ROCHESTER. 



corbel heads, chiefly or monks, which difplay a degree of 

 Strength of feature and exprefllon, evincing an advanced 

 date of the art of delign. The fouth end of this tranfept 

 principally varies from the other in its fupcrior lightnefs : 

 like that, it has a triforium in the upper (lory, with lancet 

 windows behind fcreens. The roof is of timber frame- 

 work, in imitation of vaulting. Under a large arch, on the 

 well tide, is an opening into the chapel of St. Mary, a 

 druclure probably ereCled in the reign of Henry VII. It 

 mcafures forty-five feet in length, and thirty-five in breadth, 

 and exhibits on its fouth and weft (ides five fpaciuus windows, 

 under obtufe arches, and divided by mullions. In this 

 chapel the confiltory court of the diocefe is held ; andmanv 

 of the biihops are buried within it. The choir is entered 

 from the nave by an afcent of ten fteps, leading through an 

 arch, in an unornamentcd (lone fcreen, which fuftains the 

 organ and organ gallery. The ftyle of building in this part 

 of the church is uniform in its character ; neat, lofty, and 

 folid, though not heavy. The whole conlifts of two tiers 

 of pointed arches, decorated with grooved mouldings, and 

 reilingupon (lender columns of Petworth marble, with plain 

 capitals. All the windows are lancet -fhaped, and are formed 

 of (ingle lights, except thole neareft to the altar, which are 

 divided by mullions, and appear to have been formerly filled 

 with painted glafs. The ealt tranfept of the church has two 

 .lilies, over which are apartments, (afcended to by circular 

 winding llaircafes in the wall,) in which were depofited the 

 veftments, and facred utenfils appertaining to the altars and 

 llirines of St. William, St. Paulinus, and others, in the 

 choir. The northern divifion of this tranfept is dill deno- 

 minated St. William's chapel, from the popular faint fo 

 named, whole remains were there enfhrined ; and to the 

 number and value of the oblations made at whofe altar the 

 prefent choir owes its origin. The crypt, which extends 

 beneath the two lalt mentioned portions of the church, has 

 been thought by fome to be of Norman ftru&ure ; but more 

 intelligent antiquaries aflign it to the architect of the ciioir 

 and upper trantept, which were built by William de Hoo, in 

 the reign of Henry I II. The pointed arches in the windows 

 and entrances are evidences of the truth. Running parallel 

 with the fouth fide of the choir is the chapter-houle, which 

 contains the library, and is entered by a richly fculptured 

 door-way. In a large hollow between the inner mouldings 

 16 a range of human heads and flowers, in alternate fuccef- 

 fion. Beyond thefe, and rifing above each other in detached 

 recedes to the centre of the arch, arc fix whole length figures, 

 two of which are conjectured to reprefent Henry I. and his 

 queen Matilda, and the others the bifhops Gundulph, Er- 

 nulph, Laurence de St. Martin, and Hamo de llethe, to 

 the lalt of whom the erection of this door- way is attributed. 

 Over thefe figures are fmaller ones of angels, two on each 

 fide, apparently ringing praifes and glorifying the Saviour, 

 who is reprefented itandmg naked under a canopy in the cen- 

 tre of the arch. The library, befidea an excellent collection 

 ot printed books, contains I' feral curious and valuable MSS. 

 among which are the original copies of the Tcxtus Roflenfis 

 and the Cultumale Roffenfe. 



Rochefter cathedra] extends in length from eaft to well 

 306 feet, of which 150 are included in the nave and 156 in 

 the choir. The breadth of the nave, with the fide aides, is 

 75 feet, and that of the choir i* nearly the fame. The 

 weltern tranfept mcafures 122 feet, and the eallern one i;o 

 feet long. The width of the well front is 94 feet, and the 

 height ol the great tower 156 feet. Several of the monu- 

 ment) in this church are curious, both from their antiquity 

 and their workmanlhip. In the louth of the choir is a plain 

 ttoue cheft, fuppofed to contain the remains of bifhop Gun- 

 dulph, and near it is another, »n the top of which i- fculp- 



tured, in high relief, the figure of a bi(hop in pontificalibus, 

 defigned to reprefent Thomas de Ingelthorpe, the 44th 

 bifhop of the fee. A third (lone cheft, of a fimilar de- 

 fcription, is thought to be the tomb of bifhop Laurence 

 de St. Martin, who obtained the canonization of St. Wil. 

 liam. All thefe chefts are condru&ed of Petworth marble : 

 feveral others of them are difperfed throughout the cathe- 

 dral. On an altar-tomb, beneath a double pointed arched 

 canopy, varioufly ornamented, is a full-length portraiture 

 of bifhop Walter de Merton, whofe remains are depofited 

 beneath. Another altar-tomb, in St. William's chapel, com- 

 memorates bifhop Lowe ; and near it are the monuments of 

 bifhop John Warner and two others of his family. On the 

 north fide of St. Edmund's chapel, entering into the crypt, 

 is a headlefs epifcopal figure, fuppofed to have reprefented 

 bifhop John de Bradfield, who died in the year 1283 ; and 

 in the narrow aide leading to St. William's chapel, is a 

 monument attributed to bifhop Hamo de Hethe. The 

 other perfons who have monuments here are, Richard 

 Watts, efq. recorder of the city, who had the honour 

 of entertaining queen Elizabeth at his feat called Satis ; 

 John, lord Henniker, and his lady, the former of whom 

 died in 1803, and the latter in 1792; fir Richard Head, 

 and the Rev. Samuel Denne, the learned compiler of the 

 " Memorials" of this cathedral, inferted in the Cultumale 

 Roffenfe. 



Adjoining to the cathedral, on the fouth, are the remains 

 of the chapter-houfe and cloilter belonging to the priory, 

 which exhibit a very beautiful feries of Norman arches and 

 ornaments, but in a (late of great dilapidation. The door- 

 way of the chapter-houfe lies under a richly ornamented arch, 

 having on each another of equa) elegance, fupportcd on fhort 

 thick columns with flowered and figured capitals, and dif- 

 playing an unufual variety of mouldings, zigzag, quatrefoil, 

 and billeted. The mouldings of the fouthernmoit arch unite 

 with thofe of a fmaller arch, belonging to the cloilter, and 

 thefe again with the mouldings of a fecond highly enriched 

 door-way, the fpace between the tranfom of which and the 

 inner moulding exhibits the mutilated remains of an hiiloriGal 

 (culpture. An arch, riling from two three-quarter columns, 

 and interfered by two others lpringing from a central co- 

 lumn, connects this door-way with a third, likewife rich in 

 ornaments, though lefs fo than the others. Gundulph's 

 tower ftands on the north fide of the cathedral between the 

 tranfepts. The mafonry of this building is extremely folid, 

 the walls being ten feet in thicknefs, though the entire build- 

 ing is only 40 feet fquare. The angles are (Ircngthened by 

 puafter buttrclles, and the windows have femicircular arches. 

 Tin- precincts of this cathedral appear to have occupied 

 nearly half the area contained within the walls of the city. 

 There were three gates leading into them, viz. the Cemetery 

 gate, St. William's gate, and the Prior's gate ; the tint 

 and lalt of which are Hill remaining. Only a tew traces of 

 the offices of the monattery now exilt ieparately, but confi- 

 derable parts of their walls are incorporated into other 

 buildings. The porter's lodge conlifts of a (mail embattled 

 tower, with a pointed archway in the centre. The Icite of 

 the hilltop's palace, erected by Gundulph, is occupied by a 

 range of modern houfes ; and on that ot the prior's lodge 

 ftands the prefent deanery. 



Rochefter had formerly four churches, befidea the cathe- 

 dral, which were dedicated to St. Nicholas, St. Margaret, 

 St. Clement) and St. Mary, but the lalt is now totally de- 

 molilhed, and St. Clement's is ou'y to be difcovercd .1 ■•• 

 forming part of fome houfes on the north lide ot the High- 

 ftreet, near the bridge. The church of St. Nicholas vt 

 built in 1421, and conlills of a nave, allies, and a chancel, 

 with an embattled tower at the north-welt angle. The 

 7 windows 



