CHAPTER III

THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH

From within the door by which the church is usually entered, that near

the south-west angle, we obtain an overpowering impression of the

special characteristic of the interior, its spaciousness, for it is

here more than 100 feet wide and the east window is nearly 240 feet

distant.

The =nave=, which is 37 feet 6 inches wide in the clear, is wider than

that of many cathedrals, and much exceeds that of most parish

churches, the widest (Worstead) given in Brandon's "Parish Churches"

being 29 feet. Boston alone exceeds it by about 3 feet. While the

ordinary aisle width ranges from 10 to 14 feet, the north aisle here

is 23 feet, the outer north and the south being each 17 feet. The

total internal length is 265 feet, exclusive of the sacristy; Boston,

the only larger one, being 284 feet, while very few exceed 200 feet,

and most are far smaller. The greatest internal width is 120 feet;

Manchester, a double-aisled collegiate church, is about the same, and

York Minster is 106 feet. Finally, the area is about 22,800 square

feet, probably greater than that of any other English parish church,

indeed, St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, is the only one which pretends to

rivalry in this respect. Size is, of course, only one element in the

impressiveness of a building, and may even be neutralized by the

treatment (as, for instance, in the Duomo of Florence and St. Peter's,

Rome, by increasing the size of its parts rather than multiplying

them), but these few comparisons will help the visitor to judge how

far this element colours his appreciation of the whole. As an

illustration of mediæval methods of church building, it is interesting

to trace the growth of the structure with the help of the few

historical notices already given and the evidence of the building

itself. The subject is full of difficulties, and the writer does not

hope to solve them conclusively, but to put before the reader the main

points which have to be considered before forming a judgement.

[Illustration: TOWER ARCH.]

Both historic and structural evidence agree that there was an existing

smaller church when the tower was built in the last quarter of the

fourteenth century, that the choir and apse were either contemporary,

or begun a few years earlier, and that the nave was built between 1434

and 1450. The south porch and the west crypt (beneath the original

Lady Chapel) are almost contemporary (p. 34), belonging to the

beginning of the fourteenth century. Now the axis of the tower is

parallel to the axis and walls of the nave, while the centre line of

the choir is deflected towards the north about 7°. Notwithstanding

this, however, owing to the tower not being central with the nave, the

axis of the choir, if prolonged, runs directly to the centre of the

tower arch, as may easily be seen by anyone who stands there and looks

along the ridge of the choir roof. (_See_ dotted line on Plan.)

[Illustration: BAY OF NAVE, NORTH SIDE.]

Next we see above the =tower arch= the mark of the old nave roof and

the old north wall of the nave. These show that the south wall stood

where the present one does, and the low-pitched fourteenth century

roof-line suggests incidentally this alternative: _either_ a

clearstory had been added to the nave before the building of the new

chancel or tower was in contemplation, _or_, when the huge tower was

built it was felt necessary to raise the nave roof so as to lessen the

disproportion. But, if we adopt the latter alternative we must accept

too the improbability that this expense should have been incurred when

the inadequacy of the old narrow nave of 15½ feet compared with a

chancel of 33 feet must have been so obvious. This is one of the

difficult questions.

Then it is held by some that the axis of the old nave and chancel was

in line with that of the present choir; but the south porch, built

more than one hundred years before the new nave, is at right angles

with it which would hardly have been the case had the two naves not

been on the same lines.

Needless to say the old east end could scarcely have extended beyond

the present nave, so that the new chancel was probably built without

disturbing the old church. The position of the older Lady Chapel

supports this view, while its bearing towards the north, as already

pointed out, indicates that the deflection of the new chancel is

simply copied from the older one.

The position of the south porch proves also that the south aisle was

as wide as the present one, while the fact that it was wider than the

nave shows that it was almost certainly not designed at the same time.

The nave is of six bays and is 54 feet high at the centre, while each

arch is 20 feet wide in the clear. The piers are slender, but, owing

to the depth of the panelling above the arches and the large size of

the windows, the weight upon them is reduced to a minimum. Shafts

carried up from the ground support the roof brackets, and there are

intermediate ones over the centre of each arch. The clearstory windows

of four lights each are in pairs, and the mullions are carried down to

form panelling and finish on the backs of the arches, which recede in

two sloping faces and form a somewhat unusual feature in the treatment

of the wall surface. The detail of the piers and arches is rather

weak, even for Perpendicular work.

[Illustration: INTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH DOOR.]

The =chancel= is about 93 feet long, and in height and width is 4 or 5

feet less than the corresponding nave measurements. Its width further

diminishes by about 3½ feet in the length of the three bays. The

omission of a chancel arch is a step towards the ideal simplicity of

the late Perpendicular churches (_e.g._, St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich),

running from east to west without break, but the large rood piers and

reduced width and height of chancel make the pause demanded in so

long a church. The step at this point is of oak, and is probably the

original sill of the rood screen. The large figures of SS. Peter and

Paul were placed on the piers in 1861. Of the three arches which open

on either hand the centre one is widest, having four-light windows,

instead of three-light, over it. The panelling beneath the clearstory

is richer than that in the nave. The five four-light windows of the

apse are lofty and divided by two transoms, but the design is somewhat

commonplace. The glass of the middle three is a memorial to Queen

Adelaide, dated 1853. The other two are filled with fragments of the

ancient stained glass of the church (p. 56).

[Illustration: THE CHOIR FROM ST. LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL.]

The roof is very similar to that of the nave. Both are of very low

pitch, with tie-beams supported by curved brackets. There are two

longitudinal beams (purlins) on each side, and each division of the

roof made by these main timbers is sub-divided by mouldings into

panels, all the intersections and angles being decorated by carved

bosses or pateræ, with angels upon the tie-beams. Where the roofs of

nave and chancel join there is a cove to connect the two levels; and

on the tie-beam above this was found a Latin inscription, giving the

attributes and powers of the nine choirs of angels forming the

hierarchy of Heaven. Translated it is as follows:

SERAPHIMS burn in love of God.

CHERUBIMS possess all knowledge.

THRONES, of them is judgement.

DOMINIONS preside over angelic spirits.

VIRTUES effect miracles.

POWERS have rule over demons.

PRINCIPALITIES protect good men.

ARCHANGELS are set over states.

ANGELS are the messengers of the Lord.

Bare and shorn as it is of its ancient magnificence, St. Michael's is

in its structure a monument of the importance and wealth of the Gilds.

Many of them built or maintained chapels and altars, adding largely to

the already spacious proportions given to the main structure by the

munificence of a few rich citizens. That in 1491 there were eleven

altars we know from the will of Thomas Bradmedow, directing that

eleven torches, price _2s. 4d._, be given every Good Friday, one to

every altar. Besides the High Altar there were those of Our Lady,

Jesus, Holy Trinity, St. John, St. Anne, St. Katherine, St. Thomas,

St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, All Saints.

The application to the =Lady Chapel= of the present name, the

"Drapers' Chapel," is probably subsequent to 1518, when John Haddon, a

draper, provided by will for the support of a priest, "to singe in the

Chapell of our Ladye in the Church of Saint Mychell." But long ere

this, by an instrument dated from St. John Lateran, A.D. 1300, eighth

year of Pope Boniface, Indulgences for forty days were granted for all

persons coming to confess before her altar in St. Michael's Church on

the Nativity, Conception, Annunciation and Assumption of the glorious

Virgin Mary. Also 700 Indulgences for 720 days were granted for

building "the Chapple and Charnell house of St. Michaell, Coventry."

The Drapers' Company was responsible for other things than the

priest's stipend as this extract from their Rules shows: "1534. Ev'y

mastur shall pay toward ye makyng clene of oure Lady Chapell in saynt

Mychell's churche and strawyng ye setus [seats] wt rusches in somer

and pease strawe in wyntur, everyone yerely _2d._"

[Illustration: POPPY HEAD, LADY CHAPEL.]

The piers at the chancel entrance contain the staircases leading to

the roofs and formerly to the rood loft. The screen on the west side

of the chapel was put together from fragments brought together from

various parts of the church. Against it, and on the south side, are

fifteen of the ancient stalls. Several admirable ends and elbows

remain, and some of the twelve ancient Misereres are of special

interest. Three represent scenes from the popular mediæval allegory of

"the Dance of Death."

The centre groups are: (1) a death bed, (2) a kneeling man being

deprived of his shirt and a cripple waiting to receive it (?), and (3)

a very well-expressed burial scene. The side groups in each show Death

leading by the hand personages of various ranks, including a pope. Of

the others, Satan in chains, the General Resurrection, and a

delicately executed Tree of Jesse are the best.

[Illustration: A MISERERE, LADY CHAPEL.]

Several monuments formerly in this chapel are now elsewhere in the

church. A memorial to the Hon. F.W. Hood, killed in battle in 1814, is

by Chantrey. On the north wall is a brass plate bearing the following

inscription:

Here lyeth Mr Thomas Bond, Draper, sometime Mayor of this Cittie

and founder of the Hospitall of Bablake, who gave divers lands

and tenements for the maintenance of ten poore men so long as the

world shall endure and a woman to looke to them with many other

good guifts; and died the XVIII day of March in the yeare of our

Lord God MDVI.

The =Communion Table= is a fine example of early seventeenth century

work, and outside the screen is a very beautiful oak chest, believed

to date from the time of Henry VII. From the Lady Chapel we pass into

that of St. Laurence. Its two windows are filled with glass to the

memory of past mayors. The dates, 1860 and 1862, sufficiently suggest

their artistic merit. Several old monuments are upon the north wall,

one of 1648 with an extravagant inscription to Thomas Purefoy, a boy

of nine; another to Mrs. Bathona Frodsham, a daughter of the John

Hales who bought so much monastic property, and founded the Grammar

School. The tomb of his first wife, Frideswede, near which he was

buried, may be seen in the Dugdale view near the north porch.

The outer north aisle contained the Girdlers' Chapel. The arcade which

divides the aisles shows the consummation of the process which

converted columns into piers by the omission of capitals and bases and

the continuation of the mouldings from pier into arch.

The altar was below the eastern window, the piscina (restored) stands

on the south side.

The Company has been long extinct and no documents exist. We know,

however, that Haye's Chantry was founded by a Girdler in 1390, for a

Mass to be sung daily at All Saints' altar, and may therefore conclude

that it was in this chapel.

In the two western bays of the same aisle was St. Andrew's Chapel,

supported and probably founded by the Smiths' Company. The first

notice of its existence occurs in 1449, but as this part was not built

until 1500 it was perhaps originally in the adjoining aisle. The

window tracery is modern. The panelling within the internal arches and

between the windows should be noted. The floor near the wall is partly

paved with much worn ancient tiles.

Several large monuments have been brought hither from the Drapers'

Chapel. An altar tomb of black marble is to the memory of Sir Thomas

Berkeley, only son of Henry, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1611; another

of 1640, to William Stanley, Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company

of London and a benefactor of St. Bartholomew's Hospital and of his

native city, Coventry. While these are ponderous and unlovely that of

Julian Nethermyl, at the west end of the principal north aisle, is a

work of interest and much beauty. It is an altar tomb with a

sculptured panel on one end and one side, the other end and side

having been next to walls. It is of interest as an early example of

the Italian style then finding its way into England, and an example so

free from Gothic influence that there can be little doubt that a

foreign craftsman was employed upon it. On the centre of the long

panel is a mutilated crucifix, and a brief inscription with a shield

of arms beneath. On either hand kneel Julian Nethermyl and his wife,

with five sons behind him and five daughters behind her. A cherub at

each end pushes aside a curtain. The group of sons is well treated,

the variations in pose and dress show the hand of one who was

accustomed to study composition, and the result is very different from

the formal repetition of equal or lessening figures usual on mediæval

brasses and Elizabethan tombs. The Latin inscription is partly

illegible, translated it runs:

Here lies Julian Nethermyl, Draper, formerly Mayor of this City,

who died the 11th day of the month of April in the year of our

Lord 1539 and also Joan his wife, to whose souls God be

propitious. Amen.

[Illustration: CHEST IN NORTH AISLE.]

A small brass on the wall to the memory of Mary Hinton, wife of a

vicar, who died in 1594, represents her kneeling at a faldstool, and

facing a row of four swaddled infants laid upon the floor.

Near by is the old Purbeck marble font, said to have been given by

John Cross, Mayor, in 1394.

As, however, the form, material, and shallow decoration are all quite

consistent with a thirteenth-century date there can be little doubt

that this one is the predecessor of that given by John Cross, which

was condemned and removed by the Puritans as superstitious. A small

brass, bearing a shield with four crosses, the ancient merchant mark,

is fixed upon it.

[Illustration: THE NETHERMYL TOMB.]

Beyond the west door is the north-east buttress of the tower,

strengthened by a mass of masonry, part of which formed part of the

old nave wall. The tower arch is high and very narrow, owing to the

narrowness of the old nave. The interior of the tower is very

effective, both from the height, which is almost 100 feet to the crown

of the vault, and the beautiful lighting of the upper stages. Each of

the large windows of the ground story is set in a recessed arch, and

between the two lantern stages is a range of panelling. The vertical

lines of the various stages are not continuous, a want of regularity,

which would probably not have occurred had it been built a century

later. Upon the floor of the tower are two small brasses, which mark

respectively the centre of the tower and the point below the apex of

the spire, showing that the spire has an inclination of 3 feet 6

inches towards the north-west. On the walls of the tower two very

large brasses record the names of the Vicars of the church since 1242,

and of the Bishops in whose Dioceses Coventry has been included from

the earliest times. Of the latter, four were Bishops of Mercia,

twenty-seven of Lichfield, six of Coventry, thirty-three of Coventry

and Lichfield, thirteen of Lichfield and Coventry, four of Worcester,

and two Bishops-Suffragan of Coventry.

The south aisle is 6 feet narrower than the north at the west end, but

its want of parallelism adds 7 feet to its width at its far eastern

end.

The south-west doorway has its original doors, though these have been

subjected to restoration. The first chapel on the south side belonged

to the Dyers' Company. When the principal trade of Coventry was the

manufacture of woollen and worsted stuffs and the production of a

special blue thread, so excellent that it gave rise to a proverbial

expression, "he is true Coventry Blue", the Dyers were an important

Company.[6] A chantry known as Tale's was probably attached to this

chapel, as the salary of the priest, _£5 6s. 8d._, was paid by the

Dyers' Company of London. An upper chamber for the priest existed as

late as 1607; the floor corbels still remain. A large marble monument

(removed hither from the chancel) has medallion portraits of two

ladies--Dame Mary Bridgeman and Mrs. Eliza Samwell. The former with

her husband, Sir Orlando (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Charles

II), both died in 1701. The latter, dying in 1724, "ordered this

monument to be erected as a remembrance of their great and loving

friendship."

The Chapel is now the =Baptistery=. A large eighteenth-century marble

font was removed to the Lady Chapel and a new Gothic one put in its

place, so that there are now three in the church.

The south porch (1300) is the earliest part of the existing church.

The inner doors appear to be of the early sixteenth century, the

outer, though old, are of much later date and are not part of the

original scheme. On the wall on each side of the inner doors are

brasses of some interest. That on the right hand has a curious epitaph

which runs thus:

Here lies the body of Captn Gervase Scrope, of the family of

Scropes, of Bolton in the County of York, who departed this life

the 26 of August, Anno Dni 1705, aged 66.

An Epitaph, written by himself, in the agony and dolorous paines

of the gout and dyed soon after.

Here lyes an old toss'd Tennis Ball

Was racketted, from spring to fall,

With so much heat and so much hast,

Time's arm for shame grew tyred at last.

Four kings in camps he truly served.

And from his loyalty ne'er swerved,

Father ruin'd and son slighted,

And from the Crown ne'er requited.

Loss of estate, relations, blood,

Was too well known, but did no good;

With long Campaigns and paines oth' gout

He cou'd no longer hold it out.

Always a restless life he led,

Never at quiet till quite dead.

He marry'd in his later days,

One who exceeds the common praise

But wanting breath still to make known

Her true affection and his own,

Death kindly came, all wants supplied

By giving rest--which life deny'd.

The other brass, of 1609, has a portrait of Ann Sewell in Jacobean

costume, kneeling, with an epitaph in which she is described as "a

worthy stirrer up of others to all holy virtues."

A doorway leads to a priest's chamber over the porch, sometimes

incorrectly spoken of as the Cappers' Chapel. It is still used for the

annual meeting of the Company, but is inaccessible to the public.

The next chapel eastwards is St. Thomas', belonging until 1629 to the

Cappers' and Feltmakers' Company. In 1531 they were associated in its

maintenance with the Woollen Cardmakers who had founded it in 1467 and

had after declined in importance. Leland, as we have seen records

also the decay of the Cappers' industry. A large eighteenth-century

monument conceals the original doorway from the porch. The eastern

part of the south aisle as far as the screen formed another chapel as

the dilapidated piscina in the south wall shows. The organ is now

placed in the first bay of the chancel aisle, the whole aisle having

once formed the Mercers' Chapel.

[Illustration: THE SWILLINGTON TOMB.]

Where the altar once stood are now steps descending to the sacristies.

On the right of the window is the statue of St. Michael brought hither

from the tower (p. 32). The finely carved corbel on which it stands

was discovered among rubbish in the recess below. Three altar tombs

now stand against the south wall. The eastern has the recumbent

effigies of Elizabeth Swillington and her two husbands. The

inscription (translated) runs: "Pray for the soul of Elizabeth

Swillington, widow, late the wife of Ralph Swillington, Attorney

General of our Lord King Henry VIII, Recorder of the city of Coventry,

formerly the wife of Thomas Essex Esq: which said Elizabeth died A.D.

15..." She died after 1543. The side and ends have arcaded panelling

containing shields of arms. At the west end is a realistic

representation of the Five Wounds. The effigy of Thomas Essex is in

armour, that of the Recorder in official robe and chain. The head of

each rests on a helmet, and the lady wears the "pedimental" headdress

of Tudor fashion. The arcading is purely Renaissance in detail though

the general treatment is mediæval. The figures are in dignified

repose, wholly free from the later affectations of the Elizabethan

school yet evidently individual portraits. The second tomb dates from

1640. The top is far too heavy for the little Ionic pilasters below.

The third, traditionally called Wade's tomb, probably belongs to John

Wayd, a Mercer, who lived in Coventry in 1557, but no inscription

remains.

There are seven shields of arms on the side, nearly all defaced, a

motto "Ryen saunce travayle," and nine images in low relief which

present quaint studies of early sixteenth-century costume.

The matrices of brasses are still visible in several parts of the

church. Sir James Harrington, writing in the reign of James I, tells a

curious story of their loss:

The pavement of Coventry church is almost all tombstones, and

some very ancient, but there came in a zealous fellow with a

counterfeit commission, that for avoiding superstition, hath not

left one pennyworth nor penny breadth of brass upon all the

tombs, of all the inscriptions, which had been many and costly.

The last monument that need be mentioned is upon the wall over "Wade's

tomb." Twenty-six verses of eulogy follow these opening lines:

An Elegicall epitaph, made upon the death of that mirror of women

Ann Newdigate; Lady Skeffington, wife of that true moaneing

turtle Sir Richard Skeffington, Kt., and consecrated to her

eternal memorie by the unfeigned lover of her vertues, Willm.

Bulstrode, Knight. (She died in 1637, aged 29).

The present organ was built by Henry Willis and erected in 1887. It is

a four-manual and pedal instrument and has fifty-three stops.

The old organ on which Handel played more than once, stood on a raised

platform at the west end. It was the work of Thomas Swarbrick of

Warwick, a German by birth, in 1733. He also built those of Trinity

Church, St. Mary, Warwick, Lichfield, St. Saviour Southwark,

Stratford-on-Avon, and Amsterdam.

The best of the ancient glass now remaining has been collected into two

windows, one on either side of the apse. Much was brought from the

clearstory where six windows on the south and all save one on the north

side still have panels made up of a mosaic of fragments with portions

here and there of which the subject is intelligible. From what remains

in the tracery we may gather that there was a row of eight angel

figures filling the spaces immediately over the lights. Some of these

or similar ones, are now in the apse. They are represented as covered

with feathers and standing on wheels and each holds a scroll over the

head with inscriptions in very contracted Latin. A few less fragmentary

pieces may be found, _e.g._, in the north window, Judas giving the

traitor's kiss, in the north clearstory the arms of Trenton and

Stafford, mentioned and figured by Dugdale, in the south, the figure of

a man in a red gown kneeling with a scroll inscribed "deo gracias" and

over his head "groc(er) de london"--doubtless a donor. Of modern glass

there is a great amount but little worth mentioning save on account of

the persons commemorated. One window in the Lady Chapel is a memorial

of the Prince Consort and one in the Mercers' Chapel is of interest as

a deserved memorial to Thomas Sharp the Antiquary to whose labours all

later historians of the city are so deeply indebted. He died in 1841.

[Illustration: ALMS-BOX.]

The pulpit is of brass and wrought iron, the work of Frank Skidmore a

native of Coventry who made also the choir screen of Hereford

Cathedral and the metal work of the Albert Memorial at Kensington. It

was placed here in 1869. The bells, ten in number, now hang in the

octagon. They were cast in 1774 and weigh nearly seven tons. The first

peal was hung in 1429 and a clock existed in 1467. In 1496 an Order of

Leet ordained that "all manner of persons that will have the bells to

ring after the decease of any of their friends, shall pay for a peal

ringing with all the bells, _2s._ and with four bells, _16d._, and

three bells _4d._"

The six bells were cast into eight in 1674 and the present tenth has

the same inscription as the heaviest of the old peal:

I am and have been call'd the common bell

To ring, when fire breaks out, to tell.

The chimes, which existed as early as 1465, were restored in 1895,

after a silence of ten years, in memory of Lieut.-Col. Francis William

Newdigate. Electric lighting has been introduced throughout the

church.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 6: _See_ Fuller's "Worthies of England." In 1428 an Act of

Leet ordered that no person should dye any wool or cloth with "a

deceitful colour called Masters or Medleys brought into Coventry by a

Frenchman."]

[Illustration: HOLY TRINITY FROM THE NORTH.

_From a lithograph--about 1850_.]

HOLY TRINITY CHURCH

CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

Although the first mention of this church which the indefatigable

Dugdale could find was its appropriation to the priory in 1259-1260,

it is tolerably certain that its foundation was much earlier. As

before said, it is reputed to be older than St. Michael's and its

position close to the monastery suggests that it had been built, as

often happened, for the parishioners by the monks who disliked their

intrusion within the priory church. The appropriation at this time may

have been rather of the nature of a confirmation of the rights of the

priory than the institution of a new condition of things. As, in 1391,

the chancel had to be rebuilt being "ruinated and decayed" we may

conclude that it was probably older than the present north porch which

is certainly not later than 1259. It was at the same time lengthened

by twenty-four feet, the convent giving one hundred shillings per

annum for eight years and six trees, the parishioners finding all

other material and workmanship. The convent and parish also agreed to

support and keep it in repair at their joint charges.

From 1298, when Henry de Harenhale was appointed, the list of vicars

is complete, but in a cartulary of the priory mention is made of Ralph

de Sowe, vicar of Trinity, as giving a tenement in Well Street, for

the celebration of his anniversary.

There are but few landmarks in its history, and dates affecting the

structure can generally be assigned by internal evidence alone. The

nave arcades had already been rebuilt before the chancel was touched,

and a piece of work of the same period is to be seen in the five-light

Decorated window, in the Consistory Court which now opens into the

large chamber over the porch. We have no record of the building of the

clearstory and roof of the nave. The resemblances between this

clearstory, and that of St. John's chancel, raise the question of

priority. The fuller development at St. John's of the peculiar

treatment of the angles points to its being a little later but

probably both fall within the second and third quarters of the

fifteenth century.

For a church of this size the chapels, altars and chantries were very

numerous, there being probably fifteen altars in all. In 1522 the

establishment of clergy consisted of a vicar, eleven parochial priests

and two chantry priests. Dugdale enumerates six chantries so that it

is evident that here as often elsewhere some of the parochial priests

derived the whole or a part of their support from their performance of

the duties of chantry priests.

Many chantry priests on the other hand had other duties and took part

in other services than the daily mass for which the chantry was

founded.

So much that is of interest in the religious life of the period is

connected with the chantries that it is worth while recording some of

the scattered notices that have come down to us.

To begin with the Chapel of Our Lady, the earliest mention we have of

it is in 1364 while in 1392 the Corpus Christi Gild endowed a priest

there to sing mass for the good estate of Richard II, Anne his queen,

and the whole realm of England, to be called St. Mary's priest. The

indenture sets forth that "he is to be at Divine service on Sundays

and double Feasts in the chancel and at Matins, Hours, Masses,

Evensong, Compline and other offices used in the said church and also

daily at _Salve_ in our Lady's Chapel unless hindered by reasonable

cause." The records of the Dissolution of the Chantries show how much

town property must have been held by them, while from these and other

sources we learn the extent of their belongings in tenements,

messuages, rent charges and the like. Thus in 1454 Emot Dowte gave

several tenements to this altar and in 1492 Richard Clyff "late parson

of St. George in London," left a house in Well St. to the church "to

the intent that the mass of Our Lady may be observed the better." In

1558 (the year of Elizabeth's accession) William Hyndeman, alderman

and butcher, directs that his body be buried in the Lady Chapel "as

aldermen are wont to be buried, towards the charges whereof I give

twenty nobles to be levied of my quick cattle and if it be too little

then I will that Sybil my wife shall lay down _20s._ more." He also

orders an obit to be kept after the death of his wife "yearly for

ever;" a form of words that must surely have sounded unreal after the

changes of the last two reigns.

Perceye's chantry again, which Dugdale considered the oldest (though

he does not give the date) was endowed in 1350 with six messuages, one

shop, six acres of land and 40s. rent, all lying in Coventry, to which

in 1407 William Botoner and others, added a messuage and twenty-four

acres of land in the city for another priest.

Then the chantry of the Holy Cross (1357) founded for two priests to

sing daily a mass for the good estate before death and for the souls

after of the royal family, and for the founders and the members of the

Fraternity of the Holy Cross, was endowed with seven messuages,

fourteen shops and sixteen acres of land in the city.

Dugdale enumerates also four others, Cellet's, Corpus Christi,

Lodynton's and Allesley's, to which should probably be added Marler's,

assigned by him to St. Michael's. The first two are doubtless the same

foundation, for in 1329 land and tenements were granted to the priest

of Corpus Christi Chapel for the health of the soul of William Celet

and others.

It was almost certainly situated in the south transept, on the upper

level over the vaulted passage. The position of Lodynton's chantry

(1393) is not known; Allesley's, founded in the reign of Edward I, was

sung at St. Thomas's altar.

Richard Marler stipulates in his will that his priest is to have the

"stypend or wagis of nyne marks by yere so long as he shall be of good

and prestly conversacyon and demeanor, wt' a p'vyso that yf the seyde

prest be ffounde otherwyse, after monyc'on and reasonable warnyng to

hym geven, he to be removed."

Much of the later history of the church relates to the destruction of

its fittings and furniture or to restorations almost as grievous. In

1560 _2s. 6d._ was paid for taking down the carving about the high

altar, while the Mayor bought the panelling of the altar for _33s.

4d._, the vail for _5s._, the "thing that the sacrament was in over

the altar _1s._," the "peyre [pair of candlesticks?] that was upon the

altar _5d._" Perhaps he thought that all these things would be wanted

again ere long. In 1547 a quantity of costly vestments and banners had

been sold and we find in the accounts a number of such items as

these: "Sold the 6 day of Jennery 5 copps of red teyssew to Mr.

Roghers, now mayre (and 4 other persons) pryce of the sayd copps,

_10l._ To Bawden Desseld one cope of red velvet, _5l._ Mr. Schewyll a

grene velvet cope, _30s._"

But before Mary's death we have a lengthy inventory of copes,

vestments, albs, banners and the like, some of which may have come

back to the church from the buyers at the sale eleven years before.

The church must have looked like a builder's yard in 1643 when the

Committee and Council of War pulled down divers houses outside

Bishop's and Spon Gates and stacked the materials here, while the

changes of government are indicated by the payment in 1647 of _3s.

6d._ "to Hopes for defacing the King's Arms" and in 1660 of _6s._ to

"Hope for the King's Arms."

Five years after this the spire, which had caused much anxiety and

expense for many years, was blown down in a gale, falling across the

chancel and causing much destruction. All was restored and the spire

rebuilt in three years. Reference has been made to the existence of a

vaulted passage through the south transept. This was made necessary by

the position of an ancient building known as Jesus Hall which adjoined

the transept and thus blocked the way from "the Butchery" in this

direction. The Hall had probably been long used as the residence of

the priests attached to the church but nothing is known of its origin.

It was destroyed in 1742. Only in 1834, when the exterior of the

church was recased was the passage blocked and the floor of the upper

chapel removed.

The Register records the marriage of Sarah Kemble with William Siddons

on 25th November, 1773.

CHAPTER II

THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH

The church of Holy Trinity loses much, in popular estimation at least,

by its nearness to St. Michael's. It invites comparison of the most

obvious sort. It is not nearly so large and its spire is not so high,

these facts alone are sufficient to account for the popular view.

Fuller, in his "Worthies" says of the two churches, "How clearly would

they have shined if set at competent distance! Whereas now, such their

Vicinity, that the Archangel eclipseth the Trinity."

The plan is quite unlike that of its neighbour, being cruciform, with

a central tower, a short nave, and a chancel distinctly longer than

the nave. On the south both nave and chancel have a single aisle, the

transept projecting beyond it and there is a vestry at the east end.

On the north there is a similar aisle with a Lady Chapel at the east

corresponding to the Vestry, but a large porch and several chapels

fill up the spaces so that the transept does not in plan project.

Looking at the exterior as a whole it may be said that the more

moderate length (194 feet), the central spire, 230 feet high, and the

transepts unite in forming a more satisfactory composition than the

long body and immense western steeple of St. Michael's. There however,

the superiority ceases for the frequent "recasings" and restorations

have left hardly a stone of the exterior that has not been renewed

again and again, and the dates of these operations, 1786, 1826, 1843,

sufficiently suggest the degree of knowledge and feeling likely to be

manifested in the work.

Probably most of the structure was first built of the same friable red

sandstone as its greater neighbour. Much of the recasing has been

executed in a rather harder gray sandstone, but the tower and spire

are still red.

The tower above the roofs, is of two stages, the upper, or bell

chamber, and the lower or lantern opening into the church. Below this

are small windows with the lines of the old high-pitched roof visible

above the present transept roofs, but in the nave and chancel the

lines of the old roofs are now within the church, the clearstory

having since been added. Each face of the tower is divided, apart from

the narrow angle buttresses, into six vertical divisions separated by

thin projections of buttress form. On the south and west the stair

turret absorbs one of the outer divisions. Each division is curved in

plan in a curious way, which may be the perpetuation of a feature of

the original design, but was more probably introduced or modified by

the person who recased the tower in 1826. That there was sculpture we

know, for in 1709 ten shillings was paid for taking the images down

from the steeple. The smallness of the sum indicates that they were

few in number, and if they occupied similar positions to those on the

belfry stage of St. Michael's, and the structure was as decayed as was

the tower of that church it is probable that the cutting away of the

niches may have suggested the curving of the surfaces especially as

the tower would be thereby lightened. As it is we cannot be certain of

much else than that there were vertical divisions serving to emphasize

the impression of height and that the openings were in the same

positions as now.

[Illustration: PLAN OF TRINITY CHURCH]

The spire blown down in 1665 had been in the previous ninety years

five times repaired and repointed. We cannot now say whether the

original design was at all closely followed in the rebuilding, but its

present likeness to St. Michael's suggests doubts. The lowest stage

which takes the place of the octagon and may be an intentional

imitation of it, has almost upright sides with two-light windows on

the cardinal faces and panelled ones on the oblique sides, while the

remaining stages correspond in number and partly in design with those

of St. Michael's.

In 1855 it was considered that the bells endangered the safety of the

tower, and after recasting by Mears of London they were rehung in a

timber campanile in the north churchyard. Even now they cannot be

pealed.

The deplorable refacings have left few features of interest on the

outside. Were Gothic architecture still a living and not merely

imitative and academic art, one would welcome a complete renewal of

all outside work--not an imagined harking back to the work of the

fifteenth century but showing the lapse of the centuries from the

fifteenth to the twentieth as clearly as does the north porch the

change from the thirteenth to the fifteenth.

[Illustration: INTERIOR OF HOLY TRINITY, FROM THE WEST.]

CHAPTER III

THE INTERIOR

It is with a feeling of expectation followed by one of relief that we

pass within the church, for restoration has there rarely the same

excuse for its devastations as the action of wind and weather on the

exterior too generously gives it, and this church is no exception to

the general rule.

The clearing away of galleries, the provision of new seating and the

renewal of much window tracery have been the principal changes, the

greatest loss being the destruction of the Corpus Christi Chapel. The

nave is of moderate width and consists of only four bays, the eastern

arches being narrower and made to abut against the tower after the

manner of flying buttresses. The columns are clusters of four large

filleted shafts separated by small ones while the bases are high and

evidently meant to be seen above the benches. The caps are shallow and

very simple, while the shafts of each pier reappear as part of the

arch moulding.

The arcade as a whole is remarkably strong and dignified, it would

perhaps have gained by the addition of a bay in length. In the absence

of precise records it may be assigned to the second quarter of the

fourteenth century or a little later. Above the tower arch can still

be seen, beneath the painting and plaster, the marks of the older

steep roof. The nave of Stratford-on-Avon Church has points of

resemblance to this. There too we have a fourteenth-century arcade

(but much simpler) with a fifteenth-century panelled wall and

clearstory above, and the panelling comes down on to the backs of the

arches in a similar though somewhat simpler manner.

Owing to the inequality of the eastern arches there is, in the

position of the windows and roof principals a curious disregard of the

lines of the piers and the centres of arches. There are eight equal

bays in the roof and each corresponds to two two-light windows. It is

interesting to compare the design of this clearstory with that of St.

Michael's. It has more solidity to accord with the more vigorous

arcade though the treatment of the panelling is similar. The height

from the arch to the roof is much less in proportion, but the sills of

the windows are kept lower and the heads are square. The form of the

windows is perhaps determined in part by the desire for more space for

stained glass, but it is also the logical outcome of the space

afforded by the level lines of a wooden roof just as the use of the

pointed window follows from the use of pointed vaulting. The treatment

of the angles after the manner of the thirteenth century "shouldered"

lintel in order to take off the harshness of the rectangular form and

to give a better bearing for the lintels is noteworthy and should be

compared with the more developed forms at St. John's Church.

Above the tower arch is a painting of the Last Judgement, discovered

in 1831. It is now so much darkened that very little can be made out.

The following is a description of its appearance before 1860: In the

centre is the Saviour clothed in crimson and seated on a rainbow.

Below are the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist with the twelve

Apostles arranged on each hand. Two angels sound the summons to

Judgement, and on the right of our Saviour, steps lead to a portico

over which three angels look down on the scene and others welcome a

pope who has just passed St. Peter. On the Saviour's left are doomed

spirits being conveyed by devils in various ways and in ludicrous

attitudes to the place of torment, represented in the usual manner by

the gaping mouth of a monster, vomiting flames of fire. A large

painting of a crucifix, with a priest kneeling beside it and angels

flying above, was discovered at the same time on the north side of the

Chancel but was too much mutilated to be thought worthy of

preservation.

The =roofs= throughout are of low pitch, and almost all resemble one

another in design. Those of the nave, chancel, archdeacon's chapel (on

the west of the north porch) and transepts are divided by their

principal timbers into large panels, which are again subdivided by

mouldings upon the boarded ceiling. At all angles and intersections

there are carved leaves, and stars in relief adorn each panel. All

these roofs are painted in accordance, it is said, with existing

indications of the original colouring. The ground is blue, the

mouldings red and white, the stars and carving are gilt. The nave roof

spandrels, above the tie-beams, have large painted figures of angels,

supporting between them shields emblazoned with the instruments of

the Passion. These are also said to be reproductions, but it appears

likely that time had left much to the imagination of their restorer.

[Illustration: NORTH SIDE OF NAVE, EASTERN BAYS.]

Nevertheless, the whole effect of the roofs is harmonious, a result

apparently obtained by the use of a blue far removed from the

ultramarine tint too often employed.

Since the removal of the ringing floor, in 1855, the lantern stage of

the tower has been once more visible from the church. A wooden vaulted

ceiling was at the same time inserted where a stone one had originally

been built or intended.

The =chancel= is dark owing to the small clearstory windows, the low

outer north aisle, and the concealment of a south window by the organ.

At the first pier east of the tower came the rood-screen, and on the

south side (in the aisle) the door to it may be seen at a height above

the floor. Access must have been by steep steps against the wall, or

from the top of another screen across the aisle. The church accounts

of the year 1560 tell us what it cost to remove:

Payd for taking down ye rode and Marie and John _4s. 4d._

Payd to ye carpenter for pullyng down ye rode lofft _4s. 8d._

On the east side of the tower wall can be seen the line of the

original roof, showing the height before the rebuilding in 1391.

Although there is space for larger windows the aisle roof prevented

their sills being brought lower. The west arch of the south arcade has

been forced out of shape by the pressure of the tower piers and

arches; certainly the piers, which are little more than 4 feet square,

seem slender enough for the support of so lofty a steeple.

Attached to this south-east tower pier is the stone pulpit, one of the

two special glories of the church, the other being the brass eagle.

The pulpit is either contemporary with the pier or nearly so. There is

apparently some difference in the texture and colour of the stone, but

as it is probable that a finer-grained stone would be chosen for work

of this character, this need not imply a difference of date. It was,

however, probably added at the same time as the nave clearstory. The

authors of "English Church Furniture" assign it to 1470.[7] Before

1833 (when restored by Rickman) it had been hidden from sight by

wood-work and a clerk's desk at a lower level. The lower part is

boldly corbelled out and the junction of the octagon with the pier

shafts is well managed, but the upper open-panelled part is rather too

definitely cut off from the lower by the battlemented cornice. Very

few examples of this class of pulpit exist in England, and none equal

in importance.

The eagle =lectern= is a magnificent example of brass casting. It is

generally attributed to the late fifteenth century. This eagle

narrowly escaped being sold by the Puritans for old brass, as happened

to that of St. Michael's. It closely resembles one belonging to St.

Nicholas' Chapel, Lynn, save that the latter is not equal in

refinement of detail and proportion, and the bird is less vigorous in

pose and modelling. In 1560 there was "paid for skowring ye Egle and

candell styckes, _10d._," and "for mending of ye Egle's tayle, _16d._"

[Illustration: PULPIT.]

At least nine chapels and fifteen altars are known to have existed in

the church. The present choir vestry on the north side was the Lady

Chapel. A simple piscina on the south side, about a foot above the

present floor, shows that the old floor level was much lower.

The =north aisle= is lofty and has a clearstory of three windows over

the arcade. In the outer aisle was located Marler's, or the Mercers',

Chapel, founded in 1537, and beneath it is a crypt or charnel house,

now closed save for small ventilating openings.

[Illustration: ARCHWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH PORCH AND ST. THOMAS'S

CHAPEL.]

The black oak roof of low pitch has the panels of the western bay only

richly carved with vine leaves and grapes. Its date is, perhaps, as

late as the foundation of the chantry. The piscina is in the north

wall.

West of the north transept is =St. Thomas's Chapel=. Dugdale says that

Allesley's chantry was founded in the time of Edward I, at the altar

of St. Thomas the Martyr, "in a chapel near adjoining to the church

porch." The chapel is certainly older, for the beautiful double

doorway from the porch is not later than mid-thirteenth century. The

outer doorway of the porch was rebuilt in the fifteenth century. The

inner one, with a finely moulded arch with angle shafts and the vault

with simple diagonal ribs carried on shafts, is of the early

thirteenth century. It is to be regretted that this fine porch is not

better seen. Signs of the puzzling reconstructions that have occurred

in this part are visible in the aisle wall. Two lancet windows high up

are of the same date as the porch, and are blocked by the chamber

since constructed above St. Thomas's Chapel, and parts of other window

jambs are seen at different levels.

The Archdeacon's Chapel or consistory court, to the west of the porch,

is now one of the most interesting parts of the church.

It is divided from the north aisle by two lofty arches with an

octagonal column. The original dedication is not known, but in 1588 it

was already used as an Ecclesiastical Court, and the next year a

bishop's seat was made for use in it. In the south-west angle is a

tall, narrow recess, once closed by a door. Lockers of this

description were constructed for the safe keeping of the shaft of the

processional cross, and for the staves of banners. On the east side

the roof now cuts across the head of a window of reticulated tracery

of the early fourteenth century. Most of the monuments have been

brought hither from various parts of the church; only two or three are

of general interest. A late Perpendicular canopied tomb, rudely carved

and badly fitted together, stands against the north wall, but there is

nothing to show whom it commemorates. On the east wall is the monument

of Dr. Philemon Holland, with a long Latin epitaph. Fuller says of

him: "he was the translator general in his age, so that those books

alone of his turning into English will make a country gentleman a

competent library for historians." Born at Chelmsford in 1551 he

settled at Coventry in 1595, was usher and then master of St. John's

Free School for twenty-eight years, and died in 1636 in his

eighty-fifth year. During his usher-ship Dugdale was a pupil of the

school.

An engraved brass to John Whithead, who died in 1597, is interesting

for the sake of the costumes of himself and his two wives. Three stone

coffins have also been deposited here, and two sheets of lead from the

roof recording, in fine bold lettering, the repairs executed in 1660

and 1728. In the middle window on the north side are the only

remaining fragments of ancient glass. As late as 1779 there were

"portraits" of Earl Leofric and the Countess, and also, it is said, a

smaller figure of the lady in a yellow dress on a white horse. Part of

a small figure holding a spray of leaves and part of a galloping

horse are pointed out as the remains of this. To the writer the figure

appears to be clearly that of a man, and the horse and rider's leg not

to have belonged to it.

The modern stained glass is very unequal in character, and some is

very poor indeed. The windows at the west, especially one in memory of

Mr. Wm. Chater, a late organist, may be regarded as exceptions. There

are still, fortunately, many which are not filled with pious

memorials.

The =font= is the original pre-Reformation one of the fifteenth

century, which was removed by the Puritans in 1645 (though devoid of

sculpture) and brought back after the Restoration. It stands on three

steps, is panelled on bowl and stem, and rather brilliantly adorned

with gold and colour.

The south aisle was no doubt divided into two chapels, that on the

west belonging to the Barkers' or Tanners' Gild. A small piscina

against the south wall indicates the position of its altar. The wall

below the windows is recessed so as to form a seat the whole length of

the aisle.

The =south transept=, containing the Corpus Christi and Cellet's

chantries, has lost its original character completely. The piscina,

high up on the south wall, shows that the floor level was some 9 feet

above that of the church. The reason for this has been already

explained. The organ chamber is quite modern. The best authorities

place the chapel of the Butchers' Gild in the south aisle of the

chancel, but do not say to whom the eastern chapel in the nave aisle

belonged. It is known that there was a Jesus Chapel, and, in view of

the proximity of Jesus Hall, it is believed by some that this was its

position.

The present clergy vestry is a fine room, having an excellent dark oak

roof with heavy beams and well carved bosses at the intersections of

the timbers. The Royal Arms over the fireplace were painted there in

1632. Although usual, the placing of the king's arms in churches was

not compulsory until the Restoration; few earlier now remain, and this

placing of them in the vestry rather than the body of the church is

suggestive of a compromise between opposing factions. A portrait of

Walter Farquhar Hook, Vicar from 1828-37 and afterwards Dean of

Chichester is hung here.

It seems probable that this was a chapel, perhaps that of the Holy

Trinity, to whom an altar was dedicated.

The history, as traced in the church accounts, of the various organs

used in the church gives some idea of the fluctuations of opinion as

to the propriety of their use. In 1526 John Howe and John Climmowe,

citizens and organ makers of London, contracted to provide, for £30,

"a peir of Organs wt vij stopps, ov'r and besides the two Towers of

cases, of the pitche of doble Eff, and wt xxvij pleyn keyes, xix

musiks, xlvj cases of Tynn and xiiij cases of wood, wt two Starrs and

the image of the Trinite on the topp of the sayed orgayns." In 1570

the "payer of balowes" were sold, and in 1583 the pipes, "wayeng

eleven score and thirteen pounds, went for fourpence half-farthing the

pound." In 1632 a new one was obtained but its life was short, for in

1641 the Puritan party caused it to be sold "for the best advantage."

[Illustration: ALMS-BOX.]

Once more, in 1684, another was purchased from Mr. Robert Hay wood of

the City of Bath for £100; then, in 1732, Thomas Swarbrick of Warwick

built one for £600, for which a gallery was erected across the nave.

In 1855 this gave place to a new one by Foster and Andrews of Hull,

costing £800; and this was rebuilt by Messrs. Hill and Son in 1900.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: "English Church Furniture." (Antiquary series.) J.C. Cox

and A. Harvey.]

[Illustration: CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, FROM BOND'S HOSPITAL.]

ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S CHURCH

The church of St. John Baptist has a history quite different from that

of the other parish churches and is specially interesting as a

building belonging to a very limited class, namely, Collegiate

Churches owned by a Gild. Though Dugdale says that the "first and most

antient of the Gilds here was founded in the 14th Ed. III (1340)" it

is probable that, as in other places, religious gilds had for long

existed here and that the royal license or Charter of this date was

like that of Stratford-on-Avon in 1332, really a reconstitution or

confirmation of the Gild's rights, privileges and possessions.

This earliest one was known as the Merchant or St. Mary's Gild and its

first ordinances provided that "the brethren and sisteren of the gild

shall find as many chaplains as the means of the gild can well

afford." Then in 1342 that of St. John Baptist and in 1343 that of St.

Katharine was founded. The former at once founded a chantry of six

priests to sing mass daily in the churches of St. Michael and the

Trinity for "the souls of the King's progenitors and for the good

estate of the King, Queen Isabella his mother, Queen Philippa his

Consort and their children" and others, besides the members of the

Gild. In 1344 this Gild, desiring to have a building for its exclusive

use, received from Queen Isabella a small piece of land called

Babbelak on which to build a chapel in honour of God and St. John, two

priests being required to sing masses daily for the souls "of her dear

lord Edward," John, Earl of Cornwall and others. Did she seek to

satisfy her conscience thus for the woes she had brought upon her

_dear lord_? The site thus given measured 117 feet from north to south

and about 40 feet from east to west giving room for the chancel only

of the present church, this being dedicated in 1350. But in 1357

William Walsheman, valet to the Queen and now her sub-bailiff in

Coventry gave further land, added a new aisle and increased the number

of priests while the Black Prince in 1359 gave a small plot on which,

perhaps, the tower and transept now stand. Within the next ten years

Walsheman and Christiana his wife gave to the Gild certain tenements,

called the "Drapery," in the city to build a chapel in honour of the

Holy Trinity, St. Mary, St. John, and St. Katharine "within the Chapel

of Bablake." William Wolfe, mayor in 1375, is mentioned as a "great

helper" in the work at the church, the original nave and aisles being

probably built at this time, and some reconstruction of the choir.

Records are wanting of the subsequent alterations which gave it its

present form. The north clearstory of the nave shows the original

design while that of the choir and the south side of the nave belong

to the fifteenth century as do the tower and the cruciform arrangement

of the building. Leland's "Itinerary" gives the following description:

"There is also a Collegiate Church at Bablake, hard within the West

Gate (Spon Gate) alias Bablake Gate, dedicated to St. John.... It is

of the foundation of the Burgesses and there is a great Privilege,

Gild or Fraternity. In this College is now a Master and eight

ministers and lately twelve ministers." Stowe adds that there were

twelve singing men and extant deeds mention "Babbelake Hall" in which

the warden and priests lived.

Many interesting entries of expenditure are to be found in the gild

accounts showing how the Eve of St. John (Midsummer Eve) and other

festivals were celebrated before the suppression of the gilds by

Edward VI. In 1541 we have the following (the spelling is somewhat

modernized):

Expenses on Midsummer Even and on the day,--Item, 2 doz. & a half

cakes, _2s. 6d._; spice cakes, _12d._; a cest' ale and 4 gals.

_4s._; 2 gals, claret wine _16d._; 2 gals. malmsey, _2s. 8d._; 2

gals. muskedell _2s. 8d._; to Mr. Mayor _3s. 4d._; the Mayor to

offer, _8d._; to priests, clerks and children, _2s. 4d._; the

waits, _6s. 8d._; to poor people _6s. 8d._; to the cross-bearers

and torch-bearers, _8d._; the bellman, _4d._; the hire of pots,

_4d._; boughs, rushes and sweeping, _8d._; a woman 2 days to

cleanse the house, _4d._; half a hundred _3d._ nails, _1½d._;

half a pound of sugar, _4½d._; to the crossbearer and torchbearer

for St. George Day, Holy Rood Day, Shire Thursday and Whit

Sunday, _12d._; to 2 children for the same days, _6d._ Summa

(total) _38s. 2d._

That these anniversaries and wakes led to much unseemly revelling we

have evidence that cannot be gainsaid. The Trinity Gild decided in

1542

that no obite, drynkyng or com'en assemblie, from henceforth

shall be had or used at Babalake, except onelie on Trinitie even

and on the day, which shall be used as it hath been in tymes

past. And that also the P'sts of Babelack shall say _dirige_ on

midsum' even and likewise masse of _requiem_ on the morrowe, as

they have used to doo. And that the Meire shall not come down

thether to _dirige_ ov(er) night for dyv's considerac'ons and

other great busynes they used. And on the morowe thei to go

thether to masse and brekefast, as thei have used to doo.

Dugdale quotes from an old MS. an interesting passage bearing on this

question:

"And ye shall understond and know how the Evyns were furst found

in old tyme. In the beginning of holi Chirche, it was so that the

pepull cam to the Chirche with candellys brennyng and wold _Wake_

and come with light toward nyght to the Chirch to their

devocions; and afterwards they fell to lecherie and songs,

daunces, harping, piping and also to glotony and sinne and so

turned the holinesse to cursaydnesse; wherefore holi faders

ordeined the pepull to leve that _waking_ and to fast the Evyn.

But it is called _Vigilia_, that is _Waking_ in English and it is

called the Evyn, for at Evyn they were wont to come to Chirche."

In 1362 Queen Isabella helped to procure from the bishop a licence for

one Robert de Worthin, priest, to become an anchorite and to inhabit a

hermitage attached to the north aisle of the chancel. Traces of the

foundations of this have been found on the site of the modern vestry.

When the college was suppressed in 1548 the King granted to the mayor,

bailiffs and corporation, on their petition, the church and its

appurtenances in Free Burgage for ever on payment of _1d._, per annum

and gave them "all the rents, revenues and profits of the said

church."

But these gifts were not sufficient to support the church and its

services, so that the latter were irregular and repairs were

neglected. In 1608 Mayor Hancox procured the delivery of a Saturday

lecture "for the better fitting of the people for the Sabbath." In

1641 Simon Norton, alderman, left property to his son Thomas, on

trust, the condition being that if at any time St. John's should

become a parish church, he or his heirs should pay _£13 6s. 8d._ to

the minister out of rents of lands in Coundon, and also the tithes of

lands in Clifton.

Prisoners from the Scottish army being quartered on the city in 1647,

many were confined in this church and wrought much damage and

desecration. From this time services were only occasionally held,

until 1734, when an Act of Parliament was obtained making it a Parish

Church, appointing a district to it and enabling the Master and Usher

of the Free Grammar School to be Rector and Lecturer of the church.

The mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty were made patrons, but in 1835,

these arrangements having failed to work satisfactorily, the patronage

was transferred to trustees who acted as managers of the school and in

1864 the lectureship was abolished, the rectory was severed from the

office of Head Master and the Trustees of the school were charged with

a payment of £200 per annum towards the stipend of the Rector. In 1874

the advowson was sold to a private person. A great deal of

restoration, justifiable and otherwise, has taken place, the decay of

the local sandstone having made large repairs necessary. In 1861 much

renewal of the external stone work was carried out. Unfortunately

shortsighted ideas of economy led to the use of the same poor stone

and much has recently had to be done over again, this time with the

harder Runcorn stone used also at St. Michael's. The interior was

restored in 1875, galleries erected in 1735 and 1838, and high pews

were removed, the floor, which had been raised three feet, lowered,

the lantern stage of the tower opened up by removing a ringing floor

and a light iron gallery above the tower arches provided for the

ringers. The original groined ceiling has thus been made visible from

below.

THE EXTERIOR

Although small in area compared with the other churches, both exterior

and interior give an impression of size and dignity which does not

belong to many much larger buildings. In the exterior this is no doubt

due to the pseudo-cruciform arrangement, the bold central tower and

the height of the main roof, which would have appeared even greater

had the roadways not been so much raised.

The =tower= is in two stages, a lofty lantern story having two

transomed two-light windows on each face and a shorter upper one

having smaller windows without transoms and a battlemented parapet.

Large skeleton clock-dials disfigure the windows of this story. Narrow

buttress strips on either side and between the windows run through and

serve to connect the stories. The north-east angle has an octagonal

stair turret carried up above the parapet. The other angles have

narrow buttresses running up to circular bartizans boldly corbelled

out from the battlements. This is an extremely unusual feature in

ecclesiastical architecture but is common on fortified structures. Of

the City gates, Gosford Gate had machicolated ones but not Spon Gate

adjacent to the church.

[Illustration: ST. JOHN BAPTIST.]

The spacing of the windows and buttresses of the south aisle and the

position of the large transept window show how the later changes were

effected. The three windows and the buttresses with niches and

canopies almost certainly belong to the part built by Walsheman after

1357. The two in the chancel aisle are recent insertions. The doorway

at the south-west corner occupies the position where indications

showed that an original door had existed. There is also a small

priest's doorway of which the jambs are ancient. The clearstory was

restored in 1861 "from sufficiently clear indications" in the remains

of the original windows. The whole of this part is worthy of careful

study and should be compared with the corresponding parts of Trinity

Church. Everywhere we see signs of individual thought and design

mainly directed to softening the rigidity of the horizontal lines of

the square-headed and transomed "Perpendicular" windows. The method of

cusping the drop-arch and the varied treatment of these in nave,

choir and transepts are noteworthy while the little quatrefoil at the

intersection of mullion and transom is a really happy innovation. The

flying buttress over the south aisle restores a feature of the old

building which had disappeared. Of the variously panelled and

battlemented parapets, of nave, chancel and aisles a view of 1864

gives no visible hint. As the report of Sir (then Mr.) G.G. Scott in

1856 specifies as desirable the "renewing all the parapets according

to the portions of the original which remain," we can only hope (but

with no sense of certainty) that these parts are faithfully

reproduced.

The limited site on which the chancel was built (only 40 feet deep)

caused the builders to omit any buttresses or other projections at the

east end. The east window was renewed in 1861 but the proportions are

not good and it is said that one light was suppressed although the old

sill remained intact.

The west end has a large six-light window with two transoms. It was

restored in 1841 and is said to be a precise reproduction of the

original design. On the gable above it is a large niched pinnacle

which appears to be an "unauthorized" addition.

While the north aisle is later than the south, the clearstory, as has

been said is earlier, being of late Decorated date with large

three-light windows of reticulated tracery. The north transept is more

consistent in style than the south. The large four-light window is

peculiar in design. It has one transom and the tracery is brought down

much below the spring of the arch. The centre mullion is very solid,

coming forward almost to the wall face both inside and out and running

up to the apex of the arch. The clearstory windows in both transepts

are similar in general design to those of the south clearstory of the

nave but with variations suggesting a rather later date. A very

effective view of the north side can be had from the quadrangle of

Bond's Hospital, though here too it loses on account of the depressed

site in which it lies.

THE INTERIOR

The interior is not less impressive for its size than the exterior,

Sir G.G. Scott even saying that he knew of no interior more beautiful

than St. John's.

[Illustration: INTERIOR, ST. JOHN BAPTIST.]

[Illustration: CLEARSTORY WINDOWS.]

All at least will agree that there is something about it striking and

dignified which is obviously not concerned with mere size, is largely

independent of elaboration of detail and may therefore be safely

attributed to its satisfactory proportions and broad effects of light

and shade. Its plan is quite simple consisting of a nave and choir

with north and south aisles, a transept not projecting beyond the

aisles at either end and a central tower. Yet, although it is more or

less oblong as a whole, there is hardly a right angle or two parallel

walls throughout the church. In most cases these discrepancies are not

apparent, nor do they appear likely to have been intended to produce a

studied effect. Thus a diminution in width towards the east (as at

Manchester) may be expected to add to the apparent length, but here

the south aisles of both nave and chancel expand instead of

contracting. By standing within either transept and looking up at the

roof the want of parallelism of the walls and other irregularities are

plainly seen. The nave has only three bays, the arches being rather

lofty and the arch mouldings of the characteristic shallowness of the

period. The south-west pier had to be rebuilt on account of settlement

and there are signs of it in the south-east arch next the tower. The

name Bablake is said to have been derived from a pond or conduit near

by and the site may have been swampy, thus affecting the foundations.

The district is even now liable to flooding from the Sherborne (or

Shireburn) stream and as late as January 1900 the waters rose over

five feet within the church as a brass plate at the west end

testifies.

The graceful treatment of the windows of the nave and choir

clearstories is shown in the illustration. Comparing these with the

clearstory of Trinity nave (p. 71) questions of priority arise. If not

designed by the same mind the influence of one on the other is easily

seen. On the whole the greater rigidity of treatment and the anxiety

to increase the area of glass in the Trinity windows suggest that the

date is rather later and that the designs did not spring from the same

brain. The roof is very simple, the curved brackets springing from the

shafts which run down to the arches below. The wall is deeply recessed

beneath the windows. The north windows, however, are continued down in

plain panels, but this only makes more apparent the fact that they are

not placed centrally over the arches.

The north aisle has a doorway and two north windows. The windows are

of good Perpendicular design, and the mullions are continued down the

wall below, forming panels. The lowered sill and recess probably

formed a convenient retable to an altar against the wall. The west

window preserves some fragments of glass dated 1532. There is an

obliterated inscription and small etched figures--among them an

acolyte carrying a cross, one of those whose services are mentioned in

the accounts after this wise: "to the crosebeirer and torchebeirer,

for Seynt George day, hollieroode day, shire thuresday and Whit

Sunday, _12d._; to 2 childern for the same dayes _6d._"

The south aisle of the nave, including the lower part of the transept,

is doubtless the aisle erected for the Gild by William Walsheman in

1357. The two windows are not central with the nave arches, and the

third is not in the centre of the transept. Their tracery is somewhat

peculiar in design and refined in detail, and has the transitional

character one would expect from its date. There are signs on the face

of each western tower pier of the altars which once stood there,

probably those of the Trinity and St. Katharine, which are known to

have existed.

The eastern piers of the tower are later than the western, and very

unlike them in plan. A bold and ingenious treatment of the vaulting

shaft of the tower groining is used on these piers; on the western

ones the shafts stop upon the ends of the hood moulding.

The choir is now closed by a screen carrying a large rood carved in

oak. Like St. Michael's, but to a smaller extent, the axis of the

choir inclines to the north. Whether symbolic, or only a part of what

may be described as the studied irregularity of the whole building it

is hard to say. The column on each side of the choir is later than the

east respond and also later than the west tower pier, but corresponds

with the east tower pier. The deep panelling beneath the windows must

have been carried out when the clearstories were constructed in the

fifteenth century.

The south aisle of the choir, the original chapel of the patron saint,

is now fitted up and used as a morning chapel. The piscina still

remains in the south wall, and there is a trace of the old altar

visible on the wall.

The east end of the north aisle is now the organ chamber, and was

originally the Lady Chapel. The base of the altar still exists, and so

does the piscina in the south wall.

In connection with these or other altars we hear of a payment of

_22d._, in 1474, for painting a cloth for the image of St. John

Baptist, and in 1462 sums of _40s._ and _7s._ were paid to a sculptor

of Burton-on-Trent for an alabaster statue of the Virgin and a base

for it.

At the foot of the south-west tower-pier are some decayed but

interesting ancient tiles. The new ones have been copied from them.

The vicissitudes in the church's fortunes have left little for us to

see that is not part and parcel of the structure.

That there were "orgaynes" as early as 1461 we know from entries in

the city records giving the cost at different times of wire, glue,

nails, thread, etc., for the reparation of them, while a payment of

_2d._ for "a string" suggests that they were a combination of wind and

string stops, similar to the 1733 organ of St. Michael's as built by

Thomas Swarbrick. In 1519 the Prior bought the "metell of ye old

orgayns in bablake" for _9s. 10d._, but doubtless the new one

disappeared in the troublous times that followed. A new one has

recently been set up.

The pulpit is of stone and quite new, and the font, erected in 1843,

is a copy of that of St. Edward's, Cambridge.

There are five bells, the inscriptions on them being as follows:

1st. Henrycus Bagley. M.C. Fecit 1676.

2nd. Pack & Chapman. London 1778. Richard Eaton, Church-warden.

3rd. Henric Dodenhale, Fecit. M.C.E.I.C.R.I.

4th. (Illegible.) Probably of the end of fifteenth century.

5th. I ring at six to let men know

When to and from their work to go.

Neglect and decay it has been seen had provided only too plausible

excuses for restoration. In 1858 the church had a narrow escape from a

worse fate, for it was proposed to extend it in some direction, and

the architect suggested the lengthening of the north transept and the

addition of a new north aisle. Probably lack of funds alone prevented

the carrying out of a proposal which would have completely spoilt the

proportions of this beautiful interior.

THE GREY FRIARS' CONVENT

CHRIST CHURCH

The third of the "three tall spires," albeit nothing else remains of

the church to which it belonged, deserves that some notice should be

given of it and of the men who reared it.

In 1234, eleven years after their first coming into England, the

Franciscan Friars are heard of at Coventry, Ranulph, Earl of Chester,

having granted them land for their oratory, and the Sheriff of

Warwickshire, on behalf of the King, giving them shingles from the

woods of Kenilworth wherewith to cover it. In 1359 the Black Prince,

then owner of the Manor and Park of Cheylesmore, just outside the

walls of the city and adjacent to their convent, granted them so much

stone from his quarry there, "as they should have occasion to use

about their buildings and walls," and probably at this time the

church, of which Christ Church spire is a remnant, was built.

At the same time he gave them "liberty to have a postern into the

Park to carry out any of their convent that should be diseased."

The house was surrendered to the King in 1539, the warden and ten

brethren being compelled to sign a humiliating document, in which they

professed to "profoundly consider that the perfection of Christian

living doth not consist in dumb ceremonies, wearing of a grey coat,

disguising ourself after strange fashions, ducking, nodding and

becking, in girding our selves with a girdle full of knots and other

like Papisticall ceremonies."

[Illustration: THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH.]

It is certain at least that they had no accumulated wealth. Whatever

they had received had been distributed for the advantage of the Church

or the poor. At their suppression they had neither lands, tenements,

nor other possessions, save their church and house and the land these

stood on. The site was granted to the city and the buildings thrown

down, only the spire with its supporting walls and arches being

allowed to stand until 1829, when it was incorporated with the new

nave of Christ Church from the designs of Rickman, to whom we are

indebted for the first comprehensive and systematic account of English

Mediæval architecture. The work shows how imperfectly in those days

even a genuine admirer of Mediæval Art understood its spirit.

Unfortunately the tower and spire were recased with new stone, and the

original character of the work largely disappeared. The total height

is 204 feet, exclusive of the vane. The plan of the old church was

interesting, especially in the arrangement of the crossing. The short

transepts had little real relation to choir or nave, which were almost

completely separated from one another, the nave being intended for the

use of the public.

The narrowing of the tower from east to west, and the insertion of

secondary north and south arches to carry the slender octagonal tower

is unusual and ingenious. The whole length was 250 feet, and the

transepts were 96 feet from north to south. The nave and choir

differed little in length.

[Illustration: GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (CROSSING).]

The connection of the Franciscans with the production of the

Mysteries, or sacred plays, should not pass unnoticed. Dugdale, who

had spoken with eye witnesses, thus alludes to the subject:

Before the suppression of the Monasteries this City was very

famous for the Pageants that were played therein upon Corpus

Christi-day; which occasioning very great confluence of people

thither from far and near, was of no small benefit thereto; which

Pageants being acted with mighty State and Reverence by the

Friars of this House, had Theatres for the several scenes, very

large and high, placed upon wheels and drawn to all the eminent

parts of the City for the better advantage of spectators; and

contained the story of the Old and New Testament, composed in the

old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. intituled,

_Ludus Corporis Christi_, or _Ludus Coventriæ_.

Along with a number that were performed by the city companies they are

still to be seen in the British Museum. We know that the Friars

presented them as late as 1492, when Henry VII was present with his

Queen to see the plays "acted by the Grey Friars."

No remains exist of the domestic buildings of the Friary. The

well-known Ford's Hospital hard by is often called Grey Friars'

Hospital, but this arises merely from the situation. It was founded in

1529 by Mr. William Ford of Coventry, Merchant of the Staple, for five

men and one woman, but is now inhabited by women only. It is an

exceptionally beautiful example of Tudor timber construction in

perfect condition.

THE WHITE FRIARS

The Carmelite or White Friars were, says Dugdale, fixed in Coventry in

1343 by Sir John Poultney who had been four times Lord Mayor of

London. Although their buildings were ornate and extensive, their

revenue apart from oblations amounted to only _£3 6s. 8d._ per annum

and the whole came to less than £8. At the Dissolution the house and

its revenues came eventually to John Hales, Clerk of the Hanaper to

Henry VIII. Having amassed a great estate in monastery and chantry

lands, Hales founded the Free School in Coventry, the Church of the

White Friars being at first used for the purpose. Later, he made of

the Friary a dwelling and removed the school to St. John's Hospital,

granted to him by the king in 1545. Part of the church of the Hospital

still exists at the foot of Bishop Street, but the school has been

removed to new buildings in the Warwick Road.

Of the buildings of the White Friars there are considerable remains

incorporated with the Union Workhouse at the top of Much Park Street.

The east walk of the cloister, 150 feet in length, has a fine groined

roof of the fifteenth century. A range of vaulted apartments runs

alongside the cloister on the east side, divided midway by the

vestibule to the Chapter House now destroyed. The upper story above

the cloister and the range of rooms was, we may assume, the friars'

Dormitory. A huge fireplace and a bay window are part of John Hales'

reconstruction. The gateway to the south-west corner of the cloister

remains, and the outer gate of the precincts may still be seen in Much

Park Street.

[Illustration: ST. MARY HALL.]

ST. MARY HALL

The Gilds were so important a part of the religious and social life of

the city that it is imperative that some notice of their hall, which

stands in suggestive proximity to the churches, should be given. St.

Mary Hall, opposite the south side of St. Michael's is one of the most

complete and beautiful examples of a fifteenth-century town dwelling

now remaining in England. It originally belonged to the Gilds of Holy

Trinity and Our Lady to which were united at a later time those of St.

Katharine and St. John Baptist, the oldest to be founded. By the fine

groined gateway we enter the courtyard, on the south side of which is

the kitchen, probably the hall of an older structure of the first half

of the fourteenth century, the present hall and its undercroft on the

west side having been built between 1394 and 1414. On the east side is

the entrance to the staircase leading to a gallery from which the hall

is entered. At this end is the Minstrels' Gallery and beneath it are

three doorways, the centre one leading to the kitchens below, that on

the right to the old Council Chamber, that on the left to a smaller

room known as the Princes' Chamber. From the Council Chamber is

reached the stone-groined Treasury, now used for the safe keeping of

muniments and records. It forms the first floor of a low tower.

The hall, 70 feet by 30 feet, is of five bays, with the usual dais and

oriel window at the far end from the entrance.

[Illustration: ST. MARY HALL.]

The nine-light window over the dais has its original glass, made, it

is believed, by the John Thornton of Coventry who is known as the

maker of the east window of York Minster. The upper part has numerous

coats of arms of kings, cities, and princes, while the nine lights are

filled with "portraitures of several kings in their surcotes," William

I, Richard I, Henry III, IV, V, VI, King Arthur, the Emperor

Constantine, and another unnamed. The windows on either side of the

hall have suffered grievously. Those on the west (left) were deprived

of their heraldry and portraits in 1785. In those on the east new

glass with poor imitations of the ancient series of figures and

coats-of-arms was placed in 1824. At the same time the wainscotting

painted in 1580 with inscriptions and heraldry was cleared away and

replaced with cement. The inscriptions were copied with care, but "the

ornamentation was followed without any very fastidious copying of the

uncouth ancient style"![8] The timber roof is of low pitch, with

traceried spandrels above the tie-beams. Angels playing on a variety

of instruments are placed at the centre of each tie-beam and there is

much good carving of foliage and animals at the intersections of the

timbers. The most famous adornment of the hall is the tapestry behind

the dais. The following views as to its origin and subject are those

of George Scharf the antiquary. It is of Flemish design but probably

of English manufacture, is woven, not embroidered, and was made in the

early sixteenth century for the place it occupies, its compartments

corresponding with those of the window. It is in six compartments in

two rows. The upper central has a figure of Justice, an insertion

probably in the place of Christ, angels with the instruments of the

Passion being on either side. The lower central represents the

Assumption of the Virgin in presence of the apostles. The upper left

in order from the centre has eleven saints, SS. John Baptist, Matthias

(?), Paul, Adrian, Peter, George, Andrew, No. 8(?), Bartholomew,

Simon, Thaddeus. The corresponding female saints on the right are SS.

Katherine, Barbara, Dorothy, Mary Magdalen, No. 5 (?), Margaret,

Agnes, Gertrude of Nivelle, Anne, Apollonia.

The lower left has a king kneeling at a prie-dieu on which is his

crown and an open book. A cardinal kneels behind him but there is no

other ecclesiastic among the seventeen courtiers standing behind. In

the opposite compartment is a queen kneeling with a number of ladies,

among whom are two in monastic dress. Although the work belongs to the

reign of Henry VII, the king and queen are almost certainly Henry VI

and Margaret of Anjou.

On the walls are portraits of later sovereigns from William III to

George IV, that of George III being by Lawrence. The Mayoress' Parlour

opening from the dais has been drastically restored. It contains

portraits of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, and

four benefactors to the city, John Hales, founder of the Free School,

Sir Thomas White, Thomas Jesson and Christopher Davenport.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: "Coventry: its History and Antiquities," B. Poole, 1870.]

THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY

Little remains of this monastery which stood on the south side and not

far from the city. The Order settled in Coventry in 1381 only ten

years after the foundation of the London Charter-house. At the

Dissolution the Prior and brethren, ten in all, did not emulate the

heroism of the London monks and were fortunate enough to obtain

pensions instead of martyrdom. Some trifling remains exist

incorporated in a modern mansion, and a wall of the garden shows the

position of doors which led to the isolated cells of the monks. The

Botoners had given freely to the building of the church and cloisters

of which Richard II laid the first stone in 1385 and afterwards

largely endowed "on condition that they should find and maintain

within the precinct of their house, twelve poor scholars from seven

years old till they accomplished the age of seventeen years, there to

pray for the good estate of him the said King and of his Consort,

during this life, and for the health of their souls after death."

INDEX

Abbots of Coventry, 4.

Alms-boxes, 56, 77.

Apse, 36.

Bells, 56, 91.

Benefactors of Coventry, 99.

Botoner, William and Adam, 22.

Carthusian Monastery, 99.

Chantries, Foundation of, 9.

Christ Church, 91.

City, History of, 1-15.

Cross, 15.

Dissolution of Monasteries, 13.

Duel, Hereford and Norfolk, 11.

Evens or Wakes, 83.

Fonts, 51, 76.

Ford's Hospital, 94.

Friars, Coming of, 8.

Grey Friars Convent (Christ Church):

History, 94.

Plan of Crossing, 93.

Suppression, 92.

Gilds, 6, 10.

Glass, Ancient, 56, 75, 89.

Godiva and Leofric, 4, 75.

Hales, John, 14, 94.

Hermitage. 83.

Hospital, Ford's, 94.

Hospital, St. John's, 94.

Lollards, 11.

Martyrs, 14.

Midsummer Eve, 82.

Misereres, 48.

Monastery, History, 1-15.

Monastery Ruins, 16-18.

Orders of Angels, 47.

Organ, 55, 77, 90.

Pageants and Plays, 13, 14, 93.

Parliamentum Indoctorum, 11.

Parliamentum Diabolicum, 12.

Persecution, 14.

Pilgrims' Rest or Guest House, 15.

Priory, Ruins, 16-18.

Royal visits:

Henry VI, 11, 12.

Margaret, 23.

Edward IV, 12.

Richard III, 13.

Henry VII, 13.

Henry VIII, 13.

Elizabeth, 14.

Mary Queen of Scots, 14.

Charles I, 14.

St. John Baptist Church:

History, 81.

Exterior, 84.

Interior, 86.

Bells, 91.

Clearstory windows, 85.

Collegiate foundation, 81.

Glass, ancient, 89.

Organ, 90.

St. Mary Hall:

Glass, ancient, 97.

Plan, 98.

Portraits, 99.

Tapestry, 98.

St. Michael's Church:

History, 21-26.

Exterior, 29.

Interior, 41.

Apse, 36.

Bells, 56.

Brasses, 51, 55.

Chapels:

Cappers', 53.

Drapers' or Lady, 36, 47.

Dyers', 52.

Mercers, 54.

Chapter, Constitution of, 25.

Chest, 50.

Crypt, 36.

Font, 51.

Glass, ancient, 56.

Old church, position of, 42.

Organ, 55.

Porch, south, 34.

Proportions of Steeple, 30.

Pulpit, 56.

Spire, 32.

Tombs:

Berkeley, 49.

Bond, 49.

Nethermyl, 50.

Skeffington, 55.

Swillington, 54.

Wade's, 55.

Trinity Church:

History, 61.

Exterior, 65.

Interior, 69.

Chapels:

Archdeacon's, 75.

Butchers', 76.

Corpus Christi, 76.

Marler's, 73.

St. Thomas's, 74.

Clearstory, 69.

Font, 76.

Glass, ancient, 75.

Lectern, Eagle, 73.

Organ, 77.

Plan, 66.

Pulpit, 72.

Spire, 66.

Tombs:

Philemon Holland, 75.

Whithead (Brass), 75.

White Friars' Convent, 94.

[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH]

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BANGOR. By P.B. IRONSIDE-BAX.

BRISTOL. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, M.A.

CANTERBURY. By HARTLEY WITHERS. 4th Edition.

CARLISLE. By C.K. ELEY.

CHESTER. By CHARLES HIATT. 2nd Edition, revised.

CHICHESTER. By H.C. CORLETTE, A.R.I.B.A. 2nd Edition.

DURHAM. By J.E. BYGATE, A.R.C.A. 2nd Edition.

ELY. By Rev. W.D. SWEETING, M.A. 2nd Edition.

EXETER. By PERCY ADDLESHAW, B.A. 2nd Edition.

GLOUCESTER. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, M.A. 2nd Edition.

HEREFORD. By A. HUGH FISHER, A.R.E. 2nd Edition, revised.

LICHFIELD. By A.B. CLIFTON. 2nd Edition, revised.

LINCOLN. By A.F. KENDRICK, B.A. 3rd Edition, revised.

LLANDAFF. By E.C. MORGAN-WILLMOTT.

MANCHESTER. By the Rev. T. PERKINS, M.A., F.R.A.S.

NORWICH. By C.H.B. QUENNELL. 2nd Edition.

OXFORD. By Rev. PERCY DEARMER, M.A. 2nd Edition, revised.

PETERBOROUGH. By Rev. W.D. SWEETING, M.A. 2nd Edition.

RIPON. By CECIL HALLET, B.A.

ROCHESTER. By G.H. PALMER, B.A. 2nd Edition.

ST. ALBANS. By Rev. T. PERKINS, M.A.

ST. ASAPH. By P.B. IRONSIDE-BAX.

ST. DAVID'S. By PHILIP ROBSON, A.R.I.B.A.

ST. PATRICK'S, DUBLIN. By the Very Rev. Dean BERNARD. 2nd Edition.

ST. PAUL'S. By Rev. ARTHUR DIMOCK, M.A. 2nd Edition.

SALISBURY. By GLEESON WHITE, 2nd Edition, revised.

SOUTHWARK, ST. SAVIOUR'S. By GEORGE WORLEY.

SOUTHWELL. By Rev. ARTHUR DIMOCK, M.A. 2nd Edition.

WELLS. By Rev. PERCY DEARMER, M.A. 2nd Edition, revised.

WINCHESTER. By P.W. SERGEANT. 3rd Edition, revised.

WORCESTER. By EDWARD F. STRANGE.

YORK. By A. CLUTTON BROCK. 3rd Edition.

_Others to follow_.

Bell's Cathedral Series

UNIFORM VOLUMES

_Profusely Illustrated. Cloth, crown 8vo, 1s. 6d. net._

BATH ABBEY, MALMESBURY ABBEY, AND BRADFORD-ON-AVON CHURCH. By

Rev. T. PERKINS, M.A.

BEVERLEY MINSTER. By CHARLES HIATT. 47 Illustrations.

ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY. By Rev. CANON ROUTLEDGE, M.A.,

F.S.A. 24 Illustrations.

THE CHURCHES OF COVENTRY. By FREDERIC W. WOODHOUSE.

ROMSEY ABBEY. By Rev. T. PERKINS, M.A.

STRATFORD-ON-AVON. By HAROLD BAKER.

THE TEMPLE CHURCH. By GEORGE WORLEY.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S, SMITHFIELD. By GEORGE WORLEY.

TEWKESBURY ABBEY AND DEERHURST PRIORY. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, M.A. 44

Illustrations.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY. By CHARLES HIATT.

WIMBORNE MINSTER AND CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY. By Rev. T. PERKINS,

M.A., F.R.A.S. 65 Illustrations.

MALVERN PRIORY. By the REV. ANTHONY C. DEANE.

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Bell's Handbooks to Continental Churches

_Profusely Illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net each._

CHARTRES: The Cathedral and Other Churches. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ,

M.A.

ROUEN: The Cathedral and Other Churches. By the Rev. T. PERKINS,

M.A.

AMIENS. By the Rev. T. PERKINS, M.A., F.R.A.S.

PARIS (NOTRE-DAME). By CHARLES HIATT.

MONT ST. MICHEL. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, M.A.

BAYEUX. By the Rev. R.S. MYLNE, M.A.

Opinions of the Press.

"For the purpose at which they aim they are admirably done, and there

are few visitants to any of our noble shrines who will not enjoy their

visit the better for being furnished with one of these delightful

books, which can be slipped into the pocket and carried with ease, and

is yet distinct and legible.... A volume such as that on Canterbury is

exactly what we want, and on our next visit we hope to have it with

us. It is thoroughly helpful, and the views of the fair city and its

noble cathedral are beautiful. Both volumes, moreover, will serve more

than a temporary purpose, and are trustworthy as well as

delightful."--_Notes and Queries_.

"We have so frequently in these columns urged the want of cheap,

well-illustrated, and well-written handbooks to our cathedrals, to

take the place of the out-of-date publications of local booksellers,

that we are glad to hear that they have been taken in hand by Messrs.

George Bell & Sons."--_James's Gazette_.

"The volumes are handy in size, moderate in price, well illustrated,

and written in a scholarly spirit. The history of cathedral and city

is intelligently set forth and accompanied by a descriptive survey of

the building in all its detail. The illustrations are copious and well

selected, and the series bids fair to become an indispensable

companion to the cathedral tourist in England."--_Times_.

"They are nicely produced in good type, on good paper, and contain

numerous illustrations, are well written, and very cheap. We should

imagine architects and students of architecture will be sure to buy

the series as they appear, for they contain in brief much valuable

information."--_British Architect_.

"Each of them contains exactly that amount of information which the

intelligent visitor, who is not a specialist, will wish to have. The

disposition of the various parts is judiciously proportioned, and the

style is very read-able. The illustrations supply a further important

feature; they are both numerous and good. A series which cannot fail

to be welcomed by all who are interested in the ecclesiastical

buildings of England."--_Glasgow Herald_.

"Those who, either for purposes of professional study or for a

cultured recreation, find it expedient to 'do' the English cathedrals

will welcome the beginning of Bell's 'Cathedral Series.' This set of

books is an attempt to consult, more closely, and in greater detail

than the usual guide-books do, the needs of visitors to the cathedral

towns. The series cannot but prove markedly successful. In each book a

business-like description is given of the fabric of the church to

which the volume relates, and an interesting history of the relative

diocese. The books are plentifully illustrated, and are thus made

attractive as well as instructive. They cannot but prove welcome to

all classes of readers interested either in English Church history or

in ecclesiastical architecture."--_Scotsman_.

"They have nothing in common with the almost invariably wretched local

guides save portability, and their only competitors in the quality and

quantity of their contents are very expensive and mostly rare works,

each of a size that suggests a packing-case rather than a coat-pocket.

The 'Cathedral Series' are important compilations concerning history,

architecture, and biography, and quite popular enough for such as take

any sincere interest in their subjects."--_Sketch_.

LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS YORK HOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, W.C.

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