the west end and in the west bay of the north aisle. In front of the
former there was a groined porch, of which a small portion of the
springer for the groining on one side only remains; this was brought
to light by the removal of a brick porch which had been erected in its
place. The string-course above the door is of the thirteenth century,
but the window above it of three lights, and three other windows of
two lights in the western bays of the aisles, are of the fourteenth
century, and the work, probably, of Bishop Haymo de Hethe. The north
aisle door is remarkable for its rich detail and peculiar character.
One of the orders is adorned with a chevron on one face and with
dogteeth on the other, and the inner order is enriched with a rose. The
dogteeth and the carving of the rose are quite consistent in character
with the date of the church, and the chevron is no doubt a curious
instance of imitation of earlier work, rather than evidence of the
doorway itself being earlier than the rest of the church. The dogteeth
are well developed, and the roses are similar in character to those in
the internal jambs and arches of the transept doors at Westminster. The
windows in the side walls of the aisles are all alike on the exterior,
simply chamfered with labels over them, save the western window of the
south aisle, where there is no label. Those at the east ends of the
aisles are more important; that to the east of the north aisle being
of four lights, and that to the east of the south aisle of two lights.
The buttresses are very simple, of two stages in height, with plain
weatherings. The north chancel aisle is the Wilshyre chantry, a late
third-pointed work, with a battlemented parapet. The erection of this
chapel involved the removal of one of the chancel buttresses, and in
place of it a very bold flying buttress was erected, which spans the
roof of the chapel, and adds much to the picturesque effect of this
side of the church. Its erection in the fifteenth century was good
proof, in the absence of any other, that at that time at any rate the
groined roof of the chancel was standing, for otherwise its erection
would never have been required. The removal of the high, tiled, lean-to
roof of the Wilshyre chantry has exposed the flying buttress, the fine
east window of the north aisle, and the still finer window in the
north wall, restored, as I have said, in exact accordance with the
window which I was so happy as to find there. The vestry, which forms
a continuation of the north chancel aisle, is lighted with two small
windows, with ogee trefoiled heads. It was a roofless ruin, but now
it has been re-roofed, and, as well as the chantry, is covered with a
lead flat roof, which seems to have been the original covering, and
has the advantage of not concealing any portion of the chancel. The
east window is new, of three lights, corresponding in all respects with
the restored north window, save in its dimensions, which are rather
larger. So much of the east wall had been taken down and rebuilt,
that it was impossible to decide exactly whether the east window was
originally of three or four lights. I am rather inclined to believe
that it was of four lights, for towards the end of the thirteenth
century it is not at all unusual to find windows of an even number of
lights in the east end; and the arcade below the window inside is of
four divisions. Still, as there was no evidence whatever that this was
the case, I thought it, on the whole, safer to repeat simply that in
which I was certainly following the old architect, and the grandeur of
the two restored windows is so remarkable that one need not wish them
to be other than they are. In the south wall of the chancel one of the
windows inserted _circa_ A.D. 1640 still remains; it is of some value
to the antiquary, and the contrast between it and the new windows, I
hope, will amply justify the course I have adopted, in removing its
two companions. The chancel buttresses are of great projection, but
all their weatherings and finishings are modern, and for lack of funds
remain for the present unaltered. The chancel is of two bays in length,
and between its western buttress and the south wall of the nave is a
space of six feet, through which, on the south, there appears to have
been a doorway.[71] This would have opened into the western portion of
the chancel, close to the chancel arch, and serves to prove that the
chancel was not originally intended to be filled with wooden stalls.
Before the restoration of the church, the roof over the nave was
steep, and flatter in its pitch over the aisles; and the chancel roof
presented two gables towards the east, and had a gutter over the
centre of the ceiling from end to end. All this is now altered. The
nave roof has returned to its one uniform slope, simple and dignified
in its effect; and the chancel walls, raised to their old height, so
as to admit of the restoration of the groining, and surmounted by a
high-pitched roof, finished with gable-copings and crosses, presents
again the outline which no doubt it presented before the fire in A.D.
1638. The chancel roof is now much higher than that of the nave, but
I hope some day to remedy whatever defect there is in the external
proportions of the building, by the removal of the poor modern
battlements, and the erection of a wooden spire, shingled after the
common Kentish fashion. The roof of the steeple was burnt in A.D. 1638,
and the heat having been so great that the bells melted, it is fair to
assume that the roof so burnt was rather a spire than a flat roof, and,
indeed, Hasted’s expression that the “steeple” was burnt, refers, it
can hardly be doubted, to a timber spire.
I will now proceed to give a detailed description of the interior.
The nave is entered by the west door, under the tower. The piers of
the tower arches were re-cased in the fourteenth century, and the
capitals, carved with poor stiff foliage at the same time, afford a
marked contrast to the workmanship and design of the earlier capitals.
The three arches under the north, south, and east walls of the tower
are unaltered, of the same character as the arches in the nave, and
evidently earlier than the piers which support them. The nave and
aisles consist, in addition to the engaged western steeple, of three
bays. The most remarkable feature in the design of this interior is the
way in which the whole of the work gradually increases in richness of
detail and in beauty from west to east. This will be seen immediately
on an examination of the building itself. It is a very charming
feature, and though one might have supposed that it would not be so
very uncommon, suggested as it seems to be naturally by the respect
which in almost all ages has been paid to the altar end of the church,
I believe I may affirm that Stone church is unique in the studied way
in which it has been done. At the risk of being very tedious, I give a
detailed description of the interior, which will explain the variation
of the design to which I have referred:
_Western Bay_ (_north side_).--The window is of two lancets, with
quatrefoil above: the inside arch chamfered, with a simple label
returned, without any carving at bottom. The jambs are simply splayed:
arches between nave and aisles moulded.
_Middle Bay._--Windows of same shape, but the inside arch and the
quatrefoil are richly moulded, and the internal jambs are finished with
a moulding and stone shaft, with moulded base and carved capital. The
label is enriched with dogteeth (it is the only label in the church
in which they occur), and is terminated with heads of a queen on the
right, and a king on the left, the latter much defaced.
The arches between the nave and aisles are moulded, but more richly
than those in the western bay.
_Eastern Bay._--Tracery of windows as before; the quatrefoil is not
moulded. Jambs have two shafts (one stone and one marble) on each side,
and a detached marble shaft in the centre. From these a richly-moulded
rear-arch springs, with tracery of two lights corresponding with that
of the windows. The whole composition of this window is of extreme
beauty.
The arches between aisles and nave in this bay are richly moulded, and
the centre of the soffit is enriched with a large dogtooth, making it
much more ornate in character than the other arches.
The windows in the south wall correspond generally with those in the
north, and exhibit the same graduation of enrichment. In the window
in the eastern bay there are two circular bosses of foliage in the
spandrels of the internal tracery;[72] in the opposite window these
circles are plain sunk circles without any sculpture: and it appears
that the architect, wishing to avoid the expense of sinking the whole
surface of the stone, so as to leave the sculpture in advance of it,
let in his bosses into a rebate in the stone work. This is a very rare
mode of construction, but appears to be perfectly lawful.
The east window of the north aisle is richer than any of the others in
the nave. It is of four lights, with two marble shafts in each jamb,
and one in the centre monial. The tracery has quatrefoiled circles over
the side-lights, under enclosing arches, and a large cusped circle in
the head: the arch is extremely pointed. The mouldings throughout are
more delicate than anywhere else in the church, and the large circle
has a dogtooth enrichment. Externally this window is exceedingly
simple: the rich mouldings of the interior being changed to a plain
chamfer and broad flat tracery bars, very peculiar in their effect.
This window was entirely blocked up, the cusping in the tracery
concealed, and a four-centred brick arch under it connected the aisle
with the Wilshyre chantry. We have taken away this brick arch, restored
the old jambs and sill, and supported them on a flat stone arch. The
flat roof of the chantry crosses the window just below the springing,
and the portion above is to be glazed with stained glass, whilst that
below is open through to the chantry. This was the best arrangement
that could be made with the double object of preserving the old window
in all its integrity and yet making the chantry available for use by
the congregation.
The east window of the south aisle is much less magnificent than
that last described: it is of two lights, with two marble shafts in
each jamb, and an engaged stone shaft in the monial. Externally this
window is remarkable for the curious freak by which the outer chamfer
is gathered in with a curve some six inches on each side just at the
springing.
The chancel arch is more richly moulded on the west face than any of
the others, and has a band of foliage enrichments of very magnificent
character, very elaborate developments of the dogtooth; each being the
general shape of a dogtooth, but filled up with intricate and beautiful
foliage. Above the chancel arch on either side are two quatrefoils,
within which are carved exquisite compositions of foliage, arranged in
the form of a cross. Brilliant traces of red colour remain on these
carvings. These quatrefoils were completely concealed by plaster before
the restoration, and their re-opening has amazingly improved the effect
of the wall above the chancel arch. The side walls of the nave are
finished at the top with a moulded string-course, which is returned for
about a foot on either side at the east, and was probably continued all
round the church.[73]
The whole body of the church was covered with a coat of plaster. Most
fortunately this had been put up by some pious plasterer, who, though
he loved plaster well, loved the church better, and had no heart
for hacking holes in its walls to afford a key for his plaster. The
consequence was, that in an hour or two the whole of the walls were
stripped of their covering, and displayed their old masonry fortunately
intact. The walls above the arcades are faced with chalk, regularly
squared and coursed on the side towards the nave, and built roughly on
the sides toward the aisles, and are finished with a course of Gatton
stone below the string-course at the top. The aisle walls are built
of rough flint at their base; above this a course of squared chalk
below the principal string-course, and on this there are traces of a
thirteenth century pattern, painted in red. Above the string-course the
walls are built entirely with coursed chalk, with quoins and dressings
of Gatton stone.
The removal of the plaster between the two eastern windows in the
south wall disclosed a portion of an arcade. This seems never to have
been completed, for whilst the lower stone has the dogtooth enrichment
of the arch finished, the upper stone has it simply blocked out in
the square: we found a corresponding fragment of arcading built into
the upper part of the chancel wall, and whilst that which exists in
the south wall appears to have been always in the same place, it
seems pretty clear that the other piece was never fixed near it. The
conclusion at which I arrive is, therefore, that these are fragments of
a work commenced but abandoned for another scheme at the very time the
work was going on.
Before going to the chancel a note should be added here, as to the
painted decorations which have been discovered. A portion of these
are architectural in their character, the rest pictorial. Among the
former, is the running pattern forming a border under the string-course
in the south aisle. This I hope to continue all along the wall, it
being sufficiently clear in the one place where it occurs to warrant
restoration; and I have no doubt of the importance attached by the
old architect to decoration on a line so marked as that of the
principal string-course. There is also a faint border round the chancel
arch, painted in red, but rather later in its character than the
string-course. The pictorial decorations are all on the north aisle
wall. Between the first and second windows is a large sitting figure
of the Blessed Virgin Mary nursing our Lord: S. Mary has a veil, and
is not crowned, and has a red robe and a blue cloak. She is seated on
a throne with shafts at the angles, and the canopy is a gabled trefoil
with triple pinnacles on either side. As far as I can judge, this work
appears to be very late thirteenth century or early fourteenth century
work, and was evidently rich in colour. The painting between the two
next windows is so damaged that I have been unable to decide what it
represents. On the wall east of the eastern window is another figure
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also nursing our Lord, and seated under a
trefoiled canopy. No other traces of painting remain, save the colour,
already mentioned, on the sculptured crosses over the chancel arch, and
some painted crosses on the east wall of the chancel.
From this description it will be seen how systematically all this
portion of the work has been designed: subject to the carrying out of
the general scheme there are, however, some small peculiarities which
may point, either to the Gothic love of variety on the part of the
architect, or (and as I think, more probably) to the fact that portions
of the work may have been special offerings or donations from different
persons. Certainly I see no other way of accounting for the repetition
within a few years of two copies of the same painted subject on the
north aisle wall.
It is to be noticed that there is no sign of a piscina in either of the
aisles. I thought it possible at first that the arcade we discovered in
the south aisle might have formed a portion of the sedilia for an altar
in the aisle, but I hardly think now that this could have been the case.
The chancel consists of a western bay of seven feet in depth, from
east to west, and east of this of two bays each 21 ft. 2 in. wide and
16 ft. 3 in. long, from centre to centre of the groining shafts. The
west bay has no windows, but there is, as I have said, a trace of a
doorway in the south wall. The other bays have each three divisions of
wall arcading on marble shafts, and the east wall has four divisions
of the same arcade. The spandrels of these arcades are filled in with
sculptured foliage, so beautiful and delicate in its execution, and
so nervous and vigorous in its design, that I believe it may safely be
pronounced to be among the very best sculpture of the age that we have
in this country. I shall have to enter again upon the subject of this
portion of the work, in comparing it to the sculpture at Westminster.
The work at Stone appears to me to be all by one man, and he seems to
have been, if not the best of the Westminster sculptors, at any rate
equal to the best.
There are in this chancel twenty-one of these spandrels, all different
in design, but all nearly equal in merit. The aggregate amount of work
bestowed here is as nothing compared with that which has been lavished
in scores of cases on sculpture in our new churches: yet is there any
one modern work which possesses a tithe of the value of this work? And
would it not be far better to limit our nineteenth century carvers of
foliage to work rather less in amount, and considerably more in merit,
than that which they are wont to give us? The sculpture at Stone was
no contract work: no exhibition of the greatest skill in covering the
largest possible number of stones with the greatest possible quantity
of carving: and it was executed with a delicacy of hand, a fineness
of eye, a nervous sensibility so soft, that no perfunctory imitation
can ever be in the least degree likely to rival its beauty. The small
bosses of foliage which adorn the smaller spandrels in this arcade are
very well carved; and it is worthy of remark that the same design is
repeated several times. No. 1 is repeated four times, No. 2 six times,
and No. 3 seven times; besides which the same design is used, simply
reversed. It looks as though a model had been cut, and then copies made
of it.
The walls of the chancel are only 2 ft. 3½ in. thick, but the great
size of the buttresses amply compensated for this, and preserved
them from suffering at all by the thrust of the groining. Before
the restoration the state of the chancel was a sad falling off from
its old state. The arcade at the base of the walls was perfect all
round. The lower part of the groining-shafts remained, as also did the
whole of a cluster of shafts on each side between the short western
bay already mentioned and the next. The groining was all destroyed,
but marks of it remained against the wall, and it was easy therefore
to obtain its exact section. The treatment of the western bay was
peculiar. It was clearly never covered, as the rest of the chancel
was, with a quadripartite vault. The mark of a vault remained against
the wall above the chancel arch, whilst the side walls showed that a
barrel-vault had sprung from them. The cluster of three shafts between
this bay and the next remained to be explained. One of them only was
the groining-shaft answering to the others; but upon a very close
examination of a fragment of the wall above them and of the marks on
the caps themselves, I was able to ascertain beyond doubt that the two
other shafts had carried an arch moulded on the east face, the soffit
of which, continued westward, formed the pointed barrel-vault over the
western bay. This has now been all restored, and with so much certainty
as to all its parts, that I trust it will not be opened to the
criticisms to which too many restorations are liable, of being rather
ingenious than true. I should mention that the new groining-ribs are
of the same section as the old. The window in the north wall has been
exactly restored after the old remains, some of which have indeed been
incorporated with the new work. It is of three uncusped lights, with
tracery composed of three cusped circles. The cusping was let into a
groove, and a sufficient number of fragments remained to give the exact
number of cusps, etc. On the exterior the jamb has two engaged shafts,
with caps and bases, and on the inside the monials are well moulded
and have each a detached marble shaft, whilst the jambs have two
marble shafts and are richly moulded. Internally the arch and tracery
mouldings are very delicate, whilst externally they consist of bold
chamfers and hollows only. The detail of the sculpture of the capitals
of the monials was managed with rare skill, as seen by a fragment
found in the north wall. This window is now treated in the same way as
that at the east end of the north aisle, being partly below the roof
of the Wilshyre chantry. An old arch existed behind the arcade under
it, and this has been replaced by one of stone, so that the chantry
is now sufficiently open to the chancel for the purpose of use by the
congregation.
On the south wall of the chancel is the old piscina, under one of the
divisions of the arcading. The arcade is continued across the east wall
of the chancel, in four divisions; and treated exactly in the same way
as at the sides; it is pretty clear, therefore, that it can never have
been intended to place the altar against the wall, and it was no doubt
brought forward a few feet (with perhaps a low wall or reredos behind
it) in the way so common in the case of apsidal chancels, and of which
we have examples at Arundel and at Warfield in the case of square-ended
chancels. In the two divisions of the arcade we found, on removing
the whitewash and plaster, a painted cross pattee, enclosed within a
circle: it was red on a white ground, and outlined with black. Whether
this was a dedication cross, or only painted in connection with the
altar, it is impossible to say.[74]
In the chancel floor are some ancient grave-stones, among which
those of John Lumbarde, Rector, a fine brass cross of the fourteenth
century, and the little brass of Sir John Dew, are well known, and of
much value. They have been carefully relaid in connection with a new
pavement round the altar. The altar-rail has also been brought forward;
the altar set on a footpace about three feet from the east wall, with a
low stone perpeyn wall at its back, capped with marble, and showing the
old arcade above it.
It remains to mention a few ancient fragments which have been
discovered during the progress of the works.
They are:
1. A fragment of very richly cusped thirteenth-century tracery, very
delicately moulded. This has not formed part of a window, and perhaps
belonged to the reredos, if there was one.
2. A fine head of a monk (small).
3. A half-destroyed carved capital of a large shaft clustered of three:
it looks like the capital of a groining-shaft, but agrees with nothing
in the church.
4. One moulded marble capital, and two fragments of a marble monial,
with engaged shaft inside and out. There is no existing marble monial
in the church, and the only suggestion I can make is, that possibly the
same increase of enrichment that I have noticed was carried on to the
east end, and the east window executed with monials entirely of marble;
but on the other hand, this monial, though of marble, is not so rich in
detail and moulding as the stone monial, with its detached marble shaft
in the north window of the chancel.
5. A portion of the lower part of a sitting figure of our Lord. This
figure is that of a man about four feet six inches in height. The feet
are naked and pierced with the wounds. There is no sign of any place
from which such a figure could have been moved. Its date is about that
of the church.
6. A spandrel of an arcade, sculptured with a portion of the
resurrection of the dead. It very nearly fits the spandrel of the
arcade discovered in the south wall of the south aisle, and, in order
that it may be preserved, I have had it placed there. The treatment of
the bodies coming out of the coffins is good, and the work is about the
date of the church.
7. A large number of fragments of the groining-ribs of the chancel, of
the windows, etc. etc., were also found. The bulk of all these were
built into the upper part of the chancel walls, and into the gable wall
above the chancel arch, and were no doubt placed there at the time of
the alterations of the building, after the fire in the seventeenth
century.
Of the works recently executed in the church, it will be sufficient to
say, that the nave has been re-seated with open seats, and paved with
the best red, black and buff tiles. The eastern part of the chancel
floor has been repaved with marble and encaustic tiles, and want of the
necessary funds alone has prevented the re-laying of the remainder of
the chancel floor and the completion of the seats. The lectern for the
Bible is of oak. The whole of the chancel has been groined in stone
and chalk: the groining-ribs being of Caen stone, and the filling in
of the vault of chalk. I have been unable, on account of the cost, to
introduce any bosses at the intersection of the groining-ribs; we found
no remains of any, but as they were used in the groining at Westminster
Abbey, I should have preferred their introduction. On the same account
the wall-ribs are chamfered, not moulded. The other ribs are exactly
copied from the old fragments found in the chancel wall, and I was
also able to obtain the exact height of the vault, and as nearly as
possible the mouldings of the bold arch on the eastern face of the
waggon-vault at the entrance of the chancel. The east and north windows
of the chancel are both new, and copied from the old fragments found by
me in the north wall. A pulpit of stone, alabaster and marble, carved
by Mr. Earp, and the gift of the family of the late Archdeacon King,
is placed in the north-east angle of the nave. The window in the east
bay of the north aisle is filled with stained glass, and is to form
one of a series, those in the north aisle illustrating the miracles of
our Lord, and those in the south aisle the parables. This window is
the gift of Mrs. Cooper, and is executed (as are the others) by Mr.
Wailes, of Newcastle. The east window of the north aisle is a memorial
window to the late Archdeacon King, erected by his parishioners: and
the subject is, our Lord in Majesty, with angels on either side. The
east window of the chancel is also a memorial to the Archdeacon, and
erected by his family; it contains a long series of subjects from the
life of our Lord, in medallions, and is richly treated in Mr. Wailes’s
usual style; and it is only to be regretted that in brilliancy of
colour and nervousness of drawing he does not yet by any means equal
the old school of painters on glass. The altar-cloth is of red velvet,
embroidered in the old manner by Mrs. G. Murray.
I referred, in the earlier part of this paper, to the similarity
between the detail of the work at Stone and that of the earlier
portions of Westminster Abbey; and before I conclude I will, as well
as I can, explain the extent of this similarity. Few subjects are of
more interest to me, and I suppose to all students of our ancient
architecture, than this of the extent to which the work of the same
artist may be traced in different buildings. I have been able, in a
considerable number of cases, to prove pretty clearly what I now wish
to prove about Stone and Westminster;[75] but I need hardly say that
the evidence is always of a kind which it is extremely difficult to
give in writing; though it is difficult to resist its force if the two
works are examined one after the other, and their special peculiarities
carefully noted. I will endeavour however to show the existence of
something more than the ordinary likeness of all works of the same date
and style, between Westminster Abbey and some portions of Stone church.