THE EXTERIOR
At the present day St. Saviour's Cathedral is most unfortunate in its
surroundings, and cannot be seen as a whole from any point, near or
distant. Hemmed in as the church is by London Bridge on the east, the
Borough Market and railway arches on the south, and by tall warehouses
on the other sides, the confined space in which it stands is a decided
hindrance to the near perspective, while the surrounding buildings
shut off the view from a distance in all directions.[13]
The railway line from Cannon Street commands a fairly good prospect
from the south-west, as it passes the church in its course. A closer
prospect is to be obtained from the London Bridge approach which takes
in the Lady Chapel, the east and south sides of the choir, the tower
and south transept. A few yards further up the slope we, of course,
lose the south aspect, but get a fair view, from the north-east
corner, of part of the east front and the north transept, including
the new Harvard window in the chapel beneath it. If we descend the
short flight of steps at the foot of the bridge, and take up a
position in the south-east corner of the open ground outside the
church railings, we get a fairly good view of the south side from the
Lady Chapel to the south-west porch, but lose sight of much of the
east end, and therefore of one of the most characteristic external
features.
The church lies in a general east and west direction, and is cruciform
in plan, consisting of a nave, north and south transepts, a central
tower, and choir, beyond which is the retro-choir, or so-called Lady
Chapel. The nave and choir have aisles, but the transepts have not.
While strict orientation has been secured in the main building, it
will be noticed that the chancel is slightly deflected towards the
south, in supposed mystic allusion to the drooping head of the Saviour
upon the Cross, a piece of symbolism very frequent in Gothic churches,
and here rendered peculiarly appropriate by the dedication.[14]
Starting our perambulation at the =East End=, it will be noticed that
the so-called Lady Chapel is actually an enlargement of the choir,
such as we find on a much grander scale at Durham or Fountains, and
may be compared to the "Presbytery" at Chichester, from which the Lady
Chapel projects, or to the "New Building" at Peterborough Cathedral.
This addition was made to the church by Peter de Rupibus in the
thirteenth century, as a retro-choir or ambulatory. It was carefully
restored by Mr. George Gwilt, in 1832, from much external mutilation
to something like its original state. The eastern side consists of
four bays, divided by buttresses, and surmounted by pointed gables,
with ornamental crosses on the apices. In each of the gables there is
a triplet of narrow lancet windows, which light the space between the
internal vault and the roof. They have sculptured heads in the
moulding above the central light in each triplet. The bays below are
lighted by a similar series of larger windows of simpler
construction, the moulding of the sides being carried over the lancet
points in unbroken continuity. In the north-east corner there is a
short hexagonal stair turret, but the opposite corner is simply
supported by ordinary buttresses. The walls are made up of rubble and
flints, with ashlar dressing, as is supposed to have been the case
throughout the original church, where, however, the flints are said to
have been squared. In the reign of Edward III, a small Lady Chapel was
built against the east end of this retro-choir: it projected from the
second bay from the south, where the window was removed to connect it
with the church. After the interment of Bishop Andrewes within it,
this little appendage became popularly known as the "Bishop's Chapel."
It was demolished in 1830, on the ground of its supposed interference
with the approach to the new London Bridge; but as it only projected
thirty-four feet (a distance which would have placed it well within
the present churchyard railing) its destruction seems to have been an
unnecessary act of vandalism. The retro-choir itself narrowly escaped
sharing its fate, but was fortunately spared, and the tomb of Bishop
Andrewes was removed to its present position immediately behind the
high altar. The true Lady Chapel being destroyed, the dedication seems
to have been popularly transferred to the structure so closely
associated with it, and most people concerned are now very unwilling
to part with the familiar name.[15]
Above the Lady Chapel, as it is now called, we have a view of the
=East End of the Choir=, as restored by Mr. Gwilt at the same time.
This part of the church having been considerably altered by Bishop
Fox, in or about the year 1520, the restoring architect, though
anxious to go back to the thirteenth century work, had scarcely any
data to guide him to its reproduction. The result was the more or less
original elevation that we now see. It consists of a three-light
lancet window at the east end of the choir, with a small circular
window, with seven cusps, in the gable above, surmounted by a cross,
and a stair-turret, terminating in an octagonal pinnacle at each end
of the elevation.[16]
The pitch of Mr. Gwilt's gable was below that of its predecessor; but
with this exception (the responsibility for which lies rather with the
building committee than with him) his work must be considered very
satisfactory. His body now lies at rest in the family vault in the
south-east corner outside his work, and he is commemorated in a window
within, as well as in a marble tablet behind the altar-screen.
The =South side of the Lady Chapel= contains a central window of three
lights and geometrical tracery, with a lancet window on the right and
left. The mouldings of these side windows are not exactly alike, that
on the right (of the spectator) being extremely plain, while the other
is supported by slender shafts, terminating in delicate floral
capitals.
This aspect of the chapel was completely hidden by the parish church
of St. Mary Magdalene Overy, erected against it in the thirteenth
century, and destroyed in 1822, after having undergone many
alterations. The choir entrance, at the intersection of the choir and
south transept, is not remarkable, and need not detain us.
The =South Transept=, which has a public doorway on its eastern side,
was erected, with its companion on the north, in the first half of the
fourteenth century (_circa_ 1300-1350) in the Decorated style of that
period. It was rebuilt by Cardinal Beaufort in the following century,
which accounts for certain architectural differences between the two
transepts, chiefly noticeable in the windows and in the interior
walls. The front of this transept was repaired in brick in 1735, and
the restoration of both was taken in hand by Mr. Wallace in 1830. At
the earlier date the original window in the south elevation was
"enlarged and beautified," which means that the tracery was taken out,
and a cheap substitute inserted, without tracery, and with plain
mullions instead of the original elaborate lights. Mr. Wallace
improved upon this feeble design by introducing another window, on a
pattern partly of his own invention, partly based on a circular window
in the adjacent Winchester Palace, which is said to have been
singularly ill adapted for stained glass.
[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST.]
When the restoration was undertaken by Mr. Wallace, enough of the old
work remained to show that the original design had a high-pitched
roof, with a gable recessed behind a straight parapet, and that the
large window, though all cusping and tracery had disappeared, was
similar, in its main divisions, to that which Sir Arthur Blomfield has
inserted. Mr. Wallace's restorations, here and elsewhere, were made
quite independently of the suggestions to be found in the ancient
work, which Sir Arthur was before all things anxious to reproduce. In
the present window we have a practical reproduction of the original,
as far as its features could be ascertained. It consists of five
lights, combining the earlier geometrical with the later flowing
tracery of the Decorated period, and an element of Perpendicular.
Below the transoms there is a series of unglazed panels, which have
not escaped criticism as spoiling the proportions of the window; but
most people are satisfied with them in the interior, where the wall
arcading at once explains the necessity, and gives effect to the
whole. A simple three-light window has been placed in the gable above.
The windows on the east and west sides of this transept, though
renovated by Sir Arthur Blomfield, date from the time of Edward III,
as Mr. Wallace did not interfere with them beyond shortening the
length of one on the east. Below the great window in the south
elevation there had formerly been an entrance to this transept, to
which a wooden porch was added. These are now swept away, and the
entrance has been transferred to the eastern side, formerly blocked up
by the church of St. Mary Magdalene. Mr. Wallace had changed the
design of the buttresses, and affixed pinnacles to them, on the
authority of certain old engravings which represent them as existing
at an earlier period. It may be said, however, that the old pictures
differ very much from each other in such details, and cannot be relied
on for accuracy. Sometimes, no doubt, though almost contemporaneous,
they represent alterations actually made at the church within a short
time of one another; but the discrepancies between them are just as
likely to be due to the caprices of individual engravers. On the other
hand, it is fair to them to remember the innovations, for better or
worse, which the vestry and churchwardens thought it right to make at
frequent intervals. Some of them occur in the history of this very
transept. For instance, the original gable was removed early in the
eighteenth century, and a covering substituted, of a kind which Mr.
Dollman humorously describes as "the pleasing novelty of a hipped
roof." Again, in 1679 a sundial was placed over the central window, to
give way in 1735 to an ingenious combination of sundial and clock, for
which a triangular arrangement, presenting a clock of two faces, was
substituted four years later. _See_ illustration, p. 27. All these may
now be regarded as among the things that have never been, except in
the historical lessons they contain.
The =Tower=, at the intersection of the nave and transepts, is 35 ft.
square externally, and rises to the height of 129 ft. 6 in., exclusive
of the pinnacles, which stand 34 ft. higher. The exterior walls
throughout consist of the intermixture of flint and stone,
characteristic of the rest of the church, except the transepts, which
are of Bath stone. It has been stated that the tower was originally
supported at the angles by buttresses, but it is not at all certain
that this was the case, and it would have been an unusual and
dangerous experiment to remove them, unless the tower had been
altogether rebuilt. That the old builders did not shrink from such
daring alterations, however, is proved by their having removed the
flying buttresses from the original nave, which led to the collapse of
the roof in 1469. In a bird's-eye view of Southwark, including St.
Saviour's Church 'as it appeared' in 1543, the buttresses are absent.
In an engraving by Hollar (usually accurate), dated 1647, the
buttresses are shown. The present appearance of the tower is against
the theory, as there is next to nothing for the buttresses to rest on;
but it is probable that the angles were altered at the same time, and
Mr. Dollman has given his weight to the conjecture, apparently relying
on Hollar's correctness, in preference to less known engravers. The
first stage of the tower, just visible above the roof, was erected at
the same time as the adjoining transepts. The two upper stages are
attributed to Bishop Fox (_circa_ 1520), and are in the Perpendicular
style of his date. The uppermost stage is chamfered at the quoins,
leaving a small off-set at the level of the next. Each story contains
two windows of two lights, transomed, the whole terminating in an
embattled parapet, with crocketed pinnacles at the corners, surmounted
by vanes. These were put up by Mr. Gwilt in 1818, in place of the old
vanes, dated 1689, the pattern of which was slightly different. If the
early engravings are to be trusted, Mr. Gwilt also made a
considerable alteration in the design of the pinnacles at the same
time. The two rooms within the tower are reserved for the ringers and
the peal of twelve bells which the church has possessed since
1735.[17]
The =South side of the Nave= brings us to Sir Arthur Blomfield's chief
restoration, or rather rebuilding, of 1890-1897.
As explained in the introductory chapter, the nave had been walled off
from the eastern portion of the church and allowed to drop into
ruinous neglect from 1831 till 1839, when a flimsy substitute was
begun. The foundation stone was laid by Dr. Sumner, then Bishop of
Winchester. The fragile nature of this work may be inferred from the
fact that it was finished in the following year, and as the floor was
raised seven and a half feet above the old level it was impossible to
use the new nave in connection with the choir and transepts.
Guided by the ground plan of the thirteenth-century nave, showing the
position of the columns of the arcade, and the outer walls generally,
as revealed when the modern brickwork was removed, Sir Arthur has
succeeded in giving us a practical reproduction of the original, both
in character and material.[18] It will be no disparagement to his
admirable work to say that it was made more easy by the labours of his
predecessors, Mr. Gwilt and Mr. Dollman, and especially by the careful
plans and drawings which the latter gentleman left behind him after
fourteen years' patient study of the fabric. The south elevation
exhibits seven bays, divided and supported by flying buttresses, each
bay of the clerestory being lighted by a plain lancet window.
The flying buttresses had been removed from the old nave, with
disastrous consequences to the original roof, as already stated. They
are now replaced, and at once give strength and effect to the
elevation, besides bringing it into harmony with the architecture of
the choir, where the flying buttresses were never removed. The wall
spaces in the aisle below are occupied by five lancet windows,
matching those in the clerestory, except in the bay next the transept,
where there is a beautiful window of three lights. Before describing
it, the interesting fact may be mentioned that the window in the
westernmost bay of this aisle had been concealed and protected, while
its neighbours were destroyed, through having a small wooden house, or
shed, built up against it. The single window thus accidentally
preserved, was taken as a model for the new ones throughout the aisle
and clerestory, with the exception of the larger aisle window just
referred to. This, though also entirely rebuilt, is a modified
reproduction of that which filled the same space in the time of Edward
II--a fine example of the Decorated style. Divided by sub-arcuation
into three lights, surmounted by circles of quatrefoil tracery in the
spandrels of the arches, and supported by composite shafts, with
moulded bases and foliated capitals, this elegant window had been
allowed to drop into a ruin. Drawings of it had fortunately been taken
before it was too late, and the present work gives us the leading
features, and practically the details, of the original.
The most conspicuous object in the whole of this elevation is the
=Doorway= to the south-west, which is the principal entrance to the
Cathedral. In all probability the door was placed in this position
when the Norman nave was built by Bishop Giffard (_circa_ 1106); but
its character was altered by Peter de Rupibus, a century later, to
bring it into harmony with the rest of his Early English work, when he
remodelled the nave in that style.
The porch that we now have agrees in its main features with the
drawings taken of the earlier one before it was destroyed. A deeply
recessed and acutely pointed arch is divided into two by a central
shaft, with moulded base and foliaged capital. The jambs contain five
shafts on each side, which differ from that in the centre, in that
they are of Purbeck marble, and banded, in pleasing contrast to the
plain stone of their own bases and capitals, and of the (unbanded)
central shaft. In the tympanum of the double doorway thus formed,
there is a pointed arcading, consisting of a central arch and two
smaller arches on either side. The deep soffit of the arch in which
this elegant arcading is enclosed, is adorned with a series of
quatrefoil panels.
[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
THE SOUTH-WESTERN PORCH.]
From the remains of a bracket discovered in the ruins of the former
arcading, it is obvious that the central space was intended for a
statue. We are not left to mere conjecture on this point, but have
documentary evidence to confirm it, which shows that the recess held a
seated figure of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of the church.[19]
The arch is now vacant, though supplied with a suggestive pedestal;
and there is one other detail in which the restorer appears to have
departed from his original, viz., in not reproducing the small
clusters of foliage that were distributed along the hollows of the
mouldings.
The long gargoyles projecting horizontally on either side of the roof,
and the floriated cross on the apex, are worth notice. The modern
restoration is indicated by a cross (_patée_) carved on the central
buttress on this side of the Cathedral, which marks the stone laid by
King Edward VII on 24th July, 1900, when His Majesty was Prince of
Wales.
The =West Front= is chiefly remarkable as presenting a dead wall where
we usually expect to find the grand entrance. It is a debated question
among antiquaries and architects whether the first Norman church ever
had a doorway in this front; and the question has not got beyond
conjecture as to the Early English church which superseded it in the
thirteenth century. It is certain, however, that a rich and elaborate
entrance, deeply recessed, was inserted here in the Perpendicular age
(sixteenth century), about the same date that the upper stages of the
tower were set up, either for the first time, or in place of an
earlier doorway.[20]
The same uncertainty attends the history of the great west window; all
traces of the original having disappeared when a window of the
Perpendicular style was introduced in agreement with the doorway
below. Before the alterations, or mutilations, of the seventeenth
century, this window was of six lights transomed, with cinquefoil
tracery at the heads of the lower (and probably also of the upper)
lights, as inferred from the fragments which survived its
mutilation.[21]
In the absence of data as to the Early English façade, the architect
for the restoration has been thrown to a large extent upon his own
resources. The question of the doorway he has answered in the
negative. The window he has given us consists of three lancet lights
corresponding with those at the east end, but considerably longer,
with an unglazed panel of similar design, on either side, diminishing
in height from the central light outwards in harmony with the lines of
the roof. The north and south ends of the façade are flanked by
stair-turrets, square in their lower portion, rising into octagons,
and surmounted by sharply pointed roofs. To relieve the monotony of
the horizontalism, a simple arcading has been inserted in the wall
spaces above the central window, and above the aisle windows (plain
lancets) on the right and left. Independently of the question of
precedent, the absence of a doorway in this front is quite
intelligible at the present day, when the church wall almost touches
the narrow public pavement, and the close street of lofty business
houses allows no room for perspective, or even convenient access.
The =North Side= of the nave corresponds with the south, each bay
containing a lancet window in the clerestory. The spaces in the aisle
below are similarly lighted, except in one bay towards the east, where
Gower's monument in the interior necessitates a shorter window, which
is here made a double lancet. At the extreme eastern end of this side
of the nave we come to a most interesting relic in the remains of the
=Norman Doorway= (twelfth century), which had been the Prior's
entrance from the cloisters. Shut in and completely hidden by
brickwork, it was discovered in 1829 in a shocking state of
mutilation, but fortunately _in situ_. It was further mutilated, and
bricked up again during the building operations of 1839, to be again
revealed when the rubbish of that date was cleared away for the new
nave, where the fragments are now carefully preserved in the wall. The
archivolt is no more, all that we have being some fragments of the
jambs on which it rested, one of which, on the east side (on the
returned face), shows two old consecration crosses. In its perfect
state this fine specimen of late Norman work is known to have
consisted of three orders of shafts (banded) in the jambs, with
moulded bases and sculptured capitals, the bold archivolt also
displaying three orders.
[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
REMAINS OF THE PRIOR'S DOORWAY.]
Of these the outermost was of leaf ornament, the second zigzag, and
the third a conventional floral design, suggesting a combination of
the trefoil and Greek honeysuckle. The zigzag moulding forming the
innermost order was continuous along the jambs and arch. Close to this
doorway, on its eastern side, there is a smaller, but equally
interesting, relic in the remains of a _Holy-water Stoup_. It is fixed
in a large and deep recess, with an angular arch above it, too
dilapidated to afford a hint as to the original moulding, which we
can only assume was not unworthy of the rich doorway by its side.
A few yards westwards we are reminded of the antiquity of the site by
a mass of Roman tiles, arranged herring-bone fashion, as if they had
been used in the wall of some earlier (probably Saxon) building on the
spot. They are now tightly packed in a case, exactly as they were
discovered, for their better protection against relic hunters, whose
ideas of property, when it happens to be of a portable kind, are a
constant source of anxiety to the vergers.
Our progress along the north wall is here interrupted by the
projecting transept, which touches the wooden fence separating the
Cathedral from private property. Neither the north end of this
transept, nor the north side of the "Lady Chapel," is to be seen from
the exterior. It may be mentioned, however, that the windows on the
east and west sides of the north transept are extremely simple
compared with that in the end of the same transept or with those in
the south arm; and that the north side of the "Lady Chapel" differs
slightly from the south in the disposition of the windows. Here the
largest (a fine example of modern work) is in the easternmost bay, the
other two bays being lighted by simple lancets, whereas on the
opposite side the largest window occupies the central bay, with a
lancet in the bays on either side of it.
Before entering the church, it may be well to walk once more along the
east front to see the outside of the new Harvard window in the chapel
below the north transept, which stands out in marked contrast to the
older work around it. It may also be noticed that while the windows in
the choir clerestory are all plain lancets, like those in the restored
nave, there is a considerable difference in the glazing. In the choir
we have an ornamental pattern of Mr. Gwilt's invention. In the nave
Sir Arthur Blomfield has preferred small square panes of glass, as
more in character with the lancet type of window, and the other Early
English work, which he has so well reproduced.
[Illustration: THE TRANSEPTS FROM THE NORTH END.
_Reproduced from a drawing by Permission of "Church Bells."_]
FOOTNOTES:
[13] There is a further disadvantage, of a more material kind, in the
encroachments. The smoke and soot from passing trains on one side, and
the dust from a coffee-roasting establishment on the other, are having
a sufficiently obvious effect on the fabric, as well as on the
surrounding grass-plats. The latter require frequent renewal in
consequence.
[14] Perhaps the deflection is more frequently towards the north.
[15] A converse instance of mistaken nomenclature occurs at Westminster
Abbey, where the Lady Chapel is commonly called after Henry VII, who
began its erection, in place of the earlier chapel, and is buried in
it.
In an inventory of 1538 the "Bishop's Chapel" at St. Saviour's is
styled "the little Chapel of our Lady," which perhaps indicates that
there was an altar to the Virgin in the retro-choir. Two Lady Chapels
in one church are not unknown, as, _e.g._, at Canterbury Cathedral,
where there was one in the north-west transept, now called "the Dean's
Chapel," and another in the crypt under the high altar.
A case more directly to the point may be quoted from Barnwell Priory,
where the Lady Chapel is known to have occupied a similar position to
the retro-choir at Southwark, with a "little Lady Chapel" appended to
it. (_Vide_ "The Observances in use at the Augustinian Priory of
Barnwell," by J. Willis Clark, and the accompanying plans.)
[16] The pinnacle at the south end was removed a few years ago to
prevent its falling.
[17] The original number of bells, in 1424, was seven, and their names
were Nicholas, Vincent, St. Lawrence, Anna Maria, Stephen, Maria,
Augustine. In the same year the bells were increased in weight and one
more added to the number. The names were then changed, and became
Christ, St. John-the-Evangelist, All Saints', Gabriel, St. Lawrence,
Augustine, Mary, St. Trinity. They were recast, with 64 cwt. of fresh
metal, in 1735, when the peal was brought up to its present number.
More recently the two largest of the treble bells (D# and C#) were
slightly reduced in weight.
[18] The builders of 1839 fortunately contented themselves with
building round the bases of the piers, which they left on the old
foundation.
[19] _E.g._, in the will of Joan de Cobham, dated 1369, the testatrix
expresses her wish to be buried before the door of St. Mary Overie,
"where the image of the Blessed Virgin sitteth on high." It will be
noticed that this is the principal feature in the Priory seal.
[20] Drawings of the Perpendicular doorway are given by Moss and
Nightingale (1817-1818), and by F.T. Dollman (1881). The ruins of the
old nave, including this fine doorway, were finally removed towards the
end of 1838, to make way for the _pure Gothic_ structure (as it was
called in the newspaper descriptions of the day), which was commenced
in the following year.
[21] Mr. Dollman holds that the cinquefoil tracery occurred in both
divisions, but has omitted it from the upper lights in his drawing of
the west elevation, as it appeared before it was finally destroyed.
[Illustration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._
THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE.]