George Worley

“ In the reign of Edward VI the Prayer-book and its vernacular services were introduced. The people had hardly got used to them before the accession of Queen Mary, and the consequent papal reaction, restored the Latin mass, around which most of the religious controversies of the time were furiously raging. During that brief reign the retro-choir was turned to more respectable use as a Spiritual Court, though the memories attaching to it in that character constitute a gloomy chapter in its history which we would gladly eliminate. ”

“ Close to this doorway, on its eastern side, there is a smaller, but equally interesting, relic in the remains of a Holy-water Stoup. It is fixed in a large and deep recess, with an angular arch above it, too dilapidated to afford a hint [54] as to the original moulding, which we can only assume was not unworthy of the rich doorway by its side.
A few yards westwards we are reminded of the antiquity of the site by a mass of Roman tiles, arranged herring-bone fashion, as if they had been used in the wall of some earlier (probably Saxon) building on the spot. ”

“ It is bad enough to see such an erection spring up at all, but when a venerable building is demolished to make way for it, the case is quite intolerable. Will it be believed that, under the centre tower, in the transepts of this once most beauteous church, staircases on stilts have been set up, exactly resembling those by which the company ascend to a booth or race-course?... ”

“ Beneath the Goldsmith window there is a fine relic in the shape of a late Norman Recess, which has escaped serious mutilation. A segmental arch, surmounted with a simple chamfered moulding with quirks, supported at each end by a column with moulded base and capital, would seem to indicate a seat rather than a tomb, and the date as about the end of the twelfth century. Beneath the Johnson window there is another Norman relic, of about the same date, in the outline of the old Canons' Doorway, formerly connecting the aisle with the cloisters. ”

“ Not the least difficult part of the architect's work was the removal of the unsatisfactory structure, of 1839-1840, without destroying the few Norman and Early English features imbedded in the plaster and brickwork, which it was desired to recover as far as possible, and preserve intact and in situ. This has to a great extent been done, thanks to the care with which the debased nave was taken to pieces, every stone that was worth preserving being carefully released from its accretions, measured, and reinstated in its proper place in the new work. ”

“ A wooden framework of classical pillars, with figures of Moses and Aaron on either side, and the Creed, Lord's Prayer, and Ten Commandments in the spaces between them, the whole surmounted by flaming censers and a circle of flying cherubs, made up a composition not at all bad in itself but utterly out of character with the Gothic work behind and around it. ”

“ The deeply moulded arches are somewhat loftier and more acutely pointed than those in the choir, placing the triforia on a slightly higher level, but the triforia of nave and choir are alike in that in both cases they consist of four arched openings in each bay. Every bay is walled off from its neighbours on either side, but has an opening at the back into a passage above the aisles, which is continuous throughout nave and choir. In the westernmost bay on either side, the triforium arcade has a wall immediately behind the shafts. ”

“ It is hoped that this generous gift inaugurates the restoration of the old chapel to its original dignity, as a worthy memorial to him whose name will henceforth be inseparable from it. The intention is to equip it with an altar and other necessary fittings for use at early celebrations and small gatherings of people, at present without accommodation. A new vestry for the clergy is badly wanted, as well as for the choir, whose cassocks and surplices now hang in the adjacent aisle. ”

“ The Norman work of this period is the earliest of which any traces remain in the present church, unless the doubtful signs on a shaft in the exterior are to be taken as evidence of Saxon workmanship. This shaft is attached to the north wall of the Chapel of St. John-the-Divine (now used as a clergy vestry) , which is perhaps the oldest part of the fabric. The undoubted Norman remains consist of three arches in the same chapel, where their outline is just discernible among the brickwork; the fragment of a string-course, with billet moulding, on the inner wall of the north transept ”

“ The chapel and chantry are no more, but the monument marks the spot, having been restored in 1894 to its first position. It is in the Perpendicular style, and consists of an altar-tomb, with a dado, ornamented by seven panels in front, on which lies the effigy of the poet, surmounted by a canopy of three ogee arches, with an inner order of five cusps, and terminating in crocketed pinnacles. There is a pilaster set angle-wise at each end, banded at the separate divisions of the monument, and also rising into crocketed pinnacles. There are similar pinnacles between the arches of the canopy. ”

“ The repairs were soon taken in hand by Peter de la Roche, otherwise de Rupibus, Bishop of Winchester (1205-1238) , who altered the nave into the Early English, which was then generally superseding the heavier Norman work, and shortly afterwards built the choir and retro-choir in a still lighter and more ornate style. The architecture gives us the approximate date of de la Roche's work as the early part of the thirteenth century, which is about as near as we can get to it in the absence of a more precise record than that it was "begun after the fire." ”

“ Before entering the church, it may be well to walk once more along the east front to see the outside of the new Harvard window in the chapel below the north transept, which stands out in marked contrast to the older work around it. It may also be noticed that while the windows in the choir clerestory are all plain lancets, like those in the restored nave, there is a considerable difference in the glazing. In the choir we have an ornamental pattern of Mr. Gwilt's invention. ”

“ The modern restoration is indicated by a cross (patée) carved on the central buttress on this side of the Cathedral, which marks the stone laid by King Edward VII on 24th July, 1900, when His Majesty was Prince of Wales.
The West Front is chiefly remarkable as presenting a dead wall where we usually expect to find the grand entrance. It is a debated question among antiquaries and architects whether the first Norman church ever had a doorway in this front; and the question has not got beyond conjecture as to the Early English church which superseded it in the thirteenth century. ”

“ There is an important difference also between the north and south arches, in that the shafts of the former stop considerably short of the ground, whilst those on the south are carried down to the pavement.
The moulding of the western arch is supported by the heads of a king and queen (uncertain) , and on the southern side of the eastern, or choir, arch there is the head of a bishop.
Above the arches there is an open arcade on the four sides of [88] the tower, which communicates with the roof above the nave, choir, and transepts. ”

“ In an inventory of 1538 the "Bishop's Chapel" at St. Saviour's is styled "the little Chapel of our Lady," which perhaps indicates that there was an altar to the Virgin in the retro-choir. Two Lady Chapels in one church are not unknown, as, e.g., at Canterbury Cathedral, where there was one in the north-west transept, now called "the Dean's Chapel," and another in the crypt under the high altar. ”

“ While both sides of the choir are alike in their main features, there is an interesting difference in detail, especially to be noticed in the greater simplicity of the south side, where the triforium capitals are less elaborate, and the dog-tooth ornament is omitted from the outer jambs of the openings.
On the south side, moreover, the arches have corbels, with sculptured heads, to support their inner mouldings, in place of the full-length shafts which occur on the responds at the ends, and on all the piers of the opposite side. ”

“ Henceforth the chapel will be associated with the name of John Harvard, who was born in the parish, and baptized in the church on 29th November, 1607, and its restoration is intended to take the form of a memorial to that great and good man. It [85] is not unlikely, in fact, that his name will popularly supersede the original dedication (almost forgotten already) much in the same way as the "Little Chapel of our Lady" was overshadowed by the great name of Bishop Andrewes. ”

“ The short window above Gower's tomb is not without suggestion in its vacancy. The last bay of the aisle was occupied by the Prior's doorway, the existing fragments of which are preserved in situ on the exterior.
The window above it is most appropriately dedicated to Gower's contemporary, Chaucer. It was presented by General A.W. Pigott in memory of his sister, and was unveiled by the present Poet Laureate on 25th October, 1900, the fifth centenary of Chaucer's death. The artist has succeeded in compressing a rather large subject into the single lancet. ”

“ During the restorations by Peter de Rupibus, in or about 1228, he had the hospital transferred to a more favourable site in the neighbourhood, where the air was fresher and water more abundant, and dedicated it to St. Thomas of Canterbury, to whom the chapel on London Bridge was also dedicated. [4]
In addition to all this excellent work, Bishop de Rupibus built a chapel for the parishioners, the conventual church being reserved for the Prior and monks. This chapel stood in the angle between the walls of the choir and south transept, and was called St. Mary Magdalene Overy. ”

“ The window is said to have been altered for the worse in the seventeenth century, and in its last phase the whole façade presented what Mr. Dollman describes as "a heterogeneous mass of masonry and brickwork," not worth preserving when the modern restoration was taken in hand. The flying buttresses have been reproduced in the new nave, and the chief doorway placed in the south-west corner, which the architect was led to believe was its original position. ”

“ In 1825 the restoration of the nave began to be seriously considered, its dilapidated state having been made more conspicuous by contrast with the restored chancel. Tenders for the work were invited by public advertisement, but nothing important was done while the vestry were discussing the respective advantages of "rebuilding" and "repairing," and the nave was neglected till it got beyond repair. In the meantime the two transepts were restored by Mr. Robert Wallace in 1830.
He substituted new designs of his own for the original tracery in the most important window in the south transept ”

“ A closer prospect is to be obtained from the London Bridge approach which takes in the Lady Chapel, the east and south sides of the choir, the tower and south transept. A few yards further up the slope we, of course, lose the south aspect, but get a fair view, from the north-east corner, of part of the east front and the north transept, including the new Harvard window in the chapel beneath it. ”

“ The monument is a good specimen of the Jacobean style. Under an arched canopy, supported by Ionic pillars, Richard Humble is kneeling at a small altar, or prie-Dieu, with his two wives behind him, the second wearing a conical hat, his sons and daughters being represented in bas-relief on the north and south sides of the basement. On the altar side there are also some verses, by an unknown author, in which human life is compared to "the damask rose and blossom on the tree," with other images of its vanity and shortness. ”

“ The Shakespeare window was presented by Sir Frederick Wigan, Bart., in memory of his brother-in-law, Arthur Cecil Blunt. It is a triplet, and displays in its central light an allegorical figure of "Poetry," supported by Shakespeare and Spenser in the lights on either hand. Above the Muse the sacred Dove is hovering, symbolical of the divine inspiration which we may presume guided the poets in their work, and at the base is a quotation from Wisdom, viii, 4 (Vulgate) : "Doctrix disciplinae Dei, et electrix operum illius." ”

“ This gift to the Cathedral came from Mr. T.H. Withers. The space beneath the west window, usually occupied by a porch, is lined with two series of arched panels, seven in the higher row, nine in the lower. The latter are less acutely pointed, and much shorter, than the others, and also differ from them in that the shafts are of Purbeck marble.
On the inner south-west wall there are some extremely interesting fragments of the ancient thirteenth-century wall arcade. ”

“ But the area of the Rochester Diocese was left undisturbed till 1904, when "the Southwark and Birmingham Bishoprics Act" of that year allowed the Diocese of Southwark to be formed out of it. St. Saviour's had been popularly known as a pro-Cathedral for some years previous to 1905, when it was formally constituted the Cathedral of Southwark. The architecture of the fabric, with its long history and associations, had long pointed to this fine church for the purpose, for which it [100] was further prepared by Sir Arthur Blomfield's restoration, begun in 1890. ”

“ Swithun, Bishop of Winchester (852-862) , whose devotion to the building of churches and bridges is well known.
The character of the foundation, altered by St. Swithun, was again altered in 1106, under Bishop William Giffard, with the co-operation of the two Norman knights to whom Stow refers. They not only erected the first Norman nave, but made a radical change within by abolishing the "College of Priests," in whose place they introduced "Canons regular" of the Augustinian Order, governed by a Prior, thus transforming the Collegiate Church into a monastery. ”

“ Before the alterations, or mutilations, of the seventeenth century, this window was of six lights transomed, with cinquefoil tracery at the heads of the lower (and probably also of the upper) lights, as inferred from the fragments which survived its mutilation. [21]
[52] In the absence of data as to the Early English façade, the architect for the restoration has been thrown to a large extent upon his own resources. The question of the doorway he has answered in the negative. ”

“ The nave and choir have aisles, but the transepts have not. While strict orientation has been secured in the main building, it will be noticed that the chancel is slightly deflected towards the south, in supposed mystic allusion to the drooping head of the Saviour upon the Cross, a piece of symbolism very frequent in Gothic churches, and here rendered peculiarly appropriate by the dedication. ”