Our Homeland Churches and How to Study Them Part 1

Our Homeland Churches and How to Study Them.

by Sidney Heath.

PREFACE.

It is a truism that the history of building is the history of the civilized world, for of all the arts practised by man, there is none which conveys to us a clearer conception of the religion, history, manners, customs, ideals and follies of past ages, than the art of building. This applies in a special sense to cathedrals and churches, which glorious relics reflect and perpetuate the n.o.ble aim, the delicate thought, the refined and exquisite taste, the patient and painstaking toil which have been expended upon them by the devout and earnest craftsmen of the past.

There are very few of our ancient churches in village, town or city which do not offer some feature of interest to the visitor, and in the absence of anything more important, there is sure to be some door, window, font, screen, or other detail which will amply repay him for the small amount of time spent in seeing it.

The aim of the author of this little volume has been to indicate the symbolism and meaning attaching to the various portions of our churches and cathedrals, and to endeavour briefly to describe, in language as simple as the subject will allow, the various styles of ecclesiastical architecture with their distinctive characteristics in such a way as will enable the reader to a.s.sign each portion and detail of a church to its respective period with an approximate degree of accuracy.

He does not claim to be original, but endeavours to be useful and interesting. The best authorities have been consulted and freely drawn upon, but with the object in view of writing a book at once thus useful and interesting, no attempt has been made to deal with the subject in a strictly architectural, or a purely scientific manner.

Weymouth, 1906.

DEDICATION.

To all those who love old buildings--cathedrals, abbeys, and village churches, which breathe the spirit of an age with which we have entirely broken--and who would fain hand down to posterity, unmutilated, the great building achievements of our forefathers, which we, with all our science, wealth, and means of curtailing labour, can no more imitate than we can reproduce the language of a Chaucer or a Shakespeare; this book is respectfully dedicated.

S. H.

"_Firm was their faith, the ancient bands, The wise of heart in wood and stone, Who reared with stern and trusting hands Those dark grey towers of days unknown; They filled the aisles with many a thought, They bade each nook some truth recall The pillared arch its legend brought, A doctrine came with roof and wall._"

--HAWKER OF MORWENSTOW.

OUR HOMELAND CHURCHES AND HOW TO STUDY THEM.

INTRODUCTION.

However much we may admire, considered purely as art, the Pagan temples of the Greeks and Romans, we must confess that they are lacking in those high ideals and those sustained and inspired motives which seem to penetrate and permeate the buildings and churches of the Christian era.

Perfect as is Greek art within its somewhat narrow limits, it is, nevertheless, cold, precise and lifeless. The Gothic buildings on the contrary are pregnant with the very spirit of life.

Prompted by a deep and fervent faith in their religion, the Gothic builders and sculptors unconsciously wove into the humblest of their architectural enrichments some portion of their daily life and personality. The slave-built temples of the Greeks offered no scope for the exercise of individual expression--such, in fact, would have been strongly resented--whereas the early Christian craftsman, revelling in his freedom, seized every opportunity of expressing in his work his joy, fear and hope of immortality.

This is made apparent in the study of an old church, whereof every portion--door, window, bench-end, carving, gargoyle--has hidden about it some suggestion of beautiful thought, or some distinct and appropriate symbolism. The fact that symbolism underlies almost every such indication of mediaeval thought is made abundantly manifest in the study of mediaeval literature. Open any 12th century treatise on morals, science or history, and you become aware of the fact at once. The main-spring of this symbolism, of all Christian symbolism, turns on the parabolic meaning in the scheme of Creation. The early writers were far less concerned with recording the plain objective facts of history, than in pursuing the allegory and the love of the marvellous, and showing all those characteristics of what we now term an unscientific att.i.tude of mind.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Various Forms of Arches.

Norman. Stilted. Horse Shoe.

Equilateral. Lancet. Drop.

Trefoil. Trefoil. Cinquefoil.

Ogee. Four Centered. Tudor.]

In its widest sense, symbolism means the expression of belief, and if we would interpret history aright, we must grasp the fact that the key to the character and disposition of peoples of all ages lies in the knowledge of their beliefs; for out of the beliefs of one age most surely grow the beliefs of its successors, and in no work of man's hand are the beliefs held by various peoples in past ages more clearly defined than in our cathedrals and churches, which n.o.ble buildings in every civilized country indicate principles as well as facts, influences as well as results; and while presenting the finest materials for aesthetic study, are no less useful as indicating the psychological peculiarities of those builders of old to whose condition they bear witness.

In our grand specimens of ecclesiastical architecture, we may read the world's later history, and to-day they breathe the sombre reverential influence of a faith which sought to satisfy itself with the visible symbolizing of those half-poetical, half-superst.i.tious conceptions with which the religion of the Middle Ages was so deeply imbued.

An early development of decorative symbolic art, known as Celtic, of which we have examples on old Irish crosses, and particularly on illuminated MSS. was wrought by the Christian monks of the 7th and 8th centuries, but what is generally understood as Christian symbolic art had its finest development about the 13th century. Gothic art is essentially symbolic and in many instances, its individual forms have specific significance. Thus the common equilateral triangle was used to symbolize the Holy Trinity, as are the two entwined triangles. Other symbols employed at this period setting forth the mystery of the Unity of the Trinity, without beginning and without end, are three interlaced circles, and a very curious one is that in which three faces are so combined as to form an ornamental figure. Baptism under the immediate sanction of the Divine Trinity was represented by three fishes placed together in the form of a triangle. So numerous, indeed were such Christian symbols after the 9th century that a mere enumeration of them would occupy considerable s.p.a.ce. Every trefoil symbolized the Holy Trinity; every quatrefoil the four Evangelists; every cross the Crucifixion, or the martyrdom of some saint; and in Gothic ornament and decoration, we find the Chalice, the Crown of Thorns, the Dice, the Sop, the Hammer and Nails, the Flagellum and other symbols of our Lord's Pa.s.sion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plan of a Typical Gothic Cruciform Parish Church.

(St. Mary, Luton, fully described in No. 47 of this Series).

_Drawn by Ed. Craven Lee._]

Although presenting the same characteristics in their external design, our town and village churches are very various. The simplest form, and the one most commonly found, is that of a nave and chancel, with a tower at the west end; to which plan may be added aisles and transepts, the latter often being wrongly called "cross-aisles." When the walls of the nave above the arcade rise above those of the aisles and are pierced with windows, the upper portion is called the clerestory, the meaning of which word is not free from obscurity; it seems probable that it indicates the clear story--the story which rises clear of the nave and aisles. In large buildings, they are important both for utility and beauty, but in small and early churches, they are of less importance.

It is a well-known fact that the chancel and nave of a church generally stand east and west. This arrangement, called the orientation, is symbolic of the teaching that to the east we are to look for a.s.sistance and protection against the power of our enemy, and that as we pray we may look for the day-spring, symbolized to us in the rising sun that sheds light and warmth all over the earth.

The public entrance to a church is generally at the west end (the priest usually had a door in the chancel for his own use). Through this door we enter the house of prayer, for as in the east we see the emblem of the Lord of Life and Light, so the west represents the seat of darkness and of the powers of evil.

The earliest porches were those of the early Christian basilica churches; they were long and arcaded and were called "narthex." In later times, they a.s.sumed two forms, one the projecting erection, covering the entrance and divided into three or more doorways, and the other a kind of covered chamber open at the end and having small windows at the sides. These latter are generally found on the north and south sides of the nave. Formerly, when church government was more rigorous in discipline than is now the case, the porch was the appointed place for those who were under censure. Those also who were unbaptised, or who had not yet received the sacrament of regeneration, were not allowed beyond the porch, not quite excluded from the church and yet not permitted to enter fully. The porch also served as a path of admission for all Christians into the body of the church, so that they pa.s.sed through the a.s.sembly of penitents and catechumens, who were wont to ask the prayers of the more highly privileged for their full restoration or admission to the communion of the faithful.

With reference to our Lord's word, "I am the Door," we frequently find the tympana of church doors, particularly those of Norman date, adorned with representations of events from his life, but they often also depict the monsters, dragons and devils, that formed so strong an article in the faith of the early Christians.

A more detailed account of these tympana will be found in a following chapter.

Pa.s.sing through the porch we enter the nave, which word is derived from the Latin _navis_, a ship. Its symbolic teaching is that of the Church riding triumphantly and buoyantly on the troubled and dark waters of the world. The first thing noticed on entering the nave is the font, which was formerly placed outside the church, in a separate building called the baptistery; a few of our churches have retained these little buildings which now form part of the churches proper.

The reason in early days for placing the font outside the church was that the Christian was not admitted into the nave until he had been baptised and confirmed, the latter rite being administered immediately after baptism.

From the western door there is a clear pa.s.sage through the centre of the nave, called the aisle, signifying the straight and narrow way from the seat of darkness to immortal life. On each side of this aisle are seats for the laity, with room for standing and kneeling. The nave was usually divided from the chancel by an open screen of wood or stone, signifying that although the Christian might have some insight into the mysteries of the priest's office, at the same time these were to be partly concealed from his view. The rood screen was so called from the fact that the great Rood, or Crucifix, stood above it, not always on the screen itself, but on a separate beam, to which was often attached a rood loft or chamber. In early days, the lessons were read from the top of the rood screen, and in many of our churches the stairways leading thither have been retained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Examples of Gothic Windows.

Early English. Decorated. Perpendicular.

See also page 59.]

In churches where the screen has vanished, the division of the nave from the rest of the church is plainly marked by the chancel arch.

The chancel is emblematic of the Christian perfection, of the Church triumphant in heaven.

In an old church, a piscina is nearly always found in the chancel, and here, too, were the sedilia or seats for the officiating clergy, the prior, sub-prior, and the deacon, the last-named occupying the lowest seat.

Founders' tombs also nearly always occupy positions in the chancel, and these tombs differ from all others in that they form an integral part of the structure, and could not have been added after the church was completed.

Another thing sometimes to be seen is the ambery, or aumbry, a small cupboard let into the chancel wall, in which were kept the communion vessels, the chalice, paten, etc.

The great object of interest, however, in the chancel, is the altar, which Archbishop Laud directed should be enclosed by rails, so that although the people may draw near, they cannot touch the holy table, but must accept from the hands of the priest those gifts of which he is the minister from G.o.d.