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SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL
Formerly the Collegiate Church of St. Saviour,
Otherwise St. Mary Overie
A Short History and Description of the Fabric,
with Some Account of the College and the See
by
GEORGE WORLEY
With XXXVI Illustrations
[Illustration: _Photo._ _Photochrom Co._
SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL FROM THE EAST.]
[Illustration]
London George Bell & Sons 1905
Chiswick Press: Charles Whittingham and Co.
Tooks Court, Chancery Lane, London.
PREFACE
The numerous authorities, ancient and modern, which I have been
obliged to draw upon, are acknowledged, where necessary, in the text.
Those who wish to pursue the study of St. Saviour's Cathedral in
greater detail and completeness than is here possible, must be
referred to some of the larger works to which I have had recourse;
_e.g._, those by Moss and Nightingale (1817-1818), F.T. Dollman
(1881), and the Rev. Dr. Thompson (1904). The Surrey Archaeological
Society's "Collections" are also to be recommended for the valuable
subsidiary matter they contain, in the shape of original documents,
selected and carefully edited from sources not easily accessible to
the public.
For facts not elsewhere recorded I am under special obligations to Sir
Arthur Blomfield and Sons, architects for the restoration, who have
not only afforded most useful information, and given access to
drawings, which they alone possessed, but have been good enough to
draw up the plan, showing the most recent work at the Cathedral,
expressly for this volume.
I am scarcely less indebted to their Clerk of the Works, Mr. Thomas
Simpson, who superintended the whole restoration of 1890-1897, and has
generously placed his exceptional knowledge at my disposal.
Others to be thankfully remembered are Mr. Harry Lloyd, of "The Daily
Chronicle," and the Proprietors of "Church Bells," who have kindly
contributed the illustrations bearing their names; Mr. C.A. Webb,
Private Secretary to the Bishop of Southwark; Mr. A.W. Dodwell Moore,
Chapter Clerk; the Rev. W.W. Hough and Mr. S.C. Lapidge, Secretaries
to the Diocesan Society; Mr. F.C. Eeles, Secretary to the Alcuin Club;
and the Rev. Dr. Thompson, Rector and Chancellor of St. Saviour's,
each of whom has added something within his special province.
Most of the photographs have been taken by Mr. Godfrey P. Heisch,
direct from the fabric. The specification of the organ comes from the
builders, Messrs. Lewis and Co., Limited.
To all these thanks are due: also to the Cathedral authorities for
facilities of access, and to the Vergers of the Cathedral and Chapter
House for their services during my examination of the buildings.
G.W.
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 13
II. THE EXTERIOR 41
III. THE INTERIOR 57
IV. THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK 99
APPENDIX I. LIST OF THE PRIORS OF ST. MARY OVERIE 103
II. THE PRIORY SEAL 104
III. LIST OF THE CHAPLAINS OF ST. SAVIOUR'S 104
IV. VESTMENTS, PLATE, AND ORNAMENTS AT ST. SAVIOUR'S 105
V. SPECIFICATION OF THE ORGAN 111
INDEX 113
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL FROM THE EAST _Frontispiece_
THE ARMS OF THE SEE _Title-page_
INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL 12
ST. SAVIOUR'S IN 1660 13
FORMER WESTERN DOORWAY 18
THE CHURCH ABOUT 1740 27
INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST 29
THE NAVE IN 1831 31
THE CHAPTER HOUSE 37
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE EAST 40
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-WEST 41
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST 45
THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORCH 50
REMAINS OF THE PRIOR'S DOORWAY 53
THE TRANSEPTS FROM THE NORTH END 56
THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE 57
THE CHOIR VAULT 59
JOHN GOWER'S MONUMENT 63
THE CHOIR FROM THE NAVE 65
THE FONT AND THE THIRTEENTH-CENTURY WALL ARCADE 67
THE CHOIR AND ALTAR SCREEN 70
THE TRIFORIUM AND CLERESTORY OF THE CHOIR 71
THE ALTAR AND THE HUMBLE ORNAMENT 74
THE LADY CHAPEL OR RETRO-CHOIR 75
TOMB OF BISHOP ANDREWES 77
MARTYRS' WINDOW TO SAUNDERS, FERRAR, AND TAYLOR 79
WINDOW COMMEMORATING KING CHARLES I, LAUD, AND BECKET 80
EFFIGY OF MAILED KNIGHT 82
THE TREHEARNE MONUMENT 83
THE HARVARD WINDOW 85
CARVED BOSSES FROM THE CEILING OF THE OLD NAVE, FIFTEENTH
CENTURY 90
THE AUSTIN MONUMENT (NORTH TRANSEPT) 91
ARMS OF CARDINAL BEAUFORT 96
MAP OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK 98
THE PRIORY SEAL 103
PLAN OF THE CHURCH _End_
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL.
_Reproduced from a drawing by Mr. Hedley Fitton, by permission
of the "Daily Chronicle."_]
[Illustration: ST. SAVIOUR'S IN 1660.
_Reproduced from "Church Bells."_]
SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL
CHAPTER I
HISTORY OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. SAVIOUR, FORMERLY ST. MARY
OVERIE, SOUTHWARK
The history of St. Saviour's takes us back to those distant days when
Southwark was but a marsh, and when there was no bridge across the
Thames. John Stow, historian and antiquary (1525-1605), was acquainted
with Bartholomew Linstede, the last of the Priors, and gives the
following account of its origin on his authority:
East from the Bishop of Winchester's house, directly over
against it, standeth a fair church, called St.
Mary-over-the-Rie, or Overie; that is, over the water. This
church, or some other in place thereof, was, of old time, long
before the Conquest, a house of sisters, founded by a maiden
named Mary; unto the which house and sisters she left, as was
left to her by her parents, the oversight and profits of a
cross ferry, or traverse ferry over the Thames, there kept
before that any bridge was built. This house of sisters was
after by Swithun, a noble lady, converted into a college of
priests, who in place of the ferry built a bridge of timber,
and from time to time kept the place in good reparations; but
lastly, the same bridge was built of stone; and then in the
year 1106 was this church again founded for canons regular by
William Pont de la Arch, and William Dauncey, Knights,
Normans.
Stow's account has been disputed in several particulars. Although it
may be taken for granted that there was a cross-ferry before there was
a bridge, it does not follow that the bridge immediately superseded
it; and it has been suggested, as more likely, that both means of
transit were used for some time simultaneously, as is the case to-day
at other places.
If the first London Bridge was built by Roman engineers during the
Roman occupation, it may be assumed that the bridge existed before the
church. That the first bridge was a Roman structure has been almost
proved by the discovery of Roman coins and other relics among the
_débris_ of the original work during the erection of later bridges. We
have an evidence of the antiquity of the site in some Roman
_tesserae_, discovered in 1832, while a grave was being dug in the
south-east corner of the churchyard, and still preserved in the
pavement, near the entrance, in the south aisle of the choir. These
_tesserae_, with the pottery, tiles, coins, lachrymatories, sepulchral
urns, etc., excavated from time to time in and about the church, are
clear indications of an important Roman settlement.
It is known that after the destruction of Roman London by Boadicea, a
great many Romans made their escape into Southwark, where they
continued to live, and contributed greatly to the size and importance
of the southern suburb. The principal buildings sprang up round the
site of St. Saviour's Church, and it has been reasonably conjectured
that a temple stood on the very spot that the church now occupies.[1]
It is true that no trace of this temple has been discovered; but the
conjecture is not inconsistent with the known principles of the early
Christian missionaries, in their contact with paganism, as illustrated
in the history and traditions of other important churches.
Stow's phrase, "long before the Conquest," though somewhat ambiguous,
has been thought to point to a date posterior to the Roman occupation.
Some authorities, therefore, contend that the Romans had erected
London Bridge and left the country before St. Mary's was founded, and
consequently the bridge the antiquary mentions as built by "Swithun, a
noble lady," was not the first. Again, it is doubtful whether the
sub-title "Overie" means "of the ferry," or "over the river," or
whether the form "Overies," which the word sometimes takes, does not
suggest a derivation from "Ofers," "of the bank or shore," a meaning
contained in the modern German _Ufer_. John Overy, or Overs, was the
father of Mary, but whether the surname was derived from the place, or
_vice versa_, is uncertain. In any case, the name, whether by accident
or design, includes a reference to the foundress as well as to the
locality of her foundation.[2]
Stow is obviously wrong, however, as to the person who converted the
House of Sisters into a College of Priests, who was not a lady, but
St. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester (852-862), whose devotion to the
building of churches and bridges is well known.
The character of the foundation, altered by St. Swithun, was again
altered in 1106, under Bishop William Giffard, with the co-operation
of the two Norman knights to whom Stow refers. They not only erected
the first Norman nave, but made a radical change within by abolishing
the "College of Priests," in whose place they introduced "Canons
regular" of the Augustinian Order, governed by a Prior, thus
transforming the Collegiate Church into a monastery. Except as regards
the sex of the inmates, the change was a reversion to the idea of the
foundress.[3]
The Norman work of this period is the earliest of which any traces
remain in the present church, unless the doubtful signs on a shaft in
the exterior are to be taken as evidence of Saxon workmanship. This
shaft is attached to the north wall of the Chapel of St.
John-the-Divine (now used as a clergy vestry), which is perhaps the
oldest part of the fabric. The undoubted Norman remains consist of
three arches in the same chapel, where their outline is just
discernible among the brickwork; the fragment of a string-course, with
billet moulding, on the inner wall of the north transept; a portion of
the Prior's entrance to the cloisters; the old Canons' doorway; and an
arcaded recess. Of these, it may be briefly remarked that the remains
of the Prior's door, showing the mutilated shafts and the zigzag
moulding of the jambs, are preserved, _in situ_, in the outer face of
the north wall to the new nave. The outline of the Canons' entrance,
obviously of much simpler moulding, will be seen on the inner side of
the same wall, towards the west end. The Norman recess lies still
farther to the west on the same side.
Quite recently a valuable relic of the same period has been discovered
in the north-east corner within the above-mentioned chapel (by the
side of the new Harvard window)--apparently part of the original
arcading to the apse.
Early in the thirteenth century London was visited by one of those
great fires, which occurred at rather frequent intervals, before the
greatest of all, in 1666, led to the rebuilding of the city, and
better means for its protection. The date of the particular fire is
sometimes given as 1207, sometimes as 1212 or 1213. It is not
unlikely that there were several, in one or other of which London
Bridge, Southwark, and the church were seriously injured. (_Vide_ Stow
and Harleian MSS., No. 565.)
The repairs were soon taken in hand by Peter de la Roche, otherwise de
Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester (1205-1238), who altered the nave into
the Early English, which was then generally superseding the heavier
Norman work, and shortly afterwards built the choir and retro-choir in
a still lighter and more ornate style. The architecture gives us the
approximate date of de la Roche's work as the early part of the
thirteenth century, which is about as near as we can get to it in the
absence of a more precise record than that it was "begun after the
fire." In consequence of this, or some previous fire, the Canons were
led to found a hospital close to the Priory for the relief of the
distress and disease caused by the disaster. During the restorations
by Peter de Rupibus, in or about 1228, he had the hospital transferred
to a more favourable site in the neighbourhood, where the air was
fresher and water more abundant, and dedicated it to St. Thomas of
Canterbury, to whom the chapel on London Bridge was also dedicated.[4]
In addition to all this excellent work, Bishop de Rupibus built a
chapel for the parishioners, the conventual church being reserved for
the Prior and monks. This chapel stood in the angle between the walls
of the choir and south transept, and was called St. Mary Magdalene
Overy.
In the reign of Richard II there was another fire, involving repairs;
and then, as well as in the reign of Henry IV, Perpendicular features
were introduced by Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester
(1405-1447), aided by John Gower, the "Father of English Poetry." The
Cardinal is said to have restored the south transept at his own
expense, and is there commemorated in a sculptured representation of
his hat and coat of arms affixed to a pier by the door. The difference
in style between the two transepts shows that on the north to be of
somewhat earlier date, though it was probably not left untouched by
the restorers. The poet Gower founded a chantry in the Chapel of St.
John Baptist, in the north aisle, where he was eventually buried, and
where daily masses were said for the repose of his soul before the
Reformation. His monument was transferred to the south transept during
the "repairs and beautifications" of 1832, but is now restored to its
original place over the poet's remains in the fifth bay (from the
west), of the north aisle of the nave. The chapel and chantry have
unfortunately disappeared.
In 1469 the stone roof of the old nave fell down. The accident has
been attributed to the removal, in the reign of Richard II, of the
flying buttresses by which the vault was originally supported, as is
still the case with the choir walls. Another roof of groined oak was
soon substituted, as less likely to suffer from its own weight. That
it was not a specially light structure, however, may be inferred from
the massive bosses preserved from it, and now to be seen on the floor
of the north transept.
[Illustration: FORMER WESTERN DOORWAY.
_From Moss and Nightingale's "History"_ (1817-18).]
The crowning piece of work, which very shortly preceded the ruin
brought about by the Dissolution, was set upon the Priory Church by
Bishop Fox in 1520, in the magnificent altar-screen, which through all
its mutilations has borne witness to his work in his favourite device
of the "Pelican in her piety," and the humorous allusion to his name,
in the figure of a man chasing a fox, among its sculptured ornaments.
The west end of the church was considerably altered, and a new western
doorway inserted, with a six-light window above it, at about the same
time; when also the upper stages of the tower were erected. The
window is said to have been altered for the worse in the seventeenth
century, and in its last phase the whole façade presented what Mr.
Dollman describes as "a heterogeneous mass of masonry and brickwork,"
not worth preserving when the modern restoration was taken in hand.
The flying buttresses have been reproduced in the new nave, and the
chief doorway placed in the south-west corner, which the architect was
led to believe was its original position.
It is generally admitted that by the sixteenth century the monastic
institutions had so far departed from the ideal of their founders, and
outlived their usefulness, as to call for some drastic measures for
their improvement. Steps had been taken from time to time with this
object, before the reign of Henry VIII, when a combination of
circumstances, into which we need not now enter, enabled the King to
carry out his scheme for the Dissolution of the monasteries,
comprising the two chief classes of abbeys and priories into which
they were divided. The coming storm was heralded at St. Mary's on 11th
November, 1535 on which date, "by command of the king," a solemn
procession was held in the church to inaugurate its downfall by a
Litany, in which the Prior and Canons took part, "with their crosses,
candlesticks and vergers before them," as if in mockery of the state
of which they were so soon to be deprived. The "Act of Suppression,"
passed in 1536, sealed the fate of the smaller foundations, to be
followed three years later by the "voluntary surrender" of their
property by the larger monasteries, thus making a clean sweep of the
whole. The last Prior, Linstede, has been blamed for so far
acquiescing in the measure as to accept a pension from the royal
bounty; but with the fate of the last Abbot of Glastonbury before him,
who had been hanged for his resistance, he probably thought that his
own opposition would only have led to a useless martyrdom without
averting the fall of his priory. It may be mentioned, as having some
bearing on our history, that part of the wealth released by the Act
was applied to the foundation of six new bishoprics, thus by a strange
coincidence bringing up the English dioceses to the number of
twenty-four, originally fixed upon by Pope Gregory the Great, while
his successor was set at defiance by the measures through which they
were created.
St. Mary Overy now enters on a new phase of existence. We have seen
that it had become a double church, by union with the church, or
chapel, of St. Mary Magdalene, the one a conventual, the other a
public, place of worship. In the immediate neighbourhood there was a
third church, dedicated to St. Margaret, which had been founded by
Bishop Giffard in 1107, and granted to the fraternity at St. Mary's by
charter of Henry I. By an Act of 1540, the year of Linstede's
surrender, the whole were united into a single parish, under the title
of St. Saviour's, thenceforward the official designation of the
Collegiate Church and surrounding district. The new dedication was
suggested by, and intended to perpetuate the memory of, the convent of
that name in Bermondsey (founded by Alwin Child, a London citizen, in
1082), which shared the fate of its companions at the Dissolution.
Soon after the amalgamation, St. Margaret's Church was secularized,
and divided into three portions for use respectively as a Sessions'
Court, a Court of Admiralty, and a prison. It stood on the ground
where the old Southwark Town Hall was afterwards built, itself a
perpetuation of the secular uses to which the deconsecrated church was
put before it was destroyed. A relic of St. Margaret's survives in the
shape of a monumental slab to Aleyn Ferthing, five times Member for
Southwark, about the middle of the fourteenth century. The stone was
discovered in 1833 during some excavations on the site of the old
church, and transferred to St. Saviour's, where it is imbedded in the
pavement of the retro-choir. From 1540 the Priory Church and Rectory
were leased to the parishioners by the Crown, at a rental of about £50
per annum, till 1614, when the church was purchased right out from
James I for the sum of £800.
The Corporation into whose hands the newly constituted parish of St.
Saviour's passed in 1540 consisted of thirty vestrymen, of whom six
were churchwardens.[5]
The latter, as representatives of the ancient _Seniores
Ecclesiastici_, were charged with the protection of the edifice and
church furniture, but the records show that they had no special
veneration for either. The Act of 1540, appointing them to St.
Saviour's, had formed them into a Corporation in continuation of the
_Perpetual Guild or Fraternity of the Assumption_, incorporated in
1449. This Guild was afterwards merged in the Churchwardens of St.
Margaret's, whence the existing officers were transferred to St.
Saviour's on the amalgamation of the parishes, and others added to
their number. With the help of their fellow vestrymen they soon set to
work to render the Collegiate Church more convenient. To secure an
easy communication between that church and the adjacent chapel of St.
Mary Magdalene, they cut through the south wall of the choir, and
constructed four clumsy arches in it, thus opening the way from one
building to the other. From that time forward the smaller of the two
was used as a vestibule, and the other chapels and chantries
pertaining to the larger church were doomed to destruction, as being
no longer required under the altered conditions. The proceedings which
strike us as most sacrilegious occurred in the Lady Chapel. Perhaps
they cannot be better described than in Stow's graphic words:
The chapel was leased and let out, and the House of God made a
bakehouse. Two very fair doors ... were lathed, daubed, and
dammed up, the fair pillars were ordinary posts, against which
they piled billets and bavens. In this place they had their
ovens, in that a bolting place, in that their kneading trough,
in another (I have heard) a hog's trough, for the words that
were given me were these: "This place have I known a hog-stie,
in another a storehouse to store up their hoarded meal, and in
all of it something of this sordid kind and condition."
That the description is not exaggerated is proved by the parish
registers, which also show that the state of things went on for some
years and did not improve with time. On 15th May, 1576, for instance,
a vestry order is recorded in which the lessee of the chapel is called
upon to repair certain broken windows and remove nuisances. In the
following December, a further entry states that fourteen members of
the vestry went in a body to the chapel to see whether their orders
had been attended to, having allowed the lessee more than six months
to act on the notice. They found the place turned into a stable "with
hogs, a dung-heap and other filth" about, and were thereupon empowered
to take legal proceedings to keep the tenant up to his contract.[6]
In the reign of Edward VI the Prayer-book and its vernacular services
were introduced. The people had hardly got used to them before the
accession of Queen Mary, and the consequent papal reaction, restored
the Latin mass, around which most of the religious controversies of
the time were furiously raging. During that brief reign the
retro-choir was turned to more respectable use as a Spiritual Court,
though the memories attaching to it in that character constitute a
gloomy chapter in its history which we would gladly eliminate.
On Monday, 28th January, 1555, and the two following days, a
commission, appointed by the Cardinal Legate, sat there for the trial
of certain preachers and heretics. It was presided over by Bishops
Gardiner, of Winchester, and Bonner, of London, and included eleven
other Bishops, besides several eminent laymen. On the first day the
proceedings were open to the public, but as the crowd was
inconvenient, and the example or logic of the accused thought likely
to be contagious, the doors were closed on the Tuesday and Wednesday,
except to a few privileged spectators. The trials ended in the
condemnation of six clergymen of high standing, viz.:
1. The Rev. Lawrence Saunders, Rector of Allhallows', Bread Street.
2. The Rev. John Bradford, Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral.
3. The Rev. John Rogers, Prebendary of St. Paul's, and Vicar of St.
Sepulchre's, Newgate Street.
4. The Rev. Rowland Taylor, Rector of Hadleigh, Suffolk.
5. The Right Rev. Robert Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's, and
6. The Right Rev. John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, all of whom were
afterwards burnt. They are commemorated in the windows of the chapel,
which include the Ven. John Philpot, Archdeacon of Winchester, who
suffered at the same time, though his examination was held elsewhere.
The odium of this melancholy transaction of course rests on the
presiding Bishops, neither of whom was afterwards anxious to take the
undivided responsibility. Bishop Gardiner did not long survive it. He
died on the 13th November, in the same year, at Whitehall, whence his
body was conveyed, _via_ Southwark, to Winchester for interment. The
funeral procession went by water from Westminster to St. Mary Overy,
where his obsequies were performed, and his intestines buried before
the high altar, in order that the honour of holding his remains might
be shared by the two principal churches in his diocese.[7]
Immediately on the accession of Queen Elizabeth, steps were taken to
reconcile the conflicting elements within the Church of England, whose
extreme representatives had been brought into violent collision in the
previous reign. A compromise was offered to them in a new Prayer-book,
which aimed at combining the principles of the first and second books
of Edward VI, in order to comprehend within the pale of the Church
those who had been excluded from it by a rigid interpretation of the
rubrics on either hand. On one side the rubrics of Edward's second
book were modified so as to allow greater liberty in the use of
ornaments and vestments, while on the other, the sentences employed at
the distribution of the elements in Holy Communion, which had been
held to support two opposite theories of the Sacrament in the previous
books, were united in the new one, as involving no real contradiction.
Notwithstanding the rubric which was inserted in Elizabeth's book for
the retention of the ornaments in use under Edward VI, an order was
issued in the first year of her reign (18th September, 1559), for the
sale of certain "Popish ornaments" at St. Saviour's, to meet the
expenses of repairing the church, and in consideration of the purchase
of the new lease. A list of the ornaments so disposed of may be
interesting:
Two small basons of silver, parcel gilt, weighing 22 ounces,
with a salver, double gilt, and a paten, parcel gilt.
Two altar-cloths, and a vestment of black velvet and crimson
satin, embroidered in gold and silver.
A cope and vestment (deacon and sub-deacon) of green velvet,
with flowers of gold.
Three copper cases, 43 pieces of stuff, and 4 "aules."
The whole of which were sold for £14 5_s._ 8_d._
Other articles sold included:
A painted cloth from before the rood, realizing 7_s._
Two altar-cloths of white fustian, 16_s._
Two altar-cloths of white damask, with flowers of green and
gold, 21_s._
Two altar-cloths, pea-green and white damask, 17_s._
Two altar-cloths of green and white satin, with letters of
gold, 58_s._
One altar-cloth of satin, 17_s._
Three vestments of blue damask, with crimson velvet crosses,
42_s._
A white damask cope; "a little narrow thing like a valance,"
with the name of Jesus in gold--sold for 8_d._
Candlesticks, censers, with "other broken brass," "as little
bells and such like," containing in weight, 34 lb., sold at
6_d._ a pound.
In pursuance of this destructive work an order was given on 31st May,
1561, "That all the church books in Latin be defaced and cut according
to the injunctions of the Bishop"; the effect of which has been to
deprive us of many valuable parish records which happened to be
written in the Latin language, in addition to the more distinctly
ecclesiastical books expressly included in the order.
On the very next day another order followed to the effect, "That the
Rood Loft be taken down, and made decent and comely as in the other
churches in the City." The changes which all this implies in the
adornment and accessories of religious worship under Queen Elizabeth,
were supplemented by the teaching from the pulpit. This was chiefly
done by the "Preaching Chaplains" introduced at St. Saviour's in that
reign. The first appointments were made in 1564, when two Chaplains
assumed office, and divided the preaching between them.
The arrangement, allowing two men to act simultaneously but quite
independently of each other, remained in force till our own times,
though its disadvantages soon began to appear. The Chaplains, though
committed by their appointment to the general doctrines of the
Reformation, were by no means bound to agree on the many debatable
questions to which the Reformation had given rise, and did not always
convey the same doctrines to their people, or work harmoniously
together. It was not, however, till the year 1868 that this
inconsistency was corrected by merging the two offices into one; and
in 1883 the measure was supplemented by an Act which abolished the
office of Chaplain altogether, and made him who then held it the first
Rector.
It may here be added that the parishioners had acquired the right of
appointment to the pastorate by their purchase of the church in 1614;
but the scandals attending the public election at every vacancy led to
its abolition in 1885, when the right was transferred to the Bishop of
the diocese by Act of Parliament.[8]
In 1618 Dr. Lancelot Andrewes was appointed Bishop of Winchester,
where he died in 1626. During his episcopate he often visited St.
Saviour's, as the most important church in his diocese, next to his
own cathedral. His pronounced churchmanship occasionally brought him
into strong contrast with the Chaplains, who usually went much further
in the Puritan direction than their Bishop, while they were themselves
apt to be pushed forward or restrained by the parishioners. The
latter, as holding the appointment in their hands, had established a
sort of censorship over their pastors, which they were not slow to
exercise against any tendency to "unsound" teaching. The records of
the parish show that the Chaplains had to ask leave of absence when
they wanted a holiday, and were otherwise kept in excellent order by
their lay superiors.
About this time considerable alterations were made in the interior of
the church to bring it into line with the current spiritual
discipline. In or about 1615 galleries were set up for the first time
across the north and south transepts, and in 1618 a screen and gallery
in place of the old rood loft between the nave and choir, were
"worthily contrived and erected." Somewhere between this date and 1624
an inner porch, of semi-classical design, was inserted at the west
end.
That closed and rented pews were introduced at this period may be
inferred from the following Representation, made by the churchwardens
to the Bishop of the diocese in 1639:
"We assure your Lordship that a Pew wherein one Mrs. Ware
sits, and pleads to be placed, is, and always hath been, a Pew
for Women of a far better rank and quality than she, and for
such whose husbands pay far greater duty than hers, and hath
always been reserved for some of the chiefest Women dwelling
on the Borough side of the said Parish, and never any of the
Bankside were placed there, the Pews appointed for that
Liberty being for the most part on the North side of the body
of the Church."[9]
The Prayer-book services were suspended at St. Saviour's, as
elsewhere, during the Commonwealth, by the Act of Parliament passed on
3rd January, 1645, which established the "Directory" in their place.
"The Directory for the Public Worship of God in the three Kingdoms"
was not so much a book of devotions as a set of instructions to the
minister, who was allowed the discretion of using what the book
provided, or extemporising a service of his own upon its principles.
On the Restoration of Charles II, an attempt was made at the Savoy
Conference (1661) to reconcile the conflicting religious parties into
which the country had been divided--an attempt which was not at all
successful with those outside the Church of England. The result of the
Conference, as far as the Church was concerned, was the issue of the
revised Book of Common Prayer in 1662, which restored, with certain
modifications, the form of services withheld during the inter-regnum.
The sacraments had been much neglected under the Protectorate;
baptism was seldom administered, and the records of St. Saviour's show
that marriages were then performed by the magistrates instead of the
ordained ministers, the banns being published in the market-place.
[Illustration: _The South Prospect of the Church of St. Savior
in Southwark_
THE CHURCH ABOUT 1740.
_From an engraving by B. Cole._]
During the next few years various structural alterations were made
within and without the edifice. The chief of these were the
rebuilding, in 1676, of the Bishop's or Lady Chapel, which had been
damaged by fire; and some alteration in the tower pinnacles in 1689,
when new vanes (bearing that date) were also set up. Mr. Dollman
conjectures that the buttresses, if they ever existed, were then
removed from the tower.[10]
The "Bishop's Chapel" was a small building projecting eastward from
the retro-choir. The name was popularly conferred upon it as the place
of Bishop Andrewes' interment, but there can be no reasonable doubt
that it was the true Lady Chapel, and that its more correct
designation, though popularly disused, was the "Little Chapel of Our
Lady." This small building was destroyed in 1830, as interfering with
the approach to new London Bridge, when the body of Bishop Andrewes
was transferred to its present place in the retro-choir.
In the eighteenth century the interior was altered in various details,
with the object of bringing it into harmony with the current notions
of ecclesiastical beauty, and the classical forms which architecture
had assumed. In the year 1703 a new altar-piece, in the Corinthian
style, was erected in front of Bishop Fox's fine stone screen, which
it completely concealed. A wooden framework of classical pillars, with
figures of Moses and Aaron on either side, and the Creed, Lord's
Prayer, and Ten Commandments in the spaces between them, the whole
surmounted by flaming censers and a circle of flying cherubs, made up
a composition not at all bad in itself but utterly out of character
with the Gothic work behind and around it. At the same time the
sanctuary was railed and paved with black and white marble, the body
of the church newly paved and galleried, a pulpit with sounding-board
erected, and the whole church "cleaned, white-washed, and beautified
throughout, at the charge of the parish." That the work was generally
approved may be inferred from the remark of Stow's "Continuator":
"This is now a very magnificent church since the late reparation";
while another exponent of public opinion, speaking of this and some
later improvements of the same kind says, "Though the church hath been
often repaired, yet the beauty for which it is justly admired consists
in this repair."
[Illustration: INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST.
_From an engraving in Moss and Nightingale's "History"_ (1817-18).]
In May, 1821, the restoration of the choir was proposed and
entertained for the first time, a restoration which the dilapidated
state of the clerestory and triforium showed to be necessary. The
proposal was not allowed to pass without opposition, for a counter
motion was submitted for the complete destruction of the whole
building except the tower, to which a brand-new church was to be
adapted. Fortunately this latter scheme was negatived by a large
majority of the parishioners, and the work of restoration was
committed to the then famous Gothic architect Mr. George Gwilt. He did
his work most carefully and conscientiously, adhering as far as
possible to the original, though hampered throughout his progress by
contradictory instructions from the managing committee, who, like most
bodies of that kind, were apt to fluctuate between motives of economy
and a sense of what was due to the ancient fabric. The Gothic revival
was then in an incipient stage, and Mr. Gwilt, or his committee, must
be held responsible for the removal of the old east gable, with its
five-light Tudor window, erected by Bishop Fox, in place of which a
new window of three lights was inserted. During this restoration the
Church of St. Mary Magdalene was demolished in 1822, together with
some old houses, which are less to be regretted as having encroached
too closely on the walls of the choir.
In 1825 the restoration of the nave began to be seriously considered,
its dilapidated state having been made more conspicuous by contrast
with the restored chancel. Tenders for the work were invited by public
advertisement, but nothing important was done while the vestry were
discussing the respective advantages of "rebuilding" and "repairing,"
and the nave was neglected till it got beyond repair. In the meantime
the two transepts were restored by Mr. Robert Wallace in 1830.
He substituted new designs of his own for the original tracery in the
most important window in the south transept; and (probably influenced
by an economical committee) made the fatal mistake of employing cement
instead of stone for the interior mouldings, and a soft Bath stone for
his repairs to the exterior. The action of time and weather has shown
the false economy of the work. In the same year the "Bishop's Chapel"
was destroyed, as before mentioned. In 1832 a much graver act of
vandalism was threatened by the Bridge Committee in their proposal for
widening the roadway, which meant the entire destruction of the
retro-choir. The suggestion was to leave a space of sixty feet wide,
afterwards extended to seventy, between the east end of the church and
the bridge.[11] This was too much for the inhabitants of Southwark,
who rose to the occasion in a vigorous protest by which the venerable
building was saved.
[Illustration: THE NAVE IN 1831.
_From a contemporaneous Engraving, by permission of "Church
Bells."_]
At their first meeting on the subject (24th January) the vestrymen
endorsed the proposal of the Bridge Committee by a large majority. At
a subsequent meeting, held within a week, public opinion had been
aroused on the subject, and the majority was reduced to three. The
moral victory for the Church and Borough of Southwark, headed by
Bishop Sumner, was secured by the poll there and then demanded, the
result of which was announced, in two days' time, as: "For the
retention of the building, 380; against, 140; majority for the
retention, 240."
The retro-choir was saved, and Mr. Gwilt completed the good work by
restoring it, giving his services gratuitously. The nave had been
already doomed. It had got into such a ruinous state by 1831 that at a
Vestry Meeting holden on the 3rd, and confirmed on the 10th, of May,
it was resolved:
"That the whole of the roof, from the western door to the west
end of the tower, called the nave, consisting of ceiling,
roof, walls, and pillars, as far as dangerous, be sold and
cleared away; the remainder of the walls, pillars, and family
vaults to be left open to the weather. And that the choir,
north and south transepts, be enclosed, to the eastern part of
the church, for divine service; and that the pews, situated in
the nave, be removed into such part, for the accommodation of
the inhabitants."
In 1838 the nave, having been sufficiently operated on by the climate
and other destructive forces, was taken down; and in the following
year the foundation stone of a mean and flimsy substitute, in the
"Gothic" of the period, was laid by Dr. Sumner, then Bishop of
Winchester. The interior, thus limited and reduced, was fitted up with
timber staircases, wainscoting, galleries, high pews, and a
"three-decker" pulpit, which answered the double purpose of obscuring
the sanctuary and enabling the preacher to command his audience in the
galleries.
The barbarous result did not escape the sensitive eye of Mr. A.W.
Pugin, the great Gothic revivalist, who gave vent to his indignation
in a scathing article in the "Dublin Review." He said:
"It may not be amiss to draw public attention to the
atrocities that have lately been perpetrated in the venerable
church of St. Saviour's, Southwark. But a few years since it
was one of the most perfect second-class cruciform churches in
England, and an edifice full of the most interesting
associations connected with the ancient history of the
Metropolis. The roof was first stripped off its massive and
solemn nave; in this state it was left a considerable time,
exposed to all the injuries of wet and weather; at length it
was condemned to be pulled down, and in place of one of the
finest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture left in
London--with massive walls and pillars, deeply moulded arches,
a most interesting south porch, and a splendid western
doorway--we have as vile a preaching-place ... as ever
disgraced the nineteenth century.
"It is bad enough to see such an erection spring up at all,
but when a venerable building is demolished to make way for
it, the case is quite intolerable. Will it be believed that,
under the centre tower, in the transepts of this once most
beauteous church, _staircases on stilts_ have been set up,
exactly resembling those by which the company ascend to a
booth or race-course?... Nothing but the preaching-house
system could have brought such utter desolation on a stately
church; in fact, the abomination is so great that it must be
seen to be credited."
Strange as it may appear, the seating accommodation under this
arrangement was even greater than it is at present, and the
congregations at the Sunday services were almost as large as they are
to-day. It would be quite wrong, therefore, to suppose that no
religious work was going on in the parish. But beyond the
parishioners, and the few antiquaries who visited the church from time
to time, it was scarcely known to the outside world, except when the
bells rang out the old year on the 31st of December, or when a dismal
light in the windows proclaimed the Christmas distribution of bread,
coals, and blankets to the poor of the neighbourhood.
It was impossible, however, that an edifice with the history and
associations of St. Saviour's, should escape the religious and
artistic revival of which the Oxford movement was the cause or the
outcome; and the restoration of this fine church to its original
beauty, and more than its original usefulness, has followed almost as
a matter of course. The scheme for its restoration, although in the
air for some time previously, began to take a definite shape in 1877,
when St. Saviour's, Southwark, with other South London parishes, was
transferred from the diocese of Winchester to Rochester. Dr. Anthony
Wilson Thorold was appointed to the See of Rochester in the same year,
and very soon lent his full energies to the work. In 1889 a meeting of
the chief parishioners was summoned to inaugurate the scheme, and a
subscription list was at once opened, headed by his Lordship with
£1,000. An appeal to the public was immediately issued, and was
generously responded to by great and small. Among the larger donations
may be mentioned the sum of £5,000 from Lord Llangattock, £2,000 from
Messrs. Barclay, Perkins and Co., with several gifts of £1,000 each
from Sir Frederick Wigan and others. These large amounts were
supplemented by the equally acceptable offerings of humbler people,
for which collections were made at numerous churches within and
without the diocese. Perhaps the most important of these, in a money
sense, was that at a Masonic Service, held in the Collegiate Church
itself on Ascension Day, which yielded over £2,000. On 3rd November,
Bishop Thorold preached at St. Saviour's on behalf of the fund, and in
the same month Sir Arthur Blomfield was chosen as architect for the
restoration. The miserable structure of 1839 was at once swept away,
and on 24th July, 1890, King Edward VII, then Prince of Wales, laid
the foundation stone of the new nave. It was completed within seven
years by Messrs. T.F. Rider and Sons after the design of Sir Arthur
Blomfield. Guided throughout by the remains of the old work, and many
existing drawings of the ancient nave, as a whole, and in its separate
details, the architect has succeeded in a practical reproduction of
the original building.[12] The erection, with other reparatory work,
was accomplished at a cost of over £40,000; but he who had initiated
it was not spared to witness its completion. Shortly after its
commencement, Bishop Thorold was transferred from Rochester to
Winchester, and died in the summer of 1895.
His successor in the See of Rochester, Dr. Randall Thomas Davidson
(appointed in 1891), did not allow the work to flag under his
administration, which came to an end with the death of Dr. Thorold in
1895. The episcopal changes then made resulted in the translation of
Dr. Davidson to the See of Winchester, and the appointment of Dr.
Edward Stuart Talbot to Rochester. By a happy coincidence, the parish
church at Leeds, from which he was transferred, bore the same
dedication as that of the Collegiate Church whose completion it was
his good fortune to celebrate.
On Tuesday, 16th February, 1897, the building was reopened after
restoration, and reinstated in its position as a Collegiate Church,
with the added dignity of a pro-Cathedral, in anticipation of its
becoming the Cathedral Church of the new diocese of Southwark already
in view.
The Collegiate Chapter was formed by Statutes promulgated by the
Bishop of Rochester in February, 1897. The following were the members
of that body immediately before the changes consequent on the
formation of the new diocese:
_Dean_:
The Lord Bishop of Rochester, the Rt. Rev. Edward Stuart Talbot.
_Sub-Dean_:
The Lord Bishop of Southwark, the Rt. Rev. Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs.
_Canons_:
Rev. William Thompson, D.D. _Chancellor._
The Archdeacon of Southwark (Ven. S.M. Taylor, M.A.) _Precentor._
Rev. R. Rhodes Bristow, M.A. _Canon Missioner._
Rev. Allen Edwards, M.A.
_Lay Members of the Chapter_:
Sir Frederick Wigan, Bart. _Treasurer._
W.A. Bell, Esq. _Assistant Treasurer._
J.T. Scriven, Esq. _The Warden of the Great Account._
George Newton, Esq. _The Rector's Warden._
_Other Officers_:
Rev. W.A. Chaplin, M.A., Mus. Bac. _Succentor and Sacrist._
A. Madeley Richardson, Esq., M.A., Mus. Doc., Oxon. _Organist and
Director of the Choir._
Rev. J.H. Greig, M.A. _Librarian._
A.W. Dodwell Moore, Esq. _Chapter Clerk._
Mr. Hutching and Mr. Spice. _Vergers._
Mr. Coombes. _Chapter House Verger._
The Collegiate Church and Chapter, being dependent on voluntary
contributions for their maintenance, a fund was raised which assured a
sum of about £2,000 per annum for all purposes for five years. As that
period has already expired, a like sum has again to be secured. It
may be added that this fund does not suffice to meet the expenses
incurred by the daily choral Evensong, which was started in June,
1899. The contributions received for this purpose ("The Daily Choral
Service Fund") have hitherto been just sufficient, and it is hoped
that by help from a somewhat wider circle of those interested in the
efficiency of the Collegiate Church, this service, which has been
increasingly appreciated, will not have to be discontinued. The
Treasurers are the Bishop of Southwark and the Precentor.
A Collegiate House has also been purchased, in which the unmarried
members of the Chapter may reside as well as the Collegiate body. The
latter consists of clergy in Priest's Orders, who undertake to place
themselves at the disposal of the Bishop for work in connection with
the diocese or Collegiate Church.
A valuable addition has been made to the Collegiate buildings in view
of the elevation of the church to the rank of a cathedral. The old
church of St. Thomas, adjoining the Collegiate House, which would have
been pulled down, has been saved and turned into a Chapter House. It
serves for diocesan meetings, and will hold about 400 people. It is
connected by a corridor with the Foster Hall of the Collegiate House,
and thus forms a convenient series of rooms for large or small
conferences. It is a plain red brick building, with stone dressings,
at the west end of which is a three-storied tower of the same
materials. The ground floor of the tower forms the porch. Entering by
this way we find ourselves in a lofty oblong hall, about 60 feet by
30, with a gallery on the north and west, and the altar-piece before
us at the east end, shut in by a wooden partition, in front of which
stand two chairs--one for the Bishop, the other for his Suffragan. The
history of the present building dates from 1702, when it was erected
on a monastic foundation, the funds being provided by a grant of
£3,000--out of the coal dues, pursuant to a Statute of William and
Mary, the Governors of St. Thomas's Hospital providing the balance.
The date is given on the central panel of the old pulpit, which is
preserved, in reduced form, as a reading desk. Both this and the
altar-piece are made of oak. The altar-piece is rather a fine specimen
of wood-carving in the Corinthian style, with the usual tables for the
Creed, etc. (now blank) between two pilasters, surmounted by the arms
of George I. The old pews were demolished, as no longer required,
when the church was transformed into a Chapter House, but the fine
grained oak of which they were made was turned to account for doors
and panelling. Below all this there is a crypt, of much earlier date,
which now answers the purpose of a refreshment department on special
occasions.
[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
THE CHAPTER HOUSE.
_Formerly the Church of St. Thomas._]
Behind the eastern wall a smaller hall has been erected between the
Chapter House and the adjacent Collegiate House. This serves the
double purpose of a vestibule and a place for smaller gatherings. The
generous donor wishes to remain anonymous, but is partially revealed
in a tablet over the fireplace, which says:
"As a Thank-offering for many blessings during a long life, a
merchant of the City of London constructed this Meeting Hall,
and munificently contributed to the purchase of the Collegiate
House of St. Saviour, Southwark, Sep 4, 1898," surmounted by
his arms and the legend "Watch and be ready."
A library, already consisting of several hundred volumes, is being
formed in the Chapter House, for the use of the clergy and licensed
Readers of the diocese--in addition to the Collegiate Library proper,
which at present is kept in the same place.
With all its advantages, the present Chapter House is acknowledged to
be an unworthy representative of the original, as being at an
inconvenient distance from the Cathedral, and out of character with it
in design. Unfortunately no trace of the old house, or of its exact
site, is left to us. The Cloisters and the College, or Priory, are
known to have been on the north, the Prior's residence at the
north-west angle of the Cloisters, and the Refectory at the north-east
end. The whole formed a splendid group of buildings and covered a
large area, bounded on the north by the Thames; on the south by the
church and churchyard; on the east by the "Bishop's Chapel," with a
wall beyond it (at about the distance of the present roadway); and on
the west by a small creek (St. Saviour's dock), beyond which lay the
Bishop of Winchester's palace and garden.
By an instrument dated 15th July, 1545, the whole of the Priory lands
were made over to Sir Anthony Browne, Knt., in the following
comprehensive terms: "Totum situm septum circuitum ambitum et
precinctum nuper Monasterii sive Prioratus beate Mariae Overey in Com.
Surr."
The work of demolition dates from that time, and the old buildings
have gradually disappeared to make way for the modern wharves and
warehouses which have since occupied the ground. The finishing strokes
were put to the destruction during the first half of 1835, when Mr.
E.J. Carlos, the archaeologist, visited the ruins, and describes them
as then showing "scarcely one stone upon another." They had previously
been visited by another antiquary (Mr. John Carter) in 1797 and 1808,
when there was a little more to be seen. Both gentlemen gave their
experience in the pages of the "Gentleman's Magazine," with a
conjectural description of the group of buildings as it had been,
contrasted with the desolation they then witnessed. (_See_ the
"Gentleman's Magazine" for 1808 and 1835.)
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE EAST.
_Reproduced from a drawing by Mr. Hedley Fitton, by permission
of the "Daily Chronicle."_]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] See a paper read before the Society of Antiquaries, in 1833, by Mr.
A.J. Kempe.
[2] Burnham-Overy, in Norfolk, and Barton-Overy, in Leicestershire,
show that the suffix is not peculiar to St. Mary's, Southwark.
[3] It may be well to explain that a "Collegiate Church" takes its name
from the _Collegium_, or collected body of priests, attached to it, who
were called "Secular Canons" in distinction from the "Regular Canons"
of a monastery. The latter were monks who had been admitted to Holy
Orders, but still continued in obedience to the rule (_regulus_) of the
foundation to which they belonged. The Seculars were more or less like
our parochial clergy in that they were subject to no such regulation,
lived and moved without restraint among the people, and in early days
were not infrequently married. Until the time of Pope Gregory VII
(1073-1085), the celibacy of the extra-monastic clergy was not at all
generally insisted on. Even after the twelfth century, when greater
strictness had been enforced by the first and second Lateran Councils,
the marriage of the secular clergy was frequently connived at by their
superiors, who even tolerated a system of concubinage which they were
unable to prevent--_propter duritiem cordis_--by which a law of nature
was provided for, in defiance of the law ecclesiastical. The question
was finally settled by the Council of Trent in 1563, since when the
celibate rule has generally been strictly observed in the Roman Church.
The absence of such a rule in the Church of England is, of course, due
to the Reformation.
With very few exceptions the English "Colleges" were suppressed by an
Act of 1545. The name seems to have clung to St. Saviour's through all
its subsequent changes, rather by old association than as having any
practical value, till the collegiate character, as well as the title,
was formally restored to it in 1897 by Dr. Talbot, then Bishop of
Rochester.
[4] The dedication of the hospital was altered to "St.
Thomas-the-Apostle," in 1540, when the official title of the church was
changed to St. Saviour. To make way for the line of railway between
London Bridge and Charing Cross, a wing of the hospital had to be
pulled down, and the whole was transferred to the Albert Embankment,
where the new buildings were opened by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria
in 1871.
[5] In 1900 the number of churchwardens was reduced to five, of whom
two only discharge ecclesiastical duties.
[6] That the vestrymen were not indifferent to creature comforts is
shown by an entry in their records for 5th April, 1569, from which it
appears that it was their wont to eat a calf's head pie in the vestry
in celebration of Easter. The luxury was supplemented in 1600-1607 by
the gift of a buck and 20_s._ from Sir Edward Dyer, to provide an
entertainment for the vestrymen and their wives at the same season. On
the other hand, they were not allowed to have it all their own way, for
a resolution of 25th April, 1569, prohibits more than one of them from
speaking at once, under a penalty of 4_d._, and imposes a fine of 2_s._
6_d._ for irreverent behaviour in the vestry. They were also required
to wear their gowns in the vestry, and to attend the funeral of any of
their _confrères_, or their wives (if desired), under a penalty of
4_d._ It is fair to add that they were alive to their responsibilities
as they understood them, _e.g._, on 3rd March, 1571, they gave the
clerk warning, and appointed another in his place who was "a good bass
and tenor," at a salary of £1 6_s._ 8_d._, "that the choir might be
better served."
[7] The viscera of his successor, Bishop Horne, are also said to have
been buried at St. Mary's in 1579.
[8] We have a striking illustration of the joint pastorate at the same
period, when the judicious Hooker was Master of the Temple, and Mr.
Travers the Lecturer. The result was that "the forenoon sermon spake
Canterbury, and the afternoon Geneva."--Walton's "Life of Hooker."
Another instance of this difference of opinion comes before us at St.
Saviour's itself. Dr. Thomas Sutton, who was appointed Chaplain there
in 1615, was an ardent denouncer of plays and players, of whose
iniquities he was constantly reminded by the Globe and other theatres
in the neighbourhood. His superior, Dr. Lancelot Andrewes, on the other
hand, does not scruple to draw freely on the theatre for his
illustrations. See for example Bishop Andrewes' sermon on St. Matt.
vii, 6, preached before James I on Ash Wednesday, 1622.
[9] It may be mentioned, as throwing some light on the above, that the
Bankside had acquired an evil reputation through the brothels and other
iniquities tolerated in that quarter, and more or less recognised in
the Acts of Parliament for their regulation. The north side of a church
was in the Middle Ages usually appropriated to women, as inferior to
the south, which was reserved for the opposite sex. The north side of
the churchyard was used for the burial of ordinary people, a fact which
explains St. Swithun's humility in choosing it for his own
resting-place.
[10] His words are these: "Supposing Hollar's and other views of the
church (in which buttresses at the angles of the tower are shown) to be
correct, the buttresses as well as the pinnacles were then removed."
[11] The space was eventually left at 130 feet, as it now stands.
[12] Mr. Dollman, who probably knew more about the ancient fabric than
any living man, was heard to express his regret that his own great age
prevented his active co-operation, but he was delighted that the work
of restoration had fallen to such competent hands.
[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.]