[Illustration: GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL, FROM THE ROOF OF ST. JOHN'S CHURCH. ]

 THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF GLOUCESTER

 A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EPISCOPAL SEE

 BY H. J. L. J. MASSÉ, M. A. 

 AUTHOR OF "TEWKESBURY ABBEY" AND "DEERHURST PRIORY, " ETC. 

 WITH FORTY-NINE ILLUSTRATIONS

 LONDON GEORGE BELL & SONS 1905

 _First Published January 1899_ _Second Edition August 1900_ _Reprinted January 1905_

 _The Riverside Press Limited, Edinburgh_

GENERAL PREFACE

This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors to thegreat English Cathedrals with accurate and well illustrated guide-booksat a popular price. The aim of each writer has been to produce a workcompiled with sufficient knowledge and scholarship to be of value to thestudent of Archæology and History, and yet not too technical in languagefor the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist. 

To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in each casewould be difficult and tedious in this place. But amongst the generalsources of information which have been almost invariably found usefulare:--(1) the great county histories, the value of which, especially inquestions of genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2)the numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in theTransactions of the Antiquarian and Archæological Societies; (3) theimportant documents made accessible in the series issued by the Masterof the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and Willis on theEnglish Cathedrals; and (5) the very excellent series of Handbooks tothe Cathedrals originated by the late Mr John Murray; to which thereader may in most cases be referred for fuller detail, especially inreference to the histories of the respective sees. 

 GLEESON WHITE, E. F. STRANGE, _Editors of the Series. _

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

I wish to express my great obligations to Mr F. S. Waller (the CathedralArchitect) for his courtesy and kindness in allowing me to make thefullest use of his "Notes and Sketches" of the Cathedral, a book whichis now, unfortunately, out of print; to Mr W. H. St. John Hope, F. S. A. , for permission to quote from his "Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester, " published in the Records of Gloucester Cathedral;also to the Records of Gloucester Cathedral. 

To Mr E. J. Burrow I owe special thanks for permission to use blocksmade from his black-and-white drawings, one of which has not beenpublished before; to the Very Rev. The Dean for much useful informationand assistance; and lastly to the Sub-Sacrist, Mr T. W. G. Cooke, whosehelp has been at all times ungrudging and invaluable. 

 H. J. L. J. M. 

CONTENTS

 PAGE CHAPTER I. --History of the Building 3

 CHAPTER II. --The Exterior of the Cathedral 14 The West Front 20 The South Front and Porch 20 The South Transept 21 The Tower and the Bells 22 The Lady Chapel 26

 CHAPTER III. --The Interior 28 The Nave 32 The West End and South Aisle 36 The West Windows and the Font 40 The North Aisle 41 The Choir Screen 44 The Organ 46 The Choir 47 The Reredos 56 The South Transept 65 Chapel of St. Andrew and 'Prentice Bracket 67 The Crypt 68 South Ambulatory of Choir 72 Triforium of the Choir 73 The Whispering Gallery 77 The Lady Chapel 79 Abbot Boteler's Chapel 85 The North Transept 89

 CHAPTER IV. --The Precincts and Monastic Buildings 94 The Vineyard, the Dorter, the Refectory 95 The Little Cloisters 96 The Library 98 The Chapter-House 101 The Cloisters 104 The Monks' Lavatory 108 The Slype 111 The Deanery 112

 CHAPTER V. --List of Abbots and Bishops of Gloucester 117 The City 122 Other Churches and Monastic Foundations 124 Remains of Old Gloucester 128 Notes Architectural and Chronological 133

ILLUSTRATIONS

 PAGE The Cathedral from St. John's Tower _Frontispiece_ The Tower from the East 2 Bird's-eye view of Norman Work 15 The Cathedral from the South-West 17 The Cathedral from North-West corner of the Cloisters 19 The Tower from the Palace Yard 21 View of the Cathedral in 1727 23 South Porch since the Restoration 25 Piscina in the Triforium 27 The Nave, looking East 29 The Nave and North Aisle 33 South Aisle of the Nave 37 Plan of the Original Choir Screen 44 The Choir, looking East 49 Plan of the Triforium of the Choir 50 Plan of the Original High Altar 51 Sketch of Old Norman Choir 52 The Choir, looking West 53 The Choir in 1806 57 Tomb of Edward II 61 South-East Chapel in the Crypt 69 Plan of the Crypt 71 South-East View of Cathedral 75 Triforium of the Choir, looking East 76 South Ambulatory of the Choir 78 The Lady Chapel 81 West End of Lady Chapel 83 Tomb of Robert Curthose 87 North Ambulatory of the Choir, looking East 90 North Ambulatory of the Choir, looking West 91 Door from North Transept into North Ambulatory of the Choir 92 St. Mary's and King Edward's Gates 96 College and Palace Yard Gateways 97 Remains of Infirmary 98 Mediæval House 99 Chapter-House (Plan) 102 Plan of Abbey Precincts 103 Cloister Garth from North-West 107 The Monks' Lavatory 109 Plan of Old Tank in the Cloister Garth 111 The Cloister, showing the Carrels of the Monks 113 South Aisle of Nave 116 Monument to Mrs Morley 121 The Old Judge's House 125 The House of Robert Raikes 127 The New Inn 129 Carving at New Inn Lane 130 Remains of Roman Wall 131

 Plan of Cathedral (with Dimensions) 134, 135

[Illustration: The Tower. Gloucester from the East. Edward J. Burrows 1894]

GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL

CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF THE BUILDING

It is neither possible, nor desirable, within the limits of a book ofthis size and scope, to go fully into the question, interesting thoughit be, of the relative claims of Aldred and Serlo to the honour of thefirst building of the Abbey of Gloucester. Professor Willis, in hislecture addressed to the meeting of the Archæological Institute, held atGloucester in 1860, after giving various reasons for believing that thecrypt dates back no further than 1089, when the foundation-stone waslaid by Abbot Serlo, goes on to state that he was "clearly of opinionthat when the foundations of the cathedral were laid, the crypt wasplanned to receive the existing superstructure and no other. "

Professor Freeman, in his lecture published in the "Records ofGloucester Cathedral, " says: "The first thing we do know for certain is, that in the year 1089, thirty-one years only after the dedication ofEaldred's church, Serlo, the first Norman Abbot, began the building of anew church, which was itself dedicated in 1100. "

From the record quoted by Mr W. H. Hart ("Chartulary, " i. 3), the firstmention of the abbey is in 681, when it was founded by Osric, viceroy ofKing Ethelred. It was dedicated to St. Peter, and Kyneburga (the sisterof Osric) was the first Abbess of a double foundation for monks andnuns. She died in 710. 

Osric himself was buried in his church in 729 (Hart, i. 5), and hissister was buried near him, in front of the altar of St. Petronilla, which was on the north side of the then existing church. 

The second Abbess was also a lady of royal descent, and widow ofWulphere, King of the Mercians. She died in 735, and with Eve or Eva, orGaffa, her successor, who died in 769, the monastery came to an end. 

In 823 a new _régime_ began--viz. That of secular priests, introduced byBeornwulf, King of Mercia, and the _Monasticon Anglicanum_ (Caley, i. 563) says that he found the monastery "_spoliatum et ruinosum_" andtherefore rebuilt it. He also changed its constitution, by introducingsecular priests, of whom many were married to lawful wives, and who werevery little different in their way of living to other secularChristians. This state of things went on till 1022, when Cnut, as Lelandsays, "for ill lyvynge expellyd secular clerks, and by the counsell ofWolstane (Wulfstan), Bysshope of Wurcestar, bringethe in monkes. " Themonks introduced by Cnut were of the Benedictine rule, or Black monks, as Parker calls them in his "Rhythmical History of the Abbey. "

This change was effected about the same time in many other places inEngland, but was not generally popular, and certainly was not so inGloucester. Abbot Parker, in his rhyming account of the founding of theabbey, says that in 1030

 "A lord of great puissance, named Ulfine Le Rewe, Was enjoyned by (the Pope) for ever to finde Satisfying for the seaven priests that he slew, 7 monkes for them to pray world without minde. "

Mr Hope, in his "Notes on the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter atGloucester, " 1897, p. 2, says: "The Benedictines thus introduced by Cnutdo not seem to have been a success, and after an existence ofthirty-seven years under a weak Abbot, whose long rule was marked bygreat decay of discipline, the '_Memoriale_' (Dugdale, i. 564) says:'God permitted them to be extirpated, and the monastery in which theywere established to be devoured by the fiercest flames, and the veryfoundations and buildings to be rent asunder, razed to the ground, andutterly destroyed. '"

"The monastery was next taken in hand by Aldred, Bishop of Worcester, who in 1058 re-established the monks. He also began to build a newchurch from the foundations, and dedicated it in honour of St. Peter. "[1]

"Until now the monastery seems to have occupied the same site throughoutits chequered history; but the '_Memoriale_' states that Aldred beganthe new church 'a little further from the place where it had firststood, and nearer to the side of the city. '"

The language of these authorities is quite plain, but the interpretationthereof is not so evident. As Professor Freeman said: "By the time whenthe oldest church, of which we have any part remaining, came into being, the Roman Wall, or at least this corner of it, must have pretty wellpassed away. " It seems clear that the "_side of the city_" cannot referto the Roman Wall. To quote Professor Freeman again: "The existingchurch is something more than near to the Roman Wall. It actually standsover its north-west corner. "

"Even under Aldred's auspices the monastery did not altogether flourish. But this time it was through the fault of Aldred himself, for, on histranslation to York in 1060, he retained very many of the possessions ofthe abbey that had been pledged to him on account of his expenses inrepairing and re-edifying the church. "

In 1072, Wilstan (Wulstan), the Abbot consecrated by Aldred in 1058, died, and was succeeded by Serlo, who found the convent reduced to twomonks and eight novices. Through his energy the monastery increased tosuch an extent that in about fifteen years' time it became necessary torebuild the monastery. 

This rebuilding was begun exactly thirty-one years after Aldred hadbuilt his church, _de nova_ and _a fundamentis_. Why was this necessary?Professor Freeman says: "The reason is not very far to seek for any onewho has really mastered the history of architecture during the eleventhcentury.... The simple fact is that the Norman prelates pulled down andrebuilt the English churches, mainly because they thought them toosmall. " Further on he says: "This proves that, of the two types ofchurch which were in use side by side in the days of the Confessor, Aldred had followed the older type. He had not conformed to the newNorman fashions, vast size among them, which were coming in after theexample of the king's own church at Westminster.... His church was builtin the Primitive Romanesque style, the style common to England, withGermany, Italy, and Burgundy, not in the newly-developed style ofNorthern Gaul. Therefore, neither its scale nor its style suited theideas of Abbot Serlo. [2] It was condemned, and the minster that nowstands was begun. "

In the MS. Lives of the Abbots in Queen's College Library, Oxford, it isstated that "in A. D. 1089, on the day of the festival of the ApostlesPeter and Paul, in this year were laid the foundations of the church(ecclesia) of Gloucester, the venerable man Robert, Bishop of Hereford, laying the first stone, Serlo the Abbot being in charge of the work. "(So, too, Hart, i. 11. )

In August 1089 there was an earthquake, which did serious damage to thethen existing building. Eleven years after this (1100), in the last yearof the reign of William Rufus, "the church, " as Florence of Worcesterwrote, "which Abbot Serlo, of revered memory, had built from thefoundations at Gloucester, was dedicated (on Sunday, July 15th) withgreat pomp by Samson, Bishop of Worcester; Gundulf, Bishop of Rochester;Gerard, Bishop of Hereford; and Herveas, Bishop of Bangor. " Thisdedication under Serlo's _régime_ is the last authentic record for someyears. 

Nothing is known exactly as to how much of the building was completed by1100. Professor Freeman points out that eleven years was quite longenough for its building, and that there is no hint in the localchronicle of any additions being made to the building dedicated in 1100. Probably part of the church was finished for the dedication, such as thepresbytery, choir, the transepts, the Abbot's cloister, thechapter-house, and the greater part, at any rate, of the nave. 

The nave, though so different in scale as compared with the originalchoir, must have been built very early in the twelfth century, and, likethe rest of the building, originally had a wooden roof. 

In 1101 or 1102 damage was done to the building by fire, notably thechapter-house, and again in 1122. Possibly in this latter fire the naveroof was destroyed, and of this fire the piers in the nave show traces. Of the same date must be much of the strengthening masonry in the crypt, the Prior's lodging, the chapel, and the slype beneath it. 

The whole of the Abbey buildings were surrounded by Abbot Peter with astone wall, and the necessary gates--viz. The great gatehouse on thewest, another on the south, and a third more to the east. All these canbe identified from the small plan of the monastic buildings, reproduced(p. 103), by permission of Mr F. S. Waller. The Saxon Chronicle tells usthat in 1122, while the monks were singing mass, fire burst out from theupper part of the steeple, and burnt the whole monastery. Some timebetween 1164 and 1179 one of the western towers, probably the south-westtower, fell down. Fire in 1190 is said to have destroyed the greaterpart of the city, as well as almost all the buildings in the outercourt. Helias, the sacrist, also made new stalls for the monks in thechoir. Of these Early English stalls, a fragment has been thoughtfullyand carefully preserved behind the seat of the Canon in residence. 

In 1222 we learn from Hart, i. 25, that the great eastern tower wasbuilt under the direction of Helias of Hereford, the sacrist. Of thistower no traces now remain. Helias built his superstructure on theNorman work that we see in the nave. 

The Early English Lady Chapel was said to have been built between theyears 1224-1227 by Ralph of Wylington, and Olympias his wife, andendowed with lands. 

The church was dedicated again in 1239, in Abbot Foliot's time, byWalter of Cantelupe, "the patriot prelate who, six-and-twenty yearslater, stood by Earl Simon on the day of martyrdom at Evesham. "

Three years after the dedication in 1242 alterations in the triforium ofthe nave were made, and the stone vaulting was done by the monksthemselves. It was a very laudable object, but they effectually spoiledthe nave. The same year saw the beginning of the rebuilding of thesouth-west tower, and it was finished before 1246. If this was the towerthat collapsed in 1170, the monks would seem to have somewhat neglectedtheir duty to the fabric. The Norman refectory or "frater" wasdemolished in 1246, and the new one begun. This building stood to thenorth of the cloisters, and was pulled down at the Dissolution. Of theEarly English infirmary or "farmery" traces remain near the Bishop'sPalace. 

In this place we may refer incidentally to Gloucester Hall, Oxford, which college was founded in 1283 as a residence for thirteen monks, tobe chosen out of the brotherhood at Gloucester, and sent to study atOxford. The hall was empowered later on to receive students from otherBenedictine foundations, and the buildings were enlarged for thispurpose in 1298. 

Fire again ravaged the Abbey and its precincts in 1300, on the feast ofthe Epiphany. "It began in a timbered house in the great court, fromwhich it spread to the small bell-tower, the great camera, and thecloister" (Hope, 36). Mr Hope thinks this bell-tower was either a singlewestern tower, as formerly there was at Hereford, or else a Normannorth-west tower, and that the great camera was part of the Abbot'shouse, now the Deanery. Professor Freeman thinks that the smallbell-tower or _parvum campanile_ was so called as being less in heightthan the south-west tower rebuilt in 1245-6. 

In this same fire the Norman dorter or dormitory suffered considerabledamage. It was pulled down three years later, and a new one, which tookten years to build, was opened for use in 1313, after being blessed andsprinkled with holy water by the Bishop of St. David's. 1318 is a dateof importance in the history of the Abbey. John Thokey, Abbot from1307-1329, made many changes. He reconstructed the south aisle of thenave to save the south side from collapse. The windows on the outsidehave been restored, but the buttresses have been very little touched. Most of the tracery in the windows of the aisles and chapels of thechoir, and the triforium of the choir, date back to his time. 

Thokey, between 1316-1329 built the new camera of the Abbot, beside theinfirmary garden (Hart, i. 55). 

Thokey's successor, Wygmore, carried out the works planned previously, and in 1331-1337 the south transept was recased, and vaulted practicallyas we see it to-day, in the style now known as Perpendicular. Part ofthe front of the Deanery is presumably of the same date, though manylater alterations have been made in it. Wygmore also built the doublescreen (_vide_ p. 44) which separated the nave from the choir. "Parts ofit, " says Mr Hope, "are worked up in the present screen, " and he quotesHart, i. 47, to show that Wygmore was buried in 1337, "before theSalutation of the Blessed Mary in the entry of the quire on the southside, which he himself constructed with the pulpitum (or loft) in thesame place. "

The transformation of the Norman minster had thus begun. In the days ofAdam de Staunton (1337-1357) the great vault of the choir was made at agreat expense, together with the stalls on the Priors' side--_i. E. _ thenorth side. 

The oblations at the tomb of Edward II. Rendered much of his extensivework practicable, as the funds of the Abbey were becoming exhausted. 

Thomas Horton (1351-1377) finished the work, comprising the high altar, with the presbytery, the stalls on the Abbot's side, or south side ofthe choir. (Hart, i. 49. )

He also caused to be made the images and tabernacle work at the entranceof the choir on the north side, and in the six years, ending with 1374, he completed the casing of the north transept, defraying the greaterpart of the cost himself (£444, 0s. 2d. Out of a total sum of £781, 0s. 2d. ). 

Horton also built "the Abbot's chapel near the garden of the infirmary, the covered camera of the monks' hostelry, and the great hall in thecourt, where the king afterwards held his Parliament in 1378. " (Hart, i. 48, 50. )

The present cloister, as far as the door of the chapter-house, is alsohis work. 

This important work was for many years unfinished, but was completed byFroucester in the years 1381-1407. As Leland says, "he made the cloystera right goodly and sumptuous piece of worke. "

In the one hundred and thirty years that elapsed between the finishingof the cloisters and the Dissolution many further important changes tookplace, both in the interior and in the exterior of the fabric. 

John Morwent (1421-1437), utterly destroyed the west front, with its twotowers, which, in the opinion of many, may have been counterparts ofthose at Tewkesbury. To him also is credited, mainly on Leland'sauthority, the insertion of the south porch. 

Abbot Seabroke (1450-1457) took down the tower as far as the Normanpiers, and built the present beautiful structure. He died before it wasfinished, and Robert Tully, one of the monks of the monastery, carriedout the work, as the inscription on the wall in the interior (_vide_ p. 63) testifies. 

Before the tower was complete, the present Lady Chapel (which wasfinished before 1500) was begun by Abbot Hanley, and finished by AbbotFarley. 

John the Baptist's Chapel is usually ascribed to Abbot John Browne (orNewton), from the similarity of his initials to those of the saint. 

The eastern bay of the chapter-house dates back to Abbot Hanley'stime--_i. E. _ between 1457-1472. 

In 1540 Henry VIII. Sent his commissioners, and they demanded thesurrender of the Abbey to the king. This cannot have been a surprise toany of the monks who were in the Abbey at the time. As far back as 1534they had all been compelled to take the oath by which they acknowledgedthe king as supreme head of the Church of England, and denied that anyforeign bishop had any authority in these realms. 

The monks, too, had seen the smaller monasteries in Gloucester dissolvedtwo years before, and the more thoughtful of them must have foreseenthat it was a mere question of time for the greedy king to absorb thelarger monasteries as well. 

Abbot Parker's tomb, and also that of King Osric, practically datethemselves, and of the same period are presumably the gateway intoPalace Yard, and part of the Abbot's lodging on the site of the presentBishop's Palace. From Leland we learn that the south gate--_i. E. _ KingEdward's gate--is of the same date, having been rebuilt by Osborne thecellarer. 

The library, and the set of rooms beneath it, now used as vestry andpractice-room for the choir, are perhaps the latest additions to thebuildings. 

At the Dissolution the Abbey which had "existed for more than eightcenturies under different forms, in poverty and in wealth, in meannessand in magnificence, in misfortune and success, finally succumbed to theroyal will. The day came, and that a drear winter day, when its lastmass was sung, its last censer waved, its last congregation bent in raptand lowly adoration before the altar there; and, doubtless, as the lasttones of that day's evensong died away in the vaulted roof, there werenot wanting those who lingered in the solemn stillness of the oldmassive pile, and who, as the lights disappeared one by one, felt thatthere was a void which could never be filled, because their old abbey, with its beautiful services, its frequent means of grace, itshospitality to strangers, and its loving care for God's poor, hadpassed away like a morning dream, and was gone for ever. " (Hart, iii. 49. )

The charter of Henry VIII. Founding the see is too long to quote _inextenso_, but it stated that "Whereas the great convent or monastery, which, whilst still in being, was called the monastery of St. Peter ofGloucester, ... And all and singular its manors, ... And possessions, for certain special and urgent causes were, by Gabriel Moreton, Prior ofthe said abbey or monastery and the convent thereof, lately given andgranted to us and our heirs for ever.... We, being influenced by divinegoodness, and desiring above all things, that true religion, and thetrue worship of God may not only not be abolished, but entirely restoredto the primitive and genuine rule of simplicity; and that all thoseenormities may be corrected into which the lives and profession of themonks for a long time had deplorably lapsed, have, as far as humanfrailty will permit, endeavoured to the utmost that for the future thepure word of God may be taught in that place, good disciplinepreserved.... "

The charter goes on to say that, "considering the site of the said latemonastery in which many famous monuments of our renowned ancestors, Kings of England, are erected, is a very fit and proper place ... Wehave decreed that the site of the said monastery be an episcopal see.... We also will and ordain that the said Dean and Prebendaries, and theirsuccessors, shall for ever hereafter be called the Dean and Chapter ofthe Holy and Individed Trinity of Gloucester. " Henry also assigned tothe Bishop all the premises formerly occupied by the Abbot. 

In 1576 the fabric seems to have been in want of considerable repair, and in 1616, when Dr Laud was Dean, it was said of it that "there wasscarcely a church in England so much in decay. " The Dean procured an Actof the Chapter, by which the sum of £60 per annum was to be allowed forrepairs. 

In the time of the civil war it suffered less than might have beenexpected. It was subsequently in danger of total destruction from themachinations of some persons, who are said "to have agreed amongstthemselves for their several proportions of the plunder expected out ofit. " The little cloisters and the Lady Chapel were begun to be pulleddown, and "instruments and tackle provided for to take down the tower, "but in 1657 the church was made over by grant to the mayor and burgessesat their request, and from this it is to be assumed that they wished toprevent it from possible ruin. Mr Dorney, speaking in 1653, recommendsto the officers of the city then elected, "that they would, togetherwith others, join their shoulders to hold up the stately fabric of theCollege Church, the great ornament of this city, which some do say isnow in danger of falling. "

In 1679 we find an insensate prebendary securing an order from theChapter for destroying some of the old glass in the west window of thechoir. Bishop Benson (1734-1752) spent vast sums of money on thebuilding, and to him are due the paving of the nave, and pinnacles tothe Lady Chapel, which were removed at a recent restoration. A stonescreen (removed in 1820) was erected at the entrance to the choir bythis energetic Bishop, and his architect, Kent, in whose hands he was, suggested the fluting of the pillars of the nave. 

Fifty years ago, in 1847, under the energetic administration of DrJeune, the Treasurer, extensive repairs and improvements were begun byMr F. S. Waller. The crypt was drained, concreted, and later on glazed. The grounds round the cathedral have been lowered, enlarged, and laidout, and the drainage has been properly done. Of the restorations duringthe last fifty years mention has been made in detail in the descriptionof the various parts of the building that have been restored, and thereis no need to repeat. 

Restoration is a cause of much strife, and in the hands of manyarchitects it means destruction of the original features of thebuilding. Gloucester has suffered somewhat at the hands of Sir GilbertScott, but probably not a tithe of what would have been inflicted uponit had Wyatt been turned loose with an absolutely free hand. Mr Waller, writing in 1890, said: "Forty years ago everything not 'Gothic' (thefashion of the day) was destroyed; but were it possible now to reinstatethe Chapter-House book-cases, the Renaissance Reredos of the Choir, Wygmore's pulpit, the aisle screens, the remains of the Rood Loft, andthe Choir fittings, and to put them all back--odd mixture as they wouldbe--to the positions they occupied in 1727, few would be found toobject, even though the replacement of the monuments on the columns ofthe nave became one of the conditions. "--Truly "_Tempora mutantur_, "and fortunately _nos et mutamur in illis_. 

#Dedication. #--The building of Osric was dedicated to St Peter byTheodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bosel, Bishop of Worcester. WhenBishop Wulfstan ejected the secular canons, and brought in hisBenedictine monks, he reconsecrated it to St. Peter and St. Paul. 

Bishop Aldred after building _de novo_ re-dedicated the church to St. Peter, as the chief of the apostles. Abbot Serlo seems to haveremembered the earlier dedication to St. Peter and St. Paul, for hecaused the foundation-stone to be laid in 1089 on the festival of thosetwo apostles in June, but his dedication in 1100 was to St. Peter. BothSt. Peter and St. Paul are now represented among the statues on thefront of the south porch. After the dissolution of the monastery HenryVIII. Ascribed the Cathedral Church to the Holy and Individed Trinity. 

The Cathedral is traditionally by many called "St. Peter's, " and by some"The Abbey Church, " but this, of course, is quite inaccurate. 

_Apropos_ of the question of the dedication, the arms of the see may bebriefly considered. 

The original arms were Azure, two keys in saltire, or. 

By the fifteenth century the sword for St. Paul had become incorporatedwith the crossed keys, and it is found upon the bells and also on theeast side of the organ case. At the Dissolution the arms were Gules, twokeys in saltire surmounted by a sword in pale, argent. Brown Willis, in1727, wrote that "the old arms of this see as used 100 years ago, werethree chevronels, the middle one charged with a mitre, but the bishopsnow give _Azure, two keys in saltire, or. _"

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] So says the MS. Lives of the Abbots in the Library of Queen's College, Oxford. 

 [2] Formerly a canon of the Church of Avranches, and afterwards a monk in the Church of Mont St. Michel. 

CHAPTER II

THE EXTERIOR

Of the building as originally constructed, practically the whole, as faras the outline is concerned, may be said to remain as it was at thebeginning of the twelfth century. The massive Norman nave, the slype orcovered passage that is between the Deanery and the north-west wall ofthe cathedral, the two transepts with their turrets, the choir with itsvarious chapels and aisles, the chapter-house, and the Abbot's cloister, are all parts of the original building, although later additions havepartly concealed them. 

In Mr Waller's "Notes and Sketches of Gloucester Cathedral"[1] a veryinteresting view is given of the cathedral stripped of every addition ofa later date than the original structure, and by his permission it ishere reproduced. 

With reference to this sketch Mr Waller says:

 "This sketch is given to shew what is left of the old Abbey Church of the twelfth century, and looking to the fact that it was not too reliable a structure to begin with, as regards foundation and settlements (not forgetting the "earthquake"), it certainly is wonderful what extraordinary liberties have been taken with the old fabric, and what really great risks have been incurred. Look at and consider this sketch with reference to the building as it now stands, and excepting in the aisles of the Choir, the north aisle of the Nave, and part of the Chapter-Room, where the original vaulting remains, it will be seen that it is a _mere shell_, the walls have been pulled about in the most reckless manner, and in all directions, and in the Choir they have actually been pared down and an outer casing has been entirely removed--large pieces have been cut out of the piers for the introduction of monuments (mediæval, not modern!), window heads have been removed to make way for the more recent works, and nearly the whole of the Cathedral has been covered with a sort of appliqué work of mullions and tracery, erected chiefly in the fourteenth century (see sketch on plate 4). The large central Tower (forty feet square on the leads) has been built on the old Norman walls; new walls, new vaulting, and new roofs have been erected on old foundations; and, strange to say, scarcely a settlement of any kind can be seen in any of the building operations which have been undertaken since 1200! It is not too much to say that a man of the present day who would even suggest such works as have been here successfully accomplished, would be most severely condemned; but in those days the Abbots had only themselves to please, there were no well-educated reporters and writers to discuss their doings in morning papers: they felt, therefore, quite at their ease, hoping for the best, and in this instance succeeding admirably, not only as regards their own wishes and intentions, but in leaving for posterity a splendid architectural history in stone. "

 "The plan of the building is cruciform, and consists of a Nave and Choir, with Aisles on the north and south sides of each; North and South Transepts, at the intersection of which with the Choir rises the Tower; and at intervals round the Choir Aisles are four small apsidal Chapels. At the east end is the Lady-Chapel, prior to the erection of which, a fifth Chapel, similar in form and dimensions to the other four, existed at the east end; as may be seen in the plan of the Crypt. "

[Illustration: NORMAN REMAINS

 Remove from the Building all that has been erected since A. D. 1200, and this sketch will be found to fairly represent that which is left of the Church of the 11th and 12th centuries. 

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

The whole building, according to Professor Willis, is full of peculiarfancies, which all appear to be characteristic of a school of masons whowere extremely skilful, and glad of an opportunity of showing theirskill. The mediæval masons, he thinks, were "perfectly practical andmost ingenious men; they worked experimentally: if their buildings werestrong enough, there they stood; if they were too strong, they alsostood; but if they were too weak they gave way, and they put props andbuilt the next stronger. " That was their science--and very goodpractical science it was--but in many cases they imperilled their work, and gave trouble to future restorers. 

The arrangement of the buildings differs in one very essential pointfrom almost every other in the kingdom. The cloisters and the claustralbuildings were, as a rule, on the south side of the church, for the sakeof shelter, and also of sunshine. At Gloucester they are on the northside of the church, the reason being (according to Mr Fosbroke) thatwhen Aldred laid the new foundations farther south, the cloisters foundthemselves on the north side. 

Dallaway has said very truly that "Few churches in England exhibit socomplete a school of Gothic in all its gradations from the time of theConquest as the Cathedral of Gloucester. " This is true with theexception that of "Decorated" architecture there are but few examples, and it is probable that very little new work was done in connection withthis cathedral until the monastery became vastly enriched by AbbotThokey's policy in causing the body of Edward II. To be brought fromBerkeley Castle for interment in his abbey. It is said that the amountof offerings made at the tomb during the reign of Edward III. Was enoughto have entirely rebuilt the abbey. In consequence of this the Cathedralis full of some of the finest examples of the styles known as"Transition from Decorated to Perpendicular" (anticipativePerpendicular) and pure "Perpendicular"--a style which, in ProfessorWillis's opinion, originated at Gloucester. From every side there issomething to interest the careful observer. 

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-WEST. ]

As a rule, visitors see it first from the south side, and the south-westgeneral view is one of the best, equalled, but not surpassed, by thatfrom the north-west. The north view from the Great Western Railway, withthe school playing-fields in the foreground, makes a striking picture, but it is more sombre than the picture formed by the south front. Viewedfrom the north-west corner of the cloister-garth, the pile is seenperhaps at its best. From this point it is easy to study so much of thevaried architecture of the whole, and with little effort to transportthe mind back for a space of four hundred years. The eye first restsupon the turf of the garth, now tastefully laid out after many years ofcomparative neglect. Flanking the garth on every side are the exquisitewindows of the Cloister--a cloister which no other can surpass. Abovethe Cloister will be seen on the eastern side the sober, impressiveNorman work of the Chapter-House in which so much of our English historyhas been made. To the south of this is the Library, built close againstthe walls of the north transept, which tower above, and lead the eyeupward to the great tower which, "in the middest of the church, " crownsthe whole. 

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST CORNER OF THE CLOISTERS. ]

Looking for a moment at the Norman windows in the north aisle, one seeshow they have been altered in their details since they were built, though their bold outline remains the same. The windows in theclerestory tell the tale of a later time, probably that of AbbotMorwent. 

The #West Front. #--Compared with many others of our cathedral fronts, this front may seem to be of less interest, but it has the great beautyof simplicity, which prevents it, when viewed in the foreground, fromkilling the rest of the picture. The buttresses of the great window areingeniously pierced, so as not to cut off the light; and the parapets, also of pierced or open work, should be carefully noted. 

Plain transoms cross the lights, whereas in the inside the tracery andcusping is elaborate. This will be noted also in the east window of thechoir and elsewhere. 

Of the western towers which formerly existed no traces now remain. Thenorth-west tower, owing to badly-made foundations, collapsed in thelatter half of the twelfth century between 1163-1179. 

A south-west tower was begun in 1242 by Walter de St. John, Prior at thetime, and subsequently Abbot for a few weeks, and it was finished by hissuccessor, John de la Feld. 

When Abbot Morwent altered the west end and front, the western towersdisappeared altogether. This front was restored carefully, wherenecessary, in 1874. 

The #South Porch. #--This portion of the building is the work of Morwent, who was Abbot from 1421-1437. The rich front of what Bonner called"Saracenic work, " was formerly disfigured by an uninteresting dial withthe motto _Pereunt et imputantur_. This was removed at the Restoration, when the canopies were restored, and niches filled with statues byRedfern. Over the doorway in the centre, stand St. Peter and St. Paul, and the four Evangelists. Below are King Osric and Abbot Serlo, the twofounders of the Abbey Church. The four figures in the niches of thebuttresses represent St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Gregory. The windows of the porch have been formed by piercing theinternal tracery. This has a very curious effect when viewed from theinside. From the outside the windows do not seem unusual. 

[Illustration: The Tower from the Palace-yards Drawn by E. J. Burrow. ]

#The Porch# was in such a very ruinous state, that it was scarcelypossible to use any of the old stone on the outside. Within, the oldwork can be seen, and the bosses are worthy of attention. Over the porchis an unfinished parvise. The doors are very good specimens offifteenth-century work. 

The #South Transept# (or St. Andrew's Aisle), as far as the walls areconcerned, is thought by some to have been built by Serlo, but therehave been so many alterations in the exterior that it is difficult tosay anything with certainty. Fosbroke, writing at the end of lastcentury, noted that there was an inscription on the outside wall makingmention of one William Pipard, who was sheriff of the county about sixtyyears after Serlo's time. The windows have been enlarged and muchaltered, and later tracery has been inserted. 

In spite of the many alterations and some restoration, the south frontof this transept contains much interesting Norman work, which has beenre-used in a very clever way. The square flanking towers, with theirlater spires, the arcading over the head of the window, and the gracefulcurve in the battlement are all worthy of attention, and will serve toconfuse visitors before they realise that the Norman architecture isconcealed under a later casing, and that there is a great deal of oldwork re-used in the new. 

There is a curious buttress, too, which goes across the west window ofthis transept to strengthen the south-west corner of the great tower. Infact, the south side of the church is the only side that, as builderssay, has "settled" at all. 

In 1867 a Roman tesselated pavement was discovered near the south frontof this transept. 

#The Tower. #--Of all the exterior beauties, the most striking is thebeautiful and graceful tower. Placed where it is, almost in the centreof the long line of the nave, continued in the choir and Lady Chapel, atthe point where the transept line intersects it, it is the chief featureof the massive pile. All else seems to be grouped with a view to theenhancing of the effect of the central position of the tower. The othermembers of the building seem merely to be steps, by means of whichapproach can be made to it. It is the grandest and most impressivefeature of the outside. No matter from whence one looks at it, the charmis there. Seen from the gardens in the side streets close by when thepear-trees are in bloom, or in the full blaze of a hot summer day, oragain later in the autumn when the leaves are beginning to turn, or, better still, in snow time, it is always full of beauty. On a bright hotday the pinnacles seem so far off in the haze as to suggest a dream offairyland. On a wet day, after a shower, the tower has the appearance ofbeing so close at hand that it almost seems to speak. Viewed bymoonlight, the tower has an unearthly look, which cannot well bedescribed. The tower is 225 feet high to the top of the pinnacles, andthe effect of it is extremely fine. From the main cornice upwards, thewhole of the stonework is open, and composed of what at a distanceappears to be delicate tracery, and mullions, and crocketed pinnacles. 

[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL IN 1727. From an old Print. ]

It is, in all probability, the third tower that has been built sinceAldred's time. There are piers still remaining of the Norman towererected by Serlo in the years that elapsed between 1089 and 1100; and, as we are told in the "Saxon Chronicle, " that in 1122 a fire whichoriginated in the upper part of the steeple burnt the whole monastery, it must be inferred that the superstructure was of wood. A hundred yearslater it is known that the great eastern tower was built with the helpof Helias of Hereford. This tower was in great part taken down by themonk Tully, and rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in the time of AbbotSeabroke (1450-1457). 

The #Bells# at Gloucester are peculiarly interesting from the fact oftheir age, and from the fact that they escaped the clutches of thedespoilers at the time of the Dissolution. The truth of the matter seemsto be that all the "Churche goods, money, juells, plate, vestments, ornaments, and bells" had been inventoried and handed over to the king'scommissioners in Bishop Hooper's time. The commissioners returned to theDean and Chapter "to and for the use and behouf of the seid Churche, onechalys being silver and whole gilte without a paten waying xi oz. Andalso one grete bell whereuppon the cloke strykithe, and eight othergrete bells whereupon the chyme goethe hangynge in the towre therewithin the seid church save and surely to be kept untill the King'sMajesty's pleasure shall be therein further knowen. " This was dated May27th, 1553, and as the king died within three months his pleasure in thematter was never "further knowen, " and Gloucester rejoices still in itsbells. 

The chimes[2] play four tunes, which are changed every other day. Thefirst tune was composed by Dr Jefferies in 1791; the second by Dr Hayes, who died 1777; the third by Dr Malchair, 1760-1770; and the fourth by DrStevens. The composers of the second and fourth tunes were both nativesof Gloucester, and at one time choristers in the cathedral. 

[Illustration: THE SOUTH PORCH (SINCE THE RESTORATION). ]

"The shape of the east end of the old Church, as will be seen by areference to the ground plan and plan of the Crypt, is partly round andpartly polygonal; round as regards the outer wall of the main buildingand the inside and outside of the small Chapels in the Crypt, butpolygonal in the interior walls of the main building in the Crypt;whereas on the ground-floor the main building and the Chapels are allpolygonal. [3] An examination of the remains of the Eastern Arches, asseen above the last Norman piers eastward of the Choir, shows thedirection of the lines distinctly, following as they do the lines of theCrypt below, but with less heavy construction. The whole of the edifice, with the exception of the Lady Chapel and the Cloisters, remains, asregards general outline, as it stood in the early part of the twelfthcentury. (See illustration, p. 15. ) The Nave with its large circularcolumns, the slype adjoining the Deanery (probably indicating the extentwestwards of the Norman Towers prior to the erection of the present westend), the North and South Transepts, with their Turrets at the west andeast angles, the Choir and its Aisles and Chapels, the Chapter-House andAbbot's Cloister, although more or less masked by later additions, areall parts of the original building. "

The method of joining the Lady Chapel to the choir is best noticed fromthe outside. It is a piece of exceedingly clever and gracefulconstruction, and there is the minimum of obstruction to the lightpassing through to the east window, and the maximum of support to theelliptical east window. 

Another interesting feature in this part of the exterior is theconstruction of the two passages--chiefly of re-used Norman work--whichmake up the greater part of the so-called Whispering Gallery--_i. E. _ thepassage connecting the north and the south triforium of the choir. 

One of the distinguishing features of the exterior of the building isthe variety and arrangement of the battlements and pinnacles. BishopBenson did his best to spoil the effect of those on the Lady Chapel byremoving the upper part of the parapet and by substituting otherpinnacles. These have been restored, but the east-end pinnacles do notseem quite in keeping with Gloucester. Viewing the Lady Chapel from thenorth side, the play of light through the windows on the south side hasa very grand effect. Under the east end of the Lady Chapel is a passagewhich has given rise to much speculation in bygone times. 

The #Lady Chapel# at the time of its erection was carried out to thefarthest limit of the land possessed by the Abbey, shown on the plan atF. F. As the east wall of the chapel was actually on the western boundarywall the passage was made to give access from the north to the south ofthe grounds, without the need of going right round the precincts by thewest front. 

Modern improvements have increased the facilities for studying andadmiring the building. In 1847-8 the garden was laid out, and from itthe outside can easily be carefully examined. 

[Illustration: PISCINA IN THE TRIFORIUM. ]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] This is now out of print. 

 [2] They have lately been undergoing repair, and will soon be in working order again. 

 [3] James Fergusson, writing to Mr. Waller on the above subject, says: "It is curious that polygonal forms should be used in this country in the eleventh century, whilst at Caen and on the Continent generally circular forms prevailed well into the twelfth century. "

CHAPTER III

THE INTERIOR

"The most-detailed description of architectural works must fail toconvey to the mind so clear and correct an impression, as the graphicrepresentation of the objects themselves does to the eye; and the morelaboured the attempt to describe in words the position, the arrangement, the form and magnitude of the several parts, the more the picturebecomes confused, and the less likely to answer the purpose" (_Quart. Rev. _, No. 37, 179). 

How far the above statement is of universal application is not a matterto be here discussed, but it will be appreciated to the full by anyonewho attempts to describe, within definite and narrow limits, the manybeauties of one of our finest cathedrals, such as Gloucester undoubtedlyis. 

To fully appreciate the beauty of the cathedral, it must be studiedunder different aspects and at different times. Much will depend uponthe mood of the visitor, much, too, upon the time of day. The LadyChapel at 7 A. M. Is quite a different thing from the Lady Chapel at10:30 or 12 noon, though always beautiful. The same holds good with thechoir and the nave. A slanting light through the south clerestoryplaying fitfully upon the lace-work of the north side of the choir, orthe sturdy pillars of the ever-impressive nave, gives a charm thatcannot be described. 

How grand a sight, too, it is when the nave is almost in darkness--savefor eight or ten small jets of light overhead--to see the choir lightedup, with the organ standing out in strong relief against the blaze oflight below and behind it, and now and then a gleam of light showingthrough as the door under the screen is opened. 

[Illustration: THE NAVE, LOOKING EAST. ]

Then, again, note and study the marvellous effects of sound in thebuilding. Listen, if possible, from the Lady Chapel, to an anthem bysome old composer; listen to Bach's G minor fugue from the triforium ofthe choir, and hear the echoes rolling from pier to pier; listen to theHallelujah Chorus sung on some great festival service in the nave, orsome simple well-known hymn sung by close upon 3000 people, and thelistener will have some idea of the effect that mere sound, taken assuch, can produce. 

The sound of Stainer's Gregorian _Miserere_, sung entirelyunaccompanied, as heard from the great west door, is grand in theextreme. It needs but little imagination to take oneself back, say, fourhundred years, and picture the monks singing the very same Psalm. 

The tiles in an ancient building are always of interest, and Gloucestercontains many that are worth inspection. There are some in the choir andits chapels, and there are some in the Lady Chapel; others may be foundnear Raikes' monument, exposed to view in the south aisle. There arealso some in the south-east chapel of the triforium of the choir. Thechapter-house tiles are modern (Minton), but were made after the tilesthat were in existence there. 

The nave was originally tiled, and specimens have been found whenexcavations have been made. In the days that are to come, possibly, theGeorgian flooring may be taken up, and the tiles now hidden from viewwill be revealed in places where they have not been broken up, wheregraves have been dug in the nave and aisles. 

Perhaps the weakest point in the cathedral is the modern glass. There ismuch that shows careful work and thought, but there has been nosystematic controlling spirit at work to suggest, to guide, or to check. The chief blots, too, are the so-called memorial windows, and the reasonis not hard to find. It is well put by Mr Ruskin, who, in his "SevenLamps of Architecture, " says: "The peculiar manner of selfish andimpious ostentation, provoked by the glassmakers for a stimulus totrade, of putting up painted windows to be records of private affection, instead of universal religion, is one of the worst, because mostplausible and proud, hypocrisies of our day. "

Just imagine the difference in the south aisle, for instance, if therehad been a scheme carefully planned beforehand for the windows, insteadof the threefold, but haphazard, process of a window offered, a windowaccepted, a window put up, and no questions asked as to designer orartist. Imagine what the effect might, or would, have been, had thewindows, as a set, been designed by Burne-Jones and executed by WilliamMorris, or by other competent artists. Now, unfortunately, these twogreat artists are dead, and Gloucester has not a single specimen oftheir work. 

The #Nave# as it is (174 feet by 34¼ feet long, 67 feet 7 inches high)is quite unique, and differs considerably from other Norman naves, suchas are to be found in the cathedrals at Ely, Norwich, or Peterborough, and in the neighbouring abbey churches at Tewkesbury, and Great Malvern. 

The unique features here are the great height of the massive circularcolumns, fourteen in number, and the consequently dwarfed triforium orgallery running over the main arches. There are traces to be seen of theoriginal Norman clerestory under the Perpendicular windows, and, judgingfrom this, the height of the clerestory, as originally constructed, musthave been but little less than that of the piers in the nave. 

This Norman clerestory was altered at the same time that the roof of thenave was vaulted--viz. In 1242, in the time of Henry Foliot. This workwas done by the monks themselves, who thought, as Professor Willissuggests, that they could do it better than common workmen. Their workis made of a light and porous kind of stone, treated with plaster on theunder-side, and it was rendered necessary by the previous roof, whichwas of wood, having been destroyed by fire in 1190. Of this fire thepiers certainly show the traces to this day, all having become reddenedand slightly calcined. To make the new clerestory the whole of theoriginal Norman work over the arcade of the triforium was removed, withthe exception of the jambs of the side-lights (which extended beyond thearches of the triforium) and the wall between them. 

Mr. Gambier Parry has also truly said that this work "was not anartistic success. They cut and maimed the features of the fine oldNorman clerestory, and placed their thin weak work too low, destroyingall the original grandeur of effect.... Here in this first pointedvaulting was a grievous and irreparable injury, destroying all sense ofproportion throughout the building. "

[Illustration: THE NAVE AND NORTH AISLE]

The vaulting shafts and the abaci are of Purbeck marble, and thecapitals are of stone, as are also the corbels, bases, mouldings, andbosses. All the stonework was formerly painted. Mr Waller, who carriedout the repairs to the nave, had excellent opportunities of seeing whatwas left of the painting underneath the many coats of whitewash; hewrote in 1856: "The painting may be thus generally described. The hollowof the abacus of the capitals was red, the lower member of the same, green; the whole of the bell red, the leaves alternately green andyellow, with the stalks, running down, of the same colours, into the redbell of the capital. The vertical mouldings between the marble shaftswere red and blue alternately; the lower shafts green and blue, with redin the hollows, and the foliage on these also is green and yellow. Someof the horizontal mouldings are partly coloured also. The bosses in thegroining are yellow and green, as in the capitals. All the colouring, which was very rich, was effected with water colours; in one instanceonly has any gold been discerned, and that was upon one of the bosses inthe roof. "

The fourteen piers are 30 feet 7 inches in height, or about twice theheight of those at Norwich. [1]

The Norman piers have round or cushioned capitals. Their arches havezig-zag work in the outer moulding, and a double cable in the soffit. Acable moulding runs along just above the arches. The grotesque heads onthe arches in the nave are said to represent the various mummeries ofthe Anglo-Saxon gleemen. A frieze of such may be seen at Kilpeck Church, in Herefordshire. It will be noticed how the cable moulding above thearches passes round some of the western vaulting shafts, and is cut awayfor those at the eastmost end of the nave. 

Martin in his "Natural History of England" says: "The only blemish onthe church is the enormous size of the pillars in the body of it, whichare much too large in proportion to their height, and _would have beenreduced to a proper size_, chiefly at the cost of the late Bishop(Benson), had it not been thought that it would have weakened them toomuch. "

Bishop Benson's architect (Mr. Kent), proposed to "flute" the columns, but, finding that the pillars consisted of a stone casing filled withrubble, he changed his plans. 

The #West End# of the nave, as also the corresponding portions of thetwo aisles, was pulled down and reconstructed by Abbot Morewent(1421-1437) in the style known as Perpendicular. It is uncertain whetherMorwent's work was built on the same foundation line as the previouslyexisting Norman work. Some have thought that he lengthened the originalnave to the extent of one bay. Mr. Hope considers that he curtailed itsomewhat, and that the present Deanery building was similarly shortened. Anyone who will take the trouble to space out with a compass thedistance between the centres of the piers in the nave on the plan willbe inclined to fall in with this suggestion. 

Abbot Morwent, according to Leland, intended, "if he had lived, to havemade the whole body of the church of like worke. " It is a matter forrejoicing that he was not spared to carry out his intentions. His work, though it has been censured, is, as Mr Waller points out, exceedinglygood of its kind. Morwent may have found the west end in danger offalling, just as the towers that flanked the Norman west front hadcollapsed in the twelfth century. 

How Morwent would have made the whole body of the church "of like worke"is another matter for speculation. Would he have kept the Norman piersin their present position, and revaulted the roof after the model of hisvaulting in the second bay from the west end, or would he havediminished the number of piers so as to give a distance between themequal to the space between the west wall and the first pier he erected?It is difficult to realise how such a herculean task would have beencarried out with safety to the fabric. 

As to the work demolished by Morwent to make room for his own, it isonly possible to hazard the conjecture that the original west front ofGloucester was something like that of the abbey at Tewkesbury, but withthe additional finish of two larger western towers. As the two churcheswere being built almost at the same time, this conjecture seemsreasonable. 

[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE. ]

The #South Aisle# of the nave was originally of Norman work, similar instyle to that of the north aisle; but was remodelled and rebuilt to suchan extent by Abbot Thokey, in or about the year 1318, that the piers andportions of the south wall are all that remain of the Norman work. Hedesired probably to preserve the Norman vaulting (similar to that yetexisting in the north aisle of the nave), and as the south wall hadinclined outwards, and the whole fabric of the aisle was from thiscause in danger, he erected large buttresses to prevent furthersettlement; but failing in this design, he was compelled to take downthe Norman vaulting, and he then substituted vaulting of the same styleof architecture as the buttresses he had just erected. Such great carecould scarcely have been taken in those days to preserve the Normanpiers only; the first object must have been to retain, for economicalreasons, as much as could possibly be retained of the old aisle. It maybe remarked also that the Norman piers incline in some cases as much asone foot towards the south, and the buttresses of Abbot Thokey alsoincline in the same direction from three to four inches in their wholeheight. The Abbot's buttresses, therefore, must have gone out of theperpendicular after their first erection, or else the present vaultingwould show settlements, which it certainly does not. 

The tracery of the windows is unusual in design, and is similar to thatin a window of the chapel at Merton College, Oxford. Ball-flowermouldings adorn the aisle windows inside and out between the south doorand the steps leading up to the south transept, and the same ornament isrepeated in the vaulting of three of the bays and in the triforium ofthe choir. [2]

Abbot Morwent's work at the west end of this aisle is similar to that inthe north aisle. 

The #Monuments# in this aisle are not numerous, but are of modernhistoric interest. Near the west end of the nave is a statue by Silvierto Dr Jenner, who introduced the practice of vaccination. Under the westwindow of this aisle is an interesting wall-tablet in a canopy to JohnJones, who was registrar to eight bishops of the diocese. The backgroundis formed of files of documents, with their seals and dates exposed toview. There is taste in the colouring, and the design is effective. JohnJones was M. P. For Gloucester at the exciting time of the GunpowderPlot. He is said to have had the monument put up in his lifetime, and tohave died soon after it was completed. 

After passing the south door, a marble sarcophagus, with a bust upon it, will be noticed. This is to the memory of Sir G. Onesiphorus Paul, Baronet, (by Sievier). His name is well-known in connection with prisonreforms. Close by is a wall tablet to the widow of Sir Wm. Strachan(1770). The carving, which is very delicate and beautiful, is by ThomasRicketts, a Gloucester sculptor of considerable skill. 

There is also a monument to Rev. Thomas Stock, who, with Robert Raikes, was instrumental in opening Sunday schools. 

#The great West Window# contains nine lights which were glazed by Wailesof Newcastle, to the memory of Dr J. H. Monk, Bishop of Gloucester from1830 to 1856. 

The #Font# is situated in the westernmost bay of the south aisle, on thesite of the old Consistory Court, formerly railed off from the rest ofthe nave. The font being of red Aberdeen granite clashes rather with theprevailing grey stone of the building, is very heavy in appearance, and, in spite of the workmanship spent upon it, quite uninteresting. Thenorth side contains a representation of the two prophets, Jeremiah andEzekiel, separated by the ark; the west side has figures of St. Matthewand Daniel; the south side has figures of St. Mark and St. Luke, and thebaptism of Christ in the Jordan, and the east contains the emblems ofthe Trinity and of baptism. 

The #Windows# in this south aisle are the least interesting in thecathedral, and would seem to have been made without much considerationof the fact that they were to go where a south light would come uponthem. 

The five-light _west window_ of the aisle is in memory of Dr Jenner andhis friend Dr Baron. The subjects, appropriately enough, refer tomiracles of healing, or restoring to life. 

The _first south window_ is to John Elliott, a solicitor, and thesubjects are more or less legal. The glass is by Hardman. 

The _second window_ (three lights) is in memory of Miss Evans, and wasput up in 1861 by Bell of Bristol. The colouring must be seen to beappreciated at its proper worth. 

The _third window_ is a memorial to Sir W. G. Davy, K. C. B. , who died in1856, and is buried in the cloister. The glass is by Warrington. 

The _fourth window_, to the memory of Sir W. Guise, Bart. , is ratherkaleidoscopic in effect, owing to its being mainly an armorial window, and, secondarily, historical. The historical portion represents theCoronation of Henry III. In Gloucester Cathedral in 1216, by Gualo (thePapal legate) and Peter de Rupibus, or des Roches, Bishop of Winchester. In the left centre light is Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent, and in theright is Joceline, Bishop of Bath. 

The glass is by Clayton & Bell. 

The _fifth window_ is a memorial window to Mrs. Evans. In colour itresembles the third window, and is by the same artist. 

The _sixth window_ is a memorial to Mrs Ellis. It is historical, butbristles with anachronisms. 

The _seventh window_ is a memorial (executed by Warrington) to JeremiahNettleton Balme. 

The _eighth window_ is in memory of Lieut. -Col. Sir Harry FrancisColville Darell, who died in 1853. 

#North Aisle. #--This aisle retains its original Norman vaulting. TheNorman piers, which correspond to the piers in the nave, are dividedinto several members, and their capitals are in some cases richlycarved. In each bay the jambs and heads are of old work, filled in withPerpendicular tracing. A stone bench along the wall is alsoPerpendicular. 

The door into the cloister at the west end of the aisle contains somevery fine work. The wall is panelled on either side, and the panels aresaid to have formerly had paintings of the twelve apostles. The sideniches and the canopy work over the door should be examined. 

The door at the eastern end of the aisle by which access is gained tothe cloisters and the chapter-house is also of Perpendicular work. Bothof these doors have fan-vaulted recesses, like the great west door ofthe nave. They are so contrived that the doors may open into them andoccupy the minimum of space. 

Over the east door in the cloisters there were blazoned some years backthe arms of the See, the Bishop, the Dean, the Canons, the Darell andNightingall families. 

The west end of the aisle is the work of Abbot Morwent, and is of thesame date as his reconstructed west end of the nave--viz. 1421-1437. 

The _west window_ in this aisle was filled with glass by Hardman. It isa memorial to Wm. Viner Ellis of Minsterworth. Subject: Events in thelife of King Lucius, who is said to have been the first Christian kingin this land, and to have been buried in the Church of St. Mary de Lode. 

The scrolls contain the monkish lines--

 Es merito Celebris ex quo baptisma subisti. Lucius in tenebris prius idola qui coluisti. 

The four figures represent Robert, Duke of Normandy; Thomas ofWoodstock, 1397; Humphrey, 1447; William Frederick, 1534; all three ofthem Dukes of Gloucester. 

The _first window_ (or over the west door into cloisters), of which onlytwo lights are open, is a memorial window to Thomas Churchus (1870). Thewindow, which is by Clayton & Bell, is very pleasing in colour. 

The _second window_ is to the memory of Mr Price, who died in 1860. Theglass is by Ward & Hughes. 

The _third window_ contains some old glass in the upper half, restoredby Hardman. Much of the lower half is new. 

The _fourth window_ is a memorial window to Dr Hall, Master of PembrokeCollege, Oxford; died in 1843. The glass is by Clayton & Bell. 

The _fifth window_, like the third, contains some old glass, restored byHardman. 

The _sixth window_ is in memory of Bp. Hooper, second Bishop of thisdiocese, and the only bishop of the united sees of Gloucester andWorcester. The glass is by Clayton & Bell. 

The _seventh window_ is to the memory of Thomas Turner. The glass is byClayton & Bell. 

The _eighth window_ is a memorial to members of the Darell family, asexplained in the inscription in the base. 

In the windows of the clerestory are to be seen some fragments of oldglass. The windows, which are of three lights, contain portions ofornamental borders with quarry glazing, and some medallions, stars inthe foliations, and borders of crowns. Mr Waller thinks it was "probablethat all these windows were originally filled with glass of this kind, which is similar in general design to that in the upper tiers of theclerestory windows in the choir. "

The tracery of the windows in the clerestory is ascribed to AbbotMorwent, who rebuilt the west front. 

The #Monuments# in the north aisle are of no special interest. That toBishop Warburton at the west end contains an epitaph that is worthreading. Next to it is an ungainly tomb, filling up an enormous wallspace, with a depressing effect. Farther eastwards is the tomb byFlaxman to the memory of Mrs Morley, who died at sea in 1784 (p. 121). 

The tomb to Alderman Machen, his wife, and family is interesting (1615), and is one of the few tombs that has not been removed from its originalposition. 

The nave is lighted by rows of gas jets along the triforium or gallery, extending over the arches of the nave. The effect is good when thebuilding requires to be lighted by artificial light, but the fumes andsmoke from the gas have sadly discoloured the small columns and thearches in the triforium, and no doubt in time to come more seriousmischief to the stonework will be developed. The fumes of the gas willalso be fatal to the decorative pipes of the organ, and, with theassistance of the fumes from the radiators, will ruin any memorial brassthat may be erected in the building. 

Wires have been stretched across the nave to prevent the excessive echofrom marring the effect of the music, but many curious echoes are to beheard. The mocking sounds that follow upon the sounds of the voice of apreacher, especially when the attendance is small, are very weird. Theymay be heard best from the last few rows of seats near the west end. 

There are still to be found enthusiasts who would like to remove thescreens from our cathedrals on the ground that they interfere with theutility and the beauty of the nave and the choir. But these well-meaningpeople quite overlook the fact that the beauty of the interior would beentirely marred by such a change. Firstly, the organ would have to bechopped into two and stowed away in the triforium, unless theseenthusiasts would prefer to revert to an organ-gallery blocking up oneof the transepts. Secondly, the stalls would have to be mutilated andrearranged. Certainly, the cathedral would resemble a parish church insome respects, but at a tremendous cost. There would be a vista, too, but the effect of the lofty choir would be lost entirely without thepresence of the screen and the organ, and the nave would look moredwarfed in height. There is one more point, too, always forgotten bythese enthusiasts--viz. This, that the building was not designed byHenry VIII. At the Dissolution as a parish church. He laid down quiteclear and simple rules for the regulation of the cathedral foundation, and he intended the choir to serve, as it had served for the monksbefore, as the private chapel of those on his new foundation. 

The #Choir Screen# was erected in 1820 by Dr Griffiths, to whose memorya tablet has been inserted in the north-west tower pier. Though thisscreen has its defects, it superseded one by Kent, erected in BishopBenson's time (1741), of which Bonner, who seems to have appreciated thestucco front applied by the same good bishop to the reredos in the LadyChapel, says in his "Itinerary" (1796) that it combined thecharacteristics of the various orders of architecture without any oftheir good points. 

[Illustration: NAVE. 

 Drawn by F. S. Waller, F. R. I. B. A. , from Brown Willis' Survey of Gloucester Cathedral (1727). ]

To give an idea of the original screen arrangement, Mr Hope'sdescription is here quoted:--

 "The quire proper is under the Tower, a not unusual Benedictine arrangement. The original screens at the west end have unfortunately been destroyed, but from plans made by Browne Willis (_vide supra_, where Mr Waller's drawing of Browne Willis' plan, made in 1727, is given) and Carter, while some remains of them existed, the arrangement can be approximately recovered. I have advisedly used the plural word 'screens' because they were two in number. The first consisted of two stone walls--the one at the west end of the quire, against which the stalls were returned; the other west of it between the first pair of pillars. There was a central door, which was called the quire door. The western wall was broader than the other, and had in the thickness of its southern half an ascending stair to a loft or gallery above, which extended over the whole area between the two walls. This loft was called in Latin the _pulpitum_, and it must not, as it often has been, be confounded with the pulpit to preach from. It sometimes contained an altar, as apparently here at Gloucester, and on it stood a pair of organs. From it also on the principal feasts the Epistle was read and the Gospel solemnly sung at a great eagle desk. On either side of the _pulpitum_ door was probably an altar. 

 "The double screen I have just described was built by Abbot Wigmore, who is recorded to have been buried in 1337, 'before the Salutation of the Blessed Mary in the entry of the quire on the south side, ' which he himself constructed with the _pulpitum_ on the same place _ut nunc cernitur_ says the 'Chronicle, ' and parts of it are worked up in the present screen. The north side of the quire entry, or perhaps the north quire door, was ornamented with images with tabernacles by Abbot Horton. "

"The second screen, all traces of which have long disappeared, stoodbetween the second pair of piers--_i. E. _ a bay west of the _pulpitum_. It was a lofty stone wall, against which stood the altar of the holycross, or rood-altar, as it was more commonly called, and upon it was agallery called the rood-loft, from its containing the great rood and itsattendant images. The rood usually stood on the parapet or front rail ofthe loft, but sometimes on a rood-beam crossing the church at someheight above the loft. Such an arrangement seems to have existed atGloucester, for in the sixth course from the top a new stone has beeninserted in both pillars exactly on the line where the ends of the roodbeam would be fitted into, or rested on corbels, in the pillars. "

On either side of the rood altar the screen was pierced by a doorway forprocessions, and the altar itself was protected by a fence-screen alittle farther west. 

After showing how the counterpart of these arrangements existed atDurham (_vide Arch. Journ. _ liv. Pp. 77-119), and describing the Durhamnave altar and rood, Mr Hope points out that at Gloucester, as atDurham, "the eastern of the two doorways between the nave and thecloister was shut off by the screen and reredos of a chapel adjoining iton the west. The monks could therefore freely pass through the cloisterdoor without being interrupted by strangers. This eastern door was notonly the ordinary entrance from the cloister, but through it passed theSunday and other processions that included the circuit of the cloisterand buildings opening out of it. The procession always returned into thechurch by the western cloister door, and, after making a station beforethe great rood, passed through the rood doors in single files, andentered the quire through the pulpitum or quire door. "

In the chapel, on the north side (which was perhaps dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr), was formerly, as shown in the plan by Brown Willis, the Blackleech monument, now in the south transept. 

When the Benson screen was put up three Abbots were found interred intheir robes, and another coffin with two skulls in it. This fact gave apossible clue to the identity of one of the Abbots. One probably wasAbbot Gamage, and the two skulls probably belonged to his brother, SirNicholas Gamage, and his wife, who were buried near the Abbot. 

The present #Organ# was built originally during 1663-1665 by ThomasHarris, the father of the celebrated Renatus or René Harris, and thecost was defrayed by public subscription, to which, however, theinhabitants of Gloucester contributed but little. The contract was forthe sum of £400, exclusive of the sum for the building of theorgan-loft, and the decoration of the pipes and the case. The gildingand painting was entrusted to Mr Campion in November 1664, and the workwas finished in December 1666. This artist was celebrated as a painterof heraldic subjects, and the work done by him, chiefly on the largepipes of the Great, is particularly beautiful. 

The shield, which has been removed from the west front of the case, wasundoubtedly that of Charles II. , and two of the large pipes facing thenave bear the letters C. R. , with a crown over them. Other armsrepresented are those of James, Duke of York (king in 1685), and hisfirst wife, Anne Hyde. 

The organ was repaired by Bernhard Schmidt before 1683. It was formerlyin the gallery of the south transept, over the stalls, but was placed onits present screen in 1820 by Dr Griffiths. 

It was improved by Willis in 1847, and again in 1888-89, and furtheradditions are contemplated. The case is of oak, and is a fine piece ofRenaissance work. A good view of it can be obtained from the triforium, looking across from south-east to north-west. 

The following is a specification (kindly sent by Mr A. H. Brewer, theorganist of the cathedral), from which it will be seen that theinstrument is worthy of the cathedral:

 GREAT ORGAN. CC to A, 58 Notes. 

 1. Double Open Diapason 16ft. 2. Open Diapason, No. 1 8ft. 3. Open Diapason, No. 2* 8ft. 4. Claribel Flute 8ft. 5. Flute Harmonique 4ft. 6. Principal 4ft. 7. Twelfth 3ft. 8. Fifteenth 2ft. 9. Mixture 10. Trombone 16ft. 11. Trumpet 8ft. 12. Clarion 4ft. 

 SWELL ORGAN. + CC to A, 58 Notes. 

 13. Double Open Diapason 16ft. 14. Open Diapason* 8ft. 15. Vox Angelica 8ft. 16. Salcional 8ft. 17. Lieblich Gedact 8ft. 18. Gemshorn 4ft. 19. Fifteenth 2ft. 20. Mixture 21. Contra Posaune++ 16ft. 22. Hautboy 8ft. 23. Clarionet 8ft. 24. Cornopean 8ft. 25. Clarion 4ft. 

 CHOIR ORGAN. CC to A, 58 Notes. 

 26. Stopped Diapason 8ft. 27. Dulciana 8ft. 28. Flute 4ft. 29. Clarionet 8ft. 30. Cor Anglais++ 8ft. 

 SOLO ORGAN. $ CC to A, 58 Notes. 

 31. Flute 8ft. 32. Clarionet 8ft. 33. Oboe Orchestral 8ft. 34. Tuba Mirabilis 8ft. 

 PEDAL ORGAN. @ CCC to F, 30 Notes. 

 35. Open Diapason 16ft. 36. Bourdon 16ft. 37. Ophicleide++ 16ft. 38. Octave++ 8ft. 

 COUPLERS. 

 39. Choir to Pedals. 40. Great to Pedals. 41. Swell to Pedals. 42. Solo to Pedals. ++ 43. Choir to Great. 44. Swell to Great. 45. Solo to Great. ++

 * Stops so marked are by Harris, 1660. + The swell organ was added by Willis in 1847. ++ Stops so marked were added in 1898. $ The whole of the solo organ was added by Willis in 1898. @ Up to within the last fifteen years there was but one stop on the pedal organ. 

The #Choir#, of the beauty of which but little idea can be obtained fromthe nave, is entered by visitors, as a rule, from the north aisle of thechoir. Its dimensions are--Length, 140 feet; breadth, 33 feet 7 inches;height, 86 feet; east window, 38 feet wide and 72 feet in height. 

It dates back to the years 1337-1377--that is, the abbacies of Adam deStaunton and Thomas Horton, in whose time so much was done to alter thecharacter of the building. 

Looking upwards the visitor will note the beauty of the vaulting and thebosses placed at the intersection of the ribs. These bosses at the eastend of the choir chiefly represent a choir of angels playing on variouskinds of musical instruments, and a figure of Our Lord in the attitudeof blessing. All the roof was originally probably painted and decorated, but the existing colour and gilding is recent work, having been done byClayton & Bell. At first sight the groining of the roof looks mostcomplicated, but, if analysed and dotted down on paper, it will be seento be in reality a simple geometrical pattern. The bosses will repaycareful examination with a glass. 

Viewed from the door in the screen, the choir looks in very truth apiece of Perpendicular work, as the Norman substructure is then for themost part concealed. A closer examination, however, will prove that theNorman work is all there--that it has been veiled over with tracery fromthe floor level to the vaulting with open screen-work, fixed on to theNorman masonry, which was pared down to receive it. (_Vide_ page 52. )

Professor Willis points out that "in all cathedrals ... A screen, aboutthe height of the present altar-screen, separated the choir from theside-aisles and transepts; but in this cathedral the screen is carriedto the roof, and the result is a beautiful, if not unique choir. Thisscreen of tracery, which formed the sides, was, below the clerestory, merely plastered on to the Norman wall; or the original Norman columnshad been chipped down till they harmonised with the general design. "

Professor Freeman, in writing of this casing work, said, "Paid for bythe offerings at Edward II. Shrine, ... To that abnormal worship theabbey of Gloucester owed its present form. I am half inclined to put itthe other way, and to make it a new count in the articles of depositionagainst the unworthy king that this misguided devotion has cost us theminster of Serlo in its perfect form, and hinders us from studying thecontrast which we should otherwise have been able to mark between itseastern and its western limb. "

[Illustration: CHOIR, LOOKING EAST. ]

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

We, however, have nothing to do with the question of the merits ordemerits of Edward II. The beauty of the casing work compels ouradmiration. If we want to get an idea of what the choir would have beenwithout the Perpendicular casing we must go to Norwich, and inspect theuncased work in the choir that is there, or else to Tewkesbury. [3]

[Illustration: Plan of Feretory (High Altar) as laid bare when the new Reredos was erected in 1873. The site of the old Norman Piers could be as distinctly as in this sketch. 

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

There is nothing left to prove the original height of the choir, thoughmuch of the old stonework has been re-used in the clerestory windows, apractice, as before stated, common throughout the cathedral, the Normanpiers and arch-mouldings having in many cases been turned intofour-centred arches, and Norman capitals into bases. The casing of theold Norman work with the new by Staunton and Horton is very ingeniouslymanaged, and attention should be given to a feature resulting from thetreatment of the ribs of the vaulting, which are very cleverly providedfor in the centre of the tower arches. The ribs are apparently supportedby a light arch thrown across the lower arches. Something of this sortwas necessary, as the only alternative would have been to alter thespringing of the vaulting-ribs. These light arches are very graceful andare best seen from the transepts or else from the triforium of thechoir. Another feature worth noticing in the tower arches is the waythat the two Norman columns are run into one capital at about the levelof the arch. 

[Illustration: Sketch of old Norman Choir showing how it was cased by Abbot Staunton 1337-1351. 

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

Turning eastwards we next are struck by the loveliness of the #EastWindow# of the choir. It has a curious architectural effect, for it isactually 5 feet wider than the walls which seem to be its twoboundaries. The architect took down the Norman east end, raised theroof, and has given us a window with lace-like tracery. Though it hassuffered much mutilation, it has suffered but little from eagerrestorers, and it is possible to get some idea of its originalsplendour. It is larger than the East Window at York Minster, being 72by 38 feet; York being but 78 by 33. Both are beautiful, and one wishesthat windows of such beauty could be got now at the original pricepaid--£138--a large sum for those days, but a sum which; makingallowance for the changed value of money, would represent about £2000 ofour money. 

[Illustration: THE CHOIR. LOOKING WEST. ]

In 1862 the stonework of the window was in a very unsafe condition, andabout £1400 was spent on restoring it. At the same time, acting on MrWinston's advice, the Dean and Chapter had the glass thoroughly cleanedand releaded. 

Owing to Mr Winston's supervision the glass was not restored. 

The window, which corresponds admirably with the casing of the choir andthe clerestory windows, consists of fourteen lights altogether, sixforming the centre, with four on either side. "It is worthy of remarkthat the tracery, heads, and cusps, as seen from the inside of thiswindow, are not repeated on the outside, a plain transom only crossingthe lights. This peculiarity is repeated also in the great west window, and in many other windows in the cathedral. " (F. S. W. )

The window represents the coronation of the Virgin Mary, together withChrist, the Apostles, and various saints and kings. All the canopies, and nearly all the figures are composed of white glass enriched withyellow. 

Mr Winston's description of the window will be found in the_Archæological Journal_, vol. Xx. 

The heraldic shields give a clue to the date of the window, and MrWinston thinks that it may have been erected by Thomas, Lord Bradeston, to the memory of Sir Maurice Berkeley, who was killed at the siege ofCalais, and to commemorate the glories of the campaign in France, whichculminated with the Battle of Crecy. The date, therefore, of theoriginal glass would be between 1347 and 1350. 

Mr Winston further says that "It would be impossible to meet with whiteglass that could be more solid and silvery in effect. The red isbeautifully varied, and is most luminous, even in its deepest parts, andthe tone of the blue can hardly be surpassed. " Of the general design, hesays that although, "through the size and simplicity of its parts, it iscalculated to produce a good effect at a distance; the figures areill-drawn, ungraceful, and insipid. The shading, though sufficient, bothin depth and quantity, if handled with skill, to have produced a dueeffect of relief--an effect which obviously has been aimed at--is soinartificially employed as to be useful only so far as it serves toimpart tone and richness to the composition, and by contrast to increaseits brilliancy. "

The effect of the choir as a whole, when glazed with its originalpainted glass, must have been superb. We may be certain that the glasswas the best that could be obtained, for the abbey was wealthy, andglass-painting was then a living art. Glass was made at Gloucester, asis shown by the glaziers being numbered among the trade companies andguilds of Gloucester, but there is nothing definite to be said as to theplace of origin of the old glass in the cathedral. 

Below is the #Reredos#, designed by Sir G. G. Scott, presented by theTreasurer of the Province. It consists of three principal compartments, in which are groups of figures (sculptured by Redfern) intended torepresent the Birth, Burial, and Ascension of Christ. The smallerfigures in the niches are Moses and David and St. Peter and St. Paul. Above are nine angels, bearing the various emblems of our Lord'sPassion. This reredos was unveiled with much pomp and ceremony in 1873, and recently has been profusely gilded. 

The commonplace and heavy-topped gas standards mar the effect, such asit is, of the ornate work of the reredos. 

Of Abbot Horton's reredos, which was destroyed at the Reformation, onlyfragments remain. They have been very carefully preserved in thetriforium, where an enclosure has been made by placing an old oak screenacross one of the Chapels. In this museum most valuable remains havebeen stored, under Mr Waller's keeping, for many years. 

Dean Chetwood, in 1710, erected a wooden reredos containing much goodcarving. Portions of this remain in the south-east chapel in thetriforium of the choir, having been brought back from the parish churchat Cheltenham, whither they had been removed in 1807. 

Sir Robert Smirke in 1807 put up work which consisted chiefly ofpanelling, which was affixed to the easternmost wall of the feretory. This was removed in 1873. 

When the present reredos was erected "the foundations of Abbot Horton'sreredos were discovered, and an accurate plan was taken of the remains(_vide_ illustration, p. 51). Provision had evidently been made by himfor keeping relics or treasures here, and, in his time, the backscreen, as we now see it, and the reredos, were united together at thetop, and covered with heavy stone slabs, so as to make a perfectlysecure feretory. Great care was taken during the progress of the presentnew work to preserve these remains, which can be still seen exactly asthey were when first discovered. The foundations of the Norman piersremoved by Horton were at the same time temporarily exposed to view. "(F. S. W. )

[Illustration: THE CHOIR IN 1806, FROM A DRAWING BY WILD. ]

The original "#High Altar# occupied the same site as the present one, and had behind its reredos a narrow space containing cupboards for theprincipal jewels, and, beneath the altar, two large recesses for thekeeping of relics. " (W. H. St. J. Hope. )

The #Stalls# (sixty in number), with all their graceful carving, and themisereres, with their grotesque ornamentation underneath, have in parthad to be restored, while the sub-stalls are new, dating from SirGilbert Scott's restoration, which was finished in 1873. 

An engraving (reproduced from Wild) will show what the choir was likeformerly. The woodwork here shown has been utilised in making stalls andseats in the east end of the nave for the services that are held thereon Sundays during a portion of the year. 

In the #Presbytery#, or space between the reredos and the choir, thereare some very splendid old tiles; many of them fragments only, butenough to indicate the original beauty of the pavement. From theevidence of the tiles themselves, they were laid down by ThomasSeabroke, R. Brygg (Brydges), J. Applebi, W. Farlei, Joh. Graft(on?). Others dating back to the thirteenth century are also to befound--_e. G. _ those to Richard the King of the Romans, who died in 1271. 

Many tiles were transferred here from other parts of the cathedral earlyin the century by Mr Lysons, and this accounts for the presence of tilesof William Malvern, the last Abbot, and some others. The arms of theBrydges family: _Arg. On a cross sable, a leopard's face, or, differenced by a fir-cone gules_, should be noticed, as they seemclearly the same as those on the armour of the unknown knight in theSouth Transept. 

Beautiful tiles, bearing the arms of Edward the Confessor and the Abbey, and many a crowned M. (for Maria) will be found. These latter will beseen in plenty in Great Malvern Priory, where they have been rescuedfrom the pavement, and inserted in the outside wall of the back of thereredos. 

One more tile should be noticed near the sedilia. The words impressedin its surface are "_Croys Crist me spe de +_, " followed by _A ME_ or _AMARIA_. 

These tiles had a narrow escape in the last century, about the time whenthe nave was paved, when an offer was made to pave the presbytery withmarble. 

As part of the restoration programme, the re-paving of the choir wasundertaken. New tiles, ostensibly copied from the old ones, but of adifferent size, with an excessive glaze, and very stiff in design andexecution have been put down. It is hard to judge what the effect of thetiles would have been, as it has been quite killed by the white marblewhich has been mixed with them. The glaring white marble in the floor ofthe presbytery has been inlaid with biblical scenes filled in with blackcement. It is possible from the triforium to get a general idea of thecrudity and tastelessness of the pavement, which is so composed andarranged that time--the softener of all things--can never make it lookappreciably better. 

On the south side of the high altar are four #Sedilia#. These have beenvery much restored, and the niches and canopies filled with figures, byRedfern, representing Abbot Edric, Bishop Wulstan, also Abbots Aldred, Serlo, Foliot, Thokey, Wygmore, Horton, Froucester, Morwent, Seabroke, and Hanley. The general effect is good, but marred by the hideous gasstandards. 

Over the canopies are three angels playing on a tambour and trumpets. The rod and entwined ribbon with T. O. Are supposed to refer to ThomasOsborne, Sheriff of Gloucester 1512-1522, and Mayor in 1526. 

#Monuments in the Choir. #--On the north side of the presbytery, near thesteps to the high altar, is a monument--long supposed to be acenotaph--to King Osric. The tomb was opened to satisfy inquisitivedesecrators some few years ago, and it was conclusively proved thatsomeone had been buried inside. 

On the wall is the inscription: _Osricus Rex (primus fundator) hui_(_Monasterii_ 681). From Leland, to whom is due the part of theinscription in brackets, we learn that "Osric, Founder of GloucesterAbbey, first laye in St. Petronell's Chappell, thence removed with ourLady Chappell, and thence removed of late dayes, and layd under a fayretombe of stone on the north syde of the high aulter. At the foote of thetombe is thus written in a wall"--_ut supra_. 

This "fayre tombe" was erected in "late dayes" _i. E. _ in the time ofAbbot Parker, whose arms are in the spandrels of the canopy, dated (1514to 1539), and Leland must have seen the tomb in all the freshness of itsbeauty. 

The Norman piers, which are cut away to receive the tomb, are decoratedas to their capitals with the device of Richard II. _i. E. _ the whitehart chained and gorged, with a ducal coronet. Formerly these deviceswere painted on the stone, but in 1737 they were blazoned on thin metalby the Heraldic College, and put in position. From the occurrence of thedevice in this place it was formerly held that the body of Edward II. Was drawn by stages from Berkeley Castle to the abbey. 

The other coats-of-arms are those of the abbey (they are blazoned asthey should be now--azure, a sword in pale, hilted, pommelled, andcrowned, or, surmounted by two keys in saltire of the last), and ofOsric as King of Northumbria. Osric is represented as crowned andsceptred (clad in tunic, laced mantle, and a fur hood or collar) bearingthe model of a church in his left hand. 

The next tomb westwards is, as Leland says, that of "King Edward ofCærnarvon (who) lyeth under a fayre tombe, in an arch at the head ofKing Osric tombe. "

The #Tomb of Edward II. # was erected by Edward III. , and though itawakens our recollection of a feeble-minded king, and his barbarouslybrutal murder, it also compels our admiration at the beauty of the work. It has been restored, renovated or re-edified, but in spite of that, appeals to us from the wealth of very highly ornate tabernacle work, therichness, and at the same time the lightness and elegance of the whole. The details too are well worth careful examination. It may be, judgingfrom the expression of the face, that there has been some attempt atportraiture, but repair and restoration have practically made itimpossible to settle what would otherwise be an interesting question. The superb canopy has suffered much at the hands of restorers--_e. G. _ in1737, 1789, 1798, and in 1876. 

The alabaster figure is possibly the earliest of its kind in England. 

The tomb was opened in October 1855 by Dr Jeune, Canon in residence, tosatisfy the curious who doubted whether the king had been buried underhis tomb. Close by is the chantry tomb of William Malverne (or Parker), Abbot of the Abbey from 1515 up to the time of the Dissolution. It waserected in his lifetime, but he is buried elsewhere. 

[Illustration: THE TOMB OF EDWARD II. ]

On the stone screen the carving of the vine and the grapes will be foundworthy of notice. The alabaster figure has been terribly defaced, butthe chasuble and the mitre can be seen, and the broken staff. Around thebase of the tomb are panels. Both sides are alike, containing theAbbot's own arms, and the emblems of the Crucifixion. At the foot is across composed of a tree with its branches growing into the shape of across. There is a very good tile on the floor with the arms of theAbbey, and some specimens of tiles, with a very fine greenish glaze uponthem. Some of the large 7½ in. Tiles with the stag--the Abbot's ownarms--are particularly good. 

On the south side of the choir the bracket tomb or monument, so calledfrom the effigy being placed on a corbel or projecting bracket, shouldbe noted. It is said by some to be Aldred's, by others to be Serlo'smonument. The date of the monument is later than either in point oftime. The mutilated effigy bears a model of a church in his left hand, and this points to its being the monument to a founder. It is more, thanprobable that it is to the memory of Abbot Henry Foliot, in whose time(1228-1243) the church was re-dedicated. 

The monument, which is Perpendicular and Early English, has been muchbattered, but it is exceedingly graceful and of an unusual type. 

Leland, who visited the Abbey in 1539 or 1540, wrote asfollows:--"Serlo, Abbot of Gloucester, lyeth under a fayre marble tombe, on the south side of the Presbytery. "

#Glass in the Choir. #--Mention has been made above of the east window, and it remains to notice the others. 

In the clerestory on the north side the windows have been restored byClayton & Bell. They are best seen from the triforium, but are givenhere as being part of the choir. Following the example of the lights inthe east window, these clerestory windows have alternately red and bluebackgrounds. Portions of old glass remain in the heads of the windows. 

Beginning with the windows west to east the _first_ contains:

 (1) St. Zacharias. (2) St. Elizabeth. (3) St. John Baptist. (4) St. Gabriel. 

The _second_ contains:

 (1) St. Anna. (2) St. Mary. (3) St. Joseph. (4) St. Gabriel. 

The _third_ contains:

 (1) St. Peter. (2) St. John. (3) St. James (Major). (This light is out of its place. ) (4) St. Andrew. 

The _fourth_ contains:

 (1) St. Philip. (2) St. Bartholomew. (3) St. Simon. (4) St. Jude. 

The clerestory windows on the south side are filled with stampedquarries with central medallions and coloured borders, made after themodel of remains of ancient painted glass. 

The choir also contains a peculiarity in its six-light west window. Thiswas rendered necessary by the difference in height of the nave ascompared with that of the choir. The choir vaulting is about twenty feethigher than that of the nave. The glass at present in the windowconsists chiefly of patch-work, arranged by Hardman from piecescollected and saved at different times from other windows in thecathedral. It represents a figure of our Lord, with angels on eitherside. Below are angels playing on musical instruments. 

It is customary to credit the Reformation or the Civil War with mostchurch desecration and destruction, but this window was ruthlesslydestroyed by an order of the Chapter in 1679, nearly thirty years afterthe Civil War was ended, and nearly 140 years after the dissolution ofthe monastery. The order ran as follows: "That a certain scandalouspicture of y'e Holy Trinity being in y'e west window of y'e Quire of y'esaid church, should be removed, and other glass put into y'e place. " Theglass of the window was actually broken up by one of the prebendaries(Fowler by name) with his own hands and feet. His action, consideringhis views, was incomprehensible; but he was made Bishop of the diocese, after Bishop Frampton was deprived of his see. Beneath the west windowis an inscription (restored) in the panelling of the stone work:

 Hoc quod | digestum | specularis | opusque | politum | Tullii haec Ex onere | Seabroke | abbate | jubente. 

These two Latin verses record that "this work (viz. The tower) which yousee built and adorned, was done by the labour of Tully, at the commandof Abbot Seabroke. "

Robert Tully was a monk of Gloucester, and was Bishop of St. David's, where he died in 1482. There is a brassless slab to his memory there, but the best monument is the tower that was built by him here inGloucester. 

After passing through the iron gate into the last bay of the southaisle, the tomb of Abbot Seabrook or Seabroke will be seen on the left, inside a stone screen, through which formerly was a doorway givingaccess to the organ loft. The alabaster effigy represents the Abbot inhis alb, stole, tunic, dalmatic, chasuble, amice, and mitre, with hispastoral staff on his right side. The chapel has been partiallyrestored. Traces of colour are to be seen in the reredos and the roofover it. 

Abbot Seabroke's pastoral staff was discovered in 1741 in his coffinwhile the tomb was being removed. After changing hands many times it wasacquired finally by the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle-on-Tyne. 

In the west end of the Seabroke Chapel, against the first pier of thenave, is a mural monument, rather florid in style, to Francis Baber, 1669. 

Close to the Seabroke Chapel, on one of the piers supporting the tower, is a bracket with traces of very beautiful blue colour. The canopyabove--much mutilated--shows traces of red, blue, and gold. 

Almost opposite to this, but nearer to the iron gate, is a recessed tombto a knight in mixed armour of mail and plate, and by his side his lady, with kirtle, mantle, and flowing hair. Both wear SS collars, and thishelps to give the age of the monument, by narrowing the date down to ayear not earlier than 1399. The SS collars also tend to disprove thatthe monument is to Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, and hiscountess, seeing that he died in 1361. On the knight's belt is a badge, very much worn down, which has been attributed to the Brydges family. MrLysons thought it to be the tomb of Sir John Brydges who fought atAgincourt, and died in 1437, but the mail tippet is not found later than1418. The tomb may commemorate Sir Thomas Brydges, who died in 1407, andthis would agree better with the date given above. 

The transepts and ambulatory of the choir are entered, as a rule, by theiron gateway in the south aisle of the nave. 

#South Transept. #--This transept, like that on the north, underwent acomplete transformation in the fourteenth century, under Abbot Wygmore(1329-1337). In spite of the transformation, the Norman design caneasily be traced both in the inside and the outside of the transept. Thewalls have been ornamented with open panelled work, consisting ofmullions and transoms, with very rich tracery and foiled headings. Themethod of the casing is best seen from the triforium, where the originalNorman masonry can be closely inspected. The panel work, in spite of itsdate, has the appearance of being considerably later, and some havethought the work to have been executed after Wygmore's time. 

Professor Willis thinks that the Perpendicular style, whichelsewhere--_e. G. _ in the north transept and the choir--is completelydeveloped, may have had its origin in this south transept. In any case, the work is of the greatest architectural interest, and deserves carefulstudy. "Looking at the very early character of the clustered shafts andthe mouldings of this transept in conjunction with the vertical lineswith which they are associated, one might think (excepting Thokey'ssouth aisle, the Edward II. Monument, and some few examples in thetriforium of the choir) that Decorated work had never fairly taken rootin Gloucester. " (F. S. W. )

The south transept, which was also called St. Andrew's Aisle, is 47 feetlong, 35 feet broad, and 86 feet in height. The vaulting is liernevaulting, with short ribs, which connect the main ribs together. Thereare no bosses in the roof. With an opera-glass it is possible to notethe clever joining of the masonry. 

On the north side of the south transept, between the tower piers, is aninteresting chapel, with a wooden screen--date about 1510. The panellinginside, as also that on the back of the choir-stalls here exposed toview, is covered with monograms of S and B alternately, all surmountedwith crowns. 

The chapel is said to have been dedicated by John Browne (or Newton), who was Abbot from 1510-1514, to his patron saint, St. John the Baptist, the initials being the same. 

On the step in this chapel is a slab with a mutilated cross incised init and remains of an inscription upon a scroll. It is now almostillegible and crumbling fast away, but it was

 "Kyrie eleison anime Fratris Johis Lyon. "

This Johannis Lyon was the monk who made the reredos in this chapel. There are traces of two reredoses here, both of which show traces ofcolour. Older stonework has been used to make the newer reredos, and hasbeen merely reversed. 

The tiles here are of interest, and there are also some outside, both atthe east and at the west end of the chapel screen, well worthy ofattention. They are chiefly odd tiles, similar to those in the choir, with the name of Farley, others with oak leaves, others withfleur-de-lys, others with lions rampant. 

At the west end of the chapel outside is a highly lacquered brass of theusual type, in memory of Judge Sumner, 1885. 

Just before turning into the south transept a stone on the floor will beseen, close to the angle of the wall made by the transept and the southaisle, with the inscription: "Here lyeth under this marbell ston RobartLeigh, organist and Maister of the Choristers of this Cathedral Church. He dyed the 6th of January 1589"(?). No record of him survives. 

On the south wall are two doorways. One, which is blocked up, is in thesouth-east corner, and is surmounted by a double-bodied monster, resembling an ape. The other doorway is usually pointed out to visitorsas the "Pilgrim's door. "

Whether this door was that in general use for pilgrims or not is an openquestion. It was for a long time blocked up and has only a makeshiftdoor in it at the present time. Carter, writing in 1807, says: "The archof the opening, in its head, has four turns concentred by a flower. Above the head is an ogee architrave rising from small columns, whichcolumns bend forward on each hand, forming open arms or fences on eachside of the steps to the doorway. On these arms recline statues (angels)acting as guardians to the doorway. Their attitudes are well conceivedand pleasingly varied. " The sculpture is extremely graceful andpleasing, the expression of the faces particularly charming. Thedrapery, too, is arranged in a masterly manner. 

The door was thought by some to have been used to admit pilgrims to theshrine of Edward II. , but others, arguing from the angels upon it, havetaken it to be the door by which penitents could retire after makingtheir confession. Perhaps the most reasonable explanation is that it wasa door communicating with a vestry or checker for the sacrist, but thereare no traces underground outside the south wall of any stonefoundation for such building. 

On the east side of the transept will be noted the restored #Chapel ofSt. Andrew#. The paintings on the wall were executed in 1866-67 inspirit fresco by Mr Gambier Parry for Thomas Marling, Esq. , in memory ofhis wife, who died in 1863. 

The reredos contains a central figure of the Saviour between St. Andrewand St. Peter, with eight figures of smaller size--viz. Job, Solomon, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. The remainder of thefigures are intended to represent a choir of angels. 

The tiles in the chapel are very bright and gaudy, contrastingunfavourably with the older tiles elsewhere in the building. Thearrangement of the tiles on the risers of the steps is very monotonousand unpleasing. Plain stone steps would have been far less obtrusive. 

At one time a charge of sixpence was made for the privilege ofinspecting the interior of this chapel, but nowadays it is kept closed. For many years it was used as a vestry for the lay clerks. The windowscontain glass (by Hardmar) dealing with events in the life of St. Andrew. 

In the east window, over St. Andrew's Chapel in the south transept, isto be seen some of the best glass now to be found in the cathedral, dating back to about 1330. It consists in the head of a whitescroll-work of vine leaves, etc. , on a fine ruby-coloured ground, andbelow plain quarries with very simple borders. These have been releadedby Hardman. 

On either side of the chapel there are tabernacles. That on the southside contains some very fine carving, and with one boss quite complete. The colour, judging from the traces remaining, must have been verycharming. 

On the north side of the chapel is the #'Prentice's Bracket#. In shapeit resembles a mason's square supporting an apprentice. Underneath it, as a supporter, is the master mason. The work was probably intended tocarry an image with a pair of lights, and also to serve as a memorial ofthe workmen. 

The Elizabethan monument erected in memory of Richard Pates, Esq. , founder of the Grammar School at Cheltenham, is a poor example of itsdate, 1588. The next monument was originally in the north choir chapelof the nave (_vide_ Brown Willis' plan, p. 44), and commemoratesAlderman Blackleech, in cavalier costume, and his wife. The date of thetomb is 1639. Other and later memorials are on the walls, but they areof no special interest. 

There is an interesting tablet to Canon Evan Evans, D. D. (Master ofPembroke College, Oxford), who died in 1891. The memorial consists of abronze tablet, bordered by a frame of marble inlaid with other marbles. The bronze at the top is inlaid with shell of an iridescent colour. Thegeneral effect is good, but silver hardly seems suited for inlaying in abuilding lighted by gas. The tablet was designed by Mr H. Wilson. Thewest window is Perpendicular, and is filled with glass in memory of MrT. G. Parry. 

The south window in this transept has been filled with glass (byHardman), at the expense of Thomas Marling, Esq. 

The slabs on the floor have been moved from the positions they formerlyoccupied, and have suffered by the change. A large slate-coloured stone, which used to be in front of the Blackleech monument is now placed muchnearer the entrance to the crypt. It is broken in two and is covered upby matting. 

Another stone slab has traces of a mill wheel. The inscription on itused to tell that "Here lyeth buried the body of John Long, Millard andMilwright, who departed this life the 16th day of April 1596. "

A blue-coloured slab, which originally had a fine brass inlaid canopyhas been converted to the use of a Minor Canon named Deane--1755. 

The large buttress which passes through the St. Andrew Chapel upwardsthrough the triforium, to support the south-east pier of the tower, usedformerly to bear upon it a monument to Bishop Benson, which is now inthe south triforium. 

The double doorway which gives access to the choir aisle, and to thecrypt, seems to be the type of several other doorways of later date inthe building, as, for instance, in the north transept, and also indoorways in the Deanery and cloisters. 

The #Crypt#[4] is one of five English eastern crypts, founded before1085, the others being those at Canterbury, Winchester, Rochester, andWorcester, and extends underneath the whole of the choir, theambulatories or aisles of the choir, and the five chapels belongingthereto. 

In passing downstairs to the crypt or under-church, an inscription overthe door of the chapel on the right refers to the enormous quantity ofbones which had accumulated in the crypt, and thus obtained for it thename of "The Bone House. " These bones had been brought in from the southprecincts outside, all of which had been formerly a burying-ground, andin 1851 were removed to the south-west chapel of the crypt, and laterburied in a large grave on the north side of the cathedral. 

[Illustration: S. E. CHAPEL IN THE CRYPT. _S. B. Bolas & Co. , Photo. _]

The crypt consists of an apse, three small apsidal chapels--_i. E. _ aN. E. , an E. , and a S. E. Chapel, and also two chapels underneath theeastern chapels of the north and south transepts. 

"The outer walls of the crypt are about 10 feet thick, and the aislefloor is on an average 8 feet below the level of the soil on the outsideof the building. The centre part is divided by two rows of smallcolumns, irregularly placed, from which spring arches carrying the floorof the choir above; the bases and capitals of these small capitals aremuch out of level from west to east, and from north to south, and indesign they vary greatly as to their capitals, abaci, and bases. All ofthese are strikingly different to the half columns with cushion capitalsattached to the outer walls, on which rest the ribs they mutually carry. So different, indeed, are they as to make it questionable if by far thelarger portion of these columns does not belong to our earlier church. "

"Great alterations have from time to time been made in the crypt. Thelarge semi-circular columns against the walls, though of greatantiquity, are not parts of the original structure, but are casingsbuilt round, and enclosing the former smaller piers, and the ribsspringing from their capitals are built _under_, with a view to supportthe vaulting. " (F. S. W. )

This strengthening work was rendered necessary owing to earthquakeshocks which occurred, and possibly from the fact that the originallydefective foundations on the south side of the crypt caused a slightsettlement. 

It may be noted here that the masons' marks found in the triforium onthe Norman work are also found in the crypt on the later strengtheningwork, and not upon the Early Norman work. This fact has been consideredto prove that the crypt was built by Aldred. 

The first chapel--_i. E. _ that below St. Andrew's Chapel--contains adouble piscina with a shelf in good preservation. There are remains ofhinge-posts (two sets), and the holes for the movable bar with which thedoors could be fastened. 

The second chapel--_i. E. _ that underneath St. Philip's Chapel--containsan arcade of five plain arches with ornament above. There is also adouble piscina with shelf in good preservation, and a large altar-step, 6 feet 2 inches by 4 feet. 

The third or eastern chapel, which is under the vestibule leading intothe Lady Chapel, contains portions of the building which have had to bereplaced by recent work, and some fragments of tombstones, one bearingthe inscription _Gilbertus_. 

[Illustration: LADY-CHAPEL ABOVE HALF-SECTION. DRAWING ORIGINAL NORMAL WORK. PLAN OF THE CRYPT. 

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

 The dark tint on the walls represents the Early Norman Crypt. 

 The second period of Norman work is shown by the double lines round the small shafts at A A, which denote masonry erected some time after, to carry the ribs which strengthen the vaulting. 

 The parts sectionised were for the most part built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to carry the walls above--notably s s, as foundations for the choir piers. ]

The fourth chapel, which is underneath Abbot Boteler's Chapel, alsocontains fragments, some of them very beautiful specimens of stonework. There is also a slab, upon which is to be read the words, _Orate pro aiafrîs Johîs_. This slab was formerly in the south transept, and was(according to Mr Haine's transcription of the slab made thirty yearsago) to the memory of John Lempster, who lived in Abbot Froucester'stime. 

A slab inscribed I STAUNT, which used to be in the cloisters at theentrance to the chapter-house, is also in the crypt. This John deStaunton was akin to Abbot Staunton, who was buried in 1351. 

The fifth chapel, which is underneath St. Paul's Chapel, was the chapelthrough which the Abbot had access to the crypt from the Abbot'scloister. The easternmost portion has some very good vaulting anddecoration of the thirteenth century, and contains a very mutilatedpiscina. The groining of the roof is, unfortunately, falling away bydegrees. There are traces of some fine bosses. 

The crypt was cleared, drained, and concreted in the course of therestoration that took place during the years 1853-1863. 

#Ambulatories of the Choir. #--These aisles have nothing uncommon intheir form or arrangement below, but above occurs the great peculiarityof this church. The side aisles and eastern chapels are, in fact, including the crypt, three storeys high, and all vaulted, and the upperrange of chapels surrounding the choir is perhaps not to be met with inany other church in Europe. 

Near the entrance to the #S. Ambulatory of the Choir# a tomb and brassto the memory of Rev. John Kempthorn, B. D. (1838) will be found on theright, near the side entrance into St. Andrew's Chapel. 

Close to it, upon the floor, is a modern brass, by Messrs Heaton, Butter& Bayne, to the memory of Rev. H. Haines, M. A. , who for twenty-threeyears was second master in the cathedral school. He died in 1872. Hisbook on the Cathedral, which he knew so thoroughly and loved so well, isone of the best guide-books to the building, but, unfortunately, no newedition has been issued since 1884. 

Some of the piers in the south ambulatory of the choir will be found toshow traces of colour decoration in certain lights. As a whole theyretain more Norman work, unaltered, than perhaps any other portion ofthe building. 

Near to the Kempthorn monument is the memorial window to Canon Harveyand his wife, who both died in the year 1889. The glass is by Kempe. 

The second window, also by Kempe, is a memorial to the Rev. H. Law, whowas Dean from 1862-1884. The figure drawing in this light will attractnotice. 

The third window, glass by Kempe, is a memorial to the Rev. Sir J. H. Culme Seymour, Bart. , who was Canon of Gloucester for fifty-one years, and died in 1880. 

#The Triforium of the Choir# is, perhaps, the finest triforium inexistence, and is worthy of special examination. "It occupies the spaceover the ground floors of the aisles or ambulatory of the choir, andoriginally extended of a like width round the east end of the NormanChurch, but at the time when the fourteenth-century work of the presentchoir was executed, the whole of the east end of the old Norman choir, with the corresponding part of the triforium, was removed in order tomake room for the existing large window, the small east chapel beingallowed to remain. " (F. S. W. ) The original shape of this part of thebuilding will be more clearly seen by reference to the chapel (D), indicated by dotted lines on the plan, and to the extreme east chapel ofthe crypt. As the means of entrance to this east chapel of the triforiumwas now gone, the narrow gallery usually called the "Whispering Gallery"was made, and carried by segmental arches, marked BB, from thesouth-east to the east chapel, and from the east chapel to that on thenorth-east. The external appearance of the Whispering Gallery is shownon page 75. The casual observer frequently takes it to be a piece ofNorman work, but it is in reality the material of Norman builders veryskilfully re-used. 

The triforium is reached by the staircases in the western turrets of thetwo transepts and by arcaded passages passing under the great windows ofthe transepts. Excellent views across the transepts are thence to beobtained. Still better views can be got from the corner of the triforium(near the painting of the Last Judgment), both across the organ to thenorth side of the nave, down the south aisle, and also across thechoir. 

The first chapel in the triforium contains two brackets with richcanopies, and there is a very well preserved double piscina. Ball-flowers in two rows will be found in the mouldings of the eastwindow. Remains of two canopies in the jambs of the windows are also tobe traced. 

The massive Norman piers should be carefully studied, as the way inwhich the later casing work has been applied can be more easily seen inthe triforium than elsewhere. 

The picture on the west side of this part of the triforium wasdiscovered in 1718, against the then eastern end of the nave, underneaththe panelled wainscot at the back of the seats occupied by the clergywhen the nave was used for service. 

During the last few years it has lost much of its colour; it is painted_in tempera_ on a kind of gesso ground laid on a wooden planking nearlyan inch thick. From the size of it--viz. 9 feet 10½ inches by 7 feet 7¼inches--it was formerly thought to have formed part of the reredos. 

Portions of the original frame remain, and they show traces of gildingupon them. The picture has been varnished to preserve it, and, althoughhung in a wretched situation for light, it is worth more than passingattention. Christ is represented in the centre, throned on a rainbow, attended by angels, and having a globe and a cross below Him. His mantleis red, with a jewelled border. On either side of His head are emblems--on the left a lily, emblematic of mercy; and on the right a sword, emblematic of justice. The lily inclines towards the righteous, and thesword points towards the wicked. Below on the left are six apostles, butabove these is an angel holding a T cross and the crown of thorns. Tobalance this, on the right is an angel with a whipping-post, a scourge, and a spear. Over these figures are scrolls, one on the left inscribed"Come, O you blessed ... ", and on the right, "Go, O you cursed ... " Inthe centre, under the globe, is an angel holding an open book, "The bokeof côsciens "--_i. E. _ the book of conscience. On either side are angelsblowing upon trumpets, from which extend scrolls inscribed, "Aryse, youdede. Come to your judgement"; and below this the Resurrection isdepicted. An angel (in the centre) is scaring away a horned demon fromthe soul borne up by the angel. On the right the wicked are beingcarried off by fiends; on the left the righteous are being led away byangels bearing crosses. 

In the left-hand bottom corner are angels and inscriptions. "Before manlyfe and death. In all thy workes remêbre thy last, and never wilt thouoffend. " In the top corner on the left is represented the New Jerusalem. The architecture is classic in character. 

[Illustration: SOUTH-EAST VIEW OF CATHEDRAL SHOWING WHISPERING GALLERY. _S. B. Bolas & Co. , Photo]_

St. Peter and an angel are standing close to a gate into which therighteous are entering. A choir of angels with musical instruments areabove. 

In the bottom corner on the right the mouth of hell is represented, intowhich the lost are being thrust by attendant demons. There is a grimfigure inside a globe, possibly intended for the Prince of this world, seizing a soul by the hair. At the bottom are other fiends helping totorture the unhappy lost. 

[Illustration: TRIFORIUM OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST. _Photochrom Co. Ltd. , Photo. ]_ ]

Sir G. Scharf, in _Archæologia_, vol. Xxxvi. , says that the picture isEnglish, and is of great importance. He thinks it was painted during thelatter years of the reign of Henry VIII. Or during that of Edward VI. , and points out that it is an epitome of the famous altar-piece atDantzig, painted in 1467. It is remarkable that in this picture theVirgin and St. John the Baptist, who are usually associated in pictureswith the Saviour, are altogether omitted. 

The second, or south-eastern chapel, contains many interesting remainsof coloured tiles, old carving, some being linenfold panels. There arealso some finely-carved pilasters, which once formed part of the QueenAnne reredos, put up by Dean Chetwood about 1710. This reredos was takendown in 1807, and was for many years in the old church at Cheltenham. When, however, the church at Cheltenham fell into the hands of therestorer, parts of the carved work were brought back to Gloucester. 

Passing towards the Whispering Gallery, the flying buttresses insertedto support the walls of the clerestory, which were weakened by theinsertion of the great east window of the choir, 1347-1350, should benoticed. 

The #Whispering Gallery#, to which the ordinary visitor pays moreattention than anything else in the building, has remarkable acousticproperties. A whisper (the lower in tone the better) can be easily anddistinctly heard at the other end of the gallery, and to thispeculiarity the following lines, by Maurice Wheeler (head-master of theKing's School, 1684-1712) have reference:

 "Doubt not but God, who sits on high, Thy secret prayers can hear, When a dead wall thus cunningly Conveys soft whispers to the ear. "

Lord Bacon seems to have thought over the subject of the gallery, andhis remarks are here quoted: "I suppose there is some vault, or hollow, or isle behind the wall, and some passage to it, towards the farther endof that wall against which you speak, so as the voice of him thatspeaketh slideth along the wall, and then entereth at some passage, andcommunicateth with the air of the hollow, for it is preserved somewhatby the plain wall: but that is too weak to give a sound audible till ithas communicated with the back air. "

The gallery is a passage of Norman work, very much altered and re-used. It is 74 feet long, 3 feet wide, 6-1/8 feet high, and is carried onsegmental arches from the east end of the south triforium to the westwall of the Lady Chapel, and from thence in the same way to the northtriforium. On page 75 will be seen the appearance of the little bridgethus made. 

In passing through the gallery access is obtained to a chapel on theright, which is immediately over the entrance vestibule to the LadyChapel. From this chapel a very good general view of the Lady Chapel canbe obtained. The bosses in the roof show to greater advantage, and it ispossible to see more of the colour that remains on the walls. 

This chapel is smaller than the others in the triforium, and was reducedin size when the west end of the Lady Chapel was built. The altar slabis original Norman work, and has three or four [Symbol: Cross] inscribedin it. 

[Illustration: SOUTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR. _S. B. Bolas & Co. , Photo. _]

The pieces of old glass formerly in this chapel have disappeared, andmodern ornamental quarries and medallions, by Hardman, have taken theirplace. 

The fourth chapel has nothing of note in it beyond the window tracery. 

The fifth chapel, or the one nearest to the north transept, contains adouble piscina, in very good preservation. 

The triforium contains a few monuments, chiefly those that have beenremoved from the nave. Bishop Benson's monument was formerly on the faceof the buttress that passes through St. Andrew's Chapel. 

The triforium seems a better resting-place than the crypt for monumentswhich are rejected from the nave and elsewhere. It is to be hoped thatin the years to come no restorer will lay hold upon the monuments in theLady Chapel and transepts, and consign them to oblivion in theneighbouring garden of the deanery. This was done in Dean Law's time, and may in part be the reason why the cathedral is so poor in specimensof monuments of the Queen Anne period. 

The #South-East Chapel#, which is dedicated to St. Philip, contains someinteresting features. The arches are of a distinctly "pointed"character, and there are remains of the two bases of pillars whichsupported the stone altar slab. 

This chapel was restored in memory of Sir C. W. Codrington, Bart. , M. P. , who died in 1864. Various incidents in the life of St. Philip have beenpainted on the vaulting by Burlison & Grylls, but the paintings havesuffered somewhat from damp. The window, which is by Clayton & Bell, isof no special interest, and represents saints, principally British, andstriking incidents in the life of each in the panel under each of thefigures. 

Near the piscina, at the base of a pier, will be found some dog-toothmoulding. This is repeated on the other side of the chapel, but not onthe corresponding pier. 

Before entering the Lady Chapel, a Perpendicular arch will be noticed, with two eye-shaped openings in the spandrels. The openings are wellcarved on their bevelled edges. The arch is of later date than the frontof the chapel, and seems to have been necessary to support the triforiumabove. Nothing like it exists on the other side. There is an oldcope-chest in this Ambulatory. 

The #Lady Chapel. #--This beautiful chapel, which was built between theyears 1457-1499 by the Abbots Richard Hanley and William Farley, standson the site of a smaller building, dating back to 1224, and erected byRalph de Wylington and Olympias, his wife, the architect of the workbeing Elias or Helias the Sacrist, a monk of the Gloucester monastery. As Mr Bazeley points out ("Records, " vol. Iii. Pt. 1, p. 14), "The onlyarchitectural evidences of its former existence are two Early Englishwindows in the crypt, in the central eastern chapel. "

Mr Waller thinks that this Early English Lady Chapel was "probably not anew building, but simply an alteration of the old east apsidal chapelson each floor to suit the 'Early English' times, just as thefourteenth-century men afterwards recased the cathedral. The insertedwindows of this date in the crypt seem to confirm this view. "

On the site of this chapel must have stood the chapel and altar (or atany rate the altar) dedicated to St. Petronilla, as Ralph and Olympiasgave rentals to provide lights to burn thereat during mass for ever. 

The vestibule or entrance to the Lady Chapel is a beautiful piece ofwork, and is another instance of the genius of the builders shown inmaking use of existing work. Special interest attaches to this chapel asa whole, as it was the last addition to the fabric by the monks beforethe Dissolution. 

Firstly the walls of the vestibule should be noticed: the lower portionsof the west wall are parts of the old Norman apsidal chapel, and arepierced by the opening for the door and by two perpendicular windows;and the west end of the chapel is contracted in breadth, as it is alsoin height, so as to minimise the loss of light to the great window ofthe choir. The shape of the chapel will be easily understood from theplan (p. 61). 

The lierne vaulting of the vestibule is very delicate (the ribs, it willbe noted, are run differently in the four quarters of the roof), and thependants form a cross. These latter, at the present time, look new, butthey have only been freed from the whitewash that was thick upon them. One pendant has been renewed at the end. Over the vestibule is the smallchapel which is entered from the Whispering Gallery (_vide_ page 77). 

The open tracery of the west end over the supporting arch isparticularly graceful, especially the way in which the open lights arearranged in the central portion. The Lady Chapel is 91 feet 6 incheslong, 25 feet 6 inches high, and 46 feet 6 inches high, and consists offour compartments or bays, which, as the wall of the chapel is so low, are chiefly composed of fine tracery and glass. All the wall below thewindows is arcaded with foiled arches, with quatrefoils above them. Thewall between the windows is panelled with delicate tracery like that inthe windows, and in its three chief tiers contains brackets for figures, with richly-carved canopies overhead. Many of these canopies (like thewalls) show traces of colour. 

[Illustration: THE LADY CHAPEL. _Photochrom Co. Ltd. , Photo. _]

Vaulting shafts of great beauty support one of the grandestPerpendicular roofs that has ever been made. Each boss in the roof isworth minute inspection, and since the restoration (1896) it is possibleto see the bosses in practically the same condition as they were whenthey left the masons' hands in the fifteenth century. With threeexceptions they are all representations of foliage, and it would be ahard task to arrange them in order of merit. 

It has been said above that the chapel is cruciform. The arms of thecross are represented by the two side chapels, like diminutive transeptson the north and south sides, with oratories above them, to which accessis given by small staircases in the angles of the wall. Both these sidechapels contain some exquisite fan-tracery vaulting, which is supportedupon flying arches, fashioned in imitation of the graceful flying archesin the choir. 

On the north side the chapel contains a full-length effigy of BishopGoldsborough (who died in 1604) robed in his white rochet, blackchimero, with lawn sleeves, scarf, ruff, and skull-cap. 

The east window in this chapel is in memory of Lieut. Arthur JohnLawford (1885), and is dedicated to St. Martin. 

The chapel above has a vaulted roof with bosses of foliage, and thereare small portions of ancient glass. 

Bishop Nicholson's tomb, which was formerly in the south chapel, whereit blocked up the east window, is at present in pieces in this upperchapel. It is to be re-erected in another place. 

There are some interesting scribblings on the walls of this chapel. Onthe shelf for books is a representation of a Cromwellian soldier with adog, apparently in pursuit of a deer. There are also scribblings withdevices, dating to 1630-1634. One love-sick swain described anequilateral triangle with a [Symbol: Cross] rising from the vertex, andthen inscribed the initials of his _fiancée_ and also his own. 

The #South Chapel# contains an altar tomb to Thomas Fitzwilliams, whodied 1579, and there is a wooden tablet, painted with an inscription totell that it was repaired in 1648. 

A window has been put up in memory of S. Sebastian Wesley, a formerorganist of the cathedral, who died in 1876. 

In the south chapel there are scribbles, dating back to 1588 and 1604. Both of these chapels have shelves for books, but it is probable thatone was for a small choir and the other for an organ. 

The #Lady Chapel# is one of the largest in the kingdom, and is said, atthe time of the Dissolution, to have been one of the richest. A greatpart of it is said to have been gilded and gloriously ornamented. Traces of the colour can be seen in the mouldings of the panellings andin the carving upon the walls. 

[Illustration: WEST END OF LADY CHAPEL. _S. B. Bolas & Co. , Photo. _]

The #Reredos#, judging from the traces that are left, must have been agorgeous sight, and literally a blaze of colour. Appliqué work has beenlavishly employed in its decoration. Anyone who is privileged toexamine it very closely will note the writing on the stonework, whichhas been laid bare in the niches by the ruthless removal of the figures. At present what the present Dean, in his article on the Great Abbeys ofthe Severn Lands, calls its "pathetic scarred beauty, " is temporarilyveiled by a very modern screen. The reredos, though a ruin, has a charmall its own, and it is better to leave it frankly as it is now than topartly hide it. There are some, no doubt, who would restore it, but itis to be hoped that funds will not be forthcoming. Restoration haseffectually marred the beauty of the pavement of the choir, and given usa flashy reredos there, of which the less said the better; but every onewith a particle of feeling must feel that restoration and decoration ofthe Lady Chapel reredos would be a crime. 

Bishop Benson covered the reredos with stucco, and put up a huge goldsun in front of it. Portions of this are now at Minsterworth. Anengraving of it may be seen in Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary, "published in 1796, and this plate also shows the long rows of pewsremoved from the choir by the same bishop. 

The sedilia are very fine, and worthy of careful inspection. 

The #East Window# consists of nine lights, and has been terriblymutilated, partly by fanatics, partly owing to lack of care within thelast century. In design the window resembles the windows on the northand south sides of the chapel. It was erected in Abbot Farley's time(1472-1479), and possibly by a Thomas Compton, seeing that in thequatrefoiled circles in the heads of the lower lights there arerebuses--a comb with TÕ, and CÕ with a TON (for Compton), as well as twointertwining initials. Much of the glass seems to have been put in afterremoval from other windows in the cathedral, and this makes thedeciphering of this window no easy undertaking. 

The tiles in the Lady Chapel are of great interest, and one cannot helpregretting their gradual deterioration under the feet, occasionally thehobnailed feet of visitors, and the slower but surer destruction by theaccumulations of grit under the matting on the floor. They may be bestexamined by turning up the matting near the Clent tablet on the southwall. 

On a pattern made up of sixteen tiles, four times repeated can be read, "_Ave Maria gra' ple' Dus tecum_" i. E. "_gratia plena Dominus tecum_. "On others similarly designed, "_Domine Jhu (Jesu) miserere_. " On others, "_Ave Maria gra' ple'_" and "_Dne Jhu miserere_. " These tiles in squaresets of sixteen and four respectively were placed alternately, andseparated by plain dark bricks. On others again will be found "_Oratepro Aiâ Johis Hertlond (pro anima Johannis)_. " Some too seem to havebeen transferred from Llanthony Priory to the south chapel. They areinscribed, "_Timetib' deû nihil deest_, " i. E. "_Timentibus deum nihildeest_. " There are others in the chapel, "_Letabor in mia--et sethera_, "and "_Deo Gracias_. "

The monument to Sir John Powell (1713) on the north wall is notbeautiful, though a good specimen of its time. It is impossible not toregret that it was ever allowed to be erected in the chapel. Powell wasa judge of King's Bench, and is here represented in his gown, hood, mantle, and coif. 

Other monuments are those to Eliz: Williams, 1622 (the figure is raisedon one elbow); to Margaret Clent, 1623, with a touching epitaph. On thefloor, near the Williams monument is a small brass, concealed bymatting, to Charles Sutton, an infant seven days old. The brass containstwo Latin lines modelled on the lines of Ovid's "Tristia, " and run:

 "Parve, nec invideo, sine me, puer, ibis ad astra, Parve, nec invideas, laetus ad astra sequar. "

Many of the slabs on the floor will repay perusal, most of them beingwell cut and fairly well preserved. In Brown Willis' "Survey ofGloucester" will be found a full record of all the tombstones which inhis time (1727) were in this chapel, but have since been removed orre-used. 

Turning to the right on leaving the Lady Chapel, the north-east chapel, which is called #Abbot Boteler's Chapel#, is the next in order. It datesfrom 1437-1450. The reredos should be closely examined, as it retainsmany of its original features--viz. Statuettes, traces of painting onthe shields above, and a very good piscina. 

The tiles in the floor are in many cases excellent specimens, especiallythose with fish upon them. It seems a pity that these tiles should bedoomed to disappear under the nails of sight-seers, who as a rule lookat nothing but the effigy of Robert, Duke of Normandy, and go awaysatisfied when they have proved for themselves that the effigy is ofwood. 

The effigy has had a curious history. As Leland says, "Rob'tusCurthoise, sonne to William the Conquerour, lyeth in the middle of thePresbitery. There is on his tombe an image of wood paynted, made longsince his death. " As to the date there is great uncertainty, and itwould seem that the figure and the chest upon which it lies are not ofthe same date. Sir W. V. Guise in "Records of Gloucester Cathedral, "vol. I. , part 1, p. 101 (now out of print), says, "I am disposed toassign to the effigy a date not very remote from the period at which theduke lived. The hauberk of chain-mail and the long surcote ceased to beworn after the thirteenth century, " and on p. 100, "The mortuary cheston which the figure rests is probably not older than the fifteenthcentury ... " Around the chest are a series of shields bearingcoats-of-arms, ten in number, nine of which were originally intended tocommemorate the nine worthies of the world. On the dexter side: 1. Hector. 2. Julius Cæsar. 3. David. 4. King Arthur. On the sinister side:5. Edward the Confessor. 6. Alexander the Great. 7. Judas Maccabæus. 8. Charlemagne. 9. (at the south end) Godfrey of Bouillon. 10. (at thenorth end) The arms of France and England, quarterly. The blazoning of10 proves the chest to be later than the time of Henry IV. 

The oak figure was broken into several pieces in the civil wars ofCharles I. , but was bought by Sir Humphrey Tracey of Stanway, who had itrepaired, and presented it to the Cathedral. 

Leland says that the duke "lyeth in the middle of the Presbitery. " Theinscription in the chapter-house says "Hic jacet Robertus Curtus. " Theplain pavement in the choir is said to mark the site of the grave in thechoir, but it is open to question whether there would be space forinterment between the tiling and the upper side of the vaulting of thecrypt. It is to be hoped that at some future time the effigy may bemoved back to its place in the Presbytery. 

The next chapel--_i. E. _ the north-west chapel, is dedicated to St. Paul, and is entered by a doorway, with the initials T. C. Over it, in thespandrels. T. C. May stand for Thomas Compton. 

[Illustration: TOMB OF ROBERT CURTHOSE. _Photochrom Co. Ltd. , Photo. _]

The windows in the north ambulatory of the choir are as follows:--

The window next to Boteler's Chapel is a memorial erected by the deanand chapter to Mrs Tinling. The glass was designed by the late J. D. Sedding, Esq. , and was executed by Kempe. 

Opposite to the tomb of Edward II. Is a memorial window, also by Kempe, to the late Lieut. -General Sir Joseph Thackwell and his wife. 

The third window is a memorial to Alfred George Price, who died in 1880, and it represents the four great builders of the church--viz. 1. KingOsric. 2. Abbot Serlo. 3. Abbot Wygmore. 4. Abbot Seabroke. 

Opposite this door in the north-east corner is a doorway--Perpendicularin style--with interesting cresting and carving, giving access to thevestries and the choir practising-room. 

In this, as in the other chapels, the groined edge of the Normanvaulting is carried down the piers. 

The reredos in this chapel was more perfect, in point of good repair, than any other in the building, and the chapel was repaired by the lateEarl of Ellenborough in 1870, figures by Redfern representing St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Luke being inserted in the niches. 

At the back of the reredos are windows (by Burlison & Grylls)representing in the side-lights angels with instruments of music, and inthe centre Our Lord in majesty with angels bearing crowns and branchesof palm. 

On the south side of the chapel is a brass tablet in memory of Dean Law, who was Dean from 1862-1884. The combination of copper, brass, andgun-metal is to be regretted, as the workmanship is above the average, and the design is good. It is a mistake to paint heraldic devices onbrass. 

Close by the door leading into the north transept will be seen the stonereading-desk, from which it is said addresses were given to the manypilgrims who came to the shrine of the unfortunate Edward II. 

The #North Transept. #--This transept, like that on the south, consistsof Norman work, which was cased over by Abbot Horton during the lastyears of his abbacy (1368-1373) with fine Perpendicular panelling, cleverly engrafted into the original wall. It will be noticed that thework is, though Early Perpendicular, much more fully developed than thatin the south transept. Angular mouldings of great beauty are used in theplace of round mouldings; the mullions run right up to the roof, whichagain is much richer than that in the south transept. The vaulting ofthe north transept somewhat resembles in character the fan-tracery ofthe cloisters, the junction of the main and transverse vaults beingrounded rather than angular, and the smaller ribs springing from betweenthe larger ones a little _above_ the union with the capitals of thesupporting shafts. This transept is 8 feet lower than that on the southside. It is 2 feet shorter, and 1 foot less in width. 

[Illustration: NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST. _Photochrom Co. Ltd. , Photo. _]

On the north side, "under the north window, is a beautiful piece ofEarly English work (c. 1240), which is supposed to have been a#Reliquary#. "

[Illustration: NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST. _S. B. Bolas & Co. , Photo. _]

It is constructed in three divisions, that in the middle being adoorway. Foiled openings enrich all the arches, and the carving of thefoliage is very beautiful. Purbeck marble shafts are placed at theangles, and corbel heads at the spring of the arches, except at thenorth-east corner, where a stone shield, with arms of Abbot Parker, aresubstituted. Much of the figure-work on the outside has been mutilated. In the inside the roof is simply groined, with bosses, one of which inthe central division is most beautifully wrought; and there are, too, small heads which, fortunately, seem to have escaped notice altogether, and are almost perfect. In Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary, " 1796, it isdescribed as punishment cells. Mr Bazeley thinks it was part of theEarly English Lady Chapel, built in 1227, which, being thought worthyof preservation, was taken down and re-erected here when the presentLady Chapel was built. 

Opposite to the reliquary is a #Chapel# between the tower piers, said tobe dedicated to #St. Anthony#. 

[Illustration: DOOR FROM NORTH TRANSEPT INTO NORTH AMBULATORY OF THE CHOIR. 

 From a Photograph of Miss Dawson of Cardiff]

The wood panelling on the back of the stalls of the choir shows tracesof painting, representing the soul of a woman at the mouth of a hell orpurgatory, praying to St. Anthony, who is depicted with his pig and abell. Other figures are there, but they are beyond recognition. Thischapel is used as the Dean's vestry, and contains some old panelling, re-used, and two old strong-boxes. 

Beneath the niche, near the door leading into the North Ambulatory ofthe Choir, is an inscription, which is now barely legible (even with anopera-glass)--_Orate pro aiâ (Magistri Johannis) Schelton_; at least soBrown Willis read it in 1727. On the floor of this transept are someslabs, now brassless, under which have been buried men of note in theearly days of the history of the building. One mutilated slab, 7 feet1 inch by 3 feet 4 inches, has an inscription, of which some only is nowlegible in the border. From Brown Willis' "Survey of the Cathedral, "1727, it can be seen that it is to Robert Stanford. 

The inscription was--

 _Hic jacet Robertus Stanford quondam serviens hujus monasterii et specialis ac munificus benefactor ejusdem qui obiit vicesimo secundo ... _

A brass to Wm. Lisle, 1723, has been inserted. 

Abbots Horton, Boyfield, Froucester were all buried in this transept, but beyond crediting the stone that shows a trace of a mitre toFroucester, it is a mere matter of speculation to distinguish betweenthe others. The stone next but one to it contains the matrix of a finecross. The north window was filled in 1874 with glass by Hardman inmemory of Sir Michael Edward Hicks-Beach, Bart. , M. P. , and his wife. Thesubjects are episodes in the life of St. Paul. 

Under the west window of this transept is a curious painted monument toJohn Bower and his wife (1615). They had "nyne sones and seavendaughters, " who are represented in perspective on the wooden panelagainst the wall. The tomb is barely characteristic of its date. On thetop is an inscription--_Memento mori_; also, _Vayne, vanytie, witnesseSoloman, all is but vayne. _

The colour on the tomb has suffered from whitewashing at various times, and the tomb has been scorched by the heat generated by the warmingapparatus in the corner, to the detriment of the painted panel. 

The west window of this transept was put up in 1894, in memory of Wm. Philip Price, M. P. This window is too full of detail, and the canopywork is overdone. The glass is by Kempe. 

The east window contains some old glass, releaded by Clayton & Bell. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] They have practically been shortened 10 inches by their plinths being concealed by the pavement put down in 1740. Their circumference is 21 feet 7 inches, and the distance from pier to pier about 12 feet 6 inches. 

 [2] Similar ornament in windows may be found at Leominster, Ledbury Church, Minsterworth, Hartbury, St. Michael's (Gloucester), and in the tower of Hereford Cathedral. 

 [3] The abbey at Tewkesbury is a building which every visitor to Gloucester ought to make a point of seeing and studying. It was built on a similar plan, at the same time, and probably by some of the same builders who built Gloucester. 

 [4] The Crypt is described here because it is, as a rule, entered from the eastern door in the south transept. 

CHAPTER IV

THE PRECINCTS AND MONASTIC BUILDINGS

Within the area once contained by the boundary walls of the Abbey (forwhich see the plan on p. 103) there are remains of four of the original#Gateways#. The finest of these is that which leads into St. Mary'sSquare, and the best view of it is obtained from the steps of thememorial to Bishop Hooper. It is a very typical specimen of EarlyEnglish work. "It has a gate porch entered by a wide but low pointedarch, with an inner arch where the doors were hung. The gatehall thusformed also had doors towards the court, and in its south wall are tworecesses. The upper storey has, towards the street, an arcade of fourarches, and the outer pair have each a trefoiled niche or panel in theback. The other two arches are of larger size and are both pierced withtwo interesting square-headed lights, also of the thirteenth century, with dividing mullions. In the gable, within a large triangular panel, is a niche of three arches, originally carried by detached shafts, butthese are now broken away. " (Hope. )

Tradition has it that Bonner watched the burning of Bishop Hooper fromthe window over this gateway. 

The "inner gate gave access to the inner court, known of late years asMiller's Green, where the bakehouse, boulting-house, brew-house, stable, mill, and such-like offices were placed. It was also the way to thelater Abbot's lodging. The existing gateway is of the fourteenthcentury, and has a single passage, in the west side of which is ablocked doorway. The passage is covered by a lierne vault. "

"The gateway on the south side, towards the city, has been almostentirely destroyed, and only a fragment of the west side remains. It wasknown as 'King Edward's' gate, from its having been built by Edward I. It was afterwards restored and beautified by Abbot Malverne, _alias_Parker, 1514-1539. The remaining turret of the gate, on the west sidetowards the church, is probably part of Parker's work. " (Hope. )

On the south side of what is left of this gateway are the arms of KingOsric, as King of Northumbria. The stone bearing these arms was dug upsome seventy years ago and was placed in its present position. 

In College Court, a narrow turning leading from the north side ofWestgate Street into the close, is a small gateway, consisting of aflattened archway with canopied niches at the sides. This is alsosupposed to have been built by Abbot Parker. The upper portion, whichwas destroyed, has been converted into very commonplace offices. 

In the north-west corner of the precincts was the #Vineyard#. Thevineyards of Gloucestershire used formerly to be famous. William ofMalmesbury, in the twelfth century, writes: "This county(Gloucestershire) is planted thicker with vineyards than any other inEngland, more plentiful in crops, and more pleasant in flavour. For thewines do not offend the mouth with sharpness, since they do not yield tothe French (wines) in sweetness. " The Gloucestershire vineyards survivedas late as 1701. The curious terraces or step-markings on the Cotswoldsin various places, locally called "litchets" or "lyches, " are by somesupposed to have been portions of the sites of these vineyards. 

"The #Dorter# (says Mr Hope) and its _basement_ are now destroyed, andtheir plan and extent are at present uncertain: but owing to its southwall having been partly that of the chapter-house also, one smallfragment has been preserved which ... Helps to fix the position of thedorter. This fragment, which may be seen on the north-east corner of thechapter-house, is the jamb of one of the windows built between 1303 and1313, and its date is clearly shown by the little ball-flowers round thecapital of the shaft. " The dorter then may be assumed to have occupiedthe space between the chapter-house and the end of the east alley of thecloister. 

The #Refectory# (or Prater), "which was begun in 1246, on the site ofthe Norman one destroyed to make room for it, was a great hall over 130feet long and nearly 40 feet wide. It was reached by a broad flight ofsteps, beginning in the cloister and passing up through the frater door. The steps did not open directly into the frater, but ended in avestibule screened off from the rest of the hall, and covered by a loftor gallery. Into this vestibule would also open the service doors fromthe kitchen and buttery.... The west end and nearly all the north sidehave been pulled down to the ground, but the south wall, being common tothe cloister, remains up to the height of its window sills. The east endis also standing to the same height.... Much of the stonework of theeast and south walls is reddened by the fire that destroyed the fraterin 1540. "

[Illustation: ST. MARY'S GATE. KING EDWARD'S GATE. 

 Drawn by F. S. Walker, F. R. I. B. A. ]

The #Little Cloisters# consist of an irregular quadrangle, with sides ofvarying length. The garth wall is a good specimen of Perpendicular work. There are five openings on each side. In the times of the GreatRebellion the little cloisters were partly unroofed. The western alleyis part of an interesting fifteenth-century house which is built overit, and the south alley has a lean-to roof. 

The other two alleys, which are now unroofed, were formerly covered bypart of a large building which was built over them, and called Babylon. All traces of Babylon have now disappeared. 

In the north wall of the cloister three stone coffins have been built inwith the masonry. Mr Hope thinks it quite possible that this small garthwas used as the herbarium or herb garden. 

 "On the west side of the little cloister, and partly over-riding it, is a medieval house of several dates, from the thirteenth century to the suppression, and later. Owing, however, to modern partitions and fittings, and repeated alterations, it is somewhat difficult to trace its architectural history. The oldest part of it consists of a vaulted undercroft of Early English work extending north and south beneath the western part of the house. It consists of three bays, of which two now form the kitchen of the house, and the third or northernmost is walled off to form a passage outside. More work of the same period adjoins this on the west, including a good doorway with moulded head. This doorway was clearly, as now, an external one. The undercroft stops short about twelve feet from the frater wall (or wide enough to leave a cart-way), and there is nothing to shew that it extended further east. Looking at its position so near the great cellar, the kitchen, and other offices, it is very probable that the original upper floor was the cellarer's checker, or counting-house, and the undercroft a place for stores. "

[Illustration: COLLEGE GATEWAY. GATEWAY INTO PALACE YARD. 

 Drawn by F. S. Walker, F. R. I. B. A. ]

Close by, to the north-east, are to be seen six graceful arches of EarlyEnglish work. These are a portion of the remains of the "infirmary" or"farmery, " which was "deemed superfluous" at the suppression, and forthe most part pulled down. 

 "The chapel was destroyed and the great hall unroofed and partly demolished, but its west end and six arches of the arcade escaped, the latter probably because, as at Canterbury, the south aisle had been previously cut up into sets of chambers. All these remains are of admirable early thirteenth-century work, and it is much to be regretted that in clearing away the old houses in 1860 it should have been found necessary to also remove a curious vaulted lobby and other remains on the east side of the little cloister. The main entrance was originally in the west end of the hall, where part of the doorway still remains, and was probably covered by a pentise or porch with a door (still remaining) from the infirmary cloister, so that there was a continuous covered way from the farmery to the church. " (Hope. )

[Illustration: REMAINS OF THE INFIRMARY. ]

"The #Library# is an interesting room of the fourteenth century, retaining much of its original open roof. The north side has elevenwindows, each of two square-headed lights and perfectly plain, whichlighted the bays or studies. The large end windows are LatePerpendicular, each of seven lights with a transom. There are otheralterations, such as the beautiful wooden corbels from which the roofsprings, which are probably contemporary with the work of the cloister, when the western stair to the library was built and the room altered. None of the old fittings now remain, but there can be no doubt that thiswas the library. " (Hope. )

[Illustration: MEDIÆVAL HOUSE. From a Drawing by E. J. Burrow. ]

The library of the monastery, judging by the list given by Leland, musthave been of considerable value and of no little interest. A list of thebooks it contained is given in "Records of Gloucester Cathedral, " vol. I. Pp. 145-6. 

The books were at the time of the dissolution of the monasteryconfiscated to the Crown, and the cathedral was apparently without alibrary till the time of Bishop Godfrey Godman, who was consecrated in1624. Writing to his clergy in 1629, he says: "I am to lett yowunderstand that I have lately erected a Librarie in Glouc'r. For the useof all our brethren throughout my Dioces, as likewise for the use ofGent. And Strangers, such as are students. I conceave it will not onelybe most usefull, but likewise a great ornament to Citie and Dioces. " Hegoes on to ask the clergy to give either "a booke or y'e price of abooke, " and tells them not to "inquire what bookes we have or what arewanting, ffor if we have double we can exchange them. " Thoroughlybusiness-like and considerate, the bishop also says: "If any man's weakeestate and povertie be such that he can neither give booke, nor price ofbooke, yet in manners and courtisie (seeing his diocesan require it), Idoe expect that he should excuse himselfe, and I will take the leastexcuse, without any further inquirie, as lovingly as if he had given thegreatest gift. " He was tender-hearted to his curates, for he says, "Neither doe I write this to Curates or Lecturers, unlesse themselvesplease to bestow; only I do expect from them that they acquaint theparsons and vicars, and returne their answers unto mee. "

This, then, was the beginning of the Cathedral library. Later, in 1648, after troublous times in Gloucester, when even the cathedral itself wasin danger, Thomas Pury, jun. , Esq. , with the help of Mr Sheppard, Captain Hemming, and others, made this library at considerable expense, and, as Sir Robert Atkyns quaintly observed, "encouraged literature toassist reason, in the midst of times deluded with imaginaryinspiration. "

In 1658, after the "late Cathedrall Church of Gloucester had beensettled upon the Maior and Burgesses for publique and religious uses, the Common Council vested and settled the library on the Maior andBurgesses, and their successors _for ever_. " The Restoration, however, in 1660, made still another change, and the library then became theproperty of the Dean and Chapter. 

Sir Matthew Hale was a liberal benefactor to the library. 

Owing to the damp in the Chapter-House, which for many years had toserve as the library, the books, in 1743, were removed into the southambulatory of the choir. This was done by order of the Dean andChapter, but the Chapter-House was apparently in use as a library in1796, when Bonnor was making the drawings for his "PerspectiveItinerary. " In 1827 new and lower cases for the books were fitted, andthe Chapter-House was used up to 1857 as the Cathedral library. Sincethat time the old monastic library has been restored to its originaluse. 

The #Chapter-House# is entered from the east alley of the cloisterthrough a Norman archway of very good work, enriched with zig-zagornament. 

Originally consisting of three bays of Norman work, it probably, likethe chapter-houses at Norwich, Reading, and Durham, terminated in asemi-circular apse. The present east end is of Late Perpendicular work, and makes a fourth bay. Judging from the method in which the new workwas joined on to the old in the fifteenth century, it would seem as ifthe builders intended to remodel the whole building. The vaulting of thelater part is well groined, and the window is good. The roof of thethree Norman bays is a lofty barrel vault supported by threeslightly-pointed arches springing from the capitals of the columns, which are curiously set back, and separate the bays. 

Norman arcading of twelve arches--_i. E. _ four to each bay, runs alongthe three westernmost bays on the north and south walls, and in thearcading are inscriptions restored from the description given by Leland. Below the arcading "may be traced the line of the stone bench on whichthe monks sat in chapter. " (Hope. ) The floor has been considerablylowered in modern times. The tiling is modern, having been copied byMinton from the old work, both as to subject and arrangement. 

"The west end is arranged in the usual Benedictine fashion, with acentral door, flanked originally by two large unglazed window openings, with three large windows above.... Only one of the windows flanking thedoorway can now be seen, the other having been partly destroyed andcovered by Perpendicular panelling when the new library stair was builtin the south-west corner of the room. " (Hope. )

"At the south-west corner of the chapter-house is a large winding stonestaircase, with a stone handrail worked in the newel, and also in theside wall. " (F. S. W. )

The lower part of this west wall shows distinct traces of fire, whichthe upper part does not. This seems to confirm the idea that when thefire of 1102 broke out and destroyed so much, it burned down thecloister and the temporary roof of the chapter-house, both of which wereprobably of wood. 

[Illustration: CHAPTER-HOUSE. 

 Plan of the Chapter-House, as shown--A. D. 1727--in Willis' "Survey of Cathedrals. " A good general idea of the fittings formerly in the Chapter-House may be seen in Bonnor's work, published in 1709, but on his plan they occupy the two bays eastward, instead of west, as here delineated. They appear to have been excellent Renaissance work. ]

Walter de Lacy was (Hart. I. 73) buried in the chapter-house with greatpomp in 1085, and the room must have been ready or nearly ready for usein that year. As Fosbroke naïvely says of the distinguished dead who areburied here, "They could not have been buried in this room before itexisted. "

In Leland's time the names were painted on the walls near theirgravestones in Black Letter. As he says, "These inscriptions be writtenon the walles of the chapter-house in the cloyster of Gloucester: _Hicjacet Rogerus, Comes de Hereford; Ricds Strongbowe, filius Gilberti, Comitis de Pembroke; Gualterus de Lacy; Philipus de Foye Miles;Bernardus de Novo Mercatu; Paganus de Cadurcis; Adam de Cadurcis;Robertus Curtus. "_

Of the names given by Leland it may be noted that Roger, Earl ofHereford, Bernard de Newmarch ("Novo Mercatu"), and Walter de Lacy, wereall contemporaries of the Conqueror, and "much about his person. " They, therefore, when money was being collected for the abbey buildings, subscribed, adding some reservation as to the places in which theywished to be interred. 

[Illustration: General sketch plan, shewing boundary walk of Abbey Grounds as newly as they can be ascertained, and remains of old Monastic buildings. 

 1 | Gateway to St. Mary's Square 2 | " King Edward's 3 | " in College Court 4 | " to Miller's Green

 A Remains of Infirmary B Little Cloisters C Site of Refectory D ' E Site of Abbot's Lodge F Boundary Walls G Cemetery

 THE DEANERY IS FULL OF INTERESTING REMAINS OF THE 11TH, 12TH, 13TH, 14TH, AND 15TH CENTURIES, AND AT THE HOUSES MARKED H MUCH OLD WORK MAY BE SEEN. ]

In spite of the wires stretched across the building, there is aremarkable echo. 

The #Cloisters# are entered from the church by a door near the organscreen in the north aisle of the nave. They were begun by Abbot Horton(1351-1377), who built as far as the door of the chapter-house, andfinished by Abbot Froucester, 1381-1412. It will be noticed how themouldings, the tracery of the windows, and the character of the workgenerally differ. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that "thecloisters are some of the finest and most perfect in the kingdom. Theyform a quadrangle, and are divided into ten compartments in each walk. The vaulting is of the kind known as fan-tracery, and is considered tohave originated in Gloucester. It is found also at Peterborough, at Ely, and in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, the latter being one ofthe last examples of the method. 

"The outer walls are substantially of Norman date, but now overlaid andrefaced by Perpendicular panelling. " (Hope. )

Though the cloisters are quadrangular, the length (147 feet) of each ofthe four walks is not quite the same, but the width is 12½ feet and theheight 18½ feet. 

#East Alley. #--On the right-hand side in this walk will be noticed a newdoor. This was inserted in 1874 in the wall in the same position as theformer door into the monks' _locutorium_ or parlour. The original wideopening of the doorway may be seen under the moulding of the panellingon the wall. 

The passage to which the glazed door gives access "is chiefly of earlyNorman date, and was originally of the same length as the width of thetransept against which it is built. It was entered from the cloister bya wide arch, and has a wall arcade on each side of fifteen arches on thenorth, but only eleven on the south, the space between the transeptpilaster-buttresses admitting no more than that number. The roof is aperfectly plain barrel vault without ribs. In the south-west corner is ahollowed bracket, or cresset stone as it was called, in which a wickfloating in tallow was kept to light the passage. "

"It having become necessary in the fourteenth century to enlarge thevestry and library over the passage, its east end was taken down and thepassage extended to double its former length. At the same time a vice, or circular stair, was built at the N. E. Angle to give access to thelibrary. To prevent, however, the new stair from encroaching too much onthe apse of the chapter-house, the addition to the passage was deflecteda little to the south instead of being carried on in a straight line. The vault of the added part is a simple barrel like the Early Normanwork. The use of this passage was twofold. First, it was the place wheretalking was allowed at such times as it was forbidden in the cloister. Hence its name of _locutorium_, or, in English, the parlour. Secondly, it was the way for the monks to go to their cemetery. When the presentcloister was built the original use of the parlour seems to have passedaway, and in the new works the arch of entrance was blocked up andcovered by the new panelling. Since this also cut off all access fromthe cloister to the library stair, a new stair was built at the west enddirectly accessible from the cloister. For want of room this had to beintruded into the south-west corner of the chapter-house. " (Hope. )

Above the passage are two floors, one being the vestry, entered from thenorth-east chapel of the choir, and the upper one, the library, nowrestored to its original monastic use after many vicissitudes. 

This east alley "was used as a passage between the church and thefarmery, and the later Abbot's lodging; out of it also opened theparlour, chapter-house, and dorter door. " (Hope. )

"In the third bay from the church the southern half is pierced with adoor below the transom. On the cloister side of the southern half of thesecond bay, and of the northern half of the fourth bay, there was, ineach case, built out a little cupboard or closet, now destroyed. Thesemay have been used for keeping books in. This alley has no bench againstthe walls. " (Hope. )

Opposite the fifth bay in this alley is the doorway, containing somegood Norman work, slightly restored, leading into the chapter-house. 

"The construction of the outer walls of the east walk is peculiar as tothe arrangement of the buttresses and the projecting shelf of stoneconnected with the transoms of the windows, which was evidently meant asa protection from the weather for the lower half of the windows, at thattime not glazed. " (F. S. W. )

The first window in this east alley or walk, beginning at the southcorner, nearest to the door into the north aisle, is one of four lights, by Hardman, to the memory of Rev. H. Burrup, a missionary, who died inAfrica in 1862. 

The second window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to Rev. John Plumptre, who was Dean from 1808-1825. 

The third window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to Archdeacon Timbrill. 

The fourth window (by Hardman) is a memorial to the Hon. And Very Rev. Edward Rice, who was Dean from 1824 to 1862. 

The fifth window (also by Hardman) is a memorial to the Rev. T. Evans, D. D. , a former Headmaster of the Cathedral Grammar School; died 1854. 

The sixth window (by Hardman) is in memory of Miss Mary Davies. 

The seventh window is a memorial (by Hardman) to Rev. B. S. Claxson, D. D. 

The eighth window is a memorial to Rev. John Luxmoore, D. D. , who, afterbeing Dean of Gloucester from 1800-1808, was Bishop of Bristol, later ofHereford, and finally of St. Asaph, where he died in 1830. 

The ninth window is a memorial to the Ven. Henry Wetherell, B. D. , a latePrebendary of Gloucester, who died in 1857. 

The tenth and last window in this alley is by Clayton & Bell, and is inmemory of Rev. E. Bankes, D. C. L. , late Canon of the Cathedral, who diedin 1867. 

 "At the north end of the east alley of the cloister, and almost concealed by the later panelling, is an Early English doorway opening into a vaulted passage or entry, chiefly of the thirteenth century. This entry passes between the east gable of the frater and what I have suggested may have been the common house-garden, and leads straight into the infirmary cloister. The passage is covered by a stone vault of four bays, supported by heavy moulded ribs springing from corbels. The south half of the passage is 6 feet 10 inches wide, but the northern half of the east wall is set back so as to increase the width to 7½ feet. This passage was lighted in the first bay by a single light with trefoiled head, with very wide internal splay. In the wider end were two other openings now blocked. That to the north had a transom two-thirds of the height up, above which the rear-arch is moulded, while below it is plain. The other is not carried above the transom level, and the sill has been cut down and the opening made into a doorway into a house outside; in which state it remained until within the last forty years. That some thirteenth-century building stood here seems evident, and the upper half of the north opening was clearly a window above the roof to light that end of the entry. 

 "The north end of the entry opens directly into the east alley of the infirmary or "farmery" cloister, which is built against the north side of the east end of the frater. " (Hope. )

[Illustration: CLOISTER GARTH FROM THE NORTH-WEST CORNER, SHOWING THE OLD DRAIN. ]

#North Alley# (east to west). --This "north alley" was closed at bothends by screens, and must therefore have had some special use. Fromanalogy with the arrangements at Durham there can be little doubt thatthis alley was partly appropriated to the novices.... We have curiousevidence that the north alley at Gloucester was so appropriated, in thetraces of the games they played at in their idle moods. On the stonebench against the wall are scratched a number of diagrams of the formshere represented:

[Illustration: 3 Game Diagrams]

The first is for playing the game called "Nine men's morris, " from eachplayer having nine pieces or men. The other two are for playingvarieties of the game of "Fox and Geese. "

"Traces of such games may generally be found on the bench tables ofcloisters where they have not been _restored_, and excellent examplesremain at Canterbury, Westminster, Salisbury, and elsewhere. AtGloucester they are almost exclusively confined to the novices' alley, the only others now to be seen in the cloister being an unfinished 'Ninemen's morris' board in the south alley, and one or two crossed squaresin the west alley. " (Hope. )

In the north alley wall some of the lower halves of the five easternmostwindows have been re-opened, and the bricks with which they were blockedremoved. 

The next bay contains traces of a doorway into the cloister-garth thathas been blocked. 

[Illustration: THE MONKS' LAVATORY. ]

The #Monks' Lavatory# takes up the next four bays. As Mr Hope says, "itis one of the most perfect of its date that have been preserved. Itprojects 8 feet into the garth, and is entered from the cloister alleyby eight tall arches with glazed traceried openings above. Internally itis 47 feet long and 6½ feet wide, and is lighted by eight two-lightwindows towards the garth and by a similar window at each end. Onelight of the east window has a small square opening below, perhaps forthe admission of the supply pipes, for which there seems to be no otherentrance either in the fan vault or the side walls. Half the width ofthe lavatory is taken up by a broad, flat ledge or platform against thewall, on which stood a lead cistern or laver, with a row of taps, and infront a hollow trough, originally lined with lead, at which the monkswashed their hands and faces. From this the waste water ran away into arecently discovered (1889) tank in the garth. " (Hope. )

A plan of this tank is here shown by permission of Mr Waller. It seemsto have had a sluice at the west end in order to dam up the water ifrequired in greater volume for flushing the drain. 

Opposite the lavatory is a groined almery or recess in which the monkskept their towels. The hooks and indications of doors to this recess arestill there. There are traces, too, of screens or partitions in thelavatory arches. 

To the west of the lavatory is a "curious arrangement. It consists of alarge opening in the lower part of the window, occupying the space oftwo lights, with a separate chase in the head carried up vertically onthe outside. It had a transom at half its height, now broken away, as isalso the sill. " (Hope. )

It is possible, as suggested by Mr J. W. Clark, F. S. A. , that this chasewas lined with wood, and was the means by which a bell rope passed outto ring the bell which summoned the monks to meals. 

The #North Alley. #--The windows in this alley as far as the Monks'Lavatory have been filled recently, 1896-97, at the expense of Baron deFerrières of Cheltenham. 

There are twenty-seven lights in all, and they constitute the lower partof five windows, a doorway taking the space of three lights. The_eighth_ contains a mitre and a crozier, an initial E and the date 1022. This window is an anachronism, as Edric was not a mitred abbot. AbbotFroucester was the first to wear a mitre, in 1381. 

Over the lavatory are four windows, also given by Baron de Ferrières. Like the windows in the lavatory, they contain subjects which are insome way connected with water. 

The small two-light windows (ten in number) in the Monks' Lavatory havebeen glazed by Hardman, at the expense of Mr B. Bonnor. 

A brass on the wall near the lavatory records that the masonry of thenorth walk was restored by the Freemasons of the province of Gloucesterin 1896. 

The #West Alley. #--The north window of three lights has been filled withglass (by Ballantyne) to the memory of members of a Gloucester familynamed Wilton. 

The window was formerly an Early English doorway, which can still betraced. "It retains the upper pair of the iron hooks on which the doorswere hung, and was the entrance into the great dining-hall of the monks, called the refectorium, or, in English, the frater. " (Hope. ) The effectof the window is beyond words. 

[Illustration: OLD WATER TANK IN THE CLOISTER GARTH. ]

The #Slype#, or covered passage, which is entered from the south-westcorner of the cloisters, is a vaulted passage of Norman work, and isunder part of the old Abbot's lodging--_i. E. _ the present Deanery. 

This passage, which is on a lower level than the cloister, was "the mainentrance into the cloister from the outer court. This entrance wasalways kept carefully guarded to prevent intrusion by strangers orunauthorized persons. " (Hope. )

The passage served as the outer parlour, in which the monks heldconversation with strangers and visitors. 

The #South Alley. #--This alley has ten windows each of six lights, butbelow the transoms the lights are replaced by twenty carrels orrecesses, two to each window. This was the place to which the monksresorted daily for study (after they had dined) until evensong. Thefirst window--_i. E. _ the westernmost window nearest to the slype--is amemorial to J. Francillon, Esq. , a judge of the county court, who diedin 1866. The glass is by Hardman. 

The first two carrel windows were filled with glass of a simple andinoffensive nature, by T. Fulljames, Esq. , and the rest were filled byT. Holt, Esq. , to the memory of members of his family, their initialsbeing inserted in the lower corners. 

The last window in this south alley is a memorial to R. B. Cooper, Esq. , as the brass tablet sets forth. The glass, which is by Hardman, represents the conversion and the execution of St. Paul. 

Some of the windows in the cloister are glazed with a peculiarlycharming white glass, which admits plenty of light, but is nottransparent. The effect is most restful to the eyes after examining someof the bizarre creations in the other windows. 

When the cloister windows are entirely filled with glass they willcontain a history of the Life of our Lord. 

Britton, in 1828, bemoaned the conversion of the garth into a kitchengarden, and showed how the accumulation of vegetable refuse was injuringthe stone-work. There are still residents in Gloucester who can rememberDean Law digging up his own potatoes in the garth. This is now theprivate garden of the Dean, and is very simply, and thereforecharmingly, laid out. It contains the old well of the Abbey. 

[Illustration: THE CLOISTER, SHOWING THE CARRELS OF THE MONKS. _Photochrom Co. Ltd. , Photo. _]

The present #Deanery# was originally the Abbot's lodging, in which royalpersons, high ecclesiastics, and nobles were entertained. When, however, in the fourteenth century, a new Abbot's lodging was built on the sitewhere the episcopal palace now stands, the Abbot's old lodging wasassigned to the Prior. The Deanery (which, however, is not shown tovisitors), as it now stands, "consists of two main blocks, built on twosides of a court--the one to the south, in the angle formed by thecloister and the church; the other to the west, with the court betweenit and the cloister. " The southern block, which contained the privateapartments of the Abbot, consists of three large Norman chambers, oneabove the other, with their original windows enriched within and withoutwith zig-zag mouldings. Each chamber has also in the north-east corneran inserted or altered doorway into a garde-robe tower (shown inCarter's plan, 1807), but now destroyed; and the two lowest chambershave their southern corners crossed by stone arches, moulded or coveredwith zig-zag ornaments. All these chambers are subdivided by partitionsinto smaller rooms. Mr. Hope says:

 "The ground storey is entered from a vaulted lobby or antechamber, now modernized and converted into a porch. The first floor has a similar antechamber, as had originally also the second floor, but this has been altered. These antechambers are all of early thirteenth-century date, with a good deal of excellent work remaining about the windows. 

 "Between the church and the rooms just described is a building of two storeys. The ground storey consists of a vaulted passage, already described as the outer parlour. It is on a lower level than the cloister, which is reached from it by a flight of steps. Over it is a lofty room, also vaulted, which was the abbot's chapel. It is now entered by an awkward skew passage from the first-floor antechamber. 

 "Both the chapel and outer parlour were once 9 feet longer, but were shortened, and their west ends rebuilt with the old masonry, at the same time that, I have reason to believe, the west front of the church was rebuilt and also curtailed of a bay in the fifteenth century. The first floor of all this part of the house contained the abbot's private apartments, namely, his dining-room, bedroom, solar, and chapel. The second floor was devoted to his own special guests, while the ground storey contained a reception-room, and probably accommodation for one or two servants. 

 "At the north-west corner of this southern block is a semi-octagonal turret. Until this was altered a few years ago it contained the front entrance into the deanery, and within it a flight of stairs led to a series of landings communicating with the antechambers on the first and second floors, as well as the rooms on the north. Both the turret and the landings replace a much earlier entrance tower, nearly square in form, and of the same date as the antechambers. Many traces of this remain, and show that it was a handsome and important structure. 

 "The western block of buildings, which is connected with the southern block by the turret and landings, has been so altered in the fifteenth century, and further modernized and enlarged of late years, that it is very difficult to make out the original arrangement. The southern half is two storeys high, with a large hall on the upper floor and the servants' department below. The hall is now divided into two rooms, lined with good Jacobean panelling, and its fifteenth-century roof underdrawn by plaster ceilings. 

 "At the north end of the hall is another two-storey building. The lower floor is of stone, and now contains various domestic offices. But originally it formed part of a building of considerable architectural importance, as may be seen from the jamb of an elaborate Early English window at the north-west corner. From its position, this Early English building, which seems to have extended westward as far as the inner gate, was most likely the abbot's hall, and here doubtless took place the famous historical dialogue between Edward II. And Abbot Thoky. [1] Some time before the end of the fifteenth century this hall was cut down, and an upper storey of wood built upon it, of which the east end still remains. At one time it evidently extended further west. Internally it has been gutted, and now contains nothing of interest to show its use. "

"The court of the Abbot's house was probably enclosed by covered alleyson the north and west sides to enable the Abbot to pass into thecloister under cover. In the recent alterations to the Deanery, a blockof additional rooms has been built on the west side of the court againstthe hall. " (Hope. )

There is a timber-framed room on the north-west where Richard II. Isreputed to have held his parliament. It had a narrow escape some yearsago of being destroyed by a fire caused by an overheated flue. 

The new lodging for the Abbot (1316-1329, _temp_. Wygmore) was builtnear the infirmary garden, on the site now occupied by the Bishop'sPalace. Drawings of the plans of the old buildings (made in 1856) are inthe custody of the Bishop, and reduced reproductions of them are to befound in the "Records of Gloucester Cathedral, " 1897, in the article byMr Hope. Part of the buildings remain on the south side of Pitt Street, and serve to screen the palace from the road. 

The #Bishop's Palace# is a modern building, erected in 1857-1862 byChristian on the site of the abbot's lodging. 

The so-called #Grove#, laid out by a distinguished head-master of theKing's School, Maurice Wheeler, 1684-1712, on the north side of thechurch, was used as a school playground till 1855, presumably to thedetriment of the windows in the Lady Chapel. It was in that year throwninto the gardens surrounding the east end of the cathedral. Thesegardens had been originally the monks' cemetery, and adjoining them hadbeen the lay-folks' cemetery, extending along the greater part of thesouth side. 

When all the accumulation of soil was removed, and the ground lowered, the foundations of the old walls were discovered. 

The #Cathedral#, or #King's School#, is of Henry VIII. Foundation. Formany years it was held in the old monastic library. A drawing of it isgiven in Bonnor's "Perspective Itinerary, " 1796. The present buildingsdate back to 1850. 

[Illustration: SOUTH AISLE OF NAVE. _Photochrom Co. Ltd. , Photo. _ ]

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] See Hart, i. 44. 

CHAPTER V

ABBOTS AND BISHOPS OF GLOUCESTER

Passing over the régimes of the Abbesses[1] and the secular canons, wefind that the first Abbot of the Benedictine rule at Gloucester was#Edric# (1022-1028), who in his long rule maintained a very low standardof discipline. His monks seem to have been as much addicted to "illlyvynge" as the secular canons. He was succeeded by #Wulstan#(1058-1072), a monk of Worcester appointed by Bishop Aldred. In his timeAldred rebuilt the monastery on new foundations. Wulstan died abroad ona pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1072. 

#Serlo# (1072-1103), the next Abbot, had been the Conqueror's chaplain, and was a man of great strength of character, and of quite a differentstamp. He was buried in the abbey church, which he had raised "frommeanness and insignificance to a glorious pitch. "

#Peter#, who had been Prior, was Abbot from 1104-1113. 

#William Godemon#, #Godeman#, or #Godemore#, was Abbot from 1113-1130, when he retired. 

#Walter de Lacy# was appointed by Godeman and was consecrated in 1131. In his time, Robert, Duke of Normandy, surnamed Curthose, died atCardiff after twenty-five years' imprisonment, and was buried in thechoir. Walter de Lacy died in 1139, and was succeeded by

#Gilbert Foliot# (1139-1148), a Cluniac monk, who, owing his position tohis relative Milo, Earl of Hereford, was consecrated in 1139. He wasmade Bishop of Hereford in 1148, and was translated thence to London. Though he owed much to Becket, his patron and tutor, he is said to havetaken the king's side in the quarrels with Becket, and to have beeninstrumental in the latter's assassination. 

#Hameline# or #Hammeline# (1148-1179). 

#Thomas Carbonel# (1179-1205). 

#Henry Blond# (or #Blunt#) (1205-1224). Henry III. Was crowned in theAbbey in 1216. 

#Thomas de Bredon# (or #Bredone#) (1224-1228). 

#Henry Foliot# (or #Foleth#) was Abbot from 1228-1243. 

#Walter de St. John# died before his installation. 

#John de Felda# (1243-1263). 

#Reginald de Hamme# (or #Homme#) (1263-1283). 

#John de Gamages# (1284-1306). 

#John Thokey# (or #Toky#) (1306-1329). 

#John Wygmore# (or #Wygemore#) (1329-1337). 

#Adam de Staunton# (1337-1351). 

#Thomas Horton# (1357-1377). 

#John Boyfield# (1377-1381). 

#Walter Froucester# (1381-1412). 

The succession of Abbots, and the dates of various works executed sinceSerlo's time, are taken entirely from the particulars in the Chronicles"attributed" to Abbot Froucester (1381-1412), who wrote of the Abbey andof twenty Abbots after the Conquest. These Chronicles are the solefoundation up to that date on which all the histories have been made. There are three copies of them, one in the British Museum, one inQueen's College, Oxford, and one in the Chapter Library, which latterwas lost for many years, and ultimately heard of again in 1878 as beingin the possession of a book-seller at Berlin, from whom it was rescuedon a payment of £150 by the Dean and Chapter. 

#Hugh Moreton# (1412-1420). 

#John Morwent# (or #Marewent#) (1421-1437). 

#Reginald Boulers# (#Boulars# or #Butler#) (#Boteler#) (1437-1450). Hebecame Bishop of Hereford and was translated to Lichfield in 1453. 

#Thomas Seabroke# (1450-1457). 

#Richard Hanley# (1457-1472). He began to build the Lady Chapel, whichwas finished by

#William Farley# (1472-1498). 

#John Malvern# or #Mulverne# was Abbot for one year (1498-1499), and wassucceeded by a monk named

#Thomas Braunche# (1500-1510), who in turn was succeeded by

#John Newton# or #Browne, D. D. # (1510-1514). 

#William Malverne# or #Parker# (1514-1539). 

Parker wrote a Rhythmical History of St. Peter's Abbey, which wasreprinted in the appendix of Hearne's "Robert of Gloucester'sChronicle. " It was compiled from local records extending up to the timeof Abbot Horton. 

He subscribed in 1534 to the King's supremacy, and remained Abbot tillthe dissolution of the greater monasteries. Different traditions arecurrent as to his behaviour. Willis (in "Mitred Abbeys") describes himas losing his pension and the chance of preferment on the score ofcontumacy. Another tradition asserts that the king promised him thebishopric, but that he died before the appointment was made. The placeof his burial is not known, and it is hoped that his tomb will escapedesecration for the sake of gratifying mere idle curiosity. 

BISHOPS OF GLOUCESTER. 

#John Wakeman# (1541-1549) was the last abbot of Tewkesbury, andchaplain to Henry VIII. 

#John Hooper# (1550-1554) was originally a monk at Cleeve; afterwardsbecame a Lutheran. He could not comply with the statute of the SixArticles, and left Oxford in 1539 and went abroad. In Edward VI. 's reignhe preached the reformed doctrine in London. He was instrumental inprocuring the deprivation of Bishop Bonner in 1549, and was extremelyhostile to Gardiner. He was consecrated Bishop of Gloucester andWorcester by Archbishop Cranmer. He was summoned to London in 1553, andimprisoned. In 1554 his bishopric was declared void. He refused torecant, and was burnt as an obstinate heretic in Gloucester in 1555. 

#James Brookes# (1554-1558). Formerly chaplain or almoner to BishopGardiner, and a very zealous Papist. He was delegated by the Pope forthe examination and trial of Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. 

#Richard Cheiney# or #Cheyney# (1561-1579). 

#John Bullingham# (1581-1598). 

#Godfrey Goldsborough# (1598-1604). 

#Thomas Ravis# (1604-1607), previous to his institution, had been Deanof Christ Church, Oxford. He was one of the translators of theAuthorised Version. He was translated to London. 

#Henry Parry# (1607-1610) was translated from Rochester in 1607, andfrom Gloucester went to Worcester. 

#Giles Thompson# (1611-1612). 

#Miles Smith# (1612-1624). He was one of the translators of theAuthorised Version, and is said to have written the preface. 

#Godfrey Goodman# (1624-1640). 

#William Nicholson# (1660-1671). 

#John Prickett# or #Prichard# (1672-1680). 

#Robert Frampton# (1680-1690) was Dean in 1673. He refused to take theoath of allegiance and supremacy after the accession of William III. , and was deprived of his office. 

#Edward Fowler# (1691-1714). 

#Richard Willis# (1714-1721) was translated to Salisbury in 1721, andthence to Winchester in 1725. 

#Joseph Wilcocks# (1721-1731). He was translated to Rochester, which seehe held, together with the Deanery of Westminster. 

#Elias Sydall# (1731-1733). Translated from St. David's. He was alsoDean of Canterbury. 

#Martin Benson# (1734-1752). 

#William Johnson# (1752-1759) was translated to Worcester in 1759. 

#William Warburton# (1759-1779). The well-known editor of Pope's works. 

#James Yorke# (1779-1781). When Dean of Lincoln was appointed Bishop ofSt. David's, then translated to Gloucester in 1779, and in 1781 fromthence to Ely. 

#Samuel Hallifax# (1781-1789). In 1789 he was translated to St. Asaph's, a curious reversal of the usual order of episcopal promotion. 

#Richard Beadon# (1789-1802) was Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, in1781, but resigned on being made Bishop of Gloucester. Was translated toBath and Wells in 1802. 

#G. J. Huntingford# (1802-1815). He was translated to Hereford in 1815. 

#Henry Ryder# (1815-1824). Was Dean of Wells, previously Canon ofWindsor. He was made Bishop of Gloucester in 1815 and was translated toLichfield in 1824. 

#Christopher Bethell# (1824-1830). Formerly Dean of Chichester. WasBishop of Exeter for one year, 1830-1831, and was then translated toBangor. 

#James Henry Monk# (1830-1856). Dean of Peterborough in 1822. Consecrated Bishop of Gloucester 1830, and from 1836, when the sees ofGloucester and Bristol were united, was Bishop till his death in 1856. 

#Charles Baring# (1856-1861). Translated to Durham in 1861. 

[Illustration: MONUMENT TO MRS. MORLEY. _H. C. Oakden, Photo. _]

#William Thomson# (1861-1862). Became Archbishop of York in 1862. 

#Charles John Ellicott# (1863-). One of the ablest of modern divines. Hewas chairman for eleven years of the New Testament Revision Committee. He has published commentaries on various epistles; also works on"Scripture and its Interpretation, " "Modern Scepticism"; also acommentary for English Readers on the Old and also on the New Testament. 

The sees of Gloucester and Bristol were separated in 1897, and theseparation took effect as from January 1st, 1898. 

THE CITY OF GLOUCESTER

Gloucester has always been a town of importance, owing to its situation. A Roman camp was formed here in A. D. 43, and later it was fortified witha massive wall (of which the traces still survive), as befitted amilitary post equal in importance to Cirencester, Winchester, Chichester, and Colchester. Much of modern Gloucester rests on Romanfoundations. 

After the Romans left Britain in 410 A. D. , the country suffered from thestruggles between its petty kings, and from the invading hosts of theAngles, Jutes, and Saxons. In the end Gloucester, or Gleawan-ceastre, became one of the chief cities of the Mercian kingdom. Alfred held aWitan in the town in 896. Athelstan--the reputed founder of St. John'schurch--died in it in 940. King Edgar resided there in 965. Hardicanuteand Edward the Confessor both held Witans here, but William theConqueror must always be the central figure in the long line of notablemen connected with Gloucester. It was in Gloucester that he spent hisChristmas vacations when he could, and it was in the Chapter-House thathe took "deep speech" with his wise men, and ordered the compilation ofDomesday Book. His son and successor was often at Gloucester, and asProfessor Freeman wrote, "in the reign of Rufus almost everything thathappened at all, somehow contrived to happen at Gloucester. " His deathwas prophesied by the Abbot of Shrewsbury in a sermon in the Abbey, andwarning was sent to the king, but it was of no effect. 

Henry I. , Henry II. , and John were frequently in the town, and theyouthful Henry III. Was crowned in the Abbey in 1216. Later on he wasimprisoned in Gloucester by Sir Simon de Montfort. Edward I. Held aParliament, which passed the celebrated Statutes of Gloucester. EdwardII. , foully murdered in Berkeley Castle, was buried in the choir of theAbbey. 

Richard II. , in 1378, held his famous Parliament in the Abbey precincts. In this Parliament the House of Commons secured for itself the right ofcontrolling the financial arrangements of the nation. 

Henry IV. And V. Assembled their Parliaments in Gloucester, and fromGloucester Richard III. Is said to have issued the death-warrant of hisnephews. Henry VII. Was well received as Earl of Richmond, when hepassed through the town on his way to Bosworth Field. Henry VIII. , withAnne Boleyn, is said to have spent a week in what is now the Deanery. Later he visited the neighbourhood with Jane Seymour. Elizabeth visitedthe town, and stayed in the old house next to St. Nicholas' Church. Shegave the city the privileges of a seaport, much to the annoyance ofBristol. Gloucester supplied one ship to the navy at the time of theArmada in 1588. In the disastrous Civil War the city played an importantpart. It is said that the unpopularity of Laud, who had been Dean ofGloucester, led the citizens to side with the Parliament. They held thecity under Colonel Massie, against enormous odds, through a long siege, and the king, who had his headquarters at Matson House, was obliged, owing to the approach of Essex with relief, to raise the siege. This wasa most serious blow to the failing cause of Charles I. 

During the Commonwealth the citizens seem to have lost their headssomewhat, and to have turned against the officer who had saved theircity from destruction. Some, too, had made arrangements for demolishingthe Cathedral, but fortunately were frustrated in their plans. 

As a matter of policy the city congratulated Charles II. At theRestoration in 1660, but without much result, as the walls and gateswere ordered to be destroyed. James II. Visited Gloucester, and is saidto have touched over a hundred persons for the king's evil, a proceedingto which he objected on the score of expense. 

The last two Georges visited the city, and Queen Victoria visited itwhen Princess Victoria, and again later, after her marriage. 

The city, like Tewkesbury, is a curious admixture of the new and theold. It has long emerged from the primitive state, and is now welldrained and well supplied with water; but the heavy penalty attaching totransition has been paid, and many old houses and historic buildings, like the Tolsey and others, have disappeared. 

The history of Gloucester, commercially, is a history of progress. InDomesday Book, Gloucester is mentioned in connection with iron, thefounding of nails for the king's ships. As the ore was obtained locally, this branch of trade flourished till the seventeenth century. Bell-founding was practised as early as 1350 by John Sandre, and one ofhis bells still hangs and rings in the cathedral tower. Cloth-making, too, was practised, but, declining in the fifteenth century, wassuperseded by pin-making, for which Gloucester was for many yearsfamous. Glass-making was carried on in the seventeenth century, and theRudhall family for several generations had a bell-foundry of widereputation. 

Elizabeth made the town a seaport, and it is one still. More than that, it is the most inland port in Britain, owing to the Berkeley Ship Canal, which enables ships to dispense with the awkwardness of a voyage up anddown the tortuous and dangerous Severn. It is to this canal thatGloucester owes much of its present trade, as, by sea-going vessels, corn and timber, its staple commodities, are brought in to the manywharves in ever-increasing quantities. To the railways--the GreatWestern and the Midland--the town also owes much of its prosperity, andone great industry, that of railway waggon building, gives employment tomany pairs of hands. 

In Gloucester, or its neighbourhood, will be found the followingbuildings of interest:--

#Llanthony Priory. #--This was formerly an Augustinian convent, with achurch attached, founded by Milo, Earl of Hereford, in 1136. It wasfounded as an asylum for the convenience of the priory in Monmouthshireof the same name, which was so liable to be harried and pillaged by theWelsh. This priory was dissolved in 1539. The church was finallydestroyed to make way for the Ship Canal. Some remains exist in a farm, of which the masonry is good. A gateway, in the Perpendicular style, still survives. 

[Illustration: The Old Judges' House. Westgate St. Ed Burrow 1894]

#St. Oswald's Priory. #--In 909 the Princess Elfleda caused the canonisedrelics of King Oswald to be removed and richly entombed at Gloucester. She also founded a college for secular priests, but later on it wasconverted into a priory for regular canons. (Refounded 1153. )

Attached to this priory was a chapel dedicated to St. Catherine, which, after the dissolution of the priory, served for a parish church untilits destruction in the siege in 1643. On this site the present Church ofSt. Catherine was built in 1867-69. 

The #Grey Friars# (or College of Friars minor, or Franciscans). --Thisbuilding formerly stood at the east end of the Church of St. Mary deCrypt. 

The #White Friars# (or College of Carmelites). --This building, which wassituated without Lower Northgate Street, was founded by Queen Eleanor. 

In the time of Elizabeth the college was converted into a house ofcorrection. During the siege in 1643, it was used as a fortress. Portions of it remain incorporated with private houses. 

The #Black Friars# (or College of Friars, Preachers). --This college wasestablished by Henry III. In 1237. 

Remains of the building are still to be seen on the south side of thethoroughfare called Blackfriars. 

The college was dissolved in 1538. 

#St. Mary de Lode# (or St. Mary before the Abbey Gate) stands on thesite of a Roman temple. The tower and chancel are all that remain of theoriginal church, the rest being very disappointing, having been built in1826. The low square tower formerly had a lofty spire, which wasdestroyed by a storm. The interior of the church has been latelyrestored. The pulpit is a very fine specimen of carving. In the chancelis a tomb which used to be pointed out as that of Lucius, the firstBritish Christian King. 

#St. John the Baptist# (in Northgate Street). --The original church issupposed to have been founded by King Athelstan. 

The present building was built in 1734, the tower being all that is leftof the old church. The communion plate was presented in 1659 by SirThomas Rich. 

#St. Mary de Crypt# (in Southgate Street) is well worth inspection. Ithas two crypts--hence its name. The church is Early English, Decoratedand Perpendicular, and was built by Robert Chichester, Bishop of Exeter, 1138-1155. It is cruciform in shape, and, though much restored, of greatinterest. 

There are interesting brasses to Luke Garnon, John Cooke and his wife, and a curious squint or hagioscope. In the choir vestry is a monument toR. Raikes. On the north side is a marble monument to Dorothy Snell, byScheemaker. 

The communion plate is all early seventeenth century, and very good, though it has suffered from careless handling. 

[Illustration: House of Robert Raikes. ]

Close by is the old building of the Crypt Grammar School. The school hasmigrated to more open quarters. 

#St. Nicholas# is situated at the bottom of Westgate Street, and, owingto alterations in the street, is much below the level of the road. Thefloor of the church is nearly two feet higher than it was originally. There is much good Norman work, and some good Early English withPerpendicular insertions. 

On the south door is a fine (so-called) sanctuary knocker; the door isquite unworthy of the knocker. Under the tower is some good lateJacobean panelling. In the chancel are two squints, four each side, arranged venetian-blind fashion. Several of the tombs are worthinspecting--viz. The Window monument in the chancel, 1659, and one tothe wife of Rev. Helpe-Fox, 1657. There is a good tomb to Alderman JohnWalton and his wife, 1626, which, though in good preservation, isbeginning to suffer from damp. There is also a brass, 1585, to Thos. Sancky; and a slab to John Hanbury, who represented Gloucester inParliament in 1626. A fine view of the cathedral can be got from the topof the tower. The spire was shortened after being damaged in a storm. The chimes are worth hearing. 

#St. Michael's# is situated where the four main streets meet, and nearthe church was formerly the Cross. The church was restored in 1885, andthe monuments and tablets are all grouped together. The most interestingis a brass of 1519, to William Henshawe. 

The curfew is still rung from the tower every evening. 

#Remains of Old Gloucester. #--The New Inn was built in Abbot Seabroke'stime by John Twynning or Twining (one of the monks), to accommodate thelarge number of pilgrims who came to the shrine of Edward II. 

Close by, at the corner of New Inn Lane, is a beautifully carved anglepost and bracket, which has been preserved for many years by beingplastered over (_vide_ p. 130). The houses on the right-hand side of thelane are also old. 

The Gloucestershire Seed Warehouse, 154 Westgate Street, does not lookspecially interesting, but up the passage, which was formerly "MaverdineLane, " is a portion of the old front of the house. It is a fine specimenof domestic architecture, with very good windows, and has a distinctlyFlemish look. There are some good rooms inside, with oak panelling andcarving. A chimney-piece bears the text, "I and my house will serve theLord, " and it is dated 1633. The house is usually called the "OldJudge's House, " but it is more famous as the house from which ColonelMassie issued his orders in 1643 when Gloucester was besieged by CharlesI. (_vide_ p. 125). 

[Illustration: THE NEW INN. From a Drawing by E. J. Burrow]

163 Westgate Street contains a fine panelled room (the greater partdating back from 1530-1550), which was discovered in 1890 whenalterations were being made. It is shown on payment of a fee, whichincludes a printed description of the house. Some of the carving--suchas the Royal Arms of England--seems earlier than 1520, but the arms mayhave been copied from an earlier document. Near St. Nicholas' Church isanother interesting house, where Queen Elizabeth is said to have stayedin one of her many progresses through the country. The side of the houseabuts curiously on the church of St. Nicholas. Inside there is a quaintovermantel, with Elizabethan carving, and E. R. In the centre panel. 

[Illustration: CARVING AT NEW INN LANE ED J BURROW 1897]

In Southgate Street, opposite the Corn Exchange, is a well-known housewith a carved front. There is an elaborate over-mantel dated 1650. Itbears the arms of the Yates, the Berkeley, and the Box families. Opposite St. Nicholas' Church is the Bishop Hooper Pharmacy. It is saidto be the house where the Bishop was kept closely guarded on the nightbefore his execution. 

[Illustration: Remains of the Roman Wall Under 36 Westgate Sr. Ed J. Burrow dil/94. ]

The house of Robert Raikes, of Sunday School fame, is a fine house ofthree gables, and is well preserved. 

The house where Raikes held his first Sunday School can still be seen inSt. Catherine Street, Hare Lane. 

The old Roman wall can be seen in several places--_e. G. _ at 36 WestgateStreet, at Messrs Lea & Co. 's furniture warehouse in Northgate Street, at Mr John Bellows' in Eastgate Street. 

The #Gloucester Candlestick. #--One of the most interesting relics of theAbbey of Gloucester is a candlestick which is now in the museum at SouthKensington. It is a remarkably fine piece of metal work, about 16 inchesin height, cast by the _cera perduta_ process in very pale bronze, richly gilt and decorated. The upright stem is divided into twocompartments by bosses, ornamented with the emblems of the Evangelists, and supporting a cup at the top. A triangular base supports the stem, and the whole is enriched with forty-two monsters in various grotesqueattitudes, wrestling and struggling with nine human beings. 

Round the stem is a ribbon bearing the inscription--

 ABBATIS PETRI GREGIS ET DEVOTIO MITIS ME DEDIT ECCLESIE SANCTI PETRI GLOUCESTRE. 

Round the cup is a ribbon, on the outside of which a couplet isinscribed--

 LUCIS ONUS VIRTUTIS OPUS DOCTRINA REFULGENS PREDICAT UT VICIO NON TENEBRETUR HOMO. 

Inside this same ribbon are two hexameters--

 HOC CENOMANNENSIS RES ECCLESIE POCIENSIS THOMAS DITAVIT CUM SOL ANNUM RENOVAVIT. 

After its removal from Gloucester, the candlestick was given to theCathedral of Le Mans by Thomas de Poché or de Pocé (POCIENSIS). Subsequently it belonged to the Marquis d'Espaulart of Le Mans, and wassold to Prince Soltykoff for about £800, and finally was bought from hiscollection for £680 for the Museum at South Kensington. 

#Bishop Hooper's Memorial# stands in the churchyard of St. Mary de Lode, and is on the actual site of the burning. This is perhaps the chief orthe only interest in the memorial, as its architectural merit is almost_nil_. The inscriptions to prevent defacement are glazed over, and asthe glass is broken the effect is wretched. A previous monument to theBishop was erected at the other end of the churchyard. 

An interesting relic of the execution of the Bishop is in possession ofthe rector of St. Mary's Church--viz. The sergeant's mace, which was theauthority of the soldiers who conducted the Bishop down to Gloucester. This mace, which is the only surviving example of a London sergeant'smace, was found in a house in Westgate Street, belonging to a Mr Ingram. It is to be hoped that some day the mace may be deposited in some publicnational museum. 

NOTES, ARCHITECTURAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL

 Style. Abbot at the Time. Date. South Porch, West |} | | End of Nave, and |}P. |Morwent. | 1421-1437. Aisles. |} | | | | | |{Pilasters N. , } | | South Aisle of Nave. |{Windows and } |Serlo. | 1089-1100. |{Groining D. } |Thokey. | 1307-1329. | | | |{Piers, Arches }| | Nave. |{Triforium, }|Serlo. | 1089-1100. |{Groining E. E. , }|Foliot. | 1242. |{Windows P. }|Morwent. | 1421-1437. | | | |{Walls and }| | North Aisle of Nave. |{Groining N. , }|Serlo. | 1089-1100. |{Windows P. }|Morwent. | 1421-1437. | | | South Transept. | Tr. (D. To P. ) |Wygmore. | c. 1330. | | | Choir and |{P. Cased on N. }|Staunton and | 1337-1377. Presbytery. |{Walls. }|Horton. | | | | |{Walls and }| | Ambulatory and |{Groining N. , }|Thokey, Wygmore, | 1307-1377. Chapels. |{Windows D. And}|Staunton, and | |{P. Inserted in}|Horton. | |{N. Openings. }| | | | | Lady Chapel. | P. |Hanley and Fawley. | 1457-1499. | | | North Transept. | P. On N. Walls. |Horton. | 1368-1373. | | | Reliquary. | E. E. |Foliot. (?) | c. 1240. | | | Cloisters, S. E. Part. | D. To P. |Horton. | 1351-1377. " rest. | P. |{Boyfield and | 1381-1412. | |{Froucester. | Abbot's Cloister. } | | | Chapter-House } | N. |Serlo. | 1089-1100. West-End. } | | | | | | Chapter-House } | N. And P. |Hanley. | c. 1460. East-End. } | | | | | | Tower. | P. |Seabroke. | 1450-1457. 

These Notes are adapted from Mr F. S. Waller's "Notes and Sketches. "

N. Norman. E. E. Early English. Tr. Transitional. D. Decorated. P. Perpendicular. 

FOOTNOTES:

 [1] They have been given on pp. 3 and 4. 

[Illustration: Diagram]

[Illustration: PLAN OF GLOUCESTER CATHEDRAL]

 * * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

1. Words and phrases which were italicized in the original have been surrounded by underscores ('_') in this version. Words or phrases which were bolded have been surrounded by pound signs ('#'). 

2. Obvious printer's errors have been corrected without note. 

3. Inconsistencies in hyphenation or the spelling of proper names, and dialect or obsolete word spelling, have been maintained as in the original.