Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Manchester Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: CLOISTER GALLERY, NORTH SIDE.]

Leaving this room, we pa.s.s through the two cloister walks already described, and proceed towards the hall until on the right hand we see a staircase with bal.u.s.ters of oak, black from age. We mount this, and when we reach the top find ourselves in the upper corridor that runs along the north side of the cloister-garth. This is lit by windows looking into the cloister, and is covered with a wooden ceiling, just at the head of the staircase is the doorway leading into the private rooms of the governor, with exquisite oak fittings; on the north side of this corridor are doors similar to those that we noticed in the corridor below, opposite to the hall; these lead into the librarian's rooms; beyond these, to the west, stands a beautiful Tudor table of carved oak. At the west end of the corridor is an iron studded door. The carvings over the doorway on the west side should not be pa.s.sed by unnoticed (see p. 65). The corridor over the west walk of the cloister is filled with bookcases plentifully supplied with books.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHETHAM'S LIBRARY, FORMERLY THE DORMITORY.]

Parallel to this runs the old dormitory of the College, a room with a fine timber roof lighted from above; on the west side of this are a number of compartments formed of tall bookcases, and entered from the corridor by open-work doors. At the north end of the corridor is a window filled with painted gla.s.s, one light of which represents St. Martin of Tours dividing his cloak with a beggar, and the other Eutychus falling out of the window.

At the south end of this corridor we find a staircase which leads from the ground floor close to the main entrance to the library, and is, in fact, the way by which readers usually enter it. There is a room with a similar timber roof running along the south side of the building parallel to the corridor above the south walk of the cloister. This was once a chapel dedicated to St. Mary, and now, like the dormitory, is filled with bookcases; but an oak altar rail, dating from the middle of the sixteenth century, with double spiral rails, may still be seen here.

At the east end of the south corridor is a door leading into a beautiful room, now used as the reading room; formerly it was the warden's room, and many a man well known in history has sat within its walls. Here Sir Walter Raleigh and the courtiers of his day were entertained by the warden, Dr. Dee, of whom mention was made in the last chapter,--a wizard as he was then thought to be, whom even the Queen did not hesitate to consult when she wished to know the future.

This room, like many others in this building, has an open timber roof and a cornice, dating from the time of the foundation of the College in the days of Henry V. The walls are wainscoted up to the level of the spring of the roof which spans the room from east to west.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WARDEN'S ROOM, NOW THE READING ROOM--NORTH SIDE.]

In the centre of the north side of this room is a fireplace. This wall is wainscoted up to the same height as the other walls, and above the oak panelling it is profusely decorated, as will be seen from the ill.u.s.trations, with scrolls and other patterns. This decoration was done in the early years of the reign of Charles II., after the College had been converted into Chetham's Hospital. In the centre of the room is a handsome oval oak table, with a number of chairs to match; against the south wall stands a fifteenth century communion table, and against the north wall to the left of the fireplace, a handsome sideboard of carved oak. This was made up of portions of two pieces of old furniture, namely, the top of a bookcase once given by Humphrey Chetham to Walmsley Church, near Bolton-le-Moors, still bearing an inscription: "The gift of Humphrey Chetham Esquire, 1655," and a fifteenth century bedstead once used by the Pretender when sleeping at Hulton Park in Lancashire. This sideboard was presented to the College by a member of the Hulton family, who was one of the Chetham feoffees. Round the walls are several portraits. From the east side of the room there is a projecting bay lighted by three windows and furnished with seats and a square writing table with sloping sides, to which students can take the book from which they wish to make extracts. The enrichments of the ceiling of the bay are of plaster, but the rest of the vault is stone. All the floors of this upper story are of oak, well polished by the feet of many generations. The furniture of the reading room harmonizes well with the room itself. The windows are placed under widely splayed, obtusely pointed four centred arches. On the sill of one stands a statuette in bronze of Humphrey Chetham and one of the boys of his school, similar to the marble statue already described as standing at the east end of the north choir aisle of the cathedral church. At the northwest corner of the room is a door which the visitor might easily overlook, but which gives access to a most interesting chamber. This was at one time the minstrels' gallery opening out into the hall, when in the time of the Greslets and the De le Warres, the baron, his guests and retainers feasted merrily there, while the harpers tw.a.n.ged their strings and sang of deeds of daring and war and victory. When the building pa.s.sed into ecclesiastical hands in 1422 the arches opening into the hall were walled up, and the minstrels'

gallery was converted into a scriptorium; two small openings were, however, left in the wall from which the warden pa.s.sing out of his own room into the scriptorium might see what was being done in the hall below.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE READING ROOM: EAST SIDE.]

Leaving the warden's room we may descend by the staircase at the south-west corner of the building, and before quitting this part of the hospital altogether, make a closer examination of the wrought iron gate at the south end of the west walk of the cloister. On it we see embossed in bra.s.s, the arms of the founder and below the arms, the motto, "Quod tuum tene," "Hold thine own."

The part of the building used as the boys' dormitories has been internally refitted in modern times, and so has lost somewhat of its archaeological interest; but the building, taken as a whole, is a very valuable relic of mediaeval times. Even if there were nothing older than Chetham's day, it would be well worth study; but of course it is of much earlier date, and we see a building which has been used for three distinct purposes at different times of its history: first as a baron's dwelling-place, then as the abode of one of those religious bodies differing in many points from the regular monastic orders known as colleges of clergy, and finally converted into one of those educational establishments which sprang up into vigorous existence in the days succeeding the dissolution of the monasteries. It is especially interesting to note how many features of the life led by the boys at the time of the foundation are still preserved at this hospital. Modern improvements have been judiciously introduced into the management of this educational foundation; there has been no unnecessary reckless sweeping away of what is old and picturesque, and yet, at the same time, the character of the education given has been brought well up to modern requirements, fulfilling literally the conditions laid down by the founder, who directed that "Ye boys shall be taught ye reading, ye writing, ye summes, and all kinds of ye ingenuitie."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CLOISTER--WEST WALK.]

It is a matter of congratulation that this ancient building has been preserved from falling into ruin and being used as a quarry of ready-hewn stone, a fate that overtook so many of the religious houses of the country when the monastic bodies were expelled; and also that by the wise regulations made for the admission of visitors, the place is easily seen, and yet is preserved from all chance of injury.

GROUND-PLAN OF THE COLLEGIATE BUILDINGS, NOW CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL.

(From "Old Halls of Lancashire and Cheshire," by Henry Taylor.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: GROUND-PLAN OF THE COLLEGIATE BUILDINGS, NOW CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL. (From "Old Halls of Lancashire and Cheshire," by Henry Taylor.)]

1. Porch. 2. Hall. 3. Cloister. 4. Cloister walks with galleries above.

5. Audit Room with Warden's Room above. 6. Fellows' Rooms. 7. b.u.t.teries.

8. Kitchen. 9. Bakehouse. 10. Hospitium. 11. Gateway. 12. Steps to River--now covered.