the altar of the Virgin was removed to the east end of the church
after Abbot Knowle had rebuilt the choir) is entered from the
north-east corner of the transept. The chapel is Early English, and
dates, according to Mr. Godwin, from the time of Abbot John
(1196-1215). The chapel is of four bays, the windows in which are
triplets with inner arches, of which those at the side are
gracefully foliated. The detached vaulting-shafts are of Purbeck
marble. The sculpture of the capitals and string-courses is
unusually good; and the spandrels of the wall-arcade are filled
with grotesque designs which are full of spirit and character,
greatly resembling the sculpture in Wells Cathedral, much of which
is of the same date. Remember especially--a goat blowing a horn and
carrying a hare slung over his back; a ram and an ape playing on
musical instruments; and St. Michael with the dragon(?); below is a
fox carrying off a foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
stamp the English character.”--(R. J. K.)
This chapel was originally detached from the rest of the Cathedral.
Beneath the two arches
[Illustration: BRISTOL: NORTH]
[Illustration: BRISTOL: NAVE, EAST]
between it and the north-choir-aisle stands the =Tomb of Maurice=, ninth
Lord Berkeley (died 1368). Here he lies with =Elizabeth=, his wife. The
knight is in armour and his head lies on a mitre. A good groined canopy
overshadows these figures.
Retracing our steps into the choir and passing into the
=South-choir-aisle=, we examine the Glenham window, which is of the same
date as the corresponding one in the north-choir-aisle.
The subjects are--in the centre, above, _Our Lord Driving the Money
Changers from the Temple_; below, _Jacob’s Dream_; on the right, above,
the _Tribute Money_; below, _Melchisedec_ and _Abraham_; the subject on
the left, above, is uncertain; below, the _Sacrifice of Gideon_.
From the western bay of the south-choir-aisle we enter the =Newton
Chapel=, where members of the Newton family lie. This dates from
1332-1341. The style is late Decorated. The south wall divides it from
the Chapter-House, with which it is parallel.
On the right, after passing out of the Newton Chapel, we come to one of
Abbot Knowle’s recesses. The foliage consists of oak leaves and acorns
interspersed here and there with tiny sprays of mistletoe, an unusual
ornament, in church decoration.
We next pass the =Tomb of Thomas, Lord Berkeley=, who died in 1243. He is
represented in armour. His crossed legs show that he was a
knight-templar. This is the oldest monument in the cathedral. The next
recess contains the effigy of =Maurice, Lord Berkeley=, who died in 1281.
He is also in armour. In the next bay we pass up one step to the
entrance of a =Vestibule= (once a sacristy, now a music-room for the
choristers), a fine specimen of Decorated work. Through this we pass
into =Berkeley Chapel=.
“Opposite the entrance door on the south side are three ogee arches
with niches between. In one of these, the third from the west, was
a hearth upon which the sacramental bread was baked. The
ornamentation in the spandrels and the finials is curiously
interesting work in foliage. The vaulting of the roof would seem to
stamp the work as that of Abbot Knowle. It consists of curved ribs,
quite detached, large in section, springing from small capitals.
The bosses are particularly fine, the foliage being very flowing
and free. It is difficult to realise that the mason has here done
in stone what many wood-carvers would fail to do in their softer
material. The door into the Berkeley Chapel is enriched with a
niche overhead, and a moulding below consisting of medlers.”--(H.
J. L. J. M.)
The Berkeley Chapel was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It is thought that
an altar also stood here to St. Keyne, who turned to stone all the
snakes in the vicinity. The ammonites were probably suggested by finding
one or two in a piece of stone.
“There are two windows toward the east, the soffetes of which are
ornamented with a gigantic ball-flower; and the peculiar foliage on
some of the capitals should be remarked. Under each of the windows
was an altar, the steps and piscinæ of which remain. The altars
were separated by a screen, the marks of which were visible in the
old pavement. Between the chapel and the aisle the wall is pierced
by the peculiar arch of Abbot Knowle; and under it, in the
thickness of the wall, is an altar-tomb much ornamented and
containing five shields charged with the coats of the Berkeley,
Ferrers and De Quincey families. The tomb in its present state is
no doubt that of Thomas, Lord Berkeley (died 1321), whose wives
were of those families; but the lower part, with its very fine
foliage, is of Early English date, and may possibly have been
removed from another part of the church.”--(R. J. K.)
The =Lady-Chapel= is of the same date as the Choir. The east end was
rebuilt about 1280 and a window with geometrical tracery, consisting of
foliated circles, was inserted. Until 1895 it was used as a chancel. It
is 42 feet long and 32 feet broad and consists of two bays. It is
lighted by five windows. The central one is a Jesse window, and each of
the four side windows has a transom with rich tracery below. This rich
tracery we noticed from the street. In a good light relics of the
ancient painting on the walls, representing angels, each with a golden
nimbus, can be seen.
The =Reredos= of the Lady-Chapel is partly Abbot Knowle’s work and partly
Perpendicular. On the first bay of the south side are the =Sedilia=,
restorations of the original cut away to make room for an Elizabethan
tomb of =Sir John Young= and his family. They are in four divisions with
rich canopies of leafage supported by shafts of red serpentine.
The various recesses contain tombs and effigies of dignitaries of the
Cathedral, and, while the general lines of these recesses are similar,
there is much variety in the treatment of details.
The splendid =East Window= is pure Decorated and of great beauty in
tracery and design. Most of the glass is old, which adds another charm
to the lovely effect of the tracery. There is much beautiful silvery
white glass from which the brilliant colours sparkle with great effect,
and we have no difficulty in tracing the _Tree of Jesse_:
“The lower lights are separated by vine tendrils into oval panels,
twenty-one in all. In the lowest tier in the centre is Jesse with
David on the right and Solomon on the left hand. To the left of the
latter are the prophets Micah, Haggai, Malachi; to the right of
David are Jeremiah, Daniel and Amos. In the next tier the central
figure is the Virgin and Child with Hezekiah on the left and Ahaz
on the right, the four kings, David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Ahaz,
representing the descent of the promise. To the left of Hezekiah
are the prophets Jonah, Habakkuk, Zechariah; and to the right of
Ahaz are Isaiah, Ezekiel and Hosea. Above these two rows of regular
panels are three panels, containing four subjects--the central one
giving us the Crucifixion, with our Lord in glory in the upper part
of the light. In the right hand light is the Virgin Mary, in that
on the left is St. John.
“In the head of this window there are now seventeen blazons of
arms. In the quatrefoil at the top--the arms of England as used
before the time of Edward III., viz., the three lions; in the two
trefoils immediately below are Berkeley of Stoke Gifford (L),
Berkeley of Berkeley Castle (R).
“Most of the glass in this upper part is original and is supposed
by Mr. Winston to date between 1312-1322, as the arms of Gaveston,
who was murdered in 1312, are not in the window, while the arms of
De Bohun, who was slain in open rebellion in 1322, are clearly
here. The glass, then, is of Knowle’s time, and being contemporary
with the masonry, affords a rich example of the harmony of form and
colour about which one hears so much but which one so seldom sees.
It is probable that the tracery of the window may have been
designed for Abbot Knowle by the builder of the window at Carlisle,
also an Augustinian house. There is a strong resemblance in the two
windows, both of which are excellent work.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)
The four side windows contain rich and interesting glass of the same
date. The one bearing the arms of Mortimer, Earl of March, has a picture
of the _Martyrdom of St. Edmund_, the last of the native kings of East
Anglia, who taken prisoner by the Danes in 870 refused to abjure his
faith. He was put to death. Here we find, according to legend, the grey
wolf watching over the severed head. The costume of the soldiers gives
us 1320 as the date of this magnificent window. Beneath St. Edmund are
an archbishop and two knights, bearing the arms of the Berkeleys.
The tracery of the large north window was inserted in 1704.
The =South Transept= contains the tomb of Bishop Butler, more famed as the
author of the _Analogy of Religion_ than as Bishop of Bristol
(1738-1750). The epitaph is by Southey.
The =Cloisters=, on the south side of the cathedral, are entered from the
south transept. From them the =Chapter-House= is entered.
The entrance, or vestibule, of the Chapter-House shows a very early
example of what may be called a pointed arch. The mouldings and members
are quite of the circular style and character. From north to south the
arches are round-headed, but east and west they are pointed. This
Transitional Norman work--dating from Fitzhardinge’s time--is of special
interest.
“The chapter-house is one of the oldest parts of the earlier fabric
of the cathedral, and as Britton truly says, ‘in its original state
must have been one of the most interesting of the kind in the
kingdom and perhaps in Europe.’ In spite of what it has undergone
at the hands of architects, restorers and rioters, it is most
interesting still, a regular parallelogram in shape, measuring 42
feet in length by 25 in breadth and 25 feet in height, divided into
two bays.
“The eastern wall, which dates from 1831, has three windows, and
the west wall has also three round-headed arches, the central one
being the main door, while the side ones serve as windows, each
being subdivided by a small pier. Each of these main openings has a
label of cable-moulding. Above this cable-moulding is an arcade of
interlacing arches, borne by thirteen tall piers, alternately
plain and twisted; and above this is a semicircular space, also
filled with rounded-headed intersecting arches, so arranged as to
fill the semicircular space. The north and south walls have a plain
round-headed arcading below, with a bold round moulding, while
above is an elaborate arcading, similar to the lower tier on the
west wall, but with much richer capitals. Above this is interlaced
lattice-work, and above this in one bay a space covered with zigzag
mouldings. The shafts of the arcading on the walls are alternately
richly carved or almost plain. The clustered shafts, from which the
main arch of the vaulting springs, are peculiarly rich in
ornamentation.”--(H. J. L. J. M.)
In the Chapter-House there is preserved a fine piece of archaic
sculpture, which was found under the floor in 1831 after the destructive
fire of that date, in use as a slab covering an ancient coffin. It
represents the descent of the Saviour into Hell and the delivery of
Adam, and is probably of the same date as the slabs in Chichester.
The famous =Great Gateway=, the arcading of which is much in the style of
the Chapter-House, is supposed to stand on the site of the principal
entrance to Fitzhardinge’s monastery. Though Norman in style and
probably containing a lot of Norman masonry, critics believe that it is
a Perpendicular restoration of the old work.
This archway is composed of four recessed orders enriched with chevron
and other mouldings and ornaments. This must not be confused with the
less elaborate =Gateway in Lower College Green=, probably of
Fitzhardinge’s time and strengthened by Abbot Newland. The latter was
the gateway to the abbot’s dwelling and afterwards to the Bishop’s
Palace.
GLOUCESTER
DEDICATION: ST. PETER: FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE ABBEY.
SPECIAL FEATURES: CENTRAL TOWER; CHOIR; LADY-CHAPEL; EAST WINDOW;
CLOISTERS.
Gloucester presents a fine view from all points of approach.
“As a rule, visitors see it first from the south side, and the
south-west general view is one of the best, equalled, but not
surpassed, by that from the north-west. The north view from the
Great Western Railway, with the school playing-fields in the
foreground, makes a striking picture, but it is more sombre than
the picture formed by the south front. Viewed from the north-west
corner of the cloister-garth, the pile is seen perhaps at its best.
From this point it is easy to study so much the varied architecture
of the whole, and with little effort to transport the mind back for
a space of four hundred years. The eye first rests upon the turf of
the garth now tastefully laid out after many years of comparative
neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are the exquisite windows
of the Cloister--a cloister which no other can surpass. Above the
Cloister will be seen on the eastern side the sober, impressive
Norman work of the Chapter-house in which so much of our English
history has been made. To the south of this is the Library, built
close against the walls of the north transept, which tower above,
and lead the eye upward to the great tower which, ‘in the middest
of the church,’ crowns the whole.
“Placed where it is, almost in the centre of the long line of the
nave, continued in the choir and Lady-chapel, at the point where
the transept line intersects it, it is the chief feature of the
massive pile. All else seems to be grouped with a view to the
enhancing of the effect of the central position of the tower. The
other members of the building seem merely to be steps, by means of
which approach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most
impressive feature of the outside. No matter from whence one looks
at it, the charm is there. Seen from the gardens in the side
streets close by when the pear-trees are in bloom, or in the full
blaze of a hot summer day, or again later in the autumn when the
leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still, in snow time, it is
always full of beauty. On a bright hot day the pinnacles seem so
far off in the haze as to suggest a dream fairyland. On a wet day,
after a shower, the tower has the appearance of being so close at
hand that it almost seems to speak. Viewed by moonlight, the tower
has an unearthly look, which cannot well be described. The tower is
225 feet high to the top of the pinnacles, and the effect of it is
extremely fine. From the main cornice upwards, the whole of the
stone-work is open, and composed of what at a distance appears to
be delicate tracery, and mullions and crocketed pinnacles.”--(H. J.
L. J. M.)
In it hang the venerable _bells_ that escaped the king’s commissioners
at the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1553.
Gloucester is notable for its examples of the Transition from Decorated
to Perpendicular, which probably originated in this Cathedral.
The abbey of Gloucester was founded by Osric, viceroy of King Edward, in
681. It was dedicated to St. Peter. Osric’s sister, Kyneburga, who died
in 710, was the first Abbess of this double foundation for monks and
nuns. Osric and Kyneburga were buried in the Abbey church in front of
the altar of St. Petronilla. In 823, secular priests were placed here by
the King of Mercia; and in 1022 they were expelled by Canute for
Benedictine monks. When the monastery was burned to the ground, Aldred,
Bishop of Worcester, re-established the monks in 1058, and began the
building of a new church also to St. Peter,--“a little further from the
place where it had first stood, and nearer to the side of the city.”
The monastery failed to flourish; Aldred was translated to York in 1060;
and when Serlo, who had been William the Conqueror’s chaplain, succeeded
to Wilstan, or Wulstan, Aldred’s successor, he had under him only two
monks and eight novices. After fifteen years of energetic rule
(1072-1103), Serlo rebuilt the Cathedral.
In August, 1089, an earthquake damaged the then existing building.
Eleven years later (1100), in the last year of the reign of William
Rufus, “the church,” as Florence of Worcester wrote, “which Abbot Serlo,
of revered memory, had built from the foundations at Gloucester, was
dedicated (on Sunday, July 15th) with great pomp by Samson, Bishop of
Worcester; Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester; Gerard, Bishop of Hereford; and
Herveas, Bishop of Bangor.” It is thought that part of the church was
finished for the dedication, such as the presbytery, choir, the
transepts, the Abbot’s cloister, the chapter-house, and the greater part
of the nave.
The Saxon Chronicle tells us that in 1122, while the monks were singing
mass, fire burst out from the upper part of the steeple, and burnt the
whole monastery. Between 1164 and 1179 one of the western towers fell
down.
Repairs were consequently necessary.
Offerings at the Tomb of Edward II. were a great aid in providing funds.
“Instead of going on with Abbot Morwent’s rebuilding of the nave,
the monks now turned their attention to the central tower. The
tower was of no use as a lantern, for the lierne vault of the choir
had been carried beneath it. So it long remained unaltered. But in
the days of Abbot Seabroke (1460-1482), it was rebuilt under the
superintendence of a monk named Tully, to be in character with the
new exterior of choir and transepts. A very imposing tower it is;
fully able, from its massiveness as well as from its height, to
gather together the masses of the building--all the more so because
the transepts are so short. It succeeds where the central towers of
Worcester and Hereford fail; in fact, it is as effective in its way
as Salisbury spire. The pinnacles, again, bear witness to the love
of these later artists for harmony and unity; each pinnacle, with
its two ranges of windows, is a repeat of the two stages of the
tower below.
“Then--after the tower had been erected--it was decided to rebuild
the Lady-chapel. So an immense detached building was constructed to
the east of the great window of the presbytery; without aisles, but
with little transepts; almost one continuous sheet of glass, and
with a superb vault. This Lady-chapel had to be joined up to the
presbytery, but the great east window was in the way. However, the
difficulty was got over by a series of ingenious shifts and dodges,
which must be seen to be appreciated (1457-1499).
“And so ended this great building-period at Gloucester (1330-1499),
which turned the course of English architecture; so that the
Curvilinear style of 1315 to 1360 did not find its natural
development in Flamboyant, as on the Continent, but was switched
off to Perpendicular and Tudor design.”--(F. B.)
Let us see what the “shifts and dodges” referred to above consisted of.
“The method of joining the Lady-chapel to the choir is best noticed
from the outside. It is a piece of exceedingly clever and graceful
construction, and there is the minimum of obstruction to the light
passing through to the east window, and the maximum of support to
the elliptical east window. Viewing the Lady-chapel from the north
side, the play of light through the windows on the south side has a
very grand effect. Under the east end of the Lady-chapel is a
passage which has given rise to much speculation in bygone times.
The Lady-chapel, at
[Illustration: GLOUCESTER: EAST]
[Illustration: GLOUCESTER: TOMB OF EDWARD II.]
the time of its erection, was carried out to the farthest limit of
the land possessed by the Abbey. As the east wall of the chapel was
actually on the western boundary wall the passage was made to give
access from the north to the south of the grounds, without the need
of going right round the precincts by the west front.”--(H. J. L.
J. M.)
During the reign of Henry VIII., the Abbey which had
“existed for more than eight centuries under different forms, in
poverty and in wealth, in meanness and in magnificence, in
misfortune and success, finally succumbed to the royal will. The
day came, and that a drear winter day, when its last Mass was sung,
its last censer waved, its last congregation bent in rapt and lowly
adoration before the altar there; and, doubtless, as the last tones
of that day’s evensong died away in the vaulted roof, there were
not wanting those who lingered in the solemn stillness of the old
massive pile, and who, as the lights disappeared one by one, felt
that there was a void which could never be filled, because their
old abbey, with its beautiful services, its frequent means of
grace, its hospitality to strangers, and its loving care for God’s
poor, had passed away like a morning dream, and was gone for
ever.”--(W. H. H.)
Gloucester has suffered from the hands of restorers. In 1847, Mr. F. S.
Waller made extensive repairs. At this time the gardens were added.
The exterior presents a great variety of battlements and pinnacles and
another interesting feature in the exterior is the construction of the
two passages which make up the greater part of the so-called Whispering
Gallery. This connects the north and south triforium of the choir.
The =West Front= of Gloucester, restored in 1874, is comparatively
uninteresting. The buttresses of the great window are pieced, as are
also the parapets. Plain transoms cross the lights of the great west
window, the tracery of which is very elaborate when looked at from
within. The old towers have disappeared.
The =South Porch= is the principal entrance. It is the work of Morwent
(1421-1437). Over the doorway stand St. Peter and St. Paul and the four
Evangelists, and below them are King Osric and Abbot Serlo, the founders
of the Abbey church. In the niches of the buttress stand St. Jerome, St.
Ambrose, St. Augustine and St. Gregory. The windows of this porch have
been formed by piercing the tracery of the inside. Over the porch is an
unfinished parvis. The doors date from the Fifteenth Century.
We now enter the =Nave=.
“The first impression of the nave changes all earlier thoughts of
the age of the building. It is unmistakably Norman, grand beyond
expression, but cold, severe and deathly white. The stained glass
(mostly modern) of the Norman and Decorated windows fails to supply
the evident lack of colour.
“There was a time when lines of blue and scarlet and gold relieved
the white vaulted roof, when altars agleam with colour and pale
flickering lights gave light and brightness to the chill whiteness
of this vast and mighty colonnade. On Sunday evenings, when the
nave is filled with worshippers and the bright searching daylight
is replaced by the yellow gleam of the little tongues of fire above
the great and massive arches, the want of colour is little felt,
and the noble and severe beauty of the matchless Norman work in the
great nave strikes the beholder. The nave of Gloucester, to be
loved and admired as it deserves, and as it appeared to men in the
days of the Plantagenet Kings, must be seen in one of the many
crowded evening services.
“Save that the altars with their wealth of colour and light are
gone, and the lines of colouring and the glint of gold of the
Norman wooden ceiling no longer are visible on the stone-vaulted
roof above and the south aisle Norman windows are replaced with
exquisite Decorated work of the time of the second Edward, there is
no great structural change since the day at the close of the
Eleventh Century when Abbot Fulda from Shrewsbury preached his
famous sermon to the Gloucester folk, the sermon in which he
foretold the death of the imperious and cruel Rufus in words so
plain, so unmistakable, that Abbot Serlo of Gloucester, who loved
the great wicked King, in spite of his many sins, was alarmed and
at once sent to warn his master, but in vain. Rufus disregarded the
Gloucester note of alarm, and a few hours later the news of the
King of England’s bloody death, in the leafy glades of the New
Forest, rang through Normandy and England.