378 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[November, 



ter, and he was buried in the cathedral, but in what part is uncer- 

 tain. 



As an ecclesiastic Ethehvold has received the unbounded admiration 

 of the monkish writers, but from everyone his conduct during the 

 famine at Wincliester, leaving all other things out of consideration, 

 entitles him to universal praise. During that severe famine he caused 

 all the church plate to be sold in order to purchase provisions for the 

 poor, remarking tli.it the church, if reduced to poverty, might be again 

 enriched, but that if the poor were starved, it was not in the jiower of 

 man to recall them to life. His life is said to have been of a most 

 hermit-like character, devoting himself to labour and study. Of his 

 miracles besides those already alluded to, many are mentioned, parti- 

 cularly of the arms of a thievish monk being suddenly bound down to 

 his side, of the Bishop's being found by the monk Theoduric overcome 

 with fatigue, and sleeping over his book, how the monk sat down in 

 the bishop's seat, was frightened by a horrible vision, and temporarily 

 blinded lor his temeritv, how another monk Leofred, under similar 

 circumstances, found that the candle had fallen on the book without 

 even greasing it. 



Ethelwold is represented as active in person, of acute genius, and 

 of extremely retentive memory. We know that he patronized and 

 practised every liberal ait, and we have Alfric's testimony that he 

 was one of the great restorers of learning in that age. Of his writings 

 we have no specimen, except the prayer for the prosperity of Abing- 

 don, but of his scholarship we can entertain no doubt, his zeal for the 

 advancement of learning causing him tliroughou' his life to teach per- 

 sonallv, and he was consequently the instructor of many of the most 

 distinguished characters of the age, both in civil and religious life. 

 As an illuminator he is said to have had great skill, and his love for 

 music showed itself in the foundation of the school at Abingdon. As 

 an architect he is said, like his successor William of Wykeham, to 

 have been a great builder both of churches and divers works, both 

 while abbot and bishop, and we may note his mechanical skill in the 

 donations he made to Abingdon. Besides the canal at Abingdon, he 

 was also the designer of a similar work at Winchester, the benefit of 

 which, says the l.istorian of Winchester, is still felt by the inhabitants. 

 They experiencing great inconveniences from the want of water, which 

 then or.lv flowed in one current at the eastern end of the city, St. 

 Ethelwold made different canals, one of which begins near the village 

 of Worthy, and thus distributed the water, at great toil and expense 

 throughout the greater part of the city. He is also said to have been 

 the builder of what is call St. Swithin's chapel at Winchester. 



For a character so distinguished in all time the greatest admiration 

 has been felt, and we have his life from the pens of two cotemporaries 

 and pupils, Alfric, monk of Abingdon, and Wolstan, chanter of Win- 

 chester. It was in 99i) that Alf helm of Wallingfoid, being attacked 

 with blindness, was directed by a vision to the tomb of Ethelwold and 

 to Wolstan, who also had a vision of the saint, and on Christmas eve 

 of that year, the body of the saint was enshrined. The offices in his 

 honour are to be found in the Acta Sanctorum for the 1st of August, 

 with two hymns in his honour, one of which is a curious specimen of 

 the alliterative form adopted in Latin. The episcopal chair of this 

 eminent man long remaineil an object of veneration and popular awe, it 

 being believed that those, who, while they sat in it, instead of attend- 

 inc to the divine office, gave way to sloth and drowsiness, were punished 

 wi°h terrific sights and painful visions. A representation of St. Ethel- 

 wold is said to exist in the west window at Winchester. 



[Authors consulted:— Wolstan's Life of St. Ethelwold ; Acta Sanc- 

 torum : Acta Sanctorum, Ord. St. Benedict ; Mabillon, Annales Ord. 

 Sancti Benedicti ; Butler's Lives of the Saints ; Dugdale's Monasticon ; 

 Milner's Winchester: Britton's Winchester Cathedral; Warner's 

 Hampshire; Lvson's Berkshire ; Turner's Anglo Saxons; The Saxon 

 Chronicle; Knight's Pictorial History of England; Penny Magazine, 

 No. 503; Rudborne's History of Winchester in Wharton's Anglia 

 Sacra; Life of St. Dunstan ; Life of St. Oswald ; Life of St. Edith; 

 Life of St. Alfege the Elder.] 



SUNDERLAND LIGHT HOUsE. 



Rams^ate.—\Ve understand that a survey is in progress for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the practicability of a plan lor forming a harbour of relume 

 capable of containing a fleet of men-of-war, or mcrclrintmcn of the largest 

 class. It is well known ihat the (Joodwiu and IJrake Sands atford c nsider- 

 able shelter to this part of the coast, an 1 if die additional works necessary 

 for forming this bay into a liarbour of refuge can h<: made at a comparatively 

 moderate expense, it will be one of the grandest and most valuable under- 

 takings of these modern and wonder-working times. Ihe survey is being 

 ma Ic under ilie direction of Sir John Kcnnie, liy Mr. Hamilton H. Fulton. — 

 Kent Herald. 



In' the Journal for September last, we gave a short account of an un- 

 usual occurrence, the removal of a Light-house, which we are ha:ipvno\T 

 to announce has been firmly set upon its new foundation. The above 

 engraving is a view of the light-house taken during its progress by 

 Mr. Nicholson, of Newcastle. The removal from the North Pier was 

 commenced on the 2nd August, and transplanted to Ihe eastern ex- 

 tremity of the pier, a distance of 500 feet, and placed upon its new 

 foundation on the 30th September last, and all the work will be com- 

 pletely finished by the 2nd instant, the whole period occupied being 

 only two months. 



"The following is the plan submitted by Mr. Murray to the commis- 

 sioners of the River Wear in May last, when it was under their con- 

 sideration to pull down and re-erect the light-house on its new site: — 

 " The masonry was to be cut through near its foundation, and whole 

 timbers were to be inserted, one after another, through the building, 

 and extending seven feet beyond it. Above and at right angles to 

 them another tier of timber was to be inserted in like manner, so as 

 to make the cradle or base a square of 20 feet; and this cradle was to 

 be supported upon bearers, with about 2.50 wheels of six inches dia- 

 meter, and was to traverse on six lines of railway to be laid on the 

 new pier for that purpose. The shaft of the light-house was to be 

 tied together with bands, and its eight sides supported with timber 

 braces from the cradle upwards to the cornice. The cradle was to be 

 drawn and pushed forward by powerful screws along the railway above 

 mentioned, on the principle of Morton's patent slip for the repairing 

 of vessels." The project was approved of, and the necessary arrange- 

 ments made for carrying it into effect; the only deviation from iti 

 plan being, that during the progress of the work a windlass and ropes, 

 worked by 30 men, were substituted for the screws. Not a crack nor 

 appearance of settlement is to be found in the building. 



We have been favoured with the following communication from Mr. 

 Murray, by w hich it will be seen that the under-setting of the founda- 

 tions are perfected. 



