_ p. {*' Prefen ted to • The- Cornell .University,' 1870, •-' ' BY Gold win Smith, M. A. Ox on., Regius Profeffor of Hiflory in the Univerfity of Oxford. Cornell University Library NA 971.C5P24 The medieval architecture of Chester. 3 1924 008 712 857 /' /i> Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924008712857 ^s ^ "J THE MEDIEVAL ABCHITECTPBE OF CHESTER JOHN HENRY PARKER, F.S.A. AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION REV. FRANCIS GROSVENOR. ILLUSTRATED BY ENGRAVINGS BY J. H. LE KEUX, 0. JEWITT, &o. CHESTER: HUGH ROBERTS : CATHERALL and PRICHARD. LONDON: J. H. and J. PARKER, 377, STRAND. jiDcccrnii. MINIM) BY MUSSES. PAKKEIt, OOHN-MAKKET, OxVokd. PREFACE. The city of Chester is one of remarkable interest to the student both of history and of architecture, two studies which should always be carried on together, for the one throws continual light upon the other. Historically — as the principal border-town and fortress be- tween England and Wales — Chester occupies a conspicuous place in the long struggle for the subjugation of Wales throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries j architecturally, it has several peculiar features. Portions of the walls are Roman, and other remains of that period have been found from time to time. After the fall of the Roman power there is, as usual, a long interval, during which there are no remains, until we come to the eleventh century. During that interval it is probable that the buildings were entirely of wood, and a great part of the fortifications earthen embankments with wooden palisades, which were not replaced by stone walls until late in the thirteenth century, as appears from the royal mandate of Henry III. printed at p. 40 ; for although this applies to the bailey or court of the castle only, it is not probable that this would remain of wood after the walls of the town were of stone. The plan and the character of the present fortifications are Edwardian. From the time of the Norman Conquest to the Reformation we have a series of examples of Church architecture, the work being continually carried on, with short intervals only. St. John's, though without the walls, was originally designed in the time of William I. for the cathedral, and the seat of the bishop was not finally removed to St.Werburgh's until the time of Henry VIII. During the whole of these five centuries each church was carried on, and neither was ever completed. St. John's was the earliest, and perhaps the finest ; but while its glorious nave is all that re- mains in any degree perfect, the corresponding part of the Cathe- IV PREFACE. dral is of much later date, and the choir — of the thirteenth century — is here the only perfect part of the early work. The circum- stance of having two cathedrals in the same city is unique in England, and almost so in Europe. The Rows are another feature peculiar to Chester, and the account of them given at p. 1 is the most probable and rational explanation of their origin and use. The remains of the castle and the parish churches do not call for particular notice here. The present series of papers (reprinted from the " Gentleman's Magazine") owe their origin to the meeting of the Archaeological Institute at Chester in July, 1856. Professor Willis, who has usually been kind enough to give the architectural history of the cathedral in each place of meeting, was unable to attend on this occasion, and in his absence Mr. Parker undertook the task, both in the Cathedral and in St. John's Church. The latter he was requested to undertake at very short notice after his arrival in Chester, as it was found that Mr. Grosvenor did not propose to treat of the architecture at all, but merely to give the history of the monastery, — which forms an appropriate and almost necessary introduction to the architectural history. Mr. Parker has much satisfaction in recording the names of those persons from whom he has received assistance, either during his visit to Chester, or subsequently by the gift or loan of en- gravings : — the Marquis of Westminster ; Sir S. R. Glynne, Bart. ; the Bishop of Chester; the Rev. Canon Slade; the Rev. Canon Blomfield j the Rev. W. B. Marsden, Vicar of St. John's ; the Rev. P. Grosvenor, Curate of St. John's j Arthur Ashpitel, Esq., Archi- tect, London ; James Harrison, Esq., Architect ; the Rev. T. Neville Hutchinson, William Titherington, Esq., Meadows Prost, Esq., Mr. Hugh Roberts, and Messrs. Catherall and Prichard, Chester. CONTENTS. Historical Introduction, by the Eev. F. Grosvenor. CHESTER. The Walls, Edwardian on Roman foundations The Water-tower, built in 1322 The Rood-eye The Dee Bridge, built in 1280 The Rows, a footway on the top of the vaulted chambers The vaulted chambers mediseval The wooden houses Elizabethan or later Stanley-house, a.d. 1591 Bishop Lloyd's House, a.d. 1615 The Roman hypocaust The Castle .... Julian's Tower, a late Norman gatehouse The Parish Churches Saighton Grange, built in the time of Edward I., altered in Henry VIII. ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. Originally a Saxon foundation Rebuilt between 1067 and 1095 The arches of the Nave and central Tower early Norman The Triforium and Clerestory transition, c. 1190 Foundations of the western Towers Norman The west wall of doubtful date The Porch The Aisles ...... Remains of the Choir .... Report of the Commissioners, t. Edw. VI. . Destruction of the Choir and fall of the central Tower Destruction of the Transepts Ruins of the eastern Chapels The Chapter-house, or Priest's Chamber 1 . Agreement between the Dean and Canons of St. John's Church Parishioners, «. Hen. VIII. Description of the Plan .... and the THE CATHEDRAL Formerly the Abbey of St. Werburgh Of very early foundation Refounded by Earl Lupus in 1093 Epitaph of Hugh Lupus Remains of Norman work . VI CONTENTS. The Choir. Foundations of the original east end Piers and arches of central Tower . Piers and arches at east end of Choir Deplorable state of the Choir in 1194 Great exertions made in 1205 Choir and Steeple finished in 1211 Earl Randle a great benefactor Increase of the Abbey in 1240 Western portion of Choir, t. Bdw. I. Triforium and vaulting-shafts Vaulting left unfinished Aisles chiefly *. Edw. I. Eastern Chapels added t. Hen. VIII. The Lady-chapel .... Thomas Capenhurst Simon of Whitchurch Thomas de Burscheles buried in the Choir, a.d. 1323 Richard Seynesbury, a.d. 1349 — 63 The Nave. The Nave of different periods Simon Ripley, a.d. 1485—92 His initials on capitals in the nave The south Transept, or St. Oswald's Church John Birchenshaw, a.d. 1493 — 1537 The west front, south porch, &c, his work Shrine of St. Werburgh Remarkable series of Window-tracery, drawn by A. Ashpitel, Esq. THE ABBEY BUILDINGS. The Cloisters The Carrels The Norman vaulted substructure The Dormitory The Abbot's Chapel The Refectory The lavatory The Chapter-house . The wall of enclosure and gatehouse Description of Plan DOCUMENTS. Extract from the Charter of Henry VIII. . „ from a Chronicle ..... „ from the Red Book of St. Werburgh's Abbey List of the Abbots of St. Werburgh Order of Henry III. to build stone walls to the Castle of Chester 33 34 35 39 40 LIST OF ENGKAVINGS. [Those marked * are on separate plates, the remainder are on wood in the text." ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. ♦General View of St. John's Church and the ruins ♦Interior of the Nave, looking north-east One bay of the Choir Window of the south aisle of Choir ♦Elevation of one bay on the north side of the Nave Jamb and sill of the west Window Buttress and window at west end of Nave Arch of north-west Tower .... ♦Exterior of Tower, and west end ♦Ground-plan of St. John's Church Page 1 4 5 6 ib. 1 8 ib. ib. 12 THE CATHEDRAL. General View from the south-west . . . . . .13 ♦General View from the north-east, (shewing the Lady-chapel and the Chapter-house,) . . . . . . .15 Norman doorway on the north side of the Nave .... ib. Mr. Hussey's plan of the Choir, &c. . . . . .16 South-east bay of Nave ..... .17 North-east bay of Choir . . . . . . .18 Section of mouldings of north-east pier . . . . .20 Triforium, north-east corner of Choir . . . . .21 South aisle of Choir, (shewing the junction of the vaulting,) . . 22 Cornice in Lady-chapel over the vault of the side-chapel . . 23 Series of Window-tracery ... ... 26 West end of the Cathedral ....... 27 ♦Pulpit in the refectory, with the staircase, and details . . .29 ♦The Cloisters, north side, (shewing the lavatory and the entrance to the refectory,) . ...... 30 ♦Plan of the Abbey, from a survey of the time of Queen Elizabeth . 32 *The Cloisters, south-west angle, (shewing the carrels, &c.) . Frontispiece AN HISTOEICAL ACCOUNT OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, C H E S T E E. AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE COLLEGIATE CHURCH OE ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, CHESTER. A PAPEB BEAD AT THE MEETING OE THE ABCH-EOLOGICAL INSTITUTE AT CHESTEB, JULY 24, 1857. BY THE REV. FRANCIS GROSVENOR. Amongst the many remains of antiquity with which the city of Chester abounds, none perhaps more forcibly strikes the eye of the stranger on his first visit to this neighbourhood, than the venerable church of St. John the Baptist, and the ruins attached to it. Its commanding position, the massive grandeur of its proportions, and the historical memories which still cling to it after the lapse of ages, at once attract the notice of the visitors who year by year throng the streets and walls of Chester. And to those who dwell within sight of its majestic tower, it must be a never-failing object of admiration and interest. It will therefore be deemed excusabl e if the archaeologist, who delights to search out and preserve the relics of past greatness, lingers over the beautiful remains of this fabric in admira- tion of its departed grandeur, and with a feeling of regret for its present dilapidated condition. And if his wish be to blend amusement with use- fulness — to draw from the experience of the past, instruction for the pre- sent, or guidance for the future, — to contribute in any degree, however slight, to the illustration of the history of the times and the neighbourhood in which this noble fabric has stood through so many years of sun and shade, — there is perhaps no object more inviting. It is unfortunate, however, that the materials necessary for the prose- cution of such a task are by no means equal to its merits. The memorials of its past history and greatness have been almost lost in the flight of time ; and much of what remains in the way of records and documentary authori- ties is inaccessible, owing to the process of centralization which has col- lected into national depositaries the chief records of local history. The gain has been on the side of public utility ; and we ought therefore rather to rejoice than murmur that it is so. But what is advantageous in a national point of view, is baffling to the local investigator ; as it tends, by withdrawing the materials of his research, to render his efforts more labo- rious, and at the same time more imperfect. Such an enquiry, to be com- 4 An Historical Account of plete, must be conducted on the spot where the original authorities are deposited ; and it is to be hoped that at no distant period some accom- plished archaeologist will present us with the fruits of his labours in a full and satisfactory history of the foundation and constitution of this establish- ment ; tracing it through its various mutations of prosperity and adversity, down to the period of its decay. With the causes which led to its disso- lution and ruin we are familiar ; and if we had time to waste in vain regrets and remonstrances, we should perhaps be at a loss whether most to admire the ingenuity and perseverance of those ancient men who conceived and executed a work so vast and beautiful, or to deplore the barbarism which in a subsequent age dismantled it. Time has had his full share in the work of ruin ; but his touch has been tender compared with the rapacity of the covetous, and the bigotry of religious zealots. If he has pulled down and destroyed, he has in recompense thrown a charm of antiquity even in decay upon what remains ; they, under the pretext of doing God service, but in reality for their own selfish ends, did not spare that which was hallowed, if not by its religious character, at least by the claims of anti- quity and past usefulness. In attempting to compile a short paper on this subject, I have not pre- sumed to theorize or speculate upon doubtful points, but have contented myself with the production and collation of such authorities as were acces- sible to me. The present essay therefore can lay claim to originality only in a very slight degree, as the ground on which we are entering hasjbeen previously trodden, and that even recently. I think, however, that I have perhaps gleaned from the older chroniclers a few facts of interest passed over by general historians, which will tend to illustrate some obscure points. I hope, at least, that I shall succeed in drawing within the compass of a short paper some of the most interesting parts of the history of this ancient church ; and then my slight and unpretending labour will not have been lost. In entering upon this investigation we are met by a difficulty at the out- set. The date of its foundation, from the nature of the case, is involved in obscurity. The very early period in which it must have been founded precludes the hope of ascertaining precisely the exact date. Nor, indeed, was it to be expected, considering the character and remoteness of the times. If any means of recording the fact of its first establishment had been adopted, the disordered state of society in those early ages would scarcely have permitted" it to survive. We are compelled, therefore, in the absence of direct testimony, to fall back upon traditionary evidence. Al- though not wholly to be relied on with confidence, it is the source from whence the history of early and obscure times must in most cases be St. John the Baptist's Church, Chester. 5 partially gleaned ; and, used with due caution, it may give us a clue which will guide us at least towards an approximation to the truth. The tradition preserved by the earlier annalists asserts, that as far back as the year of grace a.d. 689, this church was founded in the suburbs of the city* by Ethelred, king of Mercia, in honour of St. John the Baptist. The direct authority for this statement quoted by Leland is the Itinerary of Giraldus Cambrensis c . After a careful search, I was unable to find any such statement, and could only conclude that the passage has been lost ; although in the Itinerary of Giraldus, his arrival and stay in the city is mentioned, as well as some interesting legends which, he says, were told to him on that occasion" 1 . It is difficult to say, therefore, how far such evidence should be received : the antiquity assigned to it is not so remote as to render it unworthy of belief, and his authority is accepted and cor- roborated by the annalists of a later period. It is quoted by two autho- rities of a subsequent date in such a mannner as to imply their acceptance of it — by " The MS. Chronicle of St-Werburgh," and by_Henry Bradshaw, a native of Chester, and monk of St.Werburgh's Abbey, in his life of that saint. I quote the stanza as it is reprinted from the black-letter MS. by the Chetham Society : — " The year of grace, six hundred fourescore and nyen, As sheweth myne auctour, a Bryton Giraldus, Kynge Ethelred, myndynge moost the hlysse of Heven, Edyfyed a Collage Churche notahle and famous In the suhurbs of Chester, pleasaunt and beauteous, In the honor of God, and the Baptyst Saynt Johan, With helpe of hysshop Wulfrice, and good exortacion "." Exception, however, has been taken against the authenticity of this tradition ; and Bishop Tanner, in his Notitia Mbnastica, thinks the date b A local MS. to which I had access attributes the selection of the site, which is with- out the walls of the city, to the fact that Chester, or Caer-leon, was at the time chiefly inhabited by the ancient Britons. And William of Malmesbury, speaking of the triumphs of Ethelfrid, king of Northumbria, (a.d. 603,) says that "the city of Caile- gion, now commonly called Chester, was till that period possessed by the Britons." c " Ethelredus rex condidit collegium S. Joannis apud Cestre anno 689, teste Giraldo." — Lelimd's Collectanea, vol. ii. p. 59. d Amongst the rest, the oft-repeated tale of the escape of Harold after the battle of Hastings. Giraldus says that he was informed, on the authority of those to whom the information had been disclosed in reb'gious secrecy, that be spent the remainder of hia days in the hermitage, or anchorite's cell, on the south side of St. John's Church, called in Domesday " Kedcliffe." e This rhyming legend has been copied, and is still extant, on a tablet which is suspended at the south-west angle of the nave, near the font. But the copyist misread the word " exortacion," and spelled it " Excillion ;" a mistake into which others have subsequently .fallen, under the idea that the abbreviated word was the name of a person. , 6 An Historical Account of assigned to it too early. He inclines to the opinion that a mistake has been made in the rank of the founder, and that it was more probably Earl, and not King, Ethelred : the date would then be two hundred years later (a.d. 906). If Earl Ethelred was not the original builder of it, he thinks that he " new-founded it." It is certain that fifty years after the. last- named date, it was in existence as a religious foundation of note and magnitude ; for all the early historians, in recording the fact that {circa a.d. 960) King Edgar compelled the tributary Scotch and Welsh princes' to do him homage by rowing him in his royal barge on the river Dee, state that it was from his own palace to the monastery of St. John the Baptist s. It would be impossible to decide the question of its date and antiquity on evidence so imperfect and uncertain ; and it is in reality of no great moment whether we adopt the hypothesis of the learned Bishop Tanner or not. There is, however, nothing improbable in the idea of its being founded so early. Although the building of monasteries does not seem to have made much progress from the time of Augustine's mission to England, under the exertions of his immediate successors, yet the conversion of the West Saxons and Mercians to Christianity (about the middle or end of the seventh century) was followed by the erection and endowment of many such edifices. Previously to that time, the monasteries of the Continent supplied the measure of education which the children of the princes and nobles of that time required : " Many," says St. Bede, " went to the religious houses of France for the sake of a monastic life — there being so few monasteries in Britain," (a.d. 640). But from the period of which we are speaking until the first incursion of the Danes, at the commencement of the ninth century, they flourished in great abundance, and were endowed with princely liberality and munificence. As to the fabric of the church, we may con- jecture its character, and the materials of which it was composed, from the description of the church at Rochester, which " was built," says the hisr- torian, William of Malmesbury, " of wattle-work." And he mentions its superior beauty when it was afterwards, by the piety of Paulinus, Augus- tine's friend and companion, " covered with a casing of boards." " The dexterity of this celebrated man was so artfully managed," says he, " that nothing of its sanctity should be lost, though much should accrue to its beauty." Or, if we adopt the suggestion of Tanner, and Suppose that Earl, and f William of Malmesbury gives the names of these princes : — " Kinerd, king of the Scots ; Malcolm, of the Cambrians ; that prince of pirates, Maccus ; all the Welsh kings whose names were Dufnal, Giferth, Huval, Jacob, Indethil." — (a.d. 959.) e « Ad monaaterium Sancti Joannis Baptists." St. John the Baptist's Church, Chester. 7 not King, Ethelred was the founder of St. John's, the style of the huilding must have been very similar. Church architecture had not advanced in any considerable degree during the interval of two hundred years ; for when King Edgar, on the exhortation of Dunstan, was excited "by the insinuation of heavenly love, (as the words of his charter run,) to rebuild all the holy monasteries throughout his kingdom," he complains " that they were outwardly ruinous, with mouldering shingles and worm-eaten boards, even to the rafters." The order or constitution of the religious body which inhabited St. John's is not intimated. Most probably it was the refuge of some few recluses who gratified their craving after religious solitude by leaving the usual cares and employments of their kind, and sought rest from the anxieties of time under the shelter of God's house, — " The world forgetting, by the world forgot." They would scarcely, at that early date, have been under any regular rule, except such as they had framed for themselves : for the Benedictine Order, which obtained most in this, as well as in other parts of the kingdom, was not fairly settled in its sway until the memorable times of King Edgar and his adviser, Dunstan. But of whatever class or order they were, — binding themselves by a voluntary vow to the severance of earthly ties, they sought in the society of their brotherhood that peace which they believed that the world could not give. Whether the motive was a mis- taken one or not, we need not enquire : but we may bear in mind that they contributed something, at least, to the general welfare ; for, besides the duty of preaching the gospel to their immediate neighbours, according to the light which they had, and softening the rudeness of the time by offices of religious consolation and peaceful meditation, — to them was owing the education of the poor as well as the rich. Such instruction as the state of the times admitted of was imparted freely : " Every convent," says Tanner, "had one or more persons appointed for that purpose, and all the neighbours that desired it might have their children taught grammar and church-music without any expense to them h ." And all the monasteries were in effect hospitals, and were most of them obliged to relieve many poor people every day. In later times, they were places of resting and refreshment for pilgrims and travellers of every kind, and even for nobles and kings on their journeys. The incursions of the Danes, during the ninth and part of the tenth h This was provided for. as early as the Council of Cloveshoe'. See Wilkins' Con- cilia, i. 95. 8 An Historical Account of centuries, carried terror and suffering to the religious houses. Simon of Durham says, that — " After the devastation of the north country in a.d. 867 hy the Danes, who re- duced the churches and monasteries to ashes, Christianity was almost extinct ; very few churches, and those only built with hurdles and straw, were rebuilt. But no monas- teries were re-founded until about 200 years after." And what was the general rule in the North must have been partially the case in the other provinces. It is more than probable that the monks of Chester had suffered in the same way as their brethren, both in person and possessions, as well as in the destruction or spoliation of their monasteries ; for in the year a.d. 1057, nine years before the Conquest, Leofric, earl of Mercia, at the instance of his wife Godiva, "repaired and enriched the monasteries of St. Werburgh and St. John in Chester 1 ." We have no intimation of the extent of Leofric's liberality, or of the style and magni- tude of his church-restoration : but Mr. Ormerod, on the authority of the Werburgh MS. and William of Malmesbury, asserts that "the church of St. John's, then collegiate, was repaired, and its endowments and privileges considerably increased." Of the Saxon earl's reparations no trace now remains : the language of the historian seems to imply that they were composed of the same perishable materials as before. Or if he employed a more durable material, his work was swept away some years afterwards, when the present fabric was begun. The new era introduced by the invasion and conquest of England by William of Normandy, brought fresh troubles, for a time, to the religious houses. Amongst other grievances which they had to complain of, Matthew Paris enumerates the alteration of missals and other innovations in the established ritual k , — the plunder of their possessions by the haughty Norman barons 1 , — and the distinction, before unknown, but henceforth made between the lands of the bishop and the convent, to the loss of the latter m , — and the charging of Church lands with military service by the Conqueror; whereas they had always held their lands by franc almonage, and had not been liable to attendance upon the king in his wars, and to 1 Abbot John Brompton : — " Assensu et consilio Godivse, uxoris suae, Monasteria Leonense juxta Herefordiam, Wenelocense et in CestriS,, SanctiB Werburghse sanctique Joannis Wigorniaj et Evesham reparavit similiter et ditavit." And Leland : — "Leofri- cus, rep. coll. S. Joannis Cestrise." k Thurstan, the Norman abbat of Glastonbury, compelled the monks to substitute the time-honoured Gregorian services for the new devotions of William of Feschamp. Tanner, quoted from Brompton. 1 In Domesday, appended to the return and valuation of lands, &c, is frequently found the phrase, " calumpniantur monachi, quia iiijuste perdunt." °> As did Herbert at Norwich and Gundulf at Rochester. Angl. Soar., vol. i. p. 407. St. John the Baptist's Church, Chester. 9 other services anciently due. But a greater than all these was the depo- sition of the Saxon bishops and abbats, to make room for the Norman ecclesiastics, who swarmed over in the train of the Conqueror. For— "William," (says "William of Malmesbury,) "following up the design he had for- merly begun in Normandy, permitted Stigand, the pretended and false Archbishop, to be deposed by the Roman cardinals, and by Ermenfred, bishop of Sion." The same historian draws a comparison between the Saxons and Nor- mans, by no means favourable to the former. Before the Norman inva- sion, he says, — "The desire after religion and literature had decayed. The clergy, contented with a very slight degree of learning, could scarcely stammer out the words of the sacra- ments ; and a person who understood grammar was an object of wonder and astonish- ment. The monks mocked the rule of their order by fine vestments, and the use of every kind of food. The nobility, given up to luxury and wantonness, went not to church in the morning, after the manner of Christians, but merely in a careless man- ner heard matins and masses from a hurrying priest in their chambers. The com- monalty, left unprotected, became a prey to the most powerful, who amassed fortunes by either seizing on their property, or by selling their persons into foreign countries ; although it be an innate quality of this people to be more inclined to revelling than to the accumulation of wealth." He allows, however, their religious enthusiasm, especially in the higher • walks of life ; and professes himself astonished at the number of bishops, hermits, and abbats, the lustre of the relics, and the multitude of saints everywhere abounding. And perhaps the historian is not far wrong in his estimate of the beneficial changes introduced into England by the Norman conquerors, although we must admit that they were dearly purchased. If we may believe his statement, (and he speaks with an air of impartiality,) — " They revived, by their arrival, the observances of religion, which were everywhere ■ grown lifeless in England. You might see churches rise in every village, and monas- teries in the towns and cities, built after a style wiknown, before ; you might behold the country flourishing with renovated rites ; so that each wealthy man accounted that day lost to him which he had neglected to signalize by some magnificent action." This is, perhaps, rather a flattering estimate of the Norman character, and the conduct which distinguished their arrival in England ; but after admitting their vices, their eagerness for plunder, their cruelty and haughti- ness to the natives — we must allow the refinement of their manners and social habits, as contrasted with those of the Saxons, and their liberality in the cause of religion. The number of churches and monasteries founded and endowed by them is astonishing, and is a proof that they were willing to share their gains with the Church, though they had not been very scrupulous in their manner of acquiring them. And I have dwelt rather more fully on this point, because it was to the liberality of 10 An Historical Account of a Norman ecclesiastic that the collegiate church of St. John was indebted for the magnificent scale on which it was commenced in the eleventh century, and for the constitution of the ecclesiastical body which occupied it without any interruption from that time unto the period of its final dissolution in the sixteenth century. The first Norman bishop was Peter, who succeeded to the see of Lich- field shortly after the Conquest. At that time the county of Chester formed a portion of the diocese of Lichfield ; but as I shall return to this part of the subject shortly, I shall at present say nothing further. He seems to have been a prelate of the class William of Malmesbury has men- tioned as being given to " magnificent actions." His name is of no great note in general history, except as being connected with the scenes of his immediate labours ; but if all mention of him had been obliterated in the annals of the times, a lasting monument of his liberality, grandness of conception in architectural design, and attachment to the city of Ches- ter, would still remain in the collegiate church of St. John the Baptist. Attracted, perhaps, by the beauty of the situation, he removed the see of the diocese from Lichfield to Chester, and selected the position occupied by the monastery of St. John as the site of his new cathedral. Towards the latter end of the eleventh century (a.d. 1075), he commenced the work ; and the present remains of the structure which he built, or perhaps rather designed to build, attest the greatness of his plans, and the spirit with which he entered upon his task. It is unnecessary, as it would be presumptuous, in me to enter upon any attempt at architectural detail ; but as an erroneous opinion prevails that a great part of what remains of the monastery of St. John is of Saxon architecture, I am sure we shall all rejoice that the" point has been decisively settled by Mr. Parker, as I think it was settled satisfactorily on the occasion when the fabric was visited by the Institute. The mistake originated with Lysons, who asserts that it is a Saxon fabric of the eleventh century, and attributes the building to Leofric. The emoluments of the see existing in Chester and Cheshire are vaguely mentioned by the Domesday Book. In the county, the Bishop of Chester held what belonged to his bishopric ; the remainder of the county was con- ferred by the Conqueror on Hugh, earl of Chester, and his military fol- lowers". Besides this, he possessed, according to the same authority, the "customs of the episcopal jurisdiction;" the particulars of which are rather curious. As, for instance, for the violation of the Sabbath by a free- man, the bishop claimed a fine of no less than eight shillings ; and in the " " In Cestresire tenet Episcopus ejusd. civitatis quod ad suum pertinet episcopatum. Totam reliqnam terrain comitatus tenet Hugo, Comes de Rege, cum suis hominibuS." St. John the Baptist's Church, Chester. 11 case of a slave- or maid-servant, half that sum. Again, if a merchant brought his wares into the city, and opened them for sale between nine o'clock on Sunday and the following morning, without permission of the bishop's officer, he forfeited to the bishop the sum of four shillings. Or if any of the episcopal officers detected any person trespassing (in ploughing, &c.) beyond the bank of the city, the offender was amerced in the sum of four shillings, or two oxen". And still further, at the time of the Domes- day survey, he claimed two parts of a hide of land on the red-cliff or ridge of red sandstone, which lies between the south side of the church and the river, where the old hermitage now stands ; though it appears to have been previously the property of the monastery of St. John P. Prom this it seems that the grievance complained of by the religious at the time of the Conquest was not without foundation, and that most probably the canons or monks of St. John shared the fate of the rest ; as a part of their possessions was alienated from them, and conferred by William on Bishop Peter. But he made a generous use of the royal bounty, devoting a part of it to the erection of his new cathedral, and towards the constitution and endowment of a college of secular canons. Bishop G-astrell, on the authority of the Str. MSS., says that in remov- ing the see to Chester, Peter of Lichfield " constituted in the church of St. John the Baptist a dean and canons, and provided a fund for their maintenance." It is hard to say whether he actually endowed the church out of his own possessions, as this statement would seem to imply; or whether it simply means that by his influence with the monarch, he se- cured to the monks of St. John the quiet enjoyment of part of their prefer- ments, the relics of Leofric's, or some earlier benefactor's, munificence. William the Conqueror was a visitor to the city of Chester in year 1069, and might have been prevailed upon to relax something of his severe enactments in favour of the suffering clergy. At all events, their pos- sessions were not very extensive at the time of the Domesday survey. According to that report, the church of St. John in the city of Chester had '* eight houses quit from all usage : one of these belongs to the dean, the " Episcopus de Cestria habet has consuetudines. " Si quis homo fecerit opera in die feriato, hide episcopus habet octo solidos : de servo autem vel ancilla feriatum diem infringente, habet episcopus quatuor solidos. "Mercator superveniens in civitatem, et Trussellum deferens, si absque licentia ministri episcopi dissolverit eum a nona hora Sabbati usque ad diem Lunse, aut in alio festo die, inde Ijabet episcopus quatuor solidos de forisfactura. " Si homo episcopi invenerifc aliquem hominem caricantem infra leuvam civitatis, inde habet episcopus octo solidos, aut duos boves." p " In Eedeclive duas partes unius hidse geldabuis : temp. Edwardi valebat xiii. soli- dos, modo valebat duos denarios ; tenet episcopus, prius ad eccl. S. Joannis pertinebat." 12 An Historical Account of rest to the canons of the church «." The houses stood op the north side of the church ; the lane leading past the churchyard is still called Vicar' s- lane, and at the dissolution of the college in 1547, there were still a dean and seven canons attached to it, agreeing exactly with the number men- tioned in the Domesday statement. A considerable time after the disso- lution, a lease of one of these prebendal houses granted by Mr. Pole, late prebendary of St. John's, to Ann Ireland, widow, was transferred by her to Hugh Dodd, gentleman, as appears by Harl. MSS., No. 1,984, pt. 41. We have no means of ascertaining how far Bishop Peter proceeded in the execution of his designs ; the task which he had undertaken was not likely to be finished in his lifetime. His successor, Bishop Robert de Limesy, shared the feelings of partiality for the city of Chester which had distinguished the first Norman bishop, who was buried in St. John's Church ; and he remained here until a.d. 1102, if the statement of Bishop Tanner is to be relied on ; whereas Henry de Knyghton maintains that the suc- cessor of Bishop Peter, on his accession to the see, re-translated it to Coventry from Chester. The difference is of no importance : as it is clear that this event took place in a short time after the death of Bishop Peter : and with it passed away the hope of completing the building which had been commenced on a scale so great and expensive. The college of St. John's had never been very rich ; and on the withdrawal of the bishop's presence and patronage, we may conceive that the progress of the work was slow, and shall not be surprised to find that the attempt to build it on the magnitude of the original plan was abandoned. The church of St. John's, however, for many years after the loss of its short-lived epis- copal dignity, retained the title of one of the three cathedrals of the diocese, with a palace of the bishop, and a mansion of the archdeacon, in the immediate neighbourhood 1 . Before I proceed further with the general history, there are one or two points connected with this part of the subject which I wish to mention here, as requiring special notice, because they possess a local interest not attached to them by Tanner, Gastrell, or any of the later historians whom 1 have been able to consult. One is, the statement made by Eadulphus de Diceto, to the effect that Chester in the first instance had been the episcopal see before either Lich- field or Coventry. He marks three distinct periods in Church-history, defined by the change of its location ; he says that in the time of the i " Ecclesia S. Joannis in civitate habet viii. domos quietas ab omni consuetudine : una ex bis est inatricularii eccles., alias sunt canonicormn." r " Several of the Bisbops of Licbfield and Coventry afterwards writ themselves, and were styled by others, Bisbops of Chester ." — Tanner's Notit. Mon. St. John the Baptist's Church, Chester. 13 Britons, it was at Chester ; in the Saxon era, at Lichfield ; and again, after the Danish and Norman invasions, at Coventry 3 . The other point is the motive which led Peter, the first Norman bishop, to transfer the see from Lichfield to Chester, an act which is generally referred to the mere private caprice of the bishop, but for which Henry de Knyghton assigns a satisfactory reason. He tells us that a council was held in London, under the presidency of the Archbishop Lanfranc, at which it was deemed expedient to transfer the sees of the bishops from villages and small towns to cities of more consideration, and in consequence of this resolution the see of Lichfield, amongst many others, was removed from its former location and fixed at Chester'. And I found afterwards the same statement in the Chronicle of William of Malmesbury, varied only by a slight difference as to the place where the council was held. He says that the question was discussed in the presence of the king, the bishops, and abbats of different orders, assembled at the king's court of Windsor, on the festival of Pentecost, in the year 1072. A decree was passed and signed by the king, and also by the queen, and by Hubert, the Papal legate, by the two archbishops, by thirteen bishops, and by twelve abbats, in which, after settling a difference of precedence between the archbishops, it was ordained " that, according to the canons, the bishops should quit the villages, and fix their abode in the cities of their dioceses : Lichfield, there- fore, migrated to Chester, and, amongst others, Dorchester to Lincoln 11 ." • In resuming the thread of the history, we shall bear in mind that the collegiate establishment of St. John's was now fixed in its constitution, and a fund provided for the maintenance of the members composing the col- lege. One instance occurs, and only one, in which the title of Dean and Chapter is given to them ; and it occurs in the Hulme MSS., from the Cartulary of the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry. But no great change or eventful incident seems to have happened to the house ; at least, I cannot find any recorded. .Time sped on silently, and the seculars of St. John's held on the noiseless tenor of their way, unmolested in their church and endowments x , and undisturbed by any changes, save such as the flight " " In ea quidem diocesi plures ab antiquo sedes habitse sunt episcopates : tempori- bus Britonum, apud Cestriane : temporibus antiquorum Saxonuin apud Lytchesfeldiam — temporibus Danorum et Normannorum apud Coventreiam." 1 " Ordinatum est, quod sedes episcoporum de viculis transirent ad urbes majoresj unde factum est ut sedes Lytchfeldensis transiret ad Cestriam." " William of Malmesbury, A.D. 1072. 1 The bouse most probably was too poor in its revenues to attract the notice and cupidity of the Benedictines. The neighbouring abbey of St. Werburgh, in Chester, did not fare so well ; as (a.d. 1093) Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester, at the instigation of the famous Anselm, expelled the seculars, and settled in their place an abbat and convent 14 An Historical Account of of ages brought. Generation followed generation, and a register of the deans from A.D. 1187 to its final dissolution is preserved. Occasionally, also, a notice occurs of some event interesting to the members of the college, but of little importance to the world at large ; as the granting of a lease, or ratification of a charter relating to the property of the church, executed and attested by the head and some members of the college. In Harl. MSS. 2,159, f. iii. there is an account of the rental of lands belonging to St. John's, but no summary is given of its contents. In the public records, occasional mention of St. John's occurs, but always in connection with matters relating to the business of the church ; as, for instance, in a Patent Roll of the 5th of Richard II. (a.d. 1386,) — an order respecting the appropriation of the church of St. John, " de ecclesia de Pleymundstok approprianda." This church was originally a rectory in the gift of the monastery of SS. Peter and Paul at Shrewsbury ; it subsequently became the property of St. John's College in Chester. Again, in a Patent Roll of the 16th of the same king, there is an order made for the settlement of the fraternity of St. Mary and St. Ann, in the chapel of St. Ann, below the college of St. John ; and in a deed, (Harl. MSS. 1,994, p. 69,) ten years after the dissolution of the college, this fraternity is mentioned again as having been placed " therein." Some few notices occur in documents of an official character. In a.d. 1347, an order of Roger, bishop of Lichfield, respecting assignment of por- tions in the said church. In a.d. 1348, a regulation respecting the repair of the church. In a.d. 1400, an augmentation of the portion or stipend of the vicars of the collegiate church of St. John at Chester, by Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury. And in the following year a mandate of the same respecting the aforesaid augmentation. (Lambeth MSS.) Occasionally also we have an intimation of the growing prosperity of the college. In a.d. 1349, Stoke was appropriated to it by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, being given to the church of St. John by Sir Peter de Thornton. In process of time, as appears by the Minister's Accounts (Augmentation Office, 4 Edward VI.), it had acquired possession of the rectories of Guilden Sutton, Parndon, Shocklache and Upton, in the neigh- bourhood, and of St. Martin and St. Bridget in the city of Chester. And Bishop Tanner doubts whether the college of the Holy Cross, mentioned in the Lincoln Taxation of Church Temporalities, was not from an early period included in the collegiate church of St. John. of Benedictine monks from Bee, in Normandy, who ever after kept possession of the abbey .and its revenues, until the general dissolution of monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII. St. John the Baptist's Church, Chester. 15 There is no record of domestic events during the long period reaching from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, except the fall of the tower, which happened a.d. 1470. In the register of the mayors and sheriffs of the city there is a notice of this date, stating that the roof was then repaired and covered with lead. But there is nothing of importance, so far as I have been able to discover, nor any information tending to enlighten us as to the state of the fabric of the church, and the changes which time and decay were bringing on the structure. We will therefore proceed at once to the period of its dissolution. An act was passed a.d. 1535 for the dissolution of religious houses, and in accordance with it no less than 380 were dissolved. Of the lesser houses, 31 had the king's licence to continue some time longer — amongst which was the nunnery of St. Mary's in Chester. The college of St. John's escaped this and the subsequent visitation (a.d. 1540), probably because it was at that time too poor to attract the notice of the king and his advisers. .In the first year of the reign of his successor, a commission was issued for the survey of all the religious houses in Cheshire, from whose answer it appears that the population of the parish amounted to 1,200 "hoslyngy" people, — that the college consisted of one dean, seven canons, and four vicars, besides servants ; and that the yearly value of their pos- sessions, deducting "reprisals," was£119 17s. The plate was estimated at 232 oz. : in " gilte," 173 oz. ; and in white, 59 oz. ; — the " goodes and or- naments" amounting in all to the value of £11 19s. 9d. The lead upon the roof was estimated at forty fothers ; of this, they recommended that all, except the covering of the nave, should be stripped off for the king's use ; and of the five bells in the tower, four should be taken, and one left ! Out of the annual rents of the college, a sum of £20 yearly was to be allowed for the service of the church ; the rest, with the articles above- mentioned, was taken for the king. The landed possessions and impro- priations of the church after the spoliation, were distributed according to T Or "houslyng" people, i.e. communicants. This word is also sometimes spelt ** husseling," and is found in the old writers ; as, for instance, — " Doe call me a confessour with Christe in his armes ; I will be howselde in haste, whate happe so betyddys." Morte d'Arthwe, MS. Lincoln. And also in Shakespeare : — " Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin, fl Unhousel'd, disappointed, unanel'd." Hamlet, act i. sc. 4. I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. Rock for pointing out the meaning of this word, which in the hurry of making references I had missed. 16 An Historical Account, fyc. the caprice of the king and his advisers. The advowson and impropriate rectory were granted to Sir Christopher Hatton, and after passing through many hands, were conveyed to the noble family of Westminster, the present patrons. And part of the lands given by King Edward VI. for the foundation and maintenance of the grammar-school at Macclesfield formerly belonged to the college of St. John's in Chester, as appears from the MS. Stratf. I have not thought it necessary to follow out the history of the church ■with its mutilated fabric and crippled revenues, as the incidents belonging to that subsequent period are generally of an insignificant character. The most interesting events that have occurred in the interval are detailed in a paper read before the Chester Archaeological Society, by the late Chancellor Raikes, in August, 1850. There is only one further notice to which, in conclusion, I will call, your attention. It is contained in a note to Bishop Gastrell's N'otitia communicated, by the Rev. Mr. Raines from the Miln- row Register, intimating that a brief was read in that parish church for the repairs of St. John's Church, a.d. 1719. The funds derived from this brief, I conclude, were expended in the year 1721, 'as the legend on the large beam crossing the chancel hears that date, with the names of the churchwardens in whose year of office were carried out the improvements (if they can be called so) or additions, in the way of galleries and other encroachments on the convenience of the congregation, obstructing sight and sound, and equally injurious to the general effect of the building. •?&5?i0r- THE CITY OF CHESTER'. The original ground-plan of Chester is undoubtedly Roman — a parallelo- gram, with four gates, one in the centre of each face, the four streets crossing in the centre. The first objects of interest in this ancient city are the walls and the towers with which it was fortified, and which have been preserved in a more perfect state than usual. Portions of the substructure of these walls are Roman, but the greater part of the superstructure, the walls themselves, and the towers, are Edwardian b , with a few repairs and reconstructions of comparatively recent date. These modern parts are, however, confined to the inner side of the towers ; the exterior of the walls and towers is almost entirely in its original state, though the surface of the stone is much decayed. The "Water Tower, or New Tower, was built in 1322, by the citizens, at an expense of 100Z. c , according to the contract with John Helpstone, the architect. Large iron rings are attached to this tower for the purpose of fastening vessels, which formerly came close to the walls, before the harbour was choked up with sand. The meadow on the west of the city, beneath the walls, is called the Roodeye ; it was formerly covered by the waters of the river Dee at high tide, with the exception of an island d , on which stood a cross, or holy rood, e . The Dee Bridge was built in 1280, by order of Edward I., in the place of a wooden one f . It was widened in 1826, by the addition of a projecting footpath seven feet broad, which, although very convenient, has destroyed the ancient character of the bridge, — of which, however, seven arches re- main, of irregular size. Perhaps the one feature for which Chester is most celebrated is The Rows, said to be perfectly unique, and the origin of which is very doubtful. They consist of a passage, or bazaar, along the front of the first floor of the houses, with only a balustrade in front, the back part of the rooms being the shops. The most probable origin of these rows is, that after some great fire, it was found more convenient to make the footway on the top of the cellars, or vaulted substructures, instead of in the narrow streets between them. It was the usual custom in towns in the middle ages s to protect the lower story, or cellar, which was half under ground, by a vault * The substance of this paper was read at the meeting of the Archaeological Institute at Chester in July, 1857, by John Henry Parker, F.S.A. b In 1307, " the custom of murage was granted to the city for two years, to the reparation and amendment of the walls, and towards the paving thereof." c Equal to about 2,0002. of our money. d Eye, eyott, island. e The legend of the Holy Rood which was sentenced to be drowned for murder, and which floated to this spot, does not belong to my present object. ' It had been carried away by a flood in the previous year : a tax was laid on the whole county to rebuild it. In 1499, the south end, being much decayed, was taken down and rebuilt. * See " Domestic Architecture of the Middle Ages," vol. ii. p. 185. 2 The City of Chester. of stone or brick. This was the storeroom, in which the merchandize or other valuable property was preserved. The upper parts of the houses were entirely of wood, and the whole of these being destroyed by fire, it was more easy to make the footway on the top of the vaults, leaving the roadway clear for horses and carts. Many of these vaulted chambers of the mediaeval period remain in Chester, more or less perfect; some divided by modern walls, and used as cellars, others perfect, and used as lower shops or warehouses' 1 . The wooden houses built upon these vaults are chiefly of the seventeenth century. Several have rich ornamental panelling, carved beams, grotesque brackets, and corbels, in the usual style of the time of James I. The oldest of these wooden houses is believed to be the one called The Old Palace, or Stanley House ; this bears the date of 1591 : it was the palace or residence of the Stanleys of Alderley. Several of these wooden houses have been recently restored. They have generally a very picturesque and striking . effect. One of the finest is that called Bishop Lloyd's House, which bears the date of 1615, and the arms of the family of that prelate are carved in the panels. It is ornamented with sculptures of Scripture subjects. A Roman hypocaust remains in a very perfect state near the Feathers Hotel, considerably below the level of the street. The Castle has been almost entirely rebuilt. The only remains of anti- quity are a portion of the Norman walls of the substructure next the river, much patched, and the square tower called Julian's Tower. This was the gatehouse, built at the end of the twelfth century, during the period of the transition of styles. One side of it is built upon the Roman wall of the city, and one corner stands upon a Roman arch, — the vaulted passage through the tower remaining perfect, but walled up at both ends. Over it is a chapel, with a vault of transition Norman work, almost Early English, probably of about 1190 to 1200. The situation of the altar, with its piscina, credence, and locker, are plainly to be seen, though mutilated. There was a drawbridge from the outer entrance to the ancient wooden bridge which crossed the river at this spot, and there are remains of the causeway leading to it on the opposite side of the river. Of the Cathedral and St. John's Church, a more full account will be given hereafter. The other churches are not very important, but a short notice of them may be acceptable. St. Bridget's was rebuilt in 1825. St. Martin's about 1721. St. Paul's is modern, built in 1828. Little St. John's is also modern. St. Mary-on-the-Hill is a church of the sixteenth century, in the late Perpendicular style, with aisles and a clerestory, and a good panelled roof. h For engravings of some of these storerooms, see lie Chester Guide and Gent. Mag., Sept., 1856, p. 293. A very dreadful fire is said to have occurred in 1114, which consumed a large part of Chester, and which, Bradshavv says, was stopped by the exposure of the relics of St. Werburgh. Others are recorded in 1140 and 1180; and in 1231 it was again burnt by Llewellyn. It is possible that the Rows may have as remote an origin as this ; such a custom, once established, would not be easily altered. The City of Chester. 3. The tower is chiefly modern. The church itself has also been re-cased and carefully restored, chiefly by the exertions of the late much-lamented Mr. Massie. St. Michael's is partly of the fourteenth century, on a Norman founda- tion. It has a north aisle, with arches of that period, and the chancel, which was finished in 1496, has a very good open timber roof of that date. The tower is carried on arches over a public passage, and has recently been rebuilt. St. Olave's is a very small decayed church, with scarcely any architec- tural character. St. Oswald's is the south transept of the cathedral. It was some- times called St.Werburgh's, because the monastery was placed within this parish. Christ Church is modern, built in 1837. St. Peter's is a rude church in the latest style of Gothic, of the time of Henry the Seventh', and chiefly remarkable for its plan, which is nearly square, — it being divided by three arcades into four aisles of equal height, without any distinction of the chancel : the aisles are lofty and wide. The tower was rebuilt in 1578 ; it is engaged in one of the central aisles, and the arches on which it is carried have rather the appearance, from the mouldings, of being plain work of the fourteenth century, but the vault is clearly of late date. The south wall is modern. Trinity Church is another example of the latest Gothic work, much modernized, and devoid of any remarkable features. St. Nicholas Chapel is said to have been erected by the monks of St. Werburgh for the use of the parishioners of St. Oswald's while the transept was rebuilding, but was not consecrated. It is now the Music Hall, and has a new front made at the east end ; but the walls are of the fourteenth century, though raised with modern brick-work, and a new roof put on — it having been turned into a theatre before it was adapted to its present use. The side windows of the chancel retain their jamb-mouldings, and arches, and dripstones ; those of the nave have the original jamb-mouldings only, the arches having been altered in the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It was used for a long period as the church of St. Oswald's parish. In the immediate neighbourhood of Chester is Saighton Grange, one of the manor-houses belonging to the abbey of St. Werburgh, which was fortified in the time of Edward I. The gatehouse of that period remains perfect, with alterations of the time of Henry VIII. The gateway, with the groove for the portcullis, remains, and the room over it, in which is a good window of two lights, of early Decorated character, with seats in the jambs, and a good chimney, with a round shaft and battlemented at the top ; also the top of the stair-turret : all these are good work of the time of Edward I. ' The following entry in the Annals of Chester shews that the work was going on at that period : — " 1489. This year St. Peter's steeple was pointed, and by the parson and others a goose was eaten upon the top thereof, and part cast into the 4 streets." — King's "Vale Eoyal," part i. p. 76. 5 4 St. John's Church, Chester. The tipper room has had a range of windows introduced in the time of Henry VIII., and on the outside is a niche, with a figure of the Virgin; also a remarkable oriel window, oddly placed on the side of the tower, part of the alteration of the time of Henry VIII. To this tower wings have been added in the time of James I., and there is a good staircase of that period. The rest of the house is modern. St. John's Church. The collegiate church of St. John the Baptist, in the east part of the city of Chester, is mentioned in the Domesday survey, and had then twelve houses belonging to it. This clearly proves that there was a monastic establishment here in the Saxon times ; and the Saxon legends mention that King Edgar was rowed up the river Dee by eight petty kings, or chiefs, from his own palace to the church or monastery of St. John the Baptist. Peter, bishop of Lichfield, who was consecrated in 1067, removed his episcopal see to Chester, where he died and was buried in 1086. His successor, Robert de Limesey, translated his see from Chester to Coventry in 1095. It is probable, therefore, that the early Norman part of this church belongs to the period between 1067 and 1095. The massive piers and semicircular arches of the nave belong to this period, but the triforium and clerestory built upon them are of transitional character, and belong to quite the end of the twelfth century. It appears that when the second Norman bishop, in 1095, removed the see to Coventry, and abandoned the plan of making this church the cathe- dral of the three united dioceses of Chester k , Lichfield, and Coventry, that the fabric of the church was left very incomplete ; and the funds on which its completion depended being thus removed, the monks of the Priory of St. John were left in a very forlorn state, with a large church com- menced, and little more than commenced. It is true that the work had been carried on for about twenty years, but that was comparatively a short period, according to the custom of that age, when a large church was commonly a century in the course of erection, and the rebuilding in a new style was often commenced before the original plan was completed, — as was probably the case in the rival church of St.Werburgh. Before the bishop deserted St. John's, the whole of the foundations had been laid, but no part finished — unless, possibly, the choir, which was afterwards rebuilt. The portions which remain of this early Norman work are the arches and piers of the nave. The piers are round, and extremely massive, with plain capitals, and the arches merely recessed, with square edges, without any mouldings ; — the four great arches which carried the central tower, with shafts attached to the piers : these are of precisely the same character as k It was, however, long considered as the cathedral church of the diocese of Chester proper, and in 1398 King Richard II. was present at the installation of John Burghil), and "entertained many of the prime nobility on that occasion."— Cowper's MSS., ap. Ormerod, vol. i. p. 195. ,CW2«fciW*to^. £)*L. SS^^sSr cJ sLL&Jieicx.- 0c St. John's Church, Chester. 5 those of the nave ;-and one bay of the choir, with its aisles. On the north side, this bay of the aisle is turned into a modern vestrv, but over it is one of the arches of the triforium arcade, which is of the same plain, early character as the nave. On the south side, the first bay of the aisle is tolerably perfect, and is richer work, of rather later date than the rest. There is an ornamental arcade at the foot of the wall, and a window over it ; these are of very good, pure Norman work, but not quite so early a cha- racter as the nave-arches. The arches opening from the choir to the aisles are also enriched with bold round mouldings, while those of the nave have none. In the aisle the spring- ing of the Norman vault may be seen, but it does not appear to have been completed. The outer wall of this aisle is con- tinued along a second bay, with a continuation of the small arcade, and a second window of the same pattern as the one in the first bay. On the exterior this window is richly ornamented with zigzags and shafts, and is turned into a door- way : the exterior of the first window is hid by a modern chimney, but is probably the same. The transepts were entirely destroyed at the Reformation, when the size of the church was reduced to adapt it for parochial use only. From these slight indications we must infer, that whatever work the monks did during the century after they were deserted by their bishop was confined to the choir, which was most probably completed during that interval ; and they were then enabled to turn their attention to the nave, which had so long remained unfinished. Their predecessors had built the pier-arches only ; they now, having collected funds for the purpose, set to work to build a triforium and clerestory in the very best style of their age : this was the beautiful period of transition, about 1190, and a finer specimen of a triforium and clerestory of that period does not exist, than this of St. John's, Chester. The plan of making the two exactly uniform, so that ONE BAT OF THE CHOIR. St. John's Church, Chester. WINDOW OF THE SOOTH CHOIR AISLK it may be called a double triforium or . a double clerestory, is considered unique ; no other example of this very beautiful arrangement being readily called to mind. We Have hitherto spoken of the nave as if it had been completed in the same manner the whole length ; this was, however, not the case. At the west end, two bays are wanting, of which the foundations only were laid, as also the foundations of two large western towers, one at the west end of each of the aisles, according to the usual custom in large churches of the early Norman period. Of these towers, the foundations only of the southern one had been laid '. The northern tower had made more progress ; the lower story had been built, as we see by the walls, and the arch which was to have communicated with the north aisle. These Norman walls were cased on the exterior and the upper part built in the time of Henry VII., and the tower now appears entirely as one of that period ; the surface of the stone, which has been richly ornamented with panelling, especially on the north side, which was most exposed to view, has again perished so 1 These were uncovered under Mr. Parker's directions previous to the meeting of the Institute, July 22, 1857. t — J 1 — 1 1 — I I^^IT — T T=TI — ; I — 1 1 — 1 1 — 1 1 — 1 1 — j| | |-!NMMI-II-INI-! |-I H— ' F=i 1— ' I— i 1 — I j_ 1 1— 1 1- : I — !j St. John's Church, Chester. much as to require to be renewed a second time. There is a record, quoted by Mr. Ormerod in his admirable "History of Cheshire," that " in 1572 a great portion of the steeple fell in, and in 1574 two-fourths of the whole steeple from top to bottom fell upon the west end of the church, and broke down a great part of it ;" but it is probable that this refers to the central tower, or great steeple, and not to the present western tower, the work of which is not Elizabethan. The image of St. Giles the Abbot, with his usual emblem, the stag, in his hand, in its niche on the west side, could not have been put up after the Reformation. To return to the work of our good old monks. When they had put their beautiful triforium and clerestory on the arches of the nave, there was still an awkward gap at the west end; and, de- spairing of raising sufficient funds to com- plete so large a church, they determined ~-"4l] to shorten the nave at the west end, or rather not to carry out that part of the original plan ; and they built up a west wall, accordingly. There is no very clear indication at what period this west wall was built, the present window being modern, and the surface of the stone very much decayed ; but the jamb of the west window on each side has a round moulding on the angle, of late Norman character, corresponding with a similar moulding in the clerestory ; and as the wall is a thick one at each end, though not so thick in the middle, under the window, it was probably intended to be temporary only. This much, however, is clear, that the western bay on each side of the present nave is different from the rest, and a few years later ; there are cracks and appearances of a settlement, especially on the north side : the work has been abruptly cut off, and the west wall built up against it; and it seems probable that the monks, being apprehensive that the foundations of the western pier on the south side would give way, in consequence of the enormous weight and thrust which it had to sustain,— far beyond what it was intended for, — hastily built up a massive square buttress to receive the thrust of the arcade, and carried on a wall to connect.this with the tower. In this wall there is a late Norman window, the splay of which shews that it opened from the aisle, or passage, to the site of what would have been the west end of the nave, if it had been completed. A later door and window have been inserted in this wall farther to the west, but that is not material, and fragments of rich Norman moulding in the arch J A MB AND SILL OF THE WEST WINDOW, St. John's Church, Chester. BUTTRESS AND WINDOW AT WEST END OF NAVE, TOWER-ARCH. of the door seem rather to shew that there was originally a Norman doorway here m . The beautiful Early English porch had probably been commenced before this alteration of plan had been decided on, as it opens partly into m It is the opinion of some for whose judgment I have a great respect, that all this work at the north-west corner of the church is post-Reformation work, perhaps of the time of Queen Mary, when the church was again adapted for the Roman ritual, and that all idea of this being Norman work is a mere fancy of my own. I am well aware how apt antiquaries are to be led away by a fancy, which a practical knowledge of con- struction often destroys at once, but in the present instance the corroborative proofs which I have mentioned above appear to me too strong to be thus set aside. Why should there be this imitation of Norman or of Roman work at this corner, and no trace of it at the east end or at the end of either of the transepts, if the work was all done at the same time ? I have never met with an instance of a small window with a wide splay in work of the time of Edward VI., or Mary, or Elizabeth, nor mouldings similar to those on the buttress and the imposts of the tower-arch : the hood-moulding over the arch in the inside of the tower is of the character of the thirteenth century, and has either been added, or it is transition work, or possibly the arch rebuilt of old fragments; but the jambs and imposts are plain, massive, pure Norman work, and the doorway has Norman ornaments in the arch, though it may have been rebuilt — I.H.P. ~tJ.*'Zf,ilj£ < z KM AAA Pillars of the early Norman work. i fit BBB. Additions of the thir- teenth century. PLAN OFCHESTSH CATHEDRAL. The Cathedral, Chester. 17 In this vestry there is a chest with very beautiful ironwork of the thirteenth century. SOOTH-EAST BAY OF NAVE. The four massive piers which carry the central tower are also early work, though partially cased with panelling in the fifteenth century, when the tower was rebuilt; the eastern arch of the nave on each side also belongs to the tower. To what precise period these piers belong is not quite clear; we have a distinct record that a central tower was built in the early part of the thirteenth century, but whether it was really built from the foundations, or the Norman piers were made use of then in the same manner as they were at the later period, is not easily proved. The two eastern arches of the nave, before mentioned, seem also to be built upon the early piers, but these have been cased in the fourteenth 18 The Cathedral, Chester. century, as shewn by the mouldings of that period ; and in the north aisle there is the corbel and springing of a vault of the fourteenth century, side by side with the later one of the fifteenth. It is probable that the choir of the monks originally extended to this point, and included the first bay of the nave, an arrangement which was common at that period. The tower-piers are not square, but longer from east to west, as if to accom- modate the choir. The arches across the aisles opening to the transepts have also the same sunk chamfer-moulding as at St. Asaph Cathedral, and other buildings of the fourteenth century in this part of the country. The north wall of the choir-aisle has been rebuilt in the time of Ed- ward I., but the two massive piers at the east end of the choir are earlier work, which were probably preserved to carry the early roof, the work on each side of them having been rebuilt at different periods. The arch at the north-east corner is stilted in a very remarkable manner, and appears to have been compressed by the older pier, as if the space left for this NOHTH-EAST BAY OS CHOIR. The Cathedral, Chester. 19 arch had not been accurately measured, or the builder was not allowed to remove the old pier. At the end of the twelfth century, in the time of Geoffrey, the seventh abbot, between 1 194 and 1208, the state of the abbey appears to have been deplorable, as described in the Red Book of the Abbey, quoted by Mr. Ormerod, and reprinted in our Appendix. " The inroads of the Welsh had deprived the monks of much valuable property, and the greater part of the church was in ruins ; the rebuilding had proceeded no further than the choir, from want of money." This, however, shews us that, according to the general custom of that age, the rebuilding had been begun syste- matically, commencing of course at the east end, and was carried on gra- dually as funds could be obtained, the old buildings being removed piece- meal as the new work progressed, and often leading to some modifications of the plan, in order to continue the use of the old church until the new one was ready to take its place. Pastoral letters appealing for funds are extant from Peter de la Roche, bishop of Winchester, dated in 1205, and from William, bishop of Coventry, shortly after, which describe the state of the church as deplorable, the choir open to the weather and without doors. These spirited appeals of the bishops appear to have been very successful, for it is evident that a large accession of funds was received about this time, as we read that, a.d. 1211, " In the twelfth year of King John's reign and the 28th of Randle's earl- dom, the choir of the cathedral of Chester, as also the stately tower-steeple (upon which a lofty steeple was intended to have been built) was com- pletely finished ." The Earl Randle here mentioned was the same as Ranulphus or Ralph, the son of Ralph de Meschines, who granted or confirmed the permission for the monks to extend their buildings in the direction of the north gate ; he was a considerable benefactor to the abbey, as we find four different charters of his in the " Monasticon," each containing the grant of certain manors, the pro- duce of which was doubtless a considerable addition to the ways and means of the monks ; such manors were not sold, but their rents, whether paid in money, or, as was more frequently the case, in kind, were accumulated towards the building fund. To this period belong the Chapter-house, which was the burying-place of the earls, and the beautiful Refectory, as well as part of the choir. These are fine examples of the Early English style and of the Lancet period, before the introduction of tracery in the heads of the windows. In the year 1231 Prince Llewellyn invaded Chester, burnt some part of the city, and destroyed some churches, but does not appear to have injured the abbey d . About the year 1240 the number of monks was successively increased from twenty-eight until it reached to forty, which shews a considerable in- c Dr. Foote Gower's Collections, Add. MSS. B. M., 11,334, p. 31. Ex carta in officiis Ducat. Lancastrise. See also Notitia Cestrensis, vol. i. p. 77. 20 The Cathedral, Chester. crease of revenue ; and a curious document of this period, quoted by Mr. Ormerod e , respecting the appointment of an hereditary master-cook of the abbey, is another indication of increasing wealth and prosperity. We have thus seen that considerable funds were collected, and the re- building of the church was commenced in the first ten years of the thirteenth century, the choir being distinctly mentioned in a cotemporary document as completely finished in 1211 f . It is evident that the rebuilding was com- menced at the east end of the choir, and that the north side was built before the south ; the mouldings of the arches and capitals on the north side are particularly bold and good Early English, and the eastern arch is the same ; SECTION OF PIER AT NORTH-EAST CORNER OF CHOIR. the arches on the south side of the choir are very inferior, and can hardly be the work of the same hands ; they were probably left unfinished for want of funds, and finished afterwards in such a manner as to preserve the general effect with much less labour. The triforium arcade belongs to the arches under it, and varies in the same manner ; the two bays at the east end on the north side are considerably earlier than the rest, with bold and deep mouldings, and remarkable stilted arches. The vaulting-shafts are fine Early English on both sides ; there are round-headed recesses in the wall at the back of the triforium, which look at first sight like those in the Nor- man wall on the west side of the north transept, but these are part of the Early English work. This early work, however, extends only to the eastern half of the choir ; the western portion, that is, the two bays nearest to the central tower, are later work, probably of the time of Edward I. Their mouldings and capitals are quite different from those of the eastern arches, and approach to the Decorated style ; they have been called Decorated ; in c " History of Cheshire." ' Such general assertions as this, in early writings, require to be received with con- siderable caution : the monkish historians were given to flattering their patrons and cotemporaries. The Cathedral, Chester. 21 fact, at that period it is more easy to see the date than the style of a build- ing. The reign of Ed- ward I. was the second great period of transition of styles between the Early English and the Decorated, and, as in the earlier period of transi- tion, it is often not easy to say to which style a particular building, or part of a building, be- longs. The vaulting of the choir was unfortunately left, like all the other vaults throughout the church, in an unfinished state, the springers of the vault only being com- pleted. The present vault is modern, and of plaster, in close imitation of what the stone vault would have been if completed; so close, indeed, that no eye could detect the dif- ference if not informed of it. The walls are so much decayed that it would not have been safe to put triforium, north-east corner oe choib. a stone vault upon them ; • and notwithstanding the popular cant of the day railing against all shams, and especially against all plaster-work, I am bold enough to confess that I think the architect who put on this plaster vault, and the Chapter who ordered it, did perfectly right ; and I should be glad to see the same thing done in the nave ; although perhaps a wooden vault, like that of Warmington church, Northamptonshire, the nave of York Minster, the choir of Winchester, or the cloisters of Lincoln, would be preferable to plaster s. The clerestory windows of the choir are entirely s Modern plaster-work, like most other modern work, is apt to be done in a cheap and inferior manner, and consequently cracks and splits in a few years, as I am sorry to observe is the case with some of this plaster vaulting. But the principle is sound, of using an ornamental plaster ceiling where it is wanted, and a stone vault cannot be used with safety. In the church of Bdington, Wilts, the nave and transepts have a very beautiful plaster ceiling of Gothic panelling, or pargetting, probably erected by Wil- liam of Wykeham, when clerk of the works to Bishop Edihgton. *The wooden groining of the cloisters of Lincoln is fine Early English ; the moulded wooden ribs rest upon stone springers, very similar to those at Chester. D 22 The Cathedral, Chester. spoiled by the Perpendicular tracery inserted in them. The inner arches and jambs are of the thirteenth century, but the exterior of nearly the whole cathedral has been cased with stone in the time of Henry VII. and VIII., and tracery of that period inserted in many of the windows. Some are of the time of Charles II. The aisles of the choir belong to the same period as the choir itself, though few of the original windows of that period remain. The eastern bay of the vaulting of each aisle is original and good Early English, and the piscina marks the site of an altar under each of these east windows. But beyond these, on either side of the lady-chapel, and now forming the east end of each aisle, is a chapel of the time of Henry VIII., the vaulting of which is clumsily joined on to SOUTH AISLE OF CHOIR. the original vaulting of the aisles, with a very evideat break in the work (at b). The vaulting of the aisles, with the exception of the eastern The Cathedral, Chester. 23 bay, is part of the work of the fifteenth century, ingeniously dovetailed in with the shafts and springers of the thirteenth. The windows of the north aisle are Early English, but rather late in the style, and several are ' modern imitations. Those of the south aisle have Early English inner arches and jambs, but with later tracery inserted. In the south wall are two fine recesses for tombs, and in one of them is a stone coffin, with a good floriated cross of the thirteenth century. Each aisle of the choir terminated originally in an apse, of Early English work, a half-hexagon in plan, as shewn by the original jamb (at a), with the mouldings and shafts, and the groove for the glass in an oblique position. It seems probable that this Early English work was built upon the wall of the late Norman apse, the work having been interrupted. The Lady Chapel is fine Early English, but not quite such early work as the choir, though evi- dently part of the same de- sign ; it extends consider- ably, further eastward than the earlier apsidal chapel. It has a good vault, with ribs and bosses of the time of Edward I. h ; the sedilia and piscina also remain ; the inner part of the windows is also original, but the effect is much injured by the ex- terior casing of the fifteenth century with the Perpendi- cular tracery. There is a fine external cornice, with very bold tooth-ornament, over the late vault of the side chapels. In the time of the twelfth abbot, Thomas Capenhurst, the monastery was engaged in a continual struggle with the nobles of the neighbourhood, sometimes in the form of lawsuits, at others by armed forces ; and in 1263 the abbey was taken possession of by William la Zuche, justitiary, who occupied the abbey with an armed force, and " proceeded to extremities of insult," according to the monkish historian. Simon of Whitchurch, the thirteenth abbot, was the most active head this monastery ever had, and in his time the lawsuits were brought to a successful termination in favour of the abbey. This took place finally in the King's Court at Westminster, in 1281. By means of the funds thus obtained, the rebuilding was carried on vigorously, and in the 12th year of Edward I., 1284, we have precepts directed to Reginald de Grray to h These fine bosses were carefully cleaned in 1857, the whitewash and plaster re- moved, and the beautiful sculptures brought into view. These consist of small groups of figures representing Scripture subjects : one is the Crucifixion. CORNICE OF LADT-CBAFEL, OVER THE VADLT OP THE SIDE-CHAPEL. 24 The Cathedral, Chester. allow venison from the neighbouring forests of Delamere and Wirral, for the support of the monks thus occupied " in the great work of rebuilding the church." .Thomas de Burcheles, the fourteenth abbot, from 1291 to 1323, was buried in the choir (on the south side, above the bishop's throne), which indicates that the work was completed in his time. Richard Seynesbury, the sixteenth abbot, elected in 1349, was deposed for misconduct in 1363, but he appears to have carried on the building vigorously, and a considerable part of the nave was rebuilt under him. The Nave. — The different styles of medieval architecture, the work of different periods, are so singularly mixed up together in the nave, that con- siderable care is required to discriminate them. The arches on the south side, with their mouldings and fine clustered pillars, are in the Decorated style of the fourteenth century, and the capitals of the shafts are also en- riched with foliage of that period. To the face of each pillar a vaulting- shaft is attached, which springs from the base, cuts through the capital, and is carried up the face of the wall to a capital which has been added or altered in the fifteenth century : on this rest the springers of the vault of fan-tracery, intended, but unfortunately never carried out, the work having been probably cut short by the stoppage of funds at the Reformation. On the north side the arches are the same as those on the south, and the vaulting-shafts are carried up the face of the pillars in the same manner ; but there is this difference, on this side the capitals have been altered ; the foliage of the capitals on the north side is quite different from that on the south, and is work of the time of Henry VII. The initials J6. ill. occur in the foliage of the capitals of the first detached pillar from the west end, and an &. also on another capital near the middle of the nave. These are the initials of Simon Ripley, who was abbot from 1485 to 1492. The aisles of the nave have the same series of vaulting-shafts, and the springers of fan-tracery vaulting, excepting the eastern bay of each aisle, where there is a commencement of the Decorated vaulting, of the fourteenth century, shewing that the monks never lost sight of the object of vaulting their church throughout, though they were never able to complete it. Flying buttresses to carry the vaults were intended and commenced, but not carried out. The South Transept is very remarkable, from being so much larger than the north, and out of all proportion to the rest of the church ; the only way of accounting for this seems to be that it was always intended to be used as a separate church, dedicated to St. Oswald, as it still is. This was only carrying out on a larger scale than usual a custom which was very common in the middle ages, of having separate chapels dedicated to parti- cular saints attached to, but not strictly part of, the church to which each was attached, as such a separate chapel often had a distinct foundation The Cathedral, Chester. 25 for priests belonging to it. The architectural history of this transept is ex- actly the same as that of the nave ; the arches are of the fourteenth century, with vaulting-shafts altered in the fifteenth 1 . The clerestory, the large south window, and the west windows are also of the fifteenth. The eastern aisle is of the fourteenth, and has one bay of the vaulting completed. The windows also have Flamboyant tracery, c. 1380. Simon Ripley is said, in a general way, to have " rebuilt the nave, tower, and south transept." These general assertions must be taken with considerable reserve : he repaired and completed these parts, and so is said to have rebuilt them. His work is, however, sufficiently extensive, without giving him credit for the whole. The west front, the south porch, the cloisters, the clerestory and roof of the nave and transept, are probably late work of his time and that of his suc- cessor, John Birchenshaw, 1493 — 1537. The central tower, with the arches supporting it, belongs to the Perpendicular style, and probably to the work of these two abbots ; but. it is built upon earlier piers, as has been mentioned. The south-west tower was commenced in 1508 J, but never completed ; the lower part of it is now the bishop's court : there was most probably a Norman tower here, but no traces of it remain : nearly the whole of the exterior of the church was cased at this time, in conse- quence of the decay of the sandstone of which it is built, and during this work, Perpendicular tracery was inserted in many of the windows of earlier date. Others were damaged during the siege in the civil wars, and re- paired in a very debased style. The organ-screen, though plain, is good work of the fourteenth century ; it has been moved from the eastern to the western side of the tower, and probably stood originally one bay still further to the west. The bishop's throne, originally the shrine of St. Werburgh, is a very beautiful piece of Decorated work of the same period, and has recently been restored by Canon Slade, in memory of Bishop Law. The stalls, with their cano- pies of tabernacle work, are very fine examples of the woodwork of the latter part of the fifteenth century, and are probably part of the work of Simon Ripley. The West Front has a large and fine window of the Perpendicular style, and under it on the exterior is some rich panelling, but much decayed ; within there is a flat Tudor arch, with two half arches, — rather a singular arrangement. The west doorway is modern. The south porch, with the room over it, also belongs to the late Perpendicular work, with a modern vault. Before we leave the church, attention should be called to the remarkable series of window tracery which it contains, and which, as Mr. Ashpitel 1 The springers of the fan-tracery vaulting are the same as those of the eastern bay of the nave, which differ from those of the western part, and are rather earlier. > " 1508. This year was the first stone of St. Werburg's steeple laid, which must mean that at the west end, which is not half finished yet." — King's Vale Boyal, folio, 1656, part i. p. 79. 26 The Cathedral, Chester. The Cathedral, Chester. 27 observed, afford a complete lesson to the student. Owing to the slow progress of the work, and the frequent changes of style during that long period, we have in the different parts of this one church what we may take as a type of each of the principal varieties of Gothic window tracery ; so much so, that if we did not know that the same types may be readily found in numerous other places, we might suppose that the whole had been developed here in Chester. WEST END OP THE CATHEDRAL. 28 The Abbey Buildings. The Abbey Buildings. The Cloisters. — Having now completed our survey of the church, we proceed to the other buildings of the abbey. The present cloister is late work, but it is evident that there was an early cloister, even at the Norman period 1 . This is shewn particularly by the Norman doorway at the east end of the north aisle, opening into the eastern walk of the cloisters, the jamb of which is partly hid by the present wall. The south walk of the cloister, under the wall of the church, has been destroyed. In the west walk are the places prepared for the carols of the monks, or their studies, to sit and write in ; these were areo continued in the south walk, as is evident' from the ruins ; they were so called, probably, from their being square, carrels, or quarres. In this walk, at the corner facing the south walk, is a Norman doorway, which opened into a passage leading to the abbot's house, now the bishop's palace ; by the side of the doorway is a recess for an image. In the middle of this doorway stands one of the shafts of the late vaulting, shewing that it was then closed. Beyond this passage is a long, low chamber, or sub- structure, of early Norman work, probably of the end of the eleventh cen- tury, extending the whole length of the cloister, and originally also still further, across the west end of the refectory, though this part is separated off by a wall, and now forms the cellars of modern houses built upon part of the old work. This substructure is vaulted with early Norman vaulting, groined without ribs, but with arches to carry it, longitudinal and transverse: it has given rise to much discussion and conjecture 111 : it is believed to be the part of the buildings mentioned in the charter of Henry VIII. by the name of " promptuaria and pannaria ;" and there can be little doubt that they were cellars or storerooms of some kind, divided by wooden partitions which have disappeared. Facing the north end of the west walk, and at the corner of the north walk of the cloister, is another Norman doorway, altered in the thirteenth century by the addition of an outer arch and shafts in the Early English style. This doorway opens into another passage across the west end of the refectory, from which it is separated by a wall with two doorways in it, and on the west side another wait separates it from the Norman substruc- ture before mentioned. In this wall are also two doorways, and a buttery- 1 " Among the donations by the family of Burnel, in the time of Henry III., was the grant of a foundation at Christleton, which was doubtless of high importance. A cistern, twenty feet square, was made at Christleton, and another formed within the cloisters, and a communication established by pipes, which a patent from Edward I. enabled the monks to carry through all intervening lands, permitting even the city walls to be taken down for the purpose." — Ormerod's History of Cheshire, vol. i. p. 214, on the authority of the Red Book of St. Werbnrgh, Harl. MSS., 2,071 75. m A plan and section of this substructure is given in Archceologia, vol. xviii., com- municated by the bishop of Chester March 7, 1816. It is there called " an ancient crypt, upon which the abbot's hall, now demolished, stood." The Abbey Buildings. 29 hatch between them. This passage was outside of the end wall of the refectory, but it must have answered the same purposes as the usual one at the lower end of a hall, technically called " the screens," and was immediately connected with the kitchen and offices. The Kitchen was a detached building beyond, at the end of the passage; and this build- ing, joining to the lower end of the refectory, would contain the pantry, the buttery, the bakehouse, the salting-house, and other offices, neces- sary appendages to a dining-room for forty persons. Over these vaulted chambers may have been originally the Dormitory, which would neces- sarily contain forty cells, with a passage down the middle, each cell being six feet wide at least, to contain a bed, and room to stand by the side of it. The dormitory would therefore require to be at least 120 feet long and thirty feet wide ", each cell being twelve feet long, and the passage at' least six feet wide between them. The dimensions of the Dormitory would naturally be about the same as those of the Refectory, and it was roofed over by one roof, much like a hall, but plainer and less lofty ; the central passage being under the most lofty part, and the cells on each side reaching sometimes nearly to the eaves at their exterior ends, each having a small window in it °. In the Survey at the time of the Disso- lution, the upper rooms on this side of the cloister are described as the Abbot's Hall and the Strangers' Hall, so that if my idea of the original arrangement is correct, they must have been altered in the fifteenth cen- tury. The Abbot's Chapel of the time of Henry VII. remains at the end of this building, joining to the church, with alterations and additions of the time of James I. The old work has a stone vaulted roof, with panelling ; in the later parts it is of plaster. The Refectory extended nearly the whole length of the north walk of the cloister ; it was 90 feet long by 34 wide. The western part has been walled off and destroyed, but the original gable of the roof at the west end remains, and the side walls are more or less perfect. The eastern part of the Refectory, now the King's Grammar-School, is a very fine Early English vaulted chamber, with a beautiful stone pulpit and staircase to it, one of the finest examples we have remaining. The windows at the back of this beau- tiful pulpit, and of the passage leading to it, have unfortunately been walled up : it would be a great and an easy improvement to have them re-opened and glazed. But we must bear in mind that, like other parts of the abbey buildings, the exterior of the Refectory had become so much decayed, from the soft quality of the stone, that it was entirely recased in the fifteenth " The substructure is 30 feet wide and about 90 long, but the wall at the north end is modern, and it extends about 20 feet further. The dormitory at Durham was perfect, with the wooden partitions and furniture of the cells, until they were cleared away as rubbish by an improving modern architect, who called this wanton destruction a restoration : the large, empty, low room is now perfectly useless : it would have been an admirable dormitory for the students of the university, like the Long-room at Eton. E 30 The Abbey Buildings. century in the style of that period, and Perpendicular tracery inserted in the windows, the inner jambs and arches, and mouldings and shafts, being all clearly of the original work of the thirteenth. Returning to the cloisters, on the outside of the wall of the Refectory are the remains of the Lavatory, of the same period ; the trough has been de- stroyed, but the recess in the wall remains, with three arches, enriched with fine Early English mouldings, though singularly mixed up with the corbels and ribs of the late vaulting, which bear the arms of Henry VII. and other benefactors. The original entrance to the Refectory joins on to the western end of the Lavatory ; it is a very rich Early English doorway, with hanging foliation, or cusping, and good mouldings. The present doorway and passage through the Refectory is entirely modern, and cuts through the western arch of the Lavatory; "'" ■• In the eastern walk of the cloister, facing the northern one, is another fine. Early English doorway, and by the side of it .a quatrefoil window, opening into a straight stone staircase, commonly said to have led to the Dormitory. I have conjectured that the Dormitory was originally on the western side of the cloister, and not on the eastern. My reasons for this conjecture are, that the Dormitory was not always on the same side as the Ghapter-.house, and in this instance there does not appear to have been room for both on the same side. What, then, was the chamber to which this stair- case led, popularly called the staircase to the Dormitory ? As this chamber is entirely destroyed, it is not easy to answer the question.' But we find men- tion of a second hall, or a small hall, and Dr. Rodk conjectures, with great probability, that it was the strangers' hall. For a small hall of this kind the situation appears probable and convenient. At the back of the staircase are some vaulted chambers on the ground-floor, corresponding to those on ■ the western side, but these are of the thirteenth century, built at the same time as the Refectory and the Chapter-house, and they had lancet windows of the same kind, one of which remains, with an elegant detached shaft, (and might also be easily re-opened-, now that the habit of blocking up windows, created by the window-tax, is gradually but slowly passing away). One of the chambers has at some later period been turned into a kitchen ; this appears to have been done in the fifteenth century, when so many other alterations were made ; and this circumstance seems to confirm the opinion that the room above was used as a dining-room, the great kitchen at the opposite end of the Refectory being too far off to be convenient. Proceeding southward, we come, after passing the staircase, to a vaulted passage of the thirteenth century, leading through to the eastern side of the building and the north side of the chapter-house ; this was the situa- tion of the Infirmary, a sort of small monastery for the sick monks, which usually had its own hall, chapel, and offices complete in itself, though on a much smaller scale than the great abbey. It was always in the most re- tired and secluded part of the enclosure, and there was usually a second cloister of small dimensions. I am informed that considerable remains of ', V IS zr^r *£^&s~ ^4^ ^La/i/iz£an//. &c The Abbey Buildings. 31 old buildings have been found from time to time on this site, and that a vaulted passage exists underground, which may have been only a large sewer,— for the monks were accustomed to make quite as fine sewers as we do now in our largest towns, — or it may have been not underground origi- nally, as the ground appears to have been raised considerably in that part. The buildings of this part of the abbey are marked on the old plan, and were probably in ruins when the plan was made in the time of Elizabeth. It seems possible that the dormitory may have extended over part of them, with the end towards the cloister, and the side parallel to the chapter-house, leaving a narrow passage only between ; but this does not seem likely to have been the original arrangement — it may have been an alteration of the fifteenth century. The Chapter-house is a very fine one, an oblong room, with a good vault and lancet windows in triplets at the sides and in fives at the two ends, the lower part of the west end is cut off by the Vestibule, or entrance, which is cotemporary with the chapter-house itself, although there is a little variation in the details, the ribs of the vaulting being carried down as mouldings of the pillars to the bases without any break of capital or impost. This arrangement is not very common in England, but is very common abroad, and even in England there are many examples of it, and it does not affect the question of the date, the mouldings being pure and good Early English. I do not believe that there was originally any build- ing over this vestibule ; if there had been, it must have blocked up the west window of the chapter-house, the north window of the transept, (at least if it had been high enough,) and the south window of the smaller hall before mentioned, of which the west wall, with the arches of two windows, is stand- ing. The doorway of the chapter-house, with the windows on each side of it, have been recently restored in a very creditable manner, and we may hope that similar careful restorations, or rather repairs, will be carried on from time to time, as the funds of the Chapter will permit. There remains only to mention the wall of enclosure and the gateways in it. There was a license to krenellate the abbey of St. Werburgb in the fifty-first year of the reign of Edward III., 1377, the last year of his long reign. To this period, then, we may safely assign the wall of the close and the gateways. The style of them is still Decorated, though late in that style. The lower gateway has a groined vault, with ribs, and the outer arch is of remarkably wide span, with two sub-arches, one for the carriage- way, the other for the footway, and niches in the spandrels. Of the upper gateway the outer arch only remains, and there is no appearance of a second gatehouse here. In the principal gatehouse there was a room over the archway, now modernized, but capable of faithful restoration, of which, unfortunately, there is much to be done P. ' Various offices are marked in the old plan on the sites of modern houses, some of which contain remains of the ancient buildings. 32 Plan of the Abbey. The annexed plani of the monastery is taken from a survey made a short time after the Dissolution, and preserved in the Randle Holmes' collection in the British Museum, (Harl. MSS. 2,073). The following references are there given : — 8. Monks' hall, or fratry, now free school. 9. Monks' cellar. 10. Passage from the abbey court, through the cellar into the cloisters, and so to the church or dining-hall. 11. Bishop's gate, or porch of his palace. 12. The kitchen, now queresters' houses. 13. The pantry, now consistory office. 14. The passage. 15. East gate of the abbey court. 16. Bakehouse, with two ovens, the one nineteen feet in diameter. 17. St. Thomas chapel, now dean's house. 18. Brewhouse and storehouse. 19. Great well. 20. The great kiln and drying floors. 21. The abbey gates. 22. St. Thomas' court. (The Abbot's House.) 23. Porter's lodge. 24. Abbot's kitchen. 25. The tower and larder. 26. Serving-man's hall, over which is the great dining-room. 27. Strong beer cellar; over it Darby- chamber. 28. The pantry ; over it the stone hall. 29. The wine-cellar. 30. The gallery. 31. The bishop's garden. 32. The abbot's well. 33. The great cellar, over which is the great hall, and the green hall. a,. The body of the church and great square steeple. b. The quire. c. La : Mary chapel. d. The side aisles of the choir. e. The vestry. f. The parish church. g. The trough-isle. h. The chancel. i. Mary Magdalen chapel. k. St. Nich. chapel. 1. The skreen. m. Steeple door. n. South door. u. The two buttresses whereon the steeple stands. [The bell-turret of St. Oswald's Church.] p. Turning-stairs over Lady Mary's chapel. q. Door into green churchyard. r. Broad isle. s. Singing-school porch. [The room over the porch was used as a singing-school.] t. The old steeple, now consistory-court. u. "West door. w. Side isles to the broad aisle. x. Cloister doors. y. The cloisters. z. Sprise-garden. [A corruption of Para- dise, or the churchyard.] 1. Maidens' isle. 2. The chapter-house. 3. The entrance. 4. Passage and stairs to the dormitory. 5. Ancient priest's cellar. 6. The priest's kitchen. This description of the plan is without a date, but must be of the seven- teenth century, and shews that the traditionary site of the dormitory was the same then as now. If this tradition is correct, it must have extended over the buildings marked 6 on the plan, and called kitchens : even then it is difficult to see how there could have been room for the cells of so many monks. It is possible that this was one of the alterations in the fifteenth century, and that the original dormitory in the twelfth was on the west side. The following extracts from the Charter of Henry VIII., kindly supplied by Canon Blomfield, throw considerable light upon the plan, and afford a valuable addition to the above description: — i In our reduced copy of this plan we have endeavoured to indicate the ages of the different parts by different tints ; the earliest being black, and each succeeding century a shade lighter. BBEgfl«w»lMaM^j*^«»^Bag«^ '_. m y/;* - ^r W y wm r ^mw w^^WMW PLAN OF THE MONASTERY OF ST WERBURGH, IN CHESTER. Extracts from Charters, fyc. 33 Extract from the Charter of Henry VIII., {dated at Walden, Aug. 6, 1541,) for the erection of the Cathedral of Chester, describing the buildings then granted to the Bishop as a Palace. Henricus Octavus D. 6., &c. Volumus itaque et per praesentes ordinamus, quod Ecclesiae Cathedralis prae- dicta . . . per nos noviter per praasentes erecta et fundata, " Cathedralis Ecclesiae Christ! et Beatse Virginis Marise Cestriensis" in perpetuum vocetur, &c. Et iiisuper volentes commoditati dicti nuper Episcopi, et successorum . . , ■ Numbers on suorum uberius providere. the Plan. 1. 1 Aulam quandam communiter vocatam "Primam Aulam," sen exteriorem, 10. 'TheEn- cum majuscula quasdam 2 coquma et cseteris ^officinis esedem Aulas pertinen- 12 & 13 2 T ' ne tibus, exceptat. et reservat. 3 Cellaria qua a Curtelegio itur ad Templum j Kitchen and necnon _ 3^" a8sage 2. * Secundum Aula/m, seu interiorem, cum suis pannariis, promptuariis, et caeteris (No. 10.) from . , , . Abbey court to ejusdem membris. Cloisters, over 3. 5 Capellam cum superedificatis cubiculis communiter ibidem vocatam " Le Entrance HaU of Chappell Chamber." the Palace, No. 11. 4. Aliud etiam 6 Chibiculwm nuper Abbatis ibidem cum duobus clausulis, et cum j| all ^ fj^* secretiori cubiculo annexo, et aliis subterraneis officiorum locis dicti nuper trance to which ,,, ,. ,. , ... -was through the Abbatis cubiculo spectantibus. « fl r8 t Hall." 5. 7 Cubiculim ibidem communiter vocatum Magnum Cubicukm cum officinis 5 Tne Chapel over . . , , ., the Abbot's pas- eidem appendentibus. sage to the 6. In 8 turri etiam duo cubicula, alterum superius et alteram inferius, cum cloi8ters - , , . ~ . . ., , ... 29. 6 Chamber subterraneis omcinis eidem spectantibus. over the " Wine- 7. 9 Conclave unum publicum vocatum "Abbots Parlour," cum promptuariis et 28 "or CerhaDS pannariis eidem adstructis. 27, the Darby o ln « . . . , . , . Chamber and o. '" Loqumam mmorem sive coqumam novam cum suo pertinente universo. cellar under it. 9. u Duo etiam cubicula nuper in tenura et usu Roberti Radford Clerici, inter 26. i The great j- i ■ j. j. j.- i ■• ,» . , Dining-room, aictam coqumam novam, et dicti nuper monastern u portas existentia, cum with serving- domo quadam nuper appellata " Le Aumbry." man ' 8 haU under 10. 13 Hortum etiam unum fenestris dicti Magni Cubiculi subjacentem, et 25. 8 The Tower continuo muro lapideo septum et circumdatum. anli Larder - 11. I4 Stabula duo curtilagium sive Lignarium unum vocatum " Le Kidyard," et 24 10 T ne Abbot's 12. ls Magno horreo spatium sufficiens ad reponendum et recipiendum octoginta Kitchen. vehias (cart-loads ?) fceni et straminis. te j, s Tjodge^° r " Dicto nunc Ep\ Cest". et ejus succ™. intra situm septum et circuitum dicti 21. 12 The Gate. nuper Ccenobii, in mansionem, habitaculum, Palatium, et usum familiarem 8 i* ', 1 -J e J'~ r ' ' ' ' shop's Garden, sive domesticum, respective damns et concedimus. 14 A n enclosed Damus et concedimus prsefatis Decano et Capitulo totum praedictum situm ofthenlan nortl1 septum, circuitum, ambitum, et prsecinctum supradicti Ccenobii sive Monast. 34. is The great nuper vocato Stae. Werburgae cum omnibus antiquis privilegiis, libertatibus et Barn> liberis consuetudinibus ejusdem (exceptis semper et reservatis dicto nunc Epo. omnibus et singulis illis locis aulis, cubiculis, officinis et ceteris prius specifica- tis cum suis pertinentibus universis) — ac totam Ecclesiam ibidem una cum omnibus Capellis, plumbis, campanis, campanilibus, clausis, dormitoriis, lectis Refectoriis, csemiteriis, messuagiis, domibus edificiis, curtilagiis, hortis, gardiniis pomariis, stagnis, vinariis, et caeteris omnibus locis terris et territoriis, intra eundem situm septum, &c, existentibus . . . simul cum omnibus in eodem, juri- bus, vasibus, jocalibus, ornamentis, bonis, catellis, et implements ejusdem nuper Ccenobii. 34 Extracts from Charters, fyc. Extracts from a copy of a MS. appended to Bishop Q-astrell's " Notitia" preserved, in the Registry of Chester, supposed to have been compiled by Simon de Albo Monasterio, temp. Sen. III., 1265. A.O. 690. Obiit Beata Werburga. 875. Eodem anno hiemantibus Danis apud Rependon. (Repton on Trent) fugatoq.' rege Merciorum Burdredo, Hamburgenses, (tie people of Hambury, where Werbnrga was buried) sibi timentes (ferentes ?) cum feretro corpus divas Werburgse tunc primum in pulverem resolutum ad Legecestriam (Chester) tanquam ad locum tutissimum contra stragem barbaricam confugerant. 924. Adelstanus Rex coronatur. In ejus tempore Canonici Seculares usque ad adyentum Normannoruin, collatis vicissim possessionibus ac deinde monacbi regulares ad Werburgae virginis mflitarunt (celebrarunt ?) laudes in hoe monasterio. 1057. Leofricus Comes Cestrise reparavit Eccles™. Collegiatam Sc". Johannis Bap- tistse, ac Eccl m . Sffl. Werburgae intra civitatem situatam, ac privilegiis decoravit, tempore S. Edwardi Regis et Confessoris (prout refert Willielmus Malmsbu- rensis de Gestis Anglorum, lib. 2.) 1093. In hoc anno venit Dominus Anselmus Abbas Ecc ae . Beccensis Angliam qui sae- pius ante venerat in Angliam, veniens itaq' hinc Angliam Anselmus a multis ac- clamatus Archiepiscopus, qui tanti honoris onus humiliter fugiens, rogatu nobilis Principis Hugonis Comites Cestriam venit, ibiq' Abbatiam in honorem S. Wer- burgse fundavit et monaehis ibidem congregatis Richardum Monachum Beccen- sem primum Abbatem instituit. Quo faeto in eodem anno in reditu suo a Cestria Archiepiscopus Cantuarensis factus est. 1116. Obiit Ricardus primus Abbas Cestrise et Robertus Episcopus. 1121. Gulielmus Abbas effectus est. „ 1140. Obiit Willielmus Abbas C. cui successit Radulphus. 1157. Obiit Radulphus Abb. Cestrise pise recordations. Dominus Bobertus Abbas eligitur et in die S. Nicolas apud Lichesfield benedieitur. 1174. Obiit pise memorise Dom". Robertus Abbas Cestrise. Robertus II. Abbas in die S. Werburgae eligitur, et in die S. Agathse Virg. et M. in Ecclesia S. Johannis apud Cestriam benedieitur. 1180. Cestria tota fere combusta est, i. e, major pars urbis. 1184. Obiit Robertas II. Abbas Cest. 1186. Henricus II. et Balduinus Arch». posuerunt unum Abbatem ad Cestriam nomine Robertvm de Hastings qui apud Cantuariam . . . ab. Arch . Balduino est henedictus. (He lived to 1194.) Extracts from Charters } &;c. 35 Among the Randle Holmes' collections relating to Cheshire, now in the British Museum, are the following extracts from the Red Book of St. "Werburg's Abbey. It is obviously very imperfect, and the transcriber was not much of a scholar ; but as the original has not been discovered, these extracts are valuable. We have printed it just as it has come down to us, with the marginal notes of the transcriber. IN LIBRO RUBRO ABBATM CBSTRIENSIS r . This booke is auntienfly written in Parchment, and contayneth coppies of Sides out of Cowrie Moules, with some coppies of deeds and othi/r good notes con- serninge the monastery of St. Werbwges, but it is much defaced, slubbered, worne, and many leaves torne out which makes it very imperfect : but what possibly I could gather I have as neere as I can transcribed for future posterity, November 1649. [The Petition op the Abbot and Convent.] [Robert, Abbot of St. Werburgh, anno 1157—1194.] Significant reverendo primati Bobertus s , Abbas et Conventus ecclesie Sancte The sea had Werburge Lich' Dioces' quod maris innundaciones frequences resisti non potere i an a ;„ wyiall. de dote ipsius Ecclesie in manerio de Ynes et in Wyrhale xxx. carucatas terre Manor of Ynce. arrabilis cum pastura et pratis aliisq' pertinentiis absorptas irreparabiliter per- diderunt et cotidie ulterius amittunt per inundat. manerium de Wymbaldelegh nn,j. ™„™ ™= 20 1 ' per duellum et manerium de Brocton 20". et ecclesiam de Manor of Wym- ims warr was * baldslev now bet' Hand and ll'u Halliwelle dictae diocesis 100 marcis occasione Gwerrorum inter Wymble'Traf- Prinoe of North- Anglicos et Wallenses de eadem redditus perdidertmt prefataque ford ' s P°y leli j>y UweUmsspoylecL Ecclesia Sancte Werburge in qua domus occupata fratribus ruina Manor of Broe . ' St. Werburge frequenter minabatur tocius Chorum de novo funditus maximis *? n - J^ 1 ^ 1 quier bult & sle- sumptibus construxerunt ad h . . . devocionem usque ad Cam- Bretton, co. pie. Flvnt panile et totam inferiorem ipsius Ecclesie partem quare mona- „ ' „ .. . . cborum fratrum et servientum ipsius Ecclesie sustentacionem bospitalitatem in Flyntsnier et elemosinas solvendas Ecclesie non suppetant facultates. Quare supplicant quatenus ejusdem proprii de C[ampdene] vestra? diocesis in qua est obtinet pa- tronatus pro relevandis ipsorum necessitatibus ut proprios eorundem appropriare dignetur illis et unire. Ita quod cedente vel decedente ipsius rectoris (?)... sustentacione perpetua Ticarii in admissionem liceat ipsis eandem Ecclesiam in ejusdem usibus perpetuo retinere. [The Gbant oe the Bishop in beply.] W. permissione divina, etc. Venerabilibus et religiosis viris Abbati et con- Theis oonflrma- ventui monasterii Sancte Werburg* Oestrie Coventrensis diocesis bat'becauseof Tills "w3.s ^WsiltPi* i i_ rjrpv hishnnn salus et benedictio. Personas et loca religiosa ab antiquo divo l? sse b y 6 ? a and X "' „ « t • f » , , . . the warrs in covent ec Lien , cu ltui dedicata, infortunus desoluta volens qum poems prospe- Wales. 12 King John. 1 r r r rentur in eum cultum, ex asrariis pontificii sui meliora minis- Wberebythe monks, etc. teria prospiciens et volens realibus suffragiis relevare ; ex peticionis vestn tenore could not be so et fide dignorum sciens inundacione frequenti cui resisti non potest de dote ^ t^e q^J 6 vestri monasterii in manerio de Ines et in Wyrhale xxx. carucatas terre arabilis made. • Harl. MS. 2,071, fol. 88. I am indebted to Canon Blomfield for a careful revision of the text of these extracts, and many important corrections ; he has reduced it from a state of confuaion into order, and made sense of what was be- fore unintelligible. s Bobertus was mistaken by Holmes for Hurbertus. 36 Extracts from Charters, fyc. cum pratis aliisque pertinentibus absorptas irreparabiliter perdiderunt et cotidie ulterins amittunt per inundat. manerium de Wymbaldesleye xx u . et Brocton xx. marcis maneria et Ecclesia de Haliwell dictae diocesis 100 marcarum occasione guerrarum inter Anglicos et Wallenses de eadem dote (redditus perdiderunt) et domus oecupata vobis et vestrum monasterium irreparabiliter spoliantur ipsius- que maneria et terra penitus devorantur. Chori ipsius quem onerosis sumptibus funditus construxerunt in monaehorum fratrum et servientum et ipsius monas- terii sustentaeionem hospitalitatem et elemosinas solvere non suppetunt facul- tates. Huic pietatis compunctus visceribus in Ecclesiam et de elemosina nostra promot. et assenau et consensu eorundem mon™. et licencia serenissimi principis illustris et auctoritate del omnipotentis et vestram diocesinam ecclesiam perire nolens .... ex causis predictis et pro eisdem aliisque vestris necessitatibus nos monasterio antedicto et vestris successoribus appropriamus a. . . . et v arcbidiaconis ejusdem qui erunt pro tempore aliisque quibuscumque Episcopali- bus diocesanis Arcbidiaconis quibuscumque. Ita quod cedente vel dece- dente ipsius rectore ad presentacionem (nobis) nostrisque successoribus dictam capellam sede vacante in eadem Ecclesia presbiter aliquis instituatur qui curam ejusdem ecclesiae et parocbiorum ipsius gerens de fructis redditibus a vobis an- nuis singulis 20". sterlinge in Sancti Michaelis, Oircumcisionis Domini, Annuncia- cionis b. V. Marias et beati Jo. Baptiste terminis equalibus porcionibus pro sua porcione percipiat annuatim et hide comode sustentare valeat jura Episcopalia Archidia ac alia incumbencia onera perpetuo sustinere. Salva nobis et succes- soribus nostris facilitate porcionem ipsius augendi limitandi et minuendi prout de jure videbitur expedire. In quorum etc. (nomen sigillum, &c.) [Petition to the Bishop of Wobcesteb.] The quier, the Significant suppliciter vestre Eeverentie Beligiosi viri Abbas et Conventus church buldea. Ecclesie Sancte Werberge Cestr" Licbfeldensis diocesis quod Ecclesia sua dudum ruinam quam intolerabiliter minabatur episcopi qui in diocesi ea prodire incipi- entes cborum suum totum de novo Dei auxilio reedificarunt in forma competonti j • sicut cum magna pars Ecclesiae memoratae et campanile ejusdem tam evidenter ruinse aclinic minentur quod de mortis periculo assistens (divinis officiis) veri- similiter poterit formidare sicut evidenter constare potest cuilibet intuenti, quod ipsi religiosi quam plurimis damnis et diversis . . . oppressi, eo videlicet quod de terris suis in Wiralle et in manerio suo de Ynes modo juxta littus maris in longi- Leuca is 1,500 tudine per spacium decern leucarum adjacentibus per ipsius maris innundacionem Ei moBt^cTpaces • frequentem triginta carueatas terras penitus amiserunt et cotidie ulterius amittent so that there was nec okgtare poterunt quovis modo, ac eciam manerium de Wymbaldeslegh precii paces, that is, 20". marcarum annuatim per duellum ; et manerium de Brocton precii 20 marca- overwhelmed at rum annuatim, nec non Ecclesiam de Halliwell precii 100 marcarum annuatim in Ince and Wym- partibus Wallie per gwerros inter reges Anglise et principes Wallon irrecuperabi- Maneriumlnce. ^ ter amiserunt. Sicut quod idem religiosi et opus jam inceptum prout poterunt Manerium Wym- continuare. His non obstantibus in forma proposita cum deo et vestro adjutorio a es ey. cborum ecclesiae suae predicti et Campanile ejusdem successive per continuata tem- Broghton. pore rcedificare condecenter, scilicet opus suum antedictum continuare hospitali- Halliwell tatem sustinere ac elemosinas consuetas facere non valeant et donacione vestrae Church. Petition tobishop reTO dommlciB del S ratia Episcopi Wigorn' humiliter Peter de la Koch of Winchester' suplicant et devote quatinus Ecclesiam de Campedene de eorum S^. 8 OU6ho P of tL a church of 186 P atronatu et vestre diocesis, fabrics) Ecelesias suaa memoratae nec ahout this tyme, Campden in his non elemosinariae ejusdem appropriare digneris intuitu caritatis. ' diocese belonged to St.Werburg's. ' Worcester. The mistake is in Randle Holmes' MS. Extracts from Charters, fyc. 37 H.ABI,. MS. 2,071, f. 88 b. That m><* is tome out is supplied in the small pap' Here is divers Leaves torne out, betwene this and above, for this leafe beginneth wth terminos suos ultra modum excedens; thenfollowith, — Ano Dfii 1280 frater Jo. de Pecham Archieps' Cantuar' dfiica prima x lme . Co- The Archbpp. _ _ . ventr" dioces' cepit visitare et eandem visitando per mansiensin -fSi,'^— mJL. Jo. Pecham -was ..,.,%, . , SJi a f" :es Arehbpp. from 7 octar beati Jo. Baptiste monastermm visitavit, et per 15 dies X„„ em ° n ? stery ' to 23 F i thp i • t 1280, 8 E. 1. great punisiier of Arauuicanatuvn Cestrie visitans plures fornicarios adulteros et vices, ride Good- incestuosos penis corporalibus graviter punivit, quosdam clericos iryn, lib. 120. . * , . ., . y A ■ ■ j quam intra annum post bemficiorum suorum admissionem ad ordinem saeerdotum non faerunt promoti p'vando et eorum benificia per libitu suo aliis conferendo. Eodem anno, Rex Edwardus propria ductus voluntate Comitatem Cestrie Dee bridge built contra libertates sibi eonoessas coegit communes Anglie leges admittere, et charge, because ponteni ultra aquam de Dee sumptibus suis construere. of the JJf elsll f the transporting Eodem anno idm dns Rex quintadecem omnium Ecclesiarum suarum a Cle- ammunition. rico Anglie secundum taxationem Xorthwicem de tribus annis continuis op- fhe^Seot^V"' tinuit. Afio Domini 1289. Simon Abbas Cestrie portavit breve nove dissesin contra 1289, 17 E. i. Simon, Abbat 17 Hu S° de Halton conquerens quod ipsum disseisivit in bruera Hrat^oetweiie E. i. iacente inter Salghton et Halton de libero tenemeuto sub in J 1 ^ 14 " 11 and Tlnffo Halton. Salghton. 8 Salghton Jb'u portavit aliud breve conquerens dictum Hu- gonem sc'. (scilicet ?) disseississe ipsum in eadem bruera de communa pas- tura sua pertenente ad liberum tenementum suum in Salghton Camq' p t! . multudie' affinnum et perentum dicti Hugo ac eciam amicorum dicti Abbatis _ . . . nulla assarta inveniretur alteri parcium in suspecta : Predictus MagnoRotuloqui r r vocarur Domes- Simon Abbas dedit prefato Hugoni c. solidos pro quandam finali concordia inter eos factam et in magna rotulo qui vocatur Domesday irrotulata ita videlicet. Que quedam porcio dicte bruere, silicet a fossato Camporum de Salghton ChrisHeton extendens se versus ad altam viam qui ducit a diversis inter Cristleton et Halton ° ome 01 ' usque ad vadum de Goldborne jaceat inculta et communis tam dicto Abbati et successoribus suis quam ac hominibus eorum de Salghton quam predictus Hugo et heredibus ac hominibus suis de Halton ad Capind pro libitu suo jamnum et turbas; imperpetuum reliqua vero porsiones dicte bruere usque ad fossatum Camporum de Halton die hujus concordie factam inculta permaneat et com- munis pasture utraque ville ad omnia genera animalium suorum absque ullo apprivamento sine (?) communi assensu percium alterius faciendo. Item eodem anno 1289 cum Phillipus Burnel et Isabella va? sua filia Willelmi The mannors of Burnell et nx' P at " c i P er brevia recti petissent versus dominum Simon Ab- ieyf Huntington" Patrick W». batem Cestrie maneria de Salghton, Cheveley, Huntinton et an . d Bo ?f ht ™„,- Simon, Abb. 17 „ ., T , ... . 7 ' ., . „ J , . released for 200". E, i, Boughton. Idem Abbas in curia Comitatus Cestrie comparens to Abby. Burnell, Chan- respondit se non teneri querele dictorum P. et Isabella ux' 17 e. j. sue respondere eo quod dicta brevia non fuerit de Curalie Gun' Badlismere, Cestrie neque lorn' (?) protestando se velle aliud dicere si ex- Justic' Cestrie. . , „ , , ,. , .. , cepcio ista non sutnceret ad dictorum brevium prostracione (cumque Judicatores com' Judicium) exceptionis predictam usque ad sorus 38 Extracts from Charters, fyc. VTyno: ' freei or Gray Ireers of Northampton. com' distulissent. Nee sineret Gun' de Badelismere tunc Justiciarium pro- cessum loquele ipso die nee sequenti Comitus irrotulari pedente excepcionem predictam. Prefatus Phillipus nepos domini Roberti Burnell tunc regis Came- lerii procuravit processum dicte loquele ad audienciam domini Begis vel Jus- ticiariorum suorum transmitti sub sigillo dicti Justiciarii super quo littera domini Regis recepta, prefatus Justic' et clerici sui plus dicto Cancellario quam deo placere cupientes processum dicte loquele falso et per libitu suo clamium irrotulatum fuit consensu Com' ad Curiam Begiam transmiserunt sub sigillo dicto Justic' testificantes dictum Abbatem prefatam excepcionem dilatoria pro- potuisse peremptorie nee ipsum nolle dicere aliud adfui (?) defencionem, silicet in defensum a Curie recessesse quam fraude Justie' domini regis nunciata et idem Abbati London tune existenti per dictum Cancellarium revelata cum dicti Justic' in Camerarum dicti Cancellarii unanimiter providisset, predietum Phill' proxima die litis debere seysinam dictorum maneriorum recuperare, prefatus Abbas nimirum contestatur necessitate (?) compulsus eun' (eum ?) cum prefatis Phill' et Isabella uxore sua supra quieta clamacione sua predictorum maneriorum coram predictis Justiciariis finalem facere concordiam pro 200Z. argenti infra quatuor annos, silicet singulis annis 1". die Sancti Jacobi Apostuli in Ecclesia fratrum minorum North' solvendis una cum annua pensione a. Weston cle- quatuor marcarum Ade de Weston, clerico dicti Phillipi assig- ric0 - nata quousque in ecclesiastico beneficio xl. marcis valente per eosdem ei fuerit provisum. Salghton et le Heath. Waveston. Eodem Anno Simon Abbas per unum breve conquestus est quod Johannes de Merchinton et Sibilla uxor sua ipsum desseysierunt de libero „. . „ , , . .,..., . . Simon, Abbat 17 tenemento suo m Salghton, silicet in bruera jacente inter E. i. fossata Camporum de Salghton et Waverton et per aliud breve Merchinton et conquestus est quod idem Johannes et Sibilla uxor sua ipsum disseysierunt de communa pasture sue in eadem bruera pertinente ad^liberum tenementum suum in Salghton die v°. Marcii proxima post conversionem Sancti Pauli in pleno Corait' Cestrie, coram dno Eeginaldo de Grey tunc Justiciario. Idem Abbas recuperavit quandam porcionem dicte bruere per unum breve in liberum tenementum suum et per aliud communam pasture omnibus averiis suis in tota ilia bruera. Abbots of St. Werburgh. 39 LIST OF THE ABBOTS OF ST. WEKBUKGH. {From Dug&altfs Monasticon Anglicamim.) 1. Richard, chaplain to Archbishop Anselm, 1093 — 1117. Buried in the east angle of the south cloister. 2. William, 1121 — 1140. Buried in the same place. 3. Ralph, 1140 — 1157. In his time four important charters were granted or con- firmed. 4. Robert Fitz-Nigel, 1157—1174. 5. Robert, 1174 — 1184. He obtained a bull of confirmation from the Pope. 6. Robert de Hastings, 1186 — 1194. Buried in the south cloister. 7. Geoffrey, 1194—1208. Buried in the chapter-house. 8. Hugh Grylle, 1208—1226. Buried in the chapter-house. 9. William Marmiun, 1226 — 1228. Buried in the cloister. Six monks added to the foundation and an hereditary cook appointed in his time. 10. Walter Pinchbeck, 1228 — 1240. Buried in the chapter-house. 11. Roger French, 1240 — 1249. Buried in the chapter-house. The number of monks increased to forty, and additions made to the funds of the kitchen, by the tenth and eleventh abbots. 12. Thomas Capenhurst, 1249 — 1265. Buried in the chapter-house. 13. Simon de Whitchurch, 1265 — 1289. Buried in the chapter-house. One of the most active heads that the abbey ever had : he was engaged in continual struggles with the laity, and a considerable part of the abbey was rebuilt in his time. 14. Thomas de Burscheles, 1291 — 1323. Buried on the south side of the choir. 15. William de Bebington, 1324 — 1349. In his time this was made one of the, mitred abbeys. 16. Richard Seynesbury, 1349 — 1362. Resigned his abbacy into the hands of the Pope in consequence " of an inquiry into his offences and excessive dilapidations." Died in Lombardy. 17. Thomas de Newport, 1363 — 1385. Buried in the chapter-house. 18. William de Mershton, 1385. Buried in the south aisle of the choir. 19. Henry de Sutton, 1386 — 1413. Buried " in the broad aisle, close to the north side of the south pillar, next to the entrance into the choir." This must mean in the nave. 20. Thomas Terdesley, 1413 — 1434. Buried on the north side of the choir. 21. John Salghell, 1435—1452. Buried in St. Mary's Chapel. 22. Richard Oldham, 1453—1485. 23. Simon Ripley, 1485—1492. Buried at Warwick. 24. John Birchenshaw, 1493. Deposed in 1511, restored in 1530. 25. Thomas Hyplile \ A ^ ^. m &k ^ 26. Thomas Marshall i ** 27. John Clarke, 1537. Surrendered the abbacy, and was appointed the first Dean of the new cathedral, in 1541. 40 The Walls. The following document relating to the walls of the castle of Chester has been found in the Public Record-Office, London, while these sheets have been going through the press. It is important as proving that the date of the present walls cannot be earlier than the time of Henry III. The document is not dated, but belongs to that reign ; and from the handwriting, is probably about a.d. 1260. Public Record-Office, London, Royal Letters, No. 437. " Henricus Dei gratia Hex Anglias Dominus Hibernise Dux Normanniae Aquitanise et Comes Andegavise dilecto et fideli suo J. de Grey Justitiario suo Cestrise. Mandamus vobis quod ballium circa castrum nostrum Cestriae quod clausum fait palo, amoto palo illo, claudi faciatis calce et petra et similiter ballium circa castrum nostrum de Dissaid ubi necesse fuerit reparari faciatis. Et custum quod ad hoc posueritis per visum et testimonium legalium hominum computabitur vobis ad Scaccarium. Teste," &c., [torn off]. " Henry, &c. " To his beloved and faithful J. de Grey, his Justice of Chester. " We command you that yon cause to be removed the wooden fence of the bailey around our Castle of Chester, and that you cause the said bailey to be inclosed with a stone wall. And that in like manner you re-edify the bailey around our Castle of Dissaid, wherever it may be necessary. And the sums that you shall expend on the same being certified by the view and testimony of lawful men, shall be allowed to you at our exchequer." We are indebted to the liberality of the Bishop of Chester and others interested in the cathedral for the engravings with which this paper is illustrated; to Arthur Asbpitel, Esq., architect, for the drawings and engravings of the series of window- tracery ; to Mr. Hugh Roberts and to Messrs. Catherall and Prichard for the loan of the general views and of the woodcuts. In making a similar acknowledgment for those of St. John's Church, the names of W. Titherington, Esq., Dee Hills, and of Meadows Erost, Esq., St. John's House, Chester, were accidentally omitted. It should also have been stated that the drawing of the general view of the church and the ruins was made some years ago, and the house shewn in the p'cture has since been removed.