Chapter VIII Chairs in Churches
Hardly anything in a cathedral has so venerable a history as the throne and chair of the Bishop, of wood or ivory. The origin of this type of Bishop’s chair goes back to Pagan Rome. There the greater officials had two official chairs, both portable; one, the “sella curulis” in which they sat while administering justice; the other, the “sella gestatoria” in which they were carried in procession. The “sella curulis” was a folding chair with crossed legs like the chair of Dagobert in the Hotel Cluny, Paris: chairs of this form are still in use in many Continental cathedrals.
The “sella gestatoria” was a kind of sedan chair, shaped like a settle; with high back and usually without arms; it was provided with rings through which were passed staves when it was borne in procession. Similar is the Pope’s chair in St Peter’s, Rome, last shewn in 1867 (112). It is said to have belonged to the Senator Pudens and to have been used by St Peter. Whether that be so or not, it is undoubtedly very ancient, and its legs may be of the Apostolic age; they are of yellow oak, worm-eaten, and chipped by pilgrims who carried away bits as relics; the seat and back are of acacia wood and are of a later period. This back is ornamented with ivory panels carved to represent the Labours of Hercules; the panels are probably of the ninth century, for among the decorations is a bust with a crown bearing fleurs de lis, and what seems to be a portrait of Charles the Bald.66 Very similar is the chair in which St Silvester is represented as seated in the dome of the apse of St John Lateran, where the mosaics are those of 1291, copied probably from the original ones executed in 428. Similar chairs also appear in the mosaics of Sta. Pudentiana and other Roman basilicas, and in those of Santa Sophia, Constantinople.
In the Archbishop’s chapel at Ravenna is preserved a chair made for Maximian who was Archbishop of Ravenna from 546 to 556. It is in wood entirely covered with plaques of ivory, arranged in panels, with Scriptural subjects—among others the story of Joseph—and figures of saints richly carved in high relief. The plaques have borders with foliated ornaments, birds and animals, flowers and fruit, filling the spandrels.
At Lincoln is a wooden chair, which appears to be c. 1300; it has recently been placed in the Chapter House and is now used by the bishop at diocesan synods (114). It is possible that since several Parliaments met at Lincoln, between 1265 and 1327, that this may be the royal chair: it may well have been used also at the great trial of the Knights Templars, which was held in the Chapter House in 1310. It is only original up to the level of the arms; the lions, the back and the canopy are modern.
In Hereford cathedral is an ancient wooden chair, once coloured in red and gold; it is composed of fifty-three pieces; not counting the seat of two boards and the two circular heads in front; it has been variously ascribed to the twelfth or fourteenth century; but no doubt is Jacobean, belonging to the same class of chairs as those enumerated in the following paragraph (114).67 At Stanford Bishop church, Hereford, is a rude chair or settle, of oak without nails. It is said to have been traditionally called “Old Horstin’s chair,” and therefore has been supposed, very improbably, to be the identical chair seated on which St Augustine received the British bishops in Herefordshire c. 600 A.D., greatly exciting the ire of the irascible Celts by not rising from his seat to receive them. In the Canterbury Museum Dr Cox has recently deposited a mediæval chair believed to be of great antiquity.68
A few examples remain of what are supposed to have been abbots’ chairs. In the Bishop’s Palace at Wells is preserved a chair of remarkable type, said to have been used by the Abbot of Glastonbury. In the College, Manchester, is or was an ancient chair of the same baluster shape; and a very similar one formerly was to be seen in Agecroft Hall, Manchester. In the cottage at Zaandam, Holland, is a baluster chair, formerly used by Peter the Great. Another chair of this type, but of simpler form, is that once used by John Bunyan, and now preserved, together with his pulpit, in the meeting house of the Independent Congregation at Bedford. In the Victoria and Albert Museum is an arm-chair with balusters of turned ash. All these chairs are of seventeenth century date; no abbot of Glastonbury can have sat in the chair in the Bishop’s Palace at Wells (115, on the left).
A chair from Glastonbury, bearing an inscription, and in date c. 1530, is now in the chapel of the Bishop’s Palace at Wells; modern copies of it may be seen in hundreds of churches. It is inscribed Monachus Glastonie and Johannes Arthurus; a similar chair was formerly in Southwick Priory, Hampshire (115). An abbot’s chair, reputed to have belonged originally to Peterborough cathedral, stands in the south chapel of Connington church, Hunts, where it is said to have been brought from the collegiate church of Fotheringhay, and is said to have been the last chair in which Mary, Queen of Scots, sat previous to her execution. From Little Dunmow priory came the chair now in Great Dunmow church, Essex; its trefoiled arcading shews that it was made in the thirteenth century. In it, up to 1907, were chaired the married couple “who had not repented them, sleeping or waking, of their marriage in a year and a day.” The first recorded claim for the happy-marriage prize was made at the Priory in 1445 (116).
A magnificent and well-preserved seat is to be seen in St Mary’s Hall, Coventry, and is assigned to the middle of the fifteenth century: it is of oak. From the mortices at one end and the discontinuance of the lower pattern it would seem to have been attached to a set of stalls, and to have belonged therefore originally to some church or chapel (117).69
In Bishop’s Cannings church, Wiltshire, is a remarkable seat believed to be a “carrel,” or desk and seat, such as used to be employed by monks when at study in their cloister; it may have been brought from some monastic house. “It consists of an upright panel, with some fifteenth century moldings at the top and sides; against this panel is constructed a seat, facing sideways, with a flooring, a back the ordinary height of a pew, a door facing the panel, and a sloping desk facing the seat.” With this description may be compared that of the monastic carrels given in the Rites of Durham;
“In the north side of the cloister from the Corner over against the Church Door to the corner over against the Dorter door was all finely glazed from the height to the sole within a little of the ground into the cloister garth, and in every window three pews or carrels where every one of the old monks had his Carrel, several by himself, that when they had dined they did resort to that place of cloister, and there studied upon their books, every one in his carrel, all the afternoon unto evensong time; this was their exercise every day. All their pews or Carrels was all finely wainscotted and very close, all but the forepart, which had carved work that gave light in at the carrel doors of wain scot. And in every Carrel was a desk to lie their books on; and the Carrels was no greater than from one stanchion of the window to another.”
On the inner side of the large panel are a variety of brief admonitory sentences, painted in Latin black letter on the thumb and four fingers of a rudely outlined hand, inscribed at the cuff Manus meditationis; beginning on the thumb with Nescis quantum, Nescis quoties, Deum offendisit. Below the hand with its pious sentences on the respective points of each finger, two cocks are painted, the one white and the other black; from their beaks proceed two labels, bearing further ejaculations (118).70
In St Paul’s church, Jarrow, is a very rude seat known as the chair of the Venerable Bede; he was a monk of Jarrow, and died in 742; only the sides and seat and the crossbar at the top are original. Mr Mickethwaite was of opinion that it was originally a settle; and it seems hardly likely that the chair can have survived from the eighth century, especially as the monastery of Jarrow was repeatedly burnt by the Danes; but it is of an exceptionally hard oak, and bears marks of fire, and has had its present designation for several centuries.71 It will be noticed that the standards have been whittled away by relic hunters (119). At Lutterworth is a well-known chair; the tradition is that it was used by John Wyclif, and that he was smitten with paralysis while sitting in it hearing mass, on Holy Innocents’ day, 1384, and was carried in it to the rectory hard by, where he died on the last day of that year. A brass plate on it records the tradition; but the chair is plainly Jacobean and of domestic origin; there is another chair in the chancel of exactly the same shape and pattern (120).
At Kidderminster Baxter’s chair is preserved; on it is the following inscription:—“Rev. Rd Baxter born nr Shrewsbury in 1615 and died at London in 1691. Chaplain to King Charles II. Rev. T. Doolittle, M.A. Sr H. Ashurst Bt, Kidderminster, A. 1650 D.” Baxter speaks of Mr Thomas Doolittle, born in Kidderminster, as “a good schollar, a godly man, of an upright life and moderate Principles, and a very profitable serious Preacher.” To Sir Henry Ashurst, Bart., Sylvester dedicated his Reliquiae Baxterianae, 1696. He also stood by Baxter in the day of his trial and distress, paid the fees for his six counsel, and when the trial before Judge Jeffries was over, led Baxter through the crowd, and conveyed him away in his coach. He was also Baxter’s executor, and it is possible the chair may originally have belonged to him. At Beeston Regis, Norfolk, is a fine old seat, now used by the parish clerk (119); it would seem to be of the period of the work at Balsham and elsewhere (3). At Winchfield, Hampshire, is another old seat of rude and early design (116).
Stone seats are occasionally found. Where they are placed south of the altar, they are probably sedilia; but not when they are placed in the western bay or bays of the chancel or in the nave. At Barnack the remains of a stone seat were found on the west wall of the Pre-Conquest tower; it had formerly an oak seat and oak slabs on either side: a stone seat occurs also in the west wall of the nave of Old Radnor church. A stone seat is not uncommon in the western bays on the south side of chancels; the object of this is not clear; perhaps it was to provide a seat for the priest while reading his office; in later days, as we have seen, oak stalls were common in parish chancels, and the priest would read his office in one of these. Several examples occur. There is a rude example in the Pre-Conquest church of Corhampton, Hampshire. Others, probably of thirteenth century date, occur at Warlingham, Surrey, and Halsham and Sprotborough, Yorkshire. At Lenham, Kent, is one with solid stone arms, and with a cinquefoiled canopy of later date.
Last, we have the Coronation chair at Westminster,72 which has a long, if somewhat unreliable history behind it. The stone beneath it is said to have been the one on which Jacob’s head rested at Bethel; from whence it travelled to Egypt, and thence to Spain, Ireland and lastly Scotland. King Kenneth of Scotland had the following inscription engraved on it in Latin verse:—
“Ni fallat fatum, Scoti quocunque locatum
Invenient lapidem regnare tenentur ibidem”;
a prophecy curiously fulfilled on the accession of James I. to the English throne (121). On the upper surface of the stone is a rectangular groove large enough to receive an inscribed plate. Edward I. found the stone in 1296 at Scone abbey, where the Scotch kings had always been crowned on it. He carried it to London, and in 1300 Master Adam, the king’s goldsmith, was working at a bronze chair to hold it. But when this was nearly finished, the king altered his mind and had a copy of it made in wood—the present chair—which cost 100s., by Master Walter, the king’s painter. The chair has lost the quatrefoils in front, and the lions are of recent date. It originally stood in the same position as a bishop’s chair, i.e., at the back of the High altar and in front of the shrine of Edward the Confessor, and facing to the west. It is made of oak, fastened together with pins; the surface was first covered over with the usual gesso; then gold was applied by means of white of egg, and burnished; then minute dots, forming diapers of foliage, beasts, birds, &c., were pricked on the surface of the gold, taking care not to penetrate it, with a blunt instrument before the ground and gilding had lost their elasticity; a most tedious and delicate process. A second chair, modelled on the older one, was made on her coronation for Mary II., Queen of William III. It used to stand by the side of the king’s chair, but has been moved to the easternmost recess of Henry VII.’s chapel. In Winchester cathedral is the chair which was used by Mary I. on her marriage with Philip of Spain, which was solemnised in the Lady chapel: it is now placed in Bishop Langton’s chapel (122). Very similar is a chair preserved in York Minster, which, owing to the shield attached in front, is probably not older than the time of Richard II.:73 the cushion is stuffed, and covered with green velvet; the shield also is covered with leather, the upper part of which has been torn away, and the lines upon it are but slightly stamped. At Constance is shewn a similar chair of Martin V., who was elected Pope there in 1417.
In addition to the above, chairs are often placed in the presbytery to the north of the altar. These were occupied by the preacher during morning or evening service, till his turn came to ascend the pulpit and deliver the sermon. Of these the greater number no doubt have been presented by the owner of some manor house or parsonage, or have been picked up in recent years in some second-hand furniture shop. This is probably the case with the interesting chair which is known to have been for nearly a century in the Mainwaring chapel of Higher Peover church, Cheshire; it bears not only the name, but the portrait and initials of the owner. The inscription is DORATHY MAYNWARING; she married Sir Richard Mainwaring of Ightfield, Salop, High Sheriff of that county in 1545. Most of the chair is older than her time; Dorothy seems to have had it put together of old bits of carving, adding her name and portrait, and the raven, the crest of her father, Sir Robert Corbet. She lived at Ightfield, and it was probably when that branch of the family became extinct that the chair was brought to Higher Peover church, and placed in the Mainwaring chapel. At the top are holes for holding sconces in which tapers would be placed (123).
At Penshurst there used to be a chair with a bust on the inner panel of the back; the tradition was that it belonged to Sir Philip Sidney.74 At Puddletown, Dorset, a chair has been in the chancel for very many years; it is of Elizabethan date, and was probably brought from some hall or manor house. “The tall narrow back, the broadening seat, the vertically straight, but horizontally angled arms are those of the French caqueteure type rarely seen in England. The strap carving of the back is of the best; while the twin greyhounds with averted heads that fit the curved top of the chair no doubt have reference to the original owner” (124).75 At Upton, near Castor, there are two chairs in the chancel; on one of which is inscribed “A.D. 1700—Joane Browne—Want Not.” The other has the initials J. D.; the Doves were Lords of the Manor at that time (130).76 In Redenhall church, Norfolk, is one of two chairs brought there from Canterbury cathedral by Archbishop Sancroft on his expulsion from the see in 1615; it is of a curious pattern common in the latter part of the seventeenth century, in which the back is hinged and can be turned over to convert the chair into a table. Archbishop Sancroft is buried at Redenhall, which, by the way, possesses perhaps the finest church tower of any village in England and an exceptionally fine ring of ancient bells. The other chair is kept at Gawdy Hall, the seat of the Sancrofts (125).
In many cases the chair is a composite product, made up of fragments of screens, bench ends and the like; this seems to be the case with the chairs in the churches of Bridford, Devon, and Othery, Somerset; that at Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, appears to be put together out of the fragments of a screen (126). In the Chapter House of Gloucester cathedral are two chairs, on the inner panels of the back of which are carved “The Last Supper” and “The Ascension” respectively; the panels were presented in the time of Dean Law, and, provided with a framework, now form part of two chairs.
Where, however, the chair has a representation of some ecclesiastical subject, the presumption is that it was made for the church in which it is placed. In Cartmel Priory church is a fine chair on the back of which is represented the Resurrection; below are seen the Roman soldiers; above, Christ shews the wounds in His hands (127). At Sanderstead, Surrey, Abraham with uplifted sword is about to slay Isaac; on the right is shewn the ram, on the left an angel. The same subject appears, better carved, on the back of one of two chairs brought from a church in Suffolk, now pulled down; on the other chair is a representation of what looks like the Temptation (128). In Halsall church, Lancashire, are two beautiful chairs with the initials IHS; beneath them is a scroll on which is inscribed Ecce quomodo amabat (128). In the Victoria and Albert Museum is a similar “winged” chair, which bears the initials IPI and the date 1670. In the chancel of Combmartin church, Devon, is a mahogany chair with wheat and grapes, apparently referring to the sacramental bread and wine; it had been for many years in the family of the present incumbent, Rev. F. W. Jones, and was presented by him to the church; it is possible that it was originally made for a church (129).
INDEX TO PLACES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Numbers followed by the name of the Photographer or the Draughtsman
refer to Illustrations
Aberdeen, King’s College, 29, 68
Abergavenny Priory, Monmouth, 46, G. G. Buckley. 29, 40, 47
Amiens, 11
Aquileia, 101
Avignon, 104, F. Bond. 104
Balsham, Cambs., 3, G. G. Buckley. 1, 5, 100, 124
Barnack, Northants, 124
Basing, Hants, 79
Bedford, 116
Beeston Regis, Norfolk, 119, C. F. Nunneley. 124
Belgium, 29, 31
Beverley Minster, Yorks., 3, 14, 14; C. Goulding. 7, Alan Potter. 27, 63, 64, and frontispiece; W. E. Wigfall. 64, 65, 106; F. H. Crossley. 5, 7, 26, 29, 40, 51, 65, 66, 68, 74, 106
Beverley St Mary, 2, F. H. Crossley. 1, 5
Bishop Auckland, Durham, 31, 67
Bishop Cannings, Wilts., 118, Wilts. Archæological Society. 119
Blythburgh, Suffolk, 11, S. Gardner. 7
Bologna, St Stefano, 101
Bossal, Yorks., 92
Boston, Lincs., 86, 95
Brancepeth, Durham, 93, F. Bond. 31, 67, 100
Braunton, Devon, 96
Brescia, Sta. Maria dei Miracoli, 82
Bristol Cathedral, 29, 50. St Nicholas, 97
Bruges, 68, 70
Burlingham St Edmund, Norfolk, 85
Cambridge, Great St Mary, 97. King’s College Chapel, 78, F. R. Taylor. 5, 29, 75, 77, 79, 82
Canterbury Cathedral, 105, S. Gardner. 23, 31, 36, 53, 84, 104, 115
Carlisle Cathedral, 21, R. Billings. 59, F. Bond. 23, 29, 51, 58, 61, 66, 68, 70, 82, 106
Cartmel, Lancashire, 80, 81, 127; F. H. Crossley. 5, 31, 75, 79, 129
Chaddesden, Derbyshire, 99, G. H. Widdows. 12, 100
Chelsea, 94, 98
Chester Cathedral, 9, W. M. Dodson. 10, 24, 53, 55, 56; F. H. Crossley. 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 23, 26, 29, 51, 54, 58, 61, 66, 68, 70
Chichester Cathedral, 36, P. M. Johnston. 5, 26, 29, 36, 38, 47, 100
Christchurch, Hants, 2, G. F. Gillham. 76, 77; F. H. Crossley. 1, 5, 29, 75, 77, 79, 82, 105
Cockersand Abbey, Lancs., 43
Combmartin, Devon, 129, W. M. Dodson. 130
Connington, Hunts., 116
Constance, 126
Constantinople, Santa Sophia, 111
Corhampton, Hants, 124
Coventry, St Mary’s Hall, 117, Anon. 119
Cyprus, 104
Dalmatia, 16, 101
Dinant, 31
Dunblane, Scotland, 67, W. Maitland. 5, 29, 67
Dunis, Flanders, 68
Dunmow, Essex, 116, F. R. Taylor. 116
Durham Cathedral, 22, 107; R. Billings. 66, F. Bond. 15, 31, 51, 66, 68, 94, 110. Castle, 5
Ely Cathedral, 37, G. H. Tyndall. 13, 20, 29, 36, 37, 38, 40, 43, 47, 49, 51, 61, 66, 68, 91, 106
Etwall, Derbyshire, 13, G. H. Widdows. 8
Exeter, 102, E. K. Prideaux. 103, G. H. Widdows. 12, 15, 23, 107
Faversham, Kent, 97
Flanders, West, 68, 70
Fotheringhay, Northants, 116
France, 31, 67, 68, 92, 105
Fressingfield, Suffolk, 8
Gawdy Hall, Norfolk, 129
Gendron-Celles, 31
Glastonbury, Somerset, 115, 116
Gloucester Cathedral, 38, Oscar Clark. 23, 29, 33, 38, 40, 129
Grado, 101
Great Burstead, Essex, 94
Halifax, 89
Halsall, Lancashire, 128, G. G. Buckley. 130
Halsham, Yorkshire, 125
Hambleton, Worcester, 98, G. H. Poole. 100
Hampton Court, Middlesex, 75, 77
Hastières, 31
Hemingborough, Yorks., 87, C. de Gruchy. 33, 77, 88
Hereford Cathedral, 43, G. B. Atkinson. 114, A. J. Wilson. 13, 20, 26, 29, 40, 44, 108, 115. All Saints’, 44, G. G. Buckley. 45, W. M. Dodson. 5, 29, 40, 47, 100. St Peter, 89, G. G. Buckley. 29, 49, 100
Hexham, Northumberland, 23, 29, 106
Higham Ferrers, Northants, 29
Higher Peover, Cheshire, 123, F. H. Crossley. 127
Huntingfield, Suffolk, 97
Iffley, Oxon., 86
Ightfield, Salop, 128
Ingham, Norfolk, 85
Istria, 16, 101
Ivychurch, Kent, 85
Jarrow, Durham, 119, W. Maitland. 120
Kidderminster, 122
Kildwick, 90
Kilpeck, Herefordshire, 122
Kirkstall, Yorks., 20, 23
Lacock, Wilts., 82
Lancaster, 39, 41, 42; F. H. Crossley. 29, 40, 54
Lapford, Devon, 77
Layer Marney, Essex, 75, 79
Lenham, Kent, 125
Lincoln Minster, 5, 52, 114; S. Smith. 17, Hugh M‘Lachlan. 5, 10, 13, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 51, 54, 58, 59, 61, 66, 68, 91, 106, 113
Littlebourne, Kent, 86
Louth, Lincs., 75
Ludham, Norfolk, 85
Lutterworth, Leicester, 120, E. H. Day. 122
Manchester Cathedral, 6, 62; F. H. Crossley. 5, 7, 29, 51, 61, 65, 66, 68, 70, 74. Agecroft Hall, 116. College, 116
Mantes, 93
Melrose, 68
Milan, St Ambrogio, 16
Much Hadham, Herts., 126, A. W. Anderson. 129
Nantwich, Cheshire, 57, F. H. Crossley. 29, 51, 58, 59, 61, 68
Nevers, 105
Newark, 29
Norbury, Derbyshire, 86
North Cadbury, Somerset, 77
Norton, Suffolk, 85
Norwich, 48, S. Gardner. 13, 19, 25, 26, 29, 40, 43, 47, 104
Notre Dame de la Roche, 31
Nottingham, 90
Old Radnor, Radnorshire, 124
Ossero, 101
Othery, Somerset, 129
Oulton, Suffolk, 86
Oxford, 29, 79
Parenzo, 101
Paris, Hotel Cluny, 111
Penshurst, Kent, 128
Peterborough, 32, H. Plowman. 15, 33, 116
Poitiers, 31
Puddletown, Dorset, 124, W. Wonnacott. 128
Ratzburg, 31
Ravenna, 113
Reading, St Giles’, 97
Redenhall, Norfolk, 125, C. F. Nunneley. 129
Ripon Minster, 8, W. Maitland. 60, J. H. Bayley. 5, 6, 7, 15, 23, 26, 29, 51, 61, 65, 66, 68, 70, 93
Rochester Cathedral, 30, P. M. Johnston. 23, 29, 31
Rotherham, Yorks., 94
Rothwell, Northants, 90
St Asaph, 51, 61
St David’s, 108, 109; W. M. Dodson. 15, 29, 50, 107, 110
St Gall, 20, 23
St Paul’s, 83, F. J. Hall. 28, 31, 82
Salisbury, 92
Sall, Norfolk, 85, F. Bond. 85, 100
Sanderstead, Surrey, 129
Saulieu, 31
Scotland, 67, 68, 91
Sedgefield, Durham, 31, 67
Sees, St Martin, Normandy, 43
Sherborne, Dorset, 49, G. G. Buckley. 29, 49
Sherburn Hospital, Durham, 31, 67
Sion Abbey, Middlesex, 43
Sluys, 70
Snettisham, Norfolk, 40
Southampton, 79
Southwell, Notts., 25, 26, 50
Southwick Priory, Hants, 116
Sprotborough, Yorks., 125
Stanford Bishop, Herefordshire, 115
Stirling, 68
Stowlangtoft, Suffolk, 91, C. F. Nunneley. 5, 7, 29, 49, 85, 100
Suffolk, 128, J. C. Stenning. 49, 85, 130
Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, 84
Swine, Yorks., 77
Talland, Cornwall, 77
Theydon Gardon, Essex, 92
Trau, 101
Trunch, Norfolk, 85, F. Bond. 5, 85, 100
Upton, Northants, 130, G. C. Druce. 128
Vaison, Provence, 101
Venice, St Mark’s, 16. Sta. Maria dei Miracoli, 82
Walpole St Peter, Norfolk, 12, S. Gardner. 7
Warlingham, Surrey, 125
Wells Cathedral, 115, G. W. Saunders. 7, 11, 13, 20, 26, 28, 29, 110. Bishop’s Palace, 115, 116
Westminster Abbey, 31, Sandford. 121, A. Gardner. 21, 23, 25, 29, 31, 33, 51, 77, 125, 73; Henry VII.’s Chapel, A. W. Pugin, 73; D. Weller, 131. 10, 25, 70, 74, 75.
Weston in Gordano, Somerset, 85
Winchelsea, Sussex, 36
Winchester Cathedral, 34, 122; C. E. S. Beloe. 35, S. Gardner. 72, J. F. Hamilton. 73, J. Britton. 5, 13, 23, 29, 33, 40, 43, 72, 75, 79, 126. St Cross, 75, 105
Winchfield, Hants, 116, G. C. Druce. 124
Windsor, St George’s Chapel, 69, Lysons’ Magna Britannia. 71, Alan Potter. 12, 29, 51, 70
Wingfield, Suffolk, 46, C. F. Nunneley. 29, 47
Worcester, 23, 84, 91
Yatton, Somerset, 92
York Minster, 18, 58; J. Britton. 23, 58, 126. St Maurice, 88. St Michael Belfry, 92
Zara, 101
Zaandam, Holland, 116
INDEX RERUM
Abbot, place in choir, 13, 106
Accounts (see also Cost), 95
Arcading, 40, 54, 100
Arms and armour, 36, 48, 54 (see also Heraldry)
Arrangements of stalls, 12, 16, 26
Back of Stalls, 5, 10, 15, 26, 28 (see Panelling)
Badges, 47
Baluster chairs, 115, 116
Bath, order of the, 74
Battlements, 36, 38, 47, 51, 54, 61
Baxter’s chair, 124
Benches, 49, 99
Benefactors, 92
Bishop’s chair, 13, 19
—— throne, 101
Black Death, 40, 47, 58, 110
Boys, 96 (see “Children of the Choir”)
Brattishing, 47, 63
Busts, 70, 77
Buttresses, 54
Canons, resident and non-resident, 11, 25, 28
Canopies, construction of, 1, 10, 33, 54
—— ogee, 10, 33, 36, 43, 45, 47, 50, 53, 54, 59, 65, 68
—— bowing ogee, 10, 38, 45, 47, 51
—— compound ogee, 54
—— “Lincoln” ogee, 54
—— tiers or stories of, 38
—— varieties of, 1, 29, 51, 74, 100
Capitals, 10, 61, 82
Capping, 10
Carrel, 119
Carvers, 68, 70, 74, 77
Carving, 5, 33, 38, 53, 54, 61, 68, 70, 77, 79, 82, 108
Centaurs, 68
Chairs, abbots’, 115
—— bishops’, 13, 111
—— church, 111
—— marble, 101
—— popes’, 111
—— stone, 101, 124
—— winged, 130
Chancels, 16, 20
—— enlargement of, 86
Chantries and Chantry priests, 8
“Children of the Choir,” 25, 96
Choir, 13, 16, 20
Choristers, 1, 25, 26, 85, 95
Chronological order of stalls, 29
Churchwardens’ accounts, 95 (see Cost)
Classical design, 67, 79
Clerk, parish, 97, 124
Construction of stalls and canopies, 1, 8, 10, 33, 54 (see also Canopies)
Cornice, 1, 40, 47, 49, 50, 63, 100
Coronation chair, 125
Cost, 11, 79, 84, 88, 107
Costume, 36
Cresting, 29, 36, 45, 65, 72, 79
Crockets, 10, 33, 44, 47, 51
Crossing, 20, 23
Crypts, 23
Cusps, 33, 36, 43, 47, 49, 61
Dagobert, chair of, 111
Dates of stalls, 5, 29
Dean’s stall, 13, 50, 54
Design, 10, 38, 68, 70, 74
Desks, 1, 5, 7, 47, 88, 100, 119
Dorothy Mainwaring, 79, 127
Dove, 95, 129
—— of St Botolph’s, Aldgate, 95
—— of Upton, 129
Dutch carvers, 70
Edmund Crouchback, 33
Edmund, Saint, 7
Elbows of stalls, 1, 5, 10, 77
Ends of stalls, 5, 8
Entablature, 79, 82
Epistle, place of reading, 13
Finials, 33, 51
Flamboyant, 40
Flemish work, 68, 70
Fleur de lis, 68
Flying buttresses, 10, 54
Foreign design and workmen, 68, 77, 79, 82
Frithstols, 106
Gables, 10, 33, 54, 61, 65 (see Canopies)
Galleries, 29
Garter, Knights of Order of, 72
Gilds, 8, 95
Glastonbury chairs, 116
Gospel, desks, and place of reading, 13
Grinling Gibbons, 84
Hawks, 47
Heraldry, 5, 6, 47, 48, 50, 79
Hipknobs, 10
Honeycomb, 77
Honour, place of, 13
Inscriptions, 26, 28, 82
Italian workers, 77, 79, 82
Jacobean chairs, 115, 122
Kemp, Archbishop, 53
Knights of the Bath, 74
Knights of the Garter, 72
Laity, 1, 16, 19, 90
“Lincoln ogee,” 54
Mainwaring, Dorothy, 79, 127
Marble chairs, 101, 106
Masks, 5, 44
Mayor’s stall, 6, 15, 82, 94
Maximian, chair of, 113
Minstrels, 99
Misericords, 1, 48, 50, 53, 54, 61, 65, 74, 75
Moldings, 40
More, Sir Thomas, 94, 98
Music in churches, 95
Niches, 10, 38, 51, 54, 58, 59, 61, 63, 65
Nobility in chancel, 91
North side, 13, 15
Number of stalls, 25, 26, 50, 75
Oak, 68
Occupants of stalls, 1, 88
Ogee, 10, 33, 36, 43, 45, 47, 51, 53, 54, 59, 65, 68
Orientation, 16, 105
Organs and Organists, 96, 98
Panelling, 5, 50, 68, 74, 100
Parish churches, planning, growth of, 16, 23, 25, 85, 86 (see Chancel)
—— stalls in, 49, 85
Parish clerk, 97, 124
Passion, emblems of, 82
Patrons, in chancels, 91
Pediment, 33, 43, 51
Pews in chancels, 95
Pinnacles, 10, 38, 51, 53, 54, 58, 59, 61, 66, 74, 108
Place of honour, 13
Planning, 16, 20, 23, 25, 85
Plinth, 100
Poppyheads, 6, 7
Portrait busts, 77
—— panels, 75
Position of stalls, 1, 16
Prebendaries, 25, 28
Processions, 13, 25, 92
Projection of canopies, 47
Psalter, recitation of, 26, 28
Purbeck marble, 105
Removals from other churches, 43
Renaissance, 66, 75
Restorers and restorations, 20, 29, 38, 84
Return stalls, 12, 13, 25, 100, 106
Rochets, 97
Rood loft, 95, 98
Rows of stalls, 25
Sancroft, Archbishop, 129
Screens, 10, 12, 19, 20, 50, 75, 79, 100
Scrollwork, 5, 82
Seats, 1, 10, 48, 77
—— marble and stone, 111, 124
Sedilia, 124
Sella curulis and gestatoria, 101, 111
Shafts, 10, 33, 51, 59, 77, 82
Shields, 5, 6
Shoulders of stalls, 1, 5, 59
Singers, 1, 16, 95 (see also Boys, “Children of the Choir,” Choristers)
South side, 13, 15
Spires and spirelets, 1, 11, 38, 40, 49, 51, 53, 54, 58, 61, 63, 66, 72, 106
Stalls in greater churches, 1, 13
—— in parish churches, 49, 85, 90
—— object of, 85
Stall-wages, 26
—— work, earliest, 31
—— thirteenth century, 31, 88, 90
—— fourteenth century, 33, 50, 51, 53, 58
—— fifteenth century, 48, 50
—— sixteenth century, 79
—— Renaissance, 66, 75
—— eighteenth century, 84
Standards, 8
Stanley legend, 61
Statues, 10, 51, 61
Stone chairs and seats, 101, 124
—— versus wood, 51
Stories of stalls, one, 38, 43, 44, 51, 59, 72, 74
—— two, 10, 38, 47, 51, 53, 58, 61, 65, 72
String-course, 58, 59, 61, 65, 66
Sudbury hutch, 75
Sunday and other processions, 25, 92
Supermullions, 40, 47
Supports, 5, 77
Surplices, 89, 96
Tabernacled spires and canopies, 1, 10, 51, 53, 66, 106
Tester, coved, 47, 63
Thirteenth century work, 31, 88, 90, 116, 125
Thistle, Scottish, 68
Three-gabled canopies, 38, 51, 54, 59
Throne, bishop’s, 13, 16, 19, 101, 105
Tiers of canopies, 38
Tracery, 33, 36, 40, 43, 45, 51, 54, 58, 59, 61, 63, 65, 68, 82
Vicars choral, 26
Ventilation, 100
Vine, 68
Winged chairs, 130
Women in stalls, 92
Wood versus stone, 51
Workmanship, 100
Wyche, Lady, 94
Wiclif, 122
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Tablet.—“The numerous excellent illustrations are of the greatest interest, and form a veritable surprise as to the beauty and variety of the treatment which our forefathers lavished upon the rood screen.”
British Weekly.—“The book abounds with admirable illustrations of these beautiful works of art, so perfect even in the minute details that any one interested in the art of woodcarving could reproduce the designs with ease from the excellent photographs which occur on almost every page. There is also a series of ‘measured drawings’ of great beauty and interest.”
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Notes
1 Harry Sirr in Art Journal, 1883, 329.
2 Wickenden, Archæological Journal, 1881, pp. 43-61.
3 Canon Church in Archæologia, lv. 326.
4 Dictionnaire raisonné, viii. 464.
5 C. R. Peers in Victoria County History of Northants, ii. 445.
6 Illustrated in the writer’s Screens and Galleries, 2.
7 Faber’s Poems, pp. 227-229.
8 See the writer’s Westminster Abbey, 48.
9 For plans of St Gall, Kirkstall, Westminster, Canterbury, Exeter, York, see the writer’s Gothic Architecture in England.
10 For an account of the working of the system of Secular Canons in the English cathedrals see Canon Church’s paper in Archæologia, lv.; Professor Freeman’s Cathedral Church of Wells; Mr A. F. Leach on Beverley Minster in vols. 98 and 100 of the Surtees Society, and on Southwell Minster in the 1891 volume of the Camden Society; and Rev. J. T. Fowler, D.C.L., on Ripon Minster in vols. 64, 74, 78, 81 of the Surtees Society.
11 See Mr A. F. Leach’s Memorials of Beverley Minster, Surtees Society, vols. 98 and 108.
12 Views of galleried choirs may be seen in Britton’s Cathedral Antiquities; Norwich, ii. 13, Oxford, ii. 10.
13 Illustrated in Maeterlinck, La genre satirique dans la sculpture flamande et wallonne, page 12.
14 See Viollet-le-Duc’s Dictionnaire, viii. 464.
15 See C. R. B. King in Index to Spring Gardens Sketch Book, ii. 46, and Plate XLVI.
16 Hope’s Rochester Cathedral, pp. 110, 111.
17 It is illustrated in Professor Lethaby’s Westminster Abbey, p. 23, from Sandford’s Coronation of James II., and is reproduced above.
18 Illustrated in Gothic Architecture in England, 481.
19 See John O’Gaunt’s Sketch Book, vol. i.
20 Here, as always, one has to recognise the technical and artistic excellence of Mr Crossley’s photography; he has even reproduced the cobwebs.
21 They are ascribed to the fourteenth century by Mr Octavius Morgan in Monuments of Abergavenny Church.
22 My attention was directed to these arms by Mr W. H. St John Hope.
23 Jones and Freeman’s St David’s, pp. 87 and 91.
24 Illustrated in Dart’s Canterbury Cathedral, 145 and 160.
25 E. Mansel Sympson’s Lincoln, 277.
26 Illustrated in the writer’s Gothic Architecture in England, p. 269.
27 A photograph of the north range of the Chester stalls forms the frontispiece of the writer’s Misericords.
28 Mr C. H. Purday.
29 Illustrated in Murray’s Welsh Cathedrals, page 267.
30 Illustrated in the writer’s Fonts and Font Covers, 296.
31 Ecclesiastical Architecture of Scotland, ii. 105. Drawings by Mr J. B. Fulton appeared in the Builder, 1st Oct. 1898 and 2nd Dec. 1893; and by Mr A. S. Robertson in the Builders’ Journal, 14th Jan. 1903.
32 Macgibbon and Ross. Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, v. 543; and Builder, lxxv. 293, in which are measured drawings by Mr J. B. Fulton.
33 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, i. 112.
34 For information relating to the Windsor stalls I am indebted to Mr W. H. St John Hope: see his paper “On a remarkable series of Wooden Busts surmounting the stall-canopies in St George’s chapel, Windsor,” in Archæologia, liv. 115, and the building accounts to be published in his forthcoming work on Windsor Castle.
35 See the writer’s Westminster Abbey, 146.
36 Sacristy, i. 266.
37 The Hampton Court busts are by Giovanni de Majano, who in 1521 demanded payment for ten “medallions of terra cotta.” They cost £2. 6s. 8d. each. R. Blomfield’s History of Renaissance Architecture in England, 3.
38 Illustrated in the writer’s Westminster Abbey, 197.
39 See also the illustration of the chair made c. 1545 for Dorothy Mainwaring, page 123.
40 See Willis and Clark, i. 516-522.
41 Gotch’s Early English Renaissance, 29, 254.
42 Annales Caermoclenses, by James Stockdale; Ulverston, 1872, p. 76.
43 Early Renaissance Architecture in England, 38.
44 Annals of St Paul’s, 447.
45 Measured drawings of the stalls of St Paul’s by Mr C. W. Baker appeared in the Building News, 1891, pages 108 and 358.
46 The Renaissance woodwork ousted from Worcester cathedral by Sir Gilbert Scott found a resting-place in the church of Sutton Coldfield (R. A. D.).
47 Willis’ Canterbury Cathedral, 107.
48 These are illustrated in Archæologia Cantiana, vol. xiii.
49 York Fabric Rolls, 35, 248.
50 Canon Savage’s pamphlet, 369.
51 Cutts’ Parish Priests, 466.
52 Gasquet’s Parish Life in Mediæval England, 96.
53 Gasquet, Parish Life in Mediæval England, 45.
54 It is of course possible that both Alan de Alnewyk and Robert Constable sat in the chancel in surplice either as a member of a gild or of the choir.
55 This, however, may have been for one of the choirmen or choristers.
56 Reproduced in Gasquet, ibid., 47, from Didron.
57 Wordsworth’s Salisbury Ceremonies and Processions, 20.
58 Inhibitions of Archbishop William of York in 1308 and 1312 in Rev. Dr Fowler’s Memorials of Ripon Minster, Surtees Society, vol. 78.
59 “South chancel” may mean “the chapel south of the chancel.”
60 Admirably edited by Mr Littlehales for the Early English Text Society; vols. 20 and 24.
61 At Hambleton (98) the chancel was remodelled, and the simple desks with linen pattern may be of that date. But the seats behind were never more than rough movable benches.—G. H. P.
[62] R. H. Murray on Ancient Church Fittings, 12.
63 Mr T. Graham Jackson’s Dalmatia: iii. 319, 427, 105: i. 272 and ii. 123.
64 Stewart in Archæological Journal, xxxii. 18.
65 Jones and Freeman’s St David’s, 90-93.
66 Padre Garrucci in Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries, iv. 40, and illustrations in Vetusta Monumenta, vol. vi. The perspective sketch is by Carlo Fontana and is in the Royal Library at Windsor; the measured drawing is by Signor S. A. Scardonelli, and was made in 1784.
67 Measured drawings of the Hereford chair by Mr W. H. Brierley appeared in the British Architect, xxiii. 114.
68 Described by Dr Cox in English Church Furniture, p. 250.
69 Shaw’s Ancient Furniture, 31.
70 Wiltshire Archæological Society’s Magazine, vi. 147-149, quoted in English Church Furniture, 253.
71 Archæologia Æliana, xvii. 47, and Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, xvii. 238. There are four similar chairs at Kilpeck.
72 For descriptions and illustrations see Mr J. Hunter’s “Edward the First’s Spoliations in Scotland, A.D. 1296” in Arch. Journal, vol. xiii.; Mr W. Burges’ paper in “Gleanings from Westminster Abbey,” p. 121; and Mr Lethaby’s Westminster, pp. 18, 265, 297.
73 Henry Shaw’s Ancient Furniture, Plate VI.
74 Illustrated in Hone’s Year Book, 143.
75 Rev. Arthur Helps from Country Life, 12th March 1910.
76 Communicated by Rev. R. M. Serjeantson
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