Chapter VII: Part I: Norman

=The Nave.=--“Internally the nave at Southwell is a grand specimen of Norman architecture.” Such is an authoritative criticism passed upon it; and the massiveness and solidity of the structure is immediately impressed upon the mind, while the thickness and shortness of the pillars and the width of the arches further convey the idea of lowness. And yet this general sternness, not to say gloom, is not what it was before the windows, and notably the west one, were enlarged. We have to imagine Norman windows throughout, and without glazing, in order to picture to ourselves the nave in the days of our rude forefathers. And as we look round upon the vast quantities of material required in the construction of the interior, we cannot but wonder at the toil and industry required to convey all these great blocks of limestone along the rough paths of Sherwood Forest, and place them in position.

The dimensions already given have, of course, been those of the exterior; but owing to the thickness of the walls, and notably of the west front, a sensible diminution has to be made to arrive at the internal measurements. The length to the inside of the lower arch is 136 feet, and looking through the arch and across the transept to the rood screen 168 feet. The breadth is 63 feet, and, to give an idea of the massiveness of the pillars at the base, the width between two opposite pillars is only some 28 feet, and that of each aisle inside the pillars is but 12 feet. The aisles extend the entire length, and are separated from the body by seven pillars on either side, forming eight bays: the width between two adjacent pillars being about 13 feet 2 inches.[23] The elevation of the walls presents the usual three stages of nave arcade, triforium, and clerestory in large buildings of the periods, differing from the later choir. The whitewash on the walls and the plaster work which formerly filled up the triforium arches were both removed some years before the more recent restoration was taken in hand. With the exception of the windows already mentioned and of the roof and flooring the interior is pure Norman, unchanged since the first completion; and the Romanesque details noticeable in the exterior are wanting. There is a small quantity of ornament, particularly in the different mouldings, to relieve the heaviness of the structure; but simplicity and massive grandeur, as distinct from grace and elegance, are what the Normans aimed at; and it is so here.

Formerly the west window, in some of its seven lights, and other windows of the nave contained coats of arms, of which the church throughout possessed so many Specimens. Unfortunately these heraldic emblems fell under the ban of the Roundheads during the Civil War and the Commonwealth; a few, however, are still preserved in the chapter-house.

INTERIOR OF NAVE, LOOKING EAST.]

=The Nave Arcade.=--The round pillars are about sixteen feet in circumference, and only nine in height between base and capital--_i.e._ the height of the actual circular part is less than twice the diameter. They have plain square bases; and the round capitals, of no great projection, have mouldings different in the different pillars, in their way as interesting a piece of detail as any in the minster. The first on the south side, reckoning from the west, and the last on the north have the cable, and others the lozenge, nebule, and hatchet. But most remarkable is the fifth on the south side with a series of four--the beaded cable, lotus leaf, triple nebule, and lozenge. This last seems almost too elaborate for the date, and rather suggests a decoration of later times. The arches are of two orders of voussoir-shaped stones: the moulding of the inferior is a square keel set diamond-wise between two edge-rolls, and of the superior a plain soffit with a smaller edge-roll flanked with a filleted hollow. Above the two orders the hood is of a double round billet. Immediately above the arches the string course separating the two lower stages has the hatch both on the sides and beneath.

=The Triforium.=--The series of arches in the second stage open on to galleries the complete width of the aisles beneath, and resting upon their vaulting. Above the round pillars of the nave arcade, and supported by them, are other pillars, massive and rectangular, and attached to these two semi-cylindrical shafts with scalloped cushion capitals. From these shafts spring the two orders of the arch, of the same span as those of the nave arcade beneath, but of less height and with similar mouldings. The moulding of the hood above is composed of three overhanging rows of the square-footed nebule. There is here a curious circumstance, the meaning of which everyone asks, and which is deserving of mention. Both from the crown of the arches, and from the abaci of the capitals of the inferior shafts large stones project. It would seem that the Norman builders thought these arches too large to remain without further ornament, and began to place two smaller arches within each, with an upright continued from the supporting shaft to the crown of the arch above. This is the case in the triforium of Romsey Abbey; but either a change of builders or a change of mind took place at Southwell to prevent the carrying out of this intention. Mr Christian took the trouble to fill in one of the arches after the Romsey pattern to judge of the effect.

=The Clerestory=.--The walls of the topmost stage are blank and uninteresting. The arches of one order only spring from semi-cylindrical shafts; and shafts and arches are quite plain. They were considered too remote to be worthy of the ornamentation bestowed on the lower stages. The circular windows, not seen from below, are so small and in such deep recesses, as partially to defeat their object of giving additional light to the body of the building. Between the arches and the windows a passage constructed in the thickness of the wall runs round the whole Norman building, nave and transepts alike.

NAVE, NORTH SIDE OF ARCADE, SHOWING PART OF THE TRIFORIUM.]

=The Nave Aisles=.--These, the full length of the nave, are plain and without the arcading often to be found in Norman churches of this size: a bench table runs along the foot. Beneath the windows is a string course chamfered underneath. The solitary window of the whole thirteen left in its original state--that nearest to the north-west tower--has the side shafts extensively splayed; the nave arch has a continuous edge-roll flanked by a filleted hollow, and the sill is worked in steps ascending to the actual opening. To restore the building to its original state we have to imagine the remaining twelve windows similar to this.

The Perpendicular windows are as poor inside as out; but when, as at the first, the side shafts were ornamented with colouring, they may have presented a more favourable appearance. All the glass is modern. Very different in character to the windows are the roof or ceiling of both aisles underneath the triforium galleries; for here we have quadripartite vaulting with groined ribs, as fine as any in England. The ribs spring in the outside from corbels beneath the windows, and in the inside from the abaci of the capitals of the nave pillars. Generally they intersect at the keystone without ornament; but here and there a simple and by no means prominent boss is formed; and underneath the north-west tower the keystone, by a further development, has a grotesque double head. The mouldings are a double diamond-shaped keel between edge-rolls. During the earlier period of the Norman style the groins were left perfectly plain; and it was not until some considerable advance had been made that they were constructed with ribs; and, again, these ribs at first were mere flat bands without mouldings, so that the aisle roofs show late and complete work.

In the wall of the bay immediately west of the north porch is a sepulchral recess with Norman arch and late Early English shafts and mouldings. It contains a slab of Purbeck marble with a raised cross, which in Rastall Dickinson’s work is placed under the north-west tower; but is now doubtless in its proper place. When the whitewash was removed, it was ascertained that the vaulting of this bay alone had been ornamented with painting. Here lie the remains of some unknown and unrecorded dignitary of the church, probably a prebendary; and the painting would seem to show that the bay was fitted up as a chantry chapel, for masses to be said for the repose of his departed soul. It is likely that the second bay from the east on the south side was also used for a similar purpose, as some remains of a sculpture of the Virgin and lily are still to be traced. The bays of the north aisle west of the north porch contain no less than seven sepulchral slabs with incised crosses of the patterns of the twelfth and two succeeding centuries. These, more or less mutilated, have been gathered from various parts of the building, and worked into the pavement. One of these, besides the cross with arms ending in trefoils, has a chalice tipped as the celebrant would tip in order to partake--the sign of a priest’s monument. The others do not call for comment, nor does that of a choir boy in the opposite aisle near the font. The stone font, which possesses no features of interest, was presented after the restoration by a resident of Easthorpe named Ballard. By standing at the west end of either aisle and looking due east a fine view is obtained across the transepts the full length of the choir aisles, and a second from the south aisle of the transept chapel.

=The Roof.=--In former days it was justly written: “Grand and striking as the interior of the nave is, still it is sadly disfigured by the present flat ceiling.” This charge can no longer be brought; but it still remains an open question what the original roof of the interior really was. Professor Freeman remarked of the former ceiling, and he was as likely to be accurate as any one: “That these ceilings, however ‘broad and simple in design,’ dwarf the church, and have no intrinsic beauty to recommend them is certain; and it is equally beyond a doubt that the interior will gain greatly in dignity by their removal. But a ceiling either perfectly, as at S. Albans, and the transepts of Peterborough, or slightly coved, as in the nave of that cathedral, was the normal covering of the wider spaces of our great Norman churches; and, if the desire of the architect is to reproduce the church in its original form, _a ceiling on the old lines_, but of better workmanship would have been more in accordance with the design of the first builders.” These remarks apply, it must be remembered, to the interior ceiling as distinct from the exterior roof; and whether they are correct or no, the restoration, of which so much was written, has resulted in a compromise or _via media_: something more than a ceiling on the old lines, something less than an open roof. Mr Christian’s work of good oak is barrel-shaped, and somewhat higher than any Norman ceiling is likely to have been. Whatever fault may be found with its historical appropriateness as a true and faithful copy of the original Norman work, there is no doubt that it is a great improvement artistically on anything we know of before. And it is this in spite of the disfiguring tie or cross beams found necessary for support.[24]

=The Central Tower=.--Slightly altering the order, this is placed after the nave, and not before, as in treating of the exterior. By the removal of the flat ceiling the ringers no longer have a floor to themselves; and the interior is thrown open as a lantern, excepting the stages containing the bells and the clock. The base is about 20 feet square. The tower is supported by four massive square pillars, the most massive in the whole of the interior, with responds attached for the support of the arches. Owing to their greater size, those of the western or nave arch project considerably beyond the nave pillars. For the same reason the eastern pillars do not project so far into the transepts as those of the western arch; and in consequence the centres of the north and south arches are not quite in line with the transepts, and at the same time the transept arches have the greater span. The arches are of three orders: the east and west spring from the attached semi-cylindrical shafts; but those to the north and south are different. Instead of the three more slender shafts, one only, and of the diameter of the pillars of the nave arcade, like the rest attached and semi-cylindrical, carries the three orders. One of the mouldings of the central order of the arches is worthy of mention: it is a cable of that peculiar form where each fold bulges out from almost a point until at the centre it becomes a large keeled round, somewhat like, but more elaborate than, the cable mouldings of the exterior of the transepts. This is used on both sides of the western arch, and on the transept side of the eastern; but not on the choir side, for, according to a common practice, here the ornamentation is less elaborate, and not, as we should have expected, more so.

In each of the two stages above these great arches, and on all the four sides of the interior of the tower, are two other arches. These upper stages, which, looked at from outside the building, are more richly ornamented than the lowest stage, are simpler in the interior. In most Norman central towers belonging to the larger churches, we may remark that the richer work externally corresponds with the plainer internally, and _vice versa_. These pairs of arches open into galleries which run all round the tower; and on their outer side are other arches which in the lower stage correspond and open into the four arms of the church. In the upper stage are windows opening into the open air, and, since the removal of the ceiling, giving light to the interior. The two arcades surmounting the great arches, rising one above the other, with the light streaming down from the small windows, seen from the outside, produce a really fine effect, and if only the bells could be removed to one of the western towers, and the ringers’ gallery removed, this effect would be enhanced.

The absence of ornamentation in the capitals of the Norman pillars is continued throughout, with the exception of the eastern arch opening into the choir. Here, however, are rude attempts at sculpture, wholly or partially hidden by the organ. Of these some still defy all efforts to explain what they were intended to represent; and this is not to be wondered at, seeing that Mr A.J. Loughton of Southwell, who took photographs when the organ was taken down, describes them as “mere scratches, if anything, looking better in the photographs than in the original.” On the northern pillar are, amongst others, the Last Supper, the Adoration of the Magi, and what is perhaps intended as the procession to Calvary; while those on the southern pillar include the Washing of the Disciples’ Feet, the Triumphal Entry, and a varied group of ornamentation.

NORMAN ARCH OF CENTRAL TOWER, WITH CABLE MOULDING.]

CAPITALS OF NORMAN PILLARS TO EASTERN ARCH OF TOWER.]

=The Transepts=.--The north and south transepts are with few exceptions similar to one another, and are best taken together. They retain their Norman features intact still more than the nave. From the tower arches either transept extends 43 feet, and is 28 feet broad, and is three bays in length, two in breadth, and of a height of three stages. The windows in the lowest stage looking west are more enriched than the one remaining Norman window in the nave aisles, although externally similar, as they have an additional order with the edge-roll, springing from detached shafts. The extra thickness of the walls accounts for this. Above these in the next stage the window arches spring from attached semi-cylindrical shafts, and have a cable moulding underneath a hood of the triple nebule. The windows at the north and south ends are similar in the lowest stage, with this exception, that in the south transept the more western one is dwarfed to allow room for the door leading to the palace. In the second stage they have a rere arch with the edge-roll, a second order with the cable, resting on detached shafts, and the hood with the triple nebule. Here, as elsewhere, the bold cable moulding is exceedingly fine. The plain shafts and arches of the windows of the third stage nowhere call for comment. Over the two windows of the first stage at the ends a pair of arches span the whole breadth, and project two feet. These spring from corbels at the sides, and from a cylindrical shaft which passes between the windows to the pavement. The cable moulding of the arches is twisted in opposite directions. The object of these projections is to support a gallery; and this gallery, like that in the third stage, is continued in the thickness of the wall along the sides. The four archways opening into the nave and choir aisles are without moulding or ornament, save a plain string, and hood of the double billet; and above these are other arches in the second stage, less lofty and without the hood, opening into the triforium galleries. This stage in the two outward bays of the east side has an arcading of three arches.

Formerly Norman chapels opened from either transept on the east side. On the north side the larger Early English chapel, to be noticed in due course, has superseded its Norman predecessor; on the south the east wall still shows signs of the arch of communication, now blocked up. It was of two orders--the inner of a double row of cable, and the outer of the zigzag. There are also signs of a window on a smaller scale but similar to those in the first stage adjacent, but this has been blocked up; and this side now presents the peculiar appearance of a large wall space unrelieved by windows. In the north transept a doorway with a semicircular arch ornamented with the double billet, judging from the masonry an after insertion, is situated between the choir aisle and chapel, and leads to a long narrow room, of which the use is not apparent.

Over the door in the north transept leading to the belfry is a curious piece of sculpture about three feet in length, and half as much in width, forming a tympanum. When Bishop Warburton and his friend Allen visited Southwell, it particularly attracted their attention, and they bestowed great pains, but without success, to interpret it. In the centre an angel is subduing a figure on the right resembling an impossible bird. On the left a man, but with the head wanting, is also engaged in subduing what appears to be a lion or a leopard with a smaller animal represented above, its forefeet resting on the larger one’s head. Dickinson, taking the smaller figure as a lamb, ingeniously deciphered it, “Under the protection of the lamb, Daniel was able to overcome the lion, and Michael the devil.” A second interpretation substitutes David rescuing the lamb from the lion; and a third renders it, “Thou shall go upon the lion and adder; the young lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet.” Whether or not any of these was intended, we have the oldest piece of sculpture in the building, almost as old as anything in the Midlands. Not only does the character of the workmanship show this, and the way in which it is fitted into the wall; but when the transept was built and the doorway inserted, the man’s head was evidently cut away to adapt it to its new position. Before this it must have served as a tympanum in the earlier building of the time of the Confessor.

Archbishop Sandys himself will be mentioned in his proper place, but his tomb at the north-east angle requires notice as the only fine one in the church. Originally placed, as was right, inside the sacrarium on the north side, and afterwards removed to the transept chapel of the north choir aisle, at length it has found another resting-place in its present position. It is a large alabaster monument, with the recumbent figure of the prelate above, his robes of long chasuble with rochet, chimere, and tippet, his hands folded in prayer. A Latin inscription runs round the top, setting forth the three sees of Worcester, London, and York, over which he had ruled, and the length of his successive episcopates. In the front are kneeling figures of his wife and children, together with his coat of arms, and an inscription enumerating his virtues.

In the south transept are two tablets on the eastern wall which call for notice. The first, dated 1750, is an interesting specimen of its time of marble and painted. The subject of this effigy, a son of Sir William Cook of Wheatley, near Doncaster, had been chaplain to one of the archbishops (probably to Launcelot Blackburne), and died prebendary of York, of Ripon, of Southwell, as well as rector of Stokesley, all these preferments having been received from the archbishop of the day, an instance of how recklessly, until checked by the Pluralities Act, a number of posts were lavished upon the same individual in the eighteenth century, as well as in the fifteenth. There was no need for Cook, so long as he found a substitute to take his term of residence, or made other arrangements with the easy-going chapter, ever to have been at Southwell in his life. The second is that of John Thomas Becher, vicar-general and senior prebendary, the friend and counsellor of Byron’s earlier and happier days.

At the south end of the transepts by the door leading to the palace the judges presided over those civil cases in which the ministers or tenants of property of the church were concerned. When a criminal charge was preferred against any of the clergy, here too the court was held; when against a layman, in one of the prebendaries’ houses. In this way, at the summer assizes of 1475, four of the vicars-choral and three of the chantry priests were indicted for felony.[25]