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diff --git a/19511-8.txt b/19511-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88e6b07 --- /dev/null +++ b/19511-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3779 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and +Christchurch Priory, by Thomas Perkins + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory + A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings + + +Author: Thomas Perkins + + + +Release Date: October 9, 2006 [eBook #19511] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: WIMBORNE +MINSTER AND CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY*** + + +E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, David Garcia, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net/) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 19511-h.htm or 19511-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/5/1/19511/19511-h/19511-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/5/1/19511/19511-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + Lower case o-with-tilde accent is indicated by [~o]. + + Superscripted abbreviations are indicated by a preceeding caret. + + Bold characters are enclosed between # marks. + + + + + +WIMBORNE MINSTER AND CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY + +A Short History of Their Foundation and Description of Their Buildings + +by + +THE REV. THOMAS PERKINS +M.A., F.R.A.S. +Rector of Turnworth, Dorset + +With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + +London George Bell & Sons 1902 +First Edition 1899 +Second Edition, Revised, 1902 + + + + +AUTHOR'S PREFACE + + +When writing the chapters of the present volume which treat of Wimborne +Minster, the author consulted the last edition of Hutchins' "History of +Dorset," which contains a considerable amount of somewhat ill-arranged +information on the subject, verifying all the descriptions by actual +examination of the building; similarly, when preparing the part of +this volume dealing with Christchurch Priory, he made some use of +"The Memorials of Christchurch Twynham," written originally by the Rev. +Mackenzie Walcott, F.S.A., and revised after his death in 1880 by Mr B. +Edmund Ferrey, F.S.A. He also consulted papers on the subject that have +appeared from time to time in various periodicals and MSS. that were +kindly placed at his disposal by the Secretary of the Society for the +Protection of Ancient Buildings. + +He desires to express his thanks to the Vicars of the two churches +for permission to thoroughly examine every part of the buildings, +and to photograph them without let or hindrance; he also wishes to bear +testimony to the readiness shown by the clerks and vergers in imparting +local information and in facilitating his photographic work. + + T. P. + +_October_ 1899. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +WIMBORNE MINSTER + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I.--History of the Building 3 + Date of Foundation 5 + The Norman Church 8, 9 + Alterations in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries 10, 11 + Alterations in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries 11, 12 + Modern Restorations 14 + +CHAPTER II.--The Exterior 16 + The Central Tower 16 + The North Porch 22 + The East Window 24 + The Sundial 25 + The South Porch 25 + The Western Tower 26 + +CHAPTER III.--The Interior 29 + The North Porch 29 + The Aisles 29, 38 + The Clerestory 33 + The Central Tower 34 + The Transepts 38 + The East End, Choir and Presbytery 42 + Sedilia and Piscina 44 + The Beaufort and Courtenay Tombs and Brass of Aethelred 42, 47 + The South Choir Aisle and Etricke Tomb 48 + The North Choir Aisle and Uvedale Monument 50, 51 + The Crypt, Vestry, and Library 52 + Deans of Wimborne 59 + +CHAPTER IV.--St Margaret's Hospital 60 + Dimensions of Wimborne Minster 64 + + +CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY + +CHAPTER I.--History of the Building 67 + Foundation 68 + The Norman Church 70 + Alterations in the Thirteenth-Fifteenth Centuries 71 + Modern Alterations 72 + +CHAPTER II.--The Exterior 76 + The Western Tower 76 + The North Porch 80 + The North Aisle 80 + The North Transept 82 + The Choir, Presbytery, and Lady Chapel 84 + The South Transept 88 + The Nave 88 + The Porter's Lodge, and Sites of the Domestic Buildings 89 + +CHAPTER III.--The Interior 92 + The Nave 92-98 + The Aisles 98 + The Transepts 100 + The Rood Screen 105 + The Choir 106 + The Choir Stalls 108-110 + The Reredos 112 + The Salisbury Chantry 116 + The Draper Chantry 118 + The Lady Chapel, and the "Miraculous Beam" 120 + St Michael's Loft 126 + The Shelley Monument 126 + +CHAPTER IV.--Deans, Priors, and Vicars of Christchurch 128 + Stratford's Injunctions 129 + Archbishop Arundel's Injunctions 130 + The Norman Castle 131 + The Norman House 132 + Dimensions of Christchurch Priory 134 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +WIMBORNE MINSTER + + PAGE + +Arms of Wimborne and Christchurch _Title page_ +Wimborne Minster from the North-East 2 +Wimborne Minster in 1840 3 +Wimborne Minster in 1707. (From a copperplate in the Library) 13 +The Minster from the South-East before 1891 19 +The North Transept before 1891 21 +The East Window 23 +The Western Tower 27 +The Interior, looking East 30 +Pier and Arch-Spring, South Arcade 31 +Decorated Arch in the Nave 32 +Clerestory Stage of the Central Tower 35 +The Tower Arches 36 +North Transept and Crossing 37 +Thirteenth-Century Piscina, South Transept 39 +Choir Stalls 40 +West View from the Choir 41 +The East Window 43 +Sedilia 44 +The Beaufort Tomb 45 +Brass of Aethelred 46 +The Etricke Tomb 49 +Ancient Chest 50 +The Uvedale Monument 51 +Entrance to Crypt 53 +The Library 54 +The Crypt 55 +The Font 56 +The Clock in the West Tower 57 +St Margaret's Hospital 61 + + +CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY + +Christchurch Priory from the Bridge 66 +Christchurch Priory from the North-East 77 +Tower Door 78 +The North Porch 79 +The North Door 81 +The North Transept in 1810 83 +The North Transept 85 +South Aisle of Nave 87 +The Nave in 1834 93 +The Nave 95 +North Arcade of the Nave 96 +From the North Triforium 97 +Bay of the Triforium, South Side 98 +South Aisle of the Nave 99 +The Montacute Chantry 101 +North Aisle of the Nave 103 +The Crypt 105 +The Rood Screen 107 +Stall Seats (3) 108 +Choir Stalls 109 +Miserere on Stall Seat (_circa_ 1300) 110 +The Choir 111 +The Reredos 113 +The Salisbury Chantry 115 +Interior of the Salisbury Chantry 117 +The Draper Chantry 119 +Piscina in the Draper Chantry 120 +The Sacristy 121 +The Miraculous Beam 122 +Tomb of Thomas, Lord West 123 +The Lady Chapel 124 +St Michael's Loft 125 +The Shelley Monument 127 +Remains of the Norman House 133 + +PLANS 136, 137 + + + +[Illustration: WIMBORNE MINSTER FROM THE NORTH-EAST.] + +[Illustration: _By Rev. J. L. Petit._ WIMBORNE MINSTER IN 1840.] + + + + +WIMBORNE MINSTER + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HISTORY OF THE BUILDING + + +Of the churches connected with the religious houses which once existed +in the county of Dorset, three only remain to the present day. Of some +of the rest we have ruins, others have entirely disappeared. But the +town of Sherborne, once the bishop-stool of the sainted Aldhelm, who +overlooked a vast diocese comprising a great portion of the West Saxon +kingdom, has its Abbey now used as its Parish Church. The great Abbey +of Milton, founded by Æthelstan, has handed down to us its choir and +transepts--rebuilt in the fourteenth century, after the former church +had been destroyed by fire--and this, though private property, is still +used for occasional services; and the minster church at Wimborne has +became the church of the parish of Wimborne Minster. + +The town has been by many supposed to stand on the site of the Roman +Vindogladia, though this station has by others been identified with +Gussage Cowdown, or the circular encampment of Badbury Rings, about +three miles to the north-west of Wimborne Minster. Be this as it may, +the district was occupied by the Roman conquerors of our island; and +Roman pottery and other remains have been found in the neighbourhood, +including a small portion of pavement beneath the floor of the minster +church. + +The derivation of the name Wimborne, or Winborne as we find it sometimes +written, has been much disputed; but as we find the same word appearing +as the name of several other places which lie on the course of the same +stream, now generally called the Allen, though sometimes the Wim, it +is highly probable that the name is derived from that of the river. +Compound names for villages are very common in Dorset--the first word +being the name of the river on which the village stands, the second +being added to distinguish one village from another. Thus we find along +the Tarrant, villages known as Tarrant Gunville, Tarrant Hinton, Tarrant +Launceston, Tarrant Monkton, etc.; and along the Winterborne we find +Winterborne Houghton, Winterborne Stickland, Winterborne Clenstone, +etc.; and in like manner we meet with Monkton up Wimborne, Wimborne +Saint Giles, and Wimborne Minster along the course of the Allen. The +characteristic name of Winterborne for a brook that is such in winter +only, but is a dried-up bed in a hot summer is borne by two streams in +Dorset, each giving its name to a string of villages. May not the word +Wimborne or Winborne be a contraction for this same word Winterborne, +the "burn" of the rainy winter months, applied to the little stream of +the Allen, though it cannot now be said to be dry in summer? + +The small town of Wimborne Minster stands not far from the junction of +the Allen with the slow-running Dorset Stour, in the midst of pleasant +fertile meadow-land, from which here and there some low hills rise. Its +chief glory has been, and probably always will be, its splendid church, +with its central Norman and its Western Perpendicular towers, its Norman +and Decorated nave, its Early English choir, and its numerous tombs and +monuments of those whose names are recorded in the history of the +country. + +The exact year of the foundation of the original religious house is +differently given in various ancient documents: the dates vary from +705 A.D. to 723 A.D. At this time, Ine was king of the West Saxons; +and one of his sisters, Cudburh--or Cuthberga, as her name appears in +its Latinised form--was espoused or married to Egfred, or, as he is +often called, Osric, the Northumbrian king, but the marriage was never +consummated, and the lady as soon as possible separated from him and +retired to the convent at Barking, and afterwards founded the convent at +Wimborne. Some say that she objected to the intemperate habits of her +espoused as soon as she met him; others, that having previously vowed +herself to heaven, she persuaded him to release her from the engagement +to him, which had been arranged without her wishes being consulted. +Her sister Quinberga is stated to have been associated with her in the +foundation of the religious house, and both were buried within its +precincts, and both were afterwards canonised; Saint Cuthberga was +commemorated on August 31st "as a virgin but not a martyr." A special +service appointed for the day is to be found in a Missal kept in the +Library of the Cathedral Church at Salisbury, in which the following +prayer occurs:-- + +"Deus qui eximie castitatis privilegio famulam tuam Cuthbergam +multipliciter decorasti, da nobis famulis tuis ejus promerente +intercessione utriusque vitae prosperitatem. Ut sicut ejus festivitas +nobiscum agitur in terris, ita per ejus interventum nostri memoria apud +te semper habeatur in coelis, per Dominum etc." + +There is reason to believe that the earliest date given above for the +foundation (705 A.D.) is the most probable one, as Regner in his tracts +mentions a letter bearing this date written by Saint Aldhelm, and taken +from the register of Malmesbury, in which he includes in a list of +congregations to which he grants liberty of election the monastery at +Wimborne, presided over by the sister of the king. There is also some +evidence for the existence of a community of monks at Wimborne, as well +as of nuns. But of these original religious houses not a trace remains: +the very position of St Cuthberga's Church is uncertain; we cannot +be sure that the present building occupies the same site; the last +resting-places of the two royal foundresses are not even pointed out +by tradition. Probably the buildings were destroyed, the nuns slain or +driven out, when the raiding Danes overran Wessex in the ninth century. + +The next historical event that we meet with in connection with Wimborne +is the burial of King Æthelred, the brother and immediate predecessor +on the throne of the great West Saxon king Ælfred. As there is doubt +about the year of the foundation by Cuthberga, so again there is a +conflict of testimony as to the date, place, and manner of the death of +Æthelred--the inscription on the brass (about which more will be said +when we come to describe the interior of the minster) not agreeing with +the usually accepted date for the accession of Ælfred, 871; but as the +brass is itself many centuries later than the burial of the king whose +likeness it professes to bear, its authority may well be questioned. +Anyhow, Æthelred died either of wounds received in some battle with the +Danes, in some spot which different archæologists have placed in Surrey, +Oxford, Berkshire, or Wilts, or worn out by his long and arduous +exertions while struggling with the heathen invaders; and his body--this +alone is certain--was brought to Wimborne for burial. It has been +conjectured that Ælfred, after he had defeated the Danes and established +himself firmly on the throne of Wessex, would naturally rebuild the +ruined abbey. He founded, as we know, an abbey at Shaftesbury; he is +recorded to have built at Winchester and London; he had undoubtedly a +taste for architecture, and he was a devout son of Mother Church, so +that it is by no means improbable that he would erect a church over the +grave of his brother: but no record of such building remains, and there +is no trace of any pre-Norman work in the existing minster. + +The original church and conventual buildings having been swept away by +the Danes, whether Ælfred restored it or not is uncertain, but it is +certain that a house of secular canons was established at Wimborne by a +king of the name of Eadward; but again there is some uncertainty as to +whether this king was the one who is sometimes called the Eadward the +Elder, sometimes Eadward the Unconquered, son and successor of Ælfred, +or Eadward the Confessor. Anyhow, it became a collegiate church and a +royal free chapel, and as such it is mentioned in Domesday Book, and it +is noticed as a Deanery in the charters of Henry III. Leland, writing in +the reign of Henry VIII., says, "It is but of late time that a dean and +prebendaries were inducted into it." The deanery was in the gift of the +Crown, and we have a full list of the deans from 1224 up to 1547, when +it was dissolved. The ecclesiastical establishment consisted of a dean, +four prebendaries, three vicars, four deacons, and five singing men. +It will not be needful to give any detailed account of these, as most +of them, though in many cases they held other more dignified posts,[1] +either together with the deanery or after resigning it, are not men +who have made their mark in English history. A few only will here be +mentioned, who on account of some circumstances connected with the +fabric, or for other reasons, are more noteworthy. + + [1] It is noteworthy that they all held some other preferment + during the time that they held the office of dean. + +#Thomas de Bembre#, 1350-1361, founded a chantry and an altar in the +north part of the north transept, which was added at this time. + +#Reginald Pole#, so well known in the history of the reigns of Henry +VIII. and Queen Mary, was Dean of Wimborne from 1517 till 1537. It is +remarkable that he was only seventeen years of age at the time of his +appointment. + +He was succeeded by #Nicholas Wilson#, who held the office of dean until +the dissolution of the deanery in 1547. To him a curious letter still +existing was addressed in 1538 by certain leading men of the parish, +though nothing appears to have been done in consequence of it. These +worthy men complain of the dilapidated state of the church, the want +of funds to carry out needed repairs, and suggest the taking from the +church "seynt Cuthborow's hed," and "the sylv' y^t ys about the same +hed," which they claim as belonging to the parish on the ground that +it was made by the charity of the parishioners in times past. "Our +chyrche," they say, "ys in gret ruyn and decay and our toure ys +foundered and lyke to fall and ther ys no money left in [~o] chyrche box +and by reason of great infyrmyty and deth ther hath byn thys yere in +oure parysh no chyrche aele, the whych hath hyndred [~o] chyrch of xx^ti +nobles and above, and well it is knowen y^t we have no land but onely +the charity of good people, wherfor nyed constraynyth us to sell the +sylv' y^t is about the same hed. Besechynge yo^r mastership to sertefy +us by y^r tre wher we may sell the said sylv' to repayr [~o] +chyrche."[2] + + [2] In an inventory made in the reign of Henry VIII. we find + mentioned an image of St Cuthberga, with a ring of gold, and + two little crosses of gold, with a book and staff in her hand. + The head of the image of silver with a crown on it of silver + and gilt. On her apron a St James shell with a buckle of silver + and gilt. + +The names of many of the other ecclesiastics connected with the church +are known: among these, we need only mention William Lorynge canon, who +in the time of Richard II. caused the great bell called the Cuthborow +bell to be made; and Simon Beneson, sacrist, who left land, which is +called Bell Acre, towards the maintenance and repair of the bells. + +Among other benefactors of the church was Margaret, Countess of +Richmond, mother of Henry VII., so well known at Cambridge under the +name of Lady Margaret, the foundress of Christ's and St John's Colleges. +She founded at Wimborne the original seminary connected with the +minster, which afterwards became by a charter of Elizabeth the Grammar +School of the town, and presented splendid vestments to the church. July +9th was until the Reformation kept at the minster as a festival to her +memory, with a special office and High Mass. + +When the deanery was abolished, Wimborne Minster became a Royal +Peculiar, under the administration of three priest-vicars elected by the +Corporation. These served each for a week in turn. The Corporation had +the power of appointing one of the three vicars--who was known as the +"Official"--to hold courts and grant licences. The court was held in the +western part of the north aisle, the Official presiding, seated at a +desk, the two other vicars sitting one on each side of him, while at a +long table sat the churchwardens, sidesmen, the vestry clerks, and the +apparitors. + +The arrangement by which the vicars served the church each in turn +continued in force until 1876. At that time one of the three vicars +retired on a pension; another removed to the chapelry of Holt, +three miles from Wimborne (which had previously been served in turn +by the vicars of Wimborne), a parsonage having been built for his +accommodation; and the third became sole vicar of the minster church +and the parish attached to it. + + * * * * * + +For the history of the fabric we have to trust almost entirely to the +architectural features of the church itself, as documentary evidence is +unusually scanty. + +Nothing of earlier date than the twelfth century can be seen in +Wimborne Minster, but we know pretty accurately, the extent and form of +the Norman Church; for, during the course of restoration undertaken in +the present century, the foundations of some parts of this church were +discovered beneath the floor of the existing building, and other pieces +of Norman work formerly concealed, and now again concealed beneath +plaster, were laid bare. There is one interesting feature about the +church worthy of notice--namely, that the builders who succeeded one +another at the various periods of its history did not, as a rule, +destroy the work of their predecessors to such an extent as we +frequently find to have been the case with the builders of other +churches: possibly this may have been due to the fact that at no time +was Wimborne Minster a rich foundation. There was no saintly shrine, +there were no wonder-working relics to attract pilgrims and gather the +offerings of the faithful and enrich the church in the way in which +the shrine of Saint Cuthbert enriched Durham, that of the murdered +archbishop enriched Canterbury, and that of the murdered king enriched +Gloucester. But, whatever the reason may have been, we can but be +thankful that the mediæval builders destroyed so little at Wimborne; +while we regret that modern restorers have not been as scrupulous in +preserving the work which they found existing, but have in some +instances endeavoured to put the church back again into the state in +which they imagined the fourteenth-century builders left it. + +We may regard the arches and lower stages of the central tower as the +oldest part now remaining in its original condition. No doubt the Norman +choir was the first to be built, as we find that it was almost the +universal custom to begin churches at the eastern end, and gradually to +extend the building westward, as funds and time allowed. Here, however, +as in many other cases, the small Norman choir eastward of the central +tower in course of time was considered too small, and the eastern +termination had to be demolished to admit of the desired extension to +the east. Norman choirs, as a rule, had an apsidal termination to the +east, and it was not till Early English times that square east ends, +which were characteristic of the English church in pre-Norman times, +prevailed again over the Norman custom; and it is worthy of notice that +this rectangular termination towards the east end remains a marked +characteristic of the thirteenth-century work in England, Continental +church-builders having retained the apsidal termination till the +Renaissance. The side walls of the Norman choir extended two bays to the +east of the central tower, and the nave four bays westward of the same. +The transepts were shorter than at present, and the side aisles of the +nave narrower. There appear to have been two side chapels to the choir, +extending as far as the first bay eastward; beyond this to the east were +two Norman windows on each side: these windows, parts of which remain, +cut off by the Early English arches, were round-headed, and richly +ornamented with chevron mouldings. They were uncovered at the time of +the restoration, but are now again hidden by plaster. At the south end +of the south transept a low building seems to have existed: the walls +of this were raised when the south transept was lengthened in the +fourteenth century. The Norman masonry may be seen under the south +window of the transept, and a Norman string course runs round the sides +and ends of the present transept. The aisles of the nave were not only +narrower, but were also lower, than those now existing. It is also +probable that these aisles did not originally extend as far westward +as the nave. The windows of the Norman clerestory, which may still be +seen from the interior, though all similar in design, are not alike in +workmanship. The one over the narrow eastern bay on either side differs +from those over the three bays farther to the west. Moreover, a +continuous foundation has been discovered underneath the three western +arches of the Norman nave. Possibly there was at one time a solid wall +in this position, intended, however, from the first only to be +temporary, and this was removed when the aisles, still in Norman times, +were lengthened. The tower itself was not all built at the same time; +the upper stages are ornamented with an arcading of intersecting arches +indicating a somewhat later date. + +In the thirteenth century the east end of the choir seems to have been +removed and the presbytery added: its date is pretty clearly determined +by the east window, in which we notice some signs of the approaching +change from the Early English simple lancet into the plate tracery of +the Decorated period. Rickman gives its approximate date as 1220. During +the fourteenth century the nave aisles were widened and extended farther +west, and at the same time two bays were added to the nave itself. The +Norman chapels on either side of the choir were lengthened into aisles, +not, however, extending as far to the east as the thirteenth-century +presbytery; arches were cut in the Norman choir walls to give access +to these new aisles. The transepts were lengthened, the south one by +raising the walls of the Norman chapel mentioned above, which, it has +been conjectured, was used as the Lady Chapel, the north transept by +the addition of Bembre's chantry. + +During the fifteenth century the western tower was built 1448-1464, +and probably at the same time the walls of the nave were raised; and +the roofs of the nave aisles, which had been much lower than now, so +as not to block up the Norman clerestory windows, were raised on the +sides joining the nave walls above the heads of these windows, and a new +clerestory was formed in the raised wall. This contains five windows on +each side, each window being placed over one of the piers of the nave +arcading. + +During the Early English period, probably by John de Berwick, who was +dean from 1286-1312, a spire was added to the central tower. This was +for long in an unsafe condition, and at length, in 1600, it fell. The +following is the description given by Coker, a contemporary writer: +"Having discoursed this longe of this church, I will not overpasse a +strange accident which in our dayes happened unto it, viz. Anno Domini +1600 (the choire beeing then full of people at tenne of clock service, +allsoe the streets by reason of the markett), a sudden mist ariseing, +all the spire steeple, being of a very great height, was strangely cast +downe, the stones battered all the lead and brake much timber of the +roofe of the church, yet without anie hurt to the people; which ruin is +sithence commendablie repaired with the church revenues, for sacriledge +hath not yet swept awaye all, being assisted by Sir John Hannam, a +neighbour gentleman, who if I mistake not enjoyeth revenues of the +church, and hath done commendablie to convert part of it to its former +use." Other accounts mention a tempest at the time of the fall. It is +not unlikely that the tower was weakened by the alterations in the +fourteenth century, when wider arches were cut in the west walls of the +transepts, in consequence of the widening of the nave aisles. The fall +of the spire, which fell towards the east, demolished the clerestory +windows of the choir on the south side, and their place was supplied by +a long, low Tudor window oblong in shape and quite plain. The windows, +however, on both sides have been entirely altered, and those now +existing in the clerestory are small lancets of modern date. + +The spire was not rebuilt, but the heavy looking battlement and solid +pinnacles which still remain, and detract considerably from the beauty +of the tower, were added as a finish to it in the year 1608. It is +curious that the churchwardens' books, in which many entries occur +detailing repairs and other work connected with the spire, make no +mention of its fall. + +The western tower was also a source of trouble. It was built, as has +been already mentioned, during the latter half of the fifteenth century, +the glazing of the windows being completed in 1464; but as early as 1548 +it was thought necessary to brick up the west doorway, and notices of +unsoundness of the tower occur frequently in the church books. In 1664 +we find the following entry made:--"Paid in beere to the Ringers for a +peale to trye if the Tower shooke £0 1s 0d." As we read this entry, we +cannot help wondering if the large amount of beer which a shilling would +purchase in those days was given to the ringers so as to give them a +fictitious courage and blind their eyes to the possible danger of +bringing the tower down upon their heads. In 1739 the Perpendicular +window in the western face of the tower was taken out and a smaller oval +one put in its place, with a view to the strengthening of the wall by +additional stonework. The modern restorer, however, has again put a +window of Perpendicular character in place of the oval window inserted +in the last century, using to aid him in his design, sundry fragments of +the original tracery found embedded in the walls. + +[Illustration: WIMBORNE MINSTER IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. From an old +Print.] + +Before the nineteenth-century restorations, the pulpit, probably late +sixteenth-century work, stood in the nave against the middle pillar on +the north side, and the nave and choir were separated by a screen of +three arches on which stood the organ. The central arch had doors. +On either side of the choir were a set of canopied stalls: these +canopies were removed in 1855 to make the chancel aisles available for +a congregation. As the canopies interfered with both sight and sound, +the floor of the choir was lowered to only three steps above the nave, +and the stalls reduced to four on each side, with a view to make room +for restoring the Norman steps indicated by traces on the wall under +the floor, which led up to the high altar of the Norman church. The +arrangement of steps was then three from the nave to the choir, four +from the choir to the next level to the east, and seven from this to the +presbytery, and one more to the altar platform. In 1866 further changes +were made: the stalls were increased to the present number to provide +sufficient accommodation for the choir, the additions being made out of +old woodwork. The level of the floors was also rearranged; five steps +now lead up from the nave to the choir, seven to the presbytery and one +more to the altar platform, the altar itself being raised yet another +step. + +During the restoration carried on from 1855 to 1857, great changes +besides those already mentioned were made in the interior: the whitewash +and plaster were removed from the walls, a west gallery was taken down, +the nave re-seated, the organ transferred from its position upon the +screen to the south transept, and much mischief was done from an +archæological standpoint, a thing which seems almost inseparable from +any nineteenth-century restoration. + +An examination of the masonry shows clearly that all the exterior walls +east of the transepts save the east wall of the presbytery, which is +somewhat out of the vertical, the top hanging forward, have been if not +entirely rebuilt at anyrate completely refaced, and this work was no +doubt done at the restoration at the middle of the nineteenth century. +The doorway in the middle of the north choir aisle is entirely modern; +the doorway which formally occupied this place was provided with a small +porch. + +How far this rebuilding and refacing were rendered necessary by the +condition of the walls at that time it is now impossible to say. The +fact that the walls of the nave aisles were not similarly treated may +have been due to want of funds, or it may be that the architects +employed found them in a better condition than the walls of the choir +aisles, and so preserved them, though they considered the latter beyond +the possibility of preservation without the extensive renewing that +evidently took place. + +The room containing the chained library was at the same time refitted. +New shelves and rods were provided, but the old chains were used again. + +The restoration of 1855-1857 did not extend to the transept; but +these were taken in hand in 1891, with the usual result--namely, the +destruction of some existing features, such as the seventeenth-century +tracery of the north window,[3] to make room for a nineteenth-century +window in Decorated style, which, however, differs altogether from any +window in the minster; the walls were raised about two feet and a roof +of higher pitch put upon them, which necessitated alterations in the +gables. A sundial which stood at the summit of the south gable was taken +down, and this in 1894 was erected on a pillar built in the churchyard, +a short distance from the south wall of the western tower. The transept +previous to the restoration with the sun-dial on its gable is shown in +the illustration on p. 19. + + [3] This tracery is shown in the illustration on p. 21. The original + foliation seems to have been cut away, and the intermediate + mullions extended to the points of the two lights. This may + have been done with a view to economy in reglazing the window. + The modern window is shown on page 37. + +A small chamber to contain the hydraulic apparatus for the organ has +recently been added to the east side of the south transept. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EXTERIOR + + +Wimborne Minster does not occupy a commanding position--it stands on +level ground, its two towers are not lofty, the western only reaching +the height of 95 feet and the central 84 feet--but it has the advantage +of having an extensive churchyard both on the south side and also on the +north, so that from either side a good general view of the building may +be obtained. A street running from the east end of the church towards +the north gives the spectator the advantage of a still more distant +standpoint, from which the towers, transepts, choir, and porch group +themselves into one harmonious whole, the long line of iron railings +bounding the churchyard being the only drawback. The first impression is +that there is something wrong with the central tower; the plain heavy +battlement, with its four enormous corner pinnacles, seems to overweight +the tower, and as each side of the parapet is longer than the side of +the tower below, the feeling of top-heaviness is increased. The central +tower has no buttresses, but the western has an octagonal buttress at +each corner, and these decrease in cross section at each of four string +courses; so that this tower seems to taper, and by contrast makes the +central tower seem to bulge out at the top more than it really does. + +But Wimborne Minster does not stand alone in giving at first sight a +feeling that something is wanting to perfect beauty. In nearly every +old building which has gradually grown up, been altered and enlarged +by various generations, as need arose, each generation working in +its own style, and often with little regard to what already existed, +incongruities are sure to be discernible. But what is lost in unity +of design increases the interest in the building, historically and +architecturally regarded. And it is worthy of notice that at Wimborne, +more than at many places, the enlargers of the church have contented +themselves with adding to the building without removing the work of +their predecessors more than was absolutely necessary. A very cursory +glance at the exterior of the building as one walks round it is +sufficient to show that the church as it stands offers to the student of +architecture examples of every style that has prevailed in this country +from the twelfth century onward, and he will especially rejoice at +seeing so much fourteenth-century work. He will, as he passes along the +narrow footway beneath the east end of the choir, regret that more space +is not available here to get a good view of the most interesting Early +English window. If a small tree were felled, and the wall of a garden +or yard on the side of the footpath opposite to the church pulled down, +so as to throw open the east end of the choir, it would be a great +improvement. But this regret can be endured, as, though the window +cannot be well seen, it is there, and by changing one's position a +pretty accurate idea of its interesting features can be formed; but +far keener is the regret that any lover of antiquity must feel when +he notices, as he examines the church more closely, how busy the +nineteenth-century restorer has been, how he has raised walls, altered +the pitch of roofs, and inserted modern imitations of thirteenth and +fourteenth century work, removing features which existed at the +beginning of this century to make room for his own work; how he has +banished much of the old woodwork in the interior, altered the position +of still more, and generally been far less conservative of the work of +former generations than the mediæval enlargers of the minster were. +However, his work is now done--nave, towers, and choir were thoroughly +restored about fifty years ago, and the transepts in 1891. No further +work is contemplated at present. In fact, there seems nothing more that +could well be done. + +[Illustration: THE MINSTER FROM THE SOUTH-EAST BEFORE 1891.] + +The church is built partly of a warm brown sandstone, partly of stone of +a pale yellow or drab colour, the two kinds being in many places mixed +so as to give the walls a chequered appearance. This may be noticed both +outside and inside the building. In some of the walls the stones are +used irregularly, in others they are carefully squared. The red stone is +to be met with in the neighbourhood: some of that used for raising the +transept walls in 1891 was obtained from a bridge in the town that was +being rebuilt; and from marks on some of those stones it appeared that +before being in the bridge they had been used in some ecclesiastical +building, so that they have now returned to their original use. There +is little ornament to be seen outside, save on the upper stage of the +tower; in fact, the whole building excepting the arches of the nave and +the tower may be described as severely plain in character. The college +was never wealthy, hence probably it could not employ a number of +carvers; then again it was not a monastic establishment, so that there +were no monks to occupy their time in the embellishment of the building, +carving, as monks often did, their quaint fancies on bosses and +capitals. We miss the crockets and finials, the ball-flower, and other +ornaments that we meet with in so many fourteenth-century buildings; but +the very simplicity of the work gives the church a dignity that is often +wanting in more highly ornamented structures. The small number of the +buttresses in the body of the church is noteworthy; save at the angles +there are only five--namely, two on each nave aisle, and one on the +north choir aisle. At each of the eastern corners of the choir aisles +the buttresses are set diagonally, as also are those on the northern +corners of the north porch. There is a buttress on each of the side +walls of the north porch, and two set at right angles to each other +at each of the two corners of the north transept, and also at the +south-west corner of the south transept; beneath the east window of the +choir there is a small one. The buttresses at the corner of the choir +project but slightly. The central tower has none, but the west tower has +an octagonal buttress at each corner. The central tower attracts notice +first. From the outside at the angles a small portion of the plain wall +of the triforium stage may be seen, against which the roofs of the choir +and transepts abut; the nave roof, however, hides all of this stage at +the western face: above this face is a band of red-brown sandstone, and +above this the clerestory stage. In each face are two round-headed +windows with a pointed blank arch between them. There are six slender +shafts to support the outer order of moulding over the two windows and +the blank arch, and two of a similar character to support the inner ring +of moulding over each window. At each corner of the tower up to the top +of this stage runs a slender banded shaft. This stage is finished by a +string course, above which the tower walls recede slightly, the walls of +the upper or belfry storey being a little thinner than those below. This +stage, perfectly plain within, is the most richly-ornamented part of the +tower outside: it is the latest Norman work to be found in the minster, +and probably may be dated late in the twelfth century. An arcading of +intersecting round-headed arches runs all round this storey. Seven +pointed arches are thus formed in each face; between these arches stand +slender pillars with well carved capitals which show a great variety of +design. Five of the seven arches on each face were originally open, save +possibly for louvre-boards placed to keep out the rain; now all but the +central one on each face are walled up, and the centre one is glazed. +This filling up was not all done at the same time, as the varying +character of the stone shows. The work was no doubt begun in order to +strengthen the walls when the spire was added, and was continued from +time to time as the necessity for further strengthening arose. Above +the stage was a bold corbel table, and this is the upper limit of the +Norman work. There can be little doubt that the Norman builder, here as +elsewhere, finished his tower with a low pyramidal roof with overhanging +eaves to shoot off the rain. This covering may have been of lead, but +possibly of stone tiles or wooden shingles. About a century later this +Norman roof was removed to make place for a loftier roof or spire. Of +its character and material and height we know nothing--there is no +description of it; and though the minster is represented on an old seal +with one spire-crowned tower, yet the representation of the rest of the +church is so conventional that it cannot be regarded as an authentic +record of the actual appearance of the steeple. It is curious that, as +it stood for about three hundred years and fell only in the later years +of Elizabeth's reign, no drawing remains to show us what this spire was +like. But it passed away, doing some damage to the building in its fall, +and that is the only record it has left behind; but we can well picture +to ourselves how much importance must have been added to the minster by +this spire, which must have been a conspicuous object for many miles +round. The present heavy, ugly battlemented parapet spoils the general +effect of the tower; and though we are adverse to the sweeping away of +any features of an old building, even when the features are inharmonious +and even ugly--because this is, as it were, tearing a page of stone from +the book of the history of the building--yet we must confess we could +have regarded the loss of the seventeenth-century parapet and pinnacles +with much less regret than other features which the restorer has +tampered with. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH TRANSEPT BEFORE 1891.] + +The #North Porch#, which was evidently always intended to be, as it +is to this day, the chief entrance into the church, consists of two +bays marked externally by buttresses on each side: the inner order of +moulding to the arch giving access to this porch springs from two shafts +of Purbeck marble; the outer orders are carried up from the base without +any capitals or imposts. The height of the crown of the inner arch above +the capitals from which it springs is somewhat less than half the width +at the bottom, and the radius of the curvature of the arches is greater +than the width. Over the arch is a square-headed two-light window, +lighting the room over the entrance. The roof differs from all the other +roofs of the church since it is covered with stone tiles, while the +others are covered with lead. There are buttresses set diagonally at the +two northern angles of the porch. + +Between the porch and the transept are three two-light Decorated +windows. The tracery of all these is alike, but differs from that of +the two windows to the west of the porch. The most picturesque feature +of the north transept is the turret containing the staircase by which +access is obtained to the tower. This, before the church was enlarged +in the fourteenth century, formed the north-west angle of the Norman +transept: projecting towards the north, its base is rectangular. This +rectangular portion rises nearly to the level of the tops of the aisle +windows, above this level the turret is circular, and rising above the +transept roof is capped by a low conical roof of stone tiles. Two string +courses run round it, one at the bottom of the circular part, and one a +little higher up. This turret was once known as the "Ivy Tower," from +the ivy that grew on it, but this was all removed at the time when the +transept was altered in 1891. At that time the side walls were raised +about two feet, and the roof was raised to the original pitch of the +Norman transept, and at the same time the tracery of the north window, +which was of a very plain and clumsy character, seventeenth-century +work, was removed and the existing tracery inserted. Much +picturesqueness has been sacrificed to make these changes. The portion +of this transept to the north of the turret was added about the middle +of the fourteenth century to form the chantry founded by Bembre, who +was dean from 1350-1361. This part contains, besides the large window, +two smaller two-light windows, which look out respectively to the east +and west. The tracery in these is almost entirely modern. Beyond the +transept is the wall of the north choir aisle. This stands farther to +the north than the wall of the nave aisle; in fact, it is in a line with +the original north end of the Norman transept. In this wall, close to +the transept, is a small round-headed doorway. And, farther to the east, +is another larger pointed doorway between the second and third windows +of the choir aisle, counting from the transept eastward. This doorway is +enclosed by a triangular moulding very plain in character, but none of +it is original. The three windows are each of two lights. The tracery +of these three is alike, but differs from that of the windows in the +nave aisle. The east window of the north aisle is of five lights. The +enclosing arch is not very pointed--much less so than in the narrower +windows of the aisles--and each light runs up through the head of the +window. These and the corresponding south choir aisle windows are late +Decorated work. + +[Illustration: THE EAST WINDOW. +(From Parker's "Introduction to Gothic Architecture.")] + +Unfortunately the churchyard does not extend to the east of the church. +A narrow footway, bounded to the east by cottages and garden walls, +renders it impossible to photograph the east window of the choir. This +is a most interesting one; and has been figured in most books on +architecture. It consists externally of three lancets enclosed in a +peculiar way by weather moulding; this rises separately over the head of +each lancet, and between the windows runs in a horizontal line and is +continued to the square corner buttresses. Within this moulding, and +over the heads of each lancet, there is an opening pierced: the central +one is a quatrefoil, while the other two have six points. These openings +are a very early example of plate tracery, which was fully developed in +the Early Decorated style. This window belongs to the Early English +period, and may be dated about 1220. There will be occasion to refer to +this window again when speaking of the interior of the church. The south +choir aisle has a five-light east window closely corresponding to the +window of the north aisle, and on the south two three-light windows. In +these, as in the east aisle windows, the lights are carried up through +the heads. There is no doorway giving access to this aisle from the +outside. + +The angle between the choir aisle and south transept is filled up with +the vestry and the library above it. The south wall of this projects +beyond the wall of the south transept. This vestry is of Decorated date, +possibly rather later than the other Decorated work in the minster. The +upper storey forms the library. Its walls are finished at the top by a +plain parapet which conceals the flat roof. At the south-western angle +is an octagonal turret staircase, capped by a pyramidal roof rising from +within a battlemented parapet, and terminating in a carved finial. This +is of Perpendicular character. From the sharpness of the stone at the +coigns it would seem that very extensive restoration, if not absolute +rebuilding, of the walls was carried on in this part of the church. +The south transept is rather shorter than that on the north side; but, +unlike it, all the walls up to the level of the window are of Norman +date. The string courses on the western side are worthy of close +attention. One which runs under the south window is continued round the +Perpendicular buttresses at the south-west angle, and then again joins +the original course on the western face and runs to within a few feet +of the nave aisle, where it abruptly terminates. Above this for several +feet the walls have the same character as below; then the character +changes, and this change probably marks the junction of the Norman with +the Decorated work, which was added when the Norman chapel, which +occupied the lower part of what is now the south end of the transept, +was incorporated in the transept. Vertically above the termination of +the string course just mentioned, but at a considerably higher level, +another string course abruptly begins and runs along the wall, until it +passes within the roof of the nave aisle. The south end of this shows +the length to which the original Norman transept extended before the +walls of the chapel to the south were carried up in the fourteenth +century to form the addition to the transept. In the southern wall of +this new transept was placed a large five-light decorated window. In +this, as in several of the other Decorated windows already described, +the lights run up to the enclosing arch above. The tracery of this +window, as it now exists, dates back only to the time when the church +was restored in the middle of the nineteenth century. Up to 1891 the +side walls were about two feet lower than at present, and the gable more +obtuse. At the summit of the old gable stood a block of masonry carrying +a sundial; this, when the transept was altered, was removed, the new +gable being finished with a cross. A pillar was built in the churchyard +to the south of the western tower in 1894, and on it the block from the +transept bearing the sundial was placed. This sundial has two dates on +it--1696 and 1752, marking, no doubt, the year of its original erection +and of some subsequent repair. It is noteworthy that the figures used in +these two dates differ in character,--the eighteenth-century carver who +incised the later date not thinking it incumbent on him to make his +figures match those of his predecessor. The three aisle windows between +the south transept and the south porch are two-light Decorated windows +with tracery, some of it original, corresponding to that of those on the +opposite side in the north aisle. + +The #South Porch# is small, and the side walls do not project far +from the aisle. Above the arch is a carving of a lamb much weathered, +and on the gable stands a fragment of a cross. The gates beneath the +outer arch are kept locked save on Sundays, as are frequently the gates +in the railings surrounding the churchyard to the south of the minster, +which is divided from the churchyard on the north side by the church +itself and by railings at the east and west ends of it. To the west of +the porch are two more two-light windows, corresponding in character +with the windows opposite in the north aisle. The clerestory windows +of the nave are of Perpendicular date, fifteenth-century work, and have +not any beauty. Each has three foliated lights under a round-headed +moulding. Above each of these three there are two lights, all enclosed +within a rectangular label. The nave roof is higher than the choir roof. +Its aisles have lean-to roofs, whereas the choir aisles are wider and +have gable roofs: hence the clerestory windows of the choir, modern +lancets, are not visible from the outside. + +The #Western Tower# is of four stages, with octagonal buttresses at +each corner, decreasing in cross section at each course. Of these the +north-eastern one contains the stairs leading to the top of the tower, +the others are solid. These are crowned with sharp pyramidal turrets. +In the lowest stage on the western face is a doorway which for some time +was stopped up to strengthen the tower, but which was opened again at +the general restoration. Above this is the west window of six lights, +Perpendicular in character but of nineteenth-century date. The third +stage--the ringing room within is lighted by four small windows: that in +the west wall is a quatrefoil, those on the north and south have single +lights foliated at the head; the original one in the east wall was +covered when the nave roof was raised, and a plain opening was made in +the wall farther to the south. Above this is the belfry, with two pairs +of two-light windows on each face: these are divided by transoms, and +the arches at the tops are four centred. These windows are, of course, +not glazed, but are furnished with louvre-boards. The tower is finished +with a battlemented parapet. Just outside the easternmost window on the +north face, and below the transom, stands a figure now dressed in a coat +of painted lead, representing a soldier in the uniform of the early part +of the nineteenth century. He holds a hammer in each hand, with which he +strikes the quarters on two bells beside him. He is known by the name of +the "Jackman" or "Quarter Jack." There are no windows at the west ends +of the nave aisles; but, as on the south side so on the north, there are +between the tower and the porch two two-light Decorated windows in the +wall of the aisle. + +[Illustration: THE WESTERN TOWER.] + +The level of the churchyards, as in the case with most old +burying-grounds, is considerably above the level of the floor of the +church. Hence steps have to be descended on entering the porches, and +again in passing from the porches into the church. On the south side +some levelling of the ground has been done, and the upright head-stones +have been laid flat, but the altar tombs have been allowed to remain as +they were. There are few trees in the churchyard to impede the view of +the building; those there are, are as yet small, and serve only to +pleasantly break the bareness of the ground without hiding the +architectural features of the building. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERIOR + + +The North Porch, which no doubt from the days of its erection in the +fourteenth century has formed the chief entrance into the church, is +opposite to the westernmost Norman bay of the nave arcading. The porch +itself is vaulted in two bays, the vaulting springing from slender +shafts of Purbeck marble which rest on the stone seats on either side of +the porch. The bosses in which the ribs meet are carved with foliage. +Over the porch is a small room to which no staircase now leads; one +which formerly led to it was removed in the seventeenth century. This +room is lighted by a small two-light Decorated window facing north. + +[Illustration: THE INTERIOR, LOOKING EAST.] + +The two #Aisles# are of the same length as the nave, and are +divided from it by an arcading on either side, each containing six +pointed arches. The easternmost arches consist of two plain orders, and +are much narrower than the rest. These arches spring on the east side +from brackets on the western face of the tower piers: the bracket on the +north side is plain, that on the south side is ornamented with a kind of +scale carving. These bays were probably of the same date as the tower, +and it is not unlikely that the arches were at first like those of the +tower, of the usual round-headed form. If they were altered when the +remainder of the nave was built, the wall above was not removed. The +piers which support the western side of these arches consist each of a +semi-cylindrical pillar set against a rectangular pier, on the other +side of which another semi-cylindrical shaft is set to support the next +arch; the next two pillars on each side are cylindrical, perfectly plain +in the shafts with very simple bases and capitals. The latter may be +seen in the illustrations, the former are concealed by the pews. It +will be noticed as a peculiar feature that a little piece of the outer +moulding, facing the nave, of the first large arch on the south side is +differently carved from all the rest: first, counting from the bottom +upwards, are three eight-leaved flowers--these are succeeded by three +four-leaved flowers, all on a chamfered edge; above this the moulding +is not chamfered, and the outer face is decorated with shallow zig-zag +carving. The second member of the moulding consists of chevron work +somewhat irregularly carved, the projecting tooth-like points not being +all of the same size; in the centre is a roll moulding, from each side +of which chevron ornamentation projects, the points directed outward +perpendicular to the plane of the arch. These pillars and arches are +noteworthy in that the piers are of considerable size, and above them +are pointed arches. This would indicate a rather late date in the Norman +period for this portion of the church; probably it was built at some +time during the last quarter of the twelfth century. With the third wide +bay the twelfth-century church terminated, the two arches to the west +of these being characterised by ornamentation of the Decorated period. +At this time, as has been already explained (p. 10), the aisles were +widened and the inner edges of the roofs raised above the clerestory +windows of the Norman church. Four such windows, round-headed, each +placed over the point of an arch, may be seen on either side of the +nave; but the eastern one on each side differs from the other three +in being of heavier character and rougher workmanship. The external +mouldings of these can be well seen from the aisles: towards the nave +they are splayed and plain. The wall above the fourteenth-century arches +does not contain any windows on the same level as those of the old +Norman clerestory; but above them, stretching all along each side of +the nave, may be seen the windows of the present clerestory. These are +Perpendicular in style, and are five in number on each side, each window +being placed over one of the piers of the nave arcading. These windows +are square-headed, and have at the bottom three lights, each light being +sub-divided into two at the top. It is believed that this clerestory +was formed when the walls were raised, at the same time as the western +tower was erected--namely, at the end of the fifteenth century. But +to return to the Decorated arches at the west end of the nave. The +pier at the eastern side of the easternmost of these consists of the +semi-cylindrical respond of Norman date, a piece of masonry which was +part of the west wall of the Norman church; and then on the western +side of this an added semi-cylinder, on the capitals of which may be +seen the ball-flower ornament. The pier on either side, between the two +fourteenth-century arches, is octagonal, with a very plain capital (one +of these is shown in the illustration on page 57); the arches themselves +are also plain, consisting of two members with chamfered edges. The half +pillars at the western side of the western arch have been imbedded in +the octagonal buttresses of the west tower, which project into the +church. + +[Illustration: PIER AND ARCH-SPRING IN THE SOUTH ARCADE.] + +[Illustration: DECORATED ARCH IN THE NAVE.] + +The height of the nave roof appears to have been altered on several +occasions. There may be seen from the interior of the nave, on the +west wall of the lantern tower, two lines running from the level of +the tops of the Norman clerestory windows: these make an angle of about +forty-five degrees with the horizontal, and, no doubt, are traces of the +weather mouldings marking the position of the exterior of the roof of +the nave in Norman times. Probably the roof visible from the interior +was flat and formed of wood, and ran across in the line of the string +course above the tower arch, at a level slightly above the heads of the +clerestory windows. A round-headed opening above this string course +probably gave admission to the space between the outer and inner roofs. +At a somewhat higher level, we have a slight trace which probably marks +the junction of the fifteenth-century roof with the tower. This roof +was of oak and very plain--at the restoration the pitch of the roof was +raised and carried up to such an extent as to cut off the bases of the +clerestory windows of the lantern tower; the inner roof itself is of +pitch-pine, with hammer-beams of the character which finds such favour +with nineteenth-century architects. + +[Illustration: CLERESTORY STAGE OF THE CENTRAL TOWER.] + +The #Central Tower#, the oldest and probably most interesting part +of the church, consists of four stages, of which the three lower ones +are open to the church. The lowest of these was undoubtedly part of the +original Norman church; the second or triforium was soon added. Above +this comes the clerestory, the pointed arch between the round-headed +windows indicating a somewhat later date; and above this there is a +chamber perfectly plain within, and not open to the church below. The +outside of this is decorated with an arcading of intersecting arches, +which indicates a somewhat later date. These intersecting arches form +seven pointed arches on each side--five of these were originally open to +allow the sound of the bells, which were formerly hung in the tower, to +pass out; but to add strength to the walls all but the middle ones on +the east face were at various periods walled up. At one time the tower +was surmounted by a spire, possibly of wood covered with lead; this is +supposed to have been erected by John de Berwick, who was dean of the +minster from 1286 to 1312. The squinches which supported this spire may +still be seen in the upper stage just described. Descending from this +stage by a spiral staircase in the north-west angle, we find ourselves +in the clerestory already mentioned. In each face there are two +round-headed windows widely splayed on the interior, with shafts in +the jambs; between each pair of windows is a pointed arch, in each +angle of the tower is a slender shaft encircled by three bands at about +equidistant intervals: a passage cut in the thickness of the wall runs +round this stage. Again descending, we reach the triforium level. Each +of the walls of this stage has two pointed sustaining arches built into +the wall to support the weight of the superincumbent masonry; each of +these encloses four semi-circular headed arches with shafts of Purbeck +marble. The capitals of these are rudely carved, and between the +relieving pointed arches are carved heads, that on the north side being +the most noteworthy. The passage behind the arches is very narrow, the +total thickness of the walls being only 4 feet 6 inches. At the centre +of each face are the openings which formerly led into the spaces between +the roofs and ceilings of the nave, transepts, and choir of the Norman +church. That on the north side now leads into a stone gallery, erected +in 1891 in the place of a dilapidated wooden structure, which runs first +westward to the angle between the tower and north transept, then along +the west face of the transept until it reaches a door leading into the +stair turret, which may be seen from the exterior. At the bottom of this +is a door opening into the transept. This stair turret projects slightly +into the transept. The lowest stage of the tower consists of four arches +and four massive piers. The arches have two plain orders. The piers have +double shafts supporting the central order, and single shafts supporting +the outer orders. The four arches are not of the same width, those on +the east and west being wider than those on the north and south. In +order to get the arches to spring from the same level and also to reach +the same height at their heads, the wider arches are of the shape known +as "depressed," while the narrower ones are of the "horse-shoe" type. +The choir being somewhat narrower than the nave, the walls on each side +take the place of the shaft which would have supported the outer order +of the eastern arch. The capitals and bases of these arches are very +plain, in fact nowhere in this church can the elaborately-carved +capitals so often met with in late Norman work be found. This central +tower was undoubtedly gradually raised stage by stage, as the character +of the architecture indicates: probably during each interval the part +already finished was capped by a pyramidal roof. + +[Illustration: THE TOWER ARCHES.] + +[Illustration: NORTH TRANSEPT AND CROSSING.] + +The #Nave Aisles# were widened in the fourteenth century, the +Norman walls being removed and their roofs raised; a single stone of the +weather moulding, which may be seen on the west face of the north +transept, shows the height and slope of the roof of the Norman aisle. +The windows of the aisles on either side are two-light Decorated +windows; the three on either side to the east of the north and south +porches are of the same character, while the two on each side to the +west of the porches are also alike but differ in their tracery from +those to the east. The south porch is much smaller than the north, and +is very plain; it is composed of two solid walls projecting six feet +from the wall of the aisle. + +The #Transepts#, as has been described in the preceding chapter, +were lengthened in the fourteenth century--the southern one by the +incorporation of some low Norman building, thought by some to have been +the Lady Chapel, the walls of which were raised; the northern one by the +addition of Bembre's chantry. This has caused the north transept to be +somewhat longer than the south. The original Norman transepts seem to +have been of the same length on either side. Bembre, who died in 1361, +is supposed to have been buried here. A stone slab lay until 1857 in the +centre of the pavement,--on it was a representation of a full-length +figure of a man dressed in a robe like a surplice; but when the pavement +was renewed this stone was allowed to remain exposed to sun and rain in +the churchyard until the surface was weathered to such an extent that it +is now impossible to make out with any certainty what is upon it. But +the description given by Hutchins of the arms on the shields which were +sculptured on it does not agree with the Bembre arms, so that it could +hardly have been the tombstone of this Dean who founded the chantry. +The window at the end of the north transept is modern restoration work. +Before 1891 the tracery was of a very plain character, as may be seen +from the illustration (page 21). It is supposed that damage was done to +this window at the time when the tower fell, and that the plain tracery +was inserted after that event. During the restoration in 1891, the old +plaster was removed from the walls, and in doing this a Norman altar +recess was discovered in the east wall of this transept; the southern +end of this had been cut away when the choir aisle was widened in the +fourteenth century. In this recess traces of fresco may be seen. A +piscina stands to the north of this altar recess, and is of Decorated +character. + +[Illustration: THIRTEENTH-CENTURY PISCINA IN SOUTH TRANSEPT.] + +The #South Transept# has a five-light Decorated window at its southern +end, with modern tracery in imitation of the old, each light running up +through the head of the window. A very fine Early English piscina, with +the characteristic dog-tooth moulding, stands in the south wall. An +altar occupying a position similar to the one in the north transept used +to stand in this transept also, but the pointed arch over the recess +shows that it was of later date. + +[Illustration: CHOIR STALLS.] + +The most elaborate part of the church is that which lies to the east of +the central tower. The great height to which the altar is raised above +the level of the nave gives it a very impressive appearance from the +west end; and, again, the view looking westward from the altar level is +much enhanced by the height from which it is seen. + +[Illustration: WEST VIEW FROM THE CHOIR.] + +The #East End# is purely English work, and this shows that in the +thirteenth century the church was extended about 30 feet towards the +east. The junction of the Early English with the Norman wall is marked +by a cluster of slender shafts rising from the ground. The alterations +which were made in the Norman walls at the time of this eastward +extension have been already described (p. 11). + +It now only remains to describe the #Choir# and #Presbytery# as they +stand at the present time. Immediately to the east of the tower on +either side are two pointed arches of two plain orders rising on their +western sides from plain brackets in the tower piers, and supported on +the east by engaged shafts with roughly-carved Norman capitals. Next +to these come the Early English inserted arches, pierced as already +described through the Norman wall and cutting away the lower part of two +previously existing Norman windows on each side. The arches are of three +plain orders, with chamfered edges, resting on clustered shafts; beyond +these the new thirteenth-century work begins. Beyond the clustered +shafts mentioned above, which mark the commencement of the Early English +work, is a lofty arch on either side opening into the choir aisles; over +each of them is a pair of small lancet windows widely splayed inside. +Between the piers of these arches a wall is carried, its top being about +midway between their bases and capitals. On the southern wall stands the +Beaufort tomb, on the northern the Courtenay tomb; and below this the +walls are pierced with arches, beneath which are flights of nine steps +leading on to the crypt beneath the presbytery. It is not improbable +that after the eastern extension the altar stood at the east end of the +Norman part of the choir, and that under these two Early English arches +was the ambulatory or processional passage which is so often found to +the east of the high altar. Beyond the ends of the choir aisles on +either side of the presbytery is a lancet window. The east window is +worthy of the closest observation. Its exterior appearance has been +already described (p. 24). Within, it consists of three openings widely +splayed; the thin stone over the central lancet, beneath the surrounding +moulding, is pierced with a quatrefoil opening; over the two side +lancets the corresponding openings have six foliations; between the +three lights and outside the outer ones, flush with the wall, are +clusters of shafts of Purbeck marble, from which spring mouldings +enclosing the lights in a most peculiar fashion: these follow the curves +of the tops of the lancets, but before meeting they are returned in the +form of cusps, and then are carried round the upper foliated openings. +The upper part of each of these mouldings forms about three-quarters +of the circumference of a circle. The characteristic Early English +dog-tooth ornament is carved round the moulding of the central light, +those round the other lights are not thus decorated. The whole group is +surrounded by a label following the curves of moulding, with carved +heads at its terminations and points of junction. The six cusps of the +moulding are ornamented by bosses of carved foliage. + +[Illustration: THE EAST WINDOW.] + +[Illustration: SEDILIA.] + +To the south side of the presbytery, between the south window and the +Beaufort tomb, the triple #Sedilia# and the #Piscina# are situated: each +of these is covered by a canopy of fourteenth-century work. These were +extensively repaired at the time of the restoration. The Beaufort altar +tomb is the finest monument in the church. On it are two recumbent +figures carved in alabaster, and although there is no inscription it is +certain that they represent John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and his +wife Margaret. John Beaufort was son of another John Beaufort, Earl of +Somerset, who was brother of the celebrated Cardinal Beaufort, and son +of John of Gaunt by his mistress Catherine Swynford, a family afterwards +legitimatised by Parliament. This second John Beaufort distinguished +himself in the French wars of Henry IV., who in 1443 gave him a step in +the peerage, creating him Duke of Somerset. His wife Margaret was, when +he married her, widow of Oliver St John, and it is thought that after +the death of her second husband in 1444 she married again. This John and +Margaret, Duke and Duchess of Somerset, are famous on account of their +daughter the Lady Margaret, so well-known for her educational endowments +and for the fact that after her marriage with Edmund Tudor, the Earl +of Richmond, she became the mother of that Henry Tudor who overthrew +Richard III. at Bosworth, and was crowned King as Henry VII. Here +on this altar tomb their effigies remain in a wonderful state of +preservation, their right hands clasped together, angels at their heads, +his feet resting on a dog, hers on an antelope. He is completely clad +in armour, the face and right hand only bare--the gauntleted left hand +holds the right hand gauntlet, which he has taken off that he may hold +the lady's hand. She is clad in a long close-fitting garment. Each of +the two wears around the neck a collar marked with the letters SS. At +the apex of the arch above their tomb hangs his tourney helm. + +[Illustration: THE BEAUFORT TOMB.] + +Under the corresponding arch on the opposite side is a similar tomb, but +without any effigy. The fragment of an inscription tells us that it is +the tomb of one who was once the wife of Henry Courtenay, Marquis of +Exeter, and mother of Edward Courtenay. She was Gertrude, daughter of +William Blount, Lord Mountjoy. Her husband was beheaded in 1538, +together with the aged Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, whose chantry +may be seen in the Priory at Christchurch, though she was laid to rest +in what Macaulay describes as the saddest burying-ground in England, the +cemetery of St Peter's, in the Tower. Gertrude, Lady Courtenay, was +herself attainted at the time of her husband's execution, but was +afterwards pardoned and died in 1557. The tomb was opened in the last +century from idle curiosity, and some one attempted to raise the body to +a sitting posture, with the result that the skeleton fell to pieces. The +tomb was also damaged by this foolish opening. + +[Illustration: BRASS OF ÆTHELRED.] + +Three small carved figures at the bottom of the hood moulding of the +arches over these monuments deserve attention. The one on the west +side of the southern arch represents Moses with the tables of the law. +Probably there was another such figure at the eastern end of the same +moulding, but this would have been cut away when the sedilia were +inserted. The opposite arch has a figure on each side. + +Just at the east end of the Courtenay tomb is a slab of Purbeck marble, +reputed to have once covered the grave of Æthelred. In it is inserted a +fifteenth-century brass, with a rectangular plate of copper bearing an +inscription, represented in the illustration (p. 46). A brass plate with +a similar inscription, though the date on it is given as 872, was found +in the library. Possibly the original brass and inscription were taken +up in the time of the civil wars and hidden for safety, and the +inscription having been lost, the copper plate now on the tomb was made +when the brass was replaced, and the original plate was afterwards found +and was placed for safety in what is now the library. _Copper_ nails +were used to fasten the brass to the floor, which perhaps serves to show +that the engraved _copper_ plate was made at the time when the brass was +replaced on the slab. A little piece of the left-hand bottom corner has +been broken off, and the top of the sceptre is missing. There are no +rails before the altar, but their place is supplied by three oak benches +covered with white linen cloths (these may be seen in the illustration +on p. 43). The use of the "houseling linen" dates back to very early +times. The word "housel" for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper has gone +out of use, though most of us are familiar with the line + + "_Unhouseled_, unanointed, unanelled," + +in which the ghost of Hamlet's father describes the circumstances of his +death. The word "unhouseled" in this means that he died without +receiving the sacred elements before his death. + +The benches are a relic of Puritan times: there is an entry dated 1656 +in the churchwardens' accounts respecting the payment of £1 "for making +and setting up the benches about ye communion table in the quire." These +were at first used as seats, on which the communicants sat to receive +the bread and wine. In after times their use was modified. These +benches, ten in number, were placed on the steps leading up to the +altar, and it was customary for the clerk on "Sacrament Sundays" to go +to the lectern after morning prayer, and, in a loud voice, give notice +thus: "All ye who are prepared to receive the Holy Communion draw near." +Those who wished to communicate then went into the chancel and sat on +these benches or in the choir stalls, waiting their turns, and kneeling +on mats until the clergy brought them the bread and wine. Up to 1852 +there was a rail on the top step, at the entrance of the presbytery, +on which the houseling linen hung. The rail, which was of no great +antiquity, was removed at that date, and three of the oak benches +were retained to supply its place; these are now used as an ordinary +communion rail, but are always covered with the "fair white cloths." + +The #South Choir Aisle#, known as the Trinity Aisle, has at its east +end a five-light window, each light of which runs up through the +head; the south wall is pierced by two three-light windows of similar +character. The wall opposite in the western bay, against which the organ +now stands, is blank, as on the outside of this the vestry stands with +the library above it. At the east end of this aisle was the chantry +founded by the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond, whose father and +mother lie in the tomb already described beneath the nearest arch on the +north side of this aisle. The altar of this chantry, as well as all the +other altars in the church, numbering ten in all, have been swept away, +no doubt at the time of the Reformation. But recently the east end of +this aisle has been fitted up with a communion table for use at early +services. + +In this aisle is to be seen, under the second window from the east, +the marble or slate painted sarcophagus known as the Etricke tomb. +Anthony Etricke of Holt Lodge, Recorder of Poole, was the magistrate +who committed for trial the ill-fated Duke of Monmouth, who, after +his flight from Sedgemoor, was captured in the north of Dorset near +Critchell. It is said that in his old age he became very eccentric, and +desired to be buried neither in the church nor out of it, neither above +ground nor under; and to carry out his wish he got permission to cut a +niche in the church wall, partly below the level of the ground outside, +and then firmly fixed in it the slate receptacle which is now to be +seen. Into this he ordered that his coffin should be put when he died. +Moreover, he had a presentiment that he should die in 1691, and so +placed that date upon the side of the sarcophagus. He, however, lived +twelve years longer than he expected, so that when his death really +occurred the date had to be altered to 1703. The two dates, the later +written over the earlier, are still to be seen. On the outside of the +sarcophagus are painted the arms of his family. The whole is kept in +good repair, for so determined was the good man that his memory should +be kept alive, and his last resting-place well cared for, that he gave +to the church in perpetuity the sum of 20s. per annum, to be expended in +keeping the niche and coffin in good order. When the church was restored +in 1857 the outer coffin was opened, and it was found that the inner one +had decayed, but that the dust and bones were still to be seen, these +were placed in a new chest and once more deposited in the outer coffin. + +[Illustration: THE ETRICKE TOMB.] + +In this aisle is also to be seen an ancient chest, not formed as chests +usually are, of wooden planks or slabs fastened together, but hewn out +of a solid trunk of oak. The chest is over 6 feet long, but the cavity +inside is not more than 22 inches in length, 9 inches in width, and 6 +inches in depth, hence it will be seen how thick and massive the walls +are. Originally it may have contained some small relics, and probably is +much older than the present minster itself. It was afterwards used as a +safe for deeds. In 1735 some deeds were taken from it bearing the date +1200. + +Formerly, there stood on this aisle the tomb of John de Berwick, dean of +the college, who died in 1312. At his tomb once a year the parishioners +met to receive the accounts of the outgoing churchwardens and to elect +new ones. The altar tomb was removed about 1790, the slab at the top of +it being let into the floor. + +[Illustration: ANCIENT CHEST.] + +The #North Choir Aisle# is a foot narrower than the corresponding south +aisle: it has three windows each with two lights instead of two of three +lights. This is known as St George's aisle. In the east wall is a +piscina of Perpendicular date. Two doors lead into this aisle--one at +the corner, where the walls of the aisle and transept meet, and one +between the two easternmost windows. The principal objects in this aisle +are two bulky chests, one containing the title-deeds of some charity +lands in the parish of Corfe Castle. This is fastened by six locks, each +of different pattern,--each trustee of the charity has a key, of his own +special lock,--so that the chest can only be opened by the consent of +the whole body. The other chest contains the parochial accounts; this +once had six locks, but now has only two. + +In the south-eastern corner of this aisle lies a mutilated effigy of a +mail-clad knight with crossed legs. This is said to have been removed to +the minster from another church when it was destroyed. Whom it represents +is uncertain, but traditionally it is known as the Fitz Piers monument. + +[Illustration: UVEDALE MONUMENT.] + +In this aisle is the monument of Sir Edmund Uvedale, who died in 1606. +The monument was erected by his widow in "dolefull duety." It is in the +Renaissance style, and was carved by an Italian sculptor. The old knight +is represented clad in a complete suit of plate armour, though without a +helmet. He lies on his right side, his head is raised a little from his +right hand, on which it has been resting, as though he were just awaking +from his long sleep, his left hand holds his gauntlet. Above the tomb +hangs an iron helmet, such as was worn in Elizabethan times, and which +very probably was once worn by Sir Edmund himself. + +Between the eastern ends of the choir aisles, and beneath the eastern +end of the presbytery, is the #Crypt#. This is a vaulted chamber, the +vaulting being supported on two pairs of pillars, thus forming three +aisles, as it were, running east and west, each containing three bays. +The western bay is of somewhat later date than the central and eastern; +the wall against which the westernmost of the pillars once stood was +removed, but the piers were allowed to remain, backed up by a new piece +of masonry built against them to support the new vaulting. The crypt +is lighted by four windows, equal-sided spherical triangles in shape; +two look out eastward, one northward beyond the chancel arch, one, +correspondingly placed, to the southward. The centre of the east end is +a blank wall. Against this the altar stood--a niche, probably a piscina, +still may be seen. On each side of the place where the altar stood there +are two openings into the choir aisles. The exteriors of these are of +the same form and size as the crypt windows, but they are deeply splayed +inside, and probably were used as hagioscopes or squints, to allow those +kneeling in the choir aisles to see the priest celebrating mass at the +crypt altar. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO CRYPT.] + +[Illustration: THE LIBRARY.] + +The #Vestry# stands in the south-east angle between the transept +and choir aisle; it is a vaulted building dating from the fourteenth +century, and is lighted by two windows, one looking to the east, the +other to the south. A small door at the south-west corner opens upon the +staircase leading to the #Library#--a chamber situated above the vestry. +The collection consists chiefly of books left to the minster by will +of the Rev. William Stone, Principal of New Inn Hall, Oxford, a native +of Wimborne. They were brought from Oxford in 1686, under the care of +the Rev. Richard Lloyd, at that time Master of the Grammar School at +Wimborne. The books are chiefly works on divinity; some additions were +subsequently and at various times made to the original collection. The +books were attached to the shelves for safety's sake by iron chains, the +upper end carrying rings which slid on rods fastened to the shelf above, +the other end to the edge of the binding of the books. Hence the volumes +had to be placed on the shelves with their backs to the walls. The room +in which the books were placed was formerly known as the Treasury; it +was refitted in 1857, but the old chains are still used. It would occupy +too much space were any attempt made to give a list of the books. The +oldest volume is a manuscript of 1343, "Regimen Animarum," written on +vellum, and containing a few illuminated initials. A "Breeches," +Black-Letter Bible, dated 1595, is another book worth mentioning; also +a volume of Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World. A hole was burnt +through 104 of its pages. It is said that Matthew Prior, the poet, was +reading it by candle light and fell asleep, and when he woke was much +distressed to find that the snuff from his candle had done the mischief. +He did his best to repair the damage, by placing a tiny piece of paper +over the hole in each page, and inserting the missing letters with pen +and ink. The book has since been rebound, leaves taken from another copy +having been bound in between the damaged pages. + +[Illustration: THE CRYPT.] + +[Illustration: THE FONT.] + +The lower part of the west tower is used as a baptistery; this is +separated from the nave by a screen, formed of fragments of the old rood +screen. In the centre stands the octagonal late Norman #Font#, supported +by eight slender shafts of Purbeck marble, and a modern spirally-carved +central pillar of white stone, through which runs the drain to carry off +the water. + +[Illustration: THE CLOCK IN THE WEST TOWER.] + +In the inner southern wall of this tower, rather low down, is fixed a +curious old #Clock# made by Peter Lightfoot, a Glastonbury monk, in the +early part of the fourteenth century. The earth is represented by a +globe in the centre, the sun by a disc which travels round it once in +twenty-four hours, showing the time of day; the moon by a globe so +fastened to a blue disc that it revolves once during a lunar month; half +of this is painted black, the other half is gilt, and the age of the +moon is indicated by the amount of the gilded portion visible--when the +moon is full the whole of the gilt hemisphere is shown, when new the +whole of the black. This clock still goes, the works being in a room in +the tower above. It requires winding once a day. The same clock also +causes the Jack outside the tower to strike the quarters. + +In the #Belfry# is a peal of eight bells. The tenor weighs about 36 +cwts., the treble 7 cwts. + +The tenor bears this inscription: + + MR WILHEMUS LORINGE ME PRIMO FECIT, + IN HONOREM STÆ CUTBERGÆ. + RENOVABAR SUMPTU PAROCHALI PER AB, + ANNO DOMINI 1629. + +The seventh bell is dated 1798. + +The sixth bell 1600, and is thus inscribed: "SOUND OUT THE BELLS, IN GOD +REGOYCE." + +The fifth 1698, "PRAISE THE LORD." + +The fourth 1686, "PULSATA ROSAMUNDI MARIA VOCATA. SMV." + +The third was originally the smallest bell of the peal, and bears the +Latin hexameter: "SUM MINIMA HIC CAMPANA, AT INEST, SUA GRATIA PARVIS," +and the words, "THIS BELL WAS ADDED TO YE FIVE IN 1686, Samuel Knight." +The two smaller bells are of recent date. + +The #Lectern# bears date 1623. The stone pulpit is modern (1868). +The old wooden pulpit, whose place it has taken, has been removed to the +church at Holt. + +The earliest mention of an #Organ# is in 1405, but the earliest +authentic record is of one set up by John Vaucks, Organ Master, +in 1533. A memorandum in the churchwardens' accounts speak of him +setting up a pair of organs on the rood loft. In the year 1643, we have +records of the sale of organ-pipes and old tin. After the Restoration +in 1664, we have a record of the purchase of a new organ for £180. +This was repaired, enlarged, and rebuilt at various times, and at the +restoration, when the rood screen was unfortunately destroyed, the organ +was placed in the south choir aisle. + +All the lower windows are now filled with painted glass; all of which, +with the exception of a few fragments, is nineteenth-century work. + + +DEANS OF WIMBORNE + + Martin Pattislee or Pattishull appointed 1224 + Ralph Brito " 1229 + John Mansell " 1247 + John de Kirkby " 1265 + John de Berwick " 1286 + Stephen de Mawley " 1312 + Richard de Clare " 1312 + Richard de Swinnerton " 1334 + Richard de Merimouth " 1338 + Richard de Kingston " 1342 + Thomas de Clopton " 1349 + Reginald de Bryan " 1349 + Thomas de Bembre (founder of the chantry) " 1350 + Henry de Buckingham " 1361 + Richard de Beverley " 1367 + John de Carp " 1398 + Roger Tortington " 1408 + Peter de Altebello " 1412 + Walter Medford " 1416 + Gilbert Kymer " 1427 + Walter Herte " 1467 + Hugh Oldham " 1485 + Thomas Rowthel " 1508 + Henry Hornby " 1509 + Reginald Pole " 1517 + Nicholas Wilson " 1537 + + COLLEGE DISSOLVED " 1547 + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +ST MARGARET'S HOSPITAL + + +About a quarter of a mile to the north-west of Wimborne stands the +chapel of #St Margaret's Hospital#. The date of the foundation of +this hospital is uncertain; tradition has it that it was founded by +John of Gaunt, son of Edward III., but this is without doubt wrong, +as documents--the character of which seem to indicate an early +thirteenth-century date--have been found, from which it appears that +this hospital existed at that time, and was set apart for the relief and +support of poor persons afflicted with leprosy. This disease was at one +time so common in England that a great number of lazar-houses were +erected in the country, and many were well endowed; but when, after a +time, the disease became less violent, many abuses crept in, persons not +really suffering from the disease pretended to be lepers in order to get +pecuniary benefits, and hence in many cases the leper hospitals were +suppressed, or converted to other purposes. At the present day we find +in many places, as here at Wimborne, that they are used as almshouses. + +[Illustration: ST MARGARET'S HOSPITAL.] + +This hospital, however, was not one of the well-endowed. It appears from +a deed, dated in the sixteenth year of Henry VIII., that the hospital +was chiefly maintained, not by endowments, but by the gifts of the +charitable who were willing to contribute to its support; and to +encourage the benevolent to give, the deed recites that "Pope Innocent +IV, in the year 1245, by an indulgans or bulle did assoyl them of all +syns forgotten, and offences done against fader and moder, and all +swerynges neglygently made. This indulgans, grantyd of Petyr and Powle, +and of the said pope, was to hold good for 51 yeres and 260 days, +provided they repeated a certain specified number of Paternosters and +Ave Marias daily." The date of this indulgence proves the antiquity of +the hospital, as it shows that it was in existence before the middle +of the thirteenth century. A chantry was also founded in the chapel +here by John Redcoddes of one priest to say masses for his soul. To this +chantry, according to a deed dated in the sixteenth year of Henry VI., +many tenements in Wimborne belonged. In later times the Rev. William +Stone, who has been mentioned before as the founder of the Minster +Library, by his will left his lands and tenements in the parish of +Wimborne Minster to be applied to the benefit of almsmen only who should +live in St Margaret's Hospital. + +There is a further endowment, but how it came to this hospital has not +been discovered. The advowson and tithes of the Rectory of Poole were, +in the reign of James I., granted to the Mayor and Corporation of Poole +for forty years, on the corporation undertaking to find a curate to +discharge the duties lately discharged by the vicar, and to pay a rent +to the crown of £12, 16s. per annum. In the reign of Charles I., the +advowson and tithes were granted to two men, Thomas Ashton and Henry +Harryman, and their heirs for ever, on the same conditions; but they are +now again held by the Corporation, who pay out of the revenues--to St +Margaret's hospital £9, 16s.; to the churchwardens of Wimborne Minster, +for the maintenance of the Etricke tomb, £1; and to the fellows of +Queen's College, Oxford, to be spent in wine and tobacco on November +5th, yearly £2. + +The Redcotte chantry possessed sundry vestments, the gift of Margaret +Rempstone, in the thirty-fifth year of Henry VI., and plate, an +inventory of which exists. This plate, on the dissolution of chantries, +was given by the parishioners to the king, Edward VI. The hospital or +almshouses stands on the high road from Wimborne to Blandford; the +chapel joins one of the tenements occupied by the almsmen. These +tenements are nine in number; three are inhabited by married couples, +three by men, and three by women. Some of these cottages are of half +timber, and thatched, others of modern brick. The chapel, at which there +is now a service every Thursday afternoon, conducted by one of the +minster clergy, is a plain building, which has been recently refitted, +but remains, as far as windows and walls are concerned, in its original +state. There are three doors in the north wall; the heads are pointed, +and it is noteworthy that in the central door, that generally used +for access to the chapel, the two sides of the arch are of different +curvatures, so that the point of the arch is nearer to the right-hand +side. The edge of the wall is chamfered round the doorways. The east +window has a semicircular head, and plain wooden tracery dividing it +into two lancet-headed lights with an opening above them. There is a +window in both the south and north walls, near the east end, each of +two lights; the south window is widely splayed inside; the head of each +light has one cusp on each side. The head of each light of the north +window has two cusps on each side. Farther to the west, on the south +side, is a single narrow lancet, widely splayed, and still farther to +the west is a semicircular opening with wooden tracery. The general +character of the masonry would indicate that local workmen were employed +in building this chapel, and that little was spent in ornamenting it at +the time of the erection. There are, however, some traces of frescoes +on the inside of the walls, both geometrical patterns and figures. The +pointed doorways and the lancet window on the south side would indicate +the thirteenth century as the date of the original building, and this +agrees with the documentary evidence mentioned above for the foundation +of the hospital. The roof is an open one of massive wooden rafters, with +the beams running across at the level of the wall plates. + + +DIMENSIONS OF WIMBORNE MINSTER + + Extreme length, exterior, E. to W. 198 feet + Extreme width, exterior, N. to S. 102 " + Length of Nave, interior 67 " + Width of Nave, interior 23 " + Height of Walls 40 " + Length of Nave Aisles, interior 70 " + Width of Nave Aisles, interior 13 " + Length of North Transept, interior 42 " + Width of North Transept, interior 18 " + Height of Walls, interior 30 " + Length of South Transept, interior 33 " + Width of South Transept, interior 18 " + Height of Walls 30 " + Length of Choir, interior 32 " + Width of Choir, interior 21 " + Height of Choir Walls 28 " + Length of Presbytery 30 " + Width of Presbytery 21 " + Length of North Choir Aisle 53 " + Width of North Choir Aisle 21 " + Length of South Choir Aisle 53 " + Width of South Choir Aisle 20 " + Length of Side of Central Tower (square), interior 31 " + Height of Central Tower 84 " + Length of Side of Western Tower (square), exterior 31 " + Height of Western Tower 95 " + Length of North Porch, N. and S., interior 15 " + Width of North Porch, E. and W., interior 14 " + Length of South Porch, N. and E., interior 6 " + Width of South Porch, E. and W., interior 7 " + Length of Vestry, N. and S., interior 15 " + Width of Vestry, E. and W., interior 14 " + Length of Baptistery, E. to W., interior 18 " + Width of Baptistery, N. to S., interior 19 " + + AREA 10,725 sq. feet. + + + + + + +CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY + + +[Illustration: CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY, FROM THE BRIDGE.] + + + + +CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HISTORY OF THE BUILDING + + +On the promontory washed on the one side by the slow stream of the +Dorset Stour, and on the other by the no less sluggish flow of the +Wiltshire Avon, not far from the place where they mingle their waters +before making their way amid mudflats and sandbanks into the English +Channel, stands, and has stood for more than eight hundred years, the +stately Priory Church which gives the name of Christchurch to a small +town in the county of Hants. The massive walls of its Norman nave, its +fifteenth-century tower, and its great length--for, from the east wall +of its Lady Chapel to the west wall of its tower, it measures no less +than 311 feet--make it a conspicuous object from the Channel, especially +after sundown, when its form, rising above the low shore of Christchurch +Bay, is silhouetted against the sky. It is one of the finest churches +below cathedral rank that is to be found in England. It is a perfect +mine of wealth to the student of architecture, containing examples of +every style from its early, possibly Saxon, crypt to the Renaissance of +its chantries. Here we may see the solid grandeur of Norman masonry in +the nave, with its massive arcading and richly-wrought triforium; the +graceful beauty of the Early English in its north porch and in the +windows of the north aisle of the nave; the more fully developed +Decorated in the windows of the south aisle of the same; and +Perpendicular in the tower and Lady Chapel. + +The crypts beneath the north transept and the presbytery may have +belonged to the original church, but of that which is visible above +ground the oldest part was due to Flambard, of whom more hereafter. +When the first church was founded we cannot tell. Here, as in many other +places, the origin is lost in the haze of antiquity and legend. Here, +as at many other places, we find the original builders choosing one +site, and the stones that they had laid during the day being removed by +night by unseen, and therefore angelic, hands to another. It was on the +heights of St Catharine, about a mile and a half away from the present +site, that the human builders strove to raise their church. It may be +that this hill, still marked by the ramparts of an ancient encampment, +was not holy ground on account of its former occupation by heathens, +though in after time, a chapel, built in the early part of the +fourteenth century, existed there; but, anyhow, not on this hill, but on +the flat lands of Saxon Tweoxneham, a name which passed into the forms +of Thuinam and Twynham, that the great Priory Church was destined to +stand. But not even when the human builders began to erect the church +on the miraculously chosen ground did supernatural interposition cease. +A stranger workman came and laboured at the building: never was he seen +to eat as the other workmen did, never did he come with his fellows to +receive his wages. Once, when a beam had been cut too short for the +place it was to occupy, he lengthened it by drawing it out with his +hand; and when the day for consecration came, and the other workmen +gathered together to see their work hallowed by due ceremonial, this +stranger workman was nowhere to be seen. The ecclesiastics came to +the conclusion that this was none other than the carpenter's son of +Nazareth, and the church which had in part been builded by the hands +of the Christ Himself in later days became known as Christchurch. + +But, if we disregard these legends, we do not at once find ourselves +on sure and certain ground. The foundation has been attributed to +Æthelstan, but this is hardly likely, as, in a charter dated 939, he +gives one of the weirs on the Avon at Twynham to the Abbey Church of +Middleton, now Milton Abbey in North Dorset, which he would be hardly +likely to do if he had founded, or were thinking of founding, a +religious house at Twynham; and as he died in 940, not much time was +left for any foundation after this grant. Again, we find King Eadred +granting land and fishing near Twineham to Dunstan. However, in the +time of the Confessor, mention is made of the canons of Holy Trinity +possessing lands in Thuinam. It must be remembered that it had been +intended, according to the legend, to dedicate the church to the Holy +Trinity, and no doubt this was done, although it was afterwards +identified especially with the second Person. + +In Domesday it is stated that the canons of the Church of the Holy +Trinity hold lands in the village, and also in the Isle of Wight +opposite. Certain it is that in the days of Eadward the Confessor there +was a church at Twynham dedicated to the Holy Trinity, held by a +collegiate society of secular canons. This church was swept away by +Ranulf Flambard, the notorious justiciar and chaplain of William II., +whose evil deeds, contrary to the oft-quoted passage from Mark Antony's +speech in Julius Cæsar, are now generally forgotten; while the good +deeds that he wrought,--the nave of this church, and the still grander +nave of Durham Cathedral Church, Durham Castle, "Norham's castled +steep," and Kepier Hospital, built while he held the most important +diocese in the North of England,--live after him, and have shed a glory +on his name. Evil he was in moral character without doubt, but a +glorious builder nevertheless. Though he oppressed the clergy, though it +was through his instrumentality and by his advice that sees were kept +vacant for years, and when filled, only given to those who were able and +willing to pay large sums to the king, yet it is rather as a great +architect than as an ecclesiastic that we, who gaze with delight and +admiration on his work that has come down to us, will regard him. It is +said that, as his end drew nigh, he realised the amount of evil he had +done, and strove to make his peace with heaven and restitution to some, +at least, of those whom he had wronged. He died in 1128, and his body +rests in the great Cathedral Church of St Cuthbert that he had done so +much to raise. But it was in the earlier part of his career, before +he received the bishopric of Durham in 1099, that he probably began +the work at Christchurch with which we are at present concerned.[4] +He was succeeded there by Godric, who is called Senior and Patron +and afterwards Dean; but Flambard seems still to have exercised some +authority over him, illegal probably, but none the less real. We find +him granting to Godric, for the work of building, all the offerings +made by strangers and pilgrims, and when a canon died his share of the +revenues of the college was devoted to the same object, the vacancy not +being filled up by the appointment of any new canon. + + [4] Sir Gilbert Scott, however, thought that the Norman nave of + the Cathedral Church at Durham was commenced before Flambard + became bishop, and that the new church at Christchurch was + begun after that date, so that the work at Christchurch was + copied by him from what he found already commenced at Durham + when he went there. + +The length of Godric's tenure of office is uncertain. On his death Henry +I. appointed Gilbert de Dousgunels dean, having appropriated to himself +the accumulated fabric fund. Henry I. granted the patronage of the +church to Richard de Redvers, Earl of Devon, who appointed his chaplain, +Peter, a Norman of Caen, dean. This dean seems to have diverted the +funds from the work of completing the church, but his successor, +Randulphus, carried on the work again, so that in his time the church +and the conventual buildings were roofed in. In the time of Hilary, in +the year 1150, the secular college of canons was converted into a Priory +of Augustinian Canons. This change was made with the consent of Baldwin +de Redvers, in accordance with the wishes of Henry of Blois, brother of +King Stephen, and at that time Bishop of Winchester, who is well known +from the fact of his founding the Hospital of St Cross, near Winchester. +Hilary, two years before this change was made, had been consecrated +Bishop of Chichester, and subsequently became one of the episcopal +opponents of Thomas Becket. Henceforth, until the dissolution in the +reign of Henry VIII., the head of the religious community at +Christchurch was a prior, who was, according to a charter granted by +Richard de Redvers in 1160, elected by the canons. There were, in all, +twenty-six priors, and their names have come down to us, but with only +the most meagre notices of the architectural work which was carried on +by each of them. Extensive, however, it must have been; and from what we +see of the church itself, it would seem as if building operations must +have been almost constantly in progress. + +In all probability there was, according to the usual plan of Norman +churches, a tower at the junction of the nave and transepts, and beyond +this an apsidal choir. But there is no documentary record of such a +tower ever having been built or fallen, although its existence is +rendered probable by a carving of a church with tower and spire on +Draper's chantry, and by a similar representation on a seal, and in +two other parts of the building. It is probable that the original +choir extended westward beyond the transept, as at Westminster to the +present day. + +As has been stated above, the Norman church was commenced by Flambard +towards the end of the eleventh century; and of the work so begun, the +earliest existing remains are the arcading of the nave, the triforium, +and the transepts with the eastern apsidal chapel attached to the south +transept. Next to this in order came the walls of the aisles of the +nave, and the cloisters and chapter-house, which, however, have +disappeared; cloisters would come to be considered a necessity as soon +as the secular canons were superseded by regulars. The early English +clerestory of the nave seems to have been built in the time of the third +prior, Peter, about the beginning of the thirteenth century. To the end +of same century may be approximately assigned the vaulting of the nave +aisles, the north porch, and a chapel attached to the north transept. +Alterations of an extensive nature seem to have been begun in the +fourteenth century; for to this date belong the rood screen, placed +farther to the east than the old division between the ritual choir of +the canons and the western part of the nave, which was probably given up +to the lay dwellers in the parish,--and the splendid reredos. The Lady +Chapel also was completed certainly before 1406, probably eleven years +earlier. The fifteenth century saw the western tower built and the choir +commenced and a great part of it finished, though the vaulting seems not +to have been completed until the early part of the sixteenth century, as +W. E. the initials of William Eyre, who was prior from 1502 to 1520, are +to be seen on the bosses and the arch of the south choir aisle. Somewhat +later still is the chantry at the east end of the south choir aisle, +built by the last prior and dated 1529, and the chantry built by the +last of the Plantagenets, Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, daughter of +the Earl of Clarence and mother of Cardinal Pole, who at the age of +seventy was executed by Henry VIII. in 1541. + +Shortly before the dissolution in 1536 Prior Draper addressed a +petition to Henry VIII. which is still in existence in the Record +Office, praying that he would spare the Priory church, basing his +request upon the desolate character of the district, the poverty of +the house, and the fact that the church was not only a place for poor +religious men, but also a parish church to the town and hamlets round +about, whose inhabitants numbered from fifteen to sixteen hundred, that +there was no place where any honest man on horseback or on foot might +have succour or repose for the space of eight or nine miles, "but only +this poor place of Christchurch, to which both rich and poor doth repair +and repose." He goes on to say how it was of late years a place of +secular canons, until the king's antecessors made it a place of canons +regular, that "the poor, not only of the parish and town, but also of +the country, were daily relieved and sustained with bread and ale, +purposely baked and brewed for them weekly to no small quantities +according to their foundation, and a house ordained purposely for +them, and officers according duly given attendance to serve them +to their great comfort and relief." But all the pleading was in vain. +Commissioners were appointed, who presented their report to Lord +Cromwell December 2, 1539. They say that "we found the Prior a very +honest and conformable person, and the house well furnished with jewels +and plate, whereof some be meet for the king's majesty's use." Then +follows a list of the treasures of the abbey, of the yearly value of +the several endowments, and of the officers of the Priory, thirteen in +number besides the Prior. Prior Draper retired on a pension, and the +site of the domestic buildings was conveyed to Stephen and Margaret +Kirton. The domestic buildings themselves gradually disappeared, but the +whole of the church was handed over to the parish as a church, the grant +to the churchwardens being made by letters patent 23 October 32 Henry +VIII. It conveyed to them "the choir body, bell-tower with seven bells, +stones, timber, lead of roofing and gutters of the church and the +cemetery on the north side." Since then the church has been served by +vicars, the patronage being in the hands of the dean and chapter of +Winchester until the nineteenth century, when the advowson was purchased +by Lord Malmesbury. The living is now in the gift of the Bishop of +Winchester. + +During the present century much restoration has been done. The nave was +vaulted in stucco in 1819; the west window was taken in hand in 1828; +the pinnacles of the tower and the upper part of the turret containing +the stairs were renewed in 1871; and constant repairs have been going on +up to the present time; and the principle that has guided the restorer +has been, when any stonework has been removed to put in its place as +exact a copy of the old as possible,--a principle that cannot be +approved of, as it will lead, when the newness of the modern work has +been toned down by time, to confusion between the genuine old work and +the modern imitation of it. It is far better, when there is no question +of stability but only of appearance, to leave the old stonework, even +though much decayed, as it is, unscraped, untouched by the chisel, and +where strength is needed to put in frankly nineteenth-century work, +which could never by any possibility be mistaken for part of the +original building. + +One of the most glaring instances of injudicious restoration is to be +met with in the apsidal chapel attached to the eastern side of the south +transept. This work was carried out by the Hon. C. Harris, late Bishop +of Gibraltar. The arcading is a nineteenth-century imitation of Norman +work; the pavement is glaringly modern. Of what interest, it may well be +asked, is such work? Who would care to visit Christchurch to see it? The +nineteenth-century carver cannot possibly produce work similar to that +of the carver who lived in the twelfth century,--the conditions of his +life are altogether different, his training bears no resemblance to that +of the old artist, his work is a forgery, and a most clumsy one too. In +this chapel we see this reprehensible practice carried to its fullest +extent, but there are many other parts of the building which have +suffered. Most of the arcading on the exterior of the transept is modern +imitation, and the tracery of the windows of the south choir aisle has +been entirely renewed; no old stones, though many might have been used, +have been reset in their original position. The arcading of the south +aisle of the nave has been terribly tampered with. Possibly under the +influence of time many of the shafts had partially crumbled, and the +surface of the carved capitals had perished, so that the original design +could not be made out; but that was no reason for cutting away the +ornamental work to make way for modern decoration which may or may not +bear some slight resemblance to what was there before. Some of the piers +of the nave arcading have also been partially renewed. By an act of +much-to-be-condemned vandalism the sub-arches of the two eastern bays +of the south triforium of the nave were cut away to make room for +faculty pews; recently a glaring white pillar has been introduced into +the westernmost of these two bays, and two sub-arches built. If the +same kind of work is carried out in the other, we shall see in all +probability an attempt to copy the unique scale decoration which still +exists on the tympanum under the corresponding principal arch on the +north side, cut with modern tools with all the lifeless rigidity of +modern work. Another mistake which has been made, is the scraping off of +the plaster from the interior walls of the chamber known as St Michael's +Loft, over the Lady Chapel, and the re-pointing of the stonework. Old +builders invariably covered their rubble walls with plaster, but the +modern restorer for some reason seems to hate plaster and prefers, to +show the coarse stonework which the builder never intended should be +seen, and to emphasise the roughness by filling up the joints with +conspicuous pointing. This, however, is not so destructive as much of +the work which has been condemned above, because at any time the walls +could be recovered with a thin coat of smooth plaster laid on with a +trowel, but not "floated,"--that is, not brought to a smooth surface +by a long straightedge. + +A large and old building such as this Priory Church will need almost +constant repairs to keep it sound and safe, and the income from +visitors' fees is quite sufficient for this purpose. It is, however, +much to be feared that restoration and reconstruction will form far too +large a part of the work done in this building. Every new ornamental +stone, to make room for which some original stone is displaced, detracts +from the value of the building from an archæological point of view; and +though there may be some, or even many, who prefer the trim and smug +appearance of modern work to that of the old, instinct with life, full +of the thoughts of the builders and workers in wood and stone, whose +bones have mouldered into dust in the garth of the vanished cloisters, +and whose very names have in many cases been forgotten, yet we hope that +those who have this priceless treasure in their keeping may recognise +ere it is too late, that the result of a continuance of the process of +restoration commenced about the middle of the nineteenth century will +be the gradual conversion of a splendid memorial of bygone ages into a +modern sham, and they themselves will be regarded, when true love of art +becomes general, with the same indignation as that which they themselves +feel with regard to those who pulled down the roof of the south transept +and cut out the columns and sub-arches of the triforium in days before +the Gothic revival set in. And the modern restorer has less excuse than +the destroyer of a hundred years ago. If, like the vandals of the +Georgian period, they had been blind to the beauties of architectural +art, they would have had no sin, yet since they profess to see, +therefore their sin will remain and their names will be held in +perpetual reproach and everlasting contempt. + +The foregoing historical sketch of the building has perforce been +somewhat vague in dates, for, in the absence of documentary evidence, it +is not easy to fix from architectural considerations alone the date of +any particular piece of work within a limit of some twenty years or so. +The out-of-the-way position of the Priory of Christchurch--for no great +road ran through the town, and though it is near the sea there is no +convenient harbour near it--has brought it to pass that it is scarcely +mentioned in any mediæval chronicles. Its own fabric rolls and annals +have been lost. Here and there, however, the date of a will or the +inscription on a monument has enabled a more definite date to be arrived +at. The dates also of the dedications of some of the many altars are +known--viz. that of the Holy Saviour, used by the canons as their high +altar, and that of St Stephen, dedicated by the Bishop of Ross in 1199; +that of the altar of the Holy Trinity, which stood in the nave, and was +the high altar of the parish; and those of the altars of SS. Peter and +Paul, SS. Augustine and Gregory and all the Prophets, dedicated by +Walter, Bishop of Whitherne, on November 7, 1214; that of the altar of +St John the Baptist and St Edmund, dedicated on December 7, 1214, by the +same bishop; and that of the altar of SS. Michael and Martin, dedicated +by the Bishop of the Isles in 1221. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE EXTERIOR + + +The exterior of the church of Christchurch Priory may be well seen from +several points of view. The churchyard lies to the north of the +building, extending beyond it both to the east and west. On the south +side, where all the domestic buildings of the Priory once stood, there +is a modern house and private grounds. All that belongs to the church is +a path running under the walls as far as the east corner of the +transept, where a garden door stops farther progress. Several glimpses +of the building, however, may be obtained on the way down to the Stour, +and seen from the south side of this river, the church rises above its +surroundings, and forms a conspicuous object. A good general view on the +north-east may also be obtained from a bridge over the Avon. From this +point of view the great length of the church is apparent; on the +right-hand side may be seen the ruins of the Norman keep of the castle +on its artificial mound, and nearer to the bridge the remains of a +twelfth-century Norman house. From the churchyard, also, the whole north +side of the church may be seen at once, and many striking features will +be noticed. Among these, the circular staircase attached to the +transept, with its rich diaper work; Norman arcading of interlacing +arches running round the transept; the large windows of the choir +clerestory, so wide and closely set together that the whole wall seems +as though composed of glass--through which, and the windows of the +opposite wall, the light of the sky can be seen; and lastly, the upper +storey of the Lady Chapel with its row of windows of a domestic type. + +[Illustration: CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY, FROM THE NORTH-EAST.] + +[Illustration: TOWER DOOR.] + +A systematic examination of the exterior may best be begun with +the #Western Tower#. This is of fifteenth-century date, and is set +partially within the church--that is to say, its builder did not add +it to the west of the church, making an archway through the previously +existing west front, but pulled down the whole west wall of the nave, +leaving, however, the west walls of the aisles, and carried the north +and south walls of the new tower as far back into the church as the +space occupied by the western bay, thus leaving two spaces at the +west end of the aisles, one now used as a vestry, the other as a kind +of lumber-room. In the west face of the tower is a doorway under a +rectangular label; in the spandrels are two shields, bearing the arms of +the Priory, and of the Montacutes and Monthermers, Earls of Salisbury. +The doors are modern. Immediately above the doorway is a large window +with three tiers, each containing six lights. The head of the window +above these is of an ordinary Perpendicular character. The tracery was +restored in 1828. Above this window is a niche containing a figure of +Christ. The upper stage, which contains the bells, has two two-light +windows in each face, each light being divided by a transom. These +windows are not glazed, but are furnished with louvre-boards. The tower +is crowned with a pierced battlemented parapet having pinnacles at +the corners and at the middles of each side; within this rises a low +pyramidal roof. The stair turret runs up at the north-east angle of the +tower; this is octagonal, and is crowned with a parapet and crocketed +pinnacles; the upper part of this turret and the pinnacles were renewed +in 1871. The tower is strengthened by two buttresses at right angles +to each other at each of the two western angles. On either side of +the tower, as already explained, may be seen the west end of the nave +aisles; these have windows with Perpendicular tracery, and on the north +wall of the north aisle is a plain, round-headed doorway cut through the +wall in modern time, with a Perpendicular window over it. + +[Illustration: NORTH PORCH.] + +Next comes the #North Porch#, with a chamber above it--here, as in +many other churches, the chief entrance into the building. Its great +dimensions, both in length and height, however, are remarkable; it +projects 40 feet beyond the aisle wall, and its own side walls rise +nearly to the height of the clerestory of the church. Its south end +does not extend beyond the wall of the aisle, so that there is a space +between the upper part of the porch and the clerestory. The upper part +above the porch proper contains, as mentioned above, a lofty chamber, +probably originally the muniment-room. This is lighted by two pairs +of narrow single-light windows on either side, and by a similar pair +in the north face beneath the obtuse-angled gable. This room is, no +doubt, a later addition. The entrance into the porch is a beautiful, +deeply-recessed archway of thirteenth-century date, with numerous shafts +of Purbeck marble on either side. Within the porch the side walls are +divided into two compartments, each of which is composed of two pointed +arches beneath another larger pointed arch, with a cinquefoil in the +head. On the west side, near the outer archway, is a cinquefoiled +recess, with shafts of Purbeck marble and foliated cusps. This is +said originally to have contained a desk, at which the prior met the +parishioners and signed deeds. A stone seat runs along each side of +the porch walls. The double doorway which leads into the church is very +beautiful and rich Early English work. From six Purbeck marble shafts on +either side spring the orders of the enclosing archway; the heads of the +double doorways themselves are cinquefoiled arches with foliated cusps. +At the jambs, and dividing the two doors, are clusters of Purbeck marble +shafts, with moulded capitals. In the tympanum is a quatrefoil, the +upper part of which projects so as to form a canopy. This was, no doubt, +intended to contain some carved subject, possibly the Doom. Very +extensive restoration was carried out in the groining and porch +generally, in 1862. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH DOOR.] + +The wall of the #North Aisle# between the porch and the transept is +divided into six compartments by Early English buttresses with gabled +heads. This wall was built in Norman times, as may be seen from the +small round-headed windows which light the clerestory, but was in +Early English times faced with fresh ashlar, which conceals the Norman +arcading of intersecting arches which ran along this wall. The triforium +windows on this side are not, though they are on the south side, +regularly arranged; there are none in the two western divisions, while +between the easternmost buttress and the transept there are two. Six +late thirteenth-century windows were cut through this wall--these are +all of similar design; they consist of two lights under a comprising +arch, with a circle in the head. The clerestory windows are of plainer +character. Each window consists of two simple lancets set under a +recessed arch without any hood moulding; the tympana also above the +lancet heads are not pierced or decorated in any way; in fact, the whole +clerestory is remarkably plain. Between the windows are flat buttresses. +The aisles are covered with lean-to roofs of lead, the nave itself with +a tiled roof of medium pitch. The gable at the east end of the nave, and +indications on the east face of the tower, show that the pitch of the +roof was once higher, and that it must have been lowered at some time +after the tower was built in the fifteenth century. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH TRANSEPT IN 1810. +(From Britton's "Architectural Antiquities.")] + +The #North Transept# is most interesting. Its west wall contains +two round-headed windows with billet moulding, the northern one blocked +up; and at the north-west corner is a cluster of cylindrical shafts +running up to about the same height as the walls of the aisle. Why they +terminated here it is hard to say; they may mark the termination of the +original Norman wall. This wall may not have risen above this height, +or the upper part may have been taken down and rebuilt when the large +Perpendicular window was inserted in the north end of the transept. At +the north-east corner of the transept stands a richly-ornamented turret +of Norman date. Round the lower part of this the arcade of intersecting +arches which runs round the whole transept is carried; above this, round +the turret, runs an arcading of semicircular-headed arches springing +from pairs of shafts; above this the wall is decorated with diaper work; +and finally, another arcading, this time of round-headed arches rising +from single shafts, encircles the turret. The turret is capped by a +sloping roof of stone attached to the transept wall. This turret is +worthy of close attention, because it shows how the Norman builders +hated monotony; each stage has its own decoration unlike that of +any other; and, moreover, there are variations in the shafts of the +arcading--some are plain, some decorated in one way, some in another. +The same love of variety may be seen here that lends so great a charm +on a larger scale to Flambard's glorious nave at Durham. No doubt this +north transept had attached to its east wall an apsidal Norman chapel +similar to that which still exists on the eastern side of the south +transept, but this had to make way for an addition of two chapels, which +we may assign, from the character of their architecture, to the latter +end of the thirteenth century. The northern chapel is lighted by a +three-light window with three foliated circles in the head, which is +rather sharp pointed, and the southern one by a two-light window with +one foliated arch. These are beautiful examples of plate tracery. Above +these chapels is a small chamber lighted by a window of similar +character. This is supposed to have been the tracing room, where the +various architectural designs for the building were drawn. + +To the east of the transept may be seen the #Choir# and #Presbytery#, +with its four clerestory windows; the #Choir Aisle#, also with four +windows; the #Lady Chapel#, with the octagonal turret-staircase leading +into Saint Michael's Loft above it. It will be noticed that there is no +window in the aisle under the western clerestory window of the choir, +as the space where this would have been found is occupied by the two +chapels to the east of the transept, and also that the aisle extends +beyond the choir and flanks the western part of the Lady Chapel. The +whole of this part of the church is of Perpendicular character. The +windows of the choir aisles are low, the arches are depressed, and the +curvature of each side of the arch is so slight that they appear almost +straight lines. The body of these windows contains four lights; in the +head, each of these is subdivided into two. Between the aisle windows +are buttresses, which, with the exception of the one opposite the east +wall of the choir, which terminates in a gable, have pinnacled cappings; +and from each of these, save the gabled one, a flying buttress is +carried over the roof of the aisle and rests against the choir wall. +The aisle roof is flat, and at the top of the outer wall runs a plain +parapet pierced with quatrefoil openings. The clerestory windows are of +great size and are set close together. The choir roof is flat and is +quite invisible from the exterior. There can be little doubt that a +parapet at one time ran along the tops of the clerestory walls, but +this has disappeared. The Lady Chapel has on either side three large +Perpendicular windows; the arches of these as well as those of the +clerestory have pointed heads. The western half of the central window +of the Lady Chapel is blocked up by the later-built octagonal turret +containing the staircase to Saint Michael's Loft. The staircase +commences in an octagonal turret at the north-east corner of the choir +aisle,--this rises above the aisle roof,--the stairs are then carried +above the east wall of the choir aisle and then into the octagonal +turret, which runs up the wall of the Lady Chapel and the loft above, +and rises to some height above the parapet. There is a similar staircase +on the south side, but the turret does not rise quite so high above the +roof. There are five square-headed two-light windows on either side of +St Michael's Loft, the lights being divided by transoms, the upper parts +foliated. At the east end is a three-light window without any transom, +with an obtuse arch under a dripstone. The loft has a parapet all round +it pierced with quatrefoil openings. Some of this parapet, at any rate, +is modern, as, in a photograph of the north side taken in 1884, the +parapet is only shown to the east of the turret. As restoration work +is constantly going on at the church, the money paid by visitors for +viewing the interior (sixpence a head, which produces over £500 a year) +being devoted to this object, the parapet will doubtless in course of +time be extended along the walls of the choir, and will certainly add to +the beauty of the church; and as nothing will be destroyed to make room +for it, such an addition will not be open to the same objection as much +of the work done by restoration committees. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH TRANSEPT.] + +The buttresses at the east angles of the Lady Chapel are set diagonally, +and rise in five stages; the upper stage of each is square, in section, +with the faces parallel to the walls of the church, and reaches a higher +level than the parapet, and is finished with a flat cap. The large east +window is a Perpendicular one of five lights. From the base of the +south-east buttress runs a wall dividing the burying-ground from the +gardens of the house, to the south of the church, which stands on the +site of the domestic buildings of the priory. The portion of the wall of +the Lady Chapel beneath the eastern-most window on the north side is +modern. Here Mr Ferrey, the architect, by whom much of the restoration +was carried out, discovered traces of an external chantry and the marks +of an arcading corresponding to that still remaining on the inside. + +[Illustration: THE SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE.] + +The object of the chamber above the Lady Chapel is uncertain,--in +1617 it is described as "St Michael's Loft," in 1666 the parishioners +described it as "heretofore a chapter-house," when petitioning the +bishop to allow it to be used as a school. But if it was ever used as +a chapter-house, it could only have been for a short time, as there is +evidence that there was a chapter-house to the south side of the choir +in the twelfth century, and that this remained as late as 1498. The +south side of the Lady Chapel and choir correspond very closely with the +north side, but there are several differences to be noticed between the +south and north transepts. On the eastern side of the #South Transept# +the Norman apsidal chapel still remains. This has a semi-conical roof +with chevron table moulding under it, and two windows--one of original +Norman work, the other a three-light Early English window. A sacristy +of Early English date stands to the east of the apsidal chapel, and +occupies the space between the apse and the south choir wall. At the +south-east corner of the transept there is a circular stair turret +corresponding to some extent with the turret at the north-east angle +of the north transept; this, in the second stage, becomes octagonal in +section, and rises above the parapet of the transept. In the south face +is a depressed segmental window, much smaller than the corresponding +window on the north side, under a gabled parapet. The pitch of the roof +of the south transept is much higher than that of the north transept, +and the upper part of the transept does not abut against the walls of +the church. Two tiers of corbel brackets on the south wall, and traces +of two Norman windows seem to indicate that here, as elsewhere, a slype, +with a room above it, intervened between the south end of the transept +and the chapter-house. This slype was generally a passage connecting the +cloister garth with the smaller garth to the south of the choir which +was often used as a burying-place for the abbots or priors, as the case +may be, and was the place where the monks or canons interviewed visitors +and chapmen. The room above was often used as the library. The south of +the #Nave# is decidedly inferior in interest to the north. The cloisters +have entirely disappeared, but a series of round-headed arches, formed +of stucco, may conceal a stone arcading similar to that hidden by the +Early English facing of the north wall. The small round-headed windows +giving light to the triforium are more regularly arranged than on the +north side; there is one, and only one, in each division between the +buttresses. There were, as usual, two doors in this wall: one for the +canons, in the wall opposite to the west of the cloister, one close to +the transept for the prior; both are now blocked up. The prior's door, +in the injunction of Langton, 1498, is directed to be kept locked, save +when on festivals a procession passed through it. This doorway is of +early thirteenth-century work; it is round-headed, and is French in +character. There is a legend that a party of French monks, terrified +by a dragon which rose out of the sea, possibly an ancestor of the +sea-serpent of more modern days, put in to Christchurch haven, and were +entertained by the canons, with whom they abode for many years; possibly +this door may be of their workmanship or design. In the south wall a +large aumbry or cupboard, in the thickness of the walls, may be seen; +in this possibly the canons kept the books that they had brought from +the library for study. What the windows in this aisle were we cannot +say--originally, no doubt, Norman, for the westernmost window is still +of this style; but the others, which were widened either in Early +English or Decorated times, are now all filled with nineteenth-century +tracery of Decorated type. The buttresses between the windows, unlike +those on the north side, are flat Norman ones. Towards the west end of +the aisle a passage has in modern times been cut through the wall, and +when this was done remains of a staircase which, no doubt, led to the +dormitory, were discovered. The clerestory, on this side, is of the same +plain character as on the north side. + +In a line with the south wall, but some little distance to the west, +still stands a house which was once the porter's lodge, close to the +site of the gatehouse. The porter's lodge was built by Prior Draper +II. in the sixteenth century. The remains of the domestic buildings are +very scanty--some old walls near the modern mill, occupying, no doubt, +the site of the mill where the canons' corn was ground; some vestiges +of the fish ponds; some few traces of walls and foundations, are all +that have come down to modern days. From the similarity of arrangement +in the buildings of religious houses, however, we can, with great +certainty, assign the sites for the various parts--the dormitory over +the cellarage, to the west of the cloister garth; the refectory to south +of it; the calefactory, chapter-house, slype, to the east; and the +prior's lodgings to the south of the choir, forming the lesser garth; +the barns, bakery, and brew-house to the south-west of the church, +near the porter's lodge and gatehouse. The prior had a country house +at Heron Court, a grange at Somerford, and another at St Austin's, near +Lymington. It must be understood that the choir was the church of the +canons, and, as was common in churches served by Augustinian canons, the +nave was used for the services which the laity of the district attended. + +It is noteworthy that whether owing to the purity of the air, so +different from that which exists in the large cities where so many of +the cathedral churches stand, or from the goodness of the stone, most of +the Priory Church is in most excellent preservation. Carving which, we +are assured, has never been retouched with a chisel since it was first +cut, remains as sharp and clearly cut as though it were the work of +the nineteenth century; possibly some of its excellence is due to the +preservative effect of the whitewash with which it was once covered, and +which has been cleaned off with water and a stiff bristled brush. + +The stone of which the north side of the nave is built came from +Binstead; the limestone columns from Henden Hill; the Norman round +turret and the choir is built of Portland stone; while Purbeck marble +shafts are used in the north porch, and of the fine white stone from +Caen in Normandy, the Salisbury and Draper chantries in the interior +are constructed. These, though now about four hundred years old, are +absolutely sharp in all the carving. There is a tombstone to the north +of the porch which bears a curious inscription as follows:--"We were +not slayne but raysd, raysd not to life but to be byried twice by men +of strife. What rest could the living have when dead had none agree +amongst you heere we ten are one. Hen. Rogers died Aprill 17 1641." +This inscription has been variously explained. It is said by some that +Cromwell, afterwards Protector, was at Christchurch, and dug up some +lead coffins to make bullets for his soldiers, and flung the bodies out +of ten such coffins into one grave; but this is manifestly incorrect. +Oliver Cromwell was never at Christchurch, though Thomas Cromwell +probably was, and here, as elsewhere, the two have been confounded. +In many cases poor Oliver has had to bear the blame for destruction +caused to churches by his less well-known namesake, the great destroyer +of religious houses in the days of the eighth Henry. But neither of +them had anything to do with this tomb, nor were the Parliamentary +forces guilty of tampering with the coffins of the dead in the parish +burying-ground at Christchurch. The very date precludes the idea, for +the civil war did not begin till more than fifteen months after the +date carved on this stone; and we may give the Roundheads credit for +more sense than to be digging up coffins to make their bullets with, +when there was abundance of lead to be had for the stripping on the roof +of the Priory Church. A far more probable explanation is that which +states that the ten bodies here interred were those of ten shipwrecked +sailors, who were first buried on the cliffs near the spot where they +were washed ashore; but the lord of the manor, when he heard thereof, +waxed exceeding wroth, and a strife ensued between him and one Henry +Rogers, Mayor of Christchurch, the former insisting on their removal to +consecrated ground, the latter objecting to the removal, probably on the +ground of expense; but in the end the lord of the manor had his way. But +the mayor, to save the cost of ten separate graves, had them all buried +in one, and placed this inscription over their remains as a protest +against the conduct of the lord of the manor in moving their remains +from their first resting-place. + +The graveyard at the present time is neatly kept and well cared +for. The headstones have not, as they have been in many other +places, tampered with; and though many of the alterations made in the +restoration will not gain the approval of archæologists, yet some have +been judiciously done, and some that are in contemplation will certainly +have the result of rendering once more visible beautiful mediæval work, +long concealed by ugly modern additions. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE INTERIOR + + +A rapid walk round the interior of the Priory Church shows that it +practically consists of three main portions, almost entirely divided +from each other--the #Nave#, the #Choir#, and the #Lady Chapel#. The +solid rood screen, pierced by one narrow doorway, forms an effectual +division between the nave and choir, while the stone reredos and the +wall above it, running right up to the vaulting, entirely separates the +latter from the Lady Chapel. In mediæval times the choir was reserved +for the use of the canons; the nave was the parish church with its own +high altar; the rood loft was an excellent point of vantage from which +a preacher could address a large congregation. In those times pews had +not been introduced; open benches may have existed. At present the nave +is occupied by pews; these with their cast-iron poppies were erected in +1840, and were then higher than at present. Still, even in their present +form, they hide the bases of the pillars, and might with much advantage +be swept away, and their places taken by open benches or movable chairs. +The pews in the transepts are of older date; these, together with +the galleries above them--that in the south transept supporting the +organ--are a sad disfigurement to the church, and it is to be hoped that +they will be soon removed; they hide some splendid Norman work. The case +of the north gallery is worse than the south, as a staircase leading to +it disfigures the beautiful Early English chapel attached to the east +side of the transept. This gallery, however, contains some faculty pews. +All the owners of these, save one, consented to its removal; but one +stood out against it, and, having the legal right to prevent any +alteration, has up to the present time kept the gallery intact. But as +he has recently died there can be little doubt that no long time will +now elapse before this disfigurement to the church will be a thing of +the past. There seems little need for the gallery, as there is ample +accommodation on the floor of the church for any congregation that is +likely to assemble within the walls. Many alterations, some of which are +certainly improvements, have already been made. In an engraving, dated +1834, the organ is represented standing on the rood screen, probably the +best place for it; and the four eastern bays of the nave are seen to be +partitioned off by a wooden screen with a rod for curtains. On a level +with the capitals of the pillars, to the west of this partition, stands +the font. At this time also the triforium was boarded off in order to +shut out draughts and cold; but this boarding has happily been swept +away, the partition across the nave has been removed, and an oaken +screen with glazed panels runs across the church, cutting off the +western bay from the remainder of the nave. The font, a modern one, +now stands under the tower; a modern pulpit on the south side, under the +crossing, where also desks for the clergy and choir have been placed. It +is now the custom on Sunday mornings to read the whole of the service up +to the end of the Nicene Creed, in the nave; after the sermon is over, +the communicants alone enter the choir to receive the sacrament. The +choir is also used for week-day services. The Lady Chapel is not used. +The nave is Early Norman work, and was chiefly built during the reign +of William II.; the clerestory, however, was added at the beginning of +the thirteenth century by Peter, who was prior from 1195 to 1225. The +original nave was probably covered by a flat wooden ceiling, the Early +Norman builders rarely venturing to span any wide space by a stone +vaulting. The present vaulting is of stucco, and was added by Garbett +in 1819. The roof was altered in Perpendicular times more than once, as +indications of a higher pitched roof than the present one exists on the +east face of the fifteenth-century tower. As springing stones for a +vaulted roof exist, it is probable that a stone roof was at one time +contemplated; but possibly the idea was abandoned on account of the fear +that the walls, unsupported by any exterior flying buttress to resist +the thrust, would not have borne the weight. It will be remembered that +such buttresses are to be met with along the walls of the choir, which +is covered with a stone vaulting. The nave consists of seven bays. The +pillars of this arcading, unlike those of Flambard's nave at Durham, +are not cylindrical, but consist of half columns set against piers +rectangular in section. The capitals are of the early cushion shape; +some of them seem to have been subsequently carved with ornamentation +which bears some resemblance to classical forms. The wall spaces above +the semicircular arches, and below the chevron string-course which runs +beneath the triforium, are decorated with hatchet-work carving, as will +be seen from the illustrations. The triforium on either side consists, +in each bay, of two coupled arches supported by a central pillar, +enclosed by a comprising arch with bold mouldings and double columns, +separated by square members. The most beautiful bay is the easternmost, +on the north side, where the wall surface above the smaller arches, +and beneath the enclosing arch, is carved with a kind of scale-work. +Possibly the opposite bay, on the south side, was as richly ornamented, +but the lower arches and the central column no longer exist, as they +were cut away to make room for a faculty pew in 1820. These two bays +were included within the original Norman choir. The central shaft, on +the north side, is twisted. Two of the central shafts, on the south +side, are richly ornamented--one with twisted decoration, the other with +a projecting reticulated pattern. The shaft and sub-arches of the second +bay from the east on this side is a modern renewal, as here also the old +work was destroyed in 1820 to make room for a pew. The north triforium +can be reached by a staircase continued up into the tower, entered from +the western part of the aisle; access to the south triforium can only be +gained by the use of a ladder. The north triforium deserves examination. +It will be found that pointed arches have been added at the back, and +buttresses have been built against the back of the wall behind the +arches; the floor is rendered uneven by humps necessitated by the Early +English vaulting of the aisle below--probably the aisles were originally +covered with a barrel roof. At the east end of the north triforium an +arch may be seen, which once opened out into the transept; this is now +walled up, and traces of painting may still be seen on it. There is +a passage under the clerestory, to which access may be obtained by a +passage across the transept; this was, no doubt, made in order that +the shutters of the windows might be opened or closed, according to the +state of the weather. From the staircase which leads up to the north +triforium a passage leads into the chamber over the north porch. This is +a large room, about 40 feet in length from north to south, and is now +used as a practising room for the choir; it is fitted with benches and +a grand piano, and has a modern wooden gallery running along its south +end. + +[Illustration: THE NAVE IN 1834.] + +[Illustration: THE NAVE.] + +[Illustration: NORTH ARCADE OF NAVE.] + +[Illustration: FROM THE NORTH TRIFORIUM.] + +[Illustration: BAY OF THE TRIFORIUM, SOUTH SIDE.] + +The #South Aisle# is much more elaborately decorated than the north. +Along the south wall runs a fine Norman arcade, the arches ornamented +with billet and cable moulding. The window in the western bay is the +original Norman one; the others were altered either in Early English or +Decorated times, and are now filled with modern tracery in the Decorated +style designed by Mr Ferrey. In the third bay is a holy water stoop, and +in the fifth a large aumbry or recess, entered by a door; in this used +to be kept the bier and lights used at funerals. Along the walls of each +aisle runs a stone bench. There is no arcading on the wall of the north +aisle. The vaulting of both aisles is Early English, dating from the +time of Peter, the third prior, who, as previously stated, built the +clerestory. The tracery of the north aisle windows is transitional in +character between Early English and Decorated. + +[Illustration: THE SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE.] + +[Illustration: THE MONTACUTE CHANTRY.] + +The #Transepts# are much encumbered by modern pews and galleries, +and it is only by careful examination that much of the beautiful work +that they contain can be seen. The arch opening from the south aisle +into the transept is Early English, and the skilful junction of Early +English and Norman work at this point is deserving of attention. +This transept was at one time covered by a stone vaulting, which was +destroyed at the latter end of the eighteenth century and in the +beginning of the nineteenth. Some of the bosses taken from this may be +seen, piled up with the old font and other fragments, at the west end of +the north choir aisle. The west wall of the transept contains a Norman +window. A doorway into the slype remains in the wall, and communicates +with a wall passage. At the eastern side of the transept an arch opens +out into an apsidal chapel, but pews block up the entrance. This chapel +has been so completely restored that it has a thoroughly neat and modern +appearance, and has lost all its archæological value; round it runs a +Norman arcade, and on the north side an aumbry may be seen. The north +transept retains its Norman arcading, which, fortunately, has not been +touched by the restorer's hand; how long it may escape is doubtful, +as it is much mutilated. Still, as it is simply decorative, and not +necessary for the stability of the wall, it would be well to leave it +untouched, as genuine old work, even though it may have suffered at the +hand of time or of former generations, is, from a decorative point of +view, infinitely preferable to any modern reproduction. There are +two small windows in the west wall to light the wall passage to the +clerestory, which is reached by a gallery running across the base of +the north window. In the north wall, behind the back of the pews, is a +thirteenth-century recess. From this transept access is gained to the +circular staircase leading downward to the crypt and upward to the small +chamber above the eastern chapels. This is popularly known as Oliver +Cromwell's harness room, and marks are shown on the wall supposed to +have been holes for the insertion of pegs whereon he hung his harness; +but as the Protector never came to Christchurch, all this is purely +mythical. On one of the walls Mr Ferrey, the architect, found a design +for a window; this he copied, and used when designing the tracery of the +window he inserted over the prior's door at the east end of the south +aisle of the nave. This tracing chamber is lighted by a two-light window +with a quatrefoil in the head in the eastern wall. The two chapels below +are beautiful examples of transition work from the Early English to the +Decorated style; they were built by the De Redvers, Earls of Devon, the +last of whom died in 1263. The eagles of the Montacute and Monthermer +families appear in this chantry. There are two windows in the eastern +wall. The larger, on the north, consists of three lights, with three +circles in the head; the foliation of these outside the glass forms +cinquefoil openings; the smaller window is of a similar character, but +consists of two lights only, with a single foliated arch above them. An +archway, widely splayed, on the western side, opens into the transept, +and another archway opens into the choir aisle; this has a panelled +pier, standing a little apart from the eastern side, designed to support +the arch, which probably was found to be giving way. The shafts along +the eastern wall, the capitals of one of which is carved with a number +of heads said to represent the twelve apostles, should be noticed; the +vaulting ribs are also interesting, especially the joggled ribs seen +over the window. A stone altar stood in one of these chantries until +1780. These chapels are sadly disfigured by a mean staircase which leads +into the transept gallery; it is devoutly to be hoped that before long +this may be removed, and the exquisite beauty of the chapels seen +without any inharmonious and irritating feature such as this staircase +undoubtedly is. Below the transept is an Early Norman crypt; it is +thought by some, from the rudeness of the work, that it may be of +earlier date than the existing church, and that it belonged to the +original church which Flambard destroyed to make room for his more +splendid edifice. In it were discovered a number of human bones, which +were reinterred in the churchyard. It has a plain barrel roof, divided +by broad flat arches rising from pilasters. + +[Illustration: THE NORTH AISLE OF NAVE.] + +It has often been debated whether or not the church ever possessed a +central tower. There is no documentary evidence bearing on the question. +It may be said that if a tower existed and fell, or was pulled down for +any reason, some record would have remained; but the records connected +with the building are fragmentary, and it by no means follows that the +absence of record proves the non-existence of such a tower. In the case +of Wimborne Minster the churchwarden's accounts contain no record of the +building or of the fall of the spire, yet we know from outside testimony +that such a spire did fall in 1600, and that a representation of it +occurs on a seal. So here at Christchurch a seal is in existence on +which the church is represented with a central tower of two storeys, the +lower plain, the upper lighted by two round-headed windows and capped by +a low pyramidal spire or roof with a tall cross on the summit. This is +exactly what one would expect to find: a central tower is almost always +found in Norman churches, especially collegiate churches; and the +pyramidal roof was almost certainly the usual form in which these early +towers were finished. The battlemented parapets which we so often meet +with in Norman towers are in all cases more recent additions. Moreover, +the massive arches and piers at the corners indicate that a tower was +contemplated, even if it were never built. In the east gable of the nave +as it at present exists, two round-headed windows may be seen. It is +highly probable that this gable once formed part of the east wall of the +tower, and when the tower was removed this wall was converted into a +gable. Everything to the east of the crossing being of late fourteenth +or early fifteenth century date, indicates that extensive alterations +were made at that time; and if a tower and spire had previously existed, +it must have been removed before this date. In the centre of the carving +over the doorway leading into the Draper chantry, dated 1529, there is a +representation of a church with a central tower and spire. Of course, no +such steeple existed at the time this chantry was built, but it may have +been a copy of some then existing representation of the building as it +had appeared in former times. There are also two other carvings of +angels carrying a model of a church with a central tower--one near the +Salisbury chantry, one on the choir roof. + +[Illustration: THE CRYPT.] + +The nave is divided from the choir by a splendid rood screen 16 feet 6 +inches high, 33 feet long, and 9 feet thick. The western face of this +projects beyond the line joining the east walls of the two transepts; +its eastern face rests against the eastern piers intended to support the +central tower. It was extensively restored by Mr Ferrey in 1848, who +considered that it may have been removed from some conventual church +after the dissolution of the monasteries in the time of Henry VIII. and +re-erected here. But there does not seem to be any real grounds for +supposing that it was not expressly built for this church. Its character +indicates a date somewhat late in the fourteenth century. In the centre +is a narrow doorway and a passage into the choir; from the north side +of this passage a flight of steps leads to the top of the loft. The +base of the screen is plain; above this is a row of thirteen panelled +quatrefoils on each side of the doorway--each containing a plain shield, +over these a string course, then two rows of canopied niches, the upper +row consisting of twelve, the lower, owing to the doorway occupying the +central space, of only ten. The lower niches have pedestals, each formed +of four short columns with detached bases but with large capitals, which +meet one another above; these capitals are richly carved with foliage. +No doubt, on the level space thus formed statues at one time stood. +Woodwork screens with glazed doors and panels, made from an oak screen +which formerly was placed across the south transept, run across the +western ends of the choir aisles, so that when the doors of these and of +the rood screen are locked, the eastern arm of the cross is entirely +shut off from the rest of the church. + +[Illustration: THE ROOD SCREEN.] + +[Illustration: STALL SEAT. South Side.] + +[Illustration: STALL SEAT. North Side.] + +[Illustration: STALL SEAT. North Side.] + +The #Choir# is entirely Perpendicular in character, and it seems to +have been begun in the time of Henry VI. but not to have been completed +until the time of Henry VII., and some of the carving of the stalls +is of still later date. Leland says of it, "Baldwin, Earl of Devon, +was the first founder, and his successors to the time of Isabella de +Fortibus,[5] and at present the Earls of Salisbury are regarded as +founders." Four large clerestory windows on either side light the choir. +The wall beneath these is continued downwards to the floor, but under +each window a low obtusely-pointed depressed archway is cut leading +into the aisles. Between the bottom of each clerestory window and the +heads of these arches the wall is panelled as with window mullions +and tracery, so that the appearance from the inner side may be best +understood by imagining that each window extended from floor to roof, +but that the upper part alone is glazed, the lower cut away for the arch +leading into the aisle, and the lower lights beneath the transom blocked +up with masonry. These lower arches are more or less blocked up. +The Salisbury chapel blocks up the north-eastern one completely; the +sedilia, no doubt, occupied the opposite one, where now a modern altar +tomb may be seen. The next on each side to the west is open, and flights +of steps under them lead down to the aisles; the woodwork at the back +of the choir stalls close the remaining two on the inside, and on the +outside chantry chapels, opening one into the north one into the south +aisle, stand under the second arch on each side counting from the rood +screen. The upper stalls number in all thirty-six, fifteen on either +side, and six with their backs to the rood screen. There is, also, +a lower range of stalls on the north and south. The prior's and +sub-prior's stalls on either side the doorway in the screen looking +east are canopied, as also is the precentor's at the east end of the +south side. The arms of the stalls are quaintly carved with various +grotesque figures, as are also the misereres; the upper parts of the +panels behind the upper stalls are also carved in low relief; above +these is a projecting cornice decorated with pinnacles. The stalls are +late Perpendicular work, the wainscoting behind the stalls being later +still, as we can see from the subjects carved on the upper part of each +panel. Some of the misereres are, however, very old--one dates back to +about 1200, another to 1300, others are of later date, and most of them +belong to the same period as the stalls. The older ones were found lying +about in the lumber of the church, and have been placed in recent years +in some of the stalls the seats of which had been lost or stolen. +The older seats may have belonged to the original Norman choir. As the +term "miserere" may not be understood by all our readers, it may be +well to quote from Parker's "Glossary of Architecture" the following +description:--"Miserere, Misericorde, Patience, or Pretella, is the +projecting bracket on the under-side of the seats of stalls in churches: +these, where perfect, are fixed with hinges so that they may be turned +up, and when this is done the projection of the miserere is sufficient, +without actually forming a seat, to afford very considerable rest to any +one leaning upon it. They were allowed as a relief to the infirm during +the long services that were required to be performed by ecclesiastics +in a standing posture. They are always more or less ornamented with +carvings of leaves, small figures, animals, etc., which are generally +very boldly cut. Examples are to be found in almost all ancient churches +which retain any of the ancient stalls--one of the oldest remaining +specimens is in Henry VII.'s Chapel at Westminster; it is in the style +of the thirteenth century." When Parker wrote the last sentence the +still older miserere now to be seen at Christchurch had not been +discovered. + + [5] She lived in the latter half of the thirteenth century. + +[Illustration: CHOIR STALLS.] + +[Illustration: MISERERE ON STALL SEAT. (_Circa_ 1300.) NORTH SIDE.] + +It is curious to notice the absence of reverence on the part of the +mediæval canons, according to our modern notions, that these quaint +carvings indicate. One might have expected that inside the church the +subjects would have always been of a sacred nature, rude perhaps, and +grotesque from their rudeness. Such carvings are found in many places, +but here at Christchurch we have satirical subjects, caricatures of +contemporaries, some indeed of so objectionable a character that they +have been removed of late years. A few examples of these carvings will +be given. On the arm of one of the stalls a fox is represented preaching +to a flock of geese, a cock acting as clerk. On one of the misereres we +have a pair of devils somewhat resembling monkeys tempting an angel, a +goose bringing an offering on a plate to a quaint figure, a man with +a hatchet employed in carving, a man with a hole in the back of his +garments fastened with a pin, besides various animals, fishes, mermaids, +and monsters. On the wainscoting we have the heads of Henry VII., Henry +VIII., Catharine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Cardinal Campeggio, the King of +Scots, and the Duchess of Burgundy, who assisted Perkin Warbeck in his +attempt to gain the crown of England, and two canons disputing over a +cup, which is placed between their faces. This last carving probably has +some reference to the granting of the cup to the laity in time of Henry +VIII. + +[Illustration: THE CHOIR.] + +The vaulting of the choir is of a somewhat unusual character: the +pendants are especially worthy of notice. It is difficult to describe +the manner in which they are placed, but the illustration shows their +character and position. The short connecting ribs of the vaulting form +a stellated cross over the presbytery. Some colour may still be seen on +the carved work of this portion of the church, and the initials of +William Eyre, prior 1502-1520, appear on the bosses. + +[Illustration: THE REREDOS.] + +The east wall of the presbytery contains no window, but is occupied by +a beautiful stone reredos carved with a representation of the tree of +Jesse. It is divided into three tiers with five compartments in each, +the central one wider than the two on either side; the space above it +and beneath the vaulting is occupied by a wall, in which a doorway now +blocked up may be seen. The outer compartments of the lowest tier +contain doors leading to a platform behind the reredos; between them +stands an oak altar, the gift of A. N. Welby Pugin in 1831. Above the +altar in the central compartment Jesse lies asleep, on the left hand +David plays upon his harp, on the right sits Solomon deeply meditating. +Above Jesse we have in one carving an amalgamated representation of the +birth of Christ and the visit of the Wise Men. On the left hand sits the +Virgin Mary with her Child, fully clothed in a long garment, not wrapped +in swaddling clothes, standing in her lap; behind her stands a man, +probably Joseph; and before her kneels one of the Wise Men offering +his gift of gold in the form of a plain tankard; on the right behind +him stand his two fellows, one carrying a pot of myrrh, the other +a boat-shaped vessel, probably intended for a censer containing +frankincense. On a bracket above the head of the kneeling Wise Man, +the shepherds kneel in adoration; nor are the flocks that they were +tending forgotten, for several sheep may be seen on a hill-top above +their heads. Thirty-two small figures may be counted in niches in the +buttresses dividing the compartments; crockets, finials, and pinnacles +decorate the various canopies over the carvings. This reredos is +apparently of late Decorated date, and therefore earlier than the +fifteenth-century choir. Possibly it was an addition to the Norman choir +before this was removed to make room for the existing one. Mr Ferrey +was of opinion that it may have once stood across the nave between the +second piers from the east, thus forming a reredos for the western part +of the nave, which was used as the church of the parish. Below the +presbytery is a Norman crypt, now converted into a vault for the +Malmesbury family. It has already been mentioned that there are doors +on either side of the altar, leading to a kind of gallery or platform +behind the reredos; these were designed to allow certain ceremonial +compassings of the altar, and it is possible that steps led down from +the platform to the ambulatory. On the east side of these doorways +there are corbel heads under the arches, and the walls of the platform +are panelled. Within the altar rails is a slab bearing the name of +Baldwin IV., the seventh Earl of Devon. On the south side is the +monument of Lady Fitzharris, who died in 1815; it is a statue by Flaxman +representing the Lady teaching her two sons from the Bible. Farther to +the east is the altar tomb of the Countess of Malmesbury, who died in +1877, occupying the place of the sedilia; and on the north the exquisite +chantry of Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, the last bearer of the royal +name of Plantagenet, whose tragic fate and horrible execution is one +of the foulest stains on the memory of Henry VIII. She was the daughter +of "false, fleeting, perjured Clarence" and of the kingmaker's eldest +daughter Isabella, and was mother of the celebrated Reginald Pole who, +being ordained deacon at the age of sixteen, was appointed Dean of +Wimborne a year later, and rose in time to the high rank of +Cardinal-Archbishop of Canterbury, and played an important part in +history in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Mary. She erected this lovely +chantry as her last resting-place, wishing to lie after her troublous +life in this quiet spot, but it was not so to be. Her son, by the +publication on the Continent of a violent attack on Henry VIII., +incensed the king to such an extent that he laid his hands on all the +kindred of the Poles he could find in England; some were tried and +executed, others attainted without trial, among them the Countess of +Salisbury, who was at the time over seventy years of age. She refused to +lay her head upon the block, and the headsman hacked at her neck as she +stood erect; her body was not allowed to be buried in the chantry which +she had erected for herself,--so far did the spite of Henry go,--but she +lies among the ambitious and unfortunate, the aspiring, and unsuccessful +of many a sect and party in the cemetery of St Peter's Chapel in the +Tower. Hers was an ill-starred race. Her grandfather was slain at +Barnet, 1471; her father murdered by his brother Edward IV., 1478; her +own brother, the Earl of Warwick, imprisoned by Henry VII., and +subsequently beheaded on Tower Hill, 1499; her eldest son, Lord Montagu, +was executed for high treason; and Margaret herself met a like fate on +May 27, 1541. + +[Illustration: THE SALISBURY CHANTRY.] + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE SALISBURY CHANTRY.] + +Her chantry is built of Caen stone, and the decoration is of Renaissance +character. It is conjectured to be the work of the Florentine sculptor +Pietro Torrigiano, who died in the prison of the Inquisition in Spain in +1522. He was engaged on Henry VII.'s tomb in Westminster, and other +works ordered by Henry VIII. at Westminster and Windsor, from 1509 till +1517; and if this chantry at Christchurch is his design the date must +lie between these two years. Two four-light windows with battlemented +transoms look out on either side; to the west of these two doorways +lead, one to the presbytery the other to the north aisle; on the east +wall are three canopied niches, beneath which an altar stood or was +intended to stand; the ceiling is richly carved with fan traceries and +bosses; the latter have been mutilated--by order, it is said, of Henry +VIII. A letter from the King's Commissioner thus describes the work +done:--"In thys churche we founde a chaple and a monumet curiosly made +of cane stone p^rpared by the late mother of Raynolde Pole for herre +buriall, which we have causyd to be defaced and all the Armis and Badgis +to be delete." On the north side are twelve tabernacles. This chapel +stands on a richly carved panelled basement, and all the walls are +covered with minute carving; but here, as elsewhere, in late work we +find the same forms repeated again and again, and we miss that wealth +of fancy which gives each boss or capital carved by the earlier workers +such a life and individuality. The side of this chapel that faces the +north aisle is more elaborate than that facing the choir, and is +necessarily more lofty, as its base rests on the floor of the aisle, +which is lower than the floor of the presbytery. On the west face is +one of several memorial tablets to members of the Rose family, who are +buried in this aisle. + +In the north choir aisle, at the western end, may be seen a kind of +small museum of fragments from various parts of the church, collected at +the time of the restoration, among them some bosses from the vaulting of +the south transept, destroyed about a hundred years ago, and fragments +of a Norman font. The vaulting of this and the corresponding aisle on +the south side is of the same character as that of the choir, but is +somewhat plainer, and is not decorated with crosses or pendants. +On the south side of this aisle is a late Perpendicular chantry, built +in accordance with the will of Sir William Berkeley, dated 1486, to +commemorate himself and his wife. Part of the inscription ... ARMIGERI +MARGARETE QUE CONSOR ... can still be read on the frieze; on its flat +ceiling are painted two large roses, one white, one red; it contains two +brackets for cruets; over the entrance to it is placed an oval memorial +tablet to one John Cook, who died in 1787. Eastward of this is the +Salisbury chapel already described. On the north wall of the aisle is a +monument, consisting of an altar-tomb with a front of carved quatrefoils +and a purbeck slab, dating about 1550. The canopy over it is later, and +the coat of arms beneath it is that of Robert White of Hadlow, Kent, who +is commemorated on a board at the west end of the church as a benefactor +who left £100 in land for the poor in 1619, thus fixing the date of this +portion of the tomb. The scroll beneath the arms has the initials R. W., +and the motto "Suffer in Tym." A chantry is formed at the eastern end of +the aisle by the western end of the north wall of the Lady Chapel. It +contains an altar tomb with the recumbent figures of Sir John Chidioke, +a Dorset knight, slain in 1449 in the Wars of the Roses, and his wife. +This monument has occupied its present position only from 1791,--it +previously stood in the north transept. + +[Illustration: THE DRAPER CHANTRY.] + +The east end of the south choir aisle is occupied by the chantry chapel +of John Draper II., the last of the priors and titular bishop of +Neapolis in Palestine, near the ancient Shechem in Samaria; it is dated +1529, and is formed by a screen of Caen stone stretching across the +aisle. There is a central doorway with a depressed arch at the top, and +canopied niches over it, and on either side are two transomed four-light +unglazed windows under arches of the same character as that over the +doorway; along the top of the screen runs a battlemented parapet. Within +the chantry, on the south wall, is a very beautiful piscina, the finest +in the church. Just outside the screen is a square-headed doorway. +Along the south wall of this aisle, as along the north wall of the +corresponding north aisle, a stone bench-table runs. On the north side +the panelled wall on which the Countess of Malmesbury's altar tomb +stands is decorated with carvings of angels; the largest of these holds +a shield with a death's-head. Farther to the west, beyond the steps +leading down from the choir, is a Perpendicular chantry, known as the +Harys chantry; it has open tracery above cusped panels, canopied niches, +and a panelled bench table. Robert Harys was rector of Shrowston, and +died in 1525; his rebus, a hare under the letter R, may be seen on the +panels. On the opposite side of the aisle is the doorway leading into +what is known as the #sacristy#. This is a thirteenth-century addition +to the church, and is of irregular shape, as it is wedged in, as it +were, between the apsidal chapel on the east side of the transept and +the south wall of the choir aisle. In the south wall are triple sedilia +with Purbeck shafts and foliated heads; in the north wall is a square +opening or squint. + +[Illustration: PISCINA IN THE DRAPER CHANTRY.] + +[Illustration: THE SACRISTY.] + +Behind the reredos is an ambulatory or processional path; from this may +be seen, over the archway leading into the south aisle, the end of the +"miraculous beam," lengthened, according to the legend, by Christ, when +He appeared as a workman and took part in the building of the original +church. How this came to be preserved, and how it came to occupy a +position amidst the latest work in the church, is not recorded. The Lady +Chapel is very beautiful Perpendicular work; it had its own altar and +reredos under the east window. The reredos is much mutilated, but +besides the part that is still attached to the wall, there are many +loose fragments now set up on the altar. This is a slab of Purbeck +stone, 11 ft. in length and 3 ft. 10 ins in breadth. On the north and +south sides of the altar are the tombs of Thomas, Lord West, and Lady +Alice West, his mother. These tombs are of Purbeck marble and of a form +by no means uncommon in the churches of Wessex. The ten shafts +supporting the canopy of the tomb on the north still remain; from the +other tomb such shafts as it had have disappeared. Thomas, Lord West, +died in 1406, his mother in 1395: these dates fix within reasonable +limits the date of the building of the Lady Chapel. Thomas West, in his +will, directs that his body should be buried in the "_New_ Chapel of Our +Lady in the Mynster of Christchurch." It is noteworthy to remark that +the original arcading is cut away to make room for this monument, so +that the chapel had been finished before he died. Both Sir Thomas West +and his mother were benefactors to the church. Besides other bequests of +money towards the building fund and for perpetual masses, each of them +gave about £18 for the singing of 4500 masses within six months of the +day of their deaths. On the south side of the chapel is the original +doorway leading into the canons' burial-ground; a corresponding door is +to be seen on the north side. The splays of the arches of the windows +are elaborately ornamented with panelling. The arcading under the +window, a series of ogee arches, is worthy of notice. The tattered +colours of the "Loyal Christchurch Volunteers," one of the earliest +regiments of volunteers, which was enrolled in 1793, hang at the +entrance to the Lady Chapel. The vaulting is of the same character as +that of the choir, with curious pendants in the form of church lanterns. + +[Illustration: THE MIRACULOUS BEAM.] + +[Illustration: THE TOMB OF THOMAS, LORD WEST.] + +[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL.] + +[Illustration: ST MICHAEL'S LOFT.] + +#St Michael's Loft# is reached by long flights of steps running up the +turrets described in the last chapter. It is a plain, low room with a +low-pitched tie-beam roof of oak. It was once a chapel, as the piscina +in the east wall clearly shows. The site of the altar is now occupied by +a disused desk of the character familiar to us in our own school days +some half-a-century ago; it is a sort of pew with doors, within which +the master sat enthroned and ramparted. This room was used as a public +grammar school from 1662 till 1828, and subsequently as a private +school, which was finally closed in 1869. The boys went to this school +and returned from it by the staircase on the north side which has an +entrance from the churchyard; the stairs on the south side were used +when anyone had occasion to go into the church or to go from it to the +room above. + +An upper chamber or chapel is an uncommon feature in England. Remains of +staircases give rise to the conjecture that there was a similar chapel +over the Lady Chapel at Chester, and somewhat similar erections are to +be met with on the Continent; but Christchurch Priory is unique in +possessing such a perfect specimen. The dedication of the upper storey +to St Michael, the conductor of souls to Paradise, is appropriate. +Churches built in elevated positions were frequently dedicated to him, +and few if any mediæval churches dedicated to this archangel are to be +met with on low-lying ground. + +Under the western tower stands a modern font. The fragments of a +Norman font, with carvings representing various incidents in the +life of Christ, may be seen, preserved in the north choir aisle. The +fifteenth-century successor has been removed to Bransgore Church, four +miles off. + +Against the north wall of the tower stands the monument of the poet +Shelley, the work of the sculptor Weekes. Needless to say, it is but +a cenotaph. The "heart of hearts," "Cor Cordium," and the ashes of the +poet cremated on the Tuscan shore, lie far away, hard by the pyramid +of Caius Cestius, in the grave where the loving hands of Trelawney laid +them in 1823. Here we have an ideal representation of the finding of the +drowned body--not a pleasing one, but less ghastly than the reality; and +below the inscription which tells his name and the number of his years +and the manner of his death, the following stanza from his own "Adonais" +may be read:-- + + "He hath out-soared the shadow of our night: + Envy and calumny and hate and pain, + And that unrest which men miscall delight, + Can touch him not and torture not again; + From the contagion of the world's slow stain + He is secure, and now can never mourn + A heart grown cold, a head grown grey in vain, + Nor, when the spirit's self has ceased to burn + With sparkless ashes load an unlamented urn." + +The choice of Christchurch Priory as the site for this monument was due +to the fact that the poet's son, Sir Percy Florence Shelley, who erected +it, lived at Boscombe Manor, between Christchurch and Bournemouth. + +The tower contains a peal of eight bells. These are all old; the fifth +and sixth bells have fourteenth-century inscriptions round their crowns, +the others appear to have been cast early in the fifteenth century. + +[Illustration: THE SHELLEY MONUMENT.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +DEANS OF THE SECULAR COLLEGE + + 1. Ralf Flambard, afterwards Bishop of Durham. + 2. Godric. + 3. Gilbert de Dousgunels. + 4. Peter de Oglander. + 5. Randulphus. + 6. Hilary, afterwards Bishop of Chichester. + + +PRIORS OF THE AUGUSTINIAN COLLEGE + + 1. Reginald, 1150. + 2. Ralph. + 3. Peter, 1195. He built the clerestory and carried out other Early + English work. + 4. Roger, 1225. + 5. Richard. + 6. Nicholas de Wareham. + 7. Nicholas de Sturminster. + 8. John de Abingdon, 1272. + 9. William de Netheravon, 1278. + 10. Richard Maury, 1286. + 11. William Quenton, 1302. + 12. Walter Tholveshide, 1317. + 13. Edmund de Ramsbury, 1323. During his time Bishop Stratford's + Injunctions were issued, 1325. See page 129. + 14. Richard de Queteshorne, 1337. + 15. Robert de Leyghe, 1340. + 16. William Tyrewache, 1345. + 17. Henry Eyre, 1357. He became blind in 1367 and was allowed a + coadjutor. + 18. John Wodenham, 1376. + 19. John Borard, 1398. During his time Archbishop Arundel issued + Injunctions, 1404. See page 130. + 20. Thomas Talbot, 1413. + 21. John Wimborne, 1420. + 22. William Norton. + 23. John Dorchester. + 24. John Draper I., 1477. Bishop Langton's Injunctions were issued + during his tenure of the priory. + 25. William Eyre, 1502. During his time the choir was completed. + 26. John Draper II. He surrendered the priory to Henry VIII.'s + commissioners, 1539, and was allowed to retain Somerford Grange + for life, and received a pension of £133, 6s. 8d. He died in + 1552, and was buried in the nave near the entrance to the choir. + + +VICARS OF CHRISTCHURCH + +By the council of Arles 1261, religious orders that held parish churches +were bound to supply vicars to officiate. These were appointed by the +canons, and were taken from their own body. + +The names of many of these are known. The 13th was Robert Harys, whose +chantry stands in the south choir aisle; he died in 1325. In the time of +the 15th, William Trapnell, the church was granted by Henry VIII. to the +parishioners, 32nd year of Henry VIII. In the time of the 17th, Robert +Newman, an inventory of the property was made by order of Edward VI.'s +commissioner. John Imber, the 21st vicar, was expelled by the Parliament +from 1647-1660, but was restored to his preferment in the same year as +Charles II. gained the throne. The present vicar is the 32nd. + + +STRATFORD'S INJUNCTIONS, 1325 + +1. Every canon save the seneschal and cellarer must attend Matins, High +Mass, and the Hours. The seneschal, if present in the priory for two +nights together, must attend one Matins, and the cellarer must be +present at service on alternate nights at least. + +2. Six canons must be enrolled for celebrating Our Lady's Mass; the +prior must celebrate on all great feasts at High Mass, and on Saturdays +at Our Lady's Mass, and must wear a surplice not a rochet. + +3. Canons in priests' orders must celebrate daily, those who are not +must repeat eleven Psalms with a Litany or Psalter of Our Lady every +day. + +4. Four confessors must be appointed to hear the confessions of the +canons. + +5. Latin or French must be the languages spoken. + +6. No one save the prior or officers, without special leave, must ride +or leave the Priory. + +7. Two-thirds of the canons must dine daily in the refectory; the door +must be kept by a secular watchman whose duty it is to remove servants +and idle people from the door during dinner; the almoner must prevent +any canon carrying his commons to the laundry-people or people of the +town. + +8. All the canons must sleep in the dormitory, each in his own bed. + +9. The infirmary must be visited daily by the prior or sub-prior. + +10. Two canons must act as treasurers, and a yearly account must be +presented. + +11. The common seal must be kept under four locks, and documents sealed +in full chapter, not as heretofore during Mass. + +12. Canons must not play at chess or draughts, nor keep hounds or arms +(save in the custody of the prior), nor have a servant (save when on a +journey), nor write nor receive letters without leave. The prior may +keep hounds outside the priory buildings. + + +ARCHBISHOP ARUNDEL'S INJUNCTIONS, 1404 + +No. 1. Ordered the destruction of an old hall and an adjoining chamber +known as the sub-prior's hall after the departure of Sir Thomas West its +then occupier, as noblemen were in the habit of occupying it to the +great disturbance of the order and the keeping open of gates which ought +to be closed. + +No. 2. Enjoined the building of a house for the proecentor, and a new +chamber for the sick. + +No. 3. Ordered the setting apart of a chamber for recreation apart from +the infirmary (it may be supposed that the canons during recreation +hours were noisy, thereby disturbing the sick). + +No. 4. Directed the provision of separate studies for the canons. It +would appear that nobles, such as the Montacutes and Wests, put the +priory to such great expense by taking up their abode, together with +their retainers, in the domestic part of the buildings. + + +THE NORMAN CASTLE + +Very little of the castle erected by Richard de Redvers, who died in +1137, remains; but on an artificial mound at no great distance to the +north of the Priory Church stand fragments of the east and west walls of +the square Norman keep, about 20 feet high and 10 feet thick. The castle +belonged to the De Redvers, Earls of Devon, till they were alienated to +the crown in the 9th year of Edward I. (1280), the last earl having died +in 1263, though the last female descendant lived till 1293. In 1331, +Edward III. granted the castle and land to William de Montacute, Earl of +Salisbury; after the execution of John de Montacute in 1400 for the part +he took in the plots against the new king, Henry IV., Sir Thomas West, +who lies buried in the Lady Chapel, was appointed constable. He died in +1405, then Thomas, Earl of Salisbury, held the castle till 1428. After +this it was held by various persons, and we find a constable of the +Lordship of Christchurch as late as 1656. The manor held by the De +Redvers, and then by the Montacutes, passed through various hands. Among +the holders we may notice the Nevilles, hence the connection with the +Priory of the ill-fated Margaret, the kingmaker's granddaughter, who was +Countess of Salisbury in her own right, the Earl of Clarendon, Sir +George Rose, and the present owner, the Earl of Malmesbury, who obtained +it in 1862. + +In early days the bailiff of the de Redvers regulated all markets, +fairs, tolls, and fines, and had the right of preemption and sat as +judge in the tenants' court. Edward I. relieved the burgesses of +Christchurch from all arbitrary exactions, and established a fixed +fee-farm rent instead. The castle was taken for the Parliament by Sir +William Waller with 300 men on April 7, 1644. + +A little to the north-east of the castle stand the remains of one of +the few Norman houses that have come down to the present time. It is +thus described in the first volume of "The Domestic Architecture of the +Middle Ages" by Turner and Parker, pp. 38, 39. This volume was published +in 1851. "At Christchurch, in Hampshire, is the ruin of a Norman house, +rather late in the style, with good windows of two lights and a round +chimney shaft.[6] The plan, as before, is a simple oblong; the principal +room appears to have been on the first floor. It is situated on the bank +of the river near to the church, and still more close to the mound, +which is said to have been the keep of the castle; being between that +and the river, it could not well have been placed in a situation of +greater security. Whether it formed part of another series of buildings +or not, it was a perfect house in itself, and its character is strictly +domestic. It is about seventy feet long, and twenty-four broad, its +walls, like those of the keep, being exceedingly thick. On the ground +floor are a number of loop-holes: the ascent to the upper storey was by +a stone staircase, part of which remains; the ground floor was divided +by a wall, but the upper storey seems to have been a long room, lighted +by three double windows on each side; near the centre of the east wall, +next the river, is a large fireplace, to which the round chimney before +mentioned belongs. At the north end, there appears to have been a large +and handsome window of which part of the arch and shafts remain, and +there is a small circular window in the south gable. From what remains +of the ornamental part of this building, it appears to have been +elegantly finished and cased with squared stones, most of which are, +however, now taken away. There is a small projecting tower, calculated +for a flank, under which the water runs; it has loopholes both on the +north and east fronts, these walls are extremely thick. By the ruins of +several walls, there were some ancient buildings at right angles to this +hall, stretching away towards the keep. This was probably part of the +residence of Baldwin de Redvers, Earl of Devon, to whom the manor of +Christchurch belonged about the middle of the twelfth century."[7] + + [6] Since rebuilt. + + [7] Grove's "Antiquities," vol. ii. p. 178. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE NORMAN HOUSE.] + +This building is much overgrown with ivy, which by a comparison of the +illustration given in the work just quoted with its present condition, +as represented in the photograph here reproduced, has increased +considerably during the last fifty years. It is due to the memory of the +Rev. William Jackson, who was vicar of Christchurch from 1778 to 1802, +that it should be recorded that he saved this valuable relic of Norman +domestic architecture from destruction. He was evidently imbued with a +spirit of love for antiquity by no means common a hundred years ago, and +far too rare even at the present day. + + +DIMENSIONS OF CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY + + Extreme length 311 feet. + Length of Nave 118 " 9 inches. + Width of Nave 58 " 5 " + Height of Nave 58 " + Length of Transept 101 " 2 " + Width of Transept 24 " 4 " + Length of Choir 70 " + Width of Choir with Aisles 60 " 6 " + Height of Choir 63 " + Length of side of Tower, E. to W. 27 " 9 " + " " " N. to S. 22 " 4 " + Height of Tower 120 " + Length of Lady Chapel 36 " 4 " + Width of Lady Chapel 21 " 1 " + Length of St Michael's Loft 58 " 3 " + Width of St Michael's Loft 19 " 7 " + + AREA 18,300 sq. feet. + + + + +PLANS + + +[Illustration: PLAN OF WIMBORNE MINSTER] + +[Illustration: PLAN OF CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY] + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's note: + + Page 5: "commemerated" corrected to "commemorated." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELL'S CATHEDRALS: WIMBORNE MINSTER +AND CHRISTCHURCH PRIORY*** + + +******* This file should be named 19511-8.txt or 19511-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/9/5/1/19511 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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