  Dedication: Christ and the Blessed Virgin. Originally the Church of a Benedictine Abbey. Special features: Choir; Choir-Stalls; Chapter-House. Chester was the church of the Benedictine Abbey of St. Werburgh when Henry VIII. founded the See after the dissolution of the monasteries. It had been originally an establishment of secular canons. The patron saint, St. Werburgh, was a niece of St. Etheldreda of Ely; and she took the veil at Ely, where she eventually became abbess. St. Werburgh was buried at Hanbury; but when the Danes were ravaging Mercia, the monks of Hanbury fled with the relics of St. Werburgh to Chester, where they were richly enshrined in the old church of St. Peter and St. Paul. This church was rebuilt in the Tenth Century; and when a new foundation was made in 1095 by Hugh Lupus, Earl of Chester, at the desire of St. Anselm, the church was rebuilt, the canons replaced by Benedictine monks and the house called the Abbey of St. Werburgh. Rebuilding was again necessary in 1194 and was continued for centuries. The eastern portion of the church is Early English, the rest is Decorated with alterations and additions in the Perpendicular style. Ancient and royal Chester is one of the most picturesque cities in England. It was so important in Roman times that it was called the “City of Legions.” It was also a stronghold of Saxons and Danes. From the Norman Conquest until the Chester Cathedral, being built of soft red sandstone, suffered from the weather. Restoration was a necessity. Consequently the exterior is almost exclusively of the Nineteenth Century. It is handsome and effective, though, unfortunately, owing to the situation, somewhat below the level of the street, and the crowding of buildings, a good view of the Cathedral is hard to obtain. At one time it was one of the most beautiful, as well as the richest, in England. It was terribly defaced during the Civil War, when the Puritans used it for a stable and broke the windows. Subsequent repairs and restorations have greatly transformed it. One of the curious features of the Cathedral is the south transept. It was claimed as the Parish church of St. Oswald until 1881. Oswald (604-642), be it remembered, was the son of King Ethelfrid, and became King of Northumbria. He was a convert to Christianity, which he introduced among the Anglo-Saxons. Killed by Penda, the King of Mercia, he was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church. “On approaching the cathedral on the south side, the transept, or church of St. Oswald, is a remarkable feature. Projecting to nearly the same length as the nave, with its lofty clerestory and great south window, it attracts attention as well by its own importance as by the unusual ground-plan which it gives to the entire building.”—(R. J. K.) Let us look at the chief features of the exterior: “The WEST FRONT consists of an eight-light canopied Perpendicular window, with a band of elaborate tracery succeeded by ordinary tracery of the period in the head, set between two banded octagonal turrets, which are battlemented. The west door is peculiar; it consists of an arch under a square head, with foliated spandrels and a range of angels in the mouldings, deeply recessed under a larger arch with another square head. On each side are four crocketed niches, with pedestals denuded of their statues. To the west is a four-light canopied window, under a panelled band and flanked by a rich but empty niche on either side. “The door of the SOUTH PORCH is Tudor with two-light, square-headed windows and a canopied niche, and an intervening rich band. The windows of the aisles and clerestory of the nave are Perpendicular; the parapet is shallow. The SOUTH TRANSEPT, as long as the choir and as broad as the nave, has a Perpendicular clerestory and south windows, the former of four lights and with two transoms. The windows of the aisle are Late Decorated and of four lights separated by buttresses. This description applies to the south side of the choir, but the aisles are extended within one bay of the east end of the Lady-chapel, which has Perpendicular windows; the great east window is of the same date. Traces of Early English architecture appear in the north side of the choir and Chapter-house. The north window of the transept and windows of the nave are Perpendicular.”—(Wal.) We can enter, as we prefer, by the west door, or the south porch. The Nave is uninteresting. It consists of six bays, the piers are groups of attached shafts terminating in foliage capitals. The roof is modern. Decorated windows light the South aisle. The North aisle contains some old Norman work. Here we find an ancient Italian font, presented in 1885, and an old piece of tapestry that has been in the Cathedral since 1668. The North transept is small, owing to the monastic buildings on this side. Here we find Norman work. Some of the windows exhibit Perpendicular tracery. The roof is Perpendicular. Until 1881 the South Transept was, as we have said, the Parish Church of St. Oswald. It has Decorated windows. Perpendicular windows light the west aisle. We now enter the Choir. The screen is modern and by Sir G. Scott. “The choir is remarkable for the great beauty of the wood-work which it contains, as well as for its architectural merits. The style is that of the transition between the Early English and Decorated. The north side differs from the south, especially in regard to the mouldings. The north side is earlier than the south, the building having been commenced at the east end of that side. The mouldings on the north are bold rounds, while those on the south are shallow and small hollows. The triforium has a series of elaborately-carved cusped arches, and the clerestory windows are light and graceful with geometrical tracery. The vault is modern, constructed of good English oak. At the east there are figures of the sixteen prophets and at the west are angels playing musical instruments. There are some curious grotesque corbels, from which the vaulting shafts spring. “The carving of the CHOIR STALLS is equal, if not superior, to anything in England. These are Fourteenth Century work and rival the noble stalls of Amiens. They have been restored with much accuracy and taste. The carving of the dean’s stall should be noticed, as it represents the Jesse tree, surmounted by the Coronation of the Virgin. That representing Jacob’s Dream is modern. The misereres are extremely interesting and curious and full of religious instruction, though often conveyed in the way of sarcastic reproof. There are forty-eight, of which three are modern. Some of the most curious are: a pelican feeding her young; St. Werburgh and the stolen goose; a wife beating her husband; the strategy of the fox; stag hunt; Richard I. pulling out the heart of a lion; a fox in the garb of a monk presenting a gift to a nun; various wild men; wrestlers; unicorn resting its head on a virgin’s knee, and numerous grotesques.”—(P. H. D.) The Altar is modern and is made of oak of Bashan, olive-wood from the Mount of Olives and the cedar of Lebanon. The Reredos, a mosaic of the Last Supper, the Pulpit and the Bishop’s Throne are all modern. For many years the Shrine of St. Werburgh was used for the latter. We pause to look at this interesting piece of Fourteenth Century work, remembering how many eyes of MediÆval pilgrims have gazed with reverence upon it. “At the end of the stalls on the south side is the Bishop’s Throne. This has been formed from the base of the shrine of St. Werburgh, which seems to have served its present purpose since the foundation of the See in the Sixteenth Century. It has, however, so greatly altered during the late ‘restoration,’ that it is difficult to ascertain the ancient arrangement. The lower part, with niches for figures, is ancient. The part resting on this, as high as the small gilt figures, is modern. The figures themselves are old, and before the alteration they rested on the ancient base. The pinnacles and all the upper portion are modern. The ancient portions are early Decorated work of the Thirteenth Century. The niches in front and at the sides of the base are lined with a small arcade and vaulted. Above them are foliaged canopies. The gilt figures hold scrolls, once perhaps bearing names. They are conjectured to represent kings and queens of Mercia, connected either directly or collaterally with St. Werburgh. It is possible that when the shrine itself was perfect, the lower part, with niches, formed a portion of the base, whilst the small figures may have been a canopy supported by marble shafts. Under this canopy and on the base the feretory or actual shrine, with the relics, may have rested. This, however, is but conjecture, since no drawing or description exists of the shrine before the Reformation.”—(R. J. K.) The North aisle of the choir will detain the student because there is much Norman work here. Here can also be traced the termination of the old Norman apse. The arch in the east wall of the transept is also Norman, and early, too. The doorway from the north aisle is Fourteenth Century work. The apse was rebuilt in the Early English period and made to end in a square. In the Perpendicular period it was extended further. Note the gates of old Spanish workmanship across both aisles. They date from 1558. At the end stands the Lady-Chapel. “The Lady-Chapel is of Early English design, and was built about 1266, previous to the present choir. Many alterations were made subsequently, including the removal of the ancient steep and lofty roof and the substitution of a flat roof and the insertion of Perpendicular windows. Most of these additions have been removed and the Early English character restored. The east window of five lights was designed by Scott, and the original form of the roof has been restored. The vault, which is original Early English, has a boss representing the murder of Thomas À Becket. The mosaics were designed by Sir A. Blomfield. Here the consistory court was held at the time of the Reformation, and George Marsh, the Chester martyr, was condemned to be burnt.”—(P. H. D.) Through a Norman doorway in the north aisle of the choir, we enter the Cloisters. “The south walk is entirely new, having been restored by Scott. The west walk adjoins a fine Early Norman chamber, probably the great cellar of the abbot’s house. The cloisters are Perpendicular work. In the south and west walks there is a double arcade on the cloister-garth side, which contained the carrels, or enclosed studies of wainscot, where the monks read or wrote, and on the opposite side are recesses which are not tombs, but Armaria or cupboards, where their books and materials for illumina A doorway in the east walk carries us into the Vestibule of the Chapter-House. In the vestibule (Early English) light graceful piers support the vaulting. The mouldings are very much admired. The Chapter-House is also Early English and ranks high among these very national productions. It dates from about 1240. The east window of five lights is a handsome example of its date. |
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