THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH
The church is built on a site descending towards the east, so that the
chancel floor is more than twelve feet above the present street level.
The narrow street on the south, Bayley Lane, gives us a succession of
picturesque partial views but no general one, while on the north the
rather formal avenue dividing the churchyard obscures much of the
structure. On the whole, the most comprehensive prospect is to be had
from the north-east, at the lower end of Priory Row. But no general
point of view is needed, external or internal, to enable us to
understand the plan or arrangement, which is almost as simple in form
as a village church.
The typical English church plan consists of a nave with aisles, a long
unaisled chancel with square east end, porches or doors on north and
south, and a western tower, and this, save for its apsidal east end,
but amplified by accretions in the form of chapels belonging to the
many Gilds of the city, is the plan of St. Michael's.
In no part, however, do we find the chapels so set as to produce a
pseudo-cruciform plan.
Before the latest restoration the walls were entirely of the local red
sandstone, very similar in quality and appearance to that of which
Chester Cathedral was built, and the extent of its decay, especially
on the tower, was as grievous. Hardly a piece of external moulding or
carving preserved its original profile or form, and some of the tower
buttresses had lost so large a proportion of their substance not far
above ground that they appeared to hang to the walls rather than
support them. All save the aisles, which were refaced in the sixties,
have now been cased with Runcorn Stone nearly the same in colour and
much harder in texture.
The special glory of the church is its =steeple=. No doubt
intentionally its height of 300 feet is practically equal to the
length of the church. Only one other parish church, Louth in
Lincolnshire, has a steeple as high as this, and those of only two
English cathedrals, Salisbury and Norwich, exceed it.
There is, however, an essential difference to be noted in the position
of these spires, those of the cathedrals at the centre, the crowning
point in the composition, those of the parish churches at the west
end, springing sheer from the ground. While the former have a more
intimate relation to the building the latter have an almost
independent existence in keeping with the theory which regards them
more as symbols of municipal pride and power than as expressions of
spiritual aspiration.
But however mixed the motives for their erection, religious forms and
symbolism governed the design. Thus we have here three principal
divisions--tower, octagon, spire, and nine stories or stages in all,
six belonging to the tower and octagon, and three to the spire. Then
in its dimensions we find that the total height is 300 feet,[5] the
plan (exclusive of buttresses) is 30 feet square, while in its
proportions the number 30 is interwoven, so to speak, with a simple
arithmetical progression of heights in each story. Thus it is 30 feet
from the ground to the spring of the lowest five-light windows, 30
feet again to the spring of the single-light windows, 27 feet more to
the spring of the grouped windows above, and another 30 to the spring
of the belfry windows. Thence it is 15 feet to the cornice below the
battlements. The remainder is divided into a series of 20 feet
heights, two twenties from cornice to top of parapet of octagon, 20 in
each of the two decorated stages of the spire, 20 to centre of the
upper spire-lights, three twenties to the finial. If we look at the
stories as marked by the string-courses below the windows we find 50
feet given to the door and great window and then 20, 30, and 40 feet
stages, reaching to the top of the parapet. The reader will have
noticed the interposition of a 27 feet space among the thirties, and
the reason for this is worth explaining.
It is now known that the tower could not be built in line with the
centre of the proposed new nave because of the existence of a
filled-in pit or quarry at its north-west angle. But the builder was
rash enough to build the north-west buttresses beyond the edge of the
old excavation and resting on the looser material. The consequences
might have been foreseen. By the time the building had reached the
grouped windows the settlement or sinking was considerable and an
effort was made to remedy it, first by reducing the height of this
(the weakest story), by one yard and next by starting the courses
level once more. Five hundred years later and we find that whereas the
sinking is 7½ inches near the ground level it is only 4 inches at the
windows, plainly showing that it had sunk 3½ inches before the remedy
was applied and four inches since. The writer is informed by the
architect (Mr. J. Oldrid Scott) that all this angle was so full of
rents and cracks that (coupled with the decay of the stone, especially
in the buttresses) it was surprising that the whole had not fallen. A
curious disregard of what we look on as a natural sentiment is to be
noted in this connection, for the builders used a quantity of fine
sepulchral slabs from the churchyard as filling for the foundations.
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE TOWER FROM BELOW.]
In magnificence of design the tower exceeds that of any other parish
church in England, the uppermost story being the richest in detail.
The variety of treatment and gradual increase in elaboration of the
upper stories is admirable, the larger expanses of wall in the lower
giving the necessary effect of stability to the whole. The =west door=
is very insignificant, and might perhaps, with advantage to the
composition, have been left out. It has the only four-centred arch in
the whole. On each side of the great windows are niches with
(restored) figures of saints and benefactors, twelve in all, including
Earl Leofric and his famous wife, the Botoners and several kings.
Sculpture appears again on the belfry stage. On the west and north
sides the niches are in three tiers of three on either hand of the
tall louvred windows, but on the south and east sides one tier is
absorbed by the stair turret. All these have been renewed, but the
remains of some of those which were taken down can now be seen in the
crypt, and the one which is best preserved, by a happy coincidence the
patron saint, is now placed within the church.
The octagon, which connects so finely the tower and spire, has four
two-light windows on the cardinal sides, the other sides having blank
panelling of similar design. Its parapet has square pinnacles,
intended to carry seated figures. From each of the great tower
pinnacles two ogee-shaped flying buttresses spring to the near angles
of the octagon. A recent writer criticizes these as too flimsy in
effect, but the fact that they are in pairs obviates this defect from
most points of view. The walls of the octagon are 2½ feet thick at the
base, but, as the inner slope of the spire begins at the level of the
window transoms, the thickness at its parapet is more than 3 feet. The
greater weight in this part corrects any tendency in the spire to push
outwards the upright walls of the octagon; so well has it done this
that no artificial helps, such as iron stays or bands, have been
found necessary to add to its stability. Though so slender in
appearance, its stonework is thicker than that of many later spires,
for whereas Kettering is 14 inches thick for the first 10 feet and
only 6 inches above, while Louth decreases from 10 to 5, St. Michael's
diminishes from 17 to 11. The inclination from the upright of its
sides is very slight, less than that of most others; Chichester
having an angle of 7½°, Kettering 6°, Louth 5°, St. Michael's 4½°.
[Illustration: THE WEST PORCH.]
The decoration of the spire is admirably designed in relation to the
slenderness of the tower, and its own height above the eye. The first
stage is panelled so as not to present too great a contrast to the
octagon, and the next is also panelled and has narrow canopied slits
on alternate sides, with four thin buttress-like projections on each
face. These provide the slight entasis to the outline which is found
in so many spires, as it is in classic columns, and is designed to
correct the appearance of hollowness which would occur in so long a
straight line. The upper two-thirds of the spire has triple angle
rolls, and, just halfway in the total height, are eight canopied
panels of which four are pierced. The beauty of the steeple and its
pre-eminence among those belonging to parish churches (even if such a
reservation be necessary) sufficiently justifies the length of this
description.
[Illustration: SOUTH PORCH, FROM ST. MARY HALL.]
The oldest existing part of the church is the large =south porch=,
almost facing the entrance to St. Mary Hall. The date of this is not
later than 1300. Each jamb of the outside arch has four external and
two internal attached shafts; the pointed arch is deeply moulded,
while the arch rising from the fourth shaft is of round-headed trefoil
form. The ceiling is vaulted with diagonal and intermediate ribs, and
has the appearance of having been added rather later.
A doorway on its east side led to the Cappers' Chapel and there is a
chamber over the porch for centuries appropriated to the meetings of
the Cappers' Company. The present chapel and chamber are contemporary
with the nave.
[Illustration: SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY.]
The external wall of the Dyers' Chapel (now the Baptistery) is canted
so as not to block the Lane, St. Mary Hall having been already built.
Passing east, the road dips gradually and gives this end of the church
a more imposing elevation. After the Cappers' Chapel, there is only a
single aisle forming the Mercers' Chapel and extending as far as the
Presbytery. A door here, made in 1750, is opposite to the Drapers'
Hall. The apse is now encircled with a series of sacristies divided
into five chambers and spanned by flying buttresses. The first two
bays on the south were built at the last restoration the vestry then
removed not being part of the original design. Beneath them on the
ground level is the engine-room pertaining to the organ. Though
sometimes spoken of as an Ambulatory its position on a lower level,
its original want of connection with the south side and above all the
need for sacristies in so large a church dispose of the idea.
Some have thought that the apsidal Lady Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral
built about fifty years earlier suggested an apsidal termination in
the design of Coventry, but a certain difficulty in the way of the
designer may have led him to adopt this solution. The normal
Perpendicular east end had one large window, but owing to the great
width of this chancel the proportions of such a one would have been
nearly square, and the spring of the arch have been very low. A few
years later and the depressed four-centred arch might have been
adopted but, fortunately, its time was not yet.
The plans of the apses of Lichfield and Coventry differ in the angle
at which the sides are inclined to the chord of the apse, the former
having the usual angle of 45°, the latter one of more than 60°.
Externally this is not so pleasant as the more "commonplace" form, the
great dissimilarity of the several angles being unsatisfactory and the
third side too quickly lost to view, but within the church these
points are not noticed.
So little time elapsed between the building of the choir and nave that
we find no marked difference of style as we proceed westward along
either flank of the church. The =Lady Chapel=, known as the Drapers'
Chapel, from its use and maintenance by that Gild, occupies the three
bays of the North chancel aisle. From its elevation above the ground
it was often spoken of as the "Chapel on the Mount," Capella Beatæ
Mariæ de Monte. All the four windows are of seven lights, the three
northern having a somewhat unusual transom band of fourteen
quatrefoils, at the spring of the arch. The two windows of St.
Lawrence's Chapel have a transom across the lights and a band of seven
quatrefoils at the spring.
The buttresses of the Lady Chapel are rather richer in design than
those of St. Lawrence's Chapel. The lower level of its parapet
indicates some difference of date. The plan of this part of the church
presents problems which bear on those connected with the rest of the
church (p. 44). Beneath St. Lawrence's Chapel and extending under the
north aisle westward are two crypts, entrance to them being by two
doors from the churchyard, their position is shown on the general
plan. It will be seen that the western one is of two aisles, each of
three bays, while the eastern is only one bay in length. The entrance
to the western was at first in the middle bay but this was blocked
when the Girdlers' Chapel was built. That the eastern crypt was added
later, and the present Lady Chapel later still is shown by the
presence of windows in the east wall of both parts and other
indications. But while the history of the church shows that the
original Lady Chapel and crypt or charnel-house, were built soon after
1300, the present superstructures belong to a time about one hundred
years later. Now as the western crypt may be safely assigned to the
earlier date the Lady Chapel doubtless stood over it and flanked the
old chancel of the church, in its normal position in fact as the
existing one is now. But a point which remains to be explained is that
the walls of the crypt are parallel to the line of the new chancel and
not to the line of the old or new naves. It seems certain therefore
that the inclination of the new chancel is a simple perpetuation of
the old arrangement, and if not, the position of the crypt is hard to
account for.
It is generally supposed that these crypts were used as Mortuary
Chapels and the eastern one has in fact a piscina and aumbry, showing
that there was once an altar. But for some centuries they served as a
charnel-house, and are so called in a papal grant of Indulgences. In
1640 there is an entry in the church accounts of five shillings for
"cleansinge the charnel-house and laying the bones and sculles in
order."
They now contain fragments that have been removed or discovered in the
course of various restorations. A small Norman scalloped capital,
another of Early English workmanship and a voussoir showing the Norman
zig-zag or chevron are interesting relics of structures earlier than
anything now existing, while a number of the decayed statues from the
tower find here a dark and damp repose very different from the airy
outlook enjoyed by them for five centuries. It will be seen that they
are near life size and are executed in a gray sandstone which has
stood the weather much better than the red. The outer north aisle
containing the Girdlers' Chapel on the east and the Smiths' or St.
Andrew's Chapel on the west of the porch, is plainly of later date.
The windows have depressed, distinctly four-centred arches, and in
1730 their five lights had simply cusped heads, the mullions running
up to the architrave.
The =north porch= has only a slight projection. Above the four-centred
arch are two two-light canopied windows opening into the church. The
soffit of the doorway is panelled. On the west side where is now a
canopied niche was formerly an external pulpit reached from within by
the staircase which leads to the roof. It is shown in the 1730 view.
On the east side are two odd little flying buttresses, intended
apparently to repeat the inclined surface of the other side. The two
north aisles are fortunately not carried westward so far as the nave,
which projects a half bay beyond them and so prevents the otherwise
unrelieved flatness of this part. The most effective of the porches is
that on the west front, just north of the tower. It appears to have
been built after the nave was finished, and may have been added
expressly to provide a more dignified entrance to the church when
Henry VI came in state in 1451, for it faces directly up the nave. The
groining with cusped panels and numerous bosses has escaped
restoration. The five niches above the porch are statueless, and so
are those on the porch front. May they long continue so! The doors are
largely original and are finely panelled and carved.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 5: At the last restoration the height was reduced to 298
feet.]
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE WEST.]