ANCIENT GATEWAY FORMERLY IN THE CLOSE.ANCIENT GATEWAY FORMERLY IN THE CLOSE.[From a Print dated 1773.
[From a Print dated 1773.
Not for long, however, did the Roundheads remain in possession. Prince Rupert was sent from Oxford, the headquarters of the Royalist party at the time, to retake Lichfield. Having taken Bromicham on the way, he arrived at Lichfield with a strong force, and history repeated itself. The town offered no opposition, and Rupert had to lay siege to the close, which now was better garrisoned. The Royalists erected batteries on the north side, and kept up a heavy fire; they also attempted to undermine the walls, and finally succeeded in blowing up one of the towers of the close, and a fierce encounter took place, in which many men were slaughtered on both sides. At length, after ten days' siege, the close was surrendered to the king by the governor, who probably got better terms than he expected, as Rupert was required at Reading. The articles of capitulation are referred to by Clarendon as being most honourable, and are as follow:—
"It is consented by Colonel Hastings, by the authority given him by his highness Prince Rupert, that, in consideration of the delivery and yielding up of the Close of Lichfield, Lieutenant-Colonel Russel, and all the Captains and Officers with him, shall march out of the said Close, to-morrow being the one and twentieth day of this instant April, by ten o'clock in the morning, with fourscore men and musquetts, with flying colours, and fourscore horsemen, with arms belonging to them, and all other persons within the said Close to be at liberty to goe whither they please; and for their better and safe conveyance, a free pass or convoy from his highnesse, and eleven carts to convey away such goods as belong to any of the officers or soldiers, with themselves, to the City ofCoventry; and that all prisoners shall be released on both sides, which have been taken in the City of Stafford since the coming down of the Right Honourable Lord Brooke. In witness whereof, we have hereunto put our hand and seal, this twentieth day of April A.D. 1643.H. Hastings."
Russel did not leave empty-handed, as he is said to have taken away the communion plate and linen, and whatever else was of value. He was succeeded in command of the close by Colonel Bagot, who held it until 1646, when in the general ruin of the king's affairs the close was again taken.
In "Mercurius Aulicus" there is an interesting anecdote which shows the state of feeling between the two parties. A certain Captain Hunt, who had a command in the neighbouring town of Tamworth, sent Colonel Bagot the following challenge:—"Bagot, thou sonne of an Egyptian ... meete mee half the way to-morrow morning, the half-way betwixt Tamworth and Litchfeald, if thou darest; if not, I will whippe whensoever I meete thee. Tamworth, this December 1644.—Thomas Hunt." Colonel Bagot did not neglect the challenge, and though he did not succeed in taking him prisoner, he "whipped" him home to Tamworth.
During the time Colonel Bagot was governor the post can have been no sinecure, for although there was no regular siege to be compared to the two just described, yet, lying as it did with so many Parliamentary strongholds in the immediate neighbourhood, this period cannot have been one of peace; and Dr Harwood, in his "History of Lichfield," goes so far as to say that the close was frequently in a state of seige at this period. The battle of Naseby was fought on the 14th June 1645, with disastrous effect to the king. Colonel Bagot was present with 200 men, and no doubt escorted the king back to Lichfield, for he lay there for at least one night, and received an address from his faithful citizens, which, from its wording, shows that there was little hope left in his side. The king came again later in the year, and about March in the following year, 1646, the last siege commenced. It was a desultory affair compared to the first two, and only ended when the Royalists, in July, finding that the king had practically no real army in the field anywhere, surrendered again on terms which were most honourable to both sides.
The damage done to the cathedral in these times was estimatedat £14,000, which was for those days a very large amount. Some of the losses are thus particularised:
But enough has been said to show that the cathedral was in a most ruinous state, and so it remained until a twelvemonth after the Restoration. From a manuscript in the Ashmolean Collection at Oxford, it appears that Elias Ashmole had an interview with the king in June 1660 as to the condition of the cathedral. The memorandum reads: "16 June 1660. This morning Mr Rawlins of Lichfield tould me that the Clearke Viccars of the Cathedrall Church had entered the Chapter-house and there said service; and this when the Vestry was the only place in the Church yt had a roof to shelter them. This very afternoon, I, having an opportunity to waite on the Kg, and being in his Closet, tould him that the aforesaid remaining number of poore Clearks Vicarrs had assembled in the aforesaid place, and there kept their Canonicall houres and prayd for his Maty, which he was pleased to heare. Upon further discourse, I acquainted him with the desolacion of the place, which he much lamented, and said he had been informed that Winchestre Cathedrall had exceedingly suffred in these late tymes, and that they had turnd it into Brewhouses, Malt-houses, etc." And again, on "July 18, 1660, Mr Dugdale moved Dr Sheldon to become an instrument for the repair of Lichfield Cathedral; and proposed that the prebends, etc., that were admitted should part with one-half of their profits towards the repair of the fabrick, which would be no great burden to them; and by this example the gentry would be invited to join with them in some considerable contribution.N.B.—I find this method succeeded accordingly."
The see was vacant for nearly a year after the Restoration, as Bishop Frewen, who had been appointed to the see by Charles I., was almost at once made Archbishop of York. At last, in December 1661, John Hacket, Doctor of Divinity of Trinity College, Cambridge, was appointed, and he at once set himself to the repair of the dilapidated cathedral; on the very morning of his arrival at Lichfield he is said to have set his carriage-horsesand servants to the work of clearing out the rubbish, and with his own hands to have set them an example at the start. The work to be done must have appeared to be almost impossible of completion, for the central spire was still lying in ruins over the chapter-house and choir, the roof was broken in, and the pavements completely destroyed: everything was ruinous, for the Parliamentary folk had during the Common-wealth seized all materials which seemed to be of use for the repair of the dwelling-houses in the close and neighbourhood. However, the work progressed; the bishop was so energetic that he was able to collect in the surrounding country about £8000, and so generous that he subscribed himself a sum of £1683, 12s.: and in eight years he succeeded in restoring the beauty of the cathedral.
The service at which it was re-consecrated was of great solemnity and ceremony: "His lordship, being arrayed in his episcopal vestments, attended by the dean, dignitaries, prebendaries, and other members of the Church, accompanied by many of the nobility and gentry, the bailiffs, citizens, and other public officers of the city and county of Lichfield, with an immense concourse of people, entered at the great west doors of the Cathedral. The vicars, choristers, etc., first walked up the south aisle of the Church, where the bishop with a loud voice repeated the first verse of the 144th psalm. Afterwards the whole choir alternately sang the psalm to the organ. In the same order they proceeded to the north aisle. The bishop sang the 100th psalm, which was repeated by the whole company. Then the train passed to the body of the Church, where the bishop began the 102nd psalm, which when the vicars choral had concluded, he commanded the doors of the choir to be opened, and in the same form, first encompassed the south side. The bishop began the first verse of the 122nd psalm; the company finished it, and with the like ceremony proceeded to the north side, and sang the 131st psalm." The procession over, the bishop knelt down in the centre of the choir and prayed silently; and then with a loud voice called on all the people to join with him in the Lord's Prayer, which was followed by other prayers suitable to the occasion. He then pronounced a solemn benediction on the act in which they were engaged, and upon all that were present. The usual service of morning prayer followed, withtwo special anthems, and a collection—not for the cathedral—but for the poor of the parish. The bishop also gave three magnificent banquets—to the cathedral clergy, to the nobility of the neighbourhood, and to the principal citizens of the city.
Thus concluded the ceremony of re-consecration, a work which left the cathedral, not, unhappily, as it was when the first siege took place, but still a very beautiful edifice, with more of the Perpendicular style about the windows than previously, and with grievous signs here and there of the terrible misfortunes it had weathered. Sir Christopher Wren is said to have designed the new central spire, and to have acted as architect to the re-builders; but this is almost certainly not the case: his advice may have been asked, but probably at the most he gave it with regard to rich altar-piece in the Corinthian style which was erected in front of the old screen behind the high altar. At any rate, his signature appears on one of the sixteen papers on this matter still preserved among the muniments of the cathedral.
The king gave 200 fair timber trees out of Needwood forest, and his brother, the Duke of York, afterwards King James II., gave the money for the tracery of the great west window. This window remained until the recent alterations, when it was replaced by one more in accordance with the original thirteenth century style. The Duke of York's window, with its ill-proportioned geometrical tracery, need not be regretted any more than the removal of the heroic statue of his Majesty King Charles II., which occupied the central niche above it. The statue was principally remarkable for its ugliness, and for the history of the stonemason who hewed it; he afterwards married a rich wife, and finally arrived at the dignity of knighthood. Bishop Hacket adorned the church with new stalls and with an organ which cost £600; and he also made arrangements for new bells worthy of the cathedral. He ordered six, and three of them were delivered in his life-time. Only one—the tenor bell—however, was hung in time for the good bishop to hear it. His biographer, Dr Plume, says: "The first time it was rung, the bishop was very weak; yet he went out of his bed-chamber into the next room to hear it: he seemed well pleased with the sound, and blessed God, who had favoured him with life to hear it; but at the same time observed that it would be his passing-bell, and retiring into his chamber,he never left it till he was carried to his grave." He died in October 1670.
THE SOUTH TRANSEPT IN 1813.THE SOUTH TRANSEPT IN 1813.
For some time the cathedral has no history to be recounted. In 1750 we know that the ancient library outside the north aisle, built by Deans Heywood and Yotton, was removed, and the churchyard levelled; we also know that the roof became very defective, and the rain came in, so that a new roofing was required. Pennant tells us that the dean and chapter were obliged to substitute slates instead of metal, on account of the narrow revenues left to maintain this venerable pile; and after the strictest economy, they were under the necessity of contributing from their own income in order to complete their plan.
A few years later it was found that the fabric itself was in so dilapidated a condition that much more extensive repairs were necessary, and so Mr Wyatt, the celebrated architect, as Britton calls him, came to Lichfield and began that scheme of alteration which has been the object of so much ridicule and contempt. To lovers of church architecture at the end of the nineteenth century it seems astounding that the splendid and inimitable cathedrals and churches of this country should have been handed over every one to be destroyed and debased in the way Wyatt destroyed and debased them. But there is no doubt that Wyatt represented the spirit of the time, just as Sir Gilbert Scott represented the spirit of the middle of this century. Then it was a love of "vistas" which actuated the alterations, and caused the destruction of anything which came in the way of what was considered a fine view. In those days "vistas" were the all-absorbing consideration and the subject of discussion amongst those who considered themselves cultured, as may be seen in the novels of Jane Austen, and in "Mansfield Park" in particular. Later, the passion for replacing what was old or worn by time with something new, something which was supposed to be a reproduction of the old, has caused endless destruction. The later passion has not yet disappeared, unhappily; but thankfully we may note the signs of the times, and feel sure that in a few years neither a Wyatt with his vistas and Roman cement, nor others, who, having more knowledge, are therefore the less excusable, will be permitted under any circumstances to lay a finger on what it has here and there graciously pleased their forerunners to leave unspoiled. Howlittle this is, can be judged by a visit to any cathedral church from Worcester downwards.
The achievements of Wyatt are recounted by Britton, who does not appear to have entirely decided whether he approved or not. Some of them, no doubt, were necessary; and it would be unfair to indiscriminately blame any architect who had to deal, however violently, with a building which had deteriorated, not merely in the pass of time, but also by the shock of war. Also a great deal of what Wyatt did was done for the sake of warmth, though the object in view, it is said, was not attained. Britton says that not only was there a general restoration of doors, windows, and flooring throughout, but also "two of the spires were partly rebuilt, the ends of the transepts were strengthened by new buttresses, the external roofs of the aisles were raised, and five divisions of the stone roof in the nave were taken down and replaced with plaster. The Lady Chapel was united with the choir by removing the screen which had been erected by Bishop Hacket. On taking this away, the workmen discovered the beautiful old screen which formed in all probability the original partition when the Lady Chapel was completed by the executors of Walter de Langton. This elaborate piece of architecture was in a very mutilated state; but Mr Wyatt, having restored it by the assistance of Roman cement to a very perfect condition, appropriated part of it to the new altar-piece, and the remainder to the organ screen or partition which divides the nave from the Choir," and which took up the whole of the western bay of the choir.
Since Britton's time it has been thought necessary to take another tone and to try to justify these alterations. Mr James Potter, the son of Mr Wyatt's chief assistant, who was afterwards architect to the cathedral, has endeavoured to prove that some of the alterations were unavoidable, and that the others were not made under Wyatt's advice, but in spite of it. Incidentally, in the course of a letter to theStaffordshire Advertiser, he speaks of the "unsightly and incongruous work of Wren's," in referring to the wooden reredos, and states that Wren had previously closed the arches of the four most western bays of the choir in order to receive the stalls. He also says: "But so completely did Wren perform his work of blocking-up that he took care to conceal every vestige ofmoulding, both of the piers and the archivolts, leaving only in view the clustered shafts from which the vaulting of the roof sprang. I have before noticed that Mr James Wyatt's death occurred in A.D. 1813, and that this western portion of the choir remained in the state in which Sir Christopher Wren left it up to the following year. In the early part of that year the architect to the fabric, the late Mr Potter, was instructed by the dean and chapter to cause the entire removal of the old stall work and unmask the three arches (then concealed), this being the space on either side of the choir occupied by the stalls in question. The arches being much dilapidated and past restoration, Dean Woodhouse decided to have them made to correspond with the decorated bays in an easterly direction. This work was executed, as also the canopy of the new stalls, in Roman cement. I cannot myself think that Dean Woodhouse exhibited any degree of bad taste in adopting the existing decorated arches as his model for the new ones; and, as regards the canopies of the new stalls, they were exact resemblances of the old reredos, and surely no modern architect will presume to find fault with them. I must here observe that the choice of material was not confined to the architect employed to carry out the work, but was chosen by the dean and chapter, the state of the fabric fund, out of which the whole of the expenses were defrayed, being insufficient to meet the outlay of a more costly material."
The above account is most interesting, and, assuming that the writer was correct in the facts as to what was done by Wyatt and by his father, we are confronted with a difficulty. From Professor Willis's account, already quoted, it is obvious that he was of opinion that the alteration in the style of the front of these pier arches was made in Gothic times. Mr Potter says it was done in the nineteenth century. It is, of course, possible for some alteration to have been made at both these times; but it looks as if the harmony was not complete until recently, probably because the height of the old stalls prevented the variations from being easily seen. As to Wren, Mr Potter probably was only repeating the recognised tradition that Wren was responsible for the rebuilding by Bishop Hacket, and no argument can be deduced on this point, the latest and best opinion being that there is, as alreadystated, no evidence to prove that the great Sir Christopher had much to do with the cathedral.
Soon after Wyatt's death the policy of Roman cement, which he had inaugurated, was continued, and the whole of the west front become one mass of stucco and paste. The row of kings was replaced in this way, as also the statues in the great porch, and all the mouldings and decorations were covered with cement, and practically the whole cathedral from end to end had its deficiencies added to in this way. This work was completed about 1822. From then to 1856 the cathedral did not receive much alteration; but in the latter year Sir Gilbert, then Mr. Scott was called in, and the extensive alterations were commenced, which may be said scarcely to have finished in this year of 1897. It is not necessary to discuss here this restoration. It is sufficient to say that it has been the aim of those in authority to restore the cathedral to the appearance and arrangement it presented at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Wyatt's alterations received scant courtesy, and the cathedral as we now see it may be declared to be a triumph for the restorer—so great a triumph, indeed, that in many parts the unsuspicious admirer might be led to conclude that he was looking at a brand new edifice. Still, the cathedral has some of its old work left, and perhaps in the nave we are confronted with more of the work of the original Gothic builders than in any other part. What has been done in the last forty years is specifically discussed in the description of the exterior and interior in the two next chapters; but here it will be well to show what the condition of the cathedral was in the middle of the century, just before the recent restoration. Canon Lonsdale has given us a splendid description in his "Recollections," and if anything can reconcile us to the wholesale renewal which then took place, it will be found in the account which he gives in this little pamphlet, from which are now quoted the following sentences. He says: "The Nave and Transepts were absolutely empty of furniture of any kind, except that the South Transept contained the fittings of the Dean's Consistory Court (since abolished), and in the North Transept, on the spot where the organ now is, stood the statue of Bishop Ryder, raised on a high pedestal, and looking as if it were about to tumble forward. The walls, arches, and pillars were oneuniform, dead, yellowish whitewash, many coats thick; as also the Choir from end to end, and from top to bottom, and indeed the whole of the interior.... The Nave was quite unused; indeed, except during service hours, the Verger's Silver Key alone gave admission to any part of the church.... The two parts of the building were altogether separate from each other. The Choir was entered by a door under a high partition, composed of remains of the original High Altar, fourteenth century screen, and of other materials. This partition filled the whole of the first bay of the present Choir. On each side of the entrance were Vestries for the Lay Vicars and the Choristers, and above these was placed the organ; the rest of the space up to the Roof being filled in with glass, so that the separation of Nave and Choir was complete.... In the Choir itself the remains of the Reredos, which stood at the spot where the present one is now fixed, had been removed by Wyatt at the end of the last century, and the Holy Table was carried to the extreme East of the Lady Chapel. On either side, from the screen up to the very entrance of the Lady Chapel, were pews made of oak lined with green baize and studded with brass nails. The Choir Aisles on either side were entirely shut out from the Choir, the arches being filled in by plaster, in order, as was imagined, to help towards warmth. In the three bays eastward from the screen—the second, third, and fourth, as they are now—stalls were fixed, composed of plaster, wood, rope, nails, and much else, with canopies of the same material over them, which the old Verger of that day used to call 'beautiful Tabernacle work.' The Dean and Canons' Residentiary had stalls facing eastward in the screen under the organ.... The Choir Aisles, shut out from the Choir, were long, narrow passages, never used, ending on the North side in a blank wall, and on the South with the monument of the 'Sleeping Children.'"
This was the inside of the Cathedral: the outside was stucco. Such facts as these will have to be borne in mind when the next century passes judgment on Sir Gilbert Scott. For us, it should be sufficient that we have judged Wyatt.
Of all the cathedral churches of England, Lichfield may be said to be the most lovely. Other cathedrals are larger—indeed, this is the smallest of them all—grander, or more magnificent; but for simple beauty, for charm, for delicacy of construction and appearance, Lichfield may rightly claim to take the foremost place. Peterborough, when we stand inside the west door and look down its line of enormous columns, fills us with awe at its immensity and strength: a feeling which is perhaps a little impaired by the present position of its stalls. Salisbury appeals to us with its perfect simplicity and symmetry, and York with its unequalled grandeur and splendour; but after viewing all the cathedrals of England, it is Lichfield which is most likely to be remembered among them for something which may be most aptly called charm. What can be more delightful than the view which confronts the traveller who, approaching from the town, pauses to look across the sparkling water of the pool at the three graceful spires standing out amid a wealth of green trees and shrubs. Truly a picture to be long remembered. Here is, indeed, the precious jewel set in a silver sea.
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo]THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH.
Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo]
The cathedral does not stand on high enough ground for any very fine view of the entire building to be obtained. But from whatever point in the neighbourhood of Lichfield we look we can see its three slender spires, grouping themselves, sometimes so that only two can be distinguished, sometimes so that they all appear in one cluster as though rising from one tower, and sometimes spreading out so that two seem to have very little connection with the third. For years they have been known as the "Ladies of the Vale"; they have looked down on many changes, and indeed have suffered changes themselves. They now rise from an almost newbuilding—new at any rate in appearance. As we approach the cathedral either from Bird Street and face the west front, or from Dam Street and confront the south side of the Lady Chapel, the same sad feeling comes over us that all here is new. Even as these words are written the south side of the choir is being renovated, and no doubt what little of the old is still left will soon disappear. The west front, with its niches and images, is all new; the south side of the nave is new, and indeed everywhere it is its newness that first strikes one. One cannot help wondering if this extreme severity of restoration is absolutely essential; for if not essential, the vague disappointment might well turn to anger that in days when the art of architecture has become almost non-existent, it should be thought necessary to carry through such wholesale renewal of work, never to be replaced, belonging to the grand days of Gothic building. For this old work can never be replaced: it is a sad thought that in every art, the early groping days, when the new medium or the new method is hardly settled, and its limitations but imperfectly understood, produce the great work. It is so in literature, in music, in painting, in sculpture, and in architecture; but it is only to the last that we dare to offer the assistance of our own less artistic age. The cathedral as we see it to-day has met with many vicissitudes. Of its misfortunes in the Civil Wars much has already been said; and something of its sufferings at the hands of restorers. At present, after studying the west front and contemplating the extreme newness of its every detail, we can only hope that when age has somewhat staled the infinite variety of its modern ornament, future pilgrims to the shrine of St. Chad will not think too unkindly of an age given over to the rigours of restoration.
The Close.—The cathedral stands in a close which was once surrounded by strong walls with bastions and a moat. Nature had supplied the moat on the south side, and the Cathedral Pool, as it is now called, is still there. The artificial moat has been drained, but its course can be easily traced running round the bishop's palace, and its water has been replaced by lovely gardens and gravel walks. Some bits of the old walls remain, the north-east bastion in the palace gardens and a turret on a house at the south corner: the "beautiful gates" of Bishop Langton are gone; but in the Vicars' Close at the west of the cathedral are two small irregular courtyards withhouses so old that we feel sure that their wooden beams and plaster were there when the Royalists of the neighbourhood housed themselves within the fortified close.
The close is not large, and of course, as Lichfield is a cathedral of the old establishment, there are no monastical buildings, no ruined cloisters. On the north side the ground rises rapidly in a grassy slope to a terrace, behind which are some of the canons' houses. Opposite the north transept is the deanery, a substantial red brick house in the style of the middle of the last century; next to it, and farther east, is the bishop's palace.
The Bishop's Palaceis of stone, and was built by Thomas Wood, the bishop who succeeded Hacket, and who is said to have been compelled to erect it as a fine for his neglect of the diocese. It bears on the front the date 1687. The old palace of Bishop Langton, which occupied the same position in the close, was swept away in the Civil Wars. The bishops of Lichfield had another palace at Eccleshall until the time of Bishop Selwyn, who sold it, and with a portion of the money erected here the two unsightly wings and the still more unsightly chapel. In the palace gardens, in the south-west corner, stood the old bell-tower of the cathedral, of whose destruction in 1315 we have a record. From the bishop's garden there is a charming view through the trees of Stowe pool and St. Chad's Church apparently standing at its farther edge: its old towers stand out finely, and the gravestones in the churchyard remind us that in far-off Mercian days St. Chad was laid to rest in this very spot.
On the east side of the close is an unsightly white house which rises a blot on the otherwise beautiful view of the cathedral from Stowe; next to it is a charming old building with the turret already mentioned.
On the south side is the entrance from Dam Street, with an old house at the corner. On this side also is the Theological College, a low ordinary-looking building, said to have been originally training-stables for race horses; and farther west are more houses of the cathedral clergy. And behind all these is the pool. One cannot help agreeing with Britton in thinking what a delightful thing it would be for the close if all the houses on this side could be pulled down so that the cathedral might have nothing but grass and trees betweenit and the pool. Britton gives an imaginary view of the south side with all the houses cleared away.
On the west side of the cathedral is another entrance to the close, which runs between the Vicars' Close already mentioned and the hideous college built by Andrew Newton for the widows and orphans of clergymen.
The Cathedralis built of new red sandstone from quarries in the immediate neighbourhood of Lichfield itself. On Borrowcop, to the north (where tradition says two Mercian kings were killed, to be afterwards buried in the close), is the hole left by the cathedral; and on the other side, at Wheel Lane, is a quarry from which much stone, both red and white, has been taken for the recent repairs to the fabric. Its ruddy colour adds much to the picturesqueness of the building.
Mrs Van Rensselaer, in her interesting account of the English cathedrals, says: "In any and every aspect, but more especially when foliage comes close about it, Lichfield's colour assists its other beauties. Grey is the rule in English churches—dark cold grey at Ely, for example; light yellow grey at Canterbury, and pale pearly grey at Salisbury; and although dark greyness means great solemnity and grandeur, and light greyness great delicacy and charm, they both need the hand of time—the stain of the weather and the web of the lichen—to give them warmth and tone; and the work of the hand of time has almost everywhere in England been effaced by the hand of the restorer. Red stone is warm and mellow in itself, and Lichfield is red with a beautiful soft ruddiness that could hardly be over-matched by the sandstone of any land."
The plan of the cathedral shows a simple cross, with a chapter-house (joined by a vestibule to the choir) on the north side, and a sacristy on the south side. It may also be noticed that the nave and the choir (including the presbytery) have each eight bays or severies, and that if we regard the bay under the central tower as a double one, the two transepts together have eight bays. Thus the transverse arm of the cross is nearly of the same length as the eastern and the western arms. There is a Lady Chapel at the eastern end of the choir, and there are aisles on each side of the nave and choir and on the eastern side of the transepts.
We have already seen that the cathedral has threeSpires, and this is perhaps its most notable characteristic, for Lichfieldis the only church now existing in England with this distinction. The cathedral at Coventry, so long the sister church of the diocese, and so ruthlessly destroyed by Henry VIII., had also three spires; as had Ripon Minster, but these were of lead, and have since been pulled down.
Of the spires, one rises from the central tower and one surmounts each of the towers which flank the west front. The central spire dates only from the Restoration, the older spire having been entirely destroyed in the Civil Wars. There is no doubt that the original spire was different in appearance to the present one, which is an imitation of the western spires, carried out in the spirit of the Perpendicular style. What the earlier spire was really like is doubtful, neither is it quite certain when it was built, though the central tower was probably rebuilt about 1250, when it is supposed that the intention was to retain the Norman nave. What the height and pitch of the roof of the old Norman nave must have been can be seen from the old housing course which remains to this day above the nave groining. "It was the custom," as Mr J. O. Scott explained in a lecture on the cathedral, "of old builders, as of modern builders, to insert in any wall against which a roof abuts a projecting course of stone, called a 'housing,' following the slope of the roof, the object being to keep the wet from getting in between the roof and the wall. And so when the central tower was rebuilt, there was the Norman nave to which the new work had to be fitted. Hence, at this time the builders inserted a 'housing course' of masonry into the west wall of the new tower, to protect the junction of the old Norman nave roof from the weather." These disused housing courses can constantly be seen in old churches, sometimes several, one above the other, showing the changes in the roofing of the church. The present spire is said vaguely to have been erected from the designs or under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren; but the tradition which connects this great modern architect with the cathedral is very uncertain.
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE MINSTER POOL.Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE MINSTER POOL.
Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]
The two western spires were probably built in Bishop Norburgh's time, and possibly were finished in the time of his successor; but the north-west spire has been rebuilt from the belfry windows upwards in imitation of the old work, but, like the central tower, in the Perpendicular manner. The south-westor Jesus Tower, which is a little higher than the other, has also had its two upper storeys rebuilt. The spires are octagonal, and are divided into six compartments. In the western spires the four lower compartments have windows of two lights each with acute crocketted pediments. There are only four windows in the lowest compartment; but in the second, third, and fourth compartments there is a window in each face; the fifth is panelled between crocketted ribs, and the top compartment is plain with small windows. All the spires are open all the way up without any inside supports.
The central spire has the same number of compartments, with windows in all of them except the top; but there are only four windows in each compartment, facing north, east, west, and south. The top of the central spire is about 252 feet from the floor, and of the western spire about 193.
But if Lichfield's three spires are unique, so also is Lichfield'sWest Front. It is not, of course, very large, and it is not indeed as large as it might have been had the same means been employed here as were employed at Wells, where an exaggerated idea of size is attained by placing the towers outside the lines of the nave aisles. Here the two towers, which form so important a part of the front, are in their lowest stage merely part of the aisles, so that the whole width of the west front is very little greater than the width of the nave itself. The west front of Lichfield is noted for the richness of its decorations, covered as it is with niches holding images and, it might almost be said, with every available inch covered with decorative work. The whole has a most superb effect, and at a distance, where the poverty of the modern workmanship is not easily discerned, its appearance cannot be very different now to that which it presented at the end of the fourteenth century. Once again the niches are filled with statuary; but this work is nearly all new, and it is by some considered doubtful if any of the original remained in this century. It is, however, generally supposed, and not without good reason, that the five old statues which form part of the highest row in the north-west tower may have been original, and have escaped the general destruction which followed the Puritan capture of the cathedral. Three of the old statues are represented in the picture of the west front in Britton's "Cathedral Antiquities"; and in the interesting picture inFuller's "Church History," published in 1655, the west front is shewn with every niche filled; but there can be no doubt that this picture must have been made before the siege, or else it must have been drawn with the aid of memory from what remained afterwards.
This west front is flat, with octagonal turrets at each side, and consists of two towers and a central part. The central part has a doorway, a large window, and an acute pediment, the top point of the pediment being almost on a level with the parapet of the towers where the spires commence. These rise from between square pinnacles, enriched with feathered panels and crockets at the angles of the towers. The front is in three stages; the lowest stage contains the three doorways, and is surmounted by a very elaborate arcading filled with statues of kings. The second is covered with two storeys of arcading, and is divided into two parts by the large west window, above which is the pediment. The third stage consists of the upper part of the two towers; these are surmounted with parapets with lozenge-shaped mouldings inclosing quatrefoil and trefoil panels. There are windows to the belfry floors in this stage. Altogether, including these two belfry windows, there are only three windows in this front; this is unusual, as there are commonly windows at the west end of the nave aisles.
It is not easy to give a clear description of this front, or any which will convey its superb effect. As we see by the frontispiece, it is not only thickly covered with arcading and statues, but also it is very much enriched with trefoils, quatrefoils, and cinquefoils, especially in the spaces over the doors in the lowest stage, and in the pediment above the great window. The prevalence of the ball-flower decoration should not escape notice; upon the third stage and the spires it constantly occurs, although it is not encountered in the first and second stages, except in the modern tracery of the west window. The ball-flower is a fourteenth-century ornament: its constant use in the upper parts, contrasted with its total absence in the lower parts, supplies a very strong argument that a considerable time elapsed between the construction of the two lower stages and the upper. The very careful examination which took place when the whole front was lately restored revealed the fact that work was not proceeded with continuously; and by expert opinion the lowest stage is assigned to 1280, the next to 1300,while the upper stages are still later; and perhaps the whole was not completed until well on into the last half of the fourteenth century.
As has been stated before, the present appearance of the west front is that of an entirely new building. In 1820 the front, which is said to have been then in a very dilapidated condition, was covered with Roman cement. So thoroughly was this done that the original stone facing only showed on the eastern side of the north-west tower. Careful drawings of the tracery there were made by Sir Gilbert Scott, and in 1877 the work of reconstructing was commenced. It took seven years, and the new west front was dedicated in 1884. Only five of the old statues remained, and it was decided to restore the others. There are in all one hundred and thirteen niches in the west front, including those on the north and south faces of the side turrets; all but four are now filled, and about one hundred are in view of any one standing facing the middle of the front.
The largeWest Windowhas undergone several changes in its tracery; fortunately we have pictures showing all of them. In Fuller's "Church History" the tracery, as shown in Hollar's engraving, appears to be very simple. This tracery was all destroyed in the Civil Wars; and that which replaced it at the Restoration was provided by James II., when Duke of York, but it was so ugly and unsuitable to the whole spirit of the cathedral that it was removed in 1869, and is now replaced by work which, though greatly differing from the original, yet preserves the spirit of fourteenth-century work. The Restoration window may be seen in the beautiful engraving in Britton's "Cathedral Antiquities."
There also is an engraving of the great west door as it was in the early part of the century, and before the Roman cement era of which mention has just been made. This doorway, one of the most beautiful in the country, has much in common with the "Prior's doorway" on the south side of Lincoln Cathedral. As Britton says: "Both are peculiarly rich and fanciful and calculated to excite the warmest admiration," but in his time the sculptured foliage and the figures running round the architrave mouldings and between the columns were so much battered and injured that it was almost impossible to tell the characters of some of them. This doorwayis a recessed porch, the outer arch, in line with the main walls, being cusped and foliated with elaborate carving; the inner portion is divided into two arches; the whole being most elaborately decorated with carvings. The central clustered supports has a figure of the Virgin and Child, and on either side of the doorway, standing on clustered pillars beneath canopies, are figures of St. Mary Magdalene (on the north) with the box of ointment, and on the south, Mary the wife of Cleophas; farther forward on each side are vacant pedestals, and in the front are St. John the Evangelist (on the north) and St. Paul (on the south). Whether these were the characters originally represented is open to doubt; Stukeley suggested that what was left in his time represented the Virgin in the centre, and the four Evangelists with Moses and Aaron.
GREAT WEST DOORWAY IN 1813.GREAT WEST DOORWAY IN 1813.
Thebas-relief figuresin the architrave already mentioned have been restored to represent the two genealogies of Christ as given by St. Matthew and St. Luke, on the north and south sides respectively, as follows:—
North side: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Boaz, Jesse, David, Virgin and Child.
South side: Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Judah, and St. Joseph; the Virgin and St. Joseph being the two figures at the top of the arch.
There is a very beautiful fourteenth-century bas-relief above the central pillar of the doorway, representing Our Lord in Glory, with an angel on each side, having a serpent under his feet.
The doors are covered with fine iron work, which, with the exception of that on the lowest panel, is supposed to be original.
THE GREAT WEST DOORWAY.Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]THE GREAT WEST DOORWAY.
Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]