THE INTERIOR
"The most-detailed description of architectural works must fail to
convey to the mind so clear and correct an impression, as the graphic
representation of the objects themselves does to the eye; and the more
laboured the attempt to describe in words the position, the arrangement,
the form and magnitude of the several parts, the more the picture
becomes confused, and the less likely to answer the purpose" (_Quart.
Rev._, No. 37, 179).
How far the above statement is of universal application is not a matter
to be here discussed, but it will be appreciated to the full by anyone
who attempts to describe, within definite and narrow limits, the many
beauties of one of our finest cathedrals, such as Gloucester undoubtedly
is.
To fully appreciate the beauty of the cathedral, it must be studied
under different aspects and at different times. Much will depend upon
the mood of the visitor, much, too, upon the time of day. The Lady
Chapel at 7 A.M. is quite a different thing from the Lady Chapel at
10:30 or 12 noon, though always beautiful. The same holds good with the
choir and the nave. A slanting light through the south clerestory
playing fitfully upon the lace-work of the north side of the choir, or
the sturdy pillars of the ever-impressive nave, gives a charm that
cannot be described.
How grand a sight, too, it is when the nave is almost in darkness--save
for eight or ten small jets of light overhead--to see the choir lighted
up, with the organ standing out in strong relief against the blaze of
light below and behind it, and now and then a gleam of light showing
through as the door under the screen is opened.
[Illustration: THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST.]
Then, again, note and study the marvellous effects of sound in the
building. Listen, if possible, from the Lady Chapel, to an anthem by
some old composer; listen to Bach's G minor fugue from the triforium of
the choir, and hear the echoes rolling from pier to pier; listen to the
Hallelujah Chorus sung on some great festival service in the nave, or
some simple well-known hymn sung by close upon 3000 people, and the
listener will have some idea of the effect that mere sound, taken as
such, can produce.
The sound of Stainer's Gregorian _Miserere_, sung entirely
unaccompanied, as heard from the great west door, is grand in the
extreme. It needs but little imagination to take oneself back, say, four
hundred years, and picture the monks singing the very same Psalm.
The tiles in an ancient building are always of interest, and Gloucester
contains many that are worth inspection. There are some in the choir and
its chapels, and there are some in the Lady Chapel; others may be found
near Raikes' monument, exposed to view in the south aisle. There are
also some in the south-east chapel of the triforium of the choir. The
chapter-house tiles are modern (Minton), but were made after the tiles
that were in existence there.
The nave was originally tiled, and specimens have been found when
excavations have been made. In the days that are to come, possibly, the
Georgian flooring may be taken up, and the tiles now hidden from view
will be revealed in places where they have not been broken up, where
graves have been dug in the nave and aisles.
Perhaps the weakest point in the cathedral is the modern glass. There is
much that shows careful work and thought, but there has been no
systematic controlling spirit at work to suggest, to guide, or to check.
The chief blots, too, are the so-called memorial windows, and the reason
is not hard to find. It is well put by Mr Ruskin, who, in his "Seven
Lamps of Architecture," says: "The peculiar manner of selfish and
impious ostentation, provoked by the glassmakers for a stimulus to
trade, of putting up painted windows to be records of private affection,
instead of universal religion, is one of the worst, because most
plausible and proud, hypocrisies of our day."
Just imagine the difference in the south aisle, for instance, if there
had been a scheme carefully planned beforehand for the windows, instead
of the threefold, but haphazard, process of a window offered, a window
accepted, a window put up, and no questions asked as to designer or
artist. Imagine what the effect might, or would, have been, had the
windows, as a set, been designed by Burne-Jones and executed by William
Morris, or by other competent artists. Now, unfortunately, these two
great artists are dead, and Gloucester has not a single specimen of
their work.
The #Nave# as it is (174 feet by 34 1/4 feet long, 67 feet 7 inches high)
is quite unique, and differs considerably from other Norman naves, such
as are to be found in the cathedrals at Ely, Norwich, or Peterborough,
and in the neighbouring abbey churches at Tewkesbury, and Great Malvern.
The unique features here are the great height of the massive circular
columns, fourteen in number, and the consequently dwarfed triforium or
gallery running over the main arches. There are traces to be seen of the
original Norman clerestory under the Perpendicular windows, and, judging
from this, the height of the clerestory, as originally constructed, must
have been but little less than that of the piers in the nave.
This Norman clerestory was altered at the same time that the roof of the
nave was vaulted--viz. in 1242, in the time of Henry Foliot. This work
was done by the monks themselves, who thought, as Professor Willis
suggests, that they could do it better than common workmen. Their work
is made of a light and porous kind of stone, treated with plaster on the
under-side, and it was rendered necessary by the previous roof, which
was of wood, having been destroyed by fire in 1190. Of this fire the
piers certainly show the traces to this day, all having become reddened
and slightly calcined. To make the new clerestory the whole of the
original Norman work over the arcade of the triforium was removed, with
the exception of the jambs of the side-lights (which extended beyond the
arches of the triforium) and the wall between them.
Mr. Gambier Parry has also truly said that this work "was not an
artistic success. They cut and maimed the features of the fine old
Norman clerestory, and placed their thin weak work too low, destroying
all the original grandeur of effect.... Here in this first pointed
vaulting was a grievous and irreparable injury, destroying all sense of
proportion throughout the building."
[Illustration: THE NAVE AND NORTH AISLE]
The vaulting shafts and the abaci are of Purbeck marble, and the
capitals are of stone, as are also the corbels, bases, mouldings, and
bosses. All the stonework was formerly painted. Mr Waller, who carried
out the repairs to the nave, had excellent opportunities of seeing what
was left of the painting underneath the many coats of whitewash; he
wrote in 1856: "The painting may be thus generally described. The hollow
of the abacus of the capitals was red, the lower member of the same,
green; the whole of the bell red, the leaves alternately green and
yellow, with the stalks, running down, of the same colours, into the red
bell of the capital. The vertical mouldings between the marble shafts
were red and blue alternately; the lower shafts green and blue, with red
in the hollows, and the foliage on these also is green and yellow. Some
of the horizontal mouldings are partly coloured also. The bosses in the
groining are yellow and green, as in the capitals. All the colouring,
which was very rich, was effected with water colours; in one instance
only has any gold been discerned, and that was upon one of the bosses in
the roof."
The fourteen piers are 30 feet 7 inches in height, or about twice the
height of those at Norwich.[1]
The Norman piers have round or cushioned capitals. Their arches have
zig-zag work in the outer moulding, and a double cable in the soffit. A
cable moulding runs along just above the arches. The grotesque heads on
the arches in the nave are said to represent the various mummeries of
the Anglo-Saxon gleemen. A frieze of such may be seen at Kilpeck Church,
in Herefordshire. It will be noticed how the cable moulding above the
arches passes round some of the western vaulting shafts, and is cut away
for those at the eastmost end of the nave.
Martin in his "Natural History of England" says: "The only blemish on
the church is the enormous size of the pillars in the body of it, which
are much too large in proportion to their height, and _would have been
reduced to a proper size_, chiefly at the cost of the late Bishop
(Benson), had it not been thought that it would have weakened them too
much."
Bishop Benson's architect (Mr. Kent), proposed to "flute" the columns,
but, finding that the pillars consisted of a stone casing filled with
rubble, he changed his plans.
The #West End# of the nave, as also the corresponding portions of the
two aisles, was pulled down and reconstructed by Abbot Morewent
(1421-1437) in the style known as Perpendicular. It is uncertain whether
Morwent's work was built on the same foundation line as the previously
existing Norman work. Some have thought that he lengthened the original
nave to the extent of one bay. Mr. Hope considers that he curtailed it
somewhat, and that the present Deanery building was similarly shortened.
Anyone who will take the trouble to space out with a compass the
distance between the centres of the piers in the nave on the plan will
be inclined to fall in with this suggestion.
Abbot Morwent, according to Leland, intended, "if he had lived, to have
made the whole body of the church of like worke." It is a matter for
rejoicing that he was not spared to carry out his intentions. His work,
though it has been censured, is, as Mr Waller points out, exceedingly
good of its kind. Morwent may have found the west end in danger of
falling, just as the towers that flanked the Norman west front had
collapsed in the twelfth century.
How Morwent would have made the whole body of the church "of like worke"
is another matter for speculation. Would he have kept the Norman piers
in their present position, and revaulted the roof after the model of his
vaulting in the second bay from the west end, or would he have
diminished the number of piers so as to give a distance between them
equal to the space between the west wall and the first pier he erected?
It is difficult to realise how such a herculean task would have been
carried out with safety to the fabric.
As to the work demolished by Morwent to make room for his own, it is
only possible to hazard the conjecture that the original west front of
Gloucester was something like that of the abbey at Tewkesbury, but with
the additional finish of two larger western towers. As the two churches
were being built almost at the same time, this conjecture seems
reasonable.
[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE.]
The #South Aisle# of the nave was originally of Norman work, similar in
style to that of the north aisle; but was remodelled and rebuilt to such
an extent by Abbot Thokey, in or about the year 1318, that the piers and
portions of the south wall are all that remain of the Norman work. He
desired probably to preserve the Norman vaulting (similar to that yet
existing in the north aisle of the nave), and as the south wall had
inclined outwards, and the whole fabric of the aisle was from this
cause in danger, he erected large buttresses to prevent further
settlement; but failing in this design, he was compelled to take down
the Norman vaulting, and he then substituted vaulting of the same style
of architecture as the buttresses he had just erected. Such great care
could scarcely have been taken in those days to preserve the Norman
piers only; the first object must have been to retain, for economical
reasons, as much as could possibly be retained of the old aisle. It may
be remarked also that the Norman piers incline in some cases as much as
one foot towards the south, and the buttresses of Abbot Thokey also
incline in the same direction from three to four inches in their whole
height. The Abbot's buttresses, therefore, must have gone out of the
perpendicular after their first erection, or else the present vaulting
would show settlements, which it certainly does not.
The tracery of the windows is unusual in design, and is similar to that
in a window of the chapel at Merton College, Oxford. Ball-flower
mouldings adorn the aisle windows inside and out between the south door
and the steps leading up to the south transept, and the same ornament is
repeated in the vaulting of three of the bays and in the triforium of
the choir.[2]
Abbot Morwent's work at the west end of this aisle is similar to that in
the north aisle.
The #Monuments# in this aisle are not numerous, but are of modern
historic interest. Near the west end of the nave is a statue by Silvier
to Dr Jenner, who introduced the practice of vaccination. Under the west
window of this aisle is an interesting wall-tablet in a canopy to John
Jones, who was registrar to eight bishops of the diocese. The background
is formed of files of documents, with their seals and dates exposed to
view. There is taste in the colouring, and the design is effective. John
Jones was M.P. for Gloucester at the exciting time of the Gunpowder
Plot. He is said to have had the monument put up in his lifetime, and to
have died soon after it was completed.
After passing the south door, a marble sarcophagus, with a bust upon it,
will be noticed. This is to the memory of Sir G. Onesiphorus Paul,
Baronet, (by Sievier). His name is well-known in connection with prison
reforms. Close by is a wall tablet to the widow of Sir Wm. Strachan
(1770). The carving, which is very delicate and beautiful, is by Thomas
Ricketts, a Gloucester sculptor of considerable skill.
There is also a monument to Rev. Thomas Stock, who, with Robert Raikes,
was instrumental in opening Sunday schools.
#The great West Window# contains nine lights which were glazed by Wailes
of Newcastle, to the memory of Dr J. H. Monk, Bishop of Gloucester from
1830 to 1856.
The #Font# is situated in the westernmost bay of the south aisle, on the
site of the old Consistory Court, formerly railed off from the rest of
the nave. The font being of red Aberdeen granite clashes rather with the
prevailing grey stone of the building, is very heavy in appearance, and,
in spite of the workmanship spent upon it, quite uninteresting. The
north side contains a representation of the two prophets, Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, separated by the ark; the west side has figures of St. Matthew
and Daniel; the south side has figures of St. Mark and St. Luke, and the
baptism of Christ in the Jordan, and the east contains the emblems of
the Trinity and of baptism.
The #Windows# in this south aisle are the least interesting in the
cathedral, and would seem to have been made without much consideration
of the fact that they were to go where a south light would come upon
them.
The five-light _west window_ of the aisle is in memory of Dr Jenner and
his friend Dr Baron. The subjects, appropriately enough, refer to
miracles of healing, or restoring to life.
The _first south window_ is to John Elliott, a solicitor, and the
subjects are more or less legal. The glass is by Hardman.
The _second window_ (three lights) is in memory of Miss Evans, and was
put up in 1861 by Bell of Bristol. The colouring must be seen to be
appreciated at its proper worth.
The _third window_ is a memorial to Sir W. G. Davy, K.C.B., who died in
1856, and is buried in the cloister. The glass is by Warrington.
The _fourth window_, to the memory of Sir W. Guise, Bart., is rather
kaleidoscopic in effect, owing to its being mainly an armorial window,
and, secondarily, historical. The historical portion represents the
Coronation of Henry III. in Gloucester Cathedral in 1216, by Gualo (the
Papal legate) and Peter de Rupibus, or des Roches, Bishop of Winchester.
In the left centre light is Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, and in the
right is Joceline, Bishop of Bath.
The glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The _fifth window_ is a memorial window to Mrs. Evans. In colour it
resembles the third window, and is by the same artist.
The _sixth window_ is a memorial to Mrs Ellis. It is historical, but
bristles with anachronisms.
The _seventh window_ is a memorial (executed by Warrington) to Jeremiah
Nettleton Balme.
The _eighth window_ is in memory of Lieut.-Col. Sir Harry Francis
Colville Darell, who died in 1853.
#North Aisle.#--This aisle retains its original Norman vaulting. The
Norman piers, which correspond to the piers in the nave, are divided
into several members, and their capitals are in some cases richly
carved. In each bay the jambs and heads are of old work, filled in with
Perpendicular tracing. A stone bench along the wall is also
Perpendicular.
The door into the cloister at the west end of the aisle contains some
very fine work. The wall is panelled on either side, and the panels are
said to have formerly had paintings of the twelve apostles. The side
niches and the canopy work over the door should be examined.
The door at the eastern end of the aisle by which access is gained to
the cloisters and the chapter-house is also of Perpendicular work. Both
of these doors have fan-vaulted recesses, like the great west door of
the nave. They are so contrived that the doors may open into them and
occupy the minimum of space.
Over the east door in the cloisters there were blazoned some years back
the arms of the See, the Bishop, the Dean, the Canons, the Darell and
Nightingall families.
The west end of the aisle is the work of Abbot Morwent, and is of the
same date as his reconstructed west end of the nave--viz. 1421-1437.
The _west window_ in this aisle was filled with glass by Hardman. It is
a memorial to Wm. Viner Ellis of Minsterworth. Subject: Events in the
life of King Lucius, who is said to have been the first Christian king
in this land, and to have been buried in the Church of St. Mary de Lode.
The scrolls contain the monkish lines--
Es merito Celebris ex quo baptisma subisti.
Lucius in tenebris prius idola qui coluisti.
The four figures represent Robert, Duke of Normandy; Thomas of
Woodstock, 1397; Humphrey, 1447; William Frederick, 1534; all three of
them Dukes of Gloucester.
The _first window_ (or over the west door into cloisters), of which only
two lights are open, is a memorial window to Thomas Churchus (1870). The
window, which is by Clayton & Bell, is very pleasing in colour.
The _second window_ is to the memory of Mr Price, who died in 1860. The
glass is by Ward & Hughes.
The _third window_ contains some old glass in the upper half, restored
by Hardman. Much of the lower half is new.
The _fourth window_ is a memorial window to Dr Hall, Master of Pembroke
College, Oxford; died in 1843. The glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The _fifth window_, like the third, contains some old glass, restored by
Hardman.
The _sixth window_ is in memory of Bp. Hooper, second Bishop of this
diocese, and the only bishop of the united sees of Gloucester and
Worcester. The glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The _seventh window_ is to the memory of Thomas Turner. The glass is by
Clayton & Bell.
The _eighth window_ is a memorial to members of the Darell family, as
explained in the inscription in the base.
In the windows of the clerestory are to be seen some fragments of old
glass. The windows, which are of three lights, contain portions of
ornamental borders with quarry glazing, and some medallions, stars in
the foliations, and borders of crowns. Mr Waller thinks it was "probable
that all these windows were originally filled with glass of this kind,
which is similar in general design to that in the upper tiers of the
clerestory windows in the choir."
The tracery of the windows in the clerestory is ascribed to Abbot
Morwent, who rebuilt the west front.
The #Monuments# in the north aisle are of no special interest. That to
Bishop Warburton at the west end contains an epitaph that is worth
reading. Next to it is an ungainly tomb, filling up an enormous wall
space, with a depressing effect. Farther eastwards is the tomb by
Flaxman to the memory of Mrs Morley, who died at sea in 1784 (p. 121).
The tomb to Alderman Machen, his wife, and family is interesting (1615),
and is one of the few tombs that has not been removed from its original
position.
The nave is lighted by rows of gas jets along the triforium or gallery,
extending over the arches of the nave. The effect is good when the
building requires to be lighted by artificial light, but the fumes and
smoke from the gas have sadly discoloured the small columns and the
arches in the triforium, and no doubt in time to come more serious
mischief to the stonework will be developed. The fumes of the gas will
also be fatal to the decorative pipes of the organ, and, with the
assistance of the fumes from the radiators, will ruin any memorial brass
that may be erected in the building.
Wires have been stretched across the nave to prevent the excessive echo
from marring the effect of the music, but many curious echoes are to be
heard. The mocking sounds that follow upon the sounds of the voice of a
preacher, especially when the attendance is small, are very weird. They
may be heard best from the last few rows of seats near the west end.
There are still to be found enthusiasts who would like to remove the
screens from our cathedrals on the ground that they interfere with the
utility and the beauty of the nave and the choir. But these well-meaning
people quite overlook the fact that the beauty of the interior would be
entirely marred by such a change. Firstly, the organ would have to be
chopped into two and stowed away in the triforium, unless these
enthusiasts would prefer to revert to an organ-gallery blocking up one
of the transepts. Secondly, the stalls would have to be mutilated and
rearranged. Certainly, the cathedral would resemble a parish church in
some respects, but at a tremendous cost. There would be a vista, too,
but the effect of the lofty choir would be lost entirely without the
presence of the screen and the organ, and the nave would look more
dwarfed in height. There is one more point, too, always forgotten by
these enthusiasts--viz. this, that the building was not designed by
Henry VIII. at the Dissolution as a parish church. He laid down quite
clear and simple rules for the regulation of the cathedral foundation,
and he intended the choir to serve, as it had served for the monks
before, as the private chapel of those on his new foundation.
The #Choir Screen# was erected in 1820 by Dr Griffiths, to whose memory
a tablet has been inserted in the north-west tower pier. Though this
screen has its defects, it superseded one by Kent, erected in Bishop
Benson's time (1741), of which Bonner, who seems to have appreciated the
stucco front applied by the same good bishop to the reredos in the Lady
Chapel, says in his "Itinerary" (1796) that it combined the
characteristics of the various orders of architecture without any of
their good points.
[Illustration: NAVE.
Drawn by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A., from Brown
Willis' Survey of Gloucester Cathedral (1727).]
To give an idea of the original screen arrangement, Mr Hope's
description is here quoted:--
"The quire proper is under the Tower, a not unusual Benedictine
arrangement. The original screens at the west end have
unfortunately been destroyed, but from plans made by Browne Willis
(_vide supra_, where Mr Waller's drawing of Browne Willis' plan,
made in 1727, is given) and Carter, while some remains of them
existed, the arrangement can be approximately recovered. I have
advisedly used the plural word 'screens' because they were two in
number. The first consisted of two stone walls--the one at the west
end of the quire, against which the stalls were returned; the other
west of it between the first pair of pillars. There was a central
door, which was called the quire door. The western wall was broader
than the other, and had in the thickness of its southern half an
ascending stair to a loft or gallery above, which extended over the
whole area between the two walls. This loft was called in Latin the
_pulpitum_, and it must not, as it often has been, be confounded
with the pulpit to preach from. It sometimes contained an altar, as
apparently here at Gloucester, and on it stood a pair of organs.
From it also on the principal feasts the Epistle was read and the
Gospel solemnly sung at a great eagle desk. On either side of the
_pulpitum_ door was probably an altar.
"The double screen I have just described was built by Abbot
Wigmore, who is recorded to have been buried in 1337, 'before the
Salutation of the Blessed Mary in the entry of the quire on the
south side,' which he himself constructed with the _pulpitum_ on
the same place _ut nunc cernitur_ says the 'Chronicle,' and parts
of it are worked up in the present screen. The north side of the
quire entry, or perhaps the north quire door, was ornamented with
images with tabernacles by Abbot Horton."
"The second screen, all traces of which have long disappeared, stood
between the second pair of piers--_i.e._ a bay west of the _pulpitum_.
It was a lofty stone wall, against which stood the altar of the holy
cross, or rood-altar, as it was more commonly called, and upon it was a
gallery called the rood-loft, from its containing the great rood and its
attendant images. The rood usually stood on the parapet or front rail of
the loft, but sometimes on a rood-beam crossing the church at some
height above the loft. Such an arrangement seems to have existed at
Gloucester, for in the sixth course from the top a new stone has been
inserted in both pillars exactly on the line where the ends of the rood
beam would be fitted into, or rested on corbels, in the pillars."
On either side of the rood altar the screen was pierced by a doorway for
processions, and the altar itself was protected by a fence-screen a
little farther west.
After showing how the counterpart of these arrangements existed at
Durham (_vide Arch. Journ._ liv. pp. 77-119), and describing the Durham
nave altar and rood, Mr Hope points out that at Gloucester, as at
Durham, "the eastern of the two doorways between the nave and the
cloister was shut off by the screen and reredos of a chapel adjoining it
on the west. The monks could therefore freely pass through the cloister
door without being interrupted by strangers. This eastern door was not
only the ordinary entrance from the cloister, but through it passed the
Sunday and other processions that included the circuit of the cloister
and buildings opening out of it. The procession always returned into the
church by the western cloister door, and, after making a station before
the great rood, passed through the rood doors in single files, and
entered the quire through the pulpitum or quire door."
In the chapel, on the north side (which was perhaps dedicated to St.
Thomas the Martyr), was formerly, as shown in the plan by Brown Willis,
the Blackleech monument, now in the south transept.
When the Benson screen was put up three Abbots were found interred in
their robes, and another coffin with two skulls in it. This fact gave a
possible clue to the identity of one of the Abbots. One probably was
Abbot Gamage, and the two skulls probably belonged to his brother, Sir
Nicholas Gamage, and his wife, who were buried near the Abbot.
The present #Organ# was built originally during 1663-1665 by Thomas
Harris, the father of the celebrated Renatus or Rene Harris, and the
cost was defrayed by public subscription, to which, however, the
inhabitants of Gloucester contributed but little. The contract was for
the sum of L400, exclusive of the sum for the building of the
organ-loft, and the decoration of the pipes and the case. The gilding
and painting was entrusted to Mr Campion in November 1664, and the work
was finished in December 1666. This artist was celebrated as a painter
of heraldic subjects, and the work done by him, chiefly on the large
pipes of the Great, is particularly beautiful.
The shield, which has been removed from the west front of the case, was
undoubtedly that of Charles II., and two of the large pipes facing the
nave bear the letters C.R., with a crown over them. Other arms
represented are those of James, Duke of York (king in 1685), and his
first wife, Anne Hyde.
The organ was repaired by Bernhard Schmidt before 1683. It was formerly
in the gallery of the south transept, over the stalls, but was placed on
its present screen in 1820 by Dr Griffiths.
It was improved by Willis in 1847, and again in 1888-89, and further
additions are contemplated. The case is of oak, and is a fine piece of
Renaissance work. A good view of it can be obtained from the triforium,
looking across from south-east to north-west.
The following is a specification (kindly sent by Mr A. H. Brewer, the
organist of the cathedral), from which it will be seen that the
instrument is worthy of the cathedral:
GREAT ORGAN.
CC to A, 58 Notes.
1. Double Open Diapason 16ft.
2. Open Diapason, No. 1 8ft.
3. Open Diapason, No. 2* 8ft.
4. Claribel Flute 8ft.
5. Flute Harmonique 4ft.
6. Principal 4ft.
7. Twelfth 3ft.
8. Fifteenth 2ft.
9. Mixture
10. Trombone 16ft.
11. Trumpet 8ft.
12. Clarion 4ft.
SWELL ORGAN.+
CC to A, 58 Notes.
13. Double Open Diapason 16ft.
14. Open Diapason* 8ft.
15. Vox Angelica 8ft.
16. Salcional 8ft.
17. Lieblich Gedact 8ft.
18. Gemshorn 4ft.
19. Fifteenth 2ft.
20. Mixture
21. Contra Posaune++ 16ft.
22. Hautboy 8ft.
23. Clarionet 8ft.
24. Cornopean 8ft.
25. Clarion 4ft.
CHOIR ORGAN.
CC to A, 58 Notes.
26. Stopped Diapason 8ft.
27. Dulciana 8ft.
28. Flute 4ft.
29. Clarionet 8ft.
30. Cor Anglais++ 8ft.
SOLO ORGAN.$
CC to A, 58 Notes.
31. Flute 8ft.
32. Clarionet 8ft.
33. Oboe Orchestral 8ft.
34. Tuba Mirabilis 8ft.
PEDAL ORGAN.@
CCC to F, 30 Notes.
35. Open Diapason 16ft.
36. Bourdon 16ft.
37. Ophicleide++ 16ft.
38. Octave++ 8ft.
COUPLERS.
39. Choir to Pedals.
40. Great to Pedals.
41. Swell to Pedals.
42. Solo to Pedals.++
43. Choir to Great.
44. Swell to Great.
45. Solo to Great.++
* Stops so marked are by Harris, 1660. + The swell organ was added
by Willis in 1847.
++ Stops so marked were added in 1898.
$ The whole of the solo organ was added by Willis in 1898.
@ Up to within the last fifteen years there was but one stop on the
pedal organ.
The #Choir#, of the beauty of which but little idea can be obtained from
the nave, is entered by visitors, as a rule, from the north aisle of the
choir. Its dimensions are--Length, 140 feet; breadth, 33 feet 7 inches;
height, 86 feet; east window, 38 feet wide and 72 feet in height.
It dates back to the years 1337-1377--that is, the abbacies of Adam de
Staunton and Thomas Horton, in whose time so much was done to alter the
character of the building.
Looking upwards the visitor will note the beauty of the vaulting and the
bosses placed at the intersection of the ribs. These bosses at the east
end of the choir chiefly represent a choir of angels playing on various
kinds of musical instruments, and a figure of Our Lord in the attitude
of blessing. All the roof was originally probably painted and decorated,
but the existing colour and gilding is recent work, having been done by
Clayton & Bell. At first sight the groining of the roof looks most
complicated, but, if analysed and dotted down on paper, it will be seen
to be in reality a simple geometrical pattern. The bosses will repay
careful examination with a glass.
Viewed from the door in the screen, the choir looks in very truth a
piece of Perpendicular work, as the Norman substructure is then for the
most part concealed. A closer examination, however, will prove that the
Norman work is all there--that it has been veiled over with tracery from
the floor level to the vaulting with open screen-work, fixed on to the
Norman masonry, which was pared down to receive it. (_Vide_ page 52.)
Professor Willis points out that "in all cathedrals ... a screen, about
the height of the present altar-screen, separated the choir from the
side-aisles and transepts; but in this cathedral the screen is carried
to the roof, and the result is a beautiful, if not unique choir. This
screen of tracery, which formed the sides, was, below the clerestory,
merely plastered on to the Norman wall; or the original Norman columns
had been chipped down till they harmonised with the general design."
Professor Freeman, in writing of this casing work, said, "Paid for by
the offerings at Edward II. shrine, ... to that abnormal worship the
abbey of Gloucester owed its present form. I am half inclined to put it
the other way, and to make it a new count in the articles of deposition
against the unworthy king that this misguided devotion has cost us the
minster of Serlo in its perfect form, and hinders us from studying the
contrast which we should otherwise have been able to mark between its
eastern and its western limb."
[Illustration: CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.]
[Illustration: PLAN OF TRIFORIUM OF THE CHOIR.
From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A.]
We, however, have nothing to do with the question of the merits or
demerits of Edward II. The beauty of the casing work compels our
admiration. If we want to get an idea of what the choir would have been
without the Perpendicular casing we must go to Norwich, and inspect the
uncased work in the choir that is there, or else to Tewkesbury.[3]
[Illustration: Plan of Feretory (High Altar) as laid bare when the new
Reredos was erected in 1873. The site of the old Norman
Piers could be as distinctly as in this sketch.
From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A.]
There is nothing left to prove the original height of the choir, though
much of the old stonework has been re-used in the clerestory windows, a
practice, as before stated, common throughout the cathedral, the Norman
piers and arch-mouldings having in many cases been turned into
four-centred arches, and Norman capitals into bases. The casing of the
old Norman work with the new by Staunton and Horton is very ingeniously
managed, and attention should be given to a feature resulting from the
treatment of the ribs of the vaulting, which are very cleverly provided
for in the centre of the tower arches. The ribs are apparently supported
by a light arch thrown across the lower arches. Something of this sort
was necessary, as the only alternative would have been to alter the
springing of the vaulting-ribs. These light arches are very graceful and
are best seen from the transepts or else from the triforium of the
choir. Another feature worth noticing in the tower arches is the way
that the two Norman columns are run into one capital at about the level
of the arch.
[Illustration: Sketch of old Norman Choir showing how it was cased by
Abbot Staunton 1337-1351.
From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A.]
Turning eastwards we next are struck by the loveliness of the #East
Window# of the choir. It has a curious architectural effect, for it is
actually 5 feet wider than the walls which seem to be its two
boundaries. The architect took down the Norman east end, raised the
roof, and has given us a window with lace-like tracery. Though it has
suffered much mutilation, it has suffered but little from eager
restorers, and it is possible to get some idea of its original
splendour. It is larger than the East Window at York Minster, being 72
by 38 feet; York being but 78 by 33. Both are beautiful, and one wishes
that windows of such beauty could be got now at the original price
paid--L138--a large sum for those days, but a sum which; making
allowance for the changed value of money, would represent about L2000 of
our money.
[Illustration: THE CHOIR. LOOKING WEST.]
In 1862 the stonework of the window was in a very unsafe condition, and
about L1400 was spent on restoring it. At the same time, acting on Mr
Winston's advice, the Dean and Chapter had the glass thoroughly cleaned
and releaded.
Owing to Mr Winston's supervision the glass was not restored.
The window, which corresponds admirably with the casing of the choir and
the clerestory windows, consists of fourteen lights altogether, six
forming the centre, with four on either side. "It is worthy of remark
that the tracery, heads, and cusps, as seen from the inside of this
window, are not repeated on the outside, a plain transom only crossing
the lights. This peculiarity is repeated also in the great west window,
and in many other windows in the cathedral." (F. S. W.)
The window represents the coronation of the Virgin Mary, together with
Christ, the Apostles, and various saints and kings. All the canopies,
and nearly all the figures are composed of white glass enriched with
yellow.
Mr Winston's description of the window will be found in the
_Archaeological Journal_, vol. xx.
The heraldic shields give a clue to the date of the window, and Mr
Winston thinks that it may have been erected by Thomas, Lord Bradeston,
to the memory of Sir Maurice Berkeley, who was killed at the siege of
Calais, and to commemorate the glories of the campaign in France, which
culminated with the Battle of Crecy. The date, therefore, of the
original glass would be between 1347 and 1350.
Mr Winston further says that "It would be impossible to meet with white
glass that could be more solid and silvery in effect. The red is
beautifully varied, and is most luminous, even in its deepest parts, and
the tone of the blue can hardly be surpassed." Of the general design, he
says that although, "through the size and simplicity of its parts, it is
calculated to produce a good effect at a distance; the figures are
ill-drawn, ungraceful, and insipid. The shading, though sufficient, both
in depth and quantity, if handled with skill, to have produced a due
effect of relief--an effect which obviously has been aimed at--is so
inartificially employed as to be useful only so far as it serves to
impart tone and richness to the composition, and by contrast to increase
its brilliancy."
The effect of the choir as a whole, when glazed with its original
painted glass, must have been superb. We may be certain that the glass
was the best that could be obtained, for the abbey was wealthy, and
glass-painting was then a living art. Glass was made at Gloucester, as
is shown by the glaziers being numbered among the trade companies and
guilds of Gloucester, but there is nothing definite to be said as to the
place of origin of the old glass in the cathedral.
Below is the #Reredos#, designed by Sir G. G. Scott, presented by the
Treasurer of the Province. It consists of three principal compartments,
in which are groups of figures (sculptured by Redfern) intended to
represent the Birth, Burial, and Ascension of Christ. The smaller
figures in the niches are Moses and David and St. Peter and St. Paul.
Above are nine angels, bearing the various emblems of our Lord's
Passion. This reredos was unveiled with much pomp and ceremony in 1873,
and recently has been profusely gilded.
The commonplace and heavy-topped gas standards mar the effect, such as
it is, of the ornate work of the reredos.
Of Abbot Horton's reredos, which was destroyed at the Reformation, only
fragments remain. They have been very carefully preserved in the
triforium, where an enclosure has been made by placing an old oak screen
across one of the Chapels. In this museum most valuable remains have
been stored, under Mr Waller's keeping, for many years.
Dean Chetwood, in 1710, erected a wooden reredos containing much good
carving. Portions of this remain in the south-east chapel in the
triforium of the choir, having been brought back from the parish church
at Cheltenham, whither they had been removed in 1807.
Sir Robert Smirke in 1807 put up work which consisted chiefly of
panelling, which was affixed to the easternmost wall of the feretory.
This was removed in 1873.
When the present reredos was erected "the foundations of Abbot Horton's
reredos were discovered, and an accurate plan was taken of the remains
(_vide_ illustration, p. 51). Provision had evidently been made by him
for keeping relics or treasures here, and, in his time, the back
screen, as we now see it, and the reredos, were united together at the
top, and covered with heavy stone slabs, so as to make a perfectly
secure feretory. Great care was taken during the progress of the present
new work to preserve these remains, which can be still seen exactly as
they were when first discovered. The foundations of the Norman piers
removed by Horton were at the same time temporarily exposed to view."
(F. S. W.)
[Illustration: THE CHOIR IN 1806, FROM A DRAWING BY WILD.]
The original "#High Altar# occupied the same site as the present one,
and had behind its reredos a narrow space containing cupboards for the
principal jewels, and, beneath the altar, two large recesses for the
keeping of relics." (W. H. St. J. Hope.)
The #Stalls# (sixty in number), with all their graceful carving, and the
misereres, with their grotesque ornamentation underneath, have in part
had to be restored, while the sub-stalls are new, dating from Sir
Gilbert Scott's restoration, which was finished in 1873.
An engraving (reproduced from Wild) will show what the choir was like
formerly. The woodwork here shown has been utilised in making stalls and
seats in the east end of the nave for the services that are held there
on Sundays during a portion of the year.
In the #Presbytery#, or space between the reredos and the choir, there
are some very splendid old tiles; many of them fragments only, but
enough to indicate the original beauty of the pavement. From the
evidence of the tiles themselves, they were laid down by Thomas
Seabroke, R. Brygg (Brydges), J. Applebi, W. Farlei, Joh. Graft(on?).
Others dating back to the thirteenth century are also to be
found--_e.g._ those to Richard the King of the Romans, who died in 1271.
Many tiles were transferred here from other parts of the cathedral early
in the century by Mr Lysons, and this accounts for the presence of tiles
of William Malvern, the last Abbot, and some others. The arms of the
Brydges family: _Arg. on a cross sable, a leopard's face, or,
differenced by a fir-cone gules_, should be noticed, as they seem
clearly the same as those on the armour of the unknown knight in the
South Transept.
Beautiful tiles, bearing the arms of Edward the Confessor and the Abbey,
and many a crowned M. (for Maria) will be found. These latter will be
seen in plenty in Great Malvern Priory, where they have been rescued
from the pavement, and inserted in the outside wall of the back of the
reredos.
One more tile should be noticed near the sedilia. The words impressed
in its surface are "_Croys Crist me spe de +_," followed by _A ME_ or _A
MARIA_.
These tiles had a narrow escape in the last century, about the time when
the nave was paved, when an offer was made to pave the presbytery with
marble.
As part of the restoration programme, the re-paving of the choir was
undertaken. New tiles, ostensibly copied from the old ones, but of a
different size, with an excessive glaze, and very stiff in design and
execution have been put down. It is hard to judge what the effect of the
tiles would have been, as it has been quite killed by the white marble
which has been mixed with them. The glaring white marble in the floor of
the presbytery has been inlaid with biblical scenes filled in with black
cement. It is possible from the triforium to get a general idea of the
crudity and tastelessness of the pavement, which is so composed and
arranged that time--the softener of all things--can never make it look
appreciably better.
On the south side of the high altar are four #Sedilia#. These have been
very much restored, and the niches and canopies filled with figures, by
Redfern, representing Abbot Edric, Bishop Wulstan, also Abbots Aldred,
Serlo, Foliot, Thokey, Wygmore, Horton, Froucester, Morwent, Seabroke,
and Hanley. The general effect is good, but marred by the hideous gas
standards.
Over the canopies are three angels playing on a tambour and trumpets.
The rod and entwined ribbon with T. O. are supposed to refer to Thomas
Osborne, Sheriff of Gloucester 1512-1522, and Mayor in 1526.
#Monuments in the Choir.#--On the north side of the presbytery, near the
steps to the high altar, is a monument--long supposed to be a
cenotaph--to King Osric. The tomb was opened to satisfy inquisitive
desecrators some few years ago, and it was conclusively proved that
someone had been buried inside.
On the wall is the inscription: _Osricus Rex (primus fundator) hui_
(_Monasterii_ 681). From Leland, to whom is due the part of the
inscription in brackets, we learn that "Osric, Founder of Gloucester
Abbey, first laye in St. Petronell's Chappell, thence removed with our
Lady Chappell, and thence removed of late dayes, and layd under a fayre
tombe of stone on the north syde of the high aulter. At the foote of the
tombe is thus written in a wall"--_ut supra_.
This "fayre tombe" was erected in "late dayes" _i.e._ in the time of
Abbot Parker, whose arms are in the spandrels of the canopy, dated (1514
to 1539), and Leland must have seen the tomb in all the freshness of its
beauty.
The Norman piers, which are cut away to receive the tomb, are decorated
as to their capitals with the device of Richard II. _i.e._ the white
hart chained and gorged, with a ducal coronet. Formerly these devices
were painted on the stone, but in 1737 they were blazoned on thin metal
by the Heraldic College, and put in position. From the occurrence of the
device in this place it was formerly held that the body of Edward II.
was drawn by stages from Berkeley Castle to the abbey.
The other coats-of-arms are those of the abbey (they are blazoned as
they should be now--azure, a sword in pale, hilted, pommelled, and
crowned, or, surmounted by two keys in saltire of the last), and of
Osric as King of Northumbria. Osric is represented as crowned and
sceptred (clad in tunic, laced mantle, and a fur hood or collar) bearing
the model of a church in his left hand.
The next tomb westwards is, as Leland says, that of "King Edward of
Caernarvon (who) lyeth under a fayre tombe, in an arch at the head of
King Osric tombe."
The #Tomb of Edward II.# was erected by Edward III., and though it
awakens our recollection of a feeble-minded king, and his barbarously
brutal murder, it also compels our admiration at the beauty of the work.
It has been restored, renovated or re-edified, but in spite of that,
appeals to us from the wealth of very highly ornate tabernacle work, the
richness, and at the same time the lightness and elegance of the whole.
The details too are well worth careful examination. It may be, judging
from the expression of the face, that there has been some attempt at
portraiture, but repair and restoration have practically made it
impossible to settle what would otherwise be an interesting question.
The superb canopy has suffered much at the hands of restorers--_e.g._ in
1737, 1789, 1798, and in 1876.
The alabaster figure is possibly the earliest of its kind in England.
The tomb was opened in October 1855 by Dr Jeune, Canon in residence, to
satisfy the curious who doubted whether the king had been buried under
his tomb. Close by is the chantry tomb of William Malverne (or Parker),
Abbot of the Abbey from 1515 up to the time of the Dissolution. It was
erected in his lifetime, but he is buried elsewhere.
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF EDWARD II.]
On the stone screen the carving of the vine and the grapes will be found
worthy of notice. The alabaster figure has been terribly defaced, but
the chasuble and the mitre can be seen, and the broken staff. Around the
base of the tomb are panels. Both sides are alike, containing the
Abbot's own arms, and the emblems of the Crucifixion. At the foot is a
cross composed of a tree with its branches growing into the shape of a
cross. There is a very good tile on the floor with the arms of the
Abbey, and some specimens of tiles, with a very fine greenish glaze upon
them. Some of the large 7 1/2 in. tiles with the stag--the Abbot's own
arms--are particularly good.
On the south side of the choir the bracket tomb or monument, so called
from the effigy being placed on a corbel or projecting bracket, should
be noted. It is said by some to be Aldred's, by others to be Serlo's
monument. The date of the monument is later than either in point of
time. The mutilated effigy bears a model of a church in his left hand,
and this points to its being the monument to a founder. It is more, than
probable that it is to the memory of Abbot Henry Foliot, in whose time
(1228-1243) the church was re-dedicated.
The monument, which is Perpendicular and Early English, has been much
battered, but it is exceedingly graceful and of an unusual type.
Leland, who visited the Abbey in 1539 or 1540, wrote as
follows:--"Serlo, Abbot of Gloucester, lyeth under a fayre marble tombe,
on the south side of the Presbytery."
#Glass in the Choir.#--Mention has been made above of the east window,
and it remains to notice the others.
In the clerestory on the north side the windows have been restored by
Clayton & Bell. They are best seen from the triforium, but are given
here as being part of the choir. Following the example of the lights in
the east window, these clerestory windows have alternately red and blue
backgrounds. Portions of old glass remain in the heads of the windows.
Beginning with the windows west to east the _first_ contains:
(1) St. Zacharias. (2) St. Elizabeth. (3) St. John Baptist.
(4) St. Gabriel.
The _second_ contains:
(1) St. Anna. (2) St. Mary. (3) St. Joseph. (4) St. Gabriel.
The _third_ contains:
(1) St. Peter. (2) St. John. (3) St. James (Major). (This light
is out of its place.) (4) St. Andrew.
The _fourth_ contains:
(1) St. Philip. (2) St. Bartholomew. (3) St. Simon. (4) St. Jude.
The clerestory windows on the south side are filled with stamped
quarries with central medallions and coloured borders, made after the
model of remains of ancient painted glass.
The choir also contains a peculiarity in its six-light west window. This
was rendered necessary by the difference in height of the nave as
compared with that of the choir. The choir vaulting is about twenty feet
higher than that of the nave. The glass at present in the window
consists chiefly of patch-work, arranged by Hardman from pieces
collected and saved at different times from other windows in the
cathedral. It represents a figure of our Lord, with angels on either
side. Below are angels playing on musical instruments.
It is customary to credit the Reformation or the Civil War with most
church desecration and destruction, but this window was ruthlessly
destroyed by an order of the Chapter in 1679, nearly thirty years after
the Civil War was ended, and nearly 140 years after the dissolution of
the monastery. The order ran as follows: "That a certain scandalous
picture of y'e Holy Trinity being in y'e west window of y'e Quire of y'e
said church, should be removed, and other glass put into y'e place." The
glass of the window was actually broken up by one of the prebendaries
(Fowler by name) with his own hands and feet. His action, considering
his views, was incomprehensible; but he was made Bishop of the diocese,
after Bishop Frampton was deprived of his see. Beneath the west window
is an inscription (restored) in the panelling of the stone work:
Hoc quod | digestum | specularis | opusque | politum | Tullii haec
Ex onere | Seabroke | abbate | jubente.
These two Latin verses record that "this work (viz. the tower) which you
see built and adorned, was done by the labour of Tully, at the command
of Abbot Seabroke."
Robert Tully was a monk of Gloucester, and was Bishop of St. David's,
where he died in 1482. There is a brassless slab to his memory there,
but the best monument is the tower that was built by him here in
Gloucester.
After passing through the iron gate into the last bay of the south
aisle, the tomb of Abbot Seabrook or Seabroke will be seen on the left,
inside a stone screen, through which formerly was a doorway giving
access to the organ loft. The alabaster effigy represents the Abbot in
his alb, stole, tunic, dalmatic, chasuble, amice, and mitre, with his
pastoral staff on his right side. The chapel has been partially
restored. Traces of colour are to be seen in the reredos and the roof
over it.
Abbot Seabroke's pastoral staff was discovered in 1741 in his coffin
while the tomb was being removed. After changing hands many times it was
acquired finally by the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In the west end of the Seabroke Chapel, against the first pier of the
nave, is a mural monument, rather florid in style, to Francis Baber,
1669.
Close to the Seabroke Chapel, on one of the piers supporting the tower,
is a bracket with traces of very beautiful blue colour. The canopy
above--much mutilated--shows traces of red, blue, and gold.
Almost opposite to this, but nearer to the iron gate, is a recessed tomb
to a knight in mixed armour of mail and plate, and by his side his lady,
with kirtle, mantle, and flowing hair. Both wear SS collars, and this
helps to give the age of the monument, by narrowing the date down to a
year not earlier than 1399. The SS collars also tend to disprove that
the monument is to Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and his
countess, seeing that he died in 1361. On the knight's belt is a badge,
very much worn down, which has been attributed to the Brydges family. Mr
Lysons thought it to be the tomb of Sir John Brydges who fought at
Agincourt, and died in 1437, but the mail tippet is not found later than
1418. The tomb may commemorate Sir Thomas Brydges, who died in 1407, and
this would agree better with the date given above.
The transepts and ambulatory of the choir are entered, as a rule, by the
iron gateway in the south aisle of the nave.
#South Transept.#--This transept, like that on the north, underwent a
complete transformation in the fourteenth century, under Abbot Wygmore
(1329-1337). In spite of the transformation, the Norman design can
easily be traced both in the inside and the outside of the transept. The
walls have been ornamented with open panelled work, consisting of
mullions and transoms, with very rich tracery and foiled headings. The
method of the casing is best seen from the triforium, where the original
Norman masonry can be closely inspected. The panel work, in spite of its
date, has the appearance of being considerably later, and some have
thought the work to have been executed after Wygmore's time.
Professor Willis thinks that the Perpendicular style, which
elsewhere--_e.g._ in the north transept and the choir--is completely
developed, may have had its origin in this south transept. In any case,
the work is of the greatest architectural interest, and deserves careful
study. "Looking at the very early character of the clustered shafts and
the mouldings of this transept in conjunction with the vertical lines
with which they are associated, one might think (excepting Thokey's
south aisle, the Edward II. monument, and some few examples in the
triforium of the choir) that Decorated work had never fairly taken root
in Gloucester." (F. S. W.)
The south transept, which was also called St. Andrew's Aisle, is 47 feet
long, 35 feet broad, and 86 feet in height. The vaulting is lierne
vaulting, with short ribs, which connect the main ribs together. There
are no bosses in the roof. With an opera-glass it is possible to note
the clever joining of the masonry.
On the north side of the south transept, between the tower piers, is an
interesting chapel, with a wooden screen--date about 1510. The panelling
inside, as also that on the back of the choir-stalls here exposed to
view, is covered with monograms of S and B alternately, all surmounted
with crowns.
The chapel is said to have been dedicated by John Browne (or Newton),
who was Abbot from 1510-1514, to his patron saint, St. John the Baptist,
the initials being the same.
On the step in this chapel is a slab with a mutilated cross incised in
it and remains of an inscription upon a scroll. It is now almost
illegible and crumbling fast away, but it was
"Kyrie eleison anime
Fratris Johis Lyon."
This Johannis Lyon was the monk who made the reredos in this chapel.
There are traces of two reredoses here, both of which show traces of
colour. Older stonework has been used to make the newer reredos, and has
been merely reversed.
The tiles here are of interest, and there are also some outside, both at
the east and at the west end of the chapel screen, well worthy of
attention. They are chiefly odd tiles, similar to those in the choir,
with the name of Farley, others with oak leaves, others with
fleur-de-lys, others with lions rampant.
At the west end of the chapel outside is a highly lacquered brass of the
usual type, in memory of Judge Sumner, 1885.
Just before turning into the south transept a stone on the floor will be
seen, close to the angle of the wall made by the transept and the south
aisle, with the inscription: "Here lyeth under this marbell ston Robart
Leigh, organist and Maister of the Choristers of this Cathedral Church.
He dyed the 6th of January 1589"(?). No record of him survives.
On the south wall are two doorways. One, which is blocked up, is in the
south-east corner, and is surmounted by a double-bodied monster,
resembling an ape. The other doorway is usually pointed out to visitors
as the "Pilgrim's door."
Whether this door was that in general use for pilgrims or not is an open
question. It was for a long time blocked up and has only a makeshift
door in it at the present time. Carter, writing in 1807, says: "The arch
of the opening, in its head, has four turns concentred by a flower.
Above the head is an ogee architrave rising from small columns, which
columns bend forward on each hand, forming open arms or fences on each
side of the steps to the doorway. On these arms recline statues (angels)
acting as guardians to the doorway. Their attitudes are well conceived
and pleasingly varied." The sculpture is extremely graceful and
pleasing, the expression of the faces particularly charming. The
drapery, too, is arranged in a masterly manner.
The door was thought by some to have been used to admit pilgrims to the
shrine of Edward II., but others, arguing from the angels upon it, have
taken it to be the door by which penitents could retire after making
their confession. Perhaps the most reasonable explanation is that it was
a door communicating with a vestry or checker for the sacrist, but there
are no traces underground outside the south wall of any stone
foundation for such building.
On the east side of the transept will be noted the restored #Chapel of
St. Andrew#. The paintings on the wall were executed in 1866-67 in
spirit fresco by Mr Gambier Parry for Thomas Marling, Esq., in memory of
his wife, who died in 1863.
The reredos contains a central figure of the Saviour between St. Andrew
and St. Peter, with eight figures of smaller size--viz. Job, Solomon,
Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. The remainder of the
figures are intended to represent a choir of angels.
The tiles in the chapel are very bright and gaudy, contrasting
unfavourably with the older tiles elsewhere in the building. The
arrangement of the tiles on the risers of the steps is very monotonous
and unpleasing. Plain stone steps would have been far less obtrusive.
At one time a charge of sixpence was made for the privilege of
inspecting the interior of this chapel, but nowadays it is kept closed.
For many years it was used as a vestry for the lay clerks. The windows
contain glass (by Hardmar) dealing with events in the life of St.
Andrew.
In the east window, over St. Andrew's Chapel in the south transept, is
to be seen some of the best glass now to be found in the cathedral,
dating back to about 1330. It consists in the head of a white
scroll-work of vine leaves, etc., on a fine ruby-coloured ground, and
below plain quarries with very simple borders. These have been releaded
by Hardman.
On either side of the chapel there are tabernacles. That on the south
side contains some very fine carving, and with one boss quite complete.
The colour, judging from the traces remaining, must have been very
charming.
On the north side of the chapel is the #'Prentice's Bracket#. In shape
it resembles a mason's square supporting an apprentice. Underneath it,
as a supporter, is the master mason. The work was probably intended to
carry an image with a pair of lights, and also to serve as a memorial of
the workmen.
The Elizabethan monument erected in memory of Richard Pates, Esq.,
founder of the Grammar School at Cheltenham, is a poor example of its
date, 1588. The next monument was originally in the north choir chapel
of the nave (_vide_ Brown Willis' plan, p. 44), and commemorates
Alderman Blackleech, in cavalier costume, and his wife. The date of the
tomb is 1639. Other and later memorials are on the walls, but they are
of no special interest.
There is an interesting tablet to Canon Evan Evans, D.D. (Master of
Pembroke College, Oxford), who died in 1891. The memorial consists of a
bronze tablet, bordered by a frame of marble inlaid with other marbles.
The bronze at the top is inlaid with shell of an iridescent colour. The
general effect is good, but silver hardly seems suited for inlaying in a
building lighted by gas. The tablet was designed by Mr H. Wilson. The
west window is Perpendicular, and is filled with glass in memory of Mr
T. G. Parry.
The south window in this transept has been filled with glass (by
Hardman), at the expense of Thomas Marling, Esq.
The slabs on the floor have been moved from the positions they formerly
occupied, and have suffered by the change. A large slate-coloured stone,
which used to be in front of the Blackleech monument is now placed much
nearer the entrance to the crypt. It is broken in two and is covered up
by matting.
Another stone slab has traces of a mill wheel. The inscription on it
used to tell that "Here lyeth buried the body of John Long, Millard and
Milwright, who departed this life the 16th day of April 1596."
A blue-coloured slab, which originally had a fine brass inlaid canopy
has been converted to the use of a Minor Canon named Deane--1755.
The large buttress which passes through the St. Andrew Chapel upwards
through the triforium, to support the south-east pier of the tower, used
formerly to bear upon it a monument to Bishop Benson, which is now in
the south triforium.
The double doorway which gives access to the choir aisle, and to the
crypt, seems to be the type of several other doorways of later date in
the building, as, for instance, in the north transept, and also in
doorways in the Deanery and cloisters.
The #Crypt#[4] is one of five English eastern crypts, founded before
1085, the others being those at Canterbury, Winchester, Rochester, and
Worcester, and extends underneath the whole of the choir, the
ambulatories or aisles of the choir, and the five chapels belonging
thereto.
In passing downstairs to the crypt or under-church, an inscription over
the door of the chapel on the right refers to the enormous quantity of
bones which had accumulated in the crypt, and thus obtained for it the
name of "The Bone House." These bones had been brought in from the south
precincts outside, all of which had been formerly a burying-ground, and
in 1851 were removed to the south-west chapel of the crypt, and later
buried in a large grave on the north side of the cathedral.
[Illustration: S.E. CHAPEL IN THE CRYPT.
_S. B. Bolas & Co., Photo._]
The crypt consists of an apse, three small apsidal chapels--_i.e._ a
N.E., an E., and a S.E. chapel, and also two chapels underneath the
eastern chapels of the north and south transepts.
"The outer walls of the crypt are about 10 feet thick, and the aisle
floor is on an average 8 feet below the level of the soil on the outside
of the building. The centre part is divided by two rows of small
columns, irregularly placed, from which spring arches carrying the floor
of the choir above; the bases and capitals of these small capitals are
much out of level from west to east, and from north to south, and in
design they vary greatly as to their capitals, abaci, and bases. All of
these are strikingly different to the half columns with cushion capitals
attached to the outer walls, on which rest the ribs they mutually carry.
So different, indeed, are they as to make it questionable if by far the
larger portion of these columns does not belong to our earlier church."
"Great alterations have from time to time been made in the crypt. The
large semi-circular columns against the walls, though of great
antiquity, are not parts of the original structure, but are casings
built round, and enclosing the former smaller piers, and the ribs
springing from their capitals are built _under_, with a view to support
the vaulting." (F. S. W.)
This strengthening work was rendered necessary owing to earthquake
shocks which occurred, and possibly from the fact that the originally
defective foundations on the south side of the crypt caused a slight
settlement.
It may be noted here that the masons' marks found in the triforium on
the Norman work are also found in the crypt on the later strengthening
work, and not upon the Early Norman work. This fact has been considered
to prove that the crypt was built by Aldred.
The first chapel--_i.e._ that below St. Andrew's Chapel--contains a
double piscina with a shelf in good preservation. There are remains of
hinge-posts (two sets), and the holes for the movable bar with which the
doors could be fastened.
The second chapel--_i.e._ that underneath St. Philip's Chapel--contains
an arcade of five plain arches with ornament above. There is also a
double piscina with shelf in good preservation, and a large altar-step,
6 feet 2 inches by 4 feet.
The third or eastern chapel, which is under the vestibule leading into
the Lady Chapel, contains portions of the building which have had to be
replaced by recent work, and some fragments of tombstones, one bearing
the inscription _Gilbertus_.
[Illustration: LADY-CHAPEL ABOVE HALF-SECTION.
DRAWING ORIGINAL NORMAL WORK.
PLAN OF THE CRYPT.
From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.I.B.A.
The dark tint on the walls represents the Early Norman
Crypt.
The second period of Norman work is shown by the double
lines round the small shafts at A A, which denote masonry
erected some time after, to carry the ribs which
strengthen the vaulting.
The parts sectionised were for the most part built in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to carry the walls
above--notably s s, as foundations for the choir piers.]
The fourth chapel, which is underneath Abbot Boteler's Chapel, also
contains fragments, some of them very beautiful specimens of stonework.
There is also a slab, upon which is to be read the words, _Orate pro aia
fris Johis_. This slab was formerly in the south transept, and was
(according to Mr Haine's transcription of the slab made thirty years
ago) to the memory of John Lempster, who lived in Abbot Froucester's
time.
A slab inscribed I STAUNT, which used to be in the cloisters at the
entrance to the chapter-house, is also in the crypt. This John de
Staunton was akin to Abbot Staunton, who was buried in 1351.
The fifth chapel, which is underneath St. Paul's Chapel, was the chapel
through which the Abbot had access to the crypt from the Abbot's
cloister. The easternmost portion has some very good vaulting and
decoration of the thirteenth century, and contains a very mutilated
piscina. The groining of the roof is, unfortunately, falling away by
degrees. There are traces of some fine bosses.
The crypt was cleared, drained, and concreted in the course of the
restoration that took place during the years 1853-1863.
#Ambulatories of the Choir.#--These aisles have nothing uncommon in
their form or arrangement below, but above occurs the great peculiarity
of this church. The side aisles and eastern chapels are, in fact,
including the crypt, three storeys high, and all vaulted, and the upper
range of chapels surrounding the choir is perhaps not to be met with in
any other church in Europe.
Near the entrance to the #S. Ambulatory of the Choir# a tomb and brass
to the memory of Rev. John Kempthorn, B.D. (1838) will be found on the
right, near the side entrance into St. Andrew's Chapel.
Close to it, upon the floor, is a modern brass, by Messrs Heaton, Butter
& Bayne, to the memory of Rev. H. Haines, M.A., who for twenty-three
years was second master in the cathedral school. He died in 1872. His
book on the Cathedral, which he knew so thoroughly and loved so well, is
one of the best guide-books to the building, but, unfortunately, no new
edition has been issued since 1884.
Some of the piers in the south ambulatory of the choir will be found to
show traces of colour decoration in certain lights. As a whole they
retain more Norman work, unaltered, than perhaps any other portion of
the building.
Near to the Kempthorn monument is the memorial window to Canon Harvey
and his wife, who both died in the year 1889. The glass is by Kempe.
The second window, also by Kempe, is a memorial to the Rev. H. Law, who
was Dean from 1862-1884. The figure drawing in this light will attract
notice.
The third window, glass by Kempe, is a memorial to the Rev. Sir J. H.
Culme Seymour, Bart., who was Canon of Gloucester for fifty-one years,
and died in 1880.
#The Triforium of the Choir# is, perhaps, the finest triforium in
existence, and is worthy of special examination. "It occupies the space
over the ground floors of the aisles or ambulatory of the choir, and
originally extended of a like width round the east end of the Norman
Church, but at the time when the fourteenth-century work of the present
choir was executed, the whole of the east end of the old Norman choir,
with the corresponding part of the triforium, was removed in order to
make room for the existing large window, the small east chapel being
allowed to remain." (F. S. W.) The original shape of this part of the
building will be more clearly seen by reference to the chapel (D),
indicated by dotted lines on the plan, and to the extreme east chapel of
the crypt. As the means of entrance to this east chapel of the triforium
was now gone, the narrow gallery usually called the "Whispering Gallery"
was made, and carried by segmental arches, marked BB, from the
south-east to the east chapel, and from the east chapel to that on the
north-east. The external appearance of the Whispering Gallery is shown
on page 75. The casual observer frequently takes it to be a piece of
Norman work, but it is in reality the material of Norman builders very
skilfully re-used.
The triforium is reached by the staircases in the western turrets of the
two transepts and by arcaded passages passing under the great windows of
the transepts. Excellent views across the transepts are thence to be
obtained. Still better views can be got from the corner of the triforium
(near the painting of the Last Judgment), both across the organ to the
north side of the nave, down the south aisle, and also across the
choir.
The first chapel in the triforium contains two brackets with rich
canopies, and there is a very well preserved double piscina.
Ball-flowers in two rows will be found in the mouldings of the east
window. Remains of two canopies in the jambs of the windows are also to
be traced.
The massive Norman piers should be carefully studied, as the way in
which the later casing work has been applied can be more easily seen in
the triforium than elsewhere.
The picture on the west side of this part of the triforium was
discovered in 1718, against the then eastern end of the nave, underneath
the panelled wainscot at the back of the seats occupied by the clergy
when the nave was used for service.
During the last few years it has lost much of its colour; it is painted
_in tempera_ on a kind of gesso ground laid on a wooden planking nearly
an inch thick. From the size of it--viz. 9 feet 10 1/2 inches by 7 feet
7 1/4 inches--it was formerly thought to have formed part of the reredos.
Portions of the original frame remain, and they show traces of gilding
upon them. The picture has been varnished to preserve it, and, although
hung in a wretched situation for light, it is worth more than passing
attention. Christ is represented in the centre, throned on a rainbow,
attended by angels, and having a globe and a cross below Him. His mantle
is red, with a jewelled border. On either side of His head are emblems
--on the left a lily, emblematic of mercy; and on the right a sword,
emblematic of justice. The lily inclines towards the righteous, and the
sword points towards the wicked. Below on the left are six apostles, but
above these is an angel holding a T cross and the crown of thorns. To
balance this, on the right is an angel with a whipping-post, a scourge,
and a spear. Over these figures are scrolls, one on the left inscribed
"Come, O you blessed ...", and on the right, "Go, O you cursed ..." In
the centre, under the globe, is an angel holding an open book, "The boke
of cosciens "--_i.e._ the book of conscience. On either side are angels
blowing upon trumpets, from which extend scrolls inscribed, "Aryse, you
dede. Come to your judgement"; and below this the Resurrection is
depicted. An angel (in the centre) is scaring away a horned demon from
the soul borne up by the angel. On the right the wicked are being
carried off by fiends; on the left the righteous are being led away by
angels bearing crosses.
In the left-hand bottom corner are angels and inscriptions. "Before man
lyfe and death. In all thy workes remebre thy last, and never wilt thou
offend." In the top corner on the left is represented the New Jerusalem.
The architecture is classic in character.
[Illustration: SOUTH-EAST VIEW OF CATHEDRAL SHOWING WHISPERING GALLERY.
_S. B. Bolas & Co., Photo]_
St. Peter and an angel are standing close to a gate into which the
righteous are entering. A choir of angels with musical instruments are
above.
In the bottom corner on the right the mouth of hell is represented, into
which the lost are being thrust by attendant demons. There is a grim
figure inside a globe, possibly intended for the Prince of this world,
seizing a soul by the hair. At the bottom are other fiends helping to
torture the unhappy lost.
[Illustration: TRIFORIUM OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]_ ]
Sir G. Scharf, in _Archaeologia_, vol. xxxvi., says that the picture is
English, and is of great importance. He thinks it was painted during the
latter years of the reign of Henry VIII. or during that of Edward VI.,
and points out that it is an epitome of the famous altar-piece at
Dantzig, painted in 1467. It is remarkable that in this picture the
Virgin and St. John the Baptist, who are usually associated in pictures
with the Saviour, are altogether omitted.
The second, or south-eastern chapel, contains many interesting remains
of coloured tiles, old carving, some being linenfold panels. There are
also some finely-carved pilasters, which once formed part of the Queen
Anne reredos, put up by Dean Chetwood about 1710. This reredos was taken
down in 1807, and was for many years in the old church at Cheltenham.
When, however, the church at Cheltenham fell into the hands of the
restorer, parts of the carved work were brought back to Gloucester.
Passing towards the Whispering Gallery, the flying buttresses inserted
to support the walls of the clerestory, which were weakened by the
insertion of the great east window of the choir, 1347-1350, should be
noticed.
The #Whispering Gallery#, to which the ordinary visitor pays more
attention than anything else in the building, has remarkable acoustic
properties. A whisper (the lower in tone the better) can be easily and
distinctly heard at the other end of the gallery, and to this
peculiarity the following lines, by Maurice Wheeler (head-master of the
King's School, 1684-1712) have reference:
"Doubt not but God, who sits on high,
Thy secret prayers can hear,
When a dead wall thus cunningly
Conveys soft whispers to the ear."
Lord Bacon seems to have thought over the subject of the gallery, and
his remarks are here quoted: "I suppose there is some vault, or hollow,
or isle behind the wall, and some passage to it, towards the farther end
of that wall against which you speak, so as the voice of him that
speaketh slideth along the wall, and then entereth at some passage, and
communicateth with the air of the hollow, for it is preserved somewhat
by the plain wall: but that is too weak to give a sound audible till it
has communicated with the back air."
The gallery is a passage of Norman work, very much altered and re-used.
It is 74 feet long, 3 feet wide, 6-1/8 feet high, and is carried on
segmental arches from the east end of the south triforium to the west
wall of the Lady Chapel, and from thence in the same way to the north
triforium. On page 75 will be seen the appearance of the little bridge
thus made.
In passing through the gallery access is obtained to a chapel on the
right, which is immediately over the entrance vestibule to the Lady
Chapel. From this chapel a very good general view of the Lady Chapel can
be obtained. The bosses in the roof show to greater advantage, and it is
possible to see more of the colour that remains on the walls.
This chapel is smaller than the others in the triforium, and was reduced
in size when the west end of the Lady Chapel was built. The altar slab
is original Norman work, and has three or four [Symbol: Cross] inscribed
in it.
[Illustration: SOUTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR.
_S. B. Bolas & Co., Photo._]
The pieces of old glass formerly in this chapel have disappeared, and
modern ornamental quarries and medallions, by Hardman, have taken their
place.
The fourth chapel has nothing of note in it beyond the window tracery.
The fifth chapel, or the one nearest to the north transept, contains a
double piscina, in very good preservation.
The triforium contains a few monuments, chiefly those that have been
removed from the nave. Bishop Benson's monument was formerly on the face
of the buttress that passes through St. Andrew's Chapel.
The triforium seems a better resting-place than the crypt for monuments
which are rejected from the nave and elsewhere. It is to be hoped that
in the years to come no restorer will lay hold upon the monuments in the
Lady Chapel and transepts, and consign them to oblivion in the
neighbouring garden of the deanery. This was done in Dean Law's time,
and may in part be the reason why the cathedral is so poor in specimens
of monuments of the Queen Anne period.
The #South-East Chapel#, which is dedicated to St. Philip, contains some
interesting features. The arches are of a distinctly "pointed"
character, and there are remains of the two bases of pillars which
supported the stone altar slab.
This chapel was restored in memory of Sir C. W. Codrington, Bart., M.P.,
who died in 1864. Various incidents in the life of St. Philip have been
painted on the vaulting by Burlison & Grylls, but the paintings have
suffered somewhat from damp. The window, which is by Clayton & Bell, is
of no special interest, and represents saints, principally British, and
striking incidents in the life of each in the panel under each of the
figures.
Near the piscina, at the base of a pier, will be found some dog-tooth
moulding. This is repeated on the other side of the chapel, but not on
the corresponding pier.
Before entering the Lady Chapel, a Perpendicular arch will be noticed,
with two eye-shaped openings in the spandrels. The openings are well
carved on their bevelled edges. The arch is of later date than the front
of the chapel, and seems to have been necessary to support the triforium
above. Nothing like it exists on the other side. There is an old
cope-chest in this Ambulatory.
The #Lady Chapel.#--This beautiful chapel, which was built between the
years 1457-1499 by the Abbots Richard Hanley and William Farley, stands
on the site of a smaller building, dating back to 1224, and erected by
Ralph de Wylington and Olympias, his wife, the architect of the work
being Elias or Helias the Sacrist, a monk of the Gloucester monastery.
As Mr Bazeley points out ("Records," vol. iii. pt. 1, p. 14), "The only
architectural evidences of its former existence are two Early English
windows in the crypt, in the central eastern chapel."
Mr Waller thinks that this Early English Lady Chapel was "probably not a
new building, but simply an alteration of the old east apsidal chapels
on each floor to suit the 'Early English' times, just as the
fourteenth-century men afterwards recased the cathedral. The inserted
windows of this date in the crypt seem to confirm this view."
On the site of this chapel must have stood the chapel and altar (or at
any rate the altar) dedicated to St. Petronilla, as Ralph and Olympias
gave rentals to provide lights to burn thereat during mass for ever.
The vestibule or entrance to the Lady Chapel is a beautiful piece of
work, and is another instance of the genius of the builders shown in
making use of existing work. Special interest attaches to this chapel as
a whole, as it was the last addition to the fabric by the monks before
the Dissolution.
Firstly the walls of the vestibule should be noticed: the lower portions
of the west wall are parts of the old Norman apsidal chapel, and are
pierced by the opening for the door and by two perpendicular windows;
and the west end of the chapel is contracted in breadth, as it is also
in height, so as to minimise the loss of light to the great window of
the choir. The shape of the chapel will be easily understood from the
plan (p. 61).
The lierne vaulting of the vestibule is very delicate (the ribs, it will
be noted, are run differently in the four quarters of the roof), and the
pendants form a cross. These latter, at the present time, look new, but
they have only been freed from the whitewash that was thick upon them.
One pendant has been renewed at the end. Over the vestibule is the small
chapel which is entered from the Whispering Gallery (_vide_ page 77).
The open tracery of the west end over the supporting arch is
particularly graceful, especially the way in which the open lights are
arranged in the central portion. The Lady Chapel is 91 feet 6 inches
long, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46 feet 6 inches high, and consists of
four compartments or bays, which, as the wall of the chapel is so low,
are chiefly composed of fine tracery and glass. All the wall below the
windows is arcaded with foiled arches, with quatrefoils above them. The
wall between the windows is panelled with delicate tracery like that in
the windows, and in its three chief tiers contains brackets for figures,
with richly-carved canopies overhead. Many of these canopies (like the
walls) show traces of colour.
[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL.
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]
Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandest
Perpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in the roof is
worth minute inspection, and since the restoration (1896) it is possible
to see the bosses in practically the same condition as they were when
they left the masons' hands in the fifteenth century. With three
exceptions they are all representations of foliage, and it would be a
hard task to arrange them in order of merit.
It has been said above that the chapel is cruciform. The arms of the
cross are represented by the two side chapels, like diminutive transepts
on the north and south sides, with oratories above them, to which access
is given by small staircases in the angles of the wall. Both these side
chapels contain some exquisite fan-tracery vaulting, which is supported
upon flying arches, fashioned in imitation of the graceful flying arches
in the choir.
On the north side the chapel contains a full-length effigy of Bishop
Goldsborough (who died in 1604) robed in his white rochet, black
chimero, with lawn sleeves, scarf, ruff, and skull-cap.
The east window in this chapel is in memory of Lieut. Arthur John
Lawford (1885), and is dedicated to St. Martin.
The chapel above has a vaulted roof with bosses of foliage, and there
are small portions of ancient glass.
Bishop Nicholson's tomb, which was formerly in the south chapel, where
it blocked up the east window, is at present in pieces in this upper
chapel. It is to be re-erected in another place.
There are some interesting scribblings on the walls of this chapel. On
the shelf for books is a representation of a Cromwellian soldier with a
dog, apparently in pursuit of a deer. There are also scribblings with
devices, dating to 1630-1634. One love-sick swain described an
equilateral triangle with a [Symbol: Cross] rising from the vertex, and
then inscribed the initials of his _fiancee_ and also his own.
The #South Chapel# contains an altar tomb to Thomas Fitzwilliams, who
died 1579, and there is a wooden tablet, painted with an inscription to
tell that it was repaired in 1648.
A window has been put up in memory of S. Sebastian Wesley, a former
organist of the cathedral, who died in 1876.
In the south chapel there are scribbles, dating back to 1588 and 1604.
Both of these chapels have shelves for books, but it is probable that
one was for a small choir and the other for an organ.
The #Lady Chapel# is one of the largest in the kingdom, and is said, at
the time of the Dissolution, to have been one of the richest. A great
part of it is said to have been gilded and gloriously ornamented.
Traces of the colour can be seen in the mouldings of the panellings and
in the carving upon the walls.
[Illustration: WEST END OF LADY CHAPEL.
_S. B. Bolas & Co., Photo._]
The #Reredos#, judging from the traces that are left, must have been a
gorgeous sight, and literally a blaze of colour. Applique work has been
lavishly employed in its decoration. Anyone who is privileged to
examine it very closely will note the writing on the stonework, which
has been laid bare in the niches by the ruthless removal of the figures.
At present what the present Dean, in his article on the Great Abbeys of
the Severn Lands, calls its "pathetic scarred beauty," is temporarily
veiled by a very modern screen. The reredos, though a ruin, has a charm
all its own, and it is better to leave it frankly as it is now than to
partly hide it. There are some, no doubt, who would restore it, but it
is to be hoped that funds will not be forthcoming. Restoration has
effectually marred the beauty of the pavement of the choir, and given us
a flashy reredos there, of which the less said the better; but every one
with a particle of feeling must feel that restoration and decoration of
the Lady Chapel reredos would be a crime.
Bishop Benson covered the reredos with stucco, and put up a huge gold
sun in front of it. Portions of this are now at Minsterworth. An
engraving of it may be seen in Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary,"
published in 1796, and this plate also shows the long rows of pews
removed from the choir by the same bishop.
The sedilia are very fine, and worthy of careful inspection.
The #East Window# consists of nine lights, and has been terribly
mutilated, partly by fanatics, partly owing to lack of care within the
last century. In design the window resembles the windows on the north
and south sides of the chapel. It was erected in Abbot Farley's time
(1472-1479), and possibly by a Thomas Compton, seeing that in the
quatrefoiled circles in the heads of the lower lights there are
rebuses--a comb with TO, and CO with a TON (for Compton), as well as two
intertwining initials. Much of the glass seems to have been put in after
removal from other windows in the cathedral, and this makes the
deciphering of this window no easy undertaking.
The tiles in the Lady Chapel are of great interest, and one cannot help
regretting their gradual deterioration under the feet, occasionally the
hobnailed feet of visitors, and the slower but surer destruction by the
accumulations of grit under the matting on the floor. They may be best
examined by turning up the matting near the Clent tablet on the south
wall.
On a pattern made up of sixteen tiles, four times repeated can be read,
"_Ave Maria gra' ple' Dus tecum_" i.e. "_gratia plena Dominus tecum_."
On others similarly designed, "_Domine Jhu (Jesu) miserere_." On others,
"_Ave Maria gra' ple'_" and "_Dne Jhu miserere_." These tiles in square
sets of sixteen and four respectively were placed alternately, and
separated by plain dark bricks. On others again will be found "_Orate
pro Aia Johis Hertlond (pro anima Johannis)_." Some too seem to have
been transferred from Llanthony Priory to the south chapel. They are
inscribed, "_Timetib' deu nihil deest_," i.e. "_Timentibus deum nihil
deest_." There are others in the chapel, "_Letabor in mia--et sethera_,"
and "_Deo Gracias_."
The monument to Sir John Powell (1713) on the north wall is not
beautiful, though a good specimen of its time. It is impossible not to
regret that it was ever allowed to be erected in the chapel. Powell was
a judge of King's Bench, and is here represented in his gown, hood,
mantle, and coif.
Other monuments are those to Eliz: Williams, 1622 (the figure is raised
on one elbow); to Margaret Clent, 1623, with a touching epitaph. On the
floor, near the Williams monument is a small brass, concealed by
matting, to Charles Sutton, an infant seven days old. The brass contains
two Latin lines modelled on the lines of Ovid's "Tristia," and run:
"Parve, nec invideo, sine me, puer, ibis ad astra,
Parve, nec invideas, laetus ad astra sequar."
Many of the slabs on the floor will repay perusal, most of them being
well cut and fairly well preserved. In Brown Willis' "Survey of
Gloucester" will be found a full record of all the tombstones which in
his time (1727) were in this chapel, but have since been removed or
re-used.
Turning to the right on leaving the Lady Chapel, the north-east chapel,
which is called #Abbot Boteler's Chapel#, is the next in order. It dates
from 1437-1450. The reredos should be closely examined, as it retains
many of its original features--viz. statuettes, traces of painting on
the shields above, and a very good piscina.
The tiles in the floor are in many cases excellent specimens, especially
those with fish upon them. It seems a pity that these tiles should be
doomed to disappear under the nails of sight-seers, who as a rule look
at nothing but the effigy of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and go away
satisfied when they have proved for themselves that the effigy is of
wood.
The effigy has had a curious history. As Leland says, "Rob'tus
Curthoise, sonne to William the Conquerour, lyeth in the middle of the
Presbitery. There is on his tombe an image of wood paynted, made long
since his death." As to the date there is great uncertainty, and it
would seem that the figure and the chest upon which it lies are not of
the same date. Sir W. V. Guise in "Records of Gloucester Cathedral,"
vol. i., part 1, p. 101 (now out of print), says, "I am disposed to
assign to the effigy a date not very remote from the period at which the
duke lived. The hauberk of chain-mail and the long surcote ceased to be
worn after the thirteenth century," and on p. 100, "The mortuary chest
on which the figure rests is probably not older than the fifteenth
century ..." Around the chest are a series of shields bearing
coats-of-arms, ten in number, nine of which were originally intended to
commemorate the nine worthies of the world. On the dexter side: 1.
Hector. 2. Julius Caesar. 3. David. 4. King Arthur. On the sinister side:
5. Edward the Confessor. 6. Alexander the Great. 7. Judas Maccabaeus. 8.
Charlemagne. 9. (at the south end) Godfrey of Bouillon. 10. (at the
north end) The arms of France and England, quarterly. The blazoning of
10 proves the chest to be later than the time of Henry IV.
The oak figure was broken into several pieces in the civil wars of
Charles I., but was bought by Sir Humphrey Tracey of Stanway, who had it
repaired, and presented it to the Cathedral.
Leland says that the duke "lyeth in the middle of the Presbitery." The
inscription in the chapter-house says "Hic jacet Robertus Curtus." The
plain pavement in the choir is said to mark the site of the grave in the
choir, but it is open to question whether there would be space for
interment between the tiling and the upper side of the vaulting of the
crypt. It is to be hoped that at some future time the effigy may be
moved back to its place in the Presbytery.
The next chapel--_i.e._ the north-west chapel, is dedicated to St. Paul,
and is entered by a doorway, with the initials T. C. over it, in the
spandrels. T. C. may stand for Thomas Compton.
[Illustration: TOMB OF ROBERT CURTHOSE.
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]
The windows in the north ambulatory of the choir are as follows:--
The window next to Boteler's Chapel is a memorial erected by the dean
and chapter to Mrs Tinling. The glass was designed by the late J. D.
Sedding, Esq., and was executed by Kempe.
Opposite to the tomb of Edward II. is a memorial window, also by Kempe,
to the late Lieut.-General Sir Joseph Thackwell and his wife.
The third window is a memorial to Alfred George Price, who died in 1880,
and it represents the four great builders of the church--viz. 1. King
Osric. 2. Abbot Serlo. 3. Abbot Wygmore. 4. Abbot Seabroke.
Opposite this door in the north-east corner is a doorway--Perpendicular
in style--with interesting cresting and carving, giving access to the
vestries and the choir practising-room.
In this, as in the other chapels, the groined edge of the Norman
vaulting is carried down the piers.
The reredos in this chapel was more perfect, in point of good repair,
than any other in the building, and the chapel was repaired by the late
Earl of Ellenborough in 1870, figures by Redfern representing St. Peter,
St. Paul, and St. Luke being inserted in the niches.
At the back of the reredos are windows (by Burlison & Grylls)
representing in the side-lights angels with instruments of music, and in
the centre Our Lord in majesty with angels bearing crowns and branches
of palm.
On the south side of the chapel is a brass tablet in memory of Dean Law,
who was Dean from 1862-1884. The combination of copper, brass, and
gun-metal is to be regretted, as the workmanship is above the average,
and the design is good. It is a mistake to paint heraldic devices on
brass.
Close by the door leading into the north transept will be seen the stone
reading-desk, from which it is said addresses were given to the many
pilgrims who came to the shrine of the unfortunate Edward II.
The #North Transept.#--This transept, like that on the south, consists
of Norman work, which was cased over by Abbot Horton during the last
years of his abbacy (1368-1373) with fine Perpendicular panelling,
cleverly engrafted into the original wall. It will be noticed that the
work is, though Early Perpendicular, much more fully developed than that
in the south transept. Angular mouldings of great beauty are used in the
place of round mouldings; the mullions run right up to the roof, which
again is much richer than that in the south transept. The vaulting of
the north transept somewhat resembles in character the fan-tracery of
the cloisters, the junction of the main and transverse vaults being
rounded rather than angular, and the smaller ribs springing from between
the larger ones a little _above_ the union with the capitals of the
supporting shafts. This transept is 8 feet lower than that on the south
side. It is 2 feet shorter, and 1 foot less in width.
[Illustration: NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.
_Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo._]
On the north side, "under the north window, is a beautiful piece of
Early English work (c. 1240), which is supposed to have been a
#Reliquary#."
[Illustration: NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.
_S. B. Bolas & Co., Photo._]
It is constructed in three divisions, that in the middle being a
doorway. Foiled openings enrich all the arches, and the carving of the
foliage is very beautiful. Purbeck marble shafts are placed at the
angles, and corbel heads at the spring of the arches, except at the
north-east corner, where a stone shield, with arms of Abbot Parker, are
substituted. Much of the figure-work on the outside has been mutilated.
In the inside the roof is simply groined, with bosses, one of which in
the central division is most beautifully wrought; and there are, too,
small heads which, fortunately, seem to have escaped notice altogether,
and are almost perfect. In Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary," 1796, it is
described as punishment cells. Mr Bazeley thinks it was part of the
Early English Lady Chapel, built in 1227, which, being thought worthy
of preservation, was taken down and re-erected here when the present
Lady Chapel was built.
Opposite to the reliquary is a #Chapel# between the tower piers, said to
be dedicated to #St. Anthony#.
[Illustration: DOOR FROM NORTH TRANSEPT INTO NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE
CHOIR.
From a Photograph of Miss Dawson of Cardiff]
The wood panelling on the back of the stalls of the choir shows traces
of painting, representing the soul of a woman at the mouth of a hell or
purgatory, praying to St. Anthony, who is depicted with his pig and a
bell. Other figures are there, but they are beyond recognition. This
chapel is used as the Dean's vestry, and contains some old panelling,
re-used, and two old strong-boxes.
Beneath the niche, near the door leading into the North Ambulatory of
the Choir, is an inscription, which is now barely legible (even with an
opera-glass)--_Orate pro aia (Magistri Johannis) Schelton_; at least so
Brown Willis read it in 1727. On the floor of this transept are some
slabs, now brassless, under which have been buried men of note in the
early days of the history of the building. One mutilated slab, 7 feet
1 inch by 3 feet 4 inches, has an inscription, of which some only is now
legible in the border. From Brown Willis' "Survey of the Cathedral,"
1727, it can be seen that it is to Robert Stanford.
The inscription was--
_Hic jacet Robertus Stanford quondam serviens hujus monasterii et
specialis ac munificus benefactor ejusdem qui obiit vicesimo secundo
..._
A brass to Wm. Lisle, 1723, has been inserted.
Abbots Horton, Boyfield, Froucester were all buried in this transept,
but beyond crediting the stone that shows a trace of a mitre to
Froucester, it is a mere matter of speculation to distinguish between
the others. The stone next but one to it contains the matrix of a fine
cross. The north window was filled in 1874 with glass by Hardman in
memory of Sir Michael Edward Hicks-Beach, Bart., M.P., and his wife. The
subjects are episodes in the life of St. Paul.
Under the west window of this transept is a curious painted monument to
John Bower and his wife (1615). They had "nyne sones and seaven
daughters," who are represented in perspective on the wooden panel
against the wall. The tomb is barely characteristic of its date. On the
top is an inscription--_Memento mori_; also, _Vayne, vanytie, witnesse
Soloman, all is but vayne._
The colour on the tomb has suffered from whitewashing at various times,
and the tomb has been scorched by the heat generated by the warming
apparatus in the corner, to the detriment of the painted panel.
The west window of this transept was put up in 1894, in memory of Wm.
Philip Price, M.P. This window is too full of detail, and the canopy
work is overdone. The glass is by Kempe.
The east window contains some old glass, releaded by Clayton & Bell.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] They have practically been shortened 10 inches by their plinths
being concealed by the pavement put down in 1740. Their
circumference is 21 feet 7 inches, and the distance from pier to
pier about 12 feet 6 inches.
[2] Similar ornament in windows may be found at Leominster, Ledbury
Church, Minsterworth, Hartbury, St. Michael's (Gloucester), and in
the tower of Hereford Cathedral.
[3] The abbey at Tewkesbury is a building which every visitor to
Gloucester ought to make a point of seeing and studying. It was
built on a similar plan, at the same time, and probably by some of
the same builders who built Gloucester.
[4] The Crypt is described here because it is, as a rule, entered
from the eastern door in the south transept.