Hereford Cathedral

“ The stone-work, also, above the pillars, is drawn off at the angles just below the timber-work of the bell floor. On the whole, I never witnessed a more awful monument of the fallibility of human skill than the tower of Hereford Cathedral at this moment presents."
In addition to the report of the architect the Chapter availed themselves, on recommendation of the Bishop, of the opinion of Professor Willis, of Cambridge. ”

“ 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 [pg 021] 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. ”

“ In the list of obits observed in Hereford Cathedral, Johanna is called the Lady Kilpeck, and out of Lugwardine was paid yearly for her obit forty pence."
The effigy of Joanna de Bohun is also valuable as a specimen of costume. Its curious decoration of human heads is also noteworthy.
Over the grave of Dean Merewether, who is interred at the north-east angle of the chapel, is a black marble slab with a brass by Hardman bearing an inscription, which records that to the restoration of the cathedral "he devoted the unwearied energies of his life till its close on the 4th of April 1850." ”

“ It is built of a dark-gray sandstone, and has a rather sombre look, and is located in the midst of grounds, about in which are walls and ruins of the old monastery, and the original garden walls yet remain; so that while the cathedral is not out among buildings of ordinary character, but has ample grounds and shrubbery around it, yet it has no grand close, or park, as at Salisbury, Hereford, and many others; but all is complete within these precincts, and charming in the extreme. A charming quiet pervades these ancient-appearing and large premises, and all is befitting the venerable structure. ”

“ It is only original up to the level of the arms; the lions, the back and the canopy are modern.
In Hereford cathedral is an ancient wooden chair, once coloured in red and gold; it is composed of fifty-three pieces; not counting the seat of two boards and the two circular heads in front; it has been variously ascribed to the twelfth or fourteenth century; but no doubt is Jacobean, belonging to the same class of chairs as those enumerated in the following paragraph (114) . [2] At Stanford Bishop church, Hereford, is a rude chair or settle, of oak without nails. ”

“ 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 ornaments, was a chalice of gold weighing 22 lbs. ”

“ HEREFORD CATHEDRAL: TOMB OF BISHOP CANTILUPE.
His desire was that his bones should be laid to rest in his own Cathedral Church in far-away England, so, as it was an almost impossible task to convey a dead body across Europe in those days, do you know what his followers did? They boiled his body, until the flesh separated from the bones; then they buried the flesh in the Church of St. Severus near Florence, and the bones, which were now quite easy to carry, they brought to Hereford, and buried them in the Lady-chapel. They were afterwards removed to a little chapel known as the Chapel of St. ”

“ Grammar School, (taken down in 1836,) and a north walk never existed. (Hereford Cathedral, it should be remembered, had no monastic establishment attached to it; and this cloister, [Plate XII.] unlike that at Gloucester, was little more than an ornamental walk, connected with the Bishop’s Palace) . The cloister is of Perpendicular date, with window-openings which deserve notice. The south walk is more richly groined than the east. At the south-east corner is a square turreted tower, called the “Ladies’,” or “Ladye Arbour,” the original purpose of which is not clear ”

“ The capitals of the shafts at the angles are formed by grotesques, and over the arch on the south side are shields with emblems of St. Matthias, St. Thomas, and St. Bartholomew. The Lancaster rose is prominent in the decoration, and there is much under-cutting in the carving.
The stained windows, which form an interesting collection of arms and legends, are in memory of Archbishop Musgrave, once Bishop of Hereford, to whom there is also another window by Warrington in the wall of the aisle above the chantry, which is only 11 feet in height. The subjects are taken from the life of St. Paul. ”

“ From 1861 to 1856 he resided at Lorchill House, Langley-Marish, Buckinghamshire, and in 1856 was appointed precentor of Hereford Cathedral. He succeeded Sir Henry Rowley Bishop as professor of music in the university of Oxford in the same year, and was made LL.D. of Cambridge in 1883, and of Edinburgh in 1884. He was appointed a canon residentiary of Hereford Cathedral in 1886, and died suddenly of epilepsy on Saturday, 6 April 1889, at Hereford He was buried at St. Michael's, Tenbury. He was unmarried, and the baronetcy became extinct at his death. ”

“ It is a modern city, despite its ancient history, for its old-time landmarks have largely disappeared and its crowded lanes have been superseded by broad streets. Even the cathedral has a distressingly new appearance, [Pg 128] due to the recent restoration, and a public park occupies the site of the vanished castle. But for all that, one likes Hereford. Its newness is not the cheap veneer so frequently evident in the resort towns; it is solid and genuine throughout and there are enough antique corners to redeem it from monotony. ”

“ The new Norman Cathedral of Hereford was begun by Robert Losinga, who reigned as bishop from 1079 to 1096. Abbot Simeon began to build the Minster at Ely about 1092; Worcester was commenced by Wulfstan in 1084; five years later the foundation of Gloucester was laid; and in 1091 S. Osmund consecrated the church of S. Nicholas at Newcastle. Other cathedrals which were built, or [p 62] rebuilt, at about the same date include those of Carlisle, S. Albans, Rochester, Chester, Lichfield and Oxford.
Surely never was an age so enthusiastic in building! ”

“ The Bishop and the bishopric are known everywhere, as something which is a man's own as much as the shire with its sheriff and lord-lieutenant. It is not so where geography is less happy. I remember the remark forty years ago, when the great restoration of the church of Hereford was going on. It was said that the people of Herefordshire cared for their cathedral church; it was an essential part of their shire and city. But the people of that part of Shropshire which was in the diocese of Hereford did not care for the church of Hereford ”

“ The Saxons were driving the British inhabitants more and more to the west, and before the close of the sixth century they [pg 092] had founded the Mercian kingdom, reaching beyond the Severn, and in some places beyond the Wye.
The See of Hereford properly owes its origin to that of Lichfield, as Sexwulf, Bishop of that diocese, placed at Hereford Putta, Bishop of Rochester, when his cathedral was destroyed by the Mercian King Ethelred. ”

“ THE CANTILUPE SHRINE. In the north transept is a doorway leading to the tower.
South Transept.—Crossing the Cathedral in front of the Skidmore screen it is a relief to turn from the nave with its sham triforium to the south transept with its fine three stage Norman east side. The groining, although incongruous, is still beautiful, and does not irritate in the same way as Wyatt's abominations in the nave. This transept contains several disputed architectural points, and opinions are divided as to whether it may not be the oldest existing portion of the Cathedral. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The cathedral churches of the Old Foundation are those which have always had secular canons, which therefore were not suppressed at the dissolution of monasteries, but have gone on uninterruptedly with essentially the same constitution down to our own time. Such, besides our own church, are the neighbouring churches of Salisbury and Exeter. Such, in other parts of England, are York, London, Lincoln, Lichfield, Hereford, Chichester, and the four cathedrals of Wales. ”

“ The North Transept.—Passing through the north arch of the tower we come into some of the most interesting parts of the Cathedral. The transept beyond was entirely rebuilt for the reception of the shrine of Bishop Cantilupe, when his body was removed from the Lady Chapel in 1287, after the miracles reported at his tomb had already largely increased the revenues of the Cathedral. The unusual shape of the arches and the fine and effective windows of this transept render it one of the most distinguished English specimens of the style. ”

“ 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 imposed 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. ”

“ It appears that Offa had to pay an annual tribute of 365 mancuses in coin to the Pope. As a mancus was equal to 30 pennies, the sum was a considerable one.
In the year 782 an event occurred which laid the foundation of the Cathedral. From Marden, the original place of sepulture, the body of Ethelbert, King of the East Angles (who, by the way, is not to be confounded with Ethelbert of Kent, who welcomed St. Augustine) , was removed to Hereford. He had been treacherously slain by his intended mother-in-law, the Queen of Mercia. ”

“ Between the years 1788 and 1797 he expended a sum of £20,000 on this cathedral; shortening the nave by one entire bay; destroying the Norman triforium and clerestory, which he replaced by others of his own device; and constructing the present west front, which it is to be hoped will not be permitted to exist much longer. In 1841, at the request of the late Bishop Musgrave, a report on the actual condition of the cathedral was drawn up by Professor Willis ”

“ Lucy, bishop here from 1189 to 1205, erected a new Lady Chapel and made other alterations. At Hereford, too, operations were going forward almost throughout the century, the bishops Reynelm (1107–1115) and Betun (1131–1148) being especially energetic in pressing them on; and the closing years of this period saw the rearing of the eastern transepts. At this time also the beautiful Galilee Chapel was added to Durham Cathedral; Ely was consecrated in 1106, and towards the end of the century received its central tower and other additions ”

“ It runs beneath the whole extent of the Lady Chapel.
This crypt having been used as a charnel-house is called the "Golgotha." In the centre is an altar tomb, upon which is a large and elaborately decorated alabaster slab, in a fair state of preservation. It bears an incised representation of Andrew Jones, a Hereford merchant, and his wife, with an inscription setting forth how he repaired the crypt in 1497. Scrolls proceeding from the mouths of the figures bear the following lines:—
"Remember thy life may not ever endure,
That thou dost thiself thereof art thou sewre. ”

“ But in later years he married another lady, and, after all, was buried in a church in Buckinghamshire, though, as you see, his effigy has been placed here to make the family group complete.
There are three very ancient things belonging to this Cathedral at which we must look before we leave it—a very old map, which hangs in that wooden case on the wall, quite close to the ‘chrysome’ tomb; a very old chair which stands on the north side of the altar ”

“ The western, and part of the southern, wall of this chapel is Norman, as are the central pillars. The{W-53} square eastern end, however, is Early English, of the same date as the chapel above it.
In the crypt are preserved the ancient north doors of the cathedral, removed about the year 1820. They date from the fourteenth century, and are coeval with Bishop Wakefield’s work. These doors are said to have been covered with human skin. Tradition asserts that a man who stole the sanctus-bell from the high altar was flayed alive for the sacrilege ”

“ Joyce Jefferies, of whose singular establishment, during nine years, a minute record has been preserved. In a cathedral town, olden features of English life may be traced more considerably than in other towns of less antiquity and extent. Hereford is thought to be derived from the British Hêre-fford, signifying the "old road." It has its Mayor's Court, view of Frankpledge, and court of Pie Pondre; though it has lost its monastic edifices; and, two centuries ago, its castle, built by Harold, was in ruins, which, as materials, were worth no more than 85l. ”