Ecclesiastical Curiosities Part 4

peculiarly appropriate to this district.

These spires of course cover a wide area. The two finest groups of spires are those of Coventry and Lichfield. When the cathedral at Coventry, with its three spires, was in existence in immediate proximity to the churches of S. Michael's and Holy Trinity, the group formed "a picture not to be surpa.s.sed in England," and even now, with Christ Church added, the "Ladies of the Vale," of Lichfield, suffer somewhat in comparison.

In point of height the cathedral spires of Salisbury and Norwich hold their own, while for beauty of outline Louth must be mentioned, and for elaborateness of detail the spire of Grantham.

It now remains to give a cursory glance at some of our most famous spires, and to endeavour to enumerate some of their chief characteristics.

The spire of Salisbury Cathedral rises from the centre of the main transept to a height of 410 feet. This is, without doubt, the tallest of our English spires.[23] It is octagonal in shape, and springs from four pinnacles. The surface is enriched with three bands of quatre-foiled work, and the angles are decorated throughout with ball-flower ornament.

From a storm in 1703 it received some damage, and was, under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren, braced with ironwork. It does not appear to have moved since then, but from experiments made in 1740 it was found to be out of the perpendicular 24 inches to the south, and 16 inches to the west. On the 21st of June, 1741, it was struck by lightning and set on fire, but did not receive any great damage, and in 1827, by means of an ingenious wicker-work contrivance suspended from the top, extensive repairs were carried out. The name of the architect who conceived this lofty tower is unknown, but the date of its erection was probably at the beginning of the fourteenth century.

[Footnote 23: The spire of Old Saint Paul's, which dated from the thirteenth century, rose to a height of 520 feet.

It was destroyed by lightning on the 4th of June, 1561.

The spire of Lincoln Cathedral measured 524 feet, and was destroyed in 1548. These are the two highest spires which have ever been erected in England.]

The spire of Norwich Cathedral rises to a height of 315 feet, and on a clear day can be seen for a distance of twenty miles. It was probably built by Bishop Percy in the latter half of the fourteenth century.

About one hundred years after, it was struck by lightning, but the damage was speedily repaired. In 1629 the upper part was blown down, and was re-built in 1633.

The three spires of Coventry are those of S. Michael's, Holy Trinity, and Christ Church. Of these, S. Michael's is the chief, being 303 feet high. Amongst parish churches, it is therefore the tallest. The base consists of a lantern flanked by four pinnacles, to which it is connected by flying b.u.t.tresses. Its erection was commenced in the year 1373, and completed in 1394. At the restoration of the church, which took place in 1885, the tower was found to have been erected on the edge of an old quarry, and it cost no less a sum than 17,000 to add a new foundation. During the most critical period of the work the structure visibly moved, and the apex of the spire now leans 3ft. 5in. out of the perpendicular towards the north-west.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LOUTH CHURCH SPIRE.]

Holy Trinity spire is 237 feet high, and much less ornate than S. Michael's. During a violent tempest of "wind, thunder, and earthquake," which occurred on the 24th of January, 1665, it was overthrown, and much injury was done to the church in consequence. The re-building was finished in 1668. It has been completely restored in recent years.

The spire of Christ Church is some little distance away from the other two. It is octagonal in shape, and rises from an embattled tower to a height of 230 feet. It was restored in 1888.

Lichfield Cathedral contains three spires within its precincts. The grouping is, therefore, more uniform than that of Coventry, although the general effect is not thereby accentuated. The central spire rises to a height of 258 feet, and the two which grace the west front are each 183 feet high. In the time of the great civil war, when Lichfield was besieged, the central spire was demolished. After the Restoration, it was re-built by good old Dr. Hackett.

The spire of Chichester Cathedral, built in the fourteenth century over a rotten sub-structure, was destroyed by its own weight in 1861. It was 271 feet high, and has now been re-built in its original style on a slightly higher tower. The story of its fall has often been told. On the night of Wednesday, the 20th of February, 1861, a heavy gale occurred.

The next day, about twenty minutes past one o'clock, the spire was observed to suddenly lean towards the south-west, and then to right itself again. Soon after, it disappeared into the body of the cathedral, sliding down like the folding of a telescope. Only the coping-stone and the weather-vane fell outside, the rest of the masonry formed a huge cairn in the centre of the edifice, which was practically cut into four portions by the wreck. The present spire was completed in 1867.

In Lincolns.h.i.+re there are two remarkable spires at Louth and Grantham.

The one at Louth rises to a height of 294 feet. At the corners of the tower are four tall turret pinnacles to which the spire is connected by flying b.u.t.tresses. In 1843 it was struck by lightning; steps were at once taken for its restoration, which was completed three years later.

Grantham spire is octagonal in shape, and 285 feet in height. It is very light and graceful in appearance, and is richly ornamented with sculpture. It suffered from lightning in 1797, and again in 1882. Since the latter date sixteen feet of the masonry has been removed from the summit and re-built.

The church of S. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, has been aptly termed by the poet Chatterton, "the pride of Bristowe and the Western land." The spire rises to a height of 300 feet, and has lately been restored at a cost of upwards of 50,000. In 1445, during a storm, the greater part of the original spire fell through the roof of the church, and for about four centuries it remained in a truncated state, although the damage done to the interior was speedily repaired.

The spire of S. Mary's, Shrewsbury, is 220 feet high, and rises from an embattled tower, the four corners of which contain crocketed pinnacles.

During a gale on the night of Sunday, the 11th of February, 1894, about 50 feet of the masonry of the spire crashed through the church roof and did enormous damage. This has, however, since been repaired. A memorial stone on the west wall of the tower tells how one Thomas Cadman, was killed on the 2nd of February, 1739, when attempting to descend from the spire by a rope.

For elaborateness of detail, the spire of S. Mary the Virgin, Oxford, surpa.s.ses all others in this country. Its apex is some 90 feet from the ground, and around the base of the spire cl.u.s.ters a ma.s.s of richly decorated pinnacles, small spirelets, and canopies containing statues.

The effect is picturesque in the extreme, and lends to the town of Oxford a unique charm. Its conception dates from the fourteenth century, but it has been much restored and added to since.

Of the Northamptons.h.i.+re spires, Oundle is the loftiest, being 210 feet high. It bears date 1634, but this evidently refers to a re-building. It was partly taken down again and rebuilt in 1874. It is hexagonal in shape, and the angles are crocketed. Raunds church is surmounted by an octagonal broach spire 186 feet high. It was struck by lightning on the 31st of July, 1826, and about 30 feet of the masonry was shattered. This was at once rebuilt at a cost of 1,737 15s. 3d. The octagonal spire of Higham Ferrers is 170 feet high, and was rebuilt after destruction by a storm of wind in 1632. Rushden spire is an octagon 192 feet high, and richly crocketed. At its base flying b.u.t.tresses connect it with pinnacles at the corners of the tower. The spire at Finedon rises from an embattled tower to a height of 133 feet; that of Stanwick is 156 feet high, and that of Irchester 152 feet.

s.p.a.ce forbids more than a pa.s.sing allusion to the fine spires of Newcastle Cathedral, S. Mary de Castro, Leicester, Ross, Herefords.h.i.+re, and Olney, Bucks. The latter rises to a height of 185 feet. At its summit is a weatherc.o.c.k which, when taken down for regilding in 1884, was found to contain the following triplet--

I never crow, But stand to show Where winds do blow.

Several of the spires which have been mentioned are perceptibly out of the perpendicular, but in this respect the "tall twisted spire of Chesterfield has no rival either in shape or pose." It is no less than 230 feet high, and the wonder to many is that it has for so long maintained its equilibrium. Various conjectures have been made to account for the grotesque twist which the spire a.s.sumes; but none of these seems so likely as that which accounts for it by the combined action of age, wind, and sun. There are those who aver that it never was straight, and never will be, and one such person even goes so far as to attempt this statement in rhyme as follows:--

"Whichever way you turn your eye It always seems to be awry, Pray can you tell the reason why?

The only reason known of weight Is that the thing was never straight, Nor know the people where to go To find the man to make it so."

However this may be, it is satisfactory to note that a movement has recently been set on foot to collect subscriptions towards its much needed repair.

When speaking of Salisbury Cathedral spire, allusion was made to the repairs being carried out from a wicker-work contrivance suspended from the top. This was not the first time that wicker-work had been used for such a purpose, for in 1787 the spire at S. Mary's, Islington, was entirely encased in a cage composed of willow, hazel, and other sticks, while undergoing repair. An ingenious basket-maker of S. Albans, named Birch, carried out the work, and constructed a spiral staircase inside the cage. His contract was to do the work for 20 paid down, and to be allowed to charge sixpence a head to any sightseers who liked to mount to the top. It is said that in this way he gained some two or three pounds a day above his contract.

People and steeple rhymes are by no means uncommon; perhaps the most spiteful is that relating to an Ess.e.x village:--

"Ugley church, Ugley steeple, Ugley parson, Ugley people."

The Yorks.h.i.+re village of Raskelfe is usually called Rascall, and an old rhyme says:--

"A wooden church, a wooden steeple, Rascally church, rascally people."

Mr. William Andrews, in his "Antiquities and Curiosities of the Church"

(London, 1897), gives many examples of "People and Steeple Rhymes."

There is a never-ending romance connected with the subject of spires.

Every one possesses some story or legend. Spirits are supposed to inhabit their gloomy recesses, and are even credited with their construction. There is certainly an uncanny feeling connected with the interior of a spire, even on a sunny summer's day, and given sufficient stress of howling winds and gloomy darkness, one can almost imagine a situation conducive to the acutest kind of devilry. So much for the interior of spires. What sensations may be produced by climbing the exterior is given to few to experience. The vast majority of mankind must perforce content themselves with a position on _terra firma_, whence they may with pleasure and safety combined behold

"----the spires that glow so bright In front of yonder setting sun."

The Five of Spades and the Church of Ashton-under-Lyne.

By John Eglington Bailey, F.S.A.

On the old tower of the church of Ashton-under-Lyne there was formerly an old inscription, which incidently testifies to the popularity of cards in England at a period when the notices of that fascinating means of diversion are both few and of doubtful import. Cards were given to Europe by the Saracens at the end of the fourteenth century, and the knowledge of their use extended itself from France to Greece. The French clergy were so engrossed by the pastime that the Synod of Langres, 1404, forbad it as unclerical. At Bologna, in 1420, S. Bernardin of Sienna preached with such effect against the gambling which was indulged in, that his hearers made on the spot a large bonfire with packs of cards taken out of their pockets. Under the word [Greek: Chartia] Du Cange quotes extracts from two Greek writers, which show that cards were popular in Greece before 1498. Chaucer, who died in 1400, and who indirectly depicted much of the every-day life of his countrymen, does not once mention cards. But they begin to be noticed about the time of Edward IV. and Henry VI. The former king prohibited the importation of "cards for playing," in order to protect the English manufacture of them. An old ale-wife or brewer, in one of the Chester plays or mysteries, is introduced in a scene in h.e.l.l, when one of the devils thus addresses her:--

Welcome, deare darlinge, to endless bale, Usinge cardes, dice, and cuppes smale With many false other, to sell thy ale Now thou shalte have a feaste.

A more interesting notice of cards occurs in the _Paston Letters_, where Margery Paston, writing on "Crestemes Evyn" of the year 1484, tells her husband that she had sent their eldest son to Lady Morley (the widow of William Lovel, Lord Morley), "to hav knolage wat sports wer husyd [used]

in her hows in Kyrstemesse next folloyng aftyr the decysse of my lord, her husbond [who died 26th July, 1476]; and sche sayd that ther wer non dysgysyngs [guisings], ner harpyng, ner lutyng, ner syngyn, ner non lowde dysports; but pleyng at the tabyllys, and schesse, and cards: sweche dysports sche gaue her folkys leve to play and non odyr." The lady adds that the youth did his errand right well, and that she sent the like message by a younger son to Lady Stapleton, whose lord had died in 1466. "Sche seyd according to my Lady Morlees seyng in that, and as sche hadde seyn husyd in places of worschip [_i.e._, of distinction: good families] ther as [= where] sche hath beyn." This letter opens up an interesting view of the amus.e.m.e.nts which at the time were introduced into the houses of the n.o.bility and gentry during Christmas-tide. At that festival cards from the first formed one of the chief amus.e.m.e.nts.

Henry VII., who was a great card player, forbad cards to be used except during the Christmas holidays. Their ancient a.s.sociation with Christmas is seen in the kindness of Sir Roger de Coverley, who was in the habit of sending round to each of his cottagers "a string of hogs'-puddings and a pack of cards," that good old squire being doubtless of the opinion of Dr. Johnson, who, with a deeper human insight than S. Bernardin and Henry VII., could see the usefulness of such a pastime: "It generates kindness and consolidates society."

The inscription I have alluded to takes us back to the reign of an earlier English king than those named--Henry V., who reigned 1413-1422.

In his time, it seems, viz., in 1413, the steeple of Ashton Church was a-building; when a certain butcher, Alexander Hyll, playing at noddy with a companion, doubtless in the neighbourhood of the church, swore that if the dealer turned up _the five of spades_ he would build a foot of the steeple. The very card was turned up! Hyll, like a good Catholic, performed his promise, and had his name carved, a butcher's cleaver being put before _Alexander_, and the five of spades before _Hyll_. A new tower was erected in 1516, when the church was enlarged; but the stone containing the curious inscription was somewhere retained, for it was visible in the time of Robert Dodsworth, the industrious Yorks.h.i.+re antiquary, and the projector and co-worker with Dugdale of the _Monasticon_. Dodsworth, being at Ashton on the 2nd of April, 1639, copied the inscription, stating that it was on the church steeple. He wrote down the tradition, adding that its truth was attested by Henry Fairfax, then rector there, second son of Thomas Fairfax, Baron de Cameron (Dodsworth's MSS. in Bibl. Bodl., vol. 155, fol. 116). The eldest son of Lord Fairfax was Ferdinando, the celebrated general of the Commonwealth, and the generous patron of Dodsworth. Henry, the younger son, at whose rectory-house Dodsworth was entertained on the occasion of his Lancas.h.i.+re visit, is described by Oley (in his preface to George Herbert's _Country Parson_) as "a regular and sober fellow of Trinity College in Cambridge, and afterwards rector of Bolton Percy in Yorks.h.i.+re." He held, besides, the rectory of Ashton from, at least, 1623 till 1645, when he was forcibly ejected; and that of Newton Kyme. He was a correspondent of Daniel King, author of _The Vale Royal_, for he had antiquarian tastes like his brother. He died at Bolton Percy 6th April, 1665. The tower of Ashton Church, as Rector Fairfax knew it, was taken down and re-built in 1818, by which time all recollection of that ancient piece of cartomancy in connection with the steeple had pa.s.sed out of mind. Let it be hoped that while the tradition was lively, pleasanter things were said of Hyll, when the five of spades was thrown upon the card tables of Ashton, than a.s.sailed the name of Dalrymple when the nine of diamonds--the curse of Scotland--came under the view of Tory Scotchmen. We may bestow on Hyll the card-player's epitaph:--

His card is cut--long days he shuffled through The game of life--he dealt as others do: Though he by honours tells not its amount, When the last trump is played his tricks will count.

"Noddy" is, of course, the very attractive game of "cribbage." A great aunt of mine still living at Ashbourne, with whom I used to play when a boy, always called it by that name. It is one of the Court games, _temp._ James I., noticed by Sir John Harrington:--

Now noddy followed next, as well it might, Although it should have gone before of right; At which I say, I name not anybody, One never had the knave yet laid for noddy.