Chapter III: The Interior (3)

In the north wall, the first three bays are Archbishop Roger's, and the windows resemble in their treatment the two just described, and are separated from each other by two buttresses which terminate, like those on the opposite side of the choir, in two slopes one close below the other. There is a third buttress, terminating in a single slope, at the angle formed with the transept. The Decorated window in the fourth bay is treated in the same manner as the rest of those in the eastern portion of the choir-aisles, and the Decorated buttresses which flank it are those which have been followed up from the crypt. The rich string-course or cornice along the top of this and the west wall corresponds with that on the other side of the church. The gargoyles are of course Decorated, and so is the string-course itself, eastwards at any rate of the second gargoyle on the north wall, for here one of the mouldings has a fillet upon it. Whether the rest of the string is Archbishop Roger's work or not, it is difficult to decide.

The large windows in the south and east walls are surmounted by square labels ending in heads. Above the modern fireplace is the defaced monument of Anthony Higgin, second Dean (d. 1624), the founder of the present library; and further east, under the small lancet window (which is filled with fragments of stained glass), is an arched recess of considerable size, and a trefoiled piscina, each surmounted by a gable moulding with a finial. The piscina probably belonged to the chantry of Our-Lady-in-the-Lady-loft. A large stone bracket, supported by a grotesque figure, projects from the east wall, and the east window is bright with armorial bearings of benefactors of the church. This glass, which is mostly of the eighteenth century, was once in the great window of the choir. The north side of the recess in which the east window is set, is partially splayed outwards to join the last Decorated buttress, which with its neighbour have been cut back in this storey to the plane of the pinnacles above--doubtless when this Lady-loft was added.

The present pinewood ceiling was put up by Sir Gilbert Scott, but most of the carved angle-pieces in the panels came from an older roof of oak.

The history of the library begins with the MS. of the Gospels given by St. Wilfrid; and the ascription to him of various other gifts, which occurs in the writings of Peter of Blois (a Canon of Ripon in the twelfth century), implies at any rate that there was a library when Peter wrote. In 1466 money was bequeathed by William Rodes, a chaplain, _ad fabricam cujusdam librarii in ecclesia construendi_, words which may refer to the screening off for books of a portion of this chapel; but in Leland's time books were apparently kept in the vestry, though it is not certain that the present vestry is meant.[119] Except a few MSS. of Chapter Acts, Fabric Rolls, etc., none of the books now here are known for certain to have belonged to the church before the Reformation;[120] indeed the present collection began with the bequest of his books by Dean Higgin in 1624. The books were in this chapel in 1817, but in 1859 they were at the Deanery. There are now over 5000 volumes, including seven MSS., of which one of the most notable is the Ripon Psalter (1418), containing the special offices for St. Wilfrid, and many printed books of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, among them two fine Caxtons. Many of the books have beautiful old bindings in stamped leather. The most interesting items in the collection are exposed in a glass case at the east end of the room.[121] Near the opposite end is another case containing the bones recently dug up under the site of the mediaeval altar in the Saxon crypt.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] This is what was meant by saying in Chapter II. that in each tower one side is older than the others.

[56] In the interior of these towers the courses run level with those of Archbishop Roger's work--a fact which has been taken as indicating that the lowest portion of the towers internally (but not, of course, the tower arches) may be actually his work. The theory that his west front was flanked by towers or chambers of some kind is not improbable.

[57] A triforium is properly a gallery, open to the church, between the internal and external roofs of the aisles, but here there were no aisles, and the gallery or passage is in the thickness of the wall.

[58] This term will be used wherever the usual term 'vaulting-shaft' is inapplicable.

[59] The earth here has apparently been brought in from outside. Can it have come from some sacred spot abroad? The original floor, if not earthen, may possibly have rested on the set-off.

[60] It has been suggested, however, that they may be relics of a feast buried here to defile the site of the altar. The bones in question are now in the Lady-loft.

[61] With one of the deposits was found a brass bodkin of the type used in the sixteenth century.

[62] It was Walbran, again, who gave these reasons for assigning the crypt to Wilfrid. Before his time it was thought to have been built during the Roman Occupation.

[63] See article by Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite, V.P.S.A., in _Archaeol. Journ._, vol. xxxvii. p. 364.

[64] A _confessio_, it need hardly be said, has nothing to do with a confessional. The word is probably to be explained as meaning the tomb of one who had been a witness or _confessor_ of the Faith.

[65] In making excavations for laying the wind-trunk of the organ the exterior of this wall was laid bare and appeared extremely rough. This, however, does not prove that it had never been meant to be seen. It may have been faced with smooth stones, which, just because they were exposed, attracted attention, and were removed by later masons for use elsewhere.--_Mr. Micklethwaite._

[66] Among the five known Saxon crypts (all of the _confessio_ type) Ripon and Hexham alone show this peculiarity.

[67] See _Proceedings Soc. Antiq._, 16th June 1892.

[68] In making the above-mentioned excavation in 1891, Mr. Micklethwaite found what was presumably the floor of the body of Wilfrid's church. It was of plaster 3 inches thick, and was 1 foot 7 inches below the floor of the present Cathedral.

[69] The explanation of the crypt as a _confessio_ is due to Mr. Micklethwaite, and is ably set forth, with its consequences, in _Archaeol. Journ._, vol. xxxix. p. 347.

[70] The square termination of the crypt is in favour of a square presbytery; while his Roman proclivities are perhaps slightly in favour of an apse, and of aisles.

[71] _Surtees Soc._, vol. lxxiv. p. 83.

[72] It is certainly true that numerous white _tesserae_ of Italian character, such as Wilfrid might have used, have been dug up on this site (_Murray's Cathedrals_, Pt. 1, p. 172, n. 1). They may, however, mark the site of the domestic buildings and not of the church. Or they may be relics of the Roman Occupation.

[73] By Walbran in _Proceedings Archaeol. Inst._, York Vol. 1846 (pub. 1848).

[74] There is an interesting suggestion in _Murray's Cathedrals_, Pt. 1, p. 172, n. 2, that the church of which the crypt formed a part was built not by Wilfrid but by Eadhead, who, as the supplanter of Wilfrid, would probably be excluded from Wilfrid's monastery, but who may, nevertheless, have employed his workmen. The western position of the altar, however, is against placing the work as late as the episcopate of Eadhead.

[75] The suggestion is Mr. Micklethwaite's. _Altare_ would, of course, mean the high altar in the presbytery above.

[76] A third font (modern) formerly stood in the north-west tower.

[77] It is curious that the same story should be told of Roger de Mowbray, founder of Byland Abbey in this same county. (_Murray's Cathedrals._)

[78] Another suggestion is that the subject has some connection with the history of the Disobedient Prophet.

[79] _Surtees Soc._, vol. lxiv. p. 92.

[80] But for the label, these arms resemble those of John of Eltham (brother of Edward III.), who died without issue in 1334.

[81] It is pleasant to find in the church several indications of aid received from the other great ecclesiastical foundation in the neighbourhood.

[82] Taken by itself, the coarseness of the work in the tower and transept would suggest that these parts were later, and not earlier, than the nave. But (not to mention documentary evidence), if they were later, then the Rood Screen must be later also, which can hardly be the case, the stalls against it being dated 1489.

[83] Probably (as Walbran suggested) with money subscribed for the tower, the completion of which was perhaps the less pressing necessity.

[84] In the large mediaeval churches there was usually an altar at the east end of the nave.

[85] It may have been put here at the time of the building of the present nave, than which it is perhaps slightly earlier.

[86] The Markenfields were one of the principal families in the neighbourhood from the fourteenth century onwards, until in the reign of Elizabeth they ruined themselves by taking part in the Rising in the North. Their ancient moated Manor-house, in which both the knights sculptured on these altar tombs must have lived, is still standing, about three miles from Ripon, towards Harrogate.

[87] This aisle was also the site of the chantry of St. Andrew.

[88] In these pages this term is used to describe round mouldings which are brought to an edge without actually having a fillet upon them.

[89] By Mr. Francis Bond.

[90] In spite of Sir G. Scott's conjectural plan. (See p. 67.)

[91] It is possible that the screen there mentioned may be the present structure, or may have been incorporated into it. In 1408 the accident to the tower had not yet occurred, and the piers that now flank the screen had therefore not yet been built. There is a not very credible story that the present screen came from Fountains Abbey.

[92] This peculiarity is found at some other places--_e.g._, St. Cross, Winchester.

[93] This column and that opposite to it on the north side have been regarded as entirely Decorated imitations of Archbishop Roger's columns, but surely without sufficient reason.

[94] See also the account of the East End in Chapter II., pp. 60-63.

[95] Two holes have been drilled through the rear-vault from the attic above, but for what purpose it is hard to say.

[96] It appears from the Fabric Rolls that a new high altar was begun in 1522. The work seems to have lasted four years, and apparently included a carved wooden reredos.

[97] _Subtus altare_ suggests a crypt, but there seems to have been no crypt under the choir. Perhaps the _altare_ meant may have stood over the Saxon or the Norman crypt.

[98] Mention may be here made of the Communion plate, some of which is as old as 1676 and has upon it representations of the church, very incorrect but showing the spires; also of the mace which is now borne before the Dean, and which has been assigned to the fifteenth century and may possibly have been once borne before the Wakeman. Upon the top has been engraved an _Agnus Dei_, the cognizance of the church.

[99] A piece of woodwork, however, which was in the north aisle at the time of the last restoration, is said to have borne the date 1397.

[100] The old miserere was probably removed when the Throne was made to comprise two stalls. (_See_ p. 111.)

[101] It has been supposed that these niches were for figures of St. Peter and St. Wilfrid, and that the same was the case with the two niches which form the ends of the lower tier in the Rood Screen, and also with those which flank the west doors. It may also have been the case with the two eastward projections (if there were two) from the western piers of the Central Tower.

[102] Below the string-course there is a certain amount of limestone in the wall, but this hardly accounts for the language of a Chapter minute which records a meeting in 1546 to consider the repair of certain _defectus et ruinositates apertae tam campanilis quam muri lapidei insulae borealis_.

[103] Above the shrine there hung, apparently, a gilded crescent like that above the site of St. Thomas's shrine at Canterbury. The bones were enclosed in a splendid coffer with poles attached, and on solemn occasions this 'feretory,' besides being carried in procession, was sometimes placed under a tent in the fields. It was also very elaborately renewed in 1520 (_Surtees Soc._, vol. lxxxi. p. 204, n., etc.). Portions of the shrine exist, perhaps, in the alabaster bas-reliefs in the Chapter-house, as well as in the base of the railing in the north aisle of the nave.

[104] It may, however, be later than the main walls.

[105] The lower portion of this wall seems to be of an even earlier type of masonry than the upper. A somewhat similar difference between the upper and lower portions may be observed in the east and north walls also.

[106] The late doorway approached by four steps, east of the cross-wall, occupies the place of one of the windows.

[107] Three kinds of stone occur in this crypt: a sandstone, a fine gritstone, and a coarser and harder gritstone.

[108] There are numerous entries in the Fabric Rolls, from 1512 onwards, relating to expenses 'for the carriage of the bones.'

[109] One has a sword graven upon it, another a pair of shears (closed), another a book and a chalice, the latter slightly tipped, while a gravestone lying in the apse has upon it a dagger, and a pair of shears open.

[110] Since it is probable that the axis of the church has always, at all periods, passed over the Saxon crypt, the Chapter-house and vestry can hardly have been the south aisle of the choir before the time of Archbishop Roger (as Walbran supposed), for they are too far south; indeed, they would seem rather to have been a chapel thrown out from such an aisle.

[111] In the storey above will be found certain buttresses which are clearly his, which stand exactly over these piers, and of which the latter are probably merely the lower portions.

[112] The supposition that the arches were added afterwards would explain why the westernmost of them cuts off the top of the arch over the door.

[113] That it is his can hardly be doubted. The moulding and slope at the top resemble those which characterize the wall-base throughout his work.

[114] _Murray's Cathedrals_, Pt. 1, p. 180.

[115] See Chapter I.

[116] A view of the crypt as it was before the removal of the bones represents the vaulting as propped also by certain pillars of Perpendicular character. These may have been removed by Sir Gilbert Scott.

[117] _I.e._, if that wall was not erected contemporaneously with the said Lady Chapel.

[118] For its date see Chapters I. and II.

[119] Can Leland mean that the books, then as now, were in the Lady-loft, and that part of it was used as a vestry?

[120] In 1567 a number of books were found in 'a vawte' of the church, where they had been concealed for safety (_Surtees Soc._, vol. lxxxi. p. 344).

[121] For a full account of this interesting library, see the monograph by the Rev. Canon Fowler, F.S.A., of Durham, by whom the books were arranged in 1872. A copy is kept in the room.