PETERBOROUGH SOKE 



PETERBOROUGH 



description of it are given by Gunton," showing its 

 appearance just before that time. He says it was 

 ' ascended unto by about a dozen steps, and from its 

 basis reared after the manner ofa comely w'all some six 

 fojt high, upon which were several curious pilasters 

 supporting a fair arched roof whereon were three 

 goodly spires reaching almost to the top of the church, 

 the whole frame dilating itself to each side, all gilded 

 and painted, saving some void plain places.' On the 

 south side of the altar was the abbot's chair of stone, and 

 there were doorways on north and south to the space 

 behind the screen. The many niches in the screen 

 were doubtless filled with images, but only that of 

 St. Peter, who with St. Paul and St. Andrew was patron 

 of the church, is mentioned. The space behind the 

 altar screen seems to have been used as a feretory, and 

 contained the shrines of St. Kyneburgha, St. Kyne- 

 switha, and St. Tibba,' and in recesses in the back of 

 the screen itself the relics of St. Elfric and St. Kynsig. 



In the Sunday and other processions an antiphon 

 was sung at the altar of St. Andrew before leaving the 

 quire. This altar must have stood in the third bay of 

 the presbytery, and the upper entrances to the quire 

 [oitia presbyierii) must have been in the bay imme- 

 diately west of this — that is, just east of the crossing. 

 The south entrance was called St. Andrew's door, and 

 the north St. Paul's door. The other arches of the 

 presbytery, east of the doors, were filled with screens. 

 In the east aisle of the north transept were three 

 altars, that of St. John Baptist at the north end, of 

 St. James in the middle, and of St. Paul at the south, 

 opposite St. Paul's door. The chief entrance to the 

 Lady chapel seems to have been by the arch from the 

 presbytery aisle. Whether there were other altars 

 than the Lady altar in the chapel is nowhere stated. 

 In the south transept the three altars in the east ai»le, 

 f;om north to south, were those of St. Oswald,' 

 St. Benedict, and St. Kyneburgha. The dedication of 

 the last also included St. Kyneswitha and St. Tibba, 

 and in front of this altar hung a canopy called 

 ' Kynburghys Kelle.' * 



The building west of the south transept was prob- 

 ably the vestry, and part of it seems to have been 

 called ' le bay.' ' After the destruction of the chapter- 

 house it was used for chapter meetings. Gunton 

 wrongly says that it was the hostry chapel. 



The quire stalls occupied their present position, as 

 far as their west end is concerned, with a stone pulpi- 

 tum at the west end, on which was an altar. Their 

 eastern limit is not to be fixed, but it must have been 

 somewhere under the crossing. The abbot's st.all was 

 on the south, at the east end of the quire, near St. 

 Andrew's door, and there were seats for seculars east 

 of the stall and near the door. 



The first quire fittings were set up temporarily in 

 the new presbytery about 1 140, and when the church 

 was sufficiently far advanced the present position was 

 taken up, in the time of William of Waterville, 



1155-75; and Benedict, 1 1 77-94, built the first 

 pulpitum. 



A new set of stalls seems to have been made in the 

 time of Walter of Bury St. Edmunds, 1233-45, and 

 these probably remained till the Puritan fanatics 

 wrecked them in 1643. The panelling beneath the 

 canopies was painted with subjects from the Old and 

 New Testaments, having Latin couplets under each. 



After the Restoration these stalls were repaired, 

 and the destroyed panelling replaced by painted 

 boards from the ceiling of the Lady chapel. A 

 drawing of the quire dated 1 721 shows that they had 

 crowned M's and the leopards of England in alternate 

 lozenges. 



This repaired quire gave way in 1828 to an elaborate 

 rearrangement, in the Gothic style of the time, which 

 was set further to the east, its west end being under 

 the crossing. This in its turn has disappeared, leaving 

 only the canopies in the apse behind the high altar, 

 and the present stalls, which were practically com- 

 pleted by 1 894, occupy the place of their mediaeval 

 predecessors, some of the old seats being retained. A 

 stone screen, to be set up at the west of the quire, is 

 as yet but little advanced. 



In the east aisle of the north transept are placed two 

 stalls from the quire as repaired at the Restoration, 

 after the damages of 1643, with plain arched heads 

 and panelled backs. The twin shafts dividing the 

 stalls, with finely cut foliate capitals, are of great 

 interest, as they clearly belong to Abbot Walter's quire 

 fittings, set up between 1 23 3 and 1 245. 



The brass eagle lectern is a fine specimen of the 

 15th century, having been given by Abbot William 

 Ramsey (1471-1496) and Prior Maldon. It still 

 shows the remains of an inscription given in full by 

 Gunton : 



HAEC TIBI LECTRINA DANT PETRE METALLICA BINA 

 JOHES MALDON PRIOR ET WILLS DE RAMISEYA 



The great rood stood over a screen one bay west 

 of the pulpitum, with the rood altar in the middle of 

 its west face, and doors on either side leading into the 

 space between the screen and the pulpitum, through 

 which the quire was entered.* 



The evidence for chapels in the nave is not very 

 clear, but in 1539 there was an altar of our Lady's 

 Lamentation, which may be connected with the image 

 bracket on the west face of the fourth pier of the 

 north arcade. There are traces of the former existence 

 of screens across the aisles on the line of the rood lott, 

 and others in the south aisle at the sixth pier, and in 

 the fifth bay of the south arcade. 



The remains of red paint on the east half of the 

 third pier of the north arcade probably give the level 

 of the rood-loft floor, and an altar probably stood on 

 either side of the pulpitum door. On the north-west 

 face of the fifth pier in the north arcade are 

 traces which may be those ofa holy-water stone. In 



1 Gunton, op. cit. pp. 65, 97, 

 ^ In the Custumal St. Tibba's shrine is 

 said to be on the north side, and on the 

 left of St. Kyneburgha. At their festival 

 four candles were to be placed on the high 

 altar *ex opposite feretrorum dictarum 

 virginum.' In the west end of the north 

 aisle of the New Building is a I 5th cen- 

 tury stone structure, known as the shrine 

 of St. Tibba. It is 7 ft. 9 in. long, rect- 

 angular, with a cresting and enriched 

 cornice, and three arched recesses on the 



face, each enclosing a canopied niche. 

 The heads of the recesses have poor 

 modern Gothic detail, apparently of early 

 19th-century date, and there is a pro- 

 jecting panelled base. It seems that three 

 canopies have been removed from the 

 front, the bare places left by their re- 

 moval being worked as described. 



" The stone vice in the south-west 

 angle of St. Oswald's Chapel probably led 

 to a chamber over the presbytery aisle, 

 used by the *horuspex,' as he is called 



445 



in the Custumal, who slept la the 

 church. 



* (Celled a cloak, or a cap. 



* The new fire was made here oa 

 Easter Eve. 



fi The bases of the triforium piers in 

 the fourth bay on the north side, just west 

 of the line of the rood screen, are cut 

 away, and there are chases in the abaci of 

 the outer capitals which point to the 

 former existence of a loft in this position. 

 It may have contained an organ. 



