Bell's Cathedrals: Southwark Cathedral Part 4

FOOTNOTES:

[13] There is a further disadvantage, of a more material kind, in the encroachments. The smoke and soot from pa.s.sing trains on one side, and the dust from a coffee-roasting establishment on the other, are having a sufficiently obvious effect on the fabric, as well as on the surrounding gra.s.s-plats. The latter require frequent renewal in consequence.

[14] Perhaps the deflection is more frequently towards the north.

[15] A converse instance of mistaken nomenclature occurs at Westminster Abbey, where the Lady Chapel is commonly called after Henry VII, who began its erection, in place of the earlier chapel, and is buried in it.

In an inventory of 1538 the "Bishop's Chapel" at St. Saviour's is styled "the little Chapel of our Lady," which perhaps indicates that there was an altar to the Virgin in the retro-choir. Two Lady Chapels in one church are not unknown, as, _e.g._, at Canterbury Cathedral, where there was one in the north-west transept, now called "the Dean's Chapel," and another in the crypt under the high altar.

A case more directly to the point may be quoted from Barnwell Priory, where the Lady Chapel is known to have occupied a similar position to the retro-choir at Southwark, with a "little Lady Chapel" appended to it. (_Vide_ "The Observances in use at the Augustinian Priory of Barnwell," by J. Willis Clark, and the accompanying plans.)

[16] The pinnacle at the south end was removed a few years ago to prevent its falling.

[17] The original number of bells, in 1424, was seven, and their names were Nicholas, Vincent, St. Lawrence, Anna Maria, Stephen, Maria, Augustine. In the same year the bells were increased in weight and one more added to the number. The names were then changed, and became Christ, St. John-the-Evangelist, All Saints', Gabriel, St. Lawrence, Augustine, Mary, St. Trinity. They were recast, with 64 cwt. of fresh metal, in 1735, when the peal was brought up to its present number.

More recently the two largest of the treble bells (D# and C#) were slightly reduced in weight.

[18] The builders of 1839 fortunately contented themselves with building round the bases of the piers, which they left on the old foundation.

[19] _E.g._, in the will of Joan de Cobham, dated 1369, the testatrix expresses her wish to be buried before the door of St. Mary Overie, "where the image of the Blessed Virgin sitteth on high." It will be noticed that this is the princ.i.p.al feature in the Priory seal.

[20] Drawings of the Perpendicular doorway are given by Moss and Nightingale (1817-1818), and by F.T. Dollman (1881). The ruins of the old nave, including this fine doorway, were finally removed towards the end of 1838, to make way for the _pure Gothic_ structure (as it was called in the newspaper descriptions of the day), which was commenced in the following year.

[21] Mr. Dollman holds that the cinquefoil tracery occurred in both divisions, but has omitted it from the upper lights in his drawing of the west elevation, as it appeared before it was finally destroyed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._ THE NORTH CHOIR AISLE.]

CHAPTER III

THE INTERIOR

The =Nave= was entirely rebuilt by Sir Arthur Blomfield in 1890-1897.

Not the least difficult part of the architect's work was the removal of the unsatisfactory structure, of 1839-1840, without destroying the few Norman and Early English features imbedded in the plaster and brickwork, which it was desired to recover as far as possible, and preserve intact and _in situ_. This has to a great extent been done, thanks to the care with which the debased nave was taken to pieces, every stone that was worth preserving being carefully released from its accretions, measured, and reinstated in its proper place in the new work. Fortunately the earlier nineteenth century builders had not disturbed the bases of the old piers, but had contented themselves with building round them, and when their superstructure was cleared off, enough of the old work remained to show the position of every pier, as well as the lines of the original ground plan. In nearly every part also the old foundations were found satisfactory, though, of course, they were thoroughly tested, and renovation generally applied. The old lines have been adhered to throughout the restoration, and the new nave is a practical reproduction of its Early English predecessor in every detail, with the single exception to be afterwards noticed. This minute adherence to the original includes such intentional irregularities as the unequal distances between the piers and the varying width of the aisles, which not only differ from each other, but are not of the same width throughout in each case.

Ancaster stone has been chiefly employed, except in the roof, where the ribs of the vaulting are of Bath stone, the filling being made up of chalk and firestone.

The nave consists of seven bays on each side, divided by piers, alternately circular and octagonal, like those in the choir, with triple vaulting shafts on the north and south sides (the central shaft in each case being of Purbeck), and a single shaft on the east and west, corresponding with the interior order of the arches. The vaulting shafts are banded. The deeply moulded arches are somewhat loftier and more acutely pointed than those in the choir, placing the triforia on a slightly higher level, but the triforia of nave and choir are alike in that in both cases they consist of four arched openings in each bay. Every bay is walled off from its neighbours on either side, but has an opening at the back into a pa.s.sage above the aisles, which is continuous throughout nave and choir. In the westernmost bay on either side, the triforium arcade has a wall immediately behind the shafts. In the other bays it is recessed, and open above the level of the aisle vaulting. In these respects the architect has reversed the old arrangement, as in the original nave the two westernmost bays had open triforia, the others simply containing a shallow arcading. This arrangement, taken in conjunction with traces of an incipient tower discovered within the two western bays, seems to show that these bays were intended to form a narthex, or vestibule, to the church, but it does not appear that the tower was ever erected, or that the vestibule ever went beyond the conception.

The clerestory is lighted by plain lancet windows, enclosed in an elegant arcading.

Entering the church by the great doorway at the south-west, and looking towards the east, we get a fine perspective of over two hundred feet, including the nave arcading in its three stages, the groined and vaulted roof, and a good view of the choir, terminating in Bishop Fox's fine stone screen, with the three-light window above it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._ THE CHOIR VAULT.]

In both aisles there is an interesting series of modern windows intended to memorialise the great names a.s.sociated with the Church, the Borough of Southwark, and the history of England--all excellent specimens of the revived art of gla.s.s-staining, and all at present designed by Mr. C.E. Kempe. The visitor will find it convenient to begin his examination of the interior at the =North Aisle=. The window at the extreme west end of this aisle contains a figure of St.

Augustine of Hippo, as Patron of the Augustinian Canons, introduced early in the twelfth century, when the Collegiate Church was transformed into a monastery.

The next three windows are at present vacant, but they are already destined for three great names included in the memorial scheme, viz.: Oliver Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, and Dr. Sacheverell, each of whom has a place in the history of Southwark ent.i.tling him to commemoration in the church. Goldsmith once set up as a medical pract.i.tioner at Bankside. His friend Dr. Johnson was on friendly terms with the Thrale family, whose successors (Messrs. Barclay, Perkins and Co.) still retain the Doctor's chair on their premises. Dr. Sacheverell was Chaplain at St. Saviour's from 1705 to 1709, and appears to have engaged Johnson's attention, as a preacher, in his childhood.[22]

Beneath the Goldsmith window there is a fine relic in the shape of a late =Norman Recess=, which has escaped serious mutilation. A segmental arch, surmounted with a simple chamfered moulding with quirks, supported at each end by a column with moulded base and capital, would seem to indicate a seat rather than a tomb, and the date as about the end of the twelfth century. Beneath the Johnson window there is another Norman relic, of about the same date, in the outline of the old =Canons' Doorway=, formerly connecting the aisle with the cloisters. The extreme plainness of the moulding will be contrasted with the elaborate work in the Prior's entrance further east, on the exterior of the same wall. The next window contains a memorial to Alexander Cruden, compiler of the Scripture Concordance, who died on 1st November, 1770, and was buried in the parish. This window is the gift of Mr. W.H. Francis.

John Bunyan is commemorated in the window beyond it, as having preached and worked in Southwark, and as author of the immortal "Pilgrim's Progress." The cost was defrayed by subscriptions from children of the parish.

The next bay is occupied by a short two-light window (at present plain), and by =John Gower's Tomb= in the s.p.a.ce below. This fine monument was removed to the east side of the south transept during the destructive alterations of the early nineteenth century, but had been worse treated by its friends in 1748, when a large sum was spent on its "embellishment." Its history, combined with that of the Priors who erected it, may be summed up in the opening words of the inscription which was placed in a marble tablet at the back of the tomb to commemorate the embellishment referred to, not without a touch of sarcasm, though, of course, unintentional: "Hoc viri inter inclytos memorandi." Gower died in 1408, eight years after his friend Chaucer.

He had been a liberal benefactor to the Church, and founded a chantry in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, where he was eventually buried.

The chapel and chantry are no more, but the monument marks the spot, having been restored in 1894 to its first position. It is in the Perpendicular style, and consists of an altar-tomb, with a dado, ornamented by seven panels in front, on which lies the effigy of the poet, surmounted by a canopy of three ogee arches, with an inner order of five cusps, and terminating in crocketed pinnacles. There is a pilaster set angle-wise at each end, banded at the separate divisions of the monument, and also rising into crocketed pinnacles. There are similar pinnacles between the arches of the canopy. Behind the canopy is a screen, divided into open panels of three trefoil-headed lights.

The cornice at the top is modern, and the hands and nose of the figure are restorations.

The poet is represented lying on his back, with his hands joined in prayer, and his head resting upon the three volumes on which his fame depends, the "Speculum Meditantis," "Vox Clamantis," and "Confessio Amantis." He is vested in a long dark habit, b.u.t.toned down to the feet, after the manner of a ca.s.sock, the ordinary dress of an English gentleman at the time. There is a garland of four roses round his head, and at his feet a lion couchant. The SS collar adorns the neck, with a pendant jewel, on which a swan is engraved--the device of Richard II, to whom Gower was Poet Laureate. On the wall of the canopy, at the foot of the tomb, there is a sculptured and coloured representation of the poet's own s.h.i.+eld of arms, crest, and helmet. On the back wall of the recess, above the effigy, there were formerly three painted figures, representing Charity, Mercy, and Pity, each bearing a scroll with an invocation, in Norman-French, for the soul of the departed. After undergoing repainting more than once, with modifications, the figures were scarcely recognisable in 1832, when the monument was repaired, but the figures were unfortunately obliterated. The inscription along the ledge of the tomb, which had also been destroyed, is now replaced: "Hic jacet I. Gower, Arm. Angl: poeta celeberrimus ac hoc sacro benefac. insignis. Vixit temporibus Edw. III, Ric. II, et Henri IV." The short window above Gower's tomb is not without suggestion in its vacancy. The last bay of the aisle was occupied by the Prior's doorway, the existing fragments of which are preserved _in situ_ on the exterior.

The window above it is most appropriately dedicated to Gower's contemporary, Chaucer. It was presented by General A.W. Pigott in memory of his sister, and was unveiled by the present Poet Laureate on 25th October, 1900, the fifth centenary of Chaucer's death. The artist has succeeded in compressing a rather large subject into the single lancet. The middle compartment depicts the pilgrims setting out from the old "Tabard" inn, above which (in the upper division) rise the tower of St. Saviour's and the spire of Canterbury, the starting-point and the goal of the pilgrimage. The compartment beneath contains a full-length figure of Thomas Becket, a study in ecclesiastical vestments, his right hand raised in blessing, the left holding the archiepiscopal cross. The whole is crowned with a medallion portrait of the author of "The Canterbury Tales."

If the visitor will now turn to the right and take up a position outside the chancel railings, he will probably be at the best point for seeing the =East Window=, unless a strong light happens to be behind it to bring out the details at a distance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JOHN GOWER'S MONUMENT.

_From an engraving in the Crowle-Pennant Collection, British Museum, 1801._]

It is placed in an elegant quintuplet arcading, the outer arches of which are blind, leaving the central arches for the three lancets composing the window. It contains the Crucifixion in the central light, with the attendant figures of St. John and the Blessed Virgin at the sides, the whole thus forming a pictorial subst.i.tute for the rood-screen that formerly stood before the choir. The design of this window is also by Mr. Kempe, but it shows a certain departure from his characteristic style in that it is more of a picture and less of a kaleidoscope than most of his other windows. In colouring and accuracy of delineation (anatomical and otherwise) it is perhaps more modern and less mediaeval in treatment than we should be led to expect from the artist's better known manner. The predominant tone is blue, relieved by a delicate base and canopy of amber, and the whole composition is full of the devotional spirit of the old masters in stained gla.s.s, though obviously subject to modern influences. A complete contrast, in subject and in colouring, is presented in the great =West Window=, by Mr. Henry Holiday. This window also consists of three lancet lights, which, though considerably longer than those at the east end, scarcely afford room for the many details of the extensive theme that has been chosen. It is a combination of the six "Days" of Creation with the _Benedicite omnia opera_ as a hymn of praise from created nature. In some respects the treatment of the subject suggests the influence of the school that we a.s.sociate with the names of Burne-Jones, William Morris, and Rossetti. This gift to the Cathedral came from Mr. T.H. Withers. The s.p.a.ce beneath the west window, usually occupied by a porch, is lined with two series of arched panels, seven in the higher row, nine in the lower. The latter are less acutely pointed, and much shorter, than the others, and also differ from them in that the shafts are of Purbeck marble.

On the inner south-west wall there are some extremely interesting fragments of the ancient thirteenth-century wall arcade. The peculiar construction can be inferred from the three arches that are left, viz., that in every bay one of the three arches rested on a corbel, while the others were supported by shafts, with moulded bases and foliated capitals; a precedent which has been followed in the new arcading on the west wall.

The =South Aisle.=--The window in the western wall contains a figure of St. Swithun, in cope and mitre. He is here commemorated as having converted the original "House of Sisters" into a College of Priests, and, as it were, to balance the other conversion referred to in the companion window in the north aisle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._ THE CHOIR FROM THE NAVE.]

Above the Early English arcading the westernmost bay contains a window commemorating St. Paulinus. After the defeat of his patron, Edwin, at the battle of Hatfield the saint fled from Northumbria into Kent (_circa_ 633), where he acted as Bishop of Rochester till his death in 644. The connection of St. Saviour's with the See of Rochester, though quite modern and now severed, is fittingly indicated by this memorial.

This extreme bay of the aisle const.i.tutes the Baptistery, and the scene chosen for ill.u.s.tration from the life of St. Paulinus represents him in the act of baptizing a large number of people in a river.[23]

The =Font= stands below this window in its proper place near the entrance. There was a time in the history of the English Church when the symbolism of position was thought of less account than the administration of the initial Sacrament "in the presence of all the congregation" (_see_ the Rubric of 1549, repeated in Elizabeth's Prayer Book), an object supposed to be defeated where the Baptistery was at the west end, and enclosed, as was frequently the case. The font was consequently removed in many churches towards the east, and at St. Saviour's a special pew was provided near to it for the sponsors. It was known as the "Christening Pew," but has long since gone the way of the other incongruous wooden fittings. The new font, in the old position, was presented by Mrs. Barrow in memory of her husband, and designed by Mr. G.F. Bodley. It is made of Verde di Prato marble, octagonal in shape, and rests upon a circular base surrounded by detached pillars, all of the same material. The faces of the octagon are concave, and without decoration, except that towards the east, which displays a star in a sunk gilded panel.

=Dramatic Windows.=--The chief feature of this aisle is the fine series of windows representative of the drama in the Golden Age of Queen Elizabeth. The first of the series is devoted to Edward Alleyn (1566-1626), who was "bred a stage player," and lived near the group of theatres in Southwark, but is perhaps better known as the founder of the splendid College of "G.o.d's Gift" at Dulwich.

The window was presented by the governor, old scholars, and friends of the College, and was unveiled by the Duke of Connaught on 22nd June, 1898. Alleyn himself is represented as the central figure, reading the charter of his foundation in the College Chapel, attended by Bacon, Inigo Jones, and other contemporaries. The upper part of the window contains Alleyn's portrait, and the lowest compartment a figure of Charity holding a scroll with the appropriate quotation from Psalm x.x.xIV, II.

The next three windows commemorate Francis Beaumont (1585-1616), John Fletcher (1579-1625), and Philip Ma.s.singer (1583-1639). The first and second of these great dramatists, so intimately a.s.sociated in their lives and in their writings, could hardly be separated in any commemoration. They are accordingly here represented, not only in adjacent windows, but combined by allegorical allusion in the first.

The design portrays David and Jonathan, with an inscription from the opening verse of Psalm Cx.x.xII (Vulgate): "Ecce quam bonum, et jucundum: habitare fratres in unum."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo._ _G.P. Heisch._ THE FONT AND THE THIRTEENTH-CENTURY WALL-ARCADE.]

The Scripture parallel was not quite verified in the case of the poets. Fletcher certainly lies somewhere in St. Saviour's, but no man knows the exact place of his burial. Beaumont lies in the more famous Poets' Corner at Westminster. The "Beaumont" window was presented by Mr. W.H. Francis, in memory of his father. The "Fletcher" window, in the next bay, came from Mr. T.F. Rider, whose firm were the builders of the nave. The subject chosen for ill.u.s.tration was suggested by the dramatist's "Knight of Malta." St. John the Baptist stands in the lower compartment, as Patron of the Knights of St. John, holding a standard displaying the suitable word "Concordia." The ceremony of Invest.i.ture, with attendant figures, fills the s.p.a.ce above, surmounted by the poet's head crowned with bay leaves.

The mantle of these great dramatists is acknowledged to have fallen on Philip Ma.s.singer, commemorated in the next window. It was the first of the series to be inserted, and was unveiled by Sir Walter Besant in 1896.[24] The subject is taken from Ma.s.singer's fine play, "The Virgin Martyr," and represents an angel bearing flowers and fruits of Paradise from the martyr (St. Dorothea) to a sceptical lawyer who had asked for the token for his conviction. Below this central compartment is a figure of St. Dorothea, and above it a medallion portrait of the dramatist.

Ma.s.singer is buried in the church, as certified by an entry in the "Parochial Monthly Accounts," but the same uncertainty attends his remains as those of his friend Fletcher. There is a tradition that they were both interred in one grave, which is not at all unlikely, but no one knows where it is, their names on the chancel floor being modern and counting for nothing.