Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Lichfield Part 2

The =bas-relief figures= in the architrave already mentioned have been restored to represent the two genealogies of Christ as given by St. Matthew and St. Luke, on the north and south sides respectively, as follows:--

North side: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Boaz, Jesse, David, Virgin and Child.

South side: Adam, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Judah, and St. Joseph; the Virgin and St. Joseph being the two figures at the top of the arch.

There is a very beautiful fourteenth-century bas-relief above the central pillar of the doorway, representing Our Lord in Glory, with an angel on each side, having a serpent under his feet.

The doors are covered with fine iron work, which, with the exception of that on the lowest panel, is supposed to be original.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE GREAT WEST DOORWAY.]

The two side doorways in the west front are deeply recessed in three orders with very finely-carved mouldings. These also have bas-relief figures in the architraves. Those in the northern doorway represent the princ.i.p.al princes and princesses who promoted Christianity in England, while those in the southern doorway represent the leading early missionaries to England.

In the northern doorway, on the north side, are Ethelbert, Edwin, Oswald, Oswy, Peada, Wulphere; and on the south side, Bertha, Ethelburga, Hilda, Eanfled, Ermenilda, Werburga.

In the southern doorway, on the north side, are St. Aidan, Finan, Diuma, Ceollach, Trumhere, Jaruman; and on the south side, Gregory, Augustine, Paulinus, Theodore, Cuthbert, Wilfrid.

The corbels of the arches of these two doorways are interesting. Those of the north-west doorway represent Night on one side and the Morning Star on the other. The former is a female face with a reversed torch, and the Greek word NYX for night; the latter is a beautiful boy's face with a burning torch.

Those on the south-west doorway are a blindfolded face and an open face, representing the Law and the Gospel respectively.

Up to the time of the recent restoration a large statue of Charles II., who, by gifts of money and also of timber from Needham Forest, helped Bishop Hacket in the general repair after the Civil Wars, occupied the princ.i.p.al canopy in the middle of the central gable of the west front. This statue was the work of a certain stone-mason named William Wilson, who, by marrying a rich widow, "arrived at knighthood" in 1681. The statue, which certainly was not a work of art from all account of it, was taken down, and the pedestal is now occupied by a figure of Our Lord. The two other large canopied niches in the gable being filled with statues of Moses and Elijah, on the north and south sides respectively; while the four smaller statues represent, on the north, St. Gabriel, with St. Uriel underneath; and on the south, St. Michael, with St. Raphael below.

In giving the list of the statuary on the west front, which now follows, it is only necessary to say that there is no pretence that the characters now chosen were those originally represented. All that could be done in filling the niches was to study the plan of other similar facades, such as that at Wells, and to imitate the general idea. Tradition, however, had it that the long row of figures in the top of the lowest stage represented the Saxon and English kings, with St. Chad in the centre, and the tradition has been respected.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SOUTHERN DOORWAY OF THE WEST FRONT.]

The following is a list of all the statues not already mentioned on the west front, including these on the north and south faces of the flanking turrets. The statues are enumerated in rows from the north side to the south.

On the northern tower the highest tier commences round the corner with two of the old figures already mentioned, then Aaron, Samuel, Hannah, another old figure, Deborah, Rachel, another old figure, Sarah, another old figure, and Eve.

On the southern tower the highest tier commences with Adam, Abel, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Melchisedec, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Daniel, Job, and Shem (these two last being, of course, round the corner on the south side).

Taking next the two rows on the northern tower to the north of the great west window, there are in the higher row, St. Editha, David, St. Helena, Solomon, St. Gabriel, Zechariah, Nahum, Amos, Jeremiah; and in the lower row, Dean Bickersteth, St. Mark, Queen Victoria, St. Luke, St. Uriel, Malachi, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Daniel (Jeremiah being just above Daniel, by the window).

Taking next the two rows on the southern tower to the south of the great west window, there are in the higher row, Isaiah, Hosea, Jonah, Zephaniah, St. Michael, Bishop Hacket, Bishop Lonsdale, Bishop Selwyn (the niche round the corner is vacant), and in the lower row, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah, Haggai, St. Raphael, Bishop Clinton, Bishop Patteshall, Bishop Langton (the niche round the corner is vacant).

Next again below is the long row of kings with St. Chad in the centre stretching right across the cathedral, the pre-Conquest kings on the south side of St. Chad, the post-Conquest on the north, as follows:--William the Conqueror, William Rufus, Henry I., Stephen, Henry II., Richard I., John, Henry III., Edward I., Edward II., Edward III., Richard II., St. Chad, Peada, Wulphere, Ethelred, Offa, Egbert, Ethelwolf, Ethelbert, Ethelred, Alfred, Edgar, Canute, Edward the Confessor.

Lastly, there is the lowest row, which is broken three times by the doors; these are St. Cyprian, St. Bartholomew, St. Simon, St. James the Less, St. Thomas (then the northern door), St. Philip, St. Andrew (then the central door with its seven niches and five statues already described), St. Paul, St. Matthew (then the southern door), St. James the Greater, St. Jude, St. Stephen, St. Clement, St. Werburga.

There is also a small figure of St. Antony over the belfry window on the south side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A BAY OF THE NAVE--EXTERIOR.]

A tour of the cathedral, starting by the north side, leads past the nave with its b.u.t.tresses and flying-b.u.t.tresses looking picturesque in their unrestored state, and there can be seen outside the seventh bay of the nave the remains of the entrance to Dean Yotton's chantry. Coming to the front of the north transept, it will be noticed that the doorway has steps inside leading down into the cathedral, while on the opposite side it will be found that the steps lead from the south door down outside; the level of the ground on the two sides of the cathedral being very different.

=The North Doorway= is extremely fine, and is deeply recessed. Like the other two main doorways of the cathedral,--that at the west end and that in the south transept--this doorway is double, the main arch being divided into two. The archivolts of these are lancet-shaped and covered with foliage, but not foliated as in the west door. Outside the double-arched doorway proper, the architrave is divided into five princ.i.p.al and several smaller mouldings; the larger ones being very finely carved, as to two, the second and fourth, with inter-twisted foliage and scroll work; and as to the other three, the inner, middle, and outer, with small lozenge-shaped plaques containing bas-relief figures. These figures in the inner moulding are angels, in the middle one probably they are patriarchs and prophets. In the outer one, on the left or eastern side, the figures show the genealogy of Christ, beginning with Jesse at the springing stone, and ending with the Virgin and Child near the crown; while on the right-hand side, opposite Jesse, is the figure of St. Chad baptising the sons of King Wulphere, and above, the Apostles from St. Matthias to St. Peter at the crown. The whole architrave is surmounted by a weather moulding in the form of a gable, with a recently executed cross in the style of the thirteenth century at the top. The pillars on each side of the doorway have finely carved capitals, and the outer pillars are separated by lines of dog-toothing. The central pillar is very graceful, and consists of four slender shafts with carved capitals. The whole forms a magnificent example of a doorway in the Early English style, but showing signs of its derivation from the Norman. There is a niche in the tympanum which was apparently in Britton's time empty; but it must soon after have been filled with an image of St. Anne in Roman cement; this has recently been replaced by a statue of the same saint by Mr W. R. Ingram, while above some Roman cement work in the top of the gable has been removed, and a vesica containing a bas-relief of Our Lord in Glory by Mr Bridgeman reproduces no doubt the original architect's idea. The doorway, though it has been considerably restored, was not so much injured as a great deal of the rest of the cathedral, and so contains some very charming carving of the thirteenth century. There are two figures in Roman cement, one on each side of the doorway, representing St. Jude with a scroll, and St. James the Less with a club. No doubt these will both disappear before long, and their place be filled with modern statues.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NORTH ENTRANCE IN 1813.]

Pa.s.sing by the somewhat plain octagonal chapter-house, where we may perhaps wonder whether the small niches in the top of the b.u.t.tresses which stick up like little turrets ever contained images, we come to the side of the choir and presbytery, which has not yet been restored, and then to the Lady Chapel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A BAY OF THE CHOIR--EXTERIOR.]

The outside of the =Lady Chapel= has recently been very much altered; and the old b.u.t.tresses, which but the other day were as left by Bishop Langton, with only the hand of decay showing on them, are now gone, and in their place are brand new b.u.t.tresses, with brand new niches and saints. Those in the top row are the holy women of the Old Testament, while below them are the holy women of the New Testament. The lower row represent Priscilla, Anna, Dorcas, Mary, Martha, Lydia, Phoebe and Elizabeth; and above are Esther, Ruth, Naomi, Rizpah, Deborah, Miriam, Rachel, and Rebecca.

On the south side of the Lady Chapel are the curious chapels--known as the mortuary chapels--with their gabled fronts lying in the three s.p.a.ces between the b.u.t.tresses. These are more fully described in their place in the next chapter.

From this end of the cathedral can be well seen the arcaded parapet with its battlements, which runs round the top of the eastern half of the building and of the transepts, also the turrets of the sacristry with their high crocketted pinnacles; from here, too, can be seen, what Professor Willis draws attention to, "that the rebuilt clerestory of the western part of the choir betrays by the lighter colour of its stone that it was a work subsequent to the eastern part." On one of the b.u.t.tresses of the choir on this side is an ancient image of a female figure, but it is too much decayed to afford any clue to the character represented, though it remains a very charming instance of Gothic sculpture. On the east corner of the sacristry there is a modern figure of G.o.defroi de Bouillon, and at the other corner is a figure of St. Chad.

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOORWAY OF SOUTH TRANSEPT BEFORE THE LAST RESTORATION.]

In the gable of the =South Transept= is a very beautiful rose window, which is hidden by the stone groining from the inside. Mr J. O. Scott, in a lecture already referred to, declared that "this rose window is so high up in the gable that it never could have been combined with any stone groining. But, by referring to York Minster, between which and Lichfield many curious parallels may be traced, it is seen at once how a rose window in this position may be brought into the general design.

This is effected by using a particular kind of wooden groining, the part of which nearest to the gable wall is lifted up so as to exhibit the window from within the building."

The large doorway in the south transept, which as seen from the outside is at the top of a flight of steps, very much resembles the doorway on the north side, but the carving is not so fine; it has been very much restored, and three shields have been in comparatively recent times carved in the tympanum. The shields show the arms of the see, of Bishop Lloyd, and Dean Addison, thus declaring this to have been done about 1700.

To the right of this doorway, outside the southern end of the transept aisle, is an ancient monument, probably of an archdeacon. A carved figure lies in a recess surmounted by a stone canopy.

The large heavy b.u.t.tresses which disfigure the outside of this transept were the work of Wyatt at the end of the last century. The outside of the nave on this side presents a very different appearance to the other side. Here everything is new and uninteresting. The entrance to the bell tower is on this side, and a winding stair leads to the belfry stage.

There are ten =Bells=, seven of which date from about 1687, and are therefore of the same age as the bishop's palace. In that year Hacket's six bells, which can only have been hanging some sixteen or seventeen years, were found to be useless, and a subscription was raised to replace them with a peal of ten. There is a letter from the dean and chapter to Elias Ashmole, in which it is stated that Henry Bagley of Ecton, the bell-founder, had "so over-sized the eight bells he had cast, that they had swallowed up all the metal for the ten," and that eighty pounds more would be required, but that they did not regret the mistake as it "would make extremely for the advantage and glory of the cathedral (the bigness of such a ring far more befitting the place)." Only seven of these bells are now in use; the other three are by Rudhall of Gloucester and Mears of London. In 1748 the belfry caught fire and the ninth bell cracked with the heat, but it was recast in the same year, and since then there has been no change.

The story of the earliest cathedral bells is lost. It was usual in early days to hang the bells in a separate tower somewhere in the cathedral precincts. Here, we know that in 1315 the bell tower was burnt down,--"Combustum fuit campanile c.u.m campanis in clauso Lichfeldensi." The site of this tower was lately discovered in the bishop's garden. Dean Heywood, in 1477, gave a large bell to the cathedral--it was known as the Jesus Bell; the gift is mentioned in the _Cantaria Sancti Blasii_, where the cost is stated to be one hundred pounds. The bell bore this inscription:--

_"I am the bell of Jesus, and Edward is our king,_ _Sir Thomas Heywood first caused me to ring."_

This bell was hung in the south-west tower, which thus came to be called the Jesus-Bell Tower. The bell was destroyed during the Civil Wars. An ancient writer quoted by Shaw, after detailing the terrible fates of those who took part against religious houses and churches, says: "Nor shall I relate what happened to one, Pickins, a pewterer, who on July 26, 1653, knoct in pieces the fair bell called Jesus, at Lichfield, he being the chief officer appointed for demolishing that cathedral."

There was also a bell called the "Clocke Bell," which was hung in the lowest storey of the Jesus spire. It is shown in the south view given in Fuller's "Church History," and particular attention is there directed to it. The clock bell and all the others are now hung in the top storey of the tower.

There is also a small bell in the great central tower called "the Tantony": it formerly belonged to the Dyott family.

In the south-west tower is also the new =Clock,= which was put up in 1890. The face is underneath, in the west end of the south aisle of the nave; there is no outside face. The well-known Cambridge quarter chimes can, it is said, be heard at a distance of three miles.

In the green gra.s.s of the close are many tombstones, and round about the cathedral stone coffins have been dug up; on the north side of the choir is the traditional burying-place of two Mercian kings.

CHAPTER III

THE INTERIOR

Lichfield is one of the smallest cathedrals in England. In length it only measures 370 feet from the inside of the west door to the extreme end of the inside of the Lady Chapel, while the interior of the nave, with its aisles, is only a little more than 68 feet wide; and yet its smallness is not the first fact that will strike the visitor on entering the west door: rather, on the other hand, its immense length in proportion to its height and width will be noticed, but probably all other feelings will be forgotten in the beauty of the vista that lies before him. The long line of arches and the long low roof, with its almost countless bosses, lead the eye down to the Lady Chapel, where a ma.s.s of blue and red shows that the cathedral has some of the most beautiful gla.s.s in the kingdom.

The orientation of the nave and choir are not the same--the choir and Lady Chapel being considerably inclined to the north. Many have been the theories raised by the curious discoveries made as to the deflections of various parts of this cathedral. They are too numerous to quote here, and it will be sufficient to note that the total deflection of the east end from the true east is about ten degrees.