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diff --git a/11403-0.txt b/11403-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..67e990d --- /dev/null +++ b/11403-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3347 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11403 *** + + * * * * * + + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation and archaic spelling in the | + | original document has been preserved. | + | | + +--------------------------------------------------------------+ + + * * * * * + + +[Illustration: COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES.] + + + + +THE CHURCHES OF COVENTRY + +A SHORT HISTORY OF THE +CITY & ITS MEDIEVAL +REMAINS + +BY +FREDERIC W. WOODHOUSE + +WITH XL ILLUSTRATIONS + + +[Illustration: ARMS OF COVENTRY] + + +LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1909 + + + + +CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. +TOOK COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. + + + + + +PREFACE + + +The principal authorities for the history of Coventry and its churches +have been Dugdale's "Antiquities of Warwickshire" and the "Illustrated +Papers and the History and Antiquities of the City of Coventry," by +Thomas Sharp, edited by W.G. Fretton (1871). Besides these the many +papers by Mr. Fretton in the Transactions of the Birmingham and +Midland Institute and other Societies, and the "History and +Antiquities of Coventry" by Benjamin Poole (1870) have been the main +sources of historical information. The Author is, however, responsible +for the architectural opinions and descriptions, which are mainly the +outcome of a lifelong acquaintance with the city and its buildings, +fortified by several weeks of study and investigation recently +undertaken. + +He desires to acknowledge his deep obligations to the Vicars of the +several churches for leave to examine, measure and photograph the +buildings in their charge; to Mr. J. Oldrid Scott for the loan of +drawings of St. Michael's; to Mr. A. Brown, Librarian of the Coventry +Public Library for advice and help in making use of the store of +topographical material under his care; to Mr. Owen, Verger of St. +Michael's and Mr. Chapman, Verger of Holy Trinity, for help in various +directions, and to Mr. Wilfred Sims for his energy and care in taking +most of the photographs required for illustration. + +The other illustrations are reproduced from drawings made by the +author. + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +MONASTERY AND CITY 3 + +THE RUINS OF THE PRIORY AND CATHEDRAL CHURCH 16 + +ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH: + CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 21 + II. THE EXTERIOR 29 + III. THE INTERIOR 41 + +HOLY TRINITY CHURCH: + CHAPTER I. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH 61 + II. THE EXTERIOR 65 + III. THE INTERIOR 69 + +ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S CHURCH 79 + +THE GREY FRIARS' CONVENT (CHRIST CHURCH) 91 + +THE WHITE FRIARS 94 + +ST. MARY HALL 96 + +THE CARTHUSIAN MONASTERY 99 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +COVENTRY, THE THREE SPIRES _Frontispiece_ + +ARMS OF THE TOWN _Title-page_ + +VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BISHOP STREET 2 + +COOK STREET GATE 7 + +SEAL OF THE PRIORY 15 + +WEST END OF THE PRIORY CHURCH 16 + +REMAINS OF THE NORTH-WEST TOWER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 17 + +ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH 20 + +ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH-WEST 28 + +INTERIOR OF THE TOWER FROM BELOW 31 + +THE WEST PORCH 33 + +SOUTH PORCH FROM ST. MARY HALL 34 + +SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY 35 + +INTERIOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE WEST 40 + +TOWER ARCH 42 + +BAY OF NAVE, NORTH SIDE 43 + +INTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH DOOR 45 + +THE CHOIR FROM ST. LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL 46 + +POPPY HEAD, LADY CHAPEL 48 + +MISERERE, LADY CHAPEL 48 + +CHEST IN NORTH AISLE 50 + +THE NETHERMYL TOMB 51 + +THE SWILLINGTON TOMB 54 + +ALMS-BOX 56 + +HOLY TRINITY FROM THE NORTH (ABOUT 1850) 60 + +PLAN OF TRINITY CHURCH 66 + +INTERIOR OF HOLY TRINITY, FROM THE WEST 68 + +NORTH SIDE OF NAVE--EASTERN BAYS 71 + +PULPIT 73 + +ARCHWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH PORCH AND ST. THOMAS'S CHAPEL 74 + +ALMS-BOX 77 + +CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST 80 + +PLAN 85 + +INTERIOR 87 + +CLEARSTORY WINDOWS 88 + +THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH 92 + +GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (PLAN OF CROSSING) 93 + +ST. MARY HALL 96 + +PLAN 98 + +PLAN OF ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH _At End_ + + + + +[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BISHOP STREET.] + + + + +CHURCHES OF COVENTRY + +MONASTERY AND CITY + + +The opening words of Sir William Dugdale's account of Coventry assert +that it is a city "remarkable for antiquity, charters, rights and +privileges, and favours shown by monarchs." Though this handbook is +primarily concerned with a feature of the city he does not here +mention--its magnificent buildings--the history of these is bound up +with that of the city. The connection of its great parish churches +with the everyday life of the people, though commonly on a narrower +stage, is more intimate than is that of a cathedral or an abbey +church, but it is to be remembered that without its Monastery Coventry +might never have been more than a village or small market town. + +We cannot expect the records of a parish church to be as full and +complete as those of a cathedral, always in touch through its bishops +with the political life of the country and enjoying the services of +numerous officials; or as those of a monastery, with its leisured +chroniclers ever patiently recording the annals of their house, the +doings of its abbots, the dealings of their house with mother church +and the outside world, and all its internal life and affairs. In the +case of Coventry, the unusual fulness of its city archives, the +accounts and records of its guilds and companies, and the close +connection of these with the church supplies us with a larger body of +information than is often at the disposal of the historian of a parish +church. As therefore, in narrating the story of a cathedral some +account of the Diocese and its Bishops has been given, so, before +describing the churches of Coventry, we shall give in outline the +history of the city which for 700 years gave its name to a bishop and +of the great monastery whose church was for 400 years his seat. + +Though Dugdale says that it is remarkable for antiquity, Coventry as +a city has no early history comparable with that of such places as +York, Canterbury, Exeter, or Colchester, while its modern history is +mainly a record of fluctuating trade and the rise and decline of new +industries. But through all its Mediæval period, from the eleventh +century down to the Reformation, with an expiring flicker of energy in +the seventeenth, there is no lack of life and colour, and its story +touches every side of the national life, political, religious, and +domestic. The only evidence of extreme antiquity produced by Dugdale +is the suffix of its name, for "_tre_ is British, and signifieth the +same that _villa_ in Latin doth;" while the first part may be derived +from the convent or from a supposed ancient name, Cune, for the +Sherborne brook. + +The first date we have is 1016, when Canute invaded Mercia, burning +and laying waste its towns and settlements, including a house of nuns +at Coventry founded by the Virgin St. Osburg in 670, and ruled over by +her.[1] + +But there is no sure starting-point until the foundation of the +monastery by Earl Leofric and the Countess Godiva, the church being +dedicated by Edsi, Archbishop of Canterbury, in honour of God, the +Virgin Mary, St. Peter, St. Osburg, and All Saints on 4th October, +1043. Leofwin, who was first abbot with twenty-four monks under his +rule, ten years after became Bishop of Lichfield. The original +endowment by Leofric, consisted of a half of Coventry[2] with fifteen +lordships in Warwickshire and nine in other counties, making it (says +Roger de Hoveden) the wealthiest monastery of the period. Besides this +the pious Godiva gave all the gold and silver which she had to make +crosses, images, and other adornments for the church and its services. +The well-known legend of her ride through Coventry first appears in +the pages of Matthew of Westminster in the early fourteenth century. +The Charter of Exemption from Tolls is not in existence, and the story +of Peeping Tom is the embroidery of the prurient age (1678), in which +the pageant was instituted. In a window of Trinity Church figures of +Leofric and Godiva were set up about the time of Richard II, the Earl +holding in his right hand a Charter with these words written thereon: + + I Luriche for the Love of thee + Doe make Coventre Toll-free. + +Abbot Leofwin was succeeded in 1053 by Leofric, nephew of the great +earl; and he by a second Leofwin, who died in 1095. The first Norman +bishop of Lichfield had, in compliance with the decision of a Synod +(1075) in London fixing bishops' seats in large towns, removed his to +St. John's, Chester. But his successor, Robert de Lymesey--whose greed +appears to have been notable in a greedy age--having the king's +permission to farm the monastic revenues until the appointment of a +new abbot, held it for seven years, and then, in 1102, removed his +stool to Coventry. Five of his successors were bishops of Coventry +only, then the style changed to Coventry and Lichfield, and so +remained till 1661, when (in consequence of the disloyalty of Coventry +and the sufferings of Lichfield in the royal cause) the order was +reversed! + +In 1836 the archdeaconry of Coventry was annexed to Worcester and its +name disappeared from the title, and now it is probable that Coventry +will soon again give her name to a See without dividing the honour. +For the joint episcopal history the reader must be referred to the +handbook in this series on Lichfield Cathedral. In this place will +only be given that of the Monastery as such, and specially in +connection with its "appropriated" parish churches and the City in +which it stood. That history is not essentially different from that of +other monasteries. Though its connection with the See and the rival +claims and antagonisms of the respective Chapters produced a plentiful +crop of serious quarrels, its relations with the townsfolk were free +from such violent episodes as occurred at Bury St. Edmunds or St. +Albans. The Chapter of Lichfield consisted of secular priests (Lymesey +and his next successor were married men), while the Monastery, though +freed by pope and king from any episcopal or justiciary power and with +the right of electing its own abbot, was, like all monastic bodies, +always jealous of the encroachments of bishops, and regarded secular +priests as inferior in every respect. The opinion of the laity who saw +both sides may be gathered from Chaucer's picture of a "poore Persoun +of a toun." He knew well enough how the revenue, which should have +gone to the parish, its parson and its poor, went to fill the coffers +of rich abbeys, to build enormous churches and furnish them +sumptuously, to provide retinues of lazy knights for the train of +abbot or bishop, and to prosecute lawsuits in the papal courts. + +But when bishop and abbot were one and the same, the monks still +claimed the right of election, and so for generations the history of +the diocese is a tale of strife and bickering, and how it was that +pope, king or archbishop did not perceive that it was a case of +hopeless incompatibility of temper, or, perceiving it, did not +dissolve the union or get it dissolved is difficult to see. Probably +the injury done to religion weighed but lightly against vested +interests and the power of the purse. The Monastery was, however, as +Dugdale says, "the chief occasion of all the succeeding wealth and +honour that accrued to Coventry"; for though the original Nunnery may +have been planted in an existing settlement, or have attracted one +about it, the greater wealth of the Abbey, its right to hold markets, +and all its own varied requirements would quickly increase and bring +prosperity to such a township, as it did at Bury St. Edmunds, +Burton-on-Trent and many another. + +In the thirteenth century the priory was in financial straits, through +being fined by Henry III for disobedience. Later, however, he granted +further privileges to the monks, among them that of embodying the +merchants in a Gild. In 1340 Edward III granted this privilege to the +City. From an early period the manufacture of cloth and caps and +bonnets was the principal trade of Coventry, and though Leland says, +"the town rose by making of cloth and caps, which now decaying, the +glory of the City also decayeth," it was only destroyed by the French +wars of the seventeenth century. But in 1377, when only eighteen towns +in the kingdom had more than 3,000 inhabitants, and York, the second +city, had only 11,000, Coventry was fourth with 7,000. Just one +hundred years later 3,000 died here of the plague, one of many +visitations of that terrible scourge. At the Suppression it had risen +to 15,000, and soon after fell to 3,000, through loss of trade for +"want of such concourse of people that numerously resorted thither +before that fatal Dissolution." + +But if the town grew apace so did the Monastery. Thus, when in 1244 +Earl Hugh died childless his sisters divided his estates and Coventry +fell to Cecily, wife of Roger de Montalt. Six years later the +Monastery lent him a large sum to take him to the Holy Land, and +received from him the lordship of Coventry (excepting the Manor House +and Park of Cheylesmore) and the advowson of St. Michael's and its +dependent chapels, thus becoming the landlords of nearly the whole of +Coventry. + +[Illustration: COOK STREET GATE.] + +Civic powers grew with the growth of trade. Before 1218 a fair of +eight days had been granted to the Priory, and later another of six +days, to be held in the earl's half of the town about the Feast of +Holy Trinity. In 1285 a patent from the king is addressed to the +burgesses and true men to levy tolls for paving the town; one in 1328 +for tolls for inclosing the city with walls and gates, while in 1344 +the city was given a corporation, with mayor, bailiffs, a common seal, +and a prison. As the municipal importance and the dignity of the city +increased, the desire for their visible signs strengthened, and so, in +1355, work was begun on the walls, Newgate (on the London Road) being +the first gate to be built. Such undertakings proceeded slowly, and +nine years later the royal permission was obtained to levy a tax for +their construction, "the lands and goods of all ecclesiastical persons +excepted." + +Twice afterwards we hear of licence being granted by Richard II to dig +stone in Cheylesmore Park, first for Grey Friars Gate, and later for +Spon Gate, "near his Chapel of Babelake." The walls so built were of +imposing extent and dimensions, being three yards in breadth, two and +a quarter miles in circumference, and having thirty-two towers and +twelve gates.[3] Nehemiah Wharton, a Parliamentary officer in 1642, +reports of the city that it is: + + Environed with a wall co-equal, if not exceedinge, that of + London, for breadth and height; and with gates and battlements, + magnificent churches and stately streets and abundant fountains + of water; altogether a place very sweetly situate and where there + is no stint of venison. + +To return to the monastic history. We have seen how, in the +mid-thirteenth century the Monastery had become the landlord of the +city; shortly before this it had been so impoverished with ceaseless +quarrels with the King and the Lichfield Chapter, involving costly +appeals to Rome, that the Prior was reduced to asking the hospitality +of the monks of Derley for some of the brethren. A period of +prosperity followed and many benefactions flowed in, including the +gift of various churches by the king. It was after twenty-six years of +quarrelling that the Pope, in 1224, had appointed to the bishopric +Walter de Stavenby, an able and learned man. During his episcopacy the +friars made their appearance in England, and by him the Franciscans +were introduced at Lichfield, while at Coventry Ranulph, Earl of +Chester, gave them land in Cheylesmore on which to build their oratory +and house. + +They were not generally welcomed by the monks. A Benedictine laments +their first appearance thus "Oh shame! oh worse than shame! oh +barbarous pestilence! the Minor Brethren are come into England!" and +at Bury they were obliged to build outside a mile radius from the +Abbey. The parish priests also soon found out that they were undersold +in the exercise of their spiritual offices and although no doubt many +badly needed awakening they were not, on that account, the more likely +to welcome the intruders. + +Another innovation, affecting the fortunes of the parish priest, had +its beginning under the rule of Bishop Stavenby though its greatest +development occurred in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This +was the foundation of Chantries designed primarily for the maintenance +of a priest or priests to say mass daily or otherwise for the soul's +health of the founder, his family and forbears. The earliest we hear +of are one at Lincoln, and one at Hatherton in Coventry Archdeaconry +while the Bishop himself endowed one in Lichfield Cathedral. Many were +perpetual endowments (£5 per annum being the average stipend), others +were temporary, according to the means of those who paid for the +masses--for a term of years or for a fixed number of masses. Although +chantry priests were often required to give regular help in the church +services or taught such scholars as came to them or served outlying +chapelries, the system permitted a great number to live on occasional +engagements and was doubtless productive of abuses. Chaucer tells us +that his poor parson was not such an one as + + ... left his sheep encumbered in the mire, + And ran unto London, unto Saint Poul's, + To seekë him a chantery for souls. + +The number of chantries in the different cathedrals varied very +greatly, Lichfield had eighty-seven, St. Paul's thirty-seven, York +only three. Monks' churches had few or none while in town churches +they were numerous, London having one hundred and eighty, York +forty-two, Coventry at least fifteen besides the twelve gild priests +of the chapel of Babelake. Most were founded in connection with an +existing altar, some had a special altar, at Winchester, Tewkesbury +and elsewhere they were enclosed in screens between the pillars of the +nave, or a special chapel was added to the church. + +It was in the thirteenth century also (1267) that the monastery +obtained the grant of a Merchants' Gild; with all the privileges +thereto belonging, the earliest of those which contributed so much to +the renown of Coventry. These were Benefit Societies, insuring help to +the "Brethren and sistren" in old age, sickness or poverty, securing +to them the services of the church after death and in all cases +established on a strictly religious basis and placed under the +protection of a Saint, or of the Holy Trinity. The regulation and +protection of trade interests, generally aiming at monopoly and the +exclusion of outsiders, were later developments. But without doubt +they were public-spirited bodies according to their lights, +maintaining schools (as at Stratford-on-Avon) hospitals and +almshouses, and giving freely on all occasions of public importance. +By pageants too, they contributed to the happiness and amusement of +the people as well as by the presentation of Mysteries and Moralities, +to their instruction and edification. But in the eyes of the +Reformers, or of grasping courtiers, all this went for nothing when +weighed against the heinous offence of supporting chaplains to pray +for deceased members and so (6 Edward VI) they were suppressed along +with the chantries, and their property confiscated, "the very meanest +and most inexcusable of the plunderings which threw discredit on the +Reformation." + +Here, the city bought back everything which had belonged to the +Trinity and Corpus Christi Gilds, with various almshouses and the +possessions of the majority of the Chantries; while previously at the +Dissolution it had bought the abbey-orchard, and mill, and the house +and church of the Grey Friars. + +In 1340 Edward III granted Licence to the Coventry men to form a +Merchants' Gild with leave "to make chantries, bestow alms, do other +works of piety and constitute ordinances touching the same." This was +St. Mary's Gild. Two years later that of St. John Baptist was formed +and a year later that of St. Katherine, the three being united into +the Trinity Gild before 1359. Of the chapel (now St. John's church) +begun in 1344 by the St. John's Gild and the "fair and stately +structure for their feasts and meetings called St Mary Hall" built in +1394 by the united Gilds more will be said later (p. 81 and p. 97). +The end of the fourteenth century and the fifteenth brought to +Coventry a full share in the events and movements of the time. In 1396 +the duel between Hereford and Norfolk was to have taken place on +Gosford Green (adjoining the city) and Richard II made the fatal +mistake of banishing both combatants. At the Priory in 1404 Henry IV +held his Parliament known, from the fact that no lawyers were summoned +to it, as the "Parliamentum Indoctorum." Setting itself in opposition +to ecclesiastics, it proposed to supply the King's needs by taxing +church-property. As in the matter of the city walls, the church +contrived to avoid bearing its share of the public burdens and the +chronicler ends thus: "Much ado there was; but to conclude, the worthy +Archbishop (viz. Tho. Arundell) standing stoutly for the good of the +Church, preserved it at that time from the storm impending." One +branch of his argument is noteworthy, that as the confiscation of the +alien priories had not enriched the King by half a mark (courtiers +having extorted or begged them out of his hands), so it would be were +he to confiscate the temporalities of the monasteries. Henry VIII had +reason to acknowledge the fulfilment of the prophecy. + +Soon after this, in 1423, Coventry showed its sympathy for Lollardry +when John Grace an anchorite friar came out of his cell and preached +for five days in the "lyttell parke." He was opposed by the prior of +St. Mary's and by a Grey Friar who however were attacked and nearly +killed by the mob. + +The royal visits which earned for Coventry the title which it still +bears as its motto 'Camera principis' were frequent in this century. +In 1436 we hear of Henry VI being there, and in 1450 he was the guest +of the monastery and after hearing mass at St. Michael's Church +presented to it for an altar-hanging the robe of gold tissue he was +wearing. The record in the Corporation Leet book is interesting enough +to quote: + + The King, then abydeng stille in the seide Priory, upon Mich'as + even sent the clerke of his closet to the Churche of Sent Michel + to make redy ther hys clossette, seying that the Kynge on Mich'as + day wolde go on p'cession and also her ther hygh masse. The Meyre + and his counsell, remembreng him in this mater, specially avysed + hem to pray the Byshoppe of Wynchester to say hygh masse afore + the Kynge. The Byshoppe so to do agreed withe alle hys herte; + and, agayne the Kynges comeng to Sent Michel Churche, the Meyre + and his Peres, cladde in skarlet gowns, wenton unto the Kynges + Chambar durre, ther abydeng the Kynges comeng. The Meyre then and + his peres, doeng to the Kyng due obeysaunse ... toke his mase and + bere it afore the Kynge all his said bredurn goeng afore the + Meyre til he com to Sent Michels and brought the Kynge to his + closette. Then the seyde Byshoppe, in his pontificals arayde, + with all the prestes and clerkes of the seyde Churche and of + Bablake, withe copes apareld, wenton in p'cession abowte the + churchyarde; the Kynge devowtely, with many odur lordes, followed + the seyd p'cession bare-hedded, cladde in a gowne of gold tissu, + furred with a furre of marturn sabull; the Meyre bereng the mase + afore the Kynge as he didde afore, tille he com agayne to his + closette. Att the whyche masse when the Kyng had offered and his + lordes also, he sende the lorde Bemond, his chamburlen, to the + Meyre, seying to him, "hit is the Kynges wille that ye and your + bredurn com and offer;" and so they didde; and when masse was + don, the Meyre and his peres brought on the Kynge to his chambur + in lyke wyse as they fet hym, save only that the Meyre with his + mase went afore the Kynge till he com withe in his chambur, his + seyd bredurn abydeng atte the chambur durre till the Meyre cam + ageyne. And at evensong tyme the same day, the Kyng, ... sende + the seyde gowne and furre that he were when he went in p'cession, + and gaf hit frely to God and to Sent Michell, insomuch that non + of the that broughte the gowne wolde take no reward in no wyse. + +In 1451 he made the city with the villages and hamlets within its +liberties into a county "distinct and altogether separate from the +county of Warwick for ever," and in 1453 the King and Queen again +visited the Priory. Perhaps out of gratitude for all this royal +favour, Coventry adhered to the Lancastrian cause and in 1459 was +chosen as the meeting place for the "Parliamentum Diabolicum," so +called from the number of attainders passed against the Yorkists. The +year 1467 however saw Edward IV and his Queen keeping their Christmas +here, while less than two years later her father and brother were +beheaded on Gosford Green (Aug. 1469). + +After the king's landing at Holderness in 1471 the king-maker, +declining a contest, occupied the town for the Lancastrians, and +Edward passing on to London soon after turned and defeated the earl at +Barnet. After Tewkesbury Edward paid the city another visit, and in +return for its disloyalty seized its liberties and franchises, and +only restored them for a fine of 500 marks. Royal visits still +continued. Richard III came in 1483 to see the plays at the Feast of +Corpus Christi; in 1485 Henry VII stayed at the mayor's house after +his victory at Bosworth Field; and in 1487 kept St. George's Day at +the Monastery, when the Prior at the service cursed, by "bell, book, +and candle," all who should question the king's right to the throne. +The importance of the Gilds is shown by the king and queen being made +a brother and sister of the Trinity Gild; and the part that pageantry +played in the lives of all men is seen in the many occasions on which +kings and princes came hither to be entertained, not only with the +plays "acted by the Grey Friars" but those in which the "hard-handed +men" of, for instance, the Gild of the Sheremen and Tailors, "toil'd +their unbreathed memories" in setting forth such subjects as the Birth +of Christ and the Murder of the Innocents. But although Henry VIII +himself was received in 1511 with pageantry and stayed at the Priory, +royal favours and monastic hospitality availed neither men nor +buildings when the Dissolution came. On 15th January, 1539, Thomas +Camswell, the last Prior of St. Mary's, surrendered. "The Prior," +reported Dr. London, the king's commissioner, "is a sad, honest priest +as his neighbours do report him, and is a Bachelor of Divinity. He +gave his house unto the king's grace willingly and so in like manner +did all his brethren." The Doctor asks for good pensions for the +dispossessed, not on the plea of justice but so that "others +perceiving that these men be liberally handled will with better will +not only surrender their houses, but also leave the same in the better +state to the King's use." + +The yearly revenue had been certified in the valuation at _£731 19s. +5d._ Deducting a Fee-Ferme rent to the Crown, reserved by Roger de +Montalt, and other annual payments, the clear remainder was _£499 7s. +4d._ Bishop Rowland Lee, writing to "my singular good Lord Cromwell," +implies that he had a promise from him to spare the church. "My good +Lord," he says, "help me and the City both in this and that the church +may stand, whereby I may keep my name, and the City have commodity and +ease to their desire, which shall follow if by your goodness it might +be brought to a collegiate church, as Lichfield, and so that fair City +shall have a perpetual comfort of the same, as knoweth the Holy +Trinity, who preserve your Lordship in honour to your heart's +comfort." + +But his entreaties, and those of the mayor and corporation, were all +in vain, the church and monastic buildings were dismantled and +destroyed piecemeal, and like so many other magnificent structures +became a mere quarry for mean buildings and the mending of roads. + +The site having been granted by Henry VIII to two gentlemen named +Combes and Stansfield, passed soon into the hands of John Hales, the +founder of the Free School, and in Elizabeth's reign was purchased by +the Corporation. + +The changes in religious opinion of the successive sovereigns were +felt here by many poor victims. Seven persons were burnt in 1519 for +having in their possession the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, +and the Creed in English, and for refusing to obey the Pope or his +agents, opinions and acts that would have been counted meritorious +twenty years later. In 1555 Queen Mary burnt three Protestants in the +old quarry in Little Park--Laurence Saunders, a well-known preacher, +Robert Glover, M.A., and Cornelius Bongey. + +Ten years after this Queen Elizabeth's visit was the occasion of much +pageantry and performing of plays by the Tanners', Drapers', Smiths', +and Weavers' Companies, and in 1575 the men of Coventry gave their +play of "Hock Tuesday" before her at Kenilworth Castle. In 1566 Queen +Mary of Scots was in ward here, in the mayoress' parlour, and in 1569 +at the Bull Inn. + +Coming down to the opening of the Civil War we find that a few days +before the raising of his standard at Nottingham Charles summoned the +city to admit him with three hundred cavaliers, and received for +answer that it was quite ready to receive his Majesty with no more +than two hundred. Whereupon he retired in displeasure, and reappeared +some days later with the threat to lay the city in ruins if it should +persist in its disloyalty. The townsfolk being in no mind to receive a +garrison, the King planted cannon against Newgate and broke down the +gates but was met with a fierce musquetry fire from the walls, +followed up by a vigorous sally, in which the citizens did much +execution and took two cannon. + +To prevent the like happening again, the walls were in 1662 breached +in many places and made incapable of defence. Just one hundred years +later New-gate was taken down, and others followed from time to time, +until now there are left only the remains of two of the lesser +ones--Cook Street Gate, a crumbling shell (p. 7), and the adjacent +Swanswell or Priory Gate, blocked up and used as a dwelling. + +In 1771 was finally destroyed the famous Cross which had been built, +1541-3, by Sir William Hollis, once Lord Mayor of London, who came of +a Coventry family. It was described by Dugdale as "one of the chief +things wherein this City most glories, which for workmanship and +beauty is inferior to none in England." A few relics of it exist in +St. Mary Hall, a statue of Henry VI, and, in the oriel, two smaller +figures. So too does the very interesting contract for its building, +which shows how much was left to the craftsman's pride in his work and +how little he was trammelled by conditions, save that the work was to +be "finished in all points, as well in imagery work, pictures, and +finials, according to the due form and proportion of the Cross at +Abingdon." + +Another building, which was destroyed in 1820, was the Pilgrims' Rest, +a fine timbered house of three storeys, "supposed," as the inscription +upon it records, "to have been the hostel or inn for the maintenance +and entertainment of the palmers and other visitors to the Priory." +Some pieces of carved work were patched together in the windows of the +inn built on its site and there remain. + +The modern history of Coventry, consisting of the ordinary events and +vicissitudes of civic life and the changes and fluctuations in its +trades, apart from that of its parish churches which is elsewhere +given, does not come within the scope of this handbook. + +[Illustration: SEAL OF THE PRIORY.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: St. Osburg's name is not found in the Calendar. As at the +Dissolution the Cathedral possessed relics of St. Osborne, including +his head in copper and gilt, these saints may be identical.] + +[Footnote 2: Earl Street and Bishop Street are still principal streets +in either half of the town.] + +[Footnote 3: The walls of London were about three and a quarter miles +long (including the river front), with ten or eleven gates; those of +York three miles, of Chester hardly two.] + + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE WEST END OF THE PRIORY CHURCH.] + + + + +THE RUINS OF THE PRIORY AND CATHEDRAL CHURCH + + +The Priory buildings and grounds covered a large area to the North of +the two parish churches on the gentle slope descending to the little +river Sherbourne, Priory Row forming its southern boundary. + +The church occupied the South-West portion of this site, extending +about 400 feet from the excavated west end to a point a little beyond +the narrow lane called Hill Top. The excavation shows that the church +stood on a sloping site, the floor level being some ten feet lower +than that of Trinity Church. It was cruciform, with two western towers +and a central one, and is believed to have had three spires similar to +those of Lichfield but probably earlier in point of date. On the +substructure of the North-West Tower now stands the house of the +_mistress_ of the Girls' Blue Coat School. The interior of the West +end to a height of 5 to 8 feet, with the responds of the nave arcades +and of the tower arches, is visible and in good condition. The +beginning of the turret stair in the South-West tower is exposed, but +the basement of the house unfortunately occupies the lower part of the +northern one. The exterior of this is however easily accessible from +an enclosure known as the Wood Yard, the much decayed spreading plinth +and a few feet of walling above it not having been destroyed. Above +this, grievous damage has been perpetrated by the casing and complete +obliteration of the mouldings and arcading which remained. The towers +were placed outside the line of the aisles as at Wells, the total +width of the West front, 145 feet, being nearly the same in both +cases. There are still indications of the position of the great west +door, but the height of the inner plinth shows that there was always a +descent of several steps into the church. At the south transept where +was "the Minster durra that openeth to the Trinite Churchyarde," the +descent must have been considerable. The remains show that the nave +dated from the first half of the thirteenth century, while fragments +of wall near the site of the transept with indications of lancet +window openings are probably a little earlier than the west end. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE N.W. TOWER (IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY).] + +Whether the church of Leofric and Godiva, dedicated in 1043, had +survived wholly or in part until this time cannot be known, but, +judging from the history of most other great monastic churches and +from the known wealth of the monastery, it may almost be taken for +granted that the Norman bishops and priors rebuilt much if not all. +Some relics of Norman work have been found but the covering of the +site with roads, graves and houses precludes the systematic +exploration and survey which alone could solve this question and make +clear the outlines of the plan of the whole establishment. + +The entrance to some wine-cellars in Priory Row gives access to the +old pavement level of part of the choir and transept. From the fact +that a brick vault forms the roof the cellars have often been looked +upon as the crypt of the church but this is erroneous; the vault is a +later insertion and if any crypt exists it lies below this level. To +the east of the cathedral was the Bishop's Palace, the gardens of it +extending over the detached burial ground of St. Michael's to the east +of Priory Street. The grandeur of this assemblage of buildings +grouping, with the spires of the churches behind and rising so +magnificently above the houses of the city can best be realized by +going to the top of Bishop Street whence may be obtained the finest +view of the two spires that remain (see p. 2). + + + + +ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH + + +[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE NORTH.] + + + + +ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH + + +CHAPTER I + +HISTORY OF THE CHURCH + + +The early history of St. Michael's Church is very obscure. The fact +that Domesday mentions no parish churches proves nothing. There can be +little doubt that one at least existed. Though we have an earlier +record of St. Michael's it is commonly held that Trinity is the elder +foundation. + +Of St. Michael's the first notice we have is when Ranulph, Earl of +Chester, in the days of Stephen, about 1150, granted the "Chapel" of +St. Michael to Laurence, Prior, and the Convent of St. Mary, "being +satisfied by the testimony of divers persons, as well Clergy as Laity, +that it was their right." Fourteen dependent chapels in the +neighbourhood or within a few miles went with it and the number of +these dependencies is held to show that it was "a primitive Saxon +parish and of considerable importance." In 1192 Ranulph Blundeville, +grandson of the former Ranulph, gave tithe of his lands and rents in +Coventry and bound his officers under pain of a grievous curse to make +due payment. + +In the early thirteenth century a dispute arose between Bishop +Geoffrey de Muschamp and the Priory as to the right of presentation, +the Bishop claiming on the ground of being Abbot as well as Bishop. +This was settled in 1241 by the Priory renouncing its claim in +consideration of receiving a share of the income but in 1248 an +exchange was effected, the Priory giving the advowsons of Ryton and +Bubbenhall[4] (not far from Coventry) for St. Michael and its chapels +and engaging to provide proper secular priests with competent support. +In 1260 the church was appropriated to the monastery together with +Holy Trinity and its chapels and although in the arrangement of 1248 +twenty-four marks (£16) had been assigned to the vicarage, in 1291 we +find the priory receiving fifty marks and paying the vicar eight and a +half. + +Since 1537 the patronage has with that of Trinity, been exercised by +the Crown. + +The internal evidence of the date of the building is given in the +description of the fabric. Of external evidence in the shape of +records or deeds we have very little. Tradition says that there was +once a brass tablet in the church bearing the following lines: + + William and Adam built the Tower, + Ann and Mary built the Spire; + William and Adam built the Church, + Ann and Mary built the Choir. + +Now we know that William and Adam Botoner, who were each Mayor thrice +between 1358 and 1385, built the tower, spending upon it £100 a year +for twenty-two years, but what foundation there is for the other +statements cannot now be determined. The tower was in building from +1373 to 1394, and the choir is contemporary with it, the nave was in +building from 1432 to 1450, and the spire was begun in 1430. As +William was Mayor in 1358 it can hardly have been less than one +hundred years after his birth that both nave and spire were begun. It +is however, likely that other members of the family (if not he, by +bequest) contributed largely to the general building fund. + +Much of the history of a parish church is concerned with its internal +economy but even the records of this are not quite trivial for they +enlighten us on many points wherein we are rightly curious. We are, +for instance, constantly reminded, as Dr. Gasquet points out in +"Mediaeval Parish Life," that "religious life permeated society in the +Middle Ages, particularly in the fifteenth century, through the minor +confraternities" or gilds. + +Thus the Drapers' Gild made itself responsible not only for the upkeep +of the Lady Chapel but also for the lights always burning on the +Rood-loft, every Master paying four pence for each "prentys" and every +"Jurneman" four pence. The cost of lights formed a serious item in +church expenditure, needing the rent of houses and lands for their +maintenance. Guy de Tyllbrooke, vicar in the late thirteenth century, +gave all his lands and buildings on the south side of the church to +maintain a light before the high altar, day and night, for ever, "and +all persons who shall convert this gift to any other use directly or +indirectly shall incur the malediction of Almighty God, the Blessed +Virgin, St. Michael and All Saints." + +Royal visits to the church have been noticed in the history of the +priory and city, especially that in 1450 which was apparently intended +to mark the completion of the church. Reference has also been made to +the plays and pageants with which such visitors were entertained. The +site for the performance of the cycle of Corpus Christi plays was the +churchyard on the north of St. Michael's. Queen Margaret, whose visits +were so frequent that the city acquired the fanciful title of "the +Queen's Bower" came over from Kenilworth on the Eve of the Feast in +1456, "at which time she would not be met, but privily to see the play +there on the morrow and she saw then all the pageants played save +Doomsday, which might not be played for lack of day and she was lodged +at Richard Wood's the Grocer." + +There is evident reference to the dedication of the church in the +pageant of the "Nine Orders of Angels" shown before Henry VIII and +Queen Catherine in 1510 (p. 47). + +The history of the church since the Reformation has been not unlike +that of a vast number of others. Fanatic destruction, followed by +tasteless and incongruous innovations, and these again by +"restorations" sometimes as destructive, sometimes as tasteless, and +nearly always feeble; such is their common history. In 1569 even the +Register books were destroyed because they contained marks of popery, +while from 1576 onward a want of repair is plainly suggested by +frequent items of expenditure for catching the stares (starlings) in +the church, at one time for a net, at another for "a bowe and bolts +and lyme." In 1611 James I addressed a strongly worded letter to the +Mayor and Corporation and the Vicar requiring them to reform the +practice of receiving the Holy Sacrament standing or sitting instead +of kneeling, "As we our Self in our person do carefully perform it." +Whereupon the Bishop wrote that he "felt persuaded that there were not +above seven of any note who did not conform themselves" to the church +ordinances; while the Vicar said he "did not know of _half seven_ of +any note but do the like." + +A Puritanical writer in 1635 thus mentions the changed position of +the Communion Table, which had formerly stood away from the east wall: +"The Communion Table was altered which cost a great deal of money; and +that which is worst of all, three stepps made to go to the Comm'n +Table altar fashion--God grant it continueth not long." Even the font, +given by John Cross, mayor, in 1394, had to give place in 1645 to +something less offensive to Puritan feeling, and in the same year the +brass eagle, given in 1359 by William Botoner, was "sold by order of +vestry for _5d._ the lb., _8l. 13s. 4d._" The rehanging of the bells +in 1674 led to the destruction of the beautiful groined vault within +the tower, and the year 1764 saw the completion of a series of +galleries all round the church. Throughout all this destruction and +desecration the citizens happily retained their pride in the great +steeple, and by constant attention and rebuildings contrived to +preserve it when negligence might have caused its ruin. The scrupulous +care given to such work is well shown by items in an account for +repairs, of date 1580: + + Payed to George Aster for poyntynge ye steple £ 7 2 8 + Payed for 3 quarter and a halfe of lyme 13 4 + Payed for egges 8 4 + Payed for glovers pecis, woode & tallowe, abowte + the lyme 5 6 + Payed for a load sand 7½ + Payed for 4 stryke of mawlte and gryndyng 7 8½ + Payd for 6 gallons of worte more 2 0 + Payd for gatherynge of slates & oyster shelles 3¼ + Payd to Cookson for the cradle and 3 other pullesses 5 8 + +The glovers' snippings were for making size, which, with the eggs, +malt and wort were used in place of water for tempering the mortar. +Lightning seriously damaged the spire in 1655 and 1694, in the former +case causing much injury to the nave roof by falling stone. In 1793 +Wyatt, the architect responsible for so much destruction of Mediæval +work in various cathedrals, advised that a timber framework to carry +the bells should be built up within the tower from the ground and that +the tower arch should be bricked up. All this has been changed since +1885, the bells now hang (but are not pealed) in the octagon, the +chimes and clock are in the chamber below, the arch is opened and the +groining restored. + +All galleries had been taken down in 1849 and the present seats, +giving room for near 2,500 persons, introduced, while the incongruous +wall-arcading in the apse was soon after added. At the same period +many important sepulchral monuments, probably stigmatized as +"excrescences," were taken down and removed to other parts of the +church. + +Five years after this the exterior of the aisle walls was recased with +the same friable sandstone. In 1860 the reredos was erected, the +subjects of the panels being the sacrifices of Abel, Noah, +Melchisedec, and Abraham, and the Last Supper. To the latest +restoration, which included entire recasing of tower and spire, +clearstories and chancel, the new sacristy at the south east, and +other work, Mr. George Woodcock, a Coventry citizen, gave £10,500, and +the sum of £39,500 was raised and expended, the re-opening taking +place on 22nd April, 1890. + +In 1850 a dispute of considerable public interest with regard to the +levying of the church rate between the vicar and the wardens and +overseers was decided in the Court of Queen's Bench. An Act of +Parliament of 1780 had empowered the wardens to levy a rate in lieu of +tithe for the stipend of the vicar, to produce not less than £280 nor +more than £300. The wardens having ever since allowed their powers to +remain in abeyance, the vicar claimed the right to make the rate as +his predecessors had done. Lord Campbell and three other judges were +however unanimous in giving judgement against him. + +The latest event in the history of the church is probably the most +important. It has now been constituted a pro-cathedral for the +proposed Diocese of Warwickshire, and a Capitular body has been +formed. The statutes were promulgated by the Bishop of Worcester on +the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, 1908. The Chapter now +consists of twenty-four members:--the Bishop, the Vicar of St. +Michael's (Rev. Prof. J.H.B. Masterman), the Archdeacon of Coventry, +the Chancellor of the Diocese, ten priest canons and ten lay canons, +with provision for the admission of a future second archdeacon. There +are resemblances here to the constitution of the Southwark Chapter, +consisting of four clerical and four lay canons, but at Coventry some +of the lay canons are elective and for fixed periods. Doubtless the +immense increase of population in the county, especially in this part +(Birmingham is already a separate diocese), demands further oversight +and much strenuous church work, and doubtless, too, the same religious +enthusiasm which brought into existence the beautiful structures of +Coventry's golden age will be able to meet the demand and cope with +the new problems and aspirations of the present day. But the +archaeologist trembles to think what may be done should the attempt be +made to transform a building planned on the simplest parish-church +lines into the semblance of a cathedral. It cannot be successful, and +the original character of the church is but too likely to be +sacrificed in the attempt. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 4: These have ever since remained prebends of Lichfield.] + + + + +[Illustration ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH + + +The church is built on a site descending towards the east, so that the +chancel floor is more than twelve feet above the present street level. +The narrow street on the south, Bayley Lane, gives us a succession of +picturesque partial views but no general one, while on the north the +rather formal avenue dividing the churchyard obscures much of the +structure. On the whole, the most comprehensive prospect is to be had +from the north-east, at the lower end of Priory Row. But no general +point of view is needed, external or internal, to enable us to +understand the plan or arrangement, which is almost as simple in form +as a village church. + +The typical English church plan consists of a nave with aisles, a long +unaisled chancel with square east end, porches or doors on north and +south, and a western tower, and this, save for its apsidal east end, +but amplified by accretions in the form of chapels belonging to the +many Gilds of the city, is the plan of St. Michael's. + +In no part, however, do we find the chapels so set as to produce a +pseudo-cruciform plan. + +Before the latest restoration the walls were entirely of the local red +sandstone, very similar in quality and appearance to that of which +Chester Cathedral was built, and the extent of its decay, especially +on the tower, was as grievous. Hardly a piece of external moulding or +carving preserved its original profile or form, and some of the tower +buttresses had lost so large a proportion of their substance not far +above ground that they appeared to hang to the walls rather than +support them. All save the aisles, which were refaced in the sixties, +have now been cased with Runcorn Stone nearly the same in colour and +much harder in texture. + +The special glory of the church is its =steeple=. No doubt +intentionally its height of 300 feet is practically equal to the +length of the church. Only one other parish church, Louth in +Lincolnshire, has a steeple as high as this, and those of only two +English cathedrals, Salisbury and Norwich, exceed it. + +There is, however, an essential difference to be noted in the position +of these spires, those of the cathedrals at the centre, the crowning +point in the composition, those of the parish churches at the west +end, springing sheer from the ground. While the former have a more +intimate relation to the building the latter have an almost +independent existence in keeping with the theory which regards them +more as symbols of municipal pride and power than as expressions of +spiritual aspiration. + +But however mixed the motives for their erection, religious forms and +symbolism governed the design. Thus we have here three principal +divisions--tower, octagon, spire, and nine stories or stages in all, +six belonging to the tower and octagon, and three to the spire. Then +in its dimensions we find that the total height is 300 feet,[5] the +plan (exclusive of buttresses) is 30 feet square, while in its +proportions the number 30 is interwoven, so to speak, with a simple +arithmetical progression of heights in each story. Thus it is 30 feet +from the ground to the spring of the lowest five-light windows, 30 +feet again to the spring of the single-light windows, 27 feet more to +the spring of the grouped windows above, and another 30 to the spring +of the belfry windows. Thence it is 15 feet to the cornice below the +battlements. The remainder is divided into a series of 20 feet +heights, two twenties from cornice to top of parapet of octagon, 20 in +each of the two decorated stages of the spire, 20 to centre of the +upper spire-lights, three twenties to the finial. If we look at the +stories as marked by the string-courses below the windows we find 50 +feet given to the door and great window and then 20, 30, and 40 feet +stages, reaching to the top of the parapet. The reader will have +noticed the interposition of a 27 feet space among the thirties, and +the reason for this is worth explaining. + +It is now known that the tower could not be built in line with the +centre of the proposed new nave because of the existence of a +filled-in pit or quarry at its north-west angle. But the builder was +rash enough to build the north-west buttresses beyond the edge of the +old excavation and resting on the looser material. The consequences +might have been foreseen. By the time the building had reached the +grouped windows the settlement or sinking was considerable and an +effort was made to remedy it, first by reducing the height of this +(the weakest story), by one yard and next by starting the courses +level once more. Five hundred years later and we find that whereas the +sinking is 7½ inches near the ground level it is only 4 inches at the +windows, plainly showing that it had sunk 3½ inches before the remedy +was applied and four inches since. The writer is informed by the +architect (Mr. J. Oldrid Scott) that all this angle was so full of +rents and cracks that (coupled with the decay of the stone, especially +in the buttresses) it was surprising that the whole had not fallen. A +curious disregard of what we look on as a natural sentiment is to be +noted in this connection, for the builders used a quantity of fine +sepulchral slabs from the churchyard as filling for the foundations. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE TOWER FROM BELOW.] + +In magnificence of design the tower exceeds that of any other parish +church in England, the uppermost story being the richest in detail. +The variety of treatment and gradual increase in elaboration of the +upper stories is admirable, the larger expanses of wall in the lower +giving the necessary effect of stability to the whole. The =west door= +is very insignificant, and might perhaps, with advantage to the +composition, have been left out. It has the only four-centred arch in +the whole. On each side of the great windows are niches with +(restored) figures of saints and benefactors, twelve in all, including +Earl Leofric and his famous wife, the Botoners and several kings. +Sculpture appears again on the belfry stage. On the west and north +sides the niches are in three tiers of three on either hand of the +tall louvred windows, but on the south and east sides one tier is +absorbed by the stair turret. All these have been renewed, but the +remains of some of those which were taken down can now be seen in the +crypt, and the one which is best preserved, by a happy coincidence the +patron saint, is now placed within the church. + +The octagon, which connects so finely the tower and spire, has four +two-light windows on the cardinal sides, the other sides having blank +panelling of similar design. Its parapet has square pinnacles, +intended to carry seated figures. From each of the great tower +pinnacles two ogee-shaped flying buttresses spring to the near angles +of the octagon. A recent writer criticizes these as too flimsy in +effect, but the fact that they are in pairs obviates this defect from +most points of view. The walls of the octagon are 2½ feet thick at the +base, but, as the inner slope of the spire begins at the level of the +window transoms, the thickness at its parapet is more than 3 feet. The +greater weight in this part corrects any tendency in the spire to push +outwards the upright walls of the octagon; so well has it done this +that no artificial helps, such as iron stays or bands, have been +found necessary to add to its stability. Though so slender in +appearance, its stonework is thicker than that of many later spires, +for whereas Kettering is 14 inches thick for the first 10 feet and +only 6 inches above, while Louth decreases from 10 to 5, St. Michael's +diminishes from 17 to 11. The inclination from the upright of its +sides is very slight, less than that of most others; Chichester +having an angle of 7½°, Kettering 6°, Louth 5°, St. Michael's 4½°. + +[Illustration: THE WEST PORCH.] + +The decoration of the spire is admirably designed in relation to the +slenderness of the tower, and its own height above the eye. The first +stage is panelled so as not to present too great a contrast to the +octagon, and the next is also panelled and has narrow canopied slits +on alternate sides, with four thin buttress-like projections on each +face. These provide the slight entasis to the outline which is found +in so many spires, as it is in classic columns, and is designed to +correct the appearance of hollowness which would occur in so long a +straight line. The upper two-thirds of the spire has triple angle +rolls, and, just halfway in the total height, are eight canopied +panels of which four are pierced. The beauty of the steeple and its +pre-eminence among those belonging to parish churches (even if such a +reservation be necessary) sufficiently justifies the length of this +description. + +[Illustration: SOUTH PORCH, FROM ST. MARY HALL.] + +The oldest existing part of the church is the large =south porch=, +almost facing the entrance to St. Mary Hall. The date of this is not +later than 1300. Each jamb of the outside arch has four external and +two internal attached shafts; the pointed arch is deeply moulded, +while the arch rising from the fourth shaft is of round-headed trefoil +form. The ceiling is vaulted with diagonal and intermediate ribs, and +has the appearance of having been added rather later. + +A doorway on its east side led to the Cappers' Chapel and there is a +chamber over the porch for centuries appropriated to the meetings of +the Cappers' Company. The present chapel and chamber are contemporary +with the nave. + +[Illustration: SOUTH-WEST DOORWAY.] + +The external wall of the Dyers' Chapel (now the Baptistery) is canted +so as not to block the Lane, St. Mary Hall having been already built. +Passing east, the road dips gradually and gives this end of the church +a more imposing elevation. After the Cappers' Chapel, there is only a +single aisle forming the Mercers' Chapel and extending as far as the +Presbytery. A door here, made in 1750, is opposite to the Drapers' +Hall. The apse is now encircled with a series of sacristies divided +into five chambers and spanned by flying buttresses. The first two +bays on the south were built at the last restoration the vestry then +removed not being part of the original design. Beneath them on the +ground level is the engine-room pertaining to the organ. Though +sometimes spoken of as an Ambulatory its position on a lower level, +its original want of connection with the south side and above all the +need for sacristies in so large a church dispose of the idea. + +Some have thought that the apsidal Lady Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral +built about fifty years earlier suggested an apsidal termination in +the design of Coventry, but a certain difficulty in the way of the +designer may have led him to adopt this solution. The normal +Perpendicular east end had one large window, but owing to the great +width of this chancel the proportions of such a one would have been +nearly square, and the spring of the arch have been very low. A few +years later and the depressed four-centred arch might have been +adopted but, fortunately, its time was not yet. + +The plans of the apses of Lichfield and Coventry differ in the angle +at which the sides are inclined to the chord of the apse, the former +having the usual angle of 45°, the latter one of more than 60°. +Externally this is not so pleasant as the more "commonplace" form, the +great dissimilarity of the several angles being unsatisfactory and the +third side too quickly lost to view, but within the church these +points are not noticed. + +So little time elapsed between the building of the choir and nave that +we find no marked difference of style as we proceed westward along +either flank of the church. The =Lady Chapel=, known as the Drapers' +Chapel, from its use and maintenance by that Gild, occupies the three +bays of the North chancel aisle. From its elevation above the ground +it was often spoken of as the "Chapel on the Mount," Capella Beatæ +Mariæ de Monte. All the four windows are of seven lights, the three +northern having a somewhat unusual transom band of fourteen +quatrefoils, at the spring of the arch. The two windows of St. +Lawrence's Chapel have a transom across the lights and a band of seven +quatrefoils at the spring. + +The buttresses of the Lady Chapel are rather richer in design than +those of St. Lawrence's Chapel. The lower level of its parapet +indicates some difference of date. The plan of this part of the church +presents problems which bear on those connected with the rest of the +church (p. 44). Beneath St. Lawrence's Chapel and extending under the +north aisle westward are two crypts, entrance to them being by two +doors from the churchyard, their position is shown on the general +plan. It will be seen that the western one is of two aisles, each of +three bays, while the eastern is only one bay in length. The entrance +to the western was at first in the middle bay but this was blocked +when the Girdlers' Chapel was built. That the eastern crypt was added +later, and the present Lady Chapel later still is shown by the +presence of windows in the east wall of both parts and other +indications. But while the history of the church shows that the +original Lady Chapel and crypt or charnel-house, were built soon after +1300, the present superstructures belong to a time about one hundred +years later. Now as the western crypt may be safely assigned to the +earlier date the Lady Chapel doubtless stood over it and flanked the +old chancel of the church, in its normal position in fact as the +existing one is now. But a point which remains to be explained is that +the walls of the crypt are parallel to the line of the new chancel and +not to the line of the old or new naves. It seems certain therefore +that the inclination of the new chancel is a simple perpetuation of +the old arrangement, and if not, the position of the crypt is hard to +account for. + +It is generally supposed that these crypts were used as Mortuary +Chapels and the eastern one has in fact a piscina and aumbry, showing +that there was once an altar. But for some centuries they served as a +charnel-house, and are so called in a papal grant of Indulgences. In +1640 there is an entry in the church accounts of five shillings for +"cleansinge the charnel-house and laying the bones and sculles in +order." + +They now contain fragments that have been removed or discovered in the +course of various restorations. A small Norman scalloped capital, +another of Early English workmanship and a voussoir showing the Norman +zig-zag or chevron are interesting relics of structures earlier than +anything now existing, while a number of the decayed statues from the +tower find here a dark and damp repose very different from the airy +outlook enjoyed by them for five centuries. It will be seen that they +are near life size and are executed in a gray sandstone which has +stood the weather much better than the red. The outer north aisle +containing the Girdlers' Chapel on the east and the Smiths' or St. +Andrew's Chapel on the west of the porch, is plainly of later date. +The windows have depressed, distinctly four-centred arches, and in +1730 their five lights had simply cusped heads, the mullions running +up to the architrave. + +The =north porch= has only a slight projection. Above the four-centred +arch are two two-light canopied windows opening into the church. The +soffit of the doorway is panelled. On the west side where is now a +canopied niche was formerly an external pulpit reached from within by +the staircase which leads to the roof. It is shown in the 1730 view. +On the east side are two odd little flying buttresses, intended +apparently to repeat the inclined surface of the other side. The two +north aisles are fortunately not carried westward so far as the nave, +which projects a half bay beyond them and so prevents the otherwise +unrelieved flatness of this part. The most effective of the porches is +that on the west front, just north of the tower. It appears to have +been built after the nave was finished, and may have been added +expressly to provide a more dignified entrance to the church when +Henry VI came in state in 1451, for it faces directly up the nave. The +groining with cusped panels and numerous bosses has escaped +restoration. The five niches above the porch are statueless, and so +are those on the porch front. May they long continue so! The doors are +largely original and are finely panelled and carved. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: At the last restoration the height was reduced to 298 +feet.] + + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF ST. MICHAEL'S FROM THE WEST.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH + + +From within the door by which the church is usually entered, that near +the south-west angle, we obtain an overpowering impression of the +special characteristic of the interior, its spaciousness, for it is +here more than 100 feet wide and the east window is nearly 240 feet +distant. + +The =nave=, which is 37 feet 6 inches wide in the clear, is wider than +that of many cathedrals, and much exceeds that of most parish +churches, the widest (Worstead) given in Brandon's "Parish Churches" +being 29 feet. Boston alone exceeds it by about 3 feet. While the +ordinary aisle width ranges from 10 to 14 feet, the north aisle here +is 23 feet, the outer north and the south being each 17 feet. The +total internal length is 265 feet, exclusive of the sacristy; Boston, +the only larger one, being 284 feet, while very few exceed 200 feet, +and most are far smaller. The greatest internal width is 120 feet; +Manchester, a double-aisled collegiate church, is about the same, and +York Minster is 106 feet. Finally, the area is about 22,800 square +feet, probably greater than that of any other English parish church, +indeed, St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, is the only one which pretends to +rivalry in this respect. Size is, of course, only one element in the +impressiveness of a building, and may even be neutralized by the +treatment (as, for instance, in the Duomo of Florence and St. Peter's, +Rome, by increasing the size of its parts rather than multiplying +them), but these few comparisons will help the visitor to judge how +far this element colours his appreciation of the whole. As an +illustration of mediæval methods of church building, it is interesting +to trace the growth of the structure with the help of the few +historical notices already given and the evidence of the building +itself. The subject is full of difficulties, and the writer does not +hope to solve them conclusively, but to put before the reader the main +points which have to be considered before forming a judgement. + +[Illustration: TOWER ARCH.] + +Both historic and structural evidence agree that there was an existing +smaller church when the tower was built in the last quarter of the +fourteenth century, that the choir and apse were either contemporary, +or begun a few years earlier, and that the nave was built between 1434 +and 1450. The south porch and the west crypt (beneath the original +Lady Chapel) are almost contemporary (p. 34), belonging to the +beginning of the fourteenth century. Now the axis of the tower is +parallel to the axis and walls of the nave, while the centre line of +the choir is deflected towards the north about 7°. Notwithstanding +this, however, owing to the tower not being central with the nave, the +axis of the choir, if prolonged, runs directly to the centre of the +tower arch, as may easily be seen by anyone who stands there and looks +along the ridge of the choir roof. (_See_ dotted line on Plan.) + +[Illustration: BAY OF NAVE, NORTH SIDE.] + +Next we see above the =tower arch= the mark of the old nave roof and +the old north wall of the nave. These show that the south wall stood +where the present one does, and the low-pitched fourteenth century +roof-line suggests incidentally this alternative: _either_ a +clearstory had been added to the nave before the building of the new +chancel or tower was in contemplation, _or_, when the huge tower was +built it was felt necessary to raise the nave roof so as to lessen the +disproportion. But, if we adopt the latter alternative we must accept +too the improbability that this expense should have been incurred when +the inadequacy of the old narrow nave of 15½ feet compared with a +chancel of 33 feet must have been so obvious. This is one of the +difficult questions. + +Then it is held by some that the axis of the old nave and chancel was +in line with that of the present choir; but the south porch, built +more than one hundred years before the new nave, is at right angles +with it which would hardly have been the case had the two naves not +been on the same lines. + +Needless to say the old east end could scarcely have extended beyond +the present nave, so that the new chancel was probably built without +disturbing the old church. The position of the older Lady Chapel +supports this view, while its bearing towards the north, as already +pointed out, indicates that the deflection of the new chancel is +simply copied from the older one. + +The position of the south porch proves also that the south aisle was +as wide as the present one, while the fact that it was wider than the +nave shows that it was almost certainly not designed at the same time. + +The nave is of six bays and is 54 feet high at the centre, while each +arch is 20 feet wide in the clear. The piers are slender, but, owing +to the depth of the panelling above the arches and the large size of +the windows, the weight upon them is reduced to a minimum. Shafts +carried up from the ground support the roof brackets, and there are +intermediate ones over the centre of each arch. The clearstory windows +of four lights each are in pairs, and the mullions are carried down to +form panelling and finish on the backs of the arches, which recede in +two sloping faces and form a somewhat unusual feature in the treatment +of the wall surface. The detail of the piers and arches is rather +weak, even for Perpendicular work. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH DOOR.] + +The =chancel= is about 93 feet long, and in height and width is 4 or 5 +feet less than the corresponding nave measurements. Its width further +diminishes by about 3½ feet in the length of the three bays. The +omission of a chancel arch is a step towards the ideal simplicity of +the late Perpendicular churches (_e.g._, St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich), +running from east to west without break, but the large rood piers and +reduced width and height of chancel make the pause demanded in so +long a church. The step at this point is of oak, and is probably the +original sill of the rood screen. The large figures of SS. Peter and +Paul were placed on the piers in 1861. Of the three arches which open +on either hand the centre one is widest, having four-light windows, +instead of three-light, over it. The panelling beneath the clearstory +is richer than that in the nave. The five four-light windows of the +apse are lofty and divided by two transoms, but the design is somewhat +commonplace. The glass of the middle three is a memorial to Queen +Adelaide, dated 1853. The other two are filled with fragments of the +ancient stained glass of the church (p. 56). + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR FROM ST. LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL.] + +The roof is very similar to that of the nave. Both are of very low +pitch, with tie-beams supported by curved brackets. There are two +longitudinal beams (purlins) on each side, and each division of the +roof made by these main timbers is sub-divided by mouldings into +panels, all the intersections and angles being decorated by carved +bosses or pateræ, with angels upon the tie-beams. Where the roofs of +nave and chancel join there is a cove to connect the two levels; and +on the tie-beam above this was found a Latin inscription, giving the +attributes and powers of the nine choirs of angels forming the +hierarchy of Heaven. Translated it is as follows: + + SERAPHIMS burn in love of God. + CHERUBIMS possess all knowledge. + THRONES, of them is judgement. + DOMINIONS preside over angelic spirits. + VIRTUES effect miracles. + POWERS have rule over demons. + PRINCIPALITIES protect good men. + ARCHANGELS are set over states. + ANGELS are the messengers of the Lord. + +Bare and shorn as it is of its ancient magnificence, St. Michael's is +in its structure a monument of the importance and wealth of the Gilds. +Many of them built or maintained chapels and altars, adding largely to +the already spacious proportions given to the main structure by the +munificence of a few rich citizens. That in 1491 there were eleven +altars we know from the will of Thomas Bradmedow, directing that +eleven torches, price _2s. 4d._, be given every Good Friday, one to +every altar. Besides the High Altar there were those of Our Lady, +Jesus, Holy Trinity, St. John, St. Anne, St. Katherine, St. Thomas, +St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, All Saints. + +The application to the =Lady Chapel= of the present name, the +"Drapers' Chapel," is probably subsequent to 1518, when John Haddon, a +draper, provided by will for the support of a priest, "to singe in the +Chapell of our Ladye in the Church of Saint Mychell." But long ere +this, by an instrument dated from St. John Lateran, A.D. 1300, eighth +year of Pope Boniface, Indulgences for forty days were granted for all +persons coming to confess before her altar in St. Michael's Church on +the Nativity, Conception, Annunciation and Assumption of the glorious +Virgin Mary. Also 700 Indulgences for 720 days were granted for +building "the Chapple and Charnell house of St. Michaell, Coventry." +The Drapers' Company was responsible for other things than the +priest's stipend as this extract from their Rules shows: "1534. Ev'y +mastur shall pay toward ye makyng clene of oure Lady Chapell in saynt +Mychell's churche and strawyng ye setus [seats] wt rusches in somer +and pease strawe in wyntur, everyone yerely _2d._" + +[Illustration: POPPY HEAD, LADY CHAPEL.] + +The piers at the chancel entrance contain the staircases leading to +the roofs and formerly to the rood loft. The screen on the west side +of the chapel was put together from fragments brought together from +various parts of the church. Against it, and on the south side, are +fifteen of the ancient stalls. Several admirable ends and elbows +remain, and some of the twelve ancient Misereres are of special +interest. Three represent scenes from the popular mediæval allegory of +"the Dance of Death." + +The centre groups are: (1) a death bed, (2) a kneeling man being +deprived of his shirt and a cripple waiting to receive it (?), and (3) +a very well-expressed burial scene. The side groups in each show Death +leading by the hand personages of various ranks, including a pope. Of +the others, Satan in chains, the General Resurrection, and a +delicately executed Tree of Jesse are the best. + +[Illustration: A MISERERE, LADY CHAPEL.] + +Several monuments formerly in this chapel are now elsewhere in the +church. A memorial to the Hon. F.W. Hood, killed in battle in 1814, is +by Chantrey. On the north wall is a brass plate bearing the following +inscription: + + Here lyeth Mr Thomas Bond, Draper, sometime Mayor of this Cittie + and founder of the Hospitall of Bablake, who gave divers lands + and tenements for the maintenance of ten poore men so long as the + world shall endure and a woman to looke to them with many other + good guifts; and died the XVIII day of March in the yeare of our + Lord God MDVI. + +The =Communion Table= is a fine example of early seventeenth century +work, and outside the screen is a very beautiful oak chest, believed +to date from the time of Henry VII. From the Lady Chapel we pass into +that of St. Laurence. Its two windows are filled with glass to the +memory of past mayors. The dates, 1860 and 1862, sufficiently suggest +their artistic merit. Several old monuments are upon the north wall, +one of 1648 with an extravagant inscription to Thomas Purefoy, a boy +of nine; another to Mrs. Bathona Frodsham, a daughter of the John +Hales who bought so much monastic property, and founded the Grammar +School. The tomb of his first wife, Frideswede, near which he was +buried, may be seen in the Dugdale view near the north porch. + +The outer north aisle contained the Girdlers' Chapel. The arcade which +divides the aisles shows the consummation of the process which +converted columns into piers by the omission of capitals and bases and +the continuation of the mouldings from pier into arch. + +The altar was below the eastern window, the piscina (restored) stands +on the south side. + +The Company has been long extinct and no documents exist. We know, +however, that Haye's Chantry was founded by a Girdler in 1390, for a +Mass to be sung daily at All Saints' altar, and may therefore conclude +that it was in this chapel. + +In the two western bays of the same aisle was St. Andrew's Chapel, +supported and probably founded by the Smiths' Company. The first +notice of its existence occurs in 1449, but as this part was not built +until 1500 it was perhaps originally in the adjoining aisle. The +window tracery is modern. The panelling within the internal arches and +between the windows should be noted. The floor near the wall is partly +paved with much worn ancient tiles. + +Several large monuments have been brought hither from the Drapers' +Chapel. An altar tomb of black marble is to the memory of Sir Thomas +Berkeley, only son of Henry, Lord Berkeley, who died in 1611; another +of 1640, to William Stanley, Master of the Merchant Taylors' Company +of London and a benefactor of St. Bartholomew's Hospital and of his +native city, Coventry. While these are ponderous and unlovely that of +Julian Nethermyl, at the west end of the principal north aisle, is a +work of interest and much beauty. It is an altar tomb with a +sculptured panel on one end and one side, the other end and side +having been next to walls. It is of interest as an early example of +the Italian style then finding its way into England, and an example so +free from Gothic influence that there can be little doubt that a +foreign craftsman was employed upon it. On the centre of the long +panel is a mutilated crucifix, and a brief inscription with a shield +of arms beneath. On either hand kneel Julian Nethermyl and his wife, +with five sons behind him and five daughters behind her. A cherub at +each end pushes aside a curtain. The group of sons is well treated, +the variations in pose and dress show the hand of one who was +accustomed to study composition, and the result is very different from +the formal repetition of equal or lessening figures usual on mediæval +brasses and Elizabethan tombs. The Latin inscription is partly +illegible, translated it runs: + + Here lies Julian Nethermyl, Draper, formerly Mayor of this City, + who died the 11th day of the month of April in the year of our + Lord 1539 and also Joan his wife, to whose souls God be + propitious. Amen. + +[Illustration: CHEST IN NORTH AISLE.] + +A small brass on the wall to the memory of Mary Hinton, wife of a +vicar, who died in 1594, represents her kneeling at a faldstool, and +facing a row of four swaddled infants laid upon the floor. + +Near by is the old Purbeck marble font, said to have been given by +John Cross, Mayor, in 1394. + +As, however, the form, material, and shallow decoration are all quite +consistent with a thirteenth-century date there can be little doubt +that this one is the predecessor of that given by John Cross, which +was condemned and removed by the Puritans as superstitious. A small +brass, bearing a shield with four crosses, the ancient merchant mark, +is fixed upon it. + +[Illustration: THE NETHERMYL TOMB.] + +Beyond the west door is the north-east buttress of the tower, +strengthened by a mass of masonry, part of which formed part of the +old nave wall. The tower arch is high and very narrow, owing to the +narrowness of the old nave. The interior of the tower is very +effective, both from the height, which is almost 100 feet to the crown +of the vault, and the beautiful lighting of the upper stages. Each of +the large windows of the ground story is set in a recessed arch, and +between the two lantern stages is a range of panelling. The vertical +lines of the various stages are not continuous, a want of regularity, +which would probably not have occurred had it been built a century +later. Upon the floor of the tower are two small brasses, which mark +respectively the centre of the tower and the point below the apex of +the spire, showing that the spire has an inclination of 3 feet 6 +inches towards the north-west. On the walls of the tower two very +large brasses record the names of the Vicars of the church since 1242, +and of the Bishops in whose Dioceses Coventry has been included from +the earliest times. Of the latter, four were Bishops of Mercia, +twenty-seven of Lichfield, six of Coventry, thirty-three of Coventry +and Lichfield, thirteen of Lichfield and Coventry, four of Worcester, +and two Bishops-Suffragan of Coventry. + +The south aisle is 6 feet narrower than the north at the west end, but +its want of parallelism adds 7 feet to its width at its far eastern +end. + +The south-west doorway has its original doors, though these have been +subjected to restoration. The first chapel on the south side belonged +to the Dyers' Company. When the principal trade of Coventry was the +manufacture of woollen and worsted stuffs and the production of a +special blue thread, so excellent that it gave rise to a proverbial +expression, "he is true Coventry Blue", the Dyers were an important +Company.[6] A chantry known as Tale's was probably attached to this +chapel, as the salary of the priest, _£5 6s. 8d._, was paid by the +Dyers' Company of London. An upper chamber for the priest existed as +late as 1607; the floor corbels still remain. A large marble monument +(removed hither from the chancel) has medallion portraits of two +ladies--Dame Mary Bridgeman and Mrs. Eliza Samwell. The former with +her husband, Sir Orlando (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Charles +II), both died in 1701. The latter, dying in 1724, "ordered this +monument to be erected as a remembrance of their great and loving +friendship." + +The Chapel is now the =Baptistery=. A large eighteenth-century marble +font was removed to the Lady Chapel and a new Gothic one put in its +place, so that there are now three in the church. + +The south porch (1300) is the earliest part of the existing church. +The inner doors appear to be of the early sixteenth century, the +outer, though old, are of much later date and are not part of the +original scheme. On the wall on each side of the inner doors are +brasses of some interest. That on the right hand has a curious epitaph +which runs thus: + + Here lies the body of Captn Gervase Scrope, of the family of + Scropes, of Bolton in the County of York, who departed this life + the 26 of August, Anno Dni 1705, aged 66. + + An Epitaph, written by himself, in the agony and dolorous paines + of the gout and dyed soon after. + + Here lyes an old toss'd Tennis Ball + Was racketted, from spring to fall, + With so much heat and so much hast, + Time's arm for shame grew tyred at last. + Four kings in camps he truly served. + And from his loyalty ne'er swerved, + Father ruin'd and son slighted, + And from the Crown ne'er requited. + Loss of estate, relations, blood, + Was too well known, but did no good; + With long Campaigns and paines oth' gout + He cou'd no longer hold it out. + Always a restless life he led, + Never at quiet till quite dead. + He marry'd in his later days, + One who exceeds the common praise + But wanting breath still to make known + Her true affection and his own, + Death kindly came, all wants supplied + By giving rest--which life deny'd. + +The other brass, of 1609, has a portrait of Ann Sewell in Jacobean +costume, kneeling, with an epitaph in which she is described as "a +worthy stirrer up of others to all holy virtues." + +A doorway leads to a priest's chamber over the porch, sometimes +incorrectly spoken of as the Cappers' Chapel. It is still used for the +annual meeting of the Company, but is inaccessible to the public. + +The next chapel eastwards is St. Thomas', belonging until 1629 to the +Cappers' and Feltmakers' Company. In 1531 they were associated in its +maintenance with the Woollen Cardmakers who had founded it in 1467 and +had after declined in importance. Leland, as we have seen records +also the decay of the Cappers' industry. A large eighteenth-century +monument conceals the original doorway from the porch. The eastern +part of the south aisle as far as the screen formed another chapel as +the dilapidated piscina in the south wall shows. The organ is now +placed in the first bay of the chancel aisle, the whole aisle having +once formed the Mercers' Chapel. + +[Illustration: THE SWILLINGTON TOMB.] + +Where the altar once stood are now steps descending to the sacristies. +On the right of the window is the statue of St. Michael brought hither +from the tower (p. 32). The finely carved corbel on which it stands +was discovered among rubbish in the recess below. Three altar tombs +now stand against the south wall. The eastern has the recumbent +effigies of Elizabeth Swillington and her two husbands. The +inscription (translated) runs: "Pray for the soul of Elizabeth +Swillington, widow, late the wife of Ralph Swillington, Attorney +General of our Lord King Henry VIII, Recorder of the city of Coventry, +formerly the wife of Thomas Essex Esq: which said Elizabeth died A.D. +15..." She died after 1543. The side and ends have arcaded panelling +containing shields of arms. At the west end is a realistic +representation of the Five Wounds. The effigy of Thomas Essex is in +armour, that of the Recorder in official robe and chain. The head of +each rests on a helmet, and the lady wears the "pedimental" headdress +of Tudor fashion. The arcading is purely Renaissance in detail though +the general treatment is mediæval. The figures are in dignified +repose, wholly free from the later affectations of the Elizabethan +school yet evidently individual portraits. The second tomb dates from +1640. The top is far too heavy for the little Ionic pilasters below. + +The third, traditionally called Wade's tomb, probably belongs to John +Wayd, a Mercer, who lived in Coventry in 1557, but no inscription +remains. + +There are seven shields of arms on the side, nearly all defaced, a +motto "Ryen saunce travayle," and nine images in low relief which +present quaint studies of early sixteenth-century costume. + +The matrices of brasses are still visible in several parts of the +church. Sir James Harrington, writing in the reign of James I, tells a +curious story of their loss: + + The pavement of Coventry church is almost all tombstones, and + some very ancient, but there came in a zealous fellow with a + counterfeit commission, that for avoiding superstition, hath not + left one pennyworth nor penny breadth of brass upon all the + tombs, of all the inscriptions, which had been many and costly. + +The last monument that need be mentioned is upon the wall over "Wade's +tomb." Twenty-six verses of eulogy follow these opening lines: + + An Elegicall epitaph, made upon the death of that mirror of women + Ann Newdigate; Lady Skeffington, wife of that true moaneing + turtle Sir Richard Skeffington, Kt., and consecrated to her + eternal memorie by the unfeigned lover of her vertues, Willm. + Bulstrode, Knight. (She died in 1637, aged 29). + +The present organ was built by Henry Willis and erected in 1887. It is +a four-manual and pedal instrument and has fifty-three stops. + +The old organ on which Handel played more than once, stood on a raised +platform at the west end. It was the work of Thomas Swarbrick of +Warwick, a German by birth, in 1733. He also built those of Trinity +Church, St. Mary, Warwick, Lichfield, St. Saviour Southwark, +Stratford-on-Avon, and Amsterdam. + +The best of the ancient glass now remaining has been collected into two +windows, one on either side of the apse. Much was brought from the +clearstory where six windows on the south and all save one on the north +side still have panels made up of a mosaic of fragments with portions +here and there of which the subject is intelligible. From what remains +in the tracery we may gather that there was a row of eight angel +figures filling the spaces immediately over the lights. Some of these +or similar ones, are now in the apse. They are represented as covered +with feathers and standing on wheels and each holds a scroll over the +head with inscriptions in very contracted Latin. A few less fragmentary +pieces may be found, _e.g._, in the north window, Judas giving the +traitor's kiss, in the north clearstory the arms of Trenton and +Stafford, mentioned and figured by Dugdale, in the south, the figure of +a man in a red gown kneeling with a scroll inscribed "deo gracias" and +over his head "groc(er) de london"--doubtless a donor. Of modern glass +there is a great amount but little worth mentioning save on account of +the persons commemorated. One window in the Lady Chapel is a memorial +of the Prince Consort and one in the Mercers' Chapel is of interest as +a deserved memorial to Thomas Sharp the Antiquary to whose labours all +later historians of the city are so deeply indebted. He died in 1841. + +[Illustration: ALMS-BOX.] + +The pulpit is of brass and wrought iron, the work of Frank Skidmore a +native of Coventry who made also the choir screen of Hereford +Cathedral and the metal work of the Albert Memorial at Kensington. It +was placed here in 1869. The bells, ten in number, now hang in the +octagon. They were cast in 1774 and weigh nearly seven tons. The first +peal was hung in 1429 and a clock existed in 1467. In 1496 an Order of +Leet ordained that "all manner of persons that will have the bells to +ring after the decease of any of their friends, shall pay for a peal +ringing with all the bells, _2s._ and with four bells, _16d._, and +three bells _4d._" + +The six bells were cast into eight in 1674 and the present tenth has +the same inscription as the heaviest of the old peal: + + I am and have been call'd the common bell + To ring, when fire breaks out, to tell. + +The chimes, which existed as early as 1465, were restored in 1895, +after a silence of ten years, in memory of Lieut.-Col. Francis William +Newdigate. Electric lighting has been introduced throughout the +church. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 6: _See_ Fuller's "Worthies of England." In 1428 an Act of +Leet ordered that no person should dye any wool or cloth with "a +deceitful colour called Masters or Medleys brought into Coventry by a +Frenchman."] + + +[Illustration: HOLY TRINITY FROM THE NORTH. +_From a lithograph--about 1850_.] + + + + +HOLY TRINITY CHURCH + + +CHAPTER I + +HISTORY OF THE CHURCH + + +Although the first mention of this church which the indefatigable +Dugdale could find was its appropriation to the priory in 1259-1260, +it is tolerably certain that its foundation was much earlier. As +before said, it is reputed to be older than St. Michael's and its +position close to the monastery suggests that it had been built, as +often happened, for the parishioners by the monks who disliked their +intrusion within the priory church. The appropriation at this time may +have been rather of the nature of a confirmation of the rights of the +priory than the institution of a new condition of things. As, in 1391, +the chancel had to be rebuilt being "ruinated and decayed" we may +conclude that it was probably older than the present north porch which +is certainly not later than 1259. It was at the same time lengthened +by twenty-four feet, the convent giving one hundred shillings per +annum for eight years and six trees, the parishioners finding all +other material and workmanship. The convent and parish also agreed to +support and keep it in repair at their joint charges. + +From 1298, when Henry de Harenhale was appointed, the list of vicars +is complete, but in a cartulary of the priory mention is made of Ralph +de Sowe, vicar of Trinity, as giving a tenement in Well Street, for +the celebration of his anniversary. + +There are but few landmarks in its history, and dates affecting the +structure can generally be assigned by internal evidence alone. The +nave arcades had already been rebuilt before the chancel was touched, +and a piece of work of the same period is to be seen in the five-light +Decorated window, in the Consistory Court which now opens into the +large chamber over the porch. We have no record of the building of the +clearstory and roof of the nave. The resemblances between this +clearstory, and that of St. John's chancel, raise the question of +priority. The fuller development at St. John's of the peculiar +treatment of the angles points to its being a little later but +probably both fall within the second and third quarters of the +fifteenth century. + +For a church of this size the chapels, altars and chantries were very +numerous, there being probably fifteen altars in all. In 1522 the +establishment of clergy consisted of a vicar, eleven parochial priests +and two chantry priests. Dugdale enumerates six chantries so that it +is evident that here as often elsewhere some of the parochial priests +derived the whole or a part of their support from their performance of +the duties of chantry priests. + +Many chantry priests on the other hand had other duties and took part +in other services than the daily mass for which the chantry was +founded. + +So much that is of interest in the religious life of the period is +connected with the chantries that it is worth while recording some of +the scattered notices that have come down to us. + +To begin with the Chapel of Our Lady, the earliest mention we have of +it is in 1364 while in 1392 the Corpus Christi Gild endowed a priest +there to sing mass for the good estate of Richard II, Anne his queen, +and the whole realm of England, to be called St. Mary's priest. The +indenture sets forth that "he is to be at Divine service on Sundays +and double Feasts in the chancel and at Matins, Hours, Masses, +Evensong, Compline and other offices used in the said church and also +daily at _Salve_ in our Lady's Chapel unless hindered by reasonable +cause." The records of the Dissolution of the Chantries show how much +town property must have been held by them, while from these and other +sources we learn the extent of their belongings in tenements, +messuages, rent charges and the like. Thus in 1454 Emot Dowte gave +several tenements to this altar and in 1492 Richard Clyff "late parson +of St. George in London," left a house in Well St. to the church "to +the intent that the mass of Our Lady may be observed the better." In +1558 (the year of Elizabeth's accession) William Hyndeman, alderman +and butcher, directs that his body be buried in the Lady Chapel "as +aldermen are wont to be buried, towards the charges whereof I give +twenty nobles to be levied of my quick cattle and if it be too little +then I will that Sybil my wife shall lay down _20s._ more." He also +orders an obit to be kept after the death of his wife "yearly for +ever;" a form of words that must surely have sounded unreal after the +changes of the last two reigns. + +Perceye's chantry again, which Dugdale considered the oldest (though +he does not give the date) was endowed in 1350 with six messuages, one +shop, six acres of land and 40s. rent, all lying in Coventry, to which +in 1407 William Botoner and others, added a messuage and twenty-four +acres of land in the city for another priest. + +Then the chantry of the Holy Cross (1357) founded for two priests to +sing daily a mass for the good estate before death and for the souls +after of the royal family, and for the founders and the members of the +Fraternity of the Holy Cross, was endowed with seven messuages, +fourteen shops and sixteen acres of land in the city. + +Dugdale enumerates also four others, Cellet's, Corpus Christi, +Lodynton's and Allesley's, to which should probably be added Marler's, +assigned by him to St. Michael's. The first two are doubtless the same +foundation, for in 1329 land and tenements were granted to the priest +of Corpus Christi Chapel for the health of the soul of William Celet +and others. + +It was almost certainly situated in the south transept, on the upper +level over the vaulted passage. The position of Lodynton's chantry +(1393) is not known; Allesley's, founded in the reign of Edward I, was +sung at St. Thomas's altar. + +Richard Marler stipulates in his will that his priest is to have the +"stypend or wagis of nyne marks by yere so long as he shall be of good +and prestly conversacyon and demeanor, wt' a p'vyso that yf the seyde +prest be ffounde otherwyse, after monyc'on and reasonable warnyng to +hym geven, he to be removed." + +Much of the later history of the church relates to the destruction of +its fittings and furniture or to restorations almost as grievous. In +1560 _2s. 6d._ was paid for taking down the carving about the high +altar, while the Mayor bought the panelling of the altar for _33s. +4d._, the vail for _5s._, the "thing that the sacrament was in over +the altar _1s._," the "peyre [pair of candlesticks?] that was upon the +altar _5d._" Perhaps he thought that all these things would be wanted +again ere long. In 1547 a quantity of costly vestments and banners had +been sold and we find in the accounts a number of such items as +these: "Sold the 6 day of Jennery 5 copps of red teyssew to Mr. +Roghers, now mayre (and 4 other persons) pryce of the sayd copps, +_10l._ To Bawden Desseld one cope of red velvet, _5l._ Mr. Schewyll a +grene velvet cope, _30s._" + +But before Mary's death we have a lengthy inventory of copes, +vestments, albs, banners and the like, some of which may have come +back to the church from the buyers at the sale eleven years before. + +The church must have looked like a builder's yard in 1643 when the +Committee and Council of War pulled down divers houses outside +Bishop's and Spon Gates and stacked the materials here, while the +changes of government are indicated by the payment in 1647 of _3s. +6d._ "to Hopes for defacing the King's Arms" and in 1660 of _6s._ to +"Hope for the King's Arms." + +Five years after this the spire, which had caused much anxiety and +expense for many years, was blown down in a gale, falling across the +chancel and causing much destruction. All was restored and the spire +rebuilt in three years. Reference has been made to the existence of a +vaulted passage through the south transept. This was made necessary by +the position of an ancient building known as Jesus Hall which adjoined +the transept and thus blocked the way from "the Butchery" in this +direction. The Hall had probably been long used as the residence of +the priests attached to the church but nothing is known of its origin. +It was destroyed in 1742. Only in 1834, when the exterior of the +church was recased was the passage blocked and the floor of the upper +chapel removed. + +The Register records the marriage of Sarah Kemble with William Siddons +on 25th November, 1773. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EXTERIOR OF THE CHURCH + + +The church of Holy Trinity loses much, in popular estimation at least, +by its nearness to St. Michael's. It invites comparison of the most +obvious sort. It is not nearly so large and its spire is not so high, +these facts alone are sufficient to account for the popular view. +Fuller, in his "Worthies" says of the two churches, "How clearly would +they have shined if set at competent distance! Whereas now, such their +Vicinity, that the Archangel eclipseth the Trinity." + +The plan is quite unlike that of its neighbour, being cruciform, with +a central tower, a short nave, and a chancel distinctly longer than +the nave. On the south both nave and chancel have a single aisle, the +transept projecting beyond it and there is a vestry at the east end. +On the north there is a similar aisle with a Lady Chapel at the east +corresponding to the Vestry, but a large porch and several chapels +fill up the spaces so that the transept does not in plan project. + +Looking at the exterior as a whole it may be said that the more +moderate length (194 feet), the central spire, 230 feet high, and the +transepts unite in forming a more satisfactory composition than the +long body and immense western steeple of St. Michael's. There however, +the superiority ceases for the frequent "recasings" and restorations +have left hardly a stone of the exterior that has not been renewed +again and again, and the dates of these operations, 1786, 1826, 1843, +sufficiently suggest the degree of knowledge and feeling likely to be +manifested in the work. + +Probably most of the structure was first built of the same friable red +sandstone as its greater neighbour. Much of the recasing has been +executed in a rather harder gray sandstone, but the tower and spire +are still red. + +The tower above the roofs, is of two stages, the upper, or bell +chamber, and the lower or lantern opening into the church. Below this +are small windows with the lines of the old high-pitched roof visible +above the present transept roofs, but in the nave and chancel the +lines of the old roofs are now within the church, the clearstory +having since been added. Each face of the tower is divided, apart from +the narrow angle buttresses, into six vertical divisions separated by +thin projections of buttress form. On the south and west the stair +turret absorbs one of the outer divisions. Each division is curved in +plan in a curious way, which may be the perpetuation of a feature of +the original design, but was more probably introduced or modified by +the person who recased the tower in 1826. That there was sculpture we +know, for in 1709 ten shillings was paid for taking the images down +from the steeple. The smallness of the sum indicates that they were +few in number, and if they occupied similar positions to those on the +belfry stage of St. Michael's, and the structure was as decayed as was +the tower of that church it is probable that the cutting away of the +niches may have suggested the curving of the surfaces especially as +the tower would be thereby lightened. As it is we cannot be certain of +much else than that there were vertical divisions serving to emphasize +the impression of height and that the openings were in the same +positions as now. + +[Illustration: PLAN OF TRINITY CHURCH] + +The spire blown down in 1665 had been in the previous ninety years +five times repaired and repointed. We cannot now say whether the +original design was at all closely followed in the rebuilding, but its +present likeness to St. Michael's suggests doubts. The lowest stage +which takes the place of the octagon and may be an intentional +imitation of it, has almost upright sides with two-light windows on +the cardinal faces and panelled ones on the oblique sides, while the +remaining stages correspond in number and partly in design with those +of St. Michael's. + +In 1855 it was considered that the bells endangered the safety of the +tower, and after recasting by Mears of London they were rehung in a +timber campanile in the north churchyard. Even now they cannot be +pealed. + +The deplorable refacings have left few features of interest on the +outside. Were Gothic architecture still a living and not merely +imitative and academic art, one would welcome a complete renewal of +all outside work--not an imagined harking back to the work of the +fifteenth century but showing the lapse of the centuries from the +fifteenth to the twentieth as clearly as does the north porch the +change from the thirteenth to the fifteenth. + + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF HOLY TRINITY, FROM THE WEST.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERIOR + + +It is with a feeling of expectation followed by one of relief that we +pass within the church, for restoration has there rarely the same +excuse for its devastations as the action of wind and weather on the +exterior too generously gives it, and this church is no exception to +the general rule. + +The clearing away of galleries, the provision of new seating and the +renewal of much window tracery have been the principal changes, the +greatest loss being the destruction of the Corpus Christi Chapel. The +nave is of moderate width and consists of only four bays, the eastern +arches being narrower and made to abut against the tower after the +manner of flying buttresses. The columns are clusters of four large +filleted shafts separated by small ones while the bases are high and +evidently meant to be seen above the benches. The caps are shallow and +very simple, while the shafts of each pier reappear as part of the +arch moulding. + +The arcade as a whole is remarkably strong and dignified, it would +perhaps have gained by the addition of a bay in length. In the absence +of precise records it may be assigned to the second quarter of the +fourteenth century or a little later. Above the tower arch can still +be seen, beneath the painting and plaster, the marks of the older +steep roof. The nave of Stratford-on-Avon Church has points of +resemblance to this. There too we have a fourteenth-century arcade +(but much simpler) with a fifteenth-century panelled wall and +clearstory above, and the panelling comes down on to the backs of the +arches in a similar though somewhat simpler manner. + +Owing to the inequality of the eastern arches there is, in the +position of the windows and roof principals a curious disregard of the +lines of the piers and the centres of arches. There are eight equal +bays in the roof and each corresponds to two two-light windows. It is +interesting to compare the design of this clearstory with that of St. +Michael's. It has more solidity to accord with the more vigorous +arcade though the treatment of the panelling is similar. The height +from the arch to the roof is much less in proportion, but the sills of +the windows are kept lower and the heads are square. The form of the +windows is perhaps determined in part by the desire for more space for +stained glass, but it is also the logical outcome of the space +afforded by the level lines of a wooden roof just as the use of the +pointed window follows from the use of pointed vaulting. The treatment +of the angles after the manner of the thirteenth century "shouldered" +lintel in order to take off the harshness of the rectangular form and +to give a better bearing for the lintels is noteworthy and should be +compared with the more developed forms at St. John's Church. + +Above the tower arch is a painting of the Last Judgement, discovered +in 1831. It is now so much darkened that very little can be made out. +The following is a description of its appearance before 1860: In the +centre is the Saviour clothed in crimson and seated on a rainbow. +Below are the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist with the twelve +Apostles arranged on each hand. Two angels sound the summons to +Judgement, and on the right of our Saviour, steps lead to a portico +over which three angels look down on the scene and others welcome a +pope who has just passed St. Peter. On the Saviour's left are doomed +spirits being conveyed by devils in various ways and in ludicrous +attitudes to the place of torment, represented in the usual manner by +the gaping mouth of a monster, vomiting flames of fire. A large +painting of a crucifix, with a priest kneeling beside it and angels +flying above, was discovered at the same time on the north side of the +Chancel but was too much mutilated to be thought worthy of +preservation. + +The =roofs= throughout are of low pitch, and almost all resemble one +another in design. Those of the nave, chancel, archdeacon's chapel (on +the west of the north porch) and transepts are divided by their +principal timbers into large panels, which are again subdivided by +mouldings upon the boarded ceiling. At all angles and intersections +there are carved leaves, and stars in relief adorn each panel. All +these roofs are painted in accordance, it is said, with existing +indications of the original colouring. The ground is blue, the +mouldings red and white, the stars and carving are gilt. The nave roof +spandrels, above the tie-beams, have large painted figures of angels, +supporting between them shields emblazoned with the instruments of +the Passion. These are also said to be reproductions, but it appears +likely that time had left much to the imagination of their restorer. + +[Illustration: NORTH SIDE OF NAVE, EASTERN BAYS.] + +Nevertheless, the whole effect of the roofs is harmonious, a result +apparently obtained by the use of a blue far removed from the +ultramarine tint too often employed. + +Since the removal of the ringing floor, in 1855, the lantern stage of +the tower has been once more visible from the church. A wooden vaulted +ceiling was at the same time inserted where a stone one had originally +been built or intended. + +The =chancel= is dark owing to the small clearstory windows, the low +outer north aisle, and the concealment of a south window by the organ. +At the first pier east of the tower came the rood-screen, and on the +south side (in the aisle) the door to it may be seen at a height above +the floor. Access must have been by steep steps against the wall, or +from the top of another screen across the aisle. The church accounts +of the year 1560 tell us what it cost to remove: + + Payd for taking down ye rode and Marie and John _4s. 4d._ + Payd to ye carpenter for pullyng down ye rode lofft _4s. 8d._ + +On the east side of the tower wall can be seen the line of the +original roof, showing the height before the rebuilding in 1391. +Although there is space for larger windows the aisle roof prevented +their sills being brought lower. The west arch of the south arcade has +been forced out of shape by the pressure of the tower piers and +arches; certainly the piers, which are little more than 4 feet square, +seem slender enough for the support of so lofty a steeple. + +Attached to this south-east tower pier is the stone pulpit, one of the +two special glories of the church, the other being the brass eagle. +The pulpit is either contemporary with the pier or nearly so. There is +apparently some difference in the texture and colour of the stone, but +as it is probable that a finer-grained stone would be chosen for work +of this character, this need not imply a difference of date. It was, +however, probably added at the same time as the nave clearstory. The +authors of "English Church Furniture" assign it to 1470.[7] Before +1833 (when restored by Rickman) it had been hidden from sight by +wood-work and a clerk's desk at a lower level. The lower part is +boldly corbelled out and the junction of the octagon with the pier +shafts is well managed, but the upper open-panelled part is rather too +definitely cut off from the lower by the battlemented cornice. Very +few examples of this class of pulpit exist in England, and none equal +in importance. + +The eagle =lectern= is a magnificent example of brass casting. It is +generally attributed to the late fifteenth century. This eagle +narrowly escaped being sold by the Puritans for old brass, as happened +to that of St. Michael's. It closely resembles one belonging to St. +Nicholas' Chapel, Lynn, save that the latter is not equal in +refinement of detail and proportion, and the bird is less vigorous in +pose and modelling. In 1560 there was "paid for skowring ye Egle and +candell styckes, _10d._," and "for mending of ye Egle's tayle, _16d._" + +[Illustration: PULPIT.] + +At least nine chapels and fifteen altars are known to have existed in +the church. The present choir vestry on the north side was the Lady +Chapel. A simple piscina on the south side, about a foot above the +present floor, shows that the old floor level was much lower. + +The =north aisle= is lofty and has a clearstory of three windows over +the arcade. In the outer aisle was located Marler's, or the Mercers', +Chapel, founded in 1537, and beneath it is a crypt or charnel house, +now closed save for small ventilating openings. + +[Illustration: ARCHWAY BETWEEN THE NORTH PORCH AND ST. THOMAS'S +CHAPEL.] + +The black oak roof of low pitch has the panels of the western bay only +richly carved with vine leaves and grapes. Its date is, perhaps, as +late as the foundation of the chantry. The piscina is in the north +wall. + +West of the north transept is =St. Thomas's Chapel=. Dugdale says that +Allesley's chantry was founded in the time of Edward I, at the altar +of St. Thomas the Martyr, "in a chapel near adjoining to the church +porch." The chapel is certainly older, for the beautiful double +doorway from the porch is not later than mid-thirteenth century. The +outer doorway of the porch was rebuilt in the fifteenth century. The +inner one, with a finely moulded arch with angle shafts and the vault +with simple diagonal ribs carried on shafts, is of the early +thirteenth century. It is to be regretted that this fine porch is not +better seen. Signs of the puzzling reconstructions that have occurred +in this part are visible in the aisle wall. Two lancet windows high up +are of the same date as the porch, and are blocked by the chamber +since constructed above St. Thomas's Chapel, and parts of other window +jambs are seen at different levels. + +The Archdeacon's Chapel or consistory court, to the west of the porch, +is now one of the most interesting parts of the church. + +It is divided from the north aisle by two lofty arches with an +octagonal column. The original dedication is not known, but in 1588 it +was already used as an Ecclesiastical Court, and the next year a +bishop's seat was made for use in it. In the south-west angle is a +tall, narrow recess, once closed by a door. Lockers of this +description were constructed for the safe keeping of the shaft of the +processional cross, and for the staves of banners. On the east side +the roof now cuts across the head of a window of reticulated tracery +of the early fourteenth century. Most of the monuments have been +brought hither from various parts of the church; only two or three are +of general interest. A late Perpendicular canopied tomb, rudely carved +and badly fitted together, stands against the north wall, but there is +nothing to show whom it commemorates. On the east wall is the monument +of Dr. Philemon Holland, with a long Latin epitaph. Fuller says of +him: "he was the translator general in his age, so that those books +alone of his turning into English will make a country gentleman a +competent library for historians." Born at Chelmsford in 1551 he +settled at Coventry in 1595, was usher and then master of St. John's +Free School for twenty-eight years, and died in 1636 in his +eighty-fifth year. During his usher-ship Dugdale was a pupil of the +school. + +An engraved brass to John Whithead, who died in 1597, is interesting +for the sake of the costumes of himself and his two wives. Three stone +coffins have also been deposited here, and two sheets of lead from the +roof recording, in fine bold lettering, the repairs executed in 1660 +and 1728. In the middle window on the north side are the only +remaining fragments of ancient glass. As late as 1779 there were +"portraits" of Earl Leofric and the Countess, and also, it is said, a +smaller figure of the lady in a yellow dress on a white horse. Part of +a small figure holding a spray of leaves and part of a galloping +horse are pointed out as the remains of this. To the writer the figure +appears to be clearly that of a man, and the horse and rider's leg not +to have belonged to it. + +The modern stained glass is very unequal in character, and some is +very poor indeed. The windows at the west, especially one in memory of +Mr. Wm. Chater, a late organist, may be regarded as exceptions. There +are still, fortunately, many which are not filled with pious +memorials. + +The =font= is the original pre-Reformation one of the fifteenth +century, which was removed by the Puritans in 1645 (though devoid of +sculpture) and brought back after the Restoration. It stands on three +steps, is panelled on bowl and stem, and rather brilliantly adorned +with gold and colour. + +The south aisle was no doubt divided into two chapels, that on the +west belonging to the Barkers' or Tanners' Gild. A small piscina +against the south wall indicates the position of its altar. The wall +below the windows is recessed so as to form a seat the whole length of +the aisle. + +The =south transept=, containing the Corpus Christi and Cellet's +chantries, has lost its original character completely. The piscina, +high up on the south wall, shows that the floor level was some 9 feet +above that of the church. The reason for this has been already +explained. The organ chamber is quite modern. The best authorities +place the chapel of the Butchers' Gild in the south aisle of the +chancel, but do not say to whom the eastern chapel in the nave aisle +belonged. It is known that there was a Jesus Chapel, and, in view of +the proximity of Jesus Hall, it is believed by some that this was its +position. + +The present clergy vestry is a fine room, having an excellent dark oak +roof with heavy beams and well carved bosses at the intersections of +the timbers. The Royal Arms over the fireplace were painted there in +1632. Although usual, the placing of the king's arms in churches was +not compulsory until the Restoration; few earlier now remain, and this +placing of them in the vestry rather than the body of the church is +suggestive of a compromise between opposing factions. A portrait of +Walter Farquhar Hook, Vicar from 1828-37 and afterwards Dean of +Chichester is hung here. + +It seems probable that this was a chapel, perhaps that of the Holy +Trinity, to whom an altar was dedicated. + +The history, as traced in the church accounts, of the various organs +used in the church gives some idea of the fluctuations of opinion as +to the propriety of their use. In 1526 John Howe and John Climmowe, +citizens and organ makers of London, contracted to provide, for £30, +"a peir of Organs wt vij stopps, ov'r and besides the two Towers of +cases, of the pitche of doble Eff, and wt xxvij pleyn keyes, xix +musiks, xlvj cases of Tynn and xiiij cases of wood, wt two Starrs and +the image of the Trinite on the topp of the sayed orgayns." In 1570 +the "payer of balowes" were sold, and in 1583 the pipes, "wayeng +eleven score and thirteen pounds, went for fourpence half-farthing the +pound." In 1632 a new one was obtained but its life was short, for in +1641 the Puritan party caused it to be sold "for the best advantage." + +[Illustration: ALMS-BOX.] + +Once more, in 1684, another was purchased from Mr. Robert Hay wood of +the City of Bath for £100; then, in 1732, Thomas Swarbrick of Warwick +built one for £600, for which a gallery was erected across the nave. + +In 1855 this gave place to a new one by Foster and Andrews of Hull, +costing £800; and this was rebuilt by Messrs. Hill and Son in 1900. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 7: "English Church Furniture." (Antiquary series.) J.C. Cox +and A. Harvey.] + + +[Illustration: CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, FROM BOND'S HOSPITAL.] + + + + +ST. JOHN BAPTIST'S CHURCH + +The church of St. John Baptist has a history quite different from that +of the other parish churches and is specially interesting as a +building belonging to a very limited class, namely, Collegiate +Churches owned by a Gild. Though Dugdale says that the "first and most +antient of the Gilds here was founded in the 14th Ed. III (1340)" it +is probable that, as in other places, religious gilds had for long +existed here and that the royal license or Charter of this date was +like that of Stratford-on-Avon in 1332, really a reconstitution or +confirmation of the Gild's rights, privileges and possessions. + +This earliest one was known as the Merchant or St. Mary's Gild and its +first ordinances provided that "the brethren and sisteren of the gild +shall find as many chaplains as the means of the gild can well +afford." Then in 1342 that of St. John Baptist and in 1343 that of St. +Katharine was founded. The former at once founded a chantry of six +priests to sing mass daily in the churches of St. Michael and the +Trinity for "the souls of the King's progenitors and for the good +estate of the King, Queen Isabella his mother, Queen Philippa his +Consort and their children" and others, besides the members of the +Gild. In 1344 this Gild, desiring to have a building for its exclusive +use, received from Queen Isabella a small piece of land called +Babbelak on which to build a chapel in honour of God and St. John, two +priests being required to sing masses daily for the souls "of her dear +lord Edward," John, Earl of Cornwall and others. Did she seek to +satisfy her conscience thus for the woes she had brought upon her +_dear lord_? The site thus given measured 117 feet from north to south +and about 40 feet from east to west giving room for the chancel only +of the present church, this being dedicated in 1350. But in 1357 +William Walsheman, valet to the Queen and now her sub-bailiff in +Coventry gave further land, added a new aisle and increased the number +of priests while the Black Prince in 1359 gave a small plot on which, +perhaps, the tower and transept now stand. Within the next ten years +Walsheman and Christiana his wife gave to the Gild certain tenements, +called the "Drapery," in the city to build a chapel in honour of the +Holy Trinity, St. Mary, St. John, and St. Katharine "within the Chapel +of Bablake." William Wolfe, mayor in 1375, is mentioned as a "great +helper" in the work at the church, the original nave and aisles being +probably built at this time, and some reconstruction of the choir. +Records are wanting of the subsequent alterations which gave it its +present form. The north clearstory of the nave shows the original +design while that of the choir and the south side of the nave belong +to the fifteenth century as do the tower and the cruciform arrangement +of the building. Leland's "Itinerary" gives the following description: +"There is also a Collegiate Church at Bablake, hard within the West +Gate (Spon Gate) alias Bablake Gate, dedicated to St. John.... It is +of the foundation of the Burgesses and there is a great Privilege, +Gild or Fraternity. In this College is now a Master and eight +ministers and lately twelve ministers." Stowe adds that there were +twelve singing men and extant deeds mention "Babbelake Hall" in which +the warden and priests lived. + +Many interesting entries of expenditure are to be found in the gild +accounts showing how the Eve of St. John (Midsummer Eve) and other +festivals were celebrated before the suppression of the gilds by +Edward VI. In 1541 we have the following (the spelling is somewhat +modernized): + + Expenses on Midsummer Even and on the day,--Item, 2 doz. & a half + cakes, _2s. 6d._; spice cakes, _12d._; a cest' ale and 4 gals. + _4s._; 2 gals, claret wine _16d._; 2 gals. malmsey, _2s. 8d._; 2 + gals. muskedell _2s. 8d._; to Mr. Mayor _3s. 4d._; the Mayor to + offer, _8d._; to priests, clerks and children, _2s. 4d._; the + waits, _6s. 8d._; to poor people _6s. 8d._; to the cross-bearers + and torch-bearers, _8d._; the bellman, _4d._; the hire of pots, + _4d._; boughs, rushes and sweeping, _8d._; a woman 2 days to + cleanse the house, _4d._; half a hundred _3d._ nails, _1½d._; + half a pound of sugar, _4½d._; to the crossbearer and torchbearer + for St. George Day, Holy Rood Day, Shire Thursday and Whit + Sunday, _12d._; to 2 children for the same days, _6d._ Summa + (total) _38s. 2d._ + +That these anniversaries and wakes led to much unseemly revelling we +have evidence that cannot be gainsaid. The Trinity Gild decided in +1542 + + that no obite, drynkyng or com'en assemblie, from henceforth + shall be had or used at Babalake, except onelie on Trinitie even + and on the day, which shall be used as it hath been in tymes + past. And that also the P'sts of Babelack shall say _dirige_ on + midsum' even and likewise masse of _requiem_ on the morrowe, as + they have used to doo. And that the Meire shall not come down + thether to _dirige_ ov(er) night for dyv's considerac'ons and + other great busynes they used. And on the morowe thei to go + thether to masse and brekefast, as thei have used to doo. + +Dugdale quotes from an old MS. an interesting passage bearing on this +question: + + "And ye shall understond and know how the Evyns were furst found + in old tyme. In the beginning of holi Chirche, it was so that the + pepull cam to the Chirche with candellys brennyng and wold _Wake_ + and come with light toward nyght to the Chirch to their + devocions; and afterwards they fell to lecherie and songs, + daunces, harping, piping and also to glotony and sinne and so + turned the holinesse to cursaydnesse; wherefore holi faders + ordeined the pepull to leve that _waking_ and to fast the Evyn. + But it is called _Vigilia_, that is _Waking_ in English and it is + called the Evyn, for at Evyn they were wont to come to Chirche." + +In 1362 Queen Isabella helped to procure from the bishop a licence for +one Robert de Worthin, priest, to become an anchorite and to inhabit a +hermitage attached to the north aisle of the chancel. Traces of the +foundations of this have been found on the site of the modern vestry. + +When the college was suppressed in 1548 the King granted to the mayor, +bailiffs and corporation, on their petition, the church and its +appurtenances in Free Burgage for ever on payment of _1d._, per annum +and gave them "all the rents, revenues and profits of the said +church." + +But these gifts were not sufficient to support the church and its +services, so that the latter were irregular and repairs were +neglected. In 1608 Mayor Hancox procured the delivery of a Saturday +lecture "for the better fitting of the people for the Sabbath." In +1641 Simon Norton, alderman, left property to his son Thomas, on +trust, the condition being that if at any time St. John's should +become a parish church, he or his heirs should pay _£13 6s. 8d._ to +the minister out of rents of lands in Coundon, and also the tithes of +lands in Clifton. + +Prisoners from the Scottish army being quartered on the city in 1647, +many were confined in this church and wrought much damage and +desecration. From this time services were only occasionally held, +until 1734, when an Act of Parliament was obtained making it a Parish +Church, appointing a district to it and enabling the Master and Usher +of the Free Grammar School to be Rector and Lecturer of the church. +The mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty were made patrons, but in 1835, +these arrangements having failed to work satisfactorily, the patronage +was transferred to trustees who acted as managers of the school and in +1864 the lectureship was abolished, the rectory was severed from the +office of Head Master and the Trustees of the school were charged with +a payment of £200 per annum towards the stipend of the Rector. In 1874 +the advowson was sold to a private person. A great deal of +restoration, justifiable and otherwise, has taken place, the decay of +the local sandstone having made large repairs necessary. In 1861 much +renewal of the external stone work was carried out. Unfortunately +shortsighted ideas of economy led to the use of the same poor stone +and much has recently had to be done over again, this time with the +harder Runcorn stone used also at St. Michael's. The interior was +restored in 1875, galleries erected in 1735 and 1838, and high pews +were removed, the floor, which had been raised three feet, lowered, +the lantern stage of the tower opened up by removing a ringing floor +and a light iron gallery above the tower arches provided for the +ringers. The original groined ceiling has thus been made visible from +below. + + +THE EXTERIOR + +Although small in area compared with the other churches, both exterior +and interior give an impression of size and dignity which does not +belong to many much larger buildings. In the exterior this is no doubt +due to the pseudo-cruciform arrangement, the bold central tower and +the height of the main roof, which would have appeared even greater +had the roadways not been so much raised. + +The =tower= is in two stages, a lofty lantern story having two +transomed two-light windows on each face and a shorter upper one +having smaller windows without transoms and a battlemented parapet. +Large skeleton clock-dials disfigure the windows of this story. Narrow +buttress strips on either side and between the windows run through and +serve to connect the stories. The north-east angle has an octagonal +stair turret carried up above the parapet. The other angles have +narrow buttresses running up to circular bartizans boldly corbelled +out from the battlements. This is an extremely unusual feature in +ecclesiastical architecture but is common on fortified structures. Of +the City gates, Gosford Gate had machicolated ones but not Spon Gate +adjacent to the church. + +[Illustration: ST. JOHN BAPTIST.] + +The spacing of the windows and buttresses of the south aisle and the +position of the large transept window show how the later changes were +effected. The three windows and the buttresses with niches and +canopies almost certainly belong to the part built by Walsheman after +1357. The two in the chancel aisle are recent insertions. The doorway +at the south-west corner occupies the position where indications +showed that an original door had existed. There is also a small +priest's doorway of which the jambs are ancient. The clearstory was +restored in 1861 "from sufficiently clear indications" in the remains +of the original windows. The whole of this part is worthy of careful +study and should be compared with the corresponding parts of Trinity +Church. Everywhere we see signs of individual thought and design +mainly directed to softening the rigidity of the horizontal lines of +the square-headed and transomed "Perpendicular" windows. The method of +cusping the drop-arch and the varied treatment of these in nave, +choir and transepts are noteworthy while the little quatrefoil at the +intersection of mullion and transom is a really happy innovation. The +flying buttress over the south aisle restores a feature of the old +building which had disappeared. Of the variously panelled and +battlemented parapets, of nave, chancel and aisles a view of 1864 +gives no visible hint. As the report of Sir (then Mr.) G.G. Scott in +1856 specifies as desirable the "renewing all the parapets according +to the portions of the original which remain," we can only hope (but +with no sense of certainty) that these parts are faithfully +reproduced. + +The limited site on which the chancel was built (only 40 feet deep) +caused the builders to omit any buttresses or other projections at the +east end. The east window was renewed in 1861 but the proportions are +not good and it is said that one light was suppressed although the old +sill remained intact. + +The west end has a large six-light window with two transoms. It was +restored in 1841 and is said to be a precise reproduction of the +original design. On the gable above it is a large niched pinnacle +which appears to be an "unauthorized" addition. + +While the north aisle is later than the south, the clearstory, as has +been said is earlier, being of late Decorated date with large +three-light windows of reticulated tracery. The north transept is more +consistent in style than the south. The large four-light window is +peculiar in design. It has one transom and the tracery is brought down +much below the spring of the arch. The centre mullion is very solid, +coming forward almost to the wall face both inside and out and running +up to the apex of the arch. The clearstory windows in both transepts +are similar in general design to those of the south clearstory of the +nave but with variations suggesting a rather later date. A very +effective view of the north side can be had from the quadrangle of +Bond's Hospital, though here too it loses on account of the depressed +site in which it lies. + + +THE INTERIOR + +The interior is not less impressive for its size than the exterior, +Sir G.G. Scott even saying that he knew of no interior more beautiful +than St. John's. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR, ST. JOHN BAPTIST.] + +[Illustration: CLEARSTORY WINDOWS.] + +All at least will agree that there is something about it striking and +dignified which is obviously not concerned with mere size, is largely +independent of elaboration of detail and may therefore be safely +attributed to its satisfactory proportions and broad effects of light +and shade. Its plan is quite simple consisting of a nave and choir +with north and south aisles, a transept not projecting beyond the +aisles at either end and a central tower. Yet, although it is more or +less oblong as a whole, there is hardly a right angle or two parallel +walls throughout the church. In most cases these discrepancies are not +apparent, nor do they appear likely to have been intended to produce a +studied effect. Thus a diminution in width towards the east (as at +Manchester) may be expected to add to the apparent length, but here +the south aisles of both nave and chancel expand instead of +contracting. By standing within either transept and looking up at the +roof the want of parallelism of the walls and other irregularities are +plainly seen. The nave has only three bays, the arches being rather +lofty and the arch mouldings of the characteristic shallowness of the +period. The south-west pier had to be rebuilt on account of settlement +and there are signs of it in the south-east arch next the tower. The +name Bablake is said to have been derived from a pond or conduit near +by and the site may have been swampy, thus affecting the foundations. +The district is even now liable to flooding from the Sherborne (or +Shireburn) stream and as late as January 1900 the waters rose over +five feet within the church as a brass plate at the west end +testifies. + +The graceful treatment of the windows of the nave and choir +clearstories is shown in the illustration. Comparing these with the +clearstory of Trinity nave (p. 71) questions of priority arise. If not +designed by the same mind the influence of one on the other is easily +seen. On the whole the greater rigidity of treatment and the anxiety +to increase the area of glass in the Trinity windows suggest that the +date is rather later and that the designs did not spring from the same +brain. The roof is very simple, the curved brackets springing from the +shafts which run down to the arches below. The wall is deeply recessed +beneath the windows. The north windows, however, are continued down in +plain panels, but this only makes more apparent the fact that they are +not placed centrally over the arches. + +The north aisle has a doorway and two north windows. The windows are +of good Perpendicular design, and the mullions are continued down the +wall below, forming panels. The lowered sill and recess probably +formed a convenient retable to an altar against the wall. The west +window preserves some fragments of glass dated 1532. There is an +obliterated inscription and small etched figures--among them an +acolyte carrying a cross, one of those whose services are mentioned in +the accounts after this wise: "to the crosebeirer and torchebeirer, +for Seynt George day, hollieroode day, shire thuresday and Whit +Sunday, _12d._; to 2 childern for the same dayes _6d._" + +The south aisle of the nave, including the lower part of the transept, +is doubtless the aisle erected for the Gild by William Walsheman in +1357. The two windows are not central with the nave arches, and the +third is not in the centre of the transept. Their tracery is somewhat +peculiar in design and refined in detail, and has the transitional +character one would expect from its date. There are signs on the face +of each western tower pier of the altars which once stood there, +probably those of the Trinity and St. Katharine, which are known to +have existed. + +The eastern piers of the tower are later than the western, and very +unlike them in plan. A bold and ingenious treatment of the vaulting +shaft of the tower groining is used on these piers; on the western +ones the shafts stop upon the ends of the hood moulding. + +The choir is now closed by a screen carrying a large rood carved in +oak. Like St. Michael's, but to a smaller extent, the axis of the +choir inclines to the north. Whether symbolic, or only a part of what +may be described as the studied irregularity of the whole building it +is hard to say. The column on each side of the choir is later than the +east respond and also later than the west tower pier, but corresponds +with the east tower pier. The deep panelling beneath the windows must +have been carried out when the clearstories were constructed in the +fifteenth century. + +The south aisle of the choir, the original chapel of the patron saint, +is now fitted up and used as a morning chapel. The piscina still +remains in the south wall, and there is a trace of the old altar +visible on the wall. + +The east end of the north aisle is now the organ chamber, and was +originally the Lady Chapel. The base of the altar still exists, and so +does the piscina in the south wall. + +In connection with these or other altars we hear of a payment of +_22d._, in 1474, for painting a cloth for the image of St. John +Baptist, and in 1462 sums of _40s._ and _7s._ were paid to a sculptor +of Burton-on-Trent for an alabaster statue of the Virgin and a base +for it. + +At the foot of the south-west tower-pier are some decayed but +interesting ancient tiles. The new ones have been copied from them. + +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 document, 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." + +[Illustration: THE SPIRE OF CHRIST CHURCH.] + +It is certain at least that they had no accumulated 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 +Mediæval architecture. The work shows how imperfectly in those days +even a genuine admirer of Mediæval 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. + +[Illustration: GREY FRIARS' CHURCH (CROSSING).] + +The connection of the Franciscans with the production of the +Mysteries, or sacred plays, should not pass 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. intituled, + _Ludus Corporis Christi_, or _Ludus Coventriæ_. + +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 amassed 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 assume, 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. + + +[Illustration: 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. + +[Illustration: ST. MARY HALL.] + +The nine-light window over the dais has its original glass, 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 +glass 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 +Passion being on either side. The lower central represents the +Assumption 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." + + + + +INDEX + + +Abbots of Coventry, 4. + +Alms-boxes, 56, 77. + +Apse, 36. + + +Bells, 56, 91. + +Benefactors of Coventry, 99. + +Botoner, William and Adam, 22. + + +Carthusian Monastery, 99. + +Chantries, Foundation of, 9. + +Christ Church, 91. + +City, History of, 1-15. + +Cross, 15. + + +Dissolution of Monasteries, 13. + +Duel, Hereford and Norfolk, 11. + + +Evens or Wakes, 83. + + +Fonts, 51, 76. + +Ford's Hospital, 94. + +Friars, Coming of, 8. + + +Grey Friars Convent (Christ Church): + History, 94. + Plan of Crossing, 93. + Suppression, 92. + +Gilds, 6, 10. + +Glass, Ancient, 56, 75, 89. + +Godiva and Leofric, 4, 75. + + +Hales, John, 14, 94. + +Hermitage. 83. + +Hospital, Ford's, 94. + +Hospital, St. John's, 94. + + +Lollards, 11. + + +Martyrs, 14. + +Midsummer Eve, 82. + +Misereres, 48. + +Monastery, History, 1-15. + +Monastery Ruins, 16-18. + + +Orders of Angels, 47. + +Organ, 55, 77, 90. + + +Pageants and Plays, 13, 14, 93. + +Parliamentum Indoctorum, 11. + +Parliamentum Diabolicum, 12. + +Persecution, 14. + +Pilgrims' Rest or Guest House, 15. + +Priory, Ruins, 16-18. + + +Royal visits: + Henry VI, 11, 12. + Margaret, 23. + Edward IV, 12. + Richard III, 13. + Henry VII, 13. + Henry VIII, 13. + Elizabeth, 14. + Mary Queen of Scots, 14. + Charles I, 14. + + +St. John Baptist Church: + History, 81. + Exterior, 84. + Interior, 86. + Bells, 91. + Clearstory windows, 85. + Collegiate foundation, 81. + Glass, ancient, 89. + Organ, 90. + +St. Mary Hall: + Glass, ancient, 97. + Plan, 98. + Portraits, 99. + Tapestry, 98. + +St. Michael's Church: + History, 21-26. + Exterior, 29. + Interior, 41. + Apse, 36. + Bells, 56. + Brasses, 51, 55. + Chapels: + Cappers', 53. + Drapers' or Lady, 36, 47. + Dyers', 52. + Mercers, 54. + Chapter, Constitution of, 25. + Chest, 50. + Crypt, 36. + Font, 51. + Glass, ancient, 56. + Old church, position of, 42. + Organ, 55. + Porch, south, 34. + Proportions of Steeple, 30. + Pulpit, 56. + Spire, 32. + Tombs: + Berkeley, 49. + Bond, 49. + Nethermyl, 50. + Skeffington, 55. + Swillington, 54. + Wade's, 55. + + +Trinity Church: + History, 61. + Exterior, 65. + Interior, 69. + Chapels: + Archdeacon's, 75. + Butchers', 76. + Corpus Christi, 76. + Marler's, 73. + St. Thomas's, 74. + Clearstory, 69. + Font, 76. + Glass, ancient, 75. + Lectern, Eagle, 73. + Organ, 77. + Plan, 66. + Pulpit, 72. + Spire, 66. + Tombs: + Philemon Holland, 75. + Whithead (Brass), 75. + + +White Friars' Convent, 94. + + +[Illustration: ST. MICHAEL'S CHURCH] + + + +[Illustration] + + CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO. + TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. + + + + +Bell's Cathedral Series + + ILLUSTRATED MONOGRAPHS ON THE GREAT + ENGLISH CATHEDRALS AND + CHURCHES + +_Crown 8vo. 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By CHARLES HIATT. + + WIMBORNE MINSTER AND CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY. By Rev. T. PERKINS, + M.A., F.R.A.S. 65 Illustrations. + + MALVERN PRIORY. By the REV. ANTHONY C. DEANE. + + * * * * * + + +Bell's Handbooks to Continental Churches + +_Profusely Illustrated. Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net each._ + + CHARTRES: The Cathedral and Other Churches. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, + M.A. + + ROUEN: The Cathedral and Other Churches. By the Rev. T. PERKINS, + M.A. + + AMIENS. By the Rev. T. PERKINS, M.A., F.R.A.S. + + PARIS (NOTRE-DAME). By CHARLES HIATT. + + MONT ST. MICHEL. By H.J.L.J. MASSÉ, M.A. + + BAYEUX. By the Rev. R.S. MYLNE, M.A. + + + + +Opinions of the Press. + +"For the purpose at which they aim they are admirably done, and there +are few visitants to any of our noble shrines who will not enjoy their +visit the better for being furnished with one of these delightful +books, which can be slipped into the pocket and carried with ease, and +is yet distinct and legible.... A volume such as that on Canterbury is +exactly what we want, and on our next visit we hope to have it with +us. It is thoroughly helpful, and the views of the fair city and its +noble cathedral are beautiful. Both volumes, moreover, will serve more +than a temporary purpose, and are trustworthy as well as +delightful."--_Notes and Queries_. + +"We have so frequently in these columns urged the want of cheap, +well-illustrated, and well-written handbooks to our cathedrals, to +take the place of the out-of-date publications of local booksellers, +that we are glad to hear that they have been taken in hand by Messrs. +George Bell & Sons."--_James's Gazette_. + +"The volumes are handy in size, moderate in price, well illustrated, +and written in a scholarly spirit. The history of cathedral and city +is intelligently set forth and accompanied by a descriptive survey of +the building in all its detail. The illustrations are copious and well +selected, and the series bids fair to become an indispensable +companion to the cathedral tourist in England."--_Times_. + +"They are nicely produced in good type, on good paper, and contain +numerous illustrations, are well written, and very cheap. We should +imagine architects and students of architecture will be sure to buy +the series as they appear, for they contain in brief much valuable +information."--_British Architect_. + +"Each of them contains exactly that amount of information which the +intelligent visitor, who is not a specialist, will wish to have. The +disposition of the various parts is judiciously proportioned, and the +style is very read-able. The illustrations supply a further important +feature; they are both numerous and good. A series which cannot fail +to be welcomed by all who are interested in the ecclesiastical +buildings of England."--_Glasgow Herald_. + +"Those who, either for purposes of professional study or for a +cultured recreation, find it expedient to 'do' the English cathedrals +will welcome the beginning of Bell's 'Cathedral Series.' This set of +books is an attempt to consult, more closely, and in greater detail +than the usual guide-books do, the needs of visitors to the cathedral +towns. The series cannot but prove markedly successful. In each book a +business-like description is given of the fabric of the church to +which the volume relates, and an interesting history of the relative +diocese. The books are plentifully illustrated, and are thus made +attractive as well as instructive. They cannot but prove welcome to +all classes of readers interested either in English Church history or +in ecclesiastical architecture."--_Scotsman_. + +"They have nothing in common with the almost invariably wretched local +guides save portability, and their only competitors in the quality and +quantity of their contents are very expensive and mostly rare works, +each of a size that suggests a packing-case rather than a coat-pocket. +The 'Cathedral Series' are important compilations concerning history, +architecture, and biography, and quite popular enough for such as take +any sincere interest in their subjects."--_Sketch_. + + +LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS YORK HOUSE, PORTUGAL STREET, W.C. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bell's Cathedrals: The Churches of +Coventry, by Frederic W. Woodhouse + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11403 *** |