m ■pp o \ n^d , /f^Ti^^ J :;\ccni iifooks.lith FROM A> PHOTOGRAPH BY JONAS WMSON.ESQ. SOME ACCOUNT Coiitiiiion of tlje Jabrit LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL CHIEFLY FROM 1575 TO THE PRESENT TIME, WITH EXTKACTS FEOM THE ACT BOOKS OF THE CHAPTER. THE BISHOP OF LLANDAFF. WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIVE PLATES. LONDON: RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE. 1860. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Research Library, The Getty Research Institute http://www.archive.org/details/someaccountofconOOolli ADYEHTISEMENT. Llandaff Cathedral has at present neither Organ nor Choir. The profits of this Publication will be given to a fund to be raised for the purchase of an Organ suitable to the dignity of the sacred edifice, which has just been rescued from ruin and barbarism. The improved revenues of the Cathedral will, it is hoped, ere long enable the Dean and Chapter to provide for the restoration of the Choir and of the Choral Service, which was discontinued in 1691. To all who are inclined to lend a helping hand towards the first of these objects the following pages are dedicated by THE AUTHOR. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. The West Front of the Cathedral in a state of ruin, as it appeared for more than a century frontispiece 2. West Front of the Church of St. Eemi at Eheims 3. The Nave of the Cathedral in ruin, taken from the N.W. . 4. The same, looking westward .....■• 5. The Cathedral, as it was proposed to finish it in 1736 6. The Cathedral, as it was altered in the last century. N.E. view 7. The same, from the S.W. 8. Interior of the Presbytery of the Cathedral, as it appeared in 1S28. 9. The South Side of the Cathedral in 1849 10. The same in 1857 11. Interior of the Presbytery, as restored, in 1859 12. The Cathedral, as it wiU appear when the Sonth-west Tower is completed opposite PAGE 2 6 10 14 18 22 26 30 34 38 42 ERRATA. Page 2, line 5, /or 1807 read 1857. — 36, „ 5, dele mural. — 36, „ 0, for the parapet of the Lady Chapel, rearf an appropriate parapet. — 37, labt line, and page 38, line 3,for J. W. read. T. W. LLANDAFF CATHEDHAL. In the spring of the year 1857 a portion of LlandafF Cathedral, consisting of the Presbytery and the four eastern bays of the Nave, was re-opened with a solemn rehgious service. This portion of the building had been rather more than a hundred years before transformed into a pseudo-Italian temple ; and during the intermediate time the western part of it— viz. the four remaining bays of the Nave, the S. W. Tower, and the singularly beautiful western fa§ade — had been suffered to remain in a condition of apparently hopeless ruin. For about fourteen years the work of restoration in the eastern part had been going on ; slowly indeed, for the funds available for the purpose would not allow of more rapid progress, but substantially, and, wherever a waymark remained for the guidance of the archi- tects, in harmony with the details of the original structure. During this space of time divine worship had only been performed in the eastern Chapel. But early in the year referred to, though much remained to be done even in the part of the Cathedral to which the Dean and Chapter had hitherto devoted their attention, they felt that the work was sufficiently advanced to enable them to resume it in the Choir and Nave. They therefore resolved to do so, not without a hope that a fresh impulse might by this means be given to their undertaking, and that the sight of what had been already so well accomplished, might awaken additional interest, and lead to still further and more gratifying results. B 2 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. Under the impression that some statement ought to be on record of the several steps by which the Cathedral had been brought to its condition of partial restoration, before the solemnity just referred to I printed a small pamphlet, entitled " Some Account of the Condition of the Fabric of Llandaff Cathedral from 1575 to its Ee-opening in 1807, with Extracts from the Act Books of the Cathedral." These Act Books and a MS. of the sixteenth century, containing a speech of Bishop Blethin addressed to the Prebendaries of his Cathedral assembled in Chapter in 1575 and the " Consuetudines et Ordinationes Ecclesiae Lan- davensis,"— selected, as he tells the Prebendaries in his address, from an older book entitled " Ecclesi* Textus," with certain additions of his own '—are almost the only documents belonging to the Chapter that have escaped the fires by which its Eegistry, it is said, has been more than once destroyed ^ Before entering upon my proper subject, I thought it desirable to make some extracts from these documents, for the purpose of exhibiting the former state of the building, and accounting, so far as history enables us to do it, for the ruin and disfio-urement from which a considerable portion of the fabric had been rescued. From these extracts it is manifest that nearly three hundred years ago the Cathe- dral had been suffered to fall into the most abject condition. The revenues of the Chapter, as is well known, have been, at least for that period, quite inadequate to sustain the burden which its restoration would have entailed upon them. Whether its members invariably expended upon it as much as they ought in justice to have done for the purpose of ordinary repair, is a point which we have now no means of ' This MS. is referred to by Browue Willis, in his Survey of the Cathedral, p. 177, as one of the three books, -which were in the custody of the Chapter of Llandaff when he wrote. The t^yo others were the " Liber Landavensis," referred to below, and the " Act Book," commencing in 1573. The MS. of Bishop Blethin appears to have been forgotten and lost sight of, and was only brought to light again in 1853. It is printed in the " Archfeologia Cambrensis," July, 1854, from a copy of it belonging to the Eev. J. Montgomery Traherne. ' A MS. iu the Lambeth Library, marked dlxxxii. 85, and entitled " Escerpta ex Eegistro Landav.," contains the following statement: "Antiquum Ecclesia) Landavensis Eegistrum. Apo- graphum ejus extat penes E. P. Willielmum Lloyd, Epum Norvicensem, olim Landavensem, ex alio ejusdem Eegistri apograph© descriptum. Ipsum enim autographum interiit." A note states that Humfridus, Epus Bangor, told the writer that the original was extant. I'! I w ^5ncent BwmVs.jiUi WEbT FRONT OF THF rHURCH OF S' REMI LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. 3 determining. It is certain that since the Reformation, and for how long before we cannot tell, they have had no resources at their command from which they could reasonably have been expected to do more ^ In point of fact, the building appears to have gone from bad to worse, till it was no longer in a condition to withstand the fury of the elements ; and when at last the hurricane arose which laid it in ruin, and the sympathy of friends was excited on its behalf, the miserable taste of the age occasioned the funds that were liberally contributed, to be ex- pended, not in its restoration, but hideous disfigurement. The present publication is an enlargement of the pamphlet above mentioned, with such additional information as I have since been able to obtain. With the greater part of this I have been supplied by the Cole MSS. in the British Museum, and a few MSS. in the Archiepiscopal Library at Lambeth. That those who come after us may have some idea of the condition from which the Cathedral has been rescued, I have added a few illustrative plates, exhibiting it as it appeared from 1752 to our own day, and marking the various stages of its restoration. And I have also given, what appears to myself to be of peculiar interest, a sketch of the West front of the Abbey Church of St. Remi, at Rheims, as it existed before the alteration it has recently undergone. The similarity in the arrangement of the three lancet windows, with the intervening blank arches surmounted by an arcade with a central light, is so striking, that it is difficult not to imagine either that the ' Mr. Browne "Willis was probably very little acquainted with the scantiness of the Cathedral revenues when he indulged in the following remarks, foimded, it is also to be observed, merely upon common rumour, not upon accurate inquiry. The " ses alienum " and "exilitas redituum," spoken of by Bishop Blethin, infra p. 7, certainly point to a different conclusion. " I have been the longer in describing this excellent Bishop's (Hacket) benefaction, the rather to recommend his example to some Cathedrals which seem now to stand in need of such a governor ; especially the poor desolate Church of Llandaff, where, even without any other enemy than what the members themselves are said to have been, by receiving all from the Church, and expending little or nothing upon it, they have left it to fall a ruin to time, and become a reproach to its enemies round about; there being none of its sons that seem to commiserate its condition, or regard its being divested of all ornaments and ceremonies used in other Cathedrals, which might be restored soon again, was the same spirit and zeal existing as in 1661, which raised this our Church of Lichfield," &c. • — Browne Willis, Survey of Cathedrals, Lichfield, p. 378. B 2 4 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. architect of Llandaff was identical with the architect of St. Remi, or that, if they were not the same, they had some common type, which they adapted to their several works. The central window at St. Eemi did not rise above the two side- lights to the same height as in our own Cathedral, and it stood with the two blank arches upon a projection, while in our own the whole are in the same plane with the two smaller windows. The lithograph from which my sketch is taken, does not appear to represent the convexity in the blank arches, which is so remarkable a feature of our own. "^^Tiether the two fa9ades had this feature in common I have no means of ascertaining. The lithograph professes to be. Portrait de Saint Remi avant sa restauration, from which we may infer perhaps, that restauration in French architecture is a term as much abused as unfortunately the corresponding one too often is with ourselves. Tradition informs us that a Church was built at Llandaff by Lucius, a descendant of Bran, the first Christian convert of the British nation. Upon the " when " and " where " of King Lucius our Church historian Fuller writes in his usual witty strain, that it would puzzle Apollo himself " to bring into a Consort " the jarring instruments that have " sought to determine his date." But with respect to the main facts of his history, he is willing to accept them. As Lucius is said to have sent an embassy to Eleutherius to solicit a supply of Christian in- structors, and that Bishop did not succeed to his dignity till the year 177, if he built a Church at Llandaff, we have at least an approximation to the date of its erection. A later tradition speaks of a second Church built on a small scale by Du- britius, who is commonly said to have been the first Bishop of Llandaff, and to have been consecrated by Germanus and Lupus on the occasion of their mission from France to oppose the Pelagian heresy. The date also of Dubritius is involved in much obscurity. Fuller places his resignation of the Archbishopric of Caerleon and retirement to Bardsey island in 516. With regard to these traditions we have no need to enter into any discussion. It is sufficient to say that, whatever may have been the case with the early British Churches erected at Llandaff, no part of those structures at present exists. LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. 5 It is with the building, as it presents itself to our own eye, that we have to do. Independently of the beauty of the Norman arch, which separates the Presbytery from the Lady Chapel, and is such a marked feature in the Cathedral, it is impossible not to regard it with great interest, as a connecting link between the present and the past, a portion of the existing structure, and at the same time an imperishable record of a Norman edifice that went before it. With respect to the present building, which is partly of Early English and partly of Decorated Architecture, the earliest " Description" that we possess is to be found in the "Survey of the Cathedral," published by Mr. Browne Willis, in 1718. This survey contains an engraving of the south side of the Cathedral, as it existed a few years before the destruction of the western part of the Nave, a ground plan with a general account of the interior arrangements and monuments, and careful measurements of the several parts. But the writer of the "Description," &c., Mr. W. Wotton, had not the slightest pretension to architectural knowledge. His deficiencies in that particular have been admirably supplied in a Memoir on the History and Architecture of the Cathedral Church of Llandafi", by the late Dean, the Very Kev. W. D. Conybeare, M.A., which was read at the Third Annual Meeting of the Cambrian Archaeological Society, held at Cardifi^, and has been printed in the " Archseologia Cambrensis ;" and still more fully in the very interest- ing volume entitled " Remarks on the Architecture of Llandaff Cathedral, with an Essay towards the History of the Fabric," by Edward A. Freeman, Esq., M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. London, W. Pickering, 1850. This beautiful arch, as well as the portions of Norman work which appear in the south wall of the Presbytery, and tell the tale of a strange transformation from Norman to Decorated Architecture, are parts of a church commenced at least, if not completed, by Urban, who was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff in 1108, and died in 1134*. A diploma of Eodolph, who was Archbishop of Canterbury from * M. Paris says tliat Urbanus Clammorganensis was consecrated by Anselm " apud Dorobemium die Dominica tertio idus Augusti 1109."— Hen. I., p. 53. Edit. Lond. 178i. 6 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 1114 to 1122, exhorting the faithful to assist Bishop Urban in his work, shows that he undertook it long before the close of his Episcopate. Indeed we read of him that he four times crossed the sea in his zeal for the interests of his Cathedral \ that in 1119 he was present at a Council held by Pope Calixtus, and that a Privilegium, of which a copy is preserved in the Lambeth MS., was given him by the Pope ". The spoliation of the Church of LlandafF, of which we hear so much in after times, appears to have been the occasion of these journeys; nor were the complaints of the Bishop disregarded by Calixtus. In a letter to Eodolph he states that, " Landa- vensis Ecclesia ita bonis suis et per Episcopos et per Laicos despoliata est ut I'edacta fere in nihilum videatur. Eogamus itaque sollicitudinem tuam et praeci- pimus ut ei super iis qui bona ejus detinent, justitiam facias, et prsecipue super Episcopum Sancti Dem et super Episcopum Herefordise, qui injuste terras et parochias ejusdem dicuntur Ecclesise obtinere ^" The diploma above referred to was probably the result of this letter. It is as follows : — " Radulphus Dei gratia Cant. Archiepiscopus omnibus Ecclesise filiis, Francis et Anglis atque Gualensibus, et cujuscunque sint nationis hominibus, salutem et benedictionem Dei et suam. Rogamus caritatem vestram, ut oculis misericordise respicere velitis indigentiam Landavensis Ecclesise. Confisi etenim de vestrarum eleemosynarum auxilio eandem Ecclesiam sedificare disposuimus, ut ibidem populus Dei convenire possit ad audiendum verbum Dei. Quicunque igitur ad aedificationem prsedictse Ecclesias aliquid de suo impertiri pro caritate Dei voluerit, sciat se nostrarum orationum atque beneficiorum esse participem. Sed et de onere pcenitentise suse, quod sibi a suis confessoribus impositum est, quartam partem ei, de misericordia Dei, et potestate nostri ministerii confisi, relaxamus "." The same ]\IS. in the Lambeth Library contains also the following document, which confirms the tradition before referred ' " Anno Domini mcxxxiv . . . defuncti sunt in itinere Eomano Episcopus Landavensis, et GUibertus Episcopus Londinensis." — M. Paris, p. 61. ' Browne "Willis, Survey of Llandaii' Cathedral, p. 110, copies from Wharton's " Auglia Sacra " a document entitled, " Eequisitio Urbani Landavensis Episcopi versus Calixtum secundum Papam apud Eemis, anno 1119."— Vid. Anglia Sacra, Part ii. p. 673. Dugdale's Monasticon, Vol. VI. Part iii. p. 1221. ' Lambeth MS. ' Preserved in the Lambeth Librarv, MS. DLSXsii. 85. Pi 3. Bxaiia Drayong ty Miss F- Ollivanl Vmcenl Brooks.iith. THE NAVE OF LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL IN RUINS TAKEN FROM THE N W . LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 7 to, that the Cathedral of Urban was not the original structure, a British having preceded the Norman edifice. "Exhortatio Johannis Presbyteri Cardinalis et Leo-ati Ecclesise Romans; omnibus fidelibus directa, ut eleemosynis suis adjuvant Ecclesiam Landavensem, quam Urbanus Episcopus reedijicare a fundamentis incepit et indulgentias Archiepiscoporum Cant, hujus rei causa factas confirmans, et 13 dies poenitentia; insuper remittens." It is to the publications of Dean Conybeare and Mr. Freeman that the reader must be referred for the history of the structure from the time of Bishop Urban till the period of which it is my special object to speak. From them it will appear that there is some doubt as to the exact date of the Early English work in the Nave and Choir and west front, the former assigning the west front to 1185—1193, and the Nave to 1193—1219; the latter being of opinion that 1220 is the earliest date to which any part of this work can be referred. The Lady Chapel, a "very beautiful specimen of Early Geometrical Architecture ^" was built by Bishop Bruys, who occupied the See from 1265 to 1287, and whose effigy lies within the communion rail of the Chapel. At a later period the Aisles appear to have been reconstructed in the Decorated style, and alterations made in the Presbytery, of which the traces are yet to be seen on the south side \ How soon after these successive changes the building was permitted to fall into the lamentable condition which will be exhibited in the present pages, and from which, after a still more marvellous transformation, it has only just emerged, it is perhaps impossible now to ascertain. The very earliest notice of it with which I am acquainted, speaks of it as being in a state of almost irreparable ruin. " Cum nobis hajc ruinosa Landavensis Ecclesia obtruditur," says the Bishop to his Chapter in 1575, " omnem volvendo lapidem prospicere ac curare non desinamus. Sed quomodo, cum a;s alienum non sit solvendo, huic opitulemur, quam adeo con- temptam hactenus habuistis, ut non tantilli sstimetis ? Ha;c dum mecum recolo, domique nostras revolvo, tot mihi impedimenta occurrere videantur (sic in orig.) quae meum animum nonnunquam divorse trahunt : Ecclesise ruina, debitum alienum, exilitas redituum, vestiumque contemptus. O si banc tempore Dubricii, quondam " Mr. Freeman, p. 71. ' See Mr. Freeman's Eemarks, p. 72, &c. 8 LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. ArchiepiscopI, qui Danielem prinium Bangoriensem Episcopum consecravit, Metro- politicam Landavensem Ecclesiam, virtuosa liberalitate Principum sumptuose edifi- catam, magna librorum, vestimentorum, vasorum, argenti et auri, copia ditatam, magnis edificiis perpolitam, multis Prebendariorum domibus circumdatam ac Vicariorum Curia adornatam, iliac Archidiaconi sedibus decoratam in memoriam revocares.; quibus omnibus aut ademptis, aut prostratis soloque adequatis, banc solam Ecclesiam incomptam, pulverulentam, peneque irreparabilem cerneres, quem non anxietas animi prorsus deprimeret ? Hanc igitur qualem et quantam, ne tem- pore nostra funditus pereat, manu teneamus, quod certius et facilius perfici possit, dummodo loca ejusdem ruitura quotidie resarciendo nervos nobiscum extendatis vestros, donee suum cuique sero tribuatur. Quod ut citius peragamus, Vicarios Chorales, Annuellarios ^, et Choristas, modo interim aliquem Eesidensarium semper habeamus Concionatorem, pauciores conducamus. Hsec si non successerit, alia quacunque nobis comprobata aggrediamur via." Whether the belief expressed by Bishop Blethin as to the former magnificence of the building and its accompani- ments had any other foundation than tradition, we have now no means of ascer- taining. Bishop Godwin, speaking of its possessions, says, " Satis tamen patet hanc Ecclesiam, si vel decimam partem hodie possideret eorum prsediorum, quae hominum piorum munificentia illi sunt olim concessa, inter opulentissiraas Chris- tiani orbis fortasse numerandam, cum jam vix habeat unde se sartam tectamque possit tueri." — " Prajsules," 1616, p. 619. The particulars of its property are given in the "Liber Landavensis ' " or " Llyfr Tcilo," which in 1840 was pub- lished by the Welsh MSS. Society with an English translation. ' To the Eev. Fenton J. A. Hort, M.A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, I am indebted for the information that " annuellarius is an occasional curate, a chantry priest employed for a year." ' A copy of this MS. once belonged to our Chapter. The last notices of it which I find in the Act Books are the following: In 1693, "the Bishop, Archdeacon, and Chapter, upon the motion of Dr. Edwards, the Treasurer, ordered that Tylo's Book . . . should be delivered to him upon his giving a caution of 201, and for the re-delivery thereof to this Chapter at next Petertide." And in 1G97, June 30, "at which time Mr. Griffith Thomas brought in Tylo's Book . . . and left it in the Eegistry, whereupon the said Chapter discharged Dr. Edwards of the obligation he entered into for the return thereof." LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. 9 The recommendation of Bishop Blethin, to diminish the number of persons on the foundation, though possibly not unnecessary, was, in all probability, the first suggestion of a course of policy which eventually led to the entire suppression of the choir and choral service, the destruction of the organ, the forgetfulness of the fact that the Prebendaries were all Residentiaries *, and ultimately to the per- formance of all the Cathedral and Parochial duties of Llandafi" and Whitchurch being imposed upon the two Vicars Choral. It is observed by Cole % that " doubtless every one of the Prebendaries had houses " at Llandaff. Of the condition of the Residentiary houses and buildings at the same period, we may form some notion from the following passage in the episcopal address before referred to. "NuUam, ut dudum ad nostras pervenit aures," says the Bishop, "huic Ecclesise adjunctam remanendi domum reliquistis. In aedibus Deo quondam dicatis, quas amplius ad alios usus humanos transferre vobis non licuisset, quibus Christi ministri ac dispensatores Dei semper cohabitarent, pascuntur equi, saginantur vestri, proh dolor, porci!" Mr. Wotton in his account to Browne Willis, in 1717, says that the Church was "entire, having no cloisters about it nor other outbuildings, formerly standing within the churchyard." A thatched hovel between it and Bishop's Court, now occupied as a carpenter's shop, still belongs to the Treasurer, and is believed to have been his Residentiary house. In the year 1594, the Bishop, the Archdeacon, and Chapter, granted certain rights of burial in the North Aisle of the Cathedral to the family of Matthews, " considering and daily seeing to their great grief, the ruinous and decayed estate ; being digged and delved pits and unpaved, being more like a desolate and profane place, than like a house of prayer and holy exercises ^, and no way able with the revenues left unto that Church to repair and amend it as they wish." The con- dition on which the privilege was granted, that the Aisle should be put and kept ' See letter of Archbishop Wake, infra p. 28, and note the inconsistenej of modern legislation with the original constitution of the Chapter. To " any prebend not residentiary in any Cathedral or Collegiate Church in England, or in the Cathedral Churches of St. David or Llandaff" 3, 4 Vict. 113, LI. ; a thing which, at Llandaft' at least, had no existence. See also the first Eeport of the Cathedral Commissioners, 1854:, p. iv. ^ MS. Vol. xxviii. pp. 16. 31. " The sentence is given as in the original. 10 LLAXDAFF CATHEDEAL. in proper repair, not being fulfilled, the grant was subsequently revoked, viz. in 16SG, when the Chapter entered on their ]Minutes that the famik of Matthews had neglected to repair the Aisle, '' so that it is now grown into miserable and dangerous decay to the great charge and damage of this Church." From an order made in the same year respecting the seats, it appears that the tomb of the family of Matthews was at that time on the north side, probably on the spot on which it now stands '. This tomb was for a long time lying in separate pieces in the Chapter House, and was restored only a few years ago to its ancient position. Bishop Godwin, writing in 1616, says of his learned predecessor, Bishop W. Morgan, the translator of the Bible into Welsh, " Consecratus Julii 20, 1595, cum de Ecclesia reficienda Cathedrali, /a?H cevo fatiscente et ruinam minitante^ totus cogitaret, ad sedem Asaphensem translatus, Sept. 17, 1601, hunc laborem mihi reliquit, quem adeo noUem praeripuisset. ut earn ob rem majorem bono viro gratiam habeam. quam quod rerum Episcopalium fidus dispensator, optimo quantum potuit loco omnia mihi reliquerit, meliori etiam relicturus, si conatibus ejus sors arrisisset. Sed irrita ejus industria me ad annitendum excitavit. Et labores meos, per Dei bonitatem, tam Ecclesiae Cathedrali, quam sedi Episcopali, nonnihil profuisse, suc- cessoribus ut spero constabit, utcunque hseredes conquerantur rem propriam fami- liarem mihi inde non mediocriter afflictam." On September 14th, 1626, the Bishop, the Archdeacon, and the Prebendaries of the Church, taking into consideration the great decay of the Cathedral Church and the small means of the Prebendaries, made the following '" most serious and solemn protestation Xo the glory of God and credit of the place and good of their suc- cessors." " Wtereas the lease of the rectory of Eglwysilan hath but a short time in being xmexpixed, being the chief support of the Church and prebends in expectation, we, whose names are underwritten, do, with unanimous consent profess, in the name of God, that we are stedfastly resolved, and decree not to demise it to any, but to expect the expiration of the said lease, and then to convert the entire profits and annual rent (being not minished by taking any fine) to See Ichnography of the Cathedral in Browne "Willis and ilr. Wotton's Account, p. 7. iA-Mjsr'. K.OllivaiU Vincent I5i\x>k^ JLiitk THE NAVE OF LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL IN RU1N5. LOOKING WESTWARD LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. U the best use, and most valuable advantage of tlie said Chui-ch, and the perpetual augmentation of the prebendaries' yearly maintenance, trusting that God in mercy will bless our designs, and that posterity shall see here the face of a church. And this our protestation we close with our ancient form—' Qui custodit, custodiat ; qui violat, anathema sit ».' " Subscribed by Theophilus Landaven (viz. Bishop Field), and eleven other parties. The good resolution of the Chapter does not appear very long to have been acted on. Within a few years we find that the Rectory of Eglwysilan was ao-ain leased " on rent and fine." Considering the miserable condition of their corporate fund we can, perhaps, hardly be surprised that such was the case. From June 30, 1645 to October 16, 1660, when Bishop Hugh Lloyd was elected, no entries occur in the Act Books. Probably no Chapter meeting was held, for after the death of Bishop Morgan Owen, who is said to have died sud- denly on hearing of the beheading of Archbishop Laud, the See was vacant for about sixteen years. On October 9, 1646, the Lords and Commons abolished Episcopacy, and in April 1649, the Commons "having seriously weighed the necessity of raising a present supply of money for the present safety of this Com- monwealth" enacted, that all Titles and Offices belonging to any Cathedral or Col- legiate Church, &c. should be wholly abolished and taken away. All their lands, &c. were vested in Trustees to be sold, and all leases granted since the first day of December, 1641, were made void^ "The revenues of this Cathedral," says Walker, " were seized by Colonel Jones (the great Abaddon of the Clergy in this County), Edmund Thomas, and some others, who, as far as I can learn, divided them among themselves '." In the year 1662 a resolution is recorded in the books : — « That if the Chancellor and Registrar do not repair the Consistory Court before AHhallow tide, according to agreement, they shall not be permitted to hold their Court in the Ladye Chapel any longer." » This anathema is given at greater length at the end of the Consuetudines :-" Quicunque custodierit hiBC, custodiat ilium Deus deprecamur; qui autem violaverit, unanimi nostro consensu ipso facto sit escommunicatus." It often occurs in the Liber Laudavensis. » AValker's Sufferings of the Clergy, Part i. pp. 12, 13. ' Ibid. Part ii. p. 38, in margin. c 2 12 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. This order is afterwards directed to be enforced, and a contribution of twenty nobles revoked, which had been promised towards the repair. The Consistory Court is represented in Browne Willis's engraving. It was on the south side of the Cathedral, near the west end ; the Norman arch, which still exists, opening from it into the Aisle. Three years later the state of the building again excited alarm, and the Chapter resolved to make an appeal " unto the Nobility and Gentry of their County toward the good of this Cathedral Church, as other Chapters have done in respect of their respective Churches successfully." There is no evidence of this appeal having actually been made. Perhaps it was suggested by the fact that in 1C34, out of their poverty they had voted twenty marks for the reparation of " the Cathedral Church of Powles^" In 1673, they gave 15^. to the same Cathedral, the payment to be made in three years. These acts of liberality were repaid in 1738 by a handsome contribution of 50/. from the Chapter of that Cathedral to their Brethren at Llandaff. In 1 683, considering that " the charges are like to be very heavy, which must arise upon the necessary repairs of this Church," and recognizing the " con- scionable discharge of that duty incumbent upon this Chapter," they agree that certain annual and customary expenses shall be diminished. The minutes of 1687, 1688, 1697, 1709, 1715, all show that small sums, as much probably as could have reasonably been expected, were expended upon decayed corbels supporting the roof, and other necessary " accidental damages." The condition of the building was evidently occasioning at this time great anxiety. " I have a true desire to see you and discourse with you," writes Dr. Georo-e Bull, then Archdeacon of Llandaff and afterwards Bishop of St. David's, in 1697, " especially about our sad and miserable Cathedral '." The South Tower, says the account in Browne Willis, in 1717, was "open within from the top to the bottom." ' St. Paul's, London. The Correspondence of Archbishop Parker (Parker Society's Edit. pp. 142. 144. 153. 178) shows the demands that were made upon the clergy throughout the kingdom for this purpose. ' Letter to Archdeacon Parsons, in Nelson's Life of Bull, p. 425. Oxf. 1827. LLANDAPF CATHEDEAL. 13 In 1718 the removal of the See to Cardiff was talked of*, probably in consequence of the ruin which appeared to await the whole of the edifice. At length in 1721, it was felt that merely temporary expedients were inadequate to meet the exigencies of the case. The building had sustained great additional injury from the weather, and the Chapter were compelled to look for assistance out of doors. Accordingly, on July 4, 1721, the following resolution was entered in their Act-Book: — "We, the Arctdeacon and Chapter, taking into consideration the great decay of the Cathedral Church, and finding themselves (sic) utterly incapable out of their small revenues to support the growing charges of repairs occasioned by several storms and tempests, and parti- cularly the extraordinary one of November the 20th last past, as well by the general decay of the timber in the roof and other materials of the Church by length of time, have resolved, and we order an address or petition to be drawn up and presented to the King's most excellent Majesty, to His Eoyal Highness the Prince of "Wales, and to the nobility, gentry, and clergy of this diocese, for their assistance and contributions towards the repairing of this Church." And accordingly, the book goes on to say, " the said petitions were drawn up and signed by the several members of the Chapter." This, in all probability, was the first step towards the collection of the funds, which at a later period, under the direction of ]\Ir. Wood, were employed in con- verting the Early English Nave, so far as it remained under roof, into a building which has well been compared with a town-hall or the Bath Pump-room. Mr. Wotton informs us that a violent storm on Nov. 27, 1703, threw down two of the pinnacles and some of the battlements of Jasper Tudor's Tower \ The progress of the decay of the general structure, which had aroused the Chapter at last to the energetic measures just referred to, may be traced by means of certain MS. notes of Browne Willis, which are copied in the Cole MSS. now in the British Museum. Thus we find "Roof fell in Feb. 6, 1722—23." Cole MSS. Vol. 27, p. 37. "Roof of this (viz. the South Aisle) fell in about Sep. 6, 1723;" Ibid. "Feb. 6. 1722 — 23. Wednesday 10 o'clock at night the main couples of the roof of the South Tower fell down, and bore with it the timbers of the loft that lay under it, and shattered and bruised a good deal of the Tower wall." Vol. 28. p. 14. "The other battlements of this North Tower at the east side blown down by a * Prefatory Epistle in Browne Willis. ' i. e. the IS" W. tower. 14 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. storm, Nov. 20, on Sundaj^, 1720. They fell on the North Aisle and beat down twenty foot of it in length to the ground. The storm also threw two pinnacles off the South Tower, so that there is but one pinnacle now left. It broke the windows in divers places and did about 100/. damage;" Ibid. "Sep. 1. 1723, on Sunday between nine and ten the sexton going into the Church found a piece of timber between three and four feet long, fallen down near the font. Sep. 3, following, there fell down fifty feet of the roof at the west end near the font : whereupon the Choir Service was removed into the Lady Chapel, and the west door shut up, and the entrance now is through the south door." Ibid. The illustrations Nos. 3 and 4, exhibit the condition to which the W. part of the Cathedral was reduced by these storms and the progress of decay till our own times ; the former taken from the N. W. and showing the arches to the S. of the Nave ; the latter the interior of the W. front. The portion of the Clerestory which appears in No. 3, was the only part of it that remained entire as a guide for the restoration. It was taken down in July 1858. The arches to the east of it, both in the north and south side of the Nave, had been broken through in the alterations of the last century, so that the ruined portion of it was entirely severed from the covered part of the building. No. 4 is the interior of the ruin looking westward. The fragment of the S.W. Tower represented in the sketch was taken down in May 1859. On July 2, 1728, an order appears upon the Act Book that 200/. should be contributed towards carrying on the repairs, which was to be allowed out of the common fund. In 1729, great expense, we are told, was incurred in new flagging the Lady Chapel; and two years after, 50/. which the Archdeacon had subscribed towards the repairs, were laid out at his request in new seating and adorning it. In 1731 the order of 1728 was rescinded, the Chapter "thinking it more proper and advisable that every particular member should personally subscribe for himself such sum or sums of money as he is disposed to give and subscribe towards the said work." It was also at the same time ordered " that their Chapter Clerk forthwith write to each of the absent members of this Chapter, to know what they are disposed to give and subscribe towards the said repairs, and upon advice from PI. 5. WEST END Vincent Brooks , litK LLANDAFF CATHEDRAl iVAS PROPOSED TO FINISH IT A.D. 1736 LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. 15 such members to put down and enter the several sums which they are disposed to subscribe, in the subscription roll now drawn and subscribed by the members here present." On March 29th, 1732, the Chapter again met "with an intent to consider of the state and repairs of this Church, which is in a very decayed and ruinous condition, but the collections on the Brief granted by his Majesty for the collecting of charitable contributions of his subjects for and towards the repairs of this Church being not as yet known, nothing was therefore done." On July 3 of the same year, we find the first pecuniary acknowledgment of Mr. Wood's services, "The Lord Bishop and Chapter ordered the sum of twenty guineas to be paid to Mr. Wood of Bath for surveying this Church and taking estimates of the repairs thereof, and for journeys made by himself and some artificers from Bath and Bristol on that occasion." Whether the whole glory of the interpolation of the pseudo-Italian temple between the ruin and the Lady Chapel was due to Mr. Wood does not appear, but in 1734 two guineas were paid "to Mr. Killin of Cricklade for his journeys and trouble in surveying this Church, and making a model of the roof, and drawing up an estimate of such repairs as the said Church now wants." In the same year the Bishop and Chapter came to an agreement with Mr. Wood— "For the said Mr. Wood's making proper estimates and contracts with all workmen and artificers to be employed in repairing this Church; for surveying and seeing ft-om time to time (whilst the said work is in doing) that such contracts be d.xly performed, and to confine the expense thereof within the sum of ITOO/., including the old materials; and to do and cause to be done what is mentioned in a circular letter this day ordered to be -nt to the Trustees named in the Brief .... and in consideration of such service .... the said Bishop and Chapter are to pay him the sum of 100/." The circular referred to was as follows : — " SiR,-I am ordered by my Lord Bishop and the Chapter of Llandaff to acquaint you that they have this day treated with a skilful surveyor for repairing the Church. " The scheme proposed by the surveyor is, fii-st, to take off the whole roof, and lower it about six feet, the waUs being so far very defective. In the next place, some of the waUs beino- faUen down, and others much out of the perpendicular, he is to draw an estmiate ol the expense of repairing them and the other waUs upon the old foundation in a decent and substantial manner, and also of putting up a new roof, glazing of the windows, and new castmg 16 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. tte lead, which expense he will reduce within the siun of 1700/., including the old materials ; and, with your concurrence, they are disposed to pursue the said scheme without loss of time." No signature is subscribed to this document. Allusion was made in the Minute of March 29, 1732, to a Brief' that had been obtained for a general collection in aid of the repairing fund. On July 2, 1734, it was reported that £640 had been paid from this source to the account of the Proctor General, and that it was expected to yield £60 more. The actual collec- tion under the Brief was £1473. 9s. 3|rf. ; the expenses upon which were £373. Us.6d. leaving a net sum of £1099. 14*. 9frf. Besides this sum, £931. 10*. 7^d. had been contributed by friends, of which no less than £500. 10^. 7^d. were subscribed by members of the Chapter. For these particulars I am indebted to an Account of Benefactions to the Cathedral in the handwriting of the Rev. James Birt, formerlv a Prebendary of the Cathedral, which was kindly placed in my hands by his rela- tive, the Rev. H. Douglas, ]\I.A., Canon of Durham, and formerly Precentor of Llandaff. A detailed account of the private contributions, and a statement of the charges on the Llandaff Brief, are given in the Appendix. What were the abuses referred to in the Act of Queen Anne ' " for the better collecting Charity money on Briefs by Letters Patent, and preventing abuses in relation to such charities," I do not know. But from this instance of the expensiveness of Church Briefs at a later period, we may conclude, I think, that the legislature did well in finally abolishing ' them altoijether. The Act Books of 1 734, 1 735, contain some very imperfect accounts of receipt and expenditure. The former, so far as they go, agree with Mr. Birt's MS. I do not find in either the one or the other any notice of the £1000 given by King George the First in the time of Bishop Tyler, which is spoken of in a letter by Archbishop Wake to be hereafter referred to, nor of the £500 which the Arch- bishop expected to obtain from the Prince of AVales'. But in 1794 the thanks of the Chapter were given to the Rev, J. Birt for having managed the Fabric Fund, as well as for his having transacted the business of receiving the pension from the The number of it has beeu preserved in Mr. Birt's accounts, 9883. ' 4 Ann. c. 14. ' 9 Georg. IV. c. 42. » See letter quoted below, p. 28. LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 17 King, paid by the Deputy-auditor of the Principality of Wales. Of the particulars of the pension no account is given '. In 1734 a table of Benefactors was ordered to be put up in the Church; and in 1743 it was directed that a book should be bouo-ht for entering the several sums collected, but we have no evidence of either of these directions having been complied with. In 1740 and 1743 sums were voted for the repair of the N. W., or as it is commonly called, Jasper Tudor's Tower. With the funds collected from the several quarters I have thus referred to, the Chapter at last entered upon their task, and under the direction of Mr. Wood commenced the erection of the Italian temple, the destruction of which was neces- sarily the first duty which the present Chapter had to perform. The key-stone of the doorway in the western wall, separating the restored portion from the ruin, which they have hitherto wisely forborne to meddle with, thinking that any por- tion of the small fund committed to their trust would be badly expended in attempt- ing to amend what is past cure and too bad to be allowed long to remain, informs us that A.D. 1752 was the year in which the "exceeding fine" Church of Mr. Wood, as it is called by a contemporary -, was completed. Of the architectural taste and knowledge which prevailed in those days, had this "very neat and eleo-ant^" structure not remained to our own time as a striking illustration of it and of the woi-k actually accomplished, a good idea may be formed from a letter addressed, in 1736, by Dr. John Harris, Bishop of Llandafi", to an ancestor of the late Lord Eolle, in which he informs his correspondent what were the intentions of the Chapter with regard to the building. " We liave repaired the walls," he says, "within sixty feet of the west door, and covered with new timber the Choir, and carried a new roof from the east end of the Choir to the above- mentioned part of the body of the Church, and covered it with milled lead : and, as we have a quarry of alabaster near the place, with other very good materials for stucco, we have employed a skilful plasterer to adorn the inside in such a manner as decency requires, and we are enabled by our stock to do. . . . We propose to take down the two steeples which at present ' I suspect it to have been an annual payment of 21. 2s., which appears frequently in the Proctor General's account, uot connected with the Fabric Fund. In 1743, for instance, it says, " Arrears, King's Auditor at Brecon, 21. 2s." ' See letter of Kev. T. Davies quoted below, p. 20. ' Ibid. D 18 LL AND AFP CATHEDEAL. serve as a western front, to tlae two aisles, for they are very ruinous, and to raise a tower over the front of the Nave, and then to finish with a rustic porch !" This letter was kindly sent to me by Lady RoUe, and is printed in the " Archseologia Cambrensis," October, 1864, pp. 301, 302. The alabaster orna- ments are still in existence, consisting of large rosettes, which were placed in the intersections of the groined Italian ceiling. The columns, pilasters, and cornices, which now adorn the library at Bishop's Court, then of a dingy brown colour, will show those who come after me what were the fittings of the ritual Choir. The two urns which stood upon the roof at the two sides at its western extremity, are now more appropriately placed in the Bishop's garden, with the inscription : — " QU^ . ECCLESI^ . CATHEDRALIS . FASTIGIO . IMPOSIT^ PIAM . MAGIS . QUAM . FELICEM IN . ^DIFICIO . SACRO . INSTAURAXDO . ET . ORNANDO S^CULI . CURAM CENTUM . ANNOS . COMMEMORAVERANT HUC . DEMTJM ANTIQXJA . ECCLESL^E . SPECIE . RESTITUTA AB . ALFREDO . EPISCOPO . LANDAVENSI TRANSLAT-E . SUNT . DRN^ A.D. MDCCCLII. The illustration. No. 7, exhibiting Mr. Wood's building from the West, shows the position which these urns so long occupied. The " folding door " to the east of the Chapter House, put up in 1733 "for the more easy access to the Lady Chapel," and still existing, is another specimen of the deplorable taste of the period. The Ichnography in Browne Willis shows no break in the wall for a doorway in this part of the building. It so happens that sketches are preserved in the British Museum of the works that were intended to be executed in 1736, including " the rustic porch," and which in fact were executed with the exception of this porch. A central belfry is re- presented as standing above it. " The two steeples " with the arches intermediate between them and the porch no longer appear. Had the projected demolition of these arches taken place, the original form of our Clerestory would have been entirelv unknown, for the only complete portion of it that remained for cm* guidance in the "> ■ ■' { — I •4 ( .1 ■A 1' t ( /TO fc& .^iJ^-^s ' I'M.- fiitii ".i^^/. A: if -;:., it '/ill d\r^-"W* ■0- ^-li > I— z uJ a UJ a. < z X < < LLAKDAPF CATHEDRAL. 19 reconstruction of that part of the building, was the single bay on the south side of this ruined portion of the Nave. Two of the three sketches are here copied, as illustrative not only of the sufferings we have actually undergone, but also of the still greater perils and indignities which we have escaped. The third, which is not given, represents the portico intended to be placed over the Communion Table. Of these drawings Cole remarks, " Meeting with this draft of the new designed church and altar-piece of the Cathedral of Llandaff in two loose papers, together with the original letter explanatory of them, I will give them a place here .... The letter is not directed, but the matter of it shows it was to Mr. Willis ; in it it is said the length of the Church and Portico together is 150 feet."— Vol. xxviii. pp. 48, 49. Then follows the celebrated letter of the Eev. T. Davies. "Llandaffe, Nov. 23, 1736. " Dear Sir, " I had your letter, and should have answered it sooner, but that I have been most of the time from home. We have earryed on, and covered about two-thirds of the whole Church, which is now well leaded, rooffe and isles, and handsomely seated ; and, according to the new plan, will next spring be carry'd about twenty feet further to the west ; so that if the old Church be shortened it wHl not be more than forty foot, and this new plan wiU be of a more regular and exact proportion than the old Church, which is agreed on all hands to be too lono- for its breadth. The new Church, with the tower and portico at the west end, wiU be 153 foot in length. I send you enclosed a sketch of the south and west prospects, in which you see the five old Gothick windows are left below, and there are five of the Kke sort on the north side that answer these five on the south, two of which are now done, and will, by the time they are glazed, cost at least an 100/. apiece ; which has discoiu-aged the trustees from making any more windows of that sort. At the east end of the south side, beyond the Chapter House, you see two windows of another sort, which are to be framed with wood, and will come vastly cheaper, and look as well as the Gothick. There wiU be also on the north side two windows to correspond with those on the south side, made also with timber. " The Chapter House on the south side is new roofed in a very beautiful manner ; and over the place where the Chapter usually sate to doe business there wiU be a neat room made, which will be of an octangular figure, which they intend in future to use as their Chapter House, and find some other place for the school that was kept there. " The days being now short, we have for the winter season discharged aU the masons and labourers (except such as work by the great in flagging the Church, and the joiners, who are about the choir and altar piece), and early next spring we shall set about finishing, if our money holds out, which I fear it will not, unless further contributions come in. However it is D 2 20 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. proposed that the Church, as far as 'tis now canyed on, is to be finished in all parts, so that early next summer the Church will be glazed, and the choir finished, so as to perform service in it at Peter-tide next. " On the back of one of the draughts you have a sketch of the altar, which my Lord Bishop does not like, because it projects above ten foot, and is like a tabernacle ; he would have the columns close to the wall, and not project out as it does. He says he will have it altered at his own expense. " The Church on the inside, as far as 'tis cieled and plaistered, which is something beyond the west end of the choir, looks exceeding fine, and is a very stately and beautiful room. The ceiling is done groyn or hip ways, with a large rose in the centre where the groyns meet. There are under the upper windows a large bold cornice with modelions, and between the choire and the chancel there is a large arch (which divides the choire and chancel) enriched with fine fretwork underneath in stucko. " The area of the whole Chiu'ch is to be considerably raised : there wiU. be two steps to go out of the nave into the choire, three steps out of the choire into the chancel, and five steps to ascend to the communion table. Between the choire and chancel there will be large banisters, and about the communion table handsome rails, with a neat iron door in the middle : soe that when it is finished, it will (in the judgment of most peoijle who have seen the plan) be a very neat and elegant Church, unless the altar piece (which looks like a large portico) spoils the view of it. " Last Friday as our sexton was tolling the first time for evening prayers our great bell cracked; soe that now we have no whole bell (but a little one). The loss thereof is much lamented by the neighbourhood, because it was a bell of a fine note, and was heard at a great distance. I can't tell what our neighbour Commodore Matthews may do in time, but at present he does not favour our endeavours for repairing this Church, where so many of his ancestors lye buried. Both gentlemen and clergy of this diocese are very cold in the matter, because the small prebends in tliis Chm-ch are all or most of them given to strangers and foreigners who have no true afiection for the place, and in the hands of such this Chuich and its revenues have been for soe many years, that 'twas become an heap of ruins by their neglect, in taking away all the revenues and leaving little for the fabrick ; and we see too much of that ravenous and greedy temper amongst some of the present members, though the children and family of some of their predecessors, now very poor, are standing monuments of what little service the misapplication of the Church revenues were to them ; for 'tis a general observation in this neighbourhood, that the posterity of most of the prebendaries of this Church are in low unhappy circumstances, &c. which is looked on as a judgment for their sacriledge. " And I doubt things will always continue in this state here till we have either a royal or metropolitical visitation to set things to rights, &c. ; for the clergy in these days, especially those of this place, seem to mc to pursue the things of this world with more eagerness and a greater intensiveness than the laity, and will give up nothing that they can keep, though they LL AND AFP CATHEDEAL. 21 know and are satisfied that it belongs and was appropriated to other uses than what 'tis now applied to. Therefore I despair of ever seeing choir service restored here, unless it be by the authority of the superiors. ^ " Dear Sir, " Yoiu- most obedient humble servant, " Thos. Davies." It is sad indeed to read the account given by good Mr. Davies of the apathy of the laity, and above all of the spirit prevalent, as he asserts, among the Cathedral body. With a patriotic feeling, for which he is not to be blamed, he ascribes this evil to the fact of so many of the latter being strangers and foreigners. It is not impossible that such may in some instances have been the case, but from the very large proportion of persons bearing Welsh names, found in the lists of the Dig- nitaries and Prebendaries of the Cathedral which are given in the Cole IVISS. 1 should be much more inclined to impute it to the general irreligion of the times, of which there are too many proofs on record, and from which, it is to be feared, the Principality had not escaped. It was in 1736 that Mr. Davies expressed this indig- nant feeling. In the same year Bishop Butler presented to Queen Caroline a copy of his celebrated work, " The Analogy," &c., in the advertisement to which he says, " It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted by many persons, that Chris- tianity is not so much as a subject of inquiry, but that it is, now at length, dis- covered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if in the present age this were an agreed point among all people of discernment; and nothing remained but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisal, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world." Similar testimonies might very easily be accumulated from many difi'erent quarters. Thanks be to God that we live in altered times, and that a better spirit now prevails among both the lay and clerical members of the Church. The Chapter were now fairly embarked in the effort to reconstruct their Cathedral according to the designs of Mr. Wood. It was however some years before the work was actually accomplished. The orders, in 1738 and 1740 ', " that ' Copied inf. p. 29. 22 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. the new buildings of this Church be closed up with boards, so as to preserve, for some time, such new work from the injury of the weather," show that the funds hitherto collected had not been adequate to complete it. Two j'ears later, in 1742, a similar entry, " Ordered, that ... a plumber inspect the new leads lately laid on this Church, which now leak in several places, and to have the said well repaired before next winter, and to get the deal skreen, erected at the west end of the new huildings of this CMirch^ well closed and tarred;''^ and another, in 1749, to the same eiFect, " Ordered, that, for the better preserving of the deal skreen or partition between the old and new building of this Church, the said skreen or partition be well fastened, secured, and tarred before next winter," afford additional evidence that Mr. AVood's building was yet unfinished. For about seventeen years the Italian temple must have remained with its western end only closed with boards. At last, in 1751, a vigorous effort was made to perfect the undertaking. The Chapter resolved — " That tliey will immediately set about finishing the repairs and building of this Cathedral Church according to the plan given by Mr. Wood, of Bath, if money can he raised to execute the same ; if not, however, to finish it in the best manner they can, and that the Chapter Clerk do write to Mr. "Wood, to desire his attendance here to estimate the expenses, and to give an account what materials will be necessary, and that the said materials be unmediately laid in, in order to enter upon the work as early as may be necessary in the ensuing spring ; that a subscription he immediately opened, and that the members and friends of the Chapter be desired to solicit contributions for carrying on this good work." What further sums were collected, so far as I am aware, is no where recorded. The date of the actual completion of Mr. Wood's design, 1752, as attested by the keystone of the doorway of the central wall, has been before mentioned. In 1756 it was ordered by the Chapter "that part of the old steeple he pulled down." From an engraving of a south-west view of Llandaff Cathedral in 1787, in Grose's Antiquities, it appears that considerably more of the tower was then standing than of late years. In 1792 it was surveyed with a view to its removal. It was not till the present year, 1859, that the fragment shown in the drawing was taken down. Between the years 1752 and 1835 little seems to have been done beyond «/> ,| 1 ^ i ""^i J ■> •'of ,\ 'Vl<. u.:1 / 1 If ^& . i^ i v-^i \ > i '-s^ I ^■■r s > a: UJ o Q uJ a: UJ Q of Queen Sq'." Carpenter J This legend was copied from the wall in 1880, by my late excellent friend, the Rev. R. Prichard, B.D., for many years senior Vicar Choral. The word Blawe is probably a mistake by the English workmen for Teilawe, or it might LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL. 25 have been indistinct and miscopied from the legend itself. Fuller, the Church historian, tells us, that "six hundred years after" the retirement of Dubritius, our first Bishop, to the Island of Bardsey, "viz. May 20, 1120, his bones were trans- lated to Llandaff, and by Urban, Bishop thereof, buried in the Church, towards the north side thereof." Cent. VI. If this tradition be correct, the tomb could not have been that of Dubritius. In the ichnography of Browne Willis his tomb is represented, as stated by Fuller, on the north side, close to the most eastern pillar of the Presbytery. The recumbent figure placed in 1857 in the niche in the north Aisle opposite ihe fourth arch, which had been for some years without a fixed position, is remembered to have lain alongside the tomb of Bishop Marshall, and is supposed to be the one referred to by Browne Willis. Probably it was transferred to that place when the eastern arch of the Presbytery and ancient Eeredos were walled out of sight, and the portico built over the Communion Table. Mr. Wotton speaks of the niche in which the figure now lies, as having no effigy in his time, p. 12. The corresponding figure in the south Aisle lay until 1857 in the same' Aisle in a dwarf wall, now removed, at the back of the stall work, between the second and third pier. The sepulchral niche was transferred with it to its present site. The tomb on the south side of the Presbytery is now generally called, as it was in the time of Browne Willis, Teilo's tomb. Godwin also, after narrating the miraculous triplication of Teilo's body \ and the contention that > The author of the Vita S. Teliavi in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, viz. Qalfridus, alias Stephanus Landavensis, gives us the following account of this nniracle : " la Bocte autem depositionis ejus magna dissentio orta est inter tres Cleros trium Ecclesiarum illius, singulis pra^tendentibus suas auctontates et privUe^ia de habendo corpore. Sed tandem consilio discretoru.n hominum acqmescentes inst.terunt jeiunio et orationibns : ut summns arbiter Christus, qui est vera auctoritas et Sanctorum pnvdegmm, evidente signo innueret, cni illorum Sancti sanctum corpu. dignius esset comnnttendum. Mane autem facto, quidam Senior respiciens ubi erat corpus, clamavit voce magna, dicens, Exaudita est, tratres mei oratio nostra a Domino, qui neminem privat pro merito. Surgite et respicite qu« facta sunt a mediatore Dei et hominnm Christo, ut nostra dissentio sedaretur, et ut in beati Confessons Thehawi vita sic et in ejus mortc fierent miracula. Ecce enim vident ibi tria corpora, quibus par erat quantitas in corpore. idem decor in facie. Quid amplius ? In nullo discrepantia habebant totius compag.ms lineamenta. Sic sedata lite, singuli cum suo corpore remeaverunt ad sua: et diversa m .lbs d.vers,s locis cum summa reverentia sepelierunt. Ad cnjus summi Pontificis tumbam frequent.ssnne ab omnibus snis languoribus curantur infirmi, c^cis iUustrando visum, et surdis largiendo aud.tum. 26 LLANDAPF CATHEDRAL. arose upon the question of its identity, says, " At bene habuit quod miraculis crebris ad tumulum editis, liquido (si Diis placet) constitit, verum corpus Landavenses fuisse adeptos." — "Prsesules," p. 618. In the Cole MSS. the following note of Browne Willis occurs respecting this tomb. " That this was St. Teilaw's tomb appears from several solemn oaths taken upon it, of which I shall give my reader one. " There was great regard paid to St. Teilaw's tomb in the Church of Llaudaff, by the country people, who took their solemn oaths upon it, as I have seen in several instruments in Bishop Elias de Radnor's time and Will, de Bruys, which mention their having sworn, ' super tumbam Sancti Theiliawi et super omnia sacrosancta ejusdera Ecclesise in prsesentia Episcopi et Capituli.' For the satis- faction of the reader, I shall present him with one of them, made inter 1240 et 1242. " Sciant praesentes et futuri quod nos lorward .... remisimus Domui de Margam terram de Bridlington, et sciendum quod nos juravimus super tumbam Sancti Thelawi et super sacrosancta Evangelia Ecclesise de Landav : in prsesentia Dom. Episcopi et Capituli Landavensis Christianitatem nostram in Plevinam in manu eorundem posuimus, quod nos haec fideliter et sine dolo in perpetuum obser- vabimus, &c. . . . ot ut haec rata et illibata in pei*petuum permaneant, ad petitionem nostram sigillum Episcopi et Capituli una cum sigiUis nostris fecimus apponi." — pp. 14, 15. The diaper work within the canopy over the tomb was executed as a free gift in 1857, by Edward Henry Clarke, son of Edward Clai'ke, the workman to whose skill, under the superintendence of the architects, we are indebted for the beautiful carving of the Reredos, Sedilia, Pulpit, &c., &c. The son died, Sept. 1, 1858, in his eighteenth year, and I gratefully record this contribution on the part of a young working man to the restoration of the Cathedral. A tomb in the north side Aisle is said to be that of Bishop Brumfield, from whose will Cole gives the following extract, " Inprimis lego animam meam Deo ej usque gloriosse Virgini Mariae et omnibus Sanctis, corpusque meum sepeliendum in Ecclia. Cath. Landavensi, vol. xxvii. p. 55." He died in 1393. The figure, P].8. "fcicenL Brooks , lith INTERIOR OF THE PRESBYTERY OF LLANDAFF CATHEDRM.IN 1828. COPIED FROM A SKETCH. BY THE REV CALVERT JONES LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 27 over the ciBgy, of a body emerging from a tomb, seems intended as a symbol of the resurrection, and is, I think, uncommon. Allusion has been made to the recommendation of Bishop Blethin, to diminish the staff of the Cathedral, as probably having led to the ultimate suppression of the choir and choral service. Of the cantores and organist frequent mention is made in the Act Books; as for instance, a.d. 1604, 1C08, 1629, &c., &c. Thus in 1630, twenty nobles apiece are ordered to be paid to six singing men, and five marks a year to four boys as queresters. In the records of the Episcopal Visitations of the Chapter, the names of the members of the choir are i-egularly inserted. At last in 1601 in the time of Bishop Beau, of whom Cole, referring to A. Wood, tells us that he " was made Bishop by the endeavours of the infamous Earl of Rochester V' appears the fatal resolution, " The Archdeacon and Chapter, considering the small revenues of this Church, and the irregular management of the quire thereof by the sino-ing men and singing boys, voted the quire singing to be put down and discon- tinued." The schoolmaster was appointed to give out the singing psalms, and £4 a year allowed him for so doing. Under the same management I found the Cathedral singing on my admission to the Bishopric in 1849. The Precentorship, which^ under the recent Acts of Parliament^ regulating the Cathedral Establishments, has become an unpaid dignity and consequently a sinecure, had here, as elsewhere, in former days its appropriate and statutable duties. "Prsecentor Ecclesise Landavensis Vicarios Chorales et Annuellarios et ' MSS. Vol. Xiviii. p. 27. In tbe Lambeth Library there is a very curious letter in MS. of this prelate. Speaking of the preferment at his disposal he says in reference to Dr. Jones, Bishop of St. Asaph, that if he had been made Bishop of Llandaff instead of St. Asaph, " however simoniacal his disposition had been, he would never have had an occasion given him to make it appear, for I have but three livings in my gift, whereof two are so lean and ill-favoured, that should they be sent to the fair, no chapman would be found to bid for them ; and I have no Deanery to give or sell ; and as for Prebends, such as usually fall in my gift, they are such, as he that should give five pounds for any one of them would bid three too much." With respect to the income of the See, he says that the gross value of his Bishoprick was 230Z. per annum, and after the deductions made, " I found my little Bishoprick's revenues wholly swallowed up, nothing more appearing of them than would defray the charges of the quantity of vinegar, pepper, salt, and fire spent in my house." E 2 28 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. Choristas ut rite sua semper peragant officia ipse vel per suum subpraecentorem omnino curet, et Chorum, ut ad suum spectat officium, semper dirigat." Bishop Blethin's Statutes. With respect to the organ, we have no further information than that given us by Mr. Wotton; viz., that he saw a few pipes and other fragments of one that had been given to the Cathedral by Lady Kemeys of Cefn Mabley after the Restoration of Charles II., lying about in the organ loft, which was over the stalls on the north side of the Choir ". Among the loose papers of Mr. Willis, the antiquarian Cole informs us that he found the original letter of Archbishop Wake relating to a contemplated restoration of the Cathedral Service, of which the following is a copy : — " To tlie worthily esteemed Brown Willis, Esq., at Whaddon Hall, near Fcnnij Sfrad/ord in Bucks. " Hon. Sir, Nov. 2, 1721. " I had the favour of yours last night, with the cuts of St. David's enclosed, for which I return j'ou many thanks. I hope we shall now, without dispute, begin the repair of the Cathedral of Llandaff next spring. I presented the Dean and Chapter's petition to His Maiesty, from whom they will receive the Royal bounty of £1000. I am now endeavouring to put them in the way of begging £500 of the Prince of Wales, and then I think I have done ; the rest must be raised among themselves and their friends. " As soon as I can see the Church repaired, I ^viU (if I live) look out for some sinecures, or other benefices, to be settled on the service of the choir and repair of the Church. If I can find any proper for such a purpose, I do not doubt but I shall obtain an Act of Parliament to settle them ; and then I wiU take care to have the Cathedral Service duly supplied, and some order or statutes made for the residence of some of the Capitular body there. But this is too remote to be considered at present, nor have I let them know I even intend it. You must, therefore, be careful not to take any notice that any such thing has been hinted to you or is thought of by, " Hon. Sir, " Your Assured Friend, " W. CANT.' " Nearly 140 years have passed away since these kind wishes were expressed in behalf of LlandafiP Cathedral, and it is still without an organ or choral service. The restoration of the structure will, it is hoped, provoke the zeal of the friends of ' Browne WiUis, p. 21. ' Cole MSS. Vol. xxviii. p. 47. LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 29 the Church, and lead them to supply the former, for which the Chapter have no resources whatever at then- own command. Should that he the case, by the falling in of certain leases which they have abstained from renewing, they may ere long be enabled, out of their own improved revenues, to make some provision for the latter. The first impulse to the recent restoration was given by the Rev. Henry Douglas, Precentor of the Cathedral, who in two successive years, 1835, 1836, placed his dividend at the disposal of the Chapter. This generous benefaction they appropriated to the Fabric Fund in 1839, expending £400, and in 1841 £200 more, partly, it is true, in new ceiling and covering the Italian Temple, the removal of which had not then been contemplated, but the remainder in refitting the beautiful Lady Chapel of Bishop de Breos or Bruys"; which, like the rest of the structure, had grievously suffered from the well-meant, but injudicious, treatment of the last century. The decree for its mutilation in one important particular stands on record. In 1740 it was — " Ordered, that ... the windows of the Lady's Chapel, now in a tottering and ruinous condition, be with all convenient speed repaired; the great window at the east end thereof to be taken down, a lesser window-frame of good weU-seasoned oak timber put up in the room thereof, a good stone arch made above such window, and the vacant places both above and on the side thereof well walled up ; that the freestone jambs of the other six windows in the said Chapel be weU repaired, aU those windows new glazed, and that the deal board partition in the Nave of the Chui-ch, put up as a fence to the new work, be new tarred and otherwise secured in the best manner against the injui-ies of the weather before next winter." The engraving in Winkle's Cathedrals, taken before the restoration was com- menced, from which I have been kindly permitted to take a sketch, exhibits the erection of Mr. Wood in its perfect state, the eastern window of the Chapel being represented in the deformed condition which is here described. The present ' In the old Act Books this is invariably called the Lady's Chapel ; the first use of the modern designation, the Welsh Chapel, which I have observed is in a minute of the Chapter, July 1, 1799. Bishop Godwin also always speaks of it as Capella B. Marii». In the Cole MSS., Vol. xxvii. p. 37, I find mention of a chapel called St. Dubritius's Chapel. " Will of John ap levan, Treasurer of Llandaft", dated Nov. 1, 1541, to be buried in St. Dubritius's Chapel, Llandaff Cathedral." What this refers to I do not know. No part of the Cathedral is now called by that name. 30 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. beautiful five-light Early Geometrical window, designed by John Prichard, Esq., after the type of the windows in the Chapter House at York, was introduced in 1844, and was the first step in the right direction. From that day to this the work has been going on, its progress being necessarily slow from the smallness of the fund with which the Dean and Chapter have had to deal. Their principle has been, wherever it was possible, really to restore ; and whatever should be under- taken, to do it well. The internal arrangement does indeed form an exception to the rule of exact restoration, for the circumstance of the Cathedral being also the Parish Church has compelled them, under the altered condition of the Parish, to vary from the original model, for the purpose of adapting it to the exigencies of parochial worship. The Ritual Choir for instance, terminated by a screen, ex- tended in former days to the second pillar west of the great Presbytery arch, so as to include the Presbytery, and the two eastern arches of the Xave. The screen, according to Mr. Wotton, crossed the side Aisles, reaching from wall to wall, with doorways, as shown in the ichnography. In the modern building it did not cross the Aisles, but in 1857, when the plaster was scraped fi-om the north and south walls, the holes in which the woodwork of the screen had been formerly inserted, were laid bare. The space between the column to which the Pulpit is now attached and the one then terminating the Choir, and the corresponding space on the other side, were filled with low masonry at the back of the stall work. The Pulpit had originally stood against the fourth pillar on the south side to the west of the Presbytery arch. This is said to have been taken down in the great rebellion '. The ichnography speaks of a pulpit called the portable pulpit, standing. near the Presbytery arch. This was the position of the pulpit in Mr. Wood's building, and till 1852. The Rood loft, before the Reformation, is said to have occupied the arch on the south side next to the Choir : and the Font to have been placed bv the south pillar nearest to the Tower. With these and a few other exceptions, in most cases rendered necessary by the change of circumstances, the main features of the building have been recon- ' See the Act Book, 1594, and Mr. 'Wotton's description, p. 7. I— I 3 s pq ^ -A o CO Q CO I o -a: cn Q lu X I— o LLANDAPF CATHEDEAL. 31 structed according to the former type. At the time of the re-opening, in 1857, the Lady Chapel had been beautifully restored ; the fine Norman arch with its bold and remarkable mouldings, which had been entirely blocked up, and concealed by a thick wall of solid masonry, exposed to view and reset ; the three arches in the Presbytery, two on the north and one on the south side, opening into the side Aisles, " disencumbered from the modern walls by which they had been filled, and again disclosing their gracefully-clustered shafts, capitals, and mouldings';" the Presbytery above the arcade, the noble arch and columns separating it from the Nave, the Clerestory and roof, within the covered part, entirely rebuilt ; the floor, which had been raised about two feet \ lowered to its former level, thereby giving to the columns their proper elevation; and new plinths supplied to the mutilated pillars, which had also been substantially underpinned. The stability of the building had been further secured by the erection of five buttresses, since increased to ten, viz., six on the north, and four on the south side, resting on solid founda- tions without, and forming arches within, supporting the walls of the Nave. These buttresses have the additional advantage of relieving the hitherto uninterrupted length of the exterior, and the arches will be in keeping with the timber roofs of the Aisles when restored. Sedilia had been restored to their original position in the Presbytery arch \ The decorated Reredos, — a memento of past ages, which for a hundred years had been concealed behind a wall of plaster or solid masonry, fronted with a Palladian portico', under which the Communion-table had been placed — being thought to be beyond restoration, had been transferred to the north side Aisle for the purpose of preservation, and had been replaced by one, consisting of three pediments with richly carved mouldings, crockets, and finials. This had been made smaller than the former one, with the view of restoring the jambs of the * See Dean Conybeare's Circular, 1846. ' See Mr. Davies's letter, supra, p. 20, " The area," &c. * These Sedilia consist of four seats, which is rather unusual. But there were sufficient indica- tions of such having been the original arrangement, to serve as a guide to the architects in their restoration. ' This portico was taken down in 1830. 32 LLAXDAFF CATHEDRAL. fine old Korman arch under which it is placed, which were preriouslv destroyed. The floor of the Xave and a considerable portion of the side Aisles had been laid with encaustic tiles ; a beautiful stone Pulpit, in character with the architecture of the Xave, the work of the early part of the thirteenth century, and having its panels elaborately carved with figures representing ISloses, David, John the Baptist, and St. Paul'', had been erected; the dwarf walls between the second and third columns on each side of the Xave had been removed ; a heating apparatus carried through the building; and oaken seats provided for the accommodation of a large parochial congregation. The great expense entailed by the removal of the hideous work of the last century, and the provision that had to be made for parochial accommodation, had necessarily prevented the Chapter from accomplishing more with the limited means that had been committed to their management. The two Ambries in the north side Aisle, the two in the south side Aisle, with the intervening sepulchral niche {if it be a sepulchral niche, for when it was opened it contained some fragments of broken glass as well as bones, and appears from grooves in the stonework to have been glazed. It may therefore have been a Reliquary. See Glossary of Architecture, voc. P.eliquary.) and the Aspersoriuni, were not discovered tiU !March, 1857, when the coating of plaster was removed bv which for more than a century they had been hidden from view. The south door, which had been blocked up, was opened at the same time. It was at a ]Meeting assembled on October 3rd, 1843, for the purpose of pre- senting a testimonial of affection and esteem to the Rev. William Bruce Kniofbt. M.A., at that time Chancellor of the Diocese, and subsequently Dean of the Cathedral — the first Dean after the revival of the office — that the noble spirit was first evoked which has led to these most gratifying and satisfactory results. For the manner in which that feeling displayed itself on the occasion alluded to, we cannot do better than refer to the proceedings of the Meeting as detailed by the Chancellor himself, in a circular which he almost immediatelv addressed " to the Reverend the Cler^v of the Diocese of Llandaff." o. • The figures were modelled bv Mr. Woolner. LLANDA.FF CATHEDEAL. 33 "There were circumstances," he observes, "connected with that Meeting, which I cannot permit to pass away without some further notice. I refer at once to the observations which were made, and the spirit which they elicited, in respect to the restoration of our ancient Cathedral Chui-ch. "The earliest demonstration of this feeHng was exhibited by the Right Hon. John NichoU, M.P. for Cardiff, in a speech which conveyed his acknowledgments for the enthusiastic warmth with which his health had been received. The right hon. gentleman said, he could not help here adverting, as not irrelevant to the business of the evening, to the dilapidated state of their Cathedral. He hoped that the Counties of Glamorgan and Monmouth would unite to restore it to its pristine beauty, and wipe off the reproach which its present ruinous and decayed state attached to them. Even now, in its present dismantled condition, it pre- sented a scene of touching interest ; and he hoped it would never be said by their children, that they were indifferent to the imposing beauty of such a venerable fabric, and that they were now unwilling, by seasonable contributions, to stay the ravages of time. He did not for a moment permit himself to fear that such would be the case. The work of renovation would, indeed, be a labour of love ; and he would hope that the Clergy and Laity would come forward, and by a timely and generous contribution, restore the sacred edifice. " At no long interval another respected individual arose to address the party, from whom a speech had been wholly unexpected. Those, however, who watched the reverend gentleman could not fail to observe that strong emotions were working in his heart. He had been musing on the opportimity now afforded, and though of retired habits, he could no longer be silent The fire kindled, and at last he spake with his tongue. The words of the Rev. George Thomas must still be fresh in your remembrance, marked as they were by simplicity, strmgth, generosity, and zeal. Holding no preferment in the Church, but deeply sensitive to eve^ thine that concerns its interests and welfare, he suggested a general contribution among the Beneficed Clergy towards the restoration of our venerable fabric ; and having already subscribed largely towards the renovation of the Welsh Chapel, which is now weU-nigh accomplished, he offered 100/. more, in case his proposition should meet with encouragement. " His proposition did meet with encouragement. It was hailed with pious acclamation by the whole company. Our beloved Bishop, in responding to the toast which had been given- The Chapter of Llandaff-said, Considering what yet remained to be done m the way of architectural repair, it might be said that the stones of the waUs would cry out, and be answered by the beams out of the timber, if nothing further were effected. What had been suggested accorded with his o^vn opinion. Without additional means they could not prosecute the work of needful repair and embellishment. It was incumbent, he thought, m the prose- cution of such repairs, that there shoidd be nothing incongruous in the details ; and that what should be done, should harmonize with the improvements already effected, and thus, if possible, restore it to the beauty it once possessed." 34 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. To those who were acquainted with the eloquent and excellent writer of this circular, which was not my own privilege, it is needless to say, that with his usual zeal and energy he at once addressed himself to the task proposed. But though he was permitted, like the pious King of Israel, to busy himself in the collection of the silver and the gold, the privilege was not given him of actually superintending the restorations. In an Address prepared by him a short time before, but not printed till after, his death, he says — "Browne Willis, in his Prefatory Epistle to his 'Survey of the Cathedral Church of Llandaff,' writing in 1715, describes it as ' having fallen into a most deplorable decay within these few years,' and thus touchingly expresses his reasons for undertaking the work— ' 'WTierefore it was that after a sad contemplation lest so glorious a structure as this Church, honoured by being the ancientest Bishop's See in the kingdom (as we have e\-ident authority to show), raised, enriched, and beautified by the piety of so many noble founders, should be utterly destroyed ; that I forthwith, &c.' " It is to prevent the accomplishment of this anticipated evil, to stay and to repair the ravages of time, that I now appeal witli confidence to public generosity, to individual taste, and, above all, to national piety." In 1845, Mr. Bruce Knight bequeathed the execution of the work which he had contemplated, to his learned and excellent successor, the late Very Reverend W. B. Conybeare, M.A., who most cordially entered into his labours, and whose occupation of the Deanery was distinguished by the successful prosecution of the various improvements to which I have referred. From the circulars, addressed by him to the Nobility, Gentry, and Clergy connected with the Diocese, in the years 184G, 1851, 1852, 1854, I have recited several particulars respecting the gradual progress of the work. The cost of the restoration, from the commencement of the work by Dean Bruce Knight up to the celebration in 1857, had, so far as I have been able to ascertain it, been as follows : — £ s. d. Lady Chapel I34Q q Presbytery jggg q q Choir and Nave 2300 Seats, and wooden floors ......... 552 o IT) 03 Q to I h- r) o to a ui X < a LLANDAPF CATHEDEAL. 35 Pulpit, Sedilia, and Reredos Lowering floor to original level, and Encaustic tile floors . Buttresses . . • ■ Heating apparatus and cliimney Minor restorations Simdries . . • • Architect's commission Total sinking vaults £ s. d. 728 3 1 78 17 6 378 300 364 7 3 419 12 3 111 6 9 420 7 4 £8827 14 2 To meet this expenditure, the following sums had been contributed :— £ s. d. The Corporate funds of the Chapter 8^4180 The late and present Bishop and Members of the Chapter individually 2348 Other Contributions from the NobHity, Gentry, and Clergy, about . 5180 Total £8402 18 The two beautiful painted windows above the Norman arch of the Presbytery were presented by J. H. Markl.^, Esq, of Bath, a well-known friend of the Church, and zealous promoter of its interests. In a grant of an advowson to the Chapter of Llandaff quoted by Browne Willis, it is stated that the Cathedral was built in honour of St. Peter and St. Paul, who are represented with our Lord in the lower window. According to Tanner, Notitia Monastica, and Dugdale, Vol. VI. P. iii. p. 1217, the present fabric is said to have been dedicated to St. Peter, St. Dubritius, St. Teileiaw, and St. Oudoceus. In the foregoing pages I have put together such particulars as I have been able to collect respecting the gradual decay of our Cathedral; the catastrophe of the last century, which involved the western portion of the Nave in a condition of apparently hopeless ruin ; the unhappy transformation which the eastern portion shortly after underwent in accordance with the barbarous taste of the age ; and the successful efforts which had been made, under the superintendence of Deans Knight and Conybeare, to restore at least this eastern part to its original character F 2 36 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. and beauty. Much indeed remained in 1857, (as much still remains,) to be done, before even this portion of the Cathedral would be placed in the condition which, as the mother Church of the Diocese, it ought to assume. The encaustic tiling had yet, and still has, to be carried to the eastern end of the side Aisles ; the roof of these Aisles and of the Chapter house to be reconstructed ; the mural monuments to be restored; the Throne and Stall-work to be provided; the parapet of the Lady Chapel to be carried round the building; and several other matters of inferior importance to be executed. Notwithstanding however these deficiencies, and indeed in the hope of being enabled in some measure to provide for them, the Dean and Chapter were of opinion that the time had at last arrived for the resumption of Divine Service in the Choir and Nave of the Cathedral. The 16th of April was accordingly chosen for the solemn celebration. The Service was attended by an overflowing con- gregation, consisting of the entire body of the Clergy of the Diocese, and the Gentry, and Laity of all ranks. The Dean and Chapter of Gloucester obligingly lent their Choir for the occasion— the first on which choral music had re- sounded within the walls of the time-honoured structure since the year 1691— and after a most eloquent and appropriate discourse by the Lord Bishop of Oxford upon the words, " For we were bondmen: yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy to us in the sight of the Kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem \" about 400 persons partook of the Lord's Supper, the Offertorv collection amounting to £620 10*. 9d. At the conclusion of Divine Service a large party was entertained by the Bishop, and the Dean and Chapter, in the field in front of Bishop's Court. The Archdeacon of Llandaff"' having occasion to reply to a toast, begged permission before he sat down, to "make a few observations upon the great event which had caUed them together, every thing connected with which had been most gratifvin.. ' Ezra ix. 9. This sermon has since been published. Oxford, and 377, Strand, London. 1857. ' The Yen. T. "Williams, M.A., the present Dean. LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 37 They had had," he ohserved, "a large attendance of the Clergy of the diocese ; they had never perhaps assembled in so large a number; they had gone to the House of God together, and heard that which cheered them ; they had had the attendance of a numerous party of the Laity, who were as deeply interested in the Church of God, and in its preservation, as themselves. They had had a large and liberal collection, and should perhaps be contented with the result; but he, for one, was not, and never should be, whilst he saw that ruin standing as it now did. One friend of his had remarked upon the beauty of the ruin, and seemed almost to fear that they would touch it with unhallowed hands; but when he had seen what they had done, he admitted his error. They had most of them sons, but he for one was not willing to leave the completion of the restoration to posterity. He was told that £10,000 would now do all that was wanted; that might seem a large sum, but the whole of it would not be large to many in this wealthy Diocese; they did not look to one individual to accomplish the work. He looked at it in another way. Were there not one hundred men in the Diocese who would readily give £100 each during the next five years for the accomplishment of the work ? Although he might say he had many claims upon him, yet if one hundred men could be found willing so to subscribe, he himself would make one of that number. He was sure, an this wealthy Diocese, they would never let it be said, that there were not one hundred men who would give £100 each for the restoration of that Cathedral. He hked to brin. things to a point, and to speak practically; he recollected when money was wanting for the erection of the Tabernacle, there was more brought than was required; he, therefore, trusted that there would be found many who would come forward and join in this great work, and some amongst them might live to see the whole of that edifice restored, and the praises of God again resounding withn. its walls. He had trespassed much upon their time; but he trusted God's blessing would rest upon the work." The proposal of the Archdeacon was enthusiastically received. John Bruce Pryce Esq. brother to the late Dean Bruce Knight, with characteristic generosity led the way, by promising £500, and was immediately followed by the late J W Booker Blakemore, Esq. M.P. nobly contributing the same sum. Before 38 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL, many minutes had elapsed, the subscriptions amounted to no less than i'2 following friends who were present, giving their names upon the spot : — £ s. d. J. "W. Booker Blakemore, Esq., M.P. 500 J. Bruce Pryce, Esq 500 G. Clark, Esq., Dowlais 125 The Dowager Countess Dunraven . 100 The Lord Bishop of Oxford . . . 100 The Lord Bishop of Llandaflf . . . 100 Mrs. Ollivant 50 Sir J. Harding, the Queen's Advocate 100 Hussey Vivian, Esq., M.P 100 Mrs. Vivian 50 Howel Gwyn, Esq., Dyffryn . . . 100 Mrs. Gwyn 50 J. S. Harford, Esq., Blaise Castle . 100 J. Homfray, Esq., Penlline Castle . 100 S. Bosanquet, Esq., Dingestow Court 100 The Very Eev. the Dean of Llandaff . The Ven. T. "Williams, Archdeacon (now Dean) of Llandaff . . The Ven. W. Crawley, Archdeacon of Monmouth Eev. E. T. Williams, Caldicott . . H. A. Bruce, Esq., M.P Eev. J. Harding, Coyty Eev. Eoper Tyler, Llantrithyd . . Eev. "W. Bruce, St. Nicholas . . . Guaranteed by Eev. J. Galloway Cowan, Incumbent of Archbishop Tenison's Chapel, Loudon . . 775, the £ s. d. 100 100 100 100 50 50 25 25 50 £2775 To this unexpected, but most welcome, contribution large additions were subsequently made; "Her Majesty" was "graciously pleased to approve of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales making a donation of £100." The Most Noble the Marquis of Bute, by his Guardian and Trustees, gave the munificent sum of £1000, and at present the total amount promised for the restoration of the western ruin is no less than £6497 9*. 2d. the following additional subscriptions having being added to the list : — £ s. d. The Baroness Windsor 100 The Earl of Abergavenny .... 50 The Earl of Powis 50 Lord Dynevor 100 The Lord Bishop of St. David's . . 100 The Lord Bishop of Winchester . . 50 A Portion of the Estate of the Very Eev. W. B. Knight, Dean of Llandaff, given to the Fund as a Tribute of Eespect to his Memory by a Eelative 200 £ s. d. Lord James Stuart, M.P 50 The Lord Lieutenant for Glamorgan- shire 200 The Lord Lieutenant for Monmouth- shire 100 Mrs. Hanbury Leigh 50 Octavius Morgan, Esq., M.P. . . . 100 Sir Thomas Phillips 100 The Principal and Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford 100 E. P. Eicbards, Esq., Cardiff . . . 100 PLll. Tram. a. Drawing ly E . A , Olli',' mcent Brooks, T.ilii INTERIOR OF THE PRESBYTERY OF LLANDAFF CATHEDRAL, ftS RESTORED IN 1859 . LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 39 £ s. d. T. Goddard, Esq., St. Pagan's, to col- lect in five years 100 Eev. J. C. Campbell, subsequently Archdeacon of Llandaff", and now Lord Bisbop of Bangor . Eight Hon. Sir B. Hall, Bart., M.P now Lord Llanover . . Sir Joseph Bailey, Bart., M.P. Eev. Precentor Stacey . . E. David, Esq., Fairwater . W. P. Herrick, Esq. . . . Eowland Fothergill, Esq., Hensol Castle Eev. W. C. Eisley . . . E. 0. Jones, Esq., Fonmon Castle E. WUliams, Esq., Dyffryn Frwd Eev. Chancellor Morgan . . Eev. F. Edwardes, GUeston Manor Thomas Thomas, Esq., Pencerrig Eev. P. C. Steel, Llanvetherine William Armitage, Esq., Farnley Hall Leeds Eev. E. C. Knight, St. Bride's Eev. Canon Jenkins (to collect) F. Wood, Esq E. Coxe, Esq Thomas Powell, Esq., Gaer Eev. J. L. Dighton, Diiton Hon. W. Eoduey .... Eev. Canon Price .... W. Gilbertson, Esq., Cwmavon Sir C. Salisbury, Bart. . . Eev. T. Williams, Marcross Hon. and Eev. H. Eodney . 100 50 50 50 50 50 50 35 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 21 20 20 20 20 20 15 15 10 New Eev. F.Pigott, Llanvapley . Eev. Vaughan Hughes, Wyelands Eev. J. Morgan, St. Andrew's The Eev. The Vice Chancellor, College, Oxford . . . Col. Turberville, Ewenny . J. C. Fowler, Esq. . . . Fenton Hort, Esq., Hardvrick Eev. Canon Morgan . . . Miss Salisbury Miss E. Salisbury .... Mrs. Tireman Eev. A. Jenner, Wenvoe . Miss OUivant Miss F. Ollivant .... Eev. W. H. Beevor, Cowbridgi Mrs. Gwyn, Neath . . . Mrs. Woods, Cardiff Arms . Eev. H. P. Edwardes, Caerleon Thank-offermg from friend on appoint ment of the Dean . . A. Buchan, Esq E. Hall, Esq Eev. W. David, St. Pagan's Eev. F. Taynton, Tstradowen Eev. T. Morgan, Llandilo Pertholey M. Moggridge, Esq., Swansea . Eev. L. A. Nicholl, St. Bride's Eev. T. Williams, Abergavenny Small sums £ s. d. 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 36 4 3 £6497 9 3 Durintr the same interval £85. ll^., including £50 from the Hon. Robert Clive, M.P., have been received, to be specially appropriated towards the internal fittings, for which a considerable sum is still required. The Sedilia have been beautifully carved, and orders have been given for the execution of the Bishop's 40 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. throne. But the attention of the Dean and (I!hapter has been mainly directed to the recovery of the western portion of the Cathedral, which had so long been roofless and almost beyond hope. The immediate result of the contributions on the 16th April was, that directions were given to INIessrs. Prichard and Seddon to consider and report upon the proper method and order of proceeding ; and with their advice, contracts were entered into for the following objects : — 1st. For the repair of the Arcade. 2nd. For the re- construction of the Clerestory. 3rd. For rebuilding the walls of the side Aisles, and for inserting therein the windows, and constructing the necessary butti-esses. 4th. For rebuilding a portion of the Southern Tower. 5th. For the timber work of the roof of the Nave ; the several estimates being as follows : — Repair of Arcade Reconstruction of Clerestory Side Aisles, &c. Portion of Southern Tower Timber work of roof of Nave £700 950 465 425 SSI'S £3425 These works will all be completed before the end of the present year. The Columns which had been exposed for more than a century to the elements, have been thoroughly strengthened and repaired ; the Arches which had been broken away from the wall crossing the Nave, have been renewed ; the Clerestory on both sides, with the outer walls of the side Aisles and their windows, has been rebuilt. The western fagade, which was considerably dilapidated, has also been restored, within and without. A South-west Tower of noble conception and majestic pro- portions, which the present Dean and Chapter, unless the means for its completion are placed at their disposal, must leave to posterity to execute, has had its foun- dations deeply laid, (not like those of the ancient Tower, which, with the rest of the building, may be almost said to have had no foundations at all,) and been carried up to the parapet of the side Aisle, and a roof has been carried over the whole of the former ruin. LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. 41 In January, 1859, the mutilated Cross was taken down, which probably for six hundred years had crowned the gable of the beautiful west front. The upper part and left arm of it had been almost entirely destroyed, and every part of it bore witness to the fact of its having been exposed for ages to the fury of the elements. Happily, however, sufficient was left of the centre and right arm to enable the architects to detect the foliage with which it had been a.lorned, and it is believed that the cross by which it has been replaced, is a perfect fac-simile of the original . It remains only to state that, in addition to the internal fittings and other particulars above referred to as not yet accomplished in the Eastern part of the building, the Western portion has yet to he glazed, plastered, floored and warmed, and doors to be provided. When the restoration of the ruin was taken in hand it was calculated that £10,000. would complete the work. The cost of an Organ would probably not be less than £1000. We have seen the readiness with which £6000. were almost immediately subscribed on the joyful solemnity of 1857. Should the original calculation be correct, it is not to be believed that a Diocese, daily growing in wealth and importance, will sufifer the Cathedral to remain in an unfinished state, nor without the first requisite to the restoration of Choral Service. Neither is it to be supposed that the rebuilding — for in fact it amounts to that — of one of our Cathedi-als is a matter, which others besides ourselves will not welcome with feelings of pride and satisfaction. While therefore the Dean and Chapter tender their sincere thanks to all those who have so promptly and so generously lent their aid, they cannot but appeal for wider sympathy and support, as well from those connected with the diocese, as from those who will regard the restoration of their ancient Church as an undertaking of more than local interest. When the S.W. Tower is completed, the interloping wall, which for a century has cut the Nave in two, been removed, an Organ been provided worthy of the noble edifice and of the sacred purpose to which it will be destined, and Choral Service been restored, then indeed will they acknowledge that their work is done. With feelings of devout thankfulness to Almighty God for what He has already permitted them to accomplish, they look forward with confident hope to the future, G 42 LLANDAFF CATHEDEAL. believing that although He dwelleth not in temples made with hands, He will graciously regard for Christ's sake this attempt to do Him honour. "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it '." ' Zech. iv. 7. A. LLANDAFF. Bishop's Couet, Llandaff, July 14, 1859. PI 12 i'Vom a Drawing ^ 'iaa'^l, JJrooKs, l.iLa. U_AN[A'i CAiHEDh;Al.,A5 IT Wl' - .■. : ,' . : •, ;. ; s CQMPL E. I LI) AS PROPOSFD BY MMS5- fi;iv:ilAKri i. .uDDON APPENDIX. I. I AM informed by the Master of St. Cathariae's Hall, Cambridge, the Eev. H. Philpott, D.D., Canon of Norwich, that the MS. Llandaff Eegister,. referred to in the note on p. 2, i. not in the Chapter Library, and that, after a diligent search, no trace can be fonnd of it among the books or documents belonging to the See. II. Bekeeactioks towabbs the Eebtiildi^q the Cathebkax Chubch 0^ Llakdaee, as gitex bx THE Eet. J. Biet, see p. 16. £ s. d. Dr. Clavering, Bishop of Llandaff . 100 Dr. Harris, Bishop of Llandaff . .100 Archdeacon Evans 50 T. Lingen, Preb. of Caire .... 30 Edward Cuthbert, Preb. of War- thacwm 20 G-. Maddocks, Preb. of St. Cross . 32 10 1\ A. Cuthbert, Preb. of St. Nicholas . 15 W. Harris, Preb. of St. Dubritius . 12 E. Parsons, Preb. of Eairwell . ■ 20 W. Evans, Chancellor 20 D. Eobinson, Preb. of Bastchurch . 20 D. Johnson, Precentor 20 M. Warring, Preb. of St. Dubritius. 10 10 M. Allen, Preb. of Caire . . • • 10 10 July 11, 1737. Chapter of St. David's 10 10 March 20, 1738. Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's 50 Dean and Chapter of Exeter ... 26 5 £ s. d. From Dr. Pelling 20 Mr. W. Price, Llandaff . . • ■ 10 10 Archdeacon Beeson 10 10 Dr. Wynn, Chancellor of St. Asaph. 110 Bishop of St. Asaph 5 Dr. Morgan, Canon of Hereford . 4 4 Sir J. Phillips, Eiton 4 12 Mr. Lewis of Sobertou 100 Martin Button, Esq 100 William Button, Esq., Cottrell . • 10 10 Mr. PoweU, Llantilio 10 10 John Curre, The Grange .... 10 IVIr. Hodgson, Stafford .... 10 Sept. 13, 1739. Dan. Gell, Esq., leg. in part of £50 10 E. Jones, Furmness 10 IS T.Lingen,Esq.,Eadbrook,Gloucester 5 5 George Matthews of Thomas Town, Ireland 21 44 APPENDIX. Chaeges on Llandaff Beief. £ s. d. Fiat and Signing the Briefs . . . 38 10 Letters Patent 30 4 4 Printing Briefs 21 7 6 Paid the Teller 2s. Qd. for stamping, £14 5s. in all 14 7 6 Lodging the Certificate .... 068 Porterage to and from the Stampers 4 Carriage to Stafford 1116 Porterage of Letters and Certificate 5 8 Copies of Books 2 2 Clerk of the Brief Office .... 110 Mr. Davies's charges at Sessions, ob- taining the Certificate Mats, 2s. ; Porterage to the Waggon, 2s. Qd Laying the Briefs, 6^. each . . . Do. for London Briefs . . Mr. Wareing and Mr. Davies's Ex- penses, a man and three horses, to examine Mr. Hodgson's Ac- count, at Staftbrd, about tlie Briefs £ 2 8 4 4 6 247 1 6 5 8 19 6 The amounts do not in either case quite agree with the sums stated in the text, p. 16. GILBEliT AND RIVINCTON, PKI^TERS, ST. JOHN S SQUARE, LONDON. 3067c) THE GETTY CCMTER LIBRARY