Drawing of chapelTHE CHAPEL OF ST. ANNE’S HOSPITAL.(From a pen-drawing by the author.)
THE CHAPEL OF ST. ANNE’S HOSPITAL.
(From a pen-drawing by the author.)
Between St. Anne’s Hospital and Bondgate Green Bridge stands theThorp Prebendal House, now divided into several dwellings. Whether its existing fabric is as old as the Reformation or not, this was the site upon which dwelt the Canons of the mediæval prebend of Thorp. In 1391 the hall of the then existing house was used for casting several bells for the Minster, and here, in later days, as Canon of Thorp, lived Marmaduke Bradley. The house is said to have been sold by Edward VI. to the Earl of Cumberland, and to have subsequently sheltered Mary Queen of Scots, James I, and Charles I. It is best seen from the adjoining bridge, whence its plastered walls, irregular gables, and stone roof form a picturesque foreground to the Cathedral. Of the dwellings into which it is now divided, the third from the bridge contains the grand staircase, which has twisted skeleton balusters.
East of St. Anne’s Hospital, there are two more old houses, one of which, known asSt. Agnes’ Lodge,[125]is of considerable interest. The body of it, long and low, with a high-pitched roof and with a massive chimney-stack buttressing one end, is said to be of the time of Henry VII., but derives much of its ‘character’ from the comparatively modern windows, which resemble the portholes of a ship. A wing added in the seventeenth century, with quaint curvilinear gable, projects into the garden behind. Within the house is a square hall, having above the fireplace some carving and a painted panel of the burning of London in 1666. There is also a good oak staircase, and in the upper storey are several quaint features, including a cupboard that may have served for a hiding-place, and two ‘powdering-closets’ in which ladies’ hair, or men’s wigs, could be powdered in the eighteenth century. But the part of the house most interesting architecturally is the attics, where the framing of the king-post roof is extremely massive, while the floor is ofconcrete.[126]One of the roof-beams in the wing bears the date 1693. This house disputes with the ThorpPrebendal House the honour of having sheltered Mary Queen of Scots on her way from Bolton Castle to Tutbury, and it is said that it was during her sojourn at Ripon that she addressed an appeal to Queen Elizabeth and received an offer of marriage from the Duke of Norfolk. St. Agnes’ Lodge claims also to have been a temporary home of Turner, at the time when he was illustrating Whitaker’sHistory of CravenandHistory of Richmondshire. Whether this house or its immediately western neighbour were ever prebendal residences it is now difficult to say.
Two old gabled houses remain in the Market-place, and one of them, now a basket-shop, is said to have been the residence of Hugh Ripley, last Wakeman and first Mayor of Ripon.
At the north end of Stonebridgegate, and not far from the Ure, stands theHospital of St. Mary Magdalene, sometimes called ‘The Maudlins.’ It was founded by Archbishop Thurstan (1114-1141) for secular brethren and sisters, and one chaplain. The brethren and sisters were not merely to benefit by the charity themselves, but were to minister to lepers and blind priests born within the Liberty of Ripon, a certain number of whom were received into the Hospital. Lepers from outside the Liberty were entitled to a night’s lodging: so also apparently were any other strangers or mendicant clergy who might be passing through the town. On St. Mary Magdalene’s day there was a dole of food to the poor. A second chaplain was subsequently added by the benefaction of one William de Homelyn. At some period, apparently after 1241, the character of the foundation was changed by another Archbishop, whose name is not known. The brethren and sisters disappeared, and the staff consisted henceforth of a Master and one chaplain, or sometimes two. The Master was appointed by the Archbishop, and was generally a clerk, though sometimes only inacolyte’s Orders. In 1334 one John Warrener, of Studley Roger, founded here a chantry of two if not three priests. Thus there may have been no less than six clergy attached to this small chapel; but the number was not kept up, and at the Reformation there were, besides the Master, only the two priests of Warrener’s foundation. The Hospital continued to minister to blind priests, and also to lepers until leprosy died out. The lepers’ portion of the building was demolished about 1350.In 1546-7 the inmates were ‘five poor people.’ All traces of the Master’s house, the hall, the brewery, and the original dwellings have vanished. The dwellings were rebuilt in 1674, and again in 1875, since which date more cottages have been added, and a new chapel; and the hospital now accommodates twelve poor women. The Mastership, still in the gift of the Archbishop, is at present held with one of the canonries, and the cure of souls is discharged by a non-resident chaplain.
Photo of the sealSEAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE’S HOSPITAL
SEAL OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE’S HOSPITAL
Fortunately the old chapel remains. The main fabric is apparently Thurstan’s. It is of gritstone, but has been much altered and repaired at later periods, when limestone has been used. To the later work belong the set-off of the base, the coigns, the parapet, the east part of the south wall, the framing of most of the windows and doors, and the buttress and bell-cote at the west end.
The west front is now divided by a large buttress of many stages terminating in a slope, but the plinth of this buttress is apparently original. To the right of the buttress is a long two-cusped lancet light; to the left may be traced, perhaps, the outline of an original round-arched window; while on both sides there are sloping lines in the masonry, as if there had been an acutely-pointed gable here.
The north side of the chapel has been propped at a late period by three sloping buttresses. At its western end is a doorway, the jambs of which seem original, while the pointed head is later. About half-way along this side is one of those ‘low side windows’ through which, it is supposed, the Sacrament was administered to lepers—indeed, the leper-house stood on this side of the chapel.[127]Though of limestone, this small lancet window, with its arch and dripstone trefoiled, isapparently of the thirteenth century, and an early example of its class. East of it are, first a Perpendicular window of two lights—late in character, and second a partially-blocked and possibly original doorway, perhaps for the priest, (though priests’ doors are usually on the south side). Its outer arch is rounded, while the inner is pointed and has perhaps been altered.
The east window is broad, finely arched, and surmounted by a bold dripstone terminating in heads. Its four lights, partially blocked, are round-headed, with rather large cusps, and in the upper part of the window there is much tracery, in which perpendicular lines lead up to arches that intersect. Indeed it is difficult to say whether this fine window is an example of late Perpendicular, or of the transition to that style from the Decorated.
It is on the south side that the irregularity in the size, spacing, and level of the windows in this chapel is most marked. Here toward the eastern end is a square-headed Perpendicular window of two lights, much resembling the south window at St. Anne’s Hospital, and surmounted by a square label. Next comes a small lancet, probably Early English, with no limestone about it. The next window is tall, rectangular, and without tracery, but the stump of a mullion remains on the sill, which is of gritstone. West of this is the principal entrance, a Norman arch, beneath which a pointed arch has been inserted, the original imposts, however, remaining. The upper arch is enriched with the chevron, and its dripstone with two rows of the round billet arranged chequerwise and with a moulding composed of a series of little crosses, rather suggestive of the dog-tooth.
The interior has up to this time escaped ‘restoration.’ There have been repairs, but enough only to arrest decay, and the plaster has not been removed from the walls.[128]The length internally is about 49 feet and the breadth just over 16 feet. The floor is of brick, and the roof, which is almost flat, has been much renovated, but retains its original massive cross beams and wooden corbels. Internally the twowestern doorways are rounded, and just east of them the chapel is crossed by a late Perpendicular screen, which retains its folding doors, and has an uncommon effect due to the great length of the mullions in the upper part. The lower portion was once closed. It is perhaps more probable that this is the original position of the screen than that it ever stretched across the Sanctuary. Against the north wall is a fine old chest raised on feet and bound with many iron clamps ending in scrolls. It has a double lock and a ring at either end, and inside it is kept a curious bell of wood painted to resemble metal, and said to have been hung in the bell-cote by an unscrupulous official who had caused the real bell to be sold.
The ‘low side window’ internally has a depressed pointed arch, and is widely splayed, as are also the tall and the short window opposite. It is remarkable that although the windows differ so much externally, yet internally all except the ‘low side window’ and the east window are of the form known as the ‘shouldered arch,’ a form which, by-the-way, is more usually employed in doorways.
In front of the Sanctuary are preserved two old Perpendicular pews or stalls, with carved finials. The Sanctuary itself is raised on two steps, and extends eight feet from the east wall. The blocked door noticed on the exterior would open into the chapel immediately west of the line of the lower step.
This is among the very few churches in the country which retain the pre-Reformation stone altar, and if the instance at St. Anne’s Hospital is genuine, Ripon thus possesses two examples of this rare feature. The altar here is 7 feet 7 inches long, 3 feet 5 inches wide, 2 feet 11 inches high, and has no step. Two of the usual five incised crosses (the larger cross near the middle is probably spurious) may still be traced upon the slab, the lower edge of which is chamfered off. In the front of the substructure are two deep recesses. The altar is flanked by two stone brackets. On the north wall is a third, and in the south wall a piscina with two-cusped arch and projecting basin.
In front of the altar is a tessellated pavement 11 feet long and nearly 4 feet wide. It is chiefly composed of red and blackishtesseræ; but in the centre is a circular medallion containing a large four-petalled white flower with a red centre and small red flowers between the petals, all upon a ground ofblack. It has been supposed that this pavement was taken from the neighbouring remains of some Roman building. As regards the central medallion this is probably the case, but the rest of the pavement seems to be later work, perhaps of the thirteenth century.[129]At the south end of the pavement is the slab of another and smaller altar, retaining three of its incised crosses.
It appears from a document of 1306 that the chapel at that date contained certain ‘relics’ of St. Mary Magdalene.
Of the mediæval bridges of RiponThe North Bridgealone survives.[130]It crosses the Ure on nine arches with bold buttresses, triangular in plan, between them, and is prolonged, with three smaller arches, over the low meadow which forms the southern shore. It is from this shore that the best view of it is to be obtained, a few yards down stream. The arches, some of them recessed, vary in height and span, but all are round save two, over one of which there is a corbel-table below the parapet. The other side of the bridge was remodelled some twenty years ago.
[122]In the mediæval records the street is almost invariably called Annesgate, and indeed was probably named after the hospital. The form ‘Agnesgate’ is, however, not modern, for it occurs in 1462. It may have arisen from a trisyllabic pronunciation of ‘Annesgate.’[123]Thus far I am largely indebted to a paper on this hospital by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A. in the twelfth edition of Walbran’sRipon.[124]Possibly those of Boynton or Plumpton (Parker).[125]The house is not shown.[126]This latter peculiarity is found also in a house at Bishopton, a mile off.[127]Some archæologists, however, hold that the purpose of low side windows was to display a light to scare away demons.[128]It is probable that in the interior of many of our old churches the surface of the stone was never meant to be seen, and was covered with plaster at the time of building. The plaster was doubtless often adorned with designs in colour.[129]This view is held by Mr. Micklethwaite. The whitetesseræin the medallion resemble some which were dug up in 1837 on the site assigned by Leland to the ‘Old Abbay of Ripon’ and which have been adduced to support the view that Wilfrid’s Abbey Church stood on that site and not on the site of the present Cathedral (seep. 77andn. 4there).[130]The others were Bondgate Bridge (over the Skell), Bishopton Bridge (over the Laver), Hewick Bridge (over the Ure below the town), the Archer-bridge, and the ‘Esgel-bridge.’ The position of the two last is uncertain, and the rest have long been rebuilt. Bishopton Bridge had a chapel upon it with which was connected a hermit. In the middle ages the bridges were under the charge of the Archbishop. They were often the recipients of bequests, but were themselves made to contribute to the Common Fund of the Collegiate Church, by means of money-boxes which were placed upon them.
[122]In the mediæval records the street is almost invariably called Annesgate, and indeed was probably named after the hospital. The form ‘Agnesgate’ is, however, not modern, for it occurs in 1462. It may have arisen from a trisyllabic pronunciation of ‘Annesgate.’
[123]Thus far I am largely indebted to a paper on this hospital by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A. in the twelfth edition of Walbran’sRipon.
[124]Possibly those of Boynton or Plumpton (Parker).
[125]The house is not shown.
[126]This latter peculiarity is found also in a house at Bishopton, a mile off.
[127]Some archæologists, however, hold that the purpose of low side windows was to display a light to scare away demons.
[128]It is probable that in the interior of many of our old churches the surface of the stone was never meant to be seen, and was covered with plaster at the time of building. The plaster was doubtless often adorned with designs in colour.
[129]This view is held by Mr. Micklethwaite. The whitetesseræin the medallion resemble some which were dug up in 1837 on the site assigned by Leland to the ‘Old Abbay of Ripon’ and which have been adduced to support the view that Wilfrid’s Abbey Church stood on that site and not on the site of the present Cathedral (seep. 77andn. 4there).
[130]The others were Bondgate Bridge (over the Skell), Bishopton Bridge (over the Laver), Hewick Bridge (over the Ure below the town), the Archer-bridge, and the ‘Esgel-bridge.’ The position of the two last is uncertain, and the rest have long been rebuilt. Bishopton Bridge had a chapel upon it with which was connected a hermit. In the middle ages the bridges were under the charge of the Archbishop. They were often the recipients of bequests, but were themselves made to contribute to the Common Fund of the Collegiate Church, by means of money-boxes which were placed upon them.
ABBOTS OF THE SAXON MONASTERY.
Canons of Stanwick in the Mediæval Collegiate Church.[131]
Deans of King James I.’s Foundation.
Deans of the Cathedral Foundation.
BISHOPS OF RIPON.
[131]The mediæval College of Canons had no official head, but the Prebendary of Stanwick, as Ruler of the Choir, was generally in residence, and was in some sense the most important of the Canons. He did not, however, preside, at least not if any other Canon was in residence. Thus Christopher Dragley (Prebendary of Monkton) was oftenPraesidens Capitulifrom 1533 to 1539, and Marmaduke Bradley (Prebendary of Thorp) from 1544 to 1546.[132]Afterwards the celebrated Bishop of Durham, one of the most prominent personages at the court of Edward I.[133]A brass to him is preserved in the Cathedral. The inscription was probably cut in his lifetime, for the space for the date of his death is left blank. He helped to found the chantry of St. Wilfrid, and is buried in the Choir.[134]Deprived by the Parliament when they suppressed the Chapter.[135]One of the founders of the Royal Society: married Oliver Cromwell’s sister: became Bishop of Chester.[136]Buried near the vestry door.[137]Became Bishop of Chester, and was a strong supporter of James II.[138]Buried within the Altar-rails (brass).[139]Buried in the north choir-aisle (tablet).[140]Buried in the Cathedral (formerly there was a tablet in the south aisle of the nave).[141]Tablet in the Chapter-house.[142]Buried within the Altar-rails.[143]Buried in the graveyard near the north-east corner of the choir (tomb by Sir Gilbert Scott).[144]Afterwards Bishop of Durham, then Archbishop of York, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury. The modern diocese of Ripon does not correspond in area with that over which Eadhead presided (seeChap. I.)[145]Buried in the graveyard near the south-east corner of the choir.
[131]The mediæval College of Canons had no official head, but the Prebendary of Stanwick, as Ruler of the Choir, was generally in residence, and was in some sense the most important of the Canons. He did not, however, preside, at least not if any other Canon was in residence. Thus Christopher Dragley (Prebendary of Monkton) was oftenPraesidens Capitulifrom 1533 to 1539, and Marmaduke Bradley (Prebendary of Thorp) from 1544 to 1546.
[132]Afterwards the celebrated Bishop of Durham, one of the most prominent personages at the court of Edward I.
[133]A brass to him is preserved in the Cathedral. The inscription was probably cut in his lifetime, for the space for the date of his death is left blank. He helped to found the chantry of St. Wilfrid, and is buried in the Choir.
[134]Deprived by the Parliament when they suppressed the Chapter.
[135]One of the founders of the Royal Society: married Oliver Cromwell’s sister: became Bishop of Chester.
[136]Buried near the vestry door.
[137]Became Bishop of Chester, and was a strong supporter of James II.
[138]Buried within the Altar-rails (brass).
[139]Buried in the north choir-aisle (tablet).
[140]Buried in the Cathedral (formerly there was a tablet in the south aisle of the nave).
[141]Tablet in the Chapter-house.
[142]Buried within the Altar-rails.
[143]Buried in the graveyard near the north-east corner of the choir (tomb by Sir Gilbert Scott).
[144]Afterwards Bishop of Durham, then Archbishop of York, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury. The modern diocese of Ripon does not correspond in area with that over which Eadhead presided (seeChap. I.)
[145]Buried in the graveyard near the south-east corner of the choir.