mm HEREFORD THE CATHEDRAL AND SEE BRITISH ART REFERENCE MAB4-11 IP ^f:r-rs^' CATHEDRAL SERIES XLX-Ml PLAN AND ILLUSTRATIONS '- '^^ — BELL'S CATHEDRAL SERIES: EDITED BY GLEESON WHITE AND EDWARD F. STRANGE HEREFORD THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF HEREFORDA DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL SEE A. HUGH FISHER WITH FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1898 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 genealogy 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 weU- known works of Britton and WUlis 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. EDWARD F. STRANGE. Editors of the Series. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. In addition to the well-known books mentioned in the General Preface, the " Monastic Chronicles " and many other works named in the text, some dealing especially with Hereford have been of valuable assistance to me in preparing this little book. Amongst these are the various careful studies of the Rev. Francis Havergal, Dean Merewether's exhaustive "Statement of the Condition and Circumstances of the Cathedral Church of Hereford in the Year 1 841," and "The Diocese of Hereford," by the Rev. H. W. PhiUott. My best thanks are also due to the Photochrom Company for their excellent photographs. A. HUGH FISHER. CONTENTS. The Central Tower The Vicars' Cloisters PAGE Chapter I.— History of the Building ... .3 Chapter II. — Exterior . . ... 26 27 Bishop Booth's Porch ... .28 The North Transept . 28 The Lady Chapel ... . . .29 The Bishops' Cloisters ... 30 The Chapter-House . ... 30 32 Chapter III. — Interior 34 The Nave . . ... 34 The Screen ... ... . . 38 The Central Tower . . 41 The North Transept . ... 43 The South Transept 51 The Bishops' Cloisters . . . 56 The South-East Transept . . 57 The Lady Chapel . . .... '59 The Audley Chantry . 66 The Crypt . . .67 The Vicars' Cloisters . . . 68 The North-East Transept ... 69 The Choir . . . . . -74 The Choir Stalls . ... . . 79 The Cathedral Library . . . 80 Reliquary of St Thomas of Canterbury . . 84 Ancient Gold Rings . . .86 The Stained Glass ... -87 Chapter IV. — History of the See . 90 Dimensions of the Cathedral ... . .112 ILLUSTRATIONS. Hereford from the Wye ... . Frontispiece Arms of Hereford ... . Title Hereford Cathedral, from the South-East ... 2 Gargoyles in the Cloisters . . . . 13, 93, 108, 109 The Audley Chapel . i6 The West Front, from an old print . . .19 The Nave after the fall of the West End .... 21 The Cathedral, from the North, at the end of the Seventeenth Century .23 Bishop Booth's Porch and North Transept ... 27 General View, from the West ..... 29 Exterior of the Lady Chapel . . 31 The Cloisters, with the Ladies' Arbour 33 The North Porch .... -35 The Nave . . 37 The Choir Screen . . ... . . 39 Section through Tower and Transepts ... .40 North Arch of Central Tower, showing Masonry erected about 1320 43 The North Transept ... . . 45 The Cantilupe Shrine . . .49 East Wall of the South Transept . . 53 The Lady Chapel ..... .60 Section through Lady Chapel and Crypt . 61 Arch discovered at Entrance of Lady Chapel 62 Seal of Johanna de Bohun ... .64 The Crypt . .67 View behind the Altar, looking North . . .71 Compartment of Choir, Exterior, North Side . 74 Compartment of Choir, Interior, North Side . . '75 East End of the Choir in 1841 77 Early English Window Moulding . . 79 The Reredos 81 Ancient Reliquary in the Cathedral . . . . 85 Monumental Crocket ... 88 Early English Basement Moulding . . 88 Tomb of Bishop Thos. Charleton . . .99 Bye Street Gate, firom an old print ..... no Plan . . . m Photochrom Co., Ld., Photo.] HEREFORD CATHEDRAL, FROM THE SOUTH-EAST. HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. CHAPTER I. THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. The early history of Hereford, like that of the majority of cathedral churches, is veiled in the obscurity of doubtful speculation and shadowy tradition. Although the see had existed from the sixth century, it is not till much later that we have any information concerning the cathedral itself. From 755 to 794 there reigned in Mercia one of the most powerftd and important rulers of those times, — King Offa. He was a contemporary of Charles the Great, and more than once these two sovereigns exchanged gifts and letters. Under Offa Mercia became the first power in Britain, and in addition to much fighting with the West Saxons and the Kentish men he wrested a large piece of the country lying west of the Severn from the Welsh, took the chief town of the district which was afterwards called Shrewsbury, and like another Severus made a great dyke from the mouth of the Wye to that of the Dee which became henceforth the boundary between Wales and England, a position it has held with few changes to the present day. In church history Offa is of no less importance than in secular, for as the most powerful King in England he seems to have determined that ecclesiastical affairs in this country should be more under his control, or at least super vision, than they could possibly be with the Mercian church subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 786, therefore, he persuaded the Pope to create the Archbishopric of Lichfield. 4 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. Although Canterbury regained its supremacy upon Offa's death when Lichfield was shorn by a new Pope of its recently acquired honours, the position gained for the latter see by Offa, though temporary in itself, must have had lasting and important influence. Offa is generally held responsible for the murder, about 793, of ^Ethelberht, King of the East Angles, who had been promised his daughter, ^Ethelthryth, in marriage. Had ^thelberht been gifted with a knowledge of future events (which would not have been a more wonderful attribute- than many of the virtues which were ascribed afterwards tO' his dead body), he could hardly have desired a more glorious fate. His murder gained for him martyrdom with its immortal glory, and he could scarce have met his death under happier auspices. Visiting a king's residence to fetch his bride he died by the order of a man whose memory is sullied by no other stain, a man renowned in war, a maker of laws for the good of his people, and eminent in an ignorant age as one who- encouraged learning. Legend and tradition have so obscured this event that beyond the bare fact of the murder nothing can be positively asserted, and the brief statement of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, " 792. This year Offa, King of the Mercians, commanded the head of King JSthelberht to be struck off," contains all that we may be certain of. One writer speaks of a hired assassin, and others lay the crime at the door of Cynethryth, Offa's Queen, who is said to have insinuated that the marriage was only sought as a pretext to occupy the Mercian throne. Finding her lord's courage not equal to the occasion, she herself arranged the end of .^thel- berht. There is talk of a pit dug in his sleeping-chamber and a chair arranged thereover, which, with an appearance of luxurious comfort, lured him to his fate. The body was,. according to one writer, privately buried on the bank of the river " Lugg," near Hereford. "On the night of his burial," says the Monkish Annalist, "a column of light, brighter than the sun, arose towards heaven " ; and three nights afterwards the figure (or ghost) of King yEthelberht appeared to Brithfrid, a nobleman, and commanded him to convey the body to a place called "Stratus Waye," and to inter it near the monastery there. Guided by another column of light, Brithfrid, having placed the body and the THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 5 head on a carriage, proceeded on his journey. The head fell from the vehicle, but having been discovered by a " blind man," to whom it miraculously communicated sight, was restored by him to the careless driver. Arrived at his place of destination, ¦then called "Fernlega" or "Saltus Silicis," and which has since been termed Hereford, he there interred the body. Whatever the motive for the crime, there is ample evidence of Offa's subsequent remorse. In atonement he built monasteries and ¦churches, and is even said by some to have gone on a pilgrim age to Rome, though this rests on slight evidence. The miracles worked at the tomb of the murdered King ¦were, according to Asser, so numerous and incredible that Offa, who had appropriated vEthelberht's kingdom, was induced ito send two bishops to Hereford to ascertain the truth of them, .and it is generally agreed that about a.d. 825 Milfrid, who was "Viceroy to the Mercian King Egbert after the death of Offa and of his son Egfrid, expended a large sum of money in building " Ecdesiam cgregiam, lapidea striictura " at Hereford, •which he consecrated to the martyred monarch, and endowed -with lands and enriched with ornaments. Although one of the old chroniclers calls it a church of stone, it is quite uncertain what were the materials, size, or architectural character of this edifice. It seems, however, that by 1012, when Bishop Athelstan was promoted to the see, it had fallen into sheer ruin, or, at any rate, sufficient decay to necessitate his beginning a new building. Of this no clearer account has been handed down to us than of Milfrid's church. •Soon after it was finished Algar or Elfgar, Earl of Chester, son of the Earl of Mercia, was charged with treason at a Witan in London, and (though his guilt is still disputed) was outlawed by Edward the Confessor. He hired a fleet of Danish pirate ships from the Irish coast, joined King Gruffydd in Wales, and marched with him into Herefordshire, determining to make war upon King Edward. Here they began with a victory about two miles from Hereford over the Earl of that shire ¦who was a Frenchman, and tried to make hi-s men fight on horseback in the French fashion, which they did not under stand, — the English way being for the great men to ride to the field of battle, but there to dismount and fight with their hea\y axes on foot. Earl Ralph, the Frenchman, turned his horse's head and fled the field, and the English, encumbered with 6 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. their long spears and swords, followed belter skelter. After killing some five hundred, .(Elfgar and Gruffydd turned to Hereford and came upon the church which Bishop Athel stan had caused to be built. There ihey met with a spirited resistance : amongst other victims seven of the canons were killed in an attempt to hold the great door of the minster ; but, ultimately, the church and town were burned. Earl Harold, son of Earl Godwin, himself, when it was too late, came with half of his army to Hereford, and with his usual predilection for peace (notwithstanding his valour) soon after removed the outlawry from ^Elfgar, and quiet was restored. In 1056, the year following this disaster, the worthy Bishop Athelstan died at Bosbury. He had been blind for thirteen years before his death, and a Welsh bishop had acted for him. His body was interred in the church which he had " built from the foundations," and we may therefore suppose that the "minster" was not entirely destroyed. In 1057, on the death of Earl Ralph, the Frenchman, so important was Herefordshire, through its position on the Welsh borders, and, since it had been strengthened by Harold, such an important military post was the town of Hereford, that it became part of his earldom. From 1055 to 1079 the minster is said to have been in ruins. At the latter date Bishop Lozing (Robert de Losinga) began to rebuild the cathedral, and there are vague accounts that it was in the form of a round church in imitation of a basilica of Charlemagne which had been built at Aix-la- Chapelle between 774 and 795. If such a form ever existed it must have been completely destroyed, as the work of the Norman period that remains is clearly English both in treatment and in detail. If this could be proved to be Lozing's work, then it had no similarity to the Roman style. The building begun by him was carried on by Bishop Raynelm, who held the see from 1 107 to 1115, and placed on a more regular basis the establishment of canons living under a rule. These prebendaries or canons did not live in common like the monks, but in separate houses near the church. Whether he completed the building or not. Bishop Raynelm undoubtedly made many additions and alterations. We may here quote an interesting account of the duties of THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 7 the cathedral treasurer, which were probably settled about this time. They throw a curious and suggestive light on the ceremonies of the period. "At Hereford," says Walcott, "he found all the lights ; three burning day and night before the high aliar ; two burning there at matins daily, and at mass, and the chief hours on festivals ; three burning perpetually, viz., in the chapter-house, the second before S. Mary's altar, and the third before the cross in the rood-loft ; four belore the high altar, and altar on " Minus Duplicia," a.nA hwc tapers in basons, on principles, and doubles, at mass, prime, and second vespers, four tapers before the high altar, five in the basons, thirteen on the beam, and seven in the candelabra ; the paschal and portable tapers for processions. He kept the keys of the treasury, copes, palls, vestments, ornaments, and the plate, of which he rendered a yearly account to the dean and chapter. He found three clerks to ring the bells, light the candles, and suspend the palls and curtains on solemn days. He found hay at Christmas to strew the choir and chapter-house, which at Easter was sprinkled with ivy leaves ; and on All Saints' day he provided mats."^ The next great changes were made under Bishop William de Vere (1186-1199). His work was of transitional character, and bears much resemblance to the beautiful transitional work at Glastonbury. He removed the three Norman apsidal termina tions at the east end, doubled the presbytery aisles, thus making two side chapels in each transept which have since been re placed by the Lady Chapel with its vestibule. In a paper read before the Archaeological Institute in 1877, Sir G. G. Scott suggests that the central apse projected one bay beyond the sides ; but this is merely conjecture. A curious feature in De Vere's work was his putting columns in the middle of the central arch. It is probable that the part of the presby tery we now have was but the beginning of a larger scheme never carried out, which included building the presbytery and dividing the eastern wall into two arches instead of one as at Lichfield and Exeter. According to Sir Gilbert Scott's theory, the Early English Lady Chapel was an extension of the work of Bishop de Vere : it is especially interesting, and an unique example of its date in being raised upon a crypt. ' Cathedralia, p. 59. 8 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. At the Bishop's palace was a splendid hall of which it seems likely De Vere was the builder, — at any rate he must have been the first or second occupier. It was of noble dimensions, being i lo feet in length, consisting of a nave 23 feet broad, with aisles 16 feet wide, independently of the columns. This was divided into five bays by pillars supporting timber arches formed of two pieces of curved oak. Nearly the whole of the present Bishop's palace is included within the space occupied by this grand hall. In II 88 when Archbishop Baldwin made pilgrimage into Wales on behalf of the crusade, he was entertained in this hall by Bishop de Vere, and doubtless some of those who devoted themselves to the work were Hereford men. The central tower of the cathedral, that fine example of de corated work, covered with its profusion of ball-flower ornament, was built by, or at any rate during the episcopate of, Giles de Braose (1200-1215), an ardent opponent of King John. The remaining examples of decorated date are the inner north porch (as distinct from the addition of Bishop Booth) and what remains of the beautifully designed chapter-house, a decagon in plan, each side except the one occupied by the entrance being subdivided into five seats. During the term of office of Bishop Foliot (1219-1234), a tooth of St. ^thelberht, whose remains had been almost entirely destroyed by Elfgar and Gruffuth in 1055, was given to the cathedral. The donor of this precious relic was Philip de Fauconberg, Canon of Hereford and Archdeacon of Hunting don. The next Bishop, Ralph de Maydenstan, 1 234-1 239, pre sented some service-books to the cathedral. In 1 240 Henry III., with his wonted preference for foreigners, appointed to the Hereford bishopric, Peter of Savoy, generally known as Bishop Aquablanca, from Aqua Bella, his birthplace, near Chambery. He it was who rebuilt the north transept. He was one of the best hated men in England, and not con tent with showering benefices upon his relations, he perpetrated one of the greatest frauds in history in order to raise money to aid the annexation schemes of Popes Innocent IV. and Alex ander IV. Of these, however, full particulars will be found in a chapter on the Diocese. While he was absent in Ireland collecting tithes, attended THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 9 by a guard of soldiers, Prince Edward, coming to Hereford to resist the encroachments of Llewellyn, King of Wales, found there neither bishop, dean, nor canons resident. For this they •earned the severe reprimand of the King, and the Bishop re turned to Hereford. Shortly after, he was seized within the ¦cathedral precincts by the insurgent barons of Leicester's party, together with all the foreign canons (who were his own relations). They were carried to Eardisley Castle, where the spoil they had just brought from Ireland was divided among the insurgents. Bishop Aquablanca died soon after these events, in 1268. He was endowed with a character full of contradictions, extreme aggressiveness, mingled with remarkable tact. When he got the better of the Hereford citizens, after their attempt to encroach upon his episcopal rights, he remitted one full half of their fine and devoted the other to the cathedral building. While he was showing in his life a disgraceful example to the clergy of the country, at the same time he gave liberally to the cathedral foundation in books, ornaments, money, and land, left a rich legacy to the poor, and a lasting monument in the rebuilding of the north transept of the cathedral itself. With the exception of the arches, leading into the aisles of the nave and choir, the Norman work of the transept was altogether demolished, and replaced by another consisting of two bays with an eastern aisle. Over the latter was built a story now used as the cathedral library, which is approached from the north aisle ¦of the presbytery by a staircase turret. His tomb is one of the finest in the cathedral. Under it, together with those of his nephew, a Dean of Hereford, are his own remains, except the heart, which, as he had wished, was carried to his own country •of Savoy. In 1275 the Chapter of Hereford elected to the bishopric Thomas de Cantilupe, one of the greatest men who has ever held that office, a man whose life was in almost every way a remarkable contrast to that of his predecessor. Bishop Aqua blanca. It is said that the Bishop of Worcester, his great- uncle, asked him as a child as to his choice of a profession, and that he answered he would like to be a soldier. " Then, sweetheart," his uncle is said to have exclaimed, "thou shalt be a soldier to serve the King of Kings, and fight under the banner of the glorious martyr, St. Thomas." Regular attendance at mass was his custom from earliest years. Both at Oxford ID HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. and Paris he distinguished himself, gaining his degree of M.A. at the Sorbonne, and on his return accepted, at the request of the university of Oxford and with the consent of the King, the office of chancellor. In this capacity he showed singular courage and determination in repressing a brawl between the southern scholars and those of the north, in which we are told he escaped with a whole skin, but not with a whole coat. He was chosen to fill the post of Chancellor of England under Simon de Montfort, at whose death, however, he was- deprived of the office. It was some years after this that he became Bishop of Hereford, and was consecrated at Canterbury, September Sth, 1275. No Welsh bishop attended the con secration. After he became a bishop he still wore his hair-shirt and showed ever intense devotion in his celebration of divine service. , He was remarkable in the steadfastness and abihty he displayed in maintaining the rights of the see. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, claiming a certain " chace " near Malvern Forest, whence came the Bishop's supply of game, found a relentless opponent in Bishop Cantilupe. The Bishop was. prepared with the customary "pugil" or champion (who received 6s. 8d. per annum), though his services were not required. The Earl was excommunicated, and appealing to- the law in a trial Bishop Cantilupe eloquently maintained his. right to capture " buck, doe, fawn, wild cat, hare, and all birds pertaining thereto," and as a result of the verdict being in his favour, caused a long trench to be dug on the crest of the Malvern Hills as a boundary line, which is still traceable. Llewellyn, King of Wales, was made to restore three manors of which he had obtained unlawful possession ; and Lord Clifford, for cattle-lifting and maltreating the Bishop's tenants, was compelled to walk barefoot to the high altar in the cathedral, while the Bishop personally chastised him with a rod. Many cases did he fight out successfully, but his greatest struggle was on a question of testamentary jurisdiction with Peckham, Archbishop of Canterbury, by whom he was ulti mately excommunicated and obliged to leave the country,. attended by Swinfield, bis faithful chaplain. He obtained a decree in his favour from Pope Martin IV., but died on the homeward journey on August 25th, 1282. THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 11' He was buried in the church of St. Severus, near Florence ; but his bones having been divided from the flesh by boiling, were later carried to England and solemnly placed in the Lady Chapel of the cathedral. It is said that the Earl of Gloucester, with whom Bishop Cantilupe had had the dispute about the chace, attended the ceremony, and that blood began to flow from the bones when he approached the casket containing them ; upon which the Earl immediately restored the property he had taken unjustly from the church. Forty years later Bishop Cantilupe was canonised. It is said, amongst other evidences of his saintliness, that he never allowed his sister to kiss him. Three hundred sick people are said to have been cured at the place of his interment, and so^ many candles were presented by the crowds of visitors that Luke de Bray, the treasurer of the cathedral, had a dispute with the prebendaries as to the value of the wax, two-thirds being finally assigned to the treasurer and one-third to the pre bendaries. After five years Bishop Cantilupe's bones were removed to the Chapel of St. Katherine, in the north-west transept, on Maundy Thursday, April 6th, 1287, in presence of King Edward I. They were again twice moved in the sixteenth century to the Lady Chapel and back again to the north-west transept. The building of the chapter-house may have spread over some part of Cantilupe's episcopate, and probably part of the cloisters were erected about this time. The miracles said to have been wrought at the shrine of St. Cantilupe are both many and various. More than sixty-six dead people are said to have been restored to life. The saint's intervention appears to have been extended even to animals,^ as we find that King Edward I. twice sent sick falcons to be cured at this tomb. So great was the reverence for the saint that the See of Hereford was allowed by the Crown to change its armorial bearings for the arms of Cantilupe, which all its bishops have since borne. ' Bishop Cantilupe was succeeded by his devoted chaplain, Richard Swinfield, an excellent preacher and a man of agreeable manners. Bishop Swinfield, like his predecessor, stoutly vindi cated the rights and discipline of his diocese, once against a layman for taking forcible possession of a vacant benefice. 12 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. another time against a lady for imprisoning a young clergyman in her castle on a false charge, and also against the people of Ludlow for violating the right of sanctuary, and in many cases against abuses of all sorts. On one occasion Pontius de Cors, .a nephew of Bishop Aquablanca, who had obtained from the Pope the provision of the prebend of Hinton, interrupted the installation of Robert de Shelving appointed by Bishop Swinfield, gained admission to the cathedral with an accomplice, and was formally installed by him in spite of the remonstrance •of the Chapter. He held his place by force of arms during that day and the next, but later submitted to the Bishop. Bishop Swinfield was probably the builder of the nave-aisles and of the two easternmost transepts. This amounted to a remodelling of the work of De Vere. The bases of his piers and responds were retained and may still be seen, and upon the former octagonal columns were erected to carry the vaulting. The windows were altered throughout. It was in his time that the '' Mappa Mundi," the curious map of the world designed by Richard of Haldingham of Battle in Sussex, a prebendary of Hereford in 1305, now preserved in the cathedral, came into possession of the Chapter. Richard Haldingham was a great friend of Bishop Swinfield, ¦and when it was necessary for him to send representatives to a provincial Council in London, a.d. 13 13, Haldingham was •deputed to attend with Adam of Orleton, a place belonging to the Mortimers of Wigmore in the north-east of Herefordshire. Three years later (13 16), on the death of Bishop Swinfield at his chief residence, Bosbury, Adam of Orleton succeeded him in the bishopric. King Edward II. was not jubilant over the appointment of a friend of Roger Mortimer to this important position, and, failing to persuade Adam to decline the bishopric, he appealed to the Pope, begging him to cancel the appointment, but with no more success. The fortunes of the Bishop of Hereford became identified with the Queen, whom he joined on her return from France with her eldest son. It was at Hereford that this youth, then fourteen years of age, was appointed guardian of the kingdom under the direction of his mother. The King, who had sought refuge in Wales, was captured at Neath Abbey, and the great seal taken from him by Bishop -Adam Orleton, while the Chancellor, Hugh Despenser, was con- THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. IJ- veyed to Hereford, where he was crowned with nettles and dressed in a shirt upon which was written passages from Psalm^ Hi. beginning, "Why boastest thou thyself, thou tyrant : that thou canst do mischief." Amid the bowlings of a great multi tude who mocked his name by shrieking " Hue ! " he was finally hanged on a gallows 50 feet high and then quartered. Among the prisoners were two wearing holy orders, and these the Bishop- of Hereford claimed as his perquisite. A GARGOYLK TV THE CLOISTERS. DRAWN BY A. HUGH FISHER. Bishop Adam, wary, unscrupulous, but at the same time vigorous and of unusual ability, played a great part in politics to the end of the wretched King's life. Some historians still believe that he recommended the murder ; he certainly supported the deposition in Parliament, and went to Kenilworth as one of the commissioners to force the King's resignation. If thus interested in secular politics, he was no less watchful and vigi lant in the affairs of his bishopric and the cathedral. The great central tower, destined centuries later to be a source of such anxiety and a problem of such difficulty to the 14 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. restorer, was even at this early date showing signs of dilapida tion, and Bishop Orleton obtained from Pope John XXII. a ^rant of the great tithes of Shenyngfeld (Swinfield) and Swale- feld (Swallowfield) in Berkshire, in answer to the following petition : — "That they, being desirous of rebuilding a portion of the fabric of the Church of Hereford, had caused much super structure of sumptuous work to be built, to the adornment of the House of God, upon an ancient foundation ; which in the judgment of masons or architects, who were considered skilful in their art, was thought to be firm and sound, at the cost of 20,000 marcs sterling and more, and that on account of the •weakness of the aforesaid foundation, the building, which was placed upon it now, threatened such ruin, that by a similar judgment no other remedy could be applied short of an entire renovation of the fabric from the foundation, — which, on account of the expenses incurred in prosecution of the canonisation of Thomas de Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford, of blessed memory, they were unable to undertake." The " sumptuous work " alluded to was evidently the central tower and the north transept ; which latter had been built, as mentioned before, for the remains and shrine of Bishop Cantilupe. When Mr. R. Biddulph Phillips, some sixty years ago, was ¦examining the confused and unsorted mass of charters and grants in the possession of the cathedral, he found a parchment (which bore the two beautiful episcopal seals of Bishop Roger le Poer of Sarum and Bishop Adam de Orleton of Hereford) that acknowledged and confirmed this grant of tithes to the sustentation of the fabric of the cathedral, which still forms the backbone of the fabric fund. In 1328 Bishop Orleton was translated to Worcester. During the ensuing war with France, the church walls echoed with prayers for the King's success, and, while the war-cloud still darkened the political sky, orisons louder and more heartfelt filled the cathedral. It is said that when the "Black Death" reached Hereford in 1349, to retard its progress in the city the shrine of St. Thomas de Cantilupe was carried in procession. About this time, and possibly not unconnected with the calamity of this terrible plague. Bishop Trilleck issued a mandate prohibiting the performance of " theatrical plays and interludes " in churches as " contrary to the practice of religi m." The exact character of these performances is doubtful, and the THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 1$ prohibition may have referred to some kind of secular mumming. The mystery play survived long after Bishop Trilleck's time in an annual pageant exhibited in the cathedral on Corpus Christi Day, to assist in which some of the city guilds were obliged by ithe rules of their incorporation. The quarrels between the townspeople and the Bishop about his rights of jurisdiction continued with more or less frequency. It must certainly have been irritating to good Bishop Trilleck " gratus, prudens, pins," as the mutilated inscription on his •effigy describes him, when one William Corbet forced his way into the palace, carried away the porter bodily, shut him in the city gaol, and took away the keys of the palace. On the second visitation of the " Black Death," 1361-2, it is said that the city market was removed from Hereford to a place about a mile on the west of the town, still marked by a cross called the " White Cross " bearing the arms of Bishop Charleton. If Bishop Orleton was deeply concerned in the deposition of King Edward 1 1., a later Bishop of Hereford, Thomas Trevenant, who was appointed in 1389 by papal provision, was no less active in the deposition of King Richard IL, and was sent to the Pope with the Archbishop of York by Henry IV. to explain his title to the Crown and announce his accession. In 1396, during the episcopate of Bishop Gilbert, the priest vicars of the cathedral were formed into a college by Royal Charter, and the first warden or " custos " was appointed by the King to show that the right of appointment was vested in the Crown. The college was to have a common seal,, and to exercise the right of acquiring and holding property, but to be subject to the Dean and Chapter of the cathedral. Its members were the priests of the chantry chapels in the cathedral, at this time apparently twenty-seven in number. In 1475 'he college was moved from Castle Street to its present site, so that the vicars should be able more comfortably to attend the night services. An order was also made about this time concerning the celebration of mass at the altar of St. John Baptist in the cathedral, an arrangement which shows that then as now the parish of St. John had no church of its own outside the cathedral walls. About 1418, the cloister connecting the Bishop's palace with the cathedral was begun by Bishop Lacy, who took great interest in the cathedral although he never visited his diocese. It was i6 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. upon this work of the cloisters that 2800 marks were expended by Bishop Spofford, 1421-1448, in whose time the great west window was erected by William Lochard, the precentor. The richly panelled and vaulted chapel of Bishop Stanbury, approached from the north aisle of the presbytery, was added between 1453 and 1474. In 1492 Edmund Audley, the Bishop of Rochester, was translated to Hereford, and during his episcopate founded the two-storied chantry chapel south of the Lady Chapel and near the shrine of St. Thomas of Cantilupe. The upper story was probably intended as a private oratory for the Bishop himself. Bishop Audley also presented to the cathedral a silver shrine. The next important alteration was the lengthening of the great north porch which bears the date 1519 and the shields of Bishop Booth and his predecessor, Bishop Mayo. It is a very fine piece of Perpendicular work, somewhat similar in design to the porch in the middle of the west front of Peterborough Cathedral. At his death Bishop Booth left various books to the cathedral library and some tapestry for the high altar, together with silver and gold ornaments for the Cantilupe Shrine. The tapestry displayed the story of David and Nabal. He also bequeathed, amongst other things to his successor, the gold ring with which he was consecrated, but notwithstanding his forethought in specifying that these articles were not to be taken away with such successor in case of his translation, they have disappeared. Little could Bishop Booth have imagined, in the enthusiasm of his building operations, the changes to follow so closely upon his death. Yet the papal supremacy had been abolished in this country in 1534, and though the church services remained unaltered, the amended Primer had been published. On September 26th, 1535, was consecrated at Winchester, to the See of Hereford, one of the most "excellent instruments" of the Reformation, Edward Foxe, and in the following year the suppression of the monasteries began in IHE AUDLEY CHAPEL. THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 1/ serious earnest. Still the chantry chapels were to be spared for some time. Of these chantries and chapels there were then no less than twenty-one in the cathedral. In 1553, commissioners were appointed to visit the churches, chapels, guilds, and fraternities all over the kingdom and take inventories of their treasures, leaving to each parish church or chapel " one or two chalices according to the multitude of people." In Hereford Cathedral, amongst other valuable orna ments, was a chalice of gold weighing 22 lbs. 9J oz., two basins weighing 102 oz., and an enamelled pastoral staff in five pieces of silver gilt weighing 1 1 lbs. 7 oz. 3 dwts. troy. It is not possible to learn the value of the goods appropriated in the cathedral alone, but the jewels and plate of the whole country were estimated at 486oJ^ ounces, in value about £121;^, is. 3d. On August 22nd or 25th, 1642, the Royal Standard was set up at Nottingham, and the clouds of the Great Rebellion burst over the country. Bishop Coke of Hereford had been one of the twelve diurchmen most active against the Bill for excluding the bishops from Parliament, passed in the Commons in May 1641, and was one of the ten bishops committed to the Tower by the joint sentence of the Lords and Common.s on charge of treason. The "popishly inclined " county of Hereford was at one with its Bishop, but so unprepared for war that Lord Stamford, with two troops of cavalry and a single infantry regiment, entered Hereford under the orders of the Earl of Essex and quartered himself in the Bishop's palace. Here he remained till December 14th without, however, any serious plundering in the town itself. In April 1643, Waller took the city for the second time, and again without much resistance, a condition of the surrender being the immunity of the Bishop and cathedral clergy from personal violence and plunder. On his leaving Hereford the place was retaken by the Royalists, and became an asylum for fugitive Roman Catholics. So it went on, being held first by one side and then by the other. In the autumn of 1645 Hereford was besieged by Lord Leven with the Scottish army, who were driven off by Colonel Barnabas Scudamore with heavy loss. The cathedral at this time suffered considerable injury during the siege. The defenders used the lead from the chapter-house roof to cover the keep of the castle, and possibly C 1 8 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. also to make bullets. Finally, on December i8th, through the treachery of Colonel Birch, the governor of the city, Here ford was once more taken, and this time the whole place was overrun by a rabble of plundering soldiery. No doubt much damage had been done in the cathedral duringthe Reformation, but despite the protests of an antiquarian captain, one Silas Taylor, far greater mischief was perpetrated in this military loot. " The storied windows richly dight " were smashed to bits, monumental brasses torn up, the library plundered of most valuable MSS., and rich ornaments stolen. Some while after the Restoration, an appeal was made by the cathedral clergy to the nobility, baronets, knights, esquires, and gentry of the county for help towards restoring the cathe dral, though it is not known with what welcome the appeal was received. Towards the beginning of the eighteenth century much harm. was done to the cathedral by the zeal of Bishop Bisse, one of those irritating people who mean well but act abominably. He spent much, both on the palace and the cathedral, employing in the alterations of the former the stones of the chapter-house, which had been doubtless much injured but not irreparably so. In the cathedral itself he erected a mass of masonry intended to support the central tower, which was, however, nothing but a hideous architectural blunder. In itself it was ugly to behold, and actually weakened by lateral pressure that which it was intended to support. He also presented an elaborate altar-piece and Grecian oak screen with scenic decoration above, boards painted to represent curtains, and wooden imitations of tassels which hung immediately over the heads of the ministering priests as they stood at the altar. These were found later on to be hung on rusty nails by twine " little better than pack thread." During the episcopate of the Hon. Henry Egerton, 1723- 1746, an ancient building of early Norman date used as a chapel for the palace was pulled down. It consisted of an upper and a lower portion, the lower a chapel dedicated to St. Katherine and the upper one to St. Mary Magdalene. Part of one wall still remains. It was during the next episcopate, on Easter Monday 1786, that a terrible calamity occurred, — the fall of the great western tower. Directly and indirectly this was THE WEST FRONT (FROM AN OLD PRINT). THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 21 the worst accident that has happened to Hereford Cathedral. The west front was utterly destroyed, and a great part of the nave seriously injured, while the injudicious restoration begun in 1788 by the Dean and Chapter, with James Wyatt for architect, did nearly as much to ruin the cathedral as the fall of the tower. Already, at Salisbury, Wyatt had been busy with irreparable Vrnm a. drawing i;) T. Hearne, j8o6,] THE NAVE AFTER THE FALL OF THE WEST END. deeds of vandalism, but at Hereford he surpassed his previous efforts in this direction. He altered the whole proportion of the building, shortening the nave by a bay of 1 5 feet, erected a new west front on a "neat Gothic pattern," and availed himself of the chance of removing all the Norman work in the nave, above the nave arcade substituting a design of his own. One of the strangest items in his scheme was a plaster hod moulding round each of the arches above the arcade. These eccentricities were removed not long since, but the roughened 22 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. lines for adhesion of the plaster still remain. Inside the west front may also still be seen large spaces of wall painted to represent blocks of stone, but no more so in reality than the wall of any stucco residence. It should not be forgotten, while condemning the meaningless insipidity of Wyatt's work, that it was enthusiastically approved in his own day, and that the public generally were as much to blame as himself. The old spire was taken down from the central tower, and in order to give it apparent height the roofs of both nave and choir were lowered in pitch, its parapet was raised, and some pinnacles were added. At the same time the churchyard was levelled and new burying-grounds provided for the city elsewhere. In 1837, Dr. Thomas Musgrave was promoted to the See of Hereford. He was a man of sound judgment and of much practical ability, and it was during his episcopacy that a serious competent and thorough repair of the cathedral was at last undertaken at a cost of ^27,000, to which no one devoted more loving care or more untiring energy than Dean Merewether. " Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses and this house lie waste ? " he quotes in the beginning of his exhaustive " Statement of the condition and circumstances of the Cathedral Church of Hereford in the year 1841." In this statement he shows the lamentable state of decay in the eastern end of the Lady Chapel, the bulging of its walls and the dangerous fissures, which, on the removal of whitewash and plaster, became visible in the soffit of each of the window arches. In early times the walls were very much thicker, composed of hewn stone, making a kind of casing at each side, called ashlar, the interval being filled with rubble masonry cemented with lime and loam. This stuffing having deteriorated the weight above had split the outer wall, though most fortunately the interior face was perfectly sound and upright. To trace the cracks thoroughly, it was necessary to remove the oak panelling fitted to the wall below the windows, and the heavy bookcases filling up a great part of the area were taken away with the lath and plaster partition from the sides of the pillar at the west end of the chapel. 24 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. By this clearing the beauty of the chapel so long obscured became again manifest : its symmetrical proportions, the remains of its ancient painting, the disclosure of two most interesting monuments, two aumbries, a double piscina, the chapel of Bishop Audley, but more important than all, two of the most beautiful specimens of transition arches to be found anywhere. Early English in form, but ornamented in their soffits with the Norman moulding and the zigzag decoration, corre sponding with the remarkable union of the Norman inter secting arches on the exterior of the building, with its pointed characteristics. The further examination by Dean Merewether and Mr. Cottingham, the architect, showed that the great central tower of the cathedral was in imminent danger of falling, and might at any moment entirely collapse. Above the Grecian altar screen of Bishop Bisse they were struck by the traces of Norman mouldings, whilst on traversing the clerestory gallery the remains of Norman ornaments were everywhere to be found, the gallery itself being still existent at each side, returned behind the wooden coverings, up to the splays of the eastern windows. The whole incongruous covering of the east end of the choir shown on p. 77 was then removed, and the change effected was most striking. It was evident that long before the intrd- duction of the Grecian screen in 1 7 1 7, the original arrangement had been disturbed by the insertion of a Perpendicular window, to support which the low circular arch in the centre had been constructed; on either side of this window were now to be seen the mouldings and featherings of the original early decorated lights, on a level with the lateral clerestory range ; below these the Norman arcade, based upon a string course of nebule ornaments. " But below," says Dean Merewether, " the beauty of beauties was to be traced, — the thickness of that part of the wall is 8 feet; on either side of the arch, 24 feet in span, were portions of shafts, corresponding with the pair of Norman shafts exposed to view seven years ago. The bases of these (standing on a sort of plinth, which was continued through those already referred to), as well as the capitals, of most curious detail, were perfect, and upon them were visible as far as the level of the window above, the remaining stones which THE HISTORY OF THE BUILDING. 25, formed the architecture of the exterior arch, from which it was- evident that its crown must have risen to the height of 30 feet. By cautious examination of the parts walled up, it was discovered that the capitals were all perfect, and that this exquisite and grand construction, the mutilation and conceal ment of which it is utterly impossible to account for, was, in fact, made up of five arches, the interior and smallest supported by the two semi-columns already described, and each of the others increasing in span as it approached the front upon square and circular shafts alternately, the faces of each arch being beautifully decorated with the choicest Norman ornaments. Of the four lateral arches, the two first had been not only hidden by the oak panelling of the screen, but were also, like the two others, closed up with lath and plaster, as the central arch; and when these incumbrances and desecrations were taken away, it is impossible to describe adequately the glorious effect produced, rendered more solemn and impressive by the appearance of the ancient monuments of Bishops Reynelm, Mayew, Stanbury, and Benet, whose ashes rest beneath these massive arches, of which, together with the noble triforium above, before the Conquest, Athelstan had probably been the founder, and the former of those just mentioned, the completer and restorer after that era." Under Mr. Cottingham many improvements were made, though it cannot be said that all the work he did was good either in design or execution. The beautiful lantern of the central tower, with its fifty-six shafts, was satisfactorily Strengthened and thrown open to view. At the time of Dean Merewether's death in 1850 much still remained to be done, and in 1857 a further scheme was set going under the financial management of Dean Richard Dawes, and the archi tectural direction of Mr., afterwards Sir Gilbert, Scott, who restored the north transepts, the north porch, the choir, and Lady Chapel., jje also erected the large metal screen and fitted up> the, Lady Chapel as a church for the parish of St. John the;Baptist. , . Altogether in these two works of repair about _;^45,ooo was expended, and the cathedral was opened for service on June 30th, 1863. CHAPTER IL the cathedral — exterior. Artistic unity is certainly not the chief characteristic of Hereford Cathedral, but it is doubtful whether the absence ¦of that quality dear to a purist is not more than compensated for by the fine examples of different periods, which make the massive pile as a whole a valuable record of historical pro gress. And surely it is more fitting that a great ecclesiastical ¦edifice should grow with the successive ages it outlasts, and bear about it architectural evidence of every epoch through which it has passed. Almost in the midst of the city the sturdy mass of the ¦cathedral building reposes in a secluded close, from which the best general view is obtained. The close is entered either from Broad Street, near the west window, or from Castle Street ; the whole of the building lying on the south side of the close between the path and the river. The space between the Wye and the cathedral is filled by the Bishop's Palace and the college of the Vicars Choral. On the east are the foundations of the castle, which was formerly one of the strongest on the Welsh marches. The cathedral is especially rich in architecture of the Norman, Early English, and Early Decorated periods. The work of the Norman builders, found chiefly in the interior, survives in the exterior aspect rather in the "sturdy" ¦quality remaining through the subsequent building being im posed upon the old foundations. The side apses of the •original triple eastern termination were converted into the present eastern transept: an operation, the result of which helps to produce an intricate outline already irregular through the projections of the porch of Bishop Booth. THE CATHEDRAL — EXTERIOR. 27 The Central Tower, a splendid example of Decorated work, is of two stages above the roofs, with buttresses at the angles. It is covered with a profusion of ball-flower ornament. Plwtochroni Co., Ld., Plufto.] iilSHOP booth's porch and north TRANSEPT. which, except in the south nave aisle of Gloucester Cathedral, is nowhere else so freely used. Pershore Abbey is not far from Hereford, and from the disposition of the upper windows of the central tower and the 28 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. Style and position of the dividing pilasters and bands of ornament, it seems likely that the earlier lantern of Pershore is partly responsible for its design. In old prints of the cathedral the great central spire which formerly existed is shown. It was a timber erection, covered with lead. When this was taken down at the time of the great repairs and rebuilding of the west end, a stunted, squat appearance was given to the building. In the year 1830 Canon Russell presented a sum of money to the Dean and Chapter to build four appropriate pinnacles. at the angles. The tower which formerly stood at the west end was similar in design to the central one, but rose only one stage above the leads of the nave. This seems to have been used as a belfry ; whereas the central tower was a lantern. The large projecting North Porch, completed in 1530 by Bishop Booth, is Perpendicular, and somewhat resembles, though it is later in date, the porch in the centre of the west front at Peterborough. The front entrance archway has highly enriched spandrels and two lateral octagonal staircase buttress^ turrets at the angles. These have glazed windows in the upper portions, forming a picturesque lantern to each. This outer porch consists of two stories, the lower of which is formed by three wide, open arches, springing from four piers. at the extreme angles, two of which are united with the stair case turrets, the others with the ends of the old porch. The upper story, containing an apartment, is sustained on a vaulted and groined roof, and has three large windows, with elaborate tracery. In the north transept the massive buttresses with bevelled angles, of which those at the angles are turreted, with spiral cappings, the remarkable windows, tall without transoms, and rising nearly the whole height of the building, show to great advantage. The clerestory windows, like those in the outer wall of the triforium in the nave of Westminster, are triangular on the exterior. On the eastern side of this transept, which has an aisle, is- an unusual architectural feature. The windows of the tri forium have semi-circular arched mouldings, enclosing a window of three lights of lancet-shaped arches. Beneath the aisle window is a pointed arched doorway, which was probably an original approach to the shrine of Cantilupe. THE CATHEDRAL — EXTERIOR. 29 In the angle is a staircase turret, which is circular at the bottom and polygonal above ; and this probably was an access to a private apartment for a monk over the aisle of the tran sept containing the sacred shrine. Continuing an examination of the north side of the cathe dral one notices the buttresses of the north-east transept, the Stanbury Chapel, the windows, parapet, and roof of the aisle, the clerestory windows with arcade dressings to the walls, and the modern parapet above the whole. Photochrom Co., Ld., Photo.] GENERAL VIEW, FROM 1'HE WEST. The Style of the arcade and window, and also the blank window or double arch, with two smaller arches within the clerestory wall, claims especial attention, as well as the ribbed roof rising above the Norman triforium. We now come to the Early English work of the Lady Chapel, the east end of which is especially noticeable, with its bold angular buttresses rising from immense bases. The numerous and large base mouldings running round the wall of this building, its tall lancet-shaped windows, arcades, and ovolar and lozenge-shaped panels, are so many interesting peculiarities of design. 30 HEREFORD CATHEDRAL. The Audley Chapel projects on the south side. The angular, embattled parapet at the end is a modern addition. The south side of the cathedral is not easily examined by the public, being shut within the walls of a garden between the Bishop's and the Vicars' Cloisters. The Bishop's Cloisters consist of two walks only, or covered corridors, though that on the west, which was pulled down in the reign of Edward VI. to make room for a pile of brick building appropriated to the Grammar School, and in its turn demolished in 1836, is now in course of restoration. It does not appear that the cloisters ever had a walk on the north side against the cathedral. These cloisters are of Perpendicular date, and between a continued series of buttresses are windows of large dimensions, with mullions and tracery. The vaulting of the roof is adorned with numerous ribbed mouldings, at the intersections of which are shields charged with sculptured figures, foliage, arms, etc. These ribs spring from slender pillars between the windows and corbels heads on the other side : over the exterior of the 'windows are carved grotesque heads, of which we give some illustrations. The south walk of the cloisters is the more richly groined. At the south-east corner is a square turreted tower containing a small chamber, which has' been carefully and completely restored. It has always been called the " Ladye Arbour," although no one has been able to discover the origin of this name or the use to which the chamber was put ; many antiquarians suggest a possible reference to the Virgin. The entrance doorway to the Chapter-house from the east walk still remains, but is walled up. It consists of a pointed arch under a lofty, richly ornamented pedimental moulding, having clustered shafts on the sides, with foliated capitals. The archway is divided by a slender pillar into two smaller openings. The once elegant chapter-room to which this doorway communicated, whether or not they fell, as Britton asserts, "beneath the fanatic frenzy of the Cromwellian soldiers," was certainly neglected; and then, as long as any material could be got from it, treated as a stone quarry by Bishop Bisse and his successors. This chapter-house appears to have been a beautiful piece of design of the rich Decorated period. It was decagonal in plan, with a projecting buttress