How to Visit the English Cathedrals

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How to Visit the English Cathedrals.

Salisbury: Cloisters

How to Visit
The English Cathedrals

By
Esther Singleton
Member of the Royal Society of Arts
With Numerous Illustrations

New York
Dodd, Mead and Company
1912
Copyright, 1912, by
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published April, 1912

PREFACE

This little book is offered to the tourist in the most modest spirit and with the hope that in this convenient form some gleanings from the works of specialists may afford help and pleasure to those who run quickly through the Cathedral towns of England. The subject has been done so often and so well that an additional book would demand an apology if it pretended to compete with the labours of those who have spent long years in the study of special cathedrals, or with the charming recollections of travel that others have given the world from time to time.

My plan has been merely to present in a single volume concise descriptions of the great ecclesiastical buildings of England, together with the story of their construction and historical associations supplemented with criticisms from the best authorities of their most striking architectural and artistic features. These authorities are duly acknowledged by initials.—E. S.

New York, March, 1912.

STYLES OF ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE

The cathedral usually grew architecturally from age to age, or rose like a phœnix from the ashes of an earlier building.

“Not only is there built into a mediæval cathedral the accumulated thought of all the men who had occupied themselves with building during the preceding centuries, but you have the dream and aspiration of the bishop, abbot, or clergy for whom it was designed; the master mason’s skilled construction; the work of the carver, the painter, the glazier, the host of men who, each in his own craft, knew all that had been done before them, and had spent their lives in struggling to surpass the works of their forefathers. It is more than this: there is not one shaft, one moulding, one carving, not one chisel-mark in such a building, that was not designed specially for the place where it is found, and which was not the best that the experience of the age could invent for the purpose to which it is applied; nothing was borrowed; and nothing that was designed for one purpose was used for another. A thought or a motive peeps out through every joint; you may wander in such a building for weeks or for months together, and never know it all.”—(Fergusson.)

Most English cathedrals are built in the form of a Latin cross, the arms of which are called the transepts. Over their point of intersection the central tower is usually erected. The part of the church running westward from this point to the entrance door is the nave and that running eastward to the high altar is the choir.

Behind, or east of the choir, is situated the Lady-Chapel, or Chapel of the Virgin, which sometimes contained additional altars to other saints. Along the aisles we frequently find side chapels, containing tombs and chantries of dignitaries, local saints and benefactors.

The nave usually consists of the main arcade; the triforium (which opens into a passage or gallery); and the clerestory.

The triforium is the arcaded story between the lower range of piers and arches and the clerestory. The name is supposed to be derived from tres and fores—three doors or openings, for such is often the number of arches in each bay. Professor Willis, however, believed that the word is traced to a monkish Latin word for thoroughfare.

Clerestory, or clearstory, is the upper story of the nave of the church above the aisles and pierced with windows. The windows of the clerestories of Norman work are less important than in the later styles. They become larger in the Early English period and more important in the Decorated, always lengthening as the triforium diminishes.

Sometimes the choir occupies two bays of the nave, but usually begins with the screen placed on the east side of the central tower. In olden days this was the rood-screen, so called because a large crucifix, or rood, stood on it. All roods were destroyed during the Reformation. At the present time the organ is frequently placed here; and there is diversity of opinion about the artistic propriety of its position.

Entering the choir we see the high altar often with a reredos (French l’arrière dos, i.e., embroidered hangings). Along the sides of the choir are the seats, or stalls, usually of carved oak, surmounted with tracery, arches and pinnacles. Among these is the bishop’s seat, or throne. Frequently the stalls exhibit beautiful tabernacle-work and the misereres (miséricorde), which turn up and afford support to a person in a position between sitting and standing, are generally carved with grotesque and quaint figures and caricatures. Vestries for the use of priests and choristers are often situated near the choir.

At the back of the choir (the retro-choir) was placed the chief shrine, where relics of the great saint of the cathedral were kept and to which the streams of pilgrims passed. In many churches the steps and pavements are worn away. Near the shrine was a watching-chamber, where a monk guarded the shrine and its treasures.

Further east the Lady-Chapel was situated, though in a few cases it is found on the north side, e. g. Bristol and Ely.

“In Italy the bones of a saint or martyr were almost invariably deposited either beneath or immediately in front of the altar. But in the Gothic nations this original notion of the burial-place of the Saints became obscured, in the increasing desire to give them a more honourable place. According to the precise system of orientation adopted by the German and Celtic nations, the eastern portion of the church was in those countries regarded as pre-eminently sacred. Thither the high altar was generally moved, and to it the eyes of the congregation were specially directed. And in the eagerness to give a higher and holier even than the highest and holiest place to any great saint, on whom popular devotion was fastened, there sprang up in most of the larger churches during the Thirteenth Century a fashion of throwing out a still further eastern end, in which the shrine or altar of the saint might be erected,—and to which, therefore, not merely the gaze of the whole congregation, but of the officiating priest himself, even as he stood before the high altar, might be constantly turned. Thus, according to Fuller’s quaint remark, the superstitious reverence for the dead reached its highest pitch, ‘the porch saying to the churchyard, the church to the porch, the chancel to the church, the east end to all—“Stand further off, I am holier than thou.”’ This notion happened to coincide in point of time with the burst of devotion towards the Virgin Mary, which took place under the Pontificate of Innocent III., during the first years of the Thirteenth Century; and, therefore, in all cases where there was no special local saint, this eastern end was dedicated to Our Lady and the chapel thus formed was called The Lady-Chapel. Such was the case in the Cathedrals of Salisbury, Norwich, Hereford, Wells, Gloucester and Chester. But when the popular feeling of any city or neighbourhood had been directed to some indigenous object of devotion, this at once took the highest place, and the Lady-Chapel, if any there were, was thrust down to a less honourable position. Of this arrangement, the most notable instances in England are, or were (for in many cases the very sites have perished), the shrines of St. Alban in Hertfordshire, St. Edmund at Bury, St. Edward in Westminster Abbey, St. Cuthbert at Durham, and St. Etheldreda at Ely.”—(A. P. S.)

Sedilia, seats used by the priest, deacon and sub-deacon during the pauses in the mass, are generally cut into the south walls of churches, separated by shafts or species of mullions and surmounted by canopies, pinnacles or other elaborate adornments. The piscina and aumbry are sometimes attached to them.

The piscina is a hollowed out niche with drain to carry away the water used in the ablutions during mass. After the Thirteenth Century there is scarcely an altar in England without one. Sometimes the piscina is in the form of a double niche.

Beneath the cathedral there is often a crypt—in reality a second church, often of great size.

“We may be tempted to ask, what is the purpose of a crypt? Some have said that it was merely meant to give dignity to the church, or to avoid the damp. It appears, however, to be a custom taken from the very early Christian churches at Rome, which were in many cases built over the tomb of a martyr, and had therefore a lower and an upper church. Indeed if we imagine the central portion of the choir steps removed so that the nave floor might extend without interruption to the crypt, and a clear view of the crypt be open to the nave, we should have an arrangement precisely similar to that of several Italian churches, notably that of San Zenone, at Verona.”—(F. and R.)

As a rule, the monastic buildings, refectory, dormitory, infirmary, etc., were built on the south side, and here were also the cloisters, those pleasant walks and seats for exercise and recreation surrounding a peaceful quadrangle. The slype, or passage on the east side, led to the monks’ cemetery.

In the chapter-house the monks transacted their business.

The chapter-house, often one of the richest and most beautiful portions of the cathedral, may be of any form. Those of Canterbury, Exeter, Chester and Gloucester are oblong; those of Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln, York and Westminster are octagonal; and that of Worcester is circular. At Salisbury, Wells, Lincoln and Worcester a single massive shaft supports the vault.

In examining a cathedral we must remember that many changes have taken place since the first stone was laid. If the monks were fortunate enough to have a full treasury, they kept up with the architectural styles. They would pull down the old nave, or choir, or transepts, and erect new buildings, lower the pitch of the roof, add a new porch or door, or insert new windows in the ancient walls. Fires were frequent and lightning and winds often played havoc with towers and spires. Such manifestations of the displeasure of the elements or saints necessitated rebuilding; and, as a rule, this rebuilding was undertaken in the latest fashion. Therefore, we find in most cathedrals specimens of many styles of architecture.

“As we see our cathedrals now, the view that meets us differs much from that which would have greeted us in mediæval times. Then all was ablaze with colours. Through the beautiful ancient glass the light gleamed on tints of gorgeous hues, and rich tapestries and hangings, on walls bedight with paintings, and every monument, pier and capital were aglow with coloured decorations. We have lost much, but still much remains. At the Reformation the avaricious courtiers of Henry VIII. plundered our sacred shrines, and carried off under the plea of banishing superstition vast stores of costly plate and jewels, tapestry and hangings. In the Civil War time riotous, fanatical soldiers wrought havoc everywhere, hacking beautifully-carved tombs and canopies, destroying brasses, and mutilating all that they could find. Ages of neglect have also left their marks upon our churches; and above all the hand of the ignorant and injudicious ‘restorer’ has fallen heavily on these legacies of Gothic art, destroying much that was of singular beauty, and replacing it by the miserable productions of early Nineteenth Century fabrication.”—(P. H. D.)

And now, in order to make our visits more enjoyable, let us refresh our memories with a slight résumé of the four leading styles of English Architecture.

The Pointed Arch appeared almost simultaneously in all the civilized countries of Europe. It was probably discovered by the Crusaders in the Holy Land and brought home by them. None of its charming and beautiful accessories, however, accompanied it; the graceful clusters of pillars, the tracery and mullions were to be developed by the Europeans. One of the first to use the word Gothic to define Pointed Architecture was Sir Henry Wotton; and it seems that the word was finally determined as a definition by Sir Christopher Wren. An English critic says:

“The pointed arch was a graft on the Romanesque, Lombard and Byzantine architecture of Europe, just as the circular arch of the Romans had been on the columnar ordinances of the Greeks; but with a widely different result. The amalgamation in the latter case destroyed the beauty of both the stock and the scion; while in the former the stock lent itself to the modifying influence of its parasitical nursling, gradually gave up its heavy, dull and cheerless forms, and was eventually lost in its beautiful offspring, as the unlovely caterpillar is in the gay and graceful butterfly.”

Although Pointed or Gothic Architecture developed with almost equal vigour in every country of Europe, it reached its greatest perfection in France. Many of the finest earliest buildings in England were, to a great extent, French in their origin, or development; but, in the course of time, English Gothic Architecture became very original. In this country

“Gothic architecture seems to have attained its ultimate perfection in the Fourteenth Century, at which period everything belonging to it was conceived and executed in a free and bold spirit, all the forms were graceful and natural, and all the details of foliage and other sculptures were copied from living types, with a skill and truth of drawing which has never been surpassed. Conventional forms were in a great measure abandoned, and it seems to have been rightly and truly considered that the fittest monuments for the House of God were faithful copies of His works; and so long as this principle continued to be acted on, so long did Gothic architecture remain pure. But in the succeeding century, under the later Henrys and Edwards, a gradual decline took place: everything was moulded to suit a preconceived idea, the foliage lost its freshness, and was moulded into something of a rectangular form; the arches were depressed, the windows lowered, the flowing curves of the tracery converted into straight lines, panelling profusely used, and the square form everywhere introduced; until at length the prevalence of the horizontal line led easily and naturally to the Renaissance of the classic styles, though in an impure and much degraded form. The mixture of the two styles first appears in the time of Henry VII.,—a period in which (though remarkable for the beauty and delicacy of its details) the grand conceptions of form and proportion of the previous century seem to have been lost. Heaviness or clumsiness of form, combined with exquisite beauty of detail, are the characteristics of this era.”—(J. H. P.)

The styles are generally classified as follows: I. Norman, or Romanesque; II. Early English; III. Decorated; IV. Perpendicular.

“Soon after the Norman Conquest a great change took place in the art of building in England. On consulting the history of our cathedral churches, we find that in almost every instance the church was rebuilt from its foundations by the first Norman bishop, either on the same site or on a new one; sometimes, as at Norwich and Peterborough, the cathedral was removed to a new town altogether, and built on a spot where there was no church before; in other cases, as at Winchester, the new church was built near the old one, which was not pulled down until after the relics had been translated with great pomp from the old church to the new. In other instances, as in York and Canterbury, the new church was erected on the site of the old one, which was pulled down piecemeal as the new work progressed. These new churches were in all cases on a much larger and more magnificent scale than the old.

“Strictly speaking, the Norman is one of the Romanesque styles, which succeeded to the old Roman; but the Gothic was so completely developed from the Norman that it is impossible to draw a line of distinction between them; it is also convenient to begin with the Norman, because the earliest complete buildings that we have in this country are of the Norman period, and the designs of the Norman architects, at the end of the Eleventh Century and the beginning of the Twelfth, were on so grand a scale that many of our finest cathedrals are built on the foundations of the churches of that period, and a great part of the walls are frequently found to be really Norman in construction, although their appearance is so entirely altered that it is difficult at first to realise this; for instance, in the grand cathedral of Winchester, William of Wykeham did not rebuild it, but so entirely altered the appearance that it is now properly considered as one of the earliest examples of the English Perpendicular style, of which he was the inventor; this style is entirely confined to England; it is readily distinguished from any of the Continental styles by the perpendicular lines in the tracery of the windows, and in the panelling on the walls; in all the foreign styles these lines are flowing or flame-like, and for that reason they are called Flamboyant; a few windows with tracery of that style are met with in England, but they are quite exceptions.”—(J. H. P.)

The works of this period were colossal. Peterborough was begun in 1117 and finished in 1143; the nave of Norwich was built between 1122 and 1145; Canterbury was finished in 1130; and part of Rochester in the same year.

In the time of William Rufus all the Saxon cathedrals were being rebuilt on a larger scale. From this reign date the crypt of Worcester; crypt, arches of the nave and part of the transepts of Gloucester; the choir and transepts of Durham; and the choir and transepts of Norwich.

In the reign of Henry I. the choirs of Ely, Rochester, Norwich and Canterbury were dedicated; and among the new works begun were the nave of Durham and the choir of Peterborough.

“The piers in the earlier period are either square solid masses of masonry, or recessed in the angles in the same manner as the arches, or they are plain, round massive pillars, with frequently only an impost of very simple character, but often with capitals.

“The capitals in early work are either plain, cubical masses with the lower angles rounded off, forming a sort of rude cushion shape, as at Winchester, or they have a sort of rude volute, apparently in imitation of the Ionic, cut upon the angles; and in the centre of each face a plain square block in the form of the Tau cross is left projecting, as if to be afterwards carved. The scalloped capital belongs to rather a later period than the plain cushion or the rude Ionic, and does not occur before the time of Henry I. This form of capital was perhaps the most common of all in the first half of the Twelfth Century, and continued in use to the end of the Norman style. The capitals were frequently carved at a period subsequent to their erection, as in the crypt at Canterbury, where some of the capitals are finished, others half-finished, with two sides blank and others not carved at all. In later Norman work the capitals are frequently ornamented with foliage, animals, groups of figures, etc., in endless variety. The abacus throughout the style is the most characteristic member, and will frequently distinguish a Norman capital when other parts are doubtful.

“Norman ornaments are of endless variety; the most common is the chevron, or zigzag, and this is used more and more abundantly as the work gets later; it is found at all periods even in Roman work of the Third Century and probably earlier, but in all early work it is used sparingly, and the profusion with which it is used in late work is one of the most ready marks by which to distinguish that the work is late. The sunk star is a very favourite ornament throughout the style; it occurs on the abacus of the capitals in the chapel of the White Tower, London, and it seems to have been the forerunner of the tooth-ornament. The billet is used in the early part of Peterborough, but discontinued in the later work, and does not often occur in late work. It is sometimes square, more frequently rounded. The beak-head, the cat’s-head, the small medallions with figures and the signs of the zodiac, all belong to the later Norman period. In the later Norman mouldings a mixture of Byzantine character is seen on the ornaments as at Durham. It has also been observed that in the sculpture of the period of the late Norman style there is frequently a certain mixture of the Byzantine Greek character brought home from the East by the Crusaders, who had returned. This is also one of the characteristics of the period of the Transition.”—(J. H. P.)

The next period—that of the Transition—in which the science of vaulting received great impetus and construction became more elegant and graceful in line, is splendidly exhibited at Canterbury in the work of the French William of Sens and his successor, the English William. Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is also a fine example of late Norman and Transitional work.

The Early English Style covers the reigns of Richard I., John and Henry III., from 1189 to 1272. It is known also as the First Pointed, or Lancet, and is a purely English variety of Gothic Architecture. The developments were always in the line of greater lightness and elegance. There was also throughout this period a great use of delicate shafts of polished Purbeck marble for doorways, windows and arcades.

Canterbury, Rochester and Lincoln are famous examples. Canterbury was completed in 1184; Rochester in 1201-1227; and much of Lincoln was finished (especially the choir and eastern transept with its chapels) before 1200.

Salisbury Cathedral, however, is usually considered as The Type of the Early English style, because it is less mixed than any other building of the same importance. It was commenced in 1220 and consecrated in 1258.

The choir and apse of Westminster Abbey and the north transept of York Minster are also good examples of this period. We may note here that it was customary to build the west front immediately after the choir and leave the nave to be filled in afterwards.

“New ideas and a new life seem to have been given to architecture, and the builders appear to have revelled in it even to exuberance and excess, and it was necessary afterwards in some degree to soften down and subdue it. At no period has ‘the principle of verticality’ been so completely carried out as in the Early English style, and even in some of the earliest examples of it.”—(J. H. P.)

“The characteristic elegance of the general architectural design was carried out in all the details. The mouldings were delicately rounded and alternated with hollows so drawn as to give here delicate and there most forcible effects of light and shade. Thus the dark line produced by marble in a pier was continued by means of a dark shadow in the arch; and without considerable knowledge of the science of moulding, it is impossible to do justice to this part of the English Early Pointed work, which has never been surpassed, if, indeed, it has ever been equalled at any period elsewhere. The groined roofs were still simple in design, but a ridge rib was often added to the necessary transverse and diagonal ribs of the previous period. This gave a certain hardness of line to the vault; it was the first step to the more elaborate and later systems of vaulting, and was soon followed by the introduction of other ribs on the surface of the vaulting cells. Few works are more admirable than some of the towers and spires of this period.”—(G. S. S.)

The characteristic of lancet windows applies only to the early part of the style from 1190 to about 1220 or 1230. After that time circles in the head of the windows of two or more lights came in, and the circles became foliated by about 1230, and continued to 1260 or 1270, when the Decorated style began to come into fashion.

“The windows in the earlier examples are plain, lancet-shaped and generally narrow; sometimes they are richly moulded within and without, but frequently have nothing but a plain chamfer outside and a wide splay within. In the Early English style we have, in the later examples, tracery in the heads of the windows, but it is almost invariably in the form of circles, either plain or foliated, and is constructed in a different manner from genuine Decorated tracery.

“At first the windows have merely openings pierced through the solid masonry of the head, the solid portions thus left gradually becoming smaller and the openings larger, until the solid parts are reduced to nearly the same thickness as the mullions; but they are not moulded, and do not form continuations of the mullions until we arrive at real Decorated tracery. This kind of tracery was called by Professor Willis plate tracery; being in fact, a plate of stone pierced with holes: it is extensively used in early French work. The more usual kind of tracery is called bar tracery, to distinguish it from the earlier kind.”—(J. H. P.)

Doorways are generally pointed or trefoiled, but sometimes round-headed, and small doorways are frequently flat-headed, with the angles corbelled in the form called the square-headed trefoil, or the shouldered arch. Trefoiled arches are characteristic of this style. Arches are frequently, but not always, acutely pointed; and in the more important buildings are generally richly moulded, as in Westminster Abbey, either with or without the tooth-ornament, as the arches at York Minster. The pillars are of various forms, frequently clustered; but the most characteristic pillar of the style is the one with detached shafts, which are generally of Purbeck marble. These are frequently very long and slender and only connected with the central shaft by the capital and base, with or without one or two bands at intervals. These bands sometimes consist of rings of copper gilt, as in the choir of Worcester Cathedral, and are sometimes necessary for holding together the slender shafts of Purbeck marble. The bases generally consist of two rounds, the lowest one the largest, both frequently filleted, with a deep hollow between, placed horizontally, as at Canterbury. In pure Early English work, the upper member of the capital, called the abacus, is circular and consists, in the earlier examples, simply of two rounds, the upper one the largest, with a hollow between them; but in later examples the mouldings are frequently increased in number and filleted.

Mouldings are chiefly bold rounds, with equally bold and deeply cut hollows, which produce a strong effect of light and shade. Vaults are bolder than during the Norman period and differ from succeeding styles by their greater simplicity, as at Salisbury. In the earlier examples there are ribs on the angles of the groins only; at a later period the vaulting becomes more complicated, as at Westminster. There is a longitudinal rib, and a cross rib along the ridge of the cross vaults, and frequently also an intermediate rib on the surface of the vault. The bosses are rare at first, more abundant afterwards: they are generally well worked and enriched with foliage. English vaults are sometimes of wood only, as in York Minster, and the cloisters at Lincoln. A vault is, in fact, a ceiling, having always an outer roof over it. There is a marked distinction in the construction of Gothic vaults in England and France. In England, from the earliest period, each stone is cut to fit its place; in France the stones are cut square or rather oblong, as in the walls, and only wedged out by the thickness of the mortar at the back in the joints. Fan-tracery vaulting is peculiar to England, and it begins, in principle, as early as in the cloister of Lincoln about 1220, where the vault is of wood, but the springings are of stone, and cut to fit the ribs of the wooden vault.

Buttresses project boldly, and flying-buttresses become a prominent feature. There is a fine example of a compound flying-buttress at Westminster Abbey, which supports the vaults of the choir, the triforium and the aisles and carries the thrust of the whole over the cloister to the ground. Early English towers are generally more lofty than the Norman, and their buttresses have a greater projection. The spire is usually a noticeable feature. The East End is usually square; but sometimes terminates with the apse, generally a half-octagon or a half-hexagon, as at Westminster Abbey.

“Throughout the Early English period there is an ornament used in the hollow mouldings which is as characteristic of this style as the zigzag is of the Norman; this consists of a small pyramid, more or less acute, cut into four leaves or petals meeting in the point, but separate below as in Chester Cathedral. When very acute, and seen in profile, it may be imagined to have somewhat the appearance of a row of dog’s-teeth, and from this it has been called the ‘dog-tooth[1] ornament,’ or, by some, the shark’s tooth ornament, more commonly the tooth-ornament. It is used with the greatest profusion on arches, between clustered shafts, on the architraves and jambs of doors, windows, piscinas and indeed in every place where such ornament can be introduced. It is very characteristic of this style, and begins quite at the commencement of the style, as in St. Hugh’s work at Lincoln; for though in the Norman we find an approach to it, in the Decorated various modifications of it occur; still the genuine tooth-ornament may be considered to belong exclusively to the Early English.

“Another peculiarity consists of the foliage, which differs considerably from the Norman: in the latter it has more or less the appearance of being imitated from that of the Classic orders, while in this it is entirely original. Its essential form seems to be that of a trefoil leaf, but this is varied in such a number of ways that the greatest variety is produced. It is used in cornices, the bosses of groining, the mouldings of windows and doorways, and various other places, but particularly in capitals to which it gives a peculiar and distinctive character. The foliage of these capitals is technically called ‘stiff-leaf foliage,’ but this alludes only to the stiff stem or stalk of the leaf, which rises from the ring of the capital; the foliage itself is frequently as far removed from stiffness as any can be, as for instance in the capitals of Lincoln. The stiff stalk is, however, a ready mark to distinguish the Early English capital from that of the succeeding style. We must bear in mind, however, that foliage is by no means an essential feature of the Early English style; many of our finest buildings, such as Westminster Abbey, have their capitals formed of a plain bell reversed, with mouldings round the abacus like rings put upon it, and round the neck.

“The ornaments so well known by the name of crockets were first introduced in this style. The name is taken from the shepherd’s crook, adopted by the bishops as emblematical of their office. They occur at Lincoln, in St. Hugh’s work, the earliest example of this style, and are there used in the unusual position of being in a vertical line between the detached shafts. They are found in the same position also in the beautiful work of the west front of Wells. Afterwards they were used entirely on the outside of pediments, or in similar situations, projecting from the face of the work, or the outer surface of the moulding, as in the very beautiful tomb of Archbishop Walter Grey in York Cathedral; and they continued in use in the subsequent styles, although their form and character gradually change with the style.”—(J. H. P.)

The transition from the Early English to the Decorated was very gradual. It took place during the reign of Edward I. The transepts of Westminster Abbey are held up as models of this transition and contain some of the most beautiful work that can be found anywhere. The crosses erected by Edward I. at all places where the body of Queen Eleanor had rested, on the march from Lincolnshire to Westminster Abbey, where she was buried, are usually regarded as fine early examples of the Decorated style. Easy attitudes and graceful draperies characterise the sculpture of human figures.

The Decorated Period dates from 1300 to 1377. It is also called the Middle Pointed, Geometrical Pointed and the Flowing, or Curvilinear, and also the Edwardian, because it covers the reigns of Edward I., II. and III.

Exeter Cathedral is a superb example of this style. The nave of York Minster and the lantern of Ely are also noteworthy illustrations.

“The general appearance of Decorated buildings is at once simple and magnificent; simple from the small number of parts, and magnificent from the size of the windows, and the easy flow of the lines of tracery. In the interior of large buildings we find great breadth, and an enlargement of the clerestory windows, with a corresponding diminution of the triforium, which is now rather a part of the clerestory opening than a distinct member of the division. The roofing, from the increased richness of the groining, becomes an object of more attention. On the whole the nave of York, from the uncommon grandeur and simplicity of the design, is certainly the finest example; ornament is nowhere spared, yet there is a simplicity which is peculiarly pleasing.”—(Rickman.)

“The Decorated style is distinguished by its large windows divided by mullions, and the tracery either in flowing lines, or forming circles, trefoils and other geometrical figures, and not running perpendicularly; its ornaments are numerous and very delicately carved, more strictly faithful to nature and more essentially parts of the structure than in any other style. There is a very fine window with reticulated tracery and richly moulded in the south walk of the cloisters at Westminster. No rule whatever is followed in the form of the arch over windows in this style; some are very obtuse, others very acute and the ogee arch is not uncommon. Decorated tracery is usually divided into three general classes—geometrical, flowing and flamboyant; the variety is so great that many sub-divisions may be made, but they were all used simultaneously for a considerable period. The earliest Decorated windows have geometrical tracery; Exeter Cathedral is, perhaps, on the whole, the best typical example of the early part of this style. The fabric rolls are preserved, and it is now evident that the existing windows are, for the most part, of the time of Bishop Quivil, from 1279 to 1291. In some instances windows with geometrical tracery have the mouldings and the mullions covered with the ball-flower ornament in great profusion, even to excess; these examples occur chiefly in Herefordshire, as at Leominster; and in Gloucestershire, as in the south aisle of the nave of the Cathedral at Gloucester: they are for the most part, if not entirely, of the time of Edward II. What is called the netlike character of tracery, from its general resemblance to a fisherman’s net, is very characteristic of this style at its best period, about the middle of the Fourteenth Century. Square-headed windows are very common. Windows in towers are usually different from those in other parts of the church. In the upper story, where the bells are, there is no glass; in some parts of the country there is pierced stonework for keeping out the birds, but more usually they are of wood only. These are called sound-holes. Clerestory windows of this style are often small, and either circular with quatrefoil cusps, or trefoils or quatrefoils; or the spherical triangle with cusps, which forms an elegant window. The clever manner in which these windows are splayed within and especially below, to throw down the light, should be noticed.”—(J. H. P.)

The large rose-window, so conspicuous a feature on the Continent, is rarely seen in England. When it does occur it is usually found in the transept ends.

The East Front generally consists of one large window at the end of the choir, flanked by tall buttresses. A smaller buttress appears at the end of each aisle. The arrangement of the West Front is the same, with a doorway beneath the central window. The towers of the Decorated style are usually placed at the west end and are, as a rule, similar to the Early English. The spires differ slightly from those of the Early English, except that there are generally more spire-lights and small windows at the bases and sides of the spire. Lichfield Cathedral is one of the best examples of the exterior of a perfect church of the Decorated style. Its three spires are perfect.

The ogee arch is frequently used in small arcades and in the heads of windows. The dripstones, or hood moulds, are generally supported by heads and are frequently enriched with crockets and finials. The arcades that ornament the walls and those over the sedilia are characteristic features of the style. Pillars are clustered and arches richly moulded; they often have the hood-moulding over them. Very often they have what is called a stilted base. The capitals are ornamented with beautiful foliage: each leaf is copied from nature and often arranged round the bell of the capital. The ornamental sculptures in the hollow mouldings are numerous, but there are two which require more particular notice; they are nearly as characteristic of the Decorated style as the zigzag is of the Norman, or the tooth-ornament of the Early English. The first is the ball-flower, which is a globular flower half opened, and showing within a small round ball. It is used with the utmost profusion in the mouldings of windows, doorways, canopies, cornices, arches, etc. The other ornament is the four-leaved flower. This has a raised centre, and four petals cut in high relief; it is frequently much varied, but may be distinguished by its being cut distinctly into four petals, and by its boldness: it is sometimes used abundantly, though not quite so profusely as the ball-flower. In some instances the centre is sunk instead of being raised. The battlement, as an ornamental feature in the interior of buildings, is frequently used in this style, although it is more common in the Perpendicular.

The foliage in this style is more faithfully copied from nature than in any other: the vine-leaf, the maple and the oak with the acorn, are the most usual. The surface of the wall is often covered with flat foliage, arranged in small squares called diaper-work, which is believed to have originated in an imitation of the rich hangings then in general use, and which bore the same name.

The groined roofs or vaults are distinguished from those of the preceding style, chiefly by an additional number of ribs, and by the natural foliage on the bosses. Many fine examples of these remain, as in the Cathedral of Exeter and at York in the chapter-house; at Norwich in the cloisters; at Chester the vault is of wood with stone springers.

After culminating in the Decorated style, Gothic Architecture began to decline in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries. The transition from the Decorated to the Perpendicular took place from 1360 to 1399:

“This change began to show itself in the choir and transepts of Gloucester Cathedral before the middle of the Fourteenth Century. The panelling and the window-tracery have so much the appearance of the Perpendicular Style, that they have been commonly supposed to have been rebuilt or altered at a late period; but the vaultings and the mouldings are pure Decorated, and the painted glass of the Fourteenth Century is evidently made for the places which it now occupies in the heads of the windows with Perpendicular tracery; it must therefore be considered as the earliest known example of this great change of style. In this work of alteration the walls and arches of the Norman church were not rebuilt but cased with panelling over the inner surface, so as to give the effect of the latter style to the interior. This was just the same process as was afterwards followed at Winchester by William of Wykeham, in changing the Norman to the Perpendicular style without any actual rebuilding.”—(J. H. P.)

The work at Gloucester was begun as early as 1337. Another fine example is the nave of Winchester Cathedral.

Bishop Edington, who died in 1366, began to alter Winchester into the Perpendicular style. His work was continued by William of Wykeham.

“Before the death of Bishop Edington the great principles of the Perpendicular style were fully established. These chiefly consist of the Perpendicular lines through the head of the window, and in covering the surface of the wall with panelling of the same kind. These features are as distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent building, or as they well could be.”—(J. H. P.)

The cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral are decidedly Perpendicular in the fan-tracery of the vaults, but are partly of earlier date and character. Another example of the transition from Decorated to Perpendicular is the choir of York Minster, begun in 1361 and finished in 1408. Its general appearance is Perpendicular.

“This style is exclusively English, it is never found on the Continent, and it has the advantage of being more economical in execution than the earlier styles. It remains to describe its characteristic features. The broad distinction of the Perpendicular style lies in the form of the tracery in the head of the windows; and in fully developed examples the distinction is sufficiently obvious. We have no longer the head of the window filled with the gracefully flowing lines of the Decorated tracery, but their place is supplied by the rigid lines of the mullions, which are carried through to the architrave mouldings, the spaces between being frequently divided and subdivided by similar Perpendicular lines; so that Perpendicularity is so clearly the characteristic of these windows that no other word could have been found which would at once so well express the predominating feature. The same character prevails throughout the buildings of this period: the whole surface of a building, including its buttresses, parapets, basements, and every part of the flat surface, is frequently covered with panelling in which the Perpendicular line clearly predominates; and to such an excess is this carried that the windows frequently appear to be only openings in the panel-work. Panelling, indeed, now forms an important feature of the style; for though it was used in the earlier styles, it was not to the same extent, and was of very different character, the plain surfaces in those styles being relieved chiefly by diaper-work.”—(J. H. P.)

The great idea of the architect was to correct and restrain the exuberant tracery by introducing vigorous straight vertical and horizontal lines. Another feature of the Perpendicular style was the groined roof. The ribs of the vaulting were now enriched by cross ribs, which were intersected by more ribs into small panels, which were filled in with tracery. The key-stones were formed into pendants. This network of ribs is called fan-tracery because the ribs spread out like the sticks of a fan. Very beautiful examples occur in Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey, and in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral.

“The light and elegant style of vaulting known as fan-tracery, which is peculiar to this style, with its delicate pendants and lace-like ornaments, harmonises finely with the elaborate ornament of the tabernacle-work ornament. Fan-tracery vaulting is peculiarly English. The principle of it began with the earliest English Gothic style, as in the cloisters of Lincoln Cathedral, each stone of the vaulting being cut to fit its place. In France this is never done, each block of stone is oblong, as in those for the walls, and is only made to curve over in a vault by the mortar between the joints.

“Arches are not so acute as in the earlier periods; capitals and bases of columns are distinguished by the shallowness of the mouldings; mullions are carried straight through the arch of the windows; doorways consist of a depressed arch within a square frame with a label above; the label moulding is frequently filled with foliage and the space round the arch parallel; towers are often extremely rich and elaborately ornamented with four or five stories of windows, canopies, pinnacles and tabernacles; porches are also fine, highly enriched with panel-work, buttresses and pinnacles, and often with a richly-groined vault in the interior; and mouldings are generally more shallow than the earlier ones.

“There is an ornament which was introduced in this style and which is very characteristic. This is called the ‘Tudor-flower,’ not because it was introduced in the time of the Tudors, but because it was so much used at that period. It generally consists of some modification of the fleur-de-lis alternately with a small trefoil or ball, and is much used as a crest for screens on fonts, niches, capitals and in almost all places where such ornament can be used. The foliage of this style is frequently very beautifully executed, almost as faithful to nature as in the Decorated style, in which the fidelity to nature is one of the characteristic features. There is comparatively a squareness about the Perpendicular foliage, which takes from the freshness and beauty which distinguished that of the Decorated style. Indeed, the use of square and angular forms is one of the characteristics of the style; we have square panels, square foliage, square crockets and finials, square forms in the windows—caused by the introduction of so many transoms—and an approach to squareness in the depressed and low pitch of the roofs in late examples.”—(J. H. P.)

The woodwork of the Perpendicular period is very beautiful: open timber roofs (met with in the eastern counties), screens and lofts across the chancel-arch and richly carved bench ends exist in considerable numbers.

“The frequent use of figures, simply as corbels between the windows of the clerestory to carry the roof, is a good characteristic of the late Perpendicular style; they are generally of the time of Henry the Seventh or Eighth. The figure used is generally that of an angel, and each angel is sometimes represented as carrying a different musical instrument so as to make up a heavenly choir.”—(J. H. P.)

Among the best examples of late Perpendicular are Henry VII.’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey; St. George’s Chapel, Windsor; King’s College Chapel, Cambridge; and Bath Abbey Church.

In writing of the latter W. D. Howells so beautifully describes this style that no excuse is needed for bringing his definition into this place. He says:

“It is mostly of that Perpendicular Gothic which I suppose more mystically lifts the soul than any other form of architecture, and it is in a gracious harmony with itself through its lovely proportions; from the stems of its clustered column, the tracery of their fans spreads and delicately feels its way over the vaulted roof as if it were a living growth of something rooted in the earth beneath.”

ABBREVIATIONS OF AUTHORS QUOTED

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

CANTERBURY

Dedication: Christ Church. Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Monastery.

Special features: Becket’s Crown; Door of Chapter-House; West Doorway; Crypt.

Canterbury Cathedral presents a beautiful effect when seen from a distance, keeping watch over the city that lies in the valley of the Stour, girdled by hills. On one of these hills stands the village of Harbledown, the “Bob Up and Down,” where Chaucer’s Pilgrims halted, and from which a charming view of the ancient Cathedral is to be enjoyed.

Another fine prospect is gained from St. Martin’s:

“Let any one sit on the hill of the little church of St. Martin, and look on the view which is there spread before his eyes. Immediately below are the towers of the great Abbey of St. Augustine, where Christian learning and civilisation first struck root in the Anglo-Saxon race; and within which now, after a lapse of many centuries, a new institution has arisen, intended to carry far and wide to countries of which Gregory and Augustine never heard, the blessings which they gave to us. Carry your view on,—and there rises high above all the magnificent pile of our Cathedral equal in splendour and state to any, the noblest temple or church, that Augustine could have seen in ancient Rome, rising on the very ground which derives its consecration from him. And still more than the grandeur of the outward buildings that rose from the little church of St. Augustine, and the little palace of Ethelbert, have been the institutions of all kinds, of which these are the earliest cradle. From Canterbury, the first English Christian city—from Kent, the first English Christian kingdom—has, by degrees, arisen the whole constitution of Church and State in England, which now binds together the whole British Empire.”—(A. P. S.)

This great Cathedral stands on the site of the primitive Roman, or British, Church, attributed to King Lucius and granted by Ethelbert, King of Kent, to St. Augustine (who had converted him in 597). It is, therefore, the earliest monument of the English union of Church and State, and the cradle of English Christianity. Pope Gregory had intended to fix the Primacy in London and York alternately; but the sentiment of St. Augustine’s landing in Kent prevailed; and, therefore, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the See of which was founded in 597, is still Primate of England. He crowns the King and ranks next to royalty.

The first Cathedral was injured by the Danes in 1011 and it was burned down during the Norman Conquest in 1067. Lanfranc, the first Archbishop after the Conquest (1070-1089), reconstructed both church and monastery from their foundations. Anselm (1093-1109), took down the eastern part of the church and reërected it with far greater magnificence. Ernulf, Prior of the monastery, was responsible for the architecture; but the chancel being finished by his successor, Prior Conrad, and beautifully decorated, became known as the “glorious Choir of Conrad.” Canterbury Cathedral was dedicated by Archbishop William in 1130. Henry I., King of England, David, King of Scotland, and all the Bishops of England were present at what Gervase calls “the most famous dedication that had ever been heard of on the earth since that of the temple of Solomon.” In 1170, Thomas à Becket was murdered here, having fled for protection to the church after a violent scene in his chamber with Henry’s knights. Becket was buried at the east end of the Crypt and remained there forty-six years.

“Most men were persuaded that a new burst of miraculous powers, such as had been suspended for many generations, had broken out at the tomb; and the contemporary monk, Benedict, fills a volume with extraordinary cures, wrought within a very few years after the ‘Martyrdom.’ Far and wide the fame of ‘St. Thomas of Canterbury’ spread. The very name of Christ Church, or of the Holy Trinity, by which the Cathedral was properly designated, was in popular usage merged in that of The Church of St. Thomas. For the few years immediately succeeding his death there was no regular shrine. The popular enthusiasm still clung to the two spots immediately connected with the murder. The Transept in which he died, within five years from that time acquired the name by which it has ever since been known, ‘The Martyrdom.’ The flagstone on which his skull was fractured and the solid corner of the masonry in front of which he fell, are probably the only parts which remain unchanged. But against that corner may still be seen the marks of the space occupied by a wooden altar, which continued in its original simplicity through all the subsequent magnificence of the church till the time of the Reformation. It was probably the identical memorial erected in the first haste of enthusiasm after the reopening of the Cathedral for worship in 1172. It was called the Altar of the Martyrdom or more commonly the Altar of the Sword’s Point (Altare ad Punctum Ensis) from the circumstance that in a wooden shed placed upon it was preserved the fragment of Le Bret’s sword, which had been left on the pavement after accomplishing its bloody work. Under a piece of rock crystal surmounting the chest, was kept a portion of the brains. To this altar a regular keeper was appointed from among the monks, under the name of ‘Custos Martyrii.’ In the first frenzy of desire for relics of St. Thomas, even this guarantee was inadequate.

“Next to the actual scene of the murder, the object which this event invested with especial sanctity was the tomb in which his remains were deposited in the Crypt behind the Altar of the Virgin. It was to this spot that the first great rush of pilgrims was made when the church was reopened in 1172, and it was here that Henry performed his penance. Hither on the 21st of August, 1179, came the first King of France who ever set foot on the shores of England, Louis VII., warned by St. Thomas in dreams, and, afterwards, as he believed, receiving his son back from a dangerous illness through the Saint’s intercession. He knelt by the tomb and offered upon it the celebrated jewel,[2] as also his own rich cup of gold.”—(A. P. S.)

In 1174 a fire destroyed “Conrad’s Glorious Choir.” Rebuilding was immediately begun under a French architect, William of Sens, who fell from a scaffolding and had to relinquish the work to another William, who completed the Choir and eastern buildings in 1184.

Everything was now in readiness for the removal of the Martyr’s remains. Stephen Langton gave two years’ notice of the intended “Translation”; and a marvellous assemblage gathered from all parts of Europe on July 7, 1220. The Archbishop opened the tomb the night before the coffin was carried to the Shrine above in Trinity Chapel, and the “Vigil of the Translation,” July 6, was kept in the English church until 1537. The great procession to the Shrine was led by Henry III., then aged thirteen. Pilgrims came to the new Shrine, as they had done to the one below, in thousands. Seven great “jubilees” were held before 1530.

“The outer aspect of the Cathedral can be imagined without much difficulty. A wide cemetery, which, with its numerous gravestones, such as that on the south side of Petersborough Cathedral, occupied the vacant space still called the Churchyard, divided from the garden beyond by the old Norman arch since removed to a more convenient spot. In the cemetery were interred such pilgrims as died during their stay in Canterbury. The external aspect of the Cathedral itself, with the exception of the numerous statues which then filled its now vacant niches, must have been much what it is now. Not so its interior. Bright colours on the roof, on the windows, on the monuments; hangings suspended from the rods which may still be seen running from pillar to pillar; chapels and altars, and chantries intercepting the view, where now all is clear, must have rendered it so different, that at first we should hardly recognise it to be the same building.”—(A. P. S.)

At the church door the company of pilgrims arranged themselves “every one after his degree,” and a monk sprinkled their heads with holy water with the “Sprengel.” The great tide of pilgrims then passed through the Cathedral. Sometimes they paid their devotions to the Shrine first, and sometimes they visited the lesser objects first and the Shrine last. In this case, they entered the Transept of the Martyrdom, through the dark passage under the steps leading to the Choir. Before the wooden altar and in the soft radiance of the glorious representation of the Martyr in the transept window (of which there remains only the central band with the donors, Edward IV., his Queen, with their daughters and the two sons who perished in the Tower), while the priest showed them the relics of which he had charge, including the rusty fragment of Le Bret’s sword, which all kissed in turn. Proceeding down the steps on the way to the Crypt, new guardians exhibited in the dim light of a row of lamps suspended from rings in the roof, the actual relics of St. Thomas,—part of his skull cased in silver, which all kissed devoutly, and his shirt and drawers of haircloth.

Mounting the steps of the Choir, the pilgrims were then shown the great array of about four hundred relics preserved in ivory, gilt or silver coffers, including the arm of St. George. And now, passing behind the altar and up the steps, which many ascended on their knees, chanting the hymn to St. Thomas, they entered Trinity Chapel. They were first led beyond the Shrine to the easternmost apse to see a golden head of the Saint studded with gems, in which the scalp or crown of the Saint was preserved.

“The Shrine occupied the central part of the upper platform, and the extent of the railed space round it may be readily perceived by examining the floor on which the depression made by the feet of the pilgrims is plainly visible. The pavement inside this limit is composed of the original steps and platform of the Shrine, and consists in part of rich African marbles, as do also two whole pillars to north and south, and two half pillars to the east. These are said to have been the gift of a Pope to the Shrine, and, indeed, to have once formed part of a Roman Temple. The Shrine itself was simply the coffin of the Saint, richly adorned and cased with gold and precious stones. It rested on a structure of stone arches some five or six feet high, and was, as a rule, concealed under a wooden cover, working on pulleys, like many covers of fonts in our churches now. When raised the cover would reveal to the venerating gaze of the pilgrims, plates of precious metal studded with jewels of fabulous value, the most remarkable of which would be pointed out by the attendant with a white wand. When the Shrine was destroyed, by order of Henry VIII., these treasures filled two great chests ‘such as six or seven strong men could no more than convey one of them out of the church.’ West of the Shrine stood an altar, and west of the altar a gate in the railings, in fact just between the altar and the beautiful fragment of Italian marble pavement.”—(F. and R.)

We can imagine the long line of kneeling pilgrims and those who were allowed behind the iron gates rubbing themselves against the marble, so that the wonder-working body within could effect a cure in anticipation of the moment when the wooden canopy would be lifted.

“At a given signal this canopy was drawn up by ropes, and the Shrine then appeared blazing with gold and jewels; the wooden sides were plated with gold and damasked with gold wire; cramped together on this gold ground were innumerable jewels, pearls, sapphires, blassas, diamonds, rubies and emeralds, and ‘in the midst of the gold’ rings or cameos of sculptured agates, cornelians and onyx stones.

“As soon as this magnificent sight was disclosed, every one dropped on his knees, and probably the tinkling of the silver bells attached to the canopy would indicate the moment to all the hundreds of pilgrims in whatever part of the Cathedral they might be. The body of the Saint in the inner iron chest was not to be seen except by mounting a ladder, which would be but rarely allowed. But whilst the votaries knelt around, the Prior, or some other great officer of the monastery, came forward, and with a white wand touched the several jewels, naming the giver of each, and for the benefit of foreigners, adding the French name of each, with a description of its value and marvellous qualities. A complete list of them has been preserved to us, curious, but devoid of general interest. There was one, however, which far outshone the rest, and indeed was supposed to be the finest in Europe. It was the great carbuncle, ruby, or diamond, said to be as large as a hen’s egg or a thumb-nail, and commonly called ‘The Regale of France.’ The attention of the spectators was riveted by the figure of an angel pointing to it. It had been given to the original tomb in the Crypt by Louis VII. of France, when here on his pilgrimage.[3]

“The lid once more descended on the golden ark; the pilgrims

‘telling heartily their beads
Prayed to St. Thomas in such wise as they could,’

and then withdrew, down the opposite flight of steps from which they had ascended.”—(A. P. S.)

Next the pilgrims received the small leaden bottles, or ampulles, filled with water mixed with the Martyr’s blood; and in the numerous booths and stalls that lined Mercery Lane, the narrow street running from the Cathedral to the Chequers Inn, bought other memorials of the Pilgrimage, particularly the leaden brooches representing the mitred head of the saint with the legend, Caput Thomæ.

From the middle of the Fourteenth to the end of the Fifteenth Century a wonder-working well was shown to pilgrims in the Precincts.

Among the great visitors to the shrine of the “holy blissful Martyr” were all the English kings from Henry II. to Henry VIII.; Edward I. (1299), who presented the golden crown of Scotland, the crown given by Edward to John Balliol and carried off by him, but recaptured at Dover; Richard and John of England; Louis VII. of France; Isabella, wife of Edward II.; John, the captive king of France; Henry V. on his return from Agincourt; Emmanuel, Emperor of the East in 1400, and Sigismund, Emperor of the West in 1417; and great lords and ladies from England, France and Scotland. The barons of the Cinque Ports, after every coronation, presented the canopies of silk and gold which they held and still hold over the head of the king.

In 1538 Henry VIII. issued a writ of summons against Thomas à Becket accusing him of treason, contumacy and rebellion and had the document read before the Martyr’s tomb. The suit was tried in Westminster, and the long defunct Archbishop condemned. His bones were ordered to be burnt and all his offerings handed over to the Crown. Becket’s body, however, escaped burning and was re-buried. The Shrine was destroyed and all the offerings of jewels and gold carried off. They filled twenty-six carts. Becket was deprived of the name of Saint and his images destroyed throughout the country.

Returning now to the architectural history of the Cathedral, Prior Chillenden (1378-1410) took down Lanfranc’s Nave and Transepts. About 1473 Prior Goldstone II. added the splendid Angel Tower that rises from the centre of the roof, and upon which the figure of a golden angel welcomed the pilgrims to Canterbury.

In 1642, the Puritans battered the windows, hacked and hewed the altars and monuments and committed ravages of all kinds under a ringleader, Richard Culmer, known as “Blue Dick.”

After the Restoration, £10,000 was devoted to repairs. At a later period the Choir-stalls, said to be carved by Grinling Gibbons, were replaced.

In 1834, the northwest (Arundel) tower had to be pulled down. It was rebuilt on a different plan.

Nothing of importance happened until 1872, when a fire broke out on the roof of Trinity Chapel at half-past ten in the morning. Little damage was done, however; but the Black Prince’s Tomb was in danger and the relics above it were temporarily removed.

Canterbury was four centuries in building. It, therefore, exhibits specimens of nearly all the classes of Pointed Architecture. It is chiefly, however, Transitional Norman and Perpendicular.

“The existing cathedral, although of such various dates, covers, as nearly as can be ascertained, the same ground as the original building of Lanfranc, with the exception of the Nave, which is of greater length westward, and of the Retro-Choir, or extreme eastern portion, which is also longer.”—(R. J. K.)

Passing the traditional site of the Chequers Inn, where Chaucer’s Pilgrims were housed, we walk up Mercery Lane to Christ Church Gate, built by Prior Goldstone in 1517. It is a fine example of late Perpendicular and once contained a figure of Christ in the central niche.

This gate leads into the Precincts of the Cathedral. The close is surrounded by the gardens of the Canons’ houses. We now look upon the beautiful south side of the Cathedral.

“In the immediate Precincts, a delightful picture is presented from the Green Court, which was once the main outer court of the monastery. Here are noble trees and beautifully kept turf, at once in perfect harmony and agreeable contrast with the rugged walls of the weather-beaten Cathedral: the quiet, soft colouring of the ancient buildings and that look of cloistered seclusion only to be found in the peaceful nooks of cathedral cities are seen here at their very best.

“The chief glory of the exterior of Canterbury Cathedral is the central Angel, or Bell, Tower. This is one of the most perfect structures that Gothic architecture inspired by the loftiest purpose that ever stimulated the work of any art, has produced. It was completed by Prior Selling, who held office in 1472, and has been variously called the Bell Harry Tower from the mighty Dunstan bell, weighing three tons and three hundredweight, and the Angel Tower from the gilded figure of an angel poised on one of the pinnacles, which has long ago disappeared. The tower itself is of two stages, with two-light windows in each stage; the windows are transomed in each face, and the lower tier is canopied; each angle is rounded off with an octagonal turret; and the whole structure is a marvellous example of architectural harmony and in every way a work of transcendent beauty.”—(H. W.)

The South-west, or Chichele, Tower, (formerly St. Dunstan’s Tower) was completed by Prior Goldstone (1449-1468). It is now the Bell Tower. The Northern, or Arundel, steeple was rebuilt by Austen in 1840 in place of the old Norman Tower, which had become dangerous.

“The western towers are built each of six stages: each of the two upper tiers contains two two-light windows, while below there is a large four-light window uniform with the windows of the aisles. The base tier is ornamented with rich panelling. The parapet is battlemented and the angles are finished with fine double pinnacles. At the west end there is a large window of seven-light transoms. The gable contains a window of very curious shape, filled with intricate tracery. The space above the aisle windows is ornamented with quatrefoiled squares, and the clerestory is pierced by windows of three lights.”—(H. W.)

Above the aisle windows are quatrefoiled squares. The clerestory, Choir and Becket’s Crown contain lancet windows. In the main transept there is a fine Perpendicular window of eight lights.

The South side of the Cathedral is the one most generally admired.

“On the south side is seen the porch; the nave (a beautiful design); and the charming pinnacle of the south-west transept. East of the Warrior’s Chapel is the projecting end of Stephen Langton’s tomb. East of this, the two lower rows of windows are those of Conrad’s Choir; the upper row that of William of Sens. The middle windows in the south-east transept were the clerestory windows of Conrad; the windows above them are those of William of Sens. The three upper stages of the tower on the south of this transept are late Norman work; one of the prettiest bits in Canterbury. Farther east we have French design, pure and simple; here, for the first time in English architecture, the flying-buttresses are openly displayed; notice how flat and plain they are; it had not yet occurred to architects to make them decorative. The grand sweep of apse and ambulatory seems to send one straight back to France. Then comes the broken rocky outline of the corona—the great puzzle of Canterbury. North-east of the corona are two groups of ruined Norman pillars and arches discoloured by fire; once they were continuous, forming one very long building, the Monk’s Infirmary, of which the west end was originally an open dormitory, open to the roof, and the east end, separated off by a screen, the Chapel; which has a late Geometrical window. On the north side of Trinity Chapel is seen the Chantry of Henry IV.; then St. Andrew’s Tower and the barred Treasury; the lower part of the latter is late Norman work, largely rebuilt.”—(F. B.)

The Porch on the south side of Chichele Tower is the work of Prior Chillenden. It has a central niche on which the Martyrdom of Becket was represented on a panel of the Fifteenth Century. The niches are filled with statues. Through it we now pass into the Cathedral.

The Nave (Perpendicular) resembles the bolder nave of Winchester, built at the same period. The most striking feature is the manner in which the Choir is raised above the level of the floor, owing to the fact that it stands over the crypt. The

Canterbury: South Porch

Canterbury: Nave, east

flight of steps placed between the Nave and the Choir adds to the effect.

“The nave, of eight bays, has no triforium. Each bay consists of a huge arch resting on filleted pillars, and is subdivided into the pier-arch, with the clerestory and panelling reaching to the string-course above. It is paved with Portland stone. The vaulting and vaulting-shafts are the prominent features of the nave, and the pier-arches are quite subordinate; these shafts are banded, as at Bath, like Early English. The main transept has no aisles.”—(W. J. L.)

Of the Nave windows none remain entire. The great West Window is made up of fragments from the others. It contains the arms of Richard II. impaling the Confessor’s; and those of Anne of Bohemia (north); and Isabella of France (south).

The beautifully carved Screen of solid stone, separating the Nave from the Choir, was placed there in the Fifteenth Century. Of the six crowned figures in the lower niches, the one holding the church is supposed to be Ethelbert; and the one on the extreme right, Richard II. The figures of Christ and the Twelve Apostles, which filled the thirteen mitred niches around the arch, were destroyed by “Blue Dick” and his companions. A staircase leads to the top of the Screen.

Another Screen partly fills the space between the two western piers of the central, or Angel, Tower.

“The piers which support the central tower are probably the original piers of Lanfranc’s erection, cased with Perpendicular work by Prior Chillenden at the same time with the building of the nave. To this Prior Goldstone II. (1495-1517) added the vaulting of the tower, and all the portion above the roof, together with the remarkable buttressing-arches supporting the piers below, which had perhaps shown some signs of weakness. These arches have on them the Prior’s rebus, a shield with three golden bars, or stones. The central arch occupies the place of the ancient roodloft, and probably the great rood was placed on it until the Reformation.”—(R. J. K.)

The Choir of five bays shows the earliest instance of the Pointed Arch in England and groining on a large scale. The clerestory of the Choir is filled with windows representing the genealogy of the Saviour. The carvings on the stalls are said to be by Grinling Gibbons.

In 1096, Prior Ernulf began a longer and wider Choir than originally existed; and this was dedicated in 1114, before he left Canterbury to become Bishop of Rochester. Prior Conrad, his successor, finished the decoration of it and “the glorious Choir of Conrad,” as it was somewhat unjustly called, was consecrated in 1130. In 1174 it was destroyed by fire to the great distress of everybody. All that remains is a portion of the pavement consisting of large slabs of “stone or veined marble of a delicate brown colour,” between the two Transepts.

“About four years after the murder on the 5th of September, 1174, a fire broke out in the Cathedral which reduced the Choir—hitherto its chief architectural glory—to ashes. The grief of the people is described in terms which show how closely the expression of Mediæval feeling resembled what can now only be seen in Italy or the East—‘They tore their hair; they beat the walls and pavements of the church with their shoulders and the palms of their hands; they uttered tremendous curses against God and his saints—even to the patron saint of the church; they wished they had rather have died than seen such a day.’ How far more like the description of a Neapolitan mob in disappointment at the slow liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius than of the citizens of a quiet cathedral town in the county of Kent! The monks, though appalled by the calamity for a time, soon recovered themselves; workmen and architects, French and English, were procured; and among the former, William, from the city of Sens, so familiar to all Canterbury at that period as the scene of Becket’s exile. No observant traveller can have seen the two Cathedrals without remarking how closely the details of William’s workmanship at Canterbury were suggested by his recollections of his own church at Sens, built a short time before. The forms of the pillars, the vaulting of the roof, even the very bars and patterns of the windows are almost identical.... The French architect unfortunately met with an accident which disabled him from continuing his operations. After a vain struggle to superintend the works by being carried round the church in a litter, he was compelled to surrender the task to a namesake, an Englishman, and it is to him that we owe the design of that part of the Cathedral which was destined to receive the sacred Shrine.”—(A. P. S.)

“On entering the choir, the visitor is immediately struck by the singular bend with which the walls approach each other at the eastern end. By this remarkable feature, together with the great length of the Choir (180 feet; it is the longest in England) and the lowness of the vaulting; the antique character of the architecture enforced by the strongly contrasted Purbeck and Caen stone, and the consequent fine effects of light and shadow. The style is throughout Transition, having Norman and Early English characteristics, curiously intermixed. The pillars with their pier-arches, the clerestory wall above and the great vault up to the Transepts, were entirely finished by William of Sens. The whole work differed greatly from that of the former choir. The richly foliated and varied capitals of the pillars, the great vault with its ribs of stone, and the numerous slender shafts of marble in the triforia, were all novelties exciting the great admiration of the monks.”—(R. J. K.)

William of Sens, however, retained the second or Eastern Transepts, which had existed in the former church.

Before the Reformation the Choir contained the high altar and the altar-shrines of St. Alphege and St. Dunstan. No trace of the former remains; but on the south wall of the Choir, between the monuments of Archbishops Stratford and Sudbury, there is some diaper-work of open lilies that adorned St. Dunstan’s altar.

The High Altar is on a higher level than the floor of the choir. It is approached by two flights of steps (one on either side) in the Presbytery, about 25 feet higher than the floor of the Nave. The Altar was placed over the new Crypt, which is a good deal higher than the older, or western, Crypt. The Reredos, erected in 1870, was designed in the style of the screen-work in the Lady-Chapel in the Crypt. The crimson velvet altar-coverings, now in use, were presented by Queen Mary, wife of William III., and the gold chalice by the Earl of Arundell in 1636. The Archbishop’s Throne, a gift of Archbishop Howley (£1200), was carved by Flemish workmen from designs by Austen. The stone-pulpit, by Butterfield, was erected in 1846. The eagle used as a Litany desk is dated 1663.

The organ, built by Samuel Green, is believed to be the one used at the Händel Festival in Westminster Abbey in 1784. It was remodelled in 1886. Among the tombs and monuments of Archbishops and Cardinals are: Cardinal Bourchier, who crowned Edward IV., Richard III. and Henry VII.; Archbishop Howley, who crowned Queen Victoria; Stratford, Grand Judiciary to Edward III.; Simon of Sudbury, whose head was cut off during Wat Tyler’s rebellion; and Cardinal Kemp, who was present at Agincourt.

In the north aisle, in a coloured and gilt altar-tomb, lies Archbishop Chichele (died 1443), according to Shakespeare, the instigator of the war with France (see Henry V., Act I., Sc. I.). Here also lies Orlando Gibbons, Charles I.’s organist.

Of the six splendid windows in the north aisle of the Choir described by the old authorities, only two remain.

“They should not be overlooked by the visitor, as they are full of curious symbolism. The birth of Christ and His early life are depicted in the central panels and the types from the Old Testament with them. Observe the Magi all asleep in one bed; Shem, Ham and Japhet, dividing the earth, which one of them holds in his hands, like a gorgeously painted map; and in the sixth panel of the first window a very curious scene, in which we see depicted a bronze idol or statue, similar, no doubt, to some the artist had seen as of Roman work. Whoever he was who designed the work, he knew what was classical art. The exaggerated muscular development which came in again under Michael Angelo and his contemporaries in Italy, is seen here quite plainly.”—(W. J. L.)

The same fire that destroyed the Choir also damaged the Transepts. The windows and arcades in them are more completely reconstructed than those in the side aisles. One feature here is the double range of triforia, or open galleries. The lower triforium belongs to Ernulf’s time: the windows in the upper one were his clerestory.

The pilgrims were usually conducted into the North Transept, or Transept of the Martyrdom through the dark passage under the choir steps. In the west wall here, a door opened into the cloister, through which Becket passed to his tragic death.

Directly opposite, on the other side of the Choir, the Warriors’ Chapel is situated.

The apse, approached by a broad flight of steps, is entirely occupied by the Chapel of the Holy Trinity, which contained the Martyr’s Shrine. The work here shows the influence of the French. From the Transept of the Martyrdom the pilgrims were conducted through the North Aisle of the Choir on their way to the great Shrine; and, at the end of the aisle, close to the steps ascending to the Retro-Choir, we find the door of St. Andrew’s Tower. This is part of Lanfranc’s building and now used as a vestry; but it was once the sacristy, where the rich offerings and precious relics connected with Becket were exhibited to privileged pilgrims.

The Retro-Choir is reached by steep flights of steps necessitated by the height of the Crypt below. Up these steps the pilgrims climbed on their knees, chanting the hymn to St. Thomas:

“Tu per Thomæ sanguinem
Quem pro te impendit,
Fac nos Christo scandere
Quo Thomas ascendit.”

All this part of the Cathedral is the work of English William, which is lighter, in general character, than that of William of Sens.

The Chapel of the Holy Trinity (or that of St. Thomas) occupies the central portion of the Retro-Choir between the piers formed by double columns. In the old Chapel of the Trinity (destroyed by fire at the same time as Conrad’s Choir) Becket celebrated his first Mass as Archbishop. His body lay in the Crypt immediately below this spot.

“In earlier times the easternmost chapel had contained an altar of the Holy Trinity, where Becket had been accustomed to say mass. Partly for the sake of preserving the two old Norman towers of St. Anselm and St. Andrew, which stood on the north and south side of this part of the church—but chiefly for the sake of fitly uniting to the church this eastern chapel on an enlarged scale, the pillars of the choir were contracted with that singular curve which attracts the eye of every spectator, as Gervase foretold that it would, when, in order to explain this peculiarity, he stated the two aforesaid reasons. The eastern end of the Cathedral, thus enlarged, formed, as at Ely, a more spacious receptacle for the honoured remains; the new Trinity Chapel, reaching considerably beyond the extreme limit of its predecessor, and opening beyond into a yet further chapel, popularly called Becket’s Crown. The windows were duly filled with the richest painted glass of the period, and amongst those on the northern side may still be traced elaborate representations of the miracles wrought at the subterranean tomb, or by visions and intercessions of the mighty Saint. High in the tower of St. Anselm, on the south side of the destined site of so great a treasure, was prepared—a usual accompaniment of costly shrines—the Watching Chamber. It is a rude apartment with a fireplace where the watcher could warm himself during the long winter nights, and a narrow gallery between the pillars, whence he could overlook the whole platform of the shrine, and at once detect any sacrilegious robber who was attracted by the immense treasures there collected. On the occasion of fires the Shrine was additionally guarded by a troop of fierce ban-dogs.

“When the Cathedral was thus duly prepared, the time came for what, in the language of those days, was termed the ‘Translation’ of the relics.”—(A. P. S.)

Becket’s body was removed here on July 7, 1220 ([See page 4]), and remained the only occupant of this chapel for more than a hundred years.

It only proves in what deep affection the English nation held the Black Prince to have placed his remains by the side of Becket. His body lay in state in Westminster from June 8, 1376, to September 29; and on the Feast of Michaelmas it was taken to Canterbury, which he had selected for his resting-place. The procession from London to Canterbury was magnificent; and the idol of the nation was laid not in the Crypt, as he had expected, but in Trinity Chapel.

“In this sacred spot—believed at that time to be the most sacred spot in England—the tomb stood in which ‘alone in his glory,’ the Prince was to be deposited, to be seen and admired by all the countless pilgrims who crawled up the stone steps beneath it on their way to the shrine of the saint.

“Let us turn to that tomb, and see how it sums up his whole life. Its bright colours have long since faded, but enough still remains to show us what it was as it stood after the sacred remains of him had been placed within it. There he lies; no other memorial of him exists in the world so authentic. There he lies, as he had directed, in full armour, his head resting on his helmet, his feet with the likeness of ‘the spurs he won’ at Cressy, his hands joined as in that last prayer which he had offered up on his deathbed. There you can see his fine face with the Plantagenet features, the flat cheeks and the well-chiselled nose, to be traced perhaps in the effigy of his father in Westminster Abbey, and his grandfather in Gloucester Cathedral. On his armour you can still see the marks of the bright gilding with which the figure was covered from head to foot, so as to make it look like an image of pure gold. High above are suspended the brazen gauntlets, the helmet, with what was once its gilded leopard-crest, and the wooden shield, the velvet coat also, embroidered with the arms of France and England, now tattered and colourless, but then blazing with blue and scarlet. There, too, still hangs the empty scabbard of the sword, wielded perhaps at his three great battles, and which Oliver Cromwell, it is said, carried away. On the canopy, over the tomb, there is the faded representation—painted after the strange fashion of those times—of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, according to the peculiar devotion which he had entertained. In the pillars you can see the hooks to which was fastened the black tapestry, with its crimson border and curious embroidery, which he directed in his will should be hung round his tomb and the shrine of Becket. Round about the tomb, too, you will see the ostrich feathers, which, according to the old, but doubtful tradition, we are told he won at Cressy from the blind King of Bohemia, who perished in the thick of the fight; and interwoven with them the famous motto, with which he used to sign his name, ‘Houmout,’ ‘Ich diene.’ If, as seems most likely, they are German words, they exactly express what we have seen so often in his life, the union of Hoch muth that is high spirit, with Ich dien, I serve. They bring before us the very scene itself after the battle of Poitiers, where, after having vanquished the whole French nation, he stood behind the captive king, and served him like an attendant.

“And, lastly, carved about the tomb, is the long inscription, selected by himself before his death, in Norman French, and still the language of the court, written, as he begged, clearly and plainly, that all might read it. Its purport is to contrast his former splendour and vigour and beauty with the wasted body which is now all that is left.”—(A. P. S.)

The Black Prince’s effigy of brass was once entirely gilt. Round the tomb are escutcheons of arms, and on the canopy there is a representation of the Holy Trinity with emblems of the Evangelists at the corners.

At the foot of the Black Prince’s Tomb is the monument of Archbishop Courtenay (1381-1396), the great opponent of the Wycliffites; and directly opposite is the Tomb of Henry IV. and his Queen, Joan of Navarre, whose effigies lie under a most elaborate and beautiful canopy.

“In spite of some damage they remain the most interesting representations, not only of the costume of the time, but also, we cannot doubt, of the actual features of the persons. When the tomb was opened some time ago the features of the king were seen for a moment and corresponded closely with the representation on the tomb. The figures at the foot of the Queen, known in heraldry as genets, and to the ordinary person perhaps as weasels, appear also in the canopy combined with eagles and the motto ‘Soverayne and Atemperance.’ The defaced painting on wood at the foot of the tomb represented the Martyrdom of St. Thomas.”—(F. and R.)

Adjoining this tomb is the Chapel of Henry IV.’s Chantry, built, as directed in the will of King Henry, who died in 1413, “a chauntrie perpetual with twey prestis for to sing and pray for my soul.” It contains the first example in Canterbury of the “fan-vaulting,” so splendidly represented in the Dean’s Chapel.

The windows here and in the Corona should be studied.

“They are of the Thirteenth Century, and among the finest of this date in Europe, excelling in many respects those of Bourges, Troyes and Chartres; ‘for excellence of drawing, harmony of colouring and purity of design they are justly considered unequalled. The skill with which the minute figures are represented, cannot even at this day be surpassed’ (Stanley). Remark especially the great value given to the brilliant colours by the profusion of white and neutral tints. The scrolls and borders surrounding the medallions are also of beauty.

“The three windows remaining in the aisles surrounding the Trinity Chapel are entirely devoted, as were all the rest, to the miracles of Becket, which commenced immediately on the death of the great martyr. The miracles represented in the medallions are of various characters. The Lucerna Angliæ, a true St. Thomas of Kandelberg, as the Germans called him, restores sight to the blind. Loss of smell is recovered at the shrine of this Arbor Aromatica. Frequently he assists sailors, the rude crews of the Cinque Ports in his own immediate neighbourhood. At the Norway fishing his figure came gliding over the seas in the dusk, and descended, burning like fire, to the imperilled ships of the Crusaders. In the window toward the east, on the north of the Shrine, is represented a remarkable series of miracles, occurring in the household of a knight named Jordan, son of Eisulf, whose son is restored to life by the water from St. Thomas’s well, which, mixed with his blood, was always carried off by the pilgrims. The father vows an offering to the martyr before Mid-Lent. This is neglected; the whole household again suffer, and the son dies once more. The knight and his wife, both sick, drag themselves to Canterbury, perform their vow and the son is finally restored. On a medallion in one of the windows on the north side is a representation of Becket’s Shrine, with the martyr issuing from it in full pontificals to say Mass at the altar.”—(R. J. K.)

At the extreme east end, just behind Trinity Chapel, is the circular apse called Becket’s Crown, or the Corona. On the north side lies Cardinal Pole, Bloody Mary’s cousin, who died the day after she did.

“The great lightness and beauty of the Corona, the extreme east end of the Cathedral, are remarkable. It is English William’s work. When Archbishop Anselm was at Rome in the early part of his episcopate and attending a council in the Lateran, a question arose as to his proper place, since no Archbishop of Canterbury had as yet been present at a Roman council. Pope Pascal II. decided it by assigning to the ‘alterius orbis papa,’ a seat in the ‘corona,’ the most honourable position. It is possible that this fact may have led the architects, on the rebuilding of the choir, to make the addition of an eastern apse, or corona, which did not exist in the earlier church. In it were the shrines of Archbishop Odo and Wilfrid of York, and a golden reliquary in the form of a head, containing some relic of Becket, perhaps the severed scalp. By a confusion of its proper name with this relic the eastern apse came to be generally known as Becket’s Crown. On the north side is the tomb of Cardinal Pole, Queen Mary’s Archbishop (1556-1558) and the last Archbishop buried at Canterbury. His royal blood gave him a title to so distinguished a place of sepulture.”—(R. J. K.)

From here one gains the best view of the Cathedral as a whole. Canterbury is one of the longest of cathedrals (514 feet).

The central window (Thirteenth Century) in Becket’s Crown is very ornate.

“It is very complete and an admirable example of the intricate symbolism of the time. The subjects are arranged in three quatrefoils and two lozenges: the Crucifixion occupying a square panel at the foot, surrounded by representations of the spies carrying the great bunch of grapes; of Moses striking the rock; of the sacrifice of a lamb in the Temple, and of Abraham offering up Isaac on Mount Moriah. Next above is a lozenge-shaped panel, painted with the Entombment, adjoining which we have Joseph’s brethren putting him in the pit; Samson shorn in his sleep by Delilah; Daniel in a walled city, labelled Babilonia, and Jonah let down into the jaws of the whale by two men in a ship. Above these scenes is a quatrefoil, in the centre of which we see the Resurrection, surrounded by representations of Moses and the burning bush; Noah in the Ark; Rahab letting the spies down by the wall, and Jonah landing near Nineveh from the mouth of a great whale. Then another lozenge represents the Ascension and the scenes surrounding it are the Ark of the Mercy-Seat; Elijah ascending in a chariot of fire; the burial of Moses, and Hezekiah sick, while an angel gives him the sign of the shadow on the dial of Ahaz. The last of the series is at the top. In a square panel we see the great event of the Day of Pentecost. Above it Christ sits enthroned in glory. Moses receiving the Two Tables of the Law is below. On one side is the first ordination of deacons, and on the other the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples. The whole style of this window is later than that of the Becket series.”—(W. J. L.)

Canterbury: Choir, east

Rochester: West front

Passing west, down the steps worn by the pious pilgrims we reach St. Anselm’s Tower and Chapel. Anselm’s Tower (like St. Andrew’s opposite) is Prior Ernulf’s work. The elaborate south window (1336) is Decorated of five lights.

St. Anselm’s Tower is entered through splendid gates of ancient wrought iron.

At the east end behind the Altar of SS. Peter and Paul, the great Anselm (1093-1109) was buried. Over the chapel is a small room with a window looking into the Cathedral. This was the Watching Chamber, in which, as we have seen, a monk was stationed at night to keep watch over the Shrine of St. Thomas. There is a tradition that King John of France was imprisoned here.

We now reach the South-east Transept, the work of both William of Sens and English William on Ernulf’s walls.

At the corner of the South-west choir-aisle architects love to notice the round arch and double zigzag of the Norman style fitted into the Pointed Arch and dogtooth of the restoration of 1180. Under the windows are the tomb of Archbishop Reynolds and the monument to Hubert Walter, the latter the warrior-prelate and Crusader who kept the Realm for Richard Cœur de Lion and raised the ransom for his release.

The steps leading down into the great South Transept are similar to those of the opposite Transept of the Martyrdom.

Opening east from this Transept is St. Michael’s, or The Warriors’ Chapel, so named because of the martial monuments and tombs contained in it.

The famous East Kent Regiment “The Buffs” place their memorials here. This Chapel is particularly notable for containing the tomb of Stephen Langton, the author of the Magna Charta, which is of earlier date than the chapel. A very beautiful alabaster monument of Lady Margaret Holland with her two husbands, John Beaufort, son of John of Gaunt, and the Duke of Clarence, son of Henry IV., beautifully represents the armour and dress of the Fifteenth Century.

The Warriors’ Chapel is Perpendicular (about 1370), with a complex lierne vault. The architect is unknown.

Directly opposite, on the other side of the Choir, is the Transept of the Martyrdom. Here was erected a wooden altar to the Virgin, where a portion of the Martyr’s brains were exhibited under a piece of rock-crystal and fragments of Le Bret’s sword.

Before this altar Edward I. was married to Queen Margaret in 1299. A rude representation of the altar may be seen over the south-west door of the Cathedral.

Returning to the North-west Transept, we visit the scene of the Martyrdom which took place near St. Benedict’s apsidal chapel (now occupied by the Dean’s Chapel) Dec. 29, 1170, during vespers. The west door from the cloisters by which Becket entered and the pavement by the wall, where he fell, remain. He was mounting the stairs to the north aisle (now removed) when the knights attacked him.

We have already noticed the great Window here, which was the gift, in 1465, of Edward IV. and his Queen, whose

“figures still remain in it, together with those of his daughters and of the two Princes murdered in the Tower. The ‘remarkably soft and silvery appearance’ of this window has been noticed by Mr. Winston. In its original state the Virgin was pictured in it ‘in seven several glorious appearances’ and in the centre was Becket himself at full length, robed and mitred. This part was demolished in 1642 by Richard Culmer, called Blue Dick, the great iconoclast of Canterbury, who ‘rattled down proud Becket’s glassie bones’ with a pike, and who, when thus engaged, narrowly escaped martyrdom himself at the hands of a malignant fellow-townsman.”—(R. J. K.)

In this transept stands the monument of Archbishop Peckham (1279-1292) with his effigy in Irish oak. This is the earliest complete monument in the Cathedral.

We now pass into the Dean’s Chapel, occupying the site of St. Benedict’s Chapel. It was formerly the Lady-Chapel, built by Prior Goldstone in 1460 and dedicated to the Virgin. The beautiful fan-vault is similar to that in Henry VII.’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey and to the roof of the staircase leading to the dining-hall of Christ Church College, Oxford. The Dean’s Chapel received its present name from the number of tombs and monuments to deans here, one of the most curious of which is that of Dean Boys, who died in 1625. He is represented as he was found dead in his Library, and the arrangement of the books with the edges turned outward from the shelves strikes every one as singular.

Archbishop Warham, the last Archbishop before the Reformation, also lies here, his heavy tomb in great contrast to that of Archbishop Peckham, already mentioned, near it,—good examples of the styles between 1292 and 1533.

The East Window is also notable.

“The figures of Dean Neville and his brother, against the eastern wall, were transferred to this place on the destruction of the chapel which formerly projected from the south side of the nave, and of which the marks in the wall are clearly visible. In the east window some points may be noted. We see the Neville arms, and a red shield with white saltire, and also the elaborate Bouchier arms, the most distinguishable features of which are the water ‘budgets,’ two curious red skins joined together at the top, sometimes given as an honourable blazon to those who supplied an army with water. We also see the Bouchier knot alternating in most of the panes with the oak leaf and acorn. This is the mark of Woodstock.”—(F. and R.)

A door here leads into the Great Cloister.

Opposite to St. Anselm’s, St. Andrew’s Chapel, now used as the Choir Vestry, contains interesting remains of coloured decorations. In olden days St. Andrew’s was a sacristy, where, as we have seen, were kept the very precious offerings to the Shrine. On the inner side is a building of late Norman work—this was originally the Treasury.

The North-east Transept is a repetition of the South-east Transept. It, however, contains a monument to Archbishop Tait, designed by Boehm; and in the north wall are three slits called hagiscopes. Through these “holy spy holes,” the Prior could see Mass being celebrated at the High Altar and in the altars in the Chapels of St. Martin and St. Stephen in the Transept below.

Before descending into the Crypt we must stop to look at St. Augustine’s Chair, by tradition the throne on which the kings of Kent were crowned and given by Ethelbert to St. Augustine. All the Archbishops of Canterbury have taken office in it.

“This chair, which is sometimes called the chair of St. Augustine, but which belongs to the Thirteenth Century, is composed of Purbeck marble. In it each successive archbishop for the last six hundred years has sat when he has been admitted to his metropolitan functions.”—(W. H. F.)

The famous Crypt is usually entered from the South Transept. It is the oldest part of the Church, having been built between 1093 and 1107 in the reigns of William II. and Henry I. It is heavy, massive, dark and low, like all Norman work. The capitals of the pillars are quaintly and sometimes harmoniously carved; one under St. Anselm’s Chapel, for instance, represents a concert of beasts playing on musical instruments. The whole crypt was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and in the centre stood her altar and chapel. “The Virgin Mother,” Erasmus wrote, “has there an habitation, but somewhat dark, enclosed with a double iron rail, for fear of thieves; for indeed I never saw anything more loaded with riches. Lights being brought we saw a more than royal spectacle. This chapel is not shown but to noblemen and particular friends.”

The beautiful Screen, which resembles the screen behind the High Altar of the choir, is thought to have been added with other decorations of the Crypt at the time of the Black Prince’s marriage to the Fair Maid of Kent (1363), when he founded two chantries in the Crypt. These now form the entrance to the French Church, where the descendants of the Huguenot and Walloon refugees still hold service in the ritual of their ancestors.

Queen Elizabeth gave up the whole of the Crypt in 1561 to the Flemish and French refugees “whom the rod of Alva bruised.” The silk-weavers set up their looms here.

Before the magnificent shrine of the Virgin lies Henry VII.’s minister, Cardinal Morton, whose tomb is enriched with the crown and roses of York and Lancaster, the Cardinal’s hat, the Tudor portcullis and a passing allusion to his name—Mort (hawk) and Ton or Tun (a barrel). He assisted in building Bell Harry (or the Angel) Tower.

Another famous tomb in the Crypt is that of Isabel, Countess of Atholl, granddaughter of King John and sister-in-law of John Balliol, King of Scotland. She owned the castle of Chilham near Canterbury and died in 1292. Her tomb stands at the entrance to the Chapel of St. Gabriel. The latter is extremely dark, but shows, when lighted up, some remarkable frescoes of the Twelfth Century, representing the Nativity of Christ and of John the Baptist.

“Further beyond the Duchess of Atholl’s tomb the crypt is much loftier and becomes almost a church in itself. This is the part beyond the apse of the original Cathedral, the place of Becket’s first burial, where Henry II. did penance, passing the night in fasting and in the morning baring his back and receiving three lashes from each of the monks. Here the miracles began to be wrought and the Tumba, even after its contents were removed, was still reckoned a holy place. The present lofty crypt was built over and round the Tumba after the great fire of 1174; and, some forty years after its completion and that of the Trinity Chapel above it, the remains of Becket were translated by Stephen Langton, with great pomp, to the shrine prepared for them in the sanctuary above.”—(W. H. F.)

The Crypt is largely the work of Ernulf; and the diaper pattern and marble shaft by the door that leads from the S. E. corner of the Martyrdom, occur again in Rochester, where Ernulf became bishop (See page 34). A statue of Ernulf, intended for the west front of the Cathedral, is now in his Crypt.

The lower part of the Crypt ends towards the east in a semi-circular sweep of pillars. The end of the Crypt was built by Ernulf in 1096.

The old Benedictine Convent of Christ’s Church that St. Augustine established grew to be of the utmost importance. Portions of the massive wall by which they were surrounded still remain. The monastic buildings were numerous and extensive. The Prior, who had the right of wearing the mitre and carrying the episcopal staff, lived in great dignity. In a set of state chambers, known as the Meist’ Omers and belonging to the Prior, pilgrims of high rank were lodged. Somewhere in the vicinity of the Infirmary and its chapel was the miraculous Well of St. Thomas, which appeared in the Fourteenth Century. A passage and the Dark Entry, haunted by the ghost of Nell Cook of the Ingoldsby Legends, takes us into the Priors’, or Green Court, planted with linden trees, or limes, as the English call them. Here we find remains of the great Dormitory, the Guest House, built by Prior Goldstone, the Norman Almonry Gate and the Norman Staircase, the only construction of its kind existing. The Hall above was built in 1855.

The beautiful Cloisters, the work of Prior Chillenden (about 1400), are decorated on the roof with the arms of Kentish families. In the northwest corner is the doorway through which Becket passed to his doom.

“The cloister occupies the same space as the Norman cloister built by Lanfranc, but of the Norman work only a doorway remains at the north-east corner; there is some Early English arcading on the north side, but the present tracery and fan-worked roof belong to the end of the Fourteenth Century, when Archbishops Sudbury, Arundell and Courtenay, and Prior Chillenden (1390-1411) rebuilt the nave, the cloister and the chapter-house. The latter work cuts across the older in the most unceremonious way, as is seen especially in the square doorway by which we shall presently enter the Martyrdom, which cuts into a far more beautiful portal of the Decorated period. If we take our stand at the north-west corner of the cloister, from which a very fine view is gained of the Cathedral, especially about sunset, we may picture to ourselves the life of the monks. Above the north-eastern side of the cloister are the old Norman arches of their dormitory, now taken in to the new library; on the eastern side is the chapter-house, with its fine geometrical ceiling, where they transacted their business; on the south the great church, the services of which occupied so many hours of the day.”—(W. H. F.)

ROCHESTER

Dedication: St. Andrew. Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Monastery.

Special features: Door of Chapter-House; West doorway; Crypt.

After landing in 567, St. Augustine preached in Rochester, where Ethelbert soon founded the church of St. Andrew for secular canons. In 604, a bishop was appointed,—St. Augustine’s companion, Justus. Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624, and was succeeded in Rochester by Paulinus; and he, in his turn, by the first English bishop, St. Ythamar (644-655). Rochester’s three chief saints in early days were, therefore, Justus, Paulinus and Ythamar.

Gundulf, a monk of Bec in Normandy, was appointed to Rochester in 1076. He immediately turned it into a Benedictine monastery and built a church for his monks. Gundulf was one of the greatest architects of his day: he also built the great Keep of Rochester Castle, portions of the Tower of London and the Castle of Dover. The Saxon Cathedral had suffered from the ravages of the Danes and upon the ruins, Gundulf, with assistance from Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, completed a larger cathedral between 1080 and 1089. The plan was peculiar: it was neither English nor Norman.

“All this work of Gundulf’s is now gone except portions of the crypt, the keep and the nave. Of Gundulf’s nave there remain on the south side five arches, together with the lower parts of the walls of both aisles. It is very doubtful whether he built any part of the triforium or clerestory. At present his work can only be seen in its original condition from the side of the aisles. The pierarches had originally two square orders, which remain unaltered on the side of the aisle (cf. Winchester transept). Gundulf’s masonry was in rough tufa.”—(F. B.)

Gundulf placed the relics of St. Paulinus in a silver shrine at the eastern end of his new cathedral.

Ernulf, Prior of Canterbury, began the second Norman church about 1120. This was continued by his successor, John of Canterbury.

“Subsequently the choir was re-arranged and the nave partly rebuilt, partly re-faced, added to, and finished with the west front, which, to a great extent, still remains. This later Norman work was carried out from east to west during the episcopate of Ernulf (1115-24) and John of Canterbury (1125-37). The upper part of the west front and some of the carving may not have been completed within even that period. What seems certain is, that we are indebted to later Norman builders for the re-casing of the piers of the nave arcade, the greater richness of their capitals, the outer decorated order of the arches, the triforium with its richly diapered tympana, and the west front. Assigning most of these works to the time of Bishop John, as seems best, we can point to others that testify to Ernulf’s architectural skill. He is recorded to have built the refectory, dormitory and chapter-house. Portions of these still remain, and one feature, in the ornamentation of the chapter-house, especially, marks it as his work. This is a peculiar lattice-like diaper, which occurs elsewhere at Rochester—in fragments that belonged probably to a beginning by him of the renovation of the choir—but has only been noticed at one other place: by the entrance to the crypt at Canterbury, where also it is due to him.”—(G. H. P.)

The Cathedral was dedicated in 1130; but while King Henry I., the Archbishop of Canterbury and many of the nobility were still in the city a fire broke out “without any regard to the majesty of the King, grandeur of the church or solemnity of the occasion,” as an old chronicle quaintly observes, and greatly damaged the new church.

Two other fires occurred in the same century, and in 1179 the monks set to work to rebuild the whole cathedral.

“As usual they arranged their building operations so as to avoid interfering with the services in the choir as long as possible. First they rebuilt the north aisle of the choir, but not so high as it is at present. The aisle remained narrow because Gundulf’s tower was in the way. But the south aisle of the choir they doubled in width. Next they set to work at the east end, planning it, as at Hereford, as an eastern transept with an eastern aisle and projecting eastward an oblong sanctuary (cf. Southwell). The new transept was lofty and broad; and it is quite possible that it was built over the top of Gundulf’s east end without disturbing daily services within it. Then when all was finished Gundulf’s east end was pulled down. Unlike the Worcester monks they preserved the level of the Eleventh Century choir, and consequently had to continue Gundulf’s crypt eastward. In the new presbytery is seen the same curious mixture of quadripartite and sexpartite vaulting as in St. Hugh’s eastern transept at Lincoln. All this work was finished in 1227.”—(G. H. P.)

The monks were enabled to undertake rebuilding on this large scale because in 1201 they acquired a new saint. A baker of Perth, named William, famed for his piety, started to the Holy Land. He got as far as the road to Canterbury, where his servant killed him for his money. The monks found the body and buried it in the choir of St. Andrew’s. St. William soon began to work miracles and attracted many of the pilgrims on their way to the Shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury. The choir, rebuilt by means of the offerings, was first used for service in 1227.

“The choir and transepts of Rochester Cathedral are a very beautiful and remarkable example of Early English. The architect was William de Hoo, first sacristan, then prior, and there is some reason to believe that he is the same person as William the young Englishman, who assisted William of Sens after his fall from the scaffold at Canterbury, and completed the work there. A young man at Canterbury in 1185, able to carry on and complete such a work, may very well have become the architect on his own account of the daughter church of Rochester in 1201-1227, and there is great resemblance in style between Rochester and the later work at Canterbury.”—(J. H. P.)

About this time the monks resolved to have a central tower and to rebuild the nave. While all this work was going on, the church was desecrated by the troops of Simon de Montfort. A chronicler relates that

“They entered the church of St. Andrew on the day on which the Lord hung on the cross for sinners. Armed knights on their horses, coursing around the altars, dragged away with impious hands some who fled for refuge thither, the gold and silver and other precious things being with violence carried off thence. The buildings were turned into horses’ stables, and everywhere filled with the dung of animals and the defilement of dead bodies.”

In 1343 the central tower was completed by Bishop Hamo de Hythe, who hung in its wooden spire four bells, named Dunstan, Paulinus, Ythamar and Lanfranc. Bishop Hamo is said to have reconstructed in alabaster and marble the shrines of Paulinus and Ythamar. To the middle of the Fourteenth Century belongs also the beautiful doorway leading into the Chapter-House and Library.

In the Fifteenth Century, the clerestory and vaulting of the north-choir-aisle were finished and Perpendicular windows were placed in the nave aisles. The great west window was inserted about 1470, and the whole of the Norman clerestory was taken off and a new clerestory and a new wooden roof were put up. The northern pinnacle of the west gable was also rebuilt. About 1490, the Lady-Chapel was erected in the corner between the south transept and the nave.

In 1540 the Cathedral surrendered to the King; and became known as the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1558 the body of Cardinal Pole rested here one night on its way to Canterbury. An eyewitness speaks of

“the funeral pompe which trulie was great and answerable both to his birth and calling, with store of burning torches and mourning weedes. At what time his coffin, being brought into the church, was covered with a cloth of black velvet, with a great cross of white satten over all the length and bredth of the same, in the midst of which cross his Cardinal’s hat was placed.”

The church suffered from the Puritans in 1642.

Samuel Pepys speaks of repairs in 1661. More were made in 1742-43. In 1749, the steeple was rebuilt. A new organ was acquired in 1791; and at the close of the Eighteenth Century the upper part of Gundulf’s tower was taken down.

Throughout the Nineteenth Century repairs and restorations were constantly made. The glass chiefly consists of memorials to heroes of the wars of the Nineteenth Century.

The best approach is from the High Street through the College Gate, which marks the entrance to the Precincts, or Green Church Haw. This is also known as Chertseys, or Cemetery Gate, which lovers of Dickens remember as Jasper’s Gateway; for Cloisterham of Edwin Drood is Rochester. The Deanery Gate dating from the reign of Edward III. was formerly the Sacristy Gate. The Priors’ Gate dates from the Fourteenth Century.

The north side of the nave shows two-lighted Perpendicular windows with irregular quatrefoils in their heads; the north transept (Early English) a high gable with three circular windows and pinnacles. And on the north side of the choir Gundulf’s Tower to which there are two entrances,—one through an opening in the north wall, the other through a doorway in the south-west corner. In the angle between the south aisle and transept we note the Lady-Chapel (Perpendicular) with three-lighted windows three bays long from east to west and well-buttressed; the south side of the choir contains three lancet windows and a fine doorway that used to open into the cloisters. The south transept (Early Decorated) is well buttressed and its gable adorned with pinnacles and gargoyles. The lowest row of windows belongs to the crypt.

The West Front has been restored. The great central window, and the flat gable above, are Perpendicular (restored), but all the rest is either original Norman work, or as accurate a reproduction of this as possible.

The great West Doorway (late Norman) dates from the first half of the Twelfth Century.

“It is formed by five receding arches and every stone of each of these is carved with varying ornamental designs. Between the second and third of them runs a line of cable moulding, an ornament which occurs also inside the door. Each arch has its own shaft and the groups of five on each side are elaborately banded. The shafts have richly sculptured capitals, and in those on the south side, as well as in the tympanum, the signs of the Evangelists appear. The shafts second from the door on either side are carved with statues, two of the oldest in England. These are much mutilated, but they were thought worthy of great praise by Flaxman. That on the spectator’s left is said to represent King Henry I. and the other his wife, the ‘good Queen Maud.’ This attribution is probably correct, as these sovereigns were both great benefactors to the Cathedral and were living when the front was being built. The figure of the Queen has suffered the more; it is recorded to have been especially ill-used by the Parliamentarians in the days of the great Civil War. The tympanum contains a figure of Our Lord, seated in Glory, within an aureole supported by two angels. His right hand is raised in benediction and his left hand holds a book. Outside the aureole are the symbols of the four Evangelists: the Angel of St. Matthew and the Eagle of St. John, one on each side above the Winged Lion of St. Mark and the Ox of St. Luke similarly placed below. A straight band of masonry crosses beneath the lunette, and has carved on it twelve figures, now much mutilated, but supposed to have represented the twelve Apostles. All the sculptured work of the portal has suffered greatly from age and exposure and from the hand of man. In the recent restoration the coping has been renewed, the shafts have been given separate bases once more and many of the most worn stones have been replaced by new ones carved in facsimile.”—(G. H. P.)

This doorway resembles those on the Continent and shows the influence of the East. Freeman says: “The superb western portal at Rochester Cathedral is by far the finest example of this kind, if not the finest of all Norman doorways.”

The Mayor and Corporation of Rochester still have the right of entry in their robes by this door, through which we now pass. Immediately we descend four steps into the Nave:

“The nave, 150 feet long to the cross of the lantern, is Norman, as far as the last two bays eastward. If, as is most probable, it is a part of Gundulf’s work, it was, no doubt, a copy of the Norman nave at Canterbury; and we are thus enabled to judge fairly what the appearance of the metropolitan cathedral was in this part of it. Its architecture is plainer than that of the contemporary examples in France, though owing to its having been always destined for a wooden roof, the piers and the design generally are lighter than where preparation was made for a stone vault. The triforium is richly ornamented; and the arches open to the space above the side-aisles as well as to the nave, a peculiarity which both Rochester and Canterbury may have received from the church of St. Stephen’s at Caen, where the same arrangement may still be seen. Lanfranc, the builder of the Norman church at Canterbury, had been Abbot of St. Stephen’s. The clerestory windows above, like those of the aisles, are Perpendicular; and the roof seems to have been raised at the time of their insertion. This is of timber and quite plain.

“In passing beyond the Norman portion of the nave to the Early English, of which nearly all the rest of the Cathedral consists, the strong influence of Canterbury is at once apparent. The double transepts, the numberless shafts of Petworth marble, and perhaps the flights of stairs ascending from either side of the crypt, recall immediately the works of the two Williams in the metropolitan church, which always maintained the closest connection with Rochester, her earliest daughter.”—(R. J. K.)

At the end of the northern aisle we note the early Fourteenth Century doorway for the use of the parishioners of St. Nicholas’s altar. The lower end of the southern aisle terminates in a blind arcade of three arches. Each aisle end has also a round-headed Norman window. The great West Window is divided into eight lights separated into

Rochester: Nave, east

Rochester: Choir, west

two rows by a horizontal mullion. The glass commemorates the officers and men of the Royal Engineers who fell in the South African and Afghan campaigns. The subjects are Biblical scenes and heroes.

In the south-west corner of the Nave, a charming little Norman doorway opens into the tower. A fine embattled moulding runs round the arch.

The crossing is noticeable for the finely clustered shafts of the tower-piers.

The North Transept (Early English) dates from about 1235. The South Transept (Early Decorated) is later. The north transept is the richer of the two. The corbels of monastic heads of great excellence deserve notice.

In the east wall, opposite the entrance to the Perpendicular Lady-Chapel, two bays were included under one arch to form a recess for the altar of the Virgin Mary, about 1320.

The south transept underwent some alteration when the Lady-Chapel was built. On the wall under the central window a monument to Richard Watts was erected in 1736. Watts, a member of Queen Elizabeth’s second Parliament, entertained her at “Satis House” in 1573. He also left provisions in his will for the poor and founded in 1579 the “House of the Six Poor Travellers,” where nightly six poor wayfarers are provided with supper, bed and breakfast and presented with fourpence when they leave.

Near the Watts monument a brass tablet to Charles Dickens, who made the House of the Six Poor Travellers famous, connects “his memory with the scenes in which his earliest and latest years were passed and with the associations of Rochester Cathedral and its neighbourhood, which extended over all his life.”

The Choir, reached by a flight of ten steps, is higher than the nave. It is entered through iron gates in the central doorway of the screen, which represent St. Andrew, King Ethelbert, St. Justus, St. Paulinus, Bishop Gundulf, William de Hoo, Bishop Walter de Merton and Cardinal John Fisher, designed by Mr. John Pearson.

The organ is on the screen beneath the choir-arch. The Choir, remodelled in 1825-1830,

“is entered by a flight of steps rendered necessary, as at Canterbury, by the height of the crypt below. It was completed sufficiently for use in 1127. It is thoroughly developed Early English, although much has evidently been borrowed, even in detail, from the Canterbury transition work. It is narrow and somewhat heavy; defects not lightened by the woodwork of the stalls, which is indifferent, or by the use of colour,—a single line of which, however, is carried along the ribs of the vaulting with very good effect.

“The brackets of Early English foliage, from which the blind wall-arches spring, should be noticed. Two large ones especially, at the angles of the eastern transept, are excellent specimens of this period, before the naturalism of the Decorated had begun to develop itself. A fragment of mural painting, apparently of the same date as the choir itself, remains on the wall, close above the pulpit. The painting, when entire, is said to have represented a subject not uncommon in early churches—the Wheel of Fortune with various figures—king, priest, husbandman and others—climbing it.”—(R. J. K.)

This painting (5 feet 10 inches high and 2 feet 2 inches wide) dates from the Thirteenth Century. Fortune dressed as a queen, and in yellow, moves the wheel with her right hand.

Passing into the North-choir-transept, still Early English and a part of William de Hoo’s work, the first point of interest is St. William’s Tomb, at the north-east corner, of Purbeck marble, with a floriated cross.

Towards the centre of the transept is a flat stone marked with six crosses, upon which St. William’s Shrine is said to have rested. The steps which descend into the north aisle of the Choir are, as at Canterbury, deeply worn by the constant ascent of pilgrims.

West of the Saint’s tomb lies Walter de Merton, founder of Merton College, Oxford, and Bishop of Rochester from 1274 to 1277. His tomb is a very beautiful example of Early Decorated.

The present arrangement of the east end is the work of Sir G. Scott. The Choir-stalls were designed by Sir G. Scott, who incorporated as much of the old work as possible.

Just behind the Altar, above which is a picture of The Angels appearing to the Shepherds, by Benjamin West (placed there in 1788), is a fine Piscina. Opposite three stone Sedilia (late Perpendicular) deserve notice.

In the railed-off transept aisle, known as St. John the Baptist’s Chapel, or Warner Chapel, because of the monuments to members of the Warner family (“Palladian” in style, 1666-1698), there is an old weather-worn statue which tradition says is a portrait of Gundulf.

In the eastern aisle of the north-east transept is the Tomb of Bishop John De Sheppy (1353-1360). It is

“probably the most perfect specimen of ancient colour-work now existing in England. It had been bricked up within the arch where it still remains, and was discovered during the repairs in 1825. The colours and monuments deserve the most careful attention, as well for their own beauty as for their great value as authorities. In the maniple held over the left arm, some of the crystals with which it was studded still remain. Remark the couchant dogs at the feet. About their necks are scarlet collars, hung with bells. An inscription with the Bishop’s name surrounds the effigy.”—(R. J. K.)

The short sacrarium, or chancel, east of the transepts, probably formed part of William de Hoo’s work. The beautiful windows at the east end are Decorated. In the south side of the sacrarium, next the altar, a tomb of plain marble is thought to be that of Gundulf.

In the east wall of the south-choir-transept we come to one of the finest pieces of English Decorated in existence,—the Chapter-House Doorway. It dates from the middle of the Fourteenth Century.

“The full-length figures, one on each side of the door, symbolising the Church and the Synagogue, were both headless when Mr. Cottingham restored the doorway, between 1825 and 1830. Much fault has been found with him for turning the first, which is thought to have been like the other, a female figure, into a mitred, bearded bishop holding a cross in his right hand and the model of a church in his left. The blindfolded ‘Synagogue,’ by her broken staff and the tables of the law held reversed in her right hand, typifies the overthrow of the Mosaic dispensation. Above are figures, two on each side, seated at book-desks under canopies. These are supposed to be the four great Doctors of the Church: Saints Augustine, Gregory, Jerome and Ambrose. Quite at the head of the arch, under a lofty pyramidal canopy, we see a tiny nude figure which represents, probably, a pure soul just released from Purgatory. If this is so, it would account for the flames from which the angels, on each side, bearing scrolls, seem to be rising. It has been suggested likewise that the distorted heads, which alternate with squares of foliage in the wider inside moulding of the doorway, typify the sufferings of the soul in its passage. The outside moulding is also interesting, being a wide hollow in the bottom of which circular holes are cut at intervals. Through these can be seen the broad stem from which spring the leaves that ornament the intervening spaces. The arch-head is ogee-shaped outside, with large external and smaller, but not less rich, internal crockets. The square back to it, and the spaces beneath the corbels, on which the Church and Synagogue figures stand, are filled with noteworthy diapers. The first is divided diagonally into sunken squares, each containing a flower; and the others have lion masks in quatrefoils, with five-petalled roses in the alternate spaces.”—(G. H. P.)

A steep flight of stairs leads from this Transept to St. Edmund’s Chapel, south of the Choir. From this we enter the Crypt,

“which extends under the whole of the choir and is one of the best specimens of its class to be found in England. The west and east parts are evidently of a much earlier date than the central, which is Early English, and of the same period as the choir above. In building this, the ancient crypt was probably broken through, and in part reconstructed. The earlier portions are distinguished by very massive piers and circular arches. Between the piers are small pillars, with plain broad capitals. It is not impossible that this part of the crypt may date from before the Conquest. At all events, it is the earliest portion of the existing cathedral, and cannot be later than the work of Bishop Gundulf.”—(R. J. K.)

WINCHESTER

Dedication: The Holy and Indivisible Trinity. Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Monastery.

Special features: Norman Nave; Tower; West Window; Choir-stalls; Font; Reredos.

Winchester is the largest cathedral in England and affords good examples of every style from pure Norman to early Renaissance. It is the fifth cathedral that has occupied this site, for tradition says that a British church was founded here by Lucius, King of the Britons.

This first church was destroyed in 266 and the clergy martyred during the persecutions of the Christians by Diocletian. The second church, erected under Constantine, was in 515 transformed by Cerdic, founder of the Kingdom of Wessex, into a Temple of Dagon, in which he was crowned in 519 and buried in 534. Cerdic’s great grandson, Kynegils, converted by St. Birinus, the first of Saxon bishops, began the third church which his son, Kenwalk, completed in 648. Kenwalk’s buildings were, in their turn, enlarged and repaired by Swithun, a prior of the Benedictine monastery established here. Swithun, who became Bishop of Winchester and tutor to King Alfred and Ethelwold, was, according to the chroniclers, “a diligent builder of churches in places where there were none before, and a repairer of those that had been destroyed or ruined.” When he died in 862, he was buried, according to his own desire, in the churchyard of Winchester, where “passersby might tread on his grave, and where the rain from the eaves might fall on it.”

When this third church was destroyed by the Danes in 867, portions were restored by Alfred the Great, St. Ethelwold and St. Alphege. St. Ethelwold removed the body of St. Swithun to the golden shrine within the cathedral, now dedicated to St. Swithun, St. Peter and St. Paul; but the Translation being delayed by rain, gave the saint reputation as a weather prophet. Hence the weather on the anniversary (July 15) is foretold by the old rhyme:

“St. Swithun’s Day, if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain;
St. Swithun’s Day, if thou be fair,
Forty days ’twill rain na mair.”

One of the features of St. Ethelwold’s cathedral was a magnificent “pair of organs,” of tremendous size and power, with twelve bellows above and fourteen below and seventy strong men as blowers to fill the four hundred pipes. Below, at two keyboards, sat two brethren in “unity of spirit.”

Ethelwold was buried in the southern crypt.

This Saxon church was succeeded by the present cathedral, begun in 1079, by Walkelyn, the first Norman bishop.

Walkelyn was of noble birth and related to William Rufus, who granted him license to search for stone in the Isle of Wight and as much wood from the forest of Hanepinges (on the Alresford road) as his carpenters could take in four days and nights. The wily Bishop collected a large force of men and within the assigned time cut down the whole forest. The King was furious. The new Cathedral was finished in 1093, having been rebuilt by Walkelyn, from the west front to the great tower, including the transepts. He also removed, and with great pomp, St. Swithun’s shrine from the old altar to the new one. Walkelyn died in 1098 and was buried in the nave.

Bishop Lucy, Bishop William of Edington and William of Wykeham are the next three great architects of Winchester.

“It was Bishop Edington who commenced the alteration of Winchester Cathedral into the Perpendicular style; he died in 1366, and the work was continued by William of Wykeham, who mentions in his will that Edington had finished the west end, with two windows on the north side and one on the south: the change in the character of the work is very distinctly marked. Bishop Edington’s work at Winchester was executed at a later period than that at Edington, and, as might be expected, the new idea is more fully developed; but on a comparison between the west window of Winchester and the east window of Edington, it will at once be seen that the principle of construction is the same; there is a central division carried up to the head of the window, and sub-arches springing from each side: it may be observed that whenever this arrangement of the sub-arches occurs in Decorated work, it is a sign that the work is late in the style. Before the death of Bishop Edington the great principles of the Perpendicular Style were fully established. These chiefly consist of the Perpendicular lines through the head of the window, and in covering the surface of the wall with panelling of the same kind. These features are as distinctly marked at Winchester as in any subsequent building, or as they well could be.”—(J. H. P.)

In the eastern part of the Crypt there is ancient masonry undoubtedly belonging to the time of St. Ethelwold; then we find above it the massive Norman work of Bishop Walkelyn; then, to the east, the graceful Early English of Bishop Lucy; along the nave, the Perpendicular columns of Bishop Edington and William of Wykeham, on which rests the exquisite groined roof. Above this roof the great rough-hewn beams cut from the King’s forest by Walkelyn more than eight hundred years ago can still be seen and in a perfect state of soundness.

“In this great church many stirring scenes of English history have been enacted. The early kings made Winchester their home and the Cathedral their chapel. Here it was that Egbert, after being crowned in regem totius Britanniæ, with assent of all parties, issued an edict in 828, ordering that the island should thereafter be always styled England and its people Englishmen. Here King Alfred was crowned and lived and died. Here, in 1035, Cnut’s body lay in state before the high altar, over which was hung henceforth for many a year, a most precious relic, the great Norseman’s crown. Here William the Conqueror often came, and wore his crown at the Easter Gemôt; here, too, clustered many of the national legends: St. Swithun here did his mighty works, and here were the forty dismal days of rain; hard by is the scene of the great fight between Colbrand the Dane and Guy of Warwick; in the nave of the church Queen Emma trod triumphant on the red-hot plough-shares as on a bed of roses; hither came Earl Godwin’s body after his marvellous and terrible death, one of the well-known group of malignant Norman tales. It was in Winchester Cathedral that Henry Beauclerk took to wife his queen, Matilda, to the great joy of all English-speaking folk. Here Stephen of Blois was crowned King; and here, on the other hand, the Empress Maud was welcomed by city and people with high rejoicings; here, too, was drawn up and issued the final compact, in 1153, which closed the civil war of that weary reign and secured the crown to the young Prince Henry. He in his turn often sojourned in Winchester, and befriended in his strong way the growing city. The Cathedral witnessed another compact in the dark days of King John: the King was here reconciled to the English Church in the person of Stephen Langton; Henry III. and his Queen Eleanor, were here in 1242; and on May-day of that year ‘came the Queen into the Chapter-house to receive society.’ In 1275 Edward I., with his Queen, was welcomed with great honour by the prior and brethren of St. Swithun, and attended service in the church. The christening of Arthur, Prince of Wales, elder brother of Henry VIII., was here; and here Henry VIII. met his astute rival, the Emperor Charles V. It was in Winchester Cathedral that the marriage of Philip and Mary took place, and the chair in which she sat is still to be seen in the church. The Stuart Kings loved the place. Here in the great rebellion was enacted that strange scene when, after the capture of the city, the mob rushed into the Cathedral, wild for booty and mischief, and finding in the chests nothing but bones, amused themselves by throwing them at the stained windows of the choir. It was at this time that Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes, a Parliamentary officer and an old Wykehamist, stood with drawn sword at the door of Wykeham’s chantry to protect it from violence. Since the days of the Merry Monarch, who was often at Winchester, and loved it so well that he built his palace here, no striking historical events have been enacted within its walls. The church by degrees recovered from the ruin of the Commonwealth time, and has had a quiet, happy life from that time onward, a tranquil grey building sleeping amidst its trees, in the heart of the most charming of all south English cities.”—(G. W. K.)

The best view of Winchester Cathedral is from the top of St. Catherine’s hill, where the great mass rises solemnly over the distant city. Its enormous length is broken by the bold transepts, which extend three bays beyond the aisles. People are, as a rule, disappointed with their first view of the exterior, because of its lack of decoration and the lowness of the heavy Norman tower in the centre. The bright-green turf of the Precincts and the trees, however, make with the grey walls an impressive picture. A short avenue of trees leads through the Close to the western door.

The West Front was originally the work of Edington (1345-1366). It is 118 feet in breadth and composed of a panelled gable of Perpendicular style with hexagonal turrets. Immediately under the window in a gallery over the entrance, the bishop used to give his benediction to the people. The figure of William of Wykeham stands in the gable, replacing an ancient bishop removed in 1860. No one seems to know whether it represented William of Wykeham, Bishop Edington, or St. Swithun. Very probably it was the latter, as its companions on the gable were St. Peter and St. Paul, the three patron saints of the Saxon Cathedral.

The great West Window is divided by cross mullions into three perpendicular and six horizontal compartments. It is said to be filled with glass, collected from different parts of the building, after the general smashing by the Parliamentary soldiers in 1646. Winston says these pieces are very early Perpendicular glass, and may have been placed together in the window, as we now see them, in Bishop Edington’s time.

“Before entering, the visitor should remark the grand view of the interior obtained through the open central door. The length of Winchester (520 feet from this entrance to the extreme eastern buttresses) exceeds that of any other cathedral on this side of the Alps, with the exception of Ely (560 feet) and of Canterbury, which is about five feet longer than Winchester. A certain coldness, arising from want of colour, is perhaps felt at first; but the eye soon learns to dwell contentedly on the magnificent forest of piers, and on all the graceful details above and around them. The string-course of corbel-heads and the light balustrade of the triforium in the nave should here be noticed as remarkably aiding the general effect.”—(R. J. K.)

The ground-plan shows a nave of eleven bays, a transept of three, a choir of five, a presbytery of three and a Lady-Chapel at the east end of three. All are furnished with side aisles.

Winchester is the longest cathedral in England, and the Nave is one of the longest in the world. Fergusson says it is “perhaps the most beautiful nave in England or elsewhere.” The view is overwhelmingly grand and noble and the groining of the roof is striking in the extreme.

The triforium was sacrificed and the old Norman piers, recased, were left to carry the lofty Perpendicular arches and exquisitely vaulted roof. The Perpendicular lining and panelling disguise the fact that the interior is really Norman.

“The nave gains a special grandeur by the vaulting shafts rising from the very floor so that the eye follows them upwards tardily, as if they were more lofty than they actually are, to the capitals whence the groined roof springs. The aisle windows have a beauty worthy of careful notice.

“A striking yet beautiful peculiarity is that Winchester nave, setting an example followed generally in Perpendicular churches, has no proper triforium—a balcony close above the nave arches taking its place. Owing to the thickness of the Norman masonry this arrangement was unavoidable.

“The seven westerly piers on the south side retain the Norman stone-work faced with new mouldings. Norman arches remain behind the triforium wall; Norman shafts may be seen above the vaulting; and Norman flat buttresses are traceable outside between the southerly clerestory windows.”—(G. W. K.)

The Nave of Winchester, therefore, presents one of the most curious examples of transformation from one style of architecture to another; for here we have a perfect specimen of the Fourteenth and

Winchester: Nave, west

Winchester: Font

Fifteenth Centuries, yet it is from the ground to the roof the original Norman building begun by Walkelyn. The extreme western part was rebuilt by Edington, who began the transformation of the Nave from the Norman to the Perpendicular, and continued by his successor William of Wykeham (1366-1404).

At Wykeham’s death in 1404 the south side of the Nave was finished and the north begun. The work was continued and finished by his successors, Cardinal Beaufort and Bishop Waynflete (1404-1486). The arms on the bosses of the vault of the nave are those of Wykeham, Cardinal Beaufort and John of Gaunt (the latter’s father); the chained white hart is the device of Richard II. and the lily that of Bishop Waynflete.

Students may compare the Nave of Winchester with the Choir of Gloucester, which is also Norman in plan, “overlaid with a veneer of masonry in the Pointed Style.” The Gloucester Choir is, however, of later date, and instead of showing an amalgamation of the two styles, as at Winchester, the Pointed is added to the Round-arched style.

The curious black basaltic stone Font was probably the gift of Bishop Henry de Blois (1129-71), and some antiquarians think that it was brought from Constantinople during the Second Crusade. The carvings represent St. Nicholas of Myra, the patron saint of children, and much honoured by the Normans.

“Within the walls the most striking object of interest is undoubtedly the famous Norman font of black basaltic stone, which was probably placed in the church in the days of Walkelyn; it portrays in bold if rude relief the life and miracles of St. Nicholas of Myra. Next after the font may perhaps be noted the fine carved spandrels, Fourteenth Century work, of the choir-stalls, with the quaint misereres of the seats; then Prior Silkstede’s richly carved pulpit of the Fifteenth Century, and the very interesting and valuable Renaissance panels of the pews, put in by William Kingsmill, last prior and first dean, in 1540. The chantries and tombs in this church are of unusual beauty and interest.”—(G. W. K.)

At the west end of the north aisle a square stone gallery called the tribune is part of Edington’s work. It was used as a Minstrels’ Gallery on great occasions.

The nave Pulpit was a gift from New College, Oxford, in 1885.

In the north aisle there is a monumental brass in memory of Jane Austen, the authoress, and near the south-west door are fixed the flags of the 97th Regiment and memorials of the Crimean War. The west window of the south aisle is filled with stained glass to their memory.

On the south side of the Nave and in the second bay from the Choir is Bishop Edington’s Chantry. It was somewhat altered when the piers against which it stands were transformed from Norman to Perpendicular. This is the first of a number of very fine chantries, the most interesting of which is that of William of Wykeham, which occupies the entire space between two piers of the Nave on the south side in the fifth bay from the west end.

This chapel was built by Wykeham on the site of an altar dedicated to the Virgin, where he used to worship when a boy.

“The design of William’s chantry is very beautiful; and it is one of the best remaining specimens of a Fourteenth Century monumental chapel. The foundation of the altar is still visible. The Bishop’s effigy, the comeliness of which, it has been suggested, may have induced Anthony Wood to describe him as having been of ‘a courtly presence,’ reposes on an altar-tomb in the centre, arrayed in cope and mitre. The pillow at the head is supported by two angels. At the feet three monks are represented offering up prayers for the repose of the departed soul. They are said, but questionably, to represent Wykeham’s three assistants in the cathedral works—William Wynford, his architect; Simon de Membury, his surveyor of the works; and John Wayte, controller.”—(R. J. K.)

The Choir is entered through a screen of stonework, by Garbett, decorated with figures of James I. and Charles I., taken from an older screen by Inigo Jones. The figure of Charles I. was much injured by the Parliamentary troops who stabled their horses in the cathedral. It was made by Hubert Le Seur, a pupil of John of Bologna and much employed by Charles I.

The Choir consists of the old choir of the monks under the tower and of the presbytery beyond it. This portion of the cathedral is of various dates: the tower is late Norman; the piers, arches and clerestory of the presbytery are Decorated (about 1350); the screen enclosing it is Perpendicular (the work of Bishop Fox about 1524); the vaulting of the presbytery (also the work of Bishop Fox); and the ceiling under the tower, dates from 1634.

The visitor is struck by the enormous piers of the Tower, rebuilt after 1107 when Walkelyn’s tower, under which William Rufus was buried, fell. Many thought “that the fall of the tower was a judgment for his sins.”

“Early in the Twelfth Century occurred the fall of the tower of this Cathedral, celebrated from the peculiar circumstances with which it was accompanied, which are thus described by William of Malmsbury, who was living at the time:—‘A few country men conveyed the body [of the King, William Rufus], placed on a cart, to the cathedral of Winchester, the blood dripping all the way. Here it was committed to the ground within the tower, attended by many of the nobility, but lamented by few. The next year (1097) the tower fell; though I forbear to mention the different opinions on this subject, lest I should seem to assent too readily to unsupported trifles; most especially that the building might have fallen through imperfect construction, even though he had never been buried there.’ That this was really the case, the building itself affords us abundant evidence, and proves that even the Normans at this period were still bad masons and very imperfectly acquainted with the principles of construction. The tower which was rebuilt soon after the fall is still standing, and the enormous masses of masonry which were piled together to support it, and prevent it from falling again, show such an amazing waste of labour and material as clearly to prove that it was the work of very unskilful builders.”—(J. H. P.)

The tower was originally intended to serve as a lantern; but was ceiled over in the reign of Charles I. In the centre is a medallion of the Holy Family, the date 1634, and medallions of Charles I. and Henrietta Maria.

The very narrow arches opening to the transepts should be noticed.

The Choir Stalls are magnificent.

“The stalls which extend from the eastern tower-piers to the first pier of the nave, are of oak, as black as ebony, and probably exhibit the very finest woodwork of their date and style (which is the best) in the Kingdom. They are early Decorated (Geometrical) work and their canopies and gables bear considerable resemblance to those of the tomb of Edmund Crouchback in Westminster Abbey. This would place their date about 1296. The beauty and variety of the carvings are wonderful. There is no repetition; and the grace and elegance, as well as the fidelity, with which the foliage is represented, are nowhere to be surpassed. The human heads are full of expression; and the monkeys and other animals sporting among the branches have all the same exquisite finish. The mode in which the cusps of the circles in the canopies are terminated, is worthy of attention; and in short, at this period of the revival of wood-carving, no better examples could be found for study and imitation. The misereres below are of early character and interesting. Their date is rather later than those (Early English) in Exeter Cathedral—the most ancient in the Kingdom. The desks and stools in front of the upper range bear the initials of Henry VIII., Bishop Stephen Gardiner, and Dean Kingsmill and the date 1540. The rich pulpit on the north side bears the name of its donor ‘Thomas Silkstede, prior’ on different parts of it.”—(R. J. K.)

The Presbytery is Early English, the work of Bishop Lucy (1189-1204). It has a central alley of three bays. The arcading is very graceful. The presbytery is closed at the sides by screens of stone tracery, most of them erected by Bishop Fox, and bear his motto, Est Deo Gratia. Upon these screens stand six mortuary chests (also the work of Bishop Fox) containing the bones of the West Saxon Kings and bishops removed from the crypt of the old Saxon cathedral into Walkelyn’s church by Bishop Henry de Blois and placed in leaden sarcophagi. The chests are of wood, carved, painted and gilded in the Renaissance Style, which was being introduced into England in Fox’s time.

“The vaulting of the presbytery (of wood) is the work of Bishop Fox (1500-1520), and displays on its bosses, a mass of heraldry besides (at the east end) the various emblems of the Passion together with a number of faces representing Pilate and his wife, Herod, Annas and Caiaphas, Judas, Malchus with the sword of Peter dividing his ear, Peter himself and many others. All are curious and are best seen from the gallery below the east window.

“The east window of the choir is filled with Perpendicular glass, a little earlier than 1525, the work of Bishop Fox, whose arms impaled with those of the sees he held (Exeter, Bath and Wells, Durham and Winchester) and his motto Est Deo Gratia are introduced in it.”—(R. J. K.)

Winston thinks that the only part of the glass in its original position consists of the two figures occupying the two southernmost of the lower lights and all the tracery lights except the top central one and the three immediately below it.

“The top central light is filled principally with some glass of Wykeham’s time and all the rest of the window with glass of Fox’s time, removed from other windows. In point of execution it is as nearly as perfect as painted glass can be. In it the shadows have attained their proper limit. It was at this period that glass painting attained its highest perfection as an art.”—(C. W.)

Beyond the tower-piers in the presbytery a plain tomb of Purbeck marble was once the resting-place of William Rufus, killed in the New Forest in 1100 and first buried, as we have seen, under the Tower. His bones were removed in the Twelfth Century by his nephew Bishop Henry de Blois and are now mingled with those of Canute, Queen Emma and two Saxon bishops in one of the mortuary chests on the screen of the Presbytery.

The piers and arches of the Presbytery are Decorated, dating from 1320 and 1350.

At the High Altar of the Choir Queen Mary was married to Philip of Spain in July, 1554, by Bishop Gardiner. In Philip’s train were Alva, the future scourge of the Low Countries, and Egmont, his famous victim. The chair in which the bride sat is preserved in the Chapel of the Guardian Angels.

At the back of the altar rises the magnificent Reredos, dating from the latter end of the Fifteenth Century. In 1899 the final restoration of the screen was completed by filling a niche that had been vacant for three centuries. The altar-rails are of the time of Charles I. A representation of the Incarnation hangs over the altar placed there in 1899, when Benjamin West’s Raising of Lazarus was removed to the South Transept.

“The Reredos is said to have been commenced by Cardinal Beaufort and completed by Bishop Fox and Prior Silkstede. It is an excellent specimen of Perpendicular work, executed in a fine, white soft stone; its elaborately canopied niches, pierced and crocketted pinnacles, pilaster buttresses, and centre projecting canopy, are surmounted at a height reaching nearly to the corbels, with a triple frieze of running leaves, Tudor flowers and quatrefoils. This Reredos is of the same type as those at Christ Church Priory and St. Alban’s, but its dimensions are greater and better proportioned. Its restoration is carried out with remarkable fidelity to the original work. The back is closely panelled in the upper part, and the lower part is richly decorated. No description could do justice to the beauty and effect of the whole work. Milner describes its exquisite workmanship as being as magnificent as this or any other nation can exhibit. The central part was restored as a memorial to the late Archdeacon Jacob.”—(G. W. K.)

On either side of the altar a door opens to the space behind the Reredos, which in early days was the Feretory, a place for the feretra, or shrines of the patron saints.

“The Feretory, or Capitular Chapel, is immediately behind the altar and communicates with the sanctuary. Here the magnificent shrine of St. Swithun, of solid silver gilt and garnished with precious stones, the gift of King Edgar, used to be kept except on the festivals of the saint, when it was exposed to view on the Altar, or before it.

“Many portions of statuary formerly belonging to the Great Screen and other parts of the building are here carefully preserved. From the platform behind the reredos may be observed the admirable connection of Fox’s new with De Lucy’s earlier work.”—(G. W. K.)

The old statue of the bishop, taken from the west front, may also be seen here.

Back of the Reredos again stands the famous Edwardian Arcade, with nine canopies (or tabernacles). Beneath it is the ancient entrance, the “Holy Hole,” leading into the Crypt.

The presbytery aisles are greatly admired. Here we find beautiful examples of Early English work and many splendid monuments and chantries. Beyond lies the Lady-Chapel, with the Chapel of the Guardian Angels on the north side and the Bishop de Langton’s Chantry on the south.

The Lady-Chapel (1470) was founded by Elizabeth of York, Queen of Henry VII., after the birth of her son, Arthur, as a testimony of her gratitude. The arms of Henry VII., Elizabeth and the Prince of Wales—the feathers divided by roses—are among the ornaments.

A plain slab of grey marble in front of the Lady-Chapel is supposed to mark the Tomb of Bishop de Lucy, the builder of all this part of the Cathedral. At the back of the Lady-Chapel a Reredos was placed by Dean Branston in 1876.

Ascending the steps from the transept, we reach the north aisle of the presbytery, and gain a fine view beyond this of the eastern portion of the church, with its splendid chantries and chapels.

With the exception of the extreme east end of the Lady-Chapel, it is all the work of Bishop Godfrey de Lucy (1189-1204), and consequently a very early example of Early English. The design and details are of great beauty. The three aisles or alleys (called procession paths or the via processionum) are separated from each other by three arches on each side and terminate eastward in chapels. These aisles were formed in order to facilitate the circulation of processions.

The north chapel (part of De Lucy’s work) is called that of the Guardian Angels, from the figures of angels still remaining on the vaulting; the south chapel (De Lucy’s work) was fitted up as a chantry by Bishop Langton, who died in 1500. The woodwork is rich and beautiful and the vault elaborate with carved rebuses on his name.

“The north and south walls, as far as the east walls of the two side chapels, are De Lucy’s work, and retain his rich Early English arcade. The eastern compartment on each side, as well as the east wall, have respectively a large Perpendicular window of seven lights with transom and tracery of a peculiar kind of subordination, or rather interpretation of patterns well worth a careful study. The vault is a complex and beautiful specimen of lierne-work. The capitals and bases of the vaulting-shafts are unusual and very beautiful. The carved panelling of the western half of this chapel, the seats, desk and screen of separation, are all excellent, and should be noticed. All this Perpendicular work is due to Prior Hunton (1470-1498) and his successor, Prior Silkstede (1498-1524). On the vault round the two central keys—one representing the Almighty, the other the Blessed Virgin—are the rebuses of the two priors: the letter T, the syllable Hun, the figure of a ton for Thomas Hunton; the figure 1 and the letters Por for Prior: the letter T, the syllable silk, the word sted with a horse below it, the figure 1 with letters as before, for Thomas Silkstede, prior. The walls of this chapel are covered with the remains of some very curious paintings illustrating the legendary history of the Virgin.

“These are all the work of Prior Silkstede, whose portrait, with an inscription, is still faintly visible over the piscina.”—(R. J. K.)

Between the pillars of the central aisle are the Chantries of Waynflete and Beaufort. Both were much injured by Cromwell’s troops and have been restored. The delicacy and beauty of Waynflete’s canopy should be noted. The lily, his device, constantly appears. His effigy lies here.

Beaufort appears in his Cardinal’s robes. He was half-brother to Henry IV. and was bishop, statesman, soldier and banker to the royal family. He is said to have burst into tears at the burning of Joan of Arc at Rouen and to have left the scene. However, he persecuted the Lollards. Between these two chantries lies the effigy of a Thirteenth Century Knight in chain-mail and cross-legged. It is the only ancient military figure in the cathedral. He is either Sir W. de Foix or Sir Arnold de Gavaston.

Beyond the pier which connects De Lucy’s work with the Presbytery on the north side is the Chantry of Bishop Gardiner (1531-1555), the “hammer of heretics,” secretary to Cardinal Wolsey and Henry VIII.’s ambassador to the Pope regarding his marriage. Bishop Gardiner also married “Bloody Mary” to the King of Spain.

Opposite is Bishop Fox’s Chantry, built by Fox himself. It is the most elaborate chantry in the Cathedral. The arches were once filled with stained glass. The Bishop’s emblem, the pelican, appears everywhere. Fox was secretary and Lord Privy Seal to Henry VII. and founder of Corpus Christi, Oxford. This college restored the Bishop’s chantry. Blind several years before his death, Fox used to be led every day to the small oratory attached to his Chantry.

The visitor should study these chantries, beginning with Edington’s in the Nave and ending with Gardiner’s, for they form a continuous record of the growth and development of Perpendicular and Tudor architecture from 1366 to 1555.

“In no English church except Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s, lie so many men of name. For just as the features of the Cathedral represent all the successive phases and changes of the art of building, until it has been styled a ‘School of English Architecture,’ so it may be said to be the home and centre of our early history. Long is the roll of kings and statesmen who came hither and whose bones here lie at rest. Cynegils and Cenwalh, West Saxon Kings, founders of the church, are here; Egbert was buried here in 838; Ethelwulf also and Edward the Elder and Edred. The body of Alfred the Great lay a while in the church, then was transferred to the new minster he had built, and finally rested at Hyde Abbey. And, most splendid name of all, the great Cnut was buried here, as was also his son, Harthacnut, as bad and mean as his father was great. The roll of kings was closed when Red William’s blood-dripping corpse came jolting hither in the country cart from New Forest.”—(G. W. K.)

The two Transepts are similar. Both have east and west aisles and both are of two periods. The earlier parts are plain rude Norman, massive and grand in effect. The arches, both of triforium and clerestory, are square-edged like the pier-arches below them. They should be compared with Ely Cathedral, the work of Walkelyn’s brother, Simeon. It is interesting to note that the central towers of both fell,—Walkelyn’s in 1107 and Simeon’s in 1321.

The North Transept contains five altars. On the south side against the organ screen is the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, the walls of which are covered with rude wall-paintings illustrative of the passion of our Saviour.

The South Transept is similar to the North transept. In its eastern aisles are two chapels formed by screens of stone tracery work. The south chapel is called Silkstede’s Chapel, from Prior Silkstede, whose name, Thomas, is carved on the screen with the monogram M. A. of the Virgin and a skein of silk, his rebus. The beautiful iron-work is of a later period. A plain black marble slab in Prior Silkstede’s Chapel marks the Tomb of Izaak Walton, “the prince of fishermen,” who died in 1683.

Entrances from both transepts lead to the crypt.

In the west aisle of the south transept is the Chapter-House (formerly the sacristy), above which is the Library. The doorway in the south wall led to the domestic buildings of the monastery.

The Crypt is entered from the north transept. It is Norman, dark and massive, and suggestive of a remote age. It is frequently flooded; for the level of the river seems to have risen since the Eleventh Century. Like other crypts, it serves to show the original plan of the Norman Church. It is in three parts: the western, consisting of the substructure of the original choir; a long aisleless chapel of three bays beneath the present retro-choir; and the substructure of Courtenay’s Lady-Chapel built between 1486 and 1492. Beneath the

Winchester: Choir, east

Winchester: West front

high altar is the sacred well, the centre of Saxon worship before the Cathedral had an existence.

The Roofs of this cathedral also deserve a visit.

“In the roof of the nave may be seen the original Norman shafts running up above Wykeham’s vault, and in those of the aisles the Norman arches of the triforium, best developed at the east end of the nave aisle-roof. The transept roofs show to this day what Bishop Walkelyn did with Hempage-wood. From the leads of the tower there is a very striking view over the city and its environs.”—(R. J. K.)

The Bells hang in the great central tower: three are dated 1734, the others 1737, 1742, 1772, 1804 and 1814. The tenor bell was recast in 1892.

Within the Precincts stood the Royal Castle at the time of the Norman Conquest. This was pulled down by Henry de Blois in the Twelfth Century.

CHICHESTER

Dedication: The Holy Trinity. A Church served by Secular Canons.

Special Features: Five Aisles; Spire; Campanile.

Chichester (the camp of Cissa) stands at the head of an arm of the English Channel. Its Cathedral is the only one in England that can be seen from the sea.

In 1082 the South Saxon See was removed from Selsey to Chichester. The church of the monastery, dedicated to St. Peter, seems to have been used until Bishop Ralph Luffa (about whom little or nothing is known) founded the existing Cathedral. This was completed in 1108, partly destroyed by fire in 1114 and partly restored by the same Ralph, who died in 1123.

“Chichester Cathedral, though one of the smallest, is to the student of Mediæval architecture one of the most interesting and important of our cathedrals. At Salisbury one or two styles of architecture are represented; at Canterbury two or three; at Chichester every single style is to be seen without a break from the Eleventh to the Sixteenth Century. It is an epitome of English architectural history for five hundred years. Early Norman, late Norman, late Transitional, early Lancet, late Lancet, early Geometrical, late Geometrical, Curvilinear, Perpendicular and Tudor work all appear in the structure side by side. We have many other heterogeneous and composite cathedrals, but nowhere, except perhaps at Hereford, can the whole sequence of Mediæval styles be read so well as at Chichester.”—(F. B.)

Chichester was consecrated in 1148, again suffered from fire in 1186-1187 and was restored and enlarged by Bishop Seffrid II. (1180-1204).

“The fire of 1186 was not as serious as that of Canterbury in 1182, so that there was no need of rebuilding. Bishop Seffrid, however, covered the Cathedral with a stone vault and added the necessary buttresses and flying-buttresses. He also built the Choir, making great use of Purbeck marble. He removed the Norman apse and built the aisled retro-choir of two bays.

“This is the architectural gem of the Cathedral. The idea of it probably came from Hereford, where the retro-choir is a few years earlier. At Hereford, however, the retro-choir projects picturesquely and forms an eastern transept. The central piers of the Chichester retro-choir are remarkably beautiful. They consist of a central column surrounded by four shafts very widely detached; columns and shafts are of Purbeck marble. The capitals are Corinthianesque; their height is proportioned to the diameters of the column and shafts. This beautiful capital was reproduced a few years later by St. Hugh at Lincoln. The triforium is of quite exceptional beauty, as indeed is the whole design. Semicircular arches occur in the pier arcade and triforium, and some of the abaci are square; otherwise the design is pure Gothic. Here, as at Abbey Dore, St. Thomas’s, Portsmouth, Boxgrove and Wells, we see the transition to the ‘pure and undefiled Gothic’ of St. Hugh’s choir at Lincoln. In these beautiful churches the ancient Romanesque style breathed its last.

“The aisles of the new retro-choir were continued on either side of the first bay of the Norman Lady-Chapel whose three bays had probably been remodelled before the fire in Transitional fashion. The capitals of the Lady-Chapel are of exceptional interest and importance, as showing experimental foliation which had not yet settled down into the conventional leafage of early Gothic. The apse also of the south transept was replaced by a square chapel, now used as a Library, in the vaulting of which the Norman zigzag occurs.

“A little later in the Lancet period was built (1199-1245) the lovely south porch, with small exquisite mouldings, and the charming foliated capitals and corbels. The difference between early Transitional, late Transitional and Lancet foliation may be well seen by examining successively the capitals of the Lady-Chapel, the triforium of the retro-choir and the south porch. The north porch is almost equally fine. The vaulting ribs, square in section, show that the two porches both belong to the very first years of the Thirteenth Century. Rather later, the sacristy was built on to the south porch, with a massive vault supported by foliated corbels.”—(F. B.)

Chichester’s saint was one of its own bishops—Richard de la Wych—who died in 1253. He was canonized in 1261. In 1276, his remains were removed from their first resting-place to the shrine in the south transept opposite the beautiful Early Decorated window (one of the loveliest examples of this style in England). Edward I., his Queen and the Court were present at the Translation. From that time the shrine received many visits from pilgrims.

The central tower was built during the first half of the Fourteenth Century, and the spire was completed at the end of the Fourteenth Century. The campanile was built by Bishop John de Langton (1305-1336). Bishop Sherborne (1507-1536) added the upper portion of the choir-stalls and the decorations of the south transept. These are the ornamentations referred to by Fuller, who quaintly says Bishop Seffrid “bestowed the cloth and making on the church, while Bishop Sherborne gave the trimming and best lace thereto, in the reign of Henry VII.”

In 1643, the Parliamentarian troops broke the organ, defaced the monuments and hacked the seats and stalls, which, of course, necessitated restorations and repairs. Repairs, restorations and alterations were also made from 1843 to 1856, the most important of which was the reconstruction of the central tower and spire under Sir Gilbert Scott. In 1867 the floor of the Lady-Chapel was lowered to its original level and the Gilbert Chapel restored; and during the last half of the Nineteenth Century, the cloister was restored and the roof of the Lady-Chapel, and a new north-western tower designed by Mr. J. L. Pearson.

“The Cathedral stands on the south of West Street, where a fine view may be had of the whole of the north side of the building and of the detached Campanile. The Close occupies entirely the south-west quadrant of the city, being bounded by South and West Streets and the City Wall. The central tower and spire, rising to a height of 277 feet, are conspicuous for many miles around, but the west front is much shut in. Perhaps the most pleasing view is that seen from the meadows on the south of the city, from which point the Campanile fits in admirably with the general mass of the building.”—(J. C.-B.)

This Campanile, in which eight bells hang, stands on the north side of the Cathedral, and was built in the Fourteenth Century. It covers a square of 50 feet and consists of two cubes with an octagonal lantern (8 feet).

The Central Tower and its delicate Spire have had a peculiar history. Exposed to the south-west gales from the Channel, the authorities in the Seventeenth Century had fears for its safety; and, consequently the upper part was taken down and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, who placed within it a pendulum-stage of wood and iron to steady it. This ingenious invention lasted until 1861; and it is said that Wren’s contrivance prevented the spire from toppling over when the collapse occurred.

About 1859 this spire showed signs of weakness, and underpinning was of no avail. On the 21st of February it inclined slightly to the south-west, then seemed to right itself; and then, amid a great cloud of dust, descended perpendicularly into the walls of the tower, doing no harm to the roof of the church. The fall only lasted a few seconds. As this happened in Queen Victoria’s reign, the old Sussex prophecy was fulfiled:

“If Chichester Church steeple fall
In England there’s no King at all.”

The rebuilding was entrusted to Sir Gilbert Scott with a stipulation that the new tower and spire should be exact reproductions of the originals. Scott, however, added six feet to the height.

“The central tower, which is battlemented, with octagonal turrets at the angles, also battlemented, has in its principal or second story, two couplets in each face, with a quatrefoil in the head, each under a pointed arch. The spire is of beautiful design, octagonal; in each face is a window of two lights, flanked by pinnacled turrets, crocketed and canopied. Its elegance has constantly led to its being compared with that of Salisbury, which, however, differs from it in age and many other particulars, as well as size. It forms not only the central but the principal feature of the church, all whose lines are designed to work in with it, a very perfect effect of unity, as at Salisbury, being attained. It is locally said that the master built Salisbury and the man, Chichester.”—(W. J. L.)

The West Front is composed of three stories, a gable, porch and two towers. The northern tower is modern, copied from its twin, which is Early English above the third story. The great West Window is modern, copied from Fourteenth Century examples. The central porch (Early English) is of the same date and character as the south porch, which opens into the cloisters. The north porch (Early English) lies between the aisle and the north-west tower.

The north wall of the nave has some curious buttresses. In the south transept notice a richly traceried window (Decorated), of seven lights, with a beautiful rose window above. A trefoiled string-course ornaments the parapet in the transept and choir. The East Window consists of three lancet windows, with a rose window of seven foliated circles of the choir in the gable; it is flanked by arcaded pinnacles with small spires.

The first view of the interior of Chichester is somewhat severe.

“On entering the nave the eye is at once caught by the five aisles, a peculiarity shared by no other English cathedral but that of Manchester, although some parish churches have it on a smaller scale, as Taunton and Coventry. On the Continent the increased number of aisles is common, witness Beauvais, Cologne, Milan, Seville, and seven-aisled Antwerp. Grand effects of light and shade are produced by these five aisles: remark especially the view from the extreme north-east corner of the north aisle, looking across the cathedral. The great depth of the triforium shadows is owing to the unusual width of this wall passage. The breadth of the nave (91 feet) is greater than that of any English cathedral except York (103 feet).

“The first two stories of the south-west tower at the end of the nave deserve examination. The rude, long capitals, and plain circular arches, probably indicate that it formed a part of the first church completed by Bishop Ralph in 1108. The nave itself, as far as the top of the triforium, and the two aisles immediately adjoining, are the work of the same Bishop (died 1123),—or should perhaps be described as having formed part of the Norman cathedral completed in 1148. The clerestory above, and the shafts of Purbeck marble which lighten the piers, are Seffrid’s additions (died 1204). The vaulting is perhaps somewhat later; and it was because it was determined, after the burning of 1187, to replace with a stone vault the wooden roofs to which the frequent fires had been owing that Seffrid carried up his vaulting-shafts along the face of the Norman piers, some of which he re-cased. The two exterior aisles, north and south, were probably added by Bishop Neville (died 1244), when it became necessary to provide additional room for chantries and relic shrines. The positions of the various altars are marked by piscinas and aumbries in the walls. The two, however, occur together in the south aisle alone; in the north are aumbries only, an arrangement possibly resulting from the feeling with which that quarter was always anciently regarded. A certainly triplicity pervades all this part of the cathedral, which was dedicated by Bishop Seffrid to the Holy Trinity. The side shafts are triple throughout. The bearing-shafts of the vaulting are clustered in threes, and branch out with three triple vaulting-ribs above. The transitional character of Bishop Seffrid’s work is especially marked in the clerestory, the inner arcade of which is pointed, whilst the windows themselves are round-headed.”—(R. J. K.)

The nave is full of monuments and tablets, some of which are by Flaxman. The one in the Chapel of the Four Virgins (north side) is a memorial to Collins the poet. Near it are the two figures of the Earl of Arundel and Maud, his wife. Arundel was beheaded in 1297. He is represented in full armour and at his feet is a lion.

“The most beautiful monument now remaining in the church is that which is said to represent Maud, Countess of Arundel (1270). The modelling of the whole figure and the long flowing lines of her robes are worthy of careful study. The hands are clasped over the breast with the forearms bent upwards slightly towards the face. On each of the long sides of the base supporting the figure are six elongated quatrefoil panels, containing in all six female figures and six shields. Between the quatrefoils are winged heads of ten angelic figures. The blazoning of the shields is entirely gone, and the brilliant colouring that once covered the entire monument is only to be traced in a few places. The outer robe still shows

Chichester.

Chichester: Nave, east

some signs of the rich blue with which it used to be covered. The face of the figure appears to be badly mutilated, but the damage to the features has been done principally by an endeavour to preserve them.”—(H. C. C.)

In the choir we find stalls that have been in use since the Fourteenth Century. On the backs of the choir-stalls pictures by Bernardi represent Ceadwalla and Henry VIII. confirming privileges to the bishops of their day.

In the south transept is a beautiful window, better seen from the Cloisters because the bad glass spoils the effect of the tracery.

At the end of the south side in the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene St. Richard’s head was preserved in a silver reliquary in the aumbry in the north wall.

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene is balanced by the Chapel of St. Katherine at the end of the north-choir-aisle. In the south-choir-aisle, two curiously carved Slabs, representing the Raising of Lazarus and Martha and Mary meeting Jesus, are supposed to have been brought from the first Cathedral in Selsey when the See was transferred to Chichester in 1082.

A doorway in the north-choir-aisle leads to the old Chapel of St. John the Baptist and St. Edmund the King. The vaulting is unlike any other in the Cathedral. The zigzag, or chevron, occurs upon the moulding of the ribs. A finely carved head appears on the spring of the arch. This chapel is now used as the Library.

“At Chichester there were built, one after another, four sets of chapels—of St. George and St. Clement on the south of the south aisle, and of St. Thomas, St. Anne and St. Edmund on the north of the north aisle. The WINDOWS should be studied in the above order; they form quite an excellent object-lesson of the evolution of bar-tracery from plate-tracery, itself a derivative from such designs as that of the east window of the south transept chapel. When the chapels were completed, the Norman aisle-walls were pierced, and arches were inserted where Norman windows had been; and the Lancet buttresses, which had been added when the nave vault was erected, now found themselves inside the church, buttressing piers instead of walls. The new windows on the south side were built so high that the vaulting of the chapels had to be tilted up to allow room for their heads; externally they were originally crowned with gables, the weatherings of which may be seen outside. In St. Thomas’s chapel is a charming example of a simple Thirteenth Century reredos.”—(F. B.)

Above the south porch there is a small chamber popularly known as the “Lollards’ Prison.”

Between the back of the reredos (modern) and the entrance to the Lady-Chapel is the Retro-choir, or presbytery, which many critics consider the chief glory of Chichester.

“The design in detail of these two bays is very different in character from the three in the choir, which are like those in the nave. The two piers of Purbeck marble are circular, and about them are grouped four detached shafts of the same material. They are united only at the base and by the abacus above the capitals, which are beautifully carved. The main arches in the two bays are not pointed, but round, like those in the nave and choir; but, unlike the latter, they have deeply cut mouldings in three orders. The triforium arcade above, on the north and south sides, has moulded and carved details of a similar character. Some of the beautifully carved figure-work still remains in the spandrels between the subsidiary pointed arches. But the most beautiful piece of design in all this work is in the arches of the triforium passage across the east wall, above the entrance to the Lady-Chapel.”—(F. B.)

St. Richard’s Shrine stood on a platform in the bay in the presbytery immediately behind the High Altar. This platform was removed at the time of the general restoration in 1861-1867.

The Lady-Chapel was once decorated with designs in colour, remains of which are still to be seen. The new Reredos is of alabaster. The glass of the window is also modern. Here is the Tomb of Bishop Ralph, founder of the original Norman church.

The visitor should walk around the Cloisters for the sake of the exterior views of the Cathedral. The south transept window is well seen here. Note the beautiful tracery of the circular window above it. The position of the Cloisters, lying eastward under the Transept and Choir, instead of westward along the Nave, is unusual.

“The cloister which was added in the Fifteenth Century is of a peculiarly irregular shape, and encloses the south transept within the paradise. It has been much restored at different times. The present roof is of tiles and is carried on common rafters. Each has a cross tie, and the struts are shaped so as to give a pointed arch form to each one. The old Fifteenth Century wooden cornice still remains in some sections. The tracery is divided into four compartments by mullions, and each head is filled with cusped work. Round the cloister are placed the old houses of the Treasurer, the Royal Chaplains, and Wiccamical Prebendaries. Above the door leading to the house of the Royal Chaplains is an interesting monument of the Tudor Period. It is a panel divided into two compartments by a moulded stone fragment. Leading out of the south walk is a doorway, through which the deanery may be seen beyond the end of a long walled passage known as St. Richard’s Walk. Looking back northwards, there is fine view of the spire and transept from the end of this walk.”—(H. C. C.)

In the south-east corner the Cloister passes under the west end of St. Faith’s Chapel, founded in the Fourteenth Century.

SALISBURY

Dedication: St. Mary; a Church served by Secular Canons.

Special features: Spire; Chapter-House.

Salisbury, on the edge of the great Salisbury Plain, haunted by Ingoldsby’s “Dead Drummer” and not far from weird Stonehenge, is famous for its beautiful Early English Cathedral.

“The visitor who sees it first on a bright day can never forget the impression it has made on his mind. Unlike the architects of the so-called ‘Great Gothic Revival,’ the builders of Salisbury put their trust in proportion. Incidentally they made their details as elaborate and as perfect as possible; but they were subordinated to the general effect, and when, during the frightful ravages of the ‘restorers,’ let loose upon the church in the past and present centuries, many of the best and most precious of these details and ornaments perished or were renewed, the main building survives, raising its exquisitely graceful spire into the blue sky, its thousand pinnacles all pointing upward and gleaming white against the deep green of the old trees and the emerald turf of the surrounding close. England can show no fairer sight. ‘How long,’ asked an American visitor, ‘does it take to grow such turf?’ ‘Oh! not long,’ was the reply; ‘only a couple of centuries.’ One feels at Salisbury that whether the answer was given there or at Oxford, of no place could it be more true. Though, when we look near enough, we can see that fresh and white as is the general effect, the masonry of Salisbury is of great antiquity, except of course where it has been restored; and antiquity adds another charm, for Salisbury was the first complete cathedral built after the Romanesque tradition had died out, as St. Paul’s is the first built after it had been revived. In other cathedrals there are fragments of the same style, and they are always the most

Chichester: Screen

Salisbury: North

beautiful features of the whole building. We can recall the western porch at Ely, and the Angel Choir at Lincoln, and the chapter-house at Southwell; but, here, at Salisbury, we have the whole vast cathedral, all in the same supreme style, every part fitting into its place, and adding its contribution to the general effect, never in contrast but always in harmony until the effect is attained. What that is may be read in countless books of travel or criticism. Salisbury Cathedral, like the Parthenon and all other—there are not many—buildings which tempt one to call them poems in stone—produces a different feeling in the minds of all who see it.”—(W. J. L.)

Salisbury was built on a site unoccupied by a former church. The “Bishop’s Stool” had long been at Old Sarum on Salisbury Plain, a fortified castle and cathedral; but the castle became too important and Bishop Poore and his canons removed the See in the early part of the Thirteenth Century. An old legend says that the site of the new Cathedral was determined by an arrow shot by an archer from the ramparts into the green vale below.

The first stone was laid for the Pope, who had consented to the removal of the church from Old Sarum; the second, for Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, then with young Henry III. in Wales; the third, for Bishop Poore; the fourth was laid by William Longespée, Earl of Salisbury; and the fifth, by the Countess Ela, his wife. When the King returned from Wales many of his courtiers visited Salisbury, “and each laid his stone, binding himself to some special contribution for a period of seven years.”

The building was undertaken by Elias of Dereham, clerk of the works; and his successors were Nicholas of Portland and Richard of Fairleigh. The latter completed the spire in 1375.

The Cathedral was consecrated in 1258, by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of Henry III. and his Queen.

The Cloisters and Chapter-House were built in the Thirteenth Century and the Spire (which seems, however, to have formed part of the original plan) in the Fourteenth.

“The history of no English cathedral is so clear and so readily traceable as that of Salisbury. It was the first great church built in England in what was then the new or pointed style (Early English); of which it still remains, as a whole, one of the finest and most complete examples. The Abbey Church of Westminster, commenced in 1245, and completed to the east end of the choir in 1269, is the only great building of this age in England which can be considered finer than Salisbury; and it is probable that Henry III. was induced to undertake the rebuilding of Westminster from admiration of the rising glories of the new Wiltshire cathedral, which he had several times visited. On the Continent, the great rival of Salisbury is Amiens; commenced in the same year (1220) and completed, nearly as at present, in 1272.

“The usual alterations took place in Salisbury Cathedral at the Reformation, when much of the painted glass is said to have been removed by Bishop Jewell. Although desolate and abandoned, it escaped material profanation during the Civil War, and workmen were even employed to keep it in repair. On the Restoration, a report of the general condition of the cathedral was supplied by Sir Christopher Wren, and certain additions for the strengthening of the spire were made at his recommendation. The great work of destruction was reserved for a later period and more competent hands. Under Bishop Barrington (1782-1791) the architect Wyatt was, unhappily, let loose upon Salisbury; and his untiring use of axe and hammer will stand a very fair comparison with the labours of an iconoclast emperor, or with the burning zeal of an early Mohammedan caliph. He swept away screens, chapels and porches; desecrated and destroyed the tombs of warriors and prelates; obliterated ancient paintings; flung stained glass by cartloads into the city ditch; and levelled with the ground the Campanile—of the same date as the Cathedral itself—which stood on the north side of the churchyard. His operations at the time were pronounced ‘tasteful, effective and judicious.’ The best point of view is from the north-east, which Rickman has pronounced ‘the best general view of a cathedral to be had in England, displaying the various portions of this interesting building to the greatest advantage.’ The Cathedral is built (and roofed) throughout with freestone obtained from the Chilmark quarries, situated about twelve miles from Salisbury towards Hendon, and still worked. The stone belongs to the Portland beds of the oölite. The pillars and pilasters of the interior are of Purbeck marble. The local rhyme in which the cathedral is celebrated may here be quoted; it is attributed by Godwin, who gives a Latin version of it, to a certain Daniel Rogers:

“‘As many days as in one year there be,
So many windows in this church you see.
As many marble pillars here appear
As there are hours through the fleeting year.
As many gates as moons one here does view,
Strange tale to tell, yet not more strange than true.’

The great point to which the attention of the stranger is at once drawn is, of course, the grand peculiarity of Salisbury, the ‘silent finger’ of its spire. This is the loftiest in England, rising 400 feet above the pavement (Chichester said, but very doubtfully, to have been built in imitation of it, is 271 feet in height; Norwich 313 feet) and its summit is 30 feet above the top of St. Paul’s.”—(R. J. K.)

Dean Stanley said that Westminster is all-glorious within and Salisbury, all-glorious without.

“Much has been written on the beauty of the Cathedral church of Salisbury, the chastity of its style and the purity of its detail. The east end may be said to display the utmost refinement of the Early English era. Every subordinate feature is so perfectly disposed, so admirably carried out and adapted to its purpose, so necessary to the full effect of the whole, so simple and yet so rich, that nothing, even by the most critical, can be found wanting there or considered de trop. The northern side is scarcely less perfect; the simple lancet openings of its eastern transept, the more fully developed quatrefoils of the central gable and the still more advanced northern porch beyond these, all mark the progress of construction. At the intersection rises the still later tower and spire, the final limb of the whole, on an embattled lower stage of earlier date. It is rich to the utmost limit. Every ballflower, every projecting shaft and moulding sparkles for itself and casts its own diminutive shadow upon its fellow, entirely relieving the wall-surface of that flatness which is and must be the fault in every view purporting to suggest its elegance. The church stands alone; like a model of itself; in its entirety perhaps the most stately of which we can boast.”—(A. A.)

In the close, which is about half a square mile, there are three gates: the South, or Harnham; the East, or St. Anne’s; and the North, or Close Gate, built about 1327.

“The first thing to be noticed in Salisbury is the ample breadth of the space in which its cathedral stands, the beauty of which space is enhanced by rows and avenues of magnificent trees; so that it is difficult to conceive a more appropriate enclosure in which to find ‘the most chaste of English’ churches. Salisbury covers no less than eight acres of ground.

“Entering from the High Street, the visitor finds himself almost in another township. A street lined with houses conducts to the Cathedral lawn, where from the north-eastern extremity the full proportions of the church may be comprehended. The whole north side of the close is thus open. On the east we find another gateway and the entrance to the Palace; on the other side the Choristers’ Green, in itself another little close. The west is occupied by a group of interesting and extremely handsome houses of various dates. Here are the Deanery, standing in its own grounds opposite the Cathedral façade; the King’s House, a long, many-gabled mansion of the early Fifteenth Century, with mullioned windows and a vaulted porch, the occasional resting-place of the English monarchs on their passage through Salisbury; and the Wardrobe, distinguished by its heavy roof, its projecting double gables, and the immense square windows, back and front, through which the evening sun penetrates with a curious half-ghostly gleam. These form the most effective line of buildings of the enclosure, which at this least trim but not the less picturesque side, terminates at the Harnham Gate.”—(A. A.)

Raising our eyes to the Tower and Spire, we note:

“The Early English portion, however, terminates with the first story, about eight feet above the roof; the two additional stories and the spire above them date from the reign of Edward III. The walls of the upper stories of the tower are covered with a blind arcade, richly canopied, and pierced for light with double windows on all four sides. Above each story is a parapet with lozenge-shaped traceries, which are repeated in the three bands encircling the spire. At each angle of the tower is an octagonal stair-turret, crowned with a small crocketed spire. The great spire, itself octagonal, rises from between four small richly-decorated pinnacles. Its walls are two feet in thickness from the bottom to a height of twenty feet; from thence to the summit their thickness is only nine inches. The spire is filled with a remarkable frame of timber-work, which served as a scaffold during its erection. While making some repairs in 1762, the workmen found a cavity on the south side of the capstone in which was a leaden box, enclosing a second of wood which contained a piece of much decayed silk or fine linen, no doubt a relic (possibly of the Virgin, to whom the cathedral is dedicated) placed there in order to avert lightning and tempest.”—(R. J. K.)

Entering by the west door we look down the Nave.

“The interior is indeed very fine. It could hardly help being fine; a nave so spacious and so proportioned could under no circumstances be a failure. It is immensely high and as long in proportion. The proportion of height to span (2⅛ to 1) is better than in most English churches. The harmony of the design—practically the same from east to west and from north to south—is unique in England, and is most impressive. The charming way, too, in which the architect has contrived that we should have a vista of another miniature church in the Lady-Chapel—a cathedral within a cathedral—is worthy of all commendation. But, as in Lincoln nave, to the eye every support is alarmingly insufficient for the work it has to do; the piers are too tall and slender, the walls too thin and pierced with too many openings. The triforium is a most unfortunate design: in harmony neither with the arcade below, nor with the clerestory above; its outer arches ugly in themselves and discordant with every other arch in the church; nor could it be expected that its dark marble shafts would tell against a dark background—black on black. Add to this the dreadfully new look of everything—partly due to the very perfection of the masonry, partly because Scott has been here—and the overpowering glare: one almost feels as if one were in the Crystal Palace.”—(F. B.)

The most interesting tomb in the nave is that of William Longespée, the first Earl of Salisbury, son of Henry II. and Fair Rosamond, who died at his castle of Old Sarum in 1226.

“The effigy is entirely in chain-mail, covering the mouth as well as the chin in an unusual manner. Over the mail is the short cyclas, or surcoat. On the earl’s shield are the six golden lioncels also borne by his grandfather Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. Longespée acquired the earldom of Salisbury through marriage with its heiress, the Countess Ela. He took an active part in public affairs throughout the reign of John; joined the Earl of Chester in an expedition to the Holy Land, and was present at the battle of Damietta in 1221, where the Christians were defeated. He fought much in Flanders and in France; was present on the King’s side at Runnymede; and was one of the witnesses to the Great Charter.”—(R. J. K.)

The curious monument of the Boy Bishop was removed to its present position about 1680, when it was found buried under the seating of the choir. It is Early English and represents an effigy of the boy in bishop’s robes and mitre, holding a crozier in his left hand. The boy-bishop was elected by the choir-boys in many of the English cathedrals on St. Nicholas’s Day (Dec. 6) and he held office until Holy Innocents’ Day (Dec. 28), during which time he was practically bishop. Law provided that if a boy-bishop died during his term of power, he was to be buried in his vestments and with all the pomp of an episcopal funeral; and, therefore, we must conclude that this boy died during his short rule.

From the nave we enter the North Transept,

“passing under the wide Perpendicular arch, which (as at Canterbury and Wells) was inserted early in the Fifteenth Century by way of counter-thrust against the weight of the central tower, under which the central piers had already given away to some extent, as will be at once perceived. It is owing to this settlement of the piers that the spire is out of the perpendicular. The triforium and clerestory of the nave are carried round the transept; the triforium on the north side, being replaced by two-light window of very elegant character. The clerestory window above, with its slender pilasters, and graceful flow of lines, deserves especial notice. Each transept has an eastern aisle divided by clustered piers into three bays. The screens which formerly enclosed the chapel in each of these bays were swept away by Wyatt. A staircase in the angle of the transept leads upward to the tower, which may be ascended by staircases in each of its flanking turrets. The top of the tower is called the Eight Doors, from the double doors on each side, through which the visitor will obtain magnificent views over the town and surrounding country. The first story of the tower is of Early English date, and originally formed a lantern, open to the nave. It is surrounded by an arcade of slender pilasters. The ascent of the spire—which is a formidable undertaking—is made internally by a series of slender ladders as far as a little door about forty feet below the vane, and from that point the adventurous climber has to scale the outside by means of hooks attached to the walls. The interior is filled with a timber frame consisting of a central piece with arms and braces.”—(R. J. K.)

The South Transept is a counterpart of the north transept. The windows at the south end are filled with stained-glass. The glass in the upper lights is Early English.

The lierne vault above the central tower arches is Perpendicular. From here we enter the Choir, passing under a screen of wrought metal (modern). In the second arcade on each side of the choir is placed the new and divided organ built by Willis.

“The Choir and Presbytery are very similar to the nave in the main features of their design. The piers show a different plan, which provides for eight shafts of Purbeck marble to each. The inner mouldings of the arches exhibit the dog-tooth ornamentation of their period. The triforium and clerestory differ slightly from the corresponding parts of the nave. In each of the last two bays of the presbytery the triforium has five small cinquefoil arches. At the east wall of the choir above the reredos is an arcade of five simply-pointed arches, below a triplet window in the gable, which is filled with stained glass, given by the Earl of Radnor in 1781, and representing The Brazen Serpent, after a design by Mortimer.

“The choir still bears traces of Wyatt’s destruction. He removed the original reredos behind the high altar and the screen before the Lady-Chapel, so that both, with the low eastern aisle, were thrown into the choir. He shifted the high altar from the choir to the extreme east end of the Lady-Chapel, sacrificing several chantries and tombs to do so. Views of the cathedral after his reign of terror fail to show any gain to compensate for so much loss; the extreme length is not apparently an advantage, while the bare look of the interior seems decidedly intensified by the increased vista that he was so delighted to obtain, and for which, with a light heart, he effaced the silent records of dead centuries. The decorations of the roof of the choir and presbytery are reproductions of the original series of paintings, dating, it is thought, from the Thirteenth Century. The subjects are the prophets and saints, Christ and the four Evangelists and the twelve months.”—(G. W.)

On the north side of the choir is Bishop Audley’s Chantry, built by the bishop in 1520, four years before his death. It is late Perpendicular and resembles the chantry of Bishop Fox at Winchester. The fan-tracery of the roof was originally coloured. In the corresponding bay on the south side is the chantry founded by Walter, Lord Hungerford, in 1429. It was removed from the nave in 1778.

The Choir-Stalls are composed of pieces of various dates with some additions by Sir Christopher Wren and canopies by Wyatt. The Reredos is modern, the gift of Earl Beauchamp in memory of his ancestor, whose chantry Wyatt destroyed. It was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott.

Many of the Earls of Pembroke and their wives are buried near the choir.

In the South-choir-aisle an interesting monument to Bishop Davenport, probably one of the translators of the Bible, is of white marble with black Corinthian pillars. Near it is the tomb of Sir Richard Mompesson and his wife. He is in armour and Katherine in a black robe with gold flowers. The black Corinthian columns with vine leaves and grapes in green and gold twisted around them are striking. Near the south transept, still in the choir-aisle, is the altar-tomb of Bishop Mitford (1407), with carved shields. On the cornice with the lilies, birds are holding in their beaks scrolls with the words Honor Deo et gloria.

In the floor of the north-east-choir-aisle is the brass to Bishop Wyvill, generally regarded as one of the most wonderful existing examples. Bishop Wyvill (1329-1375) recovered for this See the castle of Sherborne and the chase of Bere. The brass, therefore, represents the contested castle with keep and portcullis. At the door of the first ward the bishop appears, bestowing his benediction on his champion, who stands at the gate of the outer ward with battle-axe and shield. The rabbits and hares before the castle refer to the chase of Bere, within Windsor Forest.

Bishop Giles de Bridport (died 1262) lies opposite William of York’s tomb, between the choir-aisle and the eastern-aisle of the transept. His monument is one of the most important and interesting in the Cathedral.

“All the details of this remarkable monument deserve the most careful examination. The effigy, at the head of which are small figures of censing angels, lies beneath a canopy, supported north and south by two open arches with quatrefoils in the heads. Each arch is subdivided by a central pilaster, and springs from clustered shafts, detached. A triangular hood-moulding, with crockets and finials of leafage, projects above each arch; and between and beyond the arches pilasters rise to the top of the canopy, supporting finials of very excellent design. The whole character of the tomb is most graceful, but an especial interest is given to it by the reliefs with which the spandrels of the arches are filled, and by the small sculptured figures on various parts of the monument. The subjects, beginning on the south side, have been thus interpreted. The first, a female figure with an infant and attendants, represents the birth of the future bishop: in the three next spandrels are his confirmation; either his own education or his instruction of others; and, possibly, his first preferment. The shield hung from a tree in this compartment, bears Az., a cross, or, between 4 bezants, no doubt his own arms. On the north side of the monument are the bishop doing homage for his see—a procession with a cross-bearer, perhaps referring to the dedication of Salisbury Cathedral—the bishop’s death and the presentation of his soul for judgment. Little or nothing is known of the life of Bishop Bridport.”—(R. J. K.)

At the end of the north aisle of the Lady-Chapel and at the end of the south aisle, directly opposite, are two monuments that will interest the visitor. The first is a medley of obelisks, globes, spheres and the Four Cardinal Virtues and effigies of Sir Thomas Gorges and his widow, maid-of-honour to Queen Elizabeth. The second is a gorgeous tribute to Edward, Earl of Hertford, son of the Protector Somerset and of his wife, Catherine, Lady Jane Grey’s sister. The effigies are praying; the Earl is in armour. The whole piece is gilded and coloured.

Very little ancient glass remains in Salisbury.

“The fragments that survived were collected some fifty years since, and placed in the nave windows, and in parts of some of the others. The most important are in the great west triple lancet, wherein the glass ranges in date from the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Century. Mr. Winston, in his Paper read in 1849 before the Archæological Institute and printed in the Salisbury volume for that year, considered that the earliest fragments are from a Stem of Jesse about 1240 and some medallions about 1270. He describes two of the ovals that are on each side of the throned bishop, a prominent figure in the lower half of the central light, one of the Christ enthroned, the other of the Virgin. The two medallions below them he believes represent Zacharias in the Temple and the Adoration of the Magi. The later glass now in the same window may be either Flemish work brought hither from Dijon, or possibly partly from Rouen, and partly from a church near Exeter. It has been conjectured that in the south lancet the figures represent SS. Peter and Francis, in the central one the Crucifixion, the Coronation of the Virgin and the Invention of the Cross, and in the north light the Betrayal of Christ and St. Catherine. In two of the side windows of the nave are the arms of John Aprice (1555-1558) and Bishop Jewell (1562).”—(G. W.)

In the south-choir-aisle is Jacob’s Dream in memory of the Duke of Albany and there are also two of the proposed six angel-windows—Angeli Ministrantes and the Angeli Laudantes—designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and made by William Morris. These are considered among the best examples of glass-painting since the Middle Ages.

The Chapter-House is a very fine type of an English chapter-house of the Thirteenth Century, when geometrical tracery was in vogue. It probably dates from the reign of Edward the First.

“The architecture is somewhat later in style than that of the cloisters, and if it be not, as its admirers claim, the most beautiful in England, it has few rivals. Like Westminster, Wells and other English examples, except York and Southwell, it has a central pillar, from which the groining of the roof springs gracefully in harmonious lines. A raised bench of stone runs round the interior. At its back forty-nine niches of a canopied arcade borne on slight Purbeck marble shafts marked out as many seats. They are apportioned as follows: those at each side of the entrance to the Chancellor and Treasurer respectively, the rest to the Bishop, Dean, Archdeacons and other members of the chapter.

“The plan of the building is octagonal, about fifty-eight feet in diameter and fifty-two feet in height. Each side has a large fan-light window with traceried head. Below these windows and above the canopies of the seats is a very remarkable series of bas-reliefs. The bosses of the roof are somewhat elaborately carved: one north of the west doorway has groups of figures on it, apparently intended to represent armourers, musicians, and apothecaries, possibly commemorating guilds who were benefactors to the building; the others have foliage chiefly with grotesque monsters. On the base of the central

Salisbury: Nave, east

Exeter: South-west

pillar is a series of carvings taken probably from one of the many books of fables so popular in the Middle Ages. These were reproduced from the originals, which are preserved in the cloisters.”—(G. W.)

The vaulted roof is re-painted in accordance with the original.

The Cloisters are on the south-west side of the Cathedral, their western wall being on a line with the west front. These fine covered walks, the largest in England (181 feet long), surround a great sward (140 feet square), where a group of dark cedars contrasts beautifully with the grey walls. The style is late Thirteenth Century. The windows formed of double arches with quatrefoils united at the main head with a large six-foiled circle are much admired.

EXETER

Dedication: St. Peter. A Church served by Secular Canons.

Special features: Screen on west front; Misereres; Bishop’s Throne; Minstrels’ Gallery; Lady-Chapel; East Window.

“As the last cathedral church we visited, namely Salisbury, may be taken as the most complete example of Early English work, so Exeter in its present state is the best specimen of the Decorated style that is to be met with in England. For though, unlike Salisbury, it was not built afresh from the ground, yet under Bishops Quivil, Bitton, Stapledon and Grandisson, between the years 1280 and 1369, the fabric was so entirely remodelled that it may be regarded as practically a new building; and since the work of remodelling began about the time that the Early English style was passing into the Decorated, and was completed before the time when the Perpendicular had superseded the Decorated, it naturally is characterised by the features of that style which flourished during the first half of the Fourteenth Century. Much indeed of the work found at Exeter is the very finest that the Fourteenth Century produced.”—(T. P.)

As early as the reign of Athelstan a Benedictine monastery, dedicated to St. Peter, existed at Crediton and was much injured by the Northmen in the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries. When the Sees for Devon and Cornwall were removed from Crediton to Exeter in 1050, the old church of St. Peter was chosen for the new Cathedral. Of the Saxon church, however, nothing remains. William Warelwast (1107-1136), the third bishop after the Conquest, began the new church about 1112, in the “marvellous and sumptuous” architecture of the Normans. During its erection it suffered from fire when Stephen besieged Exeter in 1136. Of this building the two transept towers remain. Bishop Peter Quivil built the greater part of the present Cathedral before 1291; Bishop Stapledon, who was murdered by the Londoners at the “great cross in Chepe” in 1326, the eastern part of the Choir, the sedilia and the choir-screen; Bishop Grandisson finished the Nave about 1350 and the west front, in all probability, a little later; and Bishop Brantingham, the Cloisters. The Lady-Chapel was built during the episcopates of Bronescomb and Quivil, and the chapels of St. Mary Magdalene and of St. Gabriel the Archangel, north and south of the Lady-Chapel, are the work of Bishop Bronescomb.

Many of the ancient decorations and arrangements were either removed, or defaced, by Queen Elizabeth’s “visitors,” who, in 1559, were appointed to compel the general observance of the Protestant formularies. During the Commonwealth the Cathedral was divided into two portions by a brick wall so that an Independent preacher named Stuckeley, one of Cromwell’s chaplains, could preach in “West Peter’s,” and a Presbyterian, named Ford, in the Choir, or “East Peter’s,” as the Puritans now named these portions of the Cathedral.

The finest view is perhaps from Waddlesdown, about four miles from Exeter. Taking a view of the exterior,

“The visitor should especially remark the Norman towers, the cresting of the roof, the flying-buttresses and the north porch. The Norman towers, in connection with the long unbroken roof, should perhaps be regarded as constituting the specialty of Exeter. At all events, the peculiarity of their present position is so great and so striking as at once to attract attention; and the question of their place in the original Norman church is one of very considerable interest. Each tower consists of six stages, the two lowest of which are plain: the other four have blind arcades and circular window openings, the details and arrangements of which vary in the two towers. At the angles are square buttresses, which rise above the uppermost story. The south tower is Norman throughout; that on the north was altered by Bishop Courtenay for the reception of the great bell from Llandaff, and its final stage is Perpendicular. The fleur-de-lis cresting of the roof is of lead (with which the whole of the roof is covered), and its form is very graceful and effective. The flying-buttresses derive a very grand effect from the fact that the aisle-roofs slope outwards, and not, as usual, inwards. Resulting also from this peculiarity are, the great height of the aisles on the exterior, and an unusual development of the clerestory, without any intervening space between it and the aisle-roofs; and within the nave, the absence of the triforium; the place of which is, however, indicated by the blind arcade above the piers. The north porch with its triple canopy is part of Grandisson’s work, and very beautiful.”—(R. J. K.)

Many people are at first disappointed with their first view of the West Front and more particularly of the Screen with its noble array of statues. The impression that it produces has been well described by W. D. Howells, who writes on his visit to Exeter:

“To the first glance it is all a soft gray blur of age-worn carving, in which no point or angle seems to have failed of the touch which has blent all archaic sanctities and royalties of the glorious screen in a dim sumptuous harmony of figures and faces.”

Now let us examine it more in detail.

“The west front, usually regarded as the latest work of Bishop Grandisson, who died in 1369, is of very high interest; and although it cannot compete with those of Wells or Lincoln (both of earlier date), may justly claim great beauty as an architectural composition. It recedes in three stories, the lowest of which is formed by the sculptured screen; the second contains the great west window, on each side of which is a graduated arcade; and in the third, or gable, is a triangular window surmounted by a niche, containing a figure of St. Peter, the patron saint of the cathedral. The SCREEN deserves the most careful examination. It is pierced by three doorways, and surrounded by a series of niches, in which are the statues of kings, warriors, saints and apostles, guardians, as it were, of the entrance to the sanctuary. These figures are arranged in three rows. From pedestals crowned with battlements spring angels, each of whom supports a triple pilaster, with capitals. The statues on these capitals, forming the second row, are for the most part those of kings and knights; above the canopies which surmount them appears the third row, chiefly saints and apostles. The positions of the angels are admirably varied.

“The two statues with shields of arms in niches above the upper row are certainly those of Athelstan and Edward the Confessor, the Saxon king who expelled the Britons from Exeter, and the founder of the existing bishopric. In all these figures the general arrangement of the hair as well as the fashion of the crowns and of the armour, are those of the reign of Edward III., in which the work was probably completed.

“The platform above the screen no doubt served, as in many foreign cathedrals, as a station from which the church minstrels and choristers might duly welcome distinguished persons on their arrival; and from which the bishop might bestow his benediction on the people. The three doorways are much enriched. Round that in the centre, within the porch, is a moulding of carved foliage which deserves notice. On the central boss of the groining is a representation of the Crucifixion. The recess within the south doorway contains two sculptures, The Appearance of the Angel to Joseph in a Dream and The Adoration of the Shepherds. Both, like the figures on the screen, have suffered not a little from time, and the assaults of Cromwell’s Puritans.”—(R. J. K.)

Exeter is distinguished among English cathedrals in not having a central tower. This gives the exterior a unique appearance and the interior gains by the absence of tower piers to block the view. Exeter has, therefore, the most open and impressive vista of any English cathedral. The screen being low, the whole design is immediately comprehended. It has been compared to the Cathedral of Bourges.

In our walks through Exeter it may be well to remember that Quivil’s architect determined to see what he could do with lowness and breadth.

“Everything should be broad and low, outside as well as inside. Look at the east end of the choir—its two arches broad and low; above it the great window—broad and low. Nowhere but at Exeter do you find these squat windows with their truncated jambs; here they are everywhere—in the aisles, in the clerestory, in choir, chapels, transepts and nave; even in the great window of the western front: broad and low windows everywhere. Still more original is the external realisation of the design; central tower and spire, western towers and spires, alike are absent. Long and low, massive and stable stretches out uninterruptedly the long horizontal line of nave and choir. Breadth gives in itself the satisfactory feeling of massiveness, steadfastness and solidity; and this is just what is wanting in the all-too aërial work of Salisbury and Beauvais; vaulted roofs at a dizzy height resting on unsubstantial supports and sheets of glass. But the Exeter architect has emphasised this satisfactory feeling of stability still further. The window tracery is heavy and strong; the vault is barred all over with massive ribs; in the piers there are no pretty, fragile, detached shafts; the massive clustered columns look as if they were designed, as they were, to carry the weight of a Norman wall.”—(F. B.)

The heaviness was counteracted by transparency: the arrangement of the windows flood the Cathedral with light; for the aisle and clerestory are almost a continuous sheet of glass.

“Another distinctive feature in Exeter as in Salisbury, is that the architect produces his effect mainly by architectural means—is not driven to rely on sculpture. All the principal capitals have mouldings not foliage. Only in the great corbels of the vaulting shafts and in the bosses of the vault does he permit himself foliage and sculpture. Wonderful carving it is; the finest work of the best period, when the naturalistic treatment of foliage was fresh and young. Very remarkable these corbels are, with their life-like treatment of vine and grape, oak and acorn, hazel leaf and nut. Unfortunately the corbels, and still more the bosses, are so high up that their lovely detail is thrown away; and they are out of scale.

“And the patterns of the window tracery are wonderfully diverse. It is not, as in Lichfield nave or King’s College Chapel, where every window is like its neighbour; when you have seen one, you have seen all. Here, all down each side of the church every window differs. In dimensions, in general character, they agree; in details they differ; each window is a fresh delight; we have, what even in Gothic architecture we rarely get—diversity within simplicity.”—(F. B.)

First we examine the splendid Nave.

“The first view of the NAVE is rich and striking. Its present length is 140 feet. The view looking east is intercepted by the organ, which is placed above the screen at the entrance to the choir; but the general impression, notwithstanding a want of height, is that of great richness and beauty. The roof especially, springing from slender vaulting shafts, studded with delicately carved and varied bosses, and extending unbroken to the east end of the choir, is exceeded in grace and lightness by no other of the same date in the kingdom and by few on the Continent. The carved bosses, all of which retain traces of colour, represent foliage, animals (near the centre of the nave is a sow with a litter of pigs), grotesque figures, heraldic shields, subjects from early ‘bestiaries’ and romances, such as the centaur with a sword, and the knight riding on a lion toward the eastern end, heads of the Virgin and Saviour, the Passion and Crucifixion, and in the centre of the second bay, the murder of Becket. Grandisson wrote a life of the great Archbishop, which remains in MS., but was very popular in its day. The episcopal figure on the adjoining boss may either represent Becket or Grandisson himself. Clustered pillars of Purbeck marble (contrasting well with the lighter stone from Silverton and Bere) of which the walls and roof are constructed, separate the nave from the aisles and divide it into seven compartments or ‘bays.’

“The corbels between the arches, which support the vaulting shafts of the roof, are, perhaps, peculiar to this cathedral, and should be especially noticed. They are wrought into figures, twisted branches and long sprays of foliage, and afford excellent examples of the very best period of naturalism. Every leaf is varied and the character of the different kinds (here for the most part oak and vine) is admirably retained. The second corbel on the south side of the nave exhibits the Virgin treading on an evil spirit, and carrying the Divine Infant. Above is her coronation. The easternmost nave-corbels display on the north side Moses with his hands supported by Aaron and Hur; and on the south the risen Saviour, with cross and banner. The brackets at the foot of these corbels are crowned heads; and possibly represent Edward I. and Edward II., the first beardless as usual, the other more defaced. The second corbel on the north side represents St. Cecilia, with a somewhat grotesque angel listening to her music.

“A blind arcade, taking the place of the triforium, deeply recessed and arranged in groups of four arches under each bay, runs above the nave arches; and in the central bay on the north side projects the Minstrels’ Gallery, an arrangement for the accommodation of musicians on high festivals, which occur in this perfection nowhere else in England. There are, indeed, other examples at Wells and at Winchester, but of far less interest and importance. Each of the twelve niches into which its front is divided contains the figure of a winged angel playing on a musical instrument and surmounted by a rich canopy. The instruments beginning from the west are, a cittern, bagpipes, flageolet, crowth or violin, harp, an unknown or unseen instrument (the fingers are put close to the mouth), trumpet, organ, guitar, wind instrument, tambour and cymbals. The two corbelled heads below, supporting niches, are possibly those of Edward III. and Philippa. The manner in which the hands and arms are raised above the heads is unusual. Above the arcade and minstrels’ gallery is the clerestory, along which a gallery is pierced in the thickness of the wall.

“The windows of the nave, all of the best and purest (geometrical) Decorated, are said to exhibit a greater variety of tracery than can be found in any other building in the kingdom. They are arranged in pairs, on opposite sides of the cathedral; so that no two side by side will be found to resemble each other. The varied and graceful patterns of the lead-work should also be noticed. The stained glass in the great west window is, for the most part, modern and worthless (it dates from 1766) injuring the beauty of the window itself by its entire want of harmony and meaning. The ruby glass in this window is said to be some of the latest that was manufactured in England before M. Bontemps revived the art.”—(R. J. K.)

Walking back to the west end, we stop to examine the Chantry of St. Radegunde,

“constructed in the thickness of the screen by Bishop Grandisson for the place of his own sepulture. His tomb formerly existed here, but it was destroyed by Elizabeth’s visitors and the high-born prelate’s ashes scattered ‘no man knoweth where.’”—(R. J. K.)

Opening from the first bay of the Nave is the small Chapel of St. Edmund, of earlier date than the Nave. In the fifth bay, on the same side, is the North Porch. In the last bay on the south side is an Early English doorway that formerly opened into the cloisters; and between the first two buttresses on the south side a finely carved consecration cross attracts our notice.

The Pulpit dates from 1684.

The Transepts, one bay each, occupy the space under the towers. East of the North transept is the Chapel of St. Paul, built by Quivil and now used as a vestry. In the corner we find the tomb and chantry of Sylke, a sub-chanter, who founded this chantry in 1485 and was buried in it in 1508. His effigy lies here. Against the east wall are memorials to the soldiers of the 20th, or East Devon Regiment who fell in the Crimean War. Here is also the famous clock which has two dials. It is supposed to date from the reign of Edward III.

A door below the clock opens to the stairs into the North tower, in which is hung the Great, or Peter Bell, the second largest bell in England. It weighs 12,500 pounds.

“The Peter bell was crazed on Nov. 5, 1611, most probably from a too violent ringing in commemoration of the Gunpower Plot, and was recast in 1676. Its diameter at the mouth is 6 feet 3 inches; its height nearly 4 feet 8 inches. It is, of course, never rung, but the hours are struck on it by an enormous hammer. The visitor who happens to be in the tower at the time of striking will experience a new sensation,—the humming of the great mass of metal lingers for many minutes among the huge beams and rafters. A superb view of the city surrounded by trees and gardens, of the river and of its junction with the sea at Exmouth, is obtained from the top of the tower, the upper part of which (of Perpendicular character) was raised and adapted by Bishop Courtenay for the reception of Great Peter, which he brought from Llandaff.”—(R. J. K.)

The South Transept is a counterpart of the north, and the Chapel of St. John the Baptist

Exeter: Nave, east

Exeter: Choir, east

(also Quivil’s work) corresponds with St. Paul’s opposite. In the Tower are eleven bells, ten of which are rung in peal. They date from the Seventeenth Century. Between this Transept and the Chapter-House lies the Chapel of the Holy Ghost, formerly used as a baptistery. It is Norman. The Chapter-House, opening from what is still called the Cloisters (although the cloisters were demolished during Cromwell’s rule), was begun in the Thirteenth Century and finished in the Fifteenth.

When Bishop Grandisson dedicated the High Altar, Dec. 18, 1328, he wrote to the Pope that the Cathedral, then half finished, would be superior in its kind to any church in France or England.

“High as this praise was, the beauty of the vaulted roof and the extreme grace of the details are proofs that it was scarcely exaggerated. The roof bosses and corbels are of the same character as those in the nave; but the latter are even more admirable in design, and far more varied in foliage. Maple, oak, ash, the filbert with its clusters of nuts, and the vine with fruit and tendrils, could hardly be reproduced more faithfully. On the corbel above the organ-screen, on the north side, is a Coronation of the Virgin and on that beyond it a Virgin and Child with censing angels.”—(R. J. K.)

The Choir, Decorated, is very fine:

“We approach the choir, entered by a door in the beautiful screen supporting the organ. This was the old rood-screen, on which formerly stood the rood, or figure of our Lord on the Cross. It was erected in the Fourteenth Century.

“The bosses of the vaulted roof are worthy of especial examination, so remarkable are they for the delicacy of the carved foliage. The choir has been carefully restored in recent years, and the stalls, pulpit and reredos are modern and were designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. Notice the old misereres, which are very remarkable and probably the oldest and most curious in England. The foliage denotes the Early English period and they were probably designed by Bishop Bruere (1224-1244). Notice the mermaid and merman on the south side, the elephant, knight slaying a leopard, a minstrel, etc. The lofty bishop’s throne was erected by Stapledon, and is said to have been taken down and hidden away during the Civil War period. The painted figures represent the four great bishops—Warelwast, Quivil, Stapledon and Grandisson. The sedilia by Stapledon are very fine. Notice the carved lions’ heads and the heads of Leofric, Edward the Confessor and his wife Editha. The east window is Early Perpendicular, inserted by Bishop Brantingham in 1390, and contains much old glass.”—(P. H. D.)

The miserere seats (Thirteenth Century) are curious and beautiful. They are probably the earliest in England.

“They are fifty in number and their subjects are of the usual character,—foliage, grotesques, animals (among which is an elephant) and knights in combat, whose heater shields, flat helmets and early armour are especially noticeable. Remark, on the south side of the choir a mermaid and a merman holding some circular instrument between them, the elephant mentioned above and a knight sitting in a boat drawn by a swan, an illustration of the romance of the Chevalier au Cygne. On the north side a knight attacking a leopard, a monster on whose back is a saddle with stirrups, a minstrel with tabor and pipe, a knight thrusting his sword into a grotesque bird and a mermaid holding a fish. The Early English character of the foliage, as well as its graceful arrangement, should be noticed throughout.”

“On the south side, the superb Bishop’s Throne towering almost to the roof. This was the gift of Bishop Bothe (1465-1478). It is said to have been taken down and hidden during Monmouth’s Rebellion.”—(R. J. K.)

“The Bishop’s Throne (A.D. 1316), intended for his Lordship with a chaplain on either side; ‘a magnificent sheaf of carved oak, put together without a single nail, and rising to a height of 57 feet. The lightness of its ascending stages almost rival the famous sheaf of fountains of the Nuremberg tabernacle. The cost of this vast and exquisitely carved canopy (about twelve guineas) is surprisingly small, even for those days. The carved work consists chiefly of foliage, with finials of great beauty, surmounting tabernacled niches, with a sadly untenanted look, however, for lack of their statuettes. The pinnacle corners are enriched with heads of oxen, sheep, dogs, pigs and monkeys.’ Next came what is perhaps the most exquisite work in stone in England, as the throne is unparalleled in woodwork—the SEDILIA; the seats of the priest to the east and to the west of him, those of the Gospeller and Epistoler. The sedilia have been preferred even to the shrine of Beverley and the Lady-Chapel of Ely. ‘The canopy of the seat nearest the altar,’ says Mr. Garland, ‘deserves particular attention. It is adorned with a wreath of vine leaves on each side, which meet at the point and there form a finial; and never did Greek sculptor of the best age trace a more exact portrait of the leaf of the vine, nor design a more graceful wreath, nor execute his design with a more masterly finish.’ It is regrettable that the carving of the sedilia is attributed to a Frenchman.”—(F. B.)

Of the high altar and reredos, perhaps the most magnificent in Europe, carved at the same period, not a fragment remains.

The two most important tombs in the choir are those of Bishop Lacey, who died in 1455, and Walter de Stapledon, who was murdered in London in 1326. Lacey has but a plain slab at which many miracles are said to have been done. Bishop Stapledon lies under a Perpendicular canopy, a fine figure holding a crozier with his left hand and a book with his right. Under the canopy is a figure of the Saviour, and at its side the small figure of a king crowned and wearing a scarlet robe, supposed to be Edward II. Bishop Stapledon’s body was removed from London to Exeter Cathedral by the Queen’s command and interred with great magnificence.

From the choir two chapels open. On the north, St. Andrew’s, very early Decorated, is exactly like the opposite one, St. James’s. Beneath the latter is the ancient Crypt. Both chapels have chambers above them.

Beyond the Choir, the ambulatory, or procession-path (Early Decorated), with Speke’s Chantry on the left or north and Bishop Oldham’s on the right or south, leads to the Lady Chapel. This was built by Quivil, and is remarkable for its beautiful foliage carvings, old reredos, graceful openings to the chantries on either side and magnificent east window.

“Quivil first transformed the Lady-Chapel; to him are due the shafts, sedilia, double piscina, and the vaulting, the rib-mouldings of which are of earlier character than those of the choir; and the windows, which closely resemble those of Merton College, Oxford, which we know was commenced in 1277. In the centre of the Lady-Chapel Bishop Quivil is buried; he died in 1291. The chapels on either side may have been remodelled or partly remodelled by Bronescombe; but the east windows are later in style, and are Quivil’s. The piers hereabout are very interesting. Those of the Lady-Chapel looking into the side chapels are composed of four columns. The north-east and south-east piers of the choir have clusters of eight shafts instead of four; while in the pier between them the cluster of eight is developed into a cluster of sixteen columns. Finally notice that these piers are set diamond-wise, with four flat faces, and the angles to the north, west, south and east.”—(F. B.)

In the centre of the pavement is the tombstone of Bishop Peter Quivil (died 1291), author of the present plan of the cathedral. Other effigies of bishops are interesting works of art, but those of Sir John and Lady Doddridge are very curious. Sir John (died 1628), one of James I’s judges of the King’s Bench, was called “the sleepy judge,” because he always sat on the bench with closed eyes; but more interesting is Lady Doddridge, who wears a rich dress brocaded with roses and carnations and also a remarkable ruff and headdress.

Under the arches opening from the Lady-Chapel to the side chapels are tombs of Bishops Bronescomb and Stafford. Bishop Bronescomb’s effigy (1280), on the south side, is a fine piece of carving. Stafford’s opposite (1419) is of alabaster, and it is famous for the rich tabernacle-work above the head.

We have been long attracted by the lovely East window. Now we can see the details.

“The east window is early Perpendicular and was inserted by Bishop Brantingham about 1390. The stained glass with which it is filled is for the most part ancient and very fine. Much of it dates apparently from the first half of the Fourteenth Century (temp. Edward I. and II.) and was removed from the earlier window; the shields below are those of early bishops and benefactors; the figures of saints above, most of which are to be recognised by their emblems, deserve careful notice. Beginning with the lowest row, and at the left hand, are St. Margaret, St. Catherine, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Barbara, the Virgin and Child, St. Martin, St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Andrew. All these figures are under very rich and varied canopies. The first three and the last three are of the first period; the others of Brantingham’s time. In the middle row are St. Sidwell, or Sativola, believed to have been a British lady of noble birth, and contemporary with St. Winifred of Crediton (first half of the Eighth Century). Her legend asserts that she was beheaded by a mower at the instigation of her stepmother, who coveted her possessions, near a well outside the walls of Exeter. In the window St. Sativola appears with a scythe in her left hand, whilst at her right is a well with a stream of water flowing from it. These emblems may either form a rebus of her name (scythe-well) or refer to her martyrdom. Beyond St. Sidwell are St. Helena, St. Michael, St. Margaret, St. Catherine, Edward the Confessor and St. Edmund. All the figures in this row are of Brantingham’s period. The three figures in the uppermost row are Abraham, Moses and Isaiah. These are of the first period. The tone of colour throughout this window is very fine and solemn. The heraldry in the upper part of the window is modern. In the north clerestory windows of the central bay are four headless figures of early Decorated character. The beautiful running pattern forming the ground on which they are placed should be noticed.”—(R. J. K.)

In the north-choir-aisle is a curious tomb with a cross-legged effigy of a Fourteenth Century knight in armour with one esquire at his head and another holding a horse at his feet. This is supposed to be a memorial to Sir Richard de Stapledon, a brother of the Bishop.

Returning as we came, we pass the Chantry of St. George, founded by Sir Thomas Speke in 1518. It is a mass of rich carving. The effigy of the founder lies within.

Opposite is Bishop Oldham’s Chantry, also a mass of carving, where the owl in the panels refers to his name (the word old is pronounced owld in Lancashire, where the Bishop was born). The Bishop’s effigy lies in a niche in the south wall.

“The Tudor work (1485-1519) is exceptional in importance. It includes the north entrance and other late portions of the western screen, two exquisite chapels both built by Bishop Oldham—his own chantry (St. Saviour’s) on the south side of the retro-choir, the Speke chantry (St. George’s) on the north—and in addition, Prior Sylke’s chantry on the north transept. All this work is admirable in design and execution. In Oldham’s chantry is a charming series of owls with the scroll Dam, a rebus on his name, proceeding from the beak of each little owl. To Bishop Oldham also (1504-1519) is due the grand set of stone screens—one of the glories of the cathedral—no less than ten, which veil all the nine chapels and Prior Sylke’s chantry, and add fresh beauty to the beautiful choir.”—(F. B.)

At the extreme end of the east aisle is the Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene, probably the work of Bishop Bronescomb, who died in 1280. The east window, which resembles that of the opposite chapel of St. Gabriel, contains some stained glass of the Fifteenth Century. In this chapel a fine Elizabethan monument to Sir Gawain Carew, his wife and their nephew Sir Peter should be noticed. It dates from 1589. A staircase here leads to the roofs of the north-choir-aisle and of the ambulatory. The views of the Cathedral obtained here are very fine, especially of the flying-buttresses.

St. Gabriel’s Chapel is similar to that of St. Mary Magdalene. Bishop Bronescomb’s patron saint was St. Gabriel the Archangel, whose feast was, in consequence, celebrated in Exeter Cathedral with the same solemnity as those of Christmas and Easter. A monument by Flaxman to General Simcoe, who died in 1806, having distinguished himself at the head of the Queen’s Rangers during the American war, and a splendid statue of Northcote, the painter, by Chantrey claim attention.

Finally summing up the characteristics of this glorious fane:

“Whatever else the student and lover of Gothic architecture omits, he must not omit to visit Exeter. He will find it fresh and different from anything he has seen before. Its unique plan, without central or western towers, the absence of obstructive piers at the crossing, the consequently uninterrupted vista, the singleness and unity of the whole design, the remarkable system of proportions, based on breadth rather than height, the satisfying massiveness and solidity of the building, inside and outside, and at the same time the airiness and lightness of the interior, the magnificence of its piers of marble, the delightful colour-contrast of marble column and sandstone arch, the amazing diversity of the window tracery, the exquisite carving of the corbels and bosses, the abundant and admirable Tudor work, the wealth of chantries and monuments, the superb sedilia, screen and throne, the misereres, the vaults, the extraordinary engineering feats from which its present form results, the originality of the west front and of the whole interior and exterior, place Exeter in the very forefront of the triumphs of the Mediæval architecture of our country.”—(F. B.)

WELLS

Dedication: St. Andrew.

Special features: West Front; East End; Inverted Arches in Nave; Chapter-House; Carvings of Capitals; Chain-Gate.

The site of this beautiful cathedral had long been sacred to the Britons on account of its wells, or springs, when the early Christians on coming to Glastonbury placed these waters under the protection of St. Andrew. King Ina’s house of secular canons was established here in 704, not far from the older Glastonbury, which, according to legend, was established by Joseph of Arimathea. At the beginning of the Tenth Century, a new bishopric was founded by Edward the Elder for the province of Somerset; and the Abbot of Glastonbury was made Bishop of Wells.

“Seen from a distance, the picturesque group of towers and pinnacles derives increased effect from the beauty and variety of the surrounding landscape. On one side rises the long ridge of the Mendips, with its rocky outliers; whilst in the southern distance the lofty peak of Glastonbury Tor lifts itself above the marches, marking the site of what was generally believed, throughout the Middle Ages, to have been the earliest Christian church in Britain, if not the first in Christendom. The Cathedral itself seems to nestle under its protecting hills; and the waters of the Bishop’s moat, sparkling in the sunshine, indicate the spring or great well which led King Ina to establish his church here, and which had perhaps rendered the site a sacred one as well in the days of the Druids as in those of that primitive British Christianity which disappeared before the heathendom of the advancing Saxons.

“From whatever direction the visitor enters the Close, he must pass under one of the three gatehouses built by Bishop Beckington (1443-1464), all of which display his shield of arms and his rebus,—a beacon inflamed issuing from a tun or barrel. Over the Chain-Gate passes the gallery which connects the Vicars’ College with the Cathedral. The gate, called the Penniless Porch, opens to the Market-place; but the Cathedral will be best approached for the first time through Browne’s gate, at the end of Sadler-street. From this point an excellent view of the west front is obtained, rising at the end of a broad lawn of greensward, bordered with trees. The Cathedral close of Wells is scarcely so picturesque as those of Salisbury or of Winchester. It is more open, however, and its short, bright turf contrasts very effectively with the grey stone of the buildings which encircle it and with the grand old church itself. This, with the exception of its pilasters of Purbeck, is built throughout with stone from the Doulting quarries, about nine miles from Wells.”—(R. J. K.)

During the rule of Robert (1135-1166) discord and jealousy between the men of Bath and Wells rose to such a pitch that it was determined the bishops should in future be styled “of Bath and Wells” and elected by an equal number of monks and canons from the abbey and collegiate church. Bishop Robert rebuilt and repaired the Saxon cathedral which had fallen into decay. Robert’s work has entirely perished. The next builders were Bishop Reginald Fitz-Jocelyn (1171-1191) and Bishop Jocelin of Wells (1206-1242), who rebuilt the Cathedral as we see it to-day. Jocelin was able to consecrate parts of it in 1239.

Jocelin, the great “maker of Wells,” bishop from 1206 to 1242, and his brother, Hugh (afterwards Bishop of Lincoln), were natives of Wells; here Jocelin served as canon and Hugh as archdeacon. Both were rich. Hugh, who lavished money upon Lincoln, also gave much to Jocelin for Wells. Jocelin spent his entire fortune upon his beloved Cathedral. This Jocelin must not be confused with the earlier Reginald Fitz-Jocelyn, bishop from 1171 to 1191.

“The part which he built, there can be little doubt, included the three western bays of the choir (which then formed the presbytery), the transepts, north porch and the eastern bays of the nave. That is to say, on entering the church, one is looking upon Reginald’s work, and not Jocelin’s; for, although the rest of the nave was completed by Jocelin, it was done in accordance with Reginald’s original plan. It is of great importance to remember this fact, since until recently the nave, with the other parts just mentioned, was attributed by Professor Willis, Professor Freeman, and most authorities to Jocelin.”—(P. D.)

Jocelin also built the famous west front and began the Bishop’s Palace.

In 1248 an earthquake did some damage to the central tower, and repairs were at once undertaken. The canons generously contributed funds which were augmented by the help of a local saint. Bishop William Bytton, nephew of the bishop of the same name (who lies in St. Catherine’s Chapel), died in 1274; and his remains soon began to cure the toothache. His tomb in the south-choir-aisle was visited by sufferers, and the famous western capitals in the transept doubtless refer to their cures.

For the next fifty years and more, much was done to the Cathedral by the energetic John de Godelee, dean from 1306 to 1333, who finished the Lady Chapel in 1326.

In 1318 the canons voluntarily offered a fifth of their salaries to raise the central tower, which was carried up three more stages and finished in 1321; and in 1325 they began new stalls, each canon having agreed to pay for his own stall. In 1337 and 1338 the whole church was thrown into dismay on account of fractures in the tower; for the tower appears to have sunk deeply into the earth, owing to pressure on the arches. All the masonry was disturbed; and in order to remedy this trouble, the curious double arches were inserted, to help support the strain. The original arches were also patched up and filled in with great blocks of stone and strengthened in various ways.

Much was due to Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-1363), who was buried before the High Altar in the Choir he had founded. He also finished the Palace begun by Jocelin. Bishop Harewell, who died in 1386, gave two-thirds of the cost of the south-west tower called by his name; and the executors of Bishop Bubwith finished the northwest tower that bears his name.

Bishop Beckington built the lovely gateways, and Dean Gunthorpe (died 1498), the Deanery.

The eastern walk of the Cloister and the Library above date from between 1407 and 1424; and the western and southern Cloister walks, between 1443 and 1464.

“Late researches have shown that Bishop Reginald began the present church and that the Early English work should be divided into four periods: (1) The three western arches of the choir, with the four western bays of its aisles, the transepts and the four eastern bays of the nave, which are Reginald’s work (1174-1191), and so early as to be still in a state of transition from the Norman. It is a unique example of transitional building, and Willis calls it ‘an improved Norman, worked with considerable lightness and richness, but distinguished from the Early English by greater massiveness and severity.’ The characteristics of this late Twelfth Century work are bold round mouldings, square abaci, capitals, some with traces of the classical volute, others interwoven with fanciful imagery that reminds us of the Norman work of Glastonbury; while in the north porch, which must be the earliest of all, we even find the zigzag Norman moulding. (2) The rest of the nave, which was finished in Jocelin’s time—that is to say, in the first half of the Thirteenth Century—preserves the main characteristics of the earlier work, though the flowing sculptured foliage becomes more naturalistic, and lacks the quaint intermingling of figure subjects. (3) The west front, which is Jocelin’s work, and alone can claim to be of pure Early English style. (4) The chapter-house crypt, which is so late as to be almost Transitional, though, curiously enough, it contains the characteristic Early English dog-tooth moulding which is found nowhere else except in the west window. From this, we reach the Early Decorated of the staircase, the full Decorated of the chapter-house itself, the later Decorated of the Lady-Chapel, the transitional Decorated of the presbytery, and the full Perpendicular of the western towers. Much of the masonry in the transepts, choir, choir aisles, and even in the eastern transepts, bears the peculiar diagonal lines which are the marks of Norman tooling. This does not, of course, prove that any part of Bishop Robert’s church is standing, for mediæval builders were notoriously economical in using up old masonry, but it does show that there are more remains of his work in the building than was generally supposed.”—(P. D.)

The Cathedral was much damaged during the Reformation and also during Monmouth’s rebellion in 1685, when the Duke’s followers stabled their horses in it and enjoyed a barrel of beer on the high altar.

There is a nave of nine bays, a space under the tower, a choir opening eastward of it and two transepts (each of four bays) with aisles opening north and south. The choir from the screen to the high altar occupies six bays; a retro-choir of two bays lies behind the altar; and beyond it again is an apsidal Lady-Chapel. The west front has been much admired, but some critics consider it too heavy for the short towers that abut on it. The windows of the nave and transepts are Decorated. The windows of the choir are more ornate, although in the same style, and those of the Lady-Chapel are still more so. The central tower (Perpendicular) is entirely covered with panelling. There is no spire. On the south side large cloisters open from the south-western tower and from the western aisle of the south transept; but there are only three walks, there being none on the north side. The Chapter-House is approached from the north side of the choir by a short passage and a flight of steps: a crypt lies under it. A beautiful porch, with parvise, opens into the sixth bay of the north aisle. From the eastern aisle of the north transept the Chain-Gate passes to the Vicars’ College, a double row of picturesque houses, dating from 1360.

“The Chain-Gate, in its association with the Chapter-House and the Vicars’ Close, is unique. The incline of the steps, easily to be distinguished from without, gives the corner a character quite its own. And the entrance to the Green by this gate, with the Cathedral on one side, balanced by the varied gables and roofs of the houses opposite, is particularly striking. The exterior of the Chapter-House comes into full view; the great central tower stands boldly up against the sky; the eastern gable presents its curious apex, and the Lady-Chapel below stands like a thing separate from the rest. Beyond, and under the Chain-Gateway, an arch admits to the Vicars’ Close—a charming street, lined on either side with diminutive dwelling-houses, once the separate residences of the vicars choral. At the top of the close is a small Perpendicular chapel with a library above. The interior is profusely—almost grotesquely—decorated in a manner to remind one to some extent of those strange little oratories so frequently met with in other parts of Europe. But to many it will possess a certain charm, despite its florid adornments, not often realised in this country. The Vicars’ Hall, a considerable portion of which is of the Fourteenth Century, with additions of a tower and other features, probably by Bishop Beckington, stands at the bottom of the street and communicates through the gallery of the Chain-Gate with the Chapter-House staircase, and thus with the cathedral. By this gallery the choristers passed into the church.”—(A. A.)

The celebrated West Front

“consists of a centre, in which are the three lancets of the western window and above them a gable receding in stages, with small pinnacles at the angles; and of two wings or western towers, projecting beyond the nave, as at Salisbury. The upper part of these towers is of Perpendicular character. That to the north-west was completed by Bishop Bubwith (1407-1424), whose statue remains in one of the niches: that to the south-west was the work of Bishop Harewell (1366-1386). Both these towers, fine as are their details, have a somewhat truncated appearance; and it is probable that the original Early English design terminated at the uppermost band of sculpture. The three western doors are of unusually small dimensions, perhaps in order to leave ample room for the tiers of figures which rise above them. Six narrow buttresses at the angles of which are slender shafts of Purbeck marble, supporting canopies, divide the entire front into five portions. The whole of the statues which fill the niches are of Doulting stone.”—(R. J. K.)

Many visitors are at the first sight disappointed at the mutilated and archaic expression of the figures; but they have commanded the greatest admiration ever since old Fuller wrote: “The west front of Wells is a masterpiece of art indeed, made of imagery in just proportion, so that we may call them vera et spirantis signa. England affordeth not the like.”

The West Front should be considered as a great screen intended for the display of statuary rather than as the west termination of the nave. The stone population, numbering about three hundred life-size or colossal figures, is only equalled by that of Rheims and that of Chartres. All critics agree that these statues, so notable for their graceful draperies and spiritual expressions, rank with the contemporary masterpieces of Italy and France. They are thought to have been made by Italian sculptors at the time when Niccola Pisano was reviving sculpture in Italy under the inspiration of classical models. The kings, queens, princes, knights and nobles wear the costume of the Thirteenth Century. The other figures are prophets, angels, martyrs and “the holy church throughout the world.”

Unlike the monumental west fronts of France, with their splendid porches and doors, the doors of Wells have been compared to “rabbit-holes on a mountain-side.”

The western towers projecting beyond the aisles of the nave give additional breadth to the west front. The arrangement resembles that of Rouen. The two towers are very similar. Both have two belfry windows on each side and a stair turret on the outer western angle. The spires were never added.

The Central Tower is Early English to the level of the roof, and the two upper stages are Decorated. From its summit a beautiful view is to be enjoyed.

The North Porch (Norman) is the oldest part

Wells: West front

Wells: North Porch

of the church. Some architects consider it the finest piece of architecture at Wells.

“The entrance is doubly recessed and has the zigzag ornament among its mouldings, an indication, if not of its early construction, at least of lingering Norman traditions among its builders. These mouldings deserve the most careful attention. The outer or dripstone, is formed of a very beautiful combination of Early English foliage. Square panels on either side of the arch contain figures of mystic animals, one of which is a cockatrice. The gable above has a blind arcade, in the centre of which a small triplet gives light to a parvise chamber. From the buttress at the angles rise slender spire-capped pinnacles. The buttresses themselves are flat and narrow.

“The interior of the porch is divided into two bays, and its walls are lined with a double arcade, the upper row of arches being more deeply recessed than the tower. The vault springs from a central group of triple shafts. The sculptures of the capitals on the east side possibly represent the death of King Edmund the Martyr (A.D. 870),—bound to a tree as a mark for the Danish arrows and afterwards beheaded. The figures are well designed, and full of life and character. The double doorway leading into the nave displays, like the exterior arch, the Norman zigzag.”—(R. J. K.)

On entering the Nave the visitor is at once struck by the noble proportions, the impression of great length, the broad horizontal band of the triforium, and the wealth of spirited and varied carving of the capitals and corbels; but the most striking feature of all is the great inverted, or double, arch that struts across the central piers forming a St. Andrew’s Cross, by which name it is generally known, and giving a grotesque (we are almost tempted to say Chinese) appearance.

“Undoubtedly the first thing that the stranger notices in Wells Cathedral, and the last that he is likely to forget, is the curious contrivance by which the central tower is supported. Of the three pairs of arches (the upper arch resting inverted upon the lower) which stretch across the nave and each of the transepts, that in the nave is seen at once, and lends a unique character to the whole church. At first these arches give one something of a shock, so unnecessarily frank are they, so excessively sturdy, so very English, we may think. They carry their burden as a great-limbed labourer will carry a child in a crowd, to the great advantage of the burden and the natural dissatisfaction of the crowd. In fact, they seem to block up the view, and to deform what they do not hide.

“That is the first impression, but it does not last for long. Familiarity breeds respect for this simple, strong device, which arrested the fall of the tower in the Fourteenth Century, and has kept its walls ever since in perfect security, so that the great structure has stood like a rock upon the watery soil of Wells for nearly seven centuries, with its rents and breaks just as they were when the damage was first repaired. The ingenuity, too, of these strange flying-buttresses becomes more and more evident; the ‘ungainly props’ are seen to be so worked into the tower they support, that they almost seem like part of the original design of the first builders. One discovers that it is the organ, and not the arches, that really blocks the view, and one marvels that so huge a mass of masonry can look so light as to present, with the great circles in the spandrels where the arches meet, a kind of pattern of gigantic geometrical tracery. Indeed I think no one who has been in Wells a week could wish to see the inverted arches removed.

“To appreciate the work fully, it should be looked at from some spot, such as the north-east corner of the north transept, whence the three great pairs of arches can be seen together. The effect from here is very fine, especially when the nave is lighted up and strong shadows are cast. The extreme boldness of the mouldings, the absence of shafts and capitals and of all ornament, give them a primitive vigour, and their great intermingling curves, which contrast so magnificently with the little shafts of the piers beyond, seem more like a part of some great mountain cavern than a mere device of architectural utility.”—(P. D.)

The general effect of the Nave is that of length rather than height, largely due to the continuous arcade of the triforium which leads the eye irresistibly eastwards, and the comparatively restricted height of the Cathedral has been increased by bold vaulting, and by the way the lantern arches fit into the vault. A little study will show the visitor the separation between the late Twelfth Century work of Reginald de Bohun, or Fitz-Jocelyn, and the Thirteenth Century work of Jocelin. These differences lie in the masonry and the carved heads and the capitals.

The heads of a king and bishop, projecting from the south side between the fourth and fifth piers, mark the point of change eastward: the masonry of piers, walls and aisle walls is in small courses of stone; westward, the blocks are larger, eastward, small human heads project at the angles of the pier-arches and westward there are none; eastward, the tympana of the triforium arcade are filled with carvings of grotesque animals and small heads at the corners, and westward, the tympana are filled with foliage and ornamented with larger heads. There are also other differences.

“Certainly it is an unusual instance of an architect deliberately setting himself to complete the works of an earlier period in faithful accordance with the original plan; and we may well be grateful to him for his modesty.

“All the carving is most interesting and beautiful: the caps and corbels of the vaulting shafts; the little heads at the angles of the arches, which are vivid sketches of every type of contemporary character; and the carvings in the tympana, which are best in the seventh, eighth and ninth bays (counting from the west end), those on the north excelling in design and execution, while those on the south are more grotesque. But the capitals of the piers are the best of all, and the most hurried visitor should spare some time for the study of these remarkable specimens of sculpture, vigorous and lifelike, yet always subordinated to their architectural purpose. Those in the transepts[4] are perhaps the best, but the following in the nave should not be missed:—

North side, Sixth Pier (by north porch): Birds pluming their wings: Beast licking himself: Ram: Bird with human head, holding knife (?).

“Eighth Pier. Fox stealing goose, peasant following with stick: Birds pruning their feathers. (Within Bubwith’s Chapel) Human monster with fish’s tail, holding a fish: Bird holding frog in his beak, which is extremely long and delicate.

“Ninth Pier. Pedlar carrying his pack on his shoulders, a string of large beads in one hand. Toothless monster with hands on knees.

“South side, Seventh Pier. Birds with human heads, one wearing a mitre.

“Eighth Pier. Peasant with club, seized by lion: Bird with curious foliated tail (within St. Edmund’s chapel). Owl: Peasant with mallet (?).”

If we look back towards the west end of the Nave we note an arcade of five arches, the middle one widest of all to accommodate the two small arches of the doorway. The three lancet windows are Perpendicular, remodelled, and some of their dogtooth moulding, medallions in the spandrels and little corbel heads of Early English work remain. There is a gallery below the sill of the window.

The two western towers form two small transepts that project beyond the aisles. Each is connected with the aisle by an arch. The Chapel of the Holy Cross under Bubwith’s Tower (north) is the choir-boys’ vestry. The chapel under Harewell’s Tower (south) is used by the bell-ringers. An Early English doorway leads from it into the Cloister.

“The nave, as far as the piers of the central tower, consists of ten bays, divided by octangular piers, with clustered shafts in groups of three. The capitals are enriched with Early English foliage, much of which is of unusually classical character,—one of the many indications of a lingering local school, with its Norman traditions. Birds, animals and monsters of various forms—among which is the bird with a man’s face, said to feed on human flesh—twine and perch among the foliage. Above the pier arches runs the triforium, very deeply set, and extending backward over the whole of the side aisles. The roof retains its original position. (The whole arrangement should be compared with the Norman triforia of Norwich and Ely, both of which extend over the side-aisles; but their exterior walls have been raised and Perpendicular windows inserted). The narrow lancet openings toward the nave are arranged in groups of three, with thick wall-plates between them. The head with each lancet is filled with a solid tympanum, displaying foliage and grotesques, of which those toward the upper end of the south side are especially curious. At the angles of the lancets are bosses of foliage and human heads, full of character. In the upper spaces between each arch are medallions with leafage. Triple shafts, with enriched capitals, form the vaulting-shafts, the corbels supporting which deserve examination. A clerestory window (the tracery is Perpendicular, and was inserted by Bishop Beckington (1443-1464)) opens between each bay of the vaulting, which is groined, with moulded ribs and bosses of foliage at the intersections.”—(R. J. K.)

In the clerestory of the sixth bay on the south side there is a Music Gallery, early Perpendicular, the front of which consists of three panels with large quartrefoils containing shields. It is very fine, but not equal to the Minstrels’ Gallery in Exeter. It is finished with an embattled cornice.

The aisles of the Nave are of the same architectural character as the Nave itself. Among the striking capitals are:

Fifth shaft. Peasants carrying sheep, with a dog.

Ninth shaft. Man in a rough coat carrying foliage on his back.

Tenth shaft. Mason carrying a hod of mortar and a mallet; opposite side of arch: Peasant in hood with staff and opposite this two heads, evidently with toothache.

The greater part of the glass of the West Window was collected by Bishop Creyghton in 1660-1670, excellent Sixteenth Century representations of the history of John the Baptist. Possibly Creyghton added the figures of King Ina and Bishop Ralph in the other lights, for the southern one also bears his arms. The top and bottom of the middle light are said to have come from Rouen in 1813.

Now we will examine the transepts.

“The transepts seem to have been built before the nave, but some of the carved work of the capitals and corbels is of later date than the nave. The capitals on the west side of both transepts are among the finest in England. Many refer to the toothache.

“North Transept: first Pier.—(Inside the Priest Vicars’ vestry) A prophet(?) with scroll on which there is no name: Man carrying goose. (Outside) Head with tongue on teeth.

“Second Pier.—Aaron writing his name on a scroll: Moses with the tables of stone.

“Third Pier.—Woman with a bandage across her face. Above this cap the corbel consists of a seated figure, naked, with distorted mouth and an agonised expression.

“South Transept, second pier (from the south end). Two men are stealing grapes, one holds the basket full, the other plucks grapes, holding a knife in his other hand: The farmers in pursuit, one carries a spade and

the other a pitchfork: The man with the fork, a vigorous figure, catches one thief: The man with the spade hits the other (whose face is most woe-begone) on the head.

“Third pier.—Woman pulling thorn out of her foot: Man with one eye, finger in his mouth: Baboon head: Cobbler; this figure shows very plainly the method of shoemaking at this time; the cobbler in his apron, sits with the shoe on one knee, his strap passes over the knee and round the other foot, his foot is turned over so as to present the side and not the sole to the strap: Woman’s head with long hair.

“Fourth pier.—Head perfectly hairless: Elias P. (the prophet) with hand on cheek as if he, too, has the toothache: Head in hood, with tongue on the one remaining tooth.

“It may be well here to say a word about the general classification of these earlier capitals, since their date is a matter of great architectural interest. I would venture to divide them into five groups—

“(1) Those of the three western bays of the choir: simple carved foliage of distinctly Norman character, as in the north porch: these belong to the time of Reginald (1174-1191).

“(2) The four eastern bays of the nave and its aisles. Some of these may belong to the first period, though later than the choir: they are more advanced in the foliage, and teem with grotesque birds and beasts. Some, however, of the caps in these bays are of quite different character; they contain genre subjects of perfectly naturalistic treatment, very different to the St. Edmund of the north porch capital; but exactly similar to the figure caps of the transepts. They must therefore have been carved later than the death of Saint William Bytton.

“(3) The western bays of the nave. These, which are of much less interest, belong to the period of Jocelin’s reconstruction (1220-1242). They are characteristic examples of rich stiff-leaf foliage, freer than that of the earlier work, but much less varied and without either human figures or grotesques.

“(4) On the eastern range of transept piers. These would seem also to come within Jocelin’s period, with the exception of the third pier of the south transept.

“(5) On the western range of transept piers, with which must be classed those later caps already referred to in the nave under group 2. Their date is settled by the fact that they abound in unmistakable representations of the toothache. Now Saint William Bytton died in 1274, and his tomb became immediately famous for cures of this malady. In 1286, the chapter decided to repair the old work, no doubt because the offerings at his tomb had brought money to the church.”—(P. D.)

In studying these fascinating grotesques, however, we have neglected to examine the two chantries in the nave—Bishop Bubwith’s and Dean Sugar’s. They are opposite one another and are alike in general characteristics. The screen work and cornices of Bubwith’s composed of light and elaborate tracery are very much admired. Light doorways permit entrance. The altar here was dedicated to St. Saviour. Bishop Bubwith (who built the north-west tower) died in 1424. His arms, containing holly-leaves, are beautifully carved.

Sugar’s Chantry, about sixty years later in date, is even more elaborate. Like Bubwith’s, it is hexagonal and the canopy over the altar is vaulted with delicate fan-tracery. Critics now consider it the finer of the two.

Adjoining Sugar’s Chantry the stone Pulpit, built in the reign of Henry VIII., calls for attention. In front are the arms of Bishop Knight, who built it and who is buried near it (he died in 1547). Beside it, is a brass lectern presented in 1660; upon this rests a Bible of the same date.

In the South transept, we find the Font, interesting because it is the one relic of Bishop Robert’s Norman church. It may have stood in the earlier Saxon cathedral. The cover is Jacobean.

In the south end of the south transept is the Tomb of Bishop de Marchia (died 1302). The effigy of the bishop, lying in a recess under a canopy bristling with crockets and finials and brilliant with scarlet and crimson, green and gold, is very striking. Some of the angels surrounding the figure are charming. It is interesting to compare this with the Tomb of Lady Lisle, also adorned with crockets and brightly coloured.

Perpendicular stone screens divide the transepts from their small chapels. The chapels of the south transept are St. Martin’s (now the canon’s vestry) and that of St. Calixtus, enclosed on the side of the choir-aisle by some beautiful ironwork from Beckington’s tomb. On the south side of St. Calixtus’s chapel we must pause to examine Dean Husse’s tomb, of alabaster, and noted for its carved panels even in this cathedral of splendid carvings.

St. David’s Chapel in the north transept compels us to pause again to look at the capital of the second transept pier—a handsome head with curls and a smile on his face—and a fine corbel carved into the form of a lizard eating leaves of a plant with berries. In this chapel lies an interesting effigy of Bishop Still (1543-1607) in a red robe lined with white fur. Next comes the Chapel of the Holy Cross in which is the tomb of Bishop Cornish (died 1513), thought also to have been used as the Easter Sepulchre, where the Host was laid during Holy Week.

The north transept contains a relic of the past that delights every one who happens to be there at the striking of the hour. The famous clock that once belonged to Glastonbury Abbey is still in working order. A little figure known locally as “Jack Blandiver” kicks the quarters with his heels on two little bells and at the hour four figures on horseback above the clock rush around and charge each other. The curious clock was made by Peter Lightfoot, a monk of the abbey. It was said to have been in constant use at Glastonbury for 250 years before it was removed to Wells at the Dissolution of the monasteries.

From the east aisle of the north transept a door opens to the Staircase that leads to the Chapter-House and also to the celebrated Chain-Gate, or carved bridge that connects the Vicars’ College with the Cathedral. Through this gallery the Vicars could pass from their own Close into the Cathedral. The common hall of their college (1340) opens from it.

“There are few things in English architecture that can be compared with it for strange impressive beauty; the staircase goes upward for eighteen steps and then part of it sweeps off to the Chapter-house on the right, while the other part goes on and up till it reaches the chain-bridge; thus the steps lie, worn here and there by the tread of many feet, like fallen leaves, the last of them lost in the brighter light of the bridge. Here one is still almost within the cathedral, and yet the carts are passing underneath, and their rattle mixes with the sound of the organ within.

“The main gallery of the Chain-Gate is shut off by a door, which, if it were kept open, would make the prospect even more beautiful than it is. Two corbels which support the vaulting-shafts of the lower staircase should be noticed; they both represent figures thrusting their staves into the mouth of a dragon, but that on the east (wearing a hood and a leathern girdle round his surcoat) is as vigorous in action as the figure on the west side is feeble. A small barred opening in the top of the east wall lights a curious little chamber, which is reached from the staircase that leads to the roof.”—(P. D.)

The Chapter-House is famous among these beautiful adjuncts to English cathedrals. It has been called “a glorious development of window and vault.” It was built in the latter half of the Geometrical period (1280-1315). Note the profusion of ball-flower ornament round the windows and the ogee dripstones outside.

“Of octagonal plan, its vaulting ribs branch out from sixteen Purbeck shafts which cluster round the central pillar, typifying the diocesan church with all its members gathered round its common father, the bishop. Each of the eight sides of the room is occupied by a window of four lights, with graceful tracery of an advanced geometrical type. These windows, which are among the finest examples of the period, have no shafts, but their arch mouldings are enriched with a continuous series of the ball-flower ornament. Most of the old glass in which ruby and white are the predominant colours, remains in the upper lights. Under the windows runs an arcade which forms fifty-one stalls, separated into groups of seven by the blue lias vaulting-shafts at the angles, but in the side which is occupied by the doorway there are only two stalls, one on either side of the entrance. Two rows of stone benches are under the stalls, and there is a bench of Purbeck round the base of the central pier.”—(P. D.)

Another authority says:

“At the springs of the arches are sculptured heads full of expression, kings, bishops, monks, ladies, jesters; and at the angles, grotesques of various kinds. A line of the ball-flower ornament is carried round above the canopies.

“The double arches at the entrance show traces of a door on the exterior. Remark the curious boss in the vaulting, composed of four bearded faces. The diameter of the chapter-house is fifty feet, its height forty-one feet. Its unusual, and indeed unique, features are—its separation from the cloisters from which the chapter-house generally opens; and its crypt, or lower story, which rendered necessary the staircase by which it is approached.

“A most striking view of the chapter-house is obtained from the fourth angle of the staircase, close to the doorway of the Vicars’ College. The effect of the double-door arches with their tracery, of the central pier, the branched ribs of the vaulting, and the fine windows is magnificent; and when the latter were filled with stained glass, must have been quite unrivalled. The chapter-house is by no means the least important of the many architectural masterpieces which combine to place Wells so high in the ranks of English cathedrals.”—(R. J. K.)

The Crypt, finished by 1286, represents the last development of the Early English style. It was used as the treasury where valuables were kept. It is reached by a dark passage from the north-choir-aisle. The odd corbels should be noted. The walls are very thick, the windows narrow with wide splays and the vaulting-ribs spring from round and massive pillars with much effect. This Crypt is unusually high, because the many springs at Wells would not permit of a subterranean chamber.

But again we have been led astray from the main body of the Cathedral. Returning the same way, we again enter the north transept and stand beneath the splendid fan-tracery vault of the tower, a vault, beautiful as it is, that hides the lantern with its arcades. These, however, can be seen during the ascent of the tower.

The Screen dates from the Fourteenth Century.

“The first impression on entering the choir will not readily be forgotten. Owing to the peculiar and most beautiful arrangement of the Lady-chapel and the retro-choir, to the manner in which the varied groups of arches and pilasters are seen beyond the low altar screen, to the rich splendours of the stained glass, to the beautiful architectural details of the choir itself, and to the grace and finish of the late restorations, it may safely be said that the choir of no English cathedral affords a view more impressive or more picturesque. It is difficult to determine whether the effect is more striking at early morning, when the blaze of many-coloured light from all the eastern windows is reflected upon the slender shafts of Purbeck and upon the vaulted roof, or at the late winter services, when the darkened figures of saints and prophets in the clerestory combine with the few lights burning at the choristers’ stalls to add something of mystery and solemn gloom to the maze of half-seen aisles and chapels.

“The first three piers and arches of the choir are Early English, of the same character as those of the nave and transepts, and are probably the work of Bishop Jocelin. The remaining portion, including the whole of the vaulting as well as the clerestory above the first three bays, is very rich early Decorated (geometrical) and deserves the most careful study.

“The tabernacle work and the window tracery of the first three bays, although of the same date, are less rich than those of the eastern half of the choir. In this latter portion remark the triple banded shafts of Purbeck, carried quite to the roof as vaulting-shafts, and the tabernacle-work occupying the place of the triforium, deeper and wider than in the lower bays. Under each arch is a short triple shaft, supporting a bracket richly carved in foliage. The sculpture of the capitals and of these brackets is very good and should be noticed. The foliage has become unconventional, and has evidently been studied from nature. Its diminutive character, as compared with the Early English work in the nave, is very striking.

“The east end of the choir is formed of three arches divided by slender piers above which is some very rich tabernacle-work, surmounted by an east window of unusual design. At the back of the altar, and between the piers, is a low diapered screen, beyond which are seen the arches and stained windows of the retro-choir and Lady-chapel.”—(R. J. K.)

The stone vault is unusual, a sort of “coved roof,” Freeman calls it, “with cells cut in it for the clerestory windows.”

The three western bays are Bishop Reginald’s of the Twelfth Century. Here we are in the very oldest part of the Cathedral. Triple vaulting-shafts of Purbeck marble are carried down to the floor.

“The clerestory windows contain flowing tracery of an advanced and not very good type. In some the plain mullions are carried on through the head of the window and intersect each other. Above the tabernacle-work of the east end is the EAST WINDOW of seven lights, the last bit of the Fourteenth Century reconstruction, the last flicker of Decorated freedom. Its curious tracery is still beautiful, doubly so for the glass it enshrines, but the rule and square of Perpendicular domination have already set their mark upon it; the two principal mullions run straight up to the window head, and part of the tracery between them is rectangular.”—(P. D.)

The Cathedral possesses sixty-four Misericords, from the old choir-stalls, regarded as among the best examples of mediæval wood-carving in England. The skilful hand of the carver has wonderfully represented griffins fighting, mermaids, apes, goats, dragons, wyverns, popinjays, cats, foxes, peacocks, monsters, angels, eagles, hawks, rabbits, kings, peasants—and many other birds, animals and grotesques.

The soft yet brilliant light sifts in from the Jesse Window above the high altar. We lift our eyes and with some pains discern the twining branches of the vine with the recumbent figure of Jesse at the base, resting his head on his hand. From him rises the leading shoot of the tree, with the figures of the Virgin and the Child each with radiant nimbus and beneath a golden canopy. The tendrils of the vine enwreath prophets, priests and kings,—the ancestors of the Babe of Bethlehem. Above is a representation of the Crucifixion; and at the very

Wells: Nave, east

Wells: South-west

top of the window, the outstretched wings of the Holy Spirit.

The choir-aisles are of the same character as the choir itself and are entered from the transepts through ogee arches, ornamented with crockets and finials.

The south-choir-aisle contains the Tomb of Saint William Bytton, at which (the oldest incised slab in England) offerings were made by those suffering from toothache, as we have already seen. Further away is the Tomb of Beckington, surrounded by a beautiful iron-screen of the same date as the tomb (1452). The carving is very fine, especially the wings of the angels. A little colour is left here and there. His effigy rests upon it, with old and wrinkled face. This bishop said mass for his own soul here in January, 1452, thirteen years before he died.

In the south-east transept, we find the Chapel of St. John Baptist, where a Decorated piscina with canopy deserves attention.

At the extreme end of the north-choir-aisle is Saint Stephen’s Chapel and at the extreme end of the south-choir-aisle is the corresponding Saint Catherine’s Chapel. Both contain effigies of bishops, tombs and monuments. Between and back of these is the Lady-Chapel.

We now return to the Retro-choir. Four slender piers of Purbeck marble bear up the vault. The arrangement of the columns should be particularly noticed here. It is hard to realise that this Retro-choir was merely a device for connecting the Lady-Chapel with the Choir, it seems so entirely a part of the scheme.

“The beauty of the retro-choir, or ‘procession aisles,’ the arrangement of its piers and clustered columns, and the admirable manner in which it unites the Lady-chapel with the choir should be here remarked. It is throughout Early Decorated. The foliage of the capitals and the bosses of the vaulting will repay careful examination. Many of the vaulting ribs appear to spring from two grotesque heads—one on either side of the low choir-screen—which hold them between their teeth. The four supporting pillars and shafts are placed within the line of the choir-piers, thus producing the unusual intricacy and variety of the eastward view from the choir. At Salisbury, and in all other English cathedrals, the piers of the procession-aisles are placed in a line with those of the choir.”—(R. J. K.)

Mr. Bond thinks the Wells architect got his idea for the octagonal Lady-Chapel by tacking on the elongated octagonal of the Lichfield Chapter-House to the rectangular retro-choir of Salisbury.

“The Lady-chapel is an early work of the Curvilinear period; for it seems to have been complete in 1324. The windows have beautiful reticulated tracery of early type. There is lovely carving in the capitals, bosses, reredos, sedilia and piscina. The Curvilinear foliated capitals here and in the choir should be compared with the somewhat earlier capitals of the chapter-house, with the early Geometrical capitals of the staircase, the Lancet capitals of the west front and the late Transitional ones of porch, nave and transepts. The ancient glass here and in the Jesse window of the choir is superb in colour.

“As every one knows, it is the most beautiful east end we have in England. It may be worth while to see how this design was arrived at—a design as exceptional as it is effective. The simplest form of an east end in English Gothic is seen at York and Lincoln: it consists merely of a low wall with a big window above it. The next improvement is to build an aisle or processional path behind the east end; at the same time piercing the east wall with one, two or three arches. This was done at Hereford about 1180; and on a magnificent scale in the Chapels of Nine Altars at Durham and at Fountains early in the Thirteenth Century. But the French apsidal cathedrals—of which we have an example in Westminster—have not only an encircling processional aisle, but also a chevet of chapels radiating out from it; thus providing ever-changing vistas of entrancing beauty. The next step in England also was to provide our rectangular choirs with a chevet as well as with a processional aisle. An early example of this plan is to be seen at Abbey Dore, in Herefordshire, about 1190. It occurs early in the Thirteenth Century on a still grander scale at Salisbury, where one finds not one but two processional aisles, as well as chapels to the east of them; and, in addition, a Lady-chapel projecting still farther to the east, thus producing a design of great complexity and beauty. Nevertheless, at Salisbury, since the chief supporting piers of the retro-choir and the chevet are in a line with those of the choir, there is by no means the same changeful intricacy of vista that affords one ever fresh delight in an apsidal church. At Wells, however, the architect attained all the success of the Continental builder simply because he built his Lady-chapel not rectangular but octagonal. For to get this octagon, of which only five sides were supported by walls, he had to plant in the retro-choir two piers to support the remaining three sides; and these piers are necessarily out of line with the piers of the choir. He had got the Continental vista. He saw it; but he saw also that it could be improved upon. And he did improve it, by putting up an outer ring of four more piers round the western part of the octagon of the Lady-chapel. It was an intuition of genius: it makes the vistas into the retro-choir and the Lady-chapel a veritable glimpse into fairyland; and provides here alone in England a rival to the glorious eastern terminations of Amiens and Le Mans. And that is not all. We saw in the chapter-house the grand effect of the central stalk branching upward and outward in all directions, like some palm tree transmuted into stone. This beautiful effect he transfers to the retro-choir, but multiplied—four palm trees in place of one; for each of the four external piers of the octagon emulates the chapter-house’s central stalk.”—(F. B.)

The large windows are filled with fine specimens of Fourteenth Century glass unfortunately now jumbled together. The East Window is composed of odd pieces put together by Willement. David and other patriarchs occupy the upper tier, and the Virgin, Eve and the Serpent and Moses and the Brazen Serpent, the lower tier. The upper lights display angels with the instruments of the Passion, emblems of the Evangelists and busts of bishops and patriarchs.

“From the south-west transept we pass into the CLOISTERS, which occupy an unusual amount of space, but have only three walks instead of the usual four.

“The difference between a true monastic cloister and this of Wells should be remarked. The canons of Wells were not monks and did not require a cloister in the ordinary sense. This is merely an ornamental walk around the cemetery. It did not lead to either dormitory, refectory or chapter-house. It served as a passage to the Bishop’s Palace; and the wall of the east walk is Early English of the same date as the palace itself. The lavatory in the east walk should be remarked, as well as the grotesque bosses of the roof in the portion built by Bishop Beckington. Over the western cloister is the Chapter Grammar School. The central space is known as the ‘Palm Churchyard,’ from the yew-tree in its centre, the branches of which were formerly carried in procession as palms. From the south-east angle of the cloisters we descend into the open ground within the gateway adjoining the marketplace, and opposite the episcopal palace. This is surrounded by a moat, as well as by strong external walls and bastions, and would have been capable of sustaining a long siege according to the mediæval system of warfare. The moat is fed by springs from St. Andrew’s, or the ‘bottomless well’—the original ‘great well’ of King Ina,—which rise close to the palace and fall into the moat in a cascade at the north-east corner. Both walls and moat were the work of Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329-1365).”—(R. J. K.)

Wells is famous for its ancient houses. The old Palace and the Deanery are still occupied by the bishop and the dean; the canons and vicars also live in the individual houses built for these ecclesiastics. Wells was never a monastery with a common refectory and dormitory: there were always secular priests here and each man lived in his own house. Of all the domestic buildings the Bishop’s Palace is the most beautiful. It is considered the most perfect specimen of an Early English house that exists.

BATH ABBEY

Dedication: St. Peter and St. Paul. A Church served by Secular Canons.

Special feature: West Front.

Standing before the West Front, we notice, first of all, that upon the angles of the nave on either side of the great window are two turrets, on the face of each of which is carved a ladder with angels ascending or descending. The space above the window is also carved with angels; and, under a canopy above the group, stands a figure of God the Father. Of this strange decoration the following story is told:

Oliver King, Bishop of Exeter, was translated to the See of Bath and Wells in 1495. He went at once to Bath, and found the church in a dilapidated condition. While there, he had a repetition of Jacob’s famous dream of a ladder reaching from heaven to earth with angels ascending and descending. Above them stood the Lord, who said: “Let an Olive establish the crown and a King restore the church.” Taking the hint, Bishop Oliver King immediately set to work to rebuild the church and had his dream recorded upon the west front. He also had an olive-tree and crown carved on each of the corner buttresses.

Bishop King’s new church was smaller than the old one. It only occupied the site of the former nave. He died before it was finished. Prior William Birde continued the work, not forgetting a chantry for himself, which is regarded as the best thing in the church. Birde died in 1525; and the work was still unfinished when it was seized by the king’s commissioners. The roofless and neglected church soon fell into decay; but in 1572 it was patched up a little in order that services might be held in it. The east window was glazed and the choir was roofed. The nave, however, was not roofed until Bishop Montague’s rule (1608-1616).

At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, many mean houses that had clustered around Bath Abbey were removed, and buttresses and pinnacles were added to strengthen the walls. Repeated restorations have made it exceedingly trim in appearance.

About 775, Offa, the Mercian king, founded here a college of secular canons, who were expelled by Dunstan in the Tenth Century and superseded by monks.

One great event in the abbey church was the coronation of King Edgar on the Feast of Pentecost, 973; and for centuries afterwards it was the custom to select on Whitsunday a “King of Bath” from among its citizens, in honour of this circumstance.

John de Villula, a Frenchman from Tours, who was Bishop of Somerset in the reign of William Rufus, greatly preferred Bath to Wells. He was able to merge Bath Abbey into the bishopric; and then he began to rebuild the church dedicated to St. Peter. When it was finished, he transferred the bishop’s seat from Wells to Bath. This did not satisfy Wells, however, and when Robert of Lewes became bishop of Bath and Wells, he seems to have arranged matters by allowing the Bishop of Somerset to have a throne at St. Andrew’s in Wells and at St. Peter’s in Bath, the bishop to be chosen by the monks of Bath and the canons of Wells (See page 108).

The church built by John of Tours having suffered from fire, Robert was compelled to rebuild it; but subsequent bishops neglected Bath; and at the end of the Fifteenth Century, when Oliver King was removed here from Exeter, he found the church was in a ruinous condition and began to rebuild it, as we have seen.

Bath Abbey is a very interesting example of late Perpendicular. It was nearing completion when it surrendered to Henry VIII. in 1539, and is, therefore, the last expression of Gothic Art. The most interesting part of the church is the West Front, with its large window flanked by the turrets with the ladders, already described. Each turret contains a staircase; rises far above the parapet of the nave; and terminates in an embattled parapet surmounted by an eight-sided and crocketed pyramid.

“The great west window is one of seven lights, divided horizontally into four parts. Below it is a battlemented parapet with a niche in the centre, in which, no doubt, a statue formerly stood, and in which a new statue has recently been placed. At the base of it are the arms and supporters of Henry VII. Below it is the west door, beneath a rectangular label. The spandrels contain emblems of the Passion. On either side stand statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, to whom the church was jointly dedicated; these seem to be of Elizabethan date. The doors themselves were the gift to the church of the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Henry Montague, brother of the bishop who completed the church. On them may be seen shields bearing the arms of the Montagues and of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.”—(T. P.)

The Central Tower is oblong and rises two stages above the roof. It contains two pairs of windows

Bath Abbey: West front

Bath Abbey: Choir, west

with rectangular heads and each corner is ornamented by a heavy octagonal turret also terminating in octagonal pyramids decorated with crockets. Similar pyramids terminate the turrets that flank the sides of the east window of the choir.

There is no Lady-Chapel.

Let us survey the exterior:

“The nave consists of five bays. The clerestory windows are unusually lofty, and are divided by transoms; they are of five lights. Along the top of the clerestory wall is a battlemented, pierced parapet; but the pattern of the pierced openings differs from that of the parapet which runs along the top of the aisle walls. The aisles have five light windows without transoms; their heads are four centred arches; between each bay are projecting buttresses of three stages with gabled offsets, finished with crocketed pinnacles; against them rest flying-buttresses formed of a lower semi-arch, with a straight rectilinear truss. From the points where the arched flying-buttresses abut against the clerestory walls, vertical, slightly projecting buttresses are built upwards against the wall and rising above the parapet, are finished by crocketed pinnacles. The same design is carried right round the church. The clerestory of the transepts resembles those of the nave and the choir.”—(T. P.)

Entering, our first and general view is impressive, because of the fan-vaulting and height of the Nave. Owing to the absence of horizontal lines, the vault seems higher than it really is. There is no triforium. A string-course runs above the arches of the main arcade beneath the clerestory windows, which are unusually tall. On account of the enormous windows and the absence of painted glass, Bath Abbey received the name of the “Lantern of the West”; but now that the windows of the nave and choir-aisles have been supplied with painted lights, the name is less appropriate. The tracery of these windows is, of course, Perpendicular. The one in the south-transept is a thanksgiving for the recovery of the Prince of Wales in 1872. The lower lights depict the recovery of Hezekiah and the royal arms of the Prince and Princess of Wales and also those of the city of Bath. The upper part represents the Tree of Jesse. The great east and west windows have seven lights. The west window contains subjects from Old Testament history, and the east-window, representations of the life of Christ.

“There is little variety in the arches and shafts throughout the church. This repetition is a well-known feature in Perpendicular work. The piers have no general capital. The shaft which carries the inner order of the arch has a capital, and so, at the same level, have the vaulting-shafts of the high vault and that of the aisles. These shafts spring from the bases of the main pillars. The capitals at this level are plain, and so are the capitals of the vaulting-shafts of the nave from which the vaulting-ribs spring. But in the choir the place of these plain bands is taken by carved angels. Carved angels also form the termination of the hood-moulding of the lower windows of the south transept, and probably those of the north transept also, though these windows are hidden by the wooden pipes of the organ.

“Over the heads of the clerestory windows of the nave are small shields, and shields may also be seen in the centre of the fan-tracery in the nave, choir and transept. In the aisles the fan-tracery is somewhat different, as in the centre of each bay there is a pendant. The vaulting of the nave and its aisles and that of the south transept are modern, put up, under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott, to match the roof of the choir and its aisles and north transept respectively. The reredos was designed by the same architect. The oak screen across the eastern part of the south choir aisle is due to his son. The font is also modern. In fact, beyond the walls and the roofing of the eastern part of the church, there is little old about it. In the clerestory windows are a few fragments of Seventeenth-Century glass—heraldic shields.”—(T. P.)

Although Bath Abbey is full of monuments (there are over six hundred memorial tablets besides statues), the only tombs that deserve attention are those of Bishop Montague, in the fourth arch of the nave on the north side, and Lady Waller’s Monument under the southern window of the transept. The figure of her husband, Sir William Waller, who commanded the Parliamentary army in the Battle of Landsdown, near Bath, clad in mail, gazes down upon his dead wife. Two weeping children kneel at her feet.

Between the choir and the south-aisle Prior Birde’s Chantry occupies two bays. It is a most elaborate piece of carving. The rebus of the founder (a bird and a W) appears frequently. Fan-tracery decorates the vault.

The very fine organ is placed in the transept. The bells of Bath are famous.

BRISTOL

Dedication: The Holy Trinity. A Church served by Augustinian Canons.

Special features: East Window (tracery and glass); Chapter-House; Great Gateway.

The West Front of Bristol gives us a slight suggestion of a French cathedral, for here we find a rose window and a large doorway, at the side of which rise two square towers. The balustrade above the crocketed gable of the doorway partly hides the rose-window.

The towers were built in 1887 and 1888: the north-west is Bishop Butler’s Tower and the south-west, the Colston Tower. The Butler tower is enriched with statues of St. Michael, St. Gabriel and the Angel of Praise; the Colston, with the Angel of the Gospel, St. Raphael and the Angel of the Sun. On our right is the Great Gateway.

The exterior of Bristol is not very striking. The buttresses of the Elder-Lady-Chapel are Decorated and of the same date as the east window of the same chapel. We should also view the great east window of the Lady-Chapel from without and the Central Tower.

“Early in the Fifteenth Century a central tower was added. Here again one is struck by the originality of the British people: it is as beautiful as it is original. The designer had noticed how beautiful is the effect of a close-packed range of tall clerestory windows, such as those of Leighton Buzzard Church. So instead of restricting himself on each side of the tower to one or two windows, he inserts no less than five. The range of clerestory windows, which the Fourteenth Century builder refused to the choir, becomes the special ornament and glory of the tower.”—(F. B.)

As we enter through the North Porch, which occupies the space between two buttresses and is adorned with statues of the Four Evangelists, we may remember that when Henry VIII. created the diocese of Bristol there had been a church and monastery of Augustine canons on this site for four hundred years. This monastery was founded in 1142 by Robert Fitzhardinge, Lord of Berkeley Castle. Of his Norman church little remains but portions of the walls in both transepts, a staircase in the north-aisle leading to the tower, and some fragments in the choir. The Norman nave was removed in 1542, because it was thought unsafe. The new nave and western towers were completed in 1888 by Mr. Street, who copied from the old, repeating the vaulting and the recesses of the eastern end.

The ground plan consists of a nave with an aisle on either side; a central tower and transepts; then the choir with north and south aisles; and finally, the Lady-Chapel at the end. On the north of the north-choir-aisle is the first Lady-Chapel—built in the Early English style, and called Elder-Lady-Chapel to distinguish it from the later Lady-Chapel at the east end.

At the south-east end of the south-choir-aisle we find the Berkeley Chapel; and at the end of the south transept, the Newton Chapel. Beyond it is the Chapter-House with its Vestibule, and on the south and west the remains of the Cloisters.

Our best position for viewing the Nave is from the north or between the two big towers. It is 120 feet long, 60 feet high and 69 broad including the aisles. One peculiarity of Bristol is that the aisles are of the same height as the Nave; and another, that this Cathedral has neither clerestory, nor triforium. The windows of the Nave are very large and are strengthened by transoms.

The West Window has for its subject the Adoration of the Lamb. The Choir consists of four bays. It is in the Decorated style and dates from 1306 to 1332.

“The piers of the choir carry triple shafts which support the vaulting of the choir, and others for the aisles, which are here of the same height as the choir. Capitals of great delicacy and beauty, modelled from real foliage, serve to break the line of the mouldings and accentuate the springing of the vault. Graceful though the span of the roof is admitted to be, the lines of the arcade of the choir are finer, and the effect of the contrast of their soft mouldings carried up and around without a break is excellent. The iron screen-work that separates the choir from its aisles is uninteresting and too small in scale.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

On either side of the high altar are canopied recesses containing monuments. The reredos is a memorial to Bishop Ellicott and is rather too high, therefore interfering with a good view of the splendid east window in the Lady-Chapel. The mosaic pavement is new, and the stalls are also modern. Some of the old Misereres have been preserved, however, and consist of grotesques. Some of them illustrate Reynard the Fox.

In both aisles of the Choir we are struck by the very peculiar vaulting designed by Abbot Knowle to strengthen the building and help carry the lateral thrust occasioned by the heavy central vaulting. These bridges, or transoms, therefore, do the work of flying-buttresses as faithfully to-day as when they were erected six hundred years ago.

“The transoms, features which were repeated in the windows of the aisles of the choir, and in a much heavier form in the windows of the nave, are additionally strengthened by the graceful arches below which spring from capitals almost similar to those on the choir side of the piers. From the centre of each transom rises a cluster of groining ribs. It has been customary to speak rather disparagingly of this clever piece of work of Abbot Knowle and to term it carpentry work in stone. It may be so, but the student of to-day may thank the Fourteenth Century Abbot for a most instructive lesson. The transoms have crowned heads at either end and in the centre, and they, unlike the transoms in the aisles of the nave, are ornamented with little flowers. Beneath the windows, which are Decorated in character, is a string-course, with ball-flower ornament, a feature which is found all round this eastern part. In the south aisle the vaulting was intended to be the same as in the north aisle, having been planned by the same architect, but a difference in the westernmost bay shows it was superintended by a different mind. In all probability it was Knowle’s successor, Abbot Snow, who, from 1332-1341, went on with his predecessor’s work, adding that part called the Newton Chapel.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

There is not a great deal of old glass in Bristol, but some of the Windows in this east end are worthy of careful study.

“The east windows of the choir aisles are filled with glass coloured with enamels in accordance with the practice of the Seventeenth Century instead of glass coloured in its manufacture. They date from the reign of Charles II.; and although it is traditionally said that they were presented by Nell Gwynne, it is more probable that they were the offerings of Henry Glenham, Dean of Bristol from 1661 to 1667, and afterwards Bishop of St. Asaph. The arms of Glemham (Or, a chevron gules between three torteaux) are repeated three times in the window of the south aisle and once in that of the north. The subjects (arranged as type and antitype) in the north aisle are—in the centre, the Resurrection; below Jonah delivered from the whale. On the right, above, the Ascension; below, Elijah taken up to heaven. On the left, above, the Agony in the garden; below, Abraham about to offer up his son.”—(R. J. K.)

In the third bay of the north wall of this north-choir-aisle a doorway opens into a peculiar passage designed by Abbot Knowle to take the place of a triforium. The passage leads to a staircase communicating with the central tower and the belfry.

North of the north-choir-aisle we come to the greatly admired Early English Chapel, the Elder Lady-Chapel.

“The Lady-Chapel (generally called the Elder Lady-Chapel because the altar of the Virgin was removed to the east end of the church after Abbot Knowle had rebuilt the choir) is entered from the north-east corner of the transept. The chapel is Early English, and dates, according to Mr. Godwin, from the time of Abbot John (1196-1215). The chapel is of four bays, the windows in which are triplets with inner arches, of which those at the side are gracefully foliated. The detached vaulting-shafts are of Purbeck marble. The sculpture of the capitals and string-courses is unusually good; and the spandrels of the wall-arcade are filled with grotesque designs which are full of spirit and character, greatly resembling the sculpture in Wells Cathedral, much of which is of the same date. Remember especially—a goat blowing a horn and carrying a hare slung over his back; a ram and an ape playing on musical instruments; and St. Michael with the dragon(?); below is a fox carrying off a foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to stamp the English character.”—(R. J. K.)

This chapel was originally detached from the rest of the Cathedral. Beneath the two arches

Bristol: North

Bristol: Nave, east

between it and the north-choir-aisle stands the Tomb of Maurice, ninth Lord Berkeley (died 1368). Here he lies with Elizabeth, his wife. The knight is in armour and his head lies on a mitre. A good groined canopy overshadows these figures.

Retracing our steps into the choir and passing into the South-choir-aisle, we examine the Glenham window, which is of the same date as the corresponding one in the north-choir-aisle.

The subjects are—in the centre, above, Our Lord Driving the Money Changers from the Temple; below, Jacob’s Dream; on the right, above, the Tribute Money; below, Melchisedec and Abraham; the subject on the left, above, is uncertain; below, the Sacrifice of Gideon.

From the western bay of the south-choir-aisle we enter the Newton Chapel, where members of the Newton family lie. This dates from 1332-1341. The style is late Decorated. The south wall divides it from the Chapter-House, with which it is parallel.

On the right, after passing out of the Newton Chapel, we come to one of Abbot Knowle’s recesses. The foliage consists of oak leaves and acorns interspersed here and there with tiny sprays of mistletoe, an unusual ornament, in church decoration.

We next pass the Tomb of Thomas, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1243. He is represented in armour. His crossed legs show that he was a knight-templar. This is the oldest monument in the cathedral. The next recess contains the effigy of Maurice, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1281. He is also in armour. In the next bay we pass up one step to the entrance of a Vestibule (once a sacristy, now a music-room for the choristers), a fine specimen of Decorated work. Through this we pass into Berkeley Chapel.

“Opposite the entrance door on the south side are three ogee arches with niches between. In one of these, the third from the west, was a hearth upon which the sacramental bread was baked. The ornamentation in the spandrels and the finials is curiously interesting work in foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to stamp the work as that of Abbot Knowle. It consists of curved ribs, quite detached, large in section, springing from small capitals. The bosses are particularly fine, the foliage being very flowing and free. It is difficult to realise that the mason has here done in stone what many wood-carvers would fail to do in their softer material. The door into the Berkeley Chapel is enriched with a niche overhead, and a moulding below consisting of medlers.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

The Berkeley Chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is thought that an altar also stood here to St. Keyne, who turned to stone all the snakes in the vicinity. The ammonites were probably suggested by finding one or two in a piece of stone.

“There are two windows toward the east, the soffetes of which are ornamented with a gigantic ball-flower; and the peculiar foliage on some of the capitals should be remarked. Under each of the windows was an altar, the steps and piscinæ of which remain. The altars were separated by a screen, the marks of which were visible in the old pavement. Between the chapel and the aisle the wall is pierced by the peculiar arch of Abbot Knowle; and under it, in the thickness of the wall, is an altar-tomb much ornamented and containing five shields charged with the coats of the Berkeley, Ferrers and De Quincey families. The tomb in its present state is no doubt that of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (died 1321), whose wives were of those families; but the lower part, with its very fine foliage, is of Early English date, and may possibly have been removed from another part of the church.”—(R. J. K.)

The Lady-Chapel is of the same date as the Choir. The east end was rebuilt about 1280 and a window with geometrical tracery, consisting of foliated circles, was inserted. Until 1895 it was used as a chancel. It is 42 feet long and 32 feet broad and consists of two bays. It is lighted by five windows. The central one is a Jesse window, and each of the four side windows has a transom with rich tracery below. This rich tracery we noticed from the street. In a good light relics of the ancient painting on the walls, representing angels, each with a golden nimbus, can be seen.

The Reredos of the Lady-Chapel is partly Abbot Knowle’s work and partly Perpendicular. On the first bay of the south side are the Sedilia, restorations of the original cut away to make room for an Elizabethan tomb of Sir John Young and his family. They are in four divisions with rich canopies of leafage supported by shafts of red serpentine.

The various recesses contain tombs and effigies of dignitaries of the Cathedral, and, while the general lines of these recesses are similar, there is much variety in the treatment of details.

The splendid East Window is pure Decorated and of great beauty in tracery and design. Most of the glass is old, which adds another charm to the lovely effect of the tracery. There is much beautiful silvery white glass from which the brilliant colours sparkle with great effect, and we have no difficulty in tracing the Tree of Jesse:

“The lower lights are separated by vine tendrils into oval panels, twenty-one in all. In the lowest tier in the centre is Jesse with David on the right and Solomon on the left hand. To the left of the latter are the prophets Micah, Haggai, Malachi; to the right of David are Jeremiah, Daniel and Amos. In the next tier the central figure is the Virgin and Child with Hezekiah on the left and Ahaz on the right, the four kings, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Ahaz, representing the descent of the promise. To the left of Hezekiah are the prophets Jonah, Habakkuk, Zechariah; and to the right of Ahaz are Isaiah, Ezekiel and Hosea. Above these two rows of regular panels are three panels, containing four subjects—the central one giving us the Crucifixion, with our Lord in glory in the upper part of the light. In the right hand light is the Virgin Mary, in that on the left is St. John.

“In the head of this window there are now seventeen blazons of arms. In the quatrefoil at the top—the arms of England as used before the time of Edward III., viz., the three lions; in the two trefoils immediately below are Berkeley of Stoke Gifford (L), Berkeley of Berkeley Castle (R).

“Most of the glass in this upper part is original and is supposed by Mr. Winston to date between 1312-1322, as the arms of Gaveston, who was murdered in 1312, are not in the window, while the arms of De Bohun, who was slain in open rebellion in 1322, are clearly here. The glass, then, is of Knowle’s time, and being contemporary with the masonry, affords a rich example of the harmony of form and colour about which one hears so much but which one so seldom sees. It is probable that the tracery of the window may have been designed for Abbot Knowle by the builder of the window at Carlisle, also an Augustinian house. There is a strong resemblance in the two windows, both of which are excellent work.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

The four side windows contain rich and interesting glass of the same date. The one bearing the arms of Mortimer, Earl of March, has a picture of the Martyrdom of St. Edmund, the last of the native kings of East Anglia, who taken prisoner by the Danes in 870 refused to abjure his faith. He was put to death. Here we find, according to legend, the grey wolf watching over the severed head. The costume of the soldiers gives us 1320 as the date of this magnificent window. Beneath St. Edmund are an archbishop and two knights, bearing the arms of the Berkeleys.

The tracery of the large north window was inserted in 1704.

The South Transept contains the tomb of Bishop Butler, more famed as the author of the Analogy of Religion than as Bishop of Bristol (1738-1750). The epitaph is by Southey.

The Cloisters, on the south side of the cathedral, are entered from the south transept. From them the Chapter-House is entered.

The entrance, or vestibule, of the Chapter-House shows a very early example of what may be called a pointed arch. The mouldings and members are quite of the circular style and character. From north to south the arches are round-headed, but east and west they are pointed. This Transitional Norman work—dating from Fitzhardinge’s time—is of special interest.

“The chapter-house is one of the oldest parts of the earlier fabric of the cathedral, and as Britton truly says, ‘in its original state must have been one of the most interesting of the kind in the kingdom and perhaps in Europe.’ In spite of what it has undergone at the hands of architects, restorers and rioters, it is most interesting still, a regular parallelogram in shape, measuring 42 feet in length by 25 in breadth and 25 feet in height, divided into two bays.

“The eastern wall, which dates from 1831, has three windows, and the west wall has also three round-headed arches, the central one being the main door, while the side ones serve as windows, each being subdivided by a small pier. Each of these main openings has a label of cable-moulding. Above this cable-moulding is an arcade of interlacing arches, borne by thirteen tall piers, alternately plain and twisted; and above this is a semicircular space, also filled with rounded-headed intersecting arches, so arranged as to fill the semicircular space. The north and south walls have a plain round-headed arcading below, with a bold round moulding, while above is an elaborate arcading, similar to the lower tier on the west wall, but with much richer capitals. Above this is interlaced lattice-work, and above this in one bay a space covered with zigzag mouldings. The shafts of the arcading on the walls are alternately richly carved or almost plain. The clustered shafts, from which the main arch of the vaulting springs, are peculiarly rich in ornamentation.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

In the Chapter-House there is preserved a fine piece of archaic sculpture, which was found under the floor in 1831 after the destructive fire of that date, in use as a slab covering an ancient coffin. It represents the descent of the Saviour into Hell and the delivery of Adam, and is probably of the same date as the slabs in Chichester.

The famous Great Gateway, the arcading of which is much in the style of the Chapter-House, is supposed to stand on the site of the principal entrance to Fitzhardinge’s monastery. Though Norman in style and probably containing a lot of Norman masonry, critics believe that it is a Perpendicular restoration of the old work.

This archway is composed of four recessed orders enriched with chevron and other mouldings and ornaments. This must not be confused with the less elaborate Gateway in Lower College Green, probably of Fitzhardinge’s time and strengthened by Abbot Newland. The latter was the gateway to the abbot’s dwelling and afterwards to the Bishop’s Palace.

GLOUCESTER

Dedication: St. Peter: Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Abbey.

Special features: Central Tower; Choir; Lady-Chapel; East Window; Cloisters.

Gloucester presents a fine view from all points of approach.

“As a rule, visitors see it first from the south side, and the south-west general view is one of the best, equalled, but not surpassed, by that from the north-west. The north view from the Great Western Railway, with the school playing-fields in the foreground, makes a striking picture, but it is more sombre than the picture formed by the south front. Viewed from the north-west corner of the cloister-garth, the pile is seen perhaps at its best. From this point it is easy to study so much the varied architecture of the whole, and with little effort to transport the mind back for a space of four hundred years. The eye first rests upon the turf of the garth now tastefully laid out after many years of comparative neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are the exquisite windows of the Cloister—a cloister which no other can surpass. Above the Cloister will be seen on the eastern side the sober, impressive Norman work of the Chapter-house in which so much of our English history has been made. To the south of this is the Library, built close against the walls of the north transept, which tower above, and lead the eye upward to the great tower which, ‘in the middest of the church,’ crowns the whole.

“Placed where it is, almost in the centre of the long line of the nave, continued in the choir and Lady-chapel, at the point where the transept line intersects it, it is the chief feature of the massive pile. All else seems to be grouped with a view to the enhancing of the effect of the central position of the tower. The other members of the building seem merely to be steps, by means of which approach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most impressive feature of the outside. No matter from whence one looks at it, the charm is there. Seen from the gardens in the side streets close by when the pear-trees are in bloom, or in the full blaze of a hot summer day, or again later in the autumn when the leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still, in snow time, it is always full of beauty. On a bright hot day the pinnacles seem so far off in the haze as to suggest a dream fairyland. On a wet day, after a shower, the tower has the appearance of being so close at hand that it almost seems to speak. Viewed by moonlight, the tower has an unearthly look, which cannot well be described. The tower is 225 feet high to the top of the pinnacles, and the effect of it is extremely fine. From the main cornice upwards, the whole of the stone-work is open, and composed of what at a distance appears to be delicate tracery, and mullions and crocketed pinnacles.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

In it hang the venerable bells that escaped the king’s commissioners at the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1553.

Gloucester is notable for its examples of the Transition from Decorated to Perpendicular, which probably originated in this Cathedral.

The abbey of Gloucester was founded by Osric, viceroy of King Edward, in 681. It was dedicated to St. Peter. Osric’s sister, Kyneburga, who died in 710, was the first Abbess of this double foundation for monks and nuns. Osric and Kyneburga were buried in the Abbey church in front of the altar of St. Petronilla. In 823, secular priests were placed here by the King of Mercia; and in 1022 they were expelled by Canute for Benedictine monks. When the monastery was burned to the ground, Aldred, Bishop of Worcester, re-established the monks in 1058, and began the building of a new church also to St. Peter,—“a little further from the place where it had first stood, and nearer to the side of the city.”

The monastery failed to flourish; Aldred was translated to York in 1060; and when Serlo, who had been William the Conqueror’s chaplain, succeeded to Wilstan, or Wulstan, Aldred’s successor, he had under him only two monks and eight novices. After fifteen years of energetic rule (1072-1103), Serlo rebuilt the Cathedral.

In August, 1089, an earthquake damaged the then existing building. Eleven years later (1100), in the last year of the reign of William Rufus, “the church,” as Florence of Worcester wrote, “which Abbot Serlo, of revered memory, had built from the foundations at Gloucester, was dedicated (on Sunday, July 15th) with great pomp by Samson, Bishop of Worcester; Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester; Gerard, Bishop of Hereford; and Herveas, Bishop of Bangor.” It is thought that part of the church was finished for the dedication, such as the presbytery, choir, the transepts, the Abbot’s cloister, the chapter-house, and the greater part of the nave.

The Saxon Chronicle tells us that in 1122, while the monks were singing mass, fire burst out from the upper part of the steeple, and burnt the whole monastery. Between 1164 and 1179 one of the western towers fell down.

Repairs were consequently necessary.

Offerings at the Tomb of Edward II. were a great aid in providing funds.

“Instead of going on with Abbot Morwent’s rebuilding of the nave, the monks now turned their attention to the central tower. The tower was of no use as a lantern, for the lierne vault of the choir had been carried beneath it. So it long remained unaltered. But in the days of Abbot Seabroke (1460-1482), it was rebuilt under the superintendence of a monk named Tully, to be in character with the new exterior of choir and transepts. A very imposing tower it is; fully able, from its massiveness as well as from its height, to gather together the masses of the building—all the more so because the transepts are so short. It succeeds where the central towers of Worcester and Hereford fail; in fact, it is as effective in its way as Salisbury spire. The pinnacles, again, bear witness to the love of these later artists for harmony and unity; each pinnacle, with its two ranges of windows, is a repeat of the two stages of the tower below.

“Then—after the tower had been erected—it was decided to rebuild the Lady-chapel. So an immense detached building was constructed to the east of the great window of the presbytery; without aisles, but with little transepts; almost one continuous sheet of glass, and with a superb vault. This Lady-chapel had to be joined up to the presbytery, but the great east window was in the way. However, the difficulty was got over by a series of ingenious shifts and dodges, which must be seen to be appreciated (1457-1499).

“And so ended this great building-period at Gloucester (1330-1499), which turned the course of English architecture; so that the Curvilinear style of 1315 to 1360 did not find its natural development in Flamboyant, as on the Continent, but was switched off to Perpendicular and Tudor design.”—(F. B.)

Let us see what the “shifts and dodges” referred to above consisted of.

“The method of joining the Lady-chapel to the choir is best noticed from the outside. It is a piece of exceedingly clever and graceful construction, and there is the minimum of obstruction to the light passing through to the east window, and the maximum of support to the elliptical east window. Viewing the Lady-chapel from the north side, the play of light through the windows on the south side has a very grand effect. Under the east end of the Lady-chapel is a passage which has given rise to much speculation in bygone times. The Lady-chapel, at

Gloucester: East

Gloucester: Tomb of Edward II.

the time of its erection, was carried out to the farthest limit of the land possessed by the Abbey. As the east wall of the chapel was actually on the western boundary wall the passage was made to give access from the north to the south of the grounds, without the need of going right round the precincts by the west front.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

During the reign of Henry VIII., the Abbey which had

“existed for more than eight centuries under different forms, in poverty and in wealth, in meanness and in magnificence, in misfortune and success, finally succumbed to the royal will. The day came, and that a drear winter day, when its last Mass was sung, its last censer waved, its last congregation bent in rapt and lowly adoration before the altar there; and, doubtless, as the last tones of that day’s evensong died away in the vaulted roof, there were not wanting those who lingered in the solemn stillness of the old massive pile, and who, as the lights disappeared one by one, felt that there was a void which could never be filled, because their old abbey, with its beautiful services, its frequent means of grace, its hospitality to strangers, and its loving care for God’s poor, had passed away like a morning dream, and was gone for ever.”—(W. H. H.)

Gloucester has suffered from the hands of restorers. In 1847, Mr. F. S. Waller made extensive repairs. At this time the gardens were added.

The exterior presents a great variety of battlements and pinnacles and another interesting feature in the exterior is the construction of the two passages which make up the greater part of the so-called Whispering Gallery. This connects the north and south triforium of the choir.

The West Front of Gloucester, restored in 1874, is comparatively uninteresting. The buttresses of the great window are pieced, as are also the parapets. Plain transoms cross the lights of the great west window, the tracery of which is very elaborate when looked at from within. The old towers have disappeared.

The South Porch is the principal entrance. It is the work of Morwent (1421-1437). Over the doorway stand St. Peter and St. Paul and the four Evangelists, and below them are King Osric and Abbot Serlo, the founders of the Abbey church. In the niches of the buttress stand St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine and St. Gregory. The windows of this porch have been formed by piercing the tracery of the inside. Over the porch is an unfinished parvis. The doors date from the Fifteenth Century.

We now enter the Nave.

“The first impression of the nave changes all earlier thoughts of the age of the building. It is unmistakably Norman, grand beyond expression, but cold, severe and deathly white. The stained glass (mostly modern) of the Norman and Decorated windows fails to supply the evident lack of colour.

“There was a time when lines of blue and scarlet and gold relieved the white vaulted roof, when altars agleam with colour and pale flickering lights gave light and brightness to the chill whiteness of this vast and mighty colonnade. On Sunday evenings, when the nave is filled with worshippers and the bright searching daylight is replaced by the yellow gleam of the little tongues of fire above the great and massive arches, the want of colour is little felt, and the noble and severe beauty of the matchless Norman work in the great nave strikes the beholder. The nave of Gloucester, to be loved and admired as it deserves, and as it appeared to men in the days of the Plantagenet Kings, must be seen in one of the many crowded evening services.

“Save that the altars with their wealth of colour and light are gone, and the lines of colouring and the glint of gold of the Norman wooden ceiling no longer are visible on the stone-vaulted roof above and the south aisle Norman windows are replaced with exquisite Decorated work of the time of the second Edward, there is no great structural change since the day at the close of the Eleventh Century when Abbot Fulda from Shrewsbury preached his famous sermon to the Gloucester folk, the sermon in which he foretold the death of the imperious and cruel Rufus in words so plain, so unmistakable, that Abbot Serlo of Gloucester, who loved the great wicked King, in spite of his many sins, was alarmed and at once sent to warn his master, but in vain. Rufus disregarded the Gloucester note of alarm, and a few hours later the news of the King of England’s bloody death, in the leafy glades of the New Forest, rang through Normandy and England.

“Yes, it is the same nave, only colder and whiter, on which Anselm, the saintly archbishop, and Rufus gazed; the same avenue of massy pillars—then scarcely finished—through which Maud the Empress often went to her prayers with her chivalrous half-brother, Earl Robert. Beauclerc, her father, too, and some grey-haired survivors of Hastings must have looked on these huge columns crowned with their round arches which excite our wonder to-day. They were a curious fancy of the architect of Serlo; or was it not probably a design of a yet older artist of Edward the Confessor? These enormous round shafts, which are the peculiar feature of the nave of our storied abbey, have only once been repeated, probably by the same architect, in the neighbouring abbey of Tewkesbury, a few years later. There is nothing like them on either side of the silver streak of sea. The Tewkesbury copies are slightly smaller; otherwise they are exact reproductions of Gloucester.”—(S.)

The Nave differs from other Norman naves like those of Peterborough, Ely and Norwich.

“The unique features here are the great height of the massive circular columns, fourteen in number, and the consequently dwarfed triforium or gallery running over the main arches. There are traces to be seen of the original Norman clerestory under the Perpendicular windows, and, judging from this, the height of the clerestory, as originally constructed, must have been but little less than that of the piers in the nave.

“This Norman clerestory was altered at the same time that the roof of the nave was vaulted—viz. in 1242, in the time of Henry Foliot. This work was done by the monks themselves, who thought, as Professor Willis suggests, that they could do it better than common workmen. Their work is made of a light and porous kind of stone, treated with plaster on the under-side, and it was rendered necessary by the previous roof, which was of wood, having been destroyed by fire in 1190. Of this fire the piers certainly show the traces to this day, all having become reddened and slightly calcined. To make the new clerestory the whole of the original Norman work over the arcade of the triforium was removed, with the exception of the jambs of the side-lights (which extended beyond the arches of the triforium) and the wall between them.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

All the stone-work was originally painted.

“The painting may be thus generally described. The hollow of the abacus of the capitals was red, the lower member of the same, green; the whole of the bell red, the leaves alternately green and yellow, with the stalks, running down, of the same colours, into the red bell of the capital. The vertical mouldings between the marble shafts were red and blue alternately; the lower shafts green and blue, with red in the hollows, and the foliage on these also is green and yellow. Some of the horizontal mouldings are partly coloured also. The bosses in the groining are yellow and green, as in the capitals. All the colouring, which was very rich, was effected with water colours; in one instance only has any gold been discerned, and that was upon one of the bosses in the roof.”—(F. S. W.)

Abbot Morwent pulled down the west end of the Nave in 1421-1437 and reconstructed it in the Perpendicular style. It is supposed that the original west front was like that of the Abbey at Tewkesbury.

The west window contains nine lights, filled with modern glass.

The South aisle, originally Norman, was remodelled about 1318. The tracery of the windows is unusual. The ball-flower is seen in great profusion in this part of the Cathedral.

In this aisle there is a monument to Dr. Jenner of vaccination fame, to whom the five-light west window here is also a memorial.

The tracery of the windows of the clerestory is attributed to Abbot Morwent.

The North aisle retains its original Norman vaulting, and the Norman piers, which correspond to the piers in the Nave, are divided into several members. Some of their capitals are richly carved. In each bay there is some Perpendicular tracing. A stone bench along the wall is also Perpendicular.

The door into the Cloister at the west end of the aisle is very fine, and the side niches and canopy work over it deserve study.

The door at the eastern end of the aisle leading to the Cloisters is also Perpendicular. Both doors have fan-vaulted recesses, like the great west door of the Nave.

The west end of the aisle is the work of Abbot Morwent (1421-1437).

A heavy stone screen, dating from 1820, closes the east end of the nave. We pass through a small arch in this screen, and beneath the broad platform on which the great organ stands.

This was originally built in 1663-1665 by Thomas Harris, and was painted and gilded in 1666. The oak case is in the Renaissance Style.

Little idea of the beauty of the Choir can be obtained from the Nave. We enter from the north aisle. It is 140 feet long; 33 feet 7 inches broad; and 86 feet high.

“Looking upwards, the visitor will note the beauty of the vaulting and the bosses placed at the intersection of the ribs. These bosses at the east end of the choir chiefly represent a choir of angels playing on various kinds of musical instruments, and a figure of Our Lord in the attitude of blessing. All the roof was originally probably painted and decorated, but the existing colour and gilding is recent work, having been done by Clayton & Bell. At first sight the groining of the roof looks most complicated, but, if analysed and dotted down on paper, it will be seen to be in reality a simple geometrical pattern. The bosses will repay careful examination with a glass.

“Viewed from the door in the screen, the choir looks in very truth a piece of Perpendicular work, as the Norman substructure is then for the most part concealed. A closer examination, however, will prove that the Norman work is all there—that it has been veiled over with tracery from the floor level to the vaulting with open screen-work, fixed on to the Norman masonry, which was pared down to receive it.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

The general impression is striking:

“The choir on which you are now looking is very long—not too long, however, for its great height—for the fretted roof, a delicate mosaic of tender colours set in pale gold, soars high above the vaulting of the nave. The proportions are simply admirable. From the lofty traceried roof down to the elaborately tiled floor, the walls are covered with richly carved panelled work, broken here and there with delicate screens of stone. The eastern end, hard by the high altar, is the home of several shrines. There is happily no lack of colour in this part of our cathedral. The western end is furnished with sixty richly-carved canopied stalls of dark oak, mostly the handiwork of the Fourteenth Century. The curiously and elaborately fretted work of the roof we have already spoken of as a rich mosaic of gold and colours. The floor, if one dare breathe a criticism in this charmed building, is too bright and glistening, but it is in its way varied and beautiful. The carving of the reredos, a work of our own day, is, to the writer’s mind, open to criticism, but is still very fair, telling in every detail of loving work and true reverence.”—(S.)

The High Altar occupies the same site as the ancient one. The sixty Choir-stalls have been restored in part; the sub-stalls date from Sir Gilbert Scott’s restoration (1873). On the south side of the High Altar there are four Sedilia also restored. Redfern’s figures in the niches are Abbot Edric, Bishop Wulstan, and Abbots Aldred, Serlo, Foliot, Thokey, Wygmore, Horton, Froucester, Morwent, Seabroke and Hanley. The three angels over the canopies, playing on a tambour and trumpets, deserve notice.

On the north side of the Presbytery we pause to look at the chantry Tomb of Abbot Parker, where the carving of vine and grapes on the stone screen is fine. The curious cross in the form of a growing tree at the foot of the tomb is also striking. Parker, who died in 1539, was buried elsewhere. Then we pass to the more famous Tomb of Edward II., erected by Edward III. The alabaster figure is probably the earliest of its kind in England. The tomb was opened in 1855 to satisfy curiosity as to whether the king was really buried there after his murder in Berkeley Castle nearby.

“Though it awakens our recollection of a feeble-minded king, and his barbarously brutal murder, it also compels our admiration at the beauty of the work. It has been restored, renovated or re-edified, but in spite of that, appeals to us from the wealth of very highly ornate tabernacle work, the richness, and at the same time the lightness and elegance of the whole. The details too are well worth careful examination. It may be, judging from the expression of the face, that there has been some attempt at portraiture, but repair and restoration have practically made it impossible to settle what would otherwise be an interesting question. The superb canopy has suffered much at the hands of restorers—e.g. in 1737, 1789, 1798 and in 1876.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

The next monument is to King Osric, erected in “late dayes,” i.e. in the time of Abbot Parker, whose arms are in the spandrels of the canopy (1514-1539).

The Norman piers, cut away to receive the tomb, are decorated on their capitals with the white hart chained and gorged, with a ducal coronet, the device of Richard II. Osric is represented as clad in tunic, laced mantle and a fur hood or collar, bearing the model of a church in his left hand.

The next tomb westwards is, as Leland says, that of “King Edward of Caernarvon (who) lyeth under a fayre tombe, in an arch at the head of King Osric tombe.”

The transepts and ambulatory of the choir are usually entered through the iron gateway in the south aisle of the nave.

These Ambulatories, or aisles, have nothing uncommon in their form or arrangement below, but above occurs the great peculiarity of this church. The upper range of chapels surrounding the Choir is perhaps not to be met with in any other church in Europe.

Another peculiarity of the Choir is its six-light west window. This was rendered necessary by the difference in height of the Nave and Choir; for the vaulting of the choir is about twenty feet higher than that of the Nave. The glass consists chiefly of patchwork from other windows in the Cathedral. It represents a figure of our Lord, with angels on either side. Below angels play musical instruments.

The Triforium of the Choir is considered by some critics the finest in existence.

“It occupies the space over the ground floors of the aisles or ambulatory of the choir, and originally extended of a like width round the east end of the Norman Church, but at the time when the Fourteenth-Century work of the present choir was executed, the whole of the east end of the old Norman choir, with the corresponding part of the triforium, was removed in order to make room for the existing large window, the small east chapel being allowed to remain.”—(F. S. W.)

The Triforium is reached by the staircases in the western turrets of the two transepts and by arcaded passages passing under the great windows of the transepts.

“The first chapel in the triforium contains two brackets with rich canopies, and there is a very well preserved double piscina. Ball-flowers in two rows will be found in the mouldings of the east window. Remains of two canopies in the jambs of the windows are also to be traced.

“The massive Norman piers should be carefully studied, as the way in which the later casing work has been applied can be more easily seen in the triforium than elsewhere.

“The picture on the west side of this part of the triforium was discovered in 1718, against the then eastern end of the nave, underneath the panelled wainscot at the back of the seats occupied by the clergy when the nave was used for service.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

This painting of The Last Judgment is supposed to date from the reign of Henry VIII., or Edward VI. It was suggested by the great altar-piece at Dantzig (1467).

As an entrance to the east chapel of the triforium, the narrow gallery, called the Whispering Gallery, was made. It is a passage of Norman work, very much altered and re-used. It is 74 feet long, 3 feet wide, 6⅛ feet high, and is carried on segmental arches from the east end of the south triforium to the west wall of the Lady Chapel, and thence in the same way to the north triforium.

On the way towards the Whispering Gallery, the flying-buttresses inserted in 1347-1350 to support the walls of the clerestory, which were weakened by the insertion of the great east window of the Choir, should be noticed.

Visitors are always interested in the Whispering Gallery, where the lightest whisper can be easily and distinctly heard at the other end of the gallery. It inspired the following lines, by Maurice Wheeler (head-master of the King’s School, 1684-1712):

“Doubt not but God, who sits on high,
Thy secret prayers can hear,
When a dead wall thus cunningly
Conveys soft whispers to the ear.”

The East Window is larger than the East Window of York Minster. It measures 78 × 38 feet; that at York is 78 × 33.

Though it has suffered much mutilation, restorers have done little harm, and it is possible to get some idea of its original splendour.

“It is worthy of remark that the tracery, heads and cusps, as seen from the inside of this window, are not repeated on the outside, a plain transom only crossing the lights. This peculiarity is repeated in the great west

Gloucester: Choir, east

Gloucester: Cloisters

window and in many other windows in the cathedral.”—(F. S. W.)

The stone-work of the window was restored in 1862 and the glass cleaned and re-leaded. The window consists of fourteen lights—six on the centre with four on either side. The subjects are the Coronation of the Virgin Mary with Christ and the Apostles, saints and kings. The heraldic shields fix the date of the glass between 1347 and 1350. The canopies and nearly all the figures are of white glass enriched with yellow. The tones of red and blue are particularly rich. The drawing of the figures has been much criticised.

“The whole of this, the loveliest choir in England, is lit by a mighty wall of jewelled glass behind the great golden reredos.

“This vast east window which floods the choir of Gloucester, beautiful as a dream with its soft, silvery light faintly coloured with jewelled shafts of the richest blue and red, and here and there a vein of pale gold—this vast window could not have been seen out of England, or, at least, one of the grey and misty northern countries, where gleams of light or shafts of sunshine are exceedingly precious. In south or central Europe the effect of such a mighty window would be simply dazzling to the eye, would be painful from its excess of light.

“This great east window is the largest painted window in England—the largest, the writer believes, in Europe. Its stonework exceeds in size the magnificent east window of York, which stands next to it. The respective measurements are Gloucester, seventy-two feet high by thirty-eight wide; York, seventy-eight by thirty-three feet. The lower parts of the centre compartments at Gloucester are not completely glazed, owing to the opening into the Lady-chapel. The glass of Gloucester is, on the whole, light-coloured, the designers being evidently anxious that the beautiful stone panels and screen-work should be seen in all their exquisite details. The glass has suffered marvellously little from the ravages of weather and the fanaticism of revolutionary times; the busy restorer, too, has dealt gently with it. There are forty-nine figures, and of these thirty-seven are pronounced by our lynx-eyed experts to be absolutely genuine. Of the eighteen armorial shields in the lower lights thirteen are certainly the identical shields inserted by the survivors of Cressy. The whole of the gorgeous canopy-work has been untouched. The subject of the paintings is the Coronation of the Virgin and the figures consist of winged angels, apostles, saints, kings and abbots. The coats-of-arms are those borne by King Edward III., the Black Prince, and their knightly companions, such as the Lords of Berkeley, Arundel, Pembroke, Warwick, Northampton, Talbot and others who took part in the famous campaign in which occurred the battle of Cressy, and who in some degree were connected with Gloucestershire. The window was, in fact, a memorial of the great English victory, and may fairly be termed the Cressy window.”—(S.)

The Vestibule to the Lady-Chapel is a beautiful work. The lower portions of the west wall, parts of the old Norman apsidal chapel, are pierced by the opening for the door and by two perpendicular windows.

The lierne vaulting is very delicate (the ribs are run differently in the four quarters of the roof), and the pendants form a cross. Over the vestibule is the small chapel which is entered from the Whispering Gallery.

The beautiful Lady-Chapel was built between 1457 and 1499 on the site of a smaller one.

The Lady-Chapel, 91 feet 6 inches long, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46 feet 6 inches high, consists of four bays, which, as the wall of the chapel is so low, are chiefly composed of fine tracery and glass.

“All the wall below the windows is arcaded with foiled arches, with quatrefoils above them. The wall between the windows is panelled with delicate tracery like that in the windows, and in its three chief tiers contains brackets for figures, with richly carved canopies overhead. Many of these canopies (like the walls) show traces of colour.

“Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandest Perpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in the roof is worth minute inspection, and since the restoration (1896) it is possible to see the bosses in practically the same condition as they were when they left the masons’ hands in the Fifteenth Century. With three exceptions they are all representations of foliage.

“It has been said above that the chapel is cruciform. The arms of the cross are represented by the two side chapels, like diminutive transepts on the north and south sides, with oratories above them, to which access is given by small staircases in the angles of the wall. Both these side chapels contain some exquisite fan-tracery vaulting, which is supported upon flying arches, fashioned in imitation of the graceful flying arches in the choir.

“On the north side the chapel contains a full-length effigy of Bishop Goldsborough (who died in 1604) robed in his white rochet, black chimere, with lawn sleeves, scarf, ruff and skull-cap.

“The east window in this chapel is in memory of Lieut. Arthur John Lawford (1885), and is dedicated to St. Martin.

“The chapel above has a vaulted roof with bosses of foliage, and there are small portions of ancient glass.

“The Lady-chapel is one of the largest in the kingdom, and is said, at the time of the Dissolution, to have been one of the richest. A great part of it is said to have been gilded and gloriously ornamented. Traces of the colour can be seen in the mouldings of the panellings and in the carving upon the walls.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

The Reredos still retains traces of its gorgeous colours. It is very richly ornamented.

The East Window, consisting of nine lights, dates from 1472-1479. The monuments are not especially remarkable. The tiles of the floor and the sedilia are notable.

On our right, as we leave the Lady Chapel, we come to Abbot Boteler’s Chapel (1437-1450). It contains a fine ancient reredos, interesting tiles and a curious wooden effigy of Robert, Duke of Normandy, son of William the Conqueror. Critics think it nearly contemporary with the Duke himself. The figure rests on a Fifteenth Century chest.

Next we come to St. Paul’s Chapel (north-west) entered by a doorway. The reredos here is very fine. It was repaired in 1870. St. Peter, St. Paul and St. Luke, by Redfern, ornament the niches.

An ancient stone reading-desk, from which pilgrims to the shrine of Edward II. were addressed, attracts our attention near the door leading into the North Transept. This is originally Norman, cased over with Perpendicular panelling, more developed, however, than that in the south transept. The work here was done in 1368-1373. Angular mouldings are used in the place of round mouldings and the mullions run right up to the roof, which is much richer than that in the south transept. The vaulting of the north transept somewhat resembles the fan-tracery of the cloisters. This transept is 8 feet lower than that on the south side and it is 2 feet shorter.

Beneath the north window is a greatly admired piece of Early English (1240), supposed to have been a Reliquary. The middle of the three divisions is a doorway. Beautifully carved foliage and Purbeck marble shafts are the chief ornamentation.

Opposite, between the tower-piers, is a small chapel, said to have been dedicated to St. Anthony. It is used as the Dean’s vestry.

The South Transept (St. Andrew’s Aisle) was transformed from the Norman in 1329-1337. The vaulting is lierne with short ribs. The walls are panelled.

On the north side of the south transept, we find the Seabroke Chapel.

“The alabaster effigy represents the Abbot in his alb, stole, tunic, dalmatic, chasuble, amice and mitre, with his pastoral staff on his right side. The chapel has been partially restored. Traces of colour are to be seen in the reredos and the roof over it.

“Almost opposite to this, but nearer to the iron gate, is a recessed tomb to a knight in mixed armour of mail and plate, and by his side his lady, with kirtle, mantle and flowing hair. Both wear SS. collars, and this helps to give the age of the monument, by narrowing the date down to a year not earlier than 1399.”—(H. J. L. J. M.)

On the east side the Chapel of St. Andrew occupies a corresponding position to that of St. Paul in the north transept. This chapel has been restored. Some of the best glass in the Cathedral is contained in the east window over St. Andrew’s Chapel. It dates from about 1330 and consists of the head of a white scroll-work of vine leaves, etc., on a fine ruby-coloured ground, and below plain quarries with very simple borders.

Opposite Boteler’s Chapel we find St. Philip’s Chapel (south-east), restored in 1864. There is some dog-tooth moulding near the piscina. A fine Perpendicular arch, supporting the triforium above, attracts attention before the Lady-Chapel is entered.

The Crypt is entered from the eastern door in the south transept. It is one of the five great eastern crypts erected before 1085[5] and consists of an apse, three small apsidal chapels and two chapels underneath the eastern chapels of the north and south transepts.

“Great alterations have from time to time been made in the crypt. The large semicircular columns against the walls, though of great antiquity, are not parts of the original structure, but are casings built round, and enclosing the former smaller piers, and the ribs springing from their capitals are built under, with a view to support the vaulting.”—(F. S. W.)

Through a door in the organ screen in the north aisle of the nave we enter the Cloisters, which are among the most perfect and beautiful in England. They form a quadrangle and each walk is divided into ten compartments. Fan-tracery is thought to have originated here in the vaulting. They were begun by Abbot Horton (1351-1377) and completed by Abbot Froucester (1381-1412).

“The view looking down either of the walks is very fine, mainly owing to the richness of the groined roof, which is the earliest example of the fan-vault. This style of vaulting is entirely peculiar to England; and Professor Willis has suggested that the school of masons who were employed in this cathedral may have originated it. The wall sides of the cloisters are panelled; and the windows, divided by a transom, have rich Perpendicular tracery. The lights above the transom were glazed. Each walk is divided into ten compartments. In the south walk are the Carrels—places for writing or study, twenty in number, formed by a series of arches, running below the main windows. In each carrel is a small and graceful window of two lights.[6] The very fine view at the angle of the south and west walks should especially be noticed. In the north walk are the lavatories, projecting into the cloister garth; these are very perfect. Under the windows is a long trough or basin into which the water flowed. The roof is groined. Opposite in the wall of the cloister, is the recess for towels, or manutergia. The windows of the east walk are filled with memorial glass by Hardman (the eighth is by Ballantyne, as is one window in the west walk).”—(R. J. K.)

A small cloister, or slype, opens from the east walk between the cathedral and the chapter-house. This is also called the Abbot’s Cloister. This is Norman in its western portion and Perpendicular beyond.[7] Above this is situated the Chapter Library, a long, dark Perpendicular room with a roof of dark oak, a large Perpendicular window east and a row of small windows on the north side.

Though the cloisters are quadrangular, the length of the four walks is not quite the same. The width (12⅛ feet) and height (18⅛ feet) are alike.

In the North Alley, the Monks’ Lavatory is

“one of the most perfect of its date. It projects 8 feet into the garth, and is entered from the cloister alley by eight tall arches with glazed traceried openings above. Internally it is 47 feet long and 6⅛ feet wide, and is lighted by eight two-light windows towards the garth and by a similar window at each end. One light of the east window has a small square opening below, perhaps for the admission of the supply pipes, for which there seems to be no other entrance either in the fan vault or the side walls. Half the width of the lavatory is taken up by a broad, flat ledge or platform against the wall, on which stood a lead cistern or laver, with a row of taps, and in front a hollow trough, originally lined with lead, at which the monks washed their hands and faces. From this the waste water ran away into a recently discovered (1889) tank in the garth.”—(H.)

From the West Alley the monks entered their great dining-hall; and at the south-west corner a vaulted passage called the Slype lies under part of the old lodging of the Abbots, now the Deanery. In this passage, a sort of outer parlour, the monks held conversation with strangers. In the South Alley the monks studied after dinner until evensong. It has ten windows of six lights and twenty recesses, or “carrels,” below the transoms.

The roof of the East Alley is a perfectly plain barrel vault without ribs. In the south-west corner we find a hollowed bracket, or cresset stone, in which a wick, floating in tallow, was kept to light the passage.

Opposite the fifth bay a doorway, containing some good Norman work, slightly restored, leads into the Chapter-House.

Originally consisting of three Norman bays, it probably, like the chapter-houses at Norwich, Reading, and Durham, terminated in a semi-circular apse. The present east end is Late Perpendicular, and makes a fourth bay. The vaulting of the later part is well groined, and the window is good. The roof of the three Norman bays is a lofty barrel vault supported by three slightly pointed arches springing from the capitals of the columns, which are curiously set back, and separate the bays.

Norman arcading of twelve arches—i.e. four to each bay—runs along the three westernmost bays on the north and south walls.

“The west end is arranged in the usual Benedictine fashion, with a central door, flanked originally by two large unglazed window openings, with three large windows above. Only one of the windows flanking the doorway can now be seen, the other having been partly destroyed and covered by Perpendicular panelling when the new library stair was built in the south-west corner of the room.”—(H.)

Of the four old gateways remaining the finest is St. Mary’s Gate, a typical specimen of Early English work. It leads into St. Mary’s Square. In the northwest corner of the Precincts the famous vineyard was situated.

HEREFORD

Dedication: St. Mary and St. Ethelbert. A Church served by Secular Canons.

Special features: North Transept and East End.

Hereford is situated in the fertile and cultivated valley of the Wye.

“Almost in the midst of the city the sturdy mass of the cathedral building reposes in a secluded close, from which the best general view is obtained. The close is entered either from Broad Street, near the west window, or from Castle Street; the whole of the building lying on the south side of the close between the path and the river. The space between the Wye and the Cathedral is filled by the Bishop’s Palace and the college of the Vicars’ Choral. On the east are the foundations of the castle, which was formerly one of the strongest on the Welsh marshes.”—(A. H. F.)

A stone church was begun here about 830 in honour of St. Ethelbert, the East Anglian king, murdered by Offa near Hereford in 792. At his shrine miracles were wrought. This church was rebuilt in Edward the Confessor’s reign; but was plundered and burnt by the Welsh and Irish. The present building was begun by Robert de Losinga about 1079 and finished by the middle of the Twelfth Century. The most remarkable part of the building is the north transept. This is supposed to have been built by Bishop Aquablanca ([see page 177]), who was succeeded by Thomas de Cantilupe, the great saint of the Cathedral ([see page 178]).

Hereford has suffered greatly from calamities and restorations. In 1786 the western tower and west front fell. They were reconstructed by Wyatt. He also shortened the nave by one bay and destroyed the Norman triforium. Repairs and restorations were undertaken in 1841, 1852 and 1858.

The most striking feature of the exterior is the central Tower—of two stories above the roof with buttresses and exhibiting the ball-flower in great profusion. The four pinnacles at the corners were added in 1830. The Lady-Chapel with its tall lancet-shaped windows and bold buttresses is also interesting. On the south side the Audley Chantry projects with great effect; and from the west we gain a good view of the Bishop’s Cloisters, with the square turreted tower called the Lady Arbour, though nobody knows why. Only the east and the south walks now remain. They are Perpendicular with fine window openings and richly carved roof.

We enter the Cathedral by the North porch, completed in 1530. It is of two stages, and projects beyond an inner porch of the Decorated period. The doorway opening into the church is also Decorated.

On entering the Nave, we pass to the west end to get the best general view.

“The nave, which is separated from the aisles by eight massive Norman piers (part of the original church), of which the capitals are worthy of notice, has somewhat suffered by restorations at the hands of Wyatt. The triforium, the clerestory, the vaulting of the roof and the western wall and doorway are all his work; and it must not be forgotten that he shortened the original nave by one entire bay. Walking to the west end, from which the best general view is to be obtained, one is impressed by the striking effect of the great Norman piers and arches and the gloom of the choir beyond. Through the noble circular arches, which support the central tower and the modern screen on the eastern side of it, we see the eastern wall of the choir, pierced above by three lancet windows and below by a wide circular arch receding in many orders. A central pillar divides this lower arch, two pointed arches springing from its capital, and leaving a spandrel between them, which is covered with modern sculpture. In the far distance may be distinguished the east wall of the Lady-chapel and its brilliant lancet lights. Throughout the Cathedral the Norman work is remarkable for the richness of its ornament as compared with other buildings of the same date, such as Peterborough or Ely.

“The main arches of the nave are ornamented with the billet and other beautiful mouldings and the capitals of both piers and shafts are also elaborately decorated. The double half shafts set against the north and south fronts of the huge circular piers are in the greater part restorations.

“Over each pier-arch there are two triforium arches imitated from the Early English of Salisbury. They are divided by slender pillars, but there is no triforium passage. During the Late Decorated period the nave-aisles were practically rebuilt, the existing walls and windows being erected upon the bases of the Norman walls, which were retained for a few feet above the foundations. The vaulting of the roofs of the nave-aisles and the roof of the nave itself were coloured under the direction of Mr. Cottingham.”—(A. H. F.)

In the second bay of the south aisle stands an ancient Font of late Norman design, decorated with figures of the Apostles, on a base with four demi-griffins or lions. Among the monuments in the nave is an alabaster Effigy of Sir Richard Pembridge, in plate and mail armour with his greyhound. He died in 1375. Here are also the effigy and tomb of Bishop Booth (died 1535), who built

Hereford: Nave, east