Cathedral Cities of England Part 9

Great interest is attached to the Cathedral of Rochester. Its see is the smallest in the kingdom and the most ancient after Canterbury. The two were established, as we have seen, within a few years of each other, under the auspices of St. Augustine and King Ethelbert of Kent.

The present cathedral dates from the commencement of the twelfth century, when it was built by Gundulph. If what we are told about this structure be correct, its importance cannot be too greatly enhanced, for it is claimed that its architecture, though much altered and repaired since, is in the main a copy of Canterbury Cathedral at that time. Thus, in describing the plan of the one in Rochester, a general idea can be gained about the other at Canterbury.

Gundulph's contribution is a s.p.a.cious and venerable building in the form of a cross, with a central tower surmounted by a spire. The Norman style forms the basis of the architecture, to which the Later English style was added chiefly in the many windows of the nave and other parts of the church. The west front was entirely restored between 1888 and 1889, the Norman style being strictly adhered to. The doorway is a most decorative bit of Norman workmans.h.i.+p. Let into the cl.u.s.tered columns on either side there is, on the right, an effigy of Queen Maud, and on the left another of Henry I. The door is covered with a rich ma.s.s of geometrical design in metal.

The crypt, invariably a great feature in a cathedral, is partly the work of Gundulph; that is, the western portion is. The eastern part consists of cylindrical and octagonal shafts with a light vaulting springing from them, and belongs to the same period as the superstructure of the thirteenth century.

There are several chapels, a finely groined roof, and ancient tombs, which all lend interest to this fine cathedral.

The red-veined marble statue of Walter de Merton cannot fail to attract attention. He was the founder of the great scholastic college at Oxford called Merton College. Though small in size, the _entree_ to it demands high cla.s.sical attainments.

With regard to commerce, Rochester has a favourable position on the river Medway, in the creeks and branches of which are the oyster fisheries. The Corporation, a.s.sisted by a jury of free dredgers, hold a Court of Admiralty, in which they make regulations for the opening, stocking, and closing of the oyster beds.

In conclusion, we cannot help saying that Kent should be a proud county, possessing, as it does, the two most ancient sees in the kingdom, the dioceses of which are separated only by the Medway.

Ripon

("Doomsday Book.")

In the West Riding of the county of York, twenty-two miles north-west of the city of York and eleven miles north of Harrogate, the ancient city of Ripon is situated at the juncture of the Ure, Laver, and Skell. The narrow and irregular streets and well-built houses, some of which still retain the quaint, picturesque gables so reminiscent of earlier times, envelop the city with that delightful, indefinable air of mediaevalism--a something which, tempered with old a.s.sociations and traditions, no modern city with all its improvements can supply. To saunter through the ancient, ill-lighted streets of an old town at night, when life is dormant and commercialism quiescent, is the time to view unexpected beauties of architecture unfold themselves, and to become oneself imbued with a spirit of romanticism and a feeling of rest. If a figure in mediaeval costume and rapier were to come round a corner suddenly, or emerge from some dark nook, it would scarcely startle the senses, so appropriate would it seem with the surroundings, enshrouded in mysterious shadows.

A new city can be admired, but can never be revered till it has survived the many storms of generations, and has emerged with a halo of traditions respected and treasured.

Ripon, in common with other cathedral cities, possesses this charm, and after many vicissitudes presents us with a magnificent cathedral. To revert to the commencement of the city's history, it is supposed to have derived its name from the Latin "Ripa," owing to its situation upon the bank of the river Ure. The earliest authentic record gives it under the name of Inhrypun, in connection with the establishment of a monastery in 660 by Eata, who was then Abbot of Melrose. It was subsequently given by Alfred, King of Northumbria, to Wilfrid, who had been raised to the archbishopric of York. He was afterwards canonised as a saint. Under Wilfrid's administration and influence the town very much increased its wealth and importance. Through the division of the bishopric in the year 678 Ripon became a see.

A great calamity overtook the city in the ninth century. The Danes burnt and plundered it, causing such devastation that it was almost wiped out. From its ruins, however, it recovered so quickly as to be incorporated as a royal borough by Alfred the Great. This happened by the year 886. In the suppression of the insurrections of the Northumbrian Danes it suffered severely through the terrible laying waste of the land which Edred found necessary to subdue them.

Little time was left for the city to regain its former prosperity, when the surrounding country was again laid waste, in 1069, by William the Conqueror after defeating the Northumbrian rebels. This monarch's vengeance so completely demolished the town that it still remained in ruins and the land uncultivated at the time of the Norman survey. The monastery, destroyed by Edred, was rebuilt by Oswald and his successors, who were archbishops of York. It was endowed and made collegiate by Archbishop Aldred somewhere about the time of the Conquest. The city was now enjoying comparative peace, and was regaining lost prestige when it again became a mere wreck. Under Robert Bruce, in the reign of Edward II., the Scots compelled the inhabitants to surrender everything of value they had, and burnt the town. This period of devastation lasted from 1319 till 1323.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RIPON

THE CATHEDRAL]

By the exertions of the Archbishop of York, ably a.s.sisted with donations from the local gentry, the city rapidly recovered by the time a terrible plague compelled Henry IV. to leave London and take up his residence here. The court of necessity followed him.

This royal sojourn did the city immense good, and again it derived benefit some two centuries after by the presence of the Lord President of York in 1617. He had been obliged by a similar plague to remove his court hither.

Ten years later another royal visitor came, namely, James I., who rested a night here on his route from Scotland to London. On this memorable occasion he was presented with a pair of Ripon spurs. From early times till the sixteenth century Ripon was a recognised centre for the manufacture of woollen caps. On the decline of this industry the city acquired such a fame for the manufacture of spurs that it became quite a current phrase to say "as true steel as Ripon rowels." Ben Jonson and Davenant make references in their verses to Ripon spurs. This industry, together with those of manufacturing b.u.t.tons and various kinds of hardware, flourished till quite recently, when mechanical industries supplanted them.

In 1633 Charles I. also paid the city a visit. During the Civil War the parliamentary troops, under Sir Thomas Mauleverer, took possession of Ripon. After mutilating many of the monuments and ornaments of the church, they were eventually driven out of the town in 1643 by the Royalists, under Sir John Mallory of Studley, a towns.h.i.+p comprised under Ripon. In recounting the political fortunes of the city little has been said about its chief attraction, the Cathedral, not because it has played no important factor in the welfare of the city, but because it has been considered better to give, apart, the chief characteristics of its architecture.

We have seen how a monastery was established in 660, by Eata, which later came under the patronage of St. Wilfrid. From the ruins of St.

Wilfrid's Abbey the present cathedral was founded about 680 A.D., in the reign of Egfrid. With the exception of St. Wilfrid's crypt, called St. Wilfrid's Needle, which tradition says was used for the trial of female chast.i.ty, nothing of the original Saxon fabric remains. From the similarity of this crypt, and of another at Hexham, both erected by St.

Wilfrid, in formation and arrangement to the catacomb chapels at Rome, it is inferred that this churchman had made himself familiar with their peculiarities during his residence in that Latin city. This is interesting to note.

The Cathedral, as it now stands, embraces various styles of architecture, and is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Wilfrid. It is a large cruciform church, with a square central tower and two western towers. They at one time carried spires, each not less than one hundred and twenty feet in height; but the central spire having been blown down in 1660, caused considerable damage to the roof, and it was thought advisable to pull down the others. Their removal accounts for the stunted appearance of these square towers. The construction of the present church was commenced by Archbishop Roger, dating from 1154 to 1181. To this period belong the transepts and portions of the choir. The western front and towers were carried out in the Early English style, most probably by Archbishop Gray, between 1215 and 1255, and near the close of the century the eastern portion of the choir was rebuilt in the Decorated style. The nave and part of the central tower were also rebuilt in the Perpendicular style at the close of the fifteenth century. The fabric was entirely renovated under the guidance of Sir Gilbert Scott, from 1862 to 1876. The episcopal palace is a modern building in the Tudor style, and is about one mile from the town.

The present bishopric dates only from the year 1836. There are several charitable inst.i.tutions: namely, the Hospital of St. John the Baptist, founded by an archbishop of York in 1109; the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalene, for women, by another prelate of York in 1341; and the Hospital of St. Anne, by some unknown benefactor who lived in the reign of Edward IV. A clock-tower was presented to the town to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. There is now, in place of the ancient industries, an extensive trade in varnish, in addition to the manufactories for saddle-trees and leather, but the most interesting industry is that of the Ripon lace. It is a torchon lace much resembling, in uniformity of pattern, the design used in peasant laces in Sweden, Germany, and Russia.

Ely.

Ely.

("Doomsday Book.")

In the early history of the majority, if not of all of these cathedrals, it is interesting to note the many points of resemblance. It will be observed that most of them had their inception in the seventh century. A most convenient way also of remembering, if actual dates be forgotten, is that the commencement of the same century heralded the arrival of St.

Augustine and his forty monks at Canterbury, and the re-establishment of Christianity in England. Whatever previous efforts had been attempted to christianise the natives (prior to this century) pale into insignificance after the landing of this great missionary from Rome. The subsequent important events are invariably five; namely, the devastations of the Danes in the ninth century, the erections of castles to overawe the inhabitants with the ecclesiastical foundations, still extant, after the dreaded millennium had pa.s.sed, from the Conquest; the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.; the desecration and mutilation of the churches under Cromwell's Protectorate; and the inevitable restoration, not always happy, of these grand buildings.

The Venerable Bede, in his "Ecclesiastical History," ingeniously attributes the derivation of the name to an eel, called "Elge," on the a.s.sumption of the great abundance of this fish in the neighbourhood. At the same time another rendering, by some one else, supposes that the Saxon "Helyg," a willow, which flourished extensively, owing to the marshy nature of the soil round about the city, gave rise to the present contraction. However it may be, Ely dates from the year 673. The subsequent history of the Church and state of this famous place originated in that year from the small foundation of a monastery for monks and nuns by Ethelreda. This princess was the daughter of the King of the East Angles, and the wife of Egfred, the King of Northumberland.

She had devoted a great deal of her life to monasticism, and eventually const.i.tuted herself as the first abbess of her religious effort. A contradictory account gives it that this lady more likely became the first abbess of a religious house which she had filled with virgins.

Their number is not stated. Nothing more is heard or worth relating of the welfare of this royal benefice until the ninth century, when, in the natural order of things, it was destroyed by the Danes. In 879, a matter of nine years after this devastation, it was partially restored by those brethren who had fortunately escaped the ma.s.sacre. Under the government of provosts they were established and existed as secular priests for nearly a century. At the end of this period of inactivity it received much attention from Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester. This prelate in 970 purchased the whole of the Isle of Ely from Edgar. He then rebuilt the monastery and endowed it munificently. In it regular monks were placed under the rule of an abbot, to whom Edgar granted the secular jurisdiction of two hundreds within and five hundreds without the Fens. Many other important privileges were bestowed by the same monarch, recognised by Canute, and greatly increased by Edward the Confessor in recognition of part of his education here received. These many marks of royal favour caused it to become the richest in England, and the city partic.i.p.ated in its prosperity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELY

FROM THE WEST FRONT]

Soon after the Conquest a determined resistance was made by many of the n.o.bility against what they considered the tyranny of William. Led by such leaders as Edwin, Earl of Chester, Egelwyn, Bishop of Durham, and headed by Hereward, an English n.o.bleman, they contrived to do considerable damage in the surrounding country. They built a castle of wood in the Fens, and made a vigorous stand against the Normans, who besieged the island, constructed roads through the marshes, threw bridges across the streams, and erected, as usual, a strong castle at Wiseberum. With the exception of Hereward, the rebellious subjects were reduced to submission. According to one authority, it is supposed that William's camp was simply an old Roman camp repaired for the occasion.

We learn that the field, which contained the ancient site, was known as Belasis in some records of the reign of Henry III. It appears that one of William's generals was called Belasis, and that he was quartered on the monastery, which he had taken possession of after the conquest of the isle. He treated the monks with every mark of courtesy, allowing them to remain under an abbot of his own choosing. At first he laid them under certain restrictions, but subsequently restored the privileges they had previously been accustomed to.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELY

THE MARKET PLACE]

In 1107 the eleventh and last abbot, Richard, employed all his interest with Henry I. and gained the royal sanction to the establishment of an episcopal see at Ely. To this the monarch granted, for a diocese, the county of Cambridge, which had till then been under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Lincoln. The isle was also invested with sovereign powers.

Richard, however, did not live to become the first bishop, an honour which was conferred in 1109 on his successor, Hervey.

By this arrangement the Abbot was superseded by the Bishop, and an entire distribution of the property belonging to the abbey was effected between them. As the abbey became the church of the See, the Abbot was obliged to alter his dignity to that of a prior. A fair, to continue for seven days, commencing from June 20, to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Ethelreda, was inst.i.tuted by the Bishop. The prelate Nigel, in the reign of Stephen, built a castle here, of which no remains exist, and whose site is now conjectural. The year 1216 witnessed dreadful scenes of spoliation of churches and large sums of money exacted from the inhabitants under the guise of ransom.

The cause of all this devastation being visited upon Ely was John's idea of revenging himself upon the barons. At their hands he had, the year previously, been compelled to undergo the mortification of signing the Magna Charta at Runnymede, a field between Windsor and Staines. Ever since that time the irresolute and mean king had been devising schemes of vengeance against his opponents. Three months spent in the Isle of Wight had enabled him, through agents and the promise of the estates of the barons as plunder, to raise a considerable army of the Brabanters.

At their head he suddenly emerged from concealment, and surprised the barons by appearing before Rochester Castle and defeating them.

In the meantime John was well supported at Ely by his general, William Bunk, or rather an unexpected incident hurried on its doom. The elements unkindly betrayed the city into the hands of the Brabanters. At a critical time, the treacherous swamps--the isle's. .h.i.therto great natural fortifications--became the city's undoing; for a sharp frost set in and rendered a ready glacial access to the city. The enemy lost no time in reducing the barons to submission and the wretched inhabitants to great misery. The barons, thus reduced to dire extremities, invited Louis, the eldest son of the King of France, to aid them, promising him through his wife the crown of England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELY

INTERIOR OF THE NAVE]

The French landed at Sandwich, retook Rochester Castle, and compelled John to flee. John, crossing over the Wash, in his march from Lynn in Norfolk into Lincolns.h.i.+re, suffered great loss through the return of the tide swamping the rear of his army, all his money, and stores. He himself escaped to Swineshead Abbey, in the Lincolns.h.i.+re Fens, where a monk is said to have administered poison to him. With great difficulty and exhaustion the monarch arrived at Newark, where he died in the October of the year 1216.

From this time onward the city enjoyed comparative peace, and exercised the privileges granted by Edgar, Edward the Confessor, and William the Conqueror.