THE DISSOLUTION OF THE CHAPTER
The difference between the Southwell depicted by Byron and the
Southwell of to-day is due to organic changes. In 1837 Notts, less the
ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the chapter, was transferred from York
to Lincoln; and four years later Southwell shared the same fate.
Thus was broken the long connection, not only with the diocese, but
also with the province of York. In 1840 a clause or two in a Bill (3
and 4 Vict. c. 113), supplemented the next year by a special Act (4
and 5 Vict. c. 39), destroyed the chapter, after making allowance for
vested interests, as a useless waste of ecclesiastical revenues. The
canonries, as vacancies occurred, were not to be filled up, the minor
canons were to be reduced to two (eventually to none at all); and the
property was to go to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, to help in
founding Ripon and Manchester, although these two dioceses were quite
wealthy enough to endow their own bishoprics. What the total revenues
were at the time of the dissolution, it is impossible to say. A great
part of the incomes, both of the common and trust funds and of the
various prebends, was paid in lump sums, technically called “fines,” at
the renewal of leases. It has been estimated as high as £30,000 a year:
the real nett income of the whole of the properties may, perhaps, have
reached a third of this high figure. It must, however, be remembered,
in computing the real loss, that the Commissioners have borne the
whole expense of restoring the edifice. In succession to the sixteen
prebendaries and the six minor canons, a brand new benefice, a rectory,
was created and endowed not over-liberally, and the minster reduced to
the status of an ordinary parish church.
During a great part of the period of transition the two minor canons
allowed temporarily to remain filled the duty usually assigned to
canons in residence, and preached in the afternoon. The Act of 1840
for curtailing, or, as at Southwell, for abolishing, cathedral and
collegiate chapters was passed during the heat wave of change which
followed in the footsteps of the first Reform Bill. No one opposed it
more vigorously than did the young Tory and High Church member for
Newark, Mr W.E. Gladstone, who added to his rising fame by his great
speech against its provisions. But, in spite of the numerous petitions
that came pouring in, the general middle and upper class opinion of
the day was against such colleges as Southwell, and in favour of
devoting their revenues to other purposes. It has changed since; and
if the present Bishop of Southwell were asked his opinion, he would
probably answer that a chapter of sixteen prebendaries appointed by
himself would have been of inestimable service in carrying on the
administration of the diocese. So ended a clerical republic which had
safely survived the storms of Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
[Illustration: SOUTHWELL, SHOWING WEST TOWERS BEFORE RESTORATION--
RUINS OF THE PALACE TO THE LEFT.]
=The Grammar School=.--By yet another blow the Grammar School was
crippled. Two fellowships and two scholarships at St. John’s,
Cambridge, founded by Dr Keton in the reign of Henry VIII., with a
preference for choristers, were confiscated. Under Dr William Fletcher
(a first classman and Fellow of Brasenose) the school was the most
flourishing in the county: thanks to the craze for meddling reform,
it was afterwards reduced to _three boys_. It has been left for the
present headmaster, who was appointed by Bishop Wordsworth when the
fortunes of the school were at a low ebb, assisted by his son, to
restore this time-honoured seat of education to a favourable and
prominent position, although allowed by the Commissioners only the old
sixteenth-century endowment of twenty-three pounds a year. At the next
voidance of the one remaining minor canonry, the headmaster of the
Grammar School will be the sole remaining officer allowed to continue;
and a more generous policy might well be pursued with regard to the
oldest educational establishment of the county. When it is added that
the “very genteel society” of Byron successfully opposed the Nottingham
and Lincoln Railway, it need not now be a cause for wonder that the
town does not occupy that position the author of “Childe Harold”
described.
=The Foundation of the See=.--The county of Nottingham had not time
to settle into its new position before it was discovered that the
reconstructed diocese of Lincoln, with over eight hundred benefices,
was too large for one bishop to supervise. In Bishop Jackson’s time
the need of a new diocese was mooted; with Bishop Wordsworth this idea
took active shape; and during the administration of Lord Beaconsfield
the necessary legislative sanction was obtained, although, as the
main part of the endowment had to be collected by subscription, the
see was not constituted until 1884. Bishop Wordsworth not only parted
with a portion of his episcopal income, but was the most munificent
subscriber; and to him it is due that Southwell had the preference as
the see town over the large and growing city of Nottingham. It was
also part of the scheme of this distinguished prelate that the diocese
should be limited to the one county, and that the old palace should be
restored for the bishop’s residence, but neither of these was carried
into effect. The plan of Henry VIII. was adopted, and Derbyshire added,
while the restoration of the palace was abandoned. The minster was
thus chosen as the cathedral church out of sentiment; and it is to be
regretted that it did not at the same time revert to its old province
of York.
The new honorary canons of the diocese, with the bishop at their
head as dean, took the names of the old prebends. The work they have
done in the diocese has justified their appointment; but historical
association, while respected in one sense, was here also strangely
disregarded, since between the old prebendaries and the new canons
there is no kind of connection. The first bishop, Dr George Ridding,
headmaster of Winchester, has continued the untiring munificence of
Dr Wordsworth; and his organising powers have found full scope in the
working of the two counties.
Thus the outline of the story of this little town from the days of the
Britons and Romans onwards comes to an end. Southwell may well take for
her motto--
The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils Himself in many ways.
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A
THE CULDEES
The derivation is given from _Cultor_ (or perhaps _cola) Dei_. The
Culdees are generally supposed to have been a religious order founded
by St. Columba in the middle of the sixth century; but this would seem
to be a mistake, for, says Canon Ornsby, the name was unknown to Baeda,
Eddi, and Andamnan, _Deicola (= Gode-frihte_, or God-fearing) was
the appellation given first to anchorites, and afterwards to certain
secular clergy.
The clergy of Canterbury were called _Cultores [Dei] Clerici_ in 1006;
those of York Colidei or Culdees so late as Henry I. Mr Leach says (p.
xx.) that the clergy of Lichfield were likewise of Culdee origin under
St. Chad. Perhaps the least unlikely inference is that at Southwell,
as elsewhere, the Culdees represent an intermediate stage between the
primitive missionaries and the prebendaries of a later time with their
separate churches and endowments. They were allowed to marry, and
shared in a common fund.
APPENDIX B
A STORY OF THE SUPERNATURAL
Florence of Worcester says (under date 1137): “At Southwell, a ‘vill’
of the archbishop’s, while a grave was being made for a funeral, there
were found some relics of saints, and a glass phial with raised sides
to prevent its being broken, and full of very clear water; which being
given to the sick, they were on tasting it restored to their former
health.” Florence says that this story was told him by Henry, Bishop of
Winchester.
APPENDIX C
CHANTRIES, CHAPELS, AND ALTARS
The eight chantry foundations of the thirteenth century were St. Thomas
the Martyr (three), St. Peter, St. Nicholas (with Halam annexed), St.
Stephen, St. John Baptist, and St. John the Evangelist. After a lull
of more than a century come St. Mary at the altar of St. Michael (with
Wheatley annexed), a second St. John the Baptist, otherwise the Morrow
Mass, St. Mary Magdalene, and Our Lady, and St. Cuthbert (two, founded
in 1479).
The Lady Chapel is a puzzle: it was outside the choir, on the north
side, and with the churchyard adjoining the east; and no site seems
to satisfy these three conditions. Perhaps more than one chapel is so
named in wills. The chapel of St. John the Baptist had two altars, one
to that saint, and another to St. Cuthbert, each with two chantries:
it was the Vavasour or Booth Chapel at the south-west of the nave, the
place of the Grammar School. The chapel of St. John the Evangelist was
in the north aisle (whether of nave or choir not stated).
The locality of St. Thomas’ Chapel with its three chantries is
uncertain; and there is a mention of the chapels of St. Lawrence and of
St. Margaret near one another, but their altars are not mentioned. The
altar of St. Peter was within the choir, but the sites of the remaining
chantry altars cannot be settled. Besides the parish altar of St.
Vincent, that of Our Lady of Grace is twice mentioned in the wills. The
high altar is in one place called “the greater altar of St. Mary.”
There were, besides, the chapels of St. Thomas the Martyr in the
Burgage, St. Catherine at the end of Westhorpe near the holy well, two
in Easthorpe half-a-mile apart, and one in Normanton. The names of the
three last are unknown; and the five seem to have been chantries. I am
chiefly indebted to Mr Leach for the above information.
APPENDIX D
A STORY OF CHARLES I.
Robert Thoroton, who published his “Nottinghamshire” in 1677, says that
a Mr Savage told him the following story:--The time of this visit of
the king was between Naseby and the subsequent residence at Oxford.
The king, with a few faithful followers, took refuge at Southwell.
“The day after his arrival he walked about the town not known, and
entered the shop of a shoemaker, whose name was Lee, who was a fanatic
of the day. His majesty, after some conversation with this man, bid
him take measure for a pair of shoes. Lee, in taking the king’s foot
in his hand and looking at him attentively, refused to proceed. The
king, astonished at the man’s behaviour, desired him to do what he had
requested; but the shoemaker actually refused, giving a reason that
the king was the customer he had been warned against in a dream the
night before, in which he [the customer] was doomed to destruction, and
those who worked for him would never thrive. The forlorn monarch, whose
misfortunes had opened his mind to the impressions of superstitions,
uttered an ejaculation expressive of his resignation to the will of
providence, and returned to the palace, which was the place of his
abode.”
Thoroton says that Charles was many times at Southwell, and once with
the queen.
APPENDIX E
PATRONAGE OF THE CHAPTER
The chapter were patrons of the daughter parishes of
Bleasby-cum-Morton, Edingley, Farnsfield, Halam, Kirklington and Upton,
and of Boughton, Kneesal, Rolleston, S. Wheatley and Woodborough in
Notts; of Barnburgh in Yorkshire; and of Barnoldby, Beelsby, Brigsley,
Hatcliffe, Howerby, Ravensdale, and Waltham in North Lincolnshire.
All the prebendaries but those of Normanton, Woodborough, Palishall,
and the sacrist presented to their several vicarages, excepting that
the two prebendaries presented alternately to both Oxton and Cropwell.
The prebendary of Normanton presented to the Southwell parish vicarage,
and North Muskham to Caunton. At the dissolution, after allowing for
vested interests, the whole of this patronage was divided between the
two new bishoprics of Ripon and Manchester, but until Mr Shepherd’s
death, in 1873, the surviving prebendaries reserved their patronage.
Barnburgh was at one time worth £550 a year nett, and Beelsby a hundred
less; but most of the others were of small value. There were also some
half-dozen chapelries.
APPENDIX F
THE LAST OF THE CLERGY
=Prebendaries=.
Beckingham =Thomas Henry Shepherd=, the
last of the prebendaries, died Feb.
1873, on whose death the patronage
of the chapter went to the bishops
of Ripon and Manchester. He was rector
of Clayton and S. Wheatley.
Dunham =Thomas Cozens Percival.=
Eton =William Barrow.=
Halloughton =Robert Lowe.=
North Leverton =Henry Smith.=
North Muskham =Charles Boothby.=
South Muskham =John Thomas Becher.=
Normanton =George Wilkins=, vicar-general and
Archdeacon of Nottingham. After
the Act of Dissolution he lived at
the Residence House, and died
there 1865.
Norwell Overhall =Chas. Geo. Venables Vernon.=
Norwell Palishall =Robert Chaplin.=
Norwell Tertia Pars =Edward Denison= (B. of Salisbury).
Oxton and Cropwell = James Jarvis Cleaver.=
Oxton Altera Pars =Frederick Anson= (D. of Chester).
Rampton =Fitzgerald Wintour.=
Sacrist =Charles Nixon.=
Woodborough =Edward Garrard Marsh.=
Parish Vicar =Morgan Watkins.=
=Minor Canons or Vicars-Choral=.
=Alfred Tatham= (1841-76). =Robert Frederick Smith, M.A.=, vicar of
Edingley-cum-Halam. Late scholar of Lincoln College, Oxford. Succeeded
Mr Dimock (preferred to Barnburgh in 1863), and still remains. The
last clergyman associated with the defunct chapter. He was ordained as
curate to the Rector of Southwell in 1856.
[Illustration: PLAN OF SOUTHWELL CATHEDRAL.
DIMENSIONS--EXTERIOR.
Length--318 feet. Length of Nave--185 feet. Width of Nave--72 feet.
Choir--Length, 128 feet. Choir Aisles--Length, 98 ft.
Choir, with Aisles--Breadth, 73 feet.
Choir, with both Transept Chapels--Breadth, 108 feet.
Height of Central Tower, 105 feet.
Height of Western Tower, 99 feet.
Do., including Modern Spires, 149 feet.]
FOOTNOTES
[1] The repeated attempts to connect Southwell with the
Tiovulfingacestre of Baeda must be dismissed as unsupported. To make
matters more puzzling still, Henry of Huntingdon, who says he relied
upon Baeda, writing in the twelfth century, calls the place of the
baptising the town “now called Fingecestre.”
There was no such town; there was the little riverside hamlet of
Fiscartune, now called Fiskerton, the nearest spot on the Trent to
Southwell; and Henry was perhaps thinking of this when he wrote. Baeda
says that a convert told a monk named Daeda, and Daeda told him, that
he, the convert, had been baptised in the Trent near the “civitas”
called in the language of the Angles Tiovulfingacestre. This name
has been hopelessly lost. In itself, no place so well satisfies this
second-hand account, as where the river, after passing under Clifton
Grove, sweeps by Wilford Church. Here the bed is so formed that the
priest could stand in comfort, and have plenty of water for immersion;
while Nottingham, close at hand, might then have been a settlement
sufficiently large to be called a “civitas.” Southwell was not large
enough. Or, perhaps, Torksey or Littleborough is meant.
[2] Appendix A. The Culdees.
[3] Prebendas apud Suthwell fecit.
[4] So far as the letter of Archbishop Thomas goes, being without date,
it might have been written by either Thomas; but the finely pointed
masonry and the later Norman in the architecture suggest the second
Thomas.
[5] _Decano_; but there was no dean, though one appears afterwards.
[6] Ab omni jure & consuetudine episcopali ... penitus & immunes.
[7] Leach, p. xxxv. Dugdale also states that once there was a dean.
[8] Ornsby’s “York,” p. 161.
[9] On this subject see Gwilt’s “Architecture,” p. 126.
[10] Leach, p. 197.
[11] In the will of Robert Batemanson there is a reference to “my Lord
William Bothe’s quer,” which implies that William, and not Laurence,
restored it.
[12] There was a third at Laneham, on the Trent.
[13] The present area, including that of the modern daughter parish of
Holy Trinity, is put down at over 5000 acres.
[14] In which, however, the accused was acquitted.
[15] There were two for the three prebends of Normanton, and one for
Oxton.
[16] Mais si belle qu’elle se soit conservée en vieillissant, il
est difficile de ne pas soupirer, de ne pas s’indigner devant les
dégradations, les mutilations sans nombre que simultanément le temps
et les hommes ont fait subir au vénérable monument ... Si nous avions
le laisir d’examiner une à une avec le lecteur les diverses traces
de destruction imprimées à l’antique église, la part du temps serait
la moindre, _la pira celle des hommes_ ... et ce que nous disons de
l’église cathédrale de Paris, il faut le dire de toutes les églises de
la chrétienté au moyen âge. (“Notre Dame,” livre troisième, c. 1.). I
have discussed the effect of the Great Pestilence upon architecture in
the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ Aug. 1897.
[17] _Builder_, July 2, 1892, p. 12. This term “Romanesque” has become
a ready source of confusion. It is used in at least two distinct senses.
(a) The architecture prevalent in Western Europe contemporary with our
Anglo-Norman. In this sense it appears to be used by the writer in the
_Builder_; and I should say that the intersection of the arcading ought
to be added to the “Romanesque” peculiarities.
(b) As a general term for the architecture prevalent in Western Europe
prior to the introduction of the Gothic. In this latter and more
accepted use of the term English Saxon and Norman architecture would
both be included. The term was intended to imply of Roman or Italian
origin.
[18] _Saturday Review_, Nov. 29, 1879, p. 662.
[19] The dimensions of the Norman choir were discussed by Mr Dimock
in a paper read before the British Archæological Association, and
published in their _Journal_ of January 1853. Mr C. Hodgson Fowler,
who has been long intimately acquainted with his subject, in the
_Architect_ of June 23rd, 1877, takes a somewhat different view. The
evidence appears to be too slight for the most careful and correct of
experts to agree altogether.
[20] See the remarks on Booth’s Chapel and Appendix C.
[21] _Builder_, July 2nd, 1892.
[22] The Early Decorated tracery is arranged principally in circles,
quatrefoils, and other regular figures, with the featherings for the
most part confined to the larger piercings: this is usually called
_Geometrical_ tracery. (Parker’s “Glossary.”)
[23] These measurements, which have been carefully made from a ground
plan, differ slightly from those of Mr Louis Petit in the _Memoirs of
the Archæological Institute_ of 1850, p. 208.
[24] Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that the reports that it is not
watertight against storms are not correct.
[25] _Vide_ p. 20.
[26] The Cinque Cento style prevailed from the “commencement of the
fifteenth century until the general introduction of enamel colours
about the middle of that century.”--CHARLES WINSTON.
[27] Called Passage on plan.
[28] It is to be regretted that the vestibule and chapter-house are
so difficult of access. The authorities that be appear to treat them
as a species of holy of holies. The only possible objection to a more
liberal policy--a regard for vested interests--the Commissioners would
surely make good.
[29] Canon Ornsby buries Aldred at York, and Mr Livett at Southwell.
Holgate retired to Hemsworth; but his burial is not in that parish
register. An old metrical chronicle makes Corbridge die at Laneham.
[30] Perhaps the last survivor of those who remembered Byron was Mrs
Alfred Tatham, a daughter of Mr Becher. She told me she distinctly
remembered, as a very little girl (it was about her earliest
recollection), sitting on the poet’s knee, who was fond of children.
Mr Becher’s grandson still lives in the house with which Byron was
familiar.
Transcriber’s Notes.
Italic text is indicated with _underscores_, bold text with =equals=.
Small/mixed capitals have been replaced with ALL CAPITALS.
Evident typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected
silently. Inconsistent spelling/hyphenation has been normalised.
A reiteration of the title has been discarded.
End of page footnotes have been sequentially numbered and gathered at
the end of the text.
To improve text flow, illustrations have been relocated between
paragraphs.