Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Rochester Part 5

#The Choir# is entered through the iron gates in the central doorway of the screen. The height of its floor above that of the nave is due to the splendid crypt on which it stands. It is all, excepting one or two features which we must point out later, in the Early English style, and was finished early in the thirteenth century.

Very noticeable to everyone coming into this part of the church is the great, some think excessive, use made of the famous dark marble from the quarries of Purbeck, in the vaulting and other shafts, in their bands, and in the string-courses that divide the stories. These, though now so dull, will admit of a high polish, but, unfortunately, do not retain it long. A small specimen in the south choir transept shows how beautiful the polished stone is. Polishing would probably also relieve them of their present rather heavy effect. The shafts generally spring from the ground, from bases of the coa.r.s.er Petworth or Bethersden marble, and some of them have caps of hard stone. Above the choir stalls the main groups of vaulting shafts rise from finely carved brackets, of which two are here ill.u.s.trated (pp. 88, 91), and the intermediate single ones from carved corbel heads, all of the same fine material as the shafts themselves. Some of these ornaments were, when uncovered in 1840, "very skilfully restored in mastic by Mr. Hamerton, a sculptor in the employ of Mr. Cottingham."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHOIR SCREEN: DEAN SCOTT MEMORIAL (FROM A DRAWING BY R. J. BEALE).]

The vaulting is worthy of attention and is generally s.e.xpart.i.te in plan, although the simpler quadripart.i.te form occurs in places. An inequality in the division of the side cells of the transept vaulting, due to the difference in width of the bays, has a rather curious effect. The ribs of the vaulting, throughout the eastern arm, are painted with simple lines of colour, with a rather pleasing effect.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST (FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY MESSRS. CARL NORMAN AND CO.).]

The gallery before the single light clerestory windows gave once an open pa.s.sage all round, but it is now blocked at the end of the south transept. In front of each window it has a triple screen of which the general form is shown in our ill.u.s.tration of a window of the choir proper and in our view of the east end. It is owing to the existence over the transept aisles of two rooms, known as the Treasury and the Indulgence Chamber, that no clerestory windows are to be seen there, but only blind arcading and blank wall. In the inner, wider bays of the transepts we notice that the usual triple screens are extended by two additional arches of the lower height towards the centre of the church.

The clerestory gallery is, on each side of the choir proper, quite in the thickness of the wall. The core of the latter is Norman, but its facing, including the blind arcade at the triforium level, belongs to the Early English period.

On either side of the presbytery the clerestory gallery springs from wall-piers with cl.u.s.tered Purbeck shafts. The tracery of the windows, thus ornamented here, is later than the windows themselves, and is an insertion of the Decorated period. So is also that of the windows on the east side, and at the end, of the south transept aisle. The latter is unique in this cathedral, and we have thought it worthy of ill.u.s.tration.

Remains of cl.u.s.tered columns, to be seen in the east wall of the north transept aisle, remind us of the numerous changes that so many parts of the fabric have undergone.

The east end has only taken its present form since Sir G. Scott's work, between 1870 and 1875. In 1825 Cottingham removed a huge altar screen thence, and opened and renewed the lower range of windows, of which the central had been quite, and the other two partly, blocked with brickwork. He, however, still left the communion table against the wall, and, instead of doing away with the great upper window then existing, only repaired it. This great window, occupying the whole s.p.a.ce from the gallery to the vaulting, was divided into nine lights, of which the inner seven were cut by a transom or horizontal mullion. Photographs of three drawings by Mr. Gunning, made in 1842, are preserved in the chapter room, and show this east end, and the two sides of the organ screen, as they were before Scott's alterations.

The north transept end is very like the east end in its general design, but has, low down, the two windows lighting the Merton tomb, and the tiny one over the same bishop's Elizabethan effigy. The south transept end is again much the same, but has the s.p.a.ces between the wall-piers and under its outer windows filled in with masonry, in which are the openings to two pa.s.sages, now blocked, which led respectively up to the Indulgence Chamber and down to the crypt.

There are three other doorways, the uses of which we must also mention.

One at the north-west corner of the north transept leads to the staircase in the angle turret there; another, on the other side of the transept, is the way to the Treasury, to the clerestory gallery, and, by the gallery, to the Indulgence Chamber. The third is the splendid chapter-house doorway in the south transept aisle. To this one a special section will presently be devoted.

We have spoken more than once of the Treasury and the Indulgence Chamber. The latter is little used now, if at all, possibly because of the rather adventurous approach to it; but in the former the cathedral plate is still kept.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORBEL IN CHOIR (H. P. CLIFFORD DEL.).]

In the #Paving# of the choir there is a considerable variety. Up the choir proper we see slabs of variously coloured stones arranged in a not very elaborate pattern, part of the north transept and the whole of its aisle are also paved with stones of different colours "beautifully disposed,"

and there is a similar but simpler flooring behind the altar. To nearly all the rest of the eastern arm was given by Sir G. Scott a glittering floor of encaustic tiles; but much of the pavement of the south transept and its aisle is still of plain stone. The tiles have mostly old designs, taken from some mediaeval examples still to be seen in the south choir transept and under an arch on the east side of the northern. To the east of the crossing is the matrix of a fine bra.s.s, of a bishop in full robes with mitre and crosier, with two shields of arms on each side of the figure. Farther on, between the altar and its rails, the tiling is very elaborate and, in a ring of it there, the signs of the zodiac appear. At the top of the dark marble altar steps there are tiles again.

Those in front have representations of the seven virtues, and two others, with angels, are to be seen on each side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WINDOW, CHOIR CLERESTORY (FROM A DRAWING BY H. P. CLIFFORD).]

#The Stalls# of the dean and canons stand against the organ screen and face towards the east. They were designed, in the Gothic style, by Sir G. Scott, and have no canopies on account of the painted decoration above. The choir stalls also owe their present form to Scott, but he incorporated in them as much old work as possible. The seats against the wall on each side (the misericords) are all new, but not so are the trefoil-headed arcade and the ma.s.sive oak beam which bear the standards supporting their book-rests. This arcade still has some of its original colouring, and belongs probably to the original furniture of the choir at the time of its completion, early in the thirteenth century. Many sections of the heavy beam above are also old, perhaps of the same age.

The backs of the front row of seats, bearing the book-rests to the middle row, are chiefly constructed of old Tudor panelling, which once belonged to the book-desks made for the new establishment in 1541.

Tracing the history of the furniture from this time, we find Archbishop Laud, in 1634, ordering a new fair desk to be provided without delay.

After the Civil War considerable repairs were no doubt needed, but it is not until 1742-43 that we find any great works undertaken. Wainscoting and pews were then erected, and we read of a furnishing of choir seats, and of stalls for the dean and prebendaries under the organ. Only slight alterations were made in these by Mr. Cottingham, but they were, in 1840, cleared of paint under his direction, and "beautifully grained as panel oak." Finally, in 1870-75, they were done away with by Scott, whose new stalls were, together with other interior fittings of the choir, paid for with a sum of 3,000 generously given by Dr. and Mrs.

Griffith, to whom the cathedral was already greatly indebted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WINDOW TRACERY, S. CHOIR TRANSEPT AISLE (H. P. CLIFFORD DEL.).]

The old pews mentioned above rose in tiers, high and plain, on either side of the central alley, and the wainscoting behind them shut off the transepts, turning them into separate chapels. They and it were only removed in 1867.

#Decorative Mural Painting.#--On removing the panelling at the back of the old choir stalls, Sir Gilbert Scott found that the whole length of the walls had once been painted. The old stalls were fortunately so high that they had saved not only the lower border, which, with its ribbon pattern and yellow six-petalled roses, is the same on each wall, but nearly a complete row of the main design as well. Scott retained this, and repeated it over the rest of the s.p.a.ce, up to the top border, of which traces remained just under the first string-course. This upper border varies slightly on the different sides. The shields in it, formerly blank, are now occupied with the coats-of-arms of bishops of the see.

The pattern that covers the s.p.a.ce between the borders is certainly heraldic. The lions in the red quatrefoils, and the fleurs-de-lis in the alternate blue s.p.a.ces, correspond in every possible way--in form, colour, and ground--with those of the royal arms of England and of France. Dating, as they almost certainly do, from the fourteenth century, they remind us of the attempts of Edward III. and his brave son to unite both realms under his sway. The idea of the design may have come from Canterbury, where an earlier border, of similar materials, alluded perhaps to Edward II.'s marriage with Isabella of France. After making this suggestion, Canon Scott Robertson[14] records a mention of the use, at much the same time, of a similarly const.i.tuted pattern on some altar-cloths at Westminster Abbey.

[14] "Archaeologia Cantiana," x. 70.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CORBEL IN CHOIR (H. P. CLIFFORD DEL.).]

The painting is continued on oak panelling across the organ screen. A piece of the original panelling, with a fragment of an earlier rather tartan-like pattern also, is now hung, under gla.s.s, on a pier opposite the chapter-house door.

#The Bishop's Throne#, on the south side, just to the west of the crossing, is of carved oak, in the Gothic style, and has a rich canopy.

It was designed by Scott, and was a present to the cathedral from Lord Dudley, a brother-in-law of Bishop Claughton. Of two of its predecessors some particulars can be given. In 1743 Bishop Wilc.o.c.ks gave a throne, cla.s.sical in style, with a flat pedimental canopy supported by ma.s.sive columns. The place of this was taken in 1840 by a new work of Cottingham's, which was still more quickly supplanted by the present throne. Cottingham's did not, however, long remain unused; it was taken to St. Albans in 1877 for the enthronement of Dr. Claughton as the first bishop of that new see.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BISHOP'S THRONE (FROM A DRAWING BY R. J. BEALE).]

On the north wall, directly opposite the bishop's throne, there still remains a portion, about 5 ft. 10 in. high and 2 ft. 2 in. wide, of an old fresco painting of that favourite mediaeval subject, #The Wheel of Fortune#. This was uncovered when the older pulpit was taken down to make room for Mr. Cottingham's in 1840. At that time, we are told, the background had a diaper of small flowers, and there was the outline of a shield above, in which, however, no charges could be traced. Fortune, pictured as a queen, is robed in yellow, and regulates the movement of her wheel, of the same colour, with her right hand. It is interesting to trace the changes in the dress of the other figures. At her feet a man, plainly clad in a dark red gown, with green stockings and black shoes, is trying to gain a position on the wheel. Above this poor struggling one we see one who has risen halfway to the summit, and whose attire is correspondingly richer. His gown is a little lighter in colour, and has a hood to match; his sleeves are yellow, his stockings green, and his shoes ornamented. At the top is proudly and comfortably seated the present favourite, richly arrayed in a full robe of red turned up with white, with furs round his neck, a white belt and green hose. He looks towards the missing half of the picture, where others were no doubt represented as falling or fallen from the high place that he now holds, and his countenance seems to express mingled satisfaction and inquietude.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE (FROM A DRAWING BY H. P. CLIFFORD).]

This fresco dates probably from as far back as the thirteenth century.

Attempts have been made to attach a more particular interpretation to it, to make it represent the rapid rise of Gundulf, for instance; but it seems correct to give it a general signification, to look on it as typical of the uncertainty and changeableness of earthly things.

#The Pulpit#, of plain wood, designed by Sir G. Scott, stands at the north-east corner of the crossing. Its predecessor, by Cottingham, used to be directly in front of the bishop's throne, and is now in the nave.

#The Lectern#, of bra.s.s, and in the well-known eagle form, is a gift from Bishop Claughton, and the stand to it was presented by Dean Scott.

#The Altar# stands, it will be noticed, some distance in front of the east end, and there is a free pa.s.sage all round. This position was proved to be archaeologically correct when Sir G. Scott lowered the floor of this part of the church. The reredos, one of the fittings provided by Dr. and Mrs. Griffith, and designed by Scott, projects beyond the altar-table on each side in a way that is unusual and not altogether pleasing. It is of Caen stone, and contains a representation of the Last Supper in rather high relief, within a three-gabled canopy. The dark marble columns supporting the central gable are beautifully veined.

The altar seems to have kept its old position until 1634, when Laud, greatly shocked, gave orders to "place the communion-table at the end of the choir in a decent manner, and make a fair rail to go across the aisle as in other cathedral churches." The dean and chapter protested slightly, pointing out that, if placed quite at the end it would be almost out of hearing of the congregation, and suggested as an alternative the erection of a screen behind it where it then stood. In 1642 some soldiers of the Parliament visited the cathedral, moved the altar, broke up the steps on which it was raised, and tore down its rails, leaving the wood as firing for the poor. Repairs must have been needed here, therefore, when the Restoration came. Later, by a chapter act of the 2nd June, 1707, the clerk was empowered to sign an agreement with a Mr. Coppinger for a new altar-piece, which seems to have been still in existence in 1788, and to be the one then described as of Norway oak, plain and neat, by the Rev. S. Denne. A resolution had been pa.s.sed a little before, on the 6th December, 1706, that "the piece of rich silk and silver brocade given by the Bishop of Rochester should be put up." If applied to the new altar-piece this did not last long, for in 1752 a large piece of rich velvet, in a frame elegantly carved and gilt, was purchased with 50 given by Archbishop Herring, a former dean, to take the place of the central panel of plain wainscot. This was itself removed in 1788, when a picture by Sir Benjamin West, P.R.A., "The Angels appearing to the Shepherds," was inserted in its stead. This picture was presented anonymously, but the name of the donor, J.

Wilc.o.c.ks, Esq., a son of the bishop, transpired after his death. When Mr. Cottingham removed the old "Corinthian" altar-piece, West's work was, in 1826, lent to St. Mary's church, Chatham, on the condition that it should be returned when no longer needed. Archdeacon Laws was then rector. A later rector, Canon Jelf, was, in 1886, able to announce to his vestry that the dean and chapter waived all their rights, so the picture is still to be seen hanging over the vestry door. It cannot be called a great work, and we can scarcely wonder that it was thought by many unworthy of its high place in the cathedral.

The three great panels of #Mosaic# occupying the lower part of the east end, behind the altar, are a memorial to Mrs. Scott, the wife of the late dean. When the whitewash was sc.r.a.ped off, after the removal of the altar-piece in 1825, this wall was found to have been enriched with elaborate decorative paintings "of birds and beasts, fleurs-de-lis, lilies, crescents, stars, scroll foliage, fleury crosses, lace work borders, etc., arranged in most beautiful order and finely contrasted in colours, which consist of the brightest crimsons, purples, azures, greens, etc."

The fine #Piscina# in the easternmost bay on the north side, just behind the altar, deserves notice. Its recess has a richly cusped arch, and in the wall below is a curious cupboard, intended probably for the sacramental vessels.

#The Sedilia# stand on the other side, in the third bay from the east. The stalls are of stone, three in number, and in date late Perpendicular.

The arms on their canopies are those of the see of Rochester, of the Priory of St. Andrew, Rochester, and of that of Christ Church, Canterbury. Within the sedilia, at one time often mis-named "confessionals," painted figures of bishops were formerly visible, even within the present century. The bra.s.s book-rest at the foot of the polished marble steps in front was given in Dean Scott's memory by his sons and daughters. Opposite, on the other side of the chancel, stands a richly carved episcopal chair upholstered with blue velvet.

#The Communion Plate# is still kept in an old iron-bound chest in the "Treasury," over the north choir transept aisle.

The chief service, consisting of two cups with covers, two flagons, an alms-dish and two patens with covers, was made for James, Duke of Lenox and Richmond, in London in 1653-54. Sir Joseph Williamson, a later resident at Cobham Hall bequeathed it to the cathedral by his will of 1701. The whole service was gilt, and the bequest included also a pair of magnificent p.r.i.c.ket candlesticks, each nearly 20 inches high, with rich stems and ma.s.sive scrolled bases. It is described by Canon Scott Robertson in "Archaeologia Cantiana," vol. xvi., and ill.u.s.trated in vol.

xvii.

Two other gilt cups and two patens, made at London in 1662-63, were given to the cathedral by Dr. R. Cooke, who had, the inscriptions tell us, become a prebendary in 1660. Each cup has engraved on it a copy of the common seal of the dean and chapter, with Dr. Cooke's arms above.

The b.u.t.ton bases of the patens bear the donor's crest.

The oldest and most interesting pieces at Rochester are, however, two alms-basins or patens (perhaps originally ciboria), made at London in 1530-31. The insides of the bowls, except the nearly vertical rims, are embossed with a honeycomb pattern, and beneath each hexagon here, there is a plain circle outside. The knops are ornamented with flowers and half-flowers, and the stems beneath have each a frilled collar and a pattern in repousse of overlapping scales or leaves. The foot, under a cable moulding, is beaten into an egg-and-tongue pattern. One has on its rim, in Lombardic capitals, the inscription, _Benedicamus Patrem et Filium c.u.m Sancto Spiritu_, and the other, the same except for the curious contraction, _Sper._, for the last word. There is also a cover of silver gilt, which was made at London in 1532-33. Its b.u.t.ton handle has four supports, moulded like cords, and it is itself decorated in repousse.

One solitary survivor of the old monastic plate remains, and some mention of it seems appropriate here. We allude to the famous #Rochester mazer#, made in 1532, and given to the refectory _per fratrem Robertum Pecham_. This is now in the possession of Sir A. W. Franks, by whom it was acquired at the sale of the Fontaine collection at Narford Hall. It is ill.u.s.trated in "Archaeologia," xxiii., 393, and described by Mr. St.

John Hope in the same publication, vol. 1., 168.

#Monuments, etc.#--When the great bishop, Walter de Merton, died, in 1772, a sumptuous monument was erected over his remains at the end of the north choir transept. His executors' accounts give us particulars as to the cost. The chief feature was the enamel work by Jean de Limoges, who was paid 40 5_s._ 6_d._ for executing it, bringing it over and setting it up. The balance between this sum and the total amount of 67 14_s._ 6_d._ was paid for the rich, vaulted canopy and other masonry, the two stained gla.s.s windows and the iron railing.

This tomb suffered much at the time of the Reformation, and the Merton College authorities undertook its repair, during Sir Henry Savile's wardenship, in 1598. It was then opened, and the body of the bishop, who had been buried in his robes, with his pastoral staff and chalice, disclosed. The staff on being touched fell to pieces but the chalice was removed to the college to be treasured there. The original enamelled work seems to have been injured beyond repair, so was replaced by the alabaster effigy now in the next bay. This effigy is remarkable for the anachronisms it shows. The bishop wears the rochet, the episcopal dress of the Reformed church instead of his proper robes, and the plain crook beside him bears no resemblance to the rich crosiers of the thirteenth century. The ruff round his neck and his broad-toed shoes are also plainly out-of-date. The mantle of estate refers of course to his rank as Chancellor, as did also the bag or purse that used to hang on the wall above. The inscriptions were on the front of the tomb, whence came also the death's head panels to be seen with the effigy now.

Fresh injuries, suffered during the Civil War period, were made good by the college in 1662, and a tablet recording this, and balanced by the bishop's arms, was placed at the back of the tomb where the windows had been blocked up. There were fresh renovations in 1701, and in 1770, when all the whitewash was cleaned off. The College also made an annual payment for care of the tomb.