Arabesque.Arabesque.
Q. What peculiarity may be noted in the alterations and additions of this era?
A. A very common practice prevailed, from about the middle of the sixteenth century, when any alteration or addition was made in or to a church, of affixing a stone in the masonry, with the date of such in figures. Thus over the east window of Hillmorton Church, Warwickshire, (which is a pointed window of four lights, formed by three plain mullions curving and intersecting each other in the head, which is filled with nearly lozenge-shaped lights, but all without foliations,) is a stone bearing the date of 1640. In the south wall of the tower of the same church (which is low, heavy, and clumsily built, without any pretension to architectural design) is a stone to denote the period of its erection, which bears the date of 1655. Pulpits, communion-tables, church chests, poor-boxes, and pewing of the latter part of the sixteenth and of the seventeenthcentury, also very frequently exhibit, in figures carved on them, the precise periods of their construction.
Q. What specimens are there of this style of late or debased and mixed Gothic?
A. Annexed to Sunningwell Church, Berkshire, is a singular porch or building, sexagonal in form, at the angles of which are projecting columns of the Ionic order supporting an entablature. On each side of this building, except that by which it communicates with the church, and that in which the doorway is contained, is a plain window of the Debased Gothic style, of one light, with a square head and hood moulding over. The doorway is nondescript, neither Roman or Gothic. This building is supposed to have been erected by Bishop Jewell. The chapel of St. Peter’s College, Cambridge, finished in 1632, exhibits in the east wall a large pointed window, clumsily designed, in the Debased style, and divided by mullions into five principal lights, round-headed, but trefoiled within; three series of smaller lights, rising one above the other, all of which are round-headed and trefoiled, fill the head of the window, the composition of which, though comparatively rude, is illustrative of thetaste of the age. On each side of the window, on the exterior, is a kind of semi-classic niche. In Stowe Church, Northamptonshire, are a number of windows inserted at a general reparation of the church in 1639; these are square-headed, and have a label or hood moulding over, and are mostly divided into three obtusely pointed-arched lights, without foliations. Under the windows of the south aisle is a string-course, more of a semi-classic contour than Gothic. On the south side is a plain round-headed doorway, inserted at the same period. The tower and south aisle of Yarnton Church, Oxfordshire, erected by Sir Thomas Spencer, A. D. 1611, have the same kind of square-headed window, with arched lights without foliations, as those of Stow. Stanton-Harold Church, Leicestershire, erected A. D. 1653, is perhaps the latest complete specimen of the Debased Gothic style. Towards the end of this century Gothic mouldings appear not to have been understood, as in the attempt to reconstruct portions of churches in that style we find mouldings of classic art to prevail. Such is the case with respect to the tower of Eynesbury Church, St. Neot’s, Huntingdonshire, rebuilt in a kind of Debased Gothic and mixed Roman style, in 1687.Other instances of the kind might also be enumerated. At the commencement of the eighteenth century the Roman or Italian mode appears to have prevailed generally in the churches then erected, without any admixture even of the Debased Gothic style.
Window, Ladbrook Church, Warwickshire.Window, Ladbrook Church, Warwickshire.
Stoup, South Door, Oakham Church, Rutlandshire.Stoup, South Door, Oakham Church, Rutlandshire.
ON THE INTERNAL ARRANGEMENT AND DECORATIONS OF A CHURCH.
Thechurches of this country were anciently so constructed as to display, in their internal arrangement, certain appendages designed with architectonic skill, and adapted purposely for the celebration of mass and other religious offices.
At the Reformation, when the ritual was changed and many of the formularies of the church of Rome were discarded, some of such appendages were destroyed; whilst others, though suffered to exist, more or less in a mutilated condition, were no longer appropriated to the particular uses for which they had been originally designed.
On entering a church through the porch on the north or south side, or at the west end, we sometimes perceive on the right hand side of the door, at a convenient height from the ground, often beneath a niche, and partly projecting from the wall, a stone basin: this was thestoup, or receptacle for holy water, called also theaspersorium, into which each individual dipped his finger and crossed himself when passing the threshold of the sacred edifice. The custom of aspersion at the church door appears to have been derived from an ancient usage of the heathens, amongst whom, according toSozomen154-*,the priest was accustomed to sprinkle such as entered into a temple with moist branches of olive. The stoup is sometimes found inside thechurch, close by the door; but the stone appendage appears to have been by no means general, and probably in most cases a movable vessel of metal was provided for the purpose; and in an inventory of ancient church goods at St. Dunstan’s, Canterbury, taken A. D. 1500, we find mentioned “a stope off lede for the holy watratte the church dore.” We do not often find the stoup of so ancient a date as the twelfth century; one much mutilated, but apparently of that era, may however be met with inside the little Norman church of Beaudesert, Warwickshire, near to the south door.
The porch was often of a considerable size, and had frequently a groined ceiling, with an apartment above; it was anciently used for a variety of religious rites, for before the Reformation considerable portions of the marriage and baptismal services, and also much of that relating to the churching of women, were here performed, being commenced “ante ostium ecclesiæ,” and concluded in the church; and these are set forth in the rubric of the Manual or service-book, according to the use of Sarum, containing those and other occasional offices.
Having entered the church, the font is generally discovered towards the west end of the nave,or north or south aisle, and near the principal door; such, at least, was in most cases its original and appropriate position: this was for the convenience of the sacramental rite there administered; part of the baptismal service (that of making the infant a catechumen) having been performed in the porch or outside thedoor156-*,he was introduced by the priest into the church, with the invitation,Ingredere in templum Dei, ut habeas vitam æternam et vivas in sæcula sæculorum; and after certain other rites and prayers the infant was carried to the font and immersed therein thrice by the priest, in the names of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. By an ancient ecclesiastical constitution a font of stone or other durable material, with a fitting cover, was required to be placed in every church in which baptism could beadministered156-†;and it was, as Lyndwood informs us, to be capacious enough for total immersion. Some ancient fonts are of lead, as that in Dorchester Church, Oxfordshire, and that in Childrey Church, Berkshire; both of these are cylindrical in shape, and of the Norman era,encircled with figures in relief; those on the font at Dorchester representing the twelve apostles, whilst those on that of Childrey are of bishops. Leaden fonts are also to be met with in the churches of Brookland, Kent; Wareham, Dorsetshire; and Walmsford, Northamptonshire. Square and cylindrical or truncated cone-like shaped fonts, of Norman design, supported on a basement by one or more shafts, and either plain or sculptured, are numerous; we sometimes find on them figures of the twelve apostles, sculptured in low relief; the baptism of our Saviour also was no uncommon representation. Fonts subsequent to the Norman era are not so frequently covered with sculptured figures, though such sometimes occur; they are sexagonal, septagonal, or octagonal in shape; and the different styles are easily ascertained by the architectural decorations, mouldings, tracery, and panel-work, with which they are more or less covered. On the sides of rich fonts of the fifteenth century representations of the seven sacraments were not unfrequently sculptured, as on that in Farningham Church, Kent. The covers to some rich fonts, especially to some of those of the fifteenth century, were very splendid, in shape somewhat resembling that of aspire, but the sides were covered with tabernacle-work, and decorated at the angles with small buttresses and crockets. Fonts with rich covers of this description are to be found in the churches of Ewelme, Oxfordshire; of North Walsham and of Worstead, Norfolk; and of Sudbury and of Ufford,Suffolk.158-*
The general situation of the tower or campanile is at the west end of the nave; it is sometimes, however, found in a different position, as at the west end of a side aisle, which is the case with respect to the churches of Monkskirby and Withybrooke, Warwickshire; or on one side of the church, as at Eynesbury Church, Huntingdonshire, and Alderbury Church, Salop; and the tower of the latter church is covered withwhat is called the saddle-back roof, having two gables—a peculiarity to be found in some few other churches. In cross churches the tower was generally, though not always, erected at the intersection of the transept, and between the nave and chancel. In the towers the church bells were hung, with the exception of one; without these no church was accounted complete; they were anciently consecrated with great ceremony, named and inscribed in honour of some saint, and the sound issuing from them was supposed to be of efficacy in averting the influence of evil spirits. Bells appear to have been introduced into this country in the latter part of the seventh century, but comparatively few bells are now remaining in our churches of an earlier date than the seventeenth century, since the commencement of which century most of our present church bells have been cast. Towers were also occasionally used, up to the fourteenth century, as parochial fortresses, to which in time of sudden and unforeseen danger the inhabitants of the parish resorted for awhile. The tower of Rugby Church, Warwickshire, a very singular structure built in the reign of Henry the Third, appears to have been erected for this purpose; it is of a square form, very lofty, and plain in construction, and is without asingle buttress to support it; the lower windows are very narrow, and at a considerable distance from the ground; some of them are, in fact, mere loop-holes; the belfry windows aresquare-headed, of two lights, simply trefoiled in the head, and divided by a plain mullion; the only entrance was through the church; it has also a fire-place, the funnel for the conveyance of smoke being carried up through the thickness of the wall to a perforated battlement, and it altogether seems well calculated to resist a sudden attack. Other church towers of early date appear to have been erected for a double purpose: that of a campanile, as well as to afford temporary security. The towers of Newton Arlosh Church, of the Church of Burgh on the Sands, and of Great Salkeld Church, Cumberland, appear to have been constructed with a view to afford protection to the inhabitants of those villages upon any sudden invasion from the borders of Scotland, and for that purpose were stronglyfortified160-*.Some church towers, especially in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, are round and batter, or gradually decrease in diameter as they rise upwards; most of these areof the Norman, though some are in the Early English, style; that at Little Saxham Church, Suffolk, may be adduced as a specimen. Spires in some instances appear to have served as landmarks, to guide travellers through woody districts and over barren downs. The spire of Astley Church, Warwickshire, now destroyed, was so conspicuous an object at a distance, that it was denominated the lantern of Arden. The spiresof the churches of Monkskirby and Clifton, in the same county, now also destroyed, were formerly noticed as eminent landmarks.
Little Saxham Church Tower, Suffolk.Little Saxham Church Tower, Suffolk.
Open Seat, Culworth Church, Northamptonshire.Open Seat, Culworth Church, Northamptonshire.
Anciently the body of the church appears to have contained no other fixed seats for the congregation than a solid mass of masonry raised against the wall, and forming a long stone bench or seat. A bench of this description runs along great part of the north, west, and south sides of the Norman church of Parranforth, Cornwall. In the Norman conventual church of Romsey plain stone benches of this description occur; they are likewise to be met with in Salisbury and other cathedrals; also in some of our ancientparish churches, as in the south aisle of Kidlington Church, Oxfordshire. Seats for the use of the congregation are noticed in the synod of Exeter, held A. D. 1287. Open wooden benches or pew-work are rarely, if at all, met with of an earlier era than the fifteenth century, when the practice of pewing the body of the church with open wooden seats, if not then introduced, began to prevail. In 1458 we meet with a testamentary bequest of money “to make seats called puying,” and several of our churches still retain considerable remains of the ancient open seats of the fifteenth century. At Finedon, in Northamptonshire, the body of the church and aisles are almost entirely filled with low open seats, with carved tracery at the ends, disposed in four distinct rows; so that the whole of the congregation might sit facing the east. Similar seats occur in Culworth Church, in the same county, and these are likewise of the fifteenth century. The pulpit was anciently disposed towards the eastern part of the body of the church, but not in the centre of the aisle. Pulpits are now rarely to be found of an earlier date than the fifteenth century, when they appear to have been introduced into many churches, though not to have become ageneral appendage. Ancient pulpits of that era, whether of wood or stone, are covered with panel-work tracery and mouldings; and some exhibit signs of having been once elaborately painted and gilt. Mention, however, is made of pulpits at a much earlier period; for in the year 1187 one was set up in the abbey church, Bury St. Edmund’s, from which, we are told, the abbot was accustomed to preach to the people in the vulgar tongue and provincialdialect164-*.The most ancient pulpit, perhaps, existing in this country, is that in the refectory of the abbey (now in ruins) of Beaulieu, Hampshire: it is of stone, and partly projects from the wall, and is ornamented with mouldings, sculptured foliage, and a series of blank trefoiled pointed arches, in the style of the thirteenth century. The church of the Holy Trinity, at Coventry, contains a fine specimen of a stone pulpit of the fifteenth century. In Rowington Church, in the county of Warwick, is a stone pulpit of the same age as that at Coventry, but much plainer in design. At Long SuttonChurch, Somersetshire, is a splendid wooden pulpit of the fifteenth century, painted and gilt; and the sides are covered with ogee-headed niches, with angular-shaped buttresses between; but the pulpits of this era may be distinguished without difficulty by the peculiar architectural designs they exhibit.
We now approach the division between the nave or body of the church and the chancel or choir: this was formed by a beautiful and highly decorated screen, sometimes of stone, but generally of wood, panel and open-work tracery, painted and gilt: above this was a cross-beam, which formed a main support to the rood-loft, a gallery in which the crucifix or rood and the accompanying images of the blessed Virgin and St. John were placed so as to be seen by the parishioners in the body of the church, and also in accordance with the traditional belief that the position of our Saviour whilst suspended on the cross was facing the west. The passage to the rood-loft was generally up a flight of stone steps in the north or south wall of the nave; but as the rood-loft frequently extended across the aisles, we sometimes meet with a small turret annexed to the east end of one of the aisles for the approach. Though the introduction of thelattice-work division between the chancel and nave may be traced in the eastern church to the fourth century, we possess in our own churches few remains of screen-work of earlier date than the fifteenth century; and it appears probable that wooden screen-work before that period was not common, and that in most instances a curtain or veil was used for the purpose of division. The rood-loft generally projected in front, so as to form a kind of groined cove, the ribs of which sprang or diverged from the principal uprights of the screen beneath. In Long Sutton Church, Somersetshire, is a splendid wooden rood-loft, elaborately carved, painted, and gilt, which extends across the whole breadth of the church, and is approached by means of a staircase turret on the south side of the church. In the churches of Great Handborough, Enstone, Great Rollwright, and Hook Norton, Oxfordshire, are considerable remains of the ancient rood-loft, and numerous other instances where it is still retained could be adduced. Sometimes this gallery was so small as to admit of the rood and two attendant images only, and had no apparent access to it, as that in Wormleighton Church, Warwickshire. Hardly a rood-loft is, however, remaining of earlier date than thefifteenth century; prior to that period, and in many instances even during it, the crucifix or rood and its attendant images appear to have been affixed to a transverse beam extending horizontally across the chancel arch; this was sometimes richly carved, and a beam of this description still exists in the chancel of Little Malvern Church, Worcestershire. An earlier date than the eleventh century can hardly be assigned for the introduction of the rood, with the figures of St. Mary and St. John, into our churches, though in illuminated manuscripts somewhat before that period we find such figures pourtrayed with thecrucifix167-*.In the abbey church, Bury St. Edmund’s, the rood and the figures of St. Mary and St. John, which were placed over the high altar, were (as we are informed by Joceline, who wrote his Chronicle in the twelfth century) the gift of ArchbishopStigand167-†.Gervase, in describing the work of Lanfranc in Canterbury Cathedral, as it appeared before the fire, A. D. 1174, notices the rood-beam, which sustained alarge crucifix and the images of St. Mary and St. John, as extended across the church between the nave and centraltower168-*.
Rood, Sherborne Church, Dorsetshire.Rood, Sherborne Church, Dorsetshire.
All the carved wooden roods appear to have been destroyed at the Reformation in compliance with the injunctions issued for that purpose. Weoccasionally meet, however, with bas relief sculptures of our Saviour extended on the cross, with a figure on each side representing the Virgin and St. John, but in a mutilated condition. On the outside of the west wall of the south transept of Romsey Church, Hants, and close to the entrance from the cloisters into the church, is a large stone rood or crucifix sculptured in relief, with a hand above emerging from acloud169-*:this is apparently of the twelfth century. Small sculptured representations of the rood, with the figures of St. Mary and St. John, still exist on one of the buttresses near the west door of Sherborne Church, Dorsetshire; over a south doorway of Burford Church, Oxfordshire; and in the wall of the tower of the church of St. Lawrence, Evesham.
Sanctus Bell, Long Compton Church, Warwickshire.Sanctus Bell, Long Compton Church, Warwickshire.
Outside the roof of some churches, on the apex of the eastern gable of the nave, is a small open arch or turret, in which formerly a single bell was suspended: this was thesanctusorsacringebell, thus placed that, being near the altar, it might be the more readily rung, when,in concluding the ordinary of the mass, the priest pronounced theTer-sanctus, to draw attention to that more solemn office, the canon of the mass, which he was now about to commence; it was also rung at a subsequent part of the service, on the elevation and adoration of the hostand chalice, afterconsecration171-*;but though the arch remains on the gable of the nave of many churches, the bell thus suspended is retained in few; amongst which may be mentioned those of Long Compton, Whichford, and Brailes, in Warwickshire, where this bell is still preserved hung in an arch at the apex of the nave, with the rope hanging down between the chancel andnave171-†.Mention of this bell is thus made in the Survey of the Priory of Sandwell, in the county of Stafford, taken at the time of the Reformation: “Itm the belframe standyng betw: the chauncell and the church, wt. a litlesanctmbell in the same.” Generally, however, a small hand-bell was carried and rung at the proper times in the service, by the acolyte; and in inventories of ancient church furniture we find it often noticed as “a sacringe bell;” but in an inventory of goods belonging to the chapel of Thorp, Northamptonshire, it is described as “a litlesanctus bell.” A small sacringe bell, of bell-metal, with the exception of the clapper,which was of iron, was in 1819 discovered on the removal of some rubbish from the ruins of St. Margaret’s Priory, Barnstable; and within the last few years a small sanctus bell was found on the site of a religious house atWarwick172-*.
Ancient Sanctus Bell, found at Warwick.Ancient Sanctus Bell, found at Warwick.
Passing under the rood-loft, we enter the chancel: this was so called from the screen orlattice-work (cancelli) of stone or wood by which it was separated from the nave, and which succeeded the curtain or veil which anciently formed this division of thechurch173-*.
Stalls and Desk, St. Margaret's Church, Leicester.Stalls and Desk, St. Margaret's Church, Leicester.
We often perceive in the choirs of conventual churches, as in our cathedrals, on either side of the entrance, facing the east, and also on thenorth and south sides, a range of wooden stalls divided into single seats, peculiarly constructed, theformulæor forms of which were movable, and carved on thesubselliæor under-sides with grotesque, satirical, and often irreverend devices: these were appropriated to the monks or canons of the monastery or college to which the church was attached. The form of each stall, when turned up so as to exhibit the carved work on the under-part, furnished a small kind of seat or ledge, constructed for the purpose of inclining against rather than sitting on; and this was called themisericordeormiserere. Theformulæor forms when down, and the misericordes when the forms were turned up, were used as the season required for penitentialinclinations174-*.In front of these stalls was a desk, ornamented on the exterior with panelled tracery; and over the stalls, especially of those of cathedral churches, canopies of tabernacle work richly carved were sometimes disposed. In Winchester Cathedral we have perhaps the most early, chaste, and beautiful example of the canons’ stalls, with canopies over, that are to be met with, although a greater excessof minute carved ornament may be found in the canopies which overhang the stalls in other cathedrals. In old conventual churches, now no longer used as such, the stalls have been often removed from their original position to other parts of the church, and they appear to have varied in number according to that of the fraternity.
Misericorde, All Souls' College, Oxford.Misericorde, All Souls' College, Oxford.
Brass Reading Desk, Merton College Chapel, Oxford.Brass Reading Desk, Merton College Chapel, Oxford.
In the choirs of cathedral and conventual churches, and in the chancels of some other churches, a movable desk, at which the epistle and gospel were read, was placed: this was often called the eagle desk, from its being frequently sustained on a brazen eagle with expanded wings, elevated on a stand, emblematic of St. John theevangelist. Eagle desks are generally found either of the fifteenth or seventeenth century; notices of them occur, however, much earlier. In the Louterell Psalter, written circa A. D. 1300, an eagle desk supported on a cylindrical shaft,banded midway down by an annulated moulding in the style of the thirteenth century, is represented; and in an account of ornaments belonging to Salisbury Cathedral, A. D. 1214, we find mentionedTuellia una ad Lectricum Aquilæ. Besides the brass eagle desks which still remain in use in several of our cathedrals, and in the chapels of some of the colleges at Oxford and Cambridge, fine specimens are preserved in Redcliffe Church, Bristol, of the date 1638; in Croydon Church, Surrey; and in the church of the Holy Trinity at Coventry; other instances might also be enumerated. Sometimes we meet with ancient brass reading-desks which have not the eagle in front, but both the sides are sloped so as to form a double desk: of these, examples of the fifteenth century may be found in Yeovil Church, Somersetshire, and in the chapel of Merton College, Oxford. Ancient wooden reading-desks, either single or double, are also occasionally found; some of these are richly carved, others are comparatively plain, but all partake more or less of the architectonic style of the age in which they were severally constructed, and from which their probable dates may be ascertained. In Bury Church, Huntingdonshire, is a wooden desk with a single slope, and the vertical face presented infront is covered with arches and other carved ornaments: this perhaps may be referable to the latter part of the fourteenth century. A rich double desk, of somewhat later date, with the shaft supported by buttresses of open-work tracery, is preserved in Ramsey Church, Huntingdonshire. In Aldbury Church, Hertfordshire, is an ancient double lecturn or reading desk, of wood, of the fifteenth century, much plainer in design than those at Bury and Ramsey; the shaft is angular, with small buttresses at the angles, and with a plain angular-shaped moulded capital and base, which latter is set on a cross-tree. In Hawstead Church, Suffolk, is a wooden desk with little ornament, supported on an angular shaft with an embattled capital, and moulded base with leaves carved in relief: this is apparently of the latter part of the fourteenth century. The ancient wooden desks found in some of our churches must not, however, be confounded with a more numerous class constructed and used subsequent to the Reformation.
Proceeding up the chancel or choir, we ascend by three steps to the platform, on which the high altar anciently stood: this was so called to distinguish it from other altars, of which there were often several, in the same church; high masswas celebrated at it, whereas the other altars were chiefly used for the performance of low or private masses. The most ancient altars were of wood, afterwards they were constructed of stone; those of the primitive British churches are spoken of by St. Chrysostom. By a decree of the council of Paris, held A. D. 509, no altar was to be built but of stone. Amongst the excerptions of Ecgbert, archbishop of York A. D. 750, was one that no altars should be consecrated with chrism but such as were made of stone; and by the council of Winchester, held under Lanfranc A. D. 1076, altars were enjoined to be of stone. The customary form of such was a mass of stone supporting an altar table or slab, and resembling the tombs of the martyrs, at which the primitive Christians held their meetings; from which circumstance it became customary to enclose in every altar relics of some saint, and without such relics an altar was esteemed incomplete.
Ancient Pix, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.Ancient Pix, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
Pertaining to the high altar, which was covered with a frontal and cloths, and anciently enclosed at the sides with curtains suspended on rods of iron projecting from the wall, was a crucifix, which succeeded to the simple cross placed on the altars of the Anglo-Saxon churches; apair180-*of candlesticks, generally with spikes instead of sockets, on which lights or tapers were fixed; a pix, in which the host was kept reserved for the sick; a pair of cruets, of metal, in which were contained the wine and water preparatory to their admixture in the eucharistic cup; a sacring bell; a pax table, of silver or other metal, for the kiss of peace, which took place shortly before the host was received in communion; a stoup orstok, of metal, with a sprinkle for holy water; a censer orthurible181-*,and a ship, (a vessel so called,) to hold frankincense; achrismatory181-†,an offering basin, a basin which was used when the priest washed his hands, and a chalice and paten. Costly specimens of the ancient pix, containing small patens for the reception of the host, are preserved amongst the plate belonging to New College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. A pix of a much plainer description, but without its cover, of the metal called latten, was until recently preserved in the church of Enstone, Oxfordshire: the body of this was of a semi-globular form, supported on an angular stem, with a knob inthe midst, and in appearance not unlike a chalice. The monstrance, in which the host was exhibited to the people, and which has been sometimes confounded with thepix182-*,does not appear to have been introduced into our churches before the fifteenth century; on the suppression of the monasteries and chantries we find it noticed in the inventories then taken of church furniture, as in that of the Priory of Ely, where it is called “a stonding monstral for the sacrament;” and in that of St. Augustine’s Monastery, Canterbury, where it is described as “one monstrance, silver gilt, with four glasses.”
Sedilia, Crick Church, Northamptonshire.Sedilia, Crick Church, Northamptonshire.
Near the high altar we frequently find, in the south wall of the chancel, a series of stone seats, sometimes without but generally beneath plain or enriched arched canopies, often supported by slender piers which serve to divide the seats. In most instances these seats are three in number, but they vary from one to five, and are thesediliaor seats formerly appropriated during high mass to the use of the officiating priest and his attendant ministers, the deacon and sub-deacon, whoretired thither during the chanting of theGloria in excelsis, and some other parts of theservice183-*.The sedilia sometimes preserve the same level, but generally they graduate or rise one above another, and that nearest the altar, being the highest, was occupied by the priest; the other two by the deacon and sub-deacon insuccession183-†.We do not often meet with sedilia of so early an era as the twelfth century; there are, however, instances of such, as in the church of St. Mary, at Leicester, where is a fine Norman triple sedile, divided into graduating seats by double cylindrical piers with sculptured capitals, and the recessed arches they support are enriched on the face with a profusion of the zigzag moulding. In the south wall of the choir of Broadwater Church, Sussex, is a stone bench beneath a large semicircular Norman arch, the face of which is enriched with the chevron or zigzag moulding. In Avington Church, Berkshire, is a stone beneath a plain segmental arch. Norman sedilia also occur in the churches of Earls Barton, Northamptonshire, and of Wellingore, Lincolnshire. From the commencement of the thirteenth century up to the Reformation sedilia became a common appendage to a church, and the styles are easily distinguished by their peculiar architectonic features. Some are without canopies, and are excessively plain. On the south side of the chancel ofMinster Lovel Church, Oxfordshire, is a stone bench without a canopy or division, and plain stone benches thus disposed are found in the chancel of Bloxham Church, Oxfordshire, and of Rowington Church, Warwickshire. In Sedgeberrow Church, Gloucestershire, are two sedilia without canopies; and in Standlake Church, Oxfordshire, the sedilia, three in number, are without canopies or ornament. In Spratten Church, Northamptonshire, is a stone bench for three persons under a plain recessed pointed arch. In Priors Hardwick Church, Warwickshire, is a sedile for the priest, and below that one double the size for the deacon and sub-deacon; both are under recessed arched canopies. Quadruple sedilia occur in the churches of Turvey and Luton, Bedfordshire; in the Mayor’s Chapel, Bristol; in Gloucester Cathedral; in the church of Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire; and in Rothwell Church, Northamptonshire: these are beneath canopies, and most of them are highly enriched. Quintuple sedilia sometimes occur, but are very rare; in the conventual church of Southwell, Nottinghamshire, are, however, five sedilia beneath ogee-headed canopies richly ornamented. A single sedile for one person only is occasionally met with, but not often.
Double Piscina, Salisbury Cathedral.Double Piscina, Salisbury Cathedral.
Eastward of the sedilia, in the same wall, is afenestellaor niche, sometimes plain, but often enriched with a crocketed ogee or pedimental hood moulding in front, over the arch, which is trefoiled or cinquefoiled in the head. This niche contains a hollow perforated basin or stone drain, called thepiscinaorlavacrum186-*,into which it appears that after the priest had washed his hands, which he was accustomed to do beforethe consecration of the elements and again after the communion, the water was poured, as also that with which the chalice was rinsed. The usage of washing the hands before the communion is one of very high antiquity, and is expressly noticed in the Clementine Liturgy, and by St. Cyril in his mysticalCatechesis187-*;we do not, however, find the piscina in our churches of an era earlier than the twelfth century, and even then it was of uncommon occurrence; but in the thirteenth century the general introduction is observable. In Romsey Church, Hampshire, is the shaft and basin (the latter cushion-shaped) of a curious Norman piscina: this is now lying loose, in a dilapidated state. In the south apsis of the same church is another Norman piscina, consisting of a quadrangular-shaped basin projecting from the south wall; and on the south side of the chancel of Avington Church, Berkshire, is a plain Norman piscina within a simple semicircular arched recess. The churches of Kilpeck, Herefordshire, Keelby, Lincolnshire, and Bapchild, Kent, also contain Norman piscinæ.Those of all the various styles of later date are common; they exhibit, however, an interesting variety in design and ornamental detail. The drain of the piscina communicated with a perforated stone shaft, commonly enclosed in the wall, through which the water was lost in the earth; as in the case of the piscina with its shaft taken out of the south wall of the chancel of the now destroyed church of Newnham Regis, Warwickshire. Sometimes a piscina was a subsequent addition to a structure of early date, as in the old and now demolished church of Stretton-upon-Dunsmore, Warwickshire, in the south wall of the Norman chancel of which a piscina of the latter part of the thirteenth century had been inserted.
Piscina, Newnham Regis, Warwickshire.Piscina, Newnham Regis, Warwickshire.
The piscina is very common in churches even where the sedilia or stone seats are wanting, and not only in the chancel, but also in the south walls at the east end of the north and south aisles, and in mortuary chapels, as will be presently noticed; it appears, in short, to have been an indispensable appendage to an altar.
Sometimes the piscina is double, and contains two basins with drains, the one for receiving the water in which the hands had been washed, the other for the reception of the water with which the chalice was rinsed after thecommunion189-*.In Rothwell Church, Northamptonshire, on the south side of the chancel, are the vestiges of a triple piscina; the fenestella has been destroyed, but the three basins with their drains remain.
Across thefenestella, or niche which containsthe piscina, a shelf of stone or wood may be frequently found: this was thecredence190-*,or table on which the chalice, paten, ampullæ, and other things necessary for the celebration of mass were, before consecration, placed in a state of readiness on a clean linen cloth; and this originated from the πρόθεσις, or side table of preparation, used in the early church; a recurrence to which ancient and primitive custom by some of the divines of the Anglican church, after the Reformation, occasioned great offence to be taken by the Puritan seceders. In some instances a side table of stone or wood was used for this purpose; and a fine credence table of stone, the sides of which are covered with panelled compartments, is still remaining on the south side of the choir, St. Cross Church, nearWinchester190-†.