Ely Cathedral Part 14

In the eastern bay on the south side is a monument of Cardinal de Luxemburg, Archbishop of Rouen, and Bishop of Ely (1438-1443). This monument was for many years hidden by a screen, but on the removal of the Choir the screen was taken away and the monument partially restored, the figure remains but the head is gone. The Cardinal-bishop died at Hatfield, and his body was buried at Ely, but his heart was conveyed to his Cathedral at Rouen. The niches and canopies with their finials in the tympanum of the arch above this monument will attract attention, being chaste and elegant; they are similar to those in the interior of Bishop West's chapel, but are in a more perfect state.

+South Aisle of the Choir.+

The eastern portion of this aisle is occupied by the elegant mortuary +Chapel of Bishop West+, (1515-1534), filling the s.p.a.ce of one bay in a similar way to that of Bishop Alc.o.c.k in the north aisle. It is a rich specimen of that gorgeous style by some called the "Florid English," by others the "Perpendicular," but when that style was verging into "Renaissance." The niches and canopies are very numerous, and almost endless in variety of size, shape, and decoration. There are places for upwards of two hundred statues, large and small; and some of the carved heads were of medallion size, and well executed. It is impossible to contemplate this beautiful oratory, even in its mutilated state, but with feelings of admiration; the taste of the designer, no less than the execution of the sculptor, are wonderful, and although every part is covered with niches, pedestals, and canopies, interspersed with relievos, grotesque designs and ornaments, the whole appears light and airy. The ceilings of the canopies are covered with tracery that can only be compared to lace-work exquisitely varied and finished; the ceiling and pendents are deserving attention; the former is divided into lozenge shaped compartments of different sizes, all are coloured, and on many of them are painted the arms of the see, and those of the founder of the chapel; the pendents are formed by figures of angels holding the same arms and those of Henry VIII. Over the door on the inside is this inscription:

"GRACIA DEI SUM QUOD ID SUM, A.D. 1534."

and the same without the date and the word "id" is to be seen in several other places both within and without. The gates are worthy of notice as originals, and as specimens of wrought-iron work of that period. This chapel, which is the burial place of Bishop West, may be compared with that built by him in the parish church of his birth-place, Putney; but every part of it has suffered the most barbarous mutilation, not a figure can be found perfect, all have been removed or defaced, probably in consequence of an order in council made A.D. 1547-8, against the Romish superst.i.tion, and for removing images out of churches; or it might have been done by the Puritans in the time of the Protector (Cromwell), whose soldiers it is stated, made use of the Cathedral as stabling for their horses.

Bishop Keene (1771-1781), was also buried here; and Bishop Sparke (1812-1836) and Mrs. Sparke were interred in this chapel, to whose memories the monument at the east end has been erected, and the stained gla.s.s window behind is inserted:

The window was executed by Mr. Evans, of Shrewsbury, and contains figures of the four Evangelists, with St. John the Baptist in the centre; the tracery being filled with appropriate emblems and ornamental devices.

A slab of black marble, inlaid with a foliated cross, the arms of the sees of Chester and Ely, and surrounded by an inscription in bra.s.s, has been laid over the grave of Bishop Sparke, and the gravestones of Bishops West and Keene have been replaced, and the remainder of the floor laid with encaustic tiles.

Some fragments of stained gla.s.s may be seen in a window on the south side, under which stand the remains of Bishop West's monument. Just above this, in seven small arches, closed with as many stones inscribed with names and dates, are immured the remains of seven eminent persons[47] of the tenth and eleventh centuries, who were originally interred in the Conventual church, but from which they were removed in 1154, and the small chests which contained their remains, were placed in the north wall of the Choir of the present Cathedral; and when the position of the Choir was altered in 1770 they were again removed, and deposited in their present resting places.

[Footnote 47: Wolstan, Archbishop of York; Osmund, a Swedish bishop; Ednoth, Bishop of Dorchester (Lincoln); Alfwyn, Elfgar, and Athelstan, severally Bishops of Elmham; and Brithnoth, Duke of Northumberland. An interesting account of the removal of these remains may be found in the Addenda to Bentham's History, vol. ii. p. 23, &c.]

The perspective view westward through the south aisles of the Choir and the Nave is worthy of notice for the various intersections of the arches and groinings, as seen from a narrow window in the west side of the chapel, or from the door.

The architecture of the south aisle is similar to the north aisle, and the windows were probably altered to their present form about the same period as those in the north aisle. Five of them (as on the other side) have been filled with stained gla.s.s:

The first window from the chapel, executed by Messrs.

Clayton and Bell, contains subjects taken from the Parables; designed as a memorial of Astley Sparke, Esq., (son of the Rev. Chancellor Sparke,) who was killed in the celebrated cavalry charge at Balaclava in 1854.

The second window was executed by Mr. Cottingham, and contains subjects from the history of Lazarus; the joint gift of Lady Buxton and of her son, Sir Robert Buxton, Bart., of Shadwell Park, Norfolk.

The third window contains incidents in the history of the Saviour, and of St. John; executed by Messrs. Clayton and Bell: the gift of Mrs. Pratt, youngest daughter of Bishop Sparke.

The fourth window, by the same artists, contains subjects ill.u.s.trative of the history of St. Peter; the gift of the same lady, as a memorial of her husband, Colonel Pratt.

The fifth window, by the same artists, contains subjects ill.u.s.trative of the history of our Lord: given by the same lady.

Under the second window from the chapel is an arched recess, which is thought to have formed an entrance to the church for the convenience of the sisters and others attendant on the sick in the Infirmary which stood near, but it has been closed on the exterior for many years. The interior may have been since used as a receptacle for relics; now it is occupied as a receptacle for a beautiful life-size effigy of Dr.

Selwyn, for upwards of forty years Canon of Ely, and for many years St Margaret Professor of Divinity at Cambridge;[48] who died in 1875. The figure is represented as vested in ca.s.sock, surplice, and stole, with the hands joined as in prayer, in white statuary marble, and resting on a moulded base of Purbeck marble. The cost was defrayed by subscriptions from several n.o.blemen and gentlemen formerly Eton scholars.

[Footnote 48: The Professor left the sum of 10,000 towards the erection of Divinity Schools in connection with the University of Cambridge, which have just been completed.]

Near this we may notice an ancient gravestone, or part of a monument found under the floor of the nave in St. Mary's Church, in 1829. It represents an angel with wings raised above the head, bearing a small naked figure, probably representing the soul of a bishop, as a crozier appears at the side; the angel has on a kind of cope with an ornamental border; and around the head is a large circular aureole, and the canopy shows a ma.s.s of buildings with semicircular arches.

There is an inscription on the rim, "_St. Michael oret p' me_." To whose memory it was executed it is impossible to say, but it is doubtless of great interest.

A good view of the organ may be had from this aisle by looking over the tomb in the fourth bay from the chapel.

Several other monuments to former prelates of the church, and to other persons, may be observed in this aisle: one to Bishop Gunning (1675-1684), worthy of remembrance as the author of the "Prayer for all sorts and conditions of men." Near the foot of this monument is a piscina in the wall. A little further we find one to Bishop Heton (1600-1609), occupying the fifth bay, and is perhaps the only instance since the Reformation, of the effigy of a bishop in a cope ornamented with saints; the figures on the left border are those of St.

Bartholomew, St. Matthias, St. Andrew, St. Peter, and St. John.

Before pa.s.sing on to the few remaining monuments we will notice the only two specimens of ancient memorial bra.s.ses, of which there were many in the Cathedral, as appears by the numerous incised stones in different parts of the church, many of them were evidently of a rich and elaborate character, but all, with the above exception, have disappeared by the act of the mercenary or the fanatic. The first is a memorial to Bishop Goodrich (1534-1554), a singular instance of a hot reformer commemorated by a bra.s.s in which are pourtrayed all the ecclesiastical vestments, he holds his crozier in his left hand, and in his right he carries a Bible from which depends the great seal of England, the bishop having been appointed Lord High Chancellor in 1551; the inscription has been removed. The other is in memory of Humphrey Tyndall, fourth dean of the Cathedral (1591-1614), who is represented in his robes, with a square-cut beard; an inscription is engraved in the border, and the following lines beneath the feet of the effigy:

"THE BODY OF THE WOORTHY & REVERENDE PRELATE VMPHRY TYNDALL, DOCTOR OF DIVINITY, THE FOVRTH DEAN OF THIS CHVRCH, AND MASTER OF QVEENES COLLEDGE IN CAMBRIDGE DOTH HERE EXPECT THE COMING OF OVR SAVIOVR.

"In presence, gouerment, good actions and in birth, Graue, wise, couragious, n.o.ble was this earth, The poor, the church, the colledge saye here lyes 'A friende, A Deane, A maister, true, good, wise.'"

We have now an opportunity of noticing the piers which separate Bishop Northwold's work from that of Bishop Hotham; "they are," as Mr.

Millers observes, "a combination of the two sorts of column severally in use at the respective times at which the two fabrics were erected; the east side has the small shafts distinct from the main column, and the west side is cl.u.s.tered, and where they meet is a niche for a statue."[49] In the niche on this side is a tablet to the memory of the Rev. James Bentham, Canon of Ely, and author of "The History and Antiquities of Ely Cathedral," a work of acknowledged merit, the result of many years' labour and research. He died in 1794, aged 86.

[Footnote 49: Millers' Description of Ely Cathedral, p. 89.]

The monument to Robert Steward, Esq., who died A.D. 1570, is next in our route, and beyond that one to Sir Mark Steward, who died A.D.

1603, both examples of no particular style. In the last bay is the monument erected to the memory of Bishop Allen, whose gravestone we noticed in pa.s.sing the retro-choir; on the table of the monument is a reclining figure of the prelate in his robes, in white marble, considered to be a good likeness.

Back-screens to mask the stalls, similar to those in the north aisle, have been erected on this side, against which have been placed the monuments of Bishop Moore (1707-1714), Bishop b.u.t.ts (1738-1748), and Bishop Greene (1723-1738). On the pillar between the two last is a tablet to the memory of William Lynne, gentleman, of Ba.s.singbourne, the first husband of Elizabeth, daughter of William Steward, of Ely, and afterwards mother of Oliver Cromwell.

The new screens with gates at the western end of the aisles are worthy of notice as specimens of modern work in wrought iron; they were executed by Mr. Skidmore, of Coventry, from designs by Sir G.G. Scott.

That in the south aisle was given by G.A. Lowndes, Esq., of Barrington Hall, Ess.e.x; and that in the north aisle by Dean Peac.o.c.k.

Near the Library door is a simple memorial stone[50] to Dean Peac.o.c.k, the great promoter of the recent restorations, who died in 1858, and was buried in the Cemetery. Just below this is an elegant memorial bra.s.s to the Rev. Solomon Smith, M.A., for over forty years a Minor Canon of the Cathedral, and for many years Inc.u.mbent of St. Mary's.

[Footnote 50: See note, p. 50.]

Several other memorial remains may be observed in various parts of the church, but to enumerate them or to point them out would exceed our limits, one we may notice in pa.s.sing, that of Dean Caesar (1614-1636), which has been removed from a position it long occupied in the north aisle of the Choir, to the junction of that aisle with the closed end of the eastern aisle of the north Transept, near the new pulpit.

We may also notice a new oaken lectern or reading desk near the pulpit, containing a beautifully carved figure representative of the first beat.i.tude, under a cinquefoil canopy, the gift of the Very Rev.

the Dean.

"Of fifty-four bishops of Ely," says Mr. Millers, "thirty-five are known to have been buried in this Cathedral, and two in the Lady Chapel. Of these thirty-seven, there are memorials of twenty; some of them very scanty and much mutilated, and many removed from the spots where the bodies of those whom they commemorate repose. Of the other seventeen, there were no doubt, similar memorials, but they 'are perished as though they had never been.'"[51] Since the above was written two others have been buried in the Cathedral--Bishop Sparke in West's chapel, and Bishop Allen behind the altar screen, as we have noticed; Bishop Turton (1845-1864), was buried at Kensal Green.

[Footnote 51: Millers' Description of Ely Cathedral, p. 85.]

+The Lady Chapel.+

We will now direct the attention of the visitor to this most interesting building, which stands on the north side of the Cathedral, parallel with the Choir, and is approached through a doorway at the north-east corner of the north Transept. This chapel was erected in the early part of the fourteenth century, the first stone being laid on Lady-day, 1321, by Alan de Walsingham, then sub-prior, and the whole was completed A.D. 1349. The works were carried on chiefly under the charge of John de Wisbech, one of the monks, who, it is stated, whilst a.s.sisting in digging the foundations, found a brazen pot of old coins buried in the earth, and which proved a great a.s.sistance in carrying on the work. This was, perhaps, one of the most beautiful and elaborate specimens of the Decorated style in England; and as Mr.

Stewart observes, "must have been a perfect storehouse of statuary and elaborate tabernacle work." Even in its present dilapidated state it will amply repay a careful examination. It was dedicated to St. Mary, and after the Reformation, was (in 1566) a.s.signed by the Dean and Chapter for the use of the inhabitants of the parish of Holy Trinity in lieu of their own church then in ruins, and has since been frequently called "Trinity Church."

This is, perhaps, the widest single-span church in the kingdom, being 46 feet in width; the length is 100 feet, and the height 60 feet to the centre of the ceiling. Its length is divided into five severies, in each of which, on both sides, is a window of great size with four lights and rich tracery, in some of which are fragments of the original stained gla.s.s, sufficient to indicate that they were all, at one period, entirely so filled. The end windows are n.o.ble and s.p.a.cious, the west window having eight lights, and the east window seven, both have transoms, and each with tracery differing from the other, and from the windows in the sides. Both are insertions of a somewhat later date than the building, the east window by Bishop Barnet about 1373, and the other a little later.

The walls everywhere display a rich profusion and variety of ornament, once beautified with colouring and gilding, but some years ago covered with whitewash; a few faint traces of its former splendour may yet be found in various parts of the chapel, enough perhaps to shew that it must have been gorgeous in the extreme.

A low bench table runs along the walls and carries a series of niches with canopies richly decorated, the piers of which rise from the floor, but each is divided into two by a slender pillar rising from the bench table; the arcade on the north side consists of nineteen tabernacles separated by square pilasters of Purbeck marble; there are five sets of three each under the windows, and the remaining four fill up the intermediate s.p.a.ces between the five groups. The canopy of each of the fifteen tabernacles consists of a head of singular beauty, radiated and inclined forwards, on the apex is, or was, the figure of a saint; above these is a hood-mould crocketed, and terminating with a finial. The other four are wider, and instead of the figure of a saint on the apex each terminates in a group of three elaborately carved brackets or corbels, which support two other ranges of niches in pairs, surmounted by ornamented canopies, and between them runs a roof-shaft, from which spring the ribs of the vaulting, which is similar to that of the stalled Choir. The spandrils of the tabernacle work is filled with diaper work and alto relievos which are supposed to represent some legendary history, most probably that of the virgin.

The south side is similar to the north, except that the range of tabernacles is broken by doorways. The west end contains eight of these tabernacles, and at the east end a larger niche occupied the centre with others on the sides, but these were altered at a later period. The altar is elevated above the level of the floor, and the niches on the side walls are raised in accordance. Large niches are placed on the sides of all the windows, and a pierced parapet standing on an entablature formed of a receding hollow, runs under the side windows only.

The backs of the niches and indeed many parts of the chapel show remains of rich colouring; the ceiling was painted a rich blue studded with silver stars, the bosses at the intersections of the ribs represented flowers, foliage, and grotesque masks, and some of those along the mid-rib represented emblems of the nativity, crucifixion, the virgin, &c.; they had been richly coloured and gilded, but, like other parts of the building, have been defaced and injured; and every person who sees it must feel a deep regret that so beautiful a building should ever reach such a stage of desecration.

A few modern monumental tablets are placed on the walls, but they diminish rather than increase the decoration: some others have been removed to the entrance, and in 1865 the close pews were taken away and replaced by open seats; the organ has been enlarged and its position changed, which does not improve the appearance of the church; some of the windows have been re-glazed and other improvements effected. The present Inc.u.mbent is the Rev. E.H. Lowe, M.A.