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SOUTHWELL MINSTER.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE

Ci^IUji^t^ mi 4j ^i\d^l 4j\mtii

SOUTHWELL,
ARCHITECTURAL, ARCHEO LOGICAL, AND HISTORICAL,
BY
GREVILE MAIRIS LIVETT, B.A.,
s. John's coll. oamb.
Assistant- Master at Spondon House School, near Derby.

SOUTHWELL;
JOHN -WHITTINGHAM, QUEEN STREET.
1883.
All rights reserved.

P E B F A 0 E.

No apology need be oifered for tbe appearance of this little
work at a time when Southwell is in the minds of all who
have the welfare of our Church at heart. It has occupied the
leisure of the writer for some months, and he only regrets
that time and distance have combined to prevent his working
out the subject as thoroughly as he wished. Probably it
wotdd not have been undertaken but for the labours in the
same field of Mr. Dimock, the editor of the Magna Vita S.
Hugonis in the series of the Master of the Eolls, and for some
years a Yicar Choral of the Collegiate Church of Southwell.
Mr. Dimock, however, confined his attention to the fabric and
its history, so that for materials for the history of the College
of Secular Canons the writer has had to look elsewhere.
MSS. in the British Museum and the Public Eecord Office
have been consulted with advantage, together with the State
Papers and such books of reference as came to hand. But the
Chartas granted to the Canons by the Archbishops of York,
and the Statutes of Queen Elizabeth, have been the chief
sources of information. They are preserved in a MS. belong
ing to the Church, entitled The Statutes, and printed both in
Dugdale's Monasticon and in the Appendix to Dickenson's
History of the Antiquities of Southwell. The latter work,
which flrst appeared in 1787, is to be read with caution, its
chief value lying in the Appendix. The author was the son
of a Vicar-general of the College, and himself a chorister.
Other local histories, one by Shilton, published in 1818, and
a third by Clarke and Killpack in 1 838, are little more than
abridgments of Mr. Dickenson's work. The Church was
despoiled of all its muriiments and early records during the
troubles of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the only MS. of
any importance that has come down to us besides The Statutes

is the Eegistrum Album or White Book of Soutli-^vell. The
-writer has had no opportunity of consulting this MS., but
it seems to have yielded all its treasures to the industry of
Mr. Dickenson and Mr. Dimock successively. A general history
of our ancient Secular Colleges, which would form an interest
ing work, seems never to have been taken in hand, but many
valuable hints have been gained from Mr. E. A. Freeman's
Lectures on the Cathedral Church of Wells.
Special thanks are due to the Eev. E. F. Smith, not only
for the use of his notes from the later Chapter Records, but
also for his kind explanation of many difficult points, more
especially historical. Also to Mr. Hamilton Browne, for his
valuable help in correcting the proof-sheets of the architectural
description of the fabric. The kindness must be ackno-w-
ledged of Mr. Bloxam and Mr. James Parker for communi
cating information with regard to subjects on which experience
has made them authorities. Throughout the -work full refer
ence is made in the foot-notes to the works of other writers in
cases where their words or opinions are quoted in the text.
Tbe index is by no means a general one, being meant merely
to facilitate reference to the descriptive parts of the hook, and
to direct attention to the more important points in the history
of Southwell and its Canons. The drawings are most of them
taken from photographs ; these, with the plans, have been
reproduced by Mr. Cowell's anastatic printing process. It
only remains to add that, owing to the necessity of hastening
forward the publication of the work, a number of errors have
been allowed to remain- in the text, ovAy the most important of
which have been corrected by the insertion of a list of errata.
Spondon, Derby,
November, 1883.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Chaptee I. — History and Constitution of the Collegiate Church 1
Chaptee II. — History of the Fabric : Dates  51
Chaptee III. — The Norman Church Restored  67
Chaptee TV. — The Fabric : Architectural Description  64
Chaptee "V. — Effigies and Sepulchral Slabs— Sculpture— Glazing 118
Chapter VI.— The Palace— The Vicars' Couri^The Collegiate
School  134
Chaptee VII.— South-well : Past and Present  141
Appendix A. — CoUegiata et Parochiahs Ecclesia  153
Appendix B. — Roman Remains at Southwell — The Tesselated
Pavement recently discovered in the Minster . . 154
Appendix C. — Chronological Tables  157
Index  , . igg

js;

pf
t

IS

LIST AND CONTENTS OF PLATES.

PLATS I.
Plan I. — Historical Ground-plan of Church.
Navje and Teansepts  1110.. ?
Choie  ..1230. .1260
NOETH Teansept Chapel  c. 1260
Cloisteb to Chaptee-ho-use  1270 . . 1285 . .
Chaptee-hotjse and Vestibitle  1285 . . 1300 . .
Oeoan-soeeen  1335 . . 1340 . ,
2f.B. — The dates are given in round numbers. The following
will explain the me of the dots ; the Choir was in building
between the years 1230 and 1250; it may have been begun
before 1230, but 1250 is the latest date that can be assigned
for its completion.
Plan II. — Ground-plan of Norman Church (restored).
Plan III. — Ground-plan and Elevation of remains of Apse at East
end of North Choir-aisle in Norman Church.
noejian woee. latek woek.
a. Ashlar walling. g. Doorway to Chapter-house.
b. Quoin. h. Early Eng. doorway and steps.
I.. Rough-stone foundation. ». Early English piers.
d. Rubble.
e. Plinth.
f. Old paving.
PLATE II.
Circular 'Window in Clerestory, Nave  seep, ^i
Ancient Tympanum in North Transept  „ 125
'Windo-w Tra^iery removed from South-west Tower  ,, 67

PLATE III.
1. Norman Chimney, North Porch  see p. %l 78
71

2. Parapet, Chapter-house 
3. Norman Pinnacle, Lantern Tower
4. 5. ( Norman fragments worked up in foundations of

south wall of Nave .

7.
8 \
g' I Incised Sepulchral Slabs  ; . .
J J ' \ Fragments of ditto, found during repairs 
1 2. Capital, North Porch, -with Zigzag String-course form
ing Abacus 
13. Tau-CTOss, North Porch 

52
118 118 80
124
129
120

14. SS Collar, in inserted Perpendicular Doorway, South
Aisle of Choir 
15. EfEgy of Abp. Sandys, North Transept 
PL.ATE IV.
Canopy of Stall, Chapter-house  see p. 107
Choir, she-wing Vaulting-shafts, and the- combination of
Triforium and Clerestory into one stage  91

ERRATA.

1*, for E. H. Freeman read E. A. Freeman.
2, line 1, for 1545 read 1547.
21 , line 8, for north read south.
23*, for Roma read Romanus.
28. On chantries see note on p. 127.
32, line 15, for 1541 read 1547.
32t, for Professor "WOlis read Bro-wn "Willis.
36, line 8, for 1579 read 1585.
39, line 11, strike out the date of the Elizabethan Statutes.
49, line 8, for £3,500 read £3,000.
56, Hne 28, for is read are.
101*, for Jleur read flem-s.
124t, for Haines read Cutts.
133, for Idolatris read Idolatras.
140, line 2, for duobos read duobiu.

CHAPTER I.
HISTORY AND CONSTITUTION OF THE COLLEGIATE
CHURCH.

At the outset some explanation of the title — The Collegiate
and Cathedral Church of Southwell — seems necessary. The
history of this church in the past is that of a collegiate church ;
its future history will be that of a cathedral. An Act of
Parliament passed early in the present reign deprived it of
its collegiate character, while another and later act has made
it the mother church of a new diocese, consisting of the coun
ties of Nottingham and Derby, which have hitherto belonged
to the dioceses of Lincoln and Lichfield respectively. Funds
are now being raised to found the bishopric, and until this is
accomplished the church is merely parochial. A church is
called a cathedral, or more properly speaking a cathedral
church, when it contains the throne of a bishop, who takes the
title of his see from the name of the town or city in which it
stands. In fact the word cathedral is an adjective derived
from the Greek and Latin cathedra, which means a seat, and
exists in our language in the form chair.* A coUegiate
church, on the other hand, is one belonging to a college, or
collected body, of priests called secular canons, as opposed to
regular canons, and not necessarily coataining the throne of a
bishop. Before the suppression of these colleges in the reign
of Edward VI., a great number of them existed throughout
the country.! Beverley Minster was a collegiate church, and
St. Stephen's, Westtninster, the present Houses of Parlia
ment, another. The Chapel of S. Mary and S. George at
"Windsor is still collegiate, for it was particularly excepted
* Dr. E. H. Freeman's Wells, where this and similar points are
explained. t See Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum.

from the act of 1545. A few of them -were refounded soon
after the suppression, as in the cases of South-well and Man
chester. Manchester and Eipon, both formerly collegiate,
have in our own times been raised to the dignity of episcopal
sees ; while there are many instances of churches, like Lich
field and York, which from the earliest ages have been both
collegiate and cathedral combined, the double^character saving
them untouched by the act of suppression.
The distinction, too, between secular clergy and regular
clergy must be clearly underetood. Jerome tells us that as
early as the 3rd century after Christ there were in Egypt
Coenobites, or monks -who lived in common. During the
middle ages many orders of monks sprung into existence and
established themselves in our islands, the most famous of which
¦were the Benedictine and Cistercian Orders. The monks were
at first all laymen, and spent their whole lives within the
walls of their monasteries ;* but in time many of them took
holy orders, and going abroad among the people busied them
selves in missionary -work. They still, however, continued
to live strictly according to the regulus or rule of the order
to -which they -were attached, wherefore they have been styled
regular clergy, to distingtiish them from the secular priests,
or parochial clergy, who, acknowledging no rule except the
law of the land, lived amongst the people, and were often
married men. From very early times, however, there seem to
have been communities of secular clergy alse, who banded
themselves together for religious devotion or other purpose.
Athanasiusf evidently referred to such when, writing in the
4th century, he said he ' ' knew of monks who both ate and
drank, and -were the fathers of families ;" but we should
not call such men monks nowadays. Such communities
grew at length into colleges of secular priests, like the one at
Southwell. The priests of a college like Southwell resembled
monks inasmuch as they had a rule of life, they worshipped
in one church, and owned common property ; but they were
unlike monks in that they took no vow like the triple monastic
vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience, nor did they live in
* At the suppression of the monasteries in the reign of Henry
VIII. aU the domestic buildings were destroyed, while the churches
attached to them were in many cases left standing for parochial use •
but enough stiU remains of the former to enable their form and
general arrangement to be recovered. t i^p. ad Dracont.

common, but apart with their families in their own private
houses. Here we may explain the different application of the terms
canon and prebendary. Every member of the collegiate body
was at the same time a canon and a prebendary. As a
member of the chapter he was called a canon, and he was
also a prebendary in that he owned a prtshenda or prebend,
that is to say a separate estate. The canons of the college as
a corporate body formed the chapter, and when they met
together to discuss matters relating to their church or the
affairs of their common property, the meeting was called a
chapter-meeting, and the place where they met the chapter
house. In many instances the canons of secular colleges
possessed only common property at first, and after a time the
custom prevailed of dividing a part of it among the canons
individually, or else it was that benefactors arose who founded
prebends wi-th fresh grants of land without drawing from the
common stock.
It is difScult to fix a date for the foundation of the church
at Southwell. That it held an important position in the
diocese of York before the Norman Conquest is certain, and
the question remains did it exist before the Danish invasion
in the 9th century. I think we shall, on examination, find
it probable that there was a church here long before the 9th
century, though nothing beyond its mere existence is known
of it In all likelihood it was destroyed by the Danes, itself
having been the successor of one built on the same spot during
the Eoman occupation of Britain. Tradition points to S.
Paulinus as the founder of a church here — the founder alike of
York and Lincoln, the friend and companion of S. Augustine,
the great missionary of Northumbria under King Edwin, and
the first Archbishop of York, a.d. 627-633. This tradition
rests upon statements to this effect contained in certain private
histories of the church which are no longer extant. They are
quoted, however, by Camden in his Magna Britannia, which
first appeared in 1586, and were possibly lost during the civil
wars of the following century, when most of the church
records were either destroyed or for safety canied away.*
They tell us how S. Paulinus founded the church at Southwell
when he was baptizing the people of this district in the Trent.
And a careful consideration of the Venerable Bede's account of
* As appears from the RoUs' Court Book,

the missionary work of S. Paulinus gives support to the state
ment. The ecclesiastical historian makes no direct reference
to Southwell, but internal evidence in his acco-rmt of Paulinus'
missionary work, more especiaUy the evidence of the place-
names mentioned, is strong in favour of the view that
Paulinus extended his labours to the close neighbourhood of
Southwell. This being the case, there will be little reason to
doubt the authenticity of the statements of Camden's private
histories. What does Bede say? The gist of his narrative
is as follows: — "Paulinus also preached the word to the
" province of Lindsey, which is the first province on the south
"bank of the Humber, extending to the sea, and converted
"the governor of Lincoln, Blseeca by name, and his house-
"hold. In which city he built a stately stone church, and
" consecrated Honorius bishop. With regard to the faith of
"this province, a certain Priest and Abbot of the monastery
" of Partaneu,* named Deda, a man of singular veracity, told
" me that one of the oldest persons living informed him that
" he himself and a great crowd of people bad been baptized
"at mid-day by Bishop Paulinus, in the presence of King
" Edwin, in the river Trent, near a city called in the English
"tongue Tiovulfingacester." Authorities are divided as to
the identity of this Tiovulfingacester, so that, for the present
at least, we must assume that it is not in the immediate
neighbourhood of Southwell. We notice here that Bede
evidently does not pretend to give a detailed or exhaustive
account of Paulinus' missionary travels ; in fact he does not
seem to have had much information to write upon. But from
this and other passages in the same author we gather that his
travels were very extensive, stretching over a period of some
years probably ; and, because Bede says that he preached to
the people of Lindsey, there is no reason to believe that his
labours were confined to that pro-vince, the precise limits of
-which the historian was probably not acquainted with.
Paulinus worked up the valley of tbe Trent southwards, and
diverging to Lincoln, founded the church there, and converted
Blseoca the governor. A further journey of about thirty
miles along the Trent from its nearest point to Lincoln, and
of only twenty miles direct from that city by the Foss Way,
would bring him to Bleasby and Fiskerton, situate on the
river only three or four miles from Southwell. The name

* A cell of Bardney Abbey : Deda was the firat abbot.

Bleasby is the key to the -ff-hole position. Bede tells us that
King Edwin accompanied Paulinus in this missionary journey,
and no doubt his new convert Blsscca was also of his company.
And the name Bleasby at once suggests a contraction of
Blseccasby.* Possibly this was the very spot where the
governor of Lincoln received the rites of baptism, an event
perpetuated in the name of the settlement there. And when,
on looking again at the map, we find a place called Edwinstow
only a few miles north of Southwell, the position is immensely
strengthened. Stow is a common form of the A. S. stoc, a
stockaded place, and the fitness of the name Edwinstow, or
King Edwin's stockade (with which we may compare Chep
stow, the stockaded market-place ; and Bristol, anciently
Bricgsto-w, the stockaded bridge), is immediately seen when
we remember that this was on the limits of the King's
domain, where he would feel the necessity of protection
against any hostile movement on the part of an unfriendly
population. It is quite possible, therefore, that Paulinus,
accompanied by Edwin and Blsecca, reached that part of the
Trent that flows within four miles of Southwell ; and if so,
it requires no stretch of imagination to believe that he then
founded a church at Southwell. The theory here advanced
may hy itself seem problematic, and we have no wish to hide
its weak points ; but when considered in connection with the
positive statements of the private histories of Southwell to
which Camden had access it becomes even a probable one,
* By is the very common Korse sufiis meaning originally " an
"abode or single farm, and hence it afterwards came to denote a
"village."— Taylor.
Note. — There is one other argimient which I have" already hinted
at, and it is one which the friend -who has Mndly unfolded it
to me, and who has paid a good deal of attention to the question,
considers to have some -weight. It is the much- contested identity
of Bede's Tiovulfingacester. Dr. Stukely places it at Torksey,
the point where the Foss Dyke, -which connects the "W^itham and
the Trent, and forms the S.W. boundary of the pro-vinee of
Lindsey, joins the latter river. In placing it here the topogra
pher is influenced, I believe, by two facts — first that it is the
nearest point on the Trent to Lincoln, and secondly that it is within
the province of Lindsey. I do not beUeve that Bede' s topographical
knowledge was sufficiently accurate to necessitate our placing it
-within Lindsey. Camden, who is blindly followed by Dugdale and
many other writers, identifies it -ndth Southwell. On this, Mr.
Dimock -writes: "The Southwell history said that St. Paulinus
" baptized the people of Nottingham in the Trent, and founded the

I must not omit to notice a curious MS. among the records
•which Mr. Dimock brought to light, entitled "Simposium,
" contayning a dialogue touching the state of the church of
" Southwell." "It -was written," he says, "in the year 1604
"or '5 by a prebendary of the church evidently -well versed
"in its history: most of its statements can be verified from
"other sources of undoubted authority." In this MS. the
following passage occurs : — ' ' If I fetch the antiquity of the
"church no further than that learned godly antiquary Mr.
" Cambden hath done, although it come far short, yet it may
"easily thereby appear, as otherwise, that there -was, many
" hundred years past, a collegiate and parochial church at South-
" well." Besides this passage -we have no written evidence of
the ancient British church which is implied in the -words
"although it come far short." It is certain, however, that
in the foundations of the present structure many fragments of
' ' ch-urch of Southwell : Bede had said that he baptized the people of
' ' Lindsey In the Trent, near Tiovulfingacester. It would surely be
"no safe logic hence to conclude that Tio-vuMngacester and South-
" well are one." Let ns consider the etymon of the name. The
latter part is of course the Roman castra or camp. This leaves
Tiomilfinga, in which the syllable ing is the common Saxon
patronymic. There are more than two thousand place-names in
England bearing this patronymic : there are thirty -five in Notting
hamshire ; in fact Nottingham itself is the home of the Anglo-Saxon
tribe of the Snotingas. Tiovulf then was the founder of the family
of Tio-vulfingas ; and the place where they settled, ha-ving been once
a Roman camp and bearing the name castra, they called Tiovulfinga
cester. But Henry of Huntingdon "writes it "undoubtedly Kngacestre :
by Ms time (12th century) the Tiavul had been dropped. This would
doubtless be pronounced Fincster or Ficster, a contraction which Mr.
Taylor, in his 'Words and Places, has proved to have taken place in all
liames oompormded of castra which occur in Mercian parts of the
kingdom, as in Leicester, Worcester, Cirencester, which is pronounced
Sister or Siseter. Then, as in the cases of Casterton, Chesterton,
when the place became more considerable the atlix ton would be given
it, which would make it pronounced Ficsterton, which, by a natural
interchange of consonants, became Fiskerton. The chief objection
to this derivation, which is quite possible from an etymological point
of -vdew, is the fact that the Domesday Book has FisM»-tune ; and
this, of course, is of earlier date than Henry of Huntingdon. If,
on the other hand, it can be accepted, the theory that Paulinus
founded a church at Southwell, resting on the direct testimony of the
private histories, aud supported by the combined evidence of the
names, Fiskerton, Bleasby, and Edwinstow, is stiU further strength
ened.

Eoman brick have been found, which gives it material support;
and though of course it would be swept away in the Anglo -
Saxon invasion and occupation of this part of the country, its
existence supplies a reason for the choice of the spot by S.
Paulinus whereon to found his church. Of the constitution
of the church of S. Paulinus we know nothing, unless we
may accept the authority of the Simposium again, which
styles it "collegiate and parochial." I do not mean, of course,
that S. Paulinus there and then fixed the number of priests,
formed them into a college, and gave them common property.
This would be assuming an advanced state of church organisa
tion wholly incompatible with the character of his mission.
A study of the Notts, place-names shews that the Anglian
settlements followed the Trent -within a very few miles of the
river ; and the forest-land of the interior must have been left
in the possession of the wild beasts. The church would
be established merely as a missionary centre for the conversion
of the heathen settlers along the Trent valley ; and the spot
chosen just at the bend of the river was a convenient one for
the purpose. One or two priests, perhaps, were left there to
carry on the work of the mission. The number would grow
as the sphere of labour widened, and at some future time they
might obtain propetty and form themselves into a college.
Possibly this is what actually did take place, but no such
colleges seem to have existed much earlier than the middle of
the Sth century.
I have already mentioned the likelihood that any church of
Paulinus' foundation fell before the ruthless invasion of the
Danes in the 9th century; The fierce Northmen entertained
feelings of intense hatred towards the religion which had
supplanted the worship of their deities, Thor and Woden, in
the land which their Anglo-Saxon kinsmen and enemies had
made their own ; and their destroying arm swept away all
traces of Christianity from those parts of the country which
they scoured. The number of place-names which bear the
suffixes thorpe and ly, which denote permanent Danish
settlements occurring, in the neighbourhood of Newark a-nd
Southwell, clearly shew how thoroughly the Danes colonized
the district ; and that the village of Southwell itself offered
special attractions to them we have a lasting witness in the
two hamlets .of East Thorpe and West Thorpe ; while its
streets once bore the historic names of Prest-gate and Potter-

gate, Milne-gate and Ferthingate,* which last has given place
to the meaningless name of King-street. Mr. Freeman dates
the conquest of this part of Mercia about 877. Assuming
then that the church of S. Paulinus was destroyed at this
time, -when and by whom was it refounded ? It is a note
worthy fact that as soon as the fury of their first onslaughts
had spent itself the Danes allowed themselves to be converted
to the religion of the people among -whom they settled. In
illustration of this we may remind our readers that Guthrum,
the first Danish King of East Anglia, embraced Christianity
within three weeks from the peace of Wedmore. The church
then may have been re-established almost immediately, but
the very unsettled state of Mercia from this time certainly
up to Edgar's reign, as well as the little more particular
evidence we have, favours a later date. The close connection
of Wulstan, archbishop of York, with the Danish revolt of
948, leads one to suppose that by this time the Danes were
completely Christianised. -f This brings us close to the date I
venture to propose to for the new foundation — viz. 957 or '8.
The evidence is certainly not overwhelming, but it is such as
seems to me well worth considering. The two points are
these : first, in the certificate of the commissioners, 37 Henry
VIII., extant in the Public Eecord OfS.ce, the foundation is
ascribed, on the evidence of three of the prebendaries of the
church, to "the Bighte famous of memorye Edgare the
Kinge ma'-'^^ moste noble -p'genitor." Secondly, in the Cod.
Dip. ^vi Sax. is preserved an instrument of King Edwy,
dated 958, granting to Oscytel, archbishop of York, the crown
lauds at Suthwell. On the first blush one is inclined to dis
credit the evidence of the three prebendaries, J the argument
at once presenting itself that it is very unlikely that Edgar,
who owed his crown to the action of the Benedictine monks,
would in this single exception follow the policy which in
reality oost his brother Edwy both crown and life. But the
* The Danish gata means a street or road. The names of all the
older streets in Peterborough, Lincoln, York, Leeds, and in fact in
aU the to-wns in Norse parts of England, b'ear this suffix. The A.S.
ffeat means a gate.
t Both Oskytel, Wulstan's successor, and Odo, the Abp. of Can
terbury, were of Danish families.
J One of these, a. Mr. Adams, we shall hear more about : he was
not altogether a bright character.

,^t

objection falls to the ground on a closer examination of dates
and names. The historical position is this —
955. Edwy becomes king, and Edgar reigns as under-king
in Mercia.
956. Dunstan banished by Edwy, whereupon in
957. The Mercians and Northumbrians, at the instigation
of Odo, Abp. of Canterbury, revolt from Edwy's over-
lordship : they proclaim Edgar their independent king,
and Dunstan is summoned home by Edgar to his court.
958. Date of " Instrument of Edwy" making grant to
Oskytel. Odo divorces Edwy and Elgiva. Odo's
death.
969. Edwy dies: Edgar, now 16 years old, becomes King
of all England, and Dunstan succeeds Odo as Abp. of
Canterbury.
Here we notice that Edgar was independent King of Mercia
in 957. His extreme youth, as well as what we know of his
personal character, makes it unlikely that he had become the
avowed champion of the monks at this time — in fact his part
in the systematic war against the secular clergy, which was
in reality played /or him by Dunstan, was not begun until he
became King of all England in 959 — ^and, as the secular
clergy stiU formed a strong party in his realms,* it is easy to
imagine that the young King of Mercia may have acceded to
a wish on the part of his new subjects for the foundation of a
secular college at the fallen church of Southwell, while Dun-
stan's position at his court was not yet sufficiently assured to
warrant him in offering any resistance to his wiU. The grant
of Edwy, shortly afterwards, to Oscytel, himseK it seems a
secular, implies the existence of a church at Southwell in 958.
It is by no means improbable that Edwy was compelled to
make this grant; at any rate the fact that Edgar himself
subscribed the grant is very significant, while the name of
Odo — Odo the Severe, who was more cruel and fanatical in
his opposition to the seculars than even Dunstan himself —
appears confirming the same. On the whole there seems to be
no ground for rejecting the point-blank assertion of the three
prebendaries in the certificate of 37 Henry VIII. that Edgar
founded the Collegiate Church at Southwell.
* In Canon Raine's opinion the Benedictine rule was never firmly
estabhshed here tOl after the conquest. — See Mr. Ormsby's Torh.

10 We gather from notices in the writings of Thomas Stubbs
and Godwin* that there was a church of considerable size and
importance at Southwell shortly before the conquest, while
Thomas Stubbs directly implies the existence at that time of
a collegiate body of canons here, though, as we have seen, we
have reason to believe the college to have been a much older
institution. He tells us that Aldred, archbishop of York
from 1061 to 1069, purchased lands at his own costs, and
-with them formed prebends at Southwell ; and that he also
built refectories wherein the canons might take their meals
together, one at York and another at Southwell, f This action
on the part of Aldred may have been due to the influence of
the stricter discipline of the Benedictine order, which -was
felt more or less by all collegiate bodies about this time,
though it affected -the north of England far less than the
south, and Aldred was the last man to enforce it upon his
canons. In some parts of France the canons of secular col
leges -were subject to all the rules which governed monastic
bodies, and differed from monks only by their right of pos
sessing individual property. This was especially the case in
Lorraine, where Chrodegang, bishop of Metz, had, 'in 747,
drawn up a very strict code of rules for the government of
his college. J This is the earliest known instance, I believe,
of the establishment of a secular college, properly so called.
About the time of the conquest it appears there -were as many
as ten§ prebends at Southwell, but I have not been able to
trace the particulars of their several foundations; though I
believe the information is forthcoming shortly through the
researches of another writer. In the reign of Henry I. the
church of Southwell assumed a prominent position in the
diocese of York. The area of the diocese, originally co-exten
sive with the kingdom of Northumbria, was enormous ; and
the distance of its outlying portions from the mother church
at York, and the difficulties of communication, tended to cut
* Thomas Stubbs, in TwysderC s X Scriptores, biographer of the
Archbishops of Tork. — God-win, De PrcesuUbus.
t The same prelate founded several prebends at Beverley. — Leland's
Collect. — The early history of Beverley is closely allied to that of
Southwell. X D'Achery's SpicHeqium.
§ By the year 1289 this number had become increased to sixteen,
at which it remained fixed. ' A fuU list will be given later on.

.¦a'":

11
off the influence of the archbishop and his chapter from the
parishes lying in them. The county of Nottingham manifestly
laboured under this disadvantage, and to remedy it Southwell
was raised to the dignity of the mother church of this part of
the diocese. This took place in the archiepisoopacy of Thomas
II. , 1109-1114; and at the same time the entire rebuilding
of the fabric of the church on a larger scale was begun. Of
this archbishop, we read* that he got from King Henry I.,
for the prebends of S Mary of Southwell, tbe same liberties
as the prebends of S. Peter of York, S. John of Beverley,
and S. Wilfrid of Eipon already possessed; and, so far as to
him pertained, he granted freedom from all episcopal custom
and exaction in their churches and. estates. In a letter-(- to his
parishioners throughout the county of Notts, he speaks of
how he was releasing them from the annual visitations to the
church of York incumbent upon all his other parishioners,
and was allowing them instead to visit the church of S. Mary
of SuwelJ. This annual visitation was important among the
privileges enjoyed by all mother churches throughout the
kingdom,]: privileges which seem to have been at this time
granted in full to the Collegiate Church at Southwell, as they
had already been granted to the churches of Eipon and
Beverley. From this time these churches, with that of York,
ranked as the four mother churches of the diocese ; and in the
ancient Bidding Prayer, according to the York use,§ the
people were bidden to pray specially for " all the brether and
"sisters of our moder kirke saynt Petyr house of York, saynt
"John house of Beverlay, saynt Wilfride of Eypon, and
"saynt Mary of Suthwell." Again, in the certificate of the
commissioners, 37 Henry VIII., the Collegiate Church of
Suthwell is said to be "reputed and taken as the head mother
"church of the town and countie of Nottingham." Every
year, then, at the Feast of Pentecost, the clergy and laity of
the whole county of Nottuigham|| repaired to the church at
Southwell " with solemn procession, bringing with them the
* Thomas Stubbs. t Registrum Album.
J Thorn, in Twysden's X Scriptores. § Drake's Eboraoum.
II The Mayor and Corporation of Nottingham, -with the Justices of
the Peace, in comparatively recent times kept np the custom of
making the journey on horseback, -with their best livery on. — Shilton's
Mistory of So-athwell.

12
" Pentecostals,* or Whitsun-farthings as they are sometimes
"called, which were duly paid over to the representative of
"the chapter in the north porch." Eeferring to a similar
Pentecostal procession at Canterbury, Thorn says, " the
" clergy and people make a publick and solemn procession,
" with their obla-tions and other devotions, according to the
" custom observed in the mother churches throughout the
"kingdom." Once a year, too, a synod was held at South
well, answering, doubtless, to the diocesan synod held once
and sometimes twice a year by every bishop in his own
dioeese. Almost all the clergy of the diocese, and one spe
cially-elected layman from each parish, used to attend these
synods. They came in solemn procession to the church ; and,
after a service held there and a charge delivered by the bishop,
inquiry was made into the state and condition of the parishes
and complaints heard by him ; and lastly the general affairs
of the diocese were considered, and the bishop delivered his
own diocesan constitutions for confirmation, which henceforth
became law. Possibly the archbishop presided at the annual
synod at Southwell, and in his absence he would be repre
sented by the chapter in the person of one of the canons
resident. It was at the annual synod, probably, that the
chrism or holy oil (anciently used in baptism, confirmation,
orders, and extreme unction), which had been brought from
the church of York, after having been duly consecrated, was
delivered into the hands of the rural deans, to be distributed
by them to the various parishes in the county. The county
was split up into deaneries. To the following list I have
appended the amount paid by each to the chapter of Southwell
as Pentecostal oblations, as given in Thoroton's and Dicken
son's histories —

* The Pentecostal ofieriuga were a sjnall sum of money paid by
each parish in the county to Southwell as the mother church. In
olden times they were paid in the north porch of the church, aud
afterwards collected by the apparitor at the several -visitations. The
payments were continued to the time of the suppression 40 years ago,
and the chapter-clerk attended in the porch every Whitsun-Monday
as a matter of form. — See Shilton.
A tenth-part of the Pentecostals went to the sacristan prebend,
and the residue was equally di-vided between the commons of the
resident canons and the prebend of Normanton. — Thoroton's Notting
hamshire.

13
The Deanery of Nottingham  £3 9 0
,, ,, ,, Bingham  3 2 4
,, „ ,, Newark  3 16 7
„ „ „ Eetford  3 10 2
The Jurisdiction of Southwell .... 2 0 6
Total  £15 18 7
In these and like matters the infiuence of the church and
canons was felt throughout the whole county of Nottingham.
But the exercise of episcopal functions which the archbishops
granted to' the canons as a capitular body was confined to a
smaller area. This was called the Peculiar Jurisdiction of
Southwell. Such parishes or districts as were exempt from
the jurisdiction of the ordinary of the diocese in which they
stood used to be called Peculiars ; it *was not that they were
subject to no ordinary, but that they had a peculiar ordinary,
one of their own that is. In our case the chapter was the
ordinary, acting as the archbishop's vicar-general so to speak,
while the extent of the peculiar comprised just as much of
the county as was in the actual possession of the chapter, or
in which the prebendal estates of the canons lay. The only
episcopal functions which the chapter could not perform were
the rites of ordination and confirmation. All other episcopal
duties, such, for instance, as that of an annual visitation of
all the parishes within the peculiar, were reserved to the
chapter. But it had certain powers with respect to ordination
even, for in 1248 the chapter laid down the conditions for the
selection of those who should be ordained by the authority of
the church, a spiritual examination before the canons being
one of the conditions. No doubt the church gained much
pecuniary benefit also from the general synods, since all the
fees usually paid to the ordinary, such as fees for dispensa
tions, faculties, licences, presentments, and so forth, would be
received by the chapter All this explains what is meant
when we read that Thomas II. of York granted the prebends
of Southwell exemption from all episcopal customs and exac
tion in churches and lands ; and again, when we are told that
the churches of the prebends and of the lands belonging to
the canons in common were exempt from all episcopal juris
diction and custom. Mark, however, it is the prebends, the
separate prebendal estates, not the prebendaries who were the
owners thereof, who were thus exempt. Although the arch-

14
bishops intrusted all this power to the canons, and though the
chapter had, in theory at any rate, free exercise of this
authority in its own church as in every other church in the
jurisdiction, yet the archbishops by no means released the
canons themselves from their own influence and authority.
They were not only the patrons of the college, which means,
of course, that the prebends were in their gift, but they were
also its visitors ; and as such, from time to time, they granted
indulgences, decided appeals, and enacted statutes for its
well-being, for the correction of abuses, and the good conduct of
matters relating to the church ; aud in one case at least heavy
punishment was threatened in the event of non-compliance.
The popes, of course, intermeddled here as they did everywhere,
and for a time almost wholly over-rode the authority of
the archbishops. Their policy, however, was to protect the
interests of the college in every way. Indulgences for vary
ing periods were granted to the canons and their tenants and
parishioners by many successive occupants of the papal see.
Appeals to Eome relative to disputes between the prebendaries
and others were always decided in favour of the former.
More than one instrument to that effect was granted by Urban
III. (1184-1187), while bulls demanding the restoration of
certain lands and benefices withheld from the chapter were
issued by Innocent III. (1194-1216), under whom the power
of the papal see reached its highest point. And there are
bulls from time to time confirming to the chapter and preben
daries their ancient privileges and customs, which are almost
invariably notified as having been originally granted them by
the archbishops in accordance with the customs and privileges
enjoyed by the church and canons of York. Perhaps the
most remarkable of these is a bull of Alexander IIL, dated
1171, which has helped us much in matters we have herein
discussed. This bull grants the prebendaries power to excom
municate any of their parishioners who may do them injury
in their lands, houses, or church. But of course the wide
spread evils of the imperium in imperio affected the Juris
diction of Southwell in the same degree as it affected the
country at large. The evil that most nearly affected it perhaps
was that which led up to the famous " Statute of Provisors"
passed in the reign of Edward III. Not only did the popes
usurp the patronage of vacant preferments, but, by means of
provisions or expective graces, they appointed successors to

15
preferments before they became vacant, receiving from the
creatures of their appointment one, two, and sometimes three
years' incomes of the benefices in return. It is needless to
say that the appointments they made were almost always
those of hungry foreigners. Discontent and disturbances
consequently prevailed among the lay patrons; and we read
how Sir Eobert Thwinge, a Yorkshire knight, holding patron
age in the time of Gregory IX., with about eighty others,
raised an agitation against the system in that county, seized
the persons of the foreign intruders, and even murdered the
pope's envoys. If full lists of the canons of Southwell during
a part of the 13th and Hth centuries were forthcoming, we
should see that a great number of them bore Italian names ;*
and we have evidence that their prebendal houses and estates
were allowed to go to rack and ruin while they enjoyed their
incomes abroad. A large amount of money was thus taken
out of the county, causing, doubtless, untold hardships to the
tenants of the estates, while the morals and condition of
society in general suffered from the absence of those who
ought to have been its leaders. Dismissing, however, these
foreign interlopers and their patrons from our minds, let us
pass on to consider the position which the archbishops and our
native canons held in the county during the middle ages.
The temporal possessions of the archbishops at Southwell
date from the reign of Edwy, who gave to his favourite,
Oskytel, XX mansas ad 8uthwellam.\ Domesday Book and
other authorities allow us to fix the limits within which they
exercised their manorial rights from Norman times onward.
The Barony, or, as it is more often called, the Manor of
Southwell, extended from Fountain Dale, beyond Blidworth
in Sherwood Forest, right to a point some three miles east of
Southwell. This strip of country — the middle part of Thur-
garton Hundred — formed the basis of the two jurisdictions of
Southwell : first the Peculiar, which is the ecclesiastic juris
diction already alluded to ; and secondly the Liberty or Soko.
This Liberty was one of those great baronial jurisdictions
which freed their inhabitants from attendance at the hundred-
court, in which the sheriff of the county presided. In fact
* I am told that in Milan Cathedral may be seen a memorial of one
who is described as " Cardinal of Rome and Canon of Southwell,
England." t An estate of some 2,000 or 2,500 acres.

16

it is sometimes regarded as a separate hundred, called South
well wapentake or hundred. The archbishop was therefore
a great feudal lord, and held court-baron twice a year, enjoy
ing all the rights and profits which would otherwise have
gone to the crown through the sheriff. The Liberty in time
grew in extent by the addition of certain detached portions
of other hundreds, and at the present day the Liberty of
Southwell and Scrooby forms one of the divisions of the
county for judicial purposes. The Lord-Lieutenant nominates
the Justices of the Peace, butuntil recently they were nominated
by the archbishop, who by his steward held court-baron also :
relics of his ancient rights. The Peculiar, also, was gradually
increased by the formation of new prebends in other parts of
the county. When it became fixed in extent it included
twenty-four parishes and twenty-eight churches, and it was
in these that the chapter exercised episcopal functions as
ordinary. A classified list is given in a note.* The preben
daries must have been men of great power and position in the
county : they were like feudal lords holding their fiefs direct
from the archbishop, and moreover they obtained great pri-vi-
leges by the special chartas granted to them by the early
Norman kings and confirmed by their successors almost with
out exception. We read that they enjoyed "view <A frank
pledge^^ of all their tenants, and received "the amercements
" of their tenants, and fines for all such offences as they had
"been guilty of." They were also exempt from all tolls and
duties, such as pontage, "from suits of counties, hundreds,
" and wapentakes, and from all gelds, such as Dane-geld;"

* Thubg-aeton Wapentake

OE HUUDEBD.

Within the Manor of Southwell.

Southwell.

Edingley. Upton.

Halam.

•Kirklington. Morton.

Farnsfield.

Halloughton. Bleasby.

BUdworth (10).

Without the Manor.

Woodborough.

N. Muskham (with Holme).

Calverton.

S. Muskham.

Oxton.

Norwell (cum Carlton).

Caunton (17).

BiNOHAM Wapentake.

Cropwell Bishop (18).
Bassbtlaw Wapenta-r-e.
Beckingham. N.
Leverton. Dunham (cum EagnaU).
S. Wheatley. Rampton. Eaton (24).
17
and they were allowed to have their courts of justice with
sac and soc, and the return of writs, and so on. All this
means that in each township in their prebends the prebenda
ries held their courts with complete liberty of jurisdiction,
both civil and criminal ; and their tenants by attendance at
these courts were freed from attendance at the popular courts
of the hundred and shire administered by the sheriff in the
sheriff's tourn or round.* The fines and other profits arising
therefrom must have been very considerable. Frank-pledge
was the police system used in early times. Ten men, forming
a tithing, were pledged as surety for the keeping of the peace
by each member of their tithing. View of frank-pledge was
taken in the hundred and manorial courts-leet in the sheriff's
tourn. But the prebendaries held their own courts-leet for this
purpose twice a year in each township without the presence of
the sheriff since they had the right of sac and soc or liberty of
jurisdiction. How far the manorial courts-baron and the courts-
leet were associated together, or whether they were kept sepa
rate, I do not know. Of course tbe legal reforms of Henry II.
and tho institution of the Itinerant Justices tended to deprive
these courts of jurisdiction in criminal cases ; but it was a
long time before the powers of criminal administration were
wholly wrested from these private courts. In the Hth cen
tury it was a common thing for the sheriffs to infringe upon
the rights of liberties and manors which were by right exempt
from their jurisdiction, to the loss of the lords of the manors.
The frequent occurrence of pleas before the King at West
minster, as well as before the Justices in Eyre in the reigns of
Edward III. and Eichard II., illustrates this in the case of
the prebends of Southwell, but in each case it appears the
canons came off victorious and a writ of allowance follows.
There is extant in the Eegistrum Album a charter of Henry
I. confirming to the canons of S. Peter of York their ancient
privileges. This quaint document is worthy of quotation,
because we find the privileges of the canons of Southwell so
often affirmed to be the same as those enjoyed by the canons
of York. The charter was granted on account of a complaint
made to the king in 1106 that the rights, of the canons were
much infringed by the sheriff of the county. The commission
appointed to inquire into the matter testified "that all the
* On the whole subject of the judicial administration see Professor
Stubbs' Constitutional History of Sngland.

IS"land belonging to the prebends of the church of S. Peter
" was BO quiet and free, that neither the king's officer nor any
" other could have law nor take a distress there till the canon
" of that prebend was first inquired : and, if he refused, the
"dean should set a day and do right at the church door.
" And if any person whatsoever shall detain any man, though
" guilty, and convict of any crime whatever, from within the
" porch, he shall always be adjudged to make amends by six
"hundredths; if from within the church, by twelve ; if from
"within the choir, by eighteen : every hundredth containing
"six pounds, and for every or any of the said faults shall be
" enjoined penance as for sacrilege. But if any should be so
" mad or instigated by the devil as to presume to take one
"from the stone-chair by the altar, which the English call
"frithstol, that is, the chair of peace, for so wicked a sacrilege
" no judgment or sum of money can atone." Then follows
an enumeration of the privileges of sac and soc and the like.*
The possession of large estates tended to secularise the lives
of the canons of Southwell. Their social influence among the
people as feudal lords was doubtless greater than their spiritual
influence as priests of Southwell. They owned each a large
residence house in Southwell, and doubtless they had mansions
upon their prebendal estates also. They were great huntsmen,
keeping their pack of hounds and owning great forest rights.
King Stephen, hy a precept dated at York, directed to William
Peverell and the sheriff of Notts, and his ministers, com
manded "that the canons of S. Mary of Suwell should have
" the woods of their prebends in their own hands and custody,
" and thence take what they should need, as in King Henry's
" time, and that his foresters be forbidden to take or sell any-
* The right of sanctuary, which freed a criminal from all except
ecclesiastical punishment, played an important part in the middle
ages in preventing- the excesses of private revenge, though of course
it was often abused Mr. Parker describes the frithstool or f-eedstool
as a " seat or chair placed near the altar in some ancient churches, the
' ' last and most sacred refuge for those who claimed the privilege of
"sanctuary -within them, aud for violation of which the severest
' ' punishment was decreed. ' ' Frithstools still exist at Hexham and
Beverley According to Spelman the last-named had this inscription :
"Hie sedes la^iiea freedstoll dicitur, i.e. pacis cathedra, ad quam
" reus fugiendo perveniens omnimodam habet securitatem." We are
reminded of Joab and Adonijah, and " the horns of the altar." — Add.
MSS. 4292 in Brit. Mus. is a quaint register of persons who sought
refuge at Beverley.

y^R-

19
" thing there." The whole of the western part of the liberty,
that part in which Blidworth is situated, was included in the
perambulations of tbe Eoyal Forest of Sherwood.
It may be well at this point to review briefly the position
which the college held in the middle ages. I. The church,
being the mother church of the county, held much the same
high position therein as our cathedrals now hold in their
respective dioceses. The chapter, however, derived certain
additional privileges therefrom, more particularly pecuniary
ones. II. The jurisdiction of the chapter, acting as ordinary,
extended only over a more limited area, called the Peculiar,
and was purely spiritual. III. But the chapter and individual
prebendaries gained in Norman times many temporal judicial
powers, partly in virtue of their fiefs as territorial lords, and
partly from the special royal chartas granted to them. These
included the right of holding courts, whether courts-baron or
courts-leet, to which all their tenants should repair, of deciding
pleas therein, of inflicting punishment upoii criminals, of
taking tolls upon the sales of goods, and of enacting the bye-
laws which ruled the townships. IV. And lastly we must
mention the illegal judicial powers which the church every
where usurped in the 12th and 13th centuries under the
influence and guidance of the papal see. It claimed for its
members right of jurisdiction in all cases, civil and criminal,
in which any clerk was concerned, which, together with the
right of sanctuary, tended to place almost the whole adminis
tration of justice in its hands. I need scarcely remind the
reader of the Constitutions of Clarendon and the efforts of
Henry II. to reform this abuse, which failed however at first
to have much effect. The bull of Alexander III. shews that
the canons of Southwell assumed certain powers in connection
with this system, but the extent of their powers from other
sources forbids us to think they took any prominent share in
upholding the usurpation.
Before considering the constitution of the college we have
to make a few historical notes. Of the sixteen prebends as
many as ten had been formed by the time of the Norman
Conquest or very shortly after :
Norwell Overall. Oxton prima pars.
Norwell Palishall. Oxton altera pars.
Norwell tertia pars. North Muskham.
Normanton. South Muskham.
Woodborough. Sacrista.

20 The names of the remaining six, with the particulars of their
foundations, are as follows :
Dunham : founded by Abp. Thurstan ; tempus Henry I.
Beckingham : by the same.
Halloughton, or the Lay Prebend: by Abp. Eoger; tempus
Henry II.
Eampton : by Pavia Maluvel, daughter of Nigellus de Eamp-
ton, with consent of her son Eobert ; tempus John.
Eaton: by A.bp. John Eomanus; in the year 1289.
Leverton : formed by a division of the prebend of Beckingham
in 1291.
Thurstan, the hero of the battle of the Standard and
founder of the see of Carlisle, shewed a decided preference
for the stricter discipline of the monastic foundations. The
importance of the mother church of Southwell was specially
marked therefore by his founding two prebends. Abp. Eoger
de Pont L'Eveque was chiefly remarkable for the part he took
with Henry IL against Thomas a Becket, and for his resist
ance to the Archbishops of Canterbury, who claimed the
submission and dependence of the see of York to that of
Canterbury. The reigns of Eichard I. and John his brother
were times of unrest and anxiety for the northern province.
How far the canons of Southwell supported their archbishop
in his quarrels with the king, resisting his extortionate
demands, I cannot say, but they cannot have stood by as
calm observers. Abp. Geoffrey Plantagenet, natural son of
Henry II. , was himself perhaps the very worst man who ever
filled the see. Before his election in 1191 the see was vacant
for ten years, and again for other nine years on his retirement
to Normandy in 1203.
The episcopate of his successor, Walter de Gray, 1216-
1255, was an important epoch in the history of the diocese at
large, and of Southwell Minster in particular. Walter,
besides being a leading statesman and trusted counsellor of
Henry IIL, shewed himself a strong ecclesiastical ruler,
energetic in the reform and organization of his diocese. He
revived the meetings of the clergy in the diocesan synods,
which had fallen somewhat into abeyance ; reorganized the
ruri-deoanal chapters; and helped to bring together the
northern and southern provinces in convocation. The share
that the general clergy took in managing the affairs of the
diocese is the keynote of his system. The canons of S. Peter

21
formed his council and shared with him his labours ; and
there is evidence that he frequently consulted the chapters of
the other mother churches of the diocese also, of Southwell,
Eipon, and Beverley.*
He devoted much attention, too, to the improvement of the
fabric of these churches. The west front of Eipon is said to
be his work. Under him, John Eomanus, subdean, began the
rebuilding • of York Minster in the north transept. And,
which is more to the point, the small Norman choir of South
well Minster was replaced by one more suited to its needs and
positioii, for "the consummation" of which he granted an
indulgence of thirty days' pardon to all -who should contribute
towards the funds of the fabric. He is said to have given to
" his church of Southwell a collection of very wise statutes
for the government of the body." These I have not seen
An MS. preserved among the chapter records, entitled The
Statutes,^ contains statutes granted by three of the archbishops
- as well as other important matter, from which much of our
information is drawn :
Charta of Abp. Walter Giffard, dated 1274.
Charta of Abp. John Eomanus, 1294.
Statutes of Thomas de Corbridge, 1302.
John Eomanus is worthy of some notice. In 1291 he laid
the foundation of the beautiful nave of York Minster. One
striking similarity in the architecture of this building to a
peculiar feature in the earlier choir of Southwell seems to
warrant the conclusion that it is a copy. And the exact
similarity in plan of Southwell chapter-house, built in the
time of this prelate, to the peculiar chapter-house of York,
built about the same time, is another link in the chain of
connection between the two minsters, and proves the common
influence of Abp. John.
Now we come to the consideration of the constitution of
the college. A few historical notices will creep in to complete
the sketch, as well as some account of the customs of the
church. The following table presents itself :
I. The Archbishop : Patron and Visitor.
II. The Prebendaries : The Chapter.
III. The Vicars Choral.
IV. The Chantry Priests.
V. The Choristers.
* Mr. Ormsby's Yorlc. f Mr. Dimock says this was oompUed pro
bably towards the end of Queen EKzaheth's reign.

22 I. Much has already been said of the archbishop and his
relation to the college, hut I must add a few words to guard
against any misunderstanding. He was something more than
the mere patron and visitor of later times. The archbishops
had founded the college ; they had given much of their own
property to endow it; they had their palace within the
minster precincts and their throne in the minster itself; and
some of them at least made frequent use of both. The con
nection was of tho closest nature : they guided the destinies
of the college by their official statutes and by their personal
infiuence, while tbe chapter or its representatives, forming a
part of their council, helped them in -the affairs of the diocese.
This may be an ideal conception of their mutual relations, but
in some cases at least it was borne out in practice.
II. It was in the 1 Sth century that the constitution of our
secular cathedrals and colleges assumed a settled form. The
quattuor persona or four great officers, the dean, precentor,
chancellor, and treasurer, were the mainspring of law and
order. Southwell, however, presents one or two striking
peculiarities in its constitution. To begin with, there was no
fixed president of the chapter. The dean is usually the
president, but at Southwell there was no dean, ss was the case
at both S. David's and Llandaff. At S. David's the precentor
was president, and at Llandaff the archdeacon. There was
no archdeacon of Southwell, his duties, as far as the peculiar
was concerned, being performed by one of the canons selected
annually for the purpose, who, taking with him one of the
vicars and the registrar of the chapter, made a visitation of
all the churches of the prebends to inspect the morals,
behaviour, and condition of the clergy and tenants. The
archdeaconry of- Nottingham was founded in the 12th centuiy,
but was attached to York without any jurisdiction in the
peculiar of Southwell. Nor can I flnd any mention of a
precentor of Southwell. This was a very important officer in
cathedral churches, since the whole management of the service
and conduct of the choir were in his hands ; but it was a
common arrangement in simply collegiate churches for the
dean to undertake the duties of the office, the purely musical
part of it being entrusted by him to rectores chori or leaders
of the choir. Such an arrangement existed in the collegiate
churches of Astley and Chester-le-Street. At Southwell the
duties of both dean and precentor must have been undertaken
by the canon residentiary, a position filled by the canons in

23
turn, each for some fixed period,* probably three months.
Such a system can have had little or nothing to recommend
it, nevertheless it was followed by the prebendaries even of
later times. The college seems to have never been famous for
its internal organization, notwithstanding the solicitude of the
early archbishops, Walter Gray and John Eomanus, the
master-minds of the see of York in the 13th century, for its
general welfare and good government. Though it lacked dean
and precentor, yet Southwell had its chancellor and treasurer.
The jurisdiction of the chancellor, strange to say, stretched
beyond the limits of the peculiar over the whole county of
Nottingham. This officer, who is not to be confounded with
the modern chancellor of the diocese, had "to instruct the
" yoonger sort of cannons," as Godwin tells us. But he had
more to do than this : he was the great educational officer of
the county, the inspector of schools, so to speak. He was
also the librarian, and had care of the church literature. The
prebend of Normanton was attached to the chancellorship, as
well as nearly one-half of tho pentecostal offerings. A further
fraction of one-tenth of the pentecostals was given to the
treasurer, who at Southwell was called the sacristan, a name
which gave the name of Sacrista to the prebend held by this
officer. The business of the treasurer in a collegiate church
was "to look to the ornaments of the church," namely the
vestments, church plate, and so forth ; he was also master of
the fabric. In the capitular statutes of 1248 mention is
made of a Custos Fahricce, who was to render an account of
all his receipts once every year to two canons resident, and
was to have some canon or vicar of the church associated with
him to hear witness to his receipts. I have no doubt that
reference is here made to the sacristan. At Yprk the sacristan
was guardian of the fabric. He also had the oversight of the
church servants, having under him a sub-treasurer, two clerks
of the vestry, and three sacrists, besides others. John
Eomanus enacted that a sacrist should lie within the churih
at Southwell, to be at hand to ring the bells at the right time.
Our word sexton, in middle English sextain, is only a shorten
ing of sacristan. The following is a note from the note-book

* As appears from an item in the Charta of Abp. John Roma :
' Caveant Residentiarii Ganonici quod nuUus succedens alii residendo
'mandatum scribat iUi oontrarium quod per prsecedentem suum
* Residentem Canonie-um nomine Capituli emanavit," etc.

21
of Sir E. Kaye, dean of Lincoln and prebendary of Southwell,
obiit 1809 : " The tennant [of the sacristan's prebendal house
" and lands, leased in 1571] is to find bread and wine for the
"communion from time to time to be ministred and spent in
"the collegiate church of Southwell, and also bell ropes and
" washing of the church cloths, and be at such like necessary
"expenses as heretofore used to be incumbent upon the
"sacristan prebendary." Thus much of the higher offices in
-the church : I do not know the dates of their foundation.
The property of the chapter was of two kinds. First there
were the prebends, the separate endowments enjoyed by the
individual prebendaries ; then there were also certain lands
enjoyed by the canons in common as a capitular body. This
latter kind of property was called the cornmunia. Beides these
we must mention certain lands bequeathed by various bene
factors and set apart for the actual ^expenses of the fabric,
which were therefore called our lady's lands. All other
expenses connected with the church, excepting some specified
ones defrayed by the sacristan, were paid out of the communia.
This, however does not include the salaries of the vicars and
chantry priests, which we shall treat of later on. The
residue of the communia was, at the feast of pentecost in each
year, equally divided among such of the canons who had kept
three months' residence, either continuous or divided into two
parts. A canon might, however, with the leave of his brothers
resident, absent himself during his residence if urgent business
mule it necessary, but he had to make up the lost time before
the close of the year or he lost his dividend. Before the
division took place, certain other deductions were made in
favour of individual canons. For attendance at a "matins of
nine lections" a canon received the sum of threepence, and
sixpence for a "double festival." These rules, laid down by
Abp. Walter Giffard in 1274, giving certain pecuniary advan
tages to the canons -who kept residence, seem to imply that
they had become lax in the performance of their duties,
choosing rather a life of ease and enjoyment on their separate
estates, or of lucrative employment elsewhere. In fact we
more than once meet with some such expression as casu con-
tingente nullo canonico tunc residente about this time : it was
essentially an age of non-residence and pluralities. Other
bribes to residence were now offered to the prebendaries : the
same archbishop gave the church of Eolleston for the benefit
of the canons resident; John Eomanus-, too, increased the

25
fund for their daily commons. This no doubt caused a general
desire to rush into residence, so much so that the canons
already in residence cast about them for means to prevent the
others from coming in to enjoy the advantages that would
accrue to them therefrom, whereby the annual dividends would
be sensibly lessened. Hence we find the canons resident in
1335 making a rule that no one holding a " litigious prebend"
should be admitted to residence, or even be allowed to take
any part in the councils or acts of the chapter, until he
obtained "peaceful possession."'* Nor could any canon
protest] residence until he had held peaceful possession of his
prebend for the space of a whole year. The administration
of the communia was entrusted to two officers called custodes
generates communia eanonicorum. It is doubtful whether they
were themselves, canons. The statute of 1329, which provides
for their election, mej-ely says that those chosen should be
" faithful and fit" for the office. It seems to mo the office
was much like that of the ancient provost who had charge of
the temporalities of a collegiate church, but often -ndthout a
vote in chapter or stall in choir. The same statute enacts
that there should be three chests, kept under three locks
(each), the keys of the same to be in the keeping of the two
guardians of the communia with the sacristan. The first was
to contain the title-deeds of the church and all moneys
received; in the second were to be placed the jewels fjooaliaj
and relics of the church ; in the third the books of the com
munity, i.e. the chapter records and statutes, to which no one
should be allowed access withoutproper caution. A prebendary
was supposed to institute a perpetual vicar into each of the
parish churches of his prebend. Some of the canons failed to
do this, preferring to hold the cures in their own hands, or
perhaps leaving them unadministered altogether, as would be
the case with the foreign canons. This omission called forth
rebuke from John Romanus in 1294.
* On the whole subject of Residence see Mr. E. A. Freeman's Wells.
t A newly-elected Canon, before entering upon residence, had to
make pubhc "protestation and premonition" of his intention on
three separate occasions, within the octave of the Feast of S. Michael,
in Chapter at the Freeiosa, before the Canon Resident, or, there being
no Canon in Residence, before the Custodes or Guardians of the
Chapter. Statutes oiHOt. The Preciosa was an anthem, " Precious
in the sight of the Lord, etc," sung immediately after the reading of
the Martyrology and before that of the Tabula or -sreeMy roll of
services and officiating clergy. — ^Walcott's Cathedralia.

26 III. The Vicars of the prebendaries in the collegiate church
itself were at once their assistants and their deputies. The
frequent absence of the canons from Southwell made it neces
sary for them to have their duties in choir fulfilled by deputy,
while their want in many cases of any practical knowledge of
church music rendered them unable without assistance to per
form them thoroughly when present. Each canon therefore
appointed his own vicar, paying him the sum of £3 annually.
The appointment was made in favour of any clericus who had
been in the service of a canon, and it was subject to the approval
of the chapter. Thus there were sixteen vicars in all, each
occupying in choir the seat below the stall of his canon. This
is a feature common to constitutions of all the more important
collegiate churches. As in other churches, the vicars of
Southwell at an early date were formed into a separate
college, with corporate rights and endowments, and with
their own collegiate buildings. The date of the foundation
of the college of vicars choral, as they are called later on, is
fixed with some degree of certainty only by inference. Arch
bishop Walter Gray, whose powers of organization have
already been spoken of, incorporated the vicars of York about
1240 or 1241. In the Southwell statutes of 1248 the vicars
are spoken of as a fraternity, with power to elect a custos of
their communia or common property, and bound corporali
saeramento, by an oath, that is, taken by each one of them at
his institution into office. The inference is that the vicars of
Southwell also were incorporated by Walter Gray between the
years 1240 and 1248. According to Thoroton their seal,
with the inscription Commune Sigillum Vicariorum Suuel, was
affixed to a deed bearing date 1262. Before their incorpora
tion the vicars probably lived in the houses of their respective
masters. From this time, however, they inhabited a common
dwelling situated on the east side of the brook called Bulli-
vant's Dyke. In the course of a century or so this building
fell into a ruinous state, so that they had to find separate
lodgings in different parts of the town. This giving rise to
certain scandals, Eichard de Chesterfield, in the year 1379,
with the leave of the pope and archbishop, built a quadrangular
college for them at his own cost on the site occupied by the
present vicars' court. The living rooms extended along three
sides of the quadrangle, the college hall occupying the fourth
or_ eastern side where the residence house now stands. In
this hall the canons, vicars, and other ministers of the church

27
received their commons or daily meals. The proceeds from
their corporate estates was divided yearly among the vicars,
and in addition each one received from his master a salary of
sixty shillings, as we have seen, as well as two shillings for
celebrating mass for their dead brethren. A fine of one penny
for each occasion of absence went to swell the communia
before division took place, and a fine of two shillings for
breaking their oath was similarly applied. In the year 1373
all their separate estates were conveyed "for their benefit,"
it is said, to the chapter. What advantages they gained from
the conveyance do not appear. It is very possible, however,
that in return the chapter allowed the number of vicars to be
considerably reduced. This arrangement suited both parties.
The remaining vicars would receive from the chapter larger
stipends than they had taken at the division of their commu
nia among the full number of sixteen vicars The chapter
would be far from losers from a monetary point of view from
the transaction, while it would regain the influence and
ascendancy over the vicars which their corporate rights must
to some extent have deprived it of. It is not unlikely that
the great change in the constitution of the body of vicars
marked by their yielding up their property into the hands of
the chapter was accompanied by a further change in their
numbers. About the time of the reformation there seem to
have been even less than six vicars. Mr. Dickenson's argu
ments that the reduction in their numbers took place at the
time of their incorporation have no foundation in fact, and
the date we have assigned, though unsupported by documentary
evidence, is a much more likely one.
IV. The Chantry Priests next come under notice. When
in the 1 Sth century the foundation of large religious commu
nities for the most part ceased, men of means began to expend
their wealth in the erection of chantry- chapels in the aisles
and transepts of their churches. These chapels were generally
separated off by parcloses of wood and beautifully painted ;
sometimes they took the form of stone-work additions to the
east ends of the aisles and transepts. They contained altars
to which priests, supported by plentiful endowments, were
attached, who said, daily or otherwise, private mass for the
souls of the founders living or dead, or for such persons as
were specified in the conditions of the foundation. The
tombs of the founders were usually placed within them, and
the sites of the altars, demolished at the reformation, are in

^-

28
many cases marked at the present day by the piscinas and
aumbries which were suffered to remain in the walls. These
private chapels were very numerous, not only in our cathedrals
and abbeys, but also in many of our parochial churches, and
the old altar-slabs may often still be seen in the floorings,
marked with the flve crosses symbolic of the flve wounds
of our crucified Saviour :
Vulnera quinque Dei sint medioina mei.
Prayer for the faithful departed was a very early practice of
the Christian church. The motives which prompted it, pure
and praiseworthy in themselves, were gradually alloyed by
superstition and false doctrine. The missa pro defunctis, or
celebration of mass for the deliverance of the soul from the
pains of hell, was the natural outcome of the doctrine of
purgatory and grew with it. The celebrating priest was the
only recipient of the mystical elements, and often the only
other person present was the assisting acolyte. The chantry-
chapels were dedicated to some saint or saints. In Southwell
Minster there were nine such :
S. John the Baptist. S. Nicholas.
S. John the Evangelist. 8. Cuthbei-t.
S. Peter. S. Michael.
S. Stephen. S. Mary Magdalene.
S. Thomas the Martyr or Thomas a Becket.
The number of masses, however, was thirteen, certain altars
being served by more than one priest: four for the living,
eight for the dead, and one for the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Some few of our larger churches dedicated to the Virgin seem
to have had no chapel specially dedicated to her. Thus
Southwell is without a lady-chapel.
The thirteen chantry priests, like the vicars, formed a
separate community, owned common property, and lived
together in The Chauntry, which stood in the N.W. corner
of the church-yard, on the ground now occupied by the new
buildings of the collegiate school. Those were days when every
ecclesiastical body endeavoured to gain corporate independ
ence and exemption from any superior jurisdiction. When
the doctrine of purgatory was renounced at the reformation
their existence was swept away. They had other duties in
the church besides the celebration of private masses. They
had to "follow the choir" with the vicars, and were subject
to the same fines for non-attendance and to the same general

29
rules of discipline. Speaking of discipline, the conduct of
the vicars of Southwell and other subordinate ministers of
the church, like that of their brethren of York, seems to been
no credit to the church. They were frequenters of taverns,
shows, and other low meetings, leading in fact a generally
loose life.* The more heinous offences were punishable with
suspension, and on a third conviction with expulsion. More
over they had to be reproved by the archbishop for talking
and laughing in choir. If one were convicted for swearing
within the church he had to pay a fine of two shillings to the
fabric, or be subjected to two disciplines, an expression which
seems to denote corporal punishment, in chapter and before
his fellows. A fine of one shilling was imposed in a case of
swearing outside the church ; or, if the canon resident thought
fit, the offender had to go about on a certain Sunday carrying
on his back, tied round his neck, an old leathern knapsackf
— an ancient custom of the church. The standard of morality
among the clergy was a low one, but the means adopted for
raising it are certainly amusing.
V. There is nothing to say ahout the choristers, except that
they were a distinct body in the early constitution, as is evi
dent from the fact that John Eomanus granted the rectory of
Barneby, near Newark, to the chapter for their support. We
may take this opportunity of saying a few words about the
singing-men. It must be remembered that no laymen were
admitted to office in the church in early times. The services
of the church were performed entirely by clerks in orders, J
with the help of chorister-boys only. Thus the singing-men
were a later institution, but the date of their coming into
being cannot be -fixed even approximately. They were evi
dently well established when Queen Elizabeth granted her
statutes to the church, and may have been so long before her
reign. It may be that they were appointed when the number
of vicars was reduced, whenever that was. It is more likely,
however, that they were not wanted until the suppression of
the chantries by Edward VI. withdrew the help of the
* Amoveantnr muUeres a domibus Vicariorum (personis conjunctis
quae oareant omni suspicione exceptis) sub poena subtraotionis stipen-
dii et privationis officiorum et beneficiorum suorum si eorum pertinacia
ita exposcat. — Abp. John Romanus, 1294.
t .Bulgewarium ; from the Gallic word Bulgd, -whence Bougette.
X Et quod Cleriei Cantaturi in chore inspiciant tab"ulam, et pro-vi-
deant versus sues, et ea quae sint canenda, et quod oantent sine libro.

30chantry priests. But this is mere conjecture ; the point to
notice is that the singing-men, whenever they came into
existence, did not form a part of the constituted body attached
to the church, but were mere stipendiaries, having no corporate
rights like the lay-vicars of many of our cathedrals of the
old foundation,* of Wells for instance, where the vicars choral
at some period before the reformation were divided into priest-
vicars and lay-vicars, still forming one corporate body and
continuing to do so down to the present day. At York and
Hereford likewise the office of vicar choral has never been
filled by laymen, the singing-men or lay-clerks being mere
stipendiaries in the pay of the chapter, as is the case at
cathedrals of the new foundation.!
In the foregoing sketch I have endeavoured to trace in a
general and comprehensive way- the origin and development of
the position which the college of Southwell held in the middle
ages. Its particular history illustrates the history of the
church at large. The two great causes of the church's -power
as a civil and political engine were, first, the monopoly of
learning enjoyed by the monks and the higher secular clergy ;
and secondly, its great landed wealth. Long before the actual
reformation of the church came about, the pedestal on -n'hich
these two influences had placed it was slowl}' and surely being
undermined. The beginning of the long struggle against tho
one is marked by the Constitutions of Clarendon and the
endeavour to narrow the limits of ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
while the Statute of Mortmain shews a growing sense of fear
of the power which lay in the . possession of large landed
* The cathedrals of the old foundation are those which, being
served by secular canons, were not suppressed by Henry VIII. :
WeUs, Salisbury, Exeter, Tork, London, Lincoln, Lichfield, Here
ford, Chichester, and the four of "Wales. The cathedrals of the new
foundation are those which, being served by monks, were dissolved
along with the other monasteries, and refounded sooner or later as
chapters of secular canons : Winchester, Canterbury, Rochester,
Norwich, "Worcester, Durham, Ely, and Carlisle ; together with the
churches which were made cathedral for the first time by Henry
VIII. : Oxford, Peterborough, Chester, Gloucester and Bristol, and
Westminster which lost its bishop and became collegiate in the next
reign ; and in our own time Ripon and Manchester, S. Albans and
Truro, and Liverpool and Newcastle, to which Southwell and Wake
field -will soon be added. — See Mr. Freeman's Wells.
f Here we may add a, list of existing collegiate chapters : West
minster, Windsor, Heytesbury, Middleham, and S. Katharine's
Hospital.

31
estates. The disclosure by Wiclif and his followers of the
evil effects of a system which made the clergy forget their
spiritual functions in fulfilling their worldly and political
duties, and which allowed such a glaring abuse as the "beneflt
of clergy" to exist, prepared the way for the New Learning
which was destined to reform church doctrine; and the
severity of the measures found necessary to repress the tenets
of Lollardism is a sure sign of the growth of that independent
thought among the uneducated classes which was soon to be
cultivated by the invention of printing and the general revival
of literature and learning. The reformation in England was
certainly hurried on by causes purely political, but the reform
of doctrine followed closely upon the proclamation of the
Eoyal Supremacy, and when the church emerged from the
troubles of the i6th century, not its doctrine only, but its
whole system had gone through the process of purification,
and the power that was left it was no longer civil and political
but rather social and spiritual.
'The change might be traced in the history of the college of
Southwell. In following its varying fortunes in the period of
the reformation it will be necessary to give little more than a
bare statement of the changes through which it passed. In
1540 the college ceased to exist by the voluntary surrender of
its property to King Henry VIII * We have not far to go to
seek the reasons. The suppression of the lesser monasteries,
begun by Wolsey and completed by Cromwell in 1536, was
doubtless prompted by good political reasons. But Henry's
appetite for the church's wealth was whetted thereby, and
Cromwell, disappointed perhaps that parliament had refused
to sanction the dissolution of the larger abbeys also, was not
a man to stick at trifles. What he could not effect by legal
measures he gained by extortion and cruelty. The whole
monastic body was driven to despair by the severity and inso
lence of the commissioners sent to carry out the act of '36,
and they saw their end was near. Those abbots -n'ho did not
surrender their monasteries voluntarily were appointed by the
vicar-general to be "tried and executed," and their estates
confiscated to the crown. The illegal plundering already
almost completed was confirmed by act of parliament in '39,
and the panic immediately spread to all ecclesiastical bodies
throughout the kingdom. It was this fear that dictated to
* Rym. Feed. xiv. 674.

32
the prebendaries of Southwell the advisability of anticipating
further robbery by surrendering their college in '40 to the
King of their own accord.* It seems to have been good policy
on their part, for the very next year saw it refounded and re-
endowed at the request of Archbishop Cranmer, himself a
Nottinghamshire man.| As a salve to his conscience Henry
proposed to erect fifteen new sees out of the proceeds of the
plunder, Southwell being one of them. But his intention
was realised in only six cases, and the bishopric of Southwell
seems never to have been endowed, J though Dr. Cox,§ one of
the prebendaries, was nominated to fill it. In the meantime
began the "systematic picking and stealing'' of church goods
which was still more characteristic of the next reign, and
Southwell, as we shall see, suffered sadly.
It was not till 1541, the first year of Edward VI., that the
climax came, when all chantries and colleges were suppressed,
with the exception of cathedral chapters, the colleges in the
universities, and a few others, some of which we had occasion
to mention in the early part of this chapter. Beverley,
Southwell, and Eipon fell with the rest, and became simply
parish churches. From this time Beverley ceased altogether
to be collegiate. The temporalities of Southwell were granted
to the Earl of Warwick, afterwards Duke of Northumberland :
it has been said that in this way something like one-fifth of
the land in the kingdom had by this time passed from the
church into the hands of the nobles and gentry. Warwick
sold them to one John Beaumont, Master of the Eolls, and
* In 1542, Abp. Lee alienated to the crown the manor of Southwell
in exchange for lands belonging to certain dissolved priories. His
successor, Holgate, alienated from the see as many as six other
manors. They were granted to the see again by Mary in Abp.
Heath's episcopate. — State Papers.
t Rot. Act Pari. 33 Henry VIII.
X Professor WiUis, however, says that Southwell was actually en
dowed for a time, as well as Dunstable, Shrewsbury, Bodmin, and
Colchester. At the same time, it may be, it was proposed to appoint
a dean as head of the chapter, which would account for the descrip
tion of the church given in the edition of the Moiza.iticon published in
1716, to the effect that it "had anciently a dean, archdeacon, and
other dignitaries."
5 Dr. Cox was tutor to Prince Edward and Dean of Cardinal Col
lege, now Christ Church, Oxford, one of "those t-wins of learning"
of Wolsey's creation, of which Cox had been elected fellow in 1325.
Under Queen Eh^abeth he became Bishop of Ely.

33
father to Francis Beaumont, Judge of the Common Pleas in 5
Edward VI. From John Beaumont they were again brought
t-o the crown by conveyance or otherwise, and again granted
to the Duke of Northumberland.* At the attainder of
Northumberland in 1553 they once more passed into the pos
session of the crown. This was a piece of good fortune for
the prebendaries of Southwell, for it enabled Queen Mary to
reinstate them in their former possessions and rights. Her
action was immediately due to the personal influence of Abp.
Heath, who succeeded the deprived Holgate in '55, but it was
entirely consistent with her declared policy. She managed to
bring back the church, as far as the marriage of the clergy
and the conduct of its public service were concerned, to the
condition in which it existed in the earlier years of her father's
reign. She wished to go further and restore the church lands
which had been alienated from the monasteries, colleges, and
guilds, but to this her parliament would not consent, nor
could the transfer have been practically effected even had
parliament given its consent. It was only some such chance
as occurred in the case of Southwell which enabled her to
re-establish the college of Eipon, the monastery of Westmin
ster under Abbot Frekenham, and a few other monastic
houses. To return to Southwell, of course Mary's grant had
practically the -effect of restoring the college to its old position,
hut the restoration was not legal, being in direct opposition
to the Act of Suppression, which had not been repealed. On
these grounds it was argued, f half a century later, that
"the chapter of S. Mary's Church of Southwell is vested in
"the crown by statute 1 Edward VI.," enabling James I. in
1604 to make the magnanimous "grant and confirmation to
" the chapter of the Collegiate Church of Southwell of the
" site and precinct of the church and the possessions belonging
"thereto."! In the meantime Queen Elizabeth had granted
statutes for the government of the college, which is therein
spoken of as having been founded by her most illustrious
father in evident reference to the act of 1541, but no mention is
made of its suppression by Edward VL, nor is the legality or
rather illegality of its renewed existence discussed, as is the
case in the somewhat similar statutes granted by the Queen
to the chapter of Wells.
* Thoroton's Nottinghamshire. t State Papers, 1608.
X State Papers, 1604. Add. Ch. 15241, Brit. Mus.

34 The history of this particular church, thus briefly surveyed,
serves very well as an illustration of the spoliation of the
church at large, and it was only the strong personal influence
with the crown of men in high position — first Abp. Cranmer,
and afterwards Abp. Heath — which redeemed it from the fate
it would otherwise have shared with the monasteries and its
fellow colleges. The darkest page in its history is that which
tells of the robbery of the church's ornaments, seized by
King Henry* for the gratification of his own vanity or to
supply means for the attainment of his personal pleasures.
We gain our information on this point from the three lettersf
of Sir Edward North, chancellor of that most iniquitous court,
the Court of the Augmentations of the King's Eevenues, ad
dressed to his " lovynge Frends the Prebendaries of Suthwell,"
and also from the Certificate of Chantries and Colleges of 37
Henry VIII.:|: The letters bear no date, but it may be flx.ed
with fair certainty as being slightly anterior to that of the
said oertiflcate, perhaps the very same year (1545). They
charge the prebendaries with having agreed to make sale of
all the plate belonging to the college and to employ the
money so raised to their own use and commodity. Besides the
sale of the "plate and jewelles, ornaments and other goods
" appertayninge to your college to your singular benefltte and
"lucre, ye have practysed unlawfullye to sell a chalice and
" crosse of gold, garnyshed and sett wyth dy verse kinds of
"preceious stones belongyinge to the sayde colledge." Then
follows a command to appoint "two of the discreatest Pre
bendaries ther" to bring the same to Sir Edward North with
all convenient diligence that he might shewe the same to his
Grace, according to his Majesty's pleasure ! The third letter
contains a similar command "to send unto his Heighnes tbe
" aultar table of sylver and gilte which remaynyth in your
" church having the picture of our Ladie and other saynets
" in the same, bythands of Mr. Adams, who is one of the
"Prebendaries of your colledge, with a just and true inven-
"torie of all other parcells' of plate and other jewelles and
* The church had before this era been despoiled of its goods and
chalices by Rufus for his Norman expeditions. See an interesting
and exhaustive paper upon this part of our subject in the Notts.
Guardian, -under Local Notes and Queries, Nos. 163, 164.
t Printed iu App, to Dickenson's Southwell.
X Preserved in Pubhc Record Office.

35
" goodes given unto your colledge by the King's Highness at
^'the time of the erection of the same." In the inventory
37 of Henry VIII. we read of 1133 ounces of plate, "also other
" and beside a chalis of golde w* a paten te, a cross of golde
" w* a fote of golde sette to diverse stones, a tabernacle of
"our ladye of silver and gilte withe ii tables of silver and
" gilte enclosing the same, lately delyned by John Adams,.
" clerke, to the Kinge Majesties use unto S'' Edward Northe,
"knight." We cannot blame the prebendaries for their
" unlawfuUe practyses" by which they endeavoured to pre
serve to the church at any rate the- value and use of what was
lawfully their own. Nor did they stay their hand at the sale
of the plate, for we find them accused likewise of " sellynge
"and fellynge of woodes, grauntynge annuytes, making of
"leases, and other estraordinarie graunts contrarie to the
" godlie meanynge entended and proposed by the King's
"Majestie" upon their erection. It was the only means by
which they could save their property from the grasping
rapacity of the King, and one adopted very generally through
out the kingdom with the same end in view. At the same
time we cannot think the motives of the " disoreat" preben
dary, Mr. Adams, whose signature is affixed to the oertiflcate
of 37 Henry VIII., were altogether sincere, when we flnd
that he retained "ii basens of silver weyinge xlvii oz." as a
reward for the part he took. in playing into the King's hands.
There are black sheep in almost every fold, and Mr. Adams
appears to have been the black sheep of Southwell college.
"We may be sure the spoiler did not leave much that was
considered to be of any value, and yet a few years later
Edward VI. found something to lay his hands upon. This is
the in-ventory of the ornaments of the church taken in 6
Edward VI.*
fyrst one ohales of sylveTe and gyltte w'li ye oorp'aye.
Item ii candlestykkes of latten and ii aultr clothes.
It. ii towells ii crewetts of led.
It. one vestment of grene sarsenett wth ye aube.
It. a comm"unyone booke a byble and iii salters.
It. in the steple vii bells with cloke and chyme of the same bells
and a hand bell.
It. As for the chapell in the burgage Mr. Beamont hathe pullyd
ytt do"wn to the gro-wnde and -we have the bell.
It. one chapell in normanton and one bell p'teyninge to the same.
* Pub. Reo, Office.

36 It. There belongythe to the p'ysche of Southwell viii chapeDs or
churchys as morton bleisby halughton famysfeld edyngley
Halome upton and kyxklyngton the inhabytenntts of the
whyche to-wns hathe presented as apperythe by their byHs.
It. as for magdalene chapell yt ys sold by the kynge and pullyd
down to the gro-wnde.
The statutes* granted by Queen Elizabeth to the church in
the year 1579 are interesting as being the basis of the system
of internal organization which prevailed until the college
ceased to exist. They are very lengthy, and we shall only
glance at the more important provisions they contain. The
archbishop as metropolitan and visitor is to present the statutes
to the church and enforce the observance of them, wherefore
he is to hold a visitation at least once in every three years.
There is to be always a canon residentiary, who is to act as
president of the chapter and keep such hospitality as his
means will allow. Then an entirely new officer is created,
the Vicar-general, to be elected from time to time by the
canons from their own body. He is invested with the full
power and authority of the chapter to perform as their repre
sentative all episcopal functions within the peculiar. His
business seems to have resembled somewhat that of the modern
chancellor of a diocese. The statutes are particular in distin
guishing his duties from those of the canon residentiary. All
strictly capitular acts, such as the appointment to vacant
benefices, the installation and induction of new canons, and
the like, were reserved to the chapter or the canon residen
tiary. The latter had also the management of all matters
relating to the internal organization of the church, the conduct
of its services, and so forth ; and the rest of the canons as
well as the other ministers and officers were to render obedience
to him as Dux et Rector. Other officers for whom the statutes
make provision are : a registrar, who is to be a public notary
and an apparitor ; an auditor, a receiver -general, and a custos
of the fabric ; the last two not to be canons of the church.
Then mention is made of some minor officers and servants :
the sacrist — no longer it appears the sacristan prebendary —
who is to keep the ornaments of the church and to walk in
procession before the residentiary, or archbishop if present,
* The MS. entitled Southwell Statutes contains a copy of the Eliza
beth statutes, and I have seen a second MS. copy in the Lambeth
Library. They may be found printed in extenso in the Monasticon and
in Dickenson's Southwell.

37
and also before the preacher in choir ; a verger, bell-ringer,
and door-keeper. The number of -vicars choral is fixed at not
less than six, there having been in recent times too few for the
due celebration of divine service. There are to be six singing-
men also. The vicars and singing-men are to take their meals
together, with the residentiary if possible, otherwise in some
respectable and well-regulated house. A Magister et Rector
Chori is appointed to teach the choristers and play the organ ;
also to see to the general welfare of the boys, to give them a
liberal education in letters and instruct them in modesty of
manners at table. And a school-master fLudi- Magister j, a
position filled by one of the vicars choral.* The remaining
statutes relate to the oaths to be taken by the different mem
bers of the church on their appointment to office ; to the
custody of the plate, title-deeds, and the common seal of the
chapter; to the supervision of the estates of the collage aid
the repairs of the prebendal houses; to the installation of
canons, the passing and registration of capitular acts, and the
like. They mention one or two customs worth notice perhaps :
three theological lectures (or not less than two) were to be
delivered every week in the vernacular by a canon appointed
by the Abp. or the D. and C. of York. The vicars choral,
choristers, and other ministers were to attend them regularly,
as well as the school-master and his pupils. And a competent
canon was to be appointed by the chapter to explain the
Catechism, Apostle's Creed, and the Lord's Prayer in the
church every Sunday afternoon.
The statutes require very little comment. Their evident
intention was to preserve to the chapter, so far as might
be, its ancient powers and privileges ; but subsequent
history shews that they failed in their object. The failure
was due in a great measure to the want of a permanent
head to keep the machinery of government in motion. The
want of a dean, or some other flxed and permanent president
of the chapter, affected the welfare of the college as much
in later times as it had done throughout its earlier life.
The office of Vicar-general was certainly a perpetual one,
* Another of the vicars choral discharged the cure of souls in the
parish. The Collegiate Church was also the Parish Church, the
benefice being in the patronage of the Prebendary of Normanton.
Southwell and -Ripon are said to be the only churches -which survived
the period of the Reformation in their double character of collegiate
and parochial churches.

38
but its influence extended to aU tbe churches of the pecu
liar alike, and was little felt in the church of Southwell
in particular. The duties of the canon residentiary were
more akin to those of the deans of our cathedral chapters, but
they were performed by the prebendaries in turn. The
prebendaries themselves at times failed lamentably in the
performance of their duties. The injunctions of Abp. Sharp,
issued in 1693, imply that they had given up the practice of
preaching in their turns, that they had allowed the divinity
lectures to fall into abeyance, and, worse still, that sometimes
at least the church was altogether "left destitute of a head or
"chief to take care of emergent affairs, and to direct and
"govern its inferior members and officers," that, in fact, there
was no canon residing. The consequence was that the per
formance of divine service was left entirely in the hands of
the vicars and choir-men, whose carelessness and negligence,
we are told, brought scandal upon the church, while the gross
living and immorality of some of them more than once called
for serious rebuke. The acephalous constitution of the chap
ter rendered it necessary for the archbishops to interfere more
in the affairs of the church than the statutes of Elizabeth
intended. We flnd that whenever any more important change
was contemplated by the chapter, the capitular acts were
confirmed and put into force by injunctions issued by the
archbishops. Some doubt has been entertained as to the
legality of the action of Abp. Drummond (1761-1776) in
abolishing, sponte sua, the time-honoured custom of the annual
synod held at Pentecost, which the mayor and council of
Nottingham attended in state, as well as representatives of
every parish in the county. But this was done with the tacit
consent of the chapter, and that the archbishops did not obtain
any substantial power in the church is proved by the resistance
ofi'ered to any reforms they suggested which were opposed to
the personal interests of the canons.
But to go back to Queen Elizabeth once more, the statutes
were evidently intended to place the college on somewhat
the same footing as the cathedrals of the old foundation.
To several of these, I believe, Elizabeth granted very similar
statutes. Their object was to legalize the state of things
which for centuries had been growing up in them by
abuse. The number of canons had in many of them become
so large that it was impossible for them all, even had they
wished it, to keep residence. Thus they had become

39
divided into two sets, residentiary and non-residentiary
canons, or, as they are now often wrongly distinguished,
canons and prebendaries. At Wells, for instance, out of
fifty-two canons not less than six and not more than eight
were to be elected residentiaries, keeping some three,
some four, months' residence in the year, and they divided
the communia amongst themselves, to the exclusion of the
remaining members of their body. The number of prebenda
ries at Southwell being much smaller, the chapter in 1579
enacted that four of their body should be elected residentiaries.
Three years before, viz. in 1576, the date of the Elizabethan
statutes, it had also been enacted that the residentiary for the
time being should have the whole dividend with all manner
of profits appertaining to the jurisdiction of the collegiate
church. "And if any [other] residentiary be disposed to lye
" here, he shall pay weekly 3s. 4d. ; and for his man 2s. ; and
" every vicar choral 28. 3d. ; and every singing-man, being
" disposed to enter into commons with the residentiary, shall
" pay 2s. 2d." By these and similar measures^ so contrary to
the spirit of the foundation of the college, the prebendaries
formally abrogated a great part of their lawful rights, and
practically gave the finishing touch in blotting out the collegiate
character of their church. Had tho four canons who were
elected residentiaries been residentiaries in fact and not in
name only, the affairs of the church might have gone on more
smoothly and its services conducted in such a manner as to
avoid bringing scandal upon it. But they had each to keep a
quarterly residence only, and some of them, as we have seen,
failed even to do this. Much less does there seem to have
been any " disposition to lye here" on the part of any of the
prebendaries who were not of the chosen four. At the end
of the 17th century, however, the prebendaries seem to have
awaked to a keener sense of their duties, and at their request
Abp. Sharp issued his injunctions to the college in 1693.
The archbishop directed his attention chiefly to a re -arrange
ment of the vicarage, so that each vicar might be able to have
house-room therein. He also made provision for the better
governmsnt of the college, so that all disorderly practices
might be prevented, and also for decent and solemn perform
ance of divine worship in the church. At the same time, in
accordance with his injunctions, a change was made in the
mode of keeping residence. It was decreed in chapter that
for the future the residentiaries be not confined to four, but

40
that all the prebendaries do, according to their respective
seniorities, keep a quarterly residence. The church can have
gained little by the change, which was merely a falling back
to the ancient system. In fact this is the only thing that can
be said in its favour, that it restored to the whole body of
canons their ancient rights, and made them all take their share
in the duties of the church. But the dangers attending a sys
tem by which each prebendary came into residence once only
in four years, and then stayed no longer than three months,
are manifest. Many of them oared little for the time-honoured
institution to which they belonged, so long as it gave them
some additional wealth and raised their position in the church.
Now and then we find one rising above the level of his
fellows and correcting some abuse or pushing some reform.
Not that tbe prebendaries of Southwell were one whit more
lethargic than the general clergy. They were often pious
men, scholars, and gentlemen; but they were infected with
the religious torpor which everywhere characterized the
church of the 18th century. It was an age of pluralities and
spiritual ease, when many a priest lived upon a sinecure or
drew his income from a church he seldom or never visited,
while populous parishes were growing up in our towns left
altogether destitute of spiritual oversight. The following
anecdote well illustrates the general situation : — " Oliver and
" Watkins wanted to discontinue choral service at Southwell.
"Lord Harborough, prebendary, observed that if that was
" discontinued, what reason was there for a choir or prebenda-
"ries — they had better all become parish priests only."*
The answer contained an unconscious prophecy, or maybe
Lord Harborough saw the change that was soon to come over
the church. Towards the end of last century Abp. Drummond
made a fruitless effort to avert the approaching doom by sug
gesting a somewhat radical reform of the college. He proposed
that the number of canons should be reduced, residence
enforced, and specific duties in the church assigned to them.
The proposals were unfortunately blindly resisted by the
chapter. Little did they think their institution had but
seventy more years to live before sentence would be pronounced
upon it. The Evangelical revival had already begun to arouse
both clergy and people to a sense of their responsibilities, and
this was followed by the Oxford movement. Early in the pre-
* Note-book of Sir R. Kaye.

41
gent century the cry for church reform was heard throughout
the land. In 1835, on the recommendation of Sir Eobert Peel,
a royal commission was appointed to consider the general state
of the, Established Church. The "Church Commissioners,"
as they were called, turned their attention to the re-modelling
of dioceses and the re-distribution of church property, and
they issued four reports in quick succession. Tbe legislature
made no delay in making provision for carrying into effect
the changes they recommended. The collegiate churches of
Eipon and Manchester were raised to the dignity of episcopal
sees ; a thorough re-distribution of episcopal dioceses was
made, and it was now that the county of Nottingham was
subtracted from York and annexed to Lincoln, the change
taking full effect in 1841 ; the revenues of episcopal sees were
more equally divided and certain pluralities done away with ;
the number of archdeaconries was increased and all peculiar
and exempt jurisdictions abolished : the peculiar of Southwell
ceased to exist in 1846.
The reforms so far were made in the right direction, though
they did not go far enough, more particularly in the matter
of the increase of the number of episcopal sees. But the
recommendations of the commissioners with regard to the
cathedral and collegiate churches, which formed the next
subject for legislation, was a signal failure : their work was
hasty and ill-advised; it was far too radical in spirit; the
commissioners would not pause to consider the objects for
which these institutions had been founded originally, and how,
by a correction of the abuses which had grown up in them,
and by a re-distribution of capitular property, they might
have- been made to serve those objects, whereby, in fact, the
end which the commissioners had in view might have been
effectually attained ; they preferred to make a clean sweep of
them and to apply their property in their own method. When
Parliament came to consider the subject, it was argued that
the cathedral and collegiate churches no longer fulfilled the
objects for which they were founded, that money must be
found to meet the many spiritual wants of tbe, country at
large, and that the sinecures in these institutions would supply
a fund ready to hand for the purpose. A bill called the
Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Bill was introduced by Lord
John Eussell into the House of Commons in 1838. It pro
posed to suppress all canonries, excepting from four to six in
each of our cathedral churches, and to place their estates in

42
the hands of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who had been
appointed in '36 a body corporate with perpetual succession
to carry out such of the recommendations of the commissions
of '35 as had, or should, become law by Act of Parliament.
The opposition of the capitular bodies to the bill, and in fact
of the whole church, was great, and stress of business caused
it to be abandoned after the second reading. It was introduced
again in the next session and received a like fate. On its
third introduction, with slight alterations, in 1840, the
government determined to push it through in the face of all
opposition. Its opponents in the House of Commons reserved
themselves for a grand effort when the bill should reach the
committee stage. Mr. Pusey was chosen to move an amend
ment to the motion " that the Speaker leave the chair" ; and
Mr. Gladstone, in one of the greatest rhetorical displays of
his early career, was ably supported by Sir T. Dyke-Acland,
Mr. Acland, Sir E. Inglis, and others. After a long debate,
however, the original motion was carried, and in due course
the bill unfortunately became law.*
The opposition had left no stone unturned to avert what is
now generally looked upon as almost a calamity, but in vain.
The bill rested almost entirely on the responsibility of the
Primate and the Bishop of London, who were both on the
commission. The three other bishops on the commission were
not prepared to press it. The remaining bishops on the bench
were unanimously and actively opposed to it. During the
sessions of '38, '39, and '40, up to June 2nd, no less than 223
petitions were presented against it, containing nearly 15,000
signatures, and including petitions from both universities and
many of the cathedral and collegiate chapters. There was
only one presented in its favour, with 22 signatures ! These
figures speak for themselves. The object for which the com
mission was appointed was "to consider the state of the
" cathedral and collegiate churches with a view to render them
" most conducive to the efficiency of the Established Church."
" To render them," not their money only ; the very principle of
the bill was utterly unsound. It was an awkward attempt,
says Mr. Freeman, at reform, made in utter ignorance of the
history and nature of the institutions — instead of reforming
them, it merely crippled them. The commissioners were to
consider not the revenues only, but the " duties and revenues"
* 3&4Viot., ^. 113.

43
of capitular bodies. In dealing previously with the " epis
copal duties and revenues" they had troubled themselves to
consult the bishops severally with regard to both points before
drawing up their report.* In this case, however, no infor
mation was sought or obtained as to the duties of capitular
bodies, and when the several chapters came forward to supply
the want, offering plans whereby the object in view might be
attained without resource being had to radical changes in
their constitution or wholesale suppression, the commissioners
actually refused all communication with them with the words
^^ fundi officio ; we have made our report."-)- The chapter of
Exeter, with one or two others, made a second attempt while
the bill was in progress, and the government paused to con
sider their schemes, but they were finally declined on the
recommendation of the Primate and the Bishop of London.
It is difficult {o reconcile this action on the part of Bishop
Blomfield with the words of the charge he had delivered to
his clergy only a few years before; when he said that no
comprehensive scheme of improvement could be made, nor
could anything be done with any prospect of success or with
safety lo the church, except after careful inquiry into the
circumstances of every diocese. Mr. Gladstone, giving his
reasons for objecting to the bill, said that, while it involved a
violation of the rights of property, it would be no remedy
for the abuses that had crept into the cathedral system, and
it would frustrate the great objects for which cathedrals had
of old been established. And Mr. Freeman, thirty years
later, bears testimony in part to the fulfilment of that view :
our cathedral churches, he writes, have indeed vastly improved
during those thirty years; but it has been almost wholly
because they have shared in a general improvement, hardly at
all by virtue of the changes which were specially meant to
improve them. But note that he adds, it is quite impossible
that our cathedral institutions can stay in the state in which
they now are — a state which satisfies no party. Had Lord
Melbourne's government paused in its work of spoliation, had
the suggestions of Mr. Pusey's amendment been adopted —
that information should be collected, etc., as contemplated by
the statutes of the several foundations, and that the visitors
and bishops, after consultation, should draw up such plans as
* First Report of the Church Commissioners, 17 March, 1835.
t Second Report of the Church Commissioners, 4 March, 1836.

44
might in their judgment be best calculated to render them
most conducive to the efficiency of the church and to providing
for the cure of souls — then surely that end might have been
attained without practically destroying them. If the legisla
tion had been directed to making a re-distribution of capitular
property, to fixing the duties of the members of our capitular
bodies, and to making adequate regulations for the perform
ance of those duties,* then surely the existing parochial
destitution and the pressing spiritual wants of the people
would have been met, and our noble cathedrals would once
more have taken their proper position in the country, the
source from which the spiritual guidance of the people would
flow, and the head in which the affections of people and clergy
alike might centre.
It may be asked, what has all this got to do with South
well, since it was not a cathedral church. But it is on the
eve of becoming a cathedral church, and the grand mistake
of the commissioners lay in their failing to see that the time
was at hand when it would be absolutely necessary to sub
divide the dioceses of Lincoln and Lichfield and to form the
counties of Nottingham and Derby into a separate diocese.
Had it been merely a question, as they evidently in their
haste thought it was a question, of suppressing the college
and applying the funds in a more useful way, or of letting it
continue its humdrum existence, doing little or no good to
itself or to the church at large, then would they have been
clearly right in the recommendations they made. The criti
cism which characterized the canonries of Southwell as sine
cures was a very fair one. As we have seen, each prebendary
came into residence only once in four years, and for so light a
duty the remuneration was large, notwithstanding the fact
tha-t owing to the system of letting their estates on the system
of fines, which had long prevailed, the greater part of the
real value of the church's property was enjoyed by the lay-
holders. f But this evil might have been remedied by placing
* See Mr. Gladstone's speech on Mr. Pusey's amendment.
t From the custom of letting their estates on the system of fines
the annual incomes of the o-wners of church property — who were
either corporate bodies, or, in the case of individuals, -without power
to bequeath to their natural heirs — were gradually reduced far below
the real value of the property. I -will endeavour to explain the sys
tem briefly. The property is leased in two ways, either for a period
of, say, 21 years or for such length of time as three persons, whose

45
names are inserted in the lease, shall happen to Hve. (In the property
of the prebendaries and chapter of Southwell there were 43 leases for
years, and 23 leases for lives.) At the end of 7 years, or -when a life
falls out of the lease, as the case may be, the lessee or purchaser may
renew his lease for 7 fresh years (to be added on to his remaining 14),
or put in a new hfe, by paying a Jine of from Ij to 1^ years' income.
(The chapter of South-well accepted Ii years' purchase.) Thus an
estate worth £2,000, producing, therefore, at 6 per cent, interest, an
annual income of £100, might be leased originally for it^ full value.
At the end of 7 years the lease would be renewed by the payment of
a fine of £150 or Ij years' purchase. At the third renewal the value
of the property to the o-wner or lessor would be reduced to £450,
representing an income of about £22 instead of £100, and its value
to the tenant would be increased by the corresponding amount. A
similar reduction -would result in the case of a lease for lives. By
. such a system the lessors were in a great measure dependent upon
the fines paid for renewals, and in the case of leases for lives
there -was necessarily much uncertainty as to the time when the
fines would fall in. The large capital of such corporate bodies as the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners enables them to allo-w the leases to run
out, and thus they can reahse the actual value of the property. But
the case of the prebendaries of Southwell was very different. Being
very often men advanced in years, they were unwiUing to forego the
fines, -which formed a material part of their income, by running their
indi-vidual lives against the three lives inserted in a lease ; nor could
they afford to wait even so long as 21 years. By pursuing such a
course they well knew that they would be only denying themselves
in the interests of their successors iu their prebends. On the con
trary, there are stories of jobbery practised by them in these matters.
It is said of a certain archbishop that, immediately after a near rela
tion of his, to whom he had given a prebendal stall, had been lucky
enough to receive the fines for three renewals in a short space of time,
he transferred him to another stall which happened to fall vacant at
the time, from -which he had every prospect of reaping additional
pecuniary benefits. One pities the unfortunate man who succeeded
to the former stall with a lease which had probably had three young
lives just put into it. We must add that in many leases there -was
also an annual rent reserved : thus, if an estate -were worth £150 per
annum, the fine would be set as if it were worth £100, and the tenant
be bound to pay to the o-wner the sum of £50 annually. It is to be
remembered, too, that the leases in many cases -were of long standing,
sometimes some centuries old ; and while the actual value of the
estate increased, the nominal value of the reserved rent would remain
the same, the value of money at the same time decreasing. — See
Short's Church History, pp. 89, 90.
- It is convenient here to make a short extract from the Second
Report of the Church Commissioners relative to South-well: the
chapter consists of sixteen prebendaries, who keep residence in rota
tion, each for three months, and are entitled to an allowance of £85
each towards the expenses of such residence : at the end of each rota,
being a term of four years, a division of the fines received for renew
als [of the leases of capitular property, I take it, as distinct from

46
the whole of the property in the hands of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, a course which has been pursued by many of
our capitular bodies.
But it is no use crying over spilt milk. The suppression of
the college of canons at Southwell is a historical fact ; and it
only remains for us to give a few details of the way in which
it was carried out. The Ecclesiastical Duties and Eevenues
Bill, so far as related to Southwell, provided that all the
canonries should be suspended, excepting one which, was to
be annexed to the archdeaconry of Nottingham ;* and that
prebendal property] during that period, after deducting the customary
payments and allowances, is made in equal portions among the pre
bendaries. There is a vicar general and commissary, whose net
yearly revenue is £13 Os. 7d. ; and six -vicars choral, who are entitled
ou an average to £25 per annum each out of the chapter revenues.
The prebendaries di-ride the surplus net revenue equally among them
selves. Five of the -vicars reside in houses assigned to them, and a
sixth in a house which he occupies as vicar of Southwell. The gross
yearly income is £2,211. Present average yearly payments, £1,119;
and net income, subject to temporary changes, £964.
* The clause runs : ' ' And be it enacted, that in the Collegiate
" Church of Southwell the canonries now vacant, and all the other
' ' canonries except the canonry now held by -the Archdeacon of
"Nottingham, as vacancies occur shall be suspended." In com
mittee the Earl of Lincoln moved as an amendment : ' ' That, in tha
" Collegiate Church of Southwell, the canonries, as vacancies occur,
" except the canonry now held by the Archdeacon of Nottingham,
' ' shall be suppressed until only four remain, and that such canons
" shall be residentiaries." — His arguments were what may be called
"sentimental," and he failed, equally with those who followed on
the same side, to point to the necessity of preser-ving the chapter so
that it might form the chapter of a new see. — Lord John Russell
refused to accede ; Mr. G. H. Vernon also opposed the amendment as
inconsistent -with the principle laid do-wn by the commissioners ; and
Sir E. Sugden spoke against it. — Sir R. Inglis said that the taking
away of stalls and other appendages of cathedral and collegiate
churches was injuring the hold which the estabUshmeut had upon the
people, and diminishing the inducements which the higher classes
have to bring up their children to the church. The church is bound
to supply spiritual instruction, but not from funds appropriated by
law to totally different purposes. — Mr. Goulburn, while not opposing
the bfll, considered this part of it inconsistent with the amended
report of the commissioners, which implied that all the paraphernalia
of this collegiate church should be continued as before. — Colonel
Robertson thought there was nothing to justify so stringent a clause.
— Mr. Gladstone, having pre-riously spoken at length against the
whole bill, did not take part in the debate. — Di-vision on the question
"That these words be inserted:" ayes 14, noes 64, majority 40.

47
the benefices in the patronage of the prebendaries should be
transferred so as to become vested, as the prebends fell in res
pectively, partly in the Bishop of Eipon and partly in the
Bishop of Manchester.* In the following year an act was
passed amending these provisions.f By this act the one
remaining canonry was to be suspended, and it was provided
that the vicarage -of Southwell should be constituted a rectory,
competently endowed out of the confiscated estates, and that
on the next avoidance of the benefice the Archdeacon of
Nottingham should become ipso facto rector, and that the
rectory should thenceforth be permanently annexed to the
archdeaconry. J It was left to the discretion of the Ecclesias
tical Commissioners to carry out these provisions, and their
recommendations were made law from time to time by order
of the Queen in Council. As each canonry fell vacant, after
the passing of the acts of '40 and '41, all the property and
rights attached to it, except the right of patronage, became
vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. But before long
the commissioners devised a more convenient method of dealing
with the matter, and they drew up a scheme whereby the
* The chapter patronage remained -with the chapter until it ceased
to exist -with the death of the last canon. t 4 & 5 Vict., u. 39.
X It so happened that the Archd. of Nottingham never became
Rector of Southwell. Soon after the Act of '40 was passed the
Vicarage of Southwell fell vacant, and the Venerable Archdeacon
Wilkins, holding the patronage as Prebendary of Normanton, nomi
nated his son, Mr J Murray Wilkins, -who was instituted on the 29th
of December in that year. In the following spring the Act of Amend
ment described above was passed, and the Vicarage -was finally
constituted a Rectory by order in council gazetted November 9, '41,
-whereby also the Rector was empowered to employ an assistant -curate
(not a minor canon) to be licensed by the Bishop of Lincoln, -who, as
holding the patronage of the Archdeaconry, became patron also of
the Rectory. Dr. George Wilkins died in '63, and -was succeeded iu
the Archdeaconry by Rev. Henry Mackenzie, incumbent of Tydd S.
Mary. As, howevtir, Mr. Murray WiUdns, Rector of Southwell, was
still living. Archdeacon Mackenzie could not fulfil what seems to have
been the intention of the Act of '41 by becoming Rector in virtue of
his Archdeaconry. It was proposed to Mr. Murray Wilkins that he
should exchange livings -with the Archdeacon, but he dechned to accede
to that proposal. Under these circumstances it was thought advisable
that so much of the Act of '41 as related to the Archdeacon of Notting
ham should be repealed, and this -was done by an Act of Amendment
passed in the year '66 (29 & 30 "Vict., c. 111). At the next avoidance,
occasioned by the death of Mr. Murray WOkins in 1880, the Bishop of
Lincoln presented to the benefice the Rev. J. J Trebeck, who had for
a short time previously discharged the cure of souls as curate iu charge.

48
entire estates of the chapter and remaining prebendaries might
be transferred to their hands, they granting to them an equiv
alent money payment agreed upon between themselves and
the chapter. The Gazette of August 1st, ls48, contains the
scheme, and the order in council by which it was ratified.
In the year '46 the canons then living were empowered to
elect one of their number perpetual residentiary, but power was
reserved to any remaining at his death to undertake residence
again or to appoint a deputy. The Ven. George Wilkins,
Archdeacon of Nottingham and Prebendary of Normanton, was
appointed to fill the post. He died in '65. Mr. Thomas Henry
Shepherd, Prebendary of Beckingham, was now the sole sur
viving member of the chapter, but he was unable through age
to undertake residence, and appointed Mr. Murray Wilkins to
be his deputy residentiary. On February 11th, 1873, Mr.
Shepherd died, and with his death the chapter ceased to exist.
There is still, however, one link left with the time-honoured
institution of the past. On the recommendation of the commis
sioners the number of vicars choral was reduced from six to two,
and their style was changed from "vicar choral" to "minor
canon." The two minor canons, then, continued to be elected
by the chapter as long as it lived, as the vicars choral had been
elected of old. The office was held, at the time of Mr. Shep
herd's death, by the Eevs. Alfred Tatham and E. F. Smith,
who succeeded Mr. J. F. Dimock on his promotion to Barn
burgh Eectory in '63. Mr. Tatham died in 1878, and Mr.
Smith still lives to connect the past with the present, and, we
hope, with the future. It is a curious, if somewhat melancholy
fact, that when Mr Smith duly notified the death of Mr. Tatham
in the chapter records, there remained only a few lines on the
very last page of the last volume to be filled up. Upon whom
wUl the duty devolve of paying the like tribute to the memory
of the last vicar choral of the college of Southwell ?
The history of the collegiate church has at length drawn to
a close. One word about the cathearal church of the future.
At last Southwell is on the eve of becoming a bishopric.
Eegret has already been expressed that the commissioners did
not see fit to recommend this change instead of the suppression
of the college — a regret that is felt all the more when we
remember that the chance of restoring the canonries was not
lost till as late as the year '73. Only five years later was the
act* passed by which the counties of Nottingham and Derby
* Bishoprics Act, 41 & 42 Vict., u. 68.

4-9
are to be formed into a separate diocese. The carrying out of
the act has been delayed by the tardiness with which the
subscriptions to the bishopric fund have come in ; but the
meeting at the Mansion House on the 1st of June last has
given an impetus to subscribers; some £15,000 has been col
lected since that date, and, as I write, less than £13,000 are
wanted to make up theneeessary sum. The ultimate endow
ment of the bishopric will be £3,500 a year, together with
an episcopal residence ; towards this income the see of Lincoln
will contribute £500 a year, and the see of Lichfield £300.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners have power to create new
archdeaconries in the diocese, and to transfer any archidiaconal
dignity from Lincoln and Lichfield to the new cathedral
church ; also to transfer the patronage of any benefices situate
in tbe diocese from the other sees to the new see ; and to
found honorary canonries, and to transfer to Southwell such
honorary canons of Lincoln and Lichfield as hold benefices in
the new diocese and themselves consent to the transfer.
It must not be thought, however, that immediately on the
formation of the bishopric the whole machinery of diocesan
work will be set going. The motive power will be there in
the person of the bishop, but the greater part of the machinery
will have to be made. And the making of this machinery
will be a slow and gradual process, stretching over many
years. There will be aU. the Diocesan Societies to come into
being : a Church Building Society, for instance, to promote
the building, restoration, and endowment of churches ; an
Additional Curates' Society, and a Curates' Augmentation
Fund; a Diocesan Board of Education, to provide for the
inspection of church schools for the poor, and the examination
of their pupil teachers and scholars in religious knowledge —
the board, or a separate society, would find work to do in the
way of building or enlarging schools, besides distributing
information and giving advice on educational topics, and
seeking means to avert the unnecessary transfer of church
schools to school bqards. These and like societies are all
necessary for the efficient organization of a diocese nowadays.
But it must be borne in mind that they are supported entirely
by voluntary contributions. They have to be worked, there
fore, by means of large committees consisting of the chief
clergymen and influential laymen of the diocese. Later on,
we may hope, resident canonries will be formed. To each one

so
will be attached some definite duties : to one, perhaps, the
inspectorship of schools and the secretaryship of the Diocesan
School Board ; to another the secretaryship of several other
Diocesan Societies, which would fully occupy the time of one
who has heart and soul in his work, as those who have occu
pied like positions, too often in addition to a cure .of souls,
can testify. For a satisfactory and efficient fulfilment of such
duties the personal and perpetual residence of the canons
holding them in the cathedral city would be absolutely neces
sary, so as to permit frequent intercourse with the bishop.
The holding of an annual Diocesan Conference, now found to
be so advantageous for the general welfare of the dioceses in
which they have been established of late years, would natu
rally be a part of the growing organization. And lastly, with
regard to the chapter. The capitular body is essentially the
council of the bishop. Composed of the archdeacons and the
honorary canons — the picked men of the diocese — it will serve
to connect the various parts of the diocese with its true centre,
the cathedral church, and will work with the bishop and
assist him with its counsel and advice in all matters concern
ing the general well-being of his diocese.
The object of these pages has been to endeavour to connect
the past, present, and future of our church into a continuous
history. In its earliest days, as a missionary centre, it suc
cessfully performed its task of converting tbe people, and' of
firmly establishing the Christian church in their midst by
means of the priests it sent forth. The college of secular
canons at Southwell has lived its life and died — died like
many of our historic institutions in these days of radical and
too often ignorant reform have died. And now, once again,
under changed circumstances and conditions, Southwell is
about to resume its labours and carry on the work which its
priests long ago begun. Once again, after centuries almost of
spiritual apathy and consequent misfortune, the church is to
raise its head among its fellows like the mother church of old.
And much is to be learnt from its past history, whereby a
repetition of its short-comings and long-standing abuses may
be avoided, and its future history be made to form a happier
and brighter page in its annals.

51

CHAPTEE II.
HISTORY OF THE FABRIC: DATES.

The historical ground-plan of the existing church explains
itself, but this little work would not be complete if we failed
to give the authorities for the dates to be assigned to the
various parts of the fabric. This part of our subject has been
so thoroughly worked out by Mr. Dimock,* late a vicar-
choral, that we have to give but little more than the gist of
his arguments. No part of the present fabric, with the
exception of one or two fragments, dates farther back than
the 12th century. But we have abundant evidence that a
considerable stone church existed at any rate in the previous
century. Thomas Stubbs,f the biographer of the Archbishops
of York, tells us that Abp. Kinsius (1050-1060) added a
lofty stone tower to Beverley church and put two large bells
in it, and that he gave bells of like magnitude to Stow and
Southwell. Stow, we know, was rebuilt in 1057. J To
receive the bolls a campanile must have been recently built at
Southwell. Perhaps the church had been entirely rebuilt.
At any rate it is a significant fact that Aldred, the successor
of Einsius, out of certain lands purchased at his own cost
formed prebends at Southwell, and built refectories wherein
the canons might take their common meals. The Norman
parts of the church, as it stands, contain unmistakeable evi
dences of an earlier building. In the north transept, over the
doorway leading to the newel by which one ascends the central
tower there is a large sculptured stone which is worked into
the building in such a way as to shew at a glance that it is old
material used up again. It is supposed by competent judges
to have formed the tympanum of an early Norman doorway.
Again, Mr. Petit, in a paper read at a meeting of the Archseo-
* In a contribution to the Journal of the Brit. Arch. Ass., Jan.
No., 1853. t TwysderCs X Scriptores.
X Florence of Worcester and Henry of Htmtingdon.

52
logical Institute held at Lincoln in 1848, remarked that
" a few years ago some foundations consisting of rubble work,
" and exceeding at least two feet in thickness, running north
" and south, were discovered within the area of the north
" transept, the western face being about eight feet from that
"of the eastern wall of the transept." Old Mr. Gregory,
who was superintending the repairs of the building at that
time and still remains at his post, does not now remember the
fact here recorded, though he can call to mind the visits of
Mr. Petit. It is to be hoped that the clue will be followed
out when the flooring of the transepts is taken up for repairs,
which is to be done very soon. And lastly there is the evi
dence of some valuable fragments which were found, during
repairs some thirty years ago, in the foundations of the south
wall of the nave. These have unfortunately mysteriously
disappeared,* but Mr. Dimock has put on record a careful
description of them with illustrations, one or two of which
are sketched in an accompanying plate (No. III). The mould
ings were apparently of the character of Norman work, some
of them unlike anything to be found in the present building,
while the sections of others are quite different from the sections
of similar mouldings used in the existing Norman structure.
The conclusion then we come to about this early church is
that it was considerably enlarged and ornamented, possibly
altogether rebuilt, about the middle of the 1 1th century.
1110. .is the date assigned to the Nave and Transepts, the
Norman portions of the fabric. Plan II. shews the 12th
century church complete, to which we shall devote a short
chapter later on. In the Eegistrum Album is preserved an
undated letter which makes a direct referenoe'to the building
of the church of S. Mary of Suwell, and in assigning a date
to the letter the date of the building itself is flxed. It was
written by an Abp. Thomas, addressed to all his parishioners
in Nottinghamshire, asking for their alms to assist in defraying
the oost of the building. Now there were three archbishops
named Thomas— Thomas I., 1070-1100; Thomas IL, 1109-
1114; and Thomas de Corbridge, 1299- 1 303. The last-named
is out of the question, because the bull of Alexander III. in
* A dozen or more such fragments, arch-mouldings, capitals, &o.,
of untold interest both historically and architecturally, were placed
for safe keeping (siej in the cloister, not one of which now remains
to tell its tale. How or when they were removed no one at present
seems to know.

53
1171 mentions as an ancient custom the Pentecostal synod
which the archbishop in this very letter says he is instituting.
Thomas I. is not likely to have undertaken so great a work,
since his episcopate was occupied in restoring the fallen for
tunes of the canons of York. The two sons of Sweyn, with
their Northmen, had put the Norman garrison to the sword
and surrendered the noble minster to the flames. The con
queror, in savage vengeance, had completed the work of
devastation in city and county. Thomas I. found it necessary
to set about rebuilding the whole church : he completed the
nave and transepts, but it is probable that he contented him
self with merely restoring the old Saxon chancel. With such
a gigantic work in hand he would scarcely have turned his
attention to Southwell, whose church stood intact ; moreover
his name is nowhere mentioned in connection with Southwell.
Thomas II. , on the contrary, finding the church at York
completed, turned his attention to the outlying parts of his
diocese, and raised Southwell, as we have seen, to the position
of a mother church. Nothing is more natural than that he
should have ordained that an annual synod should be held
there, and have replaced the earlier structure by one larger
and more suited to its higher dignity. The architectural
details, too, of the building conform to the later date. To
take a single instance, look at the compact masonry of South
well nave and compare it with that of any known 11th
century Norman work, with the loose-jointed masonry of the
west front of Lincoln for instance, and the point is at once
settled. The Eariy English Choir, . . 1230 . . 1250.— There can belittle
doubt that the choir was begun and finished in the episcopate
of Walter Gray, and that the dates given are approximately
correct. I. In Torre's Collectanea, in the library at York, is
preserved an Lndulgence, addressed by Walter Gray to the
bishops and archdeacons of his province, granting a release of
thirty days from penance enjoined to all who being truly
penitent should contribute to the construction of the church
of Southwell fad constructionem dicta fdbrica), since the
means of the church were insufficient for the consummation
of the fabric a while since begun (ad incepta dudum fdbrica
consummationem ) . Torre gives 1235 as the date of the indul
gence, but the document itself says " in the 19th year of our
pontificate," which according to Drake would be 1233. But
the difference is of no account. II. The Registrum Album

54 contains the foundation deeds of two chantries at the altar of
S. Thomas hy Eobert de Lexinton, canon of Southwell. By
the same authority we know that the later of the two chant
ries was founded in 1241. In the foundation deed of the
earlier chantry are the words, Ln capella beati Thoma Martyris
in novo opere, " in the chapel of S. Thomas the Martyr in the
new work." The situation of this chapel is not known. The
conclusion is that by about 1241 the building of the choir
was so far advanced to allow of divine service being performed
in it. Chantries were often founded and services held in
churches before their building was completed. III. The
Registrum Album contains many deeds of donations to the
fabric. There are about thirty of them in all. Most of them
bear no dates, which are seldom found affixed to deeds earlier
than the 14th century ; but Mr. Dimock has shewn that they
are all to be referred to tbe reign of Henry III., with the
exception of two 1 5th century ones. IV. "The capitular acts
af 1248 contain two significant provisions: that the custos of
the fabric should render a yearly account of all his receipts ;
and that the several canons should pay to the fabric fund a
fifteenth of their prebends for three years to come. I am
inclined to think that by the year 1248 the choir had been
nearly if not quite finished, and that these provisions were
enacted in view of such additional buildings as were in con
templation, the date of which we are about to consider.
The North Transept Chapel, o. 126(1. — The architectural
details of this building give the chief clue to its date. It is
clear that it is a distinct work from the choir, and it is equally
clear that it must have been undertaken within a few years
after the choir was finished, and that it was left in an unfin
ished state. The Registrum Album records certain acts
passed in chapter in 1260, which clearly refer to some work
recently undertaken and then in progress. No doubt this
chapel is the work referred to. They provide that the accounts
of the custos of the fabric, shewing his receipts and expenses.
be duly examined. It was decreed also that " the custos
"shall not begin any new work, in the church or outside,
"without the consent of his brother canons in general convo-
" cation." These passages seem to imply that the custos had
commenced some work which did not meet with general
approval on account of a want of means to meet the expense
incurred thereby. This would account for the building being
left in a somewhat unfinished state.

56
The Cloister,.. 1270.. 1285. — The cloister is decidedly
somewhat later than the north transept chapel, to the east wall
of which it is attached, and quite a distinct work. Its archi
tecture shews it to be slightly earlier than the chapter-house,
but its close connection with the vestibule thereto inclines
one to assign a late date to it: c. 1285 rather than e. 1270.
But the point cannot be satisfactorily determined.
The Chapter-honse and its Vestibule, . .1285. . 1300. . —
Abp. John Romanus, in the statutes which he granted to the
college in 1294, orders that the prebendal houses of the foreign
canons, which had fallen into ruin, be properly repaired
within a year ; and he further orders that in case of neglect
heavy fines be enforced, the fines to be devoted to the fabric
of the new chapter-house fad fabricam novi capituli). This
expression would bear three constructions : that by 1294 the
chapter-house had been completed, that it was then in course
of construction, or that preparations were being made for its
commencement. The fact that in the original glazing of the
windows the arms of the Queen of Edward I., the yeUow
castles of Castile, appeared, favours an early date, since
Eleanor of Castile died in 1290. On the other hand, the issue
of an indulgence of forty days pardon by Boniface [VIIL,
1294-1303] seems to point to a later date. The very close
similarity in plan of the chapter-houses of York and South
well has an important bearing upon their dates. Southwell
is a copy of York on a small scale, but equal to it, or even
surpassing it, in beauty. I am inclined to think they were
designed by the same hand, under the superintendence of
Abp. John Eomanus, and very probably they were simulta
neously in course of construction.* Abp John was the son
of the treasurer John Eomanus, whose name is known in
connection with the transepts of York. He became arch
bishop in 1286, laid the foundation stone of the beautiful
nave of York in 1291, and died, long before his work was
carried out, in 1296.
Some of the above dates receive confirmation from the
numerous indulgences which were granted during the 13th
century. Torre's Collectanea contains the abstract of a "letter
"of request issued out from the chapter of York for to
" collect the alms and charitable contributions of the people
" within the city, diocese, and province of York, for the
* See remarks in note at close of next chapter.

56 " support of the fabric of the church of S. Mary of Suthwell."
Its date is 1352. The letter recited the indulgences formerly
granted to those who should "charitably relieve the church,
"viz. from Pope Boniface, forty days of pardon; from the
" Popes Urban, Celestine, Gregory, Honorius, Innocent, Cle-
"ment, and Alexander, one year and forty days of pardon
"from each: likewise all the indulgences granted and con-
" firmed by archbishops and bishops, especially of Walter,
" Sewald, Godfrey, William, Archbishops of York and Bishops
"of Dunhelm, forty days from each." Omitting Boniface,
these are exactly the names, singularly enough, of the popes
who lived during the reign of Henry III., excepting that
only one Gregory is mentioned instead of two. The names
of the archbishops doubtless refer to Walter de Gray (1216-
1256), Sewall de Bovill (1256-1258), and Godfrey de Ludham
(1258-1264). The Organ-screen, . .1335. . 1340. . — In the Registrum
Album is preserved a license granted bj' Edward III. in 1337
for the free carriage of stone from the Mansfield quarry through
the forest of Sherwood. It was granted in consequence of a
complaint made to the king by the canons that the king's
foresters had been and were in the habit of exacting toll for
the passage of the carts sent by them to fetch stone from their
quarry for the fabric of the church, contrary to the provisions
of the forest charta. Evidently some considerable work was
in progress and the date of the organ-screen, as fixed by its
architecture, tallies -well with the date of the license.
No exact date can be assigned to the Sedilia, which is of
the pure Decorated style ; the inserted windows in the north
transept chapel late Decorated, and the inserted Perpendicular
windows of the nave. These are given here in their chrono
logical order, and are all Hth century work, except perhaps
the nave windows, which may be early 15th century.
The large west window certainly belongs to the 15th century.
The sedilia may perhaps be part of the work implied in the
"letter of request'' quoted above, which would place their
date at 1355. But the contributions which it was the object
of this letter to raise must have been devoted chiefly to the
many necessary repairs of the fabric about this time, as the
words " for the support of the fabric" imply.

57

CHAPTER III.
THE NORMAN CHURCH RESTORED.

The Architect of June 23rd, 1877, contains a remarkably
pretty and effective drawing, by Mr. C. Hodgson Fowler, of
Southwell Minster restored : represented, that is, as it would
probably appear to us if the various parts of the present
building had been allowed to retain their original form, with
their high-pitched roofs, pyramidal spires, and original win
dows. It is accompanied by a ground-plan of the original
Norman church complete. This, however, is less happy, for
it is incorrect in more than one important point. Some thirty
years ago the flooring of the choir was taken up, and Mr.
Dimock was able to determine the length of the old Norman
choir, and to satisfy himself on two other points, first that its
east end was not apsidal, as it usually is in Norman churches,
but square in form ; and secondly that it had aisles extending
about half its length. About ten years ago the flooring of the
aisles was again removed, this time for the special purpose of
investigating the form of the termination of the Norman
aisles. They were then found to terminate in circular apses,
and accurate plans of the foundations were made.* Quite
recently, under the direction of Mr. Christian, the foundations
under the north transept chapel have been partially discovered
in restoration. They are just sufficiently exposed to enable
one to trace out the form and dimensions of the circular
chapel, which, like its early English successor, opened out
into the transept on its east side. It is from these data the
plan (No. II.) of the original Norman church which appears
in our plate has been worked out.
Beginning from the east end and working westwards I can
not do better than quote Mr. Dimock's. observations which he
made in a personal examination of the foundations — so far,
* The courtesy of Mr. R. D. Noble enabled me to make a rough
eopy of these plans.

that is, as they have been verified by. the later excavations.
They were recorded by him in his account of the Architectural
History of Southwell Church published in the Journal of the
British Archasological Association for January, 1853. A
reference to the ground-plan will thake them plain. "For
' some few feet at the east end, and from p to r, there
'remains a basement moulding — a small slope exactly like
' that round the outside of the nave and transepts — with
' one course of ashlar upon it through most of its length :
' beneath the bases of the two Early English pillars are also
' two or three stones of the second course of ashlar, the bot-
' toms of these bases being about 20 in. above the level of
'this Norman basement moulding. At the corner ^ is a
' rectangular nook of about 9 in. in depth, exactly the same
' as is formed at the external comers of the transepts and of
' the western towers by the projections of the Norman but-
' tresses. There can be no doubt, therefore, but that this
' was an external basement ; and that, as in the present choir
' so in the Neman one, the aisles did not extend the whole
' length. Between p and q, therefore, was a buttress, and
' this is much of the same -width as the buttresses in corres-
' ponding places of the nave and transepts. But at q, instead
' of a projection of only 9 in. from the line of the wall, there
'is a projection of nearly 18 in. ; just the projection of the
' western towers, independently of their buttresses, from the
' aisle walls. Hence I conclude that the east end was flanked
' by corner turrets, an arrangement that has also a parallel in
' the far-projecting corner buttresses, with their surmounting
' pinnacles, at the east end of the present choir ; had there
'not been such an arrangement, no greater thickness of wall
'would have been required, and this corner of the south
' transept would have presented the same ground-plan as the
' corner of the south transept shewn in the plate. Enough
' of the basement is to be seen extending northwards from p
'to shew that the east end of the choir was square." This
much was Mr. Dimock enabled to determine with certainty.
At r, and for three or four feet onwards, he discovered rubble
foundation extending some few feet southwards, which he
rightly thought to indicate the termination of the Norman
aisle, without, however, being able to ascertain its circular
shape. Passing over this he followed what appeared to be the
plinth or basement moulding again for some little distance.
He was prevented from pushing his investigation any further

59
by the woodwork of the stalls and galleries which in those
days occupied the aisle and the spaces between the piers.
In the later excavations the foundations of what proved to
be semi-circular apses were ipore fully examined. In the north
aisle, which had not before been opened up, they were tho
roughly discovered ; in the south aisle the examination was
only partial, but enough was done to shew their form to be
the same. Our plate (Plan III.) shews the ground-plan and
elevation of the foundations in the north aisle. It appears
that the ashlar walling of the apse, of which a considerable-
amount remains, was carried to a great depth — 5 ft. below the
top of the plinth. In the south aisle, however, there were only
2| ft. We conclude, therefore, that the flooring of the apses
was considerably lower than the level of the aisles. By this
means the chapels would naturally gain in height. The
diameter of the apse was 8| ft. in the north aisle, and 9 ft.
in the south. The breadth of the aisles themselves was some
what more than a foot less than that of the present aisles, the
Norman walls being by a corresponding amount thicker than
the Early English walls.
So much for the aisles. In considering the general arrange
ment of the Norman choir we have to go to the eastern piers
of the lantern-tower and study the abutment of the new work
upon the old. Here we have the engaged semi-cylindrical
columns, which formed the responds of the choir arches, still
left, and above their capitals some of the old masonry attached
to the tower-piers remains, as may be seen from the organ-
loft. This masonry preserves to us the spring of the Norman
arch, shewing billet-mould, and above that the hatched string
course that ran along under the triforium. The capitals of
the columns are some 2 ft. higher than the level of the capitals
of the nave arches, while the string-course under the triforium
is on exactly the same level as that in the nave. The floor of
tbe body of the choir was probably, therefore, about 2 ft.
higher than that of the nave and side aisles. In this case the
plinth marked e in our plan (No. III.) is easily explained as
being the basement, as Mr. Dimock surmised, of a wall
bounding the raised flooring, and carrying, perhaps; a wooden
screen dividing the choir from its aisles. In the nave aisles a
similar basement moulding is carried from the west wall of
the tran.septs round the responds of the first nave arches.
The external height of the choir and the arrangement of its
triforium and clerestory must have been precisely like the

60corresponding features of the nave. This is proved by the
level of the string-courses under the triforium stages being
the same ; by the exact correspondence of the arches opening
from the transepts into the nave and choir aisles, and of the
arches above them opening into the triforium ; and, on the
exterior, by the weather-moulding of the old Norman roof,
which may be seen on the eastern side of the lantern tower,
as well as by a remnant of the corbel-table with nebule
moulding which supported the eave-roof.
Now we come to the pier arcades. The length of the aisle
was about 29 ft. This would admit of an arcading of two
arches only, and these of less span than those in the nave,
which are about 13 ft. Allowing 12 ft. for the column and
two responds, we have 1 7 ft. left for the two arches. This
gives 8| ft. for the span of each arch, which is exactly the
amount computed by Mr. Dimock frorh the two or three feet
of the springing of the flrst arch which, as we have seen, is
left imbedded in the Early English structure. The fact that
the height from the capital to the string-course is some 2 ft.
less than in the nave proves of itself that the span of the
choir arches was less than that of the nave arches. The
measurements adopted in our plan must be very nearly
correct. Opening out into each transept on its eastern side there was
originally an apsidal chapel, semi-circular in form, like those
terminating the choir aisles, but somewhat larger. The large
arches of communication still remain. In the south transept
the span of the arch is 15 ft. It was walled up when in
Early English times the apse was pulled down, and in the
walling is inserted a blocked Norman window. Whence this
window came I cannot say. It is similar in detail to the
original windows of the nave, and, but for the fact that it is
smaller than they, we might imagine that it came from the
destroyed choir. Mr. Dimock thought it must have been a
window of the adjoining chapel, and concluded, from its
arch-moulding and from the straight string-course that is
continued from the abacus, that the chapel was either rectan
gular or polygonal. Going to the outside we see imbedded in
the masonry the inferior order of the arch. On each side of the
arch a flat buttress runs up the wall to a point just under the
end of the gable-moulding. Upon these the circular wall abut
ted, but it is singular that the ashlaring shews little sign of any
building having been removed. The southern buttress contains

61
some old Norman material worked up : I refer to the short
string of zigzag running partly across it and continued in the
walling up of the arch. The string is broken by a Norman
shaft running up in the angle formed by the buttress, or
rather a projection from it, and the walling of the arch. Mr.
Petit has pointed out that tbe projection and the shaft lean
towards each other, as if it were intended that the former
should counteract the pressure of tbe arch. The capital of
the shaft is complete, and is possibly a part of the original
impost. The height of the gable-moulding indicates an upper
story to the apse, but ho means of access to it now appears.
The horizontal moulding just above the crown of the arch
was probably connected with the flooring of this apartment.
In the north transept one of the jambs of the arch of commu
nication has been cut back to give room for the pair of pointed
arches of the entrance into the Early English chapel which
has taken the place of the Norman one. The chapel is now
being restored, and one can just trace in the rubble of the
flooring the lines of the circular apse. Its diameter is about
12 ft. and the thickness of the wall about 4ft., the same as
the walls of the nave, and a foot less than those of the tran
septs. Tbe floor of the apse, like that of its successor and
like the similar apses of the choir aisles, was some 2 or 3 ft.
lower than the general level of the Norman church, as is
proved by the depth to which the ashlar-work of the remain
ing jamb is carried.
The building had a second story, and a small round-headed
doorway, now blocked up, gave access to the upper apartment
from the passage running round the middle stage of the tran
sept. But this was a long and difficult way of reaching it,
and I am fully inclined to think that the space between the
apse and the wall of the choir aisle was occupied by a spiral
staircase. There is certainly no sign of such a staircase in
the foundation as at present exposed, but the space is now
occupied by the wall of the Early English chapel and a passage
that was made to run beside it. But signs of such an arrange
ment are not wanting. The staircase which now leads to the
upper apartment of the Early English building, just at the
top, turns round a shaft which stands in the very position
which the newel of the Norman staircase would have occupied.
Moreover this shaft is evidently part of an original newel, and
to it are attached a part of its old steps ; and, again, upon it
is placed a part of another shaft without doubt Norman, and

62shewing Norman sculpture. Then there is the doorway
between the chapel and the entrance to the choir aisle to be
considered. It is a strange mixture of Norman, Early English
(restored), and debased Perpendicular work. The last of these
is little more than sixty years old. Without doubt the door
way is an instance of Early English patchwork. The Norman
work must have come from the jambs of one of the windows
of the destroyed choir. Then the question presents itself,
why did the Early English builders pierce a Norman wall of
5 ft. 3 in. in thickness to make a doorway here ? It could
not have been meant for a side entrance to the chapel : such
an additional entrance from the transept would have been
quite unnecessary and decidedly inconvenient, as one would
have had to make a sudden drop of 3 ft., as far as I can
remember, to gain the side doorway of the chapel, which
seems rather to have been connected -with the choir aisle by
the passage already mentioned. An easy answer is that they
found a doorway already here, and widened it, intending to
make a staircase to replace the newel they had destroyed
because it interfered with the wall of their new cliapel. This
they immediately found impracticable, and changed their plan
in favour of the present staircase from the choir aisle. The
doorway they found would be the entrance to the old newel
staircase, similar in shape and dimensions to those in other
parts of the building. Its square head would account for the
very depressed form of the present doorway. There is a third
argument in favour of the newel, to be deduced from the
plans of other Norman churches. Professor Willis, in his
researches among the foundations of York Cathedral, was led
to believe that in the Norman church, whose plan bore a close
resemblance to that of Southwell, there was a similar arrange
ment. He says that the remains of this Norman staircase
" may still he seen in the triforium of the choir at its western
"extremity, but the rest of the staircase and turret have long
"been destroyed." And he adds : " a spiral staircase, in the
" same position, occurs at Norwich, and its use is to conduct
"to the upper galleries of the church, and also to the upper
" chapels of the apses ; for these apses had commonly a chapel
" on the triforium level as well as below."
This closes the consideration of the Norman church of the
12th century. Any changes which have been made in those
parts of it which are now standing wiU be fully noticed in the
following chapter.

63
Note. — It may be well to take this opportunity of adding a short
note upou the mutual influence of Toric and South-well with regard
to their plan and structure. Professor WiUis, in his Architectural
History of Tork, has she-wn that Abp. Thomas I., after the destruc
tion of the Saxon church, commenced the entire re-building of it on
a larger scale. The Norman foundations shew that he completed the
nave and transepts, while there are no remains of any corresponding
choir. The foundations of the Saxon chancel, however, with no side
aisles, and apparently closely connected -with the east walls of the
transepts, remain, which led Professor WOlis to beheve that Thomas
contented himself -with a restoration of the small Saxon chancel.
These foundations seem to indicate that the chancel, like the Saxon
one at Ripon, had a square east end,* which would account for the
pec-uliarity of the same peculiar feature in the Norman church of
Southwell, built by Abp. Thomas II. some thirty years after his
namesake's restoration of Tork. The same feature occurs again in
the larger choir of York added by Abp. Roger some forty years later
still, and Mr. Dimock asks, was it not the general plan in the diocese
of Tork ? The Norman nave and transepts, with their circular apses,
of Southwell, are an evident repetition of the plan of Thomas I.'s
church at York. Again, a glance at the plan of Abp. Roger's choir
at York, -with its secondary transepts, at once suggests a reason for
the very similar plan adopted by Abp. Gray a hundred years later for
his choir at Southwell, t
Here I have to add to my recent remarks on the chapter-houses of
York and Southwell. Mr. Browne and Professor Willis are at strange
variance in the dates they give for the conamencement of York chap
ter-house. The former gives 1280, which the latter thinks to be too
early by nearly fifty years. If Professor WiUis's -view on this point
be correct, there can be no doubt that the plan ef the grander chapter
house of York is a direct copy of Southwell. The beautiful combi
nation of clerestory and triforium into one stage in the choir of
Southwell may certainly be looked upon as the origin of the like
arrangement in the later nave of York.
* Professor Willis, in his plan of this first church at York, puts a
circular apse at the east end. He does not explain -why, and I am at
a loss to understand, except that this was the plan oommoidy adopted
by the Norman builders.
t In connection -with this subject see the series of comparative
plans of York Minster, published by Professor WiUis in the York
volume of the Journal of the Arch. Inst.

64

CHAPTER IV.
THE FABRIC: ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION.

In examining the minster in detail I propose to deal first
with the exterior and then with the interior. The several
parts of the interior I shall take in their chronological order ;
but I reserve the effigies, glazing, sepulchral slabs, and
the like, for consideration in a separate chapter, so that the
continuity of the description of the actual fabric may not be
broken. With regard to the exterior, beginning with the
west front, it will be well to go round to the east by the south
side and return to the west entrance by the north, for by this
means we shall be enabled again to make the acquaintance
of the different parts in their historical order, from Norman
to Early English, and thence to Decorated work. But the
visitor must not fail to take some opportunity of going to the
extreme north-west comer of the churchyard, whence one of
the finest general views of the church may be seen.
Standing some distance from the south-west corner of the
building we command at once the west front, the nave, the
south transept, and the lantern tower ; in fact a general view
of the Norman building. Imagine a gable containing, per
haps, a circular window, with a row of arcading below it,
aU in the place of the large Perpendicular window fiUing the
space between the western towers; take away the parapet
walls of the aisle and clerestory, and imagine eave-roofs resting

65
on the nebule corbel-tables ; and, lastly, remove the Norman
pinnacles from the lantern tower, and, placing them so as to
flatfk the gable of the transept, imagine the tower to be
crowned with a low pyramidal-shaped roof or spire, like the
one at Penmon Priory Church in Anglesea — imagine these
changes and you will form a very fair notion of what the
original Norman church was like. It is in terms of no mean
praise that Mr. Freeman says that " the grouping of the three
"towers is as perfect as it may well be."* In fact this is one
of the few great early churches in England which retain their
three great towers, and "this gives it a dignity hardly to be
* It is due to Mr. !Freeman to say that these words were -written
by him before the present spires were placed on the western to-wers.
The towers were then oro-wned by parapets and comer pinnacles in
imitation of the patched- up Norman work StUl seen on the lantern
tower. Many persons think that the architect has been ill- ad-vised in
this part of the restoration, since he is unable to replace the corres
ponding low spire on the lantern tower. They seem to destroy the
"perfection of the grouping of the three towers," though they are
axchseolo^cally correct. But there can be no two opinions about the
advisabihty of Mr. Christian's restoration of the high-pitched roof
of the nave. In the interior the gain in effect has been so great as
to quite outweigh the objection advanced by some that the lantern
tower has been dwarfed thereby. The history of the western spires
may be briefly told. They appear iu the sketch taken by W. Hollar
in 1672, and published in the following year in the first edition of
Dugdale's Monasticon, and shortly afterwards again in Thoroton's
Nottinghamshire. They were consumed by a disastrous fire which
happened in 1711, doing damage to the amount of £4,000. They
were restored immediately afterwards, and appear in the plates of
Mr. Dickenson's Southwell, 1787. Mr. James Essex, F.S.A., -writes
(Add. MSS., 6768, c, 1780) "ou each [tower] is a very heavey spire
covered -with lead." They lastly -were removed in 1801-2, in conse
quence of a rift appearing in the lo-wer part of the north-west tower,
it being thought therefore that their great weight endangered the
safety of the structure. On this point we are assured, by the -writer
of an article -which appeared in The Builder of September 18th, 1880,
that ' ' any fear is absurd ; the towers would carry twice their weight. ' '
One word as to the form of the present spires : the older drawings
represent them as coming do-wn over the corbel-tables -without any
shght cant outwards, and the latter form has been given to them oa
the authority of a sketch by Turner, and this being minutely accurate
in other details, the architect, in whose possession the dra-wing now
is, could only think that the artist was equally accurate in this point.

66" attained by much larger and more dignified churches, such
" as Worcester and Gloucester."* It may be compared, and
favourably so, with Eochester, which most nearly approaches
it in date and plan. The broad pilaster-like buttresses, dying
away into the nebule corbel-table which runs along the tops
of the walls, are a characteristic feature of Norman work : of
shallow projection, they can give little material support to
walls of four and five feet in thickness — they were used chiefly
to give relief to the flatness of the walls. One is struck by
the. prevalence of the horizontal lines formed by the string
courses which run round the towers, dividing them into stages.
In the lower stages they are continued along the nave and
transepts, embracing the buttresses, and in the original church
they encircled the whole building. They certainly detract
from the appearance of height, but on the other hand they
irresistibly carry the eye along the building, assisting the
mind to grasp it as a whole in a way that would be impossible
without them.f
m]t m£%t gxaxd.
The harmony of the Norman front has unfortunately been
entirely destroyed by the insertion of the large 15 th century
window with the battlemented parapet above it, which occu
pies the space between the towers.J The towers themselves
* Saturday Seview, August 5th, 1879.
t The -writer of the article in The Builder applies the term Soman-
esque to the Norman building, and points out that many features of
the exterior are suggestive of the early churches of the Rhineland,
more especially the straight lines of the towers, the flat buttresses,
and the circular -windows of the clerestory.
X In considering what was the original arrangement of the west
front we may note that ' ' the triforium and clerestory passages were
"continued between the towers along the inside of this front. We
"may conjecture, therefore, that above the lower stage containing
' ' the west door there would be two tiers of arcading pierced occa-
" sionaUy for -windows, which in the clerestory stage would perhaps

.^MyMf^Wfi^

Pl/Jifec IT.

G'.tSX-3^-. («8,3.

67
are a good example of Norman towers : it will be noticed that
the lower stages were originally left blank — for tbe round-
headed windows are quite modern insertions and not a resto
ration* — and the richness of the ornament gradually increases
as the eye travels upwards, until it rests upon the upper
stages adorned with rich arcading running right roun-d them,
a device which, by carrying the eye upwards, counteracts the
effect of the horizontal lines. The arcading of the last stage
but one in the north-west tower, a series of intersecting
arches, is a common feature of advanced Norman work.
Were that part of the head of each round arch, which lies
between its points of intersection -with the arch of either side
of it, omitted, there would remain an arcade of narrow pointed
arches ; and this is exactly what does occur in the correspond
ing stage of the south tower. It was a favourite theory of
architects in the earlier part of the century that it was this

**be circular, corresponding -with the other clerestory -windo-ws,"
(Mr. Dimock's Arch. Hist.), and the whole would probably be cro-wned
-with a gable. The general arrangement would thus well correspond
with the well-kno-wn front of Abbaye aux Hommes, Caen, for -which
see plate in App. to Vol. I. of Storer's Cathedrals. .
* The insertion of -windows in this position originated in the fact
that until quite lately there existed here examples of late three-light
Decorated -windo-ws. They appear in Hollar's views as well as in
Dickenson's. The one in the north-west to-wer was removed and
replaced by a blank -window-arch of Norman character in 1801-2,
¦when it -was thought necessary to strengthen the tower. This was
pierced for glazing e. 1850, when the Decorated window in the south
tower was also removed. The tracery of the latter, an exceedingly
beautiful example of double-foliated tracery of the reticulated pat
tern, described by Mr. Freeman in his Window Tracery, is preserved
in one of the gardens attached to the vicarage. By the kind permis
sion of the lady who no-w occupies the garden I have been able to
obtain a photograph of the tracery, and from it is made the rough
sketch -which appears in one of our plates. It appears in its original
position in a plate in Clarke and Killpack's Southwell, pubhshed in
1838. The weather-course on the north-west tower cannot be ex
plained. Hollar's view shews a tall canopy-shaped shed over a small
doorway between the west doorway and the near buttress of the same
tower. The shed was removed and the doorway blocked iu 1771.

68
feature which first suggested the Early English pointed arch,
but it is now generally believed to have had a purely con
structive origin.
There is no part of their churches upon which the Normans
bestowed more pains th'an their doorways. They were often
composed of a succession of receding arches, and to gain depth
of wall in which to buUd them a sort of flat buttress was
applied to the main wall. Malmesbury Abbey has a portal of
eight such arches. In the case before us there are five : four
of them spring from detached jamb-shafts with ornamented
capitals, and in their arch-mouldings the common zigzag
alternates with a filleted edge-roll ; while the fifth and inner
most arch^ continued without impost to the ground, is enriched
with a more beautiful variety of zigzag. A dripstone of
double-billet moulding surmounts the whole. The tyro in.
architecture must notice the square plinth-stones and abaci,
and the scolloped capitals of the shafts — characteristic features
of Norman work. Now let us pass to the south side of the
church. There is only one of the original Norman windows of the
nave now left, the westernmost window o£ the north aisle ;
the round-headed windows in the first three bays of the south
aisle are good copies of it. The inferior order of the arch
consists of a moulding of zigzag running down the jambs
-without impost ; above this is a large edge-roll springing from
detached jamb-shafts ; and the whole is surmounted by a drip
stone of the double-billet. The square abacus is continued
along the -wall as a string-course, which dies away into the

69
buttress. The three windows were inserted o. 1847.* At
that time an Early English chapel, occupying the second
bay and projecting outwards, was pulled down.f The
original Norman windows were replaced in early Perpen
dicular times by windows like those still occupying the
last four bays of the aisle. Similar insertions still remain
in the north aisle. Though the general character of the
Norman work suffers from their presence, yet we would
in no -wise have them removed, since they preserve to us
an important feature of the history of the fabric. The
dripstones terminate in sculptures of the heads of females
with the square head-dress worn in the reign of Eichard II. J
Here we may notice again the horizontal string-courses. The
continuity of the lower one of zigzag, which once ran right
along immediately under the sills of tho Norman windows, is
now broken by the Perpendicular windows. It is curious to
remark how, when the latter were inserted, the displaced
portions of the string-course were simply removed to the

* Before this restoration was made the first bay had a plain Norman
doorway -with single jamb-shafts, and above it a -window like the
other original aisle--windows, but somewhat smaller.
t Called Booth's chapel, because Abp. La-wrence Booth added to it
and founded therein two fresh chantries. Mr. Dimock tells us that
the first chapel was in all likelihood built by Canon Henry le Vavasour,
who founded a chantry at the altar of S. John Baptist, 1275-1280 :
and -with regard to its destruction, he adds — Thoroton speaks of it as
having become in his time, "by neghgence in the late wars and since,"
utterly ruinous. It was afterwards repaired, and used as a school
and hbrary, but was taken do-wn in 1784. The arch of communica
tion into the nave aisle, in the second bay from the west tower, -was
¦visible until -within a few years ; it was of late Early English charac
ter, and was walled up, -with an atrocious -windo-w of three hghts.
In remo-ring the old foundation of this part of the aisle, some five
years since (i.e. e. 1847), pre-vious to underpinning, the whole walling-
up fell in. The bay was thereupon restored, according to the Norman
arrangement. X Mr. Dimock remarks that these -windows are really late Decorated
work, the mouldings ha-riug a close similarity to those of the -window
described in the preceding note.

70
lower level of the new window-sills, the break being filled up
-vertically with the mouldings which came from the Jambs of
the destroyed Norman windows. The architect will at once
detect the difference in the sections of the two kinds of zigzag.
Just above the upper string-course is a series of small square
windows which give light to the triforium, which is not,
therefore, in this case a blind-story. Above this again we
come to one of the most peculiar features of the whole build
ing — I mean the clerestory of circular windows, perfectly
plain, without cuspings. There is no parallel to this now
existing in England. At Ledbury, indeed, in Herefordshire,
there is a clerestory of circular lights, but the roofs of the
aisles have been raised above them on the outside, so that they
can be seen only from the interior of the church. Circular
Norman windows, without tracery, also occur in the chapter
house of Oxford Cathedral, and in Canterbury Cathedral.
At Gretton Church, in Leicestershire, the clerestory has
plain circular and triangular windows alternating, but this
belongs to a later date. It only remains to notice the plain
nebule corbel-tables, which support parapet walls, running
along above the aisle and clerestory windows. The parapets
are not Norman, either here or on the lantern tower, for
the original roofs had projecting eaves coming do-wn just
over the corbel-tables which supported them, like the pre
sent western spires, but of course without any cant. The
present high-pitched roofs are a recent restoration by Mr.
Christian. The parapets were doubtless built when the
original eave-roofs were lowered throughout, possibly in the
15th century at the time when the large west window was
inserted. The old low-pitched roofs appear in Hollar's views
of 1672, and must have been renewed after the fire destroyed
them in 1711.

Pi/^set Jn.

71
'^XKMt^h : €%ttmx.
The windows in the second stage of the transept are worth
notice. The arch shews a curious example of cable -moulding,
which occurs again in a much bolder form in the interior in
the great arches supporting the lantern tower. The dripstone
is composed of three overhanging rows of a small square -
footed nebule. In the south wall of the south transept there
is a fine segmental doorway, of which the jamb-shafts and
their caps were restored o. 1847. It is worthy of notice that
the zigzag string-course, already mentioned as running all
round the Norman church, rises over this doorway, forming a
hood or dripstone.* The pitch of the old low roofs may be
clearly seen in the restored gables of the transepts. These
heavy gables, -without relief of windows and with their pecu
liar ornamentation, are very remarkable : the pattern of the
ornamentation in the two transepts is similar in character but
different in treatment, the parts indented in the one being
embossed in the other. A close examination of the parapet
wall of the lantern tower will shew that in it are worked up
many stones ha-ving precisely the ornamentation so peculiar
in the gables, and a cursory glance will shew that the work
manship of the comer pinnacles is very similar; moreover
these pinnacles, each consisting of a cylindrical shaft with
conical capping, are very like the somewhat plainer pinnacles
which flank the gable of the north porch, as we shall presently
see. The conclusion drawn from this is that the removal pf
the pyramidal roof of the tower and the lowering of the nave
and transepts roofs took place at the same time, and that the
parapet was built partly of the stones which came from the
destroyed gables, and that the corner pinnacles came from the
* Quite recently an inserted doorway of no merit was removed
from the corresponding position in the north transept;

72 same place. As Mr. Dimock remarks, placed on the comers
of the transept gables, in correspondence with the similar and
BimUarly-situated pinnacles of -the north porch, they would
be in good place and good proportion ; whereas now they only
strike the eye as repugnant to the Norman arrangement of a
tower, and injurious in their comparative dwarfishness to the
massive character of the structure on which they stand.
I have fully discussed the features of the east waU of the
south transeft in Chapter III.* The clearly marked gable-
moulding shews the pitch of the roof of a semi-circular
apsidal chapel which belonged to the Norman church. There
were originally three other apses, one annexed to the corres
ponding wall of the north transept, and one at the east end of
each choir aisle, while the chancel had a square termination.
Eomsey Church, Hants, has similar apsidal chapels to the
transepts, as well as two others worked into the main wall at
the corners of the chancel. Circular chapels may be seen,
too, varying in form, at Tewkesbury Abbey, at Gloucester,
Norwich, and Canterbury Cathedrals, and elsewhere. At
Peterborough they have 'been destroyed. Another gable-
moulding, on the east side of the lantern tower, shews the
pitch of the roof of the old Norman choir, and if we follow
the corbel-table of the transept to its juncture with the tower
we see it continued two or three feet on the return wall of
the clerestory of the present choir.

* It was agreed in chapter, August 12th, . 1784, to build a new
library, running eastwards from this wall. The records contain the
following marginal note by the hand of Archdeacon Wilkins : —
' ' A pretty piece of business this, by which the beautiful lancet
' ' -windows of the south aisle of the choir were bricked up and a large
"lean-to made for a library-room, -with a chimney against the said
" windows, and other incongruous adjuncts — all happily puUed do-wn,
' ' and the foundations and walls underpinned, the windows and walls
"restored to their primitive form hyme. G. W. — a.d. 1847." It
was in reality pulled do-wn in 1825, long before this note was -written.

73
In passing from the Norman to the Early English part of
the church we are sorry to have to introduce our remarks
with another lamentation. The light and lofty character of
the Early English style, as contrasted -with the low massive
look of the Norman, has been in a great measure destroyed
by the lowering throughout of the high-pitched roofs. On
the east side of the tower again we can still see the weather-
course of the original choir-roof, running up almost to the
top of the arcading which adorns its second stage ; and on the
clerestory waU is the mark of the old roof of the secondary
transepted chapels which occupy the fifth bay of the choir.
This, however, is a loss which we may hope the architect will
see his way to restoring to us, and we have in what remains
an example of the style which in refinement and delicacy is
hardly surpassed. " The noble choir," wrote Sir Gilbert
Scott, "seems to be an emanation from Lincoln."* It cer
tainly reminds one very much of the nave and transept of
that noble building, and its date is very little later. The
treatment of the buttresses and base-mouldings is very similar
in the two buildings, and the similarity is seen in other details.
The deep projection of the buttresses contrasts with the broad
shallow pilasters of the Norman period — the comparative thin
ness of the Early English walls requiring much greater support.
They are square in the lower stage, and largely chamfered
above, terminating in heavy acute triangular heads -with
sunken faces and adorned with dog-tooth, which rise up
through the parapet wall. Had the aisles their original eave-
roofs, these triangular heads would stand up much more
prominently than they do now — much as they do in the but-

74
tresses of the chancel. For the beneflt of the young student
we may remark that the dog-tooth is as characteristic an
ornament of this style as the baU-flower is of the following
one : it is described as a small pyramid cut into four leaves
which meet at the apex. The deep under-cutting of the bold
base-mouldings and string-courses is equally characteristic.
The windows are single-lancets, with the glazing deeply set
and with largely chamfered jambs — generally a pair in each
bay, with a continuous dripstone, the arches springing from
single shafts, engaged and filleted. The parapet above the
clerestory is original and very flne : it is carried on a corbel-
table of grotesque heads, with two courses of cornice mould
ings enriched with dog-tooth and a plain face between them.
The two flying buttresses with crocketed pinnacles are Deco
rated work, 0. 1355, probably, built no doubt to counteract
damage threatened by the great weight of the roof and by
the outward thrust of the heavy stone vaulting in the interior.
It is a pity they were ever found necessary, for, without being
specially good examples of the style, they mar the harmony
of the Early English work besides breaking the continuity of
the elegant clerestory. But in some of our larger churches,
when a whole series of flying buttresses spanning the aisles
is seen, as at Gloucester or Howden, it forms a striking
feature in the general view. The western one of these
two, until a recent restoration, had a water-drain running
do-wn its ridge and issuing through the lower part of the
pinnacle in front. Mr. Petit has preserved it in a drawing
published in the Lincoln volume of the Proceedings of the
Arch. Lnst. It was in a dangerous state, and in restoration
it was thought safer to rebuild it like its neighbour. Before
going round to the east front the visitor may get a flne south
east -view of the church by passing along the wall of the
Palace towards the comer of the church-yard : it was from a

75
point imder this wall that Turner took his sketch of the
minster, and in following his taste and judgment I suppose
no one can err.
The choir-aisles consist of six bays, their east walls contain
ing each a pair of lancets, and beyond projects a chancel of
two bays. The east front of the chancel, like that of York,
is square and runs up to the fuU height of the main building.
Bold, massive buttresses stand in rectangular pairs at the
corners, and each pair is surmounted with an octagonal pin
nacle. Each pinnacle has shafts at its angles, which support
an acute gablet over each of its faces. From within the
gablets rises a small ribbed spire, terminating in a bunch of
crocketed foliage. Above the lower blank stage the east front
has two tiers of lancets, four of equal height in each. The
lower tier fills the whole space between the buttresses, while
in the upper tier, the lancets being narrower, there is an
additional blank arch between them and the buttress on each
side. The lancets are separated by triple-clustered shafts
supporting arches of two orders enriched with dog-tooth, and
they are combined under a continuous dripstone similarly
enriched. The combination of four lancets of equal height
in tbe east front of Southwell presents a peculiarity of which
there is, I believe, no parallel instance extant. The form
usually adopted by Early English builders is a triplet of lan
cets, the middle one being higher than the others, while a
quintette, in which the height rises in gradation to the centre
one, is found in two or three of our churches. Four combined
lancets, however, may be seen in Eepton Church, and in
Trinity Hospital Chapel, Leicester ; but in each case the two
middle -windows are higher than the outside ones. Of course
"the -wretched battlemented low gable," with its miserable

76
crushed window, is not original. The cross which crowned
the gable it replaced once rose far above the tops of the
flanking pinnacles. It is only necessary to stand before the
transepts of Lincoln or York to imagine how great a loss the
east front has suffered by the lowering of the choir roof, and
we cannot express too strong a hope that its ancient beauty
will ere long be restored. I think there can be little doubt
that the opinion that the old gable contained a circular window
is erroneous. The windows throughout the Early "English
work are of a decidedly early character, uniformly plain
without a sign of tracery. Moreover had there been a circular
window here, we should expect to find the same in the half-
gables of the east fronts of the aisles, as in the case of the
transept with its side-aisles at Beverley. But there we have
lancets, and here, too, there must have been an arcading of
lancet arches, probably seven in all, their height increasing
towards the centre one, and one or two of them pierced for
glazing to give light to the space between the interior ceiling
and the roof above. The five sisters of York have an arcading
of seven lancet arches above them. At the east end of Ely there
are seven above flve in the main aisle, and in the side aisles
five above a triplet. This was in fact the common arrange
ment. The eastern elevation of Whitby Abbey, now in ruins,
bears the closest resemblance in design to Southwell east
front : the gable there contains as many as seven lancets
above a triplet only.
The chapter-house is a necessary adjunct to all conventual
churches, whether secular or monastic. Secular canons,
living, as they did, in the world like other people, had no
common dormitory and often-times no cloister attached to
their church, but they wanted a common room in which they

77
might meet to discuss and transact the business of their col
lege, and this room, the chapter-house in fact, was in their
foundations always closely connected with the church, having
in most instances no entrance but from the interior of the
church. In monastic foundations, on the contrary, the
chapter-house was not more closely connected with the church
than the other common buildings, which were arranged round
a cloister generally attached to the south nave-aisle and tran
sept ; and in it the monks, both lay and clerical, used to meet
daily to read a portion (called capitulum or little chapter) of
the rule under which they lived. In secular churches the
chapter-house is more often found on the north side of the
church, and east of the transept, as at Southwell. In Norman
times the chapter-house was generally a rectangular building,
as at Durham, Gloucester, and Bristol : but the beautiful
series of examples of the 13th century assumed a polygonal
shape. With Southwell we may compare Lincoln, Salisbury
(on south of church). Wells, and Westminster.
In the preceding chapters I have had occasion to speak of
the great similarity of the York and Southwell chapter-houses,
drawing the conclusion that they were designed by the same
hand. The building before, us belongs to the style called
Decorated, and to that early division of it which synchronizes
roughly with the reign of the first Edward, and is called
Geometrical from the form of the tracery of the windows.
The windows here are of three lights, having circles, both
trefoiled and quatrefoUed, in the heads. They are large and
well-proportioned, in this respect contrasting favourably with
the smaller lights of the preceding style. In fact with each
succeeding style of architecture the size of the windows
increased, and this assumed an exaggerated form when archi
tectural art began to degenerate in Perpendicular times. In
plan the chapter-house is a regular octagon, with a vestibule

78
attached to its western face. The buttresses at the angles are
massive and of great projection. They are divided by string
courses into three stages, the uppermost stage of each having
a niche in its face, once filled with a figure. Above this the
buttress terminates in a gablet adorned with crockets and
finials. From the back of each gablet, again, there rises
through the parapet a lofty square pedestal carrying a
crocketed pinnacle. The pinnacles have at some period been
badly patched up. This pedestal is ribbed at the corners, and
each of its faces, which are sunk concavely, terminates in a
trefoU within a gablet crocketed and finialed. Four grotesque
figures project horizontally from the corners of the pedestal
at the points where the gablets spring from the ribs. The
high-pitched roof is a recent restoration. The design of the
parapet is exquisite, and though rich it has some early details
— a corbel-table, for instance, is seldom found in the Decorated
style (but cp. Weston- upon- Well and, Northamptonshire, late),
while the pierced part is generally of a more wavy character.
The corbel-table is a series of trefoiled arches springing from
heads, and the spandrels also are trefoiled ; above this there
is a hollow cornice-moulding filled with a row of dog-tooth of
the late leafy kind ; then comes a broad plain face ; and this
is surmounted by a series of pierced quatrefoils. It only
remains to notice that some of the crockets of the gablets and
pinnacles are of the etirly form like a bishop's crooh, from
which the crocket is said to derive its name,* and that in the
western wall of the vestibule there is an instance of an ogee-
arched window.

* More commonly derived from Fr. croc. But there is in M.E.
literature a word erok, a crook or hook, of which our crocket is proba
bly merely the diminutive. The corresponding word in Fr. architec
ture is crochet, from croc, whioh. itself is a word of Teutonic origin.

79

^1^ ^ssxt^ ^rattsfgt €^npl: Mniox.
Between the vestibule and the north transept we have the
exterior wall of an Early English chapel, buUt very shortly
after the completion of the choir. The beautiful arcade of
lancets in the middle stage, pierced in two instances for lights,
is as purely Early English in character aa anything we have
in the choir. The tracery of the lower window is of course
a much later insertion, and the low-gabled parapet and the
flanking-gabled heads of the Early English buttresses also
seem to point to a somewhat later date. On the other side of
this gable, as may, be seen from the top of the lantern tower,
there is the weather-moulding of a slanting roof running
down just above the three-light window. There is no doubt
that the upper part of this building was originally left in
quite an unfinished state. It is difficult to assign exact dates
to the gable and the depressed window it contains. Mr.
Dimock thought that at any rate the window (though not its
tracery) was Early. English work, arguing, I think, from the
presence of the dog-tooth. But compare this ornament -with
the dog-tooth in the triangular head of the Early English
buttress hard by, and you will find it quite different. In fact
it is a plain-faced pyramid, more like the nail-head than the
dog-tooth. The buttresses are much like those of the choir
already described, but in the third stage the chamfered edges
of the lower stages slope up to a point, a feature which seems
to enhance their beauty.*

* Many years ago the monster which now cro-wns the gable of the
north transept was lying in the workshop of Mr. Ingleman, builder,
¦ whence it was removed to Upton Hall. It fo-und yet another home
before being reclaimed and placed, quite lately, in the position which
it probably originally occupied.

80 Though the Normans bestowed special pains on the enrich
ment of their doorways, yet Norman porches are somewhat
rare : the one at Malmesbury Abbey, WUts., is perhaps one
of the finest we have. The instance before us is almost
unique in having an upper-room. The outer arch consists
of two orders, moulded and springing from engaged semi-
cylindrical shafts, with capitals scolloped and otherwise
omamented. The zigzag string-course already noticed as
running round the Norman church forms the abacus and
is carried along the interior walls above an arcade of
intersecting arches, the bases of which rest on a stone bench
on each side. The inner doorway consists of a series of six
receding arches, most of them having some variety of the
zigzag moulding, springing from detached jamb-shafts. The
innermost arch springs from its jambs -without imposts, as
in the west doorway, while the order next above shews what
is called the beak-head moulding. The oak doors themselves
are worth notice : the panels, which are covered with flowing
Decorated tracery, are not framed but cut out of the solid
wood. The ceiling of the porch is a plain barrel vault of rub
ble-work, originally intended to receive the plaster. The
plaster was removed some time since, and the effect is doubtless
better without it. The gable above the outer archway contains
three beautiful round-headed windows, which give light to the
chamber within, the middle one being taller than the others.
They are similar in detail to the original windows of the nave.
There is a separate dripstone over each, consisting of the
triple nebule and terminating in long grotesque heads. A
row of square heads, similar to those under the eaves of the
roofs of the towers, support the parapets on the side walls of
the porch. The gable in the front is flanked by cylindrical

81
turrets, similar in form to those now on the corners of the
lantern, but plainer in design. The western one is a peculiar
example of a Norman chimney, with holes pierced round the
top for the exit of the smoke. The fireplace within was
formerly removed, but the lintel has been lately found and
restored to its place. The chamber is entered by a doorway
which communicates with the triforium, and on either side in
the thickness of the wall there is a square recess for a cup
board. It was doubtless meant for a living-room. In some
instances such rooms, which are not uncommon over porches
of the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, -were inhabited by
recluses, iilen who, expressing a determination to separate
themselves altogether from the world, were shut in with some
ceremony, and the door sealed up. But in these cases there
was always some small window or other opening through
which means of sustenance might be received by the votary
into his cell, and the absence of such an opening in this case
precludes the possibility of the room having ever been a
reclusorium. Perhaps a sacrist lived here, for the records
make mention of a sacrist who should lie within the church,
to be at hand to ring the bells at the appointed hours. The
Norman porch at Bredon Church, Worcester, has a room over
it. Sherborne Abbey affords another example, shewing,
however, some additional 15th century work upon it. These
are, I believe, tbe only other instances of a Norman porch
-with an upper-room of the same date. The room over the
porch at Witney, Oxfordshire, is a later addition.
f^^-^ ^Kbt: Jtttmor.
Entering the Minster by the west door we may begin by
pausing to take a full-length view of the nave. I am not
prepared to bestow unqualified praise upon the design and

82
arrangement of the Norman interior. It is impossible to be
enthusiastic about the long, low, bare clerestory wall, scarcely
relieved by the small round arches which admit the light from
windows which cannot be seen ; or about the triforium arcade,
which seems far too massive for its low elevation. There is a
certain depressing sense of lowness which is especially felt
when one looks at the elevation of each bay separately. But
we have to remember that this lowness is one of the charac
teristic features of Norman design, and to guard against
drawing comparisons in this respect with buildings of later
date, when the use of the pointed arch enabled them to be
carried to so much greater heights. And there is a massive
grandeur about the whole which the rudeness of the design
and the simplicity of the ornamentation seems to enhance.
The horizontal lines dividing the stages carry the eye along
the building past a succession of vast solid piers until it rests
in the distance upon the bold and lofty arch of tbe lantern
tower, which with its boldness and great height seems to
redeem the faults in design which would be so striking with
out it. And the grandeur of the general effect is insured by
the high-pitched semi-circular ceiling* with which Mr. Chris
tian has replaced the late wretched flat ceiling. It is, perhaps,
a pity that the view of the succession of curved braces of
which it is framed had to be broken by the immense square
tie-beams which span the breadth of the nave ; but, when we
think of the great weight of the solid carpentry of the ceiling
and of the fact that the strength of the clerestory walls is
much lessened by the gallery that runs within them, it is at
once seen that they were a necessary precaution.
* The original Norman ceilings must have been of much the same
form as the present nave ceiling — perhaps they were slightly canted.
The series of foUo-sized lithographic -views of the minster, by Buckler,
shews the nave -with its former flat ceiling — they are well worth the
small amount which -will buy them, and the more so since the letter
press was -written specially for them by Mr. Dimock.

83
The cylindrical piers of the nave arcade are about 4J ft. in
thickness and only 19 ft. in height; tbe bases are square, and
the abaci, as at Tewkesbury, Gloucester, and Malmesbury, are
round, and the capitals variously ornamented. The arch
consists of two orders with a hood-mould of the double billet :
the inferior order shews an uncommon variety of a common
moulding — a square keel set diamonds-wise between two edge-
rolls — which occurs in the tower of the somewhat earher
building of S. Alban's Abbey; the superior order has a broad
plain soffit with an edge-roll flanked on the face by a filleted
hollow. The triforium stage contains a gallery the full width
of the aisle below. The arches of the arcade are of the same
span as those just described, but of much less height; here
the abaci are square, the two orders of each arch spring from
semi-cylindrical shafts with scolloped cushion capitals, and the
hood-mouid-s consist of a small triple-nebule. There is a
peculiarity here which must not pass unnoticed since it bears
witness to the fact that the Norman builders felt that the
broad span of these low massive arches wanted some relief,
while it shews that they failed to carry out their original
design in this stage. Each arch has three curious projecting
stones, one at the crown and one at each spring of the inferior
order. They are es;plained by the existing arrangement of
the triforium of Eomsey Abbey, Hants., where the main arch
is divided by a central shaft, which carries two subordinate
arches and an upright which rises from the impost to the
crown of the larger arch above.* The smaE plain arches
which break the blank wall of the clerestory stage, so unat
tractive from, the floor of the nave, with the passage and

* The architect recently inserted the framework of such an arrange
ment in one of the arches, to see the effect, but determined to leave
the arcade in its present fonu.

84
circular lights within them, become more attractive when
seen from their own level. A sketch of one of them appears
in Plate II.*
The aisles afford an example of a flne quadripartite vaulted
ceiling, the groin-ribs of which have a moulding similar to
that of the inferior order of the nave arches, except that they
have a double instead of a single diamond keel between the
rolls. The ribs of this heavy stone vault spring simply from
corbels in the wall. The transverse arches are very much
stilted, in fact they are almost horse-shoe in form. The key
stones at the intersections of tbe cross-ribs are generally plain,
but that under the north-west tower is sculptured -with a
grotesque double head. The walls of the aisles have no
arcading, so common in the richer buildings of this style ;
there is simply a stone bench running along the foot. In the
first bay of the north aisle remains the one original nave
window : the rere-arch has a continuous edge -roll and filleted
hollow, the jambs are largely splayed, aud the sill ascends in
Steps to the glazing. In the wall of the second bay on the
same side is a recess with a semi-circular but late Early
English arch containing a slab of Purbeck marble with a
beautiful raised cross upon it. The slab doubtless covers the
remains of the' founder of a chantry chapel erected here.
Moreover, when the whitewash was removed (e. 1850) the
vaulting of this bay, and this bay only, shewed signs of having
been at one time enriched with painting. The space between
the piers of the easternmost bay but one on the south side is
the site of another of the .numerous chantry chapels in this

* See similar sketch by Mr. Petit in the Lincoln Vol. of the Jo-umal
of the Arch. Inst.

85
church ; the eastern pier shews marks of a sculpture of the
Virgin and the Lily now destroyed.*
Srafent %a'ixitx mh %XM%t^h: Jirtmor.
The lantern tower is supported by four lofty arches opening
into the four arms of the dross. It is curious that the span
of the transept arches is greater than the span of the arch
opening into the nave. This arrangement, while leaving
the transepts comparatively free and open, at the same
time allows the responds of the western arch to project
considerably beyond the. lines of the nave arcades, whereby
the boldness of its appearance from the west end of the
nave is rendered more striking. The responds of this
arch, and of its eastern companion, consist of three semi-
cylindrical shafts, from which the three orders of the arches
spring. The responds of the two remaining arches are single
semi-cylindrical shafts of the same diameter as the piers of
the nave arcade. The middle order of each arch is a bold
cable-moulding. It differs from the plain-twisted cable often
used by classical and Norman architects, an example of which
may be seen at Eomsey. Each coil is distinctly keeled round
its broadest part, and the whole looks like a series of double
cones arranged spirally — another ingenious device to enhance
its effect when seen from a distance. In the interior- of the
tower, in the first stage above the great arches, there are eight
richly ornamented arches, two in each wall. In former times
they were quite hidden from view by the fiat ceilings. They
open into a gallery or passage running round the tower, and
across this, through corresponding arches in the exterior faces
* See next chapter. — Standing near one of the pillars a little lower
do-wn on the same side (the fifth from the west, I think it is), oue
catches a beautiful ghmpse of the north transept chapel, the Ught
streaming through the flo-wing tracery of its -windows.

86
of the walls, into the fonr arms of the church. The old lo-w-
pitched roofs ran diagonally across them, allowing the upper
portions of them to be seen from the outside of the building.
The stage above this is adorned -with similar arches, through
which, across another gallery, the lantern windows throw their
light into the interior of the to-syer. These arches are no-w
partly hidden by the wooden gallery used by the bell-ringers,
which unfortunately became a necessity when the flat ceiling
was removed. Perhaps the bells will some day be placed in the
western towers. A drawing by Coney, published in the last
edition* of the Monasticon, shews the interior of the lantern
tower to great advantage.
The transepts are at once bold in design and rich in detail.
The south transept is perhaps the more beautiful. The cable-
moulding is nsed in the window-arches of the middle stage
-with flne effect, and the triple nebule prevails largely. There
is a remarkable irregularity in the cable-moulding of one of
the windows in the western wall. The windows of the lower
stage are similar to the original nave window already described,
but to carry off the greater thickness of the wall they are
enriched with an additional order. The east and west walls
of the transept contain a passage which is continued round
the end wall also ; but in this case it is not in the thickness
of the wall, but carried by a flne pair of arches -with a pro
jection of 2 ft. Perhaps it was thought that the end wall,
having to carry a heavy gable, required extra strength ; but
other Norman buildings, Winchester for instance, do not shew
a like precaution in like case. The arches span the transept
and spring from corbels at the sides and at the centre from a
cylindrical shaft, the capital of which is worth notice. They
are ornamented -with a double row of cable, twisted in oppo-
* Caley, EUis, and Blandinel, 1817-30.

87
site directions. In the eastern waU of the transept there stiU
remains the large arch of entrance into the semi-circular
chapel long since destroyed. The chapel has been fuUy dis
cussed in the foregoing chapter. The arch shews on the edge
of its superior order a good example of zigzag, and has an
inferior order of a double row of cable partly hidden. In the
stage above there is a bold arcade of three arches, which may
originally have communicated with the upper story of the
apsidal chapel. Lofty plain arches communicate with the
nave and choir aisles, and above them, through very similar
arches, the triforia open out into the transept. The braces of
the wooden ceiling are not barrel-formed as in the nave
ceiling, but canted.
The north transept presents nearly the same features as the
south. Here, however, the destroyed apsidal chapel has been
replaced by one of Early English date, which we shall con-
¦ sider later on. A description of the sculpture over the belfry
doorway, of the effigy of Abp. Sandys, both in this transept,
as well as of the capitals of the piers of the eastern lantern-
tower arch, will be found in the next chapter. In this arch,
on its eastern side, as. well as in the northern arch on the
transept side, the cable-moulding is replaced by a large roH
with a plain square moulding above it. In the wall above
the effigy of Abp. Sandys there is a fragment of zigzag string
course which must not pass unnoticed, no similar moulding
occurring elsewhere in the church.
'%!§£ €^axx: ^xdtxxsx.
It was but little more than a century after the completion
of the Norman church when its choir was pulled down to be
rebuilt on a much larger scale, in the less massive but more
elegant style which prevailed in the 13th century. Doubtless

88
it was felt that the small Norman choir, which was not so
much as half the length of its successor, was unsuited to the
high position which the church of Southwell held in the
diocese of York. Probably it was found practically inconve
nient. It was large enough for the daily use of the flfty or
sixty persons, maybe, belonging to the coUege, but Southwell
was more than a collegiate church, it was the mother church
of the county of Nottingham ; and when at the annual synod
all thfr clergy and a great number of the laity of the county
went in procession to present their offerings and attend divine
service, it would be flUed to overflowing. The plan adopted
in the erection of the new choir can be fairly clearly traced.
That the Norman choir extended only to the middle of the
fourth bay of the present one has been proved by an exami
nation of the foundations. It was left standing until the
whole of the new work lying eaist of it was completed. This
is proved by the fact that the foundations of the eastern half
of the choir are composed entirely of a stone found in the
immediate neighbourhood ; while in the foundations of the
western part, which occupies the site of the old choir, inter
mixed with the local stone there is a large quantity of stone
like that which the Normans used in those portions of their
church which remain standing now. The Early English
builders obtained their stone from Mansfield, and it is a light
sandstone -with blue veins in it. The Normans used a darker
sandstone, of a yellowish hue, found at Mansfield Woodhouse.
The whole of the eastern part of the choir is buUt of the
ight coloured stone, while in the western and later part the
darker stone is used together with the light. In fact the
Early English builders, when they reached the Norman choir,
pulled it down and made use of the material in raising the
building which took its place. It may be further noticed that
in the fourth bay on each side there are irregularities which

89
denote that here there is a juncture of two works. The crown
of the arch on the south side is not so high as that of its
fellows, and the space between it and the string-course above
is filled in with a curious medallion. On the other side there
is an irregularity in the string-course itself. It seems that
the builders worked from the east, and when they reached the
Norman choir they did not continue their work in the same
direction, but began again at the west end of the choir,* and
on coming to their old work found their measurements slightly
¦wrong, and corrected their mistake as best they could. Some
architectural details confirming this view will be noticed in
their place.
Southwell affords no study of the transition from the
Norman style to the Early English. The latter fiourished
from about 1190 to 1270. S. Hugh's choir at Lincoln is the
earliest as well as one of the purest examples of Gothic we
have, closely followed by the beautiful Galilee of Ely. Then
come the excellent choir and transepts of Eochester, the nave
and transepts of Lincoln, and the west front of Wells. These
are followed by Salisbury, which, from its singular complete
ness, has been called the type of the style. So that Southwell,
which was commenced when the choir only of Salisbury had
been finished, and is of nearly the same date as the north
transept of York, was buUt when the style was well advanced.
It shews in its details many evidences of its somewhat late
date, though it has not the profusion of ornament displayed
in such buildings as Westminster Abbey and in the later and
more beautiful presbytery of Lincoln called the Angels' Choir.
In a building of this date we should have expected some
approach to division of lights in the windows, instead of the

* The abutment of the Early English arcade upon the Norman
responds has been considered in the foregoing chapter, pp. 59, 60.

(»r^

90
plain single lancets ; but the fiUets on all the shafts, the plain
round mouldings (without hollows) of many of the bases, and
the longitudinal rib of the vaulting, are one and all signs of
the advance of the style.
The base-mouldings of the piers and responds shew con
siderable diversity of treatment. Many of them consist of
two rounds and a fiUeted hoUow between, others of three
plain rounds. The hollow, which would hold water, is charac
teristic of the Early English style, and its absence is generally
a sign of advanced date. AU four responds shew the hoUow
moulding ; it is absent from the bases of five out of six of the
piers in the western or later half of the choir, and from only
one out of four in the eastern part. The piers are octofoil,
composed, that is, of eight clustered shafts, and these are aU
fiUeted. Deep-set between each pair of shafts the responds
shew additional detached shafts banded midway. The piUars
of earlier buildings are often composed entirely of detached
banded shafts, arranged round a central column, as in the
choir at Salisbury. The responds of the arches of the
secondary transepts are also octofoU, and in this case the
smaUer shafts are banded. The capitals are of the inverted-
beU shape usual in this style. The arches, with their rounds
and deep hoUows, give further evidence of the advance of the
style, since the outUne of their mouldings does not sufflciently
conform to the octofoU shape, of the piers and capitals from
which they spring. The dog-tooth with which the second
order is enriched is peculiar in that it is worked upon a broad
projecting fiUet instead of being placed in a hollow as it
usuaUy is. In the three eastern arches on the south side it
does not appear, a fiUeted round taking its place. I myself
prefer the latter arrangement, with the bolder effect of light
and shade that it gives, and venture to think the dog-tooth in
this case no gain in beauty of design.

91
The arrangement of the triforium, clerestory, and vaulting,
is very uncommon and very striking. All our large churches
of early date have three distinct stages : the arcade separating
the side-aisle from the nave or choir : the triforium, which the
architect is free to adorn as he thinks fit ; and the clerestory
stage. The vaulting-shafts generally run up the waU of the
triforium stage, between the bays, to the string-course which
separates it from the clerestory above, and at this level the
vaulting-ribs spring from them. In this case, however, in
buUding an Early English choir on to a low Norman tower,
to preserve the symmetry of the whole internally as well as
externally, it was necessary to make the elevation of the choir
not so great as we find it in most of our large churches of this
style. The architect did not choose to lessen the height and
span of the arches of the great arcade, or to build a flat
ceUing. He chose rather to make the vault spring from a
lower level than is usual, in fact only two or three feet above
the top of the lower stage, and practically robbed himself of
his triforium stage by merging it into the clerestory stage
above, with an effect as pleasing as it is singular. It was
doubtless the pleasing effect of this ingenious combination of
triforium and clerestory into one stage at Southwell which
prompted the adoption, some fifty years later, of a simUar
arrangement in the Decorated nave of York Minster. It may
have become common in Perpendicular times, but we only
find two other instances of it in churches as old as Southwell.
One occurs in the contemporaneous Early English choir of
Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire, and the second in the late
Norman church at Steyning, Sussex. To return to Southwell,
above the pier arcade each bay contains a pair of lofty lancet
arches, which run right up close under the cross vault of the
stone vaulting. The arches are very acute and enriched with
dog-tooth, and they spring from a taU slender triple-clustered

9/^

92
piUar in the middle and corresponding engaged pillars at the
sides. The shafts are filleted, and the hoUows between them
enriched with dog-tooth, like the arch-mouldings. The
absence of foliage from some of the capitals only serves to
enhance its beauty on others. Behind the pillars runs the
triforium gallery, and in the waU on the other side of it there
are two plain lancet openings into the space under the aisle
roof. Above these are the clerestory windows, likewise
lancets, on a level -with the capitals of the interior lancets,
through which they throw their light into the church. The
stone vaulting is quadripartite and enriched with dog-tooth,
with bosses of foliage at the intersections of the diago
nal ribs, and a longitudinal rib. The narro-wness of the
cellular compartments which admit the light from the
clerestory -windows serves weU to display the beauty of its
elliptical curve. The series of short triple-clustered vaulting-
shafts, with their rich capitals and the exceptionally flne
corbels of stiff-stalked foliage on which they rest, placed low
down between the pier arches, form together one of the beau
tiful features of the choir ; they are banded to the wall, as it
were, by the deep under-cut string-course which embraces
them. The east windows have already been treated of, but we
may here notice that it is the use of the vaulting-shaft and
rib of which the longitudinal rib of the vaulting is a continua
tion which prevented the introduction of a central window.
A like arrangement exists at Eomsey Abbey and Glasgow
Cathedral Church. The present arrangement of the chancel is
cramped and undignified. The raised platform on which the
altar-table stands occupies only half its area, and the ascent
of five steps is sudden and awkward. It is proposed to raise
the flooring of the rest of the chancel to the same higher level.

93
to bring the altar-table further forward,* and to make the
approach more gradual. The first step wiU be placed between
the fourth piers of the choir arcade, two more between the
fifth piers, and the remaining two between the eastern
responds. Thus the fifth and sixth bays of the choir will
be occupied by ascending platforms on which chairs can
be placed at festivals and on other occasions when an extra
number of sittings is required.f
There is not much to say about the aisles. The ribs of the
quadripartite vaulting spring on the one side from the capitals
of the pier arches, on the other from corbels. There are many
additional ribs springing from vaulting-shafts placed between
the lancets in each bay. Piscinas and aumbries occur in the
eastern bays and in each of the transepts. In the south aisle
there are some fine sedUia. In the waU of the same aisle
there is an inserted Perpendicular doorway, now blocked up,
which originaUy served as a private entrance from the Palace.
The hood-mould terminates in two heads ; the western one is
modern, but its companion affords an instance of the S.S.
coUar, which will be described in the next chapter. In the
transept on this side is a sepulchral recess, with a semi-circular
arch, containing the effigy of a priest. At the intersection of
the vaulting ribs in the eastern bay of the north aisle there is
* "1791, Jan. 20. Whereas sundry and great inconveniences
" have arisen from the present situation of the screen and altar- table,
" which will be entirely removed by taking do-wn screen and placing
"table further back" — ordered to be done. — Note from records.
t Here I may add that low side stalls are to be placed in the two
western bays of the choir. Stalls in the same position have lately
been removed on account of their shutting out the Hght of the aisle
windows. They were the work of an Itahan artist, one Bernasconi,
of the latter part of last century. AU their ornamental -work was
composition, sunk into or fastened on the stone ; but so weU executed
that only the closest examination -would reveal its true character.
They are preserved, I believe, in the Museum at Nottingham Castle.
In the early part of this century the aisles were darkened by unsightly
galleries, happily removed.

94a singular boss fonned of four dragon-heads gna-wing a flower
in the centre. The other bosses throughout the Early English
work are rich examples of the conventional foliage character
istic of the style ; but we must except one or two towards the
west end of the north aisle, which shew foliage decidedly less
conventional — an anticipation of the beautiful natural foliage
of the succeeding style, and further evidence of a somewhat
late date — notably the boss of oak leaves and acorns in the
second bay above the entrance to the chapter-house. The
doorway on the west of this entrance leads to the upper story
of the north transept chapel. To this chapel let us now
proceed. ^axtl^ '^xm&n^gt ®|ag'£l: ^jdmax.
This building is decidedly Early English in character,
though some of its detaUs suggest a date closely bordering
upon the Decorated era. Following very shortly after the
choir it is yet a distinct work. That it was not contemplated
when the western and later part of the choir was begun
seems proved by the fact that the external string-course of
the choir is carried on up to its junction with the Norman
transept wall — but this part of the choir, be it remembered,
was built from west to east. Two arches of entrance, acutely
pointed and unequal in height and span, fill up the Norman
entrance arch into the destroyed apse, the jamb of which has
been cut back to make room for the smaUer one of the two.
Their mouldings are like those of the arches of the choir
arcade, except that the orders are separated by a round instead
of a square, which, according to Mr. Dimock, is a Decorated
rather than an Early English arrangement. The triplcr
clustered shaft which is attached to the middle pillar and runs
up on the waU above its capital, terminating in a bracket

95
which once supported a statue, I take to be another Decorated
feature. The inequality of the entrance arches is due to the
division of the chapel intemaUy into two equal parts by the
triple-clustered- shafts attached on one side to the east wall,
on the other to this piUar. Each part once contained an altar,
and the piscinas and aumbries appear in the waUs. The
quadripartite vault, with its longitudinal rib, the under-cut
string-course under the windows, and the mouldings of the
bases, some hoUow, some round, aU bear the closest resem
blance to the corresponding features of the choir ; while the
capitals of the pointed arches shew the characteristic stiff-
stalked overhanging foUage. Instead of the fillet so freely
used in the choir, the vaulting-shafts, and round mouldings of
the pillars of the entrance arches, are moulded to a sharp
edge which runs down them in the centre, the edge forming
the apex of two ogee curves. Mr. Dimock has appUed
the term heeled'^ to a shaft thus moulded. Besides the pair
of triple-clustered vaulting-shafts already mentioned there
are other single shafts in the four corners of the chapel.
The wall-ribs which spring from them have a peculiar curve
whioh unites them with the arch-mouldings on both east and
west waUs in the form of a hood-mould to them. The three-
light windows are not to be taken as any criterion of the date
of the buUding, for they are insertions of fully a century
later. Their tracery is of the form called reticulated, resem
bling, that is, net-work. Mr. Freemanf thinks they were
executed by the same hand as the late Decorated windows
already mentioned as having been removed from the west
front. In speaking of the vaulted ceUing I have forgotten to
* Professor WiUis adopted the same term in a different sense,
calling the fiUet on the centre of a roimd moulding its keel, to distin
guish it from the fillets at its sides which separate it from the adjoin
ing mouldings, and which he named wings.
t Origin and Growth of Window Tracery.

96call attention to. the fact that the plaster has quite lately been
scraped off. I venture to think this should have been left.
The stones have never been faced, and they have a very rough
look ; moreover some of them are of a dark colour and com
pletely honey-combed, and surely they were not meant to be
seen. There can be little doubt that plaster was used origi
nally, and very likely it was intended for stencUing. Its
restoration would throw out the vaulting-ribs and improve the
general effect very much. The doorway in the north choir-
aisle, leading to the upper story, is probably an insertion of
the same date as the chapel. The arch-mouldings are separated
here, too, by a round, while the bases of the jamb-shafts have
the hollow moulding. The Early English string-course on
the aisle-waU is carefully carried over the arch as a hood, and
not simply cut. away as it is in the case of the Decorated
doorway inserted just beyond this one. As we ascend the
staircase within we see on our left the external string-course
of the choir. At the top of the steps we see the remains of
a destroyed newel, probably Norman, and just above it is a
part of a shaft with Norman sculpture on it. Until quite
lately the room we have now entered was divided into two
apartments by a brick wall, the one being used as a treasury,
the other as a lumber-room. The waUing has been removed
and the room fitted up as a library. The fine wooden ceiling
is canted in term Uke that of the transepts, -with the addition
in its eastern side of a sky-light of a series of square-headed
windows. The windows are all lancets externaUy, inter-
naUy trefoiled, except one segmented three-light window
high up in the south waU — but it is doubtful whether this is
original; its tracery certainly is later work. On the west
wall the mark of the gable of the Norman apse is plainly
seen. Below it is a small round-headed doorway now blocked
up, but in Norman times it communicated with the gaUery

97
round the middle stage of the transept. On the north side
a small opening ihto the choir is pierced through the waU low
do-wn ; the high altar could not be seen through it, and it
was no doubt intended to afford means of watching the
strangers who visited the church on great occasions. The
difference between the dark and the light blue -veined sand
stones, Norman and Early English material respectively, can
be easUy distinguished in the waUs, and many of the stones
shew interesting examples of the 5«»/(i«**-marks* adopted by
the- masons employed.
There are some points about this building which wiU
prove very interesting to the curious visitor.' The chapel,
previous to the year 1825, was used as a music school and
vicars' vestry. In those days the pointed arches were filled
-with hoarding, which contained a small door of entrance.
The chapel had a stone flooring, the marks of which can be
seen on all the piUars and waUs, its level being about 9 in.
above the sUl of the narrow doorway in the south waU. This
doorway, whioh leads into a passage running between the
chapel and choir-aisle walls, has lately been restored ; but its
general character, together with its beveUed sUl, which is
original, bespeaks a very early date, coeval doubtless with the
waU itself. In the year '25 the chapel was fitted up as a
library : the stone flooring was removed and three massive
brick waUs built upon the rubble foundation underneath to
support boarding for a new floor on the same level as the
transept floor. This boarding was carried through the narrow
doorway into the passage. The height of the doorway was
considerably raised, a new siU was made (the old one being
left in situ underneath), and its eastern jamb cut back to
make it wider — the new jamb may stUl be seen in the waU
from within the passage. The mixed doorway leading into
the passage from the transept, f whioh had been blocked up,
was then re-opened, and the modern and under-doorway
inserted. The modern wooden floor and brick walls have
been removed. The inner doorway has lately been restored
* A banker-man is a mason who is employed only at the bench
(A.S. baenc). His work is to prepare the rough stone for the builders.
a t Described on p. 62.

to its original form, and the rubble foundation of the chapel
discovered, shewing the remains of the foundations of the
destroyed Norman apse. A few loose pavings, not laid with
mortar, on the west side of the chapel, were the only
remains of any flooring. The bases of the pillars and
vaulting-shafts are on different levels : the bases of the
shafts on the east side as well as of that on the north-west
corner being 7f inches lower than the base of the shaft
in the south-west corner and the pUlars of the pointed
arches. This does not seem hard to account for : while the
north and east, that is, the exterior waUs of the chapel were
being built the Norman apse must have been left standing — a
course similar to that adopted in buUding the choir. Then
the builders went to work in the interior, and cut away
the northern jamb of the Norman arch and enough of
the apse waU to give them room to raise the pointed arches
and the adjacent shaft in the south-west comer. Then, when
they completed the destruction of the apse, they found they
had miscalculated their levels. Then, leaving the floor of
course to be laid down afterwards, they finished the south
wall of the chapel and raised the vault, turning their attention
next to the walls of tbe upper-story and the staircase leading
to it. They seem to have covered it originaUy with a slanting
roof, the marks of whioh may still be seen both -within and
without. That this was so soon replaced by another roof*
seems to imply that it was only a temporary one. In fact the
building was left altogether in an unfinished state, probably
from want of funds. -f It is doubtful whether any floor was
laid down in the chapel below, and it is certain that no vault
was built over the staircase, which was therefore left open to
the room above, and the doorway at the top of the staircase
was left with a very rough appearance. All this was plainly
seen a short time back, before the room was fltted up as a
library. There can be little doubt that the passage above-mentioned
was intended for a means of communication between the
chapel and the choir. It is now blocked midway by a brick
wall which helps to support the staircase above. Low down
in the aisle- wall, just west of the staircase doorway, there is
the lintel of a square-headed inserted doorway, through which
* Compare remarks on the exterior of this building, p. 79.
t See remarks on its date, p. S4.

99
the passage must have opened out into the aisle by means of
a short flight of steps. The part of the passage now seen has
very lately been opened down to its full depth, and features
have been thereby exposed which seem to bear out the sug
gestion made in Chapter III. (pp. 61, 62) that there was
originally a Norman newel staircase here, leading to the
upper-room of the apse, like the one which existed in the
same position in the old Norman church of York, and the one
stiU existing at Norwich. I propose to follow up the subject
here, very briefly discussing its bearing upon the features seen
in the junction of the two Early English works. The argu
ment there advanced that the Early English builders did not
pierce the Norman transept wall, when they made the mixed*
doorway leading into the passage, but found rather a doorway
there already and merely widened it, receives confirmation
from the peculiar curve inwards with which the string-course
of the aisle-waU begins. There is one feature which argues
against the theory of the newel, whioh I omitted to notice.
I mean the external string-course, a large torus moulding,
which appears on the Norman wall facing one as one aiscends
the Ubrary staircase. It is easier to admit this single diffi
culty, and dismiss it, than to waive in its favour the combina
tion of evidence which argues for the theory. One merely
has to assume that the newel staircase was an after-thought
in the plan of the Norman church, just as the present stair
case was an after-thought in the plan of the Early EngUsh
builders. The first additional fact to notice is the slope of
the ground on which the church is built from west to
east. The ground outside is slightly above the level of
the floor at the west end of the nave, and going eastwards
it drops some feet below the level of the choir floor.f The
level of the ground on which the chapel and the adjoining
aisle- waU stand is fuUy three feet below the level of the
transept floor. In opening down this passage, then, it is
only the level of the ground which has been reached, and the
* The Early English mouldings have been rene-wed, but they are
said to be an exact copy of the originals. The Norman work is old
material used up as is evident from the joints of the masonry alone ;
the moulding is an edge-roU -with a filleted hoUow, and exactly cor
responds -with the moulding of the rere-arch of the Norman -windows ;
it came probably from one of the -windows of the destroyed choir.
t The floor of the nave sinks, that of the choir rises, slightly,
from west to east, not enough to affect the argument at aU.

100
Nornian masonry exposed above this level, if it were a part
of the aisle and transept waUs, would shew ashlar-work and
a continuation of the base-course which runs along the nave
and transepts. But these are absent, and the masonry is
evidently the remains of the rough-stone foundation of some
building which was on the same level as the transept floor,
and occupied the space between the Norman apse and aisle-
waU. The rest of the foundations would be worked away by
the Early English builders in building the south waU of their
chapel and in obtaining space for the passage to run beside it.
The next point to notice here is the absence of any base-
course along the Early English aisle-waU in this passage,
notwithstanding the fact that an external string-course is seen
some feet higher up. Two facts must be remembered, first
that this north aisle seems to be later than the south aisle of
the choir, and that it was built from west to east. It seems
then that, when this wall was built, a part of the newel only
was destroyed, aiid that the plans of the builders with regard
to the retention or destruction of the Norman apse were not
matured. The "mixed" doorway in the transept waU may
be coeval either with the aisle-wall or with the later chapel.
If the former, then it must have been intended to retain the
apse and repair the newel. If the latter, then the intention
must have been to make a new staircase ascend from the
transept to the upper-room in place of the destroyed newel,* a
project which must have been abandoned almost immediately
in favour of the present staircase from the aisle. The doorway
of this staircase has been considered by some to be coeval with
the aisle-waU and earlier than the chapel. The argument in
favour of this lies in the fact that the interior string-course is
carried over it as a hood to the arch. But the exterior string
course seen from the staircase itself is an argument equally
.cogent against the theory. Moreover the mouldings of the
arch present a peculiarity which' connects it with the date of
the chapel rather than with that of the earlier choir. Its
mouldings, like those of the pointed arches of entrance to the
chapel, are separated by a round hollow instead of the square
hoUow which appears in the arches of the choir arcade. The
doorway must have been inserted very soon after the wall
* This would account for the pecuUar position of the bases, whioh
do not rest upon the floor of the transept, but are placed considerably
above it ; like the bases in the choir- aisle, imder which there are two
steps.

101
was built, perhaps before the choir was completed. In the
cloister doorway, just beyond, the string-course is not similarly
treated; but the adoption here of quite a different style of
architecture, although its date is very little later, would
account for the string-course not being carried over again in
this case.
To return to the chapel, it seems the work of the building
was interrupted before any floor had been laid down, but the
piscinas and aumbries are sufficient evidence that a substantial
floor of some kind was laid down not long afterwards. The
chapel cannot have been originaUy built as a chantry chapel,
for in this case the founders of the chantries would have sup
plied the funds for its immediate completion. The piscinas
afford a clue to the level of the floor, for they were seldom
buUt at greater height in the wall than 3 ft., and generaUy
lower still. Here they are more than 4 ft. above the bottom
of the lower bases. The floor must have covered all the bases
as weU as the sill of the narrow doorway, the edges of which
are at present so clean that it cannot have been used much, if
at all. It may be that the floor removed in '25 was the
original one. This was 9 in. above the siU and 2| ft. below
the piscinas, and was carried through the doorway into the
passage. When the passage was cleared out, amongst the
rubbish were found a few German tokens,* two horns, some
fragments of Decorated work, and a number of glazed decora
tive tiles. The tiles were found carefuUy reared up beside
the waU. Many of them are inlaid with letters. Perhaps
they are the remains of the flooring of the chapel, and if so
we have in them a clue to the use which it was meant to
serve. It was the ChanceUor's business to manage the educa
tional matters in the church. Here then the choristers and
younger members of the church would receive their first
Isssons in reading, which would be illustrated by the letters
on the tiles under their feet. It is to be hoped that some day
or other the passage will be opened out by the removal of the
brick wall, and then many of the questions here mooted wUl
be cleared up.

* Sinular tokens have been found under the pa-ving in various parts
of the church. They are aU stamped ¦with an orb-cross ¦within a
trefoil, and on the reverse ¦with oro^wns and jleur de lys alternating.
Theinscriptionsvary ; this is a sample — haus. sohvltes. zv. HtTKENBB
— GHOK. K^VMET. VON. OOT. I3TWAE.

102 It only remains to say that the restoration of the chapel is
now complete. It certainly forms one of the most picturesque
bits of architecture to be seen anywhere, and I hope that the
authorities wUl find -themselves able to abandon their present
intention of screening it off by curtains and dividing it into
two parts to be used as vestries. Why not build a vestry in
the corresponding position in tbe south transept, and for an
entrance into it, pierce the window-arch which is inserted in
the waUing up of the large Norman arch.
The change from the Early English to the Decorated style
of architecture is so very gradual that it is impossible to say
when the one ends and the other begins. It is equaUy diffi
cult to make a definite period to transition. Some of our
churches which date back as far the fourth decade of the 13th
century shew signs of the triangular, circular, and other
geometrical forms of tracery in their windows which have
given the name of Geometrical to the style wliich is generally
represented as having prevailed during the reign of the 1st
Edward. On the other hand many of the arch-mouldings of
the Edwardian period- are precisely identical with those
belonging to the strictly Early English era. In fact it was
not untU after the commencement of the 14th century that
Decorated architecture began to assume in aU its forms a
difference sufficient to warrant its being looked upon as a
distinct style.
SouthweU Minster, -with its advanced Early English choir
and north transept chapel, the cloisters and chapter-house,
four distinctly separate works begun and finished within about
seventy years, is an exceUent example of this gradual progress
of architectural art. Had the north transept chapel its
original windows, shewing, probably, how the plain lancet
was first divided by muUions to form a triple-lancet window,

103
the example woiUd be almost complete. There is, indeed, an
instance of a window of this character of somewhat later date
over the cloister doorway in the choir-aisle. But this window
is an insertion ; its jambs are the jambs of the two lancets
which were removed to make way for it, and its arch is made
up of the remains of the arches of these lancets. The hori
zontal rib in the vaulting above it shews a late form of the
dog-tooth. The doorway below is fine, and should be noticed
before passing through it towards the chapter-house, where
the study of one stUl more beautiful might cause it to be
passed by afterwards unobserved. It is a double one. The
main arch has two orders : the upper one springs from
detached shafts of Purbeck marble ; the lower one, a band of
foUage over a hollow, rises from the jambs without impost — a
feature common in Decorated doorways ; the hood terminates
on two heads, one crowned and the other mitred. A central
shaft, of Purbeck again, carries the two plain subordinate
arches; in the spandrel is an open trefoU, and under this a
head supporting a bracket for a statue which is lost. The
bolts of the door shoot in a curious way into one of the folds
of a grotesque serpent crawling up the central shaft.
%^t ^loMtx.
The passage leading to the chapter-house is not aU of one
date. The cloister, that part of it which has the low wooden
eeUing, must have been buUt before the chapter-house, and
before the vestibule, which following immediately to connect
the two works. We shall consider them, therefore, in this
order. The waU arcades of lancet arches are of decidedly
early character, and many of the bases, which rest on the
stone benches, have the Early English hollow moulding. The
capitals, however, are beautifuUy carved with natural foUage,

104
which in the Decorated style takes the place of the conven
tional foliage of the preceding style. The west waU with its
arcade, the arches of which are trefoUed by cusping, is broken
by the external buttresses of the north transept chapel. The
arcade on the east side was originaUy an open one, looking on
to a court which is enclosed on the other sides by the chapter
house and the choir-aisle and transept walls. It was evidently
blocked up to keep out the cold air, and the extra strength of
the walling helps to support the late wall above, which was
added to carry the wooden ceUing and pierced with square-
headed windows of debased character, in ill accord with the
old work. Notwithstanding the fact that a slanting weather-
course on the south waU of the vestibule exterior may be seen
from the court, I am incUned to think that the cloister was
originaUy quite open without any roof at all, for the wall
above the arcade on the west side is not original either. It is
altogether different in construction from the wall which carries
it, being built of the local stone and merely faced with ash
laring.* To return to the eastern side, if the lower waUing
were removed a beautiful double arcade of unique design
would be displayed. It is carried by two rows of shafts, the
space between them measuring 1 1 inches. Each row carries
its series of arches, forming two corresponding arcades, one on
the interior face of the walling which blocks this intervening
space, the other on the exterior face, and now seen only from
the court above-mentioned. Each interior shaft is connected
both at base and capital with the eorresponding exterior shaft
by cross-pins. The cross-pins which connect the capitals are
carved on each face with foliage, and from them in each bay
springs a broad arch which likewise connects the arches of the
* The two upper walls may be of different dates. The western one
would be the earUer, being built to carry the slanting roof ; and on
the removal of this the eastsim one -with the Perpendicular lights
would be added to carry the present roof.

9

105
two arcades. They may be seen throughout, for the inserted
waUing does not rise above the necking of the capitals, the
heads of the exterior arches being filled with glazing. The
soffits of these internal arches are all plain, excepting that of
the arch in the southernmost bay, which is carved with a
diaper pattern. This bay forms a means of entrance into the
court beyond, and the shafts on the left side have been cut
away to make the opening wider. The exterior arcade had
suffered much from exposure, and tbe shafts and bases have
recently been renewed. It is to be hoped that some day the
whole will be restored to its original form hy the removal of
the inserted walling. Passing to the north-east corner of the
court a pretty view of the tower may be obtained, as well as
of other parts of the building which cannot be seen from
elsewhere. In the court, besides an ancient stone coffin, there
is a discarded stone which is interesting, because it shews
how the Early English builders made use of the materials of
the Norman choir. It has a string cut on it which may be
compared with the string-course separating the second and
third stages of the buttresses. On its being turned over the
Norman mouldings will be seen. There is a tradition — but
only a tradition* — that this court was anciently used as a
baptistery; and the fact that a well exists here, though now
covered up, gives some colour to the statement. It may
receive additional support from its having at one time been
reached direct from the choir-aisle by a doorway now blocked
up, but its position is plainly marked both on the inside and
on the outside. It opened direct towards the spot where the
well is, some six or eight feet from it. Moreover it seems to
have had a porch or shed over it. A series of dog-tooth, of
late character, marks the position of the arch on the outside.

106
and on the inside its voussoirs of joggled masonry are to be

seen

*

" What either Cologne Cathedral or Eatisbon or Wiesen
"Kirche are to Germany, Amiens Cathedral or The Sainte
" ChapeUe are to France, the Scalegere in Verona to Italy,
"are the Choir of Westminster and the Chapter-house at
" Southwell to England." So -writes Mr. G. E. Street, and
assuredly SouthweU Chapter-house is placed in the foremost
rank of our Geometrical buUdings. In the refined and natural
treatment of the foliage which adorns it, it anticipated the
artistic perfection of works of many years later date, and it
is excelled by none. In its more general features it may be
compared with the earUer parts of the cloisters at Norwich,
and with the ruins of the banqueting-haU in the Palace
grounds at Wells. It strongly reminds one, too, of its con
temporary, the chapter-house at WeUs : in its octagonal shape
it follows the plan adopted in almost all the chapter-houses of
secular communities. The resemblance to York is stUl more
complete, the date of which is uncertain, but it is the only
chapter-house besides SouthweU which has no central pillar
to support the vault, and the arrangement is more striking
there on account of its greater size. The diameter of the
SouthweU building is only 32| ft., whUe in the case of York
it is 57 ft. To confine our attention to SouthweU, the vault
is divided into eight ceUular compartments, up into which
rise the heads of the large windows which fill the bays. The
* How long this doorway has been blocked up I cannot say, but
in a plan taken in 1797, and extant in the Kerrich coUection in the
Brit. Mus. (Add. MSS. 6751) it is she-wn, while the doorway in the
cloister arcade is omitted. The latter might easily have been over
looked by the draughtsman, more especially if the former was not
blocked untU after that date.

107
groin-ribs meet in a large boss of foliage in the crown of the
vault. Two waU-ribs rise to form an arch over each window,
and from the apex of this arch a horizontal rib runs along the
crown of each cellular compartment to tbe central boss. Two
additionsd pairs of ribs rise up the sides .of the compartment
meeting in the horizontal rib. AU the ribs shew deep hoUow
moiUdings almost Early English in character, and at every
intersection there is a boss of foUage. The window arches
consist of two orders in each, springing from engaged jamb-
shafts. Each window is divided into three cusped lancet lights
of equal heights, and the head is fUled in with three cusped
circles, the central and highest being quatrefoUed, the remain
ing two trefoUed. Above the head of the middle light rises
a sharper pointed arch, which touches the uppermost circle,
and incloses an irregular cusped space. Under the window is
a sloping siU, on which the jamb-shafts rest. And under the
sUls again runs a string-course, separating the stages and
consisting of the Decorated scroU-moulding above a deep
undercut hollow separated from it by a fillet. The capitals
of the vaulting shafts, which rise up the angles of the buUding
from the stone bench aU round the walls, are on a level with
the capitals of the jamb-shafts of the windows. AU the
capitals are enriched with foliage, and the foUage forms a
continuous band which serves to connect each vaulting-shaft
with the jamb-shafts on each side of it, so that together they
appeeir to form a single shafted piUar. AU these shafts are
keeled — to adopt Mr. Dimock's term — Uke those in the north
transept chapel.
The space between the bench and the -window sUls is
occupied by a range of staUs, which form an arcade running
round the buUding, five in each side or bay. The arcade
merits the most minute examination. The arches are
foUed (that is to say their entire suite of mouldings foUows

lOS
their trefoiled form) and their mouldings are deeply shaded
-with filleted rounds and hoUows. They spring from single
circular detached shafts, the capitals of which are beautifully
enriched with deeply undercut foliage, in almost every case
copied from nature. The one or two exceptions remind us of
the conventional triple-leafed foliage of the Early English
style. The bases, too, which rest upon the stone bench, in
the form and variety of their mouldings remind us of the
base-mouldings of the choir piers. The triple roU-moulding
is the more common form, but in some cases we stUl find the
hoUow replacing the middle roU. Conforming to the charac
teristic of the later style the lower roll overhangs the plinth,
and the latter is octagonal. In the bases of the jamb-shafts
of the windows above the change of style is more clearly
marked : here the mouldings consist of two small rounds
above a much larger overhanging one. To return to the
arcade. Above each arch an acute gablet forms a canopy over
it. The gablets form a continuous series, broken only by the
vaulting-shafts in the angles. They spring from corbels —
heads, bosses of foliage, or grotesque animals — placed between
the arches, and rise through the string-course to terminate
in finials. Most of the finials are restorations in composition.
A series of crockets — no longer of the early form like the
bishop's crook which we noticed in the exterior — adorn the
straight sides of the gablets. There are two distinct forms,
one apparently representing oak leaves ; but all the crockets
are regular and formal when compared with the rest of the
carving, and they stand weU clear of the waU, aUowing their
shadow to be seen upon it behind them. The two lower ones
above each corbel are made to overlap in an effective way.
The triangular spandrel-space between the apex of each arch
and the canopy above it is sculptured with natural foliage,
vying -with the capitals in variety of design and delicacy of

109
treatment. In a few cases it is made to grow, as it were, out
of the open mouth of a head or some grotesque figure placed
in the centre of the spandrel. The foliage of the capitals
stands away apparently quite free of their beU-mouldings,
and if a finger be placed on the inner side of the leaves they
will be found to have been finished off quite smooth. The
stems running behind the foliage wUl be found to be quite
perfect though they cannot be seen except in one or two places
where the leaves have unfortunately been broken away. In
one instance there is an animal hidden away behind the leaves,
and it can only be seen by looking up from underneath the
capital. Over each capital a spray of oak, -vine, or some
other plant, covers the mitring of the arch-mouldings.
Mr. Dimock has so well described tbe general beauties of the
carving that I cannot do better than quote his words. " The
" foliage everywhere is most beautiful : the oak, the vine, the
"hop, the ivy, the maple, the white-thorn, the rose, with a
" vast variety of other plants, are sculptured with exquisite
"freedom and delicacy; and no two capitals or bosses or
"spandrels can be found alike, no wearisome repetition of
" beautiful parts tires the eye, but everywhere we meet, in
" ever-changing and ever-charming variety, with some fresh
" object of interest and admiration. What is very usual in
"work of this date, figures are frequently introduced amidst
"the foliage: I have already mentioned the heads, with
"branches issuing from the mouth, which occur in the span-
" drels above tlie stalls : others of the spandrels have birds or
" lizard-like monsters : in the capitals, a man recUnes beneath
" a tree, puffing lustUy away at a horn, or a goat is gna-wing
"the leaves, or a bird pecking the berries, or a pair of pigs
" are grunting up the acorns, or a brace of hounds just grab-
" bing a hare. Unhappily there has been much injury, from
" wet finding its way through broken windows and defective

no '
"roof, and very much from wanton mutilation ; still, no more
" beautiful and interesting sculpture perhaps is to be found in
" any church in England. Of very much of it it is not too
"much to say, that it is the work of no mere chiseller of
"stone, but of a consummate artist; than whom it may be
" weU doubted whether any sculptor, of any age or country,
" ever produced anything more life-like and exquisitely
" graceful." A newel staircase, leading to the roof and to a
small room over the vestibule, abuts upon the south-west side
of the octagon, which, therefore, has no window in it. The
waU on this side shews a blank arch with tracery and mulUons
in imitation of the windows, but it is not quite so high as
they are, and the space above it is relieved by sculptured
foUage. A simUar arrangement is seen over the doorway in
the west side. The doorway is not buUt in the centre of this
side, but further south, in the centre of the vestibule. A
portable parclose or screen must at one time have fitted into
the doorway on the interior.
As seen from the vestibule this doorway is a very beautiful
one. It is a double one, the arch being divided by a slender
clustered shaft in the centre, which carries two subordinate
trefoiled arches, with a quatrefoUed circle above them. The
mouldings consist of fiUeted rounds separated by a filleted
hoUow. In the subordinate arches the hollow is enriched by
a leaf ornament arranged quite regularly, just as a baU-flower
might have been. The baU-flower, which became so common
later on in the style, and is found even in buildings of the
same date, taking the place of the Early English dog-tooth,
is not used in the chapter-house.. The cusps of the arches and
the circle above them is a continuation of the fiUeted round
which forms their inner moulding. They are aU pierced.
The capital of the central shaft is enriched with foliage, but
the corresponding jamb-shafts have no capitals, the abacus

Ill
only of the adjoining capitals being continued round them.
Above their innermost order, which contains the doorway
proper, the arch consists of three orders of voussoirs, and the
whole is surmounted by a hood-mould so closely connected
that it has the appearance of an additional order. The middle
order of the three is a broad circular band of foUage consisting
of two strings of leaves worked upon two hoUows, separated
by a keeled round. The foliage stands quite free of the
hoUows, attached only to their edges, and a close examination
wUl shew that the hollows themselves are as cleanly chiseUed
as any of the more exposed mouldings. The masonry here is
very fine, and the joints of the stems of the foliage worked
upon the different voussoirs is wonderfully accurate. The
orders on each side of this one are separated from it by hoUows,
and themselves moulded with rounds and hoUows, some of
the rounds being fiUeted some scroUed. AU three spring from
detached circular shafts of Purbeck, a decidedly Early English
feature. In the jamb of the arch, between the shafts, there
are smaU mouldings, one a plain round, the other filleted.
The three bases are more Decorated in character ; two smaU
rounds above a larger one overlapping the octagonal part,
which is divided into two parts by somewhat simUar mould
ings which encircle' the bases and run across the jamb in the
form of a string. The rich capitals are Uke those we have
already examined inside the chapter-house. The three capitals
are carved on one large stone, and their deep-cut foUage being
carved continuously unites them across the jamb. The hood-
mould comprises a plain round moulding and another equally
beautiful band of foliage worked upon a deep-cut hoUow. It
springs from detached shafts with bases and capitals like those
just described, and placed, not in the jamb, but apart in the
plane of the waU, a portion of which intervenes between
them and the adjoining jamb. On the edge of the waU is

112
worked a small round moulding, which runs up without any
impost round the arch, combining itself -with the mouldings
of the superior order. Between this round and the adjoining
jamb-shaft there is a hoUow moulding, up which a band of
foliage runs, connecting itself with the foliage of the capital.
The shafts from which the hood-mould springs also carry two
small acute arches on the face of the waU, one on each side of
the archway.
The Yestibule shews in its design an attempt to assimilate
the details of the two buUdings whicli it connects. In the
arcading, forsaking the foUed form of the chapter house
arches, it returns to the cusped form of those in the cloister
arcade, and the crocketed gablets of the former give way to
the continuous hood-mould of the latter. The bases retain
the later form used in the doorway, which differs from that
used either in the cloister or chapter-house interior.
The windows above are much plainer than those of the
chapter-house. There is one order less in the arches ; the
three lancet Ughts have no cusps, and the additional acute
arch over the middle one is absent. The capitals, however,
are equally beautiful, and being lower, can more easily be
examined. The vaulting is quadripartite, and the shafts are
fiUeted instead of keeled. The shafts which carry the low
arch communicating with the cloister rise up each side into
the mouth of a head, on which the capital rests. On the west
side the buttress of the north transept chapel divides the two
works. The junction on the other side is in the middle of
one of the arches of the arcade some feet further south. The
half-arch of the cloister arcade has been altered to suit the
higher pitch of the later work. The cloister string-course
above the arcade ends in a grotesque head gnawing a bunch
of foUage. The vestibule string-course ends in the figure of
a man, and the half-arch rises into the back of a monster
which he is bestriding. The device is curious and ingenious.

113
'^^t ®x^m Srmn.
The stone screen between the piers of the eastern tower-
arch, which now carries the organ, must once have carried the
great rood. It is pure Decorated work so profusely enriched
with ornament that, in describing it, it is impossible to do
more than notice the loading features of its design. It opens
into the nave -with three canopied arches having pierced
foliations.. The, remarkable stone roof has the appearance of
a sham vault. It is flat, has a longitudinal rib, and is
supported by flying ribs. Above each flying rib there is a
horizontal rib on the actual roof, and in the open spandrel
between them there is a trefoiled circle. The three arches and
the flying ribs spring from slender pillars of four clustered
shafts. The base-mouldings shew the characteristic feature
of the lower round considerably overlapping the octagonal
plinth. The close-clinging foliage of the capitals also is
characteristic of the style, contrasting with the freely carved
and more natural foliage of the early Decorated capitals of
the chapter-house. The side walls are richly panelled with
flowing tracery above a canopied and foliated arch. Passing
through the doorway under the inner central arch we stand
between the staircases leading to the gaUery above and under
another vault, the ribs of which afford a curious example of
interpretation. On the choir side there are three prebendal miserere''^ staUs
on each side of the central archway. The central ogee-arch
is cinquefoiled and crocketed, and, rising under a sharply-
* On the subseUia of the staUs are car-rings, chiefly of stiff-leaved
fohage caUed misereres. The seats are fixed ¦with hinges, and when
they are turned up the miserere forms a kind of bracket of sufficient
projection to afford considerable rest to anyone leaning upon it. They
were of old used by ecclesiastics ¦when they had to perform long ser-
¦vioes or penitentials standing. Miserere staUs are very common, .and

114
pointed label forming a gablet, enriched with crockets and a
band of foliage, supports a flgure of the Virgin seated and
nursing the Child. In the spandrels above the gablet are
two small trefoiled canopies over figures of angels which stand
on rich corbels of foliage and face towards the central figure
of the Virgin. The mouldings of the arch below consist of a
hollow between flUeted rounds, under which is a band of
foliage ; the cusps terminate in heads, and the spandrels
formed by them are adorned with foliage. Over each of the
stalls is a similarly cinquefoiled arch, crocketed and finialed,
the crockets being of a square shape and set so close together
as to form in appearance a continuous band of foliage. The
shafts which divide the stalls and support the arches rise
between them to support at some distance above a series of
gablets, and, rising between these, again terminate in small
pinnacles. The gablets, crocketed and finialed and enriched
with the characteristic baU-flower, have the appearance of
triangular-headed arches above the stall canopies. The wall-
face within them is panelled with mullions and beautiful
flowing tracery, which over the middle staU on each side-is
pierced, opening through the arches which support the roof of
the screen into the nave beyond. The whole is surmounted
by a parapet, its tracery running along in a continuous
undulation, pierced and foliated. The curious figures from
which the gablets spring should be noticed. The gablet over
the central arch springs on the one side from a head in a
chain-mail hood, on the other from a crowned head. The
afford representations of grotesque animals, of scriptural subjects
often irreverently treated, of scenes from domestic Ufe, and of stories
from the mediseval romances. Boston Church has as many as 64
staUs, and their misereres have been fully described by the Bishop
Suffragan of Nottingham, the Kight Rev. E. TroUope, iu Vol X. of
Ass. Arch. Societies' Reports and Papers, 1870. — See Mr. M. H.
Bloxam' s Internal Arrangement of Churches iu Vol. II. of Gothic
Architecture, invaluable to the student.

115
back of the first stall on the south side of the entrance is
ornamented with carved diaper-work, in which there is no
fixed pattern, each square shewing a different flower from its
fellows. In later times this was the seat of the Vicar-General.
The position of the 'responds of the choir arcade in close
proximity to the Norman piers, and the small Early English
arch between them on the south side leading to the stairs to
the organ-loft, suggested to Mr. Dimock the view that a rood-
screen, coeval with the choir, was removed to make way for
the present one. This view has been confirmed on the removal
of the side stalls, whereby the inner part of the base of the
Early English respond has been partially exposed. The bases
of the shafts on this side have no mouldings like those on the
aisle side, but are simply chamfered, proving that they were
not seen in the original arrangement. This screen, too, must
have been a wooden one.
It is unlikely that any screen stood here in the Norman
church, the choir of which extended, possibly, into the space
under the lantern tower. There may have been a screen,
however, between the piers of the western tower-arch.
The sedUia ^re Decorated work, similar in many points to
the rood-screen, but somewhat later in date. They are flve
ia number. Quintuple sedUia are very rare. Three is the
usual number of seats, to which the priest officiating at high
mass retired with his attendant ministers, the deaconand sub-
. deacon, during the chanting of the Gloria in excelsis.'"- Quad
ruple sedilia are found at Gloucester Cathedral. Here they
are crowned with ogee-arched canopies, ornamented with
double foliations, crockets, and finials. The crockets are

* Mr, H. M. Bloxam'a Gothic Architecture.

116
singularly beautiful : each one has its middle part raised and
its edges attached to the sides of the arch, and under it an
additional spray of natural foliage turning over towards the
crocket below. Groups of figures rest between the canopies,
forming a peculiar feature in the general design.* What the
groups are intended to represent it is in some cases difficult to
determine. The easternmost figure doubtless represents the
Almighty supporting the globe, symbolic of the creation, and,
the next group of two figures is thought by some to be intended
for the second and third Persons of the Trinity. The western
most group evidently pourtrays the flight into Egypt, while
the two next groups also may relate to the Virgin Mary, to
whom the church is dedicated. East of the sedilia is a piscina
under a low canopied arch.-)-
The fire of 1711 destroyed both organ and bells. The organ
was rebuilt by a German named Smith, and the bells replaced

* All the heads of the figures, together with the finials and much
of the ornamental details of the sedilia, are restorations in Roman
cement. t The foUo-wing passage is quoted from Clarke and KiUpack's
History and Antiquities of the Church, pubUshed by Mr. Whittingham
in '39 : — " The situation of the sedilia was formerly occupied by au
' ' oak screen. The singing-boys used to amuse themselves by cUmbing
' ' to the top of the screen until a fatal accident happened to oue of
"their number by its falUng do-wn upon him, which occasioned its
' ' removal, and the building of the waU in which the sedilia is inserted
' ' in its place ; its sculptured ornaments and figures were taken from
"various parts of the interior upon making alterations therein."
There cannot be the sUghtest doubt, however, that the sediUa are
original Decorated work Mr. KiUpack's mistake arose doubtless
from the fact that the sediUa iu those days were iu a very dilapidated
condition, and they were, on the removal of the screen after this
accident to Thomas Bucklow, "a fine boy of nine years of age,"
restored, I beUeve by the same artist, Bernasconi, who similarly
repaired the rood screen and buUt the side staUs. The minor matter
of the removal of the screen, which had e-?idently been placed there
to hide the dilapidations of the sediUa, is mentioned in the chapter
records, but they are sUent about the more important ' ' insertion of
the sediUa."

117
by Euddall of Gloucester. Three out of the eight have been
re-cast, or new bells hung in their stead : —
1st. Abr RuddaU of Gloucester cast us aU 1721.
2nd. G Mears founders London 1849.
3rd. Prosperity to this To-wn.
4th. T Mears of London fecit 1819.
Sth. T Mears of London fecit 1819.
6th. Prosperity to the Chapter.
7th. Prosperity, to the Church of England.
8th. I to the Church the Living caU
And to the Grave do summon aU.
In the original peal the 2nd, 4th, and 5th beUs bore the
following inscriptions : —
2nd. Peace and Good Neighbourhood.
4th. Prosperity to our Benefactors.
Sth. From Lightning and Tempest Good Lord DeUver us.
The chimes are set to the National Anthem.

basurmmte.

Length (Internal) . .
Breadth 
Length of Great Transept
Height of Lantern Tower
Height of Western Towers
Height of Spires . .

306 Feet.
60| „
123 „
105 „
99 „
50 ,.

'§xspxtim% of "Boxmm Cljur^.
UNIT = C. 30 EEET.
Total Length  8
Total Breadth  4
Breadth of Nave and Choir (with Aisles) . . 2
Breadth of Chancel and Transepts . . . . ^g
Length of Nave  5
Length of Choir  2
Length of each Transept  1

118

CHAPTEE V.
EFFIGIES AND SEPULCHRAL SLABS-SCULPTURE-
GLAZING.
€%KS mh Sipl^i'al Alalia,
Southwell Minster is not rich, numerically speaking, in
effigies. It contains only two in fact, but the famous effigy
of Archbishop Sandys is one of them. Nor is there a single
monumental brass of any size left to teU its tale. Of the few
brassless slabs that remain, one is interesting. It lies in the
north transept, and shews the figures of a knight and his
lady — the knight in armour, with a helmet on his head, sword
and dagger by his side,' a lion at his feet, and a shield in each
corner of the slab.
In the north nave-aisle there is a goodly number of sepul
chral slabs with crosses incised. They have been squared and
laid down with the new paving. The remnant of an altar
slab, shewing three out of the five crosses, has unfortunately
suffered the same fate. Many of the crosses are good exam
ples of the beautiful incised crosses of the 13th and Hth
centuries. That in the second bay dates probably as early as
the reign of Eichard I. or of John. A cross flory in the first
bay, and two very similar ones lying under the step inside the
cloister doorway, probably belong to the first half of the 1 Sth
century. There are many crosses of somewhat later date
perhaps — that, for instance, incised on a slab also in the
second bay, which shews, -too, a chalice, indicating that it
covered the body of a priest.* The chalice is tipped just as
the priest would tip it in Celebration. Two of the crosses
are decidedly early date, probably the 12th century. One of
them, lying in the first bay, is sketched in Plate III. (No. 9).
No. 10 in the same plate is the remnant of a slab which was
* See sketch No. 8 in Plate III.

119

recently found under the flooring under the lantern tower,
shewing a cross of somewhat similar character. No. 11 is
another remnant lately found — the incised figure of an eccle
siastic probably. In the first bay lies the incised figure of a
female, I believe, with the hands joined in a devotional
attitude. In the second bay, under a sepulchral recess in the
wall, there is an altar tomb, upon whioh has been placed a
slab with a beautiful raised cross upon it.
In the floor on the opposite side of the nave is an inscribed
stone whioh has been most ingeniously restored. It was found
in the flooring of the south transept cut in two and squared,
and robbed thereby of two or three letters in the middle of
each line of the inscription. In laying it down in its present
position a blank space has been left for these letters. . The
inscription when restored reads thus : —

GVILIELMV

S FIL

IVS GVIL

lELMI THO

RNTO

N ET MIL

LICENTI/E

EIVS

VXORIS PRO

B>E INDOLI

SET 1

NGENII PVER

ET HVIVS E

COLE

Sl/E CHO

RISTA ANN

VM A

GENS

SV/C i€TAT
Q VA RT V

IS DE

CIMVM

M DI

SCES

SIT PRIMO

In a sepulchral recess in the secondary transept on the
south side of the choir lies a much mutilated effigy of a priest.
Mr. Bloxam describes it as of alabaster, in high relief, repre
senting the party commemorated as vested in the amice, alb
with parures, stole, and chasuble, with the maniple over the
left arm. The head and hands are gone. The same authority,
judging from the material, thinks it to be of the 15th century.
It is not in its original position. Gough describes it as lying
on the north side of the church, partly in it, partly in a
chapel of the north aisle, on an altar tomb adorned with five
blank shields, quaterfoils, on each of the two sides, " under a
"canopy of tabernacle work, fragments of which lie behind
" with] a whole length figure of an angel." All this has
disappeared, but the canopy, as shewn in one of Dickenson's

120
plates, confirms Mr. Bloxam's opinion that the efflgy belong*
to the 15th century. The amice is the garment thrown round
the shoulders. The alb, a closely-fitting tunic reaching to
the feet, was so called because it was made of white linen.
The maniple was given, in the 11th century, to sub-deacons
as the badge of their order, and its original use, therefore,
seems to have been to clean therewith the sacred vessels.*
The chasuble was the priest's principal vestment, and always
worn in the Celebration of the Mass. Its early form was that
of a complete circle, with an opening in the centre for the
head to go through. Mr. Bloxam tells us the Roman ptenula,
or travelling cloak, was the prototype of this vestment.
On the death of Edward YI. Dr. Edwin Sandys, then Yice-
ChanceUor of Cambridge University, was commanded by
Northumberland to preach a sermon in support of Lady Jane
Grey's claim to the crown, in consequence of which he was
imprisoned by Queen Mary. On his release soon after he
proceeded to join the exiles in Germany, and took part in
"the Troubles at Frankfort" (1544). At this time, be it
noted, be expressed his willingness to dispense with the use of
the surplice in public worship. Eeturning home on the
accession of Queen Elizabeth, he was consecrated Bishop of
Winchester. Translated to London in 1570, he became
Archbishop of York in 1677, and filled the see tiU his death
in 1588. His effigy now stands in the north transept, its
second or third resting place since its removal from its original
position in the chancel on the north side of the altar-table.
It is a recumbent figure in alabaster ; the head and feet rest
on cushions supported by angels, one at each corner of the
tomb. In the front of the tomb are represented his widow
and nine children — seven sons and two daughters — kneeling ;
at one end are the arms of Sandys, at the other a lengttiy
Latin inscription describing his character, life, and sufferings.
The effigy is chiefly interesting for the bearing it has upon the
Elizabethan disputes about ecclesiastical vestments. The
archbishop is representedf as vested in the chasuble or vest-
mmit, which, unlike the chasubles seen in effigies of early date,
is very long behind, and is folded back under the figure,
reaching from the feet nearly to the shoulders : this is edged
with lace and worn over the rochet and chimere ; the tippet
* Hook's Church Dictionary. t See No. 16, Plate III.

121
or almuce falls over the shoulders and in front of the breast
in folds ; and the hood fastened beneath the chin and thrown
back behind.
With regard to the unusual form of the chasuble, it appears
that in late pre-Ecformation times it had become somewhat
fashionable to wear the vestment longer behind than in front.
There is no effigy or monumental brass whioh shews so pecu
liarly long a vestment as the one here, but there are not a few
brasses, I believe, which illustrate the prevailing fashion in a
less degree. Bishop Yeasey, of Exeter, whose effigy lies in
Sutton Coldfield Church, Warwickshire, is represented in a
vestment reaching nearly to the feet. He died in 1554, but
Mr. Bloxam thinks the effigy was executed some years before
his death. The chimere of black silk and the white rochet
formed the usual episcopal dress from the reign of Elizabeth
onwards. They were often accompanied by the academical
hood and square cap, but in this effigy the head is a restora
tion, so that the latter (if it ever was there) does not appear.
The hands are also a restoration; but, according to the
engraving in Drake's Kboracum, they originally held a book
instead of being joined in prayer. The tippet is a merely
canonical habit.
Let us briefly revie-w the historical position. The Rubric of the first
Prayer Book ( 1 549) of Ed-ward VI. enjoined the foUowing eucharistic
vestments for a bishop — his rochet, an albe or surpUce, aud a vestment
or cope ; for a priest — a plain wlute albe, -with a vestment or cope.
Up to this date the vestment or chasuble (for the terms, be it noted,
are synonymous, the chasuble being the vestment par excellence']
had been considered a necessary part of the officiating priest] s
dress, whUe the cope was merely a processional habit. The Rubric
placed these distinctive habits on the same footing, and from hence
forth the cope might be used at the Celebration instead of the chasu
ble, and the surplice instead of the albe. In Edward YI's. second
Prayer Book (1552) the Rubric was altered thus: "The minister, in
" time of Communion, shall use neither alb, vestment, nor cope ; but
' ' being an archbishop or bishop he shaU have and wear a rochet, and
" being a priest or deacon he shall have and wear a sm-pUce only."
In the first year of Queen EUzabeth an Act of Uniformity -was
passed re-establishing the second Prayer Book of Edward VI., but a
special provision was made " that such Ornaments of the Church and
"of the Ministers thereof shaU be retained and used as was in the
" Church of England by the authority of Parhament, in the second
" year of the reign of Edwa:rd the Sixth, until other order shaU be
" therein taken by the Authority of the Queen's Majesty, -with the
"advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorized under the
" Great Seal of England for causes Ecclesiastical, or of the metro-
" poUtan of this Realm."

ft.

122 In the Injunctions of EUzabeth, issued in 1559, the one deaUng
-with the Apparel of Ministers runs as foUows : — " Item. Her Majesty
"being desirous to have the Prelacy and Clergy of this Realm to be
' ' held as well in outward reverence, as otherwise regarded for the
' ' worthiness of their ministries, and thinking it necessary to have
" them kno-wn to the people in all places and assembUes both in the
' ' Church and -without, and thereby to receive the honour and estima-
' ' tion due to the special messengers and ministers of Almighty God ;
' ' -wiUeth and commandeth that aU Archbishops and Bishops, and all
"other that be caUed or admitted to preaching or ministry of the
' ' Sacraments, or that be admitted into vocation ecclesiastical, or into
' ' any Society of Learning in either of the Universities, or elsewhere,
' ' shaU use and wear such seemly habits, garments, and such square
**caps as were most commonly and orderly received in the later year
' ' of the reign of Eang Edward the Sixth, not thereby meaning to
' ' attribute any holiness or special worthiness to the said garments,
"but as S. Paul writeth, omnia decenter et secundum ordinem fiant,"
Whether the Injunctions had or had, not the force of an Act of
ParUament I do not stop to inquire. In either case the legality of the
use of the vestments enjoined by Edward YI's. first Prayer Book was
not affected by them, for they undoubtedly refer, not to the vestments
to be worn by the clergy in pubUc worship, but only to their secular
and academical habit. That this is so is proved by the evidence we
have of the subsequent use of other vestments than the episcopal
rochet and the priest's surpUce, which, and which only, would have
been legal if the Injunction were intended to bring about a return to
the vestments commanded to be used iu pubUo worship iu the later
year of Edward VI. The consecration of Matthew Parker as Abp.
of Canterbury took place in 1559, only a few months after the issue
of the Injunction. Parker entered the chapel in his academical habit ;
he wore a surpUce during the performance of the Rite, and immedi
ately afterwards laid it aside and assumed the episcopal rochet and
chimere together -with the canonical almuce or tippet. Barlow and
Scory, Bishops of Chichester and Hereford, were also vested in rochet
and cliimere. During the Rite of Consecration Barlow wore a sUlcen
cope. Again, in the Convocation of 1 562, the foUowing motion was
proposed : ' ' That the use of vestments, copes, and surpUces be from
"henceforth taken away." If the cope was legal, then must the
chasuble or vestment have been legal also. There can be no doubt
that the cope was often worn, but only in cathedrals and coUegiate
churches, and seldom in parish churches. And it is equaUy clear that
the vestment, though legal, was seldom if ever worn after the date of
Edward YI's. first Prayer Book. The Rubric enjoined the use of one
of the two, and permitted the use of either, with the result that
" the vestiment is put away and the coape retayned," and Ukewise
"the albe is layed aside and the surplesse is used." The vestments
were actuaUy sold, or ' ' defaced and made into a clothe for the pulpit
"and colon table." The very name feU into disuse, and in 1570 we
find the Latin easula translated into, the EngUsh cope. The presence
of the chasuble in the efSgy of Sandys is in itself sufficient proof of
its legaUty in the reign of EUzabeth.
Abp. Sandys shewed himself a strong Reformer throughout.

123
During "the Troubles at Frankfort" he even went so far as to declare
himsefl -willing to dispense -with the surpUce. WMle the bill -which
resulted in the Act of Unifoiinity of 1558 was in progress, Sandys
-wi'ote to Parker thus: "The last book of service [1662] is gone
"through, -with a proviso to retain the ornaments which were used
"in the first and second years of King Edward, until it please the
" Queen to take other order for them. Our gloss upon this text is,
' ' that -we shaU not be forced to use them, but that others iu the
"meantime shall not convey them a-way, but that they may remain
"for the Queen." Two years later he wrote to Peter Martyr:
' ' Tantum manent in ecclesia nostra vestimenta iUa papistica, capas
"intelUge, quas diu non duraturus speramus;" and he doubtless
did aU he could to aboUsh the use of the cope throughout his diocese
and province. His iucUnations, then, being so strongly averse to the
ancient episcopal vestments, how is it that his effigy is apparelled in
the chasuble ? The pecuUar form of the vestment, together with its
combination with the episcopal rochet and cliimere and -with the
academical hood, a combination whioh has no parallel instance, has
been considered a proof that the effigy is no conventional representa
tion of a Bishop ou the part of the artist, and that the Archbishop
actuaUy wore the chasuble during his Ufetime.* But it is difficult to
beUeve that he would uphold a practice so utterly at variance -with
his declared -views. Mr. Bloxam, an eminent authority on ecclesias
tical vestments, i\T?ites : t " Perhaps the subsequent proceedings of
" the ultra-Puritan Reformers against the discipline of the Church of
' ' England, of which the attack upon the vestments was but a part,
"and of which, as prelate, he might foresee the results, occasioned
' ' this, his sUent protest after death, against the extreme opinions of
"his party. Who knows? I can but hazard a conjecture. "+ There
is a tradition that Abp. Sandys' son was a man of more conservative
* Mr. J. T. Micklethwaite thinks that the Abp. must have worn
' ' this queer long-tailed chasuble, though it may be that he called it
" a cope." But Sandys shewed himself equaUy averse to the cope.
t Ass. Arch. Societies' Vol. for 1859. I have not had any opportu
nity of doing more than cursorUy examining the paper, but I have
here to ackno-wledge the largS use I have made throughout this notice
of Mr. Bloxam's valuable chapter on The Vestments prescribed by the
Church in and fi-om the reign of Edward YI. in the Companion to Gothic
Arch. pubUshed by BeU and Son, 1882.
J I do not know whether the foUowing extract from the -wiU of
Abp. Sandys, dated as early as 1568, may be cited in support of this
view or not : " Fourthly, concerning rites and ceremonies by poUtical
' ' institutions authorized among us, as I am and "have been persuaded,
" that such as are no-w sett down by pubUck authority in the Church
' ' of England are in no way either ungodly or unla-wf uU, but that
' ' may -with good conscience for order and obedience sake be used of a
"good Christian — for the private baptism to be ministered by women
' ' I neither take to be prescribed or permitted — so have I ever been
" aud presently am persuaded that some of them be not so expedient
' ' for this church no-w, but that in the church reformed, and in aU this
' ' time of the gospeU wherein the seed of the scripture hath so long

124
views than his father, and that it was he who had this effigy executed
by a foreign artist.
It only remains to add that TidesweU Church, Derbyshire, contains
an incised brass effigy of Robert Pursglove, representing bim in the
ancient episcopal vestments : alb, stole, dalmatic, and chasuble ;
amice -with apparel, pastoral stafE and mitre. The chasuble is con
siderably longer behind than in front. Pursglove was Bishop Suffra
gan of HuU, but preferred to resign his bishopric to taking the Uath
of Supremacy in 1559. He died in 1579 This may very possibly be
an instance of one who continued to use the vestment long after it
had faUen into general disuse.
There is a sepulchral slab lying in the north porch incised
with a small tau-cross and a heart with the date 1536. It
bears also an inscription, but I have not yet succeeded in
making this out. The tau-cross, in form Uke the Greek letter
tau or t, is sufficiently significant and uncommon to call for
special notice. Mr. Charles Boutell tells us it is the symbol
of an order established on the continent and styled the Order
of S. Anthony. At Ingham, in Norfolk, there are effigies of
Sir Eoger de Bois and his Lady, bearing date 1360 and wear
ing mantles charged with the tau-cross having the word
ANTHON in chief.* Hulme Abbej', Northumberland, contained
a sepulchral slab incised with a large tau-cross pierced with
three nails. At Welbeck Priory, Notts , there is a fragment
of a slab with a hand in relief, holding a tau staff, probably
the official insignia of the prior.f
' ' been sown, they may better be disused by Uttle and Uttle than more
"and more urged. Howbeit, as I do easily acknowledge our ecclesi-
' ' astical poUcy in some points may be bettered, so I do utterly misUke,
' ' even in my conscience, aU such rude and indigested platforms as
' ' have been more lately and boldly than either learnedly and -wisely
"liref erred, tending, not to the reformation, but to the destruction of
' ' this Church of England — the particularities of both sorts referred
"to the discretion of the godly -wise. Of the latter I can only say
" thus, that the state of a smaU private church, and the forme of a
' ' larger Christian kingdome, neither would long Uke, nor can at all
' ' broke, one and the same ecclesiastical government. This much I
' ' thought to testify- concerning these ecclesiastical matters, to cleax
" me from aU suspicion of double and indirect deaUng in the house of
"God, wherein, as touching mine office, I have not haulted, but
"walked sincerely according to that skill and abiUty which I have
"received at God's mercifuU hands."
* The badge of the Courtenay family, a tau-cross with a beU
attached, is sculptured in the Palace at Exeter. — Mr. Chas. BouteU's
English Heraldry. t Haines, Manual of Sepulchral Slabs.

125
In connection with the tau-cross we must notice the remark
able slab, now lying loose in the vestibule, but formerly in
the flooring of the choir, which has a small incised cross at
each corner and the following inscription :
?i^tc jartt mUVms f^alJot miser,
tt inSlgnus SactrDoS cxptctans
resurrcc'fonem mortuorum g'b signo tj&au.
Here lies William Talbot wretched
and unworthy Priest awaiting
the resurrection of the dead under the sign of the cross.
A writer in the Arohaological Journal* tells us the expres
sion " sub signo than" thus used has not occurred elsewhere,
but that frequent instances have been noticed, in mediseval
books of art, of similar allusions to the Thau, regarded, doubt
less, as typical of the symbol of salvation, in Ezekiel's vision,
ch. ix. verse 4. In the Yulgate the passage runs thus : —
Transi per mediam civitatem in medio Jerusalem : et signa
thau super frontes virorum gementium, et dolentium super
cunctis abominationibus, quae Sunt in medio ejus ; — Go through
-the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and
mark a cross upon the fore-heads of the men that sigh and
lament over all the abominations which are done in the midst
thereof. The expression seems to have been suggested by the
Hebrew — mark a mark, or as we might now render it, cross a
cross — where the word used is tav, the name of the Hebrew
letter t. This letter was formed like a cross in the Phoenician
alphabet, but not in the Hebrew. In the LXX. it is rendered
dos semeion, and in the authorised version, set a mark, merely.
William Talbot, canon of SouthweU, lived in the latter
part of the 15th century. He will be mentioned again as
having contributed largely to the repairs of the Yicars' College
in the year 1484.
The sculptured stone whioh now forms the lintel of the
belfry doorway in the north transept is very interesting. It
must at one time have been the tympanum of an earlier door
way, and a part of it has unfortunately been cut away to
make it fit into its present position. The sculpture embodies

126

a double subject, rudely executed in low relief, the one repre
senting probably David rescuing the lamb from the lion, the
other very clearly representing S. Michael encountering the
dragon. S. Michael forms the central flgure, holding in his
right hand an uplifted sword, while on his left arm he carries
a circular shield with which he is warding off the attack of
the dragon. The head and shoulders of the figure supposed
to represent David have been cut away. He is kneeling on
one knee, and on the other rests one of the fore-feet of the
lion. His right hand is in the mouth of the lion, grasping
its lower jaw, while vriih his left hand he seems to be pushing
up the animal's upper jaw. The lamb is represented with its
fore-feet resting on the lion's head, and its hind-quarters
hanging in mid-air. The sculpture cannot be of later date than
the middle of the 11th century, when the church seems to
have been considerably enlarged, perhaps altogether rebuUt,
and it might be of earlier date still.
I have not met with any other instance of a representation,
either in sculpture or mural painting, of David and the lion.
An Anglo-Saxon MS. of the earlier half of the 11th century
contains a drawing apparently of the same subject.* The
lamb is absent. David is seen in a very uncomfortable posi
tion on the back of the Uon, his two hands in the mouth of the
animal separating its jaws, and the lion's head turned upwards
and backwards towards him. The dragon was a favourite
animal wherewith the Anglo-Saxons ornamented their books
in the borders and initials. The dragon whioh forms the
initial Y in the MS. of Coedmon (10th century), of which
also Mr. Wright gives a drawing, bears a resemblance to the
dragon in this sculpture. The interweaving folds of the tail
remind one of the sculpturing seen on the Derbyshire Saxon
crosses. But a dragon very similar in design may be seen on
a Norman capital in Shobdon Church, Herefordshire, of much
later date ; in this case the sculpture is much richer and
more delicately treated. Mr. Bloxam informs me that "on a
Norman tympan over a doorway in HaUaton Church, Leices
tershire, the subject of S. Michael and the dragon is simUarly
treated, and that in that case also the shield is circular. The
suDJect, however, is a rare one, and S. Michael is more often
depicted, especially in mural paintings, with a pair of scales
weighing souls.
* MS. Cotton., Tiberius CYI. Mr. Wright gives a cut of this
dra-wing in his Mistory of Caricature and Grotesque in Art.

127
Here I may call attention to the marks upon the pier divi
ding the two easternmost bays of the nave arcade on the south
side. They merely shew the outline of a life-size sculpture,
either in stone or wood, which once rested against the pier,
representing the Yirgin on one side, the angel Gabriel, hold
ing a scroll, on the other, and the Lily, the emblem of purity,
springing up from a pot between the two figures. A few
moments' study reveals the whole subject very clearly, and it
doubtless indicates that underneath it there stood an altar
dedicated to the Yirgin Mary, the bay being occupied by the
chantry-chapel of " Our Lady."*
No less interesting than the early tympanum just described
are the sculptured capitals of the eastern tower-arch as seen
from the organ-loft. The responds of this arch consist of
three attached semi-cylindrical shafts, the capitals of which
shew an imitation of the Ionic volute, and on all except one
* In treating of the chantry-chapels in an earUer chapter (1. 28) I
find, on carefuUy comparing Usts of different dates, that I have
faUen into some errors. Speaking of the chapels as they existed in
1372 I gave a Ust of them as they existed at a much later date, and
drew therefrom the conclusion that there was no lady-chapel. I now
add the Usts I have since found. The first is dra-wn from an inquisi
tion taken of aU the chantries of SouthweU before the Prior of
Thurgarten and one of the Canons, in 1372, by authority of Abp.
Thoresby. The second is taken from the deed of surrender of the
ooUege to Henry VIII. in 1540. The third from the Certificate of 37
Henry VIII. I. II. in.
S. Thomas the Martyr Thomee Becket Thomas Beckette
S. Peter S. Peter S. Peter
S. Nicholas S. Nicholas S. Nicholas
S. Stephen S. Stephen S.ThomastheApostle
S. John Baptist S. John Baptist S. John Baptist
S. John the EvangeUst S. John the EvangeUst S. John the Evange-
S. Mary [the Yirgin] S. Michael Our Lady [Ust
S. Mary Magdalene Marie Magdalene
S. Cuthbert Our Lady & S. Cuth
bert
The deed of surrender omits aU mention of the chantry of Our Lady,
though it appears in each of the other two Ksts, and inserts in its
place the chantry of S. Michael. This may have been done inten-
tionaUy, for there can be no doubt about the existence of the lady-
chapel. Between the year 1372 and the reign of Henry VIII. two
new altars had been erected, those dedicated to S. Cuthbert and S.
Mary Magdalene. In other respects the Usts agree, except that the
chantry of S. Stephen is omitted in the Certificate, and that of S.
Thomas the Apostle inserted.

128
of them groups of figures are rudely sculptured in bas-relief,
raised from a quarter to half an inch. The sculpture has
suffered somewhat in the removal of the plaster from the
capitals. The one exception, the middle capital on the south
side, shews the lamb and the dove among floral ornaments.
On the capital west of this the subject represented is clearly
the Triumphal Entry. The subject of the third capital is not
so manifest. According to Mr. Planche* it " appears to repre-
" sent either the nativity or the resurrection, according to the
" opinion that may be formed of the central object, resembling
" equally a cradle and a sarcophagus, surrounded by persons
"who are raising t'neir hands in adoration." But I am
inclined to think that here we have a double subject repre
sented, and call attention to the flgure of an angel, whioh Mr.
Planche seems to have overlooked.
The capitals on the north side have representations of the
Last Supper and the Twelve Apostles. The sculpture on the
middle capital on this side is more interesting than any of the
others, although it has not yet been satisfactorily explained.
The interest centres in the figure of an ecclesiastic attired in
pontificalibus, an archbishop or bishop probably, who is seen
within a building saying Mass. He is standing beside an
altar which has a chalice, covered with a corporal, upon it,
but with neither lights nor cross. This was the common
representation of the 12th century. Mr. Planche suggests
that the sculpture may be meant to represent Abp. Tliomas
II. consecrating the church of which he was the founder, but,
as this archbishop held the episcopate only from 1109 — 1114,
it is unlikely that the church was consecrated until some years
after his death. A group of four figures occupies the central
part of the capital. Judging from the discs, it appears that
three of these represent the Trinity, while the fourth is the
figure of a man (who may be meant for Paulinus, the original
founder of the church, as Mr. Planche again suggests) bending
reverentially before them. The Father is represented with
wings, one wing upwards, the other downwards; the Son, as
an Infant, resting in the left arm of the Yirgin, whose right
hand holds what seems to be a staff. Beyond this group again
are two other figures, one of a female, holding a lily, which
may be a repetition of the Yirgin, to whom the church is
dedicated, the other of a child.
* See Paper in Journal of Brit. Arch. Ass. for January, 1853.

139
I have met with no notice of a sculptured representation of
the ecclesiastical vestments of earlier date than the one before
us, which cannot be later than the early part of the 12th
century. Indeed I beUeve Mr. Ewan Christian has expressed
an opinion that the capitals may have belonged to the former
church. The ecclesiastic, whoever it may be meant to repre
sent, is vested in the alb, stole, amice, and chasuble, with the
maniple hanging from the left arm. The chasuble is a peculiar
one — very short in front and coming to a point, but long
behind. It bears a close resemblance to the chasuble worn by
Archbishop Stigand, as represented in the Bayeux Tapestry.
The archbishop wears the pall also, and in the figure before
us there are certain lines on the front of the chasuble which
may or may not be intended for a pall. There are some lines
above the head which I at flrst thought to indicate a tall
pointed mitre, but I am informed by Mr. Bloxam that the
early mitres were bonnet-like, and do not always appear on
the heads of bishops in the 1 '2th century. With regard to the
chasuble, the few effigies we have of the latter part of the 12th
century shew them to have been worn very long at that
period, while the earlier form was much shorter, at any rate
in front. So it appears in the representation of a bishop in
the Anglo-Saxon Pontifical in the library at Eouen.* Built
up in an external wall of Bathampton Church is an effigy in
bas-reUef which Mr. Bloxham considers to be the sepulchral
effigy of John of Tours, the first Bishop of Bath (died 1123).
Here the chasuble is very short in front, coming to a peak.f
The sculptures on these capitals are so full of interest that I
hope before long they will be fully examined by some one more
competent to explain them than I am.
The SS Couab. — In the wall of the south choir-aisle
there is an inserted Perpendicular doorway, now blocked up.
From the character of its mouldings and ornaments its date
has been assigned to the early part of the 1 Sth century. The
hood-mould terminates in two heads : one is a recent restora
tion, and the other, which is original, is crowned and affords
an instance of the SS coUar, the badge of the Lancastrian
Princes. It was assumed by Henry lY., probably many years
* Described in the 25th Vol. of the Archaologia.
t Mr. Bloxam's Companion to Gothic Areh.

130
before his accession, and hy him was certainly distinguished
as a Lancastrian ensign.* It occurs as early as 1382 in a
monumental brass in Little Chesterton Church, Eutlandshire.
It was common throughout the first half of the 15th century,
and occurs also as late as 1526 in a monumental efflgy in
Elford Church, Staffordshire. There is a characteristic exam
ple, dating c. 1440, in Hoveringham Church, Notts. With
regard to its origin, it is generally supposed to have been
intended to represent King Henry's favourite motto, (Sovereign,
by repeating the initial letter of the word.. In 'the canopy
above the monarch's monument in Canterbury Cathedral, the
shield of Henry lY. is encircled with a collar of SS, after the
manner of the Garter of the Order- It appears also in the
efflgy of Queen Joanna. The usual form of the collar shews
a series of the letter S in gold, the letters being either linked
together, or set in close order upon a blue or white ribbon,
which is suffered to lie loosely upon the shoulders and
fastened in front, the ends being connected by two buckles
joined to a central link, generally trefoil-shaped, from which
depends a jewel, or, more rarely, a badge. 'The case before
us is interesting as presenting some marked variations of the
usual form. A considerable space separates the letters, and
the ribbon fits tightly round the throat fastened by a buckle,
and the end hangs down after the manner of the Garter.
The painted glass in the windows of the chapter-house has
for the most part been brought thither, either from other
windows in the Minster or from other churches. I am told
that early in the present century Calverton Church was
despoiled of some of its glazing, which was inserted in these
windows. They contain, however, "a few remnants of early
" Decorated glass of the reign of Edward the First. They
" consist chiefly of portions of tracery lights, and of the
" spires and crockets of canopies belonging to the lower lights.
" These crockets are identical in form to those carved in stone
"round the chapter-house. In one of the tracery lights of
" the second window from the east, on the south, is a smaU
" medallion of white glass ; on which is represented a knight
" on horseback, tilting, with a long spear under his arm. He
* The information on this subject is dra-wn chiefly from Mr.
BouteU's work on Heraldry.

131
" is habited in a long surcoat which reaches below the knees,
" and is armed in a hauberk and chausses of mail. His helmet
"is surmounted with a crest, resembling the wing of a bird.
" In one of the opposite windows are remains of heraldic
"borders, consisting of the yellow castles of Castile, and of
" a white lion rampant on a red fleld."
This account by Mr. Winston* may be supplemented by
the investigations of Mr. Planche,-(- who tells us the white
lion rampant on a red fleld is the badge of John Wood Mow
bray, Earl of Nottingham, and a later addition. The same
authority calls attention to what he considers to be a heraldic
subject in the north-east window. He describes it as "an
"oak tree {vert?) eradicated and sprouting {or), between six
"boars, three and three, accosted, passant {argent)," and
reminds us that "a stock of a tree couped and eradicated,
"or, with two sprigs issuant therefrom, vert," is said to have
been a badge of Edward II. J He goes on to say: "a boar,
" argent, is the well-known royal English cognizance, it being
" the favourite one of Eichard III., ' that bloody and devour-
" ' ing boar,' as Shakespere with his Lancastrian predilections
"has indelibly branded him. Sandford tells us this silver
" boar was a badge of the house of Tork, and that he had
" seen it subscribed ' Ex honore de Windsor' ; but this does
" not satisfy us as to its origin. We have still to discover,
" supposing the statement to be fact, how it came to be chosen
" as the symbol, or badge, or device of the honour ot Windsor.
"We have in this piece of glass six boars argent, three on
" each side of the eradicated oak ; and, if the painting be as
"early as the reign of Edward II. , or perpaps Edward I.,
"some clue to the derivation of the Torkist badge may possi-
"bly be obtained from it." It is a note-worthy fact that the
same subject is similarly treated in the sculpture of one of the
capitals of the arcade in the south-east side of the chapter
house. In this case there are only two boars instead of six.
A few heraldic borders of Perpendicular date may be seen
in these windows, taken, I believe, from the west window of
the nave. The " portion of a late Early English White Pat-
"tern," inserted in the east window, must also have come
from elsewhere.
* See Paper in the Lincoln Vol. of the Arch. Inst., 1848.
-t See Paper in Journ. of the Brit. Arch. Ass. for January, 1853.
X Harleian MSS., 1073.

132 The only other painted glass worth notice is that which
fills the lower tier of windows in the east end of the choir.
They are Cinque Cento* paintings of the French School, and
represent the Baptism of Christ, the Eaising of Lazarus, the
Triumphant Entry into Jerusalem, and the Mocking of Christ
by the Jews. To quote Mr. Winston again : "the first sub-
"jeot considered as a glass painting is rather poor, being weak
" both in colour and shadow. The whole of this picture
" below, the knees of our Saviour is a modern addition, by the
"late Mr. Millar, who adapted the glass to the present lights.
" The three other subjects are effective and good ; particularly
" the second, in which, by a skilful management of back-
" ground, a striking effect of distance and aerial perspective
"is produced. The third, as a composition of colour, is per-
" haps the best. These windows, though less powerful, are
"more brilliant than Flemish glass of the same period. As
" Pictures they go far to establish the claim of Glass Painting
"to be considered one of the Fine Arts." They were pre
sented to the church by the late Henry Gaily Knight, M.P.,
and inserted in 1818. In a letter to the Yen. Archd. Wilkins,
dated October, 1837, he writes : " I met with them in 1815,
"in a pawnbroker's shop in Paris, where they had long
" remained in a neglected heap in a corner. I was told, and
" I believe it was true, that they came from the chapel of Le
'" Temple, where Louis XYI. was confined. Le Temple was
" originally the mansion of the Knights Templar, and built
"a.d. 1140." Between the years '20 and '25 the windows
of the upper tier were filled with painted glass containing the
armorial bearings of the King, the " late and present Abps.
" of York," the Prebendaries, Gaily Knight, and a few others.
These were replaced in 1876 by windows presented by resi
dents of the town. At the east end of the north aisle is a
memorial window to the last Prebendary, Mr. Thomas Henry
Shepherd. The brass eagle which stands in the choir seems originally
to have belonged to Newstead Abbey. About the middle of
last century it was found in the bed of the lake in the Abbey
grounds, and passed into the hands of a Nottingham dealer, from
whom it was bought, in the year 1805, and presented to the
* The style prevailed the first half of the 16th century.

133
Collegiate Church by Sir Eichard Kaye, Prebendary of South
well and Dean of Lincoln. The Nottingham dealer found in
the hollow boss on which the eagle stands some documents
relating to Newstead Abbey. They had probably been placed
there and the eagle thrown into the lake for concealment in
the troubled times of Henry YIII. They afterwards passed
into the possession of the late Colonel Wildman. The story
related by Washington Irving, in his work on Abbotsford and
Newstead, that the contents of one of the deeds ca^t discredit
upon the monks of the abbey has been shewn to be mere fic
tion. The following inscription is engraved upon the shaft :
©rate pro ana J^abulpjl 5abagc et pro anabus ©mn
JFiijelium IBefunctorum.
Pray for the soul of Ealph Savage, and for the souls of
all the Faithful Departed.
Eeges et Eeginse erunt nutrices fuse.
Hanc
CoUegiatam et Parochialem Ecclesiam
Religiosa Antiquitas
Fundavit
Rex Henricus 8 ( restaura-rit \ Edwardo Lee Archiepisoopo \ p„i„i,„
lUustrissimus ( 1543 j Ebor. Pussimo ) .rerenie
Reg. Elizabetha / sanci-vit ) Edwino Sandys Archiepisoopo ) Interce-
ReUgiosissima ( 1584 / Ebor. Dignissimo / dente
, - .,. , ( , , ... ., \ Henrico Howard Comite \
Monaroha Jacobus ) stabihvit Northamptouiensi } Mediante .
Pr^potentissimus ( 1604 j Pr^nobUissimo )
A Domino factum est istud :
Da gloriam Deo
Honorem Eegi.
Sint sicut Oreb et Zeb, Zebe et Salmana,
Qui dicunt possideamus Sanctuarium Dei.
Psal. 83. 11.
Del Deus hoc sanctum Sanctis ; sit semper Asylum
Exulis, Idolatris Sacrilegosque ruat.
Gervas Lee
In piam gratamque Mascenatum memoriam
Posuit. 1608.

134 This inscription until quite lately adorned one of the great piem
which support the lantern tower. It teUs us that ReUgious Antiquity
founded this coUegiate and parochial chm-oh, that Henry VIII.
renewed the foundation, and that EUzabeth and James I. ratified and
confirmed it ; but it omits aU mention of its suppression by Act of
ParUament in the Reign of Ed-ward YI. Indeed there are grave
doubts as to the legality of its renewed existence subsequent to
Edward's reign founded on the action of Queen Mary and her
successors, for it seems never to have been supported by any Act
repeaUng the Act of Suppression. There is an interesting letter in
the Record Office -written by James I. to Abp. Hutton, and dated
August 16, 1603, in which the King states that, finding no royal
residence near Sherwood Forest, where he wUl often have to pass in
his journeys between England and Scotland, he -wishes to make an
exchange -with the See of Tork for the houses and manors of Scroby
and SouthweU, which are conveniently situated for his forest sports.
He urges the Abp. to consent, as the houses are much decayed and
the tenure of Southwell manor is questionable, and promises to give
full value for them and to establish the church at SouthweU. The
exchange was not effected. The King, however, did establish the
church, in 1604, as Lee's inscription asserted.*

CHAPTEE YI.
THE PALACE.-THE VICARS' COURT.-THE
COLLEGIATE SCHOOL

The Palace of the Archbishops of York has been little more
than a ruin for more than two centuries. While the Scots
lay before Newark, at the close of the civil war in the reign
of Charles I., the Scotch Commissioners lodged therein, and
when they withdrew their protection and marched northwards
with the unhappy King, it was left to the tender mercies of
the Parliamentary troops, who, stripping all the lead from its
roofs and otherwise despoiling it, began the destruction which
the elements were afterwards allowed to complete. Only one
of the great apartments, the hall, standing in the north-west
corner of the quadrangle, has been preserved ; but enough of
the exterior walls of the palace, with their windows and fire-
* See above, p. 33.

135
places, remains to reveal to us the general plan of what must
have been a truly grand mansion. Two great gables, with
large window-arches, fiank the eastern wall. The northern
one of these was probably the end gable of the chapel, whioh,
with the hall, must have occupied a great part of the north
side of the quadrangle. At the south-east corner remain the
ruins of the tower or keep, and these contain a series of
garderobes ingeniously arranged round a central pillar.*
Attached to the south wall of the hall remains the jamb of a
-window-arch of unusually large dimensions. The hall is now
being restored by the Bishop Suffragan of Nottingham. When
the restoration was taken in hand it was found to have been
divided into two parts hy a partition wall, which concealed
the eastern part of the fireplace ; the eastern portion formed
part of a dwelling-house, occupied, in the early part of the
century, as Shilton tells us, " as a very respectable seminaiy
"for young ladies," and the western portion at the same time
served both as a Sunday-school room and as the court chamber
where the Justices of the Soke of Southwell, nominated by
the archbishop, held their sessions. Entrance to the latter
was gained by stone steps leading to a doorway built into the
lower lights of the west window.
Though no part of the existing ruins can be dated earlier
than the latter part of the 14th century, yet there must have
been a mansion here long before that time, for Southwell had
been a favourite resort of the archbishops.f Dugdale, in the
Monasticon, tells us that this palace was built by Archbishop
Thoresby, c. 1360. In confirmation of this Mr. Parker has
pointed out that the roU-moulding whioh runs round the walls
and buttresses proves them to belong to the Decorated period.
All the windows and fireplaces, however, are evident inser
tions of the 15th century. Indeed so many alterations and
additions were made by Abp. Kemp (1425, 6—1452) and his
* A sketch, -with plan, appears in Mr. Parker's Domestic Arehiteeture.
t The residence of the Abps. of Tork, at Bishopthorpe, some 2J
miles from the city, was built by Walter de Gray in the 13th century.
Aldred (died 1069) -was buried at SouthweU. Other archbishops
bm-ied here were : Godfrey de Ludeham (126-1), Thomas de Corbridge
(1304), WiUiam Booth (146.J), Lawrence Booth (1480), Edwin Sandys
(1688). Gerard (1109) and Godfrey are specially mentioned as having
Uved and died at Soiith-rtrell. Geoffrey Pantagenet was ordained here
in 1181, and Henry de Newark, before he became Abp. in 1296, was
a Canon of Southwell.

;:>,/

136
successor, William Booth, as to give rise to the belief that the
former was the original founder.* Cardinal Wolsey, also,
spent much money in repairing and adorning the palace,
though it is unlikely that any actual building of importance
was undertaken by him.f
* "A copy of all such armes as be standing in stone, wodd, or
" glasse, -within the Biscoppes place at South-well. Eirst at the
" entering of the Porche is graven the armes of Kempe, Archb. of
" Torke, who founded the said house." — RawUnson MSS., Bodleian,
Oxford. Dugdale, who visited the palace shortly before the ci-vil
war, gives an account of the ai-morial bearings it contained. They
have quite recently been restored in the new glazing of the -windows
of the haU. ShUton in 1818 -wrotej " at the east end [of the.haU]
' ' are the arms of the founder [Kemp}, projected on the breast of an
" angel ; he bore three oom-sheaves, in aUusion to his origin, wMoh
was that of a husbandman's sou, of Rye, in Sussex." This, which
has suffered mutilation since ShUton' s day, is Ukewise to be restored.
t References to SouthweU in the State Papers under dates 1527 —
'30, afford instructive iUustration of Wolsey's history. Thus in the
days when his power was greatest -we have a letter addressed to him
by La-wrence Stubbs, President of Magdalene CoUege, Oxford: —
"The prior of S. Bartholomew's, Smithfleld, is sick and likely to die.
"The friends of WiUiom Finch, ceUarer of the same, have offered to
" give your lordship £300 for your coUege, at Oxford, for your favour
" towards his preferment. Dr. Barrye, residentiary of SouthweU, ia
" deceased, by whose death there is a prebend in Tork at your gift,
"and other promotions" (1527). Under 1628 there is a letter by
Wolsey ' ' touching the condition of my manor at SouthweU -with the
"parks and woods there." Then came his disgrace (August, 1629),
accompanied by the seizure of his palace and plate at Tork Place,
now WhitehaU, and a command from the King that he should retire
to his diocese. It seems that the palace at SouthweU was not ready
to receive him, but we find bim dating letters thence in June of the
foUo-wing year (1530). A Uttle later he left SouthweU for Cawood,
where he was staying at the time of his arrest under the prtemimire.
Under 1630 the folio-wing notices occur : —
1. William Claiburgh to Wolsey — from Windsor. — I have deUvered
your letters to Mr. Magnus, and told him what need you have of a
house near SouthweU for a season, your manor not being ready,
suggesting that he should give up Sibthorpe. — And the letter goes
on to speak of Wolsey's "poverty."
2. Robert Bro-wn to Wolsey. — I have received your letter desiring
that I should see your manor of SouthweU repaired against your
coming. I have got ready faggots for the kitchen, bake-house,
and brew-house, and have ordered the mason to work the doors of
your gaUery, etc , and caused locks to be made for the servants'
doors and houses. As for casting of your gaUery -with Ume and
hair according to the direction of Mr. Holgill your surveyor, there
are no workmen that can work in that matter — and so on.

137
The Yicars' Court lies at" the east end of the Minster yard.
It forms a quadrangle, the west side being open, the east
occupied by the Eesidence House, which used to be appropri
ated to the use of the canon residentiary for the time being,
and the north and south sides each filled by two vicarage -
houses. Two of the six vicars-choral lived elsewhere : the
parish vicar in the parish vicarage, and the school master in
the chantry-house, which I shall have occasion to speak about
later on. The present buUdings in the vicars' court were
built in the year 1780, at which time the buildings they
replaced, caUed The Vicarage, had long been in a state of
decay and threatened immediate destruction to their inhabit
ants. The College of Yicars, founded probably by Abp. Gray in
the 13th century, had common domestic buildings before the
year 1379. In that year Eichard de Chesterfield, one of the
canons, petitioned Abp. Alexander de Neville and obtained
leave to appropriate a portion of the cimitery east of the
church, and to build thereon a new mansion for the vicars at
his own expense. Their dwelling-house, he said, threatened
3. Rio. Lyster (Chief Baron) to Wolsey. — I have received your letter
dated SouthweU, 19 June, and perceive you are discomfited at the
process against you directed to the sheriff of Torkshire.
4. Thomas Runcorn (priest) to Wolsey. — I told bim [secretary Gar
diner] the great necessity your grace was in, and begged him to
soUcit the King, out of respect to the service your grace had done
him, that he would, out of consideration for your former and pre
sent estate, look upon you -with charity, and reUeve you from this
miserable poverty — (1,000 marks for journey to North spent in
paying debts in London, and Wolsey had to borrow) — that as for
the magnificent buildings you were accused to making, they are
nothing but the stopping of holes where it rained in from the
-windows, doors, etc. , and had been paid by your receiver at South
weU out of his o-wn money.
5. CromweU to Wolsey. — For although your con-riction in the prce-
munire is touched upon in the preamble, your pardon and restitution
stand good, and you need be in no fear for your spiritual and tem
poral goods. — Then follows advice not to "buUd at SouthweU any
more.
6. Inventory of Wolsey's plate and goods found at Cawood by the
Earl of Northumberland. — £4,265 ought to divers persons at his
departure from Cawood, and not yet paid.
The inherent love of luxury and display shines forth in Wolsey's
character up to the bitter end. On the other baud there must have
been something fundamentally good in the man to whom his servants
remained so faithfuUy attached in the days of his disgrace and retire
ment.

138
ruin, so much so that they had to find separate lodgings in the
town, to the occasion of scandal abroad and the detriment of
divine worship in the church. Moreover it was some distance
from the church and the way was muddy and deep.* So he
built a quadrangular coUege on the site of the Yicars' Court.
It seems to have been a stone building of one story, covered
with roofs of wood sufficiently high-pitched to foim a second
story of apartments. Entrance to the quadrangle was gained
by an archway in the. middle of the west side, and the east
side was occupied by the college hall.
In the year 1485 the roofs were replaced by a second story
by William Talbot, also a canon, whose sepulchral slab, lying
in the vestibule of the Minster, has already been described.
In the year 1689 the hall on the east side was taken down
and a Eesidence House built from materials taken from the
woods on the Norwood estate, granted to the chapter for the
purpose by Abp. Lamplugh. His successor, Abp. Sharp,
provided that the Yiearage should be divided into flve houses
for the use of the vicars- choral, the sixth Vicar, being vicar of
Southwell, to use the parish vicarage-house. It seems that
the Yiearage, which had afforded shelter to the sixteen vicars
of olden times, was not large enough to give house-room to
the six vicars of later times, with their families, and some of
them had gone to live elsewhere in the town. Two rooms
were ordered by Abp. Sharp to be set apart for use as the
Eegistry. Dickenson has given a description of the Yiearage as he
knew it before its destruction in the year 1780. " Natural
" decay in some instances, and the suggestions of modern
"convenience in many more, occasioned the most curious
"parts of this building to be taken down early in the last
" century but one — viz. the projecting windows, porches, and
" oratories, with which it abounded. Three only of these
"remained to our time. These were at the west end of the
"quadrangle — viz. one over the gateway into the church-
" yard ; another contiguous to the north side of it, with a
" western aspect; and a third over the door of the north-west
" house looking into the quadrangle. The first and last of
"these had been oratories in the Eoman Catholic times,
" Their ornaments ascertained their purpose as well as their
* Mr. Dickenson, -without giving his authority, teUs us it was
situated on the east side of BuUivant's Dyke.

¦»(^ —

1S9
" age : the end of every beam or trace terminating in the
"head or body of an angel; and every other place, which
"admitted of an ornamental piece of carving, being loaded
"with the two emblematic roses of the houses of York and
" Lancaster, in conjunction. The other projection was a bow
" window, much decorated with similar ornaments, and on
"the inside of the wall underneath it, in large characters,
" SaiUjtlmuis ®al6ot."
The Collegiate School seems to have been founded early in
the 16th century, but the exact date of its foundation does
not appear.* It was endowed by Edward YI. in the amount
of £10 payable annually out of the exchequer. Before the
suppression of the college the mastership was always held by
one of the vicars choral, who received in addition £ 1 2 from
the chapter and £2 from the prebendary of Normanton.f All
boys born in Southwell were entitled to education in the
school free of .expense ; their number was usually about
twelve. Formerly two Scholarships and two Eellowships,
founded in the reign of Henry YIII., in S. John's College,
Cambridge, were appropriated to scholars of the Grammar
School who had served as choristers of the chapter of South-
* By the -wiU of Robert Batemanson, proved before the chapter on
the 27th November, 1512, it appears that he bequeathed certain lands
at Egmanton to found a Free Grammar School at South-weU, the
master to receive 40s. yearly. If, however, the school should not be
founded within four years from his decease the property was to pass
to the Prior aud Convent of Thurgarton. There is no record of the
fulfilment of the -wiU, nor of the possession of property at Egmanton
either by the chapter of SouthweU or the convent of Thurgarton.
It is to be noticed that the school is not mentioned in the foundation
deed of the feUowships in S. John's, Cambridge, quoted in the text
{in fra). They were founded in 1631. Very possibly the endo-wment
of Edward VI. marks the date of the foundation of the school.
t Queen EUzabeth, in her statutes, in order that piety and learning
might for ever in the church and neighbourhood more and more day
by day flourish and increase, ordained that one learned in Latin and
Greek, religious, honourable, studious, and skilled in teaching, sub
ject to approval and confirmation by the Archbishop, or, the See
being vacant, by the Dean aud Chapter of Tork, should be elected to
the Grammar School of Southwell, who should always labour to
instruct in letters as weU as in manners, whose duty should be, not
only to read thoroughly, teach, and hear Latin and Greek Grammar,
but also to imbue the minds of the boys -with the Ordinances of the
Christian ReUgion fquod fieri potestj .

140
well. The terms of the original foundation runs |thus:*
" Dr. Keyton pro duobus soc. et duobos discip. Paid for this
" foundation 400 lib. settled by Indenture Nov. ult. an. H. 8.
"24" Provided always that the said fellows and scholars be
" elect and chosen of those persons that be or have been
"choristers of the chappell [? chapter] of Southwell, if any
" such able persons in learning and manners can be found in
" SouthweU aforesaid. . And in default of such persons there,
"then of such persons as have been choristers of the said
" chappeU of Southwell, which persons be then inhabitants
" abiding in the said University of Cambridge. And if none
"such be found able in the said University, then the said
"feUows and scholars to be elect of such persons as be most
" singular in manners and learning of what country soever
" they be, that be then abiding in the said University. — Dr.
"Keyton was Canon of Salisbury, and Archd. of Leycester."
Mr. Dickenson cites a case in 30 George II. in which one
Todington, chorister, appealed to the Bishop of Ely, as
visitor general of S. John's College, against the election, by
the master and senior feUows, of one Craven, who had not
been a chorister, to one of these fellowships. The master and
feUows moved in the Court of the King's Bench for a prohi
bition, but the court ruled against them, and the Bishop
decided in favour of Todington, who was elected accordingly.!
This, with another similar case, was quoted by the University
Commissioners in 1852 in their Eeports, in which they recom
mended that the appropriation of the Scholarships and Fellow
ships in question to choristers of SouthweU should cease,
All such appropriations were abolished by the Statutes of
1860. The Collegiate School, as it is now called, has seen many
changes and vicissitudes within the last hundred years.
Previous to the year 1784 Booth's Chapel, which stood on the
south side of the Minster, occupying the second bay of the
nave, was used as a school-room. In that year the chapel
* Quoted from Reports from Select Committee on Education, 1818.
t The kindness of the Senior Dean, the Rev. A. F. Torry, has
suppUed me -with a Ust of the holders of these FeUowships. It is too
long for insertion here, but I may notice a few of the names that
occur in it : WiUiam Becher (1764), Sherard Becher (1808), Chappell
Fowler (1726), Charles Fowler (1781), Benjamin Clay (1784), Prof.
Blunt, WilUam Pound, and W. C. Evans. Holders, stUl Uving are
Messrs. W. S. Wood, A. M. Hoare, and Burbury.

141
was ordered to be taken down, and a room in the Eed Pre
bend,* or Oxton altera pars, which occupied the site of the
Assembly Eoom, was hired as a temporary school-room. A
few years before this, when The Vicarage -was rebuUt, the
vicar-choral who held the mastership was "fixed in The
Chauntry," and in 1791 a school-room was buUt in the south
west corner of the churchyard. The Chantry was partly, if
not entirely, taken down about 1820,f and fhe present school
buUdings erected upon its site in the north-west comer of the
churchjard. The government of the school is now in the
hands of the commissioners. I know nothing of its present
condition, but presume that it is better than it was in the
year 1837, when the chapter decreed that the choristers should
be instructed at the Endowed School at East-thorpe, and gave
" £30 to Mr. Massey in consideration of the present state of
"the CoUegiate School."

CHAPTEE YII.
SOUTHWELL: PAST AND PRESENT.

Little is known of the early history of the to-wn of South
weU. Roman remains seem to have been found here in
sufficient quantities to justify the view that it is the site
of a Eoman town. J It is all that can be said of it. Mr.
Dickenson, indeed, in his History and Antiquities of South
well, wasted much argument to prove that it should be
identified with the Ad Pontem mentioned in one of the
* According to ShUton, in the year 1818 as many as ten of the old
prebendal houses remained in SouthweU in various degrees of preser
vation. For particulars I must refer to his History of SouthweU.
t Before the Reformation the chantry priests formed an indepen
dent corporate body, and apparently Uved together. I have before
me a plan of the buildings as they existed in the year 1818. The
chantry was a red brick building, enclosing a court some 70 ft. by 60
ft. The plan shews also several buildings at the extreme west end of
the churchyard which were puUed do-wn in 1822. These include a
parish vicarage-house, the school-room, and the "Castle Inn."
X See Appendix B.

142
Ltinaries of Antoninus Augustus as a Eoman station on the
great road leading north through Leicester and Lincoln — the
Foss Way. It seems that no such station ever existed.* But if
we can accept as a historical fact the tradition that S. Paulinus
estabUshed here, early in the Sth century, a missionary centre
for the conversion of the .Mercian settlers, it seems only likely
that he chose the spot on account of its then being an impor
tant settlement, and where, maybe, he found the remains of a
former British church.
Its very name, variously spelt Suthwell, Sudwell, SueU,
seems to imply an existence previous to the inroads of the
Danes from East Anglia into this part of the country, whioh
took place towards the end of the 9th century. The old
street-names of Southwell are sufficient evidence of the exten-
* I am indebted to the Rev. R. F. Smith for the solution of this
question. The ltinaries are quoted from Mr. Petrie's work : —
I. Lter a Londinio Lindo . . M.P. CLYI. sic,
Yerolami [iS. Albans^  M.P. xxi.
Eatis \_Leicester~\ 
Yerometo [ Willoughby^  xiii.
Margiduno l_East Bridgeford'\  xiii.
Ad Pontem [?J  vii.
N.B. — Another MS. has YJiii
Crococalano [Brough, nr. Collingham'] vii.
Lindo \_Linooln']  xii.
IL Lter ab Eburaco Londinium M.P. ccxxvii.
* -X- *-
Lindo 
Crococalano  ; . . . xiiii.
Margiduno  xiiii.
Yernemeto  xii
The iter going south is -without doubt the correct one : it omits Ad
Pontem, Against the correctness of the iter going north : —
(1) 'Two successive marches of only 7 miles each very improbable. I
find no paraUel instance in the ltinaries.
(2) Discrepancy in the MSS. Another MS. gives distance of Croco-
calanum from next station south of it as 14 instead of 7 miles,
thus agreeing -with the iter going south.
Explanation : Ad Pontem probably only a marginal note affixed to
Margidunum, denoting this is the spot where one has to branch

143
sive settlement of the Danes in and about Southwell ;* and
from that time, at any rate, it must have assumed the propor
tions of an important town. But there is no documentary
evidence of its existence of earlier date than the reign of
Edwy in the middle of the following century, when that
monarch made the Archbishop of York and his successors
lords of the manor of Suthwell. Nor have we any absolute
testimony to the existence of a church here before the middle
of the 1 1 th century. But the grant of Edwy impUes as much.
Leland, indeed, tells us that "ther was a Se at Southwell of
"the Merches which now longeth to tharchbishop of Tork. "-|-
But it certainly was not a separate See at the time of Edwy's
grant of the crown lands to the Archbishop of Tork, and had
it ever been so some more certain evidence of the fact would
be forthcoming. off to gain the bridge across the Trent. Mistaking this marginal
note for a distinct station some ignorant scribe would easUy insert
it as such, and, to tide over the difficulty of the omission of dis
tance, would divide the distance of Crococalanum from Margidu
num, 14 iniles, into equal distances of 7 miles each.
East Bridgeford Ues between the road and the river, close to both,
and over against it is Gunthorpe Ferry. Bridgeford denotes the ford
where there was once 'a bridge — a Eoman bridge, doubtless, which in
Saxon times feU into bad repair and ultimate disuse, the Saxons being
no bridge-buUders. Margi-dunum signifies gypsum-hill, and the
presence of gypsum in the vicinity of East Bridgeford confirms its
identity. Crococalanum has been identified by topographical -writers
-with Brough, which formerly occupied a spot on the right hand of
the road some 3J miles from Newark.
* Farthingate, Back Lane, Petticoat Lane, Bar Lane, and Moor
Lane may stiU be identified. These, -with Church Street, Burgage,
Westgate, and the adjoining hamlets of East-thorpe, West-thorpe,
and Normanton, make up the present to-wn. Pottergate, MUnegate,
and Prestgate, are the names of streets which have either disappeared
or their situation is not now kno-wn. Pottergate is mentioned in a
deed dated 21 Edward I. (Thoroton's Nottinghamshire). Milnegate is
mentioned in the Hegisirum Album under date 1393 ; Prestgate, West-
gate, and Farthingate, under 1496. Under various dates in the reign
of Ed-ward II. there is mention also of an open piece of ground
caUed the Dyrsing or Dersing Meadow (Shilton's History). Thoroton
teUs us ' ' the scite of the to-wn of SouthweU is divided into two parts,
"the Burgage and the Prebendage: the former comprises aU that
"part of the to-wn between the market-place and the river Greet;
"and the latter the Prebendage and Church."
t ' ' SouthweU to-wn is metely weU buUded, but there is no market
" pubUc. The minster of our lady is large but of no pleasant buUd-
"ing, but rather strong." — Collectanea. (Leland died 1552.)

144 In Southwell and its neighbourhood, in early times, there
were four parks the property of the Abps. of York. The
Southwell or Little Park, about 1 30 acres, lies south of the
town, running close to the palace. Hexgreave Park, com
prising some 700 acres and lying about four miles north-east
of the town, is now divided up into farms. Bokesgrave Park,
Thoroton tells us, was acquired to the See by Abp. Walter de
Gray in the reign of Henry III. The same abp. built the
original palace at Bishopthorpe, near York. The third park,
called Hockerwood or Hokerwood Park, about a mile north
east and containing 120 acres, was granted "among other
hereditaments" to the Earl of Warwick by Edward YI. ifter
the suppression of coUeges and chantries. Norwood Park,
comprising some 100 acres, close to the town on the west side,
is stUl intact. About the middle of last century it passed
into the possession of Mr. John Sutton, by whom the present
red brick mansion was built, and the estate became freehold
in 1778, when Sir Eichard Sutton procured an Act of Par
Uament enabling him to exchange for it certain lands with the
See of York. AU the property of the abps. were alienated
from the See during the civU wars of Charles l's. reign. The
principal purchaser was one Edward Cludd, who bought
the Palace, Little Park, and Hexgreave Park for the sum of
£1,666 7s. 3|d. Norwood Park passed into his hands, and
Thoroton, writing a few years after the Eestoration, tells us
that he "buUt a pretty brick house upon it, and since his
" Majisty's return, is become tenant to the Archbishop, as I
" guess," for at the Eestoration all episcopal estates reverted
to the Sees to which they had 'belonged. Mr. Edward Cludd
raised himself to a position of influence in the county during
the civU war, in which he took a prominent part on the side
of the Parliament. The idle boast of his confidential servant
at this time was that "he and his master ruled all Notting
hamshire." Under the Protectorate he became Justice of the
Peace and Knight of the Shire; and the story of " Cludd's
Oak," in Norwood Park, tells of his custom of celebrating
the rite of marriage under its branches, after the manner of
his time.*

* A small slab in the Minster has " E. C. 1672" upon it. This has
been -wrongly pointed out as marking the burial-place of Edward
Cludd, for it appears from the RoUa Court Book that he served on a
jury at SouthweU as late as the year 1676.

145
The meaning of the name of Southwell is self-evident.
Norwell is some eight miles distant,* There are four historic
wells of Southwell. First the Lord's Well, in SouthweU
Park, famous for its healing properties. The Holy Well,
situated in the open court adjoining the cloister in the Minster.
Lady's Well, in the Minster Yard, some few yards east of the
chapter-house. This well was covered over in 1764 in conse
quence of a Mr. Fowler meeting his death by falling into it
on a dark night. The Iburth well was called S. Catharine's
Well, near a chapel dedicated to that saint, which formerly
stood in West-thorpe. There were several other chapels in the
town or neighbourhood, and the remains of one of these, I am
told, still stand in Normanton.
Tanner, in his Notitia Monastica, tells us that there was a
hospital dedicated to S. Mary Magdalene in the year 1313.
In early times there were many hospitols in the country,! and
they served much the same purposes as our almshouses in the
present day serve. They were nearly all suppressed in the
reign of Edward YI. I have found only two other notices of
this hospital at Southwell. The State Papers, under 1532,
contain memoranda of the archbishop's possessions at South
well, and among them appears the following : " The patronage
"of Southwell College and all the prebends and chantries.
" The ' patronage of the hospital of S. Mary Magdalen in
'¦ Southewell." An inventory of church goods, temp. Edward
YI. contains the following item: "as for the magdalene
"chapell yt ys sold by the Kynge and pullyd down to the
" grownde." The history of the Saracen's Head Inn, which faces Church
Street, is full of interest. Thoroton cites a deed, dated 19
E. II. (1396), wherein the house is described as the messuage
lying between the mansion of the Prebend of Oxton and
Crophille, and the messuage sometime Henry Atte Barres.
The Assembly Eoom now stands on the site of the prebendal
mansion referred to. Barre is the old word for a gate,
Henry atte barre was a convenient way of distinguishing
the Henry who lived in the gate-house. The exact position
of the gate-house cannot now be recovered, but Bar Lane

* At the time of the Domesday Survey the canons had property at
NorweU, and there was a chiu-oh there.
t For Ust see Dugdale's 3Ionasticon (1817-30).

146
was, until lately, the name of the modern Queen Street.*
To return to the Saracen's Head, it seems to be a Hth century
house. It is rectangular in shape, and built round a court
which measures about forty yards by ten. It is entered
brough an archway in the east front, which contains a pair
of massive oak doors. The building lias a king-post roof of
open timber work. In each truss the tie-beam is ^lightly
curved and rests on side-posts with braces. The side-posts
are also slightly curved inwards at the top. A pair of canted
braces rises up from the tie-beam to the king-post, which
supports a collar beam. One of the oak staircases still exists
in a very tumble-down state. The wooden partitions which
divide the habitable part of the upper story into rooms seem
to be original and enriched with carving, but they are at
present hidden by plaster and paper. The front of the house,
too, is covered with plaster and shews none of its ancient
features. Charles I. lodged in this Inn on several occasions before
~ and during the civil war.-|- Cromwell, too, is said to have
occupied the very same apartments as those in which his
unhappy victim lodged. I'his was on the occasion of his
passing through Southwell on his journey north to suppress
the renewed rising of the defeated Eoyalists in conjunction
with the Scots. J We are told, also, that the Inn was the

* We cannot too strongly deprecate the prevailing system of re
placing the old names of streets by high-soimding modem ones.
Many an ancient land-mark has been thus defaced and lost to memory.
Town CounciUors, too, should be careful to preserve the ancient
spelling of these names. Thus Micklcgatc, iu the City of Lincoln,
has lately been dedicated to the memory of S. Michael by being re
painted Michaelgatc !
t These -visits caused a change later on in the sign of the Inn from
the Saracen's Head to the King's Arms for a time. Dr. Stukely, in a
letter dated from Stamford, May 3, 1746, wrote of the Saracen's Head
Inn: "The Inn is stiU remaining, though the sign is changed."
And the same letter teUs us ho w " the King' s Arms were done upon
"the gable end" of a house in Stamford in which the King had
lodged soon after the battle of Naseby. A square stone, set diamond-
wise, and bearing the King's Arms and the date 1693, may now be
seen on the front of the house. This was found in 1797 on the
removal of au old sign of the Saracen's Head which had been for
many years placed against the wall. — Slulton's History of Southwell.
X His soldiers used the nave of the Minster as a stable for their
horses. It is said that CromweU issued a warrant for the destruction

147
scene of the " sorrowful parting" of the Queen and the
Eoyalist leader Cavendish, shortly before the defeat and death
of the latter in an engagement with Cromwell's Ironsides
before Gainsborough.
The following verses from the pen of Bishop Selwyn, who
wrote them after spending a night in the Inn, are worth
quoting on account of the local allusions. They are entitled
A Sleepless Night at SouthweU.
I cannot rest — for on the spot
Where I have made my bed,
O'er-wearied -with the strife of state,
A King hath laid his head.
Thy sacred head, iU-fated Charles,
Hath lain where now I Ue ;
And thou hast passed in SouthweU Inn
As sleepless night as I.
I cannot rest — for o'er my mind
Come thronging fuU and fast.
The stories of the olden time.
The visions of the past.
'Twas here he rested ere he raised
His standard for the fight ;
Here caUed on Heaven to help his cause,
My God ! defend the right !
Here gather' d round him aU the flow'r
Of England's chivalry;
And here the vanquished Monarch closed
His days of Uberty.
I cannot rest — for CromweU' s horse
Ajce neighing in mine ear ;
E'en in the holy house of God
Their ringing hoofs I hear.
Lord ! -wUt Thou once again endure
In stable vUe to be.
The proud usurper's charger rein'd
Past by fhy sanctuary ?
I cannot rest, for Wolsey's pride.
And Wolsey's deep disgrace —
The pomp, the Uttleness of man^
Speak from this ancient place.
Here gloriously his s-ummer days
He spent in kingly state ;
Here his last summer sadly pined,
Bow'd by the stroke of fate.
of the nave and all such portions as were not necessary for the pur
poses of the parish, and that it was only the influence of Mr. Cludd
that saved the venerable fabric.

148

How mighty was he when he rul'd
From Tweed to Humber' s flood !
How lowly when he came to die.
Forsaken by his God !
I cannot rest — for hoUer thoughts
The lingering night beguile.
Of the glad days when Gospel Ught
Went forth o'er Britain's isle.
'Twas here the Bishop sf the North,
PauUnus, pitch' d his tent.
Here preached the Uving word of God,
Baptising in the Trent.
Hence have the preachers' feet gone forth,
Through all the county -wide ;
And daughter- churches have sprung up,
Nursed at their mother's side.
Here have the clerks of Nottingham,
And yeomen bold and true.
Held yearly feasts at Whitsuntide,
And paid their homage due.
Here many a mitred head of Tork,
And priests and men of peace.
Have Uved in penitence and prayer,
And welcomed their release.
And hence the daily choral song,
The Gospel's hopes and fears.
Have sounded forth to Christian hearts.
Beyond a thousand years.
'Tis thus, o'er England's hill and dale.
Hath passed by Heaven's decree,
A changing Ught, a chequer'd shade,
A mingled company.
The good, the bad, have had their day.
The Lord hath worked His wiU ;
And England keeps her ancient faith.
Purer and brighter still.
Where are they now, the famous men.
Who Uved in olden time ?
They never see the noonday sun.
Nor hear the midnight chime ;
They sleep -within their narrow cell.
Waiting the trumpet's voice :
Lord ! gTant that I may rest in peace,
And when I wake — rejoice.

W. Sel-wtw.

Saracen's Head Inn,
6th March, 1842.

149
Nottingham.shire played an important part in the civil war.*
Western and Northern England sided with the King, the
Midlands and the Eastern counties with the Parliament, and
tlie central position of the county gave it great stragetic
importance. The rivalry, therefore, between the lower and
the upper classes was very keen. It was on Standard Hill,
in Nottingham, that Charles unfurlod the royal standard, but
the county town very soon after shewed a preference for the
cause of the Parliament and became one of its strongholds.
Newark, on the other hand, remained loyal throughout, and,
though closely besieged by the Parliamentary troops, and later
on by the Scotch army, and more than once reduced to great
straits, it held out to the end. When the battle of Naseby,
June, 1645, seemed to have decided the issue of the war, in
the following October Charles retired with his guards to South
well in the hope of once more rallying his supporters around
him. Tradition tells us the story of how he one day walked
into the shop of a boot-maker in the town, James Lee hy
name, who refused to servo his royal customer, pleading in
excuse that he recognized in him the man of whom he had
been forewarned in a dream that the hand of fate was upon
him, and that no one would prosper who did anything for
him. Hearing that the garrison of Nottingham had become aware
of his presence in Southwell and was determined to effect his
capture, Charles quitted the town in haste only two hours
before the arrival of a troop of horse from Nottingham. In
the following March, when the King was shut up in Oxford,
Cardinal Mazarin, "the cool Italian who ruled France," sent
an emissary to treat with the Scots on behalf of the King.
Montreville arrived in Southwell on the 26th of that month
and took up his residence at the "King's Arms," as the
Saracen's Head was then called, the Scotch Commissioners
occupying the archbishop's palace. In consequence of the
negotiations that passed between them the King determined
to join them, and he effected his escape from Oxford in the
disguise of a servant, with one or two followers, on the 4th of
May. Two days later he arrived at Montreville's lodgings,
sent for the commissioners, and after dining with them at the
Saracen's Head, formally gave himself up to them, and was
* Coritani Lachrymantes is the title of a short history of the civil
war in Notts., written about 1671 by a Mr. Savage of SouthweU.

150
led to the Scotch army lying at Kelham before Newark. To
the great disgust of its loyal inhabitants, the gallant garrison
of Newark surrendered itself at the command of the King,
and the Scots a few days later began their march northwards
with their royal prisoner. Southwell, soon after, was occupied
by the Parliamentary troops under Edward Cludd.
Notwithstanding the occasional visits of the King, the
inhabitants of SouthweU seem to have favoured the cause of
the Parliament, and the Church and its prebendaries must
have fared badly in the unfortunate period of the Protectorate.
General Monk, on his way from Scotland to London to restore
the monarchy in January, 1660, passed through the town,
and there is a story — characterized by Shilton, the local
historian, as " a barefaced falsehood, and in the very teeth of
"history" — that he was greeted from the churchyard wall
" with great store of blessings, prayers, etc. for the success of
"his enterprise." In the State Papers, under 1660, we find
a number of petitions to the King for preferment to vacant
prebends. The notice of one of them is couched in the fol
lowing terms: — Petition of Dr. Daniel Yivian to the King
for the Prebend of Southwell belonging to Norwell Palishall,
dio. York — he having been an army chaplain under the late
King, ran great risks in the conveyance of letters, and has
been a severe sufferer in the cause.
This was not the first civil war in which Southwell played
a part. Five hundred years before, in the troubled period of
Slephen's reign, it helped William Peverel to wrest Notting
ham Castle from the hands of the Empress Matilda's followers.
This William Peverel was the son of the mysterious Sir
William Peverel of much disputed parentage, the " PeverU of
"the Peak" and founder of the famous Honor of Peverel,
who was appointed constable of the Castle of Nottingham by
William the Conqueror. The younger William Peverel was
a sturdy supporter of Stephen, and while he was absent with
the King at the siege of Lincoln one Ealph Paganal or Pagnall,
one of the Empress Matilda's captains, admitted the forces of
the Duke of Gloucester into the town and castle. The Duke,
much in want of money to pay the soldiers, determined to
sack the treasury of S. Mary's, Southwell, and sent over a
small detachment for that puipose. But the walls of the
Minsteryard were well manned with gallant defenders, who
successfully drove back their assailants to go and seek further
aid from Nottingham. But, without waiting for their return,

161
two young men from Southwell Mills co-operated with
William Peverel, scaled the castle rock, and drove the Empress'
followers out of Nottingham.* William Peverel then seized
upon the castle and town, which were royal property, and on
his refusal to surrender them, Henry II. , who had meantime
become King, expelled and disinherited him.f
Whatever be the opinion formed of the part Southwell
played in these civil wars, there can be no doubt that its
inhabitants in later times have been remarkable for their
loyalty. In the troublous times that followed the French
Eevolution, in response to the appeal of the Government to
the Lord Lieutenants that they should raise corps of yeomanry
for the defence of the country in view of the threatened
French invasion, the sum of £118 was subscribed for that
purpose in Southwell. This was in 1794. In 1798 again a
further subscription of no less than £275 was raised. The
great volunteer movement of 1803 also extended to Southwell,
and the Loyal Southwell Volunteer Infantry, under the com
mand of Major William Wylde, had a muster roU of 243
members. The corps was disbanded in 1808.
The Burgage Manor House,J from 1804 to 1807, was the
residence of Lord Byron's mother. Straitened circumstances
had compelled the poet to offer for sale Newstead Abbey,
"the last vestige of his inheritance," of whioh he was so
proud and which had been in the possession of his family
since the dissolution of the monasteries. The Pigots lived in
a house on the opposite side of Burgage Green. Byron, at
that time at Eton, spent his holidays here, and on his leaving
school passed a whole year in Southwell. It was now that
his strangely complex nature began to shew itself, with its
n tolerance of domestic restraint, its capacity for strong
attachments, and its love of boyish freaks. It is said that
Mr. John Thomas Becher, Prebendary of South Muskham,
took much notice of him, and exercised sufficient influence
over him to induce him to suppress the first copies of his
* See Local Notes and Queries, No. 163, in Nottingham Guardian.
t Mr. W. H. Stevenson in Old .

t The Burgage is a distinct manor, and in Shilton's day the Abp.
as lord of the manor held oourt-leet in the Manor House t-wice annu
aUy, viz. on Thursday in Whitsun-week and on S. Thomas' Day, his
steward presiding.

152
youthful poems, Hmrs of Ldleness, published in 1807, on
account of the too warm colouring of one of them.
The tone of society in Southwell in the old coaching days,
like that of most of our small towns, was highly convivial.
The Assembly Eoom,* the centre of the social gatherings,
was almost nightly the scene of dances, dinner-parties, and
the like. It was also used as a news-room, and once a week
mine host of the Saracen's Head provided two packs of cards
for the amusement of the more sober-minded. Southwell
possessed a Theatre also,f in whioh Byron himself played, it
is said, with great applause. These amateur theatricals were
held in "old prebends and dilapidated barns, which for some
"years were the only accommodation Thalia's sons could
" obtain for the display of their histrionic talents," until, in
1816, a Theatre was fitted up.
These institutions have given place to those more adapted
to the spirit of the times. The Literary Institute stands in
the Marketplace; it has a library of nearly 5,000 volumes,
and a reading-room, where lectures are delivered in the winter
season. For the benefit of the poorer classes there is a Free
Library and Museum in Queen Street. This was founded by
Mr. Jonas Bettison Warwick, formerly a medical man in prac
tice at Southwell, who bequeathed £1,500 to trustees for the
purpose, as well as his collection of minerals and fossils and
a library of books.
This brief sketch of the history of SouthweU may be closed
with a notice of Holy Trinity Church, in Westgate. Undt-r
1843 the Chapter Eecords contain a note: — It is expedient
that a District Church be erected in Westthorpe : that the
patronage be vested in the Bishop of Lincoln. It was conse
crated in 1846. The cost of building and the endowment
were quickly raised by subscription, the lists being headed by
Mrs. fleathcote and Mr. H. C. Stenton. The parsonage-house
was built in 1847.

* BuUt in 1805 by Mr. Richard Ingleman, who built also the House
of Correction fronting Burgage Green. A curious account of the
original BrideweU, built in 16(i6, and its management, may be found
in the Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 76. A short "time back the prisoners
were removed to Her Majesty's Prison at Nottingham.
t I have before me one of the original play-biUs, dated July 20, 1804.

APPENDIX A.

COLLEGIATA ET PAROCHIAHS ECCLESIA.

It occurs to me that I have failed to lay sufficient emphasis
on the double . character of the church at Southwell as being
both collegiate and parochial (see pp 6 and 37 foot-note).
This double character is preserved even in the present day.
And here I have to correct an expression I used in an early
part of this book when I described the church as being now,
and until the erection of the bishopric, "merely parochial."
So long as the last vicar choral of the college remains at his
post, performing duties wholly distinct from those of the
incumbent of the parish, the church will retain a remnant of
its collegiate character. We have no clue as to which was
the earlier institution, the parochial or the collegiate church.
Mr. James Parker has called my attention to a passage bear
ing upon this subject in the bull granted to the canons by
Pope Alexander III. in 1171. Cceterum, si quis parochianorum
vestrorum, vel etiam parochianorum Ehorum Ecclesia infra cimi-
terium Ecclesia vestra, etc. "But if any one of your parish-
" loners, or any one likewise of the parishioners of the Church
"of York within the churchyard of your Church," etc. This
passage by itself would lead one to conclude that there was at
that time a parochial church f ecclesia Eborum) standing in the
churchyard of the collegiate church, and distinct from it.
This, however, weare fairly certain was not the case in 1171,
though two churches may have stood side by side before the
12th century church was erected.* It must be remembered
that ecclesia had a double meaning, being sometimes used to
denote the actual building, at other times to denote the Chris
tian assembly or congregation. It must also be remembered
that in conventual churches the nave was often devoted to
parochial uses. The passage quoted is an interesting record
of the double character of the church at Southwell in early
times, if nothing more. * See App. B, p. 156.

APPENDIX B

ROMAN REMAINS AT SOUTHWELL— THE TESSELATED
PAVEMENT RECENTLY DISCOVERED IN THE MINSTER.

I have said (see p. 141) that Eoman remains seem to have
been found at Southwell in sufficient quantities to justify an
argument for Eoman occupation. The most important of
these discoveries were made some few years after Dickenson
published the first edition of his History, and in his second
edition he gave an account of them. In breaking up a piece
of ground, he writes, under the eastern side of the archbishop's
palace, in the year 1793, to make a garden for one of the
gentlemen of this church, a tesselated Eoman fioor was dis
covered of considerable extent, accompanied by several frag
ments of urns. These were found at the depth of five or six
feet from the surface. In laying down a part of the flat
pavement on the north side of the church, a little anterior to
the time last mentioned, the workmen accidentally broke into
a small vault, whioh, on the most scrupulous examination,
was found to have been constructed almost entirely with
Eoman bricks. In the year 1794 one of the oldest prebendal
houses in the town, situated on the north side of the church,
was puUed down : in the walls, especially near the founda
tions, were many Eoman bricks mixed with other materials ;
and scarce any of the more ancient buildings of the place have
shared a similar fate, but in the foundations, at least, many
Eoman remains have been discovered. Mr. Dickenson also
teUs us that several Eoman coins were in his day dug up on
the south and east sides of the town. Among them were
coins of Maxentius and Constantine ; and he adds that many
others, especially of the later Emperors, had been discovered
in the vicinity of Southwell.
Since the second chapter of this work was written and
printed the fioor of the transepts has been taken up for repairs,
and Mr. Petit's remarks, quoted on p. 52, have proved to be
misleading. His story of a discovery of " a few years ago"
must have been a tradition of many years. The spot indicated

155
by him as the site of some ancient foundations of rubble work
is occupied hy the vault of the Fowler family, which dates
back into the last century, and has swept away whatever old
work there may have been there before it. In fact the tran-
bopts are so full of vaults as to have lost all traces of early
work except along the west wall in the south transept. Here
the workmen have discovered the remains of a mosaic pave
ment, its level being some ten inches below the general level
of the fioor of the transept. Its preservation seems due to
the presence of a double row of 15th century seats which
stand along the wall supported upon low cross-walls of brick
which themselves rest upon the pavement in question. It
was found that the paving of the transept did not run under
neath these seats, the space underneath them being full of
mould and rubbish. The tessera vary in size from fto 1^
inches. Some of them are made from Eoman brick or files,
others are of stone in different colours, those of a light red
and a very dark colour being most numerous. The remains
measure 15| ft. in length, their breadth varying from 1| to 2
feet. They are not sufflciently extensive to shew anything
like a complete pattern, but a close examination reveals two
or more segments of circles, slightly larger than a semicircle,
some nine or ten inches in diameter, the chords of which rest
upon a narrow border-line consisting of a double row of the
cubes made from red tiles. These segments consist of a series
of concentric circles, in which the different stones are used
without any regard to their colour, enclosing, in one case, a
central square of the dark -coloured stones, five on each side,
the central stone itself being a red one and somewhat larger
than the others. Circles of larger diameter touch those just
described, small portions only of which remain. Beyond the
narrow border-line, which runs parallel with the west wall of
the transept, no pattern is visible, and the remains vanish at
about 2 1 feet from tho face of tlie wall. They give one the
idea of having formed part of the border of a large pattern,
but there is nothing to prove it did not extend beyond the
transept waU. About four feet from the south wall there is a
fragment of what appears to be the return border-line. This
consists likewise of a double row of red tiles, but on each side
of it there runs an additional row of very small white stones.
The pavement fails at present to throw much light upon
the history of the church. Judging from the material, shape,
and disposition of the tessera, it may have belonged to any

156
building up to the 12th century. To my' mind the level alone
is sufficient argument against its being a part of the original
floor of the present structure (Tith century). Tesselated
pavements wore generally used by the Eomans for the floors
of their buildings. And since there, is reason to beUeve
Southwell to have been the site of a Eoman town, it is quite
pos,sible that the pavement may have belonged to a Roman
villa, the site of which was afterwards accidentally chosen
for that of a church ; or it may have belonged to a Eoman
Basilica. On the other hand, it may have belonged to a Saxon Basilica.
For there is no reason why, when the building art revived in
the 7th century, the pavements should not have followed the
Eoman rule as much as the churches. And they doubtless
followed the same rule in England till the 1 Itli century, and
in a few instances even later still as they did on the continent.
Examples in churches occur, shewing more or less complete
patterns, at Westminster and Canterbury, also at Fountains
and Eievaulx Abbeys, and elsewhere. Fragments of Eoman
brick are worked up into the foundations of the eastern parts
of the 12th century church in sufficient quantities to make it
almost certain that the 1 Ith century church only replaced one
of earlier date on or near the same site. The same argument
favours the view that a church existed here earlier than the
10th century also. Without presuming to fix a date for the
pavement, all things considered it seems likely that it belonged
to the Saxon Basilica which preceded the 1 1th century church,
whether that Basilica be assigned to the 10th or the 7th cen
tury. The view that it is not actually Eoman is in some
degree confirmed by the fact that some of the tessera which
are made from Eoman tiles are not cut so squarely as others.
The question, however, could only be settled by excavations
on a large scale on the north side of the church, which I
believe would be productive of considerable results.
Mr. Parker, with a view to including the pavement in the
original church, kindly sent me a rough plan illustrating what
he thought might have been the gradual extension of South
well Minster. In the rough plan, a Saxon church, built more
Romano in the form of a Basilica, occupies the site of the
• south transept of the present church and extends eastward of
it. This would be either an early Saxon church, which would
be parochial only, or a church of the 10th century, which
might be either parochial only, or both parochial and coUegi-

157
ate. The 1 1th century church, coUegiate, 1050 — 1060, also a
Basilica, stands on the north side of the former one, and
extends eastward from the piers separating the fifth and sixth
bays of the 12th century church {see Plan II.) Before the
12th century the rule was to build beside of rather than
instead of a church which was to be superseded. This ap
pears, as far as evidence goes, to have been the plan adopted
at Winchester for instance. Then comes the 12th century
church (as in Plan II.), which would absorb both the Saxon
churches ; and lastly the 13th century extension.

APPENDIX C.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLES.

Edward the Confessor  1042
William 1  1066
WiUiam II  1087
Henry 1  1100
Stephen  1135
Henry II  1154
Richard 1  1189
John  1199
Henry III  1216
Edwardi  1272
Hemy VIII  1050

Edward II  1307
Edward III  1327
Richard II  1377
Hem-y IV  1399
Henry V  1413
Henry VI  1422
Edward IV  1461
Edward V  1483
Richard III  1483
Henry VII  1485
 1509—1547.

Early Norman

Later Norman

Transition

Early EngUsh

Decorated . . .

1125 117511891272

1066

1145

Norman.

. Transition.

118!1245 I
1315 I

1360

Lancet.
Geometrical.
Curvilinear.

Perpendicular, j

Rectilinear.

1377 —
1547 1/547
The above divisions of styles are those adopted by Mr. John Henry
Parker and Mr. Edmund Sharpe respectively. Roughly speaking the
Norman, Early English, and Decorated styles may be said to belong to the
12th, 13th, and Hth centuries respectively, the transition to each style
ecupying in each case the previous half century.

I N .D E X

Adams, Prebendary, 8, 34
Ad Pontem, 141
Aisles of nave, 68, 84; of choir, 93
Aldred, Abp.. founds prebends, 10
Alexander IIT., bull of, 14 : App. A.
Altar-table, 92
Apse, 59, 60 72
Archbishops, see York
Assembly Room, 145, 152
Baptistery, 105
Bells, 117
Beverley CoHeg'iate Church, 1 ; early
history allied with that of South
well, 10, 11
Bishoprics Act, 48
Bleasby, 5, 16
Booth Chapel, 69
Burgage, 143, 151
Byron, Lord, 151
Canons, see Prebendaries ; application
of term, 3
Cathedral Churches, meaning of the
word, 1 ; of the old and new foun
dations, 30
Chancel, 75, 92
Chancellor, 22, 23
Chantry, The, 28, 141
Chantries, lists of, 127 ; suppression
of, 32
Chantry Chapels, 84, 101, 127
Chantry Priests, 27
Chapels, in Southwell, 145
Chapter, see Southwell; meaning of
the word, 3
Chapter-house, 76. 102, 106
Charles I., 146, 149
Chartas, granted to Canons, 21
Chimney, Noj-man, 81
Choir, 73, 87
Choristers, 29
Church Commissioners, 41 ; their Re
ports, 43, 45
Circular Windows, 70
Cloister. 103
Cludd, Edward, 144
Collar of SS, 129
Collegiate Churches, meaning of the
word, 1; suppression of, 32
Correction, House of, 152
Court-baron, 16
Court-chamber, 135
Court-leet, 17, 151
Cox, Dr., Prebendary, nominated by
Henny VIII, to Bishopric of South
well, 32
Cranmer, 32, 34
Cromwell, in Southwell, 146

Danes, evidence of their occupation of
Southwell, 7
Deaneries, 13
Derby, County of, subtracted from
Lichfield to form part of a new
diocese. 1, 48
Dersing Meadow, 143
Dimock, Rev. J. F., 48
District Church, 152
Domesday Survey 15
Drummond, Abp., abolishes Pente
costal synod, 38 ; proposes to reform
the college, 40
Eagle Reading-desk, 130
East Front, 75
Ecclesiastical Commission, 42 ; its
powers in formation of the new dio
cese, 49
Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues
Bill, 41, 46
Edgar, King, 9
Edward VL, 1,32, 3S
Edwinstow, 5
Edwv, Kino-, 8
Effigies, 119
Elizabeth, Queen, 33, 36, 134
Fiskerton, 5
Frank-pledge, 16
Glazing, 130
Gray, Abp, WalterMe, his work. 20;
rebuilds choir, 21, 53; probably in
corporated the vicars choral, 26
Henry VIIL, 31, 34, 134
Hutton, Abp., letter of James I. to,
134
Inventories of church goods, 35
James L, 33, 134
Kaye, Sir R., 24, 132
Kemp, Abp., his work in Palace, 134
Keyton FeUowships, 140
Lantern Tower, 71, 73, 85
Lee's Pillar, 133
Liberty, 15
Library, 97; Booth's Chapel used as,
69 ; built on north side of choir, 72
Lichfield Diocese, division of, 1, 44, 48
Lincoln Diocese, Nottinghamshire
annexed to, 41 ; division of, 1, 44, 48
Manor of SouthweU, Ifi
Mary, Queen, 33

15V)

Measurements of Minster, 117
Monk. General, paases through South
well, 150
Montreville, the French Ambassador,
149
Nave, 68, 81
Newpl, 61, 99
Norman Church, 57
North, Sir E., letters of, 34
North Transept Chapel, 79, 94
Nottingham. Archdeacon of, office
founded, 22; Canonry in Southwell
Minuter attiiched to, 46 ; Rectory of
Southwell allachcd to, 47
Nottingham Castle, taken by party
from Suuthwt'U, 150
Nottingham, County of, Southwell
Collefiiate Church the head mother
church of, 11; its deaneries, 13;
included in new diocese af South
well, 1, 48
Nottingham, Mayor of, rides in state
to SouthweU, 11
Organ, 116
Organ-screen, 113
Oscytel, Abp., grant of crown lands
to, 8
Oxton, altera pare, prebendal house,
145
Painted Glass, 130
Palace of Archbishops of Tork, 134
Papalinfluence'feltat Southwell, 14. 19
Parish Church, the Collegiate Church
the, 37; benefice held by a vicar
choral, 37 ; App. A.
Parks, in neighbourhood of South
well, 144
Pavement, Tesselated, App. B.
Paulinus, the possible founder of =>
church at Southwell, 3
Peculiar, see Southwell
Pentecostal Procession, 11 ; aboUshed,
Porch. North, 80
Prebends, meaning of the word, 3;
founded by Abp. Aldred, 10; exempt
from e])iscopal custom, 11, 13 ; given
to Italians, 15 ; Ust of, 19
Prebendal Estates, 24 ; how leased, 44 ;
vested in Ecclesiastical Commission
ers, 47
Prebendaries, hold influential position
in early times. 16, 19; their rights
infringed by the sheriffs, 17 ; their
manner of living, 18; their duties.
24; character of in later times. 40;
their patronage transferred to Sees
of Ripon and Manchester, 47
Rector Chori, 37
Residence, privileges attaching to, 24;
protesting, 25 ; manner of keeping,
25, 36, 38, 39

Residentiary, The Canon, 32; h«
duties in later times, 36
Ripon CoUegiate Church, early histoid
allied with that of Southwell, 11, 21;
re-established by Mary, 33 ; a paro
chial church, 37 ; a cathedral church,
41
Roman remains, 6, 141, App. B
Romanus Abp. John, founds prebend,
20; charta of, 21, 23, 25; grants
endowments to choristers. 29
Roofs, lowered, 70, 71, 73
Sacristan, 12, 23
Sac and soc, 17
Sandys, Abp., 120
Saracen's Head Inn, 145
School, The Collegiate, 139. 69
Sculpture, 125
Secular Colleges, meaning of the term,
, 1 ; origin of, 2 ; their property, 3 ;
strict rule in France. 10; constitu
tion of, 22 ; suppression of, 32
Sedilia, 115
Selwyn, Bishop, 147
Sepulchral slabs, 118, 124
Sharpe, Abp,, injunctions of, 38, 39,
138
Sherwood Forest, 19, 134
Singing-men, 29, 37
Smith, Rev. R. F., last vicar choral,
37, App. A
SouthweU, site of a Roman town 141,
App. B ; not the Ad Pontem of the
ltinaries, 142 ; Paulinus said to have
founded a church here, 3 ; occupied
by the Danes, 7, 143 ; its street-
names, ib. ; grant of royal demesne
at Southwell to Abps. of York, 9,
143; the abps, lords of tbe manor,
ib> ; the centre ot two jurisdictions,
civil and ecclesiastical, 15 ; property
of ahpa. at, 144; the four wells, 145;
hospital, ih ; its part in civil wars,
149; its loyalty, 151 ; convivial tone
of its society, 152 ; existing institu
tions, ib,; the new District Church,
io
Southwell, Chapter of, the canons
form the chapter, 3 ; their number '
in the eleventh century, 10 ; powers
oi ordinary conferred upon It by
Abp. Thomas II., 13; extent of its
jurisdiction, ib. ; relation of arch
bishops to, 13, 22 ; relation of popes,
14; bull of Alexander HI. confirm
ing ancient pnvileges, ib. ; its judi
cial powers, 19 ; number of canons
fixed, 10, 19; consulted by Abp.
Gray in the administration of his
diocese, 20 ; chartas and statutes
granted to it by abps., 21 ; its con
stitution compared with that of
other secular chapters, 22 ; capitular
statutes, 23, 25, 26; its property, 24;
its fortunes in period of Reforma-

160

tion, 31 ; surrenders its property to
Henry VIIL, ib.; re^J'ounded, 32;
suppressed by Act of Edward VI.,
ib. ; property restored by' Mary, 33 ;
legality of its later existence ques
tioned, 33, 134; statutes granted by
Elizabeth, 33; its possessions con
firmed by grant of James I ,, 33, 134;
ita constitution as remodelled by the
statutes of Elizabeth, 36; its regu
lations as to residence, 39; injunc
tions of Abp. Sharpe, 38, 39; pro
posed reforms of Abp. Drummond,
40 ; suppression recommended by
the Church Commissioners, 41 ; the
act of suppression, 32 ; value of its
property, 44; it ceases to exist, 48
Southwell Loyal Volunteers, 151
Southwell Minster, a collegiate and
parochial ch.irch, App. A ; Pau
linus said to have been the original
founder, 3 ; evidence in favour
of a British church, 6, App. B;
church of Paulinus probably des
troyed by Danes, 7 ; foundation of
collegiate church asciibed to King
Edgar, 8 ; certainly a coUegiate
church in eleventh century, 10 ;
rebuilt or much enlarged in eleventh
century, 51 ; present fabric dates
from twelfth eenturv, 52 ; becomes
the head mother church of town
and county of Nottingham in reign
of Henry I , 10 ; the annual synod,
11; choir rebuilt in thirteenth cen
tury, 21, 53 ; its successive buildings
compared with those of York Min
ster, 63; damaged by fire, 65, 70;
the cathedral church of the new
diocese, 1. 48
Southwell, Peculiar Jurisdiction of,
its origin and extent, 15; list of
parishes in, 16; abolished, 41
Soutliweli and Scrooby, Liberty or
Soke of, its origin and extent, 15
Spires, 65
SS Collar, 129
Stall.s 93, 113
Statutes, The, 21
Statutes, granted to college by Abps.
of York, 2L; capitular, 23, 25, 26;
of Elizabeth, 36, 38

Stone used in Minster, 88
Talbot, William, 125, 138
Tatham, Rev. Alfred, 48
Tau-cross, 124.
Theatre, SouthweU. 152
Thomas II. , Abp., obtains for South
well the po'^ition of a mother church
in diocese of York, 11, 13 ; rebuilds
the church, 11, 52
Thore.>*by, Abp , builds Palace, 135
Tiovulfingacestre, 4, 6
Traiisepts, 71, 87
Treasurer, 22, 23
Tympanum, Ancient, 105
Vestibule, 78, 112
Vicarage of Southwell, constituted a
Rectory, 37, 47
Vicar-general, office created by Eliza
beth 36; duties, ib
Vicars Choral, early history of, 26
thfir number in later times, 37
conduct of, 38 ; reduced to two, 48
styled minor canons, ib.
Vicars' Court, 36, 137
Warwick trust, 152
Wells, Historic, 145
West Front, 65
Wilkins, Archdeacon, 47, 48
Wilkins, Mr. Murray, 47, 48
Wolsey, Cardinal, 136
York, Archbishops of. their relations
vrith the chapter of Southwell, 12,
22; patrons of the college, 14, 145;
po-^sessions at Southwell, 15, 144;
feudal lords, 16; nominate Justices
for Liberty, ib. ; statutes and char
tas of, 21 ; vi.sitors of the coUege, 36
Tork, extent of diocese of, 10 ; mother
churches in diocese of, 11 ; chrism
brought fiom, 12; ancient privi'eges
of the canons of, 17; vicars choral
of, 26, 30 ; Nottingham separated
from the See of, 41
Tork Minster, plans of, compared
with those of SouthweU, 63

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