THE THREE CHOIRS.
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A Handbook to the Cathedrals
OF
GLOUCESTER, HEREFORD,
AND
WORCESTER:

A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDINGS, A HISTORY OF EACH DIOCESE, AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE BISHOPS.
By RICHARD I. KING, B.A.,
EXETER COLLEGE, OXFORD.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1866.

Uniform with the Present Volume.
A HANDBOOK FOR TRAVELLERS
THROUGH THE COUNTIES
OF
GLOUCESTER, HEREFORD, AND WORCESTER.
One Volume. Post 8vo.
LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS.

CONTENTS.

⁂ Each Cathedral may be obtained, separately, in a Wrapper, Price Half-a-Crown.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

FRONTISPIECE.

A HANDBOOK
TO
GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

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WITH 16 ILLUSTRATIONS.
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LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1865.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

A South Porch.
B B B Nave and Aisles.
C Organ-screen.
D Choir.
E Presbytery.
F South Transept.
G Chapel used as Vestry.
H H H Choir-aisles.
K K Apsidal Chapels.
L Lady-Chapel.
M North Transept.
N Chapel.
O O O O Cloisters.
P Chapter-house.
Q Abbot’s or Lesser Cloister.
R Slype, or Passage to Cloister.

PLAN OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

Scale of 100 ft. to I in.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

PART I.

History and Details.

I. Until the year 1539, Gloucester Cathedral was the church of a mitred Benedictine abbey, which ranked among the wealthiest and most important in England. In 1539 the abbey was surrendered; and in 1541 its church became the cathedral of the newly established bishopric of Gloucester.

The single authority for the architectural history of Gloucester Cathedral is Abbot Froucester’s (1381-1412) Chronicle of the abbey, including lives of the twenty abbots after the Conquest. Of this Chronicle transcripts exist in the Chapter Library at Gloucester; in the Library of Queen’s College, Oxford; and in the British Museum. The original MS., which was preserved at Gloucester, disappeared mysteriously from the Chapter Library during the present century. An ancient copy, however,—if it be not the original Gloucester MS.,—was recently discovered in a vault under the Rolls Chapel; and is about to be published in the series of Chronicles edited under the direction of the Master of the Rolls[1].

A nunnery was founded at Gloucester in the year 681, by Osric, a “minister” or “sub-regulus” of Ethelred, King of Mercia. Three abbesses ruled it successively until 767, after which the convent was dispersed. Beornulph of Mercia refounded it, about 821, for secular priests,—who, in 1022, were replaced by Benedictine monks. The Saxon Chronicle (A.D. 1058) records the “hallowing” of the monastery by Ealdred, Bishop of Worcester. In 1088 this building was destroyed by fire, and a new church was commenced by Abbot Serlo, which was completed and dedicated in 1100[2]. Two years afterwards this church suffered much from fire; and still more in 1122, when the Saxon Chronicle asserts that “in Lent-tide ... the town of Gloucester was burnt while the monks were singing their mass, and the deacon had begun the gospel ‘Præteriens Jesus.’ Then came the fire on the upper part of the steeple, and burned all the monastery, and all the treasures that were there within, except a few books and three mass-robes.” This injury, according to Froucester’s Chronicle, was repaired by the offerings of the faithful; but the abbey suffered again from fire in 1179 and 1190. The church was re-dedicated to St. Peter, in 1239, by Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester. In 1242 the nave roof was completed. Abbot Thokey (1306-1329) built the south aisle of the nave in 1318. It was during his abbacy that the body of Edward II. was interred in the church; and it was owing to the great value of the offerings made at his tomb that a series of works was commenced, which form one of the most peculiar features of this cathedral. Under the succeeding Abbot, Wygemore, (1329-1337,) the Norman walls of the south transept (called St. Andrew’s aisle) were cased with tracery; Adam de Stanton, abbot from 1337 to 1351, constructed the vaulting of the choir, and the stalls on the prior’s side; and Abbot Horton (1351-1377) completed the high altar with the choir, and the stalls on the abbot’s side; together with the casing of St. Paul’s aisle, (the north transept). This abbot also commenced the great cloister, which Walter Froucester (1381-1412) completed. Abbot Morwent (1420-1437) erected the west front, the south porch, and two western bays of the nave. Abbot Seabrooke (1450-1457) built the existing tower. Abbot Hanley (1457-1472) began the Lady-chapel, which Abbot Farley (1472-1498) completed.

Notwithstanding the long siege of the city, Gloucester Cathedral suffered but little during the Civil War. Within the last ten years (1853-1863) extensive restorations have been made within and without the cathedral, under the superintendence of Mr. F. S. Waller. These consist chiefly of the clearing and draining of the crypt; the restoration of the west front, the south aisle of the nave, the chapter-room, the library and sacristies, portions of the cloisters, the whole of the east end of the choir, and the interior of the nave: to which must be added the alterations entailed in forming and laying out the grounds round nearly the whole of the cathedral; several houses and yards having been removed, and hundreds of loads of soil, the accumulation of years, taken away from against the walls.

II. The ground-plan of the Norman church embraced nave and aisles, choir and sanctuary, short transepts with apsidal eastern chapels, and a choir-aisle, or “procession path,” terminating in three eastern chapels, also apsidal. (The plan of Norwich may be compared.) With the addition of the Lady-chapel and the cloisters, this ground-plan still remains, as in the early part of the twelfth century. The Norman work throughout the building belongs either to this original church, built by Abbot Serlo, and dedicated in 1100; or to the restorations after the fire of 1122. All of it, but especially the great piers of the nave, which remain unaltered, is very interesting and important; but the great peculiarity of Gloucester Cathedral is the later work, ranging from 1329 to 1377, with which the original Norman walls and piers of the transepts and choir are cased and transformed. The manner in which this transformation is effected not only differs altogether from that in which other Norman buildings (the nave of Winchester for example) were re-cased and altered, but the work at Gloucester affords us perhaps the earliest example of English Perpendicular; since it exhibits far more characteristics of this style than of even the later Decorated, which from the date of the work we should expect to find. The Perpendicular work thus begun, is continued through a series of magnificent examples,—the cloister, (1377-1412); the great tower, (1450-1460); and the Lady-chapel, (1457-1498,) almost to the last days of Gothic architecture.

III. The best general views of the cathedral will be obtained from the north-west and from the south-east; but there are many excellent points of view from the lawn by which the building is now happily surrounded. The outlines—owing greatly to the Lady-chapel with its projecting chantries, to the eastern chapels of the transepts and choir-aisles, and to the open-work of parapets and pinnacles—are unusually varied and picturesque. The manner in which the exterior mouldings of the great east window, of the west window, and of the openings in the tower, are carried upwards, so as to form a kind of gable, is a marked feature, which first appears within, in the beautiful arches across the transepts, on which the groining drops; and which was adopted, apparently from them, by the designers of the succeeding work. But the light and graceful tracery of the parapets, and of the pinnacles of the tower, is that which gives especial character to the exterior of Gloucester. Against a clear, mid-day sky this open-work is sufficiently striking; but when its tracery is projected against the red glow of sunset, an effect is produced which is altogether unrivalled. The tower of Gloucester may be compared with the central tower of Canterbury Cathedral, of later date, (Gloucester 1450-1460, height 225 feet; Canterbury 1495-1517, height 235 feet,) and of more massive character. Both towers form admirable centres to the masses of building clustered round them; and well illustrate the great advantage (which English architects alone seem to have appreciated) of “placing the principal features of their churches on the intersection of the nave with the transept[3].” At Gloucester, even more than at Canterbury, the various lines of the Lady-chapel, the transepts, the choir-aisles, and the choir-roof with its eastern gable, lead the eye gradually upwards to the great tower, with its crowning pinnacles. This effect is perhaps increased by the shortness of the transepts,—which here and at Worcester (the parent cathedral of Gloucester) are of the same dimensions, (128 feet from north to south[4]).

IV. For a more particular notice of the exterior,

THE NAVE.

see § XX. The cathedral is generally entered by the south porch, a part of the Perpendicular work erected by Abbot Morwent, (1420-1437). (This abbot pulled down the towers at the west end of the cathedral, and the two west bays of the nave. The present western portion of the nave, as far as the end of the second bay, including the west front and the south porch, is his work.) The porch, which has an upper chamber, is greatly enriched with niches and canopies, and has buttresses at the angles. [Frontispiece.] The arms in the spandrils of the doorway are those of England and France, and of the Abbey. The pinnacles and open parapet are of the same general character as those (earlier) above the gable of the great east window, and as those (later) of the central tower. The ogee arched moulding, with its finial, which rises in the centre is the feature already noticed (§ III.) as characteristic of this cathedral. It occurs throughout the Perpendicular work. Within the porch, the peculiar tracery of the side windows should be noticed. “The internal arrangement of the panelling of the side walls is continued to the exterior, and made to form the mullions of the windows.”

V. The first impression, on entering the nave, is produced by the lofty Norman piers. [Plate I.] The whole arrangement differs much from that of the great Norman naves of the Eastern cathedrals, Norwich, Ely, and Peterborough. In them the divisions of the nave-arcade and of the triforium above it are very nearly equal in height and width, whilst the clerestory range is of little less importance[5]. At Gloucester, the massive nave piers are carried to such a height (30 feet) as to afford little space for the triforium, which is only a narrow wall passage; and the original Norman clerestory, the circular arches of which may still be traced below the Perpendicular windows, was of nearly the same dimensions. The height of the piers is thus made to seem greater than it really is. They must have been still more remarkable when the floor of the nave was at its original level, ten inches lower than at present. The bases of the piers stood on square blocks; and there still exist some remains of an encaustic floor on the lower level. These massive circular piers, which are found also at Tewkesbury, at Pershore, and at Malvern Priory, seem to be peculiar to England. They do not, at any rate, occur in any church in Normandy, where the rectangular form prevails. The good effect of carrying them to such a height as at Gloucester is perhaps questionable, since the necessary result is to deprive both triforium and clerestory of all dignity and importance.

The nave consists of nine bays, from the west front to the central tower. Of these all are Norman to the top of the triforium, except the two western bays, which are Perpendicular, (Abbot Morwent’s work). The Norman clerestory was altered, and the Norman portion of the nave was newly vaulted, in the first half of the thirteenth century. (The nave roof was completed in 1242. The monks themselves, according to Froucester’s Chronicle, laboured at it,—considering, suggests Professor Willis, that they could do the work better than common workmen.) The nave piers have plain bases and cushioned capitals. The arches have the zigzag in the outer moulding and a double cable in the soffete. A cable moulding runs along above them. In the triforium, two arches in each bay circumscribe four smaller ones, the tympana above which are quite plain. In constructing the new clerestory, the Norman work immediately above the triforium arches was entirely removed; and only the jambs of the side lights which extended beyond the triforium arches, with the wall between them, were allowed to remain. The jambs of these Norman lights, with zigzag moulding, may still be traced in each bay of the clerestory. The windows of the Early English clerestory were filled with Perpendicular tracery, possibly by Abbot Morwent.

The Norman portions of the nave may have belonged to the church of Abbot Serlo, (completed in 1100); but it is impossible to say how much alteration or rebuilding was rendered necessary by the fires of 1122, 1179, and 1190. The red colour of parts of the piers where the stone has become calcined, still bears witness to the fierceness of, most probably, the last of these fires; by which the wooden roof of the Norman church was destroyed. This was replaced during the abbacy of Henry Foliot, (1228-1243,) by the existing vaulting; which is plain quadripartite, with a central rib and bosses at the intersections. The groining, of a light porous stone, is plastered on the underside. The vaulting-shafts, (of the same date as the roof,) in groups of three, are of Purbeck marble, with stone capitals of leafage, and Purbeck abaci. These rest on a series of brackets supported by shafts which descend between the pier-arches. The first five of these brackets, counting from the third (the first Norman) bay of the nave, are perhaps Transitional Norman, and the cable-moulding at the head of the pier-arches passes round them. The next three eastward have the cable-moulding cut away for them; and on either side is a shaft of Purbeck marble with foliaged capital, from which a moulding is carried round the bay of the clerestory. This part was perhaps more injured by the fire, so that the earlier work required greater alteration. (The peculiar arrangement, suggests Professor Willis, may have been one of the consequences of the monks’ amateur workmanship.) The capitals and corbels of the vaulting-shafts were richly coloured[6]; and remains of painting were found on the great piers themselves during the late restorations. Against three of the piers on the north side are Perpendicular brackets, for lamps or for statues.

The two western bays of the nave were the work of Abbot Morwent, (1420-1437,) who pulled down the Norman front, which had towers north and south, intending to re-construct the entire nave,—a design fortunately prevented by his death[7]. The contrast between the noble Norman columns and the Perpendicular piers is sufficiently striking. The westernmost bay is much wider than the others; there is no triforium; the clerestory windows resemble the others, all of which were probably inserted by Morwent; and the vaulting is a rich lierne, with bosses of leafage. The west end is filled with a large Perpendicular window of very good design, the glass in which, by Wailes, is a memorial of the late Bishop Monk, (died 1856,) erected at the sole expense of the Rev. Thomas Murray Browne, Honorary Canon of Gloucester, “in grateful remembrance of many years of sincere friendship.” (It should be remarked 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 east, and in some other windows.) The glass is of unusually pictorial character; and if not entirely successful, is at least better than most recent attempts in a similar direction. The subjects are:—Lowest tier, beginning south—Noah passing out of the Ark after the Deluge; Moses dividing the Red Sea; the Baptism of the Ethiopian Eunuch. In the second tier—The Annunciation to the Shepherds; the Nativity; the Adoration of the Kings. In the third tier—The Presentation in the Temple; the Baptism of our Lord; St. John Preaching in the Desert. Above are the Baptism of St. Paul, of St. Peter, and of the Jailor of Philippi. Below the window is a brass plate with an inscription recording its erection as a memorial to Bishop Monk.

The west doorway and the panelling at its sides are very plain. At the angle between the nave and the south aisle is a statue of Edward Jenner, by R. W. Sievier. Dr. Jenner, the discoverer of vaccination, was born at Berkeley in Gloucestershire, in 1749; and died there in 1823.

The view eastward from this point is intercepted by the organ; but beyond the massive piers of the nave, portions of the light choir-roof are seen; and the superb glass of the east window terminates the choir with such a glow of colour as few other cathedrals can display.

VI. The north aisle of the nave is, like the nave itself, Norman, except the two western bays, which are Abbot Morwent’s. The half piers against the wall are of the same height as those of the nave, but are divided into several members with shafts at the angles, the capitals of which are in some cases enriched. In each bay the Norman window-opening remains, with zigzag mouldings and side-shafts. All are filled with Perpendicular tracery, which is continued on the Norman wall under the windows. A Perpendicular stone bench runs below. The windows in this aisle are raised high, in order to clear the roof of the cloister outside. The vaulting is ribbed, Norman.

In the Perpendicular portion of this aisle (second bay) is a very fine doorway into the west walk of the cloister—(the monks’ entrance). A crocketed canopy rises above it, with panellings on either side, in which were painted figures of the Apostles. On each side of the door are niches for figures. In the easternmost bay of this aisle is the abbot’s entrance—also Perpendicular, but not so richly decorated. In both these doorways, the half-groined recesses, so constructed as to admit of the doors opening into them, should be noticed.

The Perpendicular window at the west end of this aisle has been filled (1862) with stained glass by Hardman; representing the story of the British King Lucius, who, according to one tradition, died and was buried at Gloucester. Under the window is a tablet for Bishop Warburton, (died 1779); “a prelate,” runs the inscription, “of the most sublime genius and exquisite learning.” The slab which covers his tomb is in the first bay between the nave and aisle. Two monuments in this aisle should be mentioned: that in the fifth bay by Flaxman, for Sarah Morley, who died with her young child, at sea, in 1784. She rises from the sea supported by three floating angels. Above are the words, “The sea shall give up its dead.” The figures are graceful, and the whole composition striking. And that in the last bay, by the choir-screen, for Thomas Machen, Alderman of Gloucester, and wife; 1614;—a very good example of the period, but by no means one to be imitated. The window above is filled with excellent stained glass by Clayton and Bell, in which the white and neutral tints give great effect to the brilliant colour. The subjects are the three miracles of our Lord in raising the dead:—The Ruler’s Daughter, the Widow’s Son, and Lazarus.

VII. The south aisle of the nave was changed to its present state in 1318, during the abbacy of John Thokey, (1306-1329). The Norman south wall remains in the interior, together with the half piers, which resemble those in the north aisle. Abbot Thokey erected the present external façade against this Norman wall[8], and re-groined the roof. The exterior of this aisle (see § XX.) is a very fine example of early Decorated[9]. The deeply recessed windows are enriched with the ball-flower, and resemble one of the windows in Merton Chapel, Oxford, from which chapel (founded about 1280), or from that of Gloucester College, founded for student monks of this monastery in 1283, the windows here may have been directly copied. The ball-flower occurs again in profusion at Ledbury, in Herefordshire; but it is rarely used to such an extent as in this aisle, and in the tower of Hereford Cathedral, which is nearly of the same date. At Gloucester a horizontal line drawn across the head of the window, just above the spring of the arch, cuts no fewer than thirty-two ranks of the ball-flower, sixteen within and sixteen without. All the windows of this aisle, as far as the south porch, have been filled with stained glass. The first (beginning from the east) is by Warrington; the second, by Clayton and Bell, contains the story of Edward II.;—his imprisonment in Berkeley Castle; his murder; the Abbot of Gloucester taking possession of the body; the procession of monks with the body to Gloucester; and the entombment. This window is good and interesting. The glass of the third window is by Bell of Bristol, and is very bad. The fourth, by Clayton and Bell, represents the coronation of Henry III. in Gloucester Cathedral. The fifth, by Warrington, and the sixth, by Bell of Bristol, are equally bad. The representations in the stained glass of the cathedral of the great historical events which have been connected with it is an excellent idea, provided such historical glass is not allowed to intrude itself unfittingly. The great defect of the glass in Gloucester Cathedral is its want of plan and uniformity,—owing to the various artists (some very indifferent) who have been employed.

In altering the south aisle, Abbot Thokey cut off the arches over the Norman windows, (those opposite should be compared,) and lowered the vaulting. This, in the first four bays from the south porch, greatly resembles that of the nave, which is of much earlier date. The vaulting of the three last bays has its mouldings filled with the ball-flower.

The two western bays of this aisle are Abbot Morwent’s work, and differ very slightly from those opposite. Against the west wall is a coloured bust of John Jones, “Burgess of Parliament” at the time of the Gunpowder treason. In the aisle is a monument by Sievier for Sir George Onesephorus Paul, (died 1820,) who distinguished himself by his active exertions in reforming prisons.

The last bay between this aisle and the south transept is closed on the north side by the chantry of Abbot Seabroke, (died 1457,) the builder of the central tower, the south-west pier of which forms the head of his chantry. His effigy, in alabaster, was originally in a recess on the north side, but now occupies the place of the altar. Chantry and effigy have been much mutilated and shattered. In an arched recess under the opposite windows are effigies of a knight and lady, long assigned to one of the Bohun Earls of Hereford. There is every reason, however, to believe that the effigies represent members of the Brydges family, whose crest appears on the knight’s sword-belt[10]. He wears a collar of SS., and his armour cannot be earlier than the reign of Henry V.

Against the wall on the north side of the entrance to the transept is a large canopied bracket for a figure.

VIII. Passing into the south transept, we enter that portion of the Norman cathedral which was transformed and re-cased during the fourteenth century. Both transepts, the choir and its aisles, were thus treated, between the years 1329-1377. The work, according to Froucester’s Chronicle, was begun in this transept, which was re-cased by Abbot Wygemore[11], (1329-1337).

In both transepts the original outline of the Norman work is complete, both in the interior and exterior. Both transepts had eastern chapels, below and in the triforium, which extends over the choir-aisles, opening into other chapels at the east end. Instead of the lofty piers of the nave, the transepts at their eastern sides, and the choir throughout, have low, massive piers and arches below, and piers and arches of nearly equal dimensions in the triforium. In the fourteenth century the Norman walls of both transepts were covered on their three sides with an open screen-work or panelling formed by mullions and transoms, enriched with tracery and foiled headings. The forms of the triforium arches, of the clerestory, and of the arches opening into the chapels and choir-aisles, were changed from round to pointed; but within the triforium the round arches remain, and the wall on which the panelling is laid is the original Norman. The great distinction between the work here and that in the nave of Winchester, with which it may be instructively compared, is, that in the latter instance the Norman work was completely hidden, and re-cased with Perpendicular masonry: at Gloucester the later work was only laid on the Norman walls and arches. This is more evident in the choir than in the transepts.

The south transept, according to Abbot Froucester, was the first part of the Church to be thus treated. The panelling, however, although dating from the first half of the fourteenth century, (1329-1337,) has much of Perpendicular character; and the alterations in this transept may accordingly be regarded as perhaps the earliest approach to Perpendicular work in England. The design is indeed wanting in one chief characteristic of true Perpendicular; as the mullions are not carried straight up to the head of the arch, but branch off into arches before reaching it. But although the work in this transept retains much of Decorated character, the tendency to change is sufficiently marked; and in the rest of the cathedral (north transept and choir) the Perpendicular style is completely developed. According to Professor Willis, it may have commenced here. “It must have begun somewhere; in some place the mullion must have been carried up for the first time, and no place is so likely as Gloucester to have produced the change of style[12].”

On the east side, the entrance to the choir-aisle is closed by an open screen, with two doorways in the lower part, one leading to the aisle, the other into the crypt. The form of their arches is very unusual, and deserves notice. The rib of a great buttress, supporting the wall of the choir, runs through the triforium above. In the south-east bay was an arch, now closed, leading into the Norman chapel, on either side of which are canopied brackets for figures. In the panel filling the first bay, just above the top of the crypt door, is the so-called Prentice’s bracket, [Title,] in form resembling a builder’s square. Two figures support it, curiously placed,—the lower with a bag at his waist. It is traditionally said to be a memorial of the master builder and his son, or prentice, but was in all probability a bracket for light. Filling the centre of the blank arch is a monument with medallion for Bishop Benson, (died 1755).

On the south side of the transept is a large Perpendicular window of good design, below which is a passage, behind an open arcade. The passage is entered from a Norman staircase-turret in the south-west angle, and leads upward to the triforium. The effect of this arcade, with its unusual depth of shadow, is very good.

THE “PRENTICE’S” BRACKET.

CONFESSIONAL.

IN THE SOUTH TRANSEPT.

In the wall under this passage are two doorways, now closed, above one of which (eastward) is a grotesque monster; the other forms what is called the confessional. [Plate II.] Three steps ascend to the door, between panels which slope like the sides of a chair, and are supported by figures which seem to be those of angels. The heads, however, are gone, and the figures are otherwise much defaced. The local tradition asserts that those who came to confess entered by the first door, with the monster’s head above it, typical of sin; and left by the other, with the sorrowing angels, representing penitence. How far the doorways were at all connected with a confessional is, however, quite uncertain.

Against this wall is an ugly Elizabethan monument for Richard Pates, (died 1588); and the high tomb with effigies of Alderman Blackleech, “who was admitted to the glory of eternity 1639,” and his wife Gertrude. The figures are in alabaster, and are wonderful examples of costume. All the details—boots, rosettes, sword-belt and sword-handle, and the lady’s lace and short jacket—deserve notice. It was not for her beauty that Dame Gertrude was thus commemorated.

In the west wall is a Perpendicular window, with blank panelling below. An open screen-work covers the arch into the nave, and the choir-buttress runs through its upper division. The roof is a plain lierne, without bosses, and “one of the earliest specimens of this complex class of rib-vaulting. Owing to the difference of the angles of the ribs, such a vault was very difficult of construction; most skilful workmanship was necessary to make the ribs join at the intersections; and this led to the use of bosses, which while they concealed defective work, greatly enriched the roof. But in this example there are no bosses. The ribs join perfectly; and it appears as if the masons desired that the skilfulness of their work should be shewn[13].” The very light and beautiful effect of the flying-arch apparently carrying the choir-vaulting, which crosses the main tower-arch, should here be noticed. The whole arrangement is singularly picturesque and original; (see § X.)

IX. In the north transept, cased by Abbot Horton, (1351-1377,) the new work differs in its mouldings, which are here angular instead of round; and in the greater richness of the roof. The mullions are here continued up to the roof, shewing the complete development of the Perpendicular. In this transept the eastern chapel is open. There is an ascent of seven steps to it, shewing what was the original arrangement of the chapel in the opposite transept. Within this chapel, looking west, the casing of the Norman work with the later is very evident.

Against the north wall of this transept, under the open arcade, is a structure of early Decorated character, which has been called, and probably with reason, a reliquary[14]. [Plate III.] It is in three divisions, the

THE RELIQUARY.

entrance being through the central arch. All the arches are enriched with foiled openings, and with intricate and very beautiful leafage. There are Purbeck shafts at the angles, heads at the spring of the arches, and a series of seated figures, under canopies, much mutilated, between the outer arch at the entrance and the trefoil within. Inside, the three divisions are groined, with bosses at the intersections; and each bay has three blind arches in the wall, between which piers project to some distance. The reliquary ends before reaching the north-west angle of the transept in which the square Norman turret projects, leading upward to the arcaded passage and to the triforium. (Compare the projecting turrets at the angles of the transepts in Worcester Cathedral.) At the north-east angle the Perpendicular work joins the reliquary; a bracket for a figure is placed between it and the steps leading to the chapel, and a shield bearing Abbot Parker’s arms has taken the place of the last corbel-head.

Three Norman windows remain at the east end of the chapel opening from this transept. Below them is a Perpendicular reredos, with three niches, from which the figures have disappeared. This chapel (as will be seen from the Plan) is of less size than that opening from the south transept, and the altar (owing to the polygonal apse) was not due east. A door opens south, into the choir-aisle; and in the opposite wall is a very good Perpendicular doorway, leading to rooms now used as vestries. The Perpendicular cresting, and the angels bearing scrolls in the hollow moulding, are good, and should be noticed. The Norman arch in the wall above this doorway, and the Norman work in the opposite wall, (which should be examined from the choir-aisle as well as from the chapel,) apparently indicate changes in this part of the building before the alteration of the entire transept, which it is not easy to explain. The groin edges of the vault of this chapel are carried down the piers in a manner of which no example occurs elsewhere.

The steps into the chapel, and a similar ascent into the choir-aisle, were rendered necessary from the height of the crypt, (§ XVII.), which extends under the whole of the building east of the tower, with the exception of the Lady-chapel. The very peculiar doorways opening to the aisle resemble those in the opposite transept. Within the smaller of these arches, on a level with the top of the stairs, is a small stone lectern, from which, it is probable, the pilgrims were addressed as they passed upwards to the shrine of Edward II.[15]

The Perpendicular screen below the tower-arch opening to the transept enclosed a chapel, now used as a vestry. A similar chapel existed beneath the south tower-arch. Under a Perpendicular window on the west side of the transept is a monument for John

THE CHOIR.

Bower, (died 1615,) “who had nyne sones and seaven daughters by his wife Anne Bower.” Their names are on shields above this inscription, and their figures are painted on the wall at the back. Above are the words “Vayne, Vanytie. All is but Vayne. Witnesse Soloman.” The monument is curious from the manner in which painting is used in it.

X. A heavy organ-screen, erected in 1823 by Dr. Griffith, (for whom there is a tablet on the north side,) divides the nave from the choir, and materially interferes with the utility and beauty of both.

The choir, [Plate IV.], as in most Norman churches, extends one bay west of the central tower, under which the stalls are arranged. An ascent of three steps leads to the presbytery, three bays in length; and the altar is approached by two additional steps. The unrivalled east window at once attracts attention on entering the choir; but the whole view is rendered especially interesting and peculiar by the panelling and open screen-work covering the Norman walls and arches, the form of which is preserved; by the lofty clerestory; and by the exquisite lightness and grace of the lierne roof, which extends unbroken, except by a low ribbed arch, from the west wall of the tower to the east window.

The choir, according to Froucester’s Chronicle, was cased and vaulted by Abbots Staunton, (1337-1351,) and Horton, (1351-1377). Their work must also have embraced the lower portion of the tower, (as far as the roof,) since there is no break in the vaulting, and the work is of the same character throughout. As far as the spring of the flying-arch that carries the groining, the piers of the tower are Norman; to this point the walls of the tower, choir, and presbytery were taken down. The pointed arches opening to the transepts, the slender arches that cross them, and apparently carry the groining, and rank among the most peculiar features of this cathedral, and the vaulted roof of the tower, all belong to the work of Staunton and Horton: the former of whom completed the western portion of the choir, with the vaulting; whilst the latter re-constructed the eastern end, with the high altar. The choir vaulting is one of the richest examples in England; and although its lines of ornamentation are thrown out in every direction like those of a spider’s web, “the complication is really the effect of perspective, since when reduced to drawing the lines form a simple geometrical figure[16].” The tower-vaulting is much higher than the roof of the nave, and admits of a window in the west wall of the tower, with niches carrying brackets for figures on either side. Over the arch is the inscription,—

“Hoc quod digestum specularis opusque politum
Tullii hæc ex onere Seabroke Abbate jubente;”

which can only record the building of the upper part of the tower, in the time of Abbot Seabroke; (see § III.): or possibly, only the completion of the work, after the death of Abbot Seabroke in 1457, by Robert Tully,

MISERERES IN THE CHOIR.

a monk of the house. In 1460 Tully became Bishop of St. David’s, and died in 1481.

The light arches which, cross the main arches of the tower, north and south, and which look like “pieces of carpentry in stone,” do not in reality support the vault, which rests securely on the wall behind. They were not, however, intended to deceive. “Unless some resting-place was provided, the builders must have allowed the capital to hang down to a level with the others without anything to support it, or altered the arch above, and thus have disturbed the curvature of the vault. The flying-arch was contrived to get rid of these defects. All this appears to be characteristic of a school of masons who were extremely skilful, and glad of an opportunity of shewing their skill; as a modern engineer likes to carry his railway through a chain of mountains when he has a plain valley before him[17].”

The stalls ranged below the tower are Perpendicular, (those north the work of Abbot Staunton, those south of Abbot Horton,) with, rich projecting canopies. The misereres [Plate V.] below are of the usual character, but are so fixed that they can only be seen with difficulty. Behind the first stall on the north side is a fragment of Early English work, probably of the date of Elias de Lideford, who erected stalls in the choir, which were removed by Abbots Staunton and Horton.

The open screen-work which covers the Norman arches of the presbytery, is carried upwards into the lofty clerestory windows, so as to cover the entire bay with a uniform panelling. Light vaulting-shafts run up between, and carry the lierne roof. The termination of the Norman choir was originally circular, as at Norwich; but in order to insert the great east window, the two last bays, eastward, were entirely removed, and the walls, from this point, now slope outwards north and south. This part of the work is, in Froucester’s Chronicle, assigned to Abbot Horton, (1351-1377). The tiling of the sacrarium, which displays the arms and devices of Abbot Parker, (1515-1534,) is no doubt of his time; as are the sedilia on the south side, which indicate the coming change in their arabesque ornaments. The frieze, a knotted stick passed through a riband, should be noticed. On the canopy above are three figures,—one with a drum or tambourine, the others with trumpets.

XI. The great east window, which terminates the choir, is the largest in England, and is, owing to the ingenious construction of this part of the choir, wider than the side walls which contain it: it is filled with what is, in many respects, the finest stained glass of the period in this country. The window itself, in its general design and tracery, corresponds with the panelling of the choir and with the windows of the clerestory, and is part of Abbot Horton’s work. The tracery-heads and cusps on the inside do not appear without, as usual, since the glass (probably to save expense) is fitted into a square-headed panel, sunk in the back of the window. A peculiar effect is produced by the roof of the Lady-chapel beyond, which rises against the lower part of the window, (from which it is separated by the ante-chapel); the glass above is consequently always in brighter light than that below. The stone-work of the whole window has been repaired (1862) at a cost of £1,400; and £600 has been expended on the re-leading of the glass by Hughes[18], under the very careful supervision of Mr. Winston, one of the best authorities on the subject.

The window, like the rest of the choir-work, has decided Perpendicular features; but the glass “is in all respects thoroughly Decorated in character;... As a general rule, it is true that a change in the style of architecture has always preceded, by some years, the corresponding change in the style of painted glass....

“The two first tiers of lights from the ground are filled with coloured borders and ornamented white quarries; a shield of arms in a panel is inserted in each light, and a small ornamented roundel placed at some distance beneath it. The three next tiers of lights throughout the window are filled with figures and canopies, and, in the central part of the window, another tier likewise, the spires of this row of canopies running into the tier of lights above. This arrangement, as might be expected, imparts a grand pyramidical character to the whole design. All the tracery lights of the window are filled with ornamented white quarries, and enriched with small roundels of ornament inserted here and there....

“The colouring of the lower lights—containing figures and canopies—is arranged on a principle not uncommon in early Perpendicular glass. The figures are almost entirely white, having yellow stained hair, and borders to their robes: the architectural work of the canopies is wholly composed of white and yellow stained glass. The positive colouring is confined to the spire backgrounds of the canopies, and the tapestry which lines the interior of the niche; and it is carried in uniform streaks, or columns, down the window. Thus the spire grounds and tapestries of the central column—which is two lights broad, all the other columns being only of the width of one light—are coloured red; those of the next column on each side the centre one are coloured blue; those of the next red, and so on. The large proportion of white used in the most coloured parts prevents any violent transition, from the figure and canopy part to the quarry part of the window....

“The full effect of the Gloucester window, no doubt, depends not only on the simplicity of the composition, the largeness of its parts, and the breadth of its colouring, but also on the excellence of the material of which the window is composed....

“The side windows of the choir-clerestory retain enough of their original glazing—which is precisely of the same date as that of the east window—to enable us to perceive that their lower tier of lights was filled with figures and canopies, and their upper tier and tracery-lights with borders and quarry patterns, having small roundels of ornament inserted of the same character as the pattern-work in the east window: a corroborative proof, if any were necessary, of the originality of the arrangement of the glass in the upper part of the east window, with which the arrangement of the glass in the side windows so perfectly harmonizes[19].” The date assigned by Mr. Winston to the east window, and to those of the clerestory, is between 1345 and 1350.

XII. On the south side of the presbytery is a projecting bracket of Perpendicular date, on which is placed the earlier effigy of an abbot—perhaps that of Henry Foliot, (died 1243). It is too shattered, however, to be of much interest.

On the north side of the presbytery, beginning from the east, are:—

(1.) A high tomb with effigy of Osric, the Mercian “kinglet,” who is said to have founded the first religious establishment at Gloucester. (See § I., and Pt. II.) On the east end of the monument is the inscription,—“Osricus Rex primus fundator hujus monasterii—681.” The tomb and effigy are said to have been erected during the abbacy of William Parker, (1515-1539,) whose arms, together with those of the abbey, appear on it. The effigy is crowned and sceptred, and carries the model of a church in the left hand. The ermine collar of the robe is unusual.

(2.) The superb tomb, with effigy of Edward II. [Plate VI.] It has been truly said that the whole of the choir, as it at present exists, is a memorial of the murdered King; since the alterations in it were commenced after his interment here, and their cost was mainly defrayed from the rich offerings made at his tomb. The tomb itself, however, is not unworthy a greater king than Edward II.

It was on the 21st of September, 1327, that King Edward was murdered in Berkeley Castle. The monasteries of Bristol, Kingswood, and Malmesbury refused to receive his body for interment, fearing the displeasure of the Queen and her party; but Abbot Thokey of Gloucester, more far-sighted, brought it from Berkeley in his own carriage, and caused it to be solemnly interred beneath the existing monument. This was erected at the cost of the King’s son, Edward III., and became at once an important place of pilgrimage. Offerings made here were thought to avert the Divine anger from the nation, and it is said that if all the oblations presented at the tomb during the reign of Edward III. had been expended on the church, it might have been built anew. Edward III. himself, when in danger of shipwreck, vowed an offering of a golden ship at his father’s tomb, which was duly presented, but afterwards redeemed, at the request of the Abbot and Convent, for £100. The Black Prince offered a golden crucifix, containing a portion of the holy Cross; the Queen of

MONUMENT OF EDWARD II.

Scots, a necklace with a ruby; and Queen Philippa, a heart and ear of gold. Such offerings were no doubt hung about the tomb, in the usual manner.

The monument itself consists of an altar-tomb with effigy, canopied by a mass of exquisite tabernacle-work, which fills up the entire arch. The great Norman piers on either side have been cut away, to give room for the lower part of the tomb, which has canopied niches for figures no longer existing, and on the side toward the choir-aisle (at which the oblations were made) a bracket for light. The effigy is of alabaster, and the King’s features were possibly chiselled from a waxen mask, taken after death. The head is very fine, and should be compared with those of Edward III. at Westminster, and of the Black Prince at Canterbury. In all these Plantagenet effigies there is a striking resemblance. The arrangement of the hair and beard should be noticed. At the head are angels, and a lion at the feet, finely rendered. On the side of the tomb (toward the aisle) is a shield, with an inscription recording the restoration of the monument by the society of Oriel College, Oxford, of which Edward II. was the founder, at the instance of his Almoner, Adam de Brome:—“Hoc fundatoris sui monumentum, situ vetustatis deformatum, instaurari curaverunt Præpos. et Soc. Coll. Oriel, Oxon. A.D. 1737-1789-1798.”

The capitals of the great piers are painted with the device of Richard II., the white hart, chained and collared. Hence a tradition has arisen that the body of the King was drawn by stags from Berkeley to Gloucester.

(3.) The chantry, with effigy, of Abbot Parker, (the last Abbot of Gloucester,) 1515-1539. The chantry has been converted into a pew. The screen enclosing it has a good frieze of vine-leaves and grapes; and the niches for statues at the angles should be noticed. The effigy, of alabaster, has been much cut and injured. The Abbot wears the chasuble and jewelled mitre, (Gloucester ranked as the eleventh of the twenty-seven mitred English abbeys); the top of his staff is broken. There are small figures in the portion left. The base of the monument has shields with the Abbot’s arms, and others bearing the emblems of our Lord’s Passion.

XIII. The north choir-aisle is entered from the choir through a Perpendicular doorway in the bay below Abbot Parker’s chantry. The aisle itself is Norman, of the same date as the choir, but has the windows filled with Perpendicular tracery. The low enormous piers of the choir are here well seen, and the monuments already described should all be noticed from this side.

At the north-east angle of the aisle is one of the apsidal chapels, three of which terminated the Norman choir. The chapel forms a pentagon, the place of the altar being, very unusually, north-east. The whole chapel was altered as a memorial of Abbot Boteler, (1437-1450). It is enclosed by a Perpendicular screen, and the windows are filled with Perpendicular tracery. Behind the altar is a very rich Perpendicular reredos, having one central and eight smaller niches. Some of the small figures of the Apostles in the canopies above

TOMB OF ROBERT, DUKE OF NORMANDY.

are perfect; and there are also many shields of benefactors to the monastery. The whole is richly painted.

On the step of the altar is the effigy of Robert Courtehose, [Plate VII.,] eldest son of the Conqueror, who died in 1134, at the castle of Cardiff, where he had been a prisoner twenty-six years. He had been a great benefactor to the monastery at Gloucester, and was interred here before the high altar. His monument continued entire until 1641, when it was broken to pieces by Cromwell’s soldiers. The pieces were bought by Sir Humphrey Tracy, of Stanway, who kept them until after the Restoration, when they were put together, and replaced in the cathedral. The monument now consists of a high tomb or chest (on wheels), of Irish oak, on which is laid the effigy, also of oak. The shields on the tomb, and the figure itself, were partly re-coloured, and the former very improperly, during the present century. The tomb has a border of leafage, of late Decorated character. The effigy itself may be of the same period (since the material is the same), and may perhaps have been copied from an earlier figure. It is cross-legged, and has a surcoat and a coronet. Whatever may be its real date, it cannot possibly be older than Henry II.

The Norman pier remains at the north-east angle of the chapel, with the addition of a Perpendicular base, and a panelled ornament cut into it. Between the reredos and the east wall is a Perpendicular arch, which assists in carrying the east window, and is so contrived as to relieve the slight Perpendicular pier adjoining of the weight of the superstructure, which it was not strong enough to bear. The construction of all this east end of the choir, which is very ingenious, is best seen in the triforium, (§ XVI.)

XIV. The termination of the Norman choir, as has already been mentioned, was polygonal, with a central and two side chapels. This original arrangement still remains in the crypt, (§ XVII.); but the central chapel at the east end of the choir, which had been undisturbed by the erection of the great east window, was altered about a century later, when the Lady-chapel was commenced. The walls of the ante-chapel, by which this is entered, are in fact those of the Norman apsidal chapel, pierced on either side by a Perpendicular window, and having a rich panelled lierne vault, crossed by a double row of pendants. The upper story of the ante-chapel was the Norman chapel of the triforium. This portion is separated from the Lady-chapel by a screen of open-work, through which is seen the vaulted roof, and three windows at the west and on either side. The west window looks across the low gallery intervening between it and the east window of the choir, (see § V.) The arch carrying the screen of the upper chapel, and forming the eastern termination of the lower roof, is bordered in front by a series of foiled panels, having shields in their centres.

All this work, together with the Lady-chapel itself, is due to Abbot Hanley, (1457-1472,) and his successor, Abbot Farley, (1472-1498). It was the last great work of the monastery, and worthily closes the fine series of Perpendicular structures, (the re-casing of the choir, the cloisters, the tower, and the Lady-chapel,) which rank among the most interesting and important in England.

The Lady-chapel consists of four bays, with a square-sided eastern end, and small square-sided chapels of two stories, projecting from the third bay on either side. Each bay is nearly filled by a lofty Perpendicular window of four divisions. The lights of the two upper tiers are simply foiled. Those below are richer, with ornamented headings. In the wall below the window is a plain arcade of foiled arches, with a quatrefoil above. The narrow bit of wall which remains in each bay is panelled with tracery corresponding to the divisions of the windows; and in the three principal tiers has brackets and rich canopies for figures. The brackets are angels bearing scrolls. Vaulting-shafts run up between these panels; and above is a superb lierne roof,—one of the best and purest examples of such a roof in the Perpendicular period. The bosses are entirely of leafage, and are very numerous. Traces of colour remain on the walls, and on some of the canopies; and the headings of the window lights retain their original stained glass.

The effect of the side chapels is unusually picturesque. Each is of two stories; the roof of the upper on a level with the upper series of wall panellings on either side. A sharply-pointed arch, with pierced panellings above and an open parapet below, forms the front of the upper chapels; the lower are closed in front by a rich screen-work, corresponding to the window divisions. The east end of the Lady-chapel is entirely filled by a Perpendicular window of three divisions, the design of which resembles those at the sides. The glass in this window is original, and very good, although not equal to that in the great east window of the choir. The extent to which white and yellow are employed in it should be noticed.

Below the window was a rich mass of tabernacle-work, now effectually smashed. Over the altar were three main niches, with pedestals for figures. There are fragments of brackets and canopies in the smaller divisions; and the whole shews remains of colour, gilding, and enamelling. The designs at the back of the principal niches should be especially noticed.

Much of the original tiling remains on this part of the floor. The tiles bear inscriptions, “Dũe Jhũ miserere;” and “Ave Maria grã. plẽ.” In the centre is a device of roses with leaves. Below the window on the south side are three sedilia, with graceful pendent canopies. The backs are panelled.

The side chapel on the north has a groined roof, in which the cusps of the foils and other portions are pierced with minute circular hollows, adding much to the elaborate effect. The panelling of the west wall has been filled by the upper part of the monument of Bishop Godfred, (died 1604). Below is an altar-tomb with effigy. The upper chapel, or oratory, is approached by a staircase on the west side, opening from the bay below; it has a lierne roof, with bosses of leafage. The south chapel resembles the north; and contains a flat altar-tomb for Thomas Fitzwilliams, (died 1579: it was repaired by his descendants in 1648). The east window is covered by the hideous monument of Bishop Nicholson, (died 1671). The upper chapel resembles that opposite. These chapels were apparently the chantries of the two abbots who built the Lady-chapel; the upper stories, in which there is no trace of an altar, serving as oratories.

On the north side of the Lady-chapel is a monument with effigy for Elizabeth Williams, daughter of Bishop Miles Smith of Gloucester, (died 1622). Below, again, is a full-length statue of Sir John Powell, (died 1713)[20].

XV. The south choir-aisle resembles that opposite. The south-east chapel opening from it retains its Norman work more completely than the north-east. The Norman arches and windows remain; the latter filled with Perpendicular tracery. As in the chapel opposite, the altar did not front due east.

A door on the platform above the steps descending to the transept opens to what was originally the east chapel of the transept itself. The arrangement resembled that of the south-east chapel. The arch of entrance from the transept (transitional Norman, and pointed) remains, walled up. Under the three eastern windows is a rich Perpendicular reredos, with three niches for figures.

XVI. The triforium of the choir is reached by the staircases at the angles of the transepts, and through the open arcade at their north and south sides. The triforium originally extended quite round the choir, the whole width of the choir-aisles, opening into chapels corresponding with those below. With the exception of the east end—between the south-east and north-east chapels—it remains entire; of late Norman character, with some alterations made during the Decorated period.

In the chapel above the south transept the Norman windows have been replaced by Decorated, enriched with the ball-flower. The double piscina in the small window, and the brackets for figures, with rich canopies, are Decorated, and deserve notice. Looking toward the transept, the manner in which it was re-cased is here readily seen. The circular Norman arch of the triforium encloses a pointed arch, with shafts at the angles. This arch is crossed by the ribs of the screen-work. In this part of the triforium is preserved an ancient painting on panel, representing the Last Judgment. It dates apparently from the end of the fifteenth century, but is of no very great interest.

The massive piers of the triforium above the choir-aisle remain unaltered. The arches are crossed with Perpendicular tracery. The south-east chapel opens

PLANS OF TRIFORIUM AND CRYPT, GLOUCESTER.

above the corresponding chapel in the aisle: it is plain Norman, with late windows inserted.

The manner in which the east end of the choir was re-constructed, to admit of the insertion of the great east window, and to allow of its being wider than the original walls of the choir, is best seen from this point. The eastern piers of the choir, and the portion of the triforium above, were entirely removed; but the Norman eastern chapel (corresponding to those south-east and north-east) was allowed to remain entire, both in the triforium and below. The last bay of the choir was extended laterally, so as to admit the light freely from the great window; and as access to the eastern chapel was cut off by the removal of the triforium, it became necessary to construct the passage at the back of the window, known as the “Whispering Gallery.” Here three flying buttresses should be remarked, which spring from the outer walls of the cathedral at the bend of the apse, and meet in a point behind the wall of the choir. These really sustain the weight above the triforium, so that the slight Perpendicular pier below (§ XIII.) is not called upon to do more than half the duty. In the Whispering Gallery much Norman stone-work has been re-used—a practice of common occurrence throughout the cathedral. Sound is transmitted through this gallery, which is 75 ft. long, 3 ft. wide, and 8 ft. high, in a remarkable manner. The lowest whisper, or the slightest scratch with a pin, is distinctly heard from one end to the other. The chapel into which it opens was part of the Norman chapel, altered on the building of the Lady-chapel, into which it looks. In it is a stone altar—perhaps that of the Norman chapel.

Chapel, Triforium

The north-east Norman chapel beyond the gallery has a Decorated window; and in that adjoining the north transept is a very beautiful Decorated double piscina. The foliated ornament round the inner arch of the windows here and in the chapel opposite should be noticed. Taking into account the many chapels in this triforium, and in the crypt, it may be reckoned that there were nearly twice as many altars in this church as were usually to be found in churches of even the same size and importance.

XVII. The crypt, which is entered from the south transept, is one of five English eastern crypts founded before 1085; (the others are Canterbury, Winchester, Rochester, and Worcester). After that date (with one exception, the Early English crypt at Hereford—see that cathedral) they ceased to be constructed, except in continuation of former ones. The crypt of Gloucester extends under the whole of the choir, with its aisles and chapels; and the original form of the eastern end is here at once evident.

Crypt.

“The outer walls of the crypt are about 10 ft. thick, and the aisle floor is on an average 8 ft. deep below the level of the soil on the outside. The centre part is divided by two rows of small columns, from which spring groined arches carrying the floor of the choir. The bases and capitals of these are much out of level, falling considerably from west to east, and from north to south.... It is evident that great alterations have from time to time been made in this part of the building: the large semicircular columns against the walls, though of great antiquity, are not part of the original structure, but are casings, in which are enclosed the former and smaller piers; and the ribs springing from their capitals are built under, and with a view to support the groins[21].”

Much soil has been cleared from the crypt, and the original floors of the chapels have been laid open. These are composed of a rough concrete. There is a step into each chapel, and the floors rise gradually toward the east end. All contain remains of altars and piscinas, generally of later date than the crypt itself. The chapel adjoining the north transept was groined and decorated in the latter part of the thirteenth century. The windows of the crypt have been opened and glazed.

XVIII. The cloisters, [Plate VIII.,] which are entered from the nave, rank among the finest examples in the kingdom. They were commenced 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 existing example of the fan-vault.

THE CLOISTERS.

THE “CAROLS” IN THE SOUTH WALK.

THE LAVATORY IN THE CLOISTERS.

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[22]. 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. “The construction of the outer walls is peculiar as to the arrangement of the buttresses, and the projecting shelf of stone connected with the transoms of the windows, which was evidently meant as a protection from the weather for the lower half of the windows,—which was not glazed[23].” Each walk is divided into ten compartments. In the south walk are the ‘Carols’—places for writing or study, twenty in number, formed by a series of arches, running below the main windows. In each ‘carol’ is a small and graceful window, of two lights. (Similar stalls or ‘carols’ existed at Durham.) The very fine view at the angle of the south and west walks should especially be noticed. In the north walk are the lavatories, [Plate IX.,] 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.

In the east walk are some memorial windows of stained glass; and it is proposed to fill the whole of the cloisters with glass, forming, when completed, a History of our Lord. “This scheme was originated with a view to check the disfigurement of the cathedral by monuments of any other description.”

XIX. The chapter-house opens from the east walk through a Norman arch enriched with zigzag ornament. The chapter-house itself (72 ft. by 34) is a long parallelogram of four bays, three of which are Norman, and the most easterly a Perpendicular addition. This part is finely groined, and has a large Perpendicular window. Round the Norman portion [Plate X.] is an arcade of four arches in each bay. The manner in which the shafts carrying the vaulting-ribs are set back in the wall, between the shafts of the arcade, should be noticed. The plain vault has large ribs, 15 ft. apart. Rude inscriptions and shields are traceable on the wall-arcade. The floor has been covered with encaustic tiles, copied accurately from the old work.

Between the chapter-house and the north transept is the short passage called the “Abbot’s Cloister;” and above it the Chapter Library,—probably the original library of the monastery. This is a long room, of Perpendicular character, with a roof of dark oak, a row of small windows on the north side, and a large Perpendicular window east. The room has been well and thoroughly restored, and the books properly arranged. The most important manuscripts are—a transcript of Abbot Froucester’s Lives of the Abbots of Gloucester, from the foundation of the monastery to 1381; (the original MS. of this work—unless it be that recently found under the Rolls Chapel—is no longer known to exist. It is said to have disappeared from the Chapter

THE CHAPTER-HOUSE.

(THE NORMAN PORTION.)

Library at the beginning of the present century. This transcript was made by Dr. Hall, Master of Pembroke College, Oxford. There are others in the library of Queen’s College, Oxford, and in the British Museum).—A Register of Documents relating to the Abbey, also made by Abbot Froucester; and another Register, compiled by the last abbot, Parker, or Malvern.

XX. Returning to the exterior of the church, the west front (Abbot Morwent’s work, 1420-1437, see §§ IV., V.) may first be visited. This is not very rich or striking, but the pierced buttresses of the window, and the parapets of open-work below and above, should be noticed. The composition of Abbot Thokey’s south aisle, with its massive buttresses and deeply recessed windows, is unusually fine. On the upper part of the buttresses is a series of figures, finely designed, and well deserving attention. At the transept commences the Perpendicular transformation. The turrets at the angles are Norman, with interlacing arcades above; the cappings are later. The gables are filled with a series of round-headed arches, rising one above another; and traces of the original Norman window-openings remain in the walls. The parapets and windows shew the later alterations. Buttresses of the central tower pass across the east and west sides of the transept.

The polygonal shape of the radiating chapels—very unusual in Norman architecture—should here be noticed from the exterior; as well as the manner in which the Lady-chapel is connected with the choir. At the north-west angle of this chapel is a fragment of the original Norman work which belonged to the central apse, and was turned to account in Abbot Horton’s rebuilding of the east end. The light buttresses which support the great east window are pierced so as not to obstruct the light. The central gable of the open parapet above the window retains a figure of our Lord on the cross.

The last bay of the Lady-chapel has an open passage below it, which was rendered necessary at the time of the building of the chapel, from the fact that the boundary wall of the monastery passed north and south in a line with the extreme eastern buttresses. (The marks of this wall may still be seen on the buttresses.) The archway is picturesque in itself. A very striking view of the north-east portion of the cathedral opens beyond it; full of varied and intricate outlines formed by the projecting chapels and the walls of the cloister and chapter-house, and crowned by the great mass of the central tower with its deep shadows and its fretwork of grey stone.

The tower (see § III.) was (as appears from the inscription within, § X.) the work of Abbot Seabroke, (1450-1457,) and was, said one of the monks to Leland (temp. Hen. VIII.), “a pharos to all parts of the hills.” The singular beauty of its pinnacles of open-work has already been noticed.

A passage called the Abbot’s Cloister separates the chapter-house from the north transept. The cloister itself, however, extended beyond this passage eastward. The inner walls alone remain. The eastern wall has entirely disappeared; and beyond it are some transitional Norman arches, which belonged to the infirmary of the monastery.

NOTE, ([p. 33]).

Since the foregoing pages were in type, Mr. Winston has arrived at some very important and interesting conclusions relating to the east window of the choir. The general design of the figure-work is the Enthronement of the Blessed Virgin. The original arms in the window were those of warriors who served in the Cressy campaign, and who were connected with the county of Gloucester by their landed possessions; and there is ground for a surmise that the donor of the glass was Lord Bradeston, Governor of Gloucester Castle. The conception of the work may be attributed to 1347 or 1348, and it was completed not later than 1350.

The saving of this noble relic from the destructive effects of a ‘restoration’ is due to the energetic remonstrances of the Archæological Institute; in the Journal of which Society the results of Mr. Winston’s investigations, briefly stated above, will soon, it is to be hoped, appear. They will be eagerly welcomed by all who are interested in the subject.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL.

PART II.

History of the See, with Short Notices of the principal Bishops.

VERY ancient traditions, which were accepted as facts throughout the Middle Ages, connected Gloucester with the first introduction of Christianity to Roman Britain. It was said to have been the chief city of Lucius, the British King who, about the year 160, sent messengers to Rome with a request that Pope Eleutherius would despatch Christian teachers into Britain, who might teach Lucius himself and his people. This was accordingly done. Lucius was baptized at Gloucester, and after establishing Christianity throughout the island, died at Gloucester in the year 201, and was buried in a church which he had built on the site of the existing cathedral[24]. What amount of truth may be involved in this story is altogether uncertain. The first who mentions the conversion of Lucius is Bede[25]. His death is placed at Gloucester by Matthew Paris, and by others of the later chroniclers; and his legend (for it is little more) has been illustrated in a window of stained glass, lately inserted in the nave of the Cathedral, (see Pt. I. § VI.)

Gloucester, the British Cair glou, the Roman Glevum, had been walled during the Roman period, and was one of the strong “ceasters” of Mercia. In 681 it was granted by Ethelred of Mercia to Osric, as “underking” or viceroy of the district. Osric is said to have completed the establishment of a convent of nuns, which had been commenced in Gloucester by Wulphere, brother of Ethelred; and Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury dedicated it in honour of St. Peter. Osric was accordingly regarded as the founder of the monastery, which continued under the rule of an abbess until A.D. 767, between which year and 821 it lay desolate, and the nuns were dispersed. In A.D. 821, Beornulph of Mercia restored the convent, and established in it a body of secular canons. They remained until 1022, when Canute introduced Benedictines in their place. From that time until the dissolution the abbey increased steadily in wealth and importance. The reception of the body of Edward II. brought vast sums to its treasury; and under Abbot Froucester it was raised to the dignity of a mitred abbey, by Pope Urban VI. Its income at the Dissolution was, according to Speed, £1,550.

The first Parliament after the Conquest was assembled by Henry I. in this abbey, and the young King, Henry III., (then but nine years old,) was crowned in the church, October 28, 1216. Richard II. held a Parliament in the great hall of the abbey, in November, 1378.

The most important Abbots were—

[A.D. 1072-1104.] Serlo, who laid the foundation of the present church, dedicated in the year 1100. [A.D. 1113-1130.] William, in whose time (1122) Serlo’s church was greatly injured by fire, (see Pt. I.) [A.D. 1139-1148.] Gilbert Foliot, who in the latter year became Bishop of Hereford, and in 1163 was translated to London. He was the well-known opponent of Becket. [A.D. 1306-1329.]

John Thokey, who built the south aisle of the nave, (see Pt. I. § VII.,) and received the body of Edward II., (Pt. I. § XII.) [A.D. 1329-1337.] John Wygemore, who commenced the great change in the architecture of the church by his reconstruction of the south transept, (Pt. I. § VIII.) [A.D. 1337-1351.] Adam de Staunton; and [A.D. 1351-1377] Thomas de Horton; who carried forward the work in the choir and north transept. (Pt. I. §§ IX., X.) [A.D. 1381-1412.] Walter Froucester, the historian of the Abbey, (see Pt. I. § XVIII.,) who built much of the cloister and who procured the grant of the mitre from Urban VI. [A.D. 1420-1437.] John Morwent, who rebuilt part of west end of the church, (Pt. I. § VII.) [A.D. 1450-1457.] Thomas Seabroke, who built the tower, [A.D. 1457-1472.] Richard Hanley; and [A.D. 1472-1498] William Farley, who built the Lady-chapel. [A.D. 1515-1539.] William Malverne, or Parker, the last abbot, who subscribed to the King’s supremacy in 1534, and died soon after the Dissolution.

Robert of Gloucester, whose rhyming “Chronicle of Englonde,” is important, both historically and as an example of “middle English,” was a monk of this abbey, during the reigns of Henry III. and John. His Chronicle was edited by Hearne.

Until 1541 the whole of Gloucestershire lay within the diocese of Worcester. In that year the see of Gloucester was erected, and the abbey church, which was re-dedicated to the “Holy and Individed Trinity,” became its cathedral. The first bishop was—

[A.D. 1541-1549.] John Wakeman, who had been Abbot of Tewkesbury, and one of Henry the Eighth’s chaplains. He was a person of considerable learning, and had revised the translation of the Book of Revelation, in Cranmer’s Bible.

[A.D. 1551-Feb. 9, 1555.] John Hooper had been educated at Merton College, Oxford, and afterwards became a monk at Cleeves, in Somerset, his native county. He returned to Oxford, however, where he soon embraced the reformed doctrines, and was consequently obliged to leave the University in 1539. After many wanderings in Ireland, in France, and in Switzerland, Hooper returned to England on the accession of Edward VI.; and in 1549 became one of the accusers of Bishop Bonner, who was deprived in that year. Having with much difficulty overcome his own scruples as to the lawfulness of wearing episcopal robes[26], Hooper, who had been appointed to the see of Gloucester by the influence of the Earl of Warwick, was consecrated at Lambeth by Archbishop Cranmer. In the following year (1552) Bishop Hooper surrendered his see to the Crown. Bishop Heath of Worcester was deprived at the same time. Gloucestershire was at first converted into an archdeaconry, dependent on Worcester; but the two sees were afterwards (Dec. 1552) united, and bestowed on Hooper. The bishops were to be entitled of “Gloucester and Worcester,” and were to reside one year in each city, alternately. This arrangement only continued until the death of Edward VI.

After the accession of Mary, Hooper was summoned to London, (August 1553,) and was for some time confined in the Fleet prison; his see was declared void, and after an examination before Bishop Gardiner and others, he was condemned to be burnt as a heretic. The sentence was accordingly carried out at Gloucester, Feb. 9, 1555. A monument has lately been erected on the scene of his death.

[A.D. 1554-1558.] James Brookes, “a zealous papist,” succeeded, but to the see of Gloucester only. On his death the see remained vacant for three years.

[A.D. 1562-1579.] Richard Cheyney held the see of Bristol in commendam. On his death the see remained vacant until

[A.D. 1581-1598,] John Bullingham was appointed to it. Until 1589 he held Bristol in commendam.

[A.D. 1598-1604.] Godfrey Goldsbrough held the see of Worcester in commendam.

[A.D. 1605, translated to London 1607.] Thomas Ravis, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. He was a prelate of some learning, and was the translator of part of the New Testament in James the First’s Bible.

[A.D. 1607, translated to Worcester 1610.] Henry Parry, Dean of Chester. James I. said of him that “he never heard a better or more eloquent preacher.”

[A.D. 1611-1612.] Giles Thompson, Dean of Windsor, died without having ever visited his new diocese.

[A.D. 1612-1624.] Miles Smith, a prelate of great learning, translator of the whole of the Prophets for James the First’s Bible, for which also he wrote the Preface,—“as a comely gate to a glorious city, which remains under his own hand in the University Library in Oxford[27].” He is called by Sir Robert Atkyns (History of Gloucestershire) a “stiff Calvinist, and a great favourer of the Puritans.” He was buried in the Lady-chapel of the cathedral, “under a plain stone, without any inscription.”

[A.D. 1625, suspended 1640, died 1656.] Godfrey Goodman, Dean of Rochester. Bishop Goodman was strongly suspected of an inclination to Romanism: a curious entry in a volume now in the Chapter Library at Gloucester proves that that suspicion was far from being without foundation; and Fuller asserts that he “died a professed Romanist, as appeared by his will[28].” In 1640 he was suspended by Archbishop Laud, for refusing to subscribe the Canons, and was committed for some time to the Gate House; “where,” says Fuller, “he got by his restraint what he could never have got by his liberty, namely, of one reputed Popish to become for a short time popular, as the only confessor suffering for not subscribing the Canons[29].” He afterwards subscribed, and was restored, but soon had to bear his full share of the troubles during the time of the Commonwealth. He died in London, 1656, and was buried in St. Margaret’s Church, Westminster.

[A.D. 1661-1672.] William Nicolson was appointed to the see on the Restoration.

[A.D. 1672-1681.] John Pritchett.

[A.D. 1681, deprived 1691.] Robert Frampton had been Dean of Gloucester since 1673. He was one of the Non-juring bishops, and retired, on his deprivation, to the living of Standish, in Gloucestershire, which he had held with the bishopric. He died in 1708, and was buried in the chancel of the church at Standish.

[A.D. 1691-1714.] Edward Fowler was the son of a Presbyterian who had been intruded, during the Commonwealth, into the living of Westerleigh, near Bristol. Fowler himself conformed after the Restoration, and was raised to the see of Gloucester on the deprivation of Bishop Frampton. He belonged to the school of “Latitudinarian divines,” then in special favour, and published many books which are now of little value. Bishop Fowler died at Chelsea, Aug. 26, 1714, and was buried at Hendon, in Middlesex, in which church there is a monument to his memory.

[A.D. 1715, translated to Salisbury 1721.] Richard Willis, Dean of Lincoln. From Salisbury Bishop Willis was translated to Winchester, in 1725.

[A.D. 1721, translated to Rochester 1731.] Joseph Wilcocks. Bishop Wilcocks held the deanery of Westminster with the see of Rochester. The western towers of Westminster Abbey were built during his rule.

[A.D. 1731-1733.] Elias Sydall, translated to Gloucester from St. David’s. With Gloucester he held the deanery of Canterbury.

[A.D. 1735-1752.] Martin Benson. In 1741 Bishop Benson re-paved the choir of the cathedral, and added pinnacles to the Lady-chapel.

[A.D. 1652, translated to Worcester 1759.] James Johnson. In 1774 he was killed by a fall from his horse, at Bath.

[A.D. 1760-1779.] William Warburton, whose name is better known than that of any other prelate who has filled the see; and who was not the least remarkable among the men of letters of the eighteenth century. Warburton was the eldest son of an attorney at Newark-upon-Trent, and was born there, Dec. 24, 1691. He was educated at Oakham, in Rutlandshire, and was intended for his father’s profession, which he followed for a short time. He left it for the Church, however, and was in Orders in 1728, when his patron, Sir Robert Sutton, gave him the rectory of Burnt Broughton, in Lincolnshire. Here he remained for some years, and wrote here the first part of his “Divine Legation of Moses,” which procured him an introduction to the Prince of Wales, who made him one of his chaplains. In 1746 he was chosen Preacher at Lincoln’s Inn, and in 1757 became Dean of Bristol. In 1760 he was raised to the see of Gloucester, and died at the palace there, aged 81, June 7, 1779.

Bishop Warburton was the close friend and companion of Pope, who derived much assistance from his criticism, and whose works he edited. His own most important works are “The Divine Legation of Moses,” and “Julian,” a discourse concerning the earthquake and fiery eruption which defeated the Emperor’s attempt to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem. The entire list of his works is a long one, and his literary life belongs too completely to the literary history of the century to be further noticed here. “He was a man,” writes Dr. Johnson, “of vigorous faculties, a mind fervid and vehement, supplied by incessant and unlimited enquiry, with wonderful extent and variety of knowledge, which yet had not oppressed his imagination, nor clouded his perspicacity. To every work he brought a memory full fraught, together with a fancy fertile of original combinations; and at once exerted the powers of the scholar, the reasoner, and the wit. But his knowledge was too multifarious to be always exact, and his pursuits were too eager to be always cautious. His abilities gave him a haughty consequence, which he disdained to conceal or mollify; and his impatience of opposition disposed him to treat his adversaries with such contemptuous superiority as made his readers commonly his enemies, and excited against the advocate the wishes of some who favoured the cause. He seems to have adopted the Roman Emperor’s determination, ‘oderint dum metuant;’ he used no allurements of gentle language, but wished to compel rather than persuade.”

All that modern readers can desire to know of Bishop Warburton, will be found in his Life by the Rev. J. S. Watson. London, 1863. He was buried in the nave of his cathedral; (Pt. I. § VI.)

[A.D. 1779, translated to Ely 1781.] James Yorke, translated to Gloucester from St. David’s. He was the youngest son of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke.

[A.D. 1781, translated to St. Asaph 1789.] Samuel Hallifax; had been successively Professor of Arabic and Regius Professor of Civil Law in the University of Cambridge.

[A.D. 1789, translated to Bath and Wells 1802.] Richard Beadon.

[A.D. 1802, translated to Hereford 1815.] George Isaac Huntingford, Warden of Winchester College.

[A.D. 1815, translated to Lichfield 1824.] Henry Ryder, brother of the Earl of Harrowby.

[A.D. 1824, translated to Exeter, and thence to Bangor, 1830.] Christopher Bethell.

[A.D. 1830-1856.] James Henry Monk. In the year 1836 the diocese of Bristol was united to that of Gloucester. The bishops of Gloucester and Bristol, after Bishop Monk, have been

[A.D. 1856, translated to Durham 1861.] Charles Baring.

[A.D. 1861, translated to York 1862.] William Thomson.

[A.D. 1863.] Charles J. Ellicott.

LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET.

HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.

A HANDBOOK
TO
HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
WITH 15 ILLUSTRATIONS.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
1864.

PREFACE.

In preparing the ‘Handbook of Hereford Cathedral,’ besides a careful personal survey, considerable use has been made of a pamphlet on the condition of the building, printed by Professor Willis before the restoration was commenced under Dean Merewether. Although due acknowledgment of this has been made in the notes, it is proper to mention it here also. The authority of Professor Willis is in no case to be disregarded.

Hereford Cathedral, which has been happily restored to its ancient beauty under the care of Mr. G. G. Scott, is, although not the largest, one of the most important in the West of England; and contains much of very high interest to the architectural student.

R. J. K.

August, 1864.

CONTENTS.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

HEREFORD CATHEDRAL.

PART I.

History and Details.

I. The very interesting cathedral of Hereford, which represents an episcopal see existing, it is possible, before the arrival of St. Augustine, (see Pt. II.,) has suffered much from the hand of time, and more perhaps from so-called restoration. On Easter Monday, 1786, the western tower (a later erection than the Norman nave) fell, carrying with it the west front, and greatly injuring the first bay of the nave. The architect Wyatt was then at work on Salisbury Cathedral; and the restoration of Hereford was unhappily placed in his hands. With Wyatt, restoration meant destruction. Between the years 1788 and 1797 he expended a sum of £20,000 on this cathedral; shortening the nave by one entire bay; destroying the Norman triforium and clerestory, which he replaced by others of his own device; and constructing the present west front, which it is to be hoped will not be permitted to exist much longer. In 1841, at the request of the late Bishop Musgrave, a report on the actual condition of the cathedral was drawn up by Professor Willis; from which it appeared that the piers of the central tower were in a condition of much danger, and that the eastern gable of the Lady-chapel would inevitably fall unless preventive measures were at once taken. Accordingly, these and other repairs and “restorations” were effected between 1841 and 1852, at a cost of £27,000. The architect employed was Mr. L. N. Cottingham; and the then Dean Merewether’s own superintendence—whose zeal for the restoration of the building cannot be mentioned with too great respect—was unremitting until his death in 1850. Mr. Cottingham was not so completely destructive as Wyatt had been, but he rebuilt rather than restored, and allowed his masons to re-work ancient sculptures. Since the year 1858 the final restoration of Hereford Cathedral has been in the hands of Mr. G. G. Scott, and it need hardly be said that the work has been of a very different character. Where reconstruction has been necessary, every stone has been preserved, and, if possible, replaced. Whitewash and other defects have been removed with a sort of wire comb, which effectually cleans the stone, but does not remove ancient tool marks; and the sculpture and foliage consequently remain uninjured. These last works, completed in the year 1863, (when, on the 30th of June, the cathedral was solemnly re-opened,) effectually set forth the original beauty of the building, which ranks among the most interesting cathedrals in England.

The extent and nature of the different restorations will be pointed out as we proceed. It is no doubt to be regretted that so much rebuilding should have been necessary; but this has been partly owing to original defects of construction, and partly to the nature of the stone, which was taken, apparently without much care in selection, from quarries in the old red sandstone, near the city. This stone is so much weather-worn in parts as to resemble the face of a sea cliff. Throughout Wyatt’s rebuilding and all the restorations, the new stone has been brought from the Caplar quarries near Fawley; from Lugwardine; and from some quarries nearer Hereford; also in the old red sandstone, but yielding blocks of a much harder and more durable character.

II. The Saxon Bishop Ethelstan (1012-1056) built a church from the foundations; which shortly after the accession of his successor, Leofgar, (1056,) was burnt together with the greater part of the city, by the Welsh king Gryffyth. The first Norman bishop, Robert de Losinga, (1079-1096,) who found his cathedral in ruins, began to rebuild it, taking for his model the church of Aachen, or Aix la Chapelle,—the work of Charlemagne[30]. This building was so far completed as to be dedicated (in the names of the Blessed Virgin and of Ethelbert King of East Anglia, see § X. and Pt. II.) in 1110, during the episcopate of Reinhelm, (1107-1115). The Norman portions of the existing cathedral (the piers of the nave, the choir as high as the clerestory, and the south transept,) belong to Bishop Robert’s cathedral. With the exception of its first foundation, however, and of the walls of the nave-aisles, “it is much to be regretted that the period of erection of no one part of this cathedral has been recorded[31];” and we are left to assign the various dates from the character of the architecture alone. They are probably as follows:—

Norman, 1079-1115. Piers of nave, choir as high as clerestory, and south transept, (which has had Perpendicular alterations).

Early English, circ. 1190. Vestibule of Lady-chapel.

Early English, circ. 1220. Lady-chapel.

Early English, circ. 1260? Clerestory and vaulting of choir.

Transitional, from Early English to Decorated, 1282-1287. North transept.

Geometrical, (Early Decorated,) 1287-1320. Eastern transept. Upper part of central tower.

Late Decorated, 1360-1364. Outer walls and windows of nave-aisles.

Perpendicular, 1492-1502. Bishop Audley’s chantry. 1516-1535. The north porch.

It thus appears that (besides the Norman work) Hereford Cathedral is principally rich in the architecture of the Early English and Geometrical periods. The Norman portions are curious and important. The Early English Lady-chapel is an excellent example; but the most remarkable part of the building is unquestionably the north transept. Bishop Cantilupe, who died in 1282, (and was canonized in 1320,) was buried in the Lady-chapel, which was the first addition to the Norman church. The north transept (into which the relics of the bishop were removed in 1287) was to all appearance built expressly for the reception of the Cantilupe shrine; and the further changes and additions during the early Decorated period may safely be assigned to the increase of riches and consequence which the possession of this shrine brought to the cathedral. In the same manner, at Gloucester (see that Cathedral) the possession of the remains of Edward II. was the cause of the entire alteration of the abbey church.

III. Hereford Cathedral is open on the north side, and a good general view may be obtained from the Close, [Frontispiece,] through which it is approached. On the south side the bishop’s palace and the college of the vicars choral fill the space between it and the river Wye. Eastward the cathedral was closely pressed on by the outworks of the castle, anciently one of the strongest on the Welsh marches, but of which only the foundations now remain. The Norman cathedral, built, as has been said, in imitation of that of Aachen, terminated eastward in a triple apse. (Compare Norwich, the most perfect example of a Norman ground-plan now existing.) The central apse was destroyed, in all probability, on the formation of the Lady-chapel; and the side apses, at a somewhat later period, were converted into the eastern transept, as it now appears. This double transept (possibly suggested by that at Worcester, which is a century earlier; see that Cathedral) combines, with Bishop Booth’s large projecting porch, in producing a degree of intricacy in the general outline, the effect of which is not lessened by the various alterations and restorations, which, however necessary, render it difficult to distinguish between the new work and the old.

IV. The cathedral is entered, on the north side, through an elaborate Perpendicular porch, completed in 1530 by Bishop Booth. It is of two stages. The lower is formed by three wide, open arches, at the outer angles of which are octagonal buttress-turrets, capped by very picturesque lanterns. The parvise chamber, forming the second stage, is lighted by three large Perpendicular windows, with rich tracery. This porch projects beyond an inner and smaller one, of the Decorated period, to which the doorway opening to the church (the mouldings of which should be noticed) belongs. The doors themselves are modern, and are covered with very good iron-work, designed by Mr. Cottingham, jun., and executed by Messrs. Potter of London. The hinges alone cost £140.

V. On entering the nave, the visitor should pass at once to the west end, where he will obtain the best general view. The great piers are Norman, and part of the original church. The triforium and clerestory and the vaulting of the roof are Wyatt’s work, (1788-1797,) as is the western wall with its doorway. The nave-aisles belong to the Decorated period. Wyatt, it must be remembered, shortened the original nave by one entire bay. The eye is at once struck by the massive grandeur of the great Norman piers and arches, and by the unusual darkness of the choir. Beyond the lofty circular arches of the central tower, and the superb

ARCHES OF NAVE.

Plate I.

modern screen on its eastern side, is seen the eastern wall of the choir, pierced below with a wide circular arch, receding in many orders, and above by three broad lancet lights. The lower arch is divided by a central pillar, from which spring two pointed arches, the spandrel between which is sculptured from a design of Cottingham’s. Beyond, again, is seen the east wall of the Lady-chapel, with its enriched lancets, and foliated ornaments above them. The effect of these three receding distances, with their varying light and shade, is unusually fine, and is not a little increased by the solemnity of the darkened choir. This darkness results partly from the heavy Norman architecture of the choir itself, and partly from the lofty transepts, which abut on it on either side. The nave and choir are of the same width (73-1/4 ft., including aisles; actual breadth of vaulting to nave and choir 31-1/4 ft.) and height (70 ft.)

The nave [Plate I.] now consists of seven bays. The massive circular piers have double half-shafts set against their north and south fronts. (The greater part of these are restorations, the original shafts having been cut away.) The bases are plain. The capitals of piers and shafts are rich and varied, especially those of the four easternmost piers, which have some very rich knot-work and foliage. The main arches recede in three orders, and are much enriched with the billet and other mouldings. The Norman work throughout the cathedral, when compared with that of the great buildings of the same age in the eastern counties, (Ely, Peterborough, or Norwich,) displays a richer and more involved class of ornament; such as reaches its highest development in the elaborate doorways of Kilpeck and Shobdon Churches, both in Herefordshire.

The triforium, and clerestory, both of which are Wyatt’s work, need not detain us. They are imitated from the Early English of Salisbury; and to make way for them, Wyatt destroyed the original Norman work, of which only a small portion had been injured by the fall of the tower[32]. The vaulting-shafts run up in groups of three, between each bay. The shafts themselves are restorations of the originals, much of which had been cut away before the fall of the tower; the corbels, below the capitals, are modern, and were copied by Cottingham from ancient examples. The roof is of wood, vaulted in imitation of stone, a description which is itself a condemnation. It has been coloured, under Mr. Cottingham’s direction, in a manner which can by no means be called satisfactory. The pavement throughout the nave has been laid (by Mr. Cottingham) with plain red and slate-coloured tiles. Two rows of gas-standards, the work of Messrs. Skidmore, are placed under the arches at intervals, four on each side.

VI. The nave-aisles were almost rebuilt during the late Decorated period. The Norman walls were allowed to stand for about 2 ft. above the foundations; and upon these bases the existing walls and windows were erected. The contracts for this work, dating between the years 1360-1364, were found by the late Dean Merewether, and are now preserved in the archive chamber. The vaulting of the roofs is coloured in the same unpleasing manner as that of the nave. The view looking up the aisle, into and beyond the transept, is remarkable, owing to the many receding stages. It terminates at the eastern end of the second transept.

In the second bay (counting from the west) of the south aisle is the font, of Norman design, and curious. The basin is circular, and has figures of the Apostles beneath arches, in the spandrels of which is a leaf-ornament. A lion projects from each corner of the base, an unusual and perhaps unique example. In the fourth bay is the very fine alabaster effigy of Sir Richard Pembridge, temp. Richard II. Sir Richard, an ancestor of the Chandos family, was one of the first knights of the Garter, and was present at Poictiers. The armour is an excellent example. Gold remains on the points of the cap to which the camail is attached, and on the jewelled sword-belt. The head rests on a tilting-helmet, with a sheaf of feathers coloured green. Between the feathers and the helmet is a coronet of open roses. The garter is on the left leg, and the feet rest on a greyhound. This monument was originally in the church of the Black Friars, and was brought thence to the cathedral after the Dissolution. The right leg, which had been destroyed, has been restored at the cost of the Rev. Lord Saye and Sele, Canon Residentiary.

In the wall of this aisle, in the third bay from the east, is the headless figure of an ecclesiastic, under a Decorated arch, foliated. In the second bay is an effigy of a priest of the early Decorated period, much mutilated, under a foliated arch, at the crown of which is a bearded head wearing a cap. In the third bay is a door opening to the cloisters, with a square heading which rises above the sill of the window over it. A row of heads in the hollow moulding of the door,—a fac-simile of a former composition, which had become entirely decayed,—and the modern iron-work, by Potter, with which the door itself is covered, deserve notice.

A narrow and lofty Norman arch opens from this aisle into the transept.

VII. The north aisle is Decorated, of the same character as the south. In the third bay from the tower is the north porch, (§ IV.); and in the bay above it is the monument of Bishop Booth, (died 1535,) the constructor of the porch itself. The effigy lies under a foliated arch with canopy. The Bishop, mitred and fully vested, holds the crozier (the head of which has been broken) wrapped with the infula, or fillet. Much colour remains on this monument, which is protected by its original iron-work, banded with shields and heraldic ornaments.

In this aisle, a stained-glass window by Warrenton, with subjects from the life of St. John the Baptist, has been inserted as a memorial of Canon Clutton and his wife.

VIII. Between the eastern piers of the central tower, but projecting from their bases more than 3 ft. toward the nave, is placed the magnificent screen of wrought iron-work, painted and gilt, executed by Messrs. Skidmore of Coventry, from the designs of Mr. G. G. Scott. This is the second great work of the kind which has been produced in England. It is in many respects finer and more important than the screen at Lichfield; but it is designed and constructed on precisely the same principles; and affords a complete vindication of the advantage and beauty of metal-work for the purpose to which it is here applied. Whilst the screen forms a sufficient division between the nave and choir, its extreme lightness permits the use of both tower and transept for congregational purposes.

The Hereford screen consists of five main arches, each subdivided by a slender shaft. The central arch, wider and higher than the rest, forms the entrance, and is surmounted by a lofty gable, on the summit of which is the cross. Panels of hollow tracery fill in the lower part of the arches on either side of the entrance, to the height of about four feet. The heads of the arches and the spandrels between them are enriched with elaborate tracery, chiefly formed by flowers and leafage; and the design of the cornice and cresting is of similar character. In the tympanum above the shaft which divides the arch of entrance is a figure of the Saviour, with hands outstretched in blessing. On either side, placed on brackets supported by the pillars of the main arch, are adoring angels, two in each group. Single figures of angels, holding instruments of music, are placed on brackets at the terminations of the screen, north and south.

The screen is wrought by hand throughout. It is mainly constructed of iron; but copper and brass are largely used; the first in the capitals, figures, and cornice; the second in the shafts of the smaller columns, and in parts of the larger. Coloured mosaics have also been employed. The variety of metals is another source of colour; but the hammered iron-work, forming the whole of the foliage, has been painted throughout. No colours have been used, however, but those of the oxydes of iron and copper—the metals employed in the work. The result is entirely successful. The beauty of the capitals of leafage, in which fine effects of light and shade are produced, and of the foliage and flowers in other parts of the screen, is very great; and every band and line of ornament deserves notice. The forms of both leafage and flowers are to a certain extent conventional, but may easily be recognised. The passion-flower especially has been much used, and with admirable effect. On the whole it may safely be said that this screen is the finest and most complete work of its class which has been produced in recent times; nor would it be easy to mention any piece of ancient metal-work—at least of equal dimensions—which will bear comparison with it.

Near the south-west corner of the screen is placed an eagle-lectern, designed by Cottingham and executed by Potter. The projecting branches, for lights, are unusual and picturesque. The cost of the lectern was defrayed by the Misses Rushout; but the money was misappropriated, and it was eventually paid for by subscription.

The old pulpit, of the seventeenth century, now stands against the north-west tower-pier; but will shortly be replaced by one more worthy of the cathedral.

The four great arches of the tower were in a condition of much danger when Dean Merewether commenced his restorations in 1841. The piers, and the four arches resting on them, were Norman; but owing to settlements in the foundations of the nave and tower, which had taken place at a very early period, they had been cased and otherwise repaired during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; and still later (probably during the episcopate of Bishop Bisse, 1712-1721) the two smaller arches of the tower (north and south) were filled with so-called “ox-eye masonry[33],” supported by two segmental arches branching from an octangular central column; whilst nearly all the smaller Norman arches in connection with the tower-piers were closed with solid masonry, leaving only doorways. In spite of all that had been done, however, Professor Willis, in his Report of 1841, pronounced the masonry of the great arches, and of the spandrel walls above, to be “in such a state of ruin as to make an immediate repair absolutely necessary for the preservation of the tower.” The piers themselves were in a condition of less danger; but Mr. Cottingham, to whom the work was entrusted, proceeded to remove all the additions that had been made to them since the Norman period, and, in effect, to rebuild them according to their original design. In this state they remain at present. The arches resting on them were at the same time reconstructed, and the ox-eye masonry which filled those north and south was entirely removed.

Before these restorations a vault of the fifteenth century rose immediately above the great arches, and concealed the upper part of the tower. This was removed. The whole of the tower above the arches dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century; and the interior walls, which are now visible from below, “are of a very singular construction; twelve piers of compact masonry on each side, beside angle piers, are carried up to the height of 26 ft., and connected half-way up by a horizontal course of stone, in long pieces, and by an iron bar, which runs all round immediately under this bonding course. Upon these gigantic stone gratings, if I may be allowed the expression, the interior wall of the tower rests; and they also carry the entire weight of the bell-chamber and bells. I believe this construction was entirely adopted for the sake of lightness[34].” This part of the tower, which has no decorative character, was not originally intended to be seen from below; and the fifteenth-century vaulting had replaced an earlier wooden ceiling. It is now completely open, and the flat wooden floor of the bell-chamber above it is coloured in blue and gold. From this floor depends a superb corona of wrought iron, by Skidmore—a worthy companion of the great choir-screen, and coloured in the same manner.

IX. The peculiar darkness of the choir has already been mentioned. It results mainly (as will be seen from the Plan) from the arrangement of the transepts, which prevents the admission of light to the choir except from its clerestory.

The choir and sacrarium, as at present formed, consist of only three bays, eastward of the screen. (The Norman choir extended no doubt to the western arch of the tower, if not into the first bay of the nave.) As far as the top of the triforium, the choir is Norman: the clerestory and vaulting are Early English, and date, apparently, from the middle of the thirteenth century. No record of their construction has been preserved.

The main arches of the choir are of three orders, and spring from massive composite piers, with broad, square bases. The capitals of the semi-detached shafts are enriched with leafage and grotesque heads. The triforium, in each bay, consists of one wide Norman arch circumscribing two smaller, divided by a central shaft, and springing on either side from two massive semicircular piers, with small capitals. Both outer and inner arches spring from these piers. The capitals of the central shafts have square abaci, and are enriched. The tympana of the outer arches are covered with scallop, leaf, and billet-ornament. At the base of the triforium runs a square stringcourse, enriched with minute carving. The lozenge ornament prevails round the main arches of the choir, as does the zigzag round those of the nave.

Broad square pilasters, with semi-detached shafts at their angles, fill the spaces between the piers. They terminate at the spring of the triforium arches in double triangular headings, with crocheted sides, and finials of leafage. These headings are Early English, of the same date as the clerestory and vaulting; and between each pair rises a group of so-called vaulting-shafts, with capitals of leafage, terminating at the base of the clerestory; and connected (under the actual base of the clerestory) by a band of open flowers. The clerestory consists of one lofty pointed arch in each bay, divided by a central shaft; on either side is a smaller trefoiled arch. The windows, of two lights, with a quatrefoil in the heading, are placed at the back of the wall-passage, and form in effect a double plane with the large inner arches. They are filled on each side with indifferent stained glass. The choir vaulting is plain quadripartite, with bosses of leafage at the intersections.

X. Before 1841, the east end of the choir was covered with an oaken screen, erected by Bishop Bisse in 1717; and above it was a Decorated window filled with a copy in stained glass of West’s picture of the Last Supper. The removal of the screen disclosed the great Norman arch of five orders, within which the reredos is now placed. Above this arch is a small blind arcade; and instead of the Decorated window,

THE ALTAR-SCREEN.

Plate II.

three lancets have been inserted at the back of the clerestory passage. Of these, the central window has been filled with stained glass by Hardman; too minute perhaps in design for the height at which it is placed, but very good. The subjects in this window are the Saviour in Majesty, the Resurrection, the Crucifixion. The subjects in the north and south lancets will comprise the principal events of our Lord’s Passion.

The reredos [Plate II.] below was designed by Mr. Cottingham, jun., as a memorial for Joseph Bailey, Esq., M.P. for the county of Hereford, who died in 1850. It is in oolite (Bath stone) and marble; and although too high for its position, is a fine work. Between the five canopied compartments rise small shafts, supporting angels, who carry the instruments of the Passion. The pierced leafage at the back of the canopies is very beautiful. The subjects in the panels are—the Agony in the Garden, Bearing the Cross, the Crucifixion, with floating angels above the Cross, the Resurrection, and the three Maries at the Sepulchre.

At the back of the reredos rises a pier from which spring two pointed arches, leaving a broad tympanum or spandrel, closing the upper part of the Norman arch. This is a restoration of Mr. Cottingham’s. The pier itself is ancient. The spandrel is covered with modern sculpture, having, above, the Saviour in Majesty, with the Evangelists holding scrolls; and below, a figure of Ethelbert, King of East Anglia, who was murdered by Offa, King of Mercia, and is said to have been interred in the first Saxon church on this spot. (See Pt. II.) Miracles were reported as having occurred at his tomb, and the second church here was dedicated to St. Ethelbert.

The very good brass of Bishop Trilleck (died 1360) is placed on the chancel floor. The graceful arrangement of the vestments—which do not include the tunic—and the architectural design of the canopy deserve special notice. The greater part of the inscription has been lost[35].

Against the easternmost pier on the south side of the choir is a small figure on a bracket, which possibly represents St. Ethelbert. It was found about the year 1700, buried at the entrance of the Lady-chapel, (where it is said to have been concealed during the siege of 1645,) and was replaced in what is believed to have been its original position. The figure wears a coronet terminating in leaves. The strings of the long mantle are crossed on the breast. Whatever the hands once held has been destroyed. The figure is certainly not earlier than the first half of the fourteenth century.

On the north side of the choir, in the easternmost bay, is the effigy of Bishop Stanbery, (died 1474,) whose chantry opens from the aisle opposite; (§ XIV.) The Bishop wears the alb, stole, and chasuble, the flowing ornament on which should be noticed. It should here be mentioned that Wyatt, following the same destructive course as at Salisbury, removed many monuments in the cathedral from their original positions; thereby rendering even their identification a matter of some difficulty.

In the next bay is the effigy of a bishop, fully vested, holding the model of a tower. This is assigned to Bishop Giles de Bruce, (died 1215); and Godwin (De Præsulibus) conjectured that the model indicated this bishop as having been the builder of the central tower—a conjecture which has been assumed as a certainty by every succeeding writer. But whatever architectural work Bishop Giles may have done, the tower, as was pointed out by Professor Willis, is nearly a century later. His effigy is one of ten which were erected during the Perpendicular period as memorials of earlier bishops, and which are now scattered in different parts of the cathedral. (In the same manner, many effigies of earlier bishops were sculptured at Wells (see that Cathedral) in the first half of the thirteenth century, and are all of Early English character.)

In the same bay is the monument of Bishop Bennett, (died 1617). He wears the rochet, and a close black cap, and rests his feet on a lion; an unusual instance of the retention of an earlier form. The Bishop was buried on this spot.

The stalls of the choir range up to this bay. They are Decorated, and very good. The small heads and ornaments of the shafts which support the projecting canopies should especially be noticed. The misereres are interesting, but of no special excellence. Two on the south side represent a cook throwing a platter at an intruder, and a pair of wrestlers with ropes about their necks. The whole of this ancient work has been carefully cleaned, and restored where necessary, under the direction of Mr. Scott. The new carving, which is very fine, and well worthy of its companionship with fourteenth-century wood-work, is entirely by Messrs. Ruddle and Thompson of Peterborough. Some of the new misereres, and the elaborately carved ends or heads, sixteen in number, deserve careful attention. The panel-work in front of the stalls is an exact reproduction of that before the episcopal throne.

The floor of the whole choir has been laid with tiles, manufactured (as are those throughout the church with the exception of the nave) by Godwin of Lugwardine. The pavement of the sacrarium is especially rich and elaborate.

The organ (by Renatus Harris, but remodelled and reconstructed by Davison under the direction of Sir Frederick Ouseley) is to be placed within the first archway on the south side of the choir.

XI. Through the north arch of the tower we pass into the north transept, [Plate III.]; one of the finest and most interesting parts of the church, which fortunately remained untouched until the cathedral was placed under the care of Mr. G. G. Scott, by whom this transept has been carefully restored. The date of its erection has not been recorded; but we cannot be wrong in assigning it to the period between the death of Bishop Cantilupe (1282) and his translation in 1287. The Bishop was at first buried in the Lady-chapel, but was

BAY OF THE NORTH TRANSEPT.

Plate III.

removed to this transept in 1287. The miracles reported at his tomb had already brought large sums to the Church; and the rebuilding of the transept for the reception of his shrine must have been completed before the removal of his body in 1287.

The Norman arches opening to the aisles of nave and choir resemble those which correspond to them on the south side of the church. The transept beyond them was, as we have seen, entirely rebuilt, and is one of the most remarkable examples of the period remaining in England. The unusual form of its arches, and its pure, lofty windows, are sufficiently impressive now; but their effect must have been wonderfully increased when the windows were filled with glass displaying the history and miracles of the sainted Bishop, and when the shrine itself was standing on its pedestal within the eastern aisle, rich with the gold and jewels offered by the numerous pilgrims who knelt daily before it.

The west side of the transept (which is of two bays beyond the aisle passage) is entirely filled by two very lofty windows, of three lights each. The heads of the narrow lights are sharply pointed; and the tracery above is formed by three circles enclosing trefoils. These windows are set back within triangular-headed arches. On the north side is a double window of the same character, divided by a group of banded shafts. The triple lights on either side of these shafts, and the foiled circles above them, precisely resemble the windows on the west side of the transept. The central tracery of the window is formed by a foiled circle, with a larger circle, enclosing a sexfoil, above it. The whole window is set back within a segmental pointed arch, with banded shafts at the angles of the jambs. The eastern aisle of the transept is divided into two bays by a clustered pier, the shafts surrounding which are alternately of sandstone and dark marble. Their capitals are enriched with foliage, and small knots of foliage are placed between the bases. The main arches are sharply pointed, and have many plain mouldings, with one band of dog-tooth ornament, highly detached. The triforium above (which extends beyond the actual transept, over the Norman arch opening to the choir-aisle) is especially striking. In each bay are two sharply pointed arches, each subdivided into three lesser arches, with foiled headings; and with three open quatrefoils as tracery above. The main arch is surrounded by a row of dog-tooth. The large spandrel spaces between the arches are entirely covered with a diaper of leaf-ornament, in low relief. The clerestory windows are octofoils, set far back within pointed arches. On the exterior, the form of the window openings is triangular, like those of the triforium at Westminster and those in the clerestory of the nave at Lichfield. On the interior, the sills of the windows slope forward with overlapping courses of stone, to the stringcourse at the top of the triforium. The sills of the great windows in the transept are formed in a similar manner, with overlapping courses of stone.