present roof is of stucco, added in 1819; the original Norman roof was
probably of wood, although springing shafts exist, which seem to
indicate that a stone vault was contemplated by the Norman builders. The
north aisle retains its original stone vaulting, put up about 1200. This
aisle is slightly later than the southern one, which was completed first
in order that the cloister might be built. The windows are of plate
tracery, and mark the transition between Early English and Decorated.
The south aisle is very richly decorated with a fine wall arcade
enriched with cable and billet mouldings. The vaulting is of the same
date as that in the north aisle, and is also the work of Peter, Prior
from 1195 to 1225. In the western bay is the original Norman window, the
others being filled with modern tracery of Decorated style. In this
aisle is a large aumbry and recess, where the bier and lights used at
funerals were stored. There is also a holy-water stoup in the third
bay. At the west end are the remains of the stairway which led to the
dormitory. The stairway is built into the wall, which, at this
particular spot, is nearly seven feet thick.
Under the north transept is an early Norman apsidal crypt with aumbries
in the walls. There is a corresponding crypt in the south wing.
The ritual choir of the canons included the transept crossing as well as
one bay of the parish nave, but at a later date the ritual and the new
architectural choirs were made to correspond, and the present stone
rood-screen was erected. It dates from the time of Edward III. It has a
plain base, surmounted with a row of panelled quatrefoils, over which is
a string-course with a double tier of canopied niches. The whole screen
is massive and of superb workmanship.
The choir is of Perpendicular architecture, lighted by four lofty
windows on each side. There is no triforium, its place being occupied
with panelling. On each side of the choir are fifteen stalls with
quaintly carved misericords.
The presbytery stands on a Norman crypt, and is backed by a stone
reredos far exceeding in beauty the somewhat similar screens at
Winchester, Southwark, and St. Albans. It is of three stories, with
five compartments in each tier, and represents the genealogy of our
Lord. The screen is flanked on the north side by the Salisbury Chapel.
In the crypt beneath is the chantry of de Redvers, now walled up to form
a family vault for the Earls of Malmesbury, lay rectors of the church.
The Lady Chapel is vaulted like the choir, from which it is an eastern
extension, and has a superb reredos dating from the time of Henry VI.
The Chapel contains several tombs and monuments, including that of
Thomas, Lord West, who bequeathed six thousand marks to maintain a
chantry of six priests.
Beneath the tower is the marble monument by Weekes to the memory of the
poet Shelley, who was drowned by the capsizing of a boat in the Gulf of
Spezzia in 1822. Below the name "Percy Bysshe Shelley" are the following
lines from his "Adonais":--
"He has outsoared the shadow of our night;
Envy and calumny and hate and pain,
And that unrest which men miscall delight,
Can touch him not and torture not again:
From the contagion of the world's slow stain
He is secure, and now can never mourn
A heart grown cold, a head grown grey in vain;
Nor, when the spirits' self has ceased to burn,
With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn".
At the Reformation the domestic buildings were pulled down, and the old
Priory church became the parish church of Christchurch. The last Prior
was John Draper II, vicar of Puddletown, Dorset, and titular Bishop of
Neapolis. He surrendered the Priory on 28th November, 1539, when he
received a pension of _L_133, 6_s._ 8_d._; and was allowed to retain
Somerford Grange during his life. The original document reads:--
"To John Draper, Bishop of Neapolytan, late prior there
(Christchurch), _L_133, 6_s._ 8_d._; also the manor of Somerford,
called the Prior's lodging, parcel of the manor of Somerford, being
part of the said late monastery, for term of life of the said
bishop without anything yielding or paying thereof."
The other inmates of the monastery also received pensions. The debts
owed by the brethren at the Dissolution include such items as:--
"To John Mille, Recorder of Southampton, for wine and ale had of
him, _L_24, 2_s._ 8_d._ William Hawland, of Poole, merchant, for
wine, fish, and beer had of him, _L_8, 13_s._ 2_d._ Guillelmus,
tailor, of Christchurch, as appeareth by his bill, 26_s._ Roger
Thomas, of Southampton, for a pair of organs, _L_4."
Heron Court was the Prior's country house, while Somerford and St.
Austin's, near Lymington, were granges and lodges belonging to the
foundation.
On leaving the Priory a visit should be paid to the ruins of the old
Norman Castle, perched on the top of a high mound that commands the town
on every side, and the Priory as well. Only fragments of the walls
remain of the keep erected here by Richard de Redvers, who died in
1137, although the castle continued to be held by his descendants until
it was granted by Edward III to William de Montacute, Earl of Salisbury,
who was appointed Constable, an office he held until 1405. During the
tenure by the de Redvers the resident bailiff regulated the tolls,
markets, and fairs at his pleasure, and he also fixed the amount of the
duties to be levied on merchandise. It was not until the reign of the
third Edward that the burgesses were relieved from these uncertain and
arbitrary exactions.
[Illustration: PLACE MILL, CHRISTCHURCH
Place Mill was formerly called "The Old Priory Mill" and is mentioned in
the Domesday Survey]
The east and west walls of the keep remain, ten feet in thickness and
about thirty feet in height. The artificial mound on which they are
raised is well over twenty feet high.
The masonry of the walls is exceedingly rough and solid, for in the days
when they were erected men built for shelter and protection, and not
with the idea of providing themselves with beautiful houses to live in.
The keep was made a certain height, not as a crowning feature in the
landscape, but so that from its top the warder could see for many miles
the glitter of a lance, or the dust raised by a troop of horsemen. One
of the greatest charms of the rough, solid walls of a Norman castle is
that they are so honest and straightforward, and tell their story so
plainly.
Looking over the town from the Castle mound we realize that
Christchurch could correctly be denominated a "moated town", inasmuch as
its two rivers encircle it in a loving embrace. Being so cut off by
Nature with waterways as to be almost an island, it was obviously a
strong position for defence, and a lovely site for a monastery.
A little to the north-east of the Castle, upon a branch of the Avon
which formed at once the Castle moat and the Priory mill stream, stands
a large portion of one of the few Norman houses left in this country. It
is seventy feet long by thirty feet in breadth, with walls of great
thickness. It was built about the middle of the thirteenth century, and
is said, on slight authority, to have been the Constable's house. The
basement story has widely-splayed loopholes in its north and east walls,
and retains portions of the old stone staircases which led to the
principal room occupying the whole of the upper story. This upper room
was lighted by three Norman windows on each side, enriched with the
billet, zigzag, and rosette mouldings. At the north end the arch and
shafts remain of a large window decorated with the familiar chevron
ornament. Near the centre of the east wall is a fireplace with a very
early specimen of a round chimney, which has, however, been restored. In
the south gable is a round window, while a small tower, forming a
flank, overhangs the stream which flows through it. The building is much
overgrown with ivy and creepers, and it is a matter for regret that no
efficient means have been taken to preserve so valuable a specimen of
late Norman architecture from slowly crumbling to pieces under the
influences of the weather. Traces of the other sides of the Castle moat
have been discovered in Church Street, Castle Street, and in the
boundary of the churchyard.
A walk along the bank situated between the Avon proper and the stream
that flows by the side of the Norman house leads past the Priory and the
churchyard to the Quay, the spot where much of the stone for building
the Priory was disembarked. Owing to the estuary of the combined rivers
being almost choked with mud and weeds there is very little commercial
shipping trade carried on at the Quay, which is now mainly the centre of
the town's river life during the summer months, for everyone living at
Christchurch seems to own a boat of some kind. During the season motor
launches ply several times a day between Christchurch and Mudeford, with
its reputation for Christchurch salmon.
On the quayside is the old Priory Mill, now called Place Mill, which is
mentioned in the Domesday Survey. It stands on the very brink of the
river; its foundations are deep set in the water, and its rugged and
buttressed walls are reflected stone by stone in the clear, tremulous
mirror. The glancing lights on the bright stream, the wealth of leafy
foliage, the sweet cadence of the ripples as they plash against the
walls of the Quay, and the beauty of the long reflections--quivering
lines of grey, green, and purple--increase the beauty of what is
probably the most picturesque corner of the town, while over the tops of
the trees peers the grey tower of the ancient Priory church. These three
buildings--the Priory, the Castle, and the Mill--sum up the simple
history of the place. The Castle for defence, the Priory for prayer, the
Mill for bread; and of Christchurch it may be said, both by the
historian and the modern sightseer, _haec tria sunt omnia_.
* * * * *
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
_At the Villafield Press, Glasgow, Scotland_
End of Project Gutenberg's Bournemouth, Poole & Christchurch, by Sidney Heath