hundred
years, it was proposed to remove his remains to a golden shrine within
the cathedral, the translation was delayed by a long spell of wet weather ;
hence the legend that there will be forty rainy or rainless days after St.
Swithun's feast-day (July ijth), according to whether it is wet or dry
on that day.

But before the translation of the remains of St. Swithun, the first
English cathedral at Winchester had been replaced by a second, built

by Bishop /Ethelwold. He
was preferred to the see
in 963, and in the follow-
ing year, at the bidding
of St. Dunstan, the secular
clergy were expelled from
the monastery in favour
of Benedictine monks from
Abingdon, for whom the
monastery was rebuilt. By
980 the new church was
finished, and was hallowed
to St. Swithun as well as
to St. Peter and St. Paul.
This second cathedral of
Winchester was no doubt
larger and more imposing
than the first ; but when
the Normans came it was
not at all to their taste,
and Bishop Walkelyn did
not hesitate to make a
clean sweep of it. It prob-
ably stood a little to the
north of the present cathe-
dral, but it has entirely
disappeared, though many
Anglo-Saxon stones can be
identified in the existing building ; and the cushion-capitals in crypt
and transepts show distinct signs of a style earlier than that of the
Norman builders.

The present church, as we have said, was founded by Walkelyn in 1079.

A Xave.

B Wykcham's Chantry

D lip.

EE Tra

F Chi

G Cli:

H To,

idington's Chantry.
isepts .

[ulchrc
p. of the Holy Sep-

ib of Izaak \Valton.

K Up. Gardiner's Chantry

L l!p. Fox's Chantry.
M Ketro-Choir.
N lip. \Vaynfletc1 s Chantry
O Chanty of.Card. Ik-auforl
P William, Kufus' Tomb.
Q Chap. of Guard'.1 Angels.
R lip. Langtoris Chantry.
S The Lady Chapel.

PLAN OF WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL.

Jfl

FA,

Photo: A, G Rider, Winchester.

CEREMONY OF ENTHRONEMENT AT WINCHESTER.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

In 1086, according to the Winchester Annals, the Conqueror, who was to
die the next year, granted to the Bishop as much wood from the
Forest of Hempage, some three miles away in the direction of Aires-
ford, as he could cut down in
four days and nights. Walkelyn
made the most of the gift, got
together a little army of men,
and cut down the whole forest,
so that when he passed that
way the King, divided between
anger and amazement, wondered
whether he was bewitched or had
taken leave of his senses. How-
ever, he relented when Walkelyn
offered to resign the see, though
he could not refrain from saying,
"I was as much too liberal in
my grant as you were too greedy
in availing yourself of it." The
church was consecrated in 1093, the
monks walking in procession from
the old minster to the new, for
it was not till now that they
began to pull down /Ethelwold's
church.

To the east the new cathedral was considerably shorter than it is
now, ending, as the crypt below shows to this day, with a noble apse
after the Norman fashion. Still, the total length was little less than at
present, for it extended some forty feet farther to the westward, as the
bases of two grand western towers still testify. The magnificence of this
effort of Norman skill and piety may still be understood by anyone
who will make careful study of the transepts, which remain almost
as Walkelyn left them in 1093. From them we may picture the aspect
of the long and lofty nave, its massive piers, broad, deep triforium, and
dignified clerestory. The whole church was of the same height as now ;
and the tower was open, as a lantern, from floor to topmost roof. The
original tower, however, was not destined to stand long. In 1101 it fell
with a mighty crash. Walkelyn had not lived to see the catastrophe,
for at this time he had for three years been resting from his building
and other labours in the nave. The year before (noo), William Rufus
had been buried under the tower, and there were not wanting those who
attributed the fall of the structure to the cankering wickedness of his-

ONE OF THE PIERS THAT SUPPORT THE TOWER
OF THE CATHEDRAL.

WINCHESTER.]

BURIAL OF WILLIAM RUFUS.

bones, for all his life he " had been profane and sensual, and had expired
without the Christian viaticum." The circumstances of his burial were
certainly such as to suggest that the presence of his remains might
bode no good to the church. " A few countrymen," says William of
Malmesbury, " conveyed the body, placed on a cart, to the cathedral of
Winchester, the blood dripping from it all the way. Here it was com-
mitted to the ground within the tower, attended by many of the nobility,
but lamented by few." This writer goes on to record that the next
year the tower fell, but suggests that the two things may not have
stood in the relation of cause and effect. To prefer a natural to a
miraculous cause, where a calamity was in question, was hardly character-
istic of the age in which this writer flourished.

In a few years a new tower was built at the junction of the cross,
though the masons feared to raise it to a sufficient height ; it was called
" Walkelyn's Tower," although erected some time after his death. It is
in itself a noble specimen of Norman work, though ill-proportioned to
the height and length of the
church, so that it gives it a
heavy and dull effect.

The grand Norman church
did not long remain unchanged.
About seventy years after the
finishing of the tower, Bishop
Godfrey de Lucy swept away
the whole of the Lady Chapel,
except the crypt, and broad-
ened the entire church to the
width of the nave. His work,
and especially his arcading,
inside and out, forms a charm-
ing example of Early English
style. He built on wooden
piles, which soon gave way ;
so that his south wall is far
out of the perpendicular, and
has for centuries worn a look
of painful insecurity. In 1905
this wall had to be shored up.

NORTH TRANSEPT AND TOWER.

and then and later other por-
tions of the fabric, including the pinnacles of the west front, were found to be
in a state of dangerous instability, and it was estimated that some £30,000
would have to be spent, mainly in consolidating the foundations. A few

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [w»cH»iri.

years ago some thousands of pounds were expended in repairing and
strengthening the roof and vault of the nave.

There is but little in the church of Decorated or Middle-Pointed
style ; four bays of the choir, unrivalled in grace and richness of mould-
ings, and the tracery of one or two windows, are all that Winchester
can show of the most beautiful and most exuberant period of English
architecture.

In the latter half of the fourteenth century, satiated with the rich
ornamentation and variety of the period, men turned towards a harder
and a simpler manner of building— a severe architectural Puritanism.
They trusted for effect to height and repetition, even to monotony, and
to the upward pointing of reiterated vertical lines. And Winchester
Cathedral early felt the influence of this change of taste. The transformation
which the nave and choir were now to undergo was begun in the time
of Bishop Edington (1345-66), who demolished the two western towers of

the nave, which probably
formed a kind of western
transept, and placed the new
facade some forty feet further
to the east. To him the
two westernmost bays of the
nave are assigned ; but it is
probable that subsequently
the facade itself has been
considerably modified.

The work thus set in hand
by Edington was carried on
by William of Wykeham, who,
through his colleges, secured
the reign of the unimaginative
Perpendicular style through-
out England. The most re-
markable feature of his work
is that it was a reconstruc-
tion, rather than a rebuilding,
of Walkelyn's nave. As will
be seen from an examination
of the transepts and of some
fragments still remaining near

the piers of the central tower, the walls of the Norman nave were supported
by rather low and very massive pier-arches. Above this came a triforium
arcade, each arch of which (divided, however, by a central column supporting

SOUTH AISLE, FROM THE
TRANSEPT.

WINCHESTER.]

TRANSFORMATION OF THE NAVE.

subordinate arches) was nearly equal in height to that below, and actually
wider in span. Over all came a rather lofty clerestory with a single central
light, and low arcades on either side. Thus the elevation of the wall was
divided into three mem-
bers, nearly equal in
height . Wy keham cut away
the arches of the nave and
everything up to the bend
of the triforium arch ; his
new arches sprang from
the level of the old tri-
forium floor, and thus he
gained about half the ver-
tical height of that gallery
for the aisles. The remain-
ing half and the clerestory
were reconstructed (a sepa-
rate triforium being sup-
pressed) to harmonise with
the above design. The great
nave piers were trimmed
and recased, though in
some portions the Norman
ashlar-work can yet be dis-
tinguished, and anyone
who penetrates into the
dark recesses above the
vaulting of the aisles or
visits the vast space be-
tween the groining of the
nave and the outer roof will

find in many places heads of Norman columns, and some- -.*

times portions of Norman arches and other early work, v

which show themselves above the veneering of Perpendicular stonework
with which they have been encased below.

If no other monument of William of Wykeham remained, the nave
of Winchester would be sufficient to indicate his marvellous genius as-
an architect. To pull down and rebuild would have been an ordinary
task ; completely to reconstruct a Norman building, so that the new
style gained some of its greatest perfection from the hidden influences
of the old, is a proof of his fertility of resource and far-seeing powers.
We appreciate this best in comparing the nave of Winchester with that

go CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [WASTER.

of Canterbury, which was begun nearly at the same time, and has the
same general design. In Canterbury, the Norman nave was pulled down,
and the fourteenth-century architect unfettered ; hence we have the usual
faults of his age — solidity and due proportion sacrificed to get an idea
of loftiness and gorgeousness — a great hall constructed, which seems
largely to depend for its beauty on fresco and stained glass and sump-
tuous processions. Winchester, though now no more aided by these
than Canterbury, from the mere strength of its design and the play of
light and shade, is impressively grand.

At the end of the fifteenth century, Bishop Langton transformed
the Early English chapel on the south side of the Lady Chapel into a
Perpendicular chantry, destined to be his own burial-place. He gave it
a new groined roof, covered with bosses carved with the canting heraldry
of the time ; he fitted the chapel also with exquisite woodwork, now
much defaced and damaged, and placed in the centre a fine tomb, with
a brass, since lost. Bishop Fox, his successor, carried on Langton's
work, building the present clerestory of the choir, the walls, and roof,
above the Middle Pointed chancel arches. In so doing he gave to
the eastern part of the church a dignity and interest which it lacked
before : for to him are due the bold flying buttresses, the most charac-
teristic feature of the building, which support the thrust of the roof,
and combine most graceful lightness with a feeling of strength and
security. He also finished the eastern gable of the choir, placing in
the central pinnacle a life-like statue of himself. To him, again, is possibly
due, in its striking height and exquisite elaboration of detailed canopy-
work, the finishing of the great reredos or altar-screen.

Fox roofed in the choir with wooden vaulting, crowded with orna-
ment, on which the incoming of the " new monarchy " is very distinctly
marked. Blazoned shields and coats of arms and royal symbols tell us
plainly that England had passed out of the impotence of the Civil Wars
into the strong hands of the Tudor kings. Just before and in his day,
Priors Hunton and Silkstede had pushed out the Lady Chapel some
twenty-six feet in the Later Perpendicular manner. This additional bay of
the Lady Chapel, with its stiff ornament and half-obliterated frescoes,
made the church the longest cathedral in England.

With the death of Bishop Fox in 1528, the structural changes
in the fabric came almost to an end. Later additions or alterations were
but small ; such as the closing of the fine Norman lantern of the tower
by a wooden groining, erected under the eyes of Charles I., as we see
by the bosses and ornaments ; there is the royal monogram in many
forms, there are royal badges, and the initials of the King and Queen, C.M.R.
(Carolus Maria R.), and a large circular medallion displaying in profile the

THE CHOIR LOOKING
WEST.

92 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [WASTER.

royal pair themselves ; in the centre is an inscription giving us the date
of this work, 1634. The library, a lean-to along the end of the south
transept, built apparently by Prior Silkstede, whose initials are on the
eastern window of it, was arranged to hold Bishop Morley's books after
his death in 1684.

Beautiful are the precincts of the cathedral, with an avenue of tall
trees leading to the western entrance. The west front, with its huge
but stiff window, is but a mediocre specimen of Early Perpendicular, and
the nave as a whole, judged by its exterior, is formal and wanting in
poetry. The transepts, too, have a look of bareness ; and only the
eastern end has a varied and pleasing outline.

It is not till we enter the church that the full charm of the
building is felt. The effect of the interior of the nave we have incidentally
touched upon already. As we make our way eastwards we find much
to arrest the attention. We must glance at the curious minstrels' gallery,
occupying the lower part of the west bays of the north aisle ; at the
great font of black stone, probably placed in the church by Bishop
Henry of Blois, brother of King Stephen, and portraying in bold
if rude relief the life and miracles of St. Nicholas of Myra, the patron
saint of children, and now of the Russian Empire. We linger by the
noble chantry chapel containing the monument of William of Wykeham.
This occupies the whole space beneath one of the arches, which its
ornamentation completely encases. It was built " on the site of an altar
dedicated to the Virgin, the mass at which he had always been accustomed
to attend when a boy at school, and which stood, it is said, in that
part of the cross precisely which corresponded with the pierced side of
the Saviour." His effigy remains within, representing a portly man of
serene aspect ; at his head are angels, at his feet three monks. It seems
like an allegory : the New Learning, to which he gave so strong an impulse,
trampling under foot the monasteries. Wykeham was a many-sided man,
Churchman, statesman, educationist, and architect. Besides rearing colleges
and remodelling in great part his cathedral, he is believed to have rebuilt
or greatly enlarged five castles : those of Winchester, Wolvesey, Porchester,
Ledes, and Dover. To him was due the change by which elementary
education was taken out of the hands of the monks ; and Fuller well
says of him that his " benefaction to learning is not to be paralleled
by any English subject in all particulars," while Milman, noting Wycliffe's
opposition to him because of his efforts to maintain the hierarchical
power, declares that " the religious of England may well be proud of
both." The motto which he chose for his college at Winchester, " Manners
Makyth Man," has become a household word, and is none the less a
favourite adage, perhaps, because it admits of different interpretations.

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WINCHESTER.]

THE CHOIR.

Nearer the choir is the chantry of Edington, the earliest and the
plainest of the chantries. Like his successor, he was Chancellor of
England, and it is said that he cared more for the king's advantage
than for the welfare of the people. But, at any rate, he does not appear
to have been a man of overweening ambition, for he refused the Arch-
bishopric of Canterbury. He takes his name from the Wiltshire village
where he was born.
Close to this chantry is
the pulpit for the nave,
dating from the Jaco-
bean period, but a
comparatively new fea-
ture of the cathedral,
for until the 'eighties
it was stationed in the
chapel of William of
Wykeham's College at
Oxford.

The choir at Win-
chester, effective as a
whole, though slightly
barren in detail, extends
beneath the central
tower up to the line of
the western wall of the
transept ; and, as there
is a crypt beneath, it
is elevated above the
level of the nave, and
so approached by steps,
which commence one

bay further WeSt. The &>/>triniuiono/.U«SH. farmer £• UnnJley.

entrance formerly was
through a heavy stone

screen, of modern Gothic design, by Garbett, replacing one of classic design
by Inigo Jones ; but it has now been supplanted by a screen of oak,
designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, and forming a memorial of Bishop Wilberforce
and Dean Gamier. It is an imitation of the woodwork of the choir,
probably the finest of its kind in this country. The stalls are of the
geometrical (Early Decorated) pattern, and it has been pointed out that
their canopies and gables resemble those of the tomb of Edmund Crouch-
back in Westminster Abbey. The desks in front of the upper range

THE ALTAR-SCREEN.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES, [w,»c™™.

are later, of Henry VIII. 's time ; the rich pulpit bears the name of
Thomas Silkstede, Prior, and so is a little earlier in date than the desks ;
but the Bishop's throne is modern, and rather trivial. The lofty presbytery,
in which the Winchester boys worship on Sundays, prolongs the choir
bevond the tower arches, which are remarkably massive, owing, no doubt,
to the alarm excited by the fall of the earlier Norman tower. Here is-
the reredos or altar-screen, a magnificent structure of white stone,,
not unlike that at St. Albans, effectually dividing the presbytery
from the feretory and the eastern termination of the church, for it
stretches right across the choir from pier to pier, and extends up to
the level of the east window. It is arranged in three tiers, with
.niches, surmounted by exquisitely carved canopies, for eighteen large and
many smaller figures, and a crucifix in the centre. All the original
statues perished, but now once again the niches have occupants — the
larger figures those of apostles and saints and the great doctors of the
Church and others, while among the smaller ones appears Izaak Walton;,
in the final restoration, carried out by Messrs. Farmer and Brindley, and
completed in 1899, the central figure of the screen was restored to the

vacant cross. In that year
West's picture, " The Rais-
ing of Lazarus," which had
hung above the altar, was
removed to the south
transept.

On the screens that
close in the sides of the
presbytery, the work of
Bishop Fox, there stand
six wooden mortuary chests
that enclose the bones of
West Saxon kings and
bishops, beginning with
Cynegils, the first Christian
king ; these were originally
buried in the crypt of the
old Saxon cathedrals, and
removed to Walkelyn's
church by Bishop Henry
de Blois, but they are
now intermingled beyond
possibility of identification.
Here, too, and not in the

Photo: A. G. Rider, Winchester.

GARDINER'S CHANTRY.

•WINCHESTER.]

THE FERETORY.

-1 '

tomb in the choir, are the bones of William Rufus. The tomb in
the choir, of Purbeck marble, is believed by some to enclose the
remains of Bishop Henry of Blois, who was buried before the high
altar ; but even of this there is no proof. Certain it is, however, that
when in Cromwell's time the tomb was violated, in the belief that
it was the Red King's, there were found in it, besides the human
remains, a bishop's ring, a small silver chalice, and some fragments of
gold-embroidered cloth.

At the back of the great altar-screen is the feretory, or place for the
shrines of the saints, adorned with some delicate openwork. Behind the doors
of the feretory is a raised platform resting on a vault which has been
designated the Sanctum Sanctorum, vulgarised into the " Holy Hole." But
it contains nothing more sacred than fragments of wood and stone collected
from various parts of the church.

Out of the feretory open the chantries of Bishops Fox and
Gardiner — the former a Tudor work which bears indications of the Renais-
sance, and represents the sixteenth century in its most decorative mood.
No effigy of the Bishop is here ; he built the tomb himself, and perhaps
thought it enough that his statue should be seen on the pinnacle outside
and his likeness in the great east window. There is a richly ornamented
altar and reredos, and behind it is a curious little chamber which is still

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

introduced Wolsey
so, Wolsey cherished
tude towards him,
Thomas Fuller's
" all thought Bishop
one only excepted,
to live too long,
gaped for his
the founder of
lege at Oxford, as
founder of Magdalen,
whose tomb we shall
St. Mary's Winton.
Bishop Gardiner the
Renaissance is more
than in that of

known as Bishop Fox's Study, because in his old age, when infirm and
blind, the good Bishop was daily led hither to rest and meditate and
pray. The Bishop, who was godfather to Henry VIII., is said to have

to that monarch ; if
no excessive grati-
if we may accept
pungent remark that
Fox to die too soon,
who conceived him
Thomas Wolsey, who
bishopric." Fox was
Corpus Christi Col-
W y k e h a m was
and Waynflete — to
come presently — of
In the chantry of
influence of the
distinctly marked
Bishop Fox. It
was much injured at the Reformation, and the tomb has entirely dis-
appeared.

Eastward of the feretory is the retro-choir, where are two magnificent
chantries. In one, an exquisite piece of fully developed Perpendicular, lies
Beaufort, in his robes as cardinal. We pause to gaze upon the face,
the expression of which hardly seems that of a man who could " die and
make no sign " of hope in Heaven's mercy. He died in 1447. Opposite
to it is the no less beautiful chantry of his successor, Bishop Waynflete,
who finished the work of Wykeham in the nave, and entered into rest in
the year 1486. In the Lady Chapel, beyond the retro-choir, can be seen
dim traces of mural paintings illustrating the miracles of the Virgin,
executed at the instance of Prior Silkstede towards the end of the fifteenth
century. It is flanked on the north by the Chapel of the Guardian
Angels, on the south by Bishop Langton's chantry. The former, which
derives its name from figures on the vaulting, has also been styled the
Portland Chapel, because it contains the tomb of the Earl of Portland,
who was Lord High Treasurer to Charles I. On the tomb is a recum-
bent bronze effigy of the Earl by Le Sueur. Of the chantry of Bishop
Langton, who was cut off by the plague in the year 1500 after he had
been nominated Archbishop of Canterbury, but before his translation
could take place, the woodwork is in fair preservation and is extremely
beautiful.

The transepts are, in the main, the work of Walkelyn, and enable

WINCHESTER.]

Till-: TRANSEPTS.

us, as we have said, to judge of the aspect of the nave before it was
taken in hand by the fourteenth-century architects. Ponderous and monot-
onous it must have been, and we need not wish it back again, though
we may be thankful that some of Walkelyn's work is left in the
transepts. Here the galleries at the north and the south ends — unusual
features in English cathedrals — will not fail to attract notice. In the south
transept a monument has been erected to the memory of Bishop Wil-
berforce ; it takes the form of a mediaeval altar-tomb with canopy ; it
is poor both in design and in execution, and is altogether out of
harmony with its plain Norman surroundings. His effigy rests on a
mattress, and this on a marble slab, the whole being sustained by
half a dozen fragile-looking angels. In one of the chapels lies Izaak
Walton.

The crypt, entered from the north transept, combines Walkelyn's
massive Norman work with the graceful Early English of Bishop de Lucy.
The Chapter Library, approached from a staircase in the south aisle of
the south transept, contains several valuables, among them a fine collection
of coins, and the remains found in the supposed tomb of Rufus. The

RUINS OF WOLVESEY CASTLE.

choicest of its literary treasures is an exquisitely illuminated manuscript
of the Vulgate, in three large volumes. The history of this book curiously
illustrates a monarch's meanness and a bishop's generosity. Hugh of
Avalon, afterwards St. Hugh of Lincoln, greatly needed books for the
monastery of Witham, newly founded by Henry II., in order that his
monks might be better instructed in learning and in the art of illumin-
ation. Henry promised to present him with a Bible, and hearing that

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

the monks of Win-
chester had been, for
some time engaged on
an especially fine copy,
sent for the Prior and
begged it from him.
Of course there was
no refusal ; so the
King saved his money
and sent the book to
Witham. The work
was not quite com-
pleted, and the in-
mates of the latter
monastery — as may
still be seen — continued the task,
though with far less skill than their
predecessors. Some while after, St.
Hugh met the Prior of Winchester,
and accidentally learned the history
of the new Bible, and what regret
had been caused by its loss. Ac-
cordingly, he restored to them their
treasure, only stipulating that the
matter should be kept secret from the
King.

In length, Winchester comes first
among the cathedrals of England, or,
indeed, of Northern Europe, measur-
ing externally 555 feet. The nave
(internally) still, after Bishop Edington's shortening, has a length of 262
feet, and in width measures 83 feet, or five feet less than the choir.
The transepts are 209 feet long, the tower is 140 feet in height, and the
general height of the vaulting is 78 feet.

In no English church, except Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's,
lie so many men of name as in Winchester. For just as the features
of the cathedral represent all the successive phases and changes of the
art of building, until it has been styled " a school of English archi-
tecture," so is it the home and centre of our early history. Long is
the roll of kings and statesmen who dwelt under its shadow, and whose
bones here lie at rest. Cynegils and Cenwalh, West Saxon kings, founders
of the church, are here ; Egbert was buried here in 838 ; Ethelwulf also,

WINCHESTER. ]

THE ILLUSTRIOUS DEAD.

and Edward the Elder, and Edred. The great Cnut was buried here ;
as also was his son Harthacnut. The roll of kings was closed when Red
William's blood-dripping corpse came jolting hither in the country cart
from the New Forest. Here also lie Emma, Lady of the English, whom
her mean son, Edward the Confessor, treated so ill ; and Richard, the
Conqueror's second son ; and one of the greatest of Englishmen, Earl
Godwin, with his nephew, the Earl Beorn. Of Churchmen there is also
good store. Many prelates, as we have seen, lie here, and among those
not yet mentioned is Stigand [ 1047-69), who retained the see of Winchester
after he had been made Archbishop of Canterbury ; while the list of more
modern bishops includes Benjamin Hoadley, author of the Bangorian Con-
troversy, of whom it is perhaps poor praise to say that he was George I.'s
favourite divine ; Samuel Wilberforce, Harold Browne, whose altar-tomb
is in the nave, and Anthony Wilson Thorold, who, however, lies outside
the cathedral, on the south side of the Lady Chapel, close to the window

which now forms a memorial
Lancelot Andrewes, famed
rests not here, but in the
wark. There are but few
here ; but in a chapel
transept, as we have seen,
buried ; in the north aisle
Jane Austen, and close by
of " Blue Stocking " fame ;
Yonge is commemorated
Near the west end of the
man's monument to Joseph
Wharton the critic, the
headmaster of Winchester
College. Hard by is an-
other specimen of Flax-
man's work in a graceful
group on the monument to Mrs. North, the
Bishop's wife. Bishop North himself kneels
in effigy 'one of Chantrey's masterpieces at
the other end of the church, against the east
wall of the Lady Chapel.

And what stirring scenes of English
history have been enacted in this great
church ! The early kings made Winchester
their home and the cathedral their chapel.
Here it was that Egbert, after being crowned

to him. Bishop
for his preaching,
cathedral of South-
men of letters
in the south
Izaak Walton is
of the nave rests
lies Mrs. Montagu,
while Charlotte
by a triptych,
church is Flax-

iOO

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WINCHESTER.

in regem totius Britannia, with assent of all, issued an edict in 828
ordering that the land should hereafter be always styled England, and
its people Englishmen. Here King Alfred was crowned and lived and
died ; here in 1035 Cnut's body lay in state before the high altar, over
which was hung thenceforth for many a year, most precious of relics,
the great Norseman's crown. To Winchester William the Conqueror often
came, and wore his crown at the Easter Gemot. Here Stephen of Blois
was crowned king, and here, on the other hand, the Empress Maud was
welcomed by city and people with high rejoicings ; here, too, was drawn
up and issued the final compact, in 1153, which closed the civil war of
that weary reign, and secured the crown to the young Prince Henry.
It was in Winchester Cathedral that the marriage of Philip of Spain and
Mary took place, and the chair in which she sat is still to be seen in
the church. The Stuart kings loved the place; here in the Great Rebellion
was enacted that strange scene when, after the capture of the city, the
mob rushed into the cathedral, wild for booty and mischief, and finding
in the chests nothing but bones, are said to have amused themselves
by throwing them at the stained windows. It was at this time that
Colonel Fiennes, a Parliamentary officer and an old Wykehamist, stood
with drawn sword at Wykeham's chantry, to protect it from violence.

The cloisters are gone ; but part of the wall of the cast walk, with
the entrance and other fragments of the Chapter-house — a massive
Norman work of the age of Walkelyn — still remains. At the Deanery
Philip of Spain lodged the night before his marriage, and Charles II.
several times stayed, and it was at Winchester that on one occasion
Bishop Ken, at this time a prebendary, refused the royal request to give
up his house in the Close to Nell Gwynne.

THE NORMAN FONT.

101

DISTANT VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL

NORWICH.

Bishop Herbert, the Founder of the Cathedral — The Work continued by Bishop Eborard — The Mon-
astery attacked by the Burghers — The Building of the Spire — Modifications in the Perpen-
dicular Period — Tombland— St. Ethelbert's and Erpingham Gates — The West Front —
The Flying Buttresses— Tower and Spire — The Interior — Triforium and Clerestory — St.
William of Norwich — The Choir and Presbytery — -The Vaulting — The Apse and the Ancient
Bishop's Throne — Chapels — Transepts — Monuments — Dimensions — Cloisters and Monastic
Buildings — Grammar School — The Bishops and the See.

E have not here to concern ourselves with the story of
several successive cathedrals. It was not till Norwich,
in place of Thetford, was made the seat of the bishopric
of East Anglia, at the close of the eleventh century,
that a commencement was made with a cathedral church,
for the diocese, and the building which was then
reared is that which has survived into the twentieth
century. Its founder was Herbert of Lotharingia,
commonly called Losinga, at first Bishop of Thetford, afterwards, when
the see was removed to the banks of the Wensum, first Bishop of Nor-
wich. He had purchased from William Rufus the office of Bishop of
Thetford by paying into the royal treasury a sum of £1,900, and it was
to expiate this simoniacal sin that, having journeyed to Rome to obtain
absolution from the Pope, he founded the Priory of Norwich. It is
pleasant to recall that his repentance was something deeper than mere
deference to public feeling. Years afterwards, in one of his letters, he
wrote, " I entered on mine office disgracefully, but by the help of God's
grace I shall pass out of it with credit."

The first stone of the new church was laid in 1096, and the builders,

102 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[NORWICH.

as usual, began with the choir, as the most sacred part of the structure,
and worked westwards. This part of the church is said to have been
opened within five years, so willingly did all classes give of their substance
to the great enterprise. Herbert had been brought up in Normandy, and
was Prior of Fecamp before he became Bishop of Thetford ; and it is
not difficult to see evidence of French influence in the apsidal end of his
choir, with its ambulatory for processions. It is believed that he lived
to complete the choir, the transepts and the two first bays of the nave,
and to carry the central tower as far as the level of the roof, besides
building the Bishop's Palace ; and when he died, in 1119, they laid him,
as was meet, before the high altar.

To Herbert's successor, Bishop Eborard, is attributed the finishing of the
nave, so that the church was fairly complete before the end of the first
half of the twelfth century. It was much injured by fire in 1171, but
was restored before the end of the century. In the third quarter of the
next century it suffered from the violence of the mob. There had long
been differences between the monks and the burghers, and now in 1272
the friction led to a blaze. Who first appealed to arms was, almost of
course, matter of dispute ; but it seems pretty clear that the servants of
the Prior first resorted to violence, and they are charged with making an
unprovoked attack on the adjoining part of the city, as the result of which
several persons were killed and wounded. The citizens assembled, for
defence as it was said, but soon they became assailants. They fired the great
gates of the monastery " with reed and dry wood, and burnt them
down ... at the same time they fired the great almonry and the
church doors and the great tower, all which were presently burnt. . . .
They burnt also the dormitory, refectory, entertaining hall, and the infirmary,
with the chapel belonging to it, and almost all the buildings in the
court were consumed. Many of the monastery — some sub-deacons, others
clerks, and some laymen — were killed in the cloister and precincts of the
monastery. Others were carried out and killed in the city, and others
imprisoned." The prior}7 was plundered of its valuables, and the
disturbance continued for three days.

The citizens' triumph was, however, of short duration. It was ill
meddling with ecclesiastics in those days : the Bishop put the whole place
under an interdict, and the King himself came to Norwich, entering the city
" on the day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, being September
I4th." Exemplary punishment was meted out to the offenders ; some
thirty-four of them, as the old roll records, " were drawn with horses
about the streets till they died ; others were carried to the gallows and
there hanged, drawn, and quartered, and their bodies afterwards burnt ;
the woman that first set fire to the gates was burnt alive, and others,

10?

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[NORWICH.

to the number of twelve, forfeited their goods to the King." The Prior
resigned his office ; but peace was not restored till the following reign,
when a heavy fine was paid by the citizens.

The ' scathe wrought by the burghers having been repaired, the
cathedral was consecrated, in the presence of Edward I., his Queen and
Court, on Advent Sunday, 1278. At or about this time the tower was
carried up into a wooden spire, which in 1362 was blown down and
crashed through the roof of the eastern part of the choir — the presby-
tery— so that the clerestory had to be rebuilt. Renewed in the same
material, the spire was smitten by lightning in 1463, and once more broke
through the roof of the presbytery. Then Bishop Lyhart made a start
with the present spire of stone, which his successor, Bishop Goldwell, who
held the see from 1472 to 1499, finished.

In the second half of the fifteenth century the church underwent con-
siderable modifications.
These began with the
alteration of the west
front, the whole work
of the central portion of
this front being altered
from its original appear-
ance by taking out the
narrow doorway of the
earlier architect, remov-
ing bodily the whole
mass of masonry pierced
with small and mean
windows which sur-
mounted this doorway,
and substituting for it
the enormous west win-
dow, inserted by the exe-
cutors of Bishop Aln-
wick, who occupied the
see from 1426 to 1436.
In the spandrels of the
central doorway are the
Bishop's own arms and
those of the see, with
the inscription " Orate
pro Anima Domini Wil-
lielmi Alnwyck, Epi."

Huildinp. &c.

A Hiyh Allar.

B Choir.

C Cloisters

D The Xave.

E Transepts.

F Presbytery.

G Dean's Veslry.

H Chapel of SI. Jlary the ].<

J Chapel of St. Luke.

K Jesus Chapel.

L Bishop Nvkke's Chapel.
M Ante- Reliquary Chapel.

O Alt

P Alt:

Q T,

R All.,

School.
Tomb of Sir T. \V\nduam.
Tomb of Sir J. Hobart.

Chancellor Speii,
Tomb of Bishop I'arkhnrst.
S Easter Sepulchre and burial-place of Sir T.
T Htshop GoUhvell's Chantry. [Erpingham.
U Sir \Vi1li.,m Boleyn's Altar Tomb.

PLAN OF NORWICH CATHEDRAL.

NORWICH.]

THE CLOSE AND ITS GATES.

105

Next, for the flat ceiling of the nave was substituted the present magnificent
stone vaulting ; the roof of the aisles was raised to light the triforium
galleries, and the roof of the choir was vaulted. In the early years of
the next century the transepts also were vaulted, so that the workmen
had not long finished with the building when the Reformation came and
scattered the inmates of the monastery.

The cathedral of which we have thus briefly sketched the history
is not specially happy in its
situation, for it stands upon
low land, enclosed by a sweep
of the Wensum, and much,
if not the whole of the
ground, through the Middle
Ages, must have been little
better than a swamp. Ap-
proaching from the western
side, we find ourselves in an
open space in front of the
Close, which is called Tomb-
land, a name supposed by
some to indicate the site of
a graveyard of some vanished
church, but more probably a
corruption of loom, " empty
land," in allusion to the
absence of buildings. This
space is bordered by the
western wall of the Close,
which, however, is partly
masked by modern houses.
Two gates open upon Tomb-
land : that near the southern
end of the Close bears the name of St. Ethelbert, and is a handsome
piece of early Decorated architecture, the upper part, however — an excel-
lent specimen of intermixed flint- and stonework — being modern ; the
other gate, immediately opposite the west front, was erected at the cost
of Sir Thomas Erpingham, whose name Shakespeare has immortalised.
Designed at the beginning of the fifteenth century, it was obviously
left unfinished at the death of Sir Thomas in 1420, and completed by
an inferior architect several years after it had been carried up to the
present height of the buttresses and then for a while abandoned.

The first near view of the cathedral which we get on entering

1 9 %

Mi-iii

IN THE TOWER.

io6

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[NORWICH.

the Close is not at all satisfactory. There are no western towers, and
the Norman facade, which, in its original simplicity, might have
possessed a certain dignity, has been marred by the introduction of
the huge late Perpendicular window, more than usually inharmonious

in proportion and meagre in design.
It should be noticed, however,
that the two smaller doors of the
main entrance — one on the north
and the other on the south — have
been left as they were, their plain
semicircular arches with the simple
mouldings indicating that they date
from the twelfth century, and early
in that century, before the pointed
arch appeared in our architecture.

Much finer is the view of the
east end with its glorious flying but-
tresses, which bear almost the whole
weight of the stone roof that spans
the presbytery. A very striking
view of the tower and spire, with
the intersection of the southern
transept and the nave, may be
obtained by standing just inside
the garth — in front of the monks'
from the spire, is the loftiest and
tower in England, built in four
topmost one enriched with

THE ERPINGHAM GATE.

the grass plot — technically called

lavatory. The tower, as distinct

handsomest specimen of a Norman

stages, three of them arcaded, the fourth and

a double row of circles ; the square embattled turrets at the angles,

terminating in crocketed spirelets, are of the same date as the spire,

which is octagonal and elaborately crocketed. Together, the tower and

spire form a structure of remarkable harmony and grace. At the first

view one is rather bewildered by the series of windows, arcades, and

arches which the nave presents. First there are the windows of the

aisle, then a Norman wall arcading, then the blocked-up Norman triforium

windows, and above this the Perpendicular triforium, ending in a battle-

mented parapet. Next comes the triforium roof, and then the eye

mounts to the Norman clerestory, and finally to the sloping lead roof that

covers the vaulting.

And now let us pass through the great central door. Before us
stretches the grand length of the vast nave, with its ponderous piers —
one of the two or three longest naves in England, for it extends 252 feet

NORWICH.)

THE LONG-DRAWN NAVE.

107

to the intersection of the transepts. The two side aisles of the nave
support the mighty triforium, which is almost as lofty as the nave
arches, while along it from end to end two waggons might easily
pass abreast. The triforium was originally lighted by narrow semi-
circular Norman windows, which let in very little light. Tradition avers
that they were destroyed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, who complained
of the darkness and gloom ; and it is said that Dr. Gardiner, then Dean
of the cathedral, hacked away the walls and inserted the present hideous
windows, which at any rate admit some gleams of sunshine. The west
window, by the way, is filled with garish stained glass which forms a
memorial of Bishop Stanley, the father of the more famous Dean of
Westminster.

Over the great open arches of the triforium rises the clerestory, in
which the original Norman windows may still be seen, just as they were
more than seven hundred years ago. On the corbels at the bases of
the longer shafts that support Bishop Walter Lyhart's vaulted roof
appears the rebus of that prelate — a hart lying in the water— alternating
with an angel bearing a shield ; the elaborately carved bosses set forth
scenes from sacred history, from the Creation to the Last Judgment.
The nave comprises fourteen bays ; three of these are, however, included in

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

io8 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [NORW.CH.

the choir, which is separated from the nave by a heavy stone screen that
supports the organ. Very soon after the Restoration a movement was
set on foot to replace the old organ, and a subscription was begun in
the summer of 1663. The money required was soon raised, and in 1664
was built a new organ, which has recently been reconstructed by Messrs.
Norman and Beard. The old organ had been destroyed by the mob who
broke into the cathedral in 1643 and looted the building, smashing the
glass, plundering the vestments and ornaments, and robbing all they
could lay their hands upon.

It will be noticed that the pier of the tenth bay oi the nave on each
side is different from all the others, being circular and ornamented with a
spiral ribbed moulding, like some of those at Durham. It is thought to
indicate the original extent of the choir. At present the organ screen is
placed at the eleventh pier ; the substructure of this screen is ancient, being
of the same date as the roof. Small chapels, indications of which can
still be seen, were erected against it on the west. The northern was
dedicated to the youthful St. William, a Norfolk saint. As the story
goes, he was a tanner's apprentice at Norwich who, at Eastertide in the
year 1137, was decoyed by some Jews into their houses, tortured, and
crucified. The murder, after having been hushed up for some years,
was at last discovered, the body being found in the wood where it had
been buried. The Jews, of course, were duly plundered, and some of
them executed. At first the boy's body was buried in the monastery
churchyard, but then miracles were wrought, and it was translated to
the cathedral.

On passing through the new wrought-iron gates of the organ screen
we see before us the magnificent display which the central tower, with
the two transepts and the glorious presbytery or chancel, affords. The
clerestory of the presbytery may perhaps be regarded as the most
strikingly beautiful feature in Norwich Cathedral. It was erected in the
bishopric of Thomas Percy (1356-69), and was then covered over with
a timber roof, which was replaced by the present stone vaulting in the
days of Bishop Goldwell, about a century afterwards. And here it may
be well to notice that the roof of Norwich Cathedral is unique. No
church in Britain can boast such a glorious stone covering, stretching
over an expanse that occupies more than half an acre of ground. With
the exception of the timber roofs which surmount the triforium, there
is not a single foot of Norwich Cathedral that is not protected by a
stone vaulting, and hardly a foot of that vaulting which is not in some
way adorned with sculpture more or less elaborate. Prominent in the
sculpture of the presbytery is the rebus of Bishop Goldwell, a well and a
golden bucket.

THE CHOIR, LOOKING
WEST.

109

no CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [NO.W.CH.

The choir stalls are good examples of Perpendicular woodwork; the
misereres are more than usually quaint ; the fine brass lectern, " a pelican
in her piety," is a work of the fourteenth century. A richly carved oak
pulpit forms' a memorial of Dean Goulburn. The altar is modern,
designed by the late Sir Arthur Blomfield. In the apse may be seen
the ancient episcopal throne, a stone chair of great weight and very
plain in design, supported upon a semicircular arch. Here the Bishop
sat on state occasions, and here he pronounced the blessing. Round
him, on the steps that led up to the Bishop's chair, sat the assistant
priests in a semicircle. The pavement is still marked with an indenture
to indicate the exact position which the Bishop's assessors were expected
to occupy. This is the only example in England of a Bishop's throne
being so situated, and it is said to furnish evidence that the Bishops
of Norwich in the twelfth century consecrated the elements at the
Eucharist facing, not east, but west. The arrangement by which the
Bishop occupied an elevated chair in the centre of the apse, the
presbyters being ranged on lower seats on either hand, is identical with
that which may still be seen at St. Mark's, Venice, and in several other
Continental cathedrals. In the 'nineties the eastern arm of the church
was cleansed of the whitewash with which the stonework was thickly
daubed, and various other improvements were at the same time effected,
such as the removal of pews and raised floors. The floor of the pres-
bytery is of glass mosaic and porphyry, after a design by Sir Arthur
Blomfield.

Only four of the many chapels which were once to be seen in Nor-
wich Cathedral remain in anything like their former condition. These
arc the Jesus Chapel on the north, St. Luke's Chapel and the Beauchamp
Chapel on the south, of the presbytery, and Bishop Nykke's (or Nix's)
Chapel, occupying the seventh and eighth bays in the south aisle of the
nave. St. Luke's, beautifully restored by Sir Arthur Blomfield under Dean
Goulburn, as was the Jesus Chapel, served until recently as the parish
church for St. Mary in the Marsh. Immediately behind the high altar
stood, we are told, the Lady Chapel, which in Bishop Herbert's original
design was meant to harmonise with the St. Luke's and the Jesus Chapels.
But did Herbert's Lady Chapel ever exist at all ? Dr. Jessopp is inclined to
believe that (although the foundations were certainly prepared) no Lady
Chapel existed till Bishop Walter de Surfield erected his Lady Chapel in
the middle of the thirteenth century; for if, as he urges, such a massive
appendage as was clearly contemplated by the founder had ever been erected,
what sane man would have gone to the vast expense of demolishing it
less than one hundred and fifty years after it was built, and raising
another ? Bishop Suffield did, however, build a Lady Chapel, of which

NORWICH.]

MONUMENT OF SIR WILLIAM BOLEYN.

i ii

not one stone remains ; the entrance to it from the east end of the
choir aisle may still be seen, and the beautiful arches which served as
a double doorway to this chapel are almost the only specimens of
Early English architecture in the cathedral.

The cathedral internally, while very striking as a whole, is not rich
in monuments, owing largely to the havoc wrought by the Puritans in
1643. Among memorials that are interesting either for architectural
beauty, or as records
of the taste of the
time which produced
them, is one of Sir
William Boleyn,
grandfather of Anne
Boleyn, Henry
VIII.'s ill-fated
Queen, who rests on
the south side of the
presbytery; the
tomb is plain, but
the adjoining screen-
work is in itself a
monument. Sir Wil-
liam Boleyn lived
about thirteen miles
from Norwich, at
Blickling, which is
generally thought to
have been the birth-
place of his grand-
daughter, who cer-
tainly spent her
earlier years there.
The monument of
Bishop Overall, one
of the most learned
of English contro-
versialists, and the reputed author of the latter part of the Church
Catechism, is close by, and beyond it is the handsome tomb of Bishop
Goldwell, the builder of the clerestory and roof. He is vested in
a cope, and Bloxam remarks that this is the only instance of a
monumental effigy of a bishop prior to the Reformation in which the
processional cope is represented as the outward vestment. Bishop

VIEW ACROSS THE APSE, FROM THE CHAPEL OF ST. LUKE.

112 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [NORW.CH.

Herbert Losinga, the founder of the cathedral, still lies before
the altar, but his monument has perished, and at the present
day only a plain slab marks his resting-place. The monument of Sir
Thomas Erpingham in the fourth bay of the presbytery, on the north
side, has also been destroyed. A few years ago a leaden coffin was
found enclosing remains which may very well be those of Erpingham.
The taste of the eighteenth century is commemorated by a monument
to Dr. Moore (d. 1779), whose periwigged head is in grotesque juxta-
position with a cherub making a very ugly face. The nineteenth century
is represented by the last, and perhaps the best, work of Chantrey, the life-

THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE NAVE, LOOKING WEST.

sized figure of Bishop Bathurst, now placed in the south transept, as
well as by the memorial of a later bishop, John Thomas Pelham, who
died in 1893. This takes the form of a tomb of alabaster, with medallions
of green Connemara marble and a base of black marble. On the south
side of the nave is the " Soldiers' Window," the gift of the Norfolk
regiment ; another memorial window, in St. Luke's Chapel, commemorates
Professor Sedgwick, the distinguished geologist.

The total length of the church is 407 feet, of which the nave, as
we have seen, accounts for 252 feet. The nave (including the aisles)
has a width of 72 feet, the transepts are 180 feet in length, and the
vault is 72 feet high. The spire, 315 feet high, falls short of that of
Salisbury by 89 feet.

NORWICH.]

CLOISTERS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS.

The church is best left by the Prior's door in the south aisle of the
nave ; this leads us into the splendid cloisters, which, like the church,
are vaulted over with a stone roof, richly sculptured with scenes from
the lives of the saints and with Scripture subjects. The Prior's door should
not be passed through without notice. The lavatory of the monastery, in
excellent preservation, may be seen at the southern angle of the western
walk, close to the door which once served as the entrance to the monks'
refectory. The northern wall of the refectory remains, and some traces
of the reader's desk or pulpit may still be recognised. In the eastern
walk of the cloisters the entrance to the Chapter-house was opened out

THE NORTH AISLE OF THE NAVE, LOOKING WEST.

in modern times, after being clocked up for centuries. The Chapter-
house, built by Bishop Walpole towards the end of the thirteenth cen-
tury, was destroyed three hundred years later, together with the Lady
Chapel, by the Dean Gardiner who gave to the triforium of the nave its
present windows. The old library perished about the same time. Of
another beautiful fragment of the monastic buildings it is difficult to
give a satisfactory account. It was evidently a covered portico, open
to the air on all sides, and dates frcm some time in the thirteenth
century. As yet no explanation wholly free from objections has been
given of the purpose which this construction was meant to serve, and
as we have no space for discussing conjectures, we will leave the ruin
to be admired, and pass on. In the angle between the western wall

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

of the cloister and the cathedral doors
stands a building which serves as the chor-
isters' school, and which not many years
ago formed a part of one of the canons'
houses, and was used as a kitchen ; it
is of much more than ordinary interest.
Outside the Chapel of St. Luke is to be seen
che ancient font of the cathedral, at one time
a marvel of exquisite sculpture, but now
serving as an instructive monument of the
frenzy of iconoclastic zeal in the reign of
Edward VI.

On the north side of the church stands
the Bishop's Palace, which, until the year
1858, actually communicated with the cathe-
dral, and is, in fact, 'a survival of the original
residence provided by the founder for the bishops of the see. The old Norman
cellars and storehouses constructed for this ancient building are still used,
and may be seen by the curious who care to be at the pains to gain admis-
sion to them. The Prior's house was on the south side of the church, a little
to the south-east of the cloisters, and the site is now occupied by the
Deanery. The greenyard, the pulpit-cross of which was destroyed by the
Puritans, was a little to the west of the Bishop's Palace. At one time it
appears to have been the monks' cemetery, but it was also used for open-air
preaching prior to the Reformation, as Sir Thomas Browne relates. " The
mayor, aldermen, with their wives and officers, had a well -contrived place
built against the wall of the Bishop's Palace, covered with lead, so that
they : were not offended by rain. Upon the north side of the church
places were built gallery-wise, one above another, where the Dean, pre-
bends, and their wives, gentlemen and the better sort very well heard
the sermon ; the rest either stood or sat in the green, upon long forms
provided for them, paying a penny or half-penny apiece, as they did
at St. Paul's Cross in London. The Bishop and Chancellor heard the
sermons at the windows of the Bishop's Palace ; the pulpit had a large
covering of lead over it, and a cross upon it ; and there were eight or
ten stairs of stone about it, upon which the hospital boys and others
stood."

Though so few vestiges of the great priory at Norwich survive, it
is otherwise with another and smaller collegiate establishment which the
cathedral Close contained. The Grammar School, with the head-master's
house, represents a college of six priests with their chapel, and under it
a charnel-house, or depository for human bones, which was founded and

NORWICH.)

THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

endowed by Bishop Salmon at the beginning of the fourteenth century.
The shell of the school-house is precisely as it was left nearly six hundred
years ago, the massive and tenacious materials of which the walls consist
making any removal of the original fabric too expensive to be contem-
plated. The charnel-house serves now as a gymnasium ; the chapel
is used as the great school. The old endowment supports the more

THE CHOIR, PRESBYTERY, AND APSE.

modern institution. Among the distinguished men who have been edu-
cated here are Nelson, Brooke of Sarawak fame, Sir William Hooker,
Professor Lindley, and James Martineau.

When we come to the personnel of the diocese of Norwich, of the
great monastery which existed there for so long, and of the Chapter

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[NORWICH.

which replaced that monastery, and has inherited some portion of its
original endowments, it is impossible to help being struck by the remark-
able absence of any representative names in the long list of those who

have been prominent
personages here in
their day. Herbert
Losinga, the founder,
stands out almost a
solitary figure, con-
spicuous among the
foremost men of his
time, alike in politics
and in literature.
For more than four
centuries after Bishop
Herbert's death there
is literally not a single
Bishop of Norwich or Prior of the
monastery whose name is known to
literature or science, or who has even
gained a reputation for pre-eminent
sanctity of life. Bishop Parkhurst
was the first literary Bishop of Nor-
wich, and appears as a kind of epis-
copal Sydney Smith of the sixteenth
century. Bishop Hall's name will
always be honoured, his writings will
always be read, and his character
always admired ; but he was Bishop of
Norwich for scarcely more than a
few months ; he came only to show how a devout and brave man
can suffer without losing his self-respect, and live the higher life
in poverty and persecution when his face is set heavenwards. Since
Bishop Hall's time the Bishops of Norwich have been blameless in
character and prudent administrators, as a rule respectable scholars,
and sometimes a little more, but representative men they have not
been. So it has been with the Deans of the cathedral. If we except
Dr. Prideaux, author of the " Connection of the Old and New Testament,"
Dr. Goulburn was absolutely the first Dean of Norwich who ever had the
smallest reputation as a man of learning ; the rest had been cyphers.
Perhaps no former Dean, single-handed, effected so much, or made such
great sacrifices, in keeping up and adorning the fabric of the cathedral ;

NoKWlCH.]

STORY OF THE BISHOPRIC.

117

certainly none enjoyed so high a literary reputation, or deserved it
so well.

The ancient bishopric of East Anglia extended over all that large
district which now includes the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk and the
greater portion of the Isle of Ely. The Bishop's chair was first fixed
at Dunwich, in the seventh century, by St. Felix, a Burgundian missionary.
Later in the same century the see was divided, the Bishops of Dunwich
presiding over Suffolk, the Bishops of Elmham having the oversight of
Norfolk. In the ninth century the two sees were united under Wildred,
the diocese of Dunwich being merged in that of Elmham. So things
remained until 1070, when the see was removed from Dunwich to Thet-
ford by Herfast, who, according to William of Malmesbury, was prompted
to this step as an easy way of making himself known to posterity. His
successor was William Balsagus, and then (1091) came Herbert Losinga,
who transferred the see to Norwich and founded the cathedral. That
Herbert, although sincerely repentant of the act of simony which secured
for him the bishopric, remained a masterful and in some respects a not
too scrupulous man, is
suggested by his dis-
regard of the dying
wishes of Roger Bigod
to be buried in his
own Priory of Thetford.
Bishop Herbert was deter-
mined that his great
church at Norwich should
not miss the advantage
which would accrue to
it from being the burial-
place of one so renowned
for his piety, and he
therefore seized the body
and had it interred within
the cathedral — it is be-
lieved in the same vault
which was presently
opened to receive his
own remains. Thetford
was indignant, but Nor-
wich kept its prize.

We have referred to
the Outrages upon the TOMB OF BISHOP OOLDWELU

CATHEDRALS OP ENGLAND AND WALES.

cathedral committed by the Puritans in
1643, and we riiay close our sketch with
Bishop Hall's eloquent description of
their proceedings. " Lord, what work
was here," he exclaims in his " Hard
Measure"; "what clattering of glasses,
what beating down of walls, what tearing
up of monuments, what pulling down of
seats, what wresting out of irons and
brass from the windows and graves !
What defacing of arms, what demolishing
of curious stone work, that had not any
representation in the world, but only of
the cost of the founder and skill of the
mason, what toting and piping upon
the destroyed organ pipes, and what a
hideous triumph on the market day
before all the country, when, in a kind
of sacrilegious and profane procession, all the organ pipes, vestments, both
copes and surplices, together with the leaden crosse which had been newly
sawn down from over the green-yard pulpit, and the service books and
singing books that could be had, were carried to the fire in the public market
place ; a lewd wretch walking before the train, in his cope trailing in the
dirt, with a service book in his hand, imitating in an impious scorn the
tune and usurping the words of the Litany. Near the public Cross all
these monuments of idolatry must be sacrificed to the fire, not without
much ostentation of a zealous joy." In such behaviour as is here described,
it is certainly easier to see a brutal lust for destruction than a pious
concern for the spirituality of worship.

THE ETHELBERT GATE.

VIEW FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

LINCOLN.

Situation — History — Style — The West Front — The Western Towers — The East Front — The South
Facade — The Central Tower — The Great Transepts and the Galilee Porch — The Interior:
Inadequate Height of the Vaulting — Other Defects — The Choir — The Story of Little St. Hugh
—The Angel Choir — Monuments — Dimensions —The Cloisters — The Chapter-house — The
Deanery and Bishop's Palace.

'MONG our cathedrals there is none which excels Lincoln in grandeur
of position, save Durham only. The founders of the city built
it upon the edge of a plateau overlooking the valley of the
Witham, as this broadens out into a great tract of fenland,
the church stands high above the grey walls and red roofs

and

that surround it, dominating not only the town itself, but the whole
country round about. Twenty miles away can its triple pinnacled
towers be seen looming up above the mists. Times have changed in
all this region since they were reared ; the wild fowl have de-
parted from the fen, and the bittern's boom has been replaced by the
hum of the threshing machine. Many hundreds of acres that were once
the haunt of ague and marsh fever are now golden every autumn with
ripening grain, but the three towers still look on, as man comes and
man goes, as knowledge widens and phantoms are dispelled, while the
power of goodness is great as of old, and the reverence for the priceless
legacies of ancient days becomes stronger and stronger.

120

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[LINCOLN.

...

11841*1* W

383

REFERENCE.

The earliest cathedral on this site was erected by the first Norman
bishop, Remigius of Fecamp, on the removal of the see from Dorchester-
on-Thames, about 1072. From the portions that remain at the west

end, both external and
internal, we see that
it was a fabric of the
sternest Norman char-
acter, absolutely devoid
of ornament. It ended
in a short apsidal eastern
limb, the semicircular
foundations of which
remain beneath the stalls
of the choir. After an
accidental fire in 1141,
by which the roof was
burnt off, the whole
church was vaulted in
stone by Bishop Alex-
ander, to whom we
may also assign the very
elaborate western door-
ways, and the lower
storeys of the western
towers. The cathedral
suffered severely from
the earthquake of 1185,
which we are told by
Roger of Hoveden rent
it in twain from the
summit to the founda-
tion. The year follow-
ing (1186) Hugh of Avalon was appointed bishop. He at once
made preparations for the rebuilding of his shattered cathedral, and
the first stone was laid in 1192. Hugh died in 1200. by which time he
had seen the present ritual choir, together with the eastern transept,
completed, and the larger or western transept begun. This portion of the
cathedral supplies us with the earliest dated example in England of the
pure Lancet-Gothic, or Early English, without any trace of Norman in-
fluence. Documentary evidence fails us for the half-century after the
death of Bishop Hugh ; but during this period the transept was completed,
the nave built, and the west front cast into its present shape.

lor Transepts- Eastern

A R

B.B.B
C,C

D,D c

F,F Chapels.

G Central T.

H The Nave.

J.J Aisles.

K.K Chapels.

L,L Chapels - Early English \Vine>. J

M,M,IVI ]'oi hes - Norman Fitinl.

N.N.N No

O Ch,

P Ye

Q Ch-

S Gal

lan Recesses - \Vc,

ler-Huiise

bule of Cliaptcr-H

tcrs.

Scale of Feet

25 50 joo

150

PLAN OF LINCOLN CATHEDRAL.

LINCOLN.]

FALL OF THE CENTRAL TOWER.

121

The central tower fell in a very dramatic fashion in 1237, if Matthew
of Paris is to be trusted. In the early years of the episcopate of Robert
Grossetete, the big-headed, lion-hearted assertor of his rights against all
contraveners of them, whether the Chapter of his cathedral or the Pope
himself, it fell out that his claim to visit his cathedral officially roused the
ire of the Dean and canons, and one of the latter, while preaching in the
nave ad populum, appealed to his hearers against the oppressive acts of
the Bishop ; " so intolerable were they," he exclaimed, " that if he and
his brethren were to hold their peace the very stones would cry out on
their behalf." Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when the central
tower, then freshly built, came crashing down, burying some of his hearers
in its ruins. Its rebuilding was immediately begun, but it was reserved
to Bishop John of Dalderby to add the magnificent upper stage in the
early years of the next century. Except this upper stage of the tower,
the whole of these works are in the same general style, though with
many variations in detail — that is, the Early English. To the same period
belongs the Chapter-house, which was in progress during the episcopate
of Bishop Hugh of Wells (1209-35), brother of the Bishop Jocelin of
Wells who rebuilt that lovely
cathedral.

The popular veneration for
St. Hugh — the earlier bearer of
the name — was the moving cause
of the prolongation of the eastern
limb, by the erection of the
Angel Choir, to receive the shrine
containing his body, a work for
which the offerings of the devotees
flocking to the hallowed spot
supplied the necessary funds.
It was begun about 1255, and
completed in 1280, in which
year the translation of the
saint's body took place, in the
presence of Edward I. and his
Queen Eleanor, his brother Ed-
mund, Earl of Lancaster, Arch-
bishop Peckham, and an immense
concourse of the leading ecclesi-
astics and nobles of the day.
The addition of the Angel
Choir completed the main fabric

THE GALILEE PORCH.

122 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. EL.HCOU,.

of the cathedral. The cloisters were added in the Geometrical Decorated
style in 1296 and the immediately subsequent years.

Lincoln has, then, an especial interest as being " one of the first
important buildings erected wholly in the Pointed style." Though less
complete in some respects than Salisbury (begun in 1220 and finished in
1258), it was commenced a full thirty years earlier. Some critics have
asserted that the architecture of Lincoln exhibits signs of a French
influence; but M. Viollet-le-Duc, whose authority on such a question is
final, reported after the most careful examination that he could find in
no part of the church, neither in the general design, nor in the system
of architecture, nor in the ornamental details, any trace of the French
school of the twelfth century, so characteristic of the cathedrals of Paris,
Noyon, Senlis, Chartres, Sens, and even Rouen. The construction, he
emphatically says, is English, the profiles of the mouldings are English,
the ornaments are English, the execution of the work belongs to the
English school of workmen of the beginning of the thirteenth century.
There is little doubt, therefore, that the architect, Geoffrey de Noyers,
was an Englishman, and Mr. T. Francis Bumpus believes that he was a
Lincolnshire man, member of a family that came over with the Conqueror
and still flourishes in Lincolnshire.

The approach to the cathedral from the lower town reveals to the
visitor as he slowly climbs the hill the loveliness of the building, with a
gradual and ever-varying development which adds no little to its effect.
The summit at last reached, we pass under the vaulted archway of the
massive Edwardian gate-house which protects the entrance to the Close,
and stand awestruck with the marvellous facade that rises before us.
We can perhaps hardly call it beautiful ; impressive is the more fitting
term. A vast wall, unrelieved by buttress or projection, leaps at one
bound from base to parapet. In it are three rude cavernous recesses, a
large and lofty one in the centre, with a smaller one on each side ; and
in these recesses, above the doorways, the architects of the fifteenth
century have inserted three large Perpendicular windows. Plain almost
to savageness in the Norman centre, the broad and lofty wall is saved from
monotony by the decorative arcading which profusely covers the later
portion, tier above tier, partly late Norman, partly Early English of
more than one date. A sharply pointed gable finishes the composition
in the centre, encrusted with ornamentation of the most exquisite design,
the work of the age of Grossetete. The fagade is terminated at each
angle by tall octagonal stair-turrets, capped with spirelets. From the
summit of that to the south the mitred effigy of St. Hugh looks down
calmly on the building which owes its present form to his personal
munificence and to the veneration for his saintly memory. On the

124

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[LINCOLN,

northern apex is perched " the Swineherd of Stow," blowing his horn to
gather his herd, a thirteenth-century Gurth who, according to ancient
tradition, gave a peck of silver pennies, the savings of his lifetime, to
the building which has handed down his image to all time. This figure
is a copy of the original one, which will be seen in the cloisters.

Behind this vast broad wall rise the two glorious towers, which it
were vain to praise — St. Mary's to the north, St. Hugh's to the south.
The lower storeys belong to the age of Stephen, and were the work of
the prince-bishop, far more warrior than prelate, " Alexander the Magni-
ficent," in the
first half of
the twelfth
century. The
lofty belfry
stages, with
their spire-
crowned tur-
rets, may be
placed at the
end of the
fourteen th
century.
As origin-
ally built,
these towers
were termin-
ated by lofty
spires of tim-
ber covered
with lead.

Time and decay wrought their work upon them. Often threatened, and
in 1727 only saved from demolition by a popular tumult, at last, in
1807, they fell a sacrifice to a misjudging economy and a mistaken idea
of symmetry.

Unique as is the west front of Lincoln among our cathedrals, daring
in conception, bold in outline and rich in detail, wonderfully impressive as
we catch glimpses of it and its crowning of towers from the narrow
streets as they wind up the slopes below, or view it for the first time
as a whole from the Close at its foot, one nevertheless feels that it is
open to exception. The leading outlines, notwithstanding the enrichment
of its arcades, are heavy. The central gable is a little weak, and the
absence of windows in the upper part produces a sense of want of

•'////. ;/-;.'//'•• x-iv-i i i • : - •• '' rr.'fF r

Lincoln (ATHEOQ6L. .

roon THC c5 £. •

LINCOLN.]

THE WEST AND EAST FRONTS.

125

THE WEST DOORWAY.

purpose in it as a whole ; it is too obvi-
ously a gigantic screen ; and we cannot
help suspecting — though unjustly — that it
is intended to mask defects in the build-
ing which lies behind it. There can be
no question that the effect of the towers
would have been far finer if they had
stood out from the ground, without the
screen, behind which, in Freeman's words,
"their noble upper stages look out like
prisoners eager to get rid of the incum-
brance in front of them." But it is
worse than useless to find fault, and spoil
an enjoyment of what we have by specu-
lations as to what might have been. With
all its acknowledged defects, the general

effect is such that it is impossible to look on it without admiration,

as a truly grand and striking facade.

Let us now pass to the opposite end and examine the east front.

Entering the Close by the Potter-gate Arch, another of the Edwardian

gate-houses, the cathedral is before

us, its grey walls rising in quiet

dignity from the smooth green-
sward. On the north side is the

noble decagonal Chapter -house,

capped by its tall pyramidal roof

of lead, with its widely spread-
ing flying buttresses, like huge

giant arms outstretched to prop up

the vaulted ceiling within. The

glorious Angel Choir, forming the

eastern end of the church, is the

first complete specimen of English

Gothic art after it had attained

its highest development in the

latter half of the thirteenth century,

and is not undeserving of the

praises lavished on it by Professor

Freeman as " one of the loveliest

of human works, the proportion

of the side elevation and the

., , ,. REMAINS OF THE SHRINE OF LITTLE ST. HUGH.

beauty of the details, the foliated LINCOLN

126 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. iL[KCOUI.

carvings and rich suites of mouldings being simply perfect."
The great east window of eight lights, with its lofty mullions,
simplicity of conception, and pure and bold tracery, is one of the very
noblest specimens of its style — the Geometrical Decorated. The richly
crocketed gable, bearing in its apex the Virgin-Mother with the Infant
Saviour in her arms, flanked by tall spire pinnacles of elaborate luxuriance,
with its two aisle gables, equally lovely in themselves, though open to
the charge of unreality, is one of the most charming of architectural
works.

Leaving the east end, we may pass westwards and watch the gradual
development of the varied architectural features of the building. First, the
side elevation of the Angel Choir, with its lovely windows, as perfect as
the great east window on a smaller scale, divided by tall gabled buttresses.
Then follows the deeply recessed south porch, with its solemn sculptures
of the Doom — the seated Judge, the yawning tombs, the rising dead —
recalling on a smaller scale the vast cavern-like portals of Rheims or
Chartres. The high, narrow eastern transept, the work of the sainted Hugh
of Avalon, with its tall lancets and apsidal chapels, is succeeded after a
short interval by the far more sturdy and less elegant western transept,
with its broader windows and ponderous buttresses, at the intersection of
which with the body of the church rises the glorious central tower, the
" Rood," or " Lady Bell Steeple," as it used to be called before a vulgar
desire to make the big bell known as " Great Tom " bigger still con-
signed to the melting-pot the lovely little peal of mediaeval bells which
formerly day by day rang out the " Ave Maria."

The tall leaden spire which once sprang from the central tower to
a height exceeded only, in this country, by the spire of Old St. Paul's,
perished in a storm in 1548, carrying with it the parapet of the tower.
The lovely open parapet that now runs round the structure dates from
1775, except that on the west side, which had to be replaced in 1883.
To avoid the necessity of constructing strengthening arches below, which
would have injured the interior effect, the architect who rebuilt the tower
has tied two thin walls together at intervals, leaving a vacuum between.
Twenty-five feet below the parapet, and hence to the summit, he lessened
the size of the structure by about 2} inches, so that it might not appear
broader at the top than at the bottom.

At this point the circular window of the south transept chal-
lenges our admiration. The corresponding window of the north transept,
looking towards the Deanery, was called " The Dean's Eye," symbol
ising the watchful care the chief officer of the Chapter was bound
to exercise against the wiles of " Lucifer," to whom it was inferred, from
the words of the prophet Isaiah, "I will sit on the sides of the north"

THE CATHEDRAL TOWERS, WITH THE EXCHEQUER GATE.

128

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[LINCOLN

(Isa. xiv. 13), that that gloomy, sunless quarter was specially subject. The
window of the southern transept, looking over the episcopal palace, was
similarly known as " The Bishop's Eye," courting the genial influences
of the Holy Spirit. There is no record of its erection, but it was prob-
ably connected with the " cultus " of Bishop John of Dalderby, who,
dying in 1320, was buried in this transept, where some fragments of his
once magnificent shrine are still to be seen.

At the south-western angle of the transept stands the Galilee Porch, a
very stately vaulted entrance, cruciform in plan, which was probably
erected for the reception of the bishop on state occasions. The ancient
episcopal palace lay a short distance to the south, and there is an arch-
way in the Close wall, originally opened by the second Norman bishop,
Robert Bloet, by the express permission of Henry I., exactly in a line
with this porch. The porch, which is of Early English date, both
in position and design is absolutely unique.

At no point are the dimensions of the cathedral more impressive
than on turning the angle of the Galilee. An entirely new church seems

to open upon us, with the long buttressed
aisle walls of the nave, the large gabled
south-west chapel, itself a small church,
which flanks it, and the western towers.
As we advance, the Norman work of the
lower part of the towers, and the highly
enriched arcaded gables which project from
them, become very striking features. The
picturesque variety of the outline of the
cathedral, with its bold defiance of con-
ventionality, is here strikingly displayed.
On the gable of one of the two chapels
at the south-west end of the nave is the
grotesque figure known as " the Devil
looking over Lincoln."

On entering the cathedral, while we

are struck by the combination of grace and dignity in the design with rich-
ness in detail, and by the general impression of size and space, we cannot
fail to feel the want of height. This defect is not so painfully apparent in
the nave as in the choir and west transept. In the latter the vault is
crushing in its lowness, and cuts off the upper part of the northern circular
window or " Dean's Eye " in a most awkward fashion. In the choir the
strangely unsymmetrical arrangement of the vaulting cells, joined to its
lowness, gives an unpleasing effect to an otherwise noble design. This is
the more provoking as there is no real want of height in the fabric itself.

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LINCOLN.]

NAVE AND TRANSEPTS.

129

But a vast space is lost between the groining and the roof, from the want
of courage in the architect to lift the stone vault to a more adequate
elevation. In the nave the vault is actually some feet higher, and the
point of the springing of the groining and the form of the arch are so
arranged as to make it look higher still. The first impression made by
the nave is so perfectly satisfactory that it is only slowly and reluctantly
that one begins to notice its defects. There can be no question that the
arches are generally too wide, producing a sprawling effect and a sense
of inadequacy of bearing power. The two westernmost bays, which are
narrower, are so much more pleasing that we can only wish that all
had been of the same width, and that the plan had included eight arches
instead of seven. There is some awkwardness also in the way in which
the later nave is fitted on to the western towers and the intervening
Norman bay. From some unexplained cause — perhaps no more than an
error in the original setting out of the new nave — the axis of the two
divisions is not the same, so that the west window, and still more dis-
tressingly the western arch, are out of the centre of the vista.

Standing beneath the lantern, we look right and left down the grand
transepts, and contemplate and compare two of the special glories of
Lincoln, the rose windows of the transept gables. The northern is
the earlier, the chaster in design, yet not the less, perhaps even the
more, beautiful. It still retains its original stained glass, and is justly
termed by Mr. Winston " one of the most splendid, and in its present
state one of the most perfect works of the thirteenth century." The
tracery is of the kind technically called " plate," richly ornamented on
the exterior. The subject of the glass is Christ in Glory. The circular
window in the south transept is an example of the richest and most

130 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [L,KCOLN.

developed period of the Decorated style, dating from the middle of the
fourteenth century. By Pugin its tracery was compared to the " fibres of
a leaf." It is glazed with fragments from various shattered windows in
the cathedral, extremely rich in colour.

Through the choir screen, an interesting work of the earlier Decorated
period, which supports the organ, we enter the choir, at whose walls
St. Hugh himself was wont to labour as a mason. On either side it
is fenced off from the aisles by arcaded stone screens, introduced after
the fall of the tower to strengthen the fabric. In the third arch of the
south choir aisle a screen-wall, richly panelled in the Decorated style,
marks the site of the shrine of Little St. Hugh ; a monument of the
eagerness to believe the most incredible tales of the vindictive cruelty of the
hated Jews, of which quite recent history presents examples in Hungary
and elsewhere. Beneath the now demolished canopy a tiny stone coffin
enshrines the remains of a Christian child, " bonnie Saint Hugh of Lin-
coln," whose body was found in the cesspool of the house of a Jew,
Copin by name, wounded, it was said, in hands, feet, and side in blas-
phemous mockery of the sufferings of our Lord. The whole story, too
long to be narrated here, is to be found in Matthew Paris. He tells
how Copin, on the promise of his life, feasted the ears of his judges with
the atrocities stated to have been perpetrated on the child, which the
leading Jews from all parts of England had flocked to witness ; how the
young King Henry III., happening then to visit Lincoln, annulled the
promise as an infringement of his own royal prerogative ; how the miser-
able culprit, tied to the tail of a horse, was dragged through the streets
of Lincoln, and hanged on Canwick Hill, " given over both in body and
soul to the prince of the power of the air " ; and how, finally, near
upon a hundred Jews inculpated by him were carted off to the Tower
of London and hanged, and their property confiscated.

The choir is furnished with three tiers of seats, the upper row of
prebendal stalls being surmounted by lofty tabernacle work of consummate
richness, whose vacant niches are now filled with statuettes of the saints
of the Anglican Calendar. These stalls, as well as the regal statues over
the west door, and the vaulted ceilings of the three towers, are due to
John of Welbourn, treasurer of the church towards the close of the four-
teenth century. The carvings of the misereres, and of the finials and
elbow-rests, are in some cases of a ludicrous character, not quite in
keeping with a religious building. The poppy-head of the Precentor's
stall exhibits on one side two monkeys churning ; on another side we see
a baboon, who has stolen the butter, hiding himself among the trees ;
on a third side the thief, having been caught, tried, and condemned, is
expiating his crime on the gallows, the two churners pulling the rope,

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.
TRIFORIUM OF THE ANGEL CHOIR.

132

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [L,,COLN.

THE DEVIL LOOKING OVER
LINCOLN.

while he with clasped hands is praying his last
prayer. The miserere of a stall on the tier below
shows the body of the butter-stealer borne by his
hangmen to burial.

No words can do justice to the consummate
beauty of the Angel Choir, which includes the
two bays west of the altar-screen and the remain-
ing three to the east of it — one half of the
whole structure east of the lantern. In the com-
bination of richness and delicacy of ornament and
unstinting profuseness of sculpture, leaving scarcely
a square foot of plain wall anywhere, it knows
no rival. The name by which it is popularly
known is derived from the sculptures of angels

with expanded wings, play-
ing on musical instruments,

which fill the spandrels of the exquisitely designed
triforium. In singular contrast to these lovely
creations is the so-called " Lincoln Imp," a queer
little shaggy " Puck " or " Robin Goodfellow," with
horns and huge flapping ears, who sits, nursing
his right leg, at the base of the corbel of the
first vaulting shaft on the north side.

Lincoln Cathedral is now decidedly poor in
monuments. There are but few, and these not as
a rule bearing any great historic name. The whole
of the sepulchral brasses, many of them of singular
beaut}/, were torn up by the Parliamentary soldiers
after the storming of the Castle and the Close
by the Earl of Manchester in 1644, when, as
Evelyn says, the military " shut themselves in with axes and hammers till they
had rent and torn off some barge-loads of metal, so hellish an avarice possessed
them." Besides despoiling the brasses and carrying off an exquisite full-
length metal effigy of Queen Eleanor, whose " viscera " were interred here
after her death at the neighbouring manor of Harby, the soldiers inflicted
so much wanton injury on the other monuments that, under the influence
of the prosaic spirit of neatness and uniformity which prevailed during the
eighteenth century, not a few decayed memorials of historic interest were
removed by those who should have been their guardians. Of the monu-
ment of Bishop Grossetete which stood in the south arm of the eastern
transept, once the resort of numerous devotees and the scene of many re-
puted miraculous cures, only a few shattered fragments remain. Not even

THE LINCOLN IMP.

LINCOLN.]

PAUCITY OF MONUMENTS.

133

so much is left of the still more celebrated wonder-working shrine of St.
Hugh, the Bishop. This, however, is the less to be regretted, as the whole
cathedral may be called his monument. Of Remigius, the dwarfish but
energetic founder of the cathedral — " the man of small stature but of
lofty soul " —there is a reputed but dubious memorial in a sepulchral slab,
carved with the tree of Jesse, placed under one of the nave arches.

Of the thirty prelates who filled the episcopal throne of Lincoln up
to the period of the Reformation, by far the greater part were interred
within the walls of the cathedral, but the effigies of only two sur-
vive. These are Bishop Henry of Burghersh (1320-42), the diplomatic
agent of Edward III. in French affairs, whose unquiet spirit, so the tale
ran, was doomed to walk the earth in huntsman's garb of Lincoln green,
with horn and baldrick, until the lands of which he had robbed his
poorer neighbours for the enlargement of his own chase had been re-
stored ; and Bishop Richard Fleming (1420-31), by whom the papal de-
cree for exhuming the body of \Yycliffe, and burning it to ashes to be cast
into running waters, was carried out at Lutterworth. Both of these
monuments stand towards the east end of the north aisle of the Angel
Choir, that of Bishop Fleming in a chantry chapel which was erected for
its reception. A second effigy in this aisle, placed where all might see the
ghastly memento mori, represents the decaying corpse of Bishop Fleming.

THE SOUTH AISLE OF THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST, WITH THE OLD FONT.

134

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [Lmcmj,.

ST. HUGH AND THE LEPER.
(From a Window in the Chapter-house.')

On the aisle wall, facing Bishop
Burghersh's monument, is the recessed
tomb of his elder brother, Bartholo-
mew, Lord Burghersh, who died in
1356, one of the most renowned of
the warriors in Edward III.'s French
campaigns, fighting at Crecy in the
same detachment with the Black
Prince, and sent out to reconnoitre
before the battle of Poictiers. On the
south side of the retro-choir a repro-
duction of the altar-tomb and bronze
effigy of Queen Eleanor of Navarre,
destroyed, as has been said, by the
Parliamentary soldiers, was erected in
1891. Of post- Reformation prelates, the only monuments are those of
Bishop Fuller (1667-75), who restored the cathedral after the fanatical
outrages of the Great Rebellion ; of Bishop Gardiner, whose altar-tomb
bears a set of very pleasing sapphics commending the prelate's virtues ; of
Bishop Kaye (1827-53), whose white marble effigy, a graceful and dignified
work of Westmacott's, reposes in one of the apsidal chapels of the south
arm of the lesser transept ; and of Bishop Wordsworth, presenting a
life-sized effigy beneath a lofty and elaborate canopy, erected in the
Angel Choir. In this part of the church also is the alabaster and red
marble monument of Dean Butler, who died in 1894, and is buried in
the cloister garth, where, too, lies Precentor Venables (d. 1895).

The only other ancient monuments, besides those already named, are
those of Sir Nicholas Cantelupe and
Prior Wymbush of Nocton, under tall
gabled canopies in the retro-choir ;
the much mutilated altar-tomb of
Katherine Swynford, the tardily wedded
third wife of John of Gaunt, the
mother of Cardinal Beaufort, and
great-grandmother of Lady Margaret
Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. ; and
that of her daughter, the Countess
of Westmorland, on the south side
of the choir. The Easter sepulchre
opposite is an exquisite specimen of
Decorated canopy work, the base
finely carved with the sleeping guards.

THE FUNERAL OF ST. HUGH.
(From a Window in the Chapter-house.)

LINCOLN.]

THE CLOISTERS.

135

The font, of black marble, which stands beneath the second arch on the
south side of the nave, is a gigantic specimen of late Norman work,
with a huge square basin carved with griffin-like figures, supported on
four pillars.

The cathedral has a total interior length of 482 feet. The nave is
252 feet long, 80 feet wide (including the aisles), and 82 feet high ; the
choir has a length of 158 feet, and the presbytery of 72 feet, with a height
of 74 feet. The western transept is 222 feet by 61 feet, the eastern 170
feet by 36 feet. The central tower has a height of 271 feet, the western
towers of 206 feet.

The cloisters form an irregular quadrangle to the north of the choir,
between the two tran-
septs. They are in
the Decorated style,
with rich traceried
windows and a groined
roof of oak. Built,
like many ancient
works, with hardly any
foundation, the thrust
of the vault forced the
walls out of the per-
pendicular, and com-
pletely threw down the
northern walk. This
lay in ruins till the
latter half of the seven-
teenth century, when
Dr. Michael Hony-
wood, the first Dean
after the Restoration,
presented his cathe-
dral with the library
he had collected during
his exile in the Low
Countries in the Great

Rebellion, and called in Sir Christopher Wren to erect a room on the vacant
site to contain it. A good example of its style, Wren's Doric arcade is
out of harmony with its surroundings, and does not lessen our regret for
the fallen walk. A few years ago the other three walks were rebuilt,
stone for stone, on a well-laid foundation.

The Chapter-house, which opens out of the eastern wall of the cloister,

NORTH AISLE OF THE NAVE, LOOKING WEST.

136

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[LINCOLN.

THE "DEAN'S EYE."

is one of the grandest works of the
thirteenth century. Its stone vaulted
roof is supported by a central
column of clustered shafts ; the
stained glass, by Clayton and Bell,
depicts the history of the minster.
No part of the cathedral is more
full of historical reminiscences. Here,
in the days when Parliaments were
migratory, several Parliaments were
held by Edward I. and his two
successors. Here, too, in 1310, was
held the trial of the Knights Tem-
plars, before Bishop John of Dai-
derby, for the crimes of apostasy,

idolatry, and gross immorality. Here also — to pass on a couple of
centuries — in October, 1536, in the early days of the popular rising against
Henry VIII. 's measure of the suppression and confiscation of religious
houses, which afterwards came to a head in Yorkshire in the cele-
brated " Pilgrimage of Grace," the leaders of the Lincolnshire insurgents,
60,000 strong, assembled to take into consideration the royal letters
just received, recalling the " rude commons " of the " brute and beastly
shire " of Lincoln to their allegiance. Treachery on the part of the
leaders was suspected. Two hundred of the rebels, after retiring to
the cloisters for conference, returned with the resolve to put the gentry
to the sword if they refused to lead them against the royal forces which
were approaching. They shrank, however, from making a shambles of
the sacred building. Some of the bolder spirits, convinced that the occasion
called for instant action, and that if they delayed their cause was lost,
waited outside the great west doors to waylay the leaders as they came
out, and offer them the choice of death or submission to their demand.
Btit they were not aware, or had forgotten, that there were other ways
of exit, nearer to the Chapter-house, by the choir-aisle doors. These
were pointed out by one of the servants, and in the twilight of that
autumnal evening the intended victims made a hurried escape across the
minster green to the house of the Chancellor, Christopher Massingberd,
closing behind them the massive oaken doors which still swing on their
hinges.

The Deanery, on the north side of the cathedral, is modern, built
in 1847 to replace the old Deanery, which had fallen into decay. The
ancient episcopal palace, on the south side, is a ruin, but under Bishop
King a new palace has been built beside the fragments of the old.

137

SALISBURY.

A Cathedral in One Style — Old Sarum — St. Osmund and the Sarum Use — The Present Church begun
by Bishop Poore — The View from the Close — The Spire — Consecration Crosses — Effect of
the Interior — The Colour System — Thomas Fuller on the Cathedral — Features of the Interior
— Wyatt's Alterations — The Monuments — The " Boy Bishop " — The Stourton Tragedy —
Dimensions — Cloisters — Chapter-house — Deanery and Palace — Some Bishops of Salisbury.

N one respect, Salisbury stands alone among our mediaeval
cathedrals ; it was built, save the tower and spire, during a
single generation, and it therefore presents a single phase
of the Gothic, and that, undoubtedly, the most chastely
beautiful phase. Begun in the year 1220, and finished soon
after the middle of the century, it forms the completest
and noblest specimen of Early English architecture that
has survived the chances and changes of the centuries.
Some authorities have discovered in it traces of French influence, but
in its severity, its reserve, its stern disdain of ornament, it is in spirit
thoroughly English.

The first cathedral of the see was reared at Old Sarum, a mile
or so from the present city, a beginning being made with it, as is

believed, by Herman, a Fleming who, though he rose to be bishop

under Edward the Confessor, was I continued in his office by
the Conqueror. He it was who, in 1075, a removed the episcopal seat to

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

138

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

Old Sarum, which had long been a fortified town. It was, in fact, says
William of Malmesbury, " more like a castle than a city, being environed
with a high wall." The cathedral was continued by Herman's successor,
Osmund, who, however, is memorable less as a cathedral builder than as the
compiler of the " Sarum Use," that ordinal of offices which, intended for use
in his own diocese, was adopted throughout the south of England, and of
which the original MS. is still preserved in the cathedral library. A man of
vigour and rigour was St. Osmund, for, according to William of Malmes-
bury, he was quick to detect his own faults and unsparing to those of
others. There was no lack of miracles at his shrine, but he was not

canonised for more than
two hundred years after
his death.

As the foundations
show, Old Sarum Cathe-
dral, when finished, was
a large structure, measur-
ing 270 feet by 75 feet,
in the form of a Latin
cross. But the ecclesiastics
connected with it were
not happy. When the
offices of castellan and
bishop were united in the
same person, as was the
case with Osmund, all was
well ; but afterwards,
penned within the wall
spoken of by William of
Malmesbury, churchmen
and soldiers got along
together but ill ; and when
Richard Poore was trans-
lated hither from Chi-
chester, in 1217, he decided
that a change must be
made, and obtained per-
mission from Pope Hon-
orius III. to remove his cathedra to some convenient place. " My
sons the Dean and Chapter," ran the Pope's mandate which authorised
the removal, " it having been heretofore alleged before us on your
behalf that, forasmuch as your church is built within the compass

A The Xsve.

B North Porch.

C Main Transepts.

D Eastern Transepts.

E Choir.

F Retro-Choir.

G Lady Chapel.

PLAN OF SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.

SALISBURY.)

OLD SARUM.

139

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST.

of the fortifications of Sarum, it is subject to so many inconveniences
and oppressions that you cannot reside in the same without corporal
perils : for being situated on a lofty place, it is, as it were, continually
shaken by the collision of the winds ; so that while you are celebrating
the divine offices you cannot hear one another : and besides, the persons
resident there suffer such perpetual oppressions that they are hardly able
to keep in repair the roof of the church, which is constantly torn by
tempestuous winds. They are also forced to buy water at as great a
price as would be sufficient to purchase the common drink of the country.
Nor is there any access to the same without the licence of the castellan,
so that it happens on Ash Wednesday, when the Lord's Supper is admin-
istered . . . and on other solemn days, the faithful being willing to
visit the said church, entrance is denied them by the keepers of the
castle, alleging that the fortress is in danger. Besides, you have not
there houses sufficient for you, wherefore you are forced to rent several
houses of the locality." It is rather amusing to observe the attempt
which this document makes to represent the situation of the cathedral
as partly responsible for the removal of the see from the immediate
neighbourhood of Old Sarum. The real reason for the divorce was, no
doubt, incompatibility of temperament.

The choice of site of the present cathedral is said to have been

140 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. DB«««r.

determined by an arrow shot from the battlements of Old Sarum. How-
ever this may be, the foundations of the building were laid by Bishop
Poore on the Feast of St. Vitalis (April 28th), 1220, and within five
years the work was so far advanced that three altars were consecrated
by the Bishop. Four years later (1229) he was translated to Durham,
and the work at Salisbury was continued by his successors, Robert
Bingham, William of York, and Giles of Bridport, the consecration of
the church by Boniface of Savoy, Archbishop of Canterbury, taking place
in 1258, in the presence of Henry III. and his Queen. The next bishop,
Walter de la Wyle, began the Chapter-house and cloisters, which were
probably completed by his successor, Robert de Wickhampton (1274-84).

As to Old Sarum, for some time after the founding of the new
cathedral it remained a strong fortress and full of houses, but the Norman
cathedral was taken down in 1331, the materials being used for building
the spire of its successor ; the castle fell into decay ; the place was at
length deserted ; and when Leland visited it about the middle of the six-
teenth century there was not, he tells us, " a single house left within
or without Old Sarisbryi." So it has remained to this day. The builders
of the new city did not fail to appropriate the worked stone of Old
Sarum, and so it is that little beyond some fragments of the wall of
the citadel are now to be traced. Visitors to the present city cannot
fail to notice that it exhibits a regularity more transatlantic than English,
the reason being that it is one of the very few of our cities which have
come into being through deliberate design, and not as the slow growth
of centuries at the meeting of various trade routes or on a strong
strategical position. Its streets cross each other at what are approxi-
mately right angles, and their straightness forms a singular contrast to
the sinuosities of the old thoroughfares of Winchester. This symmetry
it owes to Bishop Poore and his immediate successor, who actually
deflected the old Roman road known as Icknield Street so that it might
pass through the town. The bishops were satisfied, however, with laying
out Salisbury ; they did not trouble to drain the squares into which
they divided the place, and for hundreds of years overflows from the rivers
at the confluence of which it stands — the Avon, the Bourn, the Nadder, and
the Wiley — coursed through its streets.

The last time that Pugin was at Salisbury he stood at the window
of a house overlooking the cathedral and exclaimed, " Well, I have
travelled all over Europe in search of architecture, but I have seen
nothing like this." There is ample justification for such a verdict.
The structure itself is vast ; the clear space around the Close is probably
without a parallel ; the spire is exceptional both for its elegance and
its height ; the colour is determined by the same lichen that has

SALISIU KV.]

THE VIEW FROM THE CLOSE.

141

grown through the same generations over the entire mass, and in those
grey walls rising out of the greensward the impression undoubtedly is
conveyed that there are points in which Salisbury Cathedral stands
without a rival in the world. The impressions to be derived from the
church as seen from the Close are beautifully described by Mrs. Van
Rensselaer in a paper contributed to the Century Magazine, and quoted
from by Mr. Gleeson White in his monograph on the cathedral. " No-
where else," we read, " does a work of Christian architecture so express
purity and repose and the beauty of holiness, while the green pastures

LOWER STAGES OF THE WEST FRONT.

that surround it might well be those of which the Psalmist writes. When
the sun shines on the pale grey stones and the level grass, and the
silent trees, and throws the long shadow of the spire across them, it
is as though a choir of seraphs sang in benediction of that peace of
God which passeth understanding. The men who built and planted here
were sick of the temples of Baalim, tired of being cribbed and cabined,
weary of quarrelsome winds and voices. They wanted space and sun and
stillness, comfort and rest and beauty, and the quiet ownership of their
own ; and no men ever more perfectly expressed, for future times to
read, the ideal they had in mind."

The lofty spire, upon which the repute of Salisbury Cathedral is
popularly rested, seems to have been no part of the original design.

142 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [SAL,SBU«».

The lantern was at first completed a little above the roof of the nave.
The piers and foundations below were never intended to carry so vast
a weight ; and it was not probably till a generation or two had elapsed
that some unknown architect, with the daring of a true artist in ex-
hausting the capability of his material, planned the tower and spire,
which have since been recognised as amongst the chief glories of the
pile. How near he came to overtaxing the capability of the existing
building may be seen internally, from the thrust which the added mass
of masonry has caused along the arcades in all directions. The spire,
loftier than that of any other English cathedral, rises to a height of
404 feet, so that it has an altitude greater than that of the golden cross
of St. Paul's by thirty-nine feet. The central spire of Amiens has
a stature of 422 feet, but Salisbury is much the loftier of the two re-
latively to the height of the nave ; and though it is inferior to Strasburg
by sixty-four feet, the elaborate ornamentation of the latter robs it, to the
eye, of some of its height. Two centuries ago the western piers of the
tower " settled," so that, as tested by the plumb-line, the vane is twenty-
three inches out of the perpendicular. The tower was strengthened by Sir
Gilbert Scott by means of iron ties, and much of the stonework was
renovated ; and more recently further works were carried out by Sir Arthur
Blomfield to increase the stability of the structure.

This cathedral is peculiarly rich in the survival of consecration crosses,
which in mediaeval days were carved or painted on the walls of a church.
They are to be seen both outside and inside the building. Those on
the inside were twelve in number, three on each wall, to the north, south,
east, and west. It seems probable, but not perhaps quite certain, that
the number of external crosses was the same. The whole ritual of the
consecration is extremely curious, and is described by Durandus, a French
bishop who was nearly contemporary with the building of Salisbury
Cathedral. The deacon was shut up alone in the church, and his business
was to light twelve lamps before the twelve crosses painted on the walls.
Meantime the bishop, clergy, and people outside thrice made the circuit
of the building, the bishop sprinkling the walls with water which he
had previously blessed. On their entering the church, a cross in
ashes and sand was made upon the pavement, and upon the cross the
entire alphabet was written in Greek and Latin characters. The bishop
then made the tour of the interior and anointed the twelve painted
crosses with the sacred chrism.

The artistic effect of the interior is nof at all equal to that of the
exterior of the church ; and the question arises as to what is the par-
ticular respect in which its builders failed. Why is it that they who
were so great and strong outside have become so feeble and so poor

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144

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [SALI,.D«

within ? It is perhaps open to doubt whether it is the originators who
failed at all. There are at all events many of the same fine qualities
within that won our admiration without. Here, as on the exterior,
are size, elegance, symmetry, just proportions, modesty of treatment.
Yet, judged by its own high standard, it fails. The late Lord Tennyson
is understood to have framed the criticism that the interior is
deficient in mystery. This result is no doubt in a great measure due
to colour, or, more strictly speaking, to the absence of right colour.
Outside the building Nature has done the exquisite colouring with her mantle
of lichen ; internally the present colour-effect is due to successive gener-
ations of men, of whom some have misunderstood, and some have even
derided the power of colour. As the cathedral has been seen for the
last hundred years, and probably for much longer, the whole effect is
too light. Until the restoration of recent years, since when its marble
shafts have once again begun to gleam with their dark polish, and the
vaulting of the roof has been robed in modern polychrome, the dominant
effect was universally, as indeed it still is in part, that produced by a
kind of buff wash. But it may be doubted whether we have any idea
of the splendour of the interior as its originators meant it to look.

Then, no doubt, every pillar in the struc-
ture, being of marble, helped by its dark
rich burnish to remove that pale mono-
tony which we have found so painful ;
then, arch and wall and groining were
from end to end aflame with vermilion in
arabesque and saint and angel ; then, every
window — and the wall of this cathedral is
nearly all windows — must have flashed its
jewels on the floor. It must have been
a magnificent interior then. The giant-
artists of the exterior were not so feeble
directly they got within the porch !

The colour-system of the cathedral
which has been so terribly misunderstood
—the modern arabesques, for example, are
painted upon a white ground ; the old ones
may still be seen to have been painted upon
a deep colouring, making a vast difference in the solemnity of the aggre-
gate effect — was not confined to the inside, but reaches even to the
exterior of the church. On the west portal there is an example of
what is very rare in this climate — colour on the exterior of the
building. Within living memory that door was known as the " Blue

MONUMENT OF BISHOP AYSCOUGH.

SALISBURY.]

FEATURES OF THE INTERIOR.

Door." The " restoration " by Wyatt in the eighteenth century removed
much of the colour, and the recent work has removed still more ; but
some slight traces of the blue may still be discerned. The same is true
of the arcading of the cloisters, where there is still sufficient evidence
before the seeing eye to justify the presumption
that their wall-spaces were once covered with car-
toons in colour.

The internal arrangement of
Salisbury may serve to correct a
popular mistake whereby an ex-
pression about " the old monks "
is so often hazarded in connection
with any and every cathedral.
There were no monks at Salisbury ;
and the choir-stalls all placed
east of the transept may serve
to remind us of the fact. The
law is correctly laid down by the
eminent French writer, Viollet-le-
Duc, that non-monastic churches
had their choir-stalls east of the
transept, whilst monastic churches
had theirs to the west, in the
nave, or across the transept. The
arrangement at Westminster com-
pared with that at Salisbury is an
example of this.

A very singular feature in the

internal structure is the plinth, carried all round the church, upon which
the great shafts of the arcade rest. Most probably it was intended for
a seat ; and in the early days it was perhaps the only sitting accom-
modation provided in the nave. The sermons of those days, preached
in the nave, were certainly not less protracted than those of our own
time ; but most of the hearers must either have stood or have rested
the arms and chin upon the crutch-shaped leaning-staff (redinatorium),
which was the very rudimentary precursor of the more comfortable
arrangements of modern times.

It is said that the doorways, windows, and pillars are respectively equal
in number to the months, days, and hours of the year. The statement
was accepted by Thomas Fuller, who was a prebendary of Salisbury.
"All Europe," he comments, "affords not such an almanac of architecture."
And he adds that on one occasion, when he was in the church, he

ST. ANNE'S
GATE.

146 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. &Llsmm.

met a countryman who remarked to him, " I once admired that there could
be a church that should have so many pillars as there be hours in the
year, and now I admire more that there should be so many hours in the
year as I see pillars in the church." A very ingenious reflection, which
makes one think that that countryman must have been worth knowing.

Fuller has something to say also of the great transept, which he calls
the cross aisle. " The most beautiful and lightsome of any that I have
yet beheld," he declares it to be. " The spire steeple (not founded on
the ground, but for the main supported by four pillars) is of great height
and greater workmanship. I have been credibly informed that some
foreign artists beholding this building brake forth into tears, which some
imputed to their admiration (though I see not how wondering could
cause weeping) ; others, to their envy, grieving that they had not the
like in their own land."

A modern metal choir-screen by Skidmore has replaced a screen
which Wyatt constructed out of the ruins of the Hungerford and Beau-
champ chantries. Upon the older screen stood the organ which George III.
presented to the church — " my contribution as a Berkshire gentleman," his
Majesty observed to Bishop Barrington, Berkshire at that time being in the
diocese of Salisbury. This instrument, now to be seen and heard in the
church of St. Thomas, to which it was given by the Dean and Chapter,
has been superseded by one built by Willis, in a case designed by Street.
The choir-stalls are compiled of work of various periods, added to by
Sir Christopher Wren, and canopied by Wyatt, whose work, however,
has been removed. Until Wyatt's day the Lady Chapel was divided
from the presbytery, and it was to throw open the one to the other
that, instead of repairing the Hungerford and Beauchamp Chapels, he ruth-
lessly destroyed them. Now, once again, the two are partly separated by
the reredos, which, like the high altar, the credence table, and the
sedilia, are modern. The triple lancet window, in the east wall of the Lady
Chapel, formerly filled with stained glass depicting the Resurrection, after
a design by Sir Joshua Reynolds, is now occupied with modern glass
which forms a memorial of Dean Lear. On the altar below is a trip-
tych of Sir Arthur Blomfield's designing.

One difficulty always strikes the eye of the intelligent spectator
about the inside of Salisbury Cathedral. There seems to be no kind
of an elevation where the high altar could have been placed. The
floor looks perfectly flat. The difficulty is removed by a reference to
some of the French churches. The altar would have stood — not as we
see it, at the end of everything — but on a dais of its own, covered probably
with a gorgeous canopy, rich in sculpture and metal work, with its superb
corona, as we actually know, suspended before it, and girt with every

SALISBURY CATHEDRAL, WITH THE BISHOPS PALACE, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

SALISBURY.]

AN EARLY ENGLISH SCREEN.

147

circumstance of splendour. The ritual of Sarum demanded that it should
stand free of any wall ; and its probable position was at the intersection
of the lesser, or eastern transept, with the choir, where the decoration
overhead of all three arms of the fabric in front of it leads up to the figure
of Our Lord in Majesty.

The northern arm of this lesser transept is divided from the pres-
bytery by a screen, which is one of the most beautiful monuments of
Early English art still surviving in the cathedral. It was long thought
to have been the original screen dividing the choir from the nave. Subse-

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

quent investigation, however, has shown that this could not have been
the case ; though from an old print still extant it may be inferred that
it served as the choir-screen as far back as the time of the later
Stuarts, when a large organ was erected over it by Renatus Harris, the
famous organ-builder of the Restoration period. It is well known that
after the Fire of London, Renatus Harris supplied organs to many of
Sir Christopher Wren's churches ; and as Wren was employed upon Salis-
bury, it is just possible that the transfer of this fine Gothic screen as
a facing for the organ loft may have been effected under his influence.
Sir Gilbert Scott saw at once that the niches in the screen were meant
for seats ; and it is matter for learned conjecture as to where these
seats were originally required.

148

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[SALISBURY.

The arrangement of the old monuments in two rows on the plinth
that runs between the bases of the pillars on each side of the nave is
one of Wyatt's " improvements." Among them, on the north side of

the nave, is the recum-
bent figure of the so-
called " Boy Bishop." It
was the custom of the
mediaeval Church, for a
few days after the chil-
dren's festival of St.
Nicholas, in December, to
allow a parody of ecclesi-
astical pomp on the part
of the children, one of
the number being actii-
ally invested with the
mock dignity of bishop.
The story went that one
such boy died during his
term of office, and that
this was his tomb. In
this case likewise the
popular story has been
exploded by comparative
science. Similar monu-
ments in miniature are
found elsewhere ; and two
explanations of them are

possible. Either there was a fashion at one period of constructing
monuments of diminutive size, as there was at other periods of aiming
at colossal size ; or, what is more probable, the small stone was
made to cover the relics of some eminent person when only little of
them could be recovered. What if, in the present instance, the eminent
person was no less a figure than St. Osmund himself — the nephew
of William the Conqueror, the founder of the see, and, in his Use
of Sarum, the father of the worship of the whole English Church ?
His relics — what little had survived of them — were certainly collected at
the time of his canonisation in 1457, and when no fewer than forty
thousand persons came to pass in front of his shrine. There is no trace
of any cover for so eminent a treasure either recorded or surviving in
Salisbury Cathedral unless it be this unexplained stone.

On the other side of the nave, valuable as a specimen of monumental

THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.

SALISBURY.]

THE STORY OF LORD STOURTON.

149

art, partly in wood, is the recumbent effigy of William Longespee, first
Earl of Salisbury, son of Henry II. and the Fair Rosamund. Originally
it was ablaze with colour, which can still be traced in some profusion.
Indeed, the whole series of these tombs serves to show that for many
generations the old English artists coloured everything. Here at Salis-
bury it may still be seen that they painted even their alabaster. To
another of the monuments on the south side of the nave a tragic interest
attaches, for it is believed to commemorate that Lord Stourton who,
for the murder of the two Hartgills, father and son, was hanged
with a silken cord in Salisbury market-place on the 6th of March, 1556.
Until the year 1775 there hung above the tomb a ghastly symbol
of this misguided nobleman's fate in the form of a noose of wire.
The story is thus quoted in Murray's Handbook to the Cathedrals of
England : " On the death of his father, Lord Stourton endeavoured to
persuade his mother to enter into a bond not to marry again. The
Hartgills, it appears — a father and son, agents of the family — were possessed
of much influence with Lady Stourton, and on their refusal to further
the designs of her son, he
vowed vengeance against
them, and commenced a
system of persecution which
was only to end with their
death. This had continued
for some time, and the
Hartgills had been fre-
quently waylaid and mal-
treated by ruffians hired for
the purpose, when they
sought redress at law, and
obtained a verdict against
Lord Stourton, who was
sentenced to be fined and
imprisoned in the Fleet.
After a while, however, he
was allowed to revisit his
country seat, upon entering
into a bond to return. It
was then that he sent to
the Hartgills, desiring them
to meet him to be paid
their fine, and this they
consented to do at the

MONUMENT OF EDMUND EARL OF HERTFORD (SON OF THE
PROTECTOR SOMERSET) IN THE SOUTH CHOIR AISLE.

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[SALISBURY.

sanctuary of Kilming-
ton Church. On the
day appointed they
arrived, a table was
placed on the grass,
and the business com-
menced ; but it had
not proceeded far
when, at a signal from
Lord Stourton, the
Hartgills were seized
by armed men and
pinioned, Lord Stour-
ton himself assaulting
with his sword the
young wife of the son. They were
then hurried to a house called Bon-
ham, two miles distant, and again,
in the dead of night, brought to a
field adjoining Stourton, and there
knocked on the head, Lord Stourton
himself standing at his gallery door
to witness the deed. The bodies
were then brought into the house,
their throats were cut, and they
were buried in a dungeon. But the
disappearance of the Hartgills soon led to the dis-
covery of these bloody doings, and Lord Stourton
was committed to the Tower." With Lord Stourton
four of the men who took part in this brutal murder were hanged.

Next to the Stourton monument is the effigy of Robert Lord Hunger-
ford, wearing a suit of fifteenth-century plate armour ; and next to this,
again, is a tomb which contains the bones of Bishop Beauchamp, founder
of the beautiful chapel which Wyatt destroyed. When the chapel was
made away with the Bishop's tomb was lost or mixed up with name-
less sepulchres. Other tombs on the south side of the nave are ascribed
to more ancient bishops, but the identifications are for the most part
doubtful. A modern memorial in the nave, on the south wall, takes
the form of a tablet to Henry Fawcett, the blind Postmaster-General,
a native of Salisbury, who died in 1884.

In the north arm of the great transept are three monuments by
Flaxman, of which Dr. Waagen remarks that, though there is nothing

SALISBURV.I

MEMORIALS.

extraordinary in the design, " the workmanship is good, and there is
real feeling in the heads." Here, too, is a specimen of Chantrey's work
— a full length portrait figure of the first Earl of Malmesbnry, him of
the Letters and Journals ; and a memorial of John Britton, the antiquary,
placed here, in the cathedral of his native county, by the Royal Institute
of British Architects in the year of his death, 1857. A more recent
monument commemorates that enthusiastic lover of nature, Richard
Jeffries. In the north choir aisle are two recumbent figures represented
as skeletons. Until the restoration of a few years ago, only one of these
tombs was exposed to view, and it was popularly believed to be the
monument of one who had reduced himself to a state of emaciation by
excessive fasting. This view received a severe shock when the removal
of the old fittings of the choir disclosed a second tomb of similar
character. Such mon-
uments exist, more-
over, in other
churches ; and they
belong, in fact, to a
period when it was
the fashion to repre-
sent the mortality of
man in this ghastly
form. In this part
of the church, too,
is a marble slab that
commemorates Bishop
Jewel, the author of
the " Apology for the
Church of England,"
who held the see from 1560 to 1571.
Among the poor boys in whose
studies he interested himself was
one who, like himself, belonged to
Devonshire, and who lived to write
the "Ecclesiastical Polity," and
became known to posterity as the
"Judicious Hooker." Hooker is com-
memorated by a tablet in the south
choir transept. In the south aisle of
the presbytery are monuments to
two more bishops — one to that Walter Kerr Hamilton
(d. 1869) whom Mr. Gladstone highly esteemed for

152

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[SALISBURY.

his piety, the other to George Moberley (d. 1885), formerly headmaster of
Winchester. Among monuments not yet mentioned is one of Bishop
Ayscough, who was beheaded by a mob at Edington in the year of the
Jack Cade rebellion (1450), and another — a very imposing one — that com-
memorates Edmund Earl of Hertford (son
of the Protector Somerset), and his wife
Catherine, sister to Lady Jane Grey. Its
splendours of gold and colouring were re-
stored by the late Duke of Northumberland.
The exterior length of the church is
473 feet, the interior length 449 feet. The
nave is 229 feet long, the choir 151 feet,
and both nave and choir are 52 feet in
breadth and 81 feet in height. The principal
transept is 204 feet in length by 50 feet,
and the height is the same as that of
the choir and nave. The height of the
tower and spire, as we have already said,
is 404 feet.

One of the worst of Wyatt's outrages
at Salisbury was the wanton destruction
of the bell-tower, which stood at the
north-west angle of the Close, and was
only a little later in date than the church
itself. The cloisters, on the south-west of
the cathedral, are among the most perfect
and most beautiful in the country ; the
garth they enclose is 140 feet square. The
upper storey of part of the eastern arcade
is used as the library, which contains many
precious MSS. and printed books, besides
its chief treasure, the original MS. of St.
Osmund's " Sarum Use." The Chapter-
house, entered from the eastern walk of
the cloisters, and built, as we have seen,
late in the thirteenth century, is an octa-
gon, fifty-two feet in height and fifty-eight
feet in diameter, the groined roof sup-
ported by a centre pillar, the interior walls surrounded by a stone bench,
with canopied niches.

The Deanery, over against the west front, is a charming old
house, and near it is what is known as the King's House, an early

BRASS IN THE EAST TRANSEPT SHOWING

BISHOP WYVILLE AND HIS CHAMPION.

(From a Rubbing by E. Doran Webb, Esq.)

SALISBURY.]

SUBSIDIARY BUILDINGS.

153

THE CLOISTERS.

fifteenth-century mansion, now used as a Training College, in which more than
one of our monarchs is said to have lodged. The Bishop's Palace,
begun by Bishop Poore, and representing many styles, stands in a fine
old garden with a fish-pond ; and its walls are hung with portraits of
all the Bishops of Salis-
bury from the Restora-
tion downwards — most of
them, however, copies.
St. Anne's Gate, of which
we give a view, is in
the southern angle of the
east wall of the Close ;
the High Street Gate is
in two storeys, with a
figure which is usually
identified with Charles I. ;
of the Harnham Gate only
an embattled archway
has survived. Between
Harnham Gate and the bridge of that name is the Hospital of St.
Nicholas, a picturesque old house which forms a haven of refuge for
twelve persons. Its charter of endowment was issued from the castle of
Old Sarum in 1227. The Church House was originally styled Audley
House, and was the property of the second Earl of Castlehaven, at whose
execution, which his son was instrumental in procuring, the Bishop of
Salisbury came in for a share of his property.

The roll of Bishops of Salisbury contains few names of national eminence.
Since the Reformation the two most distinguished diocesans have been John
Jewel and Gilbert Burnet. Of the former, the great champion of his Church
against the Romanists on the one hand and the Puritans on the other, Thomas
Fuller's praises are certainly not wanting in enthusiasm. " It is hard
to say," he writes, " whether his soul or his ejaculations arrived first
in heaven, seeing he prayed dying and died praying." Bishop Burnet's
many-sided ability and force of character and courage are not to be
disputed, whatever may be thought of his discretion. It is to be remem-
bered to his honour that, Protestant protagonist as he was, he incurred
the dislike both of the Court and of the extreme anti-Popery faction
by deprecating the persecution of Roman Catholics during the Popish
Plot, and that he remonstrated with Charles II. upon that monarch's
evil life. He was a much-married bishop, nor was there any lack of
wisdom in his choice, for his first wife was remarkable for her beauty,
the second for her wealth, and the third for her piety. Robert Abbott, who

154 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. iS^R*.

ruled the see from 1615 to 1618, was the elder brother of George Abbott,
Archbishop of Canterbury, and was one of the greatest preachers and most
vigorous controversialists of his age. Bishop Davenant represented the
Church of England at the Synod of Dort in 1618, and later had to
vindicate himself from an accusation of Calvinism before Archbishop Laud.
John Douglas was one of Hume's assailants in the controversy about
miracles. Among earlier bishops, Lorenzo Campeggio, a native of Bologna,
was the Papal legate to England to determine the divorce suit between
Henry VIII. and Queen Catherine, and was preferred to the see in 1524.
To Robert Hallam belongs the glory of championing the cause of ecclesi-
astical reform at the Council of Constance in 1414, and of condemning
the death penalty as a remedy for heresy, his maxim being that " God
willeth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should be converted
and live." When the immorality of Pope John XXIII. was exposed before the
Council, Hallam, in a burst of righteous indignation, declared that " the
Pope deserved to be burnt at the stake " ; and he was the Emperor Sigis-
mund's right-hand man in asserting the civil supremacy. Dying at
Gottlieben Castle in 1417, he was buried in Constance Cathedral, where
a cross to his memory is still to be seen.

ANCIENT EPISCOPAL TOMB IN THE NAVE.

155

Photo: Wilson, Aberdeen.

THE WEST FRONT, FROM ST. JOHN'S
TOWER.

PETERBOROUGH.

The Name— The First Abbey— The Second— Hereward the Wake— Abbot John Begins the Present
Cathedral-Its Growth-The West Front— The Lantern Tower— The Interior— Continuity ot
the Style— The Choir-The Ceilings— Havoc Wrought by the Puritans— Grave of Catherine of
Aragon— Where Mary Queen of Scots was Buried— " Old Scarlett "—The Monks' Stone-
Bishops of Peterborough — Fittings of the Church— Dimensions— The Precincts— Deans and
Abbots.

T is fitting that the city of Peterborough should owe its present
name to the patron saint of the abbey which was founded on
the edge of the fens in the seventh century, for there can be
little doubt that the monastery was the cause of the town. At
first, however, the rude village that clustered round the foundation of
Peada, the eldest son of Penda, King of the Mercians, was known as
Medeshamstede, the homestead in the meadows ; but when the monastery
was rebuilt, in the tenth century, it came to be known as Burgh, or
Burgh St. Peter's, and ultimately as Peterborough.

The story of Peterborough Cathedral is not the least interesting
of those recounted in these pages. The first of the three abbey churches,
the one built by Peada, when he succeeded his father as king, has
disappeared, leaving not a wrack behind. But it is said that the stones
used in the foundations were of such magnitude " that eight yoke of
oxen could scarce draw one of them," and if this is so, the building
was probably, for that age, of large dimensions. This church was
entirely destroyed by the Danes in the year 870, in the time of the

156

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [PEI.

EKIiuKOUGH.

REFERENCE.

A Retro-choir.

B Choir.

CC Transept.

DD Aisles.

EE Nave.

FF Western Transept.

GG Portico.

H Cloisters.

seventh abbot, who was killed in the attack, together with the whole
of his monks. It was not until a century had gone by that King
Edgar, moved to the act of piety by the story of the desolation of

the place, began to build
the second church, the
work being carried on by
Ethelwold, Bishop of
Winchester ; and when it
was finished, in 972, the
King, with the Arch-
bishops Dunstan and
Oswald and a great
company of nobles and
clerics, came to gaze upon
it, and gave to it a new
charter, confirming all the
former privileges. It was
now dedicated, not to
Saints Peter, Paul, and
Andrew, as its prede-
cessor had been, but to
St. Peter alone.

After the Conquest,
St. Peter's Abbey was
assailed by Hereward the
Saxon, who joined hands
for the occasion with the
Danes against the hated
Normans. It is said that
before this Hereward had
had the Norman abbot
of St. Peter's in his power,

but had released him on the condition of his abstaining from further hostilities
against the Saxon outlaws, and that it was by way of revenge for the
abbot's breach of the compact that Hereward now attacked the monastery,
despoiled it of all its treasures, and left nothing standing except the
church. Of this, however, the days were numbered, for in 1116 it
was destroyed by fire, and with it the dwellings of the townsfolk.
Legend traces the calamity to an intemperate invocation by the abbot,
who in his anger, because the bakehouse fire would not burn and his
meal was delayed, consigned the monastery to the mercies of the Arch-
Enemy. In 1887, when the lantern tower of the present minster was

Scnle'of'Fect

o 25 50 73 IPO

PLAN OF PETERBOROUGH CATHEDRAL.

157

158 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [PETERBOROUGH.

being rebuilt, the foundations of the church which perished nearly
eight hundred years ago were unearthed, and it was then discovered
that the east end of it was almost beneath the east wall of the south
transept of the present church, and that the one building was just about
half the size of the other.

In the year after the fire Abbot John of Seez set about the work
of rebuilding, but did not live to see it very far advanced, nor was
much progress made under his successor, who, according to the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle, was " a drone in a hive," and would do nothing but
eat and drink and sleep ; and it was not until about 1140 that the
Benedictine monks were able to worship in their new church, and to
deposit in it the relics of the blessed St. Peter. At this time only
the apsidal choir with its aisles, and the eastern side of the transept,
were finished. In 1155 Abbot William de Waterville resumed the
building of the transepts, and reared three stages of the great tower
and two bays of the nave. During the last quarter of the twelfth
century the nave was in progress, and when it was completed Abbot
Andrew added to it a transept at the western end — a feature possessed
by none other of our cathedrals, though, as Mr. Bumpus points out
in one of his volumes, it was a favourite device of Rhenish architects
about this period. Finally, in the first half of the thirteenth century,
the west front was added, and then, in 1237, the church, which had
taken nearly a hundred and twenty years to build, was solemnly con-
secrated by Bishop Grossetete of Lincoln and Bishop Brewer of Exeter.
All this while the Abbot of St. Peter's, a Peer of Parliament, had
exercised despotic sway over the hundred of Peterborough ; proclaiming
and controlling markets and fairs, being his own lawgiver, and keeping
his own gaols for the incarceration of those who obeyed not his behests.
It is recorded that " all, of what degree so ever," who entered the
great gate of the monastery did so barefoot, and it is no wonder that
the town figures alliteratively in an old rhyme as " Peterborough the
proud." It figures also in modern poetry, for a beautiful picture of
the town and cathedral, at the time the spires were being added to
the portico, is drawn by William Morris in " The Earthly Paradise " :

"I, who have seen

So many lands, and 'midst such marvels been,
Clearer than these abodes of outland men
Can see above the green and unburnt fen
The little houses of an English town,

Cross-timbered, thatched with fen-reeds coarse and brown,
And high o'er these, three gables, great and fair,
That slender rods of columns do upbear
Over the minster doors, and imagery

PETERBOROUGH.]

THE BUILDING OF THE CATHEDRAL.

Of kings, and flowers no summer field doth see,
Wrought in these gables. Yea, I heard withal,
In the fresh morning air, the trowels fall
Upon the stone, a thin noise far away :
For high up wrought the masons on that day,
Since to the monks that house seemed scarcely well
Till they had set a spire or pinnacle
Each side the great porch."

159

THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-WEST.

We have not yet told the full story of the building of the church
of St. Peter's monastery. When the last quarter of the thirteenth
century was about to dawn a spacious Lady Chapel was begun on the
east side of the north transept, from which it was entered. Only a
few traces of this structure are now to be seen, for at the Restoration
it was demolished to provide materials with which the damage done
to the cathedral by the Puritans might be repaired. The north-western
campanile, which rises into graceful pinnacles over the junction of the
western transept with the aisle, is of about the same date as the Lady
Chapel ; but there is no record that the corresponding tower on the
south-west was ever carried higher than the base. In the fourteenth
century the lantern tower, to which a fourth stage had probably been
added, appears to have betrayed signs of insecurity, for a lighter
lantern was substituted, and above it was reared a wooden octagon.
To this century also belongs the south-west spire of the portico — not

i6o

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [PE

TERBOROUGH.

to be confused with the south-west tower, previously mentioned — as well
as the central porch, with the parvise above it. In the fifteenth century
so many of the windows as still remained unaltered from the Norman

pattern were filled with Perpendicular tracery,
and to the apse of the choir was added
what is still styled the New Building, a rect-
angular structure of which the side walls
are a continuation of the walls of the choir
aisles. So about the end of the fifteenth
century was at last completed by Abbot
Kirton the work begun by Abbot John
of Seez four hundred years
before.

By general consent the finest
feature of the cathedral is the
magnificent Early English west
facade, which is really a porch
rather than a front, for it is out-
side the western wall of the cathe-
dral. " As a portico," says Fer-
gusson in his " Handbook," " the
west front of Peterborough is the
grandest and finest in Europe";
and another high authority, E. A.
Freeman, declares it to be "unique,"
and describes it as " the noblest
THE BISHOPS THRONE. conception of the old Greek trans-

lated into the speech of Christ-
endom." Of the spires at the angles, that to the south is by
far the more beautiful. It is of early fourteenth-century work, and
some feet loftier than its fellow, which was erected from eighty
to one hundred years later. The graceful combination of pinnacles
and spirelets at the foot of the south-west spire is, as a work of
art, the most beautiful thing to be seen in Peterborough. But glorious
as is this western front, it has some blemishes, detected at once by
the artistic eye. The central gable is a true one, being the termination
of the nave roof ; but the side ones are to a certain extent a deception^
for they have only smaller roofs built on purpose for the gables. And
the insecurity of the whole, unsupported by any buttress on the west,
is ' manifest, although the stability of the central arch was improved
by the erection beneath it of a porch and parvise, of which we have
already spoken. A few years ago (1896) the portico was pronounced

PETERBOROUGH.]

THE PORTICO AND CENTRAL TOWER.

161

by expert authority to be in a positively dangerous condition, and after
a good deal of outcry from those who maintained that reparation was
all that was necessary, the arches were reconstructed under the direction
of the late J. L. Pearson, who died before the work was completed. As
the work proceeded it was found that it had been begun not a day
too soon. The mortar was mere powder, and many of the stones were
removed by hand, without the use of tools. The work was done in
the most conservative spirit, and all but a few of the stones which
were hopelessly perished were used over again. This was not
Pearson's first connection with the cathedral. In 1882 the central tower,
which five hundred years before had shown signs of instability, was
found to be "in a state of movement," and he at once began the work
of rebuilding it on
the same lines as
before, except that
he omitted the pin-
nacles with which
it was disfigured at
the end of the
eighteenth century.
It was in the course
of this work that
the foundations of
King Edgar's
church were dis-
covered ; and a
crypt was con-
structed, so that
the remains might
always be open to
inspection.

But the portico
is not the only
interesting and
beautiful feature of
the exterior. The
western transept is
noticeable for the
arcading of its

towers, and for the great windows beneath ; and there is more
beautiful arcading on the west side of the northern limb of the eastern
transept, while on the north side of the church are such excellent examples

THE NEW BUILDING.

162 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [P^BOKO.OH.

of Norman work as the Dean's door, which gives entrance to the nave.
The New Building, too, is full of dignity and architectural charm, and,
though erected so long afterwards, harmonises admirably with the
apse to which it was attached. The portico, as we have seen, was
an afterthought, and so also was the western transept, for the building
was meant to terminate with two towers, at a distance of three bays
east of the present front. Evidences of this are still to be seen in
the increased size of the nave piers which were constructed to support
the towers ; in the greater thickness of the aisle walls at the same
place ; and in other indications, easily to be discerned by close inspection.
It is not improbable indeed that the towers were actually erected ; but
of this the proof is not conclusive.

With the single exception of Norwich, we have in Peterborough
the most complete Norman church left in England, though in point of
grandeur both may be inferior to Durham. The essentially Norman
character of Peterborough is best appreciated from within. Viewed
from the west end of the nave, the interior conveys in peculiar degree
an impression of proportion and dignity, and as one wanders on from
nave to transepts, from transepts to apse, one marvels at the striking
unity of the Norman work. The continuity of style is indeed the main
charm of the interior. True, even here, in many of the details, such
as the bases of the piers towards the west, and the heads in the arcades
of the aisle walls, we are not without reminder that as the erection of
the nave proceeded the fashion in architecture was changing ; but
happily, in a structural sense, the nave of Peterborough was finished
in the same style as that in which it was begun. It is only when we
turn our attention to the western transept that we see any structural
departure from the Norman type, in arches which are pointed instead
of being semicircular, though even these are covered with characteristic
Norman mouldings.

The nave consists of ten bays, the choir of only four ; but the
ritual choir now extends into the nave, as it did from the beginning
until, in 1827, the choir was furnished with new fittings by Edward
Blore, who packed them all into the eastern limb of the church, much
to its disfigurement. The stone ceiling of the nave and transepts is
still flat, for at the time it was built architects had not learnt to vault
wide spaces ; but when the lantern tower was first rebuilt, in the four-
teenth century, the sides of the ceiling were sloped sufficiently to enable
them to clear the summit of the western arch of the lantern, which,
like the eastern arch, had been changed from round to pointed. Of
the choir, the wood roof, dating from the Perpendicular period, is flat
in the centre, but has curved sides descending to the Norman shafts ;

K53

164

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

t PETERBOROUGH.

and like that of the nave, it is painted. The roof of the apse, also
painted, is quite flat, and therefore rather lower than that of the choir.
Of the New Building the roof has beautiful fan tracery, not unworthy
of comparison with that at King's College, Cambridge, though on a
smaller scale.

Among our cathedrals Peterborough is poor both in ancient fittings
and in monuments. At the Reformation it fared well, for while many
other abbey churches were dismantled or sold or conferred upon favourites,
Peterborough, with the monastic buildings, was spared by the King,
and converted into a cathedral, because in it had been buried his divorced
wife, Catherine of Aragon. The story goes that when it was suggested
to Henry that it would be a kingly and gracious thing to rear a noble
monument to her memory, he replied that he would leave her one of
the goodliest monuments in Christendom. But in the Civil Wars the
Puritan zealots did their best to make up for the slackness of the
Reformers. The ancient records of the church, with very few excep-
tions, were burnt ; the elaborate altar-screen was laid low ; the painted
roof of the choir defaced ; the tombs and monuments and brasses were
nearly all demolished ; the stained-glass windows broken ; and the cloisters,
which had an unrivalled series of such windows, completely wrecked.
Through the influence of Oliver St. John the building itself again
escaped demolition or alienation, and was assigned to the townspeople

for a workshop as well
as for worship. It was
with difficulty, after the
recent mischief, that the
needful repairs were
made ; and the Lady
Chapel, as we have
said, was taken down
to supply materials for
this purpose. One strange
memory of this desola-
tion is yet to be seen.
At the south of the
apse, in the New Build-
ing, are the remains of
a handsome monument,
erected by Sir Humphry
Orme, as was not un-
usual in those days, to
commemorate himself

THE REREDOS.

PETERBOROUGH.]

QUEENS' TOMBS.

165

and his family. He lived to see it destroyed. And it can still be
seen as it was left after mutilation by the axes and hammers of the
soldiery. Near this is the solitary instance in the cathedral of a
monument of any size and pretension ; it has a life-size figure in
marble of Thomas Deacon,
a great benefactor to the
town, who died in 1721.

The simple table mon-
ument which long covered
the tomb of Queen Cather-
ine in the north choir
aisle has disappeared, and
nothing now is left but a
plain body stone in the
floor, with a small broken
brass plate, a few inches
long, which when perfect
bore the simple words,
" Queen Catherine, A.D.
M.D.XXX.VI." When a few
years ago this stone was
removed, a few slabs of
the original monument
were discovered, buried
beneath the surface.
Catherine's daughter, Mary,
in her will directed " that
the body of the vertuous
Lady and my most Dere
and well-beloved Mother of happy memory, Quene Kateryn, which lyeth
now buried at Peterborowh," should be removed and laid near the spot
where she herself was to be buried, in Westminster Abbey ; but her
behest was never fulfilled, and Mary lies not with her mother but with
the sister whom she little loved. Another Queen who was buried at
Peterborough will no longer be found here. In 1587 the headless body
of Mary Queen of Scots was brought hither from Fotheringhay and
interred with much pomp in the south choir aisle, in a position corre-
sponding with the tomb of Queen Catherine in the north aisle ; sixteen
years later her remains were removed to Henry VI I. 's Chapel at \Vest-
minster by her son, James I., who reared over them a sumptuous
monument.

For both Queen Catherine and Queen Mary the graves were dug

THE NORTH TRANSEPT AND MORNING CHAPEL

1 66 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [PETE^OU™.

by the " old Scarlett " who, dying in 1594, at the age of ninety-eight,
is commemorated in the west transept by a picture in which he is
represented with a spade, a pickaxe, keys and a whip ; at his feet
lies a skull, and over his head are blazoned the arms of the cathedral.
Beneath the picture, which is a copy of an older painting, are these
lines :

" You see old Scarletts picture stand on hie
But at your feete there doth his body lye
His gravestone doth his age and death time show
His office by theis tokens you may know
Second to none for strength and sturdye limm
A scarbabe mighty voice with visage grim
Hee had inter'd two queenes within this place
And this townes householders in his lives space
Twice over : but at length his one turne came
What hee for others did for him the same
Was done : no doubt his soul doth live for aye
In heaven : though here his body clad in clay."

To the archaeologist the most interesting monument at Peterborough
is one which, formerly in the churchyard, is now preserved in the New
Building. It is a coped stone, about three feet long by one foot thick,
and between two and three feet in height. By tradition, as well as
by description in the annals of the abbey, this stone was erected as
a memorial of Abbot Hedda and the monks killed by the Danes in
870. This date indeed is on the stone, but it was added at some later
time. On each side are carved six figures in monastic dress ; but one
has the cruciform nimbus of the Saviour. The rude ornamentation
of the sloping sides of the head is the work of a period some years
before the Conquest, though we may hesitate to assign to the stone
so early a date as the ninth century. Of five other effigies of abbots
to be seen, one only can with certainty be identified. In 1830 some
remains were discovered in a stone coffin beneath one of these effigies,
and a small piece of lead was found on which were the words " Abbas
Alexan," a reference to Alexander of Holderness, who died in 1226. The
latest in date of these effigies is that which has suffered most in appearance,
owing to its soft material, while the more ancient ones, being of Purbeck,
or some other hard marble, have their mouldings and ornaments, and
mostly their features, as clear as ever.

Three Archbishops of York are interred at Peterborough. Two of
these, Elfricus and Kinsius, had been monks of the house, and Kinsius
was chaplain to Edward the Confessor ; to them there is no monument.
The third is Bishop William Connor Magee, who survived his transla-
tion to York only a few months. A massive cross, of Irish marble,

PETERBOROUGH.]

BISHOPS OF PETERBOROUGH.

167

has been erected over his grave in the churchyard, and in the south
aisle of the choir he is commemorated by a monument of pure white
marble. Fourteen bishops lie within the church or in the churchyard,
among them Richard Cumberland, the philosophical writer ; White Kennett,
the indefatigable antiquary ; John Hinchcliffe, Master of Trinity College,

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST

Cambridge ; Spencer Madan, the poet Cowper's first cousin ; and Herbert
Marsh, author of many controversial works. Two of the bishops,
William Lloyd, afterwards of Norwich, and Thomas White, were deprived
of their sees as Non- jurors.

Of ancient inscriptions the church has singularly few. Those that
escaped the fury of the Civil War in the seventeenth century fell victims
to an indiscriminate zeal for repaving in the eighteenth. Fragments
of five or six pre-Reformation inscriptions at most can now be seen,
and of these the only perfect ones have been laid bare in recent years.

The fittings of the choir, designed by Blore in the second quarter

1 68

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

of the nineteenth century, had to be removed
when the lantern tower was rebuilt in the
'eighties, and were never replaced, furniture
at once more beautiful and more congruous,
of Pearson's designing, being substituted for
them, and placed in the two most easterly
bays of the nave, so that the east transept
is now available for the congregation, while
the architectural choir forms a presbytery.
The Bishop's throne and the pulpit, both of
them elaborately carved, as well as the canopied
reredos, at the curve of the apse, were also
designed by Pearson. The lectern in the choir
is ancient. In the nave the only furniture
is a lectern suggested by that in New College
Chapel, Oxford, and a pulpit of red Mansfield
stone designed by E. M. Barry, both of

them presented to the cathedral when Sunday evening services were

first held in the nave, in 1859. The organ, the gift of an anonymous

donor, is a new one, by Hills, and was built at a cost of £4,400 ; the

mosaic pavement in the choir was laid down at the charges of the late

Dean Argles and Miss Argles.

The interior length of the church is 426 feet, of which the nave

occupies 266 feet and the choir 163 feet ; the length of the great transept

(from north to south) is 185 feet. The nave (with the aisles) is 79 feet in

breadth and 78 feet in height, and the choir and great transept are of the

same height, while the transept is 58 feet broad.
The precincts of the cathedral are un-
commonly picturesque. The Norman gateway,

built by Abbot Benedict in the twelfth

century, and encased with Perpendicular

work, is entered from the market-place.

On the left hand are the remains of the

late Decorated Chapel of St. Thomas of

Canterbury, who was here held in high

esteem, many relics, such as paving-stones

from the spot where he fell, parts of his

dress, and drops of his blood, having been

brought hither from Canterbury by Benedict,

a monk of Christ Church at the time of the

murder, afterwards Abbot of Peterborough,

as we have related in our account of

PETERBOROUGH.]

DEANS AND ABBOTS.

169

Canterbury Cathedral. On the right is a
vaulted chamber, which was once used as a
gaol for the Lord Abbot's prisoners. Nearer
the Palace grounds is a fine gateway, over
which is the Knights' Chamber, a fine example
of Early English work. Beyond this, all on
the south side of the cathedral, are the fine
gateway of the Deanery, the ruins of the
Infirmary, the Laurel Court, and the Bishop's
Palace. In the Laurel Court can be traced
remains of two different sets of cloisters,
of the lavatory, and of a wall of older
date than the present church. Of the re-
fectory, what is left is to be found in the
grounds of the Palace.

We have already had something to say of
the Bishops of Peterborough; of the Deans, it may be remarked that no
fewer than fourteen were advanced to the episcopal dignity, including John
Cosin, of Durham ; Edward Rainbow, of Carlisle ; Simon Patrick, of Chichester
and Ely ; Richard Kidder, of Bath and Wells ; Charles Manners Sutton, of
Canterbury ; James Henry Monk, of Gloucester ; Thomas Turton, of Ely ; John
James Stewart Perowne, of Worcester. James Duport, Professor of Greek at
Cambridge, and Thomas Nevill, Master of Trinity, were also Deans here.

In this connection it may be pointed out that many of the
Abbots of Peterborough were men of commanding influence in the
councils of the nation, a race of statesmen and warriors. Four of

them became archbishops or bishops. One
of them, Adulphus, had been Chancellor
to King Edgar ; another, John de Caleto,
was Chief Justice and went on circuit ;
Leofricus was of near kin to the Queen
of Edward the Confessor ; Brando was
uncle to Hereward. On not a few occasions
was the sovereign entertained at the abbey
._ _ at great cost. Stephen came to see the

most precious relic of the house, the famous
j> arm of the sainted King Oswald. Henry

LjSQ III. twice visited the abbey, once with his

mk^T - JlK^lS Queen and Prince Edward ; and this monarch

accepted a present of sixty marks towards
the marriage of his daughter with the King
of Scotland. In 1273 Edward, now King,

170

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

paid a second visit to the Abbot ; in 1302, with his Queen, a third ;
and later on a fourth. The Abbot contributed largely towards his
expenses in Scotland. Prince Edward, afterwards Edward II., bringing
Gaveston with him, was once entertained here. On New Year's Day,
1327, Philippa of Hainault stayed at Peterborough, on her way to
be married at York. Twice did Abbot Adam de Boothby receive
Edward III. and Philippa ; and once the Black Prince and his two
sisters stayed for eight weeks at the monastery. Finally, in 1528
Cardinal Wolsey kept his Maundy at Peterborough, celebrating high mass
in the cathedral on Easter Day.

TRACERY IN ROOF i \

OF "DY CHAPEL

ELY.

Situation — Fall of the Central Tower — The Octagon — The West Front — St. Etheldreda, Foundress
of the Cathedral — Hereward the Wake — The Present Cathedral Begun — Bishop Northwold
Builds the Retro-choir — Alan of Walsingham — A Period of Neglect — Restoration — The In-
terior: The Galilee — Nave — Octagon and Transepts — The Choir and Retro-choir — Monuments —
Lady Chapel — Dimensions — The Deanery — Prior Craudcne's Chapel — Ely Porta — Ruins of
the Infirmary — Bishop's Palace — Bishop Cox and Others.

tLTHOUGH the cathedral of the Island of Eels— for this is
probably the true derivation of the name — is built upon a flat-
tened bluff of insignificant height, its position relatively to the
great tract of fen-land that surrounds it is such as to make
it a conspicuous object for many miles in every direction. Standing at
almost the highest point in the fens, though not more than about a
hundred feet above sea-level, it enjoys a situation which in grandeur
is exceeded by none of our cathedrals, save only Durham and Lincoln.
From the rising ground about Cambridge, nearly twenty miles away, it
stands out clear against the sky, the huge western tower looming up
among the sedge-beds and the dykes, and the cornfields which have
replaced the marshes by the Cam and the Ouse. Of nearer views, that
from the hamlet of Stuntney, some two miles from Ely, is one of the
best, embracing as it does the whole of the glorious pile ; another fine

172

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ELY.

view is to be had from the railway a little distance to the north of the
station.

Even in a distant view, the spectator is struck by two distinguishing
features of Ely : one, that at the west end there is but a single tower,
with an octagonal termination ; the other, that in place of a central tower
there is an octagon crowned by a lofty lantern. There is nothing like
this octagon and lantern in any other church in England or in France.
"It is the only Gothic dome in existence," says Fergusson, speaking of
the interior effect, " though Italian architects had done the same thing,
and the method was in common use with the Byzantines." The creation
of this unique and beautiful structure was the brilliant device of a man
of architectural genius, who snatched opportunity from calamity. Originally
there was a central tower, but in the early years of the fourteenth century
this betrayed signs of insecurity, and one February morning in 1322

down it came with a
crash, destroying three
bays of the choir. At
that time, fortunately,
Ely had for its sacrist
Alan of Walsingham,
to whom there occurred
a means of averting all
future danger. Instead
of rebuilding a heavy
stone tower on four
huge piers, he removed
the piers altogether and
" obtained an octagon
more than three times
as large as the square
upon which the central
tower would have stood."
Over the noble area thus
gained he threw a canopy
of wooden groining ; the
corners of the space he
filled up with diagonal
walls pierced with grace-
ful arches below, and
with large windows of
admirable proportions
above. The exquisite

A Retro-choir
B I'resliyteiy.
C Choir Sl.ills.
D I-ady Chapel.
E Main Transepts.
F Ocla&on.
G The Xave.
H Aisles.
J Chapel.

K North-west Transept.
L Vestibule under Western T
M South-west Transept.
N Galilee.
O Cloisters.

Early

English

PLAN OF ELY CATHEDRAL.

ELY.]

THE OCTAGON AND LANTERN.

173

harmony between octagon and lantern depends upon two points
of difference which are brought out by the Rev. W. D. Sweeting in his
monograph on the cathedral. In the first place, the lantern is a regular

THE CATHEDRAL IN 1783.
(After a Drawing by T. Heernt.)

equilateral octagon, while the structure beneath it is not ; in the second
place, the eight faces of the one are not parallel with the eight faces of the
other. The octagon is of stone ; the lantern, rising in two storeys, is of
wood, covered with lead. When the lantern was restored in the 'sixties as
a memorial of Dean Peacock, there was some thought of surmounting it
with a spire of wood ; but this, happily, has never been done.

Of the western facade, it must be conceded that in the absence of
the northern arm of the cross aisle, or western transept, it lacks sym-
metry. No record of the fall or demolition of this northern arm has
come to light, but the weather-mould still to be seen against the north
wall of the tower leaves little room to doubt that it once existed, and
if so one may assume that it terminated, as does the southern arm, in
two massive octangular towers. Another change which the west front
has undergone is the addition, about the year 1400, of the present
octagonal completion of the tower, replacing a terminal stage built about
a century and a half before, though this latter was not the original one.
Long afterwards a small spire was superimposed upon the lantern, to
be removed about the beginning of the nineteenth century.

174 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [Elv.

Having thus noted the most distinctive features of Ely, let us out-
line the story of its construction. A religious house was founded here
in 673 by . Etheldreda, a pious and beautiful Saxon princess, who from
reasons of State twice entered the bonds of wedlock, but on each occasion
with the reservation that the marriage should be an empty form. Her
own inclinations were for the life of a religious, and when by the death
of her second husband's father she became Queen of Northumbria she
grew more than ever desirous of quitting the court for the convent.
At last her husband consented that she should take the veil, and in
673 she founded on the Island of Ely a monastery, with a church of
wood, herself becoming the first abbess, and at her death in 679 being
succeeded by her eldest sister, Sexburga. Sixteen years afterwards, so much
had the veneration for Etheldreda's memory increased that her body was
exhumed from the nuns' cemetery for translation to a conspicuous place
within the church. It was found perfectly incorrupt ; nor was this the
only miracle wrought in connection with her ; and as the marvels were
noised abroad pilgrims flocked to her shrine. To her, by the way, we
owe the word " tawdry," from the meretricious lace that was exposed for
sale at the annual fair in the island, which came to be known as St.
Audrey's Fair.

The fourth abbess was St. Werburga, whose body was ultimately
laid in the cathedral at Chester. Not long after her death a roving
party of Danes made a descent upon the isle, dispersed the defenders of
Ely, spoiled the town, murdered the inmates of the monastery, and
burnt both it and its church. But the site was not for long wholly
deserted, for a few clergy settled here informally, and, patching up a
part of the church as best they could, continued the services. The
revenues of the monastery, appropriated by Burrhed, King of Mercia,
were restored to it in the year 970 by King Edgar, who also conferred
upon it those exceptional jurisdictions which, in later days, made the
Bishop of Ely, beyond all English prelates except his brother of Durham,
" some faint shadow of the princely Churchmen of the Empire." Within
the walls of the monastery Edward the Confessor, who as an infant
had been solemnly presented on the altar of its church, passed a part
of his youth ; and it was not unfitting, therefore, that Ely should have
been the scene of the last rally against the Norman invaders — that with
which the name of Hereward the Wake is associated. The rising, which
took place nearly four years after Senlac, was a serious affair, and William
brought both an army and a fleet to put it down. For a time his
efforts were unavailing, but the monks found rebellion costly, for all their
lands beyond the limits of the isle were confiscated, and at last the " Camp
of Refuge " surrendered, though not until Hereward and a band of adherents

'75

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ELY.

had escaped by water, to live in a state of outlawry. The monks of
Ely were heavily fined, but Abbot Thurstan obtained forgiveness and was
continued in office.

Of the Saxon church and monastery nothing now survives. The

present cathedral was begun, while the Saxon
church was still standing, by the second
Norman abbot, Simeon — a relative of the
Conqueror — who was eighty-seven years old
at the time of his installation, and yet held
the abbacy for nearly thirteen years. He
started with the transepts and the central
tower, and under his successor, Richard, who
held office during the first seven years of the
twelfth century, the tower is believed to have
been finished and the eastern limb of the
cathedral was built. Under Abbot Richard
there took place the translation from the
old church to the new of the ashes of the
first three abbesses, Saints Etheldreda, Sex-
burga, and Ermenilda — the last a daughter
of Sexburga — together with those of St. With-
burga, another sister of St. Etheldreda, founder
of a monastery at Dereham. Richard was the last of the ten abbots, for
shortly after his death Ely was elevated into a bishopric, and thereafter
the Bishop was nominally head of the monastery, though the actual
administration of the house was committed to a prior. The first bishop
was Herve le Briton, translated from Bangor in 1109 ; and thenceforward
the embellishment of the church became an object of episcopal concern.
It was Geoffrey Ridel, third bishop (1174-89), who built the western
tower and the western cross aisle ; and it was Eustace (1198-1215) who is
said to have added the western porch, though this statement is open to
considerable doubt. A still more munificent prelate was Hugh of North-
wold, Abbot of St. Edmundsbury, consecrated Bishop of Ely in 1229.
Dissatisfied with the plain and even rude architecture of Richard, and
probably desiring a more stately lodgment for the sepulchral monuments
of the four abbesses, he commenced in 1234 the erection of a new pres-
bytery, which was consecrated in 1252 in the presence of Henry III. and
his son, afterwards Edward I., then a boy of thirteen.

In 1322, seventy years after the completion of the presbytery, occurred
the collapse of the central tower. Alan of Walsingham removed entirely
the eastern ruins of Abbot Richard's choir, and united his new octagon
to Northwold's presbytery by three bays of remarkable beauty. In these

THE PRIOR'S DOOR.

ELY CATHEDRAL, FROM THE NORTH WEST.

ELY.]

DISSOLUTION OF THE ABBEY.

177

three bays Ely possesses one of the most perfect examples extant of the
pure Edwardian or Decorated style, while in the six bays of Northwold
the Early English style is presented in grace and beauty well-nigh un-
rivalled. When Northwold (or his architect) designed the presbytery, he
respected the proportions already established by his predecessors, and
carried his string-courses forward at the same levels. Alan followed this
excellent example in his three lovely bays. Hence the Early English and
Decorated styles at Ely differ widely from the types of those styles as
existing at Salisbury and at Lichfield. To Alan also belongs the credit
of the beautiful Lady Chapel, which occupies an unusual position, on the
north side of the choir, and may be regarded as a separate structure.
When it is further said that he designed the lovely woodwork in the
choir and improved and added to the monastic buildings, it will be seen
how deeply indebted is Ely to this brilliant and energetic man, who
from sacrist rose to be Prior, and was afterwards by the monks chosen
Bishop, though the election was cancelled by the Pope.

The dissolution of the abbey in 1531 fell gently upon Ely. When the
Prior became Dean, and when eight canons, three of whom had been monks,
were established in houses of residence near the church ; when eight minor
canons, six of whom had been monks, with eight singing-men, eight choristers,
and the masters of a
school for twenty-four
poor boys of Ely,
were lodged in the
old monastic build-
ings, the change, how-
ever important in it-
self, must have been
little more than
nominal to those on
the spot.

But an end had
come to the care and
devotion that had been
lavished on the cathe-
dral. Bishop Good-
rich (1534-54), the last
episcopal Lord Chancellor, and Bishop Cox (1559-81) were resolute promoters
of the Reformation, and cared little for relics of the past. During the
episcopate of Goodrich, and by his order, the sculptured groups in the Lady
Chapel, and in other parts of the church, were defaced. The Lady Chapel
was handed over in the reign of Elizabeth to the parish of the Holy Trinity

THE GALILEE.

I78

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ELY.

in Ely as its church, with the usual results. The Parliamentary Survey in
1649,, signed " Mr. Cromwell/' condemned to destruction many of the con-
ventual buildings which were still standing, though its behests were not
always obeyed. The potent Protector is believed to have willingly saved
from utter profanation the church with which he was so familiar, for he

had resided for some years at Ely,
and is said to have collected rents, in
early life, for the Dean and Chapter.
But the historian and novelist Defoe,
in his " Tour Through the Islands of
Great Britain," published early in the
eighteenth century, speaks of the cathe-
dral as likely, in a very few years,
to become a total ruin. From this
fate it was saved by timely though
tasteless repairs, executed by Richard
Essex, a builder of Cambridge, in the
episcopate of Bishop Mawson (1754-70) ;
and in 1845 great works of restoration
were commenced which, carried on with
intermissions down to the present time,
have placed the church beyond the reach,
we trust, of danger. They were begun
under Dean Peacock, whose name will
always hold an honoured place in the

list of the cathedral's benefactors, and they have been worthily continued
by his successors.

Passing into the western porch, the Galilee, with its graceful arcades,
we stand on the threshold of the church, and are at once struck by its unusual
length. Ely is, in fact, the longest church, not only in this country, but
in Europe, its interior extent being 517 feet and its exterior 565 feet.
Nor is there anything to break the dwindling vista, save light screen work
of open design. Three tall lancets, surmounted by five others, ingeniously
worked into the curves of the stone vaulting, terminate and close in the
distant point in which the long lines of walls, roof, and floor are brought
together, with an effect surpassing in solemn grandeur, as some think,
any composition in which one vast window, as at York or Carlisle, is
the chief feature. Tall and narrow arches carry the eye upwards, and
give an impression of loftiness which will bear comparison even with that
conveyed by Cologne or Amiens, and to which the narrowness of the central-
alley sensibly contributes.

Above our heads, as we still stand upon the doorstep, after passing

A BIT OF THE OCTAGON.

ELY.)

THE NAVE AND ITS AISLES.

179

through the porch, rises the great tower. Its second and third stages
are open to the pavement, and are adorned with arcading ; its wooden
ceiling has been painted with great taste and skill by an accomplished
amateur, Mr. Le Strange, of Hunstanton Hall, in Norfolk. We note
that four arches of immense strength and excellent masonry have been
built, at some period, beneath the original arches of the tower, sustaining
on their shoulders its enormous weight.

The nave is of twelve bays, and as we walk along it we may take
note that the arcade of the second stage, or triforium, is of nearly equal
height with that of the lower stage. The walls and mouldings have been
in many places decorated with polychrome, abundant traces of which may
be seen, brought to light by careful removal of the coats of yellow-wash with
which they had been en-
crusted in later times ;
at the tenth bay the
chipping away of the piers
of the triforium on the
north side shows the
probable place of one of
the " pairs of organs,"
of which the church pos-
sessed three. The aisles
are vaulted, and still show
traces of rich decoration
in colour upon a plas-
tered surface ; the nave
itself has been ceiled in
recent times with wood,
and on this ceiling, which
has a pentagonal section,
a vast picture scheme has
been delineated with great

skill and power by Mr. Le
Strange, and by Mr. Gam-
bier Parry, of Highnam
Court, near Gloucester,
who, after the death of
his old friend and school-
fellow, continued the half-finished work. The general plan of the painting
may be described as a series of medallions, containing Scriptural figures and
subjects, connected by ornamental details, the whole carefully studied from
the best sources. The doors in the south aisle — the eastern for the monks,

Ptwto : G . Day.

NORTH CHOIR AISLE, WITH BASE OF ST. ETHELDREDA'S
SHRINE.

i8o CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ELv.

the western for the Prior — must not be left unnoticed ; the latter is a
very remarkable piece of rich Norman work. In the centre of the nave
is a marble slab, which marks the traditional resting-place of Alan of
Walsingham. In the north aisle of the nave is the altar-tomb of Bishop
Woodford, who died in 1885 ; in the south aisle is a pedestal supporting
a fragment of the shaft of a stone cross, and bearing the inscription,
rudely cut, " Lucem tuam Ovino da Deus et requiem. Amen." Ovin was
Etheldreda's steward in the isle, who at last embraced the monastic life and
became one of the companions of St. Chad at Stowe. Probably erected
soon after Ovin's death, it was found at Haddenham, a village in the isle,
degraded to the uses of a horse-block, and was brought hither by the late
Mr. Bentham, the historian of the cathedral.

The beautiful octagon, by universal consent, is Ely's crowning glory.
Its four great arches rise to the full height of the roof, the eastern one, indeed,
being loftier than the vault of the choir, the space between being filled with
open tracery of woodwork. Above the crown of each of the great arches is
a trefoil in which is the seated figure of a saint. The large windows in the
four sides of the octagon which face the exterior contain beautiful tracery,
filled with stained glass. The elaborate wooden vaulting has been richly
decorated from a design by Mr. Gambier Parry, by whom the chief figures
were painted. The great corbels which support the eight principal vaulting
shafts are carved with scenes illustrating in chronological order the life of
St. Etheldreda — her second marriage and her taking the veil, her staff
bursting into leaf and her preservation from flood, her installation as Abbess,
her death and " chesting," one of her miracles, and her translation.

The transepts are interesting because in them alone is to be found any
of the original Norman work of Abbot Simeon and his successor. The ends
have each an arcade of circular arches which forms a kind of terminal aisle,
not unlike the north and south aisles of the Winchester transepts, built by
Simeon's brother, Bishop Walkelyn. The hammer-beam roofs, which have
been raised, are painted. In the south transept is a tablet to Dean Merivale,
the learned author of the " History of the Romans under the Empire," who
was preferred to the Deanery in 1863, and survived until 1893

From the octagon the choir is separated by a light but richly carved oak
screen designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. The choir, including the presbytery and
retro-choir, consists of nine bays. The details of Alan's three bays are of
quite exceptional loveliness, and in Fergusson's estimation were " equal to
anything in Europe for elegance and appropriateness." The stalls, too, are
exquisite specimens of Decorated work ; the sub-stalls are modern. It
will be observed that the Bishop's seat is on the south side, the
Prior's seat being on the north side, an arrangement due to the
fact that the abbot developed into a bishop, and so his stall became

ELY: THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

181

i8a CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ELV

the episcopal throne. The reredos is another of Scott's works — an extremely
rich and graceful piece of sculpture, the material being alabaster, enriched
with gilding and polished stones. The organ, suspended against a bay of
the triforium on the north side, will not fail to attract attention, the de-
tails of the instrument being very rich, and the effect as happy as it is
exceptional ; this also was a part of the general work of restoration.

On either side of the choir stands a series of monuments, which of
late years have been enriched with colour. Westward, on the southern
side, is the monumental archway of Bishop William of Louth, dating
from the end of the thirteenth century. Next is the tomb of Bishop
Barnet, three-quarters of a century later, and the cenotaph of the Earl
of Worcester, whose effigy reclines between those of his two wives ; they are
buried here, but he, who was a Yorkist, having been taken prisoner
during the last temporary triumph of the other party, was executed and
entombed in the Tower of London. Yet further east is the monument
of Bishop Hotham (d. 1334). On the northern side is the effigy of Bishop
Northwold (d. 1254), m fc^ vestments, with a curious carving at the
east, intended, as is supposed, to set forth the martyrdom of St. Edmund.
In the arch next to it is a Decorated structure of two storeys, built
by Alan of Walsingham, according to Scott's conjecture, as the base for
St. Etheldreda's magnificent shrine, of which no trace is left. It was long
known as Bishop Hotham's shrine, and his effigy was placed beneath it.
Above it is a gallery, which is believed by some authorities to have served
as the watching-chamber for St. Etheldreda's shrine. Then comes the
effigy of Bishop William de Kilkenny (d. 1257), and, lastly, the elaborate
canopy and altar-tomb of Bishop Redman (d. 1506). In the retro-
choir is a handsome slab of modern mosaic, commemorating Bishop Allen,
who died in 1845, and near it the fine altar- tomb of Canon Mill (d.
1853), constructed of alabaster and serpentine, with an effigy in metal.
Beneath the most easterly arch on the south is the tomb of Cardinal
Luxembourg (d. 1443), who appears to have been " perpetual administrator
of the see " rather than bishop.

In the south aisle of the choir is a curious relic of antiquity, a portion
of a coffin-lid representing the angel Michael carrying a soul ; he stands
beneath an arch, above which are a number of buildings. The figure
seems to be that of a bishop, and the structures above may represent
some portion of the monastery. This monument did not originally belong
to the cathedral, but was brought hither from St. Mary's Church, where
it was discovered beneath the pavement. In the north aisle is a brass
of modern date to the memory of Basevi, the architect of the Fitzwilliam
Museum at Cambridge, who was killed in the cathedral. He was standing
in one of the upper chambers of the west tower, in company with Dean

CHANTRY CHAPELS.

183

Peacock, conversing about the proposed restoration, and, stepping back
inadvertently, fell through a small aperture in the floor on to the one
below, and was taken up dead.

At the eastern end of each choir aisle is a chantry chapel of more
than usual interest. That on the north is the work of Bishop Alcock,
the founder of Jesus College, Cambridge, whose rebus, a cock on a globe,
is to be seen again and again in the carving. A structure of extra-
ordinary richness of detail, though now, unhappily, seriously mutilated
and deprived of its almost numberless statuettes, it was erected in 1488.
The corresponding chapel on the south, also highly ornate, though less

THE CHOIR STALLS.

so than its fellow, is that of Bishop West, whose episcopate lasted from
1515 to 1533. The two buildings are especially interesting by reason of
the differences in their architectural styles. Bishop Alcock's chantry be-
longs to the latest period of the Perpendicular — the Tudor. Bishop West's,
built in the next century, while still Gothic in its general treatment,
shows in many of its details very markedly the influence of the Renais-
sance, and indicates the commencement of that transitional period which
afterwards resulted in the so-called Elizabethan and Jacobean styles. The
statuettes in this chapel also have been sadly mutilated. An inscription
on the wall over Bishop West's tomb records the interment, in the year
1771, of the bones of seven Saxon benefactors of the church, who died
between the years 991 and 1067. Buried first in the Saxon church, they

1 84

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ELY.

were subsequently removed to the Norman cathedral, and after various
changes found, at last, a resting-place here.

The Lady Chapel, before its mutilation one of the richest pieces of late
Decorated work in England, is entered from the north-east angle of the north
transept. Its erection, begun in 1321, side by side with the vast works
entailed on the monks by the fall of their tower, is an instance of in-
domitable energy characteristic of the times. The sculptures, though
the figures are now, with one single exception, headless, have been sub-
jected to learned and intelligent examination, and have been shown to
consist of a series of groups representing the life and miracles of the
Virgin Mary. In the days of its glory the whole chapel must have been
a perfect storehouse of statuary ; no part of the wall-space was left un-
decorated with diapering, executed in the most brilliant colours or carved
in the stone itself, and there still remains the rich arcade that runs round
the walls, while between the side windows is elaborate tabernacle work
with canopies.

The exterior length of the cathedral, as we have seen, is 565 feet, and
its interior length 517 feet, of which 230 feet is occupied by the nave.
The octagon measures 74 feet in width, four feet more than the nave, the
vaulting is 70 feet in height, and the western tower 215 feet.

Of the conventual buildings considerable portions still remain. The
Deanery has been constructed from the ancient guest-house, and in its grounds
are fragments of the refectory and of the Norman kitchen. To the south
of the Deanery is the Prior's Lodge, built round a small quadrangle, and at-
tached to this is the little chapel known as Prior Craudene's Chapel — a
gem of late Decorated work, founded by Prior John de Craudene

ELY.]

THE PRECINCTS.

185

(d. 1441), and designed by Alan of Walsingham. It is on the
first floor, with a crypt, or lower stage, beneath it. At one time it was
used as a dwelling, but it has been carefully restored, and now serves as
the chapel of the King's School, founded by Henry VIII. The Great
Gate of the monastery, Ely Porta, now appropriated in part to the
uses of the King's School, dates from the end of the fourteenth and
beginning of the fifteenth century. In it the Manor Courts were held,
and afterwards it was converted into a brew-house, where, until not many
years ago, the audit ale was brewed. Close by are the new buildings of
the school, occupying the site of an old hostelry styled the Green Man.
With the exception of an outer wall, the cloisters have perished. The
Chapter-house also, which stood to the south of them, is gone. Rather
to the east of the end of the south transept may be seen the ruins of
the magnificent Infirmary. Its aisles are incorporated into modern houses,
the nave forming a narrow court between them, but the fine semicircular
arches and round pillars may still be readily examined. These are late
Norman, but there is some Early English work at the western end. At
the eastern end is a kind of chancel, which probably, as was not seldom the
case, was fitted up as a chapel, so that the sick folk could witness the
celebration of mass without leaving their beds. The remains of an entrance
gateway, and some other ancient buildings, are to be seen north of the
cathedral ; and across the road, opposite to the Deanery, stands the Bishop's
Palace, a fine though rather heavy block of buildings, dating from the
reign of Henry VII. It contains a noted picture termed the " Tabula
Eliensis," representing a number of knights and monks in pairs, which is
said to commemorate a band of knights quartered on the monks by
William the Norman. Notwithstanding this, hosts and guests became
such friends that
the one accom-
panied the other
in procession as
far as Hadden-
ham, and had
this picture
painted as a
memorial. The
present tabula,
however, is pro-
bably not older
than the palace,
and its history
is uncertain.

i86

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ELY.

The more eminent bishops — except William Longchamp, who held the
see from 1189 to 1197 — have, for the most part, been mentioned in
the account of the cathedral. One, Bishop Cox, was the recipient
of a famous letter from Queen Elizabeth. The story is more creditable
to the receiver than to the writer, for the Bishop's offence was that of
resisting her Majesty's desire for the alienation of manors belonging to the
see. The letter ran thus : — " Proud Prelate,— You know what you were
before I made you what you are ; if you do not immediately comply
with my request, by God I will unfrock you." The Bishop, after the
receipt of this epistle, did not see his way to further opposition. His
immediate successor was the learned and pious Lancelot Andrewes, after-
wards Bishop of Winchester. Matthew Wren, uncle of Sir Christopher,
was confined in the Tower for eighteen years in consequence of his strict
adherence to the Royalist cause, and though Cromwell would have been
glad enough to open his prison doors, the stout-hearted old man was not
willing to be released, lest he should be supposed to recognise the usurp-
ation. Another eminent Bishop of Ely was Simon Patrick (1691-1707),
and among more recent prelates of distinction may be mentioned Edward
Harold Browne, who presided over the Old Testament Revision Committee,
and died Bishop of Winchester in 1891.

ELY, FROM THE FENS.

i87

^=£!

THE CATHEDRAL. FROM THE MARKET PLACE.

WELLS.

Harmonious Grouping— " The Most Beautiful of English Cathedrals "—Origin of the See— A Violent
Bishop — The Saxon Churches — Foundation of the Present Cathedral — Distinctiveness of the
Early English Work— Puritan Outrages — Modern Misuse— The West Front and its Critics— The
Nave — The Inverted Arches under the Central Tower — Transepts— Choir, Procession Path, and
Lady Chapel — Old Stained Glass — Monuments — Dimensions — Chapter-house — Cloisters —
Bishop's Palace— Deanery— The Bishop's Barn— Porches— Bishop Ken.

HE cathedral which rears its triple towers amid the rich
meadows at the southern foot of the Mendips, though in
dimensions it comes low down in the scale of English
cathedrals, being smaller than Exeter or Gloucester, and
not much larger than Chichester, is one of the choicest of them all.
Some of the structural peculiarities which differentiate it from
all its sister churches will be touched upon presently ; here, at the
beginning of our sketch, we may indicate its most engaging charm,
which consists in its harmonious grouping with its dependent buildings
and picturesque surroundings. " The church," as Professor Freeman
points out, " does not stand alone ; it is neither crowded by incongruous
buildings, nor yet isolated from those buildings which are its natural
and necessary complement. Palace, cloister, Lady Chapel, Chapter-house,
all join to form one indivisible whole. The series goes on uninterruptedly

i88

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WELLS.

along that unique bridge which, by a marvel of ingenuity, connects
the church itself with the most perfect of buildings of its own class.
Scattered around we see here and there an ancient house, its gable, its
windows, or its turret falling in with the style and group of greater
buildings, and bearing its part in producing the general harmony of all."
Not less enthusiastic was Fergusson. That very critical authority goes
so far as to say that, taken altogether, Wells is perhaps " the most
beautiful of English cathedrals. Externally its three well-proportioned
towers group so gracefully with the Chapter-house, the remains of the
Vicars' Close, the ruins of the Bishop's Palace, and the tall trees with
which it is surrounded, that there is no instance so characteristic of
English art, nor an effect so pleasing produced with the same dimensions."
The cathedral of Wells has never been the church of a monastery.
Its origin takes us back to the beginning of the eighth century, when
the pious King Ina established, beside the great natural wells which

still leap to light in the
beautiful gardens of the
Bishop's Palace, and feed
the clear moat that flows
around it, a college of
secular canons — that is, of
priests who belonged to no
monastic order, and did
not live in common. The
see of Wells was founded
in 909 by Athelm, who
became Archbishop of Can-
terbury in 914. About the
year 1092 Bishop John de
Villula, a native of Tours,
removed the episcopal
throne to Bath. The double
title, Bath and Wells, was
first assumed by Bishop
Robert in the days of
King Stephen, when it
was determined that in
future the bishops should
be elected by an equal
number of monks from the
abbey at Bath and of canons
from the collegiate church at

A\ Western Towers:

B J Chapels under.

C The Xavc.

O Cloisters.

E Cloister Garth.

F North Porch.

G Transepts.

H Choir.

K Presbytery.

Hij;h Altar.

Retro-Choir.

L
M

N Lady Chapel.

O Chapter House.

PLAN OF WELLS CATHEDRAL.

WELLS.]

THE BUILDING OF THE CATHEDRAL.

189

Wells. Later in the same century— the twelfth— Bishop Savaric, having

obtained from Richard I. the rich abbey of Glastonbury, which was

believed throughout the Middle Ages to occupy the site of the earliest

Christian church in Great Britain,

transferred his seat thither, and

assumed the title of Bishop of

Bath and Glastonbury. The monks

of Glastonbury offered something

more than passive resistance to what

they regarded as a usurpation, but

Savaric took the abbey by storm

and chastised its inmates. Early in

the next century, however (1218),

they obtained their release from a

subjection to which they were never

reconciled, and ever since then the

prelates of the see have been known

as Bishops of Bath and Wells.

Of the first collegiate church at
Wells, built in King Ina's day,
nothing is known. It is believed
to have been rebuilt early in the
tenth century, when King Edward
the Elder, son of the great Alfred,
founded the see, and, thanks to the
remoteness of Wells from the great

highways, this second Saxon church remained until about the middle
of the twelfth century. Then under Bishop Robert, who ruled the see
from 1131 to 1166, it was renovated and enlarged, if not rebuilt, the
new work, no doubt, being in the current late Norman style. Not
till a century later was the present cathedral begun, by Reginald de
Bohun, who held the bishopric from 1174 to 1191, and during that
time built the first three bays of the choir, the transepts, the lower
stages of the central tower, the four eastern bays of the nave, with
the north porch. Under Bishop Savaric, a man of war rather than
a master-builder, the work was suspended, but by his successor, Joceline
(1206-42), who was brother of Bishop Hugh of Lincoln, the remaining six
bays of the nave were added, with the lovely western facade, and a begin-
ning was also made with the episcopal palace ; and later in the same
century the Chapter-house, with the crypt beneath it, was built.

In the main, therefore, the cathedral belongs to the Early English
period. Yet the work at Wells cannot be exactly compared with the

igo CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [WELL,

Early English to be seen at Lincoln, Ely, or Salisbury, because there
was evidently a local school of masons here, who continued to work
in their own mode — which displays great freedom of design, with
vigorous ornament and mouldings of special richness — long after the
new style had begun its evolution. Their noble manner receives signal
illustration in the very beautiful north or Galilee porch, which, built
towards the end of the twelfth century, nevertheless shows distinct
Norman characteristics. During the Decorated period— the fourteenth
century — three bays were added to the choir, the procession path at
its eastern extremity and the Lady Chapel beyond were built, the central
tower was carried up to its present height, and the south-western tower,
which was only level with the western facade, was completed. Early
in the next century, when the Decorated had stiffened into the Per-
pendicular, the north-western tower was finished, and the eastern walk
of the cloister, with the library above it, was built, all by Bishop Bub-
with, who governed the see from 1407 to 1424. His next successor
but one, Thomas Beckington (1443-65) may be said to have put the
finishing touches to the great enterprise by building the west and part
of the south walk of the cloister, and also the Chain Gate, which connects
the north transept with the Vicars' Close, and by filling the nave and
transept windows with their tracery. The Vicars' Close, consisting of
two rows of houses, forty-two in all, with a chapel at one end and a
hall at the other, had been begun for the vicars-choral in the second
quarter of the fourteenth century by Bishop Ralph.

Under the Puritan regime the cathedral fared ill enough, the Chapter-
house being put up for sale at £160, the choir closed, and all services
forbidden except the preaching of one Cornelius Burgess, who occupied
the Deanery and called himself " minister of the late cathedral." Still
more cruelly was it misused in the Monmouth Rebellion. " In the
Chapter Acts of ist July, 1685," says Canon Church, " a record is
preserved of what was happening while this storm was sweeping over
the cathedral and city. Chancellor Holt held the quarterly Chapter
meeting alone with the notary in the Chapter - house on that morning.
He sorrowfully protested against the desecration of the church by ' the
rebellious fanatics, who that very morning were in the act of destroying
the furniture, breaking up the organ, and had made the House of God
the stabling for their horses.' Then he adjourned the Chapter and all
affairs until that day four weeks . . . hoping that within that time
' this tyranny will be overpast.' " The next entry in the Chapter Acts
records with gratitude the suppression of the rebellion. Nor, in times
much nearer our own has the cathedral been free from misuse. When
Dr. Turle, who for many years up to 1875 was organist of Westminster

iga CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [WELLS.

Abbey, was a chorister at Wells, the boys were allowed to use the nave
as a playground, and among other pastimes in which they were pleased
to indulge was that of stone- throwing. One of young Turle's achievements,
whether intentional or accidental is not recorded, was to send a stone
through the nose of St. Andrew, the patron saint, in one of the windows,
and it is said that long afterwards it was the wont of a verger to call
attention to the damage with the half-admiring remark, " That was done
by the present organist of Westminster Abbey ! "

Fortunately there is a broad expanse of turf on the west side of
the cathedral, so that the grand and imposing effect of the marvellous
west front can be fully studied and enjoyed. The wall space, as well
as the six projecting buttresses of the towers, which divide it into five
compartments, is covered with statuary, as with a screen. The figures
stand tier above tier, resting upon pedestals, and are surmounted by
elegant canopies, supported by shafts of Kilkenny marble. Instead of
a great west window, there are three lancet-headed lights, and the piers
between these also are covered with sculpture. This magnificent work
has evoked the enthusiastic admiration of Flaxman and Stothard and
Fergusson. There is nothing like it in England, and Fergusson declares
that it can only be compared with Chartres or Rheims. Freeman,
indeed, so enthusiastic about the cathedral generally, objects to this
front on the ground of unreality — because it is not the real ending of
the nave and aisles, but " a mere mask, devised in order to gain greater
room for the display of statues." In other words, " the front is not
the natural finish of the nave and aisles ; it is a blank wall built up
in a shape which is not the shape which their endings would naturally
assume." The objection is carefully discussed by the Rev. Percy Dear-
mer, in his monograph on the cathedral, and the front is defended as
" a great stone screen that, so far from pretending to be a regular ter-
mination of the nave and aisles, is actually carried in all its sculptured
magnificence round the sides of the two towers upon which it so frankly
depends." By another student of the cathedral, Mr. Francis T. Bumpus,
to whose volumes we have had occasion to refer elsewhere, it is pertinently
pointed out that the side doors plainly indicate the nature of the design,
showing as they do that the towers are outside the line of the aisles.
As to the smallness of the doors, he very ingeniously suggests that
they may be taken to symbolise the " strait gate " that leads to
life eternal.

Between the years 1869 and 1876 the Chapter spent upwards of
£13,000 in levelling the green and in restoring the west front ; all the
canopies and shafts were then made good, but the figures were wisely
left alone, though advantage was taken of the opportunity to photograph

WELLS.]

THE WEST FRONT.

193

them. Much ingenuity has been bestowed upon the task of identifying
them, and a very elaborate explanation was given by Professor Cockerell,
but it rests upon no satisfactory foundation, although there can be no
doubt that one tier represents angels, another apostles, another the

* Jr-

1'lioto : T. W. Phillips, Wells.
BISHOP'S PALACE AND MOAT.

resurrection, and so forth. As no list of the figures has come down
from the past, the visitor will probably prefer to the vain labour of
endeavouring to name them the contemplation of the beautiful effect
of the whole work, tinted as it now is by age with a most soft and
delicate grey, and to wonder at the skill of the genius which planned
out such a masterpiece of art many centuries ago. In the restoration
one unfortunate mistake was made, which time has done little, if anything,
to repair : the shafts were originally of blue lias, and as they decayed
they were replaced by the Doulting stone of which the cathedral is
built, but now Mr. Benjamin Ferrey, under whom the restoration was
carried out, reconstructed them in Kilkenny marble, which looks so dark
and cold, and so discordant with the grey stone of the fagade, that
they have been nicknamed " the slate pencils."

Entering the church, one is immediately sensible that the eye is
irresistibly drawn eastwards, and is at no loss to discover that the
cause of the attraction is the fact that the triforium openings compose a
continuous arcade of lancets, from the west to the east end of the nave.
At the same time, no sense of monotony is induced, for the lancets, without
losing their continuity, are separated into groups of three by the corbelled
ends of the slender triple shafts that sustain the groining of the roof.

1 94 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [WELLS.

The triforium extends backwards over the whole width of the side
aisles ; the solid tympanum which fills each of its lancet-headed openings
to the nave is grotesquely carved. The nave is divided into its ten
bays by octagonal piers, with clustered shafts in groups of three ; the
enrichment of the capitals approximates to Norman in character, and
shows the masculine vigour of the local school. The roof has not been
altered, though Perpendicular tracery has been inserted in the clerestory
and aisle windows ; the coloured scroll ornamenting it is a restoration from
traces discovered when the whitewash was removed. In the central bay on
the south side — not on the north side, as at Exeter — is the music gallery,
in three panels, of Early Perpendicular character. In the fifth bay
from the west are two corbel heads of a king and a falling child, and
of a bishop with a woman and children. Many fanciful stories have
been told about them, but they probably formed supports for a small
organ. A more prominent feature of the nave is its two beautiful
chantry chapels, both of them bearing rather grotesque names. That
on the north side, with screen work and cornices that are in the best
style of Perpendicular work, is Bishop Bubwith's ; that on the south
side is associated with Treasurer Sugar, who died in 1489. Close to
the latter is a Renaissance stone pulpit, the gift of Bishop Knight, who
died in 1547. The brass lectern also is ancient, and is the gift of
Dr. Creyghton, who was Dean, and afterwards Bishop, in the reign of
Charles II.

But before all these details of the nave have been observed the
attention is claimed by the inverted arch at the east end, of which
the effect is certainly bizarre, though many find it not disagreeable.
There are three inverted arches — one on the west, another on the north,
a third on the south side of the central tower- — and each of them
combines with the arch below it to suggest the form of a St. Andrew's
cross. The arrangement, however, is not to be regarded as a piece
of symbolism pointing to the patron saint, but as a device for supporting
the tower. In 1338, soon after the Decorated tower was superimposed
upon the low Early English one, the structure showed ominous signs
of settlement, and a meeting of the Chapter was hastily called to con-
sider the emergency, when this and such auxiliary measures as the
building of the screen and the blocking up of some of the triforium
arches were resolved upon. As a singularly ingenious means of coping
with a grave danger, these inverted arches may be admired, but one
would be disposed to judge them by a different standard had they en-
tered into the original scheme.

In the transepts, the carving of the capitals is worthy of note ;
those on the eastern side are of much later date than the western

dK&H8M£»i

^^Ifl^

•«rji -^T-^J wf •mt. '^i/flt*

mmm/.

BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE VICARS' CLOSE.

195

ig6

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WELLS.

ones, with which much that is grotesque is mingled. In the south
transept, for example, is shown a man in the agony of toothache ;
another extracting a thorn from his foot ; while on the capital of another
pier a theft and its consequences are presented in four scenes. All
these sculptures are done with vigour and a keen sense of humour.
In the south transept is the ancient font, the only relic of Bishop Robert's
Norman church that has come down to us. It is possible indeed that
it may be a survival of the Saxon church which preceded that of Bishop
Robert. Here too are the remains of the fine shrine of Bishop Beck-
ington, besides monuments to other cathedral dignitaries. In the north
transept is a curious old clock, constructed by Peter Lightfoot, a monk
of Glastonbury, in 1325. It has been renewed and repaired time after
time, and the original works are now preserved in the Victoria and
Albert Museum at South Kensington ; but it still boasts four figures
who dash round in opposite directions, as if at a tournament, when the
hours strike, together with other quaint mechanical movements.

Passing under the Decorated screen supporting the organ into the
choir, the visitor has before him a prospect which is one of the most

admired features of the

three bays, the oldest

are Early English ; those

presbytery, are, as we

work, to which period

the clerestory and the

tabernacle work which

the triforium. The

the three earlier and

the three later bays

is very marked, and

Freeman is guilty of

no exaggeration when

he says that " the

three elder arches are

all masculine vigour,

the three newer arches are all feminine

elegance," and he adds, justly enough, that

" feminine elegance, thoroughly in its place

in the small chapels, is hardly in its

place in the presbytery." The Perpendicular

stalls were unfortunately removed between

1848 and 1854, and replaced by forty-one

stalls of Doulting stone ; the ancient

BISHOP MEWS
(1673-84).

cathedral. The first
part of the interior,
beyond, forming the
have seen, Decorated
belong the whole of
rich and beautiful
takes the place of
difference between

WELLS.]

CHOIR AND LADY CHAPKL.

197

misericords have happily been preserved. The canopied throne, drastic-
ally restored, is ascribed to Bishop Beckington, but is probably earlier
than his time. The presbytery terminates in a large seven-light window,
of which the tracery illustrates the transition from the flamboyancy
of the Decorated to the formality of the Perpendicular. But the window
is chiefly remarkable for its stained glass, which with superb green and
golden colouring depicts the Tree of Jesse, and is not unhappily known
as the " Golden Window." As Canon Church eloquently says, it is
" one of the most remarkable in England for simplicity and harmony
and richness of colouring, for the force of character in the faces and the
stately figures in flowing mantles of green and ruby and gold like Arab
chiefs ; figures such as some artist in the last Crusading host under
Edward might have seen
and designed, and so
different from the con-
ventional portraiture of
Bible characters."

The unique feature
of the choir is, however,
the effect of the low
diapered reredos, which
even now that a curtain
is suspended behind the
altar reveals the light and
graceful clustered shafts
of the retro-choir or pro-
cessional path and the
beautiful Decorated win-
dows of the polygonal
Lady Chapel, which forms
the extreme east end of
the church, and is really
an octagon deprived of
three of its sides by its con-
stituting part of the cathe-
dral. The present reredos
is entirely modern ; but

that it is in harmony with the original design is clearly shown by the
arrangement of the shafts in the retro-choir, which are placed out of
line with those at the east end of the choir, thus giving a delightful
maze-like appearance to the eye, suggested perhaps by that of the tree-
trunks in a forest glade, through which the sun sometimes shines, just

...

THE LADY CHAPEL.

ig8

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WELLS.

as it beams through the stained glass of the five magnificent windows
of the Lady Chapel and lights up this scene with curious patches of
reflected colour. The old glass at the east end of the cathedral is
indeed one of its great glories. "It is of the finest ruby-red," says
a graphic writer (^quoted by Mr. Bumpus) who saw it in 1841, " and
when you enter the cathedral at six o'clock on a summer morning,
with the sun full on the east window, it seems as though the choir

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

were on fire. The clear sharp foliage of the Decorated piers in the
chapel — the beautiful perspective of the lancets interlacing and inter-
twining, opening new vistas in every direction, each vista closed with
a blaze of rubies — acanthus leaf and channelled shaft steeped in rainbow
hues — the fretted roof quivering with bright spots of variegated light !
— oh, it is not to be forgotten ! "

WELLS CATHEDRAL, FROM TOR HILL.

WELLS.]

BISHOPS' TOMBS.

199

In the south aisle of the choir is the tomb of Bishop William
Bytton (1267-74), generally called Bishop Bytton II., for he was
nephew of William Bytton, who ruled the see from 1248 to 1267. They
took their name from Bitton, a village close to Bath. The tomb is
a coffin-shaped slab, with an incised episcopal figure, and is remarkable
as almost the earliest example of an incised slab in Europe. It was
once still more remarkable as a place of pilgrimage for those who suffered

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

from toothache, it being believed until long after the Reformation that
the sanctity in which the Bishop had died was so great that a visit
to his tomb was enough to drive away the malady. In the same
aisle is the tomb of Bishop Beckington, whose benefactions to the city
were recognised by the Mayor and Corporation by an annual visit to
his chantry to pray for the repose of his soul. The chantry has been

2OO

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WELLS.

removed by modern iconoclasts to the Chapel of St. Calixtus, on the
east side of the south transept, because it projected into the choir, but
the tomb remains, and is of a type which was somewhat favoured in
those days. On an upper stage is an effigy of the Bishop in all the
splendour of his episcopal robes ; on a lower a grimly, realistic depiction
of his corpse in its winding sheet. Close to Beckington's monument is
an altar-tomb of reddish alabaster, with an effigy by Mr. Brock, which
commemorates Lord Arthur Hervey, who presided over the see from 1869
to 1894. The tomb of Bishop Drokensford has a lofty and beautiful
canopy. In the north choir aisles are several effigies which have been
identified by name with certain of the early bishops, but no reliance is
to be placed upon the precise accuracy of the results. Here also is
a modern memorial to Bishop Ken, whose virtues it was reserved to
the nineteenth century to commemorate, if not to recognise. In the Chapel
of St. John, which forms the northern limit of the small eastern transept,
lies Dean Gunthorpe, under a somewhat ponderous tomb. The most
striking monument in the corresponding Chapel of St. John the Baptist
is the marble tomb and effigy of Bishop Creyghton.

In length the cathedral measures 371 feet, of which the nave accounts

for 191 feet and the choir
for 108 feet. The width
of the nave, including the
aisles, is 82 feet, and the
west front has a breadth
of not less than 147 feet.
The nave and choir are
67 feet in height, the
western towers 130 feet,
the central tower 160 feet.
The main transept has a
length of 135 feet.

The Chapter - house
stands to the north-east
of the north transept and
consists of two stages, a
ground-floor or crypt, with
the Chapter-house proper
above it. The plan is
octagonal, and the floor
of each chamber is sup-
ported by a central column,
with an additional ring of

By permission of Messrs. DouUon & Co., Ltd.

MILITARY MEMORIAL IN THE NORTH TRANSEPT, WITH FIGURES
OF DAVID AND GOLIATH, MODELLED BY TINWORTH.

WELLS.]

THE CLOISTERS.

201

columns in the crypt. The upper room is approached from the eastern
aisle of the north transept by a handsome staircase, early Decorated
in style, belonging to the last ten years of the thirteenth century, and
justly considered the finest ex-
ample of its date in England.
A glance at the illustration on
page 191 will show that, while
the staircase leads on the right
to the Chapter-house, on the
left it brings the Vicars' Close
into communication with the
Chapter-house and the cathe-
dral by means of the Chain
Gate, which is really a covered
bridge over the roadway.

The cloisters are on the
south side of the cathedral,
and are of unusual area, but
have only three sides instead
of four. The canons of Wells
did not need a cloister in the
same sense as monks — that is,
a covered walk leading to the
dormitory, refectory, and so
forth, and so these cloisters
are merely an ornamental walk,
enclosing the burial-ground for

the liberty of St. Andrew, once styled the Palm Churchyard, the
branches of the yew-tree in its centre being in pre-Reformation days
used on Palm Sunday in lieu of palm branches.

From a door in the east wall of the cloisters we gain access to a
private garden adjacent to the eastern end of the cathedral. Here,
and in the adjoining outer garden of the Bishop's Palace, are the " wells "
which induced King Ina to select this place as the site of his church, and
gave the city its name. The Palace, looking with its embattled wall
like a mediaeval fortress, was begun, as we have seen, by Bishop Joceline
in the first half of the thirteenth century, and was fortified by Bishop
Ralph of Shrewsbury about a century later. The Great Hall, perhaps
the finest building of its kind in Britain, has unfortunately become a
ruin ; but the grounds, with their venerable trees and abundant wall-
fruit, reflect the leisure of the opulent ecclesiasticism of the past.
Of the charming Vicars' Close we have already spoken. The

STAIRS LEADING TO
CHAPTER-HOUSE.

202

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[WELLS.

Pltato: J. IT. PHUipt, Wiils.

CARVING ON A CAWTAL: "THE
COBBLER."

Deanery, an admirable example of early Tudor architecture, turreted
and battlemented, on the north side of the church, is mainly the work
of Dean Gunthorpe, as is attested by the guns carved on its walls,
but it was restored, not altogether happily, by Sir Christopher Wren.

Of the other ecclesiastical buildings in which
Wells is so rich we can only mention the
spacious Bishop's Barn, in a field near the
Palace, and the two gateway towers which
give entrance to the precincts, and which
are known as the Bishop's Eye, or Penniless
Porch, because a dole was formerly dis-
tributed here, and the Dean's Eye.

Among its bishops, Wells numbers
Cardinal Wolsey and William Laud, the
latter of whom was consecrated in 1626,
but was translated to London in 1628.
But it has most reason to be proud of
the saintly Bishop Ken, whose Morning
and Evening Hymns have won for him
a place in the hearts of all devout souls, to whatever fold they
belong. A descendant of a very old Somersetshire family, born at Berk-
hampstead in 1637, Thomas Ken was a Wykehamist, proceeding from
Winchester to New College, Oxford, in 1657. His refusal to allow
Nell Gwynne to lodge in his prebendal house at Winchester is said to
have induced Charles II. to give him this bishopric, to which he was
consecrated in January, 1685. Ken's stainless character won the respect
of all his contemporaries, and in his diocese he was in very truth the pastor
of his flock. Though Monmouth's men had treated his cathedral so ill,
yet when the Rebellion had failed, and the gaols of Dorset and Somerset
were crowded with captives, the best friend of the prisoners was the
good Bishop, who impoverished himself in ministering to their needs,
and pleaded eloquently, though in vain, for the King's mercy after the
Bloody Assize. Ken was one of the Seven Bishops prosecuted by James
II. for refusing to read the Declaration of Indulgence, and bore himself
with the utmost dignity throughout that ordeal. After the Revolution
his conscience compelled him to become a Non-juror, but he counselled
his party to passive submission, nor would he connive at the clandestine
consecration of Non-juring bishops. He found an asylum with Viscount
Weymouth in the noble mansion of Longleat, where he died on March
igth, 1 71 r, being buried at Frome. Ken's successor, Richard Kidder,
with his wife, was killed in bed in his Palace at Wells by the fall of a
stack of chimneys during the great storm of November, 1703.

203

EXETER.

Situation— The Sec Established at Exeter— The Present Cathedral Begun by Bishop Warelwast— Its
Transformation by Peter Ouivil — The Transeptal Towers— West Front— Interior— Unity in
Variety — East and West Windows— Minstrels* Gallery — Choir Screen — Organ — Choir — Bishop's
Throne and Reredos— Lady Chapel— Monuments — Bishop Grandisson — Miles Coverdale—
Dimensions of the Church— Chapter-house— Palace— Deanery— The Prince of Orange in
the Bishop's Chair— Bishops Lamplugh and Ganden — Joseph Hall and Jonathan Trelawny—
Henry Phillpotts and Frederick Temple.

[HOUGH set in the midst of one of the comeliest of our cities,
which has suffered less disfigurement from industrial operations
than almost any other of the same size, and though also the
country round about is of a rich loveliness, the cathedral
church of Exeter is not altogether fortunate in situation. It stands
about half-way down the slope which in earlier days was topped
by the castle of Rougemont — the castle of the " red hill " —and
thus occupying shelving ground, and masked as it is on the
south by houses and gardens, it is usually looked at slightly from
above. The Close, too, lacks spaciousness and symmetry, and in it one
does not easily find a point of view which does justice to the fabric.
\Yhatever the standpoint, however, the eye is at once arrested by the

HE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-WEST.

204

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[EXETER.

massive Norman towers and by their peculiar position. For instead of
being at the western extremity, they stand at the point of junction
between nave and choir, forming, in fact, the transepts of the church.
By this transeptal position of the towers, Exeter is differentiated from
all others of our cathedrals, and, indeed, from all our parish churches,
save only Ottery St. Mary in the same county, which was designed on
the model of the cathedral by Bishop Grandisson.

These mighty towers, of which the maker might well have said
that he was building them for eternity, carry us back to the early years
of the twelfth century — to the year mi, in fact. But Exeter had a
cathedral before that, for when in the middle of the eleventh century
the seat of the bishopric of Devonshire and Cornwall was transferred
from Crediton to Exeter by Edward the Confessor, so that it might
enjoy the security of a walled city, the Saxon church of the monastery of
St. Peter was erected into a cathedral, in which Bishop Leofric, led to

his seat by the King on
one side and Queen Edith
on the other, was solemnly
enthroned. Leofric, who,
though a Saxon, was not
dispossessed at the Con-
quest, was a most liberal
prelate, and the cathedral
profited greatly from his
benefactions. Dying in
1072, he was succeeded
by Bishop Osbern, and
then with William Warel-
wast, the blind bishop, a
nephew of the Conqueror,
consecrated in 1107, we
come to the builder of
the towers of the present
church. Nay, more than
the towers, for great as
is the transformation which
the cathedral has under-
gone at the hands of
later builders, it is struc-
turally much the same
now that it was when it
left the hands of Bishop

A Nave.
B Aisles.

C Consistory Count.
D North Porch.
E St. Paul s Tower.
F St. Johns Tow-en
G Chapel of St.Paul.
H Chiip.olSt.Johmhe Baptist
K Chapter House. -Library.
L Choir,
M choir Aisles.

N Chapel of St. Andrew
O Chapel of .St. James.
P Chapel of St. George.
Q Chapel of. St. Saviour.
R Cha.ofSf.MaryMagdalene
S Chapel of St. Gabriel.
T Lady Chapel.

Oi~^ — ~j
\.__j 1 t

PLAN OF EXETER CATHEDRAL

EXETER.]

THE TWO MASTER-BUILDERS.

205

Marshall, who at the end of the twelfth century brought to comple-
tion the enterprise begun by Warelwast in its early years. That is
to say, the body of the church has not been rebuilt, but has, by drastic

••-••••••fsp^

w^pmtt

i r LI

THE EAST END AND THE BISHOP'S PALACE

alteration, been converted from a Norman to a
Decorated building, the structure itself remaining
the same.

Bishop Marshall, to whom the Norman cathedral

owed the Lady Chapel and six other chapels, besides the north porch and an
enlarged choir, vacated the see in the year 1206 : the transformation of
which we have spoken was begun by Bishop Quivil about the year 1280,
was continued by Bishops Bitton and Stapledon, his successors, and by
the princely Bishop Grandisson — who ruled the see from 1327 to 1369—
and was finished by Grandisson's successor, Brantyngham. But among
all these builder-bishops we must single out two as the master-builders
of the church — William Warelwast, whose mind conceived the Norman
church, including the towers which enable us to realise what a massive
fabric it must have been, and Peter Quivil, who not merely began the
conversion of the church to its present form, but presided in spirit over
the execution of the vast scheme, for there can be no doubt that he
left behind him plans which his successors loyally carried out. One
indication of this is to be found in the fact that, though the work was
finished during the late Decorated period, the tracery throughout, except
in the windows of the nave clerestory and in one of the chapels, follows
the geometrical pattern of the earlier, instead of flowing into the curves
characteristic of the later, phase of the Decorated style.

Bishop Quivil began with the towers, which, though always transeptal

206 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [EXETE*.

in position, were not open to the church until he removed the inner
wall of each, at the same time piercing the outer walls with rose windows
to admit more light. The choir and its aisles were transformed by Bishop
Bitton ; Bishop Stapledon took in hand the choir transepts, and made a
beginning with the cloisters, and to him the church also owes the organ
screen, the lovely Bishop's throne, and the sedilia ; Bishop Grandisson
directed his energies to the six western bays of the nave, the vaulting
and the aisles, and the west front ; to Bishop Brantyngham it was
reserved to complete the cloisters and the east window and to add
the western screen, filling it with carved figures of kings and warriors,
of angels and apostles and saints.

We have already hinted at the impression — an impression of stern
dignity — which the fortress-like towers make by their massive simplicity.
Disproportionate both to their own height and to the dimensions of
the church they certainly are, and they speak plainly enough of an age
when it was prudent to make a strong tower even of the house of God,
yet since they have come down to us in their integrity — save, indeed,
that in the Perpendicular period the uppermost stage of the north tower
was modified in order that the great bell from Llandaff might be hung
in it — who would wish them otherwise than as they are ? Archdeacon
Freeman says of them that they " well image forth that ancient gesture
of prayer which prevailed alike among Pagans and Israelites, the lifting
up of the outspread palms to heaven " —an exercise of fancy which sorts
but ill with the bold simplicity of the structures themselves. The west
front, which competes with the towers for the spectator's notice, has
about it a look of extreme antiquity, which it partly owes to the crum-
bling effigies that ornament the screen. Other features of the exterior
which move to unstinted admiration are the lovely flying buttresses
which absorb the thrust of the stone vaulting, and the north porch,
with its vaulted roof, of which the central boss presents a beautifully
carved Agnus Dei.

For its interior effect, the church takes high rank among our cathedrals,
although in its feast of beauty the eye, owing to the very thorough
renovation carried out by Sir Gilbert Scott in the 'seventies, misses the
savour of antiquity which belongs so abundantly to the exterior. As the
visitor steps inside, his gaze is drawn slowly onwards by a dwindling
vista of groined vaulting which, uninterrupted by a central tower, ends
only at the far eastern end of the church. Owing to the length of this
unbroken vista, the interior at first seems to be lacking in height, yet
the bosses of the roof are sixty-eight feet from the floor, an elevation greater
than in Worcester or Wells. Charming in their lightness and grace are
the shafts of the vaulting ; not less to be admired are the clustered

CO
LU

LU
I-
LU
X
LU

208

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[EXETER.

pillars of Purbeck marble, each pillar consisting of sixteen shafts set
diamond-wise, though at the east end are two pillars of only eight shafts,
and two of but four. In few, if any, of our cathedrals is the principle
of unity in variety so patent as in Exeter. While the tracery of

no two windows side by side is
the same, with the single ex-
ception of the second and fourth
in the nave clerestory, each win-
dow corresponds with that facing
it, and in the same way pillar
answers to pillar, aisle to aisle,
and chapel to chapel — St. John
the Baptist's to St. Paul's, St.
James's to St. Andrew's, St.
Saviour's to St. George's, St.
Gabriel's to St. Mary Magda-
lene's; the choir has the same
number of bays as the nave,
and to crown all, as Archdeacon
Freeman says, " the grand char-
acteristic feature of our cathedral
—the transeptal towers — completes
this balance of parts, and was,
indeed, the primary instance and
model of it." The same note
is struck by the colour scheme
of the interior. The Purbeck
pillars, the Thorverton stone of

the Beer stone of the arcades and walling are of
different yet harmonious tints, and with so great a variety of delicate
hues to be enjoyed one feels in no mood to complain that the
cathedral is not richer in stained glass.

The east window, enlarged ' from a gable window in the fourteenth
century, is disappointing, for it is a rather feeble specimen of early
Perpendicular, though it contains some fine old glass, some of it believed
to have been transferred from the earlier window, and the rest of it
not later than the tracery itself. The great west window is magnificent ;
until recently it contained poor and faded glass, dating from about
the middle of the eighteenth century, but this, under the direction of
Mr. G. F. Bodley, has now been replaced with new glass that forms
a memorial of the late Archbishop Temple, a Devonshire man, who,
before he was translated to the see of London, was for sixteen years

THE CHOIR PULPIT

the vaulting,

EXETIK.]

MINSTRELS' GALLERY AND CHOIR SCREEN.

209

(1869-85) Bishop of Exeter. The fine Decorated tracery of the window
was at the same time renewed.

Occupying one bay on the level of the triforium, on the north side
of the nave, is the beautiful Minstrels' Gallery, its exquisite tabernacle
work sheltering twelve sculptured figures of angels holding musical in-
struments. Other cathedrals, as well, have their minstrels' galleries, but
none of them can bear comparison with this. At each side of the gallery
is a niche, one containing a figure of St. Peter, the other a figure of
St. Mary. These niches are supported by corbelled heads of Edward III.
and Queen Philippa, and, as the King appointed the Black Prince Duke
of Cornwall in 1337, and added Exeter to the duchy, it has been
suggested that the gallery was
constructed in order that the
Prince might be greeted with
music whenever he came to
the cathedral.

The lovely choir screen,
one of the works of Bishop
Stapledon, which supports the
organ, is pierced with three
depressed arches, and decorated
with a row of curious little
paintings of Scriptural scenes.
At the restoration in the
'seventies there was great
discussion about the age of
the screen, as we learn from
Scott's " Personal and Pro-
fessional Recollections." Arch-
deacon Freeman, he says,
sympathised with those who
would have had the screen
removed, and sought to prove
that the structure was of late
date, arguing from accounts

preserved in the archives of the cathedral, containing extensive entries
for iron-work and tiles, that there had originally been an open iron
screen ; but the indefatigable architect was able to trace in other
parts of the building the iron and tiles thus described, and at last
the Archdeacon admitted that the screen was Bishop Stapledon's, and
that it dated from 1320. The organ, built about the middle of the
seventeenth century by John Loosemore, the famous organ builder,

SCREEN OF THE LADY
CHAPEL

aio CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [EX«T«.

who lies in the nave, has been reconstructed by Willis with all the
most modern appliances, but the Renaissance case still remains.

Standing within the church, the visitor is liable to forget that the
transepts are the old towers of the Norman cathedral, so boldly have
they been adapted to their present purpose. The two inner walls have
been cut completely away to the height of the roof, and the part above
supported by a great pointed arch, so that there is nothing visible to
hint at the adaptation, though of course it is evident, from the masonry
in the walls and the remains of windows, that they are of earlier date
than nave or choir. The choir is rather earlier than the nave,
but is in the same general style, and is even more beautiful in its details.
Of the Bishop's throne, in which there is not a single nail, the exquisite
carving is universally admired. In the Commonwealth period it was taken
down and concealed, lest it should be destroyed by the iconoclasts, but it
was replaced at the Restoration. It has had to be extensively restored.
" The lower part," says Scott, " was nearly all modern, and much of it
was in plaster. Evidence existed of the old design of this portion ;
indeed, some important parts of the old work remained, and these in-
dications have been precisely followed, excepting that I yielded to pressure
in making the front open. There were no evidences one way or the
other, but it had most probably been close. This front is magnificently
carried out, in exact imitation of the old work at its angles, which still
existed ; the sides and back are simpler, and follow evidences attached
to the several angle buttresses. The whole of the old work was cleansed
of its paint and varnish, but where it had been decorated in colour
this was preserved and restored."

Not less choice are the canopied stone sedilia, for which, as for the
throne, the church is indebted to Bishop Stapledon. To the fine alabaster
reredos, designed by Scott and executed by Earp, Archdeacon Freeman
gives no more than deserved praise when he says that, " with its
delicate canopies of alabaster and sculptures wrought in bold relief, its
inlay of choice marbles, its redundance of costly stones, and its attendant
angel figures, it enshrines a multitude of ideas well harmonising with its
place and purpose." It represents the Transfiguration, the Descent from
the Cross, and the Ascension, and it is curious to recall that at the
time of its erection the legality of the figures was questioned in the
Courts, and that the first decision was adverse. In his anxiety to avoid
blocking out the arches at the east end the architect made the reredos
too small, but he afterwards slightly increased the height of it. The
choir stalls, too, are of Scott's designing, but the misereres are among
the most ancient in the kingdom, belonging to the thirteenth century,
and marked by much grotesque humour. Many other of the fittings

EXETER.]

THE LADY CHAPEL.

211

also are new, and handsome pavements have been laid both in the choir
and in the Lady Chapel.

The pulpit in the nave, executed by Farmer and Brindley from
Scott's designs, attracts attention from its association with Bishop Patteson,
who was ordained deacon in the cathedral, and of whom it forms a
memorial. The martyrdom of this pious son of Devon, slain by savages
in 1871 by way of revenge for kidnapping practised by white traders,
is set forth in
one of the sculp-
tur ed p anels;
while the others
represent mis-
sionary scenes in
the lives of St.
Boniface and St.
Alban. The font,
also in the nave,
is interesting
from a more an-
cient association,
for it was first
used for the chris-
tening of the
youngest child of
Charles I., on
July 3rd, 1644.

An ambula-
tory separates
the choir from
the Lady Chapel,
which was built
by Marshall and
transformed by
Quivil. After his
time Lady
Chapels, as Canon
Edmonds notes

in his charming little sketch of the cathedral in " The Book of Fair
Devon," fell into neglect. This, no exception to the rule, " was used
for a long time as the Chapter Library, and it is only in recent years
that the larger Christian life of our time has found constant need and
faithful use for this queen of the chapels in Exeter Cathedral."

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

212 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [EXE™,

That the church should be so rich in ancient monumental remains
is rather surprising after all the scathe it suffered at the hands of the
iconoclasts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The work of
destruction was begun at the Reformation by Simon Heynes, the Dean,
who, in spite of the protests of the canons, tore the elaborate memorial
brasses from the floors and walls, defaced images which had never been
superstitiously abused, and cut up and destroyed the most beautiful
service books. A precedent for further spoliation was not, therefore, lacking
when, in the Rebellion, a partition wall of brick was run up at a cost
of £150, and the church divided into two portions, and named
respectively East Peter's and West Peter's, for the use of the Presby-
terians and Independents. At the Restoration this innovation was re-
moved, by means of an early application to the King and Council by
Dean Ward, afterwards bishop of the diocese.

Among the tombs that have survived the ravages of time and the
destructive fury of zealots are those of several bishops, beginning, it
is said, with Leofric, whose monument, if we accept the traditional
identification, is to be found in the south transept. Bishop Stapledon
found ultimate sepulture in the choir, and it is fitting that he should
rest here, amid the fruits of his love for his cathedral, after the tragedy
which cut short his career and the indignity to which his remains were
subjected. A man of great ability and vigour, founder of Exeter College
at Oxford, as well as of the Exeter Grammar School, he rose to be
Lord Treasurer of England, and was holding that office when, in 1326,
Queen Isabella, the " she-wolf of France," consort of Edward II., landed
to drive from her husband's side the Spensers. The King and his favour-
ites fled to the Welsh marches, but Stapledon, when Isabella, advanced
upon London, showed a bold front, and from Exeter House, his palace
in the Strand, called upon the Mayor to deliver up the keys of the
capital. Fearing that the Mayor would submit, the populace rose, fired
the gates of Exeter House, and plundered it. Meanwhile, the Bishop fled
to St. Paul's for sanctuary, but at the north door was torn from his
horse and dragged to Cheapside, and there the rabble smote off his
head, which was sent to the Queen. The body was flung into un-
hallowed ground near his own palace, but six months later was brought
to the cathedral for which he had done so much, and here solemnly
interred. An older bishop who also rests in the choir is Henry Marshall,
who ruled the see from 1194 to 1206, and, as we have seen, com-
pleted the cathedral as designed by Warelwast ; it is a lovely piece of
Early English work, in Purbeck marble.

The tomb of Peter Quivil, the master-builder of the cathedral as
we now see it, is to be found in the centre of the graceful Lady Chapel.

EXETER: THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST

213

214

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[H.XETER.

The stone bears the inscription, " Petra tegit petrum, nihil official sibi
tetrum." Bishop Bronescombe, who died in 1281, was originally buried,
it is believed, in St. Gabriel's Chapel, which he had altered and
beautified that it might be his resting-place ; but he now rests under
one of the arches between the Lady Chapel and the side chantries, under
a canopy of the Perpendicular period. Over against it, under rich taber-
nacle work, is the fine monument of Bishop Stafford, who died in 1419,
" well accounted generally of all men." For the tomb of the princely
Bishop Grandisson, who had royal blood in his veins, and was brother
to the lady who figures in the legend of the founding of the Order of
the Garter, the visitor will seek in vain. He had chosen the Chapel of
St. Radegunde as his place of burial, and here in due time he was laid
to rest, but in the reign of Elizabeth his tomb was destroyed and the
ashes were flung to the winds.

Another bishop of the see whose monument some may seek without
finding it is Miles Coverdale, the pious Reformer who assisted Tyndale in
his complete version of the Bible, printed in 1535. Hoker (Hooker),
the historian of Exeter, uncle of the scholar who wrote " The Laws of
Ecclesiastical Polity," pictures him as " a great keeper of hospitality, very
sober in diet, godly in life, friendly to the godly, liberal to the poor,

and courteous to all men ; void of pride,
full of humility, abhorring covetousness, and
an enemy to all wickedness and wicked men."
Coverdale, however, was little liked in his
diocese, which at this time leaned strongly
to the old ways. Hooker says that his
enemies laid many plots for his undoing, and
shamefully slandered him, and even attempted
his death by poison ; and when at Queen
Mary's accession he was deprived his flock
generally appear to have regarded it as a
good riddance. When Queen Elizabeth came
to the throne he returned to his native
country, but was never restored to his see,
and though the living of St. Magnus by
London Bridge was bestowed upon him in
1564, he resigned it from conscientious

scruples two years later. It is in the church of St. Magnus that he rests
from his labours.

Among more modern monuments in the cathedral, high rank must,
be accorded to Chantrey's animated statue of James Northcote, the
artist, a native of Plymouth. It is now to be seen in the north tran-

BISHOP MILES COVERDALE
(1551-53)

i:\i ii K

THE PRECINCTS.

215

sept, under the quaint old clock, originally constructed in the thirteenth
century, which still records the age of the moon as well as the passing
of the hours. Against the wall of the north aisle is a bronze relief
by Marochetti to the memory of the officers and men of the gth Lancers
who fell in India — a memorial which recalls the same artist's monument
to the two Lords Melbourne in St. Paul's Cathedral.

The length of the church, from the west entrance to the east end
of the Lady Chapel, is 383 feet, of which the nave accounts for 140 feet
and the choir for 123 feet ; the breadth of nave and aisles is 72 feet,
the height of the vaulting from the pavement is 68 feet. The transept
is 138 feet long and 28^ feet broad, and the height of the towers is
130 feet. The great bell in the north tower, which, as we have seen,
is reputed to have come from Llandaff, is estimated to weigh 14,000 Ibs. ;
it is used only as a clock bell. In the south tower are eleven bells,
of which ten are rung in peal — the heaviest and the finest in tone in
the kingdom, as many think.

The cloister, on the south side of the nave, was partly rebuilt by
the late Mr. Pearson, with a Chapter Library over it. Opposite the south
tower is the Chapter-house, a square structure of Early English date
modified in the Perpendicular period. On the same side of the church
as the Chapter-house is the Palace, with its velvety lawns and well-
grown trees. Almost rebuilt in the nineteenth century, it contains
in the hall a fine chimney-piece dating from the fifteenth century,
and some other interesting details. In the Deanery several of our
kings have lodged, among them William III., when as yet he
was but Prince of Orange, newly come from Torbay. To him there
was cold welcome vouchsafed, for the Bishop (Lamplugh) had fled to

2i6 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [EXETER.

King James as soon as he had news of the Prince's landing, and with
him went the Dean. But William, as Macaulay has so graphically related,
" repaired in military state to the cathedral. As he passed under the
gorgeous screen, that renowned organ, scarcely surpassed by any of those
which are the boast of his native Holland, gave out a peal of triumph.
He mounted the Bishop's seat, a stately throne rich with the carving of the
fifteenth century. Burnet stood below, and a crowd of warriors and
nobles appeared on the right hand and on the left. The singers, robed
in white, sang the Te Deum. When the chant was over Burnet read
the Prince's declaration, but as soon as the first words were uttered
Burnet cried in a loud voice, ' God save the Prince of Orange ! ' and
many fervent voices answered, ' Amen ! '

Bishop Lamplugh was a very notable time-server. He won the
Archbishopric of York by his show of loyalty to King James ; he kept
it by going over to King William, at whose coronation he assisted.
" My lord, you are a genuine old cavalier," was the contemptuous greeting
he received from King William. Of a rather earlier Bishop of Exeter,
John Gauden, who, probably with justice, claimed the authorship of
the " Icon Basilike," the work which professes to be the record of the
meditations of Charles I. during his imprisonment, it is said that, although
he received £20,000 in fines on the renewal of leases, he was disappointed
with his preferment to Exeter, because, in his own words, " Exeter had
a high rack but a low manger." Such a prize he considered an in-
sufficient reward for the successful literary fraud he had committed.
He vexed Lord Clarendon more than a little with his importunities,
and a few months after he became Bishop of Exeter the Lord Chan-
cellor wrote to him : " The particular which you often renewed I do
confess was imparted to me under secrecy, and of which I did not take
myself to be at liberty to take notice ; and truly when it ceases to
be a secret I know nobody will be glad of it but Mr. Milton. I have
very often wished I had never been trusted with it." Two years after
his preferment to Exeter Gauden was translated to Worcester, but still
he was dissatisfied, for he had expected the " better manger " of Win-
chester. He died in the year of his translation, and his end is said
to have been hastened by his mortification at having missed the richer
prize.

But happily the see has usually had for its rulers ecclesiastics of
a less worldly type than Lamplugh and Gauden. Not to speak of James
Turberville, the saintly Marian bishop, who, says Hooker, was " very
gentle and courteous," and " though most zealous in the Romish religion,"
yet was "nothing cruel nor bloody," there was Joseph Hall, who, satirist
though he was, ruled the see in troublous times in a spirit of conciliation.

Q
Z

I-

Q
Z

111

c
o
w

X
Q
Ul

EXETEK.)

BISHOPS OF EXETER.

217

His name is usually associated with Norwich, to which he was trans-
lated in 1641, but he was Bishop of Exeter for thirteen years, whilst
after six years at Norwich he was ejected from his palace and retired
to a small estate in the vicinity, where he died in 1656. One of the
ablest defenders of the Anglican Church, his advocacy was marked by
a spirit of moderation.

Another bishop whose name is widely known is Jonathan Trelawny,
one of the faithful seven whom James II. committed to the Tower and
brought to trial in Westminster Hall, with results so little to his liking.
At the time of his arrest and trial, however, Trelawny, who was baronet as
well as bishop, presided over the see of Bristol. He was translated in 1689,
the year after
the Revolution,
but this mark
of favour did
not debar him
from siding
with Princess Anne
and the Churchills
against King William.
In 1707 he left
Exeter for Winches-
ter, dying in 1721,
after having worn
the mitre for the
space of thirty-six
years.

Photo : Wm. Dodson.
THE MINSTRELS' GALLERY.

In the nineteenth
century the see had
the good fortune to
be governed by two
of the strongest and
ablest men who ever
sat on the Bishops'
bench, both of them
born rulers of men.
Henry Phill-
potts was
consecrated
hi 1830, and
remained
Bishop of

2l8

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[EXETER.

Exeter until his death, thirty-nine years later. Tory and High
Churchman, with a great fund of pugnacity, his was a stormy
career, punctuated with lawsuits, the most famous of which was
that which arose out of his refusal to institute George Cornelius
Gorham 'to the living of Brampford Speke, on the ground of
his disbelief in the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. But, though
he made many enemies, his sincerity and ability and courage won for
him general admiration, and in his own see he was an exceedingly
popular figure.

His successor, Frederick Temple, had at the outset to encounter
vigorous opposition because of the suspicion, arising out of his having
been one of the contributors to " Essays and Reviews," that he was
latitudinarian. But, like the strong man he was, he went steadily on
with his work, and by his rugged simplicity of character, his abundant
labours, his breadth of view, his sympathy with every good cause, he
soon won the affections not only of Churchmen but also of Noncon-
formists. In 1885 he was translated to London. There he was less
understood than he had been in his native Devonshire, and it was not
until he became Primate of All England, in 1896, that his great qualities
won from the nation at large the recognition which for many years had
been accorded to them in the West Country. It was during his epis-
copate that the diocese was divided — Cornwall, which had been united
with Devon ecclesiastically ever since 1050, when the see was removed
from Crediton to Exeter, being once more erected into a separate diocese.

TOMB OF BISHOP STAPLEDON

2IQ

GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL.

CHICHESTER.

Peculiarities of the Cathedral — Bishop Ralph Luffa — His Church Described— The Fire of 1186 — Alterations
— Work of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries — Fall of the North-western Tower — Collapse
of the Central Tower— The Central Tower Rebuilt— Restorations— The Nave and Choir— The
Lady Chapel — Traces of Ancient Frescoes — The Cathedral Library — The Sacristy— Bishop
Sherborne's Altar Screen — The Rood Screen — The Pulpit in the Nave — Monuments — Dimensions
— The Cloisters — Bishops and Deans of Chichester.

N two respects the cathedral church of Chichester is
differentiated from all other English cathedrals, though
in both particulars there is no lack of analogues among
Continental cathedrals. It has a separate bell tower,
which was built in the fifteenth century to relieve the
central tower of a weight which it was incapable of
sustaining ; it also has a five-aisled nave. The extra
aisles were added in the thirteenth century, and the
effect of this addition is to make the cruciform character of the
church less obvious than usual. The campanile, a massive struc-
ture 120 feet in height, with an octagonal upper storey, forms an agree-
able feature of a general view ; but it is open to question whether the
exaggerated breadth which the additional aisles bestow upon the nave
is an improvement to a building of the size of Chichester cathedral,
however it might enrich a fabric of ampler proportions.

When in 1075 the seat of the episcopate of the South Saxons was
removed from Selsea to Chichester, the south-western part of the town,
in which already stood a monastery dedicated to St. Peter, was allotted

220 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [CH,CHESTKR.

to the purposes of the church ; and there Stigand, formerly William's
chaplain, in whose time the change was made, established himself, making
use apparently of the ecclesiastical buildings which already existed.
The foundations of the present cathedral were laid by Bishop Ralph
Luffa, a stalwart man, and a stout champion of the Church, for he with-
stood William Rufus on the question of the investitures, and Henry I.
in the matter of the permissive marriage of priests. Right or wrong
in his ecclesiastical views, he was an energetic, hard-working man, and
" raised his see from a state of great poverty to one of order and
importance. He left all his goods to the poor, directing their distri-
bution in his own sight as he lay on his death-bed."

Of the church which he built a good deal remains in the present
cathedral, though the earlier work is of more than one date, for Bishop
Ralph had not long completed his task when a fire broke out, and
did much serious damage. When he died, in 1123, the building was
not finished, although it was well advanced ; and the consecration did
not take place till the year 1148. There can be no doubt, as Professor
Willis pointed out, that originally the nave of the church was built
in two portions. The ceiling was flat, with the beams exposed. Choir
and nave had each a single aisle to the north and south, with triforium
galleries over ; the transepts had no aisles. So the buttresses of the
transepts were slight, for they had no thrust to meet : one may be
seen in the present muniment room by the side of a larger buttress
which became necessary when the roof of the transept was vaulted.
The character of the aisles may be learnt by examining the arches
leading into the western towers : they must have had simple cylindrical
roofs ; the galleries above still exhibit the springing of the arches which
sustained their heavier covering. The east end was apsidal. This
Professor Willis proved by a marked feature in the windows of the
choir triforium, and his statement is corroborated by a curious frag-
ment—a curved stone slab found a few years ago in the floor behind
the present reredos.

In 1186 there occurred another destructive fire, which gave the
occasion for all this to be altered. First it was determined that pre-
cautions should be taken against the recurrence of such a calamity,
and it was resolved that the church should be vaulted. This entailed
flying buttresses and vaulting shafts. The height of the interior was
necessarily much diminished. In the meantime, the famous Council of
the Lateran had affected the arrangements of churches, and all over
Europe was seen, to use the words of Gueranger, " the reconstruction
of our cathedrals on a plan so mysteriously sublime." At Chichester
the apse was removed, and the east end of the church made square

ClIICII ESTER.]

AFTER SEVEN CENTURIES.

221

-the two bays behind the reredos exhibit the date and character of
this change — and the Lady Chapel was prolonged and beautified. But
the diligent explorer may still see traces of the fire which gave the
opportunity for all this, in the discoloured stones of the arches of the
choir triforium. An oak beam over the choir was removed in 1862
which bore unmistakable marks of having been exposed to the severity
of the flames in 1186 ! To Bishop Seffrid — Seffrid the Second, we must
call him, to distinguish him from another Seffrid, who ruled the see
earlier in the same century, until he was forced to retire to Glastonbury

Abbey — fell the task of making good
and to him are due the triple shafts
symbolise the Holy Trinity, to whom
In the first half of the thirteenth
carried up from the crown of the four
corbel table below the battlements, and

the ravages of the fire of 1186,
and the three vaulting ribs that
the church was rededicated.
century the central tower was
great Norman arches to the
the south-western tower was

CITY CROSS, CATHEDRAL, AND
BELL TOWER.

222

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

completed, the western porch was added, and the nave was widened
by cutting through the wall of its south aisle to provide room for chan-
tries. In this way, two side chapels— those of St. Clement and St.
George — were formed, and soon afterwards the same process was applied
to the north side, to which three chapels — those of St. Anne, St. Theobald
(or the Four Virgins), and Saints Thomas and Edmond— were added.
These chapels opened into the aisles, but were separated from each
other by partition walls ; and each had its own altar and reredos and
piscina. The party walls must have been removed at the Reforma-
tion, and so was produced the present appearance of a cathedral with
five aisles. In the first half of the next century — the fourteenth- — Bishop
John of Langton inserted the magnificent Decorated window in the south
transept, now unhappily filled with poor modern glass. The central
tower was carried up into a spire in the fifteenth century, and in the
same century were added the cloisters, which form an irregular parallel-
ogram on the south side of the church.

Few cathedrals have suffered so much from mischance as Chichester.
We have already seen that it was much damaged by fire before it was
completed, and that hardly had the ravages been repaired before it was
to a great extent destroyed by the same foe. Another calamity that
overtook it was the fall of the north-western tower. Tradition has it that
this tower was battered down by the cannon of the Commonwealth during

the siege of
Chichester.
But some
years ago the
Rev. C. A.
Swainson dis-
covered a
memoran-
dum of a
visit of in-
spection
from Sir
Christopher
Wren, in
which it was

stated that the tower had fallen some fifty years before his visit.
The recommendations of the great architect were characteristic of
the time and of the man.; He said the west end never could have
been beautiful or uniform. He advised, therefore, that the remain-
ing tower should be removed, the church cut short a bay, and a fair

1. St. Anne's Chapel.

2. Chapel of St. Theobald or the Four Virgins.

3. Chapel of St. Thomas and St. Edmond.

4. Chapel of St. John the Baptist and St. Edmund

the King.

I' A K A U^I S E

PLAN OF CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL

CHICHESTER.]

FALL OF THE CENTRAL TOWER.

223

front erected towards the west. Happily, either he had not the influence,
or the Chapter had not the money, to carry out his proposal, and it
was reserved to our own day to rebuild the tower.

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

But we have yet to tell the story of the worst of the calamities
that have befallen Chichester — the collapse of the central tower. Like
the other piers and walls of the church, its piers were composed of
rubble stone set in mortar and cased with ashlar. This central tower,
even after it was partly rebuilt after the fire of 1186, rose only a little
above the gables of the roofs, as was discovered shortly before the fall.
The building of the grander tower, which was assigned by Professor
Willis to the second quarter of the thirteenth century, was commenced
in ignorance of the extreme weakness of the substructure ; and on the
summit of this tower, in the same ignorance, was erected — in the fif-
teenth century, as we have said — the beautiful spire. Subsidence fol-
lowed, and an attentive visitor may observe in the most easterly bay
on the north side of the nave an indication of the apprehensions that
ensued. The arch is strengthened by an inner arch, diminishing its
span. Indeed, the whole of the great works intended to beautify the

224

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

cathedral increased its weakness. The south-west corner of the tower
was weakened by the grand staircase carried up to the Chapter-room ;
the south transept by the beautiful window of Bishop Langton ; the
north transept by the large window placed in it. Some attempts,
producing not very graceful results, were made to prevent the arches
over these windows from spreading. Ultimately the weight of the gables
was diminished by removing the greater part of the gables themselves,
though they were replaced by Dean Chandler in the nineteenth century.
But before the gables were taken down the bells were removed from
the central tower. These were placed, first in the south-west corner
of the church ; then the magnificent campanile was erected to receive
them. But it seems to have been erected for a further purpose : its
massive walls and the strength of its buttresses show that it was
intended to carry a lofty spire. The authorities appear to have despaired
of saving the central structure of the cathedral itself.

The reasonableness of these apprehensions was exhibited by the
sequel. The long desire of Dean Chandler (one of the greatest and most

far-seeing of cathedral dignitaries) had
been to utilise the nave of the
church, and the first special services
in a cathedral nave were held at
Chichester. He left a sum of £2,000
for the building, and his executors,
in conjunction with an influential
committee, resolved in 1859 to remove
the beautiful but somewhat frail
screen which separated the choir from
the nave. When this was done, it
was discovered that the piers of
the tower were rotten. There was
no adhesion in the core. Attempts
to secure them by shoring and
underpinning were in progress ; but
before this could be accomplished
a gale of wind sprang up, more
cracks opened in the piers, and the
crushed mortar began to pour out.
Desperate efforts were made to check the progress of the ruin ; but
soon after midday on Thursday, February 2ist, 1861, it became evident
that the risk had become unjustifiably great; the workmen, more than
seventy in number, were ordered out of the building, and warning was
given that the spire might fall at any moment.

ICIENT CARVING IN SOUTH CHOIR AISLE
SHOWING CHRIST VISITING MARTHA AND
MARY.

CtllCHESTER.)

"GREAT WAS THE FALL OF IT!"

225

Some of the houses in the precincts were deserted, being within
range of the falling materials. There is a story that an aged minor
canon, who was ill in bed in one of them, refused to be moved, saying
that he had lived under the shadow of the spire all his life, and was
ready to perish with it should this be so ordered. About half-past one
o'clock the watchers saw the spire
sway more distinctly ; it gave a
slight jerk towards the south-west,
and then, righting itself, descended
into the body of the church — just
as one telescope tube slides into
another, as an observer has de-
scribed it — the spire descending bodily
for a considerable distance, as if the
supports had yielded simultaneously.
With the exception of the capstone,
which fell upon one of the flying
buttresses of the nave, every stone
fell within the church. The weather-
cock alone was picked up in the
churchyard. The cathedral was prac-
tically cut into four quarters, and
the great central piers were reduced
to mere stumps rising a few feet
from the floor. But the most de-
structive results which had been apprehended in case the spire should
fall lengthways upon the choir, nave, or one of the transepts, were
averted. If one may venture on the phrase, as little damage as pos-
sible was done.

A subscription was at once started for the repair of the church
and the rebuilding of the tower and spire, and Sir Gilbert Scott was
called in ; but not wishing to displace Mr. Slater, who had been engaged
upon the restoration of the choir, and who, by the way, had been quite
unjustly blamed for removing the organ-screen, he generally associated
that architect with himself, and shared with him his payments. What
pains he took to secure that the new tower and spire should be an
exact reproduction he has himself recorded in his " Personal and Pro-
fessional Recollections." He at once made most careful examination
of the remains, and stationed his son, Gilbert Scott, at Chichester, while
the vast heap of debris was removed, the latter's task being, with the
help of prints and photographs, to identify every moulded and carved
stone, and to label and register them so that such of them as were

ANCIENT CARVING IN SOUTH CHOIR AISLE,
SHOWING THE RAISING OF LAZARUS

226 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [cmc^,,

sufficiently preserved might be used again, while the rest might be avail-
able for reference. Happily a former resident architect had made perfect
measured drawings of the tower and spire, and in these various ways
the whole design " was absolutely and indisputably recovered. The
only departure from the original which the architect permitted himself,
except that he omitted the partial walling up of the belfry windows, was
the addition of five or six feet to the height of the tower, so that it
now rises above the arms of the cross, as it did before these were raised."
The work was finished in five years, and on June 28th, 1866, Mr. Gilbert
Scott, who had superintended every detail of the work from the begin-
ning, refixed the old weathercock with his own hands, and the comple-
tion of the work was celebrated by a solemn Te Deum.

Sir Gilbert Scott also undertook, in conjunction with Mr. Slater, the
restoration of the Lady Chapel, and of the Chapel of St. Pantaleon, to
the east of the south transept, now the canons' vestry. Before this the
choir, the restoration having been completed, had been reopened, in 1867.
More recently the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, at the end of the
south choir aisle, has been restored in memory of Canon Crosse, and
that of St. Clement, in the outer south aisle of the nave, as a memorial
of Bishop Durnford ; the cloisters also have been restored ; and in
190 1 the north-western tower, after lying in ruin for more than tv/o
centuries and a half, was rebuilt by the late Mr. Pearson, who has
made it an exact copy of its southern sister.

The nave and choir are both fine specimens of late Norman work,
the latter showing the Norman when it was beginning to merge into
the succeeding style. The presbytery is very beautiful Transitional work,
round-headed and pointed arches being employed indifferently. The
Lady Chapel, said to have been built or rebuilt from its foundations by
Bishop Gilbert of St. Leofard (1288-1305), and at any rate repaired and
enlarged by him, is among the most interesting parts of the building.
On the roof may be seen some remains of the original beautiful colour-
ing which it owes to Bishop Sherborne, who ruled the see from 1508
to 1536, and employed an Italian artist, Lamberti Bernardi, and his
two sons to decorate the vaulting throughout the church with arabesque
paintings. In one or two of the western bays — west, that is, of the
entrance to the chapel proper — may be seen the motto of Winchester
School, the favourite maxim of Bishop Sherborne. In the middle of the
eighteenth century the Lady Chapel was said to be a ruin, and the crypt
was placed at the disposal of the family of the Dukes of Richmond for a
mausoleum. The floor was raised to give the necessary height below,
and then the windows were partly plastered up and partly glazed, books
were stored in the building, and a grand fireplace was erected against

CHICHESTER CATHEDRAL,
FROM THE NORTH-EAST.

228

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[CHICHESTER.

the east window. So it was when Professor Willis paid his visit, and
good reason had he to lament that the unfortunate position of the
sepulchral vault of the Richmond family had robbed the chapel of its

due proportions. And so it continued
until 1867. The upper part of the walls,
which enclosed the library, was then re-
moved, and the beauty of the roof was
visible from the choir ; and when Bishop
Ashhurst Turner Gilbert died, in 1870,
after an episcopate of nearly thirty years,
and the desire was felt to restore, in
memory of him, the chapel which had
been built by a former Bishop Gilbert
nearly six hundred years before, the
Duke of Richmond allowed the floor to
be lowered, and an immense improvement
was effected. The stained glass, com-
memorating events in the life of the
Virgin, has been added since.

Of the work of Bernard! and his sons, of which we have just
spoken, only faint traces now remain. But in the south transept, at
the back of the choir-stalls, are two large oil paintings on wood, repre-
senting the founding of the see of Selsea
by Ceadwalla, King of Wessex, and the
confirmation by Henry VIII. of Bishop
Sherborne's gifts to the cathedral. In
the north transept is another large
picture by Bernard!, made up of imag-
inary portraits of the Bishops of Selsea
and Chichester, from 'Wilfrid to Sherborne.
There is a strong family likeness between
the portraits, and one wonders whether
the artist paid his patron the compli-
ment of making him the model for
them all. On the east side of this
transept, in what were formerly the Chapels
of St. John the Baptist and St. Edmund
the King, is the cathedral library, formerly

to be found in the Lady Chapel. Here are preserved a few curi-
osities, among them a genuine Abraxas ring, found on the finger of
one of the early bishops, whose tomb it was necessary to remove ; a
cross of lead discovered on the breast of another bishop, commemorating

CHICHESTER.3

SACRISTY AND CHOIR.

229

his absolution; and the Litany of the great Reforming Continental prelate,
whose death caused such joy at the opening of the Council of Trent
— Archbishop Herman of Cologne. This was Cranmer's copy, and has
his signature on the title-page ; and there can be little doubt that this
very volume furnished the model for the English Litany.

The sacristy, on the west side of the south transept, is well
worthy of attention, as is also its ancient door and lock. A hand-
some staircase (to the construction of which attention has already
been drawn, as contributing to the weakness of the building) leads from
the church to the room
above. This room is de-
scribed as the Bishop's
Chapter-house, and the
Bishop's seat may still be
seen in it. The staircase
was adapted for grand
processions. In the room
is a sliding panel, covering
the entrance to a secret
chamber, where, doubtless,
the chief treasures of the
church were kept when
not in use. There is a
record that, when the
cathedral was in the power
of the Commonwealth
forces, one of the servants
betrayed the place where
the treasures were de-
posited. The troops were
not likely to have dis-
covered it otherwise.

The choir of the church
retains scarcely anything

ancient. At some period since Bishop Sherborne's time it had become
blocked with pews and galleries, and a clean sweep was necessary, and
of the more ancient structure some of the stalls alone remain. These stalls
are assigned, as in other cathedrals of the old foundation, to the dean,
precentor, chancellor, treasurer, archdeacon, and prebendaries, and each
officer is installed on his appointment with much ceremony, " staff as
to spirituals, loaf as to temporals," but the seat is the only property
to which he can now claim a right. The reredos of stone and marble,

TOMB OF EARL AND COUNTESS OF ARUNDEL IN NORTH
AISLE OF NAVE (/>• 23°)-

230 CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [CHASTE,.

erected in 1870 from the designs of Messrs. Slater and Carpenter, with
the Ascension instead of the Crucifixion for its subject, failed to give
general satisfaction, from a feeling that it was out of keeping with
its surroundings, and it was never completed. Recently it has been
transferred to St. Saviour's, Brighton, and its place in the cathedral
taken by Bishop Sherborne's altar-screen, which had long been consigned
to limbo. The organ, now on the north side of the choir, was origin-
ally built by Renatus Harris in 1678, but it has been several times
enlarged, having been renewed and recased in 1888, and it was rebuilt
in 1904, and reopened with a special musical service on September
28th in that year. The oak rood-screen, which divides the choir from
the nave, a memorial of Archdeacon Walker, was designed by Mr. T.
Garner, and was erected in 1889. The pulpit, in the nave, of Sir Gilbert
Scott's designing, is of Caen stone and Purbeck marble, and forms a
memorial of Dean Hook.

Among other monuments is one of uncommon beauty, which is
said to represent Maud, Countess of Arundel, who died in the year 1270.
Worthy of notice also are the tomb of Richard Fitz-Alan (fourteenth Earl
of Arundel, who was beheaded in the year 1397) and his wife Maud, and
that of Richard de la Wych, Bishop of Chichester, who was canonised, and
known in after times as St. Richard of Chichester. Another man, a favourite
of King Henry III., had been elected by the canons to the vacant see ;
but the Pope refused to accept him, and consecrated Richard de la
Wych, then a Dominican monk, during the sitting of the Council of
Lyons. The King retorted by confiscating the revenues of the see,
but yielded after a time, and the Bishop was left in peace. He was
indefatigable in his diocese, and while preaching a crusade died in the
Maison Dieu at Dover. Thence, after his canonisation, his remains
were solemnly transported to Chichester. In the south aisle of the
choir is a monument of Bishop Sherborne, contemporary with him, and
committed by him to the care of New College, Oxford — a trust which
has been faithfully fulfilled. Among monuments of modern date are a
statue of William Huskisson, for many years member for the borough,
who was killed at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway ;
and a beautiful medallion by Flaxman of the poet William Collins,
a native of Chichester, who ended his unhappy life in a house
near the cathedral. He is represented as reading the New Tes-
tament, in reference to an incident which occurred in the last year
of his life. Dr. Johnson visited him at Islington during one of the
intervals of his attacks of insanity, and found him thus reading ; and
Collins remarked, " I have but one book, but that is the best."
There are several other monuments from the hand of Flaxman, exhibiting

CHICHESTER.]

MEMORIALS OF DEAN HOOK.

231

both the graces and the defects of his work. Walter Farquhar Hook,
greatest of the Deans of Chichester, to whose energy the rebuild-
ing of the central tower and the restoration of the cathedral were
largely due, is commemorated not only by the pulpit in the nave, but
by a monument of coloured marbles and mosaic in the south aisle of
the choir — like the pulpit, of Sir Gilbert Scott's designing. Of the stained

VIEW THROUGH THE ROOD-SCREEN INTO THE CHOIR.

glass in the cathedral, all of it modern, little need be said, except
that in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene is the window which forms
Archdeacon Manning's memorial of his wife. He resigned the Arch-
deaconry of Chichester in 1851 in order to enter the Roman Church.

Though one of the smaller English cathedrals — a little larger
than Hereford or Lichfield, and rather smaller than Exeter — Chichester

232

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

has a broader nave than any other, with the single exception of York.
Its total length is 411 feet. The nave is 172 feet long and (including
the aisles) go feet wide; the choir is 115 feet long and (with its aisles)
59 feet wide ; the height of the nave is 61 feet, of the choir 65 feet,
of the spire 277 feet.

On the south side of the cathedral are cloisters enclosing a burial-
ground, or " Paradise." These are Perpendicular in style, and in their
position and plan are exceptional, for they are placed east instead of
west of the south transept, and the sides are of unusual length. In
the south cloister William Chillingworth was buried. He had shared in
the dangers of the siege of Arundel, where his mechanical skill had
aided the defenders ; but his health had suffered much, so that at the
surrender he was brought a prisoner to Chichester, instead of being
sent to London. There a Presbyterian divine, named Cheynell, showed
him kindness, obtained for him a lodging in the Bishop's Palace, and
visited him during his illness. Cheynell, however, rewarded himself
for this consideration to a fallen enemy by some plain speaking at
his grave. He brought a copy of Chillingworth' s work, " The Religion

of Protestants : A Safe Way to Sal-
vation," and flung it into the grave
upon the body of the author, crying,
" Get thee gone, thou cursed book,
which has seduced so many precious
souls! Get thee gone, thou corrupt,
rotten book, earth to earth, dust
to dust ! Get thee gone to the
place of rottenness, that thou mayest
rot with thy author, and see cor-
ruption ! "

The episcopal Palace, a curious
combination of several periods, com-
municates with the cloisters on the
west. Of the Bishops of Chichester,
several have already been named, but
we must mention Lancelot Andrewes,
Simon Patrick, and Edward Maltby,
though they were all translated to
other sees. Of Deans, besides Walter

Farquhar Hook, we must name his immediate successor, the learned
and trenchant John William Burgon, and Thomas Sherlock, who was
appointed in 1715, was successively Bishop of Bangor, Salisbury, and
London, and declined both York and Canterbury.

THE CAMPANILE.

233

ROCHESTER.

Origins— Gundulf of Bee— St. William of Perth— Desecration— Cottingham's " Restoration"— Exterior-
Dimensions— Nave— Choir— Furniture— Ancient Tombs— Crypt— Chapter-house— Bishop's Palace
—Famous Bishops of Rochester.

HIRTEEN centuries have sped since an episcopal see was estab-
lished at Rochester. Seven years after St. Augustine landed
in Thanet and was installed in the palace of Ethelbert at
Canterbury he founded daughter sees here and at London,
so that Rochester may be re-
garded, in point of antiquity, as
second only to Canterbury among
English bishoprics. The first
bishop of the diocese was Justus,
one of those whom Pope Gregory
had sent to strengthen St.
Augustine's hands. He was con-
secrated in 604, and by Ethel-
bert a church was built for
him here which was dedicated
to St. Andrew, the patron saint
of that monastery on the Caelian
Hill at Rome to which St.
Augustine belonged. Of this
church no trace is now to be
seen above ground, though a
few years ago (1889), when
the present west front was
underpinned, the foundations
of Saxon cathedral were dis-
covered.

The first Norman Bishop of Rochester, Ernest, a monk, nominated by
Lanfranc in 1076, lived only a year. Then Gundulf of Bee was ap-
pointed, a man of talent and vigour, eminent for his knowledge of
architecture, both military and ecclesiastical, whose mighty keep still
looks down upon the Thames near London Bridge. By this great builder
was begun the cathedral which we now see, and, as is generally believed,
the castle also. The adjoining priory was also reconstructed, and sixty
Benedictine monks, skilled in learning and in church music, replaced a

THE WEST DOOR.

234

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ROCHESTER.

college of secular priests. The earliest parts of the nave of the
cathedral are Gundulf's work, and so, too, are the western part of the
crypt, the walls of the Chapter-house, and the base of the massive
tower between the two northern transepts. But most of the Norman
work in the church belongs to a rebuilding carried out by John of
Canterbury, who ruled the see between the years 1125 and 1137.

The cathedral has not fared well during its long career. It was
much injured by a fire in the year 1138, and again in 1177, so that
it had to be newly roofed ; perhaps, indeed, the great transept was
rebuilt in consequence of the latter disaster, for it is Early English,
and from its style can hardly be more recent than the beginning of
the twelfth century. At this time the fame of St. William of Perth,
a baker who was murdered in this neighbourhood while on pilgrimage
to the Holy Land and was buried in the cathedral, attracted to it
numerous votaries, and from their offerings the whole of the choir was
rebuilt, the work being completed in 1227. Since then there have been

no important additions to the structure

—though during the Perpendicular period
it did not escape sundry alterations,
mostly for the worse. It was injured
and desecrated by the soldiers of Simon
de Montfort during his siege of the
castle in 1264. In the Civil War the
brasses were torn up, the nave was
converted into a carpenter's shop, and
several saw-pits were dug in it. Nor
has it suffered much less, in times nearer
our own, from the misplaced zeal of the
so-called restorer. Having fallen into a
deplorable state of dilapidation in the
second quarter of the nineteenth century,
it was put into the hands of the elder
Cottingham, who, though he did much
that was necessary in the way of re-
pairs, inflicted upon it the ugly central
tower of which Dickens, in ' Edwin
Drood," speaks as its " old square
tower," as well as fittings which dis-
figured the choir. More recently the
worst parts of Cottingham's work have
been undone. The choir was refitted
by Sir Gilbert Scott in a restoration

TKST DIIUK
PLAN OF ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL

ROCHESTER.)

THE EXTERIOR.

235

that was carried out in the 'seventies ; and in the present century
the central tower has been rebuilt, a drastic proceeding which no
one who has ever seen Cottingham's tower will regard with anything
but approval.
The thorough re-
pair of the great
west front of the
church was carried
out by the late
John Lough-
borough Pearson,
and the north
turret of this
front, a poor piece
of eighteenth-cen-
tury rebuilding,
was subsequently
taken down and
rebuilt.

Externally the
cathedral cannot
be called an im-
pressive building,
even now that the
wretched central
tower has been
rebuilt. Small in
itself, there is
nothing in its out-
line to enhance its

dimensions or to make an impression of exceptional grace, and it is so closely
hemmed in that it is difficult to obtain a good view unless one looks at it
from some such coign of vantage as the Castle keep. Simpler in plan than
the mother church of Canterbury, it resembles that cathedral in that
it has a crypt beneath its eastern part, and is of the double cross
pattern. It is one of the smallest of English cathedrals, being but a little
larger than Bristol. The total length is 306 feet ; the nave is 126 feet
by 65 feet, the choir is 147 feet long, the main transept 120 feet, and the
choir transept 88 feet, and the height of the vaulting is 55 feet.

From the High Street of Rochester we pass beneath one of the
old gateways of the monastery, now almost buried in houses, through
a comparatively narrow passage into the precincts of the cathedral.

VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE CASTLE, LOOKING TOWARDS CHATHAM.

236

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ROCHKSTER,

DOOR OF CHAPTER-ROOM.

Reaching the little open space in front

of the main entrance, we may remember

how Dickens has interwoven the chief

features of the scene with the story

of his last and unfinished work, and

if it be summer, through the open

western door of the cathedral we may

look " down the throat of old Time."

The west front is perhaps the most

notable part of the cathedral ; in its

main outlines it is Norman, although it

did not escape the vulgar hands of

fifteenth-century " improvers," and was

disfigured by the insertion of a com-
monplace Perpendicular window.

The nave is in great part Norman,

but the fifteenth-century innovators re-
built the clerestory and raised the

roof (which is of wood, and plain),

thereby destroying the harmony of its well-balanced composition. The

nave-arches and piers, though simple
in design, are good in execution,
and the triforium, which is made
an important feature, is more richly
ornamented than is usual. The two
last bays to the east are early
Decorated work, and mark the close
of an effort to rebuild the church,
from east to west, which was begun
early in the thirteenth century and
abandoned about its close. The
north transept is late Early English;
the south transept early Decorated.
On the southern side of the nave,
just west of the transept, is St.
Mary's Chapel, a Perpendicular struc-
ture, now restored, that formerly
served as a nave to the Chapel of
STEPS AND ORGAN SCREEN. Our Lady , the altar of which stood

in the southern transept ; and in

the same transept is a monument to one Richard Watts, a local

worthy in the days of Elizabeth, whose memory is kept green by the

ROCHESTER.]

THE CHOIR.

237

hospital which he founded and endowed for the nightly entertainment of
six poor travellers, "provided they be not rogues nor proctors." Just
beneath this monument is a brass tablet which commemorates Charles
Dickens, the writer who has made the Watts Hospital and other
features of Rochester known wherever the English tongue is spoken.

As at Canterbury, the choir is to an exceptional degree shut off
from the nave. It is enclosed by a stone screen, and approached by
a flight of steps. In the larger cathedral this arrangement enhances

THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.

the idea of magnitude; in the smaller it has, we think,
an opposite effect. The choir, especially, seems narrow and
cramped. Its architecture is rather heavy, and it produces
on the whole an " imprisoned " feeling. The style is Early
English, but the exact date is not known ; it was, how-
ever, completed before 1227. The most marked peculiarity is in the
western part of the choir, which is entirely shut off from the aisles,
the wall, retained by the Early English architects from the older Norman
structure, being perfectly solid up to the clerestory. On the north side
is a rather narrow aisle, interrupted by a flight of steps ; on the southern
a much wider aisle, with a curious roof. From this the crypt is ap-
proached, and another flight of steps leads through a doorway into the

238

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES. [ROCK..™.

south-eastern transept. These transepts — entirely
open to the choir, and so available during the
time of service — with their comparatively broad
eastern aisle, give the eastern part of the choir
a spacious aspect, contrasting with the narrow-
ness of the western part. Farther east is the
short chancel or presbytery, with its double
eastern triplet of lancet windows, inserted at
one of the late restorations.

The stone choir screen, a memorial of Dean
Scott the lexicographer, was designed by Pearson ;
but by a curious anachronism the model of the
cathedral which Bishop Gundulf is holding shows the fabric with
the great west window, which was inserted hundreds of years after his

BISHOP ATTERBURY

(1713-23'.
(After Kneller.)

day, in the Perpendicular
throne, the pulpit, and
of Sir Gilbert Scott's
also is it due that
ing stall-work — a plaster
and greater breadth given
stituting wood panelling
an ancient authority. A
old woodwork has been
new seatings in the choir,
been renewed. The
some, and interesting as
from old examples which

Photo : Russell.

DEAN HOLE (1887-1904).

period. The Bishop's
the reredos are all
designing, and to Scott
Cottingham's uninterest-
sham -- was removed,
to the building by sub-
painted in diaper from
considerable amount of
incorporated with the
and the pavement has
encaustic tiles are hand-
having all been copied
still remain in the church.

The doorway leading into the Chapter-room from the south-east
transept is a piece of late Decorated work of exceptional richness, with
large figures in the principal moulding that symbolise the Jewish and
Christian dispensations, an allegory which Cotting-
ham misunderstood, for, by a solecism that has
since been corrected, he converted the female figure
into a bishop. The Chapter-room and library is
modern, built beside the ruins of the old Chapter-
house. The library includes the Textus Roffensis,
a collection of records of the gifts and ancient
privileges of the cathedral, with old English
codes of law, and so forth, compiled in the twelfth
century. It has had a varied history, for it has
been stolen, it has been 'n chancery, and it has
been in the Thames. Another precious MS. is the

BISHOP HORSLEY

(1793-1802'.

(National Portrait Gallery.)

ROCHESTER.]

ANCIENT MONUMENTS.

239

Custumale Roffense, compiled about the end of the same century by
Prior Westerham in the days when he was a monk.

In one of the bays of the north choir-transept is a tomb which
is reputed to be that of St. William, and on a flat stone in the middle
of the same transept his shrine is said to have rested. In this transept,
too, is a fine canopied monument, greatly restored, of Walter de Merton,
once Bishop of Rochester, and founder of the earliest college in Oxford.
He was a clear-sighted man for his age — he died in the year 1278—
for in the statutes of his new foundation he ordained that if any member
of it took the vows of
a religious order he
should forfeit his fel-
lowship. In the aisle
of this transept, styled
St. John the Baptist's
Chapel or the Warner
Chapel, is the old
statue which tradition
declares to be that of
the great Gundulf ; it
was placed here when
the north-west tower,
in the lower arcade of
which it had remained
for over a century,
was rebuilt. On the
south side of the sacra-
rium is the plain tomb
that claims to cover
the dust of Gundulf.

We must not omit
to notice the crypt,
one of the most in-
teresting parts of the
cathedral. As at Can-
terbury, this is to a
considerable extent

above ground, and is thus tolerably well lighted ; it is approached,
as has been said, from the south choir aisle, and it extends under the
eastern transept and the chancel, and about half of the western or
narrower portion of the choir. The greater part is Early English, of
the same age as the choir above, but the western part is massive

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

240

CATHEDRALS OF ENGLAND AND WALES.

[ROCHESTER.

Norman, and is no doubt the work of Gundulf. The southernmost aisle
has been converted into vestries with funds derived by the late Dean
Hole from a lecturing tour in America.

Of the original Chapter-house some fragments are incorporated into
the Deanery, and the ruined west front of it, a fine piece of Norman
work, together with a portion of the eastern wall of the old cloister,
may be seen in the gardens. The episcopal Palace, in St. Margaret's
Street, became the property of the see in the second half of the fifteenth
century, but it has not generally been occupied by the bishops. The

last of them to live in the older
Palace, of which some remains
are to be seen to the south-west
of the cathedral, was one whose
memory, though his remains
found no honoured grave, will
ever adorn the annals of
Rochester. This was John Fisher,
for thirty-five years Bishop of
Rochester, which in the days of
his Court favour he refused
more than once to quit for
better preferment. His conscience
forbade him either to consent
to the divorce of Catherine, or
to take the oath of succession,
and for this Henry VIII. con-
demned him to die.

A later Bishop of Rochester,
the learned and pious Nicholas
Ridley, suffered at Oxford for

his espousal of the new views. Other eminent prelates who have ruled
at Rochester are Thomas Sprat, who was consecrated in 1685 ; Francis
Atterbury, his immediate successor, who was deprived and banished as
a Jacobite in 1723 ; and Samuel Horsley, the opponent of Priestley.
Among more recent Bishops of Rochester are Anthony Wilson Thorold,
who in 1891 was translated to Winchester, and Randall Thomas David-
son, who followed Dr. Thorold to Winchester in 1895, and in 1903
became Archbishop of Canterbury. When, in 1905, the diocese of South-
wark was formed out of that of Rochester, Dr. Talbot, who had
succeeded Dr. Davidson ten years before, was translated to the new see.

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