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Title: Bell's Cathedrals: The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield - A Short History of the Foundation and a Description of the - Fabric and also of the Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less
Author: Worley, George
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Bell's Cathedrals: The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield - A Short History of the Foundation and a Description of the - Fabric and also of the Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less" ***
[Illustration: THE INTERIOR FROM THE ORGAN GALLERY.
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
THE PRIORY CHURCH OF
ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT,
SMITHFIELD
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE FOUNDATION
AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE FABRIC
AND ALSO OF THE CHURCH OF
ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS
BY
GEORGE WORLEY
AUTHOR OF "SOUTHWARK CATHEDRAL,"
"THE TEMPLE CHURCH," ETC.
WITH XLII [Illustration] ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON GEORGE BELL AND SONS 1908
CHISWICK PRESS: CHARLES WHITTINGHAM AND CO.
TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.
* * * * *
PREFACE
In gathering material for this handbook I have received valuable help
from several friends, whose kindness calls for grateful recognition. My
thanks are due, in the first place, to the Rev. W. F. G. Sandwith,
Rector of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, and the lay custodians of the
church, for the facilities which have allowed me to examine the building
in all its parts, and for the readiness with which they have given
information, not accessible elsewhere, on various points of its history
and architecture. In this matter, besides more personal obligations, I
feel that I owe much, in common with many others, to Mr. E. A. Webb, the
active member of the Restoration Committee, for the suggestive data of
his open lectures, and for the interesting expositions of the fabric by
which he has always supplemented them. Others to whom I am indebted are
Dom Henry Norbert Birt, O.S.B., of Downside Abbey, and Mr. Charles W. F.
Goss, Librarian to the Bishopsgate Institute, for their skilful guidance
in the literature of the subject; Mr. F. C. Eeles, Secretary to the
Alcuin Club, for the Elizabethan Inventory and account of the Mediaeval
Bells; and Messrs. Wm. Hill and Son, the famous builders, for
particulars of the organ.
For the illustration of the book, Mr. A. Russell Baker has kindly
contributed a selection from his rare set of old engravings, before
presenting the whole to St. Bartholomew's Hospital.
The photographic views of the church and monuments, as seen at the
present day, were taken by Mr. Edgar Scamell, of 120, Crouch Hill; and
the seal-impressions by Mr. A. P. Ready, the British Museum artist.
Finally, Sir Aston Webb, R.A., has to be thanked for the ground-plans of
the church and monastic buildings; and Mr. G. H. Smith for the plan and
dimensions of St. Bartholomew-the-Less.
A list of books and papers is appended for the benefit of students
anxious for more detailed information than could be included here.
G. W.
_June, 1908_
* * * * *
A SELECTION OF WORKS ON ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT
"The Book of the Foundation of St. Bartholomew's Church in
London, sometime belonging to the Priory of the same in West
Smithfield." Edited from the original manuscript, with an
Introduction and Notes by Norman Moore, M.D. 1885.
"The Charter of King Henry I to St. Bartholomew's Priory,
addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to Gilbert the
Universal, Bishop of London, in the year 1133." Edited with
Notes, from the copy in the Record Office, by Norman Moore,
M.D. 1891.
"Rahere's Charter of 1137." Translated, with Explanatory Notes,
by Norman Moore, M.D. 1904.
"The Ordinance of Richard de Ely, Bishop of London, as to St.
Bartholomew's Priory in West Smithfield, witnessed by Henry
Fitzailwin, First Mayor of London, in the year 1198." Edited
from the original document by Norman Moore, M.D. 1886.
Dugdale's "Monasticon Anglicanum" (edit. Bandinel, Caley, and
Sir Henry Ellis) is indispensable to the student. The sixth
volume (p. 291 _sqq_.) contains an account of the Smithfield
Foundation, and (p. 37 _sqq_.) the Rule for Austin Canons. For
the latter the reader will do well to consult also R. Duellius'
"Antiqua Statuta Canonicorum S. Augustini metrice cum glossulis
optimis," and "Regula Canonicorum Regularium per Hugonem de S.
Victore Commentario declarata."
For illustrative matter during the Tudor period reference may
be made to "The Elizabethan Religious Settlement," by Dom Henry
Norbert Birt, O.S.B., 1907; the Rev. C. F. Raymund Palmer's
"Articles, chiefly on the Friars Preachers of England,
reprinted from archaeological journals, 1878-85"; and "Obituary
Notices of the Friars Preachers or Dominicans of the English
Province." 1884.
The literary work of Fr. Perrin (the Marian Prior) is described
in Charles Dodd's "Church History of England" (1727 edition),
and Pit's "De Illust. Scriptoribus Angliae."
Besides the invaluable "Historia Anglorum" of Matthew Paris
(ed. Sir F. Madden), and Stow's "Survey of London" (ed. John
Strype), the following books may be found useful:
"Repertorium, or History of the Diocese of London." Richard
Newcourt. 1708.
"New View of London." Edward Hatton. 1708.
"New Remarks of London: by the Company of Parish Clerks." 1732.
"London and its Environs described." R. and J. Dodsley. 1761.
"History of London." Win. Maitland. (Ed. Entick, 1772.)
"Londinium Redivivum." J. P. Malcolm. 1803.
"Londina Illustrata." Robert Wilkinson. 1819.
"The Churches of London." G. Godwin and J. Britton. 1839.
"Memories of Bartholomew Fair." H. Morley. 1859.
The progress of the modern work at the church has been announced from
time to time in the circulars issued by the Restoration Committee, the
substance of which is incorporated in the text, where also the other
authorities consulted by the present writer are referred to.
* * * * *
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface v
List Of Works Of Reference vii
List Of Illustrations xi
Chapter I. History Of The Foundation 3
II. Exterior Of The Church 25
III. Interior Of The Church 33
IV. St. Bartholomew-the-less And The Hospital 63
Appendix I. The Priory Seals 73
II. The Priors And Rectors 77
III. Inventory Of Vestments, Etc. 79
IV. The Organ 80
Index 83
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Interior Of The Church From The Organ Gallery _Frontispiece_
The Priory Arms _Title-Page_
Interior Of The Church From The East (1805) 2
North Side Of The Choir From The Triforium 9
Interior Of The Choir (1822) 11
Plan Of The Monastic Buildings At The Dissolution 15
The Choir Before Restoration 19
The Priory Church From The West 24
The Priory Church From The West (1810) 25
The North Porch 29
View Of The Crossing From The Triforium 32
South Aisle From The West--showing Early English
Shafts 34
North Transept And Screen 36
North Transept From The South 37
The Font And Freshwater Monument 41
Interior From The East--showing Prior Bolton's Gallery 42
The Founder's Tomb 45
The Founder's Tomb, Showing The Original Extent Of
Arcaded Work 46
The Chamberlayne Monument 48
The Smalpace Monument 49
The Ambulatory And Entrance To The Lady Chapel 51
The Mildmay Monument 53
The Lady Chapel 56
The Crypt 57
The Remaining Bays Of The Cloister 59
St. Bartholomew-the-less And The Hospital Gate 62
Interior Of St. Bartholomew-the-less 65
Brass Of William And Alice Markeby 67
Ancient Sculptured Tablets 68
Seals Of The Convent And Hospital (Eleven Examples) 73-76
Plan Of St. Bartholomew-the-less 71
Plan Of St. Bartholomew-the-great (Existing Church) _At End_
* * * * *
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH, FROM THE EAST
_From a print of 1805._
_E. Nash del. J. Greig sc._]
ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT
CHAPTER I
HISTORY
The spring and fountain-head of our information about the Priory of St.
Bartholomew-the-Great is an account of the foundation, interwoven with
the life and miracles of Rahere, the founder, which was written in Latin
by one of the Canons soon after Rahere's death in the reign of Henry II.
An illuminated copy of this work, made at the end of the fourteenth
century, is preserved in the British Museum, with an English
translation, which forms the groundwork of all subsequent histories.[1]
Allowing for a few contradictory dates and statements in this precious
document, and for the occasional flights of a pious imagination in the
biographer or his subject, we arrive at the following historical basis:
Rahere was a man of humble origin, who had found his way to the Court of
Henry I, where he won favour by his agreeable manners and witty
conversation, rendered piquant, as it appears, by a certain flavouring
of licentiousness, and took a prominent part in arranging the music,
plays, and other entertainments in which the King and his courtiers
delighted during the first part of the reign.[2]
In the year 1120 a total change was wrought in Henry's character by the
loss of his only legitimate son in the wreck of the "White Ship," on its
voyage from Normandy to England, after which the King is said never to
have smiled again. The event naturally cast a gloom over the Court;
frivolities were abandoned, and religious devotion, either genuine or
assumed in polite acquiescence with the royal humour, took the place of
the amusements which had hitherto held sway. In one case, at least, the
spirit of reformation was at work in good earnest. Rahere, repenting of
his wasted life, thereupon started on a pilgrimage to Rome, to do
penance for his sins on the ground hallowed by the martyrdom of St.
Paul, some three miles from the city. The spot known as the Three
Fountains, now rendered more or less sanitary by the free planting of
eucalyptus, was then and long afterwards particularly unhealthy, and
while there Rahere was attacked by malarial fever. In his distress he
made a vow that, if he were spared, he would establish a hospital for
the poor, as a thank-offering, on his return to England.
His prayer was granted, but his recovery was slow. During his
convalescence he had a vision, or dream, in which he thought a winged
monster had seized him in its claws, and was about to drop him into a
bottomless pit, when a majestic form came to his rescue, and thus
addressed him: "I am Bartholomew, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, that come
to succour thee in thine anguish, and to open to thee the secret
mysteries of heaven. Know me truly, by the will and commandment of the
Holy Trinity, and the common favour of the celestial court and council,
to have chosen a place in the suburbs of London, at Smithfield, where in
my name thou shall found a church. This spiritual house Almighty God
shall inhabit, and hallow it, and glorify it. Wherefore doubt thou
nought; only give thy diligence, and my part shall be to provide
necessaries, direct, build, and end this work."[3] Rahere at once
promised compliance, and, as soon as he got back to London, first
obtained the King's consent, and then, "nothing omitting of care and
diligence, two works of piety began, one for the vow that he had made,
the other as to him by precept was enjoined."[4]
The suburb of Smithfield (Smoothfield) is said to have already occurred
to Edward the Confessor as a suitable place for a church on the
outskirts of London, possibly as affording a similar area, in its level
and marshy surface, to that chosen for his Abbey at Westminster. The
greater part of it was, indeed, covered by water, the one dry spot
(known as "The Elms") being reserved for public executions, which
continued to take place there till some centuries later. The eastern
portion of this waste land was granted by Henry I, through the agency of
Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London; and it was here that, in the year
1123, Rahere began building.[5]
In a marvellously short time the funds were forthcoming, and his double
object was achieved in the erection of the Hospital, with the Church at
a little distance, the whole being dedicated by the same friendly bishop
to St. Bartholomew the Apostle, in fulfilment of Rahere's vow and the
Saint's instructions.
Rahere is said to have been assisted in his architectural work by
Alfune, who had founded St. Giles's Church, Cripplegate, in the year
1090; and there is a story to the effect that three noble travellers, or
merchants, from Byzantium were present at the foundation, when they
foretold its future greatness, and were consulted by Rahere as to the
design and character of the building while his plans were under
consideration.
On the southern side of the church the group of buildings gradually
arose which constituted the Priory, of which the founder, having devoted
himself to the monastic life, of course became the first Prior; and here
he spent the rest of his days with thirteen companions--the sub-prior
and twelve subordinates--all living under the Rule of the Canons Regular
of St. Augustine. The number was afterwards brought up to thirty-five by
Thomas of St. Osyth, the second Prior (1144-1174), who made a
corresponding addition to the premises.[6]
In 1133, when the buildings were fairly advanced, and the value of
Rahere's work had got to be recognized, a charter of privileges was
granted by Henry I to the Prior and Canons. Commencing with an
invocation of the Holy Trinity, it was addressed to the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the Bishop of London, with a greeting to all the King's
faithful subjects, especially the citizens of London. Its comprehensive
immunities may be inferred from the opening paragraph:
Know ye that I have granted, and have by this my charter
confirmed, to the Church of St. Bartholomew of London, and to
Rahere the Prior, and to the Canons Regular, in the same church
serving God, and to the poor of the Hospital of the same church,
that they be free from all earthly servitude, and all earthly
power and subjection, except episcopal customs, to wit, only
consecration of the church, baptism, and ordination of clergy;
and that as any church in all England is free, so this church be
free, and all lands to it appertaining, which it now has, or
which Rahere the Prior, or the Canons, may be able reasonably to
acquire, whether by purchase or by gift. And it shall have socc
and sac, and thol and theme, and infogheneteof; and all
liberties and free customs and acquittances in all things which
belong to the same church in wood and in plain, in meadows and
pastures, in waters and mills, in ways and paths, in pools and
vineyards, and marshes and fisheries, and in all places now and
for ever.[7]
Another paragraph may be worth quoting, as it expressly includes
Bartholomew Fair among the privileges conveyed, though it is clear from
the terms of the instrument that a fair had previously been held in the
open space at Smithfield on the Saint's anniversary. Even before the
accession of Henry I there had been a market on the spot, known as "the
King's Market" when the ground was allotted to Rahere. (_Vide_ "Vetusta
Monumenta," vol. ii.)
I grant also my firm peace to all persons coming to and
returning from the fair which is wont to be celebrated in that
place at the Feast of St. Bartholomew; and I forbid any one of
the royal officials to send to implead any one, or without the
consent of the Canons on those three days--to wit, the eve of
the feast, the feast itself, and the day following--to demand
customary dues from them.
The observance was afterwards extended to a double octave of fourteen
days, and included all kinds of shows and entertainments, theatrical,
conjuring, and acrobatic performances, in addition to the traffic in
cloth-stuffs, horses and cattle, which gave the fair its commercial
importance. The stalls, or booths, in which the portable goods were
exposed for sale, were held within the monastery walls, the gates of
which were locked at night, and a watch kept over the enclosure.[8]
Rahere died on 20th September, 1144, and was buried in the church, where
his tomb occupies the usual place for Founders on the north side of the
sanctuary, surrounded by his magnificent Norman work in the choir, with
the ambulatory beyond it, and extending upwards to the arcading of the
triforium. The eastern part of the clerestory is a modern reproduction
of that which superseded Rahere's; but, with this exception, the
interior of the choir was probably much the same originally as it is
(restored) to-day.
There was, however, a central tower, and, if the design on the
twelfth-century Priory seal is to be trusted, a high circular turret at
each end of the exterior.[9]
Thomas of St. Osyth, the second Prior (d. 1174), erected the transepts
and the easternmost bays of the nave, all of which bear signs of the
architectural transition. The nave was probably completed during the
next half-century, in the Early-English (then superseding the heavier
Norman) style, as may be inferred from the surviving western gateway,
and the mutilated columns which remain within the building at the
western end.
[Illustration: THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CHOIR FROM THE TRIFORIUM
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
Perpendicular work was introduced early in the fifteenth century, when
Roger de Walden, Bishop of London (1405-1406), built a chantry-chapel to
the north-east of the choir, and inserted a new clerestory, in the then
fashionable style, in place of the original. He also made a considerable
alteration in the chancel by substituting a square east-end for the
circular apse, part of which was taken down and used as building
material for the innovation. But de Walden's work was cut short by his
death, when he had scarcely held the See of London for two years, and
was buried in his Chapel at St. Bartholomew's, instead of in the
Cathedral Church like most of his predecessors.
The Lady Chapel, with the crypt beneath it, dates from about 1410, when
also the central tower was probably rebuilt, and decorative additions
were made to the Founder's tomb, in the shape of a canopy and panelling.
In the first part of the next century Prior Bolton (1505-32) inserted
the Oriel window on the southern side of the choir-triforium and the
doorway in the south ambulatory, both of which bear his sculptured
rebus--a _bolt_, or arrow, driven through a _tun_. In 1539 his
successor, Robert Fuller, the last of the Augustinian Priors,
surrendered the entire property to Henry VIII, in compliance with the
Act of Dissolution, its value having been already ascertained in the
twenty-sixth year of the King's reign. The exact figures are given by
Dugdale as follows:
Summa totalis hujus monasterii. £773 0_s._ 1¾_d._
" " reprisarum £79 10_s._ 3½_d._
---------------------------
Et remanet clare £693 9_s._ 10¼_d._
---------------------------
[Illustration: INTERIOR OF THE CHOIR
_From a print of 1822_
_T. H. Shepherd del. Howlett sc._]
For many years before the dissolution of the monasteries the system on
which they rested had been gradually undermined by the spread of the
Reformation, accompanied by a growing conviction that the religious
communities had not only outlived their usefulness, and to a great
extent departed from the high standard of their founders, but that their
enormous wealth had given them an influence far beyond that of any other
institution, or combination of institutions, in the kingdom, and brought
them into formidable rivalry with the State itself--the more dangerous
in proportion to their devoted adherence to the Papacy, with which the
State was in collision. By whatever unworthy motives Henry VIII may have
been governed in aiming at the monastic property, he was therefore able
to bring forward many political considerations, which coincided with
those arising out of religious doctrines, to make his measures
intelligible to his people, and consequently easy to himself. Among the
various plausible reasons which were urged against the continued
existence of the conventual houses, one of the most likely to appeal to
the practical sense of the multitude was the misuse of the resources
with which they had been endowed. While it was admitted that in their
earlier days they had been extremely useful in mitigating distress among
the poor, it was now argued that their indiscriminate charities were
doing more harm than good, and that the changed economic conditions of
the sixteenth century called for a corresponding change in the
distribution of relief, to save the country from being overrun by
undeserving mendicants, amongst whom some of the religious Orders were
themselves to be reckoned. It does not appear that any part of this
argument held good against the Augustinian Canons, or that the more
serious moral charges brought against the smaller communities were at
all applicable to their case, which was rather one of involvement in a
common ruin than the result of any specific accusation. It is true there
are instances of laxity at individual houses, showing a too easy
discipline where they occurred, but there is nothing sufficiently
extensive or important to compromise the Order as a whole, or materially
damage its character in the eyes of the impartial modern student.[10]
It might have been expected that some immunity from the wholesale
spoliation which followed the Act would have been granted to Rahere's
foundation, in view of his special provision for the poor in the
hospital which was an integral part of it. The hospital has indeed been
allowed to survive as a separate institution; but the whole of the
strictly monastic buildings were doomed, the nave of the church being at
once pulled down, and the choir only preserved for the use of the
parish. With this reservation, the site of the Priory and the buildings
upon it, including the Lady Chapel, were sold in 1546 to Sir Richard
Rich, Knight (Attorney General), for the consideration of £1,064 11_s._
3_d._, and the property has remained in the hands of his descendants
till quite recent years. The possession was, however, interrupted by
Queen Mary, who introduced the Dominican Order of Black Friars into the
Convent. They had started rebuilding the nave when the accession of
Elizabeth meant a return to the policy of her father, the expulsion of
the friars, and the restitution of the Priory estate to Richard (then
Lord) Rich and his heirs "in free socage," by a renewal of the previous
grant.[11]
Some idea of the strong ecclesiastical influence broken up at the
Dissolution may be gathered from a glance at any old map of London,
showing the numerous religious foundations by which the Priory was then
surrounded, now for the most part swept away, or only surviving here and
there in institutions which retain the ancient names under modern
conditions. Immediately to the north lay the Carthusian monastery,
familiarly known as the Charterhouse. On the north-west was the Priory
of St. John-of-Jerusalem, founded by the Knights Hospitallers. The
Franciscan Convent of the Grey Friars extended along the southern
boundary of St. Bartholomew's, between the Priory walls and St. Paul's
Cathedral. To the south-west, near the Thames, there was the monastery
of the Carmelites, or White Friars, with the church and houses of the
Knights Templars beyond it. Within the City, to the east, were the great
establishments of the Austin Friars and St. Helen's nunnery, while east
and west the churches spread--many of monastic origin--culminating in
two of the most important buildings in Europe, the Tower of London and
the palace of Westminster, each with its ecclesiastical dependencies,
the whole dominated by the mediaeval spirit about to be dispelled, for
good or evil, by the great movements of the Renaissance and Reformation.
A conjectural restoration of the Priory buildings, as they stood in
Prior Bolton's time, based on the records available in 1893, and the
architectural fragments which then remained, shows them to have been
bounded on the northern side by the Church, which extended from the Lady
Chapel at its eastern extremity to somewhere near the line indicated by
the small archway now leading from the public square into the churchyard
on the west. This churchyard covers the ground formerly occupied by the
nave, a mutilated portion of which remains within the building, attached
to the lower stage of the central tower. It seems clear that the choir
once extended over the tower-space, and was separated from the nave by a
screen, with a parish-altar on its western side for public worship,
while the chancel was reserved for the monastic services, with a raised
presbytery for the high altar at its eastern end--a threefold division
providing for the ancient ritual arrangement.
In the ambulatory on the northern side of the choir there were
apparently three chapels, besides Bishop Walden's chantry, which was the
easternmost of the series, and is supposed to have had a semicircular
apse. There was a similar, but rather smaller, chapel opposite to it on
the south side, and between it and the south transept a sacristy,
erected about 1350.
Outside the Lady Chapel lay the cemetery of the Canons, on the favourite
(south) side for burials. The cloister formed a large quadrangle
attached to the south aisle. The Prior's residence was probably on the
western side of the quadrangle, and on the south there was a range of
buildings comprising the refectory, buttery, and kitchen, with the Close
beyond them.
Opening into the cloister on the east was the Chapter House, an oblong
structure, adjoining which, on the south, was the dormitory, overlooking
the Mulberry Gardens on the east, and the Close on its western side.[12]
[Illustration: PLAN, PARTLY CONJECTURAL, OF THE MONASTIC BUILDINGS AT
THE DISSOLUTION
A Lady Chapel.
B Founder's tomb.
C Bishop Walden's chantry.
D Pulpit (destroyed 1828).
EE Chapels (conjectural).
F Sacristy (c. 1350).
G North transept.
H Central tower and ritual choir.
I South transept.
K Parish altar.
L Nave (c. 1250) destroyed at the Dissolution.
M Chapter House (destroyed by fire 1830).
N Dormitory (undercroft destroyed about 1870).
O Parlour.
P Kitchen.
Q Buttery.
R Refectory.]
The work of demolition commenced immediately after the transfer of the
property to Henry VIII, when the nave was destroyed; and as soon as Sir
Richard Rich came into possession, he started pulling down the buildings
for the sake of the materials, which were used in the erection of new
houses where the old had formerly stood, as well as on the gardens and
orchards around them. By the time of Queen Elizabeth the district had
become a favourite residential quarter for great people, who gradually
disappeared with the growth of London, and the migration of gentry
westwards, when the houses vacated in Smithfield were let off in
tenements to the same sort of poor people who now share the
neighbourhood with merchants and shopkeepers.
During Elizabeth's reign the church had been allowed to get into a very
dilapidated state, and that it was in some danger of total destruction
appears from a letter written by Edmund Grindal in 1563, while he was
Bishop of London, to Sir William Cecil, proposing to take the lead from
the roof, and transfer it to St. Paul's Cathedral:
St. Bartholomew's Churche, adjoining to my L. Rich's house, is
in decaye, and so increaseth dailye. It hath an heavie coate of
lead, wch wolde doe a verie goode service for the Mother Churche
of Powles. I have obtayned my L. Rich's goode wishes, and if I
coulde obteyne my L. Chiefe Justice of the K. Benche and Sir
Walter Mildmaye's assente, I wolde not doubte to have the
assente also of the whole parishe, that ye leade might goe to
the coveringe of Powles.... Now remayneth only this scruple--How
shall the parisshe be providett of a churche? That is thus
answered: There is an house adjoininge, wch was the _Fratrie_,
as they termed it, a very fayre and a large house, and indeed
al-readye: if it were purged, it lacketh nothinge but the name
of a churche; is well buylded of free stone, garnished inwarde
aboute with marble pyllers, large windowes, etc. I assure you,
without partialitie, if it were roofed up, it were farre more
beautiful and conveniente than the other. Yt is provided with
goode sclate. If we mighte have the leade, we wolde compownde
with my L. Rich for convertinge the said _Fratrie_ to a
_Churche_, and wee wylle also supplye all imperfections of the
same, and not desire the p'isshe to remove tylle the other be
meete and conveniente to goe to.[13]
Lord Rich thought favourably of the proposal; but that fears were
entertained elsewhere would seem probable from a second letter, in which
Grindal writes as follows:
For S. Bartholomewes--I meane not to pulle it downe, but to
change it for a Churche more conveniente ... unlesse some
strange opinion shulde arise that prayer were more acceptable
under leade than under sclate.
The long period of neglect and desecration which follows is rather to
be inferred from the condition of the buildings in the early part of the
nineteenth century than from any actual records respecting them. What
that condition was in 1809 is described in two letters which appeared in
"The Gentleman's Magazine" for March and April in that year. They were
written in a spirit of indignation at the behaviour of "a powerful
junto" which had been formed in the parish to sweep the whole structure
away, church included, on the pretext that part of the choir was in
danger of tumbling down. It had, however, been saved by the exertions
and judicious repairs of Mr. Hardwick, to whom the writer pays a just
compliment for his timely action against the particular committee. He
then goes on with a lamentable picture of what met his eyes on a "recent
survey" of the Priory, which he had previously examined in 1791, when it
was pretty much in the same state.[14] The Lady Chapel was still in
existence, but wholly filled up with modern tenements; the north
transept was more or less destroyed, and the arch bricked up to reduce
that side of the church to a level, while the south transept--a ruin
without a roof--was walled off from the church, and used as a
burial-ground. The eastern side of the cloister was all that remained of
the quadrangle, and was turned to account as a "comfortable eight-stall
stable" for horses. The site of the north cloister was occupied by a
blacksmith's forge, a public house, and certain private offices; the
south and west being covered with store-rooms and coach-houses. Of the
Chapter House the remaining walls were "no higher than a dado," and
under them the timber was stored after treatment in the sawpit of the
enclosure. The dormitory to the south of the Chapter House had been
demolished, and the crypt beneath it bricked off into divisions for
stores, with a common thoroughfare open between them. It may here be
mentioned that a close examination of the ground has shown that there
was formerly the usual "slype," or open pathway, running from the
cloister-garth, between the south transept and the Chapter House, to the
canons' cemetery on the southern side of the Lady Chapel.
The building against the south wall of the choir (probably the sacristy,
though called a chapel) is described as a magnificent structure, of
about the time of Edward III, with windows on the eastern and southern
sides, and a grand arch (then latticed up) which formerly connected it
with the south transept. It was being used as a store-room for hops. The
chapel to the east of this was destroyed in its upper part, and the
windows had lost their arched heads, though the columns and architraves
to the jambs remained, showing some very delicate and beautiful work,
which was also remarkably fine in the dado mouldings. The ceiling of the
church--the wreck of the Tudor open-worked timber roof--had been "pared
down to a common pediment covering," supported on the heads of cherubim
as corbels. The Doric altar-piece is contemptuously referred to as "a
painted theatrical scene of architecture."[15]
While the subordinate buildings were dropping into ruin, the church,
besides having suffered from fire and neglect, had been disfigured by a
long series of repairs and embellishments, the character of which may be
inferred from the glaring instances pointed out in the letters just
quoted. The other alterations made in the interior may be briefly
summarized as follows: The level of the floor was raised by a thick
deposit of earth; the walls were enveloped in whitewash, to the
concealment of the ancient mural paintings and certain delicate
sculptured ornament; and high pews were erected, which reached almost to
the capitals of the piers. The openings of the triforium were bricked
up--in some cases entirely obliterated--and at the east end, above the
altar-piece just mentioned, there rose a brick wall, pierced with two
ugly round-headed windows, filled with square panes of glass, and
destitute of mullions and tracery. The space between the termination
thus formed and the original apse went by the name of "Purgatory," as a
receptacle for human bones, some thousands of which were found to have
accumulated when it was cleared out in 1836.[16]
[Illustration: THE CHOIR BEFORE RESTORATION, SHOWING THE FACTORY FLOOR
EXTENDING OVER THE APSE AND SUPPORTED BY TWO IRON COLUMNS]
The secularization of this extreme eastern part of the church is traced
to the first purchaser from the Government, who held that the sanctuary
was bounded by the straight wall which there ran across it. A more
modern consequence than that just mentioned was the intrusion into the
triforium of a Nonconformist school, which was held there during the
eighteenth century, in connection with a chapel belonging to the
particular denomination immediately outside, having a convenient access
to the triforium from its own galleries. Another encroachment was a
fringe manufactory, which extended westwards along the triforium so as
to include Prior Bolton's window, and held its ground for some time
after the main arcading of the apse had been restored. Visitors to the
church before the restoration was complete will remember a substantial
iron bar which was carried across the curve, above the altar, to
strengthen the walls--an eyesore which could not be removed till the
intruding factory was bought out (_vide infra_).
The real work of restoration was begun in 1863 by the late Rev. John
Abbiss, then Rector of the parish, who raised something like £5,000, and
spent it in reducing the floor to its original level, removing the pews
(which had previously been lowered), repairing the walls and piers, and
rebuilding the central part of the apse, which had been pulled down
early in the fifteenth century, as already explained.
Outside the church a dry area was formed for the better protection of
the fabric against the subsidence known to follow on the ignorance, or
indifference, of early builders as to underlying strata. All this was
accomplished in three years, when the money was exhausted, and a fresh
fund had to be created for the continuation of the restorative work. In
raising subscriptions the then patron of the living, the Rev. F. P.
Phillips, was well supported by the parishioners, the City Companies,
the Charity Commissioners (out of the City Ecclesiastical Funds), and
the general public, with the result that a sum of over £28,000 was got
together. The chief individual contributor was the patron himself, who
purchased the projecting fringe factory for £6,500,[17] and completed
the restoration of the apse at his own expense. At the same time the
church was provided with a new roof, and the blacksmith's forge, which
occupied the site of the north transept, was bought out. On the 30th
November, 1886, the restored portions were formally opened, the actual
work having started about two years before, under the active interest of
the Rev. William Panckridge, who succeeded Mr. Abbiss in the Rectory.
The long list of works undertaken and completed from 1887 to 1893, under
the succeeding Rector, the Rev. Sir J. Borradaile Savory, Bart.,
includes the restoration of both transepts, the opening out of both
sides of the choir triforium,[18] the erection of the north and west
porches, the refacing of the west front, the reparation of the brick
tower, and the re-hanging of the bells, besides numerous external and
internal details.
The crowning work was the reconstruction of the Lady Chapel, which was
not completed till 1896, after the tedious business of releasing it from
its secular holders, and the recovery of the original design amidst the
mutilation in which they left it. The whole has been admirably carried
through by Sir Aston Webb, R.A., who has restored the precious fabric as
nearly as possible to its original state, by replacing what was
destroyed, and revealing what was concealed when the difficult task was
committed to him.
The restoration has since been extended to three bays on the eastern
side of the cloister, all that remained of the original quadrangle, and
these in a sadly ruinous state. Whether the cloisters were completed by
Rahere is a matter of conjecture; but it may be fairly assumed that they
were begun by him as a necessary part of the monastery. The surviving
Norman fragments point to the twelfth century as the date of their first
erection. It is certain that they were rebuilt in the fifteenth, for
besides the architectural remains of that period, there is historical
evidence that the work was done under Prior John Watford soon after his
appointment in 1404. For in September, 1409, Pope Alexander V, when
making a grant of Indulgences to those who visited and gave alms at the
church on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and the Feast of
the Assumption, expressly mentions the reconstruction of the Cloisters
and Chapter House by the Prior among the reasons which had induced him
to confer the privilege.
When the monastery was suppressed, the archway leading into the east
cloister from the church was built up, and the doors were taken from
it--in all probability to be transferred (in 1544) to the principal
entrance at the western end of the truncated building.
In the reconstruction attempted by the Dominican Friars, it seems that,
instead of re-opening the cloister-arch to its full extent, they
contented themselves with inserting a smaller doorway within it, the
jambs and lintel of which were discovered in the rubble masonry when the
arch was opened out in 1905. On the suppression of the Dominicans by
Queen Elizabeth, the cloisters passed again into secular hands, and
disappear from history until the year 1742, when there is a record of
the stabling that occupied the ruins till our own day, with the
temporary interruption of a fire in 1830, which brought most of the
eastern side to the ground. The stables were afterwards rebuilt, and
left undisturbed till 1900, when negotiations were opened for the
purchase of the freehold from the owners.
It was not till Michaelmas, 1904, that possession, even of a part,
could be obtained, as there were various leasehold interests to be
reckoned with, and many beneficiaries to be satisfied, whose rights will
not be finally extinguished until June, 1926. But excavation was at once
commenced, and the actual rebuilding in 1905. It need hardly be said
that all that has been discovered of the ancient work, here and
elsewhere, whether above or below ground, has been carefully preserved,
and incorporated (as far as possible _in situ_) into the restoration.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] I. "Liber fundationis ecclesiae et prioratus S.
Bartholomaei in West-Smithfield, London; per Raherum qui illic
religiosos viros secundum regulam S. patris Augustini
aggregavit, iisdemque per XXII annos prioris dignitate et
officio functus praetuit, et de miraculis ipsius."
II. "Idem liber Anglice."
Both are on parchment, in pages of the same (quarto) size, and
bound together in a single volume of eighty-three leaves,
divided almost equally between the Latin and English
versions.--Cottonian MSS. Vespasian, B. ix.
[2] "When he attained the flower of youth, he began to haunt
the households of noblemen and the palaces of princes, where,
under every elbow of them, he spread their cushions, with
apings and flatterings delectably anointing their eyes, to draw
to him their friendships. And yet he was not content with this,
but haunted the King's palace, and among the noisefull press of
that tumultuous Court enforced himself with jollity and carnal
suavity, by the which he might draw to him the hearts of many a
one."--Cottonian MS., _ut supra_.
[3] Cottonian MS.
[4] _Ibid._
[5] This Richard de Belmeis (Beauvais) was the first of two
bishops of the same name, and held the See of London for twenty
years (1108-1128).
The name of Rahere, which appears in various forms, suggests a
French origin; and from the fact that it occurs in the
signature, or attestation, of certain documents discovered in
Brittany, as well as from the close relations between the
bishop and the founder of St. Bartholomew's, it is conjectured
that they both came from the same neighbourhood. Otherwise
their joint interest in the foundation at Smithfield is
sufficiently accounted for by the benevolent object and the
situation within the London diocese.
Leland gives the credit of the foundation to Henry I, as having
granted the land out of the royal domain.
[6] The Canons Regular of St. Augustine (of Hippo) are said to
have been founded at Avignon in or about 1061. Their first
establishment in England was at Colchester (_circa_ 1105),
where the picturesque ruins of the Priory Church, dedicated to
St. Botolph, are all that remain of the monastic buildings. The
habit consisted of a black cassock with a white rochet, over
which a black cloak and hood were worn, thus leading to their
familiar name of the Black Canons--not to be confused with the
Black _Friars_, a Dominican Order of mendicants, introduced at
St. Bartholomew's Priory under Queen Mary. From an anecdote
related by Matthew Paris (under the year 1250), and quoted in
most accounts of the Priory, it seems that the inmates, while
recognizing the authority of the Bishop of London, were
extremely jealous of outside interference. The Archbishop of
Canterbury (Boniface of Savoy) had ventured to include St.
Bartholomew's in one of his visitations. He was received with
becoming dignity by the sub-prior, but politely warned against
going beyond his jurisdiction. This so enraged his Grace that
he struck the sub-prior in the face, and, "with many oaths,"
rent in pieces the rich cope he was wearing, treading it under
his feet, and thrusting the sub-prior against a pillar of the
chancel with such violence as almost to kill him. A general
conflict followed between the Canons and the Archbishop's
attendants, which was taken up outside and set the whole city
in an uproar.
[7] _Vide_ Dr. Norman Moore's edition from the copy in the
Record Office.
[8] There had been a decline in public interest for some years
before 1691, when the abuses which had grown round the
celebration led to its reduction from fourteen to four days:
but the fair lingered on in a degenerate state till it was last
proclaimed by the Lord Mayor in 1850, and finally ceased in
1855. The live cattle market, so vividly described, with its
attendant nuisances, in the twenty-first chapter of "Oliver
Twist," was closed at the same time, and the business
transferred to the new Caledonian Market. The open pens at
Smithfield have been superseded by covered buildings, to which
the old Newgate Market has been removed, and considerably
developed, for the sale of meat, the slaughtering for the most
part being done locally in the various places whence the
supplies are derived.
The memory of old associations is preserved in the street which
runs along the north side of the church, and still bears the
name of "Cloth Fair": and the site of "Pye Corner," where the
great fire of 1666 reached its limit, is marked by a tablet in
the wall, at the entrance to Cock Lane in Giltspur Street, a
short distance to the south-west. The place took its name from
the "Court of Pie-Powder," which was held during the fair here,
as at similar gatherings throughout the country, to deal
expeditiously with disturbers of the peace. The etymology is
traced to the old French _pied pouldré_, with supposed
reference to the dusty feet of pedlars and others who came
before the court--now extinguished in the more modern Petty
Sessions.
A lively description of the fair, in its palmy days, is given
in a tract, printed in 1641 for Richard Harper at the "Bible
and Harp" in Smithfield, entitled, "Bartholomew Fair, or
varieties of fancies, where you may find a faire of wares, and
all to please your mind, with the several enormityes and
misdemeanours which are there seen and heard."
Among the more gloomy associations of Smithfield are the
martyrdoms which took place there during the Marian persecution
of 1555-57. Of the victims, John Rogers, John Bradford, and
John Philpot are commemorated in a modern tablet let into the
wall of the hospital facing the square where they suffered. The
church to their memory, referred to in the inscription, is in
St. John Street Road, where it was built as a Chapel-of-Ease to
the parish church of St. John-of-Jerusalem, founded by the
Knights Hospitallers in 1185.
[9] The late Mr. J. H. Parker was inclined to think there was a
tower in each corner (though two only could be represented in
the seal), as was not unusual in France and elsewhere, but
rarely the case in England. (See his lecture delivered in the
church on 13th July, 1863.)
[10] _Vide_ "Henry VIII and the English Monasteries," by the
Rt. Rev. Abbot Gasquet, D.D., O.S.B., for an able statement of
the case for the communities: and an article by G. G. Perry
("Eng. Hist. Review," April, 1889), on "Episcopal Visitations
of the Austin Canons," for some cases of laxity.
[11] The Dominicans were introduced at St. Bartholomew's in
1556, when their old monastery (dating from 1276), near the
north end of Blackfriars Bridge, was no longer available.
Possibly their work and reputation in making converts may have
had some influence on the choice of the Order, which, moreover,
was governed by the Augustinian rule, adopted (with additions)
by their founder in 1215, and so far brought the community
under the traditions of their predecessors. The members at
Smithfield consisted of English, Spanish, and Belgian friars,
and Fr. William Perrin, O.P., was appointed as their chief.
When he died in 1558, Fr. Richard Hargrave was elected in his
place, but was not allowed to take office, apparently in view
of the suppression which was impending when the Letters Patent
from the General, confirming his election, reached England in
the following year. By the time of the actual expulsion (13th
July, 1559) the community had been reduced by deaths and
migrations to "three priests and one young man," who would seem
to have conformed, in preference to leaving the country.
(_Vide_ "The Elizabethan Religious Settlement," ch. iv, by Dom
H. N. Birt, O.S.B.)
For the general history of the Black Friars the reader is
referred to Archbishop Alemany's "Life of St. Dominic, with a
Sketch of the Dominican Order," the "Etudes sur l'Ordre de St.
Dominique" by D'Anzas, and "The Coming of the Friars" by Dr.
Aug. Jessopp. The "Chronica Majora" of Matthew Paris afford
some lively reading on the subject.
[12] It is possible that investigations now pending may involve
a slight rearrangement of this conjectural plan, as those
previously drawn have similarly been modified from time to time
by fresh discoveries.
[13] This suggestion of Bishop Grindal's recalls the case of
Beaulieu Abbey where the beautiful refectory is still preserved
as the parish church.
[14] The church had been "restored" in 1789 by Mr. George
Dance, architect to the hospital, in a spirit which may be
inferred from the description of the interior given above. A
more sympathetic restoration was inaugurated by Mr. Philip
Hardwick in 1823.
[15] When the church was repaired by Mr. John Blyth in 1836,
this painting was removed, and a range of columns, bearing
small semicircular arches, substituted for it as a reredos.
During these alterations it was discovered that the stone wall
(erected by de Walden) between the wooden altar-piece and the
original apse, was painted in bright red tempera, sprinkled
with black stars. $$ The above-mentioned letters are attributed
to Mr. John Carter, but are merely signed by "An Architect."
[16] It would probably be unfair to infer any unusual neglect
in spiritual matters from the architectural conditions. In
Paterson's "Pietas Londinensis" there is a list of public
services at many London churches, as held in the early part of
the eighteenth century. The services at St.
Bartholomew-the-Great are there quoted as "Daily in the last
week in the month at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.," and at St.
Bartholomew-the-Less as "Daily at 11 a.m."
[17] It should be stated that the fringe factory had covered
the remains of the crypt and Lady Chapel, besides projecting
some twenty feet into the east end of the church. The
architects for these earlier restorations were Professor Hayter
Lewis and Mr. Slater, who deserve credit for their careful
preservation of the old work.
[18] The obstruction on the south side of the triforium has
been already mentioned. The northern side was used for the
parochial boys' school for many years down to 1892, when the
scholars were transferred to the new schools built for them
adjoining the church.
* * * * *
[Illustration: THE PRIORY CHURCH FROM THE WEST
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE WEST
_From a print of 1810_
_W. Pearson del. W. Preston sc._]
CHAPTER II
THE EXTERIOR
The church lies in a general east and west direction, and, at the
present day, consists of the Choir and encircling Ambulatory, Lady
Chapel, north and south Transepts, with the lower stage of the central
Tower, one bay of the ancient Nave, three bays of the Cloister, and a
seventeenth-century brick Tower--the whole hidden behind the houses, in
an obscure corner of West Smithfield, by no means easy for a stranger to
discover. It will be well for him, therefore, in the first place, to
make his way to the better known buildings of St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, and then walk across the open square, between them and
Smithfield Market, to its eastern side, where he will find the entrance
close to the narrow street called Cloth Fair.
#The Gateway# is interesting, as a surviving fragment of the Early-English
period, supposed by some authorities to mark the site of the original
west front, of which they regard it as having formed part--the entrance
to the south aisle--which was allowed to stand, after the grand central
porch, and a corresponding doorway on the northern side, were destroyed
with the nave. More probable is the conjecture that it was merely the
entrance to the monastic enclosure, turned to account as a ready-made
structure when the work at the church was the reverse of constructive,
as it seems too large and too high for a mere doorway at the end of an
aisle, besides being rather too far from the church to agree with its
supposed dimensions. The modern iron gate is surmounted by a gilded
cross and the name of the church on a framework in the tympanum. The
arch is acutely pointed, and moulded in four orders, with a tooth
ornament in the hollows, and is in tolerably good condition; but the
supporting shafts have been superseded by a wall on each side, with the
circular moulded capitals (much decayed) above it, the bases either
being destroyed or buried in the earth beneath. The gateway is in a line
with the houses facing the public square, which touch it on both sides,
and are carried on without interruption above the opening.
When the floor of the church was lowered to its original level in
1863-6, the present approach to it was made by an excavation through the
churchyard, which covered the site of the nave, and is now walled off on
the northern side of the passage.
The gravestones are of comparatively modern date, and of no special
interest. A few of them have been left against the wall on the right,
where there is something of more antiquarian value in a collection of
_débris_ from the old building, containing the bases of some of the
Early-English columns in their original place, but hopelessly mutilated.
The existing #West Front# dates from the time when the nave was
destroyed. In 1893 a great improvement was made in its appearance by
refacing the wall with flint and stone, and otherwise ornamenting the
surface, to bring it into uniformity with the porch which was then built
at that end of the church. There are now three round-headed recesses in
the central portion of the wall, those at the extremities containing
narrow windows; a band of chequered stonework is carried across the
space beneath them, and a small circular window inserted above. It may
be mentioned here that the pointed arch has generally been adopted in
the new work, to distinguish it from the old, but the characteristic
massiveness and predominant scale of the original has been preserved
throughout the restoration. A practical illustration of these principles
will be seen in #The Porch#, as an ingenious compromise between the older
and newer types of architecture which are brought together in the main
fabric. It is built of a combination of flint and Portland stone, like
the wall-front just described, with which it is connected by a small
circular tower and an oblong extension on the northern side. The two
storeys of which it consists are divided externally by a band of
chequered diaper. The shallow arch of the doorway is simply moulded and
very slightly pointed, suggesting a transition from the Romanesque to
the Early-English style, while the Perpendicular is represented in the
battlements on the roof and the octagonal turret on the southern side.
In a niche above the apex of the arch, and on a bracket displaying the
Priory arms, upheld by two angels, stands a figure of Rahere, the
founder, with his left hand raised in benediction, and in his right a
model of the church. The design of this little edifice is taken from one
of the ancient seals (see Illustration in the Appendix), and shows the
central tower, with a round turret at each end, and a small building
(probably the original Lady Chapel) projecting from the east. Rahere's
features are copied from the effigy on his tomb, which is believed to be
an authentic portrait. The figure occupies the central position in the
higher storey, with three arched recesses on either side (the middle one
in each case containing a window), diminishing in height outwards, in
harmony with the lines of the roof. The ceiling within the porch is
groined in four divisions; and the "priest's chamber" above it makes a
convenient private room for the rector of the parish. This new porch
bears its own date (1893), and the date of the foundation, seven hundred
and seventy years earlier.[1]
#The Brick Tower#, built in 1628, is said to have been altered to some
extent in subsequent repairs, which have not improved its appearance. So
at least say the admirers of King Charles I, who argue that nothing
quite so hideous could have been erected in his reign. It is a plain
square structure, seventy-five feet in height, in four stages, gradually
diminishing in area upwards, the lower part supported by buttresses, and
the summit crowned by battlements, with a small bell-turret and vane.
More interesting than the tower itself--which is, in fact, an
incongruous addition to the church--are the #Bells# which it contains, a
precious inheritance from the Augustinian Canons, and in some respects
the most remarkable in London. The foundry stamp shows them to have been
cast by Thomas Bullisdon, who died about 1510. They are the smaller five
of a ring of twelve, six of which were sold at the Dissolution to the
Church of St. Sepulchre, Holborn, where they have since been re-cast,
and one has disappeared from history.
The measurements and inscriptions are as follows:
1. #SANCTE BARTHOLEMEO: ORA PRO NOBIS.# Diameter 22 in.
2. #SANCTA KATERINA: ORA PRO NOBIS.# Diameter 24 in.
3. #SANCTA ANNA: ORA PRO NOBIS.# Diameter 26¾ in.
4. #SANCTE JOHANNES BAPTISTE: ORA PRO NOBIS.# Diameter 29¼ in.
5. #SANCTE PETRE: ORA PRO NOBIS.# Diameter 31 in.
The clock-bell, in the cage on the top, is inscribed, "T. Mears of
London Fecit 1814." Diameter about 25 inches.
The churchyard is overlooked on its northern side by the back windows
of some rickety old wooden houses, suggestive of an easy conflagration,
and dangerously near the church. They date from the time of Queen
Elizabeth, and stand on a piece of the ground formerly devoted to
Bartholomew Fair, the memory of which is perpetuated in the adjoining
street (Cloth Fair), where the humble shops in front of the same houses
are said to be a survival of the ancient booths. They run close up to
the #North Porch#, which projects into the street from the transept. It
was erected in 1893, at the same time that the transept was restored.
The porch is similar in material and character to that on the west, with
some differences in detail, the chief of which are that the figure over
the door represents St. Bartholomew, with only one window on each side
of it--in this case square-headed, with a label-moulding--and the
chequered diaper covers the whole wall-surface of the upper storey. The
Saint is raising his right hand in the act of blessing, and holds in the
left a knife, which has become his emblem, as the instrument of his
passion. A scroll entwined about the effigy bears the appropriate words
(in English) from Rahere's vision: _Almighty God this spiritual house
shall inhabit and hallow it._ The upper chamber here is reserved for the
mission-lady working in the district.
[Illustration: THE NORTH PORCH
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
The face of the transept visible above displays three lancet-headed
windows of the clerestory; the spaces are laid out in ornamental panels;
and there is an octagonal turret on the right, with battlements and a
pointed roof.
The rest of the church is hemmed in, and for the most part concealed, by
tumble-down houses, forming a labyrinth of narrow winding passages about
the walls, and even encroaching upon them--a bit of old London which has
escaped the modern spirit of improvement, and would appear to be full of
suggestive material for the writer of romance. As we thread our way
through this network round the east end and south side, to reach the
entrance once more, we get an occasional glimpse of the choir and Lady
Chapel through a gap in the surrounding buildings; but are far more
impressed with the sense of poverty and ruin than by anything in the way
of architecture, which can be much better seen and described from
within. The new schools in the south-east corner (built to supersede the
old structure which still remains attached to the north triforium) are
worth a visit _en route_: and so, perhaps, is the abandoned
burial-ground outside the south transept, if only as a melancholy
souvenir of the past.
The church is open every day, and the services are as follows:
SUNDAYS
8.15 a.m. Holy Communion.
11 a.m. Mattins.
11.45 a.m. Holy Communion (choral) and Sermon.
4 p.m. Children's Service and Catechizing.
7 p.m. Evensong and Sermon.
SAINTS' DAYS
8.15 a.m. Holy Communion.
11 a.m. Mattins.
8.30 p.m. Evensong and Sermon.
ORDINARY DAYS
11 a.m. Mattins.
4 p.m. Evensong, except on Wednesdays, when the arrangement
is the same as for Saints' Days.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Within the porch a tablet on the south wall gives a list of
the Priors and Rectors. On the opposite wall another tablet,
recording some of the restorative work, forms part of the
memorial to Sir Borradaile Savory. For the rest of the memorial
see notes on pp. 48 and 57.
* * * * *
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE CROSSING FROM THE TRIFORIUM
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
CHAPTER III
THE INTERIOR
As soon as the visitor enters the church, he will be able to contrast
the Norman work of the twelfth century with that which succeeded it in
the thirteenth, as both are brought into juxtaposition immediately
within the western doorway. The surviving #Bay of the Nave#, which
probably marks the boundary of the monastic choir, now answers the
purpose of a vestibule to the church, from the body of which it is
separated by the organ-screen, the instrument being carried on a gallery
built against the western wall. The nave arches, at each end of the
passage thus formed, are semicircular in shape, with a zigzag moulding
on the inner sides, and rest on massive rounded piers, with square bases
and abaci and simple cushioned capitals--the whole obviously of early
twelfth century date. The northern arch has been built up, and a small
Tudor doorway, inserted in the wall, gives access to the transept.
At right angles with the southern arch, and on each side of the entrance
to the choir aisle, or ambulatory, there is a cluster of #Early English
Columns#, still bearing a portion of the vaulting-shafts, from which it
can be seen that the pitch of the roof to the nave aisle was much higher
than that of the ambulatory to which it was attached, probably implying
a corresponding difference in the height of the nave. The slender
columns on both sides are alike in their moulded bases, which resemble
those left (_in situ_) among the ruins outside, as far as the latter can
be discerned; but there is an interesting variety in other details, the
capitals of the northern group being cut into foliage, while they are
moulded on the south, where also the shafts are banded.
#The Organ-screen# (modern) is an elegant piece of work in oak, panelled
and canopied in the Perpendicular style. With the organ-front above, it
forms an admirable background to the choir-stalls, which are arranged in
the space within the old central tower, the seats for the congregation
being carried along towards the east, facing each other chapel-wise, in
continuation of the stalls on either side. A description of the organ
will be found in the Appendix.
[Illustration: THE SOUTH AISLE FROM THE WEST, SHOWING THE EARLY
ENGLISH SHAFTS
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
#The Tower Arches# are worth particular notice. Those on the north and
south are pointed, and much narrower than the others, which have a bold
semicircular sweep. An intelligible reason sometimes assigned for the
difference is that the area enclosed is not exactly square, and that it
became necessary for the builders to carry the transept-arches to a
point, to accommodate them to the oblong plan, and bring the upper
mouldings into line with those of the rounded arches between the choir
and nave. On this supposition the result has been called "an incidental
use of the pointed arch," examples of which occur elsewhere (_e.g._, at
Christ Church, Oxford, and other churches of the transitional period)
before it became a distinguishing feature of the later style. It is
tolerably certain, however, that the tower was rebuilt in the fifteenth
century, and that the north and south arches were then altered from
their first design. And their appearance is strongly in favour of a
reconstruction; for it will be noticed that, instead of the usual
elegant inclination in a continuous curve from the spring to the apex,
they rise perpendicularly for some distance above the piers on either
side, and then take rather an abrupt turn inwards, suggesting the
imposition of a pointed heading on an original stilted form. Further
signs of alteration appear on the northern side, where the capitals have
been recut in the Perpendicular fashion; but the Norman pilasters and
mouldings on the south remain untouched. On both sides the double
serrated line of moulding claims attention, as an example of the
"saw-tooth" ornament found in early work. A difference will be observed
in the corbels supporting the mouldings of the eastern and western
arches. The former are much more boldly cut, with all the appearance of
original work, while those on the west would seem to have been modified
by some architect of the Perpendicular age. In the decoration of the
inner tower walls there is a lozenge-shaped panel in each of the
spandrels, sculptured into a floral ornament something like the Greek
honeysuckle, a shallow arcading in the angles, and a cornice of zigzag
moulding extending round the walls, immediately below the modern ceiling
(1886) of panelled oak.
The piers at the angles of the tower are not very much more massive
than the adjacent walls, and do not strike one as capable of sustaining
a superstructure of any great weight. It may therefore be inferred that
the tower was a low one, as is in fact borne out by the representation
on the Priory seal, where the circular turrets at each end of the church
are shown to exceed it in height. #The North Transept#, which had been
occupied for many years as a blacksmith's forge, was re-opened on 5th
June, 1893, after restoration to something like its original state. It
is now used as a morning chapel, with an altar in a recess on the north
side, slightly to the east of the porch already described, by which the
church is entered from Cloth Fair.[1]
[Illustration: THE NORTH TRANSEPT AND SCREEN
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
[Illustration: THE NORTH TRANSEPT FROM THE SOUTH
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
Both transepts had been injured by fire, and were originally much
deeper than they are at present, but to have rebuilt them exactly on the
old lines would have involved the suppression of a right of way and the
purchase of neighbouring properties, besides adding to the cost of
heating and maintenance, expenses which the funds would not allow. Here,
as elsewhere, the old work, as far as it remained, has been left
undisturbed, and simply incorporated into the new, the architect
contenting himself with removing the modern walls which had been set up
at the extremities to keep out the weather, providing abutments to
strengthen the central arches, and supplying what was wanted to complete
the first design within the more limited area. During the reconstruction
of this transept the fine arcaded #Stone Screen# was revealed which
separates it from the space within the tower. The screen was buried some
four feet in earth, and the upper part entirely concealed by the smithy.
The style shows it to be of the fifteenth century, when there was
probably a similar screen on the opposite side of the choir, the two
backing the stalls, which are known to have been carried under the
tower. The existing screen is divided into two wide arches, slightly
depressed, with a moulding in four orders. It has been refaced on the
choir side, and a partition of ironwork, ornamented with coloured coats
of arms, inserted in the open spaces, to serve as a barrier without
obstructing the view in either direction.
Under one of the arches there is a stone coffin, with a much decayed
cover of Purbeck marble, which is supposed to have contained the body of
a Prior. It was opened for examination during the rebuilding, when a
skeleton was found within it, with sandals still on the feet, but as the
skull was gone it was evident that the coffin had previously been
opened. In the arch by its side there was another coffin of the same
character, which has unfortunately been shifted to the north ambulatory.
It is without a cover, and the skeleton is no longer there; but the
leaden envelope remains, more or less in the state in which it was
folded round the corpse. The arched recess on the east, by the side of
the opening to the ambulatory, is supposed to have been the entrance to
the Walden Chantry; but it has been built up with a return-wall.
The triforium is continuous through all three walls of the transept,
each bay consisting of a double pointed arch, except that above the
ambulatory, where the surviving Norman fragment shows three round-headed
openings, included in a semicircular arch with billet moulding. The
clerestory in the north wall, where the work is entirely new, is
ornamented with a traceried arcading on an interior plane, which has a
very beautiful effect.
#The South Transept#, opened after restoration on 14th March, 1891, had
been turned to account as a burial-ground, supplementary to that at the
west end. The side walls were allowed to stand for the enclosure, but
the south wall was pulled down, and another erected within the space, to
separate the "Green Churchyard," as it was called, from the church. In
this case, therefore, the restoration meant little more than the removal
of the intercepting wall to open out the transept, and building a new
one at the extremity, with a partial reconstruction of those which were
decayed to connect them with it. In the renovation of both transepts
blue Bath stone has been used internally, and Portland stone with flints
for the exterior. The conservative nature of the work is here seen in
the side walls, each of which retains a bay of the old Norman triforium,
with its round-headed divisions, to which a new bay has been added, with
a slightly pointed arcade, as a connection, without any violent
contrast, between the older parts of the transept and the new south
wall. This presents an agreeable variety to that facing it in the
opposite transept. In the upper stage, instead of a triforium and
clerestory, there are three tall windows of two lights each, the central
being carried above the others, and distinguished by a more ornate
tracery, here taking a cruciform pattern above the trefoil-headed
divisions, instead of a foliated circle as in the side windows. The
arcading in which they are all placed is severely simple in character,
the slightly pointed headings resting on plain shafts, with moulded
bases and capitals--the whole composition a pleasing relief to the
heavier architecture on each side without being discordant. The same may
be said of the lower stage, also arcaded in three divisions,
corresponding with those above, but rather more massive in character.
The central arch forms a porch, giving access to the church on that
side, with a recess to the east and west of it, each lighted by a
dwarfed window. The eastern of these recesses answers the purpose of a
baptistery. #The Font# dates from the early fifteenth century, and is
octagonal in shape, with a tall cover, crocketed at the angles,
suspended on a swivel above it. The facets of the octagon are perfectly
plain, but there is an oblong incision in one of them which looks very
much like the matrix of a brass, or the seat of a sculptured panel,
which has been removed. There is a traditional interest attaching to the
font as that in which William Hogarth, the famous painter and satirist,
was baptized. He was born in Bartholomew Close on 10th November, 1697,
and his baptism is entered in the parish register on the 28th of the
same month.[2] It is recorded that the font had a narrow escape in the
eighteenth century, when the Vestry ordered it to be removed for a new
one, but fortunately the order was never carried out.
In a recess on the eastern side of the transept there is a monument to
#Elizabeth Freshwater#, whose effigy, in the costume and ruff collar of
her time, is shown kneeling at a small _priedieu_, with English and
Latin inscriptions beneath:
Here lyeth interred the body of Elizabeth Freshwater, late wife
of Thomas Freshwater, of Henbridge, in the County of Essex,
Esquire; eldest daughter of John Orme of this parish, Gentleman,
and Mary his wife. She died the 16th day of May Anno Domini
1617, being of the age of 26 years.
Mors properius, quali tinxisti tela veneno
Ut sic trina uno vulnere praeda cadat?
Unam saeva feris; sed et uno hoc occidit ictu
Uxor dulcis, amans filia, chara soror.
(=O hasty death, how hast them so contrived
Thy darts with venomous poison to direct
That, by one cruel stroke, not one but three are killed,
Sweet wife, a loving daughter, sister dear!)
The doorway beneath the monument opens on the staircase to the south
triforium.
#The Choir#, now restored as nearly as possible to its original state,
consists of five bays on each side, with an apsidal termination of five
arches, distinguished from the others (mainly semicircular) by their
"stilted" form and much narrower span, which, in fact, measures no more
than the diameter of the intervening columns, and gives an appearance of
extra massiveness to the east end of the church. All the arches display
some approximation to the "horseshoe," in a slight inward inclination on
either side towards the capitals on which they rest; but the shape is
very definitely assumed in each of those immediately contiguous to the
transverse curve. These are of the genuine "horseshoe" pattern
characteristic of Arabian or Moorish buildings; and their exact
similarity in detail, with their position facing one another at each
extremity of the apse, would seem to indicate a structural necessity, or
deliberate intention in the design, which, neither here nor elsewhere in
the arcading, is to be attributed to any subsidence, or imperfect
workmanship, sometimes held to account for the deflection as a mere
accident.
[Illustration: THE FONT AND THE FRESHWATER MONUMENT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
[Illustration: INTERIOR FROM THE EAST, SHOWING PRIOR BOLTON'S GALLERY
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
The character of these arches, with the slightly domical vaults
noticeable in the adjacent aisles, has led some persons to detect an
Oriental influence in the building--possibly traceable to the visitors
from Byzantium whom the founder is said to have consulted while it was
in course of erection--though it is argued to the contrary that these
features are sufficiently accounted for by the general tendency of
Anglo-Norman architecture at the time, as illustrated elsewhere.
The arcading throughout rests on massive piers and circular columns,
with square bases and abaci (incised at the angles) and low cushioned
capitals, ornamented with a simple scallop. Above the arches, on the
choir side, there is a billet moulding, which is considered unique in
that, instead of forming a separate decoration to each arch, it is
carried along horizontally above the abaci on either side in a
continuous line of ornament.
#The Triforium# consists of a series of rounded arches, the piers from
which they spring being placed directly above those of the main arcade.
Each of the side bays is divided into four compartments by small
columns, above which the tympanum of the enclosing arch is occupied by a
blank wall. The sequence is, of course, interrupted by the oriel window
in the central bay on the south; and the narrower openings in the apse
only admit of a twofold division. There are said to have been originally
windows at the back of the triforium-gallery, as at Durham,
Peterborough, and other Norman churches of the same period; but the
mutilation and rebuilding in the external walls have greatly destroyed
the original work.
#Prior Bolton's Window# was probably inserted about 1530, when the device
of a "bolt in tun" was officially authorized for Bolton's arms, on his
own choice, as presenting his name in the emblematical form then in
vogue. The window is an "oriel" in the Perpendicular style, separated
vertically by mullions into three lights in front, with one at each end
of the projection, and horizontally by transoms into an upper and lower
tier, the former having a trefoil heading to each division. There is a
sloping hipped roof to the window, and a broad moulded corbel below it.
The well-known rebus is boldly displayed upon the central of the five
square panels (all sculptured) which adorn the face of this picturesque
chamber (_oriolum_), probably built as a convenient private pew for the
Prior, from which he could survey the whole of the choir and the
Founder's tomb. The Tudor doorway, which now opens into the choir vestry
at the eastern end of the south wall, has the Bolton rebus in the
spandrels of the arch.[3]
#The Clerestory.#--In his reconstruction here Sir Aston Webb has followed
the precedent of the Perpendicular work introduced in the fifteenth
century, which, fortunately, had not been seriously injured in the upper
part of the side walls. He has accordingly adopted that style in the
apse, where the clerestory arcade is entirely new. It displays a series
of five windows of two lights each, with traceried headings, and slender
columns on the inner and outer plane, sufficient to uphold the arcading
without intercepting the light--none too abundant in any part of the
church, though it is entirely destitute of stained glass at the present
day.
The walls of the triforium and clerestory are perforated longitudinally
to form a continuous passage on each side of the choir--interrupted,
however, by the interposition of masonry at the junction of the lateral
walls with the apse.
The passage along the clerestory is formed by a succession of
"shouldered arches," as they are commonly called, though each merely
consists of a flat lintel resting on corbels, which is not strictly an
arch at all. As there are no signs of vaulting-shafts, it may be fairly
assumed that the original roof was a wooden one, probably painted, like
those still in existence at other Norman churches.
The present ceiling, about forty-seven feet above the level of the
floor, is of panelled oak (uncoloured), and supersedes an unsatisfactory
timber structure which had taken the place of the earlier Tudor work. It
was divided into compartments by a tie-beam and king-post at intervals,
supported on corbels representing the heads of cherubim--an innovation
more modern, and even more out of character with the building, than the
ceiling itself. The cross beams from the latter have been retained in
the modern work.
[Illustration: THE FOUNDER'S TOMB
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
#The Founder's Tomb# occupies a bay on the northern side of the
sanctuary. Resting on a simple base of rectangular stones, it consists
of an altar-tomb in the Perpendicular style, ornamented by four
quatrefoil panels in front, each displaying a shield of arms, above
which runs the inscription: _Hic jacet Raherus Primus Canonicus et
Primus Prior hujus Ecclesiae._
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF RAHERE
_From an old engraving, showing the original extent of
the arcaded work, and the doorway now removed_
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
The painted effigy of Rahere lies upon its back, vested in the black
Habit of the Augustinian Canons, the hands joined in prayer, and the
tonsured head reposing upon a tasselled cushion. At the feet an angel,
with flowing black hair, and crowned, is represented rising from clouds,
holding towards the recumbent figure a shield, on which the Priory Arms
are embossed and illuminated: _Gules_, two lions _passant guardant: or_,
two ducal coronets in chief.
On each side of the effigy a kneeling monk of the same Order is reading
from a book, opened at Isaiah, li, 3, as may be inferred from the words
distinguishable on the page nearest the spectator, the text obviously
having been chosen with reference to the ground on which the Priory
stands: "Consolabitur ergo Dominus Sion, et consolabitur omnes ruinas
ejus: et ponat desertum ejus quasi delicias, et solitudinem ejus quasi
hortum Domini."
The group is enclosed in a canopied frame of tabernacle work in three
divisions, elaborately carved, with a vaulted ceiling; and each of the
panels in the back wall is perforated with a small decorated window,
unglazed, probably inserted not only for ornament but for the benefit of
pilgrims on the ambulatory side of the shrine. The design is continued
in a fourth panel towards the east, with a blank wall behind it, and
another separating it from the actual tomb. Originally there were two
other panels beyond this, similarly arcaded, and carried over the face
of the adjacent Norman arch, which had a doorway beneath it leading into
the ambulatory (_see_ illustration, p. 46). The canopy and panelling
were added to the tomb in the fifteenth century. It was repaired in the
reign of Henry VIII, and the painting has been more than once renewed,
apparently with some rearrangement of the arms in front, as they do not
appear in the present order in old engravings. Taking them from left to
right they are now those of the City of London, the Priory, England and
France, and Sir Stephen Slaney, Lord Mayor of London in 1595.
The sanctuary is paved with coloured tesserae and marbles, in a series
of five steps, the uppermost of which forms the predella, or footpace,
to the altar. The latter is of oak, and was presented by Miss Overbury,
sister-in-law to the Rev. W. Panckridge, Rector of the Parish from 1884
to 1887.
The somewhat classical design of the pavement is uniform throughout, but
the higher and lower portions are distinguished by separate
inscriptions, one across the chord of the apse, the other along the step
immediately within the railing. These inscriptions are respectively as
follows:
To the Glory of God, and in memory of John Abbiss, 64 years
Rector of this Church, this Apse was rebuilt by his nephew,
Frederick P. Phillips, A.D. 1886. Let Thy priests be clothed
with righteousness.
Where I am, there shall also my servant be.
* * * * *
In memory of the Rev. Canon F. Parr Phillips, Rector of Stoke
d'Abernon, Surrey, and Patron of this Church. Died 17 March,
1903, aged 84.
Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His Name.
Bring an offering and come before Him.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.[4]
[Illustration: THE CHAMBERLAYNE MONUMENT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
#The Pulpit# is built against a pier on the north side, midway between the
ordinary seats and the choir-stalls. It is a low oblong structure, with
a short flight of steps at each end, and is ornamented in the upper part
with a series of panels, arcaded and perforated to resemble small
windows.
The Hopton Wood stone, or marble, as it is sometimes called, has a
delicate gray vein, which is brought out by polish on the cornice and
balustrade, as a relief to the unpolished surface elsewhere displayed.
There is no inscription; but visitors are usually told about Mrs.
Charlotte Hart, the apparently impecunious pew-opener at the church, who
surprised her friends by dying worth close upon £3,000, and by leaving
£600 to the restoration fund. A new pulpit happened to be wanted at the
time, and the bequest was applied in its erection.
[Illustration: THE SMALPACE MONUMENT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
On the wall above is the #Monument of Sir Robert Chamberlayne#, an
elegant piece of Jacobean work, deserving a closer examination than can
be bestowed upon it without mounting the pulpit, and even there the
inscription is scarcely legible. The sculpture, which is extremely well
executed, represents Sir Robert kneeling in prayer within a circular
pavilion, the curtains of which are held up by an angel on either side.
The figure wears a partial suit of plate armour over the costume of the
period, and the (bearded) face is turned obliquely towards the east yet
away from the spectator, in the attitude of secret devotion. The tent is
surmounted by a rich cornice, above which the monument terminates in an
ornamental pediment displaying the crest of the deceased. The Latin
inscription beneath relates his descent, through the holders of Sherburn
Castle, Oxon, from the most ancient Tankerville family of Normandy; and
adds that he was knighted by James I, and died between Tripoli and
Cyprus, on a journey to the Holy Sepulchre, at the age of thirty-five,
in the year 1615. The monument was erected by an unknown friend (_amico
amicus_), who concludes with the pious ejaculation _Coelo tegitur qui
non habet urnam_--Heaven covers him who has no sepulchre!
On the south wall, facing this monument, there is another of some
interest and artistic merit. It is to the memory of #Percival Smalpace#
and Agnes his wife, whose boldly sculptured heads are projecting from
separate panels above the tablet containing the inscription. This is
chiefly in Latin, and informs us that the deaths occurred respectively
on 2nd February, 1568, and 3rd September, 1588, in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, and that Michael and Thomas erected the memorial jointly to
the best of parents.
The moral of the English lines
Behold yourselves by us;
Such once were we as you:
And you in time shall be
Even dust as we are now.
is enforced by a drawing, in outline, representing the nude figures of
the departed lying side by side upon a couch in the sleep of death--no
doubt intended as a _memento mori_ of a less repulsive kind than the
usual desiccated corpse. The monument has been invested with a coating
of black, which at once conceals the whole of the marble (said to be
brown), and shows up the inscription and the figures, both clearly
incised and gilded.
#The Ambulatory#, which encompasses the choir, and is open to it on the
inner side throughout its course, is an interesting part of the original
fabric, and displays to full advantage the characteristic features of
early Norman work--here made more conspicuous by the low pitch of the
roof, which gives the columns and arches an appearance of even greater
solidity than really belongs to them. The semicircular arches which
support the roof spring from the capitals of the main arcade, and are
merely wide bands of stone, without moulding or adornment of any kind.
The intermediate spaces are equally plain, each compartment simply
taking the quadripartite form (without vaulting-ribs) to accommodate it
to the arcading on which it rests. The ceiling has been repaired with
stone, and overlaid with plaster in the panels, but the design has been
left undisturbed, as a specimen of early vaulting, rare enough to be
worth preserving.[5]
[Illustration: THE AMBULATORY AND ENTRANCE TO THE LADY CHAPEL
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
Perpendicular work occurs here and there throughout the ambulatory,
conspicuously in the three recesses in the exterior wall on the north,
each of which contains a three-light window in that style. The first and
second of these recesses, or small chapels, are open to the ground
level; but the third (nearest the east) has been walled up beneath the
window sill. Beyond it is the door of the clergy vestry, which occupies
the site of another chapel: and in the curve of the wall towards the
Lady Chapel there is a tablet which usually attracts attention for the
curious device upon it--three pillars crowned by a garland of roses--and
the poetical conceit of the epitaph, which explains the emblem, and
otherwise speaks for itself:
Sacred
To the memory of that worthy and lerned
Francis Anthony, Doctor in Physick.
There needs no verse to beautify thy praise,
Or keepe in memory thy spotless name.
Religion, virtue, and thy skil did raise
A threefold pillar to thy lasting Fame;
Though poisenous envye ever sought to blame
Or hyde the fruits of thy intention,
Yet shall they all commend that high desygne
Of purest gold to make a medicine
That feel thy helpe by that thy rare invention.
He dyed the 26th of May 1623, of his age 74.
His loving sonne John Anthony, doctor in physick,
Left this remembrance of his sorrow. He dyed
ye 28th April 1655, being aged 70 years, and was
buried nere this place, and left behind him 1 sone and 3 daughters.[6]
[Illustration: THE MILDMAY MONUMENT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
Before leaving this northern side of the ambulatory it may be noticed
that the pavement is made up of an intermixture of gravestones with
encaustic tiles. The latter are not so old as they look, for they only
date from 1863, when the floor was reduced to its original level,
exactly twenty-seven inches below that which was removed, as shown by
the marks on the wall backing Rahere's tomb, at the line where the
pavement was taken away. The advantage as regards the proportions of the
church is obvious enough; but a question has been opened as to whether
the intermediate pavement was really so modern as had been taken for
granted. It is suggested to the contrary that it may have been first
introduced during the Middle Ages, when the increasing veneration for
the East required a greater elevation for that part of the church, to
distinguish it from the less sacred nave, and give proper dignity to the
High Altar and its surroundings. In some accounts it is positively
stated that the floor was raised two feet six inches by Prior Bolton
early in the sixteenth century.
Continuing our perambulation past the Lady Chapel and Prior Bolton's
door (now leading into the choir vestry) at the eastern end of the south
wall, we come to the magnificent #Tomb of Sir Walter Mildmay#. It formerly
stood facing that of the Founder in the sanctuary, but was shifted to
its present place in 1865, and renovated by Henry Bingham Mildmay in
1870, as stated in an inscription upon it, which, however, shows more
signs of decay than any other part of the monument, and is scarcely
legible. This very fine altar tomb is composed of various coloured
marbles, panelled and gilded in a design combining the Elizabethan form
with the classical ornament of the Renaissance, and is remarkable for
the absence of figures usually conspicuous in monuments of the same age.
This peculiarity is perhaps accounted for by the strong Puritan leanings
of Sir Walter, who took no pains to conceal them in his lifetime. He
founded Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in 1583, where his architectural
work is pointed out, in illustration of his principles, as running
counter to all the traditions of the Dominican Friars, whose buildings
came into his hands after the Dissolution, and formed the nucleus of his
foundation. Instead of saints and angels, or kneeling effigies, we have
here eight shields of arms, showing the family alliances, arranged in
panelling round the central inscription:
Hic jacent Gualterus Mildmay, miles, et
Maria uxor ejus. Ipse obiit ultimo die
Maii 1589. Ipsa 16 die Martii 1576.
Reliquierunt duos filios et tres filias.
Fundavit Collegium Emanuelis Cantabrigiae.
Moritur Cancellarius et Sub-Thesaurarius
Scaccarii et Regiae Majestati a Consiliis.
(= Here lie Walter Mildmay, Knight, and Mary his wife. He died the last
day of May, 1589. She the 16th day of March, 1576. They left two sons
and three daughters. He founded Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He died
Chancellor and Sub-Treasurer of the Exchequer, and a Member of Her
Majesty's Council.)
There is a commendable absence of eulogy in the epitaph, and, instead of
any direct quotation from scripture, the motto, _Mors nobis lucrum_ is
given, as an adaptation of Phil. i, 21. The tomb is surmounted by three
classical urns and the escutcheon of the deceased, with the legend,
_Virtute non vi_. Sir Walter was one of the Royal Commissioners
appointed in 1586 for the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringhay
Castle.
There are numerous other monuments in the church, and there were
formerly many more than now remain, but those selected for description
are the most important and the most interesting for their artistic
merit.
The first rector of the parish, Sir John Deane, is commemorated in a
modern brass (1893) let into the pavement of the ambulatory on the
southern side of the chancel. It was inserted by the pupils of the
Witton Grammar School, Northwich, founded by Sir John in the year 1557.
#The Lady Chapel# is a restoration of that built about the year 1410. At
the Dissolution it passed into the hands of Sir Richard Rich, who
converted it into a dwelling-house, and in more modern times it was
occupied by a fringe manufacturer, as related in our historical sketch.
The building was recovered by purchase in 1885, and the reconstruction
begun, which was completed eleven years later. There are signs of an
earlier chapel on the site, which was considerably altered, or entirely
rebuilt, in the fourteenth century, as appeared from the architectural
remains of that period discovered within the fifteenth-century
fabric--itself in a frightful state of dilapidation--when the
restoration was taken in hand.
[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
Though every care has been taken to preserve the old work, with a
strict adherence to the general design, the greater part of the chapel
is necessarily new. It is separated from the ambulatory by an elegant
screen of ironwork, surmounted by a crucifix of white metal, which has
been blackened into uniformity with the rest of the screen so that it
can hardly be distinguished in the dim light. This characteristic of the
church is preserved in the chapel by the omission of an east window. In
place of it the wall-space above the altar is laid out in an arcading of
five niches, with canopies and pedestals arranged in parallel lines,
providing for a double row of statues, not yet inserted. The lower part
of the wall is curtained, with a small canopy over the altar, containing
an oil painting of the Virgin and Child as an appropriate form of
reredos. There are three rather large windows on each side, of which
those on the south are entirely new, but the sills and jambs on the
north show a retention of fifteenth-century work. This appears again in
the walls on either side of the sanctuary, each of which contains an
arcaded recess of three divisions (the central glazed), those on the
south forming the sedilia. The sanctuary is paved with Roman tesserae
and coloured marbles, in agreement with the pavement beneath the High
Altar, but of a less elaborate pattern.[7]
[Illustration: THE CRYPT
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
#The Crypt# beneath the Lady Chapel has no internal connection with it,
but is entered by an outside door in the south wall. Like the rest of
the Priory buildings it has gone through many vicissitudes. Obviously
built at the same time as the chapel, it is supposed to have been used
originally as a receptacle for the bones exhumed from time to time in
the neighbouring canons' cemetery. Passing into secular hands at the
Dissolution, it was partly filled up with earth, and then used as a coal
and wine cellar to the dwelling-house above, and eventually formed part
of the manufactory before mentioned, the marks of which have been left
here and there upon the walls. The little building is now equipped as a
mortuary chapel, with an altar against the east wall, and an oblong
space marked off on the floor before it, with the usual lateral
candlesticks, for the reception of a corpse. As a general rule, however,
the funeral services are held in the choir, where there are greater
facilities. Though extremely simple, the architectural features are very
interesting, the old work having been retained in the walls, piers, and
windows, the vaulting alone being new. This merely consists of depressed
arches, carried across from the north to the south wall, the
intermediate spaces being overlaid with plaster.
At the eastern end, above the altar, one of the window recesses has the
socket of an old iron hinge within it, and otherwise shows signs of
having been formerly occupied by a door, which may possibly have been
the original entrance. It is supposed that all the windows were left
unglazed for the sake of ventilation, but plain glass is now inserted.
The recesses are very deeply splayed in the thickness of the walls, and
it will be noticed that the exterior openings are above the level of the
roof, so as to admit the daylight obliquely, an ingenious contrivance to
intensify the solemnities within, where an artificial light is almost a
necessity. The plain bands of stone which constitute the vaulting are
supported by shallow piers, or pilasters, built against the lateral
walls, and all alike in their general structure and moulded bases; but
there is a curious difference between those on the north and south,
which has given rise to some antiquarian speculation. In one case (the
north) the pilasters are carried down to the floor: in the other they
rest upon a stone plinth or skirting a few inches above it.
#The Cloister#, as next in importance to the church itself, and so
characteristic of a monastic foundation as to give a name to the whole,
was in all probability begun by Rahere, or at least some time in the
twelfth century. This may be inferred from the Norman work found and
preserved at the restoration--at present confined to three bays of the
eastern side, at right angles to the south wall of the church. The
cloister was originally continued parallel with this wall to the
extremity of the nave, whence it extended in the usual quadrangular
form, each side consisting of eight bays, enclosing the area known as
the cloister-garth. That there was a reconstruction under Prior John
Watford, early in the fifteenth century, is clear from the evidence
already given, which is confirmed by the architectural remains within
the restored fragment--all that was in existence, as a ruin, when the
renovation was attempted.
[Illustration: THE REMAINING BAYS OF THE CLOISTER
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
The entrance is through a round-headed doorway in the south aisle--an
interesting piece of Norman work--but the doors are probably those
inserted during the fifteenth century reconstruction. It seems that they
were taken out when the nave was destroyed, and fitted to the main
entrance in the wall then built at the west end. Subsequently stored
within the church among the lumber which might possibly come in useful,
they were found exactly to fit the opening into the cloister, where they
were re-hung in what seems to be their proper place. The first bay on
the right, which formerly opened into the northern side of the
quadrangle, is now occupied by a blank wall, with some fifteenth century
work on each side, and the Tudor door-jambs within it, supposed to have
been inserted by the Dominican Friars in their restoration of the
following century. The second and third bays contain windows, with very
fine modern tracery in the headings, and some old Perpendicular work
retained at the sides. The wall on the left (eastern) side shows a
similar intermixture of styles in its three unlighted bays. The
elaborately vaulted roof is for the most part new, but a few of the old
bosses, and some portions of the original vaulting-shafts recovered
during the excavations, have been incorporated into it, without
renovation of their surfaces, so that the ancient and modern can be
easily distinguished. The new bosses are sculptured with shields bearing
respectively the royal arms, the arms of the Diocese, the Priory, the
late Rector (Sir Borradaile Savory), and the City of London. The Priory
arms form the central point in the vaulting, surrounded by smaller
bosses containing the emblems of the four Evangelists.
On a table at the end of the cloister there is a small collection of
stones and encaustic tiles from the old building, and some more precious
relics in a case. These include a few broken pieces of stained glass,
the metal seal struck by Father Perrin for the Dominicans, a book of
"Spiritual Exercises" by the same Prior, and a charred fragment of
Rahere's coffin and sandal, which had been surreptitiously taken from
his tomb.
Before leaving the church, the visitor is recommended to look through
the scrap-book of old engravings in charge of the verger, showing the
buildings in various phases of their history since the Dissolution.
These interesting pictures were presented anonymously, but a note on the
fly-leaf by Dr. Norman Moore, dated 23rd May, 1885, informs us that the
donor was William Morrant Baker, F.R.C.S., Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's
Hospital, Lecturer on Physiology, and Warden of its College. There is a
tablet to his memory in the Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less.
A special permit is required for an inspection of the church registers.
They date from 1616, and show an average death-rate of ten in each month
till the year 1665, when the Plague of London brought up the entries to
about eighteen on each day.
The interior of the church presents an interesting perspective from
almost any point. A good general view may be obtained from the
north-east or south-west corner, and another from the organ-gallery,
which is recommended as commanding features not well seen from below in
the scanty light.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] This altar is an interesting piece of (Jacobean?) woodwork
which has recently been uncovered. The low recess in which it
stands seems better suited for a tomb, or recumbent effigy,
while the more lofty recess against the eastern wall,
originally supposed to have been open to the Walden Chantry,
would hold the altar admirably, and give it the proper
orientation.
[2] There are two large canvases of his on the staircase of the
Hospital representing "The Pool of Bethesda" and "The Good
Samaritan," besides four smaller paintings, one of which gives
"Rahere's Dream," and another "The Building of the Priory."
[3] The manor of Canonbury, formerly included in the Priory
estates, is said to have been presented to the community by Sir
Ralph de Berners in the reign of Edward III. The Prior and
canons built themselves a mansion there as a country residence,
and there is no doubt that the place takes its name from their
connection with it. According to Stow (_Ed. Strype_, vol. 1),
the manor-house was rebuilt by Prior Bolton, whose rebus on the
walls of the tower seemed to prove that it was either his work,
or erected shortly after his time to his memory. The house is a
plain brick structure with gable ends, and the tower (of the
same material) covers a rather large square. The spacious rooms
within it have some literary interest, as at one time occupied
by Ephraim Chambers, the encyclopaedist (1680-1750), and by the
more famous Oliver Goldsmith. The whole building, renovated
within and without, is now held by a social club. For many
years a fable was believed that a subterranean passage
connected it with the Smithfield Priory.
[4] The new bronze railing to the sanctuary forms part of the
memorial to the late Rector, the Rev. Sir Borradaile Savory,
Bart. It is in the Renaissance style, and the words from the
_Gloria in Excelsis_ ("We praise Thee," etc.), in each of its
four divisions, were selected by his successor, the present
Rector, as suitable to the place, and expressing the governing
principle of Sir Borradaile's life, as well as that of Rahere
the Founder.
[5] The substructure in the chamber of the Pix, at Westminster,
will be remembered among the surviving examples of this early
kind of vaulting in England.
[6] Francis Anthony (1550-1623) lived in Bartholomew Close. He
had obtained the M.A. degree at Cambridge, but none in
medicine, and having practised for six months in London without
a licence, he was summoned before the President and Censors of
the College of Physicians to give an account of himself.
Failing to satisfy his examiners, he was interdicted from
practice, but ignored the prohibition, and suffered more than
one imprisonment in consequence. The medicine "of purest gold"
was a panacea, known as _Aurum potabile_, which was supposed to
be made from the precious metal, and certainly put a great deal
of it into the inventor's pocket, as a fashionable remedy for
all kinds of diseases.
(See article in the "Dictionary of National Biography" for a
sketch of his life.)
[7] A tablet, in the Renaissance style, has recently been
affixed to the north wall in memory of Sir Borradaile Savory,
Bart., the late Rector. It was unveiled and formally dedicated
by the Bishop of Stepney, on Sunday, 10th May, 1908.
* * * * *
[Illustration: ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS AND THE HOSPITAL GATE
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
CHAPTER IV
ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS AND THE HOSPITAL
Visitors to Rome will remember the Isola Tiberina, which lies in a
curve of the river between the city and Trastevere, and is reached from
the respective sides by the Ponte Quattro Capi and the Ponte San
Bartolomeo. It was to the hospital on this island that Rahere was sent
for medical treatment in his illness; and it is possible that the
disposing cause of his vision, with its practical outcome, may be found
in the circumstances of the place. The island had been dedicated to
Aesculapius on the strength of an ancient Roman legend; and about the
year 1000 the Emperor Otho III, erected a Christian church
there--probably on the site of a temple to the god--which was named
after St. Bartholomew, on the supposition that it contained the saint's
relics.[1] Below the church there are the remains of the old travertine
ramparts which gave the island the appearance of a ship on which the
edifice was resting--a fanciful picture of the "Navis Ecclesiae" as
reproduced in the twelfth century Priory seal. (_Vide_ Fig. C, page 73)
The combination of a hospital with a church, suggested by the island and
the vision, was realized in Rahere's double foundation on his return to
England. Until the time of the Dissolution the corporate body of the
hospital, and the staff for attendance upon the patients, were
identical, and consisted of a master, eight brethren, and four sisters,
all living in obedience to the Augustinian rule. Unfortunately no record
is preserved of the grant of the site, or of the deed of endowment; but
a Charter granted by Henry I in 1133 is extant, conferring certain
privileges on the church, prior, canons, and poor of the hospital.
(_Vide ante_ chap. i.) The annexation of the hospital to the priory was
subsequently confirmed by a Charter of King John in the fifth year of
his reign, which remained in force without material change till the
separation effected under Henry VIII. The connection involved the
presentation of each newly elected Master to the Prior of St.
Bartholomew's, or, if he refused institution, to the Bishop of London;
the assent of the prior and canons being, however, required before any
one could become a member of the Hospital Society. The Act of 1539
superseded all previous legislation affecting the monastic foundations;
the Priory and Hospital were separated; and the revenues of both
transferred to the royal exchequer. But on the petition of Sir Richard
Gresham, Lord Mayor of London, and father of Sir Thomas Gresham, the
Hospital was refounded by royal charter--27th December, 1546, 38 Henry
VIII--which restored the greater part of its former revenues, in
consideration of
the miserable estate of the poore, aged, sick, low, and impotent
people, as well men as women, lying and going about begging in
the common streets of the said City of London and the suburbs of
the same, to the great paine and sorrowe of the same poore,
aged, sick, and impotent people, and to the great infection,
hurt, and annoyance of His Grace's loving subjects, which of
necessity must daily goe and pass by the same poore, sick, low,
and impotent people, being infected with divers great and
horrible sicknesses and diseases.
The Indenture goes on to convey to the mayor, commonalty, and citizens
of London the buildings formerly belonging to the Grey Friars as well as
the late Hospital of St. Bartholomew, in West Smithfield,
otherwise called the Hospital of Little St. Bartholomew, and the
Church of the same, and all the manors, parsonages, messuages,
lands, tithes, advowsons, and hereditaments, late part of the
possession of the said Hospital
with certain specified exceptions which the charity had to lose, and
no longer form part of its history. The immediate result was that the
Church of the Grey Friars became the parish church of Christ Church,
Newgate, and the chapel pertaining to the hospital (the survivor of
four, three of which were alienated) the parish church of Little St.
Bartholomew, now more familiarly known as St. Bartholomew-the-Less. Two
priests were then attached to it, one called the vicar, who was granted
a mansion and a stipend of _£13 6s. 8d._ per annum; the other, the
hospitaller or visitor, whose stipend was fixed at _£10_. The
accommodation of the hospital at that time was for one hundred poor men
and women, lodging within it, under the superintendence of a single
matron, with twelve women assistants. It is interesting to compare these
figures with those of the present day, when the hospital contains as
many as six hundred and seventy beds, with three hundred and fifty
nurses on the staff, and every year relieves over one hundred and fifty
thousand poor sick people, besides maintaining a convalescent home, with
seventy beds, at Kettlewell, Swanley, Kent.[2]
[Illustration: ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS
_E. Scamell. Photo._]
The hospital chapel, converted into a parish church after the
Dissolution, had fallen into a very dilapidated state towards the end of
the eighteenth century. In the year 1789 the restoration of the building
was committed to Mr. George Dance, then architect and surveyor to the
hospital. He made a considerable alteration in the interior by
ruthlessly destroying the old work, for which he substituted an
octagonal structure, within the rectangular plan, allowing the external
walls to remain in their original form, with the square tower which
still stands at the western end--the whole enveloped in a coating of
cement. The internal erection was entirely in wood, ingeniously carved
and coloured to resemble stone; but the false economy of it was soon
manifested in dry-rot, which spread to such an alarming extent that a
reconstruction became necessary. The rebuilding was taken in hand in
1823 by Mr. Thomas Hardwick, who had a much better knowledge of pointed
architecture than his predecessor. He removed the whole of the timber,
substituting stone and iron for it, and while adhering to Mr. Dance's
general design, improved upon it by introducing fresh details of his
own, more in harmony with the fabric in which it was enclosed. The
church has since been restored, but the incongruity is still obvious
enough, especially from the outside, where the octagon projects above
the ancient walls, and the small pentagonal chancel beyond them at the
eastern end.
[Illustration: BRASS OF WILLIAM AND ALICE MARKEBY]
The entrance is by a low Tudor doorway in the tower, which still bears
traces of the original work. On the pavement of the vestibule there is
an interesting brass, with the figures of William Markeby and his wife,
and an inscription which now reads: "Hic jacent Will'mo Markeby de
Londiniis gentlemo' qui obiit XI die Julii A. D'ni MCCCCXXXIX et Alicia
uxor ei," the concluding words "quorum animabus propitietur Deus. Amen"
having been erased.[3] There are two other ancient memorials in this
part of the church which call for special notice, viz.: on the north
wall, within the present vestry, a niche contains the figure of an angel
bearing a shield of arms, beneath which another shield, surmounted by a
crown, and upheld by two angels, displays the arms of Edward the
Confessor impaled with those of England. And against the western wall
there is a good example of a canopied altar-tomb, in the Tudor style,
with a memorial tablet (1741) inserted in it, which is obviously much
later than the tomb itself. This is said to have originally stood at the
eastern end of the south wall, where it was discovered during the
eighteenth century reconstruction, and then deprived of its ornamental
projections, where the marks of the chisel are seen upon the surface.
[Illustration: ANCIENT SCULPTURED TABLETS IN ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS
WEST END OF NORTH WALL]
At the eastern end of the north wall there is a tablet to the memory of
the wife of Sir Thomas Bodley, whose name has been given to the famous
library at Oxford. The curious old stone beneath it, which was
discovered during the alterations, and then affixed to the wall, has the
double interest of great antiquity and a puzzling inscription beginning,
"_Ecce sub hoc tumulo Guliemus conditur_."
The exterior of the church, though spoilt by the composition laid over
the walls, has still a certain interest as part of the original fabric,
and still contains the arches of most of the old windows, viz., three on
each side, one at the west end, another immediately over the doorway,
and four in the uppermost storey of the tower. There were originally
four windows on each side, but those in the easternmost bays have been
removed, and the spaces filled up. Besides containing the memorials
above mentioned, the vestibule has more architectural interest than any
other part of the building in the surviving arches on the northern and
eastern sides of the space beneath the tower. Here there is an
aggregation of columns, with moulded bases and capitals, and banded in
the centre, varied by the introduction of half-length shafts resting on
sculptured corbels. The central area is nearly square, but has been
formed into an octagon by an arcading, on a series of clustered columns,
from each of which spring the moulded ribs of the ceiling. These ribs
are of Bath stone, and after an elaborate intertwining, are brought
together above in a central boss, from which hangs a large brass corona
to light the church. The roof is of iron, the panels within the groining
being overlaid with plaster. Above the main arcade there is a clerestory
of dwarfed windows, filled with tinted glass in an ornamental framework,
as are also the side windows, excepting those nearest the east. These
display a selection of Scripture miracles. There are three painted
windows over the altar, the central containing scenes from the life of
Christ, those to the north and south representing the Old and New
Testaments respectively. To the north of the recess forming the
sanctuary there is an alabaster pulpit,[4] and on the south stands a
small organ.
Services are held at eleven and five o'clock on Sundays, and the church
is open every day for private devotion. It is provided with seats to
accommodate about 200 people. The present vicar and hospitaller is the
Rev. Herbert Skillicorn Close, M.A.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] St. Bartholomew was first interred at Albanopolis, in
Greater Armenia, the scene of his passion, and his remains were
afterwards translated successively to Daras, a city on the
confines of Persia; to the island of Lipari; and to Beneventum.
There is a tradition that his relics were eventually conveyed
to Rome, but exactly where they were laid is uncertain.
[2] A full account of the hospital, brought down to 1837, is
given in the Report of the Charity Commissioners on "Charities
in England," issued in that year (_vide_ No. 32, part vi), and
since reprinted by Messrs. Wyman and Sons. Dr. Norman Moore is
now engaged in writing a new history to the present time. The
name of the first patient is recorded in the "Liber
Fundationis" as "Adwyne of Dunwych."
[3] At the time of Stow's survey the church contained many
brasses and monuments which have disappeared; but a tolerably
complete account of them may be obtained by adding the
descriptions supplied by Weever ("Funeral Monuments") and Gough
("Sepulchral Monuments," vol. ii) to those given by the old
chronicler.
[4] There was formerly a chapel in the north-east corner.
* * * * *
[Illustration: PLAN OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-LESS
Dimensions: length, including vestibule, 65 ft.;
without vestibule, 50 ft.;
width, 41 ft. 9 in.
(The measurements do not include the small chancel.)]
* * * * *
APPENDIX I
THE PRIORY SEALS
_Fig. A._ Twelfth century. Sulphur cast from fine impression, the edge
chipped. About 3-1/8 × 2 in. when perfect.
Pointed oval: St. Bartholomew standing, with nimbus, lifting up the
right hand in benediction, in the left hand a long cross.
... HOSPITALIS SANCTI ... HOLOME ...
(3487. lxviii. 45.)
[Illustration: A B C]
_Fig. B._ Twelfth century. Sulphur cast from imperfect impression. About
2½ × 2¼ in. when perfect.
Oval: St. Bartholomew, with nimbus, lifting up the right hand in
benediction, in the left hand a long cross. The saint is half length on
the section of a church, with round-headed arches, and two circular
side-towers.
[Symbol: Maltese Cross] SIGILL' CONVENTUS ECC ... HOLO ... I.
DE. L[=V]DON.
(3488. lxviii. 22.)
_Fig. C._ _A Counterseal._ Twelfth century. Sulphur cast, 1¾ in. A
church, with central tower, a cross at each gable end, and two tall
round-headed arches in the wall, standing on a ship of antique shape,
with curved prow and stern, each terminating in a bird's head, on the
sea. In a field over the tower, the inscription: NAVIS ECCL'IE. On the
left a wavy estoile of six points, on the right a crescent.
SIGILL' : PRIORIS : ECCLESIE : S[=C]I:BARTOLOMEI.
(3489. lxviii. 23.)
_Fig. D._ _Later Seal._ Thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Sulphur cast
from imperfect impression. About 3 × 1-7/8 in.
[Illustration: D E F]
Pointed oval: St. Bartholomew standing on a lion _couchant guardant_, in
the right hand a knife, his emblem, in the left hand a book. Overhead, a
trefoil canopy pinacled and crocketed. On each side in the field a tree
on which is slung by the strap a shield of arms: England.
S'C ... E. HOSPITAL ... SANCTI : BARTH'I.
LONDON'.
(3490. lxviii. 46.)
_Fig. E._ _A Counterseal._ Thirteenth century. Sulphur cast from chipped
impression. 1-1/4 × 7/8 in.
Pointed oval: the impression of an antique oval intaglio gem. An eagle
displayed.
[Symbol: Maltese Cross] SI ... HOSPITAL'. S. BARTHOL'.
(3491. lxviii. 47.)
_Fig. F._ _Common Seal of the Prior and Convent._ A.D. 1533. Bronze-green:
fine, showing marks of the pins or studs employed to keep the two sides
of the matrix in proper position, 2-1/8 in.
_Obverse._ St. Bartholomew, seated on a carved throne (somewhat
resembling the throne on the _obv._ of the great seal of Edward I), in
the right hand a book, in the left hand a knife. In the field, on the
left a crescent, on the right an estoile, each between two groups of
three small spots (the whole representing the heavens). Thirteenth
century style of work.
[Symbol: Six-petals] SIGILLVM : COMMVNE : PRIOR' : ET : C[=O]V[=E]TV[S :
S[=C]I : BA]RTHOLOMEI : LONDON'.
(3492 and _Harl. Ch._ 83 A. 43.)
[Illustration: G H I]
_Fig. G._ _Reverse of the same seal._ A church, with central spire, a
cross at each gable end, masoned walls imitating ashlar-work, and
traceried windows, standing on a ship with a castle at each end, that on
the left pointed, that on the right square, on the sea.
In the field at the sides, the inscription:
NAVIS ECCL'E. CREDIMVS : ANTE : DEVM :
PROVEHI : PER : BARTHOLOMEVM.
Beaded borders. ("Vetusta Monumenta," vol. ii, pl. xxxvi.)
_Fig. H. Seal ad Causas._ Fourteenth century. Sulphur cast from
imperfect impression. 2-3/8 × 1-1/2 in.
Pointed oval: St. Bartholomew standing on a corbel, in the right hand a
knife, in the left hand a long cross.
... ET CONV ... THOL'I LOND' AD CAVS ...
(3495. lxviii. 26.)
_Fig. I._ _Seal of the New Foundation for Preaching Friars, by Queen
Mary._ A.D. 1556-1558. 2-1/2 x 1-5/8 in.
Pointed oval: St. Bartholomew, standing, with nimbus, in the right hand
a knife, in the left hand a book, under a dome-shaped baldachin or
canopy in the style of the Renaissance, supported on two pilasters. In
the exergue a floral ornament.
[Illustration: K L]
SIGILL[=V]. C[=O]V[=E]T' SCTI : BARTHOLOMEI : ORDINIS
FRATR[=V] PREDICATOR[=V] : L[=O]D[=O].
Inner border beaded.
(From an impression taken direct from the matrix in the Church. There is
an example on red sealing-wax in the British Museum.--3496. XXV. 88; see
also "Archaeologia," vol. XV, p. 400.)
_Later Seal of the Hospital._
A.D. 1695. Red, covered with paper before impression. 3 in.
(3498, and Add. Ch. 1685.)
_Fig. K._ _Obverse._ St. Bartholomew, full-length, surrounded with
radiance, lifting up the right hand in benediction, in the left hand a
long cross.
[Symbol: Maltese Cross] COMM ... SIGILL[=V] HOSPITAL'
APOSTOLI.
_Fig. L._ _Reverse._ A shield of arms: City of London.
In the field, the inscriptions: 1[66]1 (?). INSIGNIA LONDO.
Background diapered with wavy branches of foliage.
... EST SMITHFIELD [Symbol: Fleur] ET [Symbol: Fleur] HOSPITALI ...
With the exception of the Marian seal (Fig. _I_), the illustrations come
from the impressions in the British Museum, whose catalogue numbers are
given in every case for convenient reference.
APPENDIX II
THE AUGUSTINIAN PRIORS
Rahere 1123-1144
Thomas 1144-1174
Roger about 1174
Richard 1202-1206
G. of Osney 1213
John 1226-1232
Gerard 1232-1241
Peter le Duc 1242-1255
Robert 1255-1261
Gilbert de Weledon 1261-1263
John Bacun 1265
Henry
Hugh 1273-1295
John de Kensington 1295-1316
John de Pekenden 1316-1350
Edmund de Broughyng 1350-1355
John de Carleton 1355-1361
Thomas de Watford 1361-1382
William Gedeney 1382-1391
John Eyton, D.D., _alias_ Repyngdon 1391-1404
John Watford 1404-1414
William Coventre 1414-1436
Reginald Colier 1436-1471
Richard Pulter 1471-1480
Robert Tollerton 1480-1484
William Guy 1484-1505
William Bolton 1505-1532
Robert Fuller, Abbot of Waltham 1532-1539
Priory suppressed, 31 Henry VIII 25th October, 1539
Priory revived, 2 and 3 Philip and Mary Easter, 1556
DOMINICAN PRIOR
William Perrin, D.D. 1556-1558
Priory suppressed, I Elizabeth 13th July, 1559
RECTORS
John Deane {Parish Priest 1539-1544
{Rector 1544-1563
Ralph Watson 1565-1569
Robert Binks 1570-1579
James Stancliffe, M.A. 1581
John Pratt 1582-1587
David Dee, M.A. 1587-1605
Thomas Westfield, D.D., Bishop of Bristol 1605-1644
John Garrett, M.A. 1644-1655
Randolph Harrison, D.D. 1655-1663
Anthony Burgess, M.A. 1663-1709
John Poultney, M.A. 1709-1719
Thomas Spateman, M.A. 1719-1738
Richard Thomas Bateman 1738-1761
John Moore, M.A. 1761-1768
Owen Perrott Edwardes, M.A. 1768-1814
John Richard Roberts, B.D. 1814-1819
John Abbiss, M.A. 1819-1883
William Panckridge, M.A. 1884-1887
Sir Borradaile Savory, Bart., M.A. 1887-1906
William Fitzgerald Gambier Sandwith, M.A. 1907
PATRON OF THE LIVING
Capt. F. A. Phillips.
APPENDIX III
INVENTORY OF VESTMENTS, ETC., AT THE CHURCH OF ST.
BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT, TAKEN IN THE YEAR 1574
"Certayne things appertaining to the Churche as followethe:--
Imprimis a comunion cloth of redd silke and goulde.
Itm a comunion coppe (cup) of silver withe a cover.
Itm a beriall cloth of red velvet and a pulpitte clothe of the same.
Itm two grene velvet quishins (cushions).
Itm a blewe velvet cope.
Itm a blewe silke cope.
Itm a white lynnen abe (albe) and a hedd clothe (amice) to the same.
Itm a vestment of tawney velvet.
Itm a vestment of redd rought velvet.
Itm a vestment of grene silke with a crosse garde of red velvet.
Itm a crosse banner of redd tafata gilted.
Itm two stoles of redd velvet.
Itm two white surplices.
Itm two comunion table clothers.
Itm two comunion towels.
Itm one olde bible.
Itm one great booke.
Itm one olde sarvice booke for the minister."
APPENDIX IV
THE ORGAN
The organ now at St. Bartholomew's, where it supersedes one purchased by
subscription in 1731, was originally built by George England in 1760 for
the Church of St. Stephen, Walbrook. Considerable work was there done
upon it by Messrs. William Hill and Son in 1872, viz:
I. The pipes of Great and Choir stops were replanted, CC pipes over
the GG grooves, and the compass altered to CC to G throughout.
II. The following alterations were made in the Great organ:
Open Diapason (ii) extended from gamut G to CC.
Mixture replaced by new pipes where required.
New Trumpet inserted, and the old one transferred to Swell.
_Choir._ Dulciana (new) C (grooved).
Keraulophon (new) C (grooved).
Clarinet CC.
_Swell._ New soundboard (CC to G), swell-box and new action.
New Bourdon, 16 feet.
Cornet made into 12 and 15 feet.
New mixture--four ranks.
German Flute revoiced.
Old Great organ Trumpet arranged to form Double Trumpet from
tenor C.
All stops, except German Flute and Double Trumpet, carried
down to CC.
_Pedal._ Bourdon, new, 16 feet.
Open Diapason, 16 feet (compass arranged CCC to F thirty
notes).
Trombone, new, 16 feet.
_Couplers._ New, Swell to Great, Great to Pedal, Swell to Pedal, Choir
to Pedal, Swell to Choir.
New keyboards.
New Pedal keyboard.
New Drawstop knobs.
New additional bellows.
Five new Composition Pedals (three to Great organ, and two
to Swell organ).
Specification of the instrument after the above-mentioned work was done.
GREAT ORGAN, CC TO G.
Open Diapason (i) 8 feet
Open Diapason (ii) 8 "
Stopped Diapason 8 "
Principal 4 "
Twelfth 2-2/3 "
Fifteenth 2 "
Nason Flute 4 "
Furniture.
Sesquialtra.
Trumpet 8 "
Clarion 8 "
SWELL ORGAN, CC TO G.
Bourdon 16 feet
Open Diapason 8 "
German Flute 8 "
Stopped Diapason 8 "
Principal 4 "
Twelfth 2-2/3 "
Fifteenth 2 "
Double Trumpet (C) 16 "
Trumpet 8 "
Oboe 8 "
Clarion 4 "
CHOIR ORGAN, CC TO G.
Dulciana 8 feet
Keraulophon (C grooved) 8 "
Stopped Diapason 8 "
Principal 4 "
Flute 4 "
Fifteenth 2 "
French Horn tenor F# 8 "
Vox Humana 8 "
Clarinet 8 "
PEDAL ORGAN, CCC TO F.
Open Diapason 16 feet
Bourdon 16 "
Trombone 16 "
COUPLERS.
Swell to Great.
Swell to Choir.
Swell to Pedal.
Great to Pedal.
Choir to Pedal.
Three Composition Pedals to Great.
Two Composition Pedals to Swell.
In 1886 the organ was purchased from St. Stephen's, Walbrook, for St.
Bartholomew-the-Great, where a new case was made for it, the original
being retained at St. Stephen's, for the sake of the carving, attributed
to the famous Grinling Gibbons. Several alterations were then made in
the instrument to adapt it to its new position, and at the present time
the specification is as follows:
GREAT ORGAN, CC TO G.
Open Diapason (i) 8 feet
Open Diapason (ii) 8 "
Stopped Diapason 8 "
Principal 4 "
Wald-Flute 4 "
Twelfth 2-2/3 "
Fifteenth 2 "
Mixture (4 ranks).
Furniture (3 ranks).
Trumpet 8 "
Clarion 4 "
CHOIR ORGAN, CC TO G.
Dulciana 8 feet
Keraulophon 8 "
Hohl Flute 8 "
Gamba 8 "
Suabe Flute 4 "
Fifteenth 2 "
French Horn 8 "
Clarinet 8 "
Vox Humana 8 "
SWELL ORGAN, CC TO G.
Bourdon 16 feet
Open Diapason 8 "
German Flute 8 "
Stopped Diapason 8 "
Vox Angelica 8 "
Principal 4 "
Fifteenth 2 "
Mixture (4 ranks).
Double Trumpet 16 "
Trumpet 8 "
Oboe 8 "
Clarion 4 "
PEDAL ORGAN, CCC TO F.
Open Diapason 16 feet
Bourdon 16 "
Trombone 16 "
COUPLERS.
Swell to Great.
Swell to Choir.
Great to Pedal.
Choir to Pedal.
Swell to Pedal.
Five Combination Pedals.
* * * * *
INDEX
Ambulatory, 50.
Anthony, Francis, 52, and note.
Bartholomew Fair, 7, and note.
Bells, 28.
Belmeis, Bishop Richard de. 5.
Black Friars, Dominican Order of, 13, and note.
Canonbury House, 43 (note).
Canons Regular of St. Augustine, 6, and note.
Choir, 40.
Clerestory, 44.
Cloister, 58.
Crypt, 57.
Dimensions of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, 84.
---- of St. Bartholomew-the-Less, 71.
Early English columns, 33.
---- gateway, 26.
Exterior of the Church, 25, _et seq._
Font, 39.
Grindal, Bishop Edmund, 16.
History of the Foundation, 3, _et seq._
Hogarth, William, 39.
"Horseshoe" arches, 40.
Hospital, 63, _et seq._
Lady Chapel, 10, 55.
Monasteries in London at the Dissolution, 13.
Monuments:
Anthony, 52.
Chamberlayne, 48.
Freshwater, 40.
Mildmay, 54.
Savory, 57 (note).
Smalpace, 49.
Nave, surviving bay of, 33.
Oriel Window (Prior Bolton's), 10, 43.
Organ, Specifications of, 80-82.
---- Screen, 33.
Porches:
West, 26.
North, 28.
South, 39.
Priors, list of, 77-78.
Priory Buildings, conjectural plan of, 14.
---- Desecration of, 17-20.
Pulpit, 48.
Rahere:
Early life, 3.
Conversion, 4.
Vision and vow, 4.
Realized in the Smithfield Foundation, 5.
Charter of privileges granted, 6.
Death, 8.
Tomb, 45.
Rectors, list of, 78.
Restoration of the Church, 20-22.
Rich, Sir Richard, 12, 16.
St. Bartholomew-the-Less and the Hospital, 64, _et seq._
Savory, Sir Borradaile, Memorials to, 27, 48, 57 (notes).
Seals of the Convent and Hospital, 73-77.
Services at the Church, 30.
Smithfield, 5.
Stone Screen (ancient), 38.
Surrender of the Priory to Henry VIII, 10.
Tower (ancient central) and arches, 35.
---- (17th century western), 27.
Transepts:
North, 35.
South, 38.
Triforium, 43.
Vestments, Inventory of, 79.
West Front, 26.
* * * * *
DIMENSIONS OF THE CHURCH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT
(_Internal_)
CHOIR: Length 105 feet 2 inches
Breadth 27 " 8 "
AMBULATORY: Breadth 12 " 10 "
NAVE (surviving bay): From east to west 8 " 3 "
NORTH TRANSEPT: From east to west 27 " 8 "
From north to south 19 " 3 "
SOUTH TRANSEPT: From east to west 27 " 4 "
From north to south 21 " 6 "
LADY CHAPEL: Length 60 " 6 "
Breadth 23 " 7 "
CLOISTER (three bays restored):
Length 38 " 8 "
Breadth 13 " 2 "
[Illustration: PLAN OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW-THE-GREAT (EXISTING CHURCH)
REFERENCES.
A Choir.
B Lady Chapel.
C South Transept.
D North Transept.
E Portion of Cloister.
F West Porch.
G North Porch.
H South Porch.
I Clergy Vestry.
K Pulpit.
L Baptistery.
M Founder's Tomb.
N Mildmay Monument.]
[Illustration]
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Transcriber's Notes:
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2. Obvious printer's errors have been corrected without note.
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original.
4. Special characters and symbols have been represented as follows:
Single characters with line above: [=x], where x is the character.
Solid Maltese cross: [Symbol : Maltese Cross]
Line drawing of a six-petaled flower: [Symbol : 6-Petal]
Line drawing of a fleur-de-lis: [Symbol: Fleur]
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