Part 3 (1/2)
being 29 feet. Boston alone exceeds it by about 3 feet. While the ordinary aisle width ranges from 10 to 14 feet, the north aisle here is 23 feet, the outer north and the south being each 17 feet. The total internal length is 265 feet, exclusive of the sacristy; Boston, the only larger one, being 284 feet, while very few exceed 200 feet, and most are far smaller. The greatest internal width is 120 feet; Manchester, a double-aisled collegiate church, is about the same, and York Minster is 106 feet. Finally, the area is about 22,800 square feet, probably greater than that of any other English parish church, indeed, St. Nicholas, Yarmouth, is the only one which pretends to rivalry in this respect. Size is, of course, only one element in the impressiveness of a building, and may even be neutralized by the treatment (as, for instance, in the Duomo of Florence and St. Peter's, Rome, by increasing the size of its parts rather than multiplying them), but these few comparisons will help the visitor to judge how far this element colours his appreciation of the whole. As an ill.u.s.tration of mediaeval methods of church building, it is interesting to trace the growth of the structure with the help of the few historical notices already given and the evidence of the building itself. The subject is full of difficulties, and the writer does not hope to solve them conclusively, but to put before the reader the main points which have to be considered before forming a judgement.
[Ill.u.s.tration: TOWER ARCH.]
Both historic and structural evidence agree that there was an existing smaller church when the tower was built in the last quarter of the fourteenth century, that the choir and apse were either contemporary, or begun a few years earlier, and that the nave was built between 1434 and 1450. The south porch and the west crypt (beneath the original Lady Chapel) are almost contemporary (p. 34), belonging to the beginning of the fourteenth century. Now the axis of the tower is parallel to the axis and walls of the nave, while the centre line of the choir is deflected towards the north about 7. Notwithstanding this, however, owing to the tower not being central with the nave, the axis of the choir, if prolonged, runs directly to the centre of the tower arch, as may easily be seen by anyone who stands there and looks along the ridge of the choir roof. (_See_ dotted line on Plan.)
[Ill.u.s.tration: BAY OF NAVE, NORTH SIDE.]
Next we see above the =tower arch= the mark of the old nave roof and the old north wall of the nave. These show that the south wall stood where the present one does, and the low-pitched fourteenth century roof-line suggests incidentally this alternative: _either_ a clearstory had been added to the nave before the building of the new chancel or tower was in contemplation, _or_, when the huge tower was built it was felt necessary to raise the nave roof so as to lessen the disproportion. But, if we adopt the latter alternative we must accept too the improbability that this expense should have been incurred when the inadequacy of the old narrow nave of 15 feet compared with a chancel of 33 feet must have been so obvious. This is one of the difficult questions.
Then it is held by some that the axis of the old nave and chancel was in line with that of the present choir; but the south porch, built more than one hundred years before the new nave, is at right angles with it which would hardly have been the case had the two naves not been on the same lines.
Needless to say the old east end could scarcely have extended beyond the present nave, so that the new chancel was probably built without disturbing the old church. The position of the older Lady Chapel supports this view, while its bearing towards the north, as already pointed out, indicates that the deflection of the new chancel is simply copied from the older one.
The position of the south porch proves also that the south aisle was as wide as the present one, while the fact that it was wider than the nave shows that it was almost certainly not designed at the same time.
The nave is of six bays and is 54 feet high at the centre, while each arch is 20 feet wide in the clear. The piers are slender, but, owing to the depth of the panelling above the arches and the large size of the windows, the weight upon them is reduced to a minimum. Shafts carried up from the ground support the roof brackets, and there are intermediate ones over the centre of each arch. The clearstory windows of four lights each are in pairs, and the mullions are carried down to form panelling and finish on the backs of the arches, which recede in two sloping faces and form a somewhat unusual feature in the treatment of the wall surface. The detail of the piers and arches is rather weak, even for Perpendicular work.
[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH DOOR.]
The =chancel= is about 93 feet long, and in height and width is 4 or 5 feet less than the corresponding nave measurements. Its width further diminishes by about 3 feet in the length of the three bays. The omission of a chancel arch is a step towards the ideal simplicity of the late Perpendicular churches (_e.g._, St. Peter Mancroft, Norwich), running from east to west without break, but the large rood piers and reduced width and height of chancel make the pause demanded in so long a church. The step at this point is of oak, and is probably the original sill of the rood screen. The large figures of SS. Peter and Paul were placed on the piers in 1861. Of the three arches which open on either hand the centre one is widest, having four-light windows, instead of three-light, over it. The panelling beneath the clearstory is richer than that in the nave. The five four-light windows of the apse are lofty and divided by two transoms, but the design is somewhat commonplace. The gla.s.s of the middle three is a memorial to Queen Adelaide, dated 1853. The other two are filled with fragments of the ancient stained gla.s.s of the church (p. 56).
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE CHOIR FROM ST. LAWRENCE'S CHAPEL.]
The roof is very similar to that of the nave. Both are of very low pitch, with tie-beams supported by curved brackets. There are two longitudinal beams (purlins) on each side, and each division of the roof made by these main timbers is sub-divided by mouldings into panels, all the intersections and angles being decorated by carved bosses or paterae, with angels upon the tie-beams. Where the roofs of nave and chancel join there is a cove to connect the two levels; and on the tie-beam above this was found a Latin inscription, giving the attributes and powers of the nine choirs of angels forming the hierarchy of Heaven. Translated it is as follows:
SERAPHIMS burn in love of G.o.d.
CHERUBIMS possess all knowledge.
THRONES, of them is judgement.
DOMINIONS preside over angelic spirits.
VIRTUES effect miracles.
POWERS have rule over demons.
PRINc.i.p.aLITIES protect good men.
ARCHANGELS are set over states.
ANGELS are the messengers of the Lord.
Bare and shorn as it is of its ancient magnificence, St. Michael's is in its structure a monument of the importance and wealth of the Gilds.
Many of them built or maintained chapels and altars, adding largely to the already s.p.a.cious proportions given to the main structure by the munificence of a few rich citizens. That in 1491 there were eleven altars we know from the will of Thomas Bradmedow, directing that eleven torches, price _2s. 4d._, be given every Good Friday, one to every altar. Besides the High Altar there were those of Our Lady, Jesus, Holy Trinity, St. John, St. Anne, St. Katherine, St. Thomas, St. Andrew, St. Lawrence, All Saints.
The application to the =Lady Chapel= of the present name, the ”Drapers' Chapel,” is probably subsequent to 1518, when John Haddon, a draper, provided by will for the support of a priest, ”to singe in the Chapell of our Ladye in the Church of Saint Mych.e.l.l.” But long ere this, by an instrument dated from St. John Lateran, A.D. 1300, eighth year of Pope Boniface, Indulgences for forty days were granted for all persons coming to confess before her altar in St. Michael's Church on the Nativity, Conception, Annunciation and a.s.sumption of the glorious Virgin Mary. Also 700 Indulgences for 720 days were granted for building ”the Chapple and Charnell house of St. Michaell, Coventry.”
The Drapers' Company was responsible for other things than the priest's stipend as this extract from their Rules shows: ”1534. Ev'y mastur shall pay toward ye makyng clene of oure Lady Chapell in saynt Mych.e.l.l's churche and strawyng ye setus [seats] wt rusches in somer and pease strawe in wyntur, everyone yerely _2d._”
[Ill.u.s.tration: POPPY HEAD, LADY CHAPEL.]
The piers at the chancel entrance contain the staircases leading to the roofs and formerly to the rood loft. The screen on the west side of the chapel was put together from fragments brought together from various parts of the church. Against it, and on the south side, are fifteen of the ancient stalls. Several admirable ends and elbows remain, and some of the twelve ancient Misereres are of special interest. Three represent scenes from the popular mediaeval allegory of ”the Dance of Death.”
The centre groups are: (1) a death bed, (2) a kneeling man being deprived of his s.h.i.+rt and a cripple waiting to receive it (?), and (3) a very well-expressed burial scene. The side groups in each show Death leading by the hand personages of various ranks, including a pope. Of the others, Satan in chains, the General Resurrection, and a delicately executed Tree of Jesse are the best.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A MISERERE, LADY CHAPEL.]