Chapter XII: Part 12

“On either side of the central doorway are four deep arches
supported by detached pillars, decorated with grotesque heads and
small figures of bishops. The wall behind is richly carved with
diaper designs, shewing much freedom and variety. This screen was
once decorated with colours and gilding, traces of which are still
visible. It appears to have suffered a good deal at the hands of
iconoclasts; many statues have doubtless been removed, and one must
be very cautious with regard to the decoration which remains, as it
was considerably restored by a mason named James Pink during the
second half of last century. The screen now carries the organ
erected in 1826.

“The two side doorways leading into the north and south aisles of
the choir are somewhat earlier than the screen between them. They
are beautiful examples of carving, dating from the end of the Early
English period. The exquisite openwork foliage which runs round the
arch is executed with the utmost skill and care, and is without the
laboured effect of so much of our later stone-work. The injured
parts were carefully restored about 1770 by James Pink, who was
also employed by Essex on the canopy of the reredos. The doorways
have modern iron gates.”--(A. F. K.)

The =Choir= now includes St. Hugh’s Choir and two bays of the Angel Choir beyond.

=St. Hugh’s Choir= is the earliest example of pure Gothic in the world. People are frequently disappointed in it because of its low vault and squat arches; but it must be remembered that the fall of the central tower in 1237-1239 greatly damaged this part of the building. In order to strengthen the choir some heavy columns without capitals replaced the original slender shafts. The arches were also partly reconstructed. Arcaded screens between the piers divide the choir from the aisles north and south, and aid in the support.

“The foliage of the capitals is exquisitely beautiful, and though
distinguished technically by the name of _stiff-leaf foliage_,
because there are stiff stalks to the leaves rising from the ring
of the capital, the leaves themselves curl over in the most
graceful manner, with a freedom and elegance not exceeded at any
subsequent period. The mouldings are also as bold and as deep as
possible, and there is scarcely a vestige of Norman character
remaining in any part of the work.”--(R.)

Viollet-le-Duc, who fixes the date of St. Hugh’s Choir at 1220 or 1210 at the earliest, says:

“We have in Normandy, especially in the cathedral of Rouen and the
church of Eu, architecture of the date of 1190; it is purely
French, that is to say, it corresponds exactly with the
architecture of the ‘Isle de France’ except in certain details. At
Eu, at the cathedral of Le Mans, at Seez, we have architecture
which resembles that of the choir of Lincoln, but that architecture
is from 1210 to 1220, it is the Norman school of the Thirteenth
Century. There is, indeed, at Lincoln, an effort at, a tendency to
originality, a style of ornament which attempts to emancipate
itself; nevertheless the character is purely Anglo-Norman.

“The construction is English, the profiles of the mouldings are
English, the ornaments are English, the execution of the work
belongs to the English school of workmen of the beginning of the
Thirteenth Century.

“On the exterior the choir of the Cathedral of Lincoln is
thoroughly English or Norman, if you will; one can perceive all the
Norman influence; arches acutely pointed, blank windows in the
clerestory, reminding one of the basilica covered with a wooden
roof; a low triforium; each bay of the aisles divided into two by a
small buttress; shafts banded. In the interior vaults which have
not at all the same construction as the French vaults of the end of
the Twelfth Century; arch-mouldings, slender and deeply undercut;
the abacus round; the tooth-ornament; which do not at all resemble
the ornaments which we find at Paris, Sens, St. Denis, etc.”

The =Choir-Stalls=, dating from the Fourteenth Century, are among the finest in England. Pugin considered them quite the best.

“The stalls are in two rows, the upper of 62 seats, and the lower
of 46; the former number has now been increased by six and the
latter by two. The upper stalls have elaborate trefoiled canopies,
surmounted by an intricate maze of buttresses and pinnacles, rising
to a height of 24 feet 6 inches above the choir floor. The niches
above the canopies have recently been filled with statues of saints
in the Anglican Calendar. The stalls in both rows are provided with
hinged seats or _misereres_, intended to serve as supports in the
long services during which the occupants of the stalls were
required to stand. These seats, as well as the elbow-rests and
finials, are richly carved with those grotesque subjects in which
the Mediæval artist so greatly delighted. The carver has given full
scope to a most fertile imagination. Scriptural subjects do
certainly occur on some of the _misereres_ in the upper row, but
others are of a playful character. The fox is seen preaching to
birds and beasts, and then running riot among them; monkeys are at
play, or occupied in the more serious business of hanging one of
their number and burying him afterwards; we also find men fighting
with wild animals; the labours of husbandry; kings, knights,
ladies, dragons, griffins, lions, hogs, and wyverns. Whether there
is a hidden meaning in any of these quaint subjects, it is perhaps
difficult now to say, but the preaching fox is certainly
suggestive.”--(A. F. K.)

At the east end of the stalls on the south side rises the =Bishop’s Throne= with tall Gothic canopy. It was designed by James Essex in 1778, and carved by Lumby. Opposite is Sir Gilbert Scott’s =Pulpit= of carved oak (1863-1864).

The brass chandelier of sixteen lights, suspended from the vault, is dated 1698; and the brass eagle lectern, 1667.

The stone =Reredos= is a mixture of work of the Thirteenth Century and that of James Essex in the Eighteenth Century. James Pink carved the central canopy in 1769 after designs by Essex.

The =Eastern Transept= was also the work of St. Hugh. He joined the ends by means of an apse, which extended to the second bay of the Angel Choir. Some historians say that he was buried in the northern of the four chapels that he built along the apse.

St. Hugh died in London in 1200. When his body arrived in Lincoln it was met by King John and carried on the shoulders of archbishops and bishops to the Choir that he had erected. He was buried on November 24; and, according to an old ballad:

“A’ the bells o’ merrie Lincoln
Without men’s hands were rung,
And a’ the books o’ merrie Lincoln
Were read without man’s tongue;
And ne’er was such a burial
Sin’ Adam’s days begun.”

Pilgrims came in such numbers to his shrine that it was deemed necessary to make his tomb more important, and the apse was removed for the famous =Angel Choir=, which, like the Choir of St. Hugh, marks a new period in the history of architecture.

“Thus the Angel Choir of Lincoln was erected to contain the shrine
of one of Lincoln’s noblest bishops and one of England’s greatest
saints, whose lowly tomb, placed in a corner at his own desire for
fear of its being in the way, had become the resort of such a vast
concourse of pilgrims as to require the transformation of the
eastern arm of the minster. In 1255, license was obtained from
Henry III. for the removal of part of the eastern city wall, which
stood in the way, and in the next year the Angel Choir was probably
begun. The work was carried on so rapidly that within a quarter of
a century the translation took place. The choir was not, however,
fully completed till the Fourteenth Century was well on its way.

“The 6th October, 1280, was the proudest day in the

history of the city. Perhaps never, before or since, has such an
august assembly gathered within her walls. The body of the Saint of
Lincoln was to be translated to the costly shrine in the centre of
the Angel Choir. The ceremony was magnificent. Edward himself was
present, and supported on his own shoulder the saint’s remains as
they were carried to their new resting-place; with him was his
beloved queen Eleanor, whose effigy was so soon to be placed
beneath the same roof. The king and queen were accompanied by
Edmund, Earl of Kent, brother of Edward, and his wife; the Earls of
Gloucester and Warwick; the Archbishop of Canterbury; the bishops
of Lincoln, Bath, Ely, Norwich, Worcester, Llandaff, Bangor, and
St. Asaph; the bishop-elect of Exeter; and two hundred and fifty
knights. The shrine, ornamented with gold and silver and precious
stones, was raised on a lofty stone pedestal, and about thirty
years after was protected by an iron grille, wrought by Simon the
Smith. It is recorded that the fastenings of the grille were still
to be seen in the pavement at the middle of the last century, but
all traces have now entirely disappeared. It must have been soon
after the translation that the head was removed from the body, and
enclosed in a metal case, enriched with gold and silver and
precious stones. A keeper was appointed to guard the precious relic
during the day, and two had this charge at night. Yet, in spite of
all such precautions, it was stolen from the church in the year
1364; the head was thrown into a field, and the case sold in London
for twenty marks. The thieves were robbed of their ill-gotten gains
on their way back, and were afterwards convicted of the crime, and
hanged at Lincoln. The head was found and restored to the
cathedral. The treasurer, John de Welburne (d. 1380), either
restored the old shrine or made a new one of the same
materials.”--(A. F. K.)

Fergusson called the Angel Choir “the most beautiful presbytery in England.” It dates from 1256 to 1280, when the Early English was merging into the Decorated. The sculptural angels that ornament the spandrels of the triforium account for the name.

“It is in five bays carried eastward at a uniform height and
breadth with the choir of St. Hugh. Lincoln stone is used
throughout, relieved with shafts and capitals of Purbeck marble.
The spandrels of the great arches, which are plain in other parts
of the building are here decorated with sunk geometrical forms.
Each bay of the triforium is divided, as elsewhere, into two
arches, both of which enclose two sub-arches; but the details are
richer than in the earlier parts of the minster. The clerestory has
one window of four lights in each bay, with an eight-foil and two
trefoils in the head. The compartments of the vault were originally
coated with plaster, which has been scraped away so as to shew the
stone surface underneath. It is a question whether it does not now
look better than with the old plaster, and the gaudy colouring
which once, most probably, decorated it. The springers of the
vaulting are supported by slender shafts, which rest on elaborately
foliaged corbels in the spandrels of the great arches. The
beautiful foliaged bosses along the ridge rib are best seen from
the triforium or the clerestory.”--(A. F. K.)

In olden times the Angel Choir contained the Shrine of St. Hugh and a monument to Queen Eleanor, of which the one now standing in Westminster Abbey is probably a copy. It was an altar-monument of marble with the Queen’s effigy in gilded brass, and was destroyed during the Civil Wars in the Seventeenth Century. Eleanor died not far from Lincoln, from which city the funeral procession started to London. A modern stone monument, with a brass effigy of Queen Eleanor, was placed under the East Window in 1891.

Just behind the reredos there is a row of four table-tombs. The north one was placed there by Bishop Fuller, to mark the resting place of =St. Hugh=; next comes =Bishop Fuller= himself (died 1675); next, =Bishop Gardiner= (died 1705); and next, =Subdean Gardiner= and his daughter, Susanna (died 1731 and 1732). Near the latter stands the alabaster and red marble monument to =Dean Butler= (died 1894). In corresponding position and next to St. Hugh’s tomb we see =Bishop Wordsworth’s= effigy under a tall ornate Gothic canopy. This Bishop of Lincoln (died 1885), was a nephew of William Wordsworth. Nearer the East Window we find a group of Fourteenth Century monuments to the =Burghersh= family, one of whom was Bishop of Lincoln (1320-1340), and another, a hero of Crécy, and Constable of Dover, and Warden of the Cinque Ports. Opposite is the monument to =Nicholas de Cantelupe= (died 1355), a mutilated effigy under a Gothic canopy. Near it lies =Prior Wimbische=. His effigy, also headless, lies under a canopy.

Leland, writing in the time of Henry VIII., mentions two mutilated tombs: =Catherine Swynford=, the third wife of John of Gaunt, made Earl of Lincoln in 1362, and that of her daughter, Joan Beaufort, who married the Earl of Westmoreland.

On the north side of the choir is the =Easter Sepulchre=, a fine piece of Thirteenth Century carving, in the Decorated style. It consists of four canopies with trefoiled arches. Three sleeping soldiers ornament three of the panels.

On a spandrel on the north side, under a corbel above the most easterly pier, sits the =Lincoln Imp=--one of those grotesques that the Mediæval carvers delighted in creating; and here he has been sitting with crossed leg and grinning grimly for centuries. He is of the same family as =The Devil Looking over Lincoln= (see page 309).

In the =South Aisle= of the choir we pause again before another spot, sacred in Mediæval days. Here stood until the Seventeenth Century the =Shrine of= =Little St. Hugh=, a child said to have been crucified by the Jews in 1255. According to the ballads the ball of the eight-year-old boy fell into a Jew’s garden; and when he ran in to get it, the Jews murdered him.

The canons of Lincoln obtained the body and buried it in the Cathedral. Hugh became a local saint; and the Jews of Lincoln were promptly persecuted. When the stone coffin was opened in 1791, the skeleton of a child three feet long, encased in lead, was found.

=Henry of Huntingdon= (died about 1155), the chronicler of Lincoln, was also buried in this aisle.

On the north and south of the Angel Choir is a small chantry. That on the north is the =Fleming Chantry=, built by Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln in 1419-1431, and the corresponding one the =Russell Chantry=, built by John Russell, who held the See from 1480 to 1494. This is similar to the Fleming Chantry, Perpendicular in style. Very similar is the =Longland Chantry=, on the other side of the south door, or Bishop’s Porch. This chantry was built by John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1521-1547.

There is no Lady-Chapel.

The great =East Window= is the finest specimen of its kind in England. It is formed of eight lights; and the great wheel of the head is composed of a six-foil, surrounded by six quatrefoils.

“Bar-tracery being fully developed, the general appearance of ‘the
window is rather Decorated than Early English, but the mouldings
still belong to the earlier style.’ ‘This window ... together with
the whole of that part of the choir is singularly and beautifully
accommodated to the style of the rest of the building.’”--(R.)

The glass is modern and deals with scenes from the life of Christ, and the Old Testament.

“The aisle windows are each of three lights, with three circles in
the head, two filled with cinquefoils and one with a quatrefoil.
The two east windows of the aisles are similar to the others. The
wall below the windows is decorated all round with arcading of a
richer design than that in the nave. Two trefoiled arches are
included in a larger arch, with a quatrefoil within a circle
filling the head. The spandrels have sunk trefoils. The bosses of
the stone vaults to the aisles are carved with sacred subjects,
foliage, and grotesque figures.

“The east windows of the north and south aisles are filled with
beautiful stained glass of the Early English period. The subjects
are arranged within medallions, and, though somewhat difficult to
decipher, appear to represent scenes in the lives of two saints
whose story has many points of resemblance--St. Thomas of
Canterbury and St. Hugh of Lincoln. The glass is said to have been
moved about the end of the last century from the windows of the
nave aisles. The date of the medallions may be placed towards the
middle of the Thirteenth Century, about the time of the erection of
the nave, and, of course, earlier than the windows which they now
occupy. The _grisaille_ into which they are now reglazed, is
considered by Westlake to be the earliest in England.”--(A. F. K.)

One of St. Hugh’s characteristics was the peculiar double arcading on his walls. We find it in the choir and transepts.

The =Western Transept= was begun by St. Hugh; and his work is thought to end at the walls of the six chapels that run along the eastern side. These are dedicated to St. Nicholas, St. Denis, St. James, St. Edward the Martyr, St. John the Evangelist and St. Giles, and are separated from the transept by screens placed between the piers. Four of these screens are of carved oak and date from the Fifteenth Century; but the one of carved stone is of the Fourteenth. The western transept is famed for its two large circular windows in each end. As one looked upon the Deanery and the other upon the Bishop’s Palace, they were called respectively the Dean’s Eye and the Bishop’s Eye. These nicknames appear in the _Metrical Life of St. Hugh_, written between 1220 and 1225.

The =Dean’s Eye=, in the north end, dates from about 1220. Here we have not only exquisite tracery, but splendid glass of the Thirteenth Century.

“It represents the Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven. In the
centre is our Saviour seated in the midst of the Blessed in Heaven.
Around are four large compartments, containing portions of
different subjects, which do not appear to have all originally
belonged to their present positions. The most interesting is that
shewing the translation of the relics of St. Hugh, represented as
borne on the shoulders of crowned and mitred personages. Of the
sixteen outer circles, the topmost represents our Saviour seated on
a rainbow; on either side are angels with the instruments of the
Passion; in the next circles St. Peter and other saints are
conducting holy persons to heaven; below these is the general
Resurrection; the lowest five circles each contain the figure of an
archbishop or bishop. The subjects can be best seen from the
neighbouring triforium or from the passage which runs just beneath
the window; it will be noticed that the glass in some of the
compartments is much mutilated, as might naturally be expected,
considering its antiquity. From below, the subjects are confused
and not easy to distinguish, but the rich and harmonious blending
of the colours can be seen to the fullest advantage, and the
general effect is much finer. Rickman believes the form of the
tracery to be quite unique in England, but states that there is a
window exactly similar at Laon.”--(A. F. K.)

An arcade of seven lancet arches runs beneath the window. The wall behind is pierced with windows filled with fragments of old glass. Two larger lancet windows brighten each side of the doorway. They contain fragments of old glass. The western one represents angels playing musical instruments in the midst of foliage. The other window is filled with geometrical patterns. The doorway leads into the Dean’s Porch.

The =Bishop’s Eye=, at the south and opposite end, is about a hundred years later than its companion. It is Fourteenth Century and Decorated.

“It is filled with delicate and beautiful flowing tracery, which
has been compared to the fibres of a leaf. Rickman considers it to
be the richest remaining example of its period. It is enclosed
within a kind of arch formed by two rows of openwork quatrefoils;
an open frame-work of a similar nature is often to be seen round
circular windows in French cathedrals. The glass consists of
fragments from other windows, chiefly of the Early English period.
Although the pieces are placed quite at random, forming no subject
whatever, yet the effect of the colouring is good, especially when
seen from the opposite end of the transept. Of all the modern
windows in the minster, with their elaborate subjects, it may
safely be said that not one can be compared in effect with this
mass of glowing colour.”--(A. F. K.)

The four lancet windows below contain Early English glass, collected from various parts of the Cathedral.

Near the Bishop’s Eye =John de Dalderby’s= shrine was situated. This was of “massey silver” incrusted with diamonds and rubies. John de Dalderby, Bishop of Lincoln from 1300 to 1320, was reverenced as a local saint. Henry VIII. removed his altar-tomb, fragments of which may be seen near the =Galilee Porch=, situated at the corner of the south arm of the western transept, different in position to the Galilees of both Durham and Ely. Lincoln’s was built about 1230 for the bishop’s state entrance. The south and west ends are open; and it may, therefore, be entered from either. Two enormous oak doors open from the east side into the transept. The porch is vaulted and ornamented profusely with the dog-tooth. The Perpendicular parapet running along the top of the porch is, of course, a later addition.

Retracing our steps--no great hardship in a place of such beauty and interest--we walk up the south-choir-aisle to the =Eastern Transept=, where we have two semicircular chapels on the right hand, and on the left the =Dean’s Chapel=. We are now at St. Hugh’s earliest work; and his double arcading is again seen in the north wall leading to the cloisters. Here also we find on two of the columns crockets that were novelties at this period. They occur at Wells, the work of Jocelin. The name of Dean’s Chapel is a misnomer--no one knows what it was used for originally. It has been suggested that it was the original burial-place of St. Hugh.

Two semicircular chapels also border the eastern side of the south end of this transept, and the =Choristers’ Vestry= occupies the corresponding corner to the Dean’s Chapel. A stone screen (Decorated) separates it from the south aisle of St. Hugh’s Choir. The double arcading and sculptured angels are constantly seen. Two other vestries lie beyond, towards the south wall.

By means of an oak doorway, leading from the north wall of the eastern transept, we enter a long, narrow passageway, with stone vaulting and windows filled with tracery and glass. This takes us into the Cloisters, for at Lincoln these secluded

walks lie on the north instead of the usual south side of the Cathedral.

Only three walks remain of the original constructions dating from the end of the Thirteenth Century. The fourth walk (north) was replaced by a colonnade, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1674, whose uncle was Bishop of Lincoln at that time.

From the east walk of the Cloister we enter the =Chapter-House=, which dates from the early Thirteenth Century. It is a decagon, with two lancet windows in each bay. First, on entering, we note the massive central column with its ten Purbeck marble shafts banded together in the middle. The Chapter-House has been restored, but it has not suffered. The glass in the windows is modern. The arcade running below the windows is ornamented with shafts of Purbeck marble, foliaged capitals, and a great display of the dog-tooth. The stone vault is later than the rest of the room and is very graceful.

Many fine views can be had of the East Front. The splendid Decorated window is always the most conspicuous object. The window above it is also Decorated and nearly fills the gable. In the trefoil over the top circle is a figure of the Virgin. The richly crocketed pyramids of the turrets on either side make a beautiful effect. The aisle windows are separated from the big window by bold buttresses. Around the base runs the arcade that we constantly find at Lincoln. The Chapter-House with its sharply-pointed pyramidal roof groups beautifully with the rest of the Cathedral.

Next we look at the =Angel Choir=, with its crocketed gables and pinnacles, its elaborate tracery, and panelled buttresses that divide it into five bays. Grotesque figures project from all of these gables. One represents an =Imp on the back of a Witch=. Large windows with rich tracery fill the wall spaces here.

Next we reach the beautiful =South Doorway= with the =Russell= and =Longland chantries= (Perpendicular) on either side.

“It was probably constructed, like the Galilee doorway, as a state
entrance for the bishop. The porch fills the third bay, and
projects as far as the buttresses; its sides recede inwards to the
pair of doors giving access to the Angel Choir. Although the
doorways of our cathedrals, as a rule, cannot in any way be
compared with the magnificent portals to be seen in France, yet
this single example of Lincoln would be quite enough to prove that
English architects were capable of designing a really magnificent
doorway. In the tympanum is the subject of the Last Judgment in
relief. The archivolt is richly decorated with sculpture. In the
inner band is a row of niches with twelve seated figures,
apparently kings and queens: next a double band of delicate
open-work foliage; outside this a row of sixteen slender standing
figures enclosed by interlacing stems, richly decorated with
foliage. The doorway is formed of two cinquefoiled arches,
separated by a central pillar having the canopy and base for a
figure of the Virgin, which has been removed. On either side of the
doorway is a triple canopy for statues, and behind this a row of
slender columns with foliated capitals.”--(A. F. K.)

Next come St. Hugh’s two semicircular chapels, and then St. Hugh’s transept, slender and filled with so many windows that the wall space is nearly taken up by them. On top of each of the two turrets, surmounted by pyramidal roofs, stands an angel. Next comes the =Canon’s Vestry= and then the western transept with the conspicuous =Bishop’s Eye=. We pause to admire this beautiful window from the outside and then look above it at the horizontal band of seven elaborately carved quatrefoils. Above this again is a Fourteenth Century window with flowing tracery. Around the gable runs a border of open Gothic tracery. The peak bears a cross.

Next comes the =Nave=, the seven bays of which are separated by buttresses. Over the roof of the aisle flying buttresses are thrown. A slender buttress also separates the windows of the aisle. The clerestory windows are in groups of three. Over the clerestory is a wavy parapet of the Fourteenth Century, where stand canopied niches for statues. Grotesque figures project from their bases. Grotesque figures also project from the crocketed roofs of the pinnacles of the great transept.

The chapel, used as the Consistory Court, follows with two windows facing south and two east. On the east end of the latter, in front of the windows, our eyes are arrested by the grotesque =Devil Looking over Lincoln=. The sculptured figures near by are pilgrims. Next comes =St. Hugh’s Chapel=, or the Ringers’ Chapel, with one window facing the south.

From the road at the north-east corner we get a good general view of the Cathedral and the Chapter-House. St. Hugh’s transept is hidden, but we can see the end of the western transept with the =Dean’s Eye=--the large quatrefoil encircled by sixteen small circles. The lancet window of five lights in the gable above it is also visible.

The second bay on the north side of the Angel Choir contains the =Fleming Chantry=, on which the two chapels on the south side were modelled. Then we come to the north doorway of the =Angel= =Choir=, corresponding to the more ornate entrance on the south.

We have now completed our survey of the Cathedral and have not yet noticed the =Central Tower=, considered by many critics the finest tower in England. It rises to a height of 271 feet. Two lofty windows adorn each side of the upper story with their crocketed pillars and canopied heads. Octagonal panelled turrets, surmounted by pinnacles, ornament the four corners. Grosseteste’s lattice-work pattern covers the lower part within and without. The tower in its present state dates from 1775, when James Essex built the parapet and advised battlements and pinnacles instead of a spire. The tall spire of timber, coated with lead, that completed the tower of 1311, was blown down in 1547, carrying the parapet with it; and again in 1715 three of the pinnacles were blown down and replaced in 1728. In 1883 the western side was damaged by a storm, but was repaired. Here “Great Tom of Lincoln,” the fourth largest bell in England (5 tons, 8 cwt.), seven feet in diameter, hangs. Too large to ring, the hours are struck on it with a hammer.

The original =Great Tom= hung in the north-west tower.

“It is not known how it was acquired; some say it was a gift,
others say it was stolen from the Abbey of Beauchief, Derbyshire,
or from Peterborough. The origin of its name, too, has been a
subject of dispute. Stukeley considered it possible that it had
been consecrated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. Others think it took
its name from that of the old bell of Christ Church, Oxford, which
bore the curious inscription, _In Thomae laude, resono Bim Bom sine
fraude_. It should be remembered that Oxford was in the diocese of
Lincoln in olden days, and that several Bishops of Lincoln were
chancellors of Oxford. Wherever the first ‘Great Tom’ came from,
it was recast in the minster yard by two bell founders from
Nottingham and Leicester early in the Seventeenth Century, when the
weight was increased from 8,743 pounds to 9,894½ pounds. ‘The
bell was cast and hung upp and upon Sonday the xxvij of this month
[January, 1611] ronge owte and all safe and well.’ It was tolled
until 1802, when it was found that this process shook the tower too
much. The following extract from the _Stamford Mercury_ of the 6th
August, 1802, is given by North in his ‘Church Bells of
Lincolnshire’:--‘Great Tom o’ Lincoln is to be rung no more! The
full swing of four tons and a half is found to injure the tower
where he hangs. He has therefore been chained and riveted down; so
that instead of the full mouthful he has been used to send forth,
he is enjoined in future merely to wag his tongue.’ Towards the end
of the year 1827 experienced ears detected that something was
wrong, and by Christmas it became plainly evident that the bell was
cracked. It was finally decided to have it recast in a larger size.
For this purpose it was broken to pieces with its own clapper, and
sent to London. To provide the extra metal, the six Lady Bells were
unfortunately sacrificed. The cathedral thus lost the distinction
of being the only one in the kingdom possessed of two rings of
bells. ‘Great Tom’ was recast by Thomas Mears at the Whitechapel
Bell foundry on the 15th November, 1834. It was taken by road to
Lincoln, drawn by eight horses, and raised to its new position in
the central tower. Two new quarter bells, cast at the same time,
were also hung in this tower. The number of quarter bells was
increased in 1880 to four.”--(A. F. K.)

The six “Lady Bells,” referred to above, hung in this central tower (see page 294). When they were removed in 1834 it was seen that four were dated 1593; one, 1633; and one, 1737.

In the Thirteenth Century the =Minster Yard=, as many still call the Cathedral Close, was enclosed by a wall. Several massive gates formed the entrances. Of these the =Exchequer=, a large archway, with a postern on each side and an upper story, remains at the western end. =Pottergate Arch=, at the top of the new road, shows us what an early Fourteenth Century single gate was like. Near it the =Grecian Stairs= lead up to the Close.

SOUTHWELL

DEDICATION: ST. MARY.

CHIEF FEATURE: CHAPTER-HOUSE.

For many centuries the Church of St. Mary, Southwell, was under the dominion of York. The clergy had many privileges, held property, lived in their own houses, like country gentlemen, and hunted in the forests which Robin Hood and his merry men had made romantic; for Southwell is not far from legendary Sherwood.

The church became a Cathedral in 1884. It dates in the main from the Twelfth Century, though a few fragments are older. It is supposed that the first Saxon church was destroyed by the Danes; the next is said to have been built by King Edgar in 960; and in the time of Henry I. was rebuilt in the Norman style. Walter de Grey, Archbishop of York (see page 264), rebuilt the nave of Southwell, and was assisted by John Romeyn, subdean (see page 264).

“In the Curvilinear Period (1315-1360) was erected quite the
loveliest choir-screen in England; next comes that of Lincoln,
evidently by the same hand. Eastern and western sides are entirely
different in design; on the western side the artist parts
reluctantly with the beautiful geometrical design of the Thirteenth
Century; on the eastern side he accepts unreservedly the reign of
the ogee arch. Magnificent sedilia and stone stalls of similar
character were erected, which only survive in part. Very beautiful,
too, is the cusping of the reticulated windows inserted in the
north transept chapel. The upper parts of the Chapter-House and the
north transept chapel also were remodelled in the Curvilinear
Period. For two hundred years and more, the highest and best of
Mediæval art found cultivated and wealthy patrons in the canons of
Southwell. Norman, Lancet, Geometrical, Curvilinear work are all
seen here at their best. Few of our cathedrals, from the point of
view either of architectural design or sculptural detail, can be
mentioned in the same breath with Southwell. It is one of the
greatest delights of Southwell that this lovely minster is little
known and almost unvisited: one feels as if one were ‘the first
that ever burst into the silent sea’!”--(F. B.)

The general appearance of the Cathedral is Norman.

“The WEST FRONT has been altered in character from its original
Norman work. We see a huge Perpendicular window with an embattled
parapet over it, an alteration made in the Fifteenth Century. The
windows in the lower stages of the towers are modern imitations of
Norman work. The towers have seven stages and the sixth is enriched
with fine arcading composed of intersecting arches. The present
spires are modern imitations of the originals destroyed by fire in
1711. These were immediately restored but removed in 1802, and have
now again been replaced. The old Norman doorway is remarkably fine.
It has five orders, the zigzag and the filleted edge roll being the
chief mouldings.

“Passing to the south side we see the walls of the nave pierced by
apparent Norman windows, but these are modern imitations. The most
western window in the north side is the only original Norman
window; the rest are copied from it, and were erected in 1847. Four
Perpendicular windows were inserted in the Fifteenth Century. There
is a row of small square windows above which light the triforium,
and the clerestory has a curious series of circular windows which
are unique in this country. The roof is high-pitched, having been
erected in modern times by the architect Christian, and the
parapets are Perpendicular in style. The south doorway should be
noticed, of Norman workmanship with zigzag string-course over
it.”--(P. H. D.)

The Choir is Early English and much resembles that of Lincoln. The dog-tooth is very evident. The windows are lancet. The two flying-buttresses on the south were added in the Decorated period.

The Chapter-House is on the north, and its similarity to that of York will strike every one who has seen the _flos florum_ of the great Minster of the north. It is supposed the same architect (probably John Romeyn) designed both. This is octagonal. The windows are of three lights, with trefoil and circular ones in the heads. The roof is modern.

The North porch is much admired. The inner doorway has a zigzag and beak-head moulding. In the parvise above (very unusual in a porch of this date), the wife of William Clay, a hunted Royalist, was hidden during the Civil War. Here her child was born.

We enter by the west door and gain a view of the =Nave=.

“Looking down the nave (1110-1150) we are impressed by the massive
appearance of the interior. The piers are rather short, only 19
feet high, six on each side, with square bases and round capitals.
The triforium is large, and above is the clerestory with its unique
plain circular windows. The Norman mouldings, zigzag, billet,
hatchet, etc., are easily recognized. The present roof was erected
in 1881. The Font, erected in 1661, is a poor substitute for the
one destroyed by the soldiers of Cromwell. The Pulpit is modern.
The second pillar from the east on the south side is called Pike’s
Pillar, and retains faint traces of a mural painting of the
Annunciation; the nave aisles have some good vaulting. A plain
stone bench runs along the walls. This was common in old churches
and was the origin of the saying ‘Let the weakest go to the wall,’
where they could sit and rest, as the days of pews were not yet.
The only original Norman window which remains is at the west end of
the north aisle.”--(P. H. D.)

The =Transepts= are Norman. At the east end of each the original plan included an apsidal chapel. The south transept still retains the arch with its zigzag and cable mouldings that connected it with the transept. The chapel at the east end of the north transept has also gone, but here we find on its site a Late Early English construction, with still later windows (Decorated). In the upper floor the Library is situated.

The =Tower= is Norman, built in 1150. A cable moulding runs around the four large arches. It contains a peal of bells.

“A stone screen of rich Decorated work separates the transept from
the choir, over which is now the organ (a modern instrument). The
screen is richly ornamented, and a noble specimen of the work of
the period. There are three arches opening to the space beneath the
tower, separated by slight piers of clustered shafts, the capitals
carved with foliage of a Late Decorated character. The walls of the
screen support the old rood-loft, access to which is gained by two
staircases.

“Entering the Choir we see on each side of the doorway three
prebendal stalls with _misereres_, on which are carved some
foliage. The Bishop’s Stall was once occupied by Cardinal Wolsey.
The choir was built by Archbishop Grey in Early English style
(1230-1250). There are six arches, with piers of eight clustered
shafts. The dogtooth moulding is conspicuous in the arches and on
the vaulting of the roof. It will be noticed that the triforium and
clerestory are blended together. The east window consists of two
rows of lancets, the lower ones containing old glass brought from
Paris in 1815, where it was formerly in the Chapel of the Knights
Templar. The Baptism of Our Lord; Raising of Lazarus (Francis I. is
to be seen in a crimson cap); Christ entering Jerusalem (Luther is
near Our Lord, Louis XI. and the Duke of Orleans); the Mocking of
Our Lord (the figure of Dante appears).

“The Sedilia were erected in 1350 and are good Decorated

work. They have the unusual number of five seats on the same level.
The arches are ogee-shaped and are richly carved. The sculptured
figures are remarkable, and represent the Creation and the
Redemption. Beginning at the east we see the Father holding the
world (two groups uncertain), Joseph’s Dream, the Nativity and
Flight into Egypt.

“The Lectern belonged to the monks of Newstead Abbey, who threw it
into the lake to hide it from the commissioners of Henry VIII. Its
date is about 1500.”--(P. H. D.)

Entering a beautiful doorway in the north-choir-aisle we pass through a vestibule into the =Chapter-House=.

“The transition between the Early English work of the choir and the
Decorated style of the Chapter-House is very gradual. The doorway,
with its two arches and shafts of Purbeck marble, is remarkably
fine. There is a small cloister court, with a stone-covered well.
In the vestibule we see the walls covered with beautiful arcading
of lancet arches of an Early English character. The capitals are
beautifully carved with foliage. There is a curious boss of
sculpture representing a secular priest shaking the regular monk by
the hair, which figuratively depicts the supremacy of the former in
the church of Southwell.

“The Chapter-House (1285-1300) is described by Ruskin as ‘the gem
of English architecture,’ and all architects agree in singing the
praises of this noble building. It much resembles that of York, but
is smaller and perhaps more beautiful. It is octagonal, has no
central pillar, and is remarkable for its fine sculpture. The
historian of Southwell says: ‘The foliage everywhere is most
beautiful: the oak, the vine, the maple, the white-thorn, the rose,
with a vast variety of other plants, are sculptured with exquisite
freedom and delicacy; and no two capitals, or bosses or spandrels
are found alike. Everywhere we meet, in ever-changing and
ever-charming variety, with some fresh object of interest and
admiration. Figures are introduced amid the foliage, heads with
branches issuing out of their mouths, birds and lizard-like
monsters. In the capitals a man reclines beneath a tree, puffing
lustily at a horn, or a goat is gnawing the leaves, or a bird
pecking the berries, or a pair of pigs are grunting up the acorns,
or a brace of hounds just grabbing a hare. All this is the work of
no mere chiseller of stone, but of a consummate artist; than whom
it may be doubted whether any sculptor of any age or country ever
produced anything more life-like and exquisitely graceful.’ The
entrance doorway is remarkably fine and is worthy of close study.
The main arch is divided into two by a slender shaft, and over them
is a quatrefoiled circle of beautiful design. The leaf ornament is
largely used, both in the smaller arches and in the main arch.
Filleted rounds and hollows are the other mouldings used.”--(P. H.
D.)

PETERBOROUGH

DEDICATION: ST. PETER. CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE MONASTERY.

SPECIAL FEATURES: THE WEST FRONT; THE NEW BUILDING.

The great fenland monastery of St. Peter, the holy house of Medeshampstead, attracting houses around it, grew into a borough, and finally into a city--Peterborough. The village was first called Medeshampstead--homestead in the meadows. For centuries the settlement had no interests outside the monastery. In the Seventh Century Penda, King of Mercia, and his family were converted to Christianity, and it was his son Penda who founded the monastery here in 654. The first monastery was destroyed by the Danes in 870. It lay in ruins for a hundred years. With the religious revival under Duncan and King Edgar, the holy house of Medeshampstead was rebuilt by Bishop Ethelwold, of Winchester, and henceforth known as the Burgh.

The foundations of the old Saxon church still remain under the east wall of the south transept. It is related that when King Edgar visited the monastery and saw some old deeds he wept for joy on reading the privileges of the place and granted a new charter renewing and confirming these. The church seems to have been, even in those days, dedicated to St. Peter. The Abbey flourished for a time; then it was plundered by Hereward, the Saxon leader, and suffered also from fire while the monks were carousing. In the time of Henry I. a great fire destroyed the whole building. The picturesque imagination of the period attributed it to a servant, who, trying unsuccessfully to light a fire in the bakehouse, lost his temper and called upon Satan for aid, crying “_Veni, Diabole, et insuffla ignem._”

John de Sais, who was then Abbot (1114-1125), began the building of a new minster, the one that we now see. As usual the work was begun at the east end. The choir was finished with an apse. A small apse also terminated each choir-aisle. The whole church was in progress of building for eighty years. This was all Norman work of course.

The western transept, dating from the close of the Twelfth and beginning of the Thirteenth Century, shows a change.

“The Norman style was giving place to the lighter and more elegant
architecture of the Early English period, the round arch was
beginning to be superseded by the pointed arch, and the massive
ornamentation which marks the earlier style was displaced by the
conventional foliage that soon came to be very generally employed.
Most wisely, however, the Peterborough builders made their work at
the west end of the nave intentionally uniform with what was
already built. Very numerous indications of this can be seen by
careful observers. The bases of the western pillars, the change in
the depth of the mouldings, characteristic changes in the capitals
in the triforium range, and especially the grand arches below the
transept towers, which are pointed but enriched with ornamentation
of pronounced Norman character, all point to the later date of this
western transept.

“At the west wall of the church all trace of Norman work
disappears. The arcade near the ground, the large round arch above
the door, the great west window and its adjacent arches (not, of
course, including the late tracery), are all of distinct Early
English character. The whole of this wall may be held to be an
integral part of the west front, and not of the transept which it
bounds.

“When we come to the most distinctive feature of the cathedral, the
glorious west front, we find we have no help whatever from the
chronicles. Nowhere is there the smallest reference to its
building. Other works raised by the Abbots of the period are named,
but the noble western portico is never once mentioned.”--(W. D. S.)

According to Matthew Paris the church was dedicated in 1238 by the Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste.

In the Thirteenth Century many changes were made. The bell-tower was built, and bells from London, called _Les Londreis_, were hung in it. The Lady-Chapel (now destroyed) was built in 1272 at the east of the north transept (as at Ely).

In the Fourteenth Century the great round east and west arches of the central tower were changed into pointed ones, perhaps because the tower at Ely had fallen in 1321 and the monks wanted to strengthen theirs. Then they began to change all the triforium windows in the nave and choir from Norman to Decorated. Next, the central porch was added to the west front. During the Perpendicular period all the Norman windows that had not been altered were now filled with Perpendicular tracery; the great west window was also brought up to date, the battlements were added to the corner turrets, and the New Building tacked on to the East End of the choir.

A popular story related that Henry VIII. spared the church because his queen, Katherine of Aragon, was buried there. At any rate, he made Peterborough a cathedral in 1541, when he suppressed the monasteries.

The great historical event in connection with Peterborough was the burial of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587.

Cromwell’s soldiers made sad havoc. Dean Patrick informs us that

“The next day after their arrival, early in the morning they break
open the church doors, pull down the organs of which there were two
pair.

“Then the soldiers enter the quire, and their first business was to
tear in pieces all the common prayer-books that could be found.
Next they break down all the seats, stalls and wainscot that was
behind them, being adorned with several historical passages out of
the Old Testament.

“Now behind the communion-table there stood a curious piece of
stone-work, admired much by strangers and travellers: a stately
skreen it was, well wrought, painted and gilt, which rose up as
high almost as the roof of the church, in a row of three lofty
spires, with other lesser spires growing out of them. This now had
no imagery work upon it, or anything else that might justly give
offence, and yet because it bore the name of the high altar, was
pulled down with ropes, lay’d low and level with the ground.

“Over this place, in the roof of the church, in a large oval yet to
be seen, was the picture of Our Saviour seated on a throne; one
hand erected and holding a globe in the other, attended with the
four Evangelists and saints on each side, with crowns in their
hands, intended, I suppose, for a representation of Our Saviour’s
coming to judgment. This was defaced and spoilt by the discharge of
muskets.

“Then they rob and rifle the tombs and violate the monuments of the
dead....

“When they had thus demolished the chief monuments, at length the
very gravestones and marbles on the floor did not escape their
sacrilegious hands. For where there was anything on them of
sculptures or inscriptions in brass, these they force and tear off.

“Having thus done their work on the floor below, they are now at
leisure to look up at the windows above.

“Now the windows of this church were very fair, being adorned and
beautified with several historical passages out of Scripture and
ecclesiastical story; such were those in the body of the church, in
the aisles, in the New Building, and elsewhere. But the cloister
windows were most famed of all, for their great art and pleasing
variety. One side of the quadrangle containing the history of the
Old Testament; another, that of the New; a third, the founding and
founders of the church; a fourth, all the kings of England
downwards from the first Saxon king. All which notwithstanding were
most shamefully broken and destroyed. Yea, to encourage them the
more in this trade of breaking and battering windows down, Cromwell
himself (as ’twas reported) espying a little crucifix in a window
aloft, which none perhaps before had scarce observed, gets a ladder
and breaks it down zealously with his own hand.

“Thus, in a short time, a fair and goodly structure was quite
stript of all its ornamental beauty, and made a ruthful spectacle,
a very chaos of desolation and confusion, nothing scarce remaining
but only bare walls, broken seats and shattr’d windows on every
side.”--(P.)

The old story of neglect--“scarce any cathedral in England is more neglected,” wrote Browne Willis in 1742--is told of Peterborough in the Eighteenth Century; but in 1764-1791 Dean Tarrant collected all the fragments of stained glass and inserted them in the two central windows of the apse. They deal chiefly with scenes in the life of St. Peter. The late history of the Cathedral is only that of repairs, restorations, and gifts.

We enter the Minster Precincts by the western gateway, built by Abbot Benedict, in the Norman style, in the Twelfth Century. It was altered at the end of the Fourteenth Century. The approach is monastic in the extreme. The room over the gate was once the Chapel of St. Nicholas. After passing through this gate, on the left hand we see all that remains of the Chapel of St. Thomas of Canterbury (Fourteenth Century). The various gateways, doors, arcades, and remains of ancient buildings harmonize well with the venerable and elegant Cathedral.

“A fine view of the best feature of Peterborough, the west front,
is immediately opened with a foreground of smooth turf. The great
portico, with its three arches, eighty feet high, of pure Early
English style, is unlike anything else in England, and inspires
universal surprise and admiration. It was built on the old Norman
church, but does not actually touch the western walls.

“The spires of the portico are of different sizes and designs. The
northern does not group well with the transeptal tower behind it,
and there is a certain confusion to the eye when so many towers are
in our view. The southern transeptal tower was never carried above
the roof. The central tower over the choir after being repeatedly
repaired and restored, fell in 1884, destroying the interior
fittings and stalls, but, on the whole, doing less damage than
might have been expected. The tower has been rebuilt, but not to
the old pattern, and the four corner turrets have
disappeared.”--(W. J. L.)

The =West Front=, with its three magnificent doorways and original wooden doors, was the work of Abbots Zachary and Robert of Lindsay (about 1200 to 1222).