GLOUCESTER THE CATHEDRAL AND SEE

Yale Center for British Art and British Studies

BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES:
EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE
AND EDWARD F. STRANGE

GLOUCESTER

Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]
GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL, FROM THE ROOF OF ST, JOHN'S CHURCH.

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
GLOUCESTER
A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC
AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
EPISCOPAL SEE

BY H. J. L. J. MASSE, M.A.

WITH FORTY-NINE

ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1898

W. H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH

GENERAL PREFACE
This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors
to the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well illus
trated guide-books at a popular price. The aim of each writer
has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient knowledge
and scholarship to be of value to the student of Archaeology
and History, and yet not too technical in language for the use
of an ordinary visitor or tourist.
To specify all the authorities which have been made use of
in each case would be difficult and tedious in this place. But
amongst the general sources of information which have been
almost invariably found useful are: — (i) the great county
histories, the value of which, especially in questions of gene
alogy and local records, is generally recognised ; (2) the
numerous papers by experts which appear from time to
time in the Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archaeological
Societies ; (3) the important documents made accessible in
the series issued by the Master of the Rolls ; (4) the well-
known works of Britton and Willis on the English Cathedrals ;
and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks to the
Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray ; to which
the reader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail,
especially in reference to the histories of the respective sees.
Gleeson White,
E. F. Strange,
Editors of the Series.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
I wish to express my great obligations to Mr F. S. Waller (the
Cathedral Architect) for his courtesy and kindness in allowing
me to make the fullest use of his " Notes and Sketches " of the
Cathedral, a book which is now, unfortunately, out of print ;
to Mr W. H. St. John Hope, F.S.A., for permission to
quote from his " Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of St.
Peter at Gloucester," published in the Records of Gloucester
Cathedral ; also to the Records of Gloucester Cathedral.
To Mr E. J. Burrow I owe special thanks for permission to
use blocks made from his black-and-white drawings, one of
which has not been published before ; to the Very Rev. the
Dean for much useful information and assistance ; and lastly
to the Sub-Sacrist, Mr T. W. G. Cooke, whose help has been
at all times ungrudging and invaluable.
H. J. L, J. M.

CONTENTS

Chapter I, — History of the Building .
Chapter II.— The Exterior of the Cathedral :
The West Front ...
The South Front and Porch
The South Transept ...
The Tower and the Bells
The Lady Chapel ...
Chapter III. — The Interior :
The Nave
The West End and South Aisle
The West Windows and the Font
The North Aisle
The Choir Screen . . , , ,
The Organ
The Choir
The Reredos , , ,
The South Transept
Chapel of St. Andrew and 'Prentice Bracket
The Crypt . . . .
South Ambulatory of Choir
Triforium of the Choir
The Whispering Gallery .
The Lady Chapel .
Abbot Boteler's Chapel .
The North Transept ....
Chapter IV. — The Precincts and Monastic Buildings :
The Vineyard, the Dorter, the Refectory .
The Little Cloisters 
The Library .......
The Chapter-House
The Cloisters .
The Monks' Lavatory
The Slype .......
The Deanery ... ...
Chapter V, — List of Abbots and Bishops of Gloucester
The City 
Other Churches and Monastic Foundations
Remains of Old Gloucester ....
Notes Architectural and Chronological

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ILLUSTRATIONS

The Cathedral from St. John's Tower . . . Frontispiece
The Tower from the East . . . . •
Bird's-eye view of Norman Work ... ...
The Cathedral from the South- West . .
The Cathedral from North- West corner of the Cloisters
The Tower from the Palace Yard
View of the Cathedral in 1727
South Porch since the Restoration .
Piscina in the Triforium .
The Nave, looking East .
The Nave and North Aisle
South Aisle of the Nave . . .
Plan of the Original Choir Screen .
The Choir, looking East ...
Plan of the Original High Altar
Sketch of Old Norman Choir
The Choir, looking West
The Choir in 1806 .
Plan of the Triforium of the Choir
South-East Chapel in the Crypt
Plan of the Crypt .
South-East View of Cathedral .
Triforium of the Choir, looking East
South Ambulatory of the Choir
The Lady Chapel .
West End of Lady Chapel
Tomb of Robert Curthose
North Ambulatory of the Choir, looking East
North Ambulatory of the Choir, looking West .
Door from North Transept into North Ambulatory of the Choir
St. Mary's and King Edward's Gates
College and Palace Yard Gateways .
Remains of Infirmary
Mediaeval House
Chapter-House (Plan)
Plan of Abbey Precincts .
Cloister Garth from North-West
The Monks' Lavatory
Plan of Old Tank in the Cloister Garth
The Cloister, showing the Carrels of the Monk
South Aisle of Nave
Monument to Mrs Morley
The Old Judge's House .
The House of Robert Raikes .
The New Inn .....
Carving at New Inn Lane
Remains of Roman Wall
Plan of Cathedral (with Dimensions)  134, 135

• 1394-.

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
CHAPTER I
history of the building
It is neither possible, nor desirable, within the limits of a book
of this size and scope, to go fully into the question, interesting
though it be, of the relative claims of Aldred and Serlo to the
honour of the first building of the Abbey of Gloucester. Pro
fessor Willis, in his lecture addressed to the meeting of the
Archaeological Institute, held at Gloucester in i860, after giving
various reasons for believing that the crypt dates back no
further than 1089, when the foundation-stone was laid by
Abbot Serlo, goes on to state that he was "clearly of opinion
that when the foundations of the cathedral were laid, the crypt
was planned to receive the existing superstructure and no
other." Professor Freeman, in his lecture published in the " Records
of Gloucester Cathedral," says : " The first thing we do know
for certain is, that in the year 1089, thirty-one years only
after the dedication of Ealdred's church, Serlo, the first
Norman Abbot, began the building of a new church, which
was itself dedicated in 11 00."
From the record quoted by Mr W. H. Hart (" Chartulary,"
i. 3), the first mention of the abbey is in 681, when it was
founded by Osric, viceroy of King Ethelred. It was dedicated
to St. Peter, and Kyneburga (the sister of Osric) was the first
Abbess of a double foundation for monks and nuns. She
died in 710.
Osric himself was buried in his church in 729 (Hart, i. 5),
and his sister was buried near him, in front of the altar of
St. Petronilla, which was on the north side of the then existing
church. The second Abbess was also a lady of royal descent, and

4 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
widow of Wulphere, King of the Mercians. She died in 735,
and with Eve or Eva, or Gaffa, her successor, who died in
769, the monastery came to an end.
In 823 a new regime began — viz. that of secular priests,
introduced by Beornwulf, King of Mercia, and the Monasticon
Anglicanum (Caley, i. 563) says that he found the monastery
" spoliatum et ruinosum" and therefore rebuilt it. He also
changed its constitution, by introducing secular priests, of
whom many were married to lawful wives, and who were very
little different in their way of living to other secular Christians.
This state of things went on till 1022, when Cnut, as Leland
says, "for ill lyvynge expellyd secular clerks, and by the
eounsell of Wolstane (Wulfstan), Bysshope of Wurcestar,
bringethe in monkes." The monks introduced by Cnut were
of the Benedictine rule, or Black monks, as Parker calls
them in his "Rhythmical History of the Abbey."
This change was effected about the same time in many other
places in England, but was not generally popular, and certainly
was not so in Gloucester. Abbot Parker, in his rhyming
account of the founding of the abbey, says that in 1030
" A lord of great puissance, named Ulfine Le Rewe,
Was enjoyned by (the Pope) for ever to finde
Satisfying for the seaven priests that he slew,
7 monkes for them to pray world without minde."
Mr Hope, in his " Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of
St. Peter at Gloucester," 1897, p. 2, says: "The Benedictines
thus introduced by Cnut do not seem to have been a success,
and after an existence of thirty-seven years under a weak
Abbot, whose long rule was marked by great decay of dis
cipline, the ' Memoriale' (Dugdale, i. 564) says: 'God
permitted them to be extirpated, and the monastery in which
they were established to be devoured by the fiercest flames,
and the very foundations and buildings to be rent asunder,
razed to the ground, and utterly destroyed.' "
"The monastery was next taken in hand by Aldred, Bishop
of Worcester, who in 1058 re-established the monks. He
also began to build a new church from the foundations, and
dedicated it in honour of St. Peter."*
* So says the MS. Lives of the Abbots in the Library of Queen's
College, Oxford.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING s
" Until now the monastery seems to have occupied the same
site throughout its chequered history ; but the ' Memoriale '
states that Aldred began the new church ' a little further from
the place where it had first stood, and nearer to the side of
the city.' "
The language of these authorities is quite plain, but the
interpretation thereof is not so evident. As Professor Freeman
said : " By the time when the oldest church, of which we
have any part remaining, came into being, the Roman Wall,
or at least this corner of it, must have pretty well passed
away." It seems clear that the " side of the city " cannot refer to
the Roman Wall. To quote Professor Freeman again : "The
existing church is something more than near to the Roman
Wall. It actually stands over its north-west corner."
" Even under Aldred's auspices the monastery did not alto
gether flourish. But this time it was through the fault of Aldred
himself, for, on his translation to York in 1060, he retained
very many of the possessions of the abbey that had been
pledged to him on account of his expenses in repairing and
re-edifying the church."
In 1072, Wilstan (Wulstan), the Abbot consecrated by Aldred
in 1058, died, and was succeeded by Serlo, who found the con
vent reduced to two monks and eight novices. Through his
energy the monastery increased to such an extent that in about
fifteen years' time it became necessary to rebuild the monastery.
This rebuilding was begun exactly thirty-one years after
Aldred had built his church, de novo and a fundamentis. Why
was this necessary ? Professor Freeman says : " The reason is
not very far to seek for any one who has really mastered the
history of architecture during the eleventh century. . . The
simple fact is that the Norman prelates pulled down and rebuilt
the English churches, mainly because they thought them too
small." Further on he says : " This proves that, of the two
types of church which were in use side by side in the days of
the Confessor, Aldred had followed the older type. He had
not conformed to the new Norman fashions, vast size among
them, which were coming in after the example of the king's
own church at Westminster. . . . His church was built in the
Primitive Romanesque style, the style common to England,
with Germany, Italy, and Burgundy, not in the newly-developed
style of Northern Gaul. Therefore, neither its scale nor its

6 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
style suited the ideas of Abbot Serlo.* It was condemned,
and the minster that now stands was begun."
In the MS. Lives of the Abbots in Queen's College Library,
Oxford, it is stated that "in a.d. 1089, on the day of the
festival of the Apostles Peter and Paul, in this year were laid
the foundations of the church (ecclesia) of Gloucester, the
venerable man Robert, Bishop of Hereford, laying the first
stone, Serlo the Abbot being in charge of the work." (So, too.
Hart, i. 11.)
In August 1089 there was an earthquake, which did serious
damage to the then existing building. Eleven years after this
(hoc), in the last year of the reign of William Rufus, "the
church," as Florence of Worcester wrote, " which Abbot Serlo,
of revered memory, had built from the foundations at Gloucester,
was dedicated (on Sunday, July 15th) with great pomp by
Samson, Bishop of Worcester ; Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester ;
Gerard, Bishop of Hereford ; and Herveas, Bishop of Bangor."
This dedication under Serlo's regime is the last authentic record
for some years.
Nothing is known exactly as to how much of the building
was completed by 11 00. Professor Freeman points out that
eleven years was quite long enough for its building, and that
there is no hint in the local chronicle of any additions being
made to the building dedicated in 11 00. Probably part of the
church was finished for the dedication, such as the presbytery,
choir, the transepts, the Abbot's cloister, the chapter-house, and
the greater part, at any rate, of the nave.
The nave, though so different in scale as compared with the
original choir, must have been built very early in the twelfth
century, and, like the rest of the building, originally had a
wooden roof.
In iioi or no2 damage was done to the building by fire,
notably the chapter-house, and again in 11 22. Possibly in this
latter fire the nave roof was destroyed, and of this fire the
piers in the nave show traces. Of the same date must be
much of the strengthening masonry in the crypt, the Prior's
lodging, the chapel, and the slype beneath it.
The whole of the Abbey buildings were surrounded by
Abbot Peter with a stone wall, and the necessary gates — viz.
* Formerly a canon of the Church of Avranches, and afterwards a monk
in the Church of Mont St. Michel.

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 7
the great gatehouse on the west, another on the south, and a
third more to the east. All these can be identified from the
small plan of the monastic buildings, reproduced (p. 103), by
permission of Mr F. S. ^Valler. The Saxon Chronicle tells us
that in 11 22, while the monks were singing mass, fire burst
out from the upper part of the steeple, and burnt the whole
monastery. Some time between 11 64 and 11 79 one of the
western towers, probably the south-west tower, fell down. Fire
in II 90 is said to have destroyed the greater part of the city,
as well as almost all the buildings in the outer court. Helias,
the sacrist, also made new stalls for the monks in the choir.
Of these Early English stalls, a fragment has been thought
fully and carefully preserved behind the seat of the Canon in
residence. In 1222 we learn from Hart, i. 25, that the great eastern
tower was built under the direction of Helias of Hereford, the
sacrist. Of this tower no traces now remain. Helias built his
superstructure on the Norman work that we see in the nave.
The Early English Lady Chapel was said to have been built
between the years 12 24-1 2 27 by Ralph of Wylington, and
Olympias his wife, and endowed with lands.
The church was dedicated again in 1239, in Abbot Foliot's
time, by Walter of Cantelupe, " the patriot prelate who, six-
and-twenty years later, stood by Earl Simon on the day of
martyrdom at Evesham,"
Three years after the dedication in 1242 alterations in the
triforium of the nave were made, and the stone vaulting was
done by the monks themselves. It was a very laudable object,
,but they effectually spoiled the nave. The same year saw the
beginning of the rebuilding of the south-west tower, and it
was finished before 1246. If this was the tower that collapsed
in II 70, the monks would seem to have somewhat neglected
their duty to the fabric. The Norman refectory or "frater"
was demolished in 1246, and the new one begun. This build
ing stood to the north of the cloisters, and was pulled down
at the Dissolution. Of the Early English infirmary or
"farmery" traces remain near the Bishop's Palace.
In this place we may refer incidently to Gloucester Hall,
Oxford, which college was founded in 1283 as a residence
for thirteen monks, to be chosen out of the brotherhood
at Gloucester, and sent to study at Oxford. The hall was

8 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
empowered later on to receive students from other Benedictine
foundations, and the buildings were enlarged for this purpose
in 1298.
Fire again ravaged the Abbey and its precincts in 1300,
on the feast of the Epiphany. "It began in a timbered
house in the great court, from which it spread to the small
bell - tower, the great camera, and the cloister " (Hope,
36). Mr Hope thinks this bell-tower was either a single
western tower, as formerly there was at Hereford, or else a
Norman north-west tower, and that the great camera was
part of the Abbot's house, now the Deanery. Professor Free
man thinks that the small bell-tower or parvum cainpanile was
so called as being less in height than the south-west tower
rebuilt in 1245-6.
In this same fire the Norman dorter or dormitory suffered
considerable damage. It was pulled down three years later,
and a new one, which took ten years to build, was opened
for use in 1313, after being blessed and sprinkled with holy
water by the Bishop of St. David's. 1318 is a date of im
portance in the history of the Abbey. John Thokey, Abbot
from 1307-1329, made many changes. He reconstructed the
south aisle of the nave to save the south side from collapse.
The windows on the outside have been restored, but the
buttresses have been very little touched. Most of the tracery
in the windows of the aisles and chapels of the choir, and the
triforium of the choir, date back to his time.
Thokey, between 1316-1329 built the new camera of the
Abbot, beside the infirmary garden (Hart, i. 55).
Thokey's successor, Wygmore, carried out the works
planned previously, and in 1331-1337 the south transept
was recased, and vaulted practically as we see it to-day, in
the style now known as Perpendicular. Part of the front of
the Deanery is presumably of the same date, though many
later alterations have been made in it. Wygmore also built
the double screen {vide p. 44) which separated the nave from
the choir. "Parts of it," says Mr Hope, "are worked up in
the present screen," and he quotes Hart, i. 47, to show that
Wygmore was buried in 1337, "before the Salutation of the
Blessed Mary in the entry of the quire on the south side,
which he himself constructed with the pulpitum (or loft)
in the same place."

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 9
The transformation of the Norman minster had thus begun.
In the days of Adam de Staunton (1337-1357) the great vault
of the choir was made at a great expense, together with the
stalls on the Priors' side — i.e. the north side.
The oblations at the tomb of Edward II. rendered much
of his extensive work practicable, as the funds of the Abbey
were becoming exhausted.
Thomas Horton (1351-1377) finished the work, comprising
the high altar, with the presbytery, the stalls on the Abbot's
side, or south side of the choir. (Hart, i. 49.)
He also caused to be made the images and tabernacle work
at the entrance of the choir on the north side, and in the
six years, ending with 1374, he completed the casing of the
north transept, defraying the greater part of the cost himself
(;^444, OS. 2d. out of a total sum of ^^781, os. 2d.).
Horton also built " the Abbot's chapel near the garden . of
the infirmary, the covered camera of the monks' hostelry, and
the great hall in the court, where the king afterwards held his
Parliament in 1378." (Hart, i. 48, 50.)
The present cloister, as far as the door of the chapter-house,
is also his work.
This important work was for many years unfinished, but
was completed by Froucester in the years 1 381-1407. As
Leland says, " he made the cloyster a right goodly and
sumptuous piece of worke."
In the one hundred and thirty years that elapsed between
the finishing of the cloisters and the Dissolution many further
important changes took place, both in the interior and in the
exterior of the fabric.
John Morwent (1421-1437), utterly destroyed the west front,
with its two towers, which, in the opinion of many, may have
been those counterparts at Tewkesbury. To him also is
credited, mainly on Leland's authority, the insertion of the
south porch.
Abbot Seabroke (1450-1457) took down the tower as
far as the Norman piers, and built the present beautiful
structure. He died before it was finished, and Robert Tully,
one of the monks of the monastery, carried out the work,
as the inscription on the wall in the interior {vide p. 63)
testifies. Before the tower was complete, the present Lady Chapel

lo GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
(which was finished before 1500) was begun by Abbot Hanley,
and finished by Abbot Farley.
John the Baptist's Chapel is usually ascribed to Abbot John
Browne (or Newton), from the similarity of his initials to those
of the saint.
The eastern bay of the chapter-house dates back to Abbot
Hanley's time — i.e. between 145 7-147 2.
In 1540 Henry VIII. sent his commissioners, and they
demanded the surrender of the Abbey to the king. This
cannot have been a surprise to any of the monks who were in
the Abbey at the time. As far back as 1534 they had all been
compelled to take the oath by which they acknowledged the
king as supreme head of the Church of England, and denied
that any foreign bishop had any authority in these realms.
The monks, too, had seen the smaller monasteries in
Gloucester dissolved two years before, and the more thoughtful
of them must have foreseen that it was a mere question of
time for the greedy king to absorb the larger monasteries
as well.
Abbot Parker's tomb, and also that of King Osric, pjactically
date themselves, and of the same period are presumably the
gateway into Palace Yard, and part of the Abbot's lodging on
the site of the present Bishop's Palace. From Leland we learn
that the south gate — i.e. King Edward's gate — is of the same
date, having been rebuilt by Osborne the cellarer.
The library, and the set of rooms beneath it, now used as
vestry and practice-room for the choir, are perhaps the latest
additions to the buildings.
At the Dissolution the Abbey which had " existed for more
than eight centuries under different forms, in poverty and in
wealth, in meanness and in magnificence, in misfortune and
success, finally succumbed to the royal wiU. The day came,
and that a drear winter day, when its last mass was sung, its
last censer waved, its last congregation bent in rapt and lowly
adoration before the altar there ; and, doubtless, as the last tones
of that day's evensong died away in the vaulted roof, there
were not wanting those who lingered in the solemn stillness of
the old massive pile, and who, as the lights disappeared one by
one, felt that there was a void which could never be filled,
because their old abbey, with its beautiful services, its frequent
means of grace, its hospitality to strangers, and its loving care

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING ii
for God's poor, had passed away like a morning dream, and
was gone for ever." (Hart, iii. 49.)
The charter of Henry VIII. founding the see is too long to
quote in extenso, but it stated that " Whereas the great convent
or monastery, which, whilst still in being, was called the
monastery of St. Peter of Gloucester, . . . and all and singular
its manors, . . . and possessions, for certain special and urgent
causes were, by Gabriel Moreton, Prior of the said abbey or
monastery and the convent thereof, lately given and granted to
us and our heirs for ever. . . . We, being influenced by divine
goodness, and desiring above all things, that true religion, and
the true "worship of God may not only not be abolished, but
entirely restored to the primitive and genuine rule of simplicity ;
and that all those enormities may be corrected into which the
lives and profession of the monks for a long time had deplor
ably lapsed, have, as far as human frailty will permit, endeavoured
to the utmost that for the future the pure word of God may be
taught in that place, good discipline preserved. ..."
The charter goes on to say that, " considering the site of
the said late monastery in which many famous monuments of
our renowned ancestors. Kings of England, are erected is a
very fit and proper place ... we have decreed that the site
of the said monastery be an episcopal see. . . . We also will
and ordain that the said Dean and Prebendaries, and their
successors, shall for ever hereafter be called the Dean and
Chapter of the Holy and Individed Trinity of Gloucester."
Henry also assigned to the Bishop all the premises formerly
occupied by the Abbot.
In 1576 the fabric seems to have been in want of con
siderable repair, and in 161 6, when Dr Laud was Dean, it was
said of it that " there was scarcely a church in England so
much in decay.'' The Dean procured an Act of the Chapter,
by which the sum of ;^6o per annum was to be allowed for
repairs. In the time of the civil war it suffered less than might have
been expected. It was subsequently in danger of total de
struction from the machinations of some persons, who are
said "to have agreed amongst themselves for their several
proportions of the plunder expected out of it." The little
cloisters and the Lady Chapel were begun to be pulled down,
and " instruments and tackle provided for to take down the

12 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
tower," but in 1657 the church was made over by grant to
the mayor and burgesses at their request, and from this it is
to be assumed that they wished to prevent it from possible
ruin. Mr Dorney, speaking in 1653, recommends to the
officers of the city then elected, " that they would, together
with others, join their shoulders to hold up the stately fabric
of the College Church, the great ornament of this city, which
some do say is now in danger of falling."
In 1679 we find an insensate prebendary securing an order
from the Chapter for destroying some of the old glass in the
west window of the choir. Bishop Benson (1734-175 2) spent
vast sums of money on the building, and to him are due
the paving of the nave, and pinnacles to the Lady Chapel,
which were removed at a recent restoration. A stone screen
(removed in 1820) was erected at the entrance to the choir
by this energetic Bishop, and his architect, Kent, in whose
hands he was, suggested the fluting of the pillars of the
nave. Fifty years ago, in 1847, under the energetic administration
of Dr Jeune, the Treasurer, extensive repairs and improve
ments were begun by Mr F. S. Waller. The crypt was drained,
concreted, and later on glazed. The grounds round the
cathedral have been lowered, enlarged, and laid out, and the
drainage has been properly done. Of the restorations during
the last fifty years mention has been made in detail in the
description of the various parts of the building that have been
restored, and there is no need to repeat.
Restoration is a cause of much strife, and in the hands of
many architects it means destruction of the original features
of the building. Gloucester has suffered somewhat at the
hands of Sir Gilbert Scott, but probably not a tithe of what
would have been inflicted upon it had Wyatt been turned
loose with an absolutely free hand. Mr Waller, writing in 1890,
said : " Forty years ago everything not ' Gothic ' (the fashion
of the day) was destroyed ; but were it possible now to reinstate
the Chapter-House book-cases, the Renaissance Reredos of the
Choir, Wygmore's pulpit, the aisle screens, the remains of the
Rood Loft, and the Choir fittings, and to put them all back —
odd mixture as they would be — to the positions they occupied
in 1727, few would be found to object, even though the
replacement of the monuments on the columns of the nave

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING 13
became one of the conditions." — Truly " Tempora mutantur"
and fortunately nos et mutamiir in illis.
Dedication. — The building of Osric was dedicated to St.
Peter by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bosel,
Bishop of Worcester. When Bishop Wulfstan ejected the
secular canons, and brought in his Benedictine monks, he
reconsecrated it to St. Peter and St. Paul.
Bishop Aldred after building de novo re-dedicated the church
to St. Peter, as the chief of the apostles. Abbot Serlo seems
to have remembered the earlier dedication to St. Peter and
St. Paul, for he caused the foundation-stone to be laid in 1089
on the festival of those two apostles in June, but his dedica
tion in noo was to St. Peter. Both St. Peter and St. Paul are
now represented among the statues on the front of the south
porch. After the dissolution of the monastery Henry VIII.
ascribed the Cathedral Church to the Holy and Individed
Trinity. The Cathedral is traditionally by many called "St. Peter's,"
and by some "The Abbey Church," but this, of course, is
quite inaccurate.
Apropos of the question of the dedication, the arms of the
see may be briefly considered.
The original arms were Azure, two keys in saltire, or.
By the fifteenth century the sword for St. Paul had become
incorporated with the crossed keys, and it is found upon the
bells and also on the east side of the organ case. At the Dis
solution the arms were Gules, two keys in saltire surmounted
by a sword in pale, argent. Brown Willis, in 1727, wrote that
"the old arms of this see as used 100 years ago, were three
chevronels, the middle one charged with a mitre, but the
bishops now give Azure, two keys in saltire, or."

CHAPTER II
THE EXTERIOR
Of the building as originally constructed, practically the whole,
as far as the outline is concerned, may be said to remain as it
was at the beginning of the twelfth century. The massive
Norman nave, the slype or covered passage that is between the
Deanery and the north-west wall of the cathedral, the two
transepts with their turrets, the choir with its various chapels
and aisles, the chapter-house, and the Abbot's cloister, are all
parts of the original building, although later additions have
partly concealed them.
In Mr Waller's " Notes and Sketches of Gloucester
Cathedral " * a very interesting view is given of the cathedral
stripped of every addition of a later date than the original
structure, and by his permission it is here reproduced.
With reference to this sketch Mr Waller says :
" This sketch is given to shew what is left of the old Abbey Church of
the twelfth century, and looking to the fact that it was not too reliable a
structure to begin with, as regards foundation and settlements (not forget
ting the "earthquake"), it certainly is wonderful what extraordinary
liberties have been taken with the old fabric, and what really great risks
have been incurred. Look at and consider this sketch with reference to
the building as it now stands, and excepting in the aisles of the Choir, the
north aisle of the Nave, and part of the Chapter-Room, where the original
vaulting remains, it will be seen that it is a mere shell, the walls have been
pulled about in the most reckless manner, and in all directions, and in the
Choir they have actually been pared down and an outer casing has been
entirely removed — large pieces have been cut out of the piers for the intro
duction of monuments (medieval, not modern!), window heads have been
removed to make way for the more recent works, and nearly the whole of
the Cathedral has been covered with a sort of applique work of niullions and
tracery, erected chiefly in the fourteenth century (see sketch on plate 4).
The large central Tower (forty feet square on the leads) has been built on
the old Norman walls ; new walls, new vaulting, and new roofs have been
erected on old foundations ; and, strange to say, scarcely a settlement of
any kind can be seen in any of the building operations which have been
* This is now out of print. 14

THE EXTERIOR

IS

undertaken since 1200 ! It is not too much to say that a man of the
present day who would even suggest such works as have been here success
fully accomplished, would be most severely condemned ; but in those days
the Abbots had only themselves to please, there were no well-educated
reporters and writers to discuss their doings in morning papers : they felt,
therefore, quite at their ease, hoping for the best, and in this instance

IFrom a Draiving by F. S, Waller, F.R,1.B,A,
succeeding admirably, not only as regards Iheir own wishes and intentions,
but in leaving for posterity a splendid architectural history in stone,"
The plan of the building is cruciform, and consists of a Nave and Choir,
with Aisles on the north and south sides of each ; North and South Transepts,
at the intersection of which with the Choir rises the Tower ; and at interxals
round the Choir Aisles are four small apsidal Chapels. At the east end is
the Lady-Chapel, prior to the erection of which, a fifth Chapel, similar in
form and dimensions to the other four, existed at the east end ; as may be
seen in the plan of the Crypt,"
The whole building, according to Professor Willis, is full of
peculiar fancies, which all appear to be characteristic of a
school of masons who were extremely skilful, and glad of an

1 6 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
opportunity of showing their skill. The mediseval masons,
he thinks, were " perfectly practical and most ingenious men ;
they worked experimentally : if their buildings were strong
enough, there they stood ; if they were too strong, they also
stood ; but if they were too weak they gave way, and they put
props and built the next stronger." That was their science —
and very good practical science it was — but in many cases they
imperilled their work, and gave trouble to future restorers.
The arrangement of the buildings differs in one very essential
point from almost every other in the kingdom. The cloisters
and the claustral buildings were, as a rule, on the south side of
the church, for the sake of shelter, and also of sunshine. At
Gloucester they are on the north side of the church, the
reason being (according to Mr Fosbroke) that when Aldred
laid the new foundations farther south, the cloisters found
themselves on the north side.
Dallaway has said very truly that " Few churches in England
exhibit so complete a school of Gothic in all its gradations
from the time of the Conquest as the Cathedral of Gloucester."
This is true with the exception that of " Decorated " archi
tecture there are but few examples, and it is probable that very
little new work was done in connection with this cathedral
until the monastery became vastly enriched by Abbot Thokey's
policy in causing the body of Edward II. to be brought from
Berkeley Castle for interment in his abbey. It is said that
the amount of offerings made at the tomb during the reign
of Edward III. was enough to have entirely rebuilt the abbey.
In consequence of this the Cathedral is full of some of the finest
examples of the styles known as "Transition from Decorated
to Perpendicular " (anticipative Perpendicular) and pure
"Perpendicular" — a style which, in Professor Willis's opinion,
originated at Gloucester. From every side there is something
to interest the careful observer.
As a rule, visitors see it first from the south side, and the
south-west general view is one of the best, equalled, but not
surpassed, by that from the north-west. The north view
from the Great Western Railway, with the school playing-
fields in the foreground, makes a striking picture, but it is
more sombre than the picture formed by the south front.
Viewed from the north-west corner of the cloister-garth, the
pile is seen perhaps at its best. From this point it is

THE EXTERIOR

19

easy to study so much of the^ varied architecture of the
whole, and with little effort to transport the mind back for
a space of four hundred years. The eye first rests upon the
turf of the garth, now tastefully laid out after many years of

Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo. \
THE CATHEDRAL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST
CORNER OF THE CLOISTERS,
comparative neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are
the exquisite windows of the Cloister — a cloister which no other
can surpass. Above the Cloister will be seen on the eastern
side the sober, impressive Norman work of the Chapter-House
in which so much of our English history has been made.
To the south of this is the Library, built close against the

20 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
walls of the north transept, which tower above, and lead the
eye upward to the great tower which, "in the middest of the
church," crowns the whole.
Looking for a moment at the Norman windows in the north
aisle, one sees how they have been altered in their details since
they were built, though their bold outline remains the same.
The windows in the clerestory tell the tale of a later time,
probably that of Abbot Morwent.
The West Front. — Compared with many others of our
cathedral fronts, this front may seem to be of less interest,
but it has the great beauty of simplicity, which prevents it,
when viewed in the foreground, from killing the rest of the
picture. The buttresses of the great window are ingeniously
pierced, so as not to cut off the light ; and the parapets, also
of pierced or open work, should be carefully noted.
Plain transoms cross the lights, whereas in the inside the
tracery and cusping is elaborate. This will be noted also in
the east window of the choir and elsewhere.
Of the western towers which formerly existed no traces
now remain. The north-west tower, owing to badly-made
foundations, collapsed in the latter half of the twelfth century
between 1163-1179.
A south-west tower was begun in 1242 by Walter de St.
John, Prior at the time, and subsequently Abbot for a few
weeks, and it was finished by his successor, John de la Feld.
When Abbot Morwent altered the west end and front, the
western towers disappeared altogether. This front was re
stored carefully, where necessary, in 1874.
The South Porch. — This portion of the building is the
work of Morwent, who was Abbot from 1421-1437. The
rich front of what Bonner called "Saracenic work," was
formerly disfigured by an uninteresting dial with the motto
Pereunt et impitfantur. This was removed at the Restora
tion, when the canopies were restored, and niches filled with
statues by Redfern. Over the doorway in the centre, stand
St. Peter and St. Paul, and the four Evangelists. Below are
King Osric and Abbot Serlo, the two founders of the Abbey
Church. The four figures in the niches of the buttresses re
present St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory.
The windows of the porch have been formed by piercing the
internal tracery. This has a very curious effect when viewed

THE EXTERIOR

from the inside. From the outside the ,windows do not seem
unusual. The Porch was in such a very ruinous state, that it was

iflliiii't

e-u,

-yard »
I Drawn by E, J, Burrow.

scarcely possible to use any of the old stone on the outside.
Within, the old work can be seen, and the bosses are worthy
of attention. Over the porch is an unfinished parvise. The
doors are very good specimens of fifteenth-century work.
The South Transept (or St. Andrew's Aisle), as far as the
walls are concerned, is thought by some to have been built by

22 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Serlo, but there have been so many alterations in the exterior
that it is difficult to say anything with certainty. Fosbroke,
writing at the end of last century, noted that there was an in
scription on the outside wall making mention of one William
Pipard, who was sheriff of the county about sixty years after
Serlo's time. The windows have been enlarged and much
altered, and later tracery has been inserted.
In spite of the many alterations and some restoration, the
south front of this transept contains much interesting Norman
work, which has been re-used in a very clever way. The
square flanking towers, with their later spires, the arcading over
the head of the window, and the graceful curve in the battle
ment are all worthy of attention, and will serve to confuse
visitors before they realise that the Norman architecture is con
cealed under a later casing, and that there is a great deal of
old work re-used in the new.
There is a curious buttress, too, which goes across the west
window of this transept to strengthen the south-west corner of
the great tower. In fact, the south side of the church is the
only side that, as builders say, has "settled" at all.
In 1867 a Roman tesselated pavement was discovered near
the south front of this transept.
The Tower. — Of all the exterior beauties, the most striking
is the beautiful and graceful tower. Placed where it is, almost
in the centre of the long line of the nave, continued in the
choir and Lady Chapel, at the point where the transept line
intersects it, it is the chief feature of the massive pile. All else
seems to be grouped with a view to the enhancing of the effect
of the central position of the tower. The other members of
the building seem merely to be steps, by means of which
approach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most
impressive feature of the outside. No matter from whence
one looks at it, the charm is there. Seen from the gardens
in the side streets close by when the pear-trees are in bloom,
or in the full blaze of a hot summer day, or again later in the
autumn when the leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still,
in snow time, it is always full of beauty. On a bright hot
day the pinnacles seem so far off in the haze as to suggest a
dream of fairyland. On a wet day, after a shower, the tower
has the appearance of being so close at hand that it almost seems
to speak. Viewed by moonlight, the tower has an unearthly look,

24 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
which cannot well be described. The tower is 225 feet high
to the top of the pinnacles, and the effect of it is extremely
fine. From the main cornice upwards, the whole of the stone
work is open, and composed of what at a distance appears to
be delicate tracery, and muUions, and crocketed pinnacles.
It is, in all probability, the third tower that has been built
since Aldred's time. There are piers still remaining of the
Norman tower erected by Serlo in the years that elapsed
between 1089 and iioo; and, as we are told in the "Saxon
Chronicle," that in 1122 afire which originated in the upper
part of the steeple burnt the whole monastery, it must be
inferred that the superstructure was of wood. A hundred
years later it is known that the great eastern tower was built
with the help of Helias of Hereford. This tower was in great
part taken down by the monk Tully, and rebuilt in the Perpen
dicular style in the time of Abbot Seabroke (1450-1457).
The Bells at Gloucester are peculiarly interesting from
the fact of their age, and from the fact that they escaped the
clutches of the despoilers at the time of the Dissolution.
The truth of the matter seems to be that all the " Churche
goods, money, juells, plate, vestments, ornaments, and bells "
had been inventoried and handed over to the king's commis
sioners in Bishop Hooper's time. The commissioners returned
to the Dean and Chapter " to and for the use and behouf of
the seid Churche, one chalys being silver and whole gilte
without a paten waying xi oz. and also one grete bell where-
uppon the cloke strykithe, and eight other grete bells whereupon
the chyme goethe hangynge in the towre there within the seid
church save and surely to be kept untill the King's Majesty's
pleasure shall be therein further knowen." This was dated
May 27th, 1553, and as the king died within three months
his pleasure in the matter was never "further knowen," and
Gloucester rejoices still in its bells.
The chimes * play four tunes, which are changed every other
day. The first tune was composed by Dr Jefferies in 1791 ;
the second by Dr Hayes, who died 1777 j the third by Dr
Malchair, 1760-17 70; and the fourth by Dr Stevens. The
composers of the second and fourth tunes were both natives of
Gloucester, and at one time choristers in the cathedral.
* They have lately been undergoing repair, and will soon be in working
order again.

THE EXTERIOR

25

"The shape of the east end of the old Church, as will be
seen by a reference to the ground plan and plan of the Crypt,
is partly round and partly polygonal; round as regards the
outer wall of the main building and the inside and outside

Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]
THE SOUTH PORCH (SINCE THE RESTORATION),
of the small Chapels in the Crypt, but polygonal in the interior
walls of the main building in the Crypt ; whereas on the
ground-floor the main building and the Chapels are all poly-

26 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
gonal.* An examination of the remains of the Eastern Arches,
as seen above the last Norman piers eastward of the Choir,
shows the direction of the lines distinctly, following as they do
the lines of the Crypt below, but with less heavy construction.
The whole of the edifice, with the exception of the Lady
Chapel and the Cloisters, remains, as regards general outline,
as it stood in the early part of the twelfth century. (See
illustration, p. 15.) The Nave with its large circular columns,
the slype adjoining the Deanery (probably indicating the extent
westwards of the Norman Towers prior to the erection of the
present west end), the North and South Transepts, with their
Turrets at the west and east angles, the Choir and its Aisles
and Chapels, the Chapter-House and Abbot's Cloister, although
more or less masked by later additions, are all parts of the
original building."
The method of joining the Lady Chapel to the choir is best
noticed from the outside. It is a piece of exceedingly clever
and graceful construction, and there is the minimum of obstruc
tion to the light passing through to the east window, and the
maximum of support to the elliptical east window.
Another interesting feature in this part of the exterior is the
construction of the two passages — chiefly of re-used Norman
work — which make up the greater part of the so-called Whisper
ing Gallery — i.e. the passage connecting the north and the
south triforium of the choir.
One of the distinguishing features of the exterior of the
building is the variety and arrangement of the battlements
and pinnacles. Bishop Benson did his best to spoil the effect
of those on the Lady Chapel by removing the upper part
of the parapet and by substituting other pinnacles. These
have been restored, but the east-end pinnacles do not seem
quite in keeping with Gloucester. Viewing the Lady Chapel
from the north side, the play of light through the windows
on the south side has a very grand effect. Under the east end
of the Lady Chapel is a passage which has given rise to much
speculation in bygone times.
The Lady Chapel at the time of its erection was carried
* James Fergusson, writing to Mr Waller on the above subject, says :
"It is curious that polygonal forms should be used in this country in the
eleventh century, whilst at Caen and on the Continent generally circular
forms prevailed well into the twelfth^century."

THE EXTERIOR

27

out to the farthest limit of the land possessed by the Abbey,
shown on the plan at F.F. As the east wall of the chapel was
actually on the western boundary wall the passage was made to
give access from the north to the south of the grounds, without
the need of going right round the precincts by the west front.
Modern improvements have increased the facilities for study
ing and admiring the building. In 1847-8 the garden was laid
out, and from it the outside can easily be carefully examined.

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PISCINA IN THE TRIFORIUM,
CHAPTER III
THE INTERIOR
" The most detailed description of architectural works must
fail to convey to the mind so clear and correct an impression,
as the graphic representation of the objects themselves does to
the eye ; and the more laboured the attempt to describe in
words the position, the arrangement, the form and magnitude
of the several parts, the more the picture becomes confused,
and the less likely to answer the purpose" {Quart. Rev.,
No. 37, 179).
How far the above statement is of universal application is
not a matter to be here discussed, but it will be appreciated to
the full by anyone who attempts to describe, within definite
and narrow limits, the many beauties of one of our finest
cathedrals, such as Gloucester undoubtedly is.
To fully appreciate the beauty of the cathedral, it must be
studied under different aspects and at different times. Much
will depend upon the mood of the visitor, much, too, upon the
time of day. The Lady Chapel at 7 a.m. is quite a different
thing from the Lady Chapel at 10.30 or 12 noon, though
always beautiful. The same holds good with the choir and
the nave. A slanting light through the south clerestory playing
fitfully upon the lace-work of the north side of the choir, or the
sturdy pillars of the ever-impressive nave, gives a charm that
cannot be described.
How grand a sight, too, it is when the nave is almost in
darkness — save for eight or ten small jets of light overhead —
to see the choir lighted up, with the organ standing out in
strong relief against the blaze of light below and behind it,
and now and then a gleam of hght showing through as. the
door under the screen is opened.
Then, again, note and study the marvellous effects of sound
in the building. Listen, if possible, from the Lady Chapel, to
an anthem by some old composer ; listen to Bach's G minor
28

Photochrom Co. Ltd.,

Photo.] THE NAVE,

LOOKING EAST.

THE INTERIOR 31
fugue from the triforium of the choir, and hear the echoes
rolling from pier to pier ; listen to the Hallelujah Chorus
sung on some great festival service in the nave, or some
simple well-known hymn sung by close upon 3000 people, and
the listener will have some idea of the effect that mere sound,
taken as such, can produce.
The sound of Stainer's Gregorian Miserere, sung entirely
unaccompanied, as heard from the great west door, is grand in
the extreme. It needs but little imagination to take oneself
back, say, four hundred years, and picture the monks singing
the very same Psalm.
The tiles in an ancient building are always of interest, and
Gloucester contains many that are worth inspection. There
are some in the choir and its chapels, and there are some in
the Lady Chapel ; others may be found near Raikes' monu
ment, exposed to view in the south aisle. There are also some
in the south-east chapel of the triforium of the choir. The
chapter-house tiles are modern (Minton), but were made after
the tiles that were in existence there.
The nave was originally tiled, and specimens have been
found when excavations have been made. In the days that
are to come, possibly, the Georgian flooring may be taken up,
and the tiles now hidden from view will be revealed in places
where they have not been broken up, where graves have been
dug in the nave and aisles.
Perhaps the weakest point in the cathedral is the modern
glass. There is much that shows careful work and thought,
but there has been no systematic controlling spirit at work
to suggest, to guide, or to check. The chief blots, too,
are the so-called memorial windows, and the reason is not hard
to find. It is well put by Mr Ruskin, who, in his "Seven
Lamps of Architecture," says : "The peculiar manner of selfish
and impious ostentation, provoked by the glassmakers for a
stimulus to trade, of putting up painted windows to be records
of private affection, instead of universal religion, is one of the
worst, because most plausible and proud, hypocrisies of our
day." Just imagine the difference in the south aisle, for instance, if
there had been a scheme carefully planned beforehand for the
windows, instead of the threefold, but haphazard, process of a
window offered, a window accepted, a window put up, and no

32 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
questions asked as to designer or artist. Imagine what the
effect might, or would, have been, had the windows, as a set,
been designed by Burne-Jones and executed by William Morris,
or by other competent artists. Now, unfortunately, these two
great artists are dead, and Gloucester has not a single specimen
of their work.
The Nave as it is (174 feet by 34^ feet long, 67 feet 7
inches high) is quite unique, and differs considerably from other
Norman naves, such as are to be found in the cathedrals at
Ely, Norwich, or Peterborough, and in the neighbouring abbey
churches at Tewkesbury, and Great Malvern.
The unique features here are the great height of the massive
circular columns, fourteen in number, and the consequently
dwarfed triforium or gallery running over the main arches.
There are traces to be seen of the original Norman clerestory
under the Perpendicular windows, and, judging from this, the
height of the clerestory, as originally constructed, must have
been but little less than that of the piers in the nave.
This Norman clerestory was altered at the same time that
the roof of the nave was vaulted — viz. in 1242, in the time of
Henry Foliot. This work was done by the monks themselves,
who thought, as Professor Willis suggests, that they could do it
better than common workmen. Their work is made of a light
and porous kind of stone, treated with plaster on the under-side,
and it was rendered necessary by the previous roof, which was
of wood, having been destroyed by fire in 1190. Of this fire
the piers certainly show the traces to this day, all having be
come reddened and slightly calcined. To make the new
clerestory the whole of the original Norman work over the
arcade of the triforium was removed, with the exception of
the jambs of the side-lights (which extended beyond the arches
of the triforium) and the wall between them.
Mr Gambler Parry has also truly said that this work "was
not an artistic success. They cut and maimed the features of
the fine old Norman clerestory, and placed their thin weak
work too low, destroying all the original grandeur of effect.
. . . Here in this first pointed vaulting was a grievous and
irreparable injury, destroying all sense of proportion throughout
the building."
The vaulting shafts and the abaci are of Purbeck marble,
and the capitals are of stone, as are also the corbels, bases.

5', B. Solas 6» Co., Photo.] THE NAVE AND NORTH AISLE,
C

THE INTERIOR 35
mouldings, and bosses. All the stonework was formerly
painted. Mr Waller, who carried out the repairs to the nave,
had excellent opportunities of seeing what was left of the
painting underneath the many coats of whitewash ; he wrote in
1856 : "The painting may be thus generally described. The
hollow of the abacus of the capitals was red, the lower member
of the same green ; the whole of the bell red, the leaves
alternately green and yellow, with the stalks, running down, of
the same colours, into the red bell of the capital. The vertical
mouldings between the marble shafts were red and blue
alternately ; the lower shafts green and blue, with red in the
hollows, and the foliage on these also is green and yellow.
Some of the horizontal mouldings are partly coloured also.
The bosses in the groining are yellow and green, as in the
capitals. All the colouring, which was very rich, was effected
with water colours ; in one instance only has any gold been
discerned, and that was upon one of the bosses in the roof"
The fourteen piers are 30 feet 7 inches in height, or about
twice the height of those at Norwich.*
The Norman piers have round or cushioned capitals. Their
arches have zig-zag work in the outer moulding, and a double
cable in the soffit. A cable moulding runs along just above the
arches. The grotesque heads on the arches in the nave are
said to represent the various mummeries of the Anglo-Saxon
gleemen. A frieze of such may be seen at Kilpeck Church,
in Herefordshire. It will be noticed how the cable moulding
above the arches passes round some of the western vaulting
shafts, and is cut away for those at the eastmost end of the
nave. Martin in his " Natural History of England " says : " The
only blemish on the church is the enormous size of the pillars
in the body of it, which are much too large in proportion to
their height, and would have been reduced to a proper size,
chiefly at the cost of the late Bishop (Benson), had it not been
thought that it would have weakened them too much.
Bishop Benson's architect (Mr Kent), proposed to " flute "
the columns, but, finding that the pillars consisted of a stone
casing filled with rubble, he changed his plans.
* They have practically been shortened 10 inches by their plinths being
concealed by the pavement put down in 1740. Their circumference is
21 feet 7 inches, and the distance frora pier to'pier about 12 feet 6 inches.

36 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
The West End of the nave, as also the corresponding portions
of the two aisles, was pulled down and reconstructed by Abbot
Morewent (1421-1437) in the style known as Perpendicular.
It is uncertain whether Morwent's work was built on the same
foundation line as the previously existing Norman work. Some
have thought that he lengthened the original nave to the extent
of one bay. Mr Hope considers that he curtailed it somewhat,
and that the present Deanery building was similarly shortened.
Anyone who will take the trouble to space out with a compass
the distance between the centres of the piers in the nave on
the plan will be inclined to fall in with this suggestion.
Abbot Morwent, according to Leland, intended, " if he had
lived, to have made the whole body of the church of like
worke." It is a matter for rejoicing that he was not spared to
carry out his intentions. His work, though it has been cen
sured, is, as Mr Waller points out, exceedingly good of its
kind. Morwent may have found the west end in danger of
falling, just as the towers that flanked the Norman west front
had collapsed in the twelfth century.
How Morwent would have made the whole body of the
church "of like worke" is another matter for speculation.
Would he have kept the Norman piers in their present posi
tion, and revaulted the roof after the model of his vaulting in
the second bay from the west end, or would he have diminished
the number of piers so as to give a distance between them
equal to the space between the west wall and the first pier he
erected? It is difficult to realise how such a herculean task
would have been carried out with safety to the fabric.
As to the work demolished by Morwent to make room for
his own, it is only possible to hazard the conjecture that the
original west front of Gloucester was something like that of the
abbey at Tewkesbury, but with the additional finish of two
larger western towers. As the two churches were being built
almost at the same time, this conjecture seems reasonable.
The South Aisle of the nave was originally of Norman work,
similar in style to that of the north aisle ; but was remodelled
and rebuilt to such an extent by Abbot Thokey, in or about
the year 13 18, that the piers and portions of the south wall are
all that remain of the Norman work. He desired probably to
preserve the Norman vaulting (similar to that yet existing in the
north aisle of the nave), and as the south wall had inclined out-

5', B. Solas &= Co., Photo.

SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE,

THE INTERIOR 39
wards, and the whole fabric of the aisle was from this cause in
danger, he erected large buttresses to prevent further settle
ment ; but faihng in this design, he was compelled to take
down the Norman vaulting, and he then substituted vaulting of
the same style of architecture as the buttresses he had just
erected. Such great care could scarcely have been taken in
those days to preserve the Norman piers only ; the first object
must have been to retain, for economical reasons, as much as
could possibly be retained of the old aisle. It may be re
marked also that the Norman piers incline in some cases as
much as one foot towards the south, and the buttresses of
Abbot Thokey also incline in the same direction from three
to four inches in their whole height. The Abbot's buttresses,
therefore, must have gone out of the perpendicular after their
first erection, or else the present vaulting would show settle
ments, which it certainly does not.
The tracery of the windows is unusual in design, and is
similar to that in a window of the chapel at Merton College,
Oxford. Ball-flower mouldings adorn the aisle windows inside
and out between the south door and the steps leading up to
the south transept, and the same ornament is repeated in the
vaulting of three of the bays and in the triforium of the choir.*
Abbot Morwent's work at the west end of this aisle is similar
to that in the north aisle.
The Monuments in this aisle are not numerous, but are of
modern historic interest. Near the west end of the nave is a
statue by Silvier to Dr Jenner, who introduced the practice of
vaccination. Under the west window of this aisle is an
interesting wall-tablet in a canopy to John Jones, who was
registrar to eight bishops of the diocese. The background is
formed of files of documents, with their seals and dates exposed
to view. There is taste in the colouring, and the design is
effective. John Jones was M.P. for Gloucester at the exciting
time of the Gunpowder Plot. He is said to have had the
monument put up in his lifetime, and to have died soon after
it was completed.
After passing the south door, a marble sarcophagus, with a bust
upon it, will be noticed. This is to the memory of Sir G.
* Similar ornament in windows may be found at Leominster, Ledbury
Church, Minsterworth, Hartbury, St. Michael's (Gloucester), and in the
tower of Hereford Cathedral.

40 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Onesiphorus Paul, Baronet, (by Sievier). His name is well-
known in connection with prison reforms. Close by is a wall
tablet to the widow of Sir Wm. Strachan (1770). The carving,
which is very delicate and beautiful, is by Thomas Ricketts,
a Gloucester sculptor of considerable skill.
There is also a monument to Rev. Thomas Stock, who, with
Robert Raikes, was instrumental in opening Sunday schools.
The great West Window contains nine lights which were
glazed by Wailes of Newcastle, to the memory of Dr J. H.
Monk, Bishop of Gloucester from 1830 to 1856.
The Font is situated in the westernmost bay of the south
aisle, on the site of the old Consistory Court, formerly railed
off from the rest of the nave. The font being of red Aberdeen
granite clashes rather with the prevailing grey stone of the
building, is very heavy in appearance, and, in spite of the
workmanship spent upon it, quite uninteresting. The north
side contains a representation of the two prophets, Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, separated by the ark ; the west side has figures of
St. Matthew and Daniel ; the south side has figures of St.
Mark and St. Luke, and the baptism of Christ in the Jordan,
and the east contains the emblems of the Trinity and of
baptism. The Windows in this south aisle are the least interesting
in the cathedral, and would seem to have been made without
much consideration of the fact that they were to go where a
side light would come upon them.
The five-light west window of the aisle is in memory of Dr
Jenner and his friend Dr Baron. The subjects, appropriately
enough, refer to miracles of healing, or restoring to life.
The first south window is to John Elliott, a solicitor, and
the subjects are more or less legal. The glass is by
Hardman. The second window (three lights) is in memory of Miss Evans,
and was put up in 1861 by Bell of Bristol. The colouring
must be seen to be appreciated at its proper worth.
The third window is a memorial to Sir W. G. Davy, K.C.B.,
who died in 1856, and is buried in the cloister. The glass
is by Warrington.
The fourth window, to the memory of Sir W. Guise, Bart.,
is rather kaleidoscopic in effect, owing to its being mainly an
armorial window, and, secondarily, historical.

THE INTERIOR 41
The historical portion represents the Coronation of Henry
III. in Gloucester Cathedral in 12 16, by Gualo (the Papal
legate) and Peter de Rupibus, or des Roches, Bishop of
Winchester. In the left centre light is Hubert de Burgh,
Earl of Kent, and in the right is Joceline, Bishop of Bath.
The glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The fifth window is a memorial window to Mrs Evans.
In colour it resembles the third window, and is by the same
artist. The sixth window is a memorial to Mrs Ellis. It is
historical, but bristles with anachronisms.
The seventh window is a memorial (executed by Warrington)
to Jeremiah Nettleton Balme.
The eighth ivindow is in memory of Lieut.-Col. Sir Harry
Francis Colville Darell, who died in 1853.
North Aisle. — This aisle retains its original Norman
vaulting. The Norman piers, which correspond to the piers
in the nave, are divided into several members, and their
capitals are in some cases richly carved. In each bay the
jambs and heads are of old work, filled in with Perpendicular
tracing. A stone bench along the wall is also Perpendicular.
The door into the cloister at the west end of the aisle
contains some very fine work. The wall is panelled on either
side, and the panels are said to have formerly had paintings of
the twelve apostles. The side niches and the canopy work
over the door should be examined.
The door at the eastern end of the aisle by which access is
gained to the cloisters and the chapter-house is also of Perpen
dicular work. Both of these doors have fan-vaulted recesses,
like the great west door of the nave. They are so contrived
that the doors may open into them and occupy the minimum
of space.
Over the east door in the cloisters there were blazoned some
years back the arms of the See, the Bishop, the Dean, the
Canons, the Darell and Nightingall families.
The west end of the aisle is the work of Abbot Morwent,
and is of the same date as his reconstructed west end of the
nave — viz. 1421-1437.
The west window in this aisle was filled with glass by Hard-
man. It is a memorial to Wm. Viner Ellis of Minsterworth.
Subject ; Events in the life of King Lucius, who is said to

42 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
have been the first Christian king in this land, and to have
been buried in the Church of St. Mary de Lode.
The scrolls contain the monkish lines —
Es merito Celebris ex quo baptisma subisti.
Lucius in tenebris prius idola qui coluisti.
The four figures represent Robert, Duke of Normandy; Thomas
of Woodstock, 1397; Humphrey, 1447; William Frederick,
1534 ; all three of them Dukes of Gloucester.
The first window (or over the west door into cloisters), of
which only two lights are open, is a memorial window to
Thomas Churchus (1870). The window, which is by Clayton
& Bell, is very pleasing in colour.
The second window is to the memory of Mr Price, who died
in i860. The glass is by Ward & Hughes.
The third window contains some old glass in the upper half,
restored by Hardman. Much of the lower half is new.
The fourth window is a memorial window to Dr Hall,
Master of Pembroke College, Oxford; died in 1843. The
glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The fi^fth window, like the third, contains some old glass,
restored by Hardman.
The sixth window is in memory of Bp. Hooper, second
Bishop of this diocese, and the only bishop of the united sees
of Gloucester and Worcester. The glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The seventh window is to the memory of Thomas Turner.
The glass is by Clayton & Bell.
The eighth window is a memorial to members of the Darell
family, as explained in the inscription in the base.
In the windows of the clerestory are to be seen some frag
ments of old glass. The windows, which are of three lights,
contain portions of ornamental borders with quarry glazing, and
some medallions, stars in the foliations, and borders of crowns.
Mr Waller thinks it was "probable that all these windows were
originally filled with glass of this kind, which is similar in
general design to that in the upper tiers of the clerestory
windows in the choir.
The tracery of the windows in the clerestory is ascribed to
Abbot Morwent, who rebuilt the west front.
The Monuments in the north aisle are of no special
interest. That to Bishop Warburton at the west end contains

THE INTERIOR 43
an epitaph that is worth reading. Next to it is an ungainly
tomb, filling up an enormous wall space, with a depressing effect.
Farther eastwards is the tomb by Flaxman to the memory of
Mrs Morley, who died at sea in 1784.
The tomb to Alderman Machen, his wife, and family is
interesting (1615), and is one of the few tombs that has not
been removed from its original position.
The nave is lighted by rows of gas jets along the triforium
or gallery, extending over the arches of the nave. The effect
is good when the building requires to be lighted by artificial
light, but the fumes and smoke from the gas have sadly dis
coloured the small columns and the arches in the triforium,
and no doubt in time to come more serious mischief to the
stonework will be developed. The fumes of the gas will also
be fatal to the decorative pipes of the organ, and, with the
assistance of the fumes from the radiators, will ruin any memorial
brass that may be erected in the building.
Wires have been stretched across the nave to prevent the
excessive echo from marring the effect of the music, but many
curious echoes are to be heard. The mocking sounds that
follow upon the sounds of the voice of a preacher, especially
when the attendance is small, are very weird. They may be
heard best from the last few rows of seats near the west end.
There are still to be found enthusiasts who would like to
remove the screens from our cathedrals on the ground that
they interfere with the utility and the beauty of the nave and
the choir. But these well-meaning people quite overlook the
fact that the beauty of the interior would be entirely marred by
such a change. Firstly, the organ would have to be chopped
into two and stowed away in the triforium, unless these
enthusiasts would prefer to revert to an organ-gallery block
ing up one of the transepts. Secondly, the stalls would have
to be mutilated and rearranged. Certainly, the cathedral
would resemble a parish church in some respects, but at a
tremendous cost. There would be a vista, too, but the effect
of the lofty choir would be lost entirely without the presence
of the screen and the organ, and the nave would look more
dwarfed in height. There is one more point, too, always forgotten
by these enthusiasts — viz. this, that the building was not
designed by Henry VIII. at the Dissolution as a parish church.
He laid down quite clear and simple rules for the regulation of

44

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

the cathedral foundation, and he intended the choir to serve,
as it had served for the monks before, as the private chapel of
those on his new foundation.
The Choir Screen was erected in 1820 by Dr Griffiths,
to whose memory a tablet has been inserted in the north
west tower pier. Though this screen has its defects, it
superseded one by Kent, erected in Bishop Benson's time

2 ^.b"*- SILI1».0«,V:_
R . CHAPE.1-3

Diawn by F. S, Waller, F.R.I, B,A., from Brown Willis' Survey of
Gloucester Cathedral (1727),
(1741), of which Bonner, who seems to have appreciated the
stucco front applied by the same good bishop to the reredos
in the Lady Chapel, says in his " Itinerary " (1796) that it com
bined the characteristics of the various orders of architecture
without any of their good points.
To give an idea of the original screen arrangement, Mr
Hope's description is here quoted : —
" The quire proper is under the Tower, a not unusual Benedictine
arrangement. The original screens at the west end have unfortunately been
destroyed, but from plans made by Browne Willis {vide supra, where Mr
Waller's drawing of Browne Willis' plan, made in 1727, is given) and
Carter, while some remains of them existed, the arrangement can be

THE INTERIOR 45
approximately recovered. I have advisedly used the plural word 'screens'
because they were two in number. The first consisted of two stone walls
— the one at the west end of the quire, against which the stalls were
returned ; the other west of it between the first pair of pillars. There was
a central door, which was called the quire door. The western wall was
broader than the other, and had in the thickness of its southern half an
ascending stair to a loft or gallery above, which extended over the whole
area between the two walls. This loft was called in Latin One piilpittun,
and it must not, as it often has been, be confounded with the pulpit to
preach from. It sometimes contained an altar, as apparently here at
Gloucester, and on it stood a pair of organs. From it also on the principal
feasts the Epistle was read and the Gospel solemnly sung at a great eagle
desk. On either side of 'Cait pulpitum door was probably an altar.
" The double screen I have just described was built by Abbot Wigmore,
who is recorded to have been buried in 1337, ' before the Salutation of the
Blessed Mary in the entry of the quire on the south side,' which he himself
constructed with the pulpitum on the same place ut nunc cernitur says the
'Chronicle,' and parts of it are worked up in the present screen. The north
side of the quire entry, or perhaps the north quire door, was ornamented
with images with tabernacles by Abbot Horton.
" The second screen, all traces of which have long disappeared,
stood between the second pair of piers — i.e. a bay west of the
pulpitum. It was a lofty stone wall, against which stood the
altar of the holy cross, or rood-altar, as it was more com
monly called, and upon it was a gallery called the rood-loft,
from its containing the great rood and its attendant images.
The rood usually stood on the parapet or front rail of the loft,
but sometimes on a rood-beam crossing the church at some
height above the loft. Such an arrangement seems to have
existed at Gloucester, for in the sixth course from the top a
new stone has been inserted in both pillars exactly on the line
where the ends of the rood beam would be fitted into, or rested
on corbels, in the pillars."
On either side of the rood altar the screen was pierced by a
doorway for processions, and the altar itself was protected by a
fence-screen a little farther west.
After showing how the counterpart of these arrangements
existed at Durham (vide Arch, four n. liv. pp. 77-119), and de
scribing the Durham nave altar and rood, Mr Hope points out
that at Gloucester, as at Durham, "the eastern of the two
doorways between the nave and the cloister was shut off by the
screen and reredos of a chapel adjoining it on the west. The
monks could therefore freely pass through the cloister door
without being interrupted by strangers. This eastern door was

46 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
not only the ordinary entrance from the cloister, but through it
passed the Sunday and other processions that included the
circuit of the cloister and buildings opening out of it. The
procession always returned into the church by the western
cloister door, and, after making a station before the great
rood, passed through the rood doors in single files, and
entered the quire through the pulpitum or quire door."
In the chapel, on the north side (which was perhaps dedi
cated to St. Thomas the Martyr), was formerly, as shown in
the plan by Brown Wilhs, the Blackleech monument, now in
the south transept.
When the Benson screen was put up three Abbots were
found interred in their robes, and another coffin with two
skulls in it. This fact gave a possible clue to the identity of
one of the Abbots. One probably was Abbot Gamage, and
the two skulls probably belonged to his brother. Sir Nicholas
Gamage, and his wife, who were buried near the Abbot.
The present Organ was built originally during 1 663-1 665 by
Thomas Harris, the father of the celebrated Renatus or Ren^
Harris, and the cost was defrayed by public subscription, to
which, however, the inhabitants of Gloucester contributed but
little. The contract was for the sum of ;^4oo, exclusive of
the sum for the building of the organ-loft, and the decoration
of the pipes and the case. The gilding and painting was
entrusted to Mr Campion in November 1664, and the work
was finished in December 1666. This artist was celebrated
as a painter of heraldic subjects, and the work done by
him, chiefly on the large pipes of the Great, is particularly
beautiful. The shield, which has been removed from the west front of
the case, was undoubtedly that of Charles II. , and two of the
large pipes facing the nave bear the letters C.R., with a crown
over them. Other arms represented are those of James, Duke
of York (king in 1685), and his first wife, Anne Hyde.
The organ was repaired by Bernhard Schmidt before 1683,
It was formerly in the gallery of the south transept, over the
stalls, but was placed on its present screen in 1820 by Dr
Griffiths. It was improved by Willis in 1847, and again in 1888-89,
and further additions are contemplated. The case is of oak,
and is a fine piece of Renaissance work. A good view of it

THE INTERIOR

47

can be obtained from the triforium, looking across from south
east to north-west.
The following is a specification (kindly sent by Mr A. H.
Brewer, the organist of the cathedral), from which it will be
seen that the instrument is worthy of the cathedral : —

GREAT ORGAN.

CC to A, 58 Notes,

I.
Double Open Diapason
16 ft.
2.
Open Diapason, No. i
8 ft.
3-
Open Diapason, No, ^ ^
8 ft.
4-
Claribel Flute
8 ft.
5-
Flute Harmonique .
4 ft.
6.
Principal
4 ft.
7-
Twelfth .
3 ft.
8.
Fifteenth
2 ft.
9-
Mixture .
lo.
Trombone
16 ft.
II.
Trumpet
8 ft.
12.
Clarion .
4 ft.
SWELL ORGAN, t
CC to A, 58 Notes.
13-
Double Open Diapason
, 16 ft
14.
Open Diapason *
. 8 It
15-
Vox Angelica .
, 8 ft
16.
Salcional
, 8 ft
17-
Lieblich Gedact
8 ft
18.
Gemshorn
4 ft
19-
Fifteenth
2 ft
20.
Mixture .
21.
Contra Posaune t
" 16 ft.
22.
Hautboy
8 ft,
23-
Clarionet
. 8 ft.
24.
Cornopean
8 ft.
25-
Clarion
4 ft.
26.27.28.29.3°-
CHOIR ORGAN.
CC to A, 58 Notes.
Stopped Diapason . . 8 ft.
Dulciana , . 8 ft.
Flute . . . . 4 ft.
Clarionet . . 8 ft.
Cor Anglais t . 8 ft.
SOLO ORGAN, §
CC to A, 58 Notes.
Flute . , 8 ft.
Clarionet , . 8 ft.
Oboe Orchestral 8 ft.
Tuba Mirabilis . 8 ft.
PEDAL ORGAN. H
CCC to F, 30 Notes.
Open Diapason 16 ft.
Bourdon
Ophicleide J
Octave :
COUPLERS,
Choir to Pedals.
Great to Pedals.
Swell to Pedals.
Solo to Pedals. J
Choir to Great,
Swell to Great.
Solo to Great,t
. 16 ft.
, 16 ft.
8 ft.
* Stops so marked are by Harris, 1660, _
t The swell organ was added by Willis in 1847.
I Stops so marked were added in 1898,
g The whole of the solo organ was added by Willis in 1898,
H Up to within the last fifteen years there was but one stop on the pedal organ.
The Choir, of the beauty of which but little idea can be
obtained from the nave, is entered by visitors, as a rule, from
the north aisle of the choir. Its dimensions are — Length, 140
feet ; breadth, 33 feet 7 inches ; height, 86 feet ; east window,
38 feet wide and 72 feet in height.
48 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
It dates back to the years 1337-1377 — that is, the abbacies
of Adam de Staunton and Thomas Horton, in whose time so
much was done to alter the character of the building.
Looking upwards the visitor will note the beauty of the
vaulting and the bosses placed at the intersection of the ribs.
These bosses at the east end of the choir chiefly represent a
choir of angels playing on various kinds of musical instruments,
and a figure of Our Lord in the attitude of blessing. All the
roof was originally probably painted and decorated, but the
existing colour and gilding is recent work, having been done
by Clayton & Bell. At first sight the groining of the roof
looks most complicated, but, if analysed and dotted down on
paper, it will be seen to be in reality a simple geometrical
pattern. The bosses will repay careful examination with a
glass. Viewed from the door in the screen, the choir looks in very
truth a piece of Perpendicular work, as the Norman substruc
ture is then for the most part concealed. A closer examination,
however, will prove that the Norman work is all there — that it
has been veiled over with tracery from the floor level to the
vaulting with open screen-work, fixed on to the Norman
masonry, which was pared down to receive it. {l^ide page 52.)
Professor Willis points out that "in all cathedrals ... a
screen, about the height of the present altar-screen, separated
the choir from the side-aisles and transepts ; but in this cathe
dral the screen is carried to the roof, and the result is a beauti
ful, if not unique choir. This screen of tracery, which formed
the sides, was, below the clerestory, merely plastered on to
the Norman wall ; or the original Norman columns had been
chipped down till they harmonised with the general design."
. Professor Freeman, in writing of this casing work, said,
" Paid for by the offerings at Edward II. shrine, ... to that
abnormal worship the abbey of Gloucester owed its present
form. I am half inclined to put it the other way, and to make
it a new count in the articles of deposition against the unworthy
king that this misguided devotion has cost us the minster of
Serlo in its perfect form, and hinders us from studying the con
trast which we should otherwise have been able to mark between
its eastern and its western limb."
We, however, have nothing to do with the question of the
merits or demerits of Edward II. The beauty of the casing

Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]

CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.

THE INTERIOR

SI

work compels our admiration. If we want to get an idea of
what the choir would have been without the Perpendicular
casing we must go to Norwich, and inspect the uncased work
in the choir that is there, or else to Tewkesbury.*
There is nothing left to prove the original height of the
choir, though much of the old stonework has been re-used
in the clerestory windows, a practice, as before stated, common
throughout the cathedral, the Norman piers and arch-mould
ings having in many cases been turned into four-centred

Plu) of Feretory (High AlUr) 03 1b1<J baro when the new Reredos was erected in 1873 The
site of the old Nomian Piers could be seen as distinctly as In this sketch.

[From a Drawing by F. S, Waller, F,R,I.B.A,

arches, and Norman capitals into bases. The casing of the
old Norman work with the new by Staunton and Horton is
very ingeniously managed, and attention should be given to a
feature resulting from the treatment of the ribs of the vaulting,
which are very cleverly provided for in the centre of the tower
arches. The ribs are apparently supported by a light arch
thrown across the lower arches. Something of this sort was
* The abbey at Tewkesbury is a building which every visitor to Glou
cester ought to make a point of seeing and studying. It was built on a
similar plan, at the same time, and probably by some of the same builders
who built Gloucester.

52

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

necessary, as the only alternative would have been to alter the
springing of the vaulting-ribs. These light arches are very
graceful and are best seen from the transepts or else from the

[From a Drawing by F. S. W^aller, F.R.LB.A,

triforium of the choir. Another feature worth noticing in the
tower arches is the way that the two Norman columns are run
into one capital at about the level of the arch.
Turning eastwards we next are struck by the loveliness of the
East Window of the choir. It has a curious architectural
effect, for it is actually 5 feet wider than the walls which seem
to be its two boundaries. The architect took down the Norman
east end, raised the roof, and has given us a window with
lace-like tracery. Though it has suffered much mutilation,
it has suffered but little from eager restorers, and it is possible
to get some idea of its original splendour. It is larger than the
East Window at York Minster, being 72 by 38 feet; York

Photochrom Co. Ltd.., Photo.]

THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.

THE INTERIOR 55
being but 78 by 33. Both are beautiful, and one wishes that
windows of such beauty could be got now at the original
price paid — £i3,S — a large sum for those days, but a sum
which, making allowance for the changed value of money,
would represent about ^^2000 of our money.
In 1862 the stonework of the window was in - a very unsafe
condition, and about ^^1400 was spent on restoring it. At
the same time, acting on Mr Winston's advice, the Dean
and Chapter had the glass thoroughly cleaned and releaded.
Owing to Mr Winston's supervision the glass was not
restored. The window, which corresponds admirably with the casing
of the choir and the clerestory windows, consists of fourteen
lights altogether, six forming the centre, with four on either
side. " It is worthy of remark that the tracery, heads, and
cusps, as seen from the inside of this window, are not repeated
on the outside, a plain transom only crossing the lights. This
peculiarity is repeated also in the great west window, and in
many other windows in the cathedral." (F. S. W.)
The window represents the coronation of the Virgin Mary,
together with Christ, the Apostles, and various saints and kings.
All the canopies, and nearly all the figures are composed of
white glass enriched with yellow.
Mr Winston's description of the window will be found in
the Archceologieal foiirnal, vol. xx.
The heraldic shields give a clue to the date of the
window, and Mr Winston thinks that it may have been
erected by Thomas, Lord Bradeston, to the memory of Sir
Maurice Berkeley, who was killed at the siege of Calais, and to
commemorate the glories of the campaign in France, which
culminated with the Battle of Cregy. The date, therefore, of
the original glass would be between 1347 and 1350.
Mr Winston further says that " It would be impossible to
meet with white glass that could be more solid and silvery in
effect. The red is beautifully varied, and is most luminous,
even in its deepest parts, and the tone of the blue can hardly
be surpassed." Of the general design, he says that although,
" through the size and simplicity of its parts, it is calculated to
produce a good effect at a distance ; the figures are ill-drawn,
ungraceful, and insipid. The shading, though sufficient, both
in depth and quantity, if handled with skill, to have produced

S6 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
a due effect of relief — an effect which obviously has been
aimed at — is so inartificially employed as to be useful only so
far as it serves to impart tone and richness to the composition,
and by contrast to increase its brilliancy."
The effect of the choir as a whole, when glazed with its
original painted glass, must have been superb. We may be
certain that the glass was the best that could be obtained, for
the abbey was wealthy, and glass-painting was then a living
art. Glass was made at Gloucester, as is shown by the
glaziers being numbered among the trade companies and
guilds of Gloucester, but there is nothing definite to be said
as to the place of origin of the old glass in the cathedral.
Below is the Reredos, designed by Sir G. G. Scott, pre
sented by the Treasurer of the Province. It consists of three
principal compartments, in which are groups of figures
(sculptured by Redfern) intended to represent the Birth, Burial,
and Ascension of Christ. The smaller figures in the niches are
Moses and David and St. Peter and St. Paul. Above are nine
angels, bearing the various emblems of our Lord's Passion.
This reredos was unveiled with much pomp and ceremony in
1873, and recently has been profusely gilded.
The commonplace and heavy-topped gas standards mar the
effect, such as it is, of the ornate work of the reredos.
Of Abbot Horton's reredos, which was destroyed at the
Reformation, only fragments remain. They have been very
carefully preserved in the triforium, where an enclosure has
been made by placing an old oak screen across one of the
Chapels. In this museum most valuable remains have been
stored, under Mr Waller's keeping, for many years.
Dean Chetwood, in 17 10, erected a wooden reredos con
taining much good carving. Portions of this remain in the
south-east chapel in the triforium of the choir, having been
brought back from the parish church at Cheltenham, whither
they had been removed in 1807.
Sir Robert Smirke in 1807 put up work which consisted
chiefly of panelling, which was affixed to the easternmost wall
of the feretory. This was removed in 1873.
When the present reredos was erected " the foundations of
Abbot Horton's reredos were discovered, and an accurate plan
was taken of the remains (vide illustration, p. 51). Provision
had evidently been made by him for keeping relics or treasures

THE INTERIOR 57
here, and, in his time, the back screen, as we now see it, and
the reredos, were united together at the top, and covered with

THE CHOIR IN 1806, FROM A DRAWING BY WILD.
heavy stone slabs, so as to make a perfectly secure feretory.
Great care was taken during the progress of the present new

58 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
work to preserve these remains, which can be still seen exactly
as they were when first discovered. The foundations of the
Norman piers removed by Horton were at the same time
temporarily exposed to view." (F. S. W.)
The original " High Altar occupied the same site as the
present one, and had behind its reredos a narrow space con
taining cupboards for the principal jewels, and, beneath the
altar, two large recesses for the keeping of relics." (W. H.
St. J. Hope,)
The Stalls (sixty in number), with all their graceful carving,
and the misereres, with their grotesque ornamentation under
neath, have in part had to be restored, while the sub-stalls are
new, dating from Sir Gilbert Scott's restoration, which was
finished in 1873.
An engraving (reproduced from Wild) will show what the
choir was like formerly. The woodwork here shown has been
utilised in making stalls and seats in the east end of the nave
for the services that are held there on Sundays during a portion
of the year.
In the Presbytery, or space between the reredos and the
choir, there are some very splendid old tiles ; many of them
fragments only, but enough to indicate the original beauty of
the pavement. From the evidence of the tiles themselves,
they were laid down by Thomas Seabroke, R. Brygg (Brydges),
J. Applebi, W. Farlei, Job. Graft(on ?). Others dating back
to the thirteenth century are also to be found — e.g. those to
Richard the King of the Romans, who died in 1271.
Many tiles were transferred here from other parts of the
cathedral early in the century by Mr Lysons, and this accounts
for the presence of tiles of William Malvern, the last Abbot,
and some others. The arms of the Brydges family : Arg.
on a cross sable, a leopard^ s face, or, differenced by a fir-cone
gules, should be noticed, as they seem clearly the same as
those on the armour of the unknown knight in the South
Transept. Beautiful tiles, bearing the arms of Edward the Confessor
and the Abbey, and many a crowned M. (for Maria) will be
found. These latter will be seen in plenty in Great Malvern
Priory, where they have been rescued from the pavement, and
inserted in the outside wall of the back of the reredos.
One more tile should be noticed near the sedilia. The

THE INTERIOR 59
words impressed in its surface are " Croys Crist me spe de +,"
followed by A ME or A MARfA.
These tiles had a narrow escape in the last century, about
the time when the nave was paved, when an offer was made to
pave the presbytery with marble.
As part of the restoration programme, the re-paving of the
choir was undertaken. New tiles, ostensibly copied from the
old ones, but of a different size, with an excessive glaze, and
very stiff in design and execution have been put down. It is
hard to judge what the effect of the tiles would have been, as it
has been quite killed by the white marble which has been
mixed with them. The glaring white marble in the floor of the
presbytery has been inlaid with biblical scenes outlined in lead.
It is possible from the triforium to get a general idea of the
crudeness and vulgarity of the pavement, which is so composed
and arranged that time — the softener of all things — can never
make it look appreciably better.
On the south side of the high altar are four Sedilia.
These have been very much restored, and the niches and
canopies filled with figures, by Redfern, representing Abbot
Edric, Bishop Wulstan, also Abbots Aldred, Serlo, Foliot,
Thokey, Wygmore, Horton, Froucester, Morwent, Seabroke,
and Hanley. The general effect is good, but marred by the
hideous gas standards.
Over the canopies are three angels playing on a tambour
and trumpets. The rod and entwined ribbon with T. O. are
supposed to refer to Thomas Osborne, Sheriff of Gloucester
1512-1522, and Mayor in 1526.
Monuments in the Choir. — On the north side of the
presbytery, near the steps to the high altar, is a monument —
long supposed to be a cenotaph — to King Osric. The tomb was
opened to satisfy inquisitive desecrators some few years ago, and
it was conclusively proved that someone had been buried inside.
On the wall is the inscription : Osricus Rex (primus fundator)
hui {Monasterii 681). From Leland, to whom is due the part
of the inscription in brackets, we learn that " Osric, Founder
of Gloucester Abbey, first laye in St. Petronell's Chappell,
thence removed with our Lady Chappell, and thence removed
of late dayes, and layd under a fayre tombe of stone on the north
syde of the high aulter. At the foote of the tombe is thus
written in a wall " — iit supra.

6o GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
This " fayre tombe " was erected in " late dayes " i.e. in the
time of Abbot Parker, whose arms are in the spandrels of the
canopy, dated (15 14 to 1539), and Leland must have seen the
tomb in all the freshness of its beauty.
The Norman piers, which are cut away to receive the tomb,
are decorated as to their capitals with the device of Richard II.
i.e. the white hart chained and gorged, with a ducal coronet.
Formerly these devices were painted on the stone, but in 1737
they were blazoned on thin metal by the Heraldic College, and
put in position. From the occurrence of the device in this
place it was formerly held that the body of Edward II. was
drawn by stages from Berkeley Castle to the abbey.
The other coats-of-arms are those of the abbey (they are
blazoned as they should be now — azure, a sword in pale, hilted,
pommelled, and crowned, or, surmounted by two keys in saltire
of the last), and of Osric as King of Northumbria. Osric is
represented as crowned and sceptred (clad in tunic, laced
mantle, and a fur hood or collar) bearing the model of a church
in his left hand.
The next tomb westwards is, as Leland says, that of " King
Edward of Caernarvon (who) lyeth under a fayre tombe, in an
arch at the head of King Osric tombe."
The Tomb of Edward II. was erected by Edward III.,
and though it awakens our recollection of a feeble-minded
king, and his barbarously brutal murder, it also compels our
admiration at the beauty of the work. It has been restored,
renovated or re-edified, but in spite of that, appeals to us from
the wealth of very highly ornate tabernacle work, the richness,
and at the same time the lightness and elegance of the whole.
The details too are well worth careful examination. It may be,
judging from the expression of the face, that there has been
some attempt at portraiture, but repair and restoration have
practically made it impossible to settle what would otherwise
be an interesting question. The superb canopy has suffered
much at the hands of restorers — e.g. in 1737, 1789, 1798,
and in 1876.
The alabaster figure is possibly the earliest of its kind in
England. The tomb was opened in October 1855 by Dr Jeune, Canon
in residence, to satisfy the curious who doubted whether the
king had been buried under his tomb. Close by is the chantry

THE INTERIOR 6i
tomb of William Malverne (or Parker), Abbot of the Abbey

PLAN OF TRIFORIUM OF THE CHOIR.
[From a Drawing by F, S, Waller, F,R,I,B.A.

from 15 15 up to the time of the Dissolution,
in his lifetime, but he is buried elsewhere.

It was erected

62 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
On the stone screen the carving of the vine and the grapes will
be found worthy of notice. The alabaster figure has been
terribly defaced, but the chasuble and the mitre can be seen,
and the broken staff. Around the base of the tomb are panels.
Both sides are alike, containing the Abbot's own arms, and the
emblems of the Crucifixion. At the foot is a cross composed
of a tree with its branches growing into the shape of a cross.
There is a very good tile on the floor with the arms of the
Abbey, and some specimens of tiles, with a very fine greenish
glaze upon them. Some of the large 7|-in. tiles with the stag
— the Abbot's own arms — are particularly good.
On the south side of the choir the bracket tomb or monu
ment, so called from the effigy being placed on a corbel or
projecting bracket, should be noted. It is said by some to be
Aldred's, by others to be Serlo's monument. The date of the
monument is later than either in point of time. The mutilated
effigy bears a model of a church in his left hand, and this
points to its being the monument to a founder. It is more
than probable that it is to the memory of Abbot Henry Foliot,
in whose time (1228-1243) the church was re-dedicated.
The monument, which is Perpendicular and Early English,
has been much battered, but it is exceedingly graceful and of
an unusual type.
Leland, who visited the Abbey in 1539 or 1540, wrote as
follows : — " Serlo, Abbot of Gloucester, lyeth under a fayre
marble tombe, on the south side of the Presbytery."
Glass in the Choir. — Mention has been made above of
the east window, and it remains to notice the others.
In the clerestory on the north side the windows have
been restored by Clayton & Bell. They are best seen from
the triforium, but are given here as being part of the choir.
Following the example of the lights in the east window, these
clerestory windows have alternately red and blue backgrounds.
Portions of old glass remain in the heads of the windows.
Beginning with the windows west to east the first con
tains : (1) St. Zacharias. (2) St. Elizabeth. (3) St. John Baptist.
(4) St. Gabriel.
The second contains :
(:) St. Anna. (2) St. Mary. {3) St. Joseph. {4) St. Gabriel.

THE INTERIOR 63
The third contains :
(I) St. Peter. (2) St. John. (3) St. James (Major). (This light
is out of its place. ) (4) St. Andrew.
The fourth contains :
(i) St. Philip. (2) St. Bartholomew. (3) St. Simon, (4) St. Jude.
The clerestory windows on the south side are filled with
stamped quarries with central medallions and coloured borders,
made after the model of remains of ancient painted glass.
The choir also contains a peculiarity in its six-light west
window. This was rendered necessary by the difference in
height of the nave as compared with that of the choir. The
choir vaulting is about twenty feet higher than that of the nave.
The glass at present in the window consists chiefly of patch
work, arranged by Hardman from pieces collected and saved
at different times from other windows in the cathedral. It
represents a figure of our Lord, with angels on either side.
Below are angels playing on musical instruments.
It is customary to credit the Reformation or the Civil War
with most church desecration and destruction, but this window
was ruthlessly destroyed by an order of the Chapter in 1679,
nearly thirty years after the Civil War was ended, and nearly
140 years after the dissolution of the monastery. The order
ran as follows : " That a certain scandalous picture of y'
Holy Trinity being in y° west window of y" Quire of y° said
church, should be removed, and other glass put into y° place."
The glass of the window was actually broken up by one of the
prebendaries (Fowler by name) with his own hands and feet.
His action, considering his views, was incomprehensible ; but
he was made Bishop of the diocese, after Bishop Frampton was
deprived of his see. Beneath the west window is an inscrip
tion (restored) in the panelling of the stone work :
Hoc quod I digestum | specularis | opusque | politum | Tullii haec
Ex onere | Seabroke | abbate | jubente.
These two Latin verses record that " this work (viz. the
tower) which you see built and adorned, was done by the
labour of Tully, at the command of Abbot Seabroke."
Robert Tully was a monk of Gloucester, and was Bishop of
St. David's, where he died in 1482. There is a brassless slab
to his memory there, but the best monument is the tower that
was built by him here in Gloucester.

64 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
After passing through the iron gate into the last bay of the
south aisle, the tomb of Abbot Seabrook or Seabroke will be
seen on the left, inside a stone screen, through which formerly
was a doorway giving access to the organ loft. The alabaster
effigy represents the Abbot in his alb, stole, tunic, dalmatic,
chasuble, amice, and mitre, with his pastoral staff on his right
side. The chapel has been partially restored. Traces of
colour are to be seen in the reredos and the roof over it.
Abbot Seabroke's pastoral staff was discovered in 1741 in
his coffin while the tomb was being removed. After changing
hands many times it was acquired finally by the Antiquarian
Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In the west end of the Seabroke Chapel, against the first
pier of the nave, is a mural monument, rather florid in style, to
Francis Baber, 1669.
Close to the Seabroke Chapel, on one of the piers support
ing the tower, is a bracket with traces of very beautiful blue
colour. The canopy above — much mutilated — shows traces of
red, blue, and gold.
Almost opposite to this, but nearer to the iron gate, is a
recessed tomb to a knight in mixed armour of mail and plate,
and by his side his lady, with kirtle, mantle, and flowing hair.
Both wear SS collars, and this helps to give the age of the
monument, by narrowing the date down to a year not earlier
than 1399. The SS collars also tend to disprove that the
monument is to Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and
his countess, seeing that he died in 1361. On the knight's
belt is a badge, very much worn down, which has been attri
buted to the Brydges family. Mr Lysons thought it to be the
tomb of Sir John Brydges who fought at Agincourt, and died
in 1437, but the mail tippet is not found later than 1418.
The tomb may commemorate Sir Thomas Brydges, who died
in 1407, and this would agree better with the date given
above. The transepts and ambulatory of the choir are entered, as a
rule, by the iron gateway in the south aisle of the nave.

THE INTERIOR 65
South Transept. — This transept, like that on the north,
underwent a complete transformation in the fourteenth cen
tury, under Abbot Wygmore (1329-1337). In spite of the
transformation, the Norman design can easily be traced both in
the inside and the outside of the transept. The walls have
been ornamented with open panelled work, consisting of mul-
lions and transoms, with very rich tracery and foiled headings.
The method of the casing is best seen from the triforium,
where the original Norman masonry can be closely inspected.
The panel work, in spite of its date, has the appearance of
being considerably later, and some have thought the work to
have been executed after Wygmore's time.
Professor Willis thinks that the Perpendicular style, which
elsewhere — e.g. in the north transept and the choir — is com
pletely developed, may have had its origin in this south
transept. In any case, the work is of the greatest architectural
interest, and deserves careful study. "Looking at the very
early character of the clustered shafts and the mouldings of
this transept in conjunction with the vertical lines with which
they are associated, one might think (excepting Thokey's south
aisle, the Edward II. monument, and some few examples in
the triforium of the choir) that Decorated work had never
fairly taken root in Gloucester." (F. S. W.)
The south transept, which was also called St. Andrew's Aisle,
is 47 feet long, 35 feet broad, and 86 feet in height. The vault
ing is Heme vaulting, with short ribs, which connect the main
ribs together. There are no bosses in the roof. With an opera-
glass it is possible to note the clever joining of the masonry.
On the north side of the south transept, between the tower
piers, is an interesting chapel, with a wooden screen — date
about 1 5 10. The panelling inside, as also that on the back
of the choir-stalls here exposed to view, is covered with mono
grams of S and B alternately, all surmounted with crowns.
The chapel is said to have been dedicated by John Browne
(or Newton), who was Abbot from 15 10-15 14, to his patron
saint, St. John the Baptist, the initials being the same.
On the step in this chapel is a slab with a mutilated cross
incised in it and remains of an inscription upon a scroll. It is
now almost illegible and crumbling fast away, but it was
" Kyrie eleison anime
Fratris Johis Lyon."

66 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
This Johannis Lyon was the monk who made the reredos in
this chapel. There are traces of two reredoses here, both of
which show traces of colour. Older stonework has been used
to make the newer reredos, and has been merely reversed.
The tiles here are of interest, and there are also some
outside, both at the east and at the west end of the chapel
screen, well worthy of attention. They are chiefly odd tiles,
similar to those in the choir, with the name of Farley, others
with oak leaves, others with fleur-de-lys, others with lions
rampant. At the west end of the chapel outside is a highly lacquered
brass of the usual type, in memory of Judge Sumner, 1885.
Just before turning into the south transept a stone on the
floor will be seen, close to the angle of the wall made by the
transept and the south aisle, with the inscription : " Here lyeth
under this marbell ston Robart Leigh, organist and Maister of
the Choristers of this Cathedral Church. He dyed the 6th of
January 1589 " (?). No record of him survives.
On the south wall are two doorways. One, which is blocked
up, is in the south-east corner, and is surmounted by a double-
bodied monster, resembling an ape. The other doorway is
usually pointed out to visitors as the " Pilgrim's door."
Whether this door was that in general use for pilgrims or not
is an open question. It was for a long time blocked up and
has onl) a makeshift door in it at the present time. Carter,
writing in 1807, says : "The arch of the opening, in its head,
has four turns concentred by a flower. Above the head is
an ogee architrave rising from small columns, which columns
bend forward on each hand, forming open arms or fences on
each side of the steps to the doorway. On these arms recline
statues (angels) acting as guardians to the doorway. Their
attitudes are well conceived and pleasingly varied." The sculp
ture is extremely graceful and pleasing, the expression of the
faces particularly charming. The drapery, too, is arranged in
a masterly manner.
The door was thought by some to have been used to admit
pilgrims to the shrine of Edward II. , but others, arguing from
the angels upon it, have taken it to be the door by which
penitents could retire after making their confession. Perhaps
the most reasonable explanation is that it was a door communi
cating with a vestry or checker for the sacrist, but there are

THE INTERIOR 67
no traces underground outside the south wall of any stone
foundation for such building.
On the east side of the transept will be noted the restored
Chapel of St. Andrew. The paintings on the wall were
executed in 1866-67 in spirit fresco by Mr Gambler Parry
for Thomas Marling, Esq., in memory of his wife, who died in
1863. The reredos contains a central figure of the Saviour between
St. Andrew and St. Peter, with eight figures of smaller size —
viz. Job, Solomon, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Daniel. The remainder of the figures are intended to repre
sent a choir of angels.
The tiles in the chapel are very bright and gaudy, contrasting
unfavourably with the older tiles elsewhere in the building.
The arrangement of the tiles on the risers of the steps is very
monotonous and unpleasing. Plain stone steps would have
been far less obtrusive.
At one time a charge of sixpence was made for the privilege
of inspecting the interior of this chapel, but nowadays it
is kept closed. For many years it was used as a vestry for
the lay clerks. The windows contain glass (by Hardman)
dealing with events in the life of St. Andrew,
In the east window, over St. Andrew's Chapel in the south
transept, is to be seen some of the best glass now to be found
in the cathedral, dating back to about 1330. It consists in
the head of a white scroll-work of vine leaves, etc., on a fine
ruby-coloured ground, and below plain quarries with very
simple borders. These have been releaded by Hardman.
On either side of the chapel there are tabernacles. That on
the south side contains some very fine carving, and with one
boss quite complete. The colour, judging from the traces
remaining, must have been very charming.
Ki^On the north side of the chapel is the 'Prentice's Bracket.
In shape it resembles a mason's square supporting an apprentice.
Underneath it, as a supporter, is the master mason. The work
was probably intended to carry an image with a pair of lights,
and also to serve as a memorial of the workmen.
The Elizabethan monument erected in memory of Richard
Pates, Esq,, founder of the Grammar School at Cheltenham,
is a poor example of its date, 1588. The next monument was
originally in the north choir chapel of the nave (vide Brown

68 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Willis' plan, p. 44), and commemorates Alderman Blackleech,
in cavalier costume, and his wife. The date of the tomb is
1639. Other and later memorials are on the walls, but they
are of no special interest.
There is an interesting tablet to Canon Evan Evans, D.D.
(Master of Pembroke College, Oxford), who died in 1891.
The memorial consists of a bronze tablet, bordered by a frame
of marble inlaid with other marbles. The bronze at the top is
inlaid with shell of an iridescent colour. The general effect is
good, but silver hardly seems suited for inlaying in a building
lighted by gas. The tablet was designed by Mr H. Wilson.
The west window is Perpendicular, and is filled with glass in
memory of Mr T. G. Parry.
The south window in this transept has been filled with glass
(by Hardman), at the expense of Thomas Marling, Esq.
The slabs on the floor have been moved from the positions
they formerly occupied, and have suffered by the change.
A large slate-coloured stone, which used to be in front of the
Blackleech monument is now placed much nearer the entrance
to the crypt. It is broken in two and is covered up by matting.
Another stone slab has traces of a mill wheel. The inscrip
tion on it used to tell that " Here lyeth buried the body of John
Long, MiUard and Milwright, who departed this life the i6th
day of April 1596."
A blue-coloured slab, which originally had a fine brass inlaid
canopy has been converted to the use of a Minor Canon named
Deane — 1755.
The large buttress which passes through the St. Andrew
Chapel upwards through the triforium, to support the south-east
pier of the tower, used formerly to bear upon it a monument
to Bishop Benson, which is now in the south triforium.
The double doorway which gives access to the choir aisle,
and to the crypt, seems to be the type of several other
doofways of later date in the building, as, for ' instance, in
the north transept, and also in doorways in the Deanery and
cloisters. The Crypt* is one of five English eastern crypts, founded
before 1085, the others being those at Canterbury, Winchester,
Rochester, and Worcester, and extends underneath the whole
* The Crypt is described here because it is, as a rule, entered from the
eastern door in the south transept.

THE INTERIOR

69

of the choir, the ambulatories or aisles of the choir, and the five
chapels belonging thereto.
In passing downstairs to the crypt or under-church, an
inscription over the door of the chapel on the right refers to
the enormous quantity of bones which had accumulated in the
crypt, and thus obtained for it the name of " The Bone House."
These bones had been brought in from the south precincts

.y, S. Betas Sfi Co., Photo.] S.E. CHAPEL IN THE CRYPT,

outside, all of which had been formerly a burying-ground, and
in 1 85 1 were removed to the south-west chapel of the crypt,
and later buried in a large grave on the north side of the
cathedral. The crypt consists of an apse, three small apsidal chapels
— i.e. a N.E., an E., and a S.E. chapel, and also two chapels
underneath the eastern chapels of the north and south
transepts.

70 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
"The outer walls of the crypt are about lo feet thick, and
the aisle floor is on an average 8 feet below the level of the
soil on the outside of the building. The centre part is divided
by two rows of small columns, irregularly placed, from which
spring arches carrying the floor of the choir above ; the bases
and capitals of these small capitals are much out of level from
west to east, and from north to south, and in design they vary
greatly as to their capitals, abaci, and bases. All of these are
strikingly different to the half columns with cushion capitals
attached to the outer walls, on which rest the ribs they
mutually carry. So different, indeed, are they as to make it
questionable if by far the larger portion of these columns does
not belong to our earlier church."
" Great alterations have from time to time been made in the
crypt. The large semi-circular columns against the walls,
though of great antiquity, are not parts of the original structure,
but are casings built round, and enclosing the former smaller
piers, and the ribs springing from their capitals are built under,
with a view to support the vaulting." (F. S. W.)
This strengthening work was rendered necessary owing to
earthquake shocks which occurred, and possibly from the fact
that the originally defective foundations on the south side of
the crypt caused a slight settlement.
It may be noted here that the masons' marks found in the
triforium on the Norman work are also found in the crypt on
the later strengthening work, and not upon the Early Norman
work. This fact has been considered to prove that the crypt
was built by Aldred.
The first chapel — i.e. that below St. Andrew's Chapel — con
tains a double piscina with a shelf in good preservation. There
are remains of hinge-posts (two sets), and the holes for the
movable bar with which the doors could be fastened.
The second chapel — i.e. that underneath St. Philip's Chapel
— contains an arcade of five plain arches with ornament above.
There is also a double piscina with shelf in good preservation,
and a large altar-step, 6 feet 2 inches by 4 feet.
The third or eastern chapel, which is under the vestibule
leading into the Lady Chapel, contains portions of the building
which have had to be replaced by recent work, and some frag
ments of tombstones, one bearing the inscription Gilbertus.
The fourth chapel, which is underneath Abbot Boteler's

THE INTERIOR

71

¦i«ML i..-.r. ..~

PLAN OF THE CRYPT.
[From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.LB.A.

The dark tint on the walls represents the Early Norman Crypt.
The second period of Norman work is shown by the double lines round the
small shafts at A a, which denote masonry erected some time after, to
carry the ribs which strengthen the vaulting.
The parts sectionised were for the most part built in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries to carry the walls above — notably s s, as foundations
for the choir piers.

72 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Chapel, also contains fragments, some of them very beautiful
specimens of stonework. There is also a slab, upon which is
to be read the words. Orate pro aia fris fohis. This slab was
formerly in the south transept, and was (according to Mr
Haine's transcription of the slab made thirty years ago) to the
memory of John Lempster, who lived in Abbot Froucester's
time. A slab inscribed i staunt, which used to be in the cloisters
at the entrance to the chapter-house, is also in the crypt. This
John de Staunton was akin to Abbot Staunton, who was buried
in 1351-
The fifth chapel, which is underneath St. Paul's Chapel, was
the chapel through which the Abbot had access to the crypt
from the Abbot's cloister. The easternmost portion has
some very good vaulting and decoration of the thirteenth cen
tury, and contains a very mutilated piscina. The groining of
the roof is, unfortunately, falling away by degrees. There are
traces of some fine bosses.
The crypt was cleared, drained, and concreted in the
course of the restoration that took place during the years
1853-1863. Ambulatories of the Choir. — These aisles have nothing
uncommon in their form or arrangement below, but above occurs
the great peculiarity of this church. The side aisles and
eastern chapels are, in fact, including the crypt, three storeys
high, and all vaulted, and the upper range of chapels sur
rounding the choir is perhaps not to be met with in any other
church in Europe.
Near the entrance to the S. Ambulatory of the Choir
a tomb and brass to the memory of Rev. John Kempthorn,
B.D. (1838) will be found on the right, near the side entrance
into St. Andrew's Chapel.
Close to it, upon the floor, is a modern brass, by Messrs
Heaton, Butter & Bayne, to the memory of Rev. H. Haines,
M.A., who for twenty-three years was second master in the
cathedral school. He died in 1872. His book on the
Cathedral, which he knew so thoroughly and loved so well, is
one of the best guide-books to the building, but, unfortunately,
no new edition has been issued since 1884.
Some of the piers in the south ambulatory of the choir will
l?e foqnd to sl;ow t?-aces pf colour decora,tion m, cert9,in lights,

THE INTERIOR 73
As a whole they retain more Norman work, unaltered, than
perhaps any other portion of the building.
Near to the Kempthorn monument is the memorial window
to Canon Harvey and his wife, who both died in the year 1889.
The glass is by Kempe.
The second window, also by Kempe, is a memorial to the
Rev. H. Law, who was Dean from 1862-1884. The figure
drawing in this light will attract notice.
The third window, glass by Kempe, is a memorial to the
Rev. Sir J. H. Culme Seymour, Bart, who was Canon of
Gloucester for fifty-one years, and died in 1880.
The Triforium of the Choir is, perhaps, the finest
triforium in existence, and is worthy of special examination.
" It occupies the space over the ground floors of the aisles or
ambulatory of the choir, and originally extended of a like
width round the east end of the Norman Church, but at the
time when the fourteenth -century work of the present choir
was executed, the whole of the east end of the old Norman
choir, with the corresponding part of the triforium, was
removed in order to make room for the existing large window,
the small east chapel being allowed to remain." (F. S. W.) The
original shape of this part of the building will be more clearly
seen by reference to the chapel (D), indicated by dotted lines
on the plan, and to the extreme east chapel of the crypt.
As the means of entrance to this east chapel of the triforium
was now gone, the narrow gallery usually called the "Whisper
ing Gallery " was made, and carried by segmental arches,
marked BB, from the south-east to the east chapel, and from
the east chapel to that on the north-east. The external appear
ance of the Whispering Gallery is shown on page 75. The casual
observer frequently takes it to be a piece of Norman work,
but it is in reality the material of Norman builders very skil
fully re-used.
The triforium is reached by the staircases in the western
turrets of the two transepts and by arcaded passages passing
under the great windows of the transepts. Excellent views
across the transepts are thence to be obtained. Still better
views can be got from the corner of the triforium (near the
painting of the Last Judgment), both across the organ to the
north side of the nave, down the south aisle, and also across
the choir,

74 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
The first chapel in the triforium contains two brackets with
rich canopies, and there is a very well preserved double piscina.
Ball-flowers in two rows will be found in the mouldings of the
east window. Remains of two canopies in the jambs of the
windows are also to be traced.
The massive Norman piers should be carefully studied, as the
way in which the later casing work has been applied can be
more easily seen in the triforium than elsewhere.
The picture on the west side of this part of the triforium was
discovered in 1718, against the then eastern end of the nave,
underneath the panelled wainscot at the back of the seats
occupied by the clergy when the nave was used for service.
During the last few years it has lost much of its colour ; it is
painted in tempera on a kind of gesso ground laid on a wooden
planking nearly an inch thick. From the size of it — viz. 9 feet
\o\ inches by 7 feet ']\ inches — it was formerly thought to
have formed part of the reredos.
Portions of the original frame remain, and they show traces
of gilding upon them. The picture has been varnished to pre
serve it, and, although hung in a wretched situation for light,
it is worth more than passing attention. Christ is represented
in the centre, throned on a rainbow, attended by angels, and
having a globe and a cross below Him. His mantle is red,
with a jewelled border. On either side of His head are em
blems — on the left a lily, emblematic of mercy ; and on the
right a sword, emblematic of justice. The lily inclines towards
the righteous, and the sword points towards the wicked. Below
on the left are six apostles, but above these is an angel holding
a T cross and the crown of thorns. To balance this, on the
right is an angel with a whipping-post, a scourge, and a spear.
Over these figures are scrolls, one on the left inscribed " Come,
O you blessed . . .", and on the right, " Go, O you cursed . . ."
In the centre, under the globe, is an angel holding an open
book, " The boke of cosciens " — i.e. the book of conscience.
On either side are angels blowing upon trumpets, from which
extend scrolls inscribed, "Aryse, you dede. Come to your
judgement"; and below this the Resurrection is depicted.
An angel (in the centre) is scaring away a horned demon from
the soul borne up by the angel. On the right the wicked are
being carried off by fiends ; on the left the righteous are being
led away by angels bearing crosses.

THE INTERIOR

75

In the left-hand bottom corner are angels and inscriptions.
" Before man lyfe and death. In all thy workes remebre thy

6 / I tis Lo 1 h t ]
SOUTH-EAST VIEW. OF' CATHEDRAL, SHOWING
WHISPERING GALLERY.

last, and never wilt thou offend." In the top corner on the left
is represented the New Jerusalem. The architecture is classic
in character.

76 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
St. Peter and an angel are standing close to a gate into
which the righteous are entering. A choir of angels with
musical instruments are above.
In the bottom corner on the right the mouth of hell is
represented, into which the lost are being thrust by attendant
demons. There is a grim figure inside a globe, possibly
intended for the Prince of this world, seizing a soul by the

Pliotochrom Co. Ltd., Photo.]
TRIFORIUM OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST.
hair. At the bottom are other fiends helping to torture the
unhappy lost.
Mr G. Scharf, jun-., in Archceologia, vol. xxxvi., says that the
picture is English, and is of great importance. He thinks it
was painted during the latter years of the reign of Henry VIII.
or during that of Edward VI. , and points out that it is an
epitome of the famous altar-piece at Dantzig, painted in 1467.
It is remarkable that in this picture the Virgin and St. John
the Baptist, who are usually associated in pictures with the
Saviour, are altogether omitted.
The second, or south-eastern chapel, contains many interest
ing remains of coloured tiles, old carving, some being linen-

THE INTERIOR 77
fold panels. There are also some finely - carved pilasters,
which once formed part of the Queen Anne reredos, put up by
Dean Chetwood about 17 10. This reredos was taken down in
1807, and was for many years in the old church at Chelten
ham. When, however, the church at Cheltenham fell into the
hands of the restorer, parts of the carved work were brought
back to Gloucester.
Passing towards the Whispering Gallery, the flying buttresses
inserted to support the walls of the clerestory, which were
weakened by the insertion of the great east window of the
choir, 1 347-1 350, should be noticed.
The Whispering Gallery, to which the ordinary visitor
pays more attention than anything else in the building, has
remarkable acoustic properties. A whisper (the lower in tone
the better) can be easily and distinctly heard at the other end
of the gallery, and to this peculiarity the following lines, by
Maurice Wheeler (head-master of the King's School, 1684-
17 12) have reference :
" Doubt not but God, who sits on high,
Thy secret prayers can hear,
When a dead wall thus cunningly
Conveys soft whispers to the ear."
Lord Bacon seems to have thought over the subject of the
gallery, and his remarks are here quoted : " I suppose there
is some vault, or hollow, or isle behind the wall, and some
passage to it, towards the farther end of that wall against which
you speak, so as the voice of him that speaketh slideth along
the wall, and then entereth at some passage, and com-
municateth with the air of the hollow, for it is preserved some
what by the plain wall : but that is too weak to give a sound
audible till it has communicated with the back air."
The gallery is a passage of Norman work, very much altered
and re-used. It is 74 feet long, 3 feet wide, 6^ feet high, and
is carried on segmental arches from the east end of the south
triforium to the west wall of the Lady Chapel, and from thence
in the same way to the north triforium. On page 75 will be
seen the appearance of the little bridge thus made.
In passing through the gallery access is obtained to a chapel
on the right, which is immediately over the entrance vestibule to

78 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
the Lady Chapel. From this chapel a very good general view
of the Lady Chapel can be obtained. The bosses in the roof
show to greater advantage, and it is possible to see more of the
colour that remains on the walls.
This chapel is smaller than the others in the triforium, and
was reduced in size when the west end of the Lady Chapel
was built. The altar slab is original Norman work, and has
three or four -J" inscribed in it.

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SOUTH AMBUL.\T0RY OF THE CHOIR.
The pieces of old glass formerly in this chapel have dis
appeared, and modern ornamental quarries and medallions, by
Hardman, have taken their place.
The fourth chapel has nothing of note in it beyond the
window tracery.
The fifth chapel, or the one nearest to the north transept,
contains a double piscina, in very good preservation.
The triforium contains a few monuments, chiefly those that
THE INTERIOR 79
have been removed from the nave. Bishop Benson's monu
ment was formerly on the face of the buttress that passes
through St. Andrew's Chapel.
The triforium seems a better resting-place than the crypt
for monuments which are rejected from the nave and
elsewhere. It is to be hoped that in the years to come no
restorer will lay hold upon the monuments in the Lady
Chapel and transepts, and consign them to oblivion in the
neighbouring garden of the deanery. This was done in Dean
Law's time, and may in part be the reason why the cathedral
is so poor in specimens of monuments of the Queen Anne
period. The South-East Chapel, which is dedicated to St. Philip,
contains some interesting features. The arches are of a
distinctly " pointed " character, and there are remains of the
two bases of pillars which supported the stone altar slab.
This chapel was restored in memory of Sir C. W. Codrington,
Bart., M.P., who died in 1864. Various incidents in the hfe
of St. PhiHp have been painted on the vaulting by Burlison
& Grylls, but the paintings have suffered somewhat from damp.
The window, which is by Clayton & Bell, is of no special
interest, and represents saints, principally British, and striking
incidents in the life of each in the panel under each of the
figures. Near the piscina, at the base of a pier, will be found some
dog-tooth moulding. This is repeated on the other side of the
chapel, but not on the corresponding pier.
Before entering the Lady Chapel, a Perpendicular arch will
be noticed, with two eye-shaped openings in the spandrels.
The openings are well carved on their bevelled edges. The
arch is of later date than the front of the chapel, and seems
to have been necessary to support the triforium above. No
thing like it exists on the other side. There is an old cope-
chest in this Ambulatory.
The Lady Chapel. — This beautiful chapel, which was
built between the years 145 7-1 499 by the Abbots Richard
Hanley and William Farley, stands on the site of a smaller
building, dating back to 1224, and erected by Ralph de
Wylington and Olympias, his wife, the architect of the work
being Elias or Helias the Sacrist, a monk of the Gloucester
monastery. As Mr Bazeley points out ("Records," vol. iii.

8o GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
pt I, p. 14), "The only architectural evidences of its former
existence are two Early English windows in the crypt, in the
central eastern chapel."
Mr Waller thinks that this Early EngHsh Lady Chapel was
" probably not a new building, but simply an alteration of the
old east apsidal chapels on each floor to suit the ' Early
English ' times, just as the fourteenth-century men afterwards
recased the cathedral. The inserted windows of this date in
the crypt seem to confirm this view."
On the site of this chapel must have stood the chapel
and altar (or at any rate the altar) dedicated to St. Petronilla,
as Ralph and Olympias gave rentals to provide lights to burn
thereat during mass for ever.
The vestibule or entrance to the Lady Chapel is a
beautiful piece of work, and is another instance of the genius
of the builders shown in making use of existing work.
Special interest attaches to this chapel as a whole, as it was
the last addition to the fabric by the monks before the
Dissolution. Firstly the walls of the vestible should be noticed : the lower
portions of the west wall are parts of the old Norman apsidal
chapel, and are pierced by the opening for the door and by
two perpendicular windows ; and the west end of the chapel is
contracted in breadth, as it is also in height, so as to minimise
the loss of light to the great window of the choir. The shape
of the chapel will be easily understood from the plan (p. 61).
The Heme vaulting of the vestibule is very delicate (the ribs,
it will be noted, are run differently in the four quarters of the
roof), and the pendants form a cross. These latter, at the
present time, look new, but they have only been freed from the
whitewash that was thick upon them. One pendant has been
renewed at the end. Over the vestibule is the small chapel
which is entered from the Whispering Gallery (vide page 77).
The open tracery of the west end over the supporting arch is
particularly graceful, especially the way in which the open
lights are arranged in the central portion. The Lady Chapel
is 91 feet 6 inches long, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46 feet
6 inches high, and consists of four compartments or bays,
which, as the wall of the chapel is so low, are chiefly composed
of fine tracery and glass. All the wall below the windows is
arcaded with foiled arches, with quatrefoils above them. The

THE INTERIOR 8i
wall between the windows is panelled with del cate tracery
like that in the windows, and in its three ¦ chie tiers contains
brackets for figures, with richly-carved canopies overhead.
Many of these canopies (like the walls) show traces of
colour.

Photochrom Co l^ta., Pltoto.]
THE LADY CHAPEL,

Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandest
Perpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in
the roof is worth minute inspection, and since the restoration
(1896) it is possible to see the bosses in practically the same
condition as they were when they left the masons' hands in
the fifteenth century. With three exceptions they are all

82 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
representations of foliage, and it would be a hard task to
arrange them in order of merit.
It has been said above that the chapel is cruciform. The
arms of the cross are represented by the two side chapels,
like diminutive transepts on the north and south sides, with
oratories above them, to which access is giveri by small stair
cases in the angles of the wall. Both these side chapels
contain some exquisite fan-tracery vaulting, which is supported
upon flying arches, fashioned in imitation of the graceful flying
arches in the choir.
On the north side the chapel contains a full-length effigy of
Bishop Goldsborough (who died in 1604) robed in his white
rochet, black chimero, with lawn sleeves, scarf, ruff, and
skull-cap. The east window in this chapel is in memory of Lieut.
Arthur John Lawford (1885), and is dedicated to St. Martin.
The chapel above has a vaulted roof with bosses of foliage,
and there are small portions of ancient glass.
Bishop Nicholson's tomb, which was formerly in the south
chapel, where it blocked up the east window, is at present in
pieces in this upper chapel. It is to be re-erected in another
place. There are some interesting scribblings on the walls of this
chapel. On the shelf for books is a representation of a
Cromwellian soldier with a dog, apparently in pursuit of a
deer. There are also scribblings with devices, dating to 1630-
1634. One love-sick swain described an equilater3,l triangle
with a "ir rising from the vertex, and then inscribed the initials
of his fiancSe and also his own.
In the south chapel there are scribbles, dating back to 1588
and 1604. Both of these chapels have shelves for books,
but it is probable that one was for a small choir and the other
for an organ.
The South Chapel contains an altar tomb to Thomas
Fitzwilliams, who died 1579, and there is a wooden tablet,
painted with an inscription to tell that it was repaired in 1648.
A window has been put up in memory of S. Sebastian
Wesley, a former organist of the cathedral, who died in 1876.
This chapel is one of the largest in the kingdom, and is said,
at the time of the Dissolution, to have been one of the richest.
A great part of it is said to have been gilded and gloriously

THE INTERIOR 83
ornamented. Traces of the colour can be seen in the mould
ings of the panellings and in the carving upon the walls.

.y. S. Solas <V Co., Photo.] WEST END OF LADY CHAPEL,
The Reredos, judging from the traces that are left, must
have been a gorgeous sight, and literally a blaze of colour.
Applique work has been lavishly employed in its decoration.

84 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Anyone who is privileged to examine it very closely will note
the writing on the stonework, which has been laid bare in the
niches by the ruthless removal of the figures. At present
what the present Dean, in his article on the Great Abbeys of
the Severn Lands, calls its " pathetic scarred beauty," is tem
porarily veiled by a very modern screen. The reredos, though
a ruin, has a charm all its own, and it is better to leave it
frankly as it is now than to partly hide it. There are some,
no doubt, who would restore it, but it is to be hoped that
funds will not be forthcoming. Restoration has effectually
marred the beauty of the pavement of the choir, and given us
a flashy reredos there, of which the less said the better ; but
every one with a particle of feeling must feel that restoration
and decoration of the Lady Chapel reredos would be a
crime. Bishop Benson covered the reredos with stucco, and put up
a huge gold sun in front of it. Portions of this are now at
Minsterworth. An engraving of it may be seen in Bonnor's
"Perspective Itinerary," published in 1796, and this plate also
shows the long rows of pews removed from the choir by the
same bishop.
The sedilia are very fine, and worthy of careful inspection.
The East Window consists of nine lights, and has been
terribly mutilated, partly by fanatics, partly owing to lack of
care within the last century. In design the window resembles
the windows on the north and south sides of the chapel. It
was erected in Abbot Farley's time (1472-1479), and possibly
by a Thomas Compton, seeing that in the quatrefoiled circles
in the heads of the lower lights there are rebuses — a comb
with TO, and co with a ton (for Compton), as well as two
intertwining initials. Much of the glass seems to have been
put in after removal from other windows in the cathedral, and
this makes the deciphering of this window no easy under
taking. The tiles in the Lady Chapel are of great interest, and one
cannot help regretting their gradual deterioration under the feet,
occasionally the hobnailed feet of visitors, and the slower but
surer destruction by the accumulations of grit under the
matting on the floor. They may be best examined by turning
up the matting near the Clent tablet on the south wall.
On a pattern made up of sixteen tiles, four times repeated

THE INTERIOR 85
can be read, "Ave Maria gra' pie' JDus tecum" i.e. "gratia plena
Dominus tecum." On others similarly designed, " Domine fhu
(fesu) miserere." On others, "Ave Maria gra' pie'" and
" Dne fhu miserere." These tiles in square sets of sixteen and
four respectively were placed alternately, and separated by plain
dark bricks. On others again will be found " Orate pro Aia
fohis Hertlond (pro anima fohannis)." Some too seem to have
been transferred from Llanthony Priory to the south chapel.
They are inscribed, " Timetib' deA nihil deest," i.e. " Timentibus
deum nihil deest." There are others in the chapel, " Letabor
in mia — et sether a" and " Deo Gracias."
The monument to Sir John Powell ( 1 7 1 3) on the north wall
is not beautiful, though a good specimen of its time. It is
impossible not to regret that it was ever allowed to be erected
in the chapel. Powell was a judge of King's Bench, and is
here represented in his gown, hood, mantle, and coif
Other monuments are those to Eliz : Williams, 1622 (the
figure is raised on one elbow) ; to Margaret Clent, 1623, with a
touching epitaph. On the floor, near the Williams monument
is a small brass, concealed by matting, to Charles Sutton, an
infant seven days old. The brass contains two Latin lines
modelled on the lines of Ovid's " Tristia," and run :
" Parve, nee invideo, sine me, puer, ibis ad astra,
Parve, nee invideas, laetus ad astra sequar."
Many of the slabs on the floor will repay perusal, most of
them being well cut and fairly well preserved. In Brown
Willis' " Survey of Gloucester " will be found a full record of all
the tombstones which in his time (1727) were in this chapel,
but have since been removed or re-used.
Turning to the right on leaving the Lady Chapel, the north
east chapel, which is called Abbot Boteler's Chapel, is the
next in order. It dates from 143 7- 1450. The reredos should
be closely examined, as it retains many of its original features
— viz. statuettes, traces of painting on the shields above, and
a very good piscina.
The tiles in the floor are in many cases excellent specimens,
especially those with fish upon them. It seems a pity that
these tiles should be doomed to disappear under the nails of
sight-seers, who as a rule look at nothing but the effigy of

86 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Robert, Duke of Normandy, and go away satisfied when they
have proved for themselves that the effigy is of wood.
The effigy has had a curious history. As Leland says,
" Rob"" Curthoise, sonne to William the Conquerour, lyeth in
the middle of the Presbitery. There is on his tombe an image
of wood paynted, made long since his death." As to the date
there is great uncertainty, and it would seem that the figure
and the chest upon which it lies are not of the same date. Sir
W. V. Guise in "Records of Gloucester Cathedral," vol. i.,
part I, p. IOI (now out of print), says, "I am disposed to
assign to the effigy a date not very remote from the period at
which the duke lived. The hauberk of chain-mail and the long
surcote ceased to be worn after the thirteenth century," and on
p. loo, "The mortuary chest on which the figure rests is
probably not older than the fifteenth century. . . " Around the
chest are a series of shields bearing coats-of-arms, ten in number,
nine of which were originally intended to commemorate the
nine worthies of the world. On the dexter side : i. Hector.
2. Julius Csesar. 3. David. 4. King Arthur. On the sinister
side : 5. Edward the Confessor. 6. Alexander the Great.
7. Judas Maccabseus. 8. Charlemagne. 9. (at the south end)
Godfrey of Bouillon. 10. (at the north end) The arms of
France and England, quarterly. The blazoning of 10 proves
the chest to be later than the time of Henry IV.
The oak figure was broken into several pieces in the civil
wars of Charles I., but was bought by Sir Humphrey Tracey of
Stanway, who had it repaired, and presented it to the Cathedral.
Leland says that the duke " lyeth in the middle of the
Presbitery." The inscription in the chapter-house says " Hie
jacet Robertus Curtus." The plain pavement in the choir is
said to mark the site of the grave in the choir, but it is open to
question whether there would be space for interment between
the tiling and the upper side of the vaulting of the crypt. It is
to be hoped that at some future time the effigy may be moved
back to its place in the Presbytery.
The next chapel — i.e. the north-west chapel, is dedicated to
St. Paul, and is entered by a doorway, with the initials T. C.
over it, in the spandrels. T. C. may stand for Thomas Compton.
The windows in the north ambulatory of the choir are as
follow : —
The window next to Boteler's Chapel is a memorial

THE INTERIOR 89
erected by the dean and chapter to Mrs Tinling. The glass
was designed by the late J. D. Sedding, Esq., and was executed
by Kempe.
Opposite to the tomb of Edward II. is a memorial window,
also by Kempe, to the late Lieut. -General Sir Joseph Thackwell
and his wife.
The third window is a memorial to Alfred George Price, who
died in 1 880, and it represents the four great builders of the
church — viz. i. King Osric. 2. Abbot Serlo. 3. Abbot
Wygmore. 4. Abbot Seabroke.
Opposite this door in the north-east corner is a doorway —
Perpendicular in style — with interesting cresting and carving,
giving access to the vestries and the choir practising-room.
In this, as in the other chapels, the groined edge of the
Norman vaulting is carried down the piers.
The reredos in this chapel was more perfect, in point of
good repair, than any other in the building, and the chapel
was repaired by the late Earl of Eflenborough in 1870, figures
by Redfern representing St. Peter, St Paul, and St. Luke
being inserted in the niches.
At the back of the reredos are windows (by Burlison &
Grylls) representing in the side-lights angels with instruments
of music, and in the centre Our Lord in majesty with angels
bearing crowns and branches of palm.
On the south side of the chapel is a brass tablet in memory
of Dean Law, who was Dean from 1862-1884. The combina
tion of copper, brass, and gun-metal is to be regretted, as the
workmanship is above the average, and the design is good.
It is a mistake to paint heraldic devices on brass.
Close by the door leading into the north transept will be
seen the stone reading-desk, from which it is said addresses
were given to the many pilgrims who came to the shrine of the
unfortunate Edward II.
The North Transept. — This transept, like that on the
south, consists of Norman work, which was cased over by
Abbot Horton during the last years of his abbacy (1368-1373)
with fine Perpendicular panelHng, cleverly engrafted into the
original wall. It will be noticed that the work is, though Early
Perpendicular, much more fully developed than that in the
south transept. Angular mouldings of great beauty are used
in the place of round mouldings ; the muUions run right up to

90 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
the roof, which again is much richer than that in the south
transept. The vaulting of the north transept somewhat re
sembles in character the fan-tracery of the cloisters, the junction
of the main and transverse vaults being rounded rather than
angular, and the smaller ribs springing from between the larger
ones a little above the union with the capitals of the supporting
shafts. This transept is 8 feet lower than that on the south
side. It is 2 feet shorter, and i foot less in width.
On the north side, " under the north window, is a beautiful

P Lotochroiii i 0 Lid 1 Jioto J
NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR, LOOK.IING EAST.
piece of Early English work (c. 1240), which is supposed to
have been a Reliquary."
It is constructed in three divisions, that in the middle being a
doorway. Foiled openings enrich all the arches, and the carv
ing of the foliage is very beautiful. Purbeck marble shafts are
placed at the angles, and corbel heads at the spring of the
arches, except at the north-east corner, where a stone shield,
with arms of Abbot Parker, are substituted. Much of the
figure-work on the outside has been mutilated. In the inside
the roof is simply groined, with bosses, one of which in the
central division is most beautifully wrought ; and there are, too,

THE INTERIOR

91

small heads which, fortunately, seem to have escaped notice
altogether, and are almost perfect. In Bonnor's " Perspective

i', B. Bolas &, Co., Photo.]
NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.
Itinerary," 1796, it is described as punishment cells, Mr
Bazeley thinks it was part of the Early English Lady Chapel, built

92

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

in 1227, which, being thought worthy of preservation, was taken
down and re-erected here when the present Lady Chapel was
built. Opposite to the reliquary is a Chapel between the tower
piers, said to be dedicated to St. Anthony.

DOOR FROM NORTH TRANSEPT INTO NORTH AMBULATORY
OF THE CHOIR.
[From a Photograph by Miss Dawson of Cardiff.
The wood panehing on the back of the stalls of the choir
shows traces of painting, representing the soul of a woman at
the mouth of a hell or purgatory, praying to St. Anthony, who
is depicted with his pig and a bell. Other figures are there,
but they are beyond recognition. This chapel is used as the

THE INTERIOR 93
Dean's vestry, and contains some old panelling, re-used, and
two old strong-boxes.
Beneath the niche, near the door leading into the North
Ambulatory of the Choir, is an inscription, which is now barely
legible (even with an opera-glass) — Orate pro aia {Magistri
fohannis) Schelton; at least so Brown Willis read it in 1727.
On the floor of this transept are some slabs, now brassless,
under which have been buried men of note in the early days
of the history of the building. One mutilated slab, 7 feet i inch
by 3 feet 4 inches, has an inscription, of which some only is now
legible in the border. From Brown Willis' "Survey of the
Cathedral," 1727, it can be seen that it is to Robert Stanford.
The inscription was —
Jlic jacet Robertus Stanford quondam serviens hujus monas
terii et specialis ac munificus benefactor ejusdem qui obiit
vicesimo secundo . . .
A brass to Wm. Lisle, 1723, has been inserted.
Abbots Horton, Boyfield, Froucester were all buried in this
transept, but beyond crediting the stone that shows a trace
of a mitre to Froucester, it is a mere matter of speculation
to distinguish between the others. The stone next but one
to it contains the matrix of a fine cross. The north window
was filled in 1874 with glass by Hardman in memory of Sir
Michael Edward Hicks-Beach, Bart., M.P., and his wife. The
subjects are episodes in the life of St. Paul.
Under the west window of this transept is a curious painted
monument to John Bower and his wife (1615). They had
"nyne sones and seaven daughters," who are represented in
perspective on the wooden panel against the wall. The tomb
is barely characteristic of its date. On the top is an inscription
. — Memento mori ; also, Vayne, vanytie, witnesse Soloman, all is
but vayne.
The colour on the tomb has suffered from whitewashing at
yarious times, and the tomb has been scorched by the heat
generated by the warming apparatus in the corner, to the
detriment of the painted panel.
The west window of this transept was put up in 1894, in
memory of Wm. Philip Price, M.P. This window is too fuU of
detail, and the canopy work is overdone. The glass is by Kempe.
The east window contains some old glass, releaded by
Clayton & Bell.

CHAPTER IV
the PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS
Within the area once contained by the boundary walls of
the Abbey (for which see the plan on p. 103) there are
remains of four of the original Gateways. The finest of
these is that which leads into St. Mary's Square, and the best
view of it is obtained from the steps of the memorial to Bishop
Hooper. It is a very typical specimen of Early English work.
" It has a gate porch entered by a wide but low pointed arch,
with an inner arch where the doors were hung. The gatehall
thus formed also had doors towards the court, and in its south
wall are two recesses. The upper storey has, towards the street,
an arcade of four arches, and the outer pair have each a
trefoiled niche or panel in the back. The other two arches
are of larger size and are both pierced with two interesting
square-headed lights, also of the thirteenth century, with dividing
mullions. In the gable, within a large triangular panel, is a
niche of three arches, originally carried by detached shafts, but
these are now broken away." (Hope.)
Tradition has it that Bonner watched the burning of Bishop
Hooper from the window over this gateway.
The " inner gate gave access to the inner court, known of
late years as Miller's Green, where the bakehouse, boulting-
house, brew-house, stable, mill, and such -like offices were
placed. It was also the way to the later Abbot's lodging.
The existing gateway is of the fourteenth century, and has a
single passage, in the west side of which is a blocked doorway.
The passage is covered by a Heme vault."
"¦ The gateway on the south side, towards the city, has been
almost entirely destroyed, and only a fragment of the west
side remains. It was known as ' King Edward's ' gate, from
its having been built by Edward I. It was afterwards
restored and beautified by Abbot Malverne, alias Parker,
1514-1539. The remaining turret of the gate, on the west
94

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS 95
side towards the church, is probably part of Parker's work."
(Hope.) On the south side of what is left of this gateway are the
arms of King Osric, as King of Northumbria. The stone bear
ing these arms was dug up some seventy years ago and was
placed in its present position.
In College Court, a narrow turning leading from the north
side of Westgate Street into the close, is a small gateway,
consisting of a flattened archway, with canopied niches at the
sides. This is also supposed to have been built by Abbot
Parker. The upper portion, which was destroyed, has been
converted into very commonplace offices.
In the north-west corner of the precincts was the Vineyard.
The vineyards of Gloucestershire used formerly to be famous.
William of Malmesbury, in the twelfth century, writes : " This
county (Gloucestershire) is planted thicker with vineyards than
any other in England, more plentiful in crops, and more plea^
sant in flavour. For the wines do not offend the mouth with
sharpness, since they do not yield to the French (wines) in
sweetness." The Gloucestershire vineyards survived as late as
1 70 1. The curious terraces or step-markings on the Cotswolds
in various places, locally called "litchets" or "lyches," are by
some supposed to have been portions of the sites of these
vineyards. "The Dorter (says Mr Hope) and its basement are now
destroyed, and their plan and extent are at present uncertain :
but owing to its south wall having been partly that of the
chapter-house also, one small fragment has been preserved
which . . . helps to fix the position of the dorter. This
fragment, which may be seen on the north-east corner of the
chapter-house, is the jamb of one of the windows built between
1303 and 1 3 13, and its date is clearly shown by the little ball-
flowers round the capital of the shaft." The dorter then may
be assumed to have occupied the space between the chapter
house and the end of the east alley of the cloister.
The Refectory (or Frater), "which was begun in 1246,
on the site of the Norman one destroyed to make room for it,
was a great hall over 130 feet long and nearly 40 feet wide.
It was reached by a broad flight of steps, beginning in the
cloister and passing up through the frater door. The steps
did not open directly into the frater, but ended in a vestibule

96

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

screened off from the rest of the hall, and covered by a loft or
gallery. Into this vestibule would also open the service doors
from the kitchen and buttery. . . . The west end and nearly
all the north side have been pulled down to the ground, but
the south wall, being common to the cloister, remains up to
the height of its window sills. The east end is also standing
to the same height. . . . Much of the stonework of the east
and south walls is reddened by the fire that destroyed the frater
in 1540."

-

Jf.
:¦
^R^
JSB
W^^n~^^ '""'--
mwt
JH^
'IHHees^^L i^
/.^m .^
• IMi^m
Wm
jS^H i
Ww^
SiK ^ L ^'^
"P*^^^
J M^-g
Hi^J '' ^ '"'
) ^^^^P
E^
K^nl^^ fc^MlSfe
'^W'^^
p^
K^B
* kHI
r-*^M
S^^^^K*
"'ffi^!"-
ff^J
Bj^f^^R,
*->,.L"*"^
^^sfc^fj^ft
im'i 7
¦^
-¦>.^^?'^*^'*Sn
-""•>,
St, iMary's Gate. Ki,ng Edwards Gate.
Drawn by F, S, Waller, F.R.I, B,A.
The Little Cloisters consist of an irregular quadrangle, with
sides of varying length. The garth wall is a good specimen of
Perpendicular work. There are five openings on each side.
In the times of the Great Rebellion the little cloisters were
partly unroofed. The western alley is part of an interesting
fifteenth -century house which is built over it, and the south
alley has a lean-to roof.
The other two alleys, which are now unroofed, were for
merly covered by part of a large building which was built
THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS 97
over them, and called Babylon. All traces of Babylon have
now disappeared.
In the north wall of the cloister three stone coffins have
been built in with the masonry. Mr Hope thinks it quite
possible that this small garth was used as the herbarium or
herb garden.
"On the west side of the little cloister, and partly over-riding it, is a
medieval house of several dates, from the thirteenth century to the sup
pression, and later. Owing, however, to modern partitions and fittings.

College Gateway Gateway into Palace Yard,
Drawn by F. S, Waller, F,R.I,B.A,
and repeated alterations, it is somewhat difficult to trace its architectural
history. The oldest part of it consists of a vaulted undercroft of Early
English work extending north and south beneath the western part of the
house. It consists of three bays, of which two now form the kitchen of the
house, and the third or northernmost is walled off to form a passage outside.
More work of the same period adjoins this on the west, including a good
doorway with moulded head. This doorway was clearly, as now, an
external one. The undercroft stops short about twelve feet from the
frater wall (or wide enough to leave a cart-way), and there is nothing to
shew that it extended further east. Looking at its position so near the
great cellar, the kitchen, and other offices, it is very probable that the

98

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

original upper floor was the cellarer's checker, or counting-house, and the
undercroft a place for stores."
Close by, to the north-east, are to be seen six graceful arches
of Early English work. These are a portion of the remains
of the "infirmary" or "farmery," which was "deemed super
fluous" at the suppression, and for the most part pulled
down. "The chapel was destroyed and the great hall unroofed and partly
demolished, but its west end and six arches of the arcade escaped, the

Photochrom Co. Ltd., Photo. \
REMAINS OF THE INFIRMARY.

latter probably because, as at Canterbury, the south aisle had been pre
viously cut up into sets of chambers. All these remains are of admirable
early thirteenth-century work, and it is much to be regretted that in clearing
away the old houses in i860 it should have been found necessary to also
remove a curious vaulted lobby and other remains on the east side of the
little cloister. The main entrance was originally in the west end of the
hall, where part of the doorway still remains, and was probably covered by
a pentise or porch with a door (still remaining) from the infirmary cloister,
so that there was a continuous covered way from the farmery to the
church." (Hope.)
"The Library is an interesting room of the fourteenth
century, retaining much of its original open roof. The north
side has eleven windows, each of two square-headed lights and

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS

99

perfectly plain,
which lighted the
bays or studies. The
large end windows
are Late Perpendic
ular, each of seven
lights with a tran
som. There are
other alterations,
such as the beauti
ful wooden corbels
from which the roof
springs, which are
probably contem
porary with the work
of the cloister, when
the western stair to
the library was built
and the room
altered. None of
the old fittings now
remain, but there
can be no doubt
that this was the lib
rary." (Hope.)
The library of the
monastery, judging
by the list given by
Leland, must have
been of considerable
value and of no little
interest. A list of
the books it con
tained is given in
" Records of Glou
cester Cathedral,"
vol. i. pp. 145-6.
The books were
at the time of the
dissolution of the
monastery confis
cated to the Crown,

MEDIEVAL HOUSE.
[From a Drawing by E. J. Burrow.

loo GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
and the cathedral was apparently without a library till the
time of Bishop Godfrey Godman, who was consecrated in
1624. Writing to his clergy in 1629, he says: "I am to
lett yow understand that I have lately erected a Librarie in
Glouc'- for the use of all our brethren throughout my Dioces,
as likewise for the use of Gent, and Strangers, such as are
students. I conceave it will not onely be most usefull, but
likewise a great ornament to Citie and Dioces." He goes
on to ask the clergy to give either " a booke or y° price of a
booke," and tells them not to " inquire what bookes we have or
what are wanting, ffor if we have double we can exchange
them." Thoroughly business-like and considerate, the bishop
also says : " If any man's weake estate and povertie be such
that he can neither give booke, nor price of booke, yet in
manners and courtisie (seeing his diocesan require it), I doe
expect that he should excuse himselfe, and I will take the least
excuse, without any further inquirie, as lovingly as if he had
given the greatest gift." He was tender-hearted to his curates,
for he says, " Neither doe I write this to Curates or Lecturers,
unlesse themselves please to bestow; only I do expect from
them that they acquaint the parsons and vicars, and returne
their answers unto mee."
This, then, was the beginning of the Cathedral library.
Later, in 1648, after troublous times in Gloucester, when even
the cathedral itself was in danger, Thomas Pury, jun., Esq.,
with the help of Mr Sheppard, Captain Hemming, and others,
made this library at considerable expense, and, as Sir Robert
Atkyns quaintly observed, " encouraged literature to assist
reason, in the midst of times deluded with imaginary inspira
tion." In 1658, after the "late Cathedrall Church of Gloucester"
had been settled upon the Maior and Burgesses for publique
and religious uses, the Common Council vested and settled the
library on the Maior and Burgesses, and their successors for
ever." The Restoration, however, in 1660, made still another
change, and the library then became the property of the Dean
and Chapter.
Sir Matthew Hale was a liberal benefactor to the library.
Owing to the damp in the Chapter-House, which for many
years had to serve as the library, the books, in 1743, were
removed into the south ambulatory of the choir. This was

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS loi
done by order of the Dean and Chapter, but the Chapter-
House was apparently in use as a library in 1796, when Bonnor
was making the drawings for his " Perspective Itinerary." In
1827 new and lower cases for the books were fitted, and the
Chapter-House was used up to 1857 as the Cathedral library.
Since that time the old monastic library has been restored to
its original use.
The Chapter-House is entered from the east alley of the
cloister through a Norman archway of very good work,
enriched with zig-zag ornament.
Originally consisting of three bays of Norman work, it
probably, like the chapter-houses at Norwich, Reading, and
Durham, terminated in a semi-circular apse. The present east
end is of Late Perpendicular work, and makes a fourth bay.
Judging from the method in which the new work was joined
on to the old in the fifteenth century, it would seem as if
the builders intended to remodel the whole building. The
vaulting of the later part is well groined, and the window is
good. The roof of the three Norman bays is a lofty barrel
vault supported by three slightly-pointed arches springing
from the capitals of the columns, which are curiously set back,
and separate the bays.
Norman arcading of twelve arches — i.e. four to each bay,
runs along the three westernmost bays on the north and south
walls, and in the arcading are inscriptions restored from the
description given by Leland. Below the arcading " may be
traced the line of the stone bench on which the monks sat
in chapter." (Hope.) The floor has been considerably
lowered in modern times. The tiling is modern, having
been copied by Minton from the old work, both as to
subject and arrangement.
"The west end is arranged in the usual Benedictine fashion,
with a central door, flanked originally by two large unglazed
window openings, with three large windows above. . . .
Only one of the windows flanking the doorway can now be
seen, the other having been partly destroyed and covered by
Perpendicular panelling when the new library stair was built in
the south-west corner of the room." (Hope.)
¦ " At the south-west corner of the chapter - house is a large
winding stone staircase, with a stone handrail worked in the
newel, and also in the side wall." (F. S. W.)

I02 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
The lower part of this west wall shows distinct traces of fire,
which the upper part does not. This seems to confirm the
idea that when the fire of 1102 broke out and destroyed so
much, it burned down the cloister and the temporary roof of
the chapter-house, both of which were probably of wood.
Walter de Lacy was (Hart. i. 73) buried in the chapter
house with great pomp in 1085, and the room must have
been ready or nearly ready for use in that year. As Fosbroke

Plan of the Chapter-House, as shown
— A.D. 1727 — in Willis' " Survey of Cathe-
drals." A good general idea of the fittings
formerly in the Chapter-House may be
seen in Bonnor's work, published in r7g9,
but on his plan they occupy the two bays
eastward, instead of west, as here deline
ated. They appear to have been excellent
Renaissance work.

CHAPTER-HOUSE.

naively says of the distinguished dead who are buried here,
" They could not have been buried in this room before it
existed." In Leland's time the names were painted on the walls near
their gravestones in Black Letter. As he says, " These inscrip
tions be written on the wailes of the chapter-house in the
cloyster of Gloucester : Hie jacet Rogerus, Comes de Hereford ;
Ricds Strongbowe, filius Gilberti, Comitis de Pembroke;
Gualterus de Lacy ; Fhilipus de Foye Miles ; Bernardus de Novo
Mercaiu ; Paganus de Cadurcis ; Adam de Cadurcis ; Robertus
Curtus. Of the names given by Leland it may be noted that Roger,
Earl of Hereford, Bernard de Newmarch (" Novo Mercatu "),
and Walter de Lacy, were all contemporaries of the Conqueror,
and "much about his person." They, therefore, when money
was being collected for the abbey buildings, subscribed, adding
some reservation as to the places in which they wished to be
interred.

« J in .. « ^ U

4 cd (J Q bl b. tj

I04 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
In spite of the wires stretched across the building, there is a
remarkable echo.
The Cloisters are entered from the church by a door near
the organ screen in the north aisle of the nave. They were
begun by Abbot Horton (1351-1377)! who built as far as the
door of the chapter-house, and finished by Abbot Froucester,
1381-1412. It will be noticed how the mouldings, the
tracery of the windows, and the character of the work generally
differ. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that " the cloisters are
some of the finest and most perfect in the kingdom. They
form a quadrangle, and are divided into ten compartments in
each walk. The vaulting is of the kind known as fan-tracery,
and is considered to have originated in Gloucester. It is found
also at Peterborough, at Ely, and in the chapel of King's College,
Cambridge, the latter being one of the last examples of the
method. " The outer walls are substantially of Norman date, but now
overlaid and refaced by Perpendicular panelHng." (Hope.)
Though the cloisters are quadrangular, the length (147 feet)
of each of the four walks is not quite the same, but the width
is 12^ feet and the height i&^ feet.
East Alley. — On the right-hand side in this walk will
be noticed a new door. This was inserted in 1874 in the
wall in the same position as the former door into the monks'
loculorium or parlour. The original wide opening of the
doorway may be seen under the moulding of the panelling
on the wall.
The passage to which the glazed door gives access "is chiefly
of early Norman date, and was originally of the same length as
the width of the transept against which it is built. It was entered
from the cloister by a wide arch, and has a wall arcade on each
side of fifteen arches on the north, but only eleven on the
south, the space between the transept pilaster-buttresses
admitting no more than that number. The roof is a perfectly
plain barrel vault without ribs. In the south-west corner is a
hollowed bracket, or cresset stone as it was called, in which a
wick floating in tallow was kept to light the passage."
"It having become necessary in the fourteenth century to enlarge
the vestry and library over the passage, its east end was taken
down and the passage extended to double its former length.
At the same time a vice, or circular stair, was built at the N.E.

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS 105
angle to give access to the library. To prevent, however,
the new stair from encroaching too much on the apse of the
chapter-house, the addition to the passage was deflected a Httle
to the south instead of being carried on in a straight line. The
vault of the added part is a simple barrel like the Early
Norman work. The use of this passage was twofold. First, it
was the place where talking was allowed at such times as it
was forbidden in the cloister. Hence its name of locutorium,
or, in English, the parlour. Secondly, it was the way for the
monks to go to their cemetery. When the present cloister
wa5 built the original use of the parlour seems to have passed
away, and in the new works the arch of entrance was blocked
up and covered by the new panelHng. Since this also cut off
all access from the cloister to the library stair, a new stair was
built at the west end directly accessible from the cloister.
For want of room this had to be intruded into the south-west
corner of the chapter-house." (Hope.)
Above the passage are two floors, one being the vestry,
entered from the north-east chapel of the choir, and the upper
one, the library, now restored to. its original monastic use after
many vicissitudes.
This east alley " vvas used as a passage between the church
and the farmery, and the later Abbot's lodging; out of it also
opened the parlour, chapter-house, and dorter door." (Hope.)
" In the third bay from the church the southern half is
pierced with a door below the transom. On the cloister side
of the southern half of the second bay, and of the northern
half of the fourth bay, there was, in each case, built out a little
cupboard or closet, now destroyed. These may have been
used for keeping books in. This alley has no bench against
the walls." (Hope.)
Opposite the fifth bay in this alley is the doorway, contain
ing some good Norman work, sHghtly restored, leading into
the chapter-house.
" The construction of the outer walls of the east walk is
peculiar as to the arrangement of the buttresses and the pro
jecting shelf of stone connected with the transoms of the
windows, which was evidently meant as a protection from the
weather for the lower half of the windows, at that time not
glazed." (F. S. W.)
The first window in this east alley or walk, beginning at the

io6 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
south corner, nearest to the door into the north aisle, is one of
four lights, by Hardman, to the memory of Rev. H. Burrup, a
missionary, who died in Africa in 1862.
The second window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to
Rev. John Plumptre, who was Dean from 1808-1825.
The third window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to
Archdeacon Timbrill.
The fourth window (by Hardman) is a memorial to the Hon.
and Very Rev. Edward Rice, who was Dean from 1824 to 1862.
The fifth window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to the
Rev. T. Evans, D.D., a former Headmaster of the Cathedral
Grammar School ; died 1854.
The sixth window (by Hardman) is in memory of Miss Mary
Davies. The seventh window is a memorial (by Hardman) to Rev.
B. S. Claxson, D.D.
The eighth window is a memorial to Rev. John Luxmoore,
D.D., who, after being Dean of Gloucester from 1800-1808,
was Bishop of Bristol, later of Hereford, and finally of St.
Asaph, where he died in 1830.
The ninth window is a memorial to the Ven. Henry Wetherell,
B.D., a late Prebendary of Gloucester, who died in 1857.
The tenth and last window in this alley is by Clayton & Bell,
and is in memory of Rev. E. Bankes, D.C.L., late Canon of the
Cathedral, who died in 1867.
"At the north end of the east alley of the cloister, and almost concealed
by the later panelling, is an Early English doorway opening into a vaulted
passage or entry, chiefly of the thirteenth century. This entry passes
between the east gable of the frater and what I have suggested may have
been the common house-garden, and leads straight into the infirmary
cloister. The passage is covered by a stone vault of four bays, supported
by heavy moulded ribs springing from corbels. The south half of the
passage is 6 feet 10 inches wide, but the northern half of the east wall is set
back so as to increase the width to 7^ feet. This passage was lighted in
the first bay by a single light with trefoiled head, with very wide internal
splay. In the wider end were two other openings now blocked. That to
the north had a transom two-thirds of the height up, above which the rear-
arch is moulded, while below it is plain. The other is not carried above
the transom level, and the sill has been cut down and the opening made
into a doorway into a house outside ; in which state it remained until within
the last forty years. That some thirteenth- century building stood here
seems evident, and the upper half of the north opening was clearly a
window above the roof to light that end of the entry.
" The north end of the entry opens directly into the east alley of the

S. S. Solas df Co., Photo.]
CLOISTER GARTH FROM THE NORTH-WEST CORNER,
SHOWI.VG THE OLD DRAIN.

io8

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

infirmary or "farmery " cloister, which is built against the north side of the
east end of the frater. " ( Hope. )
North Alley (east to west). — This "north alley" was closed
at both ends by screens, and must therefore have had some
special use. From analogy with the arrangements at Durham
there can be little doubt that this alley was partly appropriated
to the novices. . . . We have curious evidence that the north alley
at Gloucester was so appropriated, in the traces of the games
they played at in their idle moods. On the stone bench against
the wall are scratched a number of diagrams of the forms here
represented :

The first is for playing the game caHed "Nine men's morris,''
from each player having nine pieces or men. The other two
are for playing varietes of the game of " F"ox and Geese."
" Traces of such games may generally be found on the
bench tables of cloisters where they have not been restored,
and excellent examples remain at Canterbury, Westminster,
Salisbury, and elsewhere. At Gloucester they are almost
exclusively confined to the novices' alley, the only others now
to be seen in the cloister being an unfinished ' Nine men's
morris ' board in the south alley, and one or two crossed
squares in the west alley." (Hope.)
In the north alley wall some of the lower halves of the five
easternmost windows have been re-opened, and the bricks with
which they were blocked removed.
The next bay contains traces of a doorway into the cloister-
garth that has been blocked.
The Monks' Lavatory takes up the next four bays. As
Mr Hope says, " it is one of the most perfect of its date that
have been preserved. It projects 8 feet into the garth, and is
entered from the cloister alley by eight tall arches with glazed
traceried openings above. Internally it is 47 feet long and
6| feet wide, and is lighted by eight two-light windows

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS 109
towards the garth and by a similar window at each end. One
light of the east window has a small square opening below, per-

i^. B. Solas S>' Co., Photo.] THE MONKS' LAVATORY,

haps for the admission of the supply pipes, for which there seems
to be no other entrance either in the fan vault or the side walls.

IIO GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Half the width of the lavatory is taken up by a broad, flat
ledge or platform against the wall, on which stood a lead cistern
or laver, with a row of taps, and in front a hollow trough,
originally lined with lead, at which the monks washed their
hands and faces. F'rom this the waste water ran away into a
recently discovered (1889) tank in the garth." (Hope.)
A plan of this tank is here shown by permission of Mr
Waller. It seems to have had a sluice at the west end
in order to dam up the water if required in greater volume for
flushing the drain.
Opposite the lavatory is a groined almery or recess in which
the monks kept their towels. The hooks and indications of
doors to this recess are still there. There are traces, too, of
screens or partitions in the lavatory arches.
To the west of the lavatory is a " curious arrangement. It
consists of a large opening in the lower part of the window, oc
cupying the space of two lights, with a separate chase in the head
carried up vertically on the outside. It had a transom at half
its height, now broken away, as is also the siU." (Hope.)
It is possible, as suggested by Mr J. W. Clark, F.S.A., that
this chase was lined with wood, and was the means by which
a bell rope passed out to ring the bell which summoned the
monks to meals.
The North Alley. — The windows in this alley as far as the
Monks' Lavatory have been filled recently, 1896-97, at the
expense of Baron de F"errieres of Cheltenham.
There are twenty-seven lights in aU, and they constitute the
lower part of five windows, a doorway taking the space of three
lights. The eighth contains a mitre and a crozier, an initial E
and the date 1022. This window is an anachronism, as Edric
was not a mitred abbot. Abbot Froucester was the first to
wear a mitre, in 1381.
Over the lavatory are four windows, also given by Baron de
Ferrieres. Like the windows in the lavatory, they contain sub
jects which are in some way connected with water.
The small two-light windows (ten in number) in the Monks'
Lavatory have been glazed by Hardman, at the expense of Mr
B. Bonnor.
A brass on the wall near the lavatory records that the
masonry of the north walk was restored by the Freemasons
of the province of Gloucester in 1896.

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS iii
The West Alley. — The north window of three lights has
been filled with glass (by Ballantyne) to the memory of mem
bers of a Gloucester family named Wilton.
The window was formerly an Early English doorway, which
can still be traced. "It retains the upper pair of the iron
hooks on which the doors were hung, and was the entrance

/^ . oa Aira s- Ft^o w. . LA.vA.T-o fE.y . "

OLD WATER TANK IN THE CLOISTER GARTH.
From a Drawing by F, S, Waller, F.R,I,B.A,
into the great dining-hall of the monks, called the refectorium,
or, in English, the frater," (Hope.) The effect of the window
is beyond words.
The Slype, or covered passage, which is entered from the
south-west corner of the cloisters, is a vaulted passage of Nor
man work, and is under part of the old Abbot's lodging — i.e.
the present Deanery.
This passage, which is on a lower level than the cloister, was
" the main entrance into the cloister from the outer court.
This entrance was always kept carefully guarded to prevent
intrusion by strangers or unauthorized persons." (Hope.)

112 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
The passage served as the outer parlour, in which the monks
held conversation with strangers and visitors.
The South Alley. — This alley has ten windows each of six
lights, but below the transoms the lights are replaced by twenty
carrels or recesses, two to each window. This was the place
to which the monks resorted daily for study (after they had
dined) until evensong. The first window — i.e. the westernmost
window nearest to the slype — is a memorial to J. Francillon,
Esq., a judge of the county court, who died in 1866. The
glass is by Hardman.
The first two carrel windows were filled with glass of a simple
and inoffensive nature, by T. Fulljames, Esq., and the rest were
filled by T. Holt, Esq., to the memory of members of his
family, their initials being inserted in the lower corners.
The last window in this south aHey is a memorial to R. B.
Cooper, Esq., as the brass tablet sets forth. The glass, which
is by Hardman, represents the conversion and the execution of
St. Paul.
Some of the windows in the cloister are glazed with a
peculiarly charming white glass, which admits plenty of light,
but is not transparent. The effect is most restful to the eyes
after examining some of the bizarre creations in the other
windows. When the cloisters are entirely filled with glass the windows
will contain a history of the Life of our Lord.
Britton, in 1828, bemoaned the conversion of the garth
into a kitchen garden, and showed how the accumulation of
vegetable refuse was injuring the stone-work. There are still
residents in Gloucester who can remember Dean Law digging
up his own potatoes in the garth. This is , now the private
garden of the Dean, and is very simply, and therefore charm
ingly, laid out. It contains the old well of the Abbey.
The present Deanery was originally the Abbot's lodging, in
which royal persons, high ecclesiastics, and nobles were enter
tained. When, however, in the fourteenth century, a new
Abbot's lodging was built on the site where the episcopal
palace now stands, the Abbot's old lodging was assigned to the
Prior. The Deanery (which, however, is not shown to visitors),
as it now stands, "consists of two main blocks, built on two
sides of a court — the one to the south, in the angle formed by
the cloister and the church; the other to the west, with the

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS 113
court between it and the cloister," The southern block, which
contained the private apartments of the Abbot, consists of three
large Norman chambers, one above the other, with their original
windows enriched within and without with zig-zag mouldings.
Each chamber has also in the north-east corner an inserted or

S. S. Solas &- Co., Photo.]
THE CLOISTER, SHOWING THE CARRELS OF THE MONKS.

altered doorway into a garde-robe tower (shown in Carter's
plan, 1807), but now destroyed ; and the two lowest
chambers have their southern corners crossed by stone
arches, moulded or covered with zig-zag ornaments. All
these chambers are subdivided by partitions into smaHer
rooms. Mr Hope says :

114. GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
" The ground storey is entered from a vaulted lobby or antechamber, now
modernized and converted into a porch. The first floor has a similar
antechamber, as had originally also the second floor, but this has been
altered. These antechambers are all of early thirteenth-century date, with
a good deal of excellent work remaining about the windows.
" Between the church and the rooms just described is a building of two
storeys. The ground storey consists of a vaulted passage, already described
as the outer parlour. It is on a lower level than the cloister, which is
reached from it by a flight of steps. Over it is a lofty room, also vaulted,
which was the abbot's chapel. It is now entered by an awkward skew
passage from the first-floor antechamber.
' ' Both the chapel and outer parlour were once 9 feet longer, but were
shortened, and their west ends rebuilt with the old masonry, at the same
time that, I have reason to believe, the west front of the church was rebuilt
and also curtailed of a bay in the fifteenth century. The first floor of all
this part of the house contained the abbot's private apartments, namely, his
dining-room, bedroom, solar, and chapel. The second floor was devoted
to his own special guests, while the ground storey contained a reception-
room, and probably accommodation for one or two servants.
"At the north-west corner of this southern block is a semi-octagonal
turret. Until this was altered a few years ago it contained the front
entrance into the deanery, and within it a flight of stairs led to a series of
landings communicating with the antechambers on the first and second
floors, as well as the rooms on the north. Both the turret and the landings
replace a much earlier entrance tower, nearly square in form, and of the
same date as the antechambers. Many traces of this remain, and show that
it was a handsome and important structure.
"The western block of buildings, which is connected with the southern
block by the turret and landings, has been so altered in the fifteenth century,
and further modernized and enlarged of late years, that it is very difficult to
make out the original arrangement. The southern half is two storeys high,
with a large hall on the upper floor and the servants' department below.
The hall is now divided into two rooms, lined with good Jacobean panelling,
and its fifteenth-century roof underdrawn by plaster ceilings.
" At the north end of the hall is another two-storey building. The lower
floor is of stone, and now contains various domestic offices. But originally
it formed part of a building of considerable architectural importance, as
may be seen from the jamb of an elaborate Early English window at the
north-west corner. From its position, this Early English building, which
seems to have extended westward as far as the inner gate, was most likely
the abbot's hall, and here doubtless took place the famous historical dia
logue between Edward II. and Abbot Thoky. * Some time before the end
of the fifteenth century this hall was cut down, and an upper storey of wood
built upon it, of which the east end still remains. At one time it evidently
extended further west. Internally it has been gutted, and now contains
nothing of interest to show its use. "
" The court of the Abbot's house was probably enclosed by
covered alleys on the north and west sides to enable the Abbot
* See Hart, i. 44.

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS 115
to pass into the cloister under cover. In the recent alterations
to the Deanery, a block of additional rooms has been built on
the west side of the court against the haU." (Hope.)
There is a timber-framed room on the north-west where
Richard II. is reputed to have held his parliament. It had a
narrow escape some years ago of being destroyed by a fire
caused by an overheated flue.
The new lodging for the Abbot (1316-1329, temp. Wygmore)
was built near the infirmary garden, on the site now occupied by
the Bishop's Palace. Drawings of the plans of the old buildings
(made in 1856) are in the custody of the Bishop, and reduced
reproductions of them are to be found in the " Records of
Gloucester Cathedral," 1897, in the article by Mr Hope. Part
of the buildings remain on the south side of Pitt Street, and
serve to screen the palace from the road.
The Bishop's Palace isa modern building, erected in 1857-
1862 by Christian on the site of the abbot's lodging.
The so-called Grove, laid out by a distinguished head
master of the King's School, Maurice Wheeler, 1684-17 12, on
the north side of the church, was used as a school playground till
1855, presumably to the detriment of the windows in the Lady
Chapel. It was in that year thrown into the gardens surrounding
the east end of the cathedral. These gardens had been originally
the monks' cemetery, and adjoining them had been the lay-folks'
cemetery, extending along the greater part of the south side.
When all the accumulation of soil was removed, and the ground
lowered, the foundations of the old walls were discovered.
The Cathedral, or King's School, is of Henry VIII.
foundation. For many years it was held in the old monastic
Hbrary. A drawing of it is given in Bonnor's "Perspective
Itinerary," 1796. The~present buildings date back to 1850.

Pliotochrom Co. Ltd., PJtoto.
SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE.

CHAPTER V
ABBOTS AND BISHOPS OF GLOUCESTER
Passing over the regimes of the Abbesses * and the secular
canons, we find that the first Abbot of the Benedictine rule at
Gloucester was Edtic (1022-1028), who in his long rule
maintained a very low standard of discipline. His monks seem
to have been as much addicted to " ill lyvynge " as the secular
canons. He was succeeded by Wulstan (1058-1072), a monk
of Worcester appointed by Bishop Aldred. In his time Aldred
rebuilt the monastery on new foundations. Wulstan died
abroad on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1072.
Serlo (107 2-1 103), the next Abbot, had been the Conqueror's
chaplain, and was a man of great strength of character, and of
quite a different stamp. He was buried in the abbey church,
which he had raised " from meanness and insignificance to a
glorious pitch."
Peter, who had been Prior, was Abbot from 1104-1113.
William Godemon, Godeman, or Godemore, was
Abbot from in 3-1 130, when he retired.
Walter de Lacy was appointed by Godeman and was con
secrated in II 3 1. In his time, Robert, Duke of Normandy,
surnamed Curthose, died at Cardiff after twenty-five years' im
prisonment, and was buried in the choir. Walter de Lacy died
in 1 1 39, and was succeeded by
Gilbert Foliot (i 139-1148), a Cluniac monk, who, owing
his position to his relative Milo, Earl of Hereford, was conse
crated in 1 139, He was made Bishop of Hereford in 1148,
and was translated thence to London. Though he owed much
to Becket, his patron and tutor, he is said to have taken the
king's side in the quarrels with Becket, and to have been
instrumental in the latter's assassination.
Hameline or Hammeline (1148-1179).
Thomas Carbonel (i 179-1205).
* They have been given on pp. 3 and 4.
117

II 8 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Henry Blond (or Blunt) (1205-12 24). Henry III. was
crowned in the Abbey in 1 2 1 6.
Thomas de Bredon (or Bredone) (i 224-1 228).
Henry Foliot (or Foleth) was Abbot from 1228-1243.
Walter de St. John died before his installation.
John de Felda (i 243-1 263).
Reginald de Hamme (or Homme) (i 263-1 283).
John de Gamages (i 284-1306).
John Thokey (or Toky) (1306-1329).
John Wygmore (or Wygemore) (1329-1337).
Adam de Staunton (1337-1351)-
Thomas Horton (1357-1377).
John Boyfield (1377-1381).
Walter Froucester (1381-1412).
The succession of Abbots, and the dates of various works
executed since Serlo's time, are taken entirely from the par
ticulars in the Chronicles "attributed" to Abbot Froucester
(1381-1412), who wrote of the Abbey and of twenty Abbots
after the Conquest. These Chronicles are the sole foundation
up to that date on which all the histories have been made.
There are three copies of them, one in the British Museum,
one in Queen's College, Oxford, and one in the Chapter
Library, which latter was lost for many years, and ultimately
heard of again in 1878 as being in the possession of a book
seller at Berlin, from whom it was rescued on a payment of
;£i5o by the Dean and Chapter.
Hugh Moreton (1412-1420).
John Morwent (or Marc'went) (1421-1437).
Reginald Boulers (Boulars or Butler) (Boteler)
(1437-1450). He became Bishop of Hereford and was trans
lated to Lichfield in 1453.
Thomas Seabroke (1450-145 7).
Richard Hanley (1457-1472). He began to build the
Lady Chapel, which was finished by
William Farley (1472-1498).
John Malvern or Mulverne was Abbot for one year
(1498-1499), and was succeeded by a monk named
Thomas Braunche (1500-1510), who in turn was suc
ceeded by
John Newton or Browne, D.D. (15 10-15 14).
William Malverne or Parker (1514-1539).

ABBOTS AND BISHOPS OF GLOUCESTER 119
Parker wrote a Rhythmical History of St. Peter's Abbey,
which was reprinted in the appendix of Hearne's " Robert of
Gloucester's Chronicle." It was compiled from local records
extending up to the time of Abbot Horton.
He subscribed in 1534 to the King's supremacy, and
remained Abbot till the dissolution of the greater monasteries.
Different traditions are current as to his behaviour. Willis
(in " Mitred Abbeys ") describes him as losing his pension
and the chance of preferment on the score of contumacy.
Another tradition asserts that the king promised him the
bishopric, but that he died before the appointment was made.
The place of his burial is not known, and it is hoped that his
tomb will escape desecration for the sake of gratifying mere
idle curiosity. Bishops of Gloucester.
John Wakeman (1541-1549) was the last abbot of
Tewkesbury, and chaplain to Henry VIII.
John Hooper (1550-1554) was originally a monk at
Cleeve ; afterwards became a Lutheran. He could not
comply with the statute of the Six Articles, and left Oxford in
1539 and went abroad. In Edward VI. 's reign he preached
the reformed doctrine in London. He was instrumental in
procuring the deprivation of Bishop Bonner in 1549, and was
extremely hostile to Gardiner. He was consecrated Bishop of
Gloucester and Worcester by Archbishop Cranmer. He was
summoned to London in 1553, and imprisoned. In 1554 his
bishopric was declared void. He refused to recant, and was
burnt as an obstinate heretic in Gloucester in 1555.
James Brookes (1554-1558). Formerly chaplain or
almoner to Bishop Gardiner, and a very zealous Papist. He
was delegated by the Pope for the examination and trial of
Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer.
Richard Cheiney or Cheyney (1561-1579).
John BuUingham (1581-1598).
Godfrey Goldsborough (1598-1604).
Thomas Ravis (1604-1607), previous to his institution,
had been Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the
translators of the Authorised Version. He was translated to
London.

120 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
Henry Parry (1607-1610) was translated from Rochester
in 1607, and from Gloucester went to Worcester.
Giles Thompson (1611-1612).
Miles Smith (1612-1624). He was one of the translators
of the Authorised Version, and is said to have written the
preface. Godfrey Goodman (1624-1640).
William Nicholson (1660-1671).
John Prickett or Prichard (1672-1680).
Robert Frampton (1680-1690) was Dean in 1673.
He refused to take the oath of allegiance and supremacy
after the accession of William III., and was deprived of
his office.
Edward Fowler (1691-1714).
Richard Willis (1714-1721) was translated to Salisbury in
1721, and thence to Winchester in 1725.
Joseph Wilcocks (172 1-1731). He was translated to
Rochester, which see he held, together with the Deanery of
Westminster. Hlias Sydall (1731-1733)- Translated from St. David's.
He was also Dean of Canterbury.
Martin Benson (1734-1752).
William Johnson (1752-1759) was translated to Worcester
in 1759.
William Warburton ( 1 759-1 7 79). The well-known editor
of Pope's works.
James Yorke (1779-1781). When Dean of Lincoln was
appointed Bishop of St. David's, then translated to Gloucester
in 1779, and in 1781 from thence to Ely.
Samuel Hallifax (1781-1789). In 1789 he was trans
lated to St. Asaph's, a curious reversal of the usual order of
episcopal promotion.
Richard Beadon (1789-1802) was Masterof Jesus College,
Cambridge, in 1781, but resigned on being made Bishop of
Gloucester. Was translated to Bath and Wells in 1802.
G. J. Huntingford (1802-1815). He was translated to
Hereford in 1815.
Henry Ryder (1815-1824). Was Dean of Wells, previously
Canon of Windsor. He was made Bishop of Gloucester in
1815 and was translated to Lichfield in 1824.
Christopher Bethell (1824-1830). Formerly Dean of

ABBOTS AND BISHOPS OF GLOUCESTER 121
Chichester. Was Bishop of Exeter for one year, 1830-1831,
and was then translated to Bangor.
James Henry Monk (1830-1856). Dean of Peterborough

//, C Oakden, Photo.] monument to MRS MORLEY.

in 1822. Consecrated Bishop of Gloucester 1830, and from
1838, when the sees of Gloucester and Bristol were united,
was Bishop till his death in 1856.
Charles Baring (1856-1861). Translated to Durham in
i86i.

122 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
William Thomson (1861-1862). Became Archbishop of
York in 1862.
Charles John Ellicott (1863- ). One of the ablest of
modern divines. He was chairman for eleven years of the New
Testament Revision Committee. He has pubHshed commen
taries on various epistles; also works on "Scripture and its
Interpretation," " Modern Scepticism " ; also a commentary for
English Readers on the Old and also on the New Testament.
The sees of Gloucester and Bristol were separated in 1897,
and the separation took effect as from January ist, 1898.
The City. — Gloucester has always been a town of import
ance, owing to its situation on the banks of the Severn. A
Roman camp was formed here in a.d. 43, and later it was
fortified with a massive wall (of which the traces still survive),
as befitted a military post equal in importance to Circencester,
Winchester, Chichester, and Colchester. Much of modern
Gloucester rests on Roman foundations.
After the Romans left Britain in 410 a.d., the country
suffered from the struggles between its petty kings, and from
the invading hosts of the Angles, Jutes, and Saxons. In the
end Gloucester, or Gleawan-ceastre, became one of the chief
cities of the Mercian kingdom. Alfred held a Witan in the
town in 896. Athelstan — the reputed founder of St. John's
church — died in it in 940. King Edgar resided there in 965.
Hardicanute and Edward the Confessor both held Witans
here, but Williana the Conqueror must always be the central
figure in the long line of notable men connected with the
history of Gloucester. It was in Gloucester that he spent
his Christmas vacations when he could, and it was in the
Chapter-House that he took " deep speech " with his wise
men, and ordered the compilation of Domesday Book. Rufus,
his son and successor, was often at Gloucester, and as Professor
Freeman wrote, "in the reign of Rufus almost everything that
happened at all, somehow contrived to happen at Gloucester."
His death was prophesied by the Abbot of Shrewsbury in a
sermon in the Abbey, and warning was sent to the king, but
it was of no effect.
Henry I., Henry II. , and John were frequently in the town,
and the youthful Henry III. was crowned in the Abbey in
1 2 16. Later on he was imprisoned in Gloucester by Sir Simon

THE CITY 123
de Montfort. Edward I. held a Parliament, which passed the
celebrated Statutes of Gloucester. Edward II. , foully murdered
in Berkeley Castle, was buried in the choir of the Abbey.
Richard II. , in 1378, held his famous Parliament in the
Abbey precincts. In this Parliament the House of Commons
secured for itself the right of controlling the financial arrange
ments of the nation.
Henry IV. and V. assembled their Parliaments in Gloucester,
and from Gloucester Richard III. is said to have issued the
death-warrant of his nephews. Henry VII. was well received
as Earl of Richmond, when he passed through the town on
his way to Bosworth Field. Henry VIIL, with Anne Boleyn,
is said to have spent a week in what is now the Deanery.
Later he visited the neighbourhood with Jane Seymour.
Elizabeth visited the town, and stayed in the old house next
to St. Nicholas' Church. She gave the city the privileges of
a seaport, much to the annoyance of Bristol. Gloucester
supplied one ship to the navy at the time of the Armada in
1588. In the disastrous Civil War the city played an
important part. It is said that the unpopularity of Laud,
who had been Dean of Gloucester, led the citizens to side with
the Parliament. They held the city under Colonel Massie,
against enormous odds, through a long siege, and the king,
who had his headquarters at Matson House, was obliged,
owing to the approach of Essex with relief, to raise the siege.
This was a most serious blow to the failing cause of Charles I.
During the Commonwealth the citizens seem to have lost
their heads somewhat, and to have turned against the officer who
had saved their city from destruction. Some, too, had made
arrangements for demolishing the Cathedral, but fortunately
were frustrated in their plans.
As a matter of policy the city congratulated Charles II. at
the Restoration in 1660, but without much result, as the walls
and gates were ordered to be destroyed. James II. visited
Gloucester, and is said to have touched over a hundred
persons for the king's evil, a proceeding to which he objected
on the score of expense.
The last two Georges visited the city, and Queen Victoria
visited it when Princess Victoria, and again later, after her
marriage. The city, like Tewkesbury, is a curious admixture of the

124 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
new and the old. It has long emerged from the primitive
state, and is now well drained and well supplied with water ;
but the heavy penalty attaching to transition has been paid,
and maiiy old houses and historic buildings, like the Tolsey
and others, have disappeared.
The history of Gloucester, commercially, is a history of
progress. In Domesday Book, Gloucester is mentioned in
connection with iron, the founding of nails for the king's
ships. As the ore was obtained locally, this branch of trade
flourished till the seventeenth century. Bell-founding was
practised as early as 1350 by John Sandre, and one of his
bells still hangs and rings in the cathedral tower. Cloth-
making, too, was practised, but, declining in the fifteenth
century, was superseded by pin-making, for which Gloucester
was for many years famous. Glass-making was carried on
in the seventeenth century, and the Rudhall family for several
generations had a bell-foundry of wide reputation.
Elizabeth made the town a seaport, and it is one still.
More than that, it is the most inland port in Britain, owing
to the Berkeley Ship Canal, which enables ships to dispense
with the awkwardness of a voyage up and down the tortuous
and dangerous Severn. It is to this canal that Gloucester
owes much of its present trade, as, by sea-going vessels, corn
and timber, its staple commodities, are brought in to the
many wharves in ever-increasing quantities. To the railways
— the Great Western and the Midland — the town also owes
much of its prosperity, and one great industry, that of railway
waggon building, gives employment to many pairs of hands.
In Gloucester, or its neighbourhood, will be found the
following buildings of interest : —
Llanthony Priory. — This was formerly an Augustinian
convent, with a church attached, founded by Milo, Earl of
Hereford, in 1136. It was founded as an asylum for the
convenience of the priory in Monmouthshire of the same
name, which was so liable to be harried and pillaged by the
Welsh. This priory was dissolved in 1539. The church was
finally destroyed to make way for the Ship Canal. Some
remains exist in a farm, of which the masonry is good. A
gateway, in the Perpendicular style, still survives.
St. Oswald's Priory.— In 909 the Princess Elfleda
caused the canonised relics of King Oswald to be removed

f^l BvrroW 1894^

Lrroiu a DraA-ing by K. J, Burrow.

126 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
and richly entombed at Gloucester. She also founded a
college for secular priests, but later on it was converted into
a priory for regular canons. (Refounded 1153.)
Attached to this priory was a chapel dedicated to St.
Catherine, which, after the dissolution of the priory, served
for a parish church until its destruction in the siege in 1643.
On this site the present Church of St. Catherine was built in
1867-69. The Grey Friars (or College of Friars minor, or Fran
ciscans). — This building formerly stood at the east end of the
Church of St. Mary de Crypt.
The White Friars (or College of CarmeHtes). — This
building, which was situated without Lower Northgate Street,
was founded by Queen Eleanor.
In the time of Elizabeth the college was converted into a
house of correction. , During the siege in 1643, it ^^s used as a
fortress. Portions of it remain incorporated with private houses.
The Black Friars (or College of Friars, Preachers). — This
college was established by Henry III. in 1237.
Remains of the building are still to be seen on the south
side of the thoroughfare called Blackfriars.
The college was dissolved in 1538.
St. Mary de Lode (or St. Mary before the Abbey Gate)
stands on the site of a Roman temple. The tower and
chancel are all that remain of the original church, the rest
being very disappointing, having been built in 1826. The
low square tower formerly had a lofty spire, which was
destroyed by a storm. The interior of the church has been
lately restored. The pulpit is a very fine specimen of carving.
In the chancel is a tomb which used to be pointed out as
that of Lucius, the first British Christian King.
St. John the Baptist (in Northgate Street). — The original
church is supposed to have been founded by King Athelstan.
The present building was buih in 1734, the tower being all
that is left of the old church. The communion plate was
presented in 1659 by Sir Thomas Rich.
St. Mary de Crypt (in Southgate Street) is well worth
inspection. It has two crypts — hence its name. The church
is Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular, and was built by
Robert Chichester, Bishop of Exeter, 1138-1155. It is cruci
form in shape, and, though much restored, of great interest.

CHURCHES AND REMAINS OF GLOUCESTER 127
There are interesting brasses to Luke Garnon, John Cooke
and his wife, and a curious squint or hagioscope. In the
choir vestry is a monument to R. Raikes. On the north side is
a marble monument to Dorothy Snell, by Scheemaker.
The communion plate is all early seventeenth century, and
very good, though it has suffered from careless handling.

Close by is the old building of the Crypt Grammar School.
The school has migrated to more open quarters.
St. Nicholas is situated at the bottom of Westgate Street,
and, owing to alterations in the street, is much below the level
of the road. The floor of the church is nearly two feet higher
than it was originally. There is much good Norman work, and
some good Early English with Perpendicular insertions.

128 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
On the south door is a fine (so-called) sanctuary knocker;
the door is quite unworthy of the knocker. Under the tower
is some good late Jacobean panelling. In the chancel are
two squints, four each side, arranged venetian-blind fashion.
Several of the tombs are worth inspecting — viz. the Window
monument in the chancel, 1659, and one to the wife of Rev.
Helpe-Fox, 1657. There is a good tomb to Alderman John
AValton and his wife, 1626, which, though in good preservation,
is beginning to suffer from damp. There is also a brass, 1585,
to Thos. Sancky; and a slab to John Hanbury, who repre
sented Gloucester in Parliament in 1626. A fine view of the
cathedral can be got from the top of the tower. The spire was
shortened after being damaged in a storm. The chimes are
worth hearing.
St. Michael's is situated where the four main streets meet,
and near the church was formerly the Cross. The church was
restored in 1885, and the monuments and tablets are all
grouped together. The most interesting is a brass of 1519, to
WiHiam Henshawe.
The curfew is still rung from the tower every evening.
Remains of Old Gloucester. — The New Inn was built
in Abbot Seabroke's time by John Twynning or Twining (one
of the monks), to accommodate the large number of pilgrims
who came to the shrine of Edward II.
Close by, at the corner of New Inn Lane, is a beautifully
carved angle post and bracket, which has been preserved for
many years by being plastered over (vide p. 130). The houses
on the right-hand side of the lane are also old.
The Gloucestershire Seed Warehouse, 154 Westgate Street,
does not look specially interesting, but up the passage, which
was formerly " Maverdine Lane," is a portion of the old front
of the house. It is a fine specimen of domestic architecture,
with very good windows, and has a distinctly Flemish look.
There are some good rooms inside, with oak panelHng and
carving. A chimney-piece bears the text, " I and my house will
serve the Lord," and it is dated 1633. The house is usuaHy
called the " Old Judge's House," but it is more famous as the
house from which Colonel Massie issued his orders in 1643,
when Gloucester was besieged by Charles I. (vide p. 125).
163 AVestgate Street contains a fine panelled room (the
greater part dating back from 1530-1550), which was discovered

CHURCHES AND REMAINS OF GLOUCESTER 129

\\\ ¦

THE NEW INN,

[From a Drawing by E, J. Burrow.

I30

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

in 1890 when alterations were being made. It is shown on
payment of a fee, which includes a printed description of the
house. Some of the carving — such as the Royal Arms of
England — seems earlier than 1520, but the arms may have been
copied from an earlier document. Near St. Nicholas' Church

is another interesting house, where Queen Elizabeth is said to
have stayed in one of her many progresses through the country.
The side of the house abuts curiously on the church of St.
Nicholas. Inside there is a quaint overmantel, with Eliza
bethan carving, and E.R. in the centre panel.
In Southgate Street, opposite the Corn Exchange, is a well-
known house with a carved front. There is an elaborate

CHURCHES AND REMAINS OF GLOUCESTER 131

over-mantel dated 1650. It bears the arms of the Yates, the
Berkeley, and the Box families. Opposite St. Nicholas' Church
is the Bishop Hooper Pharmacy. It is said to be the house
where the Bishop was kept closely guarded on the night before
his execution.

The house of Robert Raikes, of Sunday School fame, is a
fine house of three gables, and is well preserved.
The house where Raikes held his first Sunday School can
still be seen in St. Catherine Street, Hare Lane,
The old Roman wall can be seen in several places — e.g. at 36
Westgate Street, at Messrs Lea & Co.'s furniture warehouse
in Northgate Street, at Mr John Bellows' in Eastgate Street.
The Gloucester Candlestick. — One of the most interest
ing relics of the Abbey of Gloucester is a candlestick which is
now in the museum at South Kensington. It is a remarkably
fine piece of metal work, about 16 inches in height, cast by
the cera perduta process in very pale bronze, richly gilt and

132 GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL
decorated. The upright stem is divided into two compartments
by bosses, ornamented with the emblems of the Evangelists,
and supporting a cup at the top. A triangular base supports
the stem, and the whole is enriched with forty-two monsters
in various grotesque attitudes, wrestling and struggling with
nine human beings.
Round the stem is a ribbon bearing the inscription —
ABBATIS PETRI GREGIS ET DEVOTIO MITIS ME DEDIT
ECCLESIE SANCTI PETRI GLOUCESTRE.
Round the cup is a ribbon, on the outside of which a couplet
is inscribed —
LUCIS ONUS VIRTUTIS OPUS DOCTRINA REFULGENS
PREDICAT UT VICIO NON TENEBRETUR HOMO.
Inside this same ribbon are two hexameters —
HOC CENOMANNENSIS RES ECCLESIE POCIENSIS
THOMAS DITAVIT CUM SOL ANNUM RENOVAVIT.
After its removal from Gloucester, the candlestick was given
to the Cathedral of Le Mans by Thomas de Poche or de
Poce (pociENSis). Subsequently it belonged to the Marquis
d'Espaulart of Le Mans, and was sold to Prince Soltykoff
for about ;^8oo, and finally was bought from his collection for
^680 for the Museum at South Kensington.
Bishop Hooper's Memorial stands in the churchyard of
St. Mary de Lode, and is on the actual site of the burning.
This is perhaps the chief or the only interest in the memorial,
as its architectural merit is almost nil The inscriptions to pre
vent defacement are glazed over, and as the glass is broken
the effect is wretched. A previous monument to the Bishop
was erected at the other end of the churchyard.
An interesting relic of the execution of the Bishop is in
possession of the rector of St. Mary's Church — viz. the ser
geant's mace, which was the authority of the soldiers who
conducted the Bishop down to Gloucester. This mace, which
is the only surviving example of a London sergeant's mace,
was found in a house in Westgate Street, belonging to a Mr
Ingram. It is to be hoped that some day the mace may be
deposited in some public national museum.

NOTES, ARCHITECTURAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL

South Porch, West
End of Nave, and
Aisles.

South Aisle of Nave.

Nave.

North Aisle of Nave.

South Transept.
Choir and Presby
tery.

Ambulatory and
Chapels.

>

Style.

rPilasters N.,
-j Windows and
(^Groining D.
rPiers, Arches,
J Triforium,
1 Groining E. E.,
(.Windows P.
j" Walls andGroin-
-j ing N., Win-
(_dows P.
Tr. (D. to P.)
/P. cased on N. ")
\Walls. /
(Walls and Groin
ing N., Win
dows D. and P.
inserted in N.
Openings.

Lady Chapel.
North Transept.
Reliquary.
Cloisters, S.E. part.
, , rest.
Abbot's Cloister.
Chapter- House
West-End.
Chapter-House East End.
Tower. These Notes are adapted from Mr F. S. Waller's "Notes and Sketches."
N. Norman. E. E. Early English. Tr. Transitional. D, Decorated.
P. Perpendicular. K 133

P. on N. Walls.
E.E. D. to P. \
N.N. and P.
P.

Abbot at the Time.
Morwent.

Serlo.
Thokey.

Serlo.
Foliot.Morwent.

Serlo.Morwent.
Wygmore.Staunton and
Horton.

Thokey, Wygmore,
Staunton, and Hor
ton.

Hanleyand Fawley.
Horton.
Foliot. ( ? )
Horton.Boyfield and
Froucester. Serlo. Hanley.
Seabroke.

Date.
1421-1437.
1089- noo.
1307-1329.1089- 1 100.
1242.1421-1437.
1089- II 00.
1421-1437-
c. 1330.
1337-1377-

1307-1377-
1457-1499-1368-1373.
c. 1240.
1351-1377- I38I-I4I2.
I089-IIOO.
c. 1460.
1450-1457-

SITE. -OF - R.E.PfeCTOR^Y. ^
U\^\,^\\\'^\\\\\\,^\x\^^\\\^.^^\\.^x'^^\^'''^<^^^LAVATORY ; I ','¦¦'¦

K.PtNE EARLV ENGLISH DOUttWAVS -tni
WEST — FORMERLY LEADING TO
HEFECTORV.

PLAN OF
GLOUCESTER
CATHEDRAL
General Dimensions.

Length,

Width.

Height

Ft.

Ft.

Ft.

Nave

174

34

68

Aisles

174

15

40

Choir and Presbytery

140

33

86

North Transept

46

34

7«

South Transept

46

34

86

Lady Chapel .

90

25

46

Chapter-House

72

33

35

Cloisters .

147 (±

) 12

iH

Tower

40 on

roof 40

225

Total length inside

407

,, outside .
425
Area
30,600
square feet.
[From a Drawing by F. S. Waller, F.R.LB.A.
W^ H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.
RIVERSIDE PRESS, EDINBURGH

Bell's Cathedral Series,
EDITED liY
GLEESON WHITE and E. F. STRANGE.
In specially designed cloth cover, crown 8vo, JS. 6d. each.
Now Ready.
CANTERBURY. By Hartley Withers. 2nd Edition, revised,
36 Illustrations,
SALISBURY, By Gleeson White. 2nd Edition, revised,
50 Illustrations.
CHESTER. By Charles Hiatt. 24 Illustrations.
ROCHESTER. By G, Ii. Palmer, B.A. 38 Illustrations,
OXFORD, By Rev. Percy Dearmer, M.A, 34 Illustrations,
EXETER, By Percy Addleshaw, B,A, 35 Illustrations.
WINCHESTER, By P, W. Sergeant, 50 Illustrations.
LICHFIELD. By A. B. Clifton. 42 Illustrations.
NORWICH. By C. H. B, Quennell, 38 Illustrations,
PETERBOROUGH, By Rev, W, D, Sweeting. 51 Illustrations.
HEREFORD. By A. Hugh Fisher, A.R,E. 34 Illustrations.
LINCOLN. By A. F. Kendkick, B,A. 46 Illustrations,
WELLS, By Rev. Percy Dearmer, M.A. 43 Illustrations.
SOUTHWELL. By Rev. Arthur Dimock, M.A. 37 Illustrations.
In the Press.
DURHAM. By J, E. Bygate. | GLOUCESTER, By H. J, I„ J. Masse,
YORK. By A, Glutton Bkock, B,A,
Preparing.
ST, DAVID'S. By Philip Robson, I CHICHESTER, By H, C. Corlette,
ELY. By T. D. Atkinson, A,R.I,B,A, A,R,I.B,A,
WORCESTER. By E, F. Stkange. |
ST. ALBANS, RIPON. ST. PAUL'S,
CARLISLE, BRISTOL,
Uriiforvt with above Series.
ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY, By the Rev, Canon Routledge, [Reaa'y.
BEVERLEY MINSTER, By Charles Hiatt, [In the Press.
Opinions of the Press.
"For the purpose at which they aim they are admirably done, and
there are few visitants to any of our noble shrines who will not enjoy their
visit the better for being furnished with one of these delightful books,
which can be slipped into the pocket and carried with ease, and is yet
distinct and legible, ... A volume such as that on Canterbury is exactly
what we want, and on our next visit we hope to have it with us. It is
thoroughly helpful, and the views of the fair city and its noble cathedral
are beautiful. Both volumes, moreover, will serve more than a temporary
purpose, and are trustworthy as well as delightful, " — Notes and Queries.
* ' We have so frequently in these columns urged the want of cheap,
well - illustrated, and well -written handbooks to our cathedrals, to take
the place of the out-of-date publications of local booksellers, that we are
glad to hear that they have been taken in hand by Messrs George Bell
& Sons," — St. James's Gazette.
"Visitors to the cathedral cities of England must often have felt the
need of sorae work dealing with the history and antiquities of the city
itself, and the architecture and associations of the cathedral, more portable
than the elaborate monographs which have been devoted to some of them,
more scholarly and satisfying than the average local guide-book, and more
copious than the section devoted to them in the general guide-book of the

county or district. Such a legitimate need the 'Cathedral Series' now
being issued by Messrs George Bell & Sons, under the editorship of Mr
Gleeson White and Mr E. F. Strange, seems well calculated to supply.
The volumes are handy in size, moderate in price, well illustrated, and
written in a scholarly spirit. The history of cathedral and city is in
telligently set forth and accompanied by a descriptive survey of the
building in all its detail. The illustrations are copious and well selected,
and the series bids fair to become an indispensable companion to the
cathedral tourist in England." — Times.
"They are nicely produced in good type, on good paper, and contain
numerous illustrations, are well written, and very cheap. We should
imagine architects and students of architecture will be sure to buy the
series as they appear, for they contain in brief much valuable information. "
— British Architect.
" Half the charm of this little book on Canterbury springs from the
writer's recognition of the historical association of so majestic a building
with the fortunes, destinies, and habits of the English people. . . . One
admirable feature of the book is its artistic illustrations. They are
both lavish and satisfactory — even when regarded with critical eyes." —
Speaker. ' ' There is likely to be a large demand for these attractive handbooks. "
— Globe.
" Bell's ' Cathedral Series,' so admirably edited, is more than a descrip
tion of the various English cathedrals. It will be a valuable historical
record, and a work of much service also to the architect. The illustrations
are well selected, and in many cases not mere bald architectural drawings
but reproductions of exquisite stone fancies, touched in their treatment by
fancy and guided by art." — Star.
' ' Each of them contains exactly that amount of information which the
intelligent visitor, who is not a specialist, will wish to have. The dis
position of the various parts is judiciously proportioned, and the style is
very readable. The illustrations supply a further important feature ; they
are both numerous and good. A series which cannot fail to be welcomed
by all who are interested in the ecclesiastical buildings of England." — ¦
Glasgow Herald.
"Those who, either for purposes of professional study or for a cultured
recreation, find it expedient to 'do' the English cathedrals will welcome
the beginning of Bell's ' Cathedral Series.' This set of books is an
attempt to consult, more closely, and in greater detail than the usual
guide-books do, the needs of visitors to the cathedral towns. The series
cannot but prove markedly successful. In each book a business-like
description is given of the fabric of the church to which the volume
relates, and an interesting history of the relative diocese. The books are
plentifully illustrated, and are thus made attractive as well as instructive.
They cannot but prove welcome to all classes of readers interested either
in English Church history or in ecclesiastical architecture. " — Scotsman.
"A set of little books which may be described as very useful, very
pretty, and very cheap .... and alike in the letterpress, the illustra
tions, and the remarkably choice binding, they are ideal guides." —
Liverpool Daily Post.
"They have nothing in common with the almost invariably wretched
local guides save portability, and their only competitors in the quality and
quantity of their contents are very expensive and mostly rare works, each
of a size that suggests a packing-case rather than a coat-pocket. The
' Cathedral Series ' are important compilations concerning history, archi
tecture, and biography, and quite popular enough for such as take any
sincere interest in their subjects." — Sketch.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS.

3 9002 08854 1330