The Churches of Coventry Part 7

The vicissitudes in the church's fortunes have left little for us to see that is not part and parcel of the structure.

That there were "orgaynes" as early as 1461 we know from entries in the city records giving the cost at different times of wire, glue, nails, thread, etc., for the reparation of them, while a payment of _2d._ for "a string" suggests that they were a combination of wind and string stops, similar to the 1733 organ of St. Michael's as built by Thomas Swarbrick. In 1519 the Prior bought the "metell of ye old orgayns in bablake" for _9s. 10d._, but doubtless the new one disappeared in the troublous times that followed. A new one has recently been set up.

The pulpit is of stone and quite new, and the font, erected in 1843, is a copy of that of St. Edward's, Cambridge.

There are five bells, the inscriptions on them being as follows:

1st. Henrycus Bagley. M.C. Fecit 1676.

2nd. Pack & Chapman. London 1778. Richard Eaton, Church-warden.

3rd. Henric Dodenhale, Fecit. M.C.E.I.C.R.I.

4th. (Illegible.) Probably of the end of fifteenth century.

5th. I ring at six to let men know When to and from their work to go.

Neglect and decay it has been seen had provided only too plausible excuses for restoration. In 1858 the church had a narrow escape from a worse fate, for it was proposed to extend it in some direction, and the architect suggested the lengthening of the north transept and the addition of a new north aisle. Probably lack of funds alone prevented the carrying out of a proposal which would have completely spoilt the proportions of this beautiful interior.

THE GREY FRIARS' CONVENT

CHRIST CHURCH

The third of the "three tall spires," albeit nothing else remains of the church to which it belonged, deserves that some notice should be given of it and of the men who reared it.

In 1234, eleven years after their first coming into England, the Franciscan Friars are heard of at Coventry, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, having granted them land for their oratory, and the Sheriff of Warwickshire, on behalf of the King, giving them shingles from the woods of Kenilworth wherewith to cover it. In 1359 the Black Prince, then owner of the Manor and Park of Cheylesmore, just outside the walls of the city and adjacent to their convent, granted them so much stone from his quarry there, "as they should have occasion to use about their buildings and walls," and probably at this time the church, of which Christ Church spire is a remnant, was built.

At the same time he gave them "liberty to have a postern into the Park to carry out any of their convent that should be diseased."

The house was surrendered to the King in 1539, the warden and ten brethren being compelled to sign a humiliating doc.u.ment, in which they professed to "profoundly consider that the perfection of Christian living doth not consist in dumb ceremonies, wearing of a grey coat, disguising ourself after strange fashions, ducking, nodding and becking, in girding our selves with a girdle full of knots and other like Papisticall ceremonies."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH.]

It is certain at least that they had no acc.u.mulated wealth. Whatever they had received had been distributed for the advantage of the Church or the poor. At their suppression they had neither lands, tenements, nor other possessions, save their church and house and the land these stood on. The site was granted to the city and the buildings thrown down, only the spire with its supporting walls and arches being allowed to stand until 1829, when it was incorporated with the new nave of Christ Church from the designs of Rickman, to whom we are indebted for the first comprehensive and systematic account of English Mediaeval architecture. The work shows how imperfectly in those days even a genuine admirer of Mediaeval Art understood its spirit.

Unfortunately the tower and spire were recased with new stone, and the original character of the work largely disappeared. The total height is 204 feet, exclusive of the vane. The plan of the old church was interesting, especially in the arrangement of the crossing. The short transepts had little real relation to choir or nave, which were almost completely separated from one another, the nave being intended for the use of the public.

The narrowing of the tower from east to west, and the insertion of secondary north and south arches to carry the slender octagonal tower is unusual and ingenious. The whole length was 250 feet, and the transepts were 96 feet from north to south. The nave and choir differed little in length.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (CROSSING).]

The connection of the Franciscans with the production of the Mysteries, or sacred plays, should not pa.s.s unnoticed. Dugdale, who had spoken with eye witnesses, thus alludes to the subject:

Before the suppression of the Monasteries this City was very famous for the Pageants that were played therein upon Corpus Christi-day; which occasioning very great confluence of people thither from far and near, was of no small benefit thereto; which Pageants being acted with mighty State and Reverence by the Friars of this House, had Theatres for the several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels and drawn to all the eminent parts of the City for the better advantage of spectators; and contained the story of the Old and New Testament, composed in the old English Rithme, as appeareth by an ancient MS. int.i.tuled, _Ludus Corporis Christi_, or _Ludus Coventriae_.

Along with a number that were performed by the city companies they are still to be seen in the British Museum. We know that the Friars presented them as late as 1492, when Henry VII was present with his Queen to see the plays "acted by the Grey Friars."

No remains exist of the domestic buildings of the Friary. The well-known Ford's Hospital hard by is often called Grey Friars'

Hospital, but this arises merely from the situation. It was founded in 1529 by Mr. William Ford of Coventry, Merchant of the Staple, for five men and one woman, but is now inhabited by women only. It is an exceptionally beautiful example of Tudor timber construction in perfect condition.

THE WHITE FRIARS

The Carmelite or White Friars were, says Dugdale, fixed in Coventry in 1343 by Sir John Poultney who had been four times Lord Mayor of London. Although their buildings were ornate and extensive, their revenue apart from oblations amounted to only _3 6s. 8d._ per annum and the whole came to less than 8. At the Dissolution the house and its revenues came eventually to John Hales, Clerk of the Hanaper to Henry VIII. Having ama.s.sed a great estate in monastery and chantry lands, Hales founded the Free School in Coventry, the Church of the White Friars being at first used for the purpose. Later, he made of the Friary a dwelling and removed the school to St. John's Hospital, granted to him by the king in 1545. Part of the church of the Hospital still exists at the foot of Bishop Street, but the school has been removed to new buildings in the Warwick Road.

Of the buildings of the White Friars there are considerable remains incorporated with the Union Workhouse at the top of Much Park Street.

The east walk of the cloister, 150 feet in length, has a fine groined roof of the fifteenth century. A range of vaulted apartments runs alongside the cloister on the east side, divided midway by the vestibule to the Chapter House now destroyed. The upper story above the cloister and the range of rooms was, we may a.s.sume, the friars'

Dormitory. A huge fireplace and a bay window are part of John Hales'

reconstruction. The gateway to the south-west corner of the cloister remains, and the outer gate of the precincts may still be seen in Much Park Street.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. MARY HALL.]

ST. MARY HALL

The Gilds were so important a part of the religious and social life of the city that it is imperative that some notice of their hall, which stands in suggestive proximity to the churches, should be given. St.

Mary Hall, opposite the south side of St. Michael's is one of the most complete and beautiful examples of a fifteenth-century town dwelling now remaining in England. It originally belonged to the Gilds of Holy Trinity and Our Lady to which were united at a later time those of St.

Katharine and St. John Baptist, the oldest to be founded. By the fine groined gateway we enter the courtyard, on the south side of which is the kitchen, probably the hall of an older structure of the first half of the fourteenth century, the present hall and its undercroft on the west side having been built between 1394 and 1414. On the east side is the entrance to the staircase leading to a gallery from which the hall is entered. At this end is the Minstrels' Gallery and beneath it are three doorways, the centre one leading to the kitchens below, that on the right to the old Council Chamber, that on the left to a smaller room known as the Princes' Chamber. From the Council Chamber is reached the stone-groined Treasury, now used for the safe keeping of muniments and records. It forms the first floor of a low tower.

The hall, 70 feet by 30 feet, is of five bays, with the usual dais and oriel window at the far end from the entrance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ST. MARY HALL.]

The nine-light window over the dais has its original gla.s.s, made, it is believed, by the John Thornton of Coventry who is known as the maker of the east window of York Minster. The upper part has numerous coats of arms of kings, cities, and princes, while the nine lights are filled with "portraitures of several kings in their surcotes," William I, Richard I, Henry III, IV, V, VI, King Arthur, the Emperor Constantine, and another unnamed. The windows on either side of the hall have suffered grievously. Those on the west (left) were deprived of their heraldry and portraits in 1785. In those on the east new gla.s.s with poor imitations of the ancient series of figures and coats-of-arms was placed in 1824. At the same time the wainscotting painted in 1580 with inscriptions and heraldry was cleared away and replaced with cement. The inscriptions were copied with care, but "the ornamentation was followed without any very fastidious copying of the uncouth ancient style"![8] The timber roof is of low pitch, with traceried spandrels above the tie-beams. Angels playing on a variety of instruments are placed at the centre of each tie-beam and there is much good carving of foliage and animals at the intersections of the timbers. The most famous adornment of the hall is the tapestry behind the dais. The following views as to its origin and subject are those of George Scharf the antiquary. It is of Flemish design but probably of English manufacture, is woven, not embroidered, and was made in the early sixteenth century for the place it occupies, its compartments corresponding with those of the window. It is in six compartments in two rows. The upper central has a figure of Justice, an insertion probably in the place of Christ, angels with the instruments of the Pa.s.sion being on either side. The lower central represents the a.s.sumption of the Virgin in presence of the apostles. The upper left in order from the centre has eleven saints, SS. John Baptist, Matthias (?), Paul, Adrian, Peter, George, Andrew, No. 8(?), Bartholomew, Simon, Thaddeus. The corresponding female saints on the right are SS.

Katherine, Barbara, Dorothy, Mary Magdalen, No. 5 (?), Margaret, Agnes, Gertrude of Nivelle, Anne, Apollonia.

The lower left has a king kneeling at a prie-dieu on which is his crown and an open book. A cardinal kneels behind him but there is no other ecclesiastic among the seventeen courtiers standing behind. In the opposite compartment is a queen kneeling with a number of ladies, among whom are two in monastic dress. Although the work belongs to the reign of Henry VII, the king and queen are almost certainly Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou.

On the walls are portraits of later sovereigns from William III to George IV, that of George III being by Lawrence. The Mayoress' Parlour opening from the dais has been drastically restored. It contains portraits of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, and four benefactors to the city, John Hales, founder of the Free School, Sir Thomas White, Thomas Jesson and Christopher Davenport.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: "Coventry: its History and Antiquities," B. Poole, 1870.]

THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY

Little remains of this monastery which stood on the south side and not far from the city. The Order settled in Coventry in 1381 only ten years after the foundation of the London Charter-house. At the Dissolution the Prior and brethren, ten in all, did not emulate the heroism of the London monks and were fortunate enough to obtain pensions instead of martyrdom. Some trifling remains exist incorporated in a modern mansion, and a wall of the garden shows the position of doors which led to the isolated cells of the monks. The Botoners had given freely to the building of the church and cloisters of which Richard II laid the first stone in 1385 and afterwards largely endowed "on condition that they should find and maintain within the precinct of their house, twelve poor scholars from seven years old till they accomplished the age of seventeen years, there to pray for the good estate of him the said King and of his Consort, during this life, and for the health of their souls after death."