CRYPTS.
The crypts so generally found beneath our cathedrals and abbeys, and so
frequently under our churches, rarely extend beyond the choir or chancel
and its aisles, and are sometimes of very small dimensions. They are
often coeval with the upper parts of the building, and although not so
elaborate in ornamentation as the fabric they support, they are almost
without exception well constructed and well finished pieces of building.
In some cases the crypt is of much older date than any portion of
the superstructure, as is the case at York, Worcester and Rochester
cathedrals. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the roofs were
often richly groined, and upheld by cylindrical columns or clustered
piers, and furnished with handsome bases and decorated capitals. There
is abundant evidence that crypts were at one time furnished with altars,
piscinas, and the various fittings requisite for the celebration of the
mass, and they were used as sepulchres, wherein the shrines of relics
and martyrs were carefully preserved. Some authorities claim a purely
Saxon origin for the crypts at Ripon Cathedral, Hexham Abbey, and Repton
Church, Derbyshire. The Ripon example is a plain barrel-vaulted chamber,
about 11 ft. long and 8 ft. wide, with no pillars or ornament of any
kind. It is popularly known as S. Wilfrid's Needle, but the exact origin
of the name is lost in obscurity. The Hexham crypt is very similar in
character, but is somewhat longer, being more than 13 ft. long and 8 ft.
wide. As at Ripon, there are hollows or shallow niches in the walls in
which lamps may possibly have been placed. The third reputed Saxon crypt
is that at Repton, but it has little in common with the other two, its
superficial area being nearly twice as great and the roof is supported
on four columns, with plain square capitals rudely carved, and bearing
much similarity to early Norman work.
The position of the crypt varies. At Beverley Minster it is on the
south side of the south-west tower; in Hereford Cathedral it is under a
side chapel, while at Lastingham, in Yorkshire, the crypt extends under
the whole of the church, including the apse. At Wells the crypt is
beneath the chapter-house, and Durham Cathedral has three crypts, one
under what was the dormitory, another beneath the refectory, and the
third under the prior's chapel. Of crypts of Norman date we have many
examples, of which, perhaps, our best are those at Gloucester, Worcester,
Canterbury and Winchester Cathedrals, while Canterbury is probably the
largest of them all. Good crypts are also found at Wimborne Minster,
Christchurch Priory, and in our smaller churches at Repton and S.
Peter's-in-the-East, Oxford.
The Wimborne crypt is lighted by four windows. The vaulting is supported
by two pairs of pillars which form three aisles, each of three bays. Mr.
Perkins, in his book on Wimborne Minster, says, "On each side of the
place where the altar stood there are two openings into the choir
aisles. The exteriors of these are of the same form and size as the
crypt windows, but they are deeply splayed inside, and probably were
used as hagioscopes or squints, to allow those kneeling in the choir
aisles to see the priest celebrating mass at the crypt altar." The crypt
at Christchurch is of Norman date, and now serves as a vault for the
Malmesbury family. The crypt of Canterbury Cathedral is claimed and
justly claimed, perhaps, as the largest and most beautiful in England.
It is thought to contain fragments of Roman and Saxon work, and much of
it dates from the days of S. Anselm (1096-1100). It was here that the
remains of S. Thomas à Becket lay from 1170 to 1220, and "here that
Henry II., fasting and discrowned, with naked feet, bared back, and
streaming tears, performed on July 12th, 1174, the memorable penance for
his share in the murder of the great Archbishop."
It was here too, in later times that the Walloons were granted, by Queen
Elizabeth, the privilege of carrying on their silk-weaving, and it was
also reserved as a place of worship for French Protestants.