1843.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



415 



In sepulchral chapels Winchester cathedral is particularly rich, espe- 

 cially in those of the perpendicular period. The eastern portion of 

 the building, behind the altar, is a perfect rendezvous of monuments, 

 perhaps unequalled, and must be seen to be duly appreciated. Bishop 

 Fox, Bishop Gardiner, Bishop Waynflete, and Cardinal Beaufort, have 

 chantries here; Wykeham's chantry and Edington's are in the nave. 

 A sculptured figure in a vesica piscis has been recently affixed to the 

 east wall in the north transept. It seems formerly to have been loose 

 in the cathedral, for it is represented on the ground leaning against a 

 pillar, in one of the plates in Mr. Britton's history. 



The most interesting of the parish churches in Winchester is St. 

 John's. It consists of chancel, nave, and side ailes, and has a tower 

 at the west end of the north side. This structure contains most of 

 the features which distinguished our places of worship "while yet the 

 chinch was Rome's," and concerning which all information is now 

 sedulously sought. Where the rood-loft formerly stood to separate 

 the chancel from the nave, is now placed the organ gallery — most 

 improperly. The staircase by which the priest ascended to the rood 

 loft is in a turret against the south wall of the aile, with a doorway in 

 the wall ; over the aile there was formerly a gallery or passage way 

 to the loft, with openings through the spandrels of the main arches. 

 There was an external entrance to this turret, which was probably 

 used as the "priest's door" to the church. 



Two projecting walls from the east end separate the chancel from 

 the ailes, and in that on the south side is one of the small, oblong 

 apertures, opening obliquely to enable those persons who were in the 

 aile to see the elevation of the host, and which have been termed 

 hagioscopes. If my memory is right (I have no note of it) this was 

 adapted to serve also as a piscina, an arrangement not uncommon. In 

 the wall on the north side there is a similar oblong opening inclined 

 the reverse way, so as to admit a view of the east end of the north 

 aile, where there is a handsome altar tomb against the north wall, with 

 a recess above it, which may have been used as an Easter sepulchre. 

 If so, lights were kept burning in it during the latter part of Passion 

 week, and the opening in question may have been made to enable the 

 attendants readily to watch them. On the side and end of the tomb 3 

 are shields, one bearing the five wounds, another the instruments of 

 punishment, and a third the letters I. S. entwined, standing probably 

 for Sanctus Jesus, or Jesus Salvator. Returning an instant to the 

 chancel, there is one sedile and a piscina on the south side of it. It 

 may be well to remark that although I have described the church in 

 this memorandum as standing east and west, the altar points in reality 

 to the south east. 



At the church of St. Peter, Colebrook (at the same end of the city 

 as St. John's) where the tower is at the south-east corner, there seem 

 to be remains of enriched ridge-tiles. The font is square, supported 

 on a central pillar with four smaller pillars at the angles, similar in 

 plan to the very interesting specimens of Norman fonts at the ca- 

 thedral, the church at East Meon, and other places also in Hampshire. 



The County Hall, formerly part of the old castle, although now en- 

 cumbered by the Assize Courts, has many points of interest. Milner 

 calls it, "the ancient church or chapel of St. Stephen;" but Mr. 

 O. B. Carter, architect, who lias examined this building lately, and 

 has prepared plans for its restoration,' 1 considers that it was always 

 used as a Hall. It is in three ailes divided by clustered columns and 

 arches, and must have formed a magnificent apartment. 



The Hospital of St. Cross, the " alms-house of noble poverty," which 

 stands about a mile from the city, retains more fully its ancient ap- 

 pearance and customs than any similar establishment in the kingdom. 

 The brethren with their black gown and metal cross on the left breast, 

 the dining hall with the old "black jacks" for ale, and other imple- 

 ments given by Cardinal Beaufort; the quiet cloister, the ancient 

 church embowered by trees, and the pretty residences of the brethren 

 around it, serve to take back the mind to a much earlier period in our 

 history, and to induce the thought that in a rude and violent age the 

 monastery — which St. Cross, though never so used (being simply a 

 hospital and a refuge), closely resembles — must have ottered strong 

 attractions to all studious or timid men, who were unwilling or unfitted 

 to encounter in the world the more boisterous spirits of the time. 



Originally, besides the resident brethren, 100 miscellaneous poor 

 were led daily in what was called, in consequence, "Hundred-Menne's 

 Hall," but is now a brewhouse. At the present time all who apply at 

 tire gatehouse may receive a horn of beer and slice of bread, that is 

 until two gallons, the day's allowance, have been expended ; nor are 

 the applicants for this, few. 



3 I rail it a tomb, because there seems to have been an Inscribed brass 

 around the top edge of it. 



4 Mr. Carter Iras recently erected the Alms-houses of St. John, in Win- 

 chester, lor 14 inmates. They hum a tasteful pile, and cost £3000. 



Cardinal Beaufort, of whom Shakspeare says, in the bitter picture 

 he drew of him, 



" Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy — 

 If once be cume to be a cardinal. 

 He'll make bis cap co-equal with the crown ; '' 

 expended much money on St. Cross, amongst other charitable esta- 

 blishments, and erected many of the present buildings. 



The church, commenced by Henry de Blois, brother of King 

 Stephen, about the year 1 136, is an interesting specimen of a transition 

 period in architectural history, when the semi-circular arch was about 

 to give place to the pointed. It has acquired considerable notoriety 

 from the circumstance that Dr. Milner, following a suggestion thrown 

 out by the Rev. J. Bentham, 5 has appealed to the interlaced semi- 

 circular arches in the choir, wher^ pierced for light, as being probably 

 the first open pointed arches in Europe. The origin of the pointed 

 style of architecture is still as doubtful as it was before the appear- 

 ance of any of the numerous dissertations to which it has given rise. 

 Nevertheless, the inquiry cannot be deemed useless : as in the pursuit 

 of the philosopher's stone and elixir vitte, the enthusiast alchemist 

 discovered many new substances and enlarged the science of chemistry, 

 so, in the vain pursuit of the origin of the pointed style of architec- 

 ture, much valuable information has been gathered. 



Whichever theory may be the most correct, it is certainly not that 

 deduced from the intersecting arches at St. Cross. Apart from less 

 obvious objections to any deduction founded on the present appear- 

 ance of this arcade, the main arches in the choir, below it, are pointed, 

 as too, is the vaulting of the aisles; by which we must be led to 

 believe either that considerable alteration was made in the choir at 

 a later period, when the practice of the pointed style was more ad- 

 vanced, and which might have extended to the interlaced arches in 

 question, or that the date of its original construction is somewhat 

 more recent than that usually assigned to it. Moreover, other struc- 

 tures in England, the date of which is asserted to be even anterior to 

 that of St. Cross, as, for example, Buildwas Abbey, display likewise 

 an intermixture of pointed and circular arches. The circumstances, 

 however, which occurred in many cases to delay ecclesiastical build- 

 ings for years after the recorded date of their foundation, and the 

 difficulty of detecting alterations and reconstructions made at a remote 

 period, prevent us from arriving with any certaiuty at a satisfactory 

 conclusion. 



At the south side of the altar at St. Cross there is a table of pro- 

 thesis, or credence, on which the bread and wine were placed previous 

 to the offertory, and the introduction of which in modern churches is 

 strongly insisted on by the Cambridge Camden Society. There seem 

 to be very few ancient examples remaining." 



Romsey Abbey church, a few miles from Winchester, is a building 

 of the same class as St. Cross, and displays an instructive mixture of 

 the peculiarities and style of various successive periods. It is a cru- 

 ciform building of considerable size, with a square tower at the inter- 

 section of the nave and transept,' and when viewed from the neigh- 

 bouring hills, rises above the houses clustered around it, and forms 

 the most important part of the town. It is curious to contrast, espe- 

 cially in a constructive point of view, the churches built by our fore- 

 fathers and ourselves. Anciently every small village could boast a 

 sound substantial church of stone, which in most cases has kept its 

 promise of long endurance, and still serves to give stability and im- 

 portance to localities which, but for this, had lost their identity long 

 ago. At the present time little heed is given to the future ; the 

 immediate wants of the day are supplied for the most part by cheap 

 and flimsy structures which cannot be expected to outlast the present 

 generation. 



s Bentham says, in his History of Ely Cathedral Church, 1771, when 

 speaking of the origin of pointed arches, "Some have imagined they^ might 

 possibly have taken their rise from those arcades we see in the early Norman 

 or Saxon buildings on walls, where the wide semicircular arches cross and 

 intersect each other, and form thereby, at their intersection, exactly a narrow 

 and sharp-pointed arch. In the wall south of the choir at St. Cross is a 

 facing ot surh wide round interlaced arches by way of ornament to a Hat 

 vacant space ; only so much of it as lies between the legs of ihe tuo neigh- 

 bouring arches, where they cross each other, is pierced through the fabric, 

 and forms a little range of sharp-pointed window s : it is of King Stephen s 

 time ; whether they were originally pierced I cannot learn." 



« According to Milner the church of St. Cross is 150 ft. long. The length 

 of the transept is 120 ft. It is cruciform, has side ailes, and a large square 

 tower at the intersection. 



» "The length of this church, according to the curious description given 

 in the addenda to Brown Willis's Mitred Abbies, is 240 ft., and its widih, that 

 is to say, the length of the transept, 120 It.; his words are — ' Ecclesia de 

 Rumeseye, defundalione regis Kdgari.continet in lougitudine circa VOsteppyi, 

 et parum ultra; item in latitudine conlinet circa 4G steppys nieos. ' Hie 

 height of the tower is about 120 It. and that of tbe_body of the church is said 

 to be SO exactly."— Sptnce's Descriptive Essay, p. 37. 



