Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Saint Paul Part 3

FOOTNOTES:

[21] "Short History," pp. 298, 299. Green says, "The awakening of a rational Christianity."

[22] See Dr. Lupton's "Life of Colet," 1887.

[23] When I was living in the parish of Kensington, St. Paul's School was, as I believe it still is, _facile princeps_.

[24] a.s.suming that the date of the meeting from Hall's _Chronicle_ is correctly printed in Milman, November 7, 1530.

[25] "Chapters in the History," p. 169. Milman (p. 202) adds that the hearers pulled the doll to pieces. The dean is made to say "Ridley, now bishop of Rochester"; but Ridley was bishop 1547-1550, as Milman elsewhere implies (p. 211).

[26] Milman, p. 216.

[27] My authorities for this well-nigh incredible story are in "St.

Paul's and Old City Life," p. 234.

[28] "Plot" I must continue to call it, with all due deference to certain modern apologists.

[29] Horace Walpole (quoted in Longman, p. 69) says that Inigo Jones renewed the sides with "very bad Gothic." a.s.suming the accuracy of the prints in Dugdale, it is difficult to see where the Gothic comes in.

[30] Carlyle's "Cromwell," vol i., chap. iv.

[31] There is some confusion as to receipts and expenditure. I take Dugdale to mean that under the Charles commission 101,000 was raised, and 35,000 spent; but it seems uncertain whether we are to include Sir Paul Pindar's liberality in this sum. Dean Milman estimates that only 17,000 was confiscated. The enormous cost of the army caused a chronic deficit.

[32] "Cromwell," vol ii., part v.: The Levellers.

[33] Ibid. Friday, April 27, 1649.

[34] "Gleanings," p. 283.

[35] "Old St. Paul's," chap. v. I have found no corroboration for this interesting incident related by Ainsworth in detail.

[36] Yet the vacant s.p.a.ce was in many places very narrow, and the bishop's palace was actually connected with the south-east end of the cathedral.

[37] My quotations from Taswell and Evelyn are taken from Milman, chap. xv. I cannot explain Taswell's mention of lightning. Some a.s.sert that St. Paul's caught fire on the Monday.

CHAPTER III.

OLD ST. PAUL'S--EXTERIOR.

The church was cruciform, with aisles to every arm; and we will give the external dimensions before the fire of 1561, which include the lofty spire and exclude the portico. The figures must in all cases be considered approximate.

The extreme length east and west is difficult to ascertain: authorities do not agree; neither do their different estimates with their scales. Mr. William Longman, upon the authority of Mr. E.B.

Ferrey, estimates it at 596 feet, and his accompanying scale even more. If the accuracy of the comparative ground-plan in "St. Paul's and Old City Life" can be depended upon, we must put it at a little over 580 feet; but Mr. F.C. Penrose's invaluable excavations do not appear to have fixed the precise termination of the west front. Mr.

Longman also gives a comparative ground-plan of the two cathedrals from a drawing of Wren's (see below, p. 64); and this, though on a small scale, is perhaps our safest guide, and we shall probably not be far wrong if we say 580 feet or a little over, and divide our length as follows: nave, 252 feet; across transept, 104 feet; choir, 224 feet. To this must be added the portico of 40 feet, making a total length of at least 620 feet. The old west end was some 70 feet nearer Ludgate Hill, and with the portico 110 feet nearer. Length of transepts, 293 feet, the two arms being equal; breadth of both nave and transepts, 104 feet, Dugdale's scale making them exactly 100 feet: breadth of choir a trifle less. Height of nave from ground to apex of roof, about 130 feet, and of choir, 143 feet. Height of central tower by Wren's estimate, the lowest, 260 feet, and of spire about 200 feet; altogether according to Wren, 460 feet, and according to others still higher. Height of western towers with the spires I take the liberty of adding, unknown. I have calculated the area at about 81,000 to 82,000 square feet; and in this have excluded St. Gregory's (say 93 X 23 feet plus the apse) and the Chapter House, with the surrounding cloister; a square of 90 feet and more than half covered in. These two members were structurally part and parcel of the building.

Thus we see that Old St. Paul's was by far the largest cathedral church in England. Its area exceeded York and Durham: its length Winchester: the height of its graceful lead-covered spire exceeded Salisbury; and this, taking Wren's safe and low estimate, and not counting ball, cross and eagle weatherc.o.c.k of some thirty feet more.

If we allow St. Gregory and the covered part of the Chapter House area, as we should, it equalled in area or slightly exceeded alike its successor and Cologne and Florence, and was surpa.s.sed only by the new St. Peter's, Milan, and Seville. "See the bigness," said Bishop Corbet of Norwich, "and your eye never yet beheld such a goodly object."

The difficulties which present themselves in any attempt to describe the architecture still continue to beset us; such earlier drawings as we have are contradictory and rude to a degree.[38] The NAVE was Norman, rebuilt to a great extent after the fire of 1137. The aisles had the usual round-headed windows, with the unusual (for England) circular windows above. There were flat b.u.t.tresses; but I must reject the flying-b.u.t.tresses of some restorers. The clerestory windows are a puzzle. Everybody maintains they were Pointed, and, if so, they would have been inserted at the same time as the new roof; but there seems to be no trustworthy authority for this. In Finden's engravings after Hollar they are taken at a peculiar angle which is apt to mislead. Hollar and his engravers give two windows on the south side in the interior, _i.e._, of the nave and clerestory. Both seem alike; and Inigo Jones' patched-up north and south fronts represent them both as round, so that the balance of evidence appears to be in favour of round.[39]

Another difficulty is the question of the existence or nonexistence of the western towers. Mr. William Longman and Mr. E.B. Ferrey give none in their south-west view, because "no drawings or plates are known to exist which would settle the question." But it is our misfortune that we have to reconstruct Old St. Paul's practically without the help of drawings, until we come to Inigo Jones' finished work. In Dugdale's ground-plan they cover almost exactly the same area as one of the severies of the neighbouring aisles, and are flush with the west front; in both respects resembling those of Wells and other cathedrals. Besides, they are constantly mentioned, and at various dates, as Mr. Longman duly acknowledges. The southern tower was the original LOLLARDS' TOWER from which the Lambeth tower has borrowed its name, and was utilised for a prison by the Bishops of London for ecclesiastical offences. It was both bell and clock tower, and ab.u.t.ted on to both the cathedral proper and St. Gregory's. So late as 1573, Peter Burchet of the Middle Temple, shortly afterwards executed for murdering his gaoler in the tower, was imprisoned here for heresy, and would then have been sentenced to death but for recanting.

The north-west tower was likewise used at times as a prison, and was connected with the bishop's palace. In the days of Bonner, an upper floor almost as high as the parapet of the nave contained a room eight feet by thirteen; and the two towers were connected by a pa.s.sage in the thickness of the west wall. Hollar's views show us that Inigo Jones overlaid these towers with a new coating, and finished them off with turrets. The original towers were probably crowned with spires of wood and lead, and both projected some thirty feet from the aisles. The high roof of the nave[40] of the middle of the thirteenth century had an angle of about forty-five, and replaced an older one during the rebuilding of the choir. The CENTRAL TOWER had double flying-b.u.t.tresses with pinnacles springing from the clerestory; and, a.s.suming that the west towers had also spires, the grouping must have been nearly perfect.

Yet another puzzle is the architecture of the TRANSEPTS. The north and south windows at the ends are sometimes represented as of a late date, but not by Hollar. They were probably Norman in their three stages. In his report[41] Wren says, "The North and South Wings have Aisles only on the West side, the others being originally shut up for the 'Consistory.'" What he meant was that the two east aisles were shut off from the rest of the transepts. Their architecture (of the same dimensions as their western counterparts) was Geometrical as regards windows, b.u.t.tresses, and pinnacles. The rest of the transepts resembled the nave; and this part of the south front was very much broken. The cloister and chapter house occupied almost the whole of the west side of the south transept, and four bays of the nave; St.

Gregory's Church occupied four more bays at the west of the nave, leaving only three aisle windows of the nave on the south side.

Taking the CHOIR next, we will at once dismiss as untrustworthy the view taken in 1610 in Speed, as reproduced in "St.

Paul's Cathedral and Old City Life." Here the windows are represented as Norman; but this is not the first time I have found Speed at fault.

We have records of the consecration of the western part in 1240, and of the pulling down of St. Faith's and of the completion of the eastern part by the end of the century, or, counting certain additions, a little later. The western and earlier part extended to the fourth window, which is broader than the rest; and the mouldings were somewhat different in this part; but still the matter is not without difficulty. The engravings represent the whole of the tracery of the twelve windows on either side as Geometrical. We should have expected the four western windows to be lancets; and there is no explanation for the uniformity. The East End contained a great window some thirty-seven feet in height, of seven lights and trefoiled at the head; and above this the circular rose window, the four angles of the square stage filled in with an arrangement of smaller circles. There were eastern aisle windows on either side of the main window, and four crypt lights below.

When we add that the b.u.t.tresses were crowned with pinnacles to strengthen them in their resistance to the flying-b.u.t.tresses of the clerestory and to the aisle walls beneath, and that these pinnacles contained niches for statues and were terminated with crockets and finials, so far as we can judge the exterior of the choir was in every respect a fitting completion of the exterior of Old St. Paul's.

We have already said sufficient of Inigo Jones, how he flagged [_i.e._ cased] the outside of the nave and transept, says Wren, "with new stone of larger size than before."[42] Owing to this, the plates are silent as to the window mouldings and other details. Let us pa.s.s on to the

INTERIOR.

=The Nave= was of eleven bays (not twelve), with triforium and clerestory, and aisles in addition. The outer coating only of the pillars was of good stone. Wren says, "They are only cased without, and that with small stones, not one greater than a Man's Burden, but within is nothing but a Core of small Rubbishstone, and much Mortar, which easily crushes and yields to the Weight." Even the outer casing, he adds, "is much torn with age, and the Neglect of the Roof."[43]

Double engaged shafts reached to the clerestory, and supported the springers. The actual arcading sprang from these shorter engaged shafts, which had cus.h.i.+oned capitals; and the arcading of the triforium was similar. The mouldings of the arches of arcading and triforium look like the lozenge. The vaulting, too heavy for its supports, was quadripart.i.te, with cross springers intervening, and the longitudinal rib unbroken. The =Transepts= were each of four bays, and in their details similar to the nave. Their north aisles were shut off by blank walls which displayed here and there the architecture of the rest; and each aisle of four bays was further divided into two equal parts of two bays each, making four compartments altogether. In one or other of these four the Consistory Court, according to Wren, was held.

To the arcading of nave and transepts, Wren says that in later years four new and stronger piers were added in the common centre under the tower for the purpose of strengthening it. As these are not shown in Dugdale's plates, we can only conjecture their date to have been after the fire of 1445. By the plan they were far more ma.s.sive than the others, and we can well understand Wren's complaint that they broke in upon the perspective.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NAVE OF OLD ST. PAUL'S.

_After Hollar._]

The dates of the nave and transepts have already been suggested. After the fire of 1087, Bishop Maurice and his successor built everything afresh on a larger scale. The fire of 1136 did great damage, and restoration on a considerable scale was effected. Mr. E.A. Freeman, by a happy coincidence, touches on restorations at Wells of this time, and contrasts our two dates.[44] After the fire of 1136 the restoration would be in a style "somewhat less ma.s.sive, somewhat more highly enriched." I have already pointed out Freeman's statement that the custom towards the middle of the eleventh century was to throw a coating of the more refined Romanesque of the day over earlier Norman work, and this agrees with the statements both of Wren and Pepys.

We may, then, a.s.sume that while the former ground-plan and general outline remained the same, after 1136 the pillars were encased and more elaborate mouldings added. By another statement of the same authority[45] it would seem that "the vaulting shafts run up from the ground" belong to the second restoration, when the vaulting itself was completed, and the date of this is indicated in Bishop Ba.s.set's letter of 1255.

Hence the nave and transepts were restored after the transitional Norman style, and vaulting shafts added in the fully developed Early English style, while the window tracery and other details of the isolated north aisles of the transepts were Geometrical. The four piers supporting the central tower were of a later date; but surely there must have been others, though less ma.s.sive, before, otherwise it is difficult to understand how the tower and spire were supported.

Dugdale gives only two monuments in the nave. Thomas Kemp, who died bishop, reposed under the penultimate arch in the north side, in a chapel enclosed by a screen and railings. The second was that of Sir John Beauchamp, who died in 1358, and whose monument was under the eastern arch on the south side. Somehow the populace entertained the idea that this latter was the burial place of Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, uncle to Henry VI., who was murdered in 1447 and buried at St. Alban's. The adjacent part of the south aisle was called Duke Humphrey's Walk: and the tomb seems to have been a sanctuary. At dinner-time, needy people who lacked both the means to purchase a meal and friends to provide them with one, and who chanced to loiter about this sanctuary, were said _to dine with Duke Humphrey_, and the phrase was equivalent to having no dinner at all.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

_After Hollar._]

=The Choir.=--As our ancestors looked eastward from under the central tower, both aisles of the choir were completely hidden from view by the height of the blank wall. The choir screen in the centre was of less alt.i.tude, had four niches for statues on either side, and a fine Pointed doorway in the centre of three orders of arches. The plates are of a date too late to show any rood. Entering through this door was the choir of twelve bays. Stephen Wren implies that the whole of this magnificent member was completed by 1240;[46] but much of the architecture belonged to a somewhat later date, and the prints are corroborated by numerous doc.u.ments.[47] The extension eastward on the site of Old St. Faith's must have almost amounted to a rebuilding.

Where did this extension begin, and where did the choir of 1240 end?

Wren noticed that the intercolumnar s.p.a.cing was less irregular to the east. Mr. Longman points out that the cl.u.s.tered pillars towards the west differed from the others, as did their capitals and the triforium arcading, while the fifth arch-s.p.a.ce was greater than all the rest.

Here we have the original east end.

Westward, the square fronts of the pillars were left bare; eastward they were covered with cl.u.s.tered shafts, and the springers which supported the vaulting were continued to the ground. Westward, moreover, the triforium arcading differed from that to the east, and was occasionally even left blank.