SOUTHWELL
THE CATHEDRAL AND SEE

Yale Center for British Art and British Studies

BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES:
EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE
AND EDWARD F. STRANGE

SOUTHWELL

.y. a. Solas &• Co., Photo.]

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL, FROM THE WEST.

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
SOUTHWELL
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
EPISCOPAL SEE

BY THE REV. ARTHUR DIMOCK, M.A.

with thirty-eight

ILLtJSTRATIONS.

LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1898

W. H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH.

GENERAL PREFACE
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors
to the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illus
trated guide-books at a popular price. The aim of each writer
has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge
and scholarship to be of value to the student of Archaeology
and History, and yet not too technical in language for the use
of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of
in each case would be difficult and tedious in this place. But
amongst the general sources of information which have been
almost invariably found useful are: — (i) the great county
histories, the value of which, especially in questions of gene
alogy and local records, is generally recognised ; (2) the
numerous papers by experts which appear from time to-
time in the Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological
Societies ; (3) the important documents made accessible in
the series issued by the Master of the Rolls ; (4) the well-
known works of Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals ;.
and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to the
Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray ; to which
the reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail,
especially in reference to the histories of the respective sees.
Gleeson White,
E. F. Strange,
Editors of the Series.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
The MSS. at Southwell include the following : —
The "White Book," of which the earlier part is in a four
teenth-century handwriting. It contains bulls, charters, etc.,
the earliest of the date of 1 106. The " Register of Thurgarten
Priory " is almost a duplicate of this.
The "Chapter Register" contains the Acts of the Chapter
from 1467-1542, and includes the Visitations by the Chapter,.
and probate matters, entered without regard to order.
The " Register of Leases " is chiefly concerned with a date
still later.

vi AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Extracts from one or other of these appeared in Dugdale's
" Monasticon " and other works. A century ago William Dickin
son (afterwards Rastall) of Muskham Grange used the MSS. in
compiling his " Antiquities." He was a laborious but inaccurate
scholar, resembling Jonathan Oldbuck, and his Ad Pontem
theory, together with similar inferences, has met the fate of the
Praetorium of the Laird of Monkbarns. His book contains a
certain amount of useful information ; and I am indebted to
Mr G. T. Knowles of Southwell for the loan of his copy of
this scarce work. A late edition of Le Neve's "Fasti" (1854)
contains a list, necessarily incomplete, of the canons by the
Rev. J. F. Dimock, a former minor canon ; and in various
papers read before learned societies my father quoted from the
records. The report of the Historical MSS. Commission for
1891 has a short notice.
In 1 89 1 Mr Arthur Francis Leach, Assistant Charity Com
missioner, and formerly fellow of All Souls, Oxford, published
for the Camden Society his "Visitations and Memorials." The
documents are chiefly from the Chapter Register : " the book
was intended to exhibit the church in its inner relations."
This volume is the most valuable that has been published ;
and the introduction and the lists enhance its importance.
Mr Leach has kindly written to me about the mysterious
criminal court alluded to in the corrections by the chapter.
Outside sources of information are scanty. An occasional
reference in an old chronicle or in the York records includes
almost everything of value.
A folio on the architecture was published by Mr Dimock in
1853. He was familiar with the records in the library, and, in
the conclusions he drew, had the assistance of many of the
leading architects and antiquaries. So far as I know his
inferences have not been superseded in any important partic
ulars ; and the only drawback to this folio (of which a popular
edition appeared in 1875) is, that it is rather an explanation of
the plates than a complete treatise.
I am indebted to Mr A. H. Lyell, the honorary secretary
•of the Royal Archaeological Institute, for a copy of the Rev.
J. L. Petit's paper, and to Messrs S. B. Bolas & Co., and Mr
A. J. Loughton of the Market Place, Southwell, for the use of
the photographs — duly attributed to each. A. D.

CONTENTS
PAGE
Chapter I. — History of the Building- —
Part I., The Town and Church 3
Part II., Constitution of the Chapter 18
Chapter II. — The Exterior — Nave and Transept —
Part I., Norman . . 24.
Part II., Early English 46
Part III., Early Decorated or Geometrical 52
Chapter III. — The Interior —
Part I., Norman . 57
Part II., Early English 73
Part III., Decorated 87
Chapter IV. — The Palace and Wolsey . no
Chapter V. — The Dissolution of the Chapter 124
Appendices 128

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

.Southwell Cathedral from the West
Arms of the See ....
.Southwell, and Palace Ruins, from the Parks
Detail of Transept .
Pinnacle — Central Tower
North Porch ...
North Porch, Chimney of
North Porch, Interior
West Door ...
West Front (in 1850) ....
Doorway facing the Palace
Flying Buttress and Pinnacle of Choir
¦Clerestory Window
Bay of Nave . . . ' .
Nave — looking East
Nave, Pillar in
Nave, North side of Arcade
Nave, South Aisle .
Norman Arch of Central Tower
Sculpture on Norman Capitals
-Choir, looking East
Choir, Sectional drawing of one Bay
Choir from South Aisle .
•Choir, looking East
The Sedilia ....
Arcading of the Vestibule
Doorway to Chapter-House
Canopies of Stalls .
Details of Doorway
Capital — Chapter-House .
¦Capital — Chapter-House .
Capital — Chapter-House .
Carving of Stall Canopy ....
Rood Screen from the Nave ....
Rood Screen — Under the Screen, looking South
Choir, looking West ....
Southwell, West Tower before Restoration
Plan

Frojitispiece Title

3
2627 3132333639
4348 56-
58 59
61 63
6569 7175777981 838993 969799
100101 102103 106107 125131

.S. B. Bolas &= Co., Photo.] SOUTHWELL FROM THE PARKS— THE PALACE RUIN'S IN FRONT.

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE BUILDING
PART I.— THE TOWN AND CHURCH
The compilers of Domesday found Southwell with " clerks "
holding prebends : before the close of the thirteenth century
these canons or prebendaries had been gradually raised by
successive endowments to their final complement of sixteen.
The chapter thus constituted successfully survived the storm
and stress of the Tudor Reformation, only to experience
dissolution from the zeal for change following in the train of
the first Reform Bill. Limitations of space permit only of a
bird's-eye sketch of the rise and progress of this remarkable
college, the history of which is identical with the history of the
town, and to a certain extent of the county ; and which has
left as its enduring monument that stately minster, since
1884 the cathedral church of the new diocese for Notts and
Derbyshire. Existing remains demonstrate that in the time of the Roman
occupation, the four wells with their abundant supply of fresh
spring water attracted a few Britons. Of these wells, one is
at the south-east of the town, and, from its situation on the
property of the Lord of the Manor, was subsequently called
the Lord's Well ; two more are within the minster precincts —
the Holy Well in the open court, and the Lady's Well in the
churchyard ; and a fourth, St. Catherine's, to the west, where
the chapel of that name was built. Six or seven miles to
the north-east, a neighbouring village received the name of
Norwell ; and for a parallel reason came the name of the place
by the south wells, and thence Southwell, the first syllable 3

4 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
pronounced as in Southwark. The researches of Gibbon led
him to conclude that the Britons had some thirty to forty
bishops and a widespread organisation ; but of Southwell and
the surrounding district there is really nothing known for
certain during this time beyond that it was christianised.
After the withdrawal of the Romans there is a blank of
more than two hundred years until, under date a.d. 627, Baeda
records that Paulinus of York, one of the missionaries of
Augustine, who had the active support of his convert. King
Eadwine of Northumbria, baptised in the river Trent ; and to
these two — Paulinus and Eadwine — the invading Angles of the
Trent Valley owed their conversion.*
During the troubled times that followed, the northern part of
the Trent Valley — parts of Lindsey and Southumbria — was
now in one kingdom, now in another; now in one diocese,
now in another. It will come as a surprise to most people to
learn that what was afterwards called Notts, or, at least, that
part which included Southwell, was for a short time not only in
the diocese of Leicester, but in the province of Lichfield.
The diocese of Leicester came to an end — the chroniclers
tell us they know not how — and after the disappearance of the
short-lived archbishopric of Lichfield, at the beginning of the
eighth century, Southwell went back to the province and diocese
of York.
It was after this that Southwell became an important religious
centre. At Ripon and Beverley the early missionary priests
* The repeated attempts to connect Southwell with the Tiovulfingacestre
of Baeda must be dismissed as unsupported. To make matters more
puzzling still, Henry of Huntingdon, who says he relied upon Baeda,
writing in the twelfth century, calls the place of the baptising the town
"now called Fingecestre."
There was no such town ; there was the little riverside hamlet of
Fiscartune, now called Fiskerton, the nearest spot on the Trent to South
well ; and Henry was perhaps thinking of this when he wrote. Baeda
says that a convert told a monk named Daeda, and Daeda told him, that •
he, the convert, had been baptised in the Trent near the " civitas " called
in the language of the Angles Tiovulfingacestre. This name has been
hopelessly lost. In itself, no place so well satisfies this second-hand
account, as where the river, after passing under Clifton Grove, sweeps by
Wilford Church. Here the bed is so formed that the priest could stand in
comfort, and have plenty of water for immersion ; while Nottingham, close
at hand, might then have been a settlement sufficiently large to be called
a "civitas." Southwell was not large enough. Or, perhaps, Torksey or
Littleborough is meant.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 5
had given way to a more settled ministry ; and at Southwell
secular canons, who were also parish priests, were by degrees
appointed. Whether at Beverley or Ripon they were ever
regulars had better be left an open question ; at Southwell,
when we first come across them, they had been already , for
some time in existence as seculars. They were in effect before
they were supported by separate prebendal endowments Colidei
or Culdees, as at York — that is to say, bound by no especial
vows, and belonging to no particular order.* A mapping-
out of the country into parishes had begun in the days of
Theodore of Tarsus : it took centuries to complete. Many
villages around Southwell were quite out of the reach of
any parish priest, and the resident clergy, besides serving
their own church, supplied the deficiencies of the district.
Why was it that so small and obscure a place was chosen
in preference to Nottingham? The answer must be that
its very quietness and remoteness was in its favour, since
at the same time it was both central and accessible.
Nottingham was the scene of constant strife, and became one
of those "five burghs," such a source of contention between
English and Dane : Southwell was comparatively exempt.
It was not liable to siege and capture first by one and then
by another; if any place was peaceful, that place was
Southwell. The archbishops wished for a capital for the
southern part of their diocese with a cathedral church and
staff of clergy, to be what Beverley was for the east and
Ripon for the west, and Southwell, with its long traditions,
was ready at hand. And afterwards, while the Danes were
ravaging Northumbria, it was impossible for the archbishop
to obtain anything from his property there ; and in order
that he might have a livelihood, the see of Worcester went
with York. During this time (972-1016) Southwell became
a convenient half-way house between the two dioceses.
The earliest recorded endowment, though not of necessity
the first granted, is a royal donation to Oskytel the Danish
Archbishop of York {circa a.d. 956) of a demesne of twenty
mansas at Southwell ; and power was especially retained to
the archbishop to dispose of it at his death as he deemed
best. Archbishop Alfred Putta (1023-51) was a great
supporter of secular foundations. Beverley and Southwell
* Appendix A. The Culdees.

6 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
both benefited from his liberality. Most likely during his
reign that rude Anglo-Saxon church was built, which sup
planted some other of which we have no information. Putta
lived a great deal at Southwell, and died there, so that a
manor house or palace was then in existence. He was
buried at Peterborough Abbey. Kinsius, his successor, gave
to the old minster two bells.
We have now come to a time when we may speak of the
county of Notts, and of canons and their prebends, and we can
well understand why any archbishop, monk though he might
be, as Kinsius was, would encourage establishments like
Southwell. Of what practical use to a diocese was a body of
Benedictines ? Their interests were confined to the boundaries
of their own monasteries ; but secular clergy appointed by the
archbishop himself were of great assistance. As the parishes
increased in number, and the outside duties were by degrees
confined to their own particular churches, they could still help
in many ways in general diocesan matters ; and in this way
York, Beverley, and Ripon grew up, not to mention smaller
colleges like Howden. The system was abused afterwards ;
but originally it was of great practical utility. In the eleventh
century, if not in the tenth, certain of the clergy had separate
endowments or prebends, and their outside duties were confined
to one particular church, situated in the township or parish of
the endowment, while one residence in Southwell and a second
in the prebendal village were allotted to them, and afterwards
their stalls and benefices came to be called by the names of
these particular prebends. In this way the Culdee system
developed into the prebendal ; and what with the archbishop's
occasional residence, and the staff of clergy, we can understand
the statement of Leland : " Ther was a Se at Southwel of the
Merches which now longeth to the Archbishop of York."
Before the Conquest Southwell was the southern capital of the
diocese. Aldred, to whom befell the strange fortune of consecrating
both Harold and William, enlarged York and Beverley; and
Hugh the Chanter of York tells us that he made prebends at
Southwell.* By the time of his death (1070 or 1075) the following at least
were in existence, although it might be later on they were
* Prebendas apud Suthwell fecit.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 7
called by their local names ; — Normanton, Norwell Overhall,
Norwell Palace Hall (or Palishall), Oxton and Cropwell,
Woodborough, North Muskham.
Aldred attempted, without success, to enforce celibacy
amongst the clergy.
The First Norman Archbishops. — With Aldred, that
judicious benefactor of Southwell, passed away for a long period
the archbishops who spoke and taught in the common tongue
of the people. His successors looked down on the English
as the English had previously looked down on the Britons,
and appointed other Normans to the stalls, with whom they
could take counsel ; and the strange sight began to be witnessed
of prebendaries using a kind of "pigeon" English to make
themselves understood. The first Norman, Thomas I. of
Bayeux, "a prelate of great genius, and a friend of the Muses,"
had to part with Lindsey (and for a time with Newark) when
the capital of the huge neighbouring diocese was removed from
the Oxfordshire Dorchester to Lincoln. Lincoln is now reckoned
as of a venerable antiquity, yet her chapter is appreciably the
junior of Southwell. Archbishop Gerard (21 May 1108)
died at Southwell while asleep in his garden, and with a MS.
on astrology under his pillow, and was buried at York. His
successor Thomas II. (1108-1114), a son of the first Norman
bishop of Worcester, addressed a pastoral letter to the people
of Nottinghamshire, begging for their contributions for the
building of the church of S. Mary of Southwell {de Suwellae)
" and that ye may the more willingly do this, we release you,
" so that you need not visit every year the church of York, as .
¦' all our other people (or parishioners) do, but the church of
" S. Mary of Southwell instead, and there have the same
" pardon as at York." ,
This letter helps to explain the raison d'etre of Southwell.
York was too far away for the Notts people, 70 to 80 miles from
Nottingham by road, and Southwell was central for the whole
county. The favourite Norman system of choosing the leading
town was not adopted because a chapter and a residence were
both in existence at Southwell, and because of the situation of
the town. Driven like a wedge into the southern province, if
Nottinghamshire was to make procession anywhere, South
well was easier of access than Nottingham. Already for ad
ministrative purposes the archbishop's capital for the county.

8 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
the minster now became the mother church in every
respect. But if this was to be the case, the small and roughly-built
minster then standing was quite inadequate according to the
more magnificent Norman ideas. Every one of the old Saxon
cathedrals either had or then was undergoing the process of
pulling down, only to be rebuilt on a larger scale and in a
better manner. Southwell's turn came rather late in the
day ; and the proportions and the masonry both benefited
in consequence. As at York, the work was done piece
meal, the old coming down as the new progressed. Thomas
could hardly have lived long enough to see the whole com
pleted, with its chancel square at the east and four eastern
apses now no more ; but he would at least have the gratification
of knowing that everything was advancing towards completion.*
The late Mr J. R. Green has made clear one obscure point
in this universal system of rebuilding on a more magnificent
scale. Where, we ask, did the money come from ? Neither
the contributions of the liberal, nor forced labour, would
suffice. The Jews found the money required. They had
come over with or after the Conqueror, and settled in the
towns in their different Jewries under the king's immediate
protection. " Castle and cathedral alike owed their existence
" to the loans of the Jews." The Jewish money-lenders of
York and Lincoln assisted in the building of Southwell.
By this time, if not earlier, the number of stalls was ten,
Norwell Tertia Pars, Oxton Altera Pars, and St. Muskham
having been created, and the office of sacrist or sexton raised
to the dignity of a canonry. Henry I. and Stephen both
granted rights and immunities, civil, criminal, and forest.
Archbishop Thurstan (1119-1135) founded the stalls of
Beckingham and Dunham, prebends in the north of the
county, with the village tithes and some glebe, and Hallough-
ton or Halton, near to Southwell. Pope Honorius {circa 11 25)
wrote to the archbishop against the marriage of the cathedral
clergy. " In your churches [York, Beverley, Ripon, Southwell]
" be earnest to reform discipline, and restore the refectory at
" Southwell to the good condition in which it existed in times
* So far as the letter of Archbishop Thomas goes, being without date, it
might have been written by either Thomas ; but the finely pointed masonry
and the later Norman in the architecture suggest the second Thomas.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 9
" past." The pope objected to the canons being married and
living with their families ; he wanted them to be celibate, and
take their meals together ; but he was mistaken in supposing
that they ever had done so at Southwell.
Alexander III. promulgated two bulls, one to the minster
clergy (1171), and the other to his "well beloved the arch-
" deacon, dean * and the other clergy of the county." After
confirming the Whitsuntide procession and directing that the
chrism or consecrated oil should be distributed at that synod
by the rural deans throughout the county, he exempted the
chapter from the control of the archbishop, and almost
annihilated the authority of the latter, t
Archbishop Roger had obtained the pope's support to dis
allow the over-lordship of Canterbury, and this was the pay
ment demanded. It was a cruel blow, for the church and its
staff owed nearly everything to the archbishop, and the pre
bendaries were his advisers and assistant curates. Now they
were quite independent. An imperium in imperio was
established, and what York lost Rome was expected to gain.
The chapter naturally preferred being placed on an equality
with York ; for in spite of Whitsuntide processions and synods,
York, as in the matter of the confirmation of the Halloughton
prebend, had exercised some sort of authority. Now they
could do so no longer, and the two chapters became in every
sense equal. The canons were also permitted to appoint
vicars both to their stalls and to their parishes.
After the death of Roger the see was vacant for a number of
years, and, in the absence of King Richard, William, Bishop of
Ely and papal legate, as chancellor, acted as regent. He con
trolled the northern province, and punished those who had
violated the king's peculiar by massacring Jews. Richard,
however, despatched to England Hugh, Bishop of Durham, with
full power as justiciary north of the Humber. At Ely the two
prelates met ; and on Hugh presenting his credentials super
seding William in the north, William said that he would cheer
fully resign his power there. William then inveigled his rival
to the quiet and seclusion of Southwell, and here, having Bishop
Hugh completely in his power, put him under arrest. He
kept him in custody in the palace until Hugh had promised
* Decano ; but there was no dean, though one appears afterwards.
t Ab omni jure & consuetudine episcopali penitus & immunes.

IO SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
to resign Windsor and all the other places entrusted to_ him ;
and even then would not release him until he had his son
(so Roger de Hoveden calls him) as his hostage. William
was eventually deposed by John and the council.
When Richard returned he chose Southwell for the place at
which to meet William the Lion of Scotland in order to settle
differences. After reducing Nottingham by the help of some
engines which threw large stones. Palm Sunday 1194 saw
Coeur de Lion at his palace or hunting-box of Clipstone in
Sherwood Forest, and William at Worksop. Each rested " on
"account of the solemnity of the day," and on the morrow
(4th April) met at Southwell. . Roger de Hoveden says that
they repaired the next day to Melton, but Florence of Worcester
that they continued at Southwell over the Tuesday, and that
during their stay, William demanded of Richard "all the
" dignities and honours which his predecessors held in
" England," and that Richard answered, that "he would give
" him satisfaction after he had consulted his barons." The
council was held at Northampton on Easter Eve, and
Richard declined to concede the demands of the Scotch
King. Archbishop Walter de Gray (1216-56). — Beyond
that Pavia, daughter of Nigel de Rampton, and widow of
Robert de Maluvel, founded the fourteenth prebend, that
of Rampton, some twenty miles north of Southwell, there
is nothing to record before Gray's episcopate. The diocese
was in a constant state of turmoil and disorder from political
affairs, and this had its effect upon the architecture of the
minster. From the late Norman of Thomas II. there is
nothing until we arrive at the maturity of the Lancet Gothic
or Early English of the thirteenth century. The transition
between the two is entirely wanting. Gray was a great and
many-sided prelate ; in spite of his political duties, he both
governed his diocese and built extensively. At Southwell he
considered the Norman choir too small, and issued (1233)
an indulgence for thirty days for the completion of that Early
English building, which to this day, although externally shorn
of its high roof, is internally almost exactly as he left it, and
a fitting commemoration of his reign. He also endeavoured
to mitigate some of the harmful results of the Bull of Inde
pendence. As the canons were allowed to appoint vicars, it

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING ii
was equivalent to granting them leave of non-residence. Gray
tried to enforce that they really should appoint deputies,
both vicars-choral for their stalls, and perpetual vicars for
their prebendal parishes. Other ranks of the minster clergy
date from his time. At first the vicars-choral said or
chanted the masses for the dead; but in 1241 Robert de
Lexington, canon of one of the Norwells, and Chief Justiciary,
founded two chantries in the church, and made provision
for a third to be removed there from a chapel in the town.
He gave to the chapter the presentation of Barnburgh in
South Yorkshire, and, by some power difficult now to under
stand, provided that the rector was to pay 23 merks yearly
for the support of two priests, two deacons and two sub-
deacons, " who for ever at the altar of the blessed Thomas
"the Martyr in the church of Southwell" were to celebrate the
divine offices for the repose of his own soul and those of
his relatives and others. As a distinct body ranking below
the vicars-choral, the chantry priests now became a regular
part of the minster staff, and eventually numbered thirteen.
As the prebendaries might now be non-resident without
his licence. Gray tried to establish a dean as head of the
chapter in permanent residence. He was only visitor and
patron, and in having no regular president, other than the
senior canon in residence, Southwell differed from all
other churches. York had its dean, Beverley its provost,
Ripon its permanent president in the prebendary of Stanwick ;
and during Gray's time a dean named Hugh appears for
a short time. But it was not to be ; and we soon hear
no more of him.*
Gray's reforming zeal urged the chapter to consent to
various statutes and regulations. Those who were ordained
to serve in the church had to pass an examination before
the canons in residence, and to be of a good character. A
canon, accompanied by a vicar and the registrar, was to
visit yearly the churches within the jurisdiction, and put
an end to abuses. The canons-resident were likewise given
complete authority over all the other clergy, and these
were to be fined for absence from worship. The readers
of the lessons {lectiones), whether in the choir or pulpit,
were to look the passages over beforehand, and to read
* Leach, p. xxxv. Dugdale also states that once there was a dean.

12 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
audibly and distinctly. Those who failed in this, and more
particularly those who upset the gravity of the others, were
to be flogged in the chapter-house. The inferior clergy of
the choir were to look over their music before service, were
not to use their books during service, but to look at the
music or order board {tabulam). Bad and violent language
outside the church was punishable by one flogging or a
shilling fine, or, as a second alternative, by the wearing
of the bulgewarium round the culprit's neck "according
" to the ancient use of the church." The same offence com
mitted inside was to be punished by two floggings or a two
shillings fine, and for the third expulsion ensued.
By the Portsmouth charter of Henry IIL, dated July 1253,
in confirmation of previous ones, the chapter in civil and
criminal matters over its officials and property became, if any
thing, more independent than ever of the ordinary law of the
land. " The canons of S. Mary of Southwell shall enjoy the
" same privileges and immunities as those of S. Peter of York,
" particularly they shall receive the amercements of their
" tenants, and fines for all such offences as they have been
" guilty of . . . exemptions from tolls and duties, from suits
" of counties, hundreds, and wapentakes, and from all gelds
" such as Danegeld, Horngeld, etc. etc., and that they shall
" have their courts of justice with soc and sac." There is also
mention made at this period of rights of some kind over parts
of Sherwood Forest.
Archbishop John Romanus (1286-96). — Romanus had
a somewhat troubled reign. He had quarrels with the
Pope, who wanted to appoint foreigners, and with the York
chapter about his right of visitation. This latter was settled
by arbitration, and is of interest as the Southwell statutes were
always based on York. The archbishop was to visit once in
five years, and was to enter the chapter-house unattended by
chaplains or clerks, two canons sworn to secrecy being the only
persons allowed to act with him ; and canonical obedience was
to be rendered by the dean.* The visitation held at Southwell
on the Tuesday after the Epiphany 1294 has been preserved,
and from this we gather that the old provisions, which enacted
that non-resident canons were to provide vicars, had not
been carried out, for it was decreed that they were to provide
* Ornsby's "York," p. 161.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 13
perpetual vicars {vicarii perpetui) to their parish churches before
the next visitation. Vicars-choral and clerks were forbidden
to laugh and talk in the choir, particularly during service,
under pain of expulsion, and no women, other than relatives
of good repute, were to live in the houses of the vicars-
choral and perpetual vicars. The number of stalls was
brought up to sixteen by the addition of Eaton, and by
carving N. Leverton out of Beckingham. In this way the
archbishop endeavoured to provide for the residence of at least
some canons ; and the non-resident were to provide proctors
or proxies (generally their vicars-choral) to answer for them in
chapter. But his abiding work is architectural. At York he laid
with great ceremony the foundation-stone of a new nave,
and at the same time a new chapter-house was commenced
there, and both have survived the storm and stress of six
centuries. At Southwell he determined that the canons should
likewise have a fitting house. The masons had now become a
highly-organised body with supervisors, surveyors, overseers and
a host of other officials. The master masons were first-rate
architects, and the men below them — the freemasons — were
not merely workmen but sculptors and artists.* Alike in
elegance of proportion and elaborate beauty of detail, archi
tecture was rapidly approaching the full glory of the Decorated
epoch, and during his time was commenced at least, if not
finished, that miracle of mediseval inspiration, the chapter
house. At York, to help in meeting the cost of the new buildings,
offenders of various kinds were punished by the infliction of
fines, the amount of which was determined by the penancers.
At Southwell, the archbishop resorted to a method which no
doubt increased his popularity. At this same visitation of 1294
it was decreed that the houses {i.e. both in Southwell and on
the prebends) of the alien canons, which had fallen into a
ruinous condition, were to be repaired within a year under
penalty of a heavy fine to go to the fabric of the new chapter
house. As the revenues of these alienigenae were collected by
local officials, the penalties could be easily deducted, and by
one and the same decree this prelate showed his objection
to these foreigners, mulcted them in part of their benefices,
* On this subject see Gwilt's "Architecture," p. 126.

14 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
prevented money from crossing the Alps, and aided the addition
of the finest member to the minster. "The Sainte Chapelle
"at Paris, the Angel Choir at Lincoln, fall into a second rank
" compared with this Southwell chapter-house." Nothing is
known of the older one.
Archbishop Thomas de Corbridge (1300-4). — Cor-
bridge endeavoured to check the abuse of illiterate clerks, by
decreeing that no candidate was to be ordained by title of the
chapter and no vicar was to be appointed until a satisfactory
examination had been passed before the chapter. The canons
were to pay the stipends of both their vicars punctually, so
that the latter need not wander about the country to the scandal
of all good people. The services were to be better rendered ;
and the precentor was to examine the music books and see
that they agreed, to prevent discord in the singing, while the
decani and cantoris sides were to be equal. As visitor he
insisted that the statutes of Romanus were to be carried out,
and that in the prebendal churches perpetual vicars were
to be appointed within a year; his predecessor had granted
¦ five years in vain. Whilst he ruled that there must always
be in residence three, or at least two, canons ; he saw how,
in spite of the recently added stalls, neither he nor his
successors could enforce even so much as that, and it was
settled that when none were resident " from any cause inevitable
" and legitimate, leave having been asked of us," some discreet
person under oath was to govern, while only canons who had
duly qualified as residents were to share in the common
fund. The reign of Corbridge was short ; he left no mark in
the diocese, but his efforts to purify the chapter were praise
worthy. He died at the palace, and was buried in the choir
near the pulpit ; but the exact spot is now lost.
The Bull of Independence did its work ; and non-residence
became the rule. The popes further made use of their claim
to appoint foreigners to vacant stalls ; and amongst others
Stephen de Ferentino, cardinal priest, held Norwell Overhall,
and Stephen of St. Mary beyond Tiber, also cardinal priest,
held Normanton, both during the thirteenth century. The
kings, like the popes, wanted the stalls as a cheap way of
paying those priests who served them as lawyers and
secretaries. In this way John Clavell, the king's clerk,
received Norwell Overhall; and in the fourteenth century,

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 15
AVilliam de Melton (who succeeded Dominus Lambertus,
a. foreigner appointed by Letters Apostolic) obtained a stall,
holding, at the same time, another in Lincoln, the provost-
-ship of Beverley, and. the archdeaconry of Barnstaple. He
gave these up on his accession to the throne of York in
13 1 7. His active life was mainly spent as secretary to Edward
IL, and lord keeper and then treasurer to Edward III. It is
unnecessary to multiply instances. Mr Gairdner has pointed
-out how monarchs found their shrewdest administrators in the
Tanks of the clergy ; and this was a cheap and easy way of
paying them. It was not expected that a candidate for the
priesthood should have what an age with a higher standard
would call vocation. A promising young man applied for
-orders as he would now try for the Civil Service or be called
to the Bar. Nobody expected him to be a winning preacher,
-or to have an ardent zeal for souls. For years it was well
that he employed himself usefully somehow, and did not, on
the plea of dulness and boredom, live a life of complete idle
ness or worse away from Southwell.
In the first half of the fourteenth century the beautiful
rood screen was carved : the last work worthy of praise, for it
was followed by the insertion of the huge west window with the
idea of lighting up the gloom of the nave, and the lowering
of the roofs throughout. In numerous cases brought before
the courts of law, the chapter proved their rights to their
property and privileges ; and benefactors multiplied. Amongst
others. Canon Richard de Chesterfield (1379) built a new
home for the sixteen vicars-choral on the site of the present one.
Canon Thomas Haxey (141 5) built another for the chantry
priests on the site of the present Grammar School, and Arch
bishop Cardinal John Kempe(i439) purchased for three hundred
merks, from the Crown, the confiscated alien priory of Ravens-
dale in Lindsey, and presented it to the vicars-choral.
Later on the triennial visitations (1469 to 1540) by the
chapter show that the inferior clergy had deteriorated in religion
and morals, more than one-half being frequently accused of
offences more or less serious.
There is an inventory of the goods of Richard de
Normanton, parish vicar in 1369.* This functionary
performed the duties of parish priest for the residuary
* Leach, p. 197.

i6 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
parish, and was appointed by the prebendary of Normanton ;
and for certain purposes the parishioners had part of the
minster allotted to them as their "parish church within the
" collegiate church." The parish altar was dedicated to St.
Vincent, and had one frontal of silk, and a second of coarser
material, decorated with the royal arms ; and there were four
towels {tobalia), two ferials and a corporal. For mass were
five sets of vestments, each with chasuble, stole, fanon (or
maniple), alb, amice, and girdle. Two were reckoned as
" principals," one with and the other without the tunic ; the
others were for ordinary Sundays and week days. Two
cushions covered with red syndon and a lectern belonged to
the altar, as did nine napkins, besides a carpet for " double "
feasts. At Easter the parishioners made their communion at
a long table {mensa domini) covered with two long cloths.
The choral robes (for the parish vicar assisted the choir)
were cope, almuce {almicium, not the amicium or amice for
celebrations), rochet and surplice {super-pellicium). The parish
plate included two silver -gilt chalices, of which the more
valuable was for Easter, a portable silver-gilt cross, and a plated
staff; and there were candlesticks of iron or wood and a gilt
copper cup for the host. A breviary or portiforium with music
was estimated at five pounds — a chantry priest's stipend ; and
Richard was provided with surplice or lantern for visiting the
sick, as well as with a set of sermons on the epistles and gospels
throughout the year. Undoubtedly the parishioners were
accustomed to hear somebody's sermons read ; and the parish
priests performed the duty instead of a prebendary.
The Brothers Booth. — There is aready explanation of Arch
bishop William Booth (1452-65) making Southwell his favourite
residence. Like a wise man, he did not care to have anything
to do with the Wars of the Roses ; and during the whole of this
time Southwell, true to its traditions, was remote from armies
and battlefields. He improved the stipends of the chantry
priests, and enlarged the chapel of Henry le Vavasour outside
the south-west angle of the nave, the home of the Grammar
School, and there he elected to be buried.* His successor,
George Neville, brother to the king-maker, was unwise enough
* In the will of Robert Batemanson there is a reference to " my Lord
William Bothe's quer," which implies that William, and not Laurence,
restored it.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 17
to interfere in matters of State, and was rewarded by the seizure
of his vast private property and exile and imprisonment at
Calais and at Guisnes. At Neville's death William's brother
Laurence was translated from Durham, and during his reign
(1476-80) showed his brother's preference for Southwell. He
added two chantries to the Vavasour or Grammar School chapel,
and was buried by his brother's side. This adjunct, needlessly
pulled down in the last century, came to be called the Booth
chapel. While Laurence was at Southwell, in July 1479, the
two resident canons gave themselves leave of absence, pleading
the ravages of the plague.
Canon Christopher Urswick, LL.D. — Amongst the
non-resident dignitaries immersed in affairs of State was
Christopher Urswick, instituted to Norwell Palishall by proxy
(6th April 1509). He was taken into the service of the Lady
Margaret, wife of Richmond and mother of Henry VII.,
whose third husband was Stanley the first Earl of Derby of the
present creation. Engaged in plots and suffering exile for his
mistress and her son, after Bosworth he became Henry's
chaplain and almoner, and obtained the deanery of York,
which he exchanged for a canonry on receiving the more
coveted deanery of Windsor. He was also at some time or
other rector of Hackney and archdeacon of Richmond, of
Wells, and of Surrey. Before he was a prebendary he would
accompany Henry on the royal progress through the north,
when the king, avoiding Newark on account of the plague,
passed through Southwell on his way from Lincoln to Not
tingham. He was employed as special plenipotentiary to
settle with the Emperor Maximilian I. the terms on which
Henry was to be admitted into the Holy League. He died
in 1522, and Wolsey appointed to the vacant stall his own
illegitimate son, Thomas Wynter.
Urswick is chiefly mentioned here, because to him belongs
the distinguished honour of figuring in Shakespeare {Richard
III. Act iv. scene 5). To him, on the eve of Bosworth, Stanley
laments that his own hands are tied, as his son is a hostage in
Richard's power —
My son George Stanley is franked up in hold.
If I revolt, off goes young George's head.
It is unnecessary to remind the reader that "Sir" does not
B

1 8 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
there mean a knight, but is the equivalent for the modern
" Reverend." PART II. -CONSTITUTION OF THE CHAPTER
The constitution by which the minster was governed was
unique, and so remarkable as to require a special summary,
excepting in so far as has been already anticipated.
Southwell was the cathedral city and mother church of the
county from the time that Nottinghamshire first became a
county at all — let us say, from a hundred years before the
Conquest. The Whitsuntide procession merely emphasised
and ratified this fact. At this festival a synod was held, which
would seem to have been more for the purpose of festivity than
of legislation, and the chrism or holy oil was distributed through
the rural deans to the various parishes of the county. Each
parish had to pay a specified tax, called the Pentecostal offering,
varying from the humble sixpence of Staunton to the merk of
Nottingham and Newark. Of this offering ten per cent, went
to the sacrist, and forty per cent, each to the prebendary
of Normanton and the residents' common fund ; alto
gether some fifteen or sixteen pounds. In the palmy days
of pilgrimages and processions Southwell must have looked
very gay at Whitsuntide. After gradually dying out. Arch
bishop Drummond, in the last century, on his own authority,
put a stop to the little that was left of this time-honoured
pageant. It is strange that no one has ever been able to fix
the exact day of the week on which it was held.
The Liberty of Southwell and Scrooby was a civil juris
diction of the archbishop as a great landowner, and extended
over some twenty parishes. Besides his Southwell manor house
or palace, he had another at Scrooby, on the famous north
road near the Yorkshire border* ; and his property was for the
most part contiguous to these two seats. Within his Liberty
he appears up to quite recent times to have been very much
his own Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff, with sessions in
dependent of the county, and justices of the peace of his own
nomination. The Peculiar of Southwell was an ecclesiastical juris
diction of the chapter over the ancient manor or lordship of
* There was a third at Laneham, on the Trent.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 19
Southwell and the prebendal villages. With the exception of
ordination and confirmation, the canons were their own arch
bishop, as they were their own archdeacon and rural dean.
They had full authority over their subordinates, including the
perpetual vicars of the prebendaries, and over all, clergy and
laity alike, for certain matters then seemingly reckoned as
ecclesiastical offences, such as slander, perjury, and immorality.
They could punish by fine, suspension, penance, and ex
communication, but in later years dropped the punishment of
flogging. The court of the chapter (or rather Dr William Worseley, the
one resident canon) sentenced Cristina Saynton to walk three
Sunday mornings before the Cross in the processions, carrying
a wax candle, and clad in a loose unfastened " tunic," with bare
feet and legs, and towel over her head. Agnes Nothorne
was sentenced to walk round Edingley Churchyard on Palm
Sunday, barefooted, and with a net over her head ; and on
Good Friday to approach the Cross with bended knees, and
then crawl with bare feet and head covered as before, and
kneeling before two altars in the church, say before each five
times the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Creed.
This ecclesiastical jurisdiction included the proving of wills
of all persons ; and the records contain many instances of
probate. To this was added the civil jurisdiction of " assizes
of bread and ale," with power to punish fraud, and authority
over weights and measures. In respect of their own property,
the chapter had their court "views of Frank pledge," etc., and
the individual prebendaries likewise had theirs in respect of
their endowments in land ; and there were appeals from the
prebendal courts to those of the chapter. In short, they had a
complete feudal jurisdiction, both over their own lands and over
those they held in trust for the service of the minster and for
their subordinates. But there were in addition certain marked
privileges. The lands of the prebends were free from the
authority of the sheriff and all other officers of the king, unless
the canon consented. The canons had " in their houses and
" lands Soc and Sac, Tol and Theam, and infanganthef (the
" right of executing a thief) and intol and utol, and all those
" same customs of the honour and liberty which the king has
" in his own lands." Their tenants were almost, if not entirely,
exempt from military service, and their taxes, when any were

20 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
required, were levied by the York Convocation, to which they
sent a proctor, and not, it would seem, by king and parliament ;
and the fines did not go to the Crown.
Although a large part of the manor had been mapped out
into daughter parishes, such as Edingley and Upton, a
residuary parish of considerable area always remained*; and
from the beginning of non-residence the chapter delegated
their pastoral duties to the parish vicar. There were five
chapels in the town, besides chapels of ease in the more
remote parts of the parish. The actual town was divided
into the Burgage, between the Greet and the market-place,
and the Prebendage ; and the latter was chiefly ecclesiastical
property of various kinds. To the church itself appertained
the old tradition of sanctuary. A man charged with murder
even, or an outlaw, could take sanctuary for thirty days ; and
if by that time he had not made his peace, some of the clergy
were to escort him for thirty leagues {leugae), " with some sign
of the Church's peace," and also relics, wherever the accused
wanted to go, and bring him back three times. Interference
involved the crime of "breaking the Church's peace." It
is difficult to say when sanctuary was abolished or died out.
Another peculiar privilege was, that the clergy were not
tried by the usual courts for the most serious crimes. There
is only one such recorded, a bad case of felonyt ; and this
came before "judges (or justiciaries) of our Lord the King,
" nominated (? deputatis) to preserve the peace," and was tried
at the south door of the church or in one of the canons'
houses. Whether these'' judges were the ordinary itinerant
justices, or those of the Court of Eyre north of the Trent, or
the archbishop's in right of his liberty of Southwell and
Scrooby, or a special commission — this is a puzzle.
The Clergy and Staff. — The archbishops were at first
head of the chapter, and the canons their curates. They must
have begun to lose touch when, in the twelfth century, the
chapter became independent. Henceforth they were visitors,
and at their visitations held what were in reality courts. Subse
quently the statute of Premunire, by putting a stop, or at
least a check, to papal bulls, and that of Provisors, by forbidding
* The present area, including that of the modern daughter parish of Holy
Trinity, is put down at over 5000 acres.
t In which, however, the accused was acquitted.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 21
the appointment of foreigners to vacant stalls, increased some
what their authority. They were always patrons of the sixteen
stalls by right of their having endowed them (with one excep
tion) ; and it is clear from what happened in Wolsey's time,
that they could by use celebrate when they pleased, and
appoint the preachers. Sometimes, but not always, the
statutes or decrees of the chapter read de consensu 6^ voluntate
of the archbishop.
The prebendaries, addressed in chapter as " venerable," were
sixteen in number, and their prebends were : — Beckingham,
Dunham, Eton, Halloughton, N. Leverton, N. Muskham,
S. Muskham, Normanton (with the chancellorship), Norwell
Overhall, Norwell Palishall (or Palace Hall), Norwell Tertia
Pars, Oxton cum Cropwell, Oxton Secunda Pars, Rampton,
Sacristaria, Woodborough.
By the valuation of 1547, Norwell Overhall was worth ^^50
a year, and Eton only J^2. These valuations were, however,
below the real profits, as the tenants paid part of their rents in
a lump sum (technically called a " fine ") at the commencement
of the lease. The chapter, in conjunction with the church
wardens appointed by them, controlled their common fund for
the residents as well as the fabric fund or " ladie land," and
they were trustees of the endowments of the inferior clergy,
and the several miscellaneous bequests for tapers, lamps, etc.
Next we may place the perpetual vicars, of whom there were
twelve, Normanton (within the residuary parish) and the
Sacrist prebend (the duties of which were limited to the
church) not requiring them.* Their stipends from land,
the lesser tithes, rent charges on the prebends, and other
sources were small. They had no duties in the minster itself,
but were subject to the chapter. Each canon appointed the
vicar of his prebend. The daughter churches of the parish
were also under the chapter.
Passing over the parish vicar, there were vicars-choral for all
the prebends ; and these performed, as deputies of the canons,
the long round of daily services. They were paid J^t, a year
by their prebendaries, and shared in their own common fund,
and lived in common in their own college. They had a
common seal for their property, but were never a separate
* There were two for the three prebends of Normanton, and one for
Oxton.

2 2 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
corporation, being appointed by their canons and under the
control of the chapter, who made the bye-laws that governed
them. In chapter meetings they often acted as proctors or
proxies for their absent chiefs. One of them was appointed
" hebdomodary " each week, and took the priest's part.
They had a precentor for each side of the choir; and there
seems to have been as well a precentor in chief. They were
always in priests' orders, and the chapter strictly prohibited
their holding any care of souls. Their use was that of York.
In ancient times they were not cafled minor canons.
Next ranked those peculiar officers against whom Sir
Walter Besant waxes so eloquent. The chantry priests or
chaplains were an offshoot of the vicars-choral, who previously
said or sang the appointed masses for the departed. The
earliest donation was that of Prebendary and Justiciary
Robert de Lexington, 9th October 1241 ; and the latest that of
Laurence Booth (1479), who endowed two in the Vavasour
Chapel : altogether thirteen priests, and nine or ten altars.
I'hey "followed the choir," or, in addition to their specific
duties, assisted in the singing ; and the priest of St. Nicholas
also served the parochial chapel of ease of Halam, while others
performed similar outside duties, and one was usher of the
Grammar School and a second " player at the organs."
The chantry priests, besides their endowments, which averaged
four or five pounds a year each, shared a small common fund,
and, thanks to Canon Thomas Haxey, from the year 1415 lived
together in their own house on the site of the present Grammar
School, and could lodge outsiders. The chantry of St. John
the Evangelist was in the gift of the vicars - choral, and to
the rest the chapter appointed. The vicars - choral were
generally promoted from this body. Next ranked two deacons,
who, besides other duties, marshalled the processions, and two
sub-deacons : the pay of the former being ;^3, los. and of the
latter J^2, 13s. Clerks were ordained as sub-deacons, and
advanced to priests' orders; and all four offices were some
times combined with vicar-choralships. The six choristers
were laymen, as was the incense-bearer or thuribuler. Then
there were the registrar (an important official), the master of
Our Lady's works, the vergers, or wand-bearers, and others :
altogether some sixty or more, not counting the wardens who
were generally vicars-choral.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 23
But the list of offices is not yet exhausted ; for the prebendary
of Normanton, in his capacity of chancellor, was the secretary
for education for the county, and appointed to such grammar
schools as Nottingham, Newark, and Wollaton, as well as to
Southwell. Southwell Grammar School must be one of the very oldest
educational establishments in the country, and the present
headmaster (appointed by the bishop of the diocese) has a
long unbroken line of predecessors going back to Norman times.
The master was a vicar-choral or chantry priest, and received
J^2 a year out of the Normanton prebend, and his assistant
half that sum. Complaints were made latterly that the master
shirked his duties, was too fond of giving " remedies " or
holidays, so that the boys paid their parents' substance for
nothing, and allowed English to be talked in school instead
of Latin. The " Song School " was a separate establishment,
of which the master was paid ;Q\ a year, and taught other
subjects besides singing. Possibly his pupils were choir boys,
and the school held in the north transept chapel of the nave.
The sacrist, besides his vicar-choral, had " clerks " under him ;
and complaints were made that these, as well as other clerks
and ministers of the church, did not attend the Grammar School.
At Wollaton school, adults (^iri) were likewise taught ; and at
Southwell, it would seem that these " clerks " received, or were
supposed to receive, some smattering of Latin with a view to
ordination, for in spite of their name they do not appear to
have been already in orders.
The archbishop presented to the Hospital of St. Mary
Magdalene ; and there was a nunnery. No trace is left of
either of these institutions.
In value and importance, Southwell ranked below London
and York, but quite on a level with many cathedrals.

CHAPTER II
EXTERIOR  THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT
PART I.— NORMAN
Very happy in their choice of situation, the first builders
selected an extensive tract of meadow land with a gentle slope
from west to east ; and consecrated the meadow itself for a
burial ground. Later builders never changed this site ; and
the church of Edwy and Edgar, and that of the eleventh
century, as well as the present one, occupy the ground on
which first stood a rude and hastily-constructed edifice of wood.
Every one must at once be struck with the ample and unbroken
space on all sides, allowing, as it does, full justice to be done to
the fair proportions. In mediaeval, as in modern, buildings the
site is often too limited or too insignificant to do full justice to
the architecture. It is otherwise here, and to this charm is
added a second which, again, modern architects are apt to
ignore. The building follows the natural slope of the ground
it occupies ; it is not constructed upon an artificial dead level.
And the advantage of this in adding to the picturesque appear
ance becomes evident as we look at the building as a whole
from different points of view : it grows upon one. And this
effect of the spacious churchyard is still further enhanced by
the position of the surrounding houses. There is not an
unsuitable building in sight. The beautiful avenue of elms,
called the Prebends' Walk, at the northern side, half-conceals,
half-reveals a row of detached houses environed by gardens,
some of them in the prosperous days of the collegiate chapter
prebendaries' residences. The buildings of the Grammar
School are at the north-west angle. Along the west side are
other houses, and the churchyard surroundings are completed
by the gardens and partially restored ruins of the palace of
Wolsey and of Sandys, and by the open gateway and railing
which leave to ^iew the lawn-covered Vicars' Court with its
five houses. 24

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 25
The old Whitsuntide ceremonials, in times when Whitsuntide
fell ten days later than now, were rendered more impressive
by the surrounding bloom ; and at no time of the year does
the general aspect now present a more charming appear
ance than at the County Choral Festival in June, when the
foliage of the trees, arrived at its first maturity, has not yet
lost its early freshness.
The principal gateway is on the west : a simple Norman
structure with a niche overhead, in which, before the destruc
tive days of Puritan iconoclasts, was placed a statue. The
work on either side dates from the beginning of the nineteenth
century. A second and plainer gives entrance on the north by
the Prebends' Walk ; and a third by the Vicars' Court.
There is no eminence from which to get a bird's-eye view.
The western front and towers are commanded from the west
gateway, the ground sloping gently. Standing by the corner of
the palace and vicars' gardens we get the south-east view of
choir, south transept, and central tower. Going round to the
north-east, and standing by the small entrance from the street
by the corner house of the Vicars' Court, the solid Early
English choir on the left, the late Norman central tower in the
middle, and the elegant Decorated chapter-house with the
restored high-pitched roof are grouped together. And the due
north view from the north gateway comprises the beautifully
broken front from the west tower and north porch to the late
Early English of the transept chapel, the whole being flanked
on the left by the chapter-house. But the grouping of the
three towers can only be properly appreciated from a greater
distance ; from the meadows on the south-east, where they
combine with the palace ruins, or from the more distant view
when approaching by rail from RoUeston.
The external dimensions in feet are as follow : — Extreme
length, 318, of which the Norman nave and tower comprise
185; extreme length of transepts, 137; breadth of nave,
72; breadth of south transept, about 40; of north, a trifle
less ; breadth of choir, same as nave, and including the two
chapels, 108.
Thus it will be seen that Southwell occupies a place amongst
the smaHer cathedrals. Not only is it less than Durham, York,
and Lincoln, but also than Norwich and Exeter. It is, in fact,
a little larger than Rochester. The original Norman choir was

26

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

of course different. The dedication is to the Blessed Mary the
Virgin of Southwell.
The stone chiefly came from quarries in the neighbourhood
of Mansfield, twelve or fourteen miles away through Sherwood
Forest. That used by the Norman builders is of a dark
yellowish hue, while their Early English and Decorated
successors found some of a lighter hue with blue-tinted veins.
Fortunate in other matters, Southwell was fortunate in the
choice of material. That eminent geologist Sir Roderick
Murchison once expressed his regret that, when the Houses
of Parliament were rebuilt, these quarries were not used. " If
" the Mansfield stone had been selected, not one pinnacle in
" that otherwise grand building would have been subjected, as
" it now was, to perish." There is no fear of the minster
perishing. Nave and transepts have already withstood the
storms and rains of seven hundred and fifty years of the
climate of the midlands, and choir and chapter-house almost
as long. And this stone was chiselled by competent masons,
after the fine pointed masonry of the later Norman had taken
the place of the ruder work of earlier churches.
The Central Tower is a
massive building of rather less
than 40 feet square, and rises 105
feet from the ground. The decora
tion of the upper part is divided
into two stages, separated by string
courses ; and the four faces of the
same stage are alike. The lower
consists of an arcade or series of
arches ; and, as is so often the
case in Norman bufldings of the
twelfth century, these arches inter
sect. This same intersecting work
is repeated in the corresponding
stage of the north-west tower, as
well as on either side of the in
terior of the north porch. The
arcade of the upper stage is
different in design, inasmuch as
the arches are separate and do
seven in number. The space on

Wall of Transept.
not intersect. They are

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 27

either side of the central arch is rather more than the others ;
and the three central arches are pierced for windows, and,
like the windows in the other towers, were once divided
by a shaft into two lights. Above the upper stage the usual
Norman corbel table is carried round the four sides. Originally
the tower may have ended with a simple parapet ; but if there
were any spire, it would probably
be of stone, of no great height, and
rising from the outer surface of the
walls — in fact, little more than a roof
of pyramidal shape. The present
roof dates from after the fire of 1711.
The parapet is an addition, but con
tains stones with the Norman zigzag
and circular hollow work. As the
transept gables are similarly orna
mented, it is assumed that these
stones were removed from there and
placed in their present position when
the transept roofs were lowered ; and
accordingly the parapet of the tower
is of the same date as the debasing
of the transept roof This — Mr
Dimock's theory — has been generally
adopted by experts, and is interest
ing as an example of how archae
ologists are enabled to mark even
the minor changes in detail. The
somewhat elaborately carved pin
nacles are, like the parapet, out of place on a Norman tower,
although of Norman masonry. Originally placed at the ends of
the transept gables, they corresponded with others in the north
porch. Seen from below, they look too dwarfed and insignificant
for their present altitude.
The Bells, eight in number, are in this tower. If the
first pair, the gift of Archbishop Kinsius before the Conquest,
were ever placed here, they have long since been either
destroyed or recast.
An inscription on the wall of the interior, near the north
door of the choir, tells us that "Thomas Wymondesold, of
" Lambeth in the county of Surry, Esquire, gave unto this

Pinnacle— Centkal Tower.

28 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
" church a set of chimes and 20 shillings per annum for
"ever toward the keeping of them. 1693." Wymondesold's
gift was reduced to a shapeless mass by the above-mentioned
fire of 17 1 1, and Ruddall of Gloucester cast a new peal
with the following inscriptions : —
I St. Abraham Ruddall of Gloucester cast us all 1721.
2nd. Peace and good neighbourhood.
3rd. Prosperity to this Town.
4th. Prosperity to our Benefactors.
5 th. From Lightning and Tempest, Good Lord, deliver us.
6th. Prosperity to the Chapter.
7th. Prosperity to the Church of England.
Sth. I to the Church the Living call, and to the Grave do
summon all.
Since then some have been recast and the inscriptions
altered —
2nd. G. Mears, founders, London, 1849.
4th. T. Mears of London, fecit 181 9.
5th. T. Mears of London, fecit 1819.
The wish expressed on the sixth bell has unhappily not
been fulfilled. The chimes are set to the National Anthem.
The Nave and Aisles. — The length, including the
west towers, of .the external wall is 135 feet, the breadth 73.
The division is into seven bays (broken on the north side
by the famous porch) separated by . buttresses. The effect
is massive, stern, and bare to a degree. The buttresses
are flat : of the same breadth and thickness throughout,
and terminate in the parapet wall, which overhangs sufficiently
to receive them. They would seem to have been constructed
as much for ornament as for support. The only other relief
of the Norman builders was those slightly projecting
horizontal bands, the string courses. Two of these go
round the whole of the Norman building, including the
buttresses, excepting where by later alterations or other
causes the continuity is broken. The lower of these, with
heavy zigzag or chevron moulding — a peculiarity of late
Norman — passes underneath such of the original windows as
are left. But, as is so commonly the case, after-ages found
that these windows did not give sufficient light, and enlarged
several of them. The string course had to be removed
to its corresponding position underneath the new windows.

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 29
and was connected with the old by upright and vertical
bands, the material being found in the somewhat similar
zigzag mouldings of the sides of the destroyed Norman
windows. This ready and economical use of the displaced
stonework gives a peculiar appearance to the exterior of the
early Perpendicular windows, which architecturally are quite
out of place. The higher continuous string course above the
aisle windows was not broken from this cause, and remained
unaltered until the great west window was inserted. Ex
ceedingly interesting are the small and plain square windows
in the aisles above the second string course, intended to
give light to the triforium. In the nave and both aisles
the projecting eaves have given place to parapets, supported
by the old simple yet bold nebule corbel table beneath.
As has been just stated incidentally, the windows of the two
nave aisles represent various ages and different styles. Fortun
ately, from some unexplained reason, one of the original lights
has been left intact, that in the north aisle nearest to the north
west tower, and is similar in detail to the lower tier of the
transepts. In this we again meet with the zigzag ornament
round both the sides and the arch, with outer side shafts
supporting a semi-circular edge roll above ; while the hood-
moulding or dripstone is of the double billet, like the zigzag,
a favourite Norman moulding. In the south aisle the three
windows nearest to the tower at the west are imitations of
the one just mentioned. They werepiit in about 1847, when
the last remains of Booth's (or Le Vavasour's) Chapel were
removed, and the old foundation near the north-west tower
disturbed. The four windows in either aisle to the east are early Perpen
dicular of the end of the fourteenth century. They are of three
lights, and the arches are four-centred. They have transoms,
while the tracery of the upper part is in flowing lines. The
outer hood-moulding or dripstone arch terminates with the
head-dress of the latter part of the fourteenth century. These
windows are poor and meagre, and unworthy of their position ;
but are historically interesting as specimens of the work
of a time when the land had been stricken down and every
thing upset by the great pestilence. The remaining window —
that immediately to the west of the north porch — is modern.
A pleasing detail is the central broken string course of either

30 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
aisle. This is simply a continuation of the plain square abacus
or top ornament of the side shafts of the first Norman windows.
Broken by both buttresses and windows, it supplements the
continuous upper and lower string courses, and assists them
in relieving the bareness of the walls.
The Clerestory of the Nave. — Rising above the aisles
the clerestories constitute one of those features which makes
Southwell quite unique amongst English churches. The cir
cular windows lighting up the interior of the nave are so
peculiar, as to make the architect, when he first sees them,
imagine himself for the moment in Normandy or the German
Palatinate ; and, in common with other details presently to
be noticed, mark off the Norman exterior as belonging to that
particular late style and period sometimes called Romanesque.
"More singular perhaps than beautiful" is an authoritative
criticism passed upon them. In these windows the only
ornament is the plain round-patterned mouldings, suggestive
of gigantic wedding rings, which encircle them. The parapet
and corbel are of the same style as those of the aisle beneath ;
and there are no buttresses, the round windows alone separating
the different bays. Generally when the high-pitched Norman
roof has been (as at Southwell) replaced by one of lower
elevation, we find that the clerestory windows are inserted at
the same time ; but here these plain circular windows, lighting
up the interior, form part of the original building, and no other
church in England possesses the same characteristic.
The North Porch. — The north side of the nave differs
from the south in its possession of this charming feature which
occupies the third bay from the west. It is universally cited,
with such examples as Sherborne and Malmesbury, as one of
the finest specimens left. Perhaps it excels both of these, and
certainly adds materially to the general beauty and interest of
the north view, while the details are full of interest. Externally
it is some 19 ft. broad, the massive walls leaving an internal
breadth of about 14 ft., and it projects from the nave about
22 ft. In the outer portal two semi-cylindrical shafts worked
into and engaged with the front terminate in capitals with
cushion and scalloped mouldings. From these capitals (or,
more accurately, from the string course above) spring the
arches of two orders, with square, round, and hollow mouldings.
That lower continuous zigzag string course, already described.

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 31
is here utilised in an ingenious manner. Continued from
beneath the aisle windows, it passes along the outside walls

.y. B. Bolas &• Co., Photo.]

NORTH PORCH.

of the porch. Next it forms the abacus (or top of the capitals)
of the pillars of the outer portals, and then doubles round along

32

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

the interior walls above the arcading, finally losing itself in the
outermost capital of the inner portal. Above the outer portal
is the gable formed by an angle of about thirty degrees. Three
windows, the centre by a frequent arrangement larger than the
others, give light to the quaint paradise or upper room. These
windows, glazed with diamond panes, have, as elsewhere, their
inner arches unbroken by capitals or abaci, and ornamented
with the zigzag; but the outer arch has the shafts and capitals,
and is less ornamented ; and above these the dripstone with
the triple nebule and finished off with grotesquely carved
heads. The two gable ends are
crowned with round turrets pointed
at the summit ; and . the western
serves the purpose of a chimney flue
to the upper room, being pierced
with air holes. When this arrange
ment was first made it is impossible
to say. The interior walls to the
height of the continued string course
are richly adorned with arcades.
These are formed of the beautiful
intersecting arches, and rest upon
plain stone benches. The inner
portal .is formed by six receding
arches. In the innermost the un
broken and rich zigzag is repeated;
in the rest the arches stand upon
shafts and capitals, and exhibit great
variety of moulding, that next to the
innermost having the unusual beak-
head. This inner doorway almost comes up to the west
door of Rochester in showing what the Norman crafts
men were capable of; and it is a pity that the waggon-
vaulted roof of unfinished stone is too plain to harmonise.
The oaken doors of the fourteenth century have flowing
tracery carved on the wood. Access to the upper room or
paradise is obtained from the triforium. The fireplace,
chimney, and cupboards, made out of the thickness of the walls,
show the dwelling-place of the sacrist, whose duty it was to
sleep in the church that he might be at hand to ring the bejls
and perform other offices. This paradise over a Norman

Chimne\ — North Poklk.

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 33
porch has set archaeologists to work in order to find others ;
and they have succeeded in discovering one only, that of

S. B. Bolas &' Co., Photo.] NORTH PORCH, INTERIOR.
Bredon, in Worcestershire. But the peculiarities of this
member of the north front of the cathedral are its least charm.
c

34 SOUTH^VELL CATHEDRAL
The outer archway and gable, the intersecting arcades of the
inside walls, and the glorious inner portal, are matched by the
way in which the whole combines with the varied architecture
of the north front. In the floor is the slab of the grave of
some unknown person who died in 1536. The inscription is
illegible, but the "tau" X cross and heart have been deciphered.
Is it by any chance that the last sacristan's clerk of the old
order of things elected that his lifeless remains should sleep
their long last sleep underneath the time-honoured chamber
where he had been wont to take his nightly rest ?
Booth's Chapel. — The curious, by scanning closely the
south wall of the nave near the south-west tower and the
adjoining ground, may discern some recent alterations. It is
the site of a chantry chapel dedicated to St. John the Baptist,
and erected about 1280 by one of the prebendaries Henry le
Vavasour. This means that Le Vavasour gave or bequeathed
some small endowment to support a priest whose duty it was
to celebrate a specified number of masses for the repose of the
soul of some particular person, probably of Le Vavasour himself.
At first it was always called after the patron saint. Archbishop
William Booth (1452-65), who enlarged it, was buried here; and
his brother. Archbishop Laurence Booth (1476-80) endowed
two more chantries to Our Lady and St. Cuthbert. He had
previously (1457-76) been Bishop of Durham, and hence St.
Cuthbert's name. At the time of his death he was busy
in improving the chapel, and directed in his will that his body
was to be interred in the south side. It is now impossible to
trace the exact spot where the remains of these two prelates,
who were so attached to Southwell, and who died there, were
laid, nor of those others whom we know by the wills proved
before the chapter to have been buried inside. The second
chantry and altar thus founded in 1480 are the only dedication
to the Blessed Virgin within the minster, although the church
itself was named in her honour ; for there never has been any
Lady Chapel properly so called. Yet this name is given to the
chapel by William Enkersol, chantry priest of St. John the
Baptist. In his will he directed "my bodie to be buryed in
"the churche yerde of our ladie of Suthwell beforesaide of
"the est side of our ladie is chapel." From the death of
Archbishop Laurence the building was called Booth's Chapel ;
and the only chantries we are able to localise are the three here.

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 35
Dickinson tells us that the windows formerly contained the
coats of arms of the Booth family and their connections.
While stfll a chantry, it was also the Grammar School under
the direction of the prebendary of Normanton, ex officio
chancellor. As the Grammar School it continued until in the
year 1784 it was demolished on the ground that it marred the
symmetry of the buildings ; and on the site of the old chantry
house the present school was built, after the chapel had been
its home for nearly four hundred years. During some altera
tions in 1847 the wall of the aisle fell in, and was then restored
to its present state. In its later days the chapel was also used
as the library ; and when pulled down, the books and manu
scripts were deposited in the north transept chapel of the
nave. The West Front. — The western door has a striking
resemblance to the still more beautiful inner one of the north
porch, and likewise illustrates the care bestowed by Norman
artificers upon this part of their edifices. It is of five arches ;
and here again the innermost arch is unbroken and profusely
adorned with the familiar zigzag. The outer four rest upon
shafts with scalloped capitals, and are alternately ornamented
with the edge roll and zigzag, two with each kind of
moulding; and the hood-moulding above is of the double
billet. The oaken doors, of the same date as those of the
north porch, are covered with elaborate iron scroll work. Very
beautiful is the effect of doorway and door; and we wish
the same could be said of the window, but we have unhappily
come to the great eyesore and disfigurement of the building.
For this great west window takes up almost the whole space
between the towers from doorway to summit. The style
is late Perpendicular — probably not earlier than 1450. It
is of seven lights, with many mullions and transoms and
much tracery. In itself this does not harmonise or blend with
Norman architecture, and the straight perpendicular lines of
the tracery are inelegant ; but the chief fault is the enormous
size, occupying the entire centre of the front and, without
exaggeration, suggestive rather of a railway station or the
Crystal Palace than of a Norman nave. The string courses
of the two towers tell us the probable size and position of
the original windows, even though not connected from tower
to tower ; so do the transepts, and suggest three lights one

36

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

above the other, either arched as in the nave aisles, or circular
as in the clerestory, with perhaps at the top a small square

S. B. Bolas &= Co., Photo.]

WEST DOOR.

window like those beneath the clerestory. What windows
the Normans put in they put in after some such fashion as
this. Then came the Early English architects, and they may

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 37
have inserted larger lancet-headed lights, which would match
well enough with the rest, and display no such incongruity
as we now see. Rochester Cathedral and the little-known
priory church of Cartmel are two other typical examples of
this fifteenth-century want of taste. Can we then assign any
reason for this? I think we can, as has been already fore
shadowed in the description of the four eastern windows of the
nave aisles. Norman windows were small for two reasons :
light was not valued, and glass was scarce, if used at all, for we
cannot trace glass prior to the closing years of the twelfth
century. Early English builders made their windows larger
than the Norman, and the Decorated still further increased
the size. But both performed their work in such due pro
portion as to take away the idea of gloom and add to the
beauty. So things went on until in the middle of the four
teenth century came that terrible pestilence which, among
other and more important things, in some buildings seems to
have broken the orderly and systematic evolution of our
architecture. The old school appears to have died out, and
the new were not always mere copyists or followers who
made gradual alterations of merely minor importance, but alas !
sometimes parodists.
Certainly we owe much to men like William of Wykeham ;
but let us in our ecclesiastical architecture fix upon the exact
year of 1350. Let us compare in the same building what was
finished before this with what was finished after, and we arrive
at this result — evolutionary development of beauty before,
evolutionary development of ugliness after. Undoubtedly this
theory works out at Southwell. The north porch and west
doorway are more beautiful than any earlier Norman ; the Early
English choir is more beautiful than these ; but the great glory
of Southwell is neither nave nor choir, but the chapter-house of
1290, while the least beautiful parts are the eastern windows of
the nave aisles of a century later, and worst of all this great
west window of the fifteenth century. Let those whose recol
lections go back twenty years add the flattened and debased
roofs that everywhere obtained, and the minster surely points
the rnoral and adorns the tale. The improvements of men are
often more destructive than the hand of time.* ,
* Mais si belle qu'elle se soit conservee en vieillissant, il est difficile de
ne pas soupirer, de ne pas s'indigner devant les degradations, les mutila-

38 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
The height of the western towers is 99 feet, and with the
modern spires 149 feet; the external base a square of 23 feet.
They are divided into seven stages.
The buttresses, flat and broad, are placed near the angles,
and extend to the height of the parapet — that is to say, to the
summit of the fifth stage, while the different stages are separated
by plain string courses. In the second stage from the ground
the west windows are imitation Norman of quite recent intro
duction, copied from the original in the nave aisle and
transepts, for the Normans themselves left these lower stages
blank. Formerly Decorated windows of three lights of the
time of Edward IIL, with double foliated tracery, were inserted,
and that of the southern tower, after various vicissitudes, has
found a home in one of the gardens of the Vicars' Court. The
slits piercing the wall at different heights near the outer angle
are staircase windows. The fifth stage has an arcade of three
round arches on each face ; the centre, which has zigzag
mouldings, pierced for lights. It is when we come to the sixth
stage, the first above the base of the roof, that we notice an
interesting difference in the work of the two towers. Here the
Normans artistically began their more elaborate decoration, so
as to finish off their work gracefully. In the northern tower is
an arcading of intersecting round-headed arches, similar to those
of the central tower, and in the interior of the north porch ;
but in the southern tower the design differs, for the workmen
caused the arches to stop at the point of intersection, the upper
stones being omitted. The result is, that these arches are
not round-headed, but lancet-shaped. Intentionally or unin
tentionally, the round Norman dies away into the pointed
Gothic of Early English. Was the pointed arch invented in
this way ? This used to be maintained, and there is something
to be said in favour of a theory so ingenious ; but the
general consensus of opinion amongst experts is not to
extend inferences from this interesting peculiarity too far.
tions sans nombre que simultanement le temps et les homines ont- fait
subir au venerable monument. . . Si nous avions le loisir d'examiner une
a une avec le lecteur les diverses traces de destruction imprimees a I'antique
^glise, la part du temps serait la moindre, la pire celle des homines. . . .
et ce que nous disons de I'eglise cathidrale de Paris, il faut le dire de
toutes les eglises de la chretiente au nioyen age. ("Notre Dame," livre
troisieme, c. I.). I have discussed the effect of the Great Pestilence upon
architecture in the Gentleman's Magazine, Aug. 1897.

WEST FRONT : (AS IN 1850) THE TOWERS WITHOUT THE SPIRES, THE SOUTH TOWER SHOWING THE
EARLIEST POINTED ARCHES IN THE TOP STAGE BUT ONE.

40 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
The pointed arch, in its use upon a large scale for doorways,
aisles, windows, and the like, it is now held, was of independent
origin. The ornamentation is continued in the top stage,
where the arcades are similar to those of the fifth, excepting
that the central light is larger and double. The Normans,
when they crowned their towers with spires at all, generally
made them correspond in plan. Thus to the square towers
of Southwell they would have added, if they added anything,
pyramidal or square spires, and these would be of no great
height ; but we do not know how they finished off here, and
are equally ignorant of any early alterations. Engravings up
to the fire of 1 7 1 1 (which has to be so frequently mentioned)
show spires which seem too lofty and tapering for Norman
work ; but no one is satisfied as to their date. After the fire,
similar ones of wood and sheeted lead took their place. At the
beginning of this century the lower part of the northern tower
threatened danger, and the spires, being ignorantly thought
too heavy for safety, were removed, and parapets and corner
pinnacles to match the central tower substituted.
The restoration under the auspices of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners included the addition of spires 50 feet high,
after the pattern of those removed, and this was accomplished
by 1880. There will always be a difference of opinion as to
whether there was any gain, for these spires do not match the flat
summit of the central tower. It is not only that while all three
still possessed the same pattern of summit that they were cited
as amongst the finest specimens of their kind ; but so great an
authority as Mr E. A. Freeman, whose knowledge of archi
tecture extended over Western Europe, was always wont to
declare that the grouping of the three, as he saw them before
1880, was as nearly as possible perfect. And it is extremely
doubtful whether the new spires resemble the original Norman
at all. The straight lines of the string courses, and the flat
buttresses of the towers added to the clerestory windows, give
the peculiar tone and character to the nave, and assist in
marking it off as belonging to that Norman style, more Con
tinental than English, called Romanesque.*
* Builder, July 2, 1892, p. 12. This term " Romanesque" has become a
ready source of confusion. It is used in at least two distinct senses.
{a) The architecture prevalent in Western Europe contemporary with our
Anglo-Norman. In this sense it appears to be used by the writer in the

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 41
The Transepts, or the transept (for the term is sometimes
used in the singular), were intended to carry out the idea of a
cross. In such early buildings as the basilican churches of
Rome they are represented by a space at the east end, and the
head of the cross is only an apse. In course of time arms
were extended, especially towards the east, as in the original
Norman choir of Southwell, and the Early English choir is
almost as long as the nave. Still later, the Decorated nave
of York was made of the same length as the choir. At South
well the dimensions are 128 feet by about 40, but owing to
the chapel on its eastern side, the north front is not quite equal
to the south. With exceptions comparatively slight, to be
mentioned presently, the Norman work has not been tampered
with. Of the three string courses mentioned in the description of
the nave, the highest and the lowest are here continued, and
above them a third, level with the base of the clerestory ; the
three together dividing the different fronts into four stages,
which are further relieved by buttresses reaching up to the
corhel tables. The windows of the second stage are of the usual
pattern of the original aisle windows of the nave. In the third
stage they are larger, and the inner arches have the edge roll,
while the outer have large, rude cable moulding of a peculiar
pattern — " a series of what is called the double cone, arranged
" spiraUy after the fashion of the ordinary cable mould-
" ing." The hood is of three overhanging rows of a small
square - footed nebules. The transoms and mullions are
later and questionable additions. The topmost stage has
the circular windows like those of the clerestory; but in
the north transept there is the cable moulding of the usual
pattern, alternating with a special row of beads instead of
the plain rounds or "large wedding rings." The gables of
the north and south fronts, low pitched and without windows,
are exceedingly singular and striking, the whole surface
being 'filled in with zigzag and small circles, incised in the
Builder ; and I should say that the intersection of the arcading ought to be
added to the " Romanesque" peculiarities.
[b] As a general term for the architecture prevalent in Western Europe
prior to the introduction of the Gothic. In this latter and more accepted
use of the term English Saxon and Norman architecture would both be
included. The term was intended to imply of Roman or Italian origin.

42 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
north front and embossed in the south. Altogether these
details display many peculiarities, and one writer describes
the general effect as "almost barbaric." The bear on the
north gable was formerly in the workshop of one of the
builders employed, and from thence found its way to Upton
Hall, two miles away, and elsewhere. It was placed in its
present place on the supposition that it originally occupied
the same ; and a modern lion to match now adorns the
south gable.
In the south front facing the palace is a doorway of
moderate size, which was restored in 1847. It is original
Norman of three orders, profusely enriched with zigzags,
and of the usual pattern, the inner order continuous, and
the two outer arches resting upon detached jamb shafts,
with the zigzag string course running over all as a hood-
mould. There was no corresponding door in the north
transept, for that shown in old engravings, an after addition,
has been filled up. A residence stood on the site of
the palace from the earliest times, and this south door was
intended for the use of the inhabitants. In the east wall of the
south transept two short buttresses, which stop in the third
stage, and the pattern and arrangement of the stones show
that a chapel with an apse has been pulled down ; and the
former existence of this explains the absence of windows
excepting in the top stage.
With the transepts we have come to the end of the existing
Norman exterior ; and the present is a suitable place to add
a few remarks on the roofs, and on the Norman choir which
has been pulled down and superseded.
In both late Norman and Early English work the roof
was generally high pitched ; and the marks on each face
of the central tower proved that the entire roof was elevated
to an angle of about forty - five degrees. In course of time
the ends of the beams became decayed, and then in a
degenerate age ensued an unhappy change. In order that
the work might be cheaply done, the rotten ends were sawn
off, and the old beams still used ; but, so as to make their
now shortened dimensions of sufficient length, the high
pitch had to give way to one much lower. A general rule
may be laid down that whenever a twelfth-century roof has
been lowered the cause and the method were of this nature.

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 43
When this was done at Southwell we do not know, but shall
probably be not far out of our reckoning in assuming that

-J- B. Bolas &. Co., Photo.] DOORWAY FACING THE PALACE.
the low roof and the west window, both out of place, were
the work of the same designer and the same time. Thoroton's
" History of Notts " and Hollar's engravings in Dugdale's

44 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
Monasticon both show the low roof. After the great fire the
restoration vyas carried out by the ignorant and indifferent
chapter on the same lines ; and the material itself was poor
and covered with slate. " The poor church has become,"
complained Mr Dimock, " in comparison with what it once
" was, mutilated, debased, and earth clinging ; a wretched life-
" less monument." And in endorsing this his friend Mr E. A.
Freeman, in his characteristic Saturday Review style, added —
" A poor parody of its former self," " the mutilated wreck of
" storm and fire, the victim of a base economy which executed
" essential repairs at the smallest possible cost, and brutally
"pulled down what it was inconvenient to restore."* But
these two and others of a like mind and a like authority were
fortunately able to influence that slowly-moving corporation, the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners ; and at length that body resolved
to devote part of the corporate revenues of the dissolved and
extinct chapter to a thorough restoration after the designs of
Mr Ewan Christian. In 1879-80 the roofs, excepting the choir,
were restored to their original pitch, and the old material was
cast aside for massive English oak covered with cast-lead. In
this not only was the external roof made after the original
pattern, but, in thus going back to archsological correctness
the dignity and stateliness of Archbishop Thomas the Second's
minster were greatly enhanced. Looked at, then, from either
point of view — that of antiquity or that of beauty — it is difficult
to see how exception can be taken for leaving out of our
estimate the western towers the two combine. Yet, at the time,
the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings was up in
arms, and Mr Christian's noble conceptions vigorously opposed.
A wordy war of the roofs followed, and it was gravely contended,
although the four faces of the central tower told their own tale
of the pitch of the original roofs, that the taking away of the
flattened floor of 1711 was an act of vandalism. Had this
low covering been constructed on Norman lines, it would have
been another matter; Mr Christian would then have been in
a dilemma as to whether archaeology or beauty ought to be
satisfied. As things really were, both were on his side. For
tunately the controversy was useless, and Mr Christian and his
skilled workmen had their way. It is amazing that any highly-
cultivated body of men, students of art in art's highest phases,
* Saturday Review, Nov. 29, 1879, p. 662.

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 45
should ever have raised such a storm in a tea-cup ; but when we
come to the interior of the choir they will appear in a light
even worse.
The foundations show that before the present Early English
choir a Norman choir extended eastwards from the base of the
central tower to a length of 59 feet — that is to say, to less than
half of its beautiful successor. It had north and south aisles
of about 40 feet in length, terminating in apses. In all
probability it was of the same date as the nave and transepts,
and not part of the earlier church existing in the eleventh
century, for there are sufficient marks upon the east side of the
central tower to suggest that the triforium and clerestory
corresponded to the nave, in which case they would naturally
be of the same date. The external breadth was the same as
now, but the extra thickness of Norman walls made the internal
breadth about a foot less.*
It becomes, then, comparatively easy to picture to ourselves
in rough outline the Norman church of the twelfth century as
a whole. Substitute for the present choir one reaching only
some 60 ft. eastwards of the central tower, with aisles and
clerestory similar to the nave, and terminating with a
rectangular eastern wall. Make the aisles terminate with
apses, and add to the east face of either transept a short and
broad apsidal chapel. Next add windows after the patterns of
the transepts and put a high-pitched roof everywhere with
overhanging eaves and no parapets ; and we have a general
idea. The one difficulty is how to crown the tower summits.
Mr J. H. Parker seemed to think that, judging by such stone
specimens as are still left, wherever in late Norman there is
anything to be called a spire at all, it is of low proportions,
"little more than a pyramidal roof, but becoming gradually
" elongated as time advanced, and so leading the way to the
"gracefully elevated spire proper of the Early English." We
may then finish off the three towers with pyramids of four sides
and overhanging eaves.
* The dimensions of the Norman choir were discussed by Mr Dimock in
a paper read before the British Archjeological Association, and published in
their /OT.'nza/ of January 1853. Mr C. Hodgson Fowler, who has been
long intimately acquainted with his subject, in the Architect of June 23rd,
1877, takes a somewhat different view. The evidence appears to be too
slight for the most careful and correct of experts to agree altogether.

46 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
The date of the Norman work can be disposed of in a few
words. Archbishop Thomas the Second wrote his letter to the
people of Notts, asking for contributions for the building of
their mother church, during his episcopate, which began in
1 109 and lasted only six years. This evidence is corroborated
by the building itself. The general good workmanship, the fine
pointed masonry, and the Romanesque details of the exterior
synchronise with the archbishop's letter, as do the edge roll
flanked by hollows, the more elaborate zigzag and other
mouldings, which could only have been made with a skilfully-
used chisel. From iiio to 1115 is then the date of com
mencement, while it is well not to attempt to decide the
duration of the building operations. Amongst others, the
naves of Durham, Norwich, and Rochester are contemporary.

PART IL— EARLY ENGLISH
The Choir. — One of the few good services rendered by
King John was the influence he brought to bear upon the
York chapter to elect Walter de Gray to the long-vacant see.
A wave of enthusiasm for the new style was passing over the
land, and Gray encouraged fresh works at York, Ripon, South
well, and elsewhere. When the new building was commenced
at Southwell, first of all an Early English addition was made to
the existing Norman choir, and the high altar was removed
nearly 70 feet eastwards. After this had been finished, the
Norman choir and choir aisles were pulled down, and on their
site the Early English choir completed, and, with the exception
of the roof, almost exactly as we now see. The foundations of
the eastern part are entirely of local stone, but on the site of the
older choir a quantity of Mansfield stone is used, which came
from the fabric pulled down. This method of enlargement by
degrees was not uncommon. The plan is of eight bays, not
counting a small blank bay at the junction with the transepts.
The choir aisles extend along six of these, and from the fifth a
small transeptal chapel projects on either aisle. The dimen
sions in feet are — Length, 128 ; of aisles, 98 ; breadth, including
aisles, 73 ; and including the two transept chapels, 108 ; breadth
of east end, 40.
The material is sandstone. The northern front was after-

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 47
wards in a great measure hidden away by the erection of the
chapter-house and vestibule. The walls are less thick than in
the Norman work, and generally this part is less massive, and
the roof was loftier. There used to be a doorway on the south
side, apparently for the convenience of the palace, but this has
long since been closed.
The South Front. — The base mouldings show the first
point of difference from the Norman work. These mouldings
and the continuous string course below the second or window
stage run all round the eastern part of the building — the early
Decorated additions on the north side equally with the Early
English, and are distinguished for their bold and effective
outline, and more particularly for their deep undercutting. A
second point of difference from the Norman, and more striking,
is seen in the buttresses. They have a much greater pro
jection, and less breadth, although unusually broad for Early
English work, and are square in the lower stage, but chamfered
— i.e. the edges are shaved off — above. They are finished off
with lofty acute-angled heads or pediments, which have their
faces sunken. These heads rise up above the parapet waU,
and are ornamented with that typical Early English moulding,
the so-called dog-tooth. Some idea of it may be gained in the
following way : — Take four (or in certain instances only three)
leaves of the common beech, placs their stems together so as
to overlap a little, and cause this central point to be raised
somewhat after the fashion of a dwarfed pyramid. The simpler
term of "leaf" moulding would be more suggestive than
"dog-tooth." The buttresses at the angles, both of the transept chapel and
of the east end of the aisle, are grouped in pairs, one on either
front. These are without the lofty pediment, but terminate in
a slope beneath the cornice. The windows in the bays formed
by the buttresses are single-light lancets and without tracery.
Between the two south transepts — those of the nave and choir
— are four bays ; the two central have the windows in pairs, the
others singly. The circular turret - shaped projection at the
south-west angle of the choir transept is a staircase leading to
the triforium, which causes the adjacent window to be smaller.
On the other hand, the single window to the west is larger.
These windows are the typical lancets of their period, the
pointed arch appearing as though formed on an acute-angled

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

triangle. So are those in the transept chapel, and the smaller
one in the gable of the east end of the aisle and the pair
beneath it. These are all deeply set and with chamfered
jambs. The outer arches spring from single shafts, engaged
and with the fillet moulding — a small flat band placed between
the rounds, which first came into vogue. at this time — and have
bold hood-moulds. The cornice moulding of the aisle is
original, but the parapet above a later substitute for the eave
roof. T'he displacement of the roof of the transept chapel by
lowering to the flat level of the second stage has caused this
to resemble a mere projection from the adjacent aisle ; but
the marks on the clerestory wall show clearly that originally
it possessed a high-pitched roof and lofty gable, and formed
a transept to the choir proper, as did the other on the north
side. In consequence, above
the aisle the bay of the
clerestory is here blank,
while the others have a pair
of small lancets placed a
little apart. Here, again, the
jamb shafts are engaged,
while the hood-moulds are
beautifully enriched with the
dog-tooth. Above the cleres
tory the parapet is original
and extremely fine. It is
carried on a corbel table of
grotesque heads, with cornice
mouldings enriched with dog
tooth, as also above the plain
face in a deep hollow below
the ridge. The two flying
buttresses were added later,
the pinnacles adorned
show. The
There must

Flying Buttress and Pinnacle of Choir-

with crockets
licence of 1337 probably points to their age.
have been alairm for the stability of the wall and roof, and
these were placed as supports. Formerly the western one had
a water drain emerging from the heavy stonework at the base.
The Chancel.— By this is meant that part of the choir
east of the aisles. In a minster dedicated to St. Mary we

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 49
expect to find a Lady Chapel eastward of the high altar ;
but there is none here, neither has there ever been : her altar
was elsewhere.* This east end extends two bays beyond
the aisles, and is square - fronted hke York. It has been
remarked — "The architecture here is in the purest and most
" refined Early English style ; very reticent of ornament, but
" with an almost Greek refinement and delicacy in the design
" of the buttresses, and the general composition of the lines ;
" and in general effect, and in the detail of the buttress-heads,
" the base course, and other points, is so similar to the work
"of the nave and south transept of I^incoln that one cannot
"but think some of the same hands were employed on both."t
This may well have been the case, as these parts of Lincoln
were erected between 1 203-1 253, during the episcopate of
William of Blois and his two successors. All the buttresses,
both those which separate the two easternmost bays and
those which stand in the usual pairs at the angles are of
larger dimensions in width and projection than the others
farther west. Otherwise they are similar in character, and
have four string courses between the base and parapet.
The pairs at the corners have massive octagonal pinnacles,
shafted at the angles, have each side finished with a sharp
gabled head enriched with dog-tooth, and at the summit
conical cappings with ribs rising to the apex from the
capitals of the angle shafts. The arrangement of the
windows is as follows : — The bays adjoining the aisle have
them in pairs, and the easternmost bays singly ; the east
front has four — both stages everywhere the same. The
windows on the north and south sides are similar to
those previously described ; but the east front calls for
remark. The arrangement of four in each stage is singular;
and when in the same stage all four are of equal height,
peculiarly so. In those rare instances of a series of four
the rule is for the central pair to be higher than the outside
ones. In the upper stage are also blank arches adjoining
the buttresses; as is the case with the adjacent bays. The
abaci of these lancets are continued round the buttresses and
walls as string courses, dividing the two stages into upper
and lower parts. The windows, deeply set, have the sides
* See the remarks on Booth's Chapel and Appendix C.
t Builder, July 2nd, 1892. D

so SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
chamfered ; and the finely - moulded triple - clustered shafts
are filleted. The arches are enriched with the dog-tooth, and
the outer one constitutes a continuous arcade. In the lower
stage, almost the entire width of the front is occupied : in the
upper the windows are less deeply set and in consequence
narrower, but the blank arches completely fill up the whole
available space between the buttresses, and here the lights are
of a greater height; and this heightening and narrowing,
so as to add to the effect, must be pronounced most
successful. The windows of the end bays are similar in
pattern ; and the chancel, flanked as it is by the aisles and
chapels, in spite of being "very reticent of ornament" — for
there is no tracery — has been commended and admired by
every expert and architect who has seen it.
But as with the west front, so here again with the east we
have to lament that later men have marred what their pre
decessors have bequeathed to them. Early English roofs were
almost, if not quite, universally of a steep slope, more so than
the Norman ; and at Southwell the marks still left, and particu
larly on the east front of the central tower, demonstrate that
this was the case. The old lofty roof is gone and the old lofty
gable with it ; and above the third stage a dwarfed window in
a dwarfed gable, and a late battlement surmounted by a late
cross is what we now see. What used to be seen at first was
this lofty gable pierced either with yet another tier of lancets
or with a circular light after the manner of the circular windows
of York, Lincoln, and Beverley, the whole surmounted by a
lofty cross rising above the lofty buttress heads, conspicu
ous from far and near. We have only to go to Lincoln
(or indeed judge by the restored roof of the nave) to see
what a difference this makes. When was this, "as complete
" a mutilation as the headless trunk of some fine ancient
statue," perpetrated ? Some time after the completion of the
chapter-house, and by the same people, or at least in the
same spirit, as that which lowered the roof and pierced the
west wall of the' nave.
The North Front. — From the exterior the only parts
visible are the end bay of the aisle and the transept chapel ;
and this latter is partly overlapped by the chapter-house. The
details are similar to the rest ; but the flying buttress has no
pinnacles, and the small window in the gable of the aisle has

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 51
a peculiar flattened hood-mould, almost semicircular. There
seems to be no reason for this difference from the corresponding
window on the other side. When standing against the north
front of the chapel, one is almost shut in by the buttresses of
the chapter-house.
The choir illustrates that the striking difference between the
Norman and Early English styles lies not only in the greater
massiveness of the former, and in the pointed lancet arches of
the latter, but also in the greater window space, the chancel
alone possessing twenty ample lights. It has been proved that
glass came into use in Early English times, and this circum
stance may explain the development.
The indulgence of Archbishop Walter Gray fixes the date of
the commencement of building at about 1230.
The North Transept Chapel.— Before leaving the Early
English part of the exterior, and still taking the building in its
chronological order, this addition to the Norman transept next
demands attention. The only part visible from the exterior is
the north front, which projects slightly from the transept, the
east front being hidden by the vestibule. A peculiarity is that
the buttresses, which project in the first stage as far as those
at the east end, have their angles chamfered in the second
stage only. In the third stage the projection is diminished ;
and the chamfering of the stage below ends in a point against
the square face. The buttresses to the west originally ter
minated, like those of the choir, with a triangular head,
ornamented with the dog-tooth, but when the gable parapet
was added a crocketed gable head was placed above this head
and behind it. The eastern buttress, adjoining the vestibule,
ends in a slope beneath the parapet. The large window in the
second stage is a later development, enlarged to give more
light to the chapel within. The shafts are not purely circular,
hut what Professor Willis called keeled — i.e. with bands or
fillets in the front resembling the keel of a boat ; and they
support an arch with a hood-mould over all. The general
appearance is somewhat heavy and inelegant, as the arch seems
too large. Mullions divide the lower part into three lights, and
the tracery above is double foliated, and what is styled reticu
lated — i.e. diamond-shaped or with squares placed diagonally.
This window, with its peculiarities, affords a hastily -made
example of indifferent and late Decorated ; but in the stage

52 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
above we go back to pure Early English. This is an arcading
of five lancets, of which two are pierced for lights, supported by
circular shafts detached from the wall. The window in the
fourth stage has an arch resembling the segmental pointed ;
and the filleted shafts are engaged. The mouldings of the
arch are peculiar ; they are not of the same pattern as the
adjoining buttress, but more nearly than anything else resemble
a transition from the Norman nail-head to the Early English
dog-tooth. And the tracery and mullions are very late work,
suggesting that alterations were made long after.
This chapel is partly built upon the site of a smaller apse-
shaped Norman one. A buttress of the north aisle of the
choir, partly worked into the south-east angle of the chapel,
shows by the cornice moulding that the choir wall once joined
on to the transept ; remains of a Norman arch are still visible
in the transept wall. The work as a whole, and emphatically
the central arcading of lancets, are of the date of the middle of
the thirteenth century. There is documentary evidence that in
1249 and 1260 additions were made to the fabric ; and to one
of these dates we may safely assign it.

PART IIL— EARLY DECORATED OR GEOMETRICAL
The chapter-house and its vestibule are the last additions
to the fabric, and were added after the chapter had been
endowed with the three additional prebends of Eaton, North
Leverton, and Beckingham at the end of the thirteenth century,
and increased to its final complement of sixteen. The
thirteen prebendaries (or such of them as lived in England and
were resident) met before in a smaller and earlier chapter
house on the same site as the existing one. In view of the
increased number and importance of the college, a more
spacious assembly room was felt to be necessary; and, like
their brethren of York, Lichfield, Wells, and elsewhere, they
built the present fine council chamber for the transaction of
business. This part of the minster belongs to that beautiful style
of architecture which some call Early Decorated and others
Geometrical. It is a legitimate development of the Early
English, and prevailed, roughly speaking, during the last thirty

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 53
years of the thirteenth and the first fifteen of the succeeding
century, gradually verging into the Decorated proper.*
The Vestibule. — The only parts of this seen from the
exterior are the north front and so much of the western as
extends beyond the chapel : this projection is of about twenty
feet. It is built outwards from the second bay of the choir
aisle. At the north-west corner are a pair of buttresses the
height of the wall, set at right angles to each other, with square
edges and shallow niches at the top, and terminated with
acute gable heads with crockets and finials. They are
surmounted at the back by other gables standing out from
the roof In the western front is an ogee-shaped window arch,
formed of two contrasted curves and sharp-pointed. Owing
to the difficulty of construction, this form is not usual for large
openings, though common enough over tombs, niches, and small
doorways. The solitary window of the north front has the arch
more equilateral and sharp-pointed than those of the chapter
house. It is much plainer, and is not sufficiently broad to fill
up the entire space. The arch is of two orders, and springs from
attached keeled jamb shafts : the lights trefoiled at the head,
and above two trefoiled circles with one quatrefoiled under the
apex. Generally the greater plainness, as well as the comparative
narrowness, of the north window, suggest that the vestibule is
slightly prior in date to the chapter-house.
The Chapter-House. — On the east side of the vestibule,
and at its northern end, this unique adornment was added to the
fabric. It is in front of the third and fourth bays and the transept
chapel of the choir aisle, completing the enclosure of the open
court, and is of such large dimensions as to overlap the project
ing chapel, one of the great buttresses actually touching. At
Wells, where the chapter-house is in a similar position and on a
larger scale, this overlapping does not occur, as the choir is on
a relatively larger scale ; and it seems a pity that at Southwell
the example of Lincoln was not followed, and the chapter
house built on to the end of the vestibule as distinct from the
side. There is nothing in the lie of the ground to prevent this ;
and the beautiful northern front of the choir would not have
£,. * The Early Decorated tracery is arranged principally in circles,
quatrefoils, and other regular figures, with the featherings for the most part
confined to the larger piercings ; this is usually called Geometrical tracery.
(Parker's "Glossary.")

54 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
been so much shut out from view. The only reason that can
be assigned is that there was a wish for an enclosed courtyard ;
and undoubtedly, whether or not we accept the tradition that it
was anciently used as a baptistery, it was, as we shall see, used
for some purpose of importance.
The building is an exact' octagon, each side of 17 feet; and
five sides are visible from the exterior. The basement mould
ings correspond with those of the vestibule ; but the continued
string course immediately under the windows is higher, as is
the blank stage below. The four corner buttresses which are
visible (the fifth is partly hidden) show distinctly a point of
difference between the two styles of architecture — the Early
English and the Early Decorated. They are divided into
stages, as are the Early English, by a string course from the
spring of the window arches ; but are at once narrower and of
greater projection than the corner ones at the east end. The
edges are unchamfered ; and the buttresses continue with un
diminished projection until they terminate at a point some feet
below the parapet. As with the vestibule, they have shallow
niches at the summit, which are trefoiled at the top under acute-
headed gablets. Above the buttresses proper and at the back,
rising through the parapet, are square pedestals with rounded
edges, with faces sunk concavely to make shallow niches. Like
the niches below, these terminate in a trefoil ; and the pedestals
are crowned with pinnacles, with most elaborate crockets and
finials. Some of these really resemble bishop's crooks, from
which the name may have been derived, while others show
signs of repair not always in the best taste. At the base of
the pinnacles are grotesque gargoyle-shaped figures projecting
from their feet. As these are not images of saints, they have
been spared by iconoclasts ; but we have to lament that
destructive and ill-regulated zeal which pulled down the statues
from their niches, for if the same hands that worked the carv
ing of the interior worked these, the effect must have been
glorious to a degree. The buttresses more than any other part
suggest York : though it stills remain unsettled which of the
two chapter-houses is the older. The original parapet has
fortunately been spared. Below is a corbel table of trefoil
arches springing from heads with the triangular spaces between
also trefoiled : next, the hollow cornice moulding with a late
variety of the dog-tooth : next, a broad plain face, and over

EXTERIOR— THE NAVE AND TRANSEPT 55
all a series of open quatrefoils. Six of the octagon sides
have windows, of which five are visible from the exterior.
These occupy the entire breadth from buttress to buttress ;
and it is doubtful whether anything is gained by this. The
arrangement at the east end, where a small blank space is
allowed on either side, certainly produces a better effect ; and
this enlargement of the Decorated style does not cause it to
compare favourably with its predecessor, so far as this particular
point is concerned. The arches are of three orders ; the shafts
attached and keeled with mouldings of rounds and hollows.
The windows are of three lights, trefoiled in the heads, with
two trefofled circles above, and a quatrefoil above these under
the apex of the arch, very much the same as with the north
window of the vestibule. The cusping is largely pierced and
springs from the soffit only, not from the sloping sides of the
tracery as in later work of the kind ; and the mullions
have a small shaft in front with base and capital, and with
chamfered sides. By comparing these windows with those of
the choir the difference of style is brought out still more
prominently than by the buttresses or parapets. The roof
has been restored to its old lofty pitch ; and all whose
memories go back to the old flattened one, prior to 1881, will
unanimously concur in approval. When the statues were in
their places the effect must have been considerably enhanced ;
as it is, the exterior scarcely prepares us for the culminating
glories within.
The document of the date 1294 speaks somewhat vaguely
of " the new chapter-house " as either contemplated or
building or completed ; and this date agrees with the
architecture. The Open Court. — The boundaries are the chapter-house,
the small transept chapel of the choir, the third and fourth
bays of the choir aisle, and the vestibule. The peculiar way in
which one of the buttresses of the chapter-house abuts against the
chapel so as to complete the enclosure is again noticeable, while
those parts of the choir visible from here and from nowhere
else suggest regrets that so fine a specimen of pure Early
English was ever hidden away. A doorway, now blocked up,
with a low segmental arch of wedge-shaped stones or voussoirs,
at first formed part of the choir aisle. The holy well was
closed up in 1764, after a member of the Fowler family had

S6

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

lost his life by falling in. It was this well that probably
suggested the tradition of a baptistery standing here.
The north front as seen standing by the Prebends' Walk or
in the adjoining street affords the most picturesque view of the
minster, broken, as it is, by the north porch, the Norman
transept, and the chapter-house. We have here every kind of
architecture from the stern and comparatively rude late Norman
to the elaborate and finished Early Decorated — one hundred
and eighty years of steady progress and evolution — and this
seeming want of unity constitutes an artistic harmony. But,
looking at the south-east front from the more distant point
of view of the parks, it becomes evident that the restoration is
not yet complete, and that the heightening of the nave roof
has rendered the corresponding heightening of the choir roof
urgent and indispensable.

Clerestory \^'IND0W in Nave Transept

CHAPTER III
THE INTERIOR
PART I.— NORMAN
The Nave. — "Internally the nave at Southwell is a grand
" specimen of Norman architecture." Such is an authoritative
criticism passed upon it ; and the massiveness and solidity of
the structure is immediately impressed upon the mind, while
the thickness and shortness of the pillars and the width of the
arches further convey the idea of lowness. And yet this general
sternness, not to say gloom, is not what it was before the
windows, and notably the west one, were enlarged. We have
to imagine Norman windows throughout, and without glazing,
in order to picture to ourselves the nave in the days of our
rude forefathers. And as we look round upon the vast quantities
of material required in the construction of the interior, we
cannot but wonder at the toil and industry required to convey
all these great blocks of limestone along the rough paths of
Sherwood Forest, and place them in position.
The dimensions already given have, of course, been those
of the exterior ; but owing to the thickness of the walls, and
notably of the west front, a sensible diminution has to be
made to arrive at the internal measurements. The length to
the inside of the lower arch is 136 feet, and looking through
the arch and across the transept to the rood screen 168 feet.
The breadth is 63 feet, and, to give an idea of the massiveness
of the pillars at the base, the width between two opposite
pillars is only some 28 feet, and that of each aisle inside the
pillars is but 12 feet. The aisles extend the entire length, and are
separated from the body by seven pillars on either side, forming
eight bays : the width between two adjacent pillars being about
13 feet 2 inches.* The elevation of the walls presents the usual
* These measurements, which have been carefully made from a ground
plan, differ slightly from those of Mr Louis Petit in the Memoirs of the
Archaological Institute of 1850, p. 208. 57

SOUTHWELL' CATHEDRAL

three stages of nave arcade, triforium, and clerestory in large
buildings of the periods, differing from the later choir. The
whitewash on the walls and the plaster work which formerly
filled up the triforium arches were both removed some years
before the more recent
restoration was taken in
hand. With the excep
tion of the windows
already mentioned and
of the roof and flooring
the interior is pure Nor
man, unchanged since
the first completion ; and
the Romanesque details
noticeable in the exterior
are wanting. There is a
small quantity of orna
ment, particularly in the
different mouldings, to
relieve the heaviness of
the structure; but sim
plicity and massive
grandeur, as distinct
from grace and elegance,
are what the Normans
aimed at ; and it is so
here. Formerly the west
window, in some of its
seven lights, and other
windows of the nave
contained coats of arms,
of which the church
throughout possessed so
many specimens. Un
fortunately these her-

Nave, shoving Three Stages in the Interior.

aldic emblems fell under the ban of the Roundheads during
the Civil War and the Commonwealth ; a few, however, are
still preserved in the chapter-house.
The Nave Arcade. — The round pillars are about sixteen
feet in circumference, and only nine in height between base

-y. B. Bolas A' Co., Photo.]
INTERIOR OF NAVE,". LOOKING EAST.

THE INTERIOR

6i

and capital — i.e. the height of the actual circular part is less
than twice the diameter. They have plain square bases ; and
the round capitals, of no great projection, have mouldings
different in the different pillars, in their way as interesting a
piece of detail as any in the minster. The first on the south
side, reckoning from the west, and the last on the north have
the cable, and others the
lozenge, nebule, and hatchet.
But most remarkable is the
fifth on the south side with
a series of four — the beaded
cable, lotus leaf, triple nebule,
and lozenge. This last seems
almost too elaborate for the
date, and rather suggests a
decoration of later times.
The arches are of two orders
of voussoir - shaped stones :
the moulding of the inferior
is a square keel set diamond-
wise between two edge-rolls,
and of the superior a plain
soffit with a smaller edge-roll
flanked with a filleted hollow.
Above the two orders the
hood is of a double round
billet. Immediately above
the arches the string course separating the two lower stages
has the hatch both on the sides and beneath.
The Triforium. — The series of arches in the second stage
open on to galleries the complete width of the aisles beneath,
and resting upon their vaulting. Above the round pillars of
the nave arcade, and supported by them, are other pillars,
massive and rectangular, and attached to these two semi-
cylindrical shafts with scalloped cushion capitals. From these
shafts spring the two orders of the arch, of the same span as
those of the nave arcade beneath, but of less height and with
similar mouldings. The moulding of the hood above is com
posed of three overhanging rows of the square-footed nebule.
There is here a curious circumstance, the meaning of which
everyone asks, and which is deserving of mention. Both from

Pillar in Nave.

62 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
the crown of the arches, and from the abaci of the capitals of
the inferior shafts large stones project. It would seem that the
Norman builders thought these arches too large to remain
without further ornament, and began to place two smaller
arches within each, with an upright continued from the
supporting shaft to the crown of the arch above. This is the
case in the triforium of Romsey Abbey ; but either a change
of builders or a change of mind took place at Southwell to
prevent the carrying out of this intention. Mr Christian took
the trouble to fill in one of the arches after the Romsey pattern
to judge of the effect.
The Clerestory. — The walls of the topmost stage are
blank and uninteresting. The arches of one order only spring
from semi-cylindrical shafts ; and shafts and arches are quite
plain. They were considered too remote to be worthy of the
ornamentation bestowed on the lower stages. The circular
windows, not seen from below, are so small and in such deep
recesses, as partially to defeat their object of giving additional
light to the body of the building. Between the arches and the
windows a passage constructed in the thickness of the wall
runs round the whole Norman building, nave and transepts
alike. The Nave Aisles. — These, the full length of the nave, are
plain and without the arcading often to be found in Norman
churches of this size : a bench table runs along the foot.
Beneath the windows is a string course chamfered underneath.
The solitary window of the whole thirteen left in its original
state — that nearest to the north-west tower — has the side shafts
extensively splayed ; the nave arch has a continuous edge-roll
flanked by a filleted hollow, and the sill is worked in steps
ascending to the actual opening. To restore the building to
its original state we have to imagine the remaining twelve
windows similar to this.
The Perpendicular windows are as poor inside as out ; but
when, as at the first, the side shafts were ornamented with
colouring, they may have presented a more favourable
appearance. All the glass is modern. Very different in
character to the windows are the roof or ceiling of both aisles
underneath the triforium galleries ; for here we have quad-
repartite vaulting with groined ribs, as fine as any in England.
The ribs spring in the outside from corbels beneath the

.y. .S. .So/o-r &° Co., /',^<p/o-]
NAVE, NORTH SIDE OF ARCADE, SHOWING PART OF
THE TRIFORIUM.

THE INTERIOR

65

windows, and in the inside from the abaci of the capitals of the
nave pillars. Generally they intersect at the keystone without

SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE.

ornament ; but here and there a simple and by no means
prominent boss is formed ; and underneath the north-west
tower the keystone, by a further development, has a grotesque

66 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
double head. The mouldings are a double diamond-shaped
keel between edge-rolls. During the earlier period of the
Norman style the groins were left perfectly plain ; and it was
not until some considerable advance had been made that they
were constructed with ribs ; and, again, these ribs at first were
mere flat bands without mouldings, so that the aisle roofs show
late and complete work.
In the wall of the bay immediately west of the north porch is
a sepulchral recess with Norman arch and late Early English
shafts and mouldings. It contains a slab of Purbeck marble
with a raised cross, which in Rastall Dickinson's work is placed
under the north-west tower ; but is now doubtless in its proper
place. When the whitewash was removed, it was ascertained
that the vaulting of this bay alone had been ornamented with
painting. Here lie the remains of some unknown and un
recorded dignitary of the church, probably a prebendary ; and
the painting would seem to show that the bay was fitted up as
a chantry chapel, for masses to be said for the repose of his
departed soul. It is likely that the second bay from the east
on the south side was also used for a similar purpose, as some
remains of a sculpture of the Virgin and lily are still to be
traced. The bays of the north aisle west of the north porch
contain no less than seven sepulchral slabs with incised crosses
of the patterns of the twelfth and two succeeding centuries.
These, more or less mutilated, have been gathered from
various parts of the building, and worked into the pavement.
One of these, besides the cross with arms ending in trefoils,
has a chalice tipped as the celebrant would tip in order to
partake — the sign of a priest's monument. The others do not
call for comment, nor does that of a choir boy in the opposite
aisle near the font. The stone font, which possesses no features
of interest, was presented after the restoration by a resident of
Easthorpe named Ballard. By standing at the west end of
either aisle and looking due east a fine view is obtained across
the transepts the full length of the choir aisles, and a second
from the south aisle of the transept chapel.
The Roof. — In former days it was justly written : " Grand
" and striking as the interior of the nave is, still it is sadly
" disfigured by the present flat ceiling." This charge can
no longer be brought; but it still remains an open question
what the original roof of the interior really was. Professor

THE INTERIOR 67
Freeman remarked of the former ceiling, and he was as likely
to be accurate as any one : " That these ceilings, however
" ' broad and simple in design,' dwarf the church, and have
" no intrinsic beauty to recommend them is certain ; and it
" is equally beyond a doubt that the interior will gain greatly
" in dignity by their removal. But a ceiling either perfectly,
"as at S. Albans, and the transepts of Peterborough, or slightly
" coved, as in the nave of that cathedral, was the normal cover-
" ing of the wider spaces of our great Norman churches ;
" and, if the desire of the architect is to reproduce the church
" in its original form, a ceiling on the old lines, but of better
" workmanship would have been more in accordance with the
" design of the first builders." These remarks apply, it must be
remembered, to the interior ceiling as distinct from the exterior
roof; and whether they are correct or no, the restoration, of
which so much was written, has resulted in a compromise or
via media : something more than a ceiling on the old lines,
something less than an open roof. Mr Christian's work of
good oak is barrel - shaped, and somewhat higher than any
Norman ceiling is likely to have been. Whatever fault may
be found with its historical appropriateness as a true and
faithful copy of the original Norman work, there is no doubt
that it is a great improvement artistically on anything we know
of before. And it is this in spite of the disfiguring tie or cross
beams found necessary for support.*
The Central Tower. — Slightly altering the order, this is
placed after the nave, and not before, as in treating of the
exterior. By the removal of the flat ceiling the ringers no
longer have a floor to themselves ; and the interior is thrown
open as a lantern, excepting the stages containing the bells and
the clock. The base is about 20 feet square. The tower is
supported by four massive square pillars, the most massive
in the whole of the interior, with responds attached for the
support of the arches. Owing to their greater size, those of
the western or nave arch project considerably beyond the nave
pillars. For the same reason the eastern pillars do not project
so far into the transepts as those of the western arch ; and in
consequence the centres of the north and south arches are
not quite in line with the transepts, and at the same time the
* Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the reports that it is not watertight
against storms are not correct.

68 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
transept arches have the greater span. The arches are of
three orders : the east and west spring from the attached
semi-cylindrical shafts ; but those to the north and south are
different. Instead of the three more slender shafts, one only,
and of the diameter of the pillars of the nave arcade, like the
rest attached and semi-cylindrical, carries the three orders. One
of the mouldings of the central order of the arches is worthy of
mention : it is a cable of that peculiar form where each fold
bulges out from almost a point until at the centre it becomes
a large keeled round, somewhat like, but more elaborate than,
the cable mouldings of the exterior of the transepts. This is
used on both sides of the western arch, and on the transept
side of the eastern ; but not on the choir side, for, according to
a common practice, here the ornamentation is less elaborate,
and not, as we should have expected, more so.
In each of the two stages above these great arches, and on
all the four sides of the interior of the tower, are two other
arches. These upper stages, which, looked at from outside
the building, are more richly ornamented than the lowest
stage, are simpler in the interior. In most Norman central
towers belonging to the larger churches, we may remark that
the richer work externally corresponds with the plainer inter
nally, and vice versa. These pairs of arches open into galleries
which run all round the tower ; and on their outer side are
other arches which in the lower stage correspond and open
into the four arms of the church. In the upper stage are
windows opening into the open air, and, since the removal of
the ceiling, giving light to the interior. The two arcades
surmounting the great arches, rising one above the other, with
the light streaming down from the small windows, seen from
the outside, produce a really fine effect, and if only the bells
could be removed to one of the western towers, and the
ringers' gallery removed, this effect would be enhanced.
The absence of ornamentation in the capitals of the Norman
pillars is continued throughout, with the exception of the
eastern arch opening into the choir. Here, however, are rude
attempts at sculpture, wholly or partially hidden by the organ.
Of these some still defy all efforts to explain what they were
intended to represent ; and this is not to be wondered at, seeing
that Mr A. J. Loughton of Southwell, who took photographs
when the organ was taken down, describes them as "mere

THE INTERIOR

69

" scratches, if anything, looking better in the photographs than
" in the original." On the northern pillar are, amongst others,

.S h Baloi &¦ Lo , Photo ]
NORMAN ARCH OF CENTRAL TOWER, WITH CABLE MOULDING.
the Last Supper, the Adoration of the Magi, and what is
perhaps intended as the procession to Calvary ; while those
on the southern pillar include the Washing of the Disciples'

70 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
Feet, the Triumphal Entry, and a varied group of orna
mentation. The Transepts. — The north and south transepts are with
few exceptions similar to one another, and are best taken
together. They retain their Norman features intact still more
than the nave. From the tower arches either transept extends
43 feet, and is 28 feet broad, and is three bays in length, two in
breadth, and of a height of three stages. The windows in the
lowest stage looking west are more enriched than the one
remaining Norman window in the nave aisles, although ex
ternally similar, as they have an additional order with the
edge-roll, springing from detached shafts. The extra thickness
of the walls accounts for this. Above these in the next stage
the window arches spring from attached semi-cylindrical shafts,
and have a cable moulding underneath a hood of the triple
nebule. The windows at the north and south ends are similar
in the lowest stage, with this exception, that in the south
transept the more western one is dwarfed to allow room for
the door leading to the palace. In the second stage they have
a rere arch with the edge-roll, a second order with the cable,
resting on detached shafts, and the hood with the triple nebule.
Here, as elsewhere, the bold cable moulding is exceedingly
fine. The plain shafts and arches of the windows of the
third stage nowhere call for comment. Over the two windows
of the first stage at the ends a pair of arches span the whole
breadth, and project two feet. These spring from corbels at
the sides, and from a cylindrical shaft which passes between
the windows to the pavement. The cable moulding of the
arches is twisted in opposite directions. The object of these
projections is to support a gallery; and this gallery, like that
in the third stage, is continued in the thickness of the wall
along the sides. The four archways opening into the nave
and choir aisles are without moulding or ornament, save a plain
string, and hood of the double billet; and above these are
other arches in the second stage, less lofty and without the
hood, opening into the triforium galleries. This stage in the two
outward bays of the east side has an arcading of three arches.
Formerly Norman chapels opened from either transept on
the east side. On the north side the larger Early English
chapel, to be noticed in due course, has superseded its
Norman predecessor ; on the south the east wall still shows

72 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
signs of the arch of communication, now blocked up. It was of
two orders — the inner of a double row of cable, and the outer of
the zigzag. There are also signs of a window on a smaller scale
but similar to those in the first stage adjacent, but this has been
blocked up; and this side now presents the peculiar appearance
of a large wall space unrelieved by windows. In the north
transept a doorway with a semi-circular arch ornamented with
the double billet, judging from the masonry an after insertion,
is situated between the choir aisle and chapel, and leads to
a long narrow room, of which the use is not apparent.
Over the door in the north transept leading to the belfry
is a curious piece of sculpture about three feet in length, and
half as much in width, forming a tympanum. When Bishop
Warburton and his friend Allen visited Southwell, it particu
larly attracted their attention, and they bestowed great pains,
but without success, to interpret it. In the centre an angel is
subduing a figure on the right resembling an impossible bird.
On the left a man, but with the head wanting, is also engaged
in subduing what appears to be a lion or a leopard with a
smaller animal represented above, its forefeet resting on the
larger one's head. Dickinson, taking the smaller figure as a
lamb, ingeniously deciphered it, " Under the protection of the
"lamb, Daniel was able to overcome the lion, and Michael
"the devil." A second interpretation substitutes David rescu
ing the lamb from the lion ; and a third renders it, "Thou shalt
" go upon the lion and adder ; the young lion and the dragon
" shalt thou tread under thy feet." Whether or not any of these
was intended, we have the oldest piece of sculpture in the
building, almost as old as anything in the Midlands. Not
only does the character of the workmanship show this, and the
way in which it is fitted into the wall ; but when the transept
was built and the doorway inserted, the man's head was evi
dently cut away to adapt it to its new position. Before this it
must have served as a tympanum in the earlier building of the
time of the Confessor.
Archbishop Sandys himself will be mentioned in his proper
place, but his tomb at the north-east angle requires notice as
the only fine one in the church. Originally placed, as was
right, inside the sacrarium on the north side, and afterwards
removed to the transept chapel of the north choir aisle, at
length it has found another resting-place in its present position.

THE INTERIOR 73
It is a large alabaster monument, with the recumbent figure of
the prelate above, his robes of long chasuble with rochet,
chimere, and tippet, his hands folded in prayer. A Latin
inscription runs round the top, setting forth the three sees
of Worcester, London, and York, over which he had ruled,
and the length of his successive episcopates. In the front
are kneeling figures of his wife and children, together with
his coat of arms, and an inscription enumerating his virtues.
In the south transept are two tablets on the eastern wall
which call for notice. The first, dated 1750, is an interesting
specimen of its time of marble and painted. The subject of
this effigy, a son of Sir William Cook of Wheatley, near
Doncaster, had been chaplain to one of the archbishops
(probably to Launcelot Blackburne), and died prebendary of
York, of Ripon, of Southwell, as weU as rector of Stokesley,
all these preferments having been received from the archbishop
of the day, an instance of how recklessly, until checked by the
Pluralities Act, a number of posts were lavished upon the
same individual in the eighteenth century, as well as in the
fifteenth. There was no need for Cook, so long as he found
a substitute to take his term of residence, or made other
arrangements with the easy-going chapter, ever to have been
at Southwell in his life. The second is that of John Thomas
Becher, vicar-general and senior prebendary, the friend and
counsellor of Byron's earlier and happier days.
At the south end of the transepts by the door leading to the
palace the judges presided over those civil cases in which the
ministers or tenants of property of the church were concerned.
When a criminal charge was preferred against any of the
clergy, here too the court was held ; when against a layman,
in one of the prebendaries' houses. In this way, at the
summer assizes of 1475, four of the vicars-choral and three
of the chantry priests were indicted for felony.*
PART II. —EARLY ENGLISH
The Choir. — Although considerably larger than the
Norman building it supplanted, we still somehow, on entering
underneath the rood-screen from the nave, receive the impres
sion of a certain want of size. The length is 114 feet, the
* Vide p. 20.

74 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
breadth 52, and at the east end, and also across between
pillar and pillar, 2 7 feet. It is possible likewise to take objec
tion to the height; and perhaps in combining the triforium
and clerestory into one stage and making it so low, the extent
of the elevation was suggested to the builders by the already
existing nave. Beyond this there is nothing but admiration to
express at so perfect a piece of Early English architecture.
The window most to the west on the north side has been
replaced by an early Decorated one of inferior workmanship,
so as to make way for the door leading to the vestibule df
the chapter-house, and some images have disappeared ;
everything else of the masonry is as it was six hundred and
fifty years ago ; everywhere we see how carefully the stone was
selected, and how well put together. The completely detached
pillars on each side number five, and on a level with the eye
are about eleven feet apart, at the base less. A line drawn
between the third and fourth from the west will show the
dimensions of the old Norman choir, and all east of this line
was first built. Three of the four eastern and earlier pillars
above their broad and plain plinth, with its irregular sides, have
a moulding of two rounds with a filleted hollow between
capable of holding water. Of the six western and somewhat
later pillars only one has the same ornamentation ; the
remainder have one or two rounds above a larger one.
"Where the base mouldings are capable of holding water it is
a sign that they belong to the earlier examples of the style.
These ten pillars are octofoil, with the shafts engaged and
filleted. But the half pillars at the east end and those at
the two entrances of the chapels show a difference : the
engaged shafts are smaller, though of the same number ; and
between them are detached shafts banded mid-way. There is
then no trace of the most primitive form of Early English, for
this consists of detached and isolated shafts. In the inter
mediate stage of development the detached and engaged are
combined as in these last-mentioned instances ; and the late,
or completely developed. Early English shows pillars with the
shafts fully engaged. The capitals have mouldings of the
inverted bell shape.
On the choir side the arches are of three orders besides the
hood ; on the side of the aisles of two only, the roof being
lower. The dog-tooth moulding is as conspicuous in the

THE INTERIOR

75

arches as is the cable in the transepts, excepting in the three
to the east on the south side, and is placed in a peculiar way ;

S. B. BoIm: &- Co., Plioto.

CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

between two rounds a broad fillet is raised on to which it is
worked. The rounds and hollows are also lavishly used ; and
the hood is finished off with foliage.

76 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
For some reason which no one has been able to solve, one
of the arches on the south side is lower than the rest ; and the
apex does not quite reach up to the string course which
separates the higher double stage. In this space is a curious
piece of sculpture which tradition asserted to be the Prince of
Wales' feathers. The historian of the minster, in following this
tradition, added that the heads of Edward III., his queen, and
the Black Prince " support the ribs or springs of several arches
" in the choir." The beautiful foliage bears no resemblance to
these heads, neither is there anything resembling the feathers.
Assisted by the misreading of two fourteenth-century docu
ments, those of 1337 and 1352, he hence drew the following
inference, which was widely credited before the more accurate
study of archaeology and architecture dissipated it ; — " By these
" numerous compliments to the Prince we may presume this
"part was erected just at that point of time, when by his
" conquest of France he [the Black Prince] was in the zenith
" of his popularity." In spite of Archbishop Grey's indulgence
of 1233, which gives the real date, in spite of the arches,
windows, pillars, and the dog-tooth and round and hollow
mouldings, where everything points to the first half of the
thirteenth century, Dickinson introduced an interior as
purely Early English as anything in the country into the midst
of Decorated times.
Triforium and Clerestory. — These two stages are
combined : an effective arrangement considering the dimen
sions and altitude of the choir. Perhaps the best explanation
is to say that the clerestory is not above the triforium and
separated by a string course on a bare wall space, but that the
clerestory windows are behind the upper part of the lofty
lancet arches of the triforium, through which they shed their
light. This combination, although in the Norman church at
Steyning, and in the Early English one of Pershore, both of
which, however, are on a smaller scale, marks off a choir
of the date and the size of Southwell as quite unique. The
intimate connection, always maintained between York and
Southwell, is shown in the like arrangement in the early
Decorated nave of the former. 'J"he architect had seen the
beautiful effect, and determined to adopt it. A bold, deep
undercut string course continued round the upright vaulting
shafts separates this double stage from that below. These

THE INTERIOR

77

triple shafts rest on corbels or brackets, placed as low down
as possible between the great arches of the choir arcade, and
rising some three feet above the string course, terminate in
foliaged capitals from which springs the vaulting of the roof It
is these shafts running up the
wall, and the vaulting spring
ing from them, that divide the
second stage into bays like the
first. In each bay are a pair
of lofty lancet arches reaching
from the string course right up
to the cross vault of the roof
above. In the centre of each
bay triple clustered shafts are
between the two lancets, and
two engaged shafts at the sides
with capitals of foliage or plain
moulded ; and above are the
well moulded acute lancet
arches ; and dog-tooth every
where in the shafts and arches.
Behind these arches runs the
triforium passage or gallery ;
and, again, behind the passage
is the following arrangement : —
First, plain blank arches open
ing into the space between the
vaulting and roof of the aisles ;
next, a blank wall space, and
then above the level of the
aisle roofs the clerestory lancets
throwing their light from the
outside through the upper part
of the lofty lancet arches of the
triforium, and then underneath the lower part of the choir
vaulting. The combination of this stage can only be appreciated
by the study of an illustration.
The Roof — Internally the vaulting has not suffered from
the lowering of the external roof, but remains intact. At the
apex, a longitudinal rib runs the whole length ; and the vault
ing is quadripartite, consisting of diagonals with the addition of

Sectional Drawing, showing
Triforium and Clerestory
OF- Choir in One Stage.

78 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
cross springers. At the points of intersection are fine bosses
of foliage ; but figures are not introduced as in the chapter
house at Oxford of the same date. All the ribs are deeply
moulded, and the longitudinal rib as well as the cross springers
of the eastern bay have the dog-tooth. Mr Petit remarked
" from the narrowness of the cells compared with the principal
" vault, the elliptical curve in the clerestory arches is very
" evident ; this is the case with most Early English vaulting."
The western compartment of vaulting nearest the tower is
very narrow, and has no arch corresponding, the whole bay
being filled up by the wall. To the neglect of this precaution
in rebuilding choirs is attributed the collapse of several
Norman central towers. At the east end is a striking
peculiarity.. The great longitudinal rib is continued below
the vaulting, and brought down right into the shaft between
the two centre windows of the upper stage. This bisection
of the east front, which prevents the introduction of a central
window, occurs at Romsey and in Glasgow Cathedral.
The Aisles and Chapels. — Beyond what has been already
said of the windows in treating of the exterior, it should be
added that in the inside the edges of the chamfered arches
are moulded with a keeled roll. Beneath the windows is an
undercut string course, which is continued all round the east
end. As in the main part of the choir, the vaulting is quadri
partite, but with more elaboration, for additional ribs are
introduced besides the cross springers, and the vaulting shafts
of these rest on corbels plainly moulded on a level with the
window sills. This is because there is no external buttress ;
but where there is such a buttress, no shaft is used, the strength
of the buttress being considered sufficient, and the ribs merely
terminate in corbels. The mouldings of the ribs and shafts are
similar to those of the main vaulting.
Formerly there were altars in the two transepts, and in the
end bays, four in all, and the piscinas and aumbries remain,
while in the end bay of the south aisle and in both transepts
are sedilia. It is to be regretted that no one has been able to
setde to which chantries these belonged. In the north aisle
two of the windows look into the court ; and underneath the
western one a blocked-up doorway, and adjacent to it the door
way of the vestibule — a Decorated insertion for the use of the
chapter-house. It is double, with a central shaft of Purbeck

THE INTERIOR

79

marble, and an open trefoil above, and under this a head
supporting a bracket ; but the statue, unfortunately, has shared
the common fate. Up this central shaft crawls a grotesque
serpent ; and into its folds the bolts of the door slide. The

.y. B. Bolas if Co., Photo.] CHOIR FROM SOUTH AISLE.

Purbeck marble is again used for the detached outer shafts ;
and the hood terminates in two heads, one with a crown and
the other with a mitre. Altogether this is very fine, but the
same cannot be said of the window above. When the doorway
was made, the pair of lancets came too low ; and a shorter and

8o SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
broader triple light with the old shafts and arches replaced it.
It can be seen at once that the proportions are not so elegant
as the original lancets to the east.
There is reason to believe that Thomas de Corbridge, Arch
bishop of York at the commencement of the fourteenth century
for a few years, was buried in the choir. Dickinson asserts that
his remains lay near the pulpit, and that the inscription " lately
" remained legible." In a .statement of this kind, he is likely to
be correct. This prelate is quite unknown to fame ; and in
the uncertainty regarding his burial, he resembles more dis
tinguished occupants of the throne of York. In the south
transept chapel is a sepulchral recess with a semicircular arch
of earlier date. It shares with other monuments in the general
neglect ; and owing to its mutilated condition, it is impossible
to say who lies buried under it. According to Mr Bloxam,
the robes on the effigy are those of a priest ; and the remains
must be those of a prebendary, or of the founder of the chantry.
Dickinson (p. 60) has a plate of a fine fifteenth-century canopy
reaching from arch to arch on the north side over a tomb ;
and his plate and description correspond with the effigy. If
this be so, when the canopy was removed or fell down the
monument was placed where it now is.
The Chancel. — The longitudinal rib of the vaulting, as
already explained, bisects the upper stage, and explains the
unusual number of four windows. The lower stage has a
continuous arcade with richly foliated capitals. The bosses
of the outer arches, excepting the centre, which is foliated, are
faces, and have a peculiar effect'
The four lower windows are filled with Cinque Cento * glass
paintings of the French school. An inscription states that they
were given by Mr Henry Gully, Knight, in 181 8. The donor,
a member of Parliament, visited Paris after the peace,
and found the glass in a neglected heap, in a corner of
some shop ; and the shopkeeper told -him it came from the
chapel of the Temple prison. The subjects represented
are the Baptism of Christ, the Raising of Lazarus, the
Triumphal Entry, and the Mocking in the Pretorium. Below
the knees of Christ the glass of the first figure is modern, and
*The Cinque Cento style prevailed from the "commencement of the
fifteenth century until the general introduction of enamel colours about
the middle of that century." — Ch.\rles Winston.

oMuw X
H

THE INTERIOR

83

the remainder poor both in colour and shadow ; but the others
are fine effective specimens, particularly the second, and the
perspective of buildings in the background excellent. The
glass in the upper tier, representing the four evangelists, is
modern, like the rest of the painted work in the choir.
To the south wall of the chancel the Sedilia was added in the
fourteenth century ; and of the same style is the arch or canopy
of the adjoining piscina. This addition was intended for the

J' B Bolas Ss' Co , Photo ]

THIl SEDILIA

use of the clergy during the singing or chanting of part of the
office. The usual number of these seats is three — for the
celebrant, deacon and sub-deacon. At Furness there were four,
at others two or only one. In the possession of five, as in
other things, Southwell is always quoted as unique ; and the
probable explanation is to be found in the constitution of the
chapter. Since all prebendaries in residence were equal, all
would expect during the celebration to occupy a position of
equal dignity. The ogee-shaped arches have double foliations.

84 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
with crockets and finials ; and in the spandrels between are
figures. These, mutilated like so much of the carved work
supposed to represent "graven images," have been restored in
composition. Above the stalls are a row of detached orna
ments of foliage work. A miniature battlement with merlons
and embrasures — very frequent as an ornament in tabernacle
work and the like — here surmounts the sedilia! It is difficult
to fix the date of this beautiful addition to the chancel. The
double foliation of the arches suggests a later date than the
rood screen (1237); and we must put it at some short time
after this.
There yet remain some features of interest.
The Lectern, a finely-worked brazen eagle with wings
expanded to receive the book, was presented in 1805 by Sir
Richard Kaye, prebendary of Dunham, and subsequently of
North Muskham and Dean of Lincoln. It bears the in
scription "Orate pro ana Radulphi Savage, et pro anabus
" Omn Fidelium Defunctorum." It was formerly the property
of the neighbouring abbey of Newstead ; and at the dissolution
the monks hid some documents inside, and threw it into
the lake. During the last century it was discovered and
passed into the hands of a Nottingham dealer. Readers of
Washington Irving's visit to Newstead will remember that he
says that in one of these documents a plenary "pardon is
" assured in advance for all kinds of crimes." As a matter of
fact, the pardon was one granted by Henry V. to the abbey
on the payment of a round sum of money, because the
monks had acquired property without the royal licence. This
was merely a way of raising money to meet the expense of
the French war without the consent of Parliament ; and the
document reflects in no way on the morals of Newstead.
The restorations of the late Mr Christian have so improved
the choir by allowing the original beauties to be exposed, that
only those who remember the days of the sixties can fully
appreciate the services rendered by him. To one part, how
ever, exception has been taken in high quarters. The plaster
work and screens of Bernasconi at the west end between the
arches, said Professor Freeman, " may legitimately be regretted
" by the most orthodox ecclesiologist as really remarkable
" works, full of ancient feeling, and well-deserving the place
" they have found in the Art Museum of Nottingham." The

THE INTERIOR 85
screens have been replaced by new ones of oak on the model
of those which formerly existed ; but it seems a pity the
arches were not left exposed. Beyond this it is only possible
to commend. A new flooring of stone and marble has been
laid down, and the old deal pews with their thin oak-panelled
fronts of the last years of George III. (for which the money
was procured by selling the very lead of the roofs) have been
replaced by chairs, while at the west end oaken stalls for the
clergy and choir have been placed in position. But most
needed of all the galleries, which formerly hid the arches
and aisles, while underneath in the darkness were passages
and coal cellars, through which the preacher wended his
way ere he reappeared in the pulpit — these have gone. The
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, in their pro
test to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, included the removal
of these galleries, only put in during the present century.
This protest declared that they imparted " a fitted look," and
that the choir was " never intended to be nakedly seen " from
the base to the apex."
The Rood'Screen with its stalls belongs to the Geometrical
period. In the olden clays, besides the six stalls facing east,
which still remain, were seven on either side. The one im
mediately to the right on entering was the archbishop's throne ;
and by courtesy the Prior of Thurgaston was allowed the out
side one on the south side, that on the other side facing not
being appropriated. The stall to the left on entering belonged
to the senior prebendary who happened to be in residence, and
the remaining sixteen were assigned to the particular prebends.
After the reorganisation of the sixteenth century, the arch
bishop's stall was appropriated for the new official, the vicar-
general. The visitor may take time to reflect that in the summer
of 1530 this stall was usually occupied by the disgraced and
faflen Wolsey ; and looking towards the east end may picture
to himself the great cardinal singing high mass on Corpus
Christi Day, as at other times, assisted by his chaplains and
the minster staff.
Almost exactly, then, as it left the builder's hand, the choir
yet remains ; and we see in its structure how much depends upon
the measurement by eye alone. That stiffness characteristic
of modern buildings is entirely absent. Archbishop Benson
learnt the secret when Chancellor of Lincoln, and in his new

86 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
cathedral at Truro is said to have urged the builders to
discard measuring instruments so far as possible.
The North Transept Chapel of the Nave.— When
the choir had been completed, there still remained the small
Norman apsidal chapels projecting eastward from the nave
transepts. That to the south in course of time was simply
pulled down after faUing into decay ; but a different fate awaited
its fellow to the north. Projecting only some fifteen feet, and
of so slight a width as to stand quite clear of the choir aisle, it
was found to be too small, and a larger one took its place.
This projects some seven feet more than its predecessor, and is
of such a width as to abut against the choir aisle to the south,
and extend slightly beyond the line of the transept to the north.
Like its predecessor, it has two storeys; and the lower in addition
to the actual chapel includes the passage next the staircase,
part of which is taken up by the staircase leading to the upper
room. The date of erection is readily found by a combination of
evidence. It has been already said, while treating of the exterior,
that where this addition abuts upon the choir aisle, the marks
still left show that it was added after the choir was completed ;
and it has further been said that documentary evidence shows
the workmen to have been busy in the middle of the thirteenth
century. While the interior is plainly of the same date, and
other records show that several chantries were then being
founded, the general arrangement of the interior of the lower
storey, and more particularly two piscinas and aumbries, demon
strate its purpose. We may then assign it as built for two of
these newly-founded chantries, and of the date of the middle
of the thirteenth century.
The lower storey, of which the floor is now on a lower level
than the transept, is of two bays, each with its east window, the
division being made by two triple clustered vaulting-shafts.
The east shaft is attached to the wall between the windows,
the west to the pillar in the centre at the west side. Owing to
the chapel projecting some feet beyond the transept, this is not
the centre as seen from the transept itself outside the chapel ;
and the consequence is that the two fine acute arches between
the chapel and the transept were made unequal in height
and span, that to the south being considerably the larger.
While the general character of the interior agrees with that of

THE INTERIOR 87
the choir, the difference in size and shape and other reasons cause
certain peculiarities. In the four corners are single vaulting
shafts ; and by altering the curve of the ribs springing from
them these latter unite with the mouldings of the window arches
on the east side, and with those of the arches opening into the
transept on the west ; and, again, the filleted mouldings of the
choir are replaced by that peculiar kind of keel which consists
of ogee-shaped curves with a sharp edge. The upper storey is
reached by the staircase which opens from the choir aisle ; and
the only feature of interest is a blocked-up Norman doorway,
formerly opening into the triforium gallery of the transept.
Even in the days of the chantries, it would seem that the
lower storey served also as the "song" schoolroom, where
the choir boys were taught. Since then it has served for
the music-school for the choir, for the vicars' vestry, and for
the library. It is now utflised as a robing-room and vestry.
The room above, once used as the treasury, now contains the
library. PART IIL— DECORATED
The Vestibule.* — Passing through the beautiful doorway
in the north aisle of the choir we enter the long passage,
fifty-four feet by ten, leading to the chapter-house. This
passage, although built in Decorated times, presents
certain features in common with the Early English of the
choir ; and represents a transitional stage between the two
styles. This is particularly marked in the southern part
adjoining the choir. The roof clearly points out where the
two parts join. At the choir end opposite the court, this
is of wood and modern, but facing the chapter-house at
the far end, it is a plain quadripartite vaulting, and low
as this first part is, it would seem to have been raised ;
for the wall above the double arcading looking into the
court, with its uninteresting square - headed windows, is
evidently an after-addition. The point of junction of the
two pieces of work on the west side is the second buttress
of the north transept chapel, and on the east side the
middle of one of the arches a little nearer the door. By
* Called Passage on plan.

88 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
some the earlier part is called the cloister, and the northern
and after-part the vestibule; but as they both form part
of the same passage, it is simpler to give one name to the
whole. The unfoliated arcading overlooking the court is
double, forming an inner and outer with a distance between
of rather less than a foot. The arches are lancet-shaped,
and joined by transoms or cross lintels at the capitals, both
transoms and capitals being ornamented with natural foliage.
The hood-moulding above is continuous, and at each base
we come across the first of the carved figures.
The archway nearest to the choir has been converted into
a door leading into the court ; and the shaft to the left is
partly cut away. On the under side of the doorway arch,
between the inner and outer arches, is diaper work, but with
the remainder this is quite plain. Unfortunately, to keep
out the cold and wet, the lower part of the space between
the double arches has been built up with stone ; and in
consequence the effect of the double pillars and arches is in
a great measure lost. It is also to be regretted that, owing
to the dampness of the hemmed -in and almost sunless
courtyard, the outer arcading, which faces due east, has
suffered from the action of the climate, and been repaired.
The upper part of the spaces has been filled with glass on
the outside. The usual cloister bench supports the interior
arcading, and the mouldings of the bases are hollow of the
Early English style. On the opposite or west side, adjoining
the north transept chapel, the blank arcading is single, and
broken by the buttresses of the chapel, and the arches
trefoiled. Coming to the northern part opposite to the
entrance of the chapter-house the arcading is still lancet-
shaped : the window arches of three lancets moulded with
a filleted kidney - shaped round, less elaborate altogether
than in the chapter - house. The small doorway on the
right opens on a circular staircase leading to a small room
above the vestibule. Anywhere else the end of this passage
would attract the notice its intrinsic merits call for. The
graceful lines and curves of the roof vaulting ; the two windows,
each with its tracery of trefoiled circles with pierced cuspings
above the three lights ; the arcading with the simple cusped
trefoiling of the arches ; the foliage and the figure carving ;
all this forms a combination which for tasteful variety leaves

THE INTERIOR 91
little to be desired. As it is, 'it is passed over for the
chapter-house doorway.
At the point of junction on the east side is a curious figure
of a man astride some nameless animal. The mouldings of a
half-arch, constructed or altered in order to join the new work
to the older, terminate partly on the man, partly on the beast.
The string course from the choir terminates in a bunch of
foliage and fruit, which the beast appears to be gnawing, and
that from the far end on the man's head. The shafts of the
arch between the wooden roof and quadripartite vaulting both
terminate in the mouth of a head which forms the lower part of
the capital.
In this cloister-vestibule the idea of the architect would seem
to have been to form a gradual connection between the pure
Early English of the choir and the pure Geometrical and
Decorated of the chapter-house. Not only does his work
partake of both styles ; but that nearer to the choir has more
of the Early English, and that nearer to the chapter-house
more of the Decorated. It is best to look at the two parts
as the work of one man, the second erected slightly after the
completion of the first, and both as forming one conception
with the chapter-house itself. "In some cases," wrote Mr
Louis Petit, "the architect's intention seems to have been to
" make the transition as gradual, in others as startling as
" possible." Here from the commencement of the cloister
part of the vestibule, with its lancet arches of one style
finished off with the carving of another, the idea was to
prepare us by degrees for the more elaborate and artistic
workmanship of a date and style later than that of the
chapter-house. The Chapter-House. — " In design and execution alike,
" in its general proportions and in its minutest details, it is
" impossible to conceive anything more beautiful. It is the
" most perfect work of the most perfect style of Gothic
" architecture." — A. F. Leach.
"What either Cologne Cathedral or Ratisbon or Weisen
" Kirche are to Germany, Amiens Cathedral or the Sainte
" Chapelle are to France, the Scalegere in Verona to Italy,
" are the choir of Westminster and the chapter-house at South-
" well to England."— G. E. Street, R.A.
The Doorway. — The archway is of five orders, and is

92 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
divided by a clustered shaft in the centre into two smaller
arches with a quatrefoiled circle above. There are no doors.
The outside member of the main arch, which carries the hood,
stands apart against the wall ; the others are against the main
jamb, of which the mouldings are visible underneath. The
four outer shafts of Purbeck marble are detached, a somewhat
unusual arrangement in Decorated work, though usual in Early
English. The innermost shafts are not detached, and have
neither base nor capital ; and from them spring both the
corresponding order of the arch as well as the outer limb of
the two subordinate archways. Above the plinth the bases
of the detached shafts are octagonal, with round mouldings.
On the north side, between the two outer shafts, a band of
foliage is worked upon the edge of the wall. An additional
is made by two small arches on the face of the wall resting on
the outside capitals. All the capitals are foliaged. Of the
five orders, the outer or hood has foliage upon a deep hollow ;
the third or central, two strings of leaves worked upon hollows
which are separated by a round ; the second and fourth are
moulded with rounds and hollows, and so is the fifth or
innermost, with which is combined the two subordinate arches
and the tracery above. In the third order more especially,
so painstaking and elaborate is the tool work that it is difficult
to see how the artist could make the mouldings underneath
the foliage. But for the evidence of the stone itself, the
presumption would be that the foliage was worked on separate
material and afterwards placed in position. The slender
clustered shaft in the centre of the doorway has base and
capitals similar ; and the two subordinate arches have filleted
round mouldings with foliage. They are trefoiled, and the
circle above quatrefoiled ; and in arches and circle the
cusping is moulded with the fillet and pierced.
Such is a plain account of the main features ; but it is
impossible to give any accurate idea of the impression it
makes. The mingled grandeur and delicacy of the work
manship is enhanced by the background of the chapter-house,
and by the particular effect caused by the light streaming
down from the windows within. " One of the most beautiful
" specimens," wrote Mr Louis Petit, " within the range of Gothic
"art." " Faerial " is the particular word suggested looking
through the archway; but "faerial" does not adequately

A.J. Loughton, Photo. \

DOORWAY TO CHAPTER-HOUSE.

THE INTERIOR 95
represent the scale of workmanship. Amongst the numerous
artists and architects the minster has attracted is Mr Ruskin ;
and Mr Ruskin alone could have worthily depicted the effect
produced. The Interior. — It has been said that there is a difference
of opinion as to whether York or Southwell is the older ; but,
according to Professor Willis, York must be the copy of
Southwell. The two certainly have a great deal in common.;
for not only are both octagonal and placed in the same
position, but both lack the central pillar, which in all the
remaining chapter-houses in the country supports the vaulting
of the roof While York is by far the larger, there is universal
agreement that Southwell excels it, as all others, in beauty.
The diameter is somewhat less than 30 feet, and each side of
the octagon is about 1 2 feet. The side due west is occupied by
the archway, and that immediately to the south of it by a wall,
behind which is the circular newel staircase. This — the south
west wall — as well as the west, has a blank arch, resembling
but not quite so lofty as the window arches, and the space
above is ornamented with the universal foliage. The remaining
six sides are pierced with the broad Decorated windows ; and
of these, that in the south wall overlooks the courtyard. Round
all the seven sides not occupied by the doorway runs a low
stone- bench, and above the bench the stalls, five for each
side ; each series separated by a vaulting shaft reaching down
to the bench and engaged. The shafts of the stalls are
circular and detached, their bases variously moulded and their
capitals of foliage. The arches are simple trefoils — not merely
trefoiled underneath, as in the vestibule — and moulded with
filleted founds and hollows. Above there are acute-shaped
canopies with corbels carved with both foliage and figures,
the sides relieved by crockets which bear no resemblance to
crooks, and finials which pass through the string course and
terminate below the windows. The woodwork and nomen
clature of the stalls are a recent addition, added for the use of
the modern canons.
The spandrels between the canopies are similarly ornamented,
making the whole wall space below the windows a mass of
sculpture in endless variety. The window arches are of two
orders only, one less than the exterior, and the capitals are of
foliage instead of the plain mouldings of the exterior. The

96 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
lower parts of the engaged vaulting shafts from the bench to
the corbels of the canopies are combined with the stall shafts

S. B. Bolas &' Co , Photo.]
CHAPTER-HOUSE— CANOPIES OF STALLS.
in either side. Rising through the string course they then pass
upwards in the angles of the wall between the window shafts,
and the group of three shafts terminate together in united

THE INTERIOR

99

capitals of foliage at the spring of the arch. From the capital
a groin rib reaches to the boss of foliage in the centre of the roof;
two wall ribs form an arch over each window, and from the
apex of the windows project horizontal ribs to the large central
boss. The moulding of the ribs is the deep hollow; and at
every point of inter
section occasion is
taken to introduce
a subordinate boss.
The glass has
suffered by time
and neglect, and
probably from wan
ton damage; before
this the interior
must have pre
sented an appear
ance even more
striking. A few
scattered fragments,
however, still re
main, some of it
collected from other
windows. In the
border of one of
the northern lights
are depicted the
yellow castles of
Castile. They are
the arms of Eleanor
of Castile, the first
wife of Edward I.
and mother of the unhappy Edward II. As she died in 1 290, and
as her arms would not have been inserted any length of time after
her death, we have an interesting corroboration of the date
of the building. In the same border is a white lion rampant
on a red field : according to Mr Winston, of the same
date ; but according to Mr Planchd, the arms of John
Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, and somewhat later. In one
of the trefoiled tracery lights of the south window is a small
medallion of white glass, on which is a knight, with spear

S. B. Bolas Sf Co., Photo.]
Chapter- House — Cai-ital.

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

under arm, tilting. He wears a long surcoat with hauberk
and chausses of mail, and helmet with crest resembling a
bird's wing. There are also imitations of the crockets and
finials of the stalls, and of the brass represented in the
carving of one of the capitals.
It is interesting to observe how this earlier Decorated work
manship availed it
self of some of the
Early English ideas,
and how readily the
two combined. The
deeply - cut hollow
moulding, for in
stance, is adhered
to in the arches and
groin ribs ; and in
spite of the great
variety of more
elaborate carving,
room is still found
for the conventional
triple-lobed leaf in
a few of the capitals.
In this respect
Southwell conforms
with the general
rule, as the rounds
and hollows con
tinued to prevail
until long after the
chapter-house was
completed. On the
other hand, the
scroll or roll moulding — a round with one half smaller than
the other, and with a sharp edge — extensively used in the
arches, is characteristic of the Decorated, and must have been
used at Southwell almost as soon as anywhere.
Other chapter-houses may have proportions and symmetry
of a like elegance ; none have the wealth and luxuriance of
carving to be found here. The artist's tool is used everywhere
possible, right up to the roof; and the quantity is too great to

i'. B. Bolas &' Co., Photo.]
Chapter-House — Capital.

THE INTERIOR

lOI

admit of the accepted tradition that all is the work of one
and the same hand. There is, it is true, every mark of one
general conception ; but more than one sculptor must have
been employed, each a man of such taste and skill that, had
he lived in our day, he would have earned both name and
competence. As it is, we know not to whom we are indebted.
Discarding all ac
cepted convention
alities, the foliage
is natural to a de
gree, largely under
cut and standing
boldly forward.
Bryony and ivy; the
vine leaf, the fig
leaf, and the hop ;
the white thorn and
the rose, the oak
and the maple are
among the plants
faithfully portrayed,
and this part has
been compared to
the delicate lace
pattern of Chinese
work. There are
also human heads,
as above the stall
now marked " Alto
Pecco," with two
stems issuing from
the mouth, and
others from the
head-dress, or the bare-headed one to the left of the door
way, both with a life-like expression. Again, there are
animals, birds of various kinds, lizards, boars, and the
rest. " No two capitals or bosses or spandrels can be found
" alike, no wearisome repetition of beautiful parts tires the eye,
" but everywhere we meet, in ever-changing and ever-charming
"variety, with some fresh object of interest and admiration.
"... A man reclines beneath a tree, puffing lustily away

i'. B. Bolas &• Co., Photo.]
Chapter-House — Capital.

102

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

' at a horn, or a goat is gnawing the leaves, or a bird pecking
' the berries, or a pair of pigs are grubbing up the acorns, or a

A. J. Loughton, Plioto.]
CARVING ABOVE STALL, NOW CALLED "ALTO PECCO."
"brace of hounds just grabbing a hare. . . . Of very much of
" it, it is not too much to say, that it is the work of no mere

.y. B. BolasSs'Co., Photo. ^„ _,„, „.„^
ROOD SCREEN FROM THE NAVE.

THE INTERIOR 105
" chiseller of stone, but of a consummate artist ; than whom
" it may well be doubted whether any sculptor, of any age or
"country, ever produced anything more life-like and exquis-
"itely graceful."
Unhappily there is a certain amount of injury for which,
without authority, the Roundheads have been blamed. They
may have broken the stained glass ; but there is no authen
ticated instance of their interference with work of this kind.
Images of saints, inscriptions implying the doctrine of
purgatory or prayers for the dead, are the kinds of carving
that excited their abhorrence. Here the sculpture is so secular
that Bishop Christopher Wordsworth said of it upon the spot :
" Perhaps even the beautiful sculptured foliage in some of the
"ornamental work of this fair chapter-house might be referred
" to as showing that reverence for holy things and holy places
"was not a characteristic of some who had chief authority."
As indeed there was not ; for while a regular and a secular
priest are both represented, they are engaged, not at prayer,
but as tussling with one another, the secular of course having
the best of it. The dilapidations have been caused by broken
windows and a neglected roof, and by the allowing of unskilful
hands to take casts.*
The Rood Screen. — This, the latest piece of the work,
dating some forty years after the chapter-house, is under the
eastern arch of the central tower, and on the western side
presents a picturesque insertion of Decorated architecture in
the midst of Norman surroundings. Marks in the stonework
show that it replaced an earlier one, coeval with the choir.
The great cross or holy rood itself must have been a striking
feature, looking from the west door or the chancel : the organ
merely blocks up the way. It was probably removed in the
reign of Edward VI., and the like fate awaited the statues
which adorned the western face.
The screen opens into the nave with three canopied arches.
The base mouldings overlap the plinth, and the pillars are of
four graceful clustered shafts. The inner arches are cinque-
foil, with pierced cusps, and those above ornamented with
* It is to be regretted that the vestibule and chapter-house are so difficult
of access. The authorities that be appear to treat them as a species of
holy of holies. The only possible objection to a more liberal policy— a
regard for vested interests — the Commissioners would surely make good,

io6

SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL

crockets. The foliage of the capitals clings closely, more so
than in the chapter-house, and shows the advance in the
style. The parapet also is typical of the style : the leading line of
the stonework is pierced so as to form a continuous undula
tion ; and the openings
are foliated. The flat
stone roof is supported
by flying ribs, and in
the spandrels between
these and the corre
sponding ribs of the
roof above are trefoiled
circles, and the points
of intersection are
worked with bosses. On
either side is a staircase
leading to the organ
gallery above. The side*
walls are richly orna
mented with flowing
tracery. On the eastern
face besides the ogee
shape of the arches, the
main feature of interest
is the profuse introduc
tion of carved heads, at
the outer angles of the
cusps, in the spandrels,
and on the capitals.
Some are angels, others
ecclesiastics, and others

UiNDER THE ScKEEN, LOOKING SoUTH.

with military head
dresses ; and the faces,
like those in the chapter-house, have a life-like expression. Above
the central arch is a figure of the Virgin and Child. Edward
Cludd, when the minster was threatened, used his influence with
the Protector in time to save the screen, which, possessing so
many religious emblems, would otherwise have been speedily
demolished. The ball flower is used above the canopies of the
stalls. There are three stalls on either side, and the back of

A. J. Loughton, Photo.]

CHOIR, LOOKING WEST, AND SHOWING ROOD SCREEN.

THE INTERIOR 109
the first to the south, in olden times the archbishop's throne, is
decorated with diaper work, each square with a different flower
pattern. The seats are fixed with hinges, and make regular
misereres, so that when turned up the prebendaries would be
able to rest against them while standing or kneeling. The
wood carving is chiefly of foliage.
The rood screen, with its profuse elaboration of ornament
forming an integral part of the structure, and with its character
istic base mouldings, capitals, and parapet, is as fine a specimen
of the full maturity of the Decorated style, as is the chapter
house of the earlier or Geometrical stage.

CHAPTER IV
THE PALACE AND WOLSEY
Very effective must the grouping of minster and palace have
been before the latter was suffered to sink into decay ; and
even now its dismantled walls and gables, clad in ivy and
moss and lichen, add considerably to the picturesqueness of
the scene. The only building near the church — it lies on the
south side — a walk of some twenty to five-and-twenty yards would
take the archbishops from their postern or garden gate to the
south transept door. Its plan is best described as a quadrangle
with battlemented walls and round turrets at intervals for
defence. In the valuation made in the sixteenth century it
is called "a goodelie Mansion House of the Bishoppe builded
" of timber and stone, and the most of stone, adjoynenge to the
" Collegiat Churche there wiche House is well and sufficientlie
" repayred." On the side remote from the church was a small
park, now fields, and traces of the fish pond are clearly visible ;
and three larger parks belonging to the archbishops were in
the neighbourhood.
The State apartments were to the east, the living rooms to
the south, the offices to the north, and the chapel and great
hall were on the north side adjoining the churchyard. It is
difficult to fix the exact spot where the different rooms were
situated, but on the east side the great window near the church
belonged to the chapel, and that at the other end to the library.
The remains belong to two distinct periods, for some roll
mouldings and other work show that part of the walls, the
buttresses, and the lower part of the chimneys are of the
fourteenth century ; and Dugdale is probably correct in telling
us that Archbishop Thoresby, a prelate of taste and muni
ficence, built a new palace about 1360. The great windows
and the upper part of the chimneys belong to a later time,
and are perhaps due to that magnificent prelate. Cardinal John

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY iii
Kempe, whose arms of three corn sheaves (in allusion to his
father, a husbandman of Rye in Sussex), supported by an angel,
are stfll preserved in the walls. The great hall is usually
ascribed to Kempe, but experts date the chimney earlier.
Some very interesting carved stonework has been inserted in
the wall opposite the church.
Its decay dates from the Civil War. Archbishop Williams
fled into Wales and died there. The royal garrison inflicted
grave injury, and no later archbishop repaired it. A private
dwelling-house was buflt inside the walls ; the hall became the
local session-house, and the site of the offices first a bowling-
green, and then a garden. Dr TroUope, bishop suffragan of
Nottingham, purchased the freehold from the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, and commenced a partial restoration with the
intention that it should once again become the residence of the
bishop of the diocese, but in this he failed. It now belongs
to the bishopric of Southwell; and Dr Ridding has made
additional restorations.
It has been seen that Alfric Puttoc, Gerard, Corbridge and
the two Booths died here, as did Sandys afterwards ; and the
more doubtful Aldred (1069) and Godfrey de Ludham (1266)
are also cited. Where some of the archbishops died and were
buried is so uncertain that it is not surprising to find York
and Southwell both mentioned. And even Robert Holgate,
who died in 1556, is assigned to Southwell, though, as he had
been deprived and was in disgrace, this is not likely.* The
one archbishop who has made the greatest mark in the history
of the whole roll is also the one whose movements at South
well are the best known.
With Wolsey as " perhaps the greatest political genius whom
" England has ever produced," Southwell has nothing to do.
He was Archbishop of York as he was Bishop of Winchester
and Abbot of St. Albans, and held other preferments, in order
to support his great state out of the multiplied revenues. He
never set foot in his diocese until after his fafl, and the manner
of his coming was in this wise :
As the king's Prime Minister, his arrogance had angered
the nobles, his taxes the people, his mode of life, setting "the
* Canon Ornsby buries Aldred at York, and Mr Livett at Southwell.
Holgate retired to Hemsworth ; but his burial is not in that parish register.
An old metrical chronicle makes Corbridge die at Laneham.

112 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
" clergy ill example," had weakened his prestige, and the affair
of Anne Boleyn was his ruin. On the adjournment of the
special court, he repaired with Campeggio to Grafton in Nor
thamptonshire ( 1 9th Sept. 1529). Henry received him graciously;
but Wolsey knew how the king had been prejudiced against
him, -for no preparations had been made for him, and was
resolved on retiring from politics. Supping that night with the
Lords of the Council, the following conversation was held : —
Wolsey — It were well done if the king would send his
chaplains and bishops to their cures and benefices.
Norfolk — Yea, marry, and so it were for you, too.
Wolsey — I would be contented therewith very well, if it
were the king's pleasure to grant me licence, with his favour, to
go to my benefice of Winchester.
Norfolk — Nay, to your benefice of York, where consisteth
your greatest honour and charge.
Wolsey — Even as it shall please the king.
Farnham would have been too near Windsor to suit his.
enemies : and he was not even allowed to retire quietly to
York, while his son, Thomas Wynter, was compelled to resign
his stall of Norwell Overhall and his other preferments.
Almost persecuted to death, and stripped of everything but
his archbishopric, Wolsey was at length suffered to go north, and
reached Southwell on the Thursday after Low Sunday 1530.
As the palace required repairs, he occupied the house of a
non-resident prebendary for five weeks until Whitsuntide. He
was then sixty years old.
A pamphlet published six years later, quoted by Bishop
Creighton, gives an interesting account of the way he dis
charged his duties.
" Who was less beloved in the north than my lord cardinal
" before he was amongst them ? Who better beloved after he
"had been there awhile? He gave bishops a right good ex-
" ample how they might win men's hearts. There were few
" holy days but he would ride five or six miles from his house,
" now to this parish, now to that, and there cause one or other
" of his doctors to make a sermon unto the people. He sat
"amongst them, and said mass before all the parish; he
" saw why churches were made ; he began to restore them to
"their right and proper use; he brought his dinner with him,
"and bade divers of the parish to it. He inquired whether

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY 113
"there were any debate or grudge between any of them. If
" there were, after dinner he sent for the parties to the church
"and made them all one." George Cavendish, his gentleman
usher, speaks to a similar effect of his kindness to rich and
poor, and his endeavours to patch up quarrels. "He made
" many agreements and concords between gentleman and
" gentleman, and between some gentlemen and their wives that
"had been long asunder and in great trouble, and divers other
" agreements between other persons ; making great assemblies
" for the same purpose, and feasting of them, not sparing for
''any costs, where he might make a peace and amity; which
" purchased him much love and friendship in the country."
The Whitsuntide of 1530 must have offered an exceedingly
brilliant spectacle ; for people would come from far and near,
not only to attend the procession and synod, but to get a
glimpse of the once all-powerful cardinal in his fallen estate. ¦
Cavendish relates that on the night of the Wednesday after
Whitweek he had just fallen asleep when he was disturbed
by a message that two travellers were at the gate demanding an
instant interview with the archbishop from the king. He went
down, and found Brereton, a gentleman of the privy chamber,
and Wrotherly, and directed the porter to admit them into his
lodge. When Cavendish had aroused Wolsey, the king's emissaries
had their interview in the latter's private dining-room. "After
" long talk they took out of a male a certain coffer covered with
"green velvet, and bound with bars of silver and gilt, with a
" lock of the same, having a key which was gilt, with the which
"they ope.ned the same chest; out of the which they took a
" certain instrument or writing, containing more than one skin
" or parchment, having many great seals hanging at it, where-
" unto they put more wax for my lord's seal ; the which my
" lord sealed with his own seal, and subscribed his name to the
"same." This document was either a transfer to the king of
some property that had escaped forfeiture, or of the French
king's pension, which Henry was determined to have. The
messengers were refreshed with wine and cold meat, and went
away directly afterwards, refusing Wolsey's offer of a bed, and
grumbling to themselves because he only gave them four
sovereigns each, which, says Cavendish, was more than he
could then afford. The next day. Corpus Christi, in spite of

114 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
his night's rest having been disturbed, Wolsey sang high mass
in the minster. He left Southwell at the end of the summer
for Scrooby and Cawood. He had intended to be enthroned
in York minster, but was arrested before the day fixed for the
ceremonial. He died at Leicester Abbey on November 30th
the same year.
The Beginning of the Reformation.— In 1540 the
chapter, wisely advised, surrendered their estates to the king.
Things went on just as before, until by a special Act (Private
Acts, 33 Henry VIII. c. 10) it was provided that the church and
chapter shall stand in the same perfect state " as it was or stood
"the first day of June in the 32nd yere of the reigne of our
" sovereign lord the king, or at anie time before, and shall
"remaine, continue and be for ever, a perfecte bodie corporate."
It was declared to be the head and mother church of the town
and county of Notts, and everything was returned. Henry had
no political objection to establishments like Southwell : they
did not support the authority of the Pope in the way the abbeys
did. In sparing the chapter, some say the king was influenced
by Cranmer, a native of the county ; others that the leading
men of the county pleaded, while an inscription in the nave
gives the credit to Archbishop Lee. The changes made were
the abolition of the papal authority, the omission of the
Pope's name in the service books, and the reciting of the
Litany in English, with one chapter in English from the Old
Testament, and another from the New ; and in these changes
everyone acquiesced.
A bishopric of Southwell, with jurisdiction over Notts and
Derby, was actually projected at this time, with Dr Richard
Cox (afterwards Bishop of Ely) as the private first prelsLte of the
new see. The old endowments, with some fresh additions,
altogether valued at ;^ioo3 per annum, were set aside for
this purpose. But it was not to be ; either the extravagance
of Henry or the rapacity of his courtiers prevented the
allocation of any of the confiscated church lands ; and South
well was destined to wait and become one of the Victorian
bishoprics. The First Interregnum. — In the autumn of 1545 the
first Chantries Act was passed (37 Henry VIII. c. 4),
by the provisions of which not only chantries but colleges
were conferred upon the king in order to pay the debts his

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY 115
extravagance had contracted. The Court of Augmentations,
to which was entrusted the alienation of the different estates,
left Southwell alone, as the list of 1547 shows that the
prebendaries and other clergy were in the full enjoyment of
their benefices. But a similar Act passed at the beginning
of Edward VI. 's reign involved the whole of the Southwell
properties ; and the chapter became moribund. Some of
the clergy were pensioned ; but vested interests were not
generally recognised. On the petition of the parishioners, the
minster was continued as the parish church ; and the sacrist
prebendary, John Adams, was made vicar of Southwell at a
stipend of ;!£^20 a year, with his vicar-choral, Matthew Fort,
and the old parish vicar, Robert Salwyne, as "assistants to the
" cure," with J^c, a year each.
The Restoration of the Chapter. — The greater part of
the property had been obtained by Northumberland, Lady Jane
Grey's father-in-law, and afterwards went to John Beaumont,
Master of the Rolls. By an Act of 1557 this property re
verted to the Crown in payment of Beaumont's debts. What
follows is very much of a mystery, but some of the pre
bendaries went back : and an action was brought against
them in the Court of Exchequer for trespass. The judgment
delivered was remarkable ; it was decided that the Private
Act exempted the chapter from the later Chantry Acts of
Henry and Edward. The simplest explanation is that
suggested by Mr Leach : Mary wished to restore the
chapter and the church lands, and the action at law was
collusive. Shortly after Mary died, and during the reign of Elizabeth
this decision of the Court of Exchequer was upheld in the
numerous suits brought by the chapter to recover different
fragments of their estates. Eventually almost the whole were
recovered. The vicars-choral were reduced to six, of whom
one was to be parish vicar and a second the master of the
Grammar School. The chantry priests were abolished, their
property being retained by the chapter, and their house let
on lease in various tenements ; but provision was made for
the priests, and a lease of 1574 stipulates for the life interest
in their respective lodgings of the two who still remained.
Being ilUterate, they had been unable to find other preferment,
and with a pension of J^4 and the use of their old rooms

ii6 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
they were mercifully allowed to spend the rest of their lives
where they had formerly served.
Archbishop Sandys (1577-1589) was held in high esteem
by the queen, and was constantly consulted by her. As he
had to organise both diocese and province, as well as attend
the council, Southwell was his most central palace, and there
he made his home. Through his instrumentality a fresh body
of statutes was drawn up. Provisions were made for divine
worship three times a day, for study and preaching, and one
of the canons was to deliver at least two theological lectures
in English during the week. The prebendaries were to preside
in turn, and were to elect a vicar-general from amongst them
selves. This officer exercised all jurisdiction over the peculiar
not specifically reserved for the chapter or the residentiary.
But as the chapter had no permanent chief, and no means
were provided for enforcing residence, the statute became a
dead letter, and the vicars-choral, or minor canons as they
came to be called, were promoted by the chapter to benefices
in their gift, and also became pluralists.
King James passed through Southwell on his accession,
travelling from Scotland to London, and was greatly astonished
at finding so large a church in so small a town. When a
member of his suite pointed out that he had just seen two
larger ones in Durham and York, the king answered peevishly
in his Scotch accent, " Vary weel, vary weel, but by my blude
" this kirk shall justle with York or Durham, or any kirk in
" Christendom." It may have been the impression derived
from his visit, when the chapter greeted him with a loyal
address, which caused him to issue letters-patent, confirming
the chapter in their disputed estates, and so putting an end to
the incessant, if always successful, legislation.
The Saracen's Head and Charles I. — Situated at the
junction of the roads from Mansfield, Newark, and Notting
ham, this famous inn was conveyed by Archbishop Arundel
to John Fysher in 1396. It is so covered with plaster that
it is impossible to assign any date to the building ; but it
appears never to have been rebuilt, only repaired from time to
time. The east side faces the street, and with the outbuildings
surrounds a courtyard, entered under an archway with oaken
doors. Internally it contains long rambling passages ; but the
great point of attraction is the coffee-room in which Charles I.

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY 117
is traditionally said to have given himself up to the Scotch
army. It is two rooms thrown into one ; the ceiling is papered,
but the wainscotting remains on the walls ; and although the
windows have been altered, the old settles beneath are left,
The long passage over the archway leads to the King's Room,
also two thrown into one, in which Bishop Selwyn passed a
night, and composed some halting rhymes. The inn is
associated with the Whitsuntide feasts, and with supposed royal
visits from Edward I. and Edward III., who were more likely
to have rested at the palace.
It is a typical old posting-house ; and there is no reason
whatever to doubt the story that Charles here, as distinct from
the palace, met the Scotch commissioners, as it has been
handed down uninterruptedly.
In the spring of 1646 the affairs of the king were desperate ;
and on 23rd March he sent a message through Montreufl, the
French "resident in Scotland," for the leaders of the Scotch
army. Montreuil was at Southwell, and the army was besieging
the royalist castle of Newark. Charles hoped that as the Scotch
feared the length to which matters were tending, he could
more easily make terms with them than with the Parliamentary
party. On the evening of 26th April he misled his council by
telling them that he was going to London to treat ; and at three
in the morning, accompanied by Ashburnham and his chaplain,
Dr Hudson, and disguised as Ashburnham's servant, with hair
and beard trimmed, secretly left Oxford.
The forlorn monarch at one time entertained the idea of
escaping by sea from Lynn ; but this was abandoned ; and
Hudson went to Montreuil at Southwell to urge him to get
conditions from the Scotch that would satisfy the king. Turn
ing westward the king reached Stamford on the evening of
3rd May ; and staying there, stifl in disguise, he set out on the
night of the 4th, and reached the Saracen's Head at Southwell
at 7 A.M. on the morning of 5th May, where he was received by
Montreuik At Southwell, says Mr S. R. Gardiner, "he fancied
" himself a guest ; but the days of his captivity had in fact
" begun." The negotiations which followed may best be de
scribed as a game at bluff, Lothian (on the part of the Scotch)
and the king each trying to overreach the other; and when
Charles finally gave himself up, Montreuil and the Scotch alike
believed him pledged to Presbyterianism, while Charles fully

ii8 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
trusted that his life and person were safe. The same day he
was removed to Kelham Hall, where David Leslie, the com
mander of the army, had his headquarters. The action of the
king in giving himself up was a complete surprise for the
Scotch leaders, who wrote to the Parliament from Southwell
that it made them feel like men in a dream.
Bishop Selwyn is wrong in supposing that Charles slept in
the king's room : unless he there took such necessary rest as he
was able after his arrival ; but just as likely he made use of
Montreuil's bedroom, which appears to have been the back
part of the present coffee-room. Neither is there anything to
show that he slept there the previous year after Naseby, when
" he wandered helplessly in search of fresh forces." That he
did stay at the Saracen's Head, however, seems certain. The
palace was already in a state of dilapidation, and Charles stfll
in disguise as Ashburnham's servant. No house was in itself
more likely ; and the account dates from the time. As he
passed under the archway of the hostelry with Lothian and his
Scotch escort to the Kelham road, he was but beginning the
initial stage of that sad journey which was to end only on the
scaffold at Whitehall, and convert the life-story of this able but
untrustworthy sovereign into the most pathetic of any king in
English history.
The Second Interregnum. — During the Civil War and
the Commonwealth the prebendaries were compelled to vacate
their stalls and seek refuge where they could : the usual services
were prohibited, and a great deal of injury inflicted on the
statues both outside and in. A warrant was issued to pull
down the nave and all parts not actually required for worship.
Edward Cludd, who had purchased Normanton Park, a man
of influence in the Parliamentary party, saved the building from
demolition. He was a justice of the peace, and celebrated
marriages under an oak in his park, that was called after him.
He lived to see the restoration, and was buried in the church.
When the chapter was restored in 1660, nearly all the stalls
were found to be vacant, and the king filled most of them up
by royal mandate without waiting for the new archbishop.
On the fifth of November 1711, a storm, with thunder and
lightning, passed over the town, accompanied by a high west
wind. The conical roof of the south-west tower took fire, and
the flames spread, injuring the roof of the nave. It spread

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY rig
along the nave to the central tower, melting the bells, and
destroying the organ. Beyond this the annals of the church
and town possess little or nothing further of interest.
In 1780 the buildings in the Vicars' Court were pulled down,
and the present houses erected in their place. The large one
at the end was for the prebendary in residence ; and the two
on either side for four of the minor canons ; the parish vicar
and Grammar School master being provided for elsewhere.
Four years later Booth's chapel was pulled down, and the
Grammar School removed to the old house of the chantry
priests, where the red brick building now stands.
One prebendary (in residence for three months every four
years), and even that frequently by proxy, was considered
sufficient, and so continued to the end.
Some distinguished Prebendaries. — Some members of
the chapter, after the Reformation, became distinguished, and
are deserving of notice. Lancelot Andrewes (North Musk
ham, 1589-99) is still remembered for his Sermons, Devotions,
and Manual for the Sick. At the same time that he held his
Southwell stall, he held another at Westminster, and was master
of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He afterwards became
Dean of Westminster, and in succession Bishop of Chichester,
Ely, and Winchester. On the death of Bancroft, the bishops
met and agreed to recommend Andrewes for the primacy ; but
he was passed over in favour of a far inferior man, George
Abbot, owing to the Scotch favourites that had the ear of
King James. Andrewes was the first preacher of his day,
though the puns in his sermons would excite the laughter of
a modern congregation. He was looked up to for his high
character; and in learning and administrative ability ranked
higher than any of his brother prelates, and was renowned as a
controversialist against Bellarmine. He found time to keep
his residence at Southwell, and became attached to it. Some
of his family settled there, but died out in the eighteenth
century. The other prebendary who calls for notice owes his name
and fame to different circumstances altogether.
William Mompesson (Normanton, 1671-1709) was a
son of the rector of Eakring, and was living at Southwell at
the time Monk passed through on his way from Scotland.
The year after the plague he was vicar of the lonely parish

120 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
of Eyam, to the north of Bakewell, in the Derbyshire Peak.
In the April of 1666 the contagion was conveyed to
Eyam in some patterns of tailors' cloth, and rapidly spread.
His wife urged him to leave, but he declined; and she
remained, their infant son and daughter being sent to
Barnburgh Rectory, in Yorkshire, a Southwell benefice held
by a relative. Mompesson proposed to the Earl of Devon
shire to be responsible for no parishioner crossing the parish
boundary, provided that food was left at stated places. This
arrangement was faithfully carried out, and the contagion did
not spread to any other village. Mompesson, wisely
abandoning the church, held the services on Sundays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays, underneath a curiously - formed
rock hard by, that is stfll pointed out. His wife died —
there is a monument to her in the churchyard, — and no
less than four-fifths of the people. A new burying-ground
had to be marked out in the heath above the village before
the cold weather of late autumn finally stopped the ravages
of the pest. There can be no doubt that the influence and
devotion of this one man isolated the plague, and kept it
strictly confined to the one small village. Archbishop Sterne
gave him the well-earned stall of Normanton ; and the
chapter elected him their vicar-general. He succeeded his
father at Eakring, and was buried there, refusing the deanery
of Lincoln.
The virulence of the pest at Eyam may be gathered from
the fact that, ninety-one years later, five labourers, digging
on the extemporised burial-ground, contracted a putrid fever,
of whom three died, as well as other parishioners. The
infant son, who was removed from Eyam, became prebendary
of Oxton and Cropwell, and succeeded his father as vicar-
general. It is to be regretted that this name is now extinct
in the county.
A number of other prebendaries rose to high preferment.
Matthew Hutton, like Andrewes, a master of Pembroke
college, became Archbishop of York in the reign of Elizabeth.
In the next century Robert Snowden became in succession
bishop of Carlisle, Bristol, and Chichester; John Jegon
obtained Norwich, and made his brother Thomas (also a
prebendary) archdeacon and canon residentiary in his diocese ;
Robert Sanderson, a noted casuist, and one of the few

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY 121
prebendaries who survived the Civil War, was appointed to
the throne of Lincoln at the Restoration ; and William
Jackson, after holding Dunham for thirty-tysfo years, was
Bishop of Oxford in 18 12. We now come to a more dis
tinguished inhabitant.
The Burgage Manor House and Byron —Byron is
always interesting, and an account of his connection with
Southwefl may be useful. On her son's accession to the title
and estates, Mrs Byron was too poor to afford to live at New
stead, which was let ; and after staying for a time at Nottingham
and other places, in 1804 she took the Burgage Manor House
at Southwell — the white house on the green coming up from
the station. Here Byron came first from Harrow for the
summer holidays of this year, at the age of sixteen. In 1805
he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, and was generally at
Southwefl during the vacations up to June 1807, after which we
have no more traces of him. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe saw
him in the Eton and Harrow match of 1805, on the old Dorset
Square Lord's Ground, and afterwards described him toTennyson
as big for his years and moody-looking, and remembered to
have seen him, " bat in hand, limp back to the Pavilion, having
" just lost his wicket, and evidently not over-pleased." At
Southwell, the future poet played cricket and bathed in the
Greet, and, accompanied by John Pigot, made a visit to Harro
gate with his two dogs " Nelson " and " Boatswain." He would
have been happy enough but for the usual quarrels with his
mother, in one of which, to escape the poker, he took refuge
in flight, keeping his address secret from Mrs Byron. While in
hiding from her, he wrote to young Pigot : " Without doubt the
" dames of Southwell reprobate the pernicious example I have
" shown, and tremble lest their babes should disobey their man-
" dates, and quit their mammas on any grievance." But so far
from blaming him, Southwell took his side, and in spite of
constitutional shyness he was a decided favourite.
Not only the young medical student, John Pigot, but his
sister Elizabeth, attracted Byron; and although the affection
never ripened into a passion. Miss Chaworth was too recent —
the young lady had the rare knack of overcoming his shyness,
and in the Pigots' house he felt at home, and went in and out
as he pleased. One day Miss Pigot happened ^to read some
thing of Burns to him, and in the talk that followed was

122 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
surprised to find that Byron also composed verse. He recited
to her the two short pieces to be found at the beginning of
the " Hours of Idleness," " In thee I fondly hoped to clasp,"
and " When to this airy hall " ; and shortly afterwards, urged
partly by his friend and partly by his own budding ambition,
commissioned Ridge of Newark to print a hundred copies of
his juvenile efforts, which was duly done in November 1806.
Miss Pigot lived some forty years after her friend's death, and
is stfll well remembered. His letters to her (including the
earliest published) are in Moore's life ; and she is the Eliza of
his youthful verse.
Another friend, nearly twenty years his senior, was the
Rev. John Thomas Becher, already incidentally referred to
in treating of the nave transepts. He was a son of the vicar-
general, and afterwards succeeded his father. Byron presented
Becher first with a copy of his little volume ; and the result was
remarkable. His friend, after reading the verses, initiated a
discussion carried on in verse ; and so unfavourable was
Becher's criticism, that the whole, with the exception of one
or two copies which could not be recalled, were that same
night committed to the flames. Many of them reappeared in
"Hours of Idleness" the next year; and all, or nearly all,
eventually in the complete editions of his works published
by Murray. Mr Becher advised his friend to study the Bible,
Shakespeare, and Mflton, and not to waste his time in devour
ing the current light literature. He also urged him, but with
out success, to cultivate the county magnates, and to mix
more in general society. Byron's answer may be found in the
" Hours of Idleness." In reality, the lord of Newstead was
too proud and too shy to mix freely with the county world
without making what he thought a sufficient display. Thomas
Moore regretted that the young genius was so soon removed
from Mr Becher's influence ; and expressed the opinion that,
had he remained longer at Southwell, his after-life might have
been free from vice.
In wridng the "Hours of Idleness" he kept late hours.
His first visit in the morning was to Miss Pigot, to whom he
read the production of the previous night. He then went on
to the Bechers' and other houses. His evenings were given
by preference, to the Pigots, and he and Miss Pigot were
accustomed to play and sing together such songs as the

THE PALACE AND WOLSEY 123
" Maid of Lodi." Among his verses with a local tinge are
some Hues addressed to Miss Houson, who was alarmed one
day at the sound of a bullet he had fired in his mother's
garden ; the prologue to some private theatricals, a " Reply "
to his friend, John Pigot ; and the often-quoted punning
epitaph on the drunken carrier. When he was seriously ill,
and wrote his "Adieu," he referred to the Greet —
Streamlet ! along whose rippling surge
My youthful limbs were wont to urge.
At noontide heat, their pliant course ;
Plunging with ardour from the shore,
Thy springs will lave these limbs no more,
Deprived of active force.
But the associations of the minster failed to make any
impression on him ; and the subject is ignored alike in his
verse and letters. The sUly affectation with which he bemoaned
the quietness and dulness of the town has been constantly
quoted ; what he really thought was something quite different,
and is conveyed in a letter to a friend named Dallas, written
in 181 1, whom he advised to settle there.
" Now, I know a large village, or small town, about twelve
" miles off [Newstead Abbey] where your family would have the
" advantage of very genteel society, without the hazard of
" being annoyed by mercantile affluence ; where you would
" meet with men of information and independence ; and where
" I have friends to whom I should be proud to introduce you.
" There are, besides, a coffee-room, assemblies, etc. etc.,
" which bring people together. My mother had a house there
" for some years, and I am well acquainted with the economy
" of Southwell, the name of this little comihonwealth." *
* Perhaps the last survivor of those who remembered Byron was Mrs
Alfred Tatham, a daughter of Mr Becher. She told me she distinctly
remembered, as a very little girl (it was about her earliest recollection),
sitting on the poet's knee, who was fond of children. Mr Becher's grand
son still lives in the house with which Byron was familiar.

CHAPTER V
THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAPTER
The difference between the Southwell depicted by Byron and
the Southwell of to-day is due to organic changes. In 1837
Notts, less the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the chapter, was
transferred from York to Lincoln ; and four years later South
well shared the same fate.
Thus was broken the long connection, not only with the
diocese, but also with the province of York. In 1840 a clause
or two in a Bill (3 and 4 Vict. c. 113), supplemented the next
year by a special Act (4 and 5 Vict. c. 39), destroyed the
chapter, after making allowance for vested interests, as a useless
waste of ecclesiastical revenues. The canonries, as vacancies
occurred, were not to be filled up, the minor canons were to
be reduced to two (eventually to none at all) ; and the property
was to go to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to help in found
ing Ripon and Manchester, although these two dioceses were
quite wealthy enough to endow their own bishoprics. What
the total revenues were at the time of the dissolution, it is
impossible to say. A great part of the incomes, both of
the common and trust funds and of the various prebends, was
paid in lump sums, technically called "fines," at the renewal of
leases. It has been estimated as high as ^^30,000 a year : the
real nett income of the whole of the properties may, perhaps,
have reached a third of this high figure. It must, however,
be remembered, in computing the real loss, that the Com
missioners have borne the whole expense of restoring the edifice.
In succession to the sixteen prebendaries and the six minor
canons, a brand new benefice, a rectory, was created and
endowed not over- liberally, and the minster reduced to the
status of an ordinary parish church.
During a great part of the period of transition the two minor
canons allowed temporarily to remain filled the duty usually
124

'/

126 SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL
assigned to canons in residence, and preached in the afternoon.
The Act of 1 840 for curtailing, or, as at Southwell, for abolishing,
cathedral and collegiate chapters was passed during the heat
wave of change which followed in the footsteps of the first
Reform Bill. No one opposed it more vigorously than did
the young Tory and High Church member for Newark, Mr
W. E. Gladstone, who added to his rising fame by his great
speech against its provisions. But, in spite of the numerous
petitions that came pouring in, the general middle and upper
class opinion of the day was against such colleges as Southwell,
and in favour of devoting their revenues to other purposes. It
has changed since ; and if the present Bishop of Southwell
were asked his opinion, he would probably answer that a
chapter of sixteen prebendaries appointed by himself would
have been of inestimable service in carrying on the administra
tion of the diocese. So ended a clerical republic which had
safely survived the storms of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
The Grammar School. — By yet another blow the
Grammar School was crippled. Two fellowships and two
scholarships at St. John's, Cambridge, founded by Dr Keton in
the reign of Henry VIII., with a preference for choristers, were
confiscated. Under Dr William Fletcher (a first classman and
Fellow of Brasenose) the school was the most flourishing in the
county : thanks to the craze for meddling reform, it was after
wards reduced to three boys. It has been left for the present
headmaster, who was appointed by Bishop Wordsworth when
the fortunes of the school were at a low ebb, assisted by his
son, to restore this time-honoured seat of education to a
favourable and prominent position, although aflowed by the
Commissioners only the old sixteenth-century endowment of
twenty-three pounds a year. At the next voidance of the one
remaining minor canonry, the headmaster of the Grammar
School will be the sole remaining officer allowed to continue ;
and a more generous policy might well be pursued with regard
to the oldest educational establishment of the county. When
it is added that the " very genteel society " of Byron success
fully opposed the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway, it need
not now be a cause for wonder that the town does not occupy
that position the author of " Childe Harold " described.
The Foundation of the See.— The county of Notting
ham had not time to settle into its new position before it was

THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAPTER 127
discovered that the reconstructed diocese of Lincoln, with over
eight hundred benefices, was too large for one bishop to super
vise. In Bishop Jackson's time the need of a new diocese was
mooted ; with Bishop Wordsworth this idea took active shape ;
and during the administration of Lord Beaconsfield the neces
sary legislative sanction was obtained, although, as the main
part of the endowment had to be collected by subscription, the
see was not constituted untfl 1884. Bishop Wordsworth not
only parted with a portion of his episcopal income, but was the
most munificent subscriber ; and to him it is due that Southwell
had the preference as the see town over the large and growing
city of Nottingham. It was also part of the scheme of this
distinguished prelate that the diocese should be limited to the
one county, and that the old palace should be restored for the
bishop's residence, but neither of these was carried into effect.
The plan of Henry VIII. was adopted, and Derbyshire added,
while the restoration of the palace was abandoned. The
minster was thus chosen as the cathedral church out of
sentiment ; and it is to be regretted that it did not at the
same time revert to its old province of York.
The new honorary canons of the diocese, with the bishop at
their head as dean, took the names of the old prebends. The
work they have done in the diocese has justified their appoint
ment ; but historical association, while respected in one sense,
was here also strangely disregarded, since between the old
prebendaries and the new canons there is no kind of con
nection. The first bishop, Dr George Ridding, headmaster
of Winchester, has continued the untiring munificence of Dr
Wordsworth ; and his organising powers have found full scope
in the working of the two counties.
Thus the outline of the story of this litde town from the
days of the Britons and Romans onwards comes to an end.
Southwell may well take for her motto —
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways.

APPENDICES APPENDIX A
THE CULDEES
The derivation is given from Cultor (or perhaps cola] Dei. The Culdees
are generally supposed to have been =>. religious order founded by St.
Columba in the middle of the sixth century ; but this would seem to be
a mistake, for, says Canon Ornsby, the name was unknown to Baeda, Eddi,
and Andamnan. Deicola { = Godefrihte, or God-fearing) was the appella
tion given first to anchorites, and afterwards to certain secular clergy.
The clergy of Canterbury were called Cultores [Dei] Clerici in ioo5 ;
those of York Colidei or Culdees so late as Henry I. Mr Leach says
(p. XX.) that the clergy of Lichfield were likewise of Culdee origin under
St. Chad. Perhaps the least unlikely inference is that at Southwell, as
elsewhere, the Culdees represent an intermediate stage between the primi
tive missionaries and the prebendaries of a later time with their separate
churches and endowments. They were allowed to marry, and shared in
a common fund.
APPENDIX B
A STORY OF THE SUPERNATURAL
Florence of Worcester says (under date 1137) : "At Southwell, a 'vill'
" of the archbishop's, while a grave was being made for a funeral, there
" were found some relics of saints, and a glass phial with raised sides to
" prevent its being broken, and full of very clear water ; which being given
" to the sick, they were on tasting it restored to their former health."
Florence says that this story was told him by Henry, Bishop of Winchester.
APPENDIX C
CHANTRIES, CHAPELS, AND ALTARS
The eight chantry foundations of the thirteenth century were St. Thomas
the Martyr (three), St. Peter, St. Nicholas (with Halam annexed), St.
Stephen, St. John Baptist, and St. John the Evangelist. After a lull of
more than a century come St. Mary at the altar of St. Michael (with
Wheatley annexed), a second St. John the Baptist, otherwise the Morrow
Mass, St. Mary Magdalene, and Our Lady, and St. Cuthbert (two, founded
in 1479).
The Lady Chapel is a puzzle : it was outside the choir, on the north side,
and with the churchyard adjoining the east ; and no site seems to satisfy
these three conditions. Perhaps more than one chapel is so named in wills.
The chapel of St. John the Baptist had two altars, one to that saint, and
128

APPENDICES 129
another to St. Cuthbert, each with two chantries : it was the Vavasour or
Booth Chapel at the south-west of the nave, the place of the Grammar
School. The chapel of St. John the Evangelist was in the north aisle
(whether of nave or choir not stated).
The locality of St. Thomas' Chapel with its three chantries is uncertain ;
and there is a mention of the chapels of St. Lawrence and of St. Margaret
near one another, but their altars are not mentioned. The altar of St. Peter
was within the choir, but the sites of the remaining chantry altars cannot
be settled. Besides the parish altar of St. Vincent, that of Our Lady of
Grace is twice mentioned in the wills. The high altar is in one place
called " the greater altar of St. Mary."
There were, besides, the chapels of St. Thomas the Martyr in the
Burgage, St. Catherine at the end of Westhorpe near the holy well,
two in Easthorpe half-a-mile apart, and one in Normanton. The names
of the three last are unknown ; and the five seem to have been chantries. I
am chiefly indebted to Mr Leach for the above information.
APPENDIX D
A STORY OF CHARLES I.
Robert Thoroton, who published his "Nottinghamshire" in 1677, says
that a Mr Savage told him the foUowing story : — The time of this visit of
the king was between Naseby and the subsequent residence at Oxford.
The king, with a few faithful followers, took refuge at Southwell. "The day
" after his arrival he walked about the town not known, and entered thf
" shop of a shoemaker, whose name was Lee, who was a fanatic of the day.
" His majesty, after some conversation with this man, bid him take measure
" for a pair of shoes. Lee, in taking the king's foot in his hand and looking
"at him attentively, refused to jiroceed. The king, astonished at the man's
' ' behaviour, desired him to do what he had requested ; but the shoemaker
" actually refused, giving a reason that the king was the customer he had
" been warned against in a dream the night before, in which he [the customer]
" was doomed to destruction, and those who worked for him would never
' ' thrive. The forlorn monarch, whose misfortunes had opened his mind to
" the impressions of superstitions, uttered an ejaculation expressive of his
" resignation to the will of providence, and returned to the palace, which
" was the place of his abode."
Thoroton says that Charles was many times at Southwell, and once with
the queen.
APPENDIX E
PATRONAGE OF THE CHAPTER
The chapter were patrons of the daughter parishes of Bleasby-cum-Morton,
Edingley, Farnsfield, Halam, Kirklington and Upton, and of Boughton,
Kneesal, RoUeston, S. Wheatley and Woodborough in Notts; of Barn
burgh in Yorkshire ; and of Barnoldby, Beelsby, Brigsley, Hatcliffe,
Howerby, Ravensdale, and Waltham in North Lincolnshire.
All the prebendaries but those of Normanton, Woodborough, Palishall,
and the sacrist presented to their several vicarages, excepting that the two
I

I30

APPENDICES

prebendaries presented alternately to both Oxton and Cropwell. The
prebendary of Normanton presented to the Southwell parish vicarage, and
North Muskham to Caunton. At the dissolution, after allowing for vested
interests, the whole of this patronage was divided between the two new
bishoprics of Ripon and Manchester, but until Mr Shepherd's death, in
1873, th^ surviving prebendaries reserved their patronage. Barnburgh was
at one time worth ^55° ^ y^^r nett, and Beelsby a hundred less ; but most
of the others were of small value. There were also some half-dozen
chapelries.
APPENDIX F

THE LAST OF THE CLERGY
Prebendaries.

Beckingham .

Dunham Eton
Halloughton .
North Leverton
North Muskham
South Muskham
Normanton

Norwell Overhall
Norwell Palishall .
Norwell Tertia Pars
Oxton and Cropwell
Oxton Altera Pars .
RamptonSacrist .
Woodborough Parish Vicar

Thomas Henry Shepherd, the
last of the prebendaries, died Feb.
1873, on whose death the patronage
of the chapter went to the bishops
of Ripon and Manchester. He
was rector of Clayton and S.
Wheatly.
Thomas Cozens Perci val.
William Barrow.
Robert Lowe.
Henry Smith.
Charles Boothby.
John Thomas Becher.
George Wilkins, vicar-general and
Archdeacon of Nottingham. After
the Act of Dissolution he lived at
the Residence House, and died
there 1865.
Chas. Geo. Venables Vernon.
Robert Chaplin.
Edward Denison (rB. of Salisbury).
James Jarvis Cleaver.
Frederick Anson (D. of Chester).
Fitzgerald Wintour.
Charles Nixon.
Edward Garrard Marsh.
Morgan Watkins.

Minor Canons or Vicars-Choral.
Alfred Tatham (1841-76).
Robert Frederick Smith, M.A., vicar of Edingley-cum- Halam. Late
scholar of Lincoln College, Oxford. Succeeded Mr Dimock (preferred to
Barnburgh in 1863), and still remains. The last clergyman associated with
the defunct chapter. He was ordained as curate to the Rector of Southwell
in 1856.

PLAN OF
SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL.

DIMENSIONS- EXTERIOR.
Length — 318 feet.
Length of Nave — 185 feet.
Width of Nave — 72 feet.
Choir — Length, 128 feet.
Choir Aisles — Length, 98 ft.
Choir, with Aisles —
Breadth, 73 feet.
Choir, with both
Transept Chapels
—Breadth, 108
feet.

Height of Central Tower,
105 feet.
Height of Western Tower,
99 feet.
Do. , including Modern
Spires, 149 feet.

W. H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.,
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH

Bell's Cathedral Series.
EDITED BY
GLEESON WHITE and E. F. STRANGE.
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EXETER. By Percy Addleshaw, B.A. 3? Illustrations.
WINCHESTER. By P. W. Sergeant. 50 Illustrations.
LICHFIELD. By A. B. Clifton. 42 Illustrations.
NORWICH. By C. IL B. Quennell. 38 Illustrations.
PETERBOROUGH. By Rev. W. D. Sweeting. 51 Illustrations.
HEREFORD. By A. Hugh Fisher, A. R.E. 34 Illustrations.
LINCOLN. By A. F. Kendrick, B.A. 46 Illustrations.
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Opinions of the Press.
" For the purpose at which they aim they are admirably done, and
there are few visitants to any of our noble shrines who will not enjoy their
visit the better for being furnished with one of these delightful books,
which can be slipped into the pocket and carried with ease, and is yet
distinct and legible. ... A volume such as that on Canterbury is exactly
what we want, and on our next visit we hope to have it with us. It is
thoroughly helpful, and the views of the fair city and its noble cathedral
are beautiful. Both volumes, moreover, will serve more than a temporary
purpose, and are trustworthy as well as delightful. " — Notes and Queries.
"We have so frequently in these columns urged the want of cheap,
well -illustrated, and well -written handbooks to our cathedrals, to take
the place of the out-of-date publications of local booksellers, that we are
glad to hear that they have been taken in hand by Messrs George Bell
& Sons." — St. James's Gazette.
"Visitors to the cathedral cities of England must often have felt the
need of some work dealing with the history and antiquities of the city
itself, and the architecture and associations of the cathedral, more portable
than the elaborate monographs which have been devoted to some of them,
more scholarly and satisfying than the average local guide-book, and more
copious than the section devoted to them in the general guide-book of the.

county or district. Such a legitimate need the 'Cathedral Series' now
being issued by Messrs George Bell & Sons, under the editorship of Mr
Gleeson White and Mr E. F. Strange, seems well calculated to supply.
The volumes are handy in size, moderate in price, well illustrated, and
written in a scholarly spirit. The history of cathedral and city is in
telligently set forth and accompanied by a descriptive survey of the
building in all its detail. The illustrations are copious and well selected,
and the series bids fair to become an indispensable companion to the
cathedral tourist in England." — Times.
"They are nicely produced in good type, on good JDaper, and contain
numerous illustrations, are well written, and very cheap. We should
imagine architects and students of architecture will be sure to buy the
series as they appear, for they contain in brief much valuable information. "
— British Architect.
"Half the charm of this little book on Canterbury springs from the
writer's recognition of the historical association of so majestic a building
with the fortunes, destinies, and habits of the English people. . . . One
admirable feature of the book is its artistic illustrations. They are
both lavish and satisfactory — even when regarded with critical eyes." —
Speaker. ' ' There is likely to be a large demand for these attractive handbooks. ''
— Globe.
"Bell's ' Cathedral Series,' so admirably edited, is more than a descrip
tion of the various English cathedrals. It will be a valuable historical
record, and a work of much service also to the architect. The illustrations
are well selected, and in many cases not mere bald architectural drawings
but reproductions of exquisite stone fancies, touched in their treatment by
fancy and guided by art." — Star.
" Each of them contains exactly that amount of information which the
intelligent visitor, who is not a specialist, will wish to have. The dis
position of the various parts is judiciously proportioned, and the style is
very readable. The illustrations supply a further important feature ; they
are both numerous and good. A series which cannot fail to be welcomed
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Glasgow Herald.
"Those who, either for purposes of professional study or for a cultured
recreation, find it expedient to ' do ' the English cathedrals will welcome
the beginning of Bell's ' Cathedral Series.' This set of books is an
attempt to consult, more closely, and in greater detail than the usual
guide-books do, the needs of visitors to the cathedral towns. The series
cannot but prove markedly successful. In each book a business-like
•description is given of the fabric of the church to which the volume
relates, and an interesting history of the relative diocese. The books are
plentifully illustrated, and are thus made attractive as well as instructive.
They cannot but prove welcome to all classes of readers interested either
in English Church history or in ecclesiastical architecture. " — Scotsman.
"A set of little books which may be described as very useful, very
pretty, and very cheap .... and alike in the letterpress, the illustra
tions, and the remarkably choice binding, they are ideal guides." —
Liverpool Daily Post.
"They have nothing in common with the almost invariably wretched
local guides save portability, and their only competitors in the quality and
quantity of their contents are very expensive and mostly rare works, each
of a size that suggests a packing-case rather than a coat-pocket. The
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LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS.

3 9002 '