Chapter IX: Part 9

“The two rows on the northern tower to the north of the great west
window: higher row, St. Editha, David, St. Helena, Solomon, St.
Gabriel, Zechariah, Nahum, Amos, Jeremiah; lower row, Dean
Bickersteth, St. Mark, Queen Victoria, St. Luke, St. Uriel,
Malachi, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Daniel (Jeremiah just above Daniel by
the window).

“The two rows on the southern tower to the south of the great west
window: higher row, Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, Zephaniah, St. Michael,
Bishop Hacket, Bishop Lonsdale, Bishop Selwyn; lower row, Ezekiel,
Joel, Micah, Haggai, St. Raphael, Bishop Clinton, Bishop
Patteshall, Bishop Langton.

“Next is the long row of kings with St. Chad in the centre,
stretching right across the cathedral: William the Conqueror,
William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., John,
Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., St.
Chad, Penda, Wilphere, Ethelred, Offa, Egbert, Ethelwolf,
Ethelbert, Ethelred, Alfred, Edgar, Canute, Edward the Confessor.

“Lowest row, broken three times by the doors: St. Cyprian, St.
Bartholomew, St. Simon, St. James the Less, St. Thomas (northern
door), St. Philip, St. Andrew (central door), St. Paul, St. Matthew
(southern door), St. James the Greater, St. Jude, St. Stephen, St.
Clement, St. Werburga.”

The Duke of York (James II.) gave the money for the tracery of the large =West Window= after the original had been destroyed during the Civil Wars. This was removed in 1869, for another more in sympathy with the style of the Fourteenth Century.

The =West Door= is one of the most beautiful in England, taking rank with the Prior’s Door of Lincoln Cathedral. The porch is recessed and the outer arch, cusped. Within, a central support rises to form two arches. The whole is richly carved. Above the central pillar is a bas-relief representing Christ in Glory, with angels by his side. On the central column stands a figure of the Virgin and Child, and on either side of the door beneath canopies are Mary Magdalene and St. John the Evangelist (north), and Mary, wife of Cleophas, and St. Peter (south).

What the original statues were is not known. Most of the ironwork on the doors is supposed to be original.

The two side doors are deeply recessed. The figures in the northern doorway are of princes and princesses who promoted Christianity in England; and in the southern, the chief missionaries. The gable and towers are also adorned with statues of Biblical fame.

The nave is ornamented and strengthened by buttresses and flying-buttresses. In the north transept we find a handsome =North Doorway=, a splendid specimen of Early English with traces of the Norman. It is deeply recessed and revealing a double arch carved with foliage. The mouldings are also carved. The outer one contains bas-reliefs showing the genealogy of Christ, beginning with Jesse and ending with the Virgin and Child. On the right side, opposite Jesse, is St. Chad baptizing the sons of King Wulphere, and above are the Apostles. The architrave is surmounted by a weather moulding in the form of a gable on the top of which is a cross. The pillars on each side of the doorway have finely carved capitals and dog-tooth ornamentation. The graceful centre pillar consists of four slender shafts with carved capitals. Next comes the octagonal Chapter-House; then the choir and presbytery; and then the Lady-Chapel, entirely restored and with new saints in the niches. On the south side of the Lady-Chapel are mortuary chapels.

The south side shows the buttresses of the choir; then the turrets of the sacristy with their crocketed pinnacles; and then the =South Transept=, the gable of which contains a beautiful rose window. The =South Door=, much restored, resembles the northern one, only it is not so fine. The heavy buttresses on this side are Wyatt’s. Now we have again come to the Jesus tower (south-west), in which the ten bells are hung.

Entering by the west door, the beauty of the interior bursts upon us. We have an unbroken vista and the Cathedral therefore impresses us as immensely long. The beautiful arches of the roof carry the eye straight down to the windows of the Lady-Chapel.

The =Nave= is transitional from Early English to Decorated and is dated by various authorities from 1250 to 1280.

The large piers are composed of clustered shafts with richly carved capitals of foliage. From these spring mouldings. The top of each arch touches the string-course, and then comes the triforium, so beautiful here with its row of double arches, each one sub-divided into two lights, above which is geometrical tracery. Dog-tooth ornament decorates the mouldings of these triforium arches, and also the string-course that separates the triforium from the clerestory. The clerestory windows are curious: spherical triangles enclosing three circles with quatrefoil cusps. Dog-tooth ornamentation runs around the windows. A large circle with five cusps ornaments the spandrels of most of the pier-arches across which the vault shaft passes. At the intersection of the various ribs (five ribs) are finely carved bosses. Much of the effect is obtained from the size of the triforium.

The glass in the big west window dates from 1869, a memorial to Canon Hutchinson, who was a zealous worker for the Cathedral’s restoration, by Sir Gilbert Scott.

In the north aisle of the nave we note the tablet placed there by Ann Seward to the memory of her father, Canon Seward, his wife and daughter, upon which Sir Walter Scott added lines to the memory of the poetess. There is also a neighbouring tablet to Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who was born in Lichfield.

In the =north transept= we find a curious monument to Dean Heywood (died 1492) showing the skeleton of this worthy. The upper part (which represented him in full canonical costume) has gone. Similar monuments are in Exeter and Lincoln. In the =South Transept= there are busts and memorials to Dr. Samuel Johnson, a native of Lichfield (died 1784), and to David Garrick (died 1779), an early resident of Lichfield. In the first bay of the aisle, there is a monument to the officers and men of the 80th Regiment (Staffordshire Volunteers), over which hang colours taken from the Sikhs. At the south end we note a fine altar to one of Nelson’s captains, Admiral Sir William Parker (died 1866). Note the big south window (Perpendicular) in which there is some Herkenrode glass (see page 212).

There is another memorial window in the south aisle of the nave to the officers of the 64th (2d Staffordshire Regiment) who fell in the Indian Mutiny.

The =Transepts=, as we have seen, were built before the nave. Each consists of three bays with eastern aisles. Most of the windows are Perpendicular.

“At the south end was probably a large five-light Early English
window, surmounted by a rose window. The rose window still remains,
but, being above the present groining, cannot be seen from inside
the cathedral; the five lights are replaced by a nine-light
obtuse-headed window, which seems much too large for the transept;
and this effect is increased by the extreme whiteness and
transparency of its glass. At the north end, the five-light window
is surmounted with three small lights, but these last again are
hidden in the roof.”--(A. B. C.)

Now we come to the =Choir=, which, including the presbytery and retro-choir, has eight bays. It has no triforium.

The splays of the windows are beautifully decorated with quatrefoil ornamentation. There is only one of the original Decorated windows (east on south side). The others are Perpendicular.

“The vaulting is very much the same as in the nave, but the
vaulting-shafts divide into seven instead of five ribs; the bosses,
as everywhere else in the cathedral, are very deeply and richly
carved.

“On the four eastern sets of piers long slender shafts run up from
the base of the piers in the same way as in the nave, and similarly
the spandrels are ornamented with foliated circles, of which nearly
all trace had disappeared before the recent restoration. This,
however, is not the arrangement on the three western pairs. It was
found here that these shafts did not reach the ground; and so Sir
Gilbert Scott, having discovered a portion of the sculptured wing
of an angel just above the dean’s present stall, decided upon
finishing the shafts with corbels in the form of angels occupied in
minstrelsy. Above each of these angels--which were innovations--he
placed, under richly crocketed canopies and standing on very
finely-carved brackets, the figures of six saints.”--(A. B. C.)

Architects love to study the merging of the two styles in this part of the Cathedral, and one of the best illustrations is the entrance to the vestibule of the Chapter-House. The arch at the west end of the north-choir-aisle is very old and interesting and so is the arcading in the aisles.

“In the first three western bays in both aisles the large arcading,
with its plain trefoiled arches, is clearly Early English. The
arcading in the other bays is equally clearly of the Decorated
period, and is considerably smaller. In the four eastern bays in
each aisle the arches go right up to the course which forms the top
of the arcading, and the triangular spandrels thus formed are
ornamented each with a curious little head, having queer headgear;
the rest of the spandrel is carved with foliage, and in the plates
of the foliated arches are quaint animals. The arcading in the
remaining bay is similar, but angels’ heads with wings take up the
whole spandrel. Some of the arcading, notably that in the three
easterly bays of the south aisle, is unrestored. The inferiority of
the modern work in the next bay is only too patent.”--(A. B. C.)

The window over the tomb of Bishop Hackett in the =South-choir-aisle= is adorned by lovely foliage. Here, too, we find the very interesting =Minstrels’ Gallery=. It was probably placed here in the Fifteenth Century because the arcading has been cut away to make room for it. The little gallery rests upon fan-shaped vaulting. As it stands directly in front of the chapel of the Head of St. Chad, it may have been used for the purpose of exhibiting this relic to the devout in the aisle below. (See page 213.) It is similar in style to the minstrel gallery of the Mediæval halls: hence its name. A staircase in the wall leads to the gallery.

The =Choir-screen=, of ornamental metal-work, designed by Sir Gilbert Scott, is similar to those of Salisbury, Hereford and Worcester. The Choir-stalls, Bishop’s Throne and elaborate Reredos are all modern. The south-choir-aisle contains a number of interesting monuments. There is a monument to “=Hodson of Hodson’s Horse=,” killed in the Indian Mutiny. Under the cross is the King of Delhi surrendering his sword to Major Hodson, with figures of Justice, Fortitude, Temperance and Mercy and statuettes of Joshua, David, St. Thomas of India and St. George of England. Here is also the monument of =Bishop Langton= (died 1296) with mutilated effigy. Opposite is the curious monument to =Sir John Stanley= of Pipe, the effigy representing the knight naked to the waist, and the legs in armour. It seems that Captain Stanley had been excommunicated for some offence, and, after atonement, had been allowed burial here on condition that evidence of his punishment should appear on his effigy. The most famous monument of all, however, is that of =The Sleeping Children=, by Sir Francis Chantrey in 1817. It established his fame and is an early example of the natural style just coming into favour. It represents two young daughters of William Robinson, Prebendary of the Cathedral, sleeping in each other’s arms.

We must notice in the north-choir-aisle one window in which King David is teaching the singers of the House of God. The glass is old Flemish.

Now we have the =Lady-Chapel=, the gem of the whole Cathedral, rendered exceptionally beautiful because of the old glass in the windows.

“In shape it forms a symmetrical extension, both in height and
width, to the choir, but without aisles; and it has an octagonal
apse--the only example, it is said, of such a termination in the
country. It is lighted by nine high windows, with Decorated
tracery. This tracery has recently been restored in the style of
that in the three end windows; until this was done most of the
windows contained Perpendicular tracery.

“The windows rest on an arcade of very beautiful design. The arcade
may be said to consist of a series of small decorated canopies,
supported by shafts with carved capitals, and separated by
ornamented buttresses. The canopies, which bow forward, have
trefoil ogee arches, surmounted with crockets and finials. Above
the arcade is a similar embattled parapet to that in the choir,
with a similar passage round the chapel behind it.

* * * * *

“The vaulting of the roof is like that in the choir; the same
number of ribs diverging from the slender shafts which run right
down to the bends of the arcade. Halfway up these shafts are
niches, the brackets and canopies to which are beautifully carved.
These are old, but until recently were empty, and no authentic
record remained as to what were the characters represented.”--(A.
B. C.)

In 1895 ten virgin saints and martyrs, by C. E. Kempe, were placed here.

Of course, all the glass was crashed during the siege of Lichfield; and, therefore, the windows are filled with other than the original. The seven most eastern windows contain what is called the =Herkenrode glass=, originally in the Abbey of Herkenrode near Liège. The designs are supposed to be by Lambert Lombard of the Sixteenth Century. Two of the windows depict founders and benefactors of the abbey, and the other five, scenes in the life of Christ. The Herkenrode glass (340 pieces) was bought by

Sir Brooke Boothby in Belgium in 1802, for £200, now valued at £15,000. What remained was used to fill other windows in the Cathedral. On the south side of the Lady-Chapel are three “Mortuary Chapels,” with groined roofs. In the central one lies the effigy of =Bishop Selwyn= (buried outside), Bishop of New Zealand, who organized the church in that far-away country. This accounts for the frescoes showing the Maoris. The two end windows are also old glass supposed to have come from the Low Countries. One is a symbolic picture of _Baptism_; the other, the legendary _Death of the Virgin_.

We have yet to examine the =Sacristy= of the Chapter-House. The sacristy is on the south side (Early English). Its upper floor was the =Chapel of St. Chad=, which, as we have seen, was entered from the minstrels’ gallery (see page 211). The restored chapel was re-dedicated on St. Chad’s Day (March 2), 1897.

“The Chapel of St. Chad, first Bishop of Lichfield, and, with the
Blessed Virgin Mary, patron of our Cathedral Church, was destroyed
in all probability when the rest of the Cathedral was laid in ruins
in 1643, the siege beginning on St. Chad’s Day, March 2nd of that
year. Little was left: the four walls remained in a broken
condition, with the vaulting-shafts and caps for the springers of
the stone groining, and the wall-ribs, to mark its original lines;
also the very beautiful Early English windows--twelve lancets in
groups of three--which, singularly enough, were little injured.
Externally these are very plain, but internally they are full of
interest, and there is nothing better of the kind in the Cathedral.
The site of the old altar is clearly marked; indeed, a small
portion of it has been preserved. The piscina also still remains.
The aumbry remains in which antiquarians suppose that St. Chad’s
relics were preserved.”--(L.)

The =Chapter-House= and the vestibule leading to it were built about the middle of the Thirteenth Century (Early English). The vestibule contains beautiful arcading; the capitals of the pillars are finely carved. The entrance door into the Chapter-House is very handsome, with deeply cut mouldings, and capitals of the grouped shafts richly carved with leaves. Dog-tooth and trefoils are also used as ornamentation. The Chapter-House is octagonal. The central pillar, composed of clustered shafts with richly carved capitals of foliage, carries the eye upward, where the ribs spread out beautifully over the roof and bosses mark their intersection. The windows are Early English, of two lights. Below them runs a fine arcading.

CHESTER

DEDICATION: CHRIST AND THE BLESSED VIRGIN. ORIGINALLY THE CHURCH OF
A BENEDICTINE ABBEY.

SPECIAL FEATURES: CHOIR; CHOIR-STALLS; CHAPTER-HOUSE.

Chester was the church of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Werburgh when Henry VIII. founded the See after the dissolution of the monasteries. It had been originally an establishment of secular canons. The patron saint, St. Werburgh, was a niece of St. Etheldreda of Ely; and she took the veil at Ely, where she eventually became abbess. St. Werburgh was buried at Hanbury; but when the Danes were ravaging Mercia, the monks of Hanbury fled with the relics of St. Werburgh to Chester, where they were richly enshrined in the old church of St. Peter and St. Paul. This church was rebuilt in the Tenth Century; and when a new foundation was made in 1095 by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, at the desire of St. Anselm, the church was rebuilt, the canons replaced by Benedictine monks and the house called the Abbey of St. Werburgh.

Rebuilding was again necessary in 1194 and was continued for centuries. The eastern portion of the church is Early English, the rest is Decorated with alterations and additions in the Perpendicular style.

Ancient and royal Chester is one of the most picturesque cities in England. It was so important in Roman times that it was called the “City of Legions.” It was also a stronghold of Saxons and Danes. From the Norman Conquest until the reign of Henry III. the Earls of Chester had their own courts and parliaments at Chester. Since Henry III. bestowed the title of Earl of Chester upon his oldest son, the heir to the throne has always held the earldom. The old church did not become a cathedral until 1541.

Chester Cathedral, being built of soft red sandstone, suffered from the weather. Restoration was a necessity. Consequently the exterior is almost exclusively of the Nineteenth Century. It is handsome and effective, though, unfortunately, owing to the situation, somewhat below the level of the street, and the crowding of buildings, a good view of the Cathedral is hard to obtain.

At one time it was one of the most beautiful, as well as the richest, in England. It was terribly defaced during the Civil War, when the Puritans used it for a stable and broke the windows. Subsequent repairs and restorations have greatly transformed it.

One of the curious features of the Cathedral is the south transept. It was claimed as the Parish church of St. Oswald until 1881. Oswald (604-642), be it remembered, was the son of King Ethelfrid, and became King of Northumbria. He was a convert to Christianity, which he introduced among the Anglo-Saxons. Killed by Penda, the King of Mercia, he was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church.

“On approaching the cathedral on the south side, the transept, or
church of St. Oswald, is a remarkable feature. Projecting to nearly
the same length as the nave, with its lofty clerestory and great
south window, it attracts attention as well by its own importance
as by the unusual ground-plan which it gives to the entire
building.”--(R. J. K.)

Let us look at the chief features of the exterior:

“The WEST FRONT consists of an eight-light canopied Perpendicular
window, with a band of elaborate tracery succeeded by ordinary
tracery of the period in the head, set between two banded octagonal
turrets, which are battlemented. The west door is peculiar; it
consists of an arch under a square head, with foliated spandrels
and a range of angels in the mouldings, deeply recessed under a
larger arch with another square head. On each side are four
crocketed niches, with pedestals denuded of their statues. To the
west is a four-light canopied window, under a panelled band and
flanked by a rich but empty niche on either side.

“The door of the SOUTH PORCH is Tudor with two-light, square-headed
windows and a canopied niche, and an intervening rich band. The
windows of the aisles and clerestory of the nave are Perpendicular;
the parapet is shallow. The SOUTH TRANSEPT, as long as the choir
and as broad as the nave, has a Perpendicular clerestory and south
windows, the former of four lights and with two transoms. The
windows of the aisle are Late Decorated and of four lights
separated by buttresses. This description applies to the south side
of the choir, but the aisles are extended within one bay of the
east end of the Lady-chapel, which has Perpendicular windows; the
great east window is of the same date. Traces of Early English
architecture appear in the north side of the choir and
Chapter-house. The north window of the transept and windows of the
nave are Perpendicular.”--(Wal.)

We can enter, as we prefer, by the west door, or the south porch. The =Nave= is uninteresting. It consists of six bays, the piers are groups of attached shafts terminating in foliage capitals. The roof is modern.

Decorated windows light the =South aisle=. The =North aisle= contains some old Norman work. Here we find an ancient Italian font, presented in 1885, and an old piece of tapestry that has been in the Cathedral since 1668.

The =North transept= is small, owing to the monastic buildings on this side. Here we find Norman work. Some of the windows exhibit Perpendicular tracery. The roof is Perpendicular.

Until 1881 the =South Transept= was, as we have said, the Parish Church of St. Oswald. It has Decorated windows. Perpendicular windows light the west aisle.

We now enter the =Choir=. The screen is modern and by Sir G. Scott.

“The choir is remarkable for the great beauty of the wood-work
which it contains, as well as for its architectural merits. The
style is that of the transition between the Early English and
Decorated. The north side differs from the south, especially in
regard to the mouldings. The north side is earlier than the south,
the building having been commenced at the east end of that side.
The mouldings on the north are bold rounds, while those on the
south are shallow and small hollows. The triforium has a series of
elaborately-carved cusped arches, and the clerestory windows are
light and graceful with geometrical tracery. The vault is modern,
constructed of good English oak. At the east there are figures of
the sixteen prophets and at the west are angels playing musical
instruments. There are some curious grotesque corbels, from which
the vaulting shafts spring.

“The carving of the CHOIR STALLS is equal, if not superior, to
anything in England. These are Fourteenth Century work and rival
the noble stalls of Amiens. They have been restored with much
accuracy and taste. The carving of the dean’s stall should be
noticed, as it represents the Jesse tree, surmounted by the
Coronation of the Virgin. That representing Jacob’s Dream is
modern. The _misereres_ are extremely interesting and curious and
full of religious instruction, though often conveyed in the way of
sarcastic reproof. There are forty-eight, of which three are
modern. Some of the most curious are: a pelican feeding her young;
St. Werburgh and the stolen goose; a wife beating her husband; the
strategy of the fox; stag hunt; Richard I. pulling out the heart of
a lion; a fox in the garb of a

monk presenting a gift to a nun; various wild men; wrestlers;
unicorn resting its head on a virgin’s knee, and numerous
grotesques.”--(P. H. D.)

The =Altar= is modern and is made of oak of Bashan, olive-wood from the Mount of Olives and the cedar of Lebanon. The Reredos, a mosaic of the Last Supper, the Pulpit and the Bishop’s Throne are all modern.

For many years the =Shrine of St. Werburgh= was used for the latter. We pause to look at this interesting piece of Fourteenth Century work, remembering how many eyes of Mediæval pilgrims have gazed with reverence upon it.

“At the end of the stalls on the south side is the Bishop’s Throne.
This has been formed from the base of the shrine of St. Werburgh,
which seems to have served its present purpose since the foundation
of the See in the Sixteenth Century. It has, however, so greatly
altered during the late ‘restoration,’ that it is difficult to
ascertain the ancient arrangement. The lower part, with niches for
figures, is ancient. The part resting on this, as high as the small
gilt figures, is modern. The figures themselves are old, and before
the alteration they rested on the ancient base. The pinnacles and
all the upper portion are modern. The ancient portions are early
Decorated work of the Thirteenth Century. The niches in front and
at the sides of the base are lined with a small arcade and vaulted.
Above them are foliaged canopies. The gilt figures hold scrolls,
once perhaps bearing names. They are conjectured to represent kings
and queens of Mercia, connected either directly or collaterally
with St. Werburgh. It is possible that when the shrine itself was
perfect, the lower part, with niches, formed a portion of the base,
whilst the small figures may have been a canopy supported by marble
shafts. Under this canopy and on the base the feretory or actual
shrine, with the relics, may have rested. This, however, is but
conjecture, since no drawing or description exists of the shrine
before the Reformation.”--(R. J. K.)

The =North aisle= of the choir will detain the student because there is much Norman work here. Here can also be traced the termination of the old Norman apse. The arch in the east wall of the transept is also Norman, and early, too. The doorway from the north aisle is Fourteenth Century work. The apse was rebuilt in the Early English period and made to end in a square. In the Perpendicular period it was extended further. Note the gates of old Spanish workmanship across both aisles. They date from 1558.

At the end stands the =Lady-Chapel=.

“The Lady-Chapel is of Early English design, and was built about
1266, previous to the present choir. Many alterations were made
subsequently, including the removal of the ancient steep and lofty
roof and the substitution of a flat roof and the insertion of
Perpendicular windows. Most of these additions have been removed
and the Early English character restored. The east window of five
lights was designed by Scott, and the original form of the roof has
been restored. The vault, which is original Early English, has a
boss representing the murder of Thomas à Becket. The mosaics were
designed by Sir A. Blomfield. Here the consistory court was held at
the time of the Reformation, and George Marsh, the Chester martyr,
was condemned to be burnt.”--(P. H. D.)

Through a Norman doorway in the north aisle of the choir, we enter the =Cloisters=.

“The south walk is entirely new, having been restored by Scott. The
west walk adjoins a fine Early Norman chamber, probably the great
cellar of the abbot’s house. The cloisters are Perpendicular work.
In the south and west walks there is a double arcade on the
cloister-garth side, which contained the _carrels_, or enclosed
studies of wainscot, where the monks read or wrote, and on the
opposite side are recesses which are not tombs, but _Armaria_ or
cupboards, where their books and materials for illuminations were
stored. In the Perpendicular period the roof of the cloisters was
raised, which was not an advantage, as it caused the aisle windows
and those of the refectory to be partly blocked up, and the
vaulting cuts into the earlier work. The _Lavatorium_ is near the
_Refectory_, an Early English building with Perpendicular windows.
It is a noble structure, shorn of some of its length, and now used
as a music room. The stone pulpit is remarkably fine, of Early
English design, which rivals the famous pulpit of Beaulieu
Abbey.”--(P. H. D.)

A doorway in the east walk carries us into the =Vestibule= of the Chapter-House.

In the vestibule (Early English) light graceful piers support the vaulting. The mouldings are very much admired.

The =Chapter-House= is also Early English and ranks high among these very national productions. It dates from about 1240. The east window of five lights is a handsome example of its date.

MANCHESTER

DEDICATION: ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, ST. GEORGE AND ST. DENIS. FORMERLY
SERVED BY SECULAR CANONS.

SPECIAL FEATURES: CHOIR-STALLS; GORDON WINDOW.

Manchester was built for a parish church and only became a cathedral in 1847. It is a very fine specimen of Perpendicular Gothic of the early Fifteenth Century, though there are some remains of older work here and there. The oldest is the arch leading into the Lady-Chapel. This shows some influences of the Decorated style.

The choir, aisles and chapter-house date from 1422-1458; the nave was built in 1465-1481; Chapel of the Holy Trinity, 1498; Jesus Chapel, 1506; St. James’ Chantry (Ducie Chapel), 1507; St. George’s Chapel, 1508; Ely Chapel, 1515; and Lady-Chapel in 1518. The Cathedral suffered during the Civil Wars and has been much restored.

The exterior is not particularly impressive. The walls are grimy with smoke and there is no emerald sward, nor are there ivy-covered walls.

The one tower (built in 1864-1868) rises above a still more recent =Western porch=, designed by Basil Champneys and ornamented with a parapet and a single crocketed turret, which gives it a very unsymmetrical appearance. The square tower contains a clock in the first stage, soars 140 feet and is finished with a pierced battlement with pinnacles at the corners.

Turning round the corner, we come to the =South porch=, two bays and two stories (modern) and elaborately carved. Next comes the Jesus Chapel; then the octagonal Chapter-House; then the Fraser memorial chapel; and then we turn the corner and come to the Lady-Chapel, unusually small and projecting only about eighteen feet. The windows are Eighteenth Century, though the tracery is Decorated in general character.

Passing the window of the north-choir-aisle and the eastern end of the Derby Chapel, we again turn the corner. The first projection is the Ely Chapel and the next and smaller one is an engine room used for working the organ. The small door next opens into the ante-chapel of the Derby Chapel. Finally we reach the north porch.

“It is a dimly lighted building; this is due chiefly to two causes:
first to the fact that it is enormously wide, and the aisle windows
are therefore far from the central nave, and secondly to the fact
that almost all the windows both of aisles and clerestory are
filled with painted glass, in many cases of a deep colour, and
rendered still more impervious to light by the incrustation of
carbon deposited on their outside by the perpetual smoke of the
city. So dark is the church that in the winter months it has
generally to be lit with gas all the day long, and even in the
summer, in comparatively bright weather, some gas burners will
generally be found alight. The mist also of the exterior atmosphere
finds its way into the building, and hangs beneath the roof,
lending an air of mystery to the whole place, and giving rise to
most beautiful effects when the sunlight streams through the
clerestory windows. The tone also of the nave arcading and
clerestory rebuilt in recent years, of warm, rose-coloured
sandstone, is very lovely.”--(T. P.)

The =Nave= is wider than it is long. With its double aisles it measures 114 feet; its length is only 85 feet. The choir is about the same proportion. The Lady-Chapel, at the extreme east, is very small. The sides of the nave and choir are still further extended by chapels, partitioned off by screens. On the south side of the nave we have first =St. George’s Chapel= (founded in 1508) and =St. Nicholas’s Chapel= (founded in 1186, before the present church was built); and on the north side the space once occupied by the =Holy Trinity Chapel= (1498) and =St. James’s Chapel= (1507).

“This church differs from most of our cathedral and abbey churches
in having no triforium.[8] And the clerestory is not lofty, so that
the church is rather low for its width, though the height of the
arches of the main arcade prevents this being felt. The roofs of
the aisles are all modern, but that of the nave, though extensively
repaired, has much of the original work in it, and, with the
exception of a few bosses, the choir roof is old. All the roofs are
of timber; in the nave the intersections of the main beams are
covered by beautiful bosses carved out of the solid wood. On either
side, at the points from which the main cross beams spring, is a
series of angelic figures splendidly carved in wood: those on the
south side playing stringed instruments, those on the north side
wind instruments.

“The pillars of the main arcade of the nave are modern work built
in imitation of the original ones. They are light and graceful,
and, like many other pillars of fifteenth century date, are formed
of shafts of which only half have separate capitals, the other
mouldings running round the arch. The spaces between the arches are
elaborately carved with heraldic shields.”--(T. P.)

In the nave we find the one interesting window in the Cathedral (the most eastern one in the Ducie Chapel), a memorial to =General Gordon= killed at Khartoum in 1888. It consists of five lights. Gordon is in the centre, his hand on the head of a native boy. Natives and angels occupy the other lights.

Towards the east end of the nave stands the

modern pulpit and then an ancient rood-screen with three wide openings and double doors.

Passing through the screen, we enter the =Choir=, sometimes called the =Radcliffe Choir=, because members of this family were buried here.

The =Choir-stalls= date from the early Sixteenth Century and resemble those in Ripon Cathedral and Beverley Minster.

“There are twelve stalls on either side, and three on each side of
the entrance through the rood-screen facing east. The stalls are
furnished with _misereres_, which, in common with many others both
in England and on the Continent, represent all manner of quaint
subjects, monsters, animals, hunting scenes, etc.

“The carved elbows of the stalls and the end of the book desks are
also worthy of careful examination, especially the Eagle and Child
and general carving of the Dean’s Stall, which is a marvel of
beautiful workmanship, and said by high authorities to be
unequalled.

“Between the stalls the floor is one step higher than that of the
nave, and at the east end of the stall, there is a further rise of
two steps as we pass into the presbytery. Here, on the south side,
we see the bishop’s throne--modern work, carved with a view to be
in harmony with the stalls, but comparing unfavourably with them in
execution. There is a rise of two more steps into the sanctuary,
and the altar itself is raised two steps higher; this gives a good
effect. Behind the altar is an elaborately carved wooden reredos of
modern work, richly painted and gilt.”--(T. P.)

A fine ancient screen runs across the arch at the opening of the =Lady-Chapel=.

Along the south side of the south-choir-aisle we first come to the vestry, then to the =Jesus Chapel= (now a library), separated from the aisle by a handsome screen of the Sixteenth Century. Then we reach the fine entrance to the =Chapter-House=, beneath a large arch. At the end is the =Fraser= =Chapel=, with an altar cenotaph to the second Bishop of Manchester, James Fraser (died 1885), buried elsewhere.

On the north aisle of the choir the space is occupied by the =Derby Chapel=, dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It was the private chapel of the Stanley family, to which the Earls of Derby belong. It was begun by James Stanley (1485-1509), who became Bishop of Ely. He died in 1515 and was buried near the =Ely Chapel=, where the original tomb and brass are still to be seen.

CARLISLE

DEDICATION: THE HOLY TRINITY. FORMERLY SERVED BY AUGUSTINIAN
CANONS.

SPECIAL FEATURES: CHOIR AND EAST WINDOW.

In the ancient town of North Cumberland--the famous border town appearing so frequently in ballads as “Merry Carlisle”--the Cathedral shares the honours with the Castle. Both date from about 1092.

When William Rufus II. rebuilt and fortified Carlisle, he left one Walter, a Norman priest, as governor. He began to build a church and priory, but died in the meantime and Henry I. continued the work. The church was dedicated in 1101; the monastery of Augustinians was founded in 1121; and the Cathedral established in 1133. It was built in the Norman style, a nave with aisles, transepts and a tower at the intersection of the latter. The architect was Hugh, once abbot of Beaulieu. The Norman choir was taken down early in the Thirteenth Century and rebuilt in the Early English style. Two fires--especially the one in 1292--wrought much damage. About the middle of the Fourteenth Century the choir was completed in the Decorated style, and the magnificent East window was also inserted at this time. Robert Bruce took up his quarters in the Cathedral after the Battle of Bannockburn (1314). In 1392 the north transept suffered from fire. Bishop Strickland (1400-1419) restored it and rebuilt the central tower, adding to it a wooden spire. Henry VIII. disestablished the monastery and formed a Cathedral.

During the Civil War the Puritan soldiers were quartered in the Cathedral and did much damage.

They pulled down two-thirds of the Norman nave in order to get stones with which to repair the fortifications. At the rising of Charles Edward, “Bonnie Prince Charlie,” in 1745, his soldiers captured Carlisle and used the Cathedral for their headquarters; and when the Duke of Cumberland arrived, the church was again used as barracks and many of the Jacobites were confined in its walls.

Carlisle is a fine place to study all the styles of Early English in simple, pointed, geometric and flowing. It is famed for its wonderful East Window and the superb Choir, one of the finest in England.

“A good view is obtained from the castle. The usual approach is
from the east end, whence we observe the grand east window with its
beautiful Late Decorated tracery. It is flanked by buttresses, with
niches and crocketed pinnacles. In the niches are statues of SS.
Peter, Paul, James and John. A foliated cross crowns the gable and
on each side are four similar crosses. In the gable is a triangular
window, having three trefoils, and below is a niche with a figure
of the Virgin. The Central Tower, built by Bishop Strickland
(1400-1419) on the old Norman piers, is too small for the huge
choir and lacks dignity. Formerly it was crowned with a wooden
spire, but this has been removed. There is a turret set at the
north-east angle, and in the north side is a niche with the figure
of an angel. The lower part of the choir is Early English, with the
exception of a Perpendicular window at the west, and a Decorated
one in the east bay. The clerestory is Late Decorated, and the
windows have flowing tracery. The ball-flower ornament is
extensively used in the cornice. The sculpture at Carlisle is
worthy of notice. Carved heads and curious gargoyles abound. The
North Transept is

nearly all modern. It was rebuilt by Strickland in the Fifteenth
Century, and again rebuilt when the church was restored. There is,
however, an Early English window in the west wall. On the east side
there was formerly a chapel, which has not survived the repeated
alterations. The greater part of the Nave was taken down by
Cromwell’s soldiers. What is left is of unmistakable Norman
character. There is some modern imitation work, and late
architectural detail. Most of the windows are modern, and also the
doorway. The south side is similar to the north. The South Transept
preserves the old Norman walls. On the south is a modern doorway
with a window over it. On the east is St. Catherine’s Chapel, a
Late Early English or Early Decorated building. The south side of
the choir is similar to the north, and presents Early English
details of construction. The monastic buildings once stood on the
south side of the church but they have been pulled down with the
exception of the fratry and gatehouse, the stone being used for
repairing the fortifications of the city by Puritan soldiery. The
refectory, or fratry, was rebuilt in the Fifteenth Century, and is
now used as a chapter-house. There is a fine reader’s pulpit here.
The gateway was erected by Prior Slee in 1527. The Deanery is a
fine old house, and was formerly the prior’s lodging. It was
rebuilt in 1507.”--(P. H. D.)

The =Nave= is Norman, but of the eight bays only two now remain. The piers are low, the arches semicircular, and it appears that later hands carved the Early English foliage on the capitals. The triforium shows plain round-headed arches. The clerestory has three arches in each bay, resting on shafts with carved capitals. The west end is modern. Sir Walter Scott was married here in 1797.

The =North Transept= was rebuilt in the Fifteenth Century and the north end again in modern times. The large window is modern and Decorated in style. An Early English window in the west end is a good example of plate-tracery. The roof is modern; the arch of the choir aisle, Decorated. Norman piers support the =Tower=, to which Bishop Strickland added additional columns, Perpendicular with foliated capitals. The crescent and fetterlock on the capital of the eastern arch are emblems of the Percy family; the rose and scallop shell on the western side, of the Dacres and Nevilles.

The =South Transept= is only one bay: The arch into the choir-aisle is Norman with zigzag ornaments and cushion capitals. Another Norman arch opens into =St. Catherine’s Chapel=, now a vestry. It was founded by John de Capella, a wealthy citizen. The beautiful screen is Late Decorated.

The =Choir= consists of eight pointed arches: it is 138 feet long and 72 feet high.

“We now enter the choir by the door in the organ-screen. This is
one of the finest in England--spacious, lofty, well-proportioned
and rich in all its details. The arches of the main arcade are
Early English, as the mouldings and dog-tooth ornament testify.
These remained after the fire of 1292 and were retained. The piers
are Early Decorated and were evidently built to support the arches
after the fire. The capitals were carved later in the Late
Decorated period, when the upper parts of the choir, triforium,
clerestory, roof and east end were rebuilt. The builders were
probably Bishops Welton and Appleby (1353-1395). When the choir was
rebuilt in Early English times, the architect determined to enlarge
it, and as the monastic buildings on the south prevented any
expansion in that direction, the south piers of the choir retained
their old position, while the north were moved further northward,
and a new north aisle added. Thus the choir and the tower and nave
are not quite symmetrical, and there is a blank wall at the
north-west end of the choir which is thus accounted for. The
details of the architecture of the choir merit close attention,
especially the sculpture. Small figures of men, animals and
monsters are mingled with the foliage. There are some admirable
representations of the seasons, beginning with the second capital
on the south, counting from the east end. There is a very fine
timber roof, constructed about the middle of the Fourteenth
Century. The scheme of colour decoration is, unfortunately, not
original.”--(P. H. D.)

The =East Window= is one of the finest Decorated windows in existence. The stone-work is not new, but it is believed to be an exact reproduction of the original. It is composed of 86 distinct pieces of stone and is struck from 263 centres. There are nine lights. The glass of the upper portion is ancient, dating from the reign of Richard II. The pictures are the Resurrection, the Final Judgment and the New Jerusalem. Hell is shown with all the terrors familiar to the Mediæval mind. The modern glass below represents scenes from the life of Christ.

The =Stalls= are Late Perpendicular and are beautifully carved. The fine tabernacle-work is dated about 1433. The _misereres_ represent the usual grotesque monsters, such as dragons, griffins and fables in which the crafty fox is prominent. A Fifteenth Century brass to Bishop Bell (1495) on the floor of the choir deserves notice.

A Renaissance screen partitions off the north-choir-aisle. Here we notice the Early English arcade and the windows with two lights, dog-tooth ornament and deep mouldings. The last bay eastward is Late Decorated; the last bay westward contains a Perpendicular window.

In the north wall two Early English sepulchral recesses are unique because of their chevron moulding. The effigy lying in one of them is supposed to be Silvester of Everdon (1254). The stalls in the =North-choir-aisle= are ornamented with very strange paintings of the Fifteenth Century illustrating the lives of St. Anthony and St. Cuthbert, with descriptive verses.

The =South-choir-aisle=, with a similar screen to the opposite one, also contains painted stalls representing the life of St. Augustine. It resembles the north-choir-aisle.

The narrow =Retro-choir= is of the same date as the big window.

The lower part of the Choir is Early English with the exception of the Perpendicular window in the west bay and a Decorated one in the east bay. The clerestory is Late Decorated, the windows noticeable for their flowing tracery. Everywhere the ball-flower ornament abounds, and carved heads and weird gargoyles are omnipresent.

The south side resembles the north with the exception of St. Catherine’s Chapel, a Late Early English, or Early Decorated construction. The monastic buildings have disappeared with the exception of the =Refectory=, rebuilt in the Fifteenth Century, now used as the =Chapter-House=, and the gateway built in 1527. The fine old =Deanery=, formerly the prior’s house, was rebuilt in 1507.

DURHAM

DEDICATION: ST. CUTHBERT. FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE
MONASTERY.

SPECIAL FEATURES: GALILEE CHAPEL; CHAPEL OF THE NINE ALTARS;
NEVILLE SCREEN; JOSEPH’S WINDOW.

Durham is the most beautifully situated of all English cathedrals. It is perched upon a rocky and wooded eminence above the Wear River, and with the castle by its side makes a noble picture. When seen from the opposite side of the river the west end of the Cathedral is very charming; for the Galilee Chapel, the western towers and gable, the tall central tower and the roof of the nave show variety of line and mass. The Galilee Chapel completely hides the western doorway; but above it rises the big window of 1346, the semicircular arch and the small gable between the twin towers.

Durham Cathedral owed its existence to St. Cuthbert (one of the three great English saints), and was fortunate enough to possess his shrine. Therefore, it is well to recall his life before visiting the church. St. Cuthbert was born about 635, and in Ireland, according to tradition. He is first heard of as a shepherd-boy in Northumbria, where, in 651, while watching his flocks by night, he had a vision of the heavens opening and angels carrying thither the soul of St. Aidan, the pious bishop of Lindisfarne. He decided to become a monk and entered the monastery of Melrose, where he became prior. After a few years he went to Lindisfarne, and also became prior there. In 676 he became an anchorite on Farne Island, where he died, March 20, 687. The fame of St. Cuthbert increased after his death and his anniversary was a great festival in the English Church. Many churches in the north were dedicated to him. His body rested quietly in Lindisfarne for two hundred years, but in 875, when the Danes were ravaging Northumbria, the pious monks of Holy Island, bearing the body on their shoulders, fled inland and found a temporary resting-place in Chester-le-Street, half-way between Newcastle and Durham. In 995 they transferred the body of St. Cuthbert to Ripon; but in the same year removed it to Durham.

Legend says that after the monks left Chester-le-Street, St. Cuthbert appeared and announced that he desired to rest at Dun-holm. The monks wandered about in search of this place. Finally they heard a woman asking another if she had seen her lost cow. The other answered: “It’s down in Dun-holm.” The monks remembering that Dun-holm meant hill-meadow, carried the body of St. Cuthbert into the lonely field.

Here they built a stone chapel to protect the body; and Bishop Aldhun soon began a great church. This “White Church” was consecrated in 999. Aldhun died in 1018. The next important bishop was William of Saint Carileph (1080-1096), appointed by William the Conqueror. He turned the place into a Benedictine monastery. Then he determined to build a better Cathedral, and laid the foundation-stone in 1093. When he died, three years later, the walls of the choir, the eastern walls of the transepts, the arches of the tower and a part of the first bay of the nave were finished. A temporary shrine was also made for St. Cuthbert’s body. Ranulph Flambard (1099-1128) was the next great builder. The nave, the aisles, the west doorway, the lower part of the western towers and the vaulting of the aisles are his. In 1104 he removed the body of St. Cuthbert from the cloister-garth to the splendid shrine behind the high altar. Here the sacred relics were supposed to work miracles, and pilgrims flocked in great numbers to this holy place. William the Conqueror, Henry III., Edward II., and Henry VI. were among the royal personages who did homage to the saint.

When Henry VIII. suppressed the monasteries in 1540, the shrine was destroyed; but the monks secured St. Cuthbert’s body and buried it beneath the platform on which the shrine had stood. In 1827 the grave was opened. A coffin was found that had been made in 1541; this enclosed another, supposed to date from 1104; and this, a third, that agreed with the description of the one made in 698. In the latter was found St. Cuthbert’s body, wrapped in five robes of embroidered silk. Thus it almost seemed as if there were some reason for the legend that his body was supposed to be incorrupt.

William the Conqueror, anxious to see this incorrupt body, ordered the shrine to be opened; but, at the first stroke, such sickness and terror fell upon him that he rushed from the Cathedral; and, mounting his horse, he never drew bridle until he had crossed the Tees.

Until the Reformation the banner of St. Cuthbert hung over his shrine. It was made from a cloth used by St. Cuthbert in celebrating mass and it was believed to insure victory to the army in whose ranks it was carried. Flodden was one of the many fields in which the defeat of the Scots was ascribed to the Standard of St. Cuthbert. Another was Neville’s Cross, near Durham, when 15,000 Scots perished. A thanksgiving hymn was ordered to be sung on top of the Cathedral tower on each anniversary of the battle. This custom is still observed.

Returning now to the architectural history of the Cathedral, the next great builder was Hugh Pudsey (1153-1195), in whose time the Norman style was passing out of fashion. Pudsey began to build a Lady-Chapel at the east end; but when he saw great cracks appearing in the walls, he thought that St. Cuthbert was manifesting his displeasure. Consequently he removed all his building materials, including the Purbeck marble columns, and began and finished the wonderful Galilee Chapel at the west end, about 1175.

Pudsey was a great prince as well as a fine builder. He was only twenty-five when he became Bishop of Durham. He bought the earldom of Northumberland and also a manor. When King Henry decided to go to Jerusalem after his capture by the Saracens, Pudsey fitted out ships and had a seat of silver for himself in one of them. The King died, and Pudsey remained at home; and while King Richard went on the trip Pudsey and the Bishop of Ely quarrelled. Pudsey was decoyed to London and thrown into the Tower. He was released. He died on another journey from Durham to London in 1195.

Bishop Poore (1229-1237), arriving from Salisbury Cathedral (see page 77), planned the Chapel of the Nine Altars, another special feature of Durham and one of the best examples of Early English in existence. As soon as he arrived in Durham, Bishop Poore began to plan the eastern transept, for the apse of Carileph’s choir had been deemed unsafe. Building, however, was not undertaken until after his death.

In the Fourteenth Century the large window in the north transept and the west windows of the nave were added. Then the cloisters were built and several halls. The refectory was turned into a library in 1661-1684.

The central tower was repaired and rebuilt in the Fifteenth Century.