Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Albans Part 3

Sigar lived about the same time in the wood of Northaw, south of Hatfield. He also was famous for mortifying his flesh and for his victories over evil spirits. It was his habit at times to come to matins at St. Albans, and then to return to his hermit's cell and pa.s.s the time in prayer and self-scourgings. Strange to say, though the devils could not disturb the holy man at his prayers, the nightingales of Northaw woods did distract him, and he therefore prayed that G.o.d would keep these little birds away, lest he should take too much delight in their sweet songs; whereupon no more nightingales sang in those woods, and it is recorded that long after his time no nightingale dared venture within a mile of the spot where the hermit had dwelt. All which things are written in the chronicles of the Abbey, of which the reader may believe as little or as much as he will. Sigar was buried by the side of Roger.

The arch above their grave may be seen in the ill.u.s.tration (p. 80), which also shows the Abbot's door which led into the cloister. It was built by Abbot de la Mare in the latter half of the fourteenth century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SAXON BAl.u.s.tER SHAFTS IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.]

#The Transept.#--From this aisle we pa.s.s into the transept. Its southern arm, notwithstanding the havoc wrought by Lord Grimthorpe, still retains many points of interest. On its eastern side the triforium, consisting of three bays, contains some bal.u.s.ter shafts of Saxon date; it is supposed that they were taken from the church which Abbot Paul demolished. It will be seen from the ill.u.s.tration that they are marked with rings, and close examination has shown that they were turned in a lathe, but not being quite long enough for their new position, extra bases and capitals were added; these were cut with an axe, as were also the cylindrical shafts of Norman date, which are set alternately with the older ones. From the excellent state of preservation of the Saxon bal.u.s.ters, it is evident that they did not come from the exterior of the early church. Similar shafts may be noticed in the east wall of the northern arm of the transept There are two arches in the eastern wall which once led into chapels, the southern dedicated to St. Stephen, the northern first to our Lady, afterwards to St. John; they were pulled down in the fourteenth century to make room for a treasury. One of the arches is now used as a cupboard, the other as a kind of museum of fragments of carved stonework. The south wall is entirely new. Lord Grimthorpe pulled down the front containing a Perpendicular window, originally fifteenth-century work, but rebuilt in 1832. Thus inserted his five tall lancets, beneath which built into the wall are ten of the arches with restored shafts of the arcade taken from the slype at the time of its destruction; the other six are to be seen in the south wall of the rebuilt slype, if slype it can now be called. Under this arcading in the transept is a doorway, built by Lord Grimthorpe, partly from fragments of the west doorway of the old slype, and partly from his own design. The rebuilt slype is no longer a pa.s.sage as it formerly was, leading between the south end of the transept and the north wall of the rectangular chapter-house, but is closed at the west end by a wall with a window in it, and at the east end has a door. Fortunately, a photograph taken before the destruction was available for reproduction, so that the reader may see the original condition of the south wall of the slype (see p. 20). The west wall of the transept has entirely different shafts in its triforium from those on the opposite side. A little double-light window or grating may be seen in the west wall near the aisle; it once opened into a small watching chamber, which was walled up at the time of the restoration for the sake of giving additional strength to the walls at the angle. It will be noticed that the pilasters projecting from the west wall do not come down to the ground. Lord Grimthorpe considers that these were not cut away, as might be imagined but were originally built as we see them to give strength to the walls where they were thinner on account of the pa.s.sages in their thickness. There is a recess in this wall which was once a doorway into the cloister; it now contains some old oak chests, in which are placed every week the loaves provided for the poor by Robert Skelton's charity, 1628. The wooden ceiling is due to Lord Grimthorpe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOORWAY IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.]

#The North Arm of the Transept.#--The upper part of the north wall, with its high circular window, was rebuilt by Lord Grimthorpe. Above the triforium on the east and west walls are three Norman windows and below these on the west side again two other Norman ones. The Norman doorway by which pilgrims to St. Albans shrine entered the church, and two Norman windows, with gla.s.s representing the four Latin doctors, inserted to the memory of Archdeacon Grant, who died 1883, may be seen below the wheel window; in the east wall are two pairs of lancets due to Lord Grimthorpe. Here, as in the corresponding wall on the south side, there are two arches which once led into two chapels. After their destruction, altars dedicated to the Holy Trinity (north) and to St. Osyth (south) were placed in the recesses. Here may be seen two modern monuments: one the cenotaph of Dr. Claughton, first Bishop of St. Albans, 1877-1892;[7]

this stands at equal distances from the east and west walls: the other, an altar tomb, was erected in memory of Alfred Blomfield, Suffragan Bishop of Colchester, who died 1884. The ceiling is by Lord Grimthorpe.

A panel from the old ceiling, representing the death of St. Alban, may be seen in the south aisle of the presbytery.

[7] Designed by Mr. J.O. Scott; carved by Mr. Forsyth, of Hampstead.

If we stand under the central tower we get, looking westward, a view into the choir with its modern fittings, the stalls given by various donors, and the Bishop's throne which was brought hither from Rochester.

From the way in which the piers are cut away on their faces looking into the choir, it is concluded that the backs of the original stalls reached to a considerable height. The piers, like those in the nave, were at one time painted, and on the west face of the second pier from the east of the north arcade are remains of a painting of the Holy Trinity. In 1875 Mr. Chappie discovered wall-paintings between the clerestory windows, three on the north and one on the south; the soffits of the arches are also coloured.

The painted ceiling of the choir was accidentally discovered during the restoration. A workman was cleaning one of the panels, which was coa.r.s.ely painted, and happened to rub off the surface paint, disclosing other work below. The upper paint was then cleared away from all the other panels. Two, in the centre, bore a Scripture subject. The others bore, alternately, coats of arms and the monogram IHS, with wreaths of vine-leaves. The arms belong almost entirely to those who were by blood or marriage connected with Edward III.

The ceiling of the lantern, 102 feet from the pavement, is painted with the red and white roses of the houses of Lancaster and York, together with various coats of arms. The lofty arches beneath the tower (55 feet high) are of great grandeur, as will be seen from the ill.u.s.tration. The four inside faces of the lantern are alike, each containing windows above the three arches of the arcade, each of which comprises two subarches springing from a quadrilateral shaft.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CROSSING, LOOKING WESTWARD.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHOIR.]

To the east is the #presbytery#, closed by the Wallingford or high altar #screen.# This screen was sorely dilapidated, and all its niches were stripped of their statues, no record remaining of whose statues originally filled them. Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs (now Lord Aldenham) undertook to restore this screen, making good the canopies and filling them again with statues. The screen is of clunch, a hard stone from the lower chalk formation quarried at Tottenhoe near Dunstable, a stone much used for interior work in the church, though it will not stand exposure to weather in exterior walls. The new statues are by Mr. Harry Hems of Exeter; the larger ones of magnesian limestone from Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghams.h.i.+re, and the smaller of alabaster. They are excellent examples of modern carved work. The general idea was to represent "the Pa.s.sion of our Lord and of the testimony of the faith in that Pa.s.sion given in the lives and deeds of men"[8] of English race. A careful comparison of the screen (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 58), with the key given (p. 59) will enable the reader to identify the persons represented.

[8] Lord Aldenham's words in describing his scheme.

The coloured altarpiece in high relief is by Mr. Alfred Gilbert, R.A., and is a work quite unique in character. It represents the resurrection.

In the centre is the upper half of our Lord's figure; on one side is an angel holding a cross, emblem of faith; on the other, one holding a crystal globe, emblem of dominion; the wings of these angels are formed of mother-of-pearl, and before them are grills of bra.s.s scrollwork, intended to give an air of mystery to their appearance. The work does not appear to be fully finished, the grills being only roughly attached to the wall. The s.p.a.ce before the altar is paved with slabs of marble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: KEY TO THE SCULPTURE ON THE WALLINGFORD SCREEN]

In an arch south of the altar is Abbot John of Wheathampstead's chantry, containing a splendid bra.s.s of Flemish workmans.h.i.+p, which once covered the grave before the high altar in which Abbot Thomas de la Mare was buried. He is represented in full vestments carrying a pastoral staff and wearing a mitre, according to the Pope's grant, although he was not a bishop but only a mitred abbot, and therefore could not perform the rite of ordination, which could be administered only by the Bishop of Lincoln; the Abbey Church, though independent of him in all other matters, was for this purpose in his diocese. The rebus of Abbot John was three ears of wheat, and his motto "Valles habundabunt," an allusion to the fertile lowland of Wheathampstead, whence he came. This rebus may be found in various places where the work was due to him. Opposite to this chantry is the far more magnificent one of Abbot Thomas Ramryge.

His rebus is a ram wearing a collar with the letters R.Y.G.E. inscribed on it. This chantry was at one time, after the dissolution, appropriated as a burial-place for the Ffaringdons, a Lancas.h.i.+re family, but the original slab with Abbot Thomas's figure and inscription has been restored to its place. Within the altar rails are four memorial stone tablets covering the graves of four fourteenth-century Abbots--Thomas de la Mare, Hugh of Eversden, Richard of Wallingford, and Michael of Mentmore. Four other Abbots are known to have been buried beneath the presbytery floor outside the altar rails--John de Marinis, John of Berkhampstead, Roger of Norton, and John Stokes--as well as other monks and laymen. It will be noticed that the presbytery is divided from the aisles by solid walls, pierced only for the two chantries above described, and for two doorways, one on each side, further west. Over each of these doorways is a tabernacle; that on the south was put together of fragments by Sir Gilbert Scott, and that on the north made to match it. The clerestory windows are Lord Grimthorpe's; the painted wooden vaulting which extends beyond the screen and over the Saints'

Chapel is John of Wheathampstead's. It will be noticed that this springs from vaulting shafts, and it is by some considered that a stone roof was contemplated. The triforium here is an arcade without any pa.s.sage. The pulpit, which stands close by the north pier of the eastern tower arch, was designed by Mr. J.O. Scott and given by the Freemasons of England, who regard St. Alban as their patron saint.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAMRYGE CHANTRY.]

We will now turn to the south and pa.s.s eastward under the curtain which hangs beneath the western arch of the south aisle of the presbytery. On the south side we see, as we enter, a fourteenth-century holy water stoup, and further on, under a window, a wide round-headed archway which formerly led into a chapel now demolished, which once was dedicated to our Lady, before the larger chapel at the east end was built. In the next bay is a blocked Norman window from which the plaster has been sc.r.a.ped to show the character of the wall, built of Roman tiles; the quadripart.i.te vaulting is of plaster with lines painted red to make it appear like stone. Opposite is a large oak money-chest, and above it on the wall is the figure of a mendicant (see p. 63), carved in wood by a verger in the eighteenth century, hat in hand, as if asking the pa.s.ser-by to put a coin in the poor-box below. In the south wall is a doorway which led into the treasury. The next bay is largely rebuilt; on the south side is a door and opposite is the back of John of Wheathampstead's chantry. From this we pa.s.s into the south aisle of the Saint's Chapel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SOUTH AISLE OF PRESBYTERY.]

First we see the doorway on the north side, under which are steps leading up into the chapel, and further on we come to a trellis-work of iron through which we can look across the s.p.a.ce once occupied by the monument of "Good" Duke Humphrey of Gloucester into the Saint's Chapel.

This grill is older (about 1275) than the rich canopy over the duke's grave, and was doubtless erected to allow of a view being obtained from this aisle of the martyr's shrine. There are a number of figures of kings in the canopied niches over the grave, but it is not possible to identify them. Opposite are some remains of a stone screen of the Perpendicular period; it probably divided the aisle from some external chapel. After the chapel perished the wall was built up; but during the restoration this arcading was discovered. Through an oak screen, Lord Grimthorpe's work, we pa.s.s into the #retro-choir.# This, as we have before seen, was sadly mutilated after the Reformation, when the public path was made through this part of the building and the Lady Chapel turned into a grammar school; hence we shall find more modern work here than in any other equal area of the church. The part east of the pa.s.sage was for long used as a covered playground for the boys and suffered much in consequence. It was originally built at the end of the thirteenth century. The arcading round these walls is new, much of it carved under the direction of Lord Grimthorpe by Mr. John Baker. The carving is of a naturalistic character, the vegetable forms being copied direct from the plants and trees of the neighbourhood. The oak ceiling of the south side and the flat ceiling of the centre are by Lord Grimthorpe; that on the north side by Sir Gilbert Scott. The shrine of St. Amphibalus once stood in the centre, but the reconstructed shrine, or rather pedestal of the shrine, was removed to the north aisle of the Saint's Chapel by Lord Grimthorpe, so as to be out of the way; for his idea was to fit this part of the church for use as a chapter-house, should a chapter ever be created, and as a consistory court. He built the low wall between it and the Saint's Chapel with seats under the arcading to be occupied by members of the chapter, and paved the floor with polished marble (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 64).

[Ill.u.s.tration: WOODEN FIGURE OF A MENDICANT.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RETRO-CHOIR]

There were once several altars in this retro-choir; under the east window on the south side one to our Lady of the Four Tapers, with an aumbry and triple-arched piscina in the south wall. This has been restored; the upper part is entirely new. On the north side in a corresponding position was an altar dedicated to St. Michael; while altars dedicated to St. Edmund, King and Martyr, and to St. Peter stood to the west of the two pillars, respectively on the north and south sides; and another altar to St. Amphibalus stood to the west of his shrine in the centre. It may here be noted that the east wall of the original Norman apse extended as far as the centre of the retro-choir.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BASE OF THE SHRINE OF ST. AMPHIBALUS.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: BACK OF THE WATCHING LOFT.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: RAMRYGE'S CHANTRY FROM THE AISLE.]

The north aisle of the Saint's Chapel is divided from the retro-choir by a glazed oak screen with a door in it, frequently kept locked. Just to the west of this is the pedestal of the shrine of St. Amphibalus. This, like that of St. Alban's shrine, was broken up into many fragments after the dissolution of the monastery. The fragments were built into sundry walls, but many of them were discovered when the walls blocking up the arches at the east end of the Saint's Chapel were removed; they were put together as far as possible, but as the east and north sides are missing, the position the pedestal now occupies is not an unfitting one, as these sides are hidden (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 65). The letters R.W.

may be seen on it. These are the initials of Ralph Whitechurch, sacrist, at whose cost the pedestal was built in the second half of the fourteenth century. Opposite this we see the back of the watching loft (see ill.u.s.tration, p. 66) erected for the monk who kept watch and ward over the martyr's shrine; further to the west is a doorway into the Saint's Chapel, and still further west the back of Ramryge's chantry.

Beyond this is the north entrance into the presbytery, over which is a painting of the Lord's Supper, generally attributed to Sir James Thornhill and given to the church about two centuries ago; at one time it hung over the high altar. There is also a painting of Offa, probably fifteenth-century work, to be seen in this aisle. The two doors removed by Lord Grimthorpe from the central doorway of the west front have been set up against the west end of the walls of this aisle (see ill.u.s.tration).

[Ill.u.s.tration: ONE OF THE OLD WESTERN DOORS.]

#The Lady Chapel.#--This chapel in its original condition must have been exceedingly beautiful; and although we have had occasion to find much fault with the work of restoration or rather destruction and needless alteration, in other parts of the church, yet here little but praise can be bestowed. Some may regret that the old wooden vaulting was not retained and repaired, but the new stone vaulting is beautiful in itself and more durable. A better material than cast iron might, however, have been found for the altar rails. The new carving is excellent in quality and right in principle. It has been done, not as most modern work is, by imitating the carved work of some particular period of architecture as set out for the carver in the architect's drawings, but by returning to the old system of going to nature and carving from life models, so to say. It has been done in the same spirit as actuated the early work of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It is said that the carvers had sprays of leaves and cl.u.s.ters of fruit and flowers before them as they carved, and imitated them as closely as the material on which they worked allowed them to do. Work done in this manner, provided the carver has skill and taste, is sure to show character and life, and to differ entirely from the mechanical conventionalisms we generally see in modern stone-carving.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LADY CHAPEL.]

The chapel dates from the latter part of the thirteenth and early part of the fourteenth centuries. The work was probably begun in the time of Abbot Roger Norton, whose body was buried before the high altar in the presbytery, but whose heart was laid in a small box, which was discovered during the restoration, before the altar of St. Mary of the Four Tapers. Possibly his successor, John of Berkhampstead, carried on the work; but at Abbot Hugh's accession in 1308 the walls of the Lady Chapel had only been carried up as high as the string-course below the windows. The work of building was not continuous, as change in style shows; moreover we read in the Chronicles that Abbot Hugh of Eversden "brought to a praiseworthy completion the Chapel of the Virgin in the eastern part of the church which had been begun many-years before." He is also recorded to have roofed the s.p.a.ce to the west, that is, the retro-choir. It seems, then, that at the time when the alterations in the eastern part of the Norman church were begun, not only was the presbytery with its aisles laid out, but also the retro-choir as a group of chapels, and possibly the Lady Chapel as well; and that when Hugh was chosen Abbot he found the presbytery and Saint's Chapel finished, the walls of the retro-choir raised to their full height, and those of the Lady Chapel partly built. These he proceeded to finish. The side windows of the Lady Chapel are beautiful examples of the fully developed Decorated style; the jambs and mullions are ornamented with statuettes which, strange to say, escaped destruction. "The eastern window of five lights is a singular combination of tracery with tabernacle work, while the easternmost bay on the south side, which is partly obscured by the vestry, has an exquisite window above, consisting of a richly traceried arch placed within a curvilinear triangle, beneath which is a splendid range of niches, and, beneath them again, a gorgeous range of sedilia and piscinae."[9] The original wall arcading had cinque-foiled heads on the south side, and trefoiled heads on the north; but all these had been cut away before the restoration began, probably at the time when the walls were covered with panels to make the chapel more suitable for a schoolroom.

[9] Sir Gilbert Scott's Report on the Lady Chapel, 1875.

In this chapel, after its dedication, ma.s.s was sung daily, and an organ was provided to accompany the musical part of the service. The western end of the Lady Chapel was separated from the retro-choir by a screen, which of course perished after the dissolution. No modern screen has been put in its place, though one would be a great improvement.

Projecting from the easternmost bay of the south side stands the Chapel of the Transfiguration, which was dedicated in 1430. This, rebuilt, is now used as a vestry. Beneath the floor of the Lady Chapel was buried the hated Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, grand-son of John of Gaunt; Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, son of the famous Hotspur; and Thomas, Lord Clifford: whose bodies were found lying dead in the streets of St. Albans, after the first battle in 1455, in which they fell fighting for the Red Rose party. They were buried by Abbot John of Wheathampstead, who at this time was an adherent of that party, though he became a Yorkist after Queen Margaret had allowed her troops to plunder the Abbey when, in the second battle of St. Albans, she was victorious over the Earl of Warwick.

A considerable amount of work was necessary to refit this chapel for use. The restoration was begun by Scott and finished by Lord Grimthorpe.

Scott cut the mullions of the windows down the middle, retaining all the part inside the gla.s.s so as to preserve the statues, but renewing the part outside for the sake of strength. All the painted gla.s.s is modern, the gift of various donors. Lord Grimthorpe, in place of the wooden vaulting which was, he says, in a very unsound state, threw a stone vault over the chapel, raising its ridge three feet higher than that of the previous roof. All the arches of the arcade had been cut away, with the exception of two at the east end, one on each side of the altar, differing from each other as already mentioned. Lord Grimthorpe took as a model the one with the cinque-foiled head, considering that the better of the two, and constructed the existing arcading all round the chapel.

He rebuilt the Chapel of the Transfiguration, making its walls lower than before, so as not to obstruct the view of the window over it. The carving, chiefly the work of Mr. Baker, as already mentioned, represents various vegetable forms in a naturalistic manner, the plants chosen being for the most part such as grow in the neighbourhood--convolvulus, primrose, b.u.t.tercup, poppy, gooseberry, blackberry, rose, maple, ivy, sycamore, pansy, polypody, and others.

Lord Grimthorpe also repaved the floor with marble slabs of three colours--black, red, and white. During the time the chapel was used for a schoolroom the floor had been a common wooden one. Practically, then, it will be seen that this Lady Chapel, with the exception of its walls and the windows with the statuettes on them, is a modern church, surpa.s.sing, indeed, most nineteenth-century work in beauty, and much the same may be said of the retro-choir or chapter-house.

#The Saint's Chapel.#--We must now return westward, through the south aisle of the ambulatory, past the back of Duke Humphrey's grave, and enter the Chapel of the Martyr by the door which opens into it from the aisle. The centre of the chapel is occupied by the reconstructed pedestal of the martyr's shrine. The ugly wooden railing that surrounds it is a great blot on the appearance of the chapel; no doubt it is necessary that the pedestal should be protected by some kind of barrier, but a light and elegant railing of bra.s.s would answer every purpose without marring the general effect, as the present c.u.mbersome erection shown in all the accompanying ill.u.s.trations of objects in this chapel does. It is to be hoped that either out of the general fabric fund, or by the generosity of some individual donor, this one blot on this fine chapel may be removed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PEDESTAL OF ST. ALBAN'S SHRINE.]

The bones of St. Alban were of course counted as the chief treasure of the Abbey, in some respects the most valuable relics in the kingdom, since they were the bones of the first Christian martyr in the island.

It was meet and fitting, then, that the most splendid resting-place should be chosen for them. The bones themselves were inclosed in an outer and an inner case; the inner was the work of the sixteenth Abbot, Geoffrey of Gorham (1119-1149), and the outer of the nineteenth Abbot, Symeon (1167-1183). These coffers were of special metal encrusted with rich gems. It is recorded that the reliquary was so heavy that it required four men to carry it, which they probably did by two poles, each pa.s.sing through two rings on either side of the coffer. It is said to have been placed in a lofty position by Abbot Symeon; but the pedestal of which we see the reconstruction to-day was erected during the early part of the fourteenth century, in the time of the twenty-sixth Abbot, John de Marinis (1302-1308). This was built of Purbeck marble and consists of a bas.e.m.e.nt 2 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in.

long, and 3 ft. 2 in. wide, above which were four canopied niches at each side and one at each end; these were richly painted and probably contained other relics; in the spandrels were carved figures, at the corners angels censing. At the west end was a representation of St.

Alban's martyrdom; on the south side in the centre was, and still is, a figure of King Offa holding the model of a church; in the next spandrel to the east the figure of another king; on the east side a representation of the scourging of St. Alban, and on the north other figures, of which the only one remaining is that of a bishop or mitred abbot. In the pediments or gables were carvings of foliage, and round the top of the pedestal ran a richly carved cornice; round the base stood fourteen detached shafts, on which perhaps the movable canopy rested, and outside three other shafts of twisted pattern on each side, which carried six huge candles, probably kept burning day and night, certainly during the night, to light the chamber holding the shrine. On this lofty pedestal, 8 ft. 3 in. high, the glorious shrine rested. It was rendered still more ornate than it was in Abbot Symeon's time by the addition of a silver-gilt turret, on the lower part of which was a representation of the Resurrection with two angels and four knights (suggested by the guard of Roman soldiers) keeping the tomb. A silver-gilt eagle of cunning craftsmans.h.i.+p stood on the shrine. All these additions were given by Abbot Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396). A certain monk also gave two representations of the sun in solid gold, surrounded by rays of silver tipped with precious stones. Over all was a canopy which, like many modern font-covers, was probably suspended by a rope running over a pulley in the roof, by which it might be raised.

There is a mark in the roof remaining, possibly caused by the fastening of the pulley. An altar, dedicated to St. Alban, stood at the west end of the pedestal.

There are two quarry-shaped openings to be noticed on the north side of the pedestal near the floor level, one of which extends right through to the south side. Into these diseased arms or legs might be thrust for cure by virtue of the saint. At the time of the dissolution the shrine disappeared, and the marble pedestal was broken up into small fragments.

In 1847 the rector, Dr. Nicholson, found a few of these, when opening the two northern of the blocked-up arches to the east of the chapel; and in 1872, when the wall that closed the end of the south aisle was removed and excavations were made to find the level of the aisle floor, many more fragments, numbering in all about two thousand, were found.

These were carefully put together by Mr. Chapple, clerk of the works, some plain stone being used to take the part of missing portions, with the result that we see to-day, from which we can form some idea of the appearance of the shrine in the days of its glory, even to the colour decoration, for some of the fragments bear the original paint and gold.