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REPOBTS  AND  PAPERS. 


MDCCCLVII. 
VOL.  IV.,  PT.  1. 


RErOETS  AND  TAPERS 


HEAD  AT 


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COUNTY  OF  YORK, 

DIOCESE    OE    LINCOLN, 

AllCIlDJiACONJiY  OF  NOIlTIIAMrTON, 

COUNTY  OV  ]{EiJFORD, 

DIOCESE   OE  WORCESTER, 

AN1> 

COUNTY  OF  LEIOESTEE, 

UUlllNCi  Till';  YEAR  MDCOCLVlI. 


rilliHUNTKl)   (JUAi'UITOUBLY   TO  TUB   MEMBEUS  OF   THE   AUOVE   HOOUilTILH. 


PUHL18IIEI)  AND  BOLD  JiV 

W.  &  li.  BROOKE,  290,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

LONDON  :    HIMI'KIN,    IMAUHIIALL,    AND    OO.,    HTATIONEU'H    HALL    COUIIT. 

EDWA1^D8,  LOUTH  ; 

DOKMAN,    NOllTilAMl'I'ON  ;     F.    TllOMi'SON,    llKDFOUD  ;    TOUMAN,    NOTTINOHAM  ; 

HUNTEU,    YOltlC  ;    8LOCOMUB,   LEEDS. 


llEV.    liDW.    TIlOLLUl'E,    JJIAHINOIIAM,    HLKAEOIID. 

<!Iiftttral  glubi'tor, 

llEV.    JUIIN    liELL,    OULTON,    WAKEFIELD. 


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ADVERTISEMENT. 


Each  Society  is  responsible  for  its  own  Report  alone,  and  each 
author  for  his  own  Paper. 

Owing  to  the  circumstance  of  several  of  the  associated  Societies 
having  come  to  the  determination  of  not  printing  their  Reports  and 
Papers,  &c.,  for  the  year  185G,  whilst  others  have  continued  to 
pursue  their  ordinary  course,  more  than  usual  difficulty  has  been 
experienced  in  the  production  of  this  volume ;  whilst  the  late  and 
straggling  manner  in  which  Papers  have  been  sent  in  for  publication, 
some  nearly  three  months  after  the  close  of  the  past  year,  has  not 
only  delayed  its  appearance,  but  has  greatly  perplexed  the  Editor. 

It  is  most  earnestly  requested,  therefore,  that  all  Papers  intended 
for  publication  in  the  remaining  half  of  this  volume,  i.e.  those  be- 
longing to  the  present  year,  may  be  sent  to  the  General  Secretary 
before  its  close,  and  the  Reports,  &c.,  as  soon  afterwards  as  possible. 

Every  member  of  the  associated  Societies  will  be  able  to  judge 
for  himself  as  to  the  comparative  value  of  the  Papers  now  offered  to 
him,  of  the  accuracy  of  their  printing,  as  well  as  of  the  number  and 
character  of  the  Illustrations  it  contains;  and  it  is  hoped,  that  the 
cost  at  which  it  has  been  produced,  will  be  deemed  satisfactory  to 
the  Committees  of  all  the  Societies  responsible  for  its  appearance. 

EDWARD  TROLLOPE, 

General  Secretaiy. 


LIST  OF  SOCIETIES  ASSOCIATED 

FOR  THE 

PUBLICATION  OF  THIS  VOLUME. 


1.  Architectural   Society   op  the  County  op  York— 
established  1842. 

Annual  subscription  10s.,  due  January  1st  in  each  year,  and  lOs. 
entrance  ;  or  composition  in  lieu  of  entrance  and  subscription,  101.,  to  be 
paid  to  the  Eev.  John  B.  Scriven,  Clifford,  Tadcaster,  Treasurer ;  or  to 
Messrs.  Swann  and  Co.,  Bankers,  York. 

Meetings  for  1858. — The  Society  is  invited  to  meet  at  Oxford  in  the 
Spring,  at  a  congress  of  Architectural  Societies.  The  Summer  Meeting 
will  be  held  at  Ripon,  in  the  month  of  August ;  and  the  Annual  Meeting 
at  York,  in  October. 

The  Committee  meets  at  the  School  of  Art,  Minster  Yard,  York,  on 
the  Wednesday  before  the  full  moon  in  January,  April,  July,  and  October, 
at  12  o'clock. 

Honorary  Secretaries,  Rev.  John  Sharp,  Horbury,  Wakefield ;  W. 
H.  Dykes,  Esq.,  York. 

2.  Architectural  Society  for  the  Diocese  of  Lincoln — • 
established  1844. 

Annual  subscription  IO5.,  due  January  1st  in  each  year,  and  IO5. 
entrance  ;  or  composition  in  lieu  of  entrance  and  subscription,  101.,  to  be 
paid  to  the  Rev.  William  Smyth,  South  Elkington,  Louth,  Treasurer. 

Meetings  for  1858. — A  General  Meeting  will  be  held  at  Horncastle  on 
the  2nd  and  Srd  of  June  :  and  another  in  the  Autumn. 

The  Committee  meet  at  the  Society's  Room  in  Silver  Street,  Lincoln, 
on  the  first  Friday  of  every  alternate  month.  All  persons  wishing  to  con- 
sult the  Committee  are  requested  to  forward  their  communications  or 
plans  to  the  Secretary,  a  week  before  the  date  of  the  above  named  Com- 
mittee Meetings,  in  order  that  they  may  be  duly  examined  and  reported 
on. 

Honorary  Corresponding  Secretary,  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  Lea- 
singham,  Sleaford. 

3.  Architectural  Society  op  the  Archdeaconry  of 
Northampton — established  1844. 

Annual  subscription  10s.,  due  in  January  of  each  year,  or  composition 
in  lieu  of  subscription,  lOZ.,  to  be  paid  (by  Post-office  order  on  Northamp- 
ton) to  the  Rev.  Dayid  Morton,  Harlestou,  Treasurer,  or  to  the  Union 
Bank,  Northampton, 


8  LIST  OF  SOCIETIES  ASSOCIATED. 

Meetings  for  1858. — The  Spring  Meeting  will  be  held  at  Oxford,  in 
conjunction  with  other  Architectural  Societies  ;  in  the  Autumn  at  North- 
ampton, at  the  Society's  Room,  Gold-street.  The  Committee  meets  at 
the  Society's  Room,  Gold-street  (at  the  house  of  the  Religious  and  Useful 
Knowledge  Society),  on  the  second  Monday  in  February,  and  the  second 
Monday  in  every  alternate  month,  at  half-past  2  o'clock.  All  persons 
wishing  to  consult  the  Committee  are  requested  to  communicate  with  one 
of  the  Secretaries,  and  to  forward  their  plans  to  him,  a  week  before  the 
Meeting,  in  order  that  they  may  be  examined  and  reported  on. 

Honorary  Corresponding  Secretary^  Rev.  T.  James,  Theddingworth, 
Rugby. 

4.  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society  op  the 
County  of  Bedford — established  1847. 

Minimum  annual  subscription,  10s.  Qd.,  due  January  1st  in  each  year  ; 
or  composition  in  lieu  of  subscription,  6?.,  to  be  paid  to  Messrs.  Barnard 
and  Wing,  Treasurers,  Bedford. 

Meetings  for  1858. — Council  Meetings  are  held  at  the  Society's  Rooms, 
High-street,  Bedford,  on  the  third  Tuesday  in  each  month,  at  2  o'clock. 

The  number  of  General  Meetings,  and  times  of  holding  them,  are 
determined  by  the  Council. 

Honorary  Corresponding  Secretary,  Rev.  W.  Airy,  Keysoe,  Kim- 
bolton. 

5.  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society — estab- 
lished 1854. 

Annual  subscription  IO5.,  due  January  1st  in  each  year,  and  IO5.  en- 
trance ;  or  composition  in  lieu  of  entrance  and  subscription,  bl.  IO5.,  to  be 
paid  to  the  Rev.  Richard  Cattley,  Worcester,  Treasurer  ;  or  to  Messrs, 
Berwick  and  Co.,  Old  Bank,  Worcester. 

Meetings  for  1858. — General  Meetings  and  Excursions  will  be  held  in 
the  course  of  the  Summer  and  Autumn  ;  the  first  will  take  place  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Worcester  ;  the  Warwickshire  Meeting  will  be  held  at 
Stratford-on-Avon,  probably  in  July.  The  Annual  Meeting  will  be  at 
Worcester,  towards  the  end  of  September,  to  be  foUovv^ed  by  an  Excursion 
to  Droitwich,  and  its  neighbourhood,  on  the  following  day. 

The  Committee  meet  at  the  Society's  Rooms,  51,  Foregate -street, 
Worcester,  every  month.  All  persons  wishing  to  consult  the  Committee 
are  requested  to  communicate  with  the  Secretaries. 

Honorary  Secretaries,  T.  Howard  Galton,  Esq.,  Hanley  Grange, 
Upton-on- Severn  ;  Rev.  Herbert  G.  Pepys,  Hallow  Vicarage,  Worces- 
ter ;  J.  Severn  Walker,  Esq.,  Worcester. 

6.  Leicestershire  Architectural  and  Arch^ological 
Society — established   1855. 

Annual  subscription  10s.,  due  January  1st  in  each  year,  to  be  paid  to 
Isaac  Hodgson,  Esq.,  Treasurer,  Pares's  Banking  Company,  Leicester. 

The  Committee  meet  at  the  Town  Library,  Leicester,  on  Monday  the 
22nd  February,  1858  ;  April  2Gth  ;  June  28th  ;  August  80th  ;  October 
25tli ;  and  December  27th ;  being  the  last  Monday  of  every  alternate 
month. 

Public  Meetings  are  holden  in  the  Autumn  of  each  year,  at  such  times 
and  places  as  shall  be  appointed  by  the  Committee. 

Honorary  Corresponding  Secretary,  George  C.  Bellairs,  Esq.,  Nar- 
borough,  near  Leicc&tcr. 


LIST   OF   SOCTRTIES    IN   UNION   FOR   GENERAL 
PURPOSES, 


7.  The  Society  of  Antiquaries,  incorporated  1718.  Secretary, 
J.  Y.  Akerman,  Esq.,  Somerset  House,  London. 

8.  Society  of  Antiquaries  of  Scotland.  Secretaries,  John  Stuart, 
Esq.,  General  Register  House,  Edinburgh,  and  Dr.  T.  A.  Smith, 
7,  North  Maitland  Street,  Edinburgh. 

9.  Royal  Institute  of  British  Architects,  incorporated  1836. 
Hon.  Secretaries,  0.  C.  Nelson,  and  M.  D.  Wyatt,  Esqrs.,  16,  Gros- 
venor-street,  London. 

10.  Archaeological  Institute  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  estab- 
lished 1844.  Sec,  George  VuUiamy,  Esq.,  26,  Suffolk-street,  Pall- 
mall,  East. 

11.  Architectural  Institute  of  Scotland,  established  1850.  Hon. 
Sec,  WilUam  Miller,  Esq.,  S.T.C.,  59,  George-square,  Edinburgh. 

1-2.  St.  Patrick's  Society  for  the  Study  of  Ecclesiology,  established 
1850.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  W.  Maturin,  Dublin. 

13.  Warwickshire  Archseolpgical  and  Natural  History  Society, 
established  1836.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  P.  B.  Brodie,  Rowington. 

14.  Oxford  Architectural  Society,  established  1839.  Hon.  Se- 
cretaries, Rev.  F.  C.  Hingeston,  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  and  W.  J. 
C.  Bennett,  Esq.,  University  College,  Oxford. 

15.  Ecclesiological  (late  Cambridge  Camden)  Society,  established 
1839.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  B.  Webb,  78,  New  Bond-street,  London. 

16.  Exeter  Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  established  1841. 
Hon.  Secretaries,  Lt.  Col.  W.  Harding,  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Fulford. 

17.  St.  Albans  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society,  estab- 
lished 1845.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  H.  D.  Nicholson,  St.  Albans. 

18.  Sussex  Archaeological  Society,  estabhshed  1846.  Hon.  Sec, 
W.  H.  Blaauw,  Esq.,  Beechlands,  Uckfield. 

19.  Cambridge  Architectural  Society,  established  1846.  Hon. 
Sec,  J.  W.  Clark,  Esq.,  King's  College,  Cambridge. 

20.  Cambrian  Archaeological  Association,  established  1846. 
Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  E.  Barnwell,  Ruthin. 

B 


IQ  nST  01"  SOCIETIES  IN  UNION. 

SI.  Norfolk  and    Norwich  Arcli^ological    Society,   establislied 
1846      Rev.  C.  R.  Manning,  Diss,  Norfolk. 

23.  Buckinghamsliire  Architectural  and  Arch^ological  Society, 
estabUshed  1847.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  A.  Newdigate,  Aylesbury 

23  Bury  and  West  Suffolk  Arch^ological  Institute,  estabhshed 
1848      Sel,  Mr.  Samuel  Tymms,  Well-street,  Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

24.  Liverpool  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society,  estab- 
lished  1848  Royal  Institution,  Colquitt-street  Liverpool.  Hon 
SecretarL^  W.  H.  Weightman,  Esq.,  Seaforth,  Liverpool,  and 
WiUiam  Stubbs,  Esq.,  Lord-street,  Liverpool. 

25  Somersetshire  Arch^ological  and  Natural  History  Society, 
established  1849.     Hon.  Sec,  G.  E.  Giles,  Esq.,  Taunton. 

26  Essex  Archseological  Association,  established  1852.  Hon. 
Sec    Rev.  Edward  Lewis  Cutts,  Coggeshall. 

27.  Wiltshire  Arch^ological  and  Natural  History  Society,  estab- 
lished 1853.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  W.  0.  Lukis,  Great  Bedwyn. 

28  North  Oxfordshire  Archaeological  Society,  estabhshed  1853. 
Hon*  Sec,  Rev.  J.  Miller,  Sibford  Gower,  Banbury. 

29.  New  York  Ecclesiological  Society.  Pubhshers,  Stanford  and 
Swords,  137,  Broadway,  New  York.  ,  v  i.  ^ 

30  Historic  Society  of  Lancashire  and  Cheshire,  estabhshed 
1848.     Hon.  Sec,  Rev.  Dr.  Hume,  Everton,  Liverpool. 

31.  Birmingham  Architectural  Society,  efabhshed  1851  Hon. 
Sec ,  John  R.  Botham,  Esq.,  Philosophical  Institution,  Cannon- 
street,  Birmingham. 

32.  Surrey  Archaeological  Society,  estabhshed  1854.     f^^' ,^^^^^ 
George  B.  Webb,  Esq.,   6,  Southampton-street,   Covent  Gaiden, 
London. 

33    The  London  and  Middlesex  Arch^ological  Society,  estabhshed 
1855'.     Hon.  Sec,  Henry  Wilham  Sass,  Esq.,  32,  Fleet-street. 


CONTENTS 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


PAGE. 


Fourteenth  Report i. 

The  Introduction  of  Christianity  into  Lincolnshire  during  the 

Saxon  Period.     By  Edw.  Trollope,  F.S.A 1 

The  Architectural  History  of  Lincoln  Minster.    By  Geo.  Ay- 

Hffe  Poole,  M.A 8 

The  Captivity  of  John,  King  of  France,  at  Somerton  Castle, 

Lincolnshire.     By  Edw.  Trollope,  F.S.A 49 

YORKSHIRE>i<  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Sixteenth  Report xix. 

On  the  Present  Position  and  Future  Prospects  of  the  Revival 
of  Gothic  Architecture.  By  G.  Gilbert  Scott,  Esq., 
F.S.A 69 

Somerton  Castle  and  its  Builder.     By  Edw.  Trollope,  F.S.A.     83 

Fishlake  Church  and  Parish.  By  G.  Ornsby,  Vicar  of  Fish- 
lake     91 

BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Tenth  Report xxix. 

On   the   Condition,    Social,  Political,   and   Military,  of  the 

Ancient  Britons.     By  John  Taddy,  M.A 109 

*  Pi-inted  '•  York  Diocesan"  by  an  error  of  the  press  on  pages  72,  &c. 


12  CONTENTS. 

NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


PAGE. 

xxiii. 


Report 

On  Colour  in  Building  Materials.     By  Geo.  Ayliffe  Poole, 

M.A 11^ 

Temple  Bruer.     By  Edw.  Trollope,  F.S.A 1^9 

Shoseley  Priory.     By  J.  H,  Brookes,  M.A 139 

On  the  Warming,  &c.,  of  Churches.     By  H.  J.  Bigge,  M.A.    .  146 

WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Fourth  Report 

On  Glass  Painting,  Ancient  and  Modern.    By  J.  Parnell,  Esq.  161 
On  Tmth  and  Falsehood  in  Architecture.     By  J.  H.  Chamber- 

,  .     J,  168 

lam,  Esq 

LEICESTERSHIRE   ARCHITECTURAL  AND 
ARCH^OLOGICAL   SOCIETY. 

^        ,  lix. 

Report 

Tradesmen's  Tokens  issued  in  Leicestershire  in  the  Seven- 
teenth Century,  with  Introductory  Remarks  and  Notes. 
By  Thomas  North,  Esq.,  of  Leicester       '^^^ 

St.  Mary's  Church,  Melton,  &c.     By  Vincent  Wing,  Esq.  .     .193 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Torksoy  Castle 

Church  of  St.  Mary,  Stow         

Plan  of  Church  of  Remigius — Lincoln  Cathedral 

Sepulchral  Stone  of  Remigius — ditto       

Plan  of  Apse  of  St.  Hugh's  Church— ditto     

Arches  over  vaults  in  East  Transept — ditto    

The  Cloisters— ditto ... 

Portrait  of  King  John  of  France      

Signature  of  ditto       

Crampet  from  the  tomb  of  Thomas  Lord  la  Warr... 

Somerton  Castle,  tower     ...     ...     

EflSgy,  from  tomb  of  King  John  of  France     

Somerton  Castle,  architectural  elevation  of  tower  ... 

Temple  Bruer,  exterior  of  tower      

Ditto,        section  of  tower        

Shoseley  Priory,  sepulchral  stones  at,  with  plan,  &c. 

Stoves  for  Churches,  with  plans,  &c 

Leicestershire  Tradesmen's  Tokens,  in  17th  century 
Melton  Church,  Porch  ;  Church  at  Barton  Lazars 


PAGE 

1 

4 

11 

10 

21 

22 

81 

49 

G4 

60 

52 

03 

89 

129 

137 

139 

152—150 

177 

193 

THE  FOURTEENTH  RErORT 


OF  TUB 


ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 

FOR 

THE   DIOCESE   OF   LINCOLN 


The  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 

patrons. 

His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Rutland, 

His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Portland. 

His  Grace  the  Duke  op  Newcastle. 

The  Right  PIon.  the  Earl  of  Yarborough. 


The  Lord  Aveland. 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  Trollope, 

Bart.,  M.P. 
The  Right  Hon.  R.  A.  N.  Hamilton. 
The  Right  Hon.  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt. 


The  Hon,  and  Rev.  R.  Gust. 

Sir  C.  H.  J.  Anderson,  Bart. 

Sir  T.  Whichcote,  Bart. 

Sir  R.  Sheffield,  Bart. 

Sir  Glynne  Earle  Welby,  Bart. 


11. 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


The  Rev.  Sir  C.  Macgregor,  Bart. 

Sir  Montague  John   Cholmeley, 
Bart.,  M.P. 

The  Hon.  Jtir  H.  Dymoke,  Bart. 

Sir  Edward  S.  Walker,  Kt. 

The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  Lincoln. 

The  Venerable  the  Archdeacon  of 
Lincoln. 

The  Reverend  the  Subdean  of  Lin- 
coln. 

The  Reverend  the  Precentor  of 
Lincoln. 

G.  E.  H.  Vernon,  Esq.,  M.P. 

J.  Banks  Stanhope,  Esq.,  M.P. 

G.  T.  W.  Sibthorp,  Esq.,  M.P. 

G,  F.  Heneage,  Esq.,  M.P. 


W.  H.  Barrow,  Esq.,  M.P. 

H.  Ingram,  Esq.,  M.P. 

Charles  Chaplin,  Esq. 

C.  TuRNOR,  Esq. 

Colonel  Wildman. 

G.  K.  Jarvis,  Esq. 

R,  Milward,  Esq. 

H.  Sherbrooke,  Esq. 

Rev.  Dr.  Moore. 

Rev.  Dr.  Parkinson. 

Rev.  B.  Beridge. 
}  Rev.  F.  C.  Massingberd. 
I  Rev.  R.  Miles. 

Rev.  T.  J.  Peach. 

Rev.  C.  C.  Beaty  Pownall. 
'  Rev.  W.  Smyth. 


The  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A. 


li^onovarg  Eocal  5rmtan>s. 


Rev.  a.  Floyer, 
Rev.  E.  Moore, 
Rev.  H.  Maclean, 
Rev.  C.  Terrot, 
Rev.  G.  Gilbert, 
Rev.  W.  B.  Caparn, 
Sir  C.  H.  J.  Anderson, 
Rev.  G.  Atkinson, 
Rev.  Irvin  Eller, 
Rev.  G.  H.  Smyttan, 
Rev.  J.  F.  Dimock, 
Rev.  E.  H.  H.  Vernon, 
G.  G.  Place,  Esq., 


Bart. 


(For  the  Archdeaconry  of  Lincoln.) 


(For  the  Archdeaconry  of  Stow.) 


(For  the  Archdeaconry  of  Nottingham.) 


STvfasuvfv. 
Rev.  William  Smyth,  Elkington  Hall. 

ililjrarian. 
Arthur  Trollope,  Esq. 

©urator. 
Michael  Drury,  Esq. 


©ommi'ttfe. 


The  President 

The  Patrons 

The  Vice-Presidents 

The  Rural  Deans  (being  Members) 

The  Officers  of  the  Society 

Rev.  J.  Broavne 

Rev.  T.  G.  Bussel 

Rev.  J.  Byron 

H.  Hall,  Esq. 

A.  Trollope,  Esq. 

Rev.  K.  a.  Coles 

Rev.  E.  F.  Hodgson 


Rev.  W.  J.  Jenkins 

Rev,  F.  Laurent 

Rev.  C.  D.  Butterfield 

J.  Parkinson,  Esq. 

Rev.  J.  White 

C.  Baily,  Esq. 

M.  Drury,  Esq. 

J.  Fowler,  Esq. 

C.  Kirk,  Esq. 

Rev.  J.  H.  Pooley 

Rev.  W.  R.  Ayton. 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS. 


111. 


HONORARY  MEMBERS. 


Anderson,  Sir  C.  H.  J.,  Bart.,  Lea,  Gains- 
borough, V.P.,  Hon.  Sec. 

Bloxam,  Matt.  H.,  Esq.,  Kugby 

Brotherton,  Rev.  T.,  79,  Pall  Mall, 
London 

Lewiu,  Stephen,  Esq.,  Architect,  Boston 


Pearson,  J.  L.,  Esq.,  Architect,  De  la 

Hay-street,  Westminster 
Place,  George  Gordon,  Esq.,  Architect, 

Nottingham,  Hon.  Sec. 
Poole,  Rev.  G.Aylifre,Wcllbrd,Northants. 
Tlionipson,Pishey,Esq.,  Stoke Newington 


ORDINARY     MEMBERS. 

Those  marked  *  are  Life  Members. 


Aiuslle,  Rev.  R.,  Great  Grimsby 
Ainslie,  C,  Esq.,  Architect,  London 
Amcotts,  Weston,  Esq.,  Hackthorn  Hall, 

Lincoln 
Andrews,  .Rev.  S.  W.,  Claxhy,  Market 

Rasen 
Anson,  Rev.  A.  H.,  Potter  Hauworth, 

Lincoln 
Apthorp,  Rev.  G.  F.,  Lincoln 
Armstrong,  Rev.  E.  P.,  Skellingthorpe, 

Lincoln 
Aspinall,  Rev.  J.,  Althorp,  Bawtry 
Atkinson,  Rev.  G.,  Stow,  Gainsborough, 

Hon.  Sec. 
Atkinson,  F.,  Esq.,  Stow,  Gainsborough 
Aveland,   the  Lord,    Normanton  Pai'k, 

Stamford 
Ay  ton.  Rev.  W.  A.,  Scampton,  Lincoln 
Babb,  G.,  Esq.,  Great  Grimsby 
Baily,  C,  Esq.,  Architect,  Newark 
Barrow,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Southwell, 

V.P. 
Bennett,  Rev.  E.  L.,  Long  Sutton 
*Beridge,  Rev.  B.,  Algarkirk,  Spalding, 

V.P. 
Birley,  Rev.  Robert,  Lea,  Gainsborough 
Blenkin,  Rev.  G.  B.,  Boston 
Bouncy,  H.K.,  D.D.,  the  Venerable  the 

Archdeacon,  Lincoln 
Booker,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  Nottingham 
Booker,  F.  R.,  Esq.,  Nottingham 
Boucherett,   R.   H.,    Esq.,    Willingham 

House,  Market  Rasen 
Boyd,  Rev.  H.,  South  Thoresby,  Alford 
Bradshaw,    Dr.,    1,    St.    James'   Place, 

Nottingham 
*Bridges,  Rev.  B.  G.,  Blankney,  Sleaford 
*Brook,  Rev.  Alfred,  East  Retford 
*Browne,  Rev.  J.,  Great  Limber,  Ulceby 
Brooke,  Mr.  W.,  Lincoln 
Bussell,  Rev.  I.  G.,  Newark 
Butterfield,  Rev.  C.  D.,  West  Retford 
Byron,  Rev.  J.,  Killingholme,  Ulceby 
Cammack,  Thos.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Spalding 
Caparn,  Rev.  W.  B.,  West  Torrington, 

Wragby,  Hon,  Sec. 


Carline,  Richard  Esq.,  Lincoln 

Carr,  Rev.   John,    Brattleby,    Lincoln, 

RD. 
Carr,  Joseph,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
*  Chambers,  Rev.  W.  F.,  North  Kelsey, 

Kirton-in-Lindsey 
Cheadle,   Rev.    T.,    Dunhara-on- Trent, 

East  Retford 
*Chaplin,  Charles,  Esq.,  Blankney  Hall, 

Lincoln 
Cholmeley,  Sir  Montague  John,  Bart., 

M.P.,  Easton  House,  Grantham 
Clayton,  Nathaniel,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
*Close,  T.,  Esq.,  Nottingham 
Coles,  Rev.  H.  A.,  Marnham,  Newark 
Cooke,  Fredei-ick,  Esq.,  Boston 
*Cooper,  Rev.  W„  Rippingale,  Bourn 
Cousans,  Mr.  Edward,  Lincoln 
Cracroft,  Rev.  R.,  Harrington,  Spilsby 
*Cust,  Hon.  and  Rev.  R.,  Belton,  Grant- 
ham, E.D.,  V.P. 
Curtois,  Rev.  Atwill,  Longhills,  Lincoln 
Daniel,    Rev.   H.  T.,    Treswell,    East 

Retford 
*Daubney,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  Grhnsby 
Deane,  Rev.  J.  W.,  Riby,  Caistor 
Deedes,  Rev.  Gordon,  Haydor,  Sleaford 
*D'Eyncourt,  Right  Hon.  C.  T.,  F.S.A., 

Bayon's  Manor,  Market  Rasen,  V.P. 
l^imock,  Rev.  J.  F.,  Southwell,  Hon.  Sec. 
Dixon,    T.   J.,    Esq.,    Holton-le-Moor, 

Caistor 
Dixon,  J.  G.,  Esq.,  Caistor 
*Drury,  Michael,  Esq.,  Architect,  Lincoln 
Dymoke,  the  Hon.  Sir  H.  Bart.,    V.P., 

Scrivelsby  Court,  Horncastle 
Edwards,  Mr.  W.,  Louth 
Eller,  Rev.  Lvin,  Faldingworth,  Market 

Rasen 
*Ellison,   Lieut.-Col.,    Boultham  Hall, 

Lincoln 
Everard,  R.,  Esq.,  Fulney  House,  Spald- 
ing 
Falkner,  Rev.  J.,  Hawton,  Newark 
*Ffytche,  J.  L,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Lincoln 
Fielding,  Rev.  H.,  Salmonby,  Horncastle 


IV. 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Fletcher,  J.  B.,  Esq.,  Woodthorpe,  Alford 
Floyer,  Rev.  A.,  Marsh  Chapel,  Grimsby, 

Hon.  Sec. 
*Forster,  S.,  Esq.,  South  End,  Syden- 
ham, Kent 
Fowler,  J.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Louth 
Garvey,  Rev.  R.,  Lincoln 
Garfit,  Rev.  Edward,  Saxilby,  Lincoln 
Gedge,  Rev.  A.,  Ludborough,  Louth 
*  Gilbert,  Rev.  G.,  Grantham 
Giles,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Belleau,  Alford 
*Goddard,  H.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Lincoln 
Gould,  N.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  4,  Ta\istock- 

square,  London 
Hall,  Hawksley,  Esq.,  East  Retford 
Hamilton,  Right  Hon.  R.  A.  C.  N.,  Blox- 

holm  Hall,  Sleaford,  V.P. 
Harvey,  George,  Esq.,  Newark 
Haskoll,  Rev.  J.,  East  Barkwith,  AVragby 
Hay  ward,  John,  Esq.,  Beaumont  Manor, 

Lincoln 
Hemmans,  Rev.  Fielden,  Wragby 
*Heneage,  G.  F.,  Esq.,  Hainton,  Wragby 
*Hine,    Rev.   H.   T.    C,    Quarrington, 

Sleaford 
Hine,  T.  C,  Esq.,  Architect,  Nottingham 
Hodgson,  Rev.  E.  F.,  Holton  Beckering, 

Wragby 
Hodgkinson,  Rev.  G.  C.  Grammar  School, 

Louth 
Hole,  Rev.  S.  R.,  Caunton,  Newark 
Hopkins,  F.  L,  Esq.,  Boston 
Hotchkin,  Rev.  R.  C.  H.,  TMmbleby, 

Horncastle 
Huddleston,  Mr.  William,  Lincoln 
Hull,    Rev.   J.   W.,   North   Muskham, 

Newark 
*Huntsman,  Benj.,  Esq.,  West  Retford 
Hutton,  Rev.  G.  T.,  Gate  Burton,  Gains- 
borough 
Hutton,  Rev.  F.  H.,  Spridlingtou,  Lincoln 
Ingram,  Herbert,  Esq.,  M.P.,  V.P. 
Jackson,  John,  Esq.,  Architect,  Bromley 

House,  Nottingham 
Jarvis,  Rev.  C.  M.,  Doddington,  Lincoln 
Jarvis,  George  Knollis,  Esq.,  Doddington 

Hall,  Lincoln 
Jenkins,  Rev.  W.  J.,  Fillingham,  Lincoln 
*Johuson,  T.  M.  S.,  Esq.,  Spalding 
Kaye,  Rev.  W.  F.  J.,  Lincoln 
Kennedy,  Rev.  L.  D.,  Toyntou,  Horn- 
castle 
Keyworth,    Thos.  M.,  Esq.,  Cottesford 

Place,  Lincoln 
*Keyworth,  W.  D.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Hull 
*Kirk,  Charles,  Esq.,  Architect,  Sleaford 
*Knapp,  Rev.  IL,  Swaton,  Folkingham 
Laurent,  Rev.  F.,  Saleby,  Alford 
*Lincoln,  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of, 
Riseholme,  Lincoln,  President 

The  Very  Rev.    the    Dean  of, 

Lmcoln 


Lincoln,  The  Rev.  the  Precentor  of,  Lin- 
coln, V.P. 

The  Rev.  the  Subdean  of,  Lincoln 

*Lister,  Rev.  J.  Llartin,  Muckton,  Louth 
*Lloyd,  Rev.  H,  R.,  Owersby,  Market- 

Raseu 
Luard,  G.  A.,  Esq.,  Blyborough  Hall, 

Kirton-in-Lindsey 
*Macgregor,  Rev.  Sn  C,  Bart.,  Swallow, 

Caistor,  B.D.,  V.P. 
Mackdowal,  Rev.  R.  S.,  (Grammar  School, 

Newark 
Machell,  Rev.  R.  B.,  Barrow 
Maclean,  Rev.  H.,  Caistor,  Hon.  Sec. 
*Maddison,  Rev.  G.,  Grantham 
*Martin,  Rev.  F.  South  Somei-cotes 
*Mason,  Rev.  Jacob,  Silk  Willoughby, 

Sleaford 
Massingberd,  Rev.  F.  C,  South  Ormsby, 

Alford,  E.D.,  V.P. 
Maughan,  Joseph,  Esq.,  Grimsby 
Maxiield,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Norwell,  Newark 
Miles,  Rev.  R.  Bingham,  R.D.,  V.P. 
*Millington,  J.  B.,  Esq.,  Boston 
*Milward,  R.,  Esq.,  Thurgarton  Prio:".-, 

Southwell,  V.P. 
J\Iilner,  Rev.  J.  W.,  Horncastle 
Mills,  Rev.  T.  B.,  Hemswell,  Kirton-in- 
Lindsey 
Moore,  Rev.  Dr.,  Spaldmg,  B.D.,  V.P. 
IMoore,  Rev.  E.,  Spalding,  Hon.  Sec. 
Moore,  M.  P.,  Esq.,  Sleaford 
Moore,  Major,  Frampton  Hall,  Boston 
Moore,  G.  A.,  Esq.,  Moultoii,  Spalding 
Moore,  Joseph,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
Morton,  H.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Appleton  Gate, 

Newark 
Moss,  W.,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
*Myers,  Rev.  C.  J.,  Flintham,  Newark 
Naii'ne,  Rev.  C,  Lincoln 
Nelson,  Rev.  T.  S.,  Lincoln 
*Nevile,  Rev.  C,  Fledborough,  Newark 
Nevile,  Rev.  H.  R.,  Thorney,  Newark 
i  Nevile,  G.,  Esq.,  Stubton  Hall,  Newark 
Newton,  W.,  Esq.,  Newark 
*  Newcastle,    His   Grace   the   Duke   of, 

Clumber  House,  Worksop,  Patron 
Nicholson,  Mr.  W.  M.,  Newark 
Norris,  Mw  Builder,   7,  St.  Benedict's, 

Lincoln 
*01dman,  T.  C,  Esq.,  Gainsborough 
Oldrini,  Rev.  T.  J.,  Beeston,  Nottingham 
Orrock,  J.,  Esq.,  Park-street,  Nottingham 
*Osbourne,  Rev.  G.  Stainby,  Grantham 
Ostler,  W.,  Esq.,  Arnold  Field,  Grantham 
Otlev,  Rev.  C.  B.,  Welby,  Grantham, 

E.D. 
*Packe,  Rev.  A.,  Walton-on-the-Wold, 

Loughborough 
Padley,  James  S.,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
Parkinson,  Rev.  Dr.,  Ravendale,  Grims- 
by, V.P. 


LIST  OF  MEMBERS. 


Parkinson,  J.,  Es(i.,  Hexgreavo  Park, 
Southwell 

Parkinson,    J,,  jun.,    Esq.,    Roxholm, 
Sleaford 

Parke,   S ,  Esq.,   Ayscough  Fee  Hall, 
Spalding 

*Parry,  Tliomas,  Esq.,  Architect,  Slea- 
ford 

Peach,   Rev.   T.  J.,   Holme   Pierpoint, 
Nottingham,   V.P. 

Peacock,  Edward,  Esq.,    Manor  Farm, 
Bottesford,  Brigg 

Peake,  Henry,  Esq.,  Sleaford 

Pegus,  Rev.  W.,  Uffington  House,  Stam- 
ford 

♦Penrose,  Rev.  T.  T.,  Coleby,  Lincoln 

Perry,  Rev.  G.,  Waddington,  Lincoln 

Philpott,  Rev.  W.  B.,  Walesby,  Market 
Rasen 

*Pigot,    Rev.   J.   C,   Kingston    House, 
Andover 

Plater,  Rev.  Herbert,  Grammar  School, 
Newark 

Pooley,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Scotter,  Kirton-in- 
Lindsey 

*Portland,  His  Grace  the  Duke  of,  Wel- 
beck  AbbeY,  Notts.,  Patron 

*Pownall,  Rev.  C.  C.  B.,  Milton-Ernest, 
Bedford,  R.D.,  V.P. 

Pretyman,  Rev.  F.,  Great  Cai'lton,  Louth 

*Pye,  Henry,  Esq.,  Louth 

Rawnsley,  Rev.  T.  H.,  Halton  Holgate, 
Spilsby 

Read,   Rev.    T.  F.  R.,   Winterhigham, 
Brigg 

Reeve,  Mr.  John,  Lincoln 

*Reynardson,   Rev.    J.   Birch,    Careby, 
Stamford 

Robinson,  Rev.  G.,  Irby,  Grimsby 

Ross,  John,  Esq.,  Lincoln 

Rowson,  Rev.  K.  W.,  Laceby,  Grimsby 

Rudd,  Rev.  J.  E.,  Covenham,  Louth 

Rutland,  His  Grace  the  Duke  of,  Belvoir 
Castle,  Grantham,  Patron. 

Sansom,  Rev.  J.,  Buslingthorpe,  Market 
Rasen 

Schneider,    Rev.    H,,    Carlton    Scroop, 
Grantham,  R.D. 

Sheffield,  Sir  Robert,  Bart.,  Normanby 
Hall,  Brigg 

Shepherd,  Rev.  T.  H.,  Clayworth,  Baw- 
try,  R.D. 

*Sherbrooke,  H.,  Esq.,   Oxton,  South- 
well, V.P. 

*Sibthorp,  G.  T.  W.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Can- 
wick  House,  Lincoln 

Sibthorp,  Rev.  H.  Waldo,  Washingboro', 

Lincoln 
Sibthorp,  Rev.  R.  Waldo,  Lincoln 
Simpson,  Mr.  Justin,  Stamford 
Simpson.  Mr.  Thos.,  High-street,  Lincoln 
Skipworth,  G.,  Esq.,  Moortown,  Caistor 


Smith,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Sotby,  Wragby 
*Smyth,  Rev.  W.,  Elkington  Hall,  Louth 

I'.P.,  'Treasurer. 
*Smyth,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  Elkington  Thorpe, 

Louth 
*Smyth,  Rev.  J.  G.,  Elkington,  Louth 
Smyth,  Rev.  C,  Woodford,  Thrapstone 
Smyttan,    Rev.    G.    H.,    HaAvksworth, 

Bingham,  Hon.  Sec. 
Stanhope,  J.  Banks,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Revesby 

Abbey,  Horncastle,  V.P. 
Street,  Rev.  B.,  Barnetby-le-Wold 
Swan,  Robert,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
Terrot,  Rev.  C.,  Wispington,  Horncastle, 

Hon.  Sec. 
Teulon,  S.  S,,  Esq.,  Architect,  9,  Craig's 

Court,  Charing  Cross,  London 
Teulon,    W.    M.,    Esq.,    Architect,    42, 

Guildford     Street,     Kussell    Square, 

London 
Thoroton,  Rev.  C,  Rauceby,  Sleaford 
*Thorold,  Richard,  Esq.,  Weelsby  House, 

Grimsby 
*Thorpe,  Jas.,  Esq.,  Beaconfleld,  Newark 
Townsend,  Rev.  T.J.  M.,  Searby,  Brigg 
Trollope,  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.,  Bart,  M.P., 

Casewick  Hall,  Stamford,  V.P. 
Trollope,  Arthur,  Esq.,  Lincoln 

*  Trollope,  Rev,  E.,  F.S.J..,  Leasingham, 

Sleaford,  lion.  Actiiir/  Secretary. 

*  Trotter,  Mr.  Theodore,  Lincoln 
Turner,  C,  Esq.,  Stoke  Hall,  Grantham 

V.P. 
Tweed,  J.  T.,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
Valpy,   Rev.  J.   M.,    St.   John's,    Not- 
tingham 
Vernon,  G.  E.  H.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Grove, 

East  Ketford,  V.P. 
Vernon,    Rev.  E.   H.   H.,   Grove,  East 

Retford,  Hon.  Sec. 
Vyner,  Rev.  W.  P.,  Withern,  Alford 
Waite,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Manby,  Louth 
Walters,  Rev.  N.,  Stamford 
Walker,  Sir  Ed.,  Kt.,  Berry  Hill,  Mans- 
field 
Walker,  Rev.  Joseph,  Averham,  Newark 
Watson,  Rev.  W.  li.,  Saltfleetby,  Louth 
Wayet,  Rev.  W.,  Pinchbeck,  Spalding 
*Welby,  Sir  G.  E.,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Denton 

House,  Grantham,  V.P. 
Welby,  Kev.  Geo.,  Barrow  by,  Grantham 
Whichcote,  Rev.  Chris.,  Aswarby,  Slea- 
ford, B.n. 
Whichcote,  Sir  T.,  Bart.,  As-warby  Pai-k, 

Sleaford,  V.P. 
White,  Rev.  J.,  Grayiugham,  Kirton-in- 

Lindsey 
Whitehead,  Rev.  G.  Davenport,  Lincoln 
Whitton,  Richard,  Esq.,  Lincoln 
*Wildman,  Col., Newstead  Abbey,  Mans- 
field, V.P. 
Wilkins,  Rev.  J.M.,  Southwell 


VI. 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Wilkinson,    Rev.    Clennel,    Fulbeck, 

Grantham 
Williams,  Rev.  R.  P.,  Scartho,  Grimsby 
*Willson,  Anthony,  Esq.,  M.P.^  Rauceby 

Hall,  Sleaford 
Wyatt,  Rev.W.  H.,  Snentou,  Nottingham 


*Yarborough,  Right  Hon.,  the  Earl  of, 
Brocklesby  Park,  Grimsby,  Patron 

Yard,  Rev.  G.  B.,  Wragby,  R.D. 

Younge,  Rev.  J.  B.  B.,  Wilsford,  Grant- 
ham 


EULES 


1.  That  the  objects  of  the  Society  be 
to  promote  the  study  of  ecclesiastical 
architectm-e,  antiquities,  and  design,  the 
restoration  of  mutilated  architectural  re- 
mains, and  to  improve,  as  far  as  may  be, 
the  character  of  ecclesiastical  edifices  to 
be  erected  in  future. 

2.  That  the  Society  shall  bear  the 
title  of  "  The  Architectural  Society  for 
the  Diocese  of  Lincoln." 

3.  That  the  Society  be  composed  of 
patrons,  president,  vice-presidents,  trea- 
surer, and  secretaries  ;  honorary  and  or- 
dinary members. 

4.  That  new  members  be  proposed 
and  seconded  by  two  members  of  the 
Society,  either  by  letter  or  personally,  at 
one  of  the  committee  meetings,  and  bal- 
loted for  at  the  next  meeting  by  the  mem- 
bers present :  one  black  ball  in  five  to 
exclude.  That  honorary  members  be 
elected  at  the  general  meetings,  on  the 
nomination  of  the  committee  only. 

5.  That  each  member  pay  ten  shil- 
lings on  his  admission  as  an  entrance  fee, 
and  an  annual  subscription  of  ten  shil- 
lings, to  be  considered  due  on  the  1st  of 
Januaiy  in  each  year.  But  that  the  com- 
mittee have  power  to  dispense  with  the 
entrance  fee,  in  cases  where  it  may  seem 
advisable  to  do  so.  That  any  member 
paying  ten  pounds  in  one  sum  be  con- 
sidered as  a  life  member,  and  freed  from 
all  further  payments.  If  any  member's 
subscription  be  in  arrear  for  one  year, 
his  name  may,  after  due  notice  given,  be 
removed  from  the  lists  of  the  Society ; 
and  no  member  shall  be  considered  as 
entitled  to  his  privileges  as  a  member 
whilst  his  subscription  is  in  arrear. 


6.  That  the  affairs  of  the  Society  be 
conducted  by  a  committee,  composed  of 
the  officers  of  the  Society ;  all  rural  deans 
being  members  of  the  Society  ;  all  pro- 
fessional architects  being  members  ;  and 
not  less  than  twelve  ordinary  members, 
who  shall  be  chosen  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing, and  of  whom  one-third  at  least  shall 
have  been  members  of  the  committee  of 
the  preceding  year. 

7.  That  the  funds  of  the  Society  shall 
be  under  the  control  of  the  committee, 
who  shall  apply  the  same,  first,  to  the 
discharge  of  the  necessary  expenses  of 
the  Society  ;  and  afterwards,  to  the  in- 
crease of  the  collections  of  the  Society, 
or  in  particular  cases  in  aid  of  the  re- 
storation of  some  church. 

8.  That  no  grant  be  made  to  any 
church  of  which  the  plans  have  not  been 
laid  before  the  committee,  and  sanctioned 
by  them;  and  that  no  grant  of  money  be 
made,  except  where  notice  shall  have 
been  given  at  the  previous  committee 
meeting  that  such  a  grant  will  be  pro- 
posed. 

9.  That  the  committee  meet  at  Lin- 
coln on  the  first  Friday  in  January,  and 
on  the  same  day  of  every  alternate  month 
throughout  the  year,  at  1  o'clock.  That 
three  Members  be  a  quorum  ;  and  that 
the  committee  have  pow'er  to  add  to  their 
number,  and  also  to  make  and  amend 
bye-laws. 

10.  Tliat  the  Society  hold  two  public 
meetings,  one  in  the  Spring,  and  the 
other  in  the  Autumn  of  each  year.  That 
the  committee  have  power  to  fix  the 
places  of  meeting,  and  to  make  all  neces- 
sary arrangements  for  that  purpose. 


REPORT.  Vll. 


REPORT, 

Adopted  at  a  General  Meeting,  held  at  Lincoln,  January  8^/^,  1858. 

When  any  commercial  Company  is  able  to  present  a  very  favourable  annual  account 
of  its  proceedings,  and  its  financial  condition,  to  its  members,  an  extremely  easy 
task  is  put  before  its  executive  Committee,  in  preparing  a  Report  for  publication. 
The  plain  facts  required  to  be  recorded  therein  are  of  so  agreeable  a  character,  that 
there  is  no  fear  as  to  the  reception  it  Avill  meet  with — no  occasion  to  use  nicely 
balanced  words,  ambiguous  expressions,  or  skilfully  softened,  but  still  perhaps  un- 
pleasant, truths  ;  and  thus  the  Society,  experiencing  the  most  lively  gratification  in 
being  able  to  announce  the  almost  unanticipated  amount  of  success  that  has  attended 
its  proceedings  during  the  year  1857,  as  well  as  the  remarkable  change  for  the  better 
that  has  taken  place  in  its  financial  position,  finds  no  difficulty  in  reporting  progi-ess 
on  the  present  occasion  —being  well  assured  that  all  who  are  interested  in  its  pros- 
perity will  receive,  with  the  utmost  pleasure,  the  facts  which  will  now  be  laid  before 
them. 

The  removal  of  the  Society's  head  quarters  to  Lincoln  has  been  effected  at  a  less 
cost  than  was  anticipated,  and  has  been  followed  by  the  most  conspicuously  bene- 
ficial results.  Its  bi-monthly  Committee  Meetings  have  been  well  attended,  perfect 
unanimity  has  prevailed  in  its  counsels,  and  new  life  has  been  infused  into  its  general 
proceedings  ;  its  literary,  its  artistic,  and  its  practical  Members  having  been  so  dili- 
gently at  work  for  the  common  good,  that  it  may  justly  assume  a  very  high  position 
in  the  company  of  those  many  kindred  Societies  now  happily  exercising  their  bene- 
ficial functions  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  England.  The  Society  has 
indeed  sustained  a  heavy  loss  during  the  past  year,  in  the  person  of  one  of  its  illus- 
trious Patrons— his  Grace  the  late  Duke  of  Rutland— whose  fostering  aid,  during 
the  early  period  of  its  existence,  contributed  much  towards  its  prosperity  :  it  has 
also  to  record  with  much  regret  the  death  of  one  of  its  Vice  Presidents — Ayscough 
Boucherett,  Esq.,  of  Willingham  Hall,  whose  many  amiable  qualities  caused  him  to 
be  deeply  and  very  generally  respected.  The  lovers  of  architecture  in  general  will 
have  seen  with  sorrow,  during  the  same  space,  the  record  of  the  decease  of  a  gentle- 
man who  had  done  much  to  advance  the  knowledge  of  Gothic  Architecture,  viz., 
John  Britton,  at  the  advanced  age  of  86,  who — born  of  humble  Wiltshire  parents  at 
Kingston  St.  Michael,  and  successively  a  cellarman's  apprentice,  a  laAA^-er's  servant, 
and  a  writer  for,  and  a  singer  at,  a  small  theatre  in  Panton-street,  Haymarket— - 
eventually  became  the  author  oi  the  Beauties  of  Wiltshire,  and  finally  of  the  Archi- 
tectural Antiquities  of  Great  Britain,  and  Cathedral  Antiquilies  of  England.  France 
also  has  lately  sustained  a  great  loss,  in  which  English  students  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture will  participate,  by  the  death  of  two  of  her  most  eminent  architects,  whose 
names  and  works  are  well  known  in  England,  viz,,  M.  Lassus — the  restorer  of  the 
celebrated  Sainte  Chapelle  and  of  the  cathedral  of  Notre  Dame  at  Paris,  &c.  ;  and 
of  M.  Violletle  Due — the  author  of  the  Dictionnaire  Eaiso7inee,  (which  we  regret  to 
say  he  has  left  unfinished). 

But,  although  the  Society  has  to  record  some  losses,  it  has  acquired  such  an 
amount  of  fresh  strength  during  the  past  year  as  will  be  sufficient  to  mark  it  as 
being  the  brightest  in  the  annals  of  its  existence.  Very  nearly  one  hundred  new 
Members  have  been  added  to  its  list  of  supporters,  and  amongst  these  not  a  few  will 
be  observed  of  the  highest  rank  and  talent  in  the  Diocese.  The  financial  account 
of  the  Society  fully  partakes  of  the  same  bright  character,  as  will  be  perceived  by 
the  subjoined  statement,  a  considerable  balance  in  the  Society's  favour  now  remain- 
ing in  the  hands  of  its  Treasurer.  It  having  been  discovered  that  a  Rule  had  been 
inadvertently  broken  by  the  election  of  a  General  Secretary  and  a  General  Auditor 
of  the  Associated  Societies — both  being  members  of  the  Yorkshire  Society — the 
Rev.  R.  E.  Batty  at  once  most  considerately  tendered  his  resignation  as  General  Se- 
cretary ;  and  at  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  all  the  Societies,  held  at  Lincoln,  May 
25th,  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope  was  unanimously  elected  to  fill  that  office.  The 
followmg  day,  Wednesday,  May  26th,  will  long  be  remembered  by  the  Members  of 


Vlll.      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

the  Society,  and,  we  believe,  by  very  many  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lincoln  generally, 
when  representatives  from  all  the  other  Architectural  Societies  associated  wth  it 
were  assembled  within  the  limits  of  that  ancient  city,  for  the  purjoose  of  attending  a 
"  Seance"  of  three  days'  duration.  The  proceedings  commenced  with  full  choral 
service  at  the  cathedral ;  and  it  was  an  interesting  sight  to  see  that  magnificent 
house  of  God  crowded  with  so  large  a  body  of  devout  as  well  as  highly  intellectual 
worshippers,  during  one  of  the  ordinary  week-day  services,  when  the  attendance — 
we  regret  to  say — is  usually  so  very  small.  Immediately  after  divine  service,  the 
Rev.  G.  A.  Poole  commenced  a  peripatetic  lecture  on  the  fabric  of  the  cathedral, 
taking  up  his  position,  successively,  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave,  under  the  central 
tower,  in  the  choir,  the  cloisters,  and  the  retrochoir  ;  and  was  listened  to  with  the 
greatest  attention  by  a  very  large  company  of  hearers,  anxious  to  profit  by  the  high 
talent  and  well  digested  learning  of  the  accomplished  lectui'er.  From  the  cathe- 
dral, the  Society  and  its  friends  adjourned  to  the  castle,  which,  by  the  kind  per- 
mission of  the  high  sheriff,  G.  K.  Jaiwis,  Esq.,  was  seen  under  peculiarly  favourable 
circumstances  ;  and  here  Sir  Charles  H.  J.  Anderson,  Bart.,  one  of  the  Vice-Pre- 
sidents of  the  Societ}^,  very  kindly  undertook  to  unroll  its  history  to  the  company 
present,  at  a  spot  where  the  formation  of  the  ground  presented  a  grassy  theatre  well 
adapted  for  the  purpose.  The  remainder  of  the  day  was  occupied  with  visits  to  the 
ruins  of  the  ancient  Episcopal  Palace,  the  Vicars'  Court,  St.  Anne's  Chapel  and 
Bede-houses,  St.  Michael's  Church,  the  Roman  building  now  termed  the  Mint 
Wall,  the  Jew's  House,  the  Grey  Friars,  (now  the  Mechanics'  Institute)*  the 
Stonebow,  the  church  and  conduit  of  St.  Mary-le-Wigford,  St.  Mary's  Guild, 
and  St.  Peter's  at  Gowts ;  afterwards  they  adjourned  to  the  City  Assembly 
Rooms,  whose  walls  were  covered  with  a  fine  collection  of  rubbings  of  brasses  be- 
longing to  the  Society,  and  witb  a  most  instructive  and  pleasing  collection  of  draw- 
ings, prints,  photographs,  and  works  of  art  illustrative  of  the  various  schools  of 
architecture,  contributed  chiefly  by  the  leading  members  of  the  Society  and  their 
friends. 

At  the  evening  Meeting,  presided  over  by  the  Lord  Bishop,  and  held  in  the  City 
Assembly  Eoom,  the  proceedings  were  opened  by  a  few  words  of  hearty  welcome 
to  the  Society  from  the  Mayor — Nathaniel  Clayton,  Esq. — who  concluded  by  calling 
upon  the  Town  Clerk  to  read  the  following  Address  from  the  Corporation  of  Lin- 
coln to  the  Society. 

'*  To  the  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Society: 

"  We,  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Citizens  of  Lincoln,  offer  to  your  distinguished 
*•  Society  our  sincere  congratulations  on  having  fixed  upon  our  ancient  city  for  the 
"  annual  assembling  of  your  members  ;  and  although  it  is  said  to  be  but  a  skeleton 
"  of  its  former  greatness,  yet  we  flatter  ourselves  that  it  mu;t  hold  a  conspicuous 
"  place  in  the  minds  of  all  persons  of  taste,  and  true  admirers  and  lovers  of  anti- 
"  quity,  from  being  crowned  with  one  of  the  noblest  models  of  ecclesiastical  archi- 
"  tecture,  and  dotted  here  and  there  with  beautiful  ruins  and  rare  specimens  of 
"  curious  and  ancient  buildings,  which  appear  hj  a  special  Providence  to  have  been 
"  lefl  to  excite  the  enquiring  mind,  and  form  the  tastes  ot  future  generations.  AVe 
"  view  with  pride,  and  Avith  special  favour  and  regard,  a  Society  formed  tinder  the 
"  genial  auspices  of  several  of  the  leading  nobility  and  gentry,  and  the  Bishop  and 
'*  clergy  of  this  county  and  diocese,  v/ho  are  distinguished  alike  by  their  intellectual 
"  attainments,  refined  tastes,  and  benevolent  actions.  We  applaud  the  noble  object 
*'  that  the  Society  has  in  view,  in  endeavouring  to  raise  and  cultivate  a  general  taste 
"  for,  and  due  appreciation  of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  so  as  to  prevent  in  future 
"  the  erection  of  similar  unsightly  churches  to  those  built  since  the  Reformation, 
"  which  have  disfigured  so  many  of  our  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  and  stamped  our 
"  national  taste  with  disgrace.  We  are  fully  alive  to  the  elevating  and  refining  in- 
"  fluence  of  beauty  of  design,  of  art  pourtrayed,  and  history  (not  unfrequently) 
"  revealed  to  us  through  the  m3'stical  devices  carved  or  emblazoned  upon  the  vene- 
"  rablo  relics  which  are  occasionally  found,  carefully  treasured,  and  valued  as 
"  monuments  of  the  past  ;  but  we  hope  to  see,  through  the  medium  of  your  and 
"  similar  Societies,  a  practical  illustration  of  the  benefits  to  be  derived  by  the  erec- 
"  tion  of  public  buildings  architecturally  worthy  of  a  great  nation,  and  of  ecclesias- 
"  tical  ones  so  replete  Avith  architectural  purity  and  beauty  as  to  impress  upon  the 


EEPORT.  ix. 

"  mind  a  deep  sense  of  veneration  whicli  only  perfect  harmony  of  design  and  gran- 
"  deur  of  simplicity  can  inspire.  We  rejoice  to  hear  of  the  flourishing  condition  of 
"  your  Society,  the  gi-eat  accession  to  the  number  of  its  members  during  the  last 
"  twelve  months  :  the  interest  displayed  by  kindred  societies  in  flocking  to  your 
"  meeting,  and  the  important  and  interesting  subjects  of  which  it  proposes  to  treat ; 
"  and  wo  sincerely  trust  that  our  city  and  neighbourhood,  by  affording  you  many 
"  rare  objects  for  inspection  and  research,  may  ever  enable  you  to  recall  with  plea- 
"  sure,  as  well  as  with  advantage,  the  few  days  you  may  pass  here  upon  your 
"  praiseworthy  and  intellectual  mission." 

The  Lord  Bishop  called  upon  the  Secretary  to  read  the  Society's  reply,  which 
was  as  follows  : — 

"  To  the  Worshipful  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Citizens  of  Lincoln: 

"Mr.  Mayor  and  Gentlemen; — "We,  the  President  and  Members  of  'The 
"  Architectural  Society  of  the  Diocese  of  Lincoln,'  in  friendly  association  with  the 
"  kindred  societies  of  five  neighbouring  counties,  beg  to  assure  you  that  we  receive 
"  with  sincere  gratification  the  address  which  you  have  done  us  the  honour  to  pre- 
"  sent  to  us,  and  are  anxious  to  express  our  most  cordial  thanks  for  the  flattering 
•'  reception  which  you  have  accorded  to  our  Society,  and  for  tlie  high  compliment 
"  of  your  presence  at  our  meeting  this  evening.  Such  marks  of  welcome  and  kind 
"  attention  on  your  part  are  especially  grateful  to  us  on  this  occasion  of  holding  our 
"  first  public  assembly  after  the  permanent  settlement  of  our  Society  at  Lincoln, 
"  and  serve  as  additional  reasons  for  congratulation  that  we  have  now  established 
"  our  head  quarters  within  your  hospitable  and  deeply  interesting  city. 

"  That  charm  with  which  history  has  invested  ancient  Lindum,  was  one  cause  of 
"  attracting  us  hither.  Founded  by  the  Romans,  occupied  by  the  Saxons  and  the 
"  Danes,  beautified  during  the  Norman  period,  enriched  under  the  sway  of  the 
"  Plantagenets,  visited  by  her  sovereigns,  presided  over  by  a  succession  of  prelates 
*'  distinguished  by  their  piety,  their  learning  and  their  munificence, — the  enter- 
"  prising  Remigius,  the  architectural  Alexander,  the  holy  Hugh,  the  philosophical 
"  Grossetete,  the  chronicler  Sanderson,  and  the  beloved  Kaye, — how  many  interest- 
"  ing  records  of  the  past  honour  and  adorn  this  venerable  city! 

"  And  what  greater  attraction  to  a  Society  like  ours,  than  the  number,  the  beauty, 
"  and  variety  of  antient  specimens  of  architecture,  which  your  city  and  its  vicinity 
"  so  abundantly  supply  ? 

"  The  whole  county,  indeed,  is  renowned  for  the  excellence  of  its  ecclesiastical 
"  structvires ;  and  therein  may  be  found  each  link,  in  an  unbroken  chain,  of  this 
"  antient  and  noble  art — from  the  simple  severity  of  the  Saxon  period,  the  impress- 
"  ive  massiveness  of  the  Norman,  the  graceful  solidity  of  the  transitional,  the  per- 
"  feet  purity  of  the  gecmetrical,  the  richly  flowing  lines  of  the  curvilinear,  to  the 
"  expensive  framework  of  the  rectilinear — all  offering  the  most  splendid  examples  of 
"  the  varied  merits  of  each  succeeding  style,  and  serving  as  practical  illustrations  of 
"  that  science  which  it  is  the  especial  object  of  our  Society  to  foster  and  sustain. 

"  And  what  a  cluster  of  instructive  edifices  is  presented  to  us  by  this  remarkable 
"  city  in  which  we  are  now  assembled  !  Its  noble  Minster,  too  proud  in  its  acknow- 
"  ledged  supremacy  to  admit  of  any  but  a  passing  tribute  to  its  merits,  would  alone 
"  be  a  sufficient  work  for  the  student  in  Gothic  architecture.  But  Lincoln  contains 
"  many  others,  such  as  the  Norman  towers  of  St.  Peter's  at  Gowts  and  bit.  Mary 
"  le  Wigford,  the  remains  of  St.  Mary's  Guild,  and  that  almost  unique  specimen  of 
"the  domestic  architecture  of  the  12th  century,  '  The  Jew's  House' — besides  the 
"  picturesque  ruins  of  the  old  Episcopal  Palace,  portions  of  the  antient  Castle,  the 
"  exquisite  bay  window  from  John  of  Gaunt's  Palace,  and  the  lengthy  front  of  the 
"  Grey  Friars — the  Minster  rising  as  a  coronal  above  them,  duly  enthroned  as  the 
"  queen  of  British  cathedrals. 

"  Such  ample  materials  for  study,  within  the  very  area  of  what  we  may  hence- 
"  forth  term  our  studio,  must  prove  invaluable  in  the  investigation  of  this  science. 
"  And,  is  it  unnatural  that  we  should  still  be  in  statu  pupillari  as  regards  Gothic 
"  architecture,  its  spirit  having  sunk  into  a  trance  for  nearly  three  centuries  ?  Re- 
"  viving  in  the  present  age,  we  hail  it  in  its  progress.  At  present  we  have  no 
"  national  style  of  architecture — none  belonging  to  the  period  which  can  hereafter 
"  be  designated  as  that  of  the  19th  century.     Wherever  we  go  we  find  only  're- 

c 


X.  LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

"  chauffds  of  the  past.  Rome  vies  with  Greece  in  furnishing  the  models  of  most 
"  of  our  public  buildings,  (occasionally  diversified  with  reminiscences  of  Egypt  and 
"  the  East,)  or  else  we  borrow  from  the  Italian  and  Rennaissance  schools,  whilst 
"  every  shade  of  Gothic  architecture  has  been  invoked  in  turn.  But,  as  the  general 
"  harmony  so  strikingly  observable  in  the  designs  of  our  cathedrals  and  churches 
"  was  the  result  of  united  studies  caiTied  on  in  our  ancient  monasteries,  so  may  we 
"  hope  that  through  the  efforts  of  such  societies  as  our  own,  in  conjunction  with 
"  others,  true  taste  may  rise  triumphant,  and  that  we  may  be  able  not  only  to  ap- 
•*  predate  the  labours  of  the  past,  but  to  influence  the  erection  of  such  edifices  at 
"  the  present  day  as  may  justly  bear  comparison  with  those  of  bygone  ages. 

"  In  conclusion,  we  beg  to  assure  you,  Mr.  Mayor  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Cor- 
"  poration  of  Lincoln,  that  we  are  fully  sensible  of  the  honour  you  have  paid  us  by 
"  this  public  and  official  reception,  and  request  that  you  will  accept  our  united  and 
"  warmest  thanks  for  the  same." 

The  Secretary  then  announced  his  regret  that  the  Meeting  was  unavoidably  de- 
prived of  the  presence  of  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Newcastle,  and  of  Eai-1  Stanhope, 
who  had  promised  to  attend  it  if  possible  ;  and  above  all  that  his  Royal  Highness 
the  Due  d'Auraale,  having  only  just  arrived  in  England  from  Sicily,  owing  to  the 
pressure  of  business,  was  not  at  liberty  to  pay  a  visit  to  Lincoln  at  that  time.  The 
Prince's  note  on  this  point  was  then  read,  written  from  Palermo,  and  it  was  an- 
nounced that  the  book  alluded  to  therein  as  a  present  from  his  Royal  Highness  to 
the  Society  had  been  received.     The  note  was  as  follows : 

^^  Palermo,  3  Mai,  1857. 

"  C'est  ^  I'instant  seulement.  Monsieur,  que  par  un  retard  inexplicable,  je  re9ois 
"  votre  lettre  du  19  Mars,  avec  le  billet  que  Lord  Stanhope  avait  eu  I'obligeance  d'y 
"  joindre.  Bien  que  j'aie  le  projet  de  regagner  prochainement  I'Angleterre,  I'epoque 
♦'  de  ce  retour  n'est  pas  assez  certaine  pour  que  je  puisse  accepter  votre  aimable  in- 
"  vitation.  Je  le  regrette  beaucoup,  car  j'aurais  ^td  charm^  d'entendre  le  r^cit  de  la 
"  captivitd  de  Jean  le  Bon,  et  de  visiter  en  si  docte  compagnie  le  Chateau  de  Somer- 
"  ton.  J'ai  en  effet  retrouve  dans  mes  archives  le  '  Compte  de  la  ddpense  de  I'hotel 
"  du  Roi  Jean  pendant  la  plus  grande  partie  de  sa  captivite ; '  et  ce  document  a  dt6 
*'  imprimd,  avec  quelques  renseignements  que  j'y  avals  joints,  dans  un  volume  de 
"  Mdlanges,  public  en  1855,  par  la  Societe  des  Philobiblons  de  Londres.  Je  v6ri- 
"  fierai  s'il  me  reste  encore  quelque  exemplaire  separ*^  de  ce  travail,  que  je  serais 
"  heureux  d'oflfrir  a  la  Society  Ai-chitecturale  du  Diocfese  de  Lincoln.  Encore  une 
"  fois.  Monsieur,  recevez  avec  Texpression  de  mes  regrets,  mes  sincferes  remerci- 
"  ments,  et  I'assurance  des  sentiments  avec  lesquels  je  demeure, 

Votre  affectionn^,  H.  D'Oeleans. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  President  then  called  upon  the  Eev.  Edward  TroUope  to  read  a 
Paper  "  On  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Lincolnshire  duinng  the  Saxon 
period;"  and  afterwai'ds  invited  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Poole  to  offer  to  the  Meeting  "  The 
History  of  the  various  architectural  features  of  Lincoln  Cathedral ;"  both  of  which 
were  very  enthusiastically  received. 

On  the  second  day,  Thursday  27th,  at  nine  o'clock,  a  large  mimber  of  the  So- 
ciety and  its  friends  left  Lincoln  in  omnibuses,  flys,  private  carriages,  gigs,  &c.,  at  one 
time  amounting  to  eighteen  in  number,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  Coleby,  Somerton 
Castle,  Navenby,  Wellingore,  Welbourne,  and  Temple  Bruer  ;  during  which  trip 
Mr.  Kirk  was  ever  ready  to  point  out  the  architectural  beauties  or  peculiarities  of 
the  churches  inspected,  whilst  at  Somerton  Castle  the  Seci-etary  read  an  account 
of  the  builder's  life — Bishop  Beke,  and  at  Temple-Bruer  a  condensed  history  of  the 
Templars  and  of  the  Hospitallers,  or  Knights  of  St.  John. 

At  six  o'clock,  the  Members  of  the  Society  and  their  friends  sat  down  to  dinner 
in  the  Corn  Exchange,  the  only  building  in  Lincoln  capable  of  containing  so  large 
a  party.  The  Bishop  presided,  supported  by  the  Mayor  on  the  right,  and  the  High 
Sheriff — G.  K.  Jarvis,  Esq. — on  the  left.  Amongst  the  company  were  the  Rt.  Hon. 
C.  T.  D'Eyncourt,  Sir  Montagu  Cholmeley,  Bart.,  M.P.,  Lord  Alwyne  Compton, 
Sir  Charles  Anderson,  Bart.,  Sir  George  Robinson,  Bart.,  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Richard 
Cust,  Sir  Henry  Dryden,  Bart,,  Arthur  Trollope,  Esq.,  Lieut.  Col.  Ellison,  M.  H. 
Bloxham,  Esq.,  Major  Moore,  P.  M.  Moore,  Esq.,  T.  M.  Keyworth,  Esq.,  Pisliey 
Thompson,  Esq. ;  the  Reverends  G.  A.  Poole,  T.  James,  H.  Y.  Bigge,  H.  Smyttan, 


REPORT.  XI. 

Irvin  Eller,  G.  Atkinson,  H.  F.  Ilutton,  B.  Beridgc,  E.  Trollope,  Sec.  From  the 
Exchange  the  company  adjourned  to  the  City  Assembly  Room,  where  the  Bishop 
again  presided,  and  called  upon  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Dimock,  Canon  of  Southwell  Min- 
ster, to  read  a  Paper  upon  St.  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Lincoln;  and  then  upon  the  Rev.  E. 
Trollope,  to  read  his  "  History  of  the  captivity  of  John,  King  of  France,  at  Somerton 
Castle."  Both  of  these  members  of  the  Society  received  the  very  warm  thanks  of 
the  Meeting  for  their  respective  productions  ;  and  the  evening's  proceedings  were 
closed  by  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Rt.  Rev.  Chairman  for  his  obliging  and  efficient 
services  as  President — proposed  by  Colonel  Ellisoii  and  seconded  by  the  Rev.  J.  G. 
Bussell,  the  Vicar  of  Newark. 

On  Thursday  29th,  starting  from  Lincoln  at  the  same  hour  as  on  the  preceding 
day,  the  Society  and  its  visitors  passed  up  the  New-road,  through  Newport  Arch, 
South  Carlton,  and  by  the  picturesque  old  hall  of  S.  Slater,  Esq.  at  North  Carlton, 
into  the  Tillbridge-lane,  on  their  way  to  Stow — the  original  seat  of  the  Bishops  of 
Lincoln.  Hence  the  party  passed  on  to  Marton,  with  its  early  Norman  tower;  near 
Brampton — once  famous  for  its  "  groaning  tree" — to  Torksey,  celebrated  as  being 
the  spot  where  Paulinus  baptised  Blecca  and  thousands  of  his  Lindissian  subjects  ia 
the  Trent ;  proceeding  thence  to  Kettlethorpe — once  the  property  of  the  Swinfords 
— and  Thorney,  famous  for  its  costly  church,  built  in  the  Norman  style  by  the  pre- 
sent munificent  rector,  the  Rev.  Chr.  Nevile.  Doddington  Hall  was  at  length 
reached,  whose  doors  were  thrown  widely  open  by  its  hospitable  proprietor,  G.  K. 
Jarvis,  Esq. ,  and  where  every  object  of  interest  it  contains  was  carefully  prepared  for 
public  inspection.  Returning  hence  to  Lincoln  by  Skellingthorpe,  whose  new  church 
and  school-house  were  duly  inspected,  it  was  found  that  there  would  be  no  time  to 
pay  even  a  passing  visit  to  Bracebridge,  as  had  been  arranged,  much  to  the  regret 
of  some  who  were  anxious  to  examine  its  exceedingly  ancient  tower,  &c. 

In  the  evening,  the  Mayor  gave  a  magnificent  banquet  to  the  Society  in  the 
Corn  Exchange,  whose  ample  area  was  completely  occupied  by  his  very  numerous 
guests.  After  having  received  the  Society  in  an  ante-room,  he  passed  to  his  seat  in 
the  large  room  at  seven  o'clock,  and  was  supported  on  his  right  by  the  Bishop  of 
Lincoln,  the  Right  Hon.  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt,  Lieut.  Col.  Ellison,  the  Rev.  E. 
Trollope,  the  Hon.  and  Kev.  R.  Cust,  &c.  ;  and  on  the  left  by  the  High  Sheriff,  Sir 
M.  J.  Cholmeley,  Bart.,  M.P.,  the  Honourable  W.  Monson,  the  Kev.  the  Subdean, 
Sir  George  Robinson,  Bart.,  &c.  :  Sir  Henry  Dryden,  Bart.,  officiating  as  vice- 
chairman.  After  the  proposal  of  a  variety  of  toasts,  and  the  Mayor's  health  had 
been  most  enthiisiastically  drunk,  and  also  "  Success  to  the  Lincoln  Diocesan 
Society,"  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  were  brought  to  a  close;  and  its  Members, 
deeply  impressed  with  the  hearty  reception  they  had  met  wiih  from  the  inhabitants 
of  Lincoln,  and  especially  with  the  munificent  hospitality  ofiered  to  them  by  its 
worthy  chief  Magistrate,  dispersed  on  the  following  morning,  hoping  that  it  might 
be  again  in  their  power  at  some  futm-e  time  to  I'e-visit  this  renowned  city. 

The  Society's  autumnal  meeting  took  place  at  Doncaster,  on  the  23rd  and  24th 
of  September,  in  accordance  with  an  invitation  it  had  received  to  that  efiect  from 
the  Yorkshire  Society  ;  and  was  of  a  most  agreeable  character.  The  Mayor  of 
Doncaster,  G  Dunn,  Esq.,  M.D.,  most  literally  invited  all  the  members  of  both 
Societies  to  a  very  handsome  dejeuner,  and  did  all  in  his  power  to  enhance  the 
success  of  the  Meeting.  Viscount  Goderich,  M.P.,  afterwards  presided  at  the  pub- 
lic meeting  of  the  conjoint  Societies  in  the  Mansion-house,  where  very  able  lectures 
were  delivered  by  Mr.  G.  G.  Scott — the  celebrated  ecclesiastical  architect — and  by 
Ml-.  J  B.  Walbran,  the  Mayor  of  Ripon.  In  the  afternoon  a  long  and  bold  lecture, 
"  On  the  Gothic  princlplts  Uli(slrated  in  the  iieiv  pariah  church  oj  Uoncuster"  was 
delivered  by  E.  13.  Denison,  Esq. ;  and  hi  the  evening  other  lectures  were  read  by 
the  Rev.  G.  Ornsbv,  and  by  Mr.  F.  A.  Skidmore  of  Coventry  ;  the  first  being 
descriptive  of  Fiahlake  church,  the  second  on  the  "  Ecclcmistical  Metal  Work 
of  the  Middle  Ages  ;"  but  as  a  full  account  of  these  lectures,  and  probably  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  associated  Societies,  will  be  given  in  the  Yorkshire  Report,  we 
shall  rest  satisfied  simply  with  making  this  allusion  to  the  Do. .caster  meeting,  and 
with  expressing  our  gratitude  to  the  Yorkshire  Society  for  the  very  fi'iendly  wel- 
come it  offered  us  on  that  occasion. 

Much  has  been  done  in  the  diocese,  since  the  publication  of  our  last  Report,  to 
carry  on  the  work  of  church  restoration — now  very  generally  looked  upon  both  as  a 
duty  and  a  pleasure  throughout  the  whole  breadth  of  England  ;  and  we  are  happy 


XU.         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

to  be  able  to  add,  that  this  has  for  the  most  part  been  effected  upon  the  principles 
always  advocated  by  the  Society,  and  now  usually  adopted  by  all  architects  of  any 
pretension  to  a  knowledge  of  ecclesiology.  A  chapel  attached  to  the  fabric  of  St. 
Botolph's  church,  Boston,  that  had  been  suffered  to  remain  for  many  years  in  a 
deplorably  ruinous  condition,  has  now  been  completely  renovated  under  the  sure 
guidance  of  Mr.  G.  G.  Scott ;  its  walls  and  external  ornaments  having  been  repaired, 
the  broken  tracery  of  its  windows  renewed,  its  decayed  roof  replaced  by  a  new  one 
of  the  same  simple,  but  ornamental,  character  as  the  old  one  ;  its  floor  paved  with 
Minton's  tiles,  its  stonework  cleaned  from  the  collected  impurities  of  centuries,  its 
arches — communicating  with  the  body  of  the  church — opened,  by  means  of  which 
a  new  and  highly  picturesque  view  of  its  imposing  proportions  has  now  been  offered 
to  the  parishioners,  and  the  numerous  visitors  who  are  so  continually  attracted 
towards  this  celebrated  church.  But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  circumstance 
connected  with  this  restoration  is  the  fact  that  it  has  been  effected  entirely  at  the 
cost  of  certain  American  gentlemen,  chiefly  of  Boston,  U.S.,  who  were  desirous  of 
expressing  their  regard  for  the  old  Lincolnshire  town  whence  their  forefathers 
emigi'ated  many  years  ago,  and  to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev.  John  Cotton, 
who,  originally  a  vicar  of  Boston,  eventually  became  one  of  the  first  preachers  of 
the  gospel  in  JMassachusetts,  and  whose  worth  is  now  recorded  on  a  brass  plate 
beautifully  engraved  by  Messrs.  Hardman,  and  set  in  an  appropriate  fi-ame  of  carved 
stonework  by  the  same  liberal  American  citizens  who  supplied  the  funds  necessary 
for  the  restoration  of  the  chapel  in  which  it  is  placed. 

Considerable  works  have  been  carried  on  in  St.  John's  Church,  Stamford.  It 
has  been  entirely  re-seated  in  a  handsome  manner  with  oak  benches,  &c. ,  and  its 
tower  arch  is  now  open  ;  two  of  its  j)rincipal  windows  have  been  filled  with  stained 
glass  by  Oliphant ;  the  eastern  one — I'epresenting  the  Nativity,  at  the  cost  of  the 
vicar,  the  Rev.  D.  E.  Jones  ;  the  western,  a  large  perpendicular  one  of  five  lights,  at 
the  cost  of  Mr.  R.  N.  Newcomb,  representing  four  leading  scriptural  subjects,  viz., 
the  Baptism  of  Christ,  his  Crucifixion,  his  Entombment,  and  his  Resurrection,  in 
addition  to  figures  of  the  Evangelists  and  Angels,  foliated  work,  &c. 

We  have  also  the  pleasure  of  reporting  upon  the  complete  restoration  of  All 
Saints'  in  the  same  town — the  last  of  its  six  churches  that  has  undergone  this  very 
desirable  process.  It  has  been  entirely  re-seated  with  substantial  oak  seats,  boldly 
and  beautifully  carved  ;  repaved  with  Minton's  tiles,  adorned  Avith  a  richly  sculp- 
tured reredos  of  Caen  stone,  and  with  a  chancel-screen  of  carved  oak.  The  whole 
of  the  interior  stonewoik  has  been  carefully  cleaned  and  repaned,  and  all  the  win- 
dows re-glazed  with  tinted  glass.  St.  Mary's  chapel,  a  portion  of  this  fabric,  has 
been  new  roofed  with  oak,  and  now  contains  the  organ.  Mr.  E.  Browning,  of 
Stamford,  has  very  ably  presided  over  these  alterations  ;  and  when  m  progi'ess, 
several  discoveries  were  made  of  an  interesting  character,  viz. :  the  base  moulding 
of  an  Early  English  chantry,  fifteen  yards  below  the  level  of  the  present  floor  of  the 
south  aisle,  several  brasses,  portions  of  the  original  encaustic  tile  floor  of  the  chancel, 
a  piscina,  and  some  holy-water  stoups,  &c.  It  is  a  subject  of  regret  that  one  of  the 
galleries  of  this  church  should  have  been  retained,  unless  some  very  urgent  necessity 
can  be  alleged  for  its  retention,  of  which  we  ai'e  not  aware  ;  and  also  that  large 
screws  should  have  been  passed  through  the  brasses  referred  to  above,  to  secure  them 
in  their  present  incongruous  position. 

St.  John's  Church,  Ryhall,  has  been  re-seated  with  low  open  benches,  its  tower- 
arch  thrown  open  by  the  removal  of  a  gallery,  &c.,  in  front  of  it,  and  Minton's  tiles 
now  form  its  pavement ;  besides  which,  it  has  been  supphed  with  a  handsome  carved 
oak  pulpit  and  reading  desk. 

St.  Martin's,  Barholm,  has  undergone  a  series  of  judicious  repairs,  under  the 
supervision  of  Mr.  Ed.  Browning,  architect,  of  Stamford,  and  through  the  exertions 
of  the  Rev.  W.  Turner,  the  incumbent.  New  roofs  of  a  proper  pitch  have  taken  the 
place  of  the  former  frightful  low  and  ceiled  coverings,  the  tower-arch  has  been 
opened,  the  Norman  south  door  and  other  evidences  of  that  period  still  existing  in 
the  fabric  have  been  carefully  preserved  and  exhibited,  the  chancel-screen,  the 
pulpit,  reading-desk,  stalls,  and  seats  are  all  of  oak,  and  of  the  most  substantial 
character,  the  pavement  is  of  Minton's  tiles,  and  the  sedilia  and  window  tracery  have 
been  carefully  cleaned,  and,  where  necessary,  repaired. 

St.  Andrew's,  Potter-Hanworth,  has,  with  the  exception  of  the  tower,  been 
entirely  rebuilt  through  the  zeal  and  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  the  rector,  the  Rev. 


REPORT.  XIU. 

Arthur  Anson,  and  his  friends ;  and  when  we  state  that  the  late  fahric  was  of  the 
date  1749,  and  that  the  present  one  is  built  after  the  designs  of  Mr.  Hussey, 
we  need  not  further  remark  that  no  comparison  can  be  made  between  the  two. 
The  new  church  consists  of  a  nave,  north  aisle,  and  chancel  of  the  Decorated  period  ; 
the  seating  is  appropriate,  and  the  floor  is  decorated  with  Minton's  tiles.  The  east 
window  is  filled  with  stained  glass  by  Wailes,  the  gift  of  the  Dean  of  Chester  (the 
father  of  the  rector)  and  a  handsome  stone  pulpit  and  light  reading-desk  complete 
the  requirements  of  this  now  agreeable  specimen  of  modern  ecclesiastical  architecture. 

St.  Helen's,  East  Keal,  has  been  partly  rebuilt,  and  partly  most  substantially 
repaired,  the  rector — the  Rev.  J.  Spence — having  entirely  rebuilt  the  chancel,  and 
contributed  most  handsomely  towards  the  general  restoration  of  the  ftibi'ic,  which 
now  consists  of  a  goodly  tower,  nave,  north  and  south  aisles,  and  chancel,  the  whole 
forming  a  structure  of  which  the  parishioners  may  well  be  proud. 

St.  Helen's,  Willoughby,  has  undei'gone  a  series  of  very  desirable  alterations  and 
repairs,  and  a  new  organ  has  been  erected  therein,  chiefly  through  the  praiseworthy 
exertions  of  the  rector,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Dupre,  and  his  curate  the  Rev.  M.  Hole. 
St.  Firmin's,  Thurlby,  has  been  re-seated  and  repaired  very  much  to  the  improve- 
ment of  its  appearance,  and  to  the  convenience  of  the  parishioners. 

St.  Andrew's,  Fulletby,  has  been  carefully  restored  under  the  direction  of 
IMessrs.  Maughan  and  Fowler  of  Louth.  The  chancel,  porch,  windows,  and  the 
whole  of  the  roofing  is  new,  as  Avell  as  the  seating  and  floors.  The  east  window  of 
the  chancel  consists  of  a  triplet,  having  an  inner  arch  corresponding  with  outer 
openings  carried  on  detached  columns  of  an  elegant  design.  The  whole  of  the 
chancel  windows  have  been  filled  with  stained  glass,  and  a  little  gilding  has  been 
introduced  into  the  reredos,  pulpit,  and  font. 

St.  Philip's,  Brinkhill,  has  been  rebuilt  with  alternate  layers  of  old  gi'een  sand- 
stone and  brick — materials  which  contrast  well  with  the  Avhite  freestone  of  the 
windows,  &c.  This  now  pleasing  little  church  is  of  the  First  Pointed  style,  and 
consists  of  a  nave,  surmounted  by  a  bell  gable,  chancel,  and  south  porch. 

St.  Oswald's,  Strubby,  retains  only  the  divisional  arcade  separating  the  nave 
from  the  south  aisle  of  the  old  fabric,  and  the  chancel,  the  whole  of  the  remainder 
having  fallen  when  the  roof  was  removed.  The  walls,  like  those  of  the  last  church 
mentioned,  have  been  rebuilt  of  mixed  stone  and  brick  by  Messrs.  Maughan  and 
Fowler,  in  which  several  of  the  old  windows — of  a  Late  Pointed  character — have 
been  inserted,  and  also  a  beautiful  Geometrical  one  in  the  east  end  of  the  south  aisle. 
A  massive  oak  bell-cot,  covered  with  shingle,  surmounts  the  west  gable  of  the  nave. 
The  prayer-desk  and  pulpit  are  of  oak  ;  and  many  of  the  old  carved  bench  ends 
have  been  adapted  to  the  new  seating.  We  regret  that  the  restoration  of  this  church 
has  not  yet  extended  to  the  chancel. 

All  Saints',  North  Hykham,  has  been  rebuilt  in  a  very  creditable  manner,  by 
Mr.  Michael  Drury,  of  Lincoln  ;  also  the  tower  of  All  Saints',  Croft. 

St  Andrew's,  Firsby,  has  been  entirely  re-built  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Street, 
of  London,  carried  out  by  Mr.  W.  Kuddlestone,  of  Lincoln.  The  whole  of  the 
materials,  consisting  of  Lincoln  stone  with  Ancaster  dressings,  were  prepared  at 
Lincoln,  and  conveyed  by  rail  to  Firsby — that  locale  producing  only  soft  sandstone. 
The  result  is  extremely  good,  and  the  bell-gable  of  this  church  is  an  agreeable  object 
as  seen  from  the  East  Lincolnshire  railway.  The  chancel  has  an  apsidal  termina- 
tion, and  its  east  window  is  filled  with  stained  glass,  by  Messrs.  Powell. 

All  Saints',  Broxholme,  has  also  been  entirely  re- built  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  Hine,  of  Nottingham,  by  Mr.  Wallis,  of  Market  Rasen.  The  old  church  was 
for  the  n:ost  part  of  the  meanest  character,  and  rather  resembled  externally  some 
ruinous  domestic  tenement,  than  a  church  ;  yet  internally  it  contained  a  good  plain 
arcade  of  the  Decorated  period,  between  the  nave  and  north  aisle,  and  one  feature 
of  considerable  interest,  viz.,  a  doorway  between  the  tower  and  nave,  which  was 
an  undoubted  relic  of  the  Saxon  church  at  Broxholme,  mentioned  in  Domesday 
Book — possessing  all  the  characteristics  of  that  period,  being  tall  and  narrow,  the 
jambs  being  built  long-and-short-wise,  inclining  towards  each  other  upwards,  having 
a  far-projecting  abacus — massive  and  rude — carrying  a  plain  solid  arch  ;  and  we 
much  regret  that  this  venerable  relic  w-as  not  preserved,  and  can-ied  off  to  Stow 
church,  where  it  would  have  been  of  much  service  in  I'eplacing  one  that  has  been 
destroyed  in  that  interesting  structure.  The  new  church,  of  the  Decorated  style,  is 
built  of  good  rough  cliff-stone,  with  freestone  dressings  ;  but  the  pointing  is  of  far 


XIV.       LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

too  sable  a  tint.  It  consists  of  a  nave  without  aisles,  but  having  at  its  east  end  a 
trauseptal  projection  opening  under  an  arch  northwards,  a  chancel  of  fair  proportion, 
a  vestry,  and  a  south  porch  ;  also  a  bell-tuiret,  capped  with  a  slated  spirelet.  The 
roofs  ax'e  of  a  good  pitch,  and  the  chancel  arch  of  a  good  form.  Altogether,  this 
church  is  now  a  very  suitable  one  for  a  small  rural  parish.  It  has  been  built,  we 
understand,  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  Fred.  Robinson,  Esq.,  the  only  lay  proprietor, 
assisted  by  the  Rev.  W.  Burnside,  the  rector,  and  his  friends,  &c. 

All  Saints',  Beckingham,  is  undergoing  a  thorough  internal  restoration,  under 
the  supervision  of  Mr.  C.  Baily,  of  Newark.  The  whole  stonework  is  being  cleaned, 
new  open  seats  of  a  simple  design  are  now  substituted  for  the  hideous  old  pews, 
and  a  beautiful  lectern,  as  submitted  to  the  committee,  has  been  presented  to  the 
church  by  a  member  of  the  Society.  In  the  chancel  a  new  triplet  window  has  been 
inserted  at  its  east  end,  and  lancet  ones  in^  its  side  walls,  a  doorway,  &c.  The 
flooring  is  composed  of  Minton's  tiles. 

St.  Mary's,  Ratcliff'e-on- Trent.  Here  a  new  chancel  of  the  Early  English 
penod  has  been  built,  having  a  vestry  and  organ  gallery  on  the  north,  and  a  south 
aisle.  A  stone  screen  with  clustered  shafts  and  open  tracery  separates  the  chancel 
from  the  south  aisle,  and  has  a  very  pleasing  appearance.  A  parclose  of  openwork 
separates  the  organ  gallery  from  the  chancel,  and  another  is  placed  in  the  archway 
towards  the  north  aisle  of  the  church.  All  the  features  of  the  original  work  have 
been  most  scrupulously  retained,  and  we  earnestly  hope  that  the  present  beauty  and 
appropriateness  of  this  portion  of  the  fabric  will  before  long  lead  to  the  re-building 
of  the  nave,  in  oi-der  that  its  present  cast-iron  pillars,  sash  windows,  and  frightfnl 
gallery  may  give  place  to  something  a  little  more  appropriate.  This  restoration  has 
been  committed  to  Mr.  Baily,  also  some  partial  restorations  of  the  chancel  at  Aver- 
ham  church. 

Sibthorpe  church,  Notts.,  has  undergone  a  most  agi-eeable  metamorphosis.  Its 
old  frightful  pews  have  been  superseded  by  low  open  seats  ;  its  very  graceful  tower- 
arch  is  now  open  ;  and  a  hideous  loft  has  been  demolished.  Its  chancel  is  in  process 
of  being  thoroughly  restored  (including  the  Easter  Sepulchre)  ,  the  old  ceiling 
having  been  i-emoved,  and  a  new  roof  substituted  for  it  ;  in  addition  to  which,  a  new 
vestry  has  been  built.  During  this  restoration,  which  we  hope  will  eventually 
extend  to  the  Avhole  fabric,  a  second  piscina  was  discovered,  close  to  the  one  for- 
merly exposed. 

Three  Parsonages  of  considerable  merit  have  come  under  our  observation 
during  the  past  year.  The  first  at  Ufiington,  near  Stamford,  designed  by  Mr. 
P.  C.  Hardwick,  of  21,  Cavendish  Square,  London,  is  a  good  example  of  what  a 
modern  first  class  rectoiy  house  should  be.  Externally,  its  well-grouped  gables, 
chimnies,  and  transomed  windows,  and  internally,  its  excellent  arrangements — 
all  carried  out  with  the  very  best  Avorkmanship,  reflect  great  credit  upon  the 
architect  and  the  builder,  as  well  as  upon  the  Rev.  W.  Pegus,  who  first  selected 
the  design  of  this  very  substantial  clerical  residence,  and  has  since  carefully  watched 
the  progi-ess  ot  the  works. 

The  second  of  an  earlier  presumed  period,  has  been  built  at  Orston,  in  Notts., 
by  Mr.  C.  Baily,  in  a  simple  and  substantial  manner,  which — although  not  to  be 
compared  with  that  of  Uffington,  from  its  comparatively  small  size — is  not  without 
considerable  merit. 

The  third  is  at  Haydor,  of  which  Mr.  W.  White,  of  Argj^le  Place,  London,  is 
the  architect.  This  is  an  exceedingly  picturesque  erection  ;  and  by  the  admixture 
of  brick  with  the  stone  of  which  it  is  for  the  most  part  constructed,  a  little  colour 
has  been  dispersed  over  its  various  fa9ades,  in  a  modest  and  judicious  manner. 
The  chimnies — it  struck  us — are  uncomfortably  depressed,  and  there  is  a  little 
over  exuberance  of  fancy  in  some  of  tlie  details  about  its  entrance  ;  but,  as  a  whole, 
this  parsonage  has  our  entire  approbation,  and  it  has  the  advantage  of  at  once 
bespeaking  itsel:  to  be  the  clerical  residence  of  the  village. 

Of  School  establishments  we  have  the  pleasure  of  recording  several  new  and 
very  excellent  examples.  First,  that  of  Algarkirk,  the  munificent  work  of  the 
Rev.  B.  Beridge,  now  rapidly  adv.mcing  towards  completion  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  G.  G.  Scott,  which  will  certainly  aff'ord  a  beautiful  model  for  the  design  of 
others,  but  one  which  from  the  necessary  costliness  of  its  production  will,  we  fear, 
be  rarely  copied. 

Another,  on  at  least  an  equally  large  scale,  has  been  erected  atTealby,  through 
the  liberality  of  the  Rt.  Hon.  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt.     The  school  room  has  a  fine  lofty 


REPORT.  XV. 

timber  roof,  decorated  with  pendants,  and  much  in  the  same  style  as  that  of  the 
great  hall  of  the  adjoining  castle  of  Bayons  Manor,  which  promises  to  aflford  an 
excellent  apartment  for  the  occasional  delivery  of  lectures,  &c.,  therein,  from  its 
unusually  good  acoustic  properties. 

A  particularly  pleasing  schoolhouse  has  be^n  built  at  Wilsford,  by  Messrs. 
Kirk  &  Parry,  chiefly  at  the  expense  of  one  benevolent  lady. 

The  Christ  Church  schools  at  Newark,  of  which  Mr.  C.  Baily  is  the  architect, 
ofifer  a  very  favom-able  example  of  what  may  be  done  to  improve  the  appearance  of 
street  architecture  ;  Avhilst  the  difficulty  of  having  to  deal  with  two  stories  in  this 
instance  has  been  very  satisfactorily  dealt  with. 

At  Ci-oyland,  a  neat  and  sufficient  scholastic  estabhshment  has  lately  arisen, 
very  much  to  the  credit  of  the  promoters  of  the  undertaking.  New  schools,  with  a 
class-room,  and  master's  house,  have  been  erected  at  Partney,  from  the  designs  of 
Mr.  Giles,  who  has  given  a  good  effect  to  a  plain  brick  building  by  the  use  of  various 
coloured  bricks  in  the  window  jambs  and  arches  ;  a  very  similar  scholastic  estab- 
lishment has  also  just  risen  at  Tydd  St.  Mary's,  through  the  instrumentality  of  its 
rectoi",  that  noted  friend  of  instruction,  the  Kev.  H.  Mackenzie.  We  have  besides 
these  to  record  the  building  of  a  large  school-room  and  master's  house  at  Hogsthorpe, 
through  the  exertions  of  the  vicar,  the  Rev.  W.  Molsou  ;  and  also  of  an  excellent 
one  at  Stickuey. 

During  the  past  year,  two  stately  Monuments  have  been  erected  in  Lincoln- 
shire, which,  not  only  as  works  of  art,  but  from  the  eminence  of  the  personages 
whose  memory  they  record,  and  from  the  fact  of  their  both  having  filled  the  highest 
offices  of  our  Society — and  whose  loss  it  deeply  deplores — cannot  but  have  attracted 
its  most  earnest  attention  ;  we  refer  to  that  of  the  late  widely  respected  Earl 
Bi'ownlow,  and  of  tlie  beloved  Bishop  Kaye  ;  the  former — the  work  of  Baron 
Marochetti,  and  placed  in  the  mortuary  chapel  attached  to  Belton  church  by  the 
Hon.  Charles  H.  Cust — consists  of  a  white  marble  recumbent  effigy  of  his  noble 
father  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  supported  by  a  solid  panelled  base  of  mixed  black 
and  red  mai-bles,  decorated  with  coats  of  arms,  &c.,  in  bronze. 

There  is  an  air  of  calm  repose  given  to  this  representation  of  the  late  Earl 
which  is  most  appropriate  to  his  truly  Christian  character  ;  whilst  the  robes  with 
which  he  is  invested  are  not  only  suitable  to  the  high  rank  and  offices  he  held  when 
living,  but  have  been  of  much  service  to  the  celebrated  sculptor  from  whose  hand 
this  beautiful  work  of  art  has  emanated.  We  much  doubt  the  taste,  however,  of 
placing  a  coronet  on  the  brows  of  the  statue  now  under  our  notice,  as  it  is  such  a 
remarkably  heavy  ornament,  and  consequently  very  difficult  to  be  dealt  with  in 
any  artistic  representation — differing  so  widely,  as  it  does,  from  those  light  circlets 
of  mediaeval  nobles  and  princes,  which  did  not  interfere  with  the  naturally  beautiful 
contour  of  the  human  head.  We  also  regret  to  see  so  large  a  monument  placed  in 
so  small  a  receptacle  as  the  Belton  mortuaiy  chapel. 

Bishop  Kaye's  monument  (by  Westmacott)  has  been,  we  gi'ieve  to  say,  from 
first  to  last  a  subject  of  much  difference  of  opinion  ;  nor  has  this  diflerence  been 
appeased  now  that  we  have  the  result  of  that  aitist's  labours  placed  before  us — a 
very  large  body  of  the  subscribers  being  by  no  means  satisfied  -w-ith  the  manner  in 
which  it  has  been  treated,  nor  with  Mr.  Westmacott's  deviation  from  the  instructions 
originally  delivered  to  him  by  their  committee. 

In  this  work  we  can  perceive  the  hand  of  an  able  sculptor,  but  that  he  is  one 
who  has  studied  in  a  classical  rather  than  in  a  Christian  school  of  art ;  whom  there- 
fore we  might  summon  to  St.  Paul's  or  to  the  Crystal  Palace,  but  whom  we  should 
hesitate  to  admit  within  the  walls  of  Westminster  Abbey,  or  of  any  of  our  mediorval 
cathedrals.  The  attitude  of  the  deceased  prelate  is  particularly  painful ;  the  head 
sinking  on  one  side,  and  the  nerveless  arm  and  hand  from  which  the  pastoral  staff 
has  just  dropped,  present  to  us  the  image  of  a  man  in  his  dying  moments  over  whom 
his  last  enemy  is  in  the  act  of  claiming  the  victory,  when  the  aspiring  powers  of 
the  mind  together  with  the  soul  have  all  but  winged  their  way  from  that  prostrate 
form  which  they  so  long  beautified  and  adorned,  and  before  that  calm  and  holy 
change  so  usually  perceived  in  the  truly  Cln-istian  dead  had  been  suffered  to  difluse 
its  comforting  expression  over  the  beloved  features  of  the  deceased,  or  the  final 
triumph  of  the  departed  soul  could  leave  some  slight  impress  of  its  new  born  bliss 
upon  the  earthen  vessel  from  which  it  had  just  been  set  free. 

The  straight  flow  of  the  Bishop's  pontificals,  although  artistic,  has  a  meagre  ap- 
pearance, and  the  difficulty  of  treating  the  feet,  if  exposed,  has  been  most  uucomfort- 


XVI.      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

ably  met  by  an  impossible  prolongation  of  the  robe,  as  in  tbe  instance  of  Arch- 
bishop Howley's  monument  by  the  same  artist  in  Canterbury  Cathedral.  We  are 
happy,  however,  to  perceive  that  Bishop  Kaye's  effigy  will  well  bear  comparison 
with  that  of  the  above  named  prelate,  as  it  certainly  has  not  the  shrunken  and 
emaciated  appearance  of  the  Canterbury  monument,  erring  as  it  does  in  exhibiting  too 
jfull  a  face  and  neck  to  be  at  all  consistent  with  truth.  The  base  of  the  cenotaph 
should  certainly  have  been  entrusted  to  some  master  of  the  art  of  Gothic  archi- 
tecture, or  at  least  to  a  promising  pupil  of  that  school ;  its  only  present  excellence 
consists  in  the  composition  of  the  inscription,  proceeding  from  the  accompHshed  pen 
of  the  Subdean  of  Lincoln. 

We  can  not  conscientiously  accord  much  praise  to  the  stained  glass  of  the  win- 
dows in  the  S.E.  transept  of  the  cathedral,  forming  a  subsidiary  portion  of  the  late 
Bishop's  memorial.  Put  up  at  the  same  time,  in  honor  of  the  same  individual,  and 
filling  the  whole  of  the  windows  of  a  particular  portion  of  the  cathedral,  tit  ere  should 
surel}  have  been  a  greater  degree  of  unity  observable  in  their  design,  and  certahily 
far  more  clearness  in  the  teaching.  The  meaning  of  this  glass — as  a  Scriptural 
monitoi' — is  confused,  and  does  not  invite  attention  ;  whilst  as  a  decoration,  we  only 
perceive  in  it  a  close— we  had  almost  said  a  coarse — admixture  of  blue  and  red, 
unrelieved  by  any  more  delicate  hues  ;  in  addition  to  which,  the  quadrilateral  forms 
of  the  medallions  are  unpleasing  to  the  eye,  after  it  has  swept  over  the  endless 
graceful  curves  everywhere  offered  to  the  artist  for  his  adaptation  bj'  the  beautiful 
fabric  which  he  has  been  invited  to  adorn.  As,  however,  these  medallions  are  not 
clearly  defined,  their  iinpleasing  forms  are  not  so  conspicuous  as  they  would  other- 
wise have  been.  We  had  certainly  hoped  that  these  windows  would  have  been  the 
best  in  the  cathedral,  but  that  hope  has  not  been  realised  when  we  compare  them 
with  that  scrupulous  and  successful  imitation  of  an  old  design  in  the  south  aisle  of  the 
nave,  by  Preedy,  and  its  opposite  "  pendant"  that  has  just  been  erected  in  the  north 
aisle,  by  Ward,  wherein  the  arrangement  of  tints  is  pure,  distinct,  and  harmonious, 
whether  seen  from  a  near,  or  a  distant,  point — whilst  the  lessons  it  conveys  in  its 
medallions  are  thi-own  out  like  glowing  gems  from  the  less  prominent  groundwork 
on  which  they  are  displayed,  the  whole  forming  a  light,  bright,  and  easily  mtelligi- 
ble  composition,  remarkably  free  from  all  "  making  up  "  of  enamel. 

The  Society  cannot  but  advert  with  much  sorrow  to  the  destruction  of  one  of 
the  most  unique  specimens  of  ancient  domestic  architecture  in  Lincolnshire,  which 
has  long  presented  a  model  of  picturesque  beauty  to  a  whole  school  of  architects, 
and  afforded  an  unusually  happy  subject  for  the  pencil  of  many  professional  and 
amateur  artists,  but  has  now  been  ruthlessly  pulled  down  and  swept  away  as  rub- 
bish by  the  present  owner  of  that  soil  of  which  it  was  the  chief  ornament.  We 
refer  to  the  ancient  Hall  of  Harlaxton.  After  having  well  served  its  late  lord  in 
affording  many  a  valuable  hint  for  the  designs  of  his  palatial  residence  in  its 
immediate  vicinity,  we  might  have  hoped  that  this  beautiful  fabric  would  have  been 
allowed  to  remain  standing  for  the  benefit  of  all  persons  possessing  the  slightest  eye 
for  actual  beauty,  or  feeling  for  the  past ;  but  no,  old  Harlaxton  Hall  is  gone. 

The  walls  of  Ci'oyland  Abbey  still  continue  in  that  dangerous  condition  to  which 
Ave  have  before  alluded  more  than  once.  The  question,  we  believe,  has  been  enter- 
tained of  repairing  this  venerable  fabric,  and  of  rescuing  its  noble  remains  from  the 
imminent  danger  to  which  they  are  at  present  exposed;  but  we  most  sincerely  trust 
that  should  such  a  praiseworthy  design  be  carried  out,  none  but  an  architect  of 
first-rate  ability  may  be  consulted  as  to  the  treatment  he  may  consider  necessary  to 
ensure  its  preservation.  A  most  excellent  work  has  already  been  accomplished  at 
Croyland  by  the  erection  of  an  amply  sufficient  school-house,  as* alluded  to  above, 
and  also  by  the  enclosure  of  an  acre  and  a  half  of  land  adjoining  the  south  and  east 
sides  of  the  church,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  cemetery.  This  embraces  the  site 
of  the  Abbey  buildings — so  ably  and  agreeably  described  by  one  of  the  Society's 
most  valued  members,  the  Rev.  Ed.  Moore,  of  Spalding,  on  the  occasion  of  its  visit 
to  Croyland  in  1855.  From  these  two  proofs  of  the  zeal  and  spirit  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Croyland,  we  gather  hope  that  we  shall  be  able  before  long  to  announce  a  further 
movement  on  their  part,  calculated  to  allay  our  present  anxiety  lest  this  once  splen- 
did specimen  of  media3val  architecture — teeming  a^  it  does  with  the  most  varied 
historic  reminiscences — should  to  the  lasting  discredit  of  the  county  of  Lincoln  in 
general,  and  to  the  especial  reproach  of  the  parish  in  which  it  is  situated,  be  suffered 
to  fell  to  the  ground. 


REPOUT. 


XVll. 


The  Society  has  received  the  followmg  presents  of  books  dumig  the  past  year, 
viz  :  "  The  Spires  and  Towers  of  England,"  by  Wickes,  from  Sir  C.  H.  J.  Anderson, 
Bart. ;  "  The  Normans  in  Sicily,"  and  a  German  work  on  "  Cologne  Cathedral," 
from  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Vernon  ;  *'  Ancient  Churches  in  the  south  of  France,"  from 
the  author,  Mr.  J.  H.  Pai'ker ;  "  The  History  of  Boston,"  from  the  author,  Mr.  P. 
Thompson  ;  "  A  Memoir  of  Pope  Adrian  IV.,"  and  a  "  Description  of  a  Pavement 
in  the  Church  of  St.  Remi  at  Rheims,"  from  the  author,  the  Rev.  Edw.  Trollope  ; 
"  Vitruvius  on  Architecture,"  and  "  Wild's  Views  of  York  and  Canterbury  Cathe- 
drals," from  the  Rev.  —  Gilbert.  It  has  also  received  a  valuable  set  of  casts  of  some 
of  the  finest  details  of  Beverley  Minster  and  Lincoln  Cathedral,  from  Arthur 
Trollope,  Esq.,  and  one  of  the  central  boss  of  the  remaining  portion  of  the  Templar 
establishment  of  Aslackby,  from  Charles  Kirk,  Esq. ;  also  three  water-colour  paint- 
ings fi'om  the  Rev.  C.  Terrot,  and  others  from  the  Rev.  C.  B.  Otley — two  of  our 
artist  members,  whose  Avell  known  taste  and  talent  have  been  kindly  exercised  for 
the  adornment  of  oiu*  assembly  room.  The  Society  is  also  deeply  indebted  to  two 
of  its  vice-presidents,  the  Rt.  Hon.  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt  and  Herbert  Ingram,  Esq., 
M.P.,  for  the  presentation  of  engravings,  of  considerable  value,  which  adorn  the 
present  volume;  and  we  trust  that  so  good  an  example  may  hereafter  be  followed  by 
others  of  our  members,  as  such  illustrations  form  so  agreeable  an  addition  to  our 
papers  of  the  past  year. 


STATEMENT    OF    ACCOUNTS, 

For  the  year  1857. 


RECEIPTS.  £  s.  d. 

Balance  in  the    Treasurer's 

hands,  from  last  Account  42  12  11 

Reports  sold 0     9  0 

Entrances    36     0  6 

Compositions   85     0  0 

Subscriptions  99  13  6 


£263  15  11 


PAYMENTS.  £ 

Savill  and  Edwards,  for  Re- 
port (1855)  46 

Messrs.  Brooke,  as  per  bill...   18 
Mr.  W.  Edwards,  as  per  bill 

1856-57  11 

IMr.  Loder,  as  per  bill 2 

Expenses  of  Mansfield  Meet- 
ing         9 

Ditto  of  Lincoln  Meeting    ...     5 

Rent  of  Rooms    17 

Fire,  and  cleaning  ditto  0 

Stationery,  Books,  &  Printing    2 
Stamps,  Advertising,  Postage, 

&c 4 

Expenses  of  Removal  to  Lin- 
coln       2 

Vickers,  as  per  bills 2 

Clayton,  as  per  bill 0 

Keeley,  as  per  bill  1 

Cooling,  as  per  bill 2 

"Wish,  as  per  bill 1 

Balance  in  Treasurer's  hands  134 


s.    d. 


3 

6 

0 

0 

19 

2 

2 

0 

15 

9 

19 

4 

0 

0 

16 

0 

14 

10 

19 

4 

18 

1 

12 

3 

5 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

0 

0 

0 

8 

£263   15   1 


XVIU.    LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


BOOKS,  &c.,  ADDED  TO  THE  SOCIETY'S  COLLECTION 
SINCE  THE  I^AST  REPORT. 

The  keys  of  the  Room  and  Book-case  are  kept  at  the  /Stamp  Office  in  Silver-street^ 
nearly  opposite  to  the  Society's  Rooms, 

It  is  particularly  requested  that  Memhers,  when  they  return  a  hook,  unll  look  to  the 
shelf-instructions  loritten  at  the  beginning  of  the  Catalogue,  and  replace  the  look 
on  the  proper  shelf. 


Boston,  History  and  Antiqnities  of.  By 
Pisliey  Thompson.  New  and  en- 
larged edition.     8vo.     1856. 

Buckinghamshire,  Records  of.  Nos.  6 
and  7.     8vo.     1856-7. 

Brasses,  Sepulcln-al,  English,  alpha- 
betically arranged  in  counties.  By 
Mr.  Justin  Simpson.  Svo.  Stamford, 
1857. 

Cambrian  Archaaological  Society,  Tran- 
sactions of. 

Canterbury  Cathedral,  Select  Views  of, 
with  Plan,  &c.  By  C.  Wild;  with 
Historical  Account.     Folio.     1807. 

Essex  Archfeol.  Society.     Vol.  I,  pt.  1. 
1855. 
Among  the  contents  are,  the  Walls  of 

Colchester:  Roman  Remains  at  Chelmsford 

and  Coggeshall:    Sphynx  at  Colchester: 

Frescoes  at  East  Ham  church :  Hedingham 

Castle   and  Church,    and  the  De   Veres : 

Maplestead  round  church:  Extracts  from 

Diary,  temp.  James  II.  &c. 

Grnner's  (Lews')  Fresco  Decorations  and 
Stuccoes  of  Churches  and  Palaces  in 
Italy,  during  the  15th  and  16th  cen- 
turies. Large  folio.  1854.  With  a 
4to  vol.  of  Descriptions,  including  Hit- 
torf's  Essay  on  Arabesques. 

London  and  Middlesex  Archajol.  Society, 
Transactions  of.  Vol.  L,  pt.  1 .  1856. 
Among  the   contents  are,  Mr.  Roach 

Smith  on  Roman  discoveries :  Rev.  T.  Hugo 

on  Crosby  Place:  Rev.  C.  Boutell  on  the 

Brasses  of  Middlesex :  The  Manor  of  Hol- 

boru,  &c.,  with  plates. 

Headstones  and  Tombstones.  By  a 
member  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan 
Arch.  Society. 

Man,  Isle  of.  Runic  and  other  Monu- 
mental Remains  of.  By  Rev.  J.  G. 
Cumming.    4to.     1857. 


Lincolnshire,  History  of.    (Saunders  and 
Allen).     2  vols.,  4to.     1834. 

Photographic  Views  in,  (by 

Bolton,)  viz  :  Manor  House  at  N. 
Carlton  ;  Torksey  Castle,  2  Views  ; 
Somerton  Castle,  2  views  ;  Stow 
Church  ;  Temple  Bruer ;  Lincoln 
Cathedral — Cloisters,  2  views  ;  ditto, 
N.  Transept  ;  Oriel  from  John  of 
Gaunt's  House. 

Papers   on,    in  Associated 


Societies'  Reports,  1857,  viz,  :  On 
the  Introduction  of  Christianity  into 
Lincolnshire  :  by  the  Rev.  E.  Trollope. 
On  the  Captivity  of  King  John  of 
France  ;  by  ditto.  On  Somerton 
Castle  and  its  Builder  ;  by  ditto.  On 
Temple  Bruer  ;  by  ditto.  Architec- 
tural History  of  Lincoln  Minster  ;  by 
Rev.  G.  A.  Poole. 

Ornatus  Ecclesiasticus  :  Compendium 
preecipuarum  rerum,  quibus  qusevis 
rite  decenterque  compositte  ecclesiaj 
exornari,  ac  redimiri  debent :  a  Jacobo 
Myllero,  SS.  Theol.  Doctore.  Mona- 
chii,  1591.     4to. 

Surrey  Archseol.  Society.  Vol.  1,  pt.  1. 
Svo.  1856.  Contains  the  Kingston 
Morasteen  ;  the  Warham  Monument ; 
Roman  Roads  ;  British  Coins  ;  Char- 
ters of  Chertsey  Abbey  ;  Mural  Paint- 
ings at  Lingfield,  &c.,  &c. 

Vitruvii,  P.  Architectura,  notis  Philandri, 
Barbari,  et  Salmasii,  &c.,  &c.  Folio. 
Amslelodami,  1649. 

York,  Cathedral  of,  Select  Views,  Plans, 
&c.  By  C.  Wild  ;  with  Historical 
Account.     Folio.     1809. 


THE    SIXTEENTH   REPORT 


OP  THE 


YOKKSHIRE 
ARCHITECTURAL   SOCIETY. 


patrons. 

His  Grace  the  Archbishop  ojf  York. 
The  Lord  Bishop  op  Ripon. 


^rJpkt  ^Z'  ^'^  ^^^"^  ""^  Zetland,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  North  Riding, 
RirnT  tS^      the  Earl  op  Carlisle,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  East  Biding. 
KiGHT  Hon.  the  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  West  Biding. 


XX. 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


'ifitt»'^vt»i^tnts* 


*His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland. 
*RiGHT  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Effingham. 
*RiGHT  Hon.    the   Earl  of   Mex- 

BOROUGH. 

*Right  Hon.  the  Earl  de  Grey. 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Cardigan. 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  op  Scar- 
borough. 
The  Viscount  Goderich,  M.P. 
♦Right  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Durham. 
Right  Hon.  Lord  Feversham. 
*Right  Hon.  Lord  Londesborough. 
Right  Hon.  Lord  Wharncliffe. 
*RiGHT  Hon.  Lord  Hotham,  M.P. 
Hon.  and  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of 

RlPON. 


*HoN.  AND  Rev.  P.  Yorke  Savile. 
Hon.  and  Rev.  W.  H.  Howard. 
*HoN.  AND  Rev.  Canon  Duncombe. 
*HoN.  OcTAvius  Duncombe,  M.P. 
*HoN.  Payan  Dawnay. 
*SiR  T.  DiGBY  Legard,  Bart. 
Sir  J.  V.  B.  Johnstone,  Bart.,  M.P. 
*SiR  J.  H.  Lowther,  Bart. 
*The  Ven.  Archdeacon  Musgrave. 
The  Ven.  Archdeacon  Churton. 
*The  Ven.  Achdeacon  Creyke. 
*Rev.  W.  Vernon  Harcourt. 
R.  M.  MiLNEs,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Colonel  Smyth,  M.P. 
John  Calverley,  Esq. 
♦Godfrey  Wentworth,  Esq. 


dommittn. 


The  Patrons. 

The  Presidents. 

The  Vice-Presidents. 

The  Rural  Deans. 

Balme  E.  B.  Wheatley,  Esq. 

Batty,  Rev.  R.  E. 

Braithwaite,  Rev.  W. 

Burrell,  Rev.  R. 

Carr,  Rev.  C. 

*Davies,  R.,  Esq. 


*Elsley  C.  H.,  Esq. 
Foljambe,  T.,  Esq. 
Jones,  G.  F.,  Esq. 
O'Callagan,  p.,  Esq. 
Ornsby,  Rev.  G. 
Randolph,  Rev.  Canon. 
*Budd,  J.  B.  Esq. 
SuRTEES,  Rev.  Scott. 
Walbran,  J.  R.,  Esq. 
WooDFORT,  Rev.  A.  F.  A. 


Rev.  John  B.  Scriven,  Clifford,  Tadcaster. 

I^ouoravg  Scnttaries. 

Rev.  J.  Sharp,  Horbury,  Wakefield. 
\V.  H.  Dykes,  Esq.,  York. 

Rev.  G.  H.  Philips. 
G.  L.  Cressey,  Esq. 

©uratorsi. 

Rev.  T.  Bayly. 

J.  C.  Swallow,  Esq. 


HONORARY    MEMBERS. 


Anderson,    Sir    Cliarles,    Bart.,    Lea, 

Gainsborougli. 
Markland,  J.  H.,  Esq.,  D.C.L.,  Batb. 
Poole,  Rev.  G.  A.,  Welford,  Nortbamp- 

tonsbire. 
Bloxam,  M.  H.,  Esq.,  Rugby. 
Hiigall,  J.  W.,  Esq.,  Cbeltenbam. 
Papworth,  W.,  Esq.,  Great  Mai-lborough- 

street,  London. 


Plnmptre,  Rev.  F.  C.  D.D.,  Master  of 

University  College,  Oxon. 
Tboi-p,    Ven.    Arcbdeacon,    Kemerton, 

Tewkesbury, 
Willement,  T.,  Esq.,  Green-street,  Gros- 

venor-square,  London. 
Tbe    Master    of    tbe    School    of  Art, 

York. 


MEMBERS, 


XXI. 


MEMBEBS. 


(Those  marked  thus^  are  Members  for  Life^  according  to  Rule  VI.) 


Aluslie,  Rev.  H.,  Easingwold,  York. 
Akroyd,  E.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Denton  Par^, 

Ottley. 
Aldam,  W.,  Esq.,  Frickley,  Doncaster. 
♦Alexander,  E.  N.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Halifax. 
Andrew,  Rev.  J.,Worsborough,  Barnsley. 
*Armitage,  R.,  Esq.,  Fenay  Lodge,  Al- 

mondbury. 
Arundel,  Robert,  Esq.,  Pontefract. 
Atkinson,  J.  B.,  Esq.,  York. 
Atkinson,  Rev.  M.  W.,  Kirby  Underdale. 
Balme,  E.  B.  Wheatley,  Esq.,  Cote  Wall, 

Mirfield. 
Bannister,  A,  Esq.,  Hull. 
Barmby,  Rev.  James,  Melsonby,  Rich- 
mond. 
Barnes,  Rev.  H.  F.,  Bridlington. 
Batty,  Rev.  R.  E.,  Ackworth,  Pontefract. 
*Bayldon,  J.,  Esq.,  Horbury,  Wakefield. 
Bayly,  Rev.  Thomas,  York. 
Bell,  Rev.  John,  Rothwell,  Wakefield, 

Rural  Dean. 
Bell,  F.,  Esq.,  Architect,  York. 
*Bentinck,   Ven.   Archdeacon,    Siggles- 

thorne,  Hull. 
♦Bethell,  Richard,  Esq.,  Rise,  Hull. 
Binks,  Mr.  William,  Hull. 
*Birkbeck,  J.,  Jun.,  Esq.,  Settle. 
Bladworth,  J.,  Esq.,  Stainforth,  Doncas- 
ter. 
Blanchard,    Rev.     H.     D.,    Middleton, 

Beverley. 
Bland,  Rev.  E.  D.,  Kippax,  Leeds. 
Boddy,  W.  J.,  Esq.,  York. 
*Bo-wer,  A.,  Esq.,  Ripon. 
Boyd,    Rev.    W.,    Arucliffe,    Skipton, 

Rural  Dean. 
Braithwaite,  Rev.  W'.,  AIne,  York. 
*Brereton,  C.,  Esq.,  Beverley. 
Bromby,  Rev.  J.  H.,  HuU. 
*Brook,  Wm.,  Esq.,  Healey  House,  Hud- 

dersfield. 
*Brook,  John,  Esq.,  Armytage  Bridge, 

Huddersfield. 
*Brooke,  Charles,  Jun.,  Esq.,  Meltham, 

Huddersfield. 
*Bulmer,  Rev.  W.,  Ferrybridge. 
Burrell,  Rev.  R.,  Stanley,  Wakefield. 
Bury,  Rev.  W.,  Chapel  House,  Skipton. 
Calverley,  John,  Esq.,  Oulton,  Leeds. 
Cardigan,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of.  Dean 

Park,  Northamptonshire. 
♦Carlisle,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of,  Castle 

Howard,  Malton, 


Carr,  Rev.  C,  Burnby,  Pocklington. 

Cass,  Rev.  A.,  Horbmy,  Wakefield. 

*Cassells,  Rev.  A.,  Batley,  Dewsbury. 

♦Chambers,  Rev.  J.  C,  Rose  St.,  Soho, 
London. 

*Chantrell,  R.  D.,  Esq.,  21,  Lincolu's- 
inn-fields,  London. 

♦Chapman,  Thomas,  Esq.,  Montague- 
place,  Bryanstone- square,  London. 

♦Charlesworth,  J.  C.  D.,  Esq.,  M.P., 
Hatfield  Hall,  Wakefield. 

Childers,  J.  W.,  Esq.,  Cantley,  Doncas- 
ter. 

Churton,  Ven.  Archdeacon,  Crayke, 
York. 

Collins,  Rev.  T.,  Knaresborough,  Rural 
Dean. 

♦Collins,  J.,  Esq.,  Knaresborough. 

Coltman,  W.  J.,  Esq.,  Naburn  Hall, 
York. 

Cooper,  Sir  H.,  M.D.,  Hull. 

Cooper,  S.  Joshua,  Esq.,  Mount  Vernon, 
Barnsley. 

Cottingham,  N.,  Esq.,  Argyll  Place,  Lon- 
don. 

Cressey,  G.  L,,  Esq.,  York. 

*Creyke,  Ven.  Archdeacon,  Beeford, 
Driffield. 

Croft,  Rev.  Canon,  Hutton  Bushel, 
Scarborough. 

Croft,  Rev.  John,  Catterick. 

Darnborough,  Rev.  J.  W.,  South  Ottring- 
ham,  Thirsk. 

*Davies,  Robert,  Esq.,  York. 

♦Dawnay,  Hon.  P.,  Beningbrough  Hall, 
York. 

*De  Grey,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl,  Newby 
Park,  Ripon. 

♦Dent,  J.,  Esq.,  Ribston  Hall,  Wetherby. 

Dent,  J.  Dent,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Ribston  Hall, 
Wetherby. 

*Dodsworth,  George,  Esq.,  York. 

Douglass,  Rev.  W.  F.,  Scrayingham, 
York,  Rural  Dean. 

♦Duncombe,  Hon.  and  Rev.  Canon,  Cal- 
wick,  Ashbourne. 

♦Duncombe,  Hon.  Octavius,  M.P.,  Ca- 
vendish-square, London. 

♦Durham,  Right  Rev.  the  Bishop  of. 
Bishop  Aukland. 

Dykes,  William  Hey,  Esq.,  York. 

Eden,  Rev.  C.  Page,  Aberford,  Milford 
Junction. 

Edwards,  Miss,  Saville  Terrace,  Halifax. 


XXll. 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY". 


*Effinghara,  Right  Hon.  tlie  Earl  of,  tlie 
Grange,  Rotherliam. 

*Ellis,  Rev.  R.,  North  Grirastoii,  Malton. 

*Elsley,  C.  H.,  Esq.,  York. 

*Evans,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Sedbergh. 

Feversham,  Right  Hon,  Lord,  Duncombe 
Park,  Hehnsley. 

Fitzwilliam,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl,  Went- 
worth  House,  Rotherham. 

Foljambe,  T.  Esq.,  Holme  Field,  Wake- 
field. 

Fox,  George,  Esq.,  Doucaster. 

Gatty,  Rev.  A.,  Ecclestield,  Sheffield. 

Geldart,  Rev.  Dr.,  Kirk  Deighton, 
Wetherby. 

*Geldart,  T.  C,  Esq.,  Trinity  Hall, 
Cambridge. 

Goderich,  the  Visconnt,  ]\I.P.,  West- 
combe  Lodge,  Wimbledon  Park, 
Surrey. 

Gott,  William,  Esq.,  Leeds. 

Greenwell,  Rev.  A.,  Brewer}'  Field,  Leeds. 

Greenwood,  F.,  Esq.,  Norton-Conyers, 
Ripon. 

Grimston,  Colonel,  Kilnwick,  Great 
Driffield. 

Guy,  Rev.  Thomas,  Howden. 

*Hailstone,  E.  Esq.,  Horton  Hall,  Brad- 
ford. 

*Hall,  R.,  Esq.,  Dean's  Yard,  West- 
minster. 

Hall,  Rev.  S.  W.,  Kirkella,  Hull. 

*Harcourt,  Rev.  Canon,  Bolton  Percy, 
York. 

*Harris,  H.,  Esq.,  Ileaton  Hall,'Bradford. 

Harrison,  Rev.  W.  E.,  York. 

Plarrison,  Rev.  F.  Middlcton,  Leeds. 

*neald,  Rev.  W.  M.,  Birstali,  Leeds. 

Hey,  Rev.  Canon,  York. 

Higham,  A.  B.,  Esq.,  Newcastle. 

Holden,  J.  F.,  Esq.,  Hull. 

Hope,  Rev.  C.  A.,  Barwick,  Milford 
Junction. 

Hordern,  Rev.  J.  C,  Burton  Agnes, 
Bridlington. 

*Hotham,  Right  Hon.  Lord,  M.P.,  South 
Dalton,  Beverley. 

Howard,  Hon.  and  Rev.  W.  H.,  Whistou, 
Rotherham,  Rural  Jlean. 

Hoyland,  Rev.  J.,  Harpham,  Bridlington. 

*Jarratt,  Rev.  J.,  North  Cave,  Howden. 

Jessop,  Kev.  Dr.,  Wighill,  Tadcaster. 

Johnstone,  Sir  J.  V.  B.,  Bart.,  M.P., 
Hackness,  Scarborough. 

Jones,  G.  F.,  Esq.,  Architect,  York. 

Ken  worthy.  Rev.  J.,  Ackworth,  Ponte- 
fract. 

King,  Rev.  S.,  Cantley,  Doncaster. 

Lascelles,  Hon.  and  Rev.  J.  W.,  Golds- 
borough,  Knaresborough. 

*Lawley,  Hon.  and  Rev.  S.,  Escrick, 
York. 


Lee,  R.  T.,  Esq.,  the  Grove,  Doncaster. 

*Legard,  Sir  T.  D.,  Bart.,  Ganton. 

*Lewthwaite,  Rev.  George,  Adel,  Leeds. 

Livesey,  Rev.  J.,  Sheffield. 

*Londesborough,  Right  Hon.  Lord,  Grim- 
ston Park,  Tadcaster. 

*Lowndes,  T.,  Esq.,  Preston,  Lancashire. 

*Lowther,  Sir  J.  H.,  Bai*t.,  Swillington 
Hall,  Leeds 

Malam,  J.,  Esq.,  Holmpton,  Hull. 

Matthews,  Rev.  J.,  Sherburn,  Tadcaster. 

*  Mason,  Rev.  J.,  Silk  Willoughby,  Lin- 

colnshire. 

*  Maude,    W.   M.,   Esq.,    Knowsthorpe, 

Leeds. 
Metcalfe,  Rev.  R.,  Patrington. 
*Mexborough,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of, 

Methley  Pai'k,  Leeds. 
Milnes,    R.   M.,   Esq.,    M.P.,    Frystone 

Hall,  Pontefract. 
*Miller,  Rev.  M.  H.,  Hopton,  Lowestoft, 

Suffolk. 
Munby,  Joseph,  Esq.,  York. 
*Musgrave,  Ven.  Archdeacon,  Halifax. 
Musgrave,  Rev.  Canon,  Etton,  Beverley. 
Newman,  Rev.  W.  J.,  Badsworth,  Pon- 
tefract. 
*Norris,   Sidney,  Esq.,  Egerton  Lodge, 

Huddersfield. 
*Northumberland,  His  Grace  the  Duke 

of,  Alnwick  Castle. 
O'Callagan,  P.,  Esq.,  Leeds. 
Ornsby,  Kev.  G.,  Fishlake,  Doncaster. 
*Outhwaite,  J.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Poppleton, 

York. 
Palmes,  Rev.  J.,  Weeton,  Leeds. 
Parker,  T.  G.,  Esq.,  Browsholme,  Cli- 

tlieroe,  Lancashire. 
Pearson,  Rev.  G.  F.,  York. 
Pearson,  T.  Esq.,  Ackvv'orth,  Pontefract. 
Pease,  J.  R.,  Esq.,  Hesslewood,  Hulk 
*Peckover,  D.,  Esq.,  Woodhall,  Bradford. 
Philips,  Rev.  G.  H.,  Dringhouses,  York. 
Pierson,  Rev.  W.  F.,  Settle. 
*Platt,  Rev.  G.,  Sedbergh. 
Potter,  Rev.  F.  H.,  Kirkby  Moorside. 
Prickett,  Thomas,  Esq.,  Bi-idlington. 
Procter,  William,  Esq.,  York. 
Ramsbotham,     Rev.     T.,     Walmersley, 

Bury,  Lancashire. 
Randolph,    Rev.    Canon,    Dimnington, 

York. 
Rawson,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  Mill  House,  Hali- 
fax. 
Rawson,  Miss,  Glenview,  Sheffield. 
*Reed,  Rev.  W.,  Caermarthen. 
Ripon,  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  of, 

the  Palace,  Ripon. 
Ripon,  Hon.  and  Very  Rev.  the  Dean 

of.  Deanery,  Ripon. 
Robinson,  Rev.  John,  Clifton,  York. 
Robinson,  William,  Esq.,  Settle, 


MEMBERS, 


XXUl. 


*Rudd,  J.  B.,  Esq.,  Tolosby  Hall,  Mid- 
dlesborougli. 

*  Russell,  Lady  Franklaud,  Thirkleby 
Park,  Thirsk. 

Russell,  Rev.  F.  W,,  St.  Catherine's 
Docks,  London. 

Sabben,  Rev.  James,  Fulford,  York. 

*Savile,  Hon.  and  Rev.  Philip  Yorke, 
Metbley,  Wakefield. 

Scarborough,  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of, 
Tickhill  Castle,  Doncaster. 

Scholfield,  E.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Doncaster. 

Scriven,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Clifford,  Tadcaster. 

Seagravo,  Rev.  J.  Y.,  Bramham,  Tad- 
caster. 

Sharpe,  Rev.  J.,  D.D.,  Doncaster. 

Shai-p,  Rev.  J.,  Horbury,  Wakefield. 

*Sharpc,  E  ,  Esq.,  M.A.,  Lancaster. 

Sidgwick,  R.  H.,  Esq,,  Skipton. 

Smyth,  Colonel,  M.P.,  Heath  Hall, 
Wakefield. 

Spencer,  Rev.  I.,  Acomb,  York. 

Stanfield,  Mr.  J.,  Wakefield. 

Storey,  John,  Esq.,  Coney  Sti-eet,  York. 

Strickland,  C.  W.,  Esq.,  Walcot,  Lin- 
colnshire. 

*Stillingfleet,  Rev.  E.  W.,  Hotham, 
Howden. 

Sugden,  John,  Esq.,  Howden. 

Surtees,  Rev.  Scott,  Sprotborough,  Don- 
caster. 

Sunter,  Mr.  R.,  York. 

*Swann,  Rev.  R.,Brandsby,  Easingwold. 

Swire,  Rev.  J.,  Manfield,  Darlington. 

Tate,  Rev.  James,  Richmond. 

♦Tempest,  Col.,  Tong  Hall,  Bradford. 

*Tennant,  J.  M.,  Esq.,  Leeds. 

*Traherne,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Coedriglen, 
Cardifi^. 

Vale,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Ecclesall,  Sheffield. 


Valentine,  Rev.  W.,  Whlxley,  York. 
Walbran,  J.  R.,  Esq.,  Ripon. 
^Walker,  Rev.  J.,  Malton. 
Walker,  Rev.  T.,  Sleights,  Whitby. 
Waterhouse,  J.,  jun.,  Esq.,  Halifax. 
Watkins,  Rev.  F.  Thryberg,  Doncaster. 
Wand,  E.,  Esq.,  Manston  Hall,  Leeds. 
*  Webber,  Rev.  Canon,  Ripon. 
Weightman,  J.  G.,  Esq.,  Sheffield. 
*Wentworth,    Godfrey,    Esq.,    Woollcy 

Park,  Wakefield 
Wharncliffe,  Right  Hon.  Lord,  Wortley 

Hall,  Sheffield. 
Wharton,  Rev.  James,  Gilling,  Richmond 
Whytehead,  H.  J.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Crayko, 

York. 
Wilkinson,  Rev.  H.  J.,  Hooton  Pagnell, 

Doncaster 
Wilkinson,  Joseph,  Esq.,  York. 
*Wilson,  John,  Esq.,  Seacroft,  Leeds. 
Wilton,  Rev.  E.,  Doncaster. 
Woodd,  Basil,  Esq.,  Aldborough  Lodge, 

Boroughbridge. 
Wood,  Wm.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Monkhill  House, 

Pontefract. 
Wood,    J.   W.,  Esq.,  Monkhill  House, 

Pontefract. 
Woodfort,  Rev.  A.  F.  A.,  Swillington, 


Wray,    Rev.    Canon,   Leven,   Beverley, 

Rural  Dean. 
^Wylie,  R.,  Esq.,  Beverley. 
Yate,  Rev.  C,  Holme  on  Spalding  Moor, 

Market  Weighton,  Rural  Dean. 
Yeoman,  Rev.  H.,  Moor  Monkton,  York, 

Rural  Dean. 
York,    His    Grace   the   Archbishop    of, 

Bishopthorpe. 
^Zetland,  Hight  Hon.  the  Earl  of,  Asko 

Hall,  Richmond. 


RULES 


1.  That  the  objects  of  the  Society  be, 
to  promote  the  study  of  Ecclesiastical 
Architecture,  Antiquities,  and  De.?ign, 
the  restoration  of  mutilated  Architectural 
Remains,  and  of  Churches  or  pai'ts  of 
Churches  within  the  County  of  York, 
which  may  have  been  desecrated  ;  and  to 
improve,  as  far  as  may  be  within  its  pro- 
vince, the  character  of  Ecclesiastical 
Edifices  to  be  erected  in  future. 

2.  That  the  Society  be  composed  of 
Patrons,  Presidents,  and  Vice-Presidents  ; 
and  of  ordinary  Members,  to  consist  of 
such  Clergymen  and  Lay-Membei's  of  the 
Church,  as  shall  be  admitted  according 
to  the  subsequent  rules. 


3.  That  new  Members  be  proposed  by 
a  Member  of  the  Society,  either  by  letter 
or  personally,  at  one  of  the  Committee 
meetings  ;  and  that  Honorary  Members 
be  elected  only  on  the  nomination  of  the 
Committee. 

4.  That  Rural  Deans  within  the 
County  of  York  be  considered  as  ex 
njjicio  Members  of  the  Committee,  on 
becoming  ]\Ierabers  of  the  Society. 

5.  That  each  Member  shall  pay  ten 
shillings  at  his  admission,  and  an  annual 
subscription  of  ten  shillings,  to  be  due  on 
the  first  of  January  in  each  year  in  ad- 
vance. 


XXIV. 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


6.  That  any  Member  may  compound 
for  his  admission  fee,  and  all  futiire  sub- 
scriptions, by  one  payment  of  ten  pounds. 

7.  That  the  affaii's  of  the  Society  be 
conducted  by  the  Committee,  (of  whom 
five  shall  be  a  quorum)  composed  of  the 
Presidents,  Vice-Presidents, Rural  Deans 
(being  Members)  the  Treasurer,  Auditors, 
Curator,  and  a  certain  number  of  ordin- 
ary Members,  who  shall  be  elected  at 
the  Annual  Meeting,  and  of  whom  six 
at  least  shall  have  been  INIembers  of  the 
Committee  of  the  preceding  year. 

8.  That  the  Committee  shall  annually 
appoint  a  Sub-Committee  to  consist  of 
the  Secretaries,  the  Treasurer,  the  Cura- 
tor, and  five  other  Members  of  the  Com- 
mittee (of  which  three  shall  be  a  quorum) 
who  shall  be  empowered  to  make  the 
necessary  arrangements  for  the  Society's 
Meetings,  and  to  prepare  busmess  for  the 
consideration  of  the  Committee. 

9.  That  the  Commitee  have  power  to 
add  to  their  numbers ;  and  that  they  elect 
the  Secretaries,  Treasurer,  Auditor,  and 
Curator. 

10.  That  the  Members  of  the  Com- 
mittee in  any  neighbourhood  may  asso- 
ciate other  Members  of  the  Society  with 
themselves,  and  form  Committees  for 
local  purposes  in  communication  with  the 
Central  Committee. 

11.  That  the  Committee  meet  at  York 
on  Wednesday  before  the  Full  Moon  in 
the  months  of  January,  April,  July,  and 
October  ;  and  that  the  Annual  Meeting 
of  the  Society  be  held  on  the  latter  of 
these  days,  when  Papers  shall  be  read, 
the  Report  presented,  and  the  Committee 
and  Officers  elected  for  the  ensuing  year: 
but  if  any  of  the  above  Meetings  fall  on 
days  for  which  special  services  are  ap- 
pointed by  the  Church,  that  the  Secret- 
aries change  the  week. 

12.  That  two  other  Meetings  of  the 
Society  be  also  annually  held,  at  such 
other  places  and  at  such  times  as  the 
Sub- Committee  shall  appoint,  for  the 
reading  of  Papers  and  examination  of 
works  of  Architectural  interest ;  and  that 
special  Meetings  of  the  Society  may  be 
called  by  the  Sub-Committee,  at  any 
time  and  place  within  the  County,  on  the 
requisition  of  five  Members  of  this  Society ; 
but  that  no  matter  of  business  shall  be 
transacted,  except  at  York. 

13.  That  the  Secretaries  be  empower- 
ed to  call  Special  Meetings  of  the  Com- 
mittee when  requisite. 

14.  That  each  Member  be  allowed  to 
introduce  a  friend  to  the  ordinary  Meet- 
ings of  the  Society. 


15  That  donations  of  books,  plans, 
casts,  and  drawings,  be  solicited  ;  and 
that  the  Committee  be  empowered  to 
make  such  additions  to  the  collection  of 
the  Society  as  may  seem  necessary. 

16.  That  the  library,  casts,  and  port- 
folios of  the  Society,  be  under  the  charge 
of  the  Secretaries  and  Curator. 

1 7.  That  any  Member  of  the  Society  be 
allowed  to  take  out  from  the  Library,  two 
volumes  of  any  printed  works  at  one  time. 

18.  That  a  book  be  provided  by  the 
Society,  in  which  shall  be  written  down, 
the  titles  and  volumes  of  the  works,  the 
name  of  the  borrower,  and  the  date  of  his 
taking  out  and  retm'uing  the  books. 

19.  That  the  borrower  be  required  to 
pay  the  expense  of  repairing  any  works 
damaged,  or  of  replacing  any  book  lost 
while  in  his. possession. 

20.  That  the  books  must  be  returned 
at,  or  before,  the  commencement  of  each 
quarterly  Committee  Meeting,  under  the 
penalty  of  one  shilling  for  each  volume  ; 
and  that  no  books  be  allowed  to  be  taken 
out  dming  a  fortnight  after  the  January 
Meeting,  in  which  time  a  Visitation  shall 
be  held  by  a  Sub-Committee  consisting 
of  the  Secretaries,  the  Curator,  and  three 
Members  to  be  elected  at  the  Meeting  in 
January  (of  Avhom  three  shall  be  a  quo- 
rum), who  shall  examine  into  the  state 
of  the  books,  casts,  plates,  di*awings,  and 
other  property  of  the  Society. 

21.  That  the  Committee  shall  decide 
what  papers  are  to  be  published  in  the 
Annual  Volume,  and  determine  all 
questions  relative  to  plans  and  illustra- 
tions for  the  same,  and  the  number  of 
copies  which  the  Society  will  require  in 
each  year. 

22.  That  no  grant  of  money  be  made 
by  the  Committee,  unless  notice  has 
been  given,  at  a  previous  meeting,  of  the 
amount  proposed,  and  the  especial  pur- 
pose for  which  it  is  intended. 

23.  That  no  sum  of  money  be  voted 
towards  eficcting  any  architectural  de- 
signs, until  working  drawings  of  the  same 
have  been  submitted  to  the  Committee 
for  approval ;  nor  shall  such  be  paid  till 
the  work  has  been  completed  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  Committee. 

24.  That  in  every  case  where  a  grant 
is  made  for  a  definite  architectural  pur- 
pose, a  working  drawing  of  the  same  be 
presented  to  the  Society  to  be  placed  in 
its  collection. 

25.  That  any  grant  be  considered  to 
have  lapsed  which  shall  not  have  been 
claimed  within  two  years  from  the  time 
when  it  was  voted. 


JIEPORT,  XXV. 


REPORT. 

The  Committee  of  tlio  Yorksliiro  Arcliitectural  Society,  in  presenting  their  Report 
of  the  proceedings  of  tlie  Society  during  the  past  year,  are  happy  to  have  it  in  their 
power  to  congi'atulate  the  Society  upon  the  increased  appreciation  of  its  hihours,  and 
the  consequent  prospects  of  more  extended  usefuhiess  which  have  of  late  been  mani- 
fested. By  an  excess  of  hberahty  in  the  earlier  period  of  its  existence,  in  voting 
money  towards  the  many  pressing  claims  that  came  upon  it  for  Church  restoration, 
the  Society  had  so  completely  exhausted  the  funds  at  its  disposal  that  its  annual 
income  has  been  of  late  but  just  enough  to  meet  the  cost  of  publishing  the  annual 
volume,  and  to  defray  the  ordinary  current  expenses. 

This  has  been  a  subject  which  has  greatly  pressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  Com- 
mittee, feeling — as  they  have  strongly  done — that  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  the 
Society's  establishment  Avas  the  aiding,  by  every  means  in  its  power,  in  the  restora- 
tion of  decayed  buildings  of  architectural  and  archDeological  interest  throughout  the 
sphere  of  its  labours.  At  no  time,  perhaps,  was  this  inability  to  help  by  its  contri- 
butions of  money  more  strongly  felt  than  when — in  addition  to  several  calls  for 
church  restoration — a  proposal  was  made  some  time  ago  to  demolish  some  part,  at 
least,  of  the  time-honoured  Bar  Walls  of  the  ancient  metropolitan  city  of  York. 
All  that  the  Society  was  enabled  to  do  was  to  throw  into  the  gap  whatever  influ- 
ence it  possessed,  and  to  assist  others  who  were  found  to  take  an  interest  in  the 
matter,  to  stay  the  hand  of  destruction,  and  to  raise  funds,  by  private  subscriptions 
among  its  own  members  and  others,  towards  the  complete  restoration  of  so  venera- 
ble and  pi-ecious  a  hei-itage.  That  effort  proved  so  far  successful  that  the  sum  of 
nearly  five  hundred  pounds — about  half  the  amount  required  for  the  cai'rying  out  of 
the  whole  work — has  been  raised,  and  a  contract  has  already  been  entered  into, 
and  nearly  completed,  for  the  restoration  of  that  part  of  the  Walmgate  Bar  Walls 
adjoining  the  Red  Tower :  and  it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  by  the  time  the  money 
thus  raised  has  been  expended  further  contributions  will  be  received  towards  com- 
pleting the  remainder  of  the  work. 

But  much  as  the  Committee  rejoiced  at  this  successful  result  of  its  anxious 
exertions,  yet  this  very  circumstance  only  the  more  strongly  pressed  home  the 
necessity  of  some  fresh  effort  towards  an  increase  of  the  Society's  means,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  substantial  aid  in  such  works  of  restoration.  After  much  discus- 
sion as  to  the  best  method  of  bringing  about  this  desired  end,  it  was  proposed  by 
the  Rev.  Canon  Croft,  and  unanimously  resolved,  that  a  special  fund  be  opened  for 
the  sole  purpose  of  giving  aid  in  cases  of  restoration  ;  and  that  members  and  others 
be  solicited  to  give  donations,  and  additional  subscriptions  of  any  amount,  towards 
the  maintenance  of  such  a  fund,^  The  Committee  desire  very  urgently  to  press 
this  matter  upon  the  attention  of  the  members,  knowing,  as  they  have  great  reason 
to  do,  its  extreme  importance.  For,  in  very  many  instances  a  comparatively  small 
grant  from  the  funds  of  the  Society  would  be  sufficient  to  originate  a  work  of  church 
restoration,  which  but  for  that  would  never  be  undertaken  ;  or  to  give  the  oppor- 
tunity of  secm-ing  a  true  and  perfect  restoration  in  the  place  of  what  has  in  too 
many  instances  been  the  case — an  irreparable  mutilation  and  destruction  of  the 
lines  of  ancient  art. 

In  addition  to  the  usual  meetings  in  York,  special  excursion  meetings  have  been 
held  during  the  past  year  in  Lincoln,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Lincoln  Architectural 
Society,  and  in  Doncaster,  where  the  members  of  the  Lincoln  Society  were 
invited  to  join  the  sister  Society  of  York.  The  meeting  in  Lincoln  was  of  more 
than  ordinary  importance,  being  the  inauguration  of  the  Architectural  Society  of 
that  diocese  in  the  city  of  Lincoln,  on  its  removal  from  its  former  head  quarters  in 
the  town  of  Louth.  The  proceedings  commenced  with  service  in  the  cathedral, 
after  which  a  peripatetic  lecture  on  the  fabric  of  the  cathedral  was  given  by  Rev. 
G.  A.  Poole.      The  next  object  of  interest  was  the  castle  of  Lincoln,  where  a 

(1)  It  is  much  to  be  regretted  that  but  a  comparatively  small  sum  has  lt>een  paid  into 
the  Treasm-er's  hands  on  account  of  this  special  fund. 


SXVl,  yOEKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

similar  lecture  was  given  by  Sir  Charles  Anderson,  Bart.  The  remainder  of  the 
day  till  dinner  time  was  occupied  in  examining  the  other  antiquities  of  the  city ; 
and  in  the  evening,  a  public  meeting  was  held  in  the  Assembly  Room,  where  an 
Address  was  presented  by  the  Mayor  and  Corporation  of  Lincoln  to  the  Associated 
Architectural  Societies,  to  which  a  reply  was  made  on  behalf  of  the  Societies  by  the 
Rev.  Edw.  Trollope,  Hon.  Sec.  of  the  Lincoln  Society.  Papers  were  then  read  on 
The  Introdiiclion  of  ChrisUanlty  into  Lincolnshire  during  the  Saxon  Period,  by  the 
Rev.  Edw.  Trollope  ;  and  on  The  Fabric  of  the  Ca(Iiedral,'by  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Poole. 
The  two  following  days  were  occupied  by  excursions  to  the  various  points  of  archi- 
tectural interest  in  the  vicinity  of  Lincoln  ;  the  iormer  being  concluded  by  a  dinner 
at  the  Corn  Exchange  and  an  evening  meeting  in  the  Assembly  Room,  when  a 
Paper  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Edw.  Trollope  on  the  Captivity  of  John,  king  of 
France,  at  Somerton  Castle,  and  the  latter  by  a  dinner,  to  which  the  members  were 
invited  by  the  liberal  hospitality  of  the  Mayor  of  Lincoln.  The  cordial  reception 
given  to  the  members  of  the  Yorkshire  Society  at  this  agreeable  and  profitable 
gathering  has  left  in  the  minds  of  all  who  were  present  a  strong  feeling  of  fraternal 
gratitude,  which  it  is  desired  here  very  strongly  to  record. 

The  meeting  at  Doncaster  was  one  also  of  peculiar  interest,  and  in  beginning  to 
speak  of  it,  the  Committee  are  most  anxious  to  express  their  great  obligation  to 
G.  Dunn,  Esq.,  the  Mayor  of  Doncaster,  for  his  great  liberality  and  readiness  to 
assist  in  all  the  arrangements  of  the  meeting  ;  to  the  Rev.  H.  Phipps  Champneys, 
the  Rev.  Geo.  Ornsby,  and  H.  Whitaker,  Esq.,  the  local  secretaries  ;  Charles  Jack- 
son, Esq.,  local  treasurer,  and  to  the  other  members  of  the  local  committee,  for  their 
valuable  labours,  to  which  were  owing,  in  so  great  a  degree,  the  success  of  so  large 
a  gathering,  and  the  pleasure  derived  from  it  by  all  who  were  present. 

The  proceedings  of  the  first  day  commenced  with  a  dejeuner  given  by  the  Mayor 
to  the  members  of  the  Yorkshire  and  Lincolnshire  Societies,  at  which  about  three 
hundred  partook  of  his  hospitality.  After  this  a  public  meeting  was  held  in  the 
Mansion  House,  at  which  Lord  Viscount  Goderich,  M.P.,  presided.  His  lordship 
in  his  opening  remarks  stated  his  belief  that  societies  of  this  kind  were  calculated  to 
do  a  very  good  work  in  cultivating  throughout  the  country  a  correct  taste  on  the 
subject  of  architecture,  in  preserving  from  destruction  and  mutilation  the  now  much 
prized  monuments  of  antiquity  which  were  but  too  qiiickly  disappearing  from 
amongst  us,  and  in  improving  the  character  of  those  ecclesiastical  edifices  which  the 
piety  of  many  in  the  present  day  were  causing  to  be  erected.  It  was  not  long  ago 
that  antiquarian  research  occupied  but  a  small  share  of  public  attention,  and  edifices 
which  gathered  around  them  a  halo  of  the  deepest  interest  were  left  unheeded  to 
moulder  in  decay.  But  now  a  new  spirit  had  been  infused  into  these  dying  embers; 
and  that  great  and  beneficial  change  which  was  now  everywhere  manifest  was 
owing  chiefly  to  the  labours  of  the  various  architectural  societies  which  had  arisen, 
first  in  our  Universities,  and  afterv/ards  in  almost  all  the  chief  counties  of  England. 

Two  very  valuable  papers  were  then  read  :  the  former  by  Geo.  Gilbert  Scott, 
Esq.,  on  the  Present  Position  and  Prospects  of  Gothic  Architecture ;  and  the  latter 
by  J.  R.  Walbran,  Esq.,  on  Kirkham  Priory;  of  which  it  will  not  be  necessary  to 
speak  more  at  length,  as  they  will  both  be  printed  in  the  forthcoming  annual  volume. 

The  meeting  then  adjourned  to  the  new  parish  church  now  in  cotn-se  of  erection 
from  the  beautiful  designs  of  Geo.  Gilbert  Scott,  Esq., — a  work  which  adds  new 
lustre  to  the  name  of  one  who  has  already  taken  his  place,  indisputably,  amongst 
the  very  first  of  modern  architects,  and  whom  the  mighty  builders  of  York  and  of 
Lincoln  would  gladly  have  hailed  as  their  fellow. — A  lecture  on  the  Gothic  Prin- 
ciples illustrated  in  the  New  Parish  Church  of  Doncaster,  Avas  delivered  in  the  yet 
unfinished  building,  by  E.  B.  Denison,  Esq.,  Q.C.,  Mr.  Scott  being  unwilling  to 
speak  of  his  own  work.  This  lecture,  which,  though  somewhat  hypercritical,  was 
of  great  interest  and  suggestiveness,  has  since  been  committed  to  print ;  and  it  is 
therefore  unnecessary  to  give  a  more  detailed  account  of  it. 

Of  the  church  itself,  the  Committee  wish  to  speak  in  terms  of  very  high 
praise.  The  noble  proportions  of  the  building  (with  one  exception)  the  stately  and 
beautiful  tower,  the  repose  and  dignity  of  the  lofty  interior,  with  its  graceful  foliage, 
and  the  true  Gothic  eff"ect  of  the  greater  part  of  its  work,  make  a  whole  which  has 
never  been  reached  in  the  erections  of  modern  times. 

The  one  great  mistake  is  the  shortness  of  the  nave — a  fault  against  which  the 
architect  strongly  contended  from  the  beginning,  but  in  which  unhappily  his  better 


tlEPOIlT.  XXVU. 

judgment  was  overruled.  It  seems  uow  to  be  the  unanimous  regret  of  all  most 
interested  in  the  matter  that  the  original  design  of  the  architect  was  not  carried  into 
cfiect,  and  there  arc  those  who  already  talk  of  the  addition  of  at  least  one  other 
western  bay,  at  no  distant  time. 

If  in  so  great  and  noble  a  Avork  it  be  allowable  to  point  out  smaller  defects,  it 
must  be  remarked  that  some  of  the  buttresses  arc  wanting  in  depth  ;  and  it  may 
perhaps,  also,  be  added  that  in  many  of  the  carved  heads — more  especially  those  in 
the  medallions  above  the  arches  of  the  nave — there  is  rather  an  expression  of  cold 
worldliness,  than  of  that  chastened  and  saintly  fervour  that  becomes  the  House 
of  God. 

After  leaving  the  church,  the  Members  assembled  at  the  ordinarj^  in  the  Guild- 
hall, and  an  evening  meeting  was  afterwards  held  in  the  New  Concert  Room,  the 
chair  being  occupied  on  both  occasions  by  lord  Viscount  Goderich.  After  a  few 
remarks  from  the  Chairman,  an  interesting  paper  on  Fishluke  Church  was  read  by 
the  Rev.  Geo.  Ornsby,  Vicar  of  Fishlake  ;  and  a  very  valuable  account  o(  Ancient 
Metal  Work,,  which  the  lateness  of  the  hour  rendered  only  too  brief,  was  given  by 
Mr.  Skidmore,  of  Coventry,  so  well  known  for  his  skill  in  that  very  beautiful  art. 
Many  specimens  of  Mr.  Skidmore's  work  were  exhibited  as  illustrative  of  his 
remarks,  and  the  Committee  have  learnt  with  much  pleasure  that  the  metal  work 
for  the  lighting  of  Doncaster  church  with  gas  has  been  committed  to  his  care. 

On  the  following  day  a  very  numerous  party  visited  the  various  objects  of 
architectural  interest  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  were  not  a  little  pained  at  the  sad 
state  of  neglect  and  unseemliness  in  which  more  than  one  of  the  sacred  edifices  were 
permitted  to  remain. 

During  the  whole  period  of  the  meeting  an  exliibition  of  various  objects  of 
architectural  and  archasological  interest  was  open  to  the  public,  in  a  room  in  the 
Guildhall.  The  Committee  have  to  tender  their  best  thanks  to  the  Earl  de  Grey, 
for  sending  a  valuable  collection  of  remains  found  in  the  recent  excavations  of 
Fountains  Abbey  ;  to  P.  O'Callagan,  Esq.,  for  a  remarkably  interesting  collection  of 
autographs  ;  to  Walter  Fawkes,  Esq.,  for  some  curious  relics  of  Cromwell  and  the 
civil  war  ;  to  J.  R.  Walbran,  Esq.,  and  G.  Gilbert  Scott,  Esq.,  for  their  beautiful 
photographs,  &c.  ;  and  to  various  other  gentlemen,  for  the  other  valuable  contribu- 
tions which  filled  the  room  to  overflowing.  This  exhibition  was  visited  by  many 
hundreds  of  people,  and  excited  the  greatest  interest ;  and  it  was  with  much  regret 
that  the  Committee  were  obliged  to  refuse  the  request,  made  through  the  Mayor,  on 
behalf  of  many  persons,  that  the  collection  of  curiosities  should  remain  open  to 
inspection  for  a  longer  period.  The  necessity  of  sending  off"  the  various  contributions 
to  then-  respective  owners,  before  the  officers  of  the  Society  left  Doncaster,  rendered 
this  impossible. 

Of  the  various  church  restorations  which  have  taken  place  in  the  county  during 
the  past  year  there  are  one  or  two  which  have  come  more  especially  under  the 
notice  of  the  Society,  of  which  it  seems  necessary  to  say  a  word.  The  most  inter- 
esting of  these  is  the  ancient  and  curious  church  of  Sherburn,  in  which  the  Society 
has  been  enabled  successfully  to  exert  its  influence,  in  conjmiction  with  that  of  the 
vicar  of  the  parish  and  others,  to  secure  a  more  complete  and  satisfactory  restoration 
than  was  at  first  contemplated. 

The  church  of  S.  Helen,  in  York,  has  also  undergone  very  considerable  repairs 
and  restorations,  under  the  guidance  of  the  Society's  secretary,  W.  H.  Dykes,  Esq. 
The  building  was  in  so  terrible  a  state  of  dilapidation,  and  so  much  has  necessarily 
been  needed  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  restoration,  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant works  of  the  kind  which  has  yet  been  carried  out  in  any  of  the  parish 
churches  of  York.  The  architect  has  been  most  assiduous  in  endeavouring  to 
secure  a  good  restoration,  and  his  eftorts  seem  to  have  been  met  by  a  gi-eat  degree 
of  good  feeling  on  behalf  of  the  parishioners  and  others — so  that  upon  the  whole  the 
work  is  satisfactory  ;  but  the  Committee  have  learnt,  with  much  regret,  that  it  is 
proposed  to  mar  the  proper  effect  of  the  interior  by  a  wrong  arrangement  of  the 
chancel  fittings.  The  chancel  is  the  only  proper  place  for  the  choir  ;  and  any 
arrangement  which  would  drive  them  away — probably  into  some  curtained  enclosure 
— is  strongly  to  be  deprecated,  as  resulting  almost  invariably  in  irreverence  and 
indevotion.  It  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped,  therefore,  that  on  this  as  well  as  on  other 
grounds,  the  proper  ecclesiastical  arrangements  of  the  chancel  of  this  church  will  be 
carried  into  effect. 


XXVlll.         YOEKSHIRE  ARCHlTECTUUAL  SOCIETY. 

The  piiblication  of  tbe  annual  volume  of  Reports  and  Papers,  which  it  was 
found  necessary  last  year  to  discontinue,  has  now  been  resumed  ;  and  it  is  believed 
that  the  volume  for  this  year  will  prove  to  be  fully  equal  in  interest  to  any  that 
have  preceded  it. 

One  of  the  excursion  meetings  for  the  year  1858  it  is  proposed  to  hold  at 
Eipon  :  for  the  other,  the  Society  has  received  an  invitation  to  join  with  various 
Architectural  Societies  m  a  congress  to  be  held  at  Oxford. 

The  Society  has  had  occasion  to  remove  from  its  old  quarters  in  the  Minster 
Yard,  which  they  have  so  long  rented  from  the  Dean  and  Chapter,  as  the  premises 
ai'e  about  to  be  pulled  down  ;  and  the  Committee  have  just  come  to  an  arrangement 
with  the  York  School  of  Art,  by  which  they  will  occupy  conjointly  a  part  of  the 
building  in  the  Minster  Yard,  formerly  used  as  St.  Peter's  School,  and  closely  ad- 
joining the  rooms  which  the  Society  has  liitherto  occupied.  This  change  is  one 
which,  it  is  beheved,  will  prove  in  every  way  beneficial. 

The  Bishop  of  Ripon  has  been  elected  a  Patron  ;  the  Earl  Fitzwilliam  one  of  the 
Presidents  ;  and  the  Earl  of  Scarborough,  the  Lord  Viscount  Godcrich,  and  the 
Bishop  of  Durham,  Vice-Presidents  of  the  Society.  The  number  of  new  members 
elected  during  the  past  year  has  been  twenty-three ;  and  the  interest  felt  in  the 
important  work  which  the.  Society  is  attempting  to  carry  out  seems  of  late  to  have 
considerably  increased. 

In  conclusion,  the  Committee  desii-e  to  di'aw  especial  attention  to  the  Restora- 
tion Fund,  as  being  that  without  which  one  particular  object  of  the  Society's  form- 
ation can  never  be  carried  into  effect.  The  number  of  important  restorations 
required  throughout  the  county,  require  also  an  adequate  fund  at  the  Society's  dis- 
posal to  promote  then'  accomplishment;  and  this  it  is  earnestly  hoped  will  not  long 
be  wanting. 


THE  TREASURER  IN  ACCOUNT  WITH  THE  SOCIETY, 

From  Jamiarij  1st  to  December  31s/,  1857. 


i)K.  £  s.  d. 

To  Balance  of  last  account  82  13  7|- 

Arrears  received   7  10  o" 

Subscriptions  and  Dona- 
tions   30  1  0 

Ditto  for  Special  Resto- 
ration Fund 7  10  0 


J.  B.  ScKivEN,  Treasurer. 


CR.  £    s. 

By  Messrs.  Savill  and  Ed- 
wards' account  for 
printing  of  volume 
for  1856   29   11 

Subscriptions  to  Archi- 
tectural Publication 
Society,  and  Arch- 
a3ological  Institute         2     2 

Rent,  Taxes,  and  At- 
tendant         7     5 

Postage,  Advertisements, 
Carriage  of  Parcels, 
and    Miscellaneous 
Expenses 6     0 

Balance  in  hand 82  15 


8 
7^ 


£127   14     Ih 


Audited,  Roeert  Daties,  January 
19th,  1858. 


TENTH     ANNUAL     EEPOKT 

OF  THE 

BEDFORDSHIRE 

AECHITECTUEAL  AND  AKCIIiEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


OFFICERS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1858. 

lUatron, 
The  Lord  Bishop  op  Ely. 

|3vrsi&fnts. 
Duke  of  Bedford,  K.G.  |         Earl  de  Grey,  KG. 

John  S.  Crawley,  Esq.,  WkjU  Sheriff.  H.  Littledale,  Esq. 

Lord  Dynevor.  Captain  Polhill  Turner. 

Lord  C.  J.  F.  Russell.  Thomas  Barnard,  Esq.,  MP. 

Colonel  Gilpin,  M.P.  Archdeacon  Tattam. 

Captain  Stuart.  G.  H.  Miller,  Esq.,  Mayor  op 
Talbot  Barnard,  Esq.  Bedford. 


XXX.  BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Messrs.  Barnard  &  Wing. 

W.  K.  Browne,  Esq.  ]         Rev.  C.  C.  Beaty-Pownall. 

©0  until. 


T.  H.  Barker,  Esq.,  M.D. 
Rev.  B.  E.  Bridges. 
Rey.  J.  F.  Dawson. 
Rev.  J.  T.  Day. 
Rev.  J.  Donne, 
Lieut.  Col.  Higgins. 


Rev.  E.  J.  HiLLiER. 
T.  J.  Jackson,  Esq. 
Rev.  J.  Mendham. 
C.  E.  Prior,  Esq.,  M.D. 
Rev.  E.  Swann. 
Rev.  J.  H.  Thomas. 


Together  w^th  the  Editorial  Committee  and  the  Acting 
Officers  of  the  Society. 


Rev.  R.  G.  Chalk. 
Rev.  H.  W.  Gery. 
Rev.  W.  Monkhouse. 
Rev.  F.  Neale. 


icDitoi'ial  ©ommittfe, 

Mr.  B.  Rudge. 
Rev.  J.  Taddy. 
Rev.  H.  J.  Williams, 
Mr.  James  Wyatt. 
With  the  Secretaries. 


©UViltOV. 

George  Hukst,  Esq. 

li^ouovan  Setrftan'fs. 
G.  F.  D.  Evans,  Esq.,  M.D.  |      Rev.  H.  J.  Rose.  1      Rev.  W.  Airy. 

ftgent  anli  ^uijlt'sljtv, 

Mr.  F.  Thompson, 


EEPORT, 

Adopted  at  a  General  Meeting  held  at  Bedford,  Nov.  10,  1857. 

The  Council  feel  it  unnecessary  to  trespass  at  any  great  length  upon  the  time  of 
the  present  meeting  ;  but  v\'e  cannot  refrain  from  congratulating  the  members  upon 
the  healthy  condition  of  the  Society  at  this,  the  tenth,  anniversary  of  its  foundation  : 
and  we  trust  that,  having  passed  througli  a  not  unprofitable  period  of  youth,  it  may 
now  be  commencing  a  vigorous  maturity,  prepared  to  enter  with  still  greater  activity 
upon  a  more  extended  course  of  usefulness. 

During  the  present  year  its  path  has,  through  the  accident  of  circumstances, 
lain  as  usual  more  among  the  pursuits  of  archaeology  than  of  architecture.  In  the 
latter  department,  indeed,  little  has  been  done  in  the  county  to  call  for  its  advice 
or  assistance,  with  the  exception  of  the  restoration  of  Westoning  clmrch.  This  has 
been  skilfully  accomplished  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Slater,  whose  plans 
having  been  submitted  to  the  Society  and  approved  at  a  Council  meeting,  we  had 
much  pleasure  in  recommending  such  a  grant  towards  the  work  as  our  limited 
funds  would  allow. 

No  public  meeting  for  the  reading  of  Papers  has  been  held  in  the  county  during 
the  present  year  :  but  in  May  last  a  most  successful  joint  meeting  of  the  five  As- 
sociated Societies  was  held  at  Lincoln,  the  very  interesting  character  of  which  will 


REPORT.  XXXI. 

be  well  remembered  by  those  of  our  body  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  present 
at  it ;  and  in  July,  an  excursion  was  made  by  a  large  portion  of  our  Society  to  the 
southern  border  of  the  county,  partly  for  ecclesiological  purposes,  but  principally 
with  the  object  of  visiting  that  exti-aordinary  earthwork,  situated  on  the  chalk 
downs,  known  by  the  name  of  Ravensburgh  Castle.  As  to  the  origin  of  this  singular 
fortress — whether  its  construction  or  rather  its  adaptation  be  British,  Roman,  Saxon, 
or  Danish, — we  look  for  enlightenment  at  some  future  time,  from  that  leai'ned 
member  of  our  Society  whose  deep  researches  for  determining  the  etymologies  of 
our  local  designations  have  given  him  a  right  to  be  regarded  as  an  authority  in 
matters  of  this  kind.  In  referring  to  this  excursion,  we  must  not  omit  to  mention 
liow  much  the  enjoyment  of  it  was  enhanced  by  the  kindness  of  our  President, 
Lord  De  Grey,  in  throwing  open  his  magnificent  seat  of  Wrest  Park  to  the  inspec- 
tion of  the  members  ;  nor  to  express  the  warm  thanks  of  the  Society  to  the  Rev. 
T.  P.  Ferguson  of  Silsoe,  who  with  most  liberal  hospitality  received  at  his  table  the 
very  large  party  which  had  assembled. 

The  printing  of  the  Society's  "  Notes"  is  continued  at  intervals  depending  upon 
the  amount  of  material  accumulated  for  publication  :  but  we  desire  to  remind 
Members  that,  in  order  to  carry  out  the  full  design  of  this  work,  we  must  receive 
more  individual  co-operation  than  has  hitherto  been  the  ease.  The  seventh  number, 
containing  a  document  of  deep  interest  to  this  county,  is  just  ready  for  delivery. 

The  publication  of  the  annual  volume  was  this  year  accomplished  under  some- 
what difficult  circumstances.  The  two  largest  of  the  associated  Societies — those  of 
York  and  Northampton — in  order  to  recruit  their  funds,  determined  to  omit  the 
publication  for  a  year  ;  and  it  was  supposed  that  their  example  would  influence  the 
I'emaining  JMembers  of  the  Association.  We,  however,  in  common  with  the  Com- 
mittees of  the  Lincoln  and  Worcester  Societies,  feeling  that  the  omission  of  the 
annual  publication  would  be  a  breach  of  faith  with  our  Members  generally,  made 
every  effort  to  avoid  any  interruption  of  the  series  :  and,  accordingly,  the  transac- 
tions of  these  three  Societies  were  printed,  under  the  able  superintendence  of  the 
Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  forming  a  volume  not  indeed  so  bulky  as  those  which 
preceded  it,  yet  by  no  means  inferior  to  the  best  of  them  in  the  importance  of  its 
contents.  We  have  to  congratulate  the  Society  that  the  same  gentleman — so 
eminently  qualified  as  he  is  by  his  literary  and  antiquarian  attainments,  and  the 
editorial  experience  which  he  has  acquii-ed  from  frequent  authorship — has  accepted 
the  office  of  General  Secretary  of  the  Associated  Societies  for  publishing.  This 
election,  together  with  that  of  George  Hui'st,  Esq.,  of  this  Society  to  the  office  of 
General  Treasurer,  was  made  at  the  meeting  of  delegates  from  the  several  Societies 
at  Lincoln  in  May  last. 

We  wish  that  we  could  refer  with  equal  satisfaction  to  the  other  proceedings  of 
the  delegates  at  that  meeting  ;  but  an  alteration  then  made  with  regard  to  the 
division  of  the  expenses  incurred  in  publishing  the  annual  volume  is  so  manifestly 
unjust,  that  we  fear  it  will  disturb  the  imion  of  the  Association.  Hitherto  the  rule 
has  been  that  each  Society  should  bear  the  expense  of  printing  its  own  Report  and 
such  other  matter  as  may  be  considered  of  only  private  or  local  interest  ;  but  that 
the  expense  of  the  Papers,  as  being  of  general  interest,  should  be  borne  by  all  the 
Societies  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  copies  of  the  volume  required  by  each. 
This  rendered  the  cost  of  each  single  copy  nearly  the  same  to  all  the  Societies  :  but 
at  the  meeting  of  delegates  it  was  determined  by  a  majority — the  three  larger  So- 
cieties of  Northampton,  York,  and  Lincoln  overruling  those  of  Bedford  and  Wor- 
cester— that  each  Society  should  bear  the  expense  of  its  Papers  as  well  as  of  its 
Report.  The  effect  of  this  will  be  that,  supposing — as  was  originally  contemplated — 
all  the  Societies  to  furnish  an  equal  extent  of  Papers,  the  cost  to  any  one  of  them 
of  single  copies  of  the  volume  will  be  in  the  inverse  ratio  to  the  size  of  that  Society 
as  compared  with  the  others  ;  if,  for  instance,  (speaking  roughly)  the  Bedford  So- 
ciety with  its  100  members  paid  5s.  per  copy,  the  York  with  its  200  members  would 
pay  2s.  6d.,  and  the  Northampton  Avith  its  250  members  2s.  per  copy.  The  only 
way  of  counteracting  this  injustice  is  by  contributing  little  or  nothing  to  the  contents 
of  the  volume  ;  but  as  this  would  contravene  the  very  purpose  for  which  the  several 
Societies  were  united,  it  would  be  better  at  once  to  i-etire  from  the  Association. 

We  fear  that  this  is  the  course  which  we  shall  ultimately  be  compelled  to  adopt. 
We  believe  that  the  cost  of  printing  in  our  periodical  "Notes"  the  Papers  read  at 
our  meetings,  would  be  less  to  the  Society  than  that  imposed  by  the  new  rule  of 


xxxu. 


BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 


the  Association  ;  while  such  members  as  might  feel  an  interest  in  the  proceedings 
of  other  counties  avouM  still  have  the  opportunity  of  purchasing  their  volume.  We 
have,  however,  determined  to  make  the  experiment  of  the  new  regulation  for  the 
present  year  ;  and  if,  as  we  fear,  its  working  should  not  prove  satisfactory,  it  will 
then  be  a  matter  of  deliberation  for  the  Council  whether  to  continue  in,  or  to  retire 
from,  the  Associated  Societies, 

After  this,  the  only  subject  of  regret  which  we  have  had  to  report,  we  are 
glad  to  conclude  with  a  word  of  congratulation  on  the  interest  taken  in  the  pursuits 
of  the  Society,  as  evidenced  in  the  full  attendances  at  the  Council  meetings,  and 
the  cordial  discussions  which  there  take  place  ; — on  the  increase  of  oui-  library  and 
museum  by  the  numerous  donations  of  books  and  antiquities  ;  and  on  the  high 
character  of  the  Papers  read  at  our  public  meetings  ;  many  of  which,  printed  in 
tbe  annual  volumes  of  tbe  Associated  Societies,  have  been  pronounced  by  high 
authorities  as  worthy  to  take  their  place  among  the  most  important  antiquarian  dis- 
quisitions of  the  day. 


RP^ASURER'S    REPORT 

For  the  year  1857. 


RECEIPTS.  £      s.     d. 

Subscriptions,  and    Arrears 

paid  up   63     7     6 


£63     7     6 


PAYMENTS.  £      S.  d. 

Balance  due    to   Treasurer 

from  1856 3     0  2 

Timreus,  Binding 0   13  6 

Wyatt,  Advertising  1     3  0 

Thompson,  Pi'inting,  &c....  13     3  8 

Wrest  Excursion  1   13  6 

Sir  G.   Osborn's    Subscrip- 
tion returned 110 

]\Iessrs.     Brooke,     Printing 

"Reports  and  Papers"...  7   18  8 
Subscription    to    Architect- 
ural Institute 110 

Rent  of  Rooms  10     0  0 

Grant  to  Westoning  Church  5     0  0 

Balanceinhand 18  13  0 


£63     7     6 


THE  ELEVENTH  AND  TWELFTH  EEPORTS 

OP  TUB 

ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 

OP 

THE  ARCHDEACONRY  OF  NORTHAMPTON. 


fatten. 
The  Lord  Bishop  op  Peterborougit. 

The  Marquis  of  Exeter,  K.G.,  Lord  Lieutenant. 
The  Archdeacon  op  Northabipton. 
The  Hon.  G.  W.  Fitzwilliam,  M.P. 


The  Duke  op  Buccleugh,  K.G. 
The  Marquis  op  Northampton. 
The  Rev.  Lord  Alwyne  Compton. 
The  Lord  Southampton. 
The  Lord  Lilford. 
The  Lord  Overstone. 
The  Lord  Henley. 
The  Bishop  of  Adelaide. 
The  Hon.  Fred.  C.  Villiers. 
The  Hon.  and  Rev.  A.  G.  Stuart. 
The  Hon.  and  Rev.  P.  A.  Irby. 
The  Hon.  and  Rev.  L.  C.  R.  Irby. 
Sir  Charles  E.  Isham,  Bart. 
Sir  Henry  E.  L.  Dryden,  Bart. 
Sir  Charles  Knightley,  Bart. 
The  Rev.  Sir  G.  S.  Robinson,  Bart. 


Sir  Arthur  de  C.  Brooke,  Bart. 

T.  P.  Maunsell,  Esq.,  M.P. 

R.  Knightley,  Esq.,  M.P. 

The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  op  Peter- 
borough. 

The  Yen.  H.  K.  Bonnet,  D.D.,  Arch- 
deacon of  Lincoln. 

The  Yen.  T.  K.  Bonney,  M.A.,  Arch- 
deacon of  Leicester. 

The  Rev.  W.  Wales,  Cbancellor  of 
Peterborongh. 

The  Rev.  J.  P.  Lightfoot,  D.D.,  Rec- 
tor of  Exeter  College,  Oxford. 

The  Rev.  M.  Argles,  Canon  of  Peter- 
borough. 

The  Rev.  Heneage  Finch. 


Committee. 


The  Patron. 

The  Presidents. 

The  Officers 
Rev.  H.  L  Barton. 
M.  H.  Bloxam,  Esq. 
Rev.  Lord  Alwyne  Compton. 
Langham  Christie,  Esq. 
"W.  Mackworth  Dolben,  Esq. 
Sir  Henry  Dryden. 
Rev.  H.  L.  Elliott. 
Rev.  M.  Gregory. 
AV.  Hopkinson,  Esq. 


I  The  Yice-Preisdents. 

I  The  Rural  Deans. 

OF  the  Society. 
i  Rev.  Dr.  Langley. 

Rev.  p.  H.  Lee. 
j  H.  0.  Nethercote,  Esq. 
I  Rev.  G.  a.  Poole. 

Rev.  G.  Robbins. 

W.  Smyth,  Esq. 

Rev.  C.  L.  Savainson. 

Rev.  W.  Thornton. 

Rev.  C.  F.  Watkins. 


/ 


XXXIV.      NOUTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

Rev.  Thomas  James,  fCorrespondwgJ  Theddingworth,  Rugby. 

Rev.  N.  Lightfoot,  f Corresponding, J  Islip,  Thrapston. 

Rev.  H.  De  Sausmaeez,  fFinancial,)  St.  Peter's,  Northampton. 

Rev.  William  Wales,  (Local  for  Northampton^  Northampton. 

Rev.  H.  L.  Wingfield,  (Local  for  MutlandJ  Market  Overton,  Oakham. 

Rev.  David  Morton,  Harleston. 

Rev.  Christopher  Smyth. 
Rev.  G.  Howard  Ytse. 

Rev.  H,  J.  BiGGE,  Rockingham. 

Cuvatov. 
Rev.  C.  F.  L.  West,  Northampton. 

Assistant  5lles(tifnt  SLilJvavfan, 

(To  ivhom  all  books,  parcels,  &c,,  should  be  sent, J 
Mr.  Wright,  Gold-street,  Northampton. 


HONORARY    MEMBERS. 


Charles  Whiston,  Esq.,  Temple,  London. 
Rev.  J.  L.  Petit,  Temple,  London. 
George  Gilbert  Scott,  Esq.,  20,  Spring 

Gardens,  London. 
Sir  Charles  Barry,  London. 
Professor  E.  L.  Donaldson,  Hon.  Sec. 

For.  Cor.  ofR.LB.A. 
Sir  Stephen  Glynne,  Bart.,  Hawarden, 

Chester. 
Edmund  Sharpe,  Esq.,  Lancaster. 
W.  H.  Blaauw,  Esq.,  Hon.  Sec.  Sussex 

Archaeological  Society. 


W.  A.  Parker,  Esq.,  Edinburgh. 
David  Rhind,  Esq.,  F.A.I.S.,  Edinburgh. 
Charles  Wilson,  Esq.,  F.A.I.S.,  Glasgow. 
A.  W.  Franks,  Esq.,  British  Museum. 
Herbert  Minton,  Esq.,  Stoke-upon- Trent. 
P.  A.  Hardwick,  Esq.,  Russell-square, 

London. 
M.  De  Caumont,  Caen,  Normandy. 
P.  Barrow,  Esq.,  British  Consul  at  Caen. 
Miss  Baker,  St.  Peter's,  Northampton. 
Rev.    Dr.    Lightfoot,    Exeter    College, 

Oxford. 


ORDINARY    MEMBERS. 

C  Those  marked  thus*  are  Life  Members.) 
(Where  the  Post-tovm  is  not  stated,  Northampton  must  be  understood  J 


Alford,  the  Lady  Marian,  Ashbridge, 
Great  Berkhamstead. 

Alexander,  Rev.  G.  E.,  Woodford,  Da- 
ventry. 

Argles,  Rev.  Marsham,  Canon  of  Peter- 
borough, Barnack,  Stamford,  R.D. 

Attlay,  Rev.  C,  Barrowden,  Upping- 
ham. R.D. 

Buccleugh,  the  Duke  of,  Boughton 
House,  Kettering. 


Brooke,  Sir  A.  De  Capel,  Little  Oakley, 

Kettering. 
*Bonney,  Ven.  H.  K.,  D.D.,  Archdeacon 

of  Lincoln,  King's  Cliff,  Wansford. 
Bonney,    "Ven.    T.    K.,    Archdeacon   of 

Leicester,  Normanton,  Oakham. 
Baker,  Rev.  R.  S.,  Hai'grave,  Kimbolton. 
Barlow,   Rev.    T.    W.,   Little   Bowden, 

Market  Harborough. 
Barry,  Rev.  W.,  Bhsworth,  R.D. 


MEMBERS. 


XXXV. 


Barton,  Rev.  II.  J.,  Wickcn,  Stony 
Stratford,  R.D. 

Belgrave,  Rev.  C.  N.,  Kihvortli,  Rugby. 

Belgrave,  Rev.  W.,  Pi-eston,  Upping- 
ham. 

Biggc,  Rev.  H.  J.,  Rockingham. 

Bloxara,  M.  H.,  Esq.,  Rugby. 

*Botfield,  B.,  Esq.,  Norton  Hall,  Da- 
ventry. 

Boultbee,  Rev.  R.  M.,  Barnwell,  Oundle, 
R.D. 

Bouverie,  E.,  Esq.,  Delapre  Abbey. 

Brooke,  Richard  De  Capel,  Esq.,  the 
Elms,  Market  Harborough. 

Browning,  Rev.  W.  T.,  Thorpe  Mande- 
ville,  Banbury. 

Bromhead,  Rev.  A.  L.,  Winwick. 

Brown,  Rev.  A.  W.,  Gretton,  Uppmg- 
ham,  Hon.  Canon  of  Peterborough, 
R.D. 

Burton,  E.  S.,  Esq.,  Churchill  House, 
Daventiy. 

Butlin,  Rev.  W.,  St.  Sepulclu-e's. 

Compton,  Rev.  Lord  A.,  Castle  Ashby. 

Cape,  Rev.  W.,  Peterborough. 

Campbell,  Rev.  A.  L.,  Helpstone,  Mar- 
ket Deeping. 

Cartwright,  A.,  Esq.,  Edgcot,  Daventry, 

Casson,  Rev.  G.,  Old,  R.D. 

Cattel,  James,  Esq.,  Petei'borough. 

Christie,  Langham,  Esq.,  Preston  Dean- 
ery. 

Church,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Geddington,  Ket- 
tering. 

Clarke,  R.  T.,  Esq.,  Welton-place,  Da- 
ventry. 

Clarke,  Rev.  C,  Welton,  Daventry. 

Clarke,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Welton-place,  Da- 
ventry. 

Clayton,  Rev.  T.,  Cottlngham,  Rocking- 
ham, R.D. 

Clough,  Rev.  A.  B.,  Braunston,' Daventry. 

Cobb,  Rev.  J.  F.,  Spratton. 

Cooke,  Rev.  T.,  Brigstock,  Thrapstone. 

Couchraan,  Rev.  J.,  Thornby. 

Cox,  Rev.  H.  Duston. 

Crawley,  Rev.  H.,  Stowe,  Daventry. 

Dryden,  Sir  H.  E.  L.,  Bart.,  Canons 
Ashby,  Daventry. 

Dalton,  Rev.  R.,  Kelmarsh. 

Davys,  Rev.  Owen,  Stilton,  Wansford. 

De  Sausmarez,  Rev.  H.,  St.  Peter's, 
Northampton. 

Dimock,  Rev.  J.  G.,  Uppingham. 

Dolben,  W.  M.,  Esq.,  Finedon,  Welling- 
borough. 

Dolben,  Mrs. 

*Drummond,  Rev.  H.,  Leckhamstead, 
Buckingham. 

Dundas,  Rev.  R.  B.,  Harpole. 

Duthy,  Rev.  W.,  Sudborough,  Thrap- 
stone, R.D. 


*  Exeter,  Marquis  of,  Burleigh,  Stamford. 
*Exeter,  Marchioness  of. 

*Eland,  S.  E.,  Esq.,  Stanwick,  Higham. 

Ellicott,  Rev.  C.  S.,  Whitwell,  Stam- 
ford, R.D. 

Elliott,  Rev.  H.  L.,  St.  Giles',  North- 
ampton. 

Empson,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Eydon,  Banbury. 

Fitzwilliam,  Hon.  G.  W.,  Alwalton. 

Fenwicke,  Rev.  G.,  Blaston,  Uppingham. 

*  Finch,  Rev.  Heneage,  Oakham. 
Finch-Hatton,   Rev.    W.   R.,    Weldou, 

Rockingham. 

Freeman,  Rev.  H.,  Norman  Cross,  Stil- 
ton, R.D. 

Francis,  Rev.  C.  D.,  Tysoe. 

Forbes,  Rev.  G.,  Broughton,  Kettering. 

Gates,  H.  P.,  Esq.,  Peterborough. 

Gibbon,  W.,  Esq.,  Kettering. 

Gillett,  Rev.  G.  E.,  Waltham,  Melton 
Mowbray. 

*  Grant,  W.,  Esq.,  Lichborough,  Towces- 

ter. 

Green,  Rev.  T.,  Badby,  Daventry,  R.D. 

Green,  Rev.  G.  R.,  Everton,  Daventry. 

Gregory,  Rev.  M.,  Roade. 

Glover,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Kingsthorpe. 

Henley,  the  Lord,  Watford  Court,  Da- 
ventry. 

Henley,  the  Lady. 

Hallet,  Rev.  J.  T.,  Brington. 

Hamborough,  0.  W.,  Esq.,  Pipwell  Hall. 

Hannaford,  Rev.  R.  A,,  Irthlingborough, 
Higham  Ferrers,  R.D. 

*Harrison,  Rev.  J.  B.,  Evenley,  Brack- 
ley. 

Harrison,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Bugbrooke. 

Hensman,  Mr.,  Pytchley,  Kettering. 

Hill,  Rev.  C,  Culworth,  Banbury. 

Hogg,  Rev.  L.,  Cranford,  Kettering. 

Holdich,  Rev.  J.,  Deene,  Wansford. 

HolthotTse,  Rev.  C.  S.,  Helidon,  Daventry. 

Hopkinson,  W.,  Esq.,  Stamford. 

Hewlett,  Rev.  W.,  Thundersley,  Ray- 
leigh,  Essex. 

Hughes,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Kislingbury. 

Irby,  Hon.  and  Rev.  P.  A.,  Cottesbrooke. 

Irby,  Hon.  and  Rev.  Llewellyn,  Whiston. 

Isham,  Sir  Charles  E.,  Bart.,  Lamport. 

Isham,  Rev.  C.  E.,  Polebrook,  Oundle, 
RD. 

Isham,  Rev.  R.,  Lamport. 

Isted,  Ambrose,  Esq.,  Ecton. 

Ives,  Rev.  C,  Bradden,  Towcester. 

James,  Rev.  Dr.,  Canon  of  Peterborough. 

James,  Rev.  T.,  Theddingworth,  Rugby, 
Hon.  Canon  of  Peterborough,  R.D. 

Jenkins,  Rev.  J.  C,  Ashby  St.  Legers, 
Daventry. 

Jones,  Rev.  J.  A.,  Burley,  Oakham. 

Knightley,  Su:  C,  Bart.,  Fawsley  Park, 
Daventry. 


XXXVl.      NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Knightley,  R.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Fawsley  Park. 

Knight,  Rev.  D.  T.,  Earl's  Barton. 

*Lilford,  the  Lord,  Lilford,  Oundle. 

Laldn,  Rev.  T.  M.,  Gilmorton,  Lutter- 
worth. 

Lamb,  R.  H.,  Esq.,  Bragborough  House, 
Daveutry. 

*Langham,  H.,  Esq.,  Cottesbrooke. 

Lawson,  Rev.  F.  P.,  St.  Peter's,  North- 
ampton. 

Langley,  Rev.  Dr.,  Olney. 

Law,  E.  F.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Northamp- 
ton. 

Lee,  Rev.  P.  H.,  Stoke-Bruern,  Tow- 
cester,  R.D. 

Lewis,  Rev.  G.  B.,  Northaw,  Barnet. 

Litchfield,  Rev.  F.,  Farthinghoe,  Brack- 
ley. 

Lightfoot,  Rev.  N.  F.,  Islip,  Thrapstou. 

Lindsay,  Rev.  J.,  Stanford,  Welford. 

Locock,  Rev.  W.,  Earl  Haddon. 

Loyd,  Lewis,  Esq.,  Overstoue  Park. 

Madge,  Rev.  T.  H.,  Kettering. 

Marriott,  Rev.  J.  P.,  Cottesbach,  Lutter- 
worth. 

*Maunsell,  T.  P.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Thorpe- 
Malsor,  Kettering. 

Maunsell,  Rev.  G.  E.,  Thorpe-Malsor. 

Morton,  Rev.  D.,  Harleston,  R.D. 

Northampton,  Marquis  of,  Castle  Ashby. 

Northampton,  Archdeacon  of,  Peter- 
borough. 

Nethercote,  J.,  Esq.,  Moulton  Grange. 

Nethercote,  H.  0.,  Esq.,  Moulton  Grange. 

Nevile,  H.,  Esq.,  Walcot  Park,  Stam- 
ford. 

Newbolt,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Paulerspury, 
Towcester. 

Newby,  Rev.  H.,  Wootton. 

Nussey,  Rev.  J.,  Oundle. 

Overstone,  the  Lord,  Overstone  Park. 

Peterborough,  the  Lord  Bishop  of. 

Peterborough,  the  Very  Rev.  Dean  of. 

Palmer,  Geoffrey,  Esq.,  Carlton  Park, 
Market  Harborough. 

Parker,  Rev.  E.,  Oxendon. 

Paul,  Rev.  G.  W.,  Finedon,  Welling- 
borough. 

Poole,  Rev.  G.  A.,  Welford. 

Poole,  Rev.  J.  C,  Clay- Coton,' Welford. 

Porter,  Rev.  C,  Raunds,  Thrapston. 

Pownall,  Rev.  A.,  South  Kilworth. 

Robinson,  Rev.  Sir  G.,  Bart.,  Cranford, 
Kettering. 

Rands,  G.,  Jun.,  Esq.,  Northampton. 

Robbins,  Rev.  G.,  Courtenhall,  R.D. 

Robertson,  A.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Northamp- 
ton. 

Robertson,  Rev.  G.,  Sywell. 

Robinson,  Rev.  H.,  PLazlebeech. 

Eokeby,  Rev.  H.  R.,  Arthingworth. 

Rokeby,  Rev.  H.,  Jun.,  Prestoa  Deanery. 


Roughton,  Rev.  W.  C,  Harrowden,  Wel- 
lingborough. 

Russell,  J.  Watts,  Esq.,  Biggin  Hall, 
bundle. 

Southampton,  the  Lord,  Whittlebury, 
Towcester. 

Stuart,  Hon.  and  Rev.  A.  G.,  Cottesmore, 
Oakham,  Hon.  Canon  of  Peter- 
borough. 

Sams,  Rev.  B.  J.,  Grafton  Regis,  Stony 
Stratford. 

Sawbridge,  Mrs.,  East  Haddon  Hall. 

Scott,  Rev.  W.  L.,  Abthorpe,  Towcester. 

Scriven,  T.,  Esq.,  Northampton. 

Sharp,  Mr.  S.,  Stamford. 

*Slater,  W.  Esq.,  Architect,  Carlton 
Chambers,  Regent-sti-eet,  London. 

Smith,  Rev.  Samuel,  Weedon  Lois,  Tow- 
cester, R.D. 

Smith,  Rev.  Sidney  L.,  Brampton  Ash, 
Market  Harborough. 

Smith,  Rev.  J.  T.  H.,  Flore,  Weedon. 

Smith,  Rev,  W.  L.,  Radstone,  Brackley. 

Smith,  W.,  Esq.,  Architect,  12,  John- 
street,  Adelphi,  London. 

Smyth,  W,  Esq.,  Little  Houghton. 

Smyth,  Rev.  C,  Little  Houghton,  R.D. 

Spencei-,  Rev.  C.  C,  Benefield. 

Stopford,  W.  B.,  Esq.,  Drayton  House, 
Thrapston. 

Stopford,  Mi's.,  Drayton  House. 

Stopford,  Rev.  F.  M.,  Peterborough. 

Swainson,  Rev.  C.  L.,  Crick,  Daventry, 
R.D. 

Teny,  H.,  Esq.,  Northampton. 

Thompson,  Mr.  S.,  Builder,  Peter- 
borough. 

Teulon,  S.  S.  Esq.,  Architect,  Lans- 
downe-place,  Brunswick- sq.,  London. 

Thornton,  T.  R,,  Esq.,  Brockhall,  Wee- 
don. 

Thornton,  E.,  Esq.,  11,  Princes-street, 
Hanover-square. 

Thornton,  Rev.  P.,  Brockhall,  Hon. 
Canon  of  Peterborough. 

Thornton,  Rev.  T.  C,  Brockhall. 

Thornton,  Rev.  W.,  Dodford,  Weedon. 

Thring,  Rev.  E.,  the  Hospital,  Upping- 
ham. 

Trotman,  Rev.  F.  S.,  Dallington. 

Twopeny,  Rev.  J.  N.,  Casterton,  Stam- 
ford. 

Villiers,  Hon.  Fred.,  Sulby  Hall,  Welford. 

Villiers,  the  Lady  Elizabeth. 

Vernon,  Rev.  C.  J.,  Grafton,  Kettering. 

Veysie,  Rev.  D.,  Daventry,  R  D. 

Vyse,  Rev.  G.  S.  H.,  Boughton. 

Watson,  Hon.  Mrs.,  the  Castle,  Rock- 
ingham. 

Wales,  Worshipful  and  Rev.  Chancellor, 
Northampton,  Hon.  Canon  of  Peter- 
borough. 


RULES. 


XXXVll. 


Walker,  Rev.  G.  A.,  Pattisliall,  Towces- 

ter. 
*Warcl,  Rev.  H.,  Aldwlnkle,  Thrapstouc. 
Waterfield,  T.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Brompton. 
Walkins,  Rev.  C.  F.,  Brixworth. 
Watson,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Guilsborougli. 
West,  Rev.  C.  F.  L.,  Northampton. 
Wickes,  Rev.  C,  Bouglitou. 


Wilson,  Rev.  W.,  Desborougb. 
Wilson,  T.  C,  Esq.,  Oundle. 
Winglield,  Rev.  II.  L.,  Market  Overton, 

Oakham,  Local  Secretary. 
Woolcomhe,  Rev.  W.  W.,  Wootton. 
Yard,  Rev.  T.,  Ashwell,  Oakham. 
Young,   J.,   Esq.,    Stanwick,    Iligham 

Ferrers. 


RULES. 


1.  That  the  Society  be  called  The 
Architectural  Society  or  the 
Archdeaconry  of  Nortitampton. 

2.  That  the  objects  of  the  Society  be, 
to  promote  the  study  of  Ecclesiastical 
Architecture,  Antiquities.and  Design,  and 
the  restoration  of  mutilated  Architectural 
Remains  within  the  Archdeaconry  ;  and 
to  furnish  suggestions,  so  far  as  may  be 
within  its  province,  for  improving  the 
character  of  Ecclesiastical  Edifices  here- 
after to  be  erected. 

3.  That  the  Society  be  composed  of  a 
Patron,  Presidents,  and  Vice-Presidents, 
and  of  ordinary  Members,  to  consist  of 
Clergymen  and  Lay  Members  of  the 
Church. 

4.  That  Members  of  the  Society  be 
privileged  to  propose  new  members,  either 
by  letter  or  personally,  at  the  Committee 
Meetings  ;  and  that  Honorary  Members 
be  elected  only  on  the  nomination  of  the 
Committee. 

5.  That  Rural  Deans  within  the  Arch- 
deaconry of  Northampton  be  ex-officio 
]\Iembers  of  the  Committee,  on  their  sig- 
nifying an  intention  to  become  Members 
of  the  Society. 

6.  That  each  Member  shall  pay  an 
Annual  Subscription  of  Ten  Shillings, 
to  be  due  on  the  first  day  of  January  in 
each  year. 

7.  That  any  Member  may  compound 
for  all  future  subscriptions  by  one  pay- 
ment of  £10. 

8.  That  the  affairs  of  the  Society  be 
conducted  by  a  Committee,  composed  of 
the  Patron,  Presidents,  Vice-Presidents, 
Rural  Deans,  and  eighteen  ordinary  Mem- 
bers, (of  whom  five  shall  be  a  quorum,) 
who  shall  be  elected  at  the  Annual  Meet- 
ing, and  of  whom  six  at  least  shall  have 
been  Members  of  the  Committee  of  the 


ling  year. 

9.  That  the  Committee  have  power  to 
add  to  their  numbers,  and  to  elect  out  of 
their  body  the  requisite  number  of  Secre- 
taries. 


10.  That  the  Members  of  the  Com- 
mittee in  any  neighbourhood  may  asso- 
ciate other  Members  of  the  Society  with 
themselves,  and  form  Committees  for 
local  purposes  in  communication  with  the 
Central  Committee. 

11.  That  the  Public  Meetings  of  the 
Society  be  holden  in  the  Spring  and  Au- 
tumn of  each  year,  at  such  times  and 
places  as  shall  have  been  appointed  at  the 
Autumnal  Meeting  of  the  preceding  year. 

12.  That  the  Committee  meet  at  the 
times  and  places  which  they  may  them- 
selves appoint,  and  that  their  Meetings 
be  open  to  the  Members  of  the  Society 
and  their  friends,  after  the  despatch  of 
routine  business. 

13.  That  the  Secretaries  be  empowered, 
on  any  urgent  occasion,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Patron,  to  call  a  Special  Meeting 
of  the  Society. 

14.  That  Donations  of  Architectural 
Books,  Plans,  »&c.,  be  received  ;  that  the 
Committee  be  empowered  to  make  pur- 
chases and  procure  casts  and  drawings, 
which  shall  be  under  the  charge  of  the 
Librarian,  at  the  Society's  room.  Gold- 
street,  Northampton. 

15.  That  when  the  Committee  shall 
consider  any  paper  worthy  of  being  printed 
at  the  expense  of  the  Society,  they  shall 
request  the  Author  to  furnish  a  copy,  and 
shall  decide  upon  the  number  of  copies 
to  be  printed,  provided  always  that  the 
number  be  sufiicient  to  supply  each  Mem- 
ber with  one  copy,  and  the  Author  and 
Secretaries  with  twenty-five  copies  each. 
All  other  questions  relating  to  publishing 
plans  and  papers,  and  illustx-ating  them 
with  engravhags,  shall  be  decided  by  the 
Committee. 

16.  That  the  Central  Committee  be 
empowered  to  pi'ovide,  at  the  Society's  ex- 
pense. Working  Plans  for  any  Member 
who  may  request  them,  for  repairing  an}' 
Church  in  this  Archdeaconry  with  which 
he  is  connected,  provided  that  the  expense 
SO  incurred  by  the  Society  in  any  one  year 


XXXVlll.      NORTHAMPTON  AUCHITECTUllAL  SOCIETY. 


shall  not  exceed  one-third  of  the  funds ; 
and  that  no  such  grant  shall  he  made 
unless  the  majority  shall  consist  of  six 
Members. 

17.  That  the  Central  Committee  shall 
every  year  publish  for  circulation  among 
the  Members,  Transactions  to  contain 
descriptions  and  papers  connected  with 
the  objects  of  the  Society  ;  and  that  the 
illustrations  to  be  given  in  such  Transac- 
tions, shall,  for  the  present,  depend  on  the 
voluntary  donations  which  may  be  given 
to  the  Society  for  that  purpose. 

18.  That  on  application  being  made 
to  any  Member  of  the  Committee,  or  to 
the  Committee  collectively,  for  the  advice 
of  the  Society  in  the  restoration  of  any 
Church,  a  Sub-Committee  be  appointed 
(of  which  the  Incumbent  or  Resident 


Minister  to  be  one)  to  visit  the  Church, 
and  submit  a  Report  in  writing  to  the 
General  Committee. 

19.  That  all  Plans  for  the  building, 
enlargement,  or  restoration  of  Churches, 
Schools,  &c.,  sent  for  the  inspection  of 
the  Committee,  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Society,  at 
least  one  week  before  the  Committee 
Meeting,  for  the  Secretary  to  prepare  a 
Special  Report  thereon. 

20.  That  no  sum  exceeding  Thirty 
Shillings  be  voted  towards  the  objects  of 
the  Society,  without  notice  being  given 
at  a  previous  Committee  Meeting  ;  such 
notice  also  to  be  inserted  in  the  circular 
calling  the  meeting  at  which  the  sum  will 
be  proposed. 


EEPOET, 

Bead  at  the  Autimui  Meeting,  1856,  hy  the  Rev.  Thomas  James, 
one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Society. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  proceedings  of  the  past  year  of  the  Architectural  Society 
of  this  Archdeaconry  to  modify  the  iisual  congi-atulatory  tone  of  our  Report ;  nor 
yet  has  the  year  been  marked  by  any  extraordinary  occurrence  beyond  the  common 
routine  of  the  Society's  labours  and  results. 

The  work  of  cliurch  restoration  and  building  goes  on  steadily,  undertaken  in  a 
still  more  careful  spirit,  and  with  a  fuller  appreciation  of  true  principles,  than  it 
was  possible  to  observe  in  the  first  gush  of  zealous  revival  after  so  many  years  of 
indifference  and  torpor.  To  combine  the  reverence  for  what  is  old  with  the  require- 
ments of  the  present  hour  is  a  difficult  problem  in  other  matters  besides  architecture ; 
hut  it  is  this  very  difficulty  which  ennobles  the  art,  tries  the  metal  of  the  artist, 
and  calls  for  the  studies  and  exertions  of  Societies  such  as  ours.  After  all,  however, 
our  old  churches  are,  on  the  whole,  excellently  capable  of  adaptation  to  our  reformed 
ritual — perhaps  a  low,  instead  of  a  high,  chancel  screen  being  the  main  alteration 
required.  The  late  instances  of  restoration  in  this  Archdeaconry  prove  this  ;  and 
so  great  is  the  satisfaction  given  to  all  parties  by  the  now  acknowledged  mode  of 
an-angement,  that  in  every  instance  where  our  Society  has  been  concerned,  the 
restoration  of  one  church  has  invariably  led  to  the  restoration  of  another  in  its 
neighbourhood ;  so  that  we  may  hope  in  time  not  to  have  a  dilapidated  House  of 
Pi'ayer  remaining  in  the  county. 

One  great  evil  which  both  builders  and  restorers  of  churches  have  to  guard 
against  is  what  is  called  "  accommodation" — the  attempt  to  crowd  the  greatest 
number  of  people  into  the  given  space.  Two  motives  lead  to  this :  first,  the  laudable 
one  of  providing  room  for  all  who  may  possibly  attend  ;  the  second — less  commend- 
able— the  desire  to  obtain  the  largest  amount  of  money-grant  from  the  Church 
Building  Societies.  The  result  is  to  fill  every  corner,  however  inconvenient,  Avitli 
fixed  benches,  to  nan'ow  the  passages  (the  width  of  which,  especially  the  central 
one,  gives  such  dignity  to  the  building)  ;  and,  worst  of  all,  by  narrowing  the  seats, 
to  make  throughout  the  church  100  bad  sittings  instead  of  90  good  ones,  and 
altogether  to  prevent  kneeling  in  piiblic  worship.  There  are  churches  in  this  town 
and  neighbourhood — fitted  up  before  this  point  was  understood — which  almost  debar 
the  worshipper  from  repose  of  mind  or  reverence  of  body,  and  wMch  it  would  be 


REPOUT,  XXXIX. 

wellto  re-seat  entirely  anew,  with  a  sacrifice  of  one-tenth  of  the  present  "  accom- 
modation." The  Church  Building  Societies  which  give  grants  according  to  the 
number  of  sittings  are  mainly  responsible  for  this  evil.  If  they  would  make  the 
grant  for  new  churches  rather  dependent  on  the  ground-area,  and,  in  old  churches, 
on  the  better  arrangement,  architects  and  churchwardens  would  not  be  driven  to 
the  shifts  which  now  disfigure  our  churches,  and  which  discompose  the  whole  con- 
gregation, without  really  adding  to  its  number.  In  new  churches  the  whole  area 
need  not  then  be  necessarily  filled  with  seats  at  first,  but  they  might  be  added  as 
the  congregation  increased  ;  and  thus  some  of  the  first  expense  would  be  saved,  and 
the  congregation  really  gathered  together^  instead  of  the  scattered  segregation, 
which  in  a  new  district  church  so  often  strikes  us  with  feelings  of  formalism  and 
coldness.  To  open  this  question  with  other  Architectural  and  Church  Building 
Societies,  a  sub-committee  has  been  appointed  this  year  ;  and  it  seems  one  of  those 
points  of  practical  benefit  which  it  is  especially  the  duty  of  such  Societies  as  ours 
to  sift  and  consider. 

Another  practical  question  in  which  we  have  often  expressed  a  deep  interest — 
the  improvement  of  the  dwellings  of  the  agricultural  labourer — has  not,  I  regret  to 
say,  met  with  that  attention  which  it  may  fairly  claim.  Twice  has  our  sub- 
committee, appointed  to  consider  this  matter,  communicated  with  the  Agricultural 
Societ}^  of  this  county  without  meeting  with  the  slightest  encouragement.  To  the 
last  application,  indeed,  no  answer  whatever  was  returned,  and  it  seemed  imperti- 
nent to  attempt  to  re-open  the  correspondence  ;  but  I  cannot  but  think  that,  by 
the  co-operation  of  Members  of  the  two  Societies  a  joint  committee  could  be 
formed,  winch  might  off'er  very  useful  suggestions  to  proprietors  anxious  to  pro- 
vide decent  houses  for  their  labourers,  and  stimulate  others  to  a  duty,  on  the 
imperativeness  of  which,  speaking  here  officially,  I  hardly  dare  to  express  my  own 
strong  opinion.  Our  proposition  was  to  offer  in  the  first  place  a  premium  for  the 
best  design  for  a  labourer's  cottage,  suited  to  this  county;  I  cannot  think  why  the 
Agricultural  Society  should  be  deaf  to  such  an  appeal.  For,  though  many  land- 
lords are  nobly  doing  their  duty  in  this  matter,  it  was  only  the  other  day  that 
I  saw  some  cottages  built  with  the  best  motives,  and  apparently  without  regard 
to  expense,  which  had  almost  every  particular  fault  condemned  in  a  paper  read 
before  this  Society  six  years  ago.  Our  own  influence  in  such  a  matter  would  be 
comparatively  small,  and  if  we  were  to  put  out  plans  of  our  own,  we  should  be 
probably  only  suspected  of  architectural  hobbies  and  unpractical  dilettanteism ; 
but,  could  a  Society,  one  of  whose  prominent  objects  is  the  bettering  the  labourer's 
condition,  be  induced  to  combine  with  us,  we  should  soon  see  as  much  improve- 
ment in  our  cottages  as  in  our  churches  ;  and  the  old  county  motto  of  "  Squires 
and  Spires"  would  revive  in  most  happy  combination.  Meanwhile  I  cannot  do 
better  than  refer  to  the  last  plans  published  in  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society's 
Journal,  as  among  the  best  I  know,  and  infinitely  superior  to  very  bad  designs 
formerly  published  in  the  same  journal  some  six  years  ago. 

I  will  now  briefly  enumerate  the  architectural  works  in  which  our  Society  has 
been  interested  during  the  past  year. 

The  church  of  Stanwick,  the  plans  for  which,  by  Mr.  Slater,  were  exhibited 
here  last  year,  has  just  been  completed,  and  opened  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  all 
concerned.  No  one  will  be  more  ready  than  the  rector  to  acknowledge  the  munifi- 
cence and  exertion  of  the  churchwardens  in  this  work.  Seldom  has  a  like  sum  of 
money  been  so  well  expended.  The  opening  of  the  very  unique  tower,  with  its 
singular  western  windows,  is  the  crowning  point,  architecturally,  of  this  good  work. 
In  the  description  of  the  church  published  by  the  Society,  just  ten  years  ago,  occurs 
the  following  passage: — "  We  trust  that  some  future  description  of  this  church  may 
record  the  restoration  of  the  roof  and  the  emancipation  of  the  tower-arch  from 
galleries  and  partitions,"  It  is  seldom  that  such  a  wish  is  so  quickly  and  happily 
realized.  Yet,  perhaps,  in  our  neighbourhood,  I  should  hardly  say  "  seldom,"  for 
in  the  same  work,  in  reference  to  the  church  of  Winwick,  it  is  said: — "  The  east 
window  sadly  destroys  the  chai'acter  of  the  whole  church.  The  chancel  invites, 
and  could  amply  repay,  restoration ;  and  this  church  would  stand  high  among  small 
village  churches  if  the  tower-arch  and  the  north  transept  were  thrown  open,  and 
open  seats,  after  the  pattern  already  on  the  spot,  were  made  to  replace  several  peAvs." 
All  this,  too,  has  noAv  been  done.  The  chancel  was,  some  three  years  ago,  restored 
by  the  rector,  and  the  nave  and  transepts  have  now  been  renovated  and  refitted 


xl.  NORTHAMPTON  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

throughout,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  E.  F.  Law.  The  whole  of  the  seats 
are  open,  and  of  oak,  and  the  pattern  of  the  ancient  seats  and  roof  has  been  fol- 
lowed. During  the  work  some  traces  of  figures  in  distemper  painting,  probably  of 
the  15th  century,  were  found  upon  the  walls.  The  Doom,  or  Day  of  Judgment, 
was  painted  with  its  usual  gvotesqueness,  in  its  usual  position,  over  the  chancel  arch. 
On  the  north  wall  of  the  nave  was  the  head  of  some  royal  personage,  but  the 
drawing  was  more  than  commonly  coarse.  These  subjects  often  gain  a  more  than 
due  importance  by  being  called  Frescoes.  Such  they  are  not,  i.e,  their  colours  are 
not  embodied  in  the  plaster,  but  merely  surface-painted  in  distemper  washes,  the 
outline  of  the  figures  being  drawn  in  black  or  red.  Those  at  Winwick  were  too 
much  decayed  to  be  worth  copying,  and  are,  I  suppose,  now  destroyed. 

The  church  of  Preston,  in  the  Rutland  district  of  the  Archdeaconry,  has  just 
been  thoroughly  restored  and  renovated  at  the  sole  expense  of  the  rector.  The 
seats  are  open,  of  oak,  with  carved  standards.  The  tower-arch  has  been  opened, 
the  piers  and  walls  denuded  of  whitewash  and  plaster,  and  a  painted  window,  by 
Ward,  inserted  in  the  west  end.  Other  improvements  have  been  carried  out,  and 
more  are  contemplated. 

In  smaller  works  the  Committee  has  advised  upon  a  new  vestry  at  Stoke  Bruerne, 
the  restoration  of  the  north  aisle  of  Stoke  Albany,  and  alterations  in  the  chancel  of 
Kettering.  The  drawings  for  Stoke  Albany,  by  Mr.  Slater,  are  only  exhibited  for 
the  first  time  to-day,  and  liave  not  yet  been  examined  by  the  Committee.  They 
are  planned,  I  believe,  with  reference  to  the  whole  church ;  but  one  part  only — the 
north  aisle — is  now  proposed  to  be  taken  in  hand.  There  is  in  the  church  some 
very  valuable  fourteenth  century  screen  work,  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  in  any 
alteration,  will  be  careflilly  preserved.  Improvements  in  the  re-arrangement  of  the 
seats  are  also  in  progress  at  Lamport  and  Great  Oakley. 

Our  Committee  has  been  consulted  on  neighbouring  churches,  though  beyond 
the  Archdeaconry.  Of  these,  St.  John's,  at  Stamford,  has  just  been  re-seated,  under 
the  direction  of  Mr.  Browning,  and  the  wood  work  is  among  the  best  and  handsomest 
of  any  restored  church  I  have  seen.  The  amount  and  variety  of  carving  is  very 
remarkable,  while  the  pavement  has  had,  in  part,  the  benefit  of  the  valuable  know- 
ledge of  our  noble  Chairman.  Here  two  very  fine  painted  windows,  the  east  and 
west,  have  been  executed  by  Mr.  Oliphant,  of  London.  They  are  both  in  that 
later  style  of  art  which  carries  the  subject  through  the  mullions,  though  in  the  east 
window  this  has  been  so  skilfully  treated  as  scarcely,  in  any  instance,  to  cixt  through 
a  figure.  The  subjects  of  the  west  windows,  the  Entombment  and  Resurrection, 
forbade  a  like  treatment;  and,  skilful  as  is  the  drawing,  and  brilliant  the  colours  of 
the  artist,  it  may,  I  think,  be  more  than  doubted,  with  all  deference  to  high  authority, 
whether  the  large  pictorial  style  is  the  one  best  suited  for  the  coloured  windows  of 
our  churches.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  inevitably  wanting  in  the  repose  and  "godly 
quietness"  which  the  older  style  possesses.  In  the  same  style,  is  the  memorial 
window  to  our  late  Secretary,  Mr.  Rose,  in  Brington  church,  by  Mr.  Hedgeland ; 
and  now  that  we  have  in  this  neighbourhood  windows  of  this  description  by  various 
artists — at  Lamport,  at  Rockingham,  at  St.  John's,  and  St.  Martin's,  Stamford,  and 
at  Brington — it  will  be  well  for  any  Members  who  contemplate  the  insertion  of 
painted  glass,  to  examine  these  specimens  before  they  decide  upon  adopting  a  style 
which,  notwithstanding  its  fashionable  authority,  seems  hardly  at  home  within  the 
mullions  of  a  Gothic  window. 

The  chancel  of  North  Kilworth  church  has  been  rescued  from  a  most  base  and 
incongruous  condition  by  the  present  rector,  and  a  good  high-pitched  roof,  very 
judiciously  illuminated  with  colour,  ancAV  east  window,  chancel  door  and  pavement, 
have  been  executed  under  Mr.  Clarke,  of  London  ;  old  square  pews  in  tho  chancel 
have  been  replaced  by  open  benches,  properly  ranged,  and  the  pulpit  and  prayer- 
desk  greatly  improved.  Here,  also,  a  memorial  east  window,  with  the  Crucifixion 
for  its  subject,  has  been  inserted  by  Mr.  Holland.  It  can  hardly  be  but  that  the 
parish  will  shortly  follow  in  the  church  the  good  examjDle  set  them  in  the  chancel. 

Among  the  subjects  of  more  remote  interest  brought  before  our  Committee,  none 
met  with  greater  attention  than  a  letter  from  the  newly-appointed  chaplain  at  Con- 
stantinople, requesting  our  opinion  on  the  style  and  treatment  we  should  recommend 
for  the  church  about  to  be  erected  at  Pera  in  memory  of  those  who  fell  in  the  late 
war.  It  is  probably  known  to  most  of  you  that  upwards  of  £20,000  has  been 
contributed  for  this  purpose,  and  that  a  Committee,  in  every  way  to  be  relied  upon, 


REPORT.  xli. 

has  been  appointed  to  adjudge  on  the  plans  in  a  competition  open  to  all  the  world. 
It  is  satisfiictory  to  your  Committee  that  the  advice  they  tendered  as  to  the  style  of 
the  church,  viz. ,  that  it  should  be  distinctively  of  Anglican  character,  modified  by 
the  requirements  of  a  southern  climate,  is  identical  Avith  the  terms  of  competition 
published  by  the  Memorial  Church  Committee. 

We  have  always  been  most  anxious  that  it  should  not  be  supposed  that  our 
architectural  interests  are  confined  to  churches.  This  year,  plans  for  schools  for 
St.  Peter's,  in  this  town,  by  Mr.  Law,  and  for  Castle  Ashby,  by  Mr.  Street,  have 
been  approved  by  the  Committee,  and  both  assert  boldly  that  artistic  character 
which  every  school-room  ought  to  exhibit,  and  without  which  I  am  glad  to  find  the 
Privy  Council  now  refuse  their  aid. 

In  a  somewhat  less  degree  the  parsonage  is  also  bound  to  manifest  its  character- 
istic type.  The  plans  for  East  Haddon,  by  Mr.  Slater,  and  for  Lowick,  by  Mr. 
Browning,  submitted  for  our  inspection,  fully  carry  out  this  view  ;  but  this  is  a 
subject  which  I  hope  may  be  more  fully  dwelt  upon  in  the  paper  which  Sir  Henry 
Dryden  has  been  good  enough  to  prepare  for  this  meeting. 

It  is  a  cheering  sign  to  us  that  the  cathedral  city,  which  should  be  the  very 
heart  of  the  diocese,  welling  up  and  distributing  its  streams  of  life  and  vigour  through 
every  parish  of  the  whole  see,  has  exhibited  during  the  past  year  more  than  its 
ordinary  amount  of  architectural  progress.  The  church,  the  plans  of  which,  by 
Mr.  Ellis,  were  shown  at  the  last  meeting,  has  now  been  consecrated  and  opened  ♦, 
and  the  good  effect  of  the  unusual  character  of  the  clerestory  windows,  and  the 
position  of  the  tower,  fully  justify  the  approbation  given  to  them  by  your  Committee, 
against  many  serious  doubts  that  were  not  unreasonably  entertained.  The  painting 
of  the  eastern  part  of  the  choir  roof  is  still  in  progress,  and  on  the  completion  of 
this  Mr.  Scott  proposes  to  take  in  hand  the  substantial  repairs  of  part  of  the  north 
aisle  of  the  nave,  and  thus  to  proceed,  in  alternate  years,  with  decorative  work  and 
material  restoration.  The  first  stone  of  the  proposed  training  school  has  also  been 
laid  at  Peterborough.  The  plans  for  this  building  by  Mr.  Scott,  which  are  exhi- 
bited here  to-day,  have  been  submitted  to  a  joint  committee  of  the  Educational 
Society  and  of  our  own. 

The  attention  of  the  Society  has  been  called  to  the  subject  of  furnishing  a  better 
class  of  sepulchral  memorials  than  those  usually  supplied  by  gravers  and  masons. 
It  has  been  proposed  that  the  various  architectural  societies  should  combine  in  issuing 
a  cheap  manual  of  Christian  monuments  ;  till  this  or  some  similar  plan  is  adopted, 
the  want,  which  the  institution  of  new  cemeteries  now  imperatively  forces  upon 
us,  will  remain  imsupplied.  A  collection  of  model  books  and  drawings  has  been 
made  to-day  which  may  lead  members  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  subject,  and 
assist  the  committee  in  carrying  out  their  wishes.  The  old  tombstones  supply 
most  beautiful  examples,  and  I  have  just  been  informed  that  some  very  excellent 
patterns  have  been  lately  discovered  on  the  site  of  the  priory  of  Shoseley. 

Through  Lord  Spencer's  kind  permission  to  exchange  for  architectural  works 
some  books  of  his  former  gift,  which  do  not  bear  on  the  pursuits  of  the  Society,  we 
have  been  able  this  year  to  make  valuable  additions  to  our  library.  But  there  are 
still  many  blanks  on  our  shelves  which  we  ought  to  fill  ;  nor,  without  an  increase 
of  special  donations  or  presents  for  this  purpose,  can  we  ever  hope  to  keep  pace  with 
the  continually  increasing  number  of  new  architectural  publications.  Among  other 
presents  this  year  we  have  to  acknowledge  a  large  and  valuable  collection  of  rub- 
bings of  sepulchral  brasses  from  Lord  Lilford. 

I  must  call  the  especial  notice  of  artist  members,  or  of  those  who  possess  stray 
prints  of  architectural  or  ai-ch^ological  interest,  to  the  large  scrap-book,  laid  on  the 
table  this  day,  for  the  preservation  of  illustrations  of  the  parishes  of  this  Archdea- 
conry, and  in  which  book  a  space,  according  to  its  interest,  has  been  assigned  to 
every  parish.  For  the  illustrations  already  contributed,  we  are  mainly  indebted  to 
Mr.  Poole,  whose  hand  is  no  less  free  in  giving  than  in  executing  his  pictures. 

Connected  with  this  book,  as  one  of  our  best  hopes  in  seeing  it  filled,  is  the 
union  which  we  have  formed,  and  this  day  inaugurated  with  the  Photographic  So- 
ciety of  Northampton.  The  object  and  labours  of  this  Society  I  shall  leave  to 
the  report  of  Mr.  Law,  which  will  follow  my  own  ;  but  it  must  be  obvious  to  all 
that  the  connection  is  a  very  natural  one  between  architecture  and  that  art 
which  most  truly  represents  it.  And  though  the  union  may  be  mutually  advan- 
tageous, I  will  not  conceal  that  I  think  our  Society  is  likely  to  be  the  greater 

9 


Xlii.        NOUTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


gainer.  Yet,  so  intimate  is  the  union  of  all  the  arts,  that  no  one  branch  can  prosper 
without  aiding  in  the  prosperity  of  others;  and  as  our  Society  has  always  endeavoured 
to  lengthen  its  cords  in  the  department  of  art  beyond  the  immediate  sphere  prescribed 
by  its  name,  I  think  we  may  legitimately  hold  out  the  hand  of  fellowship  to  this 
younger  sister,  even  without  regard  to  any  direct  benefit  to  ourselves. 

The  press  of  matter  before  us  to-day  compels  us  to  limit_my  report  within  those 
bounds  which  you  are  generally  kind  enough  to  allow  me  to  trespass.  I  should 
otherwise  willingly  have  said  something  of  the  progress  and  prospects  of  architecture 
generally,  in  England.  The  success  of  Mr.  Glutton  (who  kindly  last  year  sent  us 
the  plans  of  his  new  school  at  Stamford)  in  the  competition  for  a  new  cathedral  at 
Lisle,  in  France,  open  to  all  Europe,  following  upon  Mr,  Scott's  success  in  two  equally 
world-wide  competitions,  is  a  decisive  proof  of  the  superiority  of  English  pointed 
architecture.  I  wish  I  could  think  that  the  art  in  England  had  universally  gained 
as  high  a  position.  But  the  failures  of  many  of  our  great  public  works  will  not 
allow  this  conclusion.  1  will  only  mention  one  glaring  example.  We  have  heard 
a  great  deal,  and  we  ought  to  hear,  of  architectural  fitness,  of  the  character  of  the 
building,  at  once  indicating,  or  at  least  suggesting,  the  use  to  which  it  is  designed. 
No  matter  what  the  style,  no  real  work  of  art  can  dispense  with  this  condition. 
What  then  shall  we  say  to  the  new  Wellington  College,  Avhich,  as  a  memorial  build- 
ing, should  have  exhibited  a  high  artistic  character,  having  for  its  two  wings  a  hos- 
pital and  a  chapel — identical  in  every  lino  and  window,  doors,  string-courses,  in  fact, 
stone  for  stone,  and  timber  for  timber  !  When  we  think  of  the  two  difi'erent  pur- 
poses of  the  interiors — the  one  a  large  area  for  the  worship  of  God — the  other  cut 
up  into  an  endless  series  of  stories,  wai'ds  and  passages — we  shall  hardly  consider 
that  architectural  appropriateness  has  been  much  studied  in  this  19th  century. 


TREASURER'S    REPORT 

For  the  year  ending  October  9lli,  1856. 


RECEIPTS.  £     s.     d. 

Balance,  Oct.  9,  1855  30  13    2 

Receipts  up  to  Oct.  8,  1856     72  11     0 


£103     4     2 


PAYMENTS.  £      S.  d. 

Dec.  1 0, 1 855— To  Secretary 

for  sundries  10  12  5 

Feb.14,1856— Savill  &  Co.  39     111 

„    15,    „   — Birdsall 1   18  6 

„    16,    „   — Butterfield...  6  18  4 

„    18,    „  —Dicey 6  11  3 

Apr.  12,    „   —To  Secretary  3     7  0 
„    16,    „   — Rent  of  Room 

(one  year) 10     0  0 

„    19,    „   —Mason    3     4  6 

£81  13  11 


Gross  receipts    103    4    2 

Gross  payments 81  13  11 


Balance,  Oct.  9,  1856  ...  £21  10    3 


REPORT.  xliii. 


KEPORT, 

Bead  at  the  Autumn  Meeting  at  Northanq^ton,  on  Wednesday,  October 
^Ist,  1857,  hj  the  Rev.  Thomas  James,  Hon.  Canon  of  Peter- 
borough,  one  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  Society. 

The  architecture  of  a  country  may  be  said  to  be  its  petrified  history ;  and  most 
ingenious  theories  have  been  formed  to  show  that  not  only  the  power  and  wealth 
and  character  of  a  nation,  but  that  the  happiness  and  morality  of  a  people  may  be 
also  discovered,  from  its  architectural  monuments.  Now,  if  this  be  true,  it  may 
apply,  on  a  smaller  and  modified  scale,  to  counties  as  well  as  countries,  and  thus 
the  Report  of  the  Architectural  Society  for  the  Archdeaconry  of  Northampton,  if 
properly  written,  would  be  nothing  else  than  an  epitome  of  our  social  and  moral 
condition  for  the  current  year ;  in  short,  a  little  local  annual  register  of 
the  domestic  politics  of  the  counties  of  Northamptonshire  and  Rutlandshire. 
This  would  certainly  to  us  be  a  very  flattering  and  satisfactoiy  record  of  our 
general  condition.  If  our  religious,  and  educational,  and  social,  and  commercial 
prosperity  have  kept  pace  with  our  architectural  demonstrations,  we  may  certainly 
congratulate  one  another  as  being  a  highly-respectable  community,  and  quite  a 
pattern  to  the  nine  neighbouring  counties  touching  us  all  round,  for  I  have  to  report 
this  year  the  usual  steady  progress  of  restored  churches,  and  new  schools  and  par- 
sonages, and  (that  agriculture  and  trade  be  not  unrepresented),  of  new  corn 
exchanges  also— a  class  of  buildings  which  might  have  been  made  the  greatest 
ornaments  of  our  towns,  had  the  love  of  art  in  our  citizens  and  yeomen  kept  pace 
with  their  material  prosperity.  Certainly,  Northampton,  in  its  monster  exchange, 
which,  in  just  consciousness  of  its  ugliness,  skulks  behind  some  respectable  shop 
fronts,  set  no  very  hopeful  example  to  the  county  at  large  ;  and  we  must  regret 
that  here  and  elsewhere  the  opportunity  has  been  lost  of  rendering  our  municipal 
and  commercial  buildings  indicative,  as  they  ai-e  in  France  and  Belgium  and  Hol- 
land, of  the  prosperity  of  the  age  which  erected  them.  None,  however,  of  the  plans 
of  these  buildings  have  ever  passed  through  the  hands  of  our  Society,  though  it 
would  be  no  presumption  to  say  that  our  advice  might  often  (as  has  often  been  the 
case  with  the  church  plans  laid  before  us),  have  saved  the  shareholders  considerable 
expense,  at  the  same  time  that  nothing  was  detracted  from  the  convenience  or 
beauty  of  the  building. 

In  church  restoration,  this  year  will  be  remarkable  for  the  commencement  of 
two  works,  one  in  each  portion  of  the  Archdeaconry,  the  most  important  and  ex- 
tensive which  have  been  undertaken  since  the  formation  of  our  Society,  and  in  both 
of  which  we  have  been  permitted  to  take  a  more  than  ordinary  share.  I  allude  to 
the  churches  of  Oakham  and  Kigham  Ferrers,  each  certainly  standing  first  in  size 
and  beauty  in  its  own  county.  Our  connection  with  the  church  restoration  of 
Oakham  is  singularly  gratifying,  both  as  proving  the  use  of  the  existence  of  our 
Society,  and  as  setting  an  example  of  the  highest  kind  of  Christian  liberality,  which, 
it  may  be  hoped,  Avill  meet  with  many  imitators.  At  Christmas  last,  the  sum  of 
£800  was  anonymously  sent  through  the  hands  of  your  secretary  towards  the  much- 
needed  restoration  of  the  fine  church  of  the  county  town  of  Rutland,  with  the  sim- 
ple conditions  that  the  work  should  be  begun  this  year,  and  that  the  plans  should 
be  approved  by  the  committee  of  your  Society.  There  were  many  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  carrying  out  this  munificent  offer,  (and  there  always  are  lions  in  the  path  of 
those  who  look  for  them),  but  these  were  all  in  course  of  time  put  to  flight,  and  by 
the  hearty  co-operation  of  the  vicar,  the  curate,  and  the  churchwardens,  the  ground 
was  soon  cleared  for  commencing  the  work,  and  the  money  only  was  wanting. 
Large  as  was  the  first  offer,  there  yet  remained,  according  to  the  architect's  esti- 
mate, a  sum  of  at  least  £4,000  more  to  be  supplied  ;  but  Mr.  Finch  of  Burley,  the 
patron  of  the  living,  came  forward  with  a  donation  of  £1,000,  and  the  remainder  of 
the  sum  has  already  been  raised  within  the  specified  time,  the  plans  having  been 
approved  by  your  committee  ;  and  Mr.  Scott,  the  architect,  is  already  at  work  in 
restoring  a  church  which,  if  its  external  effect  can  rarely  be  matched  among  parish 


xliv.  NORTHAMPTON  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

churclies,  it  is  much  more  true  to  say  that  the  condition  of  its  interior  was  quite 
unparalleled.  Of  all  the  many  neglected  and  uglified  churches  (I  suppose  I  may 
be  excused  for  using  this  as  a  synonym  for  churchwardens'  "  beautified,")  this  cer- 
tainly beat  all  that  I  ever  saw.  In  an  area  large  enough  for  at  least  200  pews, 
there  were  certainly  not  six  alike.  I  could  not  even  find  three  of  like  height  or 
proportion.  There  were  two  gallei-ies,  one  over  the  other,  at  the  west  end ;  the 
pulpit  hangings  were  those  said  to  be  put  up  when  the  church  was  placed  in  mourning 
for  George  III. ;  and  to  get  to  some  pews  you  had  to  pass  through  two  others,  box 
within  box,  and  each,  of  course,  with  its  door  and  lock.  I  speak  of  these  things  freely 
now,  as  they  are  already  swept  away  ;  but  in  justice  to  the  incumbent  and  parish- 
ioners I  ought  to  add  that  they  had  long  been  ashamed  of  the  state  of  their  church, 
and  were  only  biding  then*  opportunity  to  take  its  thorough  restoration  in  hand. 
That  was  afforded  by  the  offer  to  which  I  have  refen-ed  ;  and  our  Society  may  well 
be  proud  and  happy  in  having  been  made  the  channel  of  the  gift,  and  in  being  called 
upon  to  take  so  prominent  a  part  in  so  excellent  an  undertaking.  I  need  scarcely 
say  that  the  work  will  be  carried  out  worthy  of  the  building,  and  of  the  architect  to 
whom  its  execution  is  entrusted.  The  whole  of  the  roofs  are  to  be  of  oak,  and  the 
seats  of  the  same  material,  after  a  modified  pattern  of  an  old  existing  bench.  The 
chancel  will  be  reserved  for  the  choir,  and  every  other  arrangement  carried  out  in 
the  most  correct  form  and  substantial  material. 

Bad  example  is  proverbially  contagious  ;  but  happily  for  human  nature  it  is  not 
only  evil  things  that  are  infectious.  Laughter,  as  well  as  small  pox,  is  catching,  and 
the  contagion  of  good  example  in  the  matter  of  church  restoration  may  now  be  re- 
corded as  an  ascertained  fact.  We  last  year  attended  the  opening  of  the  admirably 
restored  church  of  Stanwick,  and  even  then  it  was  hinted  that  its  example  was 
likely  to  be  followed  in  the  neighbourhood.  Already  the  church  of  Little  Addington 
has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  your  townsman,  Mr.  Law,  and  an  excellent  restora- 
tion is  being  effected  there.  The  arches  of  the  tower  engaged  within  the  church  are 
opened,  and  this  rather  uncommon  feature,  which  Little  Addington  has  in  common 
with  Oakham,  will  give  great  additional  beauty  to  the  restored  building.  The  seats 
will  be  all  alilce  and  open,  and  the  chancel  reserved  for  the  choir.  The  di*awings 
and  plans  for  this  work  are  in  the  room  to-day.  Still  more  directly  did  the  restora- 
tion of  Stanwick  chm*ch  lead  to  that  of  Higham  FeiTers.  It  may  be  remembered 
that  in  the  Society's  work  on  the  "  Churches  of  the  Ai'chdeaconry,"  this  Avas  the  first 
described,  and  the  most  amply  illustrated.  It  desei-ved  this  distinction,  as  well  from 
its  size  and  beauty  as  from  its  association  with  Archbishop  Chicheley,  the  great 
architectural  prelate  of  his  day,  the  protege  and  the  disciple  of  William  of  Wykeham. 
There  is,  however,  but  a  small  portion  of  the  existing  church  which  can  be  referred 
to  his  hand.  The  beautiful  woodwork  in  the  chancel  is  undoubtedly  his  ;  and  the 
bede-house  and  school-room,  still  remaining  in  the  churchyard,  are  in  themselves 
enough  to  declare  his  munificent  labours  of  charity  and  education.  The  work  has 
been  entrusted  to  Mr.  Slater,  the  restorer  of  Stanwick  ;  and  as  it  has  been  undertaken 
in  the  very  best  style,  following  on  all  points  the  original  forms,  and  is  to  be  executed 
in  the  best  material,  the  small  and  not  wealthy  parish  of  Higham  seems  to  have 
special  claims  on  the  county  generally  for  assistance  ;  and  your  committee  therefore, 
considering  the  interest  and  the  extent  of  the  work,  has  undertaken  to  recommend 
the  cause  of  Higham  church  to  the  liberality  of  its  members.  The  Warden  and 
Fellows  of  All  Souls'  College,  Oxford,  mindful  of  the  birthplace  of  their  founder, 
nave  contributed  £300,  and  the  late  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  with  his  usual  generosity, 
gave  £1,000. 

In  recording  our  regret  at  the  loss  from  the  list  of  our  vice-presidents  of  one  of 
so  simple  and  independent  a  mind,  and  so  endeared  to  all  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact,  as  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  it  is  pleasing  to  have  to  combine  with  his  memory  the 
mention  of  an  act  so  liberal  and  so  beneficial  to  the  object  of  the  Society  as  his 
parting  gift  to  the  church  of  Higham  FeiTcrs.  The  parishioners  themselves  have 
raised  the  sum  of  upwards  of  £1,500  ;  there  yet,  however,  remains  the  large  sum 
of  £2,000  to  be  made  good  before  all  the  works  contemplated  by  them  can  be 
effected.  The  curious  pavement  -witliin  the  altar  rails  will  be  most  carefully  pre- 
served without  any  unnecessary  restoration.  This  morning,  the  plans  for  a  new  aisle 
of  Creaton  Church  have  been  laid  before  the  committee,  and  approved.  They  are 
by  Mr.  William  Smith,  of  London,  a  member  of  our  Society,  who  has  kindly 
attended  the  meetmg  to-day  to  exhibit  them. 


REPORT.  xlv. 

The  plans  for  a  chancel  at  Newton,  a  hamlet  of  Geddlngton,  by  the  same  archi- 
tect (Mr.  Slater),  have  been  submitted  to  the  committee  and  approved,  and  will  be 
carried  out  immediately  on  the  completion  of  the  mother  church,  which  has  also  been 
restored,  and  will  be  re-opened  for  divine  service  on  Thursday  week.  I  have  just 
been  informed  that  the  Duke  of  Buccleugh,  hearing  of  the  new  chancel  at  Newton, 
most  liberally  expi-essed  his  intention  to  restore  the  church,  and  Mr.  Slater  has  been 
commissioned  to  prepare  plans  for  his  Grace  accoi'dingly.  I  have  also  to  report  of 
the  chm'ch  of  Theddingworth,  which  is  so  much  beholden  to  the  kindness  of  the 
members  of  this  Society,  that  the  works  are  going  on  satisfactorily,  though  slowly  ; 
and  having  had  practical  experience  in  the  many  difficulties  and  delays,  that  occur 
in  church  restoration,  I  shall,  for  the  future,  be  very  charitable  in  criticising  the  pro- 
ceedings of  my  friends  who  find  themselves  in  the  same  position.  I  do  not  allude 
to  any  difficulties  with  my  parishioners,  for,  through  their  kindness  and  forbearance, 
I  have  found  none  ;  but  to  the  great  amount  of  care  and  supervision  required  in 
presei-ving  the  old  time  marks  of  the  history  of  churches,  which,  in  most  modern 
restoi-ations,  have  been  so  ruthlessly  swept  away.  The  zeal  with  which  carpenters 
and  masons  will  obliterate  every  trace  of  old  work,  if  not  constantly  superintended, 
passes  the  belief  of  all  except  those  who  have  experienced  it.  It  happened  in  my 
own  church  that  there  were  very  few  details  of  this  kind  which  could  fall  under  the 
destroyer's  hand,  but  nearly  every  one  that  could  has  disappeared  ;  the  only  bit  of 
Norman  work,  the  only  bit  of  painted  glass  (to  say  nothing  of  the  rough  handling 
of  old  woodwork  and  wall  decoration),  vanished  before  I  could  rescue  them,  though 
I  was  hardly  absent  from  the  spot  for  a  Avhole  day.  This  does  not  bring  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  such  things  are  not  to  be  cared  for,  but  rather  that  they  require  the 
most  particular  care  ;  and  I  feel  more  than  ever  the  necessity  of  protesting  against 
the  wholesale  renewal,  which  under  the  plea  of  making  everything  square  and  round, 
— making  what  the  workmen  call  a  good  job  of  it — destroys  those  little  evidences  of 
bygone  art  and  history  which,  in  themselves,  perhaps,  neither  eyeable  nor  important, 
yet  preserve  that  association  with  the  past  generations  of  builders  and  restorers  that 
gives  our  churches  half  of  the  interest  they  possess  for  a  cultivated  mind. 

In  point  of  arrangement,  I  hope  I  have  been  able  to  effect  all  that  could  be 
desired.  Some  years  ago,  at  our  annual  meeting,  I  was  allowed  to  lead  a 
Paper  on  the  internal  fitting  and  arrangement  of  churches.  I  do  not  find  that  in 
practice  I  have  been  obliged  to  belie  any  one  of  the  principles  there  laid  down,  but 
I  remember  that  I  stopped  short  as  to  the  chancel,  not  being  fully  persuaded  what 
precise  coui'se  to  recommend.  I  may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  now  to  state  the  result 
of  my  later  experience.  I  am  convinced  that  the  only  satisfactory  arrangement  is 
to  appropriate  it  absolutely  to  the  choir ;  we  all  know,  of  course,  that  this  was  its 
original  destination,  that  the  chancel  of  a  church  answers  to  the  choir  of  a  cathe- 
dral ;  but,  as  in  the  latter  case  the  diminution  in  the  number  of  cathedral  ministers 
and  the  change  in  the  spuit  of  our  services  has  led  to  an  encroachment  in  the  choir 
of  the  cathedral,  so  the  same  and  other  causes  have  tended  to  a  still  more  entire 
misappropriation  of  the  chancels  of  our  parish  churches.  In  the  cathedrals,  space 
at  least  has  been  left  to  the  singers,  but  in  parochial  churches  they  have  been 
wholly  ousted  from  their  proper  position.  This  has  necessarily  led  to  the  erection 
of  western  gallei'ies  ;  for,  whatever  the  character  of  the  church  music,  whether  choral 
or  congregational,  or  a  combination  of  both,  there  must  be  a  more  or  less  trained 
body  of  singers  ;  and  they  must  sit  together.  I  need  not  speak  of  the  inconveni- 
ences of  these  galleries,  and  how  almost  inevitably  they  lead  to  irreverence,  isola- 
tion, and  disorder.  Their  practical  evils  are  everywhere  felt ;  and  the  difficulty  of 
providing  a  position  elsewhere  for  the  choir  is,  in  most  cases,  the  only  reason  for 
then-  continued  retention.  I  am  aware  that  very  serious  difficulties  would  meet  us 
in  many  churches, — how  the  long  occupation  of  the  chancel  by  the  squire  or  the 
rector  might  be  made  a  formidable  obstacle  ;  but  whatever  the  common  difficulty, 
it  is  something  to  know  what  should  be  done  where  it  can  be  done  :  and  I  believe 
that  in  a  thorough  reseating  of  a  whole  church,  it  would  almost  always  be  practi- 
cable to  assign  the  chancel  to  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  built. 

At  present,  both  in  building  and  restoring  churches,  where  we  do  not  cany 
out  this  evident  principle,  we  are  often  guilty  of  the  greatest  of  shams.  We 
instinctively  feel,  in  building  a  new  church,  that  a  chancel  is  required ;  we  note 
the  unecclesiastical  character  of  those  churches  that  were,  a  few  years  ago,  built 
without  one  ;  and  consequently,  in  all  the  approved  examples  of  modern  churches, 


xlvi.  NORTHAMPTON  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

a  chancel  of  fair  proportions  has  formed  a  part  of  the  design  ;  but  instead  of 
assigning  it,  when  built,  to  the  choir,  for  whom  (if  with  any  meaning  at  all),  it 
was  meant  as  much  as  the  tower  is  for  the  bells,  its  area  is  thrown  into  the  space 
for  general  accommodation,  and  either  assigned  for  the  clergyman's  family,  or  filled 
by  some  favoured  members  of  the  congi-egation. 

Again,  in  fitting  up  a  restored  chancel,  we  instinctively  arrange  it  stallwise,  or 
with  longitudinal  benches,  an  airangement  excellent  for  an  antiphonal  quire,  where 
they  answer  one  to  the  other,  and  where,  to  be  in  each  other's  sight,  assists  the 
correctness  of  the  singing  ;  but  which,  in  a  narrow  chancel,  such  as  most  pai'ochial 
ones  are,  has,  for  members  of  the  general  congregation  sitting  there,  nearly  the  same 
evils  as  the  square  and  ill-arranged  pews,  where  people  were  all  looking  at  one 
another,  instead  of  having  their  eyes  as  well  as  their  hearts  all  turning  one  way, 
and  minding  the  same  thing.  Thus  one  anomaly  produces  another,  and  the  chan- 
cel arrangement  which  would  be  best  for  the  singers  becomes  the  worst  for  the 
part  of  the  general  congregation  who  sit  there.  But  place  your  choir  in  the  chan- 
cel, and  the  most  correct  arrangement  becomes  also  the  most  reasonable.  The 
original  meaning  and  use  of  the  chancel  is  restored,  the  congi-egation  no  longer 
turn  round  and  look  up  to  the  gallery,  the  quire  come  under  the  eye  of  the  minis- 
ter, and  naturally  take  their  part  in  leading  the  responses,  instead  of  the  monotone 
of  the  parish  clerk.  In  this  case,  the  prayer-desk — or  what  I  would  rather  prefer, 
a  stall  with  desk,  on  each  side,  within  a  quite  low  screen  (for  a  high  screen  across 
the  chancel  arch  I  hold  to  be  quite  unsuited  to  our  ritual)  — would  be  at  the  extreme 
west  end  of  the  chancel,  just  under  the  chancel  arch,  where  the  minister  would  best 
be  seen  and  heard.  I  am  not  advocating  full  choral  service  for  our  village  churches, 
which,  for  my  own  part,  I  do  not  think  suited  to  them  ;  but  I  am  supposing  an 
ordinarily  trained  quire  to  lead  congregational  psalmody,  and  I  am  convinced  that 
no  other  arrangement  will  tend  so  much  to  the  reverential  practice  of  it,  as  the 
arrangement  I  have  advocated.  Besides  the  personal  difiiultles,  which,  I  know, 
will  often  occur  to  carry  out  this  plan,  I  am  aware  also  that  the  structural  form  of 
many  of  our  chui'ches  would  prevent  this  arrangement  ;  but  without  expecting  its 
universal  adoption,  it  is  something,  as  I  have  said,  to  know  what  the  right  plan  is, 
in  order  that,  as  opportunity  occurs,  it  may  be  adopted. 

Plans  for  restoring  the  north  aisle  of  Stoke  Albany,  for  reseating  the  chancel 
of  Kettering  church,  by  Mr.  Slater,  and  for  a  new  vestiy  at  Stoke  Bruerne,  have 
also  been  approved  of  by  your  committee  during  the  past  year.  To  the  arrange- 
ment of  Great  Oakley  church  the  committee  could  not  give  the  same  unreserved 
approval ;  and  at  Hai'borough,  though  the  improvements  on  the  whole  are  very 
great,  their  recommendations  have  only  been  partially  carried  out.  But,  generally, 
the  arrangement  of  churches  seems  now  so  well  understood,  that  there  is  seldom  any 
important  alteration  to  be  suggested  in  the  plans  of  those  architects  who  are  kind 
and  self-confident  enough  to  submit  their  designs  to  our  notice. 

If  the  restoration  of  Churches  may  be  thought  to  typify  the  renewed  spirit  in 
ecclesiastical  matters  generally  in  this  Archdeaconry,  so  may  the  enlai'gement  and 
restoration  of  the  Grammar  Schools  of  the  county  symbolize  the  new  life  which  I 
trust  is  being  infused  in  the  educational  as  well  as  material  economy  of  the  old 
foundations.  The  restoration  of  the  fine  old  school  at  Gullsborough,  in  both  these 
senses,  is  an  event  that  I  hope  I  may  have  next  year  to  chronicle.  In  the  plans 
which  have  been  prepared  for  It  by  Mr.  Law,  the  greatest  care  has  been  taken  to 
preserve  the  old  architectural  features,  and  to  introduce  nothing  which  shall  bo 
inharmonious  with  them.  The  trustees  expect  to  be  clear  of  the  Court  of  Chan- 
cery in  the  course  of  a  very  few  months,  and  the  repair  of  that  veiy  interesting 
schoolhouse  will  then  at  once  be  proceeded  with. 

The  very  noble  room  which  will  form  the  practising  school  for  the  Training 
Institution  at  Peterborough,  has  been  already  commenced.  The  plans  by  Mr. 
Scott  have  been  more  than  once  before  the  Society,  and  are  exhibited  here  to-day. 
In  speaking  of  Peterborough  I  should  mention  that,  mainly  by  the  exertions  of  the 
vicar,  a  spire  has  just  been  added  to  the  tower  of  the  new  church  of  St.  Mark's, 
giving  the  crowning  finish  to  a  church  whose  partial  completion  was  referred  to  in 
last  year's  report. 

In  the  cathedral,  the  painting  of  the  ceiling  at  the  east  end,  in  place  of 
some  sham  groining,  has  greatly  added  to  the  dignity  of  the  choir.  The  next  work 
to  be  taken  in  hand  is,  I  believe,  the  removal  of  whitewash  from  the  stonework  ; 


REPORT.  xlvii. 

and  we  may  then  hope  to  see  some  further  colour  introduced  Into  the  choir,  and 
the  apse  brought  into  some  faint  rivalry  with  the  exquisite  work  recently  executed 
in  the  east  end  of  the  sister  cathedral  at  Ely. 

The  ordinary  proceedings  of  the  year  were  enlivened  by  a  visit  to  the  remains 
of  Shoseley  Nunnery,  near  Towcester,  the  discovery  of  which  was  first  notified  on 
the  occasion  of  our  meeting  here  last  year.  Through  the  interest  taken  in  the  ex- 
cavations then  made  by  Mr.  Jones,  the  agent  of  Lord  Pomfret,  and  by  Mr.  Brookes 
and  Mr.  Gregory,  several  curious  fragments  of  tiles,  and  glass,  and  stone  have  been 
preserved,  and  presented  to  the  Society. 

Our  spring  meeting  was  held  in  conjunction  with  many  kindred  eocieties  at 
Lincoln,  where  every  arrangement  was  made  for  the  comfort  and  accommodation  of 
the  members  ;  not  only  did  they  provide  us  with  three  days'  entertainment  in 
lectures  and  excursions,  but  the  mayor  concluded  the  programme  by  giving  the 
members  of  the  associated  societies  a  splendid  dinner,  in  which  the  health  of  all  the 
members  of  the  Society  was  drunk  in  champagne. 

The  state  of  our  finances,  with  other  reasons,  compelled  us  to  drop  the  pub- 
lication of  the  annual  volume  of  Reports  and  Papers  last  year.  The  difficulties 
which  occurred  with  respect  to  that  publication  have  now  been  overcome,  and  the 
Eev.  E.  Trollope,  the  secretary  of  the  Lincoln  Society,  has  been  appointed  general 
editor  of  the  joint  volume  ;  and  by  economy  in  the  printing  we  hope  to  reduce 
considerably  the  expense  of  the  volume,  which  has  hitherto  run  away  with  all  our 
cun*ent  money. 

It  has  been  proposed  by  the  committee  to  change  the  season  of  our  annual 
meeting,  and  it  has  been  suggested  that  the  first  day  of  the  spring  or  summer 
sessions  might  be  more  convenient  to  the  members  than  the  present  time.  I  shall 
he  glad  if  members  will  express  their  opinion.  We  have  for  the  ensuing  summer 
received  an  invitation  from  the  Oxford  Architectural  Society — the  parent  of  all — 
to  meet  all  the  associated  societies  at  Oxford.  Notice  of  this  meeting  will  be  sent 
to  all  the  members,  and  we  may  hope  for  such  an  architectural  gathering  as  has  not 
yet  been  held  in  England. 

In  taking  a  retrospect  of  the  prospect  of  architecture  duruig  the  past  year,  be- 
yond our  own  immediate  sphere,  the  most  important  events  have  been  the  competi- 
tion for  the  Enghsh  church,  at  Constantinople,  and  the  Public  Offices,  at  Westmin- 
ster. By  the  kindness  of  two  of  the  architects,  members  of  our  Society,  who  gained 
premiums  on  these  occasions,  we  have  exhibited  here  to-day  Mr.  Scott's  design  for 
the  Westminster  buildings,  and  Mr.  Slater's  for  the  Constantinople  church.  Many 
of  you  probably  examined  the  exhibition  of  drawings  in  Westminster  Hall.  Though 
the  grandest  public  competition  since  that  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  I  do  not 
think  that  either  the  interest  taken  in  the  exhibition,  or  the  merit  of  the  designs 
as  a  whole,  showed  an  advance  in  architectural  taste,  either  in  the  public  or  the 
architects,  adequate  to  what  might  have  been  expected.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
architectural  literature  of  the  day  outruns  the  practical  execution.  Certainly,  if 
we  are  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  judges,  and  take  those  for  the  best  designs 
which  they  have  pronounced  to  be  so,  we  have  not  much  reason  to  congratulate 
ourselves  on  the  result  of  a  competition  open  to  all  styles  and  all  artists.  It  is  un- 
derstood that  the  design  to  which  the  first  premium  was  awarded  will  not  necessarily 
be  carried  out ;  and,  as  the  question  is  still  open,  I  would  put  in  a  word  against  the 
so-called  Italian  style,  which  seems  to  have  found  most  favour  with  the  judges,  but 
which,  neither  in  association,  effect,  economy,  or  convenience,  appears  to  have  any 
claims  over  our  national  Gothic  style.  Mr.  Scott's  drawings,  here  to-day,  will 
speak  for  themselves  ;  and  I  think  that  no  one,  on  seeing  how  the  capabilities  of 
Gothic  are  carried  out,  would  wish  to  see  any  other  than  this  style  in  connection 
with  the  Abbey  and  the  Houses  of  Parliament.  The  very  late  period  of  Gothic  art, 
in  which  the  Houses  of  Parliament  are  built,  would  probably  not  now  be  adopted 
by  the  able  architect,  had  he  now  to  reconsider  the  subject ;  but  as  the  towers  of 
that  fine  mass  of  buildings  become  completed,  the  defects  of  the  flatness  and  too 
minute  decoration  of  the  main  building  fade  away,  and  those  who  most  abused  the 
designs  are  now  coming  round  to  acknowledge  it,  with  all  its  faults,  the  finest  pub- 
lic building  of  modern  times.  How  the  beauties  of  an  earlier  style  can  be  adapted 
to  our  municipal  and  oflScial  buildings  Mr.  Scott's  plan  for  a  new  town  hall  at  Hali- 
fax, Yorkshire,  and  the  alternative  design  for  the  Foreign  Office  sufficiently  show  ; 
and,  as  if  to  prove  the  universal  applicability  of  Gothic,  he  has,  in  the  memorial  to 


xlviii.       NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Sir  Charles  Hotham,  to  be  erected  at  Melbourne,  Australia,  struggled  with  it  in  its 
most  difficult  form,  and  made  of  a  columnar  monument,  thoroughly  Gothic  in  its 
treatment,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  compositions  of  national  art. 

To  the  Constantinople  church  of  Mr.  Slater  I  may  also  with  confidence  direct 
the  attention  of  ai-chitectural  students.  I  own,  myself,  that  I  pi'efer  the  more  English 
character  given  to  this  design  to  the  Italian  phase,  beautiful  as  it  is,  which  has 
been  adopted  in  the  successful  plan.  The  problem  yet  remains  to  be  solved — how 
best  to  adapt  our  northern  architecture  to  southern  climes,  not  following  merely 
Italian  models,  but  planting  English  churches  in  hot  climates.  Unhappily,  the  re- 
cent disasters  of  India  will  shortly  call  our  attention  especially  to  this  point.  The 
utter  destruction  of  churches  there  will  call  upon  the  genius  of  our  architects,  as 
well  as  on  the  liberality  of  churchmen,  to  replace  them.  I  might  say  much  on  this 
head,  but  I  have  already  encroached  too  much  on  your  time.  I  will  therefore  only 
add,  in  conclusion,  on  this  subject,  that  I  trust  that — for  the  time  to  come — in  re- 
organizing her  power  in  India,  England  will  take  care  that  her  material  churches 
there  shall  exhibit  as  great  an  improvement  over  the  poor  and  unworthy  fabrics 
now  destroyed,  as  her  general  policy  will  present ;  the  aspect  of  her  spiritual  church 
no  longer  succumbing  to  heathenism,  but  in  all  the  fulness  of  her  power,  and  in  the 
majesty  of  her  simplicity  and  truth. 

It  would  be  most  ungrateful  in  me  to  those  many  and  kind  friends  who  have 
aided  me  in  the  restoration  of  my  own  church,  and  to  whose  kindness  I  know  I 
am  mainly  indebted  from  my  connection  with  this  Society,  if  I  did  not  take  advan- 
tage of  the  rather  unofficial  and  personal  character  which  this  Report  generally 
assumes,  to  acknowledge  the  great  liberality  wliich  has  enabled  me  to  undertake  a 
work  which  I  have  long  had  at  heart,  but  which,  without  their  assistance,  I  had 
little  hope  of  achieving.  The  plans  and  preparations  are  so  far  advanced  that  we 
shall,  I  trust,  be  enabled  to  commence  the  work  at  the  earliest  possible  period  of 
the  coming  spring,  and  I  hope  that  at  the  next  meeting  the  condition  of  the  chm'ch 
will  be  such  as  to  bring  it  more  regularly  under  the  notice  of  this  Report.  Mean- 
while I  will  not  intrude  my  personal  feelings  further  upon  this  meeting  than  to  say, 
that  I  believe  that  the  members  of  this  Society  will  consider  that  the  best  acknow- 
ledgment I  can  make  is  to  do  the  work  as  well  as  it  can  possibly  be  done,  and  to 
devote  what  spare  time  I  have  in  stirring  up  my  neighbours  to  do  the  same  in  their 
own  churches.  I  can  only  say,  that  if  a  man  wants  to  know  his  friends,  let  him 
become  a  church-restorer,  or  secretary  to  an  architectural  society. 


TREASURER'S    REPORT 
From  Oct.  9,  1856,  to  Oct,  9,  1857. 


RECEIPTS.  ^      S.      d. 

Balance,  Oct.  9,  1856   21  10     3 

Receipts  to  Oct.  9,  1857   ...     60     2     6 


£81  12     9 


PATMENTS.  £  S.  d. 

To  Rev.  H.  J.  Bigge 3  4  10 

ToSavill&Co 40  5  0 

Subscribed  in  error  repaid...  0  10  0 


£43  19   10 


Gross  receipts 81  12     9 

Gross  payments  43  19  10 


Balance,  Oct.  9,  1857...  £37  12  11 


D.  Morton,  Treasurer. 


BOOKS. 


xlix. 


REGULATIONS  RESPECTING  THE  LIBRARY. 


1.  Those  books  against  which  an  as- 
terisk (*)  is  placed  in  the  Catalogue, 
must  not  be  taken  from  the  Society's 
room. 

2.  Any  other  book  may  be  taken  out 
by  Members,  on  entering  their  names, 
title  of  the  book,  and  the  date  of  taking 


and  returning  it,  in  a  book  provided  for 
the  purpose. 

3.  No  book  is  to  be  detained  longer 
than  one  month,  if  required  by  any  other 
person. 

4.  All  books  to  be  returned  previous 
to  the  General  Meeting  in  the  Autumn. 


CATALOGUE   OF   BOOKS,   &c.   BELONGING   TO 
THE  SOCIETY, 

IN  THE  society's  EOOM,  AT  THE  HOUSE  OP  THE  EELIGIOUS  AND  USEFUL 
KNOWLEDGE  SOCIETY,  GOLD  STREET.  NORTHAMPTON. 


Abdcedaire  d'Archasologie,  De  Canmont ; 
(Architecture^  Civile  et  Militaire.') 

Ditto,     ditto.     (Religiettse'). 

Academic  Discourses,  by  Salvini. 

Antiquaries,  Society  of  London,  Proceed- 
ings of.     Vols.  II,  III. 

Archseologia.     Vols. 

Archa3ological  Collections  of  Sussex.  6  v. 

Archaeological  Journal,  1849:  Vol.  VI. 

Archseological  Association,  Proceedings 
of,  at  Worcestei'. 

Architecture,  Glossary  of.     2  vols. 

Architecture  in  England,  by  Rev.  H. 
Rose. 

Architecture  Religieuse,  Manuel  de,  an 
Moyen  Age. 

Architecture  Francaise,  Dictionnaire  de 
la,  par  Viollet-le-Duc.     2  vols. 

Architecture,  Domestic,  in  France,  by 
C.  Glutton. 

Architecture,  Hand  Book  of,  by  Fergus- 
son.     2  vols. 

Architecture,  Examples  of  Ancient  Do- 
mestic, by  Dollman.    Part  1. 

Architecture,  Ecclesiastical,  Castellated, 
and  Domestic,  by  Hadfield. 

Architecture,  Ro^^al  Institute  of  British, 
Transactions,  Papers,  &c.,  185  — 57. 

Architectural  studies  in  France,  by  Rev. 
J.  L.  Petit. 

Architectural  Ornaments  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  Byzautuae  and  Gothic  Styles. 
Vol.  I. 

Architectural  Antiquities  near  Oxford, 
Guide  to. 

Architectural  Parallels,  by  E.  Sharpe, 
Supplement  to. 

Architectural  Chart,  by  Ditto. 

AiTangement  of  Parish  Churches,  by 
Hewitt. 

Arts  of  the  Middle  Ages,  by  Theophilus. 

BanbiTry,  Histoiy  of,  by  Beesley. 


Bloxam's  Principles  of  Gothic  Architec- 
ture. 

Bloxam's  Fragmenta  Sepulcralla. 

Bridges'  History  and  Antiquities  of  Nor- 
thamptonshire.    2  vols,  folio. 

Bristol  and  West  of  England  Architectu- 
ral  Society,  1844,  &c. 

Brandon's  Illustrations  of  Parish 
Churches. 

Brandon's  Open  Timber  Roofs. 

Brandon's  Analysis  of  Gothic  Architec- 
ture.    2  vols. 

Brasses,  List  of  Sepulchral  in  England, 
by  J.  Simpson, 

Brasses,  Manual  of  Monumental,  Oxo7t. 
Arch.  /Soc. 

Brasses,  Monumental  of  Northampton- 
shire, by  F.  Hudson. 

Brick  and  Marble  Architecture  in  Italy, 
by  G.  E.  Street. 

Builder,  The.  Vols.  XIV,  XV,  1856, 
1857. 

Burghley  House,  Handbook  of,  by  S. 
Sharp. 

Buckinghamshira,  Records  of  ;  and 
Trans  :  of  Architect :  and  Archaeolog : 
Soc;  of.    7  Nos.   • 

Caernarvon  Castle,  History  of,  by  Rev. 
C.  H.  Hartshorne. 

Caister  Castle,  History  of,  by  Ed.  D. 
Turner. 

Calendar  of  the  Anglican  Church. 

Calendars  of  Al-Hallowen,  Brystowe,  by 
Rev.  H.  Rogers. 

Cambrian  Arch^olog :  Soc :  Reports  & 
Papers  of :  Pts. 

Cambridge  Camden  Society,  Transac- 
tions of. 

Canterbury  Cathedral,  Architectural  His- 
tory of,  by  Professor  Willis. 

Castle  Rising,  Norfolk,  History  and  An- 
tiquities of,  by  W.  Taylor. 


1, 


NORTHAMPTON  AKCHITECTTJRAL  SOCIETr. 


Castor,  Northamptonshire,  Antiquities  of, 

by  Ai'tis. 
_— — — History  of,  by 

Gough. 
Catalogue  of  the  Kerrich  Collection  of 

Roman  Coins. 
of  the  Harleian  MSS.,  in  Brit. 

Museum. 


of  MSS.,  in  Library  of  Daw- 
son Turner,  Esq., 

Churches,  Restoration  of,  by  G.  G.  Scott. 

• Illustrations  of,  by  Brandon, 

2  vols. 

Structure,  Arrangement,  &c., 

of,  by  G.  A.  Poole. 

-  of  Scarborough  &  the  neigh- 


bourhood, by  Messrs.  Poole  &  HugalL 

Church- Yard  Manual,  by  Rev.  W.  H. 
Kelke. 

Church  Architecture,  by  Rev.  F.  Close. 

Classical  Tour  in  Italy,  by  Eustace. 

Cotman's  Architectural  Antiquities  of 
Normandy,  folio. 

Cottage  Building,  by  Bruce  Allen. 

Cottages,  Plans  of,  by  Labourers'  Friend 
Society. 

—  Eaid  Spencer's,  Plans  of. 

De  Caumont,  Bulletin  Monumental,  1844, 
1846-47. 

^  Statisque        Monumental, 

Vol.  L 

Decorative  Arts  in  the  Middle  Ages,  by 
Henry  Shaw. 

Denkmaler  der  Deutschen  Baukunst  von 
Moller. 

Dictionary  of  Archaic  &  Provincial 
Words,  by  Halliwell,  2  vols. 

Dictionnau'c  de  I'Architecture  Fran9,aise, 
par  Viollet-le-Duc,  3  vols.,  fallimh- 
lished.J 

Domestic  Architecture  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  by  Hudson  Turner,  Vol.  I. 

Dorchester  Abbey  Church,  Account  of. 

Dorchester,  History  of,  by  Freeman. 

Dugdale's  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  Pts. 
I— XI. 

Ecclesiastical  and  Architectural  Topo- 
graphy of  England  :  viz  ,  Bedfordshire, 
Berkshire,  Buckinghamslui'e,  Oxford- 
shire :  4  pts. 

Ecclesiastical  Arcliitecture  in  England, 
by  Rev.  G.  A.  Poole. 

Ecclesiastical  Architecture  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, by  BoAvman  &  Hadfield. 

Ecclesiastical  Architecture  of  Italv,  by 
Gaily  Knight,  Vol.  L 

Ecclesiologist,  the,  18  vols. 

Ecclesiologist,  the  New  York,  pt.  1. 

Ecclesiological  Society,  Reports  of  ; 
1848— IS.'iS. 

Emblems  of  Saints,  by  Rev.  F.  C.  Husen- 
beth. 

Embroidery,  English  ]\Iedi8evah 


Essex,  Proceedings  of  Arohseol.  Society 

of:  Vol.  1. 
Exeter  Diocesan  Architectural  Society, 

Transactions  of,  5  vols. 
Flaxman's  Lectures  on  Sculpture. 
Fonts,  Illustrations  of. 
Fotheringhay  Church,  Memoh-  of :   Ox- 

on.  Arch.  Soc. 
Fragmenta  Sepulcralia,  by  M.  H.  Bloxam. 
France  Pittoresque,  par  Chapuy  ;  in  pts. 
Freeman  on  Gothic  Nomenclature. 
Gables,  Ornamental,  by  Pugin. 
Glass  Painting,  Hints  on,  by  Winston, 

2  vols. 

Glastonbury  Abbey,  Views,  Elevations, 
&c.,  of;  i^oc.  Antiq. 

•  Kitchen  of.  Views, 

&c.,  Soc.  Antiq. 

Glossary  of  Architecture,  2  vols. 

Glossary  of  Heraldry. 

Gothic  Architecture,  Analysis  of,  by 
Brandon,  2  vols. 

Gothic  Architecture,  Details  of,  by  J. 
K.  Colling,  Architect,  2  vols. 

Gothic  Architecture,  by  Rickman. 

Gothic  Architecture,  Secular  &  Domes- 
tic, by  G.  G.  Scott,  Architect. 

Haseley  Church,  Memoir  of ;  Oxon : 
Arch :  Soc. 

Heraldry,   Encyclopedia   of,  by  Berry, 

3  vols. 
Heraldry,  Glossary  of. 

History   &  Description  of  Bp.  West's 

Chapel  in  Putney  Church,  by 

Jackson,  Esq. 
History  of  Kent,  by  Dunkin. 
History   &  Antiquities  of   St.    Canice 

Cathedral,  Kilkenny. 
Historical  Collector,  Midland  Counties, 

2  vols. 
Holy  Sepulchre  Church  at  Jerusalem, 

by  Prof.  Willis. 
Houses,  Ancient  Timber,  15th  &  16th 

centuries.  Details  of,  by  A.  W.  Pugin. 
Illustrations  of  Ancient  Art,  by  Rev.  E. 

Trollope. 
Instrumenta  Ecclesiastica,  2  vols. 
Iron  and  Brass  Work,  Designs  for,  by 

A.  W.  Pugin. 
Journal  of  Archaeological  Association, 

Vol.  I. 
Ken's,  Bp.  Bath  Prayers,  ed.  l\Iai-kland. 
Kettering  Church,  Arclntectural  Illustra- 
tions of,  by  R.  W.  Billings. 
Lancashire  and   Cheshire,   Proceedings 

and  Papers  of  Historic  Society.   Vols. 

IV— IX. 
Littlemore    Church,     Oxon.,     working 

Drawings,  &c.  of:  Oxon.  Arch.  Soc. 
Liverpool  Archit.  and  Archteol.  Society, 

Proceedings  of     2  vols.,  1848—1852. 
London   and   ^Middlesex   Archceological 

Society,  Transactions  of.  Vol.  I.,  1856. 


BOOKS. 


H. 


Ludlow,  History  of. 

Lynu  (King's),  Pictorial  Guide  to,  by 

Taylor. 
Lysous'  Magna  Britannia.     6  vols. 
Malmsbury  Abbey,  Views  &  Elevations, 

&c. — /Soc.  Anliq. 
Markland,  Reverence  due  to  Holy  Places. 
Edition  of   Bp.  Ken's  Bath 

Prayers. 

■Remarks  on  English  Churches. 


Minster  Lovel,  Elevations  and  -Plans  of. 

Oxon.  Arch.  Soc. 
Monastic  Ruins  of  Yorkshire,  by  Potter. 

Parts  1,2. 
Mosaic  Pavements,  by  Digby  "Wyatt. 
Bloyen  Age,  les  Arts  au,  par  De  Soumer- 

and  :  in  parts. 
Naseby,  History  and  Antiquities  of,  by 

Mastiu. 
Needle  Work,  the  art  of,  edited  by  Lady 

Wilton. 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,   Castle  of,   Views, 

Elevations,  &c. — Soc.  Antiq. 
Norfolk  and  Norwich  Archseol.  Society, 

Papers  of.     Vol.  IH. 
Northamptonshire,  History  and  Antiqui- 
ties of,  by  Baker.    Vol.11.    Pts.3,4,5. 

History  of,  by  Bridges.  2  vols. 

Monumental    Brasses    of,   by 


Hudson. 


-Churches  of  (2  copies). 
-Bryant's  Map  of. 


Oxford  Arcbitectural  Society,  Publica- 
tions of. 

— ' — — —  Reports  of, 

and  Catalogue  of  Books,  1844,  1845, 
1851,  1853,  1856. 

Painted  Glass,  Introduction  to  the  Study 
of,  by  Winston. 

Painted  Glass,  a  Plea  for,  by  F.  W.  Oli- 
phant. 

Painted  Glass  iu  church  of  Notre  Dame, 
Munich. 

Paston  Family,  Account  of  M.S.  Gene- 
alogy, by  F.  Worship,  Esq., 

Peterborough,  Histoiy  of,  by  Gunton. 

Peterborough  Cathedral,  Painted  Ceiling 
in  Nave,  by  W.  Strickland. 

Petit's  Rev.  J.  L.  Architectural  Studies 
in  France. 

Remarks    on    Principles    of 

Gothic  Ai'chitecture. 

Poole  and  Hugall's  Churches  of  Scar- 
borough, &c. 

Poole's  Structure,  Arrangement,  &c.,  of 
Churches. 

Ecclesiastical  Architecture  in 

England. 

Principles  of  Architecture,  Sculpture, 
and  Painting  (in  French). 

Pugiu's,  A.  W.  Ornamental  Gables. 

Details  of  Anc.  Timber  Houses, 

15th  and  16th  Centuries. 


Designs  for  Iron  and  Brass  Work. 

Queen  Anne's  Bounty,  Account  of,  by 
C.  Hodgson. 

Reign  of  Lockrin,  by  A.  J.  Dunkin. 

Remarks  on  English  Churches,  by  Mark- 
land. 

Reports  and  Papers  of  Associated  Archi- 
tectural Societies.    Vols.  1850 — 1855. 

Reports  of  Architectural  Society  of  the 
Archdeaconry  of  Northampton,  1844, 
1849. 

British    Archjeol.    Assoc,   at 

Worcester,  1848. 

Church  Building  Society,  1849, 

1854. 

Eccleslological  Society,  1848. 

Leicester  Literary  and  Philos. 


Soc,  1855. 
—  Lichfield  Architectural  Soc., 

1842,  1843. 

Lincolnshire  Archit.  Soc.  1846, 

Oxford  Archit.  Soc,  1844— 


1856. 

Rickman's  Gothic  Architecture,  5th  ed. 

Rockingham  Castle,  Antiquities  and  His- 
tory of,  by  Rev.  C.  H.  Hartshome. 

Roofs,  Open  Timber,  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
by  Brandon. 

Rutland,  History  and  Antiquities  of,  by 
Blore,  vol  1,  pt.  2. 

St.  Bartholomew's  Chapel,  Oxford,  Views 
and  Elevations  of  :  Oxon.  Arch.  Soc. 

St.  Giles'  Church,  Oxford  :  Oxon.  Arch. 
Soc. 

St.  Cross,  Winchester,  Architecture  of 
Church  and  Hospital,  by  E.  A.  Free- 
man, Esq. 

Scott,  G.  G.  on  Restoration  of  Churches. 

Scotland,  Transactions  Of  the  Archit. 
Institute  of  1851—1856. 

Notices  of  Ancient  Parocliial 


and  Collegiate  Churches  of. 

Sculpture,  Lectures  on,  by  Flaxman. 

Sepulchral  Memorials  in  the  County  df 
Northampton,  by  Hyett. 

Shottesbroke  Church,  Berks., Views,  Ele- 
vations, &c.  of  ;   Oxon.  Arch.  Soc. 

Sharpe's  Decorated  Windows  :  the  Text. 

Ditto  ditto  :  the  Illustrations. 

Sharpe's,  S.,  Lecture  on  Church  Archi- 
tecture :   Stamford,  1853. 

Shaw's  Decorative  Arts  in  the  Middle 
Ages. 

Specimens  of  Inlaid  Tiles  from  Neath 
Abbey. 

Spires  and  Towers  of  England,  Illustra- 
tions of,  by  Wickes,  2  parts. 

Somersetshire,  Archaol.  and  Nat.  Hist. 
Society,  Proceedings  of :  1 85l — 1854. 

Springhead,  Memoranda  of,  by  A.  J* 
Dunkin. 

Stamford,  the  Chronology  of,  by  Burton^ 
(2  copies.) 


lii. 


NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Stamford,  Sketch  of,  by  S.  Sharp. 

Stamford,  History  of. 

Street's  Brick  and  Marble  in  the  Middle 


'  Plea  for  the  true  Principles  of 

Architecture. 

Strixton  Church,  Elevations  and  Plans 
of:  Oxon.  Arch.  Soc. 

Suffolk,  Proceedings  of  Institute  of  Arch- 
aeology, &c.     Vol.  II.,  1854—1857. 

Suffolk  West,  and  Bury,  Proceedings  of 
Archseol.  Institute  of,  Nos.  5  —  7  : 
1851—1853. 

Surre}',  Transactions  of  Archseol.  Society 
of,  1854,  1855. 

Sussex  Archseol.  Society,  Collections  of, 
6  vols. 

Taunton,  Church  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene, 
description  of. 

Temple  Chiu-ch,  Views  and  Elevations 
of:  Soc.  Antiq. 

Tiles,  Specimens  of  Inlaid,  from  Neath 
Abbey. 

,  Patterns  of,  from  Diocese  of  Ox- 
ford. 

— , J  Modern,  by  Messrs. 

Minton. 


Timber  Houses,  Details  of  Ancient,  by 
A.  W.  Pugin. 

Tower  of  London. 

Typogi-aphy,  Specimens  of,  (in  French.) 

Vitravii  de  Architectura,  libri  decern. 

Vitruvius  Britannicus — Wohurn  Abbey. 

Warmington  Church,  Northants.  Archi- 
tectural Illustrations  of,  by  W.  Cave- 
ler.  Architect. 

Wilcote  Church,  Oxford,  Views  and 
Elevations  of  :  Oxou,  Arch.  Soc. 

Wiltshire,  Magazine  of  Archseolpgical 
and  Natural  History  Society.   No.  1. 

Writing,  on  the  Origin  of,  (in  Latin.) 

Woodwork,  Remains  of  Ecclesiastical, 
by  Talbot  Bury,  Architect. 

Wykeham,  William,  Life  of,  by  Bishop 
Louth. 

Working  Drawmgs  (on  sheets)  of  Open 
Seats,  Bench  Ends,  Oak  Stalls,  Font?, 
Reredos,  Window-tracery,  Pulpits, 
Screens,  Gravestones  ;  published  by 
Oxford  Architectural  Society. 

Yarmouth,  Great,  Guide  to. 

Yarmouth,  History  of,  by  Manship,  2  V. 

Yorkshire,  Monastic  Ruins  of,  by  Potter, 
pts.  I.  IL 


ENGRAVINGS,  DRAWINGS,  BRASSES,  ETC. 


Large  Book,  containing  original  Draw- 
ings, Photographs,  and  Engravings  of 
various  Churches  in  the  Archdea- 
conry— to  which  contributions  are  in- 
vited from  Members  and  others. 

Original  Drawings  and  Etclaings  of 
Tewkesbury  Abbey  Church,  by  Rev. 
J.  L.  Petit. 

Plan  of  Easton  Maudit  Church,  with 
elevation  and  section  of  spire,  by  Mr. 
Coles. 

Diagrams  shewing  the  Orientation  of  six 
churches,  by  Mr.  Coles. 

Engraving  of  west  front  of  Peterborough 
Cathedral,  by  Rev.  Owen  Davys. 

Drawing  of  a  Fresco  Wall-Text,  from 
Astley  church,  Warwickshire,  by  Rev. 
G.  A.  Poole. 

Brasses,  collection  of,  from  Lord  Lilford. 

Ditto, from  Sir  H.  Dry- 
den. 

Ditto, from  Rev.   J.  H. 

Mackarness. 

Ditto,     


———- from  various  churches. 

Six  Plaster  Casts — viz.,  two  Gothic 
heads,  one  Rose,  one  foliage  ornament 
from  Westminster  Abbey,  two  Finials 
from  Winchester  Cathedral. 

Cast  of  head  of  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 


Cast  of  group  of  female  Saints,  from  St. 
Peter's,  Maucroft,  Norwich. 

Two  sculptured  stones  from  Brixworth. 

Model  of  Strixton  church,  by  Mr.  Banks. 

Ditto  St.  Giles',  Northampton,  by  ditto. 

Various    Terra   Cotta  ornaments  from 
Ladystone  Works. 

Encaustic  Tiles  from  Doddington  church. 

Ditto  ditto       Sibbertoft  chm-ch 

Ditto  ditto       from  original  Deco- 

rated vestry  (now  destroyed)  of  Wal- 
degrave  church. 

Ditto  ditto        Rothwell  church. 

Ditto  ditto        Shoseley  Nunnery. 

Ditto  ditto        Pipwell  Abbey. 

Indented  Tiles  from  ditto 

Relics  of  ancient  Pottery,  &c. 

Celt  from  Giants'  Causeway. 

Sword  from  Naseby  Field  :  two  Rings 
from  ditto. 

Fragments  of  Painted  Glass  from  Stan- 
wick  church. 

Ditto     ditto  from  Clay  Coton. 

Ditto    ditto  Chantry  of  Uffington  church 

Arms  of  Isham,  in  Glass. 

Specimens  of  Glass,  by  Messrs.  Powell, 
from  Winston's  Analysis. 

Ditto  of  Flowered  Quarries,  fi'om  Messrs. 
Powell. 


WORCESTER 

DIOCESAN  AECHITECTUEAL  SOCIETY. 


^atvon. 
The  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  or  Worcesteb. 

The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Ltttelton. 


The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  op  Wor- 
cester. 

The  Yen.  the  Archdeacon  oe  Wor- 
cester. 

The  Yen.  the  Archdeacon  op 
Coventry. 

The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  op  Beau- 
champ. 

The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Ward. 

Rev.  Canon  Wood. 

Rev.  Canon  Pilkington. 

Sir  T.  E.  Winnington,  Bart.,  M.P. 


Sir  E.  a.  H.  Lechmere,  Bart. 
Sir  Oppley  P.  Wakeman,  Bart. 
Right  Hon.  Sir  John  S.  Pakington, 

Bart.,  M.P. 
Evelyn  Philip  Shirley,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Matthew  Holbeche  Bloxam,  Esq. 
C.  Holt  Bracebridge,  Esq. 
J.  P.  Brown  Westhbad,  Esq.,  M.P. 
William  Dickins,  Esq. 
William  Dowdeswell,  Esq. 
Hon.  F.  Lygon,  M.P. 
E.  J.  RuDGE,  Esq. 


Theodore  H.  Galton,  Esq. 
Rev.  Herbert  G.  Pepys. 
J.  Severn  Walker,  Esq. 

Rev.  Richard  Cattley. 

BLi'firavtan  anij  Curator. 
Rev.  W.  H.  Helm. 

€ommittt?. 


The  Ofpicers  op  the  Society. 

The  Rural  Deans. 

Rev.  T.  L.  Claughton. 

Rev.  J.  D.  Collis. 

Rev.  W.  W.  Douglas. 

Rev.  F.  Dyson. 

Rev.  R.  Rodney  Fowler. 

J.  M.  GuTCH,  Esq. 

H.  G.  GOLDINGHAM,  EsQ. 

Hotal  ^Ijonovarg  Secretaries. 

Rev.  F.  Dyson,  Malvern.  I  M.  H.  Bloxam,  Esq.,  Rugby. 

Rev.  W.  Staunton,  Warwick.  |  W.  Lynes,  Esq.,  Coventry. 


W.  Jepprey  Hopkins,  Esq. 
W.  Lynes,  Esq. 
Rev.  Willam  Lea. 
Rev.  E.  Newcomb. 
a.  E.  Perkins,  Esq. 

F.  Preedy,  Esq. 
Rev.  J.  H.  Wilding. 

G.  J.  A.  Walker,  Esq. 


liv.      WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


NEW    HONORARY    MEMBER 

Rev.  C.  Boutell,  Binfield  House,  South  Lambetli. 


NEW    ORDINARY    MEMBERS 


Abdy,  Rev.  A.  C.  Foregate  Street,  Wor- 
cester. 

Amphlett,  Rev.  Martin,  Churcli  Lench, 
Evesham. 

Anderson,  Rev.  E.,  Frankley,  Hales- 
owen. 

Byrne,  Mrs.,  Britannia  Square,  Worces- 
ter. 

Chambers,  C,  Esq.,  Copeley  Hill,  Aston, 
Birmingham. 

Douglas,  Rev.  A.  J.,  Mathon,  Great 
Malvern. 

Egau,  Miss,  Ivy  Bank,  Worcester. 

Finch,  Mr.  Edward,  St.  John's,  Worces- 
ter. 


Helm,  Rev.  W.  H.,  College  Yard,  Wor^ 
cester. 

Loscombe,  Miss,  College  Green,  Worces- 
ter. 

Loscombe,  Miss  L.  C,  College  Green, 
Worcester. 

Loscombe,  Miss  M.  H.,  College  Green, 
Worcester. 

Masefield,  George,  Esq.,  Ledbury. 

Malins,  W,  Esq.,  60,  Montague  Square, 
London. 

Norton,  J.,  Esq.,  Architect,  27,  Old 
Bond  Street,  London. 


EEPOET, 

Presented  by  the  Coimilttee  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Worcester 
on  the  SOth  September,  1857. 

The  twelve  months  which  have  elapsed  since  the  Annual  Meeting  of  1856,  have 
been  as  eventful  as  any  which  this  Society  has  experienced  ;  and  after  some  vicissi- 
tudes, we  are  justified  in  believing  that  we  now  stand  in  a  better  position  in  the 
diocese  than  we  have  occupied  since  our  first  formation.  Upwards  of  fifteen  new 
members  have  been  elected  during  the  year,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  say 
that  of  this  number  several  are  ladies  ;  so  good  an  example  we  trust  to  see  exten- 
sively followed.  The  large  proportion  of  ladies  who  have  always  accompanied  us 
on  our  excursions,  and  the  interest  they  appear  to  take  in  our  proceedings,  justifies 
us  in  this  hope. 

With  regard  to  the  annual  publication  for  the  last  year,  your  Committee  regret 
the  withdrawal  of  three  of  the  Societies  with  whom  we  had  been  associated  ;  ques- 
tions had  arisen  as  to  the  system  on  which  the  expenses  of  publication  should  be 
apportioned  among  the  several  Societies,  pending  which,  the  York  and  Northamp- 
ton decided  not  to  publish  ;  and  the  Leicestershire  has  altogether  withdrawn  from 
the  Union.  We  agreed  to  refer  these  questions  to  a  committee  of  delegates,  which 
met  at  Lincoln  on  the  30th  of  May  last,  and  included  one  of  your  Secretaries.  The 
decision  of  that  committee  on  the  disputed  point  (carried  by  a  bare  majority)  was  at 
variance  with  what  we  consider  to  be  the  proper  and  equitable  mode  of  division, 
and  is  one  which  presses  disadvantageously  on  the  smaller  societies  ;  but  as  the 
arrangements  for  the  future  joint  publication  are  in  other  respects  satisfactory,  and 
the  advantages  of  such  an  Union  are  obviously  great,  we  have  determined,  for  the 
present,  to  continue  it ;  and  our  next  Report  will  appear,  as  heretofore,  in  con- 
nection with  those  of  the  Northampton,  York,  Lincoln,  and  Bedford  Societies. 

At  the  Annual  Meeting  of  last  year,  the  Society  inspected  the  mediaeval  monu- 
ments in  the  cathedral,  under  the  very  able  guidance  of  Mr.  M.  H.  Bloxam  and  the 
Rev.  Charles  Boutell,  who  also  accompanied  us  to  Kidderminster  and  Chaddesley 
Corbet  on  the  following  day,  and  explained  the  monumental  effigies  in  those 
churches. 


EEPORT.  Iv. 

Your  committee  rejoice  to  be  able  to  inform  tlic  Society  tlicat  during  tlic  present 
yeai*,  Mr.  Boutell  has  extended  liis  investigations  to  the  whole  fabric  of  the  cathe- 
dral, of  which  he  has  lately  made  a  careful  and  thorough  survey.  His  labours  are 
likely  to  fructify  into  important  results,  inasmuch  as  he  has,  at  our  request,  con- 
sented to  embody  the  knowledge  which  he  has  acquired  in  a  Paper  to  be  read  this 
evening,  which  will  afterwards,  we  hope,  be  expanded  into  a  Handbook  and  pub- 
lished under  the  auspices  of  the  Society.  The  want  of  such  a  Handbook  has  been 
much  felt ;  and  its  composition  by  so  eminent  an  authority  in  mediaeval  art  is  likely 
to  supply  that  want  in  a  manner  scarcely  equalled  in  any  other  cathedral  town. 

The  church  at  Chaddesley  Corbet  contains  some  of  the  most  striking  archi- 
tectural details  of  any  which  the  Society  has  visited,  and  your  Committee  cannot 
but  express  their  regret  that  no  steps  have  been  taken  to  rescue  so  remarkable  a 
structure  from  its  present  neglected  condition. 

During  tlie  Annual  Meeting,  Papers  were  read  by  Sir  Thomas  Winnington, 
Mr.  William  White,  and  Mr.  John  Severn  Walker ;  of  which,  those  of  the  two 
latter  gentlemen  have  appeared  in  our  annual  volume,  and  Sir  T.  Winnington's 
has  been  published  elsewhere. 

We  Avere  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  the  Rev.  T.  L.  Claughton  and  his  curates 
for  a  most  hospitable  reception  at  Kidderminster,  where  the  day  was  concluded  by 
a  fine  choral  service  in  the  parish  church. 

Our  first  excursion  during  the  present  summer,  took  place  on  the  fourth  of  June. 
The  party  met  at  King's  Norton,  (the  restoration  of  which  has  been  noticed  in  a 
former  Report),  and  proceeded  thence  by  Northfield  (both  of  which  churches  well 
repaid  our  visit)  to  the  old  timbered  house  at  Barnt  Green,  and  thence  to  Bromsgrove, 
where  the  parish  church  is  about  to  receive  a  thorough  restoration,  under  the  super- 
intendence of  Mr.  Gilbert  Scott.  The  day's  expedition  concluded  with  an  inspection 
of  the  very  interesting  early-pointed  church  at  Stoke  Prior,  where  we  are  happy  to 
hear  that  some  further  restoration  is  contemplated.  Both  these  latter  churches 
were  very  lucidly  described  by  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Collis. 

Our  Warwickshire  meeting  was,  from  peculiar  circumstances,  again  transferred 
from  its  proposed  locality  at  Stratford-on- A  von  to  Birmingham  and  Coventry ;  and 
we  have  had  no  cause  to  regret  an  alteration  which  has  proved  most  materially  jjene- 
ficial  to  our  prospects,  and  is  not  unlikely  to  ensure  us  a  considerable  accession 
of  sti'cngth. 

Your  Committee  entered  into  correspondence  with  the  Birmingham  Architectu- 
ral Society,  with  whom  they  agreed  to  arrange  a  joint  meeting  in  that  town.  Local 
committees  were  formed,  both  in  Birmingham  and  Coventry,  including  the  mayors 
and  other  principal  inhabitants  of  those  places.  The  Governors  of  King  Edward's 
School  kindly  lent  that  building  for  the  purposes  of  the  first  day's  meeting  :  and 
the  hall  in  which  the  Papers  were  read  was  tastefully  decorated  with  numerous 
objects  of  ancient  and  modern  ecclesiological  art,  sent  for  exhibition  by  Birmingham 
and  Coventry  manufacturers.  The  contributions  were  very  numerous,  and  afforded 
a  good  criterion  of  the  progress  which  is  being  made  in  stained  glass,  in  textile 
fabrics  suited  to  ecclesiastical  buildings,  and  in  the  various  branches  of  mediteval 
metal  work  for  which  Birmingham  and  Coventry  stand  preeminent.  Among  the 
exhibitors,  Messrs.  Hardman  &  Co.,  in  addition  to  a  handsome  display  of  ecclesias- 
tical metal  work,  filled  three  of  the  large  Avindows  of  the  hall  with  specimens  of 
their  stained  glass,  which  formed  apt  illustrations  to  Mr.  John  Powell's  very  able 
Paper  upon  that  subject.  Messrs.  Skidmore  of  Coventry  contributed  a  variety  of 
metal  work,  remarkable  both  for  design  and  workmanship  ;  and  Messrs  Thomason 
furnished  some  very  good  specimens.  Messrs.  Eld  &  Chamberlain's,  and  Messrs. 
Jones  &  Willis's  textile  fabrics  were  among  the  most  interesting  contributions  to 
the  exhibition,  which  also  included  antiques  from  Messrs.  Elkingtons  &  Masons, 
and  an  extensive  collection  of  brass  rubbings,  drawings,  and  prints,;_sent  by  various 
contributors. 

The  interest  of  our  visit  to  Aston  church  was  much  increased  by  Mr.  Boutell's 
notice  of  the  monuments,  some  of  which  are  remarkably  fine.  The  church  itself 
is  an  interesting  structure  of  the  late  Decorated  period,  with  good  tower  and  spire 
of  still  later  date.  Internally,  it  is  by  no  means  in  such  a  state  as  we  could  wish 
to  see  it;  but  it  is — we  are  glad  to  hear — decided  that  it  shall  undergo  much  needed 
restoration  and  re-arrangement  at  the  hands  of  Mr.  G.  G.  Scott. 

Our  visit  to  the  Jacobean  mansion  of  Aston  Hall  was  well  timed,  as  it  occurred 
at  a  period  when  an  attempt  was  being  made  by  a  company  to  rescue  it  from  imme- 


Ivi.     WOUCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

diate  destruction,  in  order  to  preserve  its  grounds  as  a  place  of  public  recreation, 
and  the  fine  old  Hall  itself  for  tlie  purposes  of  a  Museum. 

Our  Meeting  at  Birmingliam  was  inaugurated  by  an  eloquent  address  from 
Archdeacon  Sandford  ;  and  in  addition  to  Mr.  John  Powell's  Paper,  to  which  we 
have  already  alluded,  the  day  was  marked  by  a  series  of  Papers  of  the  most  inter- 
esting and  attractive  description.  Mr.  W.  C.  Aitken's  Paper  on  Metal  Work  was 
an  appropriate  comment  upon  the  works  of  art  exhibited  in  the  hall.  Mr.  J.  H. 
Chamberlain's  Paper  on  Truth  and  Falsehood  in  Architecture,  was  deserving  of  the 
highest  praise.  In  addition  to  these,  we  have  to  thank  the  Rev.  W.  K.  R.  Bed- 
ford for  his  Paper  on  the  Heraldic  Cross  ;  Mr.  W.  Harris,  for  his  remarks  upon  the 
Historic  Uses  of  Architecture ;  Mr.  Boutell  for  his  description  of  the  Brasses  of 
which  rubbings  were  exhibited,  as  well  as  for  that  of  the  designs  of  the  Govern- 
ment Offices  and  Wellington  Monument ;  and  Mr.  Davidson,  of  Birmingham,  for 
his  account  of  St.  Martin's  church,  and  the  Paper  on  Aston  church,  which  was 
read  in  his  absence  by  Mr.  Bracebridge. 

That  our  reception  was  of  the  most  cordial  and  flattering  description  will  be 
apparent  from  the  fact  of  the  Mayor  of  Birmingham  having  invited  the  members 
of  the  two  societies  to  a  breakfast  at  Dee's  hotel,  with  a  view  of  promoting  the 
success  of  the  meeting.  Dr.  Miller  and  others  of  the  Birmingham  clergy  afforded 
us  their  warm  support  and  cooperation,  and  nothing  was  omitted  to  secure  general 
harmony  and  good-will. 

On  Thursday,  the  18th  August,  the  party  proceeded  to  Coventry,  where  they 
were  met  by  the  mayor  and  authorities  of  that  city,  who  accompanied  them  over 
St.  Maiy's  Hall ;  and  thence  to  the  churches  of  St.  Michael  and  the  Holy  Trinity, 
of  which  the  beauties  were  pointed  out  by  Mr.  G.  Scott  himself,  by  whom  the 
restorations  have,  in  each  case,  been  executed.  It  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say  that 
nothing  has  yet  been  done  in  this  country,  in  the  way  of  ecclesiastical  restoration, 
more  perfect  or  complete  than  these  churches,  and  more  especially  that  of  the  Holy 
Trinity,  of  which  the  polychrome  (that  of  the  roof  being  literally  copied  from  the 
traces  of  original  decoration  remaining  on  the  beams)  desei-ves  the  utmost  com- 
mendation. We  congratulate  the  diocese  upon  the  result,  and  trust  that  what  has 
been  done  at  Coventry  may  stimulate  others  to  follow  so  successful  an  example. 

Your  Committee  cannot  pass  from  the  subject  of  the  Warwickshire  excursion, 
without  alluding  to  the  proposal  which  was  made,  during  that  meeting,  to  form  a 
Warwickshire  and  Worcestershire  archaeological  association  in  connexion  with  our 
Society,  but  on  a  wider  basis.  The  subject  had  previously  engaged  our  attention, 
but  upon  that  occasion  a  joint  committee  was  formed,  which  has  since  met  at 
Birmingham,  and  passed  some  preliminary  resolutions,  constituting  such  a  Society 
for  the  Midland  counties. 

The  number  of  church  i*estorations,  and  of  new  churches  erected,  has  not  been 
great  since  the  period  of  our  last  Report. — The  following  have  come  under  the 
notice  of  the  Committee — 

By  far  the  most  interesting  and  important  work  in  the  way  of  restoration  is 
that  which  has  been  going  on  for  some  months  past  at  the  cathedral,  under  the 
siiperintendeuce  of  Mr.  Perkins,  architect  to  the  Dean  and  Chaptei-.  The  south 
end  of  the  eastern  transept  has  been  admirably  rebuilt,  and  flanked  by  pinnacles 
of  a  far  better  character  than  any  previously  erected.  At  the  east  end,  the  large 
debased  window  has  given  place  to  a  double  five-light  lancet,  enriched  in  the  inte- 
rior with  Purbeck  marble  shafts,  and  the  whole  in  admirable  keeping  with  the  ori- 
ginal fabric.  The  removal  of  the  whitewash  from  the  choir  and  lady  chapel  has 
once  moi-e  brought  to  light  the  delicately  carved  capitals  and  corbels,  the  marble 
shafts  (which,  however,  still  want  polish)  and  the  natural  tint  of  the  stone,  Avhere- 
by  the  exquisite  beauty  of  this  portion  of  the  building  is  revealed  ;  to  be  enhanced, 
we  hope,  at  no  distant  period,  by  stained  glass  in  the  east  window  and  color  on  the 
vaulting.  If  at  the  date  of  our  last  Report,  we  felt,  and  gave  expression  to  some 
solicitude  respecting  the  contemplated  works,  of  the  nature  of  which  we  had  no 
definite  information,  we  may  now  be  allovv'ed  warmly  to  congratulate  the  Dean  and 
Chapter  upon  the  successful  issue  of  their  laudable  endeavours  to  repair  the  stx'uc- 
tural  defects,  as  well  as  the  architectural  features,  of  the  noble  edifice  of  which 
they  are  the  guardians. 

We  trust  that  the  noble  example  set  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter  will  not  be  lost 
upon  the  diocese  at  large,  and  that  the  Clergy  and  Laity  will  unite  in  carrying  out 
still  further  the  work  of  restoration  which  they  have  so  auspiciously  commenced. 


REPORT,  Ivii. 

If  the  churchmen  of  Worcester  could  be  induced  to  imitate  the  liberality  of  their 
Coventry  brethren,  our  cathedral  might  be  rendered  the  most  beautiful  monument 
in  the  kingdom. 

St.  Helen's  church,  in  this  city,  has  been  re-arranged  and  considerably  improved, 
under  the  superintendance  of  Mr.  Preedy.  A  chancel  has  been  formed,  by  raising 
the  eastern  bay,  and  placing  simple  longitudinal  seats  on  each  side  ;  the  prayer 
desk  being  on  the  north,  and  the  pulpit  on  the  south  side.  We  should  be  glad  to 
see  this  church  thoroughly  restored. 

Two  painted  windows  have  been  placed  in  St.  Martin's  church  ;  one  of  them,  to 
the  memory  of  the  late  Rev.  J.  Colville,  was  designed  and  executed  by  Mr.  Preedy, 
the  subject  being  the  Transju/iiralion.  The  other  window,  commemorative  of  the  late 
Rector,  the  Rev.  Allen  Wheeler,  is  by  Ilardman,  who  executed  the  cartoons  from  a 
design  by  Mr.  Hopkins,  the  subject  being  the  Ascinsion.  The  latter  adds  wonder- 
fully to  the  recent  improvements  in  this  church,  and  is  perhaps  one  of  the  best  ex- 
amples of  modern  glass  painting  hitherto  executed,  the  colours  being  both  brilliant 
and  harmonious,  and  the  treatment  and  the  drawing  excellent. 

The  east  windows  of  St.  Nicholas'  have  also  been  filled  with  stained  glass  ;  the 
cost  being  munificently  defrayed  by  a  parishioner ;  but,  however,  the  effect  cannot 
be  considered  satisfactory. 

Arrow  church,  near  Alcester,  has  been  expensively  and  substantially  restored 
at  the  sole  cost  of  the  rector — now  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  incumbency  ;  but, 
unfortunately,  an  architect  was  not  employed,  and,  as  might  be  expected,  the  result 
is  not  commensurate  with  the  pains  and  trouble  which  have  evidently  been  bestowed 
upon  it. 

The  church  at  Bushley  was  erected  about  fifteen  years  ago  by  Mr.  Blore,  in  the 
Gothic  of  the  period.  It  has  a  western  tower,  nave  without  aisles  and  transepts, 
and  loas  provided  with  a  shallow  recess  instead  of  a  properly  developed  chancel. 
Mr.  Scott  has  now  built  a  spacious  and  dignified  chancel  in  the  style  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  which  harmonizes  most  unexpectedly  with  the  depressed  Pei-pendi- 
cular  of  the  church,  notwithstanding  that  it  is  both  internally  and  externally  of 
loftier  proportions.  The  chancel  is  paved  with  Minton's  tiles,  and  fitted  with 
carved  oak  stalls — having  subsellse  for  the  accommodation  of  the  choir.  An  organ 
chamber  has  been  erected  to  the  south  of  the  chancel,  and  the  pipes  of  the  organ 
are  excellently  diapered.  There  is  a  very  successful  chancel  screen  of  iron,  by 
Skidmore,  and  two  coronce  lueis,  both  by  Hardman.  The  corbel  heads  and  foliage 
on  the  exterior  shew  some  excellent  carving  in  stone,  by  Forsyth,  late  of  London. 
In  the  interior,  the  corbels  and  capitals  have  been  left  in  block  for  the  present,  in 
order  that  the  opening  of  the  chancel  might  not  be  delayed. 

At  Church-Lench  near  Evesham,  gi-eat  improvements  have  been  effected  by 
Mr.  Preedy,  of  which  we  hope  to  be  able  to  give  an  account  in  a  future  Report ; 
as  it  is  proposed  to  include  this  church  in  our  first  excursion  of  next  year. 

A  small  chapel  has  been  erected  at  Broughton,  near  Pershore,  from  the  designs 
of  Mr.  Hopkins,  noticeable  internally  for  the  use  of  coloured  bricks  instead  of  plaster, 
and  ornamental  truss-work  between  the  nave  and  chancel.  The  general  effect  is 
enhanced  by  the  dignified  height  of  the  east  window.  The  exterior,  with  its  lofty 
•wooden  spirelet  and  open  timbered  porch,  is  also  good,  although  the  whole  would 
have  been  improved  by  additional  length. 

A  small  cemetery  has  been  consecrated  at  Madresfield,  and  is  provided  with  a 
lich  gate  and  a  good  cross,  designed  by  Mr.  J.  Norton. 

The  new  Infant  School  for  St.  Peter's  parish,  in  Worcester,  is  apparently  a 
substantial  and  commodious  building,  but  the  Committee  are  sorry  they  cannot 
commend  the  design,  and  regret  that  an  architect  was  not  employed. 

The  Schools  at  Hallow  by  Mr.  Hopkins,  are  in  the  middle  pointed  style,  and 
are  built  with  red,  white,  and  blue  bricks,  arranged  with  good  effect  in  bands  and 
patterns,  both  inside  and  outside  ;  no  plaster  being  used  on  the  walls. 

By  an  omission  of  the  printer,  no  statement  of  accounts  is  appended  to  our 
last  Report,  although  the  proof  was  sent  for  correction,  and  returned  to  him,  and 
the  account  is  actually  printed  at  the  end  of  the  separate  copies  of  the  Report 
which  he  furnished  to  us. 

We  have,  therefore,  annexed  to  the  present  Report  the  statement  of  accounts 
which  was  intended  to  have  appeared  with  the  last.  And  the  omission  will  be  of 
less  consequence,  inasmuch  as  we  expect  that,  under  the  new  arrangements,  the  next 
volume  will  be  published  at  so  much  earlier  a  period  than  formerly,  that  it  would 


Iviii.    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

be  impossible  to  prepare  a  complete  account  of  receipts  and  expenditure  for  tbo 
current  year  in  time  to  appear  with  it. 

In  conclusion,  your  Committee  congratulate  tlie  Society  on  its  increased  strength 
and  its  increasing  efficiency.  The  revived  study  of  architecture  and  mediaeval 
art  is  everywhere  leading  to  a  greater  reverence  for  antiquity;  and  we  cannot  help 
feeling  that  our  meetings,  especially  when,  as  at  Birmingham,  they  are  accompa- 
nied by  an  exhibition  of  art,  are  instrumental  in  disseminating  throughout  this 
diocese  a  more  correct  knowledge,  as  well  a  deeper  feeling  for  the  essential 
principles  of  beauty. 


THE  TREASUEER  IN  ACCOUNT  WITH  THE  SOCIETY, 

For  the  year  1856. 


DR.  £     s.    d. 

Balance  from  last  account...     36  15     8 

Three  Life  Subscriptions  ...     15     0     0 

Other  Subscriptions,  En- 
trance Fees  &  Arrears  ...     68     0     0 

Donation  from  W.  Dickins, 

Esq loo 

Balance  of  Receipts  and  Ex- 
penditure at  Leigh  Meet- 
ing        0     4     6 

Sale  of  Publications  0  16     0 


£121   16     2 


Balance  brought  down  ......  je49    5    0 


CR.  £    s.    d. 

One  Year's  Rent,  to  Lady 

Day,  1856 10     0     0 

Arundel  Society  for  1855 
and  1856,  and  Post  Office 
Order 2     2     6 

Furniture  1   10     0 

Expenses  of  Banbury  Meet- 
ing        1   15   10 

Do.  of  Annual  and  Kidder- 
minster Meetings  7     0     0 

Books  and  Stationery    1   13     9 

Travelling  expenses  of  De- 
putation to  Eckington 
Church  0  10     6, 

Savill  &  Edwards— this  So- 
ciety's proportion  of  print- 
ing Annual  Volume  for 
1855  20  10     2 

Lithography  of  Illustrations 

for  ditto 2     5     0 

Mr.  Truefltt,  for  Lithogra- 
phic Drawiugsof  Christian 
Memorials 4  14     6 

Ashbee  &  Dangei-field,  for 
Lithographic  Printing  of 
ditto    12     7     3 

Printing  Circulars 2     5     6 

Cleaning  Room  and  Fire- 
wood        1     0     8 

Postages,  Envelopes,  Par- 
cels, &c 4  15     6 

72   11     2 
Balance  in  hand 49     5     0 


£121   16     2 


C.  Geo.  H.  St.  Pattrick,  Treasurer. 
Audited  and  found  correct, 

Hyla  Holden. 


THE     THIRD     REPORT 


LEICESTERSHIRE 


ARCHITECTURAL  AND  AROH^OLOGIOAL  SOCIETY. 


His  Grace  the  Duke  op  Rutland. 

The  Right  Rev.  the  Lord  Bishop  op  Peterborough. 


PvfSt&fnts. 


The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  Howe. 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Berners. 
Sir  G.  H.  Beaumont,  Bart. 
The   Venerable  the  Archdeacon 
OF  Leicester. 


The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  Ferrers. 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  J.  Manners* 
Sir  Arthur  G.  Hazlerigg,  Bart. 
W.  P.  Heyrick,  Esq. 
E.  B.  Hartopp,  Esq. 


©ommfttff. 

The  Patrons.  |  The  Presidents. 

All  Rural  Deans,  (being  Membersj. 
All  Professional  Architects,  f being  Membersj. 


Halpord  Adcock,  Esq. 
Robert  Brewin,  Jun.,  Esq. 
Rev.  S.  G.  Bellairs. 
Rev.  Robert  Burnaby. 
Rev.  John  Denton. 
Edward  Fisher,  Jun.,  Esq. 
Henry  Goddard,  Esq. 
Rev.  G.  E.  Gillett. 
Rev.  J.  M.  Gresley. 
Joseph  Hames,  Jun.,  Esq. 
Isaac  Hodgson,  Esq. 


Thomas  Ingram,  Esq. 
Richard  Luck,  Esq. 
G.  C.  Neale,  Esq. 
G.  H.  Nevinson,  Esq. 
Thomas  Nevinson,  Esq. 
T.  T.  Paget,  Esq. 
Rev.  Richard  Stephens. 
The    Hon.    and    Rev.    J. 

lands. 
James  Thompson,  Esq. 
Rev.  M.  Webster. 


SandI- 


HONORAEY   MEMBERS. 


Bloxam,  M.  H.,  Esq.,  Rugb}'. 
Compton,  Lord  Alwyne,  Castle  Ashby. 
Dry  den,  Sir  H.,  Bart.,  Canons  Ashby, 
James,  Rev.  Thos.,  Theddingworth. 
Poole,  Rev.  G.  A.,  Welford. 


Petit,  Rev.   J.   L.,   Bumbledike  Hall* 

Litchfield. 
Potter,  T.  R.,  Esq.,  Wymeswould. 
Scott,  G.  G.,  Esq.,  20,  Spiing  Gardens) 

London. 


k. 


LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


MEMBERS 


Adcock,  H.,  Esq.  Humberstone,  Leices- 
ter. 

Adcock,  Rev.  H.  XL,  Humberstone,  Lei- 
cester. 

Adcock,  VV.,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Berners,  the  Rt.  Hon.  Lord,  Keythorpe 
Hall,  Leicestershire. 

Beaumont,  Sir  G.   H.,  Bart.,  Coleorton 
Hall,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Bellairs,  Rev   S   G.,  Goadby  Marwood, 
Melton  Mowbray. 

Bellairs,  G.  C,  Esq.,  Narborough  Hall, 
•  Leicester. 

Bingham,  H.  C,  Esq.,  Wartnaby  Hall, 
Melton  Mowbi'a3\ 

Bonney,     Venerable    the    Archdeacon, 
Normanton,  Rutland. 

Brewin,   Robert,    Jun.,    Esq.,    Birstall 
Hall,  Leicester. 

Bright,  Mr.  E.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Broadbent,  Mr.  B.,  Humberstone,  Lei- 
cester. 

Browne,  Mr.  T.  Chapman,  Leicester. 

Bunch,  Rev.  R.  J.,  Loughborough. 

Burnaby,  Rev.  R.,  Leicester. 

Burnaby,  Rev.  F.  G.,  Barkstone,  Leices- 
tershire. 

Campbell,  Hon.  and  Rev.  A.  C,  Knip- 
ton,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Clarke,  E.  H.  M.,  Esq.,  Melton  Mow- 
bray. 

Cooke,  T.  F.,  Esq.,  Belgrave,  Leicester. 

Cooper,  Rev.  E.  P.,  Dalby  Parva,  Mel- 
ton Mowbray. 

Dawson,    E.,    Esq.,    Whatton    House, 
Loughborough. 

Denton,  Rev.  J.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Ellis,  A.,  Esq.,  Belgrave,  Leicester. 

Ferneley,  C,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Ferrers,  the  Rt.  Hon.  the  Earl,  Staun- 
ton Harrold  Hall,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Fisher,    E.,    Jun.,    Esq.,    Over    Seile, 
Ashby-de-la-  Zouch. 

Freer,    C,  T.  Esq.,  Billesdou  Coplow, 
Leicester. 

Gillett,    Rev.   G.    E.,    Waltham-on-the 
Wolds,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Goddard,  H.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Leicester. 

Gresley,  Rev.  J.  M.,  Over  Seilc,  Ashby- 
de-la-Zouch. 

Hames,  J.,  Jun.,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Harris,  J.  D.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Ratcliffe  Hall, 
Leicester. 

Hartopp,  E.  B.,  Esq.,  Dalby  Hall,  Mel- 
ton Mowbray. 

Hazlerigg,  Sir  Arthur  G.,  Bart.,  Noseley 
Hall,  Leicester. 


Heyrick,  W.  Perry,   Esq.,  Beaumanor 
Park,  Loughborough. 

Hickson,  T.,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Hickson,  J.,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Hill,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Cranoe,  Leicestershire. 

Hodgson,  Isaac,  Esq.,  Kirby  Fi-ith,  near 
Leicester. 

Howe,  the  Rt.  Hon.  the  Earl,  Gopsall 
Hall,  Leicestershire. 

Ingi-am,  T.,  Esq.,  Leicester". 

Joyce,  M  J.,  Esq.,  Blackfordby,  Ashby- 
de-la-Zouch. 

Johnson,  Winter,  Esq.,  Architect,  Mel- 
ton Mowbray. 

Knight,  Captain  J.,  Leicester. 

Knight,  Rev.  G.,  Hungerton,  Leicester. 

Latham,  W.,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Luck,  Richard,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Manners,    the    Rt.    Hon.    Lord    John, 
Belvoir  Castle,  Grantham. 

Mammatt,  E.,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

Martin,  Rev.  R.,  Ansty  Pasture,  Leices- 
ter. 

Millican,  W.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Leicester. 

Moore,  Rev.  W.  B.,  Evington,  Leicester. 

Neale,  G.  C,  Esq.,  SkeiBngton,  Leicester- 
shire. 

Nevinson,  G.  H,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Nevinson,  Thos.,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Norman,    George,    Esq.,    Goadby  Mar- 
wood  Hall,  Melton  Mowbray. 

North,  T.,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Oldham,  F.  J.,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Osborne,  Rev.  M.,  Kib worth,  Leicester- 
shire. 

Paget,     Thomas,    Esq.,    Humberstone, 
Leicester. 

Paget,  Thomas  Tertius,  Esq.,  Humber- 
stone, Leicester. 

Paget,  J.,  Esq.,  7,  Gordon  Place,  Gordon 
Square,  London. 

Palmer,  Geoffrey,  Esq.,  Carlton,  North- 
amptonshire. 

Peterborough,  the  Lord  Bishop  of,  Peter- 
borough. 

Pares,  T.  Esq.,  Hopwell  Hall,  Derbyshire 

Rutland,  His  Grace  the  Duke  of,  Belvoir 
Castle,  Grantham. 

Sandilands,  Hon.  and  Rev.  J.,  Coston 
Rectory,  Melton  Mowbray. 

Shaw,  G.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Leicester. 

Stephens,  I\ev.  R.,  Belgrave,  Leicester. 

Stokes,  T.,  Esq.,  New  Parks,  Leicester. 

Thompson,  James,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

Thorpe,  Rev.  F.,  Burton  Overy,  Leices- 
ter. 
Wai-d,  T.,  Esq.,  Meltou  Mowbray. 


TREASURER  S  REPORT. 


ki. 


Webster,  Rev.  M.,  Nether  Seile,  Asliby-  i  Wing,    Thos.    Newton,    Esq.,    Melton 

de-la-Zoixch.  Mowbray. 

Whetstone,  Joseph,  Esq.,  Leicester.  Wood,  R.  W.,  Esq.,  Knighton,  Leicester. 

Wing,  Rev.  J.,  Leicester.  |  Woodhouse,   J.    T.,   Esq.,    Over  Seile, 

Wing,  Vincent,  Esq.,  Melton  Mowbray.  •        Ashby-dc-la-Zouch. 


NEW    MEMBERS. 


W.  J.  Gillett,  Esq.,  London. 

Rev,  J.  W.  Fletcher,  Leicester. 

Rev.  T.  Jones,  Leicester. 

F.  Ordish,  Esq.,  Architect,  Queen- 
borough,  Leicestershire. 

Rev.  W.  A.  C.  B.  Cave,  Strettou  Parva, 
Derbyshire. 

C.  A.  Macaulay,  Esq.,  Leicester. 


Rev.  E,  Woodcock,  Thurmaston,  Leices- 
ter. 

George  Buller,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la- 
Zouch. 

—  Briggs,  Esq.,  King's  Newton,  Derby- 
shire. 

W.  P.  Cox,  Esq.,  Leicester. 

W.  Joyce,  Esq.,  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 


The   Subscription  to  this  Society  is  ten  shillings,  payable  on  the   first  of 
January,  in  advance. 


The  Report  having  appeared  in  the  local  papers,  it  is  considered  by  the 
Committee  not  necessary  to  republish  it. 


TREASURER'S    REPORT 

To  December  31s/,  1857. 


RECEIPTS. 

Balance  from  last  year 
Subscriptions     


£  s. 
11  9 
39   10 


d. 
0 


£50  19   11^ 


EXPENDITURE.  £      S.     d. 

Paid  for  Copies  of  Paper  on 
Croyland  Abbey,  by  Rev. 
J.  M.  Gresley    10     ©     0 

Paid  for  Desks,  &c.  for  exhi- 
bition for  1856 2   18   10^ 

Paid  for  Advertising 11   13     0 

Paid  to  keeper  of  Town  Hall 

Library 0     6     0 

Paid  expenses  of  General 
Meeting  and  Exhibition  at 
Ashby    11   12  10 

Paid  sundries     0  15     0 

Balance  carried 13  14     3 

£50  19  lU 


AECHITECTUEAL  SOCIETY 


OF   THE 


DIOCESE   OF  LINCOLN. 


The  Introduction  of  Christianity  into  Lincolnshire  during  the  Saxon 
;period.     By  the  Rev.  Edward  Teollope,  F.S.A. 

The  Architectural  History  of  Lincoln  Minster.  By  the  Rev.  George 
Ayliffe  Poole,  M.A.,  with  an  Appendix  of  authorities,  &c., 
chronologically  arranged. 


The  Captivity  of  John,  Kinrj  of  France,  at  Somerton  Castle,  Lincoln- 
shire.    By  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A. 


€nrteti  €ml\t. 


THE  FIFTEENTH  REPORT 


ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 


FOR 

THE   DIOCESE   OF   LINCOLN 


^JrcsiUmt 
The  Right  Rev.  the  Loed  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 

patrons. 

His  Royal  Highness  the  Due  D'Aumale. 

His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Rutland. 

His  Grace  the  Duke  op  Portland. 

His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 

The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Yarborough. 


Ftte^^ffsttrntts. 


The  Lord  Aveland. 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  Trollope, 

Bart.,  M  P. 
The  Kight  Hon.  R.  A.  N.  Hamilton. 
The  Right  Hon.  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt. 


The  Hon.  and  Rev.  R.  Cust. 
Sir  C.  H.  J.  Anderson,  Bart. 
Sir  R.  Sheffield,  Bart. 
Sir  Glynne  Earle  Welby,  Bart. 


Ixiv. 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


The  Rev.  Sir  C.  Macgregok,  Bart. 

Sir  Montague  John  Cholmeley, 
Bart.,  M.P. 

The  Hon.  Sir  H.  Dtmoke,  Bart. 

Sir  Edward  S.  Walker,  Kt. 

The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  Lincoln. 

The  Venerable  the  Archdeacon  of 
Lincoln. 

The  Reverend  the  Subdean  op  Lin- 
coln. 

The  Reverend  the  Precentor  of 
Lincoln. 

G.  E.  H.  Vernon,  Esq. 

J.  Banks  Stanhope,  Esq.,  M.P. 

G.  T.  W.  Sibthorp,  Esq.,  M.P. 

G.  F.  Heneage,  Esq.,  M.P. 


W.  H.  Barrow,  Esq.,  M.P. 

H.  Ingram,  Esq.,  M.P. 

Charles  Chaplin,  Esq. 

C.  TuRNOR,  Esq. 

Colonel  Wildman. 

G.  K.  Jarvis,  Esq. 

R.  MiLWARD,  Esq 

H.  Sherdrooke,  Esq. 

Rev.  Dr.  Moore. 

Rev.  Dr.  Parkinson. 

Rev.  B.  Beridge. 

Rev.  E.  C.  Massingberd. 

Rev.  R.  Miles. 

Rev.  T.  J.  Peach. 

Rev.  C.  C.  Beaty  Pownall. 

Rev.  W.  Smyth. 


^ottovarg  Acting  Secrttarp. 
The  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A. 

f^onorarg  BLotal  Sfrrptari>»» 


Rev.  a.  Floyer, 

Rev.  E.  Moore, 

Rev.  H.  Maclean, 

Rev.  C.  Terrot, 

Rev.  G.  Gilbert, 

Rev.  W.  B.  Caparn, 

John  Ross,  Esq., 

Sir  C.  H.  J.  Anderson,  Bart., 

Rev.  G.  Atkinson, 

Rev.  Irvin  Eller, 

Rev.  J.  F.  Dimock, 

Rev.  E.  H.  H.  Vernon, 

Rev.  C.  D.  Butterfield, 

C.  Baily,  Esq., 


(For  the  Archdeaconry  op  Lincoln.) 


(For  the  Archdeaconry  op  Stow.) 


(For  the  Archdeaconry  op  Nottingham.) 


Rev.  William  Smyth,  Elkington  Hall. 

%ibxatim. 
Arthur  Trollope,  Esq. 

&nh''^xtmmtx  anlj  Curator. 
Michael  Drury,  Esq. 


Committn. 


The  President 

The  Patrons 

The  Vice-Presidents 

The  Rural  Deans  (being  Members) 

The  Officers  of  the  Society 

Rev.  J.  Browne 

Rev.  T.  G.  Bussel 

Rev.  J.  Byron 

A.  Trollope,  Esq. 

Rev.  E.  F.  Hodgson 


Rev.  W.  J.  Jenkins 
Rev.  F.  Laurent 
Rev.  J.  White 
J.  Fowler,  Esq. 
C.  Kirk,  Esq. 
Rev.  W.  R.  Ayton 
Rev.  W.  F.  Hood 
Rev.  H.  R.  Lloyd 
Rev.  J.  W.  Andrews. 


LIST    OF    NEW    MEMBERS. 


Ixv. 


leto  llcmto. 


His  Royal  Highness  the  Duke  d'Aumale. 
The  Hon  Sir.  H.  Dymoke,  Bart.,  Scri- 

velsby  Court,  Horncastle. 
R.   H.    Boucherett,    Esq.,    Willingham 

House,  INIarket  Rasen. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Mihier,  Horncastle. 
Charles  Ainslie,  J]sq. 
Rev.  W.  Pegus,  Uffington,  Stamford. 
William  Hopkinson,  Esq.,  M.D.  Stamford. 
Robert  C.  Moore,  Esq.  Harmston,  Lincoln. 
Rev.  Arthur  Brook,  East  Retford,  Notts. 
Rev.  T.  F.  Smith,  Horsington,  Horncastle. 
Mr.  T.  C.  Osborne,  Horncastle. 
William  Garfit,  Esq.,  Boston. 
Thos.  Gartit,  Esq.,  Boston. 
B.  J.  Boulton,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Horncastle. 
IVIr.  T.  Paradise,  Stamford. 


Rev.  Thomas  Aubertin,  Barnetby,  Brigg* 
Rev.  F.  Bashforth,  Minting,  Horncastle- 
Rev.  W.   Frankland  Hood,   Nettleham» 

Lincoln. 
Thomas    Smith   Woolley,    Esq.,     South 

CoUingham,  Newark. 
Robert  N.  Newcomb,  Esq.,  Rock  House, 

Stamford. 
Robert  Jalland,  Esq.,  Horncastle. 
Rev.  Joseph  Holmes,  Swineshead,  Boston. 
Rev.  F.  S.  Emly,  Kirkby  Underwood, 

Falkingham. 
Mr.  William  Rayson,  Horncastle. 
Rev.  William  Wright,  Brattleby,  Lincoln. 
Rev.    James   Hildyard,    Ingoldsby, 

Grantham. 
Rev.  G.  Maughan,  East  Kkkby,  Spilsby, 


®|^  feprt. 


The  Committee  of  your  Society  is  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  report  most  favour- 
ably upon  the  Society's  career  during  the  past  year,  and  also  as  to  its  future 
prospects. 

It  is  not  often  that  our  English  climate  presents  us  with  a  perfectly  clear  sky 
entirely  devoid  of  all  distant  clouds,  which,  however  small,  may  before  long  thi'ow 
shadows  over  the  otherwise  shining  scene  ;  and  still  less  frequent  is  it,  perhaps,  to 
hear  of  a  large  body  of  persons  joining  iu  an  enterprise  requiring  considerable 
exertion  and  a  variety  of  qualiKcations,  without  having  the  misfortune  of  occasion- 
ally coming  into  collision  with  other  bodies,  and  with  one  another. 

We  are  enabled,  however,  with  the  strictest  truth,  to  announce  that  the  labours 
of  the  Society  have  been  (so  far)  employed — like  those  of  the  bees  and  ants — with 
perfect  unanimity  of  purpose,  and  for  the  common  good  ;  so  that  the  result  has 
been  considerable.  We  may  also  allude,  with  much  satisfaction,  to  the  gradual  but 
continual  growth  of  the  Society's  member-list ;  for,  although  we  have  not  added 
another  hundred  names  to  this  document,  as  we  did  last  year,  the  Society  has 
gained  a  considerable  accession  of  strength  during  the  present  one,  as  will  be  seen 
by  the  list  of  newly-elected  members.  Its  losses,  meanwhile,  have  been  remarkably 
small.  Amongst  these  we  have,  with  much  regret,  to  announce  the  departure  of 
one  of  its  local  secretaries,  the  Rev.  G.  H.  Smyttan,  to  a  new  and  far  distant  scene 
of  ministerial  labour,  which  will  deprive  the  Society  of  a  very  ardent  and  able 
officer  in  Nottinghamshire. 

It  is  with  much  sorrow  that  we  have  to  refer  to  the  death  of  Mr.  Keyworth,  of 
Lincoln,  who,  by  his  amiable  conduct  and  his  ready  wit  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Society's  meeting  at  Lincoln,  in  conjunction  with  his  partners,  Messrs.  Clayton  and 
Shuttleworth,  aided  in  a  considerable  degree  to  the  success  of  that  meeting.  And 
•we  cannot  part  with  the  Rev.  Christopher  Smyth,  who  has  removed  to  Northamp- 
tonshire, without  expressing  our  thankfulness  to  him  for  the  assistance  he  rendered 
to  the  Society  at  an  eai-ly  period  of  its  career. 

We  are  confident  that  the  Society  must  have  felt  highly  gratified  at  the  recep- 
tion its  deputies  met  with  from  His  Royal  Highness  the  Due  d'Aumale,  on  the 
occasion  of  their  waiting  upon  him  at  Orleans  House,  for  the  purpose  of  presenting 
him  with  a  copy  of  some  of  the  Treatises  published  by  the  Society  in  its  last 
volume,  preceded  by  the  following  dedication  from  the  Secretary  : — "  It  is  not 


Ixvi.       LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

"  without  a  due  sense  of  the  honour  which  has  been  conferred  upon  me,  in  being 
"allowed  to  dedicate  this  little  volume  to  your  Highness,  that  I  offer  it  for  your 
"  acceptance.  Having  yourself  greatly  aided  to  elucidate,  as  an  author,  a  subject 
"  possessing  unusual  value  in  the  eyes  of  both  French  and  English  students  of 
"history,  1  am  in  hopes  that  the  production  of  one  who  was  labouring  at  the  same 
"  time,  upon  the  same  task,  may  prove  intex-esting  to  your  Highness  ;  and  the 
"  more  so,  as — until  the  present  period — it  was  always  a  disputed  point  as  to  where 
"  the  brave,  the  true,  and  the  accomplished  John  of  France  spent  a  considerable 
"portion  of  his  sojourn  in  England — a  fact  Avhich  has  now  been  most  satisfactorily 
"  set  at  rest;  and  I  trust  that  by  the  aid  of  the  engravings  illustrating  this  volume, 
"  your  Highness  will  be  able,  in  a  great  measure,  to  comprehend  the  situation  and 
"  character  of  Somertou  castle.  "  I  am, 

"  With  the  utmost  respect, 
"  Your  Royal  Highness's  most  obedient  servant, 

"EDWARD  TROLLOPE." 

To  which  the  Prince  made  the  following  reply: — 

"  C'est  a  moi,  Monsieur,  de  me  ti'ouver  honored  par  la  dedicace  que  vous  voulez 
"  bien  me  faire. 

"  Je  suis  tres  flatte  de  voir  mon  nom  mentionne  en  titre  du  livre  dans  lequel 
"vous  avez  si  heureusement  elucide  une  importante  question  historique. 

"  Veuillez  done  recevoir,  avec  mes  remerciments  pour  votre  delicate  attention, 
"  mes  felicitations  sinceres  sur  le  succes  qui  a  couronne  vos  efforts,  et  me  croire, 

"  Votre  affectionne, 

"H.  D'  ORLEANS." 

The  deputies  were  received  in  person  by  the  Due  and  Duchessse  d'Aumale,  in  the 
presence  of  their  Royal  Highnesses  the  Princesse  de  Sal  erne,  the  Comte  de  Paris, 
the  Due  de  Chartres,  and  the  Prince  de  Conde,  ■  attended  by  the  Comte  de 
IMontguyon,  the  Viscomte  and  Viscomtesse  Vigier,  ]\I.  de  Boismilon,  M.  Minasi, 
M.  Couturie,  &c. ;  and,  after  partaking  of  a  sumptuous  dejeuner,  and  having 
examined  some  of  the  chief  art  treasures  of  Orleans  House — kindly  exhibited  by 
the  Prince  himself — retired  much  gratified  with  the  result  of  their  mission. 

Since  the  above  named  occasion.  His  Royal  Highness'  pleasure  having  previously 
been  consulted,  he  has  lananimously  been  elected  a  Patron  of  the  Society  ;  a  fact 
.which  we  have  the  utmost  satisfaction  in  announcing. 

The  Societj^'s  pecuniary  position  is  one  it  has  never  previously  attained  to  ;  for, 
instead  of  being  indebted  to  its  excellent  Treasurer — as  it  sometimes  has  been  in 
past  years,  after  having  produced  a  volume  illustrated  far  more  copiously  and 
ornately  than  any  of  its  predecessors,  it  has  been  enabled  to  fund  £100,  besides 
having  a  considerable  balance  in  hand,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  monetary  account. 

The  Society's  Summer  Public  Meeting,  held  on  Wednesday  and  Thursday,  the 
2nd  and  3rd  of  June,  at  Horncastle,  was  rxot  only  of  a  very  agreeable  character 
whilst  it  lasted,  but — we  have  reason  to  hope — has  been  of  permanent  benefit  to 
the  Society  itself,  and  a  means  of  diffusing  a  love  for  useful  and  elevating  instruc- 
tion amongst  some,  at  least,  of  the  very  many  persons  of  all  classes,  who  availed 
themselves  of  the  opportunity  it  offered  to  all  of  listening  to  its  lectures,  and 
inspecting  the  paintings,  prints,  rubbings,  and  numerous  objects  of  art  and  anti- 
quity— illustrating  either  the  history  of  past  ages  or  modern  progress — collected 
together  for  the  occasion. 

The  proceedings  connuenced  with  Divine  Service  in  St.  Mary's  church  ;  after 
which  the  Rev.  G.  Atkinson  made  the  following  observations  on  the  flibric  to  the 
members  of  the  Society,  and  a  numerous  company  of  the  inhabitants  of  Horncastle 
and  its  vicinity. 

He  observed  that  he  was  not  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  early  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  town  to  say  what  the  church  preceding  the  present  one  might  have 
been.  He  did  not  see  any  clear  indications  of  the  existence  of  an  earlier  building, 
but  certainly  there  must  have  been  one  of  a  much  earlier  date  than  any  part  of  the 
existing  structure.  It  appeared  to  him  that  the  oldest  part  of  the  present  church 
was  at  the  west  end  ;  indeed,  it  was  almost  imiversally  found  in  medieeval  churches 
that  the  west  end  was  the  earliest  part.  The  tower  he  concluded  to  belong  to  the 
latter  part  of  the  13th  century,  but  he  had  observed  some  iudicatious  in  the 


THE    REPORT.  Ixvii. 

north  and  sontli-west  walls  of  the  tower  which  induced  him  to  helieve  that  they 
were  somewhat  later  than  the  eastern  parts.  It  would  also  appear  that  at  one  time 
there  was  only  a  bell-gable,  though  it  was  difficult  to  suppose  a  town  like  Horn- 
castle  without  a  steeple.  The  body  of  the  church  seemed  to  be  of  one  date — the 
earlier  half  of  the  14th  century — and  to  belong  to  what  was  commonly  called  the 
decorated  style.  The  clerestory  was  an  addition  of  the  15th  century,  and  he  did 
not  Ihink  it  was  very  early  in  that  century.  The  tower,  he  believed,  had  once 
been  loftiei-.  He  understood  that  it  had  been  the  practice  in  the  parish  to  dress 
the  stone  from  time  to  time  on  its  chipping,  to  which  it  was  very  subject  from  its 
friability  ;  the  consequence  was  that  the  external  appearance  of  the  tower  would 
deceive  a  casual  observer  as  to  its  antiquity,  and  induce  him  to  believe  that  the 
tower  was  a  piece  of  what  was  called  "  churchwarden-work."  The  pillars  sup- 
porting the  tower-arch  seemed  to  show  an  earlier  date  than  any  other  portion  of 
the  church.  The  high  walls  he  thought  were  original  ;  and,  with  the  exception  of 
the  clerestory,  he  believed  the  church  was  now  as  it  existed  in  1350.  The  chancel 
Gould  not  be  of  much  later  date  than  the  body  of  the  church,  but  the  north  chapel 
or  chantry — or  whatever  it  was — was  clearly  an  addition  of  the  15th  century.  A 
curious  feature  in  it  was  the  grated  aperture  in  the  wall  near  the  altar.  It  had 
been  supposed  that  these  apertures  were  formerly  used  to  hand  the  sacred  elements 
through  to  persons  excluded  from  the  church — such  as  lepers.  It  was  evident, 
however,  that  such  could  not  be  its  use  in  this  case,  for  the  wall  was  very  thick, 
and  it  would  be  impossible  to  pass  anything  through  unless  the  hands  on  each  side 
touched.  A  somewhat  similar  aperture  was  found  in  Stow  church  ;  they  must 
have  certainly  been  used  for  some  purposes  which  form  no  place  in  the  reformed 
Church  of  England.  Referring  to  the  galleries — which  he  considered  a  great 
disfigurement  to  the  church — Mr.  Atkinson  said  that  it  was  as  impossible  at 
present  to  judge  what  the  church  had  been,  or  what  it  might  be  (and  he  hoped 
would  be),  as  to  judge  of  the  figure  of  a  man  who  was  cased  up  to  his  neck  in  wood. 
Some  very  fine  work  was  concealed  by  the  galleries,  and  he  was  sorry  to  say  that 
the  capitals  of  the  pillars  had  been  greatly  injured.  It  was  very  curious  how 
reckless  people  engaged  in  the  work  of  restoration  were  in  dealing  with  what  did 
not  belong  to  their  own  craft ;  the  joiner  had  no  sort  of  reverence  for  the  masonry, 
and  the  mason  cared  only  about  the  stone-work.  He  trusted  that  the  beautiful 
ornamentation  of  the  capitals  would  be  rescued  from  its  present  obscuration  ;  and 
he  was  sure  that  by  a  judicious  arrangement  the  galleries  might  be  removed  without 
at  all  diminishing  the  accommodation  of  the  church.  This  elasticity  of  capacity 
was  one  of  the  remarkable  advantages  of  a  well-designed  church  ;  and  he  thought 
the  capabilities  of  this  structure,  when  properly  brought  out,  would  very  much 
surprise  them.  Mr.  Atkinson  observed  that  there  was  an  opportunity  of  effecting 
a  considerable  improvement  in  the  appearance  of  the  church,  by  taking  down  the 
present  unsightly  plaster  ceiling,  and  laying  bare  the  open  roof,  which,  from  what 
could  be  seen  of  it,  appeared  to  be  a  very  handsome  one.  There  was  a  tablet  in 
the  chancel  to  the  memory  of  Sir  Ingram  Hopton,  who  was  slain  at  Winceby,  in 
the  civil  wars  ;  and  there  Avas  another  interesting  memorial  to  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Gibson,  Vicar  of  Plorncastle  during  the  same  agitated  period,  and  who  during  the 
dissensions  was  removed  from  his  living,  but  survived  all  the  troubles,  and  was 
restored  to  his  vicarage,  which  he  held  for  seventeen  or  eighteen  years  afterwards. 
The  inscription  on  this  tablet,  which  is  over  the  vestry  door,  is  as  follows  : — 
["  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  the  Rev,  Thomas  Gibson,  A.M.,  forty-four  years  vicar 
of  this  parish.  He  lived  in  such  times  when  truth  to  the  Church  and  loyalty  to 
the  King  met  with  pimishment  due  only  to  the  worst  of  crimes.  He  was,  by  the 
rebellious  powers,  carried  away  prisoner  four  times  from  his  congregation  ;  once 
exchanged  into  the  garrison  of  Newark  for  a  dissenting  teacher;  afterwards  seques- 
tered, and  his  family  driven  out  by  the  then  Earl  of  Manchester.  He  survived 
the  Restoration,  and  was  brought  back  at  the  head  of  several  hundreds  of  his 
friends,  and  made  a  Prebendary  in  the  Cathedral  church  of  Lincoln.  As  his 
enemies  never  forgave  his  zeal  to  the  church  and  crown,  so  nothing  but  the  height 
of  Christian  charity  could  forgive  the  insults  which  he  met  with  from  them.  He 
died  April  22nd,  1678."] 

The  Public  Meeting  of  the  Society  in  the  Corn  Exchange  then  commenced, 
J.  Banks  Stanhope,  Esq.,  ]\I.P.,  occupying  the  chair. 

The  Chaikman,  in  opening  the  proceedings,  said  he  believed  he  should  best 


Ixviii.     LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

perforin  his  duty,  and  best  please  the  meeting,  by  being  as  brief  as  possible  ;  but, 
at  the  same  time,  he  felt  that  in  taking  that  chair  on  such  an  occasion,  he  was 
bound  to  take  the  earliest  opportunity  of  thanking  the  Lincoln  Diocesan  Archi- 
tectural Society  for  coming  to  Horncastle,  and  for  the  interest  it  had  given  them 
in  the  vai-ious  antiquities  of  the  town.  He  was  sure  that  thei-e  was  no  body  of 
men  to  whom  the  country  generally  ought  to  be  more  obliged  than  to  those  who  had 
given  their  lives  to  the  investigation  of  the  origin  of  those  monuments  which,  without 
some  knowledge  of  their  historical  associations,  were  of  neither  interest  nor  advan- 
tage ;  while  the  information  shed  upon  them  by  archaeological  researches  enabled 
them  to  recognize  in  what  appeared  to  be  a  simple  mass  of  brickwork  (as  in  the 
case  of  the  Roman  wall  in  this  town),  a  relic  of  an  eventful  epoch  in  the  infancy  of 
our  country. 

R.  Jalland,  Esq.,  the  President  of  the  Horncastle  Mechanics'  Institution, 
then  rose,  and  on  the  part  of  the  members  of  the  Institution,  and  the  principal 
inhabitants  of  Horncastle,  pronounced  the  following  address  : — 

"  To  the  Patron,  Presidents,  Vice-Presidents,  and  Members  of  the  Lincoln,  Diocesan 
Architectural  Society ; 

"  Gentlemen  :  We,  the  President  and  Committee  of  the  Horncastle  Mechanics' 
Institute,  with  the  Vicar  and  Churchwardens,  and  other  inhabitants  of  this  ancient 
town,  beg  to  tender  to  you  the  expression  of  our  gratification  that  Horncastle  has 
been  selected  as  the  temporary  scene  of  your  interesting  studies. 

"  We  believe  that  the  science  of  architecture  not  only  ranks  among  the  fine 
arts,  but  is  the  most  useful  of  them  all,  inasmuch  as  whilst  it  tends  like  the  others 
to  elevate  and  reline  the  mind,  it  has  a  direct  utility,  as  it  adds  to  the  domestic 
comfort  and  health  and  convenience  of  every  inhabitant  of  the  land. 

"  Although  our  town  has  recently  made  considerable  advances  in  the  improve- 
ment of  its  buildings,  both  public  and  private,  yet  we  feel  that  we  have  all  much  to 
learn,  and  may  benefit  greatly  by  the  visit  of  a  Society  whose  membei'S  have  paid 
so  much  attention  to  the  subject,  and  Avhose  labours  have  already  tended  to  intro- 
duce a  more  correct  taste  in  modern  structures;  Avhilst  their  investigations  into  the 
historical  reminiscences  of  former  ages  have  given  additional  interest  to  their 
pursuits,  and  preserved  for  the  information  of  future  generations  a  knowledge  of 
local  antiquities,  which,  but  for  their  labours,  would  have  been  lost  in  the  obliterating 
lapse  of  time. 

"We  ai-e  gratified  to  observe  that  a  Paper  will  be  read  to  ns  on  the  Roman 
remains  of  this  town,  by  a  member  of  this  Society,  whose  previous  studies  and 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  works  of  the  ancients,  assure  us  that  we  shall  not 
separate  without  a  better  acquaintance  with  the  early  history  of  our  town  than 
many  of  us  yet  possess  ;  and  that  Bollngbroke  Castle,  a  seat  of  the  House  of  Lan- 
caster, teeming  as  it  does  with  historic  reminiscences  of  the  deepest  interest,  will  be 
treated  of  by  another  member  of  the  Society,  whose  descriptive  powers  are  Avell 
known.  We  rejoice,  also,  that  so  practical  a  subject  as  any  improved  use  of  Bricks 
is  intended  to  be  brought  forward  ;  and  we  expect  to  derive  some  curious  information 
from  the  subject  of  ancient  Christian  burial  places  and  epitaphs,  proposed  to  be 
handled  by  one  whose  historical  researches  have  already  ministered  to  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  members  of  our  INIechanics'  Institute,  and  whose  incipient  love  of 
literature  was  nurtured  and  trained  in  the  scholastic  establishment  of  our  town. 

"Gentlefhen,  we  trust  that  the  programme  of  places  to  be  inspected  embraces 
sufficient  objects  of  interest  to  insure  to  you  a  pleasing  recollection  of  the  time  you 
may  spend  among  us  ;  and  we  venture  to  express  a  hope  that  while  your  visit 
gratifies  and  instructs  us,  it  Avill,  by  extending  a  taste  for  your  intellectual  and 
interesting  studies,  add  to  the  prosperity  of  your  Society." 

The  ]^ev.  Edward  Trollope,  Hon.  Secretary  to  the  Society,  then  read  the 
following  reply  : — 

**  To  the  President  and  Commiltce  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  the  Vicar,  Church- 
zvardens,  and  Inhabitants  of  Horncastle  ; 

"  Gentlemen  :  We,  the  Patron,  Presidents,  Vice-Presidents,  and  members  of  the 
Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Society  receive  with  much  pleasure  this  flattering 
address,  assuring  us  of  the  satisftiction  which  you  feel  in  our  having  selected  Horn- 
castle as  the  place  of  our  public  meeting  for  the  ensuing  year. 


THE    REPORT.  Ixix. 

"  The  object  of  our  Society  is  to  foster  and  encourage  the  study  of  ancient 
architecture,  and  to  enlist  in  friendly  association  with  us  all  those  who  may  be 
disposed  to  cultivate  the  growing  taste  of  this  noble  science.  Endeavouring  by 
these  means  to  secure  a  better  and  more  general  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  tho 
true  princii)lcs  of  architecture,  ecclesiastical  and  domestic,  our  desire  is,  not  only  to 
accomplish  the  preservation  and  restoration  of  those  ancient  monuments  that  mny 
have  fallen  to  our  charge,  but  generally  to  elevate  tho  standard  of  modern  taste,  in 
its  application  to  the  buildings  of  the  present  day;  and,  in  furtherance  of  these 
views,  we  seek  to  draw  attention  to  those  objects  of  interest  that  present  themselves 
in  the  various  localities  where  we  have  from  time  to  time  assembled. 

"  History  and  Arclueology,  so  inseparable  from  these  pursuits,  in  many  instances 
supply  a  charm  to  the  broken  fragments,  to  the  crumbling  ruins,  of  former 
grandeur;  and  not  unfrequently  is  that  charm  supplied  to  the  smallest  vestige  of 
antiquity,  the  mere  site,  the  mere  luiked  foundation — things  that  covdd  command 
no  attractions  except  from  their  associations,  traditional  or  otherwise.  Thus  we 
endeavour,  by  the  aid  of  c»ur  artistic  and  fjther  members,  to  trace  out  the  history 
and  illustrate  those  local  objects  and  antiquities  to  which  we  have  referred. 

"The  town  and  neighbourhood  of  Horncastle  can  scarcely  fail  to  supply  such 
materials  for  instruction  and  contemplation.  Witness  the  palpable  evidences,  still 
visible  above  ground,  of  her  former  Roman  colonization.  Again,  of  later  times,  that 
grand  and  beautiful  specimen  of  ancient  brickwork  at  Tattershall,  genei'ally 
acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the  finest  in  the  kingdom  ;  nor  should  we  omit,  on  this 
occasion,  to  refer  to  the  neighbouring  birth-place  of  that  king,  whose  name  is 
associated  with  one  of  the  most  stirring  periods  of  our  history. 

"In  the  examination  which  we  propose  of  these  interesting  subjects,  we  feel 
assured  that  our  Society  will  receive  your  kind  and  valuable  assistance. 

"  Mr.  President,  and  gentlemen  of  Horncastle,  we  beg  to  thank  you  most 
heartily  for  your  address,  and  to  assure  you  that  it  has  been  most  gratifying  to  our 
Society  to  receive  this  most  flattering  mark  of  attention  on  your  part." 

The  President  then  called  upon  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope  to  read  a  Paper  on 
"  The  Roman  Remains  of  Horncastle;"  on  the  conclusion  of  which, — ■ 

The  Rev.  W.  H.  Milner,  the  Vicar,  rose  and  said  that  he  felt  quite  sure  he 
expressed  the  universal  feeling  of  the  meeting  when  he  tendered  their  thanks  to 
Mr.  Trollope  for  his  very  valuable  paper.  It  fully  realised  the  anticipation  they  had 
all  formed  that  the  visit  of  this  society  would  give  them  a  new  insight  into  the 
history  of  their  town.  They  were  exceedingly  indebted  to  Mr.  Trollope  for  the 
pains  he  had  taken  in  gathering  such  particulars  about  the  antiquities  of  Horn- 
castle, and  he  (Mr.  Milner)  begged  to  propose  a  cordial  vote  of  thanks  to  him  for 
the  results  of  his  laboin-s. 

Dr.  BouLTON,  in  seconding  the  proposition,  acknowledged  the  extent  to  which 
be  was  himself  indebted  to  Mr.  Trollope  for  the  paper  just  read,  having,  he  was 
ashamed  to  say,  been  almost  totally  ignorant  about  the  history  of  a  town  in  which 
he  had  lived  thirty  years.  Many,  he  believed,  like  himself,  woiild  feel  that  the 
opening  part  of  the  paper  was  a  just  satire  on  them  for  the  little  intei-est  which 
they  had  hitherto  taken  in  the  history  of  their  town,  and  which  it  had  been  left  to 
a  stranger  to  awaken.  He  was  quite  sure  that  there  could  not  be  a  more  profitable 
and  agreeable  recreation  than  to  study  subjects  of  such  local  interest,  jyid  he  joined 
cordially  in  the  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Trollope  for  having  inspired  them  with  some 
feelings  of  regard  for  the  antiquities  of  their  town. 

The  President  then  requested  the  Rev.  F.  C.  Massingberd  to  read  a  Paper 
on  "  The  Castle  of  Bolingbroke,  and  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  in  Lincolnshire  ;"  the 
value  of  which  will  be  readily  discerned  by  all  such  members  of  the  Society  as 
were  not  present,  now  that  it  has  been  placed  before  them  in  a  printed  form — 
displaying,  as  it  does,  the  peculiar  talents  required  by  the  historian,  gracefully  lit 
up  by  the  occasional  sparkle  of  a  truly  poetical  mind. 

Sir  Charles  Anderson,  in  returning  thanks  to  Mr.  Massingberd,  on  the  part 
of  the  audience,  for  this  treatise,  alluded  to  the  double  interest  attachmg  to  such  a 
subject,  in  which  the  cradle  of  Bolingbroke  had  been  so  felicitously  connected  with 
his  after  history — leading  to  results  that  seriously  affected,  not  only  the  county  of 
Lincoln,  but  the  whole  of  England. 


IXX.        LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

The  Rev.  Sir  G.  Ceauford,  the  seconder  of  the  vote  of  thanks,  most  cordially- 
agreed  with  the  expressions  that  had  fallen  fi-om  Sir  C.  Anderson,  and  hoped  that 
they  would  he  regarded  as  those  of  the  audience  in  general. 

After  a  vote  of  thanks  had  heen  unanimously  passed  to  Mr.  Stanhope  for  his 
services  in  the  chair,  the  meeting  was  adjourned  until  the  evening  ;  and  the 
museum  was  thrown  open  to  the  public.  Here  the  gentlemen  forming  the  Local 
Committee,  and  their  active  Secretary,  Mr.  Kirk,  had  exerted  tliemselves  most 
heartily  to  produce  a  satisfactory  result,  and,  in  conjunction  with  some  of  the  more 
zealoiis  and  working  members  of  the  Society  from  a  distance,  fully  succeeded  in 
oftering  to  public  inspection,  in  the  Corn  Exchange,  a  very  instructive  collection  of 
antiquities,  drawings,  and  works  of  art,  so  ai-ranged  as  to  be  most  easily  understood. 

Amongst  these  Ave  may  mention  the  extraordinarily  faithful  copy  of  the  portrait 
of  John,  King  of  France,  in  the  Louvre,  the  property  of  the  Right  Hon.  C.  T. 
D'Eyncourt,  from  which  the  print  of  that  king — illustrating  our  last  year's  volume 
— was  engraved,  and  presented  by  him  to  the  Society  ;  and  a  fine  water-colour 
painting,  hy  Keade,  of  Sleaford  church,  exhibited  by  J\Ir.  Parry  ;  in  addition  to  a 
collection  of  paintings  illustrating  the  vicinity  of  Horncastle,  by  the  Rev.  C.  Terrot, 
which  attracted  general  attention,  and  were  most  deservedly  much  admired.  The 
walls  were  completely  covered  with  a  portion  of  the  Society's  valuable  collection  of 
rubbings  from  brasses,  aided  by  drawings,  pliotographs,  and  engravings,  contributed 
by  its  various  members  and  their  friends.  The  antiquities  were  ari'anged,  according 
to  their  respective  dates,  on  tables  in  the  centre  of  the  room  ;  and  amongst  these 
were  some  curious  old  deeds,  exhibited  by  Sir  Charles  Anderson,  viz.,  a  gront  of 
free-warren  from  Edward  III.  to  Rt.  Ughtred,  in  Kiln  wick.  East  Riding  of  York, 
with  the  original  seal  attached,  very  perfect.  Roger  Trehampton's  grant  of  land  in 
Lea  ]\Iarshes,  A.D.  1163,  to  the  Abbey  of  Revesby.  A  deed  said  to  be  of  the  time 
of  Rufus,  from  the  Earl  of  Albemarle.  A  deed  of  William  de  Percy,  with  reference 
to  lands  in  Kilnwick,  dated  1281;  and  several  others  of  equal  interest. 

A  public  dinner  then  took  place  in  the  large  room  of  the  Bull  Hotel,  at  six 
o'clock,  under  the  presidency  of  J.  Banks  Stanhope,  Esq.,  at  which  about  a 
hundred  ladies  and  gentlemen  were  present.  The  Report  was  of  such  a  character 
as  to  give  the  greatest  satisfaction  ;  and  after  the  usual  series  of  toasts  had  been 
proposed,  the  company  again  adjourned,  at  eight  o'clock,  to  the  Corn  Exchange, 
which  Avas  completely  filled  Avith  listeners  anxious  to  hear  the  Society's  evening 
Lectures. 

The  President  first  requested  the  Rev.  B.  Caparn  to  read  his  Paper  on  "  Ancient 
Christian  Burial  Places  and  Epitaphs  ;"  at  the  conclusion  of  Avhich  Mr.  Fowler 
proposed,  and  Dr.  Cammack  seconded,  a  A'ote  of  thanks,  on  the  part  of  the 
audience,  for  Mr.  Caparn's  highly  interesting  Lecture.  This  Avas  followed  by  the 
delivery  of  some  portion  of  a  treatise  on  "  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Red  Bricks,"  by 
the  General  Secretary;  after  Avhich,  the  Rev.  G.  Atkinson  proposed  a  vote  of 
thanks  to  the  lecturer,  alluding  in  a  A'ery  flattering  manner  to  the  services  he  had 
rendered  to  the  Society,  and  congratulating  it  on  the  brilliant  success  that  had  so 
far  croAvned  its  proceedings  during  its  assemblage  at  Horncastle. — After  Mr.  Baily, 
of  NeAvark,  had  seconded  this  motion,  and  a  vote  of  thanks  had  been  passed  by 
acclamation  to  the  President  for  his  obliging  services  in  the  chair,  the  proceedings 
for  this  day  were  thus  happily  bi'ought  to  a  close. 

On  Thursday,  in  accordance  Avith  previous  arrangements,  a  long  train  of  car- 
riages, containing  the  Members  of  the  Society  and  their  friends,  left  the  Bull, 
precisely  at  nine  o'clock,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  tbe  following  objects  of  interest, 
viz.,  St.  Michael's  church,  Martin,  retaining  portions  of  the  original  Norman  edifice, 
covered  Avith  a  thatched  roof ;  the  ToAver  on  the  JNloor,  built  by  the  Lord  Treasurer 
CroniAvell,  as  a  sporting  adjunct  to  his  stately  residence  in  the  vicinity;  the  new 
church  of  Langton,  St.  Andrew  ;  and  the  remains  of  Kirkstead  Abbey,  founded  in 
1139,  by  Hugh  Fitz  Eudo  in  fivor  of  the  Cistercian  Order,  and  dedicated  to  the 
Virgin.  Here  a  ground  plan  of  the  abbey  Avas  exhibited,  and  a  sketch  of  its  his- 
tory given  by  Mr.  Atkinson.  Those  Avho  had  not  previously  examined  the  still 
existing  chapel  on  the  south  of  the  abbey  ruins,  then  eagerly  hastened  forward  to 
gaze  upon  the  beauty  of  its  design  and  the  excellence  of  its  Avorkmanship.  We 
give  a  small  cut  of  its  exterior  as  it  noAv  appears,  placed  at  our  disposal  by  Mr. 
J.  H.  Parker  ;  but  a  careful  personal  inspection  of  this  gem  of  the  Early  English 


THE    REPORT. 


IXXl. 


period,  with  its  groined  roof,  and  exquisitely  wrought  ornamentation,  can  alone 
give  a  true  impression  of  its  value  as  an  example  of  the  pure  taste  of  our  old  English 
architects,  and  the  great  skill  of  the  masons  working  under  their  directions. 


The  next  and  chief  attraction  was  Tattershall,  with  its  collegiate  church,  and 
its  renowned  castle.  The  former  elicited  some  observations  from  Mr.  Atkinson, 
who  alluded  to  it  as  being  a  favourable  example  of  gothic  architecture  in  its 
decadence;  and  pointed  out  the  beauty  of  some  of  its  features,  and  its  fine 
sepulchral  brasses.  The  Society,  being  well  aware  of  the  spoliation  this  church 
has  been  subjected  to  in  years  gone  by,  and  the  dilapidated  condition  it  was 
allowed  to  remain  in  for  a  considerable  period,  perceived  with  much  satisfaction 
that  it  has  of  late  received  some  very  necessary  repairs,  indicative — it  trusts — of 
further  works  which  are  greatly  needed.  Among  such  are  the  restoration  of  the 
north  transept-window,  now  filled  up  with  brickwork;  and,  above  all,  the  relaying 
in  appropriate  order  the  very  fine  brasses  at  pi-esent  occupying  the  most  incongruous 
situations,  and  strangely  intermingled  with  one  another.  From  the  church,  the 
members  of  the  Society  passed  on  to  the  castle,  where,  by  some  simple  but  judicious 
arrangements,  the  whole  company — although  amounting  to  several  hundreds  of 
persons — distinctly  heard  the  observations  of  the  Secretary  upon  the  fabric,  from  a 
point  of  view  where  they  could,  at  the  same  time,  gaze  upon  its  venerable  features 
to  the  greatest  advantage.  After  a  few  minutes'  pause  at  St.  Michael's  church, 
Coningsby,  originally  rather  a  handsome  perpendicular  church,  but  Avhich  now 
sadly  demands  more  attention  tban  it  seems  to  receive,  the  excursionists  hastened 
on  to  the  well-cared-for  village  of  Revesby,  where — after  inspecting  its  church,  an 
excellent  school  establishment,  and  the  two  lai'ge  tumuli  (probably  of  British 
oi'igin)  spoken  of  by  Stukeley — they  reached  the  hospitable  mansion  of  Mr. 
Stanhope,  where  they  were  sumptuously  entertained,  and  met  with  every  mark  of 
attention.  The  very  welcome  refection  over,  the  large  party  at  Revesby  Abbey — 
which  had  examined  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  day  so  many  specimens  of  ancient 
ecclesiastical  architecture  —turned  to  the  agreeable  variety  afforded  by  a  survey  of 
one  of  the  most  favourable  examples  of  what  a  modern  English  country  residence 
should  be — now  thrown  open  for  inspection  by  its  hospitable  owner.  Its  style  may 
be  regarded  as  a  revival,  with  some  modifications,  of  that  truly  English  one  which 
once  widely  prevailed  in  this  country,  before  all  kinds  of  spurious  imitations  and 
borrowings  from  other  and  foreign  sources  had  been  allowed  to  overspread  and  dis- 
figure— rather  than  adorn — our  rural  scenery.  The  excellent  arrangement  of  the 
rooms  at  Revesby  Abbey  was  duly  noted,  and  above  all  the  taste  everywhere 
displayed  in  the  selection  of  the  internal  fittings  and  furniture  of  what  may  be 
termed  a  model  of  an  English  gentleman's  country  residence  ;  whilst  the  tei-raced 
garden  and  skilfully  arranged  brilliant  tints  of  flower  borders — interspersed  with 
statues  and  vases  judiciously  arranged — exhibited  the  same  knowledge  of  the  effects 

I 


Ixxii.      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  form  and  colour  as  had  been  indicated  by  the  interior  of  the  mansion,  of  which  it 
constitutes  so  appropriate  an  adjunct.  Reluctantly  leavin.^  this  scene  of  hospitality, 
the  excursionists  paid  a  short  visit  to  St.  Benedict's  church,  Scrivelsby,  where  they 
inspected  the  Marmion  and  Dymoke  monuments,  and  were  then  invited  to  visit 
Scrivelsby  Court,  (the  interesting  old  residence  of  the  ancient  hereditary  Champions 
of  England)  by  the  express  desire  of  Sir  Henry  Dymoke,  although  he  was  im- 
fortunately  not  able  to  receive  them  in  person.  Hence  the  party  returned  to 
Horncastle,  in  time  for  an  evening  Conversazione,  which  was  most  numerously 
attended;  and  although  no  more  lectures  had  been  provided  for  the  occasion,  at 
the  wish  of  the  assemblage — made  known  to  the  Vicar  and  the  President  of  the 
Mechanics'  Institute — the  Secretary  improvised  one  on  the  chief  objects  of  interest 
that  had  been  seen  by  the  Society  during  the  day,  and  on  the  various  classes  of 
woi-ks  of  ai't,  relics  of  by-gone  ages,  photographs,  &c.,  which  had  been  temporarily 
collected  together  for  the  united  instruction  and  amusement  of  the  members  of  the 
Society  and  their  very  numerous  visitors.  Thus  happily  closed  one  of  the  most 
agreeable  and  successful  meetings  the  Society  has  ever  projected  since  its  first 
formation. 

The  Society's  autumnal  public  Meeting  was  held  at  Ripon,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Yorkshire  Architectural  Society,  on  the  14th  and  15th  of  September, 
over  which  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Ripon  presided,  with  much  kindness  and  ability. 
We  shall  not  give  the  details  of  this  meeting,  as  they  will  no  doubt  be  alluded 
to  in  the  Yorkshire  Society's  Report;  but  will  simply  mention,  that  the  Lectvu-es 
then  delivered  were  emanations  from  the  pens  of  Mr.  Walbran,  a  well  known 
student  of  the  Mediaeval  period,  and  of  our  own  general  Secretary;  the  former 
being  on  "  St.  Wilfrid,  and  the  Saxon  church  of  Ripon,"  the  latter  on  "Labyrinths 
and  Mazes."  We  cannot  refrain,  however,  from  expressing  our  thanks  to  Earl  de 
Grey,  for  the  courteous  manner  in  which  he  received  the  members  of  the  two 
Societies  at  Fountains  Abbey,  and  the  evident  pleasure  he  took  in  throwing  open 
his  beautiful  park,  and  the  exquisite  architectural  gem  it  contains,  to  the  inspection 
of  his  numerous  visitors;  as  well  as  for  his  unhesitating  liberality  in  contributing 
many  objects  of  antiquarian  interest  to  the  temporary  Museum. 

The  work  of  church  restoration  has  not  been  carried  out  with  such  vigour 
during  the  present  year  as  in  the  preceding  one  ;  but  this  is  simply  an  accidental 
circumstance,  the  same  desire  certainly  prevailing  still,  as  during  past  years, 
throughout  the  diocese,  of  rendering  our  ecclesiastical  fabrics  more  worthy  of  the 
holy  purposes  to  which  they  have  been  consecrated;  and  much  work  of  this  char- 
acter being  in  contemplation,  the  fulfilment  of  which  we  shall  hope  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  alluding  to  in  oiar  next  Report. 

St.  Andrew's,  Folkingham,  has,  we  may  say,  been  restored  to  life  through  the 
exertions  of  the  pi-esent  Curate,  the  Rev.  H.  Spurriei-,  and  the  responsive  liberality 
of  the  parishioners.  Previously,  its  interior  might  have  been  compared  to  a  mere 
"  torso,"  whose  remaining  beauties  were  further  concealed,  in  part,  by  pews,  of 
such  preposterous  height  and  form,  as  to  unfit  this  church  materially  for  the  pur- 
poses of  public  worship.  The  chancel  was  almost  entirely  shut  out  from  view  by 
a  sheet  of  plaster-work,  covered  with  an  immense  expanse  of  canvas,  serving  to 
display  an  exaggerated  copy  of  the  Commandments,  and  the  Royal  Arms,  (the 
latter  nearly  twelve  feet  square) ;  whilst  the  space  under  the  tower,  and  the  ad- 
joining first  bays  of  both  aisles  were  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  church  by  a 
mean  hoarding,  so  as  to  foimi  a  school — one  of  whose  masters  had  cut  away  portions 
of  the  pillars  supporting  the  tower-arches,  with  a  view  to  the  better  supervision  of 
his  scholars.  The  lofty  chancel-arch  is  now  open,  displaying  to  great  advantage 
its  light  and  richly  caiwed  screen  below,  cleansed  from  innumerable  coats  of  paint; 
and  the  whole  of  the  scholastic  encroachment  at  the  west  end  has  been  swept 
away,  together  with  a  gallery  previously  in  front  of  it,  and  a  ringing-floor,  that  still 
further  curtailed  the  original  fair  proportions  of  the  edifice.  The  lofty  internal 
features  of  the  tower,  and  its  boldly  grained  stone  vaulting,  have  by  these  means 
become  visible.  The  arches  and  pillars  of  the  nave  have  also  been  properly 
cleaned,  the  walls  painted,  and  the  whole  area  below  neatly  re-seated.  These 
works  have  been  most  judiciously  carried  out  by  Messrs.  Kirk  and  Parry. 

East  Ravendale  Church. — St.  Martin  was,  doubtless,  once  duly  honoured 
at  East  Ravendale,  by  the  erection  of  a  church,  at  least  in  some  measure  worthy 


THE   REPORT.  Ixxiii. 

of  being  dedicated  to  so  honoured  a  pattern  of  Christian  chanty  as  was  that  Saint; 
but  long  had  his  name  been  associated  Avith  one  of  the  smallest  and  meanest  of 
sacred  edifices  at  Ravendale,  until  within  the  last  few  months,  when  a  great  change 
took  place,  and  instead  of  a  minute,  shabby,  barn-like  building,  totally  unworthy 
of  the  sacred  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended,  a  church  has  arisen  on  its  site,  of 
which  the  parishioners  may  justly  be  proud — but,  perhaps,  more  of  the  builder,  who, 
although  neither  the  incumbent  of  the  parish,  nor  even  one  of  its  large  land  owners, 
has,  wc  believe,  at  his  own  sole  cost,  or  nearly  so,  presented  to  his  fellow- 
parishioners  so  noble  a  gift  as  the  present  building,  which  has  arisen  under  the 
direction  of  Mr.  James  Fowler,  architect,  of  Louth,  and  consists  of  a  nave,  chancel, 
vestry,  and  porch,  of  the  early  English  period,  and  is  a  very  pleasing  specimen  of 
that  style  as  applied  to  a  small  parish  chiu-ch.  The  size  of  the  nave  is  thirty-eight 
feet  by  eighteen,  and  of  the  chancel  eighteen  feet  by  thirteen;  and  these  will 
accommodate  about  one  hundred  persons,  besides  leaving  ample  room  for  the  due 
administration  of  the  offices  of  the  church.  The  nave  roof,  of  a  good  pitch,  is  very 
pleasing,  and  the  occasionally  coupled  windows,  separated  by  an  unengaged  pillar 
having  a  shaft  of  a  warm  tint,  are  a  happy  feature  in  the  body  of  this  church.  The 
east  and  west  windows  also  are  judiciously  varied,  and  well  set  in  their  respective 
gables.  The  tile  flooring  is  agreeably  arranged,  and  the  carved  oak  pulpit  well 
designed  and  executed,  although  it  struck  us  that  it  ought  to  have  been  placed  a 
few  inches  higher,  and  on  a  solid  stone  base.  The  entrance  to  it,  through  the 
vestry,  is  most  convenient,  and  obviates  the  difficulty  of  supplying  the  steps  to  the 
same.  Externally,  the  warm  tint  of  the  stone^  for  the  most  part  employed,  con- 
trasts well  Avith  the  freestone  dressings,  and  also  with  the  very  picturesque  red 
brick  schoolhouse  in  the  vicinity  of  the  church,  rising,  as  they  now  do,  in  a  group 
from  the  ridge  which  they  so  happily  crown — to  which  a  last  addition  is  now  in  the 
act  of  being  made,  viz.,  that  of  a  new  parsonage-house,  another  instance  of  Dr. 
Parkinson's  great  and  well-dii'ected  liberality. 

The  chancel  of  St.  Peter's  church,  Sotby,  has  just  been  rebuilt,  from  very 
suitable  plans  provided  by  Mr.  M.  Drury,  of  Lincoln.  This  is  now  of  an  early 
English  style,  and  contrasts  very  agreeably  with  the  nave.  In  pulling  down  the 
old  chancel,  portions  of  a  Decorated  window  were  revealed,  a  piscina,  and  tomb- 
arch,  &c.;  also,  on  the  window  splays,  some  remains  of  paintings,  apparently  of  the 
middle  of  the  14th  century.  One  represented  our  Lord  and  a  female— perhaps 
Mary  Magdalene;  and  another,  from  the  juxtaposition  of  a  king,  a  festive  scene, 
and  some  characters  upon  the  wall,  was  doubtless  intended  to  represent  Belsbaz- 
zar's  Feast.     Many  oyster-shells  were  found  in  the  interior  of  the  old  chancel. 

We  have  always  looked  with  much  interest  on  St.  James'  church  at  Grimsby, 
but  also  with  such  a  feeling  of  pity  as  is  called  forth  by  the  sight  of  a  good  old 
man,  scarcely  supported  by  crutches,  and  whose  original  coat  is  almost  concealed 
by  patches  of  modern  and  totally  inappropriate  materials.  With  its  most  uncon- 
sonant aisles,  with  its  great  west  window  hacked  to  pieces,  with  its  transeptal 
walls,  improperly  lowered  chancel  cut  short,  all  its  original  high-pitched  roofs 
gone,  painted  glass  destroyed,  damp  floor,  and  luidrained  foundations— sonie  of  its 
original  features  still  shine  forth  Avith  a  considerable  amount  of  beauty,  inviting 
enquiry  into  its  early  history,  and  to  a  realization  of  its  appearance  before  its  season 
of  decadence  began.  During  the  last  two  years,  however,  a  happy  change  has 
befallen  this  church,  under  the  auspices  of  the  present  Vicar,  and  Mr.  Charles 
Ainslie,  the  architect  selected  to  carry  out  the  repairs— Avhich  required  very  great 
skill  to  effect,  in  consequence  of  the  precarious  condition  of  the  tower,  and  the 
necessity  of  replacing  some  of  its  abutments.  The  southern  transept  has  now  been 
entirely  rebuilt,  as  Avell  as  the  gable  of  the  northern  one;  their  walls  have  been 
raised  to  their  original  elevation,  and  re-roofed  as  at  first;  the  bells  have  been 
re-hung,  the  tower  newly  roofed,  its  arches  cleared  out,  and  a  new  ringing-gallery 
erected.  After  removing  some  two  hundred  tons  of  loose  stones,  earth,  and  rubbishy 
its  whole  interior  area  has  been  properly  re-sented,  so  as  to  afford  a  considerable 
increase  of  accommodation ;  its  alleys  are  now  paved  with  tiles  ;  its^  vestry  has 
been  rebuilt,  its  wiadow-glass  renewed,  its  foundations  drained;  and  it  has  beea 
heated  with  IMessrs.  Perkins'  hot  water  apparatus. 

A  partial  restoration  of  the  church  of    St.    Lawrence,    Aylesby,    has    been 
effected,  at  a  cost  of  £420,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mcsssrs.  Maughan  and 


Ixxiv.     LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Fowler.  The  nave  and  aisles  have  been  re-roofed,  and  the  tower  repaired,  &c. 
But  we  are  happy  to  hear  that  the  parishioners  are  not  yet  satisfied  with  the  con- 
dition of  their  church,  and  that  they  intend  shortly  to  reseat  its  entire  area.  The 
chancel,  also,  we  understand,  is  to  be  rebuilt. 

All  Saints,  Church  Eaton,  near  Retford,  has  been  entirely  rebuilt  at  the  expense 
of  Henry  Bridgman  Simpson,  Esq.,  from  plans  supplied  by  Mr.  George  Shaw,  of  Saddle- 
worth  near  Manchester.  Its  elevation  accords  with  the  picturesque  site  on  Avhich  it 
stands,  cresting  the  river  Idle,  whence  its  perforated  timber  bell-cot,  surmounted 
by  a  graceful  shingle  spirelet,  appears  to  much  advantage.  This  is  a  pleasing  work 
of  Mr.  Shaw's,  and  forms  a  most  agreeable  contrast  to  its  predecessor.  We  should 
have  preferred  greater  length  and  less  breadth  in  the  nave,  as  its  internal  appeax*- 
ance  would  have  thereby  gained  something — as  well  as  its  west  gable,  whose  present 
width  (externally)  has  not  been  satisfactorily  broken  by  the  application  of  a  couple 
of  too  low  buttresses.  The  "pentalpha"  window  at  the  west  end  is  filled  with 
stained  glass,  and  the  others  are  most  properly  and  pleasingly  varied  ;  but  we 
scarcely  appi-ove  of  the  introduction  of  two  windows  in  the  southern  wall,  which  do 
not  sufficiently  harmonise  with  the  rest;  we  also  regret  the  absence  of  pillars  below 
the  chancel-arch;  perhaps,  also,  the  chancel  doorway  is  rather  too  prominent  a 
feature. 

All  Saints  church,  Babworth,  in  the  same  vicinity,  originally  of  the  Decorated 
period — as  its  interior  at  once  shews — is  wholly  Perpendicular  without;  and  as  it 
became  necessary  to  re-roof  the  nave,  the  architect,  Mr.  J.  L.  Pearson,  of  London, 
was  called  upon  to  decide  whether  he  would  place  a  new  roof  upon  it  consonant 
with  the  exterior,  or  with  a  considerable  portion  of  the  interior;  and  we  think  he 
was  right  in  favouring  the  latter  caiise,  as  the  result  is  well  pleasing  to  the  eye,  and 
an  immense  improvement  upon  the  terribly  low  pitched  roof  just  removed.  We 
understand  that  a  consonant  roof  will  shortly  be  placed  upon  the  chancel,  and 
hope  that  the  opportunity  will  then  be  taken  of  building  a  chancel-arch,  which 
would  greatly  improve  the  appearance  of  this  church;  but  above  all  we  could  Avish 
to  see  the  monument  now  so  painfully  situated  at  the  ea&t  end  of  the  chancel, 
with  its  meretricious  colouring  and  marvellously  incongruous  design,  removed  to  a 
less  conspicuous  situation.  During  the  late  reparation  a  fragment  of  an  early 
decorated  period  was  found,  and  rather  an  interesting  sepulchral  memorial  of  that 
date.     The  entrance  to  the  rood-loft  stairs  was  also  then  disclosed. 

St.  James's  church,  Castle  Bytham,  has  been  enlarged  and  extensively  repaired. 
A  south  transept  has  been  erected  on  the  site  of  one  that  had  formerly  existed  ; 
some  of  its  Avails  have  been  substantially  repaired,  and  the  Avhole  fabric  thoroughly 
cleansed  and  re-seated.  This  church  possesses  a  fine  old  Norman  chancel-doorAvay, 
ornamented  Avith  the  usual  beaked  heads,  &c.,  of  the  period,  Avhich  has  been  partly 
cut  away,  for  the  purpose  of  insex'ting  a  low  side  Avindow  near  it,  of  an  after  date  ; 
it  has  also  a  good  north  doorway.  Within,  its  chancel-screen  Avas  found  to  have 
been  ornamented  Avith  paintings  of  Saints,  &c.,  on  its  panels.  It  has  also  a  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  an  ambry  placed  across  the  angle  of  the  north-east  corner  of  the 
chancel,  as  aa'cII  as  stone  seats  along  its  Avails,  a  piscina,  and  several  brackets;  also 
some  of  the  original  carved  bench  ends,  &c.  All  these  features — Ave  are  happy  to 
hear — have  been  carefully  preserved,  and  add  much  to  the  interest  of  this  uoav 
well  restored  church. 

Six  stained  glass  windoAvs  have  been  most  liberally  presented  to  the  cathedral, 
by  the  Rev.  Augustus,  and  Mr.  F.  Sutton,  Avho  were  themselves  both  the  designers 
and  executors  of  the  same.  Tavo  of  these  are  erected  in  the  north-eastern  transept, 
tAvo  in  the  Cantilupe  chapel  of  the  opposite  transept,  and  one  in  each  of  the  cleres- 
tories of  the  same.  All  are  most  excellent  imitations  of  old  designs ;  and  from  this 
quality,  Avhich  they  possess  in  an  eminent  degree,  they  assimilate  remarkably  Avell 
with  the  general  character  of  the  cathedral.  Their  \'ery  brilliant  hues  are  Avell 
conti-asted  Avith  one  another,  and  their  effect — especially  from  a  distance — is  unu- 
sually pleasing;  but  the  drawing  of  the  several  groups  of  figures,  &c.,  in  all  these 
specimens  of  art,  is  sadly  deficient,  and  even  their  meaning  is  obscure — a  circum- 
stance Avliich  is  to  be  regretted,  as  Ave  deem  it  to  be  most  advisable  to  engraft  all 
such  improvements  as  the  adA'ance  of  sciance  or  art  may  place  at  our  disposal, 
upon  the  excellencies  of  the  past.  It  should  also  be  born  in  mind  that,  although 
by  the  use  of  enamel,  wax,  and  other  opaque  compositions,  the  ordinary  effects  of 


THE    REPORT.  IxXV. 

time  may  be  successfully  copied,  windows  so  treated  will  be  liable  to  deterioration ; 
whilst  those  in  which  pure  glass  alone  is  used,  will  improve  with  age.  Of  the  six 
windows  alluded  to,  the  southern  one  of  the  south-eastern  transept  is  the  most 
beautiful,  in  our  opinion;  the  simi)licity  of  the  plain  circles  and  semicircles  forming 
the  outline  of  its  design,  as  well  as  its  brilliant  and  well  assorted  tints,  being  well 
worthy  of  admiration. 

Adjoining  this  window,  three  others  have  been  placed  in  the  apse  of  the  next 
chapel,  by  the  committee  appointed  to  select  Bishop  Kaye's  monument. 

These  ai-e  only  intended  to  be  subsidiary  to  the  others  previously  erected  by 
that  body,  but  they  are  good  and  pleasing  of  their  kind.  We  could,  however,  have 
wished  that  the  money  expended  upon  these  windows  might  have  been  applied  to 
the  purchase  of  a  more  suitable  base  for  the  late  Bishop's  effigy,  with — or  even 
without — a  canopy,  designed  by  an  able  Gothic  architect,  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
some  dignity  to  its  appearance,  and  of  harmonising  it  with  the  fine  architecture  of 
the  fabric  in  which  it  is  placed. 

The  Right  Hon.  C.  Tennyson  D'Eyncourt  has  very  generously  filled  the  cinque- 
foil  window  in  the  western  gable  of  the  cathedral  with  a  representation  of  Remigius, 
the  first  Norman  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  executed  by  Mr.  Grace.  It  is  an  agreeable 
addition  to  the  appearance  of  that  part  of  the  fabric,  and  some  of  its  features  possess 
much  beauty,  such  as  the  internal  portions  of  the  cusps;  but  the  design,  generally, 
excepting  the  figure  of  Remigius,  is  not  bold  enough  for  the  situation  it  occupies — • 
and  especially  that  of  the  border,  which  consists  of  far  too  many  minute  subdi- 
visions of  colour.  Too  great  precautions  also  have  been  taken  to  guard  against  the 
effect  of  a  strong  western  light;  for,  as  yet,  the  sun  has  never  been  able  properly 
to  light  up  the  hues  of  this  window  as  it  ought  to  do,  in  consequence  of  the  artificial 
applications  applied  to  its  surface;  these  give  a  cloudy,  dull  appearance  to  the 
representation  of  Remigius,  the  inscription  around  it,  and  especially  to  the  blue 
background. 

A  large  two-light  window  in  the  west  end  of  St.  Anne's  chapel,  Lincoln,  has 
been  converted  into  a  Memorial  one  by  the  Rev.  H.  Waldo  Sibthorp.  This  is  the 
work  of  the  Rev.  H.  Ushex-,  and  we  are  gratified  to  find  that  he  is  a  native  of 
Lincoln,  as  there  are  some  points  of  unusual  merit  about  this  window.  Mr.  Usher 
has  adopted  a  late  German  style  of  art  as  his  exemplar,  and  it  is  certainly  one  that 
suits  his  artistical  powers.  Although  we  think  it  iinadvisable  to  endeavour  to 
represent  pictures  on  glass,  as  a  rule,  we  cannot  but  admire  this  particular  produc- 
tion. Its  colours,  Avhich  are  deep  and  brilliant,  contrast  most  favourably  with  those 
of  the  east  window,  by  Wailes;  and  some  of  the  painting  is  worthy  of  high  praise, 
such  as  that  of  the  infant  Saviour,  and  the  two  most  distant  figures  in  the  right- 
hand  light,  whose  expression  is  admirable.  We  doubt  whether  the  character  given 
to  the  Angels  is  congruous  with  the  lower  portion  of  this  composition ;  and  the 
colours  and  fornis  of  the  letters  composing  the  inscription  are  wanting  in  refine- 
ment. The  shields,  also,  being  unfortunately  of  light  colours  and  placed  in  the 
corners  of  each  light,  slightly  detract  from  the  harmony  of  this  composition. 

A  new  triplet  window  has  been  erected  and  filled  with  stained  glass  in  the 
chancel  of  St.  Alkmund's  church,  Blyborough,  as  a  Memorial  to  the  late  G.  B. 
Luard,  Esq.  The  artist  employed  was  Mr.  Ward,  of  Frith-street,  London,  and 
this  is  a  pleasing  specimen  of  his  usual  bright  productions,  and  of  the  clearness  of 
his  Biblical  illustrations. 

Messrs.  Ballantine,  of  Edinburgh,  have  been  employed  by  the  freemen  of 
Boston  to  erect  a  window  in  the  Cotton  chapel,  Boston,  in  memory  of  John 
Laughton,  who  founded  a  school  for  the  education  of  the  sons  of  poor  freemen  in 
1777.  The  subjects  chosen  for  display  are  most  appropriate,  and  this  window 
forms  a  valuable  addition  to  the  chapel  which  it  now  adorns. 

The  liberality  of  two  ecclesiastical  dignitaries  of  the  diocese  has  been  manifested, 
very  strikingly,  by  their  costly  ofi'ering  to  the  cathedral  of  a  new  altar-rail,  entirely 
of  brass,  with  the  exception  of  an  oak  capjjing.  Much,  however,  as  we  admire  the 
generous  spirit  pi'ompting  the  donors  to  make  this  gift,  and  the  ability  displayed  by 
the  artificer  who  reaUsed  their  wishes,  we  regret  to  perceive  that  a  fundamental 
principle  of  art  has  been  overlooked  by  the  non-treatment  of  metal  as  a  metal,  and 
by  employing  it  in  the  execution  of  a  design  appropriate  only  to  wood.  The  iron 
doors  between  the  cathedral  choir  and  its  aisles— in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  this 


Ixxvi.     LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

new  work — serve  as  an  example  of  the  proper  treatment  of  metal  for  divisional 
purposes  ;  while  many  far  richer  and  very  beautiful  specimens  of  metallic  work- 
manship are  still  extant  in  Westminster  Abbey,  &c.,  the  reproduction  of  Avhicli  we 
certainly  should  have  witnessed  with  greater  satisfliction. 

We  advert,  with  great  pleasure,  to  the  noble  gift  of  his  Gi-ace  the  Duke  of 
Newcastle  to  the  ancient  abbey  church  of  Worksop,  of  a  Reredos,  which  indicates 
at  once  his  well-known  liberality,  and  the  excellence  of  his  taste.  This  was  designed 
by  Scott,  and  decorated  by  Bell,  who  also  supplied  the  stained  glass  in  the  windows 
above  it,  and  with  which  it  harmonises  so  happily.  It  consists  of  seven  panels,  or 
niches,  of  an  early  decorated  style,  executed  in  Steetly  stone,  and  separated  from 
each  other  by  shafts  of  light  bx-own  Derbyshire  marble.  With  the  exception  of  these 
last,  the  whole  is  so  delicately  painted  and  so  dexterously  gilt,  as  to  give  a  very 
rich,  but  not  in  the  least  a  gaudy  appearance  to  the  work.  The  effect  of  the  brilliant 
tints  of  the  east  windows — appearing  through  the  light  perforated  work  of  the  upper 
portion  of  this  reredos — not  only  aids  in  connecting  both  together,  but  also  imparts 
a  light  and  beautiful  character  to  the  east  end  of  the  present  fabric,  which  we  have 
rarely  seen  equalled.  As  lovers  of  art  in  connexion  with  architecture,  we  feel 
much  indebted  to  the  noble  Duke  for  the  aid  and  impulse  he  is  giving  to  progress 
in  that  direction;  well,  therefore,  may  the  inhabitants  of  Worksop  be  grateful  to 
him  for  this  very  rich  and  appropriate  addition  to  their  grand  and  beautifully 
restored  abbey  church. 

We  congratulate  the  town  of  Grantham  on  the  acquirement  of  a  monument  it 
has  lately  erected  in  honour  of  the  great  Newton,  and  hail  the  inauguration  of  so 
excellent  a  work  of  art  on  the  soil  of  Lincolnshire  with  the  most  lively  satisfaction. 
Unused  as  England  is  to  erect  statues  of  her  illustrious  sons,  and  unsatisfactory  as 
is  the  character  of  many  of  these  when  realised,  upon  hearing  of  the  proposal  first 
made  some  five  years  ago  to  connect  such  a  monument  with  the  dazzling  name  of 
Newton,  we  confess  that  we  trembled  for  the  result,  esteeming  it  for  better  that 
the  venerated  form  of  the  Philosopher  should  be  left  undefined  on  the  spot  he  has 
BO  often  as  a  youth  traversed  in  person,  rather  than  that  it  should  be  there  embodied 
in  an  unworthy  manner;  but  high  as  was  the  ideal  standard  we  set  up,  it  is  with 
much  pleasure  that  we  now  look  upon  the  result  of  Mr.  Theed's  concep- 
tion of  so  great  a  subject.  The  pose  of  this  fine  bronze  statue  is  remarkably 
dignified  and  appropriate.  An  upturned  countenance — given  to  a  colossal  figure 
like  this — would  have  had  the  efiect  of  concealing  from  view  some  of  its  finest 
points,  and  of  suggesting  the  troublesome  idea  that  the  Philosopher  was  in  search 
of  thought,  after  the  manner  usually  assigned  to  a  INIuse;  whilst  a  forward  glance, 
from  features  beaming  with  deep  expression,  might  have  raised  up  a  line  of  oratox'S 
before  our  eyes  fi-om  which  to  xnake  a  selection  for  compax-ison  with  the  one  now 
under  our  ixotice;  but  the  gx-ave,  downwax'd  look  assigned  to  this  statue,  in  con- 
junction with  the  scroll  displaying  a  diagx-am  froxn  the  Principia,  which  is  placed 
in  one  hand  and  i-efexTcd  to  by  the  othex-,  indicates  wisdom  secux'cd  and  in  the  act 
of  being  imparted  to  others — an  idea  xnost  exactly  appx-opriate  to  the  chax-acter  of 
Newton.  We  are  glad  to  perceive  in  this  instance  none  of  the  "  fierte "  of  the 
Neapolitan  Aristides,  none  of  the  mental  powers  soxnetixnes  x-epresented  as  painfully 
at  work  iix  statues  of  Homer,  but  rather  the  downcast  xniexi  of  the  ancient  bixst  of 
Plato  in  the  Musco  Borbonico,  with  the  highest  powex's  of  intellect  ixxipx'essed  upoxi 
the  bx'ow,  benignant  calmness  x'esting  on  the  eyes,  and  the  expression  of  unusual 
fix-xnness  fixed  upon  the  chin.  The  Philosophex-'s  di'ess  speaks  correctly  of  the 
period  in  which  he  lived;  and  his  Master  of  Arts  gown  pronoxxnces  the  claim  of 
the  University  of  Caxxibridgc  to  its  long  connexion  with  him,  and  also  well  becoxnes 
the  gravity  and  exnployment  so  ably  expressed  in  this  ixioxxument  to  the  greatest  of 
our  Lincolnshire  sons.  The  hands  ax'e  not  vex-y  happy,  ixx  oixr  estiixxatioix ;  their 
long  annular  finger  joints  being  xieither  agreeable  to  the  eye,  xxor  consoxxant  with 
the  pluixxpncss  of  the  flice.  On  the  whole,  however,  this  statue  may  be  well 
compared  with  the  Zeno  of  the  Capitol,  or  the  Dexxxosthenes  of  the  Vatican.  The 
pedestal,  fouiteen  feet  high  axxd  of  Anglesea  xnarble,  is  well  px-oportioned,  bixt 
the  lax-ge  stiff  leaves  of  the  "torus"  ax^e  very  ungraceful,  axxd  the  aixgle  acaixthus 
foliatioix  but  indifi'ei'cntly  designed. 

It  has  been  said,  by  some  who  are  totally  ignoraixt  of  the  feelings,  studies,  and 
working  of  the  Society,  that  its  eyes  ax-e  always  so  xnuch  cast  backwards  towards 
the  past,  that  it  has  none  left  for  the  contcxnplation  of  the  present ;  also,  that  its 


THE    REPOUT.  Ixxvii. 

members  are  usually  so  absorbed  in  the  study  of  tbe  beautiful  and  picturesque,  tliat 
tbey  neglect  to  regard  what  is  absolutely  necessary  and  practical.  Your  Com- 
mittee, however,  has  no  hesitation  in  making  this  reply  to  such  observations,  that, 
although  tlic  Society's  studies  arc  indeed  mucli  and  most  profitably  connected  with 
the  past,  this  is  only  for  the  purpose  of  more  appropriately  fulfilling  the  present 
duties  attaching  to  its  meiubers;  and  that,  although  these  do  most  undoubtedly 
and  earnestly  study  how  best  to  give  grace  to  form,  and  harmony  to  colours,  in 
the  hope  of  acquiring  such  a  sensitive  apprehension  of  both  as  may  be  of  service  to 
its  whole  body,  and  to  all  such  as  may  seek  its  counsel,  they  are  also  most  sin- 
cerely anxious  to  aid  in  the  attainment  of  any  ordinary  desiderata  that  may  be 
placed  before  them  for  consideration.  In  consequence  of  some  observations  that 
fell  from  the  Society's  Right  Reverend  President,  during  its  public  meeting  at 
Lincoln,  and  which  were  again  brought  forward  at  the  Ripon  meeting,  by  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  that  diocese,  the  attention  of  at  least  one  of  its  members  has  been  with 
great  reason  directed  towards  the  study  of  acoustics,  as  applicable  to  modern  archi- 
tecture— so  many  of  the  buildings  of  the  present  day  being  so  antagonistic  to  the 
powers  of  speech,  as  in  some  instances,  almost  to  paralyse  them.  Ordinarily, 
churches  are  not  so  subject  to  this  defect  as  other  edifices,  excepting  such  large, 
weak,  and  flimsy  examples  as  may — with  their  columnless  areas,  smooth  walls,  and 
unbroken  plastered  ceilings — offer  no  friendly  aid  to  the  human  voice.  But  who 
has  not  sufTered,  in  this  respect,  from  our  coi'n-exchanges,  town-halls,  assembly 
and  concert  rooms,  and  from  their  apparent  resentment  of  that  careless  want  of 
thought  on  the  part  of  their  several  architects,  in  consequence  of  which  they  indig- 
nantly persist  in  carrying  off  all  voices,  attempted  to  be  raised  within  them,  to  some 
secret  and  unknown  recesses  of  their  own,  far  away  from  the  eai-s  of  men? 

The  large  room  of  the  Corn-Exchange  lately  built  at  Sleaford,  and  designed  by 
Mr.  Kirk,  is  an  exception  to  this  very  general  rule.  There,  an  ordinary  voice 
being  heard  well — at  the  most  distant  points  from  the  spectator — without  any 
unusual  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  speaker,  we  find  a  very  happy  example  of  what 
may  be  done  to  adapt  such  buildings  to  other  purposes — for  which  they  are  ofteu 
required — besides  their  primary  one.  The  features  of  this  building  are  of  the 
perpendicular  order,  and  its  internal  walls  are  of  warm  yellow  brick,  broken  by 
arched  recesses,  plastered;  and  should  these  last  be  hereafter  brightened  up  with 
colour,  and  covered  with  accordant  stencilled  patterns,  the  efTect  would  be  very 
good.  The  roof,  also,  is  well  worthy  of  notice,  as  to  it  the  room  is  principally 
indebted  for  its  favourable  acoustic  properties.  This  is  of  timber,  on  a  lateral  ridge 
and  furrow  system,  the  southern  face  of  each  rooflet  being  of  wood,  the  northern  of 
glass,  whereby  an  amply  sufficient  amount  of  light  is  supplied  to  the  interior  of  the 
hall  below,  without  exposing  it  to  the  full — and  often  most  oppressive  —glare  of  the 
sun  from  the  south.  Nor  has  this  arrangement  that  bizarre  eflect  which  it  might 
very  naturally  be  supposed  to  have,  because,  when  viewed  from  one  extremity  of 
the  area  below,  the  whole  appears  to  be  a  timber  roof,  and  when  from  the  other, 
one  entirely  of  glass. 

Grantham  Schools. — A  very  large,  well  arranged,  and  complete  school 
establishment  has  arisen  at  Grantham  during  the  present  year,  chiefly  through  the 
exertions  of  the  Vicar,  the  Rev.  G.  Maddison.  The  appearance  of  the  building  is 
of  a  very  pleasing  character,  and  it  seems  to  nestle — humbly  and  appropriately — at 
the  foot  of  the  towering  and  graceful  church  of  St.  Wolfran.  With  the  exception 
of  some  unnecessarily  fanciful  windows,  combining  a  square-headed  with  an  arched 
type,  and  for  whose  introduction  in  this  instance  we  can  see  no  reason,  this  build- 
ing— designed  by  Mr.  Browning,  of  Stamford — is  worthy  of  approbation. 

Your  Committee  cannot  conclude  its  Report  without  alluding  to  the  very  liberal 
gifts  of  Illustrations,  made  to  the  Associated  Societies'  volume  for  the  present  year — 
namely,  two  of  Tattershall  Castle,  and  one  of  the  Burial  of  the  Dead  after  Towton 
Fight,  from  Richard  Ellison,  Esq.;  thirteen  of  Mazes,  and  one  of  Roman  Pottery, 
from  the  General  Secretary;  and  one  from  the  Rev.  Robert  Miles,  indicating  the 
former  use  of  some  Labyrinths.  The  warm  thanks  of  the  Society  are  justly  due  to 
the  several  donors  of  these  very  valuable  additions  to  their  volume,  and  we  feel 
confident  that  these  will  be  generally  accorded  by  all  its  members.  The  Society  is 
also  indebted  to  the  Archreological  Institute,  for  the  loan  of  a  Cut,  representing  a 
group  of  Saxon  weapons,  Szc,  taken  from  a  drawing  of  Mr.  Trollope's;  and  also  for 
another  of  a  British  vase. 


Ixxviii.      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


STATEMENT    OF   ACCOUNTS 

For  the  year,  1858. 


RECEIPTS.  £  s.  d. 
Balance  In  Treasurer's  hands, 

from  last  Account 134     0  8 

Reports  sold    0  12  0 

Entrances    13     0  0 

Compositions  30  10  0 

Subscriptions  81     1  6 

Year's    Interest   of   cash   in 

hand,     allowed     by     the 

Treasurer    4     0  0 


^263     4     2 


PAYMENTS.               £  S.  d. 

Jewitt,  for  Seal    6  3  0 

Ridge,  Newark,  as  per  bill  ...     1  5  6 

Smedley,  Sleaford,  as  per  bill     1  2  3 

Messrs.  Brooke's  bill  (1857)     9  14  0 

Ditto                    as  per  bill...  45  7  6 

Ditto                          ditto     ...     4  11  9 

Mr.  EdAvards,  as  per  bill 3  6  0 

Books,  Printing,    Stationery, 

Stamps,    Advertising,    &c. 

(by  the  Secretary)  20  18  4 

Various  small  bills  (by  Mr. 

Drury) 5  7  8 

Advertising  and  Stamps 4  4  9 

Expenses  of  Horncastle  Meet- 
ing        12  8  9 

Subscription     to    Papworth's 

Dictionary  of  Arms 110 

Rent  of  Room 10  0  0 

Curator's  Salary 5  0  0 

Fires,  &c 5  3  0 

Subscription  to  Arch  geological 

Institute    (1857-58),    and 

P.  0.  Order 2  2  6 

Balance  in  Treasurer's  hands  125  8  2 


£263     4     2 


BOOKS,  &c.,  ADDED  TO  THE   SOCIETY'S  COLLECTION 
SINCE  THE  LAST  REPORT. 


Gesta  et  YestigiaDanorum  extra  Danlam, 

by  E.  Pontoppidanus,  3  vols.,  8vo. 
Leicester  Castle,  Account  of,  by  James 

Thompson,  8vo. 
Lelandi  Collectanea,  5  vols.  8vo.   1774. 
Grantham,    Historical    Notes    on,     by 

Rev.  B.  Street,  1857. 
Gibbs'  Designs  for  Christian  Memorials, 

1857. 
Cumming's  Runic  and  other  Remains  in 

Isle  of  Man. 
Bedford's,   (Rev.  W.  K.  R.)  Blazon  of 

Episcopacy,  1858. 
Memoirs  on  the  History  and  Antiquities 

of    Northumberland,     2    vols.,    8vo. 

(being  Archceol.  Inst.  Proceedings  at 

Neivcastle  Meeting.) 
Head-stones  and  Tomb-stones,  by  Mem- 
bers of  the  Worcester  Archaeological 

Society. 
Floriated  Ornament,  by  A.  W.  Pugin,  4to. 


Papworth's  Alphabetical  Dictionary  of 
Coats  of  Arms,  Nos.  1  and  2. 

Societies  (Architectural,  (Src.,)  Reports, 
Transactions  of,  &c.,  viz.  Liveyyool, 
[Session  1852-53,)  ^c,  ^c. 
Proceedings  of  Sac.  of  Antiqtiaries 
of  Scotland,  Ibth  &  76th  Sessions, 
(1855-6.) 

East  Anglian ;  or.  Notes  and  Queries,  No.  1 

Rerum  Britannicarum  Medii  JEvi  Scrip- 
tores,  published  under  direction  of  the 
Master  of  the  Rolls,  1858,  viz.: — 

Chronicon  Monasterii  de  Abingdon,  vol.  1. 

Capgrave's  Chronicle  of  England. 

Lives  of  Edward  the  Confessor. 

Monnmenia  Franciscana. 

Eltham  Historia  Monasterii. 

Fasciculi  Zizanioriim,  (  WycUf.J 

The  Buik  of  the  Croniclis  of  Scotland; 
or  metrical  version  of  the  History  of 
Hector  Boece,  by  W.  Stewart,  vol.  1. 


THE   SEVENTEENTH   EEPOET 


YORKSHIRE 


ARCHITECTURAL     SOCIETY, 


His  Geace  the  Archbishop  op  York. 
The  Lord  Bishop  op  Ripon. 

•Right  Hon.  the  Earl  op  Zetland,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  North  Riding. 
♦Right  Hon.  the  Earl  op  Carlisle,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  East  Riding. 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  Fixzwilliam,  Lord  Lieutenant  of  the  West  Riding. 

m 


Ixxx. 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Utce^lprfsttJfnts. 


*His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Northum- 
berland 
*RiGHT  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Effingham 
*RiGHT  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Dartmouth 
*Right  Hon.the  Earl  of  Mexborough 
*RiGHT  Hon.  Earl  de  Grey 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Cardigan 
Right  Hon.  thf  Earl  of  Scarborough 
Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Ripon 
*Right  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Durham 
Right  Hon.  Lord  Feversham 
*RiGHT  Hon.  Lord  Loxdesborough 
Right  Hon.  Lord  Wharncliffe 
*RiGHT  Hon.  Lord  Hotham,  M.P. 
*HoN.  AND  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of 

York 
*Hon.  AND  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of 

RiPON 


*HoN.  and  Rev.  P.  Yorke  Savile 

Hon.  and  Rev.  W.  H.  Howard 

Hon.  and  Rev.  J.  W.  Lascelles 

*iioN.  OcTAVius  Duncombe,  M.P. 

*HoN.  Payan  Dawnay 

*SiR  T.  DiGBY  Legard,  Bart. 

Sir  J.  V.  B.  Johnstone,  Bart.,  M.P. 

*SiR  J.  H,  Lowther,  Bart. 

The  Ven.  Archdeacon  Churton. 

*The  Ven.  Archdeacon  Creyke. 

*The  Ven.  Archdeacon  Musgrave. 

*The  Ven.  Archdeacon  Bentinck. 

*Rev.  W.  Vernon  Harcourt. 

Colonel  Smyth,  M.P. 

R.  M.  MiLNEs,  Esq.,  M.P. 

John  Calverley,  Esq. 

*G0DFREY  WeNTWORTH,  EsQ. 

*C.  H.  Elsey,  Esq. 


©onimtttee. 


The  Patrons. 

The  Presidents. 

AiNSLiE,  Rev.  H. 

Balme,  E.  B.  Wheatley,  Esq. 

Batty,  Rev.  R.  E. 

Braithwaite,  Rev.  W. 

BuRRELL,  Rev.  R. 

Carr,  Rev.  C. 

*Davies,  R.,  Esq. 

Foljambe,  T.,  Esq. 

Jessop,  Rev.  Dr. 


The  Vice-Presidents. 
The  Rural  Deans. 
Jones,  G.  F.,  Esq. 
O'Callaghan,  p.,  Esq. 
Ornsby,  Rev.  G. 
Philips,  Rev.  G.  H. 
Randolph,  Rev.  Canon. 
*Rudd,  J.  B.,  Esq. 
ScRivEN,  Rev.  J.  B. 
Walbran,  J.  R.,  Esq. 
Woodford,  Rev.  A.  F.  A. 


^Treasurer. 
Rev.  George  Frederick  Pearson,  York. 

I^.onorarj  S^cretarifs. 
Rev.  J.  Sharp,  Horbury,  Wakefield. 
W.  H.  Dykes,  Esq.,  York. 

^ttUi'tors. 
Rev.  W.  a.  Wightman. 
G.  L.  Cressey,  Esq. 

Curators. 
Rev.  T.  Bayly. 
J.  C.  Swallow,  Esq. 

^fhj  l^onorars  Mtmbtr, 

Scott,  George  Gilbert,  Esq.,  20,  Spring  Gardens,  London,  S.W. 

Benson,  Miss,  Hutton,  Preston,  Lancashire. 
Hales,  Rev.  G.,  Birstwith,  Ripley. 
Harrison,  Mr.  W,,  Market  Place,  Ripon. 
Maister,  Rev.  Arthur,  Kexby,  York. 
Riddell,  F.,  Esq.,  Leyburn,  Bedale. 
Wightman,  Rev.  W.  A.,  York. 


THE    REPORT.  Ixxxi. 


Adopted  at  the  General  Meeting  held  in  York,  October  27,  1858. 

It  once  more  becomes  the  duty  of  your  Committee  to  lay  before  you  a  Report  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Society  during  another  year  of  its  existence;  and,  in  so 
doing,  it  is  felt  to  be  matter  of  much  thankfulness  that  the  increased  interest 
excited  during  the  previous  year  has  been  fully  sustained  during  that  which  is  now 
coming  to  a  close. 

The  proposal  made  by  the  Oxford  Architectural  Society — to  hold  a  Congi-ess  in 
Oxford  of  all  the  kindred  Societies  throughout  the  kingdom — was  earned  into 
effect  in  June  last,  and  some  of  the  members  of  the  Yorkshire  Society  availed 
themselves  of  the  invitation  to  join  in  that  agreeable  and  profitable  gathering.  The 
Congress  assembled  on  the  9th  of  June,  and  continued  thi'ough  that  and  the  four 
following  days,  during  which  period  the  various  objects  of  interest,  which  abound 
within  the  precincts  of  the  University  and  City  of  Oxford,  and  the  immediate 
neighbourhood,  were  carefully  explored  under  the  able  guidance  of  some  of  the 
members  of  the  Oxford  Society.  A  large  and  very  valuable  collection  of  objects 
of  Architectural  interest,  both  ancient  and  modern,  was  open  for  exhibition, 
and  furnished  a  gratifying  proof  of  the  improved  taste  and  skill  which  are  now  so 
steadily  on  the  increase,  in  all  those  branches  of  art  which  it  is  the  object  of 
these  societies  to  promote,  and  especially  in  Ecclesiastical  Metal-work.  The  best 
thanks  of  all  who  had  the  pleasure  of  attending  this  Congress  are  due  to  the  members 
of  the  Oxford  Society,  for  the  great  courtesy  and  hospitality  which  they  showed  on 
this  occasion,  and  for  those  excellent  and  judicious  arrangements  which  rendered 
that  large  and  influential  gathering  one  of  so  much  interest  and  pleasure. 

The  Autumn  Excursion  Meeting  of  our  Society  was  held  at  Ripon,  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  the  diocese  kindly  presiding  on  the  occasion.  The  members  of  the 
Lincoln  Diocesan  Society  were  invited  to  join  their  more  northern  brethren  in 
exploring  the  rich  treasures  of  Fountains,  of  Ripon,  and  its  neighbourhood,  and 
many  of  them  availed  themselves  of  that  invitation.  At  ten  o'clock  on  Tuesday 
morning,  September  14th,  the  members  attended  divine  service  in  the  cathedral;  at 
the  conclusion  of  which  they  proceeded,  under  the  able  guidance  of  J.  R.  Walbran, 
Esq.,  to  examine  that  very  interesting  building,  which  retains  examples  of  all  the 
English  styles  of  architecture  from  the  Early  Norman  to  the  Debased  period. 

At  half-past  twelve  o'clock,  a  Public  Meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Lord  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  when  a  large  and  influential 
assembly  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  bore  evident  witness  to  the  interest  Avhicli  is 
widely  felt  in  the  Society's  proceedings.  It  was  many  yeai's  since  a  meeting  had 
been  held  in  Ripon ;  and,  as  on  its  first  assembling  in  that  city  the  Society  had 
enjoyed  the  encouragement  and  support  of  the  presiding  presence  of  the  late  much 
valued  Diocesan,  so  was  it  now  encouraged  in  its  onward  work  by  the  readiness 
with  which  the  present  Bishop  accepted  the  office  of  chairman  of  this  meeting,  and 
by  the  expression  of  his  Lordship's  desire,  on  all  future  occasions,  to  do  what  in  him 
lay  to  aid  the  Society's  i;ndertakings. 

A  very  excellent  and  elaborate  Paper  on  S.  Wilfrid  and  the  Saxon  church  of 
Ripon  was  read  by  J.  R.  Walbran,  Esq.,  which  excited  great  interest,  as  well  from 
the  able  manner  in  which  the  subject  was  treated  by  the  writer,  as  from  its  con- 
nexion with  the  immediate  locality  in  which  the  meeting  was  then  gathered. 

Another  very  intei-esting  and  instructive  Paper  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Edward 
Trollope,  on  Ancient  Labyrinths  and  Mazes,  tracing  them  from  their  original 
classical  origin  through  the  period  of  their  adaptation  to  purposes  connected  with 
Christianity.^ 

»  The  Society  begs  to  express  its  thanks  to  the  Rev.  E.  Trollope  for  his  kindness  in 
contributing  the  whole  of  the  fourteen  wood- cuts  with  which  this  paper  is  illustrated. 


Ixxxii.        -YORKSHIUE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

After  a  few  concluding  remai-ks  from  the  chairman,  in  which  his  Lordship 
suggested  that  the  hest  thanks  of  all  present  should  be  accorded  to  the  gentlemen 
who  had  kindly  favoured  them  with  such  interesting  Papers,  the  Meeting  separated; 
and  a  large  party  proceeded  to  Fountains,  whither  the  Earl  de  Grey,  the  noble 
owner  of  the  estate,  had  preceded  them,  and  where  his  Lordship  received  them  with 
the  greatest  kindness  and  courtesy,  having  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  committee 
everything  they  might  require  for  a  perfect  examination  of  the  ruins.  It  is  well 
known  that,  for  many  years  past,  a  most  careful  excavation  of  the  entire  buildings 
of  the  ancient  church  and  monastery  of  Fountains  has  been  going  on,  by  the 
direction  of  the  noble  Earl.  The  whole  of  this  stately  and  extensive  pile  has  now 
been  fully  explored,  and  many  portions,  hitherto  buried  in  rubbish  and  not  known 
to  exist,  have  been  brought  to  light,  enabling  the  visitor  now  to  form  a  complete 
idea  of  what  the  abbey  must  anciently  have  been,  when  it  looked  in  calm  and 
majestic  dignity  over  the  secluded  little  valley  along  which  it  cast  its  sanctifying 
shade.  A  large  and  most  intei'esting  collection  of  rehcs  of  various  kinds  have  been 
found  during  the  excavations,  and  these  are  carefully  preserved  and  arranged  in  a 
part  of  the  ancient  building  which  has  for  that  purpose  been  fitted  up  as  a  museum. 
The  party  was  conducted  through  the  ruins  by  J.  R.  Walbran,  Esq.,  under  whose 
cai'eful  eye  all  the  diggings  had  been  carried  on,  and  who  was  able  to  give  a  very 
learned  and  acciu-ate  description  of  every  part. 

On  returning  from  Fountains  the  members  assembled  at  dinner  in  the  large 
room  at  the  Unicorn  hotel,  when  the  Lord  Bishop  again  presided;  and  after  par- 
taking of  a  sumptuous  repast — to  Avhich  the  kindness  of  Lord  de  Grey  had  greatly 
contributed  by  a  liberal  supply  of  venison,  game,  and  fruit — the  party  adjourned  to 
coffee  at  the  Deanery ;  and  thus  concluded  a  most  agreeable  and  profitable  day. 

At  nine  o'clock  on  the  following  morning  a  large  number  of  members  of  the  two 
Societies  started  on  an  excursion,  to  visit  several  of  the  churches  and  other  antiqui- 
ties in  the  neighbourhood.  They  first  proceeded  to  Boroughbridge,  viewing  en 
passant  those  curious  upright  masses  of  stone  called  "The  Devil's  Arrows;"  and 
thence  to  Aldborough  church,  and  the  Roman  remains  of  the  ancient  Isuriura, 
through  Avhich  they  were  conducted  under  the  kind  guidance  of  Andrew  S.  Lawson, 
Esq.,  in  Avhose  grounds  the  chief  part  of  the  existing  ruins  are  preserved,  and  who 
has  made  himself  fully  acquainted  with  all  that  is  kno^Am  about  this  ancient  and 
once  beautiful  city,  which — even  yet — contains  so  many  examples  of  the  skill  and 
refinement  of  those  proiid  masters  of  the  world.  The  great  interest  excited  by 
these  extensive  Roman  remains  having  detained  the  party  here  beyond  the  allotted 
time,  they  proceeded  with  all  speed  to  Little  Ouseburn  church  (which  retains  some 
portion  of  undoubted  Saxon  in  its  chancel  wall),  and  thence  to  Whixley,  where, 
after  inspecting  the  church  and  hall,  they  were  kindly  entertained  at  luncheon  at 
the  vicarage,  by  the  Rev.  W.  Valentine;  from  thence  they  went  on  to  the  church 
of  Kirk  Hammcrton,  the  greater  portion  of  which  is  also  of  Saxon  date;  thence  to 
Goldsborough  church  and  hall,  the  former  of  which  is  undergoing  a  perfect  restora- 
tion under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  G.  G.  Scott;  and  finally  to  Knaresbro' 
church  and  castle,  where  the  departing  sun  compelled  them  to  relinquish  any 
further  sight-seeing,  and  to  make  the  best  of  their  way  to  Ripon,  which  was  not 
reached  till  nearly  ten  o'clock. 

A  collection  of  architectural  and  archreological  objects  was  placed  for  exhibition 
in  the  Council-room  at  the  Town-hall,  during  the  whole  period  of  the  meeting;  and 
was  visited  not  merely  by  the  members,  but  by  a  crowd  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Ripon  and  the  neighbourhood,  who  seemed  to  take  the  greatest  interest  in  the 
curious  and  valuable  articles  exposed  to  view. 

Amongst  these  objects  Avere,  the  original  Charter  granting  the  land  on  which 
Fountains  Abbey  is  built;  a  British  Bronze  Shield  and  a  British  Battle  Axe, 
found  near  Newbm-gh ;  two  Roman  Patellce  found  near  Masham ;  a  facsimile  of 
the  unique  pavement  of  Jervaulx  Abbey;  a  Saddle  and  Bridle  and  a  brace  of 
Pistols  used  by  Oliver  Cromwell ;  the  Sword  worn  by  Bradshaw  when  he  con- 
demned Charles  I  ;  the  celebrated  Fairfax  Cup;  the  Brief  for  repairing  Ripon 
Minster,  A.D.  1G60;  the  ancient  Saxon  Horn  of  the  Corporation  of  Ripon. 

Your  Committee,  in  concluding  the  Report  of  the  Ripon  Meeting,  desire  to  ex- 
press the  very  great  obligation  under  which  they  feel  to  the  Earl  de  Grey,  The 
Lord  Bishop  of  Ripon,  Admiral  Harcourt,  F.  Greenwood,  Esq.,  Sir  George  Womb- 
well,  Bart.,  The  Dean  of  Ripon,  The  Rev.  J.  H.  Powell,  S.  Powell,  jun.,  Esq., 


THE    REPOUT.  Ixxxiii. 

Rev.  J.  Robson,  the  ]\Tayor  of  Ripon,  Mr.  Thomas  Stubbs  and  other  contributors  to 
the  Museum;  also  to  J.  R.  Walbran,  Esq.,  Mr.  Harrison,  and  other  members  of  the 
Local  Committee;  all  of  Avhom  have  aided  so  readily  and  so  efficiently  towards  the 
success  of  the  recent  gathering. 

A  good  deal  has  been  done  in  the  county  in  the  way  of  church  restoration  and 
church  building  since  the  publication  of  our  last  Report. 

The  noble  Church  of  Doncaster,  which  claims  a  place  among  the  very  first 
specimens  of  modern  art,  has  been  completed  and  consecrated,  and  the  architect 
may  Avell  be  proud  of  what  he  has  been  permitted  to  accomplish. 

In  a  building  of  such  exquisite  design  and  of  such  noble  dimensions,  claiming 
to  be,  as  it  ought  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  the  Parish  Church  of  Doncaster, 
and  starting  anew  as  a  tabula  rasa,  without  any  claims  imaginary  or  real  to  any 
particular  pew,  it  is  Avith  deep  sorrow  and  regret  that  your  Committee  have  to 
record  that  the  unchristian  principle  of  rented  pews  has  been  permitted  to  encroach 
upon  that  free  access  to  the  House  of  God  which  is  the  inalienable  right  of  every 
parishioner,  without  money  and  without  price.  This  melancholy  traffic  in  sacred 
things  was  unhappily  commenced  by  five  shilling  tickets  of  admission  to  the  Ser- 
vice of  Consecration,  contraiy,  we  understand,  to  the  expressed  wish  of  the  Diocesan 
and  the  other  Bishops  who  were  preachers  on  the  occasion.  When  will  faith  be 
strong  enough  among  us  to  trust  to  ways  which  God  has  promised  to  bless,  without 
shaping  our  course  after  the  principles  of  our  evil  world  ? 

St.  Helen's  (^^hurch,  in  York,  has  been  carefully  restored,  and  in  great  measure 
rebuilt,  under  the  care  of  our  Secretary,  W.  H.  Dykes,  Esq.  Though  it  is  much 
to  be  regretted  that  the  architect  was  overruled  in  the  arrangement  of  the  chancel 
fittings,  which  are  not  such  as  can  be  fully  commended. 

The  beautiful  Chapter  House  of  York  Minster  is  about  to  be  externally  restored, 
through  the  great  liberality  of  the  present  Dean. 

Goldsborough  Church  is  being  thoroughly  restored,  and  partly  rebuilt,  under 
the  able  superintendence  of  G.  G.  Scott,  Esq. 

The  Churches  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels,  and  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  both 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wakefield,  and  both  designed  by  W.  H.  Dykes,  Esq.,  are 
now  completed,  and  are  very  excellent  examples  of  Village  Churches. 

Baldersley  Church,  Parsonage,  and  Schools  commenced  by  the  late  Lord 
Downe,  and  completed  by  Lady  Downe,  from  the  designs  of  W.  Butterfield,  Esq., 
are  an  extremely  beautiful  and  effective  group.  The  Church  is  internally  of  brick 
and  stone  intermixed,  the  Chancel  being  decorated  with  alabaster  and  marbles,  and 
paved  with  beautiful  encaustic  tiles.  The  nave  is  filled  with  chairs,  which  has  an 
excellent  effect,  and  is  found  very  convenient.  The  lofty  and  elegant  spire  is  one 
of  the  chief  features  of  the  surrounding  neighbourhood. 

Plans  for  the  partial  rebuilding  and  restoration  of  Buckthorpe  Church  have 
been  submitted  to  the  Society. 

The  restoration  of  Richmond  Church  is  in  the  hands  of  G.  G.  Scott,  Esq., 
which  is  sufficient  guarantee  for  its  being  carefully  carried  out  as  far  as  circum- 
stances will  permit. 

Easingwold. — Considerable  restoi'ations  have  been  effected  in  the  interior  in 
a  satisfactory  manner,  the  building  having  been  substantially  repaired,  the  galleries 
chiefly  cleared  away,  and  the  fittings  fairly  done. 

Alne. — A  west  gallery  has  been  removed,  exposing  a  fine  Norman  ai'ch. 

Heslington  Church,  built  by  the  liberality  of  Mrs.  Lloyd,  is  completed  and 
consecrated. 

Whitwell  Church  has  just  been  commenced,  under  the  care  of  Geo.  Edmund 
Street,  Esq.,  and  is  to  be  built  and  endowed  at  the  cost  of  Lady  Lechmere. 

Church  Fenton. — The  restoration  of  this  church  is  now  proceeding  under  the 
care  of  I\Ir.  Salvin. 

Wakefield,  all  Saints. — The  restoration  of  the  noble  Tower  of  this  church 
is  now  progressing  under  the  care  of  G.  G-  Scott,  Esq.  The  whole  church  requires 
repair  and  restoration,  and  it  is  proposed  to  carry  on  the  work  by  degrees  as  funds 
are  supplied  for  the  purpose.  A  large  sum  is  required,  which  it  is  hoped  will  gra- 
dually flow  in  from  various  quarters,,  this  being  the  old  Parish  Church  of  the  chief 
town  of  the  wealthy  and  influential  West  Riding  of  York. 

Walmgate  Bar  Walls,  York. — The  contract  for  the  restoration  of  the  first 
portion  has  now  been  satisfactorily  completed ;  and  funds  are  greatly  needed  to 
carry  on  the  remaining  part  of  the  work. 


Ixxxiv.       YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

St.  Mary  Bishophill  Junior,  York.— A  proposal  has  been  made  to  detroy 
this  very  curious  and  interesting  church,  and  to  build  another  on  its  site;  but 
it  is  earnestly  hoped  that  this  suggestion  may  not  be  carried  into  effect.  _  The 
church  is  well  known  to  all  architecturalists  who  have  visited  York,  from  its  re- 
markable Saxon  Tower,  and  the  quaint  triangular  arches  of  its  interior;  and  its 
loss  would  be  very  extensively  deplored. 

Christ  Church,  York.— This  church  also  is  threatened  with  destruction. 
The  building  possesses  no  very  remarkably  features  of  beaiUy,  having  been 
variously  shorn  and  mutilated  on  former  occasions;  and  a  part  having  been  taken  in 
years  past,  it  is  now  proposed  to  take  the  remainder,  and  to  imite  the  parish  to  the 
adjoining  parish  of  St.  Samson.  Should  this  plan  be  carried  into  effect,  which  it 
is  hoped  will  not  be  the  case,  it  is  much  to  be  desired  that  at  least  the  materials 
will  be  used  for  some  sacred  purpose,  and  the  site  carefully  fenced  in  and  guarded 
from  desecration. 

Laughton  en  le  Morthen. — This  church,  which  at  the  ^  Society's  late  visit 
to  it  called  forth  many  regrets  for  its  great  need  of  restoration,  is  now  happily 
placed  in  the  hands  of  G.  G.  Scott,  Esq. 

Bolton  Abbey. — The  roof  of  this  church  has  been  in  a  great  measure  renewed; 
the  new  work  is  in  pine,  and  is  not  strictly  copied  from  the  old. 

St.  Mary  Magdalene,  Ripon. — This  curious  little  chapel  has  been  at  length 
recovered  from  the  sad  state  of  unrepair  in  which  it  had  so  long  been. 

Tanfield. — The  restoration  of  this  very  interesting  church  is  being  carefully 
carried  on  under  the  care  of  T.  H.  Wyatt,  Esq. 

This  notice  of  church  work  at  present  going  on  is  necessarily  very  imperfect, 
on  account  of  the  great  extent  of  the  county  and  the  difficulty  in  many  cases  of 
getting  accurate  information.  The  Committee  are  well  aware  of  several  other  re- 
storations which  are  either  in  progress  or  about  to  be  commenced,  but  of  which 
they  have  not  received  sufficient  particulars  to  justify  their  giving  any  account  of 
them. 


ELEVENTH  ANNUAL  EEPORT 

OP   THE 

BEDFOEDSHIEE 
AECHITECTUEAL  AND  AECHiEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


OFFICERS  FOR  THE  YEAR  1859. 

Patron. 
The  Lord  Bishop  op  Ely. 


Duke  op  Bedford,  K.G. 


Lord  Dtnevor. 
Lord  C.  J.  F.  Russell. 
Colonel  Gilpin,  M.P. 
Major  Stuart. 
Talbot  Barnard,  Esq. 
H.  Littledale,  Esq. 


PvfsitJfntiS. 

I  Earl  de  Grey,  K.G. 

Ficr^pvfsitrtnta. 

Captain  Polhill  Turner. 
Thomas  Barnard,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Archdeacon  Tattam. 
John  Howard,  Esq.,  Mayor  op 
Bedpord. 


IxXXvi.    BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

treasurers. 
Messrs.  Barnard,  Barnard,  and  Wing. 

^uDitors. 
W.  K.  Browne,  Esq.  |  W.  H.  Wade  Gert,  Esq. 

€ottnc(l. 


T.  H.  Barker,  Esq.,  M.D. 
Rev.  B.  E.  Bridges. 
Rev.  J.  F.  Dawson. 
Rev.  J.  Donne. 
Rev.  J.  W.  Haddock. 
C.  L.  HiGGiNs,  Esq. 


Lieut.-Col.  Higgins. 
Rev.  E.  J.  HiLLiER. 
Rev.  J.  ]\Iendham. 
Rev.  W.  B.  Russell. 
Rev.  E.  Swann. 
Rev.  J.  H.  Thomas. 


Together  with  the  Editorial  Committee  and  the  Acting 
Officers  of  the  Society. 


Rev.  R.  G.  Chalk. 
Rev.  H.  W.  Gert. 
Rev.  W.  Monkhouse. 


©iJttorfal  eomm(me. 

Mr.  B.  Rudge. 

Rev.  H.  J.  Williams. 

Mr.  James  Wyatt. 

With  the  Secretaries. 


©uratot. 
George  Hurst,  Esq. 

^onorarg  Secretaries. 
G.  F.  D.  Evans,  Esq.,  M.D.     |        Rev.  H.  J.  Rose.       |        Rev.  W.  Airt. 

^Sent  antF  f  ublisi)er. 
Mr.  F.  Thompson. 


Adopted  at  a  General  Meeting  held  at  Bedford,  October  2Sth,  1858. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Society  during  tlie  past  year  have  been  of  so  routine  a 
character,  that  there  is  little  to  which  the  Council  find  it  necessary  to  call  the 
particular  attention  of  the  members.  Such  of  them  as  had  the  good  fortune  to  take 
part  in  the  excursion  which  was  made  in  the  summer  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
the  line  of  churches  along  the  valley  of  the  Ouse,  from  Sharnbrook  to  Turvey, 
will  remember  how  successfully  it  was  accomplished  ;  and  remembering,  too,  how 
much  its  enjoyment  was  enhanced  by  the  hospitality  of  the  gentleman  who  now 
occupies  the  chair  of  this  meeting  (C.  L.  Higgins,  Esq.)  and  the  Rev.  F.  Palmer, 
they  will,  we  doubt  not,  cordially  join  the  Council  in  tendering  to  those  gentle- 
men the  thanks  of  the  Society. 

The  Council  desire,  also,  to  record  their  thanks  to  the  Trustees  of  the  Bedford 
General  Library,  for  their  continued  liberality  in  allowing  the  use  of  the  room  in 
which  we  are  now  assembled,  for  the  purposes  of  our  General  Meetings. 

We  have  to  report  the  steady  increase  of  the  Society's  Library,  both  by  dona- 
tion and  purchase.  This  collection  already  includes  a  considerable  number  of 
standard  works  upon  Architecture,  Archaeology,  and  Topography  ;  and  we  look  for 
such  an  increase  of  contributions  in  this  department,  as  shall  render  it  a  permanent 
County  Library  of  Reference  upon  these  subjects. 


THE    REPORT. 


Ixxxvii. 


Of  church-restorations  completed,  Millbrook  is  the  only  example  which  has 
come  before  us  within  the  past  year.  This  has  been  effected  soundly,  correctly, 
and  unpretendingly  ;  and  it  is  scarcely  necessary,  therefore,  to  add,  satisfactorily. 
We  hope  another  year  to  report  the  same  of  Sharnbrook,  the  works  of  which  are 
still  in  progress.  Several  other  churches  in  the  neighbourhood  are  announced  a3 
about  to  undergo  restoration  :  we  trust  that  in  all  the  work  may  be  efficiently  and 
judiciously  done  ;  and,  as  far  as  this  Society  is  concerned,  we  can  only  say  that  it 
will  be  ready  to  give  its  best  advice  and  suggestions  upon  any  plans  which  may  be 
laid  before  it,  and  such  pecuniary  aid  as  its  limited  funds  will  allow.  If  the  County 
would  be  more  liberal  to  the  Society,  the  Society  would  joyfully  show  more 
liberality  to  the  church-restorers.  Among  these  projected  restorations  is  one 
church  in  which  we  feel  a  peculiar  interest,  viz.,  Clapham  ;  but  to  this  it  is  not 
necessary  to  make  any  further  allusion,  as  we  have  been  promised  the  gratification 
of  hearing,  at  the  present  meeting,  a  full  memoh-  of  this  church  from  the  member 
of  our  Society  the  most  competent  to  furnish  it.  We  much  wish  that  in  this 
announcement  of  projected  restoi-ations  Ave  could  have  included  the  principal 
church  of  this  town,  which,  for  Avaste  of  space,  clumsiness  of  arrangement,  and 
utter  inadajotation  to  the  requirements  of  the  ritual  of  the  Anglican  Church,  is 
perhaps  unequalled  in  the  whole  kingdom. 

Since  the  last  General  Meeting,  two  numbers  of  the  County  Notes,  as  well  as 
the  volume  of  Reports  and  Papers  of  the  Associated  Societies,  have  been  published, 
and  Avill  be  delivered  to  those  members  who  have  not  yet  received  them,  upon, 
application  to  the  Secretary.  With  reference  to  the  latter  publication,  the  Council 
consider  that  it  Avill  be  best  to  remain  in  the  Association,  but  to  avoid  the  dispi'o- 
portionate  expense  which  would  otherwise  be  incurred,  by  curtailing  the  amount 
of  matter  to  be  printed. 

Before  concluding  this  Report,  we  desire  to  express  our  deep  sense  of  the  loss 
sustained  by  this  Society,  in  common  with  the  county  generally,  by  the  death  of 
the  Rev.  John  Taddy,  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Society,  and  a  frequent 
contributor  to  its  Transactions.  Not  resting  upon  his  early  Academic  distinctions, 
his  whole  life  was  a  course  of  studj',  which  gave  an  authority  to  his  opinions  in 
every  branch  of  literature  and  science  seldom  conceded  to  any  one,  and  assigned 
him  an  intellectual  position  in  the  society  of  the  county,  for  which  we  shall  in  vain 
seek  a  worthy  successor.  Of  his  faithful  ministration,  as  a  parish  priest,  for  half  a 
century,  it  is  not  our  province  to  speak  :  we  have  only  to  record  him  as  the  pro- 
found scholar,  and  the  zealous  disciple  and  promoter  of  science. 

It  only  remains  for  us  to  submit  for  your  approval  the  list  of  officers  for  the 
ensuing  year. 


TREASURER'S    REPORT 

For  the  year  1858. 


RECEIPTS. 

£    s.  d. 

Balance  from  1857     IS  13  0 

Subscriptions 43     5  6 


£61   18     6 


EXPENDITURE. 

£  S.  d. 

Timseus,  Binding 0  14  0 

Thompson,  Printing,  &c.     ...   12  12  4 

Subscription  to  Archseological)     ,  ,  ^ 

Institute j      ^ 

Messrs.    Brooke,     share    of)   ,_  n  in 

"  Reports  and  Papers"  ...j   ^"^ 

Rent  of  Rooms    10  0  0 

Books  purchased  ..., 8  14  0 

Balance  in  hand  15  16  4 

£61  18  6 


THE  THIRTEENTH  REPORT 

OF    THE 

ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 

OF 

THE  ARCHDEACONRY  OF  NORTHAMPTON, 


patron. 
The  Lord  Bishop  op  Peterborough. 

\^For  names  of  Presidents,    Vice-Presidents,  Honorary  and  Ordinary  Members, 
List  of  Books,  Bides,  &c.,  see  Beportfor  1857.] 

The  Earl  of  Pojifret,  Easton  Neston,  Towcester. 

Hon.  George  W.  Fitzwilliam,  M.P.,  Milton,  Peterborougli. 

Hon.  and  Rev.  A.  G.  Douglas,  ScaldweU,  WeUingborough. 

Miss  Agnes  Blencoe,  E.  "Walton,  Lynn. 

Rev.  a.  Boodle,  L.  Addington,  Thrap- 
ston. 

D.  Watts  Russell,  Esq.,  Biggen  HaH, 
Oiindle. 

W.  R.  Roberts,  Esq.,  Great  Easton, 
Rockingham. 

E.  J.  Whitten,  Esq.,  Northampton, 
Rev.  T.  W.  Carr,  Loddington,  Ket- 
tering. 

E.  Browning,  Esq.,  Architect,  Stamford. 


G.  AsHBT  Ashbt,  Esq.  the  Wooleys, 
Naseby. 

Rev.  G.  F.  De  Teissier,  Church  Bramp- 
ton. 

Rev.  G.  N.  Simpkinson,  Brington. 

Rev.  F.  J.  Birch,  Overstone. 

W.  Maunsell,  Esq.,  Jun.,  Thorpe, 
Kettering. 

Rev.  Dolben  Paul,  Sibbertoft,  Rugby. 


%  'gq&tt 


read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Society,  held  at  Northampton,  Octo- 
ber 20,  1858,  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  James,  one  of  the  Secretaries 
of  the  Society. 

You  are  good  enough,  on  these  occasions,  to  allow  my  paper  to  be  rather  an 
address  than  a  report,  and  the  channel  rather  of  general  remarks  on  the  architec- 
tural doings  of  the  archdeaconry  than  a  foi-mal  approved  statement  from  the 
committee.  I  fear  that,  this  year,  my  paper  may  appear  more  than  commonly 
egotistical,  as  I  purpose  to  give  more  than  its  due  share  to  rnY  own  church  at 


THE    REPORT.  Ixxxix. 

Theddingworth— but  this,  I  trust  not  so  much  in  any  spirit  of  vain  glorying  in  my 
own  deeds,  as  a  steward  giving  an  account  of  talents  intrusted  to  him  by  the  mem- 
bers of  this  society  to  accomplish  a  work  which  he  could  not  of  his  own  means 
Lave  undertaken.     First,  however,  on  the  general  business  of  the  society. 

The  work  of  the  committee  during  the  last  year  has  been  fully  equal  to  that 
of  any  preceding  one.  The  churches  of  Oakham,  Finedon,  Higham  Ferrers, 
Hazelbeech,  Radstone,  Yardley  Hastings,  Newton,  Loddington,  Mear's  Ashby  and 
Sutton,  all  in  this  archdeaconry,  have,  in  one  form  or  other,  come  under  the  notice 
of  the  committee  :  they  have  also  been  consulted  on  many  cases  beyond  their  pro- 
fessed limits.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  examine  all  the  plans  in  detail,  but  merely  to 
mention  some  of  the  more  salient  points,  which  have  a  general  interest.  The  great 
work  at  Oakham,  in  which  the  society  has  had  more  than  common  share  and  in- 
terest, is  nearly  complete,  and  the  church  will  be  opened  again  for  Divine  service 
on  the  9th  of  November.  Nearly  £5,000  has  been  expended  on  it,  but,  considering 
the  extent  and  quality  of  the  work  done,  it  has  been  well  laid  out.  The  seats  are 
especially  good,  and  I  think,  on  the  whole,  the  best  I  have  ever  seen  on  the  prin- 
ciple on  which  they  have  been  carried  out,  being  that  which  I  should  recommend 
architects  in  all  cases  to  follow.  There  were  no  old  benches  in  this  case  to  pre- 
serve, but  fragments  enough  of  the  old  bench  ends  existed  to  enable  ]\Ir.  Scott  to 
adopt  the  old  form  and  modify  it  to  modern  convenience.  High  poppy-heads  in 
the  nave  of  a  church  are  objectionable;  they  reduce  the  height  of  the  building, 
and  somehow  their  wooden  heads  jumble  unpleasantly  with  those  of  the  congrega- 
tion when  seated.  On  the  other  hand,  the  square  ends,  so  common  in  this  county, 
are  rather  monotonous.  The  Oakham  benches,  following,  as  I  said,  an  ancient 
fragment,  are  of  a  middle  character  between  the  two,  and  being  slightly— very 
slightly— sloped  both  in  the  back  and  in  the  seat,  like  second  class  railway  car- 
riages, are  the  most  comfortable  benches  I  have  ever  tried,  without  any  suggestion 
of  lounging. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  questions  of  arrangement,  as  all  church-restorers 
know,  is  the  position  of  the  prayer-desk.  Its  correct  position  is,  without  doubt, 
within  the  chancel,  but  this,  from  the  narrowness  of  the  chancel  arch,  or  from  the 
projection  of  the  easternmost  responds  of  the  nave  into  the  body  of  the  church,  is 
often  a  most  inconvenient  position.  This  latter  objection  was  the  case  at  Oakham, 
and  the  difficulty  has  been  met  by  what  seems  to  me  the  best  arrangement  under 
such  circumstances.  The  ritual  chancel  has  been  brought  out  into  the  nave,  by 
retaining  the  level  of  the  chancel  about  six  feet  westward  of  the  chancpl  arch,  and 
enclosing  that  projection  by  a  low  screen,  within  which,  on  each  side,  is  a  prayer- 
desk;  thus  the  principle  of  the  chancel  is  mamtamed,  at  the  same  time  that  the 
convenience  of  the  congregation  is  consulted. 

The  very  noble  church  of  Finedon  has  been  placed  in  the  hands  of  Mr. 
Slater  for  re-arrangement,  but  here  the  alterations  have  been  rather  congregational 
than  architectm-al,  the  great  object  being  to  accommodate  the  increasing  population 
of  the  parish.  As  a  rural  parish  church  of  one  date,  perhaps  it  is  the  finest  in  the 
archdeaconry.  All  who  remember  the  rich  old  carved  open  seats  will  be  glad  to 
know  that  they  have  been  religiously  preserved,  and  their  style  copied  throughout 
the  nave.  We  must  regret,  while  we  acknowledge,  the  necessity  of  narrowing  the 
centre  alley,  and  that  the  size  of  the  chancel  and  the  excellence  of  the  western 
organ  forbid  the  correct  placing  of  the  choir.  At  the  suggestion  of  the  sub-com- 
mittee, who  visited  the  church,  the  Jacobean  altar  rails  are  preserved,  and  the  very 
rare  remains  of  a  stone  chancel  skreen  retained  in  their  present  state.  The  plans 
for  Hazelbeech  Church,  which  was  visited  by  a  sub-committee  of  the  society,  have 
been  for  the  present  postponed.  At  Higliam  Ferrers,  all  the  substantial  restoration 
has  been  completed,  and  the  churchwardens  only  await  an  addition  to  their  funds 
to  proceed  with  the  internal  fittings.  During  the  progress  of  the  works  some  very 
fine  sepulchral  crosses  of  various  dates  and  designs  have  been  discovered,  drawings 
of  which  we  hope  to  add  to  the  society's  portfolio.  A  few  encaustic  tiles  have  also 
been  preserved,  of  a  character  very  different  from  the  well-known  pavement  of  the 
sacrarium. 

One  important  point  which  the  committee  have  always  endeavoured  to  en- 
force upon  restorers  is  the  danger  of  over-restoration.  A  few  years  ago  it  was 
thought  one  of  the  highest  compliments  to  bestow  on  church  restoration,  that  you 
could  not  tell  the  new  work  from  the  old.    In  a  better  spirit  it  is  now  required  that 


XC.  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

the  distinction  between  the  new  and  the  old  should  he  visible  at  the  first  glance. 
A  restorer  should  be  content  to  take  as  his  own  neither  more  nor  less  than  he  has 
actually  done.  All  splashing,  therefore,  of  new  stone  work  and  staining  of  wood- 
work should  be  strictly  eschewed.  No  workman  can  really  imitate  the  gentle 
touches  of  Time,  and  if  he  succeeded  it  would  only  be  succeeding  in  deception. 
A  safe  rule  seems  to  be  to  restore  nothing  Avhich  is  not  required  for  constructional 
safety.  All  ornamental  work  is  far  better  left  in  the  time-worn  state  in  which  we 
find  it.  A  restored  chui'ch  should  not  look  like  a  new  one ;  and  to  all  who  regard 
the  inner  spirit  more  than  the  outward  surface,  the  very  mutilations  which  tell  of 
bygone  faitli  or  forms  are  more  precious  than  the  trimmest  and  neatest  renovation. 
An  example  occurs  at  Theddingworth  which  is  by  no  means  uncommon,  and 
exactly  exemplifies  the  principle  I  am  urging.  The  capitals  of  the  chancel  arch 
had  been  sadly  mutilated  and  cut  away  for  the  erection  of  the  roodloft,  probably  in 
the  15th  century.  (They  did  barbarous  things  in  those  days  as  well  as  in  later,  to 
suit  the  fashion  of  the  hour.)  The  capitals  were  only  moulded,  and  nothing  could 
be  easier  or  cheaper  than  to  restore  as  they  once  were  ;  but  I  preferred  to  leave 
them  to  tell  their  own  tale,  and  their  present  state  not  only  suggests  an  era  in  the 
history  of  the  chui-ch,  but  also  assures  the  visitor  of  the  genuineness  of  all  the  other 
stone  work  ho  sees  there.  On  the  same  principle  no  stone  woidc,  either  inside  or 
outside,  should  be  dressed  or  tooled  over,  but  the  whitewash  simply  removed,  and 
that,  if  possible,  rather  by  chemical  than  mechanical  means.  No  one  who  has  not 
had  pi-actical  experience  in  restoring  a  church  can  understand  both  the  necessity 
and  the  difficulty  of  enforcing  this  principle.  Workmen  care  nothing  about  the 
matter;  contractors  only  think  of  making  what  they  call  a  'good  job  ;'  and  archi- 
tects are  not  nearly  as  cai-eful  and  as  strict  in  their  orders  on  this  head  as  they 
ought  to  be.  As  work  is  now  carried  on,  no  one  who  really  appreciates  the  spirit 
of  our  old  architecture  can  visit  a  restored  church  without  pain  and  dismay.  A  set 
has  already  been  made  against  church  restoration  on  this  very  head,  as  if  all  histo- 
rical and  antiquarian  interest  were  necessarily  sacrificed  by  restoring  an  old  church 
to  comeliness  and  right  arrangement.  Practically  one  must  acknowledge  that  this 
has  been  too  often  the  case,  and  if  the  question  were  to  be  simply  between  preserv- 
ing an  antiquarian  featui-e  or  making  the  fabric  fit  and  decent  for  public  worship,  I 
cannot  think  that  any  true  churchman  would  hesitate  for  a  moment  to  prefer  the 
latter.  But  with  due  care  and  judgment  it  is  very  seldom  indeed  that  the  two  things 
are  incompatible,  and  certainly  there  seems  nothing  in  orderly  modern  arrangement 
that  need  ever  lead  to  the  tampering  with  the  merely  ornamental  part  of  old  build- 
ings as  is  so  frequently  seen.  It  is  because  at  Higham  the  restoration  of  grotesque 
sculptures  seems  to  me  to  have  been  carried  out  too  far,  that  I  have  appended  these 
remarks  in  this  place. 

At  Newton  a  very  handsome  memorial  chancel  has  been  added,  by  Mr. 
Slater,  to  the  old  chapel,  and  in  order  that  the  chancel  roof  should  not  be  higher 
than  that  of  the  nave,  the  nave  roof  has  been  raised  so  as  to  include  the  east  win- 
dow of  the  tower  within  the  gable,  the  reverse  of  the  solution  of  the  same  difficulty 
which  occurred  at  Theddingworth — I  leave  it  to  others  to  say,  from  examination, 
which  is  the  lesser  evil.  At  Loddington  the  chancel  has  been  rebuilt,  under  the 
superintendence  of  Mr.  Christian,  jun.,  and  this  is  only  an  eaniest  of  a  general  re- 
storation of  the  whole  fabric,  which  has  been  taken  up  by  the  parishioners  in  the 
best  spirit.  Mr.  Buckeridge,  of  Oxford,  is  superintending  the  re-seating  of  the 
chui-ch  at  Mears  Ashby,  and  the  advice  of  the  committee  has  been  taken  as  to  the 
insertion  of  a  new  window  in  the  tower.  The  suggestions  of  the  committee  have 
also  been  fully  carried  out  in  the  chancel  at  Radstone,  which  has  been  thoroughly 
re-constructed. 

At  Yardley  Hastings  gi*eat  improvement  has  been  eflFected  by  the  removal  of 
a  most  obnoxious  gallery  across  the  chancel  arch.  Three  distemper  paintings  dis- 
covered on  the  walls  were  unfortunately  destroyed  before  tracings  of  them  could  be 
taken.  The  mutilated  sedilia  are  to  be  preserved,  not  restored.  The  eastern  part 
of  the  north  aisle  at  Welford  church,  in  very  poor  condition  and  of  the  most 
debased  character,  is  being  re-erected  for  the  Hon.  F.  Villiers,  by  Mr.  E.  F.  Law, 
and  when  completed  will  be  one  of  the  best  features  of  a  church  that  has  suf- 
fered more  than  most  by  well-intentioned,  but  tasteless,  alterations.  Plans  were 
laid  before  the  committee  for  the  entire  rebuilding  of  the  church  of  Sutton-by- 
Weston.     The  committee  strongly  recommended  the  repair  of  the  existing  chapel, 


THE    REPORT.  XCl. 

■which  is  one  of  gi'efit  interest,  dating  from  Norman  times.  This  recommendation 
■will,  I  believe,  be  adopted,  and  a  curious  church  preserved,  whose  only  claim  to  be 
pulled  down  was  that  its  walls  were  out  of  the  perpendicular,  a  test  which,  if  rigidly 
applied,  would  hardly  leave  one  of  our  existing  village  churclies  standing.  Plans  by 
Mr.  Wm.  Smith,  for  the  re-building  of  Gilmorton  church  have  twice  been  before 
the  committee,  and  this  is  one  of  the  few  cases  which  have  been  submitted  to  them 
Avhere  a  new  church  seemed  preferable  to  repairing  the  old  one.  The  tower  and 
spire  it  was  advised  to  retain,  but  the  most  inveterate  conservative  would  hardly 
care  to  keep  the  present  hopeless  shell  of  nave  and  chancel.  Should  the  design  be 
carried  out,  a  more  detailed  account  will  be  given  in  another  year's  report.  The 
rough  sketch  of  Mr.  Scott  for  a  chapel  for  the  Lunatic  Asylum  has  been  laid  before 
most  of  you.  It  is  a  very  promising  germ,  and  I  hope  that  by  next  year  the  con- 
tributions of  the  friends  of  that  admirable  institution  will  allow  the  design  to  be  so 
far  forwarded  that  we  may  have  tbe  drawings  to  exhibit  in  this  room.  By  the 
kindness  of  the  ai'chitect  employed,  Mr.  Slater,  a  design  is  exhibited  here  to-day 
which  ought  to  have  a  more  than  common  interest  in  this  place.  It  is  for  the  re- 
storation of  the  east  end  of  Limerick  Cathedral,  as  a  memorial  to  our  late  member, 
Mr.  Augustus  Stafford.  The  ground  plan  shews  the  cathedral  what  we  might 
have  expected — a  conglomeration  of  monuments  and  pews;  but  here,  too,  improve- 
ment has  been  at  work,  well  meant,  but  hardly  up  to  our  present  architectural 
lights.  A  large  east  window,  intended  to  follow  the  Perpendicular  style,  has  been 
inserted,  in  all  respects  out  of  character  with  the  old  building.  This  it  is  proposed 
to  remove,  and  to  insert  in  its  stead  a  lancet  triplet  of  Irish  type,  to  be  filled  with 
stained  glass  representing  the  seven  acts  of  mercy,  so  appropriate  to  him,  one  of 
whose  last  deeds  was  that  of  the  good  Samaritan  among  our  wounded  soldiers  in 
the  East.  2nd.  To  place  a  new  reredos  of  native  marbles  under  the  new  Avindow; 
and  3rd,  which  almost  follows  from  the  window,  to  restore  the  easternmost  bay  of 
the  chancel  roof  in  good  oak  to  its  original  high  pitch;  the  first  portion,  it  may  be 
hoped  and  believed,  of  a  complete  restoration  of  the  whole  fabric  to  such  a  state  as 
he  whom  this  part  commemorates  would  have  wished  to  behold  it.  The  cathedral 
of  Limerick  is  one  of  the  most  perfect  of  the  Irish  cathedrals,  and  seems,  by  its 
ground  plan,  quite  capable  of  being  easily  worked  into  correct  congregational  use. 
What  renders  the  memorial  here  the  more  appropriate  is  the  fact  of  the  cathedral 
having  been  built  and  endowed  by  an  O'Brien,  an  ancestor  of  Mr.  Stafford.  I 
know  not  what  Northamptonshire  has  done  to  preserve  the  memory  of  their  county 
member,  whose  personal  character  extorted  the  highest  praise  even  from  his 
strongest  political  opponents;  but  I  cannot  but  think  that  there  are  many  who  once 
delighted  in  his  friendship,  who  would  no'w  be  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  con- 
tributing a  stone  to  his  cairn,  and  at  the  same  time  of  shewing  a  sympathy  with 
the  movement  just  commenced  in  the  sister  church  of  Ireland  of  rescuing  their  old 
churches  from  their  fearful  desecration  and  neglect.  To  this  distant  memorial  we 
may  the  readier  contribute  because  his  own  family  have  placed  a  commemorative 
window  in  the  church  of  Blatherwycke,  the  painted  glass  of  Avhich  is  by  Messrs. 
Clayton  and  Bell,  and  the  stone  work  by  Mr.  Slater,  who  exhibits  the  drawing  to- 
day. (I  am  a  very  bad  treasurer,  but  I  would  undertake  to  forward  to  the  Lime- 
rick committee  any  contributions  which  may  be  sent  to  me  for  that  purpose.) 

Of  our  own  cathedral  I  may  report  that  the  whitewash  has  been  removed 
from  all  the  stone  work  of  the  choir,  and  buttresses  applied  to  the  east  end  of  the 
south  transept,  and  of  a  more  pleasing  character  than  those  first  erected  against  the 
north  transept.  The  decoi'ation  of  the  choir  roof  is  suspended,  but  the  scaffolding 
remains  up,  and  the  Dean  and  Chapter  only  await  the  accumulation  of  their  repair 
fund  to  continue  their  work.  More  than  one  painted  window  is  already  promised, 
and  a  splendid  altar  cloth,  the  design  of  which  was  submitted  to  your  committee, 
is  in  the  course  of  being  worked,  under  the  superintendence  of  Miss  Blencowe,  to 
be  ready  for  the  proposed  new  reredos;  and  I  am  allowed  to  say  that  any  ladies  in 
the  diocese,  competent  to  the  task  and  desirous  of  contributing  their  work  to  their 
own  cathedral,  may  have  a  portion  allotted  to  them  on  applying,  by  letter,  to  Mrs. 
Saunders,  at  the  Deanery,  Peterborough.  There  is  another  subject  flowing  from 
our  cathedral  to  which  I  cannot  advert  without  the  greatest  satisfaction.  You  may 
remember  that  it  was  at  one  of  this  society's  meetings,  in  this  room,  that  we 
pledged  the  present  Dean,  willingly  and  most  heartily  on  his  part,  to  open  the 
cathedral  to  the  people  without  gratuity  or  fee.      He  at  once  acted  on  his  promise. 


XCll.  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

It  was  the  first  of  the  cathedrals  rightfully  restored  to  the  people,  for  ■whom  their 
very  size  showed  that  they  were  built.  Already  the  cathedrals  of  Gloucester  and, 
I  think,  Hereford,  have  more  or  less  followed  the  Peterborough  example,  and  in- 
duced thereto  mainly  by  the  satisfactory  answers  that  our  Dean  was  enabled  to  give 
as  to  the  effects  of  the  opening  of  his  own  cathedral.  We  must  take  pleasure  in 
this  truly  popular  movement,  but  yet  we  have  far  less  reason  to  gloxy  in  what  has 
been  now  achieved,  than  to  feel  shame  that  a  right — for  such  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
call  it — was  so  long  withheld,  and  in  many  dioceses  still  contmues  to  be  withheld 
from  a  public  fully  able  to  value  its  advantages. 

Of  schools,  the  only  designs  of  which  we  are  this  year  ofiicially  cognizant 
are,  the  very  fine  room  now  completed  for  the  Training  School  at  Peterborough,  by 
Mr.  Scott;  the  very  excellent  group  at  Lubenhara,  by  Mr.  Cranston,  of  Birming- 
ham, just  finished  ;  and  the  plans  for  the  new  schools  for  St.  Giles',  in  this  town, 
which  Mr.  Law  is  good  enough  to  exhibit  to-day.  He  has  readily  fallen  in  with  the 
suggestion  of  the  committee  to  replace  the  somewhat  too  common  bell  gable,  given 
as  an  alternative  in  the  sketch,  by  a  higher  turret-belfry  of  wood,  in  consonance 
with  his  original  design. 

Your  committee  has  been  consulted,  as  usual,  on  several  memorial  windows 
at  Market  Harborough,  Wellingboi-ough,  Broughton,  Theddingworth,  and  else- 
where. 

They  also  commissioned  Mr.  Law,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Forbes,  to  make  a 
drawing  of  a  memorial  cross  about  to  be  erected  at  Azimghur  in  India,  to  the  offi- 
cers and  privates  of  the  13th  Light  Infantry.  A  drawing  of  this  is  here  to-day. 
Designs  of  the  cemetery  chapels  at  Husbands  Bosworth,  also  by  Mr.  Law,  are  ex- 
hibited. Without  special  reference  to  those  designs,  I  cannot  but  regret  the  general 
unsatisfactory  plans  and  arrangements  which  the  new  cemetery  committees  have 
usually  adopted.  The  subject  deserves  a  paper  to  itself,  and  is  too  large  even  to 
be  glanced  at  now.  I  would,  however,  at  least  ask  that,  in  laying  out  the  ground, 
the  paths  should  not  be  tortuous  but  straight;  and  that  such  ridiculous  incongruities 
should  be  avoided  as  that  in  the  new  cemetery  at  Peterborough,  where  the  dead 
house,  or  room  for  the  reception  of  bodies  awaiting  burial,  has  a  conspicuously 
large  bay  window ! 

I  had  wished  to  speak  more  at  length  upon  Theddingworth  chnrch,  but  I 
find  that  my  time  is  running  short.  I  will  only  allude  to  those  portions  from 
which  I  may  deduce  some  general  conclixsions  useful,  I  believe,  to  all  who  are  ever 
likely  to  be  engaged  in  a  like  work. 

And  first,  as  to  arrangement.  Thanks  to  the  good  feeling  of  my  parishioners 
of  every  degree  and  opinion,  I  have  been  able  to  carry  out  what  I  believe  to  be  the 
best  possible  plan  for  congregational  worship,  according  to  the  ritual  of  the  Church 
of  England.  The  choir  occupy  the  chancel.  This  I  consider  the  first  step  to  any 
satisfactory  choral  arrangement.  The  bass  on  the  north,  the  tenors  on  the  south, 
and  the  trebles,  with  the  harmonium,  in  a  south  chancel  aisle,  aeparated  from  the 
chancel  by  an  open  skreen.  The  chancel  being  very  small,  accommorlation  is 
made  for  any  supernumerary  members  of  the  choir,  on  the  easternmost  bench  of 
the  north  side  of  the  nave.  At  the  extreme  west  end  of  the  chancel,  indeed  partly 
under  the  chancel  arch,  are  two  prayer  desks  with  stalls,  one  on  either  side  for  the 
vicar  and  curate.  A  low  skreen  of  alabaster  divides  the  chancel  from  the  nave, 
without  in  the  least  degree  obstructing  the  eye  or  voice.  In  the  north  corner  of  the 
nave  is  the  pulpit,  and  on  the  south  side  looking  west,  the  lectern  for  the  Bible, 
whence  the  lessons  are  read.  The  seats  are,  of  course,  all  low  and  open,  and  look- 
ing east,  and  all  alike  furnished  with  carpet  cushions  and  hassocks.  None  have 
been  appropriated,  but  the  people  have  naturally  fallen  into  their  places — the  men 
on  the  north  side,  the  women  on  the  south.  Two  official  stalls  have  been  made 
for  tbe  churchwardens  at  the  extreme  west;  and  if  any  diff'erence  of  position  at  all 
exists  in  tbe  congregation,  it  is  that  the  best  seats,  i.  e.,  those  nearest  the  pulpit  and 
prayer  desk,  have  been  given  up  to  the  poor  and  aged.  I  consider  the  official 
position  of  the  churchwardens  at  the  west  end  almost  as  conducive  to  the  general 
order  of  the  church,  as  the  place  of  the  choir  at  the  east  is  to  the  success  of  its 
psalmody. 

Beginning  with  the  principle  in  the  selection  of  architect  and  contractor, 
( Mr.  G.  G.  Scott  and  Mr.  Ruddle)  I  have  carried  it  out  in  each  detail  by  asking 
the  advice  of  the  highest  authority  in  each  speciality,  and  following  it.    Thus  for 


THE    REPORT.  XClll. 

my  music  I  went  to  Sir  Hemy  Dryden,  for  my  pavement  to  Lord  Alwyne  Compton, 
for  my  altar  cloth  to  Miss  Blencowe,  for  my  bells  to  Mr.  Maunscll,  for  my  warm- 
ing to  Mr.  Bigge,  and  in  every  case  I  have  the  fullest  reason  to  be  satisfied  with 

the  result.  j      .  •.     , 

Everyone  was,  I  believe,  beginning  to  bo  thoroughly  nauseated  with  the 
common  patterns  and  arrangements  of  Minton's  tiles  repeated  over  and  over  again, 
mixing  old  and  new  patterns  together  without  any  guide  but  that  of  a  most  ill- 
educated  eye.  In  the  case  of  Theddingworth,  Lord  Alwyne  Compton  has  kindly 
brought  his  thorough  knowledge  and  excellent  taste  to  bear  upon  the  subject,  and 
by  correct  arrangement  and  selected  patterns,  has  produced  a  pavement  which  the 
highest  architectural  authorities  have  pronounced  the  very  best  of  the  kind  laid 
down  in  modern  times.  To  one  who  has  studied  the  subject  with  the  research  of  our 
noble  chairman,  the  designs  of  pavements,  and  of  the  quarries  that  compose  them, 
mark  their  date  and  style  as  distinguishably  as  the  subjects  of  painted  glass  and 
the  tracery  and  mouldings  of  windows;  and  it  is  the  ignorance  which  has  overlooked 
this  fact,  and  which  has  treated  all  encaustic  tiles  as  one  and  the  same  thing,  that 
has  perpetuated  those  many  modern  pavements  which  we  have  all  felt  to  be  un- 
saeisfactory,  without  being  able  to  lay  bare  the  soiu'ces  of  the  mistakes. 

The  warming  is  effected  by  the  hypocaust  system  described  by  Mr.  Bigge  iu 
the  last  volume  of  our  reports.  By  heating — from  a  furnace  approached  from  the 
outside — the  main  surface  of  the  pavement  by  under-ground  flues,  which  in  no 
place  open  into  the  church,  the  warm  air  is  equally  distributed  over  the  floor, 
without  any  draught  or  escape  of  smoke.  As  far  as  we  have  yet  been  able  to  test 
it,  it  is  completely  successful,  and  I  would  strongly  recommend  persons  about  to 
warm  their  churches,  to  apply  to  Mr.  Mitchell,  of  Leamington,  by  whom  the  Hues 
were  arranged. 

I  must  omit  many  points  on  which  I  had  intended  to  descant ;  but  I  may  call 
the  attention  of  members  to  the  cartoons  of  the  painted  windows  which  are  in  the 
room  to-day.  The  east  window,  a  memorial  from  the  Lovell  family  to  their  father 
and  mothei-,  most  generously  presented  to  the  church,  is  by  Clayton  and  Bell.  The 
west  window  of  the  south  chancel  aisle,  by  Oliphant,  is  a  gift  by  a  member  of  my 
own  family,  and  contains  subjects  appropriate  to  the  place  where  the  children  and 
younger  singers  sit. 

The  lighting  of  the  church  still  remains  to  be  carried  out,  but  the  drawings  of 
the  standards  designed  by  Mr.  Skidmore,  of  Coventry,  are  exhibited  for  the  criticism 
of  the  assembled  members. 

I  wish,  in  conclusion,  to  mention  the  stencilled  painting  on  the  roof  of  the  S. 
chancel  aisle,  and  on  the  tower  ceiling.  It  is  very  simple  but  very  effective,  and 
very  superior,  in  my  opinion,  to  the  imitation  of  the  coarse,  hard,  medioeval  roof- 
colouring,  often  now  attempted.  The  panels  are  of  common  deal,  varnished ;  and 
this  gives  a  rich  gold-like  ground  work  for  whatever  coloured  pattern  may  be 
stencilled  upon  it.  There  are  exhibited  here  to-day  several  specimens  of  this  style, 
which  have  been  executed  for  me  by  Mr.  Lea,  of  Lutterworth,  and  I  think  you  will 
allow  that  it  is  a  kind  of  inexpensive  and  effective  decoration  which  recommends 
itself  as  much  for  domestic  as  for  ecclesiastical  uses. 

Among  the  subjects  brought  incidentally  before  the  committee  was  that  of 
labourers'  cottages.  The  committee  have  again  authorized  the  secretary  to  apply 
to  the  agricultural  society  of  this  county  to  join  them  in  offering  a  prize  for  the  best 
cottage  adapted  to  this  locality  ;  and  the  members  of  this  society  will  probably  hear 
with  pleasure  that  your  committee  has  been  requested  to  join  in  the  formation  of  a 
society  in  London,  having  for  its  special  object  the  cheap  circulation  of  good  cottage 
plans.  This  central  society  is  likely  to  be  inaugurated  at  the  begining  of  next  year, 
under  the  highest  auspices. 

The  question  of  the  proposed  public  oflSces  at  Westminster  having  been  dis- 
cussed by  your  committee,  they  passed  a  unanimous  vote  that  a  memorial  should 
be  addressed  to  the  chief  commissioner  of  public  works,  expressing  a  hope  that  the 
Gothic  style  may  be  adopted  in  the  new  buildings,  as  being  more  national  and 
appropriate  to  the  site,  and  at  least  as  convenient  and  economical  as  any  other  style. 

It  has  also  been  resolved,  if  it  meets  with  your  approbation,  to  form  working 
sub-committees,  of  members  of  the  society,  for  special  subjects — such  as  church- 
arrangement  and  decoration,  warming  and  lighting,  glass  painting  and  pavements, 
church  music,   schools  and  parsonages,  parochial  history,  general  archaeology, 


XCIV. 


NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 


labourers'  cottages,  bells,  clocks  and  belfries.  By  tbis  division  of  labour,  each 
subject  will  be  more  accurately  treated  and  advised  upon;  and  by  making  each 
committee  small,  and  composed  of  such  members  only  as  really  understand  and 
take  an  interest  in  the  special  subject,  much  more  practical  business  will  be 
done,  and  the  many  applications  on  these  various  heads  so  continually  made  to 
the  committee,  more  satisflictorily  and  expeditiously  answei'ed.  I  have  in  my  own 
case,  derived  so  much  benefit  from  this  special  consultation  of  members  who  have 
made  any  one  branch  of  architecture  or  archaeology  their  particular  study,  that 
I  cannot  but  wish  that  some  regular  system  might  be  establisbed,  by  which  all 
members  of  the  society  might  readily  have  the  same  advantage.  I  should  much 
like  one  special  committee  for  the  Fine  Arts,  so  that  painting  and  sculpture  migbt 
come  recognizably  Avithin  the  sphere  of  our  society,  and  our  meetings  be  enlivened 
by  a  new  class  of  papers,  from  a  new  set  of  writers.  But  this  is  another  matter 
which  does  not  admit  of  full  discussion  now. 

The  Architectural  Congress,  at  Oxford,  in  the  spring,  was  attended  by 
several  members  of  our  society,  and  proved  a  most  successful  gathering,  as  did  also 
a  meeting  with  the  Leicestershire  society,  at  Market  Harborough.  A  room  almost 
as  large  as  this,  was  crovvded  by  all  classes  of  persons;  and  an  architectural  and 
arch^ological  museum,  hastily  got  up  in  two  days,  served  as  a  theme  for  general 
remarks  at  the  evening  meeting. 


TREASURER'S     REPORT 
from  Oct.  9,  1857,  to  Oct.  9,  1858. 


RECEIPTS.                       £.  S.  d. 

Balance,  Oct.  9,  1857  37  12  11 

Subscriptions,    &c.,    up    to 

Oct.  9,  1858 131  13  6 


£169     6     5 


PAYMENTS.  £.      S.  d. 

Oct.  20th,  1857,  to  Rev.  T. 

James 5     5  10 

to  Rev.  H.  J.  Bigge  10     0  6 

Oct.  26th,  1857,  to  ditto  ...  310  6 
Dec.  3,  1857,  to  Rev.  G.  A. 

Poole 1  10  0 

Feb.  9,  1858,  toMr.Phipps  20  0  0 
June  19,  1858,  Subscription 

received  in  error   0  10  0 

June  29,  1858,  Mr.  J.  Benu  0  15  0 


£69  1  10 


Gross  Receipts     169     6     5 

Gross  Payments 69     1   10 

Balance,  Oct.  9,  1858  £100     4     7 


D.  Morton,  Treasurer. 


WORCESTER 

DIOCESAN    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY- 


patron. 
The  Right  Rev.  The  Lord  Bishop  of  Worcester. 

^vesitifnt. 
The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Lyttelton. 


The  Right  Hon.  the  Earl  of  Beau- 
champ. 

The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Ward. 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  John  S.  Paking- 
ton,  Bart,  M.P. 

The  Hon.  F.  Lygon,  M.P. 

Sir  E.  a.  H.  Lechmere,  Bart. 

Sir  T.  E.  Winnington,  Bart.,  M.P. 

The  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of  Wor- 
cester. 

The  Ven.  the  Archdeacon  op  Wor- 
cester. 


The  Ven.  the  Archdeacon  of  Co- 
ventry. 
The  Rev.  Canon  Pilkington. 
The  Rev.  Canon  Wood. 
J.  P.  Brown  Westhead,  Esq.,  M.P. 
Matthew  Holbech  Bloxam,  Esq. 
C.  Holt  Bracebridge,  Esq 
William  Dickins,  Esq. 
William  Dowdeswell,  Esq. 
E.  J.  Rudge,  Esq. 
Evelyn  P.  Shirley,  Esq.,  M.P. 


I^ottorarj)  Secretavi'fs. 
Theodore  H.  Galton,  Esq. 
Rev.  Herbert  G.  Pepys. 
J.  Severn  Walker,  Esq. 

©rtasuvn*. 
Rev.  Richard  Cattley. 

iLifirarian  anli  Curator. 
Rev.  W.  H.  Helm. 


The  Annual  Officers. 
Rev.  W.  W.  Douglas. 
Rev.  H.  J.  Hastings. 
Rev.  D.  Melville. 
Rev.  R.  Seymour. 
Rev.  p.  M.  Smythe. 
Rev.  Dr.  Williamson. 
Rev.  T.  L.  Claughton. 
Rev.  J.  D.  Colli s. 
Rev.  R.  Rodney  Fowler. 
Rev.  C.  Glynn. 


©owmt'ttee. 

J.  M.  Gutch,  Esq. 

H.  G.  GOLDINGHAM,  ESQ. 

W.  Jeffrey  Hopkins,  Esq. 
W.  Lynes,  Esq. 
Rev.  G.  S.  Munn. 
Rev.  E.  J.  Newcomb. 
A.  E.  Perkins,  Esq. 

F.  Preedy,  Esq. 
Rev.  J.  H.  Wilding. 

G.  J.  A.  Walker,  Esq. 


ilocal  ^rcrptarirs. 
Rev.  W.  Staunton,  Warwick.  I  W.  Lynes,  Esq.,  Coventry. 

M.  H.  Bloxam,  Esq.,  Rugby.  | 

o 


XCVl.    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


HONORARY     MEMBERS. 


Sir  Chas.  H.  J.  Anderson,  Bart.,  Lea, 
Gainsborough. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Bloxam,  St.  Mary  Mag- 
dalen College,  Oxford. 

Rev.  C.  Boutell. 

W.  Butterfield,  Esq.,  Architect,  4,  Adam- 
street,  Adelphi,  London,  W.  C. 

The  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  T.  Coleridge, 
Heath's  Court,  Ottery  St.  Mary, 
Devon;  26,  Park-crescent,  London,  W, 

Sir  Henry  E.  L.  Dryden,  Bart,  Canons 
Ashby,  Daventry. 

A.W.  Franks.Esq.,  British  Museum,  W.G 

E.  A.  Freeman,  Esq.,  Lanrumney  Hall, 
Cardiff. 

Sir  Stephen  Glynne,  Bart.,  Hawarden 
Castle,  Chester. 

P.  C.  Hardwick,  Esq.,  R.A.,  Architect, 
21,  Cavendish-square,  London,  W. 

The  Rev.  C.  H.  Hartshorne,  Holdenby 
Rectory,  Northamptonshire. 

Alexander  J.  B.  Beresford  Hope,  Esq., 
1,  Connaught  -  place,  London,  W. 
Bedgehury  Park,  Kent. 

Rev.T.  James,  Honorary  Secretary  to  the 
Northampton  Architectural  Society, 
Theddingworth,  Rugby. 


J.  H.  Markland,  Esq.,  D.C.L.,  F.S.A., 

Lansdown-crescent,  Bath. 

John  H.  Parker,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Turl, 
Oxford. 

Rev.  J.  L.  Petit,  Lichfield. 

Rev.  G.  Ayliffe  Poole,  Welford,  North- 
amptonshire. 

John  Ruskin,  Esq.,  Herne-hill,  Dul- 
wich. 

Ven.  Archdeacon  Thorp,  Kemerton, 
Tewkesbury. 

G.  G.  Scott,  Esq.,  A.R.A.,  Architect, 
20,  Spring  Gardens,  London,  >S'.  W. 

Edmund  Sharpe,  Esq.,  Architect,  Coedfa, 
LI  an  wr  St. 

G.  E.  Street,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Architect, 
33,  Montague-place,  London,  W. 

Albert  Way,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Honorary 
Secretary  to  the  Archaeological  Insti- 
tute ;  Wonham,  Reigate,  Surrey. 

Px'of.  Willis,  President  of  the  Cambridge 
Antiquarian  Society,  Cambridge. 

William  White,  Esq.,  Architect,  30A, 
Wimpole-street,  London,  W. 

Charles  Winston,  Esq.,  3,  Harcourt 
Buildings,  Temple,  E.G. 


ORDINARY     MEMBERS. 


Abdy,  Rev.  A.  C,  Worcester. 

Adams,  Rev,  C.  C,  Anstey,  Coventry. 

Ainger,  Rev.  E,,  St.  John's,  Worcester. 

Allen,  Rev.  C,  Bushley,  Tewkesbury 

Alston,  Mr.  E.,  High-street,  Worcester. 

Amphlett,  R.  P.,  Esq.,  Wychbold  Hall, 
Droitwich. 

Amphlett,  Rev.  M.,  Church  Lench, 
Evesham. 

Ai-cher,  Mr.  Edward,  Great  Malvern. 

Beauchamp,  Right  Hon.  Earl,  Madres- 
field  Court,  Worcester,  Vice-President. 

Beck,  Rev.  C.  C,  Foleshill,  Coventry. 

Becker,  Rev.  F.  W.,  Overbury,  Tewkes- 
bury. 

Bedford,  Rev.  W.  K.  R.,  Sutton  Cold- 
field. 

Berkeley,  Rev.  W.  C,  Cotheridge  Court, 
Worcester. 

Bernard,  E.  W.,  Esq.,  Stourbridge. 

Binns,  R.  W.,  Esq.,  Henwick,  Worcester 

Bloxam,  M.  H.,  Esq.,  Rugby,  Vice-Pre- 
sident. 

Boyle,  Rev.  G.  D.,  Hagley,  Stom-bridge. 

Boissier,  Rev.  P.  E.,  Malvern  VVells. 

Bracebridge,  C.  Holt,  Esq.,  Atherstone 
Hall,  Warvvrickshire,    Vice-President. 

Brown- Westhead,  J.  P.,  Esq.,  M.P., 
Lea  Castle,  Kidderminster,  Vice-Pre- 
sident. 


Buck,  Alfred,  Esq.,  Worcester. 

Burnaby,  Col.  C.  H.,  Thorneloe  Villa, 
Worcester. 

Burrow,  Rev.  H.  H.,  Severn  Stoke, 
Worcester. 

Byrne,  Mrs.,  Britannia  Square,  Wor- 
cester. 

Cattley,  Rev.  R.,  Worcester,  Treasurer. 

Chambers,  C,  Esq.,  Copeley-hill,  Aston, 
Birmingham. 

Claugbton,  Rev.  T.  L.,  (Honorary  Canon 
of  Worcester),  Kiddei'minster. 

Clarke,  G.  Row,  Esq.,  Architect,  27, 
Great  Jauies-street,  Bedford  Row, 
London,  W.C. 

Collis,  Rev.  J.  D.,  (Honorary  Canon  of 
Worcester),  Grammar  School,  Broms- 
gTove. 

Cookes,  Rev.  H.  Wmford,  Astley  Rec- 
tory, Stourport. 

Crump,  Rev.  C.  C,  Halford,  Shipston- 
on-Stour. 

Day,  Henry,  Esq.,  Architect,  Woi'cester. 

Dickins,  W.,  Esq.,  Cherington,  Shipston- 
on-Stour,  Vice-President. 

Douglas,  Hon.  and  Rev.  Henry,  Han- 
bury,  Droitwich. 

Douglas,  Rev.  A.  J.,  Mathon,  Great 
Malvern. 


LIST    OF    MEMBERS. 


XCVll. 


Douglas,  Rev.  W.  W.,  Salwarpe  Rectory, 
Droitwich,  (Rural  Dean). 

Dowdeswell,    W.,    Esq.,     Pull    Court, 
Tewkesbury,  Vice-President. 

Egan,  Miss,  Ivy  Bank,  Worcester. 

Feild,  John  James,  Esq.,  M.D. 

Fowler,  Rev.  R.,  Rodney,  Worcester. 

Finch,  Mr.  E.,  St.  John's,  Worcester. 

Galton,  Theodore  II.  Esq.,  Hanley 
Grange,  Upton-on- Severn,  Hon.  Sec. 

Gauntlett,  Rev.  F.,  Fladbury,  Pershore. 

Glynn,  Rev.  C,  Hallow,  Worcester. 

Goldingham,  H.  G.  Esq.,  Foregate-street, 
Worcester. 

Granville,  Rev.  Granville,  Stratford- 
upon-Avon. 

Green,  Rev.  John  Fowler,  Erdington, 
Birmingham. 

Gully,  William,  Esq.,  Great  Malvern. 

Gutch,  J.  M.,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Worcester. 

Hastings,  Rev.  H.  J.,  Martley,  Worcester, 
(Rural  Dean  and  Hon,  Canon). 

Hay  ward.  Rev.  T.  W,,  Upton-on- Severn. 

Helm,  Rev.  W.  H.,  Worcester. 

Hill,  Rev.  H.  T.,  Felton  Rectory,  Brom- 
yard, (Rural  Dean). 

Hill,  Rev.  R.  Pyndar,  Bromesberrow, 
Ledbury 

Holden,  Hyla,  Esq.,  Lark  Hill,  Wor- 
cester. 

Holland,  George  H.,  Esq.,  Wellesbourne 
Hall,  Warwick. 

Hone,  Ven.  Archdeacon,  Halesowen, 
Vice  President. 

Hopkins,  W.  J.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Wor- 
cester. 

Hopkins,  Thomas,  Esq ,  44,  Foregate- 
street,  Worcester. 

Johnstone,  Lieut.  Col.,  Tything,  Wor- 
cester. 

Kingsley,  H.,  Esq.,  M.D.,  Stratford-on- 
Avon. 

Lea,   Rev.  William,  St.  Peter's,  Droit- 
•    wich,  (Hon.  Canon  of  Worcester.) 

Lees,  Edwin,  Esq.,  Worcester. 

Lechmere,  Sir  E.  A.  H.,  Bart.,  Rhydd 
Court,  Upton-on-Severn.  Vice-Presi- 
dent. 

Loscombe,  Miss,  College-green,Worcester 
Loscombe,  Miss  M.  H.,     „  „ 

Loscombe,  Miss  L.  C,      „  „ 

Lygon,   Hon.  Frederick,  M.P.,  Madres- 
field  Court,  Worcester^Vice- Preside nL 
Lynes,    W.,    Esq.,    2,     Middleborough 

TeiTace,  Coventry. 
Lyttelton,    Right   Hon.    Lord,    Hagley, 

Stoiirbridge,  President. 
Lyttelton,  Hon.  and  Rev.  W.  H.,  Hagley, 

Stourbridge,  (Honorary  Canon). 
Male,  Dudley,  Esq.,  Architect,  5,  Lower 

Phillimore  Place,  Kensington,  W. 
Malins,  W.,  Esq.,  60,  Montague  Square, 
London,  W. 


McCann,  Mr.  George,  Great  Malvern. 

Manning,  Mr.  H.,  Great  Malvern. 

Masefield,  George,  Esq.,  Ledbury. 

Melville,  Rev.  D.,  Great  Witley,  Stour- 
port,  (Hon.  Canon,  Rural  Dean). 

Mildmay,  Rev.  C.  A.  St.  John,  Lap- 
worth,  Warwickshire. 

Munn,  Rev.  G.  S.,  Madresfield,  Worcester 

Mottram,  Rev.  C.  J.  M.,  Kidderminster. 

Murray,  James,  Esq., Architect,  Coventry 

Newcomb,  Rev.  E.  Leigh,  Worcester. 

Norton,  John,  Esq.,  Architect,  24,  Old 
Bond-street,  London,  W. 

Odel,  William,  Esq.,  Coventry. 

Oldham,  Rev.  James,  Doverdale  Rectory, 
Droitwich. 

Pakington,  Right  Hon.  Sir  J.  S.,  Bart., 
Westwood  Park,  Droitwich,  Vice-Pre- 
sident. 

Pakington,  J.  Slaney,  Esq.,  Kent's 
Green,  Worcester. 

Parker,  Rev.  Wm.,  Little  Comberton, 
Pershore. 

Pattrick,  C.  G.  H.  St.,  Esq.,  41,  Broad- 
street,  Bristol. 

Peake,  Rev.  G.,  Aston,  Birmingham. 

Perkins,  A.  E.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Wor- 
cester. 

Pepys,  Rev.  H.  G.,  Hallow  Vicarage, 
Worcestei',  Hon.  Secretary. 

Philpott,  Rev.  T.,  Belbroughton. 

Pilkington,  Rev.  C,  Canon  of  Chichester, 
Stockton,  Rugby,  (Rural  Dean),  Vice- 
President. 

Pocock,  J.  Innes,  Esq.,  Puckrup  Hall, 
Tewkesbury. 

Preedy,  Frederick,  Esq.,  Architect,  Wor- 
cester. 

Prichard,  Rev.  R.,  Newbold,  Shipston- 
on-Stour. 

Pulling,  Rev.  W.,  Eastnor,  Ledbury. 

Rowe,  H.,  Jun.,  Esq.,  Architect,  Wor- 
cester. 

Roberts,  Mr.  G.,  Kidderminster. 

Rudge,  E.  J.  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Abbey  Manor, 
Evesham,   Vice-President. 

Sandford,  Ven.  Archdeacon,  Alvechurch, 
Bromsgrove,  Vice-President. 

Seymour,  Rev.  R.,  Kinwarton,  Alcester, 
(Rural  Dean,  Hon.  Canon). 

Shipway,  Mr.  James,  Great  Malvern. 

Shirley,  Evelyn  P.,  Esq.,  M.P.,  Lower 
Eatington  Park,  Stratford-on-Avon, 
Vice-President. 

Simpson,  Rev.  J.  D.,  Stoulton  Rectory, 
Worcester. 

Skidmore,  F.  A.,  Esq.,  Coventry. 

Smythe,  Rev.  P.  M.,  Solihull,  (Rural 
Dean  and  Hon.  Canon.) 

Squirhill,  D.  G.,  Esq.,    Architect,  Lea- 
mington. 
Staunton,    Rev.    W.,   Tachbrook,  Lea- 
mington. 


XCVlll.    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Stephens,  Mr.  Joseph,  Sculptor,  Wor- 
cester. 

Stillhigfleet,  Rev.  H.  J.  W.,  Worcester. 

St.  John,  Rev.  G.,  Powick,  Worcester. 

Stratford,  Mr.  T.  Cross,  Worcester. 

Thorn,  Rev.  W.,  Worcester. 

Truefitt,  George,  Esq.,  Architect,  5, 
Bloomsbury-sqnare,  London. 

Turner,  Rev.  Reginald,  Churchill,  Kid- 
derminster. 

Vernon,  T.  Bowater,  Esq.,Hanbury  Hall, 
Droitwich. 

Vernon,  Harry,  Esq.,  Hanbury,  Droit- 
wich. 

Walker,  Mr.  J.  S.  Pierpoint-street,  Wor- 
cester, Hon.  Secretary. 

Walker,  John,  Esq.,  Farnley  Lodge, 
Cheltenham. 

Walker,  G.  J.  A.,  Esq.,  Norton,  Wor- 
cester. 

Wallis,  G.  0.,  Esq.,  Budleigh-Salterton, 
Devonshire. 


Ward,  Right  Hon.  Lord,  Witley  Court, 

Stourport,  Vice-Presiden I. 
Watts,  Rev.  James  G.,  Ledbury. 
Wells,  Mr,  F.,  Foregate-street, Worcester 
Wilding,  Rev.  J.  H.,  Worcester. 
Williamson,   Rev.   R.,    D.D.,   Vicarage, 

Pershore,  (Rural  Dean,  Hon.  Canon). 
Winnington,  Sir  Thomas  E.,  Bart.,  M.P., 

Stanford  Coiu't,  Worcester,  Vice-Pre- 
sident. 
Wood,  Rev.  J.  R.,  Canon  of  Worcester, 

Vice-President. 
Worcester,  the  Lord  Bishop  of,  Hartle- 

bury  Castle,  Stourport,  Patron. 
Worcester,  the  Very  Rev.  the  Dean  of, 

Vice-President. 
Wright,  Rev.  J.  H.  C,  Clifton-on-Teme, 

Worcester. 
Yapp,  R.,  Jun.,  Esq.,  Hales-End,  Crad- 

ley.  Great  Malvern. 
Young,    Rev.     Julian    C,    Ilmington, 

Shipston-upon-Stour. 


RULES. 


1.  That  this  Society  be  entitled  "  The 
Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  So- 
ciety." 

2.  That  the  objects  of  the  Society  be 
to  promote  the  study  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture,  antiquities,  and  design,  by 
the  collection  of  books,  casts,  drawings, 
&c.,  and  the  restoi-ation  of  miitilated 
architectural  remains  within  the  diocese; 
and  to  furnish  suggestions,  so  far  as  may 
be  within  its  province,  for  improving  the 
character  of  ecclesiastical  edifices  here- 
after to  be  erected  or  restored. 

3.  That  the  Society  be  composed  of  a 
patron,  president,  vice-presidents,  two  or 
more  secretaries,  a  treasurer,  librarian, 
honorary  and  ordinary  members ;  to  con- 
sist of  clergymen  and  lay  membei's  of 
the  Church  of  England. 

4.  That  the  Lord  Bishop  of  the  Dio- 
cese, for  the  time  being,  be  requested  to 
accept  the  office  of  patron. 

5.  That  the  business  of  the  Society 
be  transacted  by  a  committee,  consisting 
of  the  patron,  president,  vice-presidents, 
secretaries,  treasurer,  librarian,  the  rural 
deans  of  the  diocese  (being  subscribers), 
and  not  exceeding  eighteen  ordinary 
members  to  be  elected  at  the  annual 
meeting,  and  that  three  do  constitute  a 
quorum. 

6.  That  the  committee  have  power  to 
supply  vacancies  in  their  own  body,  pro- 
visionally, until  the  next  annual  meeting ; 


and  that  members  of  the  committee  in 
any  neighbourhood  may  associate  other 
members  with  them,  for  local  purposes, 
in  communication  with  the  central  com- 
mittee. 

7.  That  every  candidate  for  admission 
to  the  Society  be  proposed  and  seconded 
by  two  members,  and  balloted  for  at  a 
meeting  of  the  committee,  or  at  a  general 
meeting. 

8.  That  on  the  election  of  a  member 
the  secretaries  send  him  notice  of  it,  and 
a  copy  of  the  rules. 

9.  That  each  member  shall  pay  an 
annual  subscription  of  ten  shillings,  to 
be  due  upon  the  first  of  January  in  each 
year. 

10.  That  any  member  may  compound 
for  all  future  subscriptions  by  one  pay- 
ment of  five  pounds. 

1 1.  That  all  persons  holding  the  office 
of  churchwarden  in  any  parish  of  the 
diocese,  be  entitled,  without  payment,  on 
the  recommendation  of  the  clergyman  of 
their  pai-ish,  being  a  member,  to  all  the 
privileges  of  membership  except  that  of 
voting. 

12.  No  one  shall  be  entitled  to  his 
privileges  as  a  member  of  the  Society 
whose  subscription  is  in  arrear. 

13.  That  the  annual  meeting  shall 
take  place  at  Worcester  in  the  autumn; 
and  that  the  ordinary  meetings  of  the 
Society,  not  less  than  four  in  the  year, 


THE    REPORT. 


XCIX, 


be  held  at  such  times  and  places  as  the 
committee  may  appoint  ;  and  that  the 
committee  meet  once  a  month. 

14.  Tliat  honorary  members  may  be 
elected,  upon  the  nomination  of  the  com- 
mittee only,  at  a  general  meeting  of  the 
Society. 

15.  That  each  member  be  allowed  to 
introduce  a  friend  at  any  general  meeting. 

16.  That  all  books,  drawings,  papers, 
and  other  property  of  the  Society,  be 


vested  in  trustees,  to  be  appointed  by 
the  committee,  and  kept  by  the  secre- 
taries for  the  use  of  members ;  and  that 
no  person  ceasing  to  be  a  member  of  the 
Society  shall  have  any  claim  \ipon,  or 
interest  in  its  property. 

17.  That  no  new  rule  be  passed,  and 
no  alteration  be  made  in  any  existing 
rule,  unless  notice  of  the  proposed  new 
rule  or  alteration  shall  have  been  given 
at  the  preceding  general  meeting. 


Presented  by  the  Committee  at  the  Annual  Meeting,  held  at  Worcester, 
on  the  ^Ith  September,  1858. 

The  Committee  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  in  presenting 
their  Fifth  Annual  Report,  feel  that  they  may  congratulate  the  Society  upon  the 
increased  appreciation  of  the  objects  which  they  have  in  view,  and  their  consequent 
prospects  of  extended  usefulness. 

The  past  year  has  witnessed  a  considerable  accession  of  members,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  a  slight  alteration  in  the  rate  of  admission  would  insure 
a  still  greater  influx  of  candidates. 

One  of  their  principal  means  for  diffusing  a  taste  for  architecture  among  their 
members  has  been  through  the  circulation  of  the  annual  volume  ;  and  the  utility 
of  such  a  volume  is  indefinitely  multiplied  when,  instead  of  its  being  limited  to  the 
report  of  a  single  association,  it  can  be  made  to  include  the  papers  and  transactions 
of  several  similar  societies.  In  their  last  Report,  your  Committee  were  compelled  to 
announce  the  withdrawal  of  three  of  the  Societies  with  whom  they  had  been  asso- 
ciated for  the  two  previous  years.  They  now  have  the  satisfaction  of  congratidatmg 
the  Society  upon  an  accommodation  of  their  differences,  which  has  resulted  in  the 
combined  volume  of  the  six  Societies,  which  has  been  presented  gratuitously  to  each 
of  our  members  dixring  the  present  year. 

A  still  more  effectual  means  of  leavening  the  public  with  an  appreciation  of 
Mediaeval  Art,  and  of  imbuing  their  minds  with  a  regard  for  the  solemnity  and 
beauty  Avhich  should  characterize  the  Houses  of  God,  has  been  by  exhibiting  and 
commenting  upon  the  structures  themselves,  during  the  course  of  our  excursions. 
The  benefit  of  this  method  is  proved  by  the  rapid  progress  which  the  principles  of 
ecclesiastical  architecture  and  church-arrangement,  inculcated  by  your  Society, 
have  made,  and  by  the  increased  attention  which  is  devoted  to  the  study  of  Chris- 
tian Art  and  Antiquities. 

The  meetings  and  excursions  of  the  past  twelve  months  have  been  more  than 
usually  interesting,  and  the  fact  of  their  being  duly  appreciated  is  sufficiently 
proved  by  the  increasing  numbers  who  attend  them. 

At  the  last  Annual  Meeting,  on  the  30th  September,  1857,  the  Cathedral  was 
again  inspected  under  the  guidance  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Boutell,  who  sketched  the 
history  of  the  fabric,  and  gave  a  pleasing  and  graphic  description  of  its  architectural 
and  artistic  features.  The  same  gentleman  further  enlarged  upon  the  subject  at 
the  conversazione  in  the  evening,  at  wliich  Mr.  J.  H.  Chamberlain  read  an  excellent 
paper  upon  Street  Architecture. 

On  the  following  day  the  Society  visited  Pershore  and  its  neighbourhood.  The 
little  chapel  at  Pinviii  was  the  first  object  which  they  inspected;  and  the  members 
derived  considerable  interest  from  the  examination  of  some  mural  paintings  recently 
discovered  there.  They  proceeded  thence  by  the  new  chapel  at  Drake's  Broughton, 
designed  by  Mr.  Hopkins,  and  remarkable  for  its  brick  interior,  to  Besford.     The 


C.        WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

latter  chapel  is  observable  on  account  of  its  half  timbered  nave  and  rood-loft,  in 
perfect  preservation.  At  Pershore  the  party  assembled  in  the  noble  Abbey  Church, 
which  is,  next  to  the  Cathedi-al,  the  finest  ecclesiastical  edifice  in  the  diocese,  and 
that,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  choir,  tower,  and  south  transept  alone  remain 
to  commemorate  its  former  grandeur.  Papers  contributed  by  Mr.  T.  H.  Galton 
and  Mr.  W.  J.  Hopkins,  were  read  at  the  church,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  the  townspeople.  Mr.  Hopkins  took  for  his  subject  the  architecture  of  the 
church,  and  illustrated  his  Paper  by  large  diagrams  of  the  edifice  in  its  original 
state,  and  of  the  contemporary  churches  of  Tewkesbury  and  Gloucester.  The 
monumental  eflSgies  were  described  by  Mr.  Boutell.  The  proceedings  of  the  day 
terminated  in  a  dinner,  at  which  the  Hon.  Frederick  Lygon,  M.P.,  presided. 

The  first  excursion  of  the  present  season  took  place  on  the  1st  of  June,  and 
included  the  churches  of  Bredon,  Twyning,  Ripple,  Queeuhill,  and  Bushley.  The 
members  were  also  gratified  by  a  sight  of  the  pictures  at  Ham  Court,  to  which  they 
were  introduced  by  the  kindness  of  WiUiam  DoAvdeswell,  Esq.,  who  acted  as 
president  for  the  day,  and  liberally  threw  open  his  grounds  and  mansion  at  Pull 
Court  to  the  members  and  their  friends. 

The  architectural  peculiarities  of  Bredon  church,  which  has  been  noticed  in  a 
former  report,  were  pointed  out  by  Mr.  John  Severn  Walker,  who  also  read  a  Paper 
on  Twyning  church,  which  came  next  in  oi'der.  This  latter  is  the  shell  of  an 
unusually  spacious  Norman  structure,  into  which  windows  of  the  Middle-pointed 
period  have  been  inserted,  and  to  which  a  tower  and  porch  in  the  Third-pointed 
style  have  been  added.  Plans  have  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Street  for  a  thorough 
restoration  of  this  edifice,  which  has  been  terribly  mutilated  in  modern  times  ;  and 
it  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  they  may  shortly  be  cai-ried  into  effect. 

The  fine  early  Fust-pointed  cross  church  at  Ripple  was  illustrated  in  an  able 
Paper,  by  Mr.  W.  J.  Hopkins. 

Queeuhill  chapel  has  been  externally  restored  at  the  cost  of  Mr.  Dowdeswell, 
under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  G.  G.  Scott,  who  has  placed  an  effective  gabled 
roof  upon  the  tower,  and  has  erected  a  wooden  porch  on  the  south  side  of  the  nave. 
The  new  chancel  at  Bushley,  also  the  work  of  Mr.  Scott,  was  desci-ibed  in  our 
last  Report.  With  the  exception  of  the  want  of  proper  elevation  in  the  chancel 
floor,  we  are  inclined  to  think  that,  on  completion,  it  equals  our  anticipation. 

The  Oxford  Architectural  Society  invited  us  to  an  architectural  congress  at 
Oxford,  on  the  9th  June  and  the  three  following  days.  Several  of  our  members 
availed  themselves  of  so  favourable  an  opportunity  for  visiting  the  numerous  objects 
of  architectural  and  antiquarian  interest  with  which  that  ancient  city  abounds. 
The  new  Museum  and  the  chapels  of  Balhol  and  Exeter  colleges  are  more  especially 
worthy  of  note,  as  being  some  of  the  most  successful  efforts  of  the  architectixral 
revival  of  our  own  day.  They  likewise  furnish  a  convincing  proof  that  there  are 
living  architects  who  are  in  a  great  measure  capable  of  grasping  the  ideas  which 
influenced  the  master  minds  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

On  the  second  day  of  the  congress,  the  colleges,  churches,  and  public  buildings 
were  visited  under  the  guidance  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Parker. 

The  excursion  on  the  third  day  embraced  nearly  ten  churches,  including  those 
of  Cuddesdon,  Great  Milton,  Haseley,  and  Dorchester,  which  are  more  especially 
interesting.  It  was  pleasing  to  find  them  all  in  an  excellent  state  of  repair,  and, 
with  only  one  exception,  correctly  arranged  ;  and  it  was  particulai-ly  gratifying  to 
visit  so  many  churches  without  encountering  a  single  pew. 

It  had  been  for  some  time  in  contemplation  to  hold  the  annual  Warwickshire 
meeting  at  Stratford-upon-Avon,  but,  from  one  cause  or  other,  this  had  been  post- 
poned until  the  present  summer.  Whatever  anticipations  may  have  been  formed 
as  to  the  probability  of  a  successful  and  agreeable  meeting  were  more  than  realized 
on  the  21st  and  22nd  of  July  last.  These  results  were  due,  not  only  to  the  many 
interesting  associations  connected  with  the  locality,  but  also  to  the  cordial  and 
hospitable  reception  afforded  to  the  Society  by  E.  P.  Shirley,  Esq.,  M,P.,  who  pre- 
sided at  the  meeting,  as  well  as  by  the  Rev.  G.  Granville  and  the  other  members 
of  the  local  committee.  Yoiir  committee  feel  especially  indebted  to  Dr.  Kingsley, 
the  local  honorary  secretary,  to  whose  indefatigable  exertions  they  mainly  ascribe 
those  arrangements  which  conduced  so  materially  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  meeting. 
A  special  conveyance  was  engaged  to  accommodate  the  Worcester  party ;  but  it 
is  to  be  lamented  that  so  few  members  from  this  part  of  the  diocese  availed  them- 
selves of  the  opportunity  of  joining  the  expedition. 


THE    REPORT.  CI. 

At  one  o'clock  on  the  21st  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall,  at  Stratford, 
at  which,  owing  to  the  unavoidable  absence  of  the  President,  the  Picv.  Granville 
Granville,  vicar  of  Stratford,  opened  the  proceedings.  A  short  Paper  was  read  by 
the  Rev.  Charles  Rice  on  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  giving  the  history  and 
dates  of  the  various  portions  of  the  building.  He  also  described  the  monuments 
and  stalls,  and  gave  an  account  of  the  extensive  restorations  which  have  lately  been 
effected.  The  party  then  proceeded  to  inspect  the  churches,  Shakespeare's  House, 
and  other  objects  of  interest  in  the  town. 

The  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  was  restored  about  twenty  years  since  by  the 
late  INIr.  Eginton  (of  Worcester) ;  and  although  great  allowances  must  be  made  for 
a  work  carried  out  when  the  principles  of  church  arrangement  were  almost  in  their 
infancy,  we  cannot  disguise  from  ourselves  the  fact  that  it  is  far  from  satisfying  the 
requirements  of  the  present  day  in  such  matters.  The  most  objectionable  feature 
is  the  absence  of  a  middle  passage  up  the  nave — the  pews  occupying  the  whole 
central  area.  There  are  also  galleries  in  the  aisles,  which,  however,  are  as  unob- 
trusive and  subordinate  as  galleries  can  be.  Within  the  last  few  years  some  further 
improvements  have  been  eflected,  including  the  removal  of  the  two  pulpits — one  to 
the  south  side  and  the  other  altogether — and  the  substitution  of  longitudinal  seats 
for  the  clergy  and  choir,  in  place  of  the  pews  which  previously  stood  there.  The 
western  gallery  has  been  taken  down  and  the  organ  placed  in  the  north  transept. 
The  large  blank  spaces  above  the  tower  arches  would  afford  an  opportunity  for  the 
introduction  of  colour,  the  absence  of  which  is  a  great  drawback  to  the  internal 
effect,  more  especially  as  the  stained  glass,  which  is  not  of  a  very  satisfactory 
character,  is  confined  to  the  east  window. 

The  chapel  of  the  Holy  Cross  is  a  late  Third-pointed  structure,  consisting  of 
chancel,  nave,  north  porch,  and  west  tower.  The  chancel  is  much  lower  than  the 
nave,  and  the  latter  communicates  with  the  tower  by  a  lofty  and  exceedingly 
narrow  arch.  The  walls  were  formerly  decorated  with  a  remarkable  series  of 
frescoes,  of  which  copies  have  fortunately  been  preserved  by  Fisher.  The  original 
character  of  the  interior  has  been  entirely  destroyed  by  plaster,  v/hitewash,  pews, 
and  gallery.  The  modern  church  of  St.  James  the  Great  has  been  noticed  in  a 
former  report. 

The  restoration  of  Shakespeare's  House  was  not  considered^  quite  satisfactory, 
and  a  wish  was  expressed  that  more  pains  had  been  taken  in  consulting  some 
eminent  archaeologists.  The  intention  of  the  committee  was,  no  doubt,  to  restore 
the  house  to  what  it  was  during  Shakespeare's  time.  Yet  certain  minor  details 
and  defects  in  the  execution,  as  far  as  character  is  concerned,  were  clearly  shown 
by  Mr.  Bloxam  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Hopkins  to  be  so  at  variance  with  that  period  as  to 
be  a  matter  of  regret  to  all.  The  pains-taking  execution  of  the  work  in  other 
respects  deserves  the  highest  commendation. 

The  first  day's  proceedings  were  pleasantly  varied  by  a  ramble  through  the 
grounds  of  Mark  Philips,  Esq.,  at  Welcombe,  which  command  a  magnificent  pros- 
pect of  the  surrounding  country.  Although  Mr.  Philips  was  unavoidably  absent, 
he  had  kindly  provided  champagne  and  refreshments  for  the  party,  A  conversa- 
zione was  held  at  the  Town  Hall  in  the  evening,  at  which  several  valuable  ancient 
MSS.,  books,  drawings,  and  Shakesperian  relics  were  exhibited,  and  at  which  Papers 
were  read  by  the  President  and  the  Rev.  E.  D.  Kershaw. 

On  the  22nd  an  excursion  was  made  to  Charlcote  House  and  church,  and 
thence  to  the  churches  of  Hampton  Lucy,  Wasperton,  Wellesbourne,  and  Alder- 
minster,  and  Lower  Eatington  Park,  the  seat  of  Mr.  Evelyn  P.  Shirley.  The 
mansion  of  Charlcote  and  its  valuable  contents,  which  were  kindly  exhibited  by 
Mrs.  Lucy,  were  found  well  worthy  of  inspection.  The  neighbouring  church, 
rebuilt  in  the  Decorated  style  about  five  years  since,  under  the  superintendance  of 
Mr.  John  Gibson,  is  a  costly  and  elaborate  structure,  consisting  of  nave  and  chancel 
with  vaulted  roofs,  a  mortuary  chapel  to  the  south,  and  a  tower  and  spire  to  the 
north  of  the  chancel.  The  fittings  are  of  oak,  the  family  stalls  in  the  chancel 
being  richly  canopied ;  the  font  is  elaborately  carved,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
windows  are  filled  with  stained  glass.  But,  notwithstanding  the  solidity  of  con- 
struction and  richness  of  detail,  there  is  an  absence  of  that  peculiar  tone  which 
invariably  exists  where  the  mind  of  the  architect  is  thoroughly  imbued  with  the 
spirit  of  Christian  Art.  The  want  of  height  in  the  vaulting,  and  the  very  slight 
elevation  of  the  chancel  floor  produce  a  depressing  effect.  The  tower  and  spire 
are  very  paltry. 


cii.      WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Hampton  Lucy  church  was  rebuilt  in  1825  after  a  design  of  Rickman's,  and  is 
a  far  more  satisfactory  structure  than  might  have  been  expected  at  so  early  a  stage 
of  the  Gothic  revival.  It  consisted  of  a  west  tower,  lofty  clerestoried  nave  with 
aisles,  and  a  short  chancel,  the  whole  being  vaulted.  Mr.  Scott,  having  been  called 
in  by  the  Rector  to  improve  its  ecclesiastical  character,  has  added  an  apse  to  the 
chancel  which  may  fairly  be  pronounced  one  of  his  most  successful  works.  It 
contains  a  profusion  of  carving  in  the  capitals,  bosses,  and  spandrils,  all  of  the  most 
exquisite  workmanship.  The  reredos  is  of  alabaster,  divided  into  niches  by  shafts 
of  polished  serpentine.  It  is  further  enriched  with  beautifully  sculptured  heads  in 
white  marble  of  Our  Blessed  Lord,  the  three  Marys,  and  St.  John.  The  exterior 
is  equally  rich  and  perhaps  rather  overdone,  there  being  a  want  of  plain  surface  to 
set  off  the  carved  work.  A  magnificent  douUe  doorway,  surmounted  by  a  traceried 
wheel  window,  has  been  recently  inserted  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave.  Further 
improvements  are  contemplated,  including  a  north  porch,  new  fittings  for  the  nave 
and  chancel,  and  stained  glass  windows  in  the  nave. 

The  church  at  Wasperton,  which  fifteen  years  ago  was  an  ugly  red  brick  build- 
ing with  circular-headed  windows,  has,  thanks  to  the  Vicar  and  to  Mr.  Scott,  been 
transformed  into  a  structure  of  thoroughly  ecclesiastical  character.  The  walls 
have  been  cased  with  stone,  new  windows  inserted,  a  south  aisle,  north  porch  and 
organ  chamber  erected,  the  nave  and  chancel  new  roofed  ;  a  rood  screen  surmounted 
by  a  cross,  a  brass  eagle  lectern,  and  other  fittings  provided  ;  besides  the  addition  of 
stauied  glass  windows,  the  east  one  being  after  Pugin's  last  design.  Although  the 
general  character  is  good,  there  are  a  few  points  open  to  criticism.  The  solemnity 
of  the  interior  approaches  to  gloominess,  and  the  tie-beams,  required  to  support  the 
heavy  Kentish  roof,  intersect  the  chancel  arch  and  west  window.  The  figure  of 
S.  Cecilia  on  the  key-stone  of  the  organ-chamber  arch  is  disproportionately  large, 
and  the  bell  turret,  although  elegant  in  itself,  is  of  a  type  better  suited  to  a  school 
than  a  church. 

Wellesbourne  church  formerly  consisted  of  an  Early  English  chancel,  a  Deco- 
rated nave  and  south  aisle,  and  a  Perpendicular  tower  at  its  western  extremity.  It 
having  been  determined  to  increase  the  accommodation,  Mr.  J.  P,  Harrison  was 
employed  to  carry  out  the  required  alterations.  A  north  aisle  extending  eastwards 
of  the  nave  was  erected  as  a  memorial  to  the  late  Sir  John  Mordaunt ;  the  nave 
itself  has  been  lengthened,  and  the  Norman  chancel-arch  transferred  to  the  north 
of  the  choir,  as  a  communication  with  the  new  aisle ;  and  pews  and  galleries  have 
been  replaced  by  open  seats,  those  in  the  nave  being  of  the  most  unsightly  character. 
The  new  work — without  being  absohitely  incorrect— lacks  the  vigour  and  artistic 
feeling  of  ancient  examples.  The  windows  of  the  new  aisle  are  unvaried  in  pattern, 
and  the  design  of  the  chancel  roof  is  complicated  without  being  pleasing.  The 
device  for  a  vestry  (walled  off  from  the  east  end  of  the  aisle)  and  the  position  of 
the  organ,  in  a  gallery  over  the  tower  arch,  are  neither  of  them  arrangements  to  be 
commended;  and  the  latter  has  the  disadvantage  of  preventing  the  choir  fi-om 
occupying  their  proper  position  in  the  chancel.  It  would  be  better  placed  over  the 
vestry,  whei'e  it  might  be  so  arranged  as  not  to  interfere  materially  with  the  window. 
A  considerable  amount  of  colour  has  been  introduced  upon  the  roofs  and  upper 
portion  of  the  walls,  and  the  windows  are  filled  with  stained  and  tinted  glass.  At 
the  east  end  of  the  Mordaunt  aisle  is  a  mural  brass  of  the  late  Sir  John  Mordaunt, 
which  is  a  poor  example  of  this  branch  of  art. 

Alderniinster  Church  lies  in  a  detached  part  of  the  county  of  Worcester.  It  is 
in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and  without  aisles,  chiefly  of  the  Norman  and  First  Pointed 
period,  and  having  a  north  porch  and  an  unusually  massive  central  tower.  Unlike 
the  sacred  edifices  previously  visited,  this  is  still  encumbered  with  high  square  pews 
and  gallery.  The  tops  of  the  arches  and  of  the  east  window  are  cut  off  by  flat 
plaster  ceilings.  The  east  window  consists  of  three  long  lancets,  placed  widely 
apart.  The  sanctuary  has  been  provided  with  suitable  hangings,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  further  improvements  may  shortly  be  carried  out. 

The  proposal  made  at  our  meeting  at  Birmingham  last  year  to  found  an 
archa3ological  society,  has  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Midland  Counties 
Arducohxjical  AssociufAon,  which  has  for  its  President  the  noble  Lord  who  presides 
over  this  Society,  and  which  numbers  amongst  its  Vice-Presidents  several  of  our 
own  members. 

One  of  your  Secretaries  attended  the  fii'st  meeting  of  the  Association,  which 


THE    REPORT.  Clll. 

took  place  on  the  2nd  August  last,  at  Queen's  College,  Birmingham,  under  the 
presidency  of  Lord  Lyttelton.  Papers  were  read,  and  addresses  delivered,  by  the 
Rev.  J.  G.  Gumming,  the  Kcv.  Charles  Boutell,  and  Mr.  George  Dawson. 

On  the  following  day  a  large  party  proceeded  in  omnibuses  to  Castle  Bromwich 
Hall,  an  Elizabethan  mansion  with  fine  old  gardens  ;  thence  to  Coleshill,  where  the 
interesting  church  is  undergoing  a  thorough  restoration  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Slater,  who  was  present  to  point  out  its  architectural  features,  and  to  explain  the 
alterations  now  in  progress.  The  fine  series  of  monumental  effigies  were  described 
by  Mr,  Boutell.  The  excursion  terminated  with  the  inspection  of  Maxstoke  Castle 
and  Priory,  upon  Avhich  Papers  were  read  by  Mr.  J.  Featherstone,  jun.,  and  Mr. 
Davidson. 

The  following  new  works  and  restorations  have  come  under  the  notice  of  the 
Committee  during  the  past  year. 

The  buildings  at  the  Worcester  cemetery,  being  the  most  costly  and  important 
architectural  work  that  has  been  executed  in  this  neighbourhood  for  some  time 
past,  demands  a  detailed  notice. 

The  first  point  which  attracts  attention  is  the  extreme  monotony  and  formality 
of  the  principal  group,  consisting  of  tower  and  two  wings,  precisely  similar  both  in 
form  and  detail,  even  to  the  gable  crosses.  These  wings  form  the  chapels,  and  are 
connected  together  by  a  cloister,  in  the  centre  of  which  rises  the  tower  and  spire. 

One  of  the  distinguishing  features  of  our  Mediaeval  architecture  is  its  reality 
and  truthfulness,  Avhereas  this  building  abounds  in  shams.  In  proof  of  this  asser- 
tion, the  fact  may  be  mentioned  of  there  being  no  less  than  eight  sham  ivindows  ; 
also  a  vestry  mimicking  a  chancel,  both  in  its  position  and  in  some  of  its  features, 
as  the  large  three-light  pointed  window,  particularly  inappropriate  in  a  vestry. 
Again,  making  the  plaster  interior  walls  to  imitate  large  blocks  of  stone — a  common 
but  mean  device. 

The  general  effect  of  the  exterior  is  much  marred  by  a  sad  want  of  general 
proportion.  The  lai-ge  archway  under  the  tower  is  preposterously  high,  owing  to 
which  the  angle  piers  have  a  great  appearance  of  weakness ;  it  also  takes  off  very 
much  from  the  apparent  loftiness  of  the  tower.  The  exaggerated  projection  of  the 
mouldings  to  the  broach,  and  the  ungraceful  manner  in  Avhich  the  spire  springs 
from  it,  is  exceedingly  unsightly.  The  next  fault  is  the  position  of  the  side  win- 
dows, they  being  so  low  as  to  detract  much  from  the  effect  both  of  the  exterior  and 
interior  of  the  chapels.  The  string  courses  beneath  the  front  windows  of  the 
chapels  are  ungraceful  in  form  and  badly  proportioned. 

The  appearance  of  the  interiors  is  starved  and  meagre,  which  is  rendered  more 
apparent  by  the  introduction  of  the  showy  pavement,  while  the  windows  are 
absolutely  devoid  of  scoinson  arches. 

There  is  a  general  feebleness  and  want  of  power  in  the  management  of  the 
details.  The  same  tracery  pattern  is  repeated  in  f?re«i?/-^/<.ree  windows;  and,  not 
content  with  this,  it  is  again  repeated  ten  times  in  the  panelling  on  the  piers  to  the 
boundary  wall.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  why  key-stones — so  contrary  to  the 
feeling  of  true  Gothic  art— should  have  been  introduced  into  the  arches;  and  still 
more  so  that  sham  key-stones  should  be  marked  on  the  plaster  interior. 

The  domestic  buildings  should  have  been  kept  more  subordinate  to  the  chapels, 
with  respect  to  enrichment,  whereas  they  are  exceedingly  pretentious,  and  loaded 
with  meaningless  workmanship.  The  inartistic  introduction  of  heavy  looking 
trefoil  lights  and  labels  into  all  the  gables  is  particularly  objectionable. 

But  perhaps  the  worst  feature  is  the  large  entrance  gateway,  with  the  wretchedly 
proportioned  central  archway.  It  is  quite  grievous  to  see  the  manner  in  which  so 
much  expensive  carved  work  has  been  wasted  for  want  of  proper  management  in 
its  distribution.  When  we  contemplate  the  interior  of  the  chapels,  devoid  as  they 
are  of  all  appropriate  ornamentation,  it  is  the  more  to  be  deplored  that  all  this 
costly  work,  including  useless  blank  windows,  arcading  round  tower,  panelling  to 
piers,  &c.,  should  have  been  lavished  upon  the  showy  extei'ior.  How  much  better 
it  would  have  been  to  have  dispensed  with  the  gateway,  and  more  especially  with 
the  sham  windows,  devoting  the  sum  thus  laid  out  to  the  improvement  of  the 
character  of  the  interior. 

The  work  appears  however  to  have  been  ably  superintended  by  the  clerk,  and 
some  of  the  carving,  especially  at  the  entrance,  is  deserving  of  praise. 

The  lodges  and  gateway  Avould  have  been  more  conveniently  situated,  ffnd 

P 


CIV.     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

would  also  have  grouped  better  Avith  the  chapels,  if  they  had  been  placed  at  the 
point  of  the  ground  nearest  to  Worcester,  as  shown  on  some  of  the  rejected  designs. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  it  will  be  a  long  time  before  another  opportunity  occurs 
in  this  neighboiirhood  of  spending  so  much  money  upon  a  public  building,  and  that 
a  great  opportunity  has  been  wasted  of  displaying  the  appropriateness  of  true 
Gothic  architecture  to  modern  requirements,  especially  as  the  Town  Council  have 
displayed  so  much  good  feeling,  unanimity,  and  liberality  in  the  matter,  and  were 
evidently  anxious  to  erect  a  building  worthy  of  the  present  advanced  knowledge 
of  art. 

The  chapel  at  Weethley  near  Alcester  has  been  rebuilt  at  the  sole  cost  of  H. 
Miles,  Esq.  It  was  designed  by  Mr.  E.  Haycock,  jun.,  of  Shrewsbuxy,  who  has 
produced  a  picturesque  and  correctly  arranged  edifice,  well  adapted  to  the  exposed 
position  in  which  it  stands.  As  the  porch  is  on  the  north  side,  a  stone  one  would 
have  offered  more  protection  from  the  wind  than  the  present  open  timber  structure. 
The  ground  plan  comprises  an  apsidal  chancel,  nave,  and  porch,  besides  a  lean-to 
room  on  the  south  side,  to  be  used  as  a  school-room  and  vestry.  The  windows  of  the 
apse  are  filled  with  good  stained  glass  by  Hardman,  the  wall  beneath  being  enriched 
with  hangings.  There  is  a  single  sedile,  a  piscina,  and  a  credence — the  two  latter 
combined  under  one  arch.  The  nave  is  separated  from  the  chancel  by  a  low 
wooden  screen,  on  the  outside  of  which  is  a  simple  lectern-pulpit. 

The  roofs  are  very  high-pitched,  and  at  the  west  end  is  a  bell  turret,  with 
shingled  roof,  surmounted  by  two  iron  crosses. 

The  most  important  restoration  effected  dui'ing  the  past  year  is  that  of  Hagley 
church,  intei'esting  not  only  on  account  of  its  intrinsic  merits,  but  fi'om  the  fact  that 
its  cost  has  been  mainly  defrayed  hy  a  subscription  raised  throughout  the  county 
as  a  testimonial  to  our  esteemed  President. 

The  works,  which  were  carried  out  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Street,  include 
the  rebuilding  of  the  chancel,  with  the  addition  of  a  vestry  and  organ  chamber,  the 
lengthening  of  the  nave  and  aisles  by  one  bay  westward,  together  with  new  roofs 
and  fittings  throughout  the  building.  It  is  also  proposed  to  erect  a  tower  and  spire 
at  the  west  end  at  some  future  time. 

The  chancel  is  elevated  four  steps  above  the  nave,  has  a  good  open  roof,  stalls 
and  subsellffi  on  either  side,  the  prayers  being  said  from  the  western  stalls.  The 
sanctuary  is  very  spacious  ;  on  the  south  side  are  three  elegant  sedilia,  and  on  the 
north  side  a  credence  niche.  The  east  window  is  raised  high  up  in  the  wall,  and 
the  space  beneath  provided  with  rich  hangings.  The  chancel  arch  is  of  great  width, 
and  rests  upon  detached  shafts  of  polished  serpentine  marble.  The  pulpit  is  also 
enriched  with  panels  of  the  same  material.  The  sittings  in  the  nave  are  of  deal, 
with  square  traceried  ends.  The  old  mural  tablets — divested  of  incongruous 
ornaments — have  been  retained,  and  placed  at  the  west  end  of  the  nave,  where  the 
inscriptions  can  be  readily  inspected  ;  while  at  the  same  time  they  are  unobtrusive. 
The  stained  glass  of  the  east  window  and  the  south  porch  are  memorials  to  the  late 
lamented  Lady  Lyttelton. 

The  little  church  of  Martin  Hussingtree  has  been  carefully  restored  by  Mr. 
Preedy.  The  chancel  is  con-ectly  arranged,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  old 
woodwork  is  made  subservient  to  the  ornamentation  of  the  altar,  is  worthy  of 
attention.  A  vestry  has  been  added  to  the  south  of  the  chancel  ;  but  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  the  funds  did  not  allow  of  the  erection  of  a  south  aisle,  as  recom- 
mended by  your  Society,  in  order  that  the  gallery  might  have  been  dispensed  with. 
The  bell  turret  has  been  surmounted  by  a  lofty  pyramidal  roof,  and  otherwise 
improved. 

Considerable  alterations  have  taken  place  in  Spetchley  church ;  but,  although 
the  substitution  of  open  seats  for  high  pews  and  the  improved  general  aiTangement 
are  so  far  satisfactory,  the  manner  in  which  the  work  has  been  effected  cannot  be  com- 
mended. Perhaps  the  gi-eatest  faults  are  the  line-drawing  of  the  plaster  in  the 
interior,  the  unsightly  bench  ends,  and  the  meagi-e  details  of  the  east  window.  It  is 
difficult  to  imagine  why  a  poor  Perpendicular  type  should  have  been  chosen  for  the 
latter,  when  many  of  the  windows  ai-e  good  examples  of  the  Decorated  period 

The  reredos  at  St.  Mai-tin's  in  this  city  has  been  enriched  with  bas-reliefs  of  the 
Crucifixion  and  the  Four  Evangelists,  and  the  organ-case  and  the  pipes  have  been 
diapered. 

A  considerable  sum  has  been  expended  upon  the  parish  church  of  Holt.  A 
new  roof  has  been  added  to  the  chancel ;  two  elaborately-worked  windows  inserted  ; 


THE    REPORT.  CV. 

the  western  gallery  and  the  pews  removed  ;  the  tower  arch  and  the  nave  opened, 
and  the  stonework  denuded  of  plaster  and  whitewash. 

We  could  have  wished  that  such  expensive  restorations  had  been  carried  out  by 
those  more  experienced  in  ecclesiastical  architecture,  and  so  have  prevented  many 
errors.  It  struck  us  at  once  that  the  character  of  the  old  work  had  been  deterio- 
rated for  want  of  proper  superintendence  ;  and  that  much  of  the  money  expended 
might  have  been  more  judiciously  applied  had  the  advice  of  one  versed  in  eccle- 
siology  been  taken,  both  as  regards  expenditure,  arrangement,  and  details.  We 
refuse  to  criticise  the  pulpit  and  prayer  desk,  as  they  are  the  work  of  a  lady,  and  it 
is  pleasing  to  find  them  taking  an  interest  in  these  matters. 

The  piers  and  arches  of  Claines  church  have  been  denuded  of  the  colour-wash, 
and  carefully  restored.  The  general  arrangement  of  this  church  is  so  bad,  and  the 
number  of  free  sittings  so  small,  that  it  is  hoped  a  thorough  restoration  and  enlarge- 
ment will  shortly  be  effected.  Plans  for  this  purpose  have  been  prepared  by  Mr. 
W.  J.  Hopkins,  who  proposes  to  lengthen  the  nave  eastward,  and  erect  a  new 
chancel  and  north  transept. 

Large  schools,  of  good  Middle-pointed  design,  have  been  erected  at  Malvern, 
under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  Elmslie. 

Among  the  restorations  at  present  in  progress  are  those  of  Brorasgrove  church 
(superintended  by  ]\Ir.  Scott),  Hanley  Castle  (by  Mr.  Street),  and  Hampton  Lovett 
(by  Mr.  Perkins),  but  we  shall  reserve  our  criticisms  of  them  for  a  future  Report. 

In  their  last  report  your  committee  congratulated  the  county  upon  the  restora- 
tion of  our  noble  Cathedral.  Whatever  opinion  we  may  entertain  of  the  archi- 
tectural effect  of  those  restorations,  now  that  they  are  completed,  we  must  all 
heartily  sympathize  in  the  efforts  which  the  Dean  and  Chapter  have  lately  made  to 
extend  the  usefulness  of  the  glorious  structure  committed  to  their  guardianship, 
by  opening  the  nave  for  special  services  for  the  working  classes.  Those  services 
would  be  rendered  still  more  effective  by  the  removal  of  the  organ  from  its  present 
position  to  the  sides  of  the  choir,  and  by  the  substitution  of  a  pierced  screen  through 
which  the  services  would  be  rendered  audible  from  the  nave.  Such  an  alteration, 
with  the  pulpit  placed  immediately  below  the  screen,  would  both  obviate  the  pre- 
sent unseemly  change  of  place  on  the  part  of  the  worshippers  in  the  choir,  and 
would  admit  to  the  prayers  those  who  at  pi'esent  come  to  the  sermon  only. 

The  only  other  subject  upon  which  we  would  venture  a  remark  is  the  character 
of  the  chairs,  which  are  less  commodious  in  some  respects  than  those  usually 
adopted  for  church  use. 

The  result  of  the  experiment  has  been  such  as  to  encourage  us  to  hope  that  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  will  continue  those  services  at  a  future  period,  as  we  feel  con- 
fident that  an  increased  use  of  the  Cathedral  is  certain  to  be  followed  by  an  ex- 
tended appreciation  of  the  sacred  edifice  itself. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  the  subscriptions  for  the  east  window  have  not  made 
more  active  progress. 

The  Society  has  received  the  following  presents  of  books  during  the  past  year: 
"  Coney's  Continental  Cathedrals,"  from  the  Rev.  P.  E.  Boissier;  and  "  Sharpe's 
Decorated  Windows,"  from  the  Rev.  F.  Dyson;  for  which  the  committee  beg  to 
express  their  thanks,  and  to  venture  a  hope  that  so  good  an  example  may  be  fol- 
lowed by  others. 

Your  committee  have  to  report  to  the  Society  the  resignation  of  Sir.  C.  G.  H. 
St.  Pattrick,  who  held  the  office  of  secretary,  and  to  tender  him  their  thanks  for 
the  able  services  which  he  has  rendered  the  Society  since  its  formation. 

It  is  gratifying  to  be  able  to  report  that  the  vacancies  caused  by  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Pattrick,  and  the  previous  resignation  of  the  Hon.  F.  Lygon,  have  been 
provisionally  supplied  by  the  committee,  and  that  the  Rev.  Herbert  George  Pepys 
and  Mr.  John  Severn  Walker  have  accepted  the  secretaryships  conditionally  upon 
your  electing  them  to-day. 

It  has  been  suo-gested  that  during  the  course  of  the  year  1860  an  effort  should 


•oo 


be  made  to  give  greater  prominence  to  this  Society  and  its  objects  by  making  this 
diocese  the  centre  of  a  gathering  similar  in  its  character  to  those  which  have  already 
taken  place  at  Lincoln  and  Oxford;  and  it  is  proposed  that  other  Societies  through- 
out the  country  should  be  invited  to  co-operate  in  a  plan  which  would  not  only 
extend  the  knowledge  of  the  architectural  beauties  of  our  diocese,  but  would  in- 
directly benefit  this  Society  by  manifesting  to  our  own  clergy  and  laity  the  sym- 
pathy which  others  feel  in  the  glorious  objects  which  we  have  at  heart. 


CVl.     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

The  Treasurer  in  account  ivith  the   Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural 
Society  for  the  Years  1857  and  1858. 


Dr.  £.  s.  d. 
Balance  received  from  the  late 

Treasurer 49  5  0 

One  Life  Subscription. 5  0  0 

Other  Subscriptions,  entrance 

Fees,  and  arrears 80  10  0 

Amount  received  from  visitors 

at  Bromsgrove  Meeting  ...  1  0  0 

Sale  of  Publications 4  0  0 


£139  15     0 


Ck.  £    s.    d. 

Rent  to  Lady  Day,   1858— 

two  years 20     0     0 

Subscription     to     Arundel 

Society 2     2     6 

Brooke,  W.  &  B.,  this  Society's 

share  of  Printing  Annual 

Volume  for  1857 12     6     6 

The  same,  1858  17     3     8 

Secretary's  expenses  to  Lincoln 

to  Meeting  of  Delegates  ...     2  18     9 
Subscription  to  Photographic 

Association  1      1     0 

Stanley,  Printing  Covers,  &c,, 

for  Christian  Memorials ...     3     3     0 
Expenses,  Broms- 
grove Meeting...     0     5  10 
Do.     Birmingham 

and  Coventry  do  13  7  6 
Do.  Stratford  ditto  3  10  0 
Do.  Bushley  ditto     0  13     0 

17   16     4 

Bennett  &  Co.,  Masons,  work 

done  at  the  Cathedral  for 

Mr.  Boutell's  Lecture 5  12   10 

Cleaning     Society's     Rooms, 

Firewood,  t&c 116 

Messrs.  Cowell  &,  Co.,  Ipswich, 

engraving  for  Annual  Vol.     G     6     2 
Expenses  of  Annual  Meeting, 

1857 13  18     1 

Printing,    Advei'tising,  &c. — 

two  years 9     9     0 

Postages,      Envelopes,      and 

Stationery 9   10  11 

Sundry  small  items 1   15     5 

Balance  to  next  year  15     9     4 

£139  15     0 


EICHARD  CATTLEY,  Treasurer. 


Audited  and  foimd  correct, 

W.  II.  HELM. 


THE  FOURTH  REPORT 

or   THE 

LEICESTERSHIRE 

ARCHITECTUEAL  AND  ARCHiEOLOGIGAL  SOCIETY, 

1858. 


Ileto  ptmtiers.— 1S58. 


Cox,  S.  W.,  Esq.,  Market  Harborougb.        Heygate,  T.,  Esq.,  Market  Harboroiigli'. 


Davis,  H.  J.,  Esq.,  Leicester. 
Fenwick,  Rev.  G.  C,  Blaston. 
Fisher,  G.  H.  Esq.,  Market  Harborougb. 
Gatty,  W.  H.,  Esq.,  iMarket  Harborougb. 


Jobnson,  Rev.  F.  P.,  Market  Harborougb 
Phillips,  J.  E.,  Esq.,  Kibwortb. 
Picton,  Rev.  J.  0.,  Leicester. 


Your  Society  has  now  been  established  three  years,  and  is  gradually  becoming 
better  known  ;  and  we  are  justified  in  believing  it  to  be  steadily  advancing  and 
improving,  with  a  prospect  of  more  extended  usefulness. 

Many  new  members  have  been  added  to  the  list,  but  we  have  to  regret  the  loss 
of  several  by  death  ;  and  some  who  were  included  in  our  first  lists  have  since 
intimated  that  their  names  were  erroneously  entered,  which  deceived  your  Com- 
mittee as  to  the  number  of  your  Society's  supporters,  which  now  comprises  ninety 
members. 

There  has  not  this  year  been  any  architectural  plan  laid  before  your  Committee; 
but,  being  so  recently  established,  we  cannot  perhaps  expect  at  present  to  be  con- 
sulted in  such  matters.  Were  our  various  Architectural  Societies  more  consulted 
as  to  ecclesiastical  architectural  plans,  the  appearance — and  more  especially  the 
convenience — of  new  and  restored  churches  would  be  much  increased,  and  great 
blunders  occasionally  obviated. 

The  bi-monthly  meetings  of  your  Society  have  been  well  attended,  and  greatly 
interesting.  The  number  of  antiquities,  drawings,  photographs,  »Sjc.,  &c.,  exhibited 
at  such  meetings  have  been  very  considerable.  Short  Papei's  relating  to  objects 
exhibited,  and  on  general  subjects  connected  with  architecture  and  archceology, 
have  been  read  at  these  meetings;  these  Papers,  with  the  other  proceedings  of  the 
meetings,  have  been  published  in  the  local  journals,  and  need  not  be  here  enume- 
rated. 


CVlil.       LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

The  bi-monthly  meetings  are  open  to  all  members  and  their  friends,  and  we 
strongly  urge  them  frequently  to  attend. 

The  General  Meeting  of  last  year  was  held  at  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  when  one  of 
the  lai-gest  and  best  exhibitions  of  the  kind — consisting  of  antiquities,  paintings, 
drawings,  and  all  kinds  of  curiosities — was  opened  for  public  inspection.  The 
interesting  ruins  of  the  castle  and  the  church  of  Ashby-de-la-Zouch  were  visited, 
and  several  interesting  Papers  were  afterwards  read. 

The  excursion  of  the  following  day  comprised  visits  to  Repton  church  and 
school,  where  the  foundations  of  the  old  Priory  church  had  been  excavated  and 
brought  to  light;  fi'om  thence,  visiting  Anker  church  on  the  way,  we  proceeded 
to  Melbourne,  where  a  Paper  upon  that  fine  old  and  very  interesting  Norman  church 
was  read  by  the  Rev.  Jos.  Deans.  The  Society  and  their  friends  then  proceeded 
to  view  the  notable  gardens  of  Melbourne  Hall,  Avhere  they  were  afterwards  hos- 
pitably entertained  by  Mr.  Briscoe.  They  then  proceeded  to  view  the  church  of 
Breedon  on  the  Hill,  and  the  remains  of  the  ancient  British  camp  there ;  and  from 
thence  proceeded  to  the  Chapel  and  Hall  at  Staunton  Harold,  where  the  valuable 
collection  of  antiquities  belonging  to  Earl  Ferrers  was  inspected,  the  noble  Earl 
himself  conducting  the  Society.  After  partaking  of  his  lordship's  hospitality,  the 
Society  visited  Coleorton  Hall  and  church,  and  from  thence  returned  to  Ashby-de- 
la-Zouch. 

Since  the  period  of  our  last  Report,  several  churches  have  been  rebuilt  or 
restored ;  among  others  we  may  mention  the  parish  churches  of  Belgrave,  Humber- 
stone,  Rearsby,  Scalford,  Kilby,  Harborough,  and  Theddingworth.  These  various 
works  have  not  all  been  brought  prominently  before  your  committee,  though  they 
have  noticed  their  progress  with  satisfaction  and  pleasure. 

Among  the  discoveries  of  ancient  remains  brought  under  our  notice  this  year, 
are  several  found  during  the  excavations  made  for  the  sewerage  in  Leicester.  The 
excavations  under  the  superintendence  of  some  of  your  committee  in  the  grounds  of 
Leicester  Abbey,  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the  position  of  the  church  and  mo- 
nastic buildings,  have  not  hitherto  been  attended  with  success,  but  will  probably  be 
resumed  in  the  ensuing  autiunn.  A  discovery  of  ancient  British  remains  has  been 
made  by  some  workmen  employed  by  Mr.  Herrick,  a  president  of  this  society,  in 
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and  an  armlet,  all  of  bronze.  JNIr.  Herrick  has  had  the  surrounding  soil  analysed, 
which  proved  to  be  composed  of  charcoal  and  the  remains  of  bones  and  pottery, 
leaving  no  doubt  that  he  had  discovered  a  burial  place  of  some  of  the  ancient 
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In  the  recent  alterations  of  the  Castle  of  Leicester  the  original  plan  of  the  in- 
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now  almost  entirely  obliterated.  A  Paper  by  ]\Ir.  Thompson,  read  at  one  of  the 
general  meetings  of  your  Society  at  Leicester,  upon  the  architecture  and  history  of 
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ARCHITECTURAL   SOCIETY 


OP 


THE   DIOCESE    OF  LINCOLN. 


The  Introduction  of  Christianity  into  Lincolnshire  during  the  Saxon 
period.  A  Paper  read  at  the  Lincoln  Meeting,  May  '^G, 
1857.  By  the  Eev.  Edwakd  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  Eector  of 
Leasingham. 


'D* 


Amongst  other  spots  proposed  to  be  visited  by  the  united  societies 
is  Torksey,  than  which  none  could  be  found  throughout  Lincoln- 
shire more  deeply  hallowed  by  the  associations  connected  with  it : 
for,  although  no  material  fabric  of  any  extraordinary  age  is  there 
presented  to  our  view  whose  venerable  features  we  might  gaze  upon 
with  earnest  attention,  on  that  spot  a  spiritual  church  first  began 
to  be  raised  up  in  the  midst  of  an  entirely  pagan  population — which 
church  has  since  so  thoroughly  enlightened  the  whole  area  of  this 
county,  that  not  even  the  smallest  or  more  remote  2-)ortion  within  its 
limits  is  now  destitute  of  the  blessed  light  it  has  been  ordained  to 
convey;  whilst  at  Torksey  the  Trent  still  rolls  rapidly  on,  in  whose 
waters  thousands  of  heathens,  having  cast  away  their  idols  which 
they  had  previously  worshipped,  were  gladly  baptised,  so  that, 
having  thus  served  as  a  holy  laver  to  our  forefathers,  it  may  still 
be  looked  upon  as  a  sacred  stream. 

Christianity  had  been  introduced  into  Britain  at  a  very  early 
period,  but  we  know  very  little  on  this  head  beyond  the  mere  fact 
of  its  having  existed.  So  utterly,  however,  had  it  been  stamped 
out  by  the  inroads  of  that  heathen  people  the  Saxons,  that  (although 
Thomas  Bishop  of  London  and  Thadive  of  York  are  supposed  not 
to  have  retreated  to  Wales  until  a  few  years  after  the  founding  of 
Zona  by  St.  Columba,  a.d.  5G5,  or  only  thirty  years  before  Augus- 
tine's mission)  but  few  Christians  probably  lingered  beyond  the 
pale  of  the  Welsh  and  Cornish  fastnesses  at  that  date,  and  these  in 
a  most  depressed  condition,  acting  as  slaves  to  their  conquerors. 
After  the  landing  of  those  two  great  and  victorious  Saxon  chiefs, 
Llengist  and  Horsa,  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  they  and  their  descendants,  as  we  arc  well  aware,- 

B 


2  LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

succeeded  in  appropriating  to  themselves  a  considerable  portion  of 
Britain ;  and  it  is  from  parts  of  the  history  of  two  of  these  that  I 
must,  in  the  first  place,  extract  some  records  for  the  purpose  of 
illustrating  the  subject  I  am  desirous  of  bringing  before  your  notice. 

Ethelbert,  king  of  Kent,  was  grandson  of  Eric,  son  of  Hengist, 
whilst  Edwin,  king  of  Northumbiia,  was  of  the  family  of  Ida,  the 
grandson  of  Horsa,  who,  landing  at  Flamborough,  a.d.  547,  had 
taken  possession  of  Northumberland,  Durham,  and  Yorkshire,  and 
transmitted  them  to  his  heirs.  These  two  princes,  therefore,  were 
distantly  connected,  as  Bede  informs  us  (b.  2,  cap.  9),  and  it  is  to 
their  united  instrumentality  that  we  are  in  some  measure  indebted 
for  the  great  boon  of  Christianity.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  speak 
of  the  manner  in  which  Ethelbert  became  a  Christian,  as  that  is 
not  only  so  well  known  generally,  but  has  been  most  vividly 
described  by  Mr.  Stanley,  .the  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History 
at  Oxford,  in  his  "  Memorials  of  Canterbury."  As,  however,  the 
history  of  Edwin's  conversion  has  not  been  brought  so  prominently 
forwai'd,  and  as  it  is  of  especial  interest  to  us  in  Lincolnshire  as 
being  connected  with  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  this 
county,  a  very  slight  sketch  will,  I  trust,  form  a  not  unacceptable 
prelude  to  the  subject  I  have  ventured  to  address  you  upon. 

The  kingdom  transmitted  by  Horsa  to  his  descendants  had,  to- 
wards the  close  of  the  sixth  century,  been  divided  into  two  portions, 
Deira  and  Bernicia,^  of  which  Edwin  reigned  over  the  former,  and  his 
uncle  Ethelfrid,  or  Ethelfrith,  over  the  latter.  Between  these  there 
was  war,  in  which  Ethelfrith,  being  victorious,  not  only  drove  Edwin 
from  his  throne,  but  endeavoured  to  force  Eedwald,  king  of  Anglia, 
with  whom  the  vanquished  prince  had  sought  refuge,  to  deliver 
him  up  into  his  hands.  This,  however,  through  the  interposition 
of  his  queen,  Eedwald  not  only  refused  to  do,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
quickly  raised  an  army  for  the  purpose  of  aiding  Edwin,  suddenly 
advanced  against  Ethelfrith,  defeated  and  slew  him  on  the  banks 
of  the  river  Idel,  a.d.  617  ;  after  w^hicli  he  placed  Edwin  on  the 
throne  both  of  Deira  and  Bernicia,  thenceforth  forming  together 
the  kingdom  of  Northumbria.  At  this  time  Edwin  was  a  widower, 
having  lost  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  Ceorl,  king  of  IMercia ;  upon 
which,  in  the  year  624,  he  demanded  of  Eadbald  of  Kent  his  sister 
Ethelburga,  daughter  of  Ethelbert,  in  marriage.  That  prince 
naturally  hesitated  to  bestow  a  member  of  his  Christian  family  upon 
a  heathen  husband,  and  only  consented  eventually  upon  Edwin's 
promising  most  solemnly  "  in  no  manner  to  act  in  opposition  to 
the  Christian  faith,  and  to  allow  his  future  wife  and  her  attendants 
to  worship  freely  in  accordance  wdth  their  belief."  When  the 
j^rincess  was  sent  to  the  north,  Paulinus,  one  of  the  original  Ptoman 
missionaries,  sent  by  Pope  Grregory,  was  selected  to  be  her  spiritual 
attendant  adviser,  and  who  had,  perhaps,  been  entrusted  with  her 

(1.)  Bornicia  comprised  the  modem  comities  of  Novtliumberlancl  and  Durham. 
The  name  is  derived  i'rom  Beorna-ric  or  Bear-land,  probably  from  the  bears  which  are 
iaiown  to  have  existed  iu  the  great  Caledonian  Forest.  Deira  or  Deorua  is  represented 
by  Yorkshire,  and  means  Deer-land. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OP  CHRISTIANITY,  ETC.  3 

early  religious  education.  Now,  however,  he  was  appointed  to  fill 
a  still  more  responsible  situation,  having  been  ordained  a  bishop 
by  Justus  of  Canterbury,  July  21,  025,  doubtless  in  the  hopo  that 
by  sowing  the  true  Christian  seed  therein  he  might  shortly  see  a  large 
crop  springing  up  around  him,  over  which  he  might  duly  watch  and 
preside.  Nor  were  the  zeal,  the  activity,  and  prayers  of  Paulinus 
unfruitful ;  step  by  step  the  cross  of  Christ  was  pressed  deeper 
upon  the  attention  and  conscience  of  Edwin,  until  it  reached  his 
heart  and  settled  firmly  therein.  The  then  Pope  Boniface  in  the 
first  instance  aided  Paulinus  by  sending  a  letter  to  the  king,  in 
which  he  exhorted  him  to  worship  idols  no  more,  but  to  adopt  the 
Christian  faith ;  and  also  another  to  the  queen,  urging  her  to  use 
every  effort  in  favor  of  Edwin,  in  the  hope  "  that  the  unbelieving 
husband  might  be  saved  by  the  believing  wife,"  each  letter  being 
accompanied  by  suitable  presents.^  From  the  first,  Edwin  had 
freely  permitted  the  promulgation  of  the  Gospel,  although  he  did 
not  embrace  it  himself ;  but  an  incident  occurred  during  the  fol- 
lowing year,  026,  which  had  a  great  effect  upon  his  mind,  leading 
him  to  think  upon  the  great  uncertainty  of  human  life,  and  what 
might  be  beyond  the  grave.  At  this  time  he  nearly  felP  by  the 
hand  of  the  assassin  Eumer,  sent  by  Cuichelm,  king  of  Wessex, 
who  afterwards,  with  his  followers,  rose  against  Edwin.  And  now 
the  king  vowed  that  if  he  should  return  in  safety  from  the  coming 
conflict  he  would  at  once  embrace  Christianity ;  and  meanwhile 
allowed  his  infant  daughter  Eanflied  or  Eanfleda  (who  was  born 
on  the  same  eventful  day),  as  well  as  eleven  members  of  his  house- 
hold, to  be  baptised.  Nor  was  this  vow  broken,  for,  having  defeated 
Cuichelm  in  the  following  year,  after  several  conferences  with  his 
chiefs  on  Easter  day,  627,  he,  they,  and  a  multitude  of  people  were 
baptised  in  a  wooden  church  dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  which  he  had 
previously  erected  at  York,^  and  Avherein  he  had  been  duly  pre- 
pared by  Paulinus  before  taking  so  important  a  step.  Edwin's 
success  in  arms  henceforth  was  great.  He  was  victorious  over  the 
Picts  and  Scots  in  the  north,  and  subdued  the  Britons  in  the  west, 
together  with  the  islands  of  Anglesea  and  Man,  whilst  he  exercised 
some  sort  of  supremacy  over  Mercia  in  the  south ;  but  this  appears 
to  have  been  in  the  form  of  a  temporary  guardianship  over  that 
province,  rather  than  of  a  compulsory  occupancy  of  it.  The 
father  of  his  first  wife,  Ceoii  of  Mercia,  died  in  625,  and  as  he 


C2).  These  consisted  of  a  shirt  decorated  with  a  golden  ornament  and  a  splendid 
robe  for  Edwin,  and  of  a  silver  mirror,  and  an  ivory  comb  ornamented  with  gold  for 
Etlielburga. 

(3.)  The  King's  life  was  saved  solely  through  the  devotion  of  one  of  his  attendants, 
Lilla  by  name,  who,  throwing  himself  between  his  Koyal  master  and  the  assassin, 
received  the  stroke  in  his  bosom  that  was  intended  for  Edwin,  but  yet  could  not  prevent 
his  being  slightly  wounded  after  the  fatal  dagger  had  passed  througli  his  own  body, 
nor  the  slaughter  of  another  of  the  King's  attendants. 

(4.)  The  remains  of  this  clmrch,  built  on  the  site  of  a  Eoman  temple,  either  of 
Bfcllona  or  Diana,  were  supposed  to  have  been  discovered  beneath  the  choir  of  York 
cathedral,  when  it  was  undergoing  extensive  repairs  after  the  fire  that  so  sadly  injured  its 
interior  in  the  year  1829,-  and  in  Brown's  history  of  the  cathedral  a  plan  is  given  of  the 
same.  Tossibly  these  may  have  been  a  portion  of  the  succeeding  stone  clmrch  built  by 
Oswald,  and  commenced  only  by  Edwin,  as  the  first  wooden  fabric  would  not  be  likely 
to  leave  so  enduring  an  evidence  of  its  existence  behind  it. 


4  LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

left  no  direct  heir,  it  seems  probable  that  Edwin  temporarily  as- 
sumed the  command  of  his  late  father-in-law's  dominions  until  he 
gave  them  up  to  Penda ;  but,  however  this  may  have  been,  Edwin 
now  paid  that  celebrated  visit  to  Lincolnshire  still  so  full  of  interest 
to  us,  although  1930  years  have  since  passed  away.  He  came  in 
peace,  characteristic  of  the  holy  mission  borne  in  his  train  and  of 
the  holy  man  who  was  to  proclaim  it.  From  Doncaster,  the  ancient 
Danum  Ceaster,  where  he  had  a  residence,  he  advanced  along  a 
branch  of  the  Ermin-street — that  valuable  legacy  of  the  Roman 
dynasty — until  he  reached  Littleborough  on  the  Trent,  the  then 
Agelociim,  or  Segelocum,  where  a  convenient  ford  had  been  made 
by  the  same  great  people,  carefully  protected  by  solid  piles,  and 
duly  paved,  so  as  to  afford  a  firm  bottom  for  the  passage  of  troops, 
travellers,  and  goods  f  and  thence,  proceeding  along  the  via  now 
termed  "  Till  Bridge  Lane,"  arrived  at  Sidnacester,  the  modern 
Stow,  where  he  resided  in  the  mansion  of  a  Saxon  Thane.^ 

As  Paulinus  accompanied  Edwin  in  this  expedition,  attended 
by  his  deacon  James,  {"of  zeal  and  great  fame  in  Christ's  church," 
according  to  Bede,)  peculiar  facilities  for  propagating  the  blessed 
truths  of  Christianity  in  Mercia  now  arose,  of  which  the  records 
still  remain.  The  Saxon  Chronicle  says,  *'  Paulinus  preached  the 
"  necessity  of  baptism  in  Lindisse,  where  the  first  person  that 
"believed  was  a  certain  rich  man  of  the  name  of  Block,  with  all 
"  his  people ;"  and  Bede,  "  Now  concerning  the  faith  and  belief  of 
"  this  province,  a  certain  priest  and  abbot,  a  man  of  good  report 
"  and  worthy  of  credit,  whose  name  is  r)eda,  of  the  monastery  of 
"  Partney,  told  me  that  one  of  the  elders  of  that  convent,  as  he 
"  reported  himself,  was  baptised  with  many  other  people  at  noon  by 
"  Bishop  Paulinus,  in  the  presence  of  King  Edwin,  and  in  the 
"  Trent's  stream  near  the  city  of  Tiovulfingacester."  From  these 
two  passages  we  plainly  gather  that  Paulinus  preached  the  Gospel 
in  Lindisse :  that  Block  was  the  firsf  rich  convert ;  and  that  ho 
and  all  his  people  were  baptised  by  Paulinus  in  the  Trent,  near 
Tiovulfingacester,  on  wdiich  occasion  Edwin  was  present.  But  the 
question  now  arises  where  this  town  was,  and  where  Paulinus 
preached.  Gougli  and  many  modern  authors  following  him  have 
asserted  that  Bleck  or  Blecca  was  governor  of  Lincoln,  (or,  as  it 


(5.)  This  vadura  was  removed  in  the  year  1820,  as  it  occasionally  obstructed  the 
navigation  of  the  river:  and  during  that  process  a  tine  large  brass  coin  of  Hadrian,  now 
in  the  possession  of  Mr.  J.  S.  Padley,  of  Lincoln,  was  discovered  in  a  chink  of  one  of  the 
piles.  Churton,  in  his  Earli/  Euglish  Church,  ch.  3,  p.  63,  says,  Edwin  crossed  the  Huin- 
ber  to  preach  the  gospel  at  Lincoln,  and  afterwards  visited  the  banlvs  of  the  Trent,  and 
baptised  near  Southwell,  which  he  presumes  is  Tiovulfingacester,  as  does  Giles  in  his 
translation  of  Bede,  b,  3,  ch.  IG,  note;  but  as  Southwell  never  was  in  the  province  of 
Lindisse,  nor  is  it  near  the  Trent,  it  can  have  no  claim  to  repre.  -.nt  that  interesting 
town ;  and  as  from  the  evidence  of  the  still  existing  old  Ermin-street  itself,  it  seems 
pretty  clear  that  the  greater  part  of  the  passengers  and  goods  conveyed  along  it  turned 
aside  a  little  north  of  Lincoln,  to  avoid  the  long  passage  across  the  Humber,  we  may 
fairly  presume  that  Edwin  and  his  attendants  came  that  way,  particularly  when  we  arc 
positively  told  he  visited  the  banks  of  the  Trent. 

(6.;  The  early  Saxon  Thanes  usually  lived  in  the  open  country  for  the  sake  ol 
hunting,  and  in  preference  to  taking  possession  of  the  strongholds  left  to  them  by  the 
Itomans. 

(7.)  Through  Eanferth,  the  sixth  in  descent  from  Woden,  Bleck  was  "  Lindisfarorum 
prosapia."    Floraice  of  Worcester. 


lurrji  Df  It  M^ni  iim. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  CHRISTIANITY,  ETC.  5 

was  then  termed,  Lindocoline :)  but  the  above  description  of  the 
baptismal  scene,  taken  in  part  from  the  testimony  of  an  eye  wit- 
ness, seems  decidedly  to  militate  very  strongly  against  such  a 
supposition.  This  occurred  at  the  Trent,  and  surely  the  people  of 
Lincoln  would  never  have  gone  some  eleven  miles  to  seek  for  that 
stream,  when  they  had  so  convenient  a  one  as  the  Witham  close  at 
hand ;  but  there  is  a  ready  solution  of  this  difficulty,  if  we  fix  upon 
Stow  as  the  spot  where  the  Gospel  was  first  preached.  This  was  in 
the  province  of  Lindisse,  and  may  itself  have  been  termed  Lindisse,^ 
whence  the  whole  country  might  have  derived  its  name ;  and  as 
there  is  no  mention  of  Lindocoline  or  Lincoln  in  the  passages 
above  quoted,  it  seems  far  more  probable  that  Block  was  Earlder- 
man  of  Lindisse,  whilst  Tiovulfmgacestcr  may,  under  any  circum- 
stances, be  considered  as  the  then  representative  of  Torkscy, 
situated  only  four  miles  distant  from  Stow ;  in  addition  to  which, 
the  first  syllable  of  this  mysterious  town  (Tiovulfingacester)''  and 
the  name  of  the  river  Till,  (at  whose  mouth  we  are  presuming  it 
was  situate)  are  nearly  synonymous. 

Yet  the  strong  evidence  in  favour  of  Lincoln  must  by  no  means 
be  suppressed — Bede,  in  one  passage,  terming  Blecca  ^' Lindocolinm 
civitatis  FrcDfectus,'"  adding  "  In  qua  videlicet  civitate  ecclesiam 
operis  egregii  de  lapide  fecit ;''  and  further  narrating  that  upon  the 
death  of  Justus  of  Canterbury  (November  10th,  627)  his  successor 
Honorius  came  to  be  ordained  by  Paulinus  at  Lincoln.  Surely, 
however,  the  author  of  the  Saxon  Chronicle  would  have  mentioned 
Lindocoline  had  these  events  occurred  there,  instead  of  Lindisse, 
which  he  does  name ;  and  as  all  authors  agree  as  to  the  fact  of  the 
baptism  in  the  Trent,  it  seems,  consequently,  almost  impossible 
that  the  conversion  of  Bleck  and  his  people  took  place  at  Lincoln — 
a  point  so  distant  from  that  river.  Is  it  not,  therefore,  more  pro- 
bable that  since  the  days  of  Bede  the  name  of  the  one  town  may 
have  been  inserted  for  the  other,  in  one  of  those  numerous  copies  of 
his  manuscript  which  were,  doubtless,  made  before  it  reached  the 
printer's  hand  some  centuries  afterwards — as  Mr.  Stark,  in  his  history 
of  the  Bishopric  of  Lincoln,  suggests,  who  has  at  great  length  and 
very  ably  worked  out  this  subject ?'''  Lindisse  and  Lindocoline 
having  the  same  commencement,  if  their  terminals  were  written  in 
abbreviated  form  there  would  be  scarcely  any  distinction  between 
the  two;  so  that  when  Lindisse  had  waned,  and  Lindocoline  had 
risen  in  its  early  commercial  prosperity,  Bede's  transcribers  would 
naturally  suppose  that  the  important  event  we  are  considering 
occurred  at  the  then  far  greater  city,  if  in  the  least  doubt  as  to  the 

(8.)  Stark  postively  asserts  that  there  was  a  town  Lindisse  as  well  as  a  province  of 
that  name,  and  that  this  is  the  same  as  Sidnacester  and  Stow ;  but  this  is  by  no  means 
clear. 

(9.)  The  only  difficulty  in  this  is  how  Tiovulfingacester  came  to  be  called  Torksey ; 
and  we  can  only  suggest  that  the  one  was  the  Saxon  term,  the  other  the  Norman,  as 
Caer-Lin,  Lindum,  Lindo-Coline,  and  Nichol  are  known  to  have  been  the  successive 
terms  applied  to  Lincoln  at  different  periods  of  its  existence. 

(10.)  A  similar  error  has  been  made  at  a  much  later  period  of  our  history,  viz.,  in  tlie 
reign  of  Edward  I.,  some  writers  having  named  Hareby,  near  Spilsby,  as  the  spot  where 
the  passionately  lamented  Queen  Eleanor  breathed  her  last,  whereas  this  i-cally  occur- 
red at  Ilarby,  near  Clifton,  in  Notts. 


6  LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

name  of  the  spot  recorded ;  whilst  the  first  seat  of  the  Bishoi^rio 
having  been  fixed  at  Stow  affords  a  very  strong  argument  that  this 
was  the  site  of  the  church  built  by  Blecca,  and  still  extant  in  Bede's 
time,  although  in  a  dilapidated  condition. 

Happily,  however,  we  are  certain  that  the  Trent  was  the 
stream  in  wdiich  the  baptism  of  Bleck  and  his  people  was  effected ; 
and  as  Torksey  is  the  nearest  point  on  that  river  to  Lincoln, 
there,  almost  beyond  a  doubt,  was  that  holy  scene  once  enacted 
to  which  it  is  high  time  now  to  revert.  No  particulars  of  this 
have  been  recorded,  but  we  may  reasonably  suppose  they  nearly 
resembled  those  that  attended  one  of  the  first  ministerial  acts  of 
Augustine  after  his  landing  in  Kent, — that  a  choir  of  boys  led 
the  procession,  chanting  a  solemn  litany  of  the  Great  Gregory's, 
followed  by  an  ecclesiastic  bearing  a  rude  painting  of  the  Saviour, 
held  aloft  like  a  banner, — that  there  appeared  the  commanding 
form"  of  Paulinus,  full  of  radiant  joy,  preceded  by  the  cross-bearer, 
and  attended  by  his  deacon,  the  devout  James,  and  other  priests ; 
after  whom,  doubtless,  walked  King  Edwin,  followed  by  his  royal 
train,  and  lastly  Bleck,  the  earlderman,  with  a  multitude  of 
Lindissians.  And  then,  wdien  the  river  was  reached,  and  loud 
hallelujahs  began  to  break  forth,  such  a  scene  of  religious  fervour 
probably  ensued  as  that  which  had  not  long  previously  been 
witnessed  on  the  banks  of  the  Kentish  Swale,  when  10,000  of  the 
same  Saxon  race  as  that  now  assembled  by  the  Trent  were  baptized 
on  one  day — that  of  Christ's  nativity, — some  waiting  in  anxious 
anticipation  on  the  river's  edge,  some  rushing  eagerly  into  its  waters, 
without  a  thought  for  the  safety  of  their  bodies,  and  others  returning 
from  the  stream  full  of  wild  but  fervid  prayer,  and  newborn  hope  of 
a  happy  immortality  beyond  the  grave.  Nor  did  their  chiefs 
faith  evaporate  after  this  great  day  had  closed,  for  his  next  act  was 
to  build  a  church  :  it  was  of  stone,  we  are  told,  "  more  Romanum," 
and  of  beautiful  workmanship.^^  And  here  Honorius  is  said  to  have 
been  consecrated  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  a.d.  628,  although 
Justus,  his  predecessor,  did  not  die  until  630  at  soonest ;  Honorius, 
however,  may  have  been  in  the  interim  consecrated  as  assistant 
Bishop  to  Justus,  and  he  certainly  eventually  succeeded  him  in  the 
see  of  Canterbury.  Towards  the  close  of  the  year  628,  Edwin, 
Paulinus,  and  James  the  deacon  retired  from  Lindisse  to  North- 
umbria ;  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  a  work  so  propitiously  com- 
menced was  not  abandoned  upon  the  retreat  of  these  illustrious 

(11.)  Some  particulars  of  his  personal  appearance  have  been  preserved  by  Bedc, 
whence  we  gather  that  he  was  of  a  commanding  height,  that  he  had  a  pale  and  dignified 
countenance,  an  acquiline  nose,  and  dark  hair. 

(12.;  Churton,  in  his  Early  Evgh'sh  Clmrcli,  ch.  4,  p.  "79,  when  describing  Wilfrid's 
dedication  of  Ilipon  Minster,  says,  "  There  were  many  places  where  the  ancient  British 
clergy  had  held  churches  wliich  were  now  deserted.  It  was  the  aim  of  AVilfrid  to 
recover  these  for  holy  uses,  and  in  many  instances  his  labours  were  crowned  with 
success.''  He  also  alluded,  in  his  exhortation,  to  "  Old  British  churches  which  were 
still  lying  waste  about  the  country  where  they  dwelt."  It  is  just  possible,  therefore,  that 
Block  may  have  chosen  such  a  site  for  tlie  erection  of  his  church.  This  M'as  still  standing 
in  r.ede's  time,  and  was  famed  for  the  miraculous  cures  cflTectcd  within  its  area;  but  the 
roof  had  fallen  in,  whether  from  accidental  lire  or  through  the  deed  of  the  pagan  Penda, 
does  not  appear ;  the  mere  lapse  of  such  a  space  of  time  would  not  have  elfectcd  tliis 
devastation. 


THE  INTRODUCTION  OP  CHRISTIANITY,  ETC.  7 

men,  it  being  always  usual  to  leave  some  minister  of  Christ  behind 
to  confirm  every  young  Christian  church,  when  the  first  or  chief 
messengers  who  have  circulated  its  holy  truths  were  compelled  to 
pass  on  elsewhere  ;  whilst  James,  the  faithful  attendant  of  Paulinus, 
was,  we  know,  left  in  Yorkshire  for  this  purpose,  when  his  superior 
was  compelled  to  fly  afterwards  into  Kent. 

A  few  words  more  as  to  the  future  movements  of  Edwin  and 
Paulinus,  and  I  have  done.  At  this  period,  Penda  of  Mercia  had 
become  a  most  powerful  prince.  A  victor  in  the  south  and  west, 
he  was  led  by  ambition  to  extend  his  dominion  towards  the  north, 
having  agreed  with  Cedwell,  or  Cadwal,  a  chief  of  the  AVest 
Britons,  to  invade  Edwin's  dominions.  Against  these  that  noble 
veteran  warrior  advanced  with  all  the  forces  he  could  muster,  and 
then  ensued  the  great  battle  of  Hatfield  Chase,  fought  a.d.  633,  in 
which  Edwin's  army  was  completely  routed,  and  he  himself  was  slain, 
in  the  49th  year  of  his  age,  and  the  18th  of  his  reign.^^  Under  these 
circumstances,  Paulinus  determined  to  accompany  Edwin's  royal 
widow,^*  (the  nursing  mother  of  Christianity  in  the  north,)  her 
daughter,  and  some  other  members  of  her  family,  back  to  Kent,  her 
native  land,  which  the  fugitives  reached  by  sea  in  safety,  and  where 
Paulinus  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Rochester,  over  which  diocese 
he  presided  until  his  death  in  644.  Doubtless,  after  this  penod 
the  young  churches  of  the  north  experienced  many  difficulties, 
and  perhaps  many  sufferings,  the  records  of  which  have  not 
been  transmitted  to  us,  before  that  terrible,  fierce,  and  heathen 
people,  the  Danes,  burst  over  their  lands,  burning,  pillaging,  and 
slaying  all  that  came  before  them.  Northumberland  and  Durham 
had  not  yet  emerged  from  heathenism,  whilst  Yorkshire^^  and 
Lincolnshire  were  for  a  time  without  episcopal  superintendence; 
so  that  when  Oswald,  a  pagan  prince,  having  embraced  Christian- 
ity in  Scotland,^''  where  he  had  taken  refuge  in  a  season  of  ad- 
versity, afterwards  mounted  the  throne  of  Northumbria,  and  was 
desirous  of  introducing  a  knowledge  of  the  true  faith  into  the 
northern  portion  of  his  realm,  he  sent  to  Donald,  king  of  Scotland, 
for  spiritual  aid,  a.d.  635,  instead  of  to  Yorkshire,  which  clearly 
indicates  the  depressed  state   of  the   church  in  that  county — a 

(13.)  His  head  was  carried  off  to  York  by  one  of  his  followers,  and  buried  in  St, 
Gregory's  porch  of  the  church  of  St.  Peter  in  that  city. 

(14.)  She  eventually  retired  into  the  monastery  of  Liming  in  Kent,  founded  by  her 
brother  Edbald,  where  lier  holy  and  exemplary  life  caused  her  to  be  fevered  as  a  saint 
after  her  death,  a.  d.  G47.    Charton's  Early  Eiiglish  Church,  x>.  58. 

(l."}.)  No  Bishop  was  consecrated  for  Yorkshire  until  after  a  period  of  thirty  years 
from  this  date  had  elapsed. 

(16.)  He  lived  chiefly  at  Akeburgh,  near  Richmond,  and  is  said  to  have  introduced 
chanting  amongst  the  Christians  at  York,  in  the  Gregorian  style.  Being  attacked  by 
Cedwali,  king  of  Cumberland,  Oswald  raised  the  cross  as  his  standard,  like  Constantine ; 
and  under  that  holy  symbol  gaining  a  great  victory  at  Denisebarne,  he  determined  out 
of  gratitude  for  this  to  introduce  Clu-istianity  generally  into  his  country.  Gorman,  a 
monk  of  lona,  was  first  sent  to  aid  him  in  this  design  by  king  Donald;  and  afterwards 
Aidan,  also  from  the  said  house,  who  became  the  first  Bishop  in  the  county  of  Durharrt, 
and  fixed  the  seat  of  the  episcopate  at  Lindesfarne,  a.  d.  G35,  which  was  afterwards 
removed  to  Holy  Isle,  near  the  royal  residence  at  Bamborough,  and  finally  to  Durham. 
Oswald's  words  before  the  battle  were  :— "  Flectamus  onnies  genua,  et  Dominum 
Omnipotentem  vivuni  ac  verum  in  commune  deprecemur,  ut  nos  ab  hoste  superbo  ac 
feroce,  sua  miseratione  defeudat ;  scit  enim  ipsa  quia  justa  pro  salute  gentis  nostra) 
bella  suscipimus."— i^cdce  lli$t.  Eccks.  in.,  2. 


8  LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

condition  in  which  Lincolnshire  probably  shared.  But  yet  the 
holy  spark  of  Christianity  first  kindled  by  Paulinus  in  this  county 
has  never  since  been  utterly  stamped  out,  although  at  times  it  has 
probably  shone  but  dimly;  and  long  has  it  now  burnt  steadily, 
brightly,  widely,  whilst  it  has  been  anxiously  tended  by  those  ap- 
pointed to  watch  over  its  maintenance.  May  he  upon  whom  the 
chief  care  of  this  holy  and  responsible  office  now  devolves,  as  the 
present  representative  of  Paulinus,  be  enabled  so  to  foster  the 
precious  charge  committed  to  his  care  that  its  light  may  attract  all 
men  towards  it!  And  may  those  who  labour  under  him,  although 
they  may  not  hope  to  be  "of  great  fame  in  Christ's  church,"  as  was 
James  the  deacon,  at  least  endeavour  to  possess  some  portion  of 
his  holy  zeal. 


The  Architectural  History  of  Lincoln  Minster.  A  Paper  read  at  the 
Public  Meeting  of  the  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Society, 
held  at  Lincoln,  May  96tli,  1857.  By  George  Ayliffe  Poole, 
M.A.,  Vicar  of  Welford,  Honorary  Member. 

So  much  has  been  said  on  the  subject,  at  various  times,  and  in 
various  forms,  that  I  may  seem  adventurous  in  presenting  myself 
before  you  with  a  paper  on  the  Architectural  History  of  Lincoln 
Minster,  I  should  not  do  so,  however,  unless  I  hoped  to  throw 
some  neiv  or  at  least  clearer  light  on  part,  at  least,  of  the  subject : 
new,  I  mean,  so  far  as  any  published  account  is  concerned ;  for  I 
can  hardly  expect  to  advance  any  thing  that  is  not  already  known 
to  some  of  those  who  listen  to  me.  And,  indeed,  at  the  best,  the 
new  must  bear,  both  in  quantity  and  importance,  a  very  small 
•proportion  to  the  old.  The  labourer  in  the  fields  of  Archaeology 
must  share,  in  these  later  days,  something  of  the  toil  both  of  the 
reaper  and  of  the  gleaner ;  but  he  must  be  content  with  the  fruits 
of  the  gleaner's  labour  only.  He  must  unbind,  and  examine,  and 
bind  anew  every  sheaf  that  has  filled  the  reaper's  arm ;  and  yet  he 
can  only  call  that  which  others  have  missed  or  dropped,  or  perhaps 
despised,  his  own  contribution  to  the  shock.  In  the  prosecution  of 
this  labour  I  have  consulted  and  freely  used  all  the  sources  of  inform- 
ation to  which  I  could  gain  access,  from  the  most  ancient  histories, 
to  the  most  recent  guides  ;  but  in  no  case  have  I  so  used  any  one 
of  them  as  an  authority,  as  not  to  test  it  by  the  fabric  where  it  was 
possible.  For  personal  help  and  facilities,  I  must  express  my 
acknowledgements  to  Mr.  Boss  of  this  city,  who  has  laboured  long, 
arduously,  and  successfully  in  the  ecclesiology  of  the  Minster  and 
of  the  county  generally :  as  yet  more  closely  associated  in  my 
labours,  I  must  mention  my  friend,  the  Beverend  J.  F.  Dimock, 
without  whose  cunning  eye  and  hand,  the  liberality  of  the  Begistrar, 
in  allowing  full  use  of  the  materials  of  the  Becord  Office,  would 
have  entailed  on  me  a  most  irksome  labour,  and  who  has  also  kindly 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.         9 

given  me  many  extracts  from  ancient  authorities ;  and  the  Eeverend 
E.  Moore,  without  whose  help  and  society  I  should  have  been  alike 
unwilling  and  unable  to  begin  or  to  prosecute  my  task. 

One  word  on  the  form  which  I  propose  to  give  to  my  paper. 

Dividing  the  history  into  certain  natural  epochs,  I  shall  first 
give  the  recorded  history  of  each,  with  such  observations  only  as 
are  necessary  to  convert  detached  passages  into  connected  narra- 
tive ;  and  then  I  shall  examine  the  fabric  by  the  light  which  these 
records  afford.  The  paper  will  thus  be  divided  into  several  sections, 
each  with  two  sub-sections ;  the  first  stating  the  recorded,  the  second 
tracing  the  architectural  history  of  some  portion  of  the  Minster. 

I.  Chuech  of  Remigius.     §  1.  History. 

Among  the  ecclesiastics  who  followed  the  Conqueror  in  his  ex- 
pedition to  England,  was  Remigius,  a  monk  of  Fescamp.  He  is 
described  by  the  historian  as  Statura  parvus  sed  corde  magnus ; 
colore  fiiscus,  sed  operibiis  venustus ;  of  stature  small,  but  great  in 
heart ;  dark  in  hue,  but  fair  in  deeds.  To  this  Remigius,  William 
gave  the  Bishopric  of  Dorchester,  in  the  year  after  the  Conquest ; 
but,  dissatisfied  with  the  position  and  comparative  insignificance  of 
his  episcopal  city,  Remigius  took  very  early  steps  to  remove  his  see 
to  Lincoln,  where  there  was  already  a  royal  castle,  and  an  ancient 
city  under  its  protection.  A  charter  of  King  William  records  that 
he  had  already  granted  the  requisite  permission,  auctoritate  et  con- 
silio  Alexandri  PapcB  et  legatorum  ejus.  Now  Alexander  died  in 
1073  ;  and  in  1070,  at  the  deposition  of  Stigand,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  three  legates  were  in  this  realm,  so  that  the  translation, 
or  at  least  the  authority  for  it,  is  probably  referred  to  that  year ; 
certainly,  however,  it  was  before  1073.^ 

The  authorities  for  all  this  are  very  numerous,  and  in  eveiy 
important  respect  quite  unanimous.  Giraldus  Cambrensis,  who 
may  stand  for  all,  tells  us  that  Remigius  founded  and  rapidly  com- 
pleted in  great  splendour  his  cathedral  church,  on  the  brow  of  the 
hill  beyond  the  river  Witham,  in  honour  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  as 
had  been  long  before  presignified  by  certain  visions,  miracles, 
signs,  and  wonders  ;  and  that  when  the  church  had  been  arranged 
and  finally  established  after  the  manner  of  the  church  of  Rouen, 
which  the  founder  had  set  before  him  as  his  pattern  in  all  things, 

he  placed  twenty-one  canons  in  it and  all  this  being 

finished accounting  that  nothing  was  done  while  ought 

remained  undone,  he  applied  his  whole  mind  to  the  perfecting  and 
dedication  of  his  church.     But  when  he  had  gathered  together  a 


(1.)  See  Mr.  Willson's  paper  on  the  ancient  Episcopal  Palace  of  Lincoln,  in  the 
Lincoln  volume  of  the  Archfcological  Institute.  Malmsbury,  also,  affords  incidental 
evidence  of  this  change  having  been  effected  before  1073 ;  for  he  says  that  at  the  Council 
of  1072,  when  the  Archbishop  of  York's  claim  upon  the  see  of  Dorchester  was  settled,  it 
was  moreover  ordained  that  sees  should  be  removed  from  vills  to  cities,  Dorchester  to 
Lincoln  being  specified  ;  but  when  he  mentions  that  in  1075  this  transference  of  sees  was 
again  ordered,  the  change  of  Dorchester  to  Lincoln  is  not  again  mentioned  ;  so  that  it 
may  be  supposed  to  have  been  already  effected. 

C 


10         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AECHITECTUEAL  SOCIETY. 

great  concourse  of  people  for  that  purpose,  he  died,  the  day  before 
that  on  which  the  consecration  should  have  taken  place,  (May  8, 
1092.) 

Kemigius  was  buried  by  his  brethren,  with  the  solemnity  worthy 
of  so  great  a  man,  before  the  altar  of  the  Holy  Cross,  in  his  cathedral 
church,  and  was  succeeded  by  Robert  Bloet,  Chancellor  to  William 
Rufus,  who  is  reported  by  John  Brompton  and  Henry  Knighton,  to 
have  proceeded,  but  with  no  great  zeal,  with  the  dedication  of  the 
church.  Nothing  is  said  of  any  substantial  works  of  Bloet  in  the 
fabric.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  he  added  many  ecclesiastical 
vestments  and  decorations  at  his  own  cost,  which  would  rather 
indicate  that  the  church  itself  was  already  complete  in  all  its 
essential  parts. 

Alexander,  the  next  Bishop,  was  one  of  the  most  princely  prelates 
and  accomplished  architects  of  his  day ;  and  though  he  was  chiefly 
engaged  in  the  erection  of  castles,  he  exercised  his  skill  and 
munificence  on  his  cathedral  church : — for,  in  process  of  time,  the 
Minster  was  consumed  by  an  accidental  fire,  the  date  of  which, 
together  with  the  place  where  it  chiefly  raged,  may  be  collected  from 
Cambrensis,  who  tells  us  that  while  the  flames  were  raging  in  the 
roof,  some  fragments  falling  to  the  ground  broke  the  stone,  which 
was  laid  over  the  body  of  Remigius,  in  two  halves  ;  so  that  it  must 
have  been  in  the  roof  over  the  altar  of  the  Holy  Cross  that  the  fire 
raged.  And  this,  says  Cambrensis,  took  place  thirty-two  years  after 
the  burial  of  Remigius,  which  carries  us  back  to  1123,  the  date  of  a 
fire  which  is  recorded  by  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  which  took  place  a 
month  before  Alexander's  consecration,  and  consumed  almost  the 
whole  town.  Giraldus  Cambrensis  and  John  de  Schalby,  with 
others,  agree  in  saying  that,  on  this  occasion,  Alexander  guarded 
against  a  similar  occurrence,  by  vaulting  the  church  with  stone ; 
and  that  the  body  of  Remigius,  which  had  been  respectfully  removed 
from  the  place  where  it  lay,  because  it  was  subject  to  the  too  fre- 
quent tread  of  persons  passing  over  it,  was  interred  at  the  north  side 
of  the  altar  of  the  Holy  Cross,  before  which  altar  it  had  been 
originally  buried. 

The  church  again  suffered  from  fire  during  the  episcopate  of 
Alexander ;  for  both  Abbot  John  of  Peterborough,  and  the  Chroni- 
con  Petrohurgense  tell  us,  that  on  the  feast  of  St.  Alban,  1141,  the 
church  of  Lincoln  was  burnt.  We  may  reasonably  assume  that 
whatever  portion  was  spared  from  the  former  fire,  and  so  retained 
its  wooden  roof,  became  now  in  its  turn  a  prey  to  the  flames,  and 
that  this  too  was  vaulted  within  the  six  years  which  remained  of 
Alexander's  episcopate. 

On  this  supposition,  Alexander  vaulted  the  whole  of  his  church ; 
but,  besides  this,  or  rather  perhaps  as  a  part  of  the  necessary 
repairs,  he  restored  it,  says  Henry  of  Huntingdon,  Alexander's 
archdeacon,  with  such  splendour,  that  it  equalled  the  beauty  of  its 
youth,  and  fell  short  of  no  church  in  England  of  that  day. 

From  1147  to  1167,  Robert  Chesney  filled  the  episcopal  throne. 
Finding  his  church  completed,  it  was  natural  that  he  should  turn 


^J 


^t  t 


D      a 
i-  + 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       11 

his  attention  to  the  erection  of  a  palace,  and  perhaps  equally 
natural  that  he  should  borrow  three  hundred  marks  of  Aaron  the 
Jew,  and  leave  this  debt  a  charge  upon  his  successor.  It  was 
cancelled  by  Geoffrey  Plantagenet,  who  was  nominated  to  the  see 
in  11G7,  but  not  consecrated;  and  who  also  added  many  ecclesias- 
tical ornaments  to  the  church,  and  two  large  and  full-toned  bells. 
Thenceforward,  with  the  exception  of  the  single  year  during  which 
Walter  de  Constantiis  was  Bishop,  the  see  was  vacant  till  1186, 
which  of  course  implies  that  the  episcopal  revenues  were  seized  and 
appropriated  by  the  crown.  It  would  not,  however,  certainly  follow 
that  nothing  was  all  this  time  done  to  the  cathedral  church ;  for  the 
revenues  of  the  Dean  and  Canons,  who  are  much  more  properly 
called  the  builders  and  sustainers  of  the  fabric  than  the  Bishop — 
except  where  he  is  actually  mentioned — would  remain  untouched. 

The  next  historical  fact  that  we  meet  with  is  an  earthquake, 
which  took  place  in  1185,  and  which  is  said  by  Eoger  Hoveden  to 
have  been  the  greatest  ever  known  in  England ;  to  have  split  rocks 
and  thrown  down  stone  buildings,  and  to  have  torn  the  cathedral 
church  of  Lincoln  from  top  to  bottom. 

With  this  earthquake,  the  first  chapter  of  the  recorded  history 
of  the  Minster  closes. 

I.  Chuech  of  Remigius.     §  2.  Aechitectueal  Featuees. 

We  have  now  to  recover  the  cathedral  of  Remigius,  of  which 
the  history  has  just  been  given ;  and  the  process  by  which  this  is 
effected,  will,  I  think,  be  plainer,  if  we  first  examine  its  results.  I 
therefore  subjoin  a  plan  of  his  church.^  It  is,  of  course,  in  some 
degree  conjectural,  but  less  so  than  might  have  been  expected.  It 
is  of  the  greatest  importance  to  recover  the  two  extreme  points,  east 
and  west ;  and  this  we  can  happily  do  with  perfect  certainty.  The 
ancient  west  front  still  remains  comparatively  entire ;  and  the  found- 
ation of  the  eastern  apse  exists  under  the  floors  of  the  present  stalls. 
This  part  of  the  church  is  so  important  that  I  give  a  separate  plan, 
on  a  larger  scale.  The  parts  actually  visible,  which  are  made  black 
on  this  plan,  may  seem  at  first  sight  inconsiderable  fragments,  but 
they  are,  though  small,  very  significant.  They  give,  you  will 
observe,  the  total  width  and  the  position  of  the  chord  of  the  apse  ; 
and  I  need  not  tell  you  that,  these  points  determined,  we  can  com- 
plete the  semicircle  with  absolute  precision.  Moreover,  they  indi- 
cate by  part  of  the  buttress  at  the  north  side  fe),  that  this  was  an 
external  wall ;  so  that  the  apse  was  not  surrounded  by  an  aisle,  as 
at  Norwich  ;  but  was  external,  as  originally  at  Peterborough.  It  is 
hardly  too  much  to  assume  that  the  place  of  the  tower  is  unaltered. 
The  ritual  choir  of  course  occupied  the  floor  of  the  tower,  and  pro- 

(2.)     EEFEBENCES  TO  THE  PLAN: 

(a.)  Altar  of  the  Holy  Cross,  before  which  Remigius  was  buried. 

(b.)  Place  to  which  Remigius  was  removed. 

(c.)  Probable  place  of  cloisters. 

(d.)  Probable  place  of  chapter-house. 

(99-)  Pillars  supporting  upper  chambers  at  the  ends  of  the  transepts. 


12         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

bably  at  least  one  bay  in  the  present  nave.  The  separation  between 
the  choir  and  the  presbytery  seems  to  be  decided  by  two  rough  por- 
tions of  attached  masonry,  (ff),  which  probably  supported  engaged 
shafts,  carrying  an  arch  across  the  choir.  Eastward  of  this  was  the 
presbytery,  with  the  high  altar. 

In  a  church  built  on  one  plan,  we  might  assume  that  the  width 
of  the  choir  ruled  that  of  the  tower,  nave,  and  transept.  Here  we 
can  test  that  assumption  by  actual  measurement.  The  original 
continuation  of  the  nave,  between  the  north  and  south  towers  at 
the  west  end  still  remains,  and  is  of  the  same  width  as  the  choir, 
that  is,  about  twenty-eight  feet.  The  aisles  were  probably  half  this, 
or  fourteen  feet  each  ;  and,  allowing  for  the  thickness  of  the  arcades, 
we  have  a  church  of  about  seventy  feet  in  internal  width,  or  ten 
feet  less  than  it  is  at  present. 

The  transept  is  recovered  only  by  analogy.  It  had  probably  no 
aisles.  There  was  hardly  room  for  an  eastern  aisle,  with  so  short  a 
choir ;  and  it  may  be  called  an  ecclesiological  canon,  that,  where 
there  is  no  eastern  aisle,  there  is  none  to  the  west.  There  were, 
however,  doubtless,  apsidal  chapels  in  the  place  of  an  aisle. 

Thus  we  have  absolutely  determined  the  extreme  length  of  the 
church,  east  and  west ;  and,  pretty  surely,  the  general  arrangement 
and  proportions  of  the  plan.  We  have  now  to  supply  the  places  of 
the  pillars  supporting  the  tower  and  the  great  arcades. 

Commencing  with  the  tower,  w^e  have,  of  course,  its  width  from 
north  to  south  determined  by  that  of  the  nave  and  choir,  which,  we 
have  seen,  was  ten  feet  less  than  the  present ;  so  that  the  tower  piers, 
and  those  of  the  nave  to  the  west,  must  fall  five  feet  on  either  side 
within  the  lines  of  the  present  great  arcades.  It  may  seem,  at  first 
sight,  that  the  length  as  well  as  the  width  of  the  tower  should  be 
reduced,  and  that  it  should  be  represented  square ;  but  this  was  by 
no  means  an  universal  i-ule  in  Norman  churches,  and  there  are 
reasons  for  supposing  that,  in  this  case,  the  tower  was  the  same 
length  that  it  is  now,  though  it  was  certainly  of  smaller  width. 
For,  in  the  first  place,  it  is  at  least  probable  that  the  width  of  the 
original  transept  may  have  suggested  the  extent  to  which  the  choir 
and  nave  were  to  be  increased  in  width  by  St.  Hugh  :  for  the  more 
recent  architect  would  almost  certainly  desire  to  reduce  the  ground 
plan  of  his  tower  to  a  square,  and  it  would  be  more  natural  and 
easy,  on  every  account,  to  alter  one  dimension  only,  than  both. — 
Besides,  we  should  not  be  justified,  without  some  evidence  of  it,  in 
supposing  that  the  transept  was  narrower  than  it  is  at  present :  it 
is  only  on  the  discovery  of  the  actual  foundations  that  we  assert 
this  of  the  choir:  and,  following  the  analogy  of  churches  of  the 
same  date,  we  actually  require  no  less  than  the  present  width  for 
the  transept,  and  consequently  for  the  tower ;  for  each  transept 
was  doubtless  furnished  with  an  upper  chamber,  like  that  now 
existing  at  the  north  end  of  the  lesser  transept  in  this  church,  the 
inner  wall  of  which  would  be  supported  by  a  single  pillar  (g),  and 
two  arches  extending  across  the  transept,  and  occupying  the  full 
width  of  the  present  transept  and  tower. 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       13 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  tower  arches  were  of  the  same  span 
that  they  are  at  present,  from  west  to  east ;  though  they  were  of 
ten  feet  less  span  from  north  to  south. 

Eastward  of  the  tower,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  there  was  not  a 
single  pier.  The  space  between  the  tower,  and  the  solid  wall  of  the 
presbytery  was  but  eighteen  feet,  sufficient  only  for  the  span  of 
a  single  arch  ;  this  opened  into  an  aisle,  which  could  not  have 
extended  further  east  than  about  twenty  feet.  It  probably  ter- 
minated square. 

Westward  of  the  tower,  there  can  be  no  difficulty  in  supplying 
seven  piers  and  eight  arches  between  the  western  towers  and  the 
central  tower.  This  will  reduce  all  the  arches  to  about  the  same 
space  with  the  two  first  arches,  as  at  present  existing  at  the  west 
end. 

At  the  west  of  the  nave  we  are  among  the  original  Norman 
works,  but  the  old  piers  are  overlaid  with  many  additions,  and  we 
must  obtain  their  original  proportions  by  a  process  of  elimination. 
First,  we  cast  oif  the  abutments  of  the  arch  thrown  across  the  nave 
by  Essex ;  then  the  huge  masses  piled  against  them  by  Mr.  James  ; 
then  the  groining  shafts  of  Treasurer  Welbourne ;  then  the  panel- 
ling of  Bishop  Alnwick ;  then  the  Early  English  of  some  time 
subsequent  to  Hugh  of  Burgundy  ;  and  yet  again,  before  we  reach 
the  Norman  work,  a  still  earlier  Early  English  insertion  :  for  it  is 
remarkable  that  behind  the  present  filletted  shaft  are  found  several 
smaller  shafts,  without  fillets,  which  can  never  have  formed  part  of 
the  present  design. 

I  hope  that  this  description  of  the  general  arrangement  and 
proportions  of  the  church  will  be  intelligible,  with  the  accompanying 
block-plan.  From  this  we  turn  to  the  elevation,  and  first  to  the 
exterior  elevation  of  the  west  end,  which  we  find  on  examination  to 
consist  not  only  of  the  towers  which  terminate  the  aisles,  with  the 
nave-gable  between  them  ;  but  before  this,  and  quite  separable  from 
it,  of  a  screen  of  considerable  thickness,  carried  several  feet  beyond 
the  towers,  to  the  north  and  south,  and  returned  along  their  sides. 

This  screen  contains,  to  the  west,  three  deep  recesses ;  the 
central  one  much  loftier  than  the  rest,  and  each  originally,  no 
doubt,  surmounted  by  a  gable,  like  those  which  still  remain  against 
the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  towers  :  the  face  of  the  screen  was 
covered  everywhere  with  ornamental  arcades,  and  the  pediments 
were  enriched  with  a  bold  and  very  peculiar  diaper. 

Behind  and  within  all  this  was  the  more  truly  constructive 
front  of  the  church.  Three  doorways,  within  the  three  grand 
recesses,  opened  into  the  nave  and  the  towers.  The  towers  stood 
not  over  the  screen,  but  over  the  more  retiring  wall  of  the  front, 
and  rose  three  stages  above  the  spring  of  the  nave  roof. 

The  western  fagade  is  the  only  part  of  the  church  in  which 
Eemigius  seems  to  have  been  an  originator ;  and  even  here,  as  the 
Norman  west-end  of  Rouen,  which  cathedral  he  is  said  to  have 
imitated,  does  not  remain,  he  may  have  been  a  copyist.  Consider- 
ing, however,  that  the  Rouen  of  his  day  was  already  a  church  of 


14         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

some  antiquity,  and  that  he  was  certainly  the  first  on  this  side  of 
the  Channel  to  finish  his  church  with  a  western  fa9ade  of  this 
character,  I  would  rather  suppose  that  in  this  he  ventured  on  an 
improved  plan.  At  all  events  the  thought,  to  whomsoever  it  was 
due,  was  a  happy  one.  The  three  arches  of  entrance,  with  their 
great  height  and  cavernous  depth,  must  have  had  a  very  good  efiect, 
when  they  were  better  proportioned  than  they  are  at  present  to  the 
mass  out  of  which  they  were  taken ;  and  the  western  transept,  with 
its  north  and  south  gables,  would  not  only  form  an  excellent  screen 
to  the  whole  church,  but  would  give  great  variety,  and  a  new  cir- 
cumstance of  light  and  shadow  to  the  sides  of  the  nave.  There  are 
signs,  too,  that  the  value  of  Remigius'  invention  was  early  appre- 
ciated. The  western  transept,  with  its  gables  flanking  the  towers, 
at  Peterborough,  was  in  all  probability  borrowed  by  Abbot  Benedict 
from  this  part  of  the  design  of  Remigius ;  and  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  still  more  recent  western  portico  at  Peterborough  is 
indebted  for  its  first  conception  to  the  western  facade  of  Lincoln. 

Although  the  whole  of  the  nave  of  Remigius  has  perished,  we 
are  not  without  indications  of  its  height  and  arrangements  ;  for,  in 
the  inner  and  outer  faces  of  the  western  towers,  we  have  an  open- 
ing, which  must  have  been  in  continuation  of  the  clerestory  range 
of  the  nave  ;  this  gives  a  height  of  only  about  forty-five  feet  for  the 
pier  arches  and  triforium,  which  will  lead  to  the  inference  that  the 
latter  was  treated  as  a  subordinate  feature,  as  it  is  actually  proved 
to  have  been  at  Canterbury.^  The  clerestory  seems  to  have  occu- 
pied about  fifteen  feet,  and  the  whole  height  to  the  ceiling  (which 
was  doubtless  flat,  and  of  painted  wood  panels),  was  about  sixty 
feet.  I  see  no  traces  whatever  of  Norman  work  beyond  the  west 
end  of  the  nave ;  and  shall,  therefore,  instead  of  speculating  on 
what  the  rest  of  the  church  may  have  been,  refer  to  Professor 
Willis'  description  of  the  elevation  of  Lanfranc's  church  at  Canter- 
bury, which  this  most  likely  resembled  in  all  essential  features. 
The  central  tower  is  nowhere  mentioned,  though,  no  doubt,  there 
was  one.  Perhaps  it  contained  the  two  large  and  deep-toned  bells, 
presented  by  Geoffry  Plantagenet. 

And  now  we  have  a  cathedral  church,  of  no  great  size  indeed, 
but  just  what  we  may  expect,  if  we  compare  it  with  the  types  which 
Remigius  must  have  followed,  and  especially  with  Rouen,  the  pat- 
tern, as  Cambrensis  expressly  tells  us,  which  Remigius  followed  in 
everything.  We  must,  however,  premise  that  the  Rouen  in  which 
Remigius  had  worshipped,  and  of  which  he  delighted  to  perpetuate 
the  proportions,  was  destroyed  by  fire  in  1200  ;  and  that  it  was  itself 
built  on  the  site  of  a  church  of  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century, 
which  circumstance,  probably,  greatly  cramped  its  proportions. 
Still,  where  it  may  be  presumed  that  Rouen  retains  its  original 
dimensions,  (for  as  to  the  actual  fabric,  not  a  stone  which  Remigius 
beheld  remains  on  another)  it  agrees  remarkably  with  the  Lincoln 
which  we  have  recovered.     In  both,  the  interior  length  of  the  nave, 

(3.)    See  Professor  Willis. 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       15 

to  the  centre  of  the  tower,  was  about  230  feet.  In  both,  the  nave 
with  its  aisles  was  about  seventy  feet  wide.  Nothing  remains  to 
show  what  the  choir  of  Eouen  was ;  but  surely,  these  dimensions 
concurring  in  the  two  churches,  help  out  the  assertion  of  Cambren- 
sis,  that  Remigius  followed  the  plan  of  Rouen  in  everything,  in 
architectural  arrangements,  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  establishment. 

The  churches  of  St.  Nicholas,  and  of  St.  Stephen  at  Caen — 
the  former  as  it  still  exists,  the  latter  as  it  is  restored  by  Professor 
Willis  and  Mr.  Ferguson,  agree  very  nearly  with  what  I  have 
recovered  absolutely,  and  restored  conjecturally  of  Lincoln.  Now, 
it  is  worthy  of  note,  that  St.  Stephen's  was  built  by  William  the 
Conqueror,  the  patron  of  Remigius,  and,  it  is  asserted,  at  his 
instance ;  so  that  there  is  more  than  an  accidental  similarity 
between  the  two  buildings. 

I  have  given  my  reasons  for  supposing  that  the  great  western 
portico,  with  the  transept  and  the  towers,  was  an  idea  originating 
with  Remigius.  With  this  difference  alone,  I  would  conjecture 
that  Rouen  might  be  restored  from  what  is  certainly  known  and 
reasonably  inferred  about  Lincoln.  Originally,  both  were  certainly 
small,  as  compared  with  Norwich,  Ely,  Winchester,  or  Peter- 
borough. Indeed  many  of  our  great  Norman  churches,  and  this 
among  them,  lost  much  by  being  copied  almost  exactly  from  foreign 
examples,  which  had  themselves  been  completed  long  before  the 
Conquest.  An  earlier,  smaller,  and  less  finely  developed  scale  and 
construction  were  thus  introduced  among  us.  To  counterbalance 
this  defect,  there  was  the  advantage  that — commencing  on  a  lower 
scale — a  single  Prelate  might  hope  to  complete  his  cathedral  church, 
as  Remigius  in  fact  did  in  all  essential  parts. 

Of  any  work  of  Bloet  or  Chesney,  the  fabric  is  as  silent  as 
history  has  been,  and  the  next  event  which  we  arrive  at  is  the  fire 
of  1193,  which  may  practically  be  said  to  have  occurred  in  the  time 
of  Alexander,  though  in  fact  it  took  place  a  month  before  he  suc- 
ceeded to  the  vacant  throne.  I  before  observed  that  Cambrensis 
indirectly  informs  us  where  that  fire  raged,  for  he  tells  us  that  the 
material  of  the  roof  fell  on  the  stone  of  Remigius,  who  was  buried 
before  the  altar  of  the  Holy  Cross.  There  is,  I  believe,  no  direct 
evidence  of  the  position  of  this  altar  at  Lincoln,  but  the  usual  place 
for  it  was  just  before  the  tower,  at  the  east  end,  that  is,  of  the 
nave.''  This  would  agree,  in  the  present  case,  with  what  Cam- 
brensis says  of  the  place  being  exposed  to  the  tread  of  persons  pass- 
ing through  the  church  ;  and  so  we  may  presume  that  at  Lincoln 
this  altar  was  in  the  usual  place,  and  that  the  fire  raged  in  the  nave, 
and  destroyed  the  roof.  By  removing  it  only  a  few  feet  to  the  north, 
the  body  of  Remigius  would  be  placed  under  the  shelter  of  one  of 
the  arches  of  the  great  arcade. 

Of  the  minute  accuracy  of  Cambrensis  in  what  he  says  of  the 
fire  of  1123,  we  have  singular  evidence,  in  the  existing  stone 
beneath  which  Remigius  lay  buried  before  the  altar  of  the  Holy 


(4.)    It  was  here  at  Canterbury  and  at  Gloucester. 


16         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Cross.  He  relates  how  a  mass  of  material  fell  from  the  burning 
roof,  and  broke  the  stone,  ivith  which  the  body  of  Remigius  was  covered, 
into  two  equal  j^cf'Tts.  I  must  call  your  attention  to  the  exact  words 
in  which  Giraldus  Cambrensis  describes  the  fracture  of  this  stone  : 
^' per  medium  confracta  partes  in  geminas  et  separata:''  broken  right 
through  the  middle,  and  separated  in  twain.  And  now,  1  will  ask 
you  to  look  at  the  drawing,  made  to  scale,  of  a  Norman  coffin  lid, 
now  l3'ing  in  the  cloister  ;  and  to  say,  whether  Giraldus  could  more 
exactly  have  described  the  condition  of  this  very  stone  if  he  had  it 
before  his  eyes.  The  stone,  too,  is  certainly  of  about  the  age  of 
Remigius  ;  and  it  is  of  so  great  beauty,  that  I  do  not  remember  to 
have  seen  one  of  that  date  more  splendidly .  carved.  Add  to  this, 
that  the  subject  is  obviously  ecclesiastical,  and  you  will  conclude, 
with  me,  that  we  have  here  the  very  stone  which  covered  the  body 
oj  Remigius. 

II.  Church  of  St.  Hugh.     §  1.  History. 

A  new  era  dawned  on  the  Minster  of  Lincoln,  with  the  election 
of  Hugh  of  Avalon  to  the  see,  now  for  two  years  vacant.  This  pre- 
late was  of  a  Burgundian  family,  resident  in  Grenoble,  but  taking 
their  surname  from  Avalon,  a  town  of  Frankia.  He  had  sought  to 
hide  himself  from  the  temptations  of  early  youth  behind  the  rigid 
rule  of  the  Carthusians  ;  and,  already  reputed  of  great  sanctity,  was 
brought  to  govern  the  Priory  of  Witham,  in  Somersetshire.  From 
this  Carthusian  dungeon — to  use  the  expression  of  Giraldus  Cam- 
brensis— he  was  taken  by  Henry  II,  to  fill  the  throne  of  Lincoln. 
He  was  the  man  of  his  day  who  stood  foremost  in  reputed  sanctity, 
and  in  the  kind  of  influence  which  at  that  time  such  a  reputation 
conferred;  and  his  tastes  and  habits  ensured  the  employment  of 
his  influence  in  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  especially  in  the 
due  splendour  of  all  that  respects  the  celebration  of  her  holy  offices. 
The  very  vacancy  which  had  occurred  in  the  see,  between  the 
translation  of  Walter  de  Constantiis  and  Hugh's  election,  would  in 
some  degree  assist  him  in  this  aim  ;  for  though,  of  course,  he 
obtained  no  very  rigid  account  of  the  rents  of  the  see,  yet  something 
would  certainly  accrue  to  him  under  the  name  of  arrears.  Such 
being  the  character  and  the  means  of  the  new  prelate,  it  can  per- 
haps hardly  be  accounted  among  the  infelicities  of  the  Minster, 
that  in  the  year  before  his  accession  it  was  rent  from  top  to  bottom 
by  an  earthquake.  Whatever  might  have  been  his  purpose  other- 
wise, this  accident  would  ensure  some  great  works  in  the  church, 
and  accordingly  we  shall  find  that  St.  Hugh  vigorously  turned  his 
energies  in  this  direction. 

The  express  evidence  of  the  old  Chronicles  is  not  so  full  upon 
the  extent  of  his  work  as  might  have  been  expected.  John  de 
Schalby  says  that  "  he  constructed  anew  the  fabric  of  the  mother 
church  from  the  foundation."  Matthew  Paris  introduces  his 
account  of  a  miracle,  with  a  picture  of  the  prelate  labouring  with 
his  own  hands  at  the  fabric.     "  It  fell  out,"  says  the  historian, 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       17 

"  that  as  the  pious  prelate  was  carrying  stone  and  mortar  upon  his 
shoulders,  as  was  his  frequent  custom,  to  the  building  of  the  mother 
church,  which  he  had  nobly  raised  from  the  ground,  a  certain  lame 
man,  supported  by  two  crutches,  conceived  a  violent  desire  to  carry 
the  hod,  hoping  that  he  should  obtain  a  cure  through  the  merits  of 
the  Saint.  He  begged  the  hod,  therefore,  of  the  master  of  the 
works,  and  began  to  hobble  about  with  it  full  of  stone  and  mortar. 
After  a  few  days,  he  was  able  to  cast  aside  one  crutch,  and  again 
another ;  and  so  continued,  without  support,  to  carry  the  same  hod 
to  the  works  of  the  church."  The  next  account  I  shall  quote  is 
from  a  M.S.  found,  since  this  lecture  was  delivered,  by  Mr.  Dimock 
in  the  Bodleian,  the  author  of  which  states  himself  to  have  been  in 
daily  intercourse  with  St.  Hugh  for  three  years  preceding  his  death. 
From  this  we  learn  that  one  Godfrey  de  Noiers  was  Hugh's  archi- 
tect :  that  the  chapel  of  St.  John  Baptist  was  ready  for  consecration 
before  Hugh's  death,  which  chapel  was  on  the  north  side  of  the 
church  :  and  that  it  was  there  that  the  prelate  desired  to  be  buried. 
The  account  runs  thus :  "  When  his  last  day  was  drawing  near  at 
the  Old  Temple,  London,  St.  Hugh  thus  addressed  Godfrey  de 
Noiers,  his  architect  in  the  restoration  of  the  church  at  Lincoln ; 
"  As  I  hear  that  the  King,  with  the  Bishops,  and  the  magnates  of 
the  whole  realm,  will  shortly  assemble  at  Lincoln,  expedite  and  con- 
clude whatever  things  are  necessary  for  splendour  and  adornment 
about  the  altar  of  my  lord  and  patron,  St.  John  Baptist,  which 
I  desire  to  have  dedicated  by  my  brother  the  Bishop  of  Eochester, 
when  he  has  arrived  thither,  with  the  rest  of  the  Bishops :  for  I  too 
shall  be  present  at  the  time  of  the  before-mentioned  conference. 
It  was  my  intention  to  have  consecrated  it  myself:  but,  since  the 
Lord  has  disposed  it  otherwise,  I  would  fain  have  it  consecrated, 
without  fail,  before  I  come  thither." 

"  The  place  of  his  sepulture  he  thus  appointed.  '  Place  me,'  said 
he,  '  before  the  altar  of  my  said  patron,  the  forerunner  of  the  Lord, 
wherever  a  convenient  place  may  be  found,  close  to  some  wall,  lest, 
as  we  see  in  too  many  churches,  my  tomb  should  inconveniently 
occupy  a  place  in  the  pavement,  and  cause  those  who  enter  the 
chapel  to  stumble  and  fall.'  And  finally  he  was  buried,  as  he  had 
himself  instructed  us,  close  to  the  wall,  not  far  from  the  altar  of  St. 
John  Baptist,  and  as  it  seemed  most  convenient  on  account  of  the 
great  concourse  of  people  gathering  together,  on  the  north  side  of 
the  church  itself." 

This  last  notice  has  a  little  anticipated  the  history  of  St.  Hugh's 
funeral,  which  was  conducted  with  extraordinary  pomp,  in  the 
church  at  which  he  had  so  lovingly  laboured  with  his  own  hands. 
Matthew  Paris  is  again  our  authority.  It  must  be  premised  that  St. 
Hugh  died  in  London,  Nov.  16,  1200,  and  that  his  body  was  being 
carried  to  Lincoln  for  burial,  whither  King  John  had  proceeded  to 
meet  William,  King  of  Scotland,  at  the  conference  before  alluded  to 
by  St.  Hugh.  "  John,"  says  the  Chronicler,  "coming  to  the  cathe- 
dral church,  offered  a  golden  chalice  upon  the  altar  of  St.  John 
Baptist,  which  is  in  the  new  work,  erected  from  the  foundation  after 

D 


18         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

a  wonderful  fashion  by  St.  Hugh.  On  the  arrival  of  the  body  at 
Lincoln,  whither  it  was  borne  by  John  and  his  barons,  it  was 
brought  up  into  the  choir,  and  there  honourably  watched  during 
the  night.  The  next  morning,  three  Archbishops,  and  thirteen 
Bishops  decently  committed  the  body  to  the  ground,  in  the  new 
church  which  Hugh  himself  had  built  from  the  ground,  in  honour 
of  Mary  the  Mother  of  God,  near  to  the  altar  of  St.  John  Baptist." 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  in  all  this  but  very  little  to 
determine  how  much  of  the  church  was  actually  finished  by  St. 
Hugh,  except  that  the  choir  and  the  chapel  of  St.  John  Baptist, 
which  is  incidentally  stated  to  have  been  on  the  north  side  of  the 
church,  are  mentioned  as  complete ;  I  do  not  mean  that  there  is, 
in  fact,  any  doubt  of  his  having  finished  more  than  this,  but  only 
that  actual  records  assert  it  only  in  general  terms. 

There  is,  I  believe,  no  direct  evidence  that  William  of  Blois, 
St.  Hugh's  successor,  concerned  himself  at  all  in  the  fabric ;  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  works  proceeded  without  intermis- 
sion ;  and  as  the  new  Bishop  had  been  precentor  and  prebendary 
in  this  church,  he  could  not  be  without  a  lively  interest  in  its  pro- 
gress. There  is,  besides,  a  royal  letter  of  December  18,  (T  John, 
anno  1205,)  which  proves  that  the  "  novum  02ms,''  as  it  is  there 
called,  was  still  progressing.  "  To  all  to  whom  these  presents  shall 
come.  We  give  you  many  thanks,"  runs  this  document,  "  for  all  the 
benevolences  and  alms  which  you  have  contributed  to  the  con- 
struction of  the  new  work.  The  great  beauty  of  the  structure  itself 
shews  how  largely  and  liberally  you  have  given  your  aid ;  but,  since 
it  would  be  unbecoming  that  so  noble  a  work  should  be  left  incom- 
plete for  lack  of  your  help  and  bounty,  we  beseech  you  all,  by  the 
honor  of  the  Glorious  Virgin,  the  patron  of  the  said  church,  and  by 
our  love  and  petition,  to  proceed  with  what  you  have  so  diligently 
commenced ;  and  to  suffer  a  collection  to  be  set  on  foot  amongst 
you,  for  the  work  of  the  said  fabric,  and  a  fraternity,  to  last  for 
at  least  five  years;  that  in  recompense  of  the  benevolences  and 
alms  which  you  have  contributed  to  the  erection  of  the  earthly 
habitation  of  so  excellent  a  patron,  you  may  be  received  into  the 
heavenly  habitation,  by  her  Son,  our  Lord.  Witness,  Ourselves, 
at  Dorchester." 

William  of  Blois  died  in  1206,  and  the  see  remained  vacant  for 
three  years.  In  January,  1209,  occurs  a  royal  precept  to  permit 
the  canons  of  Lincoln  to  carry  away  the  timber  and  lead  which 
they  had  purchased  from  the  forest  for  the  work  of  the  church  ; 
which  throws  no  light,  indeed,  on  the  particular  part  of  the  fabric 
in  progress,  since  there  is  no  mention  of  any  specific  quantity,  and 
timber  and  lead  would  always  be  in  requisition  during  the  progress 
of  such  a  work.  It  shows,  however,  that  the  fabric  was  proceeding, 
and  confirms  what  one  has  often  occasion  to  remark,  that  we  must 
not  too  exclusively  refer  the  progress  of  cathedrals  to  their  Bishops, 
nor  suppose  that,  where  nothing  is  said  of  their  interest  in  the 
work,  it  necessarily  stood  still. 

The   next  episcopate,    that  of  Hugh  of  Wells,  is  on   many 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       19 

accounts  memorable ;  chiefly  for  the  canonization  of  the  elder 
Hugh  in  1220,  but  also  for  the  diligent  prosecution  of  the  new  work 
by  a  prelate  who  had  already  shewn  himself  at  Wells,  (where  he 
filled  an  archdeacon's  stall),  heartily  disposed  to  such  works  as  now 
required  his  attention.  There  is,  however,  still  but  little  explicit 
evidence  of  the  exact  work  in  progress.  One  of  the  chapels  at  the 
west  end  of  the  nave  is  usually  attributed  to  Hugh  of  Wells :  most 
likely,  both  were  in  course  of  erection  in  his  time,  and  it  was  in  one 
of  them,  doubtless,  that  he  founded  a  chantry.  Perhaps  the  Will 
of  this  Bishop  more  nearly  indicates  his  part  in  the  work  than  any 
other  document.  After  devising  certain  estates  to  the  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  he  gives  one  hundred  marcs  to  the  fabric  of  his 
church  of  Lincoln,  and  also  all  the  timber  which  he  might  die 
possessed  of  throughout  his  episcopal  estates,  reserving  only  to  his 
successor  the  right  of  redeeming  it  for  fifty  marcs.  For  his  funeral, 
and  for  the  purchase  of  necessary  matters,  he  bequeaths  one  hun- 
dred marcs  to  the  altar  next  the  place  of  his  burial.  This  Will  is 
dated  at  Stow  Park,  a.d.  1233. 

We  have  next  another  name  celebrated  in  history,  that  of 
Robert  Grossetete,  so  called  doubtless  from  a  personal  peculiarity, 
and  born  to  contradict  the  proverb  of  many  nations — Grosse  tete,  pen 
de  sens,  Great  head,  little  wit.  This  Grossetete  or  Greathead,  was 
so  far  set  on  the  uprooting  of  abuses,  and  so  far  jealous  of  the  rights 
of  his  order,  as  to  have  earned  the  reputation  of  a  harbinger  of  the 
Pieformation ;  and,  oddly  enough,  the  architectural  history  of  his 
episcopate  is  linked  with  these  phases  of  his  character.  He  had 
great  quarrels  with  his  canons ;  and  it  so  fell  out  that,  pending  a 
suit  with  them,  one  of  the  canons  advocating  the  cause  of  the 
Chapter  in  his  sermon,  in  the  middle  of  that  most  noble  church  of 
Lincoln,  laid  open  his  grievance  before  all  the  people,  descanting  on 
the  oppression  of  the  Bishop,  and  saying,  "  If  we  should  keep  silence, 
the  very  stones  woidd  cry  out;''  whereupon,  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  building  fell.  So  does  Matthew  Paris  relate  the  matter,  and 
speaking  again  of  the  same  accident,  he  describes  the  damage  more 
exactly :  "  The  stone  work  of  the  new  toiver  of  the  church  of  Lincoln 
fell,  killing  those  who  were  beneath  it ;  by  which  fall,  the  whole 
church  ivas  shaken  and  damaged ;  and  this  occurred  as  an  evil  pre- 
sage. But  the  Bishop  made  none  the  less  bustle  to  administer 
effectual  correction."  The  Dunstable  Annals  tell  the  same  tale, 
but  without  recognizing  an  omen.  "  The  wall  of  the  church  of 
Lincoln  fell,  near  the  choir,  behind  the  Dean's  stall,  so  that  three 
men  were  buried  in  the  ruins.  After  this,  the  daily  and  nightly 
service  was  chanted  before  the  high  altar,  until  the  neighbouring 
columns  and  arches  coidd  be  secured."  We  are  yet  farther  beholden 
to  Abbot  John  of  Peterborough,  for  the  real  cause  of  this  disaster  : 
"  In  the  year  1237,"  says  he,  "  occurred  the  fall  of  the  church  of 
Lincoln,  on  account  of  the  badness  of  the  construction." 

We  leave  Grossetete  to  rebuild  the  fallen  tower,  and  to  proceed 
with  the  "  novum  opus."  We  shall  find,  in  our  survey  of  the  fabric, 
much  to  attribute  to  him  on  internal  evidence.     As  to  history,  if 


20         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

you  will  believe  Richard  tlie  monk  of  Bardney,  who  addressed  an 
eloge  of  Grossetete,  in  Latin  verse,  to  Thomas,  Bishop  of  Lincoln, 
at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  there  was  in  his  day  a  tradition 
which  refers  to  this  bishop  some  part,  at  least,  of  the  vaulting. 
You  have  all  heard  of  Grossetete's  brazen  head,  and  how  it  fell 
down  and  was  broken  in  pieces  :  now,  in  Richard's  time,  the  com- 
mon people  said  that  the  mother  church  of  Lincoln  still  concealed 
the  fragments  of  this  head  in  her  vault. 

II.  St.  Hugh's  Chuech.     §  2.  Architectueal  Suevey. 

The  church  which  St.  Hugh  commenced,  which  William  of 
Blois,  the  canons  of  Lincoln,  and  Hugh  of  Wells  carried  on,  and 
which  Grossetete  completed,  or  nearly  completed,  may  be  thus 
described. 

The  eastern  limb  extended  nearly  one  hundred  feet  beyond  the 
apse  of  Remigius,  and  there  terminated  in  a  semi-hexagon,  with 
certain  apsidal  chapels  attached  to  its  sides.  Below  this  was  a 
second  or  upper  transept,  with  two  semicirculai^  chapels  at  the  east 
side  of  each  arm.  In  its  ritual  arrangement  this  part  of  the  new 
church  included  the  choir,  now  no  longer  carried  back  into  the 
tower,  and  an  entirely  new  presbytery.  In  width  as  well  as  in 
length  the  new  work  greatly  exceeded  that  which  it  replaced ;  the 
choir  being  ten  feet  wider  than  that  of  Remigius,  and  a  similar 
relative  proportion  being  found  in  the  width  of  the  tower  and  the 
nave.  The  transepts  are  probably  still  of  their  original  width,  but 
they  have  now  an  eastern  aisle,  each  divided  into  three  chapels,  on 
either  side  ;  and  they  are  greatly  extended  in  length.  The  nave  is 
limited  to  its  original  length  by  the  retention  of  the  western  towers ; 
but  at  the  west  end,  a  north  and  south  chapel  are  added,  and  a 
grand  fagade — forming  a  screen  to  the  whole  fabric — terminates 
the  work  to  the  west.  There  is  no  proper  south  porch  ;  but  instead 
of  it,  the  Galilee,  combining  a  porch  with  an  ecclesiastical  court,  is 
attached  to  the  west  side  of  the  south  transept.  Vestries  and  other 
apartments  are  appended  to  the  south  end  of  the  upper  transept. 

In  pursuing  the  architectural  history  of  this  church,  I  shall 
treat  it,  in  general,  as  a  great  whole,  and  not  as  if  it  were  either 
possible  or  desirable  to  assign  each  particular  portion  to  its  author. 
In  truth,  the  works  never  ceased,  from  the  laying  of  the  first  stone 
of  the  presbytery  to  the  raising  of  the  statues  of  Bloet  and  St. 
Hugh  (if  they  are  Bloet  and  St.  Hugh,)  on  the  west  pinnacles : 
nor  should  too  much  stress  be  laid  on  the  efforts  of  individual 
Bishops,  the  work  being  all  along  rather  that  of  the  Dean  and 
Canons  than  of  the  Bishop  himself.  I  should  even  doubt  whether 
St.  Hugh  himself  carried  on  the  works  attributed  to  him  in  any 
great  degree  at  his  own  cost.  Where,  however,  history  does  help 
us  to  assign  any  particular  part  of  the  work  to  any  one,  we  shall, 
of  course,  point  out  this  fact  as  we  proceed. 

(o)    But  see  Note  (8)  on  page  22. 


M  a/ifc  ^  J'^/h<^L  cl^u  7^  /  If- 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       21 

The  most  important  of  the  changes  introduced  by  St.  Hugh 
into  his  plan  is  the  greater  width  of  the  new  choir ;  for  it  is  this 
which  indicates  conclusively  the  commencement  of  a  total  re- 
building. To  have  extended  the  choir  ever  so  far  eastward,  without 
altering  its  width,  would  not  have  thrown  it  out  of  proportion  with 
J^e  original  tower  and  nave,  which  the  addition  of  10  feet  to  its 
width  does  effectually.^  This  increase  of  width  is  full  also  of 
most  important  results  to  the  ecclesiologist,  for  it  involves  the  total 
desertion  of  the  Norman  foundations,  and  the  utter  destruction  of 
all  Norman  remains ;  so  that  it  is  in  vain  to  seek  for  any  traces  of 
the  old  church,  except  those  which  may  chance  at  any  time  to  be 
laid  bare  on  the  removing  of  the  pavement.  Thus  all  memorials 
of  former  prelates,  and  all  traces  of  fires  and  earthquakes  are  swept 
away  by  Bishop  Hugh,  who  built,  as  we  are  constantly  reminded 
by  the  Chroniclers,  the  mother  church  of  Lincoln,  from  the 
foundations.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  work  of  St.  Hugh 
remains,  to  speak  for  itself.  The  east  end  alone  is  destroyed,  and 
of  this  the  foundation  was  laid  bare  at  the  paving  of  the  presbytery 
in  1791.  Fortunately,  Mr.  Carter,  a  very  competent  draughtsman, 
and  a  most  enthusiastic  Gothicist,  made  a  plan,  a  copy  of  which 
yet  remains  among  the  Gough  papers  in  the  Bodleian ;  and  this  I 
am  enabled,  through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Ross,  to  lay  before  you.'^ 
But  I  must  premise  that,  though  it  is  doubtless  correct  in  the  main, 
yet  in  its  details,  it  tasks  our  faith  in  Mr.  Carter's  fidelity  to  the 
utmost. 

Here  we  have  a  semi-hexagon,  most  oddly  combined  with  semi- 
circular chambers  at  the  two  diagonal  sides,  without  apparent  access 
either  from  the  church  or  from  the  exterior.  We  have  no  similar 
chamber  or  chapel  to  the  east ;  but  at  the  angles  of  the  east  side, 
we  have  nearly  perfect  circular  appendages,  of  ten  foot  radius, 
accessible  from  within,  and  I  suppose  to  be  considered  stair-turrets. 
It  would  be  very  easy,  by  taking  considerable  liberties  with  this 
plan,  to  convert  it  into  a  probable  east  end ;  but  I  do  not  like  to 
tamper  with  a  plan  drawn  on  the  spot  by  a  competent  authority. 
I  would  rather,  as  far  as  I  can,  offer  some  confirmation  of  Mr.  Car- 
ter's sketch. 

Now,  at  the  angle  of  the  upper  transepts  and  of  the  present 
retrochoir,  you  will  find  a  few  inches  of  Hugh's  wall  still  remain- 
ing, combined — to  the  west — with  its  natural  companion,  the  Early 
English  angle  of  the  adjoining  chapel,  and  abruptly  joined  on  the 
east  by  the  more  recent  Geometrical  work  of  the  retrochoir.  The 
position  of  this  fragment  is  noted  on  the  plan  at  (k),  and  its 
appearance  is  shewn  in  the  section  beneath.  This  part  of  Hugh's 
work,  continued  in  a  right  line,  would  form  one  side  of  the  hexagon ; 
and  if  Carter's  plan  is  correct,  it  was  continued  unbroken.    It  seems 

(6)  At  Canterbury  the  nave  still  retains  its  smaller  dimensions,  while  the  eastern 
limb  of  the  church  is  made  wider:  but  here,  too,  the  enlargement  of  the  whole  was 
doubtless  contemplated. 

(J)  See  the  accompanying  figure.— I  have  thought  it  better  to  retain  the  rough 
character  and  imperfect  scale  of  Mr.  Carter's  plan,  lest  it  should  seem  to  lay  claim  to 
greater  exactness  than  it  possesses. 


22         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

to  me  more  probable  that  it  did,  in  fact,  extend  only  a  foot  or  so 
further  than  it  does  at  present,  and  formed  the  abutment  of  an 
arch,  opening  into  the  adjoining  chapel.  Of  the  apsidal  termination 
of  the  chapel  no  traces  remain  visible  below;  but  above  the  vaults  of 
the  present  eastern  chapels  of  the  upper  transept,  we  shall  find  it 
slightly  indicated.  You  will  observe  that  the  chapel  supplied  in  the 
plan,  ranged,  in  some  degree,  with  the  two  still  remaining  in  the 
transept.  Now,  the  flying  buttresses  of  the  transept  are  carried  over 
the  vaults  of  these  chapels  by  an  arch,  such  as  you  will  see  in  the 
subjoined  drawing.  But  between  the  supposed  chapel  and  its  next 
neighbour,  there  was  once  a  similar  arch,  which  has  been  partly 
destroyed,  partly  underbuilt  only,  at  the  erection  of  the  retrochoir. 
It  now  presents  the  following  appearance.  Something,  then,  there 
was  extending  eastward  in  this  place  in  Hugh's  church,  and  a  care- 
ful examination  of  the  plinth  shows  that  it  was  slightly  inclined 
inward  from  the  buttressing  arch.  These  are,  perhaps,  all  the  visi- 
ble indications  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  we  could  expect 
of  the  correctness  of  Carter's  plans.  It  will  not,  I  think,  be  trespass- 
ing too  far,  to  supply  a  chapel  to  the  east  end,  like  those  at  the  two 
diagonal  sides.  The  floor  may  not  have  been  removed  in  that 
place,  when  Carter  was  here  ;  and  he  might  hesitate,  as  indeed  he 
ought  to  hesitate,  to  supply  it  conjecturally,  in  a  plan  which  pre- 
tended only  to  represent  what  he  actually  saw  ;  and  I  am  not  aware 
that  he  ever  wrote  or  published  his  own  supposed  restoration  of  the 
church. 

At  once  confessing  that  I  have  no  positive  data  except  those 
which  are  here  furnished,  I  will  suggest  that  Hugh's  church  in  fact 
terminated  in  a  semi-hexagon,  with  a  chapel  attached  to  each  side ; 
and  that  these  surrounded  the  apse,  as  at  Westminster  Abbey  and 
many  foreign  churches.  The  stair-turrets,  (for  I  cannot  conceive 
that  the  round  processes  at  the  angles  were  anything  else),  would  be 
required,  both  for  access  to  the  vaults  and  triforiums,  and  also  for 
strength  to  the  walls,  which  must  here  support  a  complicated  system 
of  groining  :  they  would  also  give  dignity  to  the  exterior  elevation. 
One  of  the  chapels  in  the  north  transept  was  doubtless  that  of  St. 
John  Baptist,  in  which  Hugh  desired  to  be  buried.^ 

Before  we  leave  the  upper  transept,  we  must  observe  that  the 
triforium  level  of  the  last  bay  to  the  north  is  converted  into  an 
upper  chamber.     There  is,  I  think,  little  doubt  that  this  chamber 


(8)  I  should  not  observe  further  on  the  eastern  chapels  of  the  upper  transept,  were 
it  not  that  I  think  it  very  doubtful  whether  Mr.  Essex  has  rightly  finished  that  at  the 
extreme  north  as  a  semicircle.  He  found  in  this  place  an  oblong  chapel,  generally  attri- 
buted to  Bishop  Gynewell,  who  died  in  1362,  But  Hollar's  view  gives  an  Early  English 
chapel  in  this  place ;  and  though  I  do  not  thiak  it  looks  quite  ancient  enough  for  St. 
Hugh,  it  was  contemporary  with  much  of  the  work  in  what  we  call  St.  Hugh's  church. 
I  should  be  disposed  to  suggest  that  it  was  the  chapel  of  St.  John  Baptist,  mentioned 
above,  and  that  it  may  have  been  enlarged  after  Hugh's  burial,  in  honour  of  his  shrine, 
of  course  before  its  translation  to  the  retrochoir. 

At  all  events,  it  could  not  be  Bishop  Gynewell's  chapel,  as  it  has  generally  been  called ; 
for  Gynewell's  work  would  have  been  not  Early  English,  but  late  Decorated.  Besides, 
to  dismiss  this  subject  at  once,  1  doubt  whether  Gynewell's  chapel  formed  any  part  of  the 
church.  I  only  find  that  he  built  a  chapel  ol  St.  Jlary  Magdalen  tvitlwut  the  ivall  of  the 
church,  at  the  north  side ;  and  for  this  chapel  we  should  certainly  not  look  in  this  place, 
that  is,  loith'ui  the  chuixh. 


■x^  i^yo  *  v^ -^/^  \y      -^^^ffV  ^    j 


\ 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.   23 

took  the  place,  in  purpose,  though  not  in  situation,  of  similar 
chambers  at  the  end  of  the  transept  of  the  Norman  church,  which 
it  formed  part  of  St.  Hugh's  plan  to  destroy.  Such  chambers  are 
found  in  many  Norman  churches,  and  were  connected  with  certain 
arrangements  of  the  church  offices,  partly  such  as  are  now  supplied 
by  vestries,  and  partly  such  as  were  peculiar  to  those  days,  such  as 
the  watching  of  the  church,  the  preparation  of  the  Eucharistic 
elements,  &c.  The  arrangement  of  the  opposite  end  of  the  transept 
was  originally,  no  doubt,  the  same :  for  on  looking  up  to  the  triforium, 
clerestory,  and  vaulting,  it  will  be  seen  that  they  have  been  very- 
much  altered,  the  style  of  the  several  decorations  indicating  a  date 
considerably  more  recent  than  the  main  fabric ;  and  this  change  in 
the  decoration  would  naturally  be  made  at  the  removal  of  such  a 
chamber  as  that  opposite.  The  change  effected  has  given  greater 
dignity  and  beauty  to  the  transept,  which  was,  of  course,  its  avowed 
object.  At  the  same  time,  probably,  the  several  vestries  together 
with  the  lavatory,  and  the  crypt  attached  to  this  transept  were 
erected,  to  compensate  for  the  chamber  which  was  sacrificed.  These 
works  are,  of  course,  considerably  after  St.  Hugh's  time ;  indeed,  I 
suspect,  among  the  last  of  the  Early  English  additions  to  the 
church. 

The  main  features  of  the  choir  and  of  the  tower  will,  I  think,  be 
more  conveniently  discussed  by  and  bye.  We  advance  to  the  great 
transept,  the  north  end  of  which  retains  its  original  composition 
throughout ;  and  the  great  wheel  window,  below  the  vault,  is  an 
almost  unique  example  of  what  is  called  plate  tracery.^  Although 
this  is  the  rudest  kind  of  tracery,  yet  it  is  susceptible  of  great  variety 
of  design ;  and  in  fact,  the  window  in  question  advances,  in  some 
respects,  into  the  spirit  of  well  established  Geometrical  tracery.  If 
it  is  of  St.  Hugh's  time,  we  may  wonder  that  it  did  not  lead  to  an 
earlier  introduction  of  proper  tracery.  The  opposite  end  of  the 
transept  has  experienced  great  changes,  of  which  we  shall  speak  by 
and  bye. 

It  might,  perhaps,  be  taken  by  some  as  a  matter  of  course  that 
with  the  transept  the  tower  also  would  be  rebuilt ;  but  it  is  better  to 
take  nothing  for  granted  that  we  can  assert  on  evidence.  The 
History  has  told  us  how  in  Grossetete's  time  the  tower  fell,  and  that 
through  defect  in  its  construction.  And  though  it  would  seem  very 
unlikely  that  a  tower  commenced  late  in  Hugh's  time,  and  not  yet 
complete,  should  fall  in  Grossetete's  time,  nevertheless  so  it  was,  for 
the  tower  that  fell  is  expressly  called  the  new  toiver.  We  have  not 
yet  arrived  at  the  point  where  we  must  examine  the  damage  which 
this  inflicted  on  the  church  ;  I  only  mention  it  here  as  a  proof  that 
St.  Hugh  did  commence  the  tower  which  was  to  adorn  his  renovated 
cathedral. 

Not  a  single  word  of  the  recorded  history  of  the  church  applies 
directly,  or  by  necessary  inference,  to  the  erection  of  the  nave ;  and 


(O;    That  is,  which  is  cut,  as  it  were,  out  of  a  flat  plate  of  stone,  without  mould- 
ings. 


24         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

perhaps  partly  on  that  account,  it  would  be  easy  to  extend  the  dis- 
cussion of  its  probable  progress  over  a  considerable  space.  Com- 
paring it  with  the  original  fabric  of  Remigius,  we  find  it  in  length 
the  same,  but  in  width  some  ten  feet  greater.  In  place  of  the  eight 
bays  of  the  Norman  nave,  we  have  now  but  seven  ;  but  these,  with 
the  exception  of  the  two  nearest  the  west  end,  are  of  greater  width 
than  the  old  ones.  I  shall  not  enter  into  a  minute  account  of  the 
measurements  affected  by  this  relation  of  the  Early  Enghsh  with 
the  Norman  foundations,  because  they  have  been  most  minutely 
given  by  Mr.  Penrose,  in  his  "  Inquiry  into  the  System  of  Proportions 
which  prevail  in  the  Nave  of  Lincoln  Cathedral.'"  But  I  must  be 
allowed,  without  venturing  to  speak  positively,  to  demur  to  the 
general  history  of  the  structure  of  the  nave,  which  Mr.  Penrose 
deduces  from  these  measurements.  He  thinks,  certainly  not  un- 
reasonably, unless  any  proof  appear  to  the  contrary,  that  the  nave 
was  commenced  at  the  east,  that  is  at  the  tower  end,  and  was  con- 
tinued through  four  bays — of  enlarged  proportions — with  an  inten- 
tion of  extending  it  beyond  the  western  towers,  or  at  least  of  finish- 
ing it  with  a  fagade  in  no  way  ruled  in  its  proportions  by  the 
Norman  church ;  but  that  at  the  fifth  bay  it  was  determined  to 
adhere  to  the  old  length,  and  retain  the  western  towers — a  deter- 
mination which  involved  a  contraction  of  the  two  last  bays.  Now 
certainly,  in  building  the  choir,  the  east  end  would  first  be  com- 
menced, and  the  tower  or  west  end  would  come  last  of  all ;  but  in 
building  the  nave,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  a  different  course 
would  not  be  taken,  and  whether  the  tower  would  not  here  again  be 
built  up  to  and  not  fro7n  :  in  other  words,  whether  the  probable 
course  would  not  be  to  build  from  west  to  east,  instead  of  from  cast 
to  west.  Now,  if  the  work  were  continued  from  east  to  west,  as 
Mr.  Penrose  supposes,  there  would  probably  be  no  perceptible 
break  at  all  in  the  work  ;  but  if  there  was  a  pause  at  the  tower,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  provide  abutments  for  the  tower  itself,  until 
the  nave  should  be  erected  up  to  it.  And  you  will  find  that  the 
first  bay  of  the  nave  aisles,  next  to  the  tower,  has  obviously  been 
built  at  a  different  time  from  the  rest ;  and  that  it  was  so  built  that 
it  might  form  a  part  of  the  stay  of  the  tower,  left  without  adequate 
support  until  the  nave,  about  to  be  commenced  at  the  west  end,  was 
carried  up  to  it — may,  I  think,  be  reasonably  inferred. 

To  pass  to  the  other  end  of  the  nave  ;  we  find  that  there  is  an 
obvious  connexion  between  the  retention  of  the  span  of  the  two  first 
pair  of  Norman  arches,  and  the  vaulting  system  of  the  chapels, 
on  either  side.  If,  therefore,  the  contraction  of  the  arches  at  the 
west  end  was  an  after  thought,  so  also  were  the  chapels ;  but  it 
would  seem  a  little  unlikely  that  a  contraction  of  the  plan  in  one 
respect  should  be  connected  with  its  very  considerable  extension  in 
another,  if  the  want  of  funds,  which  is  the  only  cause  surmised,  led 
to  the  supposed  change.  Moreover,  the  Piscina  in  the  north  chapel 
is  in  character  very  early  indeed,  even  transitional,  and  the  groining 
ribs  are  of  an  early  section.  Again,  the  Early  English  responds 
attached  to  the  tower,  though  at  present  looking  like  some  of  the 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       25 

piers  in  the  rest  of  the  nave,  cover  what  is  so  early  in  character, 
that  we  may  fairly  give  it  to  the  episcopate  of  William  of  Blois,  St. 
Hugh's  successor.  I  see  nothing  so  early  as  these  fragments  any 
where  towards  the  east  end  of  the  nave.  As  for  the  pillars  through- 
out the  great  arcade,  they  have,  I  believe,  many  of  them  been  ror- 
built ;  nor  do  I  find  any  grounds,  merely  from  the  present  section 
of  the  pillars,  to  place  one  end  before  the  other  in  point  of  time.  I 
have  only  to  lea^  e  the  question  with  a  doubt,  at  least,  whether  it  is 
not  too  much  to  assume  that  the  change  was  made  from  the  greater 
to  the  lesser  arch,  instead  of  from  the  lesser  to  the  greater.  At  all 
events,  we  cannot  but  regret  that  the  lesser  was  not  retained  from 
the  Norman  design,  so  much  more  beautiful  is  it  in  its  proportions. 
I  must  add,  that  traces  yet  remain  in  the  jambs  of  the  great  west 
window,  which  show  that — as  might  be  expected — there  had  been 
an  Earty  English  triplet  inserted  here,  before  the  perpendicular 
window  was  erected  by  Bishop  Alnwick. 

The  chapels  of  which  we  have  spoken  are^'  worthy  of  note,  on 
their  own  account  as  well  as  for  their  relation  to  the  general  plan. 
The  elegant  slender  shaft  in  the  centre  of  the  northern  one  will 
certainly  repay  attention.  The  font  in  this  chapel  is  a  relic  of  the 
time  of  Remigius.  Compare  its  carving  with  that  of  the  coffin 
lid  which  I  assign  to  that  prelate,  and  you  will  see  that  they  are  of 
the  same  period. 

We  have  already  had  to  mention  the  fall  of  the  tower  of  St. 
Hugh ;  we  must  now  revert  more  exactly  to  the  damage  which  it 
occasioned,  and  to  the  course  of  restoration.  It  fell,  you  will 
remember,  on  the  choir,  and  the  mischief  which  it  did  was  so  great 
that  the  services  were  removed  into  the  presbytery,  until  the  arches 
and  columns  all  around  were  made  firm. 

An  examination  of  the  pillars  almost  throughout  the  choir,  and 
not  in  the  great  arcade  only,  but  even  in  the  clerestory  proves  that 
the  damage  was  not  exaggerated.  The  original  pillars  had  the  usual 
Early  English  detached  shafts,  as  represented  in  the  accompanying 
section  ;*°  at  present,  a  far  more  serviceable  pillar  occurs  much  the 
more  frequently.  The  tower  itself  was  of  course  re-built,  and  that, 
I  think,  from  the  ground ;  for  the  present  piers  are  hardly  so 
decidedly  early  in  their  character  as  St.  Hugh  would  have  used. 
At  all  events,  the  arches  and  all  above,  as  far  as  the  top  of  the  roof, 
were  at  once  re-built ;  and  another  stage,  that  is  the  first  stage  clear 
above  the  roof,  shortly  after.  It  is  necessary  to  bear  this  in  mind, 
for  it  will  enable  us  to  recognise  Grossetete's  work  in  other  places. 
It  has  two  peculiarities — the  occurrence  of  knots  of  foliage  at  the 
points  of  arches,  and  other  places  where  mouldings  mitre  :  and  the 
use  of  a  peculiar  lozenge-shaped  diaper.  Eeverting  to  the  history, 
we  shall  find  that  the  work  which  would  probably  fall  to  Grossetete's 
share,  was  the  roofing  of  the  nave,  and  all  that  could  be  fairly  called 
the  conclusion  of  the  new  work.  St.  Hugh,  William  of  Blois,  and 
Hugh  of  Wells,  had  severally  pressed  on  the  building,  and  now 

(10)    See  Cm;  in  lig.  III. 
E 


36         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AKCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

Grossetete  must  finish  it ;  and  in  order  to  this,  Hugh  of  Wells 
leaves  in  his  Will  one  hundred  marcs  for  the  fabric,  and  especially 
timber,  having  respect,  no  doubt,  though  he  does  not  say  it,  to  the 
large  amount  of  roofing  which  must  shortly  be  accomplished.  Now 
I  wish  you  to  observe,  that  Grossetete's  diaper  is  again  found  in  the 
pediment  of  the  west  front,  where  it  terminates  the  nave  roof  to  the 
west,  as  the  tower  does  to  the  east.  This,  then,  we  set  down  as 
Grossetete's  work,  connected  as  it  is  with  the  roof.  And  here,  too, 
Richard  of  Bardney  comes  to  our  aid,  with  his  account  of  the  vulgar 
tradition  that  the  fragments  of  Grossetete's  Magic  Head  are  con- 
cealed in  the  vault  of  Lincoln.  I  fear  this  tradition  would  hardly 
help  any  one  to  recover  the  magic  fragments,  but  it  clearly  indicates 
that  Grossetete  was  connected  with  the  progress  of  the  roof  in  the 
popular  history. 

But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  Grossetete's  diaper,  w^hich  is 
again  found  where  we  should  least  expect  it,  low  down  in  the  West 
front.  This  trace  of  Grossetete's  hand  consists  only  of  two  courses 
of  masonry  over  the  round  window  at  the  south  side  of  the  west 
front.  How  comes  it  here  ?  You  will  remember  that  the  Norman 
church  was  finished  in  front  with  three  gables,  one  over  each  of 
the  great  recesses.  Now,  when  Grossetete  had  to  finish  his  new 
west  front,  it  seems  to  me  that  his  first  plan  was  to  retain,  or  rather 
rebuild,  these  gables,  (as  he  actually  did  the  central  one,  with 
certain  great  changes)  and  also  to  add  a  gable  before  the  roof  of 
each  of  the  two  western  chapels :  so  that  the  church  would  then 
have  had  five  gables ;  the  chapels  seeming  to  be,  what  they  really 
are  to  some  extent,  additional  aisles.  This  was,  I  think,  actually 
commenced  at  the  south  side,  when  the  grander  plan  of  the  present 
great  screen  suggested  itself,  and  was  at  once  carried  out.  The 
masonry  of  the  turrets  which  flank  the  great  fagade  clearly  shows 
it  to  be  an  addition,  not  only  to  the  older  portion  of  the  front — 
which  it  must  necessarily  be — but  also  to  the  two  side  chapels, 
which  would  have  been  a  part  of  the  same  erection,  had  the  design 
been  much  antecedent  to  Grossetete's  time.  I  would  refer,  therefore, 
the  design  of  the  present  fa9ade  to  Grossetete,  and  that  very  late  in 
his  ej)iscopate ;  assuming  that  he  had  finished  the  roof,  and  the 
tower  at  the  east  and  the  central  pediment  at  the  west  end  of  it, 
and  that  he  had  even  commenced  a  lower  pediment  in  front  of  the 
south-western  chapel,  before  the  present  plan  dawned  upon  him. 
The  design  would  thenceforth  be  carried  out  without  interruption, 
though  Grossetete  would  scarcely  live  to  see  its  completion. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  make  any  critical  remarks  on  the 
several  features  of  the  minster,  except  where  some  historical 
question  is  connected  with  it ;  but  here  I  must  observe,  that  except 
the  much  more  gorgeous  west  front  of  Peterborough,  this  is  perhaps 
the  most  purposeless  front  in  England,  and  the  one  which  most 
conceals  that  which  it  ought  to  adorn,  the  constructive  arrangement 
of  the  edifice  to  which  it  belongs ;  it  is  in  short  a  mere  mask, 
without  the  slightest  honest  expression,  except  that  which  slyly 
peeps  out  at  the  remainder  of  the  Norman  fabric — the  very  part 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       27 

which  it  seems  intended  to  disguise.  Moreover,  there  is  scarcely  to 
be  found  in  England,  except  again  at  Peterborough,  so  large  a  space 
without  glass,  which  is  infinitely  valuable,  because  it  repeats  the 
tones  and  colours  of  the  sky,  and  becomes  to  a  building  viewed  as 
a  picture  what  water  or  the  smoke  of  the  woodman's  hut  is  to  the 
landscape.  While,  at  the  same  time,  the  varied  play  of  light  upon 
it  gives  more  of  animation  than  can  be  found  in  any  other  object, 
without  actual  life,  or  proper  motion.  In  the  west  front  of  Wells 
nearly  equal  faults  are  counterbalanced  by  excessive  grandeur  of 
conception,  by  the  representation  of  living  scenes,  and  by  evidences 
of  mind  and  of  art  which  disarm  all  hard  calculations  of  the  cost  at 
which  they  are  exhibited;  but  here,  and  at  Peterborough  and 
Salisbury,  we  are  driven  to  regret  that  the  foreign  custom  of  finishing 
great  churches  with  a  mere  screen  was  ever  introduced  into  England, 
and  to  rejoice,  at  the  same  time,  that  it  was  so  soon  abandoned. 

This  part  of  the  architectural  survey  has  been  so  complicated, 
that  it  may  be  desirable  to  sum  up  its  results  in  a  few  words. 

St.  Hugh  commenced  the  rebuilding  of  the  church  at  the  east 
end,  in  which  direction  he  lengthened  it  very  considerably,  and 
added  an  eastern  transept,  with  two  chapels  to  each  arm ;  and  over 
the  ends  of  the  transept,  both  north  and  south,  erected  chambers 
for  the  watchers  of  the  church,  and  other  ecclesiastical  offices. 
He  built,  also,  the  greater  part  at  least  of  the  central  transept  and 
tower,  and  carried  the  choir,  which  had  before  been  under  the 
tower,  into  the  east  limb  of  the  church.  Henceforward,  and  after 
his  death,  the  erection  of  the  nave  continued  under  the  name  of 
the  New  Work ;  and  this  commenced  at  the  west  end,  where  two 
chapels  were  added  to  the  plan,  and  proceeded  eastward  till  it 
joined  the  tower  But  before  this  was  completed,  Hugh's  tower 
fell;  and  as  it  damaged  the  choir  greatly,  and  shook  the  whole 
church,  the  repairs  which  were  carried  on  under  Grossetete  involved, 
or  ultimately  resulted  in,  the  under  building  of  several  of  the  arches 
with  pillars  of  a  more  recent  and  substantial  character  than  were 
first  erected.  Grossetete  proceeded  also  with  the  works  in  the  nave, 
and  vaulted  it ;  and  also  rebuilt  the  tower,  adding  one  full  story 
above  the  vaults  of  the  church.  In  his  time  also,  or  perhaps  partly 
in  the  time  of  his  predecessor,  Hugh  of  Wells,  the  chambers  over 
the  south  end  of  the  eastern  transept  were  removed ;  and  several 
additional  buildings  added  instead  of  them,  to  the  south  and  west 
of  that  transept.  The  Galilee  was  also  erected,  instead  of  a  porch 
at  the  usual  place,  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  south  western 
chapel.  Finally,  the  great  western  facade  was  erected ;  and  thus 
terminated  the  building  of  what  may  fairly  be  called  the  Church  of 
St.  Hugh. 

III.  The  Chapter  House. 

1  have  thought  it  better  not  to  interrupt  the  narrative,  until  we 
come  to  what  may  be  called  the  completion  of  St.  Hugh's  church, 
which  did  not  take  place  till  long  after  his  decease. 


28         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

We  must  now,  however,  go  back  to  St.  Hugh,  and  follow  him  in 
his  erection  of  the  Chapter  House. 

But  before  we  can  do  this  with  advantage,  we  must  examine 
some  of  the  peculiarities  of  the  ground-plan  of  the  Cathedral  and 
its  accessories,  and  enquire  what  influence  they  may  have  had  on 
the  order  of  the  works.  You  wdll  observe  that  we  have  here  a  church 
with  two  transepts.  The  upper  or  eastern  transept,  separating  the 
choir  from  the  presbytery,  had  become  in  St,  Hugh's  time  a  frequent 
addition  to  a  cathedral  church ;  but  there  is  no  other  case  in  which 
it  has  had  so  great  effect  on  the  surrounding  buildings.  While  at 
Salisbury,  (where  the  second  transept  made  a  part  of  the  original 
plan)  as  well  as  at  the  other  cathedrals  (where  it  has  been  added,) 
the  cloisters  and  the  chapter  house  retain  their  usual  place,  to  the 
west  of  the  great  transept ;  here  they  are  carried  farther  east,  and 
occupy  a  square  of  which  the  two  transepts  govern  the  western  and 
eastern  sides.  The  cloisters  are,  in  consequence,  much  smaller  than 
they  would  otherwise  have  been,  and  the  chapter  house  is  brought 
into  unfavorable  contrast  with  the  east  end  of  the  church. 

Whether  there  was  any  cloister  before  the  present  one,  I  do  not 
know:  perhaps  not;  but  a  chapter  Jiouse  we  are  sure  there  was, 
because  Giraldus  Cambrensis  says  that  St.  Hugh  rebuilt  it,  raising 
it  anew  from  the  foundations.  Now  this  chapter  house  was,  we  may 
be  certain,  from  universal  analogy,  at  the  end  of  the  transept  (in 
this  case  at  the  north  end,  for  the  city  wall  would  prevent  its  being 
to  the  south)  and  separated  from  it  only  by  a  narrow  passage.  In 
short,  St.  Hugh,  in  extending  the  central  transept  of  his  church, 
must  have  actually  built  over  the  foundations  of  the  old  chapter 
house. 

And  this  is  by  no  means  an  unimportant  fact  in  the  history,  for 
it  helps  us  to  determine  with  yet  greater  probability  to  whom  the 
chapter  house  is  to  be  given ;  or  rather  it  enables  us  to  throw  a  very 
great  probability  into  the  natural  interpretation  of  Giraldus 
Cambrensis.  We  must  state  exactly  what  Cambrensis  says.  Speaking 
of  St.  Hugh,  he  says,  he  renewed  with  wonderful  skill  the  chapter 
house,  [Capitulum)  of  his  church,  with  Parian  stone,  and  with 
marble  columns,  and  rebuilt  the  whole  from  the  foundation,  with 
most  sumptuous  work.  Now  it  is  said  by  some  that  the  word 
Capitulum  is  used  by  Cambrensis  to  signify  the  head,  or  eastern 
part  of  the  church.  I  believe  the  word  is  sometimes  so  used  by 
foreign  writers ;  but  I  am  not  aware  that  any  such  use  of  it,  as 
applied  to  any  English  church,  has  been  adduced.  Nor  can  it  be 
denied  that — generally  at  least — Capitulimi  does  mean  Chapter  house. 
Indeed,  at  the  date  of  Cambrensis,  it  was  the  only  word  so  used, 
the  term  domus  capitularis  not  occurring  till  long  after. 

One  or  two  instances  may  fortify  my  position.  In  1294,  John, 
Archbishop  of  York,  appropriated  certain  fines  ad  fahricam  novi 
capitidi,  to  the  fabric  of  the  new  chapter  house  of  Southwell ;  and,  in 
1296,  this  very  chapter  house  of  Lincoln  is  called  Capitulum,  in  an 
episcopal  instrument  addressed  to  the  Dean  by  Oliver  Sutton,  who 
Bpeaks  of  a  certain  cloister  in  the  court  before  the  chapter  house 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       29 

fin  area  ante  capitulwn.J  The  only  difficulty  that  occurs  to  me  in 
the  historical  testimony,  is  that  Cambrensis,  if  he  is  speaking  of  the 
chapter  house,  wholly  omits  the  mention  of  the  new  work  in  the 
church,  as  commenced  by  St.  Hugh.  Of  this  there  may  be  more 
than  one  account  rendered.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  any  where 
said  that  St.  Hugh  built  the  church,  simptihus  suis ;  and,  as  we 
cannot  too  faithfully  remember,  it  is  really  in  such  cases  to  the 
Dean  and  Canons  that  the  work  is  to  be  ascribed  :  and  if  it  be  said, 
much  more  should  the  building  of  their  chapter  house  be  ascribed 
to  them,  I  answer,  that  a  new  chapter  house  would  be  a  most 
gracious  present  to  them  from  the  Bishop,  and — under  the  circum- 
stances— not  an  unreasonable  one.  St  Hugh  prevails  in  the 
rebuilding  of  his  church  on  an  entirely  new  and  enlarged  plan ; 
and  in  so  doing,  he  not  only  imposes  great  cost  and  a  perpetual 
charge  on  the  Dean  and  Canons,  but  he  actually  destroys  their  old 
chapter  house,  and  builds  upon  its  site.  Is  it  to  be  supposed  that 
he  could  do  this  without  some  question  and,  perhaps,  opposition  ? 
And  what  so  likely  as  that  he  should  make  the  building  of  a  new 
and  more  beautiful  chapter  house,  out  of  his  own  resources,  a  part 
of  his  amende  ?  I  may  almost  put  the  question  yet  more  strongly, 
and  ask,  whether  this  would  not  be  something  like  an  act  of  justice 
on  his  part  ? 

And  this  account  of  the  matter  helps  us  also  in  decyphering  the 
internal  evidence  to  be  derived  from  the  chapter  house  itself,  re- 
specting its  date.  If  my  suspicions  are  correct,  it  would  be  com- 
menced shortly  after  the  destruction  of  the  old  one,  and  therefore 
quite  at  the  close  of  St.  Hugh's  work ;  for  he  cannot  have  got  so  far 
in  his  rebuilding  of  the  church  till  within  a  very  few  years  of  his 
death.  Now  if — as  no  one  ever  doubted — St.  Hugh  commenced 
the  church,  and  carried  it  very  far  towards  its  completion  before  his 
death  in  1200,  there  can,  I  think,  be  no  question  arising  from  the 
style,  whether  he  may  not  have  built  the  chapter  house  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  same  time.  It  may  seem  a  little  in  advance  of 
that  date,  but  so  also  does  the  presbytery.  He  who  commenced  the 
presbytery  early  in  his  episcopate  might  certainly  have  designed 
and  commenced  the  chapter  house  at  its  close. 

As  for  the  silence  of  Cambrensis  about  the  new  choir,  besides 
what  I  have  already  stated — that  it  was  not,  in  one  important  sense, 
the  work  of  Hugh  at  all — Cambrensis  is  so  singularly  slovenly  in 
his  account  of  that  prelate,  that  we  cannot  consent  to  take  his 
silence  as  requiring  any  explanation.  He  was  a  cleverish,  bustling, 
vain,  obtrusive,  meddling  fellow,  whose  soul  passed  by  metem- 
psychosis into  Gilbert  Burnet,  Bishop  of  Sarum,  after  having 
bustled  and  meddled  elsewhere  for  four  centuries.  His  book  on  the 
Lives  of  the  Bishops  of  Lincoln  was  sent,  with  an  epistle  dedicatory, 
to  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  after  the  consecration 
of  Hugh  of  Wells  (the  second  of  that  name) ;  yet  it  wholly  omits 
his  predecessor,  William  of  Blois.  And  though  he  expressly  requests 
the  Archbishop  to  send  it  to  Hugh,  then  just  consecrated,  that  he 
may  learn  from  it  to  resemble  the  elder  Hugh,  in  all  other  good 
things,  as  well  as  in  name  and  dignity,  he  actually  cuts  short  a  very 


30         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

meagre  summary  of  the  virtues  of  the  proposed  model,  with  a  quiet 
"  sed  quid  per  si7igida  curro  ?  "  The  book,  which  is  a  full  account  of 
Remigius,  with  sufficient  for  all  good  purposes  about  his  immediate 
successors,  was  compiled  probably  out  of  the  Lincoln  records,  before 
they  were  fully  made  up  to  St.  Hugh's  death  :  it  was  then  suffered 
to  lie  by,  till  the  election  of  another  Hugh  suggested  to  its  author 
that  it  might  be  furbished  up  into  a  very  pretty  present  to  Langton 
the  consecrator,  and  a  choice  homily  for  the  newly  consecrated,  at 
very  small  cost  to  himself. 

The  chapter  house  answers  exactly  to  the  description  of  Cam- 
brensis,  except  that  the  stones  are  not  literally  Parian ;  the  marble 
shafts,  however,  are  there,  a  feature  often  mentioned  by  the  ancient 
chroniclers,  in  describing  Early  English  work.  If  St.  Hugh  built 
it,  it  must  needs  be  early  in  the  style,  for  he  died  in  1200,  when  the 
Early  English, — according  to  Mr.  Sharpe's  tables — had  been  intro- 
duced only  ten  years.  Still,  it  was  perfectly  established,  and  I  think 
the  chapter  house  in  question  is  not  really  too  late  for  this  date. 
There  are  indeed  much  later  insertions,  and  about  one  half  of  the 
shafts  in  the  interior,  though  still  Early  English,  are  clearly  more 
recent  than  the  rest.  This  part  of  the  ornamentation  may  have 
been  unfinished  at  Hugh's  death,  and  completed  some  years  after. 
The  vaulting,  too,  with  its  central  support,  and  its  large  external 
abutments,  is  of  a  more  recent  date. 

IV".  The  Reteochoir. — Recoeded  and  Aechitectueal  HisTOEt. 

In  the  year  1220,  Hugh  of  "Wells  being  then  Bishop,  Hugh  of 
Avalon  was  canonized.  The  best  offering  to  the  new  patron  saint 
for  the  next  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  was  the  diligent  prosecution  of 
the  work  which  he  had  himself  commenced ;  but  that  work  was  no 
sooner  finished,  than  the  usual  consequence  of  a  canonization  was 
contemplated — his  translation : — and  that  this  might  be  performed 
with  extraordinary  pomp,  the  present  retrochoir  was  designed. 
The  necessary  preparations  for  this  great  work  very  early  engaged 
the  attention  of  Henry  Lexinton,  the  successor  of  Grossetete  in 
the  episcopate.  He  became  Bishop  in  1254,  and  in  the  November 
of  next  year,  40  Henry  III.,  a  royal  writ  of  ne  quid  damni  recites, 
that  license  had  been  asked  to  remove  the  east  wall  of  the  city, 
which  was  requisite  for  the  lengthening  of  the  church  in  that 
direction.  In  the  July  of  the  following  year  favorable  returns  to 
this  writ  having  been  made,  actual  leave  is  granted  to  extend  the 
Close,  for  the  purpose  of  lengthening  the  church,  according  to 
arrangements  made  between  the  Dean  and  Chapter  and  the  citizens 
of  Lincoln.  This  is  sufficient  to  fix  the  date  of  the  commencement 
of  the  retrochoir  to  about  1256,  and  henceforward  history  is 
silent  until  the  translation  of  St.  Hugh  indicates  that  the  work  was 
nearly  perfect.  This  took  place  in  1280,  Oliver  Sutton,  formerly  Dean, 
being  then  just  advanced  to  the  see."  The  Peterburgh  chronicle 
thus  relates  this  event : — 

( 1 1;    He  was  consecrated  on  St.  Dunstan's  day. 


(KljE  €\m\m,  Xinralii  fttljArnl 


AECHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OE  LINCOLN  MINSTER.   31 

On  the  day  of  St.  Faith  in  this  year,  (that  is  Oct.  6,  1280,)  the 
body  of  St.  Hugh,  Bishop,  was  translated,  in  the  eightieth  year 
after  his  burial,  the  king  and  the  queen  with  their  children  being 
present.  There  were  also  the  Lord  Archbishop,  with  seven  Bishops 
and  six  Abbots,  and  a  very  great  multitude  of  people,  desiring  the 
patronage  of  the  saint.  In  his  coffin  was  found  no  small  quantity 
of  oil,  and  many  miracles  were  wrought  by  his  merits.  On  the 
same  day  and  at  the  same  place  was  consecrated  master  Thomas 
Bek,  Bishop  of  St.  David's. 

This  little  additional  incident  is  important  for  more  reasons 
than  one.  In  the  first  place  it  serves  to  determine  exactly  the  date 
of  the  translation  of  St.  Hugh,  for  Thomas  Bek  was  consecrated  at 
Lincoln,  Oct.  6,  1280.  But  moreover  this  Thomas  Bek  was  at  the 
charges  of  the  translation,  for  Stubbs  tells  us  in  his  York  Chronicle, 
that  Anthony  de  Bek,  who  was  elected  and  confirmed  Bishop  of 
Durham,  Jan.  9,  1284,  undertook  all  the  labour  and  costs  of  the 
translation  of  St.  William  of  York,  as  Master  Thomas,  his  brother, 
had  before  done  in  the  translation  of  St.  Hugh,  Bishop  of  Lincoln. 
Thus  was  this  incomparable  work  commenced  by  Bishop  Lexinton, 
in  1256,  and  brought  to  a  happy  conclusion  by  Oliver  Sutton,  in 
1280. 

Of  the  exquisite  beauty  of  this  work,  emphatically  called  "  the 
Angel  Choir,"  I  do  not  mean  to  speak.  I  would  only  observe  that 
in  stjde  it  is  so  very  early  Geometrical,  that  it  hardly  deserts,  in 
many  respects,  the  character  of  the  church  of  St.  Hugh.  The  per- 
fect development  of  the  Geometrical  tracery,  however,  makes  it  a 
most  valuable  example  of  that  style.  The  beauty  of  its  carvings, 
especially  the  angels  in  the  triforium,  and  the  probable  meaning  of 
the  series,  have  been  amply  asserted  and  expounded  by  Professor 
Cockerell,  in  a  paper  devoted  to  the  subject,  and  published  in  the 
Lincoln  volume  of  the  Archaeological  Institute. 

V.  Cloister,  Tower,  and  South  Transept.     §  I.  Cloister, 

There  is  nothing  now  remaining  which  presents  any  thing  like 
an  architectural  problem.  I  shall  therefore  pass  very  hastily 
through  all  the  rest  of  the  history. 

Although  the  first  year  of  Oliver  Sutton's  episcopate  saw  the 
completion,  or  nearly  the  completion,  of  the  retrochoir,  which 
brings  the  ground  plan  to  its  present  perfection,  the  exertions  of 
those  interested  in  the  fabric  did  not  cease.  On  the  contrary,  we 
find  that  more  than  ever,  contributions  were  levied  by  all  the 
various  means  so  well  understood  in  those  days,  and  that  works  of 
great  cost  and  beauty  still  proceeded.  Not  to  specify  the  several 
terms  used,  in  1295,  1297,  and  1298,  all  in  Sutton's  time,  and  also 
in  1301,  ia04,  1305,  1308,  and  1314,  in  the  days  of  John 
D'Alderby,  injunctions  issued  for  collecting  the  alms  of  the  faith- 
ful towards  the  fabric ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  offerings 
at  the  new  shrine  of  St.  Hugh  were  very  large.  To  swallow  up 
these  various  contributions,  there  was  of  course  the  costly  finish 


32         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  the  retrocboir ;  and,  immediately  after  this,  or  rather  most  likely 
concurrent  with  it,  was  the  commencement  of  the  cloisters,  which 
John  de  Schalby  says,  was  due  to  the  influence  of  Sutton,  "  who 
procured  the  erection  of  the  cloister  of  the  church,  and  himself 
contributed  fifty  marks  to  the  work."  The  exact  date  of  this  we 
cannot  fix,  but  an  episcopal  letter  to  the  Dean  (Philip  of  Willough- 
by)  enables  us  to  say,  that  the  south  side  was  far  advanced  in  1296. 
It  appears  that  the  Chapter,  at  Sutton's  instance,  had  measured  out 
a  certain  space  before  the  chapter  house,  for  a  cloister,  aud  had 
already  carried  up  the  south  wall  some  way  above  the  ground ;  that 
they  now  found  that  to  the  completion  of  the  cloisters  in  due  pro- 
portion, it  would  be  necessary  to  build  the  north  wall  upon  the 
wall  of  the  Dean's  stables.  With  respect  to  the  x>osition  of  the 
cloisters,  I  have  already  stated  how  it  seems  to  have  been  ruled  by 
St.  Hugh's  new  church.  As  to  their  architectural  character,  they 
are  of  the  late  Geometrical  style,  and  rather  farther  advanced  than 
we  should  expect  at  that  time,  (1296).  Structurally,  they  are  very 
meagre.  The  groining  is  only  of  wood ;  and,  light  as  it  is,  it  still 
proved  very  soon  too  much  for  the  extremely  thin  walls  which 
support  it.  To  remedy  this  defect,  at  some  time  after  the  walls 
were  built,  it  became  necessary  to  add  the  present  buttresses.^^ 
Without  attempting  to  assign  an  exact  date,  I  must  add  that  the 
present  rood-screen,  and  several  portions  of  screen  work  about  the 
choir,  and  the  beautiful  Easter  Sepulchre,  are  of  about  this  time. 

§  2.  Tower. 

To  Oliver  Sutton,  who  died  in  1299,  succeeded  John  D'Alderby, 
with  whose  name  the  history  of  Lincoln  Minster  is  closely  associated. 
In  March  1307,  D'Alderby  issues  letters  of  indulgence,  in  which 
he  recites  that  the  Dean  and  Chapter  had  determined  to  raise  to  a 
greater  height,  and  finish  with  sumptuous  work,  the  tower,  which 
had  been  in  years  past  erected  in  the  centre  of  the  church;  and 
that  they  had  fixed  on  the  coming  summer  for  the  commencement 
of  the  work.  Five  days  after  this  episcopal  letter,  that  is,  March 
14,  1307,  occurs  a  memorandum,  that  the  Chapter  had  agreed  that 
the  masons  should  commence  the  w^ork  of  the  central  tower  as  soon 
as  the  season  should  be  sufficiently  advanced  for  laying  the  stones. 
In  the  previous  year  the  Dean  and  Chapter  had  contracted  with 
Richard  de  Stowe,  mason,  to  superintend  and  employ  other  masons 
under  him  for  the  new  work."  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  the 
original  of  this  agreement,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  place  Stowe  very 
much  in  the  position  of  architect  of  the  new  work,  which  at  that 
time  could  have  been  none  other  than  the  tower.  Certainly,  if  the 
design  as  well  as  the  work  is  his,  he  deserves  honorable  mention, 

(12)  Oliver  Sutton  caused  a  sufficient  church  to  be  erected  without  the  precincts  for 
the  parishioner^  of  St.  Mary  Mugdalen,  so  that  they  were  no  longer  obliged  to  attend 
divine  offices  within  the  cathedral,  which  had  been  a  great  hindrance  to  the  services. 
They  retained  their  right  of  burial  at  the  south  side  of  the  cathedral  close  till  very  lately. 

(13)  He  contracted  to  do  the  plain  work  by  measure,  and  the  fine  carved  work  and 
images  by  the  day. 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       33 

for  I  doubt  whether  there  is  a  finer  tower  in  the  kingdom. 
Gloucester  is  not  to  be  compared  with  it,  and  Canterbury  is  hardly 
its  equal. 

How  the  work  sped,  we  have  direct  evidence,  for  on  January  23, 
1311,  at  a  full  Chapter,  the  executors  of  Gilbert  D'Eivill,  formerly 
Treasurer,  were  condemned  in  the  cost  of  two  ropes  for  the  bells 
which  had  been  lately  hung  in  the  central  tower.  We  may  there* 
fore  conclude  that  the  work  was  completed  between  the  summer  of 
1307,  and  the  end  of  1310. 

In  the  next  year,  the  bowels  of  Queen|Eleanor  were  translated 
from  Herdeby  to  one  of  the  chapels  in  the  retrochoir,  and  over  them 
was  placed  a  brass,  with  a  full  regal  effigy,  and  the  inscription: 

*^  +  ^ic:  mint:  sepulta :  bicera:  Elianote:  quondam:  i^e- 
gine:  Englie:  tiTotis:  iilegi'is:  OBl^barbi;  MU  Mesig:  Jj^enrici: 
cujuis:  mimt:  propitietur:  Bern:  Emen,:  +  : later:  Koster/' 

I  do  not  know  that  any  change  in  the  fabric  is  directly  connected 
with  this  translation,  but  Eleanor's  name  is  too  important  in  archi- 
tectural history  to  be  passed  by  unnoticed.  One  person  at  all  events 
there  was  at  Lincoln,  who  in  his  vocation  had  acquired  such  an 
interest  in  the  chere  Heine,  as  to  assist  at  the  translation  with  a 
zealous  mind;  for  Kichard  Stowe,  who  was  now  at  work  on  the 
tower,  had  been  before  employed,  as  we  learn  from  Mr.  Hunter's 
researches,  on  the  figures  on  Eleanor's  crosses.  If  I  were  obliged 
to  fix  on  any  sculpture  remaining  at  Lincoln  as  of  his  work,  I 
should  choose  the  figures  at  the  Easter  Sepulchre. 

§  3.  South  Teansept. 

D'Alderby  died  in  1320,  and  was  buried  in  the  south  transept, 
where  traces  of  his  shrine  are  to  be  seen ;  but  the  transept  retains 
far  more  important  memorials  of  that  prelate.  He  died  with  the 
local  reputation  of  a  saint,  and  many  abortive  attempts  were  made 
to  obtain  his  canonization.  In  1330,  John  de  Haghe  claims 
remuneration  for  his  labour  in  this  matter,  he  having  for  the  third 
time  addressed  the  Pope  in  full  consistory  in  that  behalf.  The 
Dean  and  Chapter  had,  however,  already  taken  the  practical  part  of 
the  matter  into  their  own  hands,  for  the  tomb  of  the  deceased  pre- 
late had  two  duly  appointed  guardians,  which  indicates  the  receipt 
of  large  offerings  ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  while  John  de 
Haghe  was  soliciting  the  Pope,  that  great  alteration  of  the  south 
transept  was  in  progress,  which  makes  its  south  end  rather  Decorated 
than  Early  English,  and  which  includes  the  most  beautiful  rose 
window  in  the  kingdom.  At  the  very  same  time,  the  authorities  of 
Chichester  were  paying  the  like  homage  to  the  memory  of  St. 
Pilchard,  their  local  saint. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  parapet  and  pinnacle  work  about  the 
church  of  nearly  the  same  date,  but  it  would  be  tedious  to 
particularize  it. 


34         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

VI.  Perpendicular  Additions. 

Lincoln  is  fortunate  in  having  but  little  Perpendicular  work, 
and  that  little,  for  the  most  part,  of  a  kind  in  which  the  merits  of 
that  style  are  more  apparent  than  its  defects.  Taken  in  the  order 
in  which  they  meet  the  eye,  they  are  as  follows :  the  upper  part 
of  the  two  western  towers  :  the  windows  within  the  three  great 
recesses  in  the  west  front  :  the  panelling  and  vaulting  of  the 
interior  of  the  two  western  towers :  the  interior  of  the  central  door- 
w^ay :  the  vaulting  of  the  great  tower :  the  stalls  in  the  choir :  several 
screens  in  the  transepts :  and  the  sepulchral  chapels  of  Bishops 
Longland,  Eussell,  and  Fleming.  I  shall  detain  you  but  a  very 
short  time  with  the  history  of  these  works,  and  I  do  not  propose  to 
enter  upon  any  examination  of  their  architectural  features. 

The  name  of  Welbourne,  Treasurer  of  Lincoln,  from  about  1350 
to  1380,  is  connected  in  the  cathedral  records  with  several  of  these 
works.  In  a  volume  containing  charters  touching  chantries  founded 
by  him  at  Lincoln  and  Welbourne,  with  other  matters,  we  are  told, 
that  while  he  was  master  of  the  fabric,  he  was  the  principal  promoter 
of  the  making  of  the  two  vaults  of  the  towers,  at  the  west  end  of 
the  Minster ;  and  also  of  the  vault  of  the  great  or  bell  tower.  He 
it  was  also  who  caused  to  be  made  the  Kings  at  the  aforesaid  west 
end;  and  also  the  horologe,  which  is  called  '^  llie  cloche  And  he 
was  the  originator  and  beginner  of  the  fabric  of  the  new  stalls. 

Having  thus  assigned  the  vaults  of  the  three  towers,  the  Kings 
over  the  w^est  door,  the  clock  (which  no  longer  exists,)  and  the 
present  beautiful  stalls,  to  Treasurer  Welbourne,  between  1350  and 
1380,  we  come  next  to  Pdchard  Fleming,  the  founder  of  Lincoln 
College,  Oxford,  who  sat  from  1420  to  1431,  when  he  was  buried  in 
the  chapel  w^hich  he  had  erected  and  endowed  as  his  place  of 
sepulture.  This  is  the  first  of  those  sepulchral  chapels  which 
rather  break  in  upon  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  retrochoir,  than 
enhance  its  grandeur.  Of  Fleming  I  may  add  that  with  respect  to 
his  sepulchre,  he  has  what  may  seem  a  singular  eminence : — that 
the  place  of  the  burial  of  other  persons,  even  though  they  were 
buried  long  before  him,  is  described  as  being  near  his  tomb ;  and 
that,  moreover,  through  the  pious  care  of  the  college  that  he  founded, 
his  tomb  is  as  little  likely  as  any  in  the  minster  to  pass  into 
oblivion  or  decay :  and  yet  this  Bishop  Fleming  is  the  very  person 
who  ordered,  in  his  episcopal  character,  that  the  grave  of  Wicliff 
should  be  violated,  his  bones  burnt,  and  the  ashes  thrown  into  the 
river  Swift.     Here  is  a  theme  to  moralize  upon. 

In  1436,  Alnwick,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  was  translated  to  Lincoln. 
At  Norwich  he  had  built  a  western  doorway,  and  inserted  a  large 
window  over  it.  At  Lincoln  he  did  preciselj''  the  same,  except  that 
here  the  doorway  is  only  internally  altered  by  him.  The  window 
takes  the  place  of  several  (probably  three)  lancets,  part  of  the  jambs  of 
which  still  remain.  The  panelling  also  of  the  interior  of  the  towers 
must  be  given  to  Alnwick. 

Bisliop  Alnwick  died  in  1449,  and  in  his  will  desired  to  be 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       35 

buried  in  the  place  where  he  used  to  stand  in  processions.  His  tomb 
is  placed  in  Gougli's  Camden  in  the  middle  of  the  nave  near  the 
west  door.  We  must  be  allowed  one  word  of  regret  that  the 
pavement  of  the  church  which  once  covered  so  many  graves  of 
Bishops  and  others  marked  by  their  brasses,  has  been  utterly  swept 
away ;  and  with  it  the  circular  stones  which  marked  the  place  of 
each  dignitary  of  the  church  in  processions.  Setting  aside  all 
archaeological  feeling,  what  would  not  an  architect  now  give  for 
the  opportunity  of  introducing  into  the  floor,  even  of  a  new  church, 
just  so  much  colour  and  variety  as  might  be  gained  by  the  use  of 
these  memorials  of  the  dead,  and  records  of  holy  offices.  Why  the 
Covenanters  stole  the  brasses  we  can  understand;  but  why  the 
beautifiers  of  later  days  destroyed  or  removed  the  stones,  which 
were  there  invaluable,  but  worth  nothing  elsewhere,  is  more  difficult 
to  imagine.     The  fact,  however,  is  certain. 

"  Some  demon  whispered — Visto,  have  a  taste," 

in  the  Dean's  ear ;  and  so  he  destroyed,  under  the  name  of  improve- 
ment, what  can  never  be  restored.     This  was  done  in  1782. 

A  few  years  before  Bishop  Alnwick,  died  Cardinal  Beaufort, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  who  left  by  his  will  d6200  to  the  work  and 
fabric  of  the  church  of  Lincoln,  of  which  he  had  once  been  Bishop, 
and  where  his  mother,  Catherine  Swinford,  and  his  sister  Joan, 
Countess  of  Westmorland,  are  buried.  The  Cardinal  died  in  1447, 
at  a  time  when,  so  far  as  we  know,  no  great  works  were  proceed- 
ing in  the  Minster.  We  cannot  resist  the  temptation  which  there 
always  is  to  connect  the  history  of  the  fabric  with  well  known 
characters,  and  therefore  venture  to  suggest  that  the  two  western 
towers  may  have  been  commenced  on  the  receipt  of  Beaufort's 
legacy.  Of  the  spires,  which  remained  upon  these  towers  till  1808, 
I  do  not  know  the  history ;  nor  yet  of  that  which  was  blown  down 
from  the  central  tower  in  1547.  There  is  a  note  of  certain  relics 
having  been  deposited  in  a  casket  beneath  the  south,  or  St.  Hugh's 
tower,  in  1501,  in  which  the  word  erigebatur  occurs  without  any 
subject,  seeming  to  indicate  that  something  was  erected  in  that 
quarter  of  the  church  at  the  same  time.  I  suspect  it  may  refer  to 
the  spire  on  the  south  tower,  and  that  the  history  of  the  other  two 
may  be  much  the  same. 

Next  in  order  of  date  comes  the  chapel  of  Bishop  Russell,  built 
by  himself  between  1480  and  1495  ;  and  last  of  all  (I  fear  the  word 
last  will  be  very  grateful  to  your  ears),  the  chapel  of  Longland, 
Bishop  from  1521  to  1547.  The  inscription  on  this  chapel  is 
curious,  and  contains  perhaps  as  base  a  piece  of  sycophancy  as  any 
like  inscription  in  the  kingdom.  With  reference  to  the  name  oi 
the  Bishop,  the  inscription  runs  : — 

**  Honga  terra,  mnmxam  tm  Bominm  ^tHiV* 

Great  are  my  domains,  their  hounds  were  ap^fointed  by  the  Lord,  one 
naturally  reads  it,  but  lo  !  before  the  word  Bominus,  are  the  royal 
arms !     So  it  is,  great  are  my  domains,  their  bounds  are  appointed  by 


36         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

King  Henry  VIII.  Wolsey,  also  for  a  while  Bishop  here,  had 
already  perpetrated  a  like  piece  of  heraldic  subserviency,  ex- 
changing, on  his  translation  to  York,  the  ancient  coat  of  that  see, 
for  one  in  which  the  keys,  the  symbols  of  ecclesiastical  authority, 
are  surmounted  by  a  royal  crown.  No  wonder  that  Henry  a  little 
forgot  his  relation  to  the  church,  when  he  was  surrounded  by  such 
ecclesiastics. 


APPENDIX. 

[/»  this  Appendix  will  he  found  all  the  ancient  authorities  referred  to  in  the 
foregoing  Paper,  together  ivith  some  additional  matter  ivhich  ivould  have 
extended  it  to  too  great  a  length.  The  ivhole  is  arranged  chronologically^ 
and  under  the  names  of  the  successive  Bishops  of  the  see.  I  must  again 
very  expressly  acknowledge  the  help  of  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Dimock.'] 


1067.  Eemigius,  a  monk  of  Fescamp,  in  Normandy,  and  follower  of  the 
Conqueror. 

lUe  primis  annis  egregia  apud  Dorkecestram  meditatus,  et  aliqua  facere  ingres- 
sus,  novissime  curam  omnem  et  sedem  transtulit  ad  Lindocolniam,  &c. —  Will: 
Malm.,  in  Savile's  Scriptores,  165,  b. 

Ut  firmiori  quod  gestmii  fiierat  stabilitate  constaret,  cathedralem  ecclesiam  snam 
in  summo  apud  Lincolniam  montis  vertice  trans  Widhemam  in  honore  beatse  Vir- 
ginis  fundari,  egregieque  in  brevi  consummari  procuravit ;  sicut  longe  ante  miracu- 
lis  quibusdam,  signis  et  prodigiis,  &c.,  fuerat  declaratum.  Constituta  vero  ecclesia, 
et  stabiliter  collocata  juxta  ritum  Rotbomagensis  ecclesise,  quam  sibi  in  singulis 
quasi  exemplar  elegerat  et  prcefecerat,  canonicos  xxi  statim  adbibuit,  &c.— 
Giraldus  Camh.,  in  Anglia  Sacra.  II.  415. 

Anno  mlxxxvi  constituta  vero  ecclesia  et  juxta  ritum  Rotbomagensis  ecclesiaB 
stabiliter  collocata. — John  de  Schalby,  M.S. 

In  loco  autem  in  quo  ecclesia  Beatte  Marise  Magdalence  in  Ballio  Lincolniensi 
sita  erat,  erexit  suara  ecclesiam  cathedralem,  et  in  certo  loco  ipsius  eccl :  cath  : 
parochiani  dict£e  ecclesise  B.  M.  M.  divina  obsequia  audierunt,  ac  in  fonte  cathe- 
dralis  eccl :  eorum  parvuli  baptizati  fuerunt,  et  in  ipsius  coemeterio,  «&;c.,  &c. — John 
de  Schalby,  M.S. 

Hie  jacet  Wilhelmus  filius  Walteri  Aiencuriensis,  consanguinei  Eemigii  Episcopl 
Lincolniensis,  qui  banc  ecclesiam  fecit.  Preefatus  Wilhelmus  regia  styrpe  progeni- 
tus,  dum  in  curia  regis  Wilhelmi,  filii  magni  regis  Wilhelmi  qui  Angliam  conquisivit, 
aleretur.  III  Kalendas  Novembris  obiit. — Inscription  on  lead,  still  preserved  in  the 
Minster  Library. 

^  Quibns  egi-egie  peractis,  vir  magnanimus  et  Deo  plenus,  nil  credens  actum  cum 
quid  superesset  agendum,  manum  ecclesite  sujb  consummationis  et  sacrje  mimus 
dedicationis  adhibere  tota  mentis  intentione  proposiait;  convocatis  autem  ad  hoc 
tam  Episcopis  quam  Abbatibus  infinitis,  sumptuum  quoque  sufEcientia  longa  et 
larga  provisione  congesta,  vir  sanctus  quod  tantopere  desideraverat  morte  prce- 
ventus  effectui  non  mancipavit.  Quarto  namque  die  ante  dedicationis  di6m,  re- 
bus humanis  exemptus  est. 

Sepultus  est  a  fratribus  in  eadcm  ecclesia  in  prospectu  altaris  Sanctas  Crucis. 

Processu  vero  temporis  cathedralem  B.  Virginis  ecclesiam  casuali  contigit  igne 
consumi,  et  ipso  incendio  cum  fortius  ingrueret  tecti  materia  in  aream  corruente, 
petra  corpori  superposita  per  medium  confracta  partes  in  geminas  et  separata. 
Cujus  eventus  occasione  a  canonicis  loci  ejusdera  inito  concilio,  quatinus  ad  locum 
secretiorem,  communique  a  transitu  remotiorem,  corpus  transferretm*,  sapienter  est 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.         37 

decretiim.  Effossum  corpus,  cum  annis  jam  xxxii  in  terra  jacuisset,  adeo  integrum 
ut  ibi  positum  fuerat,  est  invcntura.  Translatum  est  ergo  reverentia  magna,  sicut 
tantum  decuit  thesaurum,  corpus  usque  ad  altare  SanctJB  Crucis,  ibique  ab 
aquilonari  latere  debiti  honoris  exhibitione  reconditum. —  Gir.  Camb.,  416. 

1093.     Robert  Bloet,  Chancellor. 

Hie  palliis  olosericis,  capis  auro  intextis,  philateriis,  phialis,  crucibus  et  textis 
aureis  et  argenteis,  artificum  diligentia  mirificd  fabricatis,  ecclesiam  suam  lauda- 
biliter  adornavit, — G'l7\  Camb.,  416. 

Ecclesice  dedicationem  segniter  explevit. — John  Brompion.  Henry  of  Knighton 
says  the  same. 

Tunc  ergo  rem  dilatam  (i.  e.  the  consecration)  successor  ejus  non  graviter 
explevit,  utpote  qui  in  labores  alterius  delicatus  intrasset:  Robertus  Bloet  homini 
nomen.  Vixit  in  episcopatu  annis  paulo  minus  xxx.  Discessit  procul  a  sede  apud 
Woodstocke,  ubi  cum  regio  lateri  cum  alio  quodam  episcopo  adequitaret,  subito 

fato  interceptus  est Ecclesiam  cui  sedit  ornamentis  preciosissirais 

dccoravit.  Defuncti  corpus  exenteratum,  ne  tetris  odoribus  vitiarct  aerem  :  viscera 
Egnesham,  reliqua  Lindocolnia3  sepulta  sunt.  Monachos  enim  qui  apud  Stou 
fuerunt,  vivens  Egnesham  migraverat. —  Will.  Malmsbimj,  165,  b. 

Buried  at  Lincoln  before  the  altar  of  St.  Mary. — Chron.  Sax. 

Arms.  The  Bluets  of  Monmouthshire,  said  to  be  of  the  same  family  with 
Bloet,  bear  Or,  a  chevron  between  three  eagles  displayed  vert.  There  is,  howevei*, 
no  probability  that  the  Bishop  ever,  actually  bore  this  coat. 

1123.  Alexander,  Archdeacon  of  Salisbury,  Chief  Justice,  nephew  of  Roger, 
Bishop  of  Salisbury. 

Quatuor  monasteria   (viz.   Haverholme,    Tame, 

Dorchester,  &  Sempringham)  construxit,  tria  quoque  castella  (viz.  Banbury,  Slea'- 
ford,  &  Newark)  in  terris  ecclesise  suse  magnis  sumptibus  erexit.  Ecclesiam 
Lincolniensem  casuali  igne  consumptam,  egregie  reparando  lapideis  firmiter  voltis 
primus  involvit. —  Gir.  Camb.,  417. 

The  account  which  Giraldus  gives  of  the  fire  above  mentioned  is  transcribed 
above,  under  Remigius. 

Ecclesiam  Lincolniensem  igne  casuali  consumptam  egregie  reparavit,  et  primus 
eam  voltis  lapideis  communivit. — John  dc  Schalby. 

One  fire,  according  to  the  Saxon  Chronicle,  which  does  not  however  expressly 
mention  any  damage  to  the  cathedi'al,  happened  14  Kal.  June,  1123,  (shortly 
before  Alexander's  consecration,  which  took  place  July  22,  1123,)  and  consumed 
nearly  the  whole  town.     A  second  fire  occurred  in  1141. 

MCXLL  Combusta  est  ecclesia  Lincolniensis  in  festo  Sancti  Albani. — John^ 
Abb.  de  Biirgo. 

MCXLL     Combusta  est  ecclesia  Lincolnie.     Chron.  Pet. 

Henry  of  Huntingdon  says,  (10th  of  Stephen,  a.d.  1145),  Episcopus  Lincoln 
liensis  Alexander,  iterum  Romam  pergeus,  munificentissime  se  ut  prius  habuit. 
Itaque  honorificentissime  susceptus  est  ab  Eugenio  Papa  novo.  ......  Rediens 

autem  sequenti  anno,  cum  summa  ipsius  PapjB  totiusque  Curiae  gratia,  a  suis  cum 
summa  reverentia  et  gaudio  susceptus  est.  Ecclesiam  vero  suam,  quae  combustione 
deturpata  fuerat,  subtili  artificio  sic  reformavit,  ut  pulchrior  quam  in  ipsa  novitate 
sui  compareret ;  nee  uUius  edificii  structurae  circa  fines  Anglise  cederet. — Savile's 
Scrip  tores  :  225  b. 

Anno  igitiir  xiii.  regis  Stephani,  mortuus  est  Alexander  Episcopus,  et  sepultus 
apud  Lincolliam  in  capite  jejunii. — Hen.  Hunt.  ibid.  226i 

Arms.    A  field  vert. 

1147.     Robert  Chesnet,  Archdeacon  of  Leicester. 

Domos  episcopales,  cum  terris  quoque  ubi  sita3  fuerant  comparatis  sumptibus 

magnis,  Lincolnise  fecit In  trecentis  libi'is  ei'ga  Aaron  Judseum 

ecclesiam  suam  obligavit. —  Gir.  Camb.,  417. 

Arms.     Chequy  a  ''essfretty. 

1173.  Geopfry  Plantagenet,  natural  son  of  Henry  II:  "vere  filius  na- 
turalis,"  (says  Gir.  Camb.)  "  quoniam  patri  naturaliter  adhaerens." 


38         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Hie,  inter  ipsa  initia,  ornamenta  ecclesise  suse,  quae  in  libris  argenti  trecentis 
apud  Aaron  Judceum  decessor  suns  obligaverat,  redimendo  statim  adquietavit ;  et 
ipse  quoque  ornatus  ecclesise  suse  plurimum  propriis  donariis  amplificavit.  Qui 
et  inter  CEetera  quoque  carapanas  duas  gi-andes  egregias  atque  sonoras  devota 
largitione  donavit. — Gir.  Camb.,  418. 

Resigned  before  consecration,  and  made  Archbishop  of  York  in  1191. 

Arms.     Gules,  two  leopards,  passant  guardant,  or. 

1183.  "Walter  de  Constantiis,  but  in  fact  a  native  of  Cornwall.— G'tV. 
Camb.     Translated  to  Rouen  in  the  following  year. 

1184—1186.     See  vacant :  Hen.  II.  king. 

A,D.  1185.  TerrjB  motus  magnus  auditus  est  fere  per  totam  Angliam,  qualis 
ab  initio  mundi  in  terra  ilia  non  erat  auditus.  Petrse  enim  scissse  sunt,  domus 
lapidese  ceciderunt,  ecclesia  Lincolniensis  metropolitana  scissa  est  a  summo  deor- 
sum.  Contigit  autem  terree  motus  iste  in  crastino  diei  dominicse  in  ramis  palma- 
rum,  viz.  xvii  Kal.  Mail. — Roger  Hoveden.,  Savile,  359. 

1186.    Hugh  op  Avalon,  Prior  of  Witham. 

John  de  Schalhy  calls  him  "Hugo  de  Aveloni;"  Ralph  de Diceto  (temp.  John) 
says  he  was  "  genere  Burgundio,  natione  Gratianopolitanus." — Twisdeii's  X  Scrip- 
tores  :  631.  King  John  grants  a  charter  to  Peter  de  Avalon,  brother  of  Hugh, 
late  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  confirming  to  him  two  knights'  fees  at  Histon,  Cambi-idge- 
shire,  which  his  said  brother  the  Bishop  had  given  to  him.  This  charter  is  dated 
at  Sleaford,  Nov.  26,  1200,  two  days  after  St.  Hugh's  funeral.— i?of.  Chart. 
Record  Commission.,  80.  He  is  called  Hugh  de  Avalun  in  the  Bodleian  M.S. 
quoted  below. 

De  Burgundia  natus,  ingenuis  de  ordine  militari  natalibus  ortus.  Hie  a 
juvenilibus  annis  honestati  et  religion!  datus,  ne  per  lubricum  setatis  in  lapsum 
rueret,  arctissimis  Cantuariensis  (Cartusiensis)  observantise  regulis  se  mancipavit. 
—  Gir.  Cainb.,  419.  De  Cartusiensis  ordinis  carcere  fceliciter  assumpto. —  Gir. 
Camb. 

Fabricam  matricis  ecclesise  suse  a  fundamentis  construxit  novam ;  et  aulam 
episcopalem  egregiam  inchoavit. — John  de  Schalby. 

Ecclesias  sure  capitulum  Pariis  lapidibus,  marmoreisque  columnis  miro  artificio 
renovavit,  et  totum  a  fundamento  opere  sumptuosissimo  novum  erexit.  Similiter 
et  domos  episcopales  egregias  construere  coepit ;  Dominoque  cooperante  long^  priori- 
bus  ampliores  et  nobiliores  spe  certa  consummare  propostiit. —  Gir.  Camb.,  419. 

Pius  Pontifex  in  die  Parasceves,  cum  esset  Lincolnite,  et  ad  fabricam  matricis 
ecclesije,  quam  nobiliter  a  fundamentis  extruxerat,  lapides  et  cementum  humeris 
suis  in  quodam  cophino,  sicut  ssepius  consueverat,  ferret,  claudus  quidam  ex 
utraque  parte,  duobus  innixus  baciilis,  totis  visceribus  desiderare  coepit  eundem 
cophinum  deferre,  sperans  quod  per  merita  beati  viri  sanitatem  esset  recepturus. 
Tandem  a  magistro  operis  dari  sibi  cophinum  impetravit,  in  quo  lapides  et  cemen- 
tum cum  suis  baculis  ferre  coepit.  Elapsis  vero  paucis  diebus,  unum  dimisit 
baculum,  ac  deinde  reliquum ;  et  post  modicum  temporis  sanus  et  erectus,  nullo 
sufFultus  baculi  adminiculo,  eundem  cophinum  ad  opus  ecclesiee  deportabat.  Quem 
cophinum  cum  esset  sanus  adeo  dilexit,  ut  a  se  separari  nullatenus  sustineret. 
—Matt.  Paris :  ed.  Wats,  142. 

Died  in  London,  Nov.  16,  1200.     His  body  brought  to  Lincoln,  whither  king 

John  is  gone  to  meet  William,  king  of  Scotland. — "  Johannes  Rex in- 

travit  ecclesiam  cathedralem,  et  obtulit  super  altare  S.  Johannis  Bapt.  quod  est  in 
novo  opere,  calicem  aureum."  (The  conference  between  the  two  kings  took  place 
on  Wednesday,  Nov.  22.  Early  the  next  morning,  William  set  out  for  Scotland. 
On  the  same  day,  Nov.  23, — so  that  William  could  not  have  helped  to  bear  it,  as  said 
by  Matt.  Paris — Hugh's  body  was  brought  into  Lincoln.) — Roger  Hoveden,  461,  &. 

......  Delatum  est  usque  in  chorum,  et  ibi  pernoctatum The  next 

day,  Friday,  Nov.  24,  Corpus  Hugonis  Episcopi,  post  missarum  solemnia,  delatum 
est  in  ecclesia  nova,  quam  ipse  in  honore  beatos  Dei  genetricis  sempei-que  virginis 
Marine  fundaverat ;  tumulatumque  est  j  uxta  altare  Sancti  Johannis  Baptists. — 
Hove  den,  462. 

I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Dimock  for  the  following  extracts  from  a  M.S.  life  of 
Hugh  of  Burgundy,  in  the  Bodleian; — Digby,  105  ; — 


AECHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.       39 

Placuit  sanctitati  sute  parvitatem  meam  de  vitce  claustralis  dulcedine  in  solici- 
tudinum  suarum  qualecumquc  solatium  assumere,  suoque  inseparabiliter  lateri 
sociare.  A  quo  tempore,  per  annos  tres  et  dies  quinque,  quamdiu  scilicet  in  corpore 
postea  vixit,  ab  ejus  nunquam  per  unam  solam  noctem  abfui  comitatu,  die  semper 
et  nocte  adherens  ipsi  et  ministrans  ei. — Fol.  8. 

Imminente  sibi  lucis  hujus  die  suprema,  Gaufrido  de  Noiers,  nobilis  fabricse 
constructori,  qnam  cepit  a  fundamentis  in  renovanda  Lincolnicnsi  ecclesia  erigere 
Hugonis  magnifica  erga  decorem  domus  Dei  dilectio,  talia  idem  ( Hugo)  est  locutus ; 
"  Quia  dominum  regem,  cum  episcopis,  totiusquo  regni  hujus  primoribus,  Lincoln- 
iam  in  proximo  ad  generale  colloquium  conventuros  accepimus,  accelera  et  con- 
Bumma  quoecunque  necessaria  sunt  ad  decorem  et  ornatum  circa  altare  domini  ac 
patroni  mei  Sancti  Baptistee  Johannis :  quod  eciam  per  fratrem  nostrum  Rovensem 
episcopum,  cum  eo  una  cum  ceteris  advenerit  episcopis,  volumus  dedicari.  Nam  et 
nos  ipsi  denuntiati  tempore  colloquii  illic  prsescntes  eriinus :  optabamus  sane  nos- 
tro  illud  ministerio  consecrare :  sed  quia  Dominus  alitor  disposuit,  volumus  ut  pri- 
usquam  illuc  veniamus  occasione  remota  consecretur." — Fol.  11(5,  h. 

Sepulturaj  suoe  ita  designabat  locum ;  "  Ante  aram,"  inquit,  "  dicti  patroni  mei 
precursoris  Domini,  ubi  congruentius  videbitur  spacium,  secus  murum  aliquem 
ponetis  me,  ne  pavimentum  loci  tumba,  ut  plerisque  in  eccle-^iis  cernimus,  impor- 
tune occupet,  et  incedentibus  ofFendiculum  praestet  aut  ruinam." — Fol,  118. 

Sepultus  est,  sicut  ipse  nobis  preceperat,  secus  parietem  non  procul  ab  altari 
Sancti  Johannis  Baptistoe,  et  sicut  visum  est  propter  accessum  confluentis  populi 
magis  congruere,  a  boreali  ipsius  asdis  regione. — Fol.  135. 

Canonized,  1220.     Translated,  1280. 

Arms.  A  Heron  drinking  from  a  well :  others  say,  Azure,  a  sallire  ermine, 
between  four  fleurs  de  Hz,  or. 

1201.  GuLiELMUS  Blesensis,  Prebendary  and  Precentor.  Not  consecrated 
till  1203. 

Eex  omnibus,  &c.,  per  episcopatum  Line,  constitutis,  &c.  Grates  vobis  referi- 
mus  multiplices  pro  universis  beneficiis  vestris  et  elemosinis  qu^  ecclesise  Line. 
contulistis  ad  constructionem  novi  operis.  Quam  enim  largd  quam  liberaliter  ea  illi 
impenderitis  indicat  ipsa  fabricce  illius  egregia  structura ;  verum  quum  incongruum 
asset  tam  nobile  opus  inconsummatum  relinqui,  quia  illud  nondum  consummationem 
accepit,  et  ad  sui  perfectionem  vestris  indiget  auxiliis  et  beneficiis,  universitatem 
vestram  rogamus,  attentius  monemus,  et  exhortamur  in  Domino,  quatinus  quod 
bene  incepistis,  laudabiliter  consummare  satageutes,  divino  intuitu  et  pro  lionore 
gloriose  Virginis  ejusdem  ecclesiEe  patronee,  necnon  et  pro  amore  et  petitione  nostra, 
collectara  inter  vos  ad  opus  fabricse  predictse  assideri  permittatis,  et  fraternitatem 
saltem  per  quinquennium  duraturam,  ut  pro  beneficiorum  et  elemosinarum  largi- 
tionibus,  quas  ad  construendum  in  terris  talamum  tam  excelleutis  patronse  caritative 
contuleritis,  et  vos  a  filio  ejus  Domino  nostro  in  celestem  talamvim  recipiamini. 
Teste  meipso  apud  Dorkecestr.  xviii  die  Dec.  (1205). — Mot.  Lit.  Pat.  Record 
Commission,  p.  57. 

Died  1206. 

Akms.     (?) 

1206  to  1209.     See  vacant. 

Rex  omnibus.  Sec,  Precipimus  vobis  quod  permittatis  canonicos  ecclesise  Lin- 
colniensis  sine  inpedimento  ducere  mairemium  quod  ipsi  perquisierunt  extra  fores- 
tam,  et  plumbum  quod  ipsi  emerunt,  ad  operacionem  ecclesise  sute,  faciendo  inde 
antiquas  et  debitas  consuetudines.  Teste  meipso  apud  Witten  (Witney,  Oxon.) 
xviii  die  Januarii,  (10  John  :  Jan.  1209.) — Eot.  Lit.  Pat.  Record  Commission, p.88, 

1209.  Hugh  II.  Archdeacon  of  Wells,  and  Canon  of  Lincoln  :  sometime 
Rector  of  Aldefrith,  Norfolk  :  Avhere  Geoflfry  de  Bosco  gave  him  twelve  acres  of 
land,  "  ad  construendam  il)i  ecclesiam  Beati  Nicholai  de  Aldefrith  :"  which  gift 
confirmed  by  King  John. — Rot.  Lit.  Claus.  Record  Commission,  p.  159. 

Hugh  of  Burgundy  canonized,  1220. 

Hie  aulam  episcopalcm  a  saucto  Hugone  egregie  inchoatam,  ut  premittitur,  et 
coquinam  sumptuoso  opere  consuramavit ;  et  plura  alia  bona  fecit. — John  de 
Schalby. 


40         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

April  29,  1224.  Rex  Hugoni  de  Nevill  salutem.  Sciatls  quod  dedimus  H. 
Lincoln  episcopo  40  fusta,  in  foresta  nostra  de  Sirewud  capienda,  ad  trabes  et  gistas 
ad  aulam  suam  Line,  faciendas.  Et  ideo  vobis  mandamus,  &c. — Rot.  Lit.  Clans. 
Record  Commission,  p.  595. 

In  his  Will,  dated  at  Stow  Park,  1233,  after  devising  certain  estates  to  the 
Bishop  of  Bath  (the  same  Joceline  with  whom  he  had  united  in  building  the 
Hospital  of  St.  John,  and  who  was  then  engaged  in  the  great  re-buildings  at  Wells) 
and  bequeathing  several  legacies  :  Item  lego  fabricae  ecclesise  mese  Lincoln,  C. 
marcas,  et  totum  mairemium  quod  habuero  in  decessu  meo  per  totum  episcopatura 
meum,  ita  quod  reservetur  usque  in  tempus  successoiis  mei,  (liberandum)  ei  pro 

L  mai'cis,  si  voluerit,  pacandis  eidem  fabricse  antequam  illud  recipiat 

Ad  exequias  meas  faciendas,  et  ad  emendum  ea  qnse  necessaria  fuerint  altari  quod 
est  juxta  sepulturam  meara,  C.  marcas. — Original  Will:  Lincoln  Archives. 

Buried  at  Lincoln,  doubtless  in  the  tomb  which  seems  from  the  last  extract  to 
have  been  prepared  in  his  lifetime;  and  certainly  not,  as  is  said,  near  Bp.  Fleming, 
for  the  retrochoir  in  which  is  Fleming's  chapel  was  not  begun  till  long  after. 

1235.    Robert  Grossetete,  or  Copley,  Archdeacon  of  Lincoln. 

Imprsegnata  parens  patitur  per  somnia  multum, 

Quod  nihil  in  ventre  sit  nisi  grande  caput ; 
Et  tam  grande  caput  ac  tanto  robore  forte, 

Quod  puer  ex  utero  fultus  abit  baculo. 
Ric :  moil.  Bardeniensis,  de  vita  Bob.  Grosthead.    Anglia  Sacra,  II,  326. 

Persequente  episcopo  Lincolniensi  canonicos  suos,  dum  unus  eorum  sermonem 
faceret  in  populo,  conquerendo  dixit,  Et  si  taceamus,  lapides  pro  nobis  clamahunt; 
corruit  opus  lapideum  novee  turris  ecclesi^  Lincolniensis,  homines  qui  sub  ipsa 
erant  conterendo.  Qua  i-uina  tota  ecclesia  commota  et  deteriorata  est ;  et  hoc 
factum  est  quasi  in  trlste  prsesagium.    Sed  episcopus  manum  correctionis  efficaciter 

apponere  satagebat. This  under  1 239  :  and  again Dum  unus  canonicorum 

causam  fovens  capituli,  sermonem  faciendo  populo  in  medio  illius  nobihssima^ 
ecclesiae  Lincolniensis,  querimoniam  reposuit  coram  omnibus  de  oppressionibus 
episcopi,  et  ait,  Et  si  nos  taceamus,  lapides  reclamahunt.  Ad  quod  verbum  qusedani 
magna  pars  ecclesiae  corruit  dissoluta. — Matt.  Paris,  jj.  353  and  328. 

Anno  MCCXXXVn  ruina  ecclesise  Lincolniensis  propter  artificii  insolentiam. 
—  Chron.  Joh.  Abb.  Peiroh. 

Facta  est  ruina  muri  Lincolniensis  ecclesise  secus  chorum  post  sedem  Decani, 
ita  quod  tres  homines  prostrati  sunt  sub  ruina  :  ita  quod  postmodum  chorus  cele- 
bravit  ante  majus  altare  officium  diurnum  et  nocturnum,  donee  circumqusequQ 
columnse  et  arcus  firmarentm-. — Dunstable. 

Fabricat  aere  caput 

Dum  caput  erigitur  corruit  ima  petens. 

Scinditur  in  cineres 

Dicunt  vulgares,  quod  adhuc  Lincolnia  mater 

In  volta  capitis  fragmina  servat  ea. 

Monachus  Bardeniensis,  333. 

Died  at  Buckden,  buried  at  Lincoln  on  the  south  side  of  the  church,  beneath  a 
brass  which  has  perished. 

Propter  magna  et  plura  miracula,  et  propter  emanationem  olei  ab  ejus  tumba, 
Sanctus  Robertus  in  Anglia  dicehatur.^^Godivin. 

Arms.     Argent,  a  cross  moline  pierced,  sable. 

1254.     Henry  Lexington,  Dean  of  Lincoln. 

40  Hen.  III.  (Nov  5,  1255)  a  Royal  letter  issues  to  enquire  whether  the  city 
wall  may  be  removed  without  loss  to  the  Crown,  the  Dean  and  Chapter  having 
sought  *  Licentiam  elongandi  ecclesiam  suam  versus  orientem,  per  remotionem 
muri  orientalis  civitatis  nostrse  Line,  qui  est  opposite  ejusdem  ecclesice.' — Diigdale's 
Monasticou. 

In  the  following  year  this  letter  issues Henricus  D,  G.  &c.,  omnibus 

ballivis  et  fidelibus,  &:c.,  sciatls  nos gratam  habere  et  acceptam  clausuram 

et  elongationem  murorum  quae  de  licentia  nostra,  et  de  consensu  civium  nostrorum 
Lincoln,  circa  ecclesiam  Lincoln,  facta  est  ad  ampliacionem  ecclesiae  predictae, 
secundum  quod  inter  Decanum  ct  Capitulum  ejusdem  ecclesiee  et  cives  prsedictos, 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.      41 

de  utriusque  partis  provisione  convenit.  Ita  quod  placea  infra  dictam  clausuram 
contenta,  dictce  ecclesiaj  Lincoln,  prout  dicti  Decanus  et  Capitulum  expedire 
viderint,  inter  ipsos  et  dictos  cives  convenit,  applicetur.  In  cujus  testimonium, 
&c.,  (July  19,  1256.)— lieg.  Mag.  Line.  ful.  8.  b. 

Buried  near  Grossetete:  no  trace  of  his  grave  remains. 

Arms.     Argent,  on  a  cross  Jiore  azure,  a  mitre,  or. 

1258.     RiCARDUS  DE  Gravesend:  Dean  of  Lincoln. 

Hie  (Ric.  de  Gravesend)  calicem  unum  aureura  pretiosum,  imaginem  gloriosae 
Virginis  Mariae,  et  alias  imagines  argenteas  deauratas  ecclesiae  suse  contulit ;  et  tam 
vestibus  pretiosis  quam  capis  et  pannis  sericis  multipliciter  adornavit. — John  de 
Sdialby, 

Hoc  anno  MCCLXXTX,  die  Lune  proxima  ante  festum  S.  Thome  Apostoli,  ven. 
pater  Ricardus  Liucolnie  Ep.  vitae  presentis  cursum  complevit  in  senectute  bona, 
anno  pontificatus  ipsius  vicesimo  tercio,  et  die  ejusdem  ;:raucti  in  ecclesia  Lincolnie 
Venerabiliter  sepelitur. 

According  to  Sanderson,  Bps.  Grossetete,  Gravesend,  and  Lexinton  were  buried 
In  the  southern  upper  transept,  but  no  traces  of  their  monuments  remain.  Their 
stones  are  described  at  page  13  of  Sanderson's  Survey. 

Arms.      Or,  three  Spread  Eaglets,  gules. 

1280.     Oliver  Sutton,  Dean  of  Lincoln. 

MCCLXXX.     Hoc  anno,  die  S.  Dunstani,  magister  Oliverus  electus  Lincolnie  in 

episcopatum  consecratus  est Die  Nativitatis  B.  Marie,  Oliverus,  Ep. 

Line,  fecit  ingressus  suos Die  S.  Fidis  Virginis  translatum  est  corpus 

S.  Hugonis  episcopi,  a  die  deposicionis  eyus  anno  lxxx°,  cujus  translationi  inter- 
fuerunt  dom.  Rex,^  et  Regina,  cum  liberis  eoi'um  ;  dom.  etiam  archiepiscopus  cum 
vii  coepiscopis  et  vi  abbatibus,  ac  populi  multitudo  maxima,  predicti  Sancti  petentes 
patrocinia.  In  cujus  sepulcro  inveuta  est  olei  quantitas  non  modica,  et  per  ipsius 
merita  plurima  ibidem  fiunt  miracula.  Eodem  die  magister  Thomas  Bek  in  episco- 
patum Menevensem  ibidem  consecratus  est Chron.  Petr. 

Anno  MCCLXXX  Thomas  Bek consecratus  prid.  Non.  Oct.  apud 

Lincolniam. — Ann.  Eccl.  Menev. 

Hoc  anno  (1280)  Thomas  de  Wikes  (a  mistake  for  Bek)  suis  sumptibua 
transtulit  corpus  S.  Hugonis  ep.  Line. — Leland's  Collectanea. 

Stubbs,  the  York  chronicler,  in  his  account  of  the  translation  of  St.  William  of 
York,  Jan.  9,  1284,  says  that  Anthony  de  Bek,  then  elected  and  confirmed  Bishop 

of  Durham,  undertook  all  the  labour  and  cost  of  the  said  translation "  sicut 

magister  Thomas,  frater  ejus,  circa  trauslationem  S.  Hugonis,  Ep.  Line,  prius 
fecerat." — Ttvisden's  X  Script  ores.,  col.  1727. 

May  8,  1285,  Edw.  I.  grants  license  to  Dean  and  Chapter  to  enclose  the  cathe- 
dral precinct  with  a  wall  twelve  feet  high,  because  of  the  homicides  and  other 
atrocities  many  times  perpetrated  by  thieves  and  other  malefactors,  prowling  about 
the  streets  and  lanes  in  and  adjoining  to  the  said  precinct. — Meg.  Mag, 

About  the  winter  of  1293-4,  Huntingdon  bridge  was  destroyed  by  a  flood. 
The  Bishop  issued  his  mandate  (July  3,  1295)  to  the  Archdeaconry  of  Huntingdon, 
to  collect  money  in  the  parish  churches  for  its  rebuilding — "proviso  quod  negocium 
fabricce  ecclesiee  nostra)  Line,  per  hoc  minime  perturbetur." — Bp.  Sutton's 
Register, 

Hie  (Oliver  Sutton)  ob  quietum  ministerium  in  eccl.  cath.  frequenter  turbatum 
per  influentiara  parochianorum  Beatae  Mariae  Magdalenae,  qui  a  fundatione  ecclesiee 
cath.  in  occidentali  parte  ejusdem  ecclesiee  divina  audierant,  et  sacramenta  et  sacra- 

mentalia  perceperant quandam  capellam  in  honor-era  B.  Marise  Magd. 

in  atrio  diclte  ecclesiee  cathedralis,  competent!  spatio  distantem  ab  ea,  erigi  pro- 

curavit Hie  claustrum  ecclesiae  fieri  procuravit,  et  de  suo  l  marcas 

contulit  ad  constructionem  ejusdem Et  haec  omnia  novi,  qui  ea  ipse 

scripsi,  quia  ipsius  fui  per  anuos  xviii  Registrator. — John  de  Schalby. 

(1)  The  Tlev.  J.  Stevenson  has  compiled  an  Itinerary  of  the  reign  of  Edw.  1st,  still  in 
manuscript.  It  appears  from  this,  that  Edward  was  at  Lincoln,  Saturday,  Sunday,  and  Mon- 
day, the  5th,  6th,  and  7th  of  October,  a.d.  1280.  In  October,  1282,  the  commonly  received  date 
of  St.  Hugh'a  translation,  he  was  in  Wales. — On  authority  of  Mr.  Jos.  Hunter, 

G 


42         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Oliver  Sutton,  moreover,  built  houses  for  the  Vicars  Choral,  according  to  John 
de  Schalby,  who  says  of  Sutton's  successor,  John  de  Dalderby,  "  Et  vicariis  com- 
muniter  habitantibus,  ad  sustentacionem  domorum,  sumptibiis  proximi  predecessoris 
sui  pro  hahitalione  vicariorum  constructarum,  pensionem  quatuor  librarum  sterling- 
arum  do  vicariis  duarum  ecclesiarum  Hospitalariis  appropiatarum  contulit  annua- 
tim." 

In  an  episcopal  letter  to  the  Dean — Philip  de  Willoughby — dated  at  Folking- 
ham,  X  Kal.  Aug.  a.d.  1296,  and  of  his  pontiticate  17th,  Oliver  Sutton  says,  "Ad 
decorem  ecclesias  nostrse  coufratres  vestri  quoddam  claustrum  in  area  ante  capitu- 
lum  ejusdem  ecclesiae,  vobis  ad  hoc  dantibus  occasionem,  decenter  metantes,  mui'ura 
ejusdem  ex  parte  australi  jam  laudabiliter  erexerunt  in  altum.  Sane  situs  loci  et 
disposicio  fundamenti  hujusmodi  fabricae  necessario  exigunt,  ut  pretendunt,  quod 
alter  paries  correspondens  super  murum  stabuli  vestri  ex  parte  boreali  super  solum 
ecclesise  constructum,  ut  dicitur,  sine  vestro  dispendio  construatur,  domo  ipsa  sicut 
primo  salva  manente." — And  he  recommends  the  Dean's  consent  to  this  application. 
— SiiUon's  Memorandums,  154,  6. 

Nov.  21,  1297.  Episcopal  injunctions  to  Rural  Deans  to  resume  collections 
which  had  been  annually  made,  but  by  their  neglect  had  been  now  intermitted. 
"  Ecce,  auribus  nostris  nuper  insonuit,  quod  de  decanatibus  vestris,  pro  anno  pre- 
terito,  ad  tarn  pium  opus,  et  structuram  adeo  venerabili  scemate  propagatam,  per 
vos  nihil  erat  penitus  persolutum." — Ibid.  169. 

March  2,  1298.  Indulgence,  granting  forty  days  release  from  penance  to  all 
truly  penitent  and  confessed,  "  qni  de  bonis  sibi  a  Deo  collatis,  fabricse  cathedralis 
eccl.  Line,  materialis  scil.  templi  gloriosse  virginis  Mari^  genetricis  Dei  beatisimse, 
contulerint  subsidia  pietatis."  Also,  March  5,  1298.  Injunctions  to  Rural  Deans, 
&c.,  to  cause  the  matter  to  be  expounded  ;  and  to  receive  the  procurators  for  the 
fabric  graciously. — Ibid.  186. 

Buried  in  the  place  afterwards  occupied  by  Bp.  Fleming's  chantry.  Tomb 
perished. 

Arms.  Or^  on  a  chevron  between  three  annulets,  gules,  as  many  crescents, 
argent. 

1300.    John  D'Alderbt,  Chancellor  of  Lincoln. 

Feb.  17,  1301.  Grants  forty  days  Indulgence  to  contributors  to  the  fabric. 
Bp.  Dalderby'' s  Memorandums,  fol.  26." 

March  9,  1307.  Issues  letters  of  Indulgence,  addressed  to  the  Archdeacons 
and  Deans  of  the  Diocese,  for  the  Central  Tower. 

After  a  long  preamble,  on  the  duty  of  paying  special  reverence  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  he  thus  proceeds: — Hsec  dilecti  in  Christo  filii,  decanus  et  capitulum 
cathedralis  eeclesife  nostras  Lincoln,  salubriter  advertentes,  ad  honorem  Virginis 
prelibat^  majorem,  et  ecclesi®  predictiB  cujus  ipsa  est  patrona  decorem,  campanile 
in  ipsius  ecclesice  medio,  a  multis  temporibus  retroactis  constructum,  altius  erigere, 
et  opere  sumptuoso  finhe,  ac  opus  illud  in  instauti  estate  inchoare,  Dei  mediante 
adjutorio,  decreverunt.  Nos  igitur,  tarn  pium  et  tarn  sanctum  eorum  propositum 
commendantes,  fabricamque  tarn  nobilem,  et  honorificam  toti  regno,  quantum  pos- 
sumus  promovere  volentes,  vobis  mandamus,  in  virtute  obedientiaj  firmiter  injun- 
gentes,  quatinus  negocium  hujus  structurfe  venerabilis,  quje  magno  lidelium  sub- 
sidio  noscitur  indigere,  in  ecclesiis  vobis  subditis,  per  rectores,  vicarios,  seu 
capellanos  parochiales  eai'um,  diebus  dominicis  et  festivis,  prje  ceteris  negociis  con- 
similibus,  faciatis  annuatim  dicto  durante  opere  frequenter  exponi,  ac  verbo  et 
exemplo  efficaciter  promovcri;  indulgenciasque  multiplices  et  alia  sufFragia,  qua; 
fabricas  dicta;  ecclesias  promotoribus  sunt  concessoe,  populo  manifestari ;  ac  nuncios 
veros  ad  prociu-acionem  dicti  negocii  vobis  mittendos  benigne  recipi  et  tractari,  &c., 

(2)  Mr.  Dimock  found  at  Lincoln  a  considerable  bundle  of  Indulgences  for  fabric,  stitched 
together :  all  very  much  mutilated : 

One  for  forty  days,  from  some  Bishop  :  Dated  at  Toi'ksey,  Feb,  18, 1301-5. 

Another  for  forty  days,  from  John,  Bp.  of  Carlisle  :  Dated  at  Horncastle,  May  12, 1305. 

Another  for  forty  days,  from  some  Bishop  :  Dated  at  Lincoln,  July  6,  1308,  first  year  of  his 
Pontificate.  (This  must  have  been  Walter  Stapledon  of  Exeter,  whose  predecessor,  Thomas 
Bytton,  died  Sep.  21,  1307.) 

Aiiother  for  forty  days,  from  Walter,  Abp.  of  Canterbury :  dated  at  Lincoln,  Oct.  11, 1314. 

Fragments  of  several  others,  retaining  no  name  or  date. 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.      43 

Sec Ut  autem  mentes  fidelium  ad  pietatis  opera  excitcmus,  do  Dei 

omnipotcntis  misericordia,  gloriosa;  Virgiuis  supradicta',  bcati  Hugonis  confessoris, 
ac  omnium  Sanctorum  meritis  coufidentes,  omnibus  parochianis  nostris,  et  aliis 
quorum  Diocesani  banc  nostiam  indulgcnciam  ratam  habuerint,  de  peccatorum 
suorum  maculis  vcre  pcnitentibus  et  confessis,  qui  ad  constructionem  campanilis 
prcdicti  do  bonis  sibi  a  Deo  collatis  grata  contuleriut  subsidia  caritatis,  XL  dies  de 
injuncta  sibi  pcnitentia  misoricorditer  relaxamus,  ratificantcs  omnes  indulgencias  a 
quibuscunque  cpiscopis  catbolicis  in  bac  parte  conccssas  et  inposterum  concedendas. 
Dat'  apud  parcum  Stowe,  vii  Id']\Iarcii,  a.d.  M.CCC.  sexto,  et  consccrationis  nostra) 
septimo. — Dalderbi/'s  Memorandums,  101,  b. 

Memorandum,  quod  die  Martis  proximo  post  fostum  sancti  Gregorii,  anno 
Domini  M.CCC.  sexto,  (i.e.  March  14,  1307),  consensimi  fuit  per  capitulum  quod 
cementarii  incipiant  oporari  super  campanile,  ponentes  lapides  quam  cito  viderint 
tempus  opportunum. —  Chapter  Act  Booh,  1305, — 1320. 

Memorandum,  quod  die  Sabbati  proximo  post  festum  Sanctorum  Fabiani  et 
Sebastiani  {i.e.  Sat>'.  JanJ".  23,  1311),  Decanoet  ceteris  canonicis  residentibus  moro 
solito  in  capitulo  congregatis,  condempuati  fuerunt  executores  testamenti  domini 
Gilberti  Deivill  quondam  Thesaurarii  ecclesiai  Lincoln,  in  duabus  cordis  campa- 
uarum  tunc  noviter  in  medio  campanili  ecclesiffi  snspensarum. — Ibid. 

1310.  The  Bowels  of  Queen  Eleanor  translated  from  Ilerdcby  to  the  chapel 
of  St,  John  Baptist,  Lincoln  Minster. 

Dec.  18,  1316.  The  Bishop  issues  a  commission,  to  Henry  de  Benyngworth, 
Subdeau,  and  John  de  Harington  and  Richard  de  Stretton,  Canons  of  Lincoln,  to 
enquire  and  proceed  against  certain  persons  who  are  said  to  have  abstracted  and 
detained  gifts  and  legacies  to  the  fabric  of  the  cathedral ;  "in  fabricce  dictai  ecclesise 
nostras  retardacionem  non  modicam,  et  aliorura  perniciosum  exemplum." — Dated  at 
Stow  Park,  15  Kal.  January,  a.d.  1316. — Bishop  Dalderhy^s  Memorandums. 

Bishop  D'Alderby  died  at  Stow,  Jan,  5,  1320,  and  was  buried  in  the  sotith 
transept. — Tumulus  ejus  amotus  est  propterea  quod  a  plebe  superstitiose  frequent- 
aretur,  et  ipse  tanquam  Sanctus  coleretur. —  Godwin. — For  efforts  to  obtain  his 
canonization,  see  under  Bp.  Burghersh. 

Akms.     Argentf  a  chevron  between  two  escallops  in  chiefs  and  a  cross  pate$ 
Jitchei  in  base. 

1320.  Anthony  Bek,  Chancellor  of  Lincoln,  elected  Feb.  3,  1320 ;  royal 
assent,  Feb.  20  :  but  not  consecrated,  the  Pope  conferring  the  Bishopric  on 
Burghersh. 

He  was  made  Dean  of  Lincoln  in  1329,  and  Bp.  of  Norwich  in  1336. 

Anais.     Gules,  a  cross,  patedjitchei  argent. 

1320.     Henry  Burghersh,  Treasurer  and  Chancellor  of  England. 

16th  Kal.  April,  1324.  There  was  exhibited  to  the  Chapter,  a  commission  of 
the  Bishop  to  certain  persons,  to  enquire  and  proceed  against  abstractors  of  the 
gifts  and  legacies  to  the  fabric,  dated  at  Newonham,  8  Kal.  July,  1323:  also 
Letters  General  addressed  to  the  Archdeacons  and  their  officials  through  the 
diocese,  to  the  same  purport,  dated  at  Warden,  3  Kal.  July,  1328. —  Chapter  Act 
Book,  1321—1339. 

Master  Thomas  de  Luda,*'  Treasurer  of  Lincoln,  "  conspiciens  et  perpendens 
Lincolniensem  ecclesiam  horlogio  competent!,  et  pi'O  ipsa  ecclesia  necessario, 
destitui  et  carere ;  quod  ecclesiam  alios  cathedrales  et  conventuales  ubique  fere  terra- 
rum  regulariter  optinere  noscuntur  ;  de  sua  gratia  liberali  et  liberalitate  gratuita, 
cum  in  nullo  ad  hoc  ex  debito  tenetur,  quoddam  horlogium  novum  in  dicta  ecclesia 
suis  sumptibus  se  promisit  flicere  construi,  in  honore  virginis  gloriosas  ipsius  ecclesias 
dominas  et  patronas." — This  gift  unanimously  commended  and  accepted  by  the 
Chapter,  March  31,  \2,2A.—Ibid. 

Kal.  Julii,  A.D,  1324  ;  in  Revestiario  ecclesia?  Lincoln,  Magister  Egidius  de 
Rademere  et  Johannes  de  Sutton,  custodes  tumbas  beati  Johannis  de  Daldreby  in 
ecclesia  Lincoln,  ostcndunt  capitulo  dictas  ecclesias  qujedam  instrumenta,  manu 
Willmi  Costard,  notarii  public!,  conscripta,  contingencia  miracula  quaj  ob  merita 

(3)  Thomas  of  Louth  instituted  to  the  TreasurcrsLip,  June  23,  1321.  His  "Will  proved 
AprU  18,  1329.— ie  Ncve, 


44         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

domini  Johannis,  et  octo  miraculis  ;  et  unum  super  novem  miraculis  ;  et  tercium, 
super  duobus  miraculis ;  et  quartum,  super  duobus  miraculis  ;  et  quiutum,  super 
uno  miraculo  ;  et  duo  certificatoria,  ad  mandata  decani  et  capituli  ecclesiie  Lincoln, 
dicti  Jobannis  dicebantur  patrata  ;  viz  :  unum  iustrumentum  super  vita  dicti 
et  Johannis  de  Harington  officialis,  sede  vacante,  qnse.  dictis  ci;stodibus  retradita 
fuerunt ;  una  cum  tribus  instrumentis  nianu  magistri  Ricardi  de  Croft,  notarii  pub- 
lic!, conscriptis,  super  septem  mii-aculis  ad  invocacionera  auxilii  dicti  domini  Johan- 
nis factis  et  probatis  ;  prout  ex  inspectione  dictorum  instrumentorum  poterit  appa- 
rere.  Istius  dividends  una  pars  residet  penes  dictos  custodes,  et  alia  pars  penes 
sacristiam  ecclesise  Lincoln. — Ibid. 

Rymer  gives  two  letters  addressed  by  Edward  III.  to  the  Pope,  soliciting  John 
de  Dalderby's  canonization  ;  dated  Mai'ch  11,  1327,  and  February  20,  1328. 

4  Non.  July,  1330,  John  de  Haghe  appeared  before  the  Chapter,  f^nd  requested 
remuneration  for  his  labour  in  the  matter  of  the  canonization  of  John  de  Dal  derby, 
late  Bp.  of  Lincoln  :  he  having  now,  for  the  third  time,  addressed  the  Pope  in  full 
Consistory  on  the  said  matter. — Ibid. 

1326,  June  12.  The  Chapter  borrowed  £20  of  Thos.  de  Luda,  Treasurer,  "  in 
subsidium  operis  fabricee  clausi  nostri." — Chapter  Act  Book,  1321 — 1339. 

Died  at  Ghent ;  buried  at  Lincoln,  at  the  east  end  of  the  retrochoir,  where  his 
tomb  remains. — See  Sanderson,  p.  3,  and  Archdeacon  Bonney's  Paper  in  Arch. 
Institute's  Lincoln  volume. 

Arms.  A  Lion  rampant,  double  queued  (tomb)  ;  or,  as  some  say,  gules,  a 
cross  argent,  between  four  Lions  rampant^  or ,-  but  the  tomb  is  doixbtless  the  best 
authority. 

1342.    Thomas  Bek. 

December  5,  1343,  Bishop  Bek  issued  his  commission  to  the  Precentor, 
Treasurer,  and  Subdean,  and  to  each  Canon  Ebdomadary,  "  Ad  abluendum  aqua, 
jixxta  statuta  sacrorum  canonum  ad  hoc  apta,  ecclesiam  nostram  cathedralem 
nondum  consecrationis  munere  insignitam  :  et  loca  alia  racione  contiguitatis 
inherenciae  vol  coherencise  pertinentia  ad  eandem  :  si  qua  eorum  ad  presens,  et 
quociens  ea  vel  ipsorura  aliqua  in  eventu,  ablutione  indiguerit." — Bp.  Bek's 
Memorandums,  fol.  47. 

Will  proved  before  the  Archbishop  of  York,  March  3,  1346-7,  in  which  he 
orders  his  body  to  be  buried  on  the  north  side  of  the  steps  coming  from  the 
chapter  house  to  the  quire. — Le  Neve,  from  Keg.  Ebor. 

Akms,     Gules,  a  cross  molinee  argent. 

1347.     John  Gynewell,  Archdeacon  of  Northampton. 

Iste,  ni  fallor,  capellam  construxit  S.  Marise  Magd.  extra  septentrionalem 
parietem  ecclesiae,  in  cujus  navi  tumulatus  est. —  Godwin. 

Gynewell  was  one  of  the  executors  of  the  will  of  Henry,  Duke  of  Lancater, 
the  founder  of  the  "  Benefactors'  Chantry"  in  the  south  transept.  "  Nous  ordeig- 
nouns  et  fesons  nos  executors  le  revi-ent  piere  en  Dieu  John  evesq'  de  Nichol"  (sic) 
&c. — Nicholls'  Royal  and  Noble  Wills,  p.  85. 

The  brass  of  Gynewell  is  described  in  Sanderson,  p.  23. 

Arms.    (?) 

1363.     John  Bokingham,  Keeper  of  Privy  Seal. 

Rex  &c.  Sciatis  quod  cum  ecclesia  beatre  Marine  Lincolniensis  nuper  per 
quosdam  latrones  fracta,  et  capud  sancti  Hugonis  gloriosi  confessoris,  auro  et  argento 
exornatum  per  dictos  latrones  furatum  et  abinde  asportatum  fuisset ;  et,  avulsis  ab 
eodem  capite  auro  et  argento,  quibus  sic  ornabatur,  post  informationem  dictorum 
latronum,  qui  furtum  illud  coronatoribus  nostris  Lincolniaj  fatebantur,  inventum 
fuit,  et  ea  de  causa  nobis  forisfactum  existit ;  Nos,  de  gratia  nostra  special i,  (Sec, 

capud    predictum    predictaj    ecclesice,  ac  dilectis  nobis  in  Christo, 

Decano  et  Capitulo  ejusdem  ecclesiEe,  dedimus  et  restituimus,  &c 

T.  R.  at  Westminster,  February  10,  1364.  (Pat  38th,  Edw.  IIL  p.  1  :  m.  39.) 
—Rymer,  vol.  3,  part  2,  p.  720.1 

(4)  Henry  de  Knighton  says,  under  A.D.  1364,  that  at  this  time  many  similar  robberies  of 
shrines  and  relics  took  place,  and  that  many  of  the  thieves  were  taken  and  hung.  Of  this 
robbery  of  St.  Hugh's  head,  he  says :    "Caput  quoque  Sancti  Hugonis  Lincolniensis  furati 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  OF  LINCOLN  MINSTER.      45 

John  de  Welburn  was  Treasurer  of  Lincoln  from  about  1350  to  1380. 

In  1365  lie  gave  twelve  messuages,  one  shop,  and  two  gardens  in  Lincoln,  of  the 
clear  annual  value  of  £22  13s.  4d^  for  the  support  of  two  chantry  chaplains,  &c.; 
"  unum  in  ecolesia  Lincoln,  ad  altare  beati  Johannis  Baptist;c,  ubi  missa  de  beata 
Virgine  cotidie  solompnitor  celebrarl  consuovit,  et  etiam  celebratur  ;  et  alium  in 
ecolesia  de  Welburn  ;"  for  good  estate,  &c.,  of  Edward  III.,  the  said  John,  &c., 
during  life  ;  and  for  souls  of  the  same,  and  their  progenitors,  and  of  Henry,  late 
Duke  of  Lancaster  ;  Isabel  his  consort ;  Thos.  de  Welburn,  brother  of  the  said 
John  ;  John  and  Galfrid,  sons  of  Thos.  de  Welburn  ;  Richard  de  Whittewell,  _&c. 
Each  of  these  chaplains  to  receive  from  the  clerks  of  the  fabric,  and  the  obventions 
of  the  flibric,  their  stipends  ;  the  Lincoln  one  £5,  the  Welburn  one  £4  13s.  4d. 
Out  of  the  remainder  of  the  sum,  he  directed  the  Obits  of  the  said  Duke  of  Lan- 
caster, and  of  himself,  after  his  death,  to  be  provided  :  and  the  residue,  if  any,  to 
the  use  of  the  fabric. 

In  the  Record  room  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  is  a  volume  of  seventy-nine  folios, 
containing  deeds  relating  to  these  chantries.  At  the  end  of  which  is  the  following 
enumeration  of  John  de  Welburn's  benefactions  to  the  church  : 

Quinto  Kalend'  Decembris  obiit  dominus  Johannes  de  Welburne,  Thesaurarius 
ecclesiro  Line.  Qui  dedit  Deo  et  beatro  Marire  unum  vestimentum  album  princi- 
pale,  cum  duabus  dalmaticis  et  una  capa  ejusdem  secta3,  et  aliud  vestimentum  de 
Ynde  velvet  integrum,  cum  duabus  capis  ejusdem  sectre.  Qui  eciam  fecit  fieri 
tabulam  summi  altaris  argenteam  et  deauratam  sumptibus  suis,  cum  ymaginibus  de 
quinque  gaudiis  de  beata  Maria.  Qui  eciam  fecit  fieri  exaltari  tabernacula  super 
summum  altare  sumptibus  suis.  Qui  fecit  eciam  fieri  feretrum  portabile  corporis 
Christi  argenteum  et  deauratum,  quod  fuit  autea  ligneum.  Qui  fuit  eciam  depin- 
gere  sumptibus  suis  altam  crucem  cum  ceteris  ymaginibus.  Qui  eciam,  ut  custos 
Sancti  Hugonis,  fecit  reparari  ii  costas  superiores  feretri  ejusdem,  cum  uno  taberna- 
culo  et  i  ymagine  Sancti  Pauli  stantis  in  eodem  ex  parte  boriali,  cum  plato  de 
auro  pm-o,  qus&  fuerunt  pro  antea  depicts  ;  et  eciam  canopeum  novum  de  ligno  pro 
eodem.  Qui  eciam,  post  furacionem  et  spoliacionem  capitis  Sancti  Hugonis,  de 
novo  fecit  cum  auro  et  argento  et  lapidibus  preciosis  ornari  et  reparari.  Qui  eciam 
existens  magister  fabricas,  fuit  principalis  causa  movens  defactura  duarum  voltarum 
campanilium  in  fine  occidentali  monasterii,  et  eciam  volt»  altioris  campanilis.  Ac 
eciam  fecit  fieri  Reges  in  fine  occidentali  predicta ;  ac  eciam  facturam  horilogii 
quod  vocatur  Clok.  Et  inceptor  et  consultor  incepcionis  facturse  stallorum  novo- 
rum  in  ecclesia  cathedrali  Lincoln.  Et  idem  Johannes  obiit  anno  Domini 
M'"°CCC™°  LXXX. 

January  25,  1383.  Galfrid  le  Scrop,  Canon  of  Lincoln,  granted  all  his  lands 
and  tenements  in  Lincoln,  Luda  (Louth),  Halyngton,  and  Billysby,  and  12s.  annual 
rent  in  Lincoln,  "  ad  opus  fabricse  ecclesijB." — From  original  Deed  at  Lincohi. 

Richard  II.  visits  Lincoln  in  1386. 

By  Will,  dated  May  10,  1388,  and  proved  May  16,  1388,  John  de  Multon, 
Knt.  bequeaths  "  Fabricas  summi  altaris  de  Lincoln  ad  unam  tabulam  faciendam, 
100  marcas." — Bp.  Bukyngliain's  Memorandums,  fol.  348. 

By  Will,  dated  Monday  before  Exaltation  of  Holy  Cross,  A.d.  1391,  John  de 
Sutton,  citizen  of  Lincoln,  bequeaths  "  ymagini  Beatse  Marise  ad  summum  altare 
ecclesijB  cathedralis  Lincoln,  iinum  anulum  cum  uno  saphiro." — Ibid,  fol.  379,  h. 

Bp.  Bukyngham,  in  1388,  founded  a  chantry  at  Lincoln.     And  in  1396  he 

gave  600  marcs,  "in  opus  et  utiHtatem  perpetuam  ecclesia^  Lincoln, ad 

sustentationem  onerum  dictce  ecclesise  uberiorem  :"  the  Chapter  thereupon  bind- 
ing themselves  to  pay  10  marcs  annually,  out  of  their  communa,  for  the  obit,  or 
anniversaiy  day  of  the  death  of  the  said  Bishop.  In  their  Deed  to  that  effect,  the 
Chapter  speak  of  the  Bishop's  previous  "immensa  beneficia"  to  the  church. — Liber 
Cantanarum,fol.  394. 

Bp.  Bokingham  removed  in  1398  to  Lichfield  by  the  Pope  against  his  will,  and 
retired  to  Canterbury,  where  he  died  a  monk. 

sunt;  et,  captis  argento  et  auro  lapidibusque  pretiosis,  caput  projecerunt  in  quodam  campo.  Et, 
quod  mirum  est  dietu,  quidam  corvus,  prout  fama  laboravit,  custodivit  illud  donee  cofrnitum 
esset  per  eosdem  latrones  et  Lincolniam  deportatum.  Latroues  predicti  abierunt  Lundonias  ad 
vendendum  sua  predicta  latrocinia,  et  vendiderunt,  ut  dicebatur,  pro  xx  marcis;  et  i-edeuntes  in 
patriam  suam,  spoliati  sunt  de  dicta  pecunia ;  postea  de  dicto  scelere  prodieutes  seipsos  capti 
sunt  et  apud  Lincolniam  s\xs])ensi:'—Tlvysden's  X  Scriptores,  2628. 


46         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Buried  at  Canterbury.  He  desired  to  be  buried  where  the  Archbishop  used 
to  stand  in  processions. — Brookes'  Guide. 

Arms.  Argent,  on  a  fess  azure,  between  three  bucks''  heads  in  chief,  and  three 
falcons  in  base,  gules,  a  mitre,  or.  But  Willement,  in  his  heraldic  notices  of  Canter- 
"bury  cathedral,  gives  his  arras,  Gules,  a  cross  botonee,  or.  As  the  arms  in  the  nave 
of  Canterbury  have  been  recently  restored,  and — it  is  to  be  feared— arbitrarily 
appropriated,  I  should  doubt  the  correctness  of  this, 

1398.     Henry  Beaufort,  Cardinal. 

Son  of  John  of  Gaunt,  by  Catherine  Swinford,  who  was  buried  at  Lincoln 
during  his  episcopate  (1403).  Her  chantry  is  called,  in  the  Dean  and  Chapter's 
Register,  Cantaria  in  le  Irons ;  and  in  the  Valor.  Eccl.  Cantaria  infra  les  Irons, 
.^Brookes'  Guide,  p.  97- 

Translated  to  Winchester,  where  he  died  and  was  buried  (1447)  in  his  splendid 
chantry. 

Lego  ad  opus  et  fabricam  eccl.  Line.  CC,  U :  ita  tamen  quod  decanus  et  canonici 
ejusdem  eccl.  diem  obitus  mei  singulis  annis  imperpetuum  observari  permittant,  et 
pro  anima  mea,  &o.— Nicholls'  Royal  and  Noble  Wills,  p.  333. 

Arms.  Quarterly  1  and  4,  azure,  three  fleurs  de  lis,  or  (France)  :  2  and  3 
Gules,  three  lions  passant  guardant  in  pale,  or  (England);  all  within  a  border, 
gobonee,  argent,  and  azure,  surmounted  by  a  Cardinal's  hat. 

Device  :  a  chained  heart.    Mottoes  :  In  Domino  confido,  and,  A  hono  et  liesse. 

1405.     Philip  Repingdon,  Abbot  of  Leicester,  Archdeacon  of  Oxford. 

Resigned  voluntarily.  May  20,  1420,  being  made  Cardinal.— ie  Neve. 

Buried  at  Lincoln  ;  tomb  in  eastern  transept ;  his  brass,  which  is  destroyed, 
described  by  Sanderson,  p.  13. 

1416.  William  de  Waltham,  by  his  Will,  gives  100  msivks  fabrias  ecclesicB 
Lincoln. 

14  Feb.  1418-19  :  Hugh  de  Hanneworth,  Canon  of  Lincoln,  and  Archdeacon 
of  Stowe",  desires  to  be  buried  in  navi  eccl.  Lincoln,  ad  pedes  tumuli  dam.  Johannis. 
Multon,  militis ;  and  gives  fabricce  eccl.  66s.  8c?.,  et  ad  opus  fabrics,  10m. 

Arms.     Gules,  a  fess  dancettee,  between  six  billets  (or? J 

1420.     Richard  Fleming,  Canon  of  Lincoln. 

Founder  of  Lincoln  College,  Oxford.  Died  at  Sleaford  :  buried  in  the  chapel 
erected  by  himself  at  the  north  side  of  the  retrochoir. 

Arms.  Sanderson  gives  the  following  : — viz..  Four  shields  at  his  head  and 
feet :  first  and  second  shield,  Barry  of  six,  argent  and  azure,  in  chief  three 
lozenges,  gules.  (This  coat  is  retained  in  the  arms  of  Lincoln  College)  :  third  and 
fourth  shield,  a  sword,  point  in  base. 

1431.    William  Gray,  Bishop  of  London. 

Arms.     Gules,  a  Lion  rampant,  within  a  border  engrailed  argent. 

1436.     William  Alnwick,  Bishop  of  Norwich,  Confessor  to  Henry  VI. 

At  Norwich,  inserted  western  door  and  window  of  cathedral,  and  built  tower 
and  gate  to  palace. 

At  Lincoln,  inserted  west  window,  and  doorway  beneath  it,  at  the  west  end  oi 
the  cathedral :  and  panelling  in  St.  Hugh's  tower. 

He  built  a  new  chapel  adjoining  to  the  Bishop's  palace,  and  dedicated  it  to  the 
B.V.M.     In  a  window  just  going  into  the  chapel — 

Istam,  Virgo,  novellam  do  tibi,  meque  capellam, 
Alnwyc :  tu,  pie,  natum  fac  mihi  propitiatum : 

and  in  every  window  of  the  said  chapel  memorials  of  the  said  Bishop :  see  Sander- 
son, pp.  46,  47. 

He  was  a  great  benefactor  to  the  Philosophy  Schools,  Cambridge,  which  retain  his 

Arms  :  Argent,  a  cross  molinee  sable. 

1440.  John  Southam,  Archidiac.  Oxon.  canon  Line,  desires  to  be  buried  in 
navi  Cath.  Line,  erga  altam  crucem  juxta  ymaginem  S.  Christopheri :  Southam's 
Brass  described  in  Sanderson,  p.  37. 


ARCHITECTURAL  HISTORY  Or  LINCOLN  MINSTER.      47 

"  Bp.  Alnwyc  desired  to  be  buried  in  the  spot  where  he  was  used  to  stand  in 
processions  :  this  tomb  is  placed,  in  Gough's  Camden,  in  the  middle  of  the  nave  near 
the  west  door." — Brookes'  Guide. 

In  his  epitaph,  given  by  Sanderson,  p.  21,  are  these  lines  : 
Alrnvyc  sub  lapide  jacet  liic  Wilhelmus  humatus; 
Primo  Norvici  pastoris  fulsit  honore. 

Ethei-is  aularum  perpes  sit  participator, 
Qui  pretiosarum  clomuum  fuit  edilicator. 

In  1447  died  Cardinal  Beaufort,  who  left  £200  to  the  fabric. 

1450.     Marmaduke  Lumley,  Bishop  of  Carlisle. 

Contributed  £200  towards  building  Queens'  College,  Oxford,  and  gave  many 
books  to  the  library. 

Died  in  London.     Buried  (?) 

Arms.  Argent  on  a  fess  gules  between  three  popinjays  vert,  collared  of  the 
second,  a  mitre. 

1452.    John  Chad  worth. 

Buried  at  Lincoln.  Sanderson  says,  "  Bishop  John  Chadworth  lies  under  a 
fliir  marble  :  on  his  brass  the  portraiture  of  a  bishop,  and  these  Arms, 

1.  The  See  of  Lincoln.  7        .^      ,^ 

2.  Three  goats'  heads,  erased.     )  ^ 

But  Browne  Willis  gives — Azure,  a  chevron  between  three  cocks^  heads  erased,  or. 
In  St.  Martin's  church,  Stamford,  I  find,  a  chevron  between  three  griffins'  heads  erased. 

1471.     Thomas  Scott,  or  Rotherham,  Bishop  of  Rochester. 

Finished  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  which  still  retains  his 

Arms.  Vert  three  stags  trippant,  argent,  attired,  or  ,-  see  also  a  Paper  on  the 
churches  of  Stamford,  in  vol.  1  of  these  Reports,  page  53.^ 

Translated  to  York  :  and  buried  ( 1 500)  in  the  retrochoir  of  that  cathedral,  in 
a  tomb  erected  by  himself.  In  his  Will  he  says,  Do  etiam  et  lego  ecclesice  cathe- 
drali  Lincoln,  quam  secundo  rexi  f  O  si  bene  ut  debuissemj  ultra  mitram  et  baculum 
pasioralem  ei  data  et  liberata  xxl  ad  reparacionem  ejusdem  ecclesice, 

1480.    John  Russell,  Bishop  of  Rochester. 

"  This  John  Russell,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  built  the  Bishop's  palace  at  Buckden, 
also  a  great  part  of  St.  Martin's  church  at  Stanford  (Stamford).  Likewise  this 
chapel,  wherein  he  was  buried.  He  died  at  Nettleham." — Sanderson,  p.  41,  note. 
Sanderson  also  describes  the  chapel,  and  gives  the  arms  and  inscription  it  contains. 
Arms.  Azure,  two  chevronelles,  or,  between  three  roses,  argent.  Motto  :  Le 
JRuscellui  Je  suis.  Russell's  father,  of  the  same  name,  i.e.,  Roscelliuus,  or  of 
Rochelle,  ("  Roscel  dictus,  nomen  servans  genitoris" — Epitaph  of  the  Bishop) — 
bore  Argent,  a  chevron  between  three  crosses  botonee  Jitchee  sable. 

1495.     Thomas  Smith,  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry. 
"  His  arms  still  remaining  on  the   outward   gate,  show  that  he  made  some 
reparations  of  the  palace." — Mr.  Willson,  in  Arch.  Institute's  Line.  vol. 

.     .     .     Octobris,  m,D,1. 
'Reliquie  rcposite  in  mamello  sub  campanile  ex  parte  austral!  ccclesie  Lincoln,  ad 
finem  occidentalem  ejusdem : 

1.  Os  S.  Stephani  protomartyris. 

2.  Os  S.  Hugonis  episcopi. 

3.  De  carne  ti.  Bartholomei  apostolL 

4.  Os  S.  Jacobi. 

5.  Os  digiti  S.  Thome. 

6.  Reliquie  martyrum  Marcelli  &  Marcellini. 

7.  Petra  de  Monte  Sinaii. 

&  die  sequente  recluse  fuerunt  reliquie  predicte  &  cruce  sanctificate,  omnibus  de  habitu 
precan  [tan]  tibus  Te  Deum  ta«damMS— erigibatur'  [forte  campanile.]— /SaHrferson,  7?.42. 

(5)    In  his  Heraldry  of  Canterbury  Cathedral,  Willement  girc?,  Gules,  three  wheels, 
or,  tivo  and  one. 


48    LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Sanderson  also  describes  his  brass,  and  gives  the  epitaph  in  which  mention  is 
made  of  the  Bishop's  foundation — 

"aulas 

Fundavitque  duas  perpetuando  scholas, 
Aulaque  sumptu  hujus  renovata  est  uEnea." 

Brazen-Nose  College  still  retains  his 

Akms.  Argent,  a  chevron  sable  between  three  roses,  gules,  reeded  or ;  barbed 
vert. 

1514.     WoLSEY,  afterwards  Cardinal. 

Translated  to  York.     Died  and  buried  at  Leicester. 

Arms.  Wolsey  was  the  first  to  bear  the  present  coat  of  the  see  of  York  ;  the 
ancient  coat  being  the  same  as  that  of  Canterbury,  and  the  present  one  a  mere  in- 
vention of  the  time-serving  and  king-worshipping  Cardinal.  For,  on  Christchurch 
Gate,  Canterbury,  (about  lol7)  are  the  arms  of  Wolsey  impaled  with  ancient 
York;  but  "in  a  M.S.  preserved  in  the  College  of  Arms,  marked  Vincent,  I.  2, 
there  is,  in  folio  93,  the  following  curious  device  of  the  *  proud  prelate :' — On  a 
mount,  vert,  a  griffin  erect,  per  fess,  g-ules  and  or,  armed,  winged,  and  holding  in 
his  dexter  claw  a  chancellor's  official  staff"  of  the  last,  and  in  the  sinister,  a  flag- 
staff" ensigned  with  a  cross  patee  of  the  same,  whereon  a  banner  displayed,  per 
pale  :  first,  Gules,  tAVO  keys  in  saltire,  and  a  royal  crown  in  chief,  or,  (the  present 
arms  of  the  see  of  York)  ;  second,  sable,  on  a  cross  engrailed,  argent,  a  lion  passant 
gules,  inter  four  leopai'ds'  faces,  azure  ;  on  a  chief,  or,  a  rose  of  the  second,  between 
two  Cornish  choughs,  proper  ;  above  the  whole,  the  Cardinal's  cap,  strung  and  tas- 
selled,  gules.     The  whole  is  underwritten — 

Z^\^t  iLovtJ  Sijomas  SSloolsei),  ©avtimal,  ilegst  U?  ilatere,  ^icpisljop  of 
iovit,  an&  <a:!)ancellor  of  SEnglanti: 

The  crest  used  by  Wolsey  was,  In  a  ducal  coronet,  or,  a  leopard's  face,  azure, 
holding  in  his  mouth  an  arrow,  argent." — WillemenVs  Heraldry  of  Canterbury 
Cathedral. 

In  1517,  Magdalen  College  paid 

for  a  copy  of  the  arms  of  the  Lord  Cardinal £0     10. 

'■^{Chandler^s  Life  of  Waynjtete,  p.  278.) 

1514.     William  Atwater,  Dean  of  the  Chapel  Royal. 
Buried  at  the  feet  of  Bp.  Alnwyc  :  Sanderson  gives  his  brass  and  epitaph. 
Arms.     Barry  wavy  of  eight,  ermine  and  gules  on  a  chevron  between  three 
dolphins  naidnt  embowed,  or,  a  rose,  sable,  between  two  gillyflowers,  vert. 

1521.    John  Longland. 

"  Next  below  the  south  door,  west,  is  the  chapel  of  Bp.  Longland,  very  curious 
both  for  glass  and  stonework.     On  a  frieze  above  the  same  is  written  : — 

LONGA  TERRA,  MENSDRAM  EJUS  DOMINUS  DEBIT. 

Betwixt  EJUS  and  dominds  are  the  arms  of  K.  Henry  VIH.,  and  his  sup- 
porters.    The  tomb  is  altar-wise  in  the  wall." 

"  Bp.  Longland's  coat  occurs  often  both  in  glass  and  stone  :  viz..  Argent  on  a 
chevron  g.  a  falcon  volant  of  the  first,  between  three  ogresses  sa.  in  chief  or.  a  rose 
of  the  second  between  two  leopards'  faces,  b." — Sanderson. 

It  has  been  reported,  however,  that  the  Bishop  died  at  Woburn,  and  was  buried 
at  Eton. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  the  allusion  to  Longland's  name  in  the 
dbove  motto. 

1547.    Henry  Holbeach,  Bishop  of  Rochester. 

(In  1547  the  central  spire  was  blown  down.) 
Arms.    Azui'e,  on  a  chevron  between  three  doves'*  heads,  erased,  argent,  bearing 
in  their  beaks  a  floiver,  two  roses  sable,  stalks  and  leaves  proper. 


F.W.FAIRHOLT. 


JOHN,  THE  Good,— KING  of  FRANCE, 


From  a  Facsimile,— painted  in  1858,  by  Mr.  Edward  Poynter, 

for  the  Eight  Hon.  C.  T.  d'Eyncoui-t,- 

Of  the  contemporary  Portrait  preserved  amongst 

the  Royal  relics  in  the  Louvre. 


The  Captivity  of  John,  King  of  France,  at  Sonierton  Castle,  Lin- 
colnshire. A  Paper  read  at  the  Lincoln  Meeting,  May  27, 
1857.  By  the  Hey.  Edwabd  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  Rector  of 
Leasingham. 

JOHN^  I.,  (surnamed  "Le  Bon")  the  son  of  Phihp  of  Valois,  mounted 
the  throne  of  France,  A.D.  1350,  at  the  age  of  80.  He  hegan  his 
reign  most  inauspiciously,  it  will  be  remembered,  by  beheading  the 
Count  D'Eu,  an  act  which  alienated  the  affections  of  all  his  greater 
nobles  from  him,  and  which  he  in  vain  endeavoured  to  regain  by 
instituting  the  Order  of  the  "  Star,"  in  imitation  of  that  of  the 
Garter,  founded  by  the  sovereign  of  England.  Next,  he  was  much 
perplexed  by  the  continued  enmity  of  Charles  D'Evereux,  king  of 
Navarre ;  and  finally,  the  Black  Prince,  invading  his  realm,  ravaged 
Limousin,  Auvergne,  Berri,  and  Poitou.  Housed  to  the  highest 
pitch  of  anger  by  such  temerity  on  the  part  of  his  English  assailants, 
John  hastily  raised  a  large  force,  consisting  of  60,000  men,  swearing 
that  he  would  give  battle  to  the  Prince  immediately ;  but  having 
encountered  him  at  Maupertuis,  near  Poitiers,  he  was  most  signally 
defeated,  Sept.  20th,  1356,  by  a  greatly  inferior  force,  consisting 
of  only  8000  men.  This  reverse  arose,  however,  from  no  want  of 
personal  valour  on  the  part  of  John,  but  from  his  deficiency  as  a 
general,  as  he  fought  most  valiantly  to  the  last ;  after  he  had  lost 
his  helmet,  was  wounded  in  the  face,  and  surrounded  by  a  heap  of 
slain,  still  continuing  to  fell  those  who  dared  to  approach  him  with 
a  vast  battle  axe ;  and  when  all  hope  was  gone,  declared  he  would 
only  yield  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  A  crowd  of  knights  and  esquires 
now  closed  in  upon  him,  in  such  numbers  that  he  was  nearly 
suffocated  by  their  pressure;  amongst  whom  were,  according  to 
family  tradition.  Sir  Pioger  la  Warr,  and  John  de  Pelham,  whose 
respective  families,  through  their  claim  to  the  honour  of  having 
aided  in  the  capture  of  this  unfortunate  king  of  France,  afterwards 
bore  as  badges,  the  one  a  "crampet,"  i.e.  the  metal  terminal  guard 
of  a  sword-sheath,  and  the  other  a  sword-belt  buckle,  to  which  was 
added  the  still  more  significant  emblem  of  a  cage,  by  Sir  John  de 
Pelham,  the  grandson  of  the  presumed  capturer,  which  he  bore  as 
a  crest,  as  may  be  seen  from  an  impression  of  his  seal  now  in  the 
possession  of  the  present  representative  of  his  family,  the  Earl  of 
Chichester.  The  crampet,  or  "  chape,"  as  this  was  sometimes 
termed,  is  displayed  on  the  fine  tomb  of  Thomas  Lord  la  Warr,  in 
Broadwater  church,  Sussex,  who  died  in  1526,  and  is  still,  we  be- 
lieve, born  by  his  noble  descendant  Earl  Delawarr.  The  buckle 
is  repeatedly  stamped  upon  the  ornamental  brickwork  of  Laughton 
Place,  near  Lewes,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Pelhams.  See  Badges 
of  the  families   of  Pelham   and   De  la   Warr,  published   by   the 

Note  1.    For  this  and  the  other  notes,  see  the  end  of  the  Paper. 
H 


50 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 


Sussex  Archaeological  Society:  vol.  3,  p.  228:  tlirougli  whose 
courtesy  we  are  enabled  to  give  a  cut  of  this  curious  reminiscence 
of  the  battle  of  Poitiers. 


John  at  length  succumbed  before  such  fearful  odds,  and  sinking 
utterly  exhausted  to  the  ground,  was  forced  to  surrender  to  Denis 
de  Morbec,  a  simple  knight  of  Arras,  after  six  thousand  of  the  French 
troops  had  perished,  including  the  Due  de  Bourbon  and  many  of 
his  greatest  nobles.  A  vast  number  also  were  taken  prisoners, 
such  as  James  of  Bourbon,  John  and  Charles  dArtois — "  Sires  des 
fleurs  de  lis  "  as  they  were  termed ;  and,  above  all,  prince  Philip,^ 
the  king's  fourth  and  most  gallant  son,  who,  although  only  a  youth 
hardly  fifteen  years  of  age,  and  wounded,  remained  on  the  fatal 
field  with  his  father,  and  still  fought  by  his  side,  long  after  his  three 
elder  brothers  had  been  withdrawn  by  their  governors. 

These  illustrious  captives  were  taken  to  Bourdeaux  by  their 
conqueror,  and  embarking  at  that  port  on  the  11th  of  April,  1357, 
arrived  in  England  on  the  4tli  of  May.  It  had  been  arranged  that 
the  Black  Prince  and  his  royal  prisoners  should  land  at  Plymouth, 
John  Dabernon,  sheriff  of  Devonshire,  having  received  orders  to 
provide  all  necessaries  for  them  upon  their  arrival  in  that  county ; 
but  they  certainly  did  not  do  so,  as  Froissart  gives  an  itinerary  of 
their  journey  from  the  coast  of  Kent  to  London,  whence  it  appears 
that,  landing  at  Sandwich,  they  rested  the  first  night  at  Canterbury, 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  OF  FRANCE.  51 

where  they  made  their  offerings  at  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas,  and 
were  met  by  a  deputation  of  citizens  from  the  capital ;  after  which 
they  proceeded  to  Rochester,  then  to  Dartford,  and  finally  to 
London ;  their  entry  into  the  capital  having  taken  place  on  the 
24th  of  INIay,  when  the  captive  king,  mounted  on  his  own  magnificent 
wdiite  charger,  taken  at  Poitiers,  richly  caparisoned,  was  conducted 
through  the  whole  length  of  London  to  the  palace  of  the  Savoy,  his 
future  residence — then  the  property  of  Henry,  Duke  of  Lancaster.^ 
Here  he  was  well  entertained,  and  mutual  visits  took  place  between 
the  captives  and  the  captors,  on  which  occasions  Edward  and 
Philippa  endeavoured  to  console  their  royal  prisoner,  both  by  feasts 
given  in  his  honour  and  by  words  of  condolence.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  summer  of  this  year,  John  and  prince  Philip,  leaving  the 
greater  part  of  their  attendants  in  London,  adjourned  to  Windsor 
Castle,  where  they  enjoyed  the  diversion  of  hunting;  and  this 
private  visit  was  repeated,  as  during  the  first  part  of  their  captivity 
they  had  full  liberty  allowed  them,  and  were  merely  on  their  parole 
not  to  attempt  to  escape. 

They  also  again  went  to  Windsor  early  in  the  following  year, 
for  the  purpose  of  attending  a  grand  state  festival,  given  by  king 
Edward  to  the  knights  of  the  Garter,  who  dined  in  the  Round  Tower, 
that  had  then  just  been  hastily  finished  for  their  accommodation. 
At  this  banquet  John  sat  on  one  side  of  the  English  monarch,  and 
David  Bruce  king  of  Scotland  on  the  other — both  of  whom  also 
tilted  in  the  lists.  In  this  tourney  the  Earl  of  Salisbury  was  slain, 
whose  lovely  wife  had  certainly  captivated  king  Edward's  heart,  and 
perhaps  that  of  the  French  monarch ;  but  there  is  not  the  slightest 
taint  upon  her  honour  in  either  instance,  as  she  immediately 
retired  from  court  after  the  death  of  her  husband,  and  John  most 
probably  never  saw  her  again.  [Queens  of  England,  by  Miss 
Strickland,  vol.  2,  p.  345.) 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  1358,  a  series  of  restrictions  began 
to  be  experienced  by  the  captives,  accompanied  by  reductions  of 
their  suite ;  but  this  change  was  the  result  of  political  caution,  not 
of  any  unnecessary  severity.  On  the  IQth  of  December,  1358,  Roger 
de  Beauchamp  was  ordered  to  watch  the  king  continually,  with 
sixty-nine  men  at  arms ;  and  it  was  intended  that  he  should  shortly 
be  transferred  to  Somerton  Castle,  near  Navenby  in  Lincolnshire, 
when  four  tuns  of  wine  were  forwarded  there  for  his  use,  and  a  vessel 
was  bespoken  to  carry  his  goods  to  Lincolnshire  by  sea,  at  a  cost  of 
46s.  8d.  Eventually,  however,  he  w^as  sent  to  Hertford  castle,'* 
April  4th  in  the  following  year,  where  he  was  placed  under  the  care 
of  Roger  de  Beauchamp,  and  was  graciously  received  by  Isabella  of 
France,  queen  dowager  of  England. 

Whilst  at  Hertford,  John's  suite  was  ordered  to  be  reduced  to 
twenty  persons,  but  in  consequence  of  his  indignant  remonstrances, 
he  was  eventually  allowed  to  retain  nineteen  others,  including  Girart 
d'Orleans  his  painter,  and  Tassin  de  Breuil  his  tailor.  Here  he 
received  a  most  welcome  addition  to  his  resources,  amounting  to 
£1268  14s.  9d.,  at  the  hands  of  ten  deputies  from  Languedoc. 


52         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

King  Edward's  apprehensions  having  increased,  he  now  deter- 
mined positively  to  remove  his  important  captives  to  Somerton ; 
and  aj)pointed  William,  baron  D'Ejncourt,^  custodian  of  the  Koyal 
prisoners — a  noble  in  whom  he  could  place  the  utmost  confidence. 
An  indenture  was  accordingly  sealed  between  the  king  and  D'Eyn- 
court,  with  whom  were  associated  two  bannerets — viz..  Sir  John  de 
Kirketon,^  and  Sir  John  D'Eyncourt,  (probably  a  brother  of  the 
baron's),  also  Sir  William  Colevill,  in  behalf  of  liis  brother,  Robert 
de  Colevill  (who  was  then  ill),  and  Sir  Saier  de  Rochford,'  having 
reference  to  the  safe  conduct  of  the  king  of  France  from  Hertford 
castle  to  that  of  Somerton,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that  Lord 
D'Eyncourt  and  his  associates  should  supply,  as  a  guard  during 
the  journey,  22  men-at-arms,  20  archers,  and  2  gaytes,  all  of  whom 
were  to  dine  at  the  J^ord  D'Eyncourt's  table,  at  the  cost  of  the  king, 
and  were  to  receive  daily  the  following  wages — viz.,  each  of  the 
bannerets  4s.,  each  of  the  knights  2s.,  each  of  the  esquires  I2d., 
each  of  the  horse  archers  6d.,  each  of  the  foot  archers  3d.,  and  each 
of  the  gaytes  6d.,  amounting  to  39s.  per  day ;  whilst,  to  make  up 
the  sum  of  40s.  the  Lord  D'Eyncourt  was  to  have  an  additional  Is. 
per  day.  In  accordance  with  this  order,  D'Eyncourt  commenced 
the  removal  of  the  royal  captives  from  Hertford  to  Somerton^  on 
Monday,  the  29th  of  July,  1359,  dining  at  Puckeridge,  and  sleep- 
ing at  Royston.  On  Tuesday,  the  travellers  dined  at  Croxton,  and 
slept  at  Huntingdon,  remaining  there  until  the  following  day.  On 
Thursday  they  dined  at  a  place  termed  "  Gerston,"  and  slept  at 
Stamford,  where  they  remained  over  the  Friday.  On  Saturday 
they  dined  at  Easton,  slept  at  Grantham,  and  stayed  in  that  town 
until  after  dinner  on  Saturday,  August  4th,  on  the  evening  of 
which  day  they  arrived  at  "  Soubretonne,"  or  Somerton.''  Thus  a 
whole  week  was  consumed  in  travelling  from  Hertford  to  Somer- 
ton ;  but,  although  the  company  of  attendants  and  guardians  must 
have  been  large,  owing  to  the  royal  proclamation  addressed  to  all 
sheriffs  and  mayors,  and  charging  them  to  aid  the  baron  D'Eyncourt 
in  procuring  supplies  of  wheat,  flesh,  fish,  &c.,  for  the  sustenance  of 
the  king  of  France  and  his  attendants,  the  captives  were  probably 
well  supplied  with  all  such  necessaries  as  they  required,  in  the  usual 
rough  abundance  of  the  14th  century.  {Pat.  S^rcl  Ed.  III.,  p.  2, 
sem.  16.)  But  what  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  despondency  with 
which  they  approached  their  new  place  of  detention  !  After  leaving 
Grantham,  and  following  the  straight  course  of  the  old  Roman 
Ermin-street  northwards,  the  aspect  of  the  country  had  become 
more  and  more  dreary ;  and  when  the  cavalcade  had  passed  Ancas- 
ter  and  reached  Lincoln  Heath,  the  hearts  of  the  fallen  king  and 
his  royal  son'*'  must  indeed  have  sunk,  when  they  saw  a  vast  wilder- 
ness before  them  extending  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  utterly 
destitute  of  all  signs  of  cultivation,  and  from  which  the  hand  of 
man  had  apparently  shrunk.  A  line  of  villages,  indeed,  then,  as 
now,  existed  at  the  foot  of  the  plateau,  on  the  summit  of  which  the 
road  had  been  carried ;  but  these  were  out  of  sight,  so  that  a  suc- 
cession of  tapering  spires,  visible  in  the  far  distance  on  the  right, 


InmntnE  €m\k. 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  OF  FRANCE.  53 

was  the  only  indication  of  inhabitants  in  this  district — with  the 
exception  of  the  estabhshment  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  at  Tem- 
ple Bi-Lier — until  the  cortege  arrived  near  Wcllingore  and  the 
adjoining  villages  of  Navenby  and  Boothby-GrafFoe,  in  which  last 
parish  Somerton  is  situated.  At  this  point  the  travellers  descended 
into  the  valley  on  the  west  of  the  old  lioman  road,  and  soon 
reached  the  strongly  towered  and  deeply  moated  castle  of  Somer- 
ton," where  a  large  amount  of  extra  accommodation  would  be 
necessary  for  the  reception  of  a  monarch  and  his  suite,  who, 
although  a  prisoner,  was  required  to  be  treated  with  all  due 
honour,  but  yet  to  be  carefully  guarded ;  so  that  what  with  the 
baron's  own  family,  the  royal  servants,  the  constable — Sir  Henry 
de  Grreystock — the  guard,  and  numerous  attendants  required  to 
wait  upon  the  combined  establishment,  the  number  of  its  inmates 
must  at  this  time  have  been  very  great.  But  although  modern 
housekeepers  might  tremble  at  the  task  of  having  to  provide  for 
such  a  host,  it  was  not  really  such  a  serious  one  as  might  be 
imagined.  The  men-at-arms,  retainers,  and  servants,  slept  on  the 
benches  and  the  rush-covered  floor  of  the  hall,  or  on  the  straw,  and 
in  the  barns,  and  even  the  knights  were  satisfied  with  simple 
pallet  beds  ;  whilst  little  beyond  a  certain  amount  of  beeves,  sheep, 
w^heat,  barley,  rye,  and  oats,  was  necessary  to  satisfy  the  wants  of 
all.  An  order  for  victualling  the  castle  with  these  was  made  by 
king  Edward ;  also  for  procuring  hay,  straw,  and  fish,  which  were 
to  be  bought  in  all  such  markets  and  other  places  where  these 
necessaries  were  usually  brought  for  sale.  But  little  furniture  was 
then  in  use,  and  that  of  the  simplest  description;  no  arras  or 
hangings  usually  decked  any  walls  but  those  of  the  "  Soler,"  nor 
did  any  carpets  even  partially  cover  the  rude  floors,  which  were 
buried  beneath  a  load  of  rushes  seldom  completely  renewed — the 
lower  part  of  halls  being  termed  the  "  Marsh  "  from  its  usual  damp 
condition,  whilst  chimneys  and  glass  window^s  were  rare ;  so  that 
domestic  refinements  under  these  circumstances  could  scarcely  be 
expected  to  exist,  and  a  few  tables,  trestles,  and  benches  seem  to 
have  constituted  the  whole  of  the  furniture  at  Somerton  when  John 
entered  its  solid  walls.  Previous  to  his  coming  into  Lincolnshire, 
viz.,  on  the  2*2nd  of  July,  in  accordance  with  an  edict  of  Edward  III., 
John  had  been  forced  to  dismiss  forty-two  of  his  attendants ;  he 
still  however  retained  about  the  same  number  around  his  person. -^^ 
Amongst  these  were  two  chaplains,  a  secretary,  a  clerk  of  the  chapel, 
a  physician,  a  maitre  d'hotel,  three  pages,  four  valets,  three  wardrobe 
men,  three  furriers,  six  grooms,  two  cooks,  a  fruiterer,  a  spiceman, 
a  barber,  and  a  washer,  besides  some  higher  officers,  and  a  person 
bearing  the  exalted  name  of  "  le  roy  de  menestereulx,"  who  appears 
to  have  been  a  maker  of  musical  instruments  and  clocks  as  well  as 
a  minstrel;  and  last,  but  not  least,  "  Maistre  Jean  le  fol."  The 
Somerton  Castle  furniture  being  utterly  insufiicient  for  such  a  vast 
increase  of  inmates,  the  captive  king  added  a  number  of  tables, 
chairs,  forms,  and  trestles,  besides  fittings  for  the  stables,  and  stores 
of  firewood  and  turf.     He  also  fitted  up  his  own  chamber,^^  that  of 


54         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETT. 

the  prince  Philip,  and  of  M.  Jean  le  fol,  besides  the  chapel,  with 
hangings,  curtains,  cushions,  ornamented  coffers,  sconces,  &c.,  the 
furniture  of  each  of  these  filling  a  separate  waggon  when  the  king 
left  Somerton.  The  hall  was  probably  only  ornamented  with  a  few 
pieces  of  tapestry  on  festive  occasions,  but  the  king's  bench  was 
doubtless  covered  with  a  silken  covering ;  in  the  inventory  of  a 
coeval  prince's  property  one  being  mentioned  of  yellow  silk 
embroidered  with  golden  fruit,  another  of  black  silk  with  bird's 
heads  in  gold  upon  it,  and  a  third  of  scarlet,  rayed  with  rays  of 
gold.  Large  consignments  of  good  Bourdeaux  wines  were  trans- 
mitted from  France  to  the  port  of  "  St.  Boutoul "  (or  Boston),  for 
the  captive  king's  use — then  one  of  the  first  in  the  kingdom.  One 
hundred  and  twenty  tuns  were  sent  at  one  time  from  Raoul  de  Lile 
— the  king's  receiver  at  Toulouse,  together  with  twenty  tuns  from 
the  x\bbe  de  Grand  Silve  and  the  Seneschal  D'Agenois  as  a 
present,  being  intended  in  part  for  John's  own  use — in  part  as  a 
means  of  raising  money  wherewithal  to  keep  up  his  royal  state. 
Accordingly  we  find  that  the  bulk  of  these  wines  was  disposed  of  to 
various  customers.  Four  tuns  were  sold  to  Jelian  Kelleshulle  for 
36  nobles  (£12) ;  one  tun  to  the  king's  custodian — baron  William 
D'Eyncourt,  for  £6 — all  from  the  Boston  store;  in  addition  to  six 
tuns  sold  to  another  customer  for  the  low  sum  of  £10  13s.  4d.,  as 
they  had  been  slightly  injured.  The  king  rented  a  cellar  at  Boston 
of  one  William  Spaign,^^  to  whom  he  paid  10  marks  (or  £Q  13s.  4d.,) 
for  its  use  during  the  period  he  was  at  Somerton ;  he  also  paid  one 
Anselet  Sudeliane  as  his  sale  agent,  at  a  salary  of  3d.  per  diem, 
and  eventually  commissioned  him  to  remove  the  remainder  of  the 
stores  to  London.  Some  wdne  w^as  also  sold  on  the  king's  account 
at  Lincoln,  and  many  tuns  in  London,  a  large  item  of  £94  Ts.  9d. 
having  been  placed  to  the  royal  captive's  credit  for  wines  sold  in  the 
metropolis.  A  safe  conduct  was  allowed  for  the  transmission  of 
these  wines  across  the  sea,  and  for  their  carriage  from  Boston  to 
Somerton  fseeRymer,  new  ed.,  torn.  3,  j^.  411j;  and  the  carriage  of 
one  hundred  and  forty  tuns  from  Bordeaux  to  the  royal  cellars  in 
England  cost,  we  find,  £496  4s.  Id.  A  costly  item  in  the  king's 
expenditure  w^as  sugar,  together  with  spices  bought  in  London, 
Lincoln,  and  Boston,^^  of  which  immense  quantities  were  consumed 
in  the  form  of  confectionery ;  and  as  in  this  monarch's  household 
book  are  constant  items  of  eggs  to  clarify  sugar,  roses  to  flavour  it 
with,  and  cochineal  to  colour  it,  the  French  taste  for  bon-bons,  we 
may  conclude,  was  as  prevalent  in  the  14th  century  as  it  is  in  the 
19th.  These  appear  to  have  cost  3s.  the  lb.,  at  least  such  is  the 
price  of  what  is  termed  "sucre  reset  vermeil;"  and  especial  men- 
tion is  made  of  a  large  silver  gilt  box  made  for  the  king  as  a 
"  bonboniere,"  or  receptacle  for  such  sweets. 

Having  now  described  John's  lodgings  and  food  when  at  Somer- 
ton, we  will  proceed  next  to  his  dress,  in  which  he  was  most  prodi- 
gal, in  less  than  five  months  he  having  ordered  eight  complete 
suits,  in  addition  to  another  he  had  received  as  a  present  from  the 
Countess  of  Boulogne,  and  mauy  separate  articles,  all  of  the  solid 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  Or  FRANCE.  55 

materials  then  in  use,  and  lined  or  trimmed  with  miniver — upwards 
of  2,000  skins  having  sometimes  been  employed  to  ornament  a 
single  suit.  One  ordered  for  Easter  was  of  Brussels  manufacture,  a 
marbled  violet  velvet,  trimmed  with  miniver :  another,  for  Whitsun- 
tide, of  rosy  scarlet,  lined  with  blue  taffeta.  The  fur  and  trimmings  of 
these  robes  also  formed  a  most  costly  additional  item,  there  having 
been  paid  to  William,  a  furrier  of  Lincoln,  £17  3s.  9d.  for  800 
miniver  skins,  and  850  ditto  of  "gris;"  also  £8  10s.  to  Thornsten, 
a  furrier  of  London,  for  600  additional  miniver  skins  and  300  of 
"  gris,"  all  for  one  set  of  robes.  Thus  2,550  skins,  at  a  cost  of 
£25  13s.  9d.  were  used  in  this  suit,  and  the  charge  for  making  it 
up  was  £6  8s.  So  large,  indeed,  were  the  requirements  of  the 
captive  king  and  his  househokP  when  at  Somerton,  in  the  matter 
of  dress,  that  a  regular  tailoring  establishment  was  set  up  in  Lin- 
coln by  his  order,  over  which  one  M.  Tassin  presided ;  a  house  for 
this  purpose  having  been  hired  by  the  year  in  that  city  from 
Michaelmas  1359,  at  a  cost  of  16d.,  duly  secured  by  new  bolts, 
provided  with  a  shop-board,  fuel,  and  candles.  Tassin's  working 
tailors  had  8d.  a  day,  and  their  chief  was  allowed  his  horse  hire 
whenever  he  went  over  to  Somerton,  which  was  very  often,  particu- 
larly as  he  bought  materials  for  the  king  as  well  as  made  them  up. 
As  jewels  were  largely  worn  by  both  sexes  at  this  period,  as  well  as 
enamelled  ornaments,  it  is  not  surprising  that  so  many  charges 
should  appear  in  the  privy  purse  expenses  for  such  ornaments. 
One  bill,  from  Jehan  de  Mart  (a  jeweller),  amounting  to  £323  6s,  8d., 
for  articles  supplied  to  the  king  when  at  Somerton,  was  afterwards 
paid.  Another  (Hannequin  by  name)  supplied  a  sapphire  engraved 
with  a  head  in  intaglio,  costing  £5  6s.  8d. ;  a  second  sapphire  ring, 
enclosing  a  relic,  costing  10s. ;  in  addition  to  very  many  smaller 
articles,  such  as  buckles,  and  enamelled  ornaments  for  armour,  &c. 
The  king's  table  was  also  well  furnished  with  silver  and  silver  gilt 
articles,  such  as  dishes  and  cups,  one  of  these  last  being  described 
as  set  with  emeralds,  and  even  the  royal  jester  had  his  silver  gilt 
drinking  cup.  As  John's  mental  powers  were  of  a  high  order,  he 
was  exceedingly  fond  of  literature,  pictorial  delineations,  and  music, 
so  that  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  many  evidences  of  his  love  for  such 
accomplishments  existing  in  the  Comptes  de  VArgenterie  des  Bms  de 
France,  during  his  residence  at  Somerton,  as  well  as  when  he  sat 
upon  the  throne  of  his  ancestors.  He  was  really  the  founder  of  the 
Bibliotheque  Royal,  although  his  successor  usually  enjoys  the  credit 
of  this  act,  John  having  deposited  twelve  richly  bound  volumes 
therein,  forming  the  nucleus  of  that  now  vast  and  magnificent 
library.  Amongst  his  expenses  at  Paris  we  find  charges  for  silk 
tissue  and  silver  clasps  for  a  book  of  orisons  delivered  to  the  Bishop 
of  Chalons,  also  for  two  pair  of  silver  clasps  enamelled  with  fleurs 
de  lis,  and  three  marks  of  fine  gold  for  gildiug  them,  delivered  to 
Jean  de  Montmartre,  his  illuminator ;  and  whilst  at  Somerton, 
there  are  items  of  a  similar  description  in  his  account,  viz.,  13s.  5d. 
for  covering  the  king's  missal,  ancl  for  embroidering  the  said  cover 
with  silk,  together  with  two  silver  bosses  for  the  same ;    one  noble 


56         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

(or  6s.  8d.)  demanded  by  Jehan — a  bookseller  of  Lincoln — for  a 
small  psalter  supplied  to  the  king;  a  noble  was  also  paid  to 
"  Maistre  Jehan  Langlois,"  a  scrivener,  for  his  labour  upon  a 
psalter  "  which  the  king  did  not  buy."  ^^ 

From  the  Comiotes  cle  VArgenterie  des  Bois  de  France,  and 
from  Notes  et  Documents  relatifs  a  Jean  Boi  de  France,  dx,  by 
the  Due  d'Aumale,  we  find  that  this  monarch  was  a  constant 
reader  of  romances,  he  having  ordered  Tassin,  his  tailor  agent,  to 
buy  at  Lincoln,  the  Romans  du  Renart,  costing  6s.  8d. ;  and 
elsewhere,  that  of  Guilon,  at  20d. ;  of  Loherenc  Garin,  for  28s.  8d. ; 
and  Du  Tournoiement  d'Antechrist,  for  10s.  He  also  borrowed,  when 
at  Hertford,  other  w^orks  of  this  description,  from  Isabella  the 
queen  dowager  of  England,  viz.,  the  romances  of  St.  Graal  and 
of  Sir  Launcelot. — These  prices  the  king  gave  in  Lincolnshire  for 
writing  materials,  viz.,  3s.  to  3s.  6d.  for  one  dozen  of  parchments, 
6d.  to  9d.  for  a  quire  of  paper,  and  2d.  for  some  of  inferior  quality; 
Is.  for  an  envelope  with  its  silk  binder,  lOd.  to  Is.  for  a  lb.  of  red 
wax,  4d.  for  a  bottle  of  ink.  John's  taste  for  painting  is  indicated 
by  the  desire  he  expressed  to  retain  Maistre  Girart  d'Orleans  in  his 
household,  whom  he  had  formerly  employed  in  Normandy  to 
decorate  the  castle  of  Vaudreuil,  and  now  still  largely  patronized 
during  his  captivity  as  an  artist  and  furniture  decorator — charges 
being  made  by  the  said  M.  Girart  for  sundry  necessaries  requisite 
to  produce  certain  paintings  ordered  by  the  king,  as  well  as  by 
Franchequin  the  Jeweller,  "  pour  un  table  a  pourtraire,  achete  pour 
le  Roi,"  in  addition  to  his  employment  of  illuminators,  &c. — John's 
patronage  of  music  declares  itself  by  the  fact  of  his  having  com- 
missioned "  Maistre  Jehan  I'Organier  "  to  fit  up  an  organ  he  had 
brought  from  Hertford,  who,  besides  making  a  charge  for  skins  for 
the  bellows,  and  the  services  of  a  blower,  received  20s.  as  his  salary 
for  three  weeks,  in  addition  to  his  expenses.  The  said  "  Maistre 
Jehan "  came  down  from  London  especially  for  this  purpose — 
afterwards  took  the  said  organ  to  "  Aumby  "  (Navenby),  where  he 
lodged,  to  carry  out  further  repairs,  and  was  finally  employed  to 
take  this  instrument  back  to  London.  The  king  of  the  minstrels 
charges  13s.  4d.  for  a  harp ;  and  a  further  sum  for  going  to  Chiches- 
ter to  look  after  certain  musical  instruments  the  king  had  spoken  to 
him  about,  after  he  had  left  Somerton ;  besides  two  nobles  for 
another  harp  ;  3s.  4d.  was  paid  to  the  priest  and  clerks  of  "  Aumby" 
when  they  sang  Ergo  laudes  before  the  king.  John  also  gave  the 
large  sum  of  40  nobles  (or  £13  6s.  8d.)  to  the  united  minstrels  of 
king  Edward,  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  Duke  of  Lancaster, 
when  they  played  before  him,  in  London,  on  St.  John's-day — 
probably  in  compliment  to  the  name  he  bore.  He  also  bestowed 
8s.  4d.  upon  a  minstrel  who  sang  a  ludicrous  lay  to  him  about  a 
dog  and  a  monkey.  In  addition  to  these  recreations,  the  fallen 
monarch  beguiled  his  captivity  by  means  of  chess  and  backgammon 
— occasionally  condescending  to  j^lay  at  these  games  with  Tassin, 
his  Lincoln  tailor-agent,  to  whom  he  lost  a  "  Cote  bardie  "  of  freize, 
costing  3s.  4d.,  at  chess,  whilst  Tassin  de  Breuil  makes  a  charge  of 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  OF  FKANCE.  57 

12d.  for  a  '' Jeu  de  Tables."  The  youthful  tastes  of  the  valorous 
young  Prince  Philip  are  also  exhibited  by  the  records  of  the  Comptet 
de  VArgenterie.  Hence  we  gather  he  had  dogs — probably  grey- 
hounds, for  coursing  on  the  heath  adjoining  Somcrton — and  falcons, 
a  charge  being  made  by  Jehan  de  Millan,  falconer  to  "  Monsignore 
Phillippe,"  of  7s.  2d.,  for  making  a  mew  for  his  falcons;  another 
for  a  dozen  bells  for  these  birds,  and  for  two  pair  of  doeskin 
hawking  gloves  to  enable  the  prince  to  carry  his  falcons  to  the  river ; 
and  an  item  of  12d.  paid  to  an  "  English  varlet,  who  found  the 
hawk  of  Monsignore  Philippe  which  had  been  lost;"  also  that 
"  Messire  Graces  de  la  Buigne,"  the  head  chaiolain,  was  his  instructor 
in  the  ait  of  falconry.  The  said  Monsignore  Philippe,  I  am  sorry  to 
add,  also  indulged  in  the  then,  no  doubt,  common  sport  of  cock- 
fighting,  a  charge  appearing  in  the  royal  household  accounts  for  the 
purchase  of  a  game  cock  bought  by  his  order,  and  termed,  in 
language  characteristic  of  the  period,  '*  un  coc  a  faire  jouster." 
None  of  the  neighbouring  nobles  or  knights  appear  to  have  held 
any  communication  with  the  royal  captive,  and  although  the 
chivalrous  establishment  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  at  Temple 
Bruer  was  very  near  to  Somerton,  there  is  not  the  slightest  trace  of 
its  occupants  having  offered  him  any  marks  of  respect ;  but  perhaps 
such  acts  of  attention  may  have  been  forbidden  by  king  Edward,  or 
discountenanced  by  his  custodian  D'Eyncourt.  Some  of  the  poorer 
folks  in  the  neighbourhood,  however,  occasionally  came  and  made 
small  offerings  to  the  captives,  "  one  English  peasant"  having  been 
rewarded  with  a  noble  for  bringing  a  present  of  pears  to  the  castle, 
and  another  receiving  the  same  sum  for  two  pairs  of  white  pigeons 
which  he  had  presented.  But  the  king  was  surrounded  by  a  very 
large  suite  (as  we  have  seen),  in  addition  to  which  he  had  the 
society  of  some  ladies  to  cheer  his  sojourn  at  Somerton.  In  the 
first  place,  the  wife  of  his  custodian  was  living  in  the  castle ;  and 
Joan,  Countess  of  Warren  and  granddaughter  of  Edward  I.  (termed 
by  the  French  the  Countess  of  Garainnes,)  and  her  attendants 
arrived  there  from  Hertford  soon  after  the  king  had  entered  its 
walls ;  also  Marie  de  St.  Pol,  Countess  of  Pembroke,  who,  having 
early  in  life  become  a  bride  and  a  widow  on  the  same  day,  by  the 
death  of  her  husband  at  a  tournament  held  in  honor  of  their 
espousals,  devoted  her  life  to  acts  of  piety  and  devotion.  She  was  also 
famed  for  her  love  of  learning  and  its  promotion,  and  was  the 
instructress  of  Joanna  of  Woodstock  betrothed  to  Pedro  the  Cruel 
of  Spain ;  for  which  service  she  received  the  manor  of  Stroud  in 
Kent  from  Edward  III.,  and  was  styled  by  him,  "  his  dearest  cousin 
Marie  de  St.  Pol."  She  travelled  to  Somerton  with  a  large  com- 
pany of  servants  in  two  chariots  requiring  eleven  horses  to  draw  them. 
John  possessed  also  one  other  solace  in  the  person  of  his  faithful 
and  much  petted  Jester — '*  Maistre  Jean  le  fol,"  who  belonged  to  a 
class  which  has  been  much  misunderstood;  he  who  contributed 
towards  the  intellectual  amusement  of  his  patron  being  classed 
most  unjustly  (as  he  often  has  been)  under  the  term  of  •*  Eool." 
True,  he  was  sometimes  misshapen,  sometimes  had  singular  habits, 

I 


58         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

and  was  often  an  odd  melange  of  shrewdness  and  childishness,  yet 
he  was  not  retained  in  princely  retinues  on  account  of  his  folly, 
but  because  of  his  wit ;  and  as  through  the  wonderfully  compensat- 
ing dispositions  of  Providence,  when  the  body  is  stunted  the  mind 
often  makes  an  extraordinary  growth,  so  a  fragile,  distorted,  or 
deficient  outward  form  not  unfrequently  contains  within  it  a  mind 
of  brilliant  powers,  which  appears  to  have  been  unnaturally  nour- 
ished at  the  expense  of  the  grosser  materials  with  which  it  is  con- 
nected. Princes,  however,  chose  not  such  persons  to  be  about 
them  because  they  were  deformed,  but  because  they  discerned  the 
sparkle  of  true  genius  within;  which,  when  books  were  scarce,  and 
intellectual  food  of  all  kinds  very  limited,  would  serve  well  to  amuse 
their  leisure  hours.  Although,  therefore,  some  so-called  "fools" 
were  deformed,  and  some  were  simply  buffoons,  princes  of  high 
intellect — like  John  of  France — required  something  more  than  an 
outwardly  ludicrous  form,  or  the  tricks  of  a  mountebank,  for  their 
mental  recreation  ;  smart  repartees  and  sayings  flashing  with  pun- 
gent or  eccentric  wit  being  the  qualifications  which,  doubtless,  made 
'*  Maistre  Jean"  so  valuable  to  him,  especially  when  time  hung 
heavy  upon  his  hands,  as  it  probably  did  do  occasionally  at  Somer- 
ton.  No  wonder,  then,  that  we  find  so  many  articles  of  dress,  &c., 
made  for  M.  Jean,  and  so  much  attention  paid  him.  He  had  robes 
trimmed  with  costly  minivir,  like  those  of  the  king ;  and  scarcely 
ever  had  the  monarch  a  new  suit  without  ordering  another  for  this 
his  retainer.  He  had  his  own  valet,  a  room  duly  furnished  at 
Somerton,  and  when  he  left  it  had  a  waggon  for  the  especial  carriage 
of  his  goods,  &c. ;  whilst  one  item  in  the  household  expenses  alone 
may  possibly  point  to  his  motley  character — viz.,  a  charge  for  a  set 
of  "ninepins"  on  his  account.  The  next  trait  of  king  John's 
character,  and  that  a  very  important  one,  clearly  exhibited  in  the 
Comptcs  cle  VArgenterie  des  Rois  de  France,  is  his  love  of  alms- 
giving ;  and  in  no  respect  does  his  character  assume  a  brighter  hue 
than  when  the  long  and  varied  list  of  his  charitable  gifts  to  rehgious 
societies  and  private  persons  is  laid  before  us,  a  ceaseless  stream  of 
these — both  great  and  small,  public  and  private — having  ever  flowed 
from  his  treasury,  when  on  the  throne  in  prosperity,  and  when  a 
captive  in  adversity.  In  the  first  place,  wherever  he  was,  he  made 
a  small  daily  offering  to  the  curate  of  the  parish  he  was  residing  in, 
so  that  whether  at  Hertford,  Somerton,  or  in  the  Tower  of  London, 
this  duty  was  never  omitted,  besides  the  presentation  of  larger  sums 
on  the  festivals  of  the  Church.  For  instance,  we  find  him  giving 
to  the  humble  Cure  of  Boby  (Boothby)  three  moutons  (or  12s.)  for 
masses  offered  by  him  at  Xmas  ;  8s.  at  the  Epiphany ;  and  ]  3  gros 
(or  4s.  4d.)  at  Candlemas.  The  religious  orders  also  received  large 
sums  from  his  hands  :  the  four  mendicant  societies  of  Uncoln 
obtaining  from  him  15  escuz  each,  equivalent  to  £10.  On  his  way 
from  London  to  Somerton  he  offered  at  Grantham  five  nobles 
(33s.  4d.),  gave  five  more  nobles  to  the  preaching  friars  of 
Stamford,  and  the  same  sum  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Albans,  where 
prince  Philip  offered  one  noble,  and  even  Maistre  Jean  le  Fol  4d. 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  OF  FRANCE.  59 

There  also  he  washed  the  feet  of  thirteen  poor  persons,  giving  to 
each  as  his  Maundy  Is.  Id.  on  Holy  Thursday.  When  in  London, 
we  find  him  bestowing  two  nobles  at  Easter  upon  the  curate  of  the 
Tower  as  an  offering,  and  also  providing  soup  for  the  poor ;  whilst 
all  the  religious  orders  of  London  apparently  then  profited  by  hia 
bounty,  he  giving  three  nobles  to  St.  Catherine's  near  the  Tower, 
one  to  the  Hermitage  in  the  same  locality,  five  to  the  Sepulchre  and 
the  shrine  of  the  Three  Kings  at  Bermondsey,  fifteen  to  the  Augustin 
friars  when  they  said  mass  before  him,  and  a  present  of  £33  6s.  8d. ; 
the  same  to  the  Carmelites  (when  he  visited  them),  to  the  Jacobins, 
the  monks  of  St.  Anthony  of  Vienne,  to  those  of  the  Cross  near  the 
Tower,  and  to  the  Franciscans,  besides  13s.  4d.  to  the  nuns  of  St. 
Nicholas,  three  royals  to  the  Temple,  and  six  nobles  to  a  recluse. 
His  offerings  also  at  the  old  cathedral  church  of  St.  Paul's  were 
most  munificent,  consisting  of  33s.  4d.  placed  in  its  alms  basin ; 
£16  13s.  4d.  presented  at  the  reliquary  behind  the  high  altar,  by  the 
image  of  our  Lady,  "encoste  le  cuer  et  au  crucifix;"  the  same  sum  to 
its  priests,  clerks,  and  vicars,  and  four  pieces  of  cloth  of  gold  valued 
at  £21  8s.  8d.  So  also  in  his  progress  from  London  to  Dover  his 
alms  continued  to  flow  with  equal  liberality.  At  Eltham  after  mass, 
he  offered  one  royal  (3s.),  he  presented  to  the  Jacobins  of  Dartford 
fifty  nobles  (£16  13s.  4d.),  and  at  Rochester  cathedral  forty  escuz 
(£6  13s.  4d.)  He  gave,  whilst  en  route,  two  nobles  to  two  Carmelites 
of  the  convent  of  Agliford  (Ashford),  and  to  Messire  Richard  Lexden, 
*'an  English  gentleman  who  was  a  hermit  at  Sittingbourne,"  the 
same  sum,  to  the  master  and  brothers  of  the  hospital  at  Ospringe 
ten  nobles,  to  the  nuns  of  Harbledown  ten  escuz,  and  to  the  inmates 
of  four  hospitals  between  Rochester  and  Canterbury  20s.  When  at 
Canterbury  the  king,  as  might  have  been  expected,  made  many 
magnificent  offerings,  viz.,  ten  nobles  (£33  6s.  8d.)  at  the  three  usual 
stations  in  the  cathedral,  besides  various  jewels ;  to  the  preaching 
friars  of  that  city  twenty  nobles,  and  the  same  sum  to  the  Fran- 
ciscans, Augustins,  the  Carmelites  of  Sandois  (Sandwich),  and  to 
the  nuns  of  North-gate ;  three  nobles  to  the  nuns  of  St.  Augustin, 
two  to  the  women  of  the  hospital  of  Notre  Dame,  and  75  nobles 
(or  £25)  at  St  Augustin's,  when  he  attended  mass  there.  At  Dover 
he  presented  to  the  Franciscans  of  Winchelsea  ten  escuz  (33s.  4d.) 
in  addition  to  twenty  nobles  to  Dover  hospital,  and  forty  given  in 
small  alms  by  the  way.  There  also,  just  before  starting,  he  pre- 
sented two  nobles  to  the  nuns  of  St.  James,  and  ten  to  the  Jacobins 
of  Canterbury.  Such  was  the  character  of  king  John's  public  alms, 
with  which  the  number  of  his  secretly-bestowed  charities  entirely 
corresponded,  his  treasury  accounts  abounding  with  entries  of  sums 
varying  from  3s.  to  20s.  and  upwards,  under  the  head  of  "  aumosne 
secrete,"  which  fully  attest  that  he  was  neither  a  formal  nor  an 
ostentatious  giver.  His  kindness  of  heart  is  also  manifested  by  a 
present  he  made  to  Hanvin  Adam,  one  of  his  attendants,  when  on 
his  journey  from  Somerton  to  London,  because  the  said  Adam's  wife 
happened  to  be  confined  at  that  time ;  by  a  gift  of  33s.  4d.  to 
Jehannin,  one  of  his  pages,  and  Pierre,  holding  the  same  ofiice  in  the 


60         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOClETt. 

service  of  prince  Philip,  so  as  to  enable  them  to  pay  their  ransoms  to 
the  persons  who  had  taken  them  prisoners  at  the  battle  of  Poictiers, 
and  by  an  ample  gratuity  to  a  poor  woman,  whose  milk  had  been  upset 
by  one  of  his  greyhounds  when  starting  on  a  coursing  expedition. 

These  allusions,  however,  to  the  tastes  and  qualities  of  the 
captive  king  have  led  us  to  anticipate  the  period  of  his  removal 
from  Somerton — an  event  to  which  we  must  now  refer.  In  the 
month  of  February,  1360,  there  was  a  fear  of  a  French  invasion'^ 
during  king  Edward's  absence,  when  Thomas,  Duke  of  Gloucester, 
was  custodian  of  the  kingdom;  so  that  it  was  determined  in  council, 
March  2nd,  to  remove  the  French  king  and  other  prisoners  of  im- 
portance to  the  castle  of  Berkhampstead  for  greater  security ;  and 
John  de  Birkyngham,  keeper  of  the  duke's  privy  seal,  together  with 
Sir  Ralph  Spigurnell,  were  ordered,  in  concert  with  Lord  D'Eyn- 
court,  to  conduct  the  illustrious  prisoners  to  their  new  place  of 
detention.  This  intention,  however,  was  not  fulfilled,  but  by  a 
second  mandate,  issued  on  the  14lh  of  that  month,  William  de 
Ayremine,  John  de  Buscy,  and  Thomas  de  Meaux,  were  directed  to 
array  the  archers  and  men-at-arms  of  Kesteven,  and  to  be  at  Som- 
erton on  Friday,  the  feast  of  St.  Cuthbert,  at  sunrise.^^  Accord- 
ingly, with  20  men-at-arms,  and  24  mounted  archers,  they  obeyed 
this  order,  the  king  starting  from  the  castle  on  Saturday,  the  21st 
of  March,  for  Grantham,  and  reaching  Stamford  on  the  following 
Tuesday.  Here  John  de  Vudon,  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  Array 
in  Northamptonshire,  met  him  with  a  similar  guard,  and  conducted 
him  to  Higham  Ferrers,  and  the  day  after  to  Woburn  Abbey,  where 
the  Bedfordshire  Commissioner  met  him  on  Tuesday,  the  2-4th,  who 
conducted  him  the  same  day  to  St.  Albans,  and  on  the  following 
one  to  London,  viz.,  March  28th,  when  he  was  lodged  in  the  Tower, 
many  of  the  archives  having  been  removed  from  that  stronghold  on 
this  occasion  for  the  purpose  of  affording  him  better  accommodation, 
and  when  several  of  its  apartments  at  least  were  veiy  handsomely 
fitted  up  for  his  reception.-^  Before  we  proceed  further,  however, 
some  curious  particulars  connected  with  the  transportation  of  king 
John's  baggage  from  Lincolnshire  to  London,  and  also  some  extracts 
from  the  sale  of  his  effects  left  at  Somerton,  may  be  appropriately 
introduced.  The  king,  the  prince,  and  his  immediate  attendants 
travelled  on  horseback,  and  were  guarded  as  we  have  seen,  by  the 
king  of  England's  men-at-arms  and  archers,  but  the  rest  of  his 
suite  and  his  baggage  were  transmitted  to  the  metropolis  at  his  own 
expense:  £71  9s.  was  paid  for  the  carriages  and  horses,  drivers  and 
servants,  who  conveyed  •*  Marie  de  Saint  Pol  Contesse  de  Painbroc" 
to  town,  besides  five  nobles  to  Guillamme  Howel,  her  esquire,  and 
2s.  to  her  varlet.  Twelve  waggons  were  hired  to  convey  the  king's 
baggage  from  Somerton,  eleven  of  them  costing  3s.  4d.,  the  other 
4s.  6d.  per  diem,  besides  board  wages  for  the  drivers,  &c.  These 
started  under  the  care  of  certain  varlets  of  Navenby,  and  were  at- 
tended by  an  escort  of  six  hired  archers.^^  One  contained  the  king's 
own  chamber  furniture,  one  that  of  "  Maistre  Jean  le  Fol,"  and  the 
last  the  necessaries  of  the  pantry  and  kitchen.     At  Stamford  the 


THE  CAPTIVITY  01'  KING  JOHN  01?  FRANCE.  61 

waggons  were  changed,  and  at  Huntingdon  all  the  goods  were 
temporarily  placed  in  a  hired  room,  as  no  other  conveyances  could 
be  procured  there  for  two-and-a-half  days ;  and  there  was  a  recur- 
rence of  the  same  difficulty  at  Koyston.  Hence  the  convoy  reached 
London  without  further  delay  after  a  journey  of  eight  days.  The 
following  are  a  few  of  the  items  of  the  bill  of  sale  at  Somerton 
after  king  John's  departure : — "  De  la  Damoiselle  de  Nainby, 
20d.  for  two  chairs.  From  Thomas  Spolin,  Lieutenant  of  the 
household,  6s.  8d.  for  three  tables  and  two  forms.  From  the 
same,  12d.  for  two  chairs.  From  William  of  Navenby,  ]2d.  for 
two  trestles  and  two  forms.  From  William  Spaign,  2s.  8d.  for 
a  similar  lot,  but  to  which  was  added  the  king's  own  bench. 
From  an  esquire,  of  Somerton,  4s.  for  two  empty  casks.  From 
Thomas  Spolin,  for  the  fittings  of  the  stables,  16s.  8d. ;  the  said 
Thomas  Spolin  giving  an  acquittance  to  the  king  for  the  extra 
forms,  trestles,  and  doors  added  to  the  castle  requisites,  and  for  all 
other  things  belonging  to  the  furniture  of  the  castle  that  might  have 
been  injured  or  lost  during  his  sojourn  there,  for  which  he  had 
demanded  a  large  sum.  Half  a  tun  of  wine  and  other  property 
remaining  in  the  Somerton  cellars,  were  politely  presented  to 
Madame  D'Eyncourt  by  the  royal  captive.  The  king  had  arrived 
at  the  Tower-2  on  the  28th  of  March,  as  we  have  seen  above,  and 
remained  there  until  king  Edward's  return  from  France,  May  18th, 
after  the  treaty  of  Bretigny  had  been  agreed  upon  between  him  and 
Charles  the  Dauphin  of  France,  ten  days  before  that  date.  Previous 
to  this,  John  had  made  a  compact  with  his  captor,  in  which  he 
engaged  to  pay  four  millions  of  gold  crowns  for  his  ransom,  and  to 
cede  Normandy,  Guienne,  Saintonge,  Limousin,  Poitou,  Anjou, 
Maine,  and  Touraine,  but  the  Etats  Genereaux  of  France,  very 
properly,  would  not  ratify  a  proceeding  so  deeply  injurious  to  their 
country;  upon  which  king  Edward  had  proceeded  to  ravage  the 
greater  part  of  that  then  unhappy  land.  But  having  been 
unsuccessful  in  an  attempt  to  take  Rheims,  where  he  was  anxious 
to  be  crowned,  and  much  shaken  in  his  determination  by  a  prodigious 
storm  that  happened  to  overtake  his  army,  by  which  many  of  his 
men  and  horses  were  destroyed,  he  now  agreed  to  conclude  a  peace 
with  France  upon  far  easier  terms,  and  to  set  her  monarch  at  liberty. 
Therefore,  on  the  4th  of  May,  according  to  the  "  Comptes  de 
I'Argenterie,"  or  on  the  8th,  according  to  several  of  our  English 
authorities,  a  treaty  was  signed  at  Bretigny,  near  Chartres,  by 
which  John  agreed  to  cede  L'Agenois,  Perigord,  Poitou,  Saintonge, 
Limousin,  to  England,  and  to  pay  three  millions  of  gold  crowns 
for  his  ransom,  or  £1,500,000  of  our  present  money,  of  which 
600,000  were  to  be  paid  within  four  months  of  his  arrival  in  France, 
and  400,000  from  year  to  year  until  the  whole  was  liquidated  ;  also 
that  his  son  the  Due  D'Anjou  and  other  noble  personages  of  France 
should  be  sent  over  as  hostages  for  the  security  of  the  same.  King 
Edward  arrived  in  London  on  the  19th  of  May,  and  immediately 
sent  for  the  king  of  France  to  meet  him  at  Westminster,  who  readily 
agreed  to  sign  the  treaty  that  had  been  agreed  upon,  after  which  he 


62         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

adjourned  to  Windsor  witli  the  Prince  of  Wales,  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  a  visit  to  Queen  Phiiippa.  There  he  was  splendidly  enter- 
tained, and,  no  doubt,  was  duly  congratulated  upon  his  release.  He 
then  returned  to  London,  whilst  preparations  were  being  made  for 
his  transit  to  France.  On  the  17th  of  June,  Roger  de  Beau  champ, 
constable  of  Dover,  and  warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  was  ordered 
to  have  ships  in  readiness  to  convey  king  John  and  his  suite  to 
Calais,  but  that  monarch  did  not  leave  the  Tower  until  the  30th  of 
June.  Previous  to  his  departure  he  bestowed  a  most  ample  largesse 
upon  its  principal  officers,  amounting  to  £77  13s.  4d.  That  night 
he  passed  at  Eltham,  after  dining  with  the  king  and  queen  at 
their  palace  there.  On  the  1st  of  July  he  slept  at  Dartford,  on  the 
2nd  at  Rochester,  on  the  3rd,  after  dining  at  Sittingbourne,  he 
slept  at  Ospringe,  on  the  4th  at  Canterbury,  and  on  the  5th  at 
Dover.23  Here  he  was  entertained  at  the  castle  by  the  Black 
Prince,  and  here  on  the  following  day  he  received  from  king 
Edward  as  a  parting  present,  sent  by  an  esquire,  his  own  usual 
drinking  cup ;  in  return  for  which  John  sent  back  one  of  his  that 
had  belonged  to  St.  Louis.  On  the  7th,  after  having  piously 
offered  a  noble  to  St.  Nicholas  in  behalf  of  the  ship  that  was 
destined  to  carry  him  across  the  Channel,  he  embarked,  and 
arrived  at  Calais,  but  there  he  was  still  detained  for  three  months 
and  thirteen  days,  before  he  could  raise  the  funds  necessary  to 
liquidate  the  first  instalment  of  his  ransom. ^'^  At  length,  however, 
this  having  been  effected,  he  once  more  entered  his  own  much- 
disturbed  and  half-ruined  realm,  accompanied  by  his  favourite  son, 
the  prince  Phihp,  who  although  named  in  the  treaty  of  Bretigny 
as  one  of  the  hostages  to  be  detained  in  England,  was  generously 
allowed  to  return  to  France  with  his  father,  and  upon  whom  he 
was  able  soon  after  to  bestow  the  Duchy  of  Burgundy,  which  had 
lapsed  to  the  Crown.  At  this  time,  although  his  kingdom  was  in 
a  most  critical  position,  John  had  entertained  an  intention  of 
leading  a  crusade  towards  the  east,  that  had  been  urged  by  Pope 
Urban  5th,  at  Avignon,  but  this  was  prevented  by  the  rash  and 
improper  return  to  Paris  of  his  son  Louis,  Due  dAnjou,  who 
with  other  of  the  hostages  took  advantage  of  the  liberty  given  them, 
and  broke  their  parole,  Dec.  6th,  1363.^^  Mortified  by  this  breach 
of  trust,  the  king,  deaf  to  all  the  remonstrances  of  his  council,  felt 
himself  bound  in  honour  to  return  to  the  English  coast ;  so  that 
four  days  afterwards,  once  more  crossing  the  sea,  he  placed  himself 
at  the  disposal  of  king  Edward,  by  whom  he  was  most  joyfully  and 
magnificently  received.  The  palace  of  the  Savoy  was  once  more 
appointed  as  his  residence,  but  he  did  not  long  survive  this  noble 
act  of  his.  After  a  short  illness  in  the  spring  of  1364,  and  having 
made  his  will ,2''  bearing  the  date  of  April  6th  in  that  year,  he  died 
in  the  44th  year  of  his  age.  His  body  was  taken  to  France  and 
interred  in  the  abbey  of  St.  Denis,  immediately  to  the  north  of  the 
altar,  and  next  to  the  grave  of  Philip  VI. ;  over  it  was  erected  a 
stately  tomb,  surmounted  by  a  recumbent  effigy  of  the  monarch, 
of  which  a  representation  is  subjoined.     One  hand  originally  held 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  OF  PRANCE. 


63 


a  sceptre,  the  other  a  hand  of  justice.  This,  in  common  with 
all  the  other  royal  graves  of  France,  was  violated  during  that  ter- 
rible year  of  French  devastation,  1793 ;  when,  within  a  stone  coffin 
lined  with  lead,  his  skeleton  was  disclosed  in  a  very  perfect  condi- 
tion, together  with  a  crown,  hand  of  justice,  and  long  sceptre  of 

silver  gilt.  .  ,  ,  ^     ^ 

John  had  certainly  no  talents  as  a 
royal  ruler,  acting  as  he  usually  did 
upon  impulse,  instead  of  with  fore- 
thought and  due  consideration,  but  he 
was  pious,  just,  sincere,  generous,  learn- 
ed, brave,  true ;  and  perhaps  I  cannot 
better  conclude  this  sketch  of  his  capt- 
ivity and  character  than  by  quoting  one 
of  his  own  most  admirable  sayings : — 
"  Si  la  justice  et  la  bonne  foi  etoient 
bannies  du  reste  du  monde,  il  faudrait 
qu'on  retrouvat  ces  vertus  dans  la  bouche 
et  dans  le  cceur  des  rois  :"  (If  justice  and 
good  faith  should  be  banished  from  all 
the  rest  of  the  world,  these  virtues  ought 
still  to  be  found  in  the  word,  and  in  the 
hearts  of  kings.) 

The  Society  is  indebted  to  the  liber- 
ality of  one  of  its  Vice-Presidents,  the 
Rt.  Honourable  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt,  for 
the  gift  of  the  very  interesting  portrait  of 
king  John,  serving  as  a  frontispiece 
to  this  memorial  of  his  captivity.  It 
is  taken  from  an  exceedingly  valuable 
''  Gouache"  painting,  executed  on  a 
"  Gesso"  ground,  formerly  most  appro- 
priately kept  in  the  "  Cabinet  des  Es- 
tampes"  of  the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale, 
(as  John  was  the  original  founder  of  that 
library,)  but  has  now  been  placed  amongst 
the  royal  and  imperial  relics  of  France 
'  in  the  Louvre,  by  the  command  of  the 
present  Emperor.  It  has  every  appear- 
ance of  being  a  contemporary  painting, 
and  in  the  Notice  des  Estamjoes  de  la 
Bibliotheque  du  Boi  it  is  suggested  that 

___^ it  was  the  work   of  Jean   de    Bruges, 

painter  to  Charles  V. ;  but  it  may  at  least,  quite  as  probably,  be 
attributed  to  John's  own  painter,  Girartd'Orleans,  and  possibly  may 
be  referred  to  in  the  following  passage  from  Notes  et  Documents  relatip 
a  Jean  Boi  de  France,  dc.  p.  107,  by  the  Due  d'Aumale.  "  Maistre 
Girart  d'Orhens,  paintre  et  varlet  de  chambre  du  Roy,  pour  plu- 
sieurs  otilz  achetez  du  commandement  du  Roy,  pour  fair  certains 
tableaux  que  le  Roy  le  a  commande  a  faire  pour  h,  paie  du  com- 


64         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

mandement  du  dit  Seigneur,  pour  tout  xxxiiis.  iiiid."  The  signature 
of  king  John  below  is  a  fac-simile  from  one  of  his  letters  written  upon 
paper  made  of  straw,  and  now  in  the  possession  of  P.  O'Callaghan, 
Esq.,  of  Cookridge  Hall,  who  has  kindly  allowed  a  cut  to  be  taken 
from  it.  This  document  was  written  at  Windsor,  and  is  dated 
Nov.  26th,  but  the  year  is  not  given  ;  probably,  however,  this  was 
the  first  of  John's  captivity,  viz.,  1357.  The  letter  is  addressed, 
"  A  nostre  treschier  et  ainsne  filz  le  Due  de  Normandie  Dolphin 
de  Viennois,"  and  is  endorsed  in  latin  by  the  hand  of  the  Dauphin, 
afterwards  Charles  V.,  as  a  letter  sent  by  the  king  our  lord  from 
Windsor,  concerning  Peter  Labattue,  to  the  Duke  of  Normandy. 


NOTES. 

(1)  This  monarcli  is  usually  termed  "John,"  as  though  he  were  the  first  of 
that  name  ;  but  the  posthumous  son  of  Louis  X.  having  lived — and  consequently 
reigned — five  days,  he  was,  properly  speaking,  "  John  II."  The  touching  effigy  of 
the  infant  John  at  St.  Denis  was  formerly  well  known  to  the  Parisians,  as  being 
one  that  used  to  excite  the  tears  of  so  many  bereaved  mothers,  before  it  was 
removed  to  the  crypt  below  the  abbey. 

(2)  Afterwards  termed  Phii'p  le  Hardi  by  Edward  III.,  from  the  following 
circumstance.  When  dining  with  his  royal  father  and  the  English  monarch  in 
London,  perceiving  that  the  cupbearer  of  king  Edward  served  him  before  the  king 
of  France — the  vassal  before  the  suzerain — he  struck  that  attendant,  exclaiming, 
"  How  dare  you  serve  the  king  of  England  first,  when  the  king  of  France  is  at  his 
table  ?"  And  when  the  insulted  officer  drew  his  dagger  to  strike  the  young 
prince,  king  Edward,  admiring  Philip's  spirit,  exclaimed,  "  Vous  estes  Phillipe  le 
hardi,"  and  protected  him  from  the  wrath  of  the  insulted  official. — (Barnes  Ediuard 
III.,  p.  509  ;  and  Acta  Eeyia,p.  270. J  He  afterwards  was  the  founder  of  the 
second  house  of  Burgundy,  still  retaining  his  soubriquet  of  "the  Bold,"  when 
Duke  of  Burgundy.  He  died  in  1404,  aged  62.  His  son,  "  Sans  Peur,"  was  mur- 
dered on  the  bridge  of  Montereau,  Sept.  10,  1419,  in  the  presence  of  the  Dauphin  ; 
and  his  grandson — Charles  the  Bold — the  last  Duke  of  Burgundy,  who  married 
Margaret,  sister  of  Edward  IV.  and  Richard  III.  of  England,  was  killed  at 
Nancy,  1477. 

(3)  This  palace  then  stood  on  the  outskirts  of  the  metropolis,  and  was  termed 
the  "  fairest  about  London,"  at  that  time. 

(4)  This  first  removal  was  perhaps  occasioned  by  a  suspicion  which  king 
Edward  may  have  entertained  of  John's  sincerity  in  an  attempt  to  adjust  their 
differences  in  1358  — (^Barnes'  Edward  IIl.^p.  437),  in  consequence  of  the  seizure 
at  sea  of  some  of  his  letters  on  their  way  to  France,  stating  (according  to  Knyghton) 
"  quod  nunqiiamj'nit  in  voluntate  dimiltere  imimi 2>edem  terra  Regi  Anglice  de  terra 
sua  Francicc," 


THE  CAPTIVITY  OF  KING  JOHN  OF  FRANCE.  65 

(5)  William,  baron  D'Eyncourt  of  Blankney,  was  the  descendant  of  Walter 
D'Eyncourt,  cousin  to  Rcmigius,  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  who — coming  over  with  the 
Conqueror — was  rewarded  for  his  services  with  large  grants  of  lands  in  the  counties 
of  Derby,  Nottingham,  Northampton,  Lincoln  and  York.  In  Lincolnshire  his 
family  possessed  estates  in  the  parishes  of  Belton,  Goncrby,  Somerby,  Humby, 
Westhorpe,  Bi-anston,  Timberland,  Kirkby,  &c. ;  besides  the  manor  of  Blankney 
and  a  mansion  in  Lincoln.  The  above  baron  William  was  at  the  battle  of  Nevill's 
Cross,  where  he  so  distinguished  himself  as  to  receive  the  especial  thanks  of  the 
king,  and  was  entrusted  with  the  care  of  William  Douglas  the  elder,  one  of  the 
illustx-ious  prisoners  taken  on  that  occasion,  whom  he  conveyed  to  the  Tower.  In 
the  following  year  he  was  commanded  by  the  king — then  in  France,  and  expecting 
an  attack  on  the  part  of  the  French — to  attend  him  with  all  his  force  without 
waiting  for  his  cavalry. — (Rot.  Franc.  21  Edward  III.,  p.  1,  m.  10^.  In  the 
26th  Edward  III.,  he  was  employed  in  the  defence  of  the  sea  coast  in  Lincolnshire, 
when  a  French  invasion  was  expected — {Ihid.  2G  Edward  III.,  m,  4^  ;J  and  in 
the  29th  Edward  III.,  he  attended  the  king  at  Newcastle,  with  all  his  power,  for 
the  defence  of  the  kingdom  against  the  Scots — f  Blare's  Hist,  of  Rutland,  p.  153y. 
He  died  June  2,  1364,  in  the  38th  of  Edward  IIL 

(6)  Sir  John  de  Kirketon  (or  Kirton)  in  Lincolnshire  had  been  previously 
constituted  one  of  the  Commissioners  of  Array  in  com.  Line,  for  arming  all  knights, 
esquires,  and  others,  in  the  defence  of  the  sea  coasts  of  that  county.  {Viigdale's 
Baronage,  vol.  2,  p.  108.) 

(7)  Sir  Saier  de  Rochford  was  of  a  Lincolnshire  family,  residing  near  Boston. 
He  had  distinguished  himself  in  the  French  wars,  and  we  find  his  name  amongst 
those  of  the  Commissioners  appointed  to  examine  the  sea  banks  and  drains  of  the 
Division  of  Holland,  in  1343. 

(8)  Before  starting  for  Somerton  with  his  royal  charge,  it  appears  that  Lord 
D'Eyncourt  escorted  him  to  London,  perhaps  for  the  purpose  of  attending  some 
conference  held  there,  as  W3  find  he  received  an  order  from  the  Treasury  for  £28, 
for  coming  to  London  with  his  men  and  archers  for  the  king  of  France,  and  con- 
ducting him  thence  to  the  castle  of  Somerton. — f  Liberal.  33  Edward  III.,  m.  '2.) 

(9)  This  was  built  A.D.  1281,  by  Anthony  Beke,  Bishop  of  Durham,  who 
then  obtained  a  license  from  Edward  I.  to  crenellate  his  dwelling-house  at  Somer- 
ton.— (Rot.  Pat.  9  Edward  I.  m.  17. J  It  consisted  of  a  quadrangular  pile,  whose 
original  limits  are  still  indicated  by  three  out  of  the  four  massive  circular  towers, 
that  once  defended  its  outer  angles,  enclosing  an  area  330  feet  long,  by  180  wide, 
now  partly  occupied  by  a  farm  house  of  the  Elizabethan  period  and  some  modern 
premises,  but  still  surrounded  by  a  double  moat. 

(10)  Rex  Francice  missus  est  ad  castellum  de  Somerton,  sub  custodia  Domini 
D'Eyncourt  et  Domini  de  Solvill  (Coleville),  et  Philippus  Jilius  ejus  missus  est 
ibidem  cum  eo. — {Knijc/hton,  p.  2619.) 

(11)  This  had  become  a  royal  castle  through  the  gift  of  the  fabric,  &c.,  on  the 
part  of  Bishop  Beke  to  Edwai'd  I.,  who  had  committed  it  to  the  custody  of  Henry 
Lord  Bellamonte,  or  Beaumont.  It  is  uncertain  who  succeeded  this  noble  as  guar- 
dian of  the  castle,  but  it  is  probable  that  the  Baron  D'Eyncourt  held  that  office. 
Dugdale  in  his  Baronage,  (tit.  Beaumont,  vol.  2,  p.  50),  referring  to  Rot.  Fin.  m.  9, 
4  Edw.  II.,  says  that  the  custody  of  Somerton  castle,  Co.  Lincoln,  was,  upon  the  death 
of  Alexander  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  bestowed  upon  Lord  Beaumont ;  but  this  is  a  gross 
error,  as  no  castle  existed  here  until  the  time  of  Edward  I.  Perhaps  he  meant 
Bishop  Beke,  who,  after  he  had  given  this  castle  to  the  king,  may  have  still  re- 
mained its  custodian  for  life. 

According  to  some  authors,  this  unfortunate  king  never  did  come  to  Somerton 
in  Lincolnshire.  Here,  then,  may  perhaps  be  the  proper  place  for  rebutting  such 
an  assertion.  Leland  ((7o//.  387)  says,  Ethehaldus  rex  Merciorum  castellum  de 
Somerton  obsedit  ;  upon  which,  Buck  and  others — forgetting  that  the  Lincolnshire 
Somerton  was  in  Ethelbald's  own  dominions,  have  asserted  he  laid  siege  to  it,  when 
in  reality  the  Somerton  he  besieged  was  in  Somersetshire — then  forming  part  of 
the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons.  (See  Camden''s  Brit.  vol.  1,  j).  75.)  Again, 
Barnes,  in  his  History  of  Edward  III.,  p.  538,  and  others  following  him,  have 
asserted  that  the  Somersetshire  Somerton  was  the  place  of  king  John's  confine- 
ment, another  false  statement,  which  the  historic  facts  and  records  now  collected 


66 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


together  for  the  purpose  of  traciog  out  the  true  account  of  his  captivity  in  England, 
must  for  ever  shatter  to  pieces. 

(12)  The  names  and  respective  offices  of  most  of  these  are  recorded  in  the 
subjoined  list,  as  recipients  of  Christmas  gifts  from  the  captive  king,  -when  at 
Somerton  in  the  winter  of  1359  : 

ESOUZ. 

Chapelle. 

Maistre  G.  Racine,  Jisicien 60 

Penys  de  Collors,  Secretary  and 

Chaplain    40 

Aymare  Gascoigne,  Chaplain  ....  24 

Clement,  C/erc   lo 


Chanibre. 

Tassin  de  Bruil 20 

Maistre  Girart,  neant o 

Aymonet 20 

Jehannin  I'espioier   20 

Magister  10 

Les  Genz  Monselgneur  PhiVqype. 

Gervesot   10 

Jehan  de  Millan    lo 

Robinet 8 


Panneterie. 
L'oblier . 
Mahiet  . 
Sendre  . 


ESCtJZ , 

Cuisine, 

Poissi 16 

Petit  Guillot  6 

Fruiterie. 

Guillenin  Gre'gy..... 8 

Escurie. 

Goupillet 20 

Giles  le  mareschal    12 

Eogier    8 

Berant   6 

Cotelle  ,.  6 

Quentin 6 

Jehannin  le  page  4 

Le  Page  Mens  P.  Philippe    4 

Le  Petit  Page 2 

Fo7-riere. 

Bertaut 8 

Le  Barbier  8 

Serdeliaue    6 

Le  Lavandier 8 

Robin  Tauten 6 

Le  roy  des  menestereulx    10 


Fscha^icomierie. 

Jehan  Huitasse 12 

Le  Bourgoignon . . , 10 

The  amount  of  the  whole  is  416  escnz,  or  £79  6s.  8'd.  ;  exclusive  of  presents 
to  Jehan  le  Royer,  the  Secretary  ;  Jehan  de  Dainville,  the  Maistre  d'hotel ;  and 
probably  some  others. 

(13)  The  particulars  are  not  given  in  the  Comptes  de  VArgenterie  des  Rois  de 
France  an  He  siecle ;  but  that  record  furnishes  us  Avith  a  description  of  King 
John's  bedchamber  at  Paris,  as  furnished  for  him  not  long  before  his  misfortunes 
began,  and  which  this,  no  doubt,  nearl}'-  resembled.  The  canopy  (or  ciel)^  the 
back-piece  {dossier)^  and  curtains  of  the  bed  were  of  green  taffeta  ;  also  its  two 
counterpanes,  each  having  a  large  star — composed  of  red  and  blue  velvet,  wrought 
with  gold  and  silver  threads — as  a  centre-piece.  There  was  a  demi-ciel^  or  canopy 
without  curtains,  of  the  same  material  as  that  of  the  bed,  for  the  king  to  wash 
under  ;  also  six  cushions  filled  with  down  and  covered  with  green  satin  ;  six  pieces 
of  green  tapestry  for  the  walls,  emblazoned  at  the  corners  with  the  arms  of  France  ; 
four  pieces  similarly  ornamented,  to  cover  the  ordinary  chests,  and  another  for  the 
top  of  the  clothes-press  ;  two  pieces  of  blue  tapestry,  powdered  with  golden  fleurs 
de  lis,  to  cover  the  king's  two  private  chests  ;  two  chairs  ornamented  with  blue 
velvet,  leather,  perforated  work,  and  paintings  ;  two  others  covered  with  leather 
and  cloth  ;  green  serge  curtains  over  the  doors  and  windows  of  the  chamber  ;  and 
a  blue  velvet  bag,  embroidered  with  gold,  silver,  and  silk,  suspended  by  a  silver 
chain,  in  which  the  king's  privy  seal  was  kept. 

(14)  The  De  Spaynes  appear  in  the  Boston  Corporation  records  as  merchants  of 
high  standing.  In  Thompson's  Histori/  and  Antiquities  of  Boston,  (1856)  p.  232, 
are  various  notices  of  them  from  1314  to  1468.  William  de  Spayne  is  mentioned 
under  1360  ;  in  1376  he  appears  as  Alderman  of  the  Corpus  Christi  Guild,  and  in 
1378  he  was  Sheriff"  of  the  county.  "  The  residence  of  the  Spayne  family  appears 
to  have  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Earls  of  Richmond,  since,  in  1500,  Spayne's 
Place,  in  Boston,  is  mentioned  as  the  possession  of  the  Countess  of  Richmond, 
mother  of  Henry  VII.  The  arms  borne  by  the  family  were  Argent,  a  fesse  dancett6 
between  three  Talbot's  heads  erased,  sable." — Close  abutting  on  Packhorse  Quay, 
on  the  east  side  of  the  harbour,  is  Spain  Lane,  deriving  its  name,  as  is  understood, 
from  these  merchants,  and  consisting  chiefly  of  antique  buildings,  "doubtless" — 
say^  Mr.  Thompson — "  the  Avarehouses  of  the  Guild  merchants."  Other  similar 
buildings  have  been  lately  removed.  The  cellarage  here  seems  to  have  been  a 
noticeable  feature  formerly  :  **  in  1590  the  great  cellars  in  Spain  Lane  were  pulled 
down  :  in  1609  the  cellars  Avere  to  be  rented  only  to  freemen  :  in  1640  the  Cor- 
poration held  two  cellars  in  Spain  Lane  formerly  belonging  to  Kirkstead  abbey." — 


THE  CAPTIVITY  01?  KING  JOHN  0^  PRANCE.  6^ 

A  sketch  of  some  of  these  old  buildings  is  given  in  Mr.  Thompson's  history.     Sjyain 
Court  forms  a  recess  near  the  bottom  of  this  lane. 

(15)  A  bill  from  John  de  la  Londe,  grocer  to  the  captive  king,  for  sugar  and 
spices,  &c.,  may  perhaps  not  prove  uninteresting,  taken  from  the  Cumptes  de 
VArgenterie. 

£    s.    d. 

16lbs.  of  loaf  Sugar,  at  17d.thelb 1     2    8 

25  do.  of  moist,  at  15d Ill     3 

1  lb.  of  powdered  Ginger 0     10 

3  lbs.  of  green  Anniseed  0     1     3 

^Ib.  of  Mace 0     16 

^  lb.  of  flour  of  Cinnamon    0     5     0 

lib.  of  Cloves  0     1     5 

4  lbs.  of  Lemon  Conserve 0  12     0 

I  lb.  of  Laurel  Oil 0     0     2 

^  lb.  of  Turpcntme   0     0    2 

£3  16     5 


Some  spices  the  king  procured  from  Boston,  as  there  is  a  charge  of  3s.  4d.  for  the 

carriage  of  these  from  that  port  to  Sonierton,  on  a  pack-horse.  Here  also  may 
be  given  a  bill  sent  in  by  the  king's  apothecary,  indicative  of  the  "  Materia  Medica" 
of  the  period,  and  the  price  of  drugs,  &c. 

£  s.    d. 

2  02.  of  Scamoni 0  2    0 

1  oz.  of  white  Sandal 0  0     2 

2  lbs.  of  Senna 0  2     6 

A  lb.  of  fine  Rhubarb    0  3     6 

i  a  i  of  a  lb.  of  Spikenard  0  0     6 

Jib  of  Balsamic  Syrup 0  0     4 

loz.  of  Mastic  0  0     4 

:f  oz.  of  Electuary  of  Sugar  of  Roses    0  16 

5  lb.  of  sweet  Electuary   0  16 

I  lb.  of  Plaister,  termed  "  Gracia  Dei"    0  2     0 

1  lb  of  Diaculon    0  0     4 

^0  14     8 


To  these  items  may  be  added  Aloes,  Polipodium,  Saffron,  Electuary  of  Roses, 
Essence  of  Violets,  a  golden  cordial  Electuary  for  Maistre  Jeaii  le  fol,  and  a  plaster, 
lotion,  and  ointment,  for  the  said  M.  Jean's  valet,  Michiel  Girart  by  name. 

(16)  Tassin,  the  tailor,  has  many  such  charges  as  these  in  his  bills,  on  ac- 
count of  M.  Jean  le  fol:— to  a  dress  trimmed  with  minevir,  and  two  hats  for  the 
same,  £4  4s.  6d.  :  to  three  ells  of  white  cloth  for  14s.,  &c.  :  whilst  Robert,  the 
shoemaker  of  Lincoln,  charges  for  a  pair  of  boots  for  M.  Jean,  4s.  2d.  j  and  for 
three  pairs  of  shoes  for  "le  dit  M.  J."  2 Id.  The  Dauphin  retained  a  similar  pet 
in  France,  and  also  a  foundling  boy ;  charges  being  made  for  various  articles  of 
dress  in  the  royal  account  book  for  1351,  (after  the  king's  release)  by  a  Parisian 
tailor,  Martin  de  Coussi,  for  "  Micton  son  fol  ;"— "et  pour  Xandrier  un  enfant 
trouve." 

(17)  King  John's  Bible  was  amongst  the  spoils  taken  by  the  English  after  the 
(to  him)  fatal  battle  of  Poictiers,  and  is  still  preserved  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is 
commonly  called  the  "  Poictiers  Bible,"  and  contains  a  note,  written  apparently  at 
the  beginning  of  the  15th  century,  to  this  effect  :  "  Cest  liure  fust  pris  one  (ayec) 
le  Roy  de  France  a  la  bataille  de  Peyters,  et  le  bon  Counte  de  Saresbirs  William 
Montagu  la  acheta  pur  cent  marsz  (i.  e.  £66  13s.  4d.)  et  le  dona  a  sa  compaigne 
Elizabeth  la  bone  Countesse  qe  dieux  assoile.  Et  est  continus  dedeins  le  Bible  ent 
(entier)  ove  (avec)  tixt  et  glose  le  mestre  de  histoires  et  incident  tout  en  raemes 
le  Volyra.  Le  quele  lyure,  la  dite  Countesse  assigna  a  ces  executours  de  le  v^ndre 
pur  xl  liners."— This  volume  contains  a  French  translation  of  Petrus  Comestor's 
(i.e.  Pierre  Lemangeur's)  Historia  Scolastica. 

(18)     In  Rymer's  FcBdera,  new  edit.  torn.  3,  p.  470,  headed— "De  Johanne 
de  Fraucia,  &c.    Prisonariis  a  castro  de  Someyton  amovendis"— reference  is  made 


68         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

to  rumours  of  the  royal  captives'  intended  rescue  ly  sea.  This  is  dated  March  1, 
1360.  Rymer  also  gives  several  other  documents  referring  to  this  proposed  re- 
moval of  king  John  and  his  household  :  one  dated  March  2,  1360,  and  headed — 
"De  iisdem  usque  castrum  de  Berkhampsted  ducendis,  et  ibidem  custodiendis  ;" 
and  others,  "  De  conductu  pro  famiharibus  Prisonariis  Regis." — King  Edward's 
fears  were  well  founded,  as  a  French  descent  was  made  upon  the  Sussex  coast,  on 
the  14th  of  this  month,  when  Winchelsea  w^as  sacked. 

(19)  The  Sheriffs  of  the  several  counties  through  which  the  captive  king  was 
to  be  brought,  were  also  ordered  to  be  in  attendance,  and  to  render  assistance  if 
required.     {Pat.  Rot.  34,  Edward  III.  m.  38.) 

(20)  Prince  Philip's  chamber  in  the  Tower  was  furnished  with  one  piece  of 
"Baudequin  de  soie  de  Dorias"  (rich  silk  damask)  ;  four  other  pieces  of  red  silk, 
seven  pieces  of  "  Cendal "  (taffeta)  for  curtains,  and  another  piece  for  covering 
cushions  ;  forty-six  ells  of  linen  cloth,  at  14d.  the  ell  ;  twenty-two  ells  at  12d.  ; 
seven-and-a-half  pieces  of  serge,  to  make  carpets  of,  and  another  large  piece  of  the 
same  for  some  portion  of  the  bedstead  ;  five  pieces  of  silk  ribbon  and  cord  ;  half-a 
pound  of  sewing  silk,  &c.,  &c.  The  making  up  of  the  draperies  and  furniture  ot 
this  apartmeijt  cost  £4  4s.  Od. 

(21)  Two  of  these — Thomas  Cok  and  Jehan,  received  7  Nobles,  or  46s.  8d. 
for  their  services,  but  as  this  sum  is  large  for  eight  days'  attendance,  perhaps  it 
included  the  hire  of  the  other  four  men. 

(22)  It  might  have  been  supposed  from  Rymer,  vol.  6,  173  ;  ActaRegia  341  ; 
and  Knyghton^  p.  2623,  that  the  king  did  not  reach  the  Tower  until  April  ;  but 
the  dates  of  the  royal  Itinerary,  taken  from  the  "  Comptes  de  I'Argenterie,"  posi- 
tively contradict  such  an  assumption. 

(23)  To  raise  money  for  this  purpose,  he  appealed  to  the  Pope  and  his  Car- 
dinals ;  and  a  charge  appears  in  his  expenditure  of  25  Escuz,  paid  to  one  Lalement 
for  carrying  letters  to  Rome  from  the  king,  "touching  the  advancement  of  the 
subsidy  required  for  his  deliverance."  To  the  same  end  he  afterwai-ds  bestowed 
his  daughter  Isabelle  in  marriage  upon  John  Galeas,  son  of  Galeas  Visconti,  a 
wealthy  Milanese  merchant,  for  a  consideration  of  600,000  florins. 

(24)  He  was  accompanied  on  this  journey  fi'om  London  to  Dover,  by  the 
"  Contesse  de  Painbroc,"  and  the  "  Contesse  de  Garaines,"  Avho  with  their  personal 
attendants  occupied  three  chariots,  and  three  "chareites,"  requiring  forty-four  hoi*ses, 
and  twenty-two  '-ervants,  to  convey  them  during  the  six  days  they  were  "  en  route." 
The  price  of  horses  appears  to  have  ranged  from  13s.  to  45s.  at  this  time  ;  one 
having  been  sold  by  the  king,  for  2  nobles,  HS.  4d.),  three  for  20s.  a  piece,  and 
another  (a  gi-ey  hackney)  bought  at  Stamford,  was  sold  in  London  for  46s.  8d. 
A  saddle  for  the  king,  ornamented  -with  gold,  cost  £4,  and  two  for  prince  Philip, 
£5  6s.  8d.,  as  charged  by  "  Godefroy  "  the  sadler. 

(25)  A  letter  from  king  Edward  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  announcing  that  the 
Due  d'Anjou  had  escaped  from  England,  is  dated  Dec.  6th,  1363  ;  and  a  passport 
for  king  John  was  granted  on  the  10th  of  that  month,  f Rymer,  vol.  6,  430,  and 
Acta  Regia,  vol.  1,  p.  350.^ 

(26)  His  revenues  when  in  England  were  derived  from  dues,  loans,  and  gifts, 
of  which  the  following  are  a  few  items  : — 

£ 
From  the  Cardinal  Bishop  of  Tulle,  in  Florentine  florins  ...  141 
Certain  sums  through  Jehan  de  Royer,  the  king's  Secretary...     86 

Another  from  the  above , 100 

From  Pierre  Scatisse,  the  king's  Treasurer,  in  several  sums...  1337 
From  the  mayor  and  citizens  of  Amiens,  a  large  sum  in  moutons  of  Flanders, 
Brabant,  and  France,  "  Pour  son  vivi-e  et  estat  maintenlr."  From  the  citizens  of 
Laon,  800  moutons  for  the  same  purpose.  From  Bernart  Francois,  Receveur  de 
Nymes,  2000  moutons,  or  £391  13s.  4d.  From  the  Treasurer  of  Tournay,  £211 
in  the  same  form  ;  besides  large  consignments  of  wine  for  sale.  Yet  occasionally 
the  king's  expenditure  exceeded  his  income,  as  we  find  that  he  once  borrowed  of 
Henry  Piquart,  king  Edward's  banker.  1890  moutons.  From  a  rough  calculation 
of  his  ordinary — or  household — expenses  when  at  Somerton,  the  average  appears  to 
have  amounted  to  £167  16s,  9d.  per  month.  Hia  accounts  were  kept  by  the  aid 
of  "  Jetons,"  or  counters. 


s. 

d. 

13 

4 

13 

4 

0 

0 

18 

4 

YORKSHIRE 
AEOHITECTURAL    SOCIETY 


On  the  Present  Position  and  Future  Prospects  of  the  Bevival  of  Gothic 
Architecture.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire  and 
Lincoln  Architectural  Societies,  at  Doncaster,  September  23, 
1857.    By  George  Gilbert  Scott,  Esq.,  A.E.A. 

Somerton  Castle  and  its  Builder.  A  Paper  read  on  the  spot,  May 
97,  1857.  By  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  Kector 
of  Leasingham. 

FishlaJce  Church  and  Parish.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire 
and  Lincoln  Architectural  Societies  at  Doncaster,  September 
23rd,  1857,     By  the  Rev.  G.  Ornsby,  Vicar  of  Fishlake. 


YORKSHIRE 
ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


On  the  Present  Position  and  Future  Prospects  of  the  Revival  of  GotJdc 
Architecture.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire  and 
Lincoln  Architectural  Societies,  at  Doncaster,  September  S3, 
1857.     By  Geoege  Gilbert  Scott,  Esq.,  A.R.A. 

Few,  perhaps,  among  those  who  are  in  the  habit  of  attending  meet- 
ings like  the  present,  and  of  enjoying  the  pleasure  and  sharing  the 
interest  which  they  are  calculated  to  inspire,  have  ever  given  a 
serious  thought  to  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  that  intellectual 
movement  which  has  called  such  societies  as  these  into  existence, 
nor  of  the  great  artistic  revolution  they  are  helping  to  carry  out : — 
that  movement  being  nothing  short  of  an  involuntary  rebellion 
against  that  most  wretched  incubus,  the  vernacular  architecture  of 
the  day;  and  the  work  on  which  we  have  almost  unconsciously 
embarked,  being  the  development  of  a  new  and  vigorous  style  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  glorious  architecture  of  our  own  country  and 
of  our  own  forefathers,  in  the  place  of  one  at  once  alien  to  our  race 
and  our  religion — and  which,  whatever  may  be  the  merits  of  its 
more  studied  productions,  has  had  the  practical  effect  of  reducing 
our  vernacular  building  to  something  meaner  and  more  contempt- 
ible than  anything  which  has  been  witnessed  by  any  previous  age. 
This,  I  need  hardly  tell  you,  is  a  mighty  and  most  arduous  under- 
taking,— so  mighty,  indeed,  and  so  arduous  that  I  doubt  whether,  if 
it  had  been  in  the  first  instance  fully  appreciated,  any  body  of  men 
would  have  been  found  with  sufficient  daring  to  set  about  it ;  the 
strength,  however,  of  the  movement  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  was  not 
deliberate  nor  preconcerted,  but  was  the  involuntary  working  out  of 
a  deeply-seated  mental  revolution.  It  was  not  that  a  body  of  men 
deliberately  banded  themselves  together  to  carry  out  and  propagate 
particular  tastes  and  opinions — such  would  have  been  but  a  feeble 
or  at  least  an  ephemeral  and  merely  local  movement; — it  was 
rather  that  a  number  of  persons  in  different  neighbourhoods  and 
countries,  and  without  any  concert,  had  been  led  by  their  own 


70  yOKKSHIRE  AKCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

unbiassed  and  ungiiided  instincts  to  an  appreciation  of  the  long- 
neglected  beauties  of  our  indigenous  architecture,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  a  perception  of  the  intrinsic  baseness  of  the  great  majority 
of  the  buildings  of  our  own  day ;  and  that  the  union  of  these  two 
had  led  them  first  to  study,  then  to  imitate,  and  ultimately  to 
attempt  the  revival  of  the  style  which  had  thus  involuntarily  approved 
itself  to  their  natural  perceptions  of  what  is  right  and  beautiful. 
There  is  here  no  conspiracy — no  preconcerted  effort.  Not  one 
engaged  in  it  ever  thought  of  its  being  a  movement  at  all ;  few  of 
them  knew  in  the  first  instance  that  others  were  affected  by  the 
same  feelings  with  themselves,  nor  perhaps  were  conscious  of  any 
external  causes  which  had  given  rise  to  such  sentiments  iu  them- 
selves ;  yet  all,  from  some  internal  impulse,  seem  severally  to  have 
been  impelled  in  one  and  the  same  direction ;  and  having  at  a  later 
period  discovered  the  concurrence  of  their  feelings,  their  efforts  have 
since  assumed  the  form  of  an  united  movement,  though  originating 
from  the  individual  and  unbiassed  feelings  of  persons  wholly 
unknown  to  each  other. 

It  is  possible  that  there  may  be  some  here  who  feel  surprised  at 
hearing  the  vernacular  building  of  the  day  spoken  of  as  so  utterly 
despicable  that  it  has  become  necessary  to  supplant  it  by  another 
and  wholly  different  style.     "  Surely,"  it  may  perhaps  be  said,  "  the 
architecture  which  has  produced  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Greenwich 
Hospital,    and  Castle  Howard,  with  a  multitude  of  other  stately 
edifices,  cannot  be  called  a  wretched  incubus."     Far  be  it  from  me 
to  speak  slightingly  of  noble  works  of  art  of  whatever  style.     In 
judging   of  the   claims  of  a   prevalent  style,   however,  our  chief 
evidence  must  not  be  derived  from  its  greatest,  most  studied,  and 
(if  I  may  use  the  term),  its  high-pressure  productions  ; — scarcely  a 
style  can  be  named  which  in  its  highest  efforts  fails  to  produce  noble 
results.     The  success  of  a  style,  and  its  fitness  for  a  particular  age 
and  country,  must  be  judged  on  other  evidence  than  this.     The 
question  is  not  whether,  with  unlimited  public  funds,  it  is  capable 
of  producing   a   majestic  monument  at  which  w^e  may  gaze  and 
wonder ;  or  whether,  with  the  endless  resources  of  a  princely  noble 
at  its  command,  it  can  raise  a  palace  whose  proud  stateliness  seems 
to  silence  the  neighbourhood  into  veneration  of  the  mightiness  of 
its  possessor; — I  doubt  whether  any  style  of  architecture  would,  in 
talented  hands,  fail  of  such  an  effect ; — it  is  rather,  whether  it  so 
pervades  the  minds  of  the  population,  as  to  breathe  beauty  and 
propriety  of  sentiment  into  every  work  they  undertake ;  whether  it 
is  a  thing  in  which  the  country  delights,  and  which  leads  the  people 
to  give  beauty  to  everything  they  touch ;  whether,  for  instance,  it 
leads  them  to  do  honour  to  the  houses  of  God,  and  to  take  delight 
in  keeping  up  and  adding   to  their  propriety  and   loveliness ; — 
whether  it  makes  the  streets  of  our  towns  picturesque  and  attractive, 
so  that  the  passer  by  is  ever  arrested  by  some  fresh  object  of  inter- 
est, and  every  house  bears  impress  of  thought,    and   evinces  an 
instinctive  feeling  for  beauty  in  its  builders ;  whether  it  makes  our 
Tillages  cheerful  and  interesting,  and  our  town  houses  and  home- 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  GOTHIC  AUCHITECTURE,      71 

steads  picturesque ; — in  short,  whether  it  so  penetrates  and  imbues 
the  mind  and  eyes  of  our  people  with  a  feehng  for  art,  that  they 
instinctively  make  everything  pleasing  which  they  erect,  and  that 
an  ugly  building  is  a  thing  to  be  wondered  at  as  an  exception  to  all 
general  rules.  If  a  vernacular  style  fulfils  all  this,  it  is  the  glory  of 
its  land — a  true  and  faithful  exponent  of  what  the  feelings  of  a 
people  ought  to  be ;  but  if  it  fails  in  this,  it  matters  little  whether 
or  not  it  may  have  produced,  when  placed  under  high  pressure, 
some  stately  and  magnificent  monuments ;  it  has  failed  in  its  true 
mission,  and  is  morally  worthless. 

I  would  ask,  then,  how  our  prevailing  architecture  answers  to 
this  test — how  it  has  fulfilled  the  conditions  demanded  of  a  national 
style  ?  It  is  idle  to  say  that  it  has  failed  in  the  fulfilment ;  it  has 
absolutely  reversed  every  one  of  them.  Instead  of  imbuing  the 
popular  mind  with  an  instinctive  love  and  perception  of  beauty,  it 
has  utterly  extinguished  them,  and  apparently  substituted  a  prefer- 
ence of  everything  mean  and  ugly ;  so  that,  whilst  formerly  the 
humblest  structure  evinced  an  innate  sentiment  of  propriety  and 
correctness  of  form  in  its  designer,  such  buildings  are  now  dis- 
gusting to  any  cultivated  eye.  The  churches  bequeathed  to  us  by 
our  forefathers,  and  which  once  beamed  with  beauty,  every  part  of 
which  shewed  the  utmost  care  for  nobleness  of  design,  and  which  in 
the  humblest  villages  were  perhaps  models  of  pleasing  and  impress- 
ive simplicity,  became  degraded  and  disfigured  by  meannesses  of 
every  description,  and  were  treated  with  no  more  love  or  veneration 
than  if  they  had  been  stables  or  cow-sheds  ;  while,  if  a  new  church 
was  needed — unless,  indeed,  its  position  rendered  it  an  object  worthy 
of  the  high-pressure  system  before  named — it  was,  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten,  erected  without  the  smallest  regard  to  beauty,  and  often  in  a 
style  of  the  most  abject  baseness.  The  streets  of  our  towns,  instead 
of  being,  as  formerly,  replete  with  interest  and  picturesque  effect, 
are  the  very  embodiment  of  heartless  ugliness,  with  scarcely  an  ob- 
ject on  which  the  eye  can  rest  with  satisfaction.  Our  villages  are 
fast  losing  that  pleasant  and  cheerful  character  for  which  they  were 
once-  famed,  and  the  pleasing  cottages  of  former  days  giving  way  to 
successors  which  symbolise  nothing  but  the  close  calculations  of  the 
petty  speculator  ;  our  farm-houses  and  their  accompaniments,  once 
so  delightfully  picturesque,  are  replaced  by  dull  square  lumps  with- 
out a  single  point  to  redeem  their  utter  and  abject  ugliness.  Even 
"  villa  residences"  instead  of  ornaments  have  become  perfect  plague- 
spots  in  our  landscapes  ;  in  short,  the  noble  art  of  building,  trom 
being  the  great  means  by  which  our  country,  our  cities,  towns,  and 
villages  were  rendered  beautiful  and  interesting,  has  become,  durino- 
the  prevalence  of  the  modern  vernacular,  the  one  great  means  by 
which  they  are  degraded  and  disfigured.  All  this  has  arisen  from 
the  adoption  of  an  exotic  architecture,  which,  however  beautiful  it 
may  have  been  in  its  own  country,  inspires  no  kind  of  interest 
amongst  our  population,  and  has  been  the  means  of  extinguishincr 
the  national  style  of  our  country  without  supplying  anything  worthy 
of  taking  its  place.    Can  it,  then,  be  objected  that  we  are  unreason- 


72  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

able,  in  wishing  to  bring  back  that  national  architecture  which  once 
rendered  our  country  replete  with  beauty  and  interest  ? 

As  all  that  is  noble  in  architecture  has  ever  commenced  in  the 
Temple,  and  subsequently  spread  into  and  pervaded  all  other  forms 
of  building,  it  is  a  happy  circumstance  that  it  was  in  church  archi- 
tecture that  the  state  of  degradation  of  which  I  have  been  speaking 
first  began  to  be  appreciated.  It  was,  however,  felt  before  the  true 
cause  was  thought  of ;  and  the  first  attempts  to  remedy  it  were  by 
the  introduction  of  mere  costliness  into  our  church  building,  with- 
out in  the  first  instance  making  any  attempt  at  changing  the  style. 

When  the  first  great  movement  was  made,  about  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years  back,  in  favour  of  church  building,  no  style  was  thought 
of,  in  the  majority  of  instances,  but  that  debased  form  of  Grecian 
architecture  which  then  prevailed  ;  or  if  in  any  instances  the  claims 
of  our  native  and  Christian  architecture  were  entertained,  it  was 
carried  out  without  any  correct  feeling  for  its  true  principles.  All 
the  churches,  however,  of  that  period  were  costly  to  an  extent  which 
appears  now  perfectly  unintelligible.  We  seldom  hear  of  a  church 
of  the  plainest  kind  having  been  erected  for  less  than  j612,000.  and 
£15,000.,  while  the  majority  amounted  to  £20,000.  and  £30,000. ; 
and  one,  at  least,  may  be  pointed  out  which  reached  the  enormous 
sum  of  £75,000.  After  this  period,  an  interval  of  a  few  years 
elapsed  in  which  but  few  churches  were  erected  ;  but  the  necessity 
of  providing  church-room  for  the  increasing  population  again  forcing 
itself  upon  the  public  attention,  a  totally  different  phase  in  the 
history  of  church  architecture  commenced.  This  was  the  era  of 
"cheap  churches."  Instead  of  twenty,  thirty,  or  fifty  thousand 
pounds  being,  as  formerly,  thought  a  reasonable  amount  to  be  ex- 
pended on  each,  two,  three,  or  at  most  five  thousand  were  thought 
ample  amounts  for  churches  of  equal  accommodation !  The  best 
church  builder  was  now  the  man  who  could  state  the  lowest  num- 
ber of  shiUings  per  sitting  at  which  he  would  guarantee  to  produce 
churches.  The  least  excess  above  the  lowest  price  which  had  been 
quoted  in  the  market  was  considered  prohibitory,  and  any  one  who 
would  venture  on  the  yet  lower  quotation  was  at  once  considered 
to  be  the  leader  in  ecclesiastical  architecture. 

As  the  taste  exhibited  during  the  extravagant  period  had  been 
anything  but  exalted,  it  may  reasonably  be  imagined  that  that  of 
the  cheap  period  was  absolutely  debased.  It  is  true  that  the  churches 
never  were  in  reaUty  executed  at  anything  like  the  rates  quoted,  but 
the  aim  at  doing  so  was  sufficient  to  ensure  the  utmost  degradation 
both  of  architecture  and  construction.  This  bathos  of  church  archi- 
tecture had  one  hopeful  feature,  that  there  was  no  lower  level  that 
could  be  reached,  and  that  any  change  must  be  for  the  better.  We 
accordingly  find,  during  this  period,  the  germ  of  better  things 
gradually  becoming  visible.  On  the  one  hand,  the  absurdity  and 
impiety  of  thus  treating  the  houses  of  God  began  to  be  publicly 
exposed  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  low  rates  "  per  sitting  " — which 
had  been  quoted  with  so  much  exultation — -began  to  be  proved 
fallacious,  and  the  prices  slowly  to  creep  upwards.     It  began  to  be 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  GOTHIC  AUCHITECTTJBE.  73 

breathed  in  one  quarter,  that  a  Christian  temple  ought  not  to  be 
the  cheapest  of  all  classes  of  building;  and  to  be  admitted  in 
another,  that  a  limit  had  been  found,  below  ^Yhich  they  could  not  be 
ground  down. 

It  so  happened,  as  if  by  an  over-ruling  Providence,  that  about 
this  time  a  secret  and  almost  unconscious  progress  was  being  made 
in  the  study  and  appreciation  of  our  ancient  churches.  Some  few 
architects,  chiefly  young  men,  who  had  hardly  commenced  practice, 
had  been  drawn  towards  them  by  an  irresistible  attraction,  not  with 
any  thought  of  making  a  practical  use  of  their  study,  but  by  a 
spontaneous  opening  out  to  their  apprehension  of  the  hidden 
beauties  which  the  ancient  remnants  contained.  They  began  to 
make  long  pedestrian  tours  from  village  to  village  to  sketch  and 
study  the  architecture  of  the  churches  ;  and  their  minds  and  their 
sketch  books  became  filled  with  the  details  of  true  Christian  archi- 
tecture, almost  before  the  thought  occurred  to  them  of  turning  them 
to  practical  account.  At  the  same  time,  but  quite  unknown  to  these 
humble  architectural  students,  a  feeling  of  compunction  began  to 
become  prevalent  at  the  low  estate  to  which  the  houses  of  prayer 
\Yere  being  reduced ;  and  a  noble  spirit  began  to  show  itself  here 
and  there  for  remedying  their  dishonour.  The  union  of  these  two 
germs  of  better  things  has  led  to  the  revival  which  is  now  happily 
rife  among  us. 

About  the  time  I  am  referring  to,  an  immense  impulse  was 
given  to  the  reformation  of  architecture  by  the  earlier  publications 
of  Pugin.  His  Contrasts,  published  in  1835,  most  vividl}^  exposed 
the  abject  meanness  which  pervaded  the  architecture  of  the  day ; 
and  while  it  enraged  the  majority  of  our  architects,  it  excited  others 
most  strongly  to  press  forward  towards  better  things.  His  True 
Princijiles  of  Pointed  Architecture,  which  appeared  in  1841,  was  a 
gigantic  step  in  advance.  It  grappled  at  once  with  all  the  fallacies 
which  had  corrupted  modern  architecture,  and  established  a  code  of 
rules  founded  upon  common  sense,  utility,  and  truth :  while  his 
Apology,  which  came  out  a  little  later,  showed  the  necessity  of 
falling  back  upon  our  national  style,  and  its  ready  applicability  to 
every  requirement  of  our  day.  In  the  meantime,  the  success  of  his 
own  personal  labours  was  truly  astonishing:  not  only  were  the 
advances  he  made  in  the  revival  of  pointed  architecture  most  rapid, 
shewing  genius  in  every  touch — this  was  in  fact  the  smallest  of  his 
achievements — he  actually  revived  by  his  own  hand  or  his  own 
personal  exertions  nearly  every  one  of  its  subsidiary  arts.  Architect- 
ural carving  and  sculpture,  stained  glass,  decorative  painting, 
metal  work  whether  in  brass  or  wrought  iron,  gold  and  silver  work, 
jewellery,  enamelling,  embroidery,  woven  textures,  paper  hangings, 
encaustic  tiles,  the  manufacture  of  furniture,  and  even  of  ordinary 
household  crockery  ware,  all  felt  the  impress  of  his  hand  and  of  his 
genius.  Shortly  after  Pugin  became  publicly  known,  the  same 
cause  began  to  be  vigorously  taken  up  in  our  own  Church,  The 
Societies  formed  in  connection  with  both  Universities  were  followed 
up  by  others  in  all  parts  of  the  country.     That  vigorous  periodical, 

L 


74  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

**  The  Ecclesiologist,"  though  its  zeal  often  outstepped  the  dictates 
of  discretion,  and  its  critiques  too  often  evinced  the  effects  of  party 
feeUng  and  individual  partialities,  did  immense  service  in  exposing 
the  desecration  and  degradation  to  which  our  old  churches  ^Yere 
subjected,  and  in  promulgating  correct  principles  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture  and  arrangement.  A  noble  feeling  for  the  subject 
rapidly  spread  itself  among  all  classes  ;  the  zeal  for  church  building 
and  restoration  greatly  outran  the  increased  knowledge.  Acts  of 
individual  munificence  multiplied  on  all  hands,  and  an  entirely  new 
state  of  things  came  about. 

Those  humble  students  of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  to  whom  I 
have  before  alluded,  when  they  attempted  to  put  what  they  had 
gathered  into  a  practical  form,  though  they  from  the  very  first 
began  to  effect  an  amelioration,  were  long  in  becoming,  in  any 
degree,  masters  of  their  work ;  they  began  by  correcting  the  most 
flagrant  abuses,  and  by  introducing  some  of  the  less  expensive  of 
the  features  they  had  culled  from  the  ancient  churches  they  so 
much  loved.  As  they  proceeded  they  gradually  made  their  churches 
more  like  the  time-honoured  originals,  and  if  improved  funds  per- 
mitted, they  gradually  introduced  better  and  more  pleasing  features  ; 
and,  as  the  rage  for  cheapness  still  continued  with  little  abatement, 
they  often  got  into  grievous  trouble  through  their  over  sanguine  and 
too  venturesome  attempts.  Still,  however,  in  every  church  they 
built,  improvements  could  be  traced.  One  after  another  of  the 
ancient  details  began  to  reappear.  The  seating  gradually  ceased  to 
be  formed  of  the  thinnest  deal  panelling,  like  the  boxes  of  a  coffee- 
house, and  began  to  assume  a  little  of  the  substantial  character  of 
those  seen  in  old  churches,  though  it  was  long  enough  before  it 
actually  reached  it.  The  walls  began  to  be  thickened,  inch  by  inch, 
as  the  courage  of  the  architect  developed  itself,  though  still  keeping 
at  a  respectful  distance  from  the  substance  of  an  ancient  wall ;  the 
timbers  of  the  roofs  became  less  and  less  flimsy,  though  not 
venturing  to  approach  the  generous  scantlings  of  good  old  times  ;  the 
plastered  ceilings  began  to  disappear,  and  the  timbers  to  be  more 
exposed,  while  their  construction  timidly  approximated  to  that  of 
*'  Gothic  days."  The  chancel — from  a  mere  budding  excrescence — 
began  to  assume  more  generous  dimensions ;  and  in  short,  every 
feature  of  their  churches  showed  evident  symptoms  of  wholesome 
development.  All  these  improvements,  however,  naturally  tended 
to  increase  cost,  and  many  were  the  difiiculties  encountered  from 
their  too  sanguine  introduction,  the  architect  fondly  hoping  that 
each  step  might  not  add  much  to  the  outlay.  It  is  true  that  the 
notions  of  the  public,  as  to  the  proper  cost  of  a  church,  gradually 
rose  from  the  bathos  to  which  they  had  sunk,  yet  not  in  proportion 
to  the  development  of  the  ideas  of  those  few  architects  whom  I 
allude  to.  There  is  always  a  majority  in  our  2:>rofession,  whose  no- 
tions are  only  on  a  par  with  public  taste,  and  whose  aim  is  only 
how  to  meet  it,  instead  of  how  to  elevate  it ;  and  these  always  keep 
public  taste  and  liberality  from  duly  progressing. 

The  latest,  perhaps,  among  the  steps  taken  by  the  more  earnest- 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE.  75 

minded  clmrch  architects,  was  a  due  appreciation  of  the  necessity 
for  truthfulness  of  material,  and  genuineness  of  construction.  Inter- 
nal details  were  at  first  in  plaster  or  cement  instead  of  stone  ;  deal 
was  grained  to  imitate  oak,  and  plaster  jointed  to  look  like  stone. 
These  inconsistences  were  but  slowly  got  rid  of.  Those,  however, 
who  followed  church  architecture  with  earnestness,  and  with  a  w'or- 
thy  sense  of  its  claims,  (and  they  were  and  are  still  but  a  little  band) 
at  length  attained  to  the  courage  requisite  to  follow  it  up  in  all  the 
truthfulness  and  substantiality  of  ancient  work.  Our  walls  became 
as  thick  and  more  solid  ;  our  timbers  often  as  stout,  though  not  so 
often  of  the  true  heart  of  oak  ;  our  seating  as  massive  ;  our  arches, 
columns,  and  internal  ornaments  as  uniformly  of  stone  as  in  the 
ancient  churches.  But  what  was  the  consequence  to  ourselves  ? 
Simply,  that  w^e  could  not  produce  a  church — though  we  built  at 
prices  so  low  as  would  have  astonished  our  fathers — at  anything  like 
the  estimate  of  the  multitude  of  our  competitors  who  cared  for  none 
of  these  things,  and  who  brought  forward  showy  drawings  of  highly 
ornamented  churches,  backed  by  estimates  twenty  per  cent,  lower 
than  those  we  could  venture,  upon  for  much  plainer  and  more 
homely-looking  buildings.  It  is  this  which  was  and  still  continues 
the  hindrance  to  the  progress  of  genuine  church  architecture,  and 
which  makes  our  revival  appear  to  many  a  thing  of  frivolity  and 
fashion,  rather  than  of  deep  and  earnest  feeling. 

When  it  had  arrived  at  this  stage,  our  revival  was  strongly  in- 
fluenced by  a  new  and  most  powerful  champion — I  need  hardly  say 
that  I  refer  to  Mr.  Ruskin.  I  cannot  trust  myself  with  the  task  of 
commenting  upon  the  works  of  this  most  eloquent  and  remarkable 
writer.  This,  however,  is  quite  certain,  that  no  man,  Pugin  alone 
excepted,  has  so  strongly  influenced  the  undertaking  we  have  in 
hand  ;  and  no  single  individual — not  himself  a  professed  artist — has 
in  our  times  exercised  so  wonderful  an  influence  over  the  art  of  his 
day.  Our  opponents  detest  him  as  they  did  Pugin  and  the  Ecclesi- 
ologist  before  him ;  and  find  in  his  v/ritings  abundant  grounds  for 
reiterating,  according  to  their  custom,  the  charges  of  enthusiasm, 
exaggeration,  inconsistency,  and  the  like.  It  is  probable  that  all 
unflinching  reformers  are  more  or  less  open  to  such  charges  ;  but 
in  spite  of  all  this,  the  effect  of  his  writings  has  been  enormous,  and 
in  the  main  most  beneficial.  Among  the  many  directions  in  which 
Mr.  Ruskin  has  influenced  our  revival,  may  be  mentioned  one 
which,  though  liable  to  be  carried  to  excess,  is  nevertheless  of  con- 
siderable importance — I  mean  the  attention  he  has  called  to  the 
merits  of  the  mediaeval  architecture  of  Italy,  which  had  hitherto 
been  viewed  as  an  impure  style  meriting  little  attention,  but  which 
is  now  found  to  contain  a  mass  of  material,  which — if  judiciously 
used — will  supply  many  a  hiatus  in  our  own  architecture,  and  greatly 
aid  us  in  our  future  developments  and  adaptations.  More  import- 
ant still  is  the  study  which  has  of  late  years  been  given  to  the 
French  architecture  of  the  13th  and  14th  centuries,  especially  the 
former,  which  for  vigour  of  sentiment  and  mascuUne  boldness  is 
unequalled  among  the  works  of  the  middle  ages ;  and  being,  as  it 


76  YORK  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

were,  the  great  central  type  of  pointed  architecture,  claims  from 
each  nation  of  Europe  an  amount  of  study  and  attention,  second 
only  to  that  demanded  of  each  for  the  indigenous  art  of  his  own 
country. 

Let  us  now  consider  for  a  moment  what  is  the  position  in  this 
great  revolutionary  movement  which  we  have  succeeded  in  attaining. 
I  think  I  may,  in  the  first  place,  say  that  we — that  is  to  say,  such 
of  us  as  have  followed  up  the  subject  with  zeal  and  care — have 
succeeded  in  obtaining  a  fair  knowledge  of  mediaeval  architecture, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad,  and  of  mastering  its  general  principles. 
So  far  as  this  goes  we  have  fairly  cleared  the  ground  before  us,  so 
that  there  is  no  more  difficulty  for  a  student  in  making  himself 
acquainted  with  Gothic  than  with  the  so-called  classic  architecture : 
this  is  no  small  achievement,  to  have  thoroughly  mastered  the  gram- 
mar of  our  art.  Secondly — we  have  revived  a  general  feeling  in 
favour  of  the  study  of  mediaeval  architecture,  and  a  feeling  most 
strong  and  wide-spread  in  favour  of  its  revival.  Thirdly — we  have 
actually  succeeded,  and  that  to  the  fullest  extent,  in  the  revival  and 
re-establishment  of  our  style,  so  far  as  relates  to  ecclesiastical  pur- 
poses. No  revolution  was  ever,  so  far  as  it  goes,  more  complete ;  for, 
while  forty  years  ago  no  one  in  building  a  new  church  would  ever 
have  dreamed  of  making  it  Gothic,  no  one  now  dreams  of  making  it 
anything  else.  Whatever  may  have  been  our  failures  or  short- 
comings, in  this  we  have  been  thoroughly  and  perfectly  successful, 
that  we  have  completely  revolutionized  our  ecclesiastical  architect- 
ure. Our  opponents  may  secretly  grieve  over  it,  or  may  publicly 
deride  it  as  a  fashion  of  the  day — an  affectation  of  high  churchmen, 
or  a  dream  of  sentimentalists  ;  but,  say  what  they  will  of  it,  the  fact 
remains  that  the  base  architecture  of  the  churches  of  thirty  years 
back  is  overthrown,  and  the  noble  style  of  our  mediseval  forefathers 
re-established  on  its  ruins.  This  fact  is  as  indisputable  as  the 
renaissance  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  too  late  for  our  opponents 
to  wince,  and  object,  and  bring  forward  sapient  arguments  which  are 
as  potent  against  their  ov\m  renaissance  as  against  ours  ;  the  revolu 
lion  is  completed,  and  neither  their  wrath  nor  their  lamentations 
will  reverse  it. 

The  next  point  which  we  may  chronicle  is  this — that  we  have  a 
staff  of  architects  who  are  well  able  to  carry  on  the  success  which 
has  been  achieved.  True  it  is  that,  though  our  movement  is  yet 
young,  the  hand  of  death  has  not  spared  our  ranks.  Our  leader  has 
long  since  been  taken  from  us,  and  several  of  the  most  zealous  of 
our  fellow-labourers  have  been  removed.  Yet,  thank  God,  we 
remain  a  zealous  and  vigorous  band,  and  our  ranks  are  continually 
being  strengthened  by  earnest-minded  and  talented  recruits ;  so 
that  the  number  of  really  efficient  champions  is  ever  on  the  increase. 
There  is,  too,  a  goodly  number  of  young  men,  as  yet  unknown  to 
the  world,  whose  whole  souls  are  devoted  to  our  work,  and  whose 
whole  time  and  energy  is  expended  in  its  furtherance ;  these  young 
architects  form  a  noble  army  in  reserve,  who  will  speedily  come  for- 
ward and  do  battle  in  our  cause,  and  will  form  most  efficient  suc- 
cessors to  those  who  first  lifted  up  its  standard. 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE.  77 

Still  more  important  evidence  in  favour  of  what  we  have  been 
doing  is  the  way  in  which  our  churches  have  come  to  be  cared  for. 
Instead  of  the  abject  and  contemptuous  neglect  with  which  they 
were  formerly  treated,  \ve  find  them  now^  everywhere  being  restored 
to  seemly  order.  New  churches  rise  in  every  direction,  the  majority 
of  them  simple  structures,  as  suits  the  enormous  practical  demands 
of  the  day,  but  others  on  a  more  magnificent  scale,  proving  that 
while  not  losing  sight  of  the  urgent  demands  of  a  teeming  popula- 
tion, we  are  not,  on  the  other  hand,  unmindful  of  the  exalted  claims 
of  the  temples  of  God.  Church  arrangement,  again,  once  so  utterly 
lost  sight  of,  is  now  fairly  appreciated  and  understood.  The  wretch- 
ed fallacies  and  shameless  shams  of  the  day,  are  by  the  Gothic 
revivers  utterly  repudiated,  and  truthfulness  established  as  the 
guiding  star  of  all  they  undertake.  The  subsidiary  arts  of  architect- 
ural sculpture  and  carving,  decorative  painting,  stained  glass,  metal 
work,  encaustic  tiles,  and  everything  which  is  wanted  for  the  decor- 
ation of  a  building,  are  making  advances  more  or  less  concurrently 
with  architecture  itself.  Another  of  our  successes  is  the  advance 
made  in  the  uses  of  varied  materials,  such  as  brick  and  tile  of  differ- 
ent colours,  marbles,  serpentine,  polished  granite,  alabaster,  and 
stones  of  varied  hues,  in  such  a  way  as  to  enhance  the  beauty  of 
our  buildings.  Though  these  elements  of  beauty  belong  to  all  time, 
they  had  been  utterly  neglected  at  the  period  of  our  revival,  and 
have  reassumed  the  importance  which  belongs  to  them,  concurrently 
with  the  revolution  in  architectural  taste.  Even  metallic  construc- 
tion, the  great  practical  development  of  our  day,  has  by  our  vernac- 
ular architects  been  in  a  great  degree  neglected  as  an  sesthetic 
element,  but  assumes  new  beauties,  thoroughly  adapted  to  its  con- 
ditions, when  it  comes  into  the  hands  of  our  revivalists. 

Thus  far  I  have  dwelt  only  upon  the  bright  side.  I  will  now 
point  out  some  of  the  drawbacks  from  which  our  cause  is  suffering. 
The  first  of  these,  I  believe,  to  be  architectural  competitions.  At 
first  sight  nothing  would  appear  more  likely  to  serve  as  incentives 
to  progress  than  such  competitions,  and  it  may  be  that  in  a  healthy 
state  of  art  such  might  really  be  the  case,  and  even  now  that  it  may 
be  so  in  a  few  exceptional  instances  ;  but  at  a  time  like  the  present, 
when,  by  the  long  prevalence  of  a  foreign  style  in  which  no  one 
took  a  personal  interest,  all  feeling  for  architecture,  and  all 
instinctive  perception  (on  the  part  of  the  public)  of  beauty  of  form, 
had  been  extinguished,  it  must  be  clear  that  little  is  to  be  expected 
for  competitions  in  which  a  chance  assembly  of  persons,  probably 
without  knowledge  or  taste,  are  to  be  the  judges.  So  obvious  has 
it  become  that  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  those  who  have  had  the 
selection  of  designs  in  such  competitions  have  been  utterly  incapable 
of  distinguishing  what  is  good  or  bad,  and  that  a  certain  trashy  showi- 
ness,  backed  by  an  estimate  unblushingly  low,  would  beat  the  most 
meritorious  work  of  art,  that  architects  of  real  feeling  and  skill  have 
gradually  withdrawn  themselves  from  an  ordeal  from  which  so  little 
was  to  be  hoped.  The  consequence  is  that,  with  all  the  success 
which  I  have  claimed  for  our  revival,  the  great  majority  of  works 


78  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

which  it  has  given  rise  to  are  not  the  productions  of  those  who  have 
promoted  or  care  a  straw  for  it,  but  of  men  picked  up  by  chance, 
who  only  follow  our  style  as  the  fashion  of  the  day,  have  never 
studied  old  examples,  much  less  worked  out  any  original  develop- 
ments of  their  own,  and  are  quite  incapable  of  producing  anything 
above  the  very  tamest  mediocrity.  The  works  carried  out  by  the 
leaders  of  our  movement,  or  by  those  who  have  devoted  heart  and 
soul  to  it,  are  but  a  mere  fractional  minority ;  so  that,  though  the 
success  of  the  revival  as  a  great  moral  fact  is  only  the  more 
indisputably  proved  by  those  who  care  nothing  for  the  matter  being 
compelled  by  the  force  of  public  oj^inion  to  follow  it — its  actual 
artistic  success  is  most  seriously  impeded,  and  its  character  deplorably 
lowered,  by  the  unfortunate  circumstance  that  most  of  its  productions 
are  by  men  who  utterly  neglect  the  study  of  their  art.  This  evil  is 
further  increased  by  the  appointment  of  architects  from  motives 
wholly  unconnected  with  their  professional  comj)etency.  A  particular 
architect  is  the  son  or  nephew  of  a  member  of  the  committee — a 
friend  of  some  large  subscriber — a  townsman — a  native  of  the  country 
— a  pleasant  fellov/ — or  anything  in  the  world  is  too  often  considered 
a  reason  for  his  appointment,  provided  only  that  skill  in  his  profession 
be  not  named  ;  if  it  is  so,  a  hundred  objections  are  at  once  started; 
indeed  there  are  whole  districts  in  which  a  real  church  architect  is 
never  by  any  chance  employed,  and  even  in  London  itself  they 
are  almost  systematically  excluded ;  and  there  are  at  this  moment 
men  of  the  highest  talent  and  knowledge  doing  next  to  nothing, 
while  mere  tyroes  and  adventurers  are  executing  the  works  which 
are  unjustly  withheld  from  them. 

A  second  hindrance  of  the  same  class  is  that  a  multitude  of 
architects,  w^ho  join  our  ranks,  seem  to  have  little  or  no  appreciation 
of  intrinsic  beauty.  This  arises  from  the  low  condition  to  which 
architectural  art  had  generally  fallen ;  and  it  has  become  so  ingrained 
into  the  English  constitution,  that  nothing  but  a  determined  effort 
on  the  part  of  each  student  of  architecture  and  of  each  individual 
architect — an  effort  prolonged  during  their  whole  career — will  get 
over  it.  We  seem  as  a  nation  to  have  lost  that  instinctive  eye  for 
beauty  which  it  is  quite  clear  that  our  forefathers  possessed,  but 
which  we  see  gradually  failing  during  the  three  last  centuries,  till  at 
the  commencement  of  the  much  vaunted  nineteenth  it  had  become 
almost  wholly  extinguished.  This  defect  spoils  nine-tenths  of  the 
works  of  our  clay,  in  whatever  style.  Every  architect  would  do  well  to 
mistrust  himself,  more  or  less,  on  this  point,  and  to  use  every  effort  to 
cultivate  his  perceptions  of  beauty.  Like  persons  who  having  long 
been  pent  up  in  a  close  unwholesome  atmosphere  cease  to  perceive 
its  noxiousness,  we  are  so  surrounded  with  ugliness  that  our  senses 
are  blunted  and  our  instinctive  perceptions  deadened.  It  is  only 
by  accustoming  our  eyes  to  objects  of  a  contrary  influence  that  this 
can  be  corrected.  We  should  seize  every  opportunity  of  visiting, 
contemplating,  and  drawing  from  works  of  a  better  age,  particularly 
of  those  which  we  select  as  in  some  degree  our  models ;  we  should, 
in  our  houses,  surround  ourselves  with  prints,  photographs,  and 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE.      79 

models  of  the  works  of  such  periods,  not  as  copies  but  as  means  of 
influencing  our  natural  senses,  and  counteracting  the  baneful 
influences  to  which  they  are  hourly  subjected;  we  should,  above 
all,  habituate  our  eye  to  search  out  and  delight  in  the  exquisite 
forms  of  nature's  productions.  These  are  ever  the  great  hope  of  art, 
for  their  beauties  remain  untouched,  be  the  works  of  man  never  so 
degraded,  and  ever  remain  as  the  nucleus  and  germ  on  which 
art  may  be  regenerated. 

In  the  same  class  of  adverse  influences  may  be  mentioned  two 
others,  contrary  one  to  the  other,  but  each  of  a  damaging  tendency. 
The  one  is  too  servile  a  use  of  ancient  examples,  the  other  too 
violent  a  straining  after  novelty  for  the  mere  sake  of  it.  No  one 
can,  I  think,  overstate  the  importance  on  the  one  hand  of  the  study 
of  the  glorious  works  of  our  forefathers,  nor  on  the  other  of  the  aim 
at  originality  in  our  own,  and  if  the  two  were  combined  in  each 
individual  architect  it  would  do  all  we  could  wish  for ;  but,  instead 
of  this,  we  too  often  find  them  in  a  state  of  severance,  one  set  of 
architects  plodding  on  and  ever  working  up  the  old  stock  of  ideas, 
forms,  and  details — only  deviating  from  them  by  a  process  of 
deterioration  which  this  system  is  always  calculated  to  produce ; 
and  another,  without  the  ballast  which  the  intelligent  study  of 
ancient  examples  would  furnish,  constantly  striving  after  new  and 
strange  forms  quite  irrespective  of  their  fitness  or  beauty — the  great 
article  of  faith  in  the  one  part}  being  that  all  our  ideas  should  be 
old,  and  that  of  the  other  that  they  should  all  be  new.  I  really 
would  not  find  much  fault  with  the  last  named  party,  were  it  not 
that  their  novelties  are  so  often  crude  and  unpleasing ;  before  we 
strive  after  novelty  of  conception  we  should  always  take  care  that 
our  eye  is  tutored  to  the  perception,  and  our  imagination  to  the 
production,  of  what  is  beautiful.  The  great  aim  of  art  is  not  so  much 
novelty  as  beauty.  True  it  is  that  the  same  form  too  often  repeated 
begins  to  nauseate,  and  for  this  reason  the  mind  of  the  true  artist 
should  be  a  fresh  spring  of  ever  new  and  varied  beauties;  but 
productions  which  are  only  new  and  not  at  all  beautiful  are  worse, 
almost,  than  the  repetition  ad  nauseam  of  hacknied  forms,  excepting 
only  that  they  often  suggest  to  a  more  tutored  artist  ideas  which  he 
is  able  to  clothe  afresh,  and  remodel  into  forms  more  worthy  of 
admiration. 

I  now  come,  however,  to  the  great  hindrance  to  the  j^erfect 
success  of  our  revival,  and  the  great  object  which  we  must  set 
before  us  in  all  our  future  efforts.  The  hindrance  referred  to  is  the 
absurd  supposition  that  Gothic  architecture  is  exclusively  and  in- 
trinsically ecclesiastical.  Every  form  of  architecture  may  in  some 
sense  be  said  to  be  religious,  for  each  succeeding  style  has  both 
arisen  and  culminated  in  the  Temple,  and  has  thence  spread  itself 
through  all  other  classes  of  building.  How  little  do  we  know  of 
the  architecture  of  Egypt  or  Greece,  but  from  their  temples  !  We 
scarcely  know  even  what  their  houses  were  like.  Of  the  Romans 
Ave  possess,  it  is  true,  many  stupendous  secular  works,  but  their 
architecture  may  be  traced  to  the  Temple.     And  it  is  only  in  the 


80  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

same  way  that  that  of  the  middle  ages  was  ecclesiastical.  True  it 
is,  that  its  most  glorious  efforts  were  devoted  to  religion,  and  that 
its  religious  buildings  were  the  more  glorious  as  its  religion  was 
more  pure  ;  hut  the  same  architecture  pervaded  every  other  class  of 
building,  and  we  know  infinitely  more  of  the  secular  works  of  our 
mediaeval  forefathers  than  of  those  of  any  of  the  nations  of  antiquity 
whose  architecture  we  absurdly  suppose  to  be  so  suited  to  secular 
uses.  We  possess  in  numbers  the  town  halls,  the  palaces,  the 
town  and  country  houses,  the  warehouses,  and  even  the  agricultural 
buildings,  built  and  made  use  of  by  the  same  men  who  erected  our 
cathedrals  and  parish  churches ;  and  we  find  the  same  architecture 
pervading  them  all,  only  shaping  itself  in  each  instance  to  the 
requirements  and  uses  of  the  particular  structure.  Why,  then, 
should  we  call  the  style  which  produced  all  these  varied  buildings 
•'  Ecclesiastical,"  or  imagine  it  only  suited  to  religious  uses  ?  Our 
revival  has  hitherto  assumed  a  character  almost  exclusively  eccle- 
siastical ;  I  rejoice  in  this,  because  it  is  following  the  course  common 
to  all  genuine  styles  of  art,  and  because  it  shows  that  we  have 
devoted  to  religion  the  first-fruits  of  our  labour ;  but  it  is  not  to  be 
argued  from  this  that  our  revived  style  is  unsuited  to  other  uses, 
any  more  than  that  those  of  Egypt  and  Greece  were  only  applicable 
to  temples.  It  was  church  architecture  which  first  demanded  our 
reformation ;  it  was  the  low  estate  to  which  the  House  of  God  was 
reduced  that  first  made  us  appreciate  its  necessity ;  and  it  was  the 
beauty  of  the  ancient  churches  with  which  our  land  is  so  thickly 
studded  that  first  suggested  to  us  how  that  reformation  was  to  be 
effected.  We  have,  so  far  as  churches  are  concerned,  completely 
revolutionized  our  architecture,  and  completely  revived  a  lost  style. 
So  far  as  that  is  concerned,  our  duty  is  now  to  2^^'^ss  foricard,  to 
develope,  to  make  the  revived  style  our  own,  to  adapt  it  in  every  way 
to  our  own  wants,  to  our  own  ritual,  and  to  the  demands  whatever 
they  may  be  (so  only  that  they  are  legitimate  and  just)  of  our  own 
day.  In  this  a  noble  prospect  lies  before  us,  and  with  all  our 
hindrances  I  think  we  are  in  a  fair  way  for  realizing  it.  W^hat  I 
have  now  to  urge  is,  that  the  reformation  thus  successfully  effected 
in  church  architecture  must  be  carried  into  other  branches  of 
building. 

Do  our  houses  need  less  architectural  improvement  than  our 
churches  ?  Look  at  the  streets  of  our  towns,  look  at  our  workmen's 
cottages,  at  the  mushroom  growth  of  streets,  terraces,  and  crescents 
at  our  watering  places,  or  the  villas  which  disfigure  the  suburbs  of 
our  cities,  and  the  answer  will  not  be  long  suggesting  itself.  Do 
our  commercial  buildings  want  no  reformation?  Compare,  then, 
our  warehouses,  &c.,  with  those  that  remain  in  the  ancient  cities  of 
Europe,  the  one  disgracing  and  disfiguring,  the  other  forming  noble 
ornaments  to  the  towns  in  which  they  were  erected.  Do  our 
agricultural  buildings  need  no  improvement  in  point  of  taste  ? 
Compare,  then,  the  square  built  farm-house  of  the  present  day, 
its  dull  plain  walls,  its  sash  windows — mere  holes  in  the  wall — its 
low  hipped  and  slated  roof,  and  the  dull  ugly  slated  sheds  around  it, 


THE  REVIVAL  OF  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE.      81 

with  the  picturesque  old  gabled  homestead  with  its  grand  bams — 
often  handsomer  than  our  churches — and  I  think  you  will  not 
be  at  a  loss  for  a  reply.  Do  our  civic  structures  satisfy  our  taste  ? 
Compare,  then,  our  town-halls,  our  cloth-halls,  our  markets,  our 
corn  exchanges,  with  the  noble  hotels  do  ville,  the  market  halles, 
and  the  kauf  houses  of  the  great  commercial  and  manufacturing 
cities  of  the  middle  ages.  To  cut  the  matter  short,  compare 
Manchester,  Leeds,  Birmingham,  or  Bradford,  in  the  height  of 
their  glory,  with  Antwerp,  Ghent,  Bruges,  Ypres,  or  Nuremberg  in 
their  decay,  and  say  whether  the  state  of  secular  architecture  among 
us  does  or  does  not  stand  in  need  of  reformation !  The  fact  is 
that  the  very  same  process  of  regeneration  which  we  have  applied 
to  church  architecture  is  demanded  equally  peremptorily  for  our 
domestic  and  our  public  buildings,  and  is  equally  applicable  to 
them.  In  no  age  of  the  world  has  one  style  of  architecture  been 
thought  best  for  the  temple  or  the  church,  and  another  for  secular 
purposes ;  such  a  thought  is  only  one  of  the  thousand  puerilities 
of  modern  times.  We  occasionally  in  former  days  find  two  con- 
flicting styles  running  the  gauntlet  one  against  the  other,  and  for 
a  time  pressing  on  their  course  concurrently ;  but  in  no  age  has 
the  thought  occurred  that  one  style  of  architecture  was  good  for  one 
purpose,  but  a  different  one  for  others.  Either,  then,  we  are  wrong 
in  having  overthrown  the  style  we  found  vernacular  for  churches, 
and  re-establishing  that  of  our  own  country  in  days  of  better  taste, 
or,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  leaving  our  work  imperfect,  if  we  do 
not  press  forward  the  same  change  into  other  classes  of  building. 

It  may  perhaps  be  argued,  by  those  who  admit  my  premises, 
that  not  only  are  ancient  examples  much  more  scarce  of  secular 
than  of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  and  the  revival  in  consequence 
more  difficult,  but  that  domestic  habits  and  requirements  have 
undergone  much  greater  changes  than  ecclesiastical,  so  that  even 
if  the  examples  we  seek  were  numerous  they  would  be  unsuited  to 
our  wants.  I  admit  this  to  its  fullest  extent,  but  I  draw  from  it  a 
contrary  conclusion.  We  have  examples  enough  to  teach  us  how  to 
apply  the  style,  and  we  see  from  them  how  perfectly  that  style 
adapted  itself  to  every  requirement ;  and,  surely,  an  architecture 
which  was  found  equally  adapted  for  the  church,  the  castle,  the 
town-hal],  the  cloth  market,  the  w^arehouse,  the  barn,  the  monastery, 
and  the  palace,  will  not  fail,  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have  once 
imbibed  its  spirit,  to  shape  itself  to  the  conditions  of  the  present 
day !  All  who  have  tried  it  in  the  true  spirit  have  found  the  very 
contrary  to  be  the  case,  and  that  nothing  can  exceed  its  flexibility 
and  its  readiness  to  meet  every  want,  and  to  shape  itself  to  every 
condition.  The  comparative  paucity  of  examples  secures  us  against 
mere  copyism,  and  the  altered  nature  of  our  requirements  ensures 
our  making  the  regenerated  style  in  every  sense  our  own ;  so  that 
the  objection  I  am  supposing  is  one  of  the  strongest  possible 
arguments  in  our  favour,  supplying  the  very  elements  of  life  and 
energy  which  we  need.  In  church  architecture,  the  abundance  of 
examples,  and  their  comparative  aptitude  to  our  uses  is  rather  a 

M 


82  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

hindrance  to  originality :  were  they  more  scarce  we  should  strike 
out  more  boldly  for  ourselves,  and  were  they  less  suited  to  our 
ritual,  we  should  be  more  unflinching  in  maldng  our  own  works 
perfectly  so.  In  secular  architecture  our  position  is  far  more 
promising ;  the  old  examples  suggest  but  the  alphabet,  the  voca- 
bulary, and  the  grammar;  they  show  us  how  copious  is  the 
language,  yet  the  relics  of  its  literature  being  scarce,  they  leave  us 
to  use  it  wholly  in  our  own  way,  and  to  express  our  unbiassed 
sentiments. 

The  remains,  however,  which  are  left  to  us,  are  not  so  scarce  as 
to  fail  in  furnishing  elements  and  suggestions  on  which  to  construct 
a  glorious  style  of  secular  architecture.  The  generating  of  such  a 
style  is  a  truly  noble  task.  It  is  one  to  which  I  have  of  late  years 
devoted  a  large  proportion  of  my  thoughts  and  energies,  and  it  is  a 
subject  which,  the  more  I  follow  up,  the  more  convinced  I  am  of 
the  magnificence  of  its  capabilities.  To  redeem  our  towns  from 
almost  unmitigated  ugliness,  to  raise  the  tone  of  our  ordinary 
architecture  from  the  abject  condition  to  which  it  has  been  brought 
down,  are  objects  worthy  of  the  highest  artistic  effort;  but  we  look 
for  something  far  beyond  such  negative  success ;  we  aim  at  render- 
ing our  cities  worthy  of  the  great  age  in  which  we  live ;  at  rendering 
every  object,  however  humble  its  purposes,  a  source  of  pleasure  and 
an  element  of  beauty ;  at  rendering  our  public  buildings  glorious 
productions  of  art,  and  our  private  houses  delightful  not  only  to 
their  inhabitants  but  to  every  passer  by ;  and,  finally,  at  restoring  to 
our  population  that  instinctive  perception  and  delight  in  beauty  of 
form  of  which  they  have  so  long  been  destitute.  To  realise  all  this, 
we  need  only  the  united  efforts  of  our  architects  and  the  active 
sympathy  of  those  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  object.  This  unity 
of  action  must  evince  itself,  not  only  in  the  earnest  determination 
on  the  part  of  every  architect  who  has  the  cause  at  heart  to  do  his 
part — and  that  as  energetically  as  if  the  whole  work  depended  on  his 
single  efforts — in  thus  regenerating  our  secular  architecture ;  but  it 
must  shew  itself  also  in  united  ai7)i,  and  as  far  as  possible  in  a 
united  view  of  the  means  by  which  our  object  is  to  be  attained. 
We  must  not  dissipate  our  force  by  working  each  on  a  different 
basis,  but  must  strive  to  work  upon  the  same  data  and  press  forward 
in  the  same  direction.  We  must  not  one  assume  the  EHzabethan 
as  our  groundwork — another  the  Tudor  style,  and  a  third  that  of 
the  14th  century ;  this  indecision,  as  to  our  2^oint  cle  depart,  has  been 
hitherto  the  great  hindrance  to  our  success.  What  I  have  already 
said  of  the  unreasonableness  of  supposing  Gothic  architecture  good 
for  churches,  and  classic  for  houses,  applies  also  to  the  varieties  of 
Gothic  architecture  itself.  We  have,  by  almost  universal  consent, 
adopted  the  style  of  the  later  part  of  the  13th  century  or  the  begin- 
ning of  the  14th  as  the  ground  work  on  which  to  redevelope  our 
ecclesiastical  architecture.  Consistency,  then,  demands  that  the 
same  basis  should  be  chosen  for  our  secular  developments.  It  is 
the  noblest  period  of  our  indigenous  art,  and,  as  I  am  convinced,  the 
noblest  style  of  architecture  which  has  ever  prevailed,  added  to  the 


SOMEUTON  CASTLE  AND  ITS  BUILDER.  83 

fact  that  it  is  our  own;  why,  then,  should  we  flit  from  style  to  style, 
thus  dissipating  our  energies  and  bringing  frivolity  into  our  move- 
ment ?      The  style  we  have  by  common  consent  chosen  for  our 
churches  is  not  only  in  itself  the  noblest,  but  it  is  so  flexible  as  to 
shape  itself  to  every  other  use  with  the  utmost  facility,  and  whatever 
is  valuable  in  subsequent  varieties  may  readily  be  translated  back 
into  this  noblest  phase.     On  this,  therefore,  let  us  all  begin,  as  the 
firm  foundation  on  which  all  have  agreed  to  build,  for  without  a 
common  ground-work  no  united  effort  can  exist  and  no  new  style  be 
generated.     Having  once,  however,  agreed  on  a  common  basis,  our 
course  must  be  perfectly  free  and  unfettered.     Our  aim,  it  is  true, 
must  still  be  one — to  construct  on  this  basis  a  style  which  will  meet 
every  exigency  of  our  day ;   but  in  following  up  that  aim,  there  is 
the  utmost  scope  for  individual  talent,  and  for  the  most  exalted 
efforts  of  individual  genius.  The  greater  the  number  of  minds  brought 
to  bear  upon  this  work,  the  more  copious  will  be  the  regenerated 
art,  so  only  that  all  work  upon  the  same  foundation,  and  aspire  to 
the  same  result.     That  one  foundation  being  the  highest  point  yet 
attained  by  the  genuine  arts  of  modern  civilization,  and  that  result 
the  development  upon  it  of  a  style  at  once  beautiful  and  glorious, 
truthfully  symbolizing  the  greatness  which  belongs  to  our  period  in 
the  history  of  human  progress ;  and  investing  every  requirement, 
every  art,  material,  and  invention  of  our  age,  with  a  beauty  loro- 
portioned  to  its  intrinsic  and  practical  worth,  and  accordant  with 
that  of  our  ecclesiastical  structures — thus  uniting  our  religious  and 
secular  architecture  in  one  perfect,  noble,  and  harmonious  whole. 
This — this  is  an  object  worthy  of  the  highest  efforts  of  art ;  nor  is  it 
a  chimerical  or  a  visionary  aim,  but  one  which  needs  only  our  united 
labours  for  a  few  short  years  to  ensure  its  perfect  realization. 


Bomerton  Castle  and  its  Builder.  A  Paper  read  on  the  spot.  May 
97,  1857.  By  the  Key.  Edwaed  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  Rector 
of  Leasingham. 

"  Lg  evesko  de  Durham,  ke  mout  fet  h  loer, 
"  En  conquerant  la  tere  fu  tuz  jours  li  primfer  ; 
"  Ne  fussent  ses  enprises  e  hardiment  de  quouei', 
"  Glioses  or  chyviaus  serraint  h  comeucer."! 

Langtoffs  Chronicle. 

Befoee  alluding  to  the  veiy  interesting  remains  of  Somerton 
Castle,  a  short  account  of  its  builder  will  perhaps  be  acceptable  to 
the  members  of  the  associated  Architectural  Societies — particularly 
as  he  was  a  personage  of  some  historical  renown,  and  w^hen  living 
enjoyed  the  high-sounding  titles  of  Bishop  of  Durham,  Count  Pala- 
tine, Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  King  of  Man !      He  was  the 

(1)  "  The  Bishop  of  Durham,  who  did  much  worthy  of  praise,  was  always  the  first  in 
conquering  the  land.  Had  it  not  been  for  his  activity  and  boldness  of  heart,  things  now 
effected  would  have  had  to  have  been  begun." 


84  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

second  son  of  Walter  Bek,^  Baron  of  Eresby,  a  Lincolnshire  noble, 
from  whom  the  present  Lord  Willoughby  de  Eresby  derives  his 
title  and  a  portion  of  his  estates.  He  was  born  about  the  middle 
of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  was  brother  to  Thomas,^  Bishop  of 
St.  David's.  Before  Anthony's  elevation  to  the  See  of  Durham,  he 
had  been  archdeacon  in.  that  diocese.  He  was  consecrated  by  the 
Archbishop  of  York,  at  Westminster,  with  much  pomp,  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Edward  I.  and  his  court,  January  9,  1284,  but  was  not 
enthroned  at  Durham  until  Christmas  Eve,  1285 — a  ceremony  that 
was  performed  by  his  brother,  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  in  con- 
sequence of  a  dispute  that  arose  between  the  Archbishop  of  l^ork's 
representative  and  the  Prior  of  Durham  touching  their  respective 
rights  to  officiate  on  the  occasion.  After  his  enthronement,  it  is 
recorded  that  he  presented  to  the  church  two  pieces  of  rich  tapestry, 
representing  the  Nativity,  as  a  covering  for  the  high  altar.  In  1291, 
he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  who  contracted  for  the  marriage 
of  Margaret  of  Scotland  with  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales;  and  after- 
wards was  one  of  the  five  regents  of  Scotland.  Upon  the  death  of 
Margaret — the  heiress  of  her  country — Bruce  and  Baliol,  it  will  be 
remembered,  became  claimants  for  the  crown,  and  both  appealed  to 
Edward  for  his  decision ;  who,  desiring  nothing  better,  summoned 
all  his  great  northern  barons  and  knights  to  meet  him  at  Norham, 
amongst  whom  the  Bishop  of  Durham  was  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant, so  that  at  the  ensuing  convention  held  at  Norham,  he  was 
selected  to  address  the  States  of  Scotland  in  the  name  of  his 
Sovereign.  He  counselled  Edward  to  decide  in  favour  of  Baliol's 
claim,  as  being  less  dangerous  to  the  interests  of  England  than  that 
of  Bruce;  and  in  1296,  when  the  king  openly  invaded  Scotland, 
putting  aside  his  episcopal  character  entirely,  the  Bishop  joined  him 
at  the  head  of  a  small  army  of  his  own,  arrayed  under  the  banner 
of  St.  Cuthbert,'*  consisting  of  14  knights,  26  standard  bearers,  500 

(2)  This  name  is  spelt  ia  various  ways  by  different  old  authors ;  viz.,  Bel;  Becic,  and 
Belce,  besides  Bee. 

(3)  This  Thomas  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  at  Lincoln,  in  the  presence 
of  king  Edward  I.,  his  queen,  and  seven  or  eight  bishops,  on  the  day  of  tlie  translation 
of  St.  Hugh's  body,  October  6,  1280,  and  appears  to  have  celebrated  his  elevation  by  pay- 
ing all  the  charges  incurred  by  that  stately  ceremonial.— fSfz/ft^s'  York  Chronicle.) 
He  died  in  1293.  According  to  almost  all  the  ordinary  lists  of  the  bishops  of  Lincoln, 
there  were  tivo  termed  Thomas  Bek.  The  real  name,  however,  of  the  hrst  of  these  was 
Anthony  Bek,  who  was  Chancellor  of  Lincoln,  and  elected  Bishop  by  the  Chapter, 
February  3,  1320,  with  the  royal  consent ;  but  tlie  Pope  not  being  willing  to  confirm  his 
election,  Bishop  Henry  Burghersh  was  virtually  the  successor  of  John  de  Alderby. 
Anthony  Bek,  however,  became  Dean  of  Lincoln  in  1329,  and  Bishop  of  Norwich  in  1336. 
The  mistake  as  to  Anthony's  name  appears  to  have  originated  with  Godwyn.  Thomas 
Bek,  usually  termed  "the  2nd,"  (tlie  brother  of  John  Bek,  Knight,  and  Lord  of  Nor- 
manby,  where  he  founded  a  chantr}%  1334),  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  July  7, 
1342,  and  appears  to  have  died  early  in  1347,  as  his  will  was  proved  March  3  in  that  year, 
— see  Testamenta  Eboracensia,  published  by  the  Surtees  Society.  These  two  last  Beks, 
were  kinsmen  of  the  two  first,  but  do  not  appear  to  have  been  very  nearly  related. 

(4)  This  was  borne  by  Henry  de  "  Horncastre,"  or  llorncastle,  a  monk  of  Durham, 
whose  title  indicates  the  Bisliop's  Lincolnshire  connexion ;  but  it  was  not  the  celebrated 
sacred  banner,  as  this  did  not  exist  until  fifty-five  years  afterwards,  or  just  before  tlie 
battle  of  Neville's  Cross,  fought  October  17th,  134G.  John  de  Fosscr,  Prior  of  Durham 
Abbey,  was  then  directed  by  a  vision,  we  are  told,  to  affix  the  holy  corporax  cloth,  used 
by  St.  Cuthbert,  to  the  end  of  a  spear;  and  with  it  to  go  to  the  lied  Hills,  a  spot  on  the 
■west  of  the  city  ol  Durham,  and  there  to  remain  until  the  battle  was  over— the  successful 
issue  of  which  was  attributed  to  this  act.  Shortly  after,  tlie  Prior  caused  a  sumptuous 
banner  to  be  made  of  red  velvet,  cut  into  five  points,  three  of  which  were  terminated  mth 
silver  bells,  and  the  whole  embroidered  with  flowers  of  green  silk  and  gold ;  whilst  in  the 
(Centre,  a  square  of  white  velvet,  ornamented  with  a  red  cross  of  tne  same  material, 


SOMEETON  CASTLE  AND  ITS  BUILDEU.  85 

horse  and  1500  foot  soldiers,  ^Yho  formed  the  van  of  the  royal  forces 
in  their  advance  to  Aberdeen.  Nor  was  the  Dishop  a  passive 
spectator  of  the  prowess  of  his  followers,  for  he  was  only  prevented 
from  attending  his  Sovereign's  second  campaign  by  a  wound  he  had 
previously  received  whilst  he  led  the  second  line  of  the  English 
army  at  the  battle  of  Falkirk,  when  he  was  attended  by  39  banners 
and  a  proportionate  array  of  men.  In  1293,  he  was  sent  on  the 
continent  as  Ambassador,  to  form  an  alliance  with  Adolx)h,  Emperor 
of  Germany,  against  France;  and  afterwards  was  one  of  the  council 
assembled  to  receive  the  Papal  Legates  of  Boniface  the  8th,  who 
was  anxious  to  effect  a  pacification  between  France  and  England. 
Such  were  the  important  services  he  rendered  to  Edward  I.,  and 
yet  he  three  times  suffered  a  partial  confiscation  of  his  possessions 
at  his  hands.  That  king's  necessities  had  compelled  him  to  seize 
the  lands  of  several  nobles,  both  lay  and  spiritual,  by  issuing  a  pro- 
cess of  "  quo  warranto,"  and  amongst  the  sufferers  was  the  Bishop 
of  Durham  ;  his  estates,  however,  were  fully  restored  by  an  inquisi- 
tion, held  before  the  Eoyai  Justices  Itinerant  at  Newcastle  in  1293. 
But  it  was  Edward's  jealousy  of  Bishop  Bek,  strengthened  by  his 
covetousness,  that  led  him  to  lay  his  hands  a  second  time  upon  the 
rich  endowments  of  the  Bishopric  of  Durham,  after  they  had  been 
amplified  by  the  addition  of  Hartlepool,  and  the  domain  of  Castle 
Barnard .°  The  Bishop,  upon  his  own  sole  authority,  had  unfortunately 
ejected  the  Prior  of  Durham,  in  consequence  of  some  differences 
that  had  arisen  between  them,  whilst  he  had  also  enforced  a  longer 
period  of  military  services  from  the  tenants  of  St.  Cuthbert  than 
they  had  previously  rendered.  The  prior,  therefore,  appealed  to  the 
Pope,  and  the  Palatinate  petitioned  Parliament  for  redress  through 
the  Barons  Nevile,  of  Baby,  and  Fitz  Marmaduke.  But  Bek  boldly 
met  this  complicated  storm,  by  paying  no  regard  to  the  Papal 
citation,  and  by  joining  the  popular  party  against  the  king  in  his 
place  in  Parliament.  Upon  receiving  a  second  citation,  however, 
from  Rome,  he  repaired  to  that  city,  attended  by  a  splendid  retinue, 
and  obtained  a  complete  victory  over  the  Prior,  his  visitorial 
superiority  over  the  Convent  having  been  confirmed  ;  but  upon  his 
return,  he  found  that  the  temporalities  of  his  See  had  been  con- 
fiscated through  the  pretext — first,  of  his  having  left  the  kingdom 
without  the  king's  license,  and  secondly,  because  of  the  many  com- 
plaints that  had  been  urged  against  him  by  his  vassals.  Robert  do 
Clifford  was  appointed  custodian  of  these  forfeited  estates,  July  17, 
1301 ;  but  by  the  Bishoj^'s  submission  to  the  king,  and  the  con- 
ciliation of  his  accusers,  Bek  received  them  back  again  in  the  course 
of  the  next  year.  A  second  time,  however,  he  came  into  collision 
both  with  the  Pope  and  the  king  from  the  same  causes.    The  Prior 

enclosed  the  corporax  clotli.  The  banner  was  attached  to  a  wancT,  terminating  in  silver 
knobs,  and  having  two  silver  bells  suspended  from  it,  forming  the  cross-bar  to  a  tall  staff, 
five  yards  high,  covered  with  silver  piping,  and  surmounted  by  a  cross  of  the  same 
material ;  the  whole  being  so  arranged,  that  it  could  be  taken  to  pieces  at  pleasure.  It 
was  always  attended  by  a  clerk  in  his  surplice,  and  by  four  assistants,  besides  the  actual 
bearer,  who  su])ported  it  by  the  aid  of  a  strong  white  leather  girdle,  fitted  with  a  horn 
socket.  After  the  Dissolution,  this  ancient  banner  fell  into  the  luinds  of  Dean  AVhitting- 
ham,  whose  wife,  Katherine— a  Frenchwoman— is  reported  to  have  contemptuously  con- 
signed it  to  the  flames.— ("See  Raine's  St.  Cuthbert.) 

(o)    These  he  had  obtained  through  the  forfeiture  of  the  houses  of  Bruce  and  Baliol 


86  YORK  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

again  appealed  to  Rome,  and  this  time  more  successfully ;  whilst  he 
was  accused  by  his  sovereign  of  having  tampered  with  some  of  the 
royal  rights,  upon  which  occasion  the  Bishop's  temporalities  were 
once  more  committed  to  the  care  of  Robert  de  Clifford,  Dec.  6, 
1305,  and  a  part  of  them  were  alienated  from  the  see  for  ever — 
Barnard  Castle  having  been  given  to  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  Warwick, 
and  Hartlepool  to  Robert  de  Clifford,  the  Crown  retaining  the 
Honors  of  Penrith  in  Cumberland,  Wark  in  Tynedale,  and  the 
church  of  Symonburne,  which  Bek  had  obtained  from  the  king  of 
Scotland.  Nor  did  he  ever  recover  the  favour  of  king  Edward.  In 
the  3^ear  1307,  at  a  Parliament  held  at  Carlisle,  he  was  accused  of 
causing  waste  in  the  forests  and  chases  of  his  diocese,  through  the 
instigation,  or  at  least  by  the  approval,  of  that  monarch.  All 
further  hostility  on  the  part  of  this  sovereign,  however,  was  pre- 
vented by  his  death,  at  Burgh  on  the  Sands,  while  on  his  march 
towards  the  north,  breathing  out  the  bitterest  threats  against  Scot- 
land, which  had  already  so  deeply  suffered  at  his  hands. 

When  Edw.  II.  mounted  the  throne  of  England,  Bek  recovered 
all  his  estates,  except  those  of  Hartlepool  and  Barnard  Castle;  but 
in  lieu  of  these,  he  was  gratified  with  the  titles  of  Count  Palatine  and 
King  of  Man,  as  well  as  with  the  acknowledgment  of  that  of  Patriarch 
of  Jerusalem,  which  he  had  received  from  the  Pope  in  1305.°  He 
raised  500  soldiers  in  1308  to  take  part  in  a  Scotch  campaign, 
intended  to  have  been  undertaken  by  the  young  king,  but  which 
was  prevented  by  a  truce;  and  early  in  1310  he  appeared  in  a 
Parliament  at  Westminster,  when  he  joined  in  the  measures  taken 
against  Piers  Gaveston,  and  instigated  by  the  Earl  of  Lancaster. 
On  this  occasion,  he  was  resident  at  his  palace  of  Eltham,  where  he 
shortly  afterwards  died — viz.,  on  the  3rd  of  March,  1311 — after 
having  filled  the  ej)iscopal  chair  of  Durham  for  twenty-eight  years. 
He  was  buried  in  the  cathedral  church  of  his  see,  and  was  the  first 
of  its  prelates  who  was  so  honoured;  but  owing  to  a  reverential  feel- 
ing for  the  sanctity  of  St.  Cuthbert's  shrine,  his  body  was  not 
introduced  into  the  sacred  edifice  with  any  degree  of  pomp  or  pub- 
licity; and  it  has  been  popularly  believed  that  a  temporaiy  entrance 
through  the  wall  of  one  of  its  transepts  was  made,  by  means  of 
which  it  was  conducted  to  its  last  resting-place,  situated  between 
the  altars  of  St.  Adrian  and  St,  Michael,  although  there  is  strong 
reason  to  doubt  this  fact.  His  grave  was  covered  by  a  marble 
monument,  having  a  brass  verge  surrounding  its  rim,  bearing  the 
following  inscription : — 

Presul  magnanimus  Antoniiis  hie  jacet  imUS, 
Jerusalem  strenuus  Patriarclia  fuit  quod  opimus, 
Annis  viceiiis  regnabat  sex  et  I  plenis, 
Mille  trecentenis  Christo  moritur  qnoque  denis. 

The  following  is  the  character  given  to  Bishop  Bek  by  Surtees, 
in  his  history  of  Durham,  vol.  1,  page  31  : — 

(G)  lie  had,  at  this  time,  the  power  of  promoting  the  interests  of  his  family,  as  well  as 
his  own,  Sir  Nicholas  de  Beke  enjoying  some  office  in  king  Edward's  court ;  as  we  find 
from  Madox  that  he,  in  company  with  two  other  knights,  having  roused  their  sovereign 
somewhat  rudely  from  his  bed  on  Easter  Sunday  morning,  received,  as  their  guerdon  for 
this  act,  the  sum  of  £20. 


SOMEBTON  CASTLE  AND  ITS  BUILDER.  87 

"  The  Palatine  power  reached  its  highest  elevation  under  the 
splendid  Pontificate  of  Anthony  Beke.  Surrounded  by  his  officers 
of  state,  or  marching  at  the  head  of  his  troops  in  peace  or  war,  he 
appeared  as  the  military  chief  of  a  powerful  independent  franchise. 
The  court  of  Durham  exhibited  all  the  appendages  of  royalty 7 
Nobles  addressed  the  Palatine  sovereign  kneeling ;  and  instead  of 
menial  servants,  knights  waited  in  his  presence-chamber,  and  at  his 
table,  bare-headed  and  standing.  Impatient  of  control,  whilst  he 
asserted  an  oppressive  superiority  over  the  convent,  and  trampled 
on  the  rights  of  his  vassals,  he  zealously  guarded  his  own  Palatine 
franchise,  and  resisted  the  encroachments  of  the  Crown  when  they 
trenched  on  the  privileges  of  the  aristocracy.  When  his  pride  or 
his  patriotism  had  provoked  the  displeasure  of  his  sovereign,  he 
met  the  storm  with  firmness,  and  had  the  fortune  or  address  to 
emerge  from  disgrace  and  difficulty  with  added  rank  and  influence. 
His  high  birth  gave  him  a  natural  claim  to  power,  and  he  possessed 
every  popular  and  splendid  quality  which  could  command  obedience 
or  excite  admiration.  His  courage  and  constancy  were  shown  in 
the  service  of  his  sovereign,  his  liberality  knew  no  bounds,  and  he 
regarded  no  expense,  however  enormous,  when  placed  in  competition 
with  any  object  of  pleasure  or  magnificence.  Yet  in  the  midst  of 
ajDparent  confusion  he  was  too  prudent  ever  to  feel  the  embarrassment 
of  want.  Surrounded  by  habitual  luxury,  his  personal  temperance 
was  as  strict  as  it  was  singular,  and  his  charity  was  exemplary  in 
an  age  of  general  corruption.  Not  less  an  enemy  to  sloth  than  to 
intemperance,  his  leisure  was  devoted  either  to  splendid  progresses 
from  one  manor  to  another,  or  to  the  sports  of  the  field ;  and  his 
activity  and  temperance  preserved  his  faculties  of  mind  and  body 
vigorous  until  the  approach  of  age  and  infirmity.  In  the  munificence 
of  his  public  works  he  rivalled  the  greatest  of  his  predecessors. 
Within  the  Bishopric  of  Durham  he  founded  the  colleges  of  Chester 
and  Lanchester,  erected  towers  at  Gainford  and  Coniscliff,  and 
added  to  the  building  of  Alnwick  and  Barnard  castles.  He  gave 
Evenwood  Manor  to  the  Convent,  and  appropriated  the  vicarage  of 
Morpeth  to  the  chapel  which  he  erected  at  Auckland.  In  his  native 
county  of  Lincoln  he  endowed  Alvingham  Priory,  and  built  a  castle 
at  Somerton.  In  Kent  he  erected  the  beautiful  Manor-house  of 
Eltham,  whose  ruins  still  speak  of  the  taste  and  magnificence  of  its 
founder.  Notwithstanding  the  vast  expense  incurred  in  these  and 
other  works,  and  his  contests  with  the  Crown  and  with  his  vassals, 
in  his  foreign  journeys,  and  in  the  continued  and  excessive  charges 
of  his  household,  he  died  wealthier  than  his  predecessors,  leaving 
immense  treasures  in  the  riches  of  the  age,  gallant  horses,  costly 
robes,  rich  furniture,  plate  and  jewels." 

(7;  He  enjoyed,  amongst  other  high  privileges,  the  right  of  coinage.  His  pieces 
resembled  the  royal  ones ;  but  they  had,  on  the  reverse,  a  cross  molines  in  the  first  quar- 
ter, instead  of  three  pellets,  or  sometimes  at  the  beginning  of  the  legend.  Some  twenty 
of  these,  and  otliers  of  his  successors,  Bishops  Killow  and  Beaumont,  were  found,  amongst 
many  others  in  the  river  Dove  at  Tutbury,  during  the  year  1831,  which  were  supposed  to 
have  filled  the  military  chest  of  Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  and  to  have  been  lost  in  that 
river  when  he  rapidly  retreated  from  Burton  with  the  other  confederate  barons  upon 
Tutbury,  and  crossed  the  Dove  before  the  advance  of  kins  Edward  II.— See  Dcscrqytive 
Catalogue  of  the  Series  of  Coins  found  at  TutMmj:  Bi/  Sir  Ostvahl  Mosley,  Bart, 


88  YORK  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Somerton  Castle  was  built  by  Anthony  Bek,  when  he  was 
rising  in  the  favour  of  his  Sovereign,  and  shortly  before  he  was 
elevated  to  the  See  of  Durham,  namely,  during  the  year  1281,  at 
which  period  he  obtained  a  hcense  from  Edward  the  1st,  to  crenel- 
late  his  dwelling-house  at  Somerton,  (Bot.  Fat.  9  Ed.  \st.  m.  \1.J 
and  to  which  date  the  remains  now  before  us  may  be  safely  referred. 
The  castle  consisted  of  a  quadrangular  pile,  whose  ancient  limits  are 
still  indicated  by  three  out  of  the  four  circular  towers,  originally 
defending  its  outer  angles,  and  enclose  an  area  330  feet  long,  from 
north  to  south,  and  180  from  east  to  west,  now  partly  occupied  by 
a  farm-house  of  the  Elizabethan  period,  its  premises,  and  part  of  its 
gardens,  the  property  of  Mr.  Marfleet.  These  towers  were  originally 
connected  by  curtain  walls,  forming  for  the  most  part,  if  not  entirely, 
portions  of  the  castle  itself  or  its  adjuncts,  which  were  no  doubt 
ranged  round  a  central  quadrangle.^  Two  small  pieces  of  this  outer 
wall  may  be  seen  projecting  from  the  south-east  tower,  whence  it 
will  be  perceived  that  they  were  of  the  same  height  and  character 
as  the  towers,  with  which  the  apartments  of  the  castle  evidently 
communicated,  as  indicated  by  some  still  existing  doorways.  One 
of  these  flanking  portions  of  the  old  fabric  has  been  very  carefully 
finished  off,  although  clearly  intended  to  have  been  carried  on 
originally.  We  can  only  account  for  this  by  supposing  that  the 
castle  was  not  quite  complete  when  Bishop  Bek  felt  himself  com- 
pelled to  hand  it  over  to  king  Edward ;  and  that  to  do  away  with 
the  unsightly  appearance  of  projecting  stones,  &c,,  at  this  point,  he 
adopted  the  expedient  referred  to  above.  It  has  been  reported  that 
a  Keep  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  enclosed  area,  but  without  the 
slightest  foundation;  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  castle  with 
high  outer  walls,  as  this  had,  situated  on  a  flat  plain,  and  strongly 
defended  by  moats,  would  be  esteemed  perfectly  secure  without  this 
feature — at  a  period  when  such  edifices  were  beginning  to  expand 
their  proportions,  and  to  be  fortified  only  against  thieves  and 
outlaws,  or  at  most  against  hostile  neighbours,  except  in  the  case  of 
border  or  maritime  strongholds.  All  the  original  buildings  within 
the  above  named  limits  have  perished,  in  addition  to  one  of  the 
angle  towers ;  so  that  it  can  only  be  conjectured  what  was  the 
character  of  the  body  of  the  castle,  by  a  comparison  with  the  remains 
of  more  perfect  examples  of  the  same  period ;  and  these  we  find 
usually  consisted,  during  the  reign  of  Edward  L,  of  a  court,  flanked 
at  the  angles  with  circular  towers,  rising  from  bases  sloping  outwards, 
and  surrounded  by  irregular  groups  of  buildings  (erected  at  various 
times  as  occasion  required)  connected  together  by  covered  wooden 

(8)  Graystone's(ch.2.).says,  "Castrumde Somerton curiosissime aedificavit," speaking 
of  its  builder,  and  it  was  doubtless  a  fine  specimen  of  an  Edwardian  castle.  Mr.  Eobert- 
son,  speaking  of  these  in  his  History  of  Arcliitecture  in  Scotland  previous  to  the  Umon, 
says,  '-They  have  all  the  same  general  character,  long  curtain  walls,  flanked  at  the 
angles  with  lofty  circular  towers,  which  are  vaulted  throughout,  the  entrance  being  by  a 
drawbridge  and  gateway,  defended  by  portcullis,  and  guarded  on  either  side  by  a  round 
tower.  The  walls  are  of  great  strength,  and  the  area  (generally  of  an  irregular  shajje) 
Avhich  they  enclose  is  of  considerable  size.  In  every  instance  which  I  know,  the  circular 
towers  spring  from  their  foundations  in  that  bell-like  shape  with  which  we  are  all 
familiar,  through  the  representations  of  the  Eddystone  Lighthouse.  Such  are  Caerla- 
varoc  on  the  Solway,  Dirlton  in  East  Lotliian,  Bothwell  on  the  Clyde,  &c.,  also  Conway, 
Caernarvon,  and  Caerphilly  in  Wales." 


SOMERTON  CASTLE  AND  ITS  BUILDER. 


89 


passages,  termed  "  Aleia9,"  the  hall  being  by  far  the  most  prominent 
feature  of  the  whole.  Such  was  Soraerton,  whose  entrance  it  may 
reasonably  be  supposed  was  on  the  south  side,  near  the  west  end  of 
the  present  farm-house,  where  a  gate-house  and  a  drawbridge  once 
doubtless  protected  the  approach  to  it.     The  south  east  tower  now 

alone  remains  perfect,  of  which 
a  representation  is  given,  taken 
from  Mr.  Padley's  valuable 
work  on  this  and  other  interest- 
ing architectural  remains.  It 
is  45  feet  high,  and  contains 
one  polygonal  vaulted  chamber 
on  the  ground  floor,  and  two 
others  above  it,  each  having  a 
small  lobby  attached  to  it.  Of 
these  apartments,  the  two  lower 
ones  are  lighted  by  small  slits, 
the  upper  one  alone  having 
windows  of  any  size.  The 
parapet  is  quite  perfect,  and 
*the  roof  over  the  fragment  of 
the  castle  wall  adjoining  this 
tower  is  worthy  of  inspection ; 
but  the  most  interesting  feature 
of  the  tower  is  its  two  chimnies, 
each  containing  two  flues — 
such  adjuncts  to  residences 
being  rare,  not  only  in  the  1 3th 
century,  but  even  in  the  14th 
and  15th,  as  Leland  at  this 
last  named  period  expresses  his 
surprise  at  a  chimney  he  then 
saw  in  Bolton  castle.  They 
had  existed  however  from  a 
far  earlier  date,  several  in 
Kochester  castle  having  been 
constructed  so  early  as  the 
year  1130  ;  but  these  extend 
upwards  only  for  a  few  feet,  and 
then  have  their  exit  through 
the  walls  to  the  outer  air.  We 
have  also  in  this  county  some 
examples  of  a  rather  later  date, 
reaching  to  the  summit  of  the  respective  buildings  to  which  they 
belong,  viz.,  at  Boothby  Pagnell,  in  the  Jews'  House  at  Lincoln,  in 
St.  Mary's  Guild  (commonly  called  John  of  Gaunt's  Stables),  and 
in  another  small  house  of  the  12th  century,  both  also  in  that  city ; 
but  one  chimney  in  each  house,  viz.,  in  the  "Solar"  or  private 
chamber  of  the  Master  adjoining  the  hall,  was  usually  considered  to 


90  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

be  amply  sufficient ;  ^  ^yllilst  several  orders  for  their  construction  in 
various  royal  palaces  remain  in  the  patent  rolls  of  Henry  the  ord 
and  Edward  the  1st,  namely,  one  for  the  chamber  of  the  former  at 
Kennington,  in  the  17th  year  of  his  reign,  and  in  the  same  year 
Walter  de  Burgh  is  ordered  to  make  a  chimney  in  the  great  plastered 
chamber  of  the  queen.  So  also  in  the  j^lst  year  of  this  reign,  the 
sheriff  of  Oxford  is  ordered  to  repair  the  mantel  of  the  king's 
chamber;  and  again,  the  flue  of  the  queen's  wardrobe  room  at 
Woodstock  is  commanded  to  be  raised  six  feet.  It  is  extremely 
uncertain  whether  there  was  any  glass  originally  in  the  windows  of 
Somerton,  for  although  the  price  of  it  during  the  reign  of  Edward  I. 
was  moderate,  being  only  d^d.  per  foot,  including  the  cost  of 
glazing,  (equivalent  to  about  4s.  Ad.  of  our  money,)  shutters  alone 
usually  closed  the  windows  of  halls,  &c.,  of  that  period,  and  almost 
always  their  lower  portions,  a  little  glass  being  occasionally  inserted 
above;  so  that  when  Kichard  II.  in  1384,  just  a  century  after  the 
building  of  Somerton,  was  desirous  of  repairing  and  glazing  his 
mother's  chapel  at  Stamford,  (i.  e.  Joan's,  Princess  of  Wales,)  he 
issued  a  writ  empowering  one  Nicholas  Happewell  to  take  all  the 
glass  he  could  find  in  the  counties  of  Norfolk,  Northampton, 
Leicester,  and  Lincoln,  for  this  purpose,  saving  the  fee  of  the 
Church;  whilst,  as  no  mention  is  made  in  the  king  of  France's 
accounts,  when  at  Somerton,  of  casements  (who  had  to  provide  all 
such  unusual  extras  for  himself  and  suite)  we  may  presume  none 
existed  when  he  was  an  inmate  of  the  castle. 

The  basement  story  of  the  south-west  tower  still  exists,  although 
nearly  concealed  from  view  by  several  farm  buildings ;  in  it  is  a 
polj^gonal  vaulted  chamber,  supplied  with  three  loop-holes,  and 
communicating  with  a  small  lobby  also  pierced  with  a  loop-hole. 
The  north-west  tower  was  levelled  with  much  difficulty  in  1849,  but 
its  situation  is  well  known :  it  precisely  resembled  the  south-west 
tower.  Happily,  how^ever,  the  north-east  tower  still  remains,  as 
well  as  its  little  lobbj^,  for  this  is  an  exceedingly  interesting  portion 
of  the  old  castle.  In  form  it  is  polygonal,  and  was  lighted  by  five 
small  windows.  A  central  shaft  supports  its  vaulted  roof,  aided  by 
twelve  arches  springing  from  its  capital,  and  resting  their  other 
extremities  on  corbels  inserted  in  the  angles  of  the  outer  walls ;  all 
its  details  are  given  very  faithfull}^  in  the  work  published  by  Mr. 
Padley,  of  Lincoln,  before  alluded  to,  and  wherein  the  ground-plan 
of  Somerton  is  with  equal  fidelity  displayed.  The  last  feature,  and 
that  a  very  striking  one,  which  remains  ro  be  noticed,  is  the  double 
moat  by  which  the  castle  was  defended.  The  inner  one  enclosed 
an  irregular  oblong,  running  close  to  the  east,  south,  and  west  walls 
of  the  castle,  but  leaving  a  vacant  area  on  the  north,  probably  used 
partly  as  an  exercising  ground,  and  partly  as  a  "  Pottager,"  or  herb- 
garden,  in  the  upper  portion  of  which  is  a  fish-pond  of  a  more 
modern  date.     But  besides  this  inner  moat,  a  very  much  wider  one 

(9)  Roger,  abbot  of  Bee,  who  died  a.d.  1178,  is  recorded  to  have  added  an  •'  Hospi- 
tium,"  or  wing  to  receive  strangers,  iu  that  monastery,  in  which  were  two  fire-places,  one 
above  the  other. 


riSHLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PARISH.  91 

has  also  been  carried  round  tliree  sides  of  the  castle,  now  intersected 
and  partly  filled  up  by  the  modern  road,  and  its  embankment,  lead- 
ing to  the  farm  on  the  site  of  this  ancient  edifice.  This  encloses  a 
large  area  to  the  south  of  the  castle,  which  was  once  strongly  fortified 
by  a  wall  with  circular  towers  at  the  angles,  twenty-one  feet  in 
diameter  internally.  Whether  this  formed  a  portion  of  the  original 
design  is  uncertain;  but  although  it  will  be  observed  that  the  lines 
of  the  remaining  fragments  of  this  moat  are  not  now  quite  parallel, 
they  probably  corresponded  with  each  other  at  first.  As  fish  was  a 
very  important  article  of  consumption  during  the  thirteenth  and 
fourteenth  centuries,  this  wide  outer  moat  may  have  been  partly 
formed  as  a  means  of  increasing  the  supply ;  but  additional  security 
round  the  entrance  of  the  castle  was  probably  the  chief  motive  for 
the  creation  of  so  large  a  work — a  conjecture  which  its  form  appears 
to  confirm.  When  Bishop  Bek  had  begun  to  excite  the  jealousy 
of  his  sovereign,  he  discreetly  presented  this  castle  to  king  Edward, 
just  as  Wolsey  did  his  celebrated  palace  of  Hampton  Court  to 
Henry  8th,  under  similar  circumstances.  After  Bek's  death — 
who  still  probably  remained  its  custodian  during  his  life — Edward 
ajopointed  Henry,  Lord  Bellamonte,  or  Beaumont,  as  its  governor, 
who  died  in  1340.  Who  was  his  successor  is  not  clear,  but  perhaps 
this  was  the  baron  D'Eyncourt,  of  Blankney;  and  certainly  the 
ninth  baron,  William,  held  that  ofiice  nineteen  years  afterwards, 
when  the  king-  of  France  was  confined  there. 


FisJiIake  Church  and  Parish.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire 
and  Lincoln  Architectural  Societies  at  Doncaster,  September 
23rd,  1857.     By  the  Rev.  G.  Ornsby,  Vicar  of  Fishlake. 

There  are  few,  I  apprehend,  to  be  found,  who  will  not  regard 
the  Clergyman  of  a  country  parish  as  being  blamelessly — at  any 
rate — if  not  usefully  employed,  if  he  occasionally  occupy  some  of 
his  hours  of  leisure  in  searching  into  the  past  history  of  that 
parish,  examining  any  records  which  may  throw  light  upon  its 
antecedents,  rescuing  from  forgetfulness  any  of  the  fast  fleeting 
traditions  of  by-gone  days  which  may  yet  linger  on  the  lips  of  a 
rural  population,  or  seeking  to  gain  an  intelligible  idea  of  the  date 
and  historical  associations  of  one,  at  least,  of  those  Houses  of  God, 
which,  in  some  feature  or  other — either  in  porch  or  tower,  in  arch 
or  window,  in  font  or  pillar — are  venerable  with  the  hoar  of  cen- 
turies. 

The  uses  of  such  an  occupation  will  readily  present  themselves 
to  the  minds  of  those  who  have  given  any  attention  to  these 
subjects.  In  the  first  place,  the  churches  of  our  more  retired  and 
sequestered  districts  are  really,  comparatively  speaking,  very  little 
known ;  and  yet,  in  many  of  those  districts  there  are  gems  of 
architectural  beauty  in  existence,  both  as  regards  grandeur  and 
beauty  of  composition  in  design,    and   exquisite   delicacy   in   the 


92  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

treatment  of  details,  wliich  require  only  to  be  known  to  be 
appreciated.  In  addition  to  this,  there  is  the  historical  interest 
attaching  to  a  comparison  of  the  various  styles  of  architecture  which 
have  prevailed  in  this  countiy,  examples  of  all  of  which  may  some- 
times be  found  in  one  single  church.  To  place  on  record,  therefore, 
an  account,  however  imperfectly  or  untechnically  executed,  of  any 
church  which  possesses  features  of  interest,  can  never  be  without 
its  use :  for  it  may  tend  to  prevent  future  instances  of  that  neglect 
and  mutilation  which  have  unhappily  too  often  defaced  the  most 
venerable  of  our  ancient  structures,  and  may  foster,  also,  a  spirit 
of  liberality  in  the  conservation  and  repair  of  that  which  the  piety 
and  munificence  of  past  generations  have  confided  to  our  care. 

Again,  strong  local  attachments  are  peculiarly  the  characteristic 
of  a  rural  population ;  and,  I  think,  among  the  good  results  likely 
to  flow  from  the  operations  of  our  Architectural  Societies,  may 
fairly  be  reckoned  the  additional  interest  likely  to  be  created  in  the 
minds  of  the  more  intelligent  among  our  neighbours — either  by 
seeing  that  their  church  has  been  considered  worth  a  visit,  or  by 
reading  in  their  weekly  newspaper  that  some  one  has  thought  their 
parish  or  their  district  sufficiently  noteworthy  to  induce  him  to 
devote  some  little  time  and  labour  to  the  illustration  of  its  history. 
And,  in  truth,  these  things  are  of  greater  importance  than  might 
at  first  sight  appear.  A  topographical  book  or  paper,  however 
meagre  in  its  details,  or  unpolished  in  its  composition,  will  always 
contain  something  which  will  interest  the  inhabitant  of  a  place  or  a 
district.  There  is  a  notice  of  the  ancient  church,  for  example, 
within  or  around  whose  venerable  walls  repose  the  remains  of 
kindred  or  of  friends.  There  are  records,  it  may  be,  of  some 
ancient  family  whose  very  name  seems  identified  with  the  place. 
Its  benefactors,  also,  the  founders  of  its  local  charities,  may,  most 
worthily,  find  a  place  in  its  pages.  And,  "whatever  strengthens 
our  local  attachments,"  says  Southey,  "is  favourable  both  to  in- 
dividual and  national  character.  Our  home — our  birthplace — our 
native  land, — think  for  a  while  what  the  virtues  are  which  arise 
out  of  the  feelings  connected  with  these  words ;  and  if  thou  hast 
any  intellectual  eyes,  thou  wilt  then  perceive  the  connection 
between  topography  and  patriotism."  Such  are  his  thoughtful 
words ;  and  they  may  serve,  not  inappropriately,  to  preface  this 
attempt  to  bring  together  a  few  particulars  in  illustration  of  the 
church  and  parish  of  which  I  am  Vicar. 

It  forms  no  part  of  my  plan  to  ask  you  to  listen  to  any  inform- 
ation which  is  contained  in  Mr.  Hunter's  valuable  notice  of  my 
parish  in  the  first  volume  of  his  South  Yorkshire,  excepting  only 
so  far  as  may  make  my  Paper  more  intelligible.  I  should  indeed 
make  it  more  perfect  by  so  doing,  but  it  would  be  imposing  need- 
lessly upon  your  time  and  patience.  My  object  is  not  to  trench 
upon  the  ground  he  has  already  so  ably  occupied,  but  simply  to 
illustrate  his  account  by  adducing  some  rather  curious  documents 
with  which  he  was  probably  unacquainted — a  species  of  illustration 
which  no  one  will  hail  more  gladly  or  sanction  more  readily  than 


HSHLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PARISH.  93 

Mr.  Hunter  himself.  Without  attempting  technicalities  (which 
would  be  presumptuous  in  the  presence  of  those  who  are  deeply 
and  scientifically  skilled  in  architectural  lore)  I  shall  enter  into 
a  little  more  detail  than  he  could  afford  with  respect  to  the  account 
of  the  church,  and  tell  you,  what  he  could  not  do,  viz.  that  some- 
thing has  lately  been  done  to  restore  a  portion,  at  least,  of  that 
church  to  something  like  decency  and  order,  carefully  attending  at 
the  same  time  to  the  preservation  of  every  ancient  feature. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  St.  Cuthbert ;  and  I  thought  for  a 
long  time  that  this  arose  naturally  out  of  the  connection  existing 
between  this  church  and  the  Prior  and  Convent  of  Durham. .  But 
there  was  a  church  here  long  before  Durham  had  anything  to  do 
with  it.  It  may  be  said,  indeed,  and  with  truth,  that  that  implies 
no  reason  why  the  name  of  so  distinguished  a  Saint  should  not  be 
attached  to  it,  apart  from  any  immediate  connection  with  that 
splendid  foundation  where  the  shrine  of  Cuthbert  was  for  centuries 
an  object  of  loving  veneration.  The  name  of  Cuthbert  was  familiar 
as  a  household  word  all  over  Northumbria.  His  seven  years' 
wanderings,  or  rather  the  wanderings  of  those  who  carried  his  bones 
over  that  wide  district  between  the  Humber  and  the  Tweed  which 
was  then  known  by  that  name,  in  order  to  escape  the  ruthless 
attacks  of  the  Danish  pagans,  were  vividly  stamped  on  the  memory 
of  the  inhabitants  of  that  region,  and  for  that  reason  alone  many  a 
church  throughout  the  land  was  afterwards  dedicated  in  his  honour. 
I  would  almost  venture,  however,  to  claim  for  Fishlake  a  closer  con- 
nection with  the  great  Saint  of  the  north.  It  has  been  handed 
down  in  the  traditions  of  the  monastery  of  Durham  as  one  of  the 
resting  places  of  the  body  of  the  Saint.  A  list  of  these  places  was 
compiled  by  Prior  Wessington  (A.D.  141G,)  and  placed  over  the 
choir  door  of  the  church  of  Durham.  The  original  compilation, 
in  the  hand-writing  of  the  Prior,  is  still  preserved  in  the  Durham 
Treasury;  and  under  the  shire  of  "  Yorke,"  he  gives  the  names  of 
"  Pesholme,  Fysshlake,"  and  "  Acworth."  Whether  or  no  the  body 
of  St.  Cuthbert  really  rested  at  everij  place  named  by  Wessington, 
may  be  matter  of  doubt,  but  that  Eardulf  and  his  companions  did 
wander  with  that  body  over  the  dense  forests  and  the  heathy  hills, 
the  cultivated  plains,  and  the  wild  morasses  of  ancient  Northumbria 
is  matter  of  historic  certainty ;  and  it  happens,  curiously  enough, 
as  far  as  Fishlake  is  concerned,  that  a  document  in  the  Registry  of 
the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham  appears  to  point  to  some  more 
definite  connection  with  the  Saint  than  the  mere  dedication  of  the 
church  would  imply.  In  an  agreement,  dated  the  22  Sept.,  1438, 
between  the  Prior  and  Convent  of  Durham,  and  *'  Richard  Wryghte 
of  Fysshlake,  yoman,"  the  latter  becomes  tenant  under  that  body 
of  a  piece  of  ground  forming  a  portion  of  the  garden  of  the  Rectory 
of  Fishlake, — "  quas  quidem  parcella  jacet  inter  residuam  partem 
predict!  gardini  rectoriae  de  Fysshlake  ex  parte  orientali,  et  quon- 
dam locum  vulgariter  vocatum  Cuthbertehaven  ex  parte  occidentali, 
et  inter  pratum  rectori?e  ecclesise  predictae  ex  parte  australi,  et 
cimiterium  ejusdem  ecclesise  ex  parte  boriali."     The  mention  of 


94  YORK  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTUKAL  SOCIETY. 

the  "  Kector's  meadow,"  (which  at  this  day  forms  a  portion  of  the 
glebe  attached  to  the  living)  and  especially  of  the  churchyard, 
enables  me  to  identify  this  plot  of  ground  almost  to  a  yard,  and  to 
mark  the  site  of  what  was  once  known  as  Cuthbert's  haven. 

This  name  carries  us  back  to  a  time  when  the  river  spread  itself 
at  this  point  into  the  broad  expanse  of  mere  from  which  the  place 
derived  its  name ;  and  there  was  no  doubt  a  small  creek  or  natural 
harbour  in  the  lake,  a  little  to  the  south  west  of  the  church,  but 
both  lake  and  haven  have  long  disappeared.  The  drainage  of  the 
great  level  of  Hatfield  Chace  under  Vermuyden  in  the  17th  century 
ejffected  a  complete  change  in  the  face  of  the  country.  Instead  of 
flowing  in  three  channels,  one  only  now  conveys  the  w^aters  of  the 
Don  on  its  downward  course,  and  corn  now  waves  over  more  than 
one  spot  where  the  fisherman  once  let  down  his  nets  into  the  waters 
of  the  mere  or  the  pool.  Local  tradition  has  failed  to  preserve  the 
memory  of  Cuthbert's  haven,  although  a  small  landing  place  for 
discharging  the  cargoes  of  the  small  craft  which  ply  on  the  river 
still  exists  almost  on  the  very  spot  where  it  must  have  been.  We 
may  perhaps  assume,  without  being  very  fanciful,  that  at  the  time 
when  it  bore  the  name,  there  existed  some  vague  tradition  of  the 
monks  having  landed  there  with  their  holy  burden.  And  the  two 
crosses,  of  which  the  bases  and  a  portion  of  the  shafts  still  remain 
in  the  village,  may  have  something  to  do  with  it.  It  is  quite 
possible  that  they  have  taken  the  place  of  earlier  ones,  which, 
according  to  the  practice  of  the  Anglo  Saxons,  would  mark  the  spot 
where  the  body  rested. 

The  tract  of  country  now  known  as  the  parish  of  Fishlake,  was 
originally  a  portion  of  the  extensive  parish  of  Hatfield,  the  lords  of 
which  were  the  great  Earls  of  Warren.  To  the  munificence  of  these 
powerful  nobles  is  doubtless  owing  the  original  foundation  of  the 
subsequently  large  and  splendid  churches  which  form  at  this  day 
the  chief  attraction  of  the  once  wild  region  where  their  stately  towers 
rear  their  heads.  Fishlake  soon  became  a  separate  parish.  The 
history  of  its  successive  fortunes,  its  possession  by  the  monastery 
of  Lewes,  under  a  grant  by  the  third  Earl  of  Warren  in  the  12th 
centur}'',  its  coming  into  the  hands  of  the  Crown  in  1372,  its 
appropriation  in  1387  to  Durham  College,  Oxford — which  was  an 
educational  establishment  belonging  to  the  Prior  and  Convent  of 
Durham — and  its  eventual  possession  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of 
Durham  after  the  Dissolution,  are  succinctly  detailed  by  Mr. 
Hunter. 

The  external  features  of  the  church  are  for  the  most  part  15th 
century  work,  its  tower  and  the  clerestories  of  its  nave  and  chancel 
belonging  to  that  period.  The  tower  is  of  three  stages  of  beautiful 
masonry,  -with  a  noble  perpendicular  west  window  of  five  lights, 
divided  by  a  transom,  surmounted  externally  by  a  canopied  niche, 
in  which  stands  the  figure  of  St.  Cuthbert,  represented  as  usual 
with  the  head  of  Oswald  in  his  hand.  The  figure  of  the  Saint, 
wonderful  to  relate,  has  escaped  all  iconoclastic  injury.  On  the 
south  side  of  the  exterior  are  carved  two  badges,  a   falcon  and 


riSHLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PAllISH.  95 

fetterlock,  the  badge  of  Edward  IV., ^  and  a  rose  surmounted  by  a 
royal  crown,  on  which  is  a  lion  sejant  affronte. 

The  nave  clerestory  is  of  the  best  perpendicular  period,  and  I 
scarcely  know  any  parochial  church  which  possesses  clerestory 
windows  in  that  stylo,  of  better  character  or  proportions.  The 
terminations  of  the  hood-mouldiog  of  the  central  window  in  the 
south  clerestory  arc  formed  by  the  heads  of  a  king  and  a  bishop, 
carved  with  great  spirit  and  boldness.  The  former  probably  repre- 
sents Edward  IV.,  as  his  badge  occurs  on  the  tower,  which  must 
have  been  built  about  the  same  time.  A  floriated  cross  of  excellent 
character  terminates  its  eastern  gable.  The  gurgoyles  are  also 
^vorthy  of  remark.  The  lower  side  window^s  of  the  chancel  are  late 
decorated,  verging  on  perpendicular.  The  east  window  is  a 
peculiarly  fine  specimen  of  the  same  style,  the  head  filled  with  rich 
tracery  of  flamboyant  like  character.  The  roof  of  the  chancel  had 
originally  a  high  pitch,  of  which  the  indication  is  sufficiently  obvious, 
both  externally  and  internally.  When,  however,  the  nave  received 
its  clerestory,  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  felt  that  the  contrast  was  not 
pleasing  between  the  flat  roof  of  the  nave,  with  its  battlemented 
parapet,  and  the  high  pitched  roof  and  comparatively  low  side  walls 
of  the  chancel.  These  walls  were  therefore  heightened,  and  a 
clerestory  added  to  the  chancel,  the  result  of  which  was  unfortunate, 
as  I  shall  hereafter  show.  The  chancel  clerestory  was  evidently  a 
copy  of  that  belonging  to  the  nave,  but  by  far  less  sldlful  hands — 
the  rude  workmanship  of  country  masons,  who  tried  to  emulate  the 
design  of  an  accomplished  architect,  which  had  been  carried  out  by 
the  hands  of  craftsmen  superior  to  themselves.  Before  the  repairs 
and  restoration  which  took  place  in  the  chancel  three  years  ago,  this 
difference  was  very  marked  and  obvious.  The  masonry  of  the  ex- 
terior is  ashlar  work,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  portion  of  the 
wall  of  the  north  aisle,  and  some  rubble  work  of  boulder  stones  in 
the  south  chancel  wall,  which — with  its  round  headed  priest's  door 
of  Norman  work — betokens  the  existence  of  an  earlier  church,  and 
bears  witness  to  that  religious  feeling  which  almost  always  preserved 
some  portion  of  the  antient  edifice,  even  when  it  must  have  con- 
trasted, as  we  should  think,  in  no  very  seemly  manner  with  the 
newer  and  more  splendid  fabric  which  was  superseding  it.  The 
chief  external  feature,  how^ever,  of  the  earlier  fabric  is  the  very  curi- 
ous and  interesting  south  doorway,  which  is  still  regarded  as  the 

(])  The  Falcon  and  Fetterlock.  "Edward  IV.  The  falcon  on  the  fetterlock  was 
the  device  of  his  great  grandfather,  Edmond  of  Langley,  lirst  duke  of  York,  fifth  son  to 
K.  Edw.  Ill,  who,  after  the  king  his  father  had  endowed  him  with  the  castle  of 
Fotheringhay,  which  he  new  built  in  form  and  fashion  of  a  fetterlock,  assumed  to  liimself 
his  lather's  falcon,  and  placed  it  on  a  fetterlock,  implying  thereby  that  he  was  locked  up 
from  the  hope  and  possibility  of  the  kingdom.  Upon  a  time,  finding  his  sons  beholding 
this  device  upon  a  window,  asked  what  was  latin  for  a  fetterlock,  whereupon  the  father 
said,  if  you  cannot  tell  me  I  will  tell  you,  hie,  hcec,  hoc,  taccatis,  revealing  to  them  his 
meaning,  and  advising  them  to  be  silent  and  quiet  as  God  knoweth  what  may  come  to 
pass.  This  his  great  grandchild  Edward  the  fourth  reported,  and  bore  it,  and  commanded 
that  his  younger  son,  royal  Duke  of  York,  should  use  the  device  of  a  fetterlock,  but 
opened,  as  Roger  Wall,  a  herald  of  that  time,  reporteth."    Misc.  Diigd.  Dallaivatj,  p.  384. 

The  appearance  of  this  badge  on  the  tower  is  easily  explained.  Tlie  Honour  of 
Conisborough,  of  which  Fishlake  was  part,  was  settled  upon  Edmond  of  Langley  in  1347, 
and  eventually  descended  to  the  Earl  of  March,  who  became  seated  on  the  throne  as 
Edward  IV.    The  architecture  of  the  tower  and  clerestory  belongs  to  his  reign. 


96  YOUK  DIOCESAN  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

pride  of  the  church.  Its  date  I  should  give  as  ahout  the  middle  of 
the  12th  century.  It  is  of  yellow  limestone,  recessed,  having  four 
shafts  with  sculptured  capitals  on  each  side,  supporting  concentric 
arches,  each  richly  adorned  with  sculpture,  some  of  it  symbolical. 
The  outermost  member  is  undoubtedly  so,  consisting  of  a  series  of 
medallions.  Our  Blessed  Loed  is  represented  in  the  one  at  the 
crown  of  the  arch ;  in  the  one  on  His  right  hand,  St.  Peter  is  readily 
recognisable  by  his  well-known  symbol  of  the  Keys.  Each  of  the 
other  medallions  contains  two  sitting  figures,  with  books  or  rolls  in 
their  hands ;  and  beneath  the  whole  on  each  side  are  two  figures  in 
long  garments,  probably  angels,  represented  in  the  act  of  destroying 
a  dragon,  symbolising  altogether,  as  I  believe,  the  victory  over  sin 
and  our  Loed's  session  in  glory.  Whether  the  sculptures  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  human  and  animal,  on  the  other  members  of  the  arch 
are  symbolical,  or  simply  arbitrary  and  grotesque,  I  cannot  venture 
to  say.  Some  of  the  capitals  are  worthy  of  note.  On  one  is  the 
Sagittarius,  or  mounted  archer,  which  is  generally  considered  to 
identify  the  portion  of  a  building,  when  it  occurs,  as  belonging  to 
the  reign  of  Stejohen.  On  another  is  a  struggle  between  a  demon 
and  a  good  angel  for  a  soul,  the  latter  represented,  as  is  usual,  by 
the  figure  of  a  naked  child.  A  third  has  a  boat  or  ship,  with  two 
hooded  figures  in  it ;  and  a  fourth  represents  two  mounted  com- 
batants in  the  act  of  colUsion.  The  rest  are  adorned  with  the  in- 
terlacing floriated  ornament  which  is  so  common  a  decoration  in  the 
illuminated  MSS  of  the  period.  There  is  an  outer  porch,  added 
about  the  same  period  as  the  tower,  in  a  state  of  much  decay. 
There  is  also  a  north  doorway,  of  similar  date,  which  presents  the 
peculiarity  of  forming  the  base — as  it  were — of  a  buttress,  which 
rises  from  the  apex  of  its  roof  of  stone. 

Internally,  the  church  consists  of  nave,  north  and  south  aisles 
and  chancel.  There  is  also  a  chantry  chapel  of  late  decorated  work, 
verging  on  perpendicular,  at  the  east  end  of  each  aisle,  opening  into 
the  chancel  on  both  sides  by  a  very  flat-headed  arch.  The  aisles 
extend  westward  to  the  extreme  angles  of  the  tower,  and  the  bays 
thus  formed  are  shut  off  from  the  tower  and  the  rest  of  the  church 
by  walls  of  coeval  date.  The  body  of  the  church,  exclusive  of  the 
tower,  is  56  feet  in  length,  by  52  feet  in  width;  and  the  chancel  is 
42  feet  long  by  19  wide.  The  piers  and  arches  of  the  nave  are  Early 
English,  the  former  being  low  and  round  with  bell  shaped  capitals, 
plain,  supporting  obtuse  pointed  arches  recessed,  with  plain  cham- 
fered edges.  The  two  westernmost  ones  are  each  composed  of  three 
disengaged  shafts,  with  capitals  of  similar  form  under  one  abacus. 
The  easternmost  pier  on  the  south  side  has  originally  corresponded 
with  these ;  but  the  inward  thrust — which  evidently  took  place  when 
the  wall  beyond  was  cut  away,  preparatory  to  the  erection  of  the  ex- 
isting chancel  arch  and  the  work  beyond — occasioned  the  builders 
to  replace  the  centre  disengaged  shaft  by  a  strong  semi-octagonal 
pier,  with  a  view  doubtless  to  its  greater  security. 

The  south  aisle  has  three  side  windows,  the  two  to  the  west  of 
perpendicular  work,  the  other  a  three  light  window  with  decorated 


FISHIiAKE  CHURCH  AND  PAUISH.  97 

tracery.  That  at  the  western  extremity  is  composed  of  three  lancet 
shaped  windows,  with  a  drip  stone  externally  continued  over  each. 
The  windows  on  the  north  side — three  of  which  are  square  headed — 
are  perpendicular,  except  one  which  has  late  decorated  tracery. 

The  chantry  chapels  at  the  east  end  of  the  north  and  south 
aisles  have  both  been  added  at  the  same  time.  The  windows,  which 
are  large  and  wide,  of  five  lights  each,  £at  headed  with  tracery  verg- 
ing on  perpendicular,  are  of  similar  design  in  each.  The  exceed- 
ingly flat  headed  arches  of  very  wide  span,  which  open  from  them 
into  the  chancel  on  each  side,  also  correspond,  as  do  likewise  the 
arches  which  communicate  with  the  aisles.  These  are  of  the  width 
of  the  aisles,  four-centred,  the  one  on  the  south  springing  from  piers, 
the  other  from  corbels. 

The  roofs,  both  of  nave  and  aisles,  and  of  the  chancel  also,  re- 
main for  the  most  part  in  their  original  state,  as  far  at  least  as  the 
main  timbers  are  concerned.  They  are  nearly  flat,  and  belong  to 
the  15th  century,  but  possess  no  peculiar  features.  The  eastern- 
most bay  of  that  in  the  nave  has  had  coloured  decoration,  of  which 
traces  remain.  The  main  timbers  have  a  pattern  running  along 
them  chevronwise,  alternating  in  red,  black,  and  white.  There  are 
also  marks  of  panelling  having  existed;  and  a  large  carved  and 
gilded  boss  shews  that  the  part  of  the  roof  which  overhung  the  great 
Rood  received  a  more  than  ordinary  share  of  honour.  A  horizontal 
beam  runs  across  the  wall  about  midway  between  the  roof  and  the 
apex  of  the  chancel  arch,  for  the  use  of  which  I  am  unable  to  ac- 
count, unless  it  may  have  had  to  do  with  the  fastenings  of  the  great 
Eood. 

The  chancel  arch  is  an  equilateral  pointed  one,  of  lofty  and  mag- 
nificent proportion,  reared  at  the  time  when  the  late  decorated 
chancel  superseded  that  belonging  to  the  earlier  church,  of  which 
traces  remain,  as  I  have  said,  in  the  priest's  door,  a  portion  of  wall, 
and  also  an  internal  string  course. 

When  the  whitewash  was  removed  from  the  nave  a  few  years  ago, 
traces  of  colour  were  found  in  several  parts,  but  especially  on  the 
chancel  arch,  where  sufficient  indications  remained  to  enable  me  to 
make  out  the  pattern  without  difficulty.  The  sketch  I  produce  will 
better  shew  what  it  was  than  any  description.  The  arch  of  the 
easternmost  bay  on  the  south  side  of  the  nave  has  also  had  similar 
decoration.  The  rood  screen,  dating  about  1500,  remains  in  its 
original  position,  and  has  recently  been  thoroughly  repaired  by  the 
Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham.  A  new  cresting  has  been  added, 
carefully  copied  from  a  fragment  of  the  old  which  remained  perfect, 
and  it  has  also  been  cleansed  from  a  thick  coating  of  red  mahogany 
paint  with  which  the  taste  of  a  past  generation  thought  fit  to  cover 
genuine  old  English  oak-work. 

Before  entering  the  chancel  we  must  notice  the  singularly  beau- 
tiful Font,  which  stands  at  the  western  extremity  of  the  nave.  It 
stands  on  an  elevation  of  two  steps,  the  lowest  of  which  is  nearly 
hidden  by  the  raising  of  the  floor  of  the  church  from  its  original 
level.     On  some  of  the  flags  being  taken  up  lately  for  the  purpose 


98  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  repair,  I  found  two  or  three  square  tiles  near  the  step  of  the  Font, 
which  were  evidently^  part  of  the  original  flooring.  They  were 
glazed,  but  without  pattern.  On  the  west  side,  the  Font  has  a 
platform  of  three  steps  for  the  convenience  of  the  officiating  priest. 
The  Font  is  of  large  proportions,  being  fully  five  feet  from  its  base- 
ment step  to  the  top  of  the  bowl.  It  is  octagonal  in  form,  with  rich 
sculptured  decoration  of  the  middle  of  the  14th  century.  Each  face 
of  the  octagon  presents  a  figure  standing  under  a  canopied  niche, 
the  crockets  and  detail  of  all  having  wonderfully  escaped  injury. 
The  arrangement  of  the  figures  is  as  follows : — in  the  niche  facing 
the  east  is  a  figure  pontifically  vested,  with  the  Archiepiscopal  Pal- 
lium, bearing  a  church  in  his  right  hand,  and  what  has  been  a 
cross  in  his  left.  So  far,  there  could  be  no  difficulty  in  settling  that 
he  was  an  Archbishop.  But  his  mitre  is  of  peculiar  form.  His 
brow  is  encircled  with  a  coronet  of  leaves  of  the  ordinary  conven- 
tional form,  and  rising  from  within  it  is  a  high  peaked  cap,  different 
from  and  more  pyramidal  in  its  shape  than  the  mitres  of  the  epis- 
copal figures  which  fill  the  remaining  niches.  I  aj)prehend  it  must 
be  intended  to  represent  a  Pope.  In  the  niche  on  his  right  is  a 
bishop,  standing  over  a  font  in  which  is  an  infant.  In  that  on  his 
left  is  St.  Cuthbert,  always  easily  identified  by  the  head  of  Oswald 
in  his  hand  ;  and  at  his  feet  a  kneeling  figure  holding  a  scroll.  The 
niche  facing  the  west  is  filled  by  an  archbishop,  as  is  also  the  one 
facing  the  north.  These  have  crosses  in  their  left  hands.  The  rest 
are  occupied  by  episcopal  figures  with  croziers.  All  are  in  the  atti- 
tude of  benediction.2 

The  bosses  underneath  the  bowl  of  the  Font,  with  a  symbolism  as 
beautiful  as  appropriate,  each  represent  an  angel  bearing  an  infant 
in  his  arms. 

The  removal  of  a  heavy  and  lumbering  west  gallery  has  displayed 
the  full  proportions  of  a  very  lofty  arch  by  which  the  nave  opens 
into  the  tower,  showing  also  the  fine  perpendicular  five-light  western 
window  to  which  I  have  already  alluded. 

Fragments  of  bench  ends  and  other  woodwork  of  the  15th  and 
16th  centuries  exist,  and  have  been  worked  up  in  the  modern  pew- 
ing  of  the  aisles  and  other  parts.  Amongst  these  is  a  somewhat 
curious  and  perhaps  unique  fragment.  It  is  a  piece  of  oak  plank 
with  the  royal  mark  of  King  Henry  V.,  shewing  that  it  has  formed 


(2;  Since  my  paper  was  read,  I  have  been  favoured  with  a  communication  from  the 
Very  Reverend  Dr.  Kock  respecting  this  Font.  His  well  known  learning  and  profound 
acquaintance  with  everything  relating  to  the  ritual  and  ceremonial  of  the  antient  church 
in  this  country  render  his  ODservations  peculiarly  valuable,  He  considers  the  Font  a 
very  interesting  one  and  very  unusual  in  its  decorations,  but  thinks  that  each  figure  on 
it  may  be  easily  identified.  There  is  no  doubt,  he  says,  that  the  first  mentioned  figure  is 
a  pope,  with  the  single-crowned  regnum  or  tiara,  and  he  believes  it  to  represent  Pope 
St.  Gregory,  the  Great,  the  apostle  of  the  English  :  as  such  he  holds  a  church  in  his  right 
hand.  A  similar  figure  of  St.  Gregory  is  given  in  his  Church  of  Our  Fathers,  vol.  II.  p.  120. 
The  figure  of  the  bishop  with  a  font  and  child  is  St.  Nicholas,  the  patron  of  children  as 
well  as  seamen,  and  a  favourite  saint  among  our  forefathers.  1"he  two  archbishops  are 
intended,  as  he  thinks,  for  St.  Wilfrid,  Archbishop  of  York,  and  St.  William  of  York.  St. 
Cuthbert  of  course  speaks  for  himself.  The  tlu-ee  remaining  episcopal  figures  he  desig- 
nates as  St.  Benedict  Biscop,  St  .John  of  Beverley,  and  St.  Ilugh  of  Lincoln.  It  is  clear 
to  his  mind  that,  with  tlie  exception  of  Pope  St.  Gregory  and  St.  Nicholas  of  Myra,  all 
the  other  bishops  are  English.  G.  O. 


FISHLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PAUISH.  99 

part  of  some  timber  from  a  royal  forest,  which  had  no  doubt  been 
giA'en  for  the  woodwork  of  the  church. 

I  may  mention — en  jiassant — that  timber  was  given  for  such  pur- 
poses with  some  formahty.  It  required  a  reguhu'  warrant  to  the 
constable  of  Conisbro'  from  Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  to  enable 
the  Friars  of  Tickhill  to  receive  his  gift  to  them  of  two  oak  trees 
from  his  domain.  This  bears  date  the  11th  of  Edward  11.  and  is 
given  at  length  by  Mr.  Hunter.  Each  side  of  the  nave  was  uni- 
formly seated  with  oak  in  1616.  This  still  remains,  with  some 
arabesque  carving  enclosing  the  date  on  a  portion  of  its  frame-work. 
It  was  unfortunately  deprived  of  its  antient  character  about  20  jenYS 
ago,  by  the  addition  of  deal  doors,  and  the  heightening  of  the  backs 
of  the  benches  with  the  same  material.  One  of  the  antient  altar 
stones,  on  which  the  five  crosses  may  still  be  dimly  and  partially 
traced,  has  been  used  as  a  gravestone,  and  lies  in  the  centre  of  the 
nave.  Another  forms  part  of  the  pavement  of  the  north  chantry 
chapel. 

The  chantry  chapels  retain  their  screen  work  on  the  western  sides, 
of  the  same  date  as  the  Rood  screen.  The  north  chantry  was  dedi- 
cated to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  south  to  the  Holy  Trinity.  The 
latter  is  identified  by  a  flat  stone  inscribed  with  the  name  of  Thomas 
Fairbarn,  who  died  Vicar  in  1496.  His  will,  proved  at  York  on  the 
6th  October  in  that  year,  contains  some  rather  curious  items.  He 
desires  burial  in  the  chapel  of  the  Holy  Trinity  within  the  parish 
church  of  Fishlake.  Eight  pounds  of  wax  are  to  be  burnt  around 
his  corpse  on  the  day  of  his  burial  and  its  octave.  He  leaves  2s. 
to  the  repair  of  the  high  altar.  Sixpence  each  is  left  to  the  lights 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  the  Cross  (no  doubt  the  great  Rood)  St. 
Anthony  and  St.  Cuthbert,  and  2d.  to  every  other  light  throughout 
the  church.  To  his  church  of  Fishlake  he  bequeaths  two  books, 
"  Pupiir  et  Catholicon,"  to  remain  there  for  ever.  But,  alas  for  the 
vanity  of  human  wishes  and  testamentary  bequests,  the  antient 
chest  of  oak,  with  its  iron  bands,  which  received  them,  still  exists, 
but  the  volumes  have  long  disappeared.  Let  me  say  a  few  words 
about  these  books — "  Pupill'  "  is  undoubtedly  the  "  Pupilla  oculi," 
once  a  very  famous  book,  and  in  every  parish  priest's  hands,  but 
now  exceedingly  rare  and  but  little  known.  Its  full  title  will  give 
an  idea  of  its  contents ;  Pupilla  oculi,  omnibus  presbyteris  p)r(Ecipue 
Anglicanis  summe  necessaria:  jjei'  sapientissimum  clivini  cultus  modera- 
torem  Johannem  cle  Burr/o,  quondam  almm  universitatis  Cantahrigien. 
Cancellariuni :  et  sacrce  pagince  professorem,  necnon  Ecclesim  de  Col- 
ingam  rectorem:  (Collingham  in  Notts,  near  Newark) :  compilata  anno 
a  natali  Dominico  M.  ccc.  Ixxxv.  In  qua  tractatur  de  septem  sacra- 
mentorum  adniinistratione,  de  decern  p)ra'ceptls  decalogi,  et  de  reliquis 
ecclesiasticorum  officiis,  quo:,  oportet  sacerdotem  rite  institutum  non 
ignorare.  Cave  quotes  editions  at  Paris  in  1510,  Strasburg  in  1514, 
and  Rouen  in  1516.  The  first,  and  apparently  the  last,  are  in 
the  Bodleian,  as  also  a  Paris  edition  of  1518.  There  are  MSS.  of 
it  in  the  libraries  of  Baliol,  Exeter,  Brasenose,  Corpus  and  Magda- 
len at  Oxford,  and  in  those  of  Trinity,  Caius,  Corpus,  and  Peter- 


100  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

house,  at  Cambridge.  *'  Catliolicon"  is  included  among  the  "  Libri 
Gramaticse "  in  the  antient  catalogue  of  the  Monastic  Library  of 
Durham.  It  is  there  described  as  Catliolicon,  sen  Summa  Januensis. 
This  was  Joannes  Januensis  de  Balbis,  to  whom  later  authorities, 
such  as  Oudin  and  Fabricius,  ascribe  the  authorship  of  this  book ; 
but  the  earlier  bibliographers  give  it  to  Jacobus  de  Voragine,  who 
was  also  the  author  of  the  Aiirea  Legenda.  He  was  a  Dominican, 
provincial  of  the  Order  for  Lombard}^  then  General  of  the  whole 
Order,  and  Archbishop  of  Genoa.  He  died  in  1298.  It  was  printed 
with  a  date  as  early  as  1470,  and  there  is  also  an  edition,  without 
year  or  place,  which  is  possibly  ten  years  earlier.  Both  are  in  the 
Bodleian.  The  library  of  this  country  vicar  of  nearly  four  centuries 
back  appears  to  have  comprised  only  one  book  more — but  that  the 
best  of  all ;  to  John  Adam,  chaplain,  (who  officiated  in  all  proba- 
bility in  the  chantry  in  which  the  Testator  lies)  he  bequeaths 
"  unum  librum  vocatum  lee  Bible.''  To  each  of  his  god-daughters — 
"  filiabus  meis" — he  leaves  4d. ;  for,  injustice  to  the  fair  fame  of  a 
predecessor  who  was  vowed  to  celibacy,  I  must  explain  that  the 
word  "  filiabus,"  in  documents  like  the  one  before  us,  conveys  that 
meaning.  The  parish  clerk's  legacy  consisted  of  a  murray-coloured 
gown,  lined  with  black  frieze.  He  also  mentions  several  of  his 
kindred,  who  receive  bequests  of  various  kinds, — sheep  and  lambs, 
a  horse,  a  mare  with  her  foal,  a  chest  with  the  "  napreware"  it  con- 
tained, pewter  dishes,  and  a  few  yards  of  cloth  and  blankets.  To 
his  nephew  Nicholas  he  leaves  seven  marks,  6s.  8d.,  to  help  him  on 
with  his  education,  "  ad  exhibendum  eiim  ad  scolas  Oxoniae,"  doubt- 
less at  Durham  College,  to  the  maintenance  of  which — as  I  have 
already  stated — the  great  tithes  of  Fishlake  were  appropriated.  His 
will  altogether  brings  vividly  before  one  the  status  of  a  country 
priest  of  the  time.  It  is  witnessed  by  two  chaplains,  Bichard  Skyn- 
ner  and  John  Adam  ;  by  Thomas  Crofte,  the  parish  clerk ;  and  by 
John  Bicarde  and  John  Parkyn,  surnames  which  more  than  two 
centuries  afterwards  occur  in  connection  with  this  parish.^ 

Besides  these  chantries  there  was  at  least  one  other  altar  in  the 
church,  but  no  trace  remains  of  its  position.  I  am  rather  disposed, 
however,  to  assign  it  a  place  within  one  of  the  inclosures  formed  by 
walls  of  pre-Beformation  date,  which  shut  off  the  western  ends  of  the 
north  and  south  aisles  from  the  nave  and  tower.  A  testamentary 
document  again,  one  of  those  most  valuable  of  all  illustrations  and 
authorities,  enables  me  to  speak  at  any  rate  with  certainty  of  its 
existence.     In  1510  Wilham  Hoton  of  "  Sikhouse"  in  the  parish  of 


(3)  A  curious  letter  is  extant  in  the  Registry  of  the  Bean  and  Chapter  of  Durham,  from 
the  Prior  of  Durham  to  Richard  Willeswik,  Thomas  Fairbarn's  predecessor,  in  reply  to 
a  request  which  had  evidently  been  preferred  by  Willeswik  that  his  friend  Fairbarn 
might  succeed  him  in  the  living.  "  Litera  missa  domino  Ricardo  Willeswik  Vicario  de 
"  Fishlak.  [_Reg.  III.  parv.f.  122  &.]  Wele  belovid  frende  I  gret  you  wele.  And  for  so 
"  much  as  ye  may  noght  occupy  your  benelice  to  dischargyng  of  your  conscience  ye  desir 
"  forto  resyng  and  wole  Sr  Thomas  Fairbarn  be  present  to  ye  same  tharfor  I  and  my 
"  brother  ar  wele  disposid  to  you  iff  so  be  ye  mak  us  sufficient  knawlege  of  good  rewill  of 
"  the  Ibrsaid  Sr  Thomas  by  such  personez  yat  lias  experience  of  his  rewill  and  good  dis- 
"  posicion  and  specially  yat  Joh.  Feryby  will  writ  unto  me  for  declaracion  of  good  govern- 
"  nance  of  ye  same  Sr  Thomas  and  to  ye  same  elfecte.  And  our  Lord  kep  you  etc. 
"  Writtyn  at  Durham  xxiii.  of  Febr.  [1463-4.]" 


I'ISHLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PARISH.  lOl 

Fishlake,  after  leaving  a  pound  of  wax  to  be  burnt  before  the  images 
in  Fishlake  church,  bequeaths  18s.  for  the  purchase  of  a  vestment 
"  cum  pertinentiis  "  for  the  use  of  the  celebrant  at  the  altar  of  St. 
John  the  Evangehst  in  that  church.  A  few  years  before  this,  in 
1504,  we  find  that  John  Perkyng,  no  doubt  the  same  who  witnessed 
Fairbarn's  will,  mentions  in  his  own  the  light  of  St.  John  Baptist. 
This  may  mean  only  a  light  burning  before  an  image,  but  in  all 
probability  it  implies  another  altar,  for  it  occurs  immediately  after 
his  naming  the  lights  of  Blessed  Mary  and  the  Holy  Trinity,  to 
whom  altars,  as  we  know,  were  dedicated.  Perkyng  also  leaves  5s. 
for  a  set  of  vestments,  "  uni  vestimento  vocato  a  seivte.''  The  "ves- 
timentum,"  therefore,  as  you  may  see,  was  not  a  single  robe  only. 
The  word  always  includes  the  stole,  maniple,  and  chasuble,  which 
formed  the  special  apparel  of  a  priest  at  the  ministration  of  the 
Eucharistic  sacrifice ;  and,  generally,  one  or  more  albs  and  copes 
also  constituted  part  of  the  '' sewte^  We  might  almost  have  ex- 
pected to  have  found  such  things  as  "vestments"  bequeathed  by 
the  gentler  sex,  for  we  know  that  the  "orfrays"  and  embroidery 
which  adorned  them  were  often  the  work  of  their  fair  hands  ;  but  the 
only  will,  relating  to  Fishlake,  which  has  come  under  my  notice 
containing  a  lady's  bequests,  presents  the  pleasing  feature  of  greater 
care  for  the  substantial  comfort  of  the  chaplain  of  Our  Lady's  chan- 
try than  for  his  outward  garniture.  Dame  Ahce  Shirwod,  relict  of 
Eichard  Shirwod,  citizen  and  alderman  of  York,  leaves  a  sum  of 
money  to  increase  his  stqjend: — "  Item  lego  ad  incrementum  salarii 
capellani  dicti  Lady  prest  celebrantis  in  ecclesia  de  Fisshelake  vjs. 
viijd."  The  name  of  her  father,  whom  she  mentions,  Thomas  Bal- 
necroft,  shews  that  she  sprung  from  this  neighbourhood.  Her  will 
bears  date  Aug.  95,  1451. 

The  chancel  has  been  most  liberally  and  carefully  restored  within 
the  last  three  years  by  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham,  the  patrons 
and  impropriators  of  the  living,  to  whose  munificence  and  ready 
attention  to  the  representations  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  make  to  them, 
of  the  need  of  such  restoration,  I  take  this  opportunity  of  bearing 
most  willing  and  grateful  testimony.  The  buttresses  of  its  eastern 
angles  and  the  greater  part  of  the  south  wall  had  seriously  given  way, 
from  failure  in  the  foundations,  partly  caused  by  centuries  of  inat- 
tention to  the  proper  carrying  off  of  the  water  from  the  roof,  and 
partly  by  the  weight  of  the  perpendicular  clerestory — an  addition 
which  the  walls  were  not  calculated  to  bear.  The  most  serious  re- 
sult was  the  way  in  which  the  beautiful  tracery  of  the  east  window 
was  affected.  The  outward  thrust  of  the  walls  had  so  completely 
loosened  the  keystone  of  the  Avindow  arch  that  the  whole  of  the  east 
gable  was  pressing  upon  the  mullions  and  tracery,  and  they  were  so 
thoroughly  shattered  that  a  very  small  portion  only  could  be  re-used. 
New  tracery  and  mullions  were  therefore  absolutely  necessary ;  but 
a  most  careful  and  elaborate  drawing  having  been  previously  made 
under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Kyle,  the  gentleman  employed  by  the 
Chapter  in  the  cathedral  works  at  Durham,  to  whose  care  the  work 
was  entrusted,  the  window  is  a  perfect  re-production,  as  I  can  testify, 


102  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  the  old  one.  Its  proportions  too  are  now  fully  displayed,  the 
lower  part  having  been  partly  blocked  up  to  accommodate  some  bad 
panelling — mixed  with  fragments  of  old  screen-work — which  did 
duty  as  a  reredos,  all  of  which  are  now  removed.  The  clerestory 
windows  also  required  new  tracery,  in  which  the  pattern  of  those  in 
the  nave  was  followed,  of  which,  as  I  have  said,  they  were  originally 
a  poor  imitation.  The  chancel  has  had  an  aisle  to  the  north,  indi- 
cations of  which  are  still  obvious ;  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  16th 
century  a  sacristy  was  thrown  out  on  this  side,  corresponding  in 
size  with  the  eastern  bay  of  this  aisle.  In  1523  we  find  Edmunde 
Jenkinson  of  Fishlake  leaving  12d.  "  to  the  coveringe  of  the  reves- 
try."*  This  addition  has  long  disappeared,  but  traces  are  still  ob- 
servable on  the  exterior  where  its  roof  joined  the  main  building. 
The  piscina  was  simply  a  square  recess  in  the  usual  place.  The 
sedilia  had  been  of  wood,  the  marks  of  their  divisions  may  yet  be 
seen  on  the  sill  of  a  square-headed  decorated  window,  which  was 
brought  down  to  a  convenient  level  for  the  seat.  Before  the  chancel 
was  restored  there  was  another  window  on  the  south  side,  a  late  and 
poor  insertion,  which,  for  the  sake  of  the  solidity  of  the  south  wall, 
it  was  deemed  more  expedient  to  block  up.  A  sepulchral  arched 
recess  exists  on  the  south  side,  near  the  priest's  door.  When  the 
foundation  of  this  side  was  underset  in  the  course  of  the  recent  re- 
storation, the  remains  which  it  covered  were  perforce  disturbed,  and 
a  chalice  of  the  usual  kind  was  found,  shewing  that  it  was  the  rest- 
ing place  of  an  Ecclesiastic.  There  were  also  found  two  bronze  letters, 
viz.,  E  and  R,  of  Lombardic  form;  and  a  curious  fragment  of  an 
antient  chasse  or  reliquary  case,  with  an  evangelistic  symbol,  which 
I  Yjroduce  for  your  inspection.  Two  rectors,  we  know,  were  buried 
in  the  chancel,  Mauleverer,  who  died  in  1368,  and  his  successor 
William  of  York.  The  latter  desires  burial  "in  ecclesia  mea  ex  parte 
australi  magni  altaris  coram  ymagine  S.  Cuthberti."  One  or  other 
of  them  have  probably  been  interred  in  this  spot. 

The  curious  altar  tomb  on  the  north  side  covers  the  remains  of 
Pilchard  Marshall,  vicar,  who  died  in  1505.  It  has  been  so  mi- 
nutely described  by  Mr.  Hunter  that  I  forbear  to  take  up  your  time 
with  any  further  account  of  it.  The  window  above  it  is  of  three 
lights,  with  late  decorated  tracery.  It  contains  the  only  portion  of 
old  stained  glass  now  existing  in  the  church.  The  arms  bear  a 
semblance  to  the  well  known  bearing  of  Warren,  and  probably  be- 
longed to  some  illegitimate  branch  of  that  powerful  family.  The 
name  yet  survives  in  the  designation  of  a  farmstead  in  Sykehouse 
which  is  known  as  Warren  Hall.  The  church  must  once  have 
been  very  rich  in  stained  glass.  The  bearings  of  Neville,  Maule- 
verer, and  many  others,  are  mentioned  in  Dodsworth's  church  notes. 

The  church  is  not  rich  in  old  sepulchral  memorials.  A  fragment 
of  an  early  incised  cross,  and  two  large  flat  stones,  with  inscriptions — 
half  effaced — in  the  Lombardic  character,  are  all  that  remain,  ex- 

(4;  Eesides  this  bequest,  be  leaves  Iiia  "  best  beaste  for  a  mortuary.  To  the  high 
altar  vjd.,  to  the  light  of  the  crosse  ijd.  To  the  light  of  or  Ladye  ijd.  To  the  light  of  the 
holy  Trinity  ijd." 


nSHLAKE  CHUECH  AND  PARISH.  103 

cept  those  of  Fairbarn  and  Marshall.  Enough  is  legible  on  one  to 
shew  that  it  covers  the  remains  of  William  Nowell  and  Alice  his 
wife.  The  date  is  1504.  The  name  of  Nowell  occurs  perpetually 
about  that  period  in  connection  with  Balne,  which  was  an  antient 
sub-division  of  the  West  Riding,  comprising  the  low  lying  lands  be- 
tween the  Aire  and  the  Don,  and — like  Morthing — was  constantly 
used  in  former  times  as  a  descriptive  adjunct  to  the  names  of  places 
in  the  neighbourhood.  We  meet  with  Fishlake  in  Balne,  Polling- 
ton  in  Balne,  Sj'kehouse  in  Balne,  &c.  When  the  south  wall  of  the 
chancel  was  underset,  fragments  of  early  gravestones  were  dug  up, 
which  had  been  used  in  making  the  foundation  of  the  building 
which  superseded  the  original  Norman  one.  Portions  of  lancet- 
headed  windows  appeared  to  have  been  unscrupulously  applied  to 
the  same  purpose.  These  I  have  preserved,  together  with  a  corbel 
or  two  of  late  Norman  character  which  were  turned  up  at  the  same 
time.  When  the  pavement  of  the  chancel  was  taken  up  for  the 
purpose  of  being  repaired  and  relaid,  I  observed  many  fragments  of 
a  former  flooring  oi plaster — a  common  material  for  that  purpose  in 
the  older  houses  and  cottages  in  this  neighbourhood,  though  I  am 
not  aware  of  any  instance  of  its  use  in  a  church.  What  rendered 
it  more  curious  was,  that  letters  had  evidently  been  painted  on  the 
plaster,  shewing  that  memorials  of  the  departed — or  legends  of  some 
kind — had  appeared  on  its  surface.  It  was  in  too  fragmentary  a 
state  to  make  out  anything  approaching  to  an  inscription,  having 
manifestly  been  disturbed  at  some  previous  time,  probably  when 
chancels  were  levelled  in  the  days  of  Puritan  misrule.  A  tablet  of 
stone  with  a  rudely  carved  border  of  late  15th  century  work,  on  the 
lower  part  of  which  are  the  words  ILetamur  (tl  WlSetlWrtlia* 
which  appears  formerly  to  have  contained  a  brass,  and  the  capital 
of  a  pillar  presenting  devices  of  which  I  am  unable  to  make  out  the 
meaning,  are  let  into  the  north  wall,  close  to  Marshall's  tomb. 

The  antient  stall  work  of  the  chancel  must  have  perished,  at  all 
events,  before  the  Restoration,  for  the  decayed  and  broken  fittings 
which  until  very  recently  it  contained,  could  lay  claim  to  no  higher 
antiquity.  It  is  now  very  handsomely  furnished  with  new  oak  seats 
on  each  side,  with  stalls  at  the  returns,  and  a  parclose,  of  excellent 
design  and  workmanship,  dividing  it  from  the  chantry  chapel  on  the 
south.  The  organ  is  placed  in  the  one  on  the  north  side.  The 
standard  ends  of  the  desks  in  front  of  the  seats  terminate  in  carved 
poppy  heads  of  good  character.  I  have  again  to  mention  the  Dean 
and  Chapter  of  Durham,  to  whose  munificence  we  owe  these  fittings, 
and  Mr.  Kyle,  to  whom  they  entrusted  the  design.  The  substantial 
repair  of  the  chancel,  internally  and  externally,  has  thus  been 
worthily  completed,  setting  an  example  which  more  than  one  im- 
propriator would  do  well  to  follow. 

The  church  possesses  no  antient  plate.  An  antient  alms  dish  of 
brass,  bearing  a  representation  of  the  Annunciation,  which  belongs 
to  it,  I  have  brought  for  exhibition  at  the  Guildhall,  where  doubtless 
many  of  those  present  have  seen  it. 

The  tower  contains  six  bells,  two  of  which  are  of  antient  date. 


104  YOEK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

One,  the  great  bell,  lias  the  inscription,  in  Lombardic  characters,  of 
SANCTE  NICOLAE  ORA  PRO  NOBIS.  We  may  fairly  con- 
clude that  this  bell  was  hung  about  1506,  for  in  that  year  ^Ye  find 
"  Robert  Cook,  sen.,"  desiring  burial  in  the  church  of  St.  Cuthbert 
at  Fishlake,  and  bequeathing  3s.  4d.  for  the  great  bell,  "  magna9 
campanae."     The  other  has  a  legend  in  the  ordinary  black  letter, 

Bne  0risu  (^i)xi^U  placeat  tiU  ^onwn  i^U^    The  rest  were  put 

up  about  a  century  and  a  half  ago. 

I  must  now  briefly  notice  another  ecclesiastical  foundation  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  parish  of  Fishlake — the  chapel  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  at  Sykehouse,  or  "  Sykehowses,"  as  it  is  usually  designated 
in  early  documents.  One  of  these  documents,  from  which  I  have 
already  quoted — the  will  of  Dame  Alice  Shirwood — affords  an  inci- 
dental glimpse  of  the  aspect  presented  four  centuries  ago  by  the 
country  which  lies  between  Fishlake  and  this  chapel.  After  be- 
queathing 40s.  to  be  distributed  among  the  poor  parishioners  who 
dwelt  in  Fishlake  itself,  "  inter  pauperes  parochianos  ejusdem  villas, " 
she  leaves  6s.  8d.  amongst  the  poor  men  and  women  dwelling  in 
Fishlake  "  heyonde  ye  ivocld  ubi  capella  situatur."  Fishlake  was,  as 
we  have  seen,  within  the  lord:ship  of  Hatfield ;  and  we  may  infer 
from  this  expression  that  patches  of  forest  land,  portions  of  the  royal 
chace,  with  red  deer  for  the  denizens  of  its  coverts,  then  formed  a 
characteristic  and  peculiar  feature  of  the  country  even  on  the  north- 
ern side  of  Don.  And,  to  say  nothing  of  the  existence  almost  within 
living  memory,  as  I  have  been  told,  of  oaks  of  more  than  ordinary 
magnitude  midway  between  Fishlake  and  Sykehouse — the  last  sur- 
vivors in  all  likelihood  of  the  "  ivodd  "  which  Dame  Alice  mentions — 
there  are  local  names  which  carry  us  back  in  thought  to  the  days  of 
"  vert  and  venison."  Part  of  the  village  of  Fishlake  is  known  as  the 
Hay  Green,  and  a  portion  of  the  old  enclosures  to  the  north  of  the 
village  is  called  the  Hays.  The  haia  or  hay,  as  is  well  known,  was 
a  piece  of  ground  enclosed  from  the  forest  for  purposes  of  pasturage 
or  cultivation. 

Beyond  all  this,  and  about  three  miles  north  of  the  mother  church, 
stands  the  little  chapel  of  Sykehouse.  It  is  a  humble  edifice,  at  no 
time  distinguished  by  any  pretension  to  architectural  beauty,  and 
having  fallen  into  disuse  for  a  length  of  time  after  the  Reformation, 
it  would  appear  to  have  gone  completely  to  decay,  for  very  little  of 
the  masonry  appears  to  be  coeval  with  its  foundation.  The  base  of 
a  churchyard  cross,  and  a  fragment  of  painted  glass  in  the  east 
window  representing  the  crucifixion,  are  the  only  prominent  features 
of  antiquity  which  it  can  boast.  Let  me  rather,  therefore,  draw 
your  attention  to  the  document  relating  to  its  foundation,  with  which 
Mr.  Hunter  appears  to  have  been  unacquainted.  It  is  in'  the 
Registry  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Durham,  and  is  I  think  curi- 
ous, inasmuch  as  it  may  throw  a  light  upon  the  origin  of  those  sub- 
sidiary chapels  which  arose  in  the  outlying  hamlets  of  our  larger 
parishes.  For  many,  no  doubt,  throughout  the  country,  originated 
under  similar  circumstances. 

Mr.  Hunter,  indeed,  mentions  a  license,  dated  20th  Dec.  1435, 


FISHLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PARISH.  105 

to  Edmund  Fitzwilliam,  Esq.  an  inhabitant  of  "  Sikehowses  in 
Balne  "  in  the  parish  of  Fishlake,  for  the  celebration  of  divine  offices 
in  a  chapel  in  the  village  of  Sykehouse,  "  in  villula  de  Sikehowse," 
But  I  am  disposed  to  think  that  this  was  merely  a  domestic  oratory 
or  chapel,  to  which,  in  all  probability,  his  neighbours  were  permitted 
to  resort.  And  I  have  little  doubt,  but  that  the  advantage  of  having 
a  chapel  in  such  near  proximity  was  found  so  great  a  boon  that  it 
led  the  Sykehouse  people  to  take  measures  for  the  erection  of  one 
for  their  own  use.  At  all  events,  a  very  few  years  after,  on  the  14th 
Oct.  1433,  we  find  an  agreement  entered  into  between  the  Prior  and 
Convent  of  Durham  and  Robert  Sykes  of  Sykehowses,  Thomas 
Fayerbarne,  John  Draper,  and  Robert  de  le  lane  of  Dowesthorp, 
Roger  Cruste  of  the  west  end,  John  Howson  of  Toghwhan,  John 
Blakewod  of  Stertebrig,  John  Wryghte  of  Eskeholme,  John  Aelsee 
of  Plawes,  William  Geppeson  of  Malleson  howeses,  John  Parkar  of 
the  Ricarde  bowses,  Richard  Howeson  of  Tyddeworthehagh,  William 
Howeson  of  Howesone  end,  John  Gierke  of  Astynthorp,  and  John 
Thompson  of  the  Whitehowses,  described  as  inhabiting  that  part  of 
the  parish  of  Fishlake  which  lies  between  the  river  of  Went  and  the 
Mykille  dyke.  This  dyke,  now  called  Claydyke,  forms  at  this  day 
the  line  of  demarcation  between  the  townships  of  Fishlake  and 
Sykehouse. 

In  this  document  the  Prior  and  Convent  grant  their  license  to 
the  dwellers  within  these  limits  to  erect,  at  their  own  costs  and 
charges,  a  chapel  or  oratory  in  Sykehouse, — "  in  quodam  loco  sive 
fundo  vocato  Sykehowses  in  Dowesthorp  unam  capellam  sive  ora- 
torium  de  novo  erigere  et  in  honore  Sanctse  Trinitatis  consecrari 
facere."  The  chaplain  who  shall  minister  therein  is  to  be  main- 
tained at  the  cost  of  the  inhabitants  ;  but  before  entering  upon  his 
duties  he  is  to  promise  submission  to  the  Vicar  of  Fishlake,  and 
swear  to  do  nothing  which  may  affect  the  rights  and  privileges  of 
the  mother  church.  He  is  to  minister  no  sacrament  or  sacramental 
to  any  one,  except  holy  water  and  holy  bread—"  nullum  sacramen- 
tum  vel  sacramentale  praeter  aquam  benedictam  et  panem  benedic- 
tum  dictis  incolis  et  inhabitatoribus  ministrabit" — without  the  special 
license  of  the  Vicar,  unless  in  case  of  urgent  necessity  or  danger  of 
death.  The  chapel  and  its  appurtenances  are  to  be  maintained  and 
kept  in  repair  at  the  charge  of  the  inhabitants.  But  a  stringent 
provision  is  inserted,  whereby  every  right  and  privilege  of  old  be- 
longing to  the  mother  church  is  reserved ;  and  they  are  still  to  be 
subject  to  all  payments,  ordinary  and  extraordinary  in  respect 
thereof,  to  which  they  had  heretofore  been  liable.  They  are  still  to 
resort  to  the  mother  church  on  Sundays  and  high  festivals,  unless 
hindered  by  floods,  bad  roads,  or  other  lawful  cause, — *'  nisi  propter 
habundanciam  aquarum,  viarum  discrimina,  vel  causas  alias  legi- 
time impediaiitur."  When  I  tell  you  that,  within  living  memory, 
it  was  frequently  necessary  for  a  Sykehouse  farmer  to  send  six 
horses  with  his  waggon  to  Stainforth  overnight,  when  he  wanted  to 
have  a  load  of  corn  at  Doncaster  market  on  the  following  day,  you 
will  agree  with  me  that  if  ^'viarum  discrimina'''  were  held  to  con- 

p 


106  YORK  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

stitute  a  lawful  hindrance  to  their  attendance  at  the  mother  church, 
it  is  an  excuse  which  would  seldom  be  wanting  to  the  parishioners 
of  four  centuries  ago. 

Interdicting  and  suspending  powers  were  vested  by  this  document 
in  the  Archbishop  of  York. 

The  chapel,  as  I  have  said,  appears  to  have  fallen  into  decay  after 
the  Reformation.  William  Waller,  the  last  chaplain  under  the  old 
system,  was  buried  at  Fishlake  in  1578. 

I  may  add  to  Mr.  Hunter's  account  a  note  respecting  the  revival 
of  service  in  this  chapel,  of  which  he  possessed  no  information.  In 
1617  Nicholas  Waller  of  Balne  Hall,  Esq.,  made  over  to  certain 
trustees,  the  chapel  and  certain  lands  in  the  township,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  reader  of  divine  service  there,  "  for  the  easement  of  the 
inhabitants," — as  it  is  expressed.  Coton  Home  appears  to  have 
been  the  first  incumbent.  An  incumbent  of  the  chapel  has  been 
regularly  appointed  since  that  time  by  the  Vicars  of  Fishlake,  but 
the  inhabitants  of  Sykehouse  still  regard  Fishlake  as  the  mother 
church.  All  baptisms  solemnized  in  the  chapel  are  registered  at 
Fishlake ;  no  marriage  or  burial  can  take  place  at  the  chapel ;  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  township  in  which  it  stands  have  always  paid 
their  accustomed  proportion  of  the  rates  which  have  been  levied  for 
the  maintenance  and  repair  of  that  antient  fabric  in  and  around 
which  their  forefathers  repose. 

There  are  some  interesting  documents  connected  with  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Grammar  School  of  Fishlake  in  1641,  and  with  its 
local  charities ;  but  I  have  trespassed  far  too  long  upon  your  pa- 
tience, and  must  now  conclude  by  thanking  you  for  the  attention 
you  have  been  pleased  to  accord  me, 

GEORGE  ORNSBY. 


APPENDIX. 

No.  I. 


Testamentum  dni  Thorns  Fairbarn  nuper  Vicarii  de  Fisshelake  defimcti. 

In  Dei  nomine  Amen,  xij  die  mensis  Maii,  Anno  Dili  mcccc.  nonagesimo  sexto 
Ego,  Thomas  Fairbarn,  Vicarius  de  Fisshelake,  infirmus  corpore,  sanus  tamen 
mentis  et  memori^B,  condo  testamentum  meum  in  hunc  modmn.  In  primis  lego 
&  recommendo  animam  raeam  Deo  omnipotenti,  patri,  beatce  Marias  Virgini,  beato 
Cuthberto  &  omnibus  Sanctis,  corpusque  meum  sepeliendum  in  capella  Sanctai 
Trinitatis  infra  ecclesiam  parochialem  de  Fysshlak,  et  cum  corpore  meo  nomine 
Mortuarii  mei  prouc  moris  est.  Et  in  cera  comburenda  circa  corpus  meum  die 
sepulturse  mea  et  in  octava  die  viij  lb.  cerge.  Item  lego  reparacioni  summgs  altaris 
ejusdem  ecclesiae  ij  s.  Item  lego  lumini  beata3  Marise  virg.  ibidem  vj  d.  Item 
lego  lumini  Crucis  de  eadem  vj  d.  Item  lego  lumini  Sancti  Antonii  ibidem  vj  d. 
Item  lego  lumini  Sancti  Cuthberti  vj  d.  Item  lego  luminibus  in  eadem  ecclesia 
cuilibet  eorum  ij  d.  Item  lego  predictee  ecclesia?  de  Fishlak  duos  libros  Pupill'  et 
Catholicon  ad  remauendum  in  eadem  ecclesia  inperpetuum.    Item  lego  Johanni 


nSIlLAKE  CHURCH  AND  PARISH.  107 

Adam  capellano  tinnm  Hbrum  vocatum  lee  Bible.  Item  lego  Thomss  Crofte  clerico 
parochiali  unara  togam  coloris  murray  cum  le  blak  frese  linatam.  Item  lego  filiabua 
meis  et  cuilibet  carum  iiij  d.  Item  lego  Willelmo  Jakson  consangiiineo  meo  x  oves 
et  X  agniculos  &  ineam  optimara  cistam.  Willelmo  Fairbarn  fratri  meo  simul 
cum  Johannc  filio  sue  j  equam  cum  suo  pullo.  Filiabus  prefati  Willelmi  fratris 
mei  j  cistam  nuper  Roberti  Fairbarn  patris  mei  cum  tota  le  napreware  intus  et  cuili- 
bet earnm  tres  oves.  Fratri  meo  Roberto  j  equum  cum  le  stag.  Nicholao  filio 
ejusdem  Rob.  ad  exhibendum  eum  ad  scolas  Oxoni^e  vij  marcas  vj  s.  viij  d.  Eidera 
Nicholao  tres  virgas  panni  blodii  coloris  &  duas  virgas  de  Blanket.  Thomaj 
filio  prefati  Roberti  fratris  mei  vj  oves.  Prefato  Roberto  fratri  meo  simul  cum 
prefato  Thoma  filio  suo  j  equam  cum  pullo.  Filiabus  predicti  Roberti  fratris  mei 
ad  distribuendum  inter  eas  xij  pecias  de  le  pewter,  et  cuilibet  earum  iij  oves.  Re- 
laxo  &  dimitto  eidem  Roberto  Fairbarn  fratri  meo  xiiij  marcas  bonas  &  legalis 
monetffi  quas  michi  debet.  Residuum  lego  Ricardo  Jackson  capellano  consanguineo 
meo  quem  constituo  execiitorem.  Hiis  testibus  domino  Ricardo  Skynner  capellano, 
domino  Johanne  Adam  capellano,  Johanne  Ricarde  de  Fysshlake,  Johanne  Parkyn 
&  Thoma  Crofte  de  ead.  cum  alns.—fProb.  6  Oct.  1406.; 


II. 

Composicio  indentata  inter  Domlnum  Priorem  &  Capltulum  Cunelm.  ex  una  parte 
&  quosdam  parochianos  parochiffi  de  Fisshlake  ex  parte  alia  de  una  capeUa  de 
novo  erigenda  et  cousecranda. — {Beg.  III.  D.  &  C.  D.  153). 

H^C  iudentm'a  facta  inter  Johannem  permissione  divina  Priorem  Ecclesife  Cath. 
Dunelm.  et  capitulum  ejusdem  ecclesiam  parochialem  de  Fisshlake  Ebor.  Dioc.  in 
usus  proprios  collegii  sui  apud  Oxon.  appropriatam  canonice  obtinentes  ex  una  parte, 
et  inter  Robertum  Sykes  de  Sykehowses,  Thomara  Fayerbarne  de  Dowesthorp, 
Johannem  Draper  de  eadem,  Robertum  de  le  lane  de  eadem,  Rogerum  Cruste  dele 
Weste  end,  Johannem  Howson  de  Toghwhan,  Johannem  Blakewod  de  Stertebrig, 
Johannem  Wryghte  de  Eskeholme,  Johannem  Aelsee  de  Plawes,  Willelmum  Gep- 
peson  de  Malleson  howeses,  Johannem  Parkar  de  Ricarde  howses,  Ricardum 
Howeson  de  Tyddeworthehagh,  Willelmum  Howeson  de  Howesone  end,  Johannem 
Gierke  de  Astynthorp  et  Johannem  Thomson  de  le  Whitehowses,  parochianos 
ecclesise  parochialis  predictse  ac  incolas  &  inhabitatores  locorum  de  Sykehowses, 
Dowesthorp,  Weste  end,  Toghwhan,  Stertebrigg,  Eskeholme,  Plawes,  Malleson- 
howeses,  Ricardehoweses,  Tyddeworthehagh,  Howesone  end,  Astynthorp  et  le 
Whytehoweses  inter  Wente  &  Mykilledyke  infra  fines  et  limites  dictse  parochise 
contentonim  ex  parte  altera,  testatur  quod  dicti  Prior  et  capitulum,  quantum  in 
eis  est,  concesserunt  et  licenciarunt  pro  se  et  successoribus  suis,  caritatis  intuitu, 
salvo  jure  alterius  cujuscunque,  quod  ipsi  incolee  et  inhabitatores  dictorum  locorum, 
in  quodam  loco  sive  fundo  vocato  Sykehoweses  in  Dowesthorp,  infra  fines  et  limites 
eorundem  locorum,  unam  capellam,  sive  oratorium  de  novo  erigere  et  in  hcnore 
SanctEe  Trinitatis  consecrari  facere  valeant,  suis  propriis  sumptibus  et  expensis.  In 
qua  quidem  capella  sive  oratorio  licitura  eri:  ipsis  incolis  &  inhabitatoribus  habere 
unum  capellanum,  suis  sumptibus  et  expensis  dumtaxat  exhibendum  et  sustentan- 
dum  ;  qui  capellanus  ante  omnem  celebracionem  vel  administracionem  presentabitur 
vicario  dictse  ecclesias  parochialis  qui  pro  tempore  fuerit,  ac  tunc  coram  eodem 
vicaiio  debitam  subjeccionem  promittet,  et  fidelitatem  jurabit  de  servando  eandem 
ecclesiam  parochialem  immunem  et  indempnem,  &  quod  nullum  sacramentum  vel 
sacramentale,  preeter  aquam  benedictam  &  panem  benedictum,  dictis  incolis  et  in- 
habitatoribus min  strabit,  sine  speciali  licencia  vicarii  et  procuratoris  dict»  ecclesiae 
qui  pro  tempore  fuerint,  nisi  in  imrainentis  necessitatis  vel  mortis  periculo  habita 
super  hoc  prius  licencia,  ut  premittitur  :  dictique  incolce  &  inhabitatores  dictam 
capellam  sive  oratorium  cum  omnibus  eidem  capeilse  sive  oratorio  necessariis,  vel 
debite  requisitis,  suis  sumptibus  &  expensis  sustcntabunt  &  reparabunt  imperpetuum, 
quando  et  quociens  necesse  fuerit  vel  oportunum,  i  ecnon  omnia  onera  ordinaria  et 
extraordinaria  dictse  matrici  ecclesise  de  Fisshlake  incumbencia  cum  aliis  parochianis 
ipsius  ecclesise,  ac  oblaciones,  devociones  &  donaciones,  tarn  debitas  quam  volun- 
tarias  &  devotas  inibi  sicut  hactenus  consueverunt,  facient,  supportabunt  et 
persolvent ;  necnon  ipsi  incol^  et  inhabitatores  locorum  predictorum  singulis  diebus 


108  YORK  DIOCESAN  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

dominlcis  &  festlvis  advenlent  suam  ecclesiam  parocliialem  predictam  dlvlna,  & 
precipue  missam  parochialem,  ibidem  audituri,  nisi  propter  habundanciam  aquarum, 
viarura  discrimina,  vel  causas  alias  legitime  impediantur.  Si  vero  contingat  dictos 
incolas  et  inbabitatoi-es,  seu  etiam  capellanum  in  dicta  capella  ministraturum,  contra 
banc  concessionem  &  ordinacionem,  fraiide,  dolo,  vel  malo  ingenio  in  prejudiciura 
dictas  matricis  ecclesige  inaliquo  contravenire,  dictiincolaaetinhabitatoresbujusmodi 
locorum  tunc  hoc  legitime  cognito,  volunt  &  concedvmt  per  presentes  pro  se  & 
successoribus  suis  futnris  in  locis  predictis  inbabitaturis,  quod  dicta  capella  auc- 
toritati  Reverendi  patris  domini  Ebor.  Arcbiepiscopi,  loci  illius  Ordinarii,  supposita 
sit  interdicto.  Et  similiter  capellanis  ejnsdem  capellte  qui  pro  tempore  fnerint, 
a  divinis  ibidem  celebrandis  eadem  anctoritate  maneat  suspensus,  donee  dictse 
ecclesise  pai-ocbiali  pro  dampnis  qusd  sustinixit  plenarie  fuerit  satisfactum.  In 
cujus  rei  testimonium  uni  parti  hujus  indenturse  penes  dictos  incolas  &  inhabitatores 
residenti,  sigillum  commune  dictorum  Prions  et  Capituli  est  appensum.  Alteri  vero 
parte,  penes  dictos  priorem  et  capitulum  remanenti,  sigillum  incolarum  &  inhabi- 
tatorum  locorum  predictorum  sunt  appensa.  Data  Dunelm.  in  domo  capitulari 
dictorum  Prioris  &  Capituli  quoad  apposicionem  sigilli  sui  communis  quarto-decimo 
die  mensis  Octobris  Anno  Domini  Mill,  cccc  xxxiii.  Et  apud  Fisshlake  quo  ad 
apposicionem  sigillorum  incolarum  &c.  xviij.  die  Octobris  anno  supradicto. 

[At  p.  1 52  of  the  Register  is  a  cancelled  copy  of  this  agreement,  in  which  the 
Prior  and  Convent  had  vested  the  interdicting  and  suspending  power  in  themselves.] 


BEDFORDSHIRE 

AUCHITECTUEAL  AND  AECEiEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


On  tfie  Condition,  Social,  Political,  and  Military,  &f  the  Ancient 
Britons.  Read  at  a  Joint-Meeting  of  the  Architectural  and 
Archssological  Societies  of  Bedfordshire  and  St.  Albans,  held 
at  St.  Albans,  June  15th,  1854.  By  John  Taddy,  M.A., 
Incumbent  of  Northill,  formerly  Fellow  of  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge. 


'O" 


If  I  ventured  a  definition,  whereby  to  characterise  Archseology  as 
contrasted  with  History,  I  should  say  that,  first,  it  assumes  to 
penetrate  into  a  region  of  events,  which  History  considers  too  distant 
and  undefined  to  be  the  objects  of  its  research ;  and  also,  that  it 
seeks  materials  of  proof  which  History  does  not  gather,  viz.,  monu- 
mental inscriptions,  fresh  from  the  graving  tool  of  those  who  were 
actors  in,  or  spectators  of,  the  events  which  they  have  committed  to 
the  safe  custody  of  stone  or  metal ;  -which  future  copyists,  and  party 


110        bedfoudshihe  architectural  society. 

writers  can  neither  distort,  mutilate,  nor  misintei-pret ;  evidences 
briefer,  perhaps,  than  could  be  wished,  but  not  needing  collations 
of  manuscripts  to  rectify  them,  or  commentaries  to  oppress  them. 
It  also  treads  the  fairy  land  of  minstrelsy  and  romance,  to  which  it 
must  be  taught — as  was  Ulysses  when  coasting  the  abodes  of  the 
Sirens — to  look  with  caution,  as  exhibiting  a  faithful  impress  of 
manners,  though  not  always  an  exact  delineation  of  facts.  But 
Archaeology  has  this  disadvantage,  that  it  rarely  brings  to  light  facts 
enough  on  which  to  generalize  historical  conclusions ;  and  its  ex- 
humed monuments  are  apt  to  remain  as  insulated  things,  not  capable 
of  consolidation  into  that  continuous  and  well-cemented  chain  of 
consecutive  history,  which  is  the  desirable  presentment  of  truth. 

The  mission  of  an  Archceologist  seems  to  be  a  border-warfare, 
carried  on  upon  the  limits  of  truth  and  darkness,  ordinarily  without 
help  from  the  unbroken  precedent  stream  of  tradition  or  history. 
If,  therefore,  his  researches  are  to  be  attended  with  satisfactory 
results,  he  has  to  sift  as  well  as  to  enquire ;  to  test  assertions  by  the 
probabilities  of  things ;  to  denude  the  truth,  if  there  be  truth,  by 
stripping  it  of  its  garment  of  fable,  or  reputed  miracle  ;  not  to  throw 
aside  the  ore  as  worthless,  because  there  is  base  earth  mixed  with 
the  purer  metal — as  the  German  writers  have  dealt  with  the  early 
history  of  Rome — but  to  recover  an  outline  where  he  cannot  secure 
an  ample  delineation.  This  remark  applies  to  any  attempted 
elucidation  of  the  early  history  of  Britain.  The  Commentaries  of 
Caesar  are  the  only  evidence  which  we  possess  by  an  eyewitness  to 
what  he  records;  as  a  narrative  of  facts,  it  does  not  go  beyond  the 
detail  of  two  short  campaigns,  and  those  within  the  limits  of  Kent 
and  a  small  part  of  Middlesex  beyond  the  Thames  at  Chertsey; 
indeed,  rather  a  soldier's  diary  than  a  history.  Also,  what  Tacitus 
has  told  us  in  his  life  of  Agricola,  and  occasionally  in  his  Annals, 
is  for  value  like  condensed  gold,  capable  of  being  beaten  out  into  a 
larger  area,  and  leading  to  conclusions  which  enlarge  the  sphere  of 
our  knowledge ;  but  what  we  gather  from  him  are  sparkles  rather 
than  continuous  streams  of  light. 

But  if  our  desire  be  to  descend  with  the  stream  of  time, 
especially  to  arrive  at  some  certainty  regarding  the  time  and  man- 
ner of  planting  Christianity  in  this  island,  we  have  to  peruse  the 
writings  of  Bede,  Gildas,  and  Richard  of  Cirencester,  who  lived  in 
times  subsequent,  were  all  of  them  monks,  and  of  whom  some — by 
their  unsuspecting  admission  of  miracles — have  brought  into  per- 
haps undeserved  disrepute  their  general  narrative.  As  an  instance 
of  Bede's  defectiveness  of  research,  he  says  that  the  wall  of  the 
lower  Isthmus  was  built  by  public  and  private  expence,  at  the  time 
that  the  Romans  designed  to  abandon  the  island  in  the  reign  of 
Honorius,  intending  it  as  a  defence  for  the  thus  defenceless  Britons 
against  the  inroads  of  the  Picts  ;  whereas,  many  contemporary 
inscriptions — accompanying  the  line  of  the  wall — attest  that  it  was 
built  two  hundred  years  earlier,  in  the  reign  of  Hadrian,  by  the 
auxiliaries  of  the  legions  ;  some  of  these  stones  recording  the  num- 
ber of  feet  erected  by  each  cohort. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  ANCIENT  BRITONS,  111 

In  respect  of  the  early  peopling  of  this  island,  its  colonization 
was  a  progressive  work — likely,  indeed,  that  it  should  be  so,  as  it 
was  approachable  only  by  ships, 

Tacitus,  in  his  life  of  Agricola,  has  condensed  some  remarks 
in  his  brief  and  pithy  manner.  "As  to  the  early  inhabitants  of 
Britain,"  (his  words  are)  "  whether  they  be  indigenous  or  imported, 
little  can  be  known,  though  inferences  may  be  drawn  from  the 
varying  characteristics  of  their  persons  ;  the  red  hair  of  the 
Caledonians,  and  their  large  limbs,  assert  a  German  origin;  the 
coloured  countenances  of  the  Silures  or  Welsh,  their  curly  hair, 
and  position  over  against  Spain  would  cause  a  belief  that  the 
Spaniards  migrated  to  these  parts ;  the  Britons  which  neighbour 
upon  the  Gaul  (viz.,  those  of  the  south  coast),  resemble  the  Gauls 
in  character;  whether  (says  the  historian)  that  likeness  proceed 
from  projections  of  land  bringing  the  nations  into  proximity,  or 
from  a  likeness  propagated  through  a  common  original."  Caesar  so 
speaks  of  settlements  made  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  island  by 
the  Belgic  Gauls,  and  gives  as  an  evidence  the  retention  by  the 
colonists  of  the  names  by  which  they  passed  in  Gaul ;  my  auditors 
will  remember,  as  an  example,  the  Attrebates,  as  designating  both  a 
people  in  Gaul  and  early  settlers  in  Hampshire. 

Caesar's  narrative  continues  thus  :  "  after  war  waged,  the  Belg£e 
remained  in  Britain,  and  began  to  cultivate  the  lands.  There  is  an 
infinite  number  of  people,  a  large  number  of  cattle,  and  very 
frequent  buildings,  like  those  in  Gaul ;  they  use  brass  and  bars  of 
iron,  tested  by  weight,  instead  of  coined  money.  Of  all  the  Britons, 
those  who  inhabit  the  maritime  parts  of  Kent  are  the  most  civilized, 
(humanissimi)  and  differ  little  from  the  habits  of  the  Gauls ;  but 
most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  interior  do  not  sow  corn,  but  live 
upon  milk  and  flesh,  and  are  clothed  with  skins." 

Now  I  conceive  these  words  teach  us  much.  First,  the  caution 
that  we  should  use  in  laying  down  dogmas  as  to  alleged  civil  insti- 
tutions of  the  Britons,  included  in  one  mass,  as  if  they  formed  one 
people,  of  similar  progress,  and  of  like  political  or  social  organization. 
ISlo  feature  more  strongly  marks  a  different  sera  of  civilization  than 
the  ignorance  or  the  practice  of  tillage.  Caesar  here  tells  us  that 
the  Belgic  settler  began  to  cultivate  the  lands,  but  that  the  natives 
of  the  interior  do  not  sow  grain,  but  live  on  milk  and  flesh — which 
fact  reaches  farther  in  its  consequences  than  one  might  at  first 
imagine ;  because  a  moving  tribe,  living  on  the  produce  of  its  flocks, 
requires,  and  therefore  obeys  only,  a  more  simple  and  less  coercive 
government  than  one  which  has  acquired  that  continued  occupation 
of  the  soil  which  accompanies  the  tillage  of  it.  The  fruits  of  the 
labour  of  tillage,  whether  connecting  themselves  with  the  ownership 
or  the  usufruct  of  the  land,  demand  more  security,  and  therefore 
more  complexity  in  the  laws,  than  the  habits  of  a  nomad  or  shep- 
herd people,  quitting  possession  of  the  soil  when  the  pasture  for 
their  flocks  is  exhausted ;  appropriation  of  land  or  property  being 
the  thing  which  leads  to  the  more  complex  organization  of  law. 
Independently  of  what  Caesar  has  told  us  was  the  case,  it  is  proba- 


112  BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

ble  that  there  would  be  this  diversity  of  progress  in  the  British 
tribes ;  for,  from  its  insular  position,  the  settling  of  foreigners  would 
be  made  at  intervals  of  time,  and  in  different  bodies. 

As  I  would  rather  exhibit  facts  than  play  with  conjectures,  I  am 
glad  to  travel  onwards  with  the  lucid  and  trustworthy  narrative  of 
Caesar,  and  introduce  a  few  observations  on  the  strategy  of  the  Bri- 
tons. Their  dexterous  use  of  the  war-chariot  was  a  novelty  to  the 
Romans,  being  rarely  used  by  the  Gauls,  and  not  at  all  by  the  Ger- 
mans. Cassar  says  that  it  combined  the  celerity  of  cavalry  with  the 
stability  of  infantry.  This,  he  says,  was  their  manner  of  lighting 
with  the  chariot ;  "  first  they  drive  along  the  line  and  hurl  javelins, 
and  usually  make  confusion  in  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  by  the  terror 
which  the  horses  inspire,  and  by  the  noise  of  the  wheels  ;  and  when 
they  have  driven  in  between  the  troops  of  the  cavalry,  they  leap  from 
their  chariots  and  fight  on  foot ;  in  the  meantime  the  charioteers 
retire  a  little  way  from  the  contest,  and  so  place  themselves,  that  if 
the  combatants  be  pressed  by  the  multitude  of  the  enemy,  these 
make  a  prompt  retreat  to  their  chariots  ;  thus  they  have  the  quick- 
ness of  cavalry  and  solid  bearing  of  foot  soldiers,  and  by  practice 
can  stop  their  horses,  at  the  gallop,  down  precipitous  descents,  and 
quickly  govern  and  turn  them,  can  run  along  the  pole,  and  thus 
quickly  replace  themselves  in  their  chariots."  This  vivid  picture 
from  an  eyewitness  needs  no  comment.  Further :  in  an  equally 
distinct  picture  given  us  by  the  historian  Tacitus,  we  can  compare 
the  method  of  attack  and  defence,  used  by  the  undisciplined  native, 
with  the  skill  of  their  practised  adversaries.  He  says  that  the 
Britons  at  the  onset  maintained  their  ground,  warding  off  the 
Roman  javelins  by  their  large  swords  (enormes  gladios)  and  their 
light  and  small  bucklers,  moveable  to  each  part  of  the  body  that 
was  endangered,  till  Agricola  bade  the  auxiliaries  "  rem  ad  mucronem 
addiicere ;"  his  words  are,  to  close  hand  to  hand  with  their  adver- 
saries, bearing  them  down  by  the  iron  bosses  of  their  large  shields, 
and  using  their  shorter  more  manageable  swords  in  piercing  and 
not  striking — the  large  swords  of  the  Britons  being  inapplicable  to 
close  fight.  The  same  author,  in  his  account  of  the  battle  against 
the  Silures  or  Welsh,  in  which  Caractacus  was  made  captive,  records 
the  same  mode  and  the  same  results.  "  So  long"  (he  says)  **  as  the 
contest  was  with  missile  weapons,  we  had  more  wounded  and  many 
killed ;  but  when  we  came  to  close  fight,  the  Britons — unprotected 
by  either  helmet  or  coat  of  mail — when  turning  to  resist  the  javelins 
of  the  light  armed,  were  laid  j^vostrate  by  the  condensed  masses  of 
the  heavy  armed  legionaries  ;  if  they  turned  to  resist  the  latter,  they 
fell  beneath  the  spears  of  the  light  armed  ;"  so  that  we  see  the  issue 
was,  as  it  ever  will  be,  when  barbarian  valour  measures  its  powers 
against  the  disciplined  and  protecting  panoply  of  a  nation  trained 
to  war.^     Uniting  these  fragments  from  contemporary  historians  in 

(1)  Mr.  Wright  also  observes,  that  "the  Romans  had  an  advantage  over  their  British 
foes,  from  the  circumstance  tliatin  close  combat  they  used  their  short  and  pointed  swords 
in  thrusting,  while  the  IJritons  were  unable  to  use  with  the  same  effect  their  long  and 
pointless  ones.  The  bronzed  swords,  supposed  Jioman.  which  have  been  dug  up,  do  not 
exceed  in  length  eighteen  inches."— Wright's  Celt,  Saxon,  and  Jioman  compared. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  ANCIENT  BRITONS.  113 

one,  we  have  a  clear  picture  of  the  native  warrior — long  and  flowing 
hair,  (joromissa  coma)  a  body  shaven,  except  on  the  upper  lip, 
unprotected  either  by  helmet  or  coat  of  mail,  a  small  leathern 
buckler,  and  a  sword  of  large  size,  rendering  him  unlit  for  fighting 
hand  to  hand,  as  he  could  use  it — in  the  language  of  the  historian 
— "  caesim,"  but  not  "  punctim.'* 

Caesar  and  Strabo  say  that  the  Britons  had  no  other  Ojjpida,  or 
towns,  than  enclosures  protected  by  marsh  or  wood — large  in 
dimensions,  and  usually  round  in  form,  guarded  by  trees  thrown 
down,  within  which  themselves  and  their  cattle  were  housed  for  a 
time  ;  the  words  are — "ov  rrpog  iroXvy  ■^(povov.''  They  were  evidently 
fortified  posts. 

I  will  ask  your  attention  next  to  the  civil  institutions  of  the 
Britons,  so  far  as  we  can  learn  them  by  inference  or  direct  evidence ; 
and  I  shall  be  thought  justified  in  applying  what  Cajsar  says  of  the 
Gauls  to  the  Britons — of  the  south  at  least — for  two  reasons ;  the 
first  of  which  is  that  a  large  tract  of  Britain,  comprising  Dorsetshire, 
Hampshire,  and  Sussex,  and  northwards  to  the  Bristol  Channel, 
was  colonized  by  Belgic  settlers  from  Gaul ;  and  that  both  the  his- 
torians whom  I  have  quoted  say  that  the  Britons  of  these  parts  were 
like  the  Gauls ;  and  the  second  reason  is,  that  Caesar  expressly  tells 
us  that  Britain  was  the  head-quarters  of  Druidism,  and  that  the 
Gauls  went  over  to  Britain  to  learn  the  system  in  perfection ;  and 
also,  that  Druidism  was  believed  to  have  been  introduced  into  Gaul 
from  Britain.  Caesar's  account  of  Gaul,  then,  is  that  the  two  estates 
of  the  nation,  were  the  knights  or  milites,  and  the  Druids  or  priests  ; 
that  the  common  people  had  no  political  rights,  dared  not  to  do  any 
thing,  and  were  not  better  than  slaves.  The  Druids  were  the 
ministers  and  interpreters  of  religion,  were  also  judges  of  all  contro- 
versies both  public  and  private,  held  inquests  upon  murders  and 
robberies,  determined  disputes  concerning  boundaries  and  inheri- 
tances, and  what  is  remarkable,  enforced  their  decrees  by  interdicts 
as  severe  as  those  of  the  Roman  church  in  the  plenitude  of  its 
power — offenders  being  cut  off  from  the  ofiQces  of  religion  and  social 
intercourse,  being,  in  a  word,  excommunicate.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave 
is  struck  by  the  singular  parallel  of  these  institutions  of  the  Gauls 
of  Caesar's  day,  and  those  of  the  French  after  their  conquest  by 
Clovis  and  the  Franks.  For  here  we  have  the  milites  or  eguites, 
whose  only  business  was  war,  answering  to  the  feudal  nobility  of  the 
middle  ages ;  the  Druids,  exempt  from  taxes  and  military  service, 
and  the  sole  teachers  of  learning,  answering  to  the  clergy ;  and 
lastly,  we  have  the  tiers  etat,  powerless  and  without  political  rights 
of  any  kind,  and  oftentimes  (Caesar  tells  us)  so  ground  down  as  to 
sell  themselves  as  serfs  to  gain  a  subsistence. 

This  similitude  between  Gauls  and  Franks,  in  other  words  bs- 
tween  Celts  and  Teutons,  has  led  antiquaries  to  the  very  natural 
conclusion  that  both  races  sprang  from  one  primaeval  stock,  and  that 
Clovis  and  his  followers  took  possession  of  the  soil,  but  overturned 
not  the  institutions;  and  no  doubt  but  that  we  also  find  many  civil 
customs  of  our  Saxon  conquerors  cognate  with  those  of  the  ancient 
Britons. 


114  BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

I  must  next  venture  upon  a  subject  of  more  difficulty,  because 
we  have  no  cotemporary  writings  to  guide  us,  I  mean  the  tenure  of 
lands  by  the  British  EeguU  (or  kings),  by  their  free  tenants,  and 
also  by  their  bonds  or  villains.  For  the  little  information  which  I 
have  gleaned  on  this  subject  I  am  indebted  to  the  writings  of  Dr. 
Whitaker,  and  of  Sir  Francis  Palgrave  in  his  "  History  of  the  Eng- 
lish Commonwealth."  The  appropriation  of  land,  i.  e.  its  individual 
and  hereditary  ownership,  has  been  of  very  slow  and  gradual  devel- 
opment. The  German  tribes  had  neither  the  theory,  nor  the  practice 
of  it. 

The  magistrate  or  chief  of  each  tribe  lotted  out  (according  to 
Cciesar)  a  portion  of  the  land  to  each  member  of  the  tribe,  more  or 
less  of  it  according  to  his  rank  and  station — the  occupation  of  which 
lasted  through  the  year  only,  and  then  a  new  allotment  was  made. 
The  pride  of  each  tribe  consisted  in  being  encompassed  by  a 
large  tract  of  waste  land,  which  the  neighbouring  tribes  dared  not 
approach.  The  Suevi  had  a  girdle  of  500  miles  in  radius.  The 
sovereignty  of  the  land  was  not  in  the  king  or  magistrate,  but  in  the 
people,  in  the  community ;  the  Germans  cultivated  the  land  very 
little,  living  chiefly  on  milk  and  flesh  ;  they  had  no  towns,  but 
dwelt  in  huts,  separated  from  each  other.  In  this  extract  from 
Caesar  it  is  important  to  notice,  that  among  the  German  races,  (of 
whom  the  Saxons  were  one),  first,  that  the  ownership  of  the  soil  was 
in  the  community  or  people,  and  secondly,  that  it  was  subject  to 
surrender,  and  fresh  allotments  at  the  end  of  the  year ;  because  we 
shall  presently  see  that  like  customs  appertained  to  the  Celts,  as  well 
as  Teutons.  The  detailed  information  which  antiquaries  undertake 
to  give  us  of  the  tenures  of  the  ancient  Britons,  are  taken  from 
documents  of  the  Welsh,  called  the  Triads,  the  poetry  or  traditions 
of  the  bards,  and  chiefly  from  the  Welsh  laws  of  Hoel  the  Good. 
Dr.  Whitaker — concluding  that  the  customary  tenures  of  the  early 
Britons  in  their  original  seats  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  Welsh, 
amongst  whom  they  settled  when  driven  into  Wales  by  the  Saxons — 
pronounces  that  their  early  institutions  were  feudal  ;  that  they  held 
their  lands  by  heriots  and  fines,  and  by  such  military  tenures  as 
appear,  in  the  accounts  of  Dr.  Whitaker,  to  difter  very  little  from 
such  feudal  laws  as  are  usually  believed  to  have  originated  with  our 
Norman  conquerors.  Bat  when  we  consider  that  the  Welsh  laws 
of  Hoel  were  not  promulgated  till  five  hundred  years — more  or  less — 
after  the  discomfited  Britons'  occupation  of  Wales  and  Cumberland, 
we  might  entertain  a  doubt  whether  these  feudal  tenures  had  not 
formed  a  later  element  of  the  code  of  Hoel,  in  consequence  of  the 
gradual  march  of  feudality,  which  might  be  progressing  at  intervals, 
from  the  Britons'  flight,  to  a  time  closely  touching  upon  the  time  of 
the  Conqueror — as  indeed,  the  reign  of  Hoel  the  Good  did.  I  do 
not  doubt  the  correctness  of  the  account  of  Dr.  Whitaker,  but 
think  it  safe  that  we  should  test  it  by  induction,  raised  upon  a 
broader  and  more  comprehensive  view  of  customary  tenures  than 
he  has  given.  In  respect  of  the  main  feature  of  feudality,  i.e. 
of  lands  held  by  military  service,  a  quotation  given  us  by  Blackstone 


CONDITION  OF  THE  ANCIENT  BRITONS.  115 

from  Florus  the  Roman  historian,  will  indeed  support  Dr.  Whita- 
ker;  for,  when  the  Cimbri  broke  into  the  northern  parts  of  Italy, 
and  were  discomfited  by  Marius,  one  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  ?era,  Florus  says  that  "  they  desired  that  stipendiary 
lands  (i.e.  feuds)  might  be  allowed  them,  to  be  holden  by  mihtary  or 
other  personal  service,  whenever  their  lords  should  call  on  them." 
These  were  Germans  from  the  Cimbric  Chersonesus. 

Then  again,  if  the  dependency  of  the  vassal  on  his  lord  or  chief 
be  chosen  as  the  chief  characteristic  of  feudalism,  I  can  suppport 
Dr.  Whitaker,  by  quoting  an  observation  made  by  Tacitus  when 
recounting  in  detail  the  battle  fought  by  Agricola  with  the  Cale- 
donians, near  the  Grampian  mountains  ;  he  says,  when  describing 
their  war-chariots,  "  Auriga  erat  honestior,  sed  clientes  propugna- 
bant" — •*  the  driver  of  the  chariot  was  of  the  more  honourable 
rank,  but  the  vassals  were  the  fighting  men."  And  when  Caractacus 
passed  before  the  tribunal  of  the  Roman  emperor  in  a  pompous  and 
shameful  show — which  might  justly  have  transferred  the  name  of 
''barbarian"  from  the  fallen  king  to  his  insulting  master — we  read 
that  his  wife,  and  children,  and  clientelce  (or  vassals)  were  a  part  of 
the  revolting  show.  So  that  lordship  and  vassalage  were  undoubtedly 
part  of  the  customary  policy  of  the  Britons. 

I  mentioned  the  fitness  of  appealing  to  a  wider  induction  of 
facts  to  test  the  correctness  of  antiquaries  in  their  instruction  as  to 
the  customary  tenures.  Sir  Francis  Palgrave's  profound  researches 
will  enable  me  to  do  this.  He  has  given  us  a  statement  of  the 
tenures  of  the  Irish  tribes  which  afPords  us  the  comparison  we  are 
in  search  of,  because  Ireland  was  the  cradle  of  the  Gael  or  Scotch ; 
and  secondly,  because  when  the  Britons  of  the  south  were  driven 
out  by  the  Belgee  from  Gaul,  the  tradition  is  that  they  migrated  to 
Ireland ;  so  that  an  affinity  presents  itself  between  the  Britons  of 
the  south  and  the  settlers  in  Ireland.  That  I  may  not  disfigure  the 
record,  I  will  give  Sir  Francis  Palgrave's  account  in  his  own  words. 
•'A  Celtic  country"  (he  says)  *' was  inhabited  by  one  clan  or  kin- 
dred, governed  by  a  patriarchal  chieftain,  Ceancennith  or  Ceanfenne. 
He  was  the  head  of  the  lineage.  Among  the  clear  and  unmixed 
Irish,  each  sept  or  lineage  held  its  territory  according  to  a  custom 
which  has  been  miscalled  '  Gavelkind.'  No  Irishman  enjoyed  any 
landed  property — if  it  could  be  called  property — otherwise  than  by 
a  precarious  holding.  And,  though  lands  were  annexed  to  the 
chieftainship,  yet  the  chief  could  not  transmit  the  inheritance,  for 
his  heir  was  the  Tanaist,  named  by  the  voices  of  the  sept  or  clan, 
and  they  did  not  always  wait  for  the  death  of  the  chief,  before  they 
installed  his  successor.  The  lands  of  the  inferior  tenants  were 
liable  to  constant  changes ;  each  male  heir  was  entitled  to  an 
endowment  or  appointment,  but  all  the  partitions  were  effected  by 
the  Ceanfenne  or  chief 

"  On  the  death  of  any  individual  holding  land,  the  chief  assembled 
the  sept  or  clan,  and  made  a  new  partition  of  all  the  lands  among 
all  the  members :  every  individual  lost  his  possession,  and  received 
back  a  fresh  estate,  which  was  assigned  to  him  at  the  discretion  of 


116  BEDrORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

tlie  Ceanfenne ;  and  the  son  of  the  deceased  took  no  share  whatever 
as  the  heir  of  his  father,  for  it  was  only  by  claiming  in  the  capacity 
of  a  member  of  the  tribe  that  he  acquired  his  title  to  the  new 
allotment." 

The  facts  worthy  of  notice  here  are,  first,  the  strong  resem- 
blance of  the  customary  tenures  of  the  Celt  and  Teuton,  though 
these  are  usually  conceived  to  be  distinct  races.  Secondly,  that  the 
Celts  of  Ireland  acknowledged  no  allodial  or  freehold  possession, 
except  that  which  was  vested  in  the  head  of  the  lineage.  Thirdly, 
the  direct  ownership  or  unalienable  right  to  the  soil  was  vested  in 
the  community ;  and  fourthly,  its  repartition  among  all  the  tenants, 
which  took  place  upon  the  death  of  one  of  the  number.  I  have  drawn 
upon  the  patience  of  my  hearers  in  this  quotation,  that  I  might,  by 
comparisons  made,  test  the  accounts  w^hich  antiquaries  have  proposed 
to  us  of  tenures  among  the  primitive  Britons — and  you  will  now  see 
how  nearly  the  two  approximate  to  each  other. 

-Among  the  Welsh,  then,  who  were  identical  in  race,  and  localized 
with  the  British  tribes  who  retreated  there  from  the  Saxons,  the 
elementary  subdivision  of  the  land  was  the  tref,  or  hamlet,  appor- 
tioned to  a  sept  or  few  families ;  fifty  trefs  taken  as  an  aggregate 
were  divided  into  twelve  manors  or  townships. 

Out  of  each  aggregate  of  twelve,  six  manors  -were  apportioned  to 
the  king,  and  six  to  the  free  tenants  or  gentry — so  that  the  British 
king  w^as  a  holder  of  one  half  of  the  lands  of  the  tribe  or  lineage  ; 
accordingly  the  British  Reguli  were  immensely  wealthy,  Parasutagus 
the  husband  of  Boadicea  and  king  of  the  Iceni  is  so  recorded  by 
Tacitus. 

Dr.  Whitaker  tells  us  that  the  British  kings  w^ere  the  only 
holders  of  what  we  should  call  freehold,  or  allodial  land  ;  it  is  true 
that  they  had  two  independent  trefs,  one  for  pasture  the  other  for 
tillage ;  but  the  six  manors  I  speak  of  could  in  no  sense  be  called 
allodial,  for  what  was  their  character  ?  In  them  the  king's  bond- 
tenants,  or  villains,  had  an  inalienable  estate,  not  appropriate  to 
each,  but  vested  in  them  as  a  community ;  four  were  assigned  to 
the  use  of  the  bond-tenants,  but  subject  to  many  burdensome  services 
to  be  performed  to  the  king.  For  instance  (I  here  quote  Sir  F. 
Palgrave)  "  they  entertained  the  king's  guests,  and  his  huntsmen, 
they  tended  the  pasture,  and  reared  the  king's  horses  and  hounds ; 
they  supplied  the  provisions  required  for  his  rude  hospitality;  and 
in  addition  to  the  prsedial  labour  which  they  performed  for  him, 
they  contributed  to  the  defence  of  the  estate  by  furnishing  beasts  of 
burden  for  the  army,  and  constructing  huts  for  the  troops  when 
they  w^ere  in  the  field." 

But  though  the  seignory  of  the  villains'  estate  was  in  the  king, 
no  portion  of  it  could  revert  to  the  king  in  demesne,  neither  could 
the  portions  of  the  land  be  alienated  by  the  occupants ;  but  when 
any  one  bond-tenant  died,  the  whole  hamlet  or  tref  was  divided  in 
equal  shares  amongst  all  the  inhabitants  without  preference,  with 

(2)    See  Sir  JFraucis  Ffvlgrave'rf  English  Commonwealth. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  ANCIENT  BRITONS.  117 

the  exception  of  a  right,  ohscurely  intimated,  that  the  youngest  son 
should  be  placed  in  the  homestead  of  his  father. 

The  apportionment  was  made  by  the  king's  chancellor,  or  judge, 
to-  whose  use  a  fifth  manor  was  assigned.  And  a  sixth  was  given 
to  the  Maer,  who  decided  all  suits,  civil  and  criminal,  between  the 
villain  tenants,  whether  for  lands  or  blood-fines. 

A  rent  in  provisions  was  also  paid,  twice  in  the  year,  by  the 
bond  vassals  to  the  king. 

Six  townships,  then,  being  with  these  conditions  vested  in  the 
king  and  his  officers,  the  remaining  six  were  the  possessions  of  the 
free  tenants,  or  gentry.  They  also  paid  a  rent  in  provisions  or 
money  to  the  king,  but  were  free  from  the  burthen  of  hospitation. 
But  herein  they  differed  from  the  bond  tenants,  that  they  had  an 
hereditary  property  in  their  landsj  though  tied  to  a  definite  succes- 
sion ;  for  the  estate  at  death  was  partible  amongst  all  the  lineal 
male  heirs,  according  to  the  English  custom  of  Gavel-kind,  with 
this  remarkable  variation,  which  indicates  a  reminiscence  at  least  of 
the  antient  community  of  land,  viz.,  that  on  the  death  of  the  last 
survivor  of  a  family  of  brothers  all  the  male  grandchildren  could 
demand  a  second  partition  of  the  lands  of  their  forefather;  and  a 
third  land-shift  could  be  made  by  the  great-grandchildren,  on  the 
death  of  the  last  surviving  grandchild ;  after  which  no  farther  sub- 
division was  allowed. 

The  tenures  of  the  gentry  still  retained  a  feature  of  the  ancient 
community  of  land,  for  in  their  "  free  trefs  "  or  hamlets,  three  were 
cultivated,  and  the  fourth  which  completed  the  gavel  was  the  common 
pasture. 

I  fear  that  I  have  been  tedious  in  this  lengthened  narrative,  my 
excuse  must  be  that  I  know  no  other  basis  of  truth  than  carefulness 
of  research.  I  will  finish  with  a  few  conclusions  drawn  from  the 
above  statements.  First:  the  tenures  of  the  early  Britons  were 
obviously  in  a  transition  state  between  community  of  right  and 
freehold  property ;  and  this  is  probable,  for  nations  would  naturally 
move  forward  by  a  slower  or  quicker  march  towards  hereditary  and 
free  ownership. 

For  we  have  seen  that  with  the  pure  and  unmixed  Irish,  the 
communal  ownership  and  repartition  of  the  allotments  at  the  death 
of  each  member  or  clansman  was  universal,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
head  of  the  lineage. 

In  the  instance  of  the  Cymri  or  Welsh,  identified,  it  is  assumed, 
with  the  ancient  Britons,  w^e  see  the  custom  of  a  common  possession 
and  repartitioning  of  the  estate  at  death  confined  to  the  lands  of  the 
villains  or  bond  tenants ;  but  with  the  free  tenants  or  gentry,  the 
gavel  or  family  estate  devolved  on  all  the  sons ;  but  even  with  them 
the  law  would  not  abandon  altogether  the  antient  form  of  tenure, 
for  on  the  decease  of  the  last  surviving  brother  the  grandchildren 
could  demand  a  new  partition  of  the  whole ;  and  for  this  reason  I 
said  that  British  tenures  were  in  a  transition  state,  progressing 
towards  property  in  land. 

The  last  remark  with  which  I  will  detain  you  is,  the  strong 


118  BEDFOUDSHIKE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

evidence  which  these  tenures  derive  from  existing  customs  and  our 
legal  records.  The  right  of  common,  still  existing,  though  disap- 
pearing, is  identical  with  that  of  both  Celtic  and  Teuton  races,  the 
possessory  right,  namely,  vesting  in  the  township ;  the  usufruct  of 
the  pasture  vesting  both  in  the  lord,  and  in  the  members  of  the 
community. 

In  East  Kent,  by  the  law  of  gavel-kind,  when  the  father  dies 
intestate,  the  sons  possess  the  land  in  equal  shares ;  generally 
thought  to  be  a  Saxon  law,  but  we  have  seen  it  to  have  an  earlier 
parentage ;  indeed  gavel  is  no  more  than  the  British  word  gafol, 
and  the  law  of  gavel-kind  is,  in  plain  EngUsh,  no  other  than  the 
law  which  regulates  the  descent  of  the  family  estate — "  kind"  mean- 
ing here  kindred  or  family. 

Blackstone  also  mentions  "  Borough  English"  as  a  custom  by 
which  in  some  boroughs  in  England  the  homestead  devolves  upon 
the. youngest  son;  a  shade  of  this  appears  in  the  customs  of  the 
Britons,  and  it  is  manifest  among  the  Goths  of  Scandinavia. 

In  these  customs  of  tenure  and  descent  of  lands,  the  likeness, 
more  truly  the  identity  of  feature,  between  the  father  and  the  child, 
gives  a  credibility  to  the  British  custom  which  declares  itself  to  be 
the  parent ;  and  if  we  admit  the  claim  of  the  early  British  tenures 
as  just  in  the  quoted  instances,  corroboration  and  authenticity  are 
thereby  given  to  the  whole  system  of  which  these  customs  of  gavel 
kind  and  borough-English  form  but  a  part. 


ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 


OF    THE 


ARCHDEACONRY  OF  NORTHAMPTON. 


On  Colour  in  Building  Materials.  A  Paper  read  at  the  Autumnal 
Meeting  of  the  Architectural  Society  of  the  Archdeaconry  of 
Northampton,  October  21st,  1857.  By  George  Ayliffe 
Poole,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Welford.* 

I  HAVE  written  the  following  paper  under  the  impression  that 
architects  sometimes  fail  in  boldness  of  conception,  quite  as  much 
from  want  of  confidence  in  the  public  as  from  want  of  reliance  on 
their  own  powers.  If  they  could  venture  to  hope  that  their  patrons 
were  as  well  prepared  to  accept,  as  they  are  to  provide,  what  they 
confidently  believe  to  be  beauties ;  if  their  daring  was  secure  of 
applause  or,  at  least,  of  encouragement,  they  would,  perhaps,  oftener 
emerge  from  the  cold  mediocrity,  with  which  we  are  as  ready  to  tax 
them,  as  if  the  fault  were  none  of  it  our  own.  To  be  cramped  for 
means  is  an  impassable  barrier  to  magnificence ;  and  scarcely  less 
impassable  is  the  barrier  which  this  real  or  suspected  want  of 
sympathy  between  the  architect  and  the  public,  opposes  to  originality 
of  conception  and  piquancy  of  style.  Partly  in  consequence  of  this, 
our  architecture  is  avowedly  deficient  in  whatever  might  give  indi- 
viduality of  character  either  to  our  age  or  to  the  works  of  a  particular 
person.  Now  many  an  architect,  especially  a  young  architect,  fresh 
from  his  foreign  impressions,  must  feel  that  he  has,  in  the  colour 
of  his  materials,  a  source  of  beauty  which  has  been  but  little  emplo3'ed, 
and  over  which  he  has  at  least  some  mastery,  but  which  he  dare 
not  exert  beyond  certain  very  confined  limits,  for  want  of  confidence 
in  the  taste  of  the  age ;  and  if  this  is  really  the  case,  a  discussion 
of  the  subject  may  not  be  unprofitable.     It  is  one  of  the  uses  of 

(1)  The  following  Paper  was  read  last  year  also  at  the  joint  meeting  of  this  and  other 
Societies,  at  St.  Albans;  at  that  time  I  was  not  aware  that  one  on  the  same  subject,  by 
Mr.  Street,  was  already  printed  in  the  last  volume  of  our  associated  reports.  Of  course 
I  cannot  now  pretend  to  be  ignorant  of  what  Mr.  Street  has  said  on  the  subject;  but  I 
have  felt  it  better  to  make  no  allusion  to  it.  It  will,  I  think,  be  found  that,  as  in  almost 
all  such  cases,  we  support  the  conclusions,  without  trenching  disagreeably  on  the  premises 
of  each  other. 


120  NORTHAMPTON  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

such  meetings  as  the  present  to  bring  architects  and  their  judges 
en  rapjoort  of  each  other ;  to  prepare  the  pubUc  mind  to  accept  with 
favour  something  beyond  the  cold  repetition  of  what  is  ah'eady 
famihar ;  and  to  give  to  the  architect  at  his  desk  the  assurance  that 
the  world  is  prepared  to  believe  in  possible  beauties  which  either 
have  never  been  recognized,  or  have  been  confined  to  other  regions 
or  another  age. 

It  may  be  assumed  as  a  fact  that  in  the  use  of  building  materials 
of  divers  colours,  we  in  England  have  hitherto  been  far  behind 
other  countries.  Though  polychrome  of  another  kind  was  universally 
adopted  by  our  forefathers,  little  was  done  by  them  to  turn  to 
account  the  natural  tones  and  colours  of  the  various  products  of  the 
quarry.  For  this  I  may  suggest  one  or  two  reasons.  In  the  first 
place,  they  were  not  practically  in  possession  of  so  great  a  variety 
of  coloured  materials  as  we  are,  for  want  of  that  facility  of  transport 
which  now  brings  the  product  of  remote  places  comparatively  near. 
The  Serpentine  of  Cornwall  and  the  Yorkshire  Bramham  Moor, 
could  hardly,  without  more  perfect  means  of  communication,  have 
met  together  in  the  same  building.  But  besides  this,  I  doubt 
whether  they  had  that  nice  appreciation  of  tone,  as  distinct  from 
colour,  which  would  make  them  either  anxious  or  able  to  take  full 
advantage  of  the  natural  products  in  this  way.  They  dealt  in  every 
case  where  they  employed  polychrome  far  more  with  the  contrasts 
of  strongly  defined  colours,  than  with  the  more  subtle  gradations  of 
tints  and  tones  ;  and  we  can  hardly  speak  of  a  single  stone,  of  less 
value  than  a  gem,  as  of  any  positive  colour.  The  fact,  however,  is 
certain.  Our  forefathers  did  not  make  large  use  of  colours  in  their 
building  materials.  To  commence  with  Saxon  times:  we  may 
indeed  assume  that  the  intervals  between  the  long  and  short  stones, 
which  project  a  little  from  the  surface  of  the  masonry,  were  covered 
with  some  kind  of  cement ;  but  I  know  of  no  reason  to  infer  that  it 
was  applied  on  any  very  subtle  principle  of  colouring.  In  Norman 
buildings  of  a  high  order,  there  seems  to  be  absolutely  no  attention 
paid  to  the  subject;  and  in  smaller  buildings  it  seldom,  if  ever, 
extended  beyond  the  alternating  of  dark  and  light  arch  stones  in 
arcades  and  windows  ;2  and  this  generally  in  so  small  a  portion  of 
buildings  otherwise  uniform  or  at  least  not  consistently  varied,  that 
it  seems  rather  the  freak  of  some  playful  mason  in  his  own  part  of 
the  work  than  the  design  of  a  master  builder  for  the  decoration  of 
the  whole  fabric.  Sometimes,  indeed,  we  find  effects  which  we 
now  think  very  picturesque  arising  from  the  insertion  of  various 
coloured  stones,  especially  in  the  pillars  of  the  interior ;  but  so  far 
from  this  being  a  proof  of  intention  it  proves  the  very  reverse.  That 
unpremeditated  mixture  of  unlike  materials  which  we  accept  as 
picturesque,  we  should  repudiate  in  work  done  under  our  own  eyes, 
as  strongly  and  as  justly  as  we  should  some  piece  of  slovenly  masonry, 
threatening  to  fall  to  pieces  before  the  rest — another  fertile  source 
of  the  picturesque.     In  fact,  such  cases  only  prove  that  our  Norman 

(2)    As  for  instance  in  St.  Peter's  church,  Northampton. 


ON  COLOUR  IN  BUILDING  MATERIALS.  121 

ancestors  did  not  care  for  uniformity  of  colour  in  their  materials, 
because  they  brought  the  whole  surface  to  the  same  tone  by  plaster 
or  \Yhitewash ;  or  employed  it  when  thus  prepared  as  the  receptacle 
of  painting  properly  so  called. 

But  in  the  Early  English  period,  a  most  subtle  system  of 
decoration  is  based  on  a  duo  appreciation  of  the  importance  of 
colour  in  building  materials.  The  stone  fabric  is  relieved  \Yith 
shafts,  strings,  and  other  prominent  features  of  Purbeck,  or  some 
other  dark  marble,  brought  by  polish  to  the  highest  tone  that  it  will 
assume.  The  most  highly  artificial  use  of  this  kind  of  decoration 
with  which  I  am  acquahited  is  in  the  Galilee  of  Ely  cathedral. 
The  general  material  is  Barnack  Eag.  The  shafts  of  the  arcades 
are  of  Purbeck  marble,  and  the  same  material  is  inserted  behind 
the  open  sexfoils  in  the  spandrils  of  the  arches,  and  in  several  of 
the  hollows  of  the  mouldings,  while  the  carved  portions  are  some  of 
Roche  Abbey  stone,  and  some  of  Clunch.  We  can  only  wonder 
that  a  system  so  largely  adopted,  so  consistently  carried  out,  and  so 
very  effective,  was  dropped,  as  it  was  in  fact,  before  the  close  of  the 
next,  or  Geometrical  period. 

Again  we  find  in  the  Perpendicular  period  not  infrequent  use  of 
alternate  layers  of  stone  of  different  colours;  as  for  instance  in 
Winston  church,  one  of  the  very  latest  before  the  close  of  the  Gothic 
era :  and  in  one  case  at  least  I  can  refer  to  the  marked  contrast  of 
statues  of  white  stone,  inserted  in  the  dark  warm  Warwickshire  red 
sand  stone ;  this  is  near  the  top  of  the  tower  of  St.  Michael's  church, 
Coventry. 

Of  course  there  are  cases  without  end  where  a  different  stone 
is  used  for  windows  and  other  carved  portions,  in  districts  where  the 
native  material  is  not  adapted  to  such  a  use  ;  and  sometimes  there 
may  be  happy  effects  produced  by  this  and  the  like  means :  but  we 
must  distinguish  between  this  accidental  contrast  of  colours  and 
that  which  is  obviously  designed  for  its  own  sake ;  and,  with  this 
distinction  in  view,  I  think  we  shall  rather  wonder  at  the  neglect 
than  at  the  use  of  coloured  materials  in  all  our  ancient  buildings. 

I  have  already  alluded  to  an  exception  in  the  Early  English 
period.  There  is  another  exception  in  the  treatment  of  flint 
masonry.  Here  necessity  enforced  the  use  of  stone  for  coigns, 
pillars,  arches  and  all  dressings  (to  use  a  general  term) ;  and  the 
beautiful  Barnack,  or  some  other  light  warm  stone  being  very 
generally  employed,  the  contrast  between  this  and  the  dark  cold 
flint  could  not  but  suggest  so  simple  a  method  of  ornamentation. 
We  have,  then  in  the  flint  districts,  besides  the  necessary  use  of 
stone,  several  arrangements  obviously  adopted  for  ornament. 
Sometimes  the  flint  and  stone  are  set  in  alternate  squares,  like  those 
of  a  chess  board ;  sometimes  flat  stones  are  pierced  in  the  manner 
of  panels,  and  flints  are  placed  within  them,  which,  from  their 
darker  colour,  have  the  effect  of  making  the  stone  appear  like  panels 
in  relief. 

This  neglect  of  colour  in  building  materials,  as  a  means  of 
fa*chitectural  effect  (for  the  few  cases  I  haw  mentioned  are  clearly  the 

Q 


122  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

exceptions)  has  been  inherited  by  architects  nearly  to  the  present 
day ;  and  that  without  any  excuse  from  want  of  means,  since  the 
communication  between  different  parts  of  the  kingdom  has  become 
comparatively  easy.  We  have  in  the  several  natural  and  artificial 
building  materials  a  very  ample  range  both  of  colour  and  of  tone. 
For  instance,  in  stones,  from  the  white  of  Caen,^  or  Barnack,  or 
Edinburgh,  we  pass  through  a  long  gradation  of  greys,  some  cold 
and  some  warm,  to  the  black  slate  quarries  of  Westmorland  and 
North  Wales.  We  may  dwell,  if  we  please,  in  fairy  palaces  at  Bath, 
or  in  a  castle  of  Gnomes  at  Penrhyn.  In  yellow,  buff  and  warm 
browns,  of  numerous  shades  and  colours,  we  have  the  whole  series 
of  lime  stones  from  the  blue  lias  to  the  ocherous  brown,  tinged  with 
iron,  of  the  western  end  of  Northamptonshire.  Of  reds,  we  have 
almost  a  rose  colour  in  a  stone  of  which  I  do  not  know  the  name, 
sometimes  used  in  Glasgow ;  and  various  others,  including  the 
extremely  picturesque  but,  unhappil}^  very  perishable  sandstone. 
These,  except  some  of  the  greys,  are  all  warm  in  tone.  In  the 
colder  greens  and  blues  we  are,  as  far  as  I  know,  less  rich  ;  but  we 
should  probably  make  but  little  use  of  them  if  we  had  them. 

This  is  but  a  meagre  and  suggestive  list  of  stones.  In  marbles, 
without  going  beyond  our  own  coasts,  we  have  certainly  quite  as 
large  a  scale  of  colours  as  we  dare  use.  From  absolute  white  to 
perfect  black,  red,  yellow,  bluish  grey  and  Serpentine  for  green ; 
and,  besides,  there  is  often  a  great  variety  of  colours  in  the  same 
block. 

It  is  too  obvious  to  need  a  word  on  the  subject,  that  in  artificial 
materials — brick,  tile,  and  terra-cotta — we  may  have  any  colours  we 
please.  Admitting  these,  therefore,  among  his  materials,  the 
architect  need  be  limited  in  his  designs  by  no  paucity  of  colours. 
But  I  shall  speak  henceforward  only  of  stone  and  marble ;  although 
brick,  moulded  and  unmoulded,  and  used  with  or  without  stone, 
would  afford  materials  for  a  discussion  of  at  least  equal  interest,  and, 
since  the  removal  of  the  tax  upon  bricks,  of  singular  importance. 
I  shall  also  limit  myself  to  Gothic  buildings,  though,  of  course, 
much  which  is  said  will  apply  almost  equally  to  Cinque  Cento,  or 
any  mixed  style ;  and,  although  I  would  not  at  once  say  that  no 
work  of  great  dignity  ought  to  be  designed  in  materials  of  various 
colours,  yet  I  shall  have  in  my  eye  only  structures  of  moderate  pre- 
tensions :  the  mansion  or  the  parsonage,  and  not  the  palace ;  the 
country  church,  and  not  the  cathedral ;  the  town  hall  or  market 
place,  not  the  house  of  national  assembly. 

We  have  now,  therefore,  our  canvas  before  us  and  our  palette 
prepared.  Let  us  ponder  upon  some  of  the  conditions  under  which 
the  colours  are  to  be  applied. 

Of  course  we  assume,  for  argument's  sake,  that  the  architect  is 
unlimited  in  his  means  and  wholly  unchecked  in  their  application  ; 
that  he  has  the  whole  scale  of  colours  at  his  disposal,   and  is 


(3)    For  obvious,  practical,  and  liistorical  reasons,  I  speak  of  Caen  as  if  its  quarries 
were  our  own.   I  shall  mention  no  other  foreign  stones. 


ON  COLOUR  IN  BUILDING  MATEUIALS.  123 

encouraged  to  employ  them  to  the  utmost.  It  is  very  conceivable 
that  he  may,  on  good  grounds,  reject  every  stone  but  one.  Even 
here,  however,  he  is  not  quite  free,  as  a  painter,  to  choose  without 
circumspection.  There  is  one  point  at  least  which  is  fixed,  and  this 
will  regulate  his  choice.  His  background  is  already  laid  in  and 
cannot  be  repainted :  the  site  itself  requires  to  be  studied;  for  its 
prevailing  tone  must  give  value  to  his  composition.  It  is,  indeed, 
true  that  the  tones  of  nature  are  generally  so  happily  blended  that 
the  chance  of  a  fatal  mistake  is  not  very  great.  Any  really  good 
stone,  and  especially  the  stone  of  the  neighbourhood,  will  generally 
harmonise  well  enough  with  the  surrounding  scenery  ;  but  there  are 
some  exceptioDS.  For  instance,  the  slaty  rock,  of  which  the  beauti- 
ful Westmoreland  hills  are  formed,  supplies  the  building  material 
almost  exclusively  used  in  the  lake  district;  and  it  is  so  exceedingly 
cold  and  dark  in  tone,  that  the  outside  (I  have  especial  reason  to  say 
the  outside  only)  of  every  house  which  you  pass  seems  to  look  on 
you  with  a  chilling  frown.  Till  very  lately  there  was  hardly  a  warm 
bright  spot  of  man's  placing  in  that  glorious  scenery.  Terra  Cotta 
has,  however,  been  largely  introduced  about  Bowness ;  and  there  is 
also  not  far  from  that  place  a  still  happier  exception.  Let  me  set 
you  in  a  boat  at  Lowood,  and  row  you  up  to  Ambleside.  You  have 
already  been  chilled  with  the  succession  of  slaty  dwellings,  especially 
if  you  stopped  at  Kendal  on  your  way;  and  the  lake  reflects  no 
building  which  is  not  of  the  same  dull  colour.  But  we  turn  the  point 
of  a  rock  a  short  mile  northward,  and  from  a  bower  of  trees  in  the 
bosom  of  the  grey  hills  a  bright  spire  points  heavenward,  and  all — 
trees,  hills,  ancl  spire — are  repeated  in  an  unbroken  reflection 
against  another  heaven  in  the  bosom  of  Windermere.  There  may 
be  many  as  good  views  in  other  parts  of  this  lake,  and  on  other 
lakes,  but  all  except  this,  so  far  as  I  know,  want  this  little  touch  of 
cheerful  humanity ;  and  this  is  all  because  the  spire  of  Ambleside 
is  built  with  white  Lancaster  grit-stone.  This  one  example  is 
sufficient  to  show  the  importance  of  studying  harmony  (whether  the 
harmony  of  contrast  as  here,  or  of  analogy)  in  each  individual  case, 
between  the  building  and  the  scenery  by  which  it  is  surrounded. 

Another  question  occurs  about  the  use  of  local  materials. 
Ceteris  paribus^  the  nearest  material  at  hand  is  the  best,  and  I 
doubt  whether  any  one  excellence  in  a  foreign  stone  ought  to  be  set 
against  this  advantage.  When  two  or  three  colours  are  provided  by 
neighbouring  quarries,  of  course  it  will  be  so  much  the  better. 
There  is  a  sentiment  in  local  materials  which  cannot  be  brought 
from  afar :  as  there  is  also  another  sentiment  (chiefly  adapted  to 
works  of  great  importance)  in  foreign  materials  which  cannot  be  had 
on  the  spot.  There  may  be  a  pride  in  saying  that  these  pillars  are 
from  an  ancient  Greek  temple,  or  that  these  w^alls  are  from  the 
quarries  of  Caen ;  but  so  there  is  a  happy  feeling  with  which  one 
says — "  I  have  known  the  quarries  from  a  boy,  where  the  several 
kinds  of  stone  are  dug  which  form  so  harmonious  a  whole  in  some 
building  which  rises  above  the  trees  of  our  native  village." 

The  application  of  this  last  rule  to  proper  local  materials  will 


124  NOUTHAMPTON  AKCHITECTUEAL  SOCIETY. 

often  involve  another  very  Important  one — to  set  a  due  value  on 
Rubble  and  Rag,  so  as  to  be  willing  to  use  them  for  their  own  sake, 
and  not  merely  as  a  makeshift :  for  it  does  not  often  happen  that 
the  same  district  affords  several  kinds  of  stone  equally  capable  of 
being  wrought  into  good  ashlar;  but  with  or  without  the  use  of 
Rubble  we  shall  seldom  be  at  a  loss  for  local  materials. 

But  I  must  press  yet  farther  the  value  of  Paibble  and  Rag,  as 
giving  a  very  different  tone  to  materials  from  their  chiselled  surface. 
It  is  not,  however,  easy  to  describe  this.  I  shall,  therefore,  be 
content  to  add  that  the  rougher  kind  of  masonry  may  almost  always 
be  used  as  very  far  better  than  ashlar,  except  for  works  of  great  pre- 
tensions, where  it  would  be  wrong  to  seem  to  count  the  cost.  This 
is  one  of  the  many  cases  in  which  a  happy  use  of  the  nearest  means 
makes  beauty  easier  and  cheaper  than  deformity. 

Yet  a  little  longer  we  must  linger  over  the  homelier  portions  of 
our  discussion.  Unless  we  build  only  for  to-day  and  to-morrow,  the 
weathering  of  different  stones  must  be  of  great  importance  as  an 
element  of  colour.  This  is  extremely  different  in  different  stones 
and  in  different  kinds  of  masonry.  In  general  these  touches  of 
nature  are  very  pleasing,  but  there  is  one  slovenly-looking  green 
vegetable  slime,  of  which  I  do  not  know  the  botanical  name,  which 
should  prevent  the  stones  readily  affected  by  it  fiom  being  chosen 
for  the  lower  courses  of  masonry,  except  in  the  driest  possible  sites. 
Even  the  happiest  lichens  and  mosses  of  course  in  some  degree 
obscure  the  builder's  purpose  when  he  employs  different  tones  and 
colours.  But  on  a  rough  wall  some  plants  are  so  extremel}''  grace- 
ful, that  even  if  it  be  contrary  to  all  principle  to  solicit  their  growth, 
it  may  at  all  events  be  permitted  to  wish  for  it.  Every  one  knows 
how  cheerlld  an  aspect  the  Stone  Crop,  white  or  yellow,  gives  to 
many  a  rude  fabric,  and  how  happily  the  Geranium  luciditm,  or 
shining  Cranesbill,  varies  the  rugged  masonry.  It  is  to  the  Maiden- 
hair fern  and  the  Rock-brakes  that  the  walls  and  ruder  buildings  of 
our  mountain  districts  owe  a  beauty  which  is  denied  to  the  trim 
villa ;  and  even  the  cottage — not  the  "  cottage  of  gentility,"  but  the 
cottage  snug  and  not  unkempt,  which  tells  of  a  modest  and  graceful 
competence — is  wonderfully  superior,  with  its  autumnal  dress  of 
Virginian  Creeper,  to  the  ordinary  mansion  of  much  greater  pre- 
tensions. But  of  all  the  plants  I  know,  that  which  clothes  a  build- 
ing most  exquisitely  is  the  little  Antirrhinum  Cymhallaria,  or 
Ivy-leaved  Snap-dragon.  Stem,  leaf,  flower,  habit,  all  combine  to 
convert  it  into  the  most  charming  robe  that  Nature  ever  throws  over 
the  rude  work  of  man ;  and  yet  I  have  never  seen  it  specially  noticed 
either  by  picturist  or  architecturist. 

The  reverse  of  this  work  of  Nature  is  found  in  the  restorations 
which  she  renders  necessary;  and  the  more  necessary  the  more 
difficult  they  are  with  respect  to  colour.  Grievously  must  many  a 
venerable  minster  wince  under  the  Taliacotian  mallet  and  trowel. 
Not  only  is  a  fresh  bright  stone  often  thrust  into  the  time-sobered 
edifice,  but  of  necessity  this,  which  is  the  note  of  decay  as  well  as 
in  itself  a  deformity ,is  more  prominent  to  the  eye  than  all  around ; 


ON  COLOUR  IN  BUILDING  MATERIALS.  125 

or  perhaps  in  a  chevron  or  dog-tooth  moulding  one  or  two  "bran-new  " 
imitations  are  thrust  in  to  break  the  uniform  tone,  and  to  insult  the 
time-worn  edges  of  the  rest.  Now,  where  there  is  danger  to  the 
edifice,  or  even  seeming  danger,  this  lesser  evil  must  of  course  be 
braved ;  but  the  necessity  must  be  very  great  which  can  justify  this 
meddling  with  an  ancient  editice.  The  time  has  unhappily  gone 
by  when  the  true  course  might  have  been  pursued  with  our  old 
buildings — the  constant  supply  as  it  is  needed  of  any  defective 
portion.  Now,  if  we  repair  from  necessity,  such  reparation  as  I 
speak  of  is  generally  carried  farther  than  necessity  justifies  ;  if  for 
beauty,  we  artfully  defeat  our  own  purpose. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  the  combinations  of  tones  and  colours,  the 
greatest  contrast  will  be  most  striking ;  but  it  need  not,  therefore, 
be  the  best.  A  warm  white  and  a  cold  blue  black  would  produce 
the  most  marked,  but  not  the  most  pleasing,  effect.  Taken  as  a 
whole,  the  church  at  Ambleside,  of  which  I  have  already  mentioned 
the  spire  as  adding  so  much  to  the  landscape,  is,  I  think,  defective 
here.  There  is  something  wanting  to  harmonise  the  white  and 
smooth  dressings  with  the  almost  black  slate  walls  ;  and  the  spire 
wants  a  httle  of  the  darker  material  introduced  into  it,  to  give  it  an 
appearance  of  repose  upon  the  tower.  The  contrast  should  generally 
perhaps  be  a  little  less  startling;  or  the  management  should  be 
very  careful. 

As  in  nature  and  in  painting,  so  also  in  buildings,  dark  and  cold 
tones  love  retirement ;  and  relief  will  be  best  gained  by  light  and 
warm  ones.  We  have  already  seen  that  the  Early  English  system 
of  colour,  so  perfect  in  many  respects,  died  out  rapidly  in  the  next 
age.  May  I  suggest  that  it  was  because  this,  which  I  think  the  eye 
feels  to  be  a  law  of  nature,  was  broken  ?  Black  pillars  and  arches 
stood  before  light  walls.  I  wish  that,  at  least  in  some  cases,  when 
a  darker  stone  was  used,  it  had  occurred  to  employ  white,  or  nearly 
white,  marble.  Indeed,  even  when  the  stone  was  light,  a  white 
marble  would  have  been  a  sufficient  relief:  which  suggests  another 
rule,  that  light  may  be  combined  with  light,  and  warm  with  warm, 
taking  here  the  harmony  of  analogy ;  but  not  dark  with  dark,  or 
cold  with  cold.  There  is  a  positive  value  and  beauty  in  the  light 
w'arm  tones  which  will  bear  to  be  repeated  ;  whereas  the  beauty  of 
the  dark  and  cold  tones  is  relative,  and  they  are  accepted  for  the 
value  which  they  give  to  their  opposites. 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  of  a  combination  of  two  colours  only ; 
but  it  is  quite  open  to  the  architect  to  employ  as  many  as  he  can 
use  with  success.  St.  John's  church,  Leicester,  is  a  very  successful 
example  of  the  use  of  four  different  coloured  stones.  Bands  of 
Mountsorrel  granite,  which  is  of  a  rich,  reddish  brown,  of  three 
feet  in  depth,  are  separated  by  narrow  courses  of  Wengerworth 
freestone,  of  a  greenish  hue.  The  dressings  of  the  window  tracery 
are  of  Bath  stone;  and  the  spire  is  red  sandstone  from  Kenilworth, 
intermixed,  so  as  to  form  a  pattern,  with  Bath  stone.  Four  different 
counties,  Leicester,  Somerset,  Warwick,  and  Derby,  are  subsidised 
lor  one  building ;  the  staple  material  being,  as  it  should  be,  that  of 


126  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Leicester.  I  wish  the  recently  discovered  veins  of  alabaster  near 
Leicester  had  been  quarried  in  time  to  furnish  another  material. 

Indeed,  the  use  of  marble  has  been  strangely  neglected  hitherto 
in  England ;  perhaps  because  a  very  vicious  use  of  it  abroad  may 
have  given  the  English  eye  a  distate  to  it.  It  is  used  in  Italy  as  a 
veneering  of  stone  and  brick  buildings,  and  that  with  a  singular 
contempt  for  the  construction,  which  it  hides  rather  than  adorns. 
And  here  we  arrive  at  a  very  essential  rule  for  those  who  w^ould  make  a 
happy  use  of  colour  in  building  materials — that  they  be  so  employed 
as  to  mark  the  construction.  The  glaring  black  and  white  of  our  old 
timber-frame  houses  never  fails  to  give  pleasure,  though  we  should 
expect  a  far  different  result ;  and  it  is,  perhaps,  chiefly  because  the 
colour  so  distinctly  marks  the  construction.  It  tells  us  luhy  and 
hoiv  they  stand,  and  very  often,  too,  why  and  how  they  get  warped 
and  twisted.  Still  here  is  honest  outspokenness,  and  we  delight  in 
it.  On  the  other  hand,  the  flint  masonry,  relieved  with  mock  panels 
of  stone,  suggesting  a  construction  which  does  not  exist,  is  rather 
tolerated  where  it  is  than  drawn  into  example. 

The  alternate  courses  of  stones  of  different  colours  introduced 
somewhat  freely  in  the  Perpendicular  style,  and  among  the  uses  of 
coloured  materials  revived  of  late,  scarcely  comes  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  a  constructive  adaptation ;  and  though  I  do  not  condemn 
it  positively  (on  the  contrary,  the  effect  is  often  very  good),  yet 
certainly  I  think  we  should  aim  at  something  higher,  by  which  it 
may  be  superseded.  And  we  have  an  admirable  opportunity  to  do 
this  in  Gothic  architecture,  where  the  arch  construction  is  so 
apparent,  and  found  in  so  great  variety  of  forms  and  situations ; 
while  at  the  same  time  it  is  far  more  beautiful  as  a  form  at  least, 
whether  or  no  in  its  statical  conditions,  than  the  vertical  and 
horizontal  framework  of  what  may  be  adequately  described  as  the 
gaUoics  construction,  of  the  backwoodsman's  hut  and  of  the  Grecian 
orders.  And  of  the  Gothic  styles  (here  including  Norman)  that  will 
be  the  most  fitted  for  the  display  of  coloured  materials,  in  which 
the  decorations  partake  most  of  the  arch  form ;  in  which,  in  short, 
the  decorations  themselves  have  a  constructive  character.  Such  are 
the  decorative  arcadings  of  the  Norman,  Transition,  Early  English, 
and  the  earlier  Geometric  styles.  Nor  do  I  think  it  possible  to 
deny  that,  setting  aside  colour  and  any  conceivable  use  of  it,  these 
are  infinitely  the  most  effective  decorations ;  and  especially  that  to 
the  panelling  of  the  Perpendicular  they  are  beyond  measure  to  be 
preferred.  Still  I  would  not  advocate  a  return  to  Norman  or  Early 
English,  though,  as  a  picturist,  I  wish  I  could  say  that  I  thought 
it  wise  to  reproduce  the  former :  but  to  the  Geometrical — with  such 
a  use  of  arcading  as  would  probably  have  been  retained,  had  the 
Early  English  system  of  colour  been  still  farther  matured — we  may 
very  well  return ;  indeed,  we  cannot  possibly  return  to  anything 
better. 

Again,  those  buildings  are  best  suited  to  the  display  of  colour 
in  which  the  arch  appears  under  most  varying  circumstances :  and 
if  one  wanted  an  opportunity  to  put  forth  one's  powers,  it  would 


ON  COLOUR  IN  BUILDING  MATERIALS.  127 

perhaps  be  in  some  town  hall  or  market  place,  or  in  a  college  or 
hospital,  where  we  might  make  great  use  of  colours  in  cloistral 
covered  ways  ;  not  managed  as  cloisters  in  England  usually  were,  as 
additions  to  a  quadrangle,  but  with  the  walls  of  the  building  itself 
raised  over  the  cloister.  The  upper  part  of  the  elevation  would,  of 
course,  admit  arcading,  together  with  windows  and  niches,  and  very 
great  opportunity  would  be  gained  of  introducing  colour.  Arches  of 
construction,  too,  especially  a  circular  arch  spanning  two  pointed 
arches  in  windows  or  arcades,  would  be  very  effective,  and  afford 
great  variety. 

The  regard  for  construction  which  I  have  advocated  would  perhaps 
tend  to  introduce  marble  more  frequently,  because  it  gives  a  value 
to  each  colour  in  some  degree  distinct  from  the  quantity  employed, 
and  accounts  for  the  more  or  less,  without  reference  to  cost.  We 
might  ask  in  vain  for  a  church  or  a  market  house  of  marble,  or  even 
with  all  the  dressings  of  marble  ;  but  if  we  suggested  that  the  shafts 
of  an  ornamental  arcade,  or  a  course  added  archwise  over  the  drip- 
stones of  the  windows  might  be  of  marble,  or  that  a  course  of  darkish 
grey  might  be  carried  beneath,  or  of  light  marble  above,  the  string 
course,  we  should  be  listened  to  if  we  could  prove  that  the  effect 
would  be  good.  And  it  is  worth  considering,  that  if  we  could  prevail 
to  add  marble  to  our  coloured  materials,  we  should  gain,  not  only 
so  many  colours  and  tones,  but  all  those  colours  and  tones  with 
another,  and  a  new  element  superadded ;  for  polished  marble  has 
not  only  its  own  colour,  but  it  also  reflects  the  colours  around  it, 
those  of  the  sky  especially,  and  has  moreover  points  of  actual 
resplendence. 

And  now  to  make  a  practical,  and  I  hope  it  may  seem  a 
practicable,  suggestion.  Why  is  there  not  in  several  accessible 
places  a  series  of  specimens  of  the  stones  and  marbles  found  in 
England,  and  used,  or  promising  to  be  used,  with  advantage  in 
building  ?  A  little  polished  cube  of  marble,  and  a  chiselled  cube  of 
each  variety  of  stone,  together  with  a  fragment  unchiselled  to  show 
the  character  of  the  fracture,  when  used  as  rubble,  might  be  accom- 
panied with  notes  of  the  places  where  they  are  found,  together  with 
the  traces  which  time  and  vegetation  usually  leave  on  the  surface. 
A  series  of  cases  comprising  every  English  variety  might  be  preserved 
at  the  London  Architectural  Museum ;  and  each  architectural 
society,  or  the  geological  collection,  or  Mechanics'  Institute,  in  each 
county  town,  might  have  one  embracing  all  the  stones  and  marbles 
found  or  generally  used  in  the  county. 

Fairly  carried  out,  with  the  united  efforts  of  the  owners  of 
quarries,  and  of  practical  men,  such  a  collection,  with  the  various 
notes  upon  it,  which  would,  of  course,  accompany  each  specimen 
(though  I  limit  myself  here  to  those  relating  to  colour),  would 
supersede  the  future  necessity  of  commissions  to  test  the  properties 
of  the  stone  of  different  localities,  which,  if  the  popular  judgment 
decide  correctly,  was  not  very  profitably  conducted  before  the  erection 
of  the  new  Houses  of  Parliament. 

I  have  been  requested  to  add,  as  a  conclusion  to  my  paper,  some 


128  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

more  general  remarks  on  colour  in  architecture  which  may  afford 
questions  for  discussion  during  the  meeting.  I  hope  I  have  not 
seemed,  I  am  sure  I  have  not  felt,  positive  and  dogmatic,  hitherto; 
nor  do  I  know  how  I  can  say  anything  more  open  to  discussion  than 
that  which  I  have  already  said.  However,  I  may  perhaps  he 
touching  on  a  point  generally  felt  to  be  one  in  controversy  when  I 
allude  to  the  use  of  plaster  and  cement,  and  all  other  artificial 
coatings  of  colour.  Of  these  I  would  submit  that  we  may  make 
free  and  legitimate  use,  always  in  the  interior,  and  sometimes  on  the 
exterior,  with  this  limitation — that  they  must  not  be  scored  as  if  in 
courses  of  masonry,  or  be  made  to  imitate  or  even  to  suggest 
anything  v;hich  they  are  not.  In  the  interior,  indeed,  it  is  obvious 
that  we  must  often  employ  some  such  finish.  And  here,  commencing 
with  the  lustrous  white  of  Parian  cement,  we  may  have  any  colour 
we  please,  subject  only  to  the  general  requirements  of  good  taste. 
Let  me  suggest,  too,  a  more  frequent  use  of  colour  on  the  exterior 
of  some  classes  of  our  buildings.  I  wish  that  in  the  irregular  streets 
of  old  towns,  people  would  not  be  afraid  of  painting  the  whole  fronts 
of  their  houses  of  some  gay  light  colour,  each  house  being  different 
from  its  neighbour.  This  would  certainly  add  to  the  cheerfulness  of  a 
town  and  its  inhabitants,  and  a  little  money  laid  out  in  this 
commodity  would  be  profitably  invested. 

It  is  quite  beside  the  purpose  of  this  paper  even  to  notice  what 
may  be  called  ornamental,  rather  than  structural  polychrome.  But 
I  shall  be  glad  to  sacrifice  the  unity  of  design  which  I  certainly 
proposed  to  myself,  if  it  will  elicit  from  any  one  a  strong  condem- 
nation of  a  return  to  the  mediaeval  use  of  colour  in  this  branch  of 
architectural  decoration.  Screens  and  roofs  and  the  like  painted  in 
strongly  contrasted  colours,  green  and  red,  blue  and  gold,  can  never 
satisfy  the  eye,  which  is  perforce  in  some  degree  cultivated,  by  the 
happier  use  of  tone  and  gradations  of  colours  now  employed  in  every 
branch  of  manufacture  at  all  connected  v.-itli  art.  What  a  Coventry 
weaver  would  condemn  in  a  ribbon,  and  a  Paisley  manufacturer  in 
a  shawl ;  what  the  paper  stainer  and  the  sign  painter  would  reserve 
for  the  very  lowest  of  his  customers  ;  what  would  never  be  admitted 
in  crockery,  except  among  the  Corydons  and  Daphnes,  who  still 
keep  their  sheep,  with  gold  strings  round  their  necks,  upon  cottage 
chimne}^  pieces,  can  never  be  really  worthy  to  be  restored  as  a  part 
of  a  revival  of  art,  whether  Gothic  or  classical. 

I  shall  detain  you  with  one  other  suggestion,  and  that  upon  a 
subject  of  considerable  importance  at  present — the  value  of  glass 
as  a  source  of  colour  when  employed  as  a  building  material.  Glass 
is  already  sufficiently  appreciated  as  the  very  substance  of  certain 
forms  of  building,  from  economical  and  other  purely  practical 
considerations.  I  venture  to  prophecy  that  it  will  one  day  be 
valued  as  roofing  for  its  colour,  both  interior  and  exterior.  Without 
the  gilded  domes  and  minarets  of  the  East,  or  even  the  less 
ambitious  tin  roofs  of  the  Far  West,  we  have  nothing  sparkling, 
amid  the  mass  of  chimneys  and  parapets,  and  piles  of  slate  and  tile 
in  our  towns.     Nor  is  it  desirable  that  we  should  have  too  much : 


V     ^v^H '-e-^'MV/) 


€m^\t  %mtL 


-  V\ 


€m^\t  %x\m. 


TEMPLE  BRUER.  129 

but  here  and  there  a  large  dome  reflecting  the  tones,  and  even  the 
lustre  of  the  sky,  would  be  very  picturesque ;  and,  for  the  interior, 
if  it  were  made  the  only  source  of  light,  it  would  be  very  valuable 
under  certain  conditions.  I  must,  however,  make  it  quite  clear 
what  glass  I  mean :  not  the  ordinary  transparent  flat  glass,  such  as 
was  used  in  the  G  reat  Exhibition,  and  since  at  Manchester ;  but 
glass  with  a  waved  surface,  transmitting  the  light  broken,  but  nearly 
undiminished:  so  thick  and  corrugated,  in  fact,  as  to  do  away  with 
the  necessity  of  an  awning.  The  result  of  this  would  be  a  mild, 
equable,  almost  shadowless,  pearly  lustre,  such  as  might  be  desired 
for  the  exhibition  of  paintings  and  statuary,  and  for  some  few  other 
purposes.  There  would  be  many  mechanical  advantages  in  such  a 
dome,  over  any  more  ordinary  building  materials,  and  if  there  were 
an  adequate  purpose  for  it  (for  otherwise  it  would  be  mere  affectation) 
I  should  much  like  to  see  such  an  one  erected. 


Temple  Bmer.  A  Paper  read  at  the  Lincoln  Meeting,  May  27th, 
1857.  By  the  Hev.  Edwaed  Tbollope,  F.S.A.,  Rector  of 
Leasingham. 

The  famous  semi-religious,  semi-military  order  of  the  Templars  was 
founded  a.d.  1118,  during  the  period  of  the  first  crusade,  and 
consisted  originally  of  nine  French  knights,  whose  object  was  to 
protect  all  pilgrims  on  their  way  to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem. 
At  first  its  members  voluntarily  lived  in  a  condition  of  the  strictest 
poverty,  depending  for  their  subsistence  solely  upon  the  alms  of  the 
faithful,  and  were  termed  "  Poor  Knights  " — a  condition  referred  to 
by  one  of  their  seals,  .nn  which  two  knights  were  pourtrayed  ridinc^ 
upon  one  horse.  Baldwin  II.  assigned  to  them  a  portion  of  his 
palace  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  the  abbot  of  the  adjoining  convent  of  the 
Temple  afforded  further  accommodation  for  their  use,  whence  they 
derived  their  appellation  of  "  Templars."  In  1128  they  assumed  a 
white  mantle  as  their  distinctive  habit,  with  the  sanction  of  Pope 
Honorius  II. ;  to  which  a  red  cross  on  the  left  breast  was  added  by 
the  direction  of  Eugenius  III.  in  1166,  when  they  also  began  to 
bear  the  same  emblem  on  their  banners.  This  was  shortly  after  a 
more  strictly  religious  element  had  been  infused  into  the  Order  by 
a  bull  of  Pope  Alexander  III.,  in  1163,  who  then  permitted  the 
admission  of  spiritual  members  into  this  society,  termed  "  chaplains;" 
after  which,  if  not  before,  it  began  to  observe  the  rule  of  the  canons 
regular  of  St.  Austin.  The  fame  of  the  Templars,  and  their  feats 
of  arms  in  the  Holy  Land,  now  soon  became  so  brilliant,  that  not 
only  many  scions  of  the  noblest  houses  of  France  and  England 
flocked  to  their  standard,  but  multitudes  of  a  lower  grade  so 
earnestly  begged  to  be  enrolled  as  humble  members  of  the  society 
that  a  third  class  was  added  to  it,  acting  as  servitors  to  the  knights ; 
whilst  offerings  were  poured  into  its  treasury,  and  many  broad  lands 

s 


130  NORTHAMPTON  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

were  made  over  to  its  use  in  various  parts  of  Europe,  so  extensively, 
that  it  soon  became  as  celebrated  for  its  wealth  as  it  had  been  at 
first  remarkable  for  its  poverty.  The  society  was  governed  by  a 
Grand  Master,  aided  by  other  officers  resident  in  Palestine,  until 
A.D.  1192,  and  afterwards  in  Cyprus,  and  by  Grand  Preceptors  in 
other  countries,  each  of  which  were  termed  a  Province  of  the  Order. 
The  Templars  first  obtained  a  footing  in  England  in  the  early  part 
of  Stephen's  reign,  at  a  spot  termed  "  The  Old  Temple,"  very  near 
the  present  Southampton-buildings  in  London;  but  removed  to 
another  site  a.d.  1185,  yet  celebrated  for  that  beautiful  circular 
church  once  connected  with  this  Order,  and  still  retaining  its 
ajopellation,  viz.,  "  The  Temple  Church." 

The  wealth  of  the  society,  however,  at  length  having  led  to  much 
corruption  of  character  on  the  part  of  many  of  its  members,  it  began 
to  be  viewed  with  a  jealous,  and  finally  with  a  hostile  eye,  as  well 
by  the  nobles  as  by  the  monarchs  of  France  and  England ;  so  that, 
all  sorts  of  exaggerated  accusations  having  been  brought  against  it, 
whereby  it  was  attempted  to  be  shown  that  its  further  existence  was 
dangerous  to  those  nations,  Philip  IV.  of  France,  Sept.  12,  1307, 
arrested  every  Templar  in  his  dominions,  and  threw  them  into 
prison,  whence  he  brought  them  out  for  trial  at  intervals  during 
the  four  following  years  with  the  sanction  of  the  Pope,  when  fifty- 
four  knights  were  sentenced  to  be  burnt,  and  their  whole  property 
was  confiscated.  At  the  same  time  Edward  II.  exercised  nearly  the 
same  degree  of  severity  towards  the  Templars  established  in  England, 
who  both  imprisoned  their  persons,  and  seized  their  estates,  although 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  put  any  of  them  to  death ;  and  on  March 
the  22nd,  1312,  Clement  V.  abolished  this  society  altogether,  when 
it  was  found  to  be  possessed  of  9000  manors  and  16,000  lordships, 
besides  other  lands,  situated  in  various  parts  of  Christendom.  After 
an  interval  of  some  years,  Edward  II.  a.d.  1324,  made  a  grant  of 
the  whole  property  possessed  by  the  Templars  to  another  similar 
society,  termed  the  "  Knights  Hospitallers,"  whose  origin  it  will 
now  be  necessary  to  refer  to. 

Certain  traders  of  Amalfi  having  obtained  leave  of  the  Caliph  of 
Egypt  to  build  a  church  and  monastery  for  the  Latins,  near  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  dedicated  the  establishment  to  St. 
Mary  of  the  Latins,  and  committed  to  its  inmates  the  care  of  the 
sick  and  poor  pilgrims  then  resorting  in  such  numbers  to  that 
sacred  city ;  to  which  was  shortly  added  an  hospital,  or  reception- 
house,  together  with  a  chapel,  dedicated  to  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
erected  with  the  proceeds  of  the  offerings  and  gifts  of  more  wealthy 
pilgrims  made  to  the  original  establishment.  But  it  was  not  until 
the  Christians  became  masters  of  Jerusalem  that  the  Hospitallers 
(or  guest-receivers)  formed  themselves  into  a  distinct  society;  at 
which  time  (a.d.  1099)  Gerard  and  others,  who  then  were  the 
curators  of  the  sick  and  of  this  hospital,  took  a  vow  that  they  would 
perpetually  defend  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  wage  war  against  the  infidel, 
and  observe  the  rule  of  St.  Austin  ;  when  they  also  began  to  assume 
a  white  cross,  which  they  wore  on  their  breasts  as  the  badge  of  their 


TEMPLE  BUUER.  131 

new  order.  Afterwards  thej  were  termed  Knights  of  the  Hospital, 
Hospitallers,  or  Knights  of  St.  John,  from  the  patron  saint ;  and  in 
1154  they  procured  a  bull  in  their  favour  from  Anastasius  IV.,  the 
predecessor  of  that  distinguished  and  sole  T3ritish  pontiff,  Adrian  IV., 
whereby  they  were  exempted  from  the  payment  of  tithes  on  all  their 
lands,  wherever  situated,  on  consideration  of  their  having  been 
bequeathed  to  them  for  the  support  of  the  pilgrims  and  the  poor; 
and  by  the  same  bull  Anastasius  forbade  all  bishops  to  publish 
interdicts,  suspensions,  or  excommunications  in  any  of  the  churches 
belonging  to  their  Order;  allowed  them  to  have  divine  service 
performed  in  their  churches  wdth  the  doors  shut,  even  in  places 
that  were  under  a  general  interdict ;  to  receive  priests  and  clerks  to 
officiate  in  their  churches  from  what  diocese  soever  they  came,  and 
to  keep  them  even  without  the  consent  of  their  respective  bishops, 
as  being  subject  to  none  so  long  as  they  continued  with  them,  but 
to  their  chapter  and  to  the  apostolic  see  ;  to  have  their  churches  and 
altars  consecrated;  their  clerks  ordained,  and  the  sacraments 
administered  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese,  if  he  should  be  willing  to 
perform  those  functions  without  fee  or  reward,  but  if  he  required 
the  least  acknowledgment,  to  employ,  by  the  authority  of  apostolic 
see,  what  other  bishops  they  should  think  fit;  and,  lastly,  he 
confirmed  to  them  all  the  lordships,  lands,  and  territories  they 
possessed  or  ever  should  acquire  on  either  side  of  the  sea,  in  Asia 
or  in  Europe,  but  forbade  the  knights,  after  they  had  taken  the 
cross  and  made  their  profession,  to  return  to  the  world,  or  even  to 
embrace  any  other  religious  institution  under  colour  of  leading  a 
more  regular  life.  Raymond  de  Podio  was  at  this  time  Grand  Prior 
of  the  Order ;  but  he  and  his  knights  appear  to  have  so  presumed 
upon  these  extraordinary  marks  of  the  Papal  favour,  that  only  two 
years  afterwards,  viz.,  in  1156,  when  Adrian  had  succeeded  to  the 
Papal  chair,  Pulcher,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  attended  by  six  bishops, 
went  to  Rome  in  person,  although  nearly  100  years  of  age,  for  the 
purpose  of  pouring  out  a  series  of  bitter  complaints  against  the 
Hospitallers,  wherein  he  accused  them  of  having  abused  the  Papal 
privileges,  insulted  him  and  his  bishops,  and  engrossed  all  the 
benefactions  of  the  faithful ;  so  that  they  besought  him  to  rescind, 
or  at  least  to  modify,  the  bull  of  his  predecessor.  Pulcher,  however, 
does  not  appear  to  have  obtained  his  request,  although  the  subject 
was  discussed  in  council  for  several  days ;  and  it  is  curious  to  find 
that  Temple  Bruer,  amongst  other  old  possessions  of  the  Hospital- 
lers, after  the  lapse  of  so  many  centuries  and  the  occurrence  of  great 
religious  and  political  changes,  still  remains  exempt  from  the 
payment  of  tythe,  and  from  episcopal  jurisdiction,  as  being  extra 
parochial. 

After  the  expulsion  of  the  Chiistians  from  Palestine,  the  Knights 
retreated  to  Cyprus,  but  succeeding  in  conquering  the  island  of 
Rhodes  from  the  Turks,  they  then  established  themselves  there  so 
firmly  that  no  Sultan  for  a  long  period  was  able  to  dispossess  them 
of  their  spoil ;  until,  at  length,  a.d.  1522,  Solyman  II.  advanced 
in  person  against  the  island  with  an  immense  force,  and  after  a 


133  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

siege  of  six  months  obliged  its  brave  defenders  to  capitulate.  And 
now  they  were  in  great  danger  of  extermination,  as  most  of  the 
princes  of  Europe,  when  they  heard  of  the  fall  of  Rhodes,  were  on 
the  point  of  seizing  the  Hospitallers'  lands  in  their  respective 
dominions  ;  but  this  blow  was  averted  by  a  hurried  visit  of  the  then 
Grand  Master,  L'Isle  Adam,  to  the  principal  courts  of  Europe,  who, 
by  his  urgent  appeals,  not  only  saved  the  property  of  the  Order, 
but  obtained  an  asjdum  from  the  Emperor,  Charles  V.  for  the 
Knights,  who  conceded  to  them  Malta,  which  was  to  be  held  by  the 
tenure  of  an  annual  presentation  of  a  falcon.  L'Isle  Adam  and 
the  Hospitallers  took  possession  of  their  new  rocky  home  in  1530, 
after  which  they  were  commonly  called  the  Knights  of  Malta,  and 
immediately  began  both  to  fortify  the  island,  and  to  import  earth 
from  Sicily  to  lay  upon  its  stony  surface,  and  take  other  measures 
to  render  it  productive ;  so  that,  under  their  nurturing  care,  some 
cereal  produce,  the  vine,  the  orange,  and  other  fruits,  &c.,  quickly 
sprang  up.  But  war  against  their  old  infidel  enemy  was  still  their 
chief  occupation.  From  this  strong  and  beautiful  retreat,  their 
galleys  continually  swept  the  sea  in  quest  of  Turkish  spoil,  nor  did 
they  often  return  into  port  without  a  captured  Turkish  vessel  in 
tow,  or  Turkish  property  in  their  possession. 

Roused  by  such  repeated  injuries,  and  especially  by  the  capture 
of  a  ship  of  20  guns,  richly  laden,  belonging  to  one  of  his  chief 
officers,  Solyman,  who  still  reigned,  raised  a  force  of  30,000  men, 
which  he  despatched  in  one  hundred  and  eighty  galleys  under  the 
command  of  Mustapha,  one  of  his  best  generals,  to  Malta,  with  the 
intention  of  driving  out  the  Knights  from  that  island,  as  he  had 
done  from  Rhodes.  The  fleet  arrived  off  Malta,  May  18th,  a.d. 
1565;  and  then  followed  that  celebrated  siege,  so  well  known  in  the 
annals  of  history,  and  so  amply  described  by  many  authors,  especially 
by  Prescott  (of  late)  in  his  History  of  Philip  II.,  that  it  would  be 
presumptuous  in  another  to  touch  upon  the  subject.  Then  it  was 
that  Jean  Parisot  de  la  Valette,  the  most  famous  Grand  Master, 
after  the  loss  of  the  fortress  of  St.  Elmo — in  the  capture  of  which 
eight  thousand  Moslem  troops  fell — caused  Mustapha  their  com- 
mander to  exclaim,  "  what  will  not  the  parent  cost,  when  the  child 
has  cost  me  so  dear  ?"  This  hero,  after  the  exhibition  of  feats  of 
prowess,  rarely  if  ever  surpassed,  at  length,  when  the  siege  was 
beginning  to  assume  a  more  favourable  aspect,  received  the  succour 
of  eleven  thousand  men  sent  by  the  Emperor  to  his  relief,  under 
Don  Garcia  de  Toledo ;  and  after  one  more  stmggle  in  the  open 
field,  wherein  Mustapha  was  twice  imhorsed  and  nearly  taken 
prisoner,  the  Turks  finally  gave  in,  and  retreated  from  their  intended 
prey  utterly  baffled  and  defeated.  After  La  Valette 's  death,  the 
Knights  of  St.  John  still  continued  for  some  time  to  harass  the 
Turks,  by  the  aggressive  exj^editions  of  their  galleys ;  but  they 
gradually  assumed  more  peaceful  habits,  until  at  length  the  Order 
was  dissolved  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  by  the  fiat  of  Napoleon, 
when  he  visited  Malta  on  his  way  to  Egypt;  the  last  Grand  Master 
then  retiring  to  Germany  with  a  pension,  and  most  of  the  Knights 
accepting  commissions  in  the  French  army. 


TEMPLE  BRUER.  133 

Such  was  the  end  of  this  once  iUustrious  Order,  at  first  fostered 
by  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  and  Godfrey  the  crusader,  kings  of  Jerusalem, 
whilst  its  English  chief  or  Prior  took  precedence  of  all  barons,  had 
a  seat  in  Parliament,  and  whose  provincial  establishments  were 
termed  Commanderies,  simply,  apparently,  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  Preceptories  of  the  Templars. 

There  were  three  Preceptories  in  Lincolnshire ;  one  at  Willough- 
ton,  near  Kirton  in  Lindsey ;  another  at  Aslackby,  near  Folkingham ; 
and  the  one  termed  Temple  Bruer,  near  Sleaford,  now  under  our 
notice.  This  is  situated  ten  miles  south  of  Lincoln,  and  one  east 
of  the  old  Roman  Ermin  Street,  or  High  Dyke — as  it  is  now  called — 
or  nearly  in  the  centre  of  what  was  Lincoln  Heath,  whence  it 
derived  its  appellation  of  Tempilum  de  la  Bruere^  or  Temple  on  the 
Heath,  now  shortened  into  *'  Temple  Bruer."  It  was  first  founded 
by  the  Lady  Elizabeth  de  Cauz,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  II.  (Tanner's 
Notitia  Monastica,  p.  24);  and  that  monarch  granted  to  the  Templars 
a  license  or  charter  for  holding  a  market  here  every  Thursday, 
afterwards  altered  to  Wednesday  by  Henry  III,  a.d.  1250,  who  gave 
them  an  additional  charter,  empowering  them  to  hold  a  fair,  of  three 
days'  duration,  at  Temple  Bruer,  at  the  feast  of  St.  James  the 
Apostle  [e.  Literis  Pat.  43.  Hen.  HI.)  Matilda  de  Cauz,  Robert  de 
Everingham,  Gilbert  de  Cressy,  and  Philip  de  Branton  endowed 
this  establishment  with  lands  in  Rowston  ;  and  Walter,  baron 
D'Eyncourt,  was  also  one  of  its  early  benefactors,  who  presented  it 
with  six  bovates  of  land,  a  toft,  and  three  shillings,  *'  four  hens," 
and  four  days'  work  per  annum,  afterwards  amplified  by  the  gift  of 
a  bercary  and  two  carucates  of  land  in  Scop  wick  from  another 
member  of  that  noble  family,  John  D  'Eyncourt.  Geoffrey  de  Peruse, 
Geoffrey  de  Evermore,  and  Ralph  Normanville  endowed  it  with 
lands  in  Rauceby ;  Simon  Tuchet  gave  it  a  knight's  fee  in  Ashby ; 
and  eventually  it  possessed  a  knight's  fee  and  an  oxgang  of  land  in 
Leasingham,  eighty-two  acres  of  plough  land  and  forty  of  meadow, 
in  Wellingore ;  sixteen  oxgangs  at  Ingoldsby ;  a  knight's  fee  in 
Cranwell,  two  thousand  acres  of  heath  lying  round  the  Temple, 
with  two  granges ;  also  lands  in  the  parishes  of  Caythorpe,  Nor- 
manton,  Leadenham,  Grantham,  Welbourn,  Navenby,  South 
Witham,  Metheringham,  Dorrington,  Dunsby,  Quarrington,  Heck- 
ington,  and  Hacconby — amounting  to  upwards  of  ten  thousand 
acres  altogether,  in  addition  to  which  it  had  tenements  at  Blankney, 
Metheringham,  Kirkby,  Evedon,  Scopwick,  Timberland,  Billinghay, 
and  Grantham — where  the  Angel  Inn  was  once  its  property — 
besides  possessing  the  advowson  of  Ashby  church,  and  various 
privileges,  &c. 

Tournaments  were  undoubtedly  celebrated  here,  by  the  martial 
inmates  of  the  Temple,  not  unfrequently,  a  fact  gathered  from  the 
evidence  of  a  writ,  issued  by  king  Edward  II.,  ordering  them  to  be 
discontinued  for  the  future,  in  consequence  of  the  disorders  they 
were  said  to  have  occasioned ;  and  it  has  been  suggested  by  Dr.  Oliver, 
that  the  valley  on  the  west  of  the  Temple,  by  which  it  is  approached 
from  the  High  Dyke,  may  have  formed  the  Knights'  tilting  ground. 


134  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

In  1260  Amadeus  was  installed  as  Preceptor,  {B}).  Wells  notes); 
in  1282  Eobert  de  Turville;  in  1290,  Guido  de  Foresta;  in  1300, 
William  de  la  More — the  last  Preceptor  of  Temple  Bruer,  and 
Grand  Prior  of  all  England.  In  1307,  Edward  II.  who  had  just 
ascended  the  throne,  summoned  the  Grand  Master  to  his  first 
parliament;  and  two  months  afterwards,  sent  a  writ  to  John  de 
Cormel,  sheriff  of  Lincolnshire,  commanding  him,  with  a  sufficient 
force,  to  seize  both  the  persons  of  the  Templars  and  their  property. 
This  was  accomplished  Jan.  10,  1308,  and  William  de  la  More 
and  his  knights  were  carried  off  to  Lincoln,  and  imprisoned  in 
Claxlede  Gate  and  other  city  prisons.  There  they  were  kept  until 
Novamber  25,  1309,  when  they  where  tried  in  the  Cathedral 
Chapter-house,  being  accused  of  blasphemy,  infanticide,  cruelty,  the 
most  atrocious  debauchery,  &c„  divided  into  many  counts;  but  it 
was  their  wealth  that  was  wanted;  Fuller  saying,  "Their  lives 
would  not  have  been  taken,  if  their  lands  could  have  been  got 
without ;  but  the  mischief  was,  the  honey  could  not  be  got  without 
burning  the  bees."  Eventually,  however,  they  escaped  with  their 
lives,  but  were  stripped  of  all  their  estates,  w^hich  were  seized  by 
the  king,  and  retained  by  him  until  1324,  when  he  made  a  grant  of 
the  greater  part  of  them  to  the  Hospitallers,  in  which  year  Temple 
Bruer  became  a  Commandeiy  of  that  Order.  The  new  proprietors 
of  these  broad  lands,  however,  appear  to  have  been  very  tenacious 
of  all  the  rights  they  had  succeeded  to,  and  were  sometimes  not  very 
scrupulous  as  to  the  means  they  used  in  the  pursuit  of  their  own 
interests,  so  that  they  lived  in  continual  hot  water  with  them  and 
particularly  with  the  De  la  Launds  of  Ashby.  The  origin  of  their 
first  dispute  wdth  that  family  was  as  follows. 

Wilham  de  Essheby,  A.  D.  1195,  had  given  the  advowson  of 
the  church  at  Ashby  to  the  Templars,  upon  the  condition  that  they 
should  supply  him  wdth  a  chaplain  to  perform  divine  service  twice 
a  week  for  ever  in  the  chapel  of  St.  Margaret  attached  to  his 
mansion  ;  whilst  Jordan  de  Essheby,  A.  D.  1248,  granted  to  them 
pasturage  on  Ashby  heath  for  four  hundred  sheep,  eight  beasts,  and 
one  hundred  pigs,  during  certain  portions  of  the  year.  This  Jordan, 
however,  afterwards  appears  to  have  conceived  that  he  still  had 
power  over  the  advowson  of  Ashby  church ;  for  he  first  drew  up  a 
deed  in  which  he  left  it  to  his  son  and  his  heirs,  and  afterwards 
upon  the  death  of  that  son,  bequeathed  it  to  the  Templars.  Thus 
these  last  had  a  right  to  the  possession  of  Ashby  church,  both  by 
the  original  deed  of  William  de  Essheby,  and  of  his  descendant 
Jordan.  Yet  Robert  De  la  Launde,  the  inheritor  by  marriage  of  the 
Essheby  property,  was  bold  enough  {temp.  Hen.  VI.)  to  try  to 
recover  it  from  the  Hospitallers — the  then  Templars'  representatives 
— founding  his  claim  upon  Jordan  Essheby 's  deed  in  favour  of  his 
son  above  mentioned ;  but  he  did  not  succeed,  as  we  find  Robert's 
son,  Thomas  de  la  Launde,  saying — "  I  suppose  recoverie  thereof 
myght  be  hadde  by  meanes  of  the  law ;  and  Robert  de  la  Launde, 
my  father,  sued  Master  Skayfe,  late  knight  of  the  Temple,  in  his 
days,  and  had  hym  at  fer  processe,  and  shuld  have  had  rekoverie 


TEMPLE  BRUER.  135 

thereof  of  hym,  if  he  had  lyved,  but  then  he  decessed,  and  so  the 
Bute  was  lost."     (Peck's  MSS.  Vol  4,  No.  4937J 

But  the  Knights  of  the  Temple  by  no  means  come  so  clear  out 
of  a  second  dispute  respecting  some  property  in  Ashby,  mentioned 
in  the  Addlt.  MSS.  of  the  British  Museum,  No.  4937,  and  thus 
described  in  Ld.  Monson's  Feuds  of  old  Lincolnshire  Families. 
John  Anwicke  had  died  seised  of  a  messuage  in  Ashby,  leaving  by 
his  first  wife  a  son,  John,  then  a  minor.  At  the  inquisition  proving 
these  facts,  11th  Dec,  8  Hen.  VII.,  Robert  Delalaund,  as  chief  lord  of 
Ashby,  became  seised  of  the  said  lands,  and  held  them  in  possession 
during  the  nonage  of  the  minor.  The  said  John  Anwicke  the 
younger  was  of  weak  intellect,  and  lived  in  the  mean  while  at 
Temple  Bruer,  as  the  account  quaintly  says,  "with  Sir  John 
Boswell  (commander  of  the  Hospitallers)  as  his  Fole  and  Ydeot, 
and  w^as  a  natural  Fole  indeed."  John  Anwicke,  senior,  had 
married  a  second  wife,  and  this  widow  Jenet,  having  remarried 
John  Glayston  of  Boston,  was  bribed  by  Sir  John  BosweU  to  give 
up  to  him  the  evidences  of  the  property  of  Anwicke  Place.  A  will 
was  forged  to  prove  Jenet  the  inheritrix  of  the  property,  and  it  was 
pretended  she  had  made  a  sale  thereof  to  Sir  John  Boswell,  who, 
previously  to  his  departure  for  Rhodes,  where  he  died,  gave  the 
estate  to  a  natural  son  of  his,  William  Boswell.  During  this 
transaction,  Thomas  Delalaund,  son  of  Robert,  was  in  his  minority ; 
and  as  he  says  of  himself — "  I,  the  sayd  Thomas  Delalaund,  was 
but  poor,  and  in  service  at  London  (he  was  in  the  retinue  of  the 
Earl  of  Oxford)  and  not  able  to  serve  the  Remedie  of  the  law."  He 
was  twelve  years  kept  out  of  the  property,  but  we  are  authorised  to 
believe  the  justice  of  his  statement,  as  he  eventually,  in  20th  Hen. 
VII.  is  said  to  prove  the  whole  of  his  case,  and  to  recover  the 
estates  from  the  feoffees. 

The  same  unjust  and  grasping  spirit  was  shortly  after  exhibited 
by  Sir  Thomas  Newport,  the  succeeding  Commander  of  Temple 
Bruer,  which  led  to  a  suit  lasting  from  the  18th  Hen.  VIL,  to  the 
3rd.  Hen.  VIII.,  between  him  and  the  Delalaunds,  one  of  whom, 
Thomas,  says  of  the  Hospitallers,  "  They  are  so  mighty  to  dele 
with  and  to  sue  against,  that  a  pore  gentleman  can  not  be  able  to 
reckon  his  right  of  them,  for  that  they  do  dryve  such  as  do  sew  the 
law  with  them  for  their  right  to  an  extreme  cost  and  labour,  and 
that  all  they  of  their  religion  bear  the  charges  of  sute  in  common, 
and  that  they  have  so  many  of  the  best  learned  men  retained  of 
their  counsell  and  parte."  This  Sir  Thomas  Newport  claimed  a 
portion  of  Ashby  heath  in  the  year  1503,  lying  to  the  west  of  the 
modern  Sleaford  road,  and  adjoining  the  Temple  lands — but  most 
wrongfully,  as  a  great  number  of  witnesses  w^ere  brought  forward  to 
give  evidence  in  favour  of  the  Delalaunds.  The  land  claimed  ap- 
pears to  have  extended  from  the  High  Dyke  to  the  Sleaford  road, 
which  last  is  described  by  one  of  the  witnesses  at  the  trial — "Master 
Thomas  Wymbyssh,  of  Nocton,  Esq.,  of  the  age  of  fourscore  yere 
and  more" — as  the  "  brode  strete,  originally  formed  by  Bp.  Alnwick, 
who  by  oft  times  using  to  ride  betwene  Lincoln  and  Sleford,  by 


136  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTUIIAL  SOCIETY. 

continuance  dyd  frett  and  fyrst  used  and  made  the  said  new  way 
that  now  is  called  the  new  brode  way;"  whilst  it  is  elsewhere  deposed 
that  this  road  had  been  made  "  within  tyme  of  gode  remembrance 
by  the  said  Bishop  when  his  Castill  of  Sleford  was  in  beldying." 
This  "  building,"  however,  refers  only  to  some  extensive  additions, 
alterations,  or  repairs  that  Bishop  Alnwick  effected  at  Sleaford 
castle ;  as  it  was  undoubtedly  originally  built  by  Bishop  Alexander 
de  Blois,  some  three  hundred  years  before  Bishop  Alnwick's  episco- 
pate, which  commenced  a.d.  1436 ;  whilst  the  historical  fact  of  King 
John's  sojourn  here  in  1216,  and  the  death  of  Bishop  Fleming  (a 
predecessor  of  Bishop  Alnwick)  at  this  castle,  plainly  speak  as  to  its 
existence  long  prior  to  that  last-named  prelate.  No  positive  decision 
was  pronounced  in  this  case,  but  the  claim  appears  to  have  been 
still  kept  up  by  the  Hospitallers,  for,  ten  years  later,  in  1521, 
Delalaunde  complained  most  piteously  to  Cardinal  Wolsey  of  Sir 
John  Babyngton,  the  then  commander  of  Temple  Bruer,  stating — 
amongst  other  petty  injuries  he  had  received  fiom  him — how  that 
he  had  caused  his  chaplain  and  sixteen  of  his  servants  in  the  Roga- 
tion days  of  the  11th  of  the  king  that  now  is,  to  go  in  a  riotous 
manner,  that  is  to  say,  "  with  byllys  and  bows  and  arrows,  swords 
and  bucklers,  and  oder  wepons,  under  color  of  a  procession  about 
the  said  Hethe  of  Ashby."  And  this  was  done  apparently  for  the 
purpose  of  beating  the  bounds  of  the  land  the  Hospitallers  laid  claim 
to  in  the  parish  of  Ashby,  although  Babyngton  discreetly  answered 
to  the  charge  by  saying  that,  "  as  the  beginuing  of  the  year  in 
question  was  very  dry,  whilst  he  was  in  London,  his  priest  and  five 
other  men  and  three  '  women-persons '  went  in  procession  in 
peaceable  devout  manner  about  all  the  Temple  Hethe  to  pray  for 
seasonable  weather."  The  impoverished  family  of  Delalaunde, 
however,  lived  to  see  the  downfall  of  their  proud  neighbours  at  the 
Temple,  just  before  their  own  extinction;  Thomas  Delalaunde  being 
still  alive  in  1538,  when  this,  in  common  with  all  other  comman- 
deries,  was  suppressed,  but  yet  not  long  before  his  own  death.  At 
that  time  the  Temple  estate  was  valued  at  £184  6s.  8d.,  according 
to  Dugdale ;  shortly  after  which  it  was  granted  to  Charles  Brandon, 
Duke  of  Suffolk,  by  his  royal  brother-in-law,  viz.,  in  1541. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year  the  king  paid  Temple  Bruer  a 
visit  in  person,  on  his  way  towards  the  north,  first  for  the  purpose  of 
holding  a  conference  with  his  nephew,  the  young  king  of  Scotland, 
and  secondly  to  confirm  the  then  pacific  inclination  of  Yorkshire 
and  Lincolnshire,  which  had  succeeded  their  previous  turbulent  and 
rebellious  condition  after  the  suppression  of  the  Monasteries.  The 
king  had  held  an  early  council  at  Sleaford,  Tuesday,  Aug.  9th,  and 
the  same  day  dined  at  Temple  Bruer  on  his  way  to  Lincoln,  accom- 
panied by  his  unfortunate  queen,  Catherine  Howard,  the  Dukes  of 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  the  Earls  of  Oxford,  Southampton,  and  Suffolk, 
the  Bishop  of  Durham,  &c.  Henry,  arrayed  in  cloth  of  gold,  and 
Catherine,  in  cloth  of  silver,  were  duly  met  by  the  cathedral  digni- 
taries, and  by  the  Mayor  and  citizens  on  their  knees,  on  their 
approach   to  Lincoln,  where   they  remained  until  the  following 


€mi^\t  %tmt 


TEMPLE  BRUER,  137 

Friday— a  visit  that  proved  fatal  to  Henry's  hapless  queen  shortly 
afterwards,  who  was  accused  of  grievous  misconduct  on  this  oc- 
casion, and  finally  condemned.  Leland  visited  Temple  Bruer 
five  years  afterwards,  viz.,  in  1546,  who  says  (It'm.  vol.  I,  fol.  32): 
"  There  be  great  and  vast  buildings,  but  rude,  at  this  place,  and 
the  este  end  of  the  temple  is  made  opere  circulari  de  more,''  and 
the  church  must  have  been  preserved  for  another  century,  Hollis 
in  his  "  Church  Notes  "  giving  a  long  list  of  the  coats  of  arms 
still  remaining  in  his  time  emblazoned  on  its  windows — including 
those  of  Cromwell,  Tateshall,  Deincourt,  Ufford,  Beke,  Mowbray, 
Beaumont,  Bardolfe,  Cantelupe,  La  Warre,  Welles,  Zouch,  Grey, 
Savile,  Middleton  of  Fulbeck,  Roleston,  Babington,  &c.  The  last 
reminiscence  we  have  of  this  circular  church  is  from  the  hand  of 
Buck,  who  published  an  engraving  of  it  in  1726  ;  but  it  perished 
within  the  next  period  of  fifty  years,  as,  when  Gough  visited  it, 
nothing  but  a  tower  and  a  few  vaults  belonging  to  this  very  ancient 
and  interesting  pile  of  building  then  remained — the  former  of 
which  still  happily  exists,  although  in  a  sadly  mutilated  condition, 
and  but  for  a  strong  bracing  of  iron  work  would  probably  before  this 
have  fallen  to  the  ground. 

This  tower  is  of  the  Early  English  period,  and  was  probably 
erected  about  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  Its  total  height 
is  fifty-one  feet,  and  it  contains  three  stories ;  the  entrance  was  on 
the  north  side,  and  is  now  walled  up,  whilst  a  modern  substitute 
has  been  broken  through  on  the  opposite  side,  under  an  interpolated 
window  of  the  Perpendicular  period.  The  interior  of  the  vaulted 
basement  story  is  richly  decorated  on  the  south  and  west  sides  with 
a  series  of  arcades,  nine  in  number,  once  supported  by  circular 
shafts,  of  which  but  one  now  remains.  Under  the  most  south- 
eastern arcade  is  a  piscina ;  and  the  level  of  the  two  next,  it  will  be 
observed,  is  slightly  higher  than  the  others,  from  which  arrangement 
there  is  but  little  doubt  that  this  apartment  was  used  as  a  chapel, 
constituting,  perhaps,  the  private  one  of  the  Grand  Prior,  and  that 
the  altar  stood  in  the  centre  of  the  arched  recess  at  its  east  end.  It 
still  retains  its  original  groined  roof,  and  was  lighted  by  three 
windows,  on  its  east,  west,  and  south  sides.  A  newel  staircase  in  the 
N.W.  corner  leads  up  to  a  chamber  above,  lighted  by  three  lancet 
windows,  and  once  vaulted  hke  the  one  below — afterwards  to  a  low 
attic — and,  finally,  to  the  roof,  protected  by  a  parapet,  a  small  portion 
of  which  still  remains  at  the  S.W.  angle  of  the  tower.  The  corbel 
table  of  the  south  elevation,  and  of  the  flat  buttresses  on  the  north 
and  west  fronts  should  not  be  overlooked,  as  they  are  of  a  very 
effective  design. 

The  site  of  the  circular  church,  built  so  appropriately  after  the 
model  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem,  in  common  with  that  of 
the  Temple  in  London,  of  Little  Maplestead,  Essex,  St.  Sepulchre's, 
Cambridge,  and  St.  Peter's  at  Northampton,  is  now  entirely  de- 
stroyed ;  but  the  bases  of  its  pillars  still  lie  deep  below  the  soil,  a 
little  to  the  west  of  the  tower,  and  were  laid  bare  for  the  last  time  in 
the  year  1833,  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  Oliver,  from  whose 


138  NORTHAMPTON  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

account  of  Temple  Bruer,  published  by  the  Lincolnshire  Topogra- 
phical Society,  the  following  particulars  are  gathered.  "  The 
circular  church  was  fifty-two  feet  in  diameter  within,  and  was  sup- 
ported on  a  peristyle  of  eight  cylindrical  columns,  with  massive 
bases  and  capitals,  and  a  series  of  circular  arches  profusely 
ornamented  with  zigzags  and  other  Norman  enrichments,  forming 
a  circular  area,  which  occupied  exactly  one  half  of  the  diameter; 
and  the  aisle,  or  space  betwixt  this  colonnade  and  the  exterior 
walls  occupied  the  other  half  This  aisle,  it  aj)pears,  had  a  groined 
roof;  and  a  portion  of  it  on  the  north  side  contained  the  tomb  of 
the  founder.  On  the  west  was  the  principal  door  of  entrance,  with 
an  ascent  of  stone  steps,  and  a  magnificent  porch,  the  foundations 
of  which  remain  perfect.  In  the  floor  are  two  coffin-shaped  stones, 
one  plain,  the  other  charged  wdth  a  cross  botony  in  relief"  This 
circular  church  was  certainly  united,  either  by  an  extension  of  the 
fabric  or  by  a  cloister,  to  the  tower  now  remaining,  as  may  be  seen 
in  Buck's  view  of  Temple  Bruer,  published  in  1736,  and  in  the  plan 
given  in  Dr.  Oliver^s  Paper  on  this  place,  referred  to  above ;  whilst 
the  clustered  column  and  bracket,  on  the  north  side  of  this  last, 
still  present  visible  evidences  of  its  former  existence  at  that  point. 
Here  also  two  stoups  will  be  observed  on  the  left  of  the  tower  entrance. 
Beneath  the  tower,  and  other  portions  of  the  remains,  various  vaults 
were  discovered  (probably  cellars)  connected  by  passages,  seven  feet 
six  inches  high,  arched  over  above,  running  under  the  cloister,  &c.,  and 
giving  rise — no  doubt — to  the  popular  rumour  that  a  subterranean 
communication  existed  between  this  establishment  and  \Vellingore. 
Dr.  Oliver  also  discovered  many  human  remains  in  his  researches, 
which  is  not  surprising,  as  there  was  certainly  a  burial  garth  hei'e, 
from  which  has  lately  been  extracted  a  much  worn  monumental 
slab,  or  coffin  lid  (still  remaining  on  the  premises)  having  the  effigy 
of  a  recumbent  Ecclesiastic  cut  upon  it.  A  portion  of  one  of  the 
old  vaults  is  yet  visible,  now  used  as  a  saw-pit,  and  another  spot 
sounds  hollow,  so  that  further  substructures  may  hereafter  be  dis- 
covered. The  whole  of  the  ground  in  the  vicinity  of  the  tower 
abounds  with  evidences  of  the  extent  of  the  buildings  once  existing 
here ;  portions  of  columns,  ribs,  and  other  worked  stones  having 
frequently  been  turned  up,  of  which  a  few  still  remain — such  as 
those  carved  fragments  now  doing  service  as  a  pump,  surmounted 
by  an  Ecclesiastic's  head,  gathered  from  some  other  quarter ;  whilst 
a  pretty  little  decorated  window,  doubtless  gleaned  from  the  ruins, 
is  inserted  in  a  gable  of  the  adjoining  farmstead.  There  is  also  a 
remarkable  fine  well  here,  nine  feet  in  diameter,  never  known  to  be 
dry — perhaps  a  legacy  from  the  knights  of  St.  John ;  and  in  another, 
discovered  during  the  last  century  to  the  west  of  the  Temple  site, 
three  bells  of  large  dimensions  w'ere  found.  Two  mounds  existed, 
until  lately,  in  an  adjoining  close ;  but  these  were  probably  only 
archery  butts,  and  upon  their  removal  no  signs  of  any  deposit  were 
disclosed.  One  of  the  Temple  boundary  stones  stood,  until  1776, 
by  the  side  of  the  High- Dyke,  as  recorded  by  Stukely,  who  says, 
{Iter.  5,  p.  87)  *'  Over  against  Temple  Bruer,  is  a  cross  upon  a 


^ra/iM:<>   g 


cSK>a^H^tj 


SHOSELEY  PRIORY.  139 

stone,  cut  through  in  the  shape  of  that  borne  by  the  Knights 
Templars  ;"  but  it  has  since  been  removed,  or  destroyed.  He  also 
adds,  "  Some  part  of  their  old  Church  is  left  of  a  circular  form  as 
usual."  In  1G^8  the  Earl  of  Dorset  was  the  possessor  of  Temple 
Bruer,  who  disposed  of  it  to  Richard  Brownlow,  Esq.,  of  Bel  ton, 
through  whose  daughter  and  co-heiress,  it  became  the  property  of 
Lord  Guildford.  He  sold  it  to  the  ancestor  of  the  present  possessor 
of  this  very  interesting  property,  Charles  Chaplin,  Esq  ,  of  Blankney. 


Shoseleij  Priory.  Extract  from  a  Paper  read  at  a  Meeting  of  the 
Northampton  Architectiu'al  Society  at  Blisworth,  on  Monday, 
December  1st,  1856,  by  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Beookes. 

This  right  ancient  religious  house  was  founded  nearly  700  j^ears 
ago,  in  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  by  De  Lestre  or  Del  Estre,  for  nuns 
of  the  Cistercian  order,  and,v>-as  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  Mary. 
Its  situation,  as  was  usually  the  case  with  monastic  houses,  was 
carefully  chosen.  It  stood  at  the  head  of  an  irregular  valley  which 
sloped  gently  from  it  towards  the  south  west,  and  commanded  a 
beautiful,  though  not  a  very  extensive,  prospect  of  the  broken  ground 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Easton  Neston.  To  the  north  and  east 
the  ground  slightly  rises,  and  the  priory  on  this  side  was  sheltered 
at  a  little  distance  by  extensive  woods,  one  of  which  still  retains  the 
historic  name  of  Nun  Wood.  A  copious  spring,  which  a  few  months 
ago  was  still  allowed  to  bubble  up  on  the  surface  close  to  the  remains 
of  foundation  walls  in  this  direction,  gave,  no  doubt,  a  supply  of 
fresh  water  to  some  large  ponds,  the  traces  of  which,  one  below  the 
other,  may  be  seen  down  the  slope  of  the  valley.  In  the  absence  of 
a  river  we  can  easily  understand  what  an  important  part  these  ponds 
with  their  finny  occupants  would  form  of  an  establishment  where  the 
members  were  bound  by  the  strictest  rules  of  St.  Benedict,  who 
allowed  meat  but  once  a  week  to  the  Cistercians  generally,  and  but 
thrice  to  the  specially  favoured  of  the  order,  "  the  exempt,"  as  they 
were  termed.  The  last  remaining  of  these  ponds  was  filled  up  only 
four  years  ago  by  the  present  tenant.  A  farm-house  belonging  to 
the  Earl  of  Pomfret  now  occupies  a  part  of  the  site  of  the  ancient 
priory.  The  road  which  connects  the  village  of  Shutlanger  with 
the  highway  from  Blisworth  to  Towcester  runs  close  by  it,  and,  at 
the  point  nearest  the  homestead,  seems  to  have  been  actually  laid 
on  the  ruins  of  ancient  walls. 

An  imperfect  list  of  the  prioresses  of  the  house  has  been  collected, 
and  may  be  seen  in  Baker's  History.  The  second  name  in  order 
is  the  earliest  to  which  a  date  is  affixed ;  this  is  the  Lady  Florence. 
She  was  one  of  the  sisterhood,  and  was  chosen  prioress  between  1234 
and  1254.  One  name  more  might  be  added  to  this  list:  it  is  that 
of  "  the  Lady  Alice  "  mentioned  as  a  legatee  in  the  will  of  Wm.  de 
Paviley,  date  124L     He  left  her  three  shillings. 


140  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

As  to  the  amount  of  the  original  endowment  of  the  priory  we 
have  no  information.  It  seems  probable  however  that  the  sisters 
were  for  some  time  in  reality  as  well  as  in  profession  "  the  poor 
nuns  of  Sewardesley,"  for  their  house  is  omitted,  as  though  too 
insignificant  to  be  charged,  in  the  ecclesiastical  taxations  of  38th 
Henry  III.  (1254)  and  20th  Edward  I.  (1291). 

Before  however  the  date  of  these  taxations,  they  had  already 
benefited  by  the  bounty  of  pious  benefactors,  and  for  some  time 
afterwards  they  seem  to  have  continued  to  add  to  their  possessions. 
Very  shortly  after  their  foundation  Geoffrey  de  Leifermater  gave 
them  his  wood,  with  the  ground  on  which  it  stood,  in  the  parish  of 
Middleton  Malzor.  (This  was  as  early  as  Henry  II.  or  Richard  I., 
and  attests  plainly  to  the  great  antiquity  of  that  village.)  Geoffrey 
de  Lisle  gave  them  a  donation  in  Heathencote,  adjoining  the  half 
acre  which  the  family  of  De  Paviley  had  already  given  with  Ivetta, 
their  daughter.  Simon  de  Pinkney  (temp.  Henry  III.)  relieved  the 
nuns  of  a  yearly  payment  of  4s.  with  which  they  were  charged  to 
the  monks  of  Castle  Ashby ;  and  by  another  deed  gave  to  them, 
free  of  the  charge  with  which  they  had  hitherto  been  burdened, 
four  virgates  of  land  in  Ashby.  In  9  Edward  II.  (1316)  Geoffrey 
de  Braden  made  over  to  them  one  acre  of  land,  and  the  advowson 
of  Easton  Neston,  on  a  payment  of  a  fine  of  40s.  for  taking  possess- 
ion of  the  same.  And  twelve  years  later  the  prioress  and  nuns 
were  rich  enough  to  purchase  from  William  de  St.  John,  the  next 
lord  of  Easton  Neston,  and  a  connection  of  the  De  Pavileys,  [Baker, 
vol.  2,  page  201,)  the  manor  itself  with  all  its  rights  and  privileges, 
giving  for  it  the  four  virgates  of  land  which  had  been  granted  to 
them  by  Simon  de  Pinkney,  and  six  messuages  besides.  This  was 
2nd  Edward  III.,  1328. 

These  were,  it  would  seem,  the  palmy  days  of  the  old  priory. 
The  sisters  were  now  ladies  of  the  manor  and  patrons  of  the  living. 
They  enjoyed  the  protection  and  friendship  of  the  influential  family 
of  the  De  Pavileys,  the  lords  of  Paviley 's  Pury,  who  had  given  their 
daughter,  Ivetta,  to  the  nunnery,  and,  in  one  instance  at  least,  had 
chosen  its  graveyard  for  their  burying  place.  They  had  it  moreover 
at  this  time  in  their  power  to  practise  on  a  larger  scale  those  works 
of  active  charity  to  which  the  law  of  the  gospel  and  the  law  of  their 
profession  alike  bound  them.  We  may  hope,  therefore,  that  now 
many  a  poor  benighted  traveller  asked  and  gained  freely  a  lodging 
and  hospitality  beneath  the  convent's  sheltering  roof;  that  many  a 
poor  man  knocked  at  its  gate  and  went  away  enriched  by  its 
charities ;  and  that  the  sick  and  infirm  in  the  villages  immediately 
around  (especially  those  in  which  the  priory  had  property,  and  these, 
at  a  later  time,  were  Heythencote,  Tyffeyld,  Stoke  Bruerne,  and, 
most  of  all,  Shyttylhanger)  found  oftentimes  a  tender  nurse,  and.  a 
practised  leech,  and  a  bountiful  friend,  and  a  ready  comforter,  in 
one  or  other  of  the  sisterhood  of  Sewardesley. 

But  these  days  of  prosperity  lasted  but  for  a  short  time.  The 
manor  of  Easton  Neston  was  soon  lost,  whether  by  sale,  or  exchange, 
or  spoliation,  I  cannot  say ;  I  only  know  that  forty-one  years  after 


SHOSELEY  PRIORY.  141 

tlio  nuns  had  purchased  it,  43rd  Edward  III.  (1370),  Sir  Henry 
Green  (who,  in  1355,  had  bought  also  the  manor  of  Green's  Norton,) 
died,  seized  of  it,  and  bequeathed  both  it  and  the  advowson  of 
Sewardesley  Priory,  of  which  he  had  gained  the  patronage,  to  his 
son,  Sir  Thomas  Green.  This  Sir  Thomas  Green,  having  thus 
gained  the  manor  from  the  nuns,  was  not  content  to  see  them  still 
possessed  of  the  advowson  of  the  parish  church.  He  attempted  to 
get  it  also  from  them,  but  the  ladies  resisted  their  grasping  patron, 
and  fought  their  battle  well,  for  both  in  a  suit  at  law,  and  afterwards 
in  an  appeal  to  the  Crown,  the  cause  was  decided  in  their  favour, 
and  their  right  to  the  patronage  of  the  living  confirmed. 

And  now,  I  regret  to  say,  we  come  to  a  somewhat  dark  page  in 
the  history  of  the  priory. 

Suits  at  law  and  appeals  to  the  Crown  were,  no  doubt,  luxuries 
as  expensive  five  hundred  years  ago  as  they  are  at  present.  The 
family  of  the  Greens  were  wealthy  as  well  as  grasping  ;  and  so  the 
struggle  with  their  pations,  though  it  did  terminate  successfully, 
entailed  on  the  prioress  and  her  nuns  heavy  expenses.  And  then 
it  seems  that  in  evil  hour  they  too  like  Sir  Thomas,  took  counsel 
with  avarice,  and  began  to  consider  whether  they  might  not  replenish 
their  half-empty  coffers  with  the  very  tithes  the  patronage  of  which 
had  just  cost  them  so  dear.  And  they  were  not  proof  against  the 
temptation.  It  was  too  strong  for  them,  as  a  like  temptation  was 
for  many  other  monastic  houses  before  and  after  this  period.  A 
vacancy  occurred  in  the  living  ;  and  in  1403,  instead  of  nominating 
a  rector,  as  they  had  hitherto  done  on  the  five  successive  occasions 
on  which  they  had  had  the  presentation,  they  ordained  the  vicarage 
which  exists  to  this  day,  appointed  Henry  Hereward,  their  chaplain, 
to  the  post,  and  appropriating  the  great  tithes  to  themselves.  The 
ten  succeeding  incumbents  were,  like  him,  vicars  and  nominees  of 
the  priory,  which  thus  kept  till  its  dissolution  the  rector's  dues. 
At  that  time  the  tithes,  oblations  and  other  proceeds  of  the  rectory 
of  Easton  Neston,  in  the  hands  of  the  nuns,  amounted  to  £6. 13s.  4d. 
a-year,  and  formed  more  than  a  third  of  their  gross  income. 

But  "wealth  ill-gotten  never  wears  well."  And  if  Spelman  be 
true  when  he  says  that  an  unseen  curse  hovers  over  the  sacrilegious 
spoilers  of  Church  property,  biding  its  appointed  time  and  then 
falling  with  terrible  force,  the  story  of  Sewardesley  would  seem  to 
show  that  religious,  no  less  than  secular,  impropriators  are  obnoxious 
to  its  influence.  At  all  events,  when  we  next  meet  with  the  ladies 
of  the  priory,  fifty-six  years  after,  in  1459,  we  find  them  so  poor  as 
to  be  unable  either  to  maintain  themselves  or  repair  their  house. 
And  so  their  patron,  Sir  Thomas  Green  (either  son  oj-  grandson  of 
their  late  patron  of  that  name,  for  he  was  the  first  of  six  Sir  Thomas 
Greens  in  succession),  having  petitioned  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  in 
their  favour,  the  impoverished  house  was  ordered  to  be  aj^propriated 
to  the  more  flourishing  abbey  of  St.  Mary  de  la  Pre,  near  North- 
ampton. It  seems  doubtful  whether  it  was  ever  actually  united  to 
that  monastery.  If  so,  it  recovered  its  independence,  though  not 
its  prosperous  fortunes ;   for,  at  the  time  of  its  dissolution,  which 


142  NOUTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

was  27  or  28  Henry  VIII.,  1536  or  1537,  it  consisted  only  of  a 
prioress  and  four  nuns,  whose  net  income  amounted  to  no  more 
than  £12.  6s.  7d.  This  last  lady  of  Sewardesley  was  Elizabeth 
Cambel. 

Baker  gives  in  his  History,  vol.  ii.,  page  155,  an  impression  of 
the  common  seal  of  the  priory,  with  a  description.  It  represents 
the  Virgin  Mary,  to  whom  the  house  was  dedicated,  "  crowned  and 
seated  in  a  chair,  the  arms  of  which  are  formed  of  dragons'  heads. 
Her  hands  are  elevated.  In  her  left  hand  she  holds  a  lily,  and  the 
infant  Saviour  is  in  her  lap.  The  legend  is  very  imperfect." 
{Sigillum  Sanctce  Marice  cle  Seivardsleia.) 

In  its  later  and  poverty-stricken  days  the  priory  had  sold  a 
messuage  and  close  to  Richard  Empson,  gentleman.  This  was  in 
1483,  when  Joan  Bakehy  was  the  lady  prioress.  It  was  he  who, 
in  1499,  gained  permission  from  the  Crown  to  form  the  park, 
enclosing  400  acres,  at  Easton  Neston,  and  to  embattle  the  manor 
house  there;  and  who  afterwards,  22  Henry  VIII.  (1531),  sold 
the  whole  property  to  the  head  of  the  present  noble  family  of 
Pom  fret,  Richard  Fermor,  a  merchant  of  the  Staple  of  Calais. 
Whether  our  priory  and  the  land  adjoining  was  included  in  this 
sale  I  cannot  say.  But  Richard  Fermor,  nine  years  after,  incurred 
the  displeasure  of  the  Court  for  the  strictness  with  which  he 
adhered  to  the  Roman  religion  at  a  time  when  the  Reformation 
was  making  way ;  and  it  having  been  proved  against  him  that 
he  had  sent  relief,  consisting  of  8d.  and  a  couple  of  shirts,  to  his 
father  confessor,  who  was  lying  a  prisoner  in  Buckingham  Castle 
for  denying  the  royal  supremac}^  he  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  fall 
under  the  penalty  of  a  ijrmmunire.  The  rapacious  king  at  once 
confiscated  the  estates,  and  the  lately  wealthy  esquire  lived  for  ten 
years  a  life  of  poverty  and  seclusion  in  the  parsonage  of  Wappenham. 
At  length,  (1550,)  4  Edward  VI.,  restitution  of  some  of  his  lands 
was  made  to  him  just  one  year  before  he  died.  At  this  time  the 
house,  with  the  land  of  Sewardesley,  was  granted  to  him,  either  as 
having  been  a  part  of  his  confiscated  property,  or  possibly  in  lieu  of 
some  portion  which  could  not  be  restored.  It  has  since  continued 
in  his  family,  and  is  at  present  owned  by  George  William  Richard, 
fifth  Earl  of  Pomfret.  The  dwelling  is  now,  and  has  long  been,  a 
farm-house,  but  meanwhile  the  old  priory  has  not  been  without  its 
gay  and  fashionable  times.  It  was  fitted  up  in  1570  as  a  second 
residence  of  the  family,  on  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  George  Fermor, 
Esq.,  with  Mary  Curson.  There  is  an  old  covenant,  belonging  to 
this  time,  in  which  the  bridegroom's  father.  Sir  John  Fermor, 
promises  to  provide  the  new  couple  with  board  and  lodging  in  his 
own  house,  and  with  an  establishment  of  one  gentlewoman,  two  men 
servants,  one  maid  and  four  horses,  all  to  be  kept  at  his  expense  for 
four  years ;  and  if  they  shall  "  myslyk  wt.  suche  fyndynge  as  is 
aforesaid,"  then  he  should  pay  them  £40  a-year — a  poor  equivalent 
according  to  our  present  notions  of  what  £40  can  do  !  During  these 
four  years  he  covenants  to  put  into  thorough  repair  for  them  the 
*'  manor  or  chief  mansion-house  of  Sewisley  alias  Shewysley  alias 


6H0SELEY  PRIORY.  143 

Sliewardesley,"  and  at  the  end  of  the  time  mentioned  to  give  them 
the  sum  of  £100  towards  the  "  furnyshying,  stockyng  and  storyng  of 
the  said  house  and  grounds."  The  gay  repairs,  and  I  imagine  the 
greater  part  of  the  old  manor  house  itself,  have  long  since  disappeared. 
But  there  are  still  some  traces  of  antiquity  to  be  seen  in  the  building, 
and  there  is  one  bit  of  wall,  built  of  a  different  stone  from  the  rest, 
to  which  I  beg  to  call  the  attention  of  those  who  are  learned  in  such 
matters,  because  tradition  says  that  this  is  the  only  part  still  standing 
of  the  ancient  nunnery  of  Sewardesley. 

Early  in  October  last,  in  sinking  a  cellar  under  the  north-east 
wing  of  the  house,  the  workmen  came  upon  five  skeletons,  lying 
side  by  side  I  believe,  and  in  the  usual  position,  -with  the  feet 
towards  the  east.  No  traces  of  any  coffin  or  cere  cloth  were  found 
here.  There  was,  however,  some  lead  in  a  decomposed  state, 
which  it  was  observed  lay  over  one  or  two  of  the  bodies,  but  did  not 
envelope  them.  Taking  this  spot  as  our  starting  point,  the  ground 
slopes  gently  towards  the  south  for  about  40  yards,  when  it  is 
bounded  by  a  water  course.  This  space  between  the  house  and  the 
ditch  is  being  levelled  for  a  flower  garden ;  and  I  regret  to  say  that 
the  spot  thus  disturbed  was  once  beyond  a  doubt  the  burial  ground 
of  the  priory.  The  three  stone  slabs  which  I  have  endeavoured  to 
claim  for  the  De  Paviley  family,^  lie  towards  the  lower  end  of  the 
slope.  A  curious  person  has  not  been  afraid  to  grope  under  one  of 
them,  and  has  brought  out  part  of  a  skull,  which  an  experienced 
surgeon  in  the  neighbourhood  has  pronounced  to  be  that  of  a  man. 
I  mention  this  as  making  against  the  idea  that  the  stones  have 
been  moved  from  their  original  position,  and  as  being  fatal  to  a 
theory  which  was  urged  in  opposition  to  mine,  that  the  three  graves 
were  those  of  three  prioresses  of  the  house. 

Just  above  the  three  slabs  some  interesting  foundations  have 
uncovered.  There  is  a  short  outside  E.  wall  with  some  dressed 
stone- work,  and  portions  of  N.  and  S.  walls  running  from  it.  I 
think  it  is  just  2:)ossihle  that  this  may  be  the  remains  of  the  original 
chapel  or  oratory  attached  to  the  priory ;  and  that  afterwards  in 
their  more  prosperous  days  the  nuns  built  the  larger  one,  the  traces 
of  which  are  to  be  distinctly  made  out  at  about  eighty  yards  distance, 
in  the  middle  of  a  field  called  Chapel  piece.  This  latter  building  lay 
from  E.  to  W.,  and  tradition  assigns  to  it  the  name  of  the  Chajyel. 
Bridges,  in  his  history,  has  made  a  curious  mistake  as  regards  these 
last  remains.  He  gives  the  measurement  of  the  outlines  of  another 
building  in  the  same  field  called,  by  tradition,  the  ham,  the  foundations 
of  which  were  as  he  describes,  dug  up  some  sixty  years  ago  to  build 
some  stabling.  He  calls  this  the  chapel,  and  says  it  lies  E.  and  W ; 
whereas  it  really  lies  nearly  N.  and  S.  The  field  containing  these 
old  foundations  bears  witness  to  this  day  to  the  connection  of  the  De 
Pavileys  with  the  Priory:  it  is  called  sometimes  PaiiVs  ground 
(Paviley  s). 

Near  the  house  a  few  curiosities  have  been  dug  up :    some 

(i;   See  the  letter  to  Lord  Pomfret  appended  to  this  paper. 


144  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

fragments  of  glass,  an  earthen  jar,  some  glazed  tiles,  the  patterns 
on  some  of  which  are  very  perfect  (one  of  them  seems  heraldic),  a 
ring,  &c.  The  greater  part  of  these  have  been  sent  to  the  Society's 
room  in  Gold  Street,  Northampton. 


TO    THE    BIGHT   HON,    THE    EAEL   OF   POMFEET. 

Shutlanger,  Oct.  24th,  1856. 

My  Lord, — I  spent  several  hours  on  Wednesday  last,  in  the 
Bodleian  Library,  in  Oxford,  endeavouring  to  investigate  the  history 
of  "  Sewardesley  "  Priory,  (such  I  found  to  be  the  original  form  of 
the  modern  "  Showsley  ") ;  and  was  fortunate  enough,  on  verifying 
a  reference  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon  Anglicanum,  vol.  v.  page  729, 
to  meet  with  an  old  document  which  I  think  may  interest  your 
lordship,  as  bearing  on  the  subject  of  the  three  remarkable  grave- 
stones lately  discovered  on  your  lordship's  property  at  Showsley. 

The  document  in  question  is  the  will  of  William  de  Paviley, 
dated,  "  after  the  death  of  St.  Edmund,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury," 
i.e.  according  to  the  chronicle  of  Matthew  Paris,  a.d.,  1240  and  1241. 
I  subjoin  a  translation  of  some  extracts  from  it  relating  to  the 
subject. 

"  This  is  the  will  of  W^illiam  de  Paviley,  made  on  the  feast  of 
All  Saints,  after  the  death  of  St.  Edmund,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury." 
In  the  first  place  he  leaves  his  soul  to  God  and  the  blessed  Mary, 
and  his  body  to  the  house  of  Nuns,  at  Sewardesley  (domui  sancti- 
monialium  de  Sewardesleia.)  *  *  *  *  Here  follow  a  number  of 
legacies  to  his  relations,  to  different  churches  and  rehgious  houses 
in  the  neighbourhood,  to  the  poor  in  several  parishes,  &c.,  &c.  Then 
the  will  proceeds — 

He  leaves  for  lights  to  burn  round  his  body,  vis.  viiid. ;  for 
offerings  to  be  distributed  on  the  day  of  his  burial,  1  mark;  for  a 
stone  to  be  placed  over  him,  xxd. ;  for  the  clergy  who  watch  round 
his  body,  iiis.  ivd. ;  for  one  yearly  commemoration  of  him,  ls.  ;  for 
shoes  and  stockings  for  the  poor,  xs. ;  for  the  Lady  Alice,  of 
Sewardesley  {i.e.  most  likely  the  prioress  at  the  time),  iiis. 

This  will  is  printed  in  Maclox's  "  Formulare  Anglicanum,"  a 
curious  collection  of  old  conveyances,  wills  and  similar  documents. 
It  is  numbered  781,  and  is  to  be  found  at  page  425. 

Your  Lordship  will  observe  the  date  of  this  will,  a.d.,  1240,  i.e. 
the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  judge 
of  archaeological  remains,  but  on  referring  to  a  "  Manual  of  sepulchral 
slabs  and  crosses,  by  the  Rev.  Edward  L.  Cutts,  (Parker,)"  I  found, 
in  plate  xi,,  a  slab  bearing  a  cross  incised,  very  much  resembling 
the  southern-most  of  the  three  slabs  lately  uncovered  ;  and  in  folates 
XLVIT.  and  xlviii.  slabs  bearing  simple  ramified  crosses,  very  similar 
in  character  to  the  most  northern  of  the  three  at  Showsley. 
All  these  were  given  in  the  book  as  specimens  oithe  thirteenth  century, 
the  very  period  at  which  William  de  Paviley  directed  that  he  should 
be  buried  at  Sewardesley. 


SHOSELEY  PRIORY.  145 

I  found,  also,  by  way  of  connecting  tlie  family  of  the  De  Pavileys 
who  were  Lords  of  Paulerspury  (Paviley's  Pury),  and  liberal  contribu- 
tors to  many  of  the  monastic  houses  in  this  neighbourhood,  with  the 
Priory  at  this  time — 

1.  That  in  a.d.  1238,  Florentia,  one  of  the  sisterhood,  was 
chosen  Prioress,  tvith  consent  of  Sir  Robert  de  Vaviley  then  patron  of 
the  house. 

2.  That  in  an  ancient  deed,  bearing  date  45th  Henry  III.  (1260, 
1261),  and  referred  to  by  Dugdale,  sums  were  paid  to  Robert  de 
Paviley,  and  Joanna  his  wife,  by  the  Prioress  and  Nuns,  on  the 
ground  of  their  being  patrons  to  the  house. 

3.  That  Ilbert  de  Paviley  gave  half  an  acre  of  land  to  the  Priory, 
with  Ivetta,  his  daughter,  who  took  the  veil  there,  by  way  of  dowry  on 
occasion  of  her  spiritual  marriage.  (It  is,  however,  only  fair  to  add 
that  of  this  grant  I  cannot  find  any  fixed  date.) 

Your  Lordship  will  have  observed  the  relative  position  of  the 
three  stones.  They  lie  close  together,  side  by  side,  as  though 
covering  members  of  the  same  family. 

It  is  not  then  impossible  that  one  of  them  may  be  the  very  stone 
for  which  William  de  Paviley  left  xxd,  in  his  will,  and  the  remaining 
two  may  perhaps  cover  other  members  of  the  same  family,  whose 
connection  with  the  Priory  at  this  time  is  abundantly  plain.  I  do 
not  say  that  it  is  so.  It  is  possible  ;  and  the  theory  has  sufficient 
colour  of  probability  to  make  it  deserving  of  mention.^ 

There  is  some  curious  information  in  Dugdale's  Monasticon 
(the  last  edition),  in  Bridge's  History  of  Northamptonshire,  published 
A.D.  1791,  and  in  Baker's  more  recent  history  of  the  County,  bearing 
on  the  Priory  at  Sewardesley,  and  especially  on  its  connection  with 
the  Manor  and  Rectory  of  Easton  Neston.  I  will  enclose  an 
interesting  extract  from  Bridges'  work. 
I  remain,  my  Lord, 

Your  Lordship's  obedient  servant, 

JOHN  HENRY  BROOKES. 

Extract  from  Bridges'  History  and  Antiquities  of  Northampton' 
shire,  1791,  vol.  1  page  295. — "To  the  north-east  of  Hulcote,  at  a 
small  distance,  lies  Shordesley  or  Sewesley,  and  more  anciently 
Sewardesley,  at  present  a  Farm  House,  of  no  considerable  note,  but 
formerly  a  nunnery  of  the  Cistercian  order,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin 
Mary.  It  was  seated  near  a  large  wood,  part  of  which  is  now  called 
Nun  Wood  and  Chapel  Coppice.  On  the  right  side  of  the  house, 
which  in  some  parts  consists  of  very  old  walls,  and  hath  belonging 
to  it  a  very  old  kitchen,  are  the  remaining  parts  of  ponds  which  were 
fed  by  a  water  out  of  Chapel  Close.  The  foundations  of  the  chapel 
not  many  years  ago  were  dug  up  to  build  a  barn.     By  the  footsteps 

(2)  The  Rev.  IMaze  Gregory,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  accompanying  litho- 
graph, in  a  paper  read  at  the  same  Meeting,  would  appropriate  the  tombs  still  more 
specifically.  The  fleur  de  lis  cross  to  Sir  William  de  Paviley;  the  floriated  one  to 
Florentia,  appointed  Prioress  a.d.  1238;  and  the  iv?/-leafed  one  to  Ivetta,  daughter  of 
Ilbert  de  Paviley,  >yho  gaye  Ualf  an  acre  of  laud  to  tUe  housQ  ou  Jus  daughter's  takipg 
the  veil. 


146  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  it  whicli  remain  it  appears  to  have  been  46  feet  long  and  24  feet 
8  inches  broad,  when  measured  on  the  outside,  and  to  have  been 
yound  at  the  east  end." 


Ueport  of  the  Suh- Committee,  appointed  to  enquire  into  the  different 
methods  of  Warming  Churches.  Read  at  a  Meeting  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Architectural  Society  of  the  Archdeaconry, 
at  Northampton,  April,  1858 ;  by  H.  J.  Bigge,  M.A.,  Rector 
of  Rockingham. 

Fboh  frequent  applications  having  been  made  to  the  Architectural 
Society,  for  advice  as  to  the  best  method  of  warming  churches,  a 
sub-committee  was  appointed  to  make  enquiries  on  the  subject,  and 
a  series  of  questions  prepared  as  a  guide  to  those  who  might  be 
able  to  contribute  any  information.  Before,  however,  any  active 
steps  were  taken  in  the  matter,  it  was  ascertained  that  the  Church- 
Building  Society  had  already  instituted  a  similar  enquiry,  and  were 
in  possession  of  a  considerable  amount  of  information  obtained  from 
architects  who  had  been  engaged  in  church  building.  It  was  there- 
fore deemed  advisable  to  wait  until  this  enquiry  should  be  completed; 
as,  from  the  greater  sources  of  information  at  their  command,  the 
Church  Building  Society  would  be  in  a  better  position  to  conduct 
the  investigation.  The  results  were  published  from  time  to  time, 
in  the  Quarterly  Paper  issued  by  the  above  Society ;  and  it  is  to 
this  publication  that  the  sub-committee  of  the  Architectural  Society 
are  indebted,  through  the  kindness  of  the  late  lamented  secretary, 
the  Rev.  T.  Bowdler,  for  the  materials  from  which  the  present 
Report  has  been  prepared ;  the  wood  cuts,  also,  which  were  em- 
ployed in  illustrating  the  different  papers,  have  been  most  obligingly 
placed  at  their  disposal. 

The  architects  to  whom  the  enquiries  were  addressed,  were  asked 
to  state — First :  The  best  mode  of  warming  a  church  ; 

Secondly  :  If  by  hot  air,  hot  water,  or  stoves, — whose  system, 
or  what  plan  they  deemed  most  effectual ; 

Thirdly :  What  they  considered  to  be  the  difficulties  attending 
the  warming  of  a  church,  so  as  to  explain  the  cause  of  frequent 
failure  of  the  plans  adopted ; 

Fourthly :  Whether  one  reason  of  this  failure  might  not  be  the 
inadequacy  of  the  means  used ; 

Fifthly  :  Whether  there  is  not  some  scale  of  length  and  diameter 
of  pipe  or  flue,  &c.,  proportionate  to  the  cubical  contents  of  a  church, 
by  which  a  certain  temperature  may  be  secured. 

Sixthly :  Why  currents  of  cold  air  are  so  continually  complained 
of  in  churches  warmed  by  artificial  means,  and  how  this  incon- 
venience might  be  avoided ;  and  two  other  questions  were  proposed, 
respecting  the  duration  of  the  warming  process  when  put  in 
operation. 

I.  Upon  the  first  point,  the  general  opinion  is  in  favor  of  hot 
water ;  at  the  same  time,  hot  air  from  flues  or  stoves  seems  to  be 


ON  THE  WARMING  OF  CHURCHES.  147 

recommended,  when  the  cost  of  the  apparatus  is  a  consideration. 
When  hot  water  is  used,  it  should  circuUitc  under  the  floor  from  a 
small  boiler,  through  pipes  four  inches  in  diameter,  into  an  expan- 
sion cistern,  and  thence  back  into  the  boiler ;  the  entire  area  under 
the  church  should  become  a  warm-air  chamber,  having  openings 
through  the  wall  to  admit  the  external  air,  which,  when  heated  by 
contact  with  the  pipes,  is  to  rise  into  the  church  through  gratings 
in  the  floor.  It  is  particularly  recommended  that  a  large  body  of 
moderately  warm  air  be  used  in  preference  to  a  small  quantity,  much 
heated  by  small  pipes  (whether  placed  above  or  below  the  floor),  as 
the  heat  thus  produced  is  apt  to  be  offensive  ;  and  a  limited  supply 
of  hot  or  burnt  air  quickly  supplied,  creates  currents  and  an  uneven 
temperature. 

In  many  old  churches,  the  space  required  under  the  floor  for  a 
w^arm-air  chamber  cannot  be  obtained,  and  therefore  the  pipes  must 
either  circulate  above  it,  or  hot  air  from  flues  or  stoves  must  be 
used.  Some  architects  appear  to  prefer  having  the  hot-water  pipes 
above  the  floor. 

II.  For  hot  water,  the  plans  adopted  by  Messrs.  Sylvester,  96, 
Great  Russel-street,  Bloomsbury ;  Messrs.  Price,  and  Co.,  Derby 
street,  Parliament-street;  Mr.  Potter,  South Moul ton-street, London; 
and  Messrs.  Haden,  and  Co.,  of  Trowbridge,  seem  to  be  approved. 
For  hot  air,  the  Hypocaust  of  Mr.  Cundy,  13,  Gumming  Place, 
Kensington  ;  the  system  of  Messrs.  Haden,  of  Trowbridge  ;  and 
Mr.  Bennett,  of  Liverpool,  are  considered  to  be  good.  The  differ- 
ence between  them  is  not  explained ;  and  probably,  if  properly  ap- 
plied, the  several  plans  of  hot-water  warming  do  not  produce  much 
difference  in  their  results ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  hot  air 
systems. 

IIL  The  frequent  failure  of  the  plans  adopted  seems  to  arise 
from  several  causes.  1. — Expecting  results  disproportioned  to  the 
cost  of  the  means  taken  to  obtain  them  ;  for  it  is  asserted  that  there 
need  be  no  practical  difficulty  in  warming  a  church,  if  sufficient 
provision  be  made  for  so  doing.  Under  the  most  favourable 
circumstances,  it  is  impossible  to  warm  economically  and  effectively; 
only  a  certain  amount  of  heat  can  be  obtained  by  a  certain  amount 
of  combustion ;  and  the  chief  point  to  be  aimed  at  is,  to  secure  the 
least  waste  of  the  heat  thus  produced.  2. — The  carelessness,  and 
also  the  ignorance  of  the  persons  to  whom  the  working  of  the 
apparatus  is  entrusted,  who  often  imagine  they  multiply  heat  by 
their  machines,  whereas,  the  prevention  of  the  waste  of  heat  is  all 
that  can  be  accomplished.  A  proper  superintendance  of  the  means 
adopted  to  warm  a  church  seems  to  be  indispensable.  3. — An 
excess  of  ventilating  apertures ;  ventilation  and  warming  must  be 
combined,  and  proportioned  to  each  other.  4, — The  thinness  of 
the  roofs  and  other  parts,  which  must  be  taken  into  account  in 
calculating  the  quantity  of  heating  surface  required.  5. — The 
intermitting  nature  of  the  use  of  heating  power — the  great  majority 
of  churches  being  warmed  for  one  day's  use  only,  in  the  week :  in 
the  interval  the  area,  and  the  surfaces  internally  and  externally, 


148  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

become  charged  with  cold ;  and  where  the  walls  are  also  damp,  the 
difficulty  is  increased. 

IV.  The  inadequacy  of  the  means  used  to  warm  a  church,  is 
generally  acknowledged  to  be  the  chief  cause  of  the  failure  of  the 
plans  adopted,  as  already  stated. 

V.  The  architects  have  not  supplied  much  information  upon 
the  subject  of  the  quantity  of  heating  surface  to  be  provided. 
One  foot  of  suiface  of  pipe  is  mentioned  by  one  gentleman,  as 
sufficient  to  warm  two  hundred  cubic  feet  of  space.  An  ap- 
proximate calculation  is  given  by  another,  thus: — one  foot  of 
heating  surface  to  one  hundred  cubic  feet  of  contents  of  church 
would  be  necessary,  in  unfavourable  cases;  one  foot  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  cubic  feet  would  be  sufficient  under  favourable 
conditions ;  these  proportions  contemplate  warming  and  ventilating. 
The  general  opinion  seems  to  be,  that  no  fixed  rule  will  properly 
apply,  but  that  every  church  requires  to  be  considered  in  itself. 
Difierence  in  locality,  quantity  of  glass,  plan  of  internal  arrange- 
ments, and  other  circumstances  peculiar  to  such  buildings  must  be 
taken  into  account. 

VI.     The  most  difficult  part  of  the  subject  is  to  account  for, 
and  counteract  the  currents  of  cold  air  which  seem  to  prevail  in 
almost  every  building  warmed  by  artificial  means.     The  causes  are 
said  to  be — warming  the  air  too  quickly ;  the  general  processes  of 
warming  heat  a  portion  of  the  air  too  highly,  and  therefore  cold  air 
rushes  in  from  the  windows  and  other  openings;  cold  air  being 
admitted  at  too  low  a  level ;    the  beam -filling  not  being  weather 
tight ;  the  roof-boarding  letting  in  cold  air ;  lead-glazing  being  rarely 
so  perfect  as  to  keep  it  out,  &c.    It  is  said,  that  where  warming  and 
ventilation  are  combined,  as  they  should  be,  currents  of  air  must 
exist  to  some  extent,  from  the  disturbance  to  the  equilibrium,  caused 
by  the  admission  of  air  warmer  than  that  in  the  building.     The 
remedies  are,  to  admit  a  large  but  gentle  flow  of  moderately  warm 
air,  which  will  disturb  that  in  the  building  less  than  a  quick  admis- 
sion of  very  hot  air;  having  the  openings  to  casements  as  high 
above  the  heads  of  the  people  as  possible,  (the  casements  themselves 
are  objected  to  by  one  architect,  who  would,  of  course,  ventilate 
churches  by  other  means);    placing  baize  curtains,   weighted   at 
bottom,  over  the  inside  of  doorways,  which  are  better  than  double 
doors.      Before  applying  any  kind  of  warming  apparatus  to   an 
existing  church,  to  take  care  that  the  walls  and  floor  are  rendered 
dry,  if  they  are  not  so  ;  dryness  in  the  building  is  essential  to  the 
proper  working  of  any  plan  of   warming  it.      It  appears  to  be 
important  to  the  proper  operation  of  a  warming  apparatus,  to  set  it 
to  work  on  the  day  previous  to  that  on  which  the  church  is  to  be 
used,  banking  up  the  fires  at  night,  and  renewing  them  the  follow- 
ing morning. 

Upon  applying  to  engineers  for  similar  information,  the  Church 
Building  Society  were  favoured  by  C.  Egan  Rosser,  Esq.,  the 
successor  to  the  late  Mr.  Sylvester,  who  was  long  engaged  in  the 
business  of  warming  and  ventilating  public  buildings,  with  the 
following  useful  particulars : — 


ON  THE  WARMING  OF  CHtJUCHES.  149 

'<  There  does  not  appear  to  be  any  evidence  whicli  can  be 
considered  as  decisive  in  favor  of  any  specific  plan  for  the  warming 
of  churches.  All  modes  of  warming  in  use,  make  air  the  vehicle 
for  diffusing  heat  throughout  the  building  to  be  warmed.  Heat 
is  communicated  to  the  particles  of  air  by  direct  contact  with  some 
heated  substance ;  this  substance  is  commonly  of  a  metallic  character, 
such  as  cast  or  wrought  iron,  or  copper.  Earthenware  surfaces 
have  also  been  applied  to  a  limited  extent.  It  is  in  the  mode  in 
which  the  heat  derived  from  the  combustion  of  inflammable  bodies, 
whether  solid  or  gaseous,  is  imparted  to  the  communicating  surfaces, 
that  the  essential  differences  between  the  various  forms  of  warming 
apparatus  are  observed. 

"  Those  forms  are  the  simplest  in  which  the  heat,  generated  by 
combustion,  acts  directly  upon  the  surfaces,  whence  it  is  communi- 
cated to  the  air.  This  division  comprises  all  kinds  of  hot-air 
apparatus,  and  most  descriptions  of  stoves.  A  hot-water  apparatus 
is  superior  to  hot  air,  because  it  is  from  its  mode  of  action 
essentially  diffusive.  By  the  apphcation  of  the  principle  of  circu- 
lation, the  heating  medium  can  be  conveyed,  in  almost  undiminished 
power,  to  places  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  source  of  heat. 
This  circumstance  renders  it  much  more  manageable  than  a  hot-air 
apparatus,  in  which  the  diffusing  surfaces  must  necessarily  be  con- 
fined to  one  locality,  and  the  heated  air  afterwards  conveyed  in 
channels  to  the  places  where  its  presence  is  required ;  and  this  can 
seldom  be  accomplished  without  a  considerable  loss  of  heat.  ^  A 
hot-water  apparatus  is  not  subject  to  the  same  amount  of  disturbing 
causes,  but  there  are  some  difficulties  to  which  the  heating  of  all 
large  rooms  is  exposed,  and  a  few  of  them  that  are  more  frequently 
found  in  churches  than  elsewhere. 

♦'  The  principal  difficulty  special  to  a  church,  arises  out  of  the 
draughts  to  which  a  church  is,  more  than  any  other  building,  liable, 
from  the  number  of  its  external  doors,  and  the  kind  of  glazing 
usually  adopted  for  the  windows.  The  use  of  open  timber  roofs, 
frequently  simply  boarded  on  the  back  of  the  rafters,  without  any 
counter  ceiling ;  lofty  clerestories,  and  the  important  fact  of  all 
the  enclosing  walls  being  also  external  walls,  have  to  be  taken  into 
account  in  arranging  the  warming  apparatus  for  a  church. 

"  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  inadequacy  of  the  means  used  is 
the  ordinary  cause  of  failure.  When  hot  water  pipes  can  be  placed 
above  ground  along  the  external  walls  and  aisles,  or  in  blocks  or 
coils,  in  open  situations,  their  surfaces  then  exhibit  their  full  effect, 
both  in  heating  the  air  by  contact,  and  in  the  direct  radiation  of 
heat  to  surrounding  objects,  from  which  warmth  is  again  commu- 
nicated to  the  particles  of  the  air  which  come  in  contact  therewith. 
But  it  seldom  happens  that  the  plan  and  uses  of  the  building  admit 
of  such  an  arrangement. 

*'  The  necessity  which  exists,  of  concealing  the  pipes,  renders  it 
imperative  that  they  should  be  laid  beneath  the  floor ;  and  a  very 
considerable  excess  of  power  has  to  be  provided,  in  order  to  make  up 
for  the  loss  of  heat  by  radiation,  which  cannot  be  turned  to  useful 


150  NORTHAMPTON  AKCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

account  when  the  pipes  are  laid  in  trenches  beneath  the  floor.  An 
error  into  which  the  constructors  of  hot  water  apparatus  frequently 
fall,  is  in  lajdng  the  pipes  in  narroNV  trenches,  covered  by  gratings, 
without  any  openings  in  the  lower  part  of  the  side  walls.  Vvlien 
this  is  done,  the  air  warmed  by  the  pipes  does  not  readily  rise  up 
into  the  church,  because  there  is  no  admission  of  cool  air  from 
below  to  supply  its  place  ;  the  interchange  of  air  having  to  be  kept 
up  by  the  descent  of  cool  air  from  the  church  through  the  grating, 
in  opposition  to  the  course  of  the  warmed  air,  and  downwards  past 
the  hot  surface  of  the  pipes.  The  remedy  is,  to  build  the  lower 
part  of  the  walls  that  form  the  sides  of  the  pipe  channels,  honey- 
combed with  holes  for  the  admission  of  cold  air  beneath  the  pipes. 
The  supply  of  air  may  either  be  drawn  from  the  external  atmosphere, 
or  it  may  be  derived  from  the  interior  of  the  building;  but  it  must 
be  in  sufficient  quantity  to  afford  to  the  pipes  all  the  air  which  is 
required  to  be  warmed,  in  order  to  maintain  the  proper  temperature 
in  the  church. 

*•  As  soon  as  the  air  of  a  church  begins  to  be  warmed,  a  general 
movement  or  circulation  is  the  result,  and  those  particles  of  air  which 
are  brought  into  contact  with  the  windows,  part  with  their  heat  to 
the  glass,  and  having  their  specific  gravity  thus  increased,  move 
downwards,  and  are  followed  by  other  particles,  which  in  like  man- 
ner sink  as  they  become  cooled,  until  a  descending  sheet  of  cold  air 
is  formed  against  the  windows,  which  upon  reaching  the  sills  is  de- 
flected towards  the  body  of  the  church. 

•'  When  the  difference  between  the  external  and  internal  tempera- 
ture is  very  considerable,  the  descending  current  acquires  a  high 
velocity,  and  is  capable  of  deflecting  the  flame  of  a  candle  at  a  dis- 
tance of  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet,  and  may  be  sensibly  felt  as  a 
strong  draught  by  persons  sitting  in  the  line  of  the  current.  It  is 
to  this  cause  that  the  draughts  complained  of  in  churches  w^armed 
by  artificial  means  are  chiefly  to  be  attributed,  their  effect  being  also 
greater  the  higher  the  temperature  is  raised. 

**  One  mode  of  overcoming  this  difficulty  is,  either  to  place  coils 
of  hot  water  pipe  beneath  the  windows,  or  to  discharge  a  quantity 
of  w-arm  air  upwards  by  means  of  flues,  carried  up  in  the  thickness 
of  the  wall,  and  terminating  at  the  window-sill.  The  ascending 
current  of  warmed  air  from  the  coil,  or  flue,  meets  and  neutralizes 
the  descending  current  against  the  glass,  and  prevents  its  effect 
being  felt  in  the.  church.  Another  plan  is,  to  prevent  the  deflection 
of  the  cold  current  into  the  church,  by  continuing  its  direct  descent, 
through  openings  in  the  window-sill,  and  descending  flues  in  the 
walls,  terminating  ultimately  beneath  the  pipes  in  some  of  the 
trenches. 

•'  It  is  essential  to  the  successful  operation  of  any  warming  appa- 
ratus, that  it  should  be  used  for  at  least  one  part  of  the  day  previous 
to  that  on  which  the  service  has  to  be  performed.  This  will  tend 
to  equalize  the  temperature  of  the  church,  to  prevent  the  disposition 
of  moisture  on  the  w-alls,  and  to  economise  fuel.  It  will  not,  how- 
ever, prevent  the  draughts  from  the  windows,  which  cannot  be  ob- 


ON  THE  WAUMING  OF  CHURCHES.  151 

viated  in  some  of  the  modes  pointed  out.  The  temperature  should 
not  be  allowed  to  fall  during  the  night,  but  the  fire  should  be  banked 
up,  and  made  up  again  at  an  early  hour  on  the  following  morning, 
and  continued  till  the  commencement  of  service,  when  it  may  be 
gradually  lowered,  and  finally  allowed  to  die  out  towards  the  evening, 
except  in  very  severe  weather  ;  the  pipes  retaining  heat  enough  to 
temper  the  air  for  some  time  after  the  fire  is  extinguished.  Much 
however  depends  upon  the  details  of  the  arrangements,  and  the 
quantity  of  fresh  air  admitted.  By  proper  care  to  the  special  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case,  and  by  the  adoption  of  a  sufficient  plan,  and 
an  adequate  expenditure  for  the  purpose,  any  well  built  Church  can 
be  eifectually  warmed." 

Some  mention  must  be  made  of  Stoves  as  the  means  of  warming 
churches;  for,  notwithstanding  the  objections  which  exist  to  them, 
on  account  of  their  scorching  the  woodwork,  especially  the  seats, 
and  inconveniencing  the  persons  who  sit  near  them  by  too  great  an 
amount  of  heat,  the  saving  of  expense  in  the  first  outlay  will  pro- 
bably cause  them  to  be  extensively  used. 

Stoves  which  burn  common  fuel,  i.e.  coal  and  coke,  maybe  divided 
into  two  classes — the  free-burning  and  the  restricted,  or  slow-burn- 
ing ;  the  first  comprising  the  common  German  stove,  the  hot-air, 
and  other  stoves  in  which  the  supply  of  air,  though  not  exactly  un- 
limited— for  most  of  them  have  some  means  of  regulating  it — is 
sufficient  to  cause  the  fuel  to  burn  freely  ;  and  the  doors  and  ash 
pans  are  by  no  means  so  close  fitting  as  not  to  permit  air  to  pass 
in  abundance.  The  second  comprises  Dr.  Arnott's,  Nott's,'  the 
Phenix,^  Musgrave's,^  and  those  stoves  upon  the  same  principle,  in 
which  the  case  is  made  air-tight,  and  air  supplied  at  a  small  opening, 
in  such  a  quantity  as  only  just  sufficient  to  support  combustion, 
and  the  heat  is  economized  by  being  retained  until  it  can  be  im- 
parted to  the  surrounding  air.  Dr.  Arnott's  clever  contrivance, 
which  has  given  rise  to  most  of  the  close,  or  slow-burning  stoves, 
is  open  to  the  objection  that  it  only  warms  the  air,  without  changing 
it.  In  large  halls  and  passages,  stoves  of  this  kind  may  be  usefully 
employed,  but  if  objectionable  in  rooms,  they  are  not  less  so  in 
churches  ;  and  though  the  free-burning  stoves  have  not  this  defect, 
they  are  liable  to  become  so  overheated  as  to  render  the  air  which 
has  been  in  contact  with  them  unfit  for  respiration,  by  the  abstrac- 
tion of  the  oxygen  contained  in  it.  Stoves  are  not  sufficiently 
diffusive  in  their  action,  as  they  warm  only  the  air  in  their  imme- 
diate neighbourhood ;  so  that  persons  sitting  near  them  are  often 
inconvenienced  by  the  heat,  while  others,  at  a  little  distance,  are 
in  the  opposite  condition  of  not  being  warm  enough. 

The  Patent  Gill  Air  Warmer  demands  our  notice,  as  partaking 
both  of  the  nature  of  a  stove  and  also  of  a  hot-air  apparatus ;  its 
arrangement  appears  to  be  of  such  a  character  that  it  can  be  ap- 
plied both  to  private  houses  and  pubUc  buildings,  and  the  sim- 

(1 )  Made  by  Messrs.  Benham,  Wigmore-street  London. 

(2)  Made  by  Walker,  Birmingham, 

(3)  Of  Belfast. 


153 


NORTHAMPTON  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


plicity  of  its  construction  permits  its  insertion  into  buildings  already 
erected.  The  following  account  of  its  operation  is  given  by  the 
manufacturers,  Messrs.  Stuart  and  Smith,  of  Sheffield ; 

•'  It  has  been  found  in  the  ordinary  Cockle  Stove,  that,  from 
its  construction,  the  external  surface  becomes  overheated,  and 
thereby  rapidly  absorbs  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  which,  be- 
coming decomposed,  fills  the  building  with  burnt  or  vitiated  air. 
The  Gill  Stove  entirely  remedies  this,  the  principle  of  construction 
being  to  present  such  an  external  surface  of  metal  to  internal  area 
of  cockle,  that  it  shall  never  become  overheated,  or  the  surrounding 

air  burnt.  From  the 
annexed  diagram  it 
will  be  seen  that  this 
is  effected  by  a  series  of 
cast  iron  plates,  called 
Gills,  after  those  of  a 
fish,  placed  side  by 
side,  having  a  small  ca- 
vity between  each;  any 
[number  of  these  ce- 
'mented  and  bolted  to- 
gether form  the  cockle 
or  furnace.  The  num- 
ber and  size  of  the 
gills  are  determined 
by  the  area  to  be  heated.  The  usual  surface  exposed  to  the  fire  is 
six  inches,  while  that  exposed  to  the  air  is  ten  feet ;  the  iron  thus 
becomes  a  mere  vehicle  for  conducting  the  heat,  which,  by  being 
quickly  carried  off,  at  once  prevents  the  air  from  being  burnt,  and 
the  exterior  of  the  apparatus  from  being  overheated.  It  is  due  also 
to  this  arrangement,  that  so  large  a  quantity  of  air  is  warmed,  as  it 
must  of  necessity  flow  between  the  plates  with  great  rapidity.  The 
apparatus  can  be  fixed  in  any  part  of  the  building  thought  most 
convenient.  In  churches  it  is  usually  placed  under  the  floor  'at 
the  west  end ;  at  the  opposite  end  a  cold  air  chamber  is  constructed, 
and  the  cold  air  passing  along  a  flue  to  the  Gills,  becomes  heated, 
and  then,  by  means  of  other  flues,  a  continuous  current  of  warm 
air  is  carried  to  various  parts  of  the  building." 

From  the  communication  here  given,  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  supply  of  warm  air  is  also  a  supply  of  fresh  air.  For  if  the  air 
is  drawn  from  the  church  at  one  end,  warmed  and  thrown  up  again 
into  the  building  in  different  parts,  a  circulation  is  certainly  pro- 
vided, but  no  change  of  air ;  and  although  a  church  may  be  warmed 
more  expeditiously,  and  kept  warm  more  easily  by  these  means,  it 
is  clearly  preferable  that  fresh  air  should  be  drawn  into  the  warming- 
chamber  from  the  outside  of  the  building.  It  is  evident  also,  that 
a  warming- apparatus,  which  will  be  effectual  in  the  former  case, 
will  not  succeed  so  well  in  the  latter,  unless  its  power  is  much 
increased. 

Several  testimonials  in  favor  of  this  apparatus  have  been  pub- 


ON  THE  WAEMING  OF  CHURCHES.  153 

lished,  in  which  the  writers  strongly  recommend  its  adoption,  as 
well  adapted  for  affording  an  equable  as  well  as  agreeable  temper- 
ature, as  being  economical  from  the  small  consumption  of  coal, 
and  tlie  slight  attendance  required  to  keep  it  in  order. 

It  has  been  adopted  in  the  following  among  other  churches  : — 
St.  Phihp's  and  St.  Mary's,  Sheffield ;  St.  Stephen's,  Manchester ; 
St.  Paul's,  Alnwick ;  St.  John's,  Stamford ;  Easton-by-Stamford ; 
Eastham,  near  Chester;  and  in  the  schools  of  Mr.  Minton,  at 
Stoke-upon-Trent. 

A  stove  upon  a  nearly  similar  plan  to  this  has  been  adopted  by 
the  London  Warming  and  Ventilating  Company,  26,  Great  George 
Street,  Westminster,  from  the  design  of  Mr.  Goldsworthy  Gurney, 
who  has  been  employed  in  the  warming  and  ventilation  of  the 
Houses  of  Parliament. 

An  apparatus  for  warming  churches  and  schoools  has  been 
contrived  by  Mr.  C.  Sidgwick,  of  Skip  ton,  in  Yorkshire,  to  whom 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  in  that  neighbourhood  are 
greatly  indebted ;  it  is  manufactured  by  Messrs.  Rimington  &  Son, 
of  Skipton ;  and  also  by  Mr.  Porritt,  of  Dixon  Green,  Farnworth, 
near  Manchester.  It  may  be  described  as  consisting  of  a  stove, 
which  is  a  box  about  sixteen  inches  square  to  contain  the  fire,  with 
another  box  beneath  it  to  receive  the  ashes,  each  provided  with 
doors  well  fitted,  and  with  proper  fasteners  both  to  the  fire  and  ash 
boxes ;  this  last  has  two  openings  with  pipes  and  valves  to  admit 
fresh  air  to  supply  the  fire,  the  latter  alone  acting  as  the  regulator 
of  the  heat  given  out  by  the  stove.  These  air-openings  are  carried 
by  flues  under  ground  to  the  outside  of  the  church,  care  being 
taken  to  avoid  places  which  are  not  subject  to  currents ;  in  general, 
one  is  placed  on  each  side  of  a  church,  so  as  to  be  prepared  for  any 
wind ;  the  fire  can  thus  be  supplied  with  air  without  any  opening  to 
the  church.  The-  box  which  forms  the  stove  has  an  opening  by 
which  the  smoke  escapes  through  a  cast  iron  pipe  sixteen  feet  long, 
and  thence  into  a  flue  under  the  floor.  Where  possible,  this 
under-ground  flue  is  carried  up  the  tower,  as  by  this  means  a  proper 
draught  is  obtained,  and  a  greater  freedom  from  opposite  currents 
of  wind.  The  stove,  ash-box,  and  pipe  are  placed  below  the  floor 
of  the  church,  and  the  whole  covered  with  iron  gratings,  which  are 
so  hinged,  that  they  can  be  easily  lifted  up  and  down,  to  attend  to 
the  fire.  One  or  more  of  these  stoves  can  be  put  down,  as  may  be 
required ;  but  the  same  upright  and  horizontal  flues  can  be  made 
to  receive  the  smoke  from  all  the  stoves.  If  practicable,  they 
should  always  be  placed  as  near  the  principal  entrance  as  possible. 
The  principle  upon  which  this  acts  is  that  of  a  hot  surface  of  iron 
and  stone  giving  heat  to  the  surrounding  air ;  and  although  the 
process  of  combustion  is  rapid,  there  is  no  reason  to  fear  that  the 
stove  can  become  over-heated,  if  proper  attention  be  paid  in  shutting 
close  the  valves  to  the  ash-box,  which  communicates  with  the 
external  air.  The  objection  to  this  apparatus  is,  that  the  access  to 
the  stove  is  within  the  church,  the  dust  and  dirt  that  arise  from  the 
receptacle  in  which  it  is  placed  being  likely  to  cause  annoyance. 

w 


154 


NORTHAMPTON  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


These  stoves  are  in  use  in  the  churches  of  Arncliffe ;  Coniston; 
St.  John's,  Keighley;  Embsay,  near  Skipton  (all  in  Yorkshire); 
Mixbury,  Bucks ;  Brampton  Ash,  Hollowell,  and  Welford,  North- 
amptonshire ;  Morley,  Derbyshire ;  Middleton,  Oxfordshire  ;  and 
also  in  several  schools. 

Fig.  1.     Plan  of  stove  with  two  pipes. 
—  S.     Longitudinal  section  of  ditto. 


Fig.  I. 


Fig.  1.  From  A  to  B,  sixteen  feet  in  length,  covered  with 
open  grating  of  cast-iron,  to  admit  the  warm  air  into  the  building. 
C,  Smoke  flue.     D,  Place  for  coals. 

Fig.  2.     a.  Stove  pipe,     h,  Stove  with  stand. 

The  following  plan  of  warming  has  been  adopted  with  certain 
modifications,  and  with  great  success,  from  the  ancient  Roman 
Hypocaust.     The  furnace  is  constructed  outside  of  the  building, 


Fi2.  I 


Fk.  2 


"^^^^^^^                                                    h^A 

«s^     -'^r^      ,.                                         '; 

■  ^     "^^ 

^fc^  -v.><;^r|- 

^^^^^^^j^          j  r~T 

1 

"^""^^v^  ^^^S^^?>^              ^""^ 

t               1        ., 

^•■v^  ^"''4i^p:'^;^^^55^            1          1         IT  1 

"\;^^^^V=::^ 

..i^M....,.i^: 

1                1                                        1                1 

1.1                       1                1                 - 

-r-^-r-'-i r 

^-r^^ 

^ 


ON  THE  WARMING  OF  CHURCHES. 


155 


three  feet  below  the  level  of  the  floor,  consisting  of  an  arched 
chamber,  2  ft.  deep,  1  ft.  6  in,  high,  and  10  in.  wide,  from  which, 
a  flue  1  ft.  square  conducts  the  smoke  and  hot  air,  by  a  gradual  rise 
of  six  inches  in  a  foot.  The  throat  of  the  furnace,  as  will  be  seen 
by  a  reference  to  the  engraving,  is  contracted  by  the  insertion  of  a 
bridge  (E)  at  the  top,  in  order  to  cause  the  consumption  as  of  much 
smoke  as  possible  in  the  fire ;  the  whole  of  this  portion  should  be 
constructed  with  fire  bricks  and  tiles,  as  it  is  here  that  the  greatest 
amount  of  heat  is  produced.  The  flue,  commencing  with  the 
dimensions  of  one  foot  square,  gradually  increases  in  ividth  to  two 
feet,  but  decreases  in  depth  to  four  inches,  when  it  reaches  the 
level  of  the  iloor.     It  is  then  carried  along  the  passage  between 


Fig.  3. 


the  seats,  the  pavement  itself  forming  the  roof,  which  consists  of 
blue  and  red  Staffordshire  tiles,  set  in  cement,  resting  upon  thick 
blue  slates,  supported  at  intervals  of  six  inches,  by  thin  bricks 
set  on  edge,  in  the  centre  of  the  flue ;  the  sides  being  made  of 
ordinary  bricks,  and  the  bottom  lined  with  tiles.  A  space  of 
eighteen  inches  is  left  on  each  side  from  the  woodwork  of  the 
seats,  to  prevent  any  danger.  The  furnace  should  be  constructed 
in  such  a  position  that  a  rise  may  be  obtained  for  the  flue.  The 
best  place,  in  general,  will  be  under  the  porch,  the  ground  be- 
neath which  being  excavated,  and  a  vault  formed,  easy  access 
can  be  obtained  to  the  furnace,  as  well  as  a  convenient  recepta- 
cle for  fuel.  An  important  advantage  is  also  gained  by  this 
position ;  every  time  the  door  opens,  and  a  current  of  air  enters, 
it  is  at  once  warmed  by  coming  in  contact  with  the  heated  tiles. 
It  will  be  seen  that,  from  the  length  of  the  flue,  the  heat  is 
equally  diffiised;    and  the  higher  the  chimney  is  carried,  the 


156  NORTHAMPTON  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

greater  certainty  there  is  of  a  good  drauglit ;  the  tower,  therefore, 
is  the  best  place  for  the  chimney.  Where  one  furnace  cannot 
produce  sufficient  warmth,  a  fire-hole  may  be  added,  which  i-uns 
into  the  main  flue.  It  consists  of  a  circular  hole,  eighteen  inches 
deep,  below  the  level  of  the  floor  (vide  Fig.  4^,  one  foot  in  diameter 
at  the  bottom,  and  eight  inches  at  the  top,  lined  with  fire  bricks, 
and  having  a  flue  at  the  bottom  running  into  the  main  flue,  at  the 


Fig.  4. 


distance  of  about  three  feet.  A  fire-hole  should  always  be  placed 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  chimney,  to  be  lighted  before  the  furnace, 
in  order  to  ensure  a  good  draught.  In  order  to  light  it,  the  coals 
should  be  placed  at  the  bottom,  then  some  small  sticks  and  cinders, 
and  shavings  at  the  top.  When  these  are  lighted,  the  flame  is 
carried  downwards  by  the  pressure  of  the  air  above,  igniting  the 
coals,  and  consuming  the  smoke  in  descending. 

The  superiority  of  this  plan  of  warming  over  that  by  means  of 
iron  stoves,  consists  in  the  purity  of  the  air  which  is  warmed ;  a 
larger  heating  surface  is  provided,  and  thus  a  more  general  diffusion 
of  heat ;  its  safety  from  fire,  the  access  to  the  furnace  being  from 
the  outside ;  the  absence  of  dust,  dirt,  and  smoke  in  the  church ; 
and  the  economy  of  fuel. 

The  application  of  this  principle  has  been  carried  out  by  Mr. 
Mitchell,  builder,  of  Leamington;  and  also  by  Mr.  Bradshaw, 
builder,  of  the  same  place.  It  has  been  adopted  in  the  churches 
of  the  Holy  Trinity,  Coventry ;  Woolston  Heath ;  Eadford  and 
Wormleighton,  in  Warwickshire;  Eockingham  and  Weldon,  in 
Northants  ;  and  Theddingworth,  Leicestershire. 

Another  instance  of  the  above  method,  with  some  difference  in 
the  construction,  has  been  adopted  in  Hoydon  church,  Essex,  the 
restoration  of  which  has  been  carried  out  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  Mr.  J.  Clarke,  the  diocesan  architect.  By  reference  to  the 
annexed  illustration  (p.  157)  it  will  be  seen  that  the  flue  is  carried 
beneath  the  floor,  indicated  by  the  line  A  B,  the  furnace  being  at  A, 
and  the  chimney  at  B,  and  this  extent  of  flue  is  said  to  be  sufficient 
to  warm  the  church.  The  furnace  is  outside,  and  below  the  level 
of  the  ground,  being  arched  over  and  turfed,  having  a  small  space 
left  for  access,  with  steps  down  on  the  west  side.  The  furnace  is 
of  the  common  description,  with  close  bars  and  an  ash-pit  beneath, 
being  earned  under  the  outside  wall  of  the  church. 


ON  THE  WARMING  OF  CHtJRCHES. 


157 


The  construction  of  the  flue  itself,  which  runs  under  the  paving, 
is  shewn  by  the  engraving  of  the  section,  and  is  thus  arranged — 


cr=r- 


//)  SEC^TlvOvN-.r-/-- 


V^ 


^ 

6 


t^ 


^^— .^ 


ij::::z-^^,^c(^^:^:^j^^_^ 


AA  bottom  of  paving  tile ;  BB  two  courses  of  bricks  laid  flat ;  C 
semicircular  tile,  1^  inch  thick,  with  a  piece  of  plain  tile,  slate,  or 
brick,  at  F,  to  take  the  joints  of  the  paving  EE,  to  receive  the 
gratings ;  the  sides  DD  carried  up  in  two  courses  of  brick  on  edge; 
leaving  the  open  space  GG  for  the  heated  air,  which  escapes  at  the 
regulating  ventilators  H.  These  are  about  a  foot  square,  and  the 
number  will  be  regulated  by  the  size  of  the  church ;  at  the  curves  or 
angles  they  should  be  a  little  larger,  to  allow  of  clearing  out  the 
flue.  Over  the  joints  of  the  semicircular  tiles  forming  the  flues, 
iron  straps  I  I  are  laid,  turned  down  under  the  brick  sides  ;  these 
serve  to  secure  the  whole  together,  and  to  make  the  flues  compact. 
The  joints  were  pointed  with  Portland  cement,  which  was  con- 
sidered better  for  the  purpose  than  Roman  cement.     The  cost  of 


158 


NORTHAMPTON  AUCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


the  whole  was  under  £20.  This,  like  the  preceding,  is  an  ad- 
vantageous application  of  the  smoke  flue ;  but  it  appears  that,  as 
compared  with  the  former  plan,  a  considerable  amount  of  heating 
surface  is  lost,  as  the  gratings  only  occur  at  intervals ;  it  may  be 
doubted  also,  whether  the  joints  of  the  semicircular  tiles  can  be 
made  so  close  as  to  prevent  the  escape  of  smoke  ;  the  small  cost, 
however,  if  effectual,  would  be  likely  to  recommend  its  adoption. 

In  towns  where  gas  is  manufactured,  it  may  be  applied  for  the 
purpose  of  warming  churches,  provided  sufficient  care  be  taken  to 
attach  a  pipe  to  the  stove  to  carry  off  the  unconsumed  gas.  A 
'*  Patent  Gas  Stove"  is  manufactured  by  Ricketts,  Agar  Street, 
Strand,  London.  It  is  stated  to  require  no  chimney,  though  it  seems 
to  be  more  desirable  for  an  exit  pipe  to  be  attached  to  the  stove, 
communicating  with  a  chimney  or  flue. 

The  acompanying  en- 
graving represents  a  Gas 
Stove,  designed  and  man- 
ufactured by  Mr.  Skidmore 
of  Coventry,  well  known  for 
the  excellence  of  his  iron 
and  brass  work.  It  repre- 
sents the  outer  case  of  the 
stove,  the  frame  being  of 
cast,  and  the  sides  and  top 
of  wrought  iron,  pierced  in 
an  ornamental  form.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  stove 
consists  in  the  burners  not 
being  enclosed,  as  is  the 
case  in  other  gas  stoves  in 
present  use  ;  but  a  free  ad- 
mission of  air  is  provided 
by  the  trefoil  openings  at 
the  base.  Inside  there  is 
a  series  of  cast  iron  plates, 
one  above  another,  and  di- 
^^^  minishing  in  size;  these, 
1-  when  heated,  present  a  con- 
siderable radiating  surface 
to  the  outer  air,  through  the  perforated  sides.  These  stoves  have 
been  erected  in  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Michael's,  Coventry. 

Another  gas  stove  has  been  lately  invented  and  patented  by 
Mr.  G.  Neall  of  Northampton,  and  is  sold  by  Messrs.  Deane  &  Co., 
London  Bridge.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  engraved  section,  (on 
the  opposite  page),  that  the  principle  consists  in  a  dome  being 
placed  above  the  burners,  from  which,  being  closed  at  the  top,  no 
escape  of  gas  can  take  place,  the  chief  objection  to  the  use  of  these 
stoves ;  while  the  sides  of  it  afford  a  radiating  surface  for  the  heat ; 
the  burners  being  always  supplied  with  a  free  current  of  air  from 
the  openings  in  the  outer  case. 


ON  THE  WARMING  OF  CHURCHES. 


159 


By  the  kindness  of  J.  W.  Hugall,  Esq.,  architect,  of  Chelten- 
ham, we  are  favoured  with  a  description  of  a  gas  stove,  which  has 
lately  been  constructed  with  good  results.  It  consists  of  an  earth- 
enware chamber,  within  which  the  gas-burners  are  placed.  Around 
this  there  is  another  chamber  of  the  same  material ;  between  these 
two  the  fresh  air  is  admitted,  and  is  warmed  by  coming  in  contact 
with  the  heated  surface.  A  tube  carries  away  any  foul  vapours  into 
an  adjoining  chimney. 

These  remarks  have  been  extended  to  too  great  a  length,  were 
it  not  that  the  importance  of  the  subject,  and  the  opportunity 
afforded  of  bringing  forward  the  opinions  of  scientific  and  ex- 
perienced persons,  appeared  to  be  a  sufficient  apology.  It  is  accom- 
panied also  by  a  feeling,  that  the  cause  of  religion  will  be  promoted 
by  such  an  enquiry  as  the  present,  if  it  shall  contribute  towards 
rendering  our  churches  more  attractive  to  the  congregation, 
since  the  superior  comfort  of  modern  houses  renders  them  im- 
patient of  discomfort  in  places  of  worship — and  to  many  of  whom, 
when  suffering  from  ill-health  or  infirmity,  an  attendance  would  be 
followed  by  serious  results ;  the  only  alternative  being  an  exclusion 
altogether  from  the  services  of  the  church.  In  conclusion,  there- 
fore, we  may  with  good  reason  adopt  as  our  motto,  though  with  a 
slight  modification  in  its  application,  the  old  Roman  proverb — 

PEO   ARIS    ET    FOCIS. 


WORCESTER 

DIOCESAN  AECHITECTUEAL  SOCIETY. 


Ancient  Stained  Glass.  A  Paper  read  at  a  Joint  Meeting  of  the 
Worcester  Diocesan  and  Birmingham  Architectural  Societies, 
held  in  King  Edward's  Grammar  School,  Birmingham,  August 
12th,  1857.     Bj  John  H.  Powell,  Esq. 

Ancient  stained  glass  presents  a  wide  field,  for  the  study  and 
admiration  of  all  antiquarians  and  artists,  whether  regarded 
historically,  artistically,  or  religiously.  Indeed,  in  every  point  of 
view,  the  subject  is  so  full  of  interest,  that  I  feel  the  time  allowed 
me,  and  my  own  knowledge  far  too  limited,  to  do  even  slight  justice 
to  it.  I  will  therefore  only  attempt  to  point  out,  some  of  its  many 
beauties,  and  give  a  general  notion  of  the  principles,  upon  which  the 
*'  old  masters  in  glass  "  worked. 

In  saying  ancient  glass,  I  mean  to  confine  the  term,  to  the  mosaic 
works,  of  the  13th  and  14th  centuries ;  for,  soon  after  this  period, 
the  "  true  principles  "  of  the  earlier  men,  were  more  or  less  violated, 
in  the  luxurious  compositions  of  the  15th  and  16th  centuries,  though 
the  innovations  were  in  some  degree  compensated  for,  by  a  most 
astonishing  display,  of  artistic  skill  and  harmonious  colouring.  The 
ancient  windows  were  composed,  of  what  are  technically  called  pot- 
metals  ;  that  is,  pieces  of  glass  coloured  in  the  melting  pot,  and 
entirely  translucent,  upon  which  the  subject  was  drawn  in  opaque 
lines,  and,  these  lines  supported  by  partially  transparent  flat  shadows. 
The  pieces  were  then  set  into  grooved  lead  bands,  which  formed  the 
outline — the  figure,  group,  or  ornament,  thus  completed,  having 
been  arranged  to  fit  geometrical  or  straight  frames  of  T-shaped  iron- 
work, to  which  it  was  fixed  by  cotters.  And,  after  so  many  centuries, 
— even  in  our  own  days  of  mechanical  ingenuity — no  better  plan 
can  be  devised  for  its  firm  construction:  in  fact,  many  of  the  old 
windows  remain  from  the  13th  century,  in  their  original  frames,  of 
lead  and  iron  still  in  good  condition. 

Having  thus  shortly  described  the  nature  of  mosaic  glass,  and 
for  the  sake  of  adopting  some  plan  for  the  remainder  of  this  Paper, 
I  will  take  in  succession,  the  three  qualifications  necessary  for  a 


163     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY, 

good  window,  namely,  colour^  design^  drawing,  and  show  how  in 
each,  the  old  artists  excelled.     Firstly — 

COLOUE. 

The  first  thing  which  strikes  the  eye,  on  approaching  a  stained- 
glass  window  is  its  colour :  and  no  one  with  a  cultivated  or  natural 
taste  for  the  beautiful,  can  help  feeling  the  translucent  influence  of 
a  fair  old  window ;  how  it  softens  the  light  without  destroying  it ; 
preserving  and  assisting  the  architectural  lines,  and  features,  of  the 
building,  without  breaking  the  wall  surface  ;  and  how  by  its  solemn 
light  and  religious  stories,  and  by  excluding  external  objects,  it 
keeps  the  eye  within  the  building,  and  directs  the  mind  by  its  design. 
Without  true  harmony  and  balance  of  colour,  the  most  careful  and 
beautiful  drawing  is  entirely  ruined  or  lost.  This,  therefore,  is  the 
most  important  feature. 

Now,  one  of  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  old  glass,  is  the 
simple  distinct  tone  of  colouring,  which  being  constantly  repeated, 
with  certain  variations,  runs  like  the  strain  of  some  old  melody 
through  all  their  windows.  This  effect  is  seldom  or  never  attained 
in  modern  glass,  where,  generally,  the  colour  is  either  too  patchy, 
from  being  in  too  large  masses,  or  too  much  cut  up  by  an  attempt 
to  introduce  every  positive,  or  neutral,  tint  in  existence — thus 
producing  a  confused  inharmonious  effect  from  bad  arrangement 
of  colour,  or  a  sickly  one  from  too  many  half-tones.  The  ex- 
cellence of  the  old  work  in  this  respect,  is  strikingly  illustrated,  in 
the  east  window  of  Gloucester,  where  only  four  colours  are  used  with 
wonderful  effect;  and  again  at  Merton  College,  where  only  one 
coloured  band,  runs  through  the  series  of  side  windows,  upon  grisaille 
glass  with  flowered  bordering,  tieing  them  together,  and  becoming 
an  architectural  feature  in  itself.  In  these,  and  a  hundred  others, 
the  eye  rests  naturally,  upon  the  intention  of  the  window  as  a  whole, 
instead  of  being  dragged  from  one  corner  to  another,  astonished  and 
bewildered,  at  the  violence  and  variety  of  colour; — which  frequently 
looks  as  if  a  committee  had  chosen  the  best  (or  worst)  parts  of  a 
dozen  competitive  drawings,  and  had  them  all  crowded  into  one 
window.  No  number  of  clever  men  can  design  a  window,  half  as 
well,  as  only  one  who  (though  he  may  be  of  inferior  ability)  follows 
out  his  single  idea. 

Another  great  charm  of  the  old  glass,  lies  in  the  quantity  of  pure 
greyish  blue  used,  which  generally  circulates  to  the  remotest  corners, 
toning  down  and  giving  weight  to  the  more  vivid  colours ;  backgrounds 
are  usually  of  this  blue,  as  no  other  colour  relieves  the  figures  so 
well,  or  admits  of  such  a  variety  of  tints  harmonising  upon  it.  Thus 
I  might  mention  each  colour,  showing  how  knowingly  it  was  used, 
and  its  peculiar  beauty  of  tint; — the  rubies  streaky,  and  brilliant, 
with  the  colour  generally  mixed  throughout  the  metal,  and  not  only 
flashed  upon  the  surface,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  our  modern  glass  ; 
the  greens  always  quiet  (not  strong  and  vulgar) ;  the  whites  pearly 
or  silvery  (not  thin  and  clear),  and  dispersed  over  the  whole  design 
to  give  proper  value  to  every  tone ;  the  brown  purples,  used  as  a 
soft  transition  between  the  ruby  and  blue ;    and,  lastly,  the  golden 


ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS.  163 

yellow,  (not  the  vulgar  orange  of  the  hall  windows  of  our  modern 
villas),  sparkling  out  as  a  gleam  of  sunshine  over  all.  And,  as  the 
seven  notes  of  music,  are  capable  of  infinite  change  of  melody  by 
juxtaposition,  so  these  few  colours,  varied  from  the  palest  to  the 
richest  shade,  were  sufficient  for  endless  varieties  of  harmony,  in 
the  hands  of  the  old  painters,  the  peculiar  tint  of  each,  helping 
very  much  the  effect  of  the  whole. 

In  the  deep  knowledge,  of  choosing  these  arrangements  of  colour, 
the  old  men  excelled,  either  by  science  or  by  mere  cultivation  of 
eye ;  and  so  carefully  did  they  select  the  tints,  that  the  broken 
fragments, — the  mere  ruins — of  an  ancient  window,  thrown  care- 
lessly together  by  some  thoughtless  glazier  Cas  at  Lincoln,  in  the 
Rose)  are  much  more  harmonious  in  their  decay,  than  the  most 
pretentious  of  the  displays  of  modern  times. 

It  is  often  said,  "  Oh,  time  has  done  most  of  it ;  dirt  and  atmos- 
phere will  harmonize  anything !  "  Nothing  is  more  false.  It  may 
be  true,  that  the  more  a  modern  failure  is  covered  and  hidden,  the 
less  its  poverty  and  bad  colouring  will  be  observable,  (though  it  is  as 
inconsistent  for  a  glass  painter  to  imitate  on  his  window  the  effects 
of  age,  as  for  an  architect  to  bucket  a  new  church  with  green-wash 
to  attempt  to  make  it  look  venerable),  but,  old  works,  in  the  brilliancy 
and  jewel-like  effect  of  the  glass,  when  new,  must  have  been  more 
than  startling ;  for  the  secret  of  their  success  lies  in  the  material^ 
and  its  arrangement.  The  fine,  thick,  uneven,  pot-metal  caught  the 
rays  of  light  and  held  them  fast,  struggling  and  flashing,  in  its 
gemmy  substance,  until  the  whole  became  a  translucent  picture,  but 
without  hurting  the  eye  of  the  spectator,  as  no  ray  of  light  could  pass 
directly  through  it.  The  four  windows  in  Ely  transept,  by  the 
Gerentes,  of  Paris,  give  very  much  of  this  effect ;  and  though  placed 
injudiciously  high,  for  their  small  grouping,  still  give  a  fair  idea  of 
what  old  glass  was, — fresh  from  the  hands  of  the  artist.    Secondly — 

Design. 

In  this  important  respect  ancient  glass  is  unrivalled ;  the  finest 
designs,  however  full  of  meaning,  are  simple  and  forcible,  so  that 
the  mind  is  led  directly  to  the  intention  of  what  is  set  forth,  and 
may  be  read  at  once,  by  any  one  versed  in  the  history  of  the  old  and 
new  Scriptures,  and  the  intimate  relation  they  bear  to  each  other 
by  type  and  antetype.  They  are  full  of  the  most  profound  Biblical 
knowledge,  not  only  of  the  mere  facts  of  the  history,  but  of  their 
meaning  and  spirit.  It  is  a  very  common  notion,  that  the  mediasval 
men  were  ignorant  of,  or  opposed  to  the  circulation  of  Scriptural 
knowledge ;  but  the  windows  which  they  placed  before  the  people 
were  certainly  replete  with  its  great  truths  and  lessons,  from  the 
first  day  of  creation  to  the  last  vision  of  St.  John.  It  would  take 
days,  to  speak  with  justice  of  the  fine  arrangement,  and  symbolic 
treatment,  of  the  Canterbury  glass  alone,  where  each  important 
event,  in  the  wonderful  story  of  our  Redemption,  was  set  as  a  jewel, 
in  the  centre  of  four  prophetical  incidents  in  the  old  law,  relating 
to  it ;  all  of  which  was  told  by  simple  expressive  outlines,  like 
some  rare  passages  of  an  old  author,  condensed  in  meaning,  but 


164    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

with  very  few  words.  So  at  King's  College,  Cambridge,  though  the 
glass  is  too  late  to  be  very  correct  on  true  principles  (however 
artistically  skilful),  still  it  preserves  the  old  arrangement  of  type  and 
antetype.  The  whole  story  of  the  Christian  Church  is  told, — from 
the  announcement  of  the  angel  to  Joachim,  attending  his  sheep — 
that  the  reproach  should  be  taken  away  from  his  sorrowing  wife 
Anna,  and  that  she  should  bear  a  daughter  who  was  to  be  the 
mother  of  the  Messiah,  through  every  incident  of  this  marvellous 
history;  the  nativity,  life,  passion,  and  death  of  the  Son  of  God,  and 
proceeding  through  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  it  ends  in  the  Assumption 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  was  considered  as  a  type  of  the  Church. 
Each  event,  being  accompanied  by  a  typical  passage  from  the  Old 
Scripture,  showing  how  completely  the  prophetical  lives  of  the 
Patriarchs,  were  understood  by  these  old  artists.  Again,  at  Wells, 
what  can  be  grander  than  the  conventional  design,  of  the  great 
eastern  Jesse  tree,  where  the  Patriarch  lies  as  the  root,  and  the 
ancestors  of  our  Kedeemer,  according  to  the  flesh,  from  the  royal 
Psalmist  to  the  humble  cai-penter,  sit  on  the  twisting  branches  as  it 
growsupward,  till  onits  topmost  branch  hangs  its  "best fruit" crucified, 
his  life's  blood  flowing  among  the  clustered  grapes.  Or,  than  at 
Malvern,  in  the  clerestory,  where  stood  the  whole  Heavenly  Hier- 
archy with  the  emblems  of  their  several  ofiices, — all  carefully  made 
out  from  passages  of  Scripture.  Or,  again,  at  Lincoln,  in  the  great 
doom,  where  the  "  Son  of  Man,  in  great  power  and  majesty,"  sits  sur- 
rounded by  angels,  bearing  the  emblems  of  his  passion.  These 
and  a  thousand  other  examples  of  this  method  of  illustrating,  either 
mysteries  of  the  faith  or  the  events  of  sacred  history,  existed  in 
England.  What  might  not  be  said  (if  time  allowed),  of  those  vast 
churches  abroad,  with  their  mines  of  thought  in  stained  glass, — 
Strasbourg,  Fribourg,  Bourges,  the  Sainte  Chapelle,  Chartres, 
Evreux,  Rouen,  all  well-known  names  to  the  antiquarian  and  artist.  If 
we  turn  to  heraldic  works,  here  again  a  new  field  for  interest  opens,  in 
the  fragments  still  remaining  in  England, — as  at  the  Manor  House, 
Ockwells,  or  the  halls  of  our  many  colleges ;  and  one  very  interest- 
ing and  fine  specimen,  at  the  end  of  St.  Mary's  Hall,  Coventry, 
where  some  of  our  Royal  warriors,  stand  in  martial  heraldic  treat- 
ment, ermined  and  jewelled,  with  sword  and  sceptre,  painted  on 
most  pearly  white,  with  very  little  colour,  though  admirable  in  effect. 
And  here  I  ought  to  speak,  of  the  superiority  of  these  kinds  of 
compositions  for  glass, — this  emblematic,  and  figurative  mode,  of 
bringing  together  historic  or  religious  persons,  and  this  heraldic 
instead  of  natural  way  of  representing  them.-  Glass  is  placed 
against  the  light,  which,  by  playing  upon  it  and  being  refracted  by  it, 
changes  continually  its  effect,  and  thus  produces  a  varying  translucent 
brilliancy  to  the  eye ;  it  hangs  up,  as  it  were  a  vision ;  through  which 
the  light  passes,  and  not  a  bodily  substantial  thing  to  be  touched, 
and  upon  which  the  light  is  thrown.  Thus  all  designs  are  better 
of  a  celestial,  rather  than  terrestrial  character ;  and  historical  facts 
are  more  easily  represented,  when  portions  of  the  Church's  history, 
elevated  in  feeling,  and  as  far  as  possible  removed  from  the  mere 


ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS.  165 

earthly  scene ;  all  accessories  being  avoided,  except  those  which  are 
necessary,  either  from  being  mentioned  in  the  text,  or  required  to 
make  the  story,  consistent  and  intelligible.  This  conventionality  of 
design,  is  constantly  attacked  by  those  persons,  who  confuse  the 
distinctive  limits  of  glass  painting,  with  historic,  landscape,  and 
easel  pictures.  In  the  latter,  great  part  of  the  merit  lies,  in  a 
close  imitation  of  natural  objects,  in  all  their  roundness  of  form; 
but  in  the  decorative  arts,  under  which  head  must  be  ranged 
stained  glass,  nothing  so  misleads  the  eye,  or  is  so  false  in 
principle ;  for  here,  the  merit  lies  in  covering  a  superficial  plane, 
with  pleasure  to  the  sight,  and  interest  to  the  mind,  without  destroy- 
ing the  flat  groundwork, — not  giving  a  positive  scene,  or  producing 
a  stage  delusion  which  might  induce  a  man  to  try  and  walk  through 
a  wall,  to  smell  a  painted  flower,  or  wait  for  a  bird  to  pass  a  land- 
scape. In  a  window  these  effects  may  astonish  the  vulgar,  but 
cannot  dehght  the  mind,  formed  upon  •'  true  principles  of  art." 
This  common  error,  of  exclusive  imitation  of  nature,  in  modern 
glass  painting,  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the  Munich  windows  at 
Cambridge,  where  mediaeval  principles  are  cast  aside  as  rude, 
unworthy  guides.  The  landscapes  are  so  natural,  that  the  eye, 
instead  of  being  kept  within  the  building,  is  ranging  over  sunny 
hills  and  along  streams.  The  delusions  are  admirable ;  you 
feel  inclined  to  test  your  sight  by  touch ;  in  one,  a  lamp  burns  in 
an  inner  chamber,  where,  consequently,  no  light  is  allowed  to  pass 
except  through  the  flame ;  the  cast  shadows  on  the  steps,  imitation 
of  metals,  &c.,&c.,  are  wonderful;  but  the  inconsistency  is  gross,  in 
making  what  is  the  real  vehicle  for  light  partially  dark  on  purpose 
to  introduce  a  false  light,  with  its  own  consequent  reflected  lights. 
How  absurd,  to  make  cast  shadows  upon  a  surface,  through  which 
real  light  passes,  ignoring  the  true  direct  light,  or  only  using  it  as 
a  means  of  introducing  a  false  side  light ;  and  these  inconsistencies 
always  force  the  artist,  to  resort  to  unworthy  doctorings  of  the  glass, 
to  produce  the  effect  so  much  coveted ;  an  enamel  must  be  used 
which  destroys  all  translucency  and  is  not  nearly  so  durable  as 
pot-metal  colour ;  very  soon  the  leads  come  in  the  way  of  true 
perspective  and  round  drawing,  and  must  be  abandoned  as  inter- 
ruptions; so,  in  the  end,  white  glass  is  chosen,  cut  into  squares, 
and  covered  with  enamel  surface  colours,  obscuring,  rather  than 
transmitting,  light ;  plate-glass  is  required  for  outside  protection,  as 
at  Cambridge,  and  the  principle  of  material  and  design  harmonising 
entirely  destroyed. 

How  refreshing  it  is  to  turn  from  these  oiled-silk  looking  per- 
formances, apparently  stretched  tight  to  bursting,  to  the  old  windows, 
as  at  Cologne,  where  the  principle  of  the  material  giving  the  colour, 
and  the  leads  and  the  iron  the  construction,  is  honestly  acknow- 
ledged; where  six  centuries  have  not  dimmed  the  jewel  and  pearl- 
like translucency  of  th  3  effect ;  and  where  they  will  probably  remain, 
to  see  all  their  thin  modern  neighbours,  replaced  by  windows  of  a 
similar  character,  after  this  delusion  of  natural  effects  is  passed 


166     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

away,  and  men  judge  glass  upon  its  first  princmles,  of  construction 
and  material.     Thirdly — 

Drawing. 
We  come  now  to  the  point,  where  even  many  earnest  admirers, 
of  medieval  work  feel  staggered,  and  I  placed  it  thirdly  on  the  hst 
of  essentials,  of  a  good  window,  for  the  reason,  that  correct  drawing, 
though  necessary  to  a  perfect  work,  (and  many  of  the  ancient  win- 
dows are  perfect),  is  not  so  important  as  an  expressive  design  ;  just 
as  proper  grammar  and  orthography,  are  only  second  to  a  fine  con- 
ception in  poetry.  Who  dare  correct  Chaucer  or  Spenser?  So, 
even  defective  drawing,  receives  in  old  glass  painting  a  sort  of 
reverence,  from  its  use  in  explaining  grand  religious  ideas.  Not 
that  the  faulty  part,  should  be  imitated  now — merely  because  it  is 
so  inseparable  from  the  talent  in  the  old  masters.  I  have  constantly 
noticed  that  the  loudest  attacks  against  stiff  necks,  "  twisted  limbs," 
"goggle  eyes,"  "splay  feet,"  &c.,  &c.,  are  made  by  those  who  will 
not  see,  or  cannot  comprehend,  the  deep  symbolic  meaning  they 
may  embody ;  or  just  because  the  severe  outlines,  are  not  in 
accordance  with  the  grace,  and  correct  measurements,  of  their  stan- 
dard Apollo  and  Venus,  they  turn  their  backs  with  a  smile  of  pity 
or  a  shrug  of  contempt.  The  truth  is,  that  our  forefathers,  laid  as 
much  stress  upon  the  intention  of  their  work,  as  we  do  upon  our 
correct  drawing.  They  on  great  conceptions  and  ideas;  we  on 
mere  correct  forms.  But  very  much  of  this  want  of  natural  draw- 
ing is  to  be  defended  upon  true  principles.  Thus,  as  perspective, 
and  foreshortening,  are  not  admissible,  it  follows  that  the  limbs  must 
be  displayed  and  flat — the  feet  shown  in  full,  or  side-ways ;  the 
eyes  nearly  full,  hair  painted  by  lines,  fingers  stretched  out;  in 
fact,  a  sort  of  heraldic  treatment  throughout.  For  an  illustration 
of  the  reverse  of  this,  imagine  the  effect  of  an  arm  end-on  in  glass ; 
the  light  having  to  pierce  through  the  entire  arm,  from  the  elbow 
to  the  fingers ;  all  you  would  see  (without  painting  the  glass,  so  as 
to  exclude  nearly  the  whole  of  the  light),  would  be  five  bright  spots 
for  the  ends  of  the  fingers,  growing  out  of  a  circle  of  light,  the  circum- 
ference of  the  hand  and  arm.  The  old  men,  either  from  their  superior 
knowledge,  or  happy  ignorance,  avoided  these  defects,  by  displaying 
the  arms  side-ways,  and  arranging  the  design,  so  that  the  action  in- 
tended, should  be  represented  by  outline ;  the  drawing,  in  fact, 
being  suited  to  the  material.  Glass  drawing,  however,  actually 
requires  exaggeration  of  action,  and  parts  of  the  figure,  varying  in 
strength,  according  to  the  distance  from  the  eye.  Thus,  the  mean- 
ing, you  could  convey  to  a  friend  a  few  inches  off,  by  a  look,  requires 
at  a  few  yards,  the  movement  of  a  finger ;  and  at  a  still  greater  dis- 
tance, the  violent  gesture  of  an  arm.  So  in  glass,  according  as  the 
window  is  removed  from  the  eye,  an  executioner  swings  his  sword, 
with  more  than  the  actual  circle,  or  St.  John  preaches,  with  stronger 
movement  than  natural.  So  also  with  regard  to  proportion.  If  the 
ox,  and  the  ass,  were  real  size  in  the  "  Nativity,"  the  principal  figures 
would  be  lost.  In  painting,  all  this  undue  preponderance  of  less 
important  parts,  can  be  obviated  easily,  by  a  stronger  light  on  the 


ANCIENT  STAINED  GLASS.  167 

centre  of  interest,  or  by  perspective ;  but  in  glass,  we  have  equal 
transparency  throughout,  and  only  surface  drawing.  Again,  the 
very  material,  requires  conventionality  of  drawing ;  thus,  as  white 
glass  allows  the  rays  of  light,  to  spread  themselves  more  easily,  than 
deep  colours,  so  fingers  must  be  thinner,  to  appear  their  real  size, 
heads  rather  smaller,  &c.,  and  all  figures  longer  and  thinner,  as  they 
shorten  and  widen  by  perspective.  With  costume  also,  convention- 
ality must  be  adopted,  as  it  is  quite  impossible  to  give  the  actual 
detail ;  the  oriental  dress,  with  its  continual  stripes  of  white  and 
blue,  or  brown ;  the  various  coloured  tents,  the  foliage,  the  manners 
and  customs  even  of  the  old  people  of  God,  if  represented  naturally, 
would  not  harmonise,  with  the  mediaeval  framework,  or  the  canopies 
and  geometric  foliage,  which  are  inseparable  from  good  architectural 
glass.  I  have  seen  correctness  of  costume,  attempted  in  modern 
French  glass,  and  the  result  was  a  total  failure ;  the  canopies  were 
flat  and  gothic,  down  one  third  of  the  window,  then  came  round 
figures,  and  cast  shadows,  with  oriental  detail,  which  were  entirely 
at  variance  with  the  framework.  Here  we  see  the  distinction, 
between  the  two  sorts  of  painting,  easel  pictures  and  glass 
painting ;  the  former  are  moveable,  and  good  in  proportion,  as  they 
represent  veritable  scenes ;  the  latter  are  fixed  architectural  features, 
and  good  in  proportion,  as  they  assist  the  building,  of  which  they 
form  constituent  parts.  It  is,  therefore,  much  better  to  accept  con- 
ventionality of  design,  with  what  it  allows,  and  use  its  limited,  but 
powerful  language,  to  tell  your  story,  than  to  wander  about  in  a  sea 
of  inconsistencies,  and  inharmonious  effects,  with  the  most  certain 
result,  of  producing  neither  a  glass-looking  window,  nor  a  relief 
painting. 

Many  an  artist  who  starts  with  a  contempt  for  mediseval  art  as 
"very  curious,"  and  "perhaps,  even  good  for  the  time  it  was  pro- 
duced," interesting  for  its  antiquity,  &c.,  but  much  too  rude  for  our 
own  enlightened  time,  comes  down  after  his  own  repeated  failures 
humbly  to  these  remnants  for  hints,  acknowledges  their  riches,  and 
owns  that  everything  that  is  most  valuable  in  the  art,  is  to  be  found 
in  them;  and  England,  despite  the  fanatic  zeal,  and  ignorant  neg- 
lect, which  for  three  centuries  have  sacked  her  treasury  of  ancient 
art,  still  retains  grand  examples  of  every  period.  York,  yet  boasts, 
of  full  three  parts  of  her  glass ;  Salisbury,  some  few  wonderful  frag- 
ments, after  the  river  has  been  choked  with  her  riches ;  Glouces- 
ter, her  giant  window  still  full ;  Lincoln,  Canterbury,  Tewkesbury, 
Shrewsbury,  Malvern,  with  a  host  of  parish  churches,  chapels,  and 
old  halls  still  retaining  fine  remains ;  so  that,  while  we  must 
lament  the  irrecoverable  loss  of  so  much,  we  may  still  be  happy  that 
sufficient  is  left,  by  which  we  can  estimate,  the  treasures  that  have 
been  destroyed,  and  to  guide  us  in  the  revival,  we  are  attempting 
to  make.  This  revival  is  fairly  started ;  and  notwithstanding  the 
many  difficulties,  our  scientific  and  mechanical  age,  throws  in  the 
way  of  art — the  cramping  contracts — the  utter  ugliness  of  modern 
costume,  and  loss  of  dignity  of  action,  which  drives  the  artist  to 
old  times  for  models  and  types ; — the  fatal  love  of  attempting  great 


168    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

effects  with  small  means, — the  unhappy  striving  of  able  artists,  to 
paint  nothing  but  easel  pictures,  leaving  the  decorative  arts  to  the 
less  skilful; — and,  worst  of  all,  "traitors  within  the  camp,"  the 
want  of  earnest  spirit,  and  reverence  for  their  work,  among  glass 
painters  themselves,  who,  by  cooking  up  prints,  and  drawings,  of  all 
periods  and  styles,  too  often  degrade  stained  glass  among  her  sister 
arts,  for  mere  gain: — despite  all  this,  there  is  a  steady  advance. 
Associations  like  the  one  I  have  the  honor  of  addressing,  have  done 
much,  to  rouse  a  love  and  zeal  for  this  beautiful  art,  draw  attention 
to  the  remains  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  aid  in  their  preservation. 
The  daily  growing  desire  for  memorial  windows,  will  secure  at  least, 
one  large  branch  of  the  art  continual  support.  The  restoration  of 
this  ancient  method  of  commemorating  the  dead  is  most  cheering, 
and  I  believe  the  time  will  come — I  hope  we  may  live  to  see  it — 
when  the  crowd,  of  vain  ostentatious  memorial  displays,  which  deface 
or  block  up  many  of  our  great  churches  (even  the  most  perfect  of 
all,  Westminster)  will  be  swept  away  as  irreverent,  and  give  place 
once  more  to  the  fair  storied  stained  glass  which  originally  filled 
their  wonderful  windows. 


Truth  and  FalseJiood  in  ArcJiitecture,  A  Paper  read  at  a  joint 
Meeting  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan,  and  the  Birmingham 
Architectural  Societies,  held  in  King  Edward's  Grammar 
School,  Birmingham,  August  12th,  1857.  By  John  H, 
Chamberlain,  Esq.,  Architect. 

The  art  of  architecture  has  been  frequently'defined  as  the  science 
of  building.  But  this  definition,  though  probably  correct,  fails  to 
convey  (at  least  popularly)  the  whole  truth  respecting  architecture; 
because  scientific  building  is  not  necessarily  architecture,  and 
many  things  which  are  talked  of  and  written  about  as  works  of 
architecture  are  mere  buildings  only,  and  not  architecture  at  all. 
But  that  work  is  architecture  which  to  its  scientific  building  adds 
artistic  decoration,  not  necessarily  by  a  separate  process,  because  in 
all  good  architecture  the  decoration  depends  in  a  great  degree  on 
the  constructional  forms,  and  the  two  are  thought  out  together. 
Still,  in  all  the  best  works,  the  crowning  grace  and  decoration  of 
all  is  generally  independent  of  the  constructional  necessities  of  the 
building ;  and  hence  has  arisen  the  confusion  existing  between  the 
two  classes — the  one  who,  like  the  late  Mr.  Wei  by  Pugin,  believe 
that  the  true  beauty  of  building  is  construction  decorated ;  and  the 
other  who,  making  architects  nothing  but  miserable  decorators  and 
foolish  stickers  on  of  ornament,  say  that  construction  being  one 
thing  and  decoration  another,  it  would  be  good  if  the  engineer  and 
the  architect  divided  the  work  between  them.  But  without  going 
more  minutely  into  this  question,  you  will,  I  hope,  agree  with  me 
that  true  architecture  is  scientific  building  artistically  decorated. 


TRUTH  AND  FALSEHOOD  IN  ARCHITECTURE.         169 

Now,  into  the  scientific  part  I  do  not  intend  to  enter,  though 
there  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  and  falsehood  in  it ;  but  it  is  to  a 
higher  species  of  truth  and  a  baser  kind  of  falsehood  that  I  wish 
to  draw  your  attention. 

There  is  only  one  possible  source  from  which  any  man  can  draw 
and  nourish  his  ideas  of  beauty.  Born,  all  of  us,  to  admire  the 
beautiful,  and  with  all  the  responsibility  of  so  great  a  gift  resting 
upon  us,  there  has  been  provided  for  us  in  the  face  of  the  natural 
world  a  store  of  beauty — all  that  we  can  desire,  and  far  more  than 
we  can  see,  or  feel,  or  know.  I  do  not  want  to  attempt  this  evening 
to  prove  the  universality  of  beauty,  for  you  will  none  of  you  dispute 
it.  I  do  not  want  to  attempt  to  show  why  the  beautiful  should  be 
so  good  and  necessary,  as  you  will  all  allow  it  is ;  because  it  is  a 
task  far  above  my  powers.  Let  it  suffice,  then,  to  say  that  God  has 
clothed  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  the  sky  in  beauty  as  in  a  garment ; 
and  that  although  some  scenes  may  surpass  others  in  sublimity,  or 
some  in  beauty,  there  is  not  even  a  bunch  of  weeds  growing  by  the 
way  side  but  is  full  of  the  Divine;  and  that  in  the  ordinary  scenery 
around  us  there  is  food  enough,  and  far  more  than  enough,  for  our 
every  artistic  want. 

Nature,  therefore,  is  our  great  instruction  book.  It  is  at  every 
artist's  and  architect's  peril  if  he  does  not  study  it  lovingly  and  well. 
And  what  I  mean  by  architectural  truth  is  this : — that  having  so 
studied  nature,  and  so  got  her  lessons  at  his  heart,  the  architect  can 
take  of  her  great  facts  and  weave  them  into  his  building,  till  from 
its  foundation  to  its  summit,  and  along  its  every  line,  it  speaks  out 
truths  drawn  from  the  light  and  the  darkness,  from  the  river  and 
the  cloud,  from  the  rock,  and  field,  and  tree ;  so  that,  standing  in 
the  populous  city,  it  may  remind  men  of  those  glorious  works  of 
nature  from  which  by  their  business  avocations  they  may  for  a  time 
be  separated,  but  ought  never  to  be  entirely  severed. 

And  if  the  architect  takes  any  true  glory,  any  true  delight  in  his 
profession,  it  is  mainly  in  this — that  by  his  ministry  the  grim 
necessities  of  the  town  and  city  may  be  softened,  and  the  hearts  of 
men  gladdened  by  the  selfsame  influences  which  lift  them  in  praise 
and  adoration,  as  they  walk  amongst  the  fair  works  of  God. 

If  such  is  architectural  truth,  the  first,  and  yet  not  the  most 
pernicious  kind  of  architectural  falsehood  is  that  doctrine,  very  much 
advocated  of  late,  that  the  architect  has  nothing  to  do  with  nature. 
The  supporters  of  this  tenet  say  that  a  building  is  necessarily  so 
artificial,  and  walls,  doorways,  windows,  roofs,  and  so  on,  so  unlike 
anything  in  nature,  that  all  architectural  ornament  ought  also  to  be 
artificial  and  unnatural ;  that  is  to  say,  the  mere  constructional  part 
of  a  building  being  ugly,  the  ornament  ought  to  be  carefully  matured 
and  carried  out  in  ugliness  also,  to  ensure  artistic  keeping  and  uni- 
formity in  design.  But  they  overlook  the  fact  that,  although  the 
primitive  forms  of  building  were  invented  to  meet  the  animal 
requirements  of  man,  and  are  therefore  not  of  necessity  beautiful, 
yet  it  is  the  noblest  part  of  the  Architect's  work  to  provide  for  the 
mind  and  heart;  and  therefore,  the  more  completely  and  thoroughly, 

Y 


170     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY . 

construction  is  subordinated  and  subdued  by  beauty,  so  is  the 
greatness  and  the  worth  of  any  architectural  work.  '*Go  to 
nature,"  they  say,  *'  and  make  our  columns  like  the  trunks  of  trees." 
No,  not  so  ;  for  to  do  such  things  would  be  to  violate  the  first  law 
of  nature ;  for  nature  makes  all  things  fit  for  their  allotted  place  ; 
and  amongst  her  other  doctrines  she  most  emphatically  proclaims 
that  all  direct  imitation  is  entirely  wrong  ;  but  do  with  your  columns 
as  nature  does  with  her  tree  trunks ;  give  them  all  necessary  firm- 
ness and  stability,  but  do  not  forget  to  make  them  beautiful  as  well. 

The  second  great  architectural  falsehood,  also,  denies  nature, 
but  in  a  more  positive  manner.  It  is  the  passive,  brutal  resistance 
of  men  who  simply  cannot  perceive  the  universality  of  her  beauty. 
For  by  that  very  universality  she  proclaims  that  each  thing,  accord- 
ing to  its  degree,  may  and  ought  to  be  beautiful.  And  yet  there  is 
not  a  street  in  any  town  in  which  the  majority  of  its  houses  are  not 
built  in  the  purest  ugliness.  Mile  after  mile  wo  may  walk — street 
after  street  we  may  wander  through,  and  no  evidence  of  beauty  meet 
the  eye.  We  may,  perhaps,  see  here  and  there  some  small  attempt 
at  attractiveness ;  for  it  begins  to  be  found  that  a  smart  house  lets 
better  than  a  dowdy  one ;  but  still  no  vestige  of  an  idea  that  beauty 
is  worth  seeking  after — that  it  comes  from  God,  and  like  all  his 
gifts  cannot  be  refused  without  great  loss,  and  direct  substitution 
and  reception  of  evil;  and  that  the  man  who  builds  an  ugly 
house,  has  done  a  thoughtless,  heartless,  selfish,  unchristian  act,  to 
the  loss  and  disadvantage  of  his  fellow  men.  There  is  such  a  thing 
as  downright  Atheism  in  architecture :  and  Atheism,  as  a  general 
rule,  is  not  particularly  true. 

But  the  basest  architectural  falsehood  of  which  any  man  can  be 
guilty,  is  that  most  common  one  of  imitating,  in  an  inferior  material, 
some  natural  process  in  a  better  one.  I  mean  all  such  sad  things 
as  graining  deal  to  look  like  oak,  or  jointing  stucco  to  look  like  stone, 
or  washing  over  cement  and  slate  with  paint  to  look  like  marble,  or 
powdering  over  cast  iron  that  it  may  look  like  bronze,  or  any  other 
of  those  innumerable  deceits  which  surround  us  wherever  we  go, 
and  which  are  mere  ostentatious  pretences  indulged  in  through 
vanity,  and  for  the  sake  of  spurious  magnificence,  founded  in  mere 
imbecility,  fostered  by  idleness,  and  never  yet  done  out  of  the  least 
shadow  of  love  for,  insight  in,  or  reverence  to,  art.  For,  mark  me, 
there  is  no  possible  material  but  has  in  it  some  worthiness  for  which 
there  is  a  right  use,  and  it  is  the  architect's  business  to  find  out 
that  use.  But  we  have  used  stucco  for  these  many  long  years,  and 
the  sole  end  and  aim  of  the  stucco  users  has  been,  and  still  is,  to 
make  their  poor  w^all  of  plaster,  three-quarters  of  an  inch  thick, 
look  like  a  solid  stone  one,  some  feet  thick.  Such  men,  therefore, 
confess  that  they  are  incompetent  to  design  any  right  use  for  stucco ; 
that  they  never  understood  that  natural  law  which  gives  to  each 
different  creation  its  own  proper  shape,  and  so  works  out  one  thing 
from  sap  and  another  from  crystallization  ;  and  they  are  therefore 
untrue  to  their  art  and  untrue  to  nature.  And  this  particular  false- 
hood has  this  peculiar  baseness  belonging  to  it,  that  for  the  sake  of 


TRUTH  AND  FALSEHOOD  IN  ARCHITECTURE.  171 

catching  the  eyes,  and  obtaining  the  admiration  of  the  vulgar  and  the 
worldly,  it  entirely  betrays  the  whole  end  and  aim  of  art,  and  sets 
up  as  the  truth  the  false  doctrine  that  cost  of  material  is  better  than 
thought  in  workmanship,  and  that  in  our  architecture,  the  art  of 
our  every-day  life,  we  are  not  to  exalt  God  but  to  worship  Mammon. 
For  indeed,  were  not  oak  more  costly  than  deal,  and  marble  than 
stone,  and  stone  than  stucco,  the  one  material  would  very  seldom 
be  tortured  into  resemblance  to  the  other ;  but  we  must  have  deal 
doors,  and  yet  are  ashamed  of  them  ;  and  plaster  on  our  walls,  and 
are  ashamed  of  that  too ;  and  at  the  same  time  have  not  got  the 
wit  to  decorate  them  properly,  so  we  work  them  up  into  an  imitation 
of  some  better  thing,  and  are  delighted  beyond  measure  when  the 
deceit  is  tolerably  successful. 

But  I  will  not  dwell  on  the  loss  of  moral  truth  involved  in  these 
customs ;  it  is  too  difficult  a  subject.  They  are  ♦*  customary,"  and 
in  that  one  word  how  great  an  excuse  lies.  But  the  direct  archi- 
tectural falsehood  involved  in  these  things  we  can  perhaps  see  more 
clearly;  and  these  falsehoods  are,  1  think,  twofold,  and  involve 
falseness  in  purpose  and  falseness  in  design.  For  first,  with  regard 
to  falseness  of  purpose,  let  ns  think,  as  we  briefly  observed  before, 
that  it  is  the  architect's  special  office  to  find  out  and  give  to  each 
material  its  proper  use.  That  each  different  material  has  a  different 
class  of  merit,  and  that  in  the  proper  application  of  such  merit  lies 
its  proper  use.  And  what  then  shall  we  conclude  of  that  architect, 
who,  discerning  no  special  capability  in  the  material  set  before  him, 
but  counting  wood,  stone,  iron,  or  cement  as  all  alike,  or  differing 
only  in  their  respective  costliness,  casts  them  all  into  the  same  one 
form — a  form  which  if  it  be  appropriate  for  the  one  material,  must 
of  necessity  be  wrong  for  all  the  rest.  Shall  we  not  say  of  such  a 
man's  practice  that  it  is  false ;  and  that  he  denies  the  true  excellence, 
and  abstains  from  the  right  use,  because,  his  purpose  being  false, 
his  practice  is  error? 

Then  again,  with  regard  to  design,  let  me  call  your  attention  to 
the  fact,  that  in  the  great  designing  eras  of  architecture,  it  was  an 
architecture  of  stone.  The  peculiar  methods  of  ornamentation 
adopted  in  Classic  temple  or  Gothic  cathedral  were  designed  by 
thinking  earnest  men  working  in  marble  or  stone,  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, a  style  of  ornamentation  entirely  adapted  to  the  capabilities  of 
such  materials.  Now,  both  stone  and  marble  are  at  once  sufficiently 
strong  and  tough  to  bear  much  cutting  with  the  chisel,  and  it  is 
quite  possible  to  carve  them  into  very  highly  wrought  figures  of  men 
or  foliage  ;  and  the  great  glory  and  beauty  of  stone-carving  lies  in 
the  exquisite  delicacy  and  accuracy  with  which  natural  forms  may 
be  rendered ;  and  we  find  in  the  works  of  the  Gothic  structure  every 
species  of  plant  and  leaf,  wrought  out  in  the  full  luxuriance  of  its 
own  wild  growth,  and  springing  up  with  as  much  ease  and  tenderness 
as  if  they  had  budded  out  and  blossomed  of  their  own  accord,  and 
not  by  man's  ordinance.  But  the  sculptor  was  enabled  to  achieve 
all  this,  because,  with  his  chisels  and  other  tools,  he  worked  right 
into  the  heart  of  the  stone,  and  so  cut  the  flowers  and  leaves  into 


172     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

such  bold  and  under-cut  relief,  that  in  many  Gothic  mouldings  or 
capitals  you  may  put  your  finger  in  among  the  stalks.  But  the 
architecture  of  the  present  day  is  not  necessarily  wrought  out  of 
such  noble  materials ;  and  very  often  is  but  architecture  of  brick,  and 
wood,  and  plaster.  And  the  clever  modern  designers  (not  only 
architects  but  designers  of  every  kind)  have  made  universal  this 
falseness  of  design,  that  having  a  new  material  to  work  in,  they  have 
done  nothing  but  copy  the  old,  wrought  out  by  different  men,  through 
other  causes;  and  consequently  the  major  part  of  all  modern  design 
is  totally  valueless.  As  an  instance,  take  internal  plaster  cornices 
and  centre  flowers — both  modern  inventions,  and  both  very  necessary. 
You  will  find  on  examination  that,  in  most  instances,  these  cornices 
are  imitations  of  stone  mouldings,  elaborately  under-cut  like  stone, 
and  the  more  ornamental  parts  filled  with  scrolls,  or  wreaths  of 
foliage,  copied  directly  from  antique  stone  work:  or  if  not  actually 
copied  line  by  line  and  fibre  by  fibre,  yet  in  their  general  idea  they 
are  still  taken  from  the  same  wrong  source.  Wrong  for  these  reasons, 
that,  in  the  first  place,  stone  is  a  brilliant  slightly  transparent 
material,  and  as  it  approaches  marble  is  still  more  brilliant  and 
transparent :  but  plaster  is  a  dull,  heavy,  opaque,  chalky  material ; 
one  of  the  deadest  materials  any  man  can  have  to  deal  with  :  and, 
therefore,  ornament  which  in  stone  is  delicate  and  refined,  becomes 
in  plaster  meaningless  and  obscure  ;  and  that  which  in  stone  is  bold 
and  spirited,  becomes  in  plaster  impossible :  because  stone  being 
cut,  any  amount  of  relief  may  be  obtained ;  but  plaster  works  are 
cast,  and  the  exigences  of  the  moulding  are  such,  that  in  ordinary 
plaster  work  good  undercutting  is  impossible.  So  that  by  this 
falseness  of  design  not  only  do  we  make  our  plaster  work  mere 
lifeless  imitation  and  false  art,  but  we  also  lose  the  real  beauty  and 
truth  which  it  must  be  possible  to  obtain  out  of  plaster.  Because 
it  is  not  a  necessity  that  ornament  cannot  be  cast,  although  hitherto 
no  really  good  ornamental  work  has  for  general  architectural  purposes 
been  cast ;  for  that  is  only  because  we  have  gone  on  a  wrong  tack,  and 
have  kept  repeating  formulas  of  ancient  truth  without  seeing  that 
they  involved  us  in  modern  falsehood.  And  what  we  have  now  to 
do  is  to  reform  our  cast  work,  not  by  means  of  gelatine  moulds,  or 
any  other  of  those  inventions  for  facilitating  copyism,  but  by  good 
stern  design,  rejecting  every  grace  or  beauty  which  cannot  be 
thoroughly  well  wrought  out  in  our  work,  and  so  constantly  con- 
ventionalising till  we  find  that  measure  of  beauty  which  in  our  given 
material  can  naturally  be  produced. 

Of  course  we  shall  have  to  content  ourselves  with  an  inferior 
style  of  ornamentation.  Cast  work  can  never  equal,  or  hope  to 
equal,  the  work  done  with  all  the  freedom  of  the  hand.  It  must 
constantly  repeat  itself,  and  be  formal  and  stiff,  and  never  luxuriant; 
and  yet  there  is  many  and  many  a  plant  growing  in  our  hedge-rows, 
the  outline  of  whose  leaves  clearly  cut  in  plaster,  and  without  any 
attempts  at  impossible  wave  and  flow,  or  unappreciated  fibres,  would 
be  worth  all  the  elaborate  foliage  and  false  flowers  of  the  plaster- 
caster  put  together.     But,  granting  that  the  ornament  we  should 


TRUTH  AND  FALSEHOOD  IN  AllCHITECTURE.         173 

obtain  would  necessarily  be  of  a  lower  class  than  the  old  stone  forms 
we  have  been  trying  to  imitate,  even  then  it  is  ten  thousandfold 
better — altogether  better — better  for  the  designer,  better  for  the 
workman,  better  for  the  spectator,  to  work  out  low  forms  of  beauty 
well,  and  sharply,  and  perfectly,  than  higher  forms,  badly,  bluntly, 
and  imperfectly.  I  believe  there  has  been  no  greater  cause  of  that 
lamentable  deadness  of  the  public  taste  which  we  all  deplore  than 
the  constant  exhibition  of  slovenly  and  imperfect  ornament.  It 
deadens  the  eye  and  mind  to  all  sense  of  what  ornament  should  be 
for  ever.  The  public  generally  do  not  see,  and  do  not  even  know  of 
the  masterpieces  of  ancient  art.  Now  and  then  they  get  a  cathedral 
to  look  at,  or  the  ruins  of  some  abbey,  and  talk  about  it  to  the  end 
of  their  lives,  for  they  feel  how  good  it  is ;  but  the  effect  of  such  an 
occasional  glimpse  can  be  nothing,  and  is  nothing  to  the  continual 
influences  of  that  falsehood  in  art,  which  they  spend  their  lives 
among  and  see  wherever  they  go.  How  can  you  expect  a  finely 
appreciative  public,  when  you  feed  its  natural  thirst  for  the  true  and 
the  beautiful,  with  such  wretched  things  only,  as  modern  house 
fronts,  modern  iron  railings,  modern  stoves,  modern  carpets,  modern 
curtains,  modern  upholstery,  modern  sham,  imitation,  and  veneer, 
generally.  What  can  you  expect  but  that  which  you  have  already 
got — a  public  which  takes  all  art  to  mean  merely  wealth-evidence, 
and  which  therefore  grasps  only  at  its  most  outward  semblance, 
caring  nothing  and  understanding  nothing  about  its  reality  and 
truth,  and  fully  prepared  by  any  fair  or  foul  imitation  to  grasp  at 
anything  which  it  thinks  will  appear  indicative  of  wealth,  being 
indifferent  as  to  whether  it  also  is  art.  And,  let  us  take  care  how 
far  we,  who  ought  to  know  better,  foster  this  state  of  things.  Some 
of  us  foster  it,  for  it  is  universal ;  and  if  you  think  my  condemnation 
of  modern  work  too  sweeping,  just  think  that  if  modern  work  were 
generally  what  it  should  be,  we  should  hardly  have  thought  it  worth 
while  to  gather  a  few  articles  of  manufacture  into  this  room,  and 
call  it  a  museum.  And  the  very  amount  of  admiration  which  we 
bestow  upon  these  beautiful  works,  is  the  measure  of  our  condemn- 
ation of  modernism  in  art  generally. 

But  there  is,  again,  an  architectural  falsehood,  which  grows 
partly  out  of  the  natural  distaste  which  all  art  lovers  feel,  to  this 
badness  of  modern  design.  I  mean  the  undue  veneration  of  ancient, 
and  especially  mediaeval  art ;  the  exaltation  of  archaeology  in  the 
place  of  art.  There  were  good  builders,  good  architects,  and  pious 
men,  before  the  thirteenth  century,  and  to  exalt  any  particular  style 
by  unjustifiable  condemnation  of  other  styles  is  as  foolish  as  it  is 
false ;  but  it  is  more  foolish  and  more  false  still  to  exalt  precedent 
and  copyism  above  the  true  requisites  of  art.  Now  the  grand 
requisite  of  all  art  is  life  ;  and  life,  vitality  of  any  kind,  is  precisely 
the  one  thing  which  you  will  never  get  by  any  amount  of  copyism 
whatever.  And  the  most  foolish,  erring,  blundering,  unfortunate 
style  possible,  with  some  small  glimmer  of  life  in  it,  is  better  than 
the  most  scholarly,  correct,  dead  style  which  any  school  of  copyists 
can  give  us.    And  a  very  great  deal  of  the  Gothic  revival  has  been 


174    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

just  as  foolish  and  as  wrong  as  the  attempts  a  few  years  back  to 
make  Grecians  of  us,  which  only  resuUed  in  such  typical  Doric  as 
St.  Peter's,  in  Dale  End,  Birmingham,  or  such  marvellous  Ionic  as 
that  which  St.  Pancras  has  attempted  to  Christianise  in  Euston 
Square.  The  Gothic  failure  would,  perhaps,  have  been  as  miserable, 
but  the  power  of  the  glorious  style  saved  us  in  spite  of  ourselves. 

That  which  we  can  safely  copy  from  mediaeval  art  is  the  great 
and  true  principle  which  guided  its  practice ;  for,  while  its  practice 
was  often  wrong,  its  principles  were  eternally  true,  and  by  recurring 
to  them,  I  hope  and  trust  that  we  may,  by  carrying  on  the  art  which 
they  ruled,  from  the  point  where  the  mediaeval  artists  went  astray, 
reach  eventually  to  a  height  in  art  far  greater,  far  more  true,  and 
far  more  glorious  than  has  as  yet  ever  been  attained.  But  to  effect 
this  we  must  not  forget  that  we  have  modern  wants,  and  we,  as 
architects,  are  bound  to  minister  to  those  wants ;  and  that  it  is  no 
more  our  business  to  reproduce  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  century  art 
than  it  is  to  build  Indian  pagodas  or  Ninevite  palaces.  Indeed, 
Sennacherib's  palace  would  be  better  suited  for  a  modern  dwelling 
than  a  baron's  fortress  tower.  Yet  we  must  have  some  style,  and 
we  cannot  make  a  style  for  every  occasion.  All  that  confusion  of 
iron  and  glass.  Crystal  Palaces,  and  what  not,  has  been  as  yet  a 
most  miserable  failure,  as  far  as  art  is  concerned.  If  metal 
architecture  is  wanted,  metal  architecture  we  will  have ;  but  we 
must  do  something  better  than  make  ridge  and  furrow  roofs,  and 
scientific  girders ;  and  there  is  more  real  art  in  one  of  the  new 
standards  at  the  other  end  of  this  room  than  in  the  whole  confusion 
of  the  Crystal  Palace  put  together.  Of  course  I  am  speaking  of  the 
building,  not  of  its  contents.  And  why  has  it  failed  as  a  work  of 
art  ?  I  really  believe  it  was  because  it  ignored  nature  altogether ; 
and  its  authors  thought  that  by  the  exhibition  of  human  skill  and 
human  ingenuity  they  should  have  all  they  needed,  and  so  secure 
a  beautiful  building.  They  failed  signally ;  and  if  Mr.  Owen  Jones 
had  not  come  to  the  rescue,  and  bestowed  some  partial  value  on  the 
work  by  the  application  of  colour,  it  would  have  been,  internally  and 
externally,  except  to  the  mental  babies  who  think  much  of  glitter, 
almost  the  ugliest  self-styled  architectural  work  of  the  present  day. 
What  can  man  do  in  opposition  to  trutli  ?  Let  him  exalt  his  own 
skill,  and  science,  and  ingenuity,  as  much  as  he  pleases,  he  will  not 
find  much  to  congratulate  himself  upon  in  that  part  of  his  nature 
after  all ;  the  very  bees  and  the  beavers  will  beat  hira  ;  and  he  can 
only  surpass  them,  by  the  exercise  of  his  gifts  of  humility  and  love. 
The  problem  to  be  solved  in  the  Crystal  Palace  was  but  to  put  so 
much  iron  into  the  most  economical  form ;  and  true  architecture 
has  other  problems  to  solve  than  such  as  that :  it  must  take  of  the 
pleasant  things  of  the  earth  and  weave  them  into  its  work,  and 
think,  on  the  whole,  as  much  of  ivy  leaves  as  of  economy.  The 
Crystal  Palace  is  not  architecture ;  it  may  pass  for  engineering ; 
but  if  its  promoters  will  (and  they  seem  determined  to  do  so)  call 
it  architectural,  it  comes  very  well  under  our  general  heading  of 
architectural  falsehood. 


TRUTH  AND  FALSEHOOD  IN  ARCHITECTURE.    175 

And  now,  having  trespassed  on  your  time  quite  long  enough,  let 
me  conclude  by  saying  that  as  we  must  have  some  style  by  which 
to  direct  our  efforts  in  art,  let  us  choose  that  style,  which,  true  in 
its  constructional  princiiDles,  can,  if  it  will,  be  also  thoroughly  tiuc 
in  its  decoration :  a  style  which  will  admit  of  all  work  and  all 
workmanship,  from  the  humble  representation  of  primitive  natural 
forms,  on  through  the  whole  vegetable  and  animal  world  to  the 
representation  of  man,  so  that  we  make  our  buildings  mirrors  of 
ourselves  and  of  our  time  ;  and  then  higher  still,  a  style  which  will 
not  be  unworthy  of  showing  forth  the  great  truths  and  the  wonder- 
ful history  of  our  religion,  thus  writing  with  the  chisel  of  the 
sculptor  our  best  thoughts  and  highest  aspirations  on  our  walls ;  so 
that  even  in  the  midst  of  the  bustle  of  life,  we  may  be  reminded 
that  we  call  ourselves  a  Christian  nation,  and  that  it  is  good  to  be 
Christian  in  deed  and  not  alone  in  name.  To  those  who  know  the 
history  of  art  and  the  truths  realised  in  its  different  epochs,  I  need 
not  say  what  particular  style  affords  these  advantages  in  the  greatest 
degree ;  but  to  all  others  who  may  be  present,  and  who  may  not 
have  had  the  time,  or  perhaps  the  inclination,  to  make  art  a  special 
study,  the  name  of  the  style  which  would  be  so  good  a  guide  for  us 
all  is — Gothic. 


LEICESTERSHIRE 

ARCHITECTUKAL  AND  AECH^OLOGIOAL  SOCIETY. 


Tradesmen's  Tokens  issued  in  Leicestershire  in  the  Seventeenth  Centxtry^ 
with  Introductory  Remarks  and  Notes.  A  Paper  read  at  a 
Meeting  of  the  Leicestershire  Architectural  and  Archaeological 
Society,  held  at  Leicester  23rd  February,  1857.  By  Thomas 
North,  of  Leicester. 

On  presenting  a  list  of  such  of  the  Tradesmen's  Tokens  issued  in 
Leicestershire  as  are  mentioned  by  our  local  historians,  or  preserved 
in  such  collections  as  I  have  had  reference  to,  perhaps  a  few  words 
upon  their  origin,  use,  and  present  value  to  the  historian  and  the 
antiquary,  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

These  Tokens  originated  in  the  great  scarcity  of  small  coins — 
halfpence  and  farthings — for  "change;"  this  want  was  particularly 
felt  by  the  poor.     "  In  1402,  the  extreme  scarcity  of  small  coins 
among  the  poorer  people,  induced  the  Commons  to  petition  king 
Henry  the  Fourth  in  parliament,  for  some  remedy  for  the  pressing 
mischief  amongst  the  poor  people,  occasioned  by  the  want  of  half- 
pennies and  farthings  of  silver,  which  were  wont  to  be,  and  still 
were,  the  most  profitable  money  to  the  said  people,  but  were  then  so 
scarce,  because  none  were  worked  nor  made  at  that  time ;  where- 
fore the  people  in  divers  places  of  great  necessity  used  the  money  of 
foreign  lands  ......  and  in  some  parts,  halfpennies  divided,  to 

the  great  destruction  and  waste  of  the  said  money ;  and  in  some 

places  Tokens  of  lead In  consequence  of  this  complaint, 

it  was  ordered  that  the  third  of  all  the  money  of  silver  which 
shall  be  brought  to  the  bullion,  shall  be  made  in  halfpence  and 
farthings.* 

The  "  money  of  foreign  lands"  referred  to  above  was  extensively 
represented  at  a  somewhat  later  period  (especially  in  the  16th 
century)  by  the  small  coins  issued  by  Nuremberg  merchants,  now 
generally  known  as  "  Nuremberg  Tokens."  These  Tokens  are  being 
constantly  turned  up  during  excavations,  and  are  generally  met 

1)   Yide  IntroductioA  to  the  Beaufoy  Coll.  of  T.  Tokens,  p.p.  v,  vi. 
Z 


178         LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

with,  in  large  numbers,  in  all  collections.  Though  in  themselves 
of  little  value,  their  quaint  inscriptions — such  as  "  to-day  red 
(or  alive)  to-morrow  dead,"  "  God's  word  maketh  rich,"  &c., — 
almost  insist  upon  our  drawing  a  comparison  between  the  active 
and  wealthy  Nuremberg  merchant,  who,  by  issuing  his  Token  with 
such  an  inscription,  proved  that  he  had  thoughts  which  reached 
to  something  beyond  his  trade,  his  gains,  or  his  gold — and  the 
modern  man  of  business,  who  is  so  frequently  too  much  absorbed 
in  his  speculations,  in  his  race  after  wealth,  in  his  often  futile 
attempts  to  grasp  great  riches,  to  remember  (much  less  to  send  it 
forth  into  the  world  as  his  motto)  that  "God's  word"  alone  "maketh 

RICH." 

The  making  of  leaden  Tokens  might  originate  in  the  very 
ancient  custom,  adopted  by  merchants,  of  using  leaden  seals  attach- 
ed to  their  merchandize ;  the  strings  or  fastenings  of  the  packages 
passing  through  the  metal  when  molten,  in  the  same  way  in  which 
we  now  use  wax,  and  which  metal  was  then  stamped  (by  an  engra- 
ved stone  or  other  instrument)  with  some  device,  which  is  now 
known  by  the  name  of  a  "  Merchant's  Mark." 

The  coinage  of  a  very  limited  number  of  halfpence  and  farthings 
in  silver,  was  little  likely  to  remedy  the  above  complaint ;  indeed 
the  two  coins  appear  to  have  been  so  much  alike  in  size  and  general 
appearance,  as  to  have  led  Henry  the  Eighth  to  give  special  instruc- 
tions as  to  their  ornamental  character. 

The  debased  state  of  the  coinage  during  the  reign  of  Henry 
VIII.,  and  also  during  that  of  Edward  VI.,  notwithstanding  his 
determination  to  effect  a  remedy,  becoming  even  worse  under  Mary, 
naturally  did  not  lessen  the  issue  of  these  Tokens ;  and  although 
Queen  Elizabeth  restored  the  integrity  of  the  currency,  jet  the 
great  want  of  small  change,  coupled — no  doubt — with  the  great 
profit  arising  to  the  issuer,  caused  an  immense  number  of  Tokens 
of  lead  and  tin  to  be  used  amongst  tavern  and  shop-keepers. 

King  James,  immediately  upon  ascending  the  English  throne, 
turned  his  attention  to  the  state  of  the  currency.  On  the  eighteenth 
of  November,  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  proclamations  "  concern- 
ynge  the  newe  coyne"  were  received  in  Leicester;  and  in  1610  a 
messenger  brought  proclamations  "  that  noe  parson  presume  to 
melt  anye  Golde  or  Silver,  to  alter  the  coyne  of  the  Realme  of 
England."  The  first  attempt  at  a  modern  copper  coinage  was  made 
by  him;  for  by  proclamation,  dated  19  May,  1613,  he  issued  the 
royal  farthing  Tokens,  and  thenceforward  prohibited  the  currency 
of  all  private  ones.  These  Tokens  excited  great  indignation,  proba- 
bly on  accoimt  of  the  immense  amount  of  pkmder  that  went  into 
the  King's  pocket,  and  into  that  of  Baron  Harington,  of  Exton,  in 
Eutland,  to  whom  he  granted  the  patent,  and  a  large  portion  of 
the  profits  of  the  issue. 

This  proclamation,  together  with  one  against  uttering  light 
Spanish  money,  was  received  in  Leicester  in  1613. 

John  Stamford  and  his  deputies  were  authorized  to  issue  his 
Majesty's  farthing  Tokens  for  this  and  the  neighbouring  county  of 


LEICESTERSHIRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS.  179 

Eutland."  The  state  of  the  currency  at  this  period  may  be  illus- 
trated by  the  following  local  incident:  In  1618  Mr.  Lett  Peere,  or 
Peece,  as  agent  for  the  Virginian  Plantation  Company,  opened, 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Mayor,  Mr.  Rowland  Pusey,  a  lottery  in 
Leicester,  which  was  apparently  so  successful  as  to  induce  him  to 
present  to  the  Mayor — as  a  mark  of  his  satisfaction,  or  as  an 
acknowledgment  for  services  rendered  in  the  business — "  a  verie 
faire  silver  and  gilt  cupp,  with  a  cover,  to  goe  from  Maior  to  Maior 
for  ever";  and  at  the  same  time  he  also  gave,  in  silver,  twenty 
pounds  to  the  poor  of  Leicester ;  which  silver,  upon  its  being  exam- 
med  after  he  had  breakfasted  with  the  Mayor's  brethren,  and  taken 
his  departure,  was  found  to  contain  nine  shillings  and  two-pence  in 
counterfeit  and  broken  money. 

Charles  the  First  continued  to  authorize  the  issue  of  the  royal 
farthing  Tokens,  and  granted  to  the  Duchess  of  Richmond  and 
others,  for  different  periods,  the  privilege  of  making  them  for  their 
benefit ;  the  farthings  under  these  patents  being,  of  course,  below 
their  current  value,  caused  endless  discontent  and  disturbance.^ 

By  order  of  the  House  of  Commons,  April  12,  1643,  no  more 
Tokens  were  to  be  made  under  the  royal  letters  patent ;  and  soon 
after  the  exchange  offices  of  the  royal  Tokens  being  closed,  they 
became  valueless,  and  inflicted  great  loss  upon  the  holders. 

During  the  Commonwealth,  Tradesmen's  Tokens  appear  to  have 
been  issued  without  any  restriction  from  the  government ;  they 
now  appeared  struck  on  brass  and  copper ;  and  it  was  not  until 
Charles  the  Second  coined  halfpence  and  farthings  in  good  copper, 
declaring  them  to  be  current,  and  issued  proclamation  after  procla- 
mation, up  to  the  year  1674,  against  Tradesmen's  Tokens  and  their 
issuers,  that  their  suppression  was  effected. 

In  Leicester,  in  the  month  of  November,  1666,  an  order  of  a 
Common  Hall  was  passed  forbidding  any  person  from  stamping,  or 
causing  to  be  stamped,  any  more  halfpence  or  farthings ;  and  all 
persons  who  had  issued  any  were  called  upon  to  give  security  to  the 
Mayor  for  exchanging  these  Tokens  for  silver  ;*  there  were,  however, 
(as  will  be  seen  in  the  following  list)  many  issued  in  Leicester  after 
this  date. 

These  Tokens,  as  they  find  their  way  into  the  cabinet  of  the 
collector,  or  come  under  the  inspection  of  the  historian,  or  the  ken 
of  the  antiquary,  speak  of  the  past,  in  a  language  peculiarly  their 
own  ;  they  are  the  homely  coins  of  the  people ;  they  tell  of  a  period 
when  the  people  were,  as  in  so  many  other  instances,  groping  for 
what  we  now  use  as  a  matter  of  course  ;  and  when  they  were  teach- 
ing the  government  of  the  country,  what  appears  to  us,  one  of  the 
first,  and  most  simple  lessons  connected  with  its  currency,  namely, 
the  necessity  for  a  plentiful  supply  of  small  coinage. 

(2)  Nichols'  Hist,  of  Leicestersli.,  Vol.  I.,  p,  425.  This  was  more  probably  John  Stan* 
ford,  who  was  mayor  ol  Leicester  in  1592,  and  represented  the  town  in  Parliament,  in 
conjunction  with  James  Clark,  35  Elizabeth;  or,  the  John  Stanford  who  sat  in  Parlia- 
ment for  Leicester,  39  Eliz  ,  and  who  was  then  described  as  "Junior." 

(3)  Vide  Humphrey's  Coin  Col.  Manual,  Vol.  IL,  p.  472. 

(4)  Thompson's  Hist.  Leic,  p.  428. 


180         LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Then  again,  they  are  useful  as  pointing  out  the  towns  in  which 
trade  was  chiefly  carried  on ;  they  preserve  the  names  and  locahties 
of  pubHc  signs — a  subject  of  considerable  interest  to  the  antiquary; 
and  they  sometimes  shew  by  their  semi-heraldic  bearings  (as  I  think 
is  the  case  with  the  Melton  Mowbray  Token,  issued  by  Roger  Wayte) 
the  family  connection  of  the  issuer  with  other  persons  of  the  same 
name. 

These  Tokens,  too,  whilst  they  are  pleasant  reminders  to  those 
who,  by  recognizing  in  the  original  issuers  of  them  an  ancestor  of 
their  own,  derive  evidence  that  he  was  a  man  respected  and  trusted 
by  his  fellow-townsmen,  also  '  point  a  moral '  to  those  who,  having 
prospered  in  the  world,  are  sometimes  apt  to  look  with  disdain  upon 
the  class  to  which  their  forefathers  belonged — upon  the  hard  work- 
ing tradesman,  who  is  perhaps  now  building  his  fortune  in  the  same 
honest  and  reputable  way,  as  that  pursued  by  the  issuers  of  these 
Tradesmen's  Tokens. 

I  have,  in  the  following  list,  as  is  usual,  used  the  word  "  arms" 
— as  Grocers'  arms,  &c., — for  the  device  or  recognizance  used  upon 
the  field  of  the  Token ;  such  device  being  generally  an  approxima- 
tion to  the  arms  of  the  public  Company,  of  the  calling  of  whose 
members  the  issuer  was  a  follower ;  and  in  many  instances  I  have 
given  the  arms  of  the  Company,  as  a  guide  to  those  not  well  versed 
in  these  distinguishing  marks. 

With  respect  to  my  hastily  collected  notes  upon  the  Tradesmen 
whose  names  are  handed  down  to  us  upon  these  tokens,  I  may  say, 
that  for  many  reasons,  I  have  preferred  not  attempting  to  trace  their 
connection  with  existing  families  of  the  same  name,  but  have  gene- 
rally only  jotted  down  any  matter  that  came  in  my  way,  having 
more  especial  reference  to  them,  at,  or  prior  to,  the  date  of  the  issue 
of  the  Token. 


An  asterisk  is  placed  before  such  Tohens  in  the  following 
pages  as  have  not  hitherto  appeared  in  any  published 
List.  For  the  descriptions  of  many  of  these  I  am  indebted 
to  Mr.  Weatherhead,  the  indefatigable  Ciirator  of  the  Lei- 
cester Museum,  or  through  him  to  Mr.  J.  S.  Smallfield, 
of  London. 


APPLEBY. 

0. — CHRISTOPHER  BIRKBECKE      a  Kingh  Headiii  livofile. 

3^.— IN  APPLEBY,  1666 HIS  HALFPENY. 

©. — WILLIAM  SMITH       a  Pigeoii. 

*1^, — IN   APPLEBIE,    1669 W.  S. 

There  being  more  than  one  Appleby,  it  is  nncertain  whether  these  were 
isouecl  in  Leicestershire. 


LEICESTERSHIRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS.  181 

ASIIBY-DE-LA-ZOUCII. 
(3. — JOHN  ALLATT  OF     Dyers' Arms. 

H.— ASIIBY   DALZOVCII,    1070  HIS   HALFPENY. 

The  Company  of  Dyers  bear,  Sa.  a  chevron  engr.  arg.  betw.  three  bags  of 
madder  of  the  last,  corded  or  ;  Crest,  three  sprigs  of  the  grain  tree  erect,  vert, 
fructed  gu.  Snpporfers,  two  leopards  ramp,  guard,  arg.  spotted  with  various 
colours,  fire  issuing  from  their  ears  and  mouth,  ppr.  both  ducally  crowned  or. 
Multo,  DA  GLORIAM  DEO. — (See  sheet  of  Illustrations,  No.  22. J 

^  (an  ornamental  knot  tying 

©.-JAMES  COWPER  IN |     two  linked  C's  (? J 

*lll. — ASIIBY-DE-LA-ZOUCn,    1667      J.  C. 

O. — SAMDELL  SOWDEN  IN     St.  George  and  the  Dragon, 

*ll.— ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCII,    1667      HIS   HALFEPENNY. 

®. — FRANCIS  SIKES  AT  Y'=  RED    a  Lion  Rampant. 

*3;t, — IN   ASHBY-DALY-ZOVCH HIS   HALFPENY,    1669. 

Mr.  Henry  Sikes  (probably  a  member  of  the  same  family)  an  Apothecary 
in  London,  born  in  Ashby-de-la-Zouch,  gave  .£140  for  the  use  of  the  poor  of 
his  native  town  for  ever. 

©. JAMES   FARMER,    1671       A   HALFPENY. 

■^Jv. — IN  ASHBY-DELL-zouCH the  Mercers'  Arms. 

©. — DAVID  KING  IN       the  Mercers'  Arms  (?) 

*2^, — ^ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOVCII        ... D.  K. 

©. — GEORGE  SEGRAVE a  Lion  Rampant. 

*K. — ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCII         G.  8. 

©. — HUGH  SHERWOOD the  Grocers' Arms. 

*B. — IN   ASHBY,    1656        H,  S. 

©, — JOSEPH  SHERWOOD         the  Mercers'  Arms. 

*2^.— IN  ASHBY,   1655      a  Bull's  Head. 

In  1630  the  Sherwoods  ^\eYe  freeholders  here,  virhich  makes  it  highly  pro* 
bable  that  the  above  Tokens  were  issued  by  members  of  that  family  residing 
here  ;  otherwise  the  simple  word  "  Ashby"  would  hardly  have  been  sufficient 
to  connect  the  Tokens  with  Ashby-de-la-Zouch. 

BAGWORTH. 
(©^ — THO.  BOSS  ***     Grocers''  Anyis. 

*E.— IN   *AGWORTn  *   *      *    *   *   * 

The  specimen  of  this  Token  in  the  Leicester  Museum,  was  found  some 
time  ago  in  Mr.  Herbert's  brick-yard.  I  have  assigned  it  to  Bagw^orth.  not 
because  that  is  a  place  likely  to  have  had  a  resident  tradesman  of  sufficient 
importance  to  issue  Tokens,  but  because  many  country  tradesmen  were  free 
of  the  town  of  Leicester  on  market  and  fair-days,  and  Thomas  Boss  might  on 
that  account  make  use  of  Tokens  in  his  business  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  the 
insci-iption,  although  certainly  much  worn  away,  is  tolerably  distinct  as  far  as 
regards  the  issuer's  name  and  the  letters  agworth,  and  to  which  there  was 
clearly  only  one  preceding  letter  ;  moreover,  it  will  be  seen,  under  Mount- 
sorrcll,  that  Boss  is  a  name  found  in  Leicestershire. — (See  Illus:  No.  15. J 

BELT  ON. 

(©  . — WILLIAM   B  ARR  AD  ALE      a  Bell. 

^-Jg^^—OF   BELTON,    1671     A  HALFPENY. 

There  being  five  Beltons  in  England,  it  is  not  quite  certain  in  which  county 
this  Token  was  issued  ;  but  Barradale  being  a  Leicestershire  name,  and  Belton 
being  formerly  a  market  town,  and  having  now  an  annual  fair,  it  is  right  to 
place  it  on  our  list.  The  adoption  of  the  Bell  upon  the  obverse,  would  arise 
from  the  sign  of  an  inn  now  removed,  or  perhaps  from  the  name  of  the  town, 
Bel-town.— {Sec  Illus:  No.  21.) 


182         LEICESTERSHIEE  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

BILLESDON. 
0. — HENRY  SANDERSON        a  man  making  Candles. 

2^, — IN  BILLSDEN,    1669  HIS   HALFPENY. 

MARKET  BOSWORTH. 

(©♦ — HUGH  ADCOCK  AT  THE a  Bull's  Head, 

2^» — IN  MARKET  BOSWORTH HIS  HALFPENY    ^^      ' 

iSee  Illus :  No.  16.) 

(B* — RICHARD   TOMPSON,  MERCER  ^      '^ 

*3^. — IN  MARKET  BOSWORTH HIS  HALFPENY. 

{See  Illus :  No  13.) 

©♦ — ELIZABETH  MAYNE         Taylors'  Arms. 

*2£v» — IN    SHOOL   LANE    HER   HALFPENY   E.    M.    1668. 

This  Token  (which  is  given  from  Mr.  Evans'  anastatic  sheet)  is  octagonal 
in  shape,  and  the  inscription  on  the  reverse  is  in  horizontal  lines  across  the 
field.  The  Merchant  Taylors'  Company  bear,  Ar.  a  royal  tent  betw.  two  par- 
liament robes  gu.  lined  erm.  the  tent  garnished  or,  tentstafF  and  pennon  of  the 
last ;  on  a  chief  az.  a  lion  pass,  guard,  or,  &c.^ — {Barkers  Gen,  Armoury.) — 
{See  Illus:  No.  14.) 

GREAT  BOWDEN. 

©. — RICHARD  BRONSON...    ' R.  B. 

2^,— IN  BOWDEN,  1658 ahorse,  saddled  and  hridledi 

BURROW. 
<B. — lOHN  SHAW     the  Mercers'' Arms. 

*2^»— OP  BURROW      L  S.,  1664. 

This  may  belong  to  another  county. 

ELMSTHORPE. 

{a  sheaf  of  ivheat,  a  plough 

^.-HALFPENNY  PAYABLE  BY  RICHD.FOWKE    ...     •]  ;,f ^ ' GoTsPEED  THE 

(      PLOUGH. 
3I^» — RUINS  OP  ELMSTHORPE  CHURCH,  1800       ...     Ruins  of  a  church. 

Although  this  is  not  a  Tradesman's  Token,  still  it  may  be  worth  register- 
ing. Nichols  says  of  it,  "  In  1800  Mr.  Fowke  (who  possessed  a  small  museum 
containing  some  valuable  curiosities)  obliged  his  particular  friends  with  an 
Elmsthorpe  Token.  It  is  of  copper  bronzed,  and  only  eighteen  of  them  were 
struck. 

HALLATON. 

©♦ — EDWARD  GOODMAN  OP Three  Cloves  (a  Grocer). 

2^. — HALONGTON,   LEST: SHIR _      *. 

Jbi.      A. 

In  1611,  Henry  Goodman  held  lands  here,  and  in  1630,  the  Goodmans 
were  freeholders. 
©. — JOHN  ELLIS  OP       ahorse  saddled  and  bridled. 

2^»— HALLERTON,  1667     ,  ^* 

J.      M. 

C5)  A  collector  of  Tradesmen's  Tokens— a  fj^entleman  well  conversant  with  their 
peculiarities— states,  unless  Mr.  Evans  has  some  local  knowledge  to  justify  his  opinion 
as  to  this  being  a  Bosworth  Token,  there  is  little  doubt  it  belongs  to  a  series  issued  in 
"  Shooe  Lane,"  London ;  the  style  and  appearance  of  the  coin,  further,  he  thinks,  con- 
firm this  supposition. 


LEICESTERSHIRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS,  183 

MARKET  HARBOROUGH. 
©. — ELIZABETH  LTNG a  Pestle  and  Mortar, 

JSi* — IN   IIARBROW E.    L. 

®. — AVGVSTiN  HARPER...     Grocers' Arms. 

3^, — OF   HARBROWE  ...       A.    II. 

The  Company  of  Grocers  (granted  23  Hen.  VIII.)  bear,  Ar.  a  cliev.  gu. 
betw.  nine  cloves,  sa.  (three,  three,  and  three)  ;  Crest,  a  camel  pass.  ppi*. 
bridled  gu.  on  his  back  a  bale  or  corded  gu,  Supporters,  two  griffins  per  fesse 
gu.  and  or.     Motto,  God  grant  grace. — (Burke's  Genl.  Armounj.J 

©. — THO.  LANGDEL  OF a  Hackle. 

i^. — MARKET   IIARBOROVQH FLAX  DRESSER. 

©, — ANN  GOTT,  1658     a  Leg  Stockinged, 

2£tt — IN  HARBOWROVGII A.   G. 

She  was  probably  a  retailer  of  hose. 

O. — AT  THE  SWANN    a  Swau, 

B,— IN  HARBROVGH,  1651   ...   „  ®' 

This  Token  was  probably  issued  by  one  of  the  family  of  Sellers,  who 
kept  the  Swans  Inn  for  many  years.  Eleanor  Sellers,  the  daughter  of  Thomas 
Launder,  of  Mai'ket  Harborough,  died  in  January,  1768,  at  the  advanced  ago 
of  one  hundred  years ;  she  is  describe  I  in  a  note  in  Nichols'  Leicestershire,  by 
the  Rev.  Philip  Hacket,  as  "  a  miracle  of  a  woman,  and  she  tript  as  nimbly 
as  a  young  one."  ^he  appears  to  have  been  succeeded  by  John  Benton,  who 
married  her  granddaughter. 

©, — FRANCES   REEVES a  Swau. 

2CV»— IN   HARBOROW,    1667        HER   HALFFENY. 

The  Swans  is  still  the  principal  inn  in  Market  Hai'borough. 

©. — THOMAS   HEYRICKE   OF T.  H.   1668. 

^  (t.  h.  divided  by  an  orna- 

3a.-iiARB0R0W,  HIS  HALFFENY |     mental  knot. 

This  Thomas  Heyricke,  Nichols'  supposes  to  be  the  son  of  the  Thomas 
Heyricke  of  Houghton,  who  was  baptised  the  12th  May,  1588.  He  was  an 
ii-onmonger,  and  a  freeman  of  the  borough  of  Leicester,  as  appears  by  the 
following  extract  from  the  Chamberlains' accounts  for  the  year  1655-6 — "Reed, 
of  Thomas  Ericke  of  Harborow  Ironmonger  for  the  continuance  of  his  flfreedom 
fortheTowne.     .     .     00"  OP  00^^" 

©. — HENRY  SMITH 07;  (The  Three  Bells.) 

3^. — HARBOROVGH H.  S. 

(B< — ROBERT  BASS,    1688,   AT  rt  Hart. 

2^. — 3IARKETT   HARBOROVGH HIS   HALFPENY. 

This  is  heart-shaped. 
(B* — WILLIAM  THOMPSON  IN a  Book  Clasped. 

2^, — MARKETT   HARBOROTGH 


T. 
W.      R. 


©. — WILLIAM  THOMPSON  IN a  Clasped  Book, 

^2£l. — HARBROVGH,   IIIS   HALFPENY ^^,      '^ 

The  preceding  Token  issued  by  W.  Thompson  was  probably  a  farthing  one. 
0, — THOMAS  AVILSHERE a  Roll  of  Tohacco  (J) 

SK'*— IN   HARBOROW •         »      ^        jj^ 

©. — THOMAS  HORTON     Braiders' Arms. 

l*2£t. — IN   HATJBROWE T.    H. 

The  Company  of  Drapers  bear,  Gules,  three  triple  crowns  or,  each  issuing 
out  of  a  cloud  resting  on  sunbeams  proper. — (KenCs  Gram,  of  Heraldry. J 


184 


LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


HINCKLEY. 

©♦ — JOSEPH  CAVE  MERCER     

the  Grocers'  Arms. 

B*— IN  HINCKLEY,   1666            

HIS  HALFPENY. 

©♦—JOSEPH  CAVE 

the  Grocers'  Arms. 

^B.— IN  HINCKLEY 

c. 

J.      E. 

This  is  a  farthing  Token. 

©♦—ROBERT  BLOOR  AT  THE 

a  Crown. 

B»—CROWNE  IN  HINCKLEY  1670 

HIS  HALFPENY. 

©♦—THOMAS  DAVELL  IN           

a  Bear. 

2^»— HINCKLEY  IRONMONGER           

HIS  HALFPENY    r^^\ 

. — WILLIAM  ILIFFE 


©»— NATIIANIELL  GILLBERT HIS  HALFPENY. 

%^ — AT  HINCKLEY  1671 ...     S.  George  and  the  Drogon. 

This  is  octagonal  in  shape. 

©, — NATHANL  GILBERT  AT  THE  GEORGE      in  four  lines  across  the  field. 

3^^ — IN  HINCKLEY  HIS  HALFPENNY,  1672     in  five  Uncs  across  the  field. 

I. 

W.      D. 

2^, — IN   HINCKLEY 1662. 

Mr.  William  Iliffe  introduced  a  stocking  frame  (which  is  said  to  have  cost 
£60)  into  Hinckley,  as  early  as  1640  ;  and  with  this  single  frame,  which,  hy 
the  aid  of  an  apprentice,  lie  kept  constantly  working,  day  and  night,  he  gained 
a  comfortable  siibsistence  for  his  family  ;  his  immediate  descendant,  Mr. 
Joseph  Iliffe,  after  having  carried  on  the  manufacture  there  with  considerable 
success  for  more  than  half  a  centmy,  died,  universally  respected,  March  5, 
1795,  aged  76  years  f  Nichols'  Leicestershire,  under  Hinckley  J.  His  tomb- 
stone states  that  he  lived  in  the  same  house  nearly  seventy-six  years,  was  a 
warm  supporter  of  the  Church,  and  a  loyal  subject  to  liis  sovereign. — f/See 
Illus:   No.  17.; 

©♦ — WILLIAM   BENTLEY «  Bell  (?) 

i^f— OF   HINCKLEY ^^,       ^ 

0^ — *  *  MAS  DAVANPORT     the  Grocers''  Amis  {?) 

^2^^_*    *   HINCKLY *   *    D. 

The  inscription  and  device  are  much  worn  away. 
CHURCH  LANGTON. 


0^ — WILL.  EL  WOOD  IN  CHURCH     ... 

'■'%, — LANGTON  HIS  HALFPENY 


©.—  FRANCIS  ELLIOTT      . 

3^^ — IN  LEICESTER    1655 


aTroioeU{?)\^m. 

a  String  of  Candles. 

EICESTER. 

E, 

F.      W 

E. 

r.     w. 

In  1640-41,  Francis  Elliott  paid  to  the  Corporation  of  Leicester  "for  a 
ffyne  upon  a  Lease  of  a  Chamber  over  the  Eastgate  for  2 1  yeeres"  £3  6s,  8d. ; 
and  in  1660,  upon  the  termination  of  the  lease  a  similar  tine  was  again  paid. 
In  1667  (as  appears  by  an  old  Catalogue  formerly  kept  in  the  Town  Library 
at  the  Guildhall),  "  Francis  Elliott,  of  the  Borough  of  Leicester,  ironmonger, 
for  the  better  furnishing  of  this  Librarye,  gave  two  anticnt  large  books  in 
folio,  being  the  works  of  B.  Rombolt  about  the  Civil  Law,  as  also  one  other 
book  in  folio,  the  famous  and  antient  Historic  of  Aurelius  Tacitus."  There 
were  several  Elliotts  in  Leicester  at  this  date  :  William  Elliott,  also  an  iron- 
monger, was  Chamberlain  in  1666-7,  and  Churchwarden  of  St.  Martin's  in 
1670  ;  and  a  John  Elliott  was  a  fcllmonger. 


LEICESTERSniRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS.  185 


0, — JAMES  LEE  IN          Mercers^  Aims. 

K,— LEICESTEK    I60G ^    ". 

0 .       A. 

James  Lee,  "  a  stranger,"  was  admitted  into  the  Chapman's  Guild,  or  made 
free,  the  6th  March,  1653,  and  paid  £5.  as  liis  line. — He  was  Chamherlain  in 
16G6 — 7,  and  in  hiter  times  several  of  this  name,  and  probably  of  this  family, 
ha\'c  filled  important  positions  in  tlic  town. 

The  Company  of  Mercers  (incorporated  1394)  bear:  Gu.  a  demi  virgin 
couped  below  the  shoulders  issuing  from  clouds  all  ppr.  or,  crowned  with  au 
Eastern  Crov/n  of  the  last ;  her  hair  dishevelled  and  wreathed  round  tlie 
temple  with  roses  of  the  second,  all  within  an  orb  of  clouds  ppr.  Motto,  HONOR 
DEO — (Burke's  Genl.  Armory) — (Sec  Illus.  No.  1.) 

0, — DAVID  DEAKINS,  1657 Bakers' Arms. 

2i^, — BAKER  IN  LESTER D.  D. 

The  Company  of  Bakers  bear;  Gu.  a  balance  betw.  three  garbs  or,  on  a 
cbief  barry  wavy  of  four,  arg.  &  az.  a  hand  ppr.  vested  gu.,  cuffs  or,  issuing 
from  clouds  affixed  to  the  upper  part  of  the  chief  holding  the  balance.    Motto, 
PRAISE  GOD  I'OR  ALL.     (ibid.) — (See  Illus.  No.  2. J 
©. — DAVID  DEAKINS,  1664 Bakers' Amis. 

3c\, — IN  LESTER  BAKER D.  D. 

In  1641,  a  Daniel  Deken  was  Chamberlain,   and  about  the  year  1658, 
John  Deakins,  a  weaver  resided  iu  Leicester.     This  family  is  I  believe  still 
represented  here. 
Q. — JOHN  GOOD  ALL  IN «  IIa)id  icith  (i  Glove  (?J 

H>— LEICESTER  1666 ^  ^' 

J.       ft. 

The  recognizance  in  the  field  of  the  obverse  is  not  clearly  decypherablc. 
John  Goodall  appears  to  have  been  an  active  man  in  public  matters  :  he  was 
Chamberlain  in  1665—6,  Churchwarden  of  St.  Martin's  in  1670,  and  Mayor 
m  1680. — His  name  appears  in  the  list  of  aldermen  dismissed  from  the  body 
corporate,  by  order  of  James  the  Second  in  February  1688;  and  in  December 
of  that  year,  he  with  many  others  signed  a  pledge  of  his  adhesion  to  the  cause 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange: — vide  Thompson's  Hist,  of  Leicester,  439—40. 
(Sec  Illus.  No.  3.) 

<B>. — ROBERT  PAGE  IN  LEICESTER S.  Georgc  and  the  Dragofi' 

3^.— Ills  HALFE  PENNY,  1666 R  ^' E. 

"  The  George"  formerly  stood  in  Hotel  St.,  at  the  corner  of  Friar  Lane. 
The  site  is  now  occupied  by  premises  in  the  occupation  of  Mr.  Meadows, 
Druggist. 
€>. — JOHN  PARES  IN  LEICESTER    a  Hart  coucliant. 

3l^.~IIIS  HALFPENY,  1666 ^      '^^^ 

The  family  of  Pave  or  Pares  had  been  established  in  Leicester  many  years 
before  the  issue  of  this  Token.  In  1593  and  following  years,  Thomas  Pare 
rented  the  chambers  over  the  Westgate.  In  1620  John  Pare  was  Mayor,  and 
in  conjunction  with  a  Mr.  Hinde  rented  the  Castle  Mills.  There  were  how- 
ever, more  families  than  one  bearing  this  name  in  Leicester,  for  in  1663-4 
John  Paire,  a  stranger,  was  admitted  into  the  Chapman's  Guild,  or  made  free 
of  the  town.**  In  1665,  John  Pares,  most  probably  the  issuer  of  the  above 
Token,  was  constable  of  one  of  the  wards,  and  according  to  Mr.  Thompson,  he 
was  the  first  regularly  appointed  post-master  for  Leicester.    He  says,  "  During 


(6)  The  fact  of  this  John  Paire  residing  in  this  town  may  however  be  questioned,  for 
in  a  long  list  of  receipts  derived  from  the  sale  of  fee  farm  rents  in  Leicester,  in  the  year 
1670—1,  occurs  the  name  oi'  Mr.  John  Paire,  of  London,  (spelt  exactly  like  the  above,) 
who  paid  to  the  Corporation  .^:iG  for  the  purchase,  or  redemption,  of  one  of  these  rents. 

A  A 


186         LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

the  Commonwealth  the  communication  between  Leicester  and  London  was 
maintained  by  employing  a  man  to  go  the  distance  and  return  once  a  week. 
He  was  called  a  '  foot-post.'  In  the  reign  of  Charles  the  Second,  1667,  a 
proclamation  was  forwarded  to  the  Mayor  of  this  town,  setting  forth  that 
Lord  Arlington  had  been  appointed  postmaster-general,  and  prohibiting  the 
secret  and  indirect  conveyance  of  letters  from  place  to  place.  His  lordship 
about  the  same  time  chose  John  Pares  deputy  postmaster  for  Leicester,  for 
six  months." — Hht.  of  Leicester^  p,  428.  "  John  Pares,  of  Leicester,"  pur- 
chased from  the  Corporation  in  1670 — 1,  a  fee  farm  rent  for  the  sum  of 
£6  8s.  Od. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  another  Mr.  Pares  (whether  of  the  same 
family  or  not  I  do  not  know)  makes  his  appearance  in  Leicester  during  the 
Commonwealth.  A  vacancy  having  occurred  in  1654 — 5,  in  the  office  of 
master  of  the  free  school,  Mr.  Chamberlain  Ludlam  went  to  Harborough  and  to 
Oakham  "  about  a  schoolemaster,"  but  not  meeting  with  an  eligible  one,  or  the 
preliminary  propositions  not  being  equally  agreeable  to  both  parties  concerned, 
Uppingham  was  tried,  but  with  no  better  success.  Mr.  Pares,  a  schoolmaster 
at  Ashby,  being  next  communicated  with,  he  came  over  to  Leicester  ;  and  the 
Town  Clerk  soon  after  going  to  Ashby  to  "  treat  with  him,"  appears  to  have 
been  successful  in  his  mission,  for  the  Chamberlains  charge  in  their  accounts 
"for  three  horses  hire  and  one  man,  when  Chambei'lain  Coleman  went  to 
Ashby  to  bring  the  same  schoolemaster  and  his  goods,"  (he  was  undoubtedly 
an  luimarried  man)  "  to  this  town."  And  again,  "  Paid  for  a  pinte  of  Canary 
at  his  coming  to  this  Town,"  and — "  Paid  for  Dyett  for  the  said  Mr.  Pares 
and  his  man." 

The  White  Hart  had  long  been  one  of  the  principal  inns  in  the  town  : 
in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Henry  Grey,  of  Bradgate,  Marquis  of 
Dorset,  stayed  there  ;  and  reference  is  frequently  made  to  it  in  the  Chamber- 
lains' accoimts.  The  vintners  of  Leicester,  licensed  "  to  draw,  utter,  and  sell 
"wyne,"  were  at  this  time  persons  apparently  occupying  good  positions  in 
society  ;  many  of  them  being  styled  in  the  Chamberlains'  accounts  (where 
such  an  appellation  is  seldom  given)  as  "  gentlemen." 

By  Indenture  dated  17  February,  13th  Elizabeth  (1570-1)  Thomas 
Worship,  of  Leicester,  Yeoman,  demised  to  John  Hey  rick,  of  Leicester,  for 
the  term  of  1000  years,  a  messuage  called  the  White  Hart  Inn,  another  mes- 
suage, a  lawn,  a  close  in  Humberstone  gate,  with  some  other  small  parcels, 
for  the  annual  rent  of  a  rose  flower. — Nichols'  Leic.  Gitth.  Hund.  p.  400. 
fSee  Illus.  No.  4.) 

(B, — EDWAED  READ  OF  LEICESTER      an  Antelope. 

3X.-H.S  HAtFEPENNT,    1666 E.  "m.  &  <-™«„ta?  to. 

Edward  Read,  "  a  stranger,"  was  admitted  into  the  Chapmans'  Guild  in 
1649-50. 

It  is  fair  to  presume  that  Mr.  Read  brewed  good  ale,  for  he  supplied  the 
Hall  occasionally. 
1663-4— "!*">    pd    Edward    Eeade    for    beere    to    the    Town    Hall    at    sevall 

tymes    iij*      ij'' 

1665-6 — 1'™   p'^   Edwarde    Reade  for  beere    at  twice  to  the    hall    and    paler 

(parlour)  i*" 

He   appears  to  have   died   prior  to    1669,   for  in   that  year  I  find 

«pd  Widow  Reade  for  ale  this  year iiij»      vj-^" 

— Chamberlains'  Accounts. 

0. — NATHANIELL  BAKER       an  Angel. 

B, — IN  LESTER,  1667     N.  a.  in  monogram. 

The  Angel,  which  had  been  for  a  considerable  time  the  px-incipal  inn  in 
Leicester,  stood  between  the  Cheapside  and  Gallowtree-gate.  The  ancient 
hostelry  has  long  since  disappeared,  but  the  sign  has  only  within  the  past  few 
years  been  removed  from  an  edifice,  occupying  a  portion  of  the  site  upon  Avhich 
previously  stood  its  more  noted  and  more  frequented  predecessor. 

It  was  chiefly  at  the  Angel  that  the  JMayor  and  his  brethren  regaled  the 


LEICESTERSHIRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS.  187 

neighbouring  nobility,  and  persons  of  distinction  passing  throngh,  or  staying 
in  the  town,  with  sack,  clarctt,  and  sugar.     Thus,  to  take  one  year : 

1597.  '*  Oct,  6.     Paid  for  a  pottell  of  sacke,  a  pottell  of  clarett  a  pottell  of  white 
wyne  and  a  pounde  of  sugar  geveu  to  the  Earlc  of  Shrcwsburie  att  the 

Angell  in  Leicester  vj*     viij* 

Nov.  7,     P''  for  wyne  and  suger  geven  to  the  Earle  of  Huntingdon  att  the 
Angell  in  Leicester xxxij*    iiij* 

1598.  Jany.  17.     P''  for  a  pottell  of  clarett,  and  a  pottell  of  secke,  geven  to  Mr. 
Justice  Beaumont,  he  then  beinge  att  the  Angell  in  Leicester...        iiij* 

Sep.  12,     P''  for  wyne  and  suger  geven  to  Mr.  Thomas  Cave  att  the  Angell, 

he  then  sittinge  for  the  subsidy  iij*     j"*'* 

— Chamberlains'  Accounts. 
The  Angel  would  probably  be  adopted  as  a  sign,  in  reference  to  the  belief 

In  the  ministry  of  Angels,  held  alike  by  the  Mediteval  and  Reformed  Churches. 

^{See  Illus :  No.  5.) 

<©. — DANIELL  HEGGS  IN  1667 a  Unicorn. 

2^. — LEICESTER  HIS   HALrPENY      D  "  8 

There  were  several  persons  of  this  name  in  Leicester.  In  1642-3 
W'"  Hcggs  received  from  the  Corporation  Is.  8d.  *'  for  four  linkes  to  light  the 
forces  into  the  Towne  when  they  came  from  Melton."  Edward  Heggs  was 
a  butcher  here  in  1660. 

(!^, — WILL  WOOD  IN  LEICESTER Cordwainers'  Annsi, 

K. — HIS   HALPPENT    1667         ,„^' . 

W.       A. 

The  Company  of  Cordwainers  bear  ;  Gules,  a  chevron  between  three  Goats' 
heads  erased,  Ai-gent. — Kenfs  Gram,  of  Heraldry. — (-See  Illus:  No.  6.) 

(©. — JOHN  BROWNE         Man  dipping  Candlesi 

3^. —  OF   LEICESTER    1669  HIS   HAFEpisNr. 

The  Brownes  were  extensively  represented  in  Leicester  at  this  date.  "There 
being  Thomas  Browne  apprentice  to  a  taylor,  Thomas  Browne  an  innkeeper, 
and  another  Browne  a  pavior  and  mason. 

©. — JANE  LASH  IN  LEICESTER     JRoyal  (or  King's)  Jrmsi 

Wi> — HER  HALFEPENT    1669 J.  L. 

The  first  mention  I  have  seen  of  this  disagreeable  name  in  Leicester 
occurs  in  1656,  when  Wm,  Lash,  "a  stranger,"  was  admitted  into  the  Chap- 
mans'  Guild  by  consent  of  a  Common  Hall,  and  paid  £5  as  his  fine.  He 
appears  to  have  been  an  innkeeper,  for  in  1659-60  the  following  entry  occurs 
in  the  Chamberlains'  accounts  : 

"  P'"  p'*  to  Wm.  Lash  for  a  man  and  horse  to  goe  w*''  a  Lieutenant  of 
Generall  Moucks  to  Harborowe,  ij*  vi'^"  ; — and  again  in  1664-5 — 

"  I""  p''  to  William  Lash  for  meate,  bread,  Beere,  and  Tobacco,  when  the 
two  Companies  were  at  his  house  at  the  Duke  of  Yorke's  last  being  in  Towne 
as  appeares  by  bill,  ij''  xiiij^". 

Jane  Lash,  the  issuer  of  the  above  Token,  was  probably  his  widow. 

The  house  known  as  the  King's  Arms  stood  formerly  in  the  Swines 
Market  (now  High  Stx*eet),  upon  ground  at  present  occupied  by  Messrs.  WattS 
and  Son's  wine  vaults. — (See  Illus.  No.  7.) 

©. — WILLIAM  SAVIDGE    a  Wheatsheafi 

3^,— IN   LEICESTER,    1670 HIS   HALFPENY. 

The  Wlieatsheaf  shews  Wm.  Savidgc  to  have  been  either  a  publican  ot 
a  baker  ;  it  being  sometimes  used  by  bakers  instead  of  the  usual  arras. 

(©. — NICHOLAS    SMITH,   BREWER     a  Barrel. 

2^*— IN  LicESTER,  1672 (illegible.) 

In  1664-5,  Mr.  Palmer,  the  Town  Clerk  of  Leicester  died  ;  and  at  his 
funeral  the  Corporation  expended,  in  addition  to  ,£1  10s.  for  cakes,  eight 
shillings  for  "beere"  ;  which  was  purchased  of  "Mr.  Smith,  Brewer." — Cliam- 
herlains'  accounts  for  that  year. 


188         LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


W» — JOHN  COLSON  OP  LICESTER 
3^, — BAKER,    HIS   HALFPENY... 
©.—JOHN  MASON  IN   62 
K.— LECSTER,   BAKER      


f  <6  fox'  with  a  goose  in  its 
\mouth,  ''The Fox S  Goose,'' 
J.C.  with  a  true  lover's  knott 


a  Croivn. 

M. 
J.        E. 


(JP, — MARY  MOVNTNEY 
3^, — OP   LECESITER... 


^ 


-OF  LEICESTER 


(3, 


-IN  LESTER  TOWNE 


...     ...     a  Crown. 

M.    M. 

The  Ci-own  would  be  a  popular  sign  in  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  XL  In  1662-3,  George  Mounteney,  "a  stranger,"  was  made  free,  and 
paid  £10  as  his  fine  ;  he  Avas  an  innkeeper,  for  in  1669-70  the  Chamberlains 
paid  him  for  ale  Is.  An  inn  known  as  The  Crown  formerly  stood  in  Swines' 
Market  (now  High  Street). 

#. — RICHARD  NOONE       Grocers' Arms. 

N. 
R.       A. 

Noone  was  a  common  name  in  Leicester.  In  1655,  Edward  Noone  was 
a  mercer;  James  Ellis,  an  alderman,  gave  26s.  8d.  yearly  to  the  head  usher 
of  the  Free  Grammar  School,  out  of  a  house  in  the  parish  of  All  Saints,  in 
the  tenure  of  William  Noone,  sen.,  baker;  in  1712,  Wm.  Noon  (as  a  freeman) 
had  £50  granted  him  from  Sir  Thomas  White's  charity;  ^in  1713,  Arthur 
Noone  was  elected  Mayor,  and  in  1730,  Wm.  Noone  was  Chamberlain. — («Sec 
Illus.  No.  8.) 

—AT  THE  RED  LYON  a  LtoH  Emipant, 

N. 

^Y.      J. 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  no  name  given  upon  this  Token,  but  only 

the  initials     ,    ^*    _    These  initials  I  assign  to  William  Newton  (and  perhaps 
"W.  J. 

Jane  his  wife),  who  was  bound  as  an  apprentice  to  Mr.  Richard  Barnes, 
vintner,  and  made  a  freeman  of  the  town  of  Leicester  on  the  seventh  day 
of  December,  1648.  In  the  Chamberlains'  accounts  for  1659 — 60  is  the  follow- 
ing entry : 

u  jtm  pd  to  W'"  Newton  for  ministers  dinners  that  kept  flfriday  Lecture,  and 
for  wine  this  yeare  £5  8s.  8d." 

That  "  the  Red  Lyon"  was  one  amongst  the  principal  inns  in  Leicester,  is 
evident  from  the  personages  staying  there:  in  1655 — 6  the  Mayor  and  alder- 
men visited  ''the  Major  Generall  att  the  Red  Lyon;"  in  1659 — 60  the 
Chamberlains  paid  for  "  Tobacco  and  pipes  when  the  Maior  and  aldermen 
went  to  visit  Coll.  Hacker,  att  the  Red  Lyon  ;"  and  upon  the  Coronation  day 
of  Charles  the  Second,  the  Mayor,  Aldermen,  and  Common  Councilmen,  with 
"  seaven  gent"  ministers  and  others,  and  five  servants"  dined  there,  the 
Chamberlains  paying  £5  12s.  8d.  for  their  dinners,  "beere  and  Tobacco."  The 
Red  Lion  as  a  sign.  Is  thought  by  some  to  have  had  its  rise  in  compliment  to 
John  of  Gaunt  Duke  of  Lancaster,  who  married  Constance,  daughter  of  Pedro 
the  Cruel,  king  of  Castile,  and  upon  the  death  of  her  father  impaled  the  arms 
of  Castile  and  Leon  upon  his  shield,  on  a  castle  or,  a  shield  argent,  charged 
with  a  lion  rampant,  gules. — ('S'ee  Illiis.  No.  9.) 

In  1669 — 70,  Mr.  Wm.  Newton  was  one  of  the  Stewards  of  the  Fairs. 


o. 

T.        A. 

a  Crown. 


0. — THO.  OVERINGE  LEICESTR        

1^. — ^VIYE  LA  ROY     

Mr.  Overing  received  his  share  of  the  patronage  of  ]\fr.  !&Iayor  and  his 
brethren.     In  1669  a  Thomas  Overing  was  Mayor, 

^  (a  half 'length  female  figirri. 

©.-JANE  PALLMER        |     ''The  Maiden  Head:' 

itl, — IN  LECESITER J.  P« 

The  name  of  Palmer  is  everywhere  a  common  one,  owhig  to  so  many  of 


LEICESTERSHIRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS.  189 

tlie  common  people  receiving  tliat  addition  to  their  Christian  name,  upon  their 
return  from  a  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy  Land,  or  the  distant  shrine  of  a  popular 
saint  ;  in  1336,  Robert  the  Palmer  occurs  in  a  list  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lei- 
cester, preserved  in  an  ancient  Tallage  Roll,  and  transcribed  by  Mr.  Thomp- 
son into  his  History  of  Leicester. 

The  female  figure  upon  the  obverse  of  this  Token  has  led  to  some 
difference  of  opinion  amongst  collectors  and  those  curious  in  these  matters  ; 
most  of  them  supposing  it  an  approximation  to  the  Mercers'  arms,  and  that 
Jane  Palmer  was  a  Mercer  ;  Avhilst  one  gentleman  supposes  it  has  some  refer- 
ence to  the  Virgin  Mary.  I  hope  I  shall  not  shock  this  gentleman's  feelings 
if  I  pronounce  the  figure  to  be  a  tavern  sign,  and  state  that  Mrs.  Jane  Palmer 
was  an  innkeeper  ;  my  evidences  for  the  latter  supposition  are  the  following 
extracts  from  the  Chamberlains'  accounts  for  the  year  16GG-7  : 

"  I*'»  p''  to  Mrs.  Jane  Palmer  widow,  for  beere  and  ale  to  the  Towne  Hall 
and  Gaynesborowc  this  year  as  appears  by  Bill,  19s.  6d. 

jtm  p(i  [q^  beere  to  Mrs.  Jane  Pallmer  fetcht  at  sevall  tymes  to  the  Hall, 
Is.  6d." 

With  reference  to  the  figure,  it  most  probably  represents  the  Maiden's 
Head,  or  as  it  was  generally  called  the  "Maidenhead."  In  the  year  1.591, 
Wm.  Hobbye  paid  13s.  4d.  per  annum  to  the  Corporation  of  Leicester  "  for  a 
messuage  or  tenement  w'^  thappurtenances  called  the  Meyden  headd  and  a 
garden  thereunto  belonging,  lying  on  the  East  s^'de  of  S'^  Mtyns  churche," 
and  Avhich  was  then  in  his  own  occupation.  It  appears  afterwards  to  have 
been  occupied  by  "  Goodwife  Hobbie,"  from  whom  it  probably  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Palmers. 

The  Maiden  head  was  a  common  sign  at  that  period,  and  one  adopted  in 
compliment  to  Queen  Catherine  Parr,  the  last  wife  of  Henry  VIII.,  whose 
family  bore  for  a  crest,  a  female's  head  couped  below  the  shoulders,  habited 
az.  on  her  head  a  Avrcath  of  roses  (alternately  ar.  and  gu.) 

"  Her  forehead  is  pretty,  somewhat  resembling  the  forehead  of  the  sign  of 
the  Maiden  Head  Inn." — (  The  fair  mayde  of  the  Exchange,  1607.) — (^See 
Illus.  No.  10.) 

©» — WILLIAM   SPENCER   IN     HIS   IIAFPENY. 

2^» — LEICESTER,  BVTCHER     Butchers'  Arms. 

The  Butchers'  Company  bear,  az.  two  slaughter  axes  indorsed  in  saltire 
ar.  handled  or.  betw.  three  bulls'  heads  couped  of  the  second,  armed  of  the 
third,  viz.,  two  in  fesse,  and  one  in  base  ;  on  a  chief  arg.  a  boar's  head  couped 
gu.  betw.  two  block  brushes  (i.e.  bunches  of  knee-holly)  vert.  Crest,  on 
a  wreath  a  flying  bull  arg.  wings  indorsed  or,  armed  and  hoofed  of  the  last ; 
over  the  head  a  small  circle  of  glory  ppr.  Supporters,  two  flying  bulls  arg. 
winged,  armed  and  hoofed  or,  over  each  head  a  small  circle  of  glory  ppr. 
Motto,  OMNIA  suBjECiSTi  SUB  PEDIBUS,  OVES  ET  BOTES. — Burke's  Gen. 
Armory. — (JSee  Illus.  No.  11.) 

(©, — THOMAS  STVRGES    Mercers'  Arms. 

- .  s, 

3a. — MERCER   IN   LEICESTER ^       ^^ 

In  1656,  Thomas  Sturges  rented  a  messuage  in  the  Saturday  Market 
(the  Market  Place),  then,  or  late  in  the  tenure  of  John  Loseby. 

©. — RICHARD  WOODROFFE Mercers'  Arms. 

3^» — IN  LESTER  MERCER  „ 

R.         M. 

In  1654-5,  Richard  Woodrofe,  an  apprentice  to  William  Slater,  dry-chan- 
dler, was  made  free  by  order  of  a  Common  Hall,  his  fine  being  £2. 

©, — SAMVELL  WILLSON Bakers' Arms. 

3tl. — IN  LESTER  BAKER g^  j^^ 


190         LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

LOUGHBOROUGH. 

0, — JOHN  ALEN  NERE  THE      a  CrOSS. 

2^. — IN  LOVGHBROVGH      ,       ...      J.   A. 

John  Alen  was  a  Feoffee  of  Burton's  Charity.  In  1652,  he  was,  with  his 
fellows,  fined  for  misemploying  the  Charity  funds,  and  was  compelled  to  return 
about  ninety  pounds  which  he  had  abstracted,  wherewith  to  build  a  house. 
He  was  Bridgemaster  (that  is,  had  the  care  of  public  bridges  near  the  town) 
in  1656  and  1664. 
©. — MATiiEW  ALLAIN     Ironmongers'  Arms. 

2^,— OF   LOVGUEOROW ^^^    *^^ 

The  Company  of  Ironmongers  bear,  argent  on  a  chevron  gules,  between 
three  steel  Gads  azure,  as  many  Lockets  capped  or. — KenVs  Gram,  of  Her- 
aldry.—{See  Illus.  No.  20.) 

©.—ROBERT  BUNNTS  IN        S.  George  ^  the  Dragofi. 

2^.— LOVGHBOROVGii,  1666 Three  Tuns  and^{9) 

The  Company  of  Vintners  bear,  argent  a  chevron  between  three  ban-els, 
sable. — Ibid. 

Robert  Bunnys  was  a  person  of  considerable  public  importance.  He  held 
the  office  of  Bridgemaster  in  1661,  and  was  appointed  trustee,  with  seven 
others,  of  the  bequests  and  charities  of  John  and  Bartholomew  Hickling  by 
the  will  of  the  latter,  dated  4  June,  1683;  that  office  descending  to  both 
heirs  and  assignees,  as  the  will  runs,  "  for  ever."  His  signature  is  appended, 
in  attestation,  to  copies  of  the  wills  of  both  the  Hicklings. 

Most  probably  the  Three  Tuns  was  situate  in  the  Church  Gate,  where 
the  present  public  house  of  that  name  now  stands,  as  such  signs  are  often 
retained  for  centuries.  S.  George  appears  to  have  been  held  in  some  especial 
revei-ence  and  honor  in  the  town,  for  we  find  in  the  Churchwardens'  accoimts 
continual  payments  for  ringing  on  his  anniversary. — (*See  Jllus.  No.  19.) 

©. — HENRY   SOMERVILE   AT   Y^       rr     \r 

xl.       So.. 

2^. — CASTLE  IN  LOVGHBOROYGH HIS  HALFPENT. 

©. — THOMAS  STOKES  AGAINST   THE  CROSS  ^  ®'^ 

2^. — IN  LOVGHBOROYGH     HIS  HALFPENY. 

(Q. — JOHN  VARNAM         a  Wheat  Sheaf. 

2^, — IN  LOVGHBOROAV    J .  Y .  ^' Ornamental  knot. 

John  Varnam  was  Bridgemaster  in  1667. 

*^' — JOHN   ALLEN   NEARE   THE        fl   CrOSS. 

2^. — IN   LOVGHBROYGH HISHALFPENY. 

{See  Illus.    No.  11.) 
©. — JOHN 1665        Mercers*  Arms  f? J 

*2^. — IN   LOVGHBVRROW ;.       ...      HIS   HALFPENY. 

©. — JOHN  FOWXER  OF the  Grocers'  Arms. 

*♦  F. 

2cl.— LOUGHBOROVGH        

The  Fowlers  appear  to  have  been  a  very  old  family  in  Loughborough. 
As  far  back  as  the  earliest  town  documents  extend,  individuals  of  this  name, 
and  frequently  with  the  same  christian  name,  have  held  important  offices. 
The  subject  of  this  note  officiated  several  times  as  Churchwarden,  and  for  the 
years  1668,  1670,  1674,  and  1676,  held  the  important  office  of  Bridgemaster, 
which  he  appears  to  have  discharged  with  exemplary  fidelity.  He  was  also  a 
Feoffee  of  Burton's  Charity .7 

(7)  For  the  notes  under  the  Loughborough  Tokens,  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  kind- 
ness and  research  of  Mr.  Edwin  Goadby,  whose  History  of  that  town,  will,  I  hope,  soon 
t>e  before  the  public. 


LEICESTERSHIRE  TRADESMEN'S  TOKENS.  191 

LUTTERWORTH. 

0, — ^PETER  MACKCARNES    

3^, — IN  LVTTERWORTH 

©, — IN  COVENTRY,  SOUTHAM    

3I^» — RVGBY,  LVTTERWORTH 

A  Token  with  four  names  of  locality  upon  it,  is  very  rarely  met  with 
indeed,  I  think  this  one  may  be  said  to  be  unique  in  that  respect. 

©.—EDWARD  RE  YELL S.  Geovge  Sf  the  DragoH, 

%,—m   LYTTERAVORTH E.   R. 

MEDBOURNE. 
©♦ — GEORGE  ATLMONDE a  Man  Standing. 

H»— IN    MEDBVRN,    1667 


M. 

P.        A. 

1662. 

w. 

II.        E, 

DYER, 

1666. 

A. 

G. 


MELTON  MOWBRAY. 

<B , — ARTH VR   CLOVDSLY  a  Sllclc  of  Cu  H  dks. 

2^,— IN  MELTON   1664     A^B 

{Seellliis:  No.U.) 

0 , — EDWARD  STOKES  IN       Grocen'  Arms, 

K. — MELTON   MOWBRAY ^   ^' 

^  E.      R. 

The  Stokes  have  been  a  highly  respectable  family  in  Melton  for  many 
years.  Upon  the  first  bell  of  the  beautiful  peal  belonging  to  Melton  Mowbray 
church,  occurs  (amongst  the  list  of  benefactors)  the  name  of  "Mr.  Samuel 
Stokes,"  1708. 

©.-ROGER   WAITE    1666  i      ^\      ""f    '^"f.    ^'f  ^ 

(R.      R.     horns  stringed. 

2^, — IN   MELTON    MOWBRAY ..      HIS   HALPENY. 

The  Waites  were  tenant  farmers  in  Leicestershire  as  early  as  15  Edward 
III.,  when  William  Wayte  of  Little  Dalby,  with  Emma  his  wife,  and  William 
and  John  their  sons,  held  lands  for  the  terra  of  theh  several  lives,  from  John 
dc  Berkeley. — Nichols'  Hist.  Leic. 

Roger  Waite  was  churchwarden  of  Melton  in  1656  ;  the  three  bugle 
horns  upon  the  obverse  of  his  Token,  shew,  I  think,  his  family  connection 
with  the  Waytes  of  Keythorpe,  Leicestershhe,  who  bore  argent,  a  chevron 
between  three  bugle  horns  stringed  sable.  Thomas  Wayte  of  Keythorpe,  Avho 
died  in  1642,  was  Receiver  for  his  Majesty,  in  the  counties  of  Warwick  and 
Leicester.  A  reference  to  Burke's  General  Armory  will  shew  that  the  same 
arms  are,  or  were  borne  by  the  Rev,  D.  G.  Wait,  L.L.D.,  F.A.S.,  who  was  a 
descendant  in  the  female  line  from  the  Killigrews,  old  Cornish  baronets  ;  and 
also  by  William  Savage  Wait,  of  Woodborough,  near  Bath,  as  well  as  by 
Wayte  of  Southampton,  &c. 

Nichols  (Framland  Hund.  p.  269)  informs  us  that  the  following  arms 
were  (in  1569)  in  Burton  Lazars  church;  Argent,  a  chevron  between  three 
bugle  horns  stringed  proper. — Burton  Lazars,  a  hamlet  belonging  to  Melton 
Mowbray,  is  situate  between  that  place  and  Little  Dalby.  Did  these  arms 
belong  to  the  Waytes  of  Leicestershire  ? 

©,— THOMAS  CLOWDESLEY    ^  ^'  ^  and  true  lovcr's  knot. 

H, — or   MELTON   MOWBRAY    1668  HIS   HALFPENNY. 

Thomas  Clowdesley  (probablv  the  father  of  the  above)  was  Churchwarden 
in  1619. 


192 


LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


©. — JOHN  BROAVN  CHANDLER 
K.— IN  MELTON  3M0AVBRAY  ... 
©. — ROBERT  BEATSON  AT  ... 
2^. — IN   MELTON  MOBERY 


(■    B.       and    a    Stick    of 
\j.     A.  Candles. 

HIS   HALFPENY    1668. 

Three  Lambs. 

B. 
R.       E. 


MOUNTSORRELL. 


Grocers^  Arms. 

HIS  HALFPENY. 

Jonas  Davis  of  Mountsorrell,  Mercer,  paid 


0, — JONAS   DAVIS    1665 

2^, — IN   MOVNT-SORELL 

In  1660  and  following  years 
four  shillings  for  his  freedom  of  Leicester  on  the  market  days  ;  it  thus  appears 
(as  it  is  not  probable  there  were  two  men  of  this  name  in  Mountsox-rell)  that 
then,  as  now,  it  was  usual  in  villages  to  combine  two  or  more  trades  in  one 
establishment :  He  rented  in  Leicester  a  shop  under  the  Gainsborough,  which 
he  occupied  till  about  the  year  1716,  as  in  that  year  it  was  "set"  to 
John  Billers,  a  tobacconist,  "  at  the  same  rate  as  that  paid  by  Jonas  Davy 
of  Mountsorrill." 

0, — RALPH   BOSSE    1667 

3^, — OF   MOVNTSORRILL  ...       ., 

Henry  Bosse  of  Mountsorrell,  perhaps  brother  to  the  above,  a  butcher,  was 
free  of  the  town  of  Leicester  on  market  days,  in  1664,  and  following  years.  I 
mention  this  to  shew  that  Bosse  was  a  name  well  known  in  Leicestershire, 
(see  under  Bagivorth.J 

0, — JOSEPH  LOVETT  OF        a  Roll  of  Tohacco  ( ? J 

2^^ — MOYNTSORILL    1667  HIS  HALFPENY. 


Drapers'  Arms. 

HIS   HALFE   PENNY   R.    B. 


SADDINGTON. 


-JONATHAN    TALECOTE       ... 
-OF   SADINGTON    CHANDLER 


two  Tohacco  Pipes,  crossed. 

HIS    HALFPENY. 


Several  of  the  family  of  Tylecoat  or  Tilecoat  are  buried  in  Nailstone 
chui'ch  ;  and  Jeffery  Tilecote,  the  son  of  Thomas  and  Frances  Tilecote  of 
Nailstone,  was  a  draper  in  Market  Bosworth,  and  died  in  1771.  Jonadas 
Tylecote  was  a  baker  in  Leicester  in  1715. 


©. — JOSEPH   BRUXBY   OF 
*2lv.— SHEEPSIIED    1667      .. 


SHEEPSHEAD. 


a  Sheep^s  Head. 

HIS    HALFPENY. 


WALTHAM. 


©. — HENRY   DARKER    1666      

2^^_IN   WALTHAM   HIS    HALFE   PENNY. 


11.    D. 


The  reverse  is  in  four  lines  across  the  field,  and  the  Token  is  octagonal  in 
shape.— (iSee/Z/ws.  No.  18.) 


I  am  much  indebted  to  George  C.  Bdlairs,  Esq.,  for  the  sheet  of  Illustrations 
accompanying  the  present  Paper. 


St.  Mart/s  Church,  Mellon,  dc.  A  Paper  read  before  the  Leicester- 
shire Architectural  and  Archaiological  Society,  at  Melton 
Mowbray,  September  10th,  1856.     By  Vincent  Wing. 

The  chief  subject  of  this  paper  is  the  Church  in  this  town.  In 
addressing  the  members  of  the  Leicestershire  Architectural  and 
Archaeological  Society,  introductorily  to  the  excursion  of  to-day,  the 
writer  desires  to  be  particular  in  two  points — namely,  brevity,  and 
giving  matter-of-fact,  unexaggerated  statements.  This  is  the  more 
necessary,  as  the  admirer  of  mediaeval  art  is  very  liable  to  be 
carried  too  far  by  his  enthusiasm  w4ien  adverting  to  objects  of 
exciting  merit,  and  such  undoubtedly  exist  in  the  edifice  under 
consideration. 

There  is  no  mistake,  how^ever,  in  answering  in  the  affirmative 
the  question  that  may  generally  arise — "  Is  Melton  church  worth 
going  far  to  see  ?  "  Though  not  so  rich  in  historical  association  as 
some,  this  beautiful  House  of  God,  it  can  be  said  advisedly,  is  the 
finest  church  in  the  county.  The  ground  arrangement,  the  outline 
of  the  superstructure,  and  the  details,  possess  a  superiority,  it  is 
presumed,  over  every  other. 

It  is  a  cruciform  church,  and  is  peculiar  in  its  symmetrical 
proportions.  The  transept  is  of  due  length,  a  circumstance  to  which 
attention  should  be  called,  as  in  parochial  churches  this  advantage 
is  seldom  found.  Nor  do  we  often  meet  with  the  two  aisles  and 
clerestory  carried  out  in  this  part  upon  the  same  plan  as  in  the  nave. 
But  here  we  have  them  in  perfection.  These  are  matters  essential 
to  true  grandeur,  and  have  been  almost  confined  to  cathedrals. 

Some  views  of  the  exterior  are  unsatisfactory,  but  a  good  position 
near  to  the  south-west  corner  of  the  church-yard  will  bring  before 
the  beholders  a  striking  outline,  and  an  array  of  beauty  that  cannot 
fail  to  astonish.  The  only  drawbacks  are  the  dilapidated  parapet, 
and  the  plainness  of  some  of  the  lower  windows. 

In  details  there  is  variety,  and  each  of  the  three  Pointed  styles 
is  admirably  exemplified.  The  clerestory  and  the  upper  part  of  the 
tower  are  of  Perpendicular  work,  of  the  time  of  Henry  VIL,  and  are 
a  specimen  of  the  excellent  masonry  for  which  that  period  was 
remarkable.  The  Decorated  aisles,  seen  in  this  view,  are  rather 
poor ;  but  this  is  fully  atoned  for  by  the  beautiful  porch,  which, 
with  its  doorway  and  eight  gorgeous  niches,  presents  a  show  of 
elaborate  sculpture  of  the  time  of  Edward  II.  It  is  in  very  good 
preservation,  with  the  exception  of  the  pinnacles,  which  have  perished, 
and  have  been  superseded  by  a  modern  coping.  Their  restoration 
will  ere  long  be  accomplished,  we  trust,  to  the  perfecting  of  this 
ecclesiastical  gem.  The  lower  part  of  the  tower  is  Early  English, 
and  to  this  we  particularly  invite  attention ;  it  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
perfect  example  to  be  met  with.  A  long  acquaintance  with  it 
reveals  not  a  fault,  but  yields  a  growing  admiration.     At  each  angle, 

B   B 


194         LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

in  the  place  of  a  buttress,  the  wall  has  a  slight  projection,  finished 
by  a  cylindrical  moulding  at  the  sides,  and  banded  by  a  prolongation 
of  the  abacus  of  the  capital  near  it :  the  space  between,  receding  a 
little,  is  overhung  by  a  corbel  table,  and  on  each  face  of  the  tower  is 
a  triplet  of  windows.  These  windows  are  of  equal  height,  having 
two  lights  each,  and  geometrical  tracery  and  cusping  in  the  heads, 
with  a  judiciously-placed  transom  rather  below  the  middle  of  the 
opening.  They  are  deeply  recessed,  and  of  this  circumstance  the 
architect  has  fully  availed  himself.  Into  each  jamb  he  has  introduced 
three  banded  shafts,  separated  by  a  line  of  the  dog-tooth  ornament. 
Above  their  capitals  is  a  lancet  arch  of  very  great  beauty;  the 
delicate  dripstone,  with  the  outer  moulding  which  rises  from  the 
front  capital,  is  arranged  with  great  taste ;  and  the  archivolt,  which 
contains  two  other  mouldings  with  intervening  hollows,  has  a  ribbed 
appearance.  When  the  two  sides  of  the  tower  are  seen  together, 
the  effect  is  that  of  six  niched  recesses  with  canopies,  the  light  and 
shade  of  which  must  be  seen  to  be  fully  appreciated. 

If  we  look  at  the  building  from  the  south-east,  the  staircase  is 
seen  to  project.  This  is  generally  disliked,  but  we  have  the  tower 
in  more  perfect  proportions  in  the  other  view,  and  it  is  an  advantage 
to  see  it  in  this,  as  well  as  from  the  north-east,  in  a  more  massive 
form.  This  excrescence,  viewed  from  the  north-west,  is  certainly 
clumsy,  but  even  then  it  is  effective  in  making  the  whole  church 
appear  much  larger, 

Some  apology  may  now  seem  necessary  for  having  used  strong 
expressions  in  describing  the  excellencies  of  a  church  that  has  not 
hitherto  been  much  brought  into  notice  by  architects  and  ecclesiolo- 
gists.  It  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  would  be  unjust  to  use  tamer 
language.  The  inadequacy  of  impressions  made  upon  visitors  has 
arisen  out  of  the  following  circumstances,  which  should  be  borne  in 
mind  this  morning  by  those  who  have  not  yet  seen  the  church,  to 
prevent  disappointment.  Some  conspicuous  parts  of  the  building, 
both  outside  and  inside,  and  the  first  sight  of  it  that  a  stranger 
usually  gets,  are  detrimental.  In  the  part  nearest  to  the  street  are 
a  debased  east  window  and  vestry,  the  aisles  look  plain,  and  the 
interior  of  the  church  is  lumbered  up  with  galleries  and  high  pews 
— ecclesiastically  and  more  properly  called  scaffolds  and  cells.  The 
chancel  is  disfigured,  not  only  by  the  present  east  window,  but  by  a 
debased  roof  with  tie-beams,  and  its  best  features  are  concealed. 
The  cuspings  of  the  two  large  transept  windows  have  been  banished 
by  the  ingenious  glaziers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  a  veil  of 
paint  and  plaster  has  completed  the  libel. 

But  a  brighter  day  has  dawned  for  true  restoration ;  the  celebrated 
Mr.  Scott  has  been  resorted  to,  and  an  east  window,  designed  by 
him,  is  at  this  time  preparing  for  insertion.  Let  us  call  in  imagi- 
nation to  help  us,  and  anticipate  complete  reform — then  we  shall 
have  unmingled  satisfaction  as  we  enter  this  sacred  edifice.  A  vista 
of  arches  opens  before  us  as  we  approach  the  western  portal,  the 
rich  Decorated  doorway  of  the  porch  is  succeeded  by  the  equally 
rich  Early  English  entrance  to  the  church,  the  grove-like  arcades  of 


ST.  mart's  church,  melton.  195 

the  nave  conduct  us  to  tlic  t^YO  arches  of  the  tower,  which  are  seen  in 
succession,  and  the  anticipated  aj^propriate  east  window  is  the 
extremity  and  crown  of  the  perspective.  We  may  also  with  propri- 
ety invoke  the  aid  of  music — 

"  Let  the  solemn  orgau  pealing 
Swell  the  tide  of  holy  feelmg  ;" 

and  our  best  senses  compel  us  to  *  reverence  God's  sanctuary,'  im- 
parting the  conviction  that  architecture,  not  less  than  music,  is 
most  powerful  as  a  help  to  devotion. 

The  centre  of  the  building  is  the  place  from  which  to  see  the 
clerestory,  which  must  not  be  forgotten.  It  is  peculiarly  light  and 
elegant,  containing  no  less  than  forty-eight  windows,  each  of  three 
lights.     The  pendants  and  mouldings  are  almost  innumerable. 

It  may  occur  to  some  to  ask — How  came  Melton  to  be  honoured 
with  the  best  architects  and  the  best  workmen  in  the  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  and  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century?  for  the  fact 
that  it  was  so  is  proved  by  these  architectural  remains.  No  doubt 
it  was  then  a  place  of  more  importance  than  now.  Medelton,  as  it 
was  anciently  called  (or  Middle-Town),  is  one  of  the  oldest  market 
towns  in  England.  It  had  an  endowed  school  at  least  as  long  ago 
as  the  year  1347.  But  we  suspect  its  church  is  chiefly  indebted  to 
the  great  priory  at  Lewes,  which  in  the  thirteenth  century  had  the 
patronage,  and  to  which  priory  the  cell  of  twelve  Cluniac  monks  at 
Melton  was  subject.  And  we  must  not  forget  its  connection  with 
the  illustrious  family  of  the  Mowbrays. 

Objects  of  interest,  and  some  of  great  interest,  are  not  wanting 
to  the  ecclesiologist. 

Two  unimportant  brasses  only  remain.  Of  the  many  that  once 
did  honour  to  the  dead,  the  matrices  or  vestiges  show  where  the 
robbers  of  churches  have  laid  their  sacrilegious  hands.  Incised  slabs 
and  ancient  tombs  exist,  but  they  are  partly  concealed  by  modern 
work.  There  are  three  high-tombs,  dating  about  1300,  1400,  and 
1500,  respectively,  commemorative  of  a  crusader,  a  lady,  and  a 
knight.  The  first  has  a  recess  in  the  south  wall  of  the  nave,  as 
though  a  founder  or  benefactor  of  the  church ;  the  second,  an  ala- 
baster enshrinement ;  the  third,  a  Purbeck  marble  structure, 
formerly  inlaid  with  a  splendid  brass,  the  outline  of  which  enables 
the  instructed  student  to  recover  the  design.  How  delightful  must 
have  been  the  contrast  of  the  two  last,  and  how  striking  their 
appearance,  when  the  •  virgin  white'  and  the  shining  sable,  illumi- 
nated with  glowing  brass,  did  their  best  to  honour  these  worthies, 
who  were  probably  chief  contributors  to  the  magnificent  temple 
wherein  they  have  their  resting-place  ! 

The  bells  are  eight  in  number ;  the  six  largest  are  old,  and  some 
have  inscriptions.  There  are  two  fonts;  one,  of  a  modern  char- 
acter, has  the  well  known  Greek  inscription,  that  may  be  read 
either  backwards  or  forwards ;  the  other  is  a  gift  of  the  family  of 
the  late  Richard  Norman,  Esq.,  and  is  a  striking  piece  of  church 
furniture  from  an  elaborate  design  by  Scott. 


196        LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

We  come  lastly  to  a  portion  possessing  more  than  ordinary 
attraction — the  Galilee  Porch.  The  sculptured  and  ornamented 
parts,  judging  from  the  work,  seem  to  have  had  the  same  artists  as 
wove  employed  at  the  south-west  of  the  church  of  Gaddesby,  in  this 
county,  and,  if  possible,  surpass  that  gorgeous  production  both  in 
design  and  execution.  We  are  also  disposed,  from  a  similar  agree- 
ment with  the  nave  and  chapter-house  at  York,  on  the  strength  of 
the  following  corroborating  particulars  to  claim  for  this  porch  a 
common  parentage  with  the  King  Minster.  About  1280,  a  William 
de  Melton  was  presented  rector  of  Melton  Mowbray.  In  1317,  a 
William  de  Melton  was  consecrated  archbishop  of  York.  The  nave 
of  the  cathedral  was  built  under  this  archbishop,  as  testified  by  his 
initials  (M  M  M  M  M)  furnishing  therein  a  running  ornament. 
That  he  was  the  same  person  as  the  rector  of  that  name  is  chrono- 
logically consistent ;  for,  in  the  common  course,  he  might  in  early 
life  enter  upon  the  rectorship  in  1280,  and  in  advancing  years,  in 
1317,  become  archbishop.  This  is  strengthened  by  the  name,  espe- 
cially Melton;  and  with  the  strong  family  likeness  in  the  ornamen- 
tal features,  w^e  can  scarcely  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  the 
principal  builder  of  York  cathedral  erected  the  porch  here,  and  was 
no  other  than  WilHam  of  Melton  Mowbray.  It  is  much  to  be 
regretted  that  the  porch  is  mutilated  by  the  disappearance  of  the 
presumed  pinnacles.  Its  piscina,  locker,  and  other  relics  will  be 
explored  with  much  pleasure  ;  and  a  question  for  interesting  discus- 
sion will  arise  upon  a  singular  window,  and  more  especially  four 
openings  in  the  walls.  These  latter  resemble  the  mysterious  lych- 
noscope,  a  name  still  retained,  though  the  theory  it  denotes  is 
exploded  by  more  conclusive  evidence  that  it  was  *  an  outward 
confessional  window  for  all  comers.'  The  apertures,  to  which  we 
solicit  attention,  like  the  lychnoscope,  had  never  been  glazed,  but 
have  had  a  grating  and  shutter ;  they  are  not  high  from  the  ground, 
and  had  long  been  firmly  blocked  up  by  masonry.  Much  to  the  annoy- 
ance of  the  antiquarian,  they  have  been  recently  opened  and  glazed. 
They  furnish  good  examples  to  help  further  investigation  of  the 
question ;  and  if  we  be  satisfied  to  regard  them  as  outward  confes- 
sionals, the  number  will  not  be  staggering,  provided  we  bear  in 
mind  that  Melton  was  on  the  highway  to  the  great  leper  hospi- 
tal at  Burton  Lazars,  which  at  certain  times  of  the  year  would  bring 
swarms  of  these  '  all  comers.'  Besides  the  hospital,  a  spring  at 
that  place  in  great  repute  for  the  cure  of  leprosy  attracted  them. 
Moreover,  the  farm  house  adjoining  the  churchyard,  afterwards  and 
to  this  day  called  the  rectory,  was  inhabited  by  fourteen  chantry 
priests.  We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  there  would  be  no  lack 
of  applicants  or  of  priests  to  confess  them. 

It  is  not  doubted  that  the  members,  who  visit  the  church  this 
morning,  will  be  greatly  pleased  in  looldng  over  the  edifice  which 
we  have  attempted  to  describe,  and  it  is  earnestly  wished  that  they 
may  be  useful  in  promoting  a  safe  guardianship  of  its  antiquarian 
and  architectural  treasures,  by  giving  encouragement  to  correct 
restoration,  and  dealing  discouragement  to  ignorant  and  destructive 


ST.  mary's  church,  melton.  197 

meddling.  Regarding  it  as  we  do  as  the  pride  of  Leicestershire, 
being  persuaded  that  it  is  the  production  of  the  first  architects  and 
the  ablest  workmen  of  the  three  periods  of  its  erection,  and  not 
forgetting  our  obligations  to  them  that  have  left  us  this  monument 
of  the  best  feature  of  the  piety  of  those  times,  we  are  anxious  to 
uphold  and  protect  it,  and  gladly  hail  the  day  of  its  being  brouglit 
under  visitation  by  the  Leicestershire  Architectural  and  Archaeological 
Society. 

The  church  at  Kirby,  dedicated  originally  to  St.  Mary,  but,  on 
becoming  conventual,  to  St.  Peter,  has  a  fine  tower  with  a  broach 
spire.  When  the  north  aisle  was  standing,  the  whole  breadth  was 
scarcely  less  than  70  feet.  There  are  in  the  nave  examples  of  Early 
English  and  Decorated  work ;  the  chancel  ar^  other  portions  are 
Debased.  Here  are  also  an  interesting  monument  with  two  recum- 
bent figures,  about  a.d.  1370,  and  a  churchyard  cross. 

Great  Dalby  church  has  remaining  the  lower  part  of  a  fine  tower, 
transitional  from  Early  English  to  Decorated,  with  Debased  work 
in  the  upper  story.  The  chancel  is  a  little  earlier  in  style  ;  and 
the  nave  is  veiy  remarkable,  as  a  rare  instance  of  a  complete  church 
of  the  Elizabethan  period.  It  has  on  the  exterior  three  shields,  the 
sculpture  of  which  is  good. 

Little  Dalby  church  has  for  the  most  part  been  rebuilt,  and  in 
a  costly  manner.  With  the  adj  acent  grounds,  and  recently  beautified 
mansion  of  E.  B.  Hartopp,  Esq.,  this  will  furnish  a  great  treat  to 
lovers  of  the  picturesque.  The  north  door  of  the  church  is  exquisite, 
and  the  chancel-arch  and  many  other  parts  are  exceedingly  good  for 
effect.  The  architect  does  not  appear  to  have  aimed  at  any  particular 
date,  but  it  would  seem  that  a  mixture  of  styles  has  been  adopted, 
forming  a  sort  of  Composite  Gothic.  It  is  a  superior  production, 
and  as  the  experiment  of  a  new  Order,  if  we  may  call  it  so,  will  elicit 
the  opinions  and  exercise  the  criticism  of  architectural  members. 

Burton  Lazars  derives  importance  from  the  famous  Koger  de 
Mowbray,  who,  about  1145,  built  here  an  hospital  for  the  relief  of 
lepers  and  impotents  of  the  military  orders.  The  nave  of  the  church 
is  of  the  style  of  the  latter  part  of  the  twelfth  century,  or  semi-Norman, 
with  Early  English  and  Decorated  work  added.  Extensive  restor- 
ations have  been  carried  out  in  good  taste,  chiefly  at  the  charge  of 
Mr.  Hartopp.  The  Decorated  aisles,  which  are  of  superior  design 
and  workmanship,  have  not  been  meddled  with.  It  has  chantry 
chapels,  and  a  font  of  the  time  of  Richard  II. 

Extensive  ranges  and  mounds  of  earthworks,  supposed  to  be  the 
remains  of  the  hospital,  are  to  be  seen  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
church. 


W.  AND  B.   UROOKE,  PlilNTEKS,   LINCOLN; 


MANUAL    or    SEPULCHEAL    MEMORIALS, 


REV.    EDWARD    TROLLOPE,    F.S.A., 

HONORARY    SECRETARY   TO   THE 

LINCOLN    DIOCESAN    AECHITECTUEAL    SOCIETY. 


This  Volume,  foolscap  4to  size,  appropriately  bound  in  cloth,  contains  40  wood 
engravings,  of  designs  for  Head-stones,  Recumbent  Slabs,  and  other  Sepulchral  Monuments 
of  a  Christian  character,  accompanied  by  two  full  sized  alphabets  adapted  for  their  lettering, 
to  which  is  added  a  description  of  the  designs ;  a  series  of  BibHcal  Epitaphs,  classed 
under  various  heads ;  and  a  selection  of  poetical  passages,  suited  to  appear  above  Christian 
graves. 

Price  5s. 


LONDON : 
PIPER,    STEPHENSON,    AND    SPENCE,    PATERNOSTER    ROW. 


SLEAFORD  :     W.  FAWCETT. 


TO    BE    PUBLISHED    BY    SUBSCRIPTION, 

UNDER  THE   DIRECTION    OF   THE 

OXFORD    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY, 

FOR   THE   STUDY    OF 

jEonu mental    Brasses: 

WITH 
./^  LIST 

OF   THOSE   EEMAININa  IN   THE   BEITISH  ISLES. 

BY    THE 

REV.     HERBERT     HAINES,     M.  A., 

OF   EXETER   COLLEGE,    OXFORD, 
AND   SECOND    MASTER   OF   THE   COLLEGE   SCHOOL,    GLOUCESTER. 


The  Volume  wall  be  handsomely  printed  in  octavo,  and  form  a  New  Work  rather  than 
a  New  Edition.  It  will  contain  a  mass  of  information,  valuable,  not  merely  to  the 
Collector  of  "  Rubbings,"  but  also  to  the  Antiquarian  and  Genealogist,  and  will  consist  of 
Two  Parts. 

I.  An  Introduction,  comprising  a  full  Account  of  the  Monumental  Brasses 
of  the  Thirteenth  and  Four  following  Centuiies,  illustrated  with  numerous  additional 
Engravings. 

II.  A  List  (based  on  that  compiled  by  the  Rev.  C.  R.  Manning)  of  the  Monumen- 
tal Brasses  remaining  in  the  British  Isles,  accompanied  with  Brief  Notes  and 
Descriptions. 

The  Price  to  Subscribers  wiU  not  exceed  Twelve  Shillings. 

A  few  copies  wiU  be  printed  on  large  paper. 

Subscribers'  names  are  received  by  the  Rev.  S.  W.  Wayte,  Treasurer  of  the  Oxford 
Architectural  Society,  Trinity  College,  Oxford ;  by  the  Publishers ;  and  by  the  Rev. 
H.  Haines,  Paddock  House,  Gloucester,  avho  will  be  much  obliged  by  any 
communications  or  suggestions  tending  to  render  the  Work  accurate  and 
complete. 


SECOND      EDITION. 


JOHN    HENRY    AND    JAMES    PARKER, 

oxford    and    LONDON. 


Lately  PuhUshed,  ly  W.  and  B.  Broohe,   in  demy  8^0., 


price  25.  ^d. 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL; 


AN    EXACT    COPY 


OF  ALL  THE 


%mm\  %m\mM  %mxx\^Um 


THEEE,    AS    THEY    STOOD    IN     M,DC,XLI. ;     COLLECTED     BY    EGBERT 

SANDEBSON,    S.T.P.,    AFTERWAEDS    LORD    BISHOP    OF    THAT 

church;    AND    COMPARED    WITH   AND    CORRECTED 

BY    SIR    W.    DUGDALE's    MS.    SURVEY. 


'  Here  lie  lyeth  huryd,  canon  &  reMentiary ; 

'  Sometyme  of  patrimony  suffycient  indede. 
'But  deth,  that  from  hyr  nature  may  not  vary 

'  Math  seis'd  him  before ;  6s  toe  must  all  succede. 

'  Consyder  here  a  car  yon  wormes  tofede, 

•  And  pray  for  his  soide  ofpayne  to  have  a  lysse; 

'  And  doofor  hym  as  thou  woldest  he  dydfor  thy  nede : 
*Noio,  Jesu,for  thy  passion  bryng  hym  to  thy  blysse 

(P.  23.; 


LONDON:    SIMPKIN,    MARSHALL,    AND    CO. 
LINCOLN:    W.    AND    B.    BROOKE. 


2 

Before  the  disasters  of  the  Commonwealth  wars,  Lmcalii  Cathedi'al  was  rich  in  monu- 
mental treasures.  Of  the  raised  (or  altar)  tombs,  the  greater  part  still  remain  though 
mutilated,  but  of  nearly  two  hundred  inlaid  and  richly  sculptured  brasses  with  which  the 
pavements  once  shone,  not  a  fragment  is  left. 

Through  the  singular  foresight  of  some  eminent  men  of  that  day,  who  read  the  signs  of 
the  times  too  surely,  we  have  still  in  existence  surveys  and  transcripts  taken  in  various 
Cathedral  and  other  Chm-ches,  in  which  the  epitaphs  are  copied  at  length,  and  the  arms 
effigies  and  other  decorations  accurately  described,  This  good  work  was  done  for  the 
Church  of  Lincoln  by  the  pious  industry  of  Dr.  Sanderson,  the  eminent  scholar  and  divine 
afterwards  Bishop  of  the  Diocese, — himself  no  mean  sufferer  when  those  troiibles  reached 
our  city  and  district,  as  noticed  more  fully  m  the  Introduction.  It  has  been  supposed 
that  he  and  Sir  William  Dugdale  co-operated  in  taking  the  Inscriptions,  from  the  date 
prefixed  (Sept.  10,  1641),  corresponding  with  the  date  of  that  antic^uary's  Lincoln  Survey. 

Hitherto  this  very  curious  Record  has  been  only  accessible  in  larger  and  somewhat 
scarce  collections ;  its  first  appearance  in  a  separate  form  will,  it  is  hoped,  prove  not 
unwelcome  to  the  general  reader  as  well  as  to  the  Ecclesiologist. 

Many  to  whom  every  stone  of  the  time-worn  pile  has  long  seemed  familiar,  may 
perhaps  find  a  new  source  of  interesting  enquiry  opened  to  them — as  thus  enabled  to 
re-people  the  now  vacant  aisles  with  venerable  names,  once  honored  in  then-  generation 
and  entitled  to  somewhat  better  than  oblivion  from  om-s.  Among  them  are  to  be  found 
Prelates  and  Dignitaries,  benefactors — many  of  them— to  whom  we  owe  some  well  known 
beauty  of  the  fabric,— Founders  of  Colleges  and  Schools,  Knights  and  Dames,  City 
Magistrates,  Merchants,  &c. ;  of  these,  since  the  alterations  so  recklessly  made  at  the 
re-paving  the  Church  towards  the  close  of  the  last  century,  scarce  one  memorial  is  left,  at 
least  in  its  place  ;  the  Lincoln  citizen — entering  at  the  west  door — treads  over  the  remams 
of  Justice  Monson  who  founded  his  Grammar  School,  as  heedlessly  as  the  Oxford  student 
upon  the  adjoining  stone  which  covers  the  founder  of  Brazen-nose  ;  and  so  with  others  of 
like  interest. 

Besides  the  monuments,  various  other  features  of  the  interior  were  included  in  Dr. 
Sanderson's  survey,  as  well  as  a  few  notices  of  customs  since  disused,  as  the  searching  of 
the  Church,  «Scc.  Some  farther  curious  matter  from  the  Cathedral  Registers,  added  to  the 
edition  of  1735,  is  also  reprinted  m  this.  A  plan  of  the  Cathedral  is  appended,  shewing  the 
sites  of  all  such  interments  as  appear  in  the  plans  of  Dugdale  or  Browne  Willis,  some  thi-ee 
or  four  excepted,  which  for  convenience  sake  are  otherwise  indicated ;  the  Key  to  the  Plan 
embraces — besides  the  monuments — every  object  worthy  of  note  on  the  gi-ound  floor,  and 
would  of  itself  form  an  useful  explanatory  guide  round  that  part  of  the  building.  Several 
incidents  of  the  civil  wars— of  the  military  occupation  of  the  Minster,  &c.,  will  be  foimd 
in  the  Introduction. 


A  few  copies  are  printed  on  Boyal  octavo,  to  admit  of  Veing  lound  ivith  Topographical 
volumes  of  that  size. 


W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN.  3 

Some  recent  purchases  have  enabled  W.  and  B.  Brooke  to  offer  copies  of  the  following 
— originally  published  at  20s. — for  5s.  6rf.,  or  free  by  post  for  6s.  Payment  may  be  made 
either  by  Post  Office  Order  or  by  stamps.  It  forms  a  handsome  octavo  volume,  printed  in 
bold  type,  and,  as  a  contribution  to  a  branch  of  church  history  hitherto  little  treated  of,  luill, 
it  is  presumed,  be  loelcomed  both  by  the  antiquary  and  general  reader, 

HISTORY  OF  THE  BISHOPRIC  OF  LINCOLN, 

From  its  commencement  at  Sidnacester  or  Lindisse  : — ^its  connection  with  Lichfield  and 
Leicester  ; — its  junction  with  Dorchester  ;  until  the  seat  of  tho  see  was  fixed  at 
Lincoln,  immediately  after  the  Conquest. 

BY  ADAM  STAEK, 

AUTHOR  OF  THE 

History  of  Gainsburgh — Observations  on  Stonehenge — Account  of  Stow,  SfC, 


"  It  is  somewhat  unfortunate  for  a  proper  understanding  of  the  early  history  of  this  country 
that  by  almost  universal  consent,  the  period  of  the  conquest  has  been  adopted  as  the  starting 
point  in  the  history  of  Britain  ;  and  all  enquiries  into  events  arising  previously  thereto, 
have  been  nearly  abandoned  to  the  fanciful  theories  of  gossiping  story-tellers,  or  considered 
as  the  regions  of  romance.  This  abandonment  is  not  creditable  to  the  literature  of  this 
country.  Abundant  materials  ai-e  still  existing,  if  carefully  examined,  to  place  our  ancient 
history  upon  a  fair  and  true  basis  ;  and  it  is  no  light  reflection  upon  the  numerous  societies, 
founded  and  supported  for  the  purpose  of  historical  enquiries,  that,  abandoning  their  proper 
object,  they  are  satisfied  with  superficial  examinations  and  the  adoption  of  theoretical 
notions,  instead  of  extending  their  enquiries  into  actual  facts.  The  time  is  not  very  far 
distant,  when  every  circumstance  in  the  earlier  history  and  astonishing  progress  of  the 
Bi'itish  nation — spreading  its  language,  its  literature,  and  its  empire  over  a  larger  portion  of 
the  globe  than  was  known  to  the  authors  of  Greece  or  of  Rome — and  leaving  upon  the 
larger  portion  of  its  surface  the  strong  and  everlasting  impress  of  its  institutions  and 
influence — when  these  will  justify  and  command  enquiry,  and  be  of  deeper  interest  than, 
in  our  own  day,  are  enquiries  into  the  early  origin  and  establishment  of  portioas  of  Greece 
or  of  Rome." — Author's  Preface,  p.  viii. 


%mm\vi  CntjiBkal 


LATELY  PUBLISHED  BY 

W.  &  B.  BROOKE,  BOOKSELLERS, 

IN   THE    FIRST   STILE    OF   TINTED    LITHOGRAPHY, 
FOUR   PICTURESQUE   ILLUSTRATIONS   OF    LINCOLN   CATHEDRAL, 

By  the  late  F.  MACKENZIE,  R.A., 

Selected  by  permission  from  the  Galleries  of  the  Right  Hon.  Earl  Brownlow,  and 
R.  Ellison,  Esq.,  of  Sudbrooke  Holme. 

Price  of  the  Set  of  Four,  tinted    14s. 

Ditto,      Proofs  before  Letters    IBs. 

Ditto,      Cdored  after  the  Original  Drawings 24s. 

Size  of  the  Plates,  15  inches  by  10. 

The  following  are  the  subjects  included  in  the  series, — Nos.  1  and  2  being  from  the 
Beltou  Gallery,  and  3  and  4  from  that  of  Sudbrooke  Holme. 

1.  From  the  County  Hospital. — The  point  of  view  is  happily  chosen  on  the  outside 
the  Minster  Close,  on  an  elevation  commanding  both  the  South  and  West  fronts,  as  well 
as  some  striking  features  of  the  adjacent  upper  town  picturesquely  disposed  along  the  brow 

B 


4  W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

of  the  hill, — an  arrangement,  it  may  be  observed,  by  which  the  distorted  perspective 
inseparable  from  the  ordinary  S.  W.  and  N.  W.  views,  (taken  close  under  the  building) 
is  judiciously  got  rid  of.  Among  the  minor  accessories,  are  shewn  the  Exchequer  Gate, 
Christ's  Hospital,  St.  Michael's  Church,  and  part  of  Bishop  Alnwick's  Gate- Tower  in  the 
Palace  Ruins. 

2.  From  the  Newport  suburb,  a  little  north  of  the  celebrated  Roman  Arch,  Newport 
Gate,  which  appears  prominent  in  the  foreground. 

3.  A  South  East  view  from  the  New  Road,  near  the  City  Gaol  and  Sessions  House. 
At  this  point  the  thick  foliage  on  the  hill  side,  on  the  Weredyke  property  of  J.  Moore,  Esq., 
(near  the  Grecian  Stairs,  Palace  Gardens,  &c.)  forms — with  other  picturesque  accessories — 
a  remarkably  pleasing  foreground. 

4.  From  the  Cloisters,  over  which  the  Great  Transept  and  centre  Tower  are  seen 
— (the  spectator  being  on  the  north) — rising  abruptly,  the  Nave  and  West  Towers  making 
part  of  the  view.  Nothing  more  scenic  and  impressive  has  perhaps  been  produced  among 
Cathedral  Illustrations  ;  while  the  clearness  of  the  detail  (from  the  closeness  of  the  objects 
to  the  eye)  adds  greatly  to  its  interest  with  the  archseologist  and  architectural  student. 

Mr.  Mackenzie,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  was  long  at  the  head  of  the  British 
school  of  Architectural  Draughtsmen,  and  with  a  reputation,  it  may  be  added,  more 
European  than  British.  His  exquisite  delineations  of  the  Castles,  Cathedrals,  and  other 
medisBval  remains,  which  are  the  charm  of  many  an  English  landscape,  were  among  the 
chief  attractions  of  our  Exhibitions  and  public  and  private  Galleries, — while  not  a  few 
publications  of  almost  national  character  and  interest  owe  much  of  their  celebrity  to  his 
pencil.  Ackermann's  splendid  volumes  on  Westminster  Abbey  and  the  two  Universities 
may  be  instanced,  as  being  famiUar  to  most — as  also  the  volumes  on  York,  Salisbury,  and 
Lichfield,  in  Britten's  series  of  Cathedrals  ;  and  in  its  companion  work — the  Architectural 
Antiquities — the  finer  and  more  attractive  plates  will  generally  be  found  to  have  the  same 
artist's  name  attached  to  them.  With  a  pictorial  richness  which  never  fails  to  rivet  the 
most  indifferent  observer,  Mr.  Mackenzie's  plates  are  especially  noted  for  a  scrupulous 
and  conscientious  accuracy  and  freedom  from  exaggeration — making  the  works  which 
they  illustrate  to  rank  high  as  text  books  of  reference  on  all  questions  of  Gothic  detaU 
and  archasology. 

That  a  higher  class  of  illustrations  has  been  long  called  for,  as  well  by  visitors  as 
residents,  the  Publishers  are  themselves  well  able  to  testify  ;  such  as  have  been  hitherto 
offered  being — it  must  be  admitted — scarce  worthy  of  our  great  local  monuments,  or  equal 
to  the  current  standard  of  other  districts.  As  regards  the  Cathedral,  especially,  with  the 
exception  of  the  late  Mr.  Wild's  costly  work,  and  a  few  fine  plates  hy  Buckler,  Burgess, 
and  some  others,  now  becoming  scarce,  there  is  little  which  can  be  favorably  mentioned  ; 
and  even  in  these — dating,  as  most  of  them  do,  from  the  earlier  years  of  the  century — 
errors  of  no  small  moment  are  but  too  obvious  to  the  better  taught  artists  and  critics  of  our 
time.  The  low  price  at  which  these  plates  are  offered  (being  not  more  than  is  often  asked 
for  the  most  meagre  and  unartistic  productions  of  the  kind)  is  due  to  the  fortunate 
circumstance  of  Mr.  Mackenzie  having  been  himself  an  accomplished  Lithogi-apher  as  well 
as  Draughtsman ;  the  risks  of  error,  so  especially  fatal  in  an  architectural  subject,  but 
which  of  necessity  beset  the  finest  masterpieces  when  transferred  to  an  Engraver,  are  thus 
happily  escaped,  and  every  touch  is  fresh  and  genuine  as  from  the  Artist's  own  hand.  The 
effect  of  the  tinted  process  in  Lithography  has  been  seldom  seen  to  greater  advantage  than 
in  Mr.  Mackenzie's  handling  of  it,  and  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  colored  impressions — 
superintended  by  the  Artist  himself  after  the  highly  finished  originals — must  be  seen  to  be 
fully  appreciated. 

W.  &  B.  BROOKE'S  STOCK  OF  LOCAL  PRINTS,  BOOKS,  &c. 

Among  local  illustrations  published  by  W.  and  B.  Brooke,  are,  a  S.  E.  view  of  the 
Cathedral,  lithographed  by  Hawkins,  Is.,  and  Is.  6d.  The  High  Street,  Lincoln, 
St.  Mary's  Conduit  in  the  foreground,  with  the  Minster,  Palace  Ruins,  &c.  beyond,  4to., 
India  paper.  Is.  ;  Ditto  on  folio  paper,  early  impressions  2s.,  (drawn  on  the  stone  by  B. 
Ferrey,  Esq.,  from  an  original  drawing  by  the  elder  Pugin,  lithographed  by  Louis  Haghe.) 

St.  Mary's  Conduit,  by  the  elder  Pugin,  lithographed  by  Harding,  large  4to,  Is. 
(this  plate  shews  the  recumbent  figures  on  the  wall  of  the  churchyard,  since  removed.) 

W.  AND  B.  Brooke  have  remaining  a  few  impressions  of  a  beautiful  etching,  in 
outline,  by  Le  Keux,  after  the  late  W.  Buckler's  S.  E.  view  of  the  Cathedral,  with 
Pottergate  Arch  in  the  foreground,  price  l2s.  (Not  more  than  about  20  impressions  of 
this  fine  outline,  which  is  full  of  minute  detail,  were  taken.) 

Mackenzie's  fine  lithographs  of  his  drawings  in  the  Beltou  and  Sudbrook-holme  galleries 
have  been  described  in  the  preceding  prospectus. 


W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN.  5 

In  addition  to  the  foregoi  g,  W.  and  B.  Brooke  have  always  in  stock,  a  large  collection 
of  Topographical  Plates,  including  many  of  the  City  and  Cathedral,  by  Dan  King,  Hollar, 
Buck,  Vivares,  Burgess,  Storer,  Howlett,  Buckler,  Pugin,  Wild,  Coney,  &c.;  also  of 
County  Views,  a  considerable  variety.     A  portion  are  specified  below. 


LINCOLN  CATHEDRAL.  Hollar's  Plates,  viz.,  West  Front,  with  part  of  Deanery, 
2s. :  ditto  Is.  6d. :  East  End,  with  Chapter  House,  and  Transept- Chapel  (since 
removed,)  2s.  :  The  Nave,  shewing  the  Rood  Screen,  Font,  and  Western  Piers,  as 
in  1672,  4s.:  South  View,  Is.  6d. :  North  View,  re-engraved  by  Byrne,  with  the 
central  spire  (blown  down  in  1547,)  restored,  also  the  Chapter  House,  Cloisters,  and 
the  removed  Transept-chapel,  size,  16  in.  by  10^,  3s.  6d. :  interior  of  Choir,  re-engraved 
by  Lee,  without  the  present  pews  and  altar-screen,  and  with  the  Organ  on  the 
north  side,  as  in  1672,  4s. 

Coney's  fine  etching  of  West  Front,  Galilee,  South  Transepts,  &c.,  16  inches  by  12,  43. : 
Baker  and  Vivares,  N.  W.  view,  size,  28  inches  by  21,  published  in  1750,  with  many 
figures  in  costume  of  the  time,  8s. :  South  view,  of  about  the  same  date,  many  figures, 
2?  inches  by  17,  by  J.  Collins,  5s. 

Wild's  Plates  of  Cathedral^  by  Le  Keux,  Skelton,  &c.  size,  12  in.  by  10  in.,  the  following 
at  2s.  6d.  each;  the  Presbytery,  with  Burghersh  and  Cantilupe  Monuments,  &c.;  the 
Choir;  Great  Transept,  with  Rood  Screen,  south  Circular  Window,  &c.;  the  Nave 
taken  from  under  the  centre  tower.  Exteriors  ;  South  East  Entrance,  with  the 
sculptured  Doom,  and  Russell's  and  Longland's  chapels  ;  general  South  East  View, 
embracing  East  End  with  Chapter  House,  the  three  Towers,  both  Transepts,  Vestry, 
Galilee,  and  part  of  the  West  end;  East  Front,  with  Broad  Tower, 

Storer's  plates  of  East  End,  Chapter  House,  Cloisters,  Font,  Holy  Sepulchre  and  arcade  on 
north  side  of  Choir,  and  Plan,  6d.  each :  Winkle's  10  plates,  with  account,  3s.  : 
elevations,  &c.,  from  Presbytery,  Transept,  and  Choir,  (Turrell,  sc.)  2  plates  at  6d.J 
fine  architectural  plates  by  Pugin,  (from  Britton,)  Is.  each.  :  West  Front,  (lith.,) 
with  centi-e  tower,  by  Baynes,  (Pugin  direxit,)  folio  size,  6d :  S.  E.  View,  (lith.,)  by 
Ferrey,  Is.:  ditto.  Is.  6d.  :  The  Palace:  various  prints,  drawings,  and  tracings 
very  cheap  :  Robson's  2  fine  Lincoln  Views,  from  the  water,  3s.  ' 

Various,  of  Lincoln.  Buck's  long  view  from  Brayford,  with  figures  in  costume  of  1743, 
5s.:  ditto  reduced,  6d.,  Is.,  Is.  6d. :  West  view  of  Cathedral,  with  Spires,  by  Girton 
and  Howlett,  Is.:  Le  Keux's  fine  line  engraving  of  view  (Bartlett's)  from  Castle 
Keep  in  the  foreground,  with  Minster,  and  the  Valley  beyond,  Is.  6d. :  Bartlett  and 
Le  Keux's  West  Gate  of  Castle,  Is.  6d. ;  Keep  of  Castle  by  ditto.  Is.  :  Englefield's 
West  Gate  of  Castle,  Is.  6d. :  Bartlett's  fine  plate  of  Cathedral,  Stonebow,  &c.,  from 
St.  Benedict's,  Is.  6d. :  Padley's  Newport  Gate,  Is.  6d. :  various  of  Newport  Gate, 
both  recent  and  in  the  last  century,  3d.,  &c. :  Large  plate  of  grotesque  boss  from 
Cathedral,  is.:  Architectural  plates  from  Pugin's  "  Specimens,"  viz..  Doorway  and 
frieze  from  St.  Mary's  Guild  :  Screen  of  Chantry  Chapel  in  Cathedral :  Oriel  Window 
in  the  Chancellor's  house:  Doorway,  &c.,  in  St.  Mary-le-Wigford,  at  Is.  each.  Speed's 
plan  of  Lincoln,  1610,  6d.:  Masonic  Window  in  Cathedral,  6d. :  small  prints  of  Ruins 
of  St.  Swithin's,  1799,  Jew's  House,  St.  Peter's  at  Gowts,  St.  Mary's-le-Wigford, 
Newport  Gate,  Essex's  restoration  of  ditto,  several  of  Palace  ruins,  &c.,  3d.  each : 
St.  Anne's  Church  and  Bede  Houses,  Is.  6d. :  Riseholme  Church,  Is.  6d. :  Western 
Gate  of  Roman  Lindum,  as  discovered  1836,  4d.:  ditto  on  4to.  paper,  6d. :  Tuke's 
lithograph  of  ditto.  Is.:  an  assortment  of  100  or  moi-e  small  scrap  prints  of  objects 
in  Lincoln  and  the  County,  at  2d.  and  3d. 

Hewlett's  Selection  of  74  Views  in  the  County  of  Lincoln,  first  edition,  153. 

large  paper,  without  the  Descriptions,  early  impressions,  folio  size,  with  title, 

lists  of  Subscribers,  &c.,  bds.,  18s. 

Views  ;    fine  early  impressions,  viz.,   Lincoln,  Tattershall,  Revesby,  Sleaford, 

Louth,  Torksey,  Redbourn,  Croyland,  Boston,  Brocklesby  Mausoleum,  Thornton,  (  2 
views,)  at  Is.  each  : — Stow  Church,  Harlaxton,  Langton  Hall,  Somerton  Castle,  and 
Temple  Bruer,  Is.  6d.  each  ;  various  others  at  6d. 

Starnford.  Buck's  long  view,  with  Key,  1743,  4s.  6d. :  Fowler's  large  plate  of  a  window, 
2s.  6d. :  Grammar  School,  6d. :  Various  other  small  views,  architectural  fragments,  &c. 
with  several  from  Peck's  History  of  Stamford. 

Oainshorough.  Large  plate  by  Drake  &  Vertue,  1747,  with  Key,  5s.:  small  views 
3d.,  6d.,  &c. :  Lithograph  of  new  church,  6d. 

Thornton  Priory.  Coney's  fine  Etching,  2s.  6d.:  The  Gate  House  from  within  the  Close, 
by  Stukeley,  Is.  6d.:  Gale's  large  view,  1788,  4s.    Smaller  prints  3d.,  6d.,  and  12d.- 


6  W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

Boston.  Plan  of  the  Borough  and  Port,  by  Hall,  1742,  3s.:  West  View  of  Church,  by 
Stennet,  1715,  2s.:  ditto,  3s.:  large  South  View  of  ditto,  by  Stukeley,  with  plan,  4s. 
Drake's  large  S.  E.  view  3s.:  Stukeley's  smaller  view,  6d.:  Pugin's  S.  Porch,  &c., 
Is.:  ditto  Section  of  Tower,  Is.  with  others. 

Croyland  Ahhey.  West  Front,  by  Carter  and  Basire,  1782,  2s.  6d.  Statues  round  the 
West  Window,  (Carter,)  2s.  6d.:  General  View,  (Williams,)  2s.:  South  View, 
(Millecent  &  Vandergucht,)  2s.:  The  Bridge,  (Carter,)  2s.  6.:  ditto  by  Millecent,  2s. 
Buck's  view.  Is.  :  Three  fine  plates  by  Mackenzie,  at  Is.  6d.;  Fine  lithograph  of 
West  Window,  sculpture,  &;c.,  by  Prout,  3s. :  Smaller  views,  3d.,  6d.,  &c. 

Louth.  N.  W.  view  of  town,  by  Espin  &  Hewlett,  2s.  6d. :  Turner's  Market-place 
view,  33.  6d. :  Maughan  and  Fowler's  fine  lithographic  elevation  and  section  of  church, 
3  feet  long,  6s. :  Buck's  west  view  of  church,  dedicated  to  the  Eminently  Pious  and 
Worthy  Lady,  Mrs.  Ann  Browne  of  Louth,  1725,  2s. 

Portrait  of  W.  Smyth,  Bp.  of  Lincoln,  Founder  of  Brazen  Nose  College,  folio,  4s. :  Bp.  (of 
Lincoln,)  James  Gardiner,  folio,  (Dahl  pinxit,  White  sc.)  4s.:  Bp.  Tomline,  large 
size,  3s.  6d. :  Bp.  Jackson,  subscription  copy  of  the  portrait  by  Richmond,  engraved  for 
the  Parishioners  of  St.  James',  Westminster,  21s.  :  Bp.  Sanderson,  6d.  :  Foxe  the 
Martyrologist,  by  Glover,  Is.  :  "The  Effigies  of  Thomas  Fidell  of  Furniuall's  Inne, 
Gent.,"  scarce^  2s.  6d.  :  Sir  Edm.  Anderson  (Faithorne  sc),  Is. 

Buck's  Plates  (1726)  of  Lincoln  Castle,  and  Palace,  and  John  of  Gaunt's  house  ;  Somerton 
Castle ;  Kirkstead,  Tupholme,  Thornton,  Louth,  Croyland,  and  Barlings  (with 
Stainfield  Hall)  abbies;  Temple  Bruer,  Tower  le  Moor,  Tattershall,  Torksey,  Scrivelsby 
Hall;  at  12d.  and  18d.  each      Reductions  of  several  of  the  above  at  3d.,  6d.,  &c. 

Stukely's  Plates,  various,  at  6d.  and  12d.  each,  viz.,  plates,  views,  monuments,  &c.,  of 
Lincoln,  Boston,  Littleborough,  Horncastle,  Caistor,  Thornton,  Aukborough,  Winter- 
ingham,  Barrow,  and  Ancaster. 

Carter's  Sculptures  from  Lincoln  Minster  and  Guildhall,  and  from  Essendine  and  Peter- 
borough, 3  large  plates,  at  Is.  6d.  each:  (one  of  these  contains  the  broken  stone,  said 
to  be  from  the  tomb  of  Remigius). 

Burgess'  Views  of  Churches,  viz.,  Wisbeach,  Moulton,  Spalding,  Tydd  St.  Mary,  Sutton 
St.  Mary,  Gosberton,  Fleet,  Kirton,  Holbeach,  Gedney,  Boston,  and  Leverington, — 
fine  early  impressions  and  clean,  |-bd.  16s. 

Belton  House  and  Gardens,  various,  at  6d.  each  :  Ditto,  the  Waterfalls,  large  plate,  Is.  6d. 

Etchings  by  Rev.  F.  J.  Jobson  ;  High  Street,  Monks'  House,  Newport  Gate,  I  s.  6d.  each. 

Kip's  large  bird's-eye  Views,  viz.,  Grimsthorp,  4  plates,  5s.  :  Doddington,  near  Lincoln, 
2s. :   ditto,  reduced,  6d. 

Various  Lincolnshire  plates  by  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  among  which  are  Lumby's 
details  of  the  Norman  West  Front  of  Cathedral,  Hypocaust  at  Lincoln,  Sepulchral 
Discovei'ies  in  the  Minster,  1791 :  four  tesselated  pavements  at  Winterton  and  Roxby, 
Wainfleet  School  and  monument,  &c. 

Miscellaneous.  "  View  at  Barton  in  Fabis :  F.  Peck  memoriter  delin.,  26  Aug.,  1734," 
Is.  6d. :  "  Richardus  Busby  Lincolniensis,"  fine  plate  of  Dr.  Busby's  monument,  Is.  : 
Buckden  Palace  and  church.  Is.  6d.,  no  date  :  Somerby  Cross,  by  Schnebbelie  and 
Basire,  Is.  6d. :  Gainsburgh  Church,  by  Espin,  good  impression.  Is. :  "  Effigies  Gilbert! 
Aqugedomus  :  Anglice  Waterhows  de  Kirton,"  6d.  :  Arese  Spaldingensis  Caenobii 
Ichnographia,  Is.:  Curious  woodcut  of  "the  poisoning  of  K.  John  by  a  Moonke  of 
Swinstead  abbeie,"  Is.  Lincolnshire  Seats;  good  plates  by  Neale,  Hewlett,  Angus, 
&c.,  viz.,  Irnham,  Denton,  Panton,  Belton,  Willingham,  Gate  Burton,  Nocton, 
Scrivelsby,  Burwell,  Summer  Castle,  Lodge  to  ditto,  Norton  Place,  Haverholme  Priory 
in  1802,  Coleby,  Revesby,  (1803),  at  4d.  and  6d.  each. 

Fonts,  by  Simpson,  at  6d.  each,  viz.,  Carlton  Scroope,  Deeping  St.  James,  Helpringham, 
Horbling,  Heckington,  Osbournby,  Swayton,  Threckingham,  Weston.  Haydon,  Hale 
Magna,  Aswarby,  West  Deeping.     Bicker  and  another  by  Lewin,  6d. 


Prints,  various. 

The  Prize  Cartoons,  for  the  decoration  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  published  by  Longman 
at  5  guineas,  in  a  portfolio,  £1  5s. 

Simonau's  (of  Brussels)  Monuments  Gothiques,  various  plates  from,  including  Lincoln 
Cathedral,  Antwerp,  Chartres,  Hotels  de  Ville  at  Bruxelles,  Louvain,  &c.,  size  24 
inches  by  18.     These  splendid  lithographs,  originally  25s.,  are  offered  at  10s.  each. 

Three  plates — folio  size — being  three  faces  of  a  Roman  Altar  in  the  collections  of  the  late 
Sir  R.  Kaye,  Dean  of  Lincoln,  5s.  (The  plates  do  not  appear  to  have  been  published, 
or  issued ;  and  the  engraved  coppers  remained  in  the  possession  of  the  late  C.  Main- 
waring,  Esq.,  of  Coleby  hall  (Sir  II,  K.'s  relative  by  marriage)  till  his  death). 


W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN.  7 

A  Portfolio  of  large  sized  prints,  among  which  are,— a  beautiful  interior  of  Hen.  VII.  Chapel, 
tinted  lith.,  by  Dolby,  reduced  to  5s.— Weils  Cathedral,  from  the  west  (Toms)  3s.— New 
Gateway  at  Bishopthorpe  Valace,  (Hooker)  2s.— Market  Cross,  Chichester,  3  elevations, 
(Vertue)  1749,  3s.— Guisborough  Priory,  (Brethertou)  col.,  1777,  2s.  6d.— A  Laurell  of  Met- 
aphysicke,  a  very  curious  allegoral  print,  .')S.— "  South  Prospect  of  Worksop  Mannor,"  by  S. 
and  N.  Buck,  1745,  3s.—"  Prospect  of  the  Seat  of  Sir  W.  Ashurst,  at  llighgate,"  (birds-eye 
view)  by  J.  Harris,  2s.— Interior  of  Nave,  York,  by  .T.  Harris,  1741,  2s.  Gd— Fine  interior  view 
of  a  large  Hall  at  Prague,  with  great  number  of  figures  in  striking  costumes,  by  Marco 
Sadeler,  1607,  7s.  6d.— "  View  near  Leicester,"  (Group  of  Ploughmen,  Horses,  &c.)  by  Loraine 
Smith  and  Jukes,  1796,  4s.— Landing  of  K.  William  III.  (Nortiicote)  1814,  .'is.- Voyage 
Pittoresque  en  Kcosse,  fine  French  Lithographs,  very  cheap. — Some  excellent  tinted 
lithographs  of  York  Cathedral,  at  half  price.— Colored  Aquatint  of  Salisbury  Cathedral, 
south  view,  by  Dayes:  the  Town  Hall,  by  ditto,  the  pair,  78.  Gd.— Society  of  Antiquaries' 
Elevations,  &c.,  of  the  Temple  Church,  7  plates,  by  Nash  and  Basire,  9s  — Donowell's 
8  views  in  Oxford,  1755,  6s.— Buckler's  tine  Aquatints,  26  inches  by  20,  of  York  Minster, 
2  views :  one  of  Southwell :  12s.  each— Oundle  Church,  17  inches  by  12, 3s.  Gd.— Tydd  St.  Mary, 
by  Burgess,  Is.  6d.— View  near  Grenoble,  by  the  late  Ld.  Monson,  lith.  by  Haghe,  3s.— Plates 
from  Colling's  Gothic  Ornaments  and  Brandon's  Analysis,  6d.  each— Mogford's  6  views  of 
Buildings  in  Belgium,  published  at  7s.  Gd.,  2s.  Gd. — Eight  large  plates  from  Carter's  "  Ancient 
Architecture,"  with  descriptions,  seven  being  details  from  Westminster  Abbey,  and  one  of 
oaken  doorway  at  Coventry,4s.— Magdalen  College,  and  St.  Peter's  in  the  East,  details  of,  from 
Pugin's  Specimens.  3  plates,  2s.  6d —Section  ot  Chichester  Cathedral,  Is.— Newark  Church, 
Webster's  lith  (sells  2s  6d.),  9d.— Large  lith  of  Wells  Cathedral,  2s.— Fine  French  lith.  of 
Rouen,  Is.  6d.— "  Hints  to  Churchwardens,"  20  humorous  ^ketches,  Is.  Hollar's  West  Front 
of  Lichfield  Cath.,  Is.  Gd. :  Ditto.  Crypt  of  ol  1  St.  Pauls,  Is.  Gd. 

Coney's  Splcmlid  Etchings.  Three  of  Worcester  Cathedral,  exterior,  interior,  and  plan,  Ss.— 
Malvern  Priory,  2s.  6d.— Pershore,  Is.  Gd.- Evesham,  Is  Gd.— Gloucester  Cathedral,  4  plates, 
viz.,  general  view,  interior  of  Choir,  Cloisters  (interior),  and  plan,  7s. — Tewkesbury  Monastery, 
exterior,  interior,  and  plan,  5s. — Lanthony  and  Cirencester,  2  plates,  3s. — Notts.,  Newstead 
Abbey,  Is.;  Southwell  Minster,  2  plates,  3s.— YorLshire,  South  East  view  of  Minster,  3s.; 
Choir  of  ditto,  2s.  Gd. ;  Transept,  with  Kood  Screen  &c.,2s  —  fwo  exterior  views  after  Hollar, 
3s.— Fountains  Abbey,  5s.— Kirkstall,  2  plates,  3s.— Itivaux,  Is.— Selby,  Is.  6d.— Grey  Friars, 
Richmond,  Is.  Gd —Beverley,  2  plates,  3s.— Whitby,  2  plates,  3s.— Ripon,  2s.  6d.— Howden, 
2s.  Gd.— Coverham,  St.  Agatha's  (Easby),  Byland,  Egliston,  Old  Malton,  Gisburne,  Kirkam, 
7  plates,  9s.— Bridlington  Priory,  2s. 


Marratt's  History  of  Liucolnshire,  4  vols.,    12mo.,  Boston^  1814,   being  all  that  were 

published.     12s. 
History  of  Lincolnshire,  (by  the  late  Mr.  G.  Weir,)  Vol.  L,  containing  the  City  of  Lincoln, 

and  the  Division  of  Lindsey,  being  all  that  was  published  ;  ivith  plates.     6s. 
History  of  Lincolnshire,  (Allen  and  Saunders,)  2  vols,  in  one,  4to.,  many  plates,  map 

wanting.     10s. 
Handbook  of  the  Excursions  of  the  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  May,  1857, 

by  the  Rev.  Edw.  TroUope,  with  map  and  about  20  cuts,  but  wanting  the  plate  of 

tesselated  pavement,  scarce,  2s. 
Lincolnshire  in  1836,  with  nearly  100  Illustrations,  new,  (reduced  to)  4s. 
Lincolnshire,  by  J.  Britton,  from  the  Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,  with  7  plates  and 

maps,  8vo.,  bds.     2s.  6d. 
Stone's  View  of  the  Agriculture  of  Lincolnshire,  4to.,  sd.  1794,  23. 
Report  of  the  Charity  Commissioners,  on  Lincolnshire — the  Holland  Division — with  31 

Plans,  folio,  1839,  7s.  6d. 
Lincoln,  History  of,  (Stark,)  12mo.     1810.     4s. 
(Drury  &  Sons,)  12mo.     1816.     2s.  6d. ;   another  copy,  demy  8vo., 

pubHshed  at  10s.  6d.     4s.  6d. 
Historical  Account  of  Lincoln,  8vo.  (J.  Drury),  1802,  bds.,  scarce,  2s.  6d. 
Descriptions  of  the   City  and  Cathedral  at  Is.  Sf  Is.  6d.    each,  are  also  published  by 

W.  §*  B.  Brooke,  with  information  from  various  unpublished  sources  (in  the  Bodleian, 

British  Museum,  Sfc.  ) — with  illustrations  of  ancient  remains,  many  of  which  are  from 

original  drawings  of  Buck  and  others,  never  before  engraved.    A  larger  account  of  the 

Cathedral  is  in  preparation,  and  will  shortly  be  published. 
Wild's  Lincoln  Cathedral,  with  beautiful  line  Engravings,  by  Le  Keux,  Fittler,  Skelton 

Finden,  Byrne,  Sec,  with  plan,  sections,  details,  &c.,  published  at  £5  5s.  Od.     35si 
■ large  paper,  Lidia  proofs,  published  at  £10  10s.  Od,     £4  4.  Od. 

but  a  limited  number  of  this  beautiful  edition  were  printed. 
W.  AND  B.  Brooke  have  also  copies  of  Bohn's  edition  of  the  above,  the  plates  folded  in 

4to,  to  range  with  Britton's  Cathedrals,  (published  at  25s)     21s. 
Storer's  Lincoln  Cathedral,  with  plan,  and  nine  fine  line  engravings  from  Espin's  drawings 

3s.  6d.     Ditto,  large  paper,  (4to.)  with  India  proof  impressions,  6s. 
Account  of  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Mary,  Lincoln,  (W.  Wood,  Lincoln,)  sd.  1771.    Is. 
Notitiaj  Luda3,  or  Notices  of  Louth,  8vo,  with  plan,  &c.,  published  at  10s.  6d.     6s.  6d. 


8  W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

Sketches  of  Boston,  Skirbeck,  Wyberton,  Frampton,  Kirton,  Algarkivk,  Swineshead, 
Sutterton,  Donington,  Bicker/ Wigtoft,  Gosberton,  Surtieet,  Pinchbeck,  Spalding, 
Tydd,  Sutton,  Gedney,  Fleet,  Holbeach,  Whaplode,  Moulton,  Wrangle,  Leak,  Levertou, 
Bennington,  Butterwick,  and  Frieston,  with  part  of  Croyland,  (from  Marratt's 
Lincolnshire,)  1816.     3s.  6d. 

Sleaford,  History  of,  with  Folkingham,  Heckington,  Ruskington,  Ancaster,  Ashby-de-la- 
Laund,  Leasingham,  Kyme,  Ewerby,  t&c,  &c.,  8vo.,  published  at  17s.     9s. 

Sleaford,  Holy  Trinity  Guild  at.  History  of,  by  Rev.  Dr.  Oliver,  with  notices  of  Lincoln 
Heath,  and  its  Villages,  the  Green  Man,  Pillar,  Temple  Bruer,  &c.,  Svo.,  published 
at  6s.     2s. 

Oldfield's  Account  of  Wainfleet  and  the  Hundred  of  Candleshoe,  including  Addlethorpe, 
Ashby,  Burgh,  Bratoft,  Candlesby,  Croft,  &c.,  «&c.,  large  Bvo.,  published  at  21s.     9s. 

Stamford,  Chronology  of,  by  G.  Burton,  12mo.,  published  at  5s.     2s.  6d. 

Stamford,  History  and  Antiquities  of,  with  Deeping,  (Marratt,)  12mo.     1816.     23. 

Winterton,  with  Burton  on  Stather,  \Vinteringham,  &c.,  &c.,  by  W.  Andrew,  12mo.  2s. 

Stark's  History  of  Gainsbro',  first  edition,  Bvo.,  bds,,  with  map  and  plates,  1817.     4s.  6d. 

Illingworth's  Topographical  Account  of  Scarapton,  with  15  plates,  bds.,  1810.     8s. 

Thompson's,  P.,  Collections  towards  a  History  of  Boston,  and  the  Hundred  of  Skirbeck,  4to., 
large  paper  copy,  1820,  published  at  £2  2s.  Od.     10s. 

History  and  Antiquities  of  Boston,  and  the  Hundred  of  Skirbeck,   with 

History  of  the  River  Witham,  the  Fens,  &c,,  &c.,  one  hundred  wood  cuts.  Royal  8vo., 
new,  1856,  31s.  6d  ;  a  large  paper  copy  of  ditto,  foL,  pub.  at  £3  3s.,  new,  £2  2s. 

Oliver's,  Rev.  Dr.,  Remains  of  the  Ancient  Britons  between  Lincoln  and  Sleaford, 
12mo.,  Is.  6d.:  Ditto,  Sleaford  Guild,  2s,:  and  Scopwickiana,  6d. 

Topographical  Account  of  Tattershall,  plates,  (Weir,)  1813.     Is. 

Tattershall  Castle,  by  W.  A.  Nicholson,  F.R.I. A.,  fcap.  4to.,  with  Plans,  Sections,  and 
Buck's  View  in  1730,  Is.  6d. — Fine  plate  of  Doorway  to  Church,  fi-om  Pugin's 
"  Specimens,"  Is.:  a  quantity  of  Illustrations,  plain  and  colored. 

Padley's  selection  from  Anc.  Edifices  of  Lincolnshire,  being  21  large  plates,  with 
descriptions,  of  the  Grey  Friars,  St.  Benedict's,  Vicars'  Court,  Monks'  House,  &c., 
Lincoln  ;  also  Temple  Bruer,  Somerton  Castle,  and  Tupholme  Abbey,  10s. 

Life  of  St.  Gilbert  of  Sempringham,  (Newman).     2s. 

Hugues  de  Lincoln,  Recueil  de  Ballades  Anglo-Normande,  &c.,  avec  des  Notes,  &c., 
par  F.  Michel,  8vo.,  Paris,  1834,  scarce.     3s. 

Personal  and  Literary  Memorials,  by  the  author  of  Four  Years  in  France,  &c.,  (the  Rev. 
H.  Best.)  The  anecdotes  of  the  then  Subdean  of  Lincoln  (Archd.  Paley),  the  Rev. 
Precentor  Gordon,  with  various  other  recollections  of  Lincoln,  give  this  volume  a  strong 
local  interest,  8vo.,  5  s. 

Poll  Books,  Lincolnshire,  viz.,  1807,  Is.  6d.;  1818,  Is. ;  1824,  Is.  6d. ;  1832,  (Lindsey,) 
Is. ;   1841,  (Lindsey,)  Is.  6d.:  Various  City  Polls,  3d.  and  6d. 

Gough's  History  and  Antiquities  of  Croyland,  4to.,  with  plates  and  a  few  M.S.  notes, 
scarce,  10s,  {The  Rev.  Moor  Scribo's  copy,  some  of  whose  correspondence  with  Gough 
will  he  found  mentioned  on  a  following  page. 

Lincolnshire  Topographical  Society's  Papers,  fcap.  4to.,  1843  (with  plates),  very  scarce,  7s. 

(The  above  are  all  that  were  published,  being,  Mr.  E.  J.  Willson's  Opening  Address, 

Mr.  Bedford  on  Lincoln  Geology,  Dr.  W.  Cookson  on  the  Malandry  Hospital,  Rev.  Dr. 

Oliver  on  Temple  Bruer,  Mr.  W.  A.  Nicholson  on  recording  Local  Antiquities,  and  on 

Tattershall  Castle).     Another  copy,  wanting  some  of  the  plates,  43. 

Phillips'  New  World  of  Words,  fob,  1658,  damaged  copy,  7s.  6d.  The  work  is  dedicated 
to  Sir  R.  Bolles,  of  Scampton,  and  Edw.  Hussy,  of  Cathorpe.  Esq.  This  copy  has 
belonged  to  the  Grantham  family,  as  appears  by  several  M.S.  notes  :  viz.,  (on  the 
fly  leaf,)  Comme  Dieu  Garrantit — Francis  Grantham;  and  at  the  end,  Fraciscus 
Grantham — cnjus  animce  propitJetur  Deus ;   also  the  following — 

"  When  she  gave  me  this,  she  ivas  D.   GRANTHAM,  1659  : 
"  She  was  D.  Hildeyerd,  1663,  the  deare  daughter  of  me  the  woefuU  D.  Grantham, 
whose  loss  is  irreparable,  Oct.  80,    1667."      (The  name  in  capitals — as  above,   is 
evidently  by  another  hand  and  at  a  different  time.) 


MISCELLANEOUS. 

Lewis's  Scenery  of  the  Rivers  of  England  and  Wales,  in  68  fine  plates,  from  pictures 
painted  for  the  Duke  of  Bedford  and  others,  folio,  ^-bound  morocco,  new,  published 
at  £2  12s.  6d.,  only  30s. 


W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN.  9 

Illustrations  of  Ancient  Art,  selected  from  objects  discovered  at  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum, 

by  the  Rov.  Edw.  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  4to,,  1854.,  21s. 
London  and  its  Environs  described  (Dodsley ),  6  vs.  8vo.,  with  Map,  Plates,  &c.,  scarce,  15s. 
Browne  Willis's  Survey  of  Cathedrals  of  York,  Durham,  Carlisle,  Chester,  Man,  Lichfield, 
Hereford,  Worcester,  Gloucester,  Bristol,  Lincoln,  Ely,  Oxford,  and  Peterborough : 
Ditto,  Parochiale  Anglicanum,  1733,  4to.,  the  3  vols.  £2  2s.  Od. 
Storer's  Cathedrals,  4  vols.,  Svo.,  half-bound,  morocco,  new  copy,  fine  impressions,  pub. 
at  £7  10s.     £2  15s.     This  copy  contains  a  singularly  characteristic  article  by  the 
late  A.  W.  Pugin,  on  Lincoln  Cathedral. 
Winkle's  Cathedrals,  vols.  1  &  2,  good  copy,  148. 

Coney's  Beautiful  Etchings  of  Cathedrals,  Churches,  Abbeys,  &c.,  folio,  with  descriptions, 
viz.,  Lincolnshire  and  Notts,  together,  published  at  2  Is.,  10s.  6d. ;  ditto  Yorkshure, 
10s.  6d. ;  ditto  Worcester  and  Gloucester  together,  10s.  6d. 
Coney's  Architectural  Beauties  of  Modern  Europe,  with  descriptions,  large  folio,  new, 

published  at  £6  10s.     £1  10s. 
Carter's  Specimens  of  Gothic  Architecture,  4  vols.,  small  square,  new,  §-bound,  morocco, 

published  at  18s.     ?s.  6d. 
Buckler's  50  Views  of  Endowed  Grammar  Schools,  with  descriptions,  &c.,  4to.,  7s.  6d. 
Carlisle's  Endowed  Grammar  Schools,  2  vols  ,  8vo.,  calf,  neat,  1818,  10s. 
Wright's,  Th.,  Biographia  Britannioa  Literaria,  Anglo-Saxon  and  Norman  Periods,  2  vols,, 

8vo.,  1842,  10s.,  scarce. 
Forster's  Perennial  Calendar,  or  Companion  to  the  Almanac,  8vo.,  published  at  12s.     5s. 
Stillingfleet's  Origmes  Britannicte,  8vo.,  1840,  3s. 
Burnet's  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  2  vols,  fol.,  1724.     15s. 
Newte's  Tour  in  England  and  Scotland,  1791,  4to.    2s.  6d. 
Roby's  Traditions  of  Lancashire,  second  series,  2  vols.,  Svo.,  53. 
Mills'  History  of  Chivalry,  2  vols.,  8vo.,  6s. 

Oliver's,  Rev.  Dr.  History  of  Town  and  Minster  of  Beverley,  Abbies  of  Watton  and  Meaux, 
Convent  of  Halteraprise,  and  several  adjacent  villages  ;  plates,  4to.,  bds.,  published 
at  £2  12s.  6d.  12s.  6d. 
Winchester  :  Proceedings  of  Archaeological  Institute,  in  1846,  contains  Prof.  Willis  on  the 
Cathedral,  and  Papers  by  Cockerell,  J.  H.  Parker,  Winston,  J.  G.  Nichols,  Sk.  F. 
Madden,  &c.,  12s. 
Chester.     The  whole  proceedings,  &c.,  in  the  Quo  Warranto  against  the  Corporation, 

2  vols.,  8vo.,  bds.,  1791,  10s. 
Garrow's  History  of  Croydon,  with  Life  of  Whitgift,  8vo.,  published  at  12s.     2s.  6d. 
Lynn,  History  &c.  with  plates,  »&;c.,  by  Mackerell,  1738,  (two  leaves  wanting,)  3s. 
Ely  Cathedral,  &c.,  by  Millers,  with  Mackenzie's  plates,  8vo.,  published  at  20s.     3s.  6d. 
Bath  Abbey  Church,  by  Bi'itton,  (Mackenzie's  plates,)  royal  8vo.,  pub.  at  20s.     6s. 
Guide  to  Leeds,  Kirkstall,  &c.,  1808  ;   ditto  Brighton,  with  Maps,  &c,,  1809,  Is. 
York  Cathedral,  Description  of,  with  plates,  epitaphs,  &c.,  12mo.,  1768,  2s, 
Eboracum,  or  Hist,  and  Antiq.  of  York,  the  Cathedral,  Ainsty,  &c.,  17  plates,  2  vols.,  8vo., 

York,  1788.     8s. 
York.     Memoirs  on  the  Hist,  and  Antiquities  of  the  County  and  City  of  York,  (^Archceol. 
Institute's  Volume,  1846,)  8vo.,  12s   6d. 

' ,  Guide  to  City  and  Cathedral,  new  (sells  2s.),  Is. 

Durham  Cathedral,  as  it  was  before  the  Dissolution  of  the  Monastery,  with  the  Rites, 
Customs,  and  Ceremonies  used  therein,  the  Histories  painted  m  the  Windows,  &c., 
12mo.,  Durham,  1733  (scarce),  3s. 
Dickinson's  History  of  Southwell,  bds.,  4to,,  6s. 
Address  to  Protestants  upon  the  present  conjuncture,  "by  a  Protestant,  William  Penn,"  4to 

1679,  3s.  *' 

Chron.  Abridgment  of  English  History,  to  1688,  8vo.,  (Payne  and  Foss,)  1815,  3s.  6d. 
Dibdin's  Library  Companion,  8vo.,  cloth,  9s. 
The  Patrician,  ed.,  by  Burke,  Vols.  1  to  6,  ^-colf,  15s. 
Merryweather's  Glimmerings  in  the  Dark,  3s.  6d. 

Flores  Historiarum,  per  Matt.  Westmonastoriensem,  1570,  folio,  10s.  6d. 
Cromwelliana,  &c.,  bds.,  1810,  folio,  7s. 
Nalson's  Collections,  vol.,  1,  imperfect,  folio,  bds.,  4s. 

Wright's  Court-hand  Restored  (for  Students  of  Records,  &c.,)  4to.,  new,  13s.,  pub.,  at  26s, 
Grafton's  Chronicle,  2  vols.,  4to  ,  bds.,  J  809,  14s. 
Hall's  Chronicle,  bds.,  1809,  some  stained  leaves  4to.,  lOs. 

Ducange,  Glossarimu  Medioe  et  Infimae  Latinitatis,  6  torn,  folio,  Basilece,  1762,  £2  l2s  6d 
Hardyng's  Chronicle,  by  Sir  H.  Ellis,  bds.,  1812,  4to.,  12s.  '      ' 

Peck's  Desiderata  Curiosa,  or  Scarce  and  Curious  Pieces,  calf,  1779,  4to.,  £1  10s.  Od. 


10  W.  AND  B.  BUOOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

Selection  of  Curious  Articles  from  Gentleman's  Magazine,  4  vols.,  bds.,  16s. 

Calendarium  Rot.  Patentium,  &c.,  folio,  1802,  bds.,  7s.  6d. 

Disney's  (Rev.  Dr.,  of  Swiuderby)  Memoirs  of  Brand  HoUis,  privately  printed,  fine  Plates, 

large  4to.,  bds.,  1808,  12s.  6d. 
Disney  J.,  (Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  Nottingham,)  on  the  Ancient  Laws  against  Immorality, 

&c.,  folio,  1729,  6s.;  with  list  of  Lincolnshire  and  other  Subscribers. 
Trials  various, /o/io,  viz.,  Sacheverell's,  3s. :  Report  on  Layer's  case,  Is. :  Replies,  &c.  on 

Atterbury's  case.  Is. :  the  Seven  Bishops,  4s.,  &c. 
Political  Tracts,  also  several  volumes  of  Mercuries,  Intelligencers,  &c.,  about  1711,  &c. 
Northampton  Mercury,  1722,  1723,  1725,  incomplete,  £1. 

Latham's  Handbook  of  the  EngHsh  Language,  neiv,  (published  at  8s.  6d.)  7s.  1851. 
Atterbury  on  the  Rights,  &c.  of  Convocation,  8vo.,  1701.  7s.  6d. 
Thierry's  Norman  Conquest,  2  vols.,  neiv,  6s.  (sells  7s.) 

Brand's  Popular  Antiquities,  with  Sir  H.  Ellis's  and  other  additions,  new,  (sells  15s.)  12s. 
Ramsay's,  Prof  Roman  Antiquities,  (Enc.  Metr.)  new,  6s.  6d.  published  at  8s.  6d. 
Bohn's  Antiq.  Library,  several  reduced  to  3s.  6d.  per  volume,  (contains  W.  of  Malmsbury, 

Hoveden,  Wendover,  &c.) 
Guillim's  Heraldry,  ivants  four  leaves,  and  part  of  Index,  folio,  bds.,  1640,  6s. 
Hull,  Rev,  E.,  on  Ecclesiastical  Property,  Is.  6d. :  English  on  Pews,  Is. 
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Lloyd's  Thesaurus  Ecclesiasticus,  (Liber  Valorum,  &c.,)  1788,  2s. 
Debrett's  Peerage,  2  vols.,  1825,  4s.  :  various  old  Peerages. 
Elucidation  of  the  Principles  of  English  Architecture,  with  23  fine  plates  by  Kendall  and 

Storer,  large  papei',  7s.  6d. ;  (a  Companion  to  Storer's  Cathedrals). 

A  Catalogue  of  Sermons,  Old  Divinity,  ^c,  in  preparation. 

DRAWINGS,  &c., 

Several  large  Sketches,  plain  and  colored,  of  Belvoir  Castle,  by  the  elder  Pugiu,  also  a 
view  in  Rauceby  by  ditto,  to  be  sold  very  cheap. 

Large  drawing  of  West  Front,  &c.  of  York  Cathedral,  apparently  the  original  of  Baker 
and  Vivares'  print,  21s. 

Two  colored  drawings  of  Lincoln  Cathedral,  10s.  each. 

A  very  curious  pen  and  ink  drawing  of  Nottingham,  from  the  Trent  Bank,  27  inches  by 
13,  by  T.  Sandby,  1742,  with  key,  15s. 

Two  Lincoln  Sketches  by  Le  Court,  a  French  artist,  about  1800,  6s.  each. 

Drawings,  apparently  by  Grimm,  A.D.  1786,  Ruins  of  St.  Giles',  with  Cathedral  in 
distance,  5s.  :  East  view,  of  Cathedral,  with  tower  in  the  Close  wall,  4s.  :  East 
End  of  ditto,  2s. :  Cloisters  and  Tranespt  of  ditto,  3s. :  Exchequer  Gate,  1784,  from 
the  east,  shewing  part  of  the  removed  western  face,  5s. :  the  Great  Hall  in  the  Palace 
Ruins,  3s. :  the  old  Deanery,  1784,  7s.  :  Newport  Gate,  5s.  :  Jew's  House,  5s. : 
Cantilupe  College,  with  entrances  to  Palace  and  Vicars'  Court,  6s.  :  Fragment  of 
Roman  Gate  (near  the  Leopard,)  as  standing  in  1784,  with  curious  street  view,  7s.  6d. : 
Cathedral,  &c.,  from  neighbourhood  of  Greetwell,  3s.  :  Doorway  of  St.  Mary's  Guild, 
with  sculpture,  2s. :  St.  Mary's  Conduit,  with  recumbent  effigies,  since  removed,  4s. : 
ditto,  with  St.  Mary's  church  adjoining,  5s. :  St.  Peter's  at  Gowts,  with  the  Guild 
buildings  adjoining,  6s. :  the  Castle  Keep,  with  Roman  wall  below,  4s. :  Landscape, 
inscribed,  "  Ponton,  Paunton,  Ad  Pontem,  near  Grantham,  with  part  of  a  Roman 
camp,  September,  1778,"  5s.:  Buckden  Palace  and  Church,  1778,  7s.  6d.  :  many 
tracings  from  Grimm's  drawings,  to  be  sold  cheap. 

A  quantity  of  excellent  Photographs,  (which  being  not  mounted  are  very  suitable  for 
insertion  in  Albums,  &c.,)  size,  8  in.  by  6|-,  comprising,  Lincoln  Minster  and 
Exchequer  Gate,  from  the  Castle  Hill,  3s. :  High  Street,  Lincoln,  from  St.  Mary's 
Conduit,  Is.  6d.  :  Newport  Arch,  Is.  6d.  :  East  front  of  the  Minster,  with  centre 
tower,  transepts,  &c.,  2s.:  Ely  Cathedral,  2  views,  viz.,  Priory  Doorway,  and  view 
from  the  Porter's  Lodge,  Is.  6d.  each  :  Peterborough,  a  set  of  7  interesting  views  from 
various  points,  9s. :  Kenilworth,  4  views,  5s.  :  Oxford  High  Street,  2  views,  3s. : 
Warwick  Castle,  with  river  and  woods.  Is.  6d. 

Rubbing  from  the  Disney  brass  at  Norton  Disney,  2s.  6d. :  Print  of  ditto,  2s. :  Several 
other  fine  Rubbings. 

MAPS,  PLANS,  &c. 

Bryant's  Map  of  Lincolnshire  in  8  sheets,  10s.  6d,  (A  table  of  parishes  in  each  Deanery  is 

appended,)  Armstrong's  Map,  reduced,  in  one  sheet,  2s.  6d. :    Speed's  Map  with  plan 

of  Lincoln,  1610,  scarce,  2s.:  Various  old  Maps  of  Lincolnshire,  by  Saxton,  Morden, 

Bowen,  &c.:   also   Road  Maps  through  the  district,  showing  the  "open  arable," 


W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN.  11 

"Heatb, "  and  other  lands  along  the  road. — Several  Fen  Maps,  1607,  &c. :  Elstobb's 
Levels  of  the  river  from  Peterborough  to  the  sea,  17G7,  2s.:  Grundy's  Map  of  the 
Witham,  (Lincoln  to  Boston,)  Is.     Stukeley's  plan  of  Banovallum  (Horncastle),  Is. 

Boundary  Maps,  colored,  from  Parliamentary  Report  on  the  Boroughs,  with  several  pages  of 
information  to  each,  viz.,  Lincoln,  Great  Grimsby,  Boston,  and  Stamford,  12d.  each. 

Speed's  Couutij  Maps,  A.D.  1610,  with  plan  of  County  town,  Coats  of  Arms,  &c.  added, 
viz.,  Lincolnshire,  2s.:  Cambridgeshire,  2s.:  Oxfordshire,  Is.  6d. :  Wiltshire,  with 
Salisbury,  and  Stonchenge,  Is.  6d.:  Rutlandshire,  with  Oakham,  and  Stamford,  2s.: 
Devon,  1?.  6d.:  Other  County  Maps,  of  about  the  same  period,  at  6d.  each,  viz., 
Berks.,  Bucks.,  Beds.,  Darbie,  Essex,  (1602,)  Leicester,  Notts.,  Northampts.,  Norfolke, 
Oxon,  Suftblke,  (Saxton's). — Barkshire,  (Overton's,)  with  Windsor  Castle,  Is. 

Manchester  and  Salford. — Green's  large  Map,  completed  in  1794,  size  5  ft.  5  in.  by  4  ft.  8  in., 
or  2^  miles,  by  above  }'^,  on  cloth,  7s.  6d.  It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  inter- 
esting character  of  such  a  plan,  the  date  considered ;  every  field  and  plot  then  unbuilt 
upon  has  the  owner's  name  attached. 

Plan  of  Lincoln,  with  the  sites  of  its  Monasteries,  destroyed  Churches,  City  Walls  and 
Gates,  &c.,  by  Marratt,  with  the  Railway  Stations,  &c.,  added,  size  22  inches  by  15. 
A  copy  of  Speed's  plan  in  1610,  and  several  pages  of  descriptive  matter  are  also  given 
with  it  by  W.  &  W.  Brooke,  who  have  lately  purchased  the  plate ;  published  at  12s., 
reduced  to  2  s. 


Report  of  Commissioners  on  Eccl.  Revenues  of  England  and  Wales,  2  vols.,  folio,  1835, 10s. 

Britton's  Chronological  History  of  Christian  Architecture  in  England,  with  eighty-six  fine 

plates,  (including   many  of  Lincoln   and   Beverley.)     Much   of  this  volume   was 

contributed  by  the  late  Mr.  E.  J.  Willson:  a  few  plates  injured,  25s. 

Stevenson's,  Su-  J.,  Morning  and  Evening  Services,  Chants,  &c.,  for  the  Organ  or  Piano 

Forte,  vol.  1,  published  at  £1  lis.  6d.     18s. 
Brayley's  Graphic  and  Historical  Illustrator,  with  150  wood-cuts,  chiefly  Topographical, 

4to.,  published  at  8  s.     3  s.  6d. 
Rastall's  Coll.  of  Statutes,  from  Magna  Charta  to  7th  James  I,  folio,  1621,  8s. 
Pennant's   Tour  in   Scotland,   1769,  with  21   plates,  (Tours  in   Lincolnshire,    Notts., 

Yorkshhe,  &c.,  are  included,)  3rd  edition,  Warrington,  1774,  6s. 
Bacon's  Sylva  Sylvarum,  &c.,  with  the  New  Atalantis,  folio,  1639.     3s. 
Stackhouse's  Origin  of  Architecture,  9  plates,  long  folio,  published  at  7s.     Is. 
Stackhouse's  6  views  of  Remarkable  Yorkshire  Rocks,  published  at  5s.     Is.  6d. 
Beauties  of  England  and  Wales,  (Britton,  Brayley,  &c.,)  the  following  vols,  in  boards  : 
Berkshire,  with  9  plates,  and  Bucks,  with  6  plates,  together,  6s.,  stained  copy  : 
Bedfordshire,  3  plates,  sd..  Is. :  Cumberland,  with  Isle  of  Man,  7  plates,  4s. :  Cornwall, 
9  ditto,  2s.  6 d. :    Cheshire,  4  ditto,  2s.:    Cambridgeshire,  3  ditto,  2s. :   Derbyshire,  15 
ditto,  4s.  :   Devonshire,  15  ditto,  4s.:    Dorset,  7  ditto,  4s.  :    Durham,  3  ditto,  3s.  6d. : 
Essex,  9  ditto,  3s.:  Gloucester,  8  ditto,  2s.  6d.:  Hants,  6  ditto,  4s. :  Herts,  8  ditto,  4s. 
Herefordshire,  4  ditto,  5s.  :  Kent,  14  ditto,  8s. — Some  stained  plates  in  the  above. 
Rev.  Jos.  Hunter's  Tract  on  the  First  Colonists  of  New  England  (from  Notts.,  Line,  &c.,) 

2s. — Ditto,  onAgincourt,  Is.  6d. 
Guide  through  Lincoln  Cathedral,  by  the  Rev.  R.  Garvey,  M.A.  Minor  Canon,  2nd. 

edition,  enlarged.  Is. 
Pamphlets,  &c.  Killigrew  on  the  Lindsey  Levell  Drainage,  fol.,  1705,  Is.  6cl.  Newball's  "  Scheme," 
&c.,  (on  Wool)  Stamford,  1744,  6d.  Correspondence  of  Foulkes,  Brown,  &c.,  on  Eev.  B. 
Toller's  Will,  wants  last  leaf,  1793,  6d.  Act  respecting  Dramage  in  Manor  of  Crowland, 
1779,  Is.  Act  respecting  Sarah  Rowe's  Will,  (lands  at  Fulstow,  Stenigot,  Marsh  Chapel,  &c.,) 
1828,  Is.  Bill  for  making  navigable  the  river  Bain,  32  Geo.  III.  Is.  Marris'  Address  to 
Inhabitants  of  Barton,  on  Infidelity,  6d.  The  Golden  Cross,  a  tale  of  the  Lincolnshire 
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Grammar  School,  1836;  Finance  Committee's  (Lincoln)  Keport,  1836,  with  other  papers,  12d. 

Remarks  on  a  Book  intituled  an  Account  of  the  Donations  to  the  Parish  of  N k. — 

Imvardly  tliey  are  raveniiuj  Wolves,  Matt,  vii.,  13,  by  aM r  of  P m 1,  4to,  1751, 

2s.  6d.  Labrador,  a  poetical  Epistle  by  Geo.  Cartwi-ight,  Esq.,  jo/rtfe,  1792,  ls.|  Newark,  a 
Poem,  by  H.  N.  Bousfield,  4d.  Sale  Catalogues  of  (Jewels,  &c.,)  Dowager  Princess  of  Wales, 
1773;  ditto,  Q.  Charlotte,  1819;  ditto,  Residence,  (Castle  Hill)  Furniture,  and  Effects  of  D.  of 
Kent,  1820:  3s.  6d.  The  Inundation,  by  Rev.  S.  Partridge,  1811,  4d. ;  also  several  sermons  by 
him.  Several  scarce  Fen  Tracts,  as,  Burrell's  "  Exceptions  against  Sir  Cornelius  Virmuden's 
Discourse,"  &c.,  1042;  ditto,  Briefe  Relation,  1642;  with  others  by  Bateson,  1710;  an  Essay, 
&c.,  1729;  Leaford,  1740  :  "  Queries  offered,"  &c.,  1757;  Maxwell,  1792  ;  some  Ankholme  and 
Witliam  tracts,  Tetney  Haven,  &c.  Cambridgeshire  Polls,  1722-24,  2s.— University  ditto, 
1790,  1827, 1829,  Is.  6d.— A  quantity  of  single  Sermons  by  Lincolnshire  Clergy,  also  by  Bishops 
and  Dignitaries  of  Lincoln.  Dr.  Sv.  Cookson's  Paper  on  the  Malandry,  (without  the  plates,) 
6d.  Inclosure  and  Drainage  Acts  for  Nettleham,  Ingham,  Timberland,  Covenham;  Black 
Sluice  Act,  with  Map ;  Witham  Drainage,  (1702) ;  Tithe  Cause,  Bree  v  Chaplin,— with,  other 
local  Tracts  and  Pamphlets.  Some  County  fragments  and  cuttings  from  Peerages,  and 
genealogical  works ;  ditto,  on  Drainage  meetings,  1771,  &c.  &c.  Several  Stamford  Mercuries, 
1734,  &c. 


12  W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

MANUSCRIPTS. 

Boston  MSS.  A  curious  and  original  series  of  documents  respecting  charges  of  disaffection,  &c., 
brought  against  Jos.  Whiting,  an  inhabitant  of  Boston,  and  apparently  a  connection  of  the 
then  Mayor,  John  Whiting :— including  an  ofl&cial  letter  dated  "  at  y^  Councell  of  Whitehall," 
and  signed  by  "  Hen.  Scobell  Gierke  of  y«  Councell,"  also  Examinations  of  various  parties  as  to 
the  words  spoken ;  counter  testimonies  in  behalf  of  the  accused ;  testimony  to  character, 
signed  by  twenty  inhabitants  and  others,  including  "Bankes  Anderson,  Minister;"  "Jo 
Naylor,  Minister ; "  "  Jo  Watson,  Minister  of  Mildenhall,  Suff."  &c.  The  preceding  are 
undoubtedly  original,  and  refer  to  occurrences  which  do  not  appear  to  have  been  hitherto 
noticed.    £2. 

A  Sermon,  (MS.)  on  1.  John,  III.,  8:  at  the  end  of  which  is  added  "preached  before  y^  King,  ye 
Prince,  y^  Duke,  and  y^  Lords,  at  Oxford,  on  Christmas  day  being  Monday,  1643,  in  y  time 
of  y«  great  Rebellion."  Inside  the  cover  is  written  a  prayer  for  the  King,  that  God  "would 
comfort  him  in  all  his  troubles,  that  he  would  deliver  him  out  of  all  his  dangers,  and  that  he 
would  crown  his  pious  endeavours  with  happie  successe,  to  y«  glorie  of  his  great  name,  the 
preservation  of  his  poore  church,  and  the  peace  and  safetie  of  his  kingdoms,"  5s.  (This  and 
the  following  were  probably  written  and  preached  by  an  ancestor  of  the  Rev.  Gilb.  Benet, 
Rector  of  St.  Peter  at  Arches,  in  whose  library  they  were.  The  many  interlineations  shew 
that  they  were  the  preacher's  own  copy.) 

A  Sermon,  fMS.)  on  1.  Cor.,  XV.,  57:  But  thanks  he  to  God  who  giveth  m  the  victork  .—and 
commences—"  A  sad  time  to  preach  of  victories,  in  such  a  low  condition,  when  y*  enemie 
presseth  on  so  fast,  and  looks  so  bigg,  not  only  insulting  and  flying  upon  us — gladio  oris,"  &c. 
At  the  end  is  written,  Deo  Gratias,  before  ye  King,  ye  Diike  of  York,  and  P.  Bwpt.,  &c„  March 
29,  Anno  1646,  mcestissimo  Tempore."  5s. 

Sermon,  (MS.J  on  K.  Charles'  Martvrdom;  refers  to  "the  late  troublesome  times":  and  has 
a  note  of  being  preached  at  Gonalston,  Bulcote,  Burton,  and  Lambley,  1746—1769.    2s. 

"A  Particular  Account  of  all  the  Charitys  and  Charity  Estates,"  &c.,  of  the  Lincoln  Corporation; 
"  Made  out  from  original  Records,  or  other  Evidences  in  the  month  of  August,  1786. "    3s. 

MS.  Copy  of  the  Charter  of  the  Lincoln  Corporation— "  Exd.  18th  April,  anno  Dom.  1769,  p.  nos, 
Hen.  Hill:  Benet  Thorpe."— Also  "  The  Old  Proclamation  of  the  City  of  Lincoln,  call'd  the 
Mayor's  Cry."  5s.  Old  MS.  List  of  Mayors,  Sheriffs,  and  Chamberlains  of  Lincoln, 

between  1624  and  1740,  with  notes  of  occurrences  under  various  years.    5s. 

Byllynghay,  land  at,  a  short  instrument  on  parchment,  temp.  Hen.  VI.  3s,  6d. 

Papers  from  the  Collections  of  the  Rev.  Moor  Scribo,  formerly  Rector  ofCrowland. 

Letter  from  Mr.  Gough,  (the  Antiquary,)  dated  "  Enfield,  Aug.  11, 1783,"  to  Mr.  Scribo,  Cwho  seems 
himself  to  have  been  preparing  at  one  time  a  history  ofCrowland,)  on  the  Boundary  Stone, 
&c.,  &c.  Transcript  of  Mr.  Scribo's  letter  to  Mr.  Gough  on  the  same  and  other  subjects, 
dated  Aug.  4th,  1783,  (nearly  7  full  pages)  to  which  the  preceding  was  an  answer.  Two 
other  letters  of  Mr.  Scribo  to  Mr.  Gough,  in  1783-4,  on  similar  topics,  describing  alterations 
made  in  the  church,  also  the  damage  to  the  Abbey  by  a  storm.    7s. 

A  Letter  from  Gov.  Pownall,  no  date,  to  Mr.  Scribo,  on  the  Boimdary  Stone ;  ditto  from  Mr. 
Bradley,  Registrar,  Lincoln,  on  the  same,  and  referring  to  Gov.  Pownall,  no  date,  3s.  6d. 

An  address  (in  M.S.)  to  the  parishioners  ofCrowland  on  certain  irregularities  committed  on  the 
Sabbath.  A  Summons  respecting  certain  parties  who,  on  the  Lord's  Day,  carried  "into  the 
church  of  Crowland  aforesaid,  one  bottle  of  ale,  and  then  and  there  wilfully  did  drink  the 
same  to  the  great  disturbance  of  the  congregation,"  &c.,  signed,  "  J.  Dinham,"  dated,  Sep.  20th, 
1774.    With  several  other  papers  on  Crowland  matters.    5s. 

Correspondence  ^vith  Mr.  Durnford,  (Winchester,)  in  1790,  respecting  certain  "offences  and 
outrages,"  gi-owing  out  of  disputes  as  to  the  "  Church  Green  or  Abbey  Yard ; "  with  a  printed 
warning  from  Mr.  Durnford  to  offenders  :  also  Proceedings  of  a  (Crowland)  Vestry  Meeting, 
March  5th,  1789,  on  the  same  subject,  and  resolutions  to  support  the  defendants  "by  a  Rate 
or  Rates  to  be  layed  by  the  Churchwardens;"  with  the  signatures  (or  marks)  of  the  Rector 
and  24  parishioners.    5s. 

"Mannor  of  Croyland.— Extract  of  Releifes,  Amerciaments,  Pains  and  Penalties,  set,  lost,  and 
forfeited,"  &c.,  (1727  to  1736)  signed  Maiir.  Johnson,  6s.    (several  pages  closely  written.) 

Three  pages,  4to.,  of  Extract  "from  Moor  Scribo's  MSS.,"  on  founuution  of  the  Abbey:  with 
special  details  of  the  Collegiate  Establishments  of  Cotenham  and  Worthorpe:  also  a  curious 
pen  and  ink  drawing,  folio  size,  of  bird's  eye  view  of  a  farm,  with  figures,  entitled  — 

"Lord  Turlcetyls  mannor  at  Cotenham.— Sam.  Gale  Ar.  d.  d.  G.  Stukeley,  25th  Oct.,  1732:" 
and,  beneath,  is  "  Manerium  Croyland;"  with  various  other  papers,  7s. 

Sundry  Papers,  as.  Petition  from  a  young  parishioner,  begging  to  be  released  from  a  king's  ship, 
1782:  Proceedings  against  parishioners  not  paying  their  dues,  (including  Mr.  Ayscough,  a 
Quaker,)  copy  of  R.  Phillips'  bequest,  (temp.  H.  VII.)  to  church  of  Sutton  St.  Edmunds: 
Petition  to  Duke  of  Bedford  and  the  Undertakers  respecting  a  Tunnell  in  Fleet  parish,  with 
signatures  of  twelve  chief  parishioners,  a.d.  1736,  4s. 

Several  letters  from  Mrs.  M.  Gough,  of  Gedney,  1774,  and  from  ditto,  at  Wakefield,  1783;  also 
from  her  nephew  J.  C.  Brooke,  Somerset  Herald,  1777,  1782,  in  which  are  some  antiquarian 
details,  as  notes  on  the  Orby  family.  Descent  of  the  Manor  of  Gedney,  &c. :  extracts  from 
Crowland  Register,  on  the  Wyche  family,  5s. 

Canvassing  Letters  from  Lord  Monson,  and  Sir  J.  Thorold,  July  17th  and  Aug.  14th,  1779,  on  the 
death  of  the  Duke  of  Ancaster;  Lord  Monson  recommending  his  brother,  Capt.  Geo. 
Monson,  as  candidate  for  the  County.    3s. 

"  The  present  bad  state  of  the  River  Witham  between  the  city  of  Lincoln  and  Corporation  of 
Boston,  Humbly  Represented  to  the  consideration  of  the  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  the  said 
City,"  &c.  by  James  Scribo,  brother  of  the  Rector  of  Croyland,  no  date,  3s.  6d. 

Papers  in  an  action,  1729,  respecting  Bumstead's  Engine,  at  Kyme,  2s.  Papers  on  a  proposed 

improvement  of  the  River  Dee,  by  James  Scribo,  Stc,  with  map,  no  date,  2s.  6d. 

"An  Answer  to  a  Book  entitled  the  present  state  of  Navigation  of  the  Towns  of  Lin,  Wisbech, 
Spalding,  and  Boston,  humbly  proposed,  &c.,  &c.,  by  a  plowman  of  Thorney  Fen : 
Vaine  man  thinkes  thou  to  turn  y«  seas,      I         To  stop  y«  springs  &  change  y^  wind 
Or  guide  y«  world  which  way  you  please,     |         And  make  y^  River  all  confined." 
26  lines  of  verse— followed  by  16  close  written  4to.  pages,  in  very  old  handwriting.    5s. 

"A  Noate  of  such  Evidences  as  belong  to  the  Towne,  which  was  delivered  to  William  Wyche," 
(an  old  MS.  printed  as  No.  LXIV.  of  Appendix  to  Gough's  Croyland).   3s. 


LAKGE  FOLIO. 


CHRISTIAN    MEMORIALS: 

Being  Working  Drawings,  with  Estimates,  of  Headstones 

and  Tombstones. 

Designed  hy  Professional  Memhers  of  the  JForcester  Diocesan  Archie 

tectural  Society. 


'  •  It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  our  ordinary  graveyard 
memorials  are  objectionable,  not  only  on  account  of  tlieir  unsiglitli- 
ness  and  incongruity  with  the  architecture  of  the  churches  they 
surround,  but  also  from  the  character  of  the  emblems  which 
accompany  them,  such  as  urns,  inverted  torches,  weeping  willows, 
which  are  of  pagan  origin,  and  most  of  them  emblamatical  of  eternal 
death — of  the  extinction  of  all  hope — rather  than  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  to  immortality,  through  the  merits  of  a  crueijfied  and 
risen  Saviour. 

''  The  improvement  which  has  taken  place  in  ecclesiastical  archi- 
tecture and  in  church  feeling  generally,  has,  to  some  extent,  influenced 
the  designs  for  Christian  monuments,  so  that  good  examples  may 
occasionally  be  met  with ;  but  they  are  still  rare,  and  this  is  perhaps 
to  be  attributed  to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  good  designs,  more 
than  to  any  other  reason.  Several  works  have  been  published  on 
the  subject,  but  the  drawings  are  on  too  small  a  scale  to  be  of  much 
practical  use,  even  if  the  designs  had  been  more  generally  commend- 
able. 

''  The  Committee  of  the  "Worcester  Diocesan  Arcliitectural  Society 
in  the  hope  of  supplying  this  deficiency,  sought  and  obtained 
the  assistance  of  their  professional  members,  and,  from  the  designs 
thus  contributed,  have  selected  nine  for  publication  as  a  first  series. 
Most  of  them  are  of  a  simple  character,  and  the  drawings  being  to 
scale,  -^dtli  details  full  size,  they  can  easily  be  executed  by  the 
village  stonemason,  and  at  a  moderate  cost.  One  or  two,  more 
elaborate  than  the  rest,  are  suitable  for  erection  over  brick  graves  or 
vaults. ' ' — Extract  from  Preface. 

Published  by  the  Society  ;  and  Sold  by  J.  H.  &  J.  Parker,  Oxford  and  Loudon  ; 
and  all  booksellers. 

PRICE   TO  NON-MEMBERS  Zs. 


ILLUSTKATED    "WITH   VIE^WS,   PLANS,   AND    DETAILS. 
PRICE  Is.  6d.,  BY  POST  U.  7d. 

A    GUIDE    TO    THE    CHURCHES    OE   BREDON, 
KEMEKTON,   AXD    OVERBURY. 

Honorary  Secretary  to  the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society. 

''  A  useful  thought,  capitally  worked  out.  There  are  few  groups 
of  three  closely  adjacent  churches  so  interesting  as  this;  and  in 
Kemerton  especially,  as  the  work  of  Carpenter,  and  the  parish  church 
of  our  President,  we  take  an  especial  interest." — JEcclesiologist. 

Sold  by  Dekihton  &  Son.,  High   Street;  J.  Wood,  Foregate  Street;  Eaton 
and  Son,  College  Street,  Worcester  ;  John  Garrison,  Tewkesbury. 


IsMtintA  IrtliWuriil 

REPORTS  AND  PAPERS, 

MDCCCLVIII. 
VOL.   IV.,   PT.   II. 


REPORTS  AND  PAPERS 

READ  AT 

OF   THE 

COUNTY  OF  YORK, 

DIOCESE  OF  LliNCOLN, 

ARCHDEACONRY  OF  NORTHAMPTON, 

COUNTY  OF  BEDFORD, 

DIOCESE   OF   WORCESTER, 

AND 

COUNTY  OP  LEICESTEE, 

DURING  THE  YEAR  MDCCCLVIII. 


PKESENTED   GRATUITOUSLY   TO   THE   MEMBERS   OF   THE   ABOVE    SOCIETIES. 


PUBLISHED    AND   SOLD   BY 

W.  &  B.  BROOKE,  290,  HIGH-STREET,  LINCOLN. 

LONDON  :    SIMPKIN,    MARSHALL,   AND   CO.,    STATIONERS'   HALL   COURT  ; 

EDWARDS,    LOUTH  ; 

DORMAN,   NORTHAMPTON  ;     F.   THOMPSON,    BEDFORD  ;     FORMAN,    NOTTINGHAM  ; 

SUNTER,    YORK  ;     SLOCOMBE,    LEEDS. 


REV.  EDW.  TBOLLOPE,  LEASINGHAM,  SLEAFORD. 
REV  JOHN  BELL,  OULTON,  WAKEFIELD. 


LINCOLN  : 
PRINTED    BY   W.    AND   B.    BROOKE,    HIGH- STREET. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 


Each  Society  is  responsible  for  its  own  Report  alone,    and  each 
author  for  his  own  Paper. 

Great  care  has  been  taken  in  correcting  all  inaccuracies  as  to 
the  titles  and  addresses,  &c.,  of  the  Officers  and  Members  of  the 
various  Societies  combining  for  the  pubhcation  of  this  volume ;  but 
should  any  still  remain,  it  is  particularly  requested  that  the 
Members  detecting  them  will  be  so  good  as  to  communicate  with 
their  Secretaries  on  such  points.  The  following  is  an  abstract 
from  the  General  Treasurer's  and  Auditor's  account. 

Number  of  Copies  for  1857.  Cost  of  Volume  to  each  Society. 

Yorkshire  Society 150     Yorkshire  Society £28     7  3 

Lincoln  Diocesan  Society......   265  Lincoln  Diocesan  Society     45     7  7 

Northamptonshire  Society  ...  210  Northamptonshire  Society   31     9  6 

Bedfordshire  Society    100  Bedfordshire  Society    ...     13     0  10 

AYorcestershire  Society     125  Worcestershire  Society...     17     3  8 

Leicestershire  Society  85  Leicestershire  Society  ...     12  18  10 

Total  935  £143     7    8 

This  being  the  first  occasion  on  which  the  Associated  Societies 
have  had  the  benefit  of  a  General  Treasurer's  services,  the  other 
Officers  of  the  Societies  take  the  present  opportunity  of  acknow- 
ledging the  obhgation  they  are  under  to  Mr.  Hurst,  of  the  Bed- 
fordshire Society,  for  the  care  with  which  he  has  apportioned  the 
publication  expenses  before  that  document  was  submitted  to  the 
General  Auditor. 

The  present  half  volume,  forming  the  concluding  portion  of 
vol.  iv,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  considered  fully  equal  to  the  first  in 


6  ADVERTISEMENT. 

every  respect ;  whilst  the  charges  for  its  production  will  be  probably 
deemed  moderate.  It  must  not,  however,  be  overlooked,  that  a 
large  number  of  the  Illustrations  in  both  Parts  of  vol.  iv  have 
been  presented  to  the  Associated  Societies,  but  for  which,  their  cost 
would  have  been  very  greatly  increased. 

Doubtless,  the  Members  of  the  several  Societies  will,  when  they 
become  acquainted  with  this  fact,  feel  greatly  obliged  to  those 
Gentlemen  who  have  thus  so  kindly  volunteered  to  add  to  the 
value  and  interest  of  vol.  iv. ;  and  it  is  confidently  hoped  that  such 
acts  of  liberality  will  be  again  experienced. 

Should  any  Gentlemen  feel  disposed  thus  to  aid  the  literary 
productions  of  the  several  Societies  during  the  current  year,  it  is 
respectfully  requested  that  they  will  be  so  good  as  to  communicate 
their  kind  intentions  to  their  General,  or  any  of  their  Local 
Secretaries,  at  an  early  period. 

EDWARD  TROLLOPE, 

General  Secretary. 


CONTENTS 


LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

PAGE. 

Fifteenth  Report      .       .       , Ixiii. 

Horncastle  under  the  Romans.  A  Paper  read  at  the 
Horncastle  Meeting,  June  3rd,  1858.  By  the  Rev. 
Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  Rector  of  Leasingham  .       .       199 

Early  Christian  Burial  Places  and  Epitaphs.  A  Paper  read 
at  the  Meeting  of  the  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural 
Society,  held  at  Horncastle,  June  2nd,  1858.  By  the 
Rev.  Wilham  B.  Caparn,  M.A.  Vicar  of  West  Torrington       204 

The  Use  and  Ahuse  of  Red  Bricks.  A  Paper  read  at  the 
Horncastle  Meeting,  June  3rd,  1858.  By  the  Rev. 
Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A.,  Rector  of  Leasingham    .       .       216 

The  Castle  of  Bolingbroke,  and  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  in 
Lincolnshire.  A  paper  read  at  the  Horncastle  Meeting, 
June  2nd,  1858.  By  the  Rev.  F.  C.  Massingberd,  M.A., 
Rector  of  Ormsby 230 

Archaeological  Discoveries  (Lincolnshire) 247 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Seventeenth  Report Ixxix. 

Mazes  and  Labyrinths.  By  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.  A. 
Rector  of  Leasingham.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the 
Y'orkshire  and  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Societies 
at  Ripon,  1858 251 

On  Kirkham  Priory.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire 
and  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Societies,  at  Don- 
caster,  Sept.  23,  1857.  By  John  Richard  Walbran,  Esq. 
F.S.A.,  Mayor  of  Ripon 269 

BEDFORDSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Eleventh  Report Ixxxv. 

On  the  Well  at  Biddenham,  Beds.  Read  at  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  Bedfordshire  Architectural  and  Archaeo- 
logical Society,  Nov.  10,  1857.  By  the  Rev.  W. 
Monkhouse,  B.D.,  Vicar  of  Goldington,  and  Fellow  of 
Queen's  Coll.,  Oxford 283 


8  CONTENTS. 

NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

PAGE. 

Thirteenth  Report Ixxxviii. 

The  History  and  Antiquities  of  Bells,  and  their  connection 
with  Mythology  and  Ethnology  :  being  part  of  a  Paper 
read  (in  extract)  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Architectural 
Society  of  the  Archdeaconry  of  Northampton,  October 
15,  1856.  By  Abner  W.  Brown,  M.A.,  Vicar  of 
Gretton,  and  Hon.  Canon  of  Peterborough      .       .       .       291 

WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Report xcv. 

The  Churches  of  Worcester:  their  Architectural  Histoiy, 
Antiquities,  and  Arrangement.  Being  the  substance 
of  a  Paper  read  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Worcester 
Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  September  Q7,  1858. 
By  John  Severn  Walker,  Esq.,  Honorary  Secretary      .       323 

Notes  upon  Archaeology  in  connection  with  Geology  and 
Sculpture.  A  Paper  read  at  a  joint  Excursion  of  the 
Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society  and  the 
Midland  Counties  Archaeological  Association,  Sept.  28, 
1858.     By  J.  M.  Gutch,  Esq 349 

The  Abbey  Church  of  Holy  Cross,  Pershore.  A  Paper  read 
before  the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society, 
September  28,  1857.  By  W.  Jeffrey  Hopkins,  Esq., 
Consulting  Architect  to  the  Worcester  Diocesan  Church 
Building  Society 355 

Ripple  Church.  A  Paper  read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Worcester 
Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  June  1st,  1858.  By 
W.  Jeffrey  Hopkins,  Esq.,  Consulting  Architect  to  the 
Diocesan  Church  Building  Society     .       .       .       .       .       363 

Twyning  Church.  A  Paper  read  during  an  Excursion  of 
the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society  June  1st, 
1858.     By  John  Severn  Walker,  Honorary  Secretary  .       369 

LEICESTERSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL   AND 
ARCH^OLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 

The  Jewry  Wall,  Leicester  :  Observations  thereon.  By  James 
Thompson,  Esq.,  author  of  a  History  of  Leicester  from 
the  Time  of  the  Romans  to  the  end  of  the  Seventeenth 
Century 373 

Remarks  on  Gothic  Architecture  and  English  Churches. 
A  Paper  introductory  to  the  Annual  Excursion  of  the 
Leicestershire  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society, 
read  at  Market  Harborough,  July  29th,  1858.  By 
Vincent  Wing,  Esq.        .      •.      • 382 


LIST  OF  ILLTJSTEATIONS. 


PAGE. 

Chapel,  Kirkstead       Ixxi 

Roman  Cinerary  Vases,  found  at  Horncastlc    199 

British  Urn,  found  at  Thornton,  near  Horncastle     200 

The  Great  Tower,  Tattershall  Castle         210 

Forty-nine  Coats  of  Arms,  illustrative  of  the  Pedigree  of  the  Crom- 

wells,  Barons  Tattershall,  &c 228 

Chimney-piece,  Tattershall  Castle     229 

Burial  of  the  Dead  after  Towton  Fight     243 

Wax  Ornament  found  in  Falkingham  Church         247 

Leaden  Font  in  Barnetby-le-Wold  Church 248 

Anglo-Saxon  Weapons,  &c.,  found  near  Sleaford    250 

Maze  at  Sneinton,  with  Ecclesiastics  at  their  Devotions,  &c 251 

Labyrinth  in  Lucca  Cathedral,  p.  253  ;  Ditto  in  the  Church  of  St. 
Quentiu,  p.  254  ;  Ditto,  Chartres  Cathedral,  256  ;  Ditto,  Alk- 
borough.  Line,  and  Wing,  Rutland,  258  ;  on  Ripon  Common, 
259  ;  at  Boughton  Green,  and  Sneinton,  260 ;  at  Saffron 
Walden  and  Pimpern,  261  ;  Mize-Maze,  Winchester,  262  ;  at 
Theobalds,  Herts.,  267  ;  Italian  Maze,  from  Serlio,  268. 

The  Well  at  Biddenham,  Bedfordshire     -.      283 

Remains  found  in  ditto        284 

Churches  of  Worcester,  viz. — 

S.  John  the  Baptist's 325 

S.  Alban's,  as  proposed  to  be  restored        828 

Ditto,                        ditto,                        interior 829 

S.  Andrew's 330 

Old  S.  Martin's,  and  Old  S.  Michael's      338 

Explanatory  and  Comparative  Plans  of  the  Abbey  Churches  of 

Pershore,  Gloucester,  and  Tewkesbury      356 

The  Jewry  Wall,  Leicester,  after  Stukeley       373 

Supposed  outline  of  the  Walls  of  Roman  Leicester 377 


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ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 


OF 


THE   DIOCESE   OF   LINCOLN 


Horncastle  under  the  Romans.  A  Paper  read  at  the  Horncastle 
Meeting,  June  3rd,  1858.  By  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope, 
F.S.A.,  Rector  of  Leasingham. 

Horncastle  is,  almost  without  doubt,  built  upon  the  site  of  the 
Roman  "  Banovallum;"  not  simply  because  that  station  is  mentioned 
by  Ravenna  in  juxtaposition  with  "  Lindum,"  from  which  it  is  not 
far  distant,  but  because  its  etymology,  viz.,  "  Fort  on  the  Bane," 
appears  to  point  clearly  to  Horncastle  as  the  site  of  the  above-named 
Roman  station,  it  being  built  upon  an  angular  piece  of  land  close  to 
the  Bane,  just  above  its  junction  with  another  small  stream  (the 
Waring),  which  only  required  the  erection  of  a  vallum  on  one  side 
to  render  it  easily  tenable,  the  others  being  to  a  certain  extent 


VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II. 


c  c 


200      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

defended  by  nature.  Possibly  the  Britons  may  have  had  a  settle- 
ment here,  as  it  presented  to  them  a  secure  situation  near  a  forest 
district,  and  possessing  an  abundant  supply  of  water — a  supposition 
which  the  discovery  of  two  British  urns  in  the  new  Vicarage  garden 
certainly  strengthens  ;  and  we  also  presume  that  they  had  a  settle- 
ment in  the  immediate  vicinity,  from  the  discovery  of  another 
British  urn  in  Thornton  parish,  about  a  mile  from  Horncastle. 
This  was  exposed  to  view  through  the  excavations  necessary  for  the 
formation  of  the  Railway  in  that  vicinity,  during  1856,  and  is  of 
rather  an  unusual  form  and  style  of  ornamentation.  It  is  nine 
inches  high,  and  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Ptev.  A.  Newbold,  the 
vicar  of  Thornton.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  Archseological  Institute, 
its  appearance  will  be  readily  understood,  from  the  subjoined  cut, 
placed  at  the  Society's  disposal  with  the  Institute's  usual  liberality. 


But  the  Romans,  wdth  their  usual  quick  perception,  certainly 
located  themselves  here  at  an  early  period  of  their  occupation  of 
Britain,  judging  from  the  date  of  the  coins  that  have  from  time  to 
time  been  found  on  its  site ;  and  they  eventually  created  an  ex- 
tremely strong  fort  on  this  spot,  enclosing  an  in-egular  parallelogram, 
600  feet  long  by  350  feet  wide,  on  its  eastern  side,  and  300  feet  on 
its  western  limit,  with  a  wall  16  feet  thick.  Leland  refers  to  this, 
(Itin.  vii.,  50),  saying,  "  Horncastelle,  as  far  as  I  can  learn,  is  now 
most  builded  within  the  circuit  of  an  old  walled  town,  or  some  huge 
castle,  as  apperith  from  divers  ruins  of  a  wall."  And  this  wall 
must  have  been  tolerably  perfect  in  Stukeley's  time,  who  says,  "  Its 


HORNCASTLE  UNDER  THE  ROMANS.        201 

vestigia  are  manifest  the  whole  compass  round,  and  in  some  places 
pretty  high  and  three  and  four  yards  thick — it  serves  for  sides  of 
gardens,  ^cellars,   out-houses,   and    as   chance  offers  inclosing  the 
market-place,  church,  and  good  part  of  the  town.     At  the  angles 
have  been  square  towers,  as  they  report:    the  gates  were  in  the 
middle  of  three  sides,  and  I  suppose  a  postern  into  the  meadows 
(called  the  Holmes)  at  the  union  of  the  two  rivulets."    But  although 
portions  of  this  wall  still  remain  above  ground,  and  much  more 
doubtless  below,  it  has  considerably  wasted  away,  not  by  decay,  but 
by  the  levelling  hand  of  man,  within  the  last  century,  so  that  a 
mere  casual  observer  would  probably  search  in  vain  for  any  evidences 
of  its  existence.     Happily,  however,  there  are  portions  of  all  four 
walls  still  remaining,  so  that  the  exact  size  of  the  area  they  once 
encompassed  can  be  readily  ascertained.     Of  the  south  wall  about 
120  yards  may  be  seen  on  the  south  side  of  the  churchyard,  and 
another  portion  in  Mr.  Johnson's  coal  yard.     Of  the  east  wall  a 
piece  exists  in  Mr.  Heald's  yard,  and  another  longer  portion  in  the 
White  Swan  yard,  extending  to  the  north-east  corner  of  this  old 
stronghold,  which  appears  to  have  been  flanked,  not  by  a  square 
turret,  as  Stukeley  reports,  but  by  a  small  circular  one ;  although 
it  is  now  difficult  to  trace  its  original  form,  the  whole  of  the  facing 
having  been  long  since  removed,  so  that  a  portion  of  the  interior 
work  alone  now  remains.     Of  the  west  wall,  a  piece  (about  100  feet 
long)  stands  on  the  property  of  J.  Banks  Stanhope,  Esq.,  M.P., 
besides  another  smaller  fragment ;   and  of  the  north  wall  a  con- 
siderable portion  may  be  seen  on  Mr.  Holdsworth's  grounds.    Some 
of  these  fragments  are  as  much  as  12  feet  high ;  but  nowhere  can 
a  single  original  facing  stone  be  seen,  nothing  but  the  usual  rough 
work  of  the  interior  consoHdated  by  the  hardest  possible  grouting 
now  being  visible.     About  six  feet  from  the  ground,  however,  there 
are  evidences  in  several  instances  of  an  extensive  reparation  of  the 
walls  having  taken  place,  but  quite  in  a  different  style  to  the  lower 
masonry,  consisting  of  large  blocks  of  sandstone  :  this,  very  possibly, 
may  have  been  the  work  of  the  Saxons  after  the  departure  of  the 
Romans. 

Outside  the  southern  limits  of  the  town  a  great  number  of 
Roman  coins  have  been  found,  as  well  as  cinerary  urns  and  frag- 
ments of  bones,— a  fact  indicating  that  the  cemetery  of  that  people 
was  there.  Stukeley  records  the  discovery  of  a  silver  and  a  brass 
coin  of  Vespasian  in  his  time  at  Horncastle,  and  that  a  girl,  digging 
sand  by  the  road  side  in  its  vicinity,  found  an  urn  full  of  Roman 
coins,  rings,  &c.  Since  that  period  other  silver  coins  of  Vespasian 
have  been  turned  up  here,  as  well  as  specimens  of  Septimius  and  of 
Alexander  Severus,  Volusianus,  a  large  brass  Trajan,  a  middle  ditto 
of  Caligula,  several  of  Claudius,  Nero,  Hadrian,  Domitian,  Antoninus 
Pius,  Faustina  the  elder  and  younger,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  a  com- 
plete set  of  small  brasses  from  Gallienus  to  Valentinianus  Secundus. 
Here  also  a  few  fibulae  and  bone  pins  have  been  occasionally  dis- 
covered ;  w^hilst  the  four  streets  diverging  from  the  Market-place, 
to  a  certain  extent  still  indicate  the  lines  of  the  Roman  viae  leading 


202       LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

to  the  four  gates  of  the  town.  Stukelej  thought  that  the  term  of 
*'  JuUan's  Bower  "  given  to  a  close  on  the  S.  W.  of  Horncastle  also 
pointed  to  its  Roman  origin,  but  this  refers  only  to  a  mediaeval 
maze  formerly  existing  there.  The  modern  name  of  Horncastle  is 
no  doubt  derived  from  the  Saxon  "  Hyrn-ceaster,"  the  shape  of  the 
angular  piece  of  ground  or  peninsula  the  town  is  built  upon  some- 
what resembling  that  of  a  horn,  whilst  its  arms  traditionally  refer 
to  the  same  derivation,  being  a  Horn  and  a  Castle.  Leland,  in 
his  Collectanea,  vol.  2,  p.  509,  quoting  an  old  and  exceedingly  mys- 
terious Chronicle,  says,  "  Vortimer  causicl  the  Forteres  of  Home  Castel 
to  be  heten  cloune,  and  newer  sin  ivas  refortified :  the  which  Castel 
was  first  enstrenghthid  by  Hors,  Hengisthus  Brother,  &c."  This 
reputed  fact,  however,  is  quite  as  mythical  as  the  name  of  the 
Chronicler  from  whose  writings  Leland  quotes  the  above,  and  is 
worthy  of  no  credit.  Horsa  arrived  in  England,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, A.D.  449,  with  his  renowned  brother  Hengist.  Landing 
at  Ebbes-fleet  in  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  they  and  their  followers,  pro- 
bably only  about  three  hundred  in  number,  were  retained  by  certain 
British  princes  to  aid  them  against  the  Scots  and  Picts,  and  were 
stationed  in  Thanet.  Afterwards,  being  strengthened  by  fresh  re- 
cmits  from  the  vicinity  of  the  Elbe,  Hengist  and  Horsa  began  to 
entertain  ambitious  views  of  conquest,  which  led  to  the  temporary 
expulsion  of  the  Saxons  from  the  British  soil,  Guortimir  or  Vor- 
timir  after  three  pitched  battles,  on  the  Derwent,  at  Ailesford,  and 
Stonar,  having  succeeded  in  driving  them  into  their  "  Chiules,"  or 
vessels,  and  compelling  them  to  take  refuge  in  the  sea.  In  the 
second  of  the  above  named  battles,  Horsa  fell,  a.d.  455,  according 
to  the  Saxon  Chrouicle ;  probably,  therefore,  his  exploits  were 
entirely  confined  to  Kent,  or  nearly  so — certainly  he  can  never 
have  visited  Lincolnshire,  or  strengthened  the  walls  of  Horncastle. 
Of  late  years  considerable  Roman  remains  have  been  discovered  on 
the  south-east  outskirts  of  the  town,  chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Union-house,  but  some  on  Mr.  Clitherow's  premises,  and  others  on 
the  Vicarage-ground.  They  consist  for  the  most  part  of  cinerary 
vases  of  grey  earthenware,  of  which  a  group  is  given  in  the  frontis- 
piece to  this  Paper,  presented  to  the  Society  by  the  author. 

No.  1,  is  8i  inches  high;  No.  2,  10  inches;  No.  3,  18  inches; 
No.  4,  111  inches;  and  No.  5,  11  inches  in  height.  Several  frag- 
ments of  mortars  of  white  clay  were  also  found  on  the  Union  site, 
one  having  a  reversed  "  fecit"  stamped  upon  it,  but  not  the  maker's 
name ;  also  a  fragment  of  a  bowl,  with  a  surface  pattern  of  white 
pipe  clay  applied  to  its  interior;  together  with  small  portions  of 
Samian  ware  vessels,  including  one  which  had  been  riveted  in 
ancient  days,  on  which  a  leopard  and  part  of  a  stag  is  stamped,  and 
another  bearing  the  terminal  portion  of  the  potter's  mark,  iliani  ; 
also  portions  of  hand  mills,  some  fibulae,  bone  pins,  &c. ;  but  the 
greatest  curiosity  that  was  found  upon  the  same  site,  although 
certainly  not  belonging  to  the  same  period,  is  a  couple  of  those 
marbled  clay  balls  whose  date  and  use  still  remain  uncertain.  These 
specimens  are  2f  inches  in  diameter,  weigh  a  little  more  than  half 


IIORNCASTLE  UNDER  THE  ROMANS.  203 

a  pound,  and  bear  no  marks  of  setting,  A  third  was  discovered  in 
a  tumulus  on  the  Downs  near  the  Brighton  race-course,  within  a 
rude  earthen  urn  supposed  by  Dr.  Mantell  to  be  British,  and  con- 
taining ashes.  A  fourth  was  thrown  up  from  the  bottom  of  a  drain 
on  the  Rectory  grounds  at  Slymbridge,  in  Gloucestershire,  very 
similar  to  the  Sussex  example  both  as  to  size  and  colouring  (see 
Archaeological  Journal,  vol.  9,  p.  336.)  A  fifth  was  extracted  from 
a  brook  at  Revesby  about  twenty  years  ago,  and  a  sixth  was  in  the 
antiquities  exhibited  at  Dublin  in  1853. 

The  date  of  the  Ilorncastle  walls  will  be  very  naturally  asked ; 
but  as  its  masonry,  in  common  with  at  least  most  other  Roman 
remains,  is  speechless  on  this  point,  and  no  records  exist  to  aid  us, 
we  have  only  the  evidence  of  general  history  remaining,  strengthened 
by  that  of  the  coins  found  on  the  spot ;  but  from  these  we  can  arrive 
with  tolerable  certainty  at  an  approximation  of  the  date  required. 
The  first  year  that  the  Roman  power  could  have  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  Coritani,  or  people  of  Lincolnshire,  was  a.d.  50,  when 
Ostorius  Scapula,  having  secured  the  whole  of  the  southern  portion 
of  Britain,  which  he  fortified  by  a  line  of  strongholds  reaching  from 
the  Avon  to  the  Severn,  converted  it  into  a  Roman  province. 
Shortly  after  this,  if  not  before,  the  Coritani  doubtless  submitted  to 
the  Romans  without  a  contest,  for  we  find  that  a  far  more  powerful 
and  remote  people  were  forced  to  do  so  at  this  period,  viz.,  the 
Brigantes,  or  people  of  Yorkshire,  Lancashire,  Westmoreland, 
Cumberland,  and  Northumberland  ;  but  it  was  probably  twenty 
years  after  the  submission  of  our  Lincolnshire  forefathers  that  the 
Romans  began  to  assume  the  actual  possession  of  their  soil,  under 
the  command  of  Julius  Agricola.  That  great  and  wise  Roman,  in 
command  of  the  20th  Legion,  had  been  sent  to  Britain  with  the 
Propraetor  Petilius  Cerealis,  during  the  first  year  of  Vespasian,  and 
completely  subdued  the  Brigantes,  who  had  revolted.  Again,  he 
was  sent  a.d.  78,  as  Propraetor,  or  Governor  of  Britain,  the  year 
before  Vespasian  died ;  and  in  the  following  year,  by  a  most  judici- 
ous mixture  of  severity  and  lenity,  he  completely  established  the 
Roman  power  everywhere  in  this  island,  and  afterwards  in  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  Scotland.  During  his  rule,  then,  I  have  little 
doubt  but  that  the  walls  of  Horncastle  were  raised — an  opinion 
which  is  certainly  strengthened  by  the  list  of  Roman  coins  found 
in  the  immediate  vicinity,  the  first  of  these  belonging  to  the 
Emperor  Vespasian. 

Horncastle  appears  to  have  been  remarkably  well  off  for  roads 
at  the  time  of  its  occupation  by  the  Romans.  One  led  to  the  west, 
above  Thimbleby  and  Edlington,  by  Baumber,  Langton,  Wragby, 
and  Sudbrooke-Holme  to  Lincoln  ;  another  to  the  north,  branching 
off  from  the  one  named,  near  Stourton  (or  Street  town)  Hall,  by 
Ranby,    Market    Stainton,^    South   Willingham,    Ludford,    Bully 

(1)  Market  Stainton  possessed  a  large  tumulus  until  the  year  1833,  when  it  was  levelled 
by  the  proprietor  of  the  site.  It  was  situated  close  to  the  junction  of  the  Horncastle  and 
Caistor  road  with  that  leading  to  Goulceby.  It  was  96  feet  in  diameter,  and  21  in  height. 
On  its  removal,  a  skeleton  of  large  dimensions  was  found  towards  its  western  face,  about 


204       LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Hill,3  Thoresway  Warren,  to  Caistor ;  and  thence  to  Barrow  and 
Barton  on  Huniber.  Two  roads  lead  to  the  coast  on  the  east,  viz., 
the  great  Foss-way,  proceeding  from  Ludford,  Tows,  Ludborough, 
to  Grainthorpe-haven  ;  and  another  by  Ashby  Puerorum,  Ulceby, 
Orby  and  Burgh,  terminating  at  Wainfleet.  There  were  also, 
perhaps,  two  to  the  south ;  the  one  communicating  with  Boling- 
broke  and  Boston,  the  other  with  Tattershall,  Sleaford,  Threck- 
ingham,  Bourn,  and  the  great  station  of  "  Durobrivae,"  whose  site 
is  now  partly  occupied  by  the  village  of  Caistor — a  corruption  no 
doubt,  like  its  more  important  namesake  in  the  north,  of  "  Castrum." 
Time  would  fail  to  mention  even  the  principal  of  the  Roman  re- 
mains that  have  at  various  times  been  discovered  on  the  borders 
of  these  several  roads.  I  will  therefore  here  conclude  this  short 
sketch  of  the  Roman  "  Banovallum"  and  its  antiquities. 

midway  between  its  base  and  summit,  accompanied  by  a  large  pair  of  stag's  horns,  and 
covered  with  a  heap  of  stones  and  flints  gathered  from  the  adjoining  land.  This  tumulus 
was  doubtless  of  British  origin. 

(2)  Bully  Hill  was  completely  investigated  last  year  by  the  Rt.  Hon.  C.  T.  D'Eyncourt 
and  several  other  Members  of  the  Society.  From  its  elevated  and  conspicuous  position, 
a  considerable  degree  of  interest  had  always  been  felt  respecting  its  date  and  origin.  It 
was  found  to  be  12  feet  high  and  78  in  circumference.  A  thin  layer  or  flooring  of  pounded 
chalk  had  tirst  been  laid  upon  the  natural  surface  of  the  eminence  where  it  is  situated. 
Above  this,  portions  of  sun-dried  British  pottery  were  disclosed,  accompanied  by  a  great 
quantity  of  wood  ashes,  some  flint  arrow-heads,  and  small  flint  flakes,  or  knives,  with 
which  the  Britons,  in  common  with  most  other  barbarous  nations,  cut  themselves  when 
in  deep  sorrow.  Above  this  deposit  a  mound  of  chalk  had  been  heaped,  and  then  a  deep 
layer  of  stiff  loamy  soil,  the  whole  being  finished  off  with  a  coating  of  the  ordinary  sur- 
rounding surface  soil.  At  about  six  feet  below  the  summit  of  the  mound  four  human 
skulls,  deposited  upon  a  layer  of  bones  placed  in  a  regular  manner,  were  found ;  and,  close 
by,  a  nearly  perfect  skeleton  and  the  remains  of  a  middle  size  rodent  animal,  thought  to 
be  those  of  a  red-deer,  together  with  some  fragments  of  undoubtedly  Koman  pottery; 
whence  it  may  be  fairly  assumed  that  this  tumulus  was  first  raised  by  British  labour, 
and  afterwards  used  as  a  funeral  depository  by  the  Romans.  The  term  "  Bully  Hill " 
given  to  this  and  other  prominent  mounds,  like  those  at  Tathwell,  is  probably  derived 
from  a  Norse  word  meaning  a  swelling,  or  partly  spherical  object— still  retained  by  the 
French  "  Boulet,"  or  ball,  and  the  English  "  bullet." 


Early  Christian  Burial  Places  and  EintaiJhs}  A  paper  read  at  the 
Meeting  of  the  Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  held 
at  Horncastle,  June  2nd,  1858.  By  the  Rev.  William  B. 
Caparn,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  West  Torrington. 

The  subject  on  which  I  am  prepared  to  say  a  few  words  this  evening 
is  "  Early  Christian  Burial  Places  and  Epitaphs  ;"  and  the  mention 
of  early  Christian  burial  places  at  once  directs  the  thoughts  of  all 
persons  who  are  in  any  degree  acquainted  with  the  subject  to  those 
places  of  burial  in  Rome,  called  catacombs.  These  underground 
cemeteries,  from  the  deep  and  solemn  interest  which  belongs  to 
them,  are  known  in  every  Christian  land.  But  it  is  not  in  Rome 
alone  that  these  subterranean  burial-places  are  found ;  they  have 
been  discovered  around  Paris,  Naples,  Syracuse,  Malta,  and  Alex- 
andria. 

(1)  In  the  preparation  of  the  former  part  of  this  paper  "Northcote's  Roman  Cata- 
combs," and  "  Fabiola"  have  been  made  use  of. 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  BURIAL  PLACES  AND  EPITAPHS.  205 

The  catacombs  of  Rome,  however,  attract  the  greatest  amount 
of  attention,  both  on  account  of  their  vast  extent,  the  great  variety 
of  their  adornments  and  epitaphs,  and  also  on  account  of  historical 
events  with  which  they  are  connected;  for  Rome  is  Apostolic 
ground,  and  there  the  war  between  Christianity  and  heathenism 
was  first  carried  on,  and  in  these  catacombs  repose  many  of  those 
early  Christians  who  suffei'ed  and  died  for  Christ  and  His  truth. 
It  is  from  them  that  my  descriiDtions  and  illustrations  will  be  drawn. 

They  were  commenced  and  made  use  of  before  the  end  of  the 
first,  and  continued  to  be  used  for  the  purposes  of  burial  until  the 
beginning  of  the  fifth  century. 

The  hallowed  associations  of  the  past  made  Christians  seek  for 
places  of  interment  in  them  long  after  the  necessity  for  conceal- 
ment, which  led  to  their  formation  in  the  first  instance,  had  passed 
away. 

These  Roman  catacombs  are  very  numerous ;  as  many  as  sixty 
are  known  by  name  on  one  side  or  other  of  Rome,  some  of  them 
being  situated  six  miles  from  that  city.  A  very  small  proportion  of 
these  has  been  entered,  and  not  one  has  been  thoroughly  explored. 

The  one  which  is  known  most  accurately  is  the  catacomb  of  St. 
Agnes.  A  map  of  about  one-eighth  of  it  has  been  published.  The 
greatest  length  of  this  measured  portion  is  700  feet  by  about  500 
wide.  The  streets  or  passages,  for  they  are  very  narrow,  which  it 
contains  are  two  English  miles  long;  the  whole  catacomb  would 
therefore  contain  15  or  16  miles  of  streets.  Now,  taking  this  as  an 
average  specimen  of  the  rest  (as  we  are  told  it  is,  for  some  are 
larger  and  others  are  smaller),  the  calculation  gives  us  some  nine 
hundred  miles  of  underground  streets  or  passages  in  all  the  Roman 
catacombs.  I  mention  these  details  to  show  how  vast  is  the  extent 
of  these  ancient  Christian  burial  places,  and  it  has  been  calculated 
that  they  contain  almost  seven  millions  of  graves. 

These  places  of  interment  were  set  apart  and  used  by  Christians 
only.  All  evidences  which  seem  to  favour  the  contrary  opinion 
have  been  explained  and  disposed  of.  Into  these  discussions  it 
would  be  out  of  place  to  enter.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  same 
feeling  influenced  the  first  Christians  which  has  never  lost  its  hold 
upon  ourselves,  viz. :  that  those  who  were,  when  living,  one  in 
Christ,  should  be  one  in  death ;  gathered  together  and  laid  up,  each 
in  his  narrow  cell,  in  ground  solemnly  set  apart  for  the  purpose. 

But  the  burial  places  of  the  early  Christians,  unlike  our  own, 
were  under  ground.  The  period  in  which  they  were  formed  were 
times  of  persecutions,  and  it  was  necessary  that  Christians  should 
have  places  of  concealment.  Such  places  the  catacombs  afforded. 
The  nature  of  the  soil  of  the  Campagna,  a  level  plain  which 
stretches  out  for  miles  around  the  city  of  Rome,  afforded  facilities 
for  their  construction. 

The  subsoil  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome  is  of  a  volcanic 
nature.  It  consists  of  tufa,  a  kind  of  rock  w'hich,  from  its  texture, 
is  well  suited  for  being  quarried  into  galleries  and  chambers  such 
as  are  found  in  the  catacombs. 


206       LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  this  tufa.  One  is  hard  and  compact, 
and  useful  for  building  purjDoses.  The  other  is  soft,  and  easily 
reduced  to  po^Yder.  It  is  in  this  latter  kind  of  tufa  that  nearly  all 
the  Roman  catacombs  are  made.  For  this  kind  of  rock  is  found 
to  be  sufficiently  firm  to  be  safely  excavated,  and  is  not  at  all  diffi- 
cult to  ^York. 

These  underground  burying-places  have  their  entrance  fre- 
quently in  a  sand-pit,  which  is  itself  a  sort  of  spacious  cavern, 
occupying  the  upper  portion  of  the  soil,  whilst  the  catacomb  is 
worked  out  beneath  it.  It  was  once  supposed  that  the  catacombs 
were  nothing  more  than  worked-out  sand-pits — heathen  excavations 
appropriated  by  the  Christians  for  the  purposes  of  interment.  A 
closer  examination  of  these  localities  has  proved  that  this  is  not  the 
case.  For  the  sand-digger  woukl  naturally  keep  his  work  as  near 
the  surface  as  he  could,  to  save  the  trouble  of  drawing  up  the  sand. 
But  the  catacomb  dips  down  at  once  into  the  rock,  generally  by 
means  of  a  slanting  shaft  furnished  with  steps.  No  doubt  it  w^as 
for  the  purpose  of  baffling  pursuit,  and  concealing  the  entrance  to  a 
catacomb,  that  the  descent  into  it  was  contrived  in  some  obscure 
corner  of  a  sand-pit. 

And  I  may  as  well  here  briefly  mention  the  fact,  already  alluded 
to,  that  the  catacombs  were  not  simply  places  of  interment  for  the 
dead,  but  were  also  places  of  refuge  and  safety  for  the  living ;  hiding 
places  from  the  storms  of  persecution,  which  swept  so  pitilessly  over 
the  Christian  community  :  and  many  were  at  such  times  able  to 
elude  active  pursuit,  and  save  their  lives,  by  escaping  to  some  one 
or  other  of  the  various  catacombs. 

And  now  let  me  try  to  give  you  some  notion  of  the  construction 
and  appearance  of  these  underground  cemeteries. 

Let  us  suppose,  that  we  have  come  out  of  the  bright  daylight 
w^hich  characterises  the  climate  of  Italy,  into  the  gloom  of  a  cavern, 
an  old  sand-pit.  We  make  for  some  remote  corner,  and  there  we 
find  a  narrow  doorway.  The  lights  of  our  guides  enable  us  to  see 
the  steps  by  which  we  are  to  descend  into  the  catacomb.  We  have 
now  reached  the  bottom  of  the  narrow  shaft,  and  are  breathing  the 
damp,  close,  smothering  air  of  the  catacomb.  Our  souls  are  awed 
by  the  spot  and  its  associations.  Even  the  most  matter-of-fact 
sightseers  can  hardly  fail  of  being  moved  by  a  visit  to  a  catacomb. 
The  ground  is  hallowed  by  the  holy,  suffering  lives,  and  painful 
deaths,  of  those  who  rest  in  them. 

Ah !  men,  our  fellow  Christians,  have  paced  these  narrow 
galleries,  when  it  was  as  much  as  a  man's  life  was  worth  to  confess 
himself  a  Christian.  Hither,  too,  they  fled  as  to  a  home  and  an 
asylum,  when  the  edict  for  a  persecution  went  forth  ;  and  when  the 
weary  strife  was  over,  hither  were  brought  the  mortal  remains  as 
each  one  went  to  his  reward,  having  earned  either  the  crown  of  the 
martyr,  or  the  peaceful  end  of  faithful  obedience  to  Christ. 

Such  were  some  of  the  thoughts  which  came  with  solemn  force 
across  my  mind,  when  I  inspected  one  of  the  Roman  catacombs,  and 
saw  many  of  the  objects  w^hich  I  am  now  about  further  to  describe 
to  you. 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  BURIAL-PLACES  AND  EPITAPHS.  207 

We  are  standing,  then,  we  will  suppose,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  narrow  passage  of  the  catacomb  which  is  cut  in  the  tufa  mck. 
Its  sides  are  perpendicular :  the  passage  runs  in  a  straight  du^ec- 
tion  for  some  distance.  This  is  the  beginning  of  a  net  work  ot 
passages  of  the  same  size,  which  wind  about  and  mtersect  each 
other,  and  form  a  perfect  maze  or  labyrinth— so  mtricate,  that  it  we 
were  to  proceed  any  distance  without  a  guide,  we  should  never  hnd 

our  way  out  again.  , ,.      ci      ^i  f 

Now  these  passages  are  the  cemetery  itself,  bee  the  rows  ot 
graves  hewn  out  on  their  perpendicular  sides,  with  no  great  order 
or  precision,  but  just  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  time; 
the  openings  in  tlie  rocks  show  that  children  and  grown-up  people 
have  been  interred  here,  just  as  occasion  required. 

These  graves  are  so  formed  that  the  side  of  each  body  lies  along 
the  side  of  the  passage  or  gallery  ;  and  the  openings  are  so  evidently 
made  to  measure,  that  there  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
body  was  lying  by  the  side  of  the  grave,  while  the  Fossor,  or  grave- 
digger,  was  making  the  necessary  excavation. 

When  the  recess  was  prepared,  the  corpse  was  wrapped  up  and 
placed  in  it.  The  opening  was  closed  up  by  means  of  a  marble 
slab  sometimes  by  several  broad  tiles  placed  edgeways  m  a  groove 
cut  in  the  rock,  and  cemented  all  round.  The  inscription  was 
either  cut  in  the  marble,  or  rudely  scratched  on  the  mortar. 

Graves  of  the  same  form  were  prepared  large  enough  to  receive 
several  bodies,  and  were  called  hisomum,  trisomum,  and  quadnsomum, 
according  as  they  were  capable  of  containing  two,  three,  or  four 

bodies.  .  j     .  ^ 

But  a  less  simple  plan  of  construction  was  sometimes  adopted. 
A  recess  was  commenced  in  the  wall  of  the  passage  of  the  same 
length  horizontally  as  was  required  for  an  ordinary  gi'ave ;  out  the 
upper  line  of  it  was  formed  into  a  low  vaulted  arch.  This  hollow 
niche  remained  open,  and  the  excavation  having  been  continued 
horizontally  several  feet  into  the  rock,  graves  from  two  to  four  m 
number  were  formed  on  the  flat  lower  surface  of  the  opening ;  and 
when  they  were  filled,  they  were  covered  with  slabs  of  stone,  just 
as  in  the  case  of  those  graves  which  have  their  openings  on  the 
surface  of  the  rock.  A  grave  of  this  kind  was  called  an  arcosolium 
and  was  prepared  probably  for  the  use  of  some  private  family ;  and 
there  are  inscriptions  remaining  which  prove  that  such  graves  were 
purchased,  and  secured  to  those  who  had  paid  for  them,  with  all 
due  formalities. 

An  entire  chamber  or  recess  is  sometimes  found  to  have  been 
secured  and  appropriated  in  the  same  way  for  the  purpose  of  a 
family  vault.  . 

In  addition  to  these  openings,  chambers  of  various  shapes  and 
sizes  may  be  seen  there,  which  were  evidently  used  for  divine  wor- 
ship. These  are,  for  the  most  part,  square ;  but  occasionally  they 
are  found  to  be  circular,  octagonal,  or  of  some  other  uncommon 
shape.  Some  of  these  chapels  are  decorated  with  paintings  and 
ornaments  of  a  very  curiously  interesting  kind.     To  say  anything 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  D  i> 


208      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

about  them  would  lead  me  away  from  my  proper  sulgect.  I  will, 
therefore,  only  add  respecting  them,  that  in  these  subterranean 
chapels,  the  clergy  and  laity,  driven  for  safety  to  the  catacombs  in 
times  of  persecution,  or  resorting  to  them  for  the  purposes  of  de- 
votion, assembled  to  unite  in  the  services  of  the  church ;  and  there 
too,  most  probably,  the  burial  office  would  be  conducted  before 
interments  took  place. 

But  what  we  have  been  observ^ing  hitherto  has  been  contained 
upon  the  first  level  of  the  catacomb,  which  we  have  found  to  be  so 
curiously  wrought,  excavated  into  passages,  chambers,  and  chapels. 
But  in  some  cases  a  second  flight  of  steps  leads  to  a  lower  level, 
and  a  third  to  a  lower  one  still,  all  quarried  out  in  the  rock  on  the 
same  plan,  and  filled,  as  the  upper  one  was,  with  interments. 

And  now  let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  order  of  men  who 
executed  and  wrought  out  these  remarkable  underground  burying 
places ;  for  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  works  like  these,  carried 
on  as  they  were  from  the  very  beginning,  with  such  order  and 
regularity,  were  systematically  conducted  by  a  class  of  persons  em- 
bodied for  that  pui-pose.  These  men  were  called  Fossores,  i.e.  ex- 
cavators, or  as  they  might  be  termed,  by  a  title  more  familiar  to 
ourselves,  sextons. 

Here  is  an  interesting  memorial  of  one  of  these  persons,  the 
sexton  of  the  catacombs.  The  original  was  found  in  the  catacomb 
of  St.  Sebastian  ;  the  name  of  the  fossor  is  Diogenes.  He  is  repre- 
sented in  the  dress  of  his  order.  He  stands  in  a  recess  of  the 
catacomb,  and  has  about  him  the  tools  necessary  for  his  business. 
He  holds  a  pick  in  his  right  hand ;  in  his  left  is  a  lamp.  It  swings 
from  a  spike,  by  means  of  which  it  was  fixed  against  the  side  of 
the  tufa  rock,  where  the  excavation  had  to  be  made.  There  are 
other  instruments  on  the  ground,  two  hammers  and  a  pair  of  com- 
passes, which  enabled  him  to  mark  out  with  the  exactness  we  have 
noticed,  these  well-squared  recesses.  On  his  dress  may  be  seen  a 
peculiar  form  of  the  Greek  letter  X,  which  is  the  initial  letter  of 
the  word  Christ  in  the  Greek.  This  is  the  badge  or  token  of  his 
Christian  profession.  The  doves,  on  the  side  of  the  legend,  holding 
olive  branches,  denote  that  he  "  rests  in  peace." 

This  occupation  of  "  fossor "  seems  to  have  descended  from 
father  to  son,  through  several  generations  in  the  same  family.  An 
interesting  series  of  inscriptions  was  found  in  the  catacomb  of 
St.  Agnes  some  years  ago,  which  proves  this.  And  this  fact  serves 
to  account  for  the  uniform  manner  in  which  the  catacombs  are 
excavated.  It  appears  from  inscriptions,  that  some,  at  least,  of  the 
graves  in  them,  were  secured  by  purchase  to  certain  persons  and 
families.  In  such  cases  the  fossors  or  sextons  had  the  manage- 
ment of  the  transaction. 

Having  seen  the  preparations  which  the  early  Christians  made 
for  the  decent  interment  and  protection  from  insult  of  the  bodies 
of  their  departed  friends  and  brethren  in  Christ,  let  us  turn  and 
examine  the  inscriptions  found  on  their  graves — their  epitaphs,  as 
we  call  them. 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  BURIAL-PLACES  AND  EPITAPHS.  209 

I  have  brought  with  me  a  few  fac-similes  of  such  epitaphs.  The 
interest  I  feel  in  them  is  greatly  increased  by  the  circumstance  of 
my  havinct  copied  them  in  the  Lapidarian  Gallery  of  the  Vatican, 
where  the  largest  collection  of  early  Christian  epitaphs  is  now  to  be 
found  They  have  been  removed  thither  from  such  of  the  various 
Roman  catacombs  as  have  been  explored.  If  you  please,  i  sviil 
read  a  few  of  them  to  you : — 

Susanna,  mayest  thou  live  in  God. 

Eucarpia,  thou  sleepest  in  peace, 

Victorina,  ha  peace  and  in  Christ, 

Tezianus  lived  9  months  and  9  days,  a  sweet  soul  in  peace. 

How  calm  and  soothing  are  the  terms  in  which  the  dead  are  here 
spoken  of !    It  sounds  strange  in  our  ears  after  the  agitating  worldly 
tone  which  runs  through  our  modern  epitaphs      And  yet,  tliese 
terms  and  expressions  are  inspired  by  the  revelation  of  the  high 
and  noble  destiny  of  both  soul  and  body,  opened  out  to  mankind  by 
that  Christian  faith,  which  we  hold  in  common  with  these  early 
Christians.      And  observe,  here  is   no  note  of  wailmg  m  these 
memorials,  such  as  is  found  in  pagan  epitaphs  of  the  same  period 
Though  the  pagan  form  of  inscription  is  often  preserved,   it  is 
differenced  by  the  expression  of  the  hopes  and  ^Ifssed  assurances 
which  the  Gospel  brought  to  light.     The  notion  of  death  ^emg   he 
blotting  out  of  existence  fled  away  before  the  revelation  of  a  resur- 
rection from  the  dead.    The  early  name  of  these  very  burying  places 
proves   how  the    Christians   regarded   them.     They  called   them 
cemeteries-places  for  sleeping  in.     They  spoke  and  thought  of 
those  whom  thev  laid  in  them,  as  being  merely  m  sleep-m  a  state 
of  rest  and  repose.     Each  grave  was  but  a  waiting-chamber  until 
the  time  of  the  Resurrection.    Every  inscription  testifies,  m  some  way 
or  other,  that  these  thoughts  were  uppermost  m  the  minds  ot  ttie 
survivors,  about  those  who  were  taken  from  them  by  death,     bucli 
a  word  as  hurying  never  is  used.     The  bodies  are  "  deposited  m 
peace,"  laid  there  in  safe  keeping  for  a  time,  like  some  pledge  to  be 
claimed  and  given  up  again  in  due  course.     The  gmve  itself  is 
spoken  of  as  the  abiding-place,  or  home,  secured  to  the  departed 
Christian  in  these  vast  dormitories.  .  •  ^    -         ^^ 

Then  there  is  that  solemn  brevity  about  them  which  is  really 
eloquent,  and  of  itself  suggests  reflection.  ,    mi    ■      •      i. 

And  what  an  air  of  triumph  runs  through  them  !  The^r  simple 
expressions  breathe  of  that  joy  and  peace  in  behevmg,  which  death 
could  not  quench  or  intermeddle  with.  Read  these  epitaphs  and 
think  of  them,  and  then  say  whether  they  do  not  suggest  the 
consoling  thought,  that  the  sting  of  death  and  the  victoiy  of  the 
grave  were  both  of  them  removed,  the  one  taken  away  by  being  m 
Christ,  the  other  reversed  by  the  clearly-pledged  resurrection  of  the 

^'"'^  And,  do  we  not  realize,  as  we  read  them  again,  how  near  the 
living  felt  themselves  to  be  to  the  departed  ?  The  sense  of  Chris- 
tian fellowship  survived  death  itself.  The  communion  was  only 
interrupted  for  a  time,  and  the  affections  of  the  survivors  mounted 


210      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

up  after  the  disembodied  spirit  in  those  desires  which  they  re- 
corded, that  "  they  might  hve  in  the  Lord,"  that  "  Christ  might 
refresh  their  spirits,"  and  which  form,  in  many  cases,  the  whole  of 
the  epitaphs. 


Now  the  question  may  be  asked,  and  asked  fairly,  how  it  is  that 
we,  who  have  the  same  hopes  which  these  Christians  of  Rome  had — 
who  are  assured  from  the  same  source  as  they  were,  that  the  dead 
whom  we  inter  are  only  sleeping  till  the  trumpet-call  of  Christ  our 
Lord  shall  summon  them  from  their  graves — should  record  little  or 
no  trace  of  this  our  belief,  in  the  epitaphs  to  our  departed  friends. 

Suppose  our  grave-yards,  after  being  hidden  from  view  for  many 
generations,  as  the  catacombs  were,  were  searched  into  and  ex- 
amined ;  would,  I  ask,  those  who  read  the  epitaphs  in  them,  gather 
out  of  them  the  faith  we  profess — I  mean  those  great  truths  which 
especially  dwell  around  the  memory  of  the  dead,  viz.,  the  communion 
of  the  saints,  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  the  life  everlasting  ? 
I  very  much  doubt  whether  they  would.  One  or  two  epitaphs  here 
and  there  might  convey  the  impression ;  the  greater  number  cer- 
tainly would  not. 

Now  I  will  read  you  a  few  18th  and  19th  century  epitaphs,  and 
you  will  see  that  I  am  not  far  from  the  truth  in  what  I  have  said. 
We  will  begin  with  those  which  are  the  least  objectionable.  In  their 
sentiments  and  expression  they  are  at  variance  with  what  Holy 
Scripture  teaches  us  about  the  death  of  Christians : — 

When  on  the  horders  of  the  gloomy  grave, 
Beyond  all  power  of  human  heart  to  save, 
Calm  and  collected  he  resigned  his  breath, 
Put  off  mortality,  and  smiled  in  death. 


Here  rests  in  dust,  till  second  life, 
A  faithful,  just,  and  virtuous  wife; 
Resigned  to  God  we  here  to  earth  commend, 
A  tender  mother  and  a  constant  friend. 

To  the  memory  of  a  keeper  of  Hard  wick  Park,  a.d.  1703  : — 

Long  had  he  chased 

The  Red  and  Fallow  Deer, 

But  death's  cold  dart 

At  last  has  fixed  him  here. — From  Ault  Hucknall. 

Some  are  simply  trifling  and  nonsensical,  such  as  the  following:— 

I've  lost  the  comfort  of  my  life, 
Death  came  and  took  away  my  wife; 
And  now  I  don't  know  what  to  do. 
Lest  death  should  come  and  take  me  too. 

— Paget  on  Tombstones,  dc. 

John  Palfreyman  who  is  buried  here, 
"Was  aged  four  and  twenty  year; 
And  near  this  place  his  body  lies, 
Likewise  his  father — when  he  dies. 

— From  Grantham  Church-yard. 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  BURIAL-PLACES  AND  EPITAPHS.  211 

Here  lies  John  Thomas 

And  his  children  dear, 

Two  buried  at  Oswestry 

And  one  here. — Llanmynech,  Montgomeryshire. 

Then  there  are  what  may  be  called  allegorical  epitaphs  :  the 
followiDg,  I  imagine,  is  in  memory  of  a  sailor  : — 

The  gale  blew  hard,  my  sails  were  rent, 
My  mast  went  by  the  board ; 
My  hull  is  struck  upon  a  rock, 

The  concluding  line  is  perfectly  unobjectionable — would  that 
it  were  not  found  in  such  company — 

Receive  my  soul,  dear  Lord. 

Another  in  the  same  style  from  the  church-yard  of  Donington, 
near  Boston,  is  in  memory  of  a  blacksmith  : — 

My  Anvil  and  Hammer  lies  reclined, 
My  Bellows  too  have  lost  their  wind ; 
My  Fire's  extinct,  my  Forge  decayed. 
And  in  the  dust  my  Vice  is  laid ; 
My  Coals  are  spent,  my  Iron  gone, 
My  last  Nail's  drove,  my  work  is  done. 

This  last  is  to  be  found,  unfortunately,  in  various  parts  of 
England.  At  St.  Alban's  it  is  met  with,  the  two  following  lines 
being  added  : — 

My  fire-dried  Corpse  lies  here  at  rest, 

My  Soul  smoke-like's  ascending  to  be  blest. 

A  very  offensive  epitaph  written  by  Lord  Byron  on  a  Southwell 
carrier  who  died  of  drunkenness,  belongs  to  the  same  class  : — 

John  Adams  lies  here  of  the  parish  of  Southwell, 
A  carrier  who  carried  his  can  to  his  mouth  well ; 
He  carried  so  much,  and  he  carried  so  fast, 
He  could  carry  no  more,  so  was  carried  at  last; 
For  the  liquor  he  drank,  being  too  much  for  one. 
He  could  not  carry  off,  so  he's  now  carrion. 

By  all  means  let  us  sharpen  our  wits  as  much  as  we  can,  but 
not  on  the  solemn  subjects  ojf  death  and  eternity. 

We  often  find  painfully  ludicrous  allusions  made  to  the  circum- 
stances of  a  person's  death,  as  in  the  following  from  a  cemetery  at 
Cheltenham,  the  existence  of  which  I  was  inclined  to  discredit, 
until  I  was  assured  by  a  gentleman  who  is  present  this  evening, 
that  he  had  seen  it  with  his  own  eyes  : — 

Here  lies  I  and  my  three  daughters. 

Killed  by  a  drinking  of  the  Cheltenham  waters ; 

If  we  had  stuck  to  Epsom  Salts, 

We  had  not  been  lying  in  these  here  vaults. 

There  is  a  large  class  of  laudatory  epitaphs  which  exaggerate 
every  natural  and  acquired  gift  possessed — or  supposed  to  be 
possessed — by  the  person  commemorated.  These  are  often  found 
on  mural  tablets  in  our  town  churches. 


212      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

The  following  is  taken  from  our  own  Cathedral : — 
Here  is  entombed 


She  died  Feb.  6.,  1777,  Aged  51. 

Her  person  was  tbat  of  animated  animating  beauty, 

With  a  complexion  of  the  most  exquisite  brilliancy 

unfaded  when  she  fell. 

Her  understanding  was  of  such  quickness  &  reach  of  thought, 

that  her  knowledge,  although  she  had  learning, 

was  instant  &  original. 

Her  heart,  warm'd  with  universal  benevolence 

to  the  highest  degi'ee  of  sensibility, 

had  a  ready  tear  for  pity : 

&  glowed  with  friendship,  as  with  a  sacred  and  inviolate  fire. 

Her  love,  to  those  who  were  blest  with  it, 

was  happiness. 

Her  sentiments  were  correct,  refined,  elevated: 

her  manners  so  chearful,  elegant  &  winning-amiable, 

that  while  she  was  admired  she  was  beloved: 

and  while  she  enlightened  &  enlivened. 

She  was  the  delight  of  the  world  in  which  she  lived. 

She  was  formed  for  life, 

She  was  prepared  for  death, 

which  being 

a  gentle  wafting  to  immortality, 

she  lives 

where  life  is  real. 

Here  is  another  of  a  like  character.  It  contains  a  most  sad 
combination  of  worldly  and  religious  sentiment : — 

Here  lies  the  Body  of 

Lady  O'L 

Great  Niece  of  Burke, 

commonly  called  the  Sublime. 

She  was 

Bland,  Passionate,  and  deeply  Religious : 

also  she  painted  in  water  colours, 

and  sent  several  pictures 

to  the  exhibition. 

She  was  first  cousin 

to  Lady  Jones; 

and  of  such 

is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. — From  Peivsey,  Dorset. 

I  shall  only  trouble  you  with  another  specimen  of  modern 
epitaphs,  and  it  is  the  worst  of  the  many  objectionable  ones  which 
it  has  been  my  lot  to  meet  with ;  and  may  serve  to  show  to  what 
lengths  of  human  folly  and  presumption  people  may  run,  and  what 
outrages  they  may  commit  against  the  first  principles  of  Christianity, 
by  an  exaggerated  estimate  of  their  friends'  good  qualities,  when 
expressed  on  their  monuments : — 

Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Miss  Martha  Gwynn, 

"Who  was  so  very  pure  within 
She  burst  the  outer  shell  of  sin, 

And  hatched  herself  a  cherubim. — ;S^/.  Alban^s» 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  BURIAL-PLACES  AND  EriTAPHS.  213 

These  are  a  few  specimens  of  epitaphs  which  abound  in  our 
churches  and  church-yards.  They  all  deserve  to  he  more  or  less 
spoken  against  and  condemned,  and  of  some  it  may  be  said  that 
they  are  a  standing  reproach  to  our  common  Christianity.  We 
have  grown  up  in  the  midst  of  them,  and  become  familiar  with 
them,  and  therefore,  I  suppose,  they  cease  to  excite  surprise  and 
indignation. 

I  do  not  wish  to  imply  that  the  persons  who  are  responsible  for 
the  setting  up  of  such  memorials  as  these,  are  all  of  them  chargeable 
with  intentionally  making  death  a  subject  of  ridicule  or  jest,  or 
loading  the  memory  of  their  departed  friends  with  recollections  and 
particulars  which  are  entirely  out  of  place  in  an  epitaph.  Something 
of  this  kind  must,  however,  be  laid  to  the  account  of  many  who  are 
here  concerned.  Others  have  followed  in  the  same  wake,  from 
thoughtlessness  and  ignorance,  and  the  force  of  an  evil  custom,  the 
trammels  of  which  they  could  not  break  through.  But  whoever  sets 
up  such  memorials  as  these,  does  what  he  can  to  blind  his  own 
senses,  and  the  senses  of  others,  to  those  solemn  recollections  which 
should  hallow  the  memory  of  departed  friends,  and  fill  us  with  hope 
and  comfort  on  their  account. 

If,  however,  all  these  are  wrong  and  faulty,  what — you  may  say 
— is  a  right  and  proper  form  of  epitaph  ?  Are  we  to  go  back  to  the 
brevity  and  simplicity  of  early  Christian  epitaphs  ?  Not  necessarily 
so.  If  any  one  were  contented  simply  to  place  upon  record  on 
a  grave-stone,  that  such  a  one  "  departed  in  peace,"  or  that  he 
"  sleeps  the  sleep  of  the  just,"  I  think  all  would  be  said  which  could 
comfort  the  living,  or  do  honour  to  the  dead.  What,  however,  we 
should  most  strive  to  do  is,  perhaps,  to  imitate  these  early  epitaphs 
by  speaking  of  the  dead,  in  our  inscriptions,  as  they  now  are,  and 
not  as  they  were  when  upon  earth :  and  that  we  should  learn  from 
them  to  keep  out  of  sight  the  mere  accidental  circumstances  of 
beauty,  or  talent,  or  wealth,  or  worldly  station,  which  distinguished 
the  departed  from  their  fellow-men,  and  speak  of  them  only  as  we 
know  they  are  now,  souls  which  are  brought  near  to  the  dread 
realities  of  eternity,  whose  hopes  and  interests  are  bounded  by 
that  unseen  world  into  which  they  have  passed.  It  may  seem 
necessary,  sometimes,  to  enter  into  particulars  relating  to  the  part 
which  the  deceased  played  upon  earth.  These  should  be  kept 
within  reasonable  limits,  and  all  fulsome  and  flattering  epithets 
should  be  avoided.  It  seems  little  less  than  a  solemn  mockery  of 
those  who  have  gone  from  us  to  their  account,  to  publish  them  to 
the  world  as  paragons  of  virtue  and  perfection,  when  we  know  that 
the  very  best  have  the  utmost  need  to  crave  the  mercy  and  forbearance 
of  Almighty  God.  And,  again,  the  practice  of  going  into  particulars 
about  the  manner  in  which  the  departed  devoted  himself  to  the 
business  of  the  world,  to  speak  on  his  tomb  of  his  worldly  activity 
and  success,  to  set  down  there  how  much  money  he  scraped  together 
in  his  lifetime — as  was  actually  done  in  an  epitaph  which  may 
be  seen  in  this  neighbourhood — what  is  this  but  to  mention  what 
must  fill  the  heart  of  the  true  Christian  with  fear  for  the  person 


214      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

commemorated,  rather  than  with  hope  ?  Such  matters  need  not  be 
recorded  for  the  information  of  a  person's  family  or  friends ;  there 
is  no  Christian  comfort  to  be  gathered  from  such  details — quite  the 
contrary :  and  they  only  serve  to  excite  the  enquiry  of  the  curious 
and  profane,  whilst  they  foster  a  hard  worldly  spirit,  and  lower  the 
religious  tone  of  society. 


I  have  spoken  pretty  plainly  about  what  is  wrong  and  improper 
in  epitaphs,  let  me,  before  I  conclude,  tell  you  what  in  my  humble 
judgment  is  right  and  admissible. 

We  will  suppose  that  some  one  wants  to  set  up  a  headstone  to 
a  departed  friend.  Why  should  not  that  person  choose  a  stone  of 
such  an  outward  form  as  sets  forth  that  emblem,  so  full  of  hope  and 
consolation  to  the  Christian — the  Cross  ?  We  are  not  bound  by 
any  law,  but  the  imperious  law  of  custom,  to  the  plain,  tall, 
cumbrous,  unsightly  headstones  in  common  use,  any  more  than  we 
are  to  the  vapid,  drivelling,  profane,  and  often  ludicrous  epitaphs 
which  seem  to  be  related  to  them.  And  I  feel  sure  that  if  we 
commenced  by  adopting  a  kind  of  headstone  shaped  into,  or  orna- 
mented with,  a  cross,  we  should  then  be  on  the  highroad  to  escape 
from  that  class  of  epitaphs  which  suggest  ridiculous,  profane,  and 
worldly,  rather  than  serious  and  religious  thoughts.  And,  how  end- 
less is  the  variety  of  such  headstones,  may  be  seen  by  any  one  who 
will  look  into  an  excellent  little  "  Manual  of  sepulchral  memorials," 
just  published  by  our  honorary  secretary,  Mr.  Trollope.^ 

But,  supposing  there  is  a  prejudice  against  a  cross  headstone 
(as  unhappily  is  sometimes  the  case),  it  is  possible  still  to  have 
headstones  worked  and  ornamented  with  some  trefoil  or  quatrefoil 
pattern,  either  sunken  or  perforated,  which  will  render  them  much 
more  pleasing  to  the  eye  than  the  present  plain  slab  of  stone  which 
we  usually  see  in  our  churchyards. 

Then,  as  to  the  height  of  such  stones  :  it  is  desirable  that  they 
should  not  stand  more  than  three  or  three  and  a  half  feet  out  of 
the  ground. 

Well,  having  selected  a  suitable  headstone,  the  next  inquiry  is, 
what  inscrijDtion  shall  we  place  upon  it.  Shall  we  begin  with 
"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of ?"  No;  that  is  not  a  good  com- 
mencement. That  word  '  sacred,'  which  in  this  case  can  apply 
only  to  the  stone,  always  grates  upon  the  ear  in  such  a  connection : 
the  memory  of  the  departed  may  be  sacred,  but  in  what  manner 
the  stone  can  be  so,  it  is  difficult  to  say.     The  inscription  would 

best  run  thus : — "  In  memory,"  or  "in  affectionate  memory  of :" 

or  we  may  begin  thus,  *'  In  hope  of  a  joyful  resurrection  to  eternal 

life,  here  rest  the  mortal  remains  of :"  or  we  may  leave  out 

any  of  these  introductory  sentences,  and  begin  at  once  with  the 
name .     Shall  we  add  any  motto  or  text  ?     There  is  no 

(2)  Manual  ofSejmlchral Memorials,  by  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A.    Tiper,  Stephen- 
son, and  Spence,  Paternoster  Kow,  London. 


EARLY  CHRISTIAN  BURIAL-PLACES  AND  EPITAPHS.  215 

occasion  to  do  so,  particularly  on  a  cross  headstone,  which  speaks 
by  its  veiy  form  of  the  ground  upon  which  our  hope  and  consola- 
tion rests. 

But  if  anything  be  added,  I  would  say,  let  it  be  short.  There 
are  two  words  often  found  at  the  end  of  epitaphs  in  the  middle 
ages — "  Jesu  Mercy."  Nothing  can  be  more  touching  or  expressive  ; 
nothing  can  better  set  forth  the  deep  feeling  which  exists  in  the 
mourner's  heart,  as  well  as  that  which  must  animate  the  severed 
spirit. 

Some  persons  may  choose  to  have  a  text  out  of  the  Holy 
Scripture  ;  and  here,  again,  Mr.  Trollope's  lately  published  Manual 
shews  to  those  who  were  not  aware  of  it,  what  an  abundant  variety 
of  such  texts  Holy  Scripture  yields  for  the  purpose.  Or  we  may 
go  to  the  Prayer  Book,  which  will  be  found  to  contain  many  short 
and  pithy  sentences  well  adapted  for  our  wants.  The  Burial 
Service,  the  Te  Deum,  and  the  Litany  will  furnish  us  with  numer- 
ous suitable  passages. 

Of  course,  some  verse  of  poetry  may  be  selected  which  will  not 
violate  good  taste,  or  offend  religious  feeling.  But  we  had  better 
not  look  for  such  amongst  existing  memorials  ;  and  it  would  be 
w^ell  to  consult  such  useful  manuals  as  that  already  referred  to,  or, 
perhaps  better  still,  the  clergyman  of  the  parish,  who  would  be 
always  ready  to  guide  the  judgment  of  his  parishioners  in  this 
important  matter. 

And  I  trust  I  shall  not  be  considered  out  of  order  if  I  venture 
in  conclusion  to  ask  my  Reverend  brethren,  whom  I  see  around 
me,  to  give  their  best  attention  to  this  subject ;  and  to  suggest  to 
them  a  plan,  which  I  adopt  myself,  which  is,  that  they  should 
require  from  those  who  are  intending  to  set  up  monuments  or 
memorials  in  their  churches  or  churchyards,  a  copy  of  the  exact 
wording  of  the  epitaph  before  the  work  is  commenced.  This  gives 
an  opportunity  for  offering  most  useful  advice,  and  proposing 
amendments  in  the  wording  and  expressions  made  use  of,  which 
does  not  come  too  lato  to  be  accepted  and  acted  upon.  We  are  the 
appointed  guardians  of  God's  House,  and  its  sacred  enclosure  the 
Churchyard,  and  are  able  to  do  very  much  towards  elevating  the 
taste  and  directing  the  judgment  of  our  parishioners  in  this  matter, 
and  helping  to  bring  back  our  epitaphs  to  a  nearer  accordance  with 
the  simple  and  religious  spirit  of  early  Christian  times. 

And  I  sincerely  trust  that  the  masters  and  workmen  who  execute 
headstones  and  monuments  will  do  what  they  can  (and  they  can  do 
much)  to  help  to  introduce  a  better  and  more  Christian  style  of 
memorial  for  the  dead,  than  is  in  use  at  present : — better,  I  mean, 
both  as  regards  the  shape  of  the  stone,  and  the  wording  of  the 
epitaph.  Very  much  is  in  their  hands,  for  I  believe  that  what  they 
recommend  in  either  case,  is  commonly  adopted  by  their  customers. 
And  our  Society  will  feel  that  it  has  accomplished  a  part  of  its 
design  if  what  has  been  said  shall  draw  on  the  working  masons  who 
are  present  with  us  to-night,  or  who  may  hear  of  our  proceedings,  to 
be  fellow-helpers  with  us  in  reforming  the  style  of  our  tombstones, 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  E  E 


216      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

and  adopting  such  inscriptions  and  epitaphs  as  will  edify  and 
instruct  the  living,  and  will  help  to  call  up  in  their  hearts  peaceful 
and  consoling  thoughts  about  the  dead. 

And  I  have  authority  to  say  that  our  Architectural  Society  will 
be  glad  if  any  mason  or  workiug-man,  or  indeed  any  person  what- 
soever, wishing  for  further  information  on  the  subject,  will  apply 
to  our  Secretar3%  either  during  the  present  meeting  at  Horncastle, 
or  at  any  future  time. 


The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Red  Bricks.  A  Paper  read  at  the  Horncastle 
Meeting,  June  3rd,  1858.  By  the  Eev.  Edward  Teollope, 
F.S.A.,  Rector  of  Leasingham. 

Bkicks,  and  especially  "  red  "  bricks,  are  almost  always  mentioned 
with  great  disrespect  in  connexion  with  architecture ;  so  that,  when 
admirers  of  that  noble  science  hear  upon  their  travels,  of  a  town, 
or  a  church,  or,  indeed,  of  any  building  constructed  of  brick,  they 
usually  say  to  their  drivers,  "  On,  on !  there  is  no  pleasure  or  even 
repose  for  our  own  eyes  there  ;  do  not  deposit  us  in  a  locality  where 
one  side  of  the  way  is  glowing,  with  a  coarsely  ruddy  aspect,  at  an 
equally  ruddy  opposite  row  of  houses ;  or  where  a  church  of  the 
same  hue  was  built  some  eighty  years  ago,  whose  smooth,  thin  walls, 
meagre  slate  roof,  and  Venetian  east  window  already  droop  across 
our  imagination  to  the  depression  of  our  spirits,  or  to  the  irritation 
of  our  optic  nerves,  according  to  the  character  of  our  respective 
temperaments,  before  so  unpleasant  a  sight  has  again  been  forced 
upon  our  actual  sense  of  vision."  Bricks,  however,  are  not  only  a 
necessity,  but  a  building  material  for  which  a  deep  debt  of  gratitude 
has  been  justly  due  from  a  most  remote  period  to  the  present  time; 
moreover,  it  will  be  my  endeavour  to  demonstrate  how  they  may  be 
made  to  please  the  eye  of  him  whose  apprehension  of  colour  is  most 
complete,  by  their  judicious  use,  combined  with  a  slight  distribution 
of  other  tints  serving  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  their  usual  hue. 

A  stoneless  district  compels  its  inhabitants  to  use  brick  as  a 
building  material,  or  else  something  worse.  Babylon,  we  know,  at 
a  very  early  period  in  the  world's  history  betook  itself  to  brick  mak- 
ing, and  so  have  all  cities  situate  on  alluvial  plains,  such  as  those  of 
Assyria  and  Egypt ;  whilst  the  Romans,  whose  powers  of  adaptation 
are  still  a  wonder  to  us,  became  so  enamoured  of  the  use  of  wide 
bricks  from  their  utility  in  forming  vaultings,  bonding-courses, 
arches,  &c.,  that — even  in  localities  where  stone  was  good  and  plenti- 
ful— they  still  practised  the  lessons  taught  them  by  the  forced  use  of 
bricks,  and  inserted  layers  of  these  throughout  their  stone  struc- 
tures, as  may  be  seen  at  the  so-called  Mint  Wall  at  Lincoln,  &c. 
Nor  were  bricks  repudiated  by  our  Saxon  forefathers,  as  evinced  by 
Brixworth  chui-ch,  Northants.,  and  that  at  Dover  within  the  castle 
precincts ;  whilst  their  occasional  use  in  the  erection  of  costly  build- 
ings has  ever  since  prevailed  all  over  Europe,  as  well  as  in  the  East, 


THE    GREAT   TOWER,   TATTERSHALL    CASTLE. 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS.      217 

and  very  often  in  preference  to  stone.  Of  the  12tli  centuiy  brick- 
work, St.  Botolph's  Priory,  Colchester,  offers  a  remarkable  example 
in  England,  and  the  church  of  St.  Foi,  at  Agen,  in  the  south  of 
France.  Of  the  close  of  the  following  century,  Little  Wcnham 
Hall,  in  Suffolk,  presents  a  very  pleasing  specimen.  During  the 
14th  century,  brick  was  but  little  used  in  England  for  construc- 
tional or  ornamental  purposes ;  but  in  France,  the  cathedral  of  Alby 
was  then  built,  with  its  immense  vault,  88  feet  wide  by  90  high, 
and  its  tower  290  feet  high ;  also  the  college  of  St.  Kemond,  and 
the  walls  and  many  houses  at  Toulouse ;  whilst  in  Italy  it  was  em- 
ployed very  extensively,  with  the  best  effect,  in  conjunction  with 
stone  and  marble, — sometimes  in  a  linear  disposition,  as  in  the 
instance  of  the  west  front  of  St.  Fermo  Maggiore  at  Verona,  and 
sometimes  wholly,  as  in  that  of  the  north  transept  of  the  cathedral 
at  Cremona. 

During  the  15th  century,  many  edifices  were  constructed  of 
brick,  such  as  the  castle  of  Kirby  Mnxloe  in  Leicestershire,  the 
barbican  and  portions  of  Thornton  abbey,  &c. ;  and  a  most  remark- 
able indication  of  the  tendency  to  adopt  brickwork,  even  for  the 
reparation  of  stone  churches,  at  that  period,  is  exhibited  in  the  case 
of  Granby  church,  Notts. ;  the  east  end  of  its  chancel — including  a 
good  perpendicular  window — having  been  then  inserted  in  a  build- 
ing otherwise  entirely  of  stone.  Such  a  proceeding  was  indeed 
most  preposterous,  and  the  perpendicular  style  is  the  one  of  all 
others,  perhaps,  least  adapted  to  be  worked  out  in  bricks,  when 
totally  unaided  by  stone  mullions  and  tracery ;  nevertheless,  the 
fancy  has  been  in  this  instance  wonderfully  well  executed,  by 
means  of  moulded  bricks,  every  detail  and  moulding  of  an  ordinary 
stone  perpendicular  window  having  been  most  exactly  imitated; 
and,  whilst  the  rest  of  the  church  is  in  a  dilapidated  condition,  this 
feature  is  as  perfect  and  sharp,  as  to  its  outlines,  as  it  was  on  the 
day  when  it  was  composed.  The  width  of  the  window  is  12  feet, 
its  height  about  20 ;  and  its  mullions  have  been  cast  in  portions 
eighteen  inches  long. 

A  specimen  of  domestic  architecture,  very  richly  svorked  out  in 
brick  of  a  rather  later  period,  is  the  old  manor  house  at  East 
Barsham,  near  Fakenham,  in  Norfolk.  This  is  now  in  a  ruinous 
condition,  and  partly  converted  into  an  ordinary  farmhouse;  but  its 
doorway,  flanked  by  octangular  turrets  and  surmounted  by  the 
royal  arms,  forms  a  most  excellent  lesson  as  to  the  judicious  use  of 
brick  in  conjunction  with  stone  dressings.  Red  brick  was  a  favour- 
ite building  material  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII. ,  Elizabeth,  and 
James  I.,  as  declared  by  Wolsey's  palace  of  Hampton  Court: 
Torksey  Castle  :  the  now  dilapidated  Franks  Hall,  near  Dartford, 
built  in  1596  :  Little  Charlton  House,  in  Kent,  with  its  acutely 
angled  central  bay  windows  :  the  Hussey  Tower,  on  the  outskirts  of 
Boston,  with  its  octangular  turret,  bold  cable  string-course,  and 
other  details  in  brick :  and  the  old  manor-house  at  Hollingbourne, 
in  the  same  county,  which  is  a  most  interesting  building,  and  well 
worthy  of  study — with  its  picturesque  gables,  good  string-courses, 


218        LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

chimnies,  solid  oak  window-mullions  fitted  in  stone  casings,  without ; 
and  within,  its  characteristic  hall,  separated  from  the  entrance  hy  a 
carved  oak  screen  at  one  end,  and  opening  into  a  withdrawing-room 
at  the  other,  panelled  with  oak — each  panel  being  enriched  with  a 
pattern  in  gold  applied  to  its  surface,  still  surprisingly  fresh ;  and 
with  its  gallery  and  other  rooms  above,  displaying  excellent  deep 
cornices  of  the  Renaissance  school  in  plaster,  and  ceilings  once  en- 
tirely covered  with  stencilled  designs  of  a  similar  character.  Nor 
must  we  omit  the  well-known  Holland  House,  built  by  Sir  Walter 
Coj)e  in  1607 — where  Addison  breathed  his  last,  and  so  many  men 
of  notorious  wit  and  talent  met  together  under  the  auspices  of  the 
late  Lord  Holland;  and  Hatfield  House,  built  in  1611  for  Robert 
Earl  of  Salisbury ;  but  the  finest  example  of  this  class,  although 
not  the  largest,  is  Sutton  Place,  near  Guildford,  built  during  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.  This  house  is  of  brick  throughout,  and 
shews  most  distinctly  how  much  may  be  done  with  this  material, 
even  when  entirely  unaided  by  stone.  Its  doorway  is  surmounted 
by  a  panel  of  moulded  bricks  representing  Cupids  within  enriched 
borders,  and  flanked  by  small  octangular  turrets  entirely  covered 
with  "  tuns"  in  relief — the  device  of  the  builder,  or  with  his  initials. 
The  walls  are  occasionally  diversified  wdth  reticulated  patterns  in 
black  bricks ;  and  the  string-courses  and  even  the  mullions  of  the 
windows,  also  of  brick,  are  ornamented  with  richly  moulded  j^at- 
terns,  in  which  the  family  tun  has  always  a  conspicuous  place  ;  the 
whole  facjade,  after  having  been  much  diversified  by  bay  windows, 
and  boldly  projecting  features,  is  surmounted  by  an  elaborately  de- 
corated parapet  and  slender  octagonal  pinnacles,  &c. 

During  the  reigns  of  the  two  Charleses,  brick  was  not  much  in 
vogue  for  building  purposes  ;  but  it  again  strongly  prevailed  in  the 
reign  of  William  III.,  who — fresh  from  his  beloved  Holland — 
hastened  to  raise  up  reminiscences  of  his  native  land  in  the  brick 
additions  with  which  he  entirely  spoiled  the  previous  beauty  of 
Hampton  Court  Palace,  and  has  transmitted  to  us  a  specimen  of  his 
taste  in  the  so  called  palace  at  Kensington,  in  which  the  red  masses 
to  be  seen  at  Amsterdam  have  been  repeated,  but  without  any  of 
the  picturesque  gables  and  stone  dressings  which  there  tone  down 
this  somewhat  difficult  hue  to  deal  with.  Unfortunately,  the  Geor- 
gian era  possessed  no  architectural  life ;  and  London,  content  to 
pursue  the  Kensington  style,  has  become  a  brick  monster,  which 
may  well  cause  metropolitan  artists  and  architects  to  shudder  at  the 
verj^  name  of  brick — although  it  need  not,  I  think,  drive  them  into 
the  arms  of  Mr.  Stucco  as  the  only  means  of  escape  from  the  dingy 
yellow  or  dull  red  series  of  facades  surrounding  them  on  every  side  ; 
neither  would  it  by  any  means  be  hopeless  to  throw  a  beautiful 
shadow  over  the  town  of  Horncastle,  although,  at  present,  its  street 
architecture  cannot  boast  of  any  attractions.  Here,  as  in  London, 
a  child  could  in  three  minutes  represent  the  appearance  of  hundreds 
of  houses.  He  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  take  an  oblong  piece  of 
dull  or  bright  red  paper,  to  cut  out  of  it  from  five  to  eight  smaller 
oblongs   placed   at   regular   intervals,    in   three   rows,    one    above 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS.       219 

another ;  to  fill  these  in  with  bits  of  glass,  in  order  to  present  us 
with  a  correct  model  of  London  or  Horncastle  street  architecture. 
But  is  there  any  positive  necessity  for  repeating  such  productions  ? 
Why  should  modern  brick  houses  always  he  so  ugly,  when  old 
editices  of  the  same  material  are  often  esteemed  so  beautiful  that 
gentlemen  of  acknowledged  talent  and  taste,  and,  still  better,  archi- 
tects with  a  true  love  for  their  art,  will  travel  many  miles  to  see 
such  an  edifice  as  that  of  Tattershall  or  Torksey  castles  ?  And,  lest 
it  should  be  said  here  "  you  are  comparing  small  things  with 
great,"  I  will  observe  that  several  of  the  beautiful  specimens  of 
brickwork  I  have  before  alluded  to  are  by  no  means  large,  and  that 
with  a  few  modifications  they  would  be  readily  divisible,  and 
adapted  to  form  portions  of  streets,  whether  of  shops  or  of  private 
residences. 

Permit  me  now  to  say  a  few  words — First,  on  the  general  prin'- 
ciples  that  should  be  observed  in  the  use  of  red  bricks  as  a  building 
material ;  Secondly,  as  to  their  disposition  in  ecclesiastical  struc- 
tures, so  as  to  produce  a  good  eifect ;  Thirdly,  as  to  their  best 
arrangement  in  the  case  of  dwelling-houses. 

The  colour  of  the  material  we  are  treating  of  requires  us  to 
handle  it  with  more  thoughtfulness  than  we  need  bestow  upon 
stone.  Build  up,  side  by  side,  two  flat  squares  of  white  stone  and 
red  brick,  and  it  will  be  found  that  the  negative  colour  of  the  former 
is  less  in  need  of  shades  to  relieve  its  monotony  than  the  positive 
one  of  the  latter.  So  also,  upon  the  application  of  these  two  mate- 
rials ;  if  a  plain  mass  of  free-stone  is  raised  up  to  serve,  for  instance, 
as  the  pedestal  of  a  statue,  the  effect  is  not  bad ;  but  if  the  same 
were  to  be  carried  out  in  red  brickwork,  it  would  be  pronounced 
atrocious ;  and  yet,  a  painter  would  often  be  more  thankful  for  a 
dash  of  this  latter  hue  in  one  of  his  most  picturesque  performances 
— as  a  contrast  to  his  greys,  blues,  and  greens — than  to  the  former, 
because  it  is  an  excellent  colour  in  combination.  Who  does  not 
delight  in  the  red  coat  of  a  mounted  figure  so  frequently  seen  in 
the  foreground  of  a  Cuyp,  or  in  a  group  of  cows  of  the  same  hue  as 
rendered  by  Cooper?  but  most  dariug  would  be  the  artist  who, 
taken  with  the  excellent  effect  produced  by  the  judicious  use  of  this 
colour,  should  venture  to  paint  a  street  scene  in  Horncastle  where 
he  would  require  no  other.  But  as  a  good  architect  must  needs  be 
a  good  artist  too,  when  he  has  to  deal  with  masses  of  red  brick  he 
first  calls  upon  nature  to  cover  his  glowing  work  with  deep  grey 
shades,  by  bringing  some  of  its  features  forward,  by  deeply  recessing 
others,  and  by  repeating  octangular  features  as  often  as  possible,  so 
as  to  make  the  most  of  the  amount  of  shadow  accorded  him  natu- 
rally. Knowing,  further,  how  ill  a  straight  line  of  heavy  red  looks 
when  forced  into  contrast  with  the  transparent  blue  sky,  or  even 
with  the  fleecy  grey  clouds  above,  he  multiplies  his  gables  as  far  as 
he  can  consistently  do  so,  and  exhibits  them  where  they  will  be  most 
seen,  raises  up  his  chimney  shafts  in  irregular  groups,  and  delights 
to  diversify  them  by  a  few  turrets  and  pinnacles,  &c.,  so  as  to  give 
as  much  variety  and  lightness  as  possible  to  the  outline  of  his  struc- 
tures.    Next,  he  pays  great  attention  to  the  minutiae  of  his  facades 


220         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

— inserting  bold  shadow,  casting  string-courses  therein,  and  giving 
as  deep  base  mouldings,  as  many  window  mullions,  quoins,  and 
other  details  in  stone,  as  the  sum  placed  at  his  disposal  will  allow 
of.  Still,  however,  he  will  find  that  he  has  left  here  and  there  too 
large  masses  of  a  stubborn  and  unrelieved  hue  ;  upon  these,  there- 
fore, he  throws  reticulated  figures  in  black  bricks,  as  a  means  both 
of  toning  down  their  fire  and  of  breaking  up  their  too  great  uni- 
formity ;  whilst  the  time  is  probably  not  distant  when  he  will  be 
able  still  further  to  diversify  these,  by  the  occasional  introduction  of 
other  coloured  bricks,  in  addition  to  the  yellow  ones  already  at  his 
command.* 

And  now  let  us  see  how  these  principles  may  be  best  applied  in 
the  erection  of  brick  churches.  Such  a  title  is  not  promising,  but 
in  many  cases  it  is  a  necessity.  We  will  suppose,  therefore,  that 
stone  not  being  obtainable,  brick  has  been  fixed  upon  as  the  ma- 
terial wherewith  to  build  a  church.  Well,  the  architect  need  not 
despair — I  do  not  think  Mr.  Scott  would ;  I  am  sure  Mr.  Street 
would  not.  First — he  will  say — let  the  bricks  be  of  good  quality ; 
and  give  me,  if  possible,  a  little  stone,  or  at  least  some  black  bricks, 
for  with  these  a  fabric  may  be  raised  capable,  most  certainly,  of 
commanding  respect,  and  perhaps  high  admiration.  The  brick 
churches  we  know  of,  except  that  of  All  Saints',  Margaret-street, 
London,  with  its  fine  tower  and  lofty  broach  spire,  are  probably 
shivering  specimens,  with  thin,  smooth  walls,  unsupported  by  base 
mouldings  or  buttresses,  pierced  with  mean  domestic  sash  windows, 
and  spanned  by  a  consonant  scanty  roof,  broken  only  by  a  shabby 
cupola  bell-cott.  Hence,  brick  is  now  esteemed  to  be  a  mean 
building  material,  viz.,  because  it  has  been  ordinarily  so  meanly 
applied ;  yet  the  northern  portions  of  Germany,  Holland,  the  south 
of  France,  and  Italy,  all  abound  with  beautiful  specimens  of  eccle- 
siastical brickwork — so  beautiful,  indeed,  that  were  we  put  to  our 
election  we  would  not  have  them  transformed  into  stone.  Lubeck, 
for  instance,  possesses  some  stately  specimens  well  worthy  of  atten- 
tion ;  whilst — besides  many  existent  churches  of  Holland — a  semi- 
circular terra  cotta  tympanum  of  the  now  submerged  Egmont  abbey, 
preserved  in  the  Amsterdam  museum,  speaks  of  the  highly  orna- 
mental character  of  that  interesting  edifice  of  the  12th  century,  and 
of  the  pains  formerly  bestowed  upon  moulded  brick.  It  represents 
St.  Peter  in  pontificals,  before  whom  kneel  two  persons,  supposed 
to  be  a  count  and  countess  of  Egmont,  the  founders  of  the  abbey, 
all  in  high  relief,  and  cast  in  one  piece.  In  that  portion  of  Lan- 
guedoc  where  there  is  no  stone,  as  might  be  expected,  many  brick 
churches  are  to  be  found,  as  well  as  other  edifices — especially  in 
Toulouse,  of  which  St.  Servin  (of  the  12th  century)  is  a  beautiful 

(1)  At  Boos,  near  Kouen,  is  an  octaj^onal  stone  pigeon-house,  of  the  beginning  of  the 
16th  century,  beautifully  decorated  with  coloured  brick  panels  and  glazed  tiles,  which  is 
delineated  and  described  by  the  Kev.  J.  L  Petit,  in  the  Archaeological  Journal,  vol.  ix., 
p.  15.  This  is  well  calculated  to  give  some  useful  hints  as  to  the  future  disjjosition  of 
coloured  bricks  in  panels,  as  was  probably  perceived  by  some  members  of  the  Society 
wh(!n  they  looked  upon  the  cleverly-coloured  details  of  the  above-named  building  (en- 
larged from  those  of  Mr.  Petit),  and  exhibited  by  the  kindness  of  the  Kev.  C.  Terrot. 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS.       221 

example ;  whilst  the  very  picturesque  brick  bell-cot,  for  five  bells, 
of  Notre  Dame  la  Bonne,  Agen,  which  is  engraved  in  the  "Mediseval 
Architecture  of  the  south  of  France,"  by  J.  H.  Parker,  in  vol.  3  of 
the  Archoeologia,  is  an  excellent  model  for  such  a  feature — its  outline 
being  much  aided  by  well  proportioned  breaks,  and  its  surface 
varied  by  the  supporting  piers,  &c. 

But  northern  Italy  offers  us  the  most  numerous  and  most  valu- 
able lessons  as  to  the  use  of  brick  in  church  architecture,  especially 
with  regard  to  details,  many  of  which  are  celebrated  for  their  sur- 
passing beauty.  Of  towers,  we  may  mention  that  of  the  Palazzo 
dei  Signori,  at  Verona,  300  feet  high,  built  of  mixed  courses  of 
stone  and  brick  below,  but  wholly  of  brick  above ;  of  St.  Andrea,  at 
Mantua;  of  Santa  Maria  del  Carmine,  at  Pavia;  and  the  Torrazzo 
of  Cremona  cathedral,  400  feet  high — all  most  imposing  structures, 
divided  into  stages  by  arcaded  string-courses,  having  flat  pilasters 
running  up  their  angles,  and  windows  filled  with  excellent  plate 
tracery  in  their  upper  portions.  Of  circular  and  pointed  arches, 
formed  of  mixed  brick  and  stone,  Verona  possesses  some  very  valu- 
able specimens,  also  of  brick  arcading.  Of  doorways,  the  western 
one  of  Cremona  cathedral  may  be  studied  with  much  benefit ;  also 
that  of  the  Broletto,  at  Brescia.  But,  perhaps,  windows  are  the 
peculiar  forte  of  Italian  brick  architecture.  We  have  only  to  look 
at  Mr.  G.  E.  Street's  beautiful  representation  of  one  of  the  six  upper 
windows  of  the  ducal  palace  at  Mantua,  built  in  1302,  and  almost 
entirely  composed  of  brick,  to  acknowledge  this ;  or  at  some  in  St. 
Andrea's,  Mantua ;  the  cathedral,  Cremona ;  the  south  end  of  that  at 
Verona,  or  at  Monza,  consisting  either  of  two  or  three  light  windows 
within  a  single  pointed  arch,  whose  tympanum  is  decorated  with 
beautifully  cusped  ornamental  perforations ;  the  whole  being  often 
relieved  by  a  slight  admixture  of  stone,  by  hood  mouldings,  and 
jambs  of  cast  brick,  and  by  slender  divisional  marble  shafts,  or  by 
single  light  windows,  having  stone  trefoiled  heads,  and  most  deli- 
cately wrought  labels  and  borders.  Rose  window^s  of  richly  moulded 
bricks,  deeply  recessed,  also  are  by  no  means  uncommon — such  as 
those  of  Cremona  cathedral,  St.  Pantaleone,  Pavia,  and  the  Bro- 
letto, Brescia.  With  such  advantages  as  these,  well  has  Professor 
Willis  said,  in  his  "  Piemarks  on  the  Architecture  of  the  Middle 
Ages,"  that  the  neglect  of  Italian  gothic  architecture  is  an  unde- 
served neglect. 

We  do  not,  however,  mean  to  assert  that  Italian  brick  churches 
afford  complete  models  for  our  imitation;  but  simply  that  they 
possess  some  features  of  extraordinary  beauty,  which  those  who 
have  to  design  brick  structures,  whether  ecclesiastical  or  domestic, 
would  do  well  to  study  and  adopt.  We  have  mounted  no  Italian 
Pegasus  which  has  borne  us  away  from  the  truth  into  an  airy 
region  of  fancy,  where  all  is  roseate  around  us  from  the  reflexion  of 
our  own  imagination,  but  yet  is  known  to  be  unreal  to  everyone 
else ;  and,  to  prove  that  we  are  perfectly  sane,  before  we  mention 
the  beauties  of  Italian  ecclesiastical  brick  architecture,  we  will 
allude  to  its  very  common  and  veiy  grievous  faults. 


222         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

1.  It  abounds  in  sham  fronts — thorough  screens  or  masks  (par- 
ticularly observable  in  the  west  ends  of  churches) — which  do  not 
agree  in  the  least  with  the  real  elevations  behind  them. 

2.  It  usually  throws  a  single  flat  roof  over  the  body  of  churches 
and  their  aisles,  without  any  intervening  breaks. 

3.  Its  arches  are  very  commonly  not  constructional,  but  orna- 
mental, whilst  their  supporting  shafts  are  rarely  sufficient  to  sup- 
port them  without  the  artificial  assistance  of  vast  bracing  irons. 

4.  It  has  far  too  much  flatness  of  surface,  never  producing  good, 
bold  buttresses,  but  only,  at  most,  shallow  pilasters ;  and  often  car- 
ries heavy  projecting  cornices  round  the  outline  of  its  gables,  instead 
of  confii^ng  them  to  its  horizontal  features.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  possesses  great  breadth  and  repose ;  offers  examples  of  the 
most  symmetrical  and  pleasing  windows,  well  worthy  of  the  most 
careful  study ;  of  enriched  cornices,  string-courses,  and  details  such 
as  we  have  not  in  England,  but  which  we  should  do  well  to  borrow 
from  the  south.  Thence,  also,  we  may  gather  many  a  valuable  les- 
son on  the  subject  of  colour ;  as,  for  instance,  from  the  alternate 
courses  of  red  brick  and  stone  in  the  interiors  as  well  as  in  the  ex- 
teriors of  St.  Zenone  and  St.  Fermo,  at  Verona;  and  from  the 
judicious  disposition  of  other  tints,  such  as  black  and  green,  which 
we  can  occasionally,  at  least,  command  in  this  country  by  means  of 
bricks,  although  we  can  seldom  hope  for  them  in  marble.  Nor 
should  we  neglect  to  keep  in  mind  the  glazed  discs  inserted  in  the 
Campanile  of  Pavia,  and  the  terra-cotta  medallions  (moulded  by 
hand)  of  the  Ospedale  Maggiore,  at  Milan ;  both  these  classes  of 
ornamentation  being  of  the  greatest  value  in  brick  districts,  and 
may  in  truth  be  called  "  brickwork  jewellery." 

And  now  let  us  pass  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  use  of  bricks 
in  the  construction  of  dwelling-houses.  First,  as  to  street  eleva- 
tions ;  and,  secondly,  as  to  detached  country  residences. 

A  first-class  Horncastle  shop  would  have  you  suppose  that  its 
two  or  three  uppermost  stories  were  supj^orted  by  the  very  fragile 
foundation  of  glass,  although  we  know  joerfectly  well  that  a  couple 
of  mean-looking  cast-iron  pillars  behind  this  screen  are  really  doing 
all  its  work — are  the  domestic  Atlases — the  Birmingham  Penates 
of  the  establishment.  But,  granted  that  this  expanse  of  exhibi- 
tionary  power  is  needful,  it  might  be  secured  equally  well  by  a  large 
flat-headed  arch  thrown  over  the  whole  ground-floor  front ;  and  the 
house  would  gain  much,  as  to  architectural  appearance,  by  the  sub- 
stitution of  so  natural  a  constructional  feature.  Two  or  three  small 
specimens  of  ancient  arched  shop  fronts  still  exist  at  Lincoln,  and 
many  fine  examples  in  some  Continental  towns.  A  variation  in  the 
size  of  the  upper  windows  would  be  a  great  relief  to  the  eye  exter- 
nally, and  w^ould  enable  them  to  be  better  adapted  to  the  proportions 
of  the  several  rooms  internally.  Their  shape,  also,  would  be  greatly 
improved  by  finishing  them  above  with  flat,  round,  or  pointed 
arches,  according  to  the  style  of  architecture  adopted,  instead  of 
with  the  horizontal  brickwork  now  usually  seen,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  aggravated  by  the  application  of  sham  keystones  in  cement 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS.  223 

— which,  after  a  time,  begin  to  flake  off,  from  their  impatience  at 
having  been  pressed  into  so  ridiculous  and  so  false  a  position  ! 
Next,  the  removal  of  ugl}'  and  useless  parapets,  and  the  elevation  of 
stepped  gables,  such  as  abound  in  Holland,  Belgium,  and  parts  of 
Germany;  -  and  the  adoption  of  shadow-catching  octagonal  chimney 
shafts,  instead  of  the  present  meaningless  masses  of  brickwork 
usually  erected,  would  substitute  lightness  and  comeliness  of  out- 
line for  dull  monotonous  horizontal  lines  ;  whilst  a  feature — very 
common  in  foreign  brick  buildings — might  be  introduced  with 
much  advantage  and  at  a  very  trifling  cost,  namely,  a  moulded  bead 
at  the  angles  of  corner — or  projecting — houses,  instead  of  the  sharp 
crude  edge  now  almost  always  seen  in  such  a  position  ;  or — in  the 
case  of  brick  edifices  of  a  superior  character— a  chamfered  edge,  set 
thickly  with  nail-head  or  other  similar  ornaments,  cast  in  a  mould, 
would  give  much  efl'ect  to  its  angles. 

Lastly,  we  would  recommend  an  attack  upon  the  flatness  of  sur- 
face now  almost  always  prevalent  in  brick  buildings.  Even  where 
space  is  of  great  value,  and  porches,  buttresses,  or  other  bold  pro- 
jections are  not  admissible,  base-mouldings  of  stone,  or  brick,  and 
elevation-breaks  of  even  a  few  inches  are  of  much  value ;  and  with 
a  string-course  or  two  of  moulded  bricks,  or  even  of  rubbed  ones, 
any  tradesman  could  possess  a  shop  of  which  he  might  be  justly 
proud,  without  having  recourse  to  sham  and  unenduring  ornaments 
of  stucco — and  with  but  little  need  of  the  painter's  brush ;  or, 
should  he  wish  to  mount  higher  in  the  architectural  scale,  he  might 
add  an  arcaded  stone  balcony  to  the  windows  of  his  first-floor  rooms, 
stone  dressings,  and  a  few  medallions  of  moulded  terra-cotta,  or 
here  and  there  a  little  reticulated  work  in  grey  bricks. 

Should  brick  be  selected  as  the  material  for  the  composition  of 
a  town-hall,  or  a  corn-exchange,  architects  would  do  well — before 
the  preparation  of  their  designs — to  make  a  trip  to  Weimar,  wdiere 
is  a  remarkably  fine  example  of  brickwork,  of  the  early  part  of  the 
16th  century.  This  is  the  Furstenlwf,  once  the  palace  of  the 
Mecklenburgh  princes,  afterwards  a  court-house,  and  now  occupied 
by  the  military  department.  Originally  it  occupied  three  sides  of  a 
quadrangle,  but  the  central  portion  alone  now  remains.  The  whole 
facade  is  of  brick,  or  terra-cotta,  richly  moulded  in  the  cinque  cento 
style  of  Italy,  and  is  probably  the  work  of  an  Italian  artist.  Its 
entrance  archway  is  supported  by  large  twin  terra-cotta  fauns,  placed 
back  to  back  on  either  side,  in  a  Caryatid  form  :  its  windows— formed 
of  round-headed  lights  in  triplets — are  adorned  with  other  Caryatid 
figures,  supporting  friezes  and  cornices  enriched  with  arabesque 
patterns  in  relief,  as  are  also  its  door-cases ;  and  the  whole  fagade 
is  of  a  most  elaborate  character,  abounding  with  medallion  portraits 

(2)  ]\rany  parts  of  Kent  and  Suffolk  afford  most  useful  examples  of  brick  chimney 
shafts,  botli  single  and  in  groups,  quadrangular  and  octangular,  suited  either  tor  halls  or 
cottages,  where  they  appear  to  be  as  thoroughly  vernacular  as  are  the  stone  chimnies  of 
Northamptonshire  and  parts  of  Lincolnshire.  They  usually  spring  from  bases  (especially 
theoctangular  ones),  have  collars,  and  enlarged  tops  more  or  less  elaborated.  Several 
very  fine  specimens  may  be  seen  in  the  village  of  Holliugbourne,  near  Maidstone,  where 
the  old  brick  manor-house  exists— alluded  to  previously  in  this  treatise— also  in  other 
villages  in  that  vicinity. 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  IT.  F  F 


224       LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

and  other  decorations.  The  archway  leading  into  the  court-yard  is 
composed  of  stone  ribs,  but  the  vaulting  is  entirely  of  brick.  A 
newel  staircase  within  this  very  interesting  edifice  is  similarly 
vaulted,  and  resembles  the  cloisters  of  the  old  Episcopal  palace  at 
Liege,  built  in  1506. 

More  scope  is  permitted  to  the  architect  of  country  brick  resi- 
dences, because  he  has  not  only  one  limited  facade  to  deal  with, 
but  the  composition  of  edifices  exposed  to  view  on  all  sides  ;  and  he 
has  to  consider  how  their  various  proposed  features  will  group 
together  as  a  whole.  Recognising,  therefore,  the  truth  of  the  prin- 
ciples I  have  ventured  to  lay  down  in  the  commencement  of  this 
treatise,  he  will  study  the  effect  that  light  and  shade  will  have  upon 
his  composition ;  he  will  break  his  sky  line  with  the  mingled  hues 
of  his  roofs  and  their  gables,  as  well  as  with  varied  groups  of 
chimney-shafts,  so  that  portions  of  his  elevation  must  always  be  in 
shadow,  whilst  the  others  are  responding — perhaps  too  vividly — to 
the  bright  glances  of  the  sun ;  and  if  stone  is  not  available  for 
dressings,  window  and  door  jambs,  &c.,  he  will  fall  back  upon  brick 
enrichments,  still  very  commonly  seen  in  northern  Italy  and  once 
not  uncommon  in  England,  of  which  examples  exist  in  the  form  of 
window  borders  consisting  of  arabesque  patterns  in  relief,  at 
Laughton  Place,  near  Lewes,  built  by  Sir  John  Pelham,  in  1534, 
and  referred  to  by  Mr.  Blaauw,  in  the  "  Sussex  Archseological 
Collections."  Signs,  also  emblems,  groups  of  figures,  &c.,  stamped 
in  relief  upon  bricks,  serving  as  panels  sunk  within  borders,  would 
be  of  great  use  in  diversifying  the  plainer  portions  of  dwelling- 
houses.  One,  of  a  semicircular  form,  and  displaying  the  achieve- 
ment of  Charles  V.,  was  found  in  the  wall  of  an  old  house  in 
Lombard-street,  perhaps  built  by  a  Flemish  merchant ;  and  another, 
bearing  the  head  of  that  monarch,  was  disclosed  during  the  process 
of  pulling  down  some  houses  in  Tower-street.  Others  of  the  16th 
century  are  in  the  museum  of  the  Cambridge  Antiquarian  Society, 
representing  Scriptural  subjects,  such  as  Samson  sending  the  foxes 
into  the  corn  of  the  Philistines,  Susanna,  the  four  Evangelists,  &c., 
and  these  could  very  readily  be  adopted  again  at  a  small  cost,  as 
also  medallions  and  alto-relievos  moulded  by  hand,  so  as  to  pro- 
duce the  additional  charm  of  variety,  and  perhaps  of  originality.^ 

But  in  this  vicinity,  a  practical  example  of  what  may  be  done 
■with  red  bricks  is  always  at  hand  in  the  instance  of  Tattershall 
castle,  from  which  some  new  lesson  is  to  be  taught  almost  every 
time  that  it  is  visited.  It  has  been  engraved  in  several  works  with 
more  or  less  want  of  accuracy,  the  difficulty  having  been  found  to 
be  considerable  of  rendering  with  truth  the  pyramidal  tendency  of 
all  its  features,  and  the  picturesque  variation  of  its  windows  and 
details ;  but  it  has  never  previously  been  taken  from  that  particular 

(3)  Ancient  "Terra  Cotta"— as  made  by  the  Romans— consisted  usually  of  the  fol- 
lowing ingredients,  thus  proportioned  :— 

Silica 71.45  Lime 8.14 

Alumina  2  25  Soda 16.62 

Protoxide  of  Iron 1.2  Magnesia,  a  trace. 

Ditto        of  Manganese . .     0.17 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS.        225 

point  of  view  so  happily  selected  by  Mr.  Terrot,  from  one  of  whose 
admirable  water-colour  paintings  the  frontispiece  of  this  treatise  has 
been  engraved,  at  the  cost  of  Richard  Ellison,  Esq.,  of  Sudbrooke 
Holme,  who  has  most  generously  presented  it  to  the  Associated 
Societies. 

The  history  of  Tattershall  Castle  is  soon  told.  Amongst  the 
numerous  Norman  knights  who  took  a  share  in  the  great  venture 
of  the  conquest  of  England,  under  the  command  of  WiUiam,  Duke 
of  Normandy,  were  two  sworn  brothers  in  arms,  Eudo,  son  of 
Spirawyn,  and  Pincjo.  These  were  not  related  to  each  other ;  but 
as  they  had  fought  together,  so  did  they  receive  in  common  that 
portion  of  England's  spoil  assigned  to  them  by  the  Conqueror. 
Eventually,  however,  they  appear  to  have  divided  their  lands  ;  when 
Eudo  obtained  sole  possession  of  the  manor  of  Tattershall,  together 
with  its  appendage,  Tattershall  Thorpe.  He  was  succeeded  by  his 
son,  Hugh  Fitz  Eudo,  surnamed  the  Breton,  who  founded  the 
Cistercian  abbey  of  Kirkstead,  A.D.  1139  ;  his  son  Robert,  who 
died  1175,  leaving  two  sons — PhiHp,  who  died  when  sheriff  of  the 
county,  in  1200,  and  Robert,  who  obtained  from  King  John  a 
licence  to  hold  a  weekly  market  on  the  manor,  "  for  the  considera- 
tion of  a  well-trained  goshawk,"  and  who  died  in  1212 — leaving  a 
youthful  heir  to  his  estate  in  the  person  of  another  Robert,  who 
married,  first,  the  Lady  Mabel,  eldest  sister  and  coheir  of  Hugh  de 
Albini,  5th  Earl  of  Sussex  and  Arundel,  and,  secondly,  a  daughter 
of  John  de  Grey.  This  Robert  obtained  the  consent  of  Henry  III. 
to  rebuild  the  family  residence  of  stone,  in  1221 ;  but  no  portion 
of  his  works  now  remain;  we  may  readily  conceive,  however,  that 
it  was  a  stately  edifice,  because — both  his  wives  having  been 
heiresses — he  must  have  been  a  very  wealthy  and  important  per- 
sonage ;  he  died  in  1249,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert, 
who  died  in  1272.  This  Robert  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Robert, 
who  was  summoned  to  Parliament  as  first  Baron  de  Tateshall, 
1297,  and  who  died  the  following  year;  by  his  grandson  Robert, 
second  Baron  de  Tateshall,  who  died  in  1303  ;  and  his  great-grand- 
son, Robert,  3rd  baron,  who  died  childless  in  1305  ;  upon  which, 
his  estates  reverted  to  his  three  aunts — Emma,  Joan,  and  Isabella, 
the  second  of  whom,  Joan,  married  to  Robert  de  Driby,  inherited 
the  Tattershall  estate.  Robert  and  Joan  Driby's  two  sons,  Simon 
and  John,  dying,  the  Tattershall  property  was  inherited  by  their 
daughter  Alice,  married  to  Sir  William  Bernak,  Lord  of  Wood- 
thorpe,  CO.  Lincoln,  who  died  1339.  His  son,  Sir  John  Bernak, 
married  Joan,  daughter  and  coheir  of  Robert,  2nd  Baron  Marmion, 
who  died  1345  ;  and,  on  the  death  of  his  two  sons,  John  and 
William,  his  sole  remaining  child,  Maude,  became  his  heiress ;  she 
was  married  to  Sir  Ralph  de  Cromwell,  summoned  to  Parliament 
as  Baron  Cromwell,  in  1375,  and  who  died  in  1398.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son,  Ralph,  2nd  Baron  Cromwell,  who  died  in  1416, 
and  by  his  grandson,  the  3rd  baron,  whose  name  was  also  Ralph — 
married  to  Margaret,  sister  and  coheir  of  WiUiam,  last  Baron 


226      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Deyncourt.  He  was  made  Lord  Treasurer  in  1433,  by  Henry  VI. ; 
and  he  it  was  who  levelled  the  ancient  castle  of  Tattershall  to  the 
ground ;  and,  having  obtained  a  Royal  licence,  erected  the  present 
majestic  pile,  in  1440.  He  died  in  1455,  leaving  no  children. 
Here  we  shall  close  the  pedigree  of  the  builder  of  Tattershall  Castle ; 
but  should  any  be  desirous  of  studying  further  the  history  of  the 
descendants  of  the  Barons  Tattershall  and  Cromwell,  or  their 
coheirs,  they  can  do  so  by  consulting  the  valuable  genealogical 
tables  at  the  end  of  this  treatise,  which  have  been  very  kindly  sup- 
plied by  the  heraldic  knowledge  of  Mr.  T.  Close,  of  Nottingham, 
and  illustrated  entirely  at  his  own  expense,  to  the  great  advantage 
of  the  Society's  members. 

William  of  Worcester  informs  us  that  the  Lord  Treasurer's 
castle  of  Tattershall  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  4,000  marks — a  large 
sum,  but  yet  not  a  surprising  one,  considering  the  period  when  it 
was  designed — a  palatial  character  then  being  in  the  act  of  taking 
the  place  of  the  uncompromising  sternness  and  strength  exhibited 
by  more  ancient  feudal  strongholds,  although  noblemen's  residences 
of  the  13th  century  still  retained  some  of  their  original  warlike 
characteristics.  Besides  an  inner  moat  that  completely  surrounded 
the  castle,  there  was  an  outer  one  which  protected  it  on  the  north 
and  west,  as  at  Somerton  castle.  Both  moats  were  supplied  with 
water  by  the  river  Baue ;  and  close  to  the  cut  between  them  on  the 
north  side  of  the  castle  precincts,  was  a  small  square  machicolated 
tower,  perhaps  connected  with  a  drawbridge.  On  the  space  between 
the  moats  were  various  detached  buildings,  probably  serving  as 
guard-rooms,  or  barracks ;  and  one  of  these,  now  used  as  a  barn, 
opposite  the  north-west  angle  of  the  castle,  is  still  very  perfect. 
The  entrance  to  the  inner  baily,  or  castle  court,  was  defended  by  a 
lofty  gateway — supplied  with  a  portcullis  and  flanked  by  angle 
turrets — which  was  still  remaining  in  the  year  1727.  Upon  enter- 
ing this  fearfully  smooth  inner  area  now,  but  little  idea  can  be 
formed  of  its  original  appearance  when  my  Lord  Cromwell  was 
keeping  his  state  at  Tattershall.  True,  that  magnificent  Keep  was 
tlien  by  far  the  grandest  feature  of  the  whole  scene ;  but  it  did  not 
stand  alone,  presenting  that  raw  appearance  which  it  assumes  at 
present,  and  which  every  artist  who  comes  here  must  deplore — for, 
in  front  of  it,  various  groups  of  noble  buildings  were  picturesquely 
arranged,  at  least  five  in  number,  amongst  which  were  a  dining 
hall  with  a  fine  lateral  bay  window,  and  a  chapel  with  an  arcaded 
basement,  and  an  apse  pierced  with  three  perpendicular  windows, 
according  to  the  evidence  of  one  of  Buck's  prints.  And  now  let  us 
look  at  that  stronghold  before  us,  which  may  well  be  termed  a  keep, 
when  we  find  it  still  proudly  rearing  its  massive  height,  and  very 
nearly  retaining  its  original  proportions  in  defiance  of  all  enemies — 
of  centuries  of  utter  neglect  on  the  part  of  man — of  the  often  slow, 
but  sure,  attacks  of  time.  Eighty-nine  feet  in  length  by  67  feet  in 
width,  it  shoots  boldly  into  the  air — skilfully  sloping  inwards  as  it 
rises,  so  as  to  give  a  still  greater  idea  of  loftiness,  until  its  turret  para- 
pets are  found  to  be  112  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ground,  or  more 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS.  22,7 

than  one-sixth  of  the  highest  point  in  the  county ;  while  its  massive 
walls,  one  of  which,  the  eastern  one,  is  10  feet  thick  at  its  base, 
perfectly  agree  with  the  above-named  vast  proportions. 

Size,  however,  may  be  laid  claim  to  by  modern  manufactories, 
and  height  by  their  shafts.  Tattershall  keep,  therefore,  must  put 
forth  another  claim,  and,  like  an  architectural  Venus,  must  wring 
from  any  reluctant  judicial  Paris,  w^lio  may  be  here,  the  golden 
apple  of  his  favourable  verdict  in  her  behalf,  by  the  excellence  of 
her  combined  charms.  Look,  then,  at  the  very  great  variety  of 
form  and  position  observable  in  the  well-set  windows  of  this  build- 
ing— the  architects  of  the  15th  century  no  longer  hesitating  to 
supply  the  larger  rooms  of  castellated  mansions  with  proportionably 
large  windows,  although  these  might  be  in  the  most  exposed 
position — whilst  not  a  few  modern  pupils  of  that  body,  of  the 
present  day,  would  have  been  sure  to  have  treated  every  window  of 
each  story  alike,  whether  the  rooms  they  were  intended  to  lighten 
might  be  nine  or  twenty-nine  feet  long,  although,  happily,  every 
facade  of  our  19tli  century  houses  is  equally  secure  from  hostile 
attacks. 

Look  at  its  shadow-casting  angle  turrets  and  machicolations, 
and  the  pleasing  appearance  of  the  turrets  and  chimney  shafts  as 
they  break  into  the  sky ;  mark  well  the  excellence  of  its  materials ; 
the  irregular  manner  in  which  the  stone  window  jambs  dissolve  into 
the  ruddy  brickwork,  as  well  as  the  excellent  admixture  throughout 
of  stone  and  bricks ;  and  although  some  may  be  ready  to  say, 
"time  has  done  much  for  its  hues,  not  art,  nature  has  clothed  it 
with  those  lichens  which  throw  such  peculiar  hues  over  this  fabric," 
let  me  beg  to  assure  these  that  art  had  preceded  nature  in  this 
respect,  for,  under  the  present  vegetable  cuticle  which  you  so  justly 
admire,  are  delicate  panels  of  grey  bricks  inserted  amongst  their  red 
brothers  in  various  reticulated  patterns,  which  originally  sobered  down 
their  youthful  tints  much  as  the  lichens  do  in  these  their  days  of 
over  full  maturity.  Before  leaving  the  outside  of  the  keep,  suffer  me 
to  endeavour  to  attract  your  notice  towards  an  architectural  j^oint 
connected  with  castles,  not  usually  remaining  in  England.  I  allude 
to  the  covered  gallery  on  the  summit  of  the  keep,  surrounded  by 
battlements,  pierced  with  windows,  and  partly  pendent  over  the 
machicolations  below.  This  feature,  the  late  Mr.  Nicholson,  who 
published  an  account  of  Tattershall  Castle,  by  no  means  without 
value,  considered  to  be  unique,  but  in  reality  it  is  not  very  uncommon 
either  in  France  or  German3^  Durmg  the  latter  part  of  the  12th 
century,  castles  began  to  be  attacked  and  defended  with  far  more 
science  than  before.  Besides  battering  rams  protected  by  wooden 
sheds  on  wheels,  covered  with  fresh  skins  to  prevent  their  being  set 
on  fire,  mining  was  adopted  by  the  assailants  of  fortresses  at  that 
period ;  and — as  the  besieged  could  not  readily  see  what  was  going 
on  at  the  immediate  base  of  their  walls,  without  great  exposure  of 
their  persons  to  the  enemies'  archers,  projecting  wooden  galleries 
began  to  be  erected  over  the  battlements  of  castle  walls,  whence 
their  garrisons  could  drop  missiles  on  the  heads  of  the   assailants 


228      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

below,  whilst  they  were  under  cover  themselves.  These  were  termed 
"  Hourdes  "  by  the  French,  whence  our  word  "  hoarding  "  is  derived, 
and  were  only  of  a  temporary  character,  being  removed  with  the 
return  of  peace.  In  the  middle  of  the  following  century  an  improve- 
ment was  eifected  in  this  means  of  defence,  by  the  substitution  of 
stone  corbels  for  the  supporting  timbers  previously  used,  which 
rendered  them  more  substantial  and  less  likely  to  be  set  on  fire. 
Still,  however,  there  was  danger  from  this  element,  and,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  14th  century,  these  originally  wooden  temporary 
galleries  were  universally  replaced  by  permanent  structures  of  solid 
masonry,  forming  covered  overhanging  galleries.  Phillipe  le  Hardi, 
in  1285,  crowned  most  of  the  towers  and  walls  of  the  castle  of 
Carcassone  with  these  "hourdes"  or  wooden  galleries;  and  they 
are  often  represented  in  the  illustrations  of  Froissart.  At  the  castle 
of  Pierrefonds  the  corbels  intended  to  support  similar  superstructures 
in  stone  still  exist ;  and  a  feature  once  so  common  to  castellated 
strongholds,  as  being  an  actual  means  of  defence,  was  very  tardily 
discarded,  even  when  it  had  long  ceased  to  be  of  any  real  service. 
It  is  interesting,  therefore,  but  not  surprising,  to  find  a  reminiscence 
of  this  feature  of  a  warlike  character  in  the  peaceful  and  palatial 
residence  of  Lord  Cromwell,  built  in  the  15  th  century.  The 
internal  arrangement  of  Tattershall  keep  will  be  seen  at  a  glance ; 
but  it  would  be  difficult  with  any  degree  of  certainty  to  assign  a 
particular  use  to  each  of  the  four  grand  apartments  arranged  one 
above  another,  as  at  Kirby  Muxloe,  and  still  more  difficult  to  hazard 
an  opinion  as  to  the  purpose  to  which  the  numerous  subsidiary 
apartments  were  applied  by  the  household  of  the  Lord  Treasurer ; 
possibly,  however,  the  first  large  central  room  above  the  basement 
served  as  a  common  hall,  the  second  as  a  state  hall  or  reception 
room,  the  third  as  a  soler  or  state  sleeping  chamber.  Connected 
with  the  third  floor  is  a  gallery  38  feet  long  beautifully  vaulted  with 
cast  bricks,  and  relieved  with  bosses  in  stone  or  plaster,  containing 
the  same  coats  of  arms  so  often  repeated  throughout  the  vv'hole 
fabric,  and  the  Treasurer's  emblem  of  office;  but  here  will  be 
observed  a  trick,  as  well  as  in  one  of  the  small  chambers  below, 
which  is  always  to  be  condemned,  whether  of  ancient  or  modern 
date.  Although  the  vaulting  of  this  gallery  is  clearly  formed  of 
most  excellent  real  brickwork,  it  has  been  covered  with  a  thin 
coating  of  coloured  cement,  intended  to  represent  still  more  perfect 
work,  and,  I  must  say  the  sham  is  so  successful  that  but  few  would 
probably  detect  it  without  this  "exposure."  Moreover,  my  Lord 
Cromwell  had  an  ancient  precedent  to  follow,  for  I  find  that  in 
1243,  Walter  de  Gray,  Archbishop  of  York,  was  ordered  by  Henry 
III.  to  make  a  lofty  wooden  roof  at  Windsor  Castle,  like  the  roof  of 
the  new  work  at  Litchfield,  "to  appear  like  stone-work,"  with  good 
ceiling  and  pointing.  Another  sham  also  appears  on  the  summit 
of  the  keep,  viz.,  the  coping  of  the  battlements,  which  is  of  cement, 
but  of  a  most  excellent  description.  Connected  with  the  fourth 
story — which  is  considerably  the  loftiest  of  all — are  several  lateral 
chambers,  whose  richly  vaulted  roofs,  formed  entirely  of  moulded 


^iikmfi  111!  §2 


i 

litt 

ii 

Ills 


""Mi 
s  III! 


ilirllrilfrii 


II 

&  2-? 

lit 

I'll 

4 


1^ 


{    ?  Ill 


r 

1 
i 

1 


^1 


i! 


«a 


(6. 1272.)  Robert  de 


Sir  Adam  de  ChUU 


Cosljcirs  af  i^t  '§iirong  of  Catters^all. 


******* 


ihate  =f 
1297,  dl 
bale,    Ir 


'  r  Emma  de  Tateshale.  aunt  and  in  I 
co-heir.   4.  1267.  in<ir.l281,<(eadl! 


(J.  1583.)  ■!  nomas  de  Cailll.  =  MarRaret.  daur.  cvenljall)- . 
euinm.  1o  Part    1309  and  heir  ol  Sir  laos.  de  Xonvl. 

1311,  as  liaron  de  Cailli.  <*.  1307. 

Ob.  1317.  «.  p. 


Simon  de  Cailli. 


(6.  130S.)  Sir  Adam  de  Clif 
Lord  of  HucicenliBm  Caj 
&c,  Korl'olk.  Ob.  1361. 


3.      (Inr,.  p. 
..  37.  Edi:  fll: 


Sir  Roger  Clinon,  y  MargaretdeCailli, 


Clilton,    y    Elizabeth, 

1376.  ai  or  Sir  llalfih 

ot.  1388.  LordCromw 


b.  1393.  Sir  John  airton,    =f    Elizab 


liaron  Clifton, 

TTin  granddaDgbter,  i 
Elizabeth  Clifton,  mar.  Sir  John  Kiievlt, 
Knt.,  from  whom,  the  Knevita  of  Buckcnham 


Rob.  de  Driby       =  Joanna  de  Tateshale, 


ofDriby,  Co.LiDo.  (dead  1305. 


.  (/nj.  p.  m.  3  Edv}.) 


t  i  k 


«  «  « 


!  Driby.        Sir  W,  de  Bernak, 


Sir  John  Bernak.    ^  „„„„, 

Lord  of  Tatterehall    [    sieter  and  eldest 

Caatle,  &c.  ob.  13*5.     I   co-heir  of  Rob. 

f     Marmion.  2nd 


Rector  of  Hetherset. 


John  de  Bcmak. 
Lord  of  Tattersliall. 


5 


e  of  the  CromweUs. 


Sir  John  de  Orreby.  of  I^alby.  co.  Leicester. 


Philip  de  Orreby,  ^  Florence,  sole  i 
(deadiaiX.bEdtv.  &  beirof  John  de 

///.perEot.Orig.J        la  Mark  of  Brad- 
well,  Stcco-Essex. 


Sir  John  de  Orreby,       ^  Mar^raret. 

of  Hnnmanby,  &c  '  

CO.  York,  aud  Diim 
Essex.    06.  1353. 


Sir  John  de  Orrery  =  Margaret.  Henry  dp  I'crcy,  ^  Joan  de 


n 

Ros.  CtTi  Baroc 


John  de  Ros.  CtlT  Baron  de  Ros.  =F  Mary  de  Percy  (B.  1367). 

tie  Uenilake.  ob.  1393.  (Died  at  sole  heir  of  the  Orrebya. 

Jsle  of  Cyprus  on  his  way  to  the  I  ob.  1394.  n.p.  at  York. 

tloly  Land.)                                 1  8epHivan]x,seekeruiU, 

I  Test.  Ebor.  n.  201. 


Inq.  post  mortem.  20  Edw.  III. 
Joq'bs  Bebhae. 

WocUthmrp  terr' <tc. ) 

Piir ford  matter'  }  Lincoln'. 

Tftorest/iorp  terr' A  ten'         ) 

Walderton  ISs.  8rf.  ruldit'  ut  dt  bnronta  de  Tatrrsale  . .    Sussex'. 
Wtimwidiiam  maner'  3«i»  pars  ut  de  baronia  de  7\tU:rsale  • 

Bokenham  matier'        

"'^  ■  [Xorfble' 


Inq.  post  mortem,  3*.  Edw.  III. 

Wai't  '■  FaATEK  EX  HEREs  JoB'is  Fo.  Joa'is  Bebnaeb. 

Besthcyrpe  m  ^^K"  , \ 

Th.rpB/ioJi' 6t  ■'Wiia  de 

Denton  man  '^  .    _, 

2hfMAate6o  nwMade  } 


BuTidmanby,  pars  man', 

Ttjneley  tolnet 
ffUdeburghtoorth  maner'  1 
Castleacre  maner' 


cottagixan  et  divtrta  cottag  super  1  ^j^. 


SmmgeyeporUo  turb' 
AtteWurgh  molcnd'  dimid' 
THbbenham  parous  3  pars 


Lenn'  EpC  sexta  pars  quarttB  partis  A 


Unn'  EpC  sexU 
VvmomJiam  mi 


J  OttDT,   WILES.  ET  MAKO.   UXOR  EJOfl. 


THE  USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  RED  BRICKS. 


229 


])ricks,  are  well  worthy  of  notice,  in  addition  to  the  chimney-pieces, 
which  are  well  known;  hat  these  last  have  never  previously  been  so 
beautifully  illustrated,  and  the  Society  is  much  indebted  in  this 
respect  to  the  accurate  and  artistic  brush  of  one  of  its  most  highly 
valued  members,  Mr.  Terrot,  of  Wispington,  whose  fine  coloured 
representations  of  those  interesting  works  of  art  cannot  have  failed 
to  attract  great  and  general  admiration — and  from  one  of  which  the 
subjoined  beautiful  wood  engraving  has  been  taken  by  Mr.  O.  Jewitt, 
at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Ellison,  who  has  most  liberally  presented  it 
to  the  Society,  in  addition  to  the  one  before  alluded  to. 


-^^^nrJ^..^-^ 


And  now,  I  will  beg — at  the  close  of  this  lecture  on  Bricks  and 
Brickwork,  ancient  and  modern — to  quote  two  short  passages  from  a 
lately  published  work  by  one  of  the  first  of  modern  architects, 
Mr.  G.  G.  Scott,  because  they  contain  a  most  wholesome  warning, 
but  at  the  same  time  the  highest  encouragement  to  his  brother 
architects,  as  to  the  use  and  abuse  of  red  bricks.  He  says,  in  his 
*'  Remarks  on  Secular  and  Domestic  Architecture,"  page  97  :  "A 
brick  building  calls  for  the  utmost  exercise  of  the  architect's  skill, 
and  will  as  richly  reward  his  pains  as  it  would  severely  punish  his 
neghgence;"  and,  in  the  preceding  page — "Brick  is  the  most 
convenient  material  for  house  building,  particularly  in  towns,  so,  the 
more  we  endeavour  to  improve  its  use  the  better ;  and,  I  think  the 
public  are  pretty  sure  to  sympathise  with  the  effort." 


The  Castle  of  Boliiighroke,  and  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  in  Lincolnshire. 
A  Paper  read  at  the  Horncastle  Meeting,  June  2,  1858.  By 
the  Eev.  F.  C.  Massingbekd,  Rector  of  Ormsbj. 

The  Castle  of  Bolingbroke  was  built  by  William  de  Roumara,  the 
first  Norman  Earl  of  Lincoln,  who  also  founded  the  Abbey  of 
Revesby  about  the  year  1143.'  Its  erection  may  therefore  be 
assigned  to  the  reign  of  Stephen,  who  died  A.D.  1154,  about  700 
years  ago.  -  But  the  descent  of  this  William  de  Roumara,  from 
Saxon  blood,  takes  us  back  to  other  names  and  families  which  still 
retain  a  place  in  I/incolnshire  county  history. 

It  seems  that  he  was  the  son  or  grandson,  but  probably  the 
grandson,  of  Lucia  the  wife  of  Ivo  Taillebois,  the  Conqueror's 
nephew;  which  Lucia  was  a  Saxon  heiress,  the  sister  of  Morcar, 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  (who  withstood  for  a  while  the  Conqueror's 
power),  and  daughter  of  Algar,  Earl  of  Mercia,  the  brother  of 
Edgiva,  Harold's  queen.  Other  accounts  would  make  Edgiva  to 
have  been  the  sister  of  Lucia.  But,  be  this  as  it  may,  Lucia  was 
the  name  of  the  Saxon  heiress,  and  she  was  daughter  of  Algar,  and 
nearly  related  to  the  famous  Hereward,  the  last  defender  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  liberty.  There  was  another  Algar,  Earl  of  Mercia,  called 
Earl  Algar  the  younger,  who  fell  in  that  famous  fight  at  Threcking- 
hara,  against  the  Danes,  about  A.D.  865,  and  whose  church,  built 
probably  at  the  place  of  his  burial,  is  now  restored  by  private 
munificence  to  all  or  more  than  all  its  pristine  beauty,  a  fit  record  of 
the  patriotic  chief  whose  memory  it  recalls.  And  he  was  the  son 
of  another  Algar,  and  grandson  of  Leofric,  Earl  of  Mercia,  and  of 
his  celebrated  wife,  the  Lady  Godiva,  whose  real  name  seems  to 
have  been  Godgif,  or,  God's  gift,  and  who  was  the  sister  of  Turold 
or  Thorold,  of  Bucken-hall,  Lord  of  Spalding,  and  Vice  Comes  or 
Sheriff  of  Lincolnshire  ;  whose  father,  bearing  the  same  name,  was 
one  of  the  chief  benefactors  to  the  abbey  of  Croyland.  This  very 
ancient  Saxon  family  of  Thorold,  of  whom  so  many  scions  still 
exist  among  us,  flourished  also  in  Normandy  at  the  same  time. 
The  name  is  on  the  Bayeux  tapestry,  and  is  preserved  also  in  the 
well  known  Hotel  de  Bourgtherould,  in  Rouen.  Thus  tracing  his 
descent  from  some  of  the  best  Anglo-Saxon  blood,  and  inheriting 
or  obtaining  in  their  right  a  part  of  their  estates,  William  de 
Roumara,  the  Norman  Earl,  made  choice  of  Bolingbroke  for  the 
site  of  his  castle  and  the  future  head  of  his  barony.  Nor  was  the 
spot  ill  chosen.  Closing  up  the  pass  towards  the  last  range  of  hills 
where  they  subside  into  the  plain,  it  might  remind  us  of  the  situ- 
ation of  Virgil's  farm — 

Certe  equidem  audieram,  qua  se  subducere  colles 
Incipiunt,  mollique  jugum  demittere  clivo. 
Usque  ad  aquam  et  veteris  jam  fracta  cacumina  fagi 
Omnia  carminibus  vestrum  servasse  Menalcam. — EcJ.  rx.  7. 

(1)  Nichols'  Descent  of  Earldom  of  Lincoln,  p.  262,  Archseol.  Tnstit.  Lincoln  volume. 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  '     231 

And,  however  strange  it  may  seem  to  some  to  compare  such  a 
spot  with  the  beautiful  plains  of  Lombardy,  there  is  good  reason  to 
conclude  that  the  aspect  of  this  district  in  those  days  was  far  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  it  presented  to  the  eyes  of  our  fathers  before 
the  drainage  of  the  Fens.  It  is  certain  that  the  Saxon  monks 
speak  of  their  island  homes  throughout  this  district,  with  feelings 
that  imply  a  sense  of  some  natural  beauty.  We  find  that  at  the 
Conquest  there  was  here  a  large  extent  of  woodland,  known  as  the 
Forest  of  Celidon,  of  which  vast  traces  have  been  found  in  such  a 
condition  as  to  show  that  the  trees  had  been  undermined  by  the 
rise  of  the  waters,  from  some  cause  not  explained.  We  have  a 
tradition  of  a  church,  not  far  from  Bolingbroke,  having  been  called 
"  St.  Luke's  in  the  Forest,"  instead  of  its  more  modern  name  of 
Stickney.  The  estate  of  the  Lords  of  Bolingbroke  in  the  fen  is 
described  in  the  time  of  Edward  II.  as  consisting  of  moor  and 
marsh.  Sir  Wm.  Dugdale,  also,  in  his  history  of  "  Embankment," 
says  that  "the  whole  tract  of  marsh  land,  though  originally  low, 
was  not  annoyed  with  the  inundation  of  the  ocean,  or  any  stop  of 
the  fresh  waters,  which  might  by  overflowing  and  drowning  make 
it  fenny ;  but  it  was  a  well  wooded  country,  as  the  quantity  of  trees 
discovered  everywhere,  where  canals,  &c.,  have  been  dug  to  any 
depth,  manifest."  It  seems  probable  that  the  worst  mischief  was 
done,  during,  and  immediately  after,  the  civil  wars  of  the  Great 
Rebellion  ;  for  all  the  marshes  had  then  been  drained  and  enclosed  ; 
and  the  lawless  inhabitants  took  occasion,  from  the  confusion  of  the 
times,  to  cut  the  dykes,  throw  down  enclosures,  and  stop  up  water- 
courses, that  they  might  re-possess  them  in  their  former  state  of 
lawlessness.  And,  if  we  suppose  a  tract  of  country  interspersed 
with  meres  or  large  pools  of  water,  alternating  with  islands  covered 
either  with  heather  or  woodland,  it  would  present  a  scene  something 
like  that,  but  on  a  much  larger  scale,  which  is  familiar  to  travellers 
on  the  South  Western  Railway  by  the  name  of  Woking  Common. 

The  Castle  is  described  by  Gervase  Hollis  (temp.  Car.  I.)  as 
containing  within  the  walls  about  an  acre  and  a  half,  built  in  a 
square,  with  four  strong  forts  or  ramparts  (probably  at  the  corners), 
containing  many  rooms,  connected  one  with  another  by  passages 
along  the  embattled  walls.  He  says  "  the  entrance  is  very  stately, 
over  a  fair  draw-bridge  :  the  gate-house  uniform  and  strong."  It  is 
supposed  to  be  this  gate-house,  the  crumbling  ruins  of  which 
were  rudely  sketched  by  Stukeley.  The  materials  of  which  the 
castle  was  built  were  the  sandstone  of  the  adjoining  hills,  of 
which  Hollis  justly  remarks  that  it  will  crumble  away  when  the 
wet  is  permitted  to  get  within  it.  And  this  may  account  for  the 
total  disappearance  of  a  pile  of  building  which  was,  not  much  more 
than  two  hundred  years  ago,  considered  able  to  withstand  a  siege 
against  an  army. 

As  we  are  not  concerned  with  the  earldom  of  Lincoln  further 
than  as  it  is  associated  with  the  Castle  of  Bolingbroke,  it  will  sufhce 
to  say,  that  after  the  death  of  the  third  and  last  possessor  of  the 
family  of  De  Romara,  it  was  confirmed  to  the  descendant  of  Ranuiph, 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  G  G 


232         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Earl  of  Chester,  the  half  brother  of  the  first  De  Romara,  and  son 
of  the  heiress  Lucia.  He  was  holding  the  Castle  of  Lincoln  against 
the  rival  claims  of  Gilbert  de  Gant,  ^Yhen,  on  the  death  of  King 
John,  the  second  battle  of  Lincoln  took  place,  on  the  Castle-hill, 
between  the  Minster  and  the  Castle-gate,  where  the  forces  of  the 
Dauphin  were  defeated,  and  the  young  King  Henry  III.  firmly 
established  on  the  throne.  The  Earl  of  Chester  (Ranulph  de 
Blondeville)  immediately  had  seizin  of  the  earldom  with  all  its 
appurtenances,  including  the  Castle  of  Bolirgbroke. 

I  may  be  pardoned  if  I  digress  for  a  moment  to  refer  to  one 
circumstance  connected  with  the  battle  of  Lincoln.  We  commonly 
hear  that  during  the  battle  the  young  king  was  secreted  in  the 
cow-shed  of  Bardney  Abbey — rather  an  undignified  hiding-place  for 
a  king.  But  I  venture  to  think  I  can  supply  the  true  meaning  of 
this  statement,  and  point  out  the  actual  spot.  I  need  not  mention 
here  that  there  is  a  place  between  Gautby  and  Bardney,  still  called 
"Bardney  Dairy."  I  can  hardly  doubt  that  this  was  formerly  the 
spot  where  the  Abbot  of  Bardney  had  his  dairy  farm ;  and  that  it 
was  here,  at  some  residence  probably  of  the  Abbot,  and  not  "in  a 
cow-shed,"  that  the  young  king  remained  with  the  Papal  Legate, 
during  that  fierce  fight  at  Lincoln,  until  the  Earl  Marshal,  his 
guardian,  came  to  announce  to  him  the  victory  which  confirmed  his 
possession  of  the  throne,^  on  the  Saturday  after  Pentecost,  1217. 

Ranulph,  Earl  of  Chester,  having  soon  after  made  a  free  gift  of 
the  Earldom  of  Lincoln  and  all  its  belongings  to  his  sister  Hawise, 
who  on  his  death  afterwards  "  received  for  her  share  all  the  lands 
in  the  provinces  of  Lindsey  and  Holland,  of  which  the  Castle  and 
Manor  of  Bolingbroke  was  the  cajmt  honoris''^  (as  it  is  recorded  in 
a  contemporary  document) — she  transferred  it  to  John  de  Lacy,  who 
had  married  her  only  daughter ;  and  her  grandson,  Henry  de  Lacy, 
Earl  of  Lincoln,  dying  in  1312,  left  also  a  daughter  and  heiress, 
Alice  de  Lacy,  by  whose  marriage  with  Thomas  Earl  of  Lancaster, 
the  Earldom  of  Lincoln  and  the  Castle  of  Bolingbroke  first  became 
merged  in  the  possessions  of  the  House  of  Plantagenet. 

Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster,  Leicester,  and  Derby,  was  the  eldest 
son  of  Edmund  Plantagenet,  called  Crouchback,  the  younger  brother 
of  King  Edward  I.,  but  concerning  whose  claim  to  have  been,  in 
fact,  the  elder  brother,  but  set  aside  for  his  deformity,  some  tales 
were  spread  which  will  occur  to  our  notice  hereafter.  It  was 
arranged  upon  occasion  of  this  marriage  that,  in  case  the  Countess 
Alice  should  die  without  issue,  her  great  inheritance  should  be 
merged  in  that  of  her  husband,  which  actually  took  place. 

This  Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster  and  Lincoln,  being  defeated  at 
Boroughbridge  in  the  war  which  he  raised  against  Gaveston,  was 
beheaded  at  Pontefract  a.d.  1322,  and  all  his  honours  forfeited  to 
the  Crown.  It  is  in  connexion  with  this  event  that  I  am  enabled 
to  produce,  out  of  the  Public  Records,  a  document  of  some  interest, 

(2)  Matt.  Paris,  p.  397. 
(3)  Rot.  Claus.  17  FI.  iii.,  quoted  by  Mr.  Nichols. 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  233 

being  an  inventory  of  all  the  contents  of  the  Castle  of  Bolingbroke, 
when  it  was  taken  possession  of  by  the  Sheriff  of  Lincolnshire  in 
the  name  of  King  Edward  II.  It  is  entitled,  "  The  account  of 
Robt.  de  Breton,  late  Sheriff  (Vice-Comes)  of  Lincoln,  and  Guardian 
of  certain  castles,  manors,  lands  and  tenements,  that  belonged  to 
Thomas,  late  Earl  of  Lancaster,  a  rebel  and  adversary  of  the  King, 
taken  and  seized  into  the  hand  of  the  King  by  the  Sheriff  himself, 
viz.,  concerning  the  revenues  thereof,  and  concerning  the  goods  and 
cattle  therein  being,  from  the  ord  of  March  in  the  15th  year  of 
King  Edward,  son  of  King  Edward,  on  which  day  the  King  gave 
command  to  the  said  Sheriff  to  take  possession  of  the  same."  The 
manors  enumerated  are  those  of  Brattleby,  Thorley,  Wrangle,  and 
Frith-upon-Hulledyke,  Sutton,  Swampton,  the  Castle  and  Manor 
of  Bolingbroke,  the  manors  of  Sedgebrook  and  Halton. 

He  accounts  for  £6  :  6s.  received  in  money  from  the  seneschal 
of  the  Castle,  of  money  in  his  hands  belonging  to  the  Earl ;  ISs.  re- 
ceived for  I  quarter  of  wheat  sold  ;  and  he  charges  for  wages  paid — 
to  the  seneschal,  at  12d.  per  day;  for  wages  to  the  porter,  3d.  per 
day ;  to  the  watchman.  Id.  per  day ;  and  2d.  per  day  to  the  servant 
of  the  manor;  to  a  mower  and  a  warrener,  each  Id.  per  day. 

These  wages  are  curious ;  but  the  account  and  price  of  stock  is 
even  more  so.  It  seems  the  Earls  of  Lancaster  were  great  farmers, 
like  noble  lords  and  gentlemen  of  later  times,  and  here  is  the 
inventory  of  the  Prince's  farming  stock; — 4  quarters  of  mixture, 
which,  I  believe,  was  a  mixture  of  wheat  and  rye,  then  in  use,  at 
8s.  per  qr. ;  beans,  at  7s.  per  qr. ;  and  then  comes  the  store  of 
cattle,  called  "  staurum  " — 7  heifers,  the  price  of  each,  6s.  7d. ; 
7  oxen,  the  price  of  each,  lis.;  1  bull,  price  6s.;  5  cows,  price  10s.; 
4  superannuated  calves,  Is.  (i.e.  yearling  calves);  4  calves  rising  a 
year  old,  lid.  The  numbers  of  cattle,  in  one  place,  are  thus  given 
— 2  muttons,  called  rams  ;  15S  ewes  and  lambs ;  and  55  hogasters  ; 
while  on  the  fen  "  long  after  clipping  time  "  there  w^ere  7  ewes  and 
lambs,  4  hogasters  not  shorn,  10  sheep,  and  4  shearling  hogs. 

In  a  few  months'  time,  the  Sheriff  was  ordered  to  surrender  his 
trust  to  Alanus  de  Cuppledyke,  a  well-known  Lincolnshire  name, 
and  his  inventory  is  more  minute,  until  he  gave  up  his  charge  to 
Alicia  de  Lacy,  the  heiress  of  Bolingbroke,  and  widow  of  the 
deceased  Earl,  to  whom  the  King  restored  his  possessions.  Alanus 
de  Cuppledyke  gives  account  of  the  manors  of  Thoresby,  Waynflete, 
Wrangle,  Stepynge,  Ingoldmells,  Wathe,  and  Sutton,  which  be- 
longed to  the  late  Earl,  and  of  the  marsh  and  more  of  Wildmore ; 
but  he  says  he  "  does  not  account  for  the  pasture  of  the  open  woods 
■ — hoscorum — of  Hundleby,'*  Kirkby,  and  Harebythorns — because 
they  could  not  be  agisted,  on  account  of  the  new  coppice  made 
there  in  the  time  of  the  late  Earl." 

(4;  Alas,  the  progress  of  modern  improvement  is  destroying  the  Plantagenet's  own 
planting  of  thorn,  and  perhaps  of  broom:  for  the  Commissioners  of  AYoods  and  Forests 
have  even  now  condemned  "  Hundleby  Wood"  to  be  rooted  up  and  plouglied.  Perhaps 
there  was  no  other  wood  in  England  that  could  be  actually  proved  to  have  been  planted 
by  a  Plantagenet. 


234        LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

The  dead  stock  in  the  castle  consisted  of  one  chest,  in  which 
were  a  sword  and  horn,  whicli  are  kept  for  the  charters  (I  presume 
this  relates  to  some  custom  of  the  manor,  by  which  charters  were 
conveyed  with  a  sword  and  a  horn ;  but  I  submit  it  to  the  correction 
of  the  learned) ;  another  chest,  with  coffers  and  boxes  and  other 
muniments,  black  and  covered  with  skin ;  another  chest  with 
charters,  rolls,  and  the  rest  of  the  muniments ;  5  hauberks  ;  1  pair 
of  iron  spurs;  1  great  empty  chest;  20  targets;  3  slings  or  balustres; 
9  spears  without  iron  (heads);  1  hultingtonne.  This  word  deserves 
a  passing  notice :  it  means  a  ton  or  vessel  for  boultiug,  that  is, 
kneading  flour ;  in  fact,  a  kneading  trough,  as  Pope — after  Chaucer 
— has  it, 

"  I  cannot  boult  this  matter  to  the  bran." 

But  it  is  the  origin  of  the  well-known  sign  of  the  Bolt  in  Ton  as  it 
still  exists  in  Fleet-street. 

We  cannot  dwell  longer  on  these  interesting  records,  but  the 
copies  which  1  have  obtained  may  be  inspected  by  any  who  may  be 
curious  in  such  matters.  Alice  de  Lacy  having  no  children  by  this 
Earl,  or  by  her  second  marriage,  which  was  not  a  very  creditable 
one,  her  inheritance  passed  under  the  settlement  of  her  first  mar- 
riage to  her  first  husband's  nephew,  Henry  Earl  of  Lancaster, 
who  thus  obtaining  the  Castle  of  Bolingbroke  and  Earldom  of 
Lincoln  did  not,  however,  derive  any  descent  in  blood  from  the 
Earls  of  Mercia.  In  1351  he  was  made  Duke  of  Lancaster;  and 
his  daughter  and  heiress,  Blanche  Plantagenet,  became  the  wife  of 
her  third  cousin,  John  of  Gaunt,  then  Earl  of  Richmond,  fourth 
son  of  King  Edward  III.,  in  the  year  1359,  two  years  before  his 
own  death.^ 

The  history  of  John  of  Gaunt  becomes  thus  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  that  of  the  Castle  of  Bolingbroke,  the  birthplace  of  his 
only  legitimate  son,  that  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  give  a  few  par- 
ticulars of  his  own  birth.  In  the  wardrobe  account  of  his  father, 
King  Edward  III.  (as  kindly  supplied  me  by  Mr.  Joseph  Hunter, 
Curator  of  Public  Ptecords),  we  find  paid  :  "  To  Catherine  Van 
Brucell,  the  midwife  of  the  Lady  Philippa,  the  Queen,  by  the  hand  of 
the  King  himself,  c.  s.  (a  hundred  shillings.)" — "  To  Master  William 
de  Kirkby,  Clerk  (whether  Kirkby,  in  Lincolnshire,  I  know  not), 
lately  treasurer  of  the  Lady  Queen  Philippa,  for  money  expended 
by  him  for  the  expenses  of  the  Lady  Queen  at  the  time  of  her 
accouchment  of  John  of  Gaunt,  the  king's  son,  at  Gant,  cxx.  lib." 
(£120).  Here  we  have  the  cost  of  a  rayal  confinement,  and  the 
name  of  a  Flemish  midwife.  But  the  following  is  still  more 
interesting : — "  For  the  expenses  of  Lionel  and  John  of  Gaunt, 
sons  of  the  King,  and  Johanna  his  daughter,  staying  at  Gaunt 
from  the  28th  of  May,  in  the  1 4th  year  (of  the  King),  to  the 
17th  July  following,  at  40s.  per  day — cii.  lib.", — a  contemporary 
record  of  the  infancy  of  those  brothers  in  their  innocent  childhood, 
whose  posterity  was  to  rend  asunder  the  fair  realm  of  England 

(5)  S.  Green,  vol.  iii.,  p.  286. 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  235 

in  their  contentions  for  the  crown,  and  dissolve  all  ties  of  kindred, 
until  the  very  name  they  bore  should  be  extinguished  in  mutual 
slaughter. 

The  birth  of  John  of  Gaunt  took  place  in  1340;  his  marriage 
with  the  heiress  of  Bolingbroke,  as  has  been  already  said,  in  1359, 
when  he  therefore  was  no  more  than  nineteen  years  of  age.  There 
is  no  actual  record  of  the  birth  of  his  son,  but  he  is  shewn  to  have 
been  fifteen  years  of  age  in  the  year  1381,  from  a  charge  made  in 
the  accounts  of  his  father  s  household  of  that  year  for  two  poor  men 
at  Easter,  "  beyond  the  usual  number  of  thirteen,  for  my  Lord 
of  Derby  to  wash  their  feet,  because  my  Lord  was  now  15  years  of 
age,  to  make  up  the  number  to  that  of  his  own  years. "*^  I  am 
indebted  for  this  discovery  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Hardy,  Curator 
of  the  Records  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster. 

We  may  therefore  conclude  that  it  was  on  the  3rd  of  April, 
1366,  six  years  after  her  marriage,  that  the  Duchess  Blanche  gave 
birth  to  her  only  son,  at  her  Castle  of  Bolingbroke,  the  only  legiti- 
mate son  of  his  father,  and  the  only  king  of  England  who  has  been 
born  in  this  county  of  Lincoln  ;  born,  however,  in  a  private  though 
highly  elevated  station,  with  no  immediate  prospect  of  that  eminence 
to  which  his  ambition  would  climb.  The  Duchess  did  not  long 
survive  his  birth.  She  died  of  the  pestilence  in  1369,  the  same 
year  as  her  mother-in-law.  Queen  Philippa ;  and  Froissart  says  of 
them  both,  that  "  two  such  noble  dames  as  she  and  the  late  Queen 
of  England,  Philippa,  so  liberal  and  so  courteous,  he  never  saw,  nor 
ever  should  see  again  were  he  to  live  one  thousand  years. "^  Nor 
was  this  the  only  tribute  to  her  memory.  Her  husband  paid  yearly 
sums  for  the  anniversary,  as  he  describes  it,  "  of  our  much  beloved 
companion  Dame  Blanche,  whom  God  assoil."^  And  if  we  may 
believe  universal  tradition,  his  grief  and  her  merits  are  recorded  in 
immortal  verse  by  the  father  of  English  poetry.  She  had  in  her 
household  a  lady  named  Catherine  Rouet,  daughter  of  Sir  Payne 
Kouet,  a  gentleman  from  Hainan! t,  and  a  countrywoman,  therefore, 
of  Queen  Philippa.  She  married  Sir  Hugh  Swinford,  of  Kettle- 
thorpe  in  this  county,  on  whose  death  she  returned  to  the  family 
of  the  Duchess,  and  became  governess  to  her  children.  Her  sister 
Philippa,  said  to  have  been  also  a  favourite  with  the  Duke  and 
Duchess,  became  the  wife  of  Geoffry  Chaucer,  and  his  fortunes 
were  thus  connected  with  those  of  John  of  Gaunt.  There  is  no 
necessity  to  suppose  that  the  sinful  connection  between  this  Prince 
and  Catherine  had  as  yet  taken  place ;  and,  if  the  common  history 
of  Chaucer's  poem  of  "  the  Dream  "  be  true,  it  is  almost  incredible. 
We  have  thus  some  right  to  suppose  that  Chaucer  was  a  frequent 
guest  at  Bolingbroke  and  Lincoln  Castles ;  and  that  he  who  first 
ventured  to  clothe  his  poetry  in  an  English  garb,  when  the  proud 
Norman  was  beginning  to  call  his  country  Engle-land  instead  of 

(6)  MS.  notes  of  W.  Hardy,  Esq.,  keeper  of  the  archives  of  the  Duchy. 
(1)  Vol.  iii.,  p.  4,  quoted  by  M.  A.  E.  Green,  Lives  of  Princesses,  iii.,  304. 
(8)  MS.  of  Mr.  Hardy,  from  Records  of  the  Duchy. 


236      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Engle-terre,  may  have  been  familiar  with  that  broad  and  honest 
Saxon  which  we  inherit  here. 

In  this  poem  he  thus  described  the  Prince  as  he  found  him 
lamenting  for  his  wife — 

Than  found  I  sitte,  even  upright, 

A  wonder  welfaring  knight, 

By  the  manner  me  thought  so 

Of  good  mokell,  and  right  yong  thereto, 

Of  the  age  of  four  and  twentie  yere, 

Upon  his  beard  but  little  herre, 

And  he  was  clothed  all  in  black. 

The  age  of  John  of  Gaunt  when  his  wife  died  would  be  28,  if 
our  reckoning  is  correct ;  but  certainly  he  might  well  be  said  to  be 
still  a  young  man.  The  poet  represents  him  as  thus  describing 
his  beloved  Blanche — 

Among  these  ladies,  thus  echone, 
Sooth  to  saine,  I  saw  one, 
That  was  like  none  of  the  rout, 
For  I  dare  swere  without  doubt, 
That  as  the  summer's  sunne  bright 
Is  fairer,  clerer,  and  hath  more  light 
Than  any  other  plannet  in  Heven, 
The  moon,  or  the  sterres  seven, 
For  all  the  world  so  had  she 
Surmounted  hem  all  of  beaute. 


It  was  my  swete,  right  all  herselve, 
She  had  so  stedfast  countenance. 
So  noble  port  and  maintenance. 

But  the  description  of  her  personal  accomplishments  is  stiH 
more  beautiful — 

I  saw  her  dance  so  comely, 
Carol  and  sing  so  sweetly, 
Laugh  and  play  so  womanly, 
And  look  so  debonair)}'', 
So  goodly  speke  and  so  friendly ; 
That  certes  I  trowe  that  evermore 
Nas  scene  so  blisful  a  tresore : 
For  every  heer  on  her  hede, 
Sothe  to  say  it  was  not  rede, 
Ne  neither  yelowe  ne  broun  it  nas. 
Me  thoughte  most  like  gold  it  was. 

That  golden  hair  which  gave  occasion  to  one  of  the  most 
exquisite  sonnets  in  the  Italian  language,  where  Salvator  Rosa  tells 
the  lady  of  his  love,  that  "  if  covetous  nature  shall  hereafter  rob 
him  of  its  gold,  he  will  be  content  with  his  poverty,  and  love  it  when 
it's  silver  " — 

Povero  ma  contento, 

Lo  vedro  bianco, 

E  r  amoro  d'argento. 

It  is  difficult  to  forbear  from  quoting  more  of  this  beautiful 
poem,  especially  where  the  poet  speaks  of  that  other  quality  of  all 
good  and  beautiful  women,  her  "  goodly  swete  spech  " — 

*'  So  friendly  and  so  well  y-grounded, 
Upon  all  reason  so  well  y-founded  " — 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  237 

but  time  and  space  forbid.  The  same  poem  contains  a  description 
of  the  painted  glass  windows  in  a  chamber  of  a  castle,  which  may 
or  may  not  belong  to  Bolingbroke,  but  which  is  valuable  as  a 
contemporary  description  They  were  painted  with  the  story  of  the 
siege  of  Troy.  There  is  another  poem  of  Chaucer's,  also  called  his 
Dream,  which  is  said  to  describe  John  of  Gaunt's  marriage  with 
the  Lady  Blanche,  and  his  own  marriage  with  Philippa  Rouet.  It 
is  not  equal  to  the  first,  but  both  are  highly  valuable. 

There  was  one  remnant  of  this  interesting  Duchess  which  is 
said  to  have  existed  in  the  church  at  Bolingbroke — an  altar  cloth, 
the  work  of  a  Duchess  of  Lancaster.  It  may  be  attributed  to  the 
Duchess  Blanche,  assisted  possibly  by  Chaucer's  wife  and  Catherine 
Swinford,  because  she  was,  I  think,  the  only  Duchess  of  Lancaster 
who  bore  that  title.  Her  mother  died  before  her  father  was  Duke, 
and  her  son's  wife,  Mary  de  Bohun,  co-heiress  of  the  Earls  of 
Hereford,  died  in  the  lifetime  of  John  of  Gaunt,  and  was  always 
called  Countess  of  Derby.  On  enquiry,  I  regret  to  find  that  this 
altar  cloth  is  not  now  there,  and  has  not  been  seen  for  twenty  years. 
The  abstraction  of  such  a  relic  is  an  act  not  less  stupid  than  dis- 
graceful. In  its  place,  it  is  of  incalculable  value.  Possessed  by 
those  who  have  stolen  it,  and  dare  not  tell  its  history,  it  is  a  mere 
useless  remnant,  fit  only  to  be  destroyed. 

Some  memorials  of  the  Countess  of  Derby  and  heiress  of  Here- 
ford exist  in  the  archives  of  the  Duchy — a  payment  to  her  mother 
after  she  was  married  to  the  young  Earl  of  Derby,  as  Henry  of 
Bolingbroke  was  called,  for  her  maintenance  until  she  should  be 
14  years  of  age,  when  she  was  to  join  her  husband,  and  other  pay- 
ments for  music  for  her  use.  She  lived  chiefly  at  the  castle  of 
Peterborough  during  the  frequent  absences  of  her  husband  in 
Prussia  and  Palestine,  but  gave  birth  to  her  eldest  son,  the  future 
hero  of  Agincourt,  as  we  all  know,  at  Monmouth  castle.  He,  too, 
was  born  in  a  private  station,  and  the  Countess  of  Derby  died  before 
her  husband  was  tempted  to  that  deed  of  which  it  was  so  truly  said 
that— 

The  children  yet  unborn 


Should  feel  that  day  as  sharp  to  them  as  thorn. 

— Shalcspeare,  Rich,  ii.,  act  5,  sc.  4. 

And  yet,  even  to  that  deed  there  was  not  only  strong  temptation, 
but  some  excuse.  Richard,  by  his  wanton  tyranny,  had  not  only 
alienated  all  hearts,  but  by  his  disgraceful  seizure  of  John  of 
Gaunt's  possessions,  on  his  death, 

Had  plucked  a  thousand  dangers  on  his  head, 
And  lost  a  thousand  well  disposed  hearts. 

— Rich,  ii,,  act  2,  sc.  3. 

So  that  Bolingbroke's  complaint  was  just — 

My  rights  and  royalties 


Plucked  from  my  arms  perfoi'ce,  and  given  away 

To  upstart  unthrifts — wherefore  Avas  I  born? 

If  that  my  cousin-king  be  King  of  England, 

It  must  be  granted,  I  am  Duke  of  Lancaster. — Ibid. 


238      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

His  crime — for  it  was  a  crime,  and  a  great  one — consisted  in  this, 
that  he  had  not  resolution  to  withstand  a  great  temptation,  ^Yhen  he 
was  impelled  towards  it  not  onl}^  by  his  ambition,  but  by  something 
like  that  "necessity"  which  Shakspeare  represents  him  as  pleading 
for  himself,  arising  from  the  outrageous  conduct  of  his  cousin-king. 

And  in  regard  to  the  title  of  his  family  to  the  throne,  I  must 
confess  to  a  deep-rooted  conviction  that  it  was  better  than  is  now 
commonly  admitted.  In  case  of  the  peaceful  death  of  Richard, 
without  issue,  he  was  the  next  prince  of  the  blood,  and  the  un- 
doubted male  heir  of  the  House  of  Plantagenet.  The  claim  of  the 
House  of  York  did  not  accrue  until  many  years  later;  for  they  were 
descended  from  Edmund  Earl  of  Cambridge  and  Duke  of  York,  a 
younger  brother  of  John  of  Gaunt,  and  had  no  claim  to  the  succession 
until  the  death  of  Edmund  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  grandson  of 
Philippa  Plantagenet,  the  only  child  of  Lionel  Duke  of  Clarence, 
John  of  G aunt's  elder  brother,  ^Yhen  Pdchard  Duke  of  York,  his 
nephew,  became  his  heir. 

The  popular  arts,  therefore,  of  Henry  of  Bolingbroke,  his  with- 
drawing himself  so  much  from  the  country,  so  that  he  says — 

By  being  seldom  seen,  I  could  not  stir, 

But,  like  a  comet,  I  was  wonder'd  at; 

That  men  would  tell  their  children — This  is  he — 

Others  would  say — Where?     Which  is  Bolingbroke? 

These  arts  might  have,  and  doubtless  had,  a  view  to  his  succession 
to  the  throne,  but  only  as  against  the  claims  of  the  house  of 
Mortimer,  and  in  contemplation  of  the  peaceful  death  of  his  cousin, 
King  Pdchard.  And  here  one  is  tempted  to  observe  on  the  ten- 
dency of  events  in  history  to  repeat  themselves,  as  exemplified  in 
the  case  of  several  competitors  for  the  English  crown.  If  Boling- 
broke might  for  a  long  while  have  hoped  for  a  peaceful  and  natural 
succession,  such  also  was  for  a  long  time  the  case  with  the  great 
rival  of  his  family,  Richard  Duke  of  York;  for,  as  Henry  V.'s 
brothers  had  no  children,  Richard  of  York  icas  the  next  heir  until 
the  birth  of  the  son  of  Henry  VI.,  so  foully  murdered  afterwards  at 
Tewkesbury.  And  in  later  times  we  know  that  William  of  Orange 
and  his  wafe  were,  for  a  long  while,  the  acknowledged  heirs,  until 
James  II. 's  son  was  born.  To  return  to  Henry  of  Bolingbroke;  it 
is  true  that  Richard  had  caused  Mortimer  to  be  acknowledged  by 
Parliament  as  his  successor,  but  he  ruled  in  so  arbitrary  a  manner, 
and  so  often  coerced  his  Parliament,  and  even  altered  the  laws,  that 
Bolingbroke  might  still  hope  to  set  aside  such  a  settlement.  As  it 
was,  John  of  Gaunt  is  said  to  have  put  forward  the  claim  of  his  son 
on  that  occasion;  and  it  is  scarcely  probable  that  he  should  have 
placed  his  claim,  as  Leland  says,  on  the  strange  ground  which 
Bolingbroke  himself  afterwards  intimated,  of  the  report  that  Ed- 
mund Crouchback,  the  ancestor  of  the  Duchess  Blanche,  was  an 
elder  brother  of  Edward  I. ;  for  this  was  to  set  aside  the  claim  of 
himself  and  all  his  family,  and  of  the  reigning  king  before  whom 
he  must  have  preferred  it,  Bolingbroke,  when  he  deposed  King 
Richard,  had  indeed,  by  that  usurpation,  placed  himself  under  the 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  239 

necessity  of  inventing  some  such  miserable  plea,  because  his  real 
claim,  as  the  next  male  heir,  could  not  accrue  during  Richard's 
life.  But  the  question  is,  whether  the  Barons  and  Parliament  of 
England,  where  every  earl  was  his  blood  relation,  (so  that  he  intro- 
duced the  practice,  continued  by  future  sovereigns,  of  calling  an  earl 
his  "  cousin,")  would  not  have  preferred  his  claim,  not  to  that  of 
the  House  of  York,  which  at  that  time  had  no  existence,  but  to  that 
of  a  family  not  more  illustrious  than  many  amongst  themselves — 
the  Mortimers — and  neither  popular  nor  creditable  in  a  preceding 
reign,  but  who  were  descended  from  a  daughter  of  Lionel,  the  next 
brother  to  the  Black  Prince. 

The  claim  of  Henry  to  the  throne  of  England,  apart  from  his 
usurpation  during  Richard's  life,  was  precisely  the  same  in  kind, 
with  that  of  the  house  of  Valois  to  the  throne  of  France,  only  nearer 
in  degree ;  and  the  claim  of  Edward  III.  to  the  throne  of  France, 
was  far  nearer  than  that  of  the  Earl  of  March  to  that  of  England, 
as  he  was  the  son  of  Isabella,  the  sister  of  the  former  king.  And 
though  the  Salique  law  was  alleged  as  the  reason  of  the  States  of 
France  for  rejecting  his  claim,  that  claim  did  not  actually  violate  the 
Salique  law,  for  he  claimed  not  for  his  mother,  but  for  himself,  as 
through  her  the  nearest  prince  of  the  blood.  Nor  had  that  way  of 
succession  been  long  settled  in  France,  for  the  crown  had  been 
claimed  for  Jane,  the  daughter  of  Louis  Hutin,  not  many  years 
before.  There  was  no  reason,  therefore,  why  Henry  should  not 
hope  that  the  time  might  come  when  the  Peers  of  England  might 
adopt  in  his  favour  the  same  decision  which  the  Peers  of  France 
had  taken  against  his  grandfather,  by  declaring  that  the  throne  of 
England  should  go  to  the  male  heir  of  Edward  III.,  and  of  the 
House  of  Plantagenet.  It  was  by  prematurely  clutching  that  glit- 
tering bauble,  which  had  been  so  long  before  his  eyes,  that  he 
entailed  upon  his  posterity  a  legacy  of  woe,  and  was  fain  to  lament 
in  the  bitterness  of  his  soul 

Those  indirect  bye-paths 
By  which  he  met  that  crown, 

and  in  his  sleepless  grandeur  to  envy  the  ship-boy  on  the  mast, 
w^hile  he  acknovvledged  that 

Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown. 
And  it  seems  to  me  that  some  such  view  of  the  case  as  this  is 
necessary  in  order  to  account  for  the  desperate  fidelity  with  which 
the  partisans  of  the  House  of  Lancaster  clung  to  its  falling  fortunes. 
In  their  eyes,  Henry  IV.,  notwithstanding  his  original  usurpation, 
was  the  next  male  heir  to  the  crown,  confirmed  in  his  possession  by 
Parliamentary  appointment.  And  when  his  son  and  grandson  had 
enjoyed  the  throne  with  undisputed  succession  after  him,  the  claim 
of  the  Yorkists  must  have  seemed  to  them,  as  it  did  to  Henry  VI. 
himself,  to  partake  of  the  nature  of  treason — as  when  he  said — 

I  was  anointed  King  at  nine  months  old; 
My  father  and  my  grandfather  were  Kings; 
And  you  were  sworn  true  subjects  vmto  me, 
And  tell  me,  then,  have  you  not  broke  your  oaths? 

— Third  part  of  King  Henry  VI.,  act  3,  scene  1. 
VOL.  IV.,  n.  II.  H  H 


240      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  AECHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

To  this  may  be  added  the  declaration  of  Phihp  de  Commines,  the 
noble  historian  and  counsellor  of  Louis  XI.  of  France,  who  says  of 
King  Henry  VI.  that  he  "  had  reigned  many  years  in  England, 
and  was  lawful  King,  both  in  mine  opinion  and  in  the  judgment  of 
the  whole  world. "^  It  might  be  worth  our  wdiile  to  note  another 
judgment  of  this  experienced  foreign  statesman,  viz.,  "that  of  all 
the  nations  in  tbe  world,  the  Englishmen  are  most  desirous  to  trie 
their  quarrels  by  dint  of  sword  (lib.  Hi.  c.  7.  in  Jin./'  But  there  is 
another  sentiment  of  this  good  man  and  grave  writer  concerning 
the  wars  of  the  Roses  which  deserves  to  be  recorded.  That  part  of 
his  statement  has  often  been  quoted  in  which  he  relates  the  miseiy 
of  the  exiled  princes  and  nobles  of  England  at  the  Court  of  Bur- 
gundy, during  and  after  these  wars,  especially  where  he  says, 
*'  I  have  seen  them  in  so  great  misery  before  they  came  to  the 
Duke's  knowdedge,  that  those  that  beg  from  door  to  door  were  not 
in  poorer  estate  than  they:  for  I  once  saw  a  Duke  of  Exeter  ran  on 
foot  bare-legged  after  the  Duke  of  Burgundy's  train,  begging  his 
bread  for  God's  sake,  but  he  uttered  not  his  name."  Thus  far  has 
been  often  quoted.  But  that  which  follows  is  even  more  worthy  of 
note  : — "  Their  fathers  and  kinsmen  had  spoiled  and  destroyed  the 
realm  of  France,  and  possessed  the  greatest  part  thereof  many 
years,  and  afterwards  slew^  one  another,  and  those  that  remained 
alive  in  England  and  their  children  have  died  as  you  have  seen. 
Yet  men  say  that  God  punisheth  not  now  as  he  did  in  the  children 
of  Israel's  time,  but  suffereth  evil  men  and  evil  Princes  to  live  un- 
punished."'°  Another  historian,  Rapin,  also  a  foreigner,  attributes 
the  miserable  fate  of  Edw'ard  III.'s  descendants  to  the  divine  retribu- 
tion on  the  cruel  murder  of  his  father,  Edward  II.  If  De  Commines 
and  other  contemporary  spectators  attributed  the  miseries  of  Eng- 
land, during  the  wars  of  the  Roses,  to  the  judgment  of  God  upon 
those  who  had  so  ruthlessly  desolated  the  fair  realm  of  France  to 
serve  their  own  ambition,  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  conquests 
of  Henry  V.,  glorious  as  they  were,  had  even  less  excuse  than  those 
of  Edward  III. ;  for  whatever  title  he  might  have,  as  male  heir,  to  the 
throne  of  England,  was  destructive  of  his  claim  to  that  of  France, 
which  Edward  had  claimed  as  against  the  male  heir,  so  that  such 
claim,  whatever  it  was,  could  not  by  possibility  be  his. 

But  it  is  more  than  time  to  pass  to  those  events  of  this  bloody 
conflict  which  are  connected  with  this  county. 

After  the  first  battle  of  St.  Albans,  A.D.  1454,  33rd  Henry  VI., 
and  after  the  hollow  accommodation  in  1457,  which  had  followed 
the  Duke  of  York's  Protectorate,  when  he  had  finally  resolved  to 
resort  to  arms,  he  was  joined  on  the  borders  of  Wales  by  the  Earl 
of  Warwick  from  Calais,  "  bringing  with  him  from  that  town  (as  we 
are  told)  a  great  number  of  expert  men,  wdiereof  two  were  of  great 
experience,  one  called  Andrew  Trollop,  the  other  John  Blount.  "^^ 

(9)  Philip  de  Commines,  lib.  vi.,  c.  13,  p.  220,  ed.  1614. 
(10)  Ibid,  lib.  ii.,  c.  4,  p.  79. 
(11)  Stow. 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  241 

It  is  with  the  exploits  of  Andrew,  soon  afterwards  knighted  as  Sir 
Andrew  Trollop,  that  we  are  chiefly  concerned.  He  was  a  gentle- 
man of  large  possessions  and  ancient  family  in  the  county  of 
Durham,  where  his  family  were  Lords  of  Mordon,  Thornley,  and 
Little  Eden,  and  he  had  long  served  in  the  wars  in  France.  The 
king's  army  drew  near  to  that  of  York  and  his  followers  at  Ludlow; 
and  then  first  it  came  to  the  knowledge  of  Trollop  and  his  Calais 
men,  hy  means  of  a  proclamation  from  the  king,  that  they  were 
brought  to  fight,  not  for  King  Henry,  whose  loyal  soldiers  they 
were,  but  against  him.  Warwick  is  said  to  have  employed  persons 
to  swear  before  the  people  that  the  king  was  dead,  causing  masses 
to  be  said  for  his  soul,  that  they  might  not  fear  to  take  arms  against 
him.  But  when  Trollop  found  that  he  "  had  foul  intentions  to- 
w^ards  the  King,  whereas  his  preservation  and  honour  was  pre- 
tended, he  got  away  privately  with  a  choice  sort  of  men,  and  came 
to  the  King," — ( HoUnslied ) — thereby  disconcerting,  for  the  present, 
all  the  measures  of  the  rival  faction.  Trollop,  of  course,  was  wel- 
come, and  was  henceforth  till  his  death  a  faithful  adherent  of  the 
Lancastrian  cause.  His  conduct  would  be  treason  in  the  eyes  of 
those  who,  judging  by  our  now  received  laws  of  succession,  consider 
the  whole  Lancastrian  dynasty  to  have  been  one  continued  usurjDa- 
tion ;  but  if  he  thought  as  Philip  de  Commines  has  told  us  all  the 
AYorld  did  in  those  times,  then  it  was  the  act  of  a  noble  and  loyal 
gentleman. 

We  are  now  to  hear  of  him  in  this  county.  The  king  had  been 
made  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Northampton,  1459 :  the  Duke  of 
York  (just  after  having  been  proclaimed  by  Parliament  next  heir  to 
the  throne)  had  been  slain  at  the  battle  of  Wakefield,  December, 
1460,  \vhere  Trollop  was  one  of  the  commanders  ;  and  while  Edward 
was  defeating  the  Lancastrians  at  Mortimer's  Cross,  near  Hereford, 
Queen  Margaret  advanced  out  of  the  north  with  an  immense  force 
under  the  command  of  Sir  Andrew  Trollop.  It  was  a  little  before 
this  time  that  she  is  represented  by  Shakspeare  as  saying  to  the 
king,  when  he  had  agreed  to  the  compact  by  which  York  was 
declared  heir  to  the  throne  to  the  exclusion  of  their  own  son — - 

The  Northern  Lords,  that  have  forsworn  thy  colours, 
Will  follow  mine,  if  once  they  see  them  spread; 
And  spread  they  shall  he,  to  thy  foul  disgrace, 
And  utter  ruin  of  the  house  of  York. 

— Third  pa)  t  of  King  Henry  VI.,  act  3,  scene  1. 

It  may  perhaps  have  been  in  order  to  induce  her  northern  followers 
to  advance  upon  London,  that  Queen  Margaret  promised  them  the 
spoil  of  all  the  counties  south  of  Trent;  but  it  had  a  disastrous 
effect  not  only  upon  these  counties,  but  ultimately  upon  the  Lan- 
castrian cause,  as  the  terror  of  their  ravages  prevented  their  gaining 
possession  of  London.  The  history  of  this  inroad,  which  resembled 
nothing  so  much  as  the  ravages  of  the-Danes  in  ancient  times,  is 
best  given  in  the  words  of  the  chroniclers  themselves.  "  Andrew 
TroUope,"  says  Stowe,  "  Grand  Captain,  and,  as  it  were,  leader 


242      LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  tlie  battle,  with  a  great  army  of  Scots,  Welshmen,  and  other 
strangers  besides  the  northern  men,  destroyed  the  towns  of  Gran- 
tham, Stamford,  Peterborough,  Huntingdon,  Eoiston,  Melbourn, 
and  in  a  manner  all  the  towns  by  the  way  unto  St.  Albans,  sparing 
neither  Abbies,  Priories,  or  Parish  Churches,  but  bore  away  crosses, 
chalices,  books,  ornaments,  and  other  things  whatsoever  was  worth 
the  carrying,  as  though  they  had  been  Saracens  and  no  Christians." 
Speed  tell  us  (p.  864)  that  "  there  came  before  them  an  evil  fame 
of  their  behaviour  to  London,  whose  wealth  looked  pale,  knowing 
itself  in  danger."  And  the  continuator  of  the  Chronicle  of  Croyland 
writes  (as  translated  by  Peck,  in  his  history  of  Stamford),  that  "the 
Duke  of  York  being  slain,  presently  the  northern  men,  seeing  that 
he,  their  hindrance,  once  removed,  there  ^vas  nobody  who  durst 
venture  to  resist  their  power,  like  a  sort  of  w4iirlwind,  scouring 
back  out  of  the  north,  sought  to  involve  all  England  in  the  onset  of 
their  fury.  For  besides  the  prodigious  great  riches  which  they 
raked  up  for  themselves  from  without,  they  likewise,  with  a  wild 
madness,  irreverently  breaking  into  the  churches  and  other  sanc- 
tuaries of  God,  most  wickedly  took  away  chalices,  books,  vestments, 
nay  the  very  pyxes  made  to  preserve  Christ's  body."  He  describes 
them  as  a  "  grievous  multitude,  passing  uncontrolled  here  and 
there  thirty  miles  wide,  and  like  locusts  covering  the  whole  face  of 
the  earth  almost  as  far  as  London."  "  How^  much  fear  do  you 
think  we,  living  in  this  island  of  Croyland,  were  then  filled  wdth, 
when  such  rumours  every  day  daunted  our  ears  ?"  They  hid  their 
treasures  and  their  charters  ;  they  celebrated  daily  processions  and 
other  prayers.  They  barricaded  the  entrances  to  their  island  home, 
and  Hooded  its  a]_3proaches ;  and  they  heard  of  the  hostile  army 
approaching  them  within  six  miles.  But  Croyland  was  spared. 
Not  so  Stamford,  wdiich,  as  Peck  reminds  us,  not  only  lay  directly 
in  their  road,  but  was  a  town  belonging  to  the  Dukes  of  York,  and, 
therefore,  especially  obnoxious  to  Lancastrian  fury.  He  applies  to 
this  occasion  Leland's  statement  that  "  the  northern  men,  brent 
iniche  of  Stamford  towne.  It  was  not  since  fully  re-edified."  And 
Cambden  says,  "Nevertheless — i.e.,  notwithstanding  the  dissolution 
of  its  University  by  King  Richard  XL, — this  place  flourished  in 
trade,  till  the  civil  war  falling  out  between  the  houses  of  Lancaster 
and  York,  the  northern  soldiers  breaking  into  the  town,  destroyed 
everything  with  fire  and  sword."  On  this  expression,  the  historian 
of  Stamford,  zealous  for  its  honour,  grounds  an  inference  that  the 
towaispeople  resisted  the  northern  army,  and  shut  their  gates,  till 
they  broke  in  and  destroyed  everything  they  could  with  fire  and 
sword. 

We  need  not  follow  the  further  details  of  this  terrible  inroad. 
It  is  matter  of  history  that  they  recovered  the  person  of  the  king  at 
St.  Albans,  but  were  refused  entrance  into  London,  owing  to  the 
terror  that  their  ravages  had  inspired  ;  that  on  the  aj)proach  of  the 
young  Edward  with  his  forces,  they  retreated  towards  the  north, 
while  Edward  was  welcomed  and  proclaimed  King  in  London ;  and 


THE    BURIAL    OF   THE    DEAD    AETER  TOWTON  EIGHT. 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  243 

tbat  the  hopes  of  the  Lancastrians  were  extinguished  at  the  disas- 
trous fight  of  To^Yton,  on  Pahn  Sunday  following,  A.D.  1401,  where 
Edward,  finding  his  numbers  inferior  to  theirs,  and  copying  the 
example  of  Henry  V.  at  Agincourt,  but  with  less  excuse,  ordered 
that  no  quarter  should  be  given.  For  Henry  had  reason  to  suppose 
that  a  fresh  army  w^as  upon  him,  when  he  saw  his  camp  assailed, 
and  he  stayed  the  slaughter  the  moment  the  mistake  was  dis- 
covered. In  this  battle — one  of  the  most  bloody  ever  fought  on 
British  ground,  when  no  ransom  was  thought  of,  nor  any  mercy 
shown — upwards  of  35,000  men  were  slain  during  the  ten  hours  of 
its  continuance,  amongst  whom  were  the  Lords  Nevile,  Willoughby, 
Wells,  Scales,  Gray,  Dacres,  Fitzhugh,  Bcckingham,  and  Clifford ; 
also  a  vast  number  of  knights,  esquires,  and  gentlemen,  including 
that  hero  of  a  hundred  fights,  Sir  Andrew  Trowlop,  described  by 
Hollingshed  as  being,  with  the  Earl  of  Northumberland,  one  of  the 
chief  captains  of  the  Lancastrian  army  in  the  cause  which  he  had 
served  so  faithfully  and  so  well — so  that  not  only  was  the  battle- 
field deeply  stained  with  their  blood,  but  the  rivers  in  its  vicinity 
were  reddened  for  miles  from  the  same  deadly  source.'^  He  left, 
indeed,  the  mark  of  an  iron  hand  and  heel  on  the  county  which 
was  to  become  the  residence  of  his  descendants.  But  that  mark 
is  long  since  effaced;  while  a  flourishing  branch  of  his  ancient 
house  remains  to  tread  the  paths  of  loyalty  and  honour — of  which 
who  will  not  say — Esto  perpetua  ? 

Notwithstanding  the  terrible  visitation  of  this  northern  "  raid," 
Lincolnshire  was  still  a  Lancastrian  county.  This  might  be 
expected  from  the  vast  possessions  of  the  House  of  Lancaster,  but 
there  were  other  causes. 

John,  Lord  Wells  of  Hellowe,  the  place  now  called  Belleau, 
near  Alford,  was  in  the  retinue  of  John,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  in  the 
expedition  to  Flanders,  47  Edward  III.  His  grandson  and  heir, 
Leo,  Lord  Wells  of  Hellowe,  Lord  also  of  Alford,  Well,  and  many 
adjoining  lordships,  was  knighted  with  the  young  king  Henry  VI., 
by  the  great  Duke  of  Bedford,  at  Leicester,  on  Whitsunday,  4th 
Henry  VI.  He  married  for  his  second  wife  Margaret  Beauchamp, 
widow  of  John  Beaufort,  Duke  of  Somerset,  and  mother  of  Margaret, 


C12.)  The  great  mass  of  the  dead  was  doubtless  buried  on  the  spot  where  they  fell, 
but  many  of  the  chiefs  received  more  careful  sepulture  in  the  neighbouring  church  and 
churchyard  of  Saxton,  a  fact  wliich  has  been  very  cleverly  realised  by  the  artistic 
powers  of  Mrs.  Robert  Miles,  and  engraved  at  the  expense  of  Mr.  Ellison,  forming  the 
frontispiece  to  this  Paper.  There  the  fallen  nobles  are  represented  in  the  act  of  being 
carried  by  their  followers  on  biers  to  their  graves,  each  with  his  banner  before  him; 
and  we  recognise  those  of  the  Lords  Nevile,  and  Dacres,  and  that  of  the  chief  captain 
of  the  host — the  gallant  veteran  Sir  Andrew  Trowlope— following  the  priestly  procession, 
singing  dirges  for  the  dead  before  their  entry  into  the  church.  It  has  been  remarked  by 
a  lady  of  this  battle-tield,  that  the  most  touching  instance  of  application  of  the  rose 
to  the  grave  is  yet  to  be  seen  on  the  battle-field  of  Towton,  in  the  West  Hiding  of 
Yorkshire,  where,  on  March  29,  14G1,  the  armies  of  tlie  Yorkist  and  Lancastrian  factions 
met  in  deadly  strife.  On  that  field,  where  fellow-countrymen  refused  to  each  other  all 
quarter,  and  where  thirty-six  thousand  men  fell  by  the  hands  of  their  brethren,  the  roses 
which  were  planted  by  the  survivors  on  their  sepulchral  mounds  still  grow  and  bloom. 
We  might  almost  fancy  that  the  well-known  "  York  and  Lancaster,"  rose,  the  old- 
fashioned  rose  of  our  childhood,  whose  red  and  white  petals  bear  peacefully  commingled 
the  colors  of  the  contending  parties,  might  have  sprung  from  this  ungeuial  soil,  and 
drawn  its  beauties  from  the  field  of  civil  tight,— Weeds  and  Wiidjlowers,  by  Lady  Wilkiiison. 


244        LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Countess  of  Ridimond,  Henry  the  Seventh's  mother.  In  the  30th 
year  of  Henry  VI.,  he  was  with  Edward,  Duke  of  Somerset,  when 
he  was  Captain  of  Calais,  and  he  fell  on  the  Lancastrian  side  at 
Towton,  leaving  Sir  Richard  Wells,  Knight,  his  son  and  heir,  and 
four  daughters ;  Alianore,  wife  of  Thomas,  Lord  Hoo  and  Hastings 
— so  made,  as  well  as  K.G.  by  Henry  VI. ;  Margaret,  married  to 
Sir  Thomas  Dymoke,  Knight ;  Cecilia  to  Sir  Ptobert  Willoughby ; 
and  Catherine  to  Sir  Thomas  de  la  Laund,  Knight,  of  this  county. 
Each  of  these  was  a  Lincolnshire  family,  except  the  first ;  and  one 
of  the  daughters  of  Lord  Hoo  and  Hastings  was  married  into 
another  Lincolnshire  family,  being  the  wife  of  Thomas,  second  son 
of  Richard  Massingberd  of  Burgh.  Here  then  were  four  families 
connected  with  a  devoted  Lancastrian  House.  And  this  was  not 
all.  This  Richard,  Lord  Wells,  with  the  daughter  and  heiress  of 
Robert,  Lord  Willoughby,  and  Earl  of  Vendosm,  another  great 
Lancastrian  nobleman  of  the  county,  enjoyed,  in  right  of  his  wife, 
the  barony  of  Willoughby. 

With  such  connections  and  such  associations.  Sir  Robert  Wells, 
eldest  son  of  this  Richard,  Lord  Wells  and  Willoughby,  was  per- 
suaded by  the  Earl  of  Warwick — when  that  strange  turn  of  his 
strange  career  arrived  that  induced  him  to  set  up  the  deposed  King 
Henry  against  the  king  of  his  own  making — to  raise  a  large  army  of 
Lincolnshire  men  in  aid  of  the  Lancastrian  cause.  He  drove  out 
the  Lord  Burgh  from  the  county,  and  pulled  down  his  house 
(probably  at  Gainsborough?),  and,  at  the  head  of  30,000  men,  in 
conjunction  with  Sir  Thomas  De  la  Laund,  his  brother-in-law, 
proclaimed  King  Henry. 

King  Edward,  upon  this,  was  able  to  get  Richard,  Lord  Wells, 
and  his  son-in-law,  Sir  Thomas  Dymoke,  into  his  power,  and  obliged 
the  former,  on  pain  of  death,  to  write  to  his  son  to  desist  from  his 
enterprize  and  disband  his  army — setting  out  himself  towards 
Stamford  with  a  numerous  army,  and  taking  his  captives  with  him. 
The  son  resolved  to  disregard  his  father's  enforced  command,  and 
to  withstand  the  king,  on  which  the  king  ordered  the  heads  of 
Lord  Wells  and  Sir  Thomas  Dymoke  to  be  struck  off,  and  proceeded 
towards  the  Lancastrian  army.  The  policy  of  Sir  Robert  Wells 
and  Sir  Thomas  De  la  Laund  would  have  been  to  decline  the  battle 
until  the  Earl  of  Warwick  should  arrive ;  but,  exasperated  by  the 
death  of  their  father  and  brother-in-law,  they  awaited  the  approach 
of  the  king  at  a  spot  called  Hornefield,  in  the  parish  of  Empingham. 
A  fierce  battle  ensued,  March  19,  1470,  in  which  the  men  of 
Lincolnshire  did  their  utmost,  for  it  was  not  until  10.000  men  were 
slain,  and  both  the  leaders,  Sir  Robert  Wells  and  Sir  Thomas  De 
la  Laund,  taken  prisoners,  that  they  fled  the  field.  The  scene  of 
this  battle  is  just  outside  of  Exton  Park,  within  the  county  of 
Rutland,  but  all  the  circumstances  of  those  engaged  in  it  connect 
it  with  Lincolnshire  history.  In  Blore's  History  of  Rutland  (whence 
this  account  is  chiefly  taken)  the  spot  is  said  to  retain  the  name  of 
Bloody  Oaks  to  this  day.     It  has  been  erroneously  called  the  battle 


BOLINGBROKE    CASTLE.  245 

of  Loose  Coat  Field,  from  a  place  between  Stamford  and  Little 
Casterton,  where  it  has  sometimes  been  supposed  that  it  was  fought. 
But  Blore  gives  the  act  of  attainder  of  the  leaders,  which  defines 
the  actual  spot  at  Hornefield,  in  the  parish  of  Empingham  ;  and 
the  name  of  Loose  Coat  Field  merely  relates  to  a  spot  where,  in 
their  flight,  some  of  the  defeated  are  said  to  have  thrown  away 
their  buff  coats. 

Sir  Robert  Wells  and  Sir  Thomas  De  la  Laund  were  both 
beheaded  at  Doncaster,  seven  days  after,  according  to  the  common 
account,  though  I  understand  there  is  a  reference  in  that  invaluable 
repertory  of  contemporary  history,  the  Paston  Letters,  to  the  execu- 
tion of  Sir  Thomas  De  la  Laund,  as  having  taken  place  at  Gran- 
tham, which  seems  more  probable.  I  am  also  informed  that  the 
confession  of  Sir  Ftichard  Wells  is  preserved  in  the  Harleian  collec- 
tion (No.  '28|).  But  I  became  aware  of  both  these  facts,  through 
the  kindness  of  Lord  Monson,  too  late  to  refer  to  these  authorities. 
John,  son  of  Leo  Lord  Wells,  by  his  second  wife,  Mary,  Duchess  of 
Somerset,  as  before  mentioned,  (half-brother,  therefore,  to  this 
Pdchard,  Lord  Wells,)  was  the  first  to  rise  in  arms  in  the  cause  of 
Henry,  Earl  of  Richmond,  his  nephew  by  half-blood,  but  escaped 
when  Buckingham  fell,  and  was  afterwards  raised  by  Henry  VII,  to 
the  dignity  of  a  Viscount,  with  a  grant  of  the  manors  of  Blankney 
and  Branston,  on  the  attainder  of  Lord  Level  and  Deincourt,  and 
had  the  honour  to  marry  Cecily,  third  daughter  of  King  Edward  IV., 
after  King  Henry's  marriage  with  her  elder  sister. 

The  attainder  of  Lord  Level  and  Deincourt  brings  us  to  the 
last  event  connected  with  this  county  in  the  course  of  these  eventful 
wars  ;  and  this  time  on  the  side  of  the  White  Rose. 

The  Earldom  of  Lincoln  was  granted  by  Edward  IV.,  in  1467, 
to  John  De  la  Pole,  son  of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  who  had  mar- 
ried Elizabeth  Plantagenet,  his  sister ;  while  Francis,  Lord  Level, 
who  had  adhered  throughout  to  Richard  III.,  and  by  him  been 
promoted  to  the  dignity  of  Viscount,  retired  after  Bosworth  field  to 
the  court  of  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  another  sister  of  King 
Edwardj  whither  the  Earl  of  Lincoln,  her  brother-in-law,  had  also 
retreated.  He  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Staffords,  to  raise  an  insurrection  against  Henry.  WTien 
Lambert  Simnel  was  set  up  to  personate  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  son 
of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  (Edward  IV.  and  Richard  III.'s  brother, 
and  now  the  only  remaining  male  heir  of  the  Plantagenets,  and  of 
the  House  of  York,)  both  these  noblemen  were  sent  into  Ireland  by 
the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  with  two  thousand  German  auxiliaries, 
from  whence  they  passed  into  England  and  marched  towards  York ; 
but  not  finding  themselves  joined  as  they  expected,  turned  towards 
Newark,  intending  to  hold  that  place  against  the  King.  Henry 
being  reinforced  at  Nottingham,  placed  himself  at  Stoke-upon- 
Trent,  upon  the  Earl  of  Lincoln's  line  of  march  to  Newark,  and 
totally  defeated  him  there,  June  6,  1484,  the  Earl  of  Lincoln  him- 
self being  slain  in  the  fight,  and  the  Lord  Level,  according  to  the 


246         LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

common  account,  either  slain  or  drowned  in  the  Trent.^^  The 
king  marched  thence  to  Lincohi,  and  so  to  York,  holding  severe 
inquisitions  into  the  conduct  of  any  who  might  have  been  suspected 
of  the  plot,  but  into  which  we  need  not  follow  him. 

But  it  may  be  observed  that  the  circumstance  of  such  an  insur- 
rection in  favour  of  the  male  heir  of  the  House  of  York,  which,  if 
successful,  would  have  set  aside  the  daughters  of  Edward  IV.,  sup- 
ported as  it  was  by  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  his  sister,  is  another 
and  a  convincing  proof  that  the  notions  of  succession  were  not  so 
clear  in  those  times  as  we  now  commonly  suppose ;  for  his  title  to 
the  throne  would  have  been  precisely  the  same  as  that  of  the  House 
of  Lancaster.  This  view  is  further  confirmed  by  the  condition 
stipulated  by  Ferdinand  (let  us  hope,  not  by  Isabella)  on  the  mar- 
riage of  the  Infanta  Catherine  with  Arthur,  Prince  of  Wales,  that 
the  Earl  of  Warwick  should  be  put  to  death,  to  secure  the  succes- 
sion of  the  crown  to  the  issue  of  that  marriage.  That  marriage — a 
pregnant  instance  of  the  vanity  of  human  counsels — when  those 
counsels  are  based  on  worldly  policy  and  cruelty. 

The  remainder  of  the  history  of  Bolingbroke  castle  may  be  very 
briefly  told.  It  is  recorded  by  Hollis  that  some  rooms  were  added 
to  the  castle  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  amongst  which  was  "  a  fair  great 
chamber  with  other  lodgiugs."  And  these  were  built  of  "  freestone," 
a  less  iperishable  material  than  that  of  the  original  building.  At 
the  time  of  the  great  rebellion,  it  was  in  a  state  of  sufficient  repair 
to  withstand  a  siege  for  a  few  days  against  the  Parliamentary  army. 
On  Monday,  October  9,  1643,  the  Earl  of  Manchester  arrived  with 
his  forces  from  Boston,  and  summoned  the  castle — placing  there 
ten  companies  of  foot,  under  Major  Knight,  while  Colonel  Piussel's 
regiment  was  stationed  at  Stickford,  and  his  own  at  Stickney.^*  The 
next  day  some  shots  w^ere  fired  from  the  castle,  and  a  few  of  the 
besiegers  killed  and  wounded  ;  and  it  is  said  that  a  mortar  was 
planted  by  the  besiegers  on  the  church  tower,  from  whence  to  fire 
upon  the  castle.  But  the  same  evening  the  news  arrived  of  the 
approach  of  the  royal  army ;  and  their  defeat  the  next  day  at 
Winceby  was  so  signal  and  so  complete,  that  the  castle  was  imme- 
diately abandoned,  and  that  in  such  haste  that  two  hundred  horses 
were  found  there,  their  riders  having  fled. 

From  that  time  it  seems  to  have  been  left  to  the  silent,  but 
effectual  process  of  natural  decay;  and  the  last  crumbling  remnant, 
called  the  Gatehouse,  as  represented  in  Stukeley's  drawing,  is  said  to 
have  fallen  down  on  a  calm  day  in  May,  1815.  The  green  turf  and 
the  soft  grey  moss  have  since  resumed  their  place,  and  not  one  red 
rose  remains  to  mark  the  birthplace  of  the  Heir  of  Lancaster ! 

(13.)    It  seems  there  is  also  a  report  of  his  having  escaped,  and  of  his  body  having 
been  found  at  Minster  Lovel,  in  Oxfordshire. 

(14)  Vicars'  Tarliamentary  Chronicle. 


ARCH^OLOGICAL  DISCOVERIES. 


Whilst  the  work  of  restoration  was  progressing  in  Falkingham 
church,  alladecl  to  in  the  Report,  an  interesting  discovery  was  made 
of  two  richly  carved  and  coloured  Decorated  niches  having  a  lily  in 
a  vase  carved  in  relief  between  them,  besides  fragments  of  the 
statues  themselves  that  once  stood  within  them.  To  these  had 
been  applied  small  squares  of  wax,  stamped  in  relief  and  gilt,  form- 
ing enrichments  and  borders  of  robes,  exhibiting  a  method  of 
ornamentation  that  has  not  previously  come  under  our  observation. 
In  the  centre  of  each  square  is  a  mediaeval  M,  the  monogram  of 
the  Virgin  ;  (See  cut  below,  which  is  of  the  fall  size  of  a  portion  of 
the  original.) 


and  from  the  appearance  of  the  head  of  one  of  the  statues,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  juxta-position  of  the  lily,  this  figure,  we  doubt  not, 
represented  the  Mother  of  our  Lord ;  and  the  other,  probably,  the 
Angel  of  the  Annunciation — that  event  having  been  usually  so 
treated  by  raedioeval  artists.  See  the  precious  mitre  given  in 
Pugin's  Glossary  of  Ecclesiastical  Ornament  and  Costume,  plate  69  ; 
also  the  gate -house  of  the  ancient  abbey  of  Worksop,  where  the 
same  subject,  similarly  treated  in  stone,  may  still  be  seen.  Frag- 
ments of  a  richly  carved  font,  of  a  late  Transitional  period,  were 
VOL.  rv.,  PT.  II.  I  I 


248   LINCOLN  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


also  found  under  its  modem  and  inappropriate  substitute.  These 
coincide  as  to  date  with  the  earliest  portion  of  the  present  church 
at  Falkingham,  viz.,  the  northern  wall  of  the  chancel,  which  once 
communicated — by  means  of  an  arch — with  a  chantry,  that  has 
now  been  in  part  rebuilt  for  the  purpose  of  forming  an  organ- 
chamber. 

A  circular  leaden  font  of  a  late  Norman  period  has  been  brought 
to  light  by  the  Kev.  B.  Street,  who  found  it  in  an  obscure  corner  of 
Barnetby-le-Wold  church,  where  it  had  long  been  used  for  the 
pui-pose  of  containing  lime  washes,  &c.  It  is  adorned  externally 
with  three  bands  of  scroll-work,  cast  in  relief.    (See  cut.) 


Its  height  is  1ft.  7f  ins.,  its  internal  diameter  a  little  more  than  Sft. 
Such  fonts  are  rare,  but  specimens  may  be  seen  at  Dorchester, 
Warborough,  Long  Wittenham,  &c.  They  were,  of  course,  originally 
placed  upon  appropriate  stone  bases. 

The  joint  of  this  Barnetby  example  is  shewn  on  one  side  of  the 
above  cut,  its  section  on  the  other ;  and  it  will  perhaps  be  observed 
that  every  third  compartment  of  its  banded  scroll-work  differs 
slightly  from  the  two  intermediate  ones. 

In  excavating  the  ground  for  the  purpose  of  extending  the 
Grantham  and  Sleaford  railway  to  Boston,  during  the  present  year, 
an  interesting  discovery  of  Anglo-Saxon  remains  was  made.  In  an 
old  pasture-close  immediately  to  the  east  of  the  southern  entrance 
into  the  town  of  Sleaford,  and  at  about  eighteen  inches  below  the 


ARCH^OLOGICAL    DISCOVERIES.  249 

surface,  the  skeletons  of  four  or  five  Teuton  warriors  were  brought 
to  hght,  accompanied  by  their  arms,  a  selection  from  which  are 
here  represented.  No  sword  was  found  with  any  of  these  inter- 
ments, but  each  body  was  accompanied  by  a  shield,  knife,  and 
spear-head ;  the  last  materially  differed  as  to  size  and  form  in  every 
instance,  but  all  were  in  an  unusually  good  state  of  preservation, 
the  remains  of  the  wooden  shaft  of  each  spear  being  more  or  less 
distinctly  visible.  Three  iron  shield-bosses  are  figured  in  the 
accompanying  woodcut,  slightly  varying  in  their  forms  (figs.  1,  2, 
and  3).  By  comparing  the  spear-heads,  (Jigs.  4,  5,  6,  and  7,)  it 
will  be  seen  how  dissimilar  were  these  weapons — even  when  borne 
by  soldiers  of  the  same  tribe,  and  engaged  probably  on  service  in 
the  same  expedition ;  as  there  seems  to  be  every  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  interment  of  these  human  remains  and  their  accompani- 
ments took  place  on  one  and  the  same  occasion,  after  some  skirmish 
in  the  vicinity  of  Sleaford — since  they  were  found  in  a  group 
together,  and  not  in  a  cemetery,  such  as  exists  in  the  adjoining 
parish  of  Quarrington,  and  elsewhere. 

Fig.  6  is  a  remarkably  fine  spear-head,  twenty  inches  long,  and 
in  excellent  preservation,  the  grain  of  its  wooden  shaft  being  well 
shewn,  and  protruding  from  the  socket.  It  will  be  observed  that 
all  the  spear-heads  have  the  cleft  socket,  so  characteristic  of  the 
period.  Fig.  8  is  an  example  of  the  knives  found  with  these 
remains,  and  they  are  nearly  alike  in  every  instance ;  but  fig.  9, 
although  broken  and  much  corroded,  presents  a  feature  to  our 
observation  which  I  believe  to  be  a  novelty,  namely,  a  handle,  as  I 
am  not  aware  of  any  other  example  having  been  noticed.  It  is 
formed  of  the  bone  of  some  small  animal,  through  which  an  iron 
tang  or  prolongation  of  the  blade  runs,  to  the  end  of  which  a  rivet 
has  been  applied  so  as  to  keep  the  handle  in  its  place.  One  stray 
amber  bead  was  found  with  these  weapons,  also  a  small  brass  coin 
of  Valentinianus,    reverse,    Victory    marching,    and    the    legend 

SECURITAS    EEIPXJBLICiE. 

In  the  parish  of  Bingham,  adjoining  the  Fosse  Way,  a  great 
quantity  of  fragments  of  Samian  and  other  Roman  pottery,  &c.,has 
been  discovered  in  the  course  of  some  excavations  made  by  the  Rev. 
Robert  Miles,  in  the  hope  of  meeting  with  such  a  result ;  the  surface 
of  the  field  in  which  these  vestiges  were  revealed  being  scattered 
with  some  similar  evidences  of  its  former  occupation  by  the  Romans. 
Several  of  the  Samian  fragments  shew  that  they  had  been  previously 
rivetted  with  lead  by  their  former  owners  for  the  purpose  of  mending 
fractures.  Two  of  the  potters'  marks  are  N  D  E  and  FLO.  The 
pottery  was  mingled  with  broken  flanged  tiles,  stones,  and  bones  of 
various  animals,  &c.  In  the  same  parish  a  discovery  was  made  of 
a  Saxon  grave,  in  one  of  the  glebe  fields.  Near  the  head  of  a 
skeleton  lying  about  fourteen  inches  below  the  surface,  was  found 
the  umbo  or  boss  of  his  shield,  part  of  its  bracing,  and  a  spear-head 
fourteen  inches  long. 


YORKSHIRE 
ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 


Mazes  and  Lahjrinths.  By  the  Rev.  Edward  Trollope,  F.S.A., 
Rector  of  Leasingham.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire 
and  Lincohi  Diocesan  Architectural  Societies  at  Ripon,  1858. 

The  Labyrinths  of  the  classical  age  and  the  quaint  devices  of  later 
times,  the  Mazes,  of  which  they  were  the  prototypes,  present  to  the 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  K  K 


252  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

archaeologist  a  subject  of  investigation  which  hitherto  has  not 
received  that  degree  of  attention  of  which  it  appears  so  well  deserv- 
ing. T  hope  therefore  that  the  following  observations  may  meet 
with  a  favourable  reception,  not  only  as  connected  with  our  early 
studies  of  classical  antiquity,  but  as  illustrative  of  certain  remark- 
able ecclesiastical  usages  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  possibly  as 
recalling  certain  pleasurable  reminiscences  of  gay  disports  or  rural 
revelries  associated  with  the  Maze  of  more  recent  times,  of  which 
the  latest  and  most  familiar  example  is  the  verdant  puzzle  at 
Hampton  Court. 

Labyrinths  may  be  divided  into  several  distinct  classes,  com- 
prising complicated  ranges  of  caverns,  architectural  labyrinths  or 
sepulchral  buildings,  tortuous  devices  indicated  by  coloured  marbles 
or  cut  in  turf,  and  topiary  labyrinths  or  mazes  formed  by  clipped 
hedges.  I  need  scarcely  observe  that  labyrinths  are  of  exceedingly 
ancient  origin,  or  that  they  have  been  used  for  the  most  varied 
purposes,  viz.,  as  catacombs  for  the  burial  of  the  dead,  as  prisons,  as 
a  means  of  performing  penance,  and  as  portions  of  pleasure-grounds. 
)j  JLab       ^^  ^^®  ^^^^  ^^^^^  ^^®  "^^y  instance  the  labyrinth  near  Nauplia 

^       J    ill  Argolis,  termed  that  of  the  Cyclops,  and  described  by  Strabo  ■  ' 


yu>5iu^    ouruL 


also  the  celebrated  Cretan  example,  which  from  the  observations  of 


L^h(?/3j'  b     i^o^^^i"^  travellers  is  supposed  to  have  consisted  of  a  series  of  caves, 
'^'*^*^  resembling  in  some  degree  the  catacombs  of  Rome  or  Paris.    It  has 

been  questioned,  however,  whether  such  a  labyrinth  actually  existed. 
Apollodorus  and  others  state  that  it  was  built  by  Daedalus,  near 
Cnossus,-  in  imitation  of  a  more  ancient  labyrinth  in  Egypt,  by  the 
command  of  King  Minos,  and  that  it  served  first  as  the  prison  of 
the  monster  Minotaur,  and  secondly  as  an  architectural  web  wherein 
to  enclose  Daedalus  himself,  whence  he  was  enabled  to  escape  by 
the  aid  of  artificial  wings,  the  poetical  representatives  of  sails,  whose 
first  use  has  been  assigned  to  him.  Ovid  and  Virgil,  however, 
have  both  referred  to  the  Cretan  labyrinth  as  an  architectural 
work : — 

Daedalus  ingenio  fabrse  celeberrimus  artis 
Ponit  opus,  turbatque  notas,  et  lumina  flexum 

Ducit  in  errorem  variarum  ambage  viarum 

Ovid.  Met.  viii.,  v.  159. 

Ut  quondam  Creta  fertur  Labyrintbus  in  alta 
Parietibus  textum  csecis  iter,  ancipitemque 
Mille  viis  babuisse  dolum,  qua  signa  sequendi 
Falleret  indeprensus  et  inremeabilis  eiTor. — 

JEneid,  Lib.  v.,  V.  588. 

Of  architectural  labyrinths,  the  most  extraordinary  specimen 
was  without  doubt  that  at  the  southern  end  of  the  lake  Moeris  in 
Egypt,  and  about  thirty  miles  from  Arsinoe.  Herodotus,  who 
describes  it  very  distinctly,  says  that  none  of  the  edifices  of  Greece 
could  be  compared  with  it  either  as  to  costliness  or  workmanship ; 

(1)  strabo,  viii.  6,  p.  3G9. 

(2)  The  labyrinth,  in  various  forms,  occurs  on  the  reverses  of  coins  of  Cnossus.  Montf, 
Ant.  Exp.,  torn.  ii.  pi,  xii.;  Smith's  Diet,  of  Greek  and  Roman  Geography;  and  EckheL 


CkETlcVS  1 
6DIT-DED71 

Lvs-Esr- 
L/iBerint^ 

o-isTvLLv 

S-VAJ)ER' 
E  .PVIVIT 

^VI-FVIT- 

NI-TK€SE 
V5-6RAT 

e-ST/IMI 
NEIVTVSJ 


^.  1.     LABYRINTH  INCISED  UPON  ONE  OF  THE  PORCH  PIERS  OF 
LUCCA  CATHEDRAL. 

Diameter,  19|  inches. 
\  (From  Didron's  Annales  Arch^ologiques,  Tome  xvii.) 


[To  face  p.  253. 


MAZES    AND   LABYRINTHS.  253 

that  it  consisted  of  twelve  covered  courts,  1500  subterranean 
chambers,  in  which  the  bodies  of  the  Egyptian  princes  and  the 
sacred  crocodiles  were  interred,  and  of  as  many  chambers  above 
ground,  which  last  only  he  was  permitted  to  enter.  He  states  that 
each  court  was  surrounded  by  a  colonnade  of  white  stone  beautifully 
built,  that  the  walls  were  ornamented  with  bas-reliefs  of  various 
animals,  that  a  lofty  pyramid,  300  feet  high,  was  raised  at  the  angle 
where  the  labyrinth  terminated,  and  that  the  whole  work  was 
encircled  by  a  continuous  wall.  Pliny,  Strabo,  and  Pomponius 
Mela,  have  also  described  this  celebrated  labyrinth,  but  they  differ 
both  as  to  the  date  of  its  construction  and  the  purpose  for  which  it 
was  intended.  Another  labyrinth,  built  by  the  ^ginetan  architect, 
Smilis,  in  the  island  of  Lemnos,  was  celebrated  for  the  beauty  of 
its  columns,  according  to  Pliny,  who  also  alludes  to  one  built  by 
Theodorus  at  Samos.^  The  last  example  we  may  mention  as 
belonging  to  this  architectural  class,  intended,  like  the  Pyramids  of 
Egypt,  to  form  a  royal  sepulchre  capable  of  repelling  the  curiosity 
or  acquisitive  propensities  of  intruders,  was  that  built  at  Clusium, 
the  modern  Chiusi,  in  Etruria,  by  Lar  Porsena,  the  noble,  but 
baffled,  foe  of  Piome  ;  it  is  described  by  Pliny  and  Varro. 

The  Cretan  Labyrinth  is  found  on  the  reverses  of  coins  of 
Cnossus,  as  also  on  Greek  and  Ptoman  gems,*  or  at  least  what  had 
become  its  conventional  design ;  and  it  was  occasionally  represented 
upon  the  m^osaic  pavements  of  Roman  halls.  One  specimen  was 
drawn  by  Casanova  at  Pompeii,  whose  sinuous  course,  designated 
by  coloured  marbles,  was  surrounded  by  an  embattled  wall,  strength- 
ened at  intervals  by  towers ;  and  the  design  of  another  was  found 
in  the  same  city,  scratched  with  a  stylus  upon  a  crimson-tinted 
column,  accompanied  by  this  inscription, — "Labyrinthus  hic 
HABITAT  MiNOTAURUs,"  a  classical  euphuism,  we  presume,  for 
"Here  lives  a  great  beast." ^ 

But  perhaps  the  most  surprising  fact  connected  with  the  mytho- 
logical labyrinth  is  its  acceptance  by  Christians,  and  its  adaptation 
by  the  Church  to  a  higher  signification  than  it  originally  bore. 
First,  it  was  used  as  an  ornament  on  one  of  the  state  robes  of  the 
Christian  emperors  previously  to  the  ninth  century.  In  the  "  Graphia 
Aureae  Urbis  Romae,"  published  by  A.  F.  Ozanam,  pp.  92  and  178, 
in  the  "  Documents  inedits  pour  servir  a  I'Histoire  Litteraire  de 
ITtalie,"  this  rule  regarding  the  emperor's  dress  is  given, — "Habeat 
et  in  diarodino  laberinthum  fabrefactum  ex  auro  et  margaritis,  in 
quo  sit  Minotaurus  digitum  ad  os  tenens  ex  smaragdo  factus  ;  quia 
sicut  non  valet  quis  laberinthum  scrutare,  ita  non  debet  consilium 
dominatoris  propalare."  Next,  it  was  adopted  in  all  its  details, 
including  the  Minotaur,  by  ecclesiastics,  and  was  portrayed  in 
churches.  A  design  of  this  character  still  exists  upon  one  of  the 
porch  piers  of  Lucca  cathedral,  having  the  following  inscription, 
(Fig-  !•) 

(3)  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  xxxvi.  c.  13. 

(4)  Maffei,  Gemme  Ant.  iv.  No.  31. 

(5)  Pompeia,  par  E.  Breton,  p.  303. 


254  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 


HIC   QUEM   CRETICUS   EDIT  DEDALUS   EST   LABERINTHDS, 
DE    QUO   NDLLUS    VADERE    QUIVIT    QUI   EDIT    INTUS, 
NI   THESEUS    GRATIS   ADRIANE   STAMINE   JUTUS. 

This  is  of  small  dimension,  being  only  1  foot  7|-  inches  in 
diameter,  and  from  the  continual  attrition  it  has  received  from 
thousands  of  tracing  fingers,  the  central  group  of  Theseus  and  the 
Minotaur  has  now  been  very  nearly  effaced.  The  whole  device  was 
deemed  to  be  indicative  of  the  compHcated  folds  of  sin  by  which 
man  is  surrounded,  and  how  impossible  it  would  be  to  extricate 
himself  from  them  except  through  the  assisting  hand  of  Providence. 
Similar  small  designs  of  labyrinths,  containing  the  figure  of  Theseus 
and  the  Minotaur,  either  exist  or  did  exist  in  the  veiy  ancient 
church  of  St.  Michele  at  Pavia ;  at  Aix  in  Provence ;  upon  the 
walls  of  Poitiers  cathedral ;  in  the  Pioman  mosaic  pavement  found 
at  Salzburg,  now  at  Lachsenburg,  and  nearly  resembling  the 
Pompeian  example  alluded  to  above,  as  does  another  of  very  early 
date,  discovered  in  a  mosaic  pavement  of  a  Christian  Basilica  at 
Orleansville  in  Algeria.  In  this  last,  however,  the  words,  sancta 
ECCLEsiA,  arranged  in  a  complicated  form  in  the  centre,  so  as  to 
correspond  with  the  sinuosity  of  the  labyrinth  around  them,  take 
the  place  of  the  Minotaur,  affording  the  first  instance  of  an  entirely 
new  signification  attributed  to  such  works,  whilst  their  designs 
remained  the  same  as  before. 

In  the  church  of  Santa  Maria  in  Aquiro,  at  Kome,  are  several 
portions  of  an  extremely  ancient  pavement,  the  relics  of  a  far  earlier 
building  than  the  present  church.  Amongst  these  is  a  small 
labyrinth,  1  foot  7^  inches  in  diameter,  composed  of  porphyry  and 
yellow  and  green  marbles,  the  central  circle  being  of  the  first-named 
material.^  Perhaps  this  is  a  work  of  the  early  part  of  the  twefth 
century,  during  which  period  such  devices  began  to  abound,  and  of 
these  several  are  still  preserved.  One,  11  feet  in  diameter,  exists 
near  the  sacristy  of  Santa  Maria  in  Trastevere,  at  Ptome,  formed,  in 
1189,  by  a  combination  of  different  coloured  marbles,  and  it  is 
perhaps  the  most  beautiful  one  still  extant.  Another,  slightly 
larger,  viz.,  11  feet  4^  inches,  also  composed  of  coloured  marbles, 
is  in  the  church  of  San  Vitale,  at  Kavenna.  An  octagonal  specimen, 
34|  feet  in  diameter,  is  in  the  entrance  of  the  parish  church  of  St. 
Quentin,  built  during  the  twelfth  century  (fig.  9) ;  and  a  precisely 
similar  pavement  was  placed  in  the  centre  of  Amiens  cathedral,  in 
1288,  but  of  a  rather  larger  size,  measuring  42  feet  across.''  It  was 
destroyed  in  1825,  but  its  central  compartment,  still  preserved  in 
the  Amiens  museum,  consists  of  an  octagonal  grey  marble  slab, 
decorated  with  a  brass  or  latten  cross  in  the  centre,  between  the 
limbs  of  which  were  ranged  small  figures  of  Evrart,   Bishop  of 

(6)  This  labyrinth  is  figured  in  M.  Duranrl's  memoir  on  "les  Paves  Mosaiques,"  in 
Didron's  Annales  Archeol.  vol.  xvii.,  p.  1 19,  with  the  other  Italian  examples  here  noticed 

(7)  Wallet,  in  his  "  Description  d'une  Crypte  et  d'un  Pave  mosaique  de  I'ancienne 
eglise  de  St.  Bertin  a  Saint-Omer,"  Douai,  1843,  p.  97,  gives  an  account  of  the  labyrinths 
in  France,  here  enumerated,  with  representations  of  those  of  St.  Quentin  and  Chartres, 
and  of  the  central  octagon  of  that  at  Amiens.  See  also  notices  of  the  Amiens  pavement 
in  Daire,  Hist,  de  la  Ville  d'Amiens,  torn,  ii.,  and  the  Bulletin  du  Com. Hist,  Ko.  x  ,  p.  240. 


SCALE  OF  FIVE  METRES. 


Fig  2.    LABYRINTHINE  PAVEMENT  AT  THE  ENTRANCE  OF  THE  PARISH  CHURCH  OF 

ST.  QUENTIN. 

Diameter,  Mhfeet. 

(From  Wallet's  Description  d'un  Pav6  Mosaiqtie  a  St.  Omer.) 


[To  face  p.  254. 


MAZES    AND    LABYRINTHS.  255 

Amiens,  the  three  architects  of  the  cathedral,  and  four  angels,  cut 
in  white  marble,  with  a  legend  around  the  whole  octagon,  referring 
to  the  building  of  the  fabric.  Another  labyrinth,  35  feet  in 
diameter,  and  precisely  like  the  foregoing,  was  constructed  in  the 
nave  of  Kheims  cathedral  about  1240,  but  destroyed  in  1779,  by 
the  desire  of  one  of  its  canons,  Jacquemart  by  name,  who  gave  a 
considerable  sum  to  effect  this  mischievous  purpose.  On  its  central 
stone  were  cut  the  figures  of  the  architect  and  of  the  four  masters 
of  the  works  employed ;  this  was  also  surrounded  by  a  legend,  like 
the  Amiens  labyrinth.  An  octagonal  labyrinth,  34^  feet  in  diameter, 
composed  of  yellov/  and  grey  quarries,  formed  part  of  the  pavement 
of  the  nave  in  Arras  cathedral,  until  the  Revolution. 

Before  proceeding  to  instance  more  examples,  we  must  here 
advert  to  another  change  in  the  signification  of  these  curious  works. 
The  Church  had  adopted  them  as  symbolical  of  herself ;  and  when 
figures  were  designed  in  the  centre  of  their  manifold  windings,  such 
as  those  of  deceased  bishops,  architects,  or  builders,  ranged  round  a 
cross,  instead  of  the  actual  words,  sancta  ecclesia,  the  same  idea 
doubtless  was  intended  to  be  conveyed,  and  the  persons  so  repre- 
sented were  presumed  to  be  resting  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church,  as 
in  an  ark  of  salvation ;  but  afterwards  these  labyrinths  were  made 
to  serve  another  purpose,  and  received  an  entirely  new  name.  This 
was  when  the  period  of  the  Crusades  was  drawing  to  a  close,  and 
when  certain  spots  nearer  home  than  Jerusalem  began  to  be  visited 
by  pilgrims,  instead  of  their  actually  resorting  to  Palestine  ;  and  a 
pilgrimage  to  our  Lady  of  Loretto,  to  St.  James  of  Compostella,  or 
even  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Frideswide  at  Oxford,  to  that  of  St. 
Thomas  of  Canterbury,  or  of  St.  Hugh  of  Lincoln,  began  to  be 
looked  upon  as  too  great  an  exertion  on  the  part  of  the  faithful. 

Then  labyrniths  became,  as  it  is  stated,  instruments  of  i^er- 
forming  penance  for  non-fulfilment  of  vows  of  pilgrimage  to  the 
Holy  Land,  and  were  called  "  Chemins  cle  Jerusalem,'"  as  being 
emblematical  of  the  difficulties  attending  a  journey  to  the  real 
Jerusalem,  or  of  those  encountered  by  the  Christian  before  he  can 
reach  the  heavenly  Jerusalem ;  whence  the  centre  of  these  curious 
designs  was  not  unfrequently  termed  "  Cieiy  And,  finally,  they 
were  used  as  a  means  of  penance  for  sins  of  omission  and  commis- 
sion in  general;  penitents  being  ordered  to  follow  out  all  the 
sinuous  courses  of  these  labyrinths  upon  their  hands  and  knees,  to 
repeat  so  many  prayers  at  fixed  stations,  and  others  when  they 
reached  the  central  "  Ciel,'"  which  in  several  cases  took  a  whole 
hour  to  effect,  whence  these  works,  as  stated  by  M.  Wallet,  were 
not  unfrequently  termed  "  La  lieue.'''  Unfortunately,  many  of  them 
have  now  been  destroyed,  not  a  few  wantonly  during  the  Revolu- 
tion, but  others  because  strangers  and  children  by  noisily  tracking 
out  their  tortuous  paths,  occasioned  disturbance  during  divine 
service,  as  in  the  instance  of  the  next  example  to  which  I  shall 
allude.  This  is  a  square  one,  formerly  in  the  abbey  church  of  St. 
Bertin,  at  St.  Omer.  The  design  is  preserved  by  a  drawing  sup- 
posed to  be  the  work  of  some  student  of  the  English  college  at  that 


256  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

town  during  the  last  century,  having  this  inscription  below,  "  Entre 
du  chemin  de  Jerusalem  autre  fois  marque  sur  le  carreau  de  I'Eglise 
de  St.  Bertin."  It  appears  to  have  been  composed  of  black  and 
yellow  tiles. ^  A  large  circular  labyrinth,  composed  of  grey  and 
white  marble,  having  an  escalloped  border,  and  a  sexagonal  cusped 
circle  in  the  centre,  exists  in  the  middle  of  the  nave  of  Chartres 
cathedral.  (Fig.  3.)  It  is  30  feet  in  diameter,  and  its  path  is  668 
feet  long.  At  Sens  there  was  another  of  the  same  size,  formed  by 
lines  filled  in  with  lead,  and  recorded  to  have  required  2000  steps 
to  reach  the  centre ;  and  in  the  chapter-house  of  Bayeux  cathedral 
is  an  exceedingly  beautiful  work  of  this  description,  12  feet  in 
diameter,  formed  of  circles  of  tiles,  adorned  with  shields,  grifi&ns, 
and  fleur-de-lis,  and  separated  from  one  another  by  bands  of  small 
plain  black  tiles. 

Occasionally  something  more  than  the  actual  path  of  the  life 
present  was  attempted  to  be  represented  in  these  works.  On  a 
small  labyrinth  cut  upon  the  pavement  beneath  the  organ  of  the 
church  of  Notre  Dame  at  St.  Omer,  the  winding  path  towards  the 
central  Jerusalem  is  strangely  mixed  up  with  towns,  rivers,  moun- 
tains, and  animals,  intended  probably  to  shadow  forth  the  refresh- 
ments and  the  difiiculties  which  all  Christian  pilgrims  may  expect 
to  meet  with  on  their  journey  through  life  towards  that  heavenly 
city  which  they  are  seeking.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  following 
inscription,  once  attached  possibly  to  a  labyrinthine  design,  and 
now  preserved  in  the  museum  of  Lyons  : — 

HOC    SPECULO  •  SPECULARE   LEGENS  '  QUOD 
SIS   MORITDRDS    :    QUOD    CINIS    13IMO   LUTUM 
QUOD    VERMIEUS    ESCA    EUTURUS    •    SED    TA 
MEN   UT   SEMPER    VIVAS  '  MALE    VIVERE    VITA    | 
XPM   QUESO   ROGA  '  SIT   UT   IN    XPO    MEA   VITA    • 
ME    CAPUT   APRIL'  *  EX   HOG    RAPUIT   LABERINTO    • 
PEEBITUM  •  DOCEO    VERSU   MA   FUN  ERA   QNTO    | 
STEPHANUS  •  FECIT   OC.^ 

Allegorical  designs  of  spiritual  labyrinths  were  in  vogue  until 
the  third  quarter  of  the  last  century :  a  long  title  to  the  following 
effect  accompanies  an  engraving  of  one  produced  at  Lyons  in  1769, 
from  a  drawing  by  M.  Belion : — A  spiritual  labyrinth  watered  by 
four  channels  of  grace,  representing,  First,  the  four  rivers  of  the 
terrestrial  paradise  and  the  happy  condition  of  man  before  the  Fall. 
Secondly,  by  the  different  windings  that  may  be  seen  are  intended 
to  be  shewn  the  miseries  with  which  human  life  abounds  since  the 
Fall.  Thirdly,  from  this  labyrinth,  terminating  at  the  same  point 
where  it  commenced,  we  are  taught  that  as  man  was  formed  of 
earth  he  will  return  to  his  first  element  by  the  corruption  of  his 
body.  Fourthly,  the  wholesome  water  of  these  channels  represents 
the  grace  of  God,  through  which  a  remedy  is  supplied  for  a  cor- 
rupted nature. 

(8)  Wallet,  Description,  ut  sujn^a,  p.  97,  where  this  pavement  is  figured.  The  labyrinth 
at  Chartres  is  noticed  by  De  Caumont  in  his  "  Abecedaire." 

C9)  See  No.  273  in  the  Description  du  Musee  Lapidaire  de  la  Fille  de  Lyon,  par  le 
Dr.  A.  Comarmond. 


Fig.  3.    LABYRINTH  IN  THE  NAVE  OF  CHARTRES  CATHEDRAL. 
Diameter,  30  feet. 
(From  Wallet's  Description  d'un  Pave  Mosaique  a  St.  Omer. 

[I'D  face  p.  256. 


MAZES    AND   LABYRINTHS.  257 

I  am  not  aware  of  the  existence  of  a  single  specimen  of  an 
ecclesiastical  labyrinth  in  any  church  in  England,  but  we  possess 
numerous  works  of  this  description  cut  in  the  turf  of  our  rural 
greens,  and  some  are  of  the  same  patterns  as  those  of  the  foreign 
examples  mentioned  above  worked  on  pavement  or  walls.  These 
turf-mazes  have  been  usually  termed  "  Troy-towns,"  or  "Julian's 
Bowers,"  but  improperly,  because  such  names  apparently  point  to 
a  very  remote,  or  at  least  to  a  classical  period,  whereas  the  works  so 
styled  are  without  doubt  mediaeval. 

The  reign  of  Elizabeth  was  productive  of  a  love  for  material 
subtilties,  and  for  allegorical  figures  of  speech,  which,  from  that 
Queen's  classical  attainments,  very  usually  took  a  classical  form. 
"  Troy-town,"  and  all  the  difficulties  of  its  capture,  would  then  form 
a  tempting  subject  for  one  of  those  embryo  dramas  so  frequently 
enacted  in  her  presence;  whilst  "Julian's  Bower"  would  be  an 
appropriate  term  for  a  court  masque,  in  which  a  bevy  of  courtiers 
and  fair  dames,  issuing  from  some  verdant  concealment,  might 
aifect  to  imitate  the  evolutions  of  the  little  lulus  and  his  companions 
in  their  martial  sport,  as  described  by  Virgil — 

Inde  alios  ineunt  cursus,  aliosque  recursus 

Adversis  spatiis,  alternosque  orbibus  orbes 

Impediunt,  pugnieque  cient  simulacra  sub  arniis  : 

Et  nunc  terga  fuga  nudant,  nunc  spicula  vertunt 

Infensi,  facta  pariter  nunc  pace  feruntur. — -5ln.  Lib.  v.  583. 

Whence  any  complicated  figures,  either  traced  by  the  feet  of 
dancers  or  cut  on  the  ground,  might  possibly  acquire  a  synonymous 
appellation  during  the  reign  of  the  great  Tudor  Queen,  and  retain 
it  to  the  present  time.  This  conventional  term  was  a  most 
unfortunate  cause  of  delusive  speculations  to  Stukeley,  as  he  was 
thereby  completely  led  off  from  the  origin  of  such  turf-mazes  to 
pursue  an  illusion,  with  all  the  ardour  of  his  vivid  imagination, 
fully  believing  that  he  had  discovered  a  still-existing  Roman 
reminiscence  on  our  British  soil.  He  saj^s,  in  reference  to  the 
frequent  occurrence  of  places  called  Julian's  Bower,  or  Troy-town, 
both  at  Roman  towns  and  other  localities,  especially  in  Lincoln- 
shire : — "  Upon  a  little  reflection  I  concluded  that  this  is  the  ancient 
Roman  game ;  and  it  is  admirable  that  both  name  and  thing  should 
have  continued  through  such  a  diversity  of  people.  As  to  the  name 
Bower  it  signifies  not  an  arbour  or  pleasant  shady  retirement  in 
this  place ;  but  Borough,  or  any  work  made  with  ramparts  of  earth, 

as  camps  and  the  like The  name  of  Julian  undoubtedly 

refers  to  lulus  the  son  of  ^neas,  who  first  brought  it  into  Italy.  "^ 

^  Itinerarmm  Curiosum.,  Iter.  5.  p.  97.— Nero  was  accustomed  to  play  at  Troy  in  his 
youth,  as  we  learn  from  Suetonius—"  Trojam  lusit ;"  and  the  same  writer,  in  his  treatise 
Dehisibus  ptierorum,ohsQY\Q?„X\\ni  the  "  Lusus  quem  vulgo  Pyrricham  appelhint  Troja 
vocatur."  A  martial  exercise  was  also  in  vogue  in  early  mediaeval  times,  termed  tlie 
"Ludus  Troja),"  or  Troy  Game,  which  has  been  supposed  by  some  to  have  been  the 
origin  of  tournaments.  ISee  IMeyrick's  Critical  Enquiry,  vol.  ii.  pages  79,  83,  125  (liohn's 
edition).  The  terms  "Troy-town"  and  "Julian's  13ower"  have  been  retained  in  many 
localities  besides  those  alluded  to  in  this  treatise,  as  at  Beer  Regis  in  Dorset,  and 
Westerham  in  Kent,  &c. ;  and  this  obscure  allusion  to  Troy  still  held  its  ground  so  late 
as  the  time  of  William  III;  amongst  the  topiary  and  other  works  laid  out  at  Kensington 
Palace  by  London  and  Wise,  the  celebrated  garden  designers  of  that  period,  the  curious 
upper  garden,  known  as  the  "  Siege  of  Troy,"  was  conspicuous. 


258  YOEKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

The  continued  study  of  archaeology,  however,  now  so  widely  pur- 
sued, and  the  easy  means  of  travelling  abroad  as  well  as  at  home, 
have  brought  many  hidden  things  to  light  which  before  were  either 
obscure  or  entirely  concealed;  whilst  truth,  in  many  instances 
veiled  with  a  fictitious  covering  of  old,  now  stands  revealed  in  all 
her  natural  purity. 

Ancient  turf-mazes  either  exist  or  are  known  to  have  existed  in 
Scotland  and  Wales  as  well  as  in  England ;  whilst  shepherds  and 
other  persons  are  still  in  the  habit  of  re-cutting  these,  or  occa- 
sionally forming  new  ones,  copied  from  more  ancient  designs, 
handed  down  from  a  remote  period.  Such  works  were  to  be  seen 
in  Strathmore  and  other  parts  of  North  Britain  ;  they  occurred 
likewise  in  Wales,  where  they  were  termed  "  Caerdroia,"  or  Troy- 
walls,  allusion  to  which  is  made  in  "  Drych  y  Prif  Oesoedd  "  and 
other  Welsh  histories ;  and  they  have  been  found  in  various 
localities  throughout  England,  namely,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Solway, 
Cumberland  ;  ~  at  Ripon  and  Asenby,  in  Yorkshire ;  at  Alkborough, 
Louth,  Appleby,  and  Horncastle,  in  Lincolnshire ;  at  Sneinton  and 
Clifton  in  Notts;  at  Wing  and  Lyddington,  in  Rutland;  on 
Boughton-Green,  in  Northamptonshire  ;  at  Comberton,  Cambridge- 
shire, called  the  "  Mazles ;"  at  Hilton,  Hunts ;  Dunstable,  Bed- 
fordshire ;  Saffron  Walden,  Essex ;  Winchester,  Hants ;  West 
Ashton,  Wilts  ;  on  the  Cotswold  Hills,  Gloucestershire ;  at 
Pimpern,  and  at  Leigh  in  Y^etminster,  Dorset.  The  latter  is 
called  the  "  Miz-Maze."  I  will  now  refer  more  particularly  to 
some  of  these. 

The  first  which  I  shall  notice  is  the  maze  which  formerly  existed 
in  Y^orkshire,  on  Ripon  common  :^  it  w^as  ploughed  up  in  the  year 
1827,  but  its  plan  having  been  fortunately  preserved  by  Mr.  J. 
Tuting,  sen.,  of  Ripon,  I  am  able  to  exhibit  its  form.  It  was 
tw^enty  yards  in  diameter,  and  its  path  was  four  hundred  and 
seven  yards  long. 

Another  maze,  precisely  resembling  this  Ripon  specimen,  may 
still  be  seen  in  the  same  locality,  namely,  at  Asenby,  in  the  parish 
of  Topclifie,  and  it  is  preserved  with  very  laudable  care  at  the 
expense  of  the  parish,  and  I  trust  will  continue  to  meet  with  such 
attention.  It  is  slightly  smaller  than  the  maze  formerly  to  be  seen 
at  Ripon,  being  seventeen  yards  in  diameter,  and  its  path  is  three 
hundred  and  thirty-six  yards  long. 

Another  may  be  seen  at  Alkborough,  Lincolnshire,  overlooking 
the  Humber.  This  is  forty-four  feet  in  diameter ;  and  the  remark- 
able resemblance  between  its  plan  and  that  designed  on  marble  at 
Lucca  will  be  at  once  perceived.  (See  Fig.  5.)  The  next  example 
(Fig.  6)  is  on  the  outskirts  of  the  village  of  Wing,  near  Uppingham, 
Rutlandshire  ;  it  is  forty  feet  in  diameter,  and  belongs  to  the  same 
class  as  the  preceding  maze. 

(2)  The  herdsmen  still  cut  on  the  grassy  plains  of  Burgh  and  Kockliff  marshes  a 
labyrinthine  figure,  termed  the  Walls  of  Troy.— iV^oto  and  Queries,  Ser.  ii.  vol.  \.p.  212. 

C3)  See  fig.  4  on  page  259. 


Fig.  5.    Maze  at  AlJcborough,  Lincolnshire,  diameter,  iifeet. 


Fig.  6.    3Iaze  at  Wi7ig,  Ituilandsliire,  diameter,  40  feet. 

[To  face  p.  258. 


MAZES    AND    LABYRINTHS. 


259 


The  one  at  Hilton  precisely  resembles  that  at  Alkborough,  and 
is  termed  "  Julian's  Bower."     This  was  clearly  copied  from  some 


Fig.  4.    Maze  formerly  existing  on  Ripon  Common;  diameter,  60  feet.,  seepage  258. 


older  work — perhaps  from  the  Lincolnshire  example,  with  which 
the  Hunts  designer  may  have  been  familiar.  His  name  we  find 
(from  a  commemorative  stone  pillar  in  the  centre,  bearing  inscrip- 
tions in  Latin  and  English)  was  William  Sparrow,  whence  we  also 
gather  that  he  made  this  maze  in  1660,  perhaps  to  commemorate 
the  Restoration. 

The  Comberton  maze  is  almost  identical  with  that  at  Wing 
(see  fig.  6).  The  path  is  of  gravel  two  feet  wide ;  its  windings  are 
separated  from  each  other  by  little  trenches  nine  inches  wide.  The 
diameter  of  the  circle  is  fifty  feet,  and  the  outer  margin  is  on  a  level 
with  the  surrounding  ground,  but  the  area  of  the  maze  itself 
gradually  sinks  towards  the  centre. 


260 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


Fig.  7  is  cut  on  Bougliton  Green,  Northamptonshire,  so  cele- 
brated for  its  fair ;  it  is  thirty-seven  feet  in  diameter. 


lig.  7.    Maze  at  Boughton  Green,  Noriliamptonshire ;  diameter,  37  feet. 


Fig.  8  is  remarkable  for  the  addition  of  projecting  features  to 
the  circular  centre,  which  gives  quite  a  different  character  to  its 
plan,  and  still  more  so  on  account  of  the  cross-crosslets  fitchy  cut 
within  those  projections.  It  formerly  existed  on  a  hill  near  St. 
Anne's  Well,  in  the  lordship  of  Sneinton,  about  a  mile  distant  from 
Nottingham.  Its  diameter  was  seventeen  yards,  exclusive  of  the 
projecting  portions,  and  the  length  of  its  sinuous  pathway  was 
five  hundred  and  thirty-five  yards.  It  was  termed  the  "  Shepherd's 
Maze,"  and  "  Robin  Hood's  Race,"  but  it  was  unfortunately 
ploughed  up  in  1797. 

Fig.  9  nearly  resembles  the  last.  It  is  cut  on  the  common 
adjoining  Saffron  Walden,  Essex,  and  is  one  hundred  and  ten  feet 
in  diameter.  There  is  a  local  tradition  that  this  is  a  copy  of 
another  and  more  ancient  maze,  which  was  imitated  by  a  soldier, 
but  probably  the  soldier  only  re-cut  the  old  design ;  certain  it  is, 
however,  that  a  maze  has  existed  on  the  Saffron  Walden  common, 


F///.  8.    Maze  formerly  existing  near  St.  Anne's  Well,  Sneinton,  Notts.,  diameter,  51  feet. 

[To  face  p.  260. 


Fig.  10.    Maze  formerly  existing  at  Pimpeiii,  Dorset. 
VOL.  lY.,  PT.  II.  L  L 


262 


YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


such  as  is  represented,  for  a  long  period,  as  testified  by  local  records.^ 
Fig.^  10  presents  a  totally  new  and  very  complicated  design  to 

our  notice.     It  formerly  existed  in  the  parish  of  Pimpern,  near 

Blandford,  in  Dorsetshire,  and  covered  nearly  an  acre  of  ground, 

but  it  was  ploughed  up  in  1730.     It  was  formed  of  small  ridges, 

about  a  foot  high.** 

Fig.  11  is  an  example  of  a  quadrangular  maze,  eighty-six  feet 

square,  also  cut  in  turf  like  the  preceding  specimens.     It  is  on  St. 

Catherine's  Hill,  in  the  parish  of  Chilcombe,  near  Winchester,  and 


Fig.  11.    The  Mize-Maze,  on  St.  Catherine's  Hill,  Winchester;  diameter,  86  feet 

is  known  by  the  name  of  the  "  Mize-Maze."  Having  become  veiy 
indistinct,  it  was  re-cut  by  the  present  Warden  of  Winchester,  with 
the  aid  of  a  plan  that  had  been  fortunately  preserved  by  a  lady  in 
the  vicinity.  It  has  been  thus  alluded  to  in  the  Kev.  J.  Warton's 
Mons  CatherincB : — 

Aut  aliquis  tereti  ductos  in  margine  gyros 
Suspiciens,  miratur  inextricabile  textum  ; 
Sive  illic  Lemurum  populus  sub  nocte  choreas 

(3)  The  representation  given  in  Camden,  edit.  Gough,  1806,  vol.  ii.  pi.  xiv.  p.  400, 
appears  very  incorrect :  a  tree  stands  in  tlie  centre. 

(4)  This  representation  is  reduced  from  the  plate  in  JButchim'  Dorset,  vol.  i.  p.  100, 
first  edit.,  drawn  by  J.  Bastard,  1758. 


MAZES    AND    LABYRINTHS.  263 

Plauserit  exiguas,  viridesque  attriverit  herbas; 
Sive  olim  pastor  fidos  descripserit  ignes, 
Verbaque  difficili  composta  reliquerit  orbe, 
Confusasque  notas,  impressaque  cespite  vota. 

It  is  remarkable  that  mazes  formed  on  turf  appear  to  be  un- 
known on  the  Continent.  Enquiry  has  been  made  in  vain  to 
ascertain  the  occurrence  of  any  example.  The  learned  French 
archaeologist,  however,  M.  Didron,  with  whom  I  have  exchanged 
some  communications  on  this  subject,  and  whose  instructive  and 
admirably  illustrative  ''Annales"  comprise  almost  every  subject 
within  the  range  of  antiquarian  investigation,  promises  to  give  a 
memoir  with  engravings,  the  result  of  the  researches  of  M.  Bonnin, 
of  Evereux,  who  has  succeeded  in  collecting  not  less  than  two 
hundred  designs  of  mazes  of  all  periods  and  all  countries.  Amongst 
these,  probably,  some  foreign  maze  traced  on  turf,  like  those  in 
England,  may  be  found.  See  the  notes  to  M.  Durand's  interesting 
paper  on  "  Les  Paves  Mosaiques,"  before  cited,  and  pubUshed  in  the 
Annales  Archeoloyiques,  tome  xvii.  p.  127.  From  my  learned 
friend  the  Abbe  Cochet,  of  Dieppe,  I  had  hoped  to  have  gained 
some  information  on  this  subject,  but  no  turf  mazes  appear  to  be 
known  of  in  Normandy. 

It  will  be  remarked  that  there  is  a  very  strong  degree  of 
similarity  between  the  six  circular  designs  given,  of  which,  however, 
one  is  cut  in  marble  in  an  Italian  cathedral,  and  the  other  five  are 
cut  in  turf  on  the  green  sward  of  as  many  different  English  counties. 
This  fact,  in  addition  to  the  great  skill  requisite  to  trace  such  com- 
phcated  devices  upon  very  limited  spaces,  at  once  negatives  the  idea 
that  any  of  them  could  have  been  originally  the  handywork  of  some 
local  shepherd.  Denying,  therefore,  their  pastoral,  as  well  as  their 
presumed  Roman  origin,  it  now  remains  to  be  suggested,  by  whom 
they  were  created,  for  what  purpose,  and  at  what  period.  So  far,  I 
believe,  questions  on  these  points  would  have  been  asked  in  vain, 
but  France  has  lately  presented  a  clue  by  which  we  may  be  guided 
to  the  solution  of  some  of  the  difficulties  connected  with  turf 
labyrinths.  On  comparing  the  English  specimens  with  those  in 
French  mediseval  churches,  and  the  maze  at  Alkborough  in  parti- 
cular, with  the  example  before  noticed  in  Sens  cathedral,  the 
respective  designs  are  almost  identical,  and  there  could  scarcely 
remain  a  doubt  that  both  had  an  ecclesiastical  origin,  had  no  other 
evidence  been  forthcoming.  Moreover,  this  supposition  is  strength- 
ened by  another  circumstance,  namely,  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  our 
English  turf-mazes  are  situated  in  the  vicinity  either  of  a  church 
or  chapel,  or  in  localities  where  it  may  appear  probable  that  some 
sacred  structure  once  existed. 

The  Alkborough  specimen  is  within  a  short  distance  of  the 
parish  church  of  that  village,  as  is  that  at  Wing.  That  on  Boughton 
Green,  although  now  in  a  remote  spot,  is  near  the  ruins  of  the 
original  parish  church  of  St.  John,  first  built  by  the  Abbot  of  St. 
Wandregesile  in  Normandv.  That  at  Sneinton  was  close  to  the 
chapel  of  St.  Anne,  built  iia  1409,  some  traces  of  which  still  exist 


204  YOUKSIIIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

in  the  foundations  of  a  modern  house  now  occupying  its  site.^ 
This  maze  seems  to  have  puzzled  tlic  learned  historian  of  Notting- 
ham, Dr.  Deeriug,  who,  although  rejecting  Stukeley's  opinion  as  to 
the  Roman  origin  of  such  works,  and  inclined  to  attribute  them  to 
ecclesiastics,  gives  the  following  ludicrous  reason  for  their  forma- 
tion : — "  Might  I  ofler  my  conjecture,  I  should  think  this  open 
maze  was  made  by  some  of  the  priests  belonging  to  St.  Anne's 
chnpjiel,  who  being  confined  so  far  as  not  to  venture  out  of  sight 
and  hearing,  contrived  this  to  (jive  themselves  a  breathing  for  want  of 
other  exercise.'''^  The  Winchester  maze  also  was  near  the  ancient 
chapel  of  St.  Catherine,  of  which  mention  is  made  in  the  episcopal 
registers  in  conjunction  with  the  parish  church  of  Chilcombe. 

It  appears  possible,  therefore,  that  some  of  these  works  may 
have  been  originally  created  as  a  means  of  performing  penance,  and 
not  for  purposes  of  auuisement,  and  that  they  were  designed  by 
ecclesiastics,  and  not  by  Romans  of  old,  nor  by  shepherds  and 
others  of  later  years.  This  supposition  is  illustrated  by  the  Froutis- 
])iece  taken  from  a  clever  di'awing,  by  Mrs.  Robert  ]\Iiles,  which 
represents  the  ecclesiastics  of  St.  Anne's  chapel,  adjoining  the 
well  of  that  name,  at  prayer  in  their  penitential  labyrinth. 

After  the  Reformation,  however,  these  rural  mazes  were  certainly 
converted  into  a  medium  of  recreation,  as  referred  to  in  several 
passages  of  Shakspere  : — 

The  nine  men's  morris  is  fill'd  up  with  mnd  ; 
And  the  quaint  mazes  on  the  wanton  green, 
For  lack  of  tread  are  niidistinginshable. — 

MiDSUMMEu  Night's  Dukam,  Act  2,  Scene  2. 

My  okl  hones  ache:  here's  a  vmze  trod  indeed, 
Through  forth-rights  and  meanders  !  by  your  patience 
I  needs  must  rest  me. — TESirESX,  Act  3,  Scene  3. 

Another  class  of  labyrinths  still  remains  to  be  noticed,  viz.,  the 
Topiary,  consisting  of  those  formed  by  clipped  hedges  of  yew,  holly, 
or  hornbean,  enclosing  a  j^i^^zling  series  of  winding  paths,  one  of 
which  alone  conducts  to  a  small  open  space  in  the  centre.  These 
works,  the  joint  production  of  nature  and  man,  were  known  to  the 
Romans,  and  are  alluded  to  by  Pliny,  [lllst.  N(ft.,  xxxvi.  13.)  The 
'I'opiary  maze,  indeed,  api)ears  to  have  been  in  fashion  amongst 
the  Romans,  by  whom  decorations  of  clipjied  evergreens  in  gardens 
were  carried  to  great  perfection,  the  Topiarins,  or  ornamental 
gardener,  being  mentioned  by  Cicero  and  other  writers.  Pliny 
recommends  various  shrubs  as  suitable  for  such  purposes,  especially 
the  laurel  called  2\txa,  very  fit  for  green  arbours  and  to  be  wrought 
into  knots ;  as  also  the  Alexandrine  laurel,  the  cypress,  and  the 
box,  well  suited  to  be  formed  into  borders  and  hedges,  kept  orderly 
with  clipping  and  cutting.  {Nat.  Hist,  lib,  xv.  c.  30  ;  lib.  xvi.  c.  16, 
33,  tl'c.)  Whether  any  labyrinthine  figures  were  actually  thus 
formed  in  the  gardens  of  the  Romans  may  appear  questionable, 
but  if  the  Ars  Topiaria  were  not  called  into  requisition  for  such 

(f))  Dec7'ing\i  Nottimjham,  sect.  4.  p.  73. 
(0)  Ibid.,  p.  75. 


MAZES    AND    LABYRINTHS.  265 

\vorks,  It  seems  certain  that  mazes  resembling  some  in  onr  own 
country  were  not  unknown.  Pliny,  speaking  of  the  great  extent 
and  intricacy  of  the  Cretan  hibyrinth,  observes  (as  translated  by 
Holland),  "  neither  must  we  thinke  that  these  turnings  and  return- 
ings  were  after  the  manner  of  mazes  which  are  drawne  upon  the 
pavement  and  plaine  lloore  of  a  field  (ut  in  pavimentis  puerumvo 
ludicris  campestribus  videmus)  such  as  we  commouly  see  serve  to 
make  sport  and  pastime  among  boies,  that  is  to  say,  which  within 
a  little  compasse  and  a  round  border  comprehend  many  miles,"  itc. 
{lib.  xxxvi.  c.  13.)  See  the  article  Hoitus,  in  Smith's  Dictionary  of 
Antiquities,  and  the  Epistle  of  the  younger  Pliny,  in  which  ho 
describes  his  Tuscan  villa,  with  its  hippodromus,  explained  to  have 
been  a  kind  of  circus,  consisting  of  several  paths  divided  by  hedges 
of  box,  and  ornamented  with  topiary  work,  (riint/,  Epist.  lib.  v. 
ep.  G.) 

Again,  the  well-known  and  romantic  history  of  Rosamond 
CliiTord  will  remind  us  of  the  existence  of  mazes  (perhaps  of  this 
topiary  charactei*)  at  a  very  early  period  in  this  country.  TIk;  one 
at  Woodstock,  in  which  she  was  concealed  by  Henry  II.  from  the 
sight  of  his  young  (}ucen,  l^^leanor  of  Aquitaine,  may  have  formed 
part  of  the  "  plaisance  "  atljoining  the  royal  i:)alace.  It  is,  however, 
very  doubtful  of  what  description  this  may  have  been.  Drayton, 
in  a  note  to  his  Epistle  of  liosamond,  says  that  her  labyrinth  was 
formed  of  arched  and  walled  vaults  underground,  but  (iough 
observes  that  the  poet  gives  no  authority  for  the  assertion.  (Seo 
Preface  to  Gour/h's  Brit.  Topog.,  p.  xxx.)  Such  vaults  might  have 
existed  in  Drayton's  time,  but  they  did  not  prove  that  there  had 
not  been  any  superstructure.  According  to  ]h-omton,  indeed, 
Eosamond's  labyrinth  at  Woodstock  should  be  number(>d  amongst 
those  of  the  Architectural  class.  He  says  of  her,  "  Huic  nemjie 
puelhx}  spcctatissimix)  fecerat  rex  apud  Wodestoke  mirabilis  archi- 
tectura)  camt^ram  operi  DaMlalino  similem,  no  forsan  a  reginii 
deprehenderetur."  [Script.  Decern,,  col.  1151.)  ]Cnygliton  uses  the 
same  words,  with  the  exception  only  of  the  expression,  "  Operi 
Da^dalino  sinuatam.'"     (Ihid,  col.  231)5.) 

Henry,  abbot  of  Clairvaux,  has  been  supposed  to  allude  to 
mazes,  such  as  have  been  figured  in  the  foregoing  memoir,  when, 
waiting  ahegorically  of  being  entangled  in  a  labyrinth,  he  observes, 
"non  habent  certos  aditus,  semitas  ambulant  circulares,  et  in 
quodam  fi-audium  labyrintho  monstra  sjevissima  reconduntur." 
(See  Hovcden,  ed.  Savile,  p.  577,  under  the  year  1178.)  It  is 
obvious,  however,  that  the  writer  may  have  had  in  his  thoughts 
merely  the  traditional  forms  of  the  Cretan  labyrinth. 

In  the  reigns  of  Hemy  VIII.  and  J^lH^abcth,  mazes  were  nmch 
in  vogue,  and  there  nmst  then  have  been  a  frequent  demand  for 
fabricators  of  verdant  subtilties,  a  maze  form(>d  by  neatly  cli])ped 
hedges  being  an  usual  adjunct  to  the  royal  residences,  and  probably 
also  to  those  of  the  nobility.  These,  I  believe,  are  now  for  the 
most  part  destroyed;  but  their  past  existence  is  indicated  by  the 
retention  of  the  name  "maze"  in  the  vicinity  of  the  spots  they  had 


266  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

once  occupied,  such  as  The  Maze  in  Southwark,  marking  the 
site  of  the  Princess  Mary  Tudor's  residence,  alluded  to  by  Miss 
Strickland,  in  her  "Lives  of  the  Queens  of  England;"^  and  Maze 
Hill  at  Greenwich,  once  supplied  with  a  similar  means  of  amusing 
the  royal  inmates  of  the  adjoining  palace.  Aubrey,  in  his  "  History 
of  Surrey,"  vol.  v.  p.  80,  says,  that  there  were  many  mazes  in 
England  before  the  civil  wars,  and  that  the  young  people  used  on 
festivals  to  dance  upon  them,  or  as  the  term  was,  to  tread  them, 
whilst  one  still  existed  in  that  county  on  Hillbury,  between  Farn- 
ham  and  Guildford,  in  the  memory  of  persons  still  living,  which 
was  called  Troy-town. 

Of  the  frequent  use  of  mazes  in  later  times,  and  the  varied 
fashions  of  their  design,  illustrations  might  be  easily  multiplied. 
Books  of  practical  instruction  for  planning  such  works  were  pub- 
lished at  that  time,  and  the  following  has  been  specially  cited  : — 
*'  The  Gardener's  Labyrinth,  by  Dydymus  Mountaine.  Wherein 
are  set  forth  divers  herbers,  knottes,  and  mazes,  cunningly  handled 
for  the  beautifying  of  gardens."  4to.  1577.  Evelyn  enumerates 
"  labyrinths,  djiedals,  cabines,"  &c.,  amongst  the  numerous  topiary 
and  other  works  in  his  scheme  for  a  Koyal  Garden.  [Memoirs,  vol. 
iii ,  p.  435.)  In  the  popular  cyclopedia  of  country  occupations,  the 
Maison  Bustique,  by  Charles  Estienne  and  Liebault,  published  at 
Pai'is  in  1582,  a  figure  of  a  square  "  Daidalus  "  is  given  amongst 
the  plans  for  laying  out  gardens,  and  it  is  copied  in  the  translation 
by  Kichard  Surtlet,  entitled  "  The  Country  Earme ;"  see  Gervase 
Markham's  edition,  London,  IGIG,  p.  270,  where  "the  forme  of  a 
Labyrinth"  will  be  found. 

The  topiary  maze  appears  to  have  been  sometimes  termed  a 
Wilderness,  as  at  Hampton  Court  and  elsewhere.  The  author  of 
the  "Account  of  several  Gardens  near  London,  in  1091,"  com- 
mends "  the  very  pretty  maze  or  wilderness  "  at  Lord  Fauconbergh's 
garden  at  Sutton  Court,  near  Chiswick  (Archaolo(/ia,  vol.  xii.p.  184.) 
The  Wilderness  at  Hampton  Court,  with  the  compartment  laid  out 
as  a  maze,  the  design  of  which  may  be  seen  in  Jesse  s  Hampton 
Court,  p.  77,  was  part  of  the  gardens  laid  out  there  for  William  111, 
by  London  and  Wise,  about  1090.  See  further  on  this  subject 
Walpole's  observations  on  Modern  Gardening,  in  his  "Anecdotes  of 
Painting  in  England." 

Artists,  moreover,  whose  names  are  of  high  repute,  in  the 
development  of  the  pictorial  and  other  arts,  did  not  deem  it  beneath 
them  to  devise  plans  for  these  intricate  verdant  bowers.  Holbein 
designed  one,  a  print  of  which  was  exhibited  at  the  late  Manchester 
Exhibition,  accompanied  by  a  Latin  and  a  German  poetical  inscrip- 
tion, whence  it  api:>eared  that  it  was  intended  to  represent  the 
mythical  work  of  Daedalus.  Tintoretto,  likewise,  painted  a  labyrinth, 
which  may  be  seen  in  Hampton  Court  Palace.'-'     1  here  give  two 

(8)  Vol.  i.  p  318.  The  manor  of"  Lo  Masc,"  Southwark,  is  so  termed  in  1  Ilenr.  VI. 
when  it  belonged  to  Sir  Jolin  Burcestre.  See  the  account  of  it  given  in  Coll.  Toj).  vol. 
viii.  p.  2')3.  The  memory  of  its  site  still  exists  in  the  names  ]\Iaze  l^ane  and  Maze  Pond. 
Green,  the  Dramatist,  mentions  the  "Maze  in  Tuttle,"  supposed  to  have  been  in  Tothill 
Fields. 

(9)  This  painting  is  now  in  the  Queen's  Private  Chamber,  at  Hampton  Court,  and  it 
is  marked  Ko.  787,  iu  the  btraugers'  Guide,  published  in  1857.    In  a  letter  to  M.  Didrou, 


MAZES    AND    LABYRINTHS.  267 

plans  of  verdant  mazes  of  the  sixteenth  century,  one,  fig.  12,  from 


Fig.  12.     Maze  at  Theobalds,  Hertfordshire. 

the  old  palace  of  Theobalds,  Herts;  and  another,  fig.  13,  taken 
from  an  Italian  work  on  architecture,  by  Seriio.^*'  Labyrinths  of 
this  description  continued  to  abound  during  the  seventeenth  century 
in  Italy,  France,  Germany,  and  Holland,  but  they  were  discarded 
from  England  by  the  refined  taste  of  the  times  of  Charles  I.  and 
Charles  II.,  whose  artistic  garden  terraces,  adorned  with  groups  of 
well-chosen  sculpture,  and  fair  lawns  enlivened  with  embroidery  of 
skilfully  contrasted  flowers,  could  not  admit  the  propinquity  of  so 
puerile  a  conceit  as  a  gloomy  mass  of  hedges,  affecting  to  represent 
the  mighty  architectural  designs  of  the  ancient  monarchs  of  Egypt, 
Crete,  or  Etruria.     Clement  X.,  who  ordered  a  maze  to  be  made 

cited  in  M.  Durand's  Memoir  on  Mosaic  Pavements,  f  Annales,  tome  xvii.  p.  1 27,)  it  is  stated 
tliat  in  tlie  collection  of  the  Marquis  Campana  at  IJoiiie  was  to  be  seen  a  painting?  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  on  panel,  representing;  the  story  of  'J'licseus,  with  a  labyrinth  which 
closely  resembled  that  in  the  church  of  8anta  Maria  in  Aquiro  at  Kome,  figured  by  M. 
Durand  in  that  memoir. 

(10)  "  Seb.  Scrlio,  Libri  cinque  d'Architettura,"  Venet.  1551,  fol.,  but  the  books 
appeared  separately,  commencing  in  1537.  This  work  was  translated  into  French,  by  J. 
Martin,  Paris  and  Antwerp,  1545-50,  also  into  Dutch,  and  in  IGl  1  into  English.  A  copy  of 
that  translation,  a  folio  volume  of  considerable  rarity,  exists  in  the  library  of  my  fnend, 
the  Kev.  \V.  'J'hornton,  at  Dodford,  Northamptonshire.  A  remarkable  example  of  the 
topiary  maze  formerly  existed  at  the  Chateau  de  Gaillon.  In  the  Architectural  Works 
of  Du  Cerceau,  who  lived  in  the  reigns  of  Charles  IX.  and  Henry  111.  (1560-89)  there  is 
scarcely  a  ground  plot  without  a  square  and  a  round  labyrinth. 


268  YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 


]         [ 


Fig.  13.    Italian  Maze,  from  Serlio,  Libri  Cinque  D'ArcMtettura,    1537. 

at  the  Villa  Altieri,  is  reported  to  have  amused  himself  with  the 
perplexities  of  his  attendants  when  consigned  to  its  folds,  formed  of 
thick  and  high  box-trees."  Gabriel  i:>lanned  one  for  the  palace  of 
Choisi  in  France,  and  the  celebrated  Le  Notre  another  for  that  of 
Chantilly,  during  the  above-named  period.  The  passion  for  these 
verdant  marvels  was  again  resumed  through  the  example  of 
William  III.,  who  formed  one  at  his  palace  of  the  Loo,  in  Holland, 
and  that  well-known  specimen  at  Hampton  Court,  a  work  which 
very  probably  suggested  to  Pope,  who  resided  in  its  vicinity,  the 
idea  expressed  in  the  following  lines  : — 

Let  us  (since  life  can  little  more  supply 
Than  just  to  look  about  us  and  to  die), 
Expatiate  free  o'er  all  this  scene  of  man, 
A  mighty  maze  I  but  not  without  a  plan. 


'')"yia'3e     y/nvo^  f^^j  rt-<vu  t-n-d    irf.     '$>%.'Jc  f^Ui^    ilSO.  C_ 


(li;  See  the  letter  from  M.  B.  de  Montault  in  Didron's  Annales,  tome  xvil.  p.  127, 
note.    An  engraving  of  this  labyrinth  e>dsts,  executed  in  the  seventeenth  century. 


On  Kirkham  Priory.  Read  at  the  Meeting  of  the  Yorkshire  and 
Lincoln  Diocesan  Architectural  Societies,  at  Doncaster,  Sept. 
23,  1857.  By  John  Richard  Walbran,  Esq.,  F.S.A.,  Major 
of  Ripon. 

Among  the  various  and  conflicting  motives  that  originated  the 
foundation  of  religious  houses,  few — after  the  testing  revolution  of 
seven  centuries  of  opinion — will  appeal  more  directly,  or  more 
sensitively  to  our  hearts  than  that  which  made  Kirkham  a  place 
"  Holy  unto  the  Lord  for  ever." 

Of  the  conscience-stricken  pangs  that  were  comfortably  to  be 
stifled  by  the  bestowal  of  a  superfluity  which  cost  the  givers  nothing, 
— of  the  death-bed  concessions  that  were  to  charter  a  seat  in  heaven 
by  a  foregone  inheritance  on  earth,  it  would  ill  become  us — beings 
weak  and  imperfect  as  our  forefathers — to  dogmatize  on  that  which, 
we  trust,  eternal  purity  may  have  pardoned ;  yet,  too  surely  must  I 
deem  that  many  a  sorrowing,  heart  within  these  walls  can  sympa- 
thetically interpret  that  stern  message  to  our  founder — '*  Behold, 
I  take  away  from  thee  the  desire  of  thine  eyes  with  a  stroke." 

The  facts  of  the  incident  were  first  published  in  the  Monasticon 
Anglicanum'  from  a  volume  of  collections,  now  preserved  among 
the  Cotton  MSS.  in  the  British  JMuseum,  where  it  is  marked 
VitelUus,  F.  4,  It  records  with  considerable  minuteness  that,  in 
the  reign  of  King  Henry  the  First,  Sir  Walter  L'Espec  was  the 
Lord  of  Kii-kham  and  other  large  estates  in  Yorkshire  and  Northum- 
berland— the  rewards  of  uncommon  bravery  in  the  wars  of  the 
period ;  and  that  by  Adelina  his  wife  he  had  an  only  son,  who  bore 
his  father's  Christian  name,  and  was  distinguished  by  the  same 
high  mental  qualifications  and  noble  form,  This  young  man 
delighted  much  in  equestrian  exercise,  a  pleasure  which  eventually 
cost  him  his  life ;  for,  one  day,  when  riding  at  a  great  pace  towards 
Firby — a  hamlet  about  a  mile  to  the  north-east  of  Kirkham — his 
horse,  urged  beyond  its  speed,  stumbled  near  a  small  stone  way-side 
cross,  and  threw  his  rider  to  the  ground,  who,  having  broken  his 
neck,  immediately  expired. 

When  the  intelligence  of  this  sad  bereavement  reached  the 
young  man's  father,  he  sorrowed  not  as  they  who  have  no  hope,  but 
— as  the  record  says — having  invoked  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
consulted  with  his  friends  as  to  the  disposal  of  his  property, 
especially  with  his  uncle  William,  the  Rector  of  Garton  near 
Driffield,  on  whose  counsel  he  much  relied.  His  advice  was,  that 
a  portion  of  his  estate  should  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  Him  who 
had   given  and  taken  away;  and,  after  the  prevailing  fashion  of 

(1)  "Dominus  JValterus  EspecTce  miles  strenuus  et  decorus  in  etate  juvenili  uxorem 
duxit  quandam,  nomine  Adelinam,  quae  concepit,  et  peperit  ei  unum  filium  nomine 
Walterum,  similem  patri  suo.  Qui  formosus  factus  adolescens  multum  delcctabatur  in 
equis  velocibus  equitare.  Contigit  ut  quadam  die,  cum  equura  velocem  ascendisset  et 
ipsura  ad  currendum  ultra  vires  urgeret,  apud  parvam  petrinam  crucem,  versus  Fritliby, 
equus  suus  graviter  cespitavit:  et  ille  subito  de  equo  cadens,  collo  suo  fracto,  vitam 
finivit  temporalem,"  &c.,  Sad.— Cotton  MSS.  Vitell.  F.  4.—Mon.  Angl.  i,  727. 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  M  M 


270  YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

the  day,  this  purpose  was  effected  ultimately  hy  the  foundation  of 
three  monasteries — Kirkham,  Pdvaux,  and  Wardon  in  Bedfordshire. 
Kirkham,  from  its  proximity  to  the  spot  where  the  misfortune 
occurred,  was,  of  course,  the  first  offering  of  his  submission  to  the 
will  of  God.  It  was  founded  on  the  22nd  of  February,  1192,  when 
it  was  dedicated  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  and 
devoted  to  the  Rule  of  St.  Augustine;  WilUam,  L'Espec's  uncle> 
who  was  a  Canon  of  Nostel,  being  appointed  the  first  Prior.  Eivaulx 
was  founded  in  1131,  and  Wardon  in  1136  ;  but  both  these  houses 
were  colonised  with  Cistercian  monks,  the  diversion  of  the  founder's 
bounty  having  been  directed  towards  this  rising  and  reforming 
Order  by  Thurstan,  archbishop  of  York — a  friend  of  St.  Bernard — 
who,  in  1132,  founded  the  great  abbey  of  Fountains. 

"  Pro  reorurn  venia  Kirkham  domus  bona 
Rievallis  deinceps,  et  hasc  tria,  Wai-doiia 
Est  fundata  primitus  a  dicta  persona, 
Pro  quorum  meritis  datur  illi  trina  corona.'^ 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  in  the  charters  by  which 
these  abbeys  were  founded,  Espec,  though  he  states  particularly  in 
that  of  Rivaulx  that  the  donation  was  made  for  the  souls  of  kings 
William  and  Henry,  for  the  souls  of  his  parents,  his  wife's  parents, 
and  their  ancestors,  and  for  that  of  Hugh  de  Wildecher,  never 
alludes  in  any  shape  whatever  to  the  loss  of  his  only  child.  There 
is  a  parallel  case,  however,  in  the  charters  of  the  foundress  of  Bol- 
ton Priory. 

The  tradition  of  the  neighbourhood  has  kept,  as  usual,  its  irre- 
gular pace  with  the  more  authentic  record ;  and  I  have  been  told 
by  one  born  near  Kirkham,  and  much  more  able  to  have  addressed 
you  on  the  subject  than  myself,  that  when  peasants — 

"In  winter's  tedious  nights  sit  hy  the  fire 
With  good  old  folks"— 

and  tell  their  tales,  it  is  their  legend  that  the  Lady  Adeline  had 
such  a  strange  prevision  of  coming  sorrow,  as  led  her  vehemently 
to  dissuade  her  son  from  hunting  on  the  fatal  day — that,  after  he 
had  slighted  her  admonition,  he  was  observed  about  evening,  by  a 
wayfaring  man,  riding  at  full  gallop  towards  Firby,  and  had 
scarcely  ascended  to  a  place  where  a  spring  of  water  gushed  from 
the  hill  side,  when  a  wild  boar,  darting  across  the  road,  startled  the 
horse,  which  dashed  its  master's  head  against  a  stone  that  now  forms 
part  of  the  cross  before  the  Gatehouse,  and  then  dragged  him  by 
the  stirrups  to  a  place  where  he  was  found,  and  therefore  chosen  as 
the  site  of  the  high  altar  of  the  Priory. 

Like  many  other  traditions,  this,  evidently,  is  but  an  adumbra- 
tion of  the  truth  ;  yet  in  the  present  state  of  society,  when  so  much 
of  our  folk-lore  is  passing  away  from  us,  it  must  not  be  left  unre- 
corded. 

Of  the  personal  history  of  the  founder,  who  must  ever  occupy  a 
prominent  position  among  the  worthies  of  the  kingdom,  all  who  are 
but  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  history  of  their  country  will — 


KIRKHAM    PRIORY.  371 

amongst  other  services  which  he  rendered  during  a  long  and  ear- 
nestly-purposed life — remember  that  wherein  his  eloquence  and  his 
valour  contributed  in  a  triumphant  degree  to  the  victory  gained  by 
the  English  over  the  Scots  at  the  memorable  "  Battle  of  the 
Standaixi."  Yet,  I  cannot  refrain  from  portraying  him  to  you  when, 
in  his  harangue  to  the  army,  he  swore,  grasping  the  hand  of  the 
Earl  of  Albermarle,-  on  that  field  to  be  victorious  or  to  die,  and 
roused  the  religious  enthusiasm  of  the  hearers  by  the  assurance 
that  "  angels  and  the  saints  of  the  churches  which  the  enemy  had 
prophaned,  would  fight  with  them  from  the  clouds  and  avenge  the 
innocent."  "  He  was  now" — says  his  illustrious  friend  Aelred, 
abbot  of  Kivaulx,  the  historian  of  the  battle — "  an  old  man,  and  full 
of  days,  quick  witted,  prudent  in  council,  moderate  in  peace,  cir- 
cumspect in  war,  a  true  friend  and  a  loyal  subject.  His  stature 
was  passing  tall,  his  limbs  all  of  such  size  as  not  to  exceed  their 
just  proportions,  and  yet  to  be  well  matched  with  his  great  height. 
His  hair  was  still  black,  his  beard  long  and  flowing,  his  forehead 
wide  and  noble,  his  eyes  large  and  bright,  his  face  broad  but  well 
featured,  his  voice  like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet,  setting  off  his 
natural  eloquence  of  speech  with  a  certain  majesty  of  sound." 

Such  was  our  founder,  fourteen  years  after  arrows  sharper  than 
those  he  braved  on  that  day  had  pierced  his  breast.  So  magnificent 
a  soul  has  seldom  been  as  fitly  lodged  in  its  tenement  of  clay  ! 

After  a  similar  revolution  of  time,  he  retired  from  the  strife  and 
contention  of  the  world,  and,  singularly  enough,  chose  his  home, 
not  at  Kirkham,  but  at  Rivaulx  :  drawn  thither,  it  may  have  been, 
by  a  desire  for  more  intimate  and  daily  communion  with  the  abbot 
Aelred  ;  of  whom  it  is  now  enough  to  say  that  he  was  "  neither  in 
piety  or  genius  unworthy  of  his  master,  St.  Bernard." 

After  passing  about  two  years  in  monastic  seclusion,  Espec  died 
in  the  year  1153 — his  wife  surviving  him — and  was  buried  on  the 
9th  of  March,  at  Rivaulx,  far  away  from  him  whose  loss  had  em- 
bittered his  soul.  Yet,  let  us  humbly  hope  that  they  who  were  thus 
sadly  severed,  both  in  life  and  in  death,  have  not  parted  at  the  gates 
of  heaven. 

Amid  the  ruin  of  that  beautiful  and  noble  pile,  which  "  once 
was  holy  and  is  holy  still,"  there  is,  now,  left  no  memorial  to  guide 
even  a  sympathizing  pilgrim  to  his  grave — nothing  to  protect  his 
once  venerated  form  from  the  intrusion  of  the  meanest  hind. 

It  would  avail  little,  for  a  purpose  like  the  present,  to  investigate 
the  topography  of  Kirkham  before  the  foundation  of  the  Priory. 
Yet,  it  may  be  useful  to  remark  that  when  the  Domesday  survey  was 
taken  it  was  a  large  and  important  manor,  consisting  of  eight  caru- 
cates  or  upwards  of  eight  hundred  acres  of  land,  which  in  the 
Saxon  times  had  belonged  to  the  powerful  Waltheof,  but  then  to  the 

(2)  In  1139,  on  the  feast  of  St.  Hilary,  the  Earl  of  Albemarle,  who  has  been  styled 
"prieclaru^  comes  et  eximhia  monasteriorum  ftDidator,"  founded  the  Priory  of  Thornton  in 
Lincolnshire;  and  in  the  following  year,  and  on  the  same  feast,  "  AValtheof— his  kins- 
man, and  Prior  of  Kirkham— went  to  Thornton,  taking  with  him  twelve  canons  of  Kirk- 
ham, whom  he  established  in  the  new  monastery,  constituting  one  of  them,  named 
Richard,  the  first  Prior. 


272  YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Earl  of  Moreton.  That  it  had  suffered  its  share  in  the  military 
ravages  that  had  depreciated  the  value  of  all  the  adjoining  property. 
That  a  mill  had  been  advantageously  worked  by  the  river  Derwent ; 
and  that  woodlands,  a  mile  long  by  ten  perches  broad,  fringed  the 
banks  of  that  lovely  stream — that  must  have  sighed  in  the  ears  of 
the  Conqueror's  surveyors  with  the  same  fitful  melancholy  cadence 
as  might  have  solaced  our  hearts  to-day.  It  had  also,  at  that 
early  period,  a  church,  and  even  an  endowed  minister.  Judging, 
therefore,  as  much  from  its  Saxon  name,  "  Chircham,"  or  the 
Church-stead,  as  from  its  immediate  proximity  to  a  great  river  and 
an  influential  nucleus  of  civilization  at  Malton,  we  may  not  err 
much  in  believing  that  it  had  been  one  of  those  early  missionary 
stations  where  the  site  of  the  mother  church  had  marked  the  scene 
of  some  such  extraordinary  baptismal  regenerations  as  are  recorded 
by  the  Saxon  historians  in  honor  of  Paulinus  or  Augustine. 

The  bounty  of  the  founder,  as  might  have  been  expected,  was 
dealt  out  with  no  niggard  or  parsimonious  hand.  He  bestowed 
not  in  high  sounding  legal  words,  like  many  that  might  be  quoted, 
lands  hj  the  mile,  that  still  furnish  only  sustenance  to  wild  birds 
and  amusement  to  the  sportsman  ;  but,  heeding,  as  it  would 
seem,  the  admonition  of  St.  Augustine — "  With  what  face  canst 
thou  expect  an  inheritance  from  Christ  in  heaven,  that  defraudest 
Christ  in  thy  inheritance,  here  on  earth  ?  " — he  bestowed  upon  his 
Priory  these  most  munificent  gifts — two  parts  of  the  tithes  of  Bol- 
ton in  Northumberland — the  town  and  church  of  Carr-upon-Tweed 
— the  church  of  Garton,  with  more  than  a  hundred  acres  of  land  in 
a  place  called  St.  Michael's  Flat — the  church  of  Helmsly  Black- 
more,  with  a  like  quantity  of  land,  and  pannage  in  the  great  oak 
woods  there  for  their  swine  and  pasturage  of  cattle — the  church  of 
Hilton — two  parts  of  the  tithes  of  the  mill  of  Helton  in  Northum- 
berland— the  tithes  of  all  the  farms  at  Howsham — the  church  of 
Kirkby  Grendale — the  tithes  of  his  demesne  lands  at  Linton — 
the  churches  of  Linton  and  of  Ross — eight  hundred  acres  of  land 
in  Sixtendale — the  manor  of  Titelington — the  entire  towns  of 
Whitwell  and  Westow,  together  with  an  extensive  and  valuable  right 
of  fishing  in  the  Derwent,  and  the  tithe  of  Howsham  Mill.  He 
was,  in  fact,  the  first  and  last  great  benefactor  to  the  Priory — for  all 
the  other  charters  to  the  house  that  I  have  seen,  and  I  believe  I 
have  nearly  seen  them  all,  represent  nothing  more  than  dearly 
bought  "  confirmations"  from  the  Crown,  the  Pope,  or  the  Lords 
Paramount  of  Fees  ;  or  donations  of  mere  scattered  oxgangs,  that 
it  is  useless  to  recapitulate. 

After  Espec's  death  his  estates — still  of  immense  value  and 
extent — were  divided  among  his  sisters,  Hawise,  Albreda,  and 
Adeline.  The  eldest  had  married  William  de  Bussy,  a  member  of 
a  very  influential  Yorkshire  family  at  that  time ;  the  second, 
Nicholas  de  Traily,  of  whom  little  or  nothing  is  known;  and  the 
youngest,  Peter  de  Roos,  who,  subsequently  and  wisely,  left  his 
paternal  estate  of  Roos,  in  Holderness,  and  became  the  founder  of 
the  great  baronial  family  that  built  the  castle  of  Helmsley,  pro- 
duced men  that  joined  in  wresting  Magna  Charta  from  King  John, 


KIRKHAM    TRIORY.  273 

fought  valiantly  at  the  battle  of  Lincoln — in  the  wars  of  Gascony — 
against  the  Scots  and  the  Welsh — at  the  battle  of  Evesham — shared 
in  the  glory  of  Cressy  and  Poictiers ;  and,  at  length,  in  the  reign  of 
Henry  VII,  1508  (after  having  provided  their  country  with  such  a 
succession  of  warriors  as  few  families  can  display),  left — through  an 
alliance  of  the  daughter  of  Lord  Thomas  de  lioos,  who  shared  so 
bitterly  in  the  disaster  of  Towton  field — their  vast  estates  in  the 
possession  of  Sir  Robert  Manners,  ancestor  to  the  present  Duke  of 
Rutland. 

To  Adeline,  his  youngest  sister,  Sir  Walter  Espec  especially 
committed  and  gave,  as  he  had  given  also  to  his  wife,  the  advowson 
or  right  of  patronage  to  his  monasteries  of  Kirkham  and  Kivaulx : 
and  within  their  now  bare  and  roofless  walls  many  of  her  descendants 
are  now  sleeping  their  last  and  dreamless  sleep,  unconscious  that 
the  coveted  requiem  that  was  to  have  been  sung — for  ever — above 
their  gentle  dust,  is  to  be,  fancifully,  heard  only  in  the  murmuring 
of  the  passing  stream,  and  the  diapason  of  the  winds  that  are  toned 
through  the  ruins  that  mark  their  last  earthly  dwelling  place. 

Among  the  burial  places  of  the  family  that  are  particularly 
recorded,  we  learn  from  a  Chronicle  or  pedigree  entered  in  the 
chartulary  of  Rivaulx  abbey,  which  I  have  previously  quoted,  that 
William  de  Ros,  who,  even  in  his  father's  lifetime,  was  an  active 
supporter  of  the  baronial  and  popular  cause  against  King  Henry  the 
Third,  was  buried  in  the  church  of  Kirkham,  before  the  high  altar: 
that  his  son.  Lord  Robert  de  Ros,  the  redoubtable  warrior,  once 
rested  there  beneath  a  marble  tomb,  on  the  south  side  of  the  choir : 
that  his  son,  Lord  William,  the  sworn  foe  of  Scotland,  and  a  great 
benefactor  to  the  house,  had  his  grave  and  a  marble  tomb  on  the 
other  side  of  the  choir :  and  (so  affectionately  did  they  cling  to  the 
place,  when  feudal  ties  might  have  withdrawn  them,  in  death, 
elsewhere)  his  son  William.,  the  third  baron,  another  noted  soldier, 
chose  also  his  grave  and  had  a  marble  tomb  here,  by  the  side  of  his 
grandfather. 

Though  the  monks  might  have  read  that — "Monuments  at  last 
memorials  need" — they  hardly  would  have  believed  that  this  little 
volume,  which  they  must  have  often  used  familiarly,  would  ever 
become  the  sole  record  of  honoured  objects,  whose  site  should  one 
day  be  trodden  in  open  air,  by  the  beasts  of  the  field. 

Although  the  lot  of  the  canons  of  Kirkham  had  been  cast  in  a 
beautiful  and  pleasant  place,  so  that — unlike  the  first  poor  brethren 
of  Bolton,  Sawley,  Kirkstall,  Jervaux  and  Byland — they  had  no 
occasion  to  importune  their  patron  to  be  delivered  from  an  exile 
condition  on  barren  or  inclement  moorlands — places,  as  chronicles 
say,  of  "  horror  and  vast  solitude,"  where,  to  use  a  modern  phrase, 
"a  provisional  "  convent  might  be  cheaply  gratified  in  their  intended 
exercise  of  asceticism — it  would  appear  that,  about  a  century  after 
the  period  of  the  foundation,  they  meditated  a  surrender  of  their 
house  and  property  to  the  monks  of  Rivaulx,  and  intended  to 
establish  themselves  in  the  parish  of  Weaverthorpe,  twelve  miles 
east  of  Malton,     The  motive  is  no  more  apparent  to  us  than  that 


274  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

whicli  induced  the  monks  of  Rivaulx  to  meditate  a  translation  of 
their  house  in  1158 — five  years  after  the  death  of  the  founder — to 
*'  Stainton  near  the  sea,"  midway  between  Whitby  and  Scarborough 
— a  fact  not  generally  known.  The  intention  of  our  canons,  how- 
ever, is  indisputable  ;  since  the  indenture  or  agreement  between  the 
monks  of  Rivaulx  and  the  canons  of  Kirkham  is  entered,  at  length, 
in  the  Goucher  Book  of  the  former  house. 

After  a  preamble  which  states  that  the  concession  was  made 
**  for  the  love  of  God,  the  health  of  their  souls — for  the  sake  of 
establishing  a  common  feeling  between  the  houses, — for  the  peace 
and  honor  of  the  prior,  and  at  the  wish  and  desire  of  their  patron" 
— motives  in  which  the  last  recited  was  doubtless  the  most  operative 
and  predominant — the  record  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  canons  had, 
in  consequence,  granted  to  the  house  of  Rivaulx  the  estate  of  Kirk- 
ham, with  its  priory  and  other  edifices,  their  gardens,  orchards, 
mills,  and  all  other  things  there  except  one  barn  (of  course  of  wood) 
which  they  wished  to  remove ;  likewise  Whitwell  and  Westow,  and 
upwards  of  four  hundred  acres  of  land  in  Sixtendale,  which  the 
patron  held  in  his  own  hand,  together  with  another  hundred  acres 
of  land  and  one  hundred  sheep. 

In  exchange  for  this  was  to  be  given  to  the  canons  not — mark — 
by  the  monks  of  Rivaulx — but  by  the  common  patron.  Lord  de  Ros, 
(whom  some  people  probably  suspected  looked  upon  sweet  Kirkham's 
lawn  as  a  kind  of  Naboth's  vineyard,  from  his  dreary  moorland 
castle  at  Helmsley,)  the  whole  of  Linton  and  Weaverthorpe,  with 
the  appurtenances  of  the  latter,  free  from  all  services  whatever  ;  the 
prior  and  his  friends  undertaking  to  build  a  sufficiently  large  church, 
a  chapter-house,  a  dormitory,  and  a  refectory,  of  stone,  with  other 
offices  of  another  material,  namely,  an  infirmary,  a  store-house, 
hospitium,  bakehouse,  stable,  granary,  and  barn ;  also  a  good  mill, 
if  the  same  could  be  provided  at  a  reasonable  cost.  The  canons 
stipulated,  also,  that  on  their  departure  from  Kirkham  they  should 
be  allowed  to  take  with  them  all  their  "  mobilia,"  specifying  not 
only  their  crosses,  chalices,  books,  and  vestments,  but  also  their 
painted  windows,  ^Yhich  they  would  replace  with  white  glass.  They 
would  leave,  also,  any  one  of  the  bells  which  might  be  selected. 
There  is  no  date  to  this  very  singular  document,  but  some  internal 
evidence  appears  to  refer  it  to  an  early  period  in  the  13th  century. 
We  may,  therefore,  suppose  that,  on  the  abandonment  of  the  project, 
the  canons  began  the  reconstruction  of  their  choir  and  chapter- 
house— works  which  must  once  have  worthily  held  a  high  place 
amongst  the  architectural  triumphs  of  Yorkshire. 

Beyond  transactions  with  reference  to  their  estates  or  privileges, 
there  is  nothing  more  worthy  of  mention  (on  an  occasion  like  the 
present)  in  the  quiet  and  monotonous  history  of  the  Priory,  until 
the  time  of  its  dissolution  ;  unless — as  an  ilkistration  of  medicneval 
marvels — I  may  be  allowed  to  report  a  story  told  by  St.  Bernard  in 
the  life  of  his  friend  Malachy,  archbishop  of  Armagh,  in  Ireland, 
which  occurred  when  he  came  to  York,  on  his  passage  to  Rome. 

He  says — hut  remember  that  he  is  speaking  to  you  after  a  lapse  of 


KIRKHAM   PRIORY.  275 

seveii  hundred  years — *'  In  the  town  of  York,  there  came  to  wait 
upon  him  a  man  of  noble  parentage,  William,  Prior  of  the  Brothers 
Regular  at  Kirkiiam — now  a  monk  and  abbot  of  our  Order  at 
Melrose — who,  humbly  and  devoutly,  recommended  himself  to 
Malachy's  prayers.  Seeing  that  the  bishop  had  many  in  his  com- 
pany and  but  few  horses  to  carry  them,  he  oiTered  him  his  own, 
only  adding  that  he  *  was  sorry  that  it  had  been  bred  a  draught 
horse,  and  that  its  paces  were  somewhat  rough.  I  would  gladly 
offer  you  a  better,'  said  he,  '  if  I  had  one  ;  but  if  you  will  be  con- 
tented to  take  the  best  I  have,  it  may  go  with  you.'  '  I  accept  it 
the  more  willingly,'  said  the  bishop,  'because  you  say  it  is  worth 
little — not  that  I  can  count  anything  of  little  worth  which  is  offered 
with  such  extraordinary  good-will.'  Turning,  then,  to  his  attendants, 
he  said,  '  Saddle  me  the  horse,  for  it  is  a  seasonable  present,  and 
it  is  likely  to  serve  me  long.'  When  saddled,  he  mounted  it,  and 
though  at  first  he  found  its  paces  rough,  after  a  little  time,  by  a 
marvellous  change,  the  motion  became  as  pleasant  and  as  gentle  an 
amble  as  he  could  desire.  And  that  no  word  which  he  had  spoken 
might  fall  to  the  ground,  the  same  animal  never  failed  him  for 
more  than  eight  years  afterwards — the  time  of  his  own  death — 
turning  out  an  excellent  and  most  valuable  palfrey.  And  what 
made  the  miracle  more  apparent  was,  that  from  iron-grey  the  horse 
began  to  grow  white ;  so  that,  not  long  after,  you  could  not  find  a 
horse  more  perfectly  white  than  he  became." 

When  the  greatest  intellect  in  Europe  could  solemnly  relate  a 
story  like  this — believing  it  to'  be  a  miracle — let  us  judge  more 
mercifully  of  the  delusions  and  distractions  of  our  simple  minded 
forefathers. 

Whether  the  dissolution  of  the  convent  was  accomplished  by 
force  or  by  fraud,  we  know  not.  It  appears,  only,  from  the  instru- 
ment of  surrender,  now  preserved  among  the  records  of  the  Augmen- 
tation Office  in  London,  that  on  the  8th  of  December,  in  the  38th 
year  of  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  the  canons  met  for  the  last 
time  in  their  noble  chapter  house,  and  appended  their  signatures  to 
the  document,  in  the  following  order — 

John  Kildwick,  Prior,  William  Lawson,  Sub-Prior, 

John  Blacket,  Priest,  Stephen  Chapman,  Priest, 

Thomas  Catton,  Priest,  John  Hawthorpe,  Priest, 

Eichard  Seymere,  Priest,  Richard  Bayldon,  Priest, 

James  Parkinson,  Priest,  Richard  Morwyn,  Priest, 

Edmond  Newton,  Priest,  William  Beckfield,  Priest, 

Anthony  Watson,  Priest,  Robert  Atkinson,  Priest, 

Peter  Wilkinson,  Deacon,  and 
John  Nowell. 
These  were  the  men  who  consented  that  Kirkham  should  become  a 
solitary  place,  a  desolation,  and  a  wilderness  of  ruins. 

In  1553,  seven  of  them  were  living  and  in  the  receipt  of  a  pen- 
sion of  £5  6s.  8d.  each.  The  Prior,  who  had  received  £50  per  an- 
num, was  then,  I  believe,  dead. 

I  abstain,  for  obvious  reasons,  from  reciting  the  legend  called 
"  The  Curse  of  Kirkham,"  which  tells  in  long  genealogical  array  of 


276  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

the  hapless  fate  of  a  family  who  are  supposed  to  have  benefited 
largely  by  the  dissolution  of  the  Priory. 

When  the  King's  survey  was  made  in  the  26th  of  Henry  the 
Eighth,  the  annual  value  of  the  estates  belonging  to  Kirkham 
amounted  to  i'300  15s.  6d.,  a  sum  which,  at  the  very  least,  would 
not  now  be  sufficiently  represented  if  umltiplied  by  ten.  I  have  not 
been  able  to  discover  the  inventory  of  their  personal  property  taken 
at  the  Dissolution,  but  Cole,  in  his  MSS.,  now  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum, says  that  there  were  taken  away  30  fodder  of  lead,  442 
ounces  of  plate,  and  7  bells  :  one  of  these  bells  is  said  to  be  in  the 
church  of  Appleton  le  Street,  but  upon  examination  I  found  it  was 
of  later  date ;  most  probably  it  has  been  recast,  for  it  speaks  with 
a  mediaeval  tongue. 

The  Chartulary,  or  Register  of  the  charters  of  the  Priory — a 
volume  containing  very  valuable  topographical  and  genealogical  in- 
formation— though  nothing  illustrative  of  the  architectural  history 
of  the  house — is  preserved  in  the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford,  to 
which  it  was  given,  among  his  other  manuscripts,  by  Lord  Fairfax. 
He  had  obtained  it  from  Roger  Dodsworth,  the  great  Yorkshire  an- 
tiquary, who  it  otherwise  seems  felt,  like  myself,  a  particular  affec- 
tion for  the  place. 

I  have  seen  impressions  of  two  seals  used  by  the  canons,  and 
they  are  interesting  as  showing  how  a  particular  subject  was  treated 
at  different  periods.  The  oldest  is  especially  worthy  of  considera- 
tion, since — as  is  very  seldom  the  case — it  is  doubtless  coeval  with 
the  time  of  the  foundation.  It  is  of  an  elliptical  or  oval  form, 
bearing  within  the  circumscription  sigillvm  sancti  tkinitatis  de 
CHiHCAM,  a  figure  of  "  the  ancient  of  days"  sitting  upon  the  rain- 
bow, the  left  hand  holding  the  book,  and  the  right  uplifted  in  the 
act  of  benediction.  The  peculiar  position  and  the  casting  of  the 
drapery  indicate  that  the  figure  has  been  copied  from  some  Saxon 
work.  In  fact,  in  the  Benedictional  of  St.  Ethelwold,  a  manuscript 
of  the  tenth  century  in  the  library  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  is  an 
illuminated  figure  resembling  it  precisely,  and  bearing  the  inscrip- 
tion TiiiNiTAS  VNVs  ET  VERVS.  It  is  cugravod  in  the  twenty-fourth 
volume  of  "  Archaeologia." 

The  other,  and  much  smaller  seal,  appears  to  have  been  made 
about  the  year  1800.  It  is  of  oval  form,  and  has,  perhaps,  been  fabri- 
cated on  the  temporary  loss  of  the  other,  or  for  the  use  of  the  Prior,  for 
in  the  only  impression  I  have  seen,  the  legend,  with  the  exception  of 
the  word  "  Kiekiiam,"  is  obliterated.  It  represents  the  same  Divine 
Being,  as  the  older  seal,  sitting,  not  on  the  rainbow,  but  on  a  plain 
seat  under  a  canopy,  having  the  book  and  the  uplifted  hand.  In  a 
compartment  at  his  feet  is  the  figure  of  a  canon  praying,  the  space 
on  each  side  being  adorned  with  the  "  water  bouget"  of  Lord  Roos. 
The  same  charge  occurs  also  on  each  side  of  the  canopy  above,  be- 
tween two  wheels,  for  Espec. 

The  house  does  not  seem  to  have  produced  any  members  of  cele- 
brity. I  have  not  been  able  to  ascertain,  however,  whether  or  not 
Walter  de  Kirkham,  bishop  of  Durham,  who  died  in  1200,  was, 


KIRKHAM    PRIORY.  277 

either  by  birth  or  education,  connected  with  the  place  ;  or,  also,  Dr. 
Thomas  Kirkham,  who  surrendered  his  house  of  the  Grey  Friars  at 
Doncaster  to  Henry  the  Eij*hth,  and  was  executed  in  1547  for 
taking  part  in  one  of  the  risings  of  that  period.  One  William 
Kirkham,  abbot  of  Ilaltompri^/e,  died  in  1500.  In  the  Cotton  MS. 
Titus,  A.  xLv.,  p.  52  t,  is  a  treatise  by  "Nicholas  Walkington  do 
Kirkham,  de  bello  Standardi." 

From  this  fragmentary  history  of  the  institution,  T  now  proceed 
to  the  consideration  of  the  building,  or — as  a  trespass  board  at  the 
gate  more  properly  and  patlietically  terms  it — "  the  few  stones," 
that  represent  it:  for  the  church,  chapter  house,  refectory,  and 
such  principal  parts  as  usually  form  the  most  important  and  in- 
teresting subjects  for  examination  in  a  monastic  building,  are  all 
but  laid  level  with  the  sward — and  two  or  three  features  in  what  is 
left  will  alone  engage  the  eye  of  a  casual  observer.  With  the  ex- 
ception, indeed,  of  the  gatehouse,  a  suggestive  fragment  of  the 
choir,  and  the  inner  walls  that  had  been  reserved  to  bound  the 
quadrangle  for  agricultural  purposes,  little  or  nothing  has  escaped 
the  hands  of  sacrilegious  dcspoilers.  There  is  a  credible  tradition 
that  the  building  was  used  as  a  quarry  when  Ilowsham  Hall  w'as 
built,  lifty  years  after  the  Dissolution  ;  but  whether  this  or  more  in- 
sidious demands  for  erecting  farm  buildings,  or  rei)airing  the  roads, 
reduced  it  to  its  present  condition,  I  am  unable,  of  course,  to  ascer- 
tain. I  know  only  that,  within  the  last  century,  it  has  presented 
much  the  same  appearance  as  it  does  now.  Here  is  Buck's  view  of 
it,  taken  in  1721,  a  wild  distempered  dream,  surely,  as  to  particu- 
lars and  perspective ;  though,  perhaps,  acceptable  in  the  main. 

The  ruins  stand  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river  Derwent,  and 
in  the  curvature  of  a  densely  wooded  part  of  the  vale — the  very  beau 
ideal  of  a  poet's  dream  of  seclusion  and  rest.  The  road  from 
York  to  Malton  passes  immediately  in  front  of  the  Gatehouse, 
crossing  the  river  by  a  bridge  of  three  arches,  of  which  one  is  of  the 
Early  English  period.  In  a  plan  of  the  Paiin,  made  in  the  year 
1754,  and  now  exhibited,  the  more  modern  part  was  represented  by 
four  wooden  arches.  A  little  further  up  the  road  is  noted,  also,  the 
site  of  a  "  stone  arch,"  as  it  is  called,  "  under  the  high  road,  for  the 
easier  conveyance  of  provisions  and  fuel  to  the  Priory  :"  but  of  this 
work  no  trace  now  remains. 

In  advancing  to  the  Gatehouse,  the  first  object  that  attracts 
attention  is  the  square  base  of  a  cross,  apparently  of  the  same  age, 
elevated  on  three  steps,  most  likely  supplied  when  it  was  repaired, 
as  Gent,  in  his  history  of  Ilipon  says,  by  Madame  Crowthcr,  the 
owner  of  the  Priory,  above  a  century  ago.  It  is  ornamented  with 
two  reversed  trefoils,  on  each  side,  and  (sturdy  tradition  notwith- 
standing, that  this  ivas  the  veritable  stone  against  which  Espec's  son 
dashed  his  head)  has  no  doubt  served  as  a  "market  cross" — 
though  I  find  no  such  chartered  privilege  granted  to  the  Priory. 
The  villagers  and. pleasure  seekers  of  a  wide  district,  however,  still 
congregate  here  on  a  particular  day  in  autumn,  although  jackdaws 
and  starlings  and  larks  are  the  only  articles  of  commerce.  They 
call  the  meeting  "  Kirkham  Bird  Fair." 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  N  N 


278  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

Though  it  is  evident,  from  the  decoration,  which  cannot  be 
referred  to  a  period  earUer  than  the  time  of  Edward  the  First,  that 
this  is  not  the  "  fatal  stone,"  I  fancy  that  the  base  of  the  cross  to 
which  the  chronicle  alludes  may  yet  be  seen  a  few  hundred  yards 
higher  up  the  side  of  the  valley,  at  an  angle  where  a  lane  branching 
from  the  main  road  leads  to  Firby.  It  not  only  satisfies  the  tradi- 
tion in  respect  of  its  position,  but  also  by  its  Saxon  or  early  Norman 
date,  being  two  feet  six  inches  square  by  two  feet  deep  :  the  base  of 
the  shaft,  according  to  the  matrix,  having  measured  twelve  by- 
eleven  inches. 

The  Gatehouse  has  been  a  building  of  considerable  size,  with 
reference  to  the  domestic  structures  of  its  period,  and  was  erected 
in  a  plain  and  becoming  fashion  in  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth 
century.  On  the  west  side  of  the  archway  is  a  small  apartment 
that  has  been  vaulted,  with  another  above  ;  and,  on  the  east,  a  much 
more  spacious  room,  that  has  also  been  vaulted,  and  had  an  ellipti- 
cally  headed  fireplace  inserted  in  the  Decorated  period.  A  chamber 
above,  of  similar  dimensions,  shows  a  flat  trefoil-headed  doorway 
opening  into  a  vacant  space  once  occupied  by  a  garderobe,the  drain 
of  which,  in  its  descent  to  the  river,  passes  through  the  house  ;  and 
being  still  partly  visible  has  contributed  another  to  the  long  list  of 
•'  subterraneous  passages."  This  part  of  the  building  has  been  very 
probably  used  as  a  hospitium  or  an  infirmary  for  the  poor  of  the 
district.  Indeed,  as  Gent,  writing  about  the  year  1733,  calls  it  the 
"  Guest  House,"  and  his  inductive  powers  were  but  feeble,  I 
presume  it  then  traditionally  bore  that  name.  The  central  compart- 
ment, or  gateway  proper,  has  extended  two  bays  of  vaulting  in 
length,  but  they  are  now  entirely  destroyed.  It  was  inserted 
or  rebuilt  in  the  early  Decorated  period ;  a  circumstance  that 
has  originated  the  common  idea  that  the  whole  of  the  building 
was  erected  at  that  period.  The  outer  or  northern  face  (which 
within  the  last  century  seems  to  have  been  taken  as  the  pictorial 
exponent  of  the  w^hole  Priory,  judging  even  from  the  collection  of 
plates  which  I  now  exhibit)  is  not  only  a  remarkably  picturesque, 
but  a  highly  interesting  example  of  a  monastic  gateway.  The  pho- 
tograph I  now  present,  will  convey  to  you  a  far  more  definite  and 
clear  idea  of  its  general  appearance  than  I  could  otherwise  provide  ; 
and  I  will  therefore  touch  only  on  the  details.  Here  then,  below 
the  cornice,  will  be  observed  four  shields  of  arms  :  the  first,  those  of 
Clare,  or,  three  chevrons  gules  :  second,  three  lions  of  England,  for 
Plantagenet  :  third,  gules,  three  water  bougets,  Ar.  for  Lord  Kos ; 
and,  fourth,  chequey  or  and  gules,  for  Vaux,  being  the  j)articular 
bearings  of  Gilbert  de  Clare  earl  of  Gloucester,  who  married  Joane 
of  Acre  daughter  of  king  Edward  the  First — and  of  William  the 
second  Baron  de  Ros  and  Patron  of  Kirkham,  who  married  Maud 
the  younger  daughter  of  John  de  Vaux  of  Freston  in  Lincolnshire. 
As  the  earl,  who  probably  appears  here  in  consequence  of  Lord  Ros 
having  held  of  his  fee  in  these  parts,  died  in  1296 — and  Ros  in 
1316 — there  would  have  been  little  difficulty,  even  before  the  styles 
of  Gothic  architecture  were  discriminated,  in  ascertaining  the  date 


KIRKHAM    PRIORY.  279 

of  the  work.  It  must  be  remarked  that  in  these  instances,  as  in 
those  below,  the  arms  of  the  man  and  his  wife  are  not  impaled 
within  one  shield  as  became  the  rule  at  a  subsequent  period,  but 
are  placed  on  separate  milltanj  shields;  that  of  the  male  occupying 
the  dexter  side,  even  when  a  subject  had  married  the  king's 
daughter. 

A  niche  at  each  extremity  below  is  now  empty.  I  see,  in  a 
sketch  taken  about  a  century  ago,  the  eastern  one  held  a  broken 
figure,  which  I  believe  to  be  the  same  that  Gent  describes  as  that 
of  St.  Peler,  with  the  keys  in  his  left  and  a  church  in  his  right 
hand. 

The  figure  sitting  within  the  vesica,  which  the  same  industrious 
observer  deemed  to  be  "  Pilate  sitting  in  Judgment,"  is  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  Trinity,  copied  from  that  seal  of  the  house  which 
had  then  recently  been  engraved,  and  which  I  have  previously 
described. 

The  two  niches  below  retain  their  figures  :  the  one  headless  and 
bandless,  and  therefore  undistinguished  by  any  symbol ;  the  other 
a  male  figure  holding  an  immense  and  ragged  staff;  and  therefore 
we  may  presume  intended  to  represent  St.  Bartholomew.  The 
niche  above  the  apex  of  the  arch- way  is  empty,  but  is  remembered 
to  have  contained  a  sculpture  of  Christ  upon  the  Cross. 

The  shields  above  the  string  course  of  the  two  windows  are  those 
of  the  founder,  Sir  Walter  L'Espec  (or  at  least  such  as  were 
assigned  to  him,  probably  after  his  death),  gules,  three  wheels  of 
five  speks,  or  spokes,  argent — and  of  Greystoke  baron  Greystoke, 
barry  of  ten  argent  and  azure,  over  all  three  chaplets  gules — the 
presence  of  which  I  cannot  at  present  either  genealogically  or  other- 
wise explain ;  though  there  must  have  been  a  good  reason  for 
placing  the  shield  in  company  with  that  of  the  founder. 

Neither  can  I  appropriate  the  shield  of  some  once  noted  person, 
below,  who  had  borne  "  a  bend"  for  his  arms,  and  married,  as  I 
presume  from  the  adjacent  shield,  a  lady  of  the  family  of  Ros — not 
only  because  several  families  (as  Mauley,  Paynel,  Stopham,  and 
other  eminent  families)  used  this  charge,  with  differences  of  tincture, 
but  because  the  pedigree  of  Ros  is,  like  many  more,  singularly 
defective  in  notices  of  the  younger  branches  of  the  family. 

For  these  combined  reasons,  also,  I  am  unable  to  say  of  what 
family  was  the  lady  who  married  the  Ros,  who  was  "  commemo- 
rated," as  the  sculptor  thought,  for  ever,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
arch,  for  a  cross  patonce  was  then  a  very  common  bearing. 

In  reviewing  the  records  of  the  past,  there  are  few  things  that 
remind  us  more  touchingly  of  the  frail  impotence  of  man's  purpose 
and  the  insecurity  of  his  institutions  than  when  monuments  like 
these,  at  length,  crave  a  memorial. 

In  the  shields  of  Ros  that  appear  on  this  Gatehouse,  I  must 
remark  that  there  is  a  peculiarity  in  the  shape  of  the  water  bouget 
which  I  have  seldom  observed  elsewhere  ;  for,  instead  of  the  outline 
of  the  lower  and  bulbous  part  being  plain,  a  small  loop  is  attached, 


280  YORKSHIRE  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

on  each  side,  as  if  to  facilitate  the  carrying  or  the  emptying  of  it. 
It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  sufficient  collection 
of  carefully  drawn  mediecval  heraldic  bearings  and  charges  from 
glass,  manuscripts,  and  authentic  sculptures  like  these — as  we  have 
of  many  other  antiquarian  subjects. 

lielovv  these  shields,  and  on  each  side  of  the  archway,  are  two 
sculptured,  but  weatherworn  figures,  having  their  separate  canopies 
and  brackets  in  high  relief.  The  one  group  had  always  been  said 
to  represent,  and  that  no  doubt  truly,  St.  George  ;  who,  on  foot,  is 
confronting  a  dragon  with  a  most  llunic  like  convolution  of  tail,  and 
advancing  to  the  onslaught  with  such  dire  impetus  as  might  be  de- 
rived "  tali  auxilio."  Tradition  and  successive  writers  have  averred 
that  the  other  group  commemorates  the  combat  of  David  with 
Goliath.  I  doubt,  Iiowever,  this  assertion  ;  though  the  goggle  eyed 
giant,  that  appears  once  to  have  been  invested  with  all  the  nursery 
horrors  of  the  malignant  "  iilunderbore,"  is  assailed  by  a  person  of 
much  less  stature,  but  so  mutilated  that  nothing  can  be  inferred 
either  from  the  fragment  of  his  shield,  the  weapon  that  he  carried, 
or  the  armour  in  which  he  has  been  apparently  invested — for, 
considering  there  is  an  equal  display  of  secular  as  of  ecclesias- 
tical feeling  in  the  decoration  of  this  farjade — that  the  great  military 
renown  of  the  founder  was  acquired  in  the  memorable  engagement 
with  king  David  of  Scotland,  at  the  Battle  of  the  Standard — was 
most  worthily  maintained  in  the  Scottish  wars  by  his  descendants 
in  the  line  of  llos,  and  most  especially  by  that  member  of  the 
family  who  was  then  the  patron  of  the  house — I  take  it  to  be  far 
more  probable  that  the  Canons,  in  this  sculpture,  (coupling  it  with 
the  combat  of  the  patron  saint  of  England  on  the  other  side  of  the 
arch,)  intended  rather  to  represent,  either  in  general  feeling  or  par- 
ticular incident,  the  services  of  their  patrons  against  the  Scottish 
foemen  of  I^higland  (believed  then  to  bo  savages  and  giants),  than 
the  more  memorable,  though  to  them  far  less  interesting,  incident 
recorded  in  the  Hebrew  Scripture. 

The  inner  face  of  the  Gatehouse  seems  to  have  been  ornamented 
with  sculpture  also ;  for  Gent  says  that,  when  he  was  here  about 
1730,  he  was  informed  "  by  an  old  man  named  Eobert  Bell,  who 
■was  born  in  1G5 1,  and  sprinkled  in  Oliver's  time,  that  he  remem- 
bered the  inward  side  of  the  gate  then  demolished,  over  which 
was  the  Virgin  Mary  with  our  Saviour  in  her  arms  ;  and,  also,  St. 
Catherine  with  her  wheel."  At  the  time  of  Gent's  visit,  **  some 
part  of  the  building  under  curious  arched  work" — as  he  says — 
"  had  been  recently  converted  into  an  alehouse." 

We  now  pass  into  the  Close :  observing,  by  the  way,  that  a 
chapel — the  site  of  which  is  marked  on  the  engraved  plan  of  1754, 
and  said  to  have  been  built  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  Priory — stood 
between  the  Gatehouse  and  the  Conventual  Church ;  but  is  now 
entirely  destroyed. 

There  is  little  left  except  hillocks  of  rubbish  to  mark  the  site  of 
the  Conventual  Church.     It  appears  to  have  been  upwards  of  300 


KIRKHAM    miORY.  281 

feet  lonp[,  and,  tliercforc,  in  tlic  first  class  of  the  Yorlcshirc  houses. 
Of  the  Nave — that  has  measured  about  130  feet  in  length — nothing 
remains  but  the  plain  base  of  the  south  wall,  that  tells  us  it  was  of 
the  Founder's  time,  and  had  no  aisles.  Judging  from  the  form  of 
the  rubbish,  the  transept  has  been  of  this  date  and  had  three  eastern 
chapels  in  each  wing.  The  Choir  is  level  with  the  sward,  with  the 
exception  of  a  solitary  lancet  window — one  of  the  three  that  graced 
its  eastern  extremity — sufficient,  however,  to  prove  that  this  part 
of  the  fabric,  whicli  had  been  renewed  upwards  of  a  century  after 
the  foundation,  had  been  second  to  no  building  of  the  kind,  even 
in  Yorkshire. 

South  of  the  Choir,  the  irregularity  of  the  ground  probably 
marks  the  site  of  the  residence  of  the  Prior. 

We  can  see  so  much  where  the  Chapter  House  has  stood  as 
informs  us  that  it  had  been  of  the  rectangular  shape — not  an  octagon 
as  in  some  houses  of  the  Austin  Canons — of  the  unusual  dimensions 
of  about  80  feet  by  30  feet;  and,  from  a  few  bases  of  the  arcade 
which  adorned  the  interior,  of  the  same  Early-English  period  as 
the  Choir. 

Between  the  Chapter  House  and  the  south  end  of  the  transept 
of  the  Church,  has  been  a  small  apartment  with  a  bench  on  one 
side,  as  at  Thornton  Abbey,  in  Lincolnshire  ;  but  it  is  not  certain  to 
.what  purpose  it  has  been  applied.  The  rest  of  the  buildings  that 
formed  the  east  side  of  the  Quadrangle  are  irretrievably  ruined 
and  lost. 

The  south  side  of  the  Quadrangle  was  entirely  occupied  by  the 
Refectory,  which  stood  cast  and  west,  contrary  to  the  ordinary  rule. 
It  is  also  remarkable  that  it  had  no  windows  towards  the  Quadrangle. 
It  was  entered,  towards  its  western  extremity,  by  a  highly  decorated 
doorway  of  transition-Norman  work,  engraved  in  the  Oxford 
Glossary.  The  south  and  western  walls  have  been  removed,  and 
the  eastern  one  is  quite  plain. 

The  swift  declivity  of  the  ground  allowed  the  formation  of  a 
vaulted  cellar  below  the  whole  length  of  the  Refectory.  Some  of  its 
octagonal  pillars  have  recently  been  opened  out ;  and  from  their 
cajntals,  it  seems  the  work  has  been  of  the  Early-English  period. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  Quadrangle,  and  on  a  level  with  it, 
was  the  Dormitory ;  and,  below,  a  range  of  vaidted  cellars  or  store- 
houses; but  the  whole  was  wantonly  pulled  down  in  the  last 
century,  except  the  wall  towards  the  (Quadrangle. 

This  wall,  on  the  other  side  contains,  however,  an  object  of 
extraordinary  interest,  in  the  celebrated  Lavatory,  made  familiar  by 
pictorial  illustration.  It  is  placed  by  the  side  of  the  Refectory  door, 
so  as  to  afford  the  Canons  the  facility  of  performing  their  ablutions 
before  proceeding  to  their  meals,  and  has  been  erected  probably 
towards  the  close  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

The  Font,  which  is  represented  as  standing  by  the  Lavatory,  in 
the  masterly  etching  of  it  by  Prout,  has  since  unfortunately  been 
removed  from  the  Priory ;  and  may  now  be  seen  in  the  church  of 
Acomb  near  York.     There  is  a  large  and  clever  engraving  of  it  by 


282  YORKSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

the  late  Mr.  Fowler  of  Winterton.  It  is  a  very  singular  specimen 
of  debased  Perpendicular  work ;  and  wherever  it  may  have  originally 
stood,  no  doubt  was  intended  for  the  baptism  of  those  who  were 
born  in  the  large  extra-parochial  district  which  surrounded  the 
Priory. 

Besides  the  offices  I  have  noticed,  there  are,  on  the  south  side 
of  the  site,  other  fragmentary  and  confused  vestiges  of  buildings, 
buried  in  rubbish — but  canopied  with  aged  and  luxuriant  trees,  that 
harmonize  so  well  with  the  feeling  of  rest  and  tranquillity  that 
has  descended  upon  this  solemn  and  lovely  spot,  that  the  most  en- 
thusiastic antiquary  could  not  wash  for  their  removal. 

Such  then — briefly  and  imperfectly  told — is  the  history  of 
Kirkham  Priory: — -a  history  which,  in  reference  at  least  to  the 
unfortunate  event  which  occasioned  its  foundation,  may  be  appro- 
priately closed  by  the  reflection  of  the  poet  Longfellow — 

"We  see  'but  dimly  through  the  mists  and  vapours, 

Amid  these  earthly  SAvamps; 
What  seem  to  us  but  sad  funereal  tapers 

May  be  Heaven's  distant  lamps. 


lam   I 


FIG.   2. 


^-. 


"^^ 


lictbcmo/^ 


M 


k 

'^' 


'^  ^^1 


ROMAN    SCVLPTVRE 
ir.  .  I'eaJ  size  . 


'.t-^  :r^-- 


;i5 

3   ^«S^u:. 


^^/Ta-^  ^y^ 


Bonce  of  Small  Do<^ 


Home  oTlargeTJog 


''.   ^^\    -     ''iuf^nt  Starves 

''^.\  -       Rcman/Pcttay 

't-"4.i^u       Human  Sli^ielon.' 

,-•  --;p-    D HamarvScidpture' 

'*^'ff-^C  BunWStcn&s 

''^i^r^  FM       Altar  Slab,  &:Stoi-h 

':■  Jsid^-       Bams  cfHfTrse^ 

^<w^^      BonesofQx 

^^'w      BuJtitStone^s 

,.,_,.,c-v  =      Bon&s  orFoxJiat',Hog,&x^. 

^^  HV.  !  „      I. eam^^oU- of  Sheerer  Sat-idal' 

.    O  nil..     RmruxrvFptbr^.ScePlaicJI. 

<_■  ire  K. . . . .     Sarruariy  Waj~6 .  See  I  ^latelL 

■Tff    ,  L  ...     BocasTusk.&mcOs.Plai^ir 

.^'„C:  Bunil  Stciica 

'""  ^-;" ,,  Various  Jxttu-s,  legs  of 

■  »ftii"  't"  ' '  c"?'^  't"  fragtnmls 

'-'•''"■'•  nffixmiun  rotter^- 


'^^ife* 


Scale  for WeJl  A  of  tinincKtoaFoui 


m. 


WELL    DISCOVERED   IN     Bl  DDEN  HAIVl ,  BEDS  . 

H.D.E.F,  REMAINS    FOVND  IN  THE  WELL. 


Drami  3-  lilh .  hr  IS.  RuAhn  \  lic<  tlbt  •(/ 


BEDFOEDSHIEE 
AECHITECTUEAL  AND  ARCH^OLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


On  the  Well  at  Biddenham,  Beds.  Eead  at  the  Annual  Meeting 
of  the  Beclfordshh'e  Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society, 
Nov.  ]0,  1857.  By  the  Rev.  W.  Monkhouse,  B.D.,  Vicar  of 
Goldin^ton,  and  Fellow  of  Queen's  Coll.,  Oxford. 


'D* 


As  some  workmen  w^ere  digging  for  gravel  on  the  property  of  Lord 
Dynevor  in  Biddenham  field,  about  two  miles  from  Bedford,  and 
about  one  hundred  yards  from  the  high  road  which  leads  to  Brom- 
ham  Bridge,  they  happened  upon  what  appeared  to  be  the  shaft  of 
a  well.  The  discovery  was  reported  to  Lord  Dynevor,  a  nobleman 
who  takes  a  great  interest  in  anything  connected  with  archiBology, 
of  a  local  nature ;  and  to  whose  kindness  I  am  greatly  indebted  for 
the  materials  of  this  Lecture.  The  process  of  exploring  the  shaft 
was  carried  on  under  his  I^ordship's  immediate  superintendence, 
and  the  contents  of  each  bucket  were  carefully  examined  by  Dr, 


284  BEDFORDSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

Prior,  of  Bedford;  and  the  correct  classification  of  the  different 
bones  is  sufficiently  guaranteed  by  the  high  standing  and  scientific 
acquirements  of  that  gentleman. 

I  myself  was  present  a  great  part  of  the  time  whilst  the  exhuma- 
tion was  going  on ;  and  I  need  not  say  that  the  materials  brought 
up  were  examined  with  intense  interest.  The  admirable  drawing 
by  Mr.  Rudge  will  best  explain  the  position  in  which  the  several 
articles  were  found ;  and  to  the  same  gentleman  the  credit  is  due 
of  having  created  a  harmony  out  of  a  mass  of  rubbish,  and  given 
shape  and  consistency  to  a  lot  of  mutilated  fragments. 

Having,  therefore,  referred  you  to  the  accompanying  drawing  for 
the  order  and  position  of  the  several  articles  discovered,  I  must  now 
beg  a  patient  hearing,  whilst  I  attempt  to  make  out  my  theory  as 
to  the  object  and  origin  of  this  well.  From  the  extreme  novelty  of 
it,  I  am  aware  that  I  shall  have  a  great  many  prejudices  to  over- 
come, and  different  theories  to  encounter;  but  I  hope  I  may 
approach  the  subject  in  a  spirit  of  moderation,  especially  when  I 
consider  that  certain  antiquaries,  to  whom  I  look  up  with  respect, 
have  expressed  opinions  upon  it  somewhat  different  from  my  own. 

An  intelligent  farmer,  for  instance,  who  lives  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, accounts  for  it  by  supposing  that  it  was  originally  the  site  of 
a  farm  home-stall,  and  that  this  well  was  dug  for  domestic  pur- 
poses. And  as  this  seems  to  be  rather  a  prevalent  opinion,  I  shall 
adduce  a  few  reasons  why  it  was  never  intended  to  be  a  well  for  the 
purpose  which  he  has  mentioned.  The  area  over  which  the  gravel- 
pit  extends  is  very  considerable,  and  no  appearance  of  the  founda- 
tion of  any  building  has  hitherto  been  met  with ;  neither  has  the 
plough  brought  anything  to  light  to  denote  the  existence  of  a  home- 
stead. Besides,  the  nature  of  the  soil  is  such,  that,  before  the 
introduction  of  artificial  husbandry,  it  could  not  possibly  have  been 
worth  cultivating ;  and,  consequently,  it  could  never  have  been  a 
very  desirable  locality  for  a  farmer's  residence.  Besides,  we  may 
draw  an  argument  as  to  its  utter  worthlessness  from  the  etymology 
of  the  word  "  Connigarde,"  which  is  the  name  of  the  field  in 
question — it  being  the  term  used  in  the  Norman  laws  to  denote  a 
rabbit  warren. 

Again,  was  it  military — and  could  it  ever  have  been  used  by 
soldiers  as  a  well  ?  But  then,  there  is  no  earthwork  of  any 
kind  to  mark  a  military  station ;  besides,  its  proximity  to  the  Ouse, 
which  is  scarcely  three  hundred  yards  distant,  would  preclude  the 
necessity  for  an  expensive  well  to  supply  water  to  a  marching  army. 
In  former  days,  well-digging  was  a  most  expensive  operation,  and  it 
is  not  very  probable  that  an  Engineer  would  have  commenced 
digging  at  the  crown  of  the  hill — as  in  this  instance — and  in  the 
most  unlikely  place  to  find  water  in  the  whole  neighbourhood.  The 
selection  of  a  place  only  one  hundred  yards  down  the  slope  of  the 
hill  would  have  saved  nearly  twenty  feet  in  the  depth  of  the  shaft, 
and  at  least  two-thirds  of  the  labour  and  the  expense. 

Again,  if  it  ever  had  been  used  as  a  well,  there  would  have 
been  most  unmistakeable  signs  of  the  action  of  the  bucket,  in  its 


rinic    II. 


11-tl         1 

3  .     llMl   si/.c 


Real    sjy.i 


Real    size. 


^^^•jrspi 


-^.. 


REMAINS  FOVND   IM    WELL  .  Bl  DDEN  HAM  .  BEDS 


/ )ra*vn.-  <i-  Ui(/r/.  by  fi-  FtuAffPy.  BoaLforoL 


THE    WELL    AT    BIDDEN  HAM.  285 

ascent  and  descent ;  but  there  is  not  the  slightest  abrasion  on  the 
"  steaning"  to  be  seen.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  treat  the  question 
seriously  as  to  its  ever  having  been  intended  for  a  rubbish  hole, 
inasmuch  as  it  would  have  had  more  capacity  for  the  reception  of 
rubbish  in  its  original  condition,  when  it  was  eight  or  ten  feet  wide, 
rather  than  when  it  was  "  stean'd  up"  by  a  most  expensive  shaft  to 
a  diameter  of  t\YO  feet  nine  inches. 

As,  therefore,  it  was  neither  a  well  for  military  or  domestic 
purposes,  or  a  receptacle  for  rubbish — what,  then,  is  it  ?  As  1  have 
undertaken  to  read  a  Paper  upon  it,  I  think  it  incumbent  on  me  to 
hazard  some  sort  of  theory  on  this  most  extraordinary  phenomenon. 
It  is  an  exceptional  case,  of  which  the  world  does  not  present  half 
a  dozen  known  examples,  and  it  deserves  a  more  able  pen  than 
mine  to  chronicle  it  among  the  archaeological  curiosities  of  the 
County. 

In  my  opinion,  therefore,  it  is  a  Roman  Sepulchre.  I  may 
remark  that  shafts  of  the  same  character,  although  not  in  all 
respects  similar,  have  been  found  in  other  parts  of  the  country ; 
and  it  is  only  from  results  obtained  by  exploring  them  that  we  are 
enabled  to  arrive  at  any  conclusion  respecting  their  contents,  for 
actual  observation  is  much  more  likely  to  enlighten  us  on  this  dark 
subject  than  any  a  jyriori  reasoning. 

If  we  find  pits  of  the  same  character  at  Ewell  in  Surrey,  at 
Stone  in  Bucks,  and  on  Mount  Aventine  at  Rome,  we  are,  by  a 
process  of  induction,  obliged  to  ascribe  them  to  the  same  race  of 
people-^the  same  object— and  to  nearly  about  the  same  period  of 
time..  What  is  singular  in  this  instance  is  more  the  place  of  inter- 
ment— the  peculiar  form  of  the  sepulchral  chamber — rather  than 
its  contents.  But  I  shall  now  proceed  to  shew  why  I  think  that 
it  is  Roman. 

The  great  Powers  that  have  occupied  this  country  are  the 
Roman,  the  Saxon,  and  the  Dane ;  and  as  they  came  from  different 
parts  of  Europe,  and  were  distinct  in  race,  we  need  not  wonder  that 
their  habits  and  customs  were  widely  different  also.  The  reason 
why  I  make  allusion  to  this  is  that  cinerary  urns  of  the  Saxon 
period  are  being  constantly  found  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Bedford  ; 
and  it  is  only  by  comparing  date  and  facts  that  are  brought  before 
our  eyes,  that  we  can  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  our  Pit  at 
Biddenham  is  not  Saxon.  You  may  better  understand  my  mean- 
ing when  I  say  that  our  Saxon  forefathers  came  from  a  district  in 
northern  Germany  which  was  never  under  Roman  dominion;  and 
if  we  compare  the  mode  of  interment  practised  by  them  with  the 
interments  of  the  Romans  in  all  countries  ^Yhel'ever  their  rule 
extended,  we  shall  find  them  to  differ  in  all  essential  particulars. 
We  need  not  go  further  than  the  gravel-pits  of  Kempston,  Bidden- 
ham, and  Elstow,  to  collect  specimens  of  cinerary  urns  of  both 
nations.  Our  own  little  Museum  contains  specimens  of  each;  and 
the  identity  of  the  two  kinds  as  to  what  race  they  belong  is  no 
longer  a  matter  of  doubt,  differing  as  they  do  in  colour,  material, 
shape,  and  workmanship. 

VOL.  IV.  PT.  II.  0  o 


286  BEDFORDSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

But  Saxon  urns  precisely  similar  to  what  are  found  here  are 
found  also  in  Westphalia  and  Jutland ;  and,  as  they  could  not  be 
Roman  in  those  regions — for  they  are  found  where  the  Romans 
never  penetrated — so  neither  could  they  be  Roman  in  this  country. 
Of  the  Britons  we  know  but  little,  yet  that  little  does  not  correspond 
with  anything  we  have  under  review.  We  know  that  their  funerals 
were  conducted  with  a  great  deal  of  pomp  and  magnificence,  and 
that  they  sacrificed  animals  and  arms,  et  omnia  qum  vivis  cordi  essent, 
on  their  tombs  ;  but  the  tomb  itself  was  of  earth,  and  raised  above 
ground — sepidchrum  tumulus  ex  cespitibus  erigit^ — so  we  shall  dismiss 
their  claims  without  any  further  comment. 

Neither  could  it  have  been  Danish.  It  is  a  proud  boast  that 
Domesday  records  of  Beds,  that  it  was  never  tributary  to  the 
Danes,  although  they  held  the  two  adjoining  counties  of  Northamp- 
ton and  Hertford  under  their  iron  yoke. 

But  the  tombs  of  these  northern  invaders  were  of  a  very  peculiar 
construction,  and  quite  of  a  difierent  character  to  the  one  we  are 
now  considering.  Their  cromlechs,  barrows,  and  cairns  were 
always  above  ground,  and  when  possible  in  high  and  conspicuous 
places,  in  order  to  attract  the  attention  of  passengers  to  the  resting- 
places  of  the  mighty  dead. 

I  am  adopting  a  very  roundabout  way — you.  may  say — to  prove 
that  this  Pit  was  a  Roman  sepulchre ;  but  if  it  be  a  sepulchre,  I 
consider  it  a  great  point  gained  to  have  shewn  that  it  could  not 
have  been  either  British,  Danish,  or  Saxon. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  us  that  a  shaft,  forty  feet  deep,  should 
ever  have  been  excavated  to  receive  the  remains  of  one  individual. 
Yet,  however  contrary  to  our  experience  it  may  be,  there  is  the  shaft, 
and  there  is  the  skeleton  ;  there  are  the  bones  of  the  victims  offered 
in  sacrifice,  the  fragments  of  the  altar,  and  all  the  paraphernalia 
of  sepulture. 

The  points  of  correspondence  between  this  Pit  and  the  one  at 
Ewell — which  has  been  pronounced  to  be  Roman  by  archaeologists — 
are,  that  they  both  contain  the  bones  of  large  animals,  as  also  the 
fragments  of  Roman  pottery.  They  also  resemble  each  other  in 
their  diameter  and  depth.  The  main  point  of  difference  is  that  the 
human  bones  at  Ewell  had  been  burnt,  whereas  the  skeleton  here 
had  not  been  subjected  to  cremation.  But  the  points  in  which  they 
agree  leave  no  doubt  as  to  an  identity  of  purpose  between  them,  and 
tend  to  confirm  the  opinion  that  they  were  both  sepulchral,  and 
both  Roman. 

A  similar  one  has  been  found  at  Stone  in  Bucks.,  the  opening 
of  which  was  superintended  by  Mr.  Akerman,  who  has  given  an 
account  of  it  in  the  34th  volume  of  the  ArchcBologia.  In  this  Pit 
were  also  found  fragments  of  cinerary  urns;  and  to  this  fact  I  attach 
great  importance,  inasmuch,  as  their  having  been  found  in  all  the 
three  places,  it  is  only  fair  to  assume  that  they  could  not  have  been 
thrown  in  by  accident.     Besides,  some  specimens  of  Samian  ware 

(1)  Richard  of  Westminster. 


THE    WELL    AT    BIDDENHAM.  287 

were  taken  from  the  Pit  at  Biddenham ;  and  our  lamented  friend 
Mr.  Taddy,  in  his  excellent  paper  on  Cresar's  Camp  at  Sandy, 
remarks  that  "  the  fragments  of  red  Samian  ware  confirm  the 
Roman  occupation."  The  Pit  at  Stone  also  contained  forty  urns 
unbroken,  and  filled  with  the  bones  of  men  and  animals.  Mr. 
Akerman  remarks  that  this  mode  of  interment  was  practised  by  the 
Romans  in  Britain,  and  was  calculated  to  conceal  and  protect  the 
ashes  of  the  dead  from  insult  and  desecration. 

But  in  order  to  bring  these  Pits  still  closer  to  the  Romans,  I 
shall  mention  one  that  has  been  found  on  Mount  Aventine,  close  to 
the  gates  of  the  imperial  city.  The  shaft  is  about  fifty-one  feet  deep, 
and  its  diameter  about  two  feet  nine  inches.  All  doubt  and  specu- 
lation are  at  rest  as  to  the  object  of  this  Pit ;  for,  at  the  bottom 
there  is  a  Columbarium,  or  vault,  constructed  expressly  for  the 
reception  of  cinerary  urns.  It  is  also  stuccoed  and  painted.  It  is 
absurd  to  argue  that  the  Romans  were  too  utilitarian  and  worldly- 
minded  to  expend  so  much  labour  and  money  on  their  burial- 
places.  It  shews  great  ignorance  of  their  character  to  suppose  that 
they  were  indifferent  to  the  obsequies  of  their  deceased  friends  and 
relations.  It  was  a  vital  part  of  their  religion  to  offer  costly 
sacrifices  on  their  tombs,  as  by  such  pious  offices  they  believed  they 
would  secure  to  themselves  immortal  happiness  in  the  Elysian 
Fields.  As  works  of  art,  the  sepulchral  monuments  of  the  dead 
were  more  costly  and  magnificent  than  even  the  dwellings  of  the 
living,  and  there  is  a  greater  display  of  rich  architecture  in  the 
Street  of  the  Tombs  at  Pompeii — gorgeous  even  in  its  ruins — than 
in  the  whole  city  besides. 

Having  now  discovered  the  remains  of  the  victims  and  the 
skeleton  of  the  person  for  whom  they  bled,  it  only  remains  for  us  to 
search  for  the  altar  on  which  the  sacrifices  were  offered ;  for  a  dis- 
covery of  this  kind  would,  I  think,  dissipate  all  doubt  as  to  the 
sepulchral  character  of  the  Pit.  I  must  therefore  again  point  to 
Mr.  Rudge's  drawing,  in  which  you  will  recognise  part  of  an  altar 
slab ;  neither  do  I  think  that  it  is  any  tax  upon  the  imagination  in 
asking  your  assent  to  its  being  so.  There  is  the  cavity  in  the 
centre,  and  there  are  evident  marks  of  the  action  of  fire  upon  it ; 
and,  in  addition,  what  is  called  the  Parapet  is  there.  There  is  a 
scroll  carved  upon  it,  which  is  the  most  common  ornament  in 
Roman  architecture — all  in  exact  harmony  and  correspondence  with 
the  slab  itself,  and  all  in  accurate  proportion — only — that  half  the 
Parapet  is  wanting.  But  one  half  is  there,  and  that  implies  another 
half,  which  the  imagination  may  easily  supply.  The  half  scroll, 
also,  would  be  incomplete  without  the  counterpart.  Let  it  stand 
alone,  and  it  would  be  an  exception  to  the  rules  of  Roman  carving, 
and  would  cease  to  be  an  ornament.  But  Mr.  Rudge  has  supple- 
mented the  parts  that  are  wanting,  and  has  constructed  a  harmony 
out  of  these  mutilated  fragments  in  such  a  manner  as  to  carry 
conviction  to  all  minds  that  this  must  have  been  a  Roman  altar. 

There  is  also  another  tenant  of  this  Pit,  which  I  ought  not  to 
omit  to  mention,  and  that  is  the  figure  of  a  bird,  which  is  a  very 


288  BEDFORDSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

common  appendage  to  a  Roman  altar ;  and,  trifling  as  this  relict  is, 
it  still  tends  to  support  m v  theory.  It  is  a  question  as  to  what  the 
bird  is ;  but  the  general  opinion  inclines  to  its  being  a  Stork,  which 
is  not  improbable.  This  bird  stands  on  two  sides  of  an  altar  found 
at  Chesterholm  on  the  wall,  and  is  also  on  what  is  called  the 
liisinglimn  Slab,  now  at  Cambridge,  having  for  its  other  supporter 
a  Cock — the  latter  representing  Mars,  the  Stork  itself  being  an  em- 
blem of  victory. 

I  now  come  to  the  torso,  which  is  found  in  close  proximity  to 
the  skeleton  ;  or,  more  properly  speaking,  the  latter  seems  almost 
bent  round  the  torso.  This  piece  of  sculpture  has  been  pronounced 
to  be  Roman  by  most  competent  judges  ;  and  the  same  archaeolo- 
gical eye  that  has  given  shape  and  vitality  to  this  chaotic  mass  has 
also  assigned  to  the  figure  a  position  in  the  structure  of  the  altar, 
and  without  which  the  latter  would  be  incomplete.  It  is  a  part 
and  parcel  of  the  altar  itself;  and,  as  in  a  hundred  similar  instances 
in  this  country,  it  represents  the  deity  to  which  the  altar  was  dedi- 
cated. But  as  there  is  no  inscription,  and  as  the  general  features 
of  the  figure  are  effaced  by  time,  it  would  be  useless  to  speculate  as 
to  who  or  what  the  idol  was.  The  figure  is  evidently  the  work  of 
the  Rom.an  chisel,  and  I  think  the  lineaments  of  a  Jupiter  may  be 
traced  upon  it. 

Again,  we  have  a  cart-load  of  pebbles,  which  were  found  dis- 
persed all  through  the  pit,  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  ;  and  these 
I  shall  be  glad  to  make  use  of  in  order  to  support  the  fabric  of  my 
argument.  They  are  calcined  to  the  very  centre,  and  shew  that 
they  must  have  been  exposed  to  the  strong  action  of  fire.  This 
is  to  be  accounted  for  by  their  having  been  used  in  the  construction 
of  the  altar,  which  they  have  helped  to  sustain  during  the  cremation 
of  the  victims ;  and  we  may  fairly  infer,  from  the  fact  of  their 
being  interspersed  among  the  bones,  that  the  pit  could  not  have 
been  filled  up  at  different  periods,  but  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

If  we  adopt  the  farmer's  theory — which  I  have  before  men- 
tioned— that  they  were  only  the  debris  of  a  burnt  farm-house,  we 
should  have  expected  to  have  found  these  pebbles  all  shovelled  into 
thejpit  in  a  stratum  by  themselves.  But,  giving  him  the  benefit 
of  this  fire  by  way  of  argument,  and  supposing  that  it  laid  the 
homestall  in  ruin,  and  burnt  up  all  his  bullocks  and  pigs,  his  dogs, 
and  even  the  old  fox — could  any  farmer,  I  ask,  have  so  far  abdi- 
cated his  reason,  as  to  have  shot  all  this  charred  rubbish  into  that 
magnificent  well,  to  its  entire  destruction,  the  digging  of  which 
must  have  cost  as  much  at  that  period  as  the  fee  simple  of  half 
Biddenham  parish  ? 

Moreover,  fifty  Roman  urns  would  have  formed  a  very  curious 
collection  for  a  mediaeval  farmer  to  have  been  possessed  of,  for  the 
fragments  of  at  least  that  number  have  been  exhumed  from  this  pit. 

Having  now  shewn  that  this  pit  bears  a  strong  analogy  to  others 
which  are  .'confessedly  Roman,  that  it  contains  Roman  pottery,  a 
Roman  torso,  also  the  bones  of  animals  which  were  offered  in  sacri- 
fice at  Roman  interments — having  proved  the  action  not  only  of 


THE    WELL    AT    BIDDENHAM.  289 

fire  but  of  intense  heat  upon  the  altar  (which  is  Roman  in  every 
characteristic) — having  at  the  same  time  shewn  the  absence  of  every- 
thing not  Roman — we  are  forced  to  the  conchision  that  this  was  a 
Roman  Sepulchre  ;  and  it  now  only  remains  for  me  to  connect  the 
Romans  with  this  part  of  tlie  country. 

We  know  from  history  that  the  Romans  interred  their  public 
men — whether  distinguished  in  arts  or  arms — by  the  side  of  the 
public  highways.  Their  object  was  twofold,  viz.,  to  erect  monu- 
ments to  them  in  order  to  stimulate  the  Roman  youth  to  attain  to 
the  like  public  honors  and  distinction ;  and  to  confide  to  the  public 
the  safe  keeping  of  their  monuments.  The  leaven  of  vanity  seems 
also  not  to  have  been  without  its  influence,  in  urging  private  indi- 
viduals to  a  like  publicity,  in  order  to  keep  them  in  the  recollection 
of  their  surviving  friends.  We  learn  this  from  an  inscription  on  a 
tomb  erected  to  one  Lollius,  which  reads  thus — Lollius  hic  prop- 
ter   VIAM    POSITUS   EST    UT    DICANT   PR.ETEREUNTES    LoLLI   VALE". a 

very  pardonable  weakness  of  poor  Lollius,  in  wishing  to  be  saluted 
by  the  valedictions  of  wayfaring  men.  Another  reason  is  assigned 
by  Varro  for  this  practice  of  the  Romans,  who  says  that  graves  and 
monuments  were  erected  on  the  waysides  to  remind  travellers  that 
they  themselves  were  mortal.  Thus  the  tomb  of  Augustus  stands 
in  the  Appla  Via ;  St.  Peter's,  on  the  Via  Triumphalis ;  St.  Paul's, 
in  the  Via  Ostiensis ;  but  the  siste  viator  on  his  tomb  would  not 
be  to  remind  the  Romans  that  their  natural  bodies  would  return  to 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  but  that  their  spiritual  bodies  would  rise  again 
to  the  life  immortal. 

I  shall  pass  over  the  five  or  six  Roman  roads  which  radiate 
from  the  town  of  Bedford,  and  confine  my  remarks  to  the  one 
which  runs  through  Biddenham  field. 

The  vicinal  way  called  the  Akeman  Street  has  been  clearly 
traced  all  the  way  from  Bath  to  Newport  Pagnell,  and  again  from 
Bedford  to  the  eastern  counties.  But  the  chain  is  broken,  and  the 
link  which  connects  Bedford  with  Newport  seems  to  have  been  lost. 
This  would  not  be  the  place  to  try  to  restore  that  link,  as  it  could 
only  be  done  by  a  long  process  of  argument.  But  I  think  there  are 
sufficient  materials  to  prove  that  this  road  proceeded  by  the  present 
line  which  runs  by  Astwood,  Stagsden,  Bromham  Bridge,  and  Bid- 
denham. In  the  last  mentioned  parish  it  is  called  the  Causeway, 
a  term — as  Mr.  Hartshorne  remarks — into  which  many  a  Roman 
road  has  degenerated.  It  combines  at  least  two  elements  in  Roman 
road  making,  namely,  straightness  of  course  and  a  raised  surface, 
which  latter  feature  may  be  seen  in  many  places  along  the  line, 
especially  between  Astwood  and  Stagsden.  I  assume,  therefore,  that 
this  via  strata  passed  considerably  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the 
pit ;  so  that  w^e  have  two  things  reflecting  a  mutual  light  upon  each 
other — we  have  an  undoubted  Roman  grave,  and  a  probable  Roman 
road ;  and  this  probability  becomes  more  of  a  certainty  when  we 
couple  the  two  facts  together — namely — that  the  grave  of  the  distin- 
guished Roman  was  ever  found  in  close  proximity  to  a  Roman 
public  highway. 


290  BEDFORDSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

In  conclusion.  I  shall  just  make  a  few  short  remarks  as  to  the 
time  of  its  construction.  As  the  •'  steaning  up"  and  the  workman- 
ship of  the  well  itself  afford  no  clue  as  to  the  date,  we  must  be 
guided  in  our  enquiry  into  the  matter  by  other  circumstances. 
There  is  one  thing  clear,  namely,  that  the  animals  have  been  burnt, 
but  that  the  body  of  the  individual  to  whom  these  honours  w^ere 
paid  has  not  been  burnt.  This  seems  to  be  a  paradox  ;  but 
perhaps  it  may  be  explained  in  this  way — that  the  interment  may 
have  taken  place  in  the  transition  period — at  a  time  when  human 
cremation  was  interdicted  by  law,  and  when  at  the  same  time  the 
heathenish  custom  of  sacrificing  animals  was  still  in  use. 

There  is  no  universal  agreement  as  to  the  precise  time  when 
burning  ceased  among  the  Romans.  It  was  forbidden  by  the  two 
Antonines  ;  but  it  was  long  before  the  law  could  subjugate  the 
prejudices  of  the  Romans,  and  compel  them  to  relinquish  their 
heathenish  ceremonies  as  regarded  their  interments.  TertuUian 
says  that  the  custom  of  burning  prevailed  in  Theodosius'  time,  and 
no  doubt  it  would  be  adopted  in  all  places  w-here  a  non-compliance 
with  the  law  would  be  attended  with  no  penal  consequences.  I  am 
inclined  to  assign  this  Pit  to  a  very  late  date  of  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion. Roman  altars — like  Christian  monuments  at  the  present 
day — were  made  for  the  purpose  of  being  seen  and  read,  and  not 
for  the  purpose  of  being  buried  in  a  pit  as  soon  as  made.  They 
generally  indicated  by  an  inscription  whether  it  were  filial  piety, 
a  legion's  regret,  or  a  nation's  gratitude  that  had  prompted  the 
monumental  record.  But  in  this  instance  there  is  not  the  shadow 
of  a  letter  to  be  seen ;  and  I  think  the  reason  for  it  may  be  that  the 
evacuation  of  the  country  was  not  a  contingency,  but  a  fact 
actually  decided  upon  when  this  interment  took  place;  so  that 
concealment  and  the  undisturbed  repose  of  the  dead  could  have 
been  their  sole  object  in  making  so  deep  a  grave.  And,  as 
they  thought  it  would  never  even  have  been  discovered  at  any 
future  time,  much  less  explored  to  the  bottom  —  so  would  it 
necessarily  have  been  their  belief  that  when  they  deposited 
the  body  in  the  tomb,  they  at  the  same  time  were  consigning  the 
man's  "  name  and  years,"  his  wisdom  in  council,  or  his  exploits  in 
war,  to  eternal  silence  and  oblivion,  never  to  be  disturbed  by  the 
spoliating  hands  of  an  Archaeological  Society. 


ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY 


ARCHDEACONRY  OF  NORTHAMPTON. 


The  History  and  Antiquities  of  Bells,  and  their  connection  with 
Mythology  and  Ethnology :  being  part  of  a  Paper  read  (in  ex- 
tract) at  the  Meeting  of  the  Architectural  Society  of  the  Arch- 
deaconry of  Northampton,  October  15,  1856.  By  Abner  W. 
Beown,  M.A.,  Vicar  of  Gretton,  and  Hon.  Canon  of  Peter- 
borough. 


'&" 


Scarcely  anything  is  more  interwoven  with  our  every  association 
than  the  Bell.  What  a  world  of  thought  is  awakened  by  the  men- 
tion of  the  Church-bells  ;  their  chimes,  peals,  knells,  and  curfew  ! 
Nor  sacred  bells  only,  but  others  also  are  mixed  up  with  our  daily 
history.  The  drowsy  tinkling  of  the  Sheep-bell ;  the  bustle  of  the 
Waggon-bells  as  "  down  the  rough  slope  they  ring;"  the  Door-bell, 
equally  interesting  to  those  without  and  those  within  ;  the  Room- 
bell,  which  links  together  upstairs  and  downstairs  ;  the  Dinner-bell, 
the  Pieman's  bell,  the  Ship-bell,  the  Piailway-bell,  the  Postman's 
bell,  the  Dustman's  bell,  the  Forest  Cattle-bell,  and  a  host  besides, 
which  daily  affect  every  class  of  society.  Human  life  may  be 
described  as  made  up  of  Bells  and  of  what  they  now  stand  for, 
or  formerly  signified.  Insignificant  as  they  may  be  in  themselves, 
their  uses  are  like  milestones  or  landmarks  in  history.  How  thank- 
ful, for  instance,  may  congregations  now  be,  at  the  change  of  habits 
shewn  in  their  no  longer  having  to  complain — as  old  Brant  did  in 
York  and  Lancaster  times — of  gentlemen  coming  into  church  "  with 
the  hawk  for  ever  on  their  fist,"  whose  jingling  silver-bells  on  each 
foot  distracted  the  worshippers.  Again,  note  the  change  in  the  tac- 
tics of  modern  Poachers,  now  no  longer  called  Lowbellers  (lowe, 
Danish  and  Scottish  for  blaze),  because  they  no  longer,  in  netting 
partridges  by  night,  "awaken  them  with  a  Bell,  and  allure  them 
with  a  flame  of  pitched  rags  in  a  shallow  tin  :"  but  have  now  turned 
over  those  implements  to  the  Batfowlers  who  catch  song  birds  for 


292  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

London.  We  still  say  of  a  winner  in  a  race  that  he  "  bears  away 
the  bell,''  although  we  have  forgotten  what  bell  it  is — viz.,  the  Prize 
silver-bell  called  St.  Georges  Bell,  and  costing  "  three  shillings  and 
sixpence"  in  Tudor  times,  or  "  eight  jDounds  sterling"  in  the  extrava- 
gant days  of  the  Stuarts ;  which  "  the  man  who  ran  farthest  and 
fastest  on  horseback,  on  Shrove  Tuesday  at  Chester,  was  to  have  for 
himself  for  ever."  We  trace  the  public  connection  of  old  between 
sacred  and  secular,  where  Quarles,  tutor  to  one  of  Charles  the  First's 
children,  says — 

Whene'er  the  old  Exchange  of  profit  rings 
Her  silver  Saints-bell  of  uncertain  gains, 
My  merchant  soul,  &c. 

If  we  go  back  to  infancy,  we  may  remember  the  enjoj'ment  we  once 
had  from  our  Coral  and  Bells,  or  the  unrivalled  music  of  our  Box 
of  Bells,  which  were  not  really  bells,  but  very  fair  parodies  of  the 
ancient  Etruscan  crotala.  Perhaps  we  can  just  recall  the  ecstacy 
with  which  we  listened  to  our  nurse's  ditty — 

Ride  on  a  horse  to  Banbury  Cross, 
To  see  an  old  woman  upon  a  white  horse  ; 
With  rings  on  her  fingers  and  bells  on  her  toes, 
To  make  her  sweet  music  wherever  she  goes. 

But  neither  we  nor  the  nurse  dreamed  that  she  was  probably  only 
describing  some  traditionary  mediaeval  gypsy  queen  on  a  festival 
day,  dressed  out  in  the  finger-jingles  and  toe-bells  of  an  oriental 
priestess  (such  as  the  Bacchante  of  Indian  Dionusus  had  worn 
two  thousand  years  before),  whiist  her  nomad  tribe  of  horse  dealers, 
jugglers,  and  fortune  tellers,  recently  arrived  in  Europe  from  the 
East,  under  fictitious  Dukes  and  Counts,  were  offering  splendid 
horses  for  sale,  and  picking  pockets  from  fair  to  fair.  Shall  we 
ever  forget  the  mysterious  rhymes  of  childhood  about  "  silver  bells, 
and  cockle  shells,  and  pretty  maids  all  of  a  row?" — rhymes  exactly 
describing  both  the  sacred  festivals  of  classic  antiquity  and  the 
more  modern  Hindoo  religious  processions  of  beautiful  damsels, 
who  move  with  measured  step,  ringing  their  silver  ankle-bells, 
whilst  the  attendants  sound  the  sacred  Cochliae — not  the  bivalves 
now  called  Cockles,  but  what  the  classic  name  imports — the  spiral 
univalve  Conch  or  Chaunk,  blown  from  an  opening  in  its  side. 

The  antiquity  of  Bells  rises  far  beyond  historic  dates,  and  there 
seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  they  were  of  antediluvian  use.  In 
the  sixth  generation  from  Adam,  "  Jubal  was  the  father  of  all  such 
as  handle  the  harp  and  organ  ;"  and  Tubal  Cain,  his  brother,  "  was 
the  instructor  of  every  artificer  in  brass  and  iron."  When  once 
elaborate  musical  instruments,  however  rude  in  comparison  with 
our  harp  and  organ,  had  been  introduced  by  a  family  which  had 
learned  also  to  work  in  brass  or  bronze,  it  seems  impossible  to 
doubt  that  its  sonorousness  could  long  remain  unknown,  or  bells 
uninvented.  Leaving  antediluvian  matters,  however,  to  conjecture, 
the  fact  that  bells  are  noticed  in  the  primeval  existing  records  of 
mankind,  and  the   certainty  of  their  early  and  unconnected  use 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  293 

among  the  most  widely  dissevered  nations  of  the  earth,  shew  them 
to  have  formed  part  of  the  common  stock  of  knowledge  and  art 
which  the  human  race  possessed  before  the  dispersion.  Some  of 
their  traces  rise  among  the  shadowy  dates  of  primeval  mythology, 
above  twenty  centuries  before  Christ.  Known  among  Egyptians 
and  Greeks,  bells  have  existed,  also,  from  ancient  days,  in  China, 
America,  and  South  Africa ;  as  well  as  among  Tartars,  Hindoos, 
and  Burmese  ;  among  Goths,  Scandinavians,  and  Sclavonians ; — 
nay,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  race  where  the  Bell,  or  some  evi- 
dent substitute  for  it,  is  unknown. 

But,  what  is  a  Bell  ?  Surely,  we  all  know ;  the  name  conjures 
up  the  shape  either  of  the  graceful  harebell  or  of  the  stout  yeoman- 
like Canterbury-bell :  yet  it  is  clear  that  there  must  be  other  shapes, 
varieties,  and  accessories  to  a  bell,  besides  our  conventional  and 
traditional  idea  of  it.  Must  it  be  of  metal  ?  Then  it  is  vain  to 
think  of  casting  church-bells  of  glass,  however  sweet  their  sound, 
however  moderate  their  cost.  Must  a  bell  be  moveable  ?  Then  the 
fixed  monster  bells  of  Ptussia ,  are  not  bells.  Must  it  have  an  in- 
side tongue  ?  Then  the  musical  bells  of  Continental  steeples,  or  of 
old  St.  Dunstan  in  Fleet-street,  are  not  bells,  for  they  are  struck  by 
hammers  outside.  Must  the  clapper  be  of  metal  ?  Then,  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  myriad  bells  in  China,  which  sound  by  wooden 
tongues  or  mallets  ?  Must  they  be  thimble-shaped,  and  with  an 
open  side  ?  Then  there  are  no  such  things  as  sheep-bells,  waggon- 
bells,  or  the  Old  Woman  of  Banbury's  toe-bells  :  for  all  of  these  are 
hollow  globes  with  loose  pellets  inside.  Must  they  be  rounded,  and 
in  one  piece  ?  Then  the  famous  bell  of  St.  Patrick,  used  by  the 
Saint  himself,  and  given  as  a  priceless  treasure  by  the  king  of 
Innisowen,  when  Armagh  was  burned  down,  to  Donald  the  Comor- 
bha  (i.e.  assistant  and  successor  bishop)  of  St.  Patrick  there — is 
no  bell  at  all ;  for  it  is  four-square,  of  hammered  iron  plates  rivetted 
together.  In  short,  although  there  is,  as  naturalists  would  say,  a 
true  typical  Bell,  there  are  also  a  great  many  abnormal  and  aber- 
rant and  subtypical  species  which  we  must  investigate  if  we  would 
grasp  the  whole  subject :  and  the  examination  of  the  several  kinds 
will  bring  into  view  more  matter  of  general  interest  than  might  be 
supposed. 

Many  of  the  names  as  evidently  spring  from  the  peculiar  sound 
of  the  Bell  as  does  our  own  Northamptonshire  provincialism,  the 
''Dill-Doles.'"  Of  this  kind  are  the  Syi'mc  Zang,  and  Zangula : 
the  Latin  Tintmnahulwn,  the  Chinese  Chung,  and  the  Hebrew 
Zitzell  or  cup-shaped  Cymbal.  Of  the  same  class  is  the  Hindoo 
Goonghree — a  small  ancient  ornamental  bell — and  the  West  African 
Gong-gong,  or  rude  hammered-iron  bell — a  word  used  by  the 
Malays  to  signify  the  deep  baying  of  a  wolf.  Of  like  origin  is  the 
English  name  Jmgles,  for  the  small  bells  used  in  ancient  rustic 
games,  as  well  as  its  form  of  Jangle,  applied  to  bad  ringing  in  bel- 
fries ;  both  being  allied  to  Jongleur,  the  early  Prankish  minstrel, 
now  degenerated  into  Jougleur  or  Juggler :  and  all,  possibly,  spring- 
ing from  Ginglaros,  the  small  Egyptian  flute,  or  Gingras  the  plain- 

VOL.  IV.  PT.  II.  P  P 


294  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTUEAL    SOCIETY. 

tive  Phoenician  flute,  or  the  kindred  Greek  roots  Gangalizo  and 
Kingklizo,  which  point  to  sounds  of  merriment  and  rejoicing  in 
connection  with  the  mystic  rites  of  antiquity.  The  German 
Klingel,  (a  httle  bell,)  and  the  Celtic  Glion/j  (ringing  or  tinkling) 
are  of  like  origin. 

Other  names,  principally  mythological,  point  to  the  shape  or 
material  ;  as  kwcwv,  the  poppy-head  :  Squilla,  the  sea-onion  : 
'X^aXKeia  and  Lebes,  the  cauldron,  kettle,  or  basin:  TreTao-o?,  the 
shallow  hat-helmet,  or  head-piece,  w4iich  Mercury  wears. 

The  usual  Greek  name  for  any  bell  is  kwBivv,  from  Kwheia  the 
poppy -head,  allied  to  Codalan  a  Celtic  word  for  poppy,  and  distinct 
from  ix))kix}v,  the  poppy  itself.  Homer  calls  a  head  cut  off  in  battle 
a  poppij-head  (Iliad,  xiv.  499.)  The  Doric  form  juaicivv  seems  to 
have  been  originally  a  mystic  title  of  Neptune,  and  also  the  name 
of  some  architectural  ornament,  possibly  of  poppy  shape,  just  as 
the  inner  part  of  a  Corinthian  capital  is  named  Campana  (Bryant, 
iii.  242.  Paiisanlas,  v.  20.)  The  name  kwclou  signified — besides  a 
bell — the  swelling  mouth  of  a  trumpet,  and  thence  a  trumpet  itself. 
It  is  used  in  the  Septuagint  for  the  golden  bells«  apparently  of 
globular  or  semi-globular  shape,  which,  alternating  with  colored 
pomegranates  fringed  the  Israelitish  High  Priest's  robe.  This 
union  of  bells  and  pomegranates  was  significant.  The  pomegranate 
was  deemed  among  all  ancient  nations  an  exceedingly  mysterious 
and  sacred  emblem  ;  although  in  Greece  and  other  northern  nations 
where  it  does  not  grow,  the  poppy  appears  to  have  been  substituted 
as  an  emblem  nearly  approaching  to  it  in  shape,  crest,  and  internal 
profusion  of  seeds.  It  svas  the  usual  symbol  of  Demeter,  or  Ceres ; 
was  carried  along  with  pomegranates  in  her  mysteries  at  Eleusis  ; 
is  found  sculptured  on  the  altars  of  Juno,  Aphrodite,  Neptune, 
Mithras,  and  other  divinities  ;  is  held  in  the  hand  of  the  statue  of 
Hope ;  is  encircled  by  the  mystic  Serpent ;  and  at  Pompeii  is  asso- 
ciated with  ears  of  corn.  (Bryant,  iii.  212.  Fosbroke,  20S.  Potter, 
i.  450.)  The  poppy -head  bell  (spherical  sheep- bell,  or  semisphericai 
caparison  bell)  is  found  in  very  ancient  marbles,  both  classic  and 
barbaric,  is  dug  up  in  tumuli  of  unknown  date  and  origin  in 
Siberia,  and  is  used  still  in  Abyssinia  and  other  remote  and  un- 
changing corners  of  the  globe.  [Smith's  Classic  Diet.  Strahlenberg's 
Siberia,  330.  SaWs  Abyssinia,  394.)  The  kindred  word  KivS/a 
signifies  the  pod  of  the  sacred  Egyptian  Bean ;  which,  like  the 
Poppy,  is  closely  allied  in  mythes  and  mystic  rites  to  the  Pome- 
granate, and  equally  deemed  too  sacred  to  be  used  or  offered  in 
sacrifices. 

Perhaps  the  emblem  is  brought  closer  to  us  by  the  Poppy-head 
on  the  upright  ends  of  old  pews  and  church  seats ;  which  was 
introduced  (possibly  from  the  East)  at  the  close  of  the  crusades, 
and  in  the  times  of  our  early  Edwards. — "  But  these  are  Poupee 
heads  or  dolls,"  every  one  will  reply  ; — every  one,  except  the  old 
Chronicler  of  Christ  Church  Library,  Oxford,  who  stoutly  calls  them 
Popieheedes  affthe  Seites.  It  may  be,  also,  that  he  is  not  so  far  wrong; 
perhaps,  too,  that  the  difference  is  not  so  great  after  all.    The  words 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  295 

Poupee,  Puppet,  Papoosh,  Puppy,  and  others  similar,  all  spring 
from  Pupa,  the  classical  word  for  a  Bahe,  and  also  for  the  Doll 
dressed  like  one,  which  brides  were  wont  to  offer  to  Aphrodite, 
Astarte,  Mjlitta,  &c.,  and  which  was  itself  allied  to  the  Puppet  or 
image  of  a  cubit  high,  carried  about  by  Egyptian  Priestesses  on  the 
festival  of  Osiris  ;  as  well  as  to  the  swathed  mummy  into  which  a 
corpse  was  rolled  that  it  might  resemble  (like  the  Entomologist's 
Pupa  or  Chrysalis)  the  form  of  Osiris,  as  Judge  of  Amenti  or  Hades. 
(Wilkinsons  Egypt,  2nd  series,  i.  341,  343,  and  ii.  382.  Herodot. 
ii.  48. — Perseus,  i.  70.)  A  kindred  mystic  origin  belongs  to  the 
word  Puppis,  the  poop  or  sacred  part  of  a  ship,  where  originally 
stood  the  image  of  its  tutelary  deity,  and  where  the  mariners,  as 
in  Jonah's  history,  "  called  every  one  upon  the  name  of  his  god" — 
w  TTOTToi !  Now,  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  the  only  European  dialect  in 
which  the  word  "poppy"  (popig)  occurs :  the  old  Germans  called  it 
Mcui-kopf  (the  evil  head) :  the  Latins  used  Papaver,  (a  derivative,  it 
is  said,  from  papare,  to  feed  infants — and  thus  coming  back  to 
pupa,)  signifying  not  only  the  poppy,  but  also  a  kind  of  rich  cloth 
used  for  palls,  or  in  connection  with  the  dead  (Ducange,  in  voce). 
It  seems  probable  that  poppy,  papaver,  poop,  and  poupee  all  point  to 
different  parts  of  those  mythes  which  were  shrouded  under  the 
emblems  of  the  pomegranate,  the  mummy,  the  puppet,  and  the 
poppy-head  Bell. 

Another  name,  TreVao-o?,  given  by  Rocca  (p.  17),  is  not  often 
met  with.  Its  shape  is  the  shallow  broad-brimmed  hat  of  ]VI  ercury, 
not  unlike  the  barber's  sign-basin,  and  possibly  in  its  original  con- 
nected with  it.  It  may  have  been  the  shallow  brass  basin  struck 
with  a  mallet,  or  the  double  large  cymbals  which  were  hung  from  a 
rod  and  clashed  together  ;  or  the  ancient  brazen  dome-like  basin 
(like  the  striking-bell  of  a  clock)  from  the  edge  of  which  smaller 
bells  or  pieces  of  metal  hung.  (Calinet,  vol.  iii.  682,  plate  cvi. 
Smitlis  CI.  Diet.,  Tintinnabulum.) 

Another  name  of  the  Bell  is  Scilla  or  Squilla,  common  in  Latin 
since  the  decline  of  the  Roman  empire ;  but  in  classical  times  only 
used  to  designate  the  acrid  Sea-Onion,  Sea-Leek,  or  Squill.  It  is 
the  small  shrill  bell,  hung  round  the  necks  of  tame  animals,  worn 
upon  mediaeval  robes,  used  at  table  in  monasteries,  figured  on 
Etruscan  vases,  and  held  in  the  hand  of  the  god  Pan  (Smith's 
Antiq.  972).  Its  shape  is  long,  wide  at  foot,  slender  at  top,  and 
somewhat  resembling  a  Sea-Onion  with  the  roots  cut  off  the  bulb. 
The  investigation  of  its  history  opens  up  a  curious  page  of  myth- 
ology and  ethnology.  The  Italian  form  of  the  word  is  Squilla, 
whence  the  verb  Squillare,  to  sound  shrill ;  the  Spanish  is  Esquila  ; 
the  Belgic,  Schelle  ;  the  Finnish,  Kello ;  the  old  German,  Skell ; 
and  the  Suio-Gothic,  Skella  and  Skilla,  whence  the  verbs  Skellen 
and  Schall  (to  sound  sharp  and  shrill)  used  in  old  Scandinavian 
translations  of  the  Psalms,  to  signify  the  ring  of  cymbals,  &c.  We 
have  these  last  as  English  words — probably  through  the  Danes — in 
Squeal  and  Squall,  to  cry  out  sharp  and  shrill ;  and,  according  to 
some  etymologists,  in  Shilling  (originally  SkillingJ  signifying  silver 


296  NORTHAMPTON  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

money  which  rings,  in  distinction  from  the  previous  thin  bracteate 
coins  which  did  not  ring  wlien  thrown  down.  The  old  French  form 
of  the  w^ord  is  Eschelle  and  Esquillet,  both  found  in  Romanz 
ballads,  whence  come  two  of  our  own  words,  Keel  (answering  to  the 
present  French  Qidlle)  the  old  English  name  for  the  skittle  or  nine- 
pin  ;  and  Skillet  (French,  Escuellette)  a  small  brass  boiling-pot, 
still  called  among  cooks  in  Ireland  and  elsewhere  the  hell  metal ; 
and  which  retains  traditionally  its  connection  with  bells  ;  for  the 
fourth  bell  of  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Magnus  in  Orkney,  now  called 
the  Firebell,  was  in  the  seventeenth  century  called  the  Skellat  hell. 
Nor  is  the  other  English  form  of  the  word  foreign  to  our  subject ; 
for  the  Keel,  Quille,  or  Skittle  (in  shape  an  inverted  and  truncated 
Sea-Onion)  is  now  the  young  men's  great  game  at  our  rustic 
festivals;  just  as,  in  classic  and  earlier  days  the  Squill  itself  was 
the  implement  of  the  Squilloneorta,  or  Squill-festival,  in  Sicily  and 
elsewhere  ;  v^hen  young  men  contended  by  striking  each  other  with 
Sea-Onions,  until  one  w-as  victorious  in  the  game,  and  gained  the 
prize  of  a  bull  to  be  slaughtered,  amidst  ringing  and  revelry,  for 
the  occasion.  A  somewhat  similar  festival  game  is  kept  up  by  the 
young  men  on  the  Essequibo  in  South  America,  by  striking  each 
other's  naked  legs  with  whips ;  and  a  still  different  form  of  the 
game  is  found  among  schoolboys  in  Scotland,  who  strike  each  other 
with  the  club-heads  of  the  common  Palmy,  Ribwort,  or  Plantago 
Lanceolata.  (Ducange.  Orcadian,  Sept.  1855.  Potter,  ii.  487.)  It 
appears  evident  that  the  name  Squilla,  for  a  bell,  was  either  indige- 
nous among  the  Teutonic  tribes,  or  had  at  a  very  early  date  become 
naturalised — otherwise  than  through  the  Greeks  and  Romans — 
among  the  nations  founded  by  Lombards,  Goths,  Franks,  and  Ger- 
mans ;  and  that  therefore  it  had  probably  come  from  the  East 
among  those  moving  races.  But  what  was  the  connection  between 
the  two  significations  of  Squilla  ? 

The  valuable  qualities  of  the  genus  of  Onions,  Leeks,  Garlick, 
Squills,  &c.,  made  their  use  universal  from  the  earliest  times.  The 
Israelites  deemed  the  abundance  of  them,  which  they  had  enjoyed 
in  Egypt,  almost  an  equivalent  for  the  hardships  of  bondage. 
(Numbers,  xi.  5.)  The  pagan  Tartars  along  the  vast  Siberian  rivers, 
where  whole  plains  of  them  grow  wild,  collect  them  daily  by  boat- 
loads all  summer,  as  their  principal  sustenance.  And  it  is  a 
curious  coincidence,  since  they  were  deemed  sacred  to  the  Egyptian 
god  Khem  (i.e.  Pan),  that,  as  Egypt  was  called  the  land  of  Khem, 
or  Ham,  so  the  interior  of  upper  Siberia,  where  they  are  extensively 
used,  and  its  great  river  Enesei,  are  now  called  by  the  Tartars  the 
land  and  river  of  Kemm  (Strahlenherg,  385,  437.)  The  Sea-Onion, 
or  Squill,  especially  the  Red  Squill,  has  peculiar  properties,  and 
though  unfit  for  food,  is  highly  valuable  for  medicinal  purposes, 
its  pungent  juice  acting  as  a  blister,  an  inward  and  outward  stimu- 
lant, an  emetic,  an  expectorant,  or  a  strong  poison.  It  is  abundant 
along  the  coasts  of  Egypt,  Syria,  Sicily,  and  Spain,  and  was  early 
invested  with  a  mysterious  and  emblematic  character,  not  easy  to 
explain.     It  was  worshipped  by  the  inhabitants  of  Pelusium   and 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  297 

other  places  as  sacred  to  Typho,  the  Egyptian  principle  of  Evil ; 
just  as  the  Amomus  or  Ginger  and  Cardamom  class  of  plants  was 
deemed  sacred  to  Arimanes,  the  ancient  Persian  principle  of  Evil. 
(Foshroke,  1049.  Lucian.  Pliny,  xix.  G.  Juvenal,  xv.  9.  Kitto. 
Scapula.) 

The  whole  genus  was  deemed  sacred  in  Egypt ;  and  although 
the  people  at  large  might  freely  eat  them,  priests  and  the  initiated 
might  not  eat  either  them  or  beans  [icivcla).  They  were  sacred  to 
the  Dead,  and  offered  to  them,  but  only  by  the  Leopard-skin  priests, 
i.e.  high  priests.  Having  been  first  made  up  into  a  hollow  bell- 
shaped  cone,  like  a  bee-hive  (itself  a  sacred  arkite  emblem,  con- 
nected with  the  Melissae,  or  Dead)  the  bundle  of  onions  was  gar- 
landed and  inverted  over  the  altar  and  gifts  to  the  dead.  (Wilkin- 
son, i.  276—8  ;  iii.  350,  and  ii.  369,  383.)  Nor  was  their  mystic 
character  confined  to  Egypt :  for  wherever  the  mysteries  of  Ceres 
and  Proserpine,  or  their  synonymes,  were  spread  in  Europe,  Asia, 
or  Africa,  pomegranates,  beans,  and  apparently  onions,  were  forbid- 
den to  the  initiated.  For  instance,  in  India,  if  a  Bramin  eats 
onions  he  loses  his  position,  and  must  be  initiated  again  :  and  in 
Madagascar  it  is  unlawful  to  offer  onions  in  any  sacrifice.  (Potter, 
i.  450 — 60.  Ward's  Hindoos,  iii.  370.  Elliss  Madagascar,  i.  416 — 
420.)  It  is  a  curious  and  scarcely  accidental  coincidence  that  both 
Poppy  and  Onion  seem  to  have  very  anciently  borne  similar  epi- 
thets of  sacredness.  The  Poppy  in  ancient  Irish  is  Crom-liis  (or 
God's  plant),  from  Crom  a  name  of  God  (Highland  Society's  Lexi- 
con) ;  and  the  Onion  in  Greek  is  Kp6/Li/u.vov,  (Homer  II.  xi.  629, 
Kpofivov^  for  which  some  fanciful  derivation  is  given  :  but  which  is 
much  more  likely  to  be  akin  to  the  Celtic  word  Crom,  the  Persian 
Kvpos  the  Sun,  Kpovo^  Saturn,  Kapveio^  and  Kpaveo<i  Apollo,  and 
Kiv/uvpo^  the  Halicarnassian  name  of  Zeus.  (Lycophron,  v.  459. 
Pausan.  iii.  239.  Callim.  Apoll.  71  and  x.  886.  Plutarch,  1012:  and 
Gruter,  37.) 

But  of  the  whole  tribe,  the  Squill  was  especially  sacred  ;  in 
some  places  emblematic  of  the  principle  of  Evil ;  but  more  univer- 
sally connected  with  the  worship  of  Pan,  the  great  impersonation  of 
Nature — the  universal  Deity — and,  in  reality,  a  title  of  the  Supreme 
God  or  Creator.  For  we  must  not  limit  our  ideas  of  Pan  to  the 
rural  shepherd  god  of  the  country  called  Arcadia,  as  the  later 
Greeks  and  Ptomans  fabled  him  to  be.  The  best  and  earliest 
authors  shew  that  the  Arcadians  were  a  primeval  tribe,  or  rather  a 
name  for  the  aboriginal  race  of  mankind — the  parents  of  the  Pelas- 
gi,  who  founded  the  maritime  nations  of  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and 
Italy.  We  read  that  the  Arcadians  were  older  than  the  Moon,  that 
from  them  sprang  the  Phrygians  and  Etruscans,  that  they  taught 
husbandry  and  the  care  of  flocks,  and  that  Pan  was  their  god. 
(Bryant,  v.  38.)  Under  the  name  of  Khem,  Pan  was  one  of  the 
great  gods  of  Egypt ;  his  temple  was  at  Pannopolis,  sixty  miles 
below  Thebes  ;  and  Egypt  was  called  from  him  the  land  of  Khem  or 
Ham.  (Wilkinson,  2nd  series,  i.  257,  &c.)  His  figure,  like  that  of  all 
Egyptian  deities,  was  a  mere  compound  of  symbolical  attributes,  and 


298  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

not  intended  to  signify  that  such  a  monster  ever  existed.  The  Greeks 
and  Romans  figured  it  as  partly  a  goat,  but  the  Egyptian  sculptures 
do  not.  Yet  there  must  have  been  in  Egypt,  both  prior  to  the 
Exodus  and  also  in  the  time  of  Jeroboam's  visit  there,  some  open- 
air  worship  of  the  god  of  Nature  under  the  symbol  of  a  goat :  for 
at  Sinai  the  Israelites  were  commanded  to  "  bring  their  sacrifices 
which  they  offer  in  the  open  field,  even  to  bring  them  to  the  Lord, 
to  the  door  of  the  Tabernacle,  to  the  priest,"  &c.,  "  and  no  more  to 
offer  their  sacrifices  unto  rough  hairy  goats' — for  that  is  the  literal 
meaning  of  Shirim,  twice  in  Scripture  properly  translated  Devils, 
but  more  usually  rendered  Goats,  Satyrs,  &c.  {Levit.  xvii.  5 — 7. 
2  Chron.  xi.  15.  1  Kings  xi.  40.  1  Cor.  x.  20.  Herod  i.  46.)  In 
the  Greek  Thargeelia,  the  Sicilian  Squilloneorta,  the  Arcadian 
Lycaia,  the  Roman  Lupercalia,  and  in  other  festivals  to  the  God 
of  Nature,  the  squill,  the  fig,  and  the  fig  leaf  bore  a  prominent 
part.  The  disappointed  hunter  vented  his  displeasure  upon  Pan 
by  pelting  his  statue  with  squills.  The  Greek  worshipper  was  puri- 
fied for  sacrifice  by  having  a  squill  drawn  round  him.  {Potter  i.  458, 
469,  481,  487.  Wilkinson,  2nd  series,  i.  259.)  Even  the  names  of 
Scylla  (opposite  Sicilian  Charybdis)  and  of  two  places  called  Squil- 
lace,  one  on  the  Adriatic  and  one  in  Tuscany,  may  have  to  do  with 
the  emblem  :  for  although  these  words  are  said  to  be  derived  from 
aKvWw,  to  tear,  (as  in  shipwreck,)  yet  one  cannot  forget  that  the 
fabled  Scylla  was  the  daughter  of  TyjDhon,  to  whom  the  Squill  was 
dedicated,  and  that  Sicily  was  remarkable  for  the  sacred  festival  of 
the  Squill. 

And  since,  in  the  wild  mysteries  and  frantic  rites  common  alike 
to  classic  and  barbaric  nations,  the  Squill  was  everywhere  connected 
with  the  worship  of  the  masculine  deities  of  Nature,  as  the  poppy 
and  pomegranate  were  with  that  of  the  corresponding  feminine 
divinities ;  and  since  at  the  same  time  all  such  rites  were  celebrated 
with  bells,  cymbals,  timbrels,  jingles,  and  noise,  it  seems  probable 
that  the  Teutonic  and  Gothic  hordes  who  overran  Europe — each 
speaking  their  own  dialect,  but  finding  kindred  religious  rites  in 
use  among  the  Greek  and  Roman  population — adopted  many 
classical  terms,  even  if  not  in  the  exact  classical  sense.  Probably 
the  Squill  as  a  religious  emblem,  and  the  squill-shaped  bell  used  in 
the  same  mysteries,  thus  became  confounded  in  the  Teutonic 
languages.  We  may  trace  the  union  of  the  two  ideas  in  the  word 
Zwiehel  (twofold  bell),  the  present  German  for  an  onion. 

But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  the  onion  and  squill,  for  they 
seem  connected  with  belfries  also.  Whence  had  the  Russians  the 
idea  of  the  bulbous-shaped  and  pear-shaped  domes  so  common  in 
belfries  at  Moscow  and  elsewhere  ?  Not  from  Constantinople ;  for 
the  cupola  domes  common  in  Asia  Minor,  Antioch,  and  Mecca  are 
half  globes,  raised  on  cylinders.  But  in  the  interval  between  those 
districts,  at  Jerusalem  and  Damascus  for  instance,  one  may  trace 
the  shape.  In  Mesopotamia  (Orfah) — in  Persia  (Shiraz  and  Ispa- 
han)— in  Egypt,  Barbary,  and  Abyssinia — in  Bagdad — in  the 
dominions  of  the  Great  Mogul,  Delhi,  Agra,  Meerut,  Elichpore,  the 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  299 

Deccan,  &c. — the  domes  are  principally  bulbous-shaped.  The  bulb 
may  be  traced  in  the  Birmese  pagoda,  and  a  compound  of  it  also  in 
Nepaul ;  but  throug.iout  Tartary,  generally,  it  is  absent.  It  thus 
appears  to  follow  one  particular  tract  of  civilization  from  Egypt  to 
Parthia,  from  Assyria  to  Upper  India.  At  Damascus  the  thick  bulb 
and  taper  bulb  are  alike  common  in  tombs  and  on  gravestones, 
which  are  sometimes  sections  of  the  onion  shape ;  in  China  the 
Temenos  or  enclosure  of  a  Tomb,  is  shaped  like  a  bulb  or  joointed 
horse-shoe  ;  and  we  seem  thus  to  reach  the  ancient  idea  of  the  onion 
and  squill  being  sacred  to  the  Dead,  to  the  principle  of  Evil,  and  to 
the  God  of  Nature.  The  conjecture  is  not  new  tliat  the  onion-like 
and  squill-like  domes  on  the  tops  of  belfries,  minarets,  and  other 
religious  or  sepulchral  buildings  in  particular  tracts  of  the  Eastern 
World  are  connected  with  mythological  emblems  of  veiy  early  date. 
And  it  is  possible  that  the  Ogee,  or  at  least  the  pointed  horse-shoe 
arch,  of  Saracenic  Architecture  in  Barbaiy,  Spain,  and  elsewhere, 
may  have  a  like  origin  (LyaWs  Moscow,  601 .  Quarterly  Revieiv,  li.  42.) 
Another  class  of  names  for  the  Bell,  taken  from  external  shape 
or  material,  are  Lebes,  Lanx,  Cortina,  ^o\/lio9,  &c.  ;  and  Aes,  Aera- 
mentum,  xoXvc'/a,  &c.,  viz.,  Cauldron,  Basin,  Cauldron-lid,  Dish,  &c. ; 
all  of  which,  being  of  bronze  or  of  brass,  were  called  by  one  general 
name  of  Brasses  ;  and  all  of  which  appear  to  have  been  sounded  by 
an  external  stroke,  and  not  by  tongues.  Classic  writers  speak  of 
Dodonean  brasses,  from  which  were  given  the  responses  of  the 
great  Pelasgic  oracle  of  Zeus  at  Dodona's  Grove  in  Epims,  already 
celebrated  before  the  destruction  of  Troy.  {Iliad,  x\'i.  254.  Odyssey, 
xiv.  327.)  They  were  large  brazen  cauldrons,  some  apparently 
hung  in  rows  upon  the  beech  and  oak  trees,  and  sounding  as  the 
wind  blew  them  against  each  other ;  and  some  placed  on  lofty 
pillars,  along  with  brazen  statues  in  whose  hands  were  whips  of 
brazen  wire,  which  the  wind  clashed  against  the  cauldrons.  The 
officiating  priestesses  were  called  Peleiadae,  or  Doves,  a  well-known 
mythic  name  for  the  Arkite  priestesses  of  Ion  ;  and  hence  the 
responses  were  said  to  come  from  black  or  dark  coloured  doves  in  the 
beech  trees :  the  priestesses  being  apparently  native  Egj-ptians 
supplied  from  the  parent  oracle  of  Lybian  Amnion,  where  the 
priestesses  were  called  Ravens,  and  doubtless  gave  their  responses 
similarly  by  sounding  brazen  cauldrons.  [Potter,  i.  317.  Hesychius. 
Bryant,  iii.  121 — 125.  Soj^hocl  Track,  174.  Rocca,  22.  Clasenius 
de  Orac.)  Brazen  basins  and  kettles  were  carried  and  used  as 
bells  at  Grecian  and  Roman  funerals  (Potter,  ii.  179.  Ovid.  Fasti. 
441) ;  the  Hebrews  used  a  vessel  of  the  kind  as  a  bell ;  Juvenal 
speaks  of  brass  basins  and  little  bells  sounded  at  eclipses  ;  Cicero 
complains  that  the  sound  of  the  Lanx,  or  shallow  dish,  attracted  his 
students  away  from  his  lectures  to  their  dinners :  the  Laconians 
tolled  a  cauldron  on  the  death  of  a  king.  (Kitto,  ii.  380.  Juven.  vi. 
440.  Cicero  de  Oratore,  2.  Pancirollus,  ii.  328.)  The  Corybantes, 
in  the  rites  of  Cybele,  clashed  brazen  shields  and  cauldrons  to- 
gether ;  and  in  the  Eleusinian  mysteries  of  Ceres  and  Prosei-pine, 
one  day  was  devoted  to  canying  and  beating  brazen  cauldrons. 


300  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

{Potter,  i.  450.  Eneid,  iii.  111.)  Shallow  brazen  pans  with  loose 
rings  for  handles,  as  well  as  large  bronze  cauldrons  and  vases,  are 
common  in  the  remains  of  Thebes,  Pompeii,  and  other  cities  of 
ancient  days.  And  the  connection  between  such  vessels  and  musical 
sound  seems  to  have  become  habitual ;  for  Plato,  400  years  e.g., 
uses  \ei(3w,  the  word  for  a  libation  from  a  brazen  cauldron,  to  sig- 
nify the  pouring  out  of  a  musical  sound.  (Scapula.)  We  may  trace 
this  connection  downwards  to  our  times.  The  English  minstrel  of 
the  fourteenth  century  sounded  his  metal  basin  with  a  mallet ;  and 
in  1640  the  street  juggler  used  to  ring  basins  together.  (Strutt, 
212,  294.)  The  Hindoo  musical  performer  strikes  his  ring  of  seven 
brass  basins  (in  sizes)  with  a  mallet  (Ward's  Hindoos,  i.  259.)  A 
modern  humorous  Persian  book  of  domestic  manners  advises 
every  Persian  lady  to  have  music  in  her  house — a  tambourine  and 
cymbals,  or  a  large  brass  basin  and  mallet,  if  she  cannot  afford  bet- 
ter. (Women  of  Persia,  p.  32.)  The  Janissaries  of  Turkey,  before 
their  suppression,  took  great  pride  in  their  large  brazen  camp  ket- 
tles, or  cauldrons,  in  which  their  meals  were  cooked,  Each  com- 
pany had  one  ;  which  was  in  charge  of  a  special  officer,  who  kept  it 
bright  and  carried  it  before  them  on  a  march,  and  sounded  it  when 
ordered ;  for  it  was  their  drum  and  standard,  their  tocsin  and 
alarm  bell.  The  frightful  beating  of  these  cauldrons  was  ever  an 
anxiety  to  the  Government ;  for  when  they  were  all  sounded  the 
whole  body  of  Janissaries  assembled,  ripe  for  revolt. 

The  Cortina,  or  '^oXfio^,  virtually  a  cauldron  lid,  and  in  reality 
of  the  nature  of  a  bell,  was  a  resounding  metal  plate  with  a  rim 
w^hich  descended  from  its  edge  and  fitted  tightly  round  the  lip  of 
the  large  three-footed  vase  that  formed  the  sacred  tripos  of  Apollo 
Python's  oracles.  The  vase  was  larger  below  than  above,  and  stood 
in  a  cave,  apparently  over  some  fissure  in  the  rocky  floor,  whence 
ascended  some  stupifying  or  intoxicating  vapour.  It  does  not 
satisfactorily  appear  whether  the  vase  was  golden,  or  only  contain- 
ing golden  treasure  ;  whether  it  was  empty  or  partially  filled  wdth 
dust.  The  circular  lid  enclosed  and  contained  its  upper  edge,  so  as 
to  prevent  movement,  and  afford  a  firm  seat  for  the  olhciating  Pj^hia, 
who  could  only  deliver  her  responses  w^hen  seated  on  the  Cortina. 
The  first  step  was  to  elicit  (probably  by  rubbing  wnth  the  hand  as 
on  a  tambourine)  the  loud  roaring  of  this  entirely  metal  drum 
("  mugire  adytis  cortina  reclusis" — Eneid,  iii.  93);  and  then,  whilst 
the  w^orshippers  were  prostrate  on  their  faces,  the  responses  were 
delivered.  (Clasenius  de  Oraculis,  265,  (J^c.)  The  Chinese  gong  is 
exactly  a  Cortina,  or  metal  cauldron  lid  with  a  rim  ;  and  being  used 
for  all  sacred  and  mythological  purposes  probably  originated  from 
it.  (Penny  Cycloped.  in  voce.)  In  China  w^e  find  the  huge  brazen 
tripos,  or  vase,  of  six  or  eight  feet  high  on  three  large  legs,  placed 
at  the  chief  door  of  the  great  temples  or  Joss-houses — (see  print  of 
one  at  Ningpo  in  the  Church  Missionary  Gleaner,  October,  1856.) 
Every  Mongol  tent  in  Tartary  has  a  large  iron  bell-shaped  cauldron 
on  a  three-legged  trivet  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  tent,  and  used 
for  cooking.    (Hue,  i.  42.).     The  sacred  drum  of  the  old  Mexican 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  301 

temple  was  a  large  wooden  vase,  three  feet  high,  standing  on  three 
legs,  and  covered  with  a  tightened  skin,  and  sounded  only  with  the 
hand.    (Clavigero,  i.  398.) 

There  is  another  class  of  names  for  the  Bell  which  are  connected 
with  localities — Campana,  Temesaea,  Nola,  Muta,  &c.  Of  these 
Campana  is  by  much  the  most  common,  and  enters  universally  into 
language.  For  instance,  Campanologia,  is  the  science  of  bell- 
ringing  ;  Campanula,  the  bell-shaped  flower  ;  Campana,  the  interior 
swelling  of  a  Corinthian  capital  divested  of  the  foliage  ;  Campanero, 
the  lovely  little  white  bell-bird  of  South  America,  whose  mellow 
tolling  note  in  the  trackless  forest  beguiles  the  traveller  into  belief 
that  a  convent  bell  is  ringing  close  at  hand.  Some  refer  the  origin 
of  this  name  to  the  worthy  I3ishop  of  Nola,  others  to  Pope  Sabini- 
anus,  two  centuries  later ;  but  it  was  earlier  than  either.  Cam- 
panian  pottery  was  proverbially  excellent,  and  so  was  Campanian 
brass :  as  Isidorus,  (in  the  days  of  Ptolemy  Lagus,  300  e.g.,)  and 
Pliny,  100  a.d.,  both  testify.  From  earliest  times  the  brass  of 
Tempse  or  Temesaea,  at  or  near  the  present  Euphemia,  where  the 
Apennines  run  into  the  sea,  had  been  celebrated :  and  a  little 
before  the  Christian  era  the  common  classic  name  for  a  bell  was  a 
Teniesccan,  or  a  Temesman  Brass — (Rocca,  26.  Odyssey,  i.  85.  Ovid. 
Fasti,  V.  441.  Statins).  But  the  mines  there  had  been  worked 
out  and  abandoned  twenty-five  years  before  the  Christian  era — 
{Strabo,  vi.,  393,  255  ;)  and  probably  the  celebrity  of  the  Italian 
brass  confined  itself  afterwards  to  the  Campanian  mines,  and 
Campana  or  a  Campanian  Brass,  took  the  place  of  TemescBa  or  a 
Temescean  Brass — as  the  name  of  a  large  bell,  or  cauldron  for 
ringing. 

Nola  is  a  common  Latin  name  for  a  small  bell  and  nolula  for  a 
double  bell.  Even  Baronius  ascribes  the  invention  of  bells  to 
Paulinus,  Bishop  of  Nola  in  Campania,  about  A.D.  400.  But  it  is 
clear  the  worthy  bishop  did  not  invent  a  thing  which  had  been 
used  thousands  of  years  before  he  was  born.  Besides,  Nola  means 
a  small  bell  and  not  a  church-bell ;  and  further,  Paulinus  has  left 
a  minute  description  of  his  church  which  he  built  at  Nola,  yet  does 
not  speak  of  its  having  a  bell — [Bingham,  i.  317.)  Quintillian  (who 
died  A.D.  95)  calls  a  troublesome,  foi-ward,  unseasonable  person, 
"  Nola  in  cubiculo" — a  bell  in  a  bed-room  (viii.  6,53) ;  and  Avianus 
{Fable  vii.  8}  tells  of  a  master  who  directed  that  his  house-dog 
should  carry  a  bell  on  his  throat  lest  the  thief  should  bribe  him, 
— "  in  rabido  gutture  ferre  Nolam."  Whether  the  Fabulist  and  the 
Historian  of  the  same  name  be  the  same  person  or  not,  both  were 
dead  before  Bishop  Paulinus  of  Nola  wrote.  The  supporters  of  the 
Romish  legend  about  Paulinus  say  that  Quintillian,  the  great  gram- 
marian, coined  a  new  ungrammatical  word,  Nola,  to  signify  a  refusal, 
and  did  not  mean  a  bell  at  all ;  and  also  assert  wrongly  that  the 
Fabulist  lived  after  Paulinus,  and  if  not,  that  his  prosody  would  be 
bad  if  by  Nola  he  ment  a  bell.  He  certainly  did  mean  a  bell,  and 
his  prosody  may  be  right.  If  his  prosody  was  wrong,  then  the 
town  of  Nola  had  given  name  to  a  bell  before  Paulinus  was  born ; 

VOL.  IV,  PT.  II.  Q  Q 


302  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

if  his  prosody  was  right,  then  the  name  Nola  had  some  other  origin. 
In  A.D.  350,  when  the  Roman  world  was  full  of  Teutonic  hordes, 
the  name  Nola,  for  a  bell,  may  probably  have  sprung  from  the 
Teutonic  knoll,  to  sound  by  striking ;  tho  Gothic  knall,  the  sound 
of  a  bell ;  the  Saxon  knell,  knoll,  and  Celtic  kneill  (ring  of  a  bell)  or 
the  German  knoll,  a  hard  bump. 

Another  name,  not  very  common,  is  muta,  the  small  bell  used 
in  monasteries ;  interpreted  by  etymologists  as  being  of  so  tiny  a 
sound  as  to  be  almost  mute,  and  to  have  its  name  thence.  But  its 
true  origin  seems  to  be  the  mediaeval  word  muta,  a  cage,  coop,  or 
other  confined  or  small  place ;  akin  to  the  French  m.ue  and  the 
English  mew,  a  place  where  hawks  were  kept  shut  up  that  they 
might  mew ;  which  means  to  throw  off  the  feathers  as  a  bird,  the 
skin  as  a  snake,  the  horns  as  a  deer,  or  the  outer  cocoon  or  chrysalis 
as  a  silkworm.  A  very  small  bell,  adapted  for  a  small  room,  is  the 
exact  meaning  of  this  name. 

Probably  our  own  Anglo-Saxon  name  Bell  is  as  old  as  almost 
any.  The  German  Bellen  to  ring,  bark,  or  roar,  and  our  own  words 
bellow  as  a  bull  and  hell  as  a  deer,  as  well  as  the  Swedish  Bola  to 
sound,  all  seem  to  claim  kindred  with,  though  not  descent  from, 
the  Greek  ftaWeiv,  pXi]vai,  to  strike,  or  be  struck,  and  /3eXo§  the 
thing  which  strikes ;  rather  than  with  the  Latin  Pelvis  a  basin, 
sometimes  named  as  their  origin.  The  Dutch  Bely  Low  Dutch  BelU, 
and  Belgic  Bell  are  the  same  word  as  ours. 

The  Suiogothic  word  Ringen,  whence  ours,  to  ring  a  bell,  may 
be  Icelandic,  or  it  may  be  Lombardic ;  for  in  Italy  Renga  means  a 
fire-bell,  and  Arrengare  to  summon  an  assembty. 

The  ancient  Hebrew  word  for  Bell,  Phaamon  or  Paamun,  means 
any  thing  which  being  struck  causes  a  ^dbration  in  the  air.  It  is 
not  easy  to  trace  the  origin  of  the  Arabic  Jiris,  and  the  Persian 
Dura,  names  used  for  the  common  caravan  bells. 

The  most  common  northern  name  for  a  Bell,  especially  a  church 
bell,  is  Clock ;  which  in  our  language  has  been  restricted  for  the  last 
two  centuries  to  the  Horologe  or  time-keeping  machine  that  strikes 
the  real  Clock,  or  Bell  of  the  machine.  Not  so  in  the  rest  of  Europe. 
In  German  the  word  is  Klokka,  Glocka;  in  Suiogothic  it  is  Klok, 
cluggen ;  in  Frankish  or  French,  Cloche ;  in  Russian  Kaloka,  Kolokol. 
The  Danes  give  the  name  of  Clogg  to  the  ancient  notched  wooden 
almanac  which  the  pilgrim  of  old  used  to  caiwe  on  the  head  of  his 
staff,  and  which  perhaps  was  connected  wdth  his  pilgrim  bell. 
(Nuttall.)  Even  in  Campania  itself  we  find  the  Barbaric  and 
Teutonic  names  for  a  bell  holding  their  ground.  The  Scandinavian 
night  watchman  in  Norway,  with  his  bell  and  trident  and  lamp,  is 
called  a  Glocker ;  and  similarly  the  bell-bearers  who  precede  the 
Host  when  going  to  the  sick  at  Naples,  with  their  grotesque  dress 
and  a  bell  in  each  hand,  are  called  Claque  {Chamier  ii,  99.)  And 
all  over  Italy  the  bell  of  a  clock  is  called  Squilla  d'un  oriuolo.  In 
the  Northern  nations  the  primary  and  simple  idea  of  their  word  is 
the  production  of  sound  by  striking.  We  have  kindred  words  in 
the  Clack  of  a  mill,  the  Cluck  of  a  hen,  and  the  dockers  of  the  boy 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  303 

who  scares  crows  from  corn.  And  so  have  the  French  in  Claque,  a 
slap,  or  crack  of  a  whip,  and  clacquei  a  rattle  or  a  mill  clapper.  In 
the  Celtic  dialects  the  word  for  Bell  resembles  the  Teutonic  form  ; 
in  Irish  and  Welsh  Cloc,  Clog;  in  Gaelic  Clag,  Cluig ;  in  Manx 
Cluic;  in  Cornish  Kloh,  <tc.,  &c.  But  their  idea  is  a  little  more 
complex  ;  for  many  similar  words  in  those  languages  point  to  shape, 
as  CLych,  Clegeren,  bubbles ;  Clogan,  the  skull,  &c.,  and  in  almost 
every  dialect  such  words  as  Clock,  Clach,  or  Clog,  signify  stones ; 
inducing  a  belief  that  the  original  Church  bells  of  \^'ales,  Ii'eland, 
and  Scotland  might  be  merely  thin  flat  stones  or  slates  stnick 
together,  like  the  stone  bells  of  "  Prester  John's"  countij  (Pancirollus,) 
or  tlie  ar)/iiavT)jpiou  of  the  Eastern  Churches. 

The  ancient  Cymbal  seems  to  have  its  name  from  Cymba  a  boat, 
and  its  sacredness  from  the  connection  which  its  name  shews  with 
that  great  emblem  of  Arkite  w^orship.  It  was  really  a  bell,  but 
always  struck  from  the  outside ;  and  Church  bells  anciently  bore 
the  name  {Ducange.  Spehnans  Concil.  a.d.  565.)  There  were  of 
old  two  sizes,  differing  considerably ;  and  many  shapes.  Some,  as 
the  Hebrew  were  hemispherical  cups,  one  held  in  each  hand,  to  be 
clashed  together.  The  Hindoo  cymbals  are  of  that  kind,  and  are 
called  Kangsyee.  Those  of  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  shallow 
saucers  with  wide  rims,  and  the  modern  professional  dancers  of 
Eg^-pt  use  very  small  ones  of  like  shape.  The  Cymbals  of  the 
Greek  and  barbaric  mysteries  were  probably  such  as  we  see  on 
Etiiiscan  vases  and  Pompeian  sculptures.  Cymbals  are  constantly 
used  in  China  {Calmet.  Horace,  Odes  1,  10,  18.  Potter,  i.,  50. 
Wilkinson  \st  ser.  ii.,  254.) 

Another  large  class  of  instruments,  sounded  by  percussion,  and 
often  in  history  called  Bells,  deseiTes  notice.  Thus  the  Arabian 
Tales  mention  the  Isle  of  Bells ;  using  the  Chaldee  name  Nakoos 
or  Nakads,  ("  that  which  sounds  on  being  struck,")  for  the  call  to 
Christian  prayer  in  the  East  by  striking  two  pieces  of  wood.  The 
Greek  Church  in  Mahomedan  countries,  where  bells  are  not  used, 
have  this  arj/xavri^fnov  or  signal  given  by  striking  together  thin 
boards  or  perforated  iron  bars.  [Lane's  Arabian  Nights,  iii.,  102. 
Smith's  Greek  Ch.  70.)  Yet  the  Greeks  had  previously  used  bells ; 
for  Ockley  tells  of  the  ringing  of  bells  at  Bosrali  (a.d.  632)  while  the 
Saracens  were  besieging  it.  The  ancient  Irish  and  Welsh  used 
tiTimpets,  and  wooden,  metal,  or  stone  clappers,  from  the  tops  of 
towers,  to  summon  assemblies,  (Fosbroke,  ii.,  710.  Vallancey,  A,^, 
p.  46.)  In  China  the  street  hawkers  use  bells  or  wooden  clapjiers 
indiscriminately  to  announce  their  wares  :  the  mourners  do  the  like 
in  funeral  processions ;  and  the  Taouist  priests  beat  hollow  orna- 
mented boards  to  summon  the  worshippers.  {S^nith's  China,  146, 
SIO,  309.)  The  watchmen  in  Russia  still  use  boards  and  mallets 
to  strike  the  hours  of  night.  The  bell  of  an  English  monasteiy  of 
old  was  ever  silent  in  Passion  week ;  and  a  mallet  stiiick  on  the 
table  summoned  instead  to  prayers  and  meals.  The  beating  of  the 
Cook's  rolling-pin  (his  baton  of  office)  on  the  table,  was  the  signal 
for  dinner  in  Elizabeth's  time.     [King's   Greek   Church,   24,   28. 


304  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

JjyalVs  Moscow,  32,  209.     Fosbroke's  Monachism,  52.     Thornbury's 

Shakespear,  i.,  221.)  Legends  accompany  this  class  also  of  instru- 
ments. At  Kienkiang  in  China  a  certain  hill  with  caves  in  it  is 
called  Xechung,  or  the  stone  bell,  from  the  noise  which  winds  and 
waves  produce  in  passing  through.  At  St.  Govan's  cavern-hermitage 
near  Stackpool  in  Pembrokeshire,  beside  the  Healing  Well,  there  is 
a  place  for  a  bell,  but  the  bell  is  wanting :  and  the  mountain  lime- 
stone rocks  around  are  sonorous  instead  when  struck ;  because, 
when  pirates  stole  the  holy  bell,  every  stone  or  rock  which  it  touched 
as  it  was  being  carried  down  to  the  sea  became  sonorous.  Some 
similar  legend  explains  the  ringing  sound  of  many  stones  near 
Tenby.     {Fentons  Pembrokeshire,  415.) 

Probably,  these  instruments  and  legends  of  percussion  are  offshoots 
or  kindred  of  some  very  early  mythological  histories  and  rites.  In  the 
procession  of  the  sacred  ^api^  or  mystical  ship  of  Egyptian  antiquity, 
the  attendant  who  precedes  carries  either  a  Lotus-headed  sceptre,  or 
a  bell-mouthed  trumpet,  and  he  who  follows  bears  a  hammer. 
(Bryant  i,  313.)  The  Etruscan  vases  which  pourtray  the  Eleusinian 
Mysteries  represent  the  Demiurge,  or  Creator,  by  a  figure  with  a 
heavy  hammer,  who  is  the  Hierophant  of  the  procession — suggest- 
ing the  legend  of  Acmon,  or,  Acmonides,  the  Sons  of  the  Anvil,  i.  e. 
Cyclops  {Ouvaroff,  161.  Ovid.  Fasti,  4,  288.)  In  Homer's  day, 
both  hammer  and  anvil  were  of  brass,  (Odyssey  iii,  433,)  and  there- 
fore peculiarly  sonorous ;  and  tho  Hebrew  name  for  a  bell  signifies 
an  anvil  also.  Old  sculptures  shew  three  Cyclops  striking  the  anvil 
in  turns,  producing — as  Virgil  points  out — both  time  and  tone  in 
their  rough  music.  [Georgic  iv,  174.  Eneid  viii,  452.)  The  idea 
of  music  from  the  hammer  and  anvil  is  itself  mythological.  For 
Cinyras,  one  of  Homer's  demigods,  son  of  Apollo,  father  of  Adonis 
and  Paphos,  king  of  Cj^rus,  invented  the  anvil,  discovered  the 
copper  in  Cyprus,  and  taught  the  people  how  to  work  it.  Cyprus 
and  Copper  are  virtually  the  same  word ;  but  whether  the  island 
or  the  metal  gave  name  to  the  other  is  not  clear.  Cinyras  had  fifty 
daughters,  who  leaped  into  the  sea  and  became  kingfishers :  he  was 
the  priest  of  Paphian  Aphrodite,  and  introduced  her  worship  from 
his  native  Cilicia  into  Cyprus.  He  was  also  the  father  of  Myrrha, 
whose  dark  legend  seems  a  distortion  of  a  Scripture  history.  But 
the  king's  own  name,  Cinyras,  is  the  name  of  the  plaintive  Asiatic 
harp-lyre,  used  along  with  bells  in  the  rejoicings  or  the  mournful 
waitings  and  mysteries  of  Phoenician,  Assyrian,  and  Syrian  Astarte, 
Mylitta,  or  Ashtoreth  (who  are  all  the  same)  and  of  Adonis  or  Tham- 
muz.  It  is  akin  to  Kinnor,  the  Hebrew  harp,  and  to  Kivvpofiai,  to 
bewail,  and  also  to  clang  as  an  anvil  (Iliad,  xi,  20;  xvii,  5.  Pliny,  yu,  56. 
Scheller.  Smith's  Classic.  Diet. — Ezekiel,  viii,  14).  This  legend  of 
mining  countries  meets  us  obscurely  among  the  Altai  chain  in 
Siberia;  for  the  yearly  national  ceremony  of  the  old  Turks  (the 
Avars)  consisted  in  the  use  of  a  hammer  and  anvil  to  shape  a  piece 
of  iron — (Gibbon,  iv,  98).  It  is  found  more  fully  among  the  Scandi- 
navian land  of  iron  mines,  where  the  hammer  and  anvil  are  the 
special  attributes  of  Thor  the  god  of  thunder ;  and  where  the  pagan 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    01?    BELLS.  305 

Danes  and  Norsemen  were  wont  not  only  to  use  the  hammer  and 
amdl  to  summon  assembhes,  but  also  during  thunder  storms,  to 
sound  loudly  on  their  anvils  with  huge  brass-bound  hammers,  to  help 
their  god  in  some  supposed  warfare  with  the  powers  of  evil.  It  will 
be  remembered,  that  the  work  of  the  Sicilian  Cyclopes  was  to  forge 
thunderbolts  for  Jove  in  Etna,  with  brazen  hammer  and  brazen 
anvils  (Ducange,  malleus.  Olaus  Mag.  41.)  The  auctioneer's  httle 
hammer  is  apparently  a  relic  of  this  kind,  come  down  to  us  from 
Scandinavian  customs. 

Another  class  of  instruments,  analogous  to  bells,  and  often  bear- 
ing the  name,  is  too  closely  connected  with  our  subject  to  be  passed 
over.  These  are  the  Rhombos,  Tympanum,  Krotalos,  Sistrum,  &c.,  &c. 

The  poju^o^  or  metal  disk,  was  either  round  or  quadrangular ; 
and  varied  in  diameter  from  a  few  inches,  to  (apparently)  two  feet. 
Sometimes  it  was  a  solid  plate  of  metal ;  sometimes  a  metal  hoop 
over  which  a  skin  was  stretched,  as  in  the  Gypsey's  tambourine. 
From  the  tumuli  of  unknown  origin  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio  in 
North  America,  are  taken  small  circular  copper  disks ;  and  also 
small  copper  saucers  or  cymbals,  which  last  are  attached,  two  and 
two,  by  a  hollow  metal  axis — {Americ.  Antiq.  Trans.  1820,  vol,  i, 
162,  224,  243.)  Throughout  Siberia  metal  disks,  three  or  four 
inches  across,  with  a  metal  loop  in  the  centre,  are  found  in  the 
tumuli ;  and  something  similar  is  still  worn  with  other  bells  on 
chieftains'  dresses — {Strahlenberg,  330,  381,  409.)  But  the  ancient 
classical  Rhomb  was  of  the  larger  size,  and  round  its  edge  were  fre- 
quently hung  loosely  small  bells,  disks,  and  balls  of  metal,  which 
jingled  as  the  rhomb  was  whirled  by  a  loop  from  the  left  hand,  and 
struck  or  rubbed  by  the  right  hand.  Possibly  it  is  what  Scripture 
calls  the  Timbrel.  The  poetic  expression,  /Lce^jaXot  '^pofx^oi  kv/u^oXwv 
(huge  disks  of  cymbals),  at  once  shews  the  size,  and  proves  that 
cymbals  were  not  always  sounded  by  clashing,  but  sometimes  whirled 
(for  that  is  the  original  idea  of  the  rhomb)  singly.  It  also  shews 
that  cymbals  were  not  always  small  and  cup-shaped — [Pindar,  in 
Strabo,  x.  719.  Apollon.  Argon,  i.  1132.  Bryant, iu.  350.  Scapula). 
Rhombs  of  both  kinds  were  used  by  the  ancient  Etruscans,  and  are 
also  found  in  the  Irish  tombs,  &c. — [Fosbroke,  ii.  715,  Ledwich,  243. 
Vallancey,  \\\.,  pts.  2,  46,  and  4,  1.  Camdens  Brit.  iii.  plate  40.) 
The  Chinese  female  deity  called  Providence  (doubtless  some  form  of  the 
Great  Mother,  whether  Cybele,  Ceres,  or  Astarte),  holds  in  her  hand 
a  circular  disk  of  metal  with  an  eye  in  the  centre,  a  rhomb  of  the 
ancient  Mysteries.  (Macartneys  Etnbassy,  284.)  Possibly  the  disk 
whirled  on  the  finger  of  some  of  the  Hindoo  deities,  though  now  little 
wider  than  a  ring,  may  have  been  originally  an  emblematic  rhomb 
rather  than  a  weapon.  Perhaps  also  the  Hebrew  Schalishim  (or  Triples) 
ought  to  be  classed  with  this  rather  than  with  the  Sistram,  for  it 
was  struck  by  a  separate  metal  staff.  It  was  apparently  a  metal  rod^ 
bent  into  a  triangle  and  hung  from  one  hand,  which  bore  metal 
rings  upon  it — (Calmet,  iii.,  482) — we  seem  to  have  it  in  our  musical 
instmment  called  the  triangles,  and  used  by  "  Brass  Bands." 

The  ancient  tympanum  was  different  from  our  modern  cylindrical 


306  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

drum,  and  comprised  a  class  of  instruments  varying  considerably  in 
size  and  form.  The  tambour,  tabour,  kettle-drum,  Nacara,  and 
even  some  timbrels,  correspond  to  different  kinds  of  the  tympanum. 
The  primitive  idea  is  said  to  be  from,  tvtttiv  to  beat :  but  more 
probably  the  root  is  akin  to  the  Greek  tv/ll/Bo^,  the  Latin  tuniba,  and 
the  Celtic  Uiama,  a  grave  or  hollow ;  and  to  the  Suigothic  torn  and  its 
Scottish  derivative  toom,  empty :  for  the  tympanum — unlike  the 
rhomb — is  always  hollow.  The  brazen  helmets  were  of  old  used  as 
the  tympanum  among  the  Teutonic  tribes,  and  thence  received  the 
name  of  Tymbres.  The  word  tympanum  is  common  in  mediaeval 
times  to  signify  a  church  bell  [Diicange.)  The  tympanum  was  a 
metal  basin  or  vessel  over  which  a  skin  was  stretched,  (figures  being 
often  depicted  on  the  skin)  and  which  could  be  carried  about,  unlike 
the  tripos,  which  was  stationary.  It  was  struck  by  a  metal  rod  on 
the  brazen  or  under  side,  and  stnick  or  rubbed  by  the  hand  on  the 
upper  or  skin  side.  There  was  a  small  kind  (a  metal  cup  over  which 
a  skin  was  stretched)  called  Tympanum  leve  (Catullus,  63,)  and 
which  was  quite  distinct  from  the  large  sort.  It  is  supposed  that 
the  tabour  was  a  metal  hoop  covered  on  the  two  ends  with  skin.  In 
those  representations  which  have  come  down  to  us,  on  vases,  monu- 
ments, pictures,  &c.,  the  tympanum  has  usually  four  loops,  by  which 
it  was  swung,  •  and  whirled  from  hand  to  hand  by  the  dancers  ;  and 
around  the  rim  are  hung  bells,  metal  balls,  jingles. — {Pistolests 
Pompeii,  ii.,  31. — Trollopes  Herculan.  23. — Englefield  Vases,  dc.) 
The  religious  use  of  the  tympanum,  in  some  form,  was  universal  in 
Egypt,  Greece,  and  the  East,  from  the  earliest  times.  On  the  cele- 
brated Nemroud  obelisk  a  large  brazen  tympanum  is  sculptured  and 
called  Darab,  coupled  with  a  description  of  its  sound  as  "  the 
reverberation  of  thunder — [Fosters  Primeval  Language,  ii.,  137.) 
It  was  the  leading  instiiiment  in  the  fierce,  wild  orgies  and  mysteries 
of  Cybele  and  Dionusus,  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece :  and  its  noise, 
at  midnight,  as  the  revellers  swept  through  the  forests  and  along  the 
mountain  ridges,  must  have  been  terrific  and  unearthly :  for  classic 
authors  delight  to  heap  together  the  strongest  epithets  for  the 
description.  We  read  of  the  "brazen  sounding  " — "  brazen  clashing  " 
— "  savage  tympanum  : "  of  its  "  deep-roaring,  horrible,  subterranean 
thunder:"  of  its  "frightful  roar  like  thunder  beneath  the  ground." 
(Fahers  Cabiri,ii.,  2,m.—Euvip.  Baccli.  156,  IMQ.—Nonnus,  43.  15. 
Mscliulus,  Edon,  721. — Horace,  Od.  i.  18.)  The  poor  monks  speak 
Avith  terror  of  its  roar  in  the  hands  of  the  Saracen  besiegers  of  Acre. 
(Ducange,  in  voce.)  At  the  Kalmuck  Tartars'  yearly  sacrifice,  "  the 
priest  beats  his  tambourine  to  rouse  his  god,  and  it  thunders  forth 
its  sound"— (Atkinsons  Siberia,  383.)  A  characteristic  proof  of  its 
traditional  roaring  appears  in  the  image  of  the  Chinese  Liu-shin,  or 
god  of  thunder ;  which  is  the  figure  of  a  human  being,  with  the 
claws,  wdngs,  and  beak  of  an  eagle,  flpng  through  black  clouds, 
with  thunderbolts  in  one  hand  and  a  rod  in  the  other,  surrounded 
by  a  Avheel  that  flies  with  him,  on  which  are  strung  alternate 
tympana  and  drums :  the  thunder  being  caused  by  his  striking  on 
them — {Macartneys  China,  371.)     This  connexion  of  the  Eagle  and 


HISTORY   AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF   BELLS.  307 

the  Thunder  Hnks  itself,  not  only  with  the  classical  bird  and  bolts 
of  Jove,  but  also  with  the  mythology  of  the  North  American  Indians, 
who  believe  thunder  to  be  the  flapping  of  the  wings  of  the  Thunder- 
bird,  and  the  destructive  bolts  to  be  the  descent  of  the  young  birds 
in  a  storm — [Eastmans  Dacotah,  ocxii.,  191.)  The  mythe  passes 
also  into  that  of  the  Polynesian  One-toothed  Lord  of  Evil,  whose 
human  form,  with  wings  for  arms  and  claws  to  seize  his  victims, 
flies  through  the  air,  showering  forth  sparks  of  fire  (Hardwick,  iii. 
184.)  The  Egyptian  tympanum  was  a  copper  or  wooden  barrel  with 
stretched  skins  at  either  end,  and  was,  therefore,  more  like  our  drum 
than  most  of  the  ancient  forms.  The  small  Darabooka  drum  was 
an  earthen  vessel  with  skin  at  one  end,  such  as  is  used  at  the  present 
daj  in  F^gypt— (Wilkinson,  1st  ser.,  258,  266.)  The  present  North 
American  dmm  is  wooden,  and  nearly  the  same.  The  Mexicans 
(who  had  no  sonorous  metals)  used  a  helmet-shaped  vessel  called 
AjacaxtU,  full  of  small  holes  and  containing  a  few  little  pebbles, 
which  the  noble  held  in  his  hand  as  he  danced  at  the  sacred  festival, 
and  shook  in  unison  with  the  other  music.  We  read  of  the  horrible 
and  unearthly  roar  of  the  great  temple  drum — {Clavigero,  i.,  399. 
Eitto,  ii.  375.  Foshroke,  ii.  713.)  The  Hindoos  have  many  instru- 
ments of  the  tympanum  kind :  and  the  great  modern  drums  used 
by  them,  as  well  as  those  common  in  Africa — called  Tom-toms — 
remind  one  not  only  of  the  sound,  but  of  the  very  name  tympanum,, 
and  its  probable  origin  Tom,  Tumba,  &c.  Dodwell  recently  found 
in  Greece  both  the  greater  and  lesser  tympanum,  used  by  the 
dancing  dervishes.  (DodivelVs  Greece,  i.  375.)  We  read  of  one 
carried,  in  1381,  before  an  offending  friar,  through  the  streets 
of  Milan.  {Foshroke,  ii.,  713.)  The  Tympanum  Schamanicum, 
or  sacred  drum  of  divination,  is  found  to  this  day  among  all 
the  Schaman  Tartars,  and  lingers  even  in  Lapland,  where  Christi- 
anity has  replaced  Schamanism.  It  is  a  genuine  tympanum  of 
ancient  shape,  a  shallow  wooden  basin  covered  with  a  tightened 
skin  and  held  by  loops,  whereon  are  drawn  a  variety  of  mystic 
figures.  A  bundle  of  brazen  rings  or  triangles  is  laid  upon  the  face 
of  it,  and  the  under-side  is  struck  by  a  mystic  hammer  of  rein  deer's 
horn,  of  singular  shape — the  response  being  given  by  the  way  in 
which  the  brazen  rings  move  among  the  mystical  hieroglyphics,  in 
consequence  of  the  vibration  caused  by  the  hammer  strokes  below. 
(Scheffer's  Lapland,  47.  Strahlenherg,  334.  Sjoborg.)  The  Marimba 
of  the  East  African  Balonda  tribes,  consisting  of  fifteen  united  hollow 
gourds  of  graduated  sizes,  across  which  strips  of  wood  are  stretched, 
and  from  which  music  is  elicited  by  drum  sticks,  may  be  referred  to 
the  Tympanum.    (Livingstone,  293.) 

The  KpoToXo^,  Crepitaculum,  or  Eattle,  was  extremely  ancient, 
closely  allied  to  the  Bell,  and  an  important  sacred  instrument. 
The  watchman's  and  child's  rattles  have  merely  degenerated  from 
it.  That  this  instrument  was  not  insignificant,  is  evident  from  the 
way  in  which  the  Greek  Dramatist  mentions  the  "Bacchic  roar 
of  the  mystic  Crotala,  sending  forth  to  a  distance  its  loud  clear- 
sounding  noise."    (Eurip.  Helen.  1307.)     In  ancient  Egypt  they 


308  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

were  either  small  cymbals,  held  on  two  fingers  of  the  same  hand ; 
or  were  hollow  maces  of  brass,  probably  with  loose  metal  balls 
inside,  struck  hard  against  each  other,  and  yielding  sonorous  tones. 
At  Herculaneum  they  appear  like  hollow  nails,  sometimes  short, 
and  sometimes  long  like  flutes.  The  common  Etruscan  and  Irish 
Crotala  resemble  each  other,  and  must  have  sounded  strongly  when 
shaken ;  they  are  either  large  hollow  brass  rings  on  which  smaller 
rings,  pieces  of  wire,  and  loose  metals  hang ;  or  are  brass  plates  of 
various  shapes  loosely  attached  to  each  other  by  brass  rods  and 
rings.  Perhaps  the  brazen  crescent  on  the  top  of  a  pole,  with 
metal  jingles  hanging  from  it,  is  a  form  of  this  ancient  instrument. 
One  form  of  the  Crotalos  anciently  used  (in  pagan  and  probably 
also  in  early  Christian  times)  by  the  Italians  and  the  Irish  for 
religious  purposes,  was  a  slight  elastic  metal  rod,  with  a  small 
globular  or  semi-globular  beU  hanging  from  each  end  (Ledwich,  238, 
243.  Dublin  Penny  Magaz.  i.  376.  Camden,  id.  pi.  40.  Fosbroke, 
ii.  713.  Wilkinson,  1st  ser.  ii.  317,  257).  Some  Greek  Crotala 
were  o-x^vTa/',  cane  rods  split  half  w^ay  down,  and  made  to  spring 
against  each  other.  The  Hindoo  Krutidu  (retaining  the  ancient 
name)  consists  of  four  thin  stones  struck  against  each  other  [Ward's 
Hindoos,  i.  259).  The  Castagnet,  or  chestnut-wood  rattle  (originally 
shells  of  chestnuts  used  by  the  Moorish  dancers  of  the  Saraband) 
resemble  the  form  in  use  in  ancient  and  also  in  modern  times. 
Among  the  North  American  Indians,  the  sacred  Crotalos  of  the 
"  Medicine  Man" — or  wizard — is  a  dried  gourd  containing  beads  or 
small  stones,  or  a  notched  bone  drawn  rapidly  over  the  edge  of  a 
pan  {Eastman's  Dacotah,  20,  23). 

The  last  instrument  of  the  kind  which  need  be  particularized  is 
the  Sistrum — a  sacred  Jingle  used  in  almost  eveiy  religious  ceremony. 
It  was  a  brass  or  silver  hoop,  generally  shaped  like  an  inverted 
section  of  a  tiiincated  sea-onion,  or  slender  bulb,  and  fixed  to  the 
top  of  a  long  metal  rod,  which  usually  terminated  in  the  head  of 
the  Divinity,  to  whose  worship  it  was  devoted ;  the  ornaments  and 
varieties  of  shape  were  many.  Across  the  hoop  were  stretched  three 
or  more  metal  rods,  loosely  hooked  to  the  sides,  or  passed  through 
holes  pierced  in  them ;  and  on  these  hung  numerous  metal  rings. 
A  slight  shake  would  produce  much  musical  jingle.  In  some  of  the 
representations  at  Herculaneum,  the  upright  metal  rod  has  dwindled 
to  a  mere  handle,  and  the  bearer  holds  in  his  other  hand  a  chain  of 
metal  rings  with  which  he  strikes  the  hoop.  It  is  sometimes  called 
a  timbrel.  The  Egyptians  and  Amazons  (whoever  these  were)  used 
it  as  a  trumpet  in  battle,  as  well  as  a  religious  instrament :  the 
Greeks,  as  a  marker  of  rhythm  in  music  (Wilkinson,  1st  ser.  ii.  323. 
Eneid,  yiii.  696.    Isidor.  Origen,  iii.  A  ;  xviii.  4.    Fosbroke,  ii.  7 16. 

There  is  another  instrument  singularly  connected  with  our 
subject — the  Dumb-Bell — which  of  course  is  not  a  bell  at  all,  nor 
even  sonorous.  The  Greeks  had  a  mode  of  solitary  fencing,  called 
iTKtafiaxia,  or  fighting  with  one's  own  shadow.  The  Romans  had  their 
MasscB  or  egg-shaped  lumps  of  lead,  called  Alteres,  pierced  with  holes, 
through  which  leather  thongs,  or  the  fingers,  were  passed,  to  be 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  S09 

whirled  round  the  head  for  exercise.  And  our  forefathers,  in 
Ehzabethan  and  Stuart  days,  had  their  Poises,  or  two  sticks  plugged 
with  lead  at  either  end,  which  they  brandished,  one  in  each  hand, 
to  open  the  chest  and  supple  the  arms  [Juvenal,  vi.  422.  Pint.  iv. 
12.  Strutt,17.  Spectator,  u.  116.)  But  the /2«?we  which  associates 
the  amusement  with  the  idea  of  a  bell,  appears  to  be  recent ;  for  the 
phrase  "  ringing  the  dumb-bells"  is  first  met  with  in  Addison's  day. 
The  dumb-bell  is — as  every  one  knows — a  pestle  with  heavy  knobs 
at  each  end,  and  is  held  by  the  central  cylinder  which  connects  the 
two  knobs.  The  two,  held,  one  in  either  hand,  are  made  to  strike  each 
other  alternately,  before  the  face  and  behind  the  back.  AVhat  has 
this  to  do  with  a  bell  and  its  associations?  The  instrument  as  now 
made  is  apparently  the  Tortche,  Dorje,  or  sanctifying  machine  of  the 
Tartar  Lama,  which  is  as  essential  to  the  due  performance  of 
worship  as  is  the  bell  itself,  or  the  praying  machine.  The  praying 
machine  is  like  a  lady's  measuring  tape  rolled  up  in  an  ivoiy  reel 
box;  and  the  Tortche  is  a  large  bronze  highly  ornamented  dumb- 
bell, the  heavy  terminal  knobs  of  which  are  like  squills  or  sharp- 
pointed  eggs.  It  is  said  to  signify  a  double  thunderbolt.  When 
the  Lama  performs  public  prayers  he  rings  his  bell,  and  grasps  his 
Tortche,  exactly  according  to  set  ritual  forms  ;  he  turns  his  Tortche, 
lays  it  down  across  his  knees  and  turns  it  again,  at  fixed  points  of  the 
pra^'ers :  and  the  efficacy  of  the  prayers  would  be  destroyed  should  he  fail 
either  to  ring  the  bell  or  turn  the  Tortche  at  the  proper  times.  At 
Sera,  one  of  the  famous  religious  seats  of  Lamaism  in  Thibet,  is 
presented,  as  a  priceless  relic,  the  Tortche  of  Buddh  himself ;  which 
flew  through  the  air  from  India  to  Sera,  before  Christianity  began. 
Every  Tortche  must  be  made  like  it  to  be  of  any  efficacy.  Thus, 
all  over  the  vast  districts  of  Thibet  and  Tartary,  every  Lama,  at 
every  sei'vice,  repeatedly  rings  his  tiTie  bell,  ancl  repeatedly  works 
what  we  should  call  his  Dumb-bell.  Perhaps  the  knowledge  of  the 
thing  came  into  Europe  in  mediseval  times,  when  there  was  much 
more  intercourse  between  Europe  and  the  Tartar  tribes  than  at 
present.  And  if  the  present  conjecture  is  correct,  the  name  of  the 
Dumb-bell  may  have  grown  into  use  in  England  long  after  the  instm- 
ment  itself  which  resembles  it  was  known  [Hues  Thibet,  ii.  220. 
Hooker's  Himalayan  Journal,  i.  296.) 

The  antiquity  and  universality  of  the  use  of  bells  have  incident- 
ally appeared  during  our  investigation  into  their  names ;  but  some 
further  particulars  on  the  subject  seem  requisite. 

Fifteen  hundred  years  before  Christ,  bells  were  fixed  on  the 
Israelitish  high  priest's  robe.  They  were  worn  (how  early  does  not 
appear)  by  Hebrew  women  on  their  dress  [Schoettgen,  in  Gattj/,  4). 
They  were  used  in  the  public  service  of  the  Sanctuary  in  David's 
time  (B.C.  1040),  for  Calmet  says  cymbal — in  1.  Chron.  xv.  16 — 
should  be  rendered  bell.  The  "  haughty  daughters  of  Jerusalem" 
in  Hezekiah's  day  (b.c.  730)  made  "  a  tinkling  with  their  feet,"  as 
they  walked  ;  just  as  do  oriental  maidens  now,  with  the  strings  of  bells 
round  their  ankles  [Isaiah  iii.  16,  18).  And  after  the  Jews  returned 
from  Babylon,  bells  were  attached  to  the  horses' bridles  (.2^ec/i.xiv.  20).. 

VOL.  IV.  PT.  II.  B  R 


310  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

But  bells  were  no  novelty  to  Israel  at  Sinai ;  for  their  use  had 
even  then  been  immemorial  in  Egypt.  Small  golden  and  bronze 
bells  are  found  in  very  early  mummies  at  Thebes  [D'Athanasis  Cat. 
Salt's  Collection,  215,  Brit.  Museum,  cases  78,  102,  and  closet  44). 
And  a  hieroglyphic  of  the  date  of  Osirtasen  (probably  contemporary 
with  Joseph)  apparently  shews  a  small  ring  of  three  bells  on  a 
chariot  bow,  exactly  as  they  are  now  used  among  the  Tartars,  where 
the  clangor  of  a  travelling  party  in  the  forests  becomes — through 
these  bells — melancholy  and  tremendous  {Wilkinson,  2ndser.pl.  70. 
Atkinsons  Siberia,  160).  Nor  have  we  yet  reached  the  earliest 
records.  Herodotus  assigns  to  the  Oracles  of  Lybian  Ammon  and 
Thebes  the  same  rites  as  those  of  Zeus  at  Dodona,  which  probably 
sprang  from  them  ;  and  doubtless,  therefore,  the  responses  were 
given  in  Thebes  and  Ammon  by  brazen  bell-cauldrons  also.  But 
the  Theban  Oracle,  as  an  old  established  religious  authority,  repi'oved 
for  some  offence  the  great  King  Mencheres,  or  Mycerinus,  builder 
of  the  most  sumptuous  of  the  three  Pyramids,  whose  date  was 
certainly  not  subsequent  to  Abraham  {Wilkinson,  1st  ser.,  i,  152. 
Bunsen,  ii.  165.  Herodot.,  ii.  54,  133,  139.)  And  this  date  mounts 
to  within  a  few  centuries  of  the  Flood. 

Take  another  line  of  investigation.  The  ancient  mysteries, 
religious  festivals,  revelling  processions,  secret  rites,  and  sacred  fra- 
ternities of  all  nations  and  of  all  ages  of  the  world,  have  at  least 
common  to  them  the  use  of  bells,  rhombs,  brazen  cauldrons, 
tympana,  and  other  brazen  instnuiients  which  are  akin  to,  or  made 
up  of  bells.  Thus  they  were  used  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Cabiri, 
Curetes,  Corybantes,  and  Galli,  those  fabled  nurses  of  infant  Jupiter 
in  Crete  and  Arcadia ;  those  priests  of  Cj^bele,  wife  of  Jupiter's 
predecessor  Chronus,  (or  Time,)  and  the  great  Berecynthian  mother 
of  all  the  Gods — whose  worship  came  to  Greece,  and  passed  onward 
to  the  Hyperboreans  from  Phrygia  and  Asia  Minor,  before  the  dawn 
of  classical  Greek  mythology  {Mscliyl.  Edon,  721.  Eurip.  Helen. 
1307,  1346).  They  bore  so  essential  a  part  in  the  equally  ancient 
orgies  of  Dionusus  and  his  Phrygian,  Indian,  and  Asiatic  worship, 
that  Plutarch  argues  for  the  Bacchic  origin  of  Judaism  from  the 
use  of  bells  on  the  high  priest's  robe.  In  those  mysteries,  the 
Silenus  is  pourtrayed  as  if  clothed  in  a  skin  covered  with  little  bells, 
a  bell  hangs  round  his  ass's  neck,  the  tunics  of  the  Bacchants  are 
fringed  with  bells,  and  a  bell  is  the  typical  emblem  upon  a  Bac- 
chant's sarcophagus  (Eurip.  Baccli.,  156.  Foshroke,  i.  266.  Pisto- 
lesi,  i.  117.  Gatty,  4.)  In  the  awfully  secret  Eleusinian  mysteries 
— the  great  antiquity  of  which  is  marked  by  the  fact  that  the 
demigod  Hercules  himself  in  vain  essayed  to  partake  of  them — 
which  introduced  the  worship  of  Demeter  and  Proserpine  into 
Greece,  Italj^  and  Sicily,  about  the  time  of  Moses — the  Hierophant 
rang  a  bell  to  summon  the  worshippers  at  the  mystic  hymn  of 
Konx,  Om,  Pax  ;  just  as,  at  the  present  day,  the  Lamas  of  Thibet 
ring  their  hand-bell,  while  they  sing  a  similar  obscure  and  uncouth 
hymn  in  pagodas  hung  within  and  without  with  bells  {Wilsons 
Archaiol.     Potter,  i.  450.  Turner's  Thibet,  243,  264,288.)     Similar 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF   BELLS.  311 

m3^steries  belonged  to  the  Syrian  and  Phenician  goddess,  identical 
with  Ceres  and  with  Venus,  under  the  names  of  Atargates  or 
Derceto,  of  Astaroth  or  Astarte  ;  and  of  Babylonian  Mylitta  or 
Seira  (of  whom  we  shall  have  to  speak  hereafter).  The  Hierophant 
mounted  the  lofty  summit  of  her  temple,  (like  the  Mahometan 
Muezzin  on  his  minaret,)  and  summoned  the  worshippers  by  ring- 
ing a  hand-bell,  just  as  in  primitive  Christian  days  the  Irish  Aistere 
or  Ostiarius  did  from  his  round  tower  top  {Rocca,  36.     Lucian,  Dea 

Bells  must  have  been  exceedingly  common  in  ancient  Assyria, 
for  eighty  small  bronze  bells  were  found  in  one  spot  in  the  palace  at 
Nineveh  ascribed  to  Sennacherib  {Layard,  '•2nd  ser,  177).  They  are 
nearly  identical  in  appearance  and  size  with  those  of  Birmah  [Wis' 
bech  Museum).  The  ancient  Persian  kings  wore  bells  and  pome- 
granates on  their  robes  ;  the  Arab  women  of  old  wore  bells  on  their 
dresses  [Calmet).  The  mules  at  Alexander's  funeral  at  Babylon 
(B.C.  323)  had  golden  bells  on  their  jaws  (Kitto).  The  sculptured 
Parthian  knight  appears  to  have  his  dress  covered  with  bells  {Cal- 
met), just  as  the  Ninevite  has.  In  ancient  Armenia  an  oval  battle- 
dore of  brass — with  loose  sonorous  concentric  rings  inwards,  and  a 
fringe  of  small  bells  outwards — was  rung  in  their  worship  ;  and  over 
the  gate  of  the  public  baths  was  hung  a  large  brazen  hoop,  strung 
with  bells,  to  give  notice  when  they  were  opened  [Foshroke,  ii.,  716). 

The  ancient  Etruscans,  whose  civilization  was  already  on  the 
wane  when  Rome  was  founded,  used  bells,  and  not  in  their  religious 
rites  onty ;  for  Porsenna's  tomb  at  Clusium  (B.C.  500)  was  hung 
round  with  numerous  bells,  just  as  is  now  an  oriental  pagoda.  A 
sculptured  scarabeus  found  at  Clusium,  and  apparently  half  Egyp- 
tian, half  Etruscan,  shows  a  row  of  little  bells  strung  upon  a  rod  to 
chime  by  striking  each  other.  An  implement  exactly  similar  is  still 
used  among  the  South  Sea  islanders  to  announce  anything  import- 
ant {British  Museum,  Polynesian  Room.  Pliny,  36,  13.  Gray's 
Etruria,  476.      Whitakers  Cornwall,  ii.,  148). 

In  the  palmy  days  of  Greece,  four  hundred  or  five  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  the  use  of  bells  was  as  universal  as  it  is  now  among 
ourselves.  The  Greek  sentinel  carried  a  hand-bell  on  his  rounds, 
and  an  exploit  of  Brasidas  in  the  Peloponnesian  war  (b.c.  422)  turned 
on  this  custom.  The  Satirist  of  those  days  calls  an  untried  man  a 
"  horse  not  yet  broken  to  stand  the  military  bell"  (Thucyd.,  3,  4. 
Polyb.  225.  Aristopli.  Lysist.,  486).  Fashionable  people  wore  bells 
on  their  clothes  :  a  bell  gave  notice  of  the  opening  of  the  baths  :  a 
bell  was  mng  when  the  fish  market  began  :  criminals  had  bells  round 
their  necks :  warrior  chiefs  had  bells  fixed  in  the  bosses  of  their 
shields  {Poller,  ii.  33,  74,  &c.     Foshroke,  264). 

At  Rome,  in  pagan  times,  bells  were  everywhere,  and  they  may  be 
equally  traced  at  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum  :  door  bells  and  porters* 
bells,  bells  to  awaken,  bells  to  go  to  work,  bells  round  watchdogs' 
necks,  bells  on  horses'  caparisons  ;  bells  attended  funeral  j^rocessions, 
bells  were  hung  under  triumphal  chariots.  At  the  storming  of 
Xauthus,  Bmtus  hung  bells  on  nets  to  detect  the  poor  fugitives  who 


813  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

attempted  to  swim  away.  At  Trimalcbio's  banquet  three  white 
pigs,  with  bridles  on  their  heads  and  bells  on  their  necks,  were  led 
in  at  the  concert,  announced  as  guests  by  the  Nomenculator,  and 
supposed  by  the  company  to  form  y)art  of  some  customary  magical 
performance.  Augustus  hung  a  fringe  of  bells,  swinging  to  the 
breeze,  under  the  eaves  of  the  lofty  temple  of  Jupiter  Tonans — (bells 
against  thunder !) — {Foshwke,  266.  Gatty,  4.  Petronlus,  c.  47. 
Sudtoinus). 

Among  the  ancient  Germans,  Sclavonians,  Goths,  and  other 
Teutonic  races,  who  originally  poured  forth  from  Central  Asia  and 
Tartary  into  the  North,  and  thence  into  the  South  of  Europe,  bells 
and  tjmpana  were  known  and  used  in  their  religious  festivals  ;  both 
before  they  left  their  primitive  homes,  and  after  they  had  over- 
spread the  west :  although  the  scantiness  of  records  among  them 
makes  it  difficult  to  give  details.  The  rude  seal  of  Eric,  who 
became  king  of  Sweden  about  a.d.  904,  and  was  martyred  in  his 
attempts  to  christianize  his  people,  represents  a  fringe  of  bells  on 
his  armour,  such  as  Tartar  Chiefs  now  wear  (Peringskiord,  ii.  55.) 
Even  down  to  recent  times,  the  Swedes  fastened  silver  bells  to  their 
horses'  tails,  and  brazen  ones  to  their  dancers'  knees.  The  early 
German  chronicles  describe  the  young  Soldier  as  starting  forth  in 
search  of  adventures,  with  his  sword  and  two  different  sorts  of  bells 
in  his  hands ;  the  Noble,  as  wearing  a  shoulder-belt  hung  over 
with  golden  bells :  the  Lady,  as  dressed  in  quilted  robes  made  of 
the  skins  of  "Armenian  mice  "  (ermines),  a  golden  bell  being  fixed 
to  the  tail,  and  a  golden  ring  to  the  mouth,  of  each  skin  in  the 
robe.  We  thus  learn  incidentally  why  the  black  tails  still  hang  out 
in  modern  ermine  fur  robes.  And  light  is  also  thus  thrown  on 
disputed  points  of  heraldic  archaiology.  Old  heraldic  books  tell  us 
that  the  ermine  itself  was  deemed  an  emblematic  and  mytho- 
logical animal  of  ancient  Egypt — hence,  perhaps,  the  bell  on  its 
tail.  The  heraldic  device  used  to  depict  the  colour  Ennyne  on 
emblazoned  shields,  has  evidently  (in  very  old  drawings)  the  repre- 
sentation of  small  Scilla  bells  ;  and  we  can  also  understand  why  on 
some  shields  the  little  tufts  are  sable,  on  some  or,  and  on  others 
arqp.nt — according  as  the  original  ermine  robe  represented  had 
plain  tails,  or  golden  or  silver  bells  attached  to  the  tails.  We  learn 
also  why  "  a  king's  robe  may  have  so  many  Timbers  or  rows  of 
Errayne  (Tymbres,  bells)  as  he  pleaseth,  but  a  duke  may  only 
have  four  Timbers,  an  earl  but  three,  and  none  below  a  knight  of 
the  Garter  any."  And  a  vexata  qucestio  of  heraldry  is  also  thus 
cleared  up ;  viz.,  whether  the  oldest  books  were  right,  and  why,  in 
callincr  a  shield  with  Doublings  Ermyne  a  metal  shield,  as  shields  or 
and  argent  are  rightly  called  ;  whereas  gules,  azure,  &c.  are  only 
called  colours  (Guillim,  22,  23).  The  early  Frankish  and  Romanz 
lef^ends  describe  the  sweet  melody  of  the  silver  bells  hanging  from 
each  embroidered  flower  on  the  heroine's  mantle  (Fosbroke,  i.  65  ; 
and  ii,  805.  Hires  Suigoth.  v.  Skaello.  Olaus  Magn.,  98,  168.) 
The  like  practice  prevailed  among  our  mediaeval  forefathers :  thus 
in  one  of  the  oldest  of  our  ballads,  The  Gay  Goshawk,  the  heroine 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  813 

at  her  funeral  is  laid  by  her  brothers  on  a  bier  hewn  out  of 
solid  oak  and  overlaid  with  silver ;  and  her  burial  keel  (or  head- 
dress) made  by  her  sisters,  has  a  silver  bell  sewed  on  every  stitch. 
(Border  Minstrelsij,  ii,  38).  We  find  the  bell  associated  with  early 
legendary  stories  in  our  own  county  :  for  at  Stanion  church  is  pre- 
served the  huge  rib  of  a  dreadful  Dan  Cow  (Dune  or  Mountain 
Cow,  viz.,  an  Anrochs),  which  in  Guy  Eai-1  of  Warwick  s  time  used 
to  ravage  Rockingham  Forest ;  and  beside  it  lay  (until  very  lately) 
a  large  square  rivetted  iron  bell,  which  had  been  fastened  round  its 
neck  (tradition  saith  not  by  what  bold  Bell-the-CaCs  hand)  to  warn 
people  of  its  teri'ible  approach.  That  the  bone  looks  very  like  a 
small  whale's  rib  does  not  detract  from  the  value  of  the  legend. 

Throughout  the  vast  homes  of  the  Tartar  races  in  Northern  and 
Central  Asia,  bells,  jingles,  and  tambours  have  been  in  familiar  use 
from  time  immemorial,  and  abound  in  the  tumuli ;  and  persons  have 
subsisted  by  ransacking  these  tumuli  and  selling  the  relics  found 
on  the  dead  [God's  Acre,  34 7.  j  The  priests  of  the  Yakouts  along 
the  river  Lena  perform  their  religious  rites  arrayed  in  dresses 
trimmed  with  them.  The  Samoieds  along  the  Frozen  Ocean  do 
the  same  ;  and  eastward  of  the  Ural  mountains  the  horses  constantly 
TNe2ivhe)\'S,  [Strahlenherg,  3'^0,  381,  409.  Atkinsoits  Siberia.)  From 
Siberia  southwards,  through  Mongolia,  and  Thibet,  bells  are  more 
common  than  even  in  Europe.  Tartar  children  dance  in  green 
dresses  hung  over  with  bells.  Tartar  couriers  wear  belts  in  which 
bells  are  fastened ;  every  camel,  cow,  or  horse  in  the  vast  caravans 
carries  a  bell.  The  roofs  of  every  Shaman  temple  are  fringed 
with  bells,  which  ring  in  the  wind.  The  stated  Lama  sendee  opens 
with  the  sounding  of  a  sacred  conch  to  collect  the  worshippers, 
and  at  the  ringing  of  a  hand-bell  the  prayer  begins ;  another  bell 
rings,  and  a  hymn  follows,  and  the  worship  closes  with  a  loud  chorus 
of  bells.  Religious  processions  march  to  the  music  of  bells  and 
cymbals ;  and  festivals  are  celebrated  with  bells,  gongs,  large  copper 
cauldrons  and  tympana ;  and  with  the  piping  of  the  real  tibia, 
or  human  leg-bone  made  into  a  flute.  Tartar  soldiers  assemble 
to  the  sound  of  bells,  not  of  drums.  The  Living  Budh  (or 
Grand  Lama)  summons  his  attendants  by  a  silver  bell  ;  and 
the  golden  coffin  and  mausoleum  where  rests  the  body  of 
the  deceased  Grand  Lama  is  covered  with  bells  {Hue's  Thibet^ 
i,  80,  125,  276:  vol.  ii,  33,  70,  107,  260.  Turners  Thibet, 
243,  265,  288.)  When  Kublai  Khan,  the  Mogul  conqueror,  in  a.d. 
1272,  annexed  Mien  (probably  a  part  of  Birmah)  to  his  empire,  he 
found  and  spared  the  tomb  of  a  prior  king,  which  was  hung  round 
with  golden  bells  that  swung  to  the  breeze.  When  Timour's  sons 
were  married,  their  horses  had  bells  on  the  caparisons  (Rankin's 
Mongols,  55.)  South w^ards  from  Thibet  is  Nepaul,  where  the  re- 
ligion is  a  medley  of  Parsee,  Shaman,  and  Bramin  rites.  Its  grand 
national  temple  of  Sumbhoo-nauth  has  in  it  two  cylinders,  one  of 
which  is  an  altar,  whereon  burns  the  hallowed  fire  that  has  never 
been  allowed  to  go  out :  and  the  other  is  a  revolving  centre,  round 
which  the  sacred  book  of  Mani  is  rolled,  and  which — when  any 


314  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

person  approaches  its  revolving  wPieel,  strikes  a  bell  hung  over  it 
{Kirkpatriclcs  Nepaul,  152).  At  Simonbong  temple  in  Bootan,  there 
is  a  hollow  cylinder  which  strikes  a  bell  at  every  revolution ;  the 
worshipper  drops  his  written  prayer  into  an  opening,  and  every  time 
the  bell  rings,  he  has  thus  gone  once  through  the  prayer.  The 
priest  blows  a  human  thigh-bone  made  into  a  sacred  trumpet,  and 
has  for  his  sacred  Crotalos  the  crowns  of  two  human  skulls  cemented 
back  to  back,  their  hollow  sides  being  covered  with  tightened  parch- 
ment, and  enclosing  a  few  loose  pebbles ;  he  also  uses  various  sized 
bells.  On  the  altar  stand  brazen  cups,  a  conch  shell,  a  brass  jug, 
a  huge  tambourine,  and  a  Dojje  or  sanctifjdng  instrument  (Hooker's 
Himalaya,  i.,  161.^  Next  to  Nepaul  lie  the  empires  of  Birmah 
and  Anam,  whose  Dagon  pagodas  are  full  of  magnificent  bronze 
bells  of  the  largest  size.  There  pure  Budhism  prevails — the  doctrines 
of  Gautama,  who  lived  in  India  about  960  (it  is  said)  j^ears  B.C.,  and, 
pretending  to  be  an  incarnation  of  the  Deity,  attempted  in  vain  to 
overthrow  Brahminism.  His  new  sect,  after  an  ineffectual  struggle 
for  centuries,  was  compelled  to  yield ;  and,  leaving  India,  spread 
itself  under  several  variations  over  the  rest  of  east  and  central  iVsia. 
Its  priests,  or  bonzes,  have  always  used  hand-bells  in  their  worship ; 
and  its  pagodas — besides  the  interior  large  bells — are  always  more 
or  less  fringed  externally  with  small  bells  {Hues  China,  ii,  185. 
Smitlis  China,  3-2,  181,  206.) 

In  India,  bells  are  universal.  The  ringing  of  a  hand-bell  is  an 
essential  part  of  the  Brahmin's  Poojah,  or  stated  public  worship ; 
and  an  anklet  of  bells  equally  essential  as  a  decoration  of  the  danc- 
ing women  of  the  pagoda.  The  great  sculptured  Trimurti — or 
Hindoo  Triad — of  the  caves  of  Elephanta  (the  date  of  which  is  un- 
known and  conjectural  to  Brahmin  and  European  alike)  holds  in 
its  hand  a  bell,  such  as  is  now  called  Ganta,  and  used  in  worship. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  rites  of  Brahminism  have 
ever  changed ;  and  as  the  new  sect  of  Budhism,  starting  up  nearly 
a  thousand  years  before  Christ,  professed  to  be  a  reformation  of 
Brahminism,  we  are  thus,  by  Brahmin  customs,  carried  upwards 
to  the  dim  period  when  one  catches — now  here,  now  there — faint 
glimpses  of  some  primeval  identity  between  Eg}T3tian,  Pelasgic,  and 
Etruscan — between  Assyrian,  Phenician,  Phrygian,  and  Indian 
Mythologies.  {Gough's  Monum.  9.  Coleman  s  Hindoo  Myth.,  380. 
Maurice,  Ind.  Antiq.,  v.  84.) 

In  China  the  use  of  bells  is  equally  universal  and  immemorial. 
Even  without  taking  into  account  their  enormous  ones  (such  as  that 
of  53  tons  at  Pekin,  or  that  of  22  tons  at  Nankin,)  bells  enter  into 
the  general  habits  and  traditions  of  the  nation.  Although  China 
stands  now  alone  in  the  human  race  as  a  world  within  itself,  it  has, 
nevertheless,  had  its  part  in  the  business  of  the  world ;  and  an 
interesting  question  arises — when  and  how  did  China  separate  from 
that  stream  of  mythology  and  social  history  which,  more  or  less, 
unites  in  one  current  the  rest  of  mankind  ?  Chinese  porcelain 
vessels,  similar  to  those  now  in  use,  with  written  characters,  are 
found  among  the  mummies  of  the  date  of  Moses,  at  Thebes  ( Wil- 
kinson, 1st  ser.,  iii.  108).     Antique  Chinese  seals  with  inscriptions 


HISTOKY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OP   BELLS.  816 

have  been  dug  up  in  Ireland  [Belfast  Lit.  Soc,  1850).  By  India, 
through  Tartary  and  north  of  the  Euxine,  China  has  kept  open  her 
highway  of  commerce  with  the  western  world ;  stamping  her  mark 
upon  the  mediaeval  fairs  of  Novogorod,  and  giving  her  name  of 
Cathay  to  a  suburb  in  Moscow  and  other  ancient  Russian  towns, 
where  history  has  forgotten  how  long  it  is  since  China  came  there 
to  sell  or  buy  (Strahlenberg,  423.  LyalVs  Moscow,  '2U,  dc.)  The 
Chinese  population  is  about  equally  shared  by  three  religious  sects, 
viz.,  the  idolatrous  Budhists,  or  worshippers  of  Fob  ;  the  Pantheist, 
State-relif/ion  followers  of  Confucius,  who  have  neither  idols  nor 
priests ;  and  the  Taouists,  or  disciples  of  Laotze — a  philosopher 
who,  about  500  or  600  years  before  Christ,  is  supposed  to  have 
travelled  to  Bactria,  Assyria,  and  Greece,  imbibing  many  of 
the  tenets  of  Pythagoras;  and,  apparently.  Scripture  truths 
from  the  Israelites.  Now,  all  these  sects  agree  in  the  univer- 
eal  use  (religious  and  familiar)  of  bells,  which  seems  to  prove 
them  part  of  the  national  stock  of  arts  before  any  of  those  sects 
arose.  Bells  are  linked  in  with  the  public  service  of  every  Chinese 
temple,  with  their  funeral  processions,  their  public  assemblies,  their 
markets,  and  their  every  day's  home  details.  Nearly  every  village 
has  a  lofty  tower  (such  as  we  see  on  porcelain),  often  octagonal,  and 
generally  of  nine  (or  three  times  three,  the  mystic  number  among 
the  Tartars)  stories,  with  balconies  and  galleries.  Every  corner  of 
each  story,  gallery,  or  eaves,  to  the  summit,  is  hung  with  copper 
bells  which  ring  in  the  breeze.  Some  of  the  towers  are  500  feet 
high,  of  stone,  of  wood,  or  of  lath  and  plaster ;  some  of  handsome 
and  some  of  mean  architecture  ;  some  modern,  and  some  of  un- 
known antiquity,  long  prior  to  Christianity  ;  and  many  of  them 
have  ancient  and  curious  legends.  Besides  these  bells,  there  are  the 
massy  bells  used  for  monasteries,  colleges,  and  other  religious  and 
political  purposes.  A  bell  hangs  over  the  Emperor's  chair,  and  over 
the  chairs  or  at  the  gates  of  every  mandarin  and  officer ;  and  a 
public  demand  for  justice  is  made  by  ringing  this  bell  [Goyers 
Dutch  Embassy  to  China.     Bp.  Smith's  China.     Hues  China.) 

Paissia,  the  population  of  which  may  be  said  to  constitute  the 
link  that  unites  the  Teutonic,  Tartar,  and  Chinese  families  of  man- 
kind, has  been  justly  called  the  land  of  Bells  :  it  is  needless  to 
particularize  the  unceasing  use  of  them  in  Russia. 

Mahomedans  have  in  general  an  aversion  to  bells  ;  their  own 
hours  of  prayer  are  announced  by  the  human  voice  from  the  mina- 
rets ;  and  the  Turkish  historian,  Saadeddin,  dwells  on  the  silencing 
of  the  "  detestable  bells  "  as  one  advantage  of  the  taking  of  Con- 
stantinople. They  forbid,  in  many  places,  their  Christian  subjects 
the  use  of  bells.  This  may  be  only  a  Turkish  feeling  ;  or  perhaps 
it  may  be  a  result  of  the  horror  which  Mahomedans  feel  at  idolatry ; 
for  bells  had  become  identified  in  the  East  with  the  pagan  mys- 
teries, and  the  semi-pagan  worship  of  the  eastern  heretics.  ^  Bells 
are  freely  and  openly  used  by  Armenian  and  Chaldean  Christians 
under  Turkish  rule,  by  Arabian  Moslem  women,  and  in  the  very- 
mosques  themselves  at  Srinagur  in  Cashmere  {Smith's  Greek  Church, 


316  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

70.  Penny  Magaz.,  1834,  p.  404.  Fdclis  Nineveh,  ii.  92.  Ains- 
wortlis  Asia  Minor,  ii.  196,  211.  Church  Missionary  Intellig.,  May, 
1855.) 

If  we  pass  into  the  African  continent,  bells  or  their  substitutes 
meet  us.  The  Christians  in  Ab^^ssinia  use  them  in  worship,  and 
as  ornaments.  The  half  Moslem,  half  pagan  Adaiel  along  the  Red 
Sea,  wear  jingles  as  anklets.  The  inland  Christians  of  Shoa,  scarce 
known  by  name  to  Europe  until  lately,  use  "  bell,  book,  and  candle  " 
for  excommunication  ;  bells  are  on  the  horses'  caparisons  ;  used  in 
processions ;  sounded  at  bridals.  The  pagan  Galla,  still  more 
inland  than  Shoa,  use  bells  in  their  sacrifices  and  divinations  ;  and 
their  king  has  by  his  side  a  tame  vulture  with  a  bell  round  its 
neck,  when  he  performs  the  national  sacrifice  of  the  White  Bull 
{Harris's  Ethiopia,  i,  337  :  ii,  58  :  iii,  49,  &c.)  In  the  interior, 
where  the  native  use  of  metal  has  been  lost,  or  is  too  expensive, 
the  traditional  use  of  bells,  &c.,  continues.  Thus  the  Timmanees, 
inwards  from  Benin,  have  their  magic  dancers,  who  perform  in 
monkey-headed  masks,  carrjdng  in  either  hand  a  cup-shaped 
calabash  or  gourd  (made  to  resemble  the  ancient  cymbal)  which 
they  clash  together  as  cymbals.  The  savage  Zoolus,  inwards  from 
Natal,  fill  with  small  pebbles  the  shewy  and  striped  cocoons  of 
some  large  beetle,  which  they  string  on  their  ankles  to  jingle  as 
they  walk.  Among  the  less  savage  western  tribes  in  Ashantee  and 
Dahomey,  festivals  are  celebrated  with  drums,  flutes,  and  bells ; 
the  women  are  bedecked  with  little  bells :  the  king's  herald  carries 
a  rude  bell  of  hammered  iron  (Avithout  clapper)  in  his  right  hand, 
and  beats  it  with  a  stick  carried  in  his  left :  and  the  nobles  and 
chief  officers  carry — as  marks  of  nobility — fictitious  tails  (like  the 
ancient  Egyptians)  from  which,  or  from  their  belts,  hang  behind 
them  bells  of  gold,  silver,  or  iron,  which  ring  at  every  step  [Dupuis' 
Ashantee,  16,  S'2.  DahelVs  Dahomy,  133,203.  Gardner  s  Zoolu, 
56.     Church  Missionary  Gleaner,  April,  1855.) 

If  we  cross  the  Atlantic,  we  find  bells.  They  had  preceded 
Columbus  when  he  first  visited  the  mysterious  races  of  America. 
Cortez  sent  home  from  Mexico  splendid  helmets,  topped  with 
gorgeous  green  birds  instead  of  plumes,  and  hung  round  with 
golden  bells  ;  and  also  wooden  shields,  coated  with  leather,  studded 
with  gold,  and  from  which  hung  golden  bells,  just  as  from  the 
classic  shields  of  antiquity  {Clavigero,  i,  424.  jF.schyl.  Sept.,  368.) 
Among  the  ruined  temples  and  sculptures  at  Copan  and  Palenque 
in  Guatemala,  belonging  to  a  still  earlier  race — whose  name  and 
date  are  wholly  lost  to  histor}^ — are  seen  fringes  of  bells  on  the 
tunics,  and  apparently  hand-bells  in  the  grasp,  of  the  Magian- 
looking  priests  {Stephens,  i,  142,  148:  ii,  340,  &c.)  We  have 
already  noticed  the  small  concave  copper  saucers  and  metal  disks, 
buried  along  with  Mongolian-looking  images  in  the  tumuli  of  the 
Ohio.  The  Bridesmen  of  the  Ojibbewy  Indian  chief  who  was 
married  in  London  some  years  since,  wore  bells  on  their  ankles. 
The  KpoTuXa,  drums,  &c.,  of  the  North  American  tribes  have  been 
already  noticed. 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  317 

The  use  of  bells  is  thus  coeval  with  the  earliest  periods  of  which 
we  have  detailed  records,  and  coextensive  with  every  race  into  which 
the  human  family  has  branched  out.  There  must  have  been  some 
original  cause,  of  sufficient  interest  to  all  mankind,  for  an  idea 
which  has  thus  indelibly  stamped  itself  on  the  customs,  habits, 
and  religious  rites  of  tribes  now  so  dissimilar  as  are  the  nations 
separated  for  thousands  of  years,  and  by  thousands  of  miles,  from 
intercourse  with  each  other.  What  that  cause  may  have  been  can 
now  only  be  conjectured.  Yet  it  is  not  unimportant  or  uninterest- 
ing to  notice  that  there  is  little  about  the  use  of  bells  which  can 
be  called  arbitrary.  We  have  seen  that  their  names  are  significant ; 
their  shapes  seem  equally  so.  These  are  various,  increasing  in 
complexity  from  the  simple  circular  bronze  disk  hung  on  a  branch 
and  stmck,  or  the  little  flat  metal  plate  with  a  central  hole  and  a 
clapper  attached  by  chain,  as  in  the  Museum  at  Naples  {Bartoli 
Sept.  Antiq,  13.)  Yet  their  shapes  generally  follow  certain  definite 
and  significant  rules,  which  appear  to  mark  certain  lines  of 
mythology,  or  civilization,  or  family-relationships  among  the  nations. 
And  there  is,  at  least,  a  singular  coincidence  between  most  of 
those  forms  and  the  various  well-known  emblems  of  primeval 
Arkite  worship.  The  more  usual  shapes  of  the  bell  are  those  of 
the  poppy  head,  the  squill,  the  cup  (whether  cymha  or  cihotus)  the 
beehive,  the  pomegranate,  and  the  lotus  flower.  All  of  these  were 
sacred  Arkite  emblems — from  their  resemblance  to  a  boat ;  their 
power  of  floating  on  the  surface  of  water,  or  of  remaining  sub- 
merged without  injury ;  their  concealing  within  them  numerous 
hving  creatures,  or  countless  seeds  and  germs  of  future  life  ;  or 
their  representing  certain  occult  princij^les,  typical  at  once  of  life 
and  of  death.  The  three  former  of  these  shapes  have  been  already 
mentioned,  but  a  few  remarks  on  the  others  may  be  ventured. 

A  veiy  common  shape  of  the  bell  in  all  ages  has  been  that  of  a  bee- 
hive— tall,  and  scarcely  swelling  out  at  the  lip — such  as  the  hive  on 
which  the  ancient  figure  of  Hope  leans  her  hand,  or  the  (so  called) 
corn-basket,  upside  clown,  on  which  the  Roman  Ceres  leans.  The 
earliest  beehives  of  Egypt  were  similar  to  those  now  in  use  among 
ourselves.  Of  this  shape  are  the  bells  brought  from  Nineveh 
{Layard,  2nd.  177),  and  those  sculptured  at  Persepolis  {Le  Bruyn, 
ii,  pi.  1Q6) ;  as  also  many  in  China,  Tartary,  and  Burmah  :  many 
cattle-bells  still  used  in  the  Apennines  ;  and  many  hung  in  church 
steeples  in  Germany,  Belgium,  France,  and  even  in  England. 
The  ancient  names  for  a  beehive  were  Cyjosela  (the  liollow),  and 
Seira  (meaning  both  a  rope  and  a  bee-house),  names  constantly 
given  by  the  ancients  to  Cybele,  Demeter,  Prosei^^ine,  and  Mylitta 
alike,  and  therefore  emblematic  of  the  great  feminine  divinities — 
whose  priests  and  priestesses  were  thence  called  Cypselides  (or  Hive- 
people),  Seirenes  (Sirens,  sweet  song-birds,  songsters,  and  wild  bees), 
and  MelisscB,  or  Mellttce  (honey  bees.)  It  is  not  easy  to  enumerate 
all  the  points  where  this  my  the  meets  us.  In  ancient  times,  honey 
— the  produce  of  the  bee — was  sacred  to  the  Dead,  and  ofiiered  to 
them  {Odyssey,  xi,  26.     Eurip.  Orest.,  112)  ;  and  it  is  still  ofi'ered 

VOL.  IV.  PT.  II.  s  s 


318  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

in  some  heathen  countries  {Ellis'  Madagascar,  i,  420.)  Many 
besides  Alexander  the  Great  have  been  embalmed  in  honey  and 
also  in  wax,  and  even  down  to  mediaeval  dates.  It  was  for- 
bidden to  the  Jews  in  sacrifice,  though  allowed  as  food  {Levit. 
ii,  11.  Ps.  cvi,  28.)  The  ghosts  of  the  dead  were  called /AeXfffo-a^, 
Bees ;  and  the  gods  of  Hades — or  Death — were  called  /meiXixoi,  or  the 
Honied-ones.  Hence  have  sprung  a  host  of  confused  and  inex- 
plicable legends  about  bees,  and  a  mysterious  character  assigned  to 
them  all  over  the  world.  It  was  bees  who  built  the  temple  at 
Delphi,  with  Hyperborean  wax  :  bees  led  the  Athenians  to  Ionia  ; 
the  Muses  were  bees  :  bees  dwelt  in  the  grotto  of  the  Nymphs  at 
Ithaca :  all  the  countries  beyond  the  Danube  were  inhabited  by 
bees.  Mystery  still  surrounds  bees  in  remote  countries.  Even  in 
Scotland  they  are  deemed  to  be  peculiarly  under  the  guardianship 
of  the  supernatural  Brownies ;  are  addressed  as  kind  (i.e.  propitious) 
bees :  are  associated  with  the  fairies  in  their  underground  abodes 
called /aiV?/  homes  and  bee-hykes ;  and  "the  fairies'  food  is  made  of 
honey,  bread,  and  wine."  Nor  need  we  go  beyond  our  own  and  the 
neighbouring  counties  for  the  mysterious  as  connected  with  bees : 
it  was  unlucky  of  old  to  buy  or  remove  bees  except  on  Good  Friday : 
and  to  this  day  everybody  knows  that  when  the  master  or  mistress 
of  the  house  dies,  all  the  bees  will  die  too,  unless  one  of  the  house- 
hold, as  quietly  as  may  be,  takes  the  outer  door  key,  and  with  it 
taps  each  hive,  binding  black  crape  on  it  and  saying  solemnly, 
"  Bees  !  Bees  !  your  master  is  dead." 

One  cannot  forget  the  connection  of  the  Sirens  (or  Hive 
Priestesses)  with  Orpheus  and  other  Argonauts,  with  Ulysses, 
Etna,  and  Sicily ;  nor  their  cold-blooded  cruelty  and  murderous 
deceit  towards  such  as  fell  into  their  hands  :  nor  the  parallel  tales 
of  Iphigenia  and  the  Tauric  Artemis,  the  symbol  of  whose  favorite  city 
Ephesus  Avas  a  Bee.  All  these  legends  point  to  the  fierce  mysteries 
of  Cybele  and  her  cognate  divinities,  whose  rites  were  originally 
stained  with  human  sacrifices.  But  the  ancient  orgies  were  ever 
celebrated  with  bells,  jingles,  cymbals,  rhombs,  and  tympana,  by  their 
MelisscR  or  mystic  bees.  Hence  sprung  the  honours  paid  to  the  real 
Melissce  or  honey  bees,  when  they  issued  in  a  newly-hatched  swarm 
from  the  real  hive  (aetpu)  or  house  of  bees.  They  were  received  with 
bells,  cymbals,  and  jingles:  which,  in  the  comparatively  modern 
times  of  Virgil  and  Pliny — although  keeping  up  a  legendary  connec- 
tion with  Cybele  and  the  ark,  had  degenerated  into  unmeaning  form, 
or  utilitarian  crotchet.  Thus  Virgil  says,  "  When  your  bees  swarm, 
awaken  a  ringing,  and  shake  the  cymbals  of  the  great  Mother  of 
all :"  and  Pliny  says,  "  Bees  delight  in  ringing,  and  striking  of 
brass,  and  are  collected  by  it."  {Georgic.  iv,  64.  Pliny,  ii,  20.) 
Little  do  our  honest  cottagers  imagine,  when  they  tinkle  bells  and 
beat  cauldron  lids  and  kettles  to  coax  their  newly-swarmed  bees  to 
settle,  that  they  are  merely  performing  the  same  rites  as  the  Melissae 
or  Arkite  priestseses  of  Europe  and  Asia  did  3,000  or  4,000  years 
ago,  in  remembrance  of  that  blessed  day  when  all  the  families  of 
man  and  beast  issued  from  the  sacred  Hive — that  Ark  in  which 
they  had  been  saved  from  the  Flood. 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  319 

The  globular  and  semi-globular  pomegranate  shape  has  been 
already  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  poppy-head,  which,  among 
northern  nations,  took  its  place.  The  shape  was,  and  is,  exten- 
sively used  for  bells  among  the  oriental  and  southern  tribes  ;  and 
in  classic  and  primordial  times  was  that  of  the  bells  hung  round 
the  tympanum  of  Cybele  and  other  feminine  divinities — as  might 
have  been  expected  from  the  name  of  Cybele  being  Rhea,  or  "poia^ 
virtually  the  pomegranate.  The  principal  reason  for  again  re- 
ferring to  this  shape  is  the  light  which  some  Chinese  legends  con- 
nected with  bells  and  pomegranates  throw  on  the  early  connection 
between  China  and  the  general  stream  of  mythology.  Every 
Chinese  town  and  village  has  its  lofty  bell-tower  pagoda ;  the  eaves 
of  each  stage  being  fringed  with  little  bells  which  ring  with  the 
breeze.  Some  of  these  towers,  many  hundred  feet  high,  appear  to 
date  about  700  years  before  Christ.  One  of  great  celebrity  is  situated 
near  Hang-yang-foo,  about  600  miles  up  the  river  from  Nankin,  the 
ancient  capital,  and  is  called  the  tower  of  Xelenhoa,  or  the 
pomegranate ;  in  memorial  of  a  maiden  falsely  accused  of  murdering 
her  stepmother — whose  innocence  was  proved,  and  her  life  saved  by 
her  plucking  a  pomegranate  blossom,  which  instantly  ripened  in  her 
hand  to  fruit.  We  know  that  Rimmon,  (literally  the  pomegranate,) 
was  worshipped  among  the  Syrians  in  Elisha's  day,  and  the  Syrian 
worship  was  peculiarly  marked  by  the  share  of  women  in  it,  and 
by  bells  and  music.  Again,  the  Phrygian  legend  tells  that  Nana, 
daughter  of  the  river  Sangaris,  and  of  the  king  who  dwelt  near  the 
mountain  where  Deucalion's  boat  landed  after  the  Flood,  found  on 
that  river  bank  the  wondrous  pomegranate  whence  sprung  Atys, 
the  beautiful  shepherd  of  Celsene,  the  Phrygian  capital.  But  Atys 
(another  name  in  mythology  for  Apollo,  the  Sun)  was  himself  the 
favorite  of  Cybele,  the  great  Berecynthian  Mother  of  the  Gods, 
and  introduced  into  Phrygia  her  sacred  rites  and  mysteries  of  bells, 
pomegranates,  and  fierce  revelry.  Again,  the  Eleusinian  and 
Sicilian  form  of  the  legend  tells  that  Proserpine  herself,  a  synonyme 
of  Hecate  (the  deity  of  the  wild  Samothracian  mysteries)  was 
unable  to  escape  from  Hades — or  Death — because  Ascalaphus  had 
seen  her  eat  some  seeds  of  the  pomegranate,  which  Pluto,  god  of 
Tartarus,  had  given  her.  And  the  mysteries  of  these  female 
deities  were  essentially  associated  with  bells.  Or  take  the  Arab 
form  of  the  my  the,  as  given  in  the  tale  of  the  Second  Calender, 
the  king's  son,  to  save  whom  from  the  cruel  effects  of  sorcery,  the 
magician-daughter  of  another  king  strove  so  desperately,  and 
was  burnt  to  ashes,  because  she  had  not  eaten  up  every  seed  of  the 
pomegranate  into  which  the  Efreet  Eblis  had  changed  himself. 
And  there  is  also  a  Persian  form  of  the  legend ;  for  Jullanar  (or 
Gulnar)  queen  of  the  sea,  and  daughter  of  a  king  of  the  sea,  was 
one  of  the  believing  Jin,  or  Spirits,  ruling  over  the  submarine  races, 
and  doing  certain  wondrous  acts  among  mankind ;  and  Jullanar 
and  Gulnar  alike  signify  the  pomegranate  flower.  Arab  princesses 
and  royal  ladies,  as  of  old,  even  now  generally  w^ear  strings 
of  little  globular  bells  round  their  ankles,  arms,  and  necks.     And 


320  NORTHAMPTON    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

there  is  apparently  a  Mexican  version  also  ;  for  the  maiden  priestess 
of  their  chief  god,  having  beheld  a  little  ball  of  varied  feathers  des- 
cending from  heaven,  grasped  it  in  her  hand  and  miraculously  be- 
came the  mother  of  Huitzilpochtli,  the  god  of  war,  who  was  born 
arrayed  in  shield  and  spear  and  a  helmet  of  green  feathers,  doubt- 
less such  as  Cortez  sent  home  hung  round  with  golden  bells.  Thus 
the  Chinese  legend  preserves  a  family  likeness  to  those  of  classical 
and  other  well-known  nations ;  and  as  the  date  of  the  pomegranate 
bell-tower  of  Xelenhoa  is  apparently  contemporary  with  Confucius 
and  Laotze — the  philosophising  semi-infidel  reformers  of  Chinese 
idolatry — it  may  be  that  we  have  in  this  legend  one  of  the  last  links 
of  the  chain  which  once  united  China  with  the  traditions  and 
customs  of  the  rest  of  Asia  and  of  western  civilization.  It  is  not 
unworthy  of  notice,  in  reference  to  the  pomegranate,  that,  although 
it  is  not  an  Australian  plant,  jet  the  savages  of  Australia  Felix  are 
fond  of  caiTing  it  on  their  native  ornaments.  Thus  this  emblem, 
so  sacred  to  every  race  since  the  Flood,  and  apparently  connected 
with  even  antediluvian  traditions,  is  also  part  of  the  legendary 
treasures  and  lore  of  the  obscure  Australian  races. 

Many  bells  are  of  the  lotus-flower  shape ;  either  like  the  upright 
tulip-blossom,  or  else  Uke  the  more  expanding  nelumbo.  The 
Arkite  emblem  of  a  lotus  merely  pointed  to  floating  safely,  and 
carrying  securely,  as  it  rose  above  the  waters.  While,  therefore, 
the  squill,  and  bells  of  that  shape,  were  originally  associated  with 
the  masculine  divinities,  and  the  beehive,  poppy,  and  pomegranate, 
and  their  corresponding  bells,  with  the  feminine  deities,  the  use  of 
the  lotus — and  lotus  shaped  bells — seems  at  Jirst  rather  to  have 
marked  that  class  of  worship  which  either  united  the  rites  of  the 
two  descriptions  of  divinities,  or  was  applied  indiscriminately  to 
either.  Very  ancient  lotus-shaped  bells  are  found  in  the  hands  of 
the  Trimurti  at  Elephanta,  among  the  enormous  sacred  bells  of 
China,  with  Egyptian  mummies  at  Thebes,  and  in  the  Syrian, 
Phenician,  and  Greek  remains.  They  seem  associated  with  the 
worship  of  Isis  and  Horus,  Venus  and  Adonis,  Astarte  and  Tham- 
muz,  Vishnoo  and  Lakshmi ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  with  the 
ordinary  Indian  Poojah  worship  to  any  divinity,  as  well  as  with  the 
common  ancient  rites  of  Dionusus,  of  Baal,  and  of  Mylitta.  But  the 
investigation  of  the  various  successive  movements  in  ancient  idolatry 
— of  the  Lotus  (a  name  of  old  applied  to  eleven  totally  difterent 
but  significant  plants) — of  the  Phoenix,  the  Hebrew  harp,  the 
Myrrh,  and  the  Libanus — so  closely  connected  with  the  Lotus,  and 
so  illustrative  of  Scripture  events — is  a  subject  which  would  require  a 
division  of  this  Paper  to  itself :  it  would,  however,  possibly  throw 
light,  not  alone  on  ancient  history,  but  on  customs  still  existing 
among  ourselves. 

There  is  one  more  shape  of  the  Bell  which  is  extremely  obscure 
— the  square  hammered  and  ri vetted  bell,  with  a  circular  handle. 
Such  bells  are  found  in  West  Africa :  were  common  from  the 
earliest  Christian  dates  in  Ireland  :  may  still — or  might  lately — 
be  seen  in  the  rood-loft  in  Dollwyddellan  church  in  Caernarvon- 


HISTORY    AND    ANTIQUITIES    OF    BELLS.  321 

shire  :  and  are  fastened  round  the  necks  of  cattle  in  the  Northamp- 
tonshire forests,  where  they  are  called  by  old  people  tanthony  bells. 
Whether  the  mysterious  looking  metal  implements  sculptured  in 
the  hands  of  kings  at  Nineveh  and  Persepolis — supposed  to  be 
caskets — were  really  the  originals  of  the  square  bells  without  clap- 
pers, such  as  the  Ashantee  nobles  still  carry  for  insignia  of  rank ; 
or  whether  these  rivetted  bells  are  hermit  bells,  which  took  their 
origin  from  St.  Anthony  in  the  Egyptian  wilderness,  or  from  pri- 
mitive Christian  missionaries  before  the  final  breaking  up  of  the 
Roman  Empire — is  a  subject  of  very  considerable  interest,  which, 
however,  belongs  to  another  branch  of  the  present  investigation. 

The  singular  uniformity  with  which,  in  all  nations  and  ages, 
bells  have  been  applied  to  certain  specific  uses,  and  have  been 
thought  to  possess  certain  occult  qualities  and  mysterious  powers, 
is  another  important  branch  of  this  Paper,  which  must  for  the 
present  be  left  untouched.  Nor  is  it  possible,  at  present,  to  do 
more  than  allude  to  that  division  of  it  which  treats  of  Christian 
bells,  belfries,  bell-ringing,  and  the  mechanical  department  of  the 
subject.  The  remaining  part  of  the  Paper — the  Law  of  Church 
Bells,  and  their  legitimate  Use-'- — has  been  published  as  a  separate 
pamphlet,  in  a  cheap  form  for  distribution. 

*  Hamilton,  Adams,  and  Co.,  London  ;  J.  Hawthorn,  Uppingham.  Price  Id.,  or 
9d.  per  dozen.  Sent  free  by  post  in  quantities  of  not  less  than  one  dozen,  on  application 
to  Mr.  Hawthorn. 


The  author's  distance  from  the  Press  has  caused  the  following 
errata  to  escape  correction  : — 

Page  305,  line  13,  for  poju/So^  read  'pofilBo^. 

Page  301,  third  line  from  bottom,  for  ment,  read  meant. 


WORCESTER 

DIOCESAN  AECHITECTUEAL  SOCIETY. 


The  Churches  of  Worcester :  their  Architectural  History,  Antiquities, 
and  Arrangement.  Being  the  substance  of  a  Paper  read  at  the 
Annual  Meeting  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural 
Society,  September  27,  1858.  By  John  Severn  Walker, 
Honorary  Secretary. 

At  the  previous  Annual  Meetings  of  this  Society,  the  noble 
Cathedral  Church  of  the  diocese  has  formed  the  subject  of  our 
investigation ;  its  architectural  beauties,  and  monumental  remains 
having  been  illustrated,  either  by  veteran  archaeologists,  or  ac- 
complished architects.  And  although  we  might  spend  a  few  hours 
every  year,  both  pleasantly  and  profitably,  in  contemplating  such  an 
exquisite  example  of  Christian  art,  endeared  to  us,  as  it  is,  not  only 
by  the  beauty  of  its  architecture,  and  the  stirring  events  in  our 
church's  and  our  county's  history  with  which  it  is  associated,  but 
also  by  the  reflection,  that  on  the  same  spot  the  morning  and  even- 
ing sacrifice  of  prayer  and  praise  has  not  ceased  to  be  sung  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years — save  when  the  fair  palaces  of  our  Zion  were, 
for  a  time,  trodden  under  foot,  and  the  Enghsh  church  itself  seemed 
in  danger  of  being  extinguished* — still  it  has  been  thought  that  the 
less  important  ecclesiastical  edifices  of  the  city  should  not  be  alto- 
gether neglected ;  and  I  will  now  proceed  to  offer  a  few  remarks 
upon  the  Parochial  Churches  of  Worcester — their  architectural 
history  and  arrangement. 

We  find,  as  a  general  rule,  that  most  ancient  cities  and  towns 
possessed  at  least  one  church  of  large  size  and  great  architectural 
beauty,  the  subordinate  churches  being  comparatively  small  and 
unimportant.  It  appears  as  though  it  were  thought  desirable  to 
have  one  grand  building,  in  which  the  people  could  assemble  on 
high  festivals  and  other  important  occasions,  and  to  hear  sermons; 
whilst  the  ordinary  services  of  the  church  might  be  celebrated  in 
small  and  simple  structures.     For  instance,  not  only  the  parish 

(1)  1660,  August  31.  The  first  time  morning  prayer  was  said  in  the  body  of  the  church 
(by  Mr.  Richard  Brown;  since  the  reduction  of  Worcester  by  the  Parliament  forces, 
July  24,  1646. 

1661,  April  13.  The  first  time  choir  service  was  said  and  sung  in  the  cathedral  since 
25th  July,  XM&.—Townsend's  MSS. 


324     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

churches  of  this  city,  but  also  those  of  Exeter,  Salisbury,  Winchester, 
Canterbury,  Lincoln,  Durham,  and  other  places,  are  of  a  very  inferior 
description;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  towns  having  neither  a 
cathedral  nor  conventual  church,  often  possess  magnificent  parish 
churches — such  as  those  of  Newark,  Grantham,  Boston,  Doncaster, 
Stafford,  Ludlow,  Kidderminster,  &c.  Exceptions  to  this  rule  are, 
however,  not  infrequent.  Wells,  Norwich,  and  Beverley,  amongst 
other  places,  possess  fine  parish  churches  besides  their  cathedral  or 
minster ;  and  Coventry  had  a  cathedral  and  two  grand  churches — 
one  of  them  being  more  spacious  than  the  cathedral — all  close 
together.  Again,  other  places,  as  Malvern  and  Pershore,  had  large 
conventual  churches,  adjoining  which  were  the  small  parochial 
edifices.  One  of  these  remains  at  Pershore.  At  Sherborne,  the 
parish  church  abutted  against  the  west  front  of  the  abbey,  and  pro- 
bably formed  a  portion  of  the  original  nave  of  the  latter  church. 
Sometimes  one  building  served  both  for  the  collegiate  body  and  the 
parishioners ;  as  at  Stratford-upon-Avon,  where  the  parochial  altar 
was  at  the  end  of  the  south  aisle,  the  altar  appertaining  to  the  colle- 
gians occupying  the  usual  position  at  the  east  end  of  the  chancel. 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  Worcester  is  one  of  those  cities 
which  never  possessed  any  parish  churches  of  much  architectural 
importance ;  and,  what  is  still  more  unfortunate,  four  only  have 
escaped  being  rebuilt. 

Such  being  the  case,  the  following  observations  will  probably  be 
found  somewhat  dry  and  uninteresting.  But,  uninviting  though 
the  subject  may  at  first  sight  seem,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show  that 
the  structures  which  will  come  under  our  observation  to  day  are  not 
unworthy  of  notice,  and  that  by  proper  arrangement,  combined  w^ith 
judicious  adornment,  they  may  be  made  fit  and  convenient  for  the 
worship  of  God,  and  the  edification  of  His  Church.  Besides,  in- 
dependently of  aesthetic  considerations,  there  is  a  peculiar  charm 
attached  to  the  investigation  of  even  the  humblest  of  our  ancient 
churches,  carrying  our  thoughts  back,  as  it  does,  to  the  time  when 
men  devoted  all  that  is  noble  and  beautiful  in  art — whether  archi- 
tecture, painting,  or  sculpture — to  the  embellishment  of  the  Houses 
of  God ;  proving  that,  however  erroneous  might  be  their  belief  on 
some  points  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  still — 

"Firm  was  their  faith — the  ancient  bands, 

The  wise  of  heart  in  wood  and  stone, 
Who  rear'd,  with  stern  and  trusting  hands, 

Those  dark  grey  towers  of  days  unknown! 
They  filled  these  aisles  with  many  a  thought. 

They  bade  each  nook  some  truth  recall; 
The  pillar'd  arch  its  legend  brought, 

A  doctrine  came  with  roof  and  wall." 

The  Worcester  churches  may  be  classed  under  three  heads,  viz.: 
those  erected  before  the  decline  of  Pointed  Architecture,  those  re- 
built in  the  18th  century,  and  those  which  have  been  erected  or  re- 
built during  the  last  forty  years. 

Commencing  with  the  earliest  example ;  the  remains  of  Old  S. 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  325 

Clement's  church,  on  the  Upper  Quay,  first  claim  our  attention. 
They  consist  of  a  portion  of  the  south  and  v/est  ^Yalls,  and  two  plain 
circular  arches,  supported  on  cylindrical  piers,  with  square  capitals. 
These  arches  have  been  considered  by  some  to  be  Saxon ;  but  they 
possess  no  characteristic  feature  that  is  not  found  in  Early  Norman 
work,  to  which  period  they  most  probably  belong.  From  the  rough 
print  of  the  church  in  Green's  History  of  Worcester,  it  appears  to 
have  comprised  chancel,  nave,  north  aisle,  and  south  porch.  When 
the  city  walls  were  destroyed  by  order  of  Cromwell,  the  tower  of 
this  church  shared  the  same  fate  ;  a  wooden  one  was  then  erected 
on  the  west  end  of  the  nave.  The  church  being  subject  to  floods, 
and  nearly  the  whole  of  the  parish  being  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
river,  it  was  determined  to  erect  a  new  one,  which  was  consecrated 
in  1824,  and  the  old  one  taken  down — except  the  small  portion  just 
described.  Osbert,  the  son  of  Hugh  de  Saye,  claimed  the  patronage 
of  S.  Clement's,  which  had  been  given  to  the  Monks  of  S.  Mary's 
by  Hugh  Peer  and  Eichard  de  Gresham,  asserting  that  it  belonged 
and  was  dependant  on  his  church  of  All  Saints.  Bp.  "Roger,  how- 
ever, by  his  episcopal  authority,  in  1175  determined  it  to  be  a  free 
chapel  of  the  Monks,  in  whose  patronage  it  continued  till  the  Dis- 
solution, when  it  passed  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter.  A  gold  coin  of 
Edward  the  Confessor  is  said  to  have  been  discovered  in  pulling 
down  the  old  church.  It  is  inscribed  on  one  side  Edwakd  Kex  ; 
and  on  the  reverse,  Lyfinc  on  WiERiNc ;  signifying  that  it  was 
coined  by  Lyfinc  at  Warwick.  Doubts  have  been  entertained  as  to 
the  authenticity  of  this  coin,  no  other  gold  Saxon  coin  being  known, 
but  the  late  Mr.  Jabez  Allies  has  given  a  very  circumstantial  account 
of  its  history  in  his  "Antiquities  of  Worcestershire.  "^ 

S.  John  the  Baptist's  in  Bedwardine^  was  originally  subordi- 
nate to  the  chapel  of  Wick,  or  Wyke,  which  was  situated  about  a  mile 
further  from  the  city ;  and  being  "  in  a  desolate  place  at  a  distance 
from  the  cathedral,  and  almost  deserted  by  the  inhabitants,  who 
rather  chose  to  reside  in  Worcester,  or  about  S.  John's,  where  was 
also  a  chapel  with  a  vicarage  house  adjoining  to  it  " — was  ordered 
to  be  pulled  down  in  1371  by  Bishop  William  de  Lynn,  who  at  the 
same  time  constituted  the  chapel  of  S.  John  the  parochial  church, 
and  instituted  a  vicar,  on  the  presentation  of  the  priory  of  S.  Mary, 
under  the  title  of  *'  Vicar  of  S.  John  of  Wyke." 

Traces  of  the  old  chapel  of  Wyke  are  still  to  be  seen  in  Mr. 
Smith's  farm  buildings  ;  and  considerable  remains  were  found  a  few 
years  ago,  consisting  of  arcade-work,  zig-zag,  and  other  Norman 
mouldings,  which  are  now  in  a  yard  at  the  back  of  the  Museum  at 
Worcester. 

The  Bishops  of  Worcester  had  a  palace  at  Wyke ;  and  we  read 
that  in  the  year  1300  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  made  a  visitation 

C2)  The  remains  of  this  church  and  the  coin  are  engraved  in  the  ArcJueological  Journal, 
vol.  1.,  p,  2G1. 

(3)  So  named  on  account  of  the  district  being  appropriated  to  the  table  of  the  priests 
of  the  College  ;  beod  em,  in  Saxon,  signifying  a  dining  hall. 
VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  T  T 


326   WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  this  diocese :  and  that  he  went  and  visited  Bp.  Godfrey  Gifford, 
then  lying  sick  at  Wyke,  and  was  there  handsomely  entertained. 

In  its  present  state  the  church  of  S.  John  presents  the  most 
picturesque  and  venerable  appearance  of  any  of  the  Worcester 
churches ;  its  massive  tower  and  gabled  aisles  forming  a  pleasing 
feature  in  the  approach  to  the  city  from  the  east. 

The  ground  plan  comprises  chancel,  with  north  transept,  and 
south  aisle,  nave  and  aisles,  west  tower,  and  modern  porch  and 
vestry. 

The  nave  is  three  bays  in  length,  and  has  on  the  north  side 
cylindrical  piers  with  square  capitals  of  the  Norman  period ;  the 
circular  arches  which  they  supported  have  been  cut  into  ijointed  ones, 
so  as  to  enable  the  occupants  of  the  gallery  to  have  a  better  view  of 
the  clergyman. 

The  rest  of  the  building  is  Third-pointed,  probably  late  in  the 
style,  the  piers  and  arches  being  of  poor  character.  The  east  window 
has  a  very  depressed  arch,  and  is  placed  rather  low  in  the  wall,  the 
space  above  it,  in  the  interior,  being  relieved  by  a  crocketed  ogee 
hood-mould  terminating  in  a  finial.  It  contains  a  small  quantity 
of  15th  century  stained  glass.  The  south  aisle  of  the  nave  has  three 
transverse  gables,  under  two  of  which  are  large  five-light  windows ; 
the  other  contains  a  much  shorter  window,  the  principal  entrance 
to  the  church  having  been  underneath,  before  the  late  alterations. 
The  north  aisle  is  narrower  than  the  south,  and  had  originally  a 
lean-to  roof;  another  story  in  brick  has  been  added,  having  three 
two-light  windows,  each  under  a  separate  gable. 

The  tower  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  period  in  which  it  was 
erected  (15th  century);  it  has  diagonal  buttresses,  a  battlemented 
parapet,  and  crocketed  pinnacles  at  the  angles.  Within  the  parapet 
is  a  low  pyramidal  roof,  terminating  in  a  large  pinnacle  supporting 
the  weathercock.  At  the  bottom,  to  the  west,  is  a  deeply  recessed 
four-light  window  ;  above  are  two  tiers  of  two-light  windows,  one  in 
each  face  of  the  tower,  the  upper  ones  having  crocketed  hood-moulds. 

Most  of  the  old  roofs  remain,  but,  with  the  exception  of  the  one 
in  the  transept,  they  are  hidden  by  plaster  ceilings.  At  the  north- 
west corner  of  the  transept  are  the  remains  of  the  stairs  which  led 
to  the  rood-loft.  In  the  north-west  pier  of  the  chancel  is  a  hagio- 
scope, or  squint,  now  blocked  up. 

There  were  people  living  a  few  years  ago  who  could  rem- ember 
the  galleries,  which  extend  round  three  sides,  being  erected,  the 
roofs  plastered,  and  the  open  seats  converted  into  pews. 

Extensive  alterations  were  made  in  1841,  at  an  expense  of  about 
£700,  but  in  a  very  tasteless  manner.  A  debased  Gothic  porch  was 
erected  against  the  south  side  of  the  tower,  so  as  to  range  with  the 
gables  of  the  aisle,  and  a  vestry  added  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
tower.  The  interior  was  filled  with  deal  pews,  the  western  gallery 
enlarged,  and  a  "Carpenters'  Gothic"  reredos  put  up. 

An  organ  having  been  presented  by  a  parishioner,  it  was  placed 
at  the  back  of  the  gallery,  under  the  tower,  where  it  could  scarcely 
be  seen  or  heard.     Instead  of  removing  the  instrument  to  a  more 


THE    CHURCPIES    OF    WORCESTER.  327 

suitable  position,  the  tower  arch  was  heightened,  as  the  north  arcade 
had  previously  been,  thus  showing  but  little  regard  on  the  part  of 
the  authorities  for  the  architectural  features  of  the  sacred  edifice  of 
which  they  were  the  guardians. 

Subsequently  to  these  alterations,  the  chancel  was  furnished  with 
a  simple  prayer  desk  and  lectern,  and  open  seats,  all  of  oak ;  but, 
owing  to  some  fanatical  objections,  the  former  have  been  superseded 
by  a  desk  resembling  the  lower  part  of  a  rood-screen,  and  obstructing 
the  view  of  the  chancel  from  the  south  side  of  the  nave.  The  old 
Third-pointed  pulpit  remains,  the  panels  being  enriched  with  tracery. 

The  monuments  possess  no  interest  whatever,  either  in  an  artistic 
or  archaeological  point  of  view  ;  but  some  of  the  epitaphs  are  in  tha 
highly  laudatory  style  so  much  in  vogue  during  the  last  century, 
and  which  is  not  altogether  extinct  at  the  present  day.  As  an  ex- 
ample, I  will  give  the  following,  to  the  memory  of  **  The  truly 
"  valuable  Edward  Cope  Hopton,  late  of  the  Cathedral  Precincts, 
"  Esq.,  of  whom  it  is  difficult  to  say  enough,  and  to  say  nothing 
*'  would  be  unpardonable :  his  integrity  and  honesty,  piety  and 
"  charity,  generosity  and  hospitality,  declared  the  man,  the  Christian, 
"and  the  friend."  Died  1754.  Of  his  daughter  it  is  said,  "  She 
"  possessed  the  noblest  attainments  of  human  nature  ;  charity  with- 
"  out  ostentation,  liberality  without  profusion,  and  piety  without 
'*  enthusiasm." 

Like  the  rest  of  the  city,  this  parish  seems  to  have  been  noted 
for  its  loyalty,  as  we  find  it  stated  that  "  the  parish  of  S.  John  near 
Worcester,  was  very  forward  in  setting  up  the  king's  arms  and 
beautifying  their  church,  March,  1660." 

S.  Alban's. — This  little  church  consists  of  nave  and  north  aisle 
only,  the  eastern  bay  of  the  former  serving  as  chancel. 

The  arcade  is  late  Norman,  the  arches  slightly  pointed,  and 
resting  on  circular  piers  and  capitals ;  the  easternmost  pier,  how- 
ever, marking  the  chancel,  is  square,  having  brackets,  enriched  with 
stiff  foliage,  supporting  the  inner  order  of  the  arches. 

The  doorway  and  the  font  are  plain  Norman.  According  to  the 
print  in  Green's  History,^  there  was  a  shallow  wooden  porch  and  a 
square-headed  window,  on  the  south  side,  at  the  end  of  the  last 
century. 

This  edifice  underwent  an  extensive  restoration,  under  the 
superintendence  of  Mr.  Perkins,  in  1850,  when  the  aisle  and  the 
east  end  of  the  chancel  were  rebuilt,  the  former  being  furnished 
with  an  open  roof,  and  the  latter  with  a  triplet  of  very  early  pointed 
character.  A  stone  bell-gable  was  substituted  for  a  wooden  turret 
at  the  west  end;  the  interior  fitted  up  with  open  seats,  and  the  old 
carved  oak  pulpit  lowered,  and  placed  on  the  south  side.  The  altar 
rail  is  supported  on  wrought  iron  standards,  and  the  Holy  Table  is 

(4)  Tlie  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  City  and  Suburbs  of  Worcester.  By  Valentine 
Green.  2  vols.  4to.  1796.  This  is  a  very  good  example  of  the  topographical  works  of  the 
period,  and  is  embellished  with  numerous  engravings— chiefly  presentation  plates— 
but  those  of  the  churches,  not  belonging  to  the  latter  class,  are,  unlortunately,  very 
inferior,  both  in  drawing  and  execution,  to  the  others. 


328    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

vested  with  a  beautifully  embroidered  frontal  and  super-frontal — the 
former  of  green,  and  the  latter  of  crimson  ribbed  silk.  The  organ 
stands  at  the  east  end  of  the  aisle.  Altogether,  it  is  the  most  cor- 
rectly arranged  church  in  the  city.  And  it  were  much  to  be  wished 
that  a  new  roof  could  be  placed  over  the  nave,  and  the  south  wall 
rebuilt.^ 

Eg  wine,  third  Bishop  of  Worcester,  gave  the  patronage  of  S, 
Alban's  to  his  newly  formed  abbey  of  Evesham  about  the  beginning 
of  the  eighth  century.  It  is  now  in  the  gift  of  the  Bishop,  and  is 
usually  held  with  the  adjoining  parish  of 

S.  Helen,  which  has  been  generally  considered  to  possess  the 
most  ancient  church  in  Worcester.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case, 
no  portion  of  the  present  edifice  being  of  earlier  date  than  the  13th 
century.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  it  was  constituted  a  dis- 
tinct ecclesiastical  district  at  a  very  early  period,  and  that  several 
other  churches  were  subordinate  to  it ;  for  we  are  informed,  that  at 
a  synod  held  under  Bishop  Wolstan,  A.D.  1095,  it  was  affirmed 
that  there  was  no  parish  in  the  whole  city,  but  that  of  the  mother 
church,  to  which  S.  Helen's  had  been  a  vicarage  from  the  year  680, 
when  the  see  was  first  founded;  and  Leland  says  ''the  church  of 
S.  Helen  is  counted  the  most  ancient  in  this  city;  it  was  a  prebend 
before  King  Edgar's  time  to  the  cathedral  church  of  Worcester." 
The  churches  of  S.  Helen,  and  S.  Swithin  were  confirmed  to  the 
Monastery  by  Bishop  Simon  in  the  reign  of  King  Stephen.  A 
chantry  was  founded  here  by  Stephen  Spagard,  citizen,  for  a  priest 
to  celebrate  mass  therein  for  his  soul,  the  soul  of  Maud  his  wife, 
and  of  all  the  faithful.  Bishop  Gifford  confirmed  it,  April  4,  1288. 
There  were  also  chantries  here  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  S.  Cathe- 
rine. 

The  church  consists  of  nave,  north  and  south  aisles,  and  west 
tower.  The  aisles  extend  to  the  extreme  east  end,  as  they  do 
likewise  in  all  the  old  Worcester  churches  we  have  left,  or  of  which 
we  possess  any  authentic  account.  This  and  the  slight  construc- 
tional distinction  observable  between  the  nave  and  chancel,  are 
characteristic  features  of  towii  churches. 

It  was  not  unusual  for  the  architects  of  old,  when  rebuilding 
or  enlarging  a  church,  to  retain  the  piers  and  arches  of  the  previous 
structure,  even  if  the  exterior  walls  were  entirely  removed,  a 
practice  which  is  exemplified  by  the  existence  of  the  Norman 
arcade  at  S.  John's,  before  mentioned.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  exterior  is  First-pointed,  whilst  the 
arcade  is  wholly  of  the  Third-pointed  style.  The  latter  feature 
extends  uninterruptedly  from  east  to  west,  is  six  bays  in  length, 
and  has  plain  chamfered  arches  resting  upon  tall  piers  with  stilted 
bases.  From  the  occurrence  of  a  blocked-up  doorway  (probably 
the  priest's)  in  the  third  bay  of  the  south  aisle,  it  would  appear  as 
though  the  chancel  had  formerly  extended  three  bays  westward  of 
the  sanctuary,  leaving  but  three  for  the  nave.     Four  First-pointed 

(5)    Since  the  above  was  written,  Mr.  Preedy  has  prepared  designs  for  these  improve- 
ments, which  will  be  carried  out  so  soon  as  the  requisite  funds  can  be  raised. 


T^ 


m. 


As  proposed  to  be  Restored, 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  329 

couplets  remain  on  the  south  side ;  the  doorway  and  most  of  the 
other  windows  are  Third-pointed.  The  large  east  window  is  also 
of  the  same  period,  judging  from  the  wide  hollow  in  the  exterior 
jambs ;  but  the  tracery  is  a  barbarous  modern  insertion.  The 
whole  of  this  end  of  the  sacred  edifice  has  been  cased,  and  other- 
wise altered,  by  the  introduction  of  doorways  opening  into  the 
aisles,  &c.,  so  that  its  ancient  character  is  quite  lost.  The  tower 
was  rebuilt  in  1820,  and,  as  might  be  expected,  is  but  a  poor 
specimen  of  Gothic  art,  and  which  nothing  but  a  shingled  or  slated 
spire  would  effectually  improve.  It  contains  an  excellent  peal  of 
eight  bells,  cast  in  1706  by  R.  Sanders,  bell-founder  of  Bromsgrove  ; 
and  bearing  inscriptions  in  honour  of  Queen  Anne,  and  the  victories 
gained  by  her  generals  over  the  French.'^ 

In  1855  an  octagonal  15th  century  font,  which  had  long  been 
desecrated,  w^as  restored  and  placed  in  this  church  as  a  memorial 
of  the  late  Rev.  W.  Rose  Holden.  The  previous  font  was  a 
miserable  sun-dial  sort  of  affair,  put  up  in  1725,  at  a  cost  of  £2.  8s. 
In  the  same  year,  £22.  5s.  8d.  was  expended  for  communion  plate, 
and  £4.  10s.  for  a  communion  cloth. 

Against  the  north  wall  of  the  sanctuary  is  a  cumbersome  and 
tasteless  monument  to  Alderman  John  Nash,  who  endowed  a 
hospital  in  New-street  for  eight  poor  men  and  two  women,  and  left 
various  sums  of  money  to  be  lent  to  honest  young  tradesmen  with- 
out interest,  for  apprenticing  young  lads,  and  for  other  charitable 
purposes.     He  died  in  1662,  aged  72;    and  is  represented  on  his 

(6)  "A  vestry,  held  September  10,  1706,  ordered  'that  the  churchwardens  do  article 
and  i>gree  with  Mr.  R.  Sanders,  bell-founder,  or  any  other  founder,  for  casting  the  five 
bells  into  eight ;  and  voted  a  sum  not  exceeding  £70  for  founding  and  hanging  the 
same.  The  five  bells  weighed  85  cwt.  Iqr.  lib, ;  and  the  eight  recast  80  cwt.  2qr.  151b."— 
Notes  and  Queries  for  Worcestershire. 

The  following  are  the  inscriptions  upon  them : — 

1.  Blenheim. 
First  is  my  note,  and  Blenheim  is  my  name; 
For  Blenheim's  story  will  be  first  in  fame. 

2.  Barcelona. 
Let  me  relate  how  Lewis  did  bemoan 
His  grandson  Philip's  flight  from  Barcelon. 

3.  Ramillies. 
Delug'd  in  blood,  J,  Ramillies,  advance 
Britannia's  glory  in  the  fall  of  France. 

4    Menin. 
Let  Menin  on  my  sides  engraven  be, 
And  Flanders  freed  from  Gallic  slavery. 

5.    TUKIN. 

When  in  harmonious  peal  I  roundly  go. 
Think  on  Turin  and  triumphs  of  the  Po. 

6.  Eugene. 
With  joy  I  bear  illustrious  Eugene's  name ; 
Fav'rite  of  fortune,  and  the  boast  of  fame. 

7.  Marlborougu. 
But  I  with  pride  the  greater  Marlborough  bear. 
Terror  of  tyrants,  and  the  soul  of  war. 

8.  Queen  Anne. 
Th'  immortal  praises  of  Queen  Anne  I  sound ; 
With  union  blest,  and  all  these  glories  crown'd. 

"  Ringing  is  an  art  which  seems  to  be  peculiar  to  England,  which  for  this  reason  is 
termed  the  ringing  island."— 5f/r  J.  Haivkins's  History  of  Music. 


330  WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

monument  in  aldermanic  robes,  reclining  on  his  side,  and  his 
head  resting  on  his  right  hand  "  as  if  he  had  died  o'  the  tooth- 
ache.' 

A  considerable  sum  was  expended  upon  the  interior  of  this 
church  in  1836,  when  the  present  pews,  gallery,  and  organ  were 
put  up ;  also  two  unsightly  erections  for  pulpit  and  desk. 

A  great  improvement  has  recently  been  effected  by  raising  the 
floor  of  the  eastern  bay  two  steps,  separating  it  from  the  nave  and 
aisles  by  low  wooden  screens,  and  arranging  the  space  for  clergy 
and  choir.  The  one  pulpit  has  been  lowered,  and  the  other 
removed  altogether. 

This  edifice  would  well  repay  a  thorough  restoration,  which 
should  include  the  removal  of  the  pews  and  gallery,  the  opening 
of  the  roofs  and  the  tower  arch,^  and  the  erection  of  a  good  east 
window  and  reredos. 

The  curfew  is  still  rung  here  at  eight  o'clock  every  night. 

The  churchyard  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Hurd,  May  31, 
1793. 

S.  Andrew's. — Although  the  lofty  and  remarkably  tapering  spire 
of  this  church  is  so  well-known,  few  people  are  acquainted  with  the 
architectural  features  of  the  body  of  the  fabric,  owing,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  its  being  situated  in  a  comparatively  unfrequented 
part  of  the  city. 

The  ground  plan  comprises  chancel,  nave,  engaged  western 
tower,  and  aisles,  the  latter  extending  the  whole  length  of  the 
building. 

The  chancel  has  been  so  mutilated,  that  it  is  difficult  to  deter- 
mine its  original  character.  The  arches — one  on  each  side — com- 
municating with  the  aisles  possess  some  characteristics  of  First- 
pointed  work,  though  their  form,  and  the  narrowness  of  the  splays 
are  indicative  of  a  later  date.  The  chancel  arch  is  very  low  and 
simply  chamfered,  the  inner  order  resting  on  Third-pointed  corbels. 
The  blocked-up  window  at  the  east  end  of  the  north  aisle  seems  to 
have  been  First-pointed,  judging  from  the  banded  shafts  still 
remaining. 

As  the  spire  forms  the  most,  and  indeed  the  only  important 
object  when  the  church  is  viewed  externally,  so  the  lower  story  of 
the  tower  is  the  only  striking  feature  which  presents  itself  when  the 
interior  is  examined.  It  consists  of  four  very  lofty  arches  of  equal 
height ;  the  western  one  occupied  by  a  window,  the  others  opening 
into  the  nave  and  aisles,  which  are  under  a  span  roof,  respectively. 
This  tower  has  every  appearance  of  having  been  designed  for  the 
centre  of  a  cross  church,  of  which  the  chancel  only  was  erected  ;  the 
height  of  the  latter — which  forms  the  present  nave — being  so  great 
in  comparison  to  its  length,  only  tw^o  bays,  that  nothing  but  a  nave 
extending  westward  of  the  tow^er  would  render  its  proportions  har- 
monious. The  present  chancel  might,  in  that  case,  have  formed  a 
Lady  chapel. 

(7)  "The  seating  has  lately  been  rendered  more  regular;  and  the  belfry  separated 
from  the  midfUe  aisle,  which  before  lay  open  to  it,  thereby  rendering  the  whole  more  com- 
pact and  unilorm."— Green,  1796. 


^t.    ^xx'axtixi*^,    moxctaUx. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  WORCESTEU.        331 

The  above  must  be  considered  merely  as  a  suggestion  thrown 
out  to  account  for  the  apparent  incongruity  of  the  nave  and  tower, 
compared  with  the  rest  of  the  building. 

The  nave  piers,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  very  late  Third-pointed 
work,  are  set  lengthwise  from  north  to  south,  being  much  narrower 
between  the  arches  than  in  the  opposite  direction.  Their  mould- 
ings are  continued  uninterruptedly  round  the  arches,  there  being 
merely  a  small  band  at  the  impost.  The  western  arches,  where 
they  abut  against  the  tower,  rest  upon  corbels  in  the  shape  of  fan 
groining.  Lofty  but  shallow  canopied  niches  extend  round  the 
lower  part  of  the  eastern  face  of  the  tower  piers. 

The  nave  roof  is  flat,  and  divided  into  square  panels,  with  carved 
bosses  at  the  intersections  of  the  beams.  The  tower  is  vaulted  with 
stone,  and  divided  into  numerous  cells  by  moulded  ribs.  At  the 
intersection  of  the  ribs  are  the  following  subjects : — on  the  east 
vault,  the  Blessed  Virgin,  S.  Peter,  S.  James  the  Great,  and  S. 
Thomas.  On  the  west  vault,  a  figure  of  the  Deity,  in  the  act  of 
benediction,  bearing  a  representation  of  the  Crucifixion ;  a  Pope 
blessing  two  children  ;  two  Saints,  with  books.  On  the  south  vault, 
the  Annunciation,  S.  Bartholomew,  S.  Jude,  and  S.  Philip.  The 
north  vault  contains  the  Nativity,  S.  Paul,  S.  John  the  Evangelist, 
and  S.  James  the  Less.  On  the  diagonal  ribs,  S.  George  and  the 
Dragon,  S.  Andrew ;  a  Bishop,  bearing  a  book,  and  in  the  act  of 
benediction ;  and  a  King,  with  a  book  and  sceptre.  At  the  springing 
of  the  vaulting  are  bosses,  with  foliage,  grotesque  heads,  angels,  &c. 

The  font  is  of  much  earlier  date  than  any  other  feature  of  the 
church,  being  Norman,  very  large,  and  quite  plain. 

The  spire  was  erected  in  1733,  by  Nathaniel  Wilkinson,  a  com- 
mon mason  of  the  city.  It  is  245  feet  high,^  and  when  seen  from 
a  distance,  has  a  pleasing  effect,  contrasting  well  with  the  other 
church  towers.  On  a  close  inspection,  however,  it  fails  to  satisfy 
the  eye,  being  entirely  destitute  of  any  kind  of  enrichment ;  and  the 
windows,  especially,  are  very  mean. 

In  venturing  to  make  these  disparaging  remarks  upon  an  object 
of  such  great  and  general  admiration,  I  am  aware  that  my  judg- 
ment will  be  called  in  question ;  still  I  cannot  join  in  the  extravagant 
laudation  which  has  been  bestowed  upon  it  by  local  historians  from 
the  time  of  Green  down  to  the  present  day.  The  above  author, 
speaking  of  this  church,  says — "  But  the  chief  ornament  of  it,  and 
"  of  the  whole  city,  I  may  say  of  the  whole  kingdom,  is  S.  Andrew's 
*'  spire  at  Worcester,  which  I  believe,  may  challenge  the  wliole 
**  world  to  equal  it.  Salisbury  is  much  higher,  but  in  appearance 
'*  ends  much  more  abruptly." 

It  certainly  diminishes  very  gradually  from  the  base  to  the  sum- 
mit, but  it  is  very  possible  for  a  spire  to  be  too  taper.  On  this 
point,  I  will  quote  the  opinion  of  a  very  eminent  writer  on  archi- 
es) Height  of  tower,  90  feet;  of  spire,  155  feet  6  inches;  total  height,  245  feet  6  inches. 

Diameter  of  spire  at  the  base,  20  feet ;  under  the  cap,  6|  inch. 

The  original  spire,  destroyed  by  lightning  in  1733,  was  21  feet  8  inches  lower  than 
the  present  one. 


332   WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

tectural  subjects,  namely,  Mr.  Fergusson,  who  in  his  admirable 
Handbook  of  Architecture,  mentions  the  spire  of  Chichester  cathe- 
dral as  being  of  "  a  more  pleasing  outline  than  that  at  Salisbury, 
*'  though  rising  only  to  271  feet  in  height.  The  angle  at  the  summit 
"  is  about  13  degrees.  At  Salisbury,  Norwich,  Louth,  and  generally 
'*  in  all  the  tallest  English  spires,  it  is  only  10  degrees,^  which  is 
*'  certainly  too  slender.  On  the  continent,  in  the  best  examples,  as 
**at  Cologne,  Friburgh,  and  others,  it  is  about  15  or  16  degrees, 
"  which,  unless  the  spire  is  of  open  work,  or  very  much  ornamented, 
"is  on  the  other  hand  too  low.  The  spires  at  Chichester  and 
"Lichfield  vary  from  12  to  13  degrees,  or  a  mean  between  the 
"  English  and  the  continental  spires  ;  and  from  this  circumstance 
"  are  more  pleasing  than  either." 

The  re-arrangement  of  the  interior  of  the  church  in  1850,  was 
not  carried  out  with  taste,  the  nave  being  filled  with  pews,  and  an 
unsightly  pulpit  placed  against  the  north-east  pier,  at  an  extravagant 
elevation,  with  a  reading-box  of  similar  design,  and  almost  high 
enough  for  a  pulpit,  on  the  opposite  side.  The  funds  were  not 
sufiicient  to  admit  of  a  thorough  restoration  of  the  fabric,  which  is 
much  to  be  desired — the  walls  being  in  a  bad  state,  and  the  win- 
dows having  either  very  bad  tracery,  or  no  tracery  at  all.  The 
money  expended  upon  the  paltry  organ-case,  &c.,  would  have  been 
much  better  employed  in  defraying  the  cost  of  removing  the  paint 
ofi"  the  timbers  of  the  nave  roof,  and  picking  out  the  bosses  with 
colour.  The  piers  and  arches  are  also  covered  with  repeated  coats 
of  colour  wash. 

This  parish  possesses  some  old  parochial  account  books ;  one  of 
which  is  entitled  "  The  booke  of  the  accomptes  of  the  church- 
"  wardens  of  the  parishe  of  St.  Andrews  within  the  cittie  of  Worcester 
"made  and  begonne  this  present  year  of  0^  Lord  God  1587,  beynge 
"  the  thirtieth  yeare  of  the  ralgne  of  o^  sov'aigne  ladie  Queene 
"Elizabeth."  It  ends  with  1631,  and  contains  many  interesting 
particulars  relating  to  the  customs  of  the  period,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing, bearing  more  especially  upon  the  fabric  and  services  of  the 
church,  are  examples.-^° 

It  appears  that  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  the  seats  in  the 
church  were  let,  at  the  rate  of  from  6d.  to  Is.  per  annum  each  sit- 
ting, and  in  some  cases  a  man  and  his  wife  are  charged  three 
shillings.  When  people  moved  from  their  seats  to  others,  they  were 
charged  4d.  for  each  removal.  The  church  was  whitewashed  at 
Easter  eve,  at  a  charge  of  seven  shilhngs  each  time.  In  1600, 
43s.  was  "  laid  out  in  bildinge  ye  new  porch ;"  and  four  years  after- 
wards, 5s.  "  for  painting  the  King's  Arms."  In  1589  occurs  this 
item  :  "  Laide  out  on  the  singinge  men  of  the  Colledge  for  hearing 
the  tune  of  the  belles,  6d."     It  was  ordered  in  1595  that  the  bella 

(9)  In  S.  Andrew's  spire  the  angle  is  about  seven  degrees. 

(10)  For  these  and  other  extracts  from  the  old  parochial  records,  I  am  indebted  to  Mr. 
Noake's  "  Notes  and  Queries  for  Worcestershire ;"  a  work  containing  much  interesting 
matter  respecting  the  "manners  and  customs"  of  our  ancestors,  folk-lore.  &c. 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  333 

should  be  "  charged  at  every  churching  and  wedding,  by  consent 
"  as  aforesaid, — 4d.  at  every  churching,  and  6d.  at  every  wedding  ;" 
those  who  did  not  reside  in  the  parish  were  to  "  paye  towards  the 
reparation  of  the  belles  xii^-"  at  their  wedding.  The  following  entry 
occurs  in  16 '2 5  : — 

"  Paid  by  Mr.  Maior's  appointment  for  ringinge  when  there 
*'  was  speeche  betwixt  our  King  Charles  and  the  French  ladye, 
"2s.  6d." 

About  the  year  1590  the  following  inventory  was  made  "  of  such 
*'  stuffe  as  remayneth  in  the  p'rish  church  of  St.  Andrew  at  the 
*'  accompt  of  John  Hiller  and  Thomas  Hemynge,  at  the  daye  of 
*'  choseing  wardens — A  Bible,  ii  books  of  Omilies,  a  book  of  Comon 
"  Prayer,  a  book  of  Iniuncons,  The  Paraphraces,  Emasculus 
"  Comon  Places,  a  Comunion  cuppe  and  a  cover,  a  surples,  a  cloath 
*'  for  ye  Comunion  table,  ii  church  pawles  with  two  pillowes,  a 
*'  Comunion  table  with  a  frame  and  a  carpet  for  the  same,  iii 
*' joyned  fearms,  ii  long  and  on  short,  on  longe  forme  with  iv  feet, 
"  a  coffer  with  a  locke  and  a  keye,  a  great  cheste  with  ii  locks,  the 
*•  poor  men's  boxe  with  ii  locks  and  keyes,  ii  long  laddars  of  the 
"  parishes,  ii  other  laddars,  on  for  the  clocke  and  the  other  for  the 
*'  steeple,  a  dext  with  a  frame,  sixe  bells  with  a  clock,  chimes,  and 
*'  the  whole  furniture  thereunto  belonging,  ii  bears,  the  rej ester 
**  book  (the  parson  hath  it.") 

In  1610  a  "  Communion  table  with  a  form  "  was  bought  for 
6s.  4d.,  and  in  1616  three  benches  were  ordered  for  the  Commu- 
nion table,  at  a  cost  of  6d.  The  churchyard  was  consecrated  by 
Bishop  Thornborough  in  1635. 

This  church  was  anciently  impropriate  to  the  Abbey  of  Pershore  ; 
it  is  now  in  the  patronage  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Worcester. 

The  churches  erected  during  the  last  century  are,  as  might  be 
supposed,  in  the  Anglo-Italian  style,  then  so  prevalent;  and 
although  we  cannot  admire  them  as  examples  of  ecclesiastical 
architecture,  it  is  impossible  not  to  respect  the  spirit  displayed  by 
the  parishioners  in  rebuilding  their  decayed  parish  churches  in  so 
solid  and  durable  a  manner,  and  in  furnishing  them  with  such 
substantial  fittings.  Even  in  an  architectural  point  of  view,  these 
edifices  contrast  favourably  with  the  more  modern  erections  of 
S.  Clement,  S.  George,  and  S.  Peter. 

S.  Nicholas',  S.  Swithin's,  and  All  Saints',  were  built  between  ' 
17Q.8  and  1749,  from  the  designs  of  Mr.  White,  a  native  of  this 
city,  and  a  pupil  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren.  They  have  a  general 
resemblance  to  each  other,  both  in  style  and  arrangement ;  and 
not  one  of  them  has  a  chancel,  but  simply  a  recessed  sanctuary. 
The  arrangement  of  the  pews  in  these  churches  is  very  bad  ;  those 
on  the  sides  being  raised  one  above  another,  and  made  to  face 
north  and  south — as  though  the  chief  object  in  going  to  church 
were  to  gaze  at  your  fellow-worshippers. 

The  tower  of  the  old  church  of  S.  S within  remains,  the  eastern 
buttresses  projecting  into  the  body  of  the  present  edifice.  It  has, 
however,  been  cased,  and  otherwise  altered :    so  that  little  more 

VOL.  IV.  PT.  II.  u  u 


334   WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

than  its  original  outline  can  now  be  traced.  Green  states — on 
what  authority  I  know  not — that  "  the  tower  of  the  old  church 
'was  octagonal,  with  a  castellated  or  embattled  top  ;"  if  so,  it  must 
have  been  a  lantern,  like  All  Saints',  York,  and  the  grand  example 
at  Boston. 

The  Venetian  east  window  was  filled  with  stained  glass  a  few 
years  ago ;  it  was  executed  by  Rogers,  from  a  design  by  the  late 
Mr.  Eginton.  In  the  centre  light  are  three  medallions,  contain- 
ing the  Nativity,  Baptism,  and  the  Last  Supper.  The  Evangelistic 
symbols  are  represented  in  the  side  lights. 

The  pulpit  is  of  richly-carved  oak,  and  has  a  heavy  sounding-board, 
surmounted  by  a  gilt  "  pelican  in  her  piety."  The  Holy  Table  is 
a  marble  slab  with  wrought  iron  supports. 

This  church  would  be  greatly  improved  by  substituting  open 
seats  for  the  high  pews,  putting  the  organ  over  the  east  doorway, 
and  arranging  the  space  between  the  pulpit  and  the  altar  rails  for 
the  clergy  and  choir.  The  tower  contains  a  set  of  chimes,  but 
they  have  been  silent  for  many  years.  The  bells,  however,  appear 
to  have  pealed  forth  their  joyous  notes  on  ever}'  occasion,  judging 
from  tbe  following  entries  in  the  churchwardens'  account  book : — 

"  1088— May  29.— Wringing  for  the  birth  of  the  Prince  of 
*'  Wales,  10s. 

"  Paid  for  the  discharging  of  the  bishopps,  10s. 
"  July. — Wringing  on  the  day  of  the  late  King's  nativity,  5s. 
"  Wringing  for  proclaiming  the  King  an  Queen,  £1. 
"  At  ye  news  from  Ireland,  2s." 

The  parson  of  S.  Swithin's  was  confessor  to  the  nuns  of  the 
White  Ladies,  for  which  service  he  had  lands  given  him  belonging 
to  that  house  in  Claines,  where  the  parishioners  formerly  went 
"  a  processioning."  He  had  also  a  portion  of  the  tithes  of  Claines, 
the  nunnery  being  situated  in  that  parish. 

The  patronage  belongs  to  the  Dean  and  Chapter ;  before  the 
Dissolution  it  was  in  the  gift  of  the  Prior  and  Convent  of  S.  Mary's. 

S.  Nicholas  was  rebuilt  under  the  authority  of  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment in  1728-30,  and  cost  £3,345.  The  lofty  campanile  at  the 
west  end  is  a  good  example  of  the  Anglo-Italian  style,  and  forms  a 
pleasing  feature  in  the  general  view  of  the  city.  The  interior  of 
the  church  presents  nothing  worthy  of  remark,  except  the  wretched 
theatrical  arrangement  of  the  pews  and  galleries  ;  the  latter  were 
erected  in  1813,  and  extend  round  three  sides  of  the  building.  In 
1857  a  parishioner  liberally  defrayed  the  cost  of  filling  the  east 
windows  with  stained  glass  containing  representations  of  sacred 
symbols,  &c.  The  execution  of  these  windows  cannot,  unfortu- 
nately, be  mentioned  with  commendation. 

The  floor  of  the  previous  church  forms  the  floor  of  the  present 
crypt,  the  hinges  of  the  old  entrance  door  still  remaining. 

The  bells  were  cast  at  Bromsgrove  in  1715. 

Considerable  expense  appears  to  have  been  incurred  in  repair- 
ing and  altering  the  old  church,  before  it  was  determined  to  erect 
a  new  one.      Thus  the  parish  account  books  record  various  dis- 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  335 

bursements  for  repairs,  more  or  less  extensive,  in  1682-85-86  and 
'90.  In  1697  a  gallery  was  put  up,  the  four  front  seats  of  which 
were  "  put  in  order  and  matted  fitt  for  ye  gentlewomen  to  sit  in." 
Two  years  afterwards,  the  vestry  was  "  removed  to  the  next  pillar  ;" 
and  in  1707  another  gallery  was  erected  under  the  west  window  ; 
it  was  also  ordered  "  that  the  pulpit,  seats,  and  font  be  removed 
and  made  more  convenient." 

The  expense  of  the  new  church  was  defrayed  by  rates,  and  by 
borrowing  money  as  annuities  and  at  common  interest.  Mr. 
Sandys  and  Mr.  Mence  gave  £100  each  for  having  conveyed  and 
assured  to  them  the  two  galleries  on  each  side  of  the  tower  ;  Alder- 
man Weston  likewise  gave  £'20  for  a  seat  under  the  south  window 
next  the  tower.  The  vestry  ordered  that  the  £20  given  by  Mr. 
Asliby  for  preaching  a  sermon  on  Good  Friday  be  laid  out  in 
building  a  wall  and  enclosing  the  churchyard !  The  churchyard 
formerly  extended  westward  as  far  as  the  pavement  now  does ;  and . 
the  print  of  this  church  in  Green's  Survey  of  Worcester  represents . 
it  surrounded  by  iron  railings.  These  were  removed,  and  the 
space  thrown  into  the  street  nearly  a  century  ago. 

All  Saints'  is  considerably  larger  than  the  two  last  mentioned 
churches,  affording  accommodation  for  about  860  people ;  it  also 
differs  from  them  in  having  aisles,  which  are  divided  from  the  nave 
by  lofty  Doric  columns,  supporting  an  entablature  and  cornice. 
The  ceiling  of  the  nave  is  semi-circular ;  the  aisles  have  plain  fiat 
plaster  ceilings.  The  east  window,  by  Rogers,  contains  large  figures 
of  Our  Blessed  Lord,  S.  Peter,  and  S.  Paul.  The  pulpit  is  formed 
of  old  oak,  with  carvings  of  sacred  subjects  in  the  panels.  Before 
the  present  pulpit  and  desk  were  put  up  by  the  late  rector  a  "  three- 
decker  "  stood  in  the  middle  passage  of  the  nave.  The  reredos  is 
ornamented  with  Corinthian  pilasters,  and  has  on  the  top  carved 
representations  of  candlesticks,  with  candles  ;  they  likewise  occurred 
—with  a  cross  between  them — at  S.  Swithin's,  but  these  were  re- 
moved when  the  reredos  was  lowered  for  the  purpose  of  showing 
the  lower  portion  of  the  painted  window.  It  is  singular  that  these 
ornaments  should  have  been  introduced  in  such  an  anti-symbolical 
age  as  the  early  part  of  the  18th  century.  They  were  evidently  not 
then  regarded  with  such  suspicion  and  aversion  as  many  well- 
meaning  people  feel  towards  them  at  the  present  day.  Green  tells 
us  that  "  on  each  side  of  the  communion  is  a  plain  pilaster,  on  a 
pedestal,  painted  in  imitation  of  fluting,  and  is  indeed  a  pretty  de- 
ception.""  This  "  pretty  deception  "  has,  1  am  happy  to  say,  long 
since  disappeared." 

The  tower  contains  a  good  peal  of  ten  bells,  is  three  stages  in 
height,  and  is  terminated  with  a  balustraded  parapet,  having  urns 
at  the  angles.  The  lower  stage  is  the  only  portion  of  the  old  church 
that  has  been  preserved.     It  has  a  good  four-light  Third-pointed 

(11)  Architectural  "deceptions"  would  appear  to  be  still  in  favour  at  Worcester, 
judging  from  the  zeal  with  which  the  numerous  examples  at  the  new  cemetery  buildmgs 
have  been  defended;  though  it  cannot  be  said  of  the  majority  of  these,  that  they  are  even 
".pretty." 


336    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

west  window,  and  communicates  with  the  nave  by  a  lofty  well  pro- 
portioned pointed  arch.  Over  the  east  window  on  the  outside,  is  a 
bust  of  Bishop  Hough,  who  gave  £1,000  towards  rebuilding  the 
church.  At  the  east  end  of  the  south  aisle  is  a  monument  to 
Edward  Hurdman,  the  last  bailiff  and  the  first  mayor  of  Worcester, 
and  his  wife  ;  they  are  represented  kneeling  at  a  desk,  the  former 
in  his  robes  of  office.     He  died  in  1621. 

The  organ  gallery,  which  now  blocks  up  the  tower  arch,  should 
be  removed,  and  the  organ  placed  at  the  east  end  of  one  of  the 
aisles,  the  eastern  bay  of  the  nave  being  fitted  up  for  the  choir. 

The  north  side  of  the  church  was  entirely  hidden  from  view  by 
a  row  of  houses  till  within  the  last  few  years.  The  site  is  now  en- 
closed with  ornamental  iron  fencing  and  brick  piers,  designed  by 
Mr.  TrQefitt. 

Hugh  de  Saye,  baron  of  Burford,  was  anciently  patron  of  this 
church  ;  it  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  the  Talbots,  lords 
of  Richard's  Castle,  from  whom  it  passed  to  Sir  William  Lucy,  and 
thence  to  the  families  of  Vaulx,  and  Actons  (of  Ribbesford).  One  of 
the  latter  sold  it  together  with  Cotheridge  to  Mr.  William  Berkeley, 
from  whom  it  was  purchased  by  certain  merchants,  whose  traffic  in 
patronages  being  found  unlawful,  it  was  forfeited  to  the  crown. 

No  pictorial  representations  of  the  edifices  which  preceded  the 
three  churches  just  described  are  known  to  exist ;  nor  have  any 
descriptions  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  judge  of  their  architectural 
character  come  down  to  us.  Habington,  however,  has  recorded  a 
few  interesting  particulars  respecting  All  Saints.'  "  The  chancel 
of  this  church,"  he  says,  "  being  spacious  and  fair,  was  built  by  a 
parson  of  this  parish,  a  work  worthy  of  so  good  a  man,  and  exceed- 
ing almost  the  power  of  so  ordinary  a  rectory,  whose  name  being 
broken  out  in  the  glass,  is,  I  hope,  recorded  in  Heaven." 

The  broken  inscription  referred  to  was  in  the  east  window,  and 
ran  as  follows  :  "  Ecclesia  hujiis  rector  Hogerus  Gowur  cognomijie 
vocitatis  cancelliim  struxit,  hunc  texit,  vitrogue  duxit.  This  Roger 
Gowur  resigned  the  benefice  in  1468  ;  consequently  the  chancel 
must  have  been  of  the  Third-pointed  style.  We  know  that  the  tower 
dates  from  the  same  period ;  and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  whole  church  was  then  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  entirely, 
rebuilt.  Besides  the  above  inscription,  the  east  window  contained 
the  arms  of  Mortimer,  Talbot,  Spetchesley,  Berkeley,  &c. ;  it  was 
also  adorned  with  Evangelists,  Prophets,  Martyrs,  Confessors,  and 
holy  women.  The  aisle  windows  were  likewise  emblazoned  with 
the  arms  of  benefactors.^^  A  few  fragments  only  of  this  glass  have 
escaped  destruction,  and  may  be  seen  in  the  east  windows  of  the 
aisles, 

S.  Martin's  church  was  rebuilt  in  1773,  at  the  cost  of  £2,215, 
from  the  designs  of  Mr.  Anthony  Keck,  who  was  also  architect  of 
the  Infirmary.  Both  the  tower  and  the  body  of  the  building  are 
built  of  blue  brick,  on  a  stone  basement ;  have  round  headed  win- 
dows, and  stone  dressings.     The  nave  is  separated  from  the  aisles 

(12)  Nash's  History  of  Worcestershire. 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  337 

by  eight  stone  columns  of  the  Ionic  order,  with  plaster  entablatures, 
from  which  springs  the  plaster  groining  of  the  aisles.  The  ceiling 
of  the  nave  is  flat,  having  an  ugly  centre  piece,  and  four  ventilators. 
There  is  a  shallow  sanctuary,  and  the  east  window  was  an  unsightly 
opening  filled  with  a  wretched  glass  transparency  of  the  Crucifixion. 
The  fittings  were  good  of  their  kind,  and  included  high  oak  pews, 
a  lofty  mahogany  pulpit  and  sounding-board,  and  a  large  desk  be- 
neath. A  western  gallery,  and  one  at  the  east  end  of  each  aisle 
were  subsequently  erected. 

In  1855  Mr.  Hopkins  was  commissioned  to  re-arrange  and 
otherwise  improve  this  unpromising  edifice ;  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  has  been  effected  affords  a  convincing  proof  that  churches 
of  this  style  may  be  commodiously  arranged,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
have  an  ecclesiastical  appearance.  The  pulpit  and  pews  have  been 
lowered,  the  eastern  galleries  removed,  the  sanctuary  arch  raised, 
and  a  chorus  cantorum  arranged  at  the  east  end  of  the  nave.  But 
the  boldest,  and  I  think  the  most  successful  alteration  was  the  in- 
troduction of  a  rich  Gothic  east  window. 

The  opening  is  round-headed,  so  as  to  harmonize  with  the  gene- 
ral lines  of  the  building ;  within  this  is  a  band  of  quatrefoils,  en- 
closing three  trefoil-headed  lights  and  a  traceried  wheel.  It  con- 
tains one  of  Hardman's  most  successful  works  in  stained  glass,  the 
drawing  being  good,  and  the  colours  brilliant  and  harmonious. 
The  Ascension  is  represented  in  the  lower  part  of  the  window  ;  the 
wheel  contains  the  different  orders  of  Angels  ;  and  the  quatrefoils 
are  filled  with  Prophets  and  emblems.  This  window  was  erected 
as  a  memorial  of  the  late  Rev.  Allen  Wheeler,  formerly  rector  of  the 
parish,  and  father  of  the  present  incumbent. 

The  rei'edos  corresponds  in  style  with  the  window,  and  is  en- 
riched with  has  reliefs  in  stone  ;  that  in  the  centre  being  within  a 
vesica-shaped  panel,  and  representing  the  Crucifixion,  on  each  side 
of  which  are  quatrefoils  containing  the  four  Evangelists.  The  east 
window  of  the  south  aisle  w^as  put  up  to  the  memory  of  the  late 
Eev.  James  Colville  ;  it  represents  the  Transfiguration,  and  was 
executed  by  ]\Ir.  Preedy,  of  this  city.  The  organ  stands  at  the  east 
end  of  the  north  aisle  ;  the  pipes  are  diapered  and  arranged  in  their 
natural  order ;  the  supports  on  each  side  being  surmounted  by 
kneeling  angels.  The  elegant  brass  altar  rails,  gas  standards,  and 
brackets  were  supplied  by  Mr.  Skidmore. 

It  is  recorded  in  the  register  of  this  parish  that  in  the  22nd  year 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign,  "  John  Wilkinson,  the  parson,"  licensed 
one  Thomas  Heywood  to  eat  flesh  during  Lent,  "  he  beinge  very 
sicke  in  body  ;"  and  that  at  the  time  of  the  Usurpation  many  people 
were  married  by  justices  of  the  peace,  after  "  being  publickelie  pro- 
claimed 3  severall  dayes,  in  3  severall  weekes,  in  ye  market-plase  of 
ye  said  cittie,  according  to  ye  acctt  of  parlment."  ^ 

The  Rev.  Benj.  Lane  bequeathed  £300  for  the  purpose  of  finish- 
ing the  tower,  which  contains  a  peal  of  six  bells. 

The  old  church  of  S.   Martin  is  said  to  have  been  constructed 

(13)  The  Rambler  in  Worcestershire,  by  John  Noake,  vol.  i.,  p.  73. 


338     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

chiefly  of  wood.  A  rude  print  of  it  is  given  in  Green's  "  Survey  of 
Worcester,'"  from  which  it  appears  to  have  had  three  equal  gables  to 
the  east,  and  also  three  on  the  south  side,  with  a  timber  porch 
having  a  room  over  it. 

The  modern  churches  are  of  inferior  and  uninteresting  character. 
S.  Clement's,  S.  George's,  and  S.  Peter's  have  each  a  wide  nave, 
small  altar  recess,  and  tower. 

The  former  is  intended  to  be  in  the  Norman  style,  but  is  utterly 
unlike  an  ancient  building  of  that  period.  The  windows  are  about 
double  the  length  of  a  cathedral  of  this  style,  and  the  west  front, — 
meant  to  be  very  grand,  with  its  three  recessed  doorways,  enriched 
with  shafts,  zigzag  and  other  mouldings,  &c., — is  unfortunately  all 
in  compo. 

A  monument  has  recently  been  erected  here  to  the  memory  of 
the  late  Rev.  John  Davies,  for  42  years  the  esteemed  rector  of  this 
parish.  It  is  in  the  Romanesque  style,  from  a  design  by  Mr.  True- 
fitt,  and  is  composed  principally  of  Caen  stone.  Green  marble 
columns,  with  carved  alabaster  capitals,  support  a  semi-circular 
arch  and  pediment,  beneath  which  is  a  large  open  bible,  surmounted 
by  an  angel  sculptured  in  white  marble,  pointing  with  one  hand  to 
the  book  and  with  the  other  to  heaven. 

S.  George's,  built  in  1830,  is  a  miserable  structure.  The 
windows  are  ugly  brick  openings,  entirely  destitute  of  tracery,  except 
at  the  west  end,  where  they  are  in  two  tiers,  after  the  style  of  a 
national  school  of  twenty  years  back.  The  west  end  facing  the 
square  is  cased  with  stone ;  the  sides,  being  but  little  seen,  are 
colour-washed  ;  whilst  the  east  end,  being  only  visible  from  a  back 
lane,  is  left  in  unadorned  red  brick  ;  the  whole  affording  an  instance 
of  the  false  principle  in  architecture  of  confining  all  ornamentation 
to  that  portion  of  a  building  which  is  visible  from  the  principal 
approach. 

S.  Paul's,  as  erected  in  1836,  was  a  small  structure,  having  large 
square-headed  windows  at  the  sides,  and  a  short  tower  at  the  east 
end,  corbelling  out  after  the  manner  of  the  tower  at  Sudeley  chapel. 
A  chancel  and  transept  have  subsequently  been  added,  but  it  pos- 
sesses no  feature  calling  for  particular  notice. 

S.  Peter's  was  rebuilt  in  1838  at  an  expense  of  about  £4,000, 
of  which  sum  the  late  John  Nash,  Esq.,  contributed  £1,700,  and  it 
is  now  proposed  to  fill  one  of  the  windows  with  painted  glass  to  his 
memory.  It  is  simply  a  large  brick  room,  lighted  by  great  Debased 
Gothic  windows  ;  and,  although  it  has  only  been  built  twenty  years, 
a  considerable  sum  has  lately  been  expended  in  repairing  the  roof, 
which  was  in  danger  of  falling  in. 

The  following  monumental  inscription  is  a  rather  curious  ex- 
ample of  the  biographical  style  of  epitaph  :  "  T.  Warner,  Gent., 
"born  in  this  parish,  1711,  whose  inclination  for  the  sea,  which  began 
"to  dawn  at  a  very  early  period  of  life,  was  first  gratified  a. d,  1726, 
"in  the  Bristol  Channel,  and  from  thence  he  travelled  for  some  years 
"in  the  King's  and  merchant's  service,  in  the  Mediterranean  seas  and 
"Archipelago,  after  which,  being  persuaded  to  go  to  the  East  Indies 


From  "  Green's  Survey  of    Worcester,"  1764. 


^t,   i:i4a^rst    MoxcnUx. 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  339 

"as  a  lieutenant  in  the  Marine  service  at  Bombay,  he  soon  got  the 
"command  of  a  ship  under  the  Hon.  Charles  IJouchier,  Governor  of 
"that  part ;  from  which  he  returned  to  London,  and,  a.d.  1701,  was 
"appointed  assistant  master  attendant  on  shipping  for  the  Hon.  East 
"  India  Company.  In  this  station  he  continued  to  the  satisfaction  of 
"his  employers  till  a.d.  1785,  when  he  resigned,  and  by  the  persua- 
"sion  of  his  fam.ily  returned  to  this  city,  where  he  became  subject  to 
''many  disorders  he  never  before  experienced,  and  to  which  he  fell  a 
''victim,  January  8th,  1790,  aged  78." 

This  church  was  originally  dedicated  to  S.S.  Perpetua  and 
Felicitas;  but  on  the  25th  April,  1420,  the  parishioners  obtained 
a  faculty  to  alter  it  to  S.  Peter.  Bishop  Wakefield  appropriated  it  to 
the  Abbey  of  Pershore ;  at  the  Dissolution  the  patronage  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  of  Worcester. 

The  old  church  consisted  of  chancel  and  nave,  each  having  aisles 
under  separate  gables  :  and  a  tower  to  the  north  of  the  north  aisle, 
the  lower  story  forming  a  porch.  The  chancel  contained  the  only 
example  of  a  piscina  I  have  met  with  amongst  the  Worcester 
churches. 

S.  Michael's  in  Bedwardine  was  rebuilt  in  1849,  from  the  de- 
signs of  the  late  Mr.  Eginton,  and  is  a  far  better  example  of  a 
modern  church  than  those  before  described,  though  it  presents  too 
much  the  appearance  of  being  a  reduced  copy  of  a  much  larger 
edifice.  It  stands  7iorth  and  south,  and  in  consequence  of  houses 
abutting  against  the  sides,  it  has  windows  at  the  ends  only  ;  those 
to  the  north  (the  altar  end)  are  filled  with  stained  glass.  The 
arcaded  reredos  is  also  enriched  with  colour.  The  aisles  are  ex- 
ceedingly narrow,  and  are  divided  from  the  nave  by  arcades  of  three 
pointed  arches  resting  on  clustered  piers  with  moulded  capitals. 
The  roofs  are  high  pitched,  but  the  architect  appears  to  have  been 
afraid  to  show  them  internally,  so  put  a  panelled  plaster  ceiling  over 
the  nave,  and  plain  flat  ones  over  the  aisles. 

The  old  church  of  S.  Michael  stood  near  the  north-east  angle 
of  the  cathedral,  the  east  wall  of  the  ancient  clocherium  or  bell- 
tower  of  the  cathedral  forming  the  west  wall  of  the  church.  It  was 
a  simple  parallelogram,  of  the  First-pointed  period,  with  windows 
of  later  date,  and  a  wood  and  plaster  gabled  tower  on  the  north 
side,  through  which  was  the  principal  entrance. 

The  records  of  this  parish  go  back  to  the  year  1543,  and  are 
particularly  interesting  in  consequence  of  the  particulars  they  con- 
tain relating  to  the  changes  which  took  place  in  the  ceremonies, 
&c.,  of  the  church  during  the  progress  of  the  Reformation. 

Several  entries  occur  of  the  expenses  connected  with  the 
ceremonials  of  the  Easter  sepulchre.  The  clerk  was  paid  2d.  for 
watching  on  Easter  eve,  and  also  was  presented  with  a  pair  of 
gloves.  "  Tacketts,  pynnes,  and  thrydde,  to  dresse  the  sepulchre," 
were  charged  2d.,  and  4d.  for  the  labour  of  dressing.  Arras 
tapestry  hangings  or  curtains  were  provided  for  the  tomb,  large  wax 
lights  and  flowers  were  arranged  on  the  altars,  and  the  rood  was  also 
lit  up  and  decorated  with  flowers,  as  were  the  niches  containing  figures 


340       WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

of  saints.  Oil,  frankincense,  and  robes  are  charged  for  in  the 
accounts,  the  Ughting  of  the  rood  and  sepulchre  amounting  to 
7s.  Id.;  for  making  25lbs.  of  wax,  12d.;  and  for  flowers  for  the 
tapers  and  rood  light,  2d.  (worth  2s.  6d.  now.)  There  is  likewise 
an  entry  of  2d.  paid  for  "  nayles  and  pynnes  for  the  sepulter  on 
Palme  Sunday,  and  wyer  for  the  curteynes  for  the  sepulter  at 
Easter."  The  following  were  the  charges  for  solemnising  the  ob- 
sequies of  Henry  VIII : — 

'•  AT  THE  KYNG's  HTGHNES  DIEIGE  AND  MASSE. 

Item  forfyve  tapers xd. 

Item  a  masse id. 

Item  for  mendynge  of  the  here  and  herse  iid. 

Item  for  the  colon  rynge  of  two  wodden  canstycks 

blacke    iid. 

Item  for  brede  and  ale  for  the  ryngers  then   ivd. 

Item  for  ryngynge    vid. 

Item  for  two  papers  of  the  kynges  armes  to  set  on 

the  kyng's  herse    iiid. " 

After  the  accession  of  Edward  VI,  one  John  Davyes  was  em- 
ployed to  '•  hewe  downe  the  seates  of  the  images  in  the  church  and 
to  whytelyme  it,"  for  which  he  received  15d. ;  "  an  ares  cov'yng 
wh.  was  used  at  the  sepulter"  was  sold  for  6s.  8d.  ;  the 
lamp  and  censer,  weighing  201b,  for  4s. ;  "  two  standerdes 
of  brasse,  two  cansticks,  and  a  tynacle  of  brasse  for  holly 
water,  weying  31b,,"  14s. ;  "  a  cappe  crosst,"  2s. ;  a  platter, 
I8d.  ;  "a  holy  w^ater  pott  of  led,  and  certein  organne  pypes  of  led, 
weying  half  c.  and  I21b.,"  2s.  lOd;  for  "  131b.  of  pewter  of  organne 
pypes  and  shells  for  tapers,  at  2d.  a  lb.,"  2s.  2d. ;  the  organs,  the 
"  fayle  and  old  clothes  to  cover  the  saynts,"  the  tables  that  stood 
on  each  side  of  the  altars,  the  "  trymmer  "  of  the  high  altar,  the 
altars  themselves,  and  all  their  appointments  were  taken  away.  A 
man  was  engaged  to  "  write  the  Scriptures  and  paint  the  church 
at  2d.  the  yard."  The  following  inventory  of  the  church  goods  was 
was  made  in  the  fifth  year  of  King  Edward  :  — 

'*  A  chalice,  two  pattens,  the  cover  of  a  pyx,  foot  of  a  silver 
cross,  a  crucifix  that  was  on  the  cover  of  the  pyx,  a  little  silver  bowl, 
the  little  bowl  of  the  pyx  that  the  crucifix  stood  on,  six  pieces  of 
silver  and  gylt,  and  a  little  image  of  S.  Michael  of  silver  gylt,  a 
little  bell  without  a  clapp,  two  brasen  canstycks,  two  painted  clothes, 
a  pawle  of  silk,  two  sirplices  for  children,  two  aubs,  a  table  cloth, 
five  towels,  the  parson's  sirplice  and  the  clerk's  sirplice,  a  course 
pawle,  and  here  cloths." 

During  Queen  Mary's  reign  charges  were  again  made  for  the 
pascal  taper,  wax  frankincense,  and  charcoal  in  Lent.  Mr.  Blunt's 
man  was  remunerated  "  for  his  paines  when  he  sett  the  cross  and 
the  rest  of  the  stuffe  ;"  Father  Charlemayne  was  paid  6d.  for  mend- 
ing the  crysmatory  ;  7d.  was  charged  for  chains  for  the  censer ; 
and  "  Raffe  Pynner  "  mended  the  pyx. 

The  Queen's  death  does  not  appear  to  have  been  much  regretted, 
for  the  parish  only  spent  9d.   *'  for  quene  majesty's  obit."     After 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  341 

this  event,  6cl.  was  paid  for  taking  down  the  high  aUar,  and  3s. 
"for  paving  the  i:)lace  and  making  clear  of  it."  In  1561,  the  rood 
loft  was  pulled  down  and  sold  for  3s.  ;  and  another  inventory  of 
the  church  goods  was  taken  as  follows  : — 

"  A  processional,  the  portuas  in  two  parts  for  the  whole  year,  a 
missal,  a  manual,  a  book  for  christening  and  burying,  a  pall  lyned, 
and  a  old  pall  onlyned,  an  old  vestment  of  silk,  a  front  of  an  alter 
of  red  and  white  satten,  with  tlourdelich,  two  albes,  two  sirplices  for 
children,  a  little  pillow  of  green,  two   towels   with  blew  thredd,  a 

bible,  a  book  of  comon ,  six  stoles  for  the  neck  and  arm,  a 

book  of  the  paraphrasis,  two  parells  for  albes,  a  lamp,  and  certaine 
pieces  of  an  old  lamp,  two  iron  roddes  with  stocky nns  upon  them, 
and  two  curteins  of  red  and  yellow,  the  pastall  tapur  and  eight 
endes  of  other  tapers,  the  sepultre  without  a  hedd,  a  cross  cloth  of 
green  silk,  a  corp —  case,  a  chalis  and  patten,  two  table  cloths,  two 
surplises  for  men,  one  old  cloth  to  cover  the  com'n  bord." 

A  "  cupp  and  pott  for  the  com'n  bord"  was  purchased  in  1566 
at  a  cost  of  3s.,  and  6d.  for  the  carriage  of  it  from  London.  The 
*'  frame  where  our  little  bell  hanged"  was  taken  down  in  1580. 
Fifteen  years  later,  the  old  Bible  was  sold  for  7s.  9d.,  and  the  old 
Communion  book  for  3s.  4d.,  "  a  newe  fayer  Englishe  bible  of  the 
last  translacon  authorised  in  the  church"  being  purchased  for  16s., 
and  a  new  Communion  book  for  6s.  8d.  Sittings  in  the  church 
were  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  from  4d.  to  6d.  a  year  each.  In  1567, 
a  Mr.  Doctor  gave  5s.  for  a  seat  "which  the  parishioners  promised 
should  remain  to  his  house  for  ever."  An  early  instance  of  the 
illegal  practice  of  selling  the  right  to  pews  in  parish  churches. 

Mr.  Richard  Jones  was  paid  3s.  4d.  for  preaching  two  sermons 
on  Palm  Sunday  in  the  year  1624;  but  preachers  who  did  not 
belong  to  the  parish  were  usually  paid  by  treating  them  with  a 
quart  of  sack,  claret,  or  other  wine.  The  Bishop,  on  one  occasion, 
was  treated  with  a  rundlett  of  sack,  costing  £1  10s.  lOd.,  besides 
a  quart  of  sack  and  a  quart  of  white  Avine.  On  the  same  occasion 
a  silk  girdle,  costing  8s.,  was  given  to  Mr.  Parr,  one  of  the  Bishop's 
chaplains,  for  preaching  twice. 

The  living  being  of  small  value,  it  was  the  custom  for  the 
parishioners  to  make  a  present  of  40s.  annually  to  the  rector.  In 
addition  to  which,  in  the  year  16*27,  they  presented  their  parson, 
Mr.  Hoskins,  with  a  suit  of  clothes,  for  which  purpose  they  pur- 
chased, "  by  general  consent,"  five  yards  of  "  russett  kersey,"  three 
yards  of  white  cotton,  half  an  ell  of  "  russett  bays,"  an  ell  and 
quarter  of  linen  cloth,  three  dozen  buttons,  and  silk,  also  a 
sheepskin  to  make  him  pockets  ;  all  of  which,  including  the  making, 
cost  £1  5  s. 

In  1651 — the  year  of  the  celebrated  battle  of  Worcester — the 
churchwardens,  after  an  inventory  of  church  plate  and  furniture 
then  in  their  j^ossession,  say  that  "  all  the  rest  of  the  parish  goods 
were  plundered  by  General  Cromwell's  souldiers  after  the  routinge 
of  the  Scotish  army  at  Worcester  ye  4th  September  last,  viz.,  one 
flaggon,  a  pewter  pott  of  three  pints,   one  cai'pet  of  stript  stuffe, 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  TI.  w  w 


S42    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

half  silk,  being  the  gift  of  Richard  Wannerton,  one  fayre  carpet  of 
branched  green  velvet,  frindged  about  with  deep  green  frindge,  being 
the  gift  of  Nicholas  Archbold,  gent.,  one  holland  table  cloth  for  the 
com'n  table,  one  covering  of  line  holland  to  lay  q^er  the  cushion 
upon  the  com'n  table,  with  buttons  at  the  four  corners  thereof,  one 
table  napkin  of  holland  for  the  com'n  board,  two  old  velvet 
cushions."^'* 

With  the  exception  of  S.  Alban's,  S.  Michael's  is  the  smallest 
parish  in  the  city. 

Having  considered  the  architectural  history  and  antiquities  of 
the  Worcester  churches,  I  will  proceed  to  offer  a  few  remarks  on 
their  arrangement,  and  the  accommodation  which  they  afford  for 
the  attendance  of  the  poorer  classes  at  Divine  semce. 

It  is  now  generally  acknowledged  that  the  chancel  is  the  only 
proper  position  for  the  choir,  and  that  where  there  is  no  construc- 
tional chancel,  one  should  be  formed  for  this  purpose  at  the  east 
end  of  the  nave.  Churches  erected  before  the  revival  of  correct 
principles  of  arrangement — as  All  Saints,  S.  Martin's,  and  others, 
require  just  the  same  treatment  as  the  Basilicas  of  ancient  Rome 
did,  to  adapt  them  to  Christian  worship. 

Four  only  of  the  Worcester  churches  are  correctly  arranged, 
namely,  S.  Alban's,  S.  Helen's,  S.  Martin's,  and  S.  Andrew's ;  and 
the  chancel  of  the  latter  is  not  occupied  by  the  choir.  At  all  the 
other  churches  the  choir  and  organ  are  placed  in  a  gallery  at  the 
west  end.  This  is  a  most  objectionable  arrangement,  both  on 
account  of  musical  effect  and  ecclesiastical  propriety  ;  for  not  only  are 
the  choir  removed  from  under  the  eye  of  the  clergyman,  but  the 
congregation  are  naturally  led  to  look  upon  them  as  placed  merely 
to  be  listened  to,  instead  of  their  leading  the  praises  of  the  worship- 
pers. But  the  worst  arranged  churches  are  those  of  S.  Nicholas, 
S.  George,  and  S.  Clement,  where  the  ground  floors  are  blocked 
up  with  pews,  galleries  extend  round  three  sides,  and  two  equal 
pulpits  stand  on  either  side  at  the  east  end.  This  plan  of  twin 
pulpits  existed  at  S.  Peter's,  and  S.  Helen's,  till  within  the  last 
few  years.  If  it  is  thought  desirable  that  the  prayers,  as  well  as 
the  sermon,  should  be  preached  from  a  pulpit,  why  should  not  ojie 
suffice — for  what  can  be  more  absurd  than  for  the  officiating 
minister  to  descend  from  one  rostrum  and  then  immediately  mount 
another,  just  like  it,  a  few  feet  off? 

One  of  the  most  important  practical  problems  of  the  present  day 
is  to  devise  a  remedy  for  the  indifference  to  religion  manifested  by 
the  working  classes  as  a  body,  and  their  habitual  neglect  of  public 
worship.  It  becomes,  therefore,  a  matter  of  much  interest  to  inquire 
whether  the  churches  of  this  city  are  rendered  as  available  as  they 
might  be  for  the  accommodation  of  the  poor.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  in  this  respect  they  are  lamentably  deficient ;  the  areas  of  them 
being  for  the  most  part  divided  into  close  boxes,  which  are  appro- 

(U)  Notet  and  Queries  for  Worc<>ster$hire :  p.  4.  11. 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  343 

priated  to  certain  families,  who  look  upon  them  as  their  own  property. 
Those  who  most  need  religious  instruction,  are  consequently  driven 
into  passages,  galleries,  aisles,  and  other  inferior  positions ;  the 
natural  result  of  which  is  that  they  don't  come  to  church  at  all. 

Some  of  the  churches  are  tolerably  filled  in  the  evening,  but 
chiefly  by  maid  servants  and  other  females ;  there  being  but  very 
few  of  the  working  men  who  are  in  the  habit  of  attending  divine 
worship,  and  most  of  those  appear  to  prefer  the  chapels  of  Romish  or 
Protestant  Dissenters.  The  free  seats  in  the  churches  of  S.  Swithin, 
S.  Nicholas,  and  All  Saints,  are  confined  to  a  few  benches  in  the 
passages.  In  S.  John's,  a  few  sittings  in  a  gallery  and  in  the  tran- 
sept are  all  that  are  available  for  the  poor  of  that  large  parish.  In 
S.  Peter's  and  S.  Martin's,  where  the  seats  are  all  alike,  the  unap- 
propriated ones  are  placed  at  the  back  or  in  the  aisles.  The  galleries 
at  S.  Clement's  and  S.  George's  are  mostly  free;  and  S.  Paul's, 
built  esj^ecially  for  the  poorer  classes,  has  a  large  portion  of  its  sit- 
tings free.  But  the  aggregate  number  of  unappropriated  seats  is 
very  deficient,  compared  with  the  population,  or  even  with  the  pew 
accommodation. 

The  church  builders  of  the  last  century  seem  to  have  ignored 
the  existence  of  the  poor,  as  members  of  Christ's  flock.  At  all 
events,  scarcely  any  provision  was  made  for  their  attendance  in  the 
churches  erected  at  this  period — certainly  not  in  those  at  Worcester, 
for  the  introduction  of  even  the  present  limited  number  of  free 
seats  does  not  apj^ear  to  have  been  contemplated  in  the  original 
plans  ;  consequently  the  passages  are  made  so  narrow  as  to  render 
access  to  the  pews  exceedingly  inconvenient.  But  the  most  striking 
exemplification  of  the  practice  of  having  respect  to  those  rich  in  this 
world's  goods  is  furnished  by  the  following  vestry  orders,  the  utterly 
unchristian  spirit  of  which  will  be  seen  by  comparing  them  with 
Holy  Scripture : — 

Order  made  at  the  first  vestry        Holy  Scripture. "  If  there 

held  in  the  new  church  of  S.  Nicho-  "  come  into  your  assembly  a  man 

las,  1730.— The  seats  to  have  num-  "  with  a  gold  ring,  in  goodly  ap- 

bers  or  figures  put  on  them  ;  "the  **  parol,  and  there  come  in  also  a 

"  persons  to  sit  in  them  according  "  poor  man  in  vile  raiment ;  and 

'•  to  their  weekly  payments  to  the  "ye   have   respect   to   him  that 

"poor:  and  if  any  one  should  sit  "weareth  the  gay  clothing,  and 

"  in  a  seat  above  his  weekly  pay,  "  say  unto  him,  sit  thou  here  in  a 

"  he  or  she  shall  be  immediately  "  good  place ;  and  say  to  the  poor, 

"  charged  according  to  the  figure  "  stand  thou  there,  or  sit  here  un- 

*^  on  the  seat."  "  der   my  footstool:   are  ye  not 

Order  made  by  the  vestry  of  S.  "  then  partial  in  yourselves,  and 

Martins  m  1739.  "  are    become    judges    of     evil 

"  That  the  two  next  seats  to  "  thoughts  ?    Hearken,    my   be- 

**  the  mayor's  seat  be  locked  up, and  "  loved  brethren  ;  Hath  not  God 

"  that  the  clerk  of  the  parish  do  "  chosen  the  poor  of  this  world, 

"  attend  the  said  seats  upon  every  "  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the 

"  day  of  divine  seiTice,  and  not  "  kingdom  which  he  hath   pro- 


344    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

"permit  any  person  or  persons  "  mised  to  them  that  love  hhn  ? 
*'  that  do  not  pay  to  the  poor  "  But  ye  have  desjnsed  the  poor." 
•*to  seat  themselves  therem  till  8.  James,  ii.,  2,  6.  "The  rich 
"  after  the  persons  who  do  pay  as  "  and  the  poor  meet  together ; 
'*  aforesaid  are  first  seated.'^  "  the  Lord  is  the  maker  of  them 

"  all."     Proverbs,  xxii.  2. 

Such  resolutions  as  the  above  may  not  be  formally  adopted  at 
the  present  day,  but  is  not  the  principle  therein  embodied  practically 
carried  out  in  most  of  our  churches  ? 

The  laudable  effort  of  the  Dean  and  Chapter  to  remedy  to  some 
extent  this  state  of  things,  by  opening  the  nave  of  the  cathedral  for 
special  sermons  during  the  summer,  is  worthy  of  commendation  ; 
but  it  must  be  evident  that  a  sermon  once  a  week  for  three  months 
of  the  year — the  people  in  the  nave  being  debarred  by  the  solid 
organ  screen  from  joining  in  the  worship  of  the  church — must  be 
of  little  avail  in  promoting  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  classes  for 
whose  benefit  special  sermons  are  designed,  unless  it  be  followed  up 
by  increased  facilities  for  their  joining  in  public  worshijD,  If  the 
parish  churches  are  to  remain  encumbered  with  pews,  frequently 
not  half  filled,  and  the  available  accommodation  of  our  vast  and 
noble  cathedral  is  to  be  confined,  as  at  present,  to  some  300  free 
sittings,  these  sermons  will  be  of  little  yractical  utility.  One  of  the 
preachers  intimated  that  the  parochial  clergy  would  expect,  as  a  re- 
sult of  these  sermons,  to  see  their  churches  better  filled  than  they 
were  before.  Now,  suppose  that  one  thousand^^  of  the  humbler 
classes  had  been  present,  and  that  a  large  proportion  of  them  had 
taken  the  preacher's  advice  and  gone  to  his  church  and  some  of  the 
other  parish  churches — a  hundred  or  two  to  each — what  reception 
would  they  have  met  with  ?  Would  they  have  found  the  same 
accommodation  for  all,  without  regard  to  worldly  station,  with  liberty 
to  occupy  whatever  seat  they  pleased — as  at  the  cathedral — without 
being  bandied  about  by  officious  pew-openers  ?  Would  they  not 
rather  have  found  the  sacred  buildings  partitioned  off  into  high 
boxes,  carefully  g*uarded  with  doors,  and  otherwise  distingxiished  as 
private  property,  and  evidently  not  intended  for  Christ's  poor,  to 
whom  He  expressly  declared  "  the  Gospel  is  preached  ?"  The  pro- 
bability is  that  these  people  would  have  returned  home  with  the 
conviction  that  their  attendance  was  not  desired  ;  and,  under  such 
circumstances,  they  would  most  likely  give  up  the  attempt  to  avail 
themselves  of  those  ordinances  of  religion  which  the  church  has 
provided  for  the  spiritual  sustenance  of  all  her  members. 

For  this  result,   the    selfish  and  un-Christian  conduct  of  the 

(15)  Abetter  spirit  seems  to  h  ave  animated  the  Vestry  of  this  parish  a  few  years  later; 
for  in  1744  an  order  was  made  that  the  seat  in  tlie  first  aisle,  occupied  by  Captain  Eichard 
Hemming  and  his  family,  should  be  declared  void,  and  to  be  used  by  the  parishioners  ; 
and  tliat  air.  B.  Russell,  the  churchwarden,  should  take  off  all  locks  from  the  seats  in 
the  church,  except  such  as  were  held  under  a  faculty. 

(16)  That  so  large  a  number  of  the  poor  did  not  attend  cannot  be  wondered  at,  for  we 
must  not  expect  that  people  who  have  never  been  in  the  habit  of  attending  a  place  of 
worship  of  any  kind,  and  are  therefore  in  a  great  measure  ignorant  of  their  shortcomings 
in  this  respect,  will  go  at  once  to  a  cathedral,  merely  on  its  being  announced  by  hand- 
bills that  special  sermons  are  open  to  them. 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  345 

middle  and  higher  classes,  in  keeping  up  the  odious  7)610  system}''' 
must  be  held  answerable.  It  may  be  said  that  the  empty  pews 
would  be  filled  with  any  one  wishing  to  attend  ;  but  if  those  to  whom 
the  seats  are  appropriated  had  no  objection,  the  poor  would  not  feel 
at  home  in  them,  knowing  that  the  owners — as  they  are  called — 
might  at  any  time  come  themselves  ;  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  poorer  classes  are  very  sensitive  in  matters  of  this  kind. 
Depend  upon  it,  it  is  of  little  use  to  have  sermons  in  the  open  air, 
in  concert  rooms,  or  other  unauthorised  places,  so  long  as  our  con- 
secrated buildings  are  rendered  unavailable  for  the  free  worship  of 
God  by  the  system  of  appropriation.  Where  it  is  not  possible  to 
have  the  church  entirely  free,  it  should  be  arranged  so  that  the  free 
seats  might  occupy  as  good  a  position  as  the  appropriated  ones,  as 
at  Holy  Trinity,  Coventiy,  and  Holy  Trinity,  Malvern. 

The  substitution  of  open  seats  for  high  pews  is  doubtless  a 
great  gain  in  an  architectural  point  of  view ;  but  they  do  not 
effectually  prevent  the  introduction  of  the  greatest  evil  of  the  pew 
system — namety,  appropriation  ;  the  only  remedy  for  which  appears 
to  be  the  adoption  of  chairs,  as  at  S.  Peter's,  Sudbury,  where  their 
use  has  been  attended  with  most  satisfactory  results,  as  the  following 
extracts  from  the  Incumbent's  ''  Letter  to  the  Bishop  of  Ely"'^ 
testify.  Speaking  of  the  effect  of  week-day  services  in  a  pewed 
church,  he  says — 

"  The  very  aspect  of  an  appropriated  church,  with  a  sprinkling  of  people  scattered 
at  intervals  in  their  allotted  seats,  and  in  the  passages,  is  dreary  in  the  highest 
degree.  The  effect  of  a  service  under  such  circumstances  is  generally  felt  to  be 
chilling  and  depressing  ; — that  is  made  cold  and  dull  which  otherwise  would  have 

(17)  "  It  is  impossible  to  over-state  or  over-estimate  the  evil  of  the  pew  system  in  its 
"principle  or  in  its  effect.  Many  tolerated  practices  are  inconsistent  with  the  Gospel, 
"but  this  essentially  and  directly  contradicts  it.  It  fosters  and  manifests  pride,  sellish- 
"ness,  and  exclusiveness  in  the  holy  places  where,  if  at  all,  men  must  learn  to  mortify 
•'  and  cast  off  these  vices.  It  introduces  distinctions  founded  on  wealth  and  rank,  where 
"the  Bible  declares  there  are  no  such — viz.,  in  the  presence  of  God.  It  divides  into 
"  private  properties  the  House  of  God,  which  belongs  to  Him  only,  and  which,  according 
"  to  His  will,  is  for  the  free  use,  in  His  service,  of  all  His  children.  It  says,  in  unmis- 
"  talieable  language — "  You  shall  not  come  freely  to  worship  God  and  hear  the  message  of 
"the  Gospel;"  He  says — '  Whosoever  will,  let  him  come  freely.'  In  effect,  it  renders 
"  churches  useless  except  for  services  which  the  same  families  and  individuals  attend, 
"  and  so  makes  it  impossible  to  have  multiplied  services  for  different  congregations.  It 
"has  driven  many  altogether  from  church  by  its  intense  selfishness  and  insolent  exclu- 
"siveness.  It  repels  all  but  those  who  either  have  seats  allotted  to  them,  or  who  have 
"  attained  the  habit  of  church  attendance,  or  the  great  desire  to  attend,  in  spite  of  every 
"discouragement;  and  therefore  it  destroys  the  use  of  our  churches  as  places  for  mis- 
"  sionary  effort.  And  further,  it  paralyses  the  efiorts  of  men  who  would  rouse  and  win 
"  those  who  are  negligent  and  estranged,  because  it  prevents  there  being  churches  into 
"  which  to  invite  and  gather  them.  It  at  once,  in  tlie  highest  degree,  promotes  the  work 
"of  the  Evil  One,  and  hinders  the  work  of  Christ.  God's  curse  is  on  this  system,  and  will 
"  assuredly  fall  on  the  Church  of  England  if  we  continue  to  tolerate  it."— Preachwg  the 
Gospel  to  the  Workinr/  Classes  impossible  imcler  the  Peio  System.  By  the  Rev.  J.  W.  H. 
Molyneux,  B.A.    J.  H.  and  J.  Parker,  Oxford  and  London. 

The  following  sad  statement,  made  by  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  Convocation,  on 
February  10th,  shews  that  the  hardening  effect  of  the  Pew  System  on  those  who  ai'e 
supposed  to  benefit  by  it,  is  not  the  least  of  its  manifold  evils: — "  In  one  church  in  my 
"  diocese,  where  there  were  morning  and  evening  services,  all  the  seats  were  approi^riated. 
"  'I'he  incumbent  was  desirous  of  introducing  an  additional  service,  in  order  to  accommo- 
"  date  a  number  of  parishioners  who  could  not  obtain  seats  at  other  times.  I  told  him  I 
"  would  support  him ;  but  the  opposition  from  tlic  seat-holders  was  so  great  that  he  found 
"  if  lie  persevered  he  Avould  lose  every  sixpence  of  the  subscriptions  towards  his  charities, 
"  and  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  the  plan." 

(18)  ^  Letter  addressed  to  the  Lord  Bislwp  of  Ely  on  the  Equal  Rights  of  all  Classes  of 
Parishioners  to  the  use  of  the  Pariah  Church,  and  the  unchristian  results  of  the  Appropria- 
tion of  Seats.     By  the  Rev.  J.  W.  H.  Molyneux,  B.A. 


346    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

warmth  and  spirit  in  it.  Remove  the  pews,  which  press  like  iron  fetters  on  the 
body,  and  life  and  vigour  are  at  oace  restored.  Abolish  the  wretched  system  of 
appropriation — let  there  be  seats  in  the  open  area  to  which  all  are  welcome — and 
the  congregation,  however  small,  will  be  a  congregation,  and  no  longer  a  scatter- 
ing. Those  present  will  naturally  gather  together  near  the  chancel,  or  round  the 
clergyman,  to  join  in  prayer,  or  be  addressed  from  a  Bible-desk,  with  all  the 
freedom,  and  far  more  than  all  the  effect,  that  could  be  had  in  a  cottage  or  a 
schoolroom. 

"  For  every  purpose  of  familiar  teaching,  catechising,  and  exposition  of  Scrip- 
ture, as  well  as  for  the  higher  acts  of  Christian  worship,  the  gain  of  such  arrange- 
ment is  so  great  that  it  must  be  experienced  to  be  adequately  appreciated.  In  the 
instance  most  familiar  to  myself,  the  removal  of  pews,  and  the  substitution  of 
chairs  has  led  to  an  increase  four-fold  in  the  number  of  attendants  at  Ihe  daily 
service,  and  to  the  other  advantage  above  mentioned  being  realized." 

********* 

"  By  the  use  of  chairs,  a  church  is  rendered  in  a  certain  sense  elastic — a  power 
of  expansion  is  given  to  its  accommodation,  by  every  corner  and  passage  being 
made  available.  The  wants  of  the  largest  congregation  that  can  assemble  in  the 
area  can  be  provided  for  ;  and  the  church,  at  other  times  is  not  choked  up  and 
disfigured  by  a  close  array  of  empty  seats.  *  *  *  Further  benefits  arise  from 
the  appearance  of  openness  and  freedom  which  they  present,  and  also  from  their 
several  independence  ;  while  they  effectually  prevent  anything  like  appropriation, 
they  go  far  to  remove  a  certain  objection  which  some  people  feel  to  free  seats,  by 
greatly  diminishing  the  evil  of  sitting  next  to  any  person  who  is  encroaching,  or 
in  any  way  disagreeable." 

The  Committee  of  the  House  of  Lords  on  Spiritual  Destitution 
say,  that  what  we  want  in  our  large  towns  to  meet  the  spiritual 
wants  of  the  people,  is  not  more  churches,  so  much  as  more  clergy 
and  more  frequent  services  in  the  existing  churches,  those  churches 
being — at  least  at  some  services,  if  not  at  all — thrown  open  to 
everybody,  and  so  arranged  as  not  to  repel  those  whom  we  wish  to 
attract  to  divine  worship.  Their  lordships  seem  to  lean  to  the 
opinion  that  the  mode  of  seating  the  naves  of  churches  with  chairs 
would  most  effectually  answer  these  ends. 

And  I  may  quote  here  what  they  have  put  on  record  in  their 
Report  with  respect  to  this  very  church : — 

"  Returning  to  the  normal  state  of  things,  whei-e  it  remains  tmaflfected  by  any 
special  privilege,  we  have  seen  that  the  body  of  every  parish  church  belongs  of 
common  right  to  all  the  parishioners,  and  this  right  cannot  lawfully  be  defeated  by 
any  permanent  appropriation  of  particular  places.  We  pi'oceed  to  state  somewhat 
in  detail  the  particulars  of  a  case  in  which  this  evil  has  been  overcome.  It  will  be 
seen  in  the  evidence  given  by  the  Rev.  J.  W.  H.  Molyneux,  incumbent  of  St. 
Peter's,  Sudbury,  in  the  county  of  Suffolk,  that  when  he  first  became  minister  of 
that  parish,  more  than  three  years  ago,  he  found  the  parish  church  for  the  most 
part  appropriated  in  pews  to  particular  families  and  individuals,  leaving  the  re- 
mainder with  '  narrow,  uncomfortable  benches,  quite  different  from  the  rest  of  the 
church;'  he  after  awhile  'preached  strongly  against  the  exclusive  system  of  ap- 
propriation, and  advocated  the  throwing  of  the  seats  open  and  free.'  Having  thus 
prepared  his  way,  he  called  on  the  holders  of  seats  in  succession  to  allow  him  to 
have  the  doors  taken  off  their  pews,  and  to  put  up  a  notice  in  the  chiirch  declaring 
that  every  seat  of  which  the  door  was  taken  off  was  pei'fectly  free  to  all  persons. 
At  the  same  time  he  announced  his  object  to  be  to  remove  the  pews  altogether. 
All  except  ten  consented;  but  the  pews  of  those  ten  were  taken  down  with  the 
rest;  and  this  was  done  in  avowed  reliance  on  the  principle  of  law  'that  the  church 
was  the  common  right  of  the  parishioners,'  and  that  if  the  whole  of  the  population 
was  larger  than  the  church  could  accommodate,  '  no  parishioner  had  a  right  to 
appropriate  any  portion  of  the  area.'  The  principle  he  afterwards  found  affirmed 
by  the  authority  of  Sir  John  Nicholl  (in  Fuller  v.  Lane,  add.  Ecc.  Reports,  425.) 
The  pews  being  thus  removed,  he  seated  the  whole  of  the  church  and  one-half  of 


THE    CHURCHES    OF    WORCESTER.  847 

each  of  the  aisles  with  chairs,  similar  to  those  in  the  Crystal  Palace,  slightly 
modified,  with  a  small  shelf  at  the  top,  and  underneath  the  seat  a  place  for  books. 
These  chairs  were  supplied  at  £7  10s.  per  100.  From  his  experience  of  three 
years  he  is  sure  that  to  have  an  entirely  open  area  with  moveable  chairs  would 
be  more  attractive  to  the  people  than  even  seats  that  were  entirely  free." 

At  first  several  of  the  higher  order  were  much  opposed  to  the 
change,  and  a  few  continue  to  dishke  it ;  but  the  number  of  those 
who  dishke  it  has  greatly  diminished,  and  many  of  them  have  even 
expressed  a  feeling  of  satisfaction  : 

"  There  has  been  a  change  of  feeling:  and  with  regard  to  the  church  it  is  looked 
upon  as  the  common  House  of  God,  and  as  quite  difierent  from  what  it  was  when 
it  was  divided  into  private  properties.  On  a  subsequent  day  another  witness  pre- 
sented himself  to  confirm  the  statement  of  this  clergyman — Mi%  Andrews,  a 
solicitor  of  Sudbury,  who  voluntarily,  and  from  attachment  to  the  church,  had 
held  the  office  of  churchwarden  during  the  last  twelve  years.  He  bore  testimony 
to  the  success  of  the  altered  arrangements  in  inducing  a  vast  number  to  attend 
the  services  of  the  church  who  never  thought  of  attending  before;"  and  "  it  has 
added  greatly  to  the  number  of  communicants,  in  a  considerable  proportion  among 
the  poor.  We  have  dwelt  on  this  particular  case,"  continues  the  Report,  "thus 
largely,  not  only  because  it  has  been  an  experiment  solely  conducted  during  three 
years,  but  also  because  it  is  based  on  a  principle  of  law  applicable  to  every  parish 
church  in  Ensland.  *  *  *  We  cannot  abstain  from  expressing  an 
earnest  hope  that  some  plan  may  be  devised  by  which  every  church  in  the  land 
may  be  made  to  be  what  it  ought  to  be — a  common  sanctuary  in  which  the  rich 
and  the  poor  meet  together," 

An  important  architectural  publication'^  speaks  of  the  church 
above  referred  to  in  the  following  manner : — 

•'  'J"he  area  of  the  nave,  as  we  have  already  intimated,  has  been  left  unencum- 
bered by  any  fixed  fm-niture  whatever,  except  the  pulpit  and  the  font.  At  service 
times  accommodation  is  given  to  the  worshippers  by  means  of  chairs,  of  the  same 
simple  and  inexpensive  kind  as  those  with  Avhich  most  of  us  are  familiar  in  the 
churches  of  France  or  Belgium.  As  a  mere  question  of  architectural  effect,  we 
suppose  there  is  no  one,  competent  to  give  an  opinion,  who  will  dispute  that  the 
architectural  effect  of  a  fine  church  thus  treated  is  incomparably  finer  than  when  the 
nave  is  filled  with  the  usual  benches.  When  there  is  no  service  going  on  the  chairs 
are  removed,  and  the  unencumbered  area  of  the  pavement  gives  an  effect  of 
spaciousness,  while  the  arcades,  seen  in  their  full  height  from  base  to  roof,  and  in 
uninterrupted  perspective  from  one  end  to  the  other,  have  the  propoi  tions  which 
the  architect  gave  to  them;  the  whole  effect  is  one  of  space  and  dignity  and  propor- 
tion, which  is  at  once  cut  up  and  marred  when  the  pavement  is  lost  to  the  view, 
and  the  bases  and  lower  parts  of  the  columns  are  hidden  for  three  or  four  feet  of 
their  height.  ])uring  the  week-day  services,  when  there  is  only  a  small  congrega- 
tion, only  so  many  chairs  are  brought  into  use  as  the  congregation  requires  ;  the 
worsliippers  form  a  compact  little  flock  around  their  pastor,  and  the  rest  of  the 
building  is  left  to  produce  all  the  effect  of  its  spaciousness  and  dignity. 
*  *  *  *  *  * 

"  We  must  in  fairness  give  our  testimony  to  the  fact  that  on  the  Sunday  evening 
on  which  we  attended  service  at  the  church  the  nave  was  con-pletely  filled— alleys 
included — with  a  congregation  consisting,  as  we  were  assured,  chiefly  of  persons 
who  never  used  to  go  to  a  place  of  worship  at  all,  and  who  now  attend  only  this 
one  service.  The  handsome  appearance  of  the  building,  well  lighted  by  gas,  the 
efficient  performance  of  the  choral  service,  and  an  earnest  extempore  sermon,  un- 
doubtedly formed  altogether  a  considerable  attraction;  but  they  would  have  failed 
to  attract  those  who  usually  attend,  if  they  had  been  reduced  to  choose  between 
stately  lined  and  hassocked  pews,  in  which  they  would  have  felt  themselves  in- 
truders, or  paltry  "free  seats,"  which  their  sturdy  independence  would  have  dis- 
dained; it  was,  so  we  were  assured,  the  fact  that  all  the  seats  were  alike,  and  that 
every  one  was  at  perfect  liberty  to  walk  in  and  take  the  best  unoccupied  cha'r  he 
or  she  could  find,  which  filled  that  fine  nave  to  overflowing  every  Sunday  night, 
with  that  class  of  persons  whom  usually  it  is  the  most  difficult  to  attract  to  any 

(19;  The  BuUdirtd  News,  vol.  iv.,  p.  1C83. 


348    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

place  of  worship  at  all.  Some  prejudice  has  been  exerted  against  this  mode  of 
seating  churches — first,  by  the  fact  that  it  is  the  method  extensively  used  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  churches  abroad  ;  and,  secondly,  by  the  fact  that  its  introduction 
here  has  been  advocated  by  a  particular  party  in  the  Church  It  is  not  a  ritual 
question  ;  it  is  simply  a  question  of  how  best  to  adapt  our  churches  to  the  purpose 
for  which  we  want  them — a  question  quite  within  our  province  to  discuss.  We 
therefore  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  we  think  that  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of 
the  House  of  Lords  ought  to  have  the  effect  of  taking  the  question  out  of  the 
region  of  party,  and  ought  to  lead  us  all  to  consider  it  impartially." 

But  the  advantages  attending  the  use  of  chairs  have  been  brought 
home  to  us  during  the  last  few  months  by  their  introduction  into 
the  cathedral,  by  which  means  all  classes  of  people  found  comfortable 
accommodation. 

If  all  the  pews  were  to  be  cleared  out  of  one  of  the  Worcester 
churches,  now  so  indifferently  attended^^ — or  even  one  half  as  an 
experiment — and  convenient  chairs  substituted,  there  is  every  reason 
for  believing  the  result  would  be  highly  satisfactory.  Then  it  might 
be  hoj)ed  that  the  example  would  be  followed  in  others,  and  that  the 
cathedral  nave  would  likewise  be  made  available  for  worship 
by  the  removal  of  the  cumbrous  organ-screen.  If  these  internal 
improvements  were  combined  with  sendees  of  a  hearty  and  congre- 
gational character — not  the  monotonous  recitative  of  j^i'iest  and 
clerk — and  earnest  preaching,  no  more  would  be  heard  of  the 
em2:>tiness  of  churches.  Our  Apostolic  Church  being  thus  shown 
in  her  true  light,  she  would  be  found  by  the  working  classes  to  be 
indeed  the  Poor  Mans  Church ;  and  they  would  gradually  become 
attached  to  her  services  and  interested  in  her  welfare.  That  such 
would  be  the  result  of  the  adoption  of  the  plan  of  free  churches,  at 
least  in  to^nis,  is  the  opinion  of  very  many  eminent  for  their  piety 
and  zeal,  but  who  differ  widely  on  many  of  the  controverted  subjects 
of  the  day.^' 

Let  us  then  earnestly  strive  to  further  the  good  work  by  every 
means  in  our  power ;  and  not  be  discouraged,  either  by  the  opposi- 
tion of  those  who  are  satisfied  that  matters  should  remain  as  they  are, 
or  by  the  apathy  of  those  whose  spiritual  welfare  we  are  especially 
desirous  of  promoting.  These  latter  people  having  been  deprived 
of  their  just  rights  so  long  as  to  produce  a  feeling  of  indifference  to 
religion,  it  will  probably  be  a  work  of  time — perhaps  of  a  generation 
— before  they  will  fully  appreciate  the  proffered  advantages  of 
churches  free  and  open  to  all  alike.     Many  persons  seem  to  fancy 

(20)  Happeningto  be  present  at  the  evenin<?  service  at  one  of  the  largest  churches  a 
few  months  since,  I  noticed  that  in  tweive  pews — each  capable  of  holding  six  people — in 
the  middle  of  the  church,  there  were  just  three  worshippers  !  And  yet  the  churchwarden 
is  often  applied  to  for  peivs,  every  one  wanting  a  pew  for  his  or  her  own  family.  I  am 
informed  that  the  attendance  of  poor  men  at  this  church  does  not  average  more  than  half 
a  dozen.  An  occupier  of  a  pew  at  this  church  was  recently  offended,  and  threatened  to 
■withdraw  his  subscriptions  to  the  parochial  charities,  because  two  people  had  been  put 
into  his  pew,  tliere  being  at  the  same  time  more  room  than  he  required  for  his  own 
family.  At  another  cimrch  (S.  Nicholas)  a  most  respectable  female  was  refused  ad- 
mittance into  a  jiew  which  would  accommodate  seven  ))eople,  by  a  lady— its  sole  occupant! 
This  is  not  a  solitary  instance  of  the  exhibition  of  such  unchristian  conduct  at  the  same 
church;  and  in  the  year  1859  ! 

(21)  See  the  publicly  expressed  opinions  of  the  Earl  of  Shaftesbury,  the  Dean  of 
Carlisle,  Dr.  Stanley  (the  late  Kishop  of  Norwich),  and  others,  quoted  by  Mr.  Molyneux, 
in  the  publications  before  referred  to. 


THE  CHURCHES  OF  WORCESTER.         349 

— for  it  is  merely  fancy — that  they  should  not  like  to  go  to  church 
if  they  did  not  always  occupy  the  same  seat ;  but  surely  our  likes 
and  dislikes  ought  not  to  interfere  with  a  plain  duty,  especially  in 
a  case  in  which  the  eternal  welfare  of  our  poorer  fellow  Christians 
is  concerned.  How  can  we  daily  offer  up  the  petition — "  Thy 
kingdom  come .'"  if  at  the  same  time  we  are  keeping  up  a  system, 
the  tendency  of  which  is  to  retard  the  advance  of  that  kingdom  ? 
And  if  we  refuse  to  deny  ourselves  in  so  small  a  matter  as  the 
comfort — real  or  imaginary — of  an  exclusive  seat  in  the  House  of 
God  for  the  sake  of  Christ  and  His  Gospel,  shall  we  not  be  de- 
servedly numbered  amongst  those  to  whom  He  will  say  at  the  last 
great  day — ■"  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  to  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it 
not  to  meT' 

A  "  General  Committee  on  the  Peiv  System"  has  been  formed  under  the  presidency  of 
the  Hon.  Colin  Lindsey,  for  the  purpose  of  directing  attention  to  the  evils  of  the  Tew 
System,  and  of  enforcing  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  Parochial  System — the  com- 
mon and  equal  right  of  all  parishioners  to  worship  in  their  Parish  Cliurch.  Prospectuses, 
lists  of  subscriptions  (half  a  crown  and  upwards),  and  other  particulars,  may  be  obtained 
from  the  Honorary  Secretaries,  the  Kev.  J.  W.  H.  Molyneux,  Sudbury;  the  Rev.  W.  W. 
Malet,  Ardeley;  K.  Brett,  Esq.,  Stoke  Newington;  Edward  llerford,  Esq.,  Manchester; 
or  from  Mr.  J.  Severn  Walker,  Local  Hon.  Sec.  for  Worcester. 


Notes  upon  Archaology  in  connection  with  Geology  and  Scul^Jture. 
A  Paper  read  at  a  joint  Excursion  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan 
Architectural  Society  and  the  Midland  Counties  Archseological 
Association,  Sept.  28,  1858.     By  J.  M.  Gutch,  Esq. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society  I 
suggested,  that  it  might  be  of  advantage,  if  the  title  Antiquarian  was 
added  to  it,  as  it  might  then  have  embraced  more  extended  objects 
in  its  proceedings,  and  have  brought  a  larger  accession  to  its  mem- 
bers. My  proposition  did  not  meet  with  a  favourable  reception ; 
but  the  object  has  been  to  a  certain  extent  attained  by  the  formation 
of  the  Midland  Counties  Archceological  Associatiofi,  our  own  Society 
retaining  its  original  title.  It  was  at  the  meeting  I  had  the  pleasure 
to  attend  at  Birmingham  for  the  formation  of  the  latter  Society,  when 
considerable  discussion  took  place  upon  the  name  which  it  should 
assume,  ^\heth.eY  Antiquarian  or  Archceological ;  and  there  were  some 
gentlemen  present  who  seemed  not  to  understand  the  meaning  of 
the  latter  name,  although  it  was  remarked  that  each  of  them  was 
chosen  by  various  Societies,  and  that  their  objects  and  pursuits  were 
similar.  On  my  return  I  wrote  the  following  comments  in  my  note 
book  in  explanation  of  the  term  Archceological. 

It  was  in  the  year  1717  or  1718  that  a  Society  was  formed  in 
the  Metropolis,  called  the  Antiquarian  Society,  which  may  be  con- 
sidered the  parent  of  all  others ;  but  the  Papers  which  its  members 
read,  and  the  communications  it  receives  bear  the  more  comprehen- 
sive name  of  Archceologia,  or  the  proceedings  of  the  Society  of 
Antiquaries. 

The  term  Archeology  is  derived  from  the  Greek  words,  archaios, 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  X  X 


350     WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

ancient,  and  logos,  a  discourse ;  a  discourse  on  antiquity,  or  on  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  ancients.  As  a  study,  it  is  as  compre- 
hensive as  any  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  since  it  imphes  all  testimo- 
nies or  authentic  records  that  have  come  down  to  us  illustrative 
either  of  the  particular  or  universal  history  of  ancient  nations.  It 
embraces  the  manners,  the  customs,  theology,  political  constitution, 
rehgious  ceremonies,  the  laws,  pohcy,  private  lives,  the  works  of 
authors  and  artists,  public  acts,  inscriptions,  monuments  of  the  arts 
— such  as  remains  of  architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  and  numis- 
matics of  ancient  nations  and  peoples  ;  the  remains  of  their  mecha- 
nical arts  and  inventions,  such  as  their  utensils,  arms,  machines,  &c. 
The  term  Archeology,  though  sufficiently  comprehensive  in  its 
original  meaning,  was  confined,  until  a  comparatively  recent  period, 
to  the  study  of  Greek  and  Roman  Art.  The  word,  however,  literally 
signifying  the  description  of  ancient  things,  it  has  now  been  univer- 
sally adopted  in  its  largest  sense  to  give  name  to  the  science  which 
deduces  History  from  the  relics  of  the  jmst.  The  recent  adoption  of 
this  term  to  characterise  the  pursuits  of  the  antiquary  marks  a  new 
era  in  the  study  of  antiquities,  in  which  it  has  been  reduced  to  an 
intelligible  and  comprehensive  system,  based  upon  philosophical 
induction.  By  this  it  has  been  at  the  same  time  elevated  to  its 
proper  rank  as  a  science,  and  rendered  generally  acceptable  as  a 
proper  branch  of  study.  It  has  its  origin  in  the  natural  cravings  of 
the  human  mind  to  master  the  secrets  of  the  mysterious  past,  no 
less  than  of  the  mysterious  future  ;  it  forms  an  essential  branch  of 
the  historian's  studies  ;  it  enters  largely  into  the  inquiries  of  the 
ethnologist  or  investigator  of  the  human  family,  and  into  those  of 
the  philologist  or  analyser  of  their  numerous  languages.  We 
accordingly  find  evident  traces  of  an  archaeological  spirit  in  the 
hterature  of  every  ci\'ihzed  nation ;  and  generally  it  exliibits  the 
strongest  symptoms  of  development  during  periods  most  marked  by 
rapid  progress  in  the  arts  of  civilization.  It  manifested  itself  at  the 
revival  of  letters  in  the  sixteenth  centuiy  by  a  return  to  classic 
models.  Its  present  tendency  throughout  Europe  seems  to  be,  if 
not  to  a  total  abandonment  of  those  models,  at  least  to  a  preference 
of  Mediaeval  art,  and  a  desire  to  cany  out  its  ideas  to  a  more  perfect 
development. 

While  considering  this  subject,  the  necessity  of  a  distinction  in 
ArchcBology  becomes  obvious.  That  branch  of  the  study  of  antiquity, 
therefore,  which  embraces  researches  into  the  rise  and  progress  of 
ancient  nations,  with  the  monuments  of  kingdoms,  states,  and 
empires,  whose  mouldering  iiiins  and  fragments  of  former  grandeur 
are  the  only  e\'idence  of  their  having  existed,  shoidd  be  distinguished 
from  researches  of  more  minor  importance  and  less  remote  antiquity, 
by  the  term  higher  Archceology. 

Thus  with  respect  to  our  o^^^l  countiy,  eveiy  subject  prior  to  the 
time  of  its  subjugation  by  the  Bomans,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era,  will  come  under  the  distinction  of  the  higher  ArchcBo^ 
logy)  but  from  that  period  downwards  to  the  Elizabethan  era, 
through  all  the  intervening  centuries — which  were  distinguished 


NOTES    UPON    ARCHEOLOGY,    ETC.  351 

by  the  erection  of  some  of  the  most  magnificent  ecclesiastical  structures 
in  this  or  any  other  land — every  object  treated  on  will  constitute  a 
lower  grade  of  our  national  antiquities. 

It  would  be  trespassing  too  much  upon  our  time  to  attempt 
further  to  elucidate  those  remains  of  antiquity  which  may  be  con- 
sidered the  higher  or  the  lower  branches  of  Archceology.  But  there 
is  another  branch  of  antiquity  to  which  I  cannot  refrain  from 
alluding,  the  consideration  of  which  occurred  also  at  the  Birming- 
ham meeting.  There  was  a  gentleman  present,  member  of  a 
Geological  Society,  who  thought  it  inconsistent  to  become  a  member 
or  unite  with  an  antiquarian  or  archceological  one,  as  he  considered 
their  objects  were  so  different  and  wide  apart.  This  objection  was 
combated,  and  upon  my  return  to  Worcester  I  made  the  following 
notes  upon  this  subject. 

The  histoiy  of  Archceology  bears  a  very  near  resemblance  to 
that  of  its  elder — or  prior — sister-science,  Geology,  to  which  it 
has,  in  many  respects,  a  closer  analogy  than  at  first  appears.  They 
may  be  called  two  successive  series  of  links  in  the  same  chain  of 
reasoning,  the  earliest  data  of  the  Archceological  being  found 
exactly  where  those  of  the  Geologist  end.  An  intelligent  Geologist 
in  describing  a  \4sit  to  the  Newcastle  Museum,  thus  clearly 
recognizes  the  labours  of  the  Archaeologist,  as  applying  to  the  human 
era  the  same  inductive  speculations,  which  his  own  science  treats  of 
in  relation  to  a  still  eariier  state  of  things.  "  As  I  passed,"  he 
remarks,  "  in  the  Geological  apaHment  from  the  older  Silurian  to 
"  the  newest  Tertiary,  and  then  on  from  the  newer  Tertiaiy  to  the 
**  votive  tablets,  sacrificial  altars,  and  sepulchral  monuments  of  the 
"  Anglo-Saxon  gallery,  I  could  not  help  regarding  them  as  all 
*'  belonging  to  one  department ;  the  antiquities  piece  on  in  natural 
*'  science  to  the  geologic  ;  and  it  seems  but  natural  to  indulge  in  the 
"  same  sort  of  reasonings  regarding  them.  They  are  the  fossils  of  an 
"  extinct  order  of  things  nearer  than  the  tertiary  ;  of  an  extinct 
"  race  ; — of  an  extinct  religion  ; — of  a  state  of  society  and  a  class  of 
"  enterprises,  which  the  world  saw  once,  but  which  it  will  never  see 
*'  again.  And  with  but  little  assistance  from  the  direct  testimony 
"  of  history,  one  has  to  grope  one's  way  along  this  comparatively 
"  modern  formation,  guided  chiefly,  as  in  the  more  ancient  deposits, 
**  by  the  clue  of  circumstantial  evidence." 

Such  is  the  rank  among  the  inductive  sciences,  which  is  at 
length  being  justly  conceded  to  the  pursuits  of  the  Archtsologist. 
Like  the  Geologist,  he  deals  with  records  of  a  period  prior  to  written 
annals,  and  traces  out  the  history  of  ages  hitherto  believed  to  be 
irrecoverable.  He  deals,  it  is  true,  with  a  recent  period,  when 
contrasted  with  geological  ones,  but  from  this  he  derives  the 
strongest  claim  to  general  interest  in  his  own  pursuits. 

Before  concluding  I  may,  I  hope,  be  allowed  to  notice  one  other 
subject  connected  with  the  study  of  the  Antiquaiy  or  Archaeologist, 
which  is  the  application  of  Sculpture  as  an  auxiliaiy  to  Architecture, 
ecclesiastical  or  civil;  though  in  point  of  antiquity,  Architecture 
may  be  said  to  take  the  lead  of  the  fine  arts,  as  that  by  which  the 


352         WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

comfort  of  the  human  species  was  most  directly  affected  ;  yet  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  Sculpture  must  have  been  coeval  with  and 
inseparable  from  any  attempts  at  a  decorative  style  of  building.  It 
is  not  improbable,  however,  that  Architecture  had  made  considerable 
advances  before  the  attention  of  the  artificer  was  directed  to 
Sculpture,  in  the  generally  received  import  of  that  term,  as  referring 
to  the  representation  of  the  objects  of  animated  existence  ; — the 
imitation  of  these,  however,  being  once  attempted,  ingenuity, 
emulation,  display,  and  superstitious  devotion  variously  combined 
to  advance  the  art,  and  to  unite  its  resources  with  those  of  its  elder 
sister  in  the  production  of  one  common  effect.  This  union  has 
indeed  from  the  first  been  so  intimate,  that  the  same  features  have 
characterised  the  one  of  these  arts  as  have  distinguished  the  other. 
Upon  the  advantages  arising  from  the  tmion  of  Sculpture  with 
Architecture,  I  will  adduce  a  few  instances. 

1.  It  may  be  observed,  that  the  aids  of  Sculpture  are  highly 
valuable,  as  producing  the  charm  of  variety;  a  result  which  cannot 
be  more  forcibly  illustrated  than  by  reverting  to  the  Grecian 
temples.  Edifices  of  this  class  were  for  the  most  part  so  similar  in 
the  simplicity  of  their  general  arrangement,  that  even  the  cultivated 
taste  of  an  Athenian  for  abstract  beauty  could  not  have  withheld 
the  charge  of  monotony,  but  for  the  interposition  of  the  picturing 
chisel. 

Hence  the  Centaur  and  the^  Lapithae  fought  in  marble  ; — hence 
the  assemblies  of  the  Gods  occupied  the  eagles  (as  the  Greeks 
called  their  pediments  or  gables  ;) — hence  the  carved  processions 
imitated  the  real  in  perambulating  the  sacred  cell ; — and  hence  the 
Heroes  and  Demi-gods  displayed,  as  in  their  own  homes,  the 
triumphs  which  they  had  achieved  abroad. 

2.  The  use  of  SculjJture  is  productive  of  a  further  advantage, 
namely,  by  imparting  to  the  architectural  masses  in  which  it  occurs 
spirit  and  liveliness  of  effect.  The  examples  from  the  usage  of  the 
Greeks,  to  which  reference  has  just  been  made,  may  be  taken  as 
illustrative  of  this  point ;  but  none  can  be  more  powerfully  so  than 
the  instances  adducible  from  the  practice  of  our  old  builders  in 
the  pointed  style  of  architecture,  whose  grotesque  figures,  generally, 
whether  of  aspect  hideous,  ludicrous,  pleasant,  or  sedate,  are 
highly  valuable,  not  only  as  affording  a  series  of  picturesque 
varieties,  but  also  giving  an  air  of  animation  directly  counteractive 
of  tameness  and  flatness  of  design.  The  hyper-criticism  of  those 
therefore  is  to  be  regretted,  who  would  indiscriminately  banish 
such  devices  from  modern  Gothic  composition,  recommended  as 
they  are  alike  by  established  authority,  old  associations,  and  happy 
results. 

1  The  Chief  of  the  Lapithae  assembled  to  celebrate  the  nuptials  of  Pirithous,  one  of 
their  number,  among  whom  were  Theseus  and  others ;  the  Centaurs  were  also  invited 
to  partake  the  common  festivity,  and  the  amusements  would  have  been  harmless  and 
innocent  had  not  one  of  the  intoxicated  Centaurs  offered  violence  to  Hippodamia  the 
wife  of  Pirithous.  The  Lapithae  resented  the  injury,  and  the  Centaurs  supported  their 
companions,  upon  which  the  quarrel  became  universal,  and  ended  in  blows  and  slaughter. 
Many  of  the  Centaurs  were  slain,  and  they  were  at  last  obliged  to  retire. 

Hesiod  has  described  the  battle  of  the  Centaurs  and  Lapithae,  as  also  Ovid  in  a  more 
copious  manner.— iewpriere. 


NOTES    UPON    ARCHEOLOGY,   ETC.  353 

3.  There  is  another  and  a  most  valuable  object  which  Sculpture 
is  calculated  to  promote  in  its  association  with  Architecture,  namely, 
the  maintenance  of  unity  and  distinctiveness  of  character.  Correctly 
and  beautifully  is  this  represented  in  the  remains  which  have 
descended  to  us  as  specimens  of  the  Athenian  art ;  whether  in  the 
patron  God  or  Goddess  of  the  city  ;  in  the  magnificent  Temple,  such 
as  the  Panathenaic  procession  in  the  friezes  of  the  Parthenon ;  in 
the  Genii  of  the  Temple  of  the  Winds,  and  in  the  splendid  Theatre 
or  Amphitheatre.  In  the  same  style  we  happily  find  in  many  of 
our  own  ancient  edifices  (the  depositories  of  the  illustrious  dead), 
the  sculptured  monument  so  well  suited  to  the  varied  imagery  of 
such  buildings,  and  which  gives  a  due  solemnity  and  charm  to  the 
Genius  of  Architecture.  This  unity  of  character,  which  the  one 
science  has  a  tendency  to  promote  as  connected  with  the  other, 
must  of  course  depend,  primarily,  upon  an  identity  of  object,  as 
subsisting  between  both,  and  preserving  an  obvious  conformity 
between  the  subject  of  the  relievo,  the  figure,  or  the  group,  and  the 
distinction  of  the  building  it  is  intended  to  adorn. 

Valuable  to  Architecture  as  are  thus  the  aids  of  Scidpture,  the 
latter  art  shares  with  the  former,  in  interior  effects,  an  intrinsic 
deficiency  in  the  coldness  arising  from  an  absence  of  colour — a  defi- 
ciency which  may  sometimes  be  remedied  by  the  contrast  and  re- 
flection of  such  draperies — behind  or  around  the  sculptured  object —  as 
was  seen  in  the  beautifully  chiselled  alabaster  monuments  of  the 
Lucy  family,  in  the  church  at  Charlecote,  recently  visited  by  the 
members  of  our  Society.  The  deficiency  might  also  be  supplied  by 
the  warmth  of  tone  diffused  from  painted  glass,  and  which  our  fore- 
fathers endeavoured  to  obviate  by  colouring  their  statuary  itself. 
However  we  might  at  first  be  inclined  to  despise  the  latter  mode,  as 
derogatory  to  the  indepeudent  dignity  of  Sculpture,  we  may  upon 
consideration  be  disposed  to  allow,  that  it  was  a  mode  not  altogether 
destitute  of  reason  for  its  foundation,  nor  of  effect  for  its  end  ;  and 
though  there  may  be  no  desire  to  see  a  set  of  painted  puppets 
usurping  the  place  of  chaste  monumental  effigies,  yet  it  remains  to  be 
proved  whether  some  of  the  subdued  delicacies  of  colour  might  not 
be  brought  to  the  aid  of  the  chisel  on  certain  occasions  in  a  manner 
not  inconsistent  with  nature  and  with  taste.  Intimately  as  archi- 
tecture and  sculpture  are  connected  with  each  other — historically 
in  their  purposes  and  practically  in  their  effects — it  is  only  by  a 
due  consideration  of  conformity  of  spirit  and  of  style,  fitness  of 
position,  and  choiceness  of  application  that  the  latter  can  be  made 
subservient  to  the  ends  of  the  former,  or  that  both  can  combine  in 
displaying  the  higher  efforts  of  mind,  in  which,  as  in  other  things, 
the  power  is  that  of  Union. 

These  crude  notes  from  the  portfolio  of  an  Octogenarian  in  age, 
but  only  a  student  in  the  science  of  Archaeology,  were  intended 
merely  as  an  attempt  to  fill  up  a  few  minutes  between  the  reading 
of  more  cojDious  and  learned  Papers.  But  I  cannot  conclude  with- 
out extracting  a  few  remarks  on  Archaeology  from  the  very  valuable 


354       WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

Manual  on  the  subject  which  has  just  been  published  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  Boutell,  where  he  so  pertinently  recommends  its  study  to 
novices  like  myself. 

"  Archaeological  Societies,"  he  says,  "have  been  formed  with  the 
"  two-fold  object  of  exciting  a  more  widely  extended  interest  in  these 
*'  researches  and  studies,  and  also  of  conducting  them  more  system- 
•'  atically  and  with  a  greater  concentration  of  energy.  In  both 
*'  respects  the  societies  have  already  accomplished  much ;  more  par- 
"  ticularly  have  they  been  successful  in  awakeaing  intelligent  in- 
•'  quiries,  in  engaging  sympathy,  and  in  securing  co-operation. 
"  Archaeological  meetings  now  are  as  regularly  looked  for  as  they 
"  are  regularly  held  in  all  parts  of  the  kingdom ;  are  invariably 
"  attended  with  gratifying  results ;  people  find  that  there  is  an 
*'  object  in  Archaeology,  and  so  they  become  Archaeologists.  They 
"  learn  to  their  surprise  that  Archaeology  has  a  much  higher  aim 
*'  than  to  determine  to  what  remote  ages  certain  ancient  relics  may, 
"  with  probable  accuracy  be  assigned.  Instead  of  this,  their  atten- 
"  tion  is  invited  to  the  historical  teaching  of  everything  with  which 
"  Archaeology  deals ;  they  are  led  to  regard  ancient  relics  as  expres- 
•*  sions  of  the  human  intellect,  and  as  illustrations  of  human  sen- 
"  timents,  habits,  and  requirements  under  conditions  differing  very 
"  widely  from  those  of  our  own  day ;  they  are  taught  to  examine,  to 
**  collect,  to  classify,  to  analyse  early  remains,  with  the  view  to  elicit 
*'  from  them  fresh  facts  as  new  elements  of  knowledge,  or  to  adduce 
"  through  their  instrumentality  fresh  evidence  which  may  corroborate 
"  and  elucidate  facts  already  known  and  accepted ;  they  discover, 
**  in  a  word,  that  Archaeology  is  in  reality  a  system  of  Monumental 
''History,  disclosing  the  character  of  the  early  works  of  man ;  and 
'*  hence  these  works  become  invested  with  claims  upon  our  regard 
"  and  attention  which  before  we  could  have  neither  understood  nor 
"  recognised.  Thus  the  Archaeologist  sees  in  the  lonely  tumulus 
'•  much  more  than  a  picturesque  upheaving  of  the  turf,  and  he 
"  discovers  hidden  treasures  of  thought  and  reflection,  even  in  the 
"  old  church  which  from  his  childhood  he  had  regarded  with  mingled 
**  sentiments  of  reverence  and  admiration." 

"  His  researches  amongst  the  various  remains  of  early  art  cannot 
'•  fail  to  impress  the  student  of  Archaeology  with  a  high  admiration 
"  for  the  taste  and  the  true  heart  feeling,  and  also  for  the  exquisite 
*'  mechanical  skill  displayed  by  men  who  lived  in  ages  which  he 
"  may  have  regarded  as  altogether  immersed  in  intellectual  darkness. 
"Let  him  seek  to  form  a  just  estimate  of  those  ages  and  of  the 
**  generations  of  his  race  who  then  flourished.  Neither  yielding  to 
'*  an  extravagant  enthusiasm,  nor  influenced  by  an  unworthy  indif- 
"  ference,  let  him  soberly  weigh  the  real  merits  of  the  workers  and 
"  the  works  of  the  olden  time.  He  will  thus  be  led  to  feel  that  no 
"  intrinsic  value  is  attached  to  any  object  merely  because  of  the  fact 
"  of  its  being  ancient,  but  that  the  sterling  excellence,  and  felicitous 
"  adaptation,  and  genuine  beauty,  and  the  faculty  of  historical  illus- 
"  tration  alone  constitute  the  worth  of  early  works  and  relics.     And 


NOTES    UPON    ARCHAEOLOGY,    ETC.  355 

"  as  be  pursues  his  researches  in  this  spirit,  he  will  find  himself 
"  surrounded  by  an  ever  enlarging  circle  of  that  practical  knowledge, 
"  which  may  be  continually  applied  both  to  his  own  improvement 
•*  and  to  advance  the  well-being  of  his  generation." 

I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  in  conclusion,  there  can  scarcely  be 
any  employment  of  our  intellectual  faculties  more  gratifying  than 
these  researches  into  the  events  of  past  centuries ;  into  the  manners, 
the  habits,  and  the  progress  of  mankind  in  primeval  ages  and  in 
distant  nations  ;  and  we  have  cause,  therefore,  for  congratulation 
upon  the  establishment  of  every  Society  which,  like  our  own,  tends 
to  the  development  of  ancient  or  modern  history  as  connected  there- 
with. 


The  Abbey  Church  of  Holy  Cross,  Pershore.  A  Paper  read  before 
the  Worcester  Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  September  28, 
1857.  By  W.  Jeffrey  Hopkins,  Consulting  Architect  to  the 
Worcester  Diocesan  Church  Building  Society. 

We  have  historical  accounts,  or  architectural  proofs  of  the  erection 
of  at  least  six  distinct  structures  upon  the  site  on  which  w^e  now 
stand ;  of  one  by  Oswald,  nephew  to  Ethelred,  king  of  Mercia ; 
another  by  Egil  Wada ;  a  third  by  Odda  ;  a  fourth  about  the  close 
of  the  eleventh  century  ;  a  fifth  of  the  thirteenth  century,  consisting 
of  the  present  choir,  erected  by  abbot  Gervais  and  his  successor ; 
and  lastly  of  the  tower,  w^hich  is  fourteenth  century  w^ork. 

In  addition  to  these  we  have  to  consider  the  architectural  re- 
mains of  a  later  date,  and  the  various  mortuary  chapels  erected  at 
different  periods. 

The  first  historical  notice  is  concerning  the  founding  of  the 
Abbey  by  Oswald,  and  is  to  be  found  in  Leland's  Collectanea  (vol.  i,). 
It  is  as  follows  :  "  In  the  year  680  Abbess  Hilda  died.  In  these 
*'  days  the  monasteries  of  Pershore  and  Gloucester  w^ere  founded  by 
"  Oswald  and  Ostric ;  Pershore  by  Oswald,  and  Gloucester  by  Ostric. 
*'  It  w^as  about  the  year  689  from  the  incarnation  of  Our  Lord  when 
"  they  were  founded  and  constructed." 

The  historical  records  of  the  rebuilding  of  the  Church  by  Egil 
Wada  are  to  this  effect : 

Oswald,  the  friend  of  Dunstan,  in  the  reign  of  King  Edgar, 
having  remodelled  the  Abbey  and  dedicated  it  to  the  Virgin  Maiy, 
St.  Peter,  and  St.  Paul,  obtained  an  ample  charter  from  the  king, 
granting  for  its  support  between  two  and  three  hundred  manses  or 
farms.  This  liberal  example  of  the  king's  was  followed  by  Egil,  or 
Alward  Wada,  duke  of  Dorset,  who  became  so  great  a  benefactor  to 
the  church,  that  he  is  mentioned  by  William  of  Malmesbury  as  its 
founder  (fol.  1 32).  After  having  splendidly  rebuilt  the  church,  he 
obtained  from  Algiva,  abbess  of  Winchester,  a  portion  of  the  relics 
of  St.  Edburgh — the  back  part  of  the  skull,  with  some  ribs  and 
smaller  bones — for  which  he  paid  the  pious  lady  £300  (being  equal 


356    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

to  about  £20,000  of  our  money.)  Having  collected  them  with  great 
care,  he  reverently  placed  them  in  a  golden  ark  or  coffer,  and  brought 
them  to  Pershore,  where  for  nearly  a  century  (the  manuscript  con- 
tinues) great  miracles  were  wrought  at  her  shrine.  From  this  time 
the  convent  was  called  S.S.  Mary  and  Edburgh. 

In  the  succeding  reign  the  Seculars  having  regained  the  ascen- 
dancy, assisted  by  what  was  termed  the  Queen's  party,  we  find  that, 
A.D.  976,  a  chief  named  Aelferus — styled  by  the  author  of  the 
manuscript  ''  Nequissimus  " — miserably  destroyed  the  church,  to- 
gether with  many  others  throughout  England. 

In  the  various  historical  records  respecting  Abbot  Odda,  who  is 
stated  to  have  rebuilt  this  church  after  its  destruction  by  some 
wicked  person,  a  most  singular  anachronism  occurs. 

This  being  a  point  of  some  interest — as  far  as  the  antiquity  of 
the  Abbey  is  concerned — I  do  not  know  that  there  could  be  a  more 
favourable  opportunity  than  the  present  for  endeavouring  to  correct 
an  error,  owing  to  which  I  attribute  the  statement  of  Nash  and 
other  historians  that  "the  early  history  of  this  abbey  is  very  obscure." 

The  extract  from  the  ncAV  edition  of  the  Monasticon,  in  which 
Odda  is  mentioned,  is  to  this  effect. 

That  after  the  retirement  of  Ethelred  from  the  throne  to  become 
Abbot  of  Bardney,  a  certain  duke  named  Del/ere  usurped  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  monasteiy,  and,  according  to  the  monkish  chronicles, 
died  eaten  up  by  vermin ;  upon  which  Odda  his  son  restored  the 
monastery,  and  vowed  perpetual  celibacy,  lest  any  son  of  his  should 
be  guilty  of  the  like  sacrilege.  He  is  recorded  as  a  nobleman  of 
great  piety  and  influence ;  and  aftei*wards,  in  conjunction  w^ith  his 
brother  Dodo,  founded  Tewkesbury  Abbey.  He  died  at  his  monas- 
tery of  Deerhurst,  a.d.  725,  and  his  bones  were  carried  to  Pershore 
in  1056.  Ethelred  of  England  and  his  queen  Ethelfleyda  often 
visited  this  monastery,  and  were  great  benefactors  to  it. 

The  old  Saxon  chronicle  edited  by  Dr.  Ingram  (page  232)  runs 
thus :  "  Odda,  who  was  also  caUed  Agelwin,  was  appointed  Earl 
over  Devonshire,  over  Somerset,  and  over  Dorset,  and  over  the 
Welsh  in  1051."  The  same  authority  (page  247)  informs  us  that 
"in  1056  died  Odda  the  Earl,  and  his  body  lies  at  Pershore,  and 
"  he  was  ordained  a  monk  before  his  end.  A  good  man  he  was,  and 
"  pure  and  right  noble,  and  he  died  on  the  kalends  of  September  " 
(i.e.  the  31st  August). 

Florence  of  Worcester,  who  gives  a  high  character  of  Odda,  says 
that  he  was  a  lover  of  churches  ;  and  adds  that  he  died  at  Deer- 
hurst, and  that  he  received  the  monastic  habit  from  Bishop  Ealdred 
a  short  time  before  his  death.  We  learn  also  from  the  same  writer 
that  Alfric,  Odda's  brother,  died  at  Deerhurst  on  the  22nd  of  Dec, 
1053. 

Now  it  will  be  at  once  observed  that  there  is  a  difference  of  more 
than  three  centuries  respecting  the  period  in  which  Odda  flourished. 

The  coincidences,  also,  in  the  accounts  are  so  remarkable  as  to 
prevent  our  supposing  them  to  refer  to  two  persons  of  the  same 
name. 


-CtnuCESTER- 


-.>•      EKPLOBATORY     RND     COMP«HATl«E    PLANS 
PERSHORE,    GLOUCESTER,  UNO    TEWKtSBUR^ 


THE  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  HOLY  CROSS,  PERSHORE.  357 

For,  if  so,  we  must  not  merely  suppose  eaoli  an  al>bot  of  tlio 
same  name,  but  also  each  a  nobleman  remarkable  for  his  love  of 
churches  ;  each  connected  with  Pershore  Abbey  Church,  and  that, 
too,  soon  after  its  destruction  by  lire  ;  also,  each  to  have  died  at 
Deerhurst,  and  likewise  to  have  been  buried  at  Pershore. 

The  next  thing  to  consider  is,  which  date  is  right.  We  have 
ample  proof  that  the  old  Saxon  chronicle,  edited  by  Dr.  Ingram,  is 
correct. 

For  Odda  is  stated  by  Florence  of  Worcester  to  have  received 
the  monastic  habit  from  Ealdred,  a  short  time  before  his  death. 
Now  ^Idred  was  bishop  of  Worcester,  and  held  the  see  from  1046 
to  106-2.  The  date  is  still  further  confirmed  by  a  stone  which  was 
dug  up  at  Deerhurst  in  1675,  and  which  is  now  preserved  among 
the  Arundelian  Marbles  at  Oxford,  stating  that  Duke  Odda  caused 
the  buildings  at  Deerhurst  to  be  erected  during  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  Confessor. 

There  is  another  most  singular  circumstance  mentioned  by 
Dugdale.  He  makes  Odda's  father  (whom  he  names  Delfere)  to  be 
eaten  up  of  vermin  for  the  wanton  destruction  of  the  Abbey ;  whilst 
it  is  stated  by  William  of  Malmesbury  that  in  976  a  chief  named 
Aelferus  (or  Aelfere),  styled  by  the  author  of  the  manuscript 
*'  Nequissimus,"  miserably  destroyed  the  church  just  80  years 
before  the  date  assigned  by  Florence  of  Worcester  to  Odda's  death. 
So  that,  in  all  probability,  the  Delfere  mentioned  in  the  former 
quotation,  and  the  Aelfere  or  Aelferus  in  the  latter,  refer  to  the 
same  person — the  date  allowing  of  his  being  father  to  Odda,  as 
stated  by  Dugdale. 

Since  writing  the  above  I  have  found  the  following  passage  in 
Thomas's  Survey  of  Worcester  Cathedral : — "  Oswald's  reforming  of 
the  monasteries  in  this  diocese,  was  certainly  done  between  the 
years  969  and  975  ;  for  this  year  his  great  patron  King  Edgar 
died,  and  a  stop  w^as  put  to  all  his  projects.  For  notwithstanding 
all  his  care  for  his  beloved  monks,  after  the  King's  death  they  were 
turned  out  in  several  places.  ^Iphere,  Duke  of  Mercia,  with  many 
of  his  nobles  deprived  them  of  all  the  benefices  they  were  in  posses- 
sion of  in  this  province,  and  brought  in  again  the  seculars. 
Hoveden  and  Florence  say  they  did  this,  being  blinded  with  great 
bribes,  dividing  the  manors  of  the  monasteries  amongst  them- 
selves.-"-  Huntingdon  calls  ^Elfere  upon  this  account  Consul 
nequissimus,  the  most  wicked  Earl,  and  says  this  crime  brought  in 
the  Danes.^  -  Malmesbury  tells  us,  he  repented  of  it  afterwards,  but 
in  vain,  for  God's  vengeance  overtook  him,  and  within  a  year  he 
was  eaten  up  of  lice."^ 

We  will  now  turn  our  attention  more  particularly  to  the 
stones  themselves,  and  by  their  aid  endeavour  to  trace  out  the 
architectural  history  of-  the  Abbey.  For,  how  often  have  the 
stones  of  our  mediaeval  buildings  become  truthful  guides  to  earnest 

(1)  "  Magnis  obcop.cati  muneribus."    Ang.  Scrip,  joost  Bed.  Ed.  Savil,  p.  245, 50G. 

(2)  Ibid,  p.  294.  (3)  p.  34. 
VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.                                      Y  Y 


358    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

inquirers — whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  they  have  not  unfrequently 
proved  themselves  the  silent  monitors  of  rash  antiquarian  specu- 
lators. 

If  you  carefully  examine  the  masonry  of  the  walls  of  the  south 
transept,  where  the  plaster  has  been  removed,  you  will  observe  that 
it  differs  very  much  from  some  of  the  other  portion  of  the  Norman 
work.  The  masonry  is  of  a  very  rude  character,  and  the  joints 
remarkably  w^ide.  These  features  are  generally  considered  indica- 
tive of  early  Norman  work. 

The  masonry  of  this  arcade  is  very  similar  to  that  of  the 
chancel  arch  at  Wj^re  Piddle,  which  has  hitherto  been  considered 
as  the  only  example  of  Saxon — or  perhaps,  more  properly  ante- 
Norman — work  in  the  county,  and  is  mentioned  as  such  in  the 
Archaeological  Journal,  in  the  Glossary,  and  by  Mr.  Bloxam. 

I  think  some  portion  of  the  south  transept  may  possibly  have 
been  the  work  of  Duke  Odda ;  and  if  so,  it  is  peculiarly  interesting 
and  valuable  as  another  example  of  ante-Norman  work. 

There  are,  however,  two  circumstances  which  may  be  considered 
by  some  to  militate  against  the  supposition  of  the  work  being  prior 
to  the  Conquest,  viz.,  the  rude  approximation  towards  the  ornament 
called  the  nail-head,  and  the  buttress  on  the  exterior  of  the  transept.* 
The  former  you  will  notice  worked  between  the  apparently  early 
attempt  at  the  zigzag. 

It  must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  if  the  work  of  Odda, 
it  would  only  be  about  fifteen  years  previous  to  the  Conquest ;  after 
which  period  we  know  these  features  to  have  become  common. 

Edward  the  Confessor's  chapel  at  Westminster  has  no  very 
pecuhar  characteristics  of  Saxon  work,  and  the  reason  is  that  he 
called  in  Norman  masons  to  execute  it.  This  shows  that  the 
features  which  we  usually  consider  as  belonging  exclusively  to  work 
executed  after  the  Conquest  were  introduced  previous  to  that  period. 

The  cap  which  is  built  in  the  north  transept  wall,  appears  to 
me  to  be  of  an  early  date,  and  very  similar  in  character  to  those 
which  are  acknowledged  Saxon  examples. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  there  is  no  historical  notice  of  any  build- 
ing having  been  erected  on  the  site  during  the  time  of  the  Normans ; 
although  we  know,  from  the  architectural  remains,  that  one  was 
erected  at  that  period. 

Judging  from  the  masoniy,  and  especially  from  the  figiu'es  to 
be  found  caiTcd  on  the  cap  of  the  south-west  pillar  of  the  tower,  I 
consider  the  date  of  the  principal  portion  of  the  Norman  work  to  be 
about  the  close  of  the  eleventh  century ;  and  I  am  most  strongly 
confirmed  in  this  opinion,  by  noticing  the  very  remarkable  similarity 
existing  in  the  proportions  and  mouldings  of  the  Norman  responds, 
still  remaining,  to  the  mouldings  of  the  pillars  of  Gloucester,  and 
Tewkesbury  Abbey ;  indeed,  the  mouldings  are  the  same  to  all  three, 
as  though  they  had  been  worked  by  the  same  hand.     Now  we  know 

(4)  There  is  a  rude  approximation  towards  the  nail-head  in  the  crypt  at  Worcester 
Cathedral,  most  satisfactorily  proved  by  Mr.  Boutrll  to  be  the  work  of  Bishop  Wolstan, 
the  only  bishop  allowed  at  the  Conquest  to  retain  his  see. 


THE  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  HOLY  CROSS,  PERSHORE.   359 

the  Norman  work  of  Gloucester  to  have  been  the  work  of  Abbot 
Serb,  and  that  the  Norman  church  was  dedicated  in  1100. 
Curiously  enough,  in  looking  over  the  list  of  the  Abbots  of  Pershore, 
I  find  that  one  Thurlstan  was  Abbot  in  1087,  and  that  he  was 
formerly  a  monk  of  Gloucester,  so  that  he  must  have  been  intimate 
with  Serlo,  and  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  new  buildings  then 
being  erected  at  Gloucester ;  hence  it  becomes  highly  probable  that 
he  adopted,  to  a  certain  extent,  his  ideas  ;  or  perhaps  employed  the 
same  workmen,  and  thus  arose  the  similarity  in  the  details. 

The  general  plan,  arrangement,  and  date  of  the  Norman  work  of 
the  three  Abbeys  of  Gloucester,  Tewkesbury,  and  Pershore  are  so 
similar,  that  I  have  drawn  plans  of  them  to  the  same  scale,  that 
we  may  be  better  able  to  compare  them. 

So  much  of  the  Norman  work  of  Pershore  Abbey  has 
been  destroyed,  as  to  render  it  necessary  to  make  a  plan  shewing  it 
as  we  have  reason  to  believe,  from  existing  evidence,  it  originally 
stood.  For  instance,  the  length  of  the  nave  is  stated  by  Nash  to 
have  been  180  feet.  The  width  is  shown  very  plainly  by  examining 
the  responds  at  the  western  side  of  the  tower. 

That  there  were  south  and  north  aisles  you  can  see  by  the 
remains  of  the  arches  on  each  side  of  the  tower  leading  into  them. 
That  there  were  aisles  to  the  chancel  we  know  in  like  manner  ;  and 
w^e  might  safely  infer  that  the  present  early  Enghsh  choir  was 
built  upon  Norman  foundations,  owing  to  the  apsidal  termination 
being  an  unusual  arrangement  in  this  country  during  the  early 
English  period.  That  there  was  a  north  transept  somewhat  similar 
to  the  south  one  is  quite  plain  ;  for  upon  carefully  looking  at  the 
walls  on  the  north  side  you  will  see  the  remains  of  the  strings  at 
the  same  height  and  in  the  same  position  as  these.  The  size  and 
position  of  the  large  Norman  arch  in  the  eastern  wall  of  this  transept 
and  the  remains  of  a  corresponding  one  still  remaining  in  the  large 
buttress  on  the  north,  also  indicate  apsidal  chapels  similar  to  those 
of  Gloucester  and  Tewkesbury  ;  so  that,  by  fair  inferences,  we  are 
really  able  to  form  a  very  tolerable  idea  of  what  the  Church  was  in 
the  Norman  times. 

I  should  mention  that,  lying  about  in  different  gardens  in  the 
neighbourhood,  are  many  very  valuable  fragments,  once  belonging 
to  this  Abbey ;  and  it  is  earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  those  parties 
who  may  happen  to  possess  them  will  restore  them  to  the  Abbey. 
If  collected,  they  would  prove  highly  interesting  to  the  archseologist, 
instead  of  being  admired  merely  as  pretty  garden  stones. 

The  old  font  is  missing ;  and  upon  enquiry,  I  found  that  after 
having  been  used  for  many  years  as  a  drinking  trough  for  cattle,  it 
now  stands  as  a  garden  ornament  near  Kempsey. 

We  have  to  thank  the  worthy  curate,  Mr.  Wright,  for  having 
rescued  a  valuable  old  stone  cofhn-lid,  used  for  what  pui-j^ose  do  you 
suppose  ?  A  gate-prop  !  or  some  such  purpose.  Little  did  the  old 
cai-ver  imagine,  when  designing  and  working  that  floriated  cross, 
that  he  was  designing  what  would  be  used  in  the  civilized  nine- 
teenth century  for  a  gate  prop. 


360    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

We  now  pass  on  to  the  consideration  of  the  Early  Enghsh  work 
erected  by  Bishop  Gei-vais  and  his  successors. 

It  appears  that  a  serious  fire  broke  out  on  St.  Urban's  day,  in 
1293,  w^iilst  the  Abbey  was  being  repaired.  That,  the  following 
year,  Gervais  was  appointed  Abbot,  and  commenced  the  restoration 
of  the  church,  but  did  not  live  to  finish  it.  He  is  recorded  as  a 
great  benefactor  of  the  Abbey. 

From  the  character  of  the  choir,  I  do  not  think  there  can  be  a 
doubt  about  his  having  commenced  it ;  but  it  is  very  possible  that 
the  work  still  remaining  of  the  Lady  Chapel  may  have  been  erect- 
ing when  the  fire  took  place,  as  we  are  told  that  repairs  were  then 
being  made,  and  the  buttresses  indicate  a  rather  earlier  date. 

This  would  also,  perhaps,  account  for  the  error  which  appears 
to  have  been  made  in  setting  out  the  plan  of  the  apse  ;  the  extreme 
eastern  pier  on  the  south  side  not  agreeing  with  the  one  on  the 
north.  To  avoid  difficulties  in  the  groining,  they  were  obliged  to 
overhang  the  wall  more  on  the  south  side,  and  to  introduce  a  light 
knot  of  foliage  and  a  cai^ved  head.  By  this  simple  contrivance,  the 
eye  is  satisfied  with  what  would  otherwise  have  had  a  very  unsightly 
appearance. 

In  this  church  we  do  not  find  the  triforium  and  clerestoiy  so 
fully  developed  as  is  usual  in  large  abbatical  and  cathedral  churches  ; 
or  wholly  omitted,  as  in  an  ordinary  parish  church ;  but  they  are 
blended  together  so  as  to  form  a  range  of  lofty  triplets,  a  lancet  light 
being  pierced  in  the  exterior  w^all  opposite  the  centre  of  each. 

There  is  not  that  rich  variety  in  the  caiwing  of  the  capitals 
which  we  find  in  Worcester  cathedral ;  but  they  are  very  character- 
istic of  the  period,  owing  to  the  marked  character  of  the  bell  and  the 
stiffness  of  the  foliage.  There  is,  however,  a  singular  exception  to 
this  in  the  canned  capitals  of  the  triforium-clerestoiy  over  the  arch 
leading  to  the  sanctuary,  which  have  no  bell  at  all,  but  are  ap- 
parently carved  in  imitation  of  the  florets  of  the  honeysuckle.  It 
will  also  be  noticed  that,  whilst  they  are  called  as  though  they 
sprang  from  one  shaft,  and  that  the  abacus  is  not  broken,  yet  the 
columns  are  clustered ;  this  does  away  with  the  awkward  appear- 
ance the  great  projection  of  the  foliage  must  otherwise  have  had, 
when  viewed  sideways ;  but  which  is  not  objectionable  in  a  front 
view. 

I  should  also,  perhaps,  notice  that  the  vaulting  springs  lower 
than  usual,  owing  possibly  to  the  amalgamation  of  the  triforium  and 
clerestory. 

The  general  arrangement  of  the  ribs  of  the  vaulting  shows  great 
ingenuity  and  skill,  and  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  vaulting  in  the 
whole  county  equal  to  it  for  beauty  of  arrangement  and  construction. 
Possibly,  this  roof  was  the  work  of  Abbot  Gerv^ais'  successor ;  for  it 
appears  to  indicate  a  different  feeling  from  the  other  work,  there 
being  greater  variety  and  invention  shown  in  the  detail. 

The  bosses  at  the  intersection  of  the  vaulting  are  veiy  rich  and 
unusually  large,  and  deseiwe  to  be  particularly  noticed.  They  ap- 
pear to  be  conventional  adaptations  of  the  vine,  the  willow,  and  the 


THE  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  HOLY  CROSS,  PERSHORE.       861 

palm.  Over  the  portion  of  the  choir  raised  for  the  sanctuary  the 
vauking  assumes  the  form  of  a  star,  and  is  more  enriched  than  the 
other  portion. 

There  is  a  shght  distinction  also  in  the  plan  of  the  piers  towards 
the  east. 

The  old  roof  has  been  removed,  and  replaced  by  a  flat  one. 
The  pitch  of  the  former  roofs  of  the  choir  and  transepts  is  distinctly 
indicated  on  the  walls  of  the  tower. 

The  windows  of  the  choir,  especially  the  single-light  lancets,  are 
unusually  wide  and  large  for  the  period. 

The  plan  now  before  you  shows  the  abbey  as  it  probably  stood 
at  the  end  of  the  13th  century.  You  will  obseiTe  that  the  Early 
English  Lady  Chapel  and  transeptal  chapels  then  existed.  Also 
that  a  beautiful  chapel  or  chapels  of  the  Decorated  period,  then 
occupied  the  space  where  formerly  stood  the  south  apsidal  Norman 
one,  fragments  of  which  still  remain,  and  the  delicacy  and  beauty  of 
some  of  the  mouldings  can  scarcely  be  surpassed.  These  latter 
chapels  were  not  entered  through  the  old  Norman  archway,  but  a 
new  one  was  formed  leading  out  of  the  south  aisle  into  them. 
When  they  were  built  against  the  south  aisle,  the  lancet  light  in  the 
second  ba}'-  was  not  removed,  but  enclosed. 

The  addition  of  these  chapels  appears  to  have  interfered  so 
much  with  the  light  on  the  south  side,  as  to  have  induced  the  in- 
troduction of  the  Perpendicular  five-light  windows,  which  we  now 
see  in  the  third  and  fourth  bay. 

The  date  of  the  doorway  entering  from  the  cloisters  into  the 
nave  appears  to  be  about  the  close  of  the  13  th  century ;  it  is  of 
exquisite  proportions.  This  doorway  shows  how  very  little  our 
mediaeval  architects  cared  for  uniformity  (which  was  thought  so 
essential  by  some  not  many  years  back).  AH  the  capitals  on  the 
east  side  of  the  door  are  foliated,  whilst  those  on  the  western  are 
composed  of  mouldings  only. 

This  love  of  variety  and  invention  of  details  which  so  distin- 
guishes mediaeval  art  from  the  classical  styles,  appears  to  have 
existed  to  a  very  great  extent  even  in  the  time  of  the  Normans.  If 
you  observe  the  caps  to  the  pillars  of  the  tower  you  will  find  every 
one  different ;  and,  no  doubt  for  some  practical  reason,  corbels  are 
substituted  for  columns  to  support  the  western  arch. 

Another  very  serious  fire,  we  are  informed,  took  place  in  1287, 
which  is  said  to  have  reduced  the  abbey  to  ashes,  and  almost  the 
whole  town  also. 

The  upper  portion  of  the  tower  was  probably  erected  after  this 
fire,  but  certainly  not  by  Bishop  Gervais  or  his  immediate  successor, 
as  stated  by  Styles  in  his  history  of  the  Abbey  ;  which  is  much  too 
early  a  date  to  assign  to  it. 

The  groining  to  the  roof  of  the  south  transept  is  ascribed  to 
Abbot  Newnton,  who  was  abbot  from  1413  to  1456,  and  whose  rebus 
occurs  on  one  of  the  bosses. 

The  tower  contains  a  beautiful  lanthorn,  which  must  have  been 
a  veiy  pleasing  feature  when  viewed  from  beneath,   as  originally 


362    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

intended,  and  before  the  modern  floor  prevented  its  being  so  seen. 
It  being  the  intention  of  the  architect  that  it  should  be  viewed  from 
below,  we  find  the  details  treated  accordingly  ;  simple  sinkings  are 
substituted  for  delicate  mouldings.  The  beads  are  unusually  large 
and  bold,  and  even  look  hescvj  when  you  stand  close  to  them. 

The  peculiar  adaptation  of  a  building  as  regards  distance,  and 
also  the  relative  position  from  which  details  of  a  building  were  in- 
tended to  be  viewed,  appear  to  have  been  very  carefully  studied  by 
our  mediaeval  architects ;  and  the  careful  examination  of  their  works, 
in  this  respect,  will  amply  reward  the  architectural  student. 

The  battlemented  string-course  running  round  the  exterior  of 
the  tower  is  very  singular.  I  know  of  very  few  instances  of  it  in  a 
Decorated  tower  ;  there  are,  however,  several  examples  in  those  of 
Perpendicular  date,  as  Canterbury  Cathedral,  St.  Martin's,  Stam- 
ford, Lincolnshire,  and  other  places.  The  caps  to  the  angle-turrets 
and  the  parapet  are  modern. 

There  appears  to  be  very  little  15  th  centuiy  work,  with  the 
exception  of  the  window  in  the  transept,  the  windows  before  men- 
tioned, and  the  singular  reredos  which  stands  in  the  old  Norman 
arch  formerly  opening  into  the  south  apsidal  chapel. 

All  the  wood-work  appears  to  have  been  destroyed,  excepting 
some  of  the  stalls,  a  little  Perpendicular  panelling,  and  the  old  chest. 

The  domestic  buildings  are  also  completely  demolished,  but  the 
doorway  which  formerly  led  from  the  cloisters  still  remains. 

According  to  Styles,  the  entrance  to  the  monastery  was  on  the 
north  of  the  churchyard,  under  a  lofty  archway,  which  it  appears 
was  taken  down  not  many  years  ago. 

The  site  of  the  ground  belonging  to  this  abbey,  exclusive  of  the 
garden  on  the  south  side  of  the  moat,  occupied  no  less  than  ten 
acres.  The  Abbot's  house  stood  upon  the  present  site  of  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Scobell.  Little  is  now  left  to  tell  of  the  magnificence 
of  these  abbatical  buildings  or  the  former  splendour  of  this  church ; 
indeed,  to  form  an  idea  of  what  Pershore  Abbey  was  prior  to  the 
Dissolution,  we  must  entirely  divest  our  minds  of  the  idea  of 
bare  whitewashed  walls  and  ceilings,  cheap  pavements,  windows 
glazed  like  those  to  some  mean  cottage,  and  the  vulgar  pews  and 
fittings  of  modern  times  ;  we  must  also  recall  to  our  imagination — 
as  Milton  did  when  writing  his  Fenseroso — the  studious  cloister,  the 
massy  pillars,  the  dim  religious  light  cast  from  the  richly  coloured 
and  storied  windows.  For,  formerly  the  light  of  heaven  could  not 
traverse  the  windows  of  this  sacred  edifice,  without  illustrating  the 
deeds  of  holy  men  of  old  ;  nor  was  it  through  the  sense  of  hearing 
only  that  the  teachers  of  those  days  appealed  to  the  hearts  of  the 
people ;  but  the  other  slumbering  senses  must  also  be  aroused,  for 
the  purpose  of  impressing  the  lessons  they  strove  to  teach. 

Let  us,  then,  imagine  ourselves  standing  at  the  west  end  of  the 
massive  Norman  nave  of  the  old  abbey,  viewing  at  a  distance  of 
between  one  and  two  hundred  feet  the  stream  of  light  which 
once  poured  down  from  the  beautiful  lanthorn  tower,,  dividing  the 
choir  from  the  nave,  throwing  out  in  rich  relief  the  intricate  and 


THE  ABBEY  CHURCH  OF  HOLY  CROSS,  PERSHORE.  363 

delicate  tracery  and  carving  of  the  ancient  rood-screen — through 
which  may  have  been  seen  the  choir,  with  its  pavement  of  varied 
design,  its  mural  decorations,  its  clustered  pillars  and  embossed  roof, 
illuminated  with  gold,  ruby,  and  emerald  ;  and,  in  the  far  east,  the 
altar,  with  its  rich  embroidery  and  jewelleiy,  behind  which  ex- 
tended the  chastely  designed  chapels  before  alluded  to,  with  their 
delicately  wrought  mouldings. 

For  those  were  not  the  days  of  sordidness  and  meanness  in  mat- 
ters connected  with  religious  worship  ;  persons  did  not  then  ask — 
*'  how  cheaply  can  we  build  ?"  or,  "  how  many  worshippers  can  we 
accommodate  on  so  many  superficial  feet,  at  the  least  possible  cost  ?" 
But,  "  how  much  can  we  afford  to  give  ?  How  can  we  build  best?" 
— considering  the  words  of  Holy  Writ,  "  This  is  none  other  than  the 
House  of  God.     This  is  the  gate  of  Heaven." 

Three  times,  at  least,  had  the  sacred  piles  erected  upon  this 
spot  been  entirely  or  nearly  destroyed  by  fire,  and  three  times  had 
the  piety  of  our  forefathers  erected  in  their  place  buildings  still  more 
beautiful  and  magnificent :  before  the  ruthless  hand  of  Henry  the 
Eighth  made  them  a  crumbling  mass  of  ruins.  But  there  is  still 
enough  left  of  their  former  beauty  to  encourage  the  churchmen  of 
our  day  to  exert  themselves,  once  more,  to  render  this  beautiful 
structure  a  suitable  place  for  the  honor  of  Him  to  whose  service  it 
has  been  for  so  many  centuries  dedicated. 


Ripple  Church.  A  Paper  read  at  a  Meeting  of  the  Worcester  Diocesan 
Architectural  Society,  June  1st,  1858.  By  W.  Jeffrey 
Hopkins,  Consulting  Architect  to  the  Diocesan  Church  Build- 
ing Society. 

This  Church,  which  is  dedicated  to  St.  Mary,  is  exceedingly  good 
in  its  general  proportions  and  arrangement. 

The  original  effect  of  the  exterior,  with  its  tower  and  spire,  was 
doubtless  striking  and  commanding,  and  must  have  formed  apleasing 
feature  amongst  the  truly  beautiful  woodland  scenery  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Its  lofty  spacious  interior  also,  when  it  was  adorned  with 
architectural  fittings  in  harmony  with  the  character  of  the  building 
and  free  from  its  present  incumbrances  and  obstructions,  must  have 
been  solemn  and  impressive. 

There  is  much  to  enjoy,  even  now,  in  its  contemplation,  in  spite 
of  its  stuccoed  exterior,  its  cold  whitewashed  walls,  and  ugly  fittings. 

It  is  a  Cross  church,  consisting  of  a  chancel,  about  41  feet  by 
17  ;  a  central  tower  ;  a  nave,  69  feet  by  19  feet  6  inches  ;  transepts ; 
north  and  south  aisles,  and  a  north  porch. 

It  appears  to  have  been  erected  very  early  in  the  First-pointed 
period,  retaining  many  of  the  characteristics  of  semi-Norman  work  ; 
and,  with  certain  exceptions  which  I  shall  aftei'wards  point  out,  it 
has  never  been  materially  altered. 


364    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN   ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

It  frequently  happens  that  in  our  larger  parish  churches  chantry 
chapels  were  added  at  subsequent  periods  ;  and,  in  our  smaller  ones, 
aisles :  no  such  additions,  however,  appear  to  have  been  made  to 
this  church.  It  may  be  said  to  have  come  down  to  us,  for  the 
most  part,  as  originally  designed  ;  with  the  exception  of  the  loss  of 
the  spire,  and  upper  portion  of  the  tower.  It  is  principally  owing 
to  this  circumstance  that  we  find  a  greater  unity  existing  in  the 
general  proportions,  than  is  usual  in  our  parish  churches. 

The  roof  of  the  nave  still  retains  nearly  the  same  pitch  as  the 
original  one,  the  exact  pitch  of  which  may  be  seen  marked  against 
the  tower. 

In  an  extract  from  Domesday  Book  respecting  Ripple,  two 
priests  are  mentioned ;  from  this  circumstance  we  may  infer  that  a 
still  earlier  building  than  the  present  one  existed.  I  have  not, 
however,  been  able  to  discover  any  portion  of  such  structure ;  and 
the  old  font,  which  might  have  thrown  some  light  upon  the 
subject,  has  been  removed. 

There  is  great  simphcity  in  the  details  of  this  building ;  and 
the  little  ornamentation  that  is  used,  is  employed  very  sj)aringly, 
but  ^rith  the  greatest  discrimination,  and  where  introduced  is  too 
good  and  too  thoughtfully  executed  to  aUow  us  for  a  moment  to 
attribute  its  want  to  meanness.  Probably,  also,  the  interior  effect 
was  much  enhanced  by  the  beauty  of  its  fittings,  and  enriched  by 
the  introduction   of  colour. 

In  modern  churches,  and  that  too  where  the  funds  are  limited, 
we  often  find  twice  the  amount  of  ornamentation  attempted ;  but, 
being  badly  distributed  and  carelessly  executed,  it  imparts  to  us  the 
impression  that  it  is  put  there  from  a  love  of  display,  and  calls  to 
our  minds  the  mean  and  sordid  motives  of  this  money-grasping  age, 
rather  than  those  pure  motives  which  should  actuate  all  those  who 
engage  in  church  building. 

I  shall  noAv  explain  the  various  parts  of  the  church  more  in 
detail. 

The  chancel  is  well  developed,  like  the  neighbouring  churches 
of  Bredon  and  Twyning.  The  side  windows  are  singular  in  their 
general  arrangement,  and  there  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  side 
lights  nearest  the  east  end,  they  being  more  enriched  than  the 
others.  These  contained  very  delicate  and  beautiful  mouldings, 
which  have  for  the  most  part  been  destroyed. 

Mr.  Sharpe,  in  his  very  valuable  work  on  mediaeval  windows, 
traces  the  gradual  development  of  geometrical  ones  from  lancet 
windows  being  first  placed  in  juxta-position  ;  aftenvards  being 
united  by  means  of  a  label ;  then  slight  piercings  being  used  to 
avoid  the  ugly  intervening  spaces.  It  then  only  remained  that 
these  perforations  should  be  complete,  and  designed  so  as  to  occupy 
the  whole  of  the  intervening  spaces,  in  order  to  convert  what  had 
hitherto  been  a  group  of  separate  windows  into  one  window  of  seve- 
ral lights,  or  the  ordinary  geometrical  traceried  windows. 

This  church  affords  many  actual  examples  explanatory  of  his 


RIPPLE    CHURCH.  365 

theory.  In  the  nave  we  find  the  single  lancets  without  scoinson 
arches.  In  the  north  transept  is  a  large  three-light  window  in 
which  the  uglj  form  of  the  spandril  alluded  to  h}^  Mr.  Shai-p  is  very 
apparent.  In  the  three-light  south  windows  to  chancel,  we  perceive 
a  rude  attempt  to  ohviate  this  defect  by  piercings,  as  in  the  example 
he  quotes  at  Carlisle  and  Netley.  In  the  single-light  chancel  windows 
we  have  an  early  example  of  soffit  cusps  ;  and  in  the  window  to 
north  transept,  of  chamfer  cusps. 

The  east  window  is  a  live-light  Third-pointed  or  Perpendicular 
one,  retaining  the  jambs  of  the  original  Early  English  window. 

It  was  not  uncommon  in  the  15  th  century  to  make  such  inser- 
tions. This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  very  general  use,  at  that 
date,  of  stained  glass  windows,  wall  decorations,  and  elaborate  screen- 
work  ;  which  probably  rendered  it  almost  necessary  to  increase  the 
number  of  lights. 

A  few  fragments  of  the  original  stained  glass  stiU  remain — quite 
sufficient  to  make  us  regret  its  destruction. 

Nash  ^  gives  an  account  of  various  arms  and  inscriptions  in  this 
and  the  side  windows,  which  are  now  destroyed.  He  also  states 
that  in  the  middle  of  the  chancel  there  was  a  stone  inlaid  with 
brass ;  at  the  top,  the  figure  of  the  Virgin  Mary  with  our 
Saviour  iii  her  arms  ;  below,  a  man  robed,  praying ;  the  inscrip- 
tion— Thomas  Bastard  quondam  hitjus  ecclesim  rector,  qui  obiit 
ultimo  die  Aprilis,  a.d.  1584,  Post  Tenebras,  Spero  Lucem.  On  the 
south  side  was  an  ancient  monument  without  inscription. 

He  also  informs  us  that,  in  1437,  one  John  Baldwyn  incurred 
ecclesiastical  censure  for  endeavouring  to  deprive  the  Rector  of 
Ripple  of  his  mortuary,  viz.,  the  second  best  beast  if  the  lord  of 
the  manor  claimed  the  first.  John  Baldwyn  endeavoured  to  evade 
this  tax  by  giving  away  during  his  illness  all  his  live  stock  to  his 
cousin.  The  penance  enjoined  was,  after  his  recovery  to  walk  bare- 
headed and  barefooted,  for  three  Sundays,  round  the  churchyard, 
holding  a  torch  in  his  hand. 

The  present  plastering  to  the  roof  tends  very  much  to  destroy 
the  general  character  of  the  chancel,  and  to  give  it  a  modern  appear- 
ance. There  are  no  Sedilia  or  Piscina  left ;  though  probably  their 
remains  may  still  lie  concealed  beneath  the  modern  encaustic  tiles 
which  surround  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary. 

The  stalls  are  veiy  late  Third-pointed,  and  the  misereres  belong- 
ing to  them  contain  veiy  quaint  calling,  consisting  of — a  man 
feeding  swine ;  two  men  carrying  what  appear  to  be  a  bag  and  a 
box  ;  boy  frightening  birds  ;  reaping  ;  figure  of  Plenty,  represented 
by  a  man  pouring  out  corn.  On  another  is  represented  what  seems 
to  be  a  star-fish  and  the  sun ;  on  others,  the  process  of  harromng  ; 
spring  flowers  ;  digging,  and  chopping  wood  ;  two  persons  sitting  in 
an  arbour  ;  hunting  ;  the  harvest  moon,  &c. 

I  imagine  the  moral  intended  to  be  conveyed  by  these  carvings 

(I)  History  of  Worcestershire. 
VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  7.  z 


366    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

was  that,  under  the  protection  of  Providence,  plenty,  wealth,  and 
comfort  will  be  the  natural  results  of  well  directed  industry. 

These  rude  carvings  and  legends  upon  the  glass  windows  may 
be  looked  upon  as  supplying  in  those  clays  the  place  of  our  cheap 
literature  ;  and  as  this  is  not  always  pure,  but  is  sometimes  tainted 
with  infidelity,  so  these  ancient  carvings  and  legends  sometimes 
border  on  coarseness  and  superstition. 

No  doubt,  however,  they  had  a  great  effect  upon  the  morals  of 
the  people  ;  for  impressions  which  are  made  upon  the  mind  through 
the  sense  of  sight  are  invariably  stronger  and  more  lasting  than 
those  conveyed  by  mere  words.  Conveying  instructions  by  means 
of  conventional  pictorial  representations  was  not  confined  to  eccle- 
siastical buildings,  but  is  to  be  found  in  our  old  domestic  buildings 
also,  and  in  tapestry  work. 

The  corbels  and  springing  of  the  vaulting  under  the  tower  still 
remain.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  vaulting  itself  may  have  been 
broken  through  when  the  spire  was  removed. 

The  spire  was  struck  by  lightning  on  the  18th  December,  1583; 
and,  by  a  M.S.  document  quoted  by  Mr.  Noake  in  the  Rambler  in 
Worcestershire,  it  appears  that  on  "  May  12th,  1713,  Francis  Tustian 
and  Nicholas  Kempson,  churchwardens,  signed  and  sealed  a  con- 
tract 'upon  paper  first  stamped  according  to  law,'  with  Thomas 
Wilkinson,  of  St.  Helen's,  Worcester,  to  take  down  the  spire  and 
part  of  the  tower  of  Ptipple  church  and  rebuild  the  tower  five  yards 
higher  than  before. 

*'  It  was  stipulated  that  he  was  to  '  finish  the  same  with  rails  and 
balisters,  flower  potts,  fannes,  and  other  handsome  ornaments,  at 
the  topp  and  corners  of  the  said  tower ; '  for  this  he  was  to  be  paid 
i6160  and  to  have  all  the  materials  of  the  spire,  except  the  weather- 
cock, which  was  probably  intended  to  do  duty  on  the  renovated 
tower. 

"In  1797  the  tower  was  again  raised,  and  the  'flower  potts, 
fannes,  and  other  handsome  ornaments '  gave  way  to  a  still  more 
unsightly  railing,  which  still  remains." 

The  two  transepts  appear  to  have  been  appropriated  as  chantry 
chapels.  In  the  centre  of  the  east  wall  to  each  is  a  circular-headed 
recess,  where  probably  stood  the  altars  belonging  to  them. 

It  appears  that  one  Salomon  obtained  leave  from  Edward  II. 
to  appropriate  the  proceeds  of  certain  lands  for  the  purpose  of 
estabhshing  a  chantry,  about  the  year  1320.  The  openings  to  these 
transepts  from  the  aisles  are  singularly  small. 

The  height  of  the  nave  is  much  greater  than  usual  in  the  parish 
churches  of  our  diocese.  The  builders  may  have  been  influenced 
to  a  certain  extent,  by  the  good  eff'ect  gained  in  the  naves  of  the 
churches  of  Twyning  and  Bredon,  both  of  which  existed  at  that 
time,  and  are  remarkably  good. 

There  is  a  striking  resemblance  between  the  caps  at  Bredon 
and  those  to  the  piers  of  this  tower. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  this  church  has  a  western  as  well  as 
north  and  south  entrance ;  this  is  very  unusual  in  Early  English 
parish  churches. 


RIPPLE    CHURCH.  367 

These  entrance  doorways  are  very  bold  and  well  executed,  and 
their  deeply  undercut  mouldings  tell  with  great  force. 

The  very  singular  billet  label-moulding  around  the  doorway  to 
the  porch  shows  a  lingering  feeling  for  Norman  detail. 

The  north  entrance  affords  a  good  example  of  a  round-headed 
Early  English  doorway.  Over  this  porch  is  a  room,  which  it  appears 
formerly  extended  over  the  aisle.  These  rooms  are  considered  by 
Mr.  Bloxam  to  have  been  inhabited  by  lay  recluses. 

The  west  window  is  an  insertion,  made  in  the  fifteenth  century, 

I  would  also  call  attention  to  the  unusual  arrangement  of  the 
single-light  clerestory  windows,  which  in  this  instance  are  placed 
over  the  piers,  as  in  the  church  of  Ovei'bury,  instead  of  being  placed 
in  the  more  usual  position  over  the  arches. 

The  piers  and  arches  are  simple  and  beautiful  in  their  propor- 
tions, and  would  appear  still  more  so  if  it  were  not  for  the  much  to 
be  regretted  ignorance  of  those  employed  in  scraping  off  the  white- 
wash. The  effect  of  the  caps  is  lost  for  ever ;  and  more  mischief  has 
been  done  to  the  mouldings  (by  no  doubt  well-intentioned  attempts 
at  restoration)  in  this  church  than  by  any  other  means  since  they 
came  from  the  carver's  hands. 

I  consider  it  a  duty,  as  a  member  of  this  Architectural  Society, 
to  point  out  these  errors,  as  they  too  often  receive  commendation 
from  young  ecclesiologists,  who  do  not  look  far  enough  to  see  the 
irreparable  mischief  done.  I  positively  had  some  difficulty  to 
discover  a  single  cap,  the  mouldings  of  which  had  not  been 
seriously  injured  by  the  tastelessness  of  those  employed  to 
scrape  them.  Almost  all  the  mouldings — causing  the  delicate 
shadows  to  the  exceedingly  beautiful  single-lights  at  the  east 
end — have  been  ruthlessly  disfigured  in  the  same  manner.  Even 
the  neat  jointing,  which  some  may  feel  inclined  to  admire,  is 
as  untruthful  and  pretending  as  the  old  ones  were  truthful  and 
unj)re  tending. 

If  I  see  a  joint  in  old  work  I  know  it  to  be  a  joint ;  and  T  am 
able  from  those  joints  to  judge  of  the  construction  of  the  building  ; 
but  if  I  see  one  marked  by  our  modern  restorers  I  don't  believe  in 
it,  unless  I  can  discern  the  old  joint  underneath,  for  1  cannot  tell 
but  that  it  is  a  sham.  I  never  met  with  sham  joints  in  old  work; 
the  old  masons  were  always  truthful. 

One  characteristic  of  Roman  arches  is  that  they  have  key-stones, 
and  one  of  the  characteristics  of  Pointed  architecture  is  that  they 
are  generally  omitted.  Now,  if  you  notice  the  apex  of  one  of  these 
arches,  you  will  in  several  instances  see  the  old  joints  filled  up,  and 
attempts  made  to  conceal  them,  false  joints  being  substituted  to 
make  us  believe  that  there  are  key-stones  where  none  exist ;  so  that 
a  great  portion  of  the  jointing  is  false,  and  we  no  longer  see  the 
old  mason's  construction,  but  what  the  mason  who  executed  this 
sham  work  considered  it  ought  to  have  been. 

The  old  doors  and  carved  woodwork  are  really  of  good  substan- 
tial English  oak,  with  their  colour  much  enriched  by  age  ;  but  they 
have  been  painted  of  a  gingerbread  colour,  evidently  intended  to 


368    WORCESTER  DIOGESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

imitate  the  oak  itself ;  as  though  a  sham  were  preferable  to  a  reality  / 
Again,  those  who  have  covered  over  the  old  masonry  with  stucco, 
jointed  to  imitate  large  stones  (which  no  one  believes  in)  had  surely 
no  need  to  hide  the  truthful  honest  work  of  their  forefathers  which 
lies  beneath  ;  for  it  will  long  outlive  their  vain  conceit  and  fancied 
improvement. 

Portions  of  the  old  carved  panelling  to  the  rood-screen,  and 
other  woodwork,  are  to  be  found  inserted  amongst  the  modern  work 
— some  turned  the  wrong  way. 

The  misereres  have  been  removed  from  their  proper  position, 
and  worked  up  as  backs  to  the  stalls. 

But  the  inhabitants  of  Ripple,  should  any  be  present,  must  not 
suppose  that  their  church  has  been  more  injured  than  many  others. 
These  things  are  only  named  for  the  purpose  of  preventing  their 
repetition  in  other  parishes,  which  up  to  the  present  time  might 
have  been  more  fortunate.  And  as  I  have  been  informed  that 
Ripple  has  now  one  of  the  best  choirs  in  the  diocese,  and  that  the 
rector  and  present  churchwardens  have  great  taste  for  these  matters  ; 
and,  considering  also  the  rapid  progress  made  within  the  last  few 
years  of  true  principles  as  regards  church  restoration,  I  trust  they 
will  some  day  have  one  of  the  best  parish  churches  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. 

At  present,  people  do  not  know  what  half  our  parish  churches 
would  be  like,  if  they  were  only  judiciously  restored. 

If  we  enter  into  a  domestic  house  that  has  long  been  void  and 
neglected,  we  know  the  feeling  of  coldness,  dampness,  and  misery 
which  we  experience  ;  and  its  architectural  merits  must  be  some- 
thing more  than  usual  to  induce  us  to  enter,  excepting  as  a  matter 
of  business.  How,  then,  can  we  expect  to  be  very  much  struck  with 
our  long  neglected,  stuccoed,  limewhited,  damp  churches — especially 
when  we  add  to  these  the  misdirected  zeal  of  ignorant  persons,  who 
would  fain  improve  upon  works  the  merits  of  which  they  have  never 
been  able  to  discern  ? 

But  let  not  those  who  cherish  a  love  for  church  architecture 
despair.  Every  day  adds  to  the  number  of  those  who  are  awake  to 
the  impropriety  of  any  longer  neglecting  to  repair,  and  in  some 
measure  to  restore  to  their  pristine  beauty  these  works  raised  by  the 
faith  of  our  forefathers  ;  who  can  no  longer  bear  to  see  the  walls  of 
their  houses  glowing  with  rich  colour,  and  hung  with  pictorial 
decorations  valued  at  thousands,  whilst  the  church  walls  remain 
cold,  bare,  and  unadorned ;  who  will  not  endure  that  base  metal 
should  be  used  for  the  sacred  services  of  the  altar,  whilst  pure  gold 
and  silver  is  appropriated  to  secular  purposes ;  who  will  no  longer 
countenance  rich,  selfish  men  (calling  themselves  Christians)  in 
appropriating  large  spaces  of  God's  house  to  themselves,  to  the 
exclusion  of  their  poorer  brethren  : 

Those  who  feel  that 

"  Faith's  meanest  deed  more  favour  bears, 
\Miere  hearts  and  wills  are  weighed; 
Than  brightest  transports,  choicest  prayers, 
Which  bloom  their  hour,  and  fade." 


Timjning  Church.  A  Paper  read  during  an  Excursion  of  the  Wor- 
cester Diocesan  Architectural  Society,  June  1st,  1858.  By 
John  Severn  Walker,  Honorary  Secretary. 

The  parish  of  Twyning  is  situated  in  the  deanery  of  Winchcombe, 
and  in  the  archdeaconry,  diocese,  and  county  of  Gloucester.  It 
occupies  a  i^oint  of  land  between  the  Severn  and  the  Avon,  being 
the  only  parish  in  the  county  that  lies  wholly  on  the  west  side  of 
the  latter  river ;  and  is  thought  to  have  derived  its  name  from  two 
Saxon  words,  signifying  two,  and  meadows ;  it  having  meadows  on 
the  banks  of  both  the  above  rivers. 

The  manor  was  held  by  the  abbey  of  Winchcombe  when  Domes- 
day was  compiled.  That  abbey  assigned  it  to  the  abbey  of  S. 
Ebrulph,  at  Utica,  in  Normandy,  2nd  Edward  II. ;  but  it  reverted 
again  to  the  monks  of  Winchcombe,  in  whose  possession  it  continued 
till  the  Dissolution.  It  was  granted  to  Sir  Rafe  Sadlier,  1st 
Edward  VI.  ;  and  afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  Richard 
Baugh,  Esq.,  who  died  in  1682,  and  left  three  daughters,  co-heiresses, 
of  whom  the  eldest  was  married  to  Charles  Hancock,  Esq.,  who  died 
in  1717.  It  passed,  by  the  marriage  of  one  of  his  descendants,  to 
George  Maxwell,  of  Twyning,  Esq.,  in  whose  family  it  still  remains. 

The  impropriation  and  advowson  formerly  belonged  to  the  Abbey 
of  Winchcombe,  and  were  granted  to  the  Chapter  of  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  38  Henry  VIII. 

The  church  is  dedicated  to  S.  Mary  Magdalene,  and,  at  a  cur- 
sory glance,  certainly  appears  to  be  an  uninteresting  stmcture ; 
presenting,  as  it  does,  a  long  and  lofty  nave  and  chancel,  with  most 
of  their  ancient  features  injured  or  destroyed,  a  comparatively  low 
western  tower,  and  a  poor  north  porch.  Like  most  other  village 
churches,  however,  it  reveals  to  the  ecclesiological  student  many 
objects  w^ell  worthy  of  notice.  For  instance,  there  is  a  remarkably 
spacious  Norman  nave  ;  and  the  chancel,  though  looking  so  bare 
and  uninviting,  is  the  shell  of  a  fine  Middle-pointed  one,  the  east 
window  having  been  of  noble  proportions.  The  nave  bears  a  general 
resemblance  to  those  of  Bredon,  Leigh,  and  Rock,  in  the  county  of 
Worcester  ;  and  though  of  an  earlier  and  plainer  character,  it  sur- 
passes them  in  size,  being  upwards  of  ninety  feet  in  length,  and 
thirty  feet  in  height  to  the  eaves  of  the  roof — dimensions  which  it 
is  rare  to  meet  with  in  an  aisleless  church.  We  can  hardly  under- 
stand why  such  a  spacious  building  should  have  been  erected  at  so 
early  a  period,  seeing  that  it  is  nearly  large  enough  for  the  accom- 
moclation  of  the  parishioners  at  the  present  time,  when  the  number 
of  inhabitants  must  be  very  much  greater  than  in  the  12th  century, 
at  which  date  the  population  of  the  whole  of  England  is  supposed 
to  have  been  about  the  same  as  that  of  London  at  this  time.  It  is 
certain  that  the  church  builders  of  old  did  not  calculate  how  many 
people  they  could  cram  into  so  many  square  feet,   at  a  cost  of  so 


370    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

much  a  sitting.  No,  they  built  not  for  their  time  only,  but  for 
many  succeeeding  generations. 

"  Huge,  mighty,  massive,  hard  and  strong, 

Were  the  choice  stones  they  lifted  then; 
The  vision  of  their  hfe  was  long, 

They  knew  their  God — those  faithful  men! 
They  pitched  no  tent  for  change  or  death, 

No  home  to  man's  last  shadowy  day ; 
There!  there!  the  everlasting  hreath 

Would  breathe  whole  centuries  away  I 

Hence  the  substantial  walls  and  spacious  areas  of  our  old  churches, 
forming  a  pleasing  contrast  to  the  inconveniently  crowded  state  of 
so  many  modern  structures,  where  every  inch  of  space  has  been 
seized  upon  and  made  available  for  sittings,  often  without  reference  to 
the  question  as  to  whethei'  the  occupants  can  see  or  hear  anything 
or  not.  To  return  to  the  church.  The  exterior  of  the  nave  is 
divided  into  six  bays  by  the  characteristic  pilaster  buttresses  of  the 
period.  The  bays  are  very  wide  at  the  west  end,  but  become  gra- 
dually narrower  as  they  approach  the  east.  The  original  small 
round-headed  windows  are  placed  high  up  in  the  wall,  some  of  them 
being  ornamented  with  a  kind  of  diaper  pattern  on  the  outside ; 
they  have  all  been  blocked  up,  and  lofty  Middle-pointed  ones  in- 
serted ;  these  in  their  turn  have  been  deprived  of  their  tracery. 
The  north  and  south  doorways  are  very  simple,  having  single  shafts, 
with  plain  capitals ;  and  instead  of  being  in  the  middle  they  are 
placed  between  two  bays,  the  buttress  dying  into  the  thickened  wall 
over  the  centre  of  each  doorway.  On  each  side  of  the  north  door 
is  a  shallow  niche,  and  beneath  the  one  to  the  left,  as  you  enter,  is 
a  mutilated  holy  water  stoup.  The  porch  is  very  late,  the  date 
1640  being  carved  upon  it.  Norman  chancel  arches  are  generally 
narrow,  and  frequently  much  enriched,  as  at  Iffley,  Holt,  and  Earl's 
Croome.  Here,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  of  great  width  and  perfectly 
plain,  with  merely  a  single  shaft  on  each  side.  The  arch  itself  is 
pointed,  and  has  a  very  rude  appearance,  as  though  it  had  been 
tampered  with  subsequent  to  its  erection. 

The  chancel  is  forty-two  feet  long,  and  has  two  windows  on 
each  side,  placed  near  the  east  and  west  ends  respectively ;  the 
easternmost  window  on  the  north  side  has  been  blocked  up  to  ac- 
commodate a  seventeenth  century  monument,  owing  to  which — in 
this  instance — fortunate  circumstance,  its  tracery  has  been  pre- 
served. The  east  window,  before  referred  to,  occupied  nearly  the 
whole  end  of  the  chancel ;  the  aperture  is  bricked  up,  except  the 
miserable  opening  which  now  forms  the  most  unsightly  feature  of  the 
building.  There  are  no  traces  of  any  of  the  usual  appurtenances 
of  an  altar,  such  as  sedilia,  piscina,  &c.  A  considerable  portion  of 
fifteenth  century  wood-work  remains  in  the  shajDe  of  bench-ends 
and  panelling  ;  two  of  the  former  are  particularly  worthy  of  notice, 
each  having  the  full-length  figure  of  a  feathered  angel,  displayed — 
to  use  a  heraldic  term — and  carved  in  high  relief ;  one  of  them  has 
been  nearly  destroyed  in  consequence  of  its  contiguity  to  a  stove. 


TWYNING   CHURCH.  371 

The  tower  is  a  plain  Third-pointed  structure,'  having  a  three- 
light  window  in  the  lowest  stage,  two-light  belfry  windows,  and  a 
battlemented  parapet  without  pinnacles.  It  has  recently  been  dis- 
figured by  the  erection  of  a  hideous  clock-face  in  front  of  one  of  the 
belfry  windows. 

The  only  noteworthy  monuments  are  two  in  the  chancel ;  one 
with  recumbent  effigies,  date,  1575  ;  the  other,  to  the  memory  of 
the  Hancock  family,  has  three  busts  in  the  costumes  of  the  period, 
1674 — 1717.  An  interesting  incised  slab,  however,  was  discovered 
in  making  a  drain  on  the  south  side  of  the  church.  It  bears  a 
cross  and  a  pair  of  shears,  which  latter  emblem  has  generally  been 
considered  to  indicate  the  profession  of  a  clothier  or  woolstapler ; 
but  Mr.  E.  Charlton,  who  has  collected  a  large  number  of  rubbings 
of  slabs  in  the  counties  of  Northumberland  and  Durham,  expresses 
a  decided  opinion,  in  the  Archceological  Journal,  that  it  is  indicative 
of  the  deceased  having  been  a  female.  This  was  also  the  opinion 
of  the  late  historian  of  Northumberland,  the  Rev.  John  Hodgson, 
as  well  as  of  the  common  people  in  the  north.^ 

To  describe  the  present  condition  of  this  sacred  edifice  would 
only  be  to  repeat  the  oft-told  tale  of  mutilation  and  neglect,  pews 
and  gallery,  plaster  and  whitewash,  which,  till  within  the  last  few 
years,  was  applicable  to  almost  every  building  dedicated  to  the 
worship  of  God.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  efforts  are  being  made  to 
rescue  the  church  from  its  melancholy  state,  which  has  long  been 
a  source  of  regret  to  the  Vicar — to  whom  it  must  be  very  gratifying 
to  be  able  to  lay  before  the  Society  to-day  the  plans  for  its  complete 
restoration,  which  have  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Street,  one  of  our 
honorary  members. 

It  is  proposed  to  remove  the  great  gallery  and  all  the  modern 
fittings ;  to  re-open  the  original  Norman  windows  of  the  nave,  the 
tower-arch,  and  the  roofs ;  reinstate  the  geometrical  window  tracery, 
the  large  east  window  being  divided  into  five  lights  with  a  traceried 
wheel  in  the  head.  A  new  aisle  will  be  erected  on  the  north  side  of  the 
chancel,  with  which  it  will  communicate  by  two  arches  supported 
by  a  massive  cylindrical  shaft,  with  flowered  capital.  The  vestry, 
with  an  organ  chamber  above,  is  placed  at  the  east  end  of  the  aisle. 

Should  these  improvements  be  carried  out,  the  dignified 
simplicity  and  fine  proportions  of  the  interior,  which  will  then 
present  a  vista  of  more  than  140  feet  from  east  to  west,  will  be 
very  striking.  It  will  also  afford  another  evidence  that  churchmen 
are  becoming  alive  to  their  responsibilities  in  these  matters,  and 
are  no  longer  content  to  see  the  Houses  of  God  lie  waste,  while  they 
dwell  themselves  in  "  ceiled  houses." 

(1)  The  fifteenth  century  was  qa\te  a.  tower-building  acje;  for— not  to  mention  the 
magnificent  examples  of  Somersetshire  and  Gloucestershire— we  have  only  to  look 
round  this  immediate  neighbourhood,  to  see  that  very  many  of  the  humbler  village 
churches  had  tlieir  towers  erected  or  rebuilt  at  this  period,  as  Eckington,  Strensham, 
Overbury,  Keraerton,  and  Ashchurch. 

(2)  Mr.  Charlton  gives  several  reasons  which  certainly  tell  much  in  favour  of  hia 
theory.  He  has  never  found  the  shears  associated  with  any  emblem  unsuited  to  the 
female  character,  as  with  the  sword,  or  with  the  bugle  horn,  or  with  any  undoubted 


372    WORCESTER  DIOCESAN  ARCHITECTURAL  SOCIETY. 

emblems  of  trade.  The  shears  are  frequently  met  with  accompanied  by  the  Tcey,  and 
sometimes  with  double  keys ;  this  latter  emblem  he  also  considers  to  belong  to  the 
female ;  for,  if  these  were  merely  symbols  of  trade,  we  must  believe  the  deceased  to 
have  followed  the  two  not  very  congruous  employments  of  a  locksmith  and  a  wool- 
stapler.  Slabs  are  found  having  two  crosses,  doubtless  representing  a  husband  and 
wife,  and  having  dilferent  symbols  attached  to  them.  In  one  instance,  the  shears  accompany 
one  cross,  and  a  sword  and  shield  the  other.  On  another  example  the  right-hand  cross 
has  a  sword  and  a  hammer  and  pincers ;  and  the  left,  shears  and  a  key.  The  husband 
had  probably  been  an  armourer  and  smith,  the  hammer  and  pincers  being  the  symbols 
of  his  trade.  There  is  a  slab  bearing  the  inscription— Orafe  pro  anima  Anne  Barboivl — 
the  shears  being  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  sentence.  A  very  elegant  slab  was  dis- 
covered at  Hexham,  inscribed  with  the  shears  and  the  following  sentence:— irtcjace* 
Matilda  uxor  Pliilippi  merceraril— Here  lieth  Matilda  the  wife  of  Philip  the  merchant.— 
Archceological  Journal,  vol.  v.,  p.  253. 


LEICESTERSHIRE 

ARCniTECTURAL  AND  AROHtEOLOGICAL  SOCIETY. 


The  Jewry  Wall,  Leicester :  Observations  thereon.  By  James  Thomp- 
son, Author  of  a  History  of  Leicester  from  the  Time  of  the 
Romans  to  the  End  of  the  Seventeenth  Century, 

The  ancient  cities  and  towns  of  this  country,  founded  by  the 
Romans,  were  very  generally  laid  out  on  a  uniform  plan.  In  the 
first  instance,  they  were  merely  surrounded  by  a  vallum  or  embank- 
ment of  earth,  and  a  fosse  or  dyke,  running  parallel  therewith. 
In  due  course,  when  these  encampments  (for  such  they  were 
originally)  were  transformed  into  towns — when  they  were  no  longer 
used  for  mihtary  purposes  solely,  but  became  the  habitation  of 
civilians  as  well  as  soldiers,  and  the  centres  of  trade,  and  the 
abodes  of  men  prosecuting  the  peaceful  arts  of  life — walls  of 
immense  thickness  and  solid  strength  were  raised  on  the  line  of 
the  vallum,  thus  engirdling  the  houses  of  the  inhabitants  with  an 
impregnable  line  of  defence.  The  outline  of  the  walls  was  usually 
four-sided,  forming  a  parallelogram,  and  frequently  running  in 
such  a  course  as  to  face  the  points  of  the  compass — the  angles  of 
the  walls  pointing  north-east,  south-east,  south-west,  and  north- 
west. Midway  between  the  corners  of  each  of  the  four  sides  was  a 
gate  ;  and,  traversing  the  interior  of  the  place,  from  north  to  south 
and  east  to  west,  were  two  main  streets.  An  examination  of  the 
modern  maps  of  those  cities  and  towns  in  England  which  are 
known  to  have  been  originally  founded  by  the  Romans,  will  con- 
vince any  reflecting  person  of  the  truth  of  what  is  here  stated,  and 
will  illustrate  the  foregoing  observations.  In  Leicester,  the  indica- 
tions remaining  of  this  arrangement  are  sufficient  to  j^rove  what 
the  town  was  when  a  Roman  station  ;  for  w^e  have  still  a  North- 
gate,  a  South-gate,  an  East-gate,  and  a  West  Bridge ;  though  it 
should  be  here  interposed  that  the  term  "  Gate  "  means,  not  a 
portal,  but  a  road,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  derived  from  the 
Danish  occupants  of  Leicester.  In  addition  to  the  gateways,  on 
three  sides  of  the  town  may  be  discerned  the  straight  line  followed 
by  the  ancient  wall.     On  the  north  side,  the  line  ran  parallel  with 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  AAA 


374         LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

Soar-lane  and  Sanvey-gate — on  the  east  with  Church-gate  and 
Gallowtree-gate — on  the  south  with  Horsefair-street  and  Millstone- 
lane.  The  fourth  side  is  said  by  some  antiquaries  never  to  have 
existed  ;  if  it  did  exist,  it  is  certain  that  all  traces  of  it  above-ground 
have  long  been  obliterated. 

That  a  ivesteni  wall,  corresponding  with  the  eastern  wall,  did 
once  exist  seems,  however,  not  merely  probable  but  tolerably  certain. 
It  will  be  the  main  object  of  the  following  remarks  to  establish  this 
point. 

Now,  although  examples  of  Roman  encampments  may  be 
adduced  in  which  a  fourth  wall  is  wanting,  as  at  Lymne  and  Rich- 
borough,  it  is  equally  clear  that  in  other  cases  the  four  walls  have 
once  existed,  and  the  parallelogram  has  been  complete.  In  proof 
of  the  latter  assertion,  the  Roman  stations  of  York  and  Chester, 
both  similarly  situated  to  our  own  town,  may  be  mentioned.  As  it 
is  well  known  to  antiquaries  that  York  occupied  a  high  position  in 
the  scale  of  Roman  stations  in  Britain — having  been  the  seat  of  the 
imperial  sway  in  the  reign  of  Severus,  who  there  established  his 
court  and  died — the  features  of  its  plan  in  Roman  times  may  be 
considered  worthy  of  examination  in  guiding  us  to  correct  conclu- 
sions with  regard  to  Roman  Leicester.  Fortunately  for  the  interests 
of  Archaeology,  the  late  Rev.  Charles  Wellbeloved  (in  his  "Ebu- 
EACUM,"  a  work  which  may  be  considered  the  most  complete  and 
admirable  of  its  kind  ever  published)  exhausted  every  source  of 
information  relating  to  York  under  the  Romans.  In  this  book  are 
given  plans  of  modern  York  and  the  ancient  city.  From  these  it 
appears  that  the  latter  was  erected  on  an  angular  space,  formed  by 
the  junction  of  the  rivers  Fosse  and  Ouse.  Two  sides  of  Ebumcuni, 
therefore,  were  guarded  by  the  branches  of  these  streams.  Traces 
of  the  existence  of  the  Roman  walls  have  been  discovered,  beyond 
question,  on  these  two  sides  ;  the  only  doubt  is  in  reference  to  one 
of  the  sides  unprotected  by  either  of  the  rivers.  Again  ;  in  the  case 
of  Chester,  the  same  indications  of  the  quadrangular  outline  of  the 
walls  are  discoverable.  In  Hemingway's  history  of  that  city,  a 
map  is  inserted  exhibiting  the  line  of  the  mediaeval  walls  and  of  the 
streets,  showing  the  course  of  the  earlier  (the  Roman)  walls.  Chester 
was  placed,  like  Leicester,  in  a  corner  formed  by  the  river  iTinning 
by  its  walls.  At  Chester,  the  Dee  flowed  by  its  southern  and  western 
boundaries.  In  this  example,  the  outlines  of  the  original  Roman 
encampment  are  more  distinctly  perceptible  than  in  York  or  Leices- 
ter, as  streets  still  run  due  north  and  south,  and  east  and  west, 
through  the  city.^  It  is  recorded  that  Ethelfleda,  the  daughter  of 
King  Alfred,  removed  the  walls  existing  in  her  day  (about  the  year 
920)  and  enclosed  the  city  with  new  walls,  making  it  nearly  twice  as 
large  as  it  was  before ;  so  that,  to  quote  the  words  of  Matthew  of 
Westminster,  "  the  castle,  that  was  sometime  by  the  water,  vnthout 
the  walls,  is  now  in  the  town,  ivithin  the  walls."     The  ancient  boun- 

(1)  These  streets  are  named  Northgate-street,  Bridge- street,  Eastgate- street,  and 
Watergate-street. 


THE    JEWRY    WALL,    LEICESTER.  375 

daries  of  Chester  seem  to  have  run,  before  the  change  here  de- 
scribed was  effected,  on  the  northern  and  eastern  sides,  nearly  on 
the  site  of  the  walls  now  standing.  On  the  western  side  the  wall 
would  appear  to  have  gone  along  Nicholas-street,  Linenhall-street, 
and  St.  Martin's-in-the- Fields  ;  on  the  southern  side,  along  Castle- 
street,  and  in  a  direct  line  eastward  to  the  part  where  Duke-street 
and  Park-street  are  united.  It  does  not  appear  there  were  ever 
fewer  sides  than  four  to  the  ancient  Roman  city  of  Deva  or  Chester. 

It  should  be  observed,  in  reference  to  those  cases  in  which  a 
fourth  wall  is  v/anting,  that  they  are  of  such  an  exceptional  nature 
as  not  to  be  worthy  of  consideration  when  weighed  in  the  balance 
against  the  numerous  examples  illustrating  the  rule.  But  various 
objections  have  been  raised  to  the  idea  here  entertained  of  the 
existence  of  a  western  wall,  parallel  with  an  eastern  wall,  in  Roman 
Leicester.  It  has  been  urged  that  such  a  disposition  places  the 
principal  right-hand  gateway  at  the  angle  of  the  southern  rampart, 
and  not  in  any  part  of  its  face  ;  that,  in  almost  all  such  fortified 
stations,  established  on  the  banks  of  rivers,  the  vallum  was  brought 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  stream ;  that  the  ground  lying  between 
the  Jewry  AVall  and  the  river  is  that  which  appears  to  have  been  a 
part  at  one  time  covered  with  buildings,  and,  therefore,  intramural; 
that,  as  the  walls  and  ditch  of  the  mediaeval  town  were  on  three 
sides,  doubtless,  identical  with  the  original  Roman  lines,  it  may  be 
reasonably  supposed  the  same  coincidence  existed  on  the  fourth 
side  also;  and,  lastly,  that  in  the  plan  of  Stukeley,  published 
nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,  the  south  rampart  is  carried  up  to 
the  bank  of  the  river. 

These  are  the  objections  taken  by  a  local  antiquary,  who  has 
devoted  much  time  and  thought  to  the  consideration  of  this  subject. 
Emanating  from  such  a  source,  any  observations  are  entitled  to 
full  and  respectful  attention.  If  unassailable  by  fair  and  candid 
argument,  Mr.  Hollings's  objections-  must  be  allowed  to  prevail. 
In  any  case,  their  publication  renders  it  necessary  that  precon- 
ceived opinions  and  conjectures  should  be  carefully  and  closely 
re-examined.  But  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  analyse  these  objec- 
tions seriatim,  as  they  mainly  turn  upon  one  point — whether  the  in- 
dications of  the  existence  of  foundations,  below  the  surface -of  the 
ground  lying  between  the  Jewry  Wall  and  the  river,  afford  proof 
positive  of  the  non-existence  of  the  western  wall  laid  down  in  the 
plan  I  have  published  in  a  Paper  on  this  subject.'^ 

Now,  I  do  not  think  the  discoveries  here  mentioned  do  over- 
throw the  supposition  that  a  western  wall  originally  formed  one  of 
the  boundaries  of  Ratce  in  the  direction  indicated ;  and  when  our 
enquiries  are  extended  to  other  sites  of  Roman  occupancy,  this  will 

(2)  See  "Roman  Leicester:    a  Paper  read  before  the  Leicester  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  January  13,  1851.    By  J.  F.  Hollings." 

(3;  The  Jewry  Wall,  Leicester,  a  paper  read  at  the  Congress  of  the  British  Archaeo* 
logical  Association,  held  in  Manchester,  1850. 


376        LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

more  fully  appear.  In  the  case  of  York,  for  instance,  Mr.  Well- 
beloved  has  recorded  the  discovery  of  numerous  traces  of  foundations 
between  the  ancient  south-western  wall  of  that  city  and  the  river, 
in  a  position  exactly  similar  to  that  between  the  supposed  western 
wall  of  Rates  and  the  Soar.  If  the  existence  of  a  wall  on  the  river 
side  of  Roman  York  w^as  no  obstacle  to  the  subsequent  erection  of 
houses  in  that  extramural  quarter  in  Roman  times,  why,  then, 
should  it  be  so  in  Roman  Leicester  ?  The  vallum  was  not  brought 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  stream  at  York — why,  then,  should  it  be  so 
brought  in  Leicester  ?  In  answer  to  the  argument  which  requires 
that  the  mediaeval  walls  should  occupy  the  exact  line  of  the 
Roman  w^alls,  the  case  of  Chester  may  be  adduced,  the  south  wall 
of  which — that  nearest  to  the  Dee  originally  excluding  the  castle — 
being  taken  close  to  the  river  during  the  Saxon  period,  thus  occupy- 
ing a  totally  different  position  from  that  it  originally  occupied.  In 
the  case  of  York,  the  change  was  still  greater,  for  the  media3val 
wall  was  carried  direct  to  the  bank  of  the  river — it  was  then  con- 
tinued on  the  other  side  of  the  river — and  a  large  and  entirely  fresh 
area  was  included,  occupying,  probably,  more  space  than  the 
original  Roman  encampment  itself.  In  fact,  in  the  two  examples 
of  York  and  Chester,  the  wall  abutting  on  the  river  side  seems  to 
have  been  that  which  became  disused  and  superseded  :  it  would, 
indeed,  appear  that  the  space  intervening  between  the  w^all  and  the 
stream  was  protected  by  the  two,  and  was  therefore  occupied  as 
soon  as  the  space  within  the  walls  began  to  be  found  insufficient 
for  the  population.  When  the  country  was  settled,  on  the  thorough 
subjugation  of  the  natives  and  the  ]3ermanent  establishment  of  the 
Roman  power,  the  walls  may  have  fallen  into  comparative  neglect, 
or,  if  any  protection  on  the  western  side  were  needed  in  the  case  of 
RatcB,  a  new  vallum  may  have  been  erected  close  to  the  river,  in- 
cluding the  more  modern  structures  of  the  station ;  and  then  the 
original  w^estern  wall  would  be  removed,  its  stones  supplying 
materials  for  the  later  buildings. 

With  regard  to  the  position  of  the  south  gate,  I  think  it  is  not 
to  be  assumed  without  question  that  the  mediaeval  entrance  was  on 
the  same  site  as  the  Roman.  It  is  quite  obvious  the  Roman  walls, 
though  followed  by  our  forefathers  in  many  instances,  were  not  in- 
variably so ;  they  chose  part  and  altered  part,  and  thus  also  with 
the  gateways.  I  should  be  inclined  to  put  the  south  gate  of  RatcB 
at  a  point  more  nearly  central  on  that  side  of  the  wall,  instead  of 
in  the  position  occupied  by  the  south  gate  of  Saxon  Leicester.  But 
even  in  Roman  stations  there  were  exceptional  cases  of  irregularity, 
as  at  Pevensey,  where  the  gateway  is  at  one  of  the  angles  of  the 
original  enceinte.  So  that,  supposing  the  south  gate  of  Roman 
Leicester  to  have  been  where  the  south  gate  of  later  times  is  known 
to  have  stood,  its  position  there  would  not  necessarily  have  militated 
against  the  existence  of  a  western  wall  parallel  with  the  admitted 
eastern  wall ;  nor  does  it  follow  that  because  the  south  gate  of  the 
Middle  Ages  was  in  one  place,  the  earlier  south  gate  was  in  that 
precise  locality. 


THE    JEWRY    WALL,    LEICESTER.  377 

If,  then,  we  remember  that  the  ahnost  uniform  plan  in  Roman 
times  was  to  erect  quadrangular  walls — the  north  side  parallel  with 
the  south,  the  east  with  the  west — and  if  we  have  seen  that  there 
is  nothing  in  the  objections  urged  against  the  position  of  the  western 
wall  of  Roman  BaUe  where  I  have  placed  it,  which  is  not  answered 
by  an  appeal  to  the  analogies  furnished  elsewhere,  as  at  York  and 
Chester, — then  we  have  no  alternative  left  but  to  conclude  that  the 
original  western  wall  of  Roman  Leicester  ran  from  the  western  ex- 
tremity of  the  north  wall  to  the  western  extremity  of  the  south  wall, 
leaving,  in  the  first  instance,  a  vacant  space  between  it  and  the 
Soar.4 

The  next  step  in  the  investigation  is  to  pursue  the  analogy 
further.  The  w^estern  w^all  being  considered  established,  the  anti- 
quary would  look  for  a  gateway  in  the  centre,  midway  between  the 
two  ends  of  the  wall,  in  the  place  where  such  entrances  were  usually 
provided.  There  were  generally  four  similar  gateways  admitting  to 
every  Roman  encampment  or  station.  The  principal  of  these  was 
the  Decuman  gateway ;  a  second  was  the  Pretorian  gateway ;  the 
third  and  fourth  were  of  subordinate  importance.  The  Decuman 
gateway  was  sometimes  in  one  face  of  the  wall,  and  sometimes  in 
another,  its  situation  being  governed  by  local  circumstances.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  say,  positively,  what  the  western  gateway  of 
Eatce  would  be,  nor  is  it  of  immediate  importance  to  determine. 

Now,  I  have  examined  the  large  plan  of  Leicester,  drawn  to 
scale  for  sanitary  purposes,  with  a  view  of  ascertaining  where  the 
western  wall  would  run.  The  result  is,  that,  supposing  the 
western  extremity  of  the  north  wall  to  terminate  a  short  distance 
from  the  Soar,  so  as  to  allow  clear  space  for  the  north-west  angle  of 
the  walls  to  stand  upon,  and  producing  a  line  parallel  with  the 
admitted  eastern  wall  to  the  western  extremity  of  the  south  wall, 
this  gives  us  the  western  boundary  of  the  Roman  city,  and  it 
passes  through  the  Jewry  Wall.  That  pile  occupies  its  place 
naturally,  in  fact,  as  a  portion  of  the  western  wall.^ 

The  next  question  is,  in  what  part  of  the  w^estern  wall  does  the 
Jewry  Wall  stand  ?  By  a  careful  and  special  measurement,  which 
Mr.  Stephens,  the  Borough  Surveyor,  very  courteously  made  for 
me,  it  appears  that  the  centre  of  the  Jewry  Wall  is  within  twenty 
feet  of  a  point  exactly  halfway  on  the  line  of  the  western  wall. 
The  distance  from  the  centre  of  the  Jewry  Wall  to  the  Soar  Lane 
end  of  the  western  boundary  is  1260  feet ;  from  the  same  point  to 
the  South  Gate  extremity  it  is  1240  feet.  The  Jewry  Wall  is, 
therefore,  in  the  precise  locality  where  we  should  expect  to  find  the 
western  gateway  of  Roman  Leicester. 

(4)  I  may  here  state  that  in  a  republication  of  his  paper  on  "  Koman  Leicester,"  in 
a  volume  of  Papers  read  before  the  Literary  and  rhilosophieal  Society,  Mr.  HoUings 
entirely  omits  tlie  objections  to  the  existence  of  the  western  wall  of  Bata'  on  the  line  I 
have  pointed  out,  though  they  appeared  in  full  on  the  first  appearance  of  his  Essay. 

(5)  I  recommend  the  reader  here  to  refer  to  the  plan  annexed,  and  to  compare  the 
letter-press  and  all  the  details  with  each  other.  A  is  the  North  Gate,  B  is  the  East  Gate, 
C  the  South  Gate,  and  F  D  G  D  E  the  line  of  the  supposed  western  wall,  G  indicating 
the  site  of  the  Jewry  ^yall.  E  is  the  western  extremity  of  the  north  wall,  F  the  western 
extremity  of  the  south  wall. 


378         LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

A  reference  to  the  appearance  of  the  ruin  on  its  outer  side — 
the  opposite  of  that  we  now  see — may  help  us  in  arriving  at  a 
definite  conclusion  on  this  subject.  A  drawing  of  the  Jewry  Wall 
on  this  side,  as  it  appeared  in  the  year  17-23,  made  by  Dr.  Stukeley, 
will  show  us  what  the  fabric  looked  like  in  its  original  condition, 
to  a  person  approaching  the  city  from  its  western  or  river  quarter 
— to  the  legionary,  for  example,  on  his  way  from  the  south,  along 
the  Fosse,  and  the  road  downward  from  that  part  to  Ratce.  It  is 
almost  apparent  the  two  openings  are  not  those  of  a  building,  but 
of  a  town  wall.  One  seems  intended  for  ingress  to  the  station,  the 
other  for  egress,  and  the  size  of  the  openings  indicates  such  an  in- 
tention ;  for  they  were  nine  feet  wide  and  twelve  feet  high — wide 
enough  and  high  enough  for  men  on  horseback  to  pass  through,  or 
for  waggons  to  be  driven  through.  At  Borcovicus  (Housesteads)  on 
the  wall  of  Hadrian,  the  western  gateway  has  two  portals  or 
passages,  and  the  outer  face  is  level  with  the  wall  of  the  station, 
as  in  the  case  before  us. 

At  the  same  time,  the  masonry  is  precisely  like  that  of  Roman 
town  walls  existing  in  fragments  elsewhere.  It  is  of  the  customary 
thickness  and  height,  due  allowance  being  made  for  the  effects  of 
decay  in  the  latter  respect.  The  height  of  the  Jewry  Wall  is  now 
about  twenty  feet — the  walls  of  Rutupise  were  originally  thirty 
feet,  those  of  Lymne  twenty  three  feet,  and  the  great  wall  of 
Hadrian  eighteen  or  nineteen  feet  high.° 

That  there  v/as  no  building  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Jewry 
Wall,  where  St.  Nicholas's  church  now  stands,  Throsby  distinctly 
proves  in  his  history  of  the  town,  at  page  7,  where  he  says  : — 
'*  Being  desirous  of  learning  something  that  might  lead  to  a  dis- 
covery of  its  former  magnitude,  I  employed  some  workmen  to  dig 
on  the  east  side,  transversely,  and  in  a  right  direction  with  the 
wall,  thinking  to  find  a  foundation,  which  I  intended  to  have 
traced  to  its  extent ;  but  it  nowhere  continued  a  foot  beyond  the 
projecting  parts."  A  pavement  of  small  bricks  or  tiles  has  been 
found  in  the  adjoining  churchyard,  but  they  are  not  of  certain 
Roman  manufacture,  and  therefore  the  fact  proves  nothing  in  rela- 
tion to  any  supposed  building  in  this  locality. 

Another  discovery,  which  I  think  aids  in  the  elucidation  of  this 
question,  was  that  of  the  cloaca,  or  common  sewer,  on  this  side  of 
the  town.  Throsby  states  that  this  took  place  in  the  year  1  793. 
He  says  :  "  As  some  workmen  were  employed  in  removing  the 
earth  from  a  piece  of  ground  nearly  an  equal  distance  between  the 
Jewry  Wall  and  the  river,  they  discovered,  at  the  depth  of  about 
five  feet,  some  very  large  blocks  of  freestone,  half  a  ton  weight ; 
and  on  their  being  removed,  it  was  discovered  they  had  been 
placed  over  a  kind  of  tunnel,  two  feet  over  and  four  deep,  made  of 
the  same  kind  of  materials  and  built  on  the  same  principles  as  the 
Jewry  Wall.     *>!«♦*     The  commencement  of  it  (so  far  as  is 

(6)  See  The  Celt,  the  Itoman,  and  the  Saxon. 


THE    JEWRY    WALL,    LEICESTER.  379 

known)  is  in  a  cellar  of  Mr.  S.  Roberts's  house,  near  the  south  end 
of  the  Jewry  Wall,  and  continues,  with  a  considerable  descent,  in 
a  right  line,  north-westwardly  to  the  river.  *  *  -  Where  the 
sewer  commences,  I  am  apprehensive,  might  be  the  grand  entrance, 
the  Janua-gate.  The  cloaca,  I  conceive,  was  seated  in  the  centre 
of  the  entrance  for  carrying  off  the  filth  of  the  city  into  the  river, 
down  the  declivity,  as  that  of  Home  into  the  Tiber,  made  by 
Tarquinius  Prisons.  This,  like  that  great  work  of  Tarquinius 
Superbus,  called  Cloaca  Maxima,  had  also  its  collateral  branches  : 
one  I  saw  at  the  discovery  of  the  cloaca  at  Leicester,  which  lay  in  a 
direction  pointing  from  the  grand  tunnel  north-eastwardly  into  the 
city." 

The  facts  here  detailed  by  Throsby  are  unquestionably  con- 
firmatory of  the  view  of  the  Jewry  Wall  having  been  at  one  time 
the  town  gateway  on  its  western  side ;  as  it  is  most  probable  the 
main  sewer  would  be  carried  along  one  of  the  main  streets,  and 
would  pass  through  or  near  the  gateway  which  usually  formed  the 
termination  of  the  street.  Let  the  existence  of  the  sewer  have  its 
proper  weight,  however,  and  no  more.  It  is  at  least  accordant  with 
probability  that  the  main  sewer,  emptying  in  the  river  flowing  by, 
would  be  taken  out  at,  or  close  to,  the  principal  opening  in  the 
massive  wall  on  that  side  of  the  city ;  and,  if  so,  the  discovery  of 
Throsby  strengthens  the  supposition  that  the  Jewry  Wall  was 
originally  the  western  gateway  of  Leicester. 

Another  fact  is  here  worthy  of  introduction.  Throsby  (p.  17 
of  the  History  of  the  Borough)  says  :  "  The  space  before  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Andrews'  house  [now  Mr.  Rush's  premises]  cannot  easily  be 
accounted  for  but  upon  the  score  of  the  gate  of  the  ancient  city  and 
wall  continuing  from  the  south  end  of  the  ruin,  right  across  that 
broad  way  to  the  house  known  by  the  name  of  the  Recruiting 
Sergeant,  where  the  Jewry  Wall  has  recently  been  proved  to  have 
continued  by  the  discovery  of  its  foundation  made  of  the  like  ^naterial 
and  thickness.''  Here,  then,  we  have  most  unequivocal  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  the  position  here  sought  to  be  made  good — that  the 
Jewry  Wall  was  originally  part  of  the  town  boundary,  its  founda- 
tions being  continued  exactly  in  the  direction  in  which  they  might 
be  expected  to  be  discovered. 

But,  it  is  argued,  numerous  foundations  of  buildings  have  been 
met  with  outside  the  wall,  between  it  and  the  river,  which  would 
not  have  been  there,  had  the  western  wall  run  in  the  line  already 
suggested ;  for  in  that  case  edifices  of  considerable  size  are  supposed 
to  have  been  erected  without  the  walls — a  supposition  involving 
much  improbability.  I  have  already  met  this  objection  in  a  general 
way,  but  as  there  is  a  special  pretension  set  up  for  it,  it  requires 
further  examination.  In  bestowing  this  upon  the  matter,  it  will  be 
well  again  to  refer  to  Throsby's  statements  relative  to  the  discoveries 
made  on  the  spot  when  the  cloaca  was  brought  to  view. 

"  Within  the  space  of  a  yard  of  the  ancient  sewer  lay  the  bases  of 
two  columns ;  and  two  shafts,  each  above  a  yard  long — girth,  nearly 


380         LEICESTERSHIilE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETlf. 

a  yavd  and  three-fourths.  None  of  these  lay  below  the  blocks  of 
stone  which  covered  the  sewer.  About  the  same  time,  but  at  the 
distance  of  thirty  yards  from  these,  was  discovered,  on  a  bed  of  fine 
red  clay,  at  the  depth  of  twelve  feet,  a  capital  of  a  column,  made  of 
the  same  sort  of  stone  as  the  base  and  columns,  and  corresponding 
in  every  particular  v/ith  them.  I  have  put  all  the  members  of  one 
column  together  in  my  garden.  This,  now  it  is  erected,  shows  that 
it  was  originally  hewn  behind  to  fit  some  rugged  building,  probably 
of  forest  stone.  This  column  does  not  correspond  exactly  with  any 
order  ;  it  is  of  a  purple  hue.  I  observed  in  the  centre  of  the  shaft, 
where  there  had  been  originally  a  piece  of  square  iron  to  hold  the 
joints  together,  that  that  which  remained  of  the  iron  was  reduced  to 
a  rusty  mould.  Near  these  columns  (that  is  close  to  the  sewer)  lay 
two  amazing  strong  foundations  of  a  considerable  building  made  of 
forest  stone  and  grout ;  the  extraordinary  floor  mentioned  above 
joined  to  one  of  them." 

The  floor  here  particularly  referred  to,  lay  partly  adjoining  the 
sewer  and  nearly  on  a  line  with  the  blocks  which  covered  it  over ; 
it  was  composed  of  mortar,  small  pebbles,  and  pounded  brick  or  tile. 

Throsby  states  also  (p.  2)  that  "  foundations  of  strong  and 
amazing  thick  walls  have  been  frequently  discovered  leading  from 
St.  Nicholas'  church  to  nearly  the  banks  of  the  river.  I  saw  one  of 
them  (he  says)  in  a  cellar  of  the  house  at  the  Talbot ;  the  wall  was 
almost  impenetrable." 

At  a  much  later  date,  when  excavations  were  made  for  the  foun- 
dations of  the  manufactory  now  standing  near  the  Jewry  Wall,  the 
lower  courses  of  a  wall,  lying  a  little  northward  of  the  existing 
Ftoman  fragment,  and  running  at  right  angles  in  the  direction  of 
the  river,  were  cleared  of  the  superincumbent  earth. 

All  these  discoveries,  it  must  be  admitted,  militate  at  first  sight 
against  the  supposition  of  the  JewTy  Wall  having  been  the  western 
gateway  of  the  station  ;  for  they  imply  the  former  existence  of  a 
building  or  buildings  of  considerable  magnitude  outside  the  gateway, 
exactly  on  a  site  where  the  road  should  have  run  connecting  the 
city  with  the  fosse,  which  should  have  been  unoccupied  ground, 
were  the  Jewry  Wall  originally  a  gateway.  How,  then,  is  this  ob- 
jection to  be  removed  ? 

I  reply  by  saying  there  were  two  epochs  in  the  history  of  Roman 
Leicester — (1.)  that  in  which  the  four  original  walls  contained  the 
station,  and  (2.)  that  in  which  the  town  outran  the  western  wall  and 
extended  to  the  bank  of  the  river ;  and  that  it  was  probably  in  the 
later  epoch  the  Jewry  Wall  was  retained  to  serve  as  one  of  the  sides 
of  the  large  building  whose  foundations  are  indicated  by  Throsby, 
when  its  continuing  portions,  north  and  south,  were  taken  down  to 
admit  of  the  increase  going  on  in  the  western  quarter  of  the  station. 

The  first  of  the  epochs  here  named  was  that  of  the  infancy  of 
the  place,* which  would  be  from  the  year  52  of  the  Christian  era  to 
some  date  in  the  second  century,  as  yet  unascertained.  In  this 
period  the  massive  stone  walls,  including  the  dwellings  of  the  inhab- 


THE    JEWRY    WALL,    LEICESTER.  881 

itants,  were  erected,  and  none  lay  outside  the  station.  The  popu- 
lation of  the  place  was  then  hmited.  It  was  a  military  settlement 
merely.  Its  garrison,  with  the  officers  and  their  slaves,  were  the 
only  tenants.  It  had  not  as  yet  become  the  abode  of  a  civic  or  in- 
dustrial community.  Its  numbers  would  then  be  stationary  and 
its  character  unprogressive. 

But  a  change  arrived.  With  peace  came  security,  and  these 
were  followed  by  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  the  prosecution  of  in- 
dustry, and  the  exchange  of  commodities.  An  agricultural  and 
trading  class  must  have  gradually  formed  in  Rata  as  a  consequence  ; 
the  veterans  of  the  army  having  settled  down  into  agriculturists, 
holding  the  lands  around  the  station  as  the  reward  of  their  past 
services ;  and  others — who  had  perhaps  been  artizans  before  becoming 
soldiers — having  resumed  their  old  occupations. 

The  first  recognition  of  the  existence  of  Roman  Leicester  in  the 
pages  of  history  is  that  of  Ptolemy,  in  the  year  120,  seventy  years 
after  I  have  assumed  the  station  was  founded  by  a  detachment 
under  Ostorius  Scapula,  and  in  the  year  when  the  milestone  (still 
preserved)  was  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian's 
visit  to  this  district  of  Britain.  A  period  of  profound  tranquillity 
succeeded  this  event,  and  whatever  may  have  been  the  irruptions 
witnessed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  counties  lying  more  north- 
ward, the  midlands  must  have  beeen  comparatively  free  from  the 
scenes  of  bloody  revolt  and  incessant  warfare  enacted  in  those  loca- 
lities. Towards  the  close  of  the  second  century,  during  the  pros- 
perous reigns  of  the  Emperors  Antoninus  Pius  and  Marcus  Aurelius, 
the  towns  of  Britain  became  thriving  and  populous  ;  "  merchants, 
"  tradesmen,  artizans,  even  probably  artists,  and  men  of  letters,  had 
*'  sought  their  fortune  where  the  increase  of  commerce  and  civiliza- 
"  tion  opened  a  field  for  their  exertions."^ 

This  is  the  time  in  which  it  will  be  reasonable  to  suppose  Roman 
Leicester  widened  its  limits,  as  it  would  then  share  in  the  advancing 
fortunes  of  contemporary  stations.  In  this  period  we  may  suppose 
the  buildings  between  the  Jewry  Wall  and  the  river  were  erected — 
the  tesselated  pavements  whose  fragments  are  occasionally  discovered 
were  laid  down — by  the  wealthy  merchants  who  had  contributed  to 
raise  the  position  and  prosperity  of  the  city  ;  and  the  stately  edifice, 
whose  fallen  columns  were  found  lying  in  ignominious  companion- 
ship with  the  contents  of  the  common  sewer,  now  raised  its  front 
to  the  western  horizon,  in  the  freshness  of  its  youth  and  the  unworn 
outlines  of  its  sculpture,  its  brow  unfurrowed  by  age  and  untouched 
by  decay. 

Extensive  rebuildings  of  public  edifices  also  took  place  in  the 
course  of  the  Roman  occupation.  Inscriptions  at  Hahitancum. 
(Risingham)  commemorate  the  restoration  of  gates  and  walls  ;  at 
Ribchester,  the  rebuilding  of  public  baths  and  a  basilica ;  and  at 
LavatcB  (Bowes)  the  rebuilding  of  public  baths — all  at  places  now 
sunk  into  obscurity. 

CU  The  Cdt,  the  Roman,  and  the  Saxon,  p,  104. 
VOr,.  TV.,  PT.  ir.  B  B  B 


382  LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

It  may  be  here  stated,  as  indicative  of  the  process  of  rebuilding 
in  Leicester,  that  in  the  Roman  foundations  found  a  few  years  ago 
south  of  the  Jewry  Wall,  tiles  were  found  worked  up  in  the  walls 
which  had  apparently  been  used  in  some  earlier  building. 

From  the  position  of  the  Jewry  Wall  on  the  line  of  the  western 
wall — from  the  height  and  thickness  of  the  masonry — from  the  pro- 
portions of  its  openings — from  the  continuation  of  its  foundations 
in  a  southwardly  direction — I  conclude  that  its  pristine  purpose  was 
that  of  a  gateway  to  the  Roman  city  ;  and  that  subsequently,  when 
the  station  became  more  populous,  the  greater  part  of  tbe  wall  was 
removed  to  make  way  for  the  suburb  ;  the  existing  fragment  known 
as  the  Jewry  Wall  being  then  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  a  public 
edifice  or  a  cluster  of  edifices,  of  which  the  remains  have  been 
already  described. 


Remarks  on  Gothic  Architecture  and  English  Churches.  A  Paper 
introductory  to  the  Annual  Excursion  of  the  Leicestershire 
Architectural  and  Archaeological  Society,  read  at  Market  Har- 
borough,  July  29th,  1858.     By  Vincent  AVing. 

On  the  morrow  we  hope  to  make  the  excursion  ;  and  in  offering 
a  few  words  in  connexion  with  it,  w^e  congratulate  the  Society  upon 
our  felicitous  scheme,  which  comprises  a  day  of  so  much  pleasure 
and  interest.  It  may  be  called  the  Festal  Day  in  the  annual  cycle 
of  the  proceedings  :  for  the  meeting  of  individuals  of  kindred  taste 
to  explore  antiquities  and  visit  architectural  remains  of  past  ages, 
imparts  no  ordinary  measure  of  social  gladness.  And  whilst  it 
serves  as  a  pleasing  bond  of  fellowship,  it  has  an  influence  to  refine 
the  mind  and  promote  a  patriotic  attachment  to  the  land  we  live  in. 
We  happily  belong  not  to  a  race  barren  of  antecedents ;  and  Old 
England  is  rich  in  her  relics  as  well  as  in  her  reminiscences. 

Amongst  the  many  objects  that  on  these  occasions  enlist  our  in- 
terest, pre-eminent  are  the  Churches.  Beckoning  reflection  on  things 
infinite  and  eternal,  in  every  scene  they  present  themselves.  And 
we  read  in  them  our  country's  history,  as  they  lure  us  by  their  high 
antiquity  and  various  dates  to  ramble  o'er  the  far-gone  past  in 
mystic  retrogression,  linking  a  life  of  pre-existence,  as  it  were,  with 
the  present  and  the  hoped-for  future.  Our  minds  are  transported 
backward  as  we  behold  their  longevity  and  venerable  grey  ;  and,  how 
impressive  is  their  upward-pointing  style!  and  how  conducive 
to  religious  musing  the  symbolism  which  is  interwoven  with  their 
structure  ! 

In  Leicestershire  we  have  no  cathedral,  and  no  extensive  re- 
mains of  conventual  churches;  but  there  is  a  peculiarity  to  be 
adverted  to,  namely,  that  the  number  of  spires  to  be  seen  in  one 
viewinthis  county  is  greater  thanin  any  other — a  picturesque  feature 
of  no  little  value  to  the  scenery.     The  steeple  of  Market  Harborough 


REMARKS  ON  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE,  ETC.  383 

church  furnishes  one  of  the  finest  of  them.  As  a  whole,  it  possesses 
great  beauty  both  of  outline  and  details.  The  spire  is  of  the  earlier 
or  broach  kind,  in  which  we  discover  the  mode  of  its  invention. 
Previously,  as  most  of  us  are  aware,  small  towers  had  been  covered 
with  stone  roofs  of  a  pyramidal  form ;  then  in  planning  an  elongation 
upward  the  octagonal  shape  was  introduced,  connected  with  a  square 
base  having  the  corners  battered  more  rapidly,  as  is  the  case  here ; 
and  in  this  way  the  spire  was  developed.  The  broach  may  be  said 
to  have  been  in  fashion  during  the  reign  of  Edward  I. ;  but  the 
effect  was  found  to  be  so  pleasing  that  it  was  adhered  to  partially 
for  a  long  time  after.  In  this  instance  the  angles  are  crocketed,  a 
circumstance  not  usual  with  the  earlier  ones ;  and  which,  with  the 
details  of  the  tower  below,  w^ould  lead  us  to  date  the  steeple  about 
1330. 

From  these  introductory  remarks  and  local  notices,  we  venture 
to  proceed  to  some  cursory  observations  and  suggestions  relating  to 
Gothic  Architecture  and  English  Churches. 

In  the  shifting  scenes  of  this  w^orld,  we  sometimes  witness  the 
rise  of  a  more  majestic  fabric  on  the  ruins  of  departed  grandeur ; 
and  the  decline  and  fall  of  art  has  proved  ere  now  but  the  harbinger 
of  a  vigorous  resuscitation.  Of  this  the  subject  before  us  gives 
striking  example.  That  style  of  architecture,  in  which  our  ancient 
churches  are  built,  by  the  failure  of  taste  had  fallen  into  disuse, 
but  only  to  be  brought  again  into  universal  favour ;  and  it  may  be 
questioned  whether  in  the  zenith  of  mediaeval  cultivation  it  obtained 
more  attention  than  it  has  excited  in  the  present  revival.  Its 
principles  had  long  been  unknown  in  the  face  of  abundant  illustra- 
tion ;  but  the  nineteenth  century  has  waked  up  again  its  genius, 
as  if  refreshed  with  the  sleep  of  ages,  and  now,  as  much  as  ever,  it 
enchants  us  with  its  fascinating  beauties.  A  night  of  gross  dark- 
ness had  preceded  the  first  rise  of  tbis  glorious  triumph  of  art.  At 
its  birth  the  flood  of  devastation,  which  the  irruptions  of  the  Goths 
and  northern  barbarians  poured  upon  the  civilised  countries  of 
Europe,  and  the  dark  ages  of  raid,  savage  conflict,  and  desolating 
invasion,  had  furnished  a  tabula  rasa  for  art  to  recommence  upon, 
and  had  swept  clear  the  course  for  the  development  of  the  Gothic 
style.  Heralded  by  this  mysterious  preparation,  it  came  forth  to 
run  its  career  of  construction  and  ornamentation,  as  distinct  from 
any  other,  and  as  surpassing  in  beauty,  as  the  sacred  purposes,  to 
which  it  has  become  chiefly  appropriated,  demanded. 

In  its  truest  types,  those  of  the  twelfth,  thirteenth,  and  four- 
teenth centuries,  its  superiority  and  peculiar  fitness  induce  us, 
though  in  opposition  to  the  present  prevailing  sentiments,  to  plead 
for  its  application  to  none  but  ecclesiastical  uses.  Certainly  it  was 
not  originally  confined  to  churches,  but  the  obvious  reason  of  this 
has  rather  a  contrary  bearing  now ;  and,  time  having  in  a  great 
measure  swept  away  the  secular  examples  of  those  periods,  we  are 
unwilling  to  have  that  common,  which  challenges  a  merit  almost 
superhuman,  and  which,  in  our  country  at  least,  association  had  so 
happily  invested  as  sacred.     It  has  a  powerful  and  holy  influence 


384  LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

as  church  architecture,  which  would  be  destroyed  by  the  assimilation 
of  the  tavern,  the  ball-room,  and  the  market-house,  or  the  carica- 
turing of  vulgar  structures.  Even  in  its  later  styles,  capable  though 
it  be  of  universal  adaptation,  w^e  submit  that  an  indiscriminate  em- 
ployment of  Gothic  work  should  be  discountenanced.  It  may  be 
quite  proper  to  extend  it  in  these  to  clerical  colleges  and  residences; 
and  our  halls  of  justice,  as  subaltern  to  the  Legislative  Palace,  with 
such  edifices  as  suggest  alliance  with  sacred  authority,  may  not  un- 
aptly appear  in  semi-ecclesiastical  garb  ;^  but  where  a  display  of 
magnificence  is  attempted  in  buildings  of  a  purely  secular  character, 
not  being  limited  as  formerly  by  ignorance  of  foreign  art,  we  should 
adopt  the  Grecian,  Italian,  Elizabethan,  and  other  styles,  to  mark 
the  increased  intelligence  of  the  age,  and  to  exhibit  an  appropriate 
variety.  Out  of  its  proper  sphere,  the  employment  of  the  Gothic, 
notwithstanding  ancient  precedent,  is  detrimental  to  it,  and  its  in- 
feriority in  such  case  may  be  more  than  questionable.  At  all 
events,  we  protest  against  the  invitations  to  Gothicise  our  streets  and 
lanes ;  this  would  produce  a  surfeit,  and  take  away  the  background 
required  to  give  due  effect  to  our  public  buildings  by  way  of 
contrast.  In  our  attachment  to  a  style,  and  in  our  attempts  to  do 
it  homage,  let  us  not  profane  or  overlay  it.  In  recovering  what  is 
valuable,  we  must  not  retrograde.  We  would  appreciate  the 
treasures  of  mediaeval  art,  but  we  would  not  be  medigevalised. 

If  we  make  a  sacred  appropriation  of  this  precious  legacy  of  our 
forefathers,  it  is  especially  incumbent  upon  us  to  secure  its  integrity 
and  freedom  from  debasement.  It  has  been  seductively  held  forth, 
that  with  the  mediaeval  artists  all  was  progression,  and  that  we 
should  follow  their  example  by  endeavouring  to  work  into  a  new 
phase,  that  we  may  obtain  improvement  upon  the  past.  But  did 
not  Gothic  architecture  exhaust  itself  in  its  various  stages  of 
introduction,  maturity,  and  decline  ?  Did  the  latter  half  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  with  all  its  effort,  effect  advancement  ?  Or  did 
the  fifteenth,  with  its  extraordinary  elaborations,  equal  the  pre- 
ceding periods  ?  Certainly  not.  And  I  apprehend  that  the  attempt 
to  infuse  new  elements,  and  to  produce  a  new  composition  that  can 
be  consistently  called  Gothic,  and  be  worthy  of  church  appropria- 
tion, will  be  equally  fruitless.  It  is  from  within,  rather  than  from 
without — we  are  of  opinion — that  improvement  will  be  derived ;  by 
diving  into  the  spirit,  and  mastering  the  principles  of  this  matured 
art — not  by  launching  into  another  sea.  In  the  temple,  versatility 
has  no  welcome.  The  roving  desire  for  change  should  be  held  in 
check  ;  novelty  should  be  repudiated,  and  ancient  example,  or  at 
least  the  spirit  of  it,  be  made  the  rule  of  design.  When  the  call 
for  a  new  style  is,  as  at  present,  loud  and  urgent,  and  when  a 
dream  has  diffused  itself,  concerning  the  Gothic  system — which  is, 
in  truth,  the  Christian,  (for  the  Byzantine  is  rather  a  derivative 
from  classical  and  Oriental  sources,  and  comparatively  a  failure) — 

(1)  This  is  offered  merely  as  a  suggestion— some  better  line  of  distinction  may  perhaps 
be  drawn— the  object  being,  to  secure  from  architecture  its  proper  force  in  the  inculcation 
of  "Fear  God.    Honour  the  King." 


REMARKS  ON  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE,  ETC.  385 

that  it  is  about  to  be  eclipsed  by  the  fragments  from  its  own  ruin, 
heterogeneously  compacted  with  heathen  as  well  as  newly-invented 
forms,  a  decided  hostility  to  these  newfangled  views  is  demanded, 
— unless  they  be  restricted  to  secular  undertakings.  In  the  sacred 
edifices  which  we  rear,  the  associations  of  antiquity  should  be 
rightly  valued  ;  and  our  incomparable  Gothic,  the  legitimate  style 
and  offspring  of  the  Christian  church,  should  not  be  degraded,  to 
be  experimented  upon  with  novelties  and  fancied  improvements. 
The  time-honoured  materials  furnished  from  her  own  store  are 
inexhaustible,  and  all  that  can  be  desired;  and  the  grammar  of 
our  art,  so  to  speak,  should  be  systematized,  fixed,  and  conformed 
to.  Rules  of  combination,  and  of  consistent  ornamentation  and 
design,  are  our  desideratum  :  we  are  not  driven  to  "  eclectic"  help; 
we  need  no  accessory  materials;  we  may  proudly  say,  we  want  no 
new  style.  New  words,  or  sentences,  that  is  to  say,  new  combina- 
tions, may  be  invented,  as  circumstances  dictate,  but  our  alphabet 
should  be  the  Gothic  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

Even  the  nomenclature,  which  has  been  commonly  adopted, 
should  not  be  unnecessarily  abandoned.  Changes  in  technical 
terms  may  seem  to  indicate  principles  unfixed.  In  ironical  com- 
pliment to  the  unconscious  pioneers  of  the  great  style  of  which  we 
are  treating,  the  name  of  Gothic  has  obtained ;  and  for  this  we  are 
inclined  to  make  a  stand  against  the  present  disposition  to  dispute 
its  propriety  :  the  term  itself  may  appear  derogatory,  but  its  historic 
association  is  good.  The  five  subdivisional  terms,  with  which  we 
have  become  familiarized — Norman,  Semi-Norman,  Early-English, 
Decorated,  and  Perpendicular, — have  also  with  insufiicient  reason 
been  objected  to.  To  the  two  first  but  little  opposition  has  been 
offered.  Upon  the  early  pointed  work,  we  may  remark  that  our  ex- 
amples of  the  period  widely  differ  from  their  contemporaries  on  the 
continent ;  the  latter  scarcely  exhibit  an  intermediate  style  between 
the  Semi-Norman  and  the  Decorated ;  the  elegant  grouping  of  lancet 
windows  and  the  moulded  capital,  which  at  this  stage  are  some  of 
the  chief  marks  of  progress  in  this  country,  have  little  place  abroad; 
this  Salisburj' — or  lancet — style,  as  it  has  been  called,  is  distinct  in 
itself,  and  its  properties  and  beauties,  especially  when  it  is  relieved 
and  enriched,  as  we  find  it,  with  our  Purbeck  marble,  will  bear 
comparison  with  any  other.  From  a  just  pride,  therefore,  in  the 
talent  of  our  ancestors,  and  from  the  appropriateness  of  the  term, 
we  W'Ould  maintain  the  name  of  Early  English.  The  next  period 
is  characteristically  called  Decorated  :  it  provided  an  expanded 
receptacle  for  the  lustre  of  coloured  glazing,  by  giving  birth  to  and 
maturing  the  window  tracery,  that  chief  glory  of  the  Gothic,  which 
robes  our  churches  in  a  kind  of  architectural  embroidery,  and  forms 
the  most  conspicuous  decoration, — to  say  nothing  of  the  tabernacle- 
work,  with  its  gorgeous  sculpture,  which  was  chiefly  of  the  invention 
of  this  age, — ^or  the  common  use  of  crockets  of  fascinating  beauty, 
the  judicious  application  of  which  gives  a  transfiguration  of  enrich- 
ment. The  perpendicular  lines  of  the  windows  and  panellings  are 
the  most  pervading  characteristic  of  the  latest  division,  and  this  is 
naturally  enough  called  Pei'pendicular. 


386         LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

As  a  consequence  of  the  facilities  afforded  for  travelling  in  the 
present  day,  we  may  expect  that  the  novelty  of  the  specimens  of 
Gothic  work  found  abroad  will  for  a  time  lead  to  an  overvaluing  of 
them,  at  the  expense  of  the  more  truthful  productions  of  our  own 
country.  We  proffer  this  hint  to  the  practitioner.  It  can  be  fairly 
established,  that  it  is  in  England  that  we  get  the  purest  examples 
of  Christian  architecture  ;  and  this  fact  we  should  not  lose  sight  of. 
In  many  continental  countries,  their  greater  proximity  to  the  re- 
mains of  Rome  and  Greece,  and  the  contamination  of  the  Byzantine 
and  Renaissance,  led  to  a  hybrid  intermixture  from  which  we  have 
escaped.  The  simplest  ideas  of  pillar  and  arch  would  seem  to  be 
almost  all  the  borrowed  scaffold  which  our  mediseval  artists  needed 
for  climbing  the  heights  of  finished  design  ;  and,  justly  appreciating 
the  gold  of  the  new  system,  which  they  were  working  out,  they  re- 
pudiated amalgamation  :  their  own  invention  presented  a  sphere 
sufficiently  extended  and  ample.  Whilst  in  Greece  there  is  little 
to  be  met  with  but  the  pillared  and  pedimented  oblong,  in  the 
edifices  of  the  Middle  Ages  there  is  unrestricted  diversity  of  form 
and  outline.  The  Gothic  elements,  moreover,  are  both  numerous 
and  original :  spires,  pinnacles,  buttresses,  window  tracery,  deco- 
rated panels,  cusps  and  featherings,  ci^ockets  and  finials,  tabernacle- 
work,  moulded  doorways  and  arches,  clustered  pillars,  vaulting  ribs 
— these  and  many  others  are  original,  and  display  a  fertility  of  con- 
ception and  an  endless  variety,  which  stand  in  splendid  contrast 
with  the  monotechnic  sameness  of  classical  Athens  and  Corinth. 
Our  forefathers  acted  as  if  they  felt  this ;  and  with  equal  indepen- 
dence and  good  taste  we  should  have  a  care  to  put  on  our  own 
beautiful  garments,  free  from  the  patch  of  adventitious  ornament, 
and  with  jealousy  to  keep  them  pure.  We  do  not  disparage  the  skill 
and  taste  exhibited  in  other  countries  ;  but  we  find  a  stricter  consis- 
tency here,  and  assert  a  necessity  for  careful  discrimination  in 
selecting  from  abroad.  The  soarmg  vaults  of  Amiens — the  stupen- 
dous steeple  of  Strasburg  cathedral,  which,  inclusive  of  interruptions, 
was  eight  score  and  two  years  in  building — Chartres'  unrivalled 
spire,  and  those  portals  with  a  bright  array  of  sculpture  most  im- 
posing in  pomp  and  beauty — the  wondrous  wheel  of  the  western 
front  of  Strasburg,  of  50  feet  diameter — these  are  prodigies,  to 
which  we  yield  the  palm ;  and  we  in  Britain  may  come  short  in 
gorgeously  elaborated  ornament ;  but,  respecting  the  true  features 
of  ecclesiastical  architecture,  or  the  principles  of  developing  its 
appropriate  details,  w^e  contend  that  England  is  the  best  school,  and 
that  our  examples  are  the  truest  offspring  of  the  Christian  Mediaeval 
type.  To  describe  the  foreign  work,  words  implying  plagiarism 
have  been  coined  for  the  purpose — Greekesque,  Corinthianesque, 
and  the  like — but  they  are  not  needed  for  ours ;  its  originality 
renders  unnecessary  a  glossary  of  foreign  reference.  We  may  adopt 
the  excellences,  but  must  avoid  the  faults  and  incongruities  of  the 
foreign  Gothic.  It  has  been  thought  that  the  pointed  arch  was  of 
Saracenic  importation,  and  not  a  purely  Gothic  development ;  but 


REMARKS  ON  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE,  ETC.  387 

a  great  authority  has  exploded  the  notion,  and  shown  that  it  came 
of  a  natural  growth  of  constructive  ingenuity  and  taste,  and  from 
the  skill  of  the  mediaeval  huilders. 

The  Early  English  has  been  alluded  to  as  a  style  peculiar  to 
this  country.  The  Perpendicular  is  perhaps  as  much  so.  The 
Flamboyant,  which  prevailed  in  some  parts  on  the  continent  simul- 
taneously with  the  English  Perpendicular,  scarcely  gives  denomina- 
tion to  a  style  ;  and  from  its  unsatisfactory  effect  we  are  disposed  to 
ignore  its  peculiarities,  with  those  of  the  later  Burgundian,  as  un- 
worthy intrusions.  Hence  the  whole  career  of  the  pointed  Gothic 
abroad  presents  an  extended  period  of  varied  Decorated  example 
only  ;  whilst  England  has,  in  addition  to  a  purer  style,  introduced 
a  greater  fundamental  variet}^ 

The  eccentricities  sometimes  found  in  the  German,  and  the  in- 
congruous composition  of  much  of  the  Italian  Gothic,  will  readily 
be  rejected.  But  there  is  a  danger  of  adopting  a  less  suitable  ex- 
pression and  character  in  our  churches,  by  imitating  too  closely  the 
architecture  of  our  nearer  neighbours.  We  cannot  but  admire,  in 
themselves,  the  delicate,  the  elegant,  the  loft}^  the  immense,  the 
elaborate  specimens  of  construction  and  sculpture,  for  which  their 
sacred  edifices  are  famous  ;  and  these  may  ensnare  us  into  a  general 
preference.  But  let  us  beware  of  exchanging  an  English  for  a 
French  physiognomy.  Something  more  than  the  qualities  alluded 
to  is  wanted  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  ecclesiastical  builder ; 
architecture,  with  him,  has  a  holier  purpose  to  serve,  beyond  the 
satisfaction  of  aesthetic  appetite  ;  its  higher  calling  is  to  address  the 
soul.  Like  music,  it  may  be  exquisite  as  a  mere  entertainment ; 
but  as  the  handmaid  of  devotion  it  rises  to  the  sublime.  In  a  truer 
subserviency  to  its  great  object,  it  is  in  the  walks  of  sublimity  that 
we  trace  its  march  through  Britain. 

To  enforce  these  observations  let  us  glance  at  our  ancestors 
in  their  career  of  church-building.  Their  first  great  epoch  was 
marked  by  an  unbounded  enthusiasm ;  and  this  was  not  uncon- 
trolled by  sound  judgment.  In  all  quarters  of  the  island  Norman 
and  Semi-Norman  abbeys  and  cathedrals  of  unprecedented  splendour 
were  erected,  and  a  correct  natural  taste  prescribed  dimensions, 
character,  and  ornament.  Their  unskilled  minds  and  imperfect 
implements  have  left,  in  most  of  those  earlier  remains,  a  rudeness 
which  is  interesting,  and  a  massive  grandeur  effective  for  inspiring 
the  sublimest  and  most  devout  imaginations.  In  the  interior  of 
Hereford  Cathedral  the  stern  and  venerable  Norman,  in  a  striking 
manner,  puts  on  the  milder  charms  of  beauty — such  is  the  effect 
of  the  varied,  and  in  some  cases  delicate,  sculpture  combined  with 
the  admirable  native  colour  of  the  stone.  The  ornament  which  was 
at  that  time  most  in  favour  was  the  zigzag.  It  has  a  glory  which 
the  continental  builders  failed  to  appreciate.  The  lightning  corusca- 
tion, which  it  gives  from  ine\dtable  association,  produces  a  lustre 
and  impressiveness  peculiarly  its  own ;  it  is  found  frequently  arrest- 
ing our  attention  by  its  play  upon  the  outer  portal,  and,  with  the 
symbolism  of  the  church  porch,  is  most  suitable  as  calling  us  to 


388  LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

reverence,  when  we  enter  the  material  house  of  Him,  "  who  dwelleth 
in  the  hght  which  no  man  can  approach  unto."  This  ornament, 
we  would  suggest,  by  the  way,  has  not  been  fully  worked  out.  An 
unique  application  of  it  in  a  doorway  to  the  cloisters  at  Norwich, 
and  its  rich  and  profuse  employment  in  the  palace  at  Durham, 
instil  the  idea,  that  it  is  capable  of  being  carried  to  a  far  greater 
degree  of  effectiveness.  In  the  review  of  the  chief  monuments  of 
English  ecclesiastical  architecture,  we  are  struck  with  an  imposing 
massiveness  at  the  commencement,  and  we  find  a  masculine  cha- 
racter sustained  throughout  the  series.  It  is  to  minds  of  no 
common  order  that  we  owe  the  many  noble  colonnades  of  Norman 
date,  of  which  the  nave  of  Durham  gives  a  specimen.  And 
what  an  awe-inspiring  power  has  the  vestibule  of  Peterborough ! 
What  a  feast  of  external  perspective  is  afforded  by  the  many  gabled 
projections,  and  the  heaven-piercing  spire  of  Salisbury,  so  beautiful 
in  outline,  so  exact  in  symmetrical  proportions  !  The  western  front 
of  Wells  has  been  aptly  called  ''  a  miracle  of  art."  'Its  forest  of 
sculptured  foliage  enriched  with  an  endless  museum  of  statuary, 
and  out-topped  with  towers  the  very  expression  of  the  venerable, 
defies  comparison.  Then  mark  the  towers  and  contour  of  Lincoln  ! 
The  Abbey  Church  of  Westminster  we  may  regard  as  the  model 
and  standard  of  the  style.  And  we  cannot  forget  the  sublime  and 
solemn  grandeur  of  the  "  exceeding  magnifical"  cathedral  of  York. 
Some  may  object  that  our  principal  buildings  are  deficient  in  height 
and  magnitude.  The  vaulting,  it  may  be  said,  is  carried  higher  on 
the  continent ;  but  the  great  mediaeval  principle,  so  well  at- 
tained internally  by  the  adoption  of  the  transept — that  of  symbol- 
izing infinity  by  concealing  limits — is  better  met  by  a  still  loftier 
centre.  In  this  yie^v  York  possesses  a  more  exalted  grandeur  than 
Amiens  or  Beauvais.  Our  cathedrals,  excepting  Chichester,  have 
no  five  aisles ;  but  in  length  we  have  the  superiority.  And  let  it  be 
remembered  that  there  are  bounds,  beyond  which  properties  of  ex- 
cellence degenerate.  Sobriety  must  temper  extravagance.  Loftiness 
and  magnitude  must  not  run  wild.  The  aisle  of  ultra  height  suffers 
in  perspective  :  its  walls  have  their  features  swamped  or  distorted ; 
a  cramping  narrowness  oppresses ;  and  its  covering  vault  is  dim 
from  distance.  An  attempt  to  carry  the  exterior  summit  to  the 
heavens.  Babel-like,  ends  in  confusion.  To  leave  practicability  and 
cost  uncounted,  produces  a  foll};^  rather  than  an  edifice.  W^e  see 
the  result  in  a  tower  not  finished,  a  mutilated  fagade,  or  a  frag- 
mentary cathedral.  Strasburg,  Cologne,  Chartres,  Beauvais,  and 
Antwerp,  all  halt  mth  their  designs  not  carried  out  to  completion. 
Our  ancestors  avoided  these  errors ;  and  in  the  temples  which  they 
reared  sobriety  kept  pace  with  magnificence.  If  for  a  moment  we 
descend  to  minor  things,  where  shall  we  find  improvement  upon 
our  parochial  or  village  spire ;  from  the  lofty  and  majestic  Louth 
or  Grantham  to  the  humbler  but  exquisite  Ketton  ?  Time  forbids 
us  to  dwell  upon  the  subject ;  but  who  has  not  been  moved  by  the 
silent  eloquence  of  this  English  monitor  ?  Kising  out  of  the  midst 
of  ''  the  peace-yard" 


REMARKS  ON  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE,  ETC.  389 

.     .     .     "  it  seems  to  say, 
Turn  from  earth's  joys  away, 
To  those  that  ne'er  decay; 
For  life  is  ending." 

We  will  allude  to  one  detail,  that  important  element,  the  capital. 
The  pointed  Gothic  abroad  has  a  wearying  repetition  of  the  foliated 
only  ;  but  here  we  have  the  moulded,  and  pictorial  as  well.  In 
the  Early  English  period,  the  treatment  of  foliage  in  capitals,  as, 
for  example,  in  the  capitals  of  the  retrochoir  of  Lincoln,  has  pro- 
duced an  ornamentation  intrinsically  English,  wherein  the  graceful 
bend,  the  freedom  of  arrangement,  and  the  bold  conventionality 
required  for  architectural  effect,  are  properties  which  entitle  it  to  be 
classed  amongst  the  highest  accomplishments  of  the  art.  The 
culminating  period  in  this  country  was  signalized  by  a  great  dis- 
play of  artistic  invention  in  the  window  tracery,  gorgeous  screens, 
shrines,  and  tabernacle-work,  in  principle  and  spirit  strictly  of  the 
Gothic  genus,  which  appeared  at  York,  Exeter,  and  elsewhere.  We 
can  scarcely  adduce  the  late  fan-traceried  and  florid  chapels  as  true 
Church  Gothic ;  indeed,  they  exist  rather  as  collegiate  and  palatial 
appendages ;  but  in  the  Perpendicular  naves  of  Canterbury  and 
Winchester,  a  noble  effort,  struggling,  as  it  would  seem,  against 
declension,  is  crowned  with  a  success,  which  vies  with  the  wonders  of 
preceding  and  better  ages.  Especially  would  we  name  Winchester; 
where  we  have  a  nave  of  extraordinary  magnificence,  and  in  archi- 
tectural excellence  inferior  to  none.  There  the  genius  of  Wykeham, 
it  may  be  said,  has  given  us  a  sunset  of  glory. 

A  crisis  has  arisen  in  our  day,  wherein  it  is  most  important  that 
the  pubhc  mind  should  be  rightly  directed.  There  is  a  happy  con- 
currence of  circumstances  just  now  :  a  great  stir  is  observable  in  the 
architectural  world,  to  cultivate  to  perfection  the  art  of  building  ; 
the  times  are  marked  by  unparalleled  exertions  for  the  erection  of 
churches  ;  and  in  their  erection  there  is  singular  unanimity  in 
choosing  the  Mediaeval  fashion.  Monuments  will  be  reared  which 
will  tell  to  future  generations  our  zeal ;  and  it  is  to  be  wished  that 
our  judgment  may  prove  equally  commendable.  The  circumstances 
of  the  times,  and  the  steady  and  increasing  cultivation  of  taste  in 
all  departments  of  art  which  it  is  our  privilege  to  witness,  inspire  us 
with  unlimited  expectations.  The  New  Palace  at  Westminster  we 
are  tempted  to  reckon  upon  as  the  earnest  of  national  or  collective 
voluntary  efforts  in  another  direction,  which  shall  eclipse  even  our 
ancient  minsters.  The  perfect  cultivation  of  Gothic  architecture 
demands  the  realization  of  such  efforts,  and  the  despair  of  them 
would  be  calculated  to  drive  the  greatest  proficients  in  the  style  to 
advocate  employment  in  a  more  extended  sphere  than  that  afforded 
within  the  sacred  limits  which  we  have  pleaded  for.  Our  most 
accomplished  architects  are  becoming  equal  to  any  undertaking  ; 
their  cultivated  taste,  extended  knowledge,  and  professional  acumen 
ca2:)acitate  them,  by  combining  the  excellences  of  the  past,  rejecting 
faults,  and  sujDoradding  truthful  invention,  to  construct  cathedrals 
which  may  possibly  leave  our  old  ones  in  the  background  ;   though 

VOL.  IV.,  PT.  II.  c  c  c 


390         LEICESTERSHIRE    ARCHITECTURAL    SOCIETY. 

these  must  ever  be  venerable  and  admired,  as  wonders  of  their  day 
and  as  the  parents  of  this  anticipated  more  glorious  progeny.  We 
trust  that  the  country  will  not  be  long  behind  in  furnishing  full 
scope  to  their  abilities  ;  and,  especially,  that  better  means  than  those 
hitherto  adopted  will  be  devised  for  securing  and  rewarding  the  lucu- 
brations and  exertions  of  the  highest  genius.  Why  should  the 
Church,  which  has  ever  heretofore  had  the  chief  consideration,  be 
limited  to  the  production  of  ordinaiy  places  of  worship,  in  an  age 
wherein  the  most  gigantic  works  of  construction  and  engineering, 
both  for  sea  and  land,  are  lavished  upon  commerce  and  recreation  ? 
If  a  veiy  successful  design  for  a  cathedral  of  transcendent  grandeur 
were  elaborated,  we  should  hope  to  see  it  forthwith  adopted  for 
Manchester  or  Oxford. 

In  the  meantime  there  is  yet  much  to  be  done  in  the  humbler 
process  of  church  building  and  restoration.  Not  everywhere  are  the 
inhabitants  alive  to  their  duty.  In  some  districts,  such  has  been 
the  neglect  for  two  or  three  centuries,  that  places  of  worship,  enig- 
matically called  churches,  have  become  so  deformed,  that  they  are  to 
be  known  by  little  more  than  their  size  and  ugliness.  Their  original 
features  have  forsaken  them.  Old  windows  have  been  stuck  in, 
and  other  refuse  from  the  pulling  down  of  private  houses  has  been 
brought  to  patch  up  the  Old  Mother,  as  if  no  indignity  Avere  too 
great  to  offer.  How  lamentable  a  confirmation  of  the  text  have  we 
in  this  monster  proof  that  "the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil !" 
In  some  cases  even  godly  persons,  from  oversight,  like 

"  The  heathen  in  their  blindness  " 

"  dwell  hard  by  in  their  ceiled  houses,  whilst  the  house  of  God  lies 
waste."  Those  who  are  gifted  to  discern  in  the  appropriate  "temple 
made  with  hands"  a  harmony  with  heavenly  aspirations,  will  msh 
to  clothe  such  buildings  with  a  pleasing  aspect,  and  to  invest  them 
with  a  suitable  impressiveness ;  that  the  chilling  and  repulsive  ex- 
terior being  banished, 

"  Mild  religion  from  above" 

may  seem  to  glow  in  their  windows,  and  their  features  possess  a 
spiritual  fascination.  They  will  feel,  too,  that  these  "  houses  of  God 
in  the  land  "  must  not  be  of  the  meanest  description ;  but  in  their 
costliness  bear  a  due  relation  to  the  private  residences  with  which 
they  are  connected. 

From  long  neglect  it  may  have  become  difficult,  in  some  cases, 
to  accomplish  an  entire  restoration  :  but  a  part  may  be  undertaken 
at  once.  In  the  olden  times  the  erection  of  a  religious  edifice  was 
systematically  executed  at  different  periods,  as  opportunity  permitted ; 
and  hereby  the  progressive  dates  of  the  building  became,  like  the 
tripartite  division  into  porch,  nave,  and  chancel,  a  pleasing  emblem 
of  the  progress  of  the  church  militant ;  the  collective  progress  is 
symbolized  in  the  one  case,  and  the  individual  in  the  other.  A  pro- 
gression in  the  styles  adopted  sei-ves  the  same  purpose  in  our  new 


REMARKS  ON  GOTHIC  ARCHITECTURE,  ETC.  391 

churches  ;  and  from  porch  to  chancel  may  be  had,  in  tasteful  har- 
mony and  increasing  richness,  the  variety  from  the  Early  English, 
or  even  Norman,  to  the  latest  Decorated. 

In  the  symbolism, — which  is  so  essential  an  ingredient  in  our 
church  architecture, — ^frora  the  elevated  vane,  or  cross,  or  spire, 
down  to  the  cruciform  area  of  the  pavement,  our  creed  and  principles 
are  proclaimed  and  inculcated.  "  The  stone  of  the  wall  cries  out, 
and  the  beam  of  the  timber  answers  it ;"  and  the  sanctuary  itself, 
in  its  goodly  form  and  significant  ornament,  is  vocal  with  instruc- 
tions to  the  worshippers  to  be  "  living  stones" — established  in  the 
faith,  and  built  up  and  abounding  in  those  graces  which  shall 
make  them  the  adornment  of  the  spiritual  temple.  Thus,  con- 
structural  propriety  and  beauty  going  hand  in  hand  with  symbol, 
and  "  all  things  being  done  decently  and  in  order,"  the  outward 
structure  is  made  to  shadow  forth  the  spiritual,  and  the  material 
building  becomes  a  fitting  emblem  of  that  church  "  which  exceeds 
in  glory;" — whose  commencement  is  on  earth,  but  whose  destiny  is 
Heaven ;  whose  ''  Beauty  of  Holiness"  is  the  mantle  of  Divine 
Righteousness,  and  whose  duration  is  eternal. 


W.  AND  B.  BROOKE,  PRINTERS,  LINCOLN. 


0^/ 


iinuul  of  c^eplcljral  |pcmonab. 


BY  THE  REV.  EDWAED  TROLLOPE. 

Small  ^to.,  neatly  hound  in  cloth,  price  5s.    London :  Piper  and  Co., 
JPatemoster-rovj.     Sleaford :  W.  Fawcett. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

"  Its  chief  object  is  to  aid  the  bereaved  in  selecting  designs  and  epitaphs,  suit- 
able, expressive,  and  fully  indicative  of  the  love  and  esteem  in  which  the  departed 
have  been  held  while  living.  In  the  selection  of  them,  the  labour  of  research  and 
the  embarrasments  of  choice  must  have  been  considerable ;  but  the  editor  has 
been  fully  equal  to  his  task,  and  while  the  book  will  prove  useful  to  those  for 
whom  it  has  been  especially  compiled,  it  will  also  be  found  of  interest  to  those 
persons  who  love  to  have  at  hand  a  treasure  of  solemn  truths,  which  they  may 
open  at  will  for  edification." — Athenceum. 

"  Mr.  Trollope  has  rendered  considerable  service  by  the  contribution  he  has 
oflFered  for  the  promotion  of  Monumental  Art  in  the  present  small  volimie  of  texts 
and  designs;  many  of  which  latter  display  grace  and  simplicity,  with  the  advantage 
of  being  readily  and  practically  carried  out,  which  is  not  the  prerogative  of  all 
designs.  The  selection  of  Epitaphs  is  made  with  great  taste,  and  is  a  quality 
which  marks  the  whole  work." — Building  News. 

"At  length,  perhaps,  is  beginning  to  dawn  upon  the  English  mind  that 
ugliness  is  not  an  essential  element  of  its  nationality;  and  that  the  expression  of 
Christian  sentiment  in  the  outward  forms  of  things,  is  not  necessarily  Popish. 
Mr.  Trollope  gives  nineteen  plates  of  beautifully  designed  monumental  crosses, 
from  the  simplest  to  the  most  elaborate.  Those  upon  whom  the  sad  duty  is 
imposed  of  rearing  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  departed  friends,  will  be  aided 
in  making  an  appropriate  choice  by  a  reference  to  Mr.  Trollope's  little  volume." — 
The  Clerical  Journal. 

"  The  Rev.  Mr.  Trollope's  Sepulchral  Memorials  are  not  only  what  they 
pretend  to  be,  but  fill  a  place  that  has  been  too  long  void,  and  form  a  link  between 
life  and  death,  between  time  and  eternity." — The  Military  Spectator.