An Ancient Chapel
were discovered. The public are much indebted to the care and good taste of these gentlemen, that this valuable antiquity has been so admirably preserved; and as they are most courteous in affording strangers the privilege of examining it, we doubt not that the opportunity will be gladly taken. The chapel is of an oblong form, running from east to west. Its dimensions are 42 feet in length, 15 feet 3 inches in breadth, and the height, from the surface of the floor to the intersections of the groining of the roof, 14 feet. It was partially lighted through the upper part of the west end, in which there are three small windows, divided by stone mullions, and protected by iron bars. On examining the intersection of the groins, marks were discovered on the stonework, that a couple of lamps had been used for lighting. The entrance to the east end was by a flight of steps cut out of the rock; this passage is now closed, but from what remains there is no doubt this was the case. On the south side is an Anglo-Norman-Gothic doorway, attained by three or four circular steps, and forming an outlet within its inner and outer wall, by another flight of steps, to the surface above the building. At the west end are two niches, in which the baptismal fonts are supposed to have been placed; one of these was found during the excavation, and is deposited in one of these recesses; the other was unfortunately destroyed by the workmen. The date of the erection of this interesting structure is supposed to be early in the thirteenth century. Taking into consideration the fact that not far from this spot were the monasteries of Grey Friars and White Friars, it has been conjectured by some that in this chapel they assembled for their religious celebrations. It seems to be, however, a more feasible hypothesis, that the site was once occupied by some order of religious house; that the chapel formed a part of the erection, and was used by the inmates for their religious ceremonies and worship. In the upper part of the premises there appear to be some characteristic remains of the ancient structure. Lacking any further evidence as to the character and extent of this venerable building than the place itself supplies, the question is involved in uncertainty. The crypt is a most interesting curiosity, worthy of the investigation of the antiquarian, and to his better judgment we leave the subject.
CHAPTER V.
CHESTER CATHEDRAL.
Previous to the Roman conquests, the Britons were accustomed to celebrate the rites of Druidism; but as it was the custom of the Romans to carry into the lands they conquered not only their civil polity, but also their religion, the gods of the Pantheon became consequently the gods of our ancestors. Near the existing memorials of Druidical superstition there arose the majestic fanes of a more polished mythology. At Bath there is said to have been a temple dedicated to Minerva, while on the site now occupied by the splendid cathedral of St. Paul there was a temple to Diana. It appears, from a passage in King’s ‘Vale Royal,’ there was a tradition generally accepted in his day, that on the present site of Chester Cathedral was a temple dedicated to Apollo, during the period that the city was inhabited by the Legionaries.
“I have heard it,” he says, “from a scholar residing in the city, when I was there, anno 1653, that there was a temple dedicated to Apollo in olden time, in a place adjoining to the Cathedral Church, by the constant tradition of the learned.”
We are not aware that the supposition is capable of being verified by any existing record; but when we take into consideration the policy generally pursued by the Romans in subjugating a country, it seems to be countenanced by strong probability. With this form of Paganism, however, there came zealous men, of true apostolic stamp, whose earnest inculcation of vital principles accelerated the progress of a better faith. So conspicuous had that progress become early in the third century, that Tertullian, in his work written against the Jews, A.D. 209, states that “even those places in Britain hitherto inaccessible to the Roman arms, have been subdued by the gospel of Christ.”
The ground on which the temple of Apollo once stood (if the tradition be trustworthy) was occupied, early in the second century, by a monastery dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, “which was the mother church and burial place to all Chester, and seven miles about Chester, and so continued for the space of three hundred years and more.” To this monastery (according to Bradshaw the monk) the relics of St. Werburgh, daughter of Wulphere, King of Mercia, were removed from Hanbury in 875, for fear of an incursion of the Danes, and here re-buried with great pomp; a ceremony usually called “the translation of the body.” The same author informs us that the army of Griffin, King of Wales, was stricken with blindness for their sacrilegious boldness, in attempting to disturb these sainted remains. This, and other reputed miracles of St. Werburgh, appear to have induced the celebrated Ethelfleda, Countess of Mercia, to translate the monastery of St. Peter and St. Paul to the centre of the city, and to erect on its site a convent or monastery of secular nuns, dedicated to St. Werburgh and St. Oswald. Earl Leofric was a great benefactor to this foundation, having repaired its decayed buildings at his own expense: and in 1093, when (says Rodolphus Glaber) “princes strove à vie that cathedral churches and minsters should be erected in a more decent and seemly form, and when Christendom roused, as it were, herself, and, casting away her old habiliments, did put on every where the bright and white robe of the churches.” Hugh Lupus expelled the canons secular, and laid the foundation of a magnificent building, the remains of which are still existing; it was established by him as an Abbey of Benedictine Monks from Bec in Normandy, to pray (as the foundation charter expresses it) “for the soul of William their King, and those of King William his most noble father, his mother Queen Maud, his brothers and sisters, King Edward the Confessor, themselves the founders, and those of their fathers, mothers, antecessors, heirs, parents, and barons, and of all Christians as well living as deceased.” The confirmation charter by the second Ranulf (surnamed De Gernon or Gernons), Earl of Chester, in which the grant of Hugh Lupus is recapitulated, is in the possession of the Marquis of Westminster, by whose kindness this most important and interesting instrument has been lent for the use of the Archæological Association, and has been published in the pages of their journal. It is most beautifully written in columns or pages, for the facility of reading. The charter occupies nine, and commences with the copy of the original grant of “Hugone Cestreasi comite, anno ab incarnatione Domini millesimo nonugesimo” to the Abbey of St. Werburgh, which was witnessed by Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, followed by the grants of several of the other witnesses, and it concludes by the confirmation of them all by the second Ranulf: (Ego secundus Ranulfus comes “Cestrie concedo et confirmo hos omnibus donationes quos mei antecessores vel barones eor’m dederunt,”) with additional grants from himself. Anselm, Abbot of Bec, afterward Archbishop of Canterbury, regulated the new foundation, and appointed Richard, his chaplain, the first abbot.
Hugh Lupus, following the example of most of his predecessors, lived a life of the wildest luxury and rapine. At length, falling sick from the consequence of his excesses, and age and disease coming on, the old hardened soldier was struck with remorse; and—an expiation common enough in those days—the great Hugh Lupus took the cowl, retired in the last state of disease into the monastery, and in three days was no more.
The Abbey was so richly endowed by the founder and his successors, that at the dissolution its revenues amounted to no less a sum than £1,073 17s. 7d. per annum.
On the general dissolution of the monasteries, Chester was erected into an independent bishopric, and St. Werburgh’s was converted into a Cathedral Church, which it has ever since remained. It was dedicated to Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary; and a dean and six prebendaries installed in it, Thomas Clarke, the last abbot, being appointed the first dean.
The principal portions of this venerable pile have been erected at different periods from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, although there are some parts which bear indubitable marks of a much earlier origin; the greater part, perhaps, belongs to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, when the richly decorated style of Gothic architecture was at its zenith in this country. The Cathedral, from whatever side it is viewed, presents a massive appearance, and exhibits a pleasing variety of styles, in accordance with the taste of different ages. Mr. Asphitel has said that he found beauties which grew on him more and more at every visit. The Norman remains are extremely fine—there is work of all kinds of great beauty—and there are the most curious and instructive transitions from style to style that perhaps were ever contained in one building.
Its general style may be termed the Norman-Gothic. It has been generally supposed that there are also some remaining specimens of the Saxon; but Mr. Asphitel, in an interesting lecture delivered before the British Archæological Association, stated that he could not, from the most minute research, discover any portion of the Saxon church; he considered it possible there might be some portions in the foundations, but none were visible.
The west front is said to have been the work of Abbot Ripley, who was appointed to the abbacy in 1485. It is now in an unfinished state, and it seems more than probable that there was an intention to form two western towers. The foundation of them was laid with much ceremony by Abbot Birchensaw in 1508, the Mayor being then present; but the project was abandoned, most likely for want of funds: had the original design been executed, says Winkle, it would not have been very imposing. The west entrance is a singular and beautiful composition: the door itself is a Tudor arch, enclosed within a square head; the spandrils are filled with rich and elegant foliations; the hollow moulding on the top is deep and broad, and filled with a row of angels, half-lengths; all this is recessed within another Tudor arch, under another square head, with plain spandrils of ordinary panelling. On each side of the door are four niches, with their usual accompaniments of crocketted canopies, pinnacles, and pendants; and instead of brackets, the statues formerly stood on pedestals, with good bases and capitals. Above this entrance is the great western window of the nave, deeply and richly recessed; it is of eight lights, with elaborate tracery of the kind most common in the latest age of the pointed style. The arch of the window is much depressed, and has above it a flowing crocketted canopy; the gable has no parapet, but is finished off with a simple coping; the flanking-turrets are octagonal, and have belts of panelled tracery and embattled parapets. Leaving the west front, and turning to the south, a rich and deep porch presents itself behind the Consistory Court; the porch is flanked by buttresses, which once had pinnacles. The entrance is under a Tudor arch within a square head, the spandrils richly panelled; over the square head is a broad belt of quatrefoil panelling; above that a hollow moulding, adorned with the Tudor flower; above this are two flat-headed windows of two lights each, with a deep niche between them, resting on a projecting bracket; the statue is of course gone, but the projecting and richly decorated canopy remains, on both sides of which the wall above is adorned with two rows of panelling; the open embattled parapet, which once crowned the whole, has disappeared. The south side of the nave and its aisle is plain, but not without dignity; the windows are all pointed, and of perpendicular character; those of the aisle have straight canopies, with projecting buttresses between, which still have niches, and once had both pinnacles and statues; the aisle has no parapet. The windows of the clerestory are unusually large and lofty, and their canopies are flowing in form, but perfectly plain and without finials; they have no buttresses between them, and the parapet is very shallow and quite plain.
The next feature of the Cathedral is a very singular one, and, indeed, unique—viz., the south wing of the transept. It is no uncommon case to find the two portions of the transept unlike each other in some respects; but in no other instance are they so perfectly dissimilar as at Chester. Here the south wing is nearly as long as the nave, and of equal length with the choir, and considerably broader than either, having, like them, aisles on both sides; while the north, which probably stands on the original foundations, has no aisles, is very short, and only just the breadth of one side of the central tower. The east and west faces of this south portion of the transept are nearly similar. The aisles have no parapet; the windows are pointed, of four lights each, with late decorated tracery and small intervening buttresses. The clerestory has a parapet similar to that of the nave; the windows are pointed, large, and lofty, with perpendicular tracery and two transoms. The south front of this transept, flat at top, is flanked with square embattled turrets and buttresses, and has a large window of the perpendicular age, filling up nearly all the space between them. The south face of the aisles, on each side, have pointed windows and sloping tops, without parapet, but flanked by double buttresses at the external angles, without pinnacles.
The south face of the choir, with its aisle, is in nearly all respects similar to the south portion of the transept; but the aisle is lengthened out beyond the choir, and becomes the side aisle of the Lady Chapel, and has an octangular turret near the east end, with embattled parapet, and beyond it a plain, heavy, clumsy buttress; the sloping parapet of the east face of this aisle meets at the top the flat plain parapet of the most eastern compartment of the Lady Chapel, which projects beyond the aisle to that extent. The windows of the Lady Chapel are all pointed, and of good perpendicular character; the projecting portion has double buttresses at the external angles, and the eastern face has a low gable point. This chapel is very little higher than the side aisles of the choir, the east face of which is seen over it, with a large lofty pointed window, with perpendicular tracery and several transoms, flanked with octagonal turrets engaged, and terminated with something like domes of Elizabethan architecture. The parapet of this east face of the choir is flat. The north side of the Lady Chapel is similar to the south; the choir and its aisles exhibit features of an early English character on this side, but the Chapter-room, which is a small building, of an oblong form, and also of early English architecture, conceals a considerable portion. Over its vestibule and the arched passage leading into the east walk of the cloister, is seen the large window in the north front of the transept; the arch is much depressed, the tracery very common and plain, and it has two transoms; the walls of this wing of the transept are very plain, flat at top, and no parapet. The whole north side of the nave can be seen only from the cloister-yard. The south walk of the cloister is gone, and in the wall of the aisle, below the windows, are still seen several enriched semicircular arches resting on short cylindrical columns, evidently belonging to the original church of Hugh Lupus. The windows of the aisle are Tudor arched, with the ordinary tracery of this period; but, owing to the cloister once existing beneath, are necessarily curtailed of half their due length: there is a thin, flat buttress between each; the aisle has no parapet. The clerestory is lofty, and the windows pointed, and not so much depressed as those in the aisle beneath: they are not so lofty as those in the south side, nor have they any canopies. There is a thin buttress between each, without pinnacles, and the parapet is quite plain, but not so shallow as that on the south side.
The central tower is perhaps the best external feature of this Cathedral, it is indeed only of one story above the roof ridge, but it is loftier than such towers usually are; in each face of it are two pointed windows, divided down the middle with a single mullion, with a quatrefoil at the top, and all of them having flowing crocketted canopies with finials. At each of the four angles of the tower is an octagonal turret engaged, all of which, like the tower itself, are terminated with an embattled parapet.
On entering the interior, through the west doorway into the nave, “some disappointment and regret,” says the same authority, “cannot but be felt: here is no vaulted roof, but a flat ceiling of wood, resting on brackets of the same material, slightly arched, which gives the nave the appearance of having less elevation than it really possesses; for the naves of many much more magnificent cathedrals are not so lofty as this by several feet, but by being vaulted, their apparent height is increased.” The stone vaulting appears to have been actually commenced, and was probably interrupted by the dissolution: it is to be regretted that the work was not completed, as it would have given to the nave a much more imposing effect. The north wall of the nave, to the height of the windows, is Norman work, and contains, on the side of the cloisters, six tombs, where, as it appears from an old MS. written on the back of an old charter, now in the British Museum, the early Norman Abbots are interred. Under a wide arch sunk in the south wall, which, from the ornaments attached to the pillar near it, appears part of the original building, is a coffin-shaped stone, with a cross fleury on the lid, over the remains of some abbot. Nearly opposite to this is an altar tomb, the sides of which are ornamented with Gothic niches, with trefoil heads, and with quatrefoils set alternately, the quatrefoils being also alternately filled with roses and leopards’ heads; the lid slides, and discloses the lead coffin, a part of which has been cut away; on the lid is a plain coffin-shaped stone. It is highly probable that this tomb contains the remains of one of the later abbots.
The pillars of the nave are clustered, and have rich bases and foliated capitals, and the arches are pointed. In this part of the Cathedral and the north transept are several monuments worthy the attention of visitors. A pyramidical monument by Nollekens, representing a female figure resting on a rock, against which is placed a broken anchor; erected by Captain John Matthews, R.N., to the memory of his wife. One, in white marble, by Banks, representing the Genius of History weeping over an urn, having three vols., inscribed ‘Longinus,’ ‘Thucydides,’ ‘Zenophon,’ placed by it; erected to the memory of Dean Swift, the learned translator of those works. One to the memory of Mrs. Barbara Dod, erected by the minor canons. One to Captain John William Buchanan, of the 16th Light Dragoons, slain at the battle of Waterloo. One of Cavalier Sir William Mainwaring, killed at Chester during the great civil war, 1644. Against the north wall a handsome monument, enclosing a bust of Sir J. G. Egerton, Bart., erected by subscriptions of the citizens of Chester, in memory of their honourable and independent representative. One in memory of Major Thomas Hilton, who died at Montmeir, in the Burmese empire, 2nd February, 1829. One to Augusta, the wife of the Rev. James Slade, Canon of the Cathedral, and daughter of Bishop Law. One of Captain John Moor Napier, who died of Asiatic cholera, in Scinde, July 7th, 1846, aged 28 years: this monument was executed by Westmacott; the inscription was written by his uncle, the gallant Sir Charles Napier, and is as follows:—
“The tomb is no record of high lineage;
His may be traced by his name.
His race was one of soldiers:
Among soldiers he lived, among them he died,
A soldier, falling where numbers fell with him,
In a barbarous land.
Yet there died none more generous,
More daring, more gifted, more religious.
On his early grave
Fell the tears of stern and hardy men,
As his had fallen on the grave of others.”“To the memory of their comrade, the officers of the General Staff in Scinde erect this cenotaph.”—[The above was executed by Westmacott.]
In the north transept is a piece of very fine tapestry, executed after one of the cartoons of Raphael, representing the history of Elymas the sorcerer. Wright, in his travels through France and Italy, expresses his opinion that this is much superior to any of the tapestry which he saw in the Vatican. There is also a well-executed stone monument to Roger Barnston, Esq.; and a tablet in memory of good Chancellor Peploe. A beautifully executed marble monument has lately been placed on the wall of the north transept to the memory of Colonel T. Graham Egerton, of the 77th Regiment, who fell at the siege of Sebastopol, in April, 1855.
The choir well merits the attention of every visitor of taste. From the organ-loft to the Bishop’s throne, the sides are ornamented with rich spiral tabernacle work, underneath which are massive and highly ornamented stalls. The choir is separated from the nave and broad aisle by a Gothic stone screen; there are five pointed arches on each side; above them is an arcade of pointed arches, resting on slender shafts, and above it are the clerestory windows. The pavement of the choir is of black and white marble. At the west end of it are four stalls on each side of the entrance, and there are twenty others on each side of the choir; over these are rich canopies, with pinnacles and pendants in great profusion. Above the stalls on the right hand, opposite the pulpit, is the Bishop’s throne, which formerly stood at the east end in St. Mary’s Chapel, and is said to have been the shrine of St. Werburgh, or, as suggested by Pennant, the pedestal on which originally stood the real shrine which contained the sacred relics. At the Reformation it was removed to its present position, and converted into a throne for the Bishop. It is a rich specimen of Gothic architecture, decorated with carved work, and embellished with a range of thirty curious small statues, variously habited, holding scrolls in their hands, and originally inscribed with their names, but now defaced. Dr. Cowper published, in 1799, an elaborate history of these figures, and was of opinion that they represented kings and saints of the royal Mercian line, ancestors or relations of St. Werburgh. Very great improvements have recently been effected within the choir. The restoration of the Bishop’s throne was effected by the munificence of the Rev. Canon Slade, as an obituary testimonial to his late father-in-law, Bishop Law, in memory of whom the following incription, engraven upon a brass plate, is affixed to the throne:—
In gloriam Dei hanc cathedram reficiendam curabit A.D. MDCCCXLVI. Jacobus Slade, A.M. hujus ecclesiae Canonicus. Recnon in piam memoriam Georgii Henrici Law, S.T.D. per xii. annos Episcopi Testriensis, dein Bathoniensis.
At the back of the throne is a magnificent stone screen, the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The altar screen was presented by the Rev. Peploe Hamilton, of Hoole, near Chester; the chair within the communion table by the Rev. Canon Blomfield; the new Bible desk, of carved oak in the form of an eagle, by the Rev. Chancellor Raikes; the new stone pulpit, from a beautiful design by Mr. Hussey, was the liberal gift of Sir Edward S. Walker, of Chester. Towards the restoration of the Cathedral, Her Majesty the Queen also contributed a donation of £105, in the name of the Prince of Wales as Earl of Chester.
Under the east window is an arch opening to the Lady Chapel, which consists of a middle and two side aisles, the stone vaulting of which is adorned with richly carved key-stones. The side aisles are divided from the middle portion of two arches, sprung from a massive pier on each side, apparently part of the original building, cut down and crusted over with clusters of light pillars, terminated in elegant pointed arches, with quatrefoils inserted in the mouldings. On the north side of the chancel, which extends beyond the side aisles, are two elegant pointed arches: one contains two piscinas; the other was apparently a seat for the officiating priest; another pointed arch appears also on the opposite side.
The cloisters are on the north side of the Church, and form a quadrangle of 110 feet square. Originally there were four walks, but the south walk is destroyed. The general style of the cloisters is that of the fifteenth century, with carved cornice key-stones at the intersections of the vaulting; the arches of the windows are depressed. A lavatory projects from the west walk of the cloisters, and did extend along the south walk; over the east walk was a dormitory, which was some time ago destroyed, much to the injury of the appearance of these venerable conventual ruins. It is obvious that the present cloisters are only a restoration of an earlier one. In the east walk of the cloisters is the entrance into the Chapter House. The stone vaulting rests in clusters of slender shafts, with foliated capitals; notwithstanding the soft nature of the stone, the carving is all in a good state of preservation. The Chapter House was built in the beginning of the twelfth century, by Randle, Earl of Chester, who removed hither, from the churchyard, the body of his uncle, Hugh Lupus, whose remains were found enclosed in a stone coffin in 1723, by persons employed in digging in the Chapter House. The skull and bones were entire, and lay in their proper position, enveloped in an ox-hide. On the breast was a piece of cloth, the texture of which could not be ascertained. Mr. Asphitel considers the Chapter House, with its singularly tasteful vestibule, to be the finest in the kingdom.
We now direct the visitor’s attention to a portion of the Norman edifice, which has of late excited very great interest, the Promptuarium, lately excavated: “the chamber is a sort of gallery or cloister on the ground floor, about ninety feet long by forty feet wide, traversed in the centre by a row of pillars (with one exception cylindrical), which divide it into six double bays, from which pillars, and four corresponding ones at each side, spring the intersecting arches by which the building is vaulted. The side pillars are as entirely Norman in their character as the centre ones, being simply the square pier, on each face of which is the pilaster attached; the groining of the roof is without the finish of ribs at the joints, a finish characteristic of a later period. The chamber, which has at present only a borrowed light from the cloisters on the east, was originally lighted from the west side by a window in each bay, except the second bay from the south end, in which was a principal entrance. This doorway and the windows are now all choked up by the adjoining garden. On the same side, and at the north end, is a very large chimney and fire-place. A glance at the groining and arches at the north end informing us that the chamber did formerly end here, I was induced to think, by this situation of the fire-place, that its length was originally very much greater. I have since found the termination of the chamber in the cellars of the present Registry, where the groining is supported by corbels, which show that the vaults extended there, but no further. One double bay, therefore, added to the present remains, gives us the entire length of the building—about 105 feet. In this last bay, on the east side, is a principal doorway (four inches wider than the one on the west side), leading towards the Refectory. On the east side also, and near the north end, is a postern from the cloisters and a spiral staircase, partly constructed in the thickness of the wall, leading to the chamber above, of which there are now no remains. Two small archways at opposite sides of the chamber, precisely similar in form and size, and rising from beneath the level of the floor, seemed to indicate a subterranean passage connecting them. An excavation round each has, however, discovered no channel between them. In considering the character and situation of this vaulted chamber, it should be borne in mind, that though now apparently subterranean, it is only so with reference to the west side, the level of the floor being four feet above the level of the nave of the Cathedral. The ground, which now rises above it on the west side, is all made ground of late date, belonging to the Palace, the original level of which is identical with this chamber, as shown by the area round the present Palace kitchens, and by those apartments belonging to the Abbot’s residence, which yet remain.” [75]
Mr. Asphitel, in his able lecture on Chester Cathedral, bestowed the name of Promptuarium on this Norman cloister: he says—“These are vaulted apartments of early Norman work, and are described in the charter of Henry Eighth, by which he divides the properties between the Bishop and Dean, promptuaria et pannaria, the former derived from a word denoting a butler or steward, probably a buttery; and the latter, from pannus, a cloth, probably the place for clothing.”
Mr. Ayrton, in an able paper on the Norman remains of the Cathedral, read before the Chester Archæological Association, entered into an elaborate inquiry on the subject, stating his reasons for concluding that this is not a Promptuarium, but, in his opinion, a spacious Hall, where the splendid hospitality of the Abbots was displayed to strangers, friends, and dependents.
There is a vaulted passage at the south end of the Promptuarium, leading from the Abbot’s apartments to the Cathedral: the arches are circular, the groining is ribbed with elliptical mouldings; these mouldings stamp a semi-Norman character on the work, being almost a transition to the early English style.
“Two beautiful Norman doorways gave ingress and egress from the passage, and still remain, though the one which opened to the present west cloister is closed, and sadly disfigured by the alterations of the sixteenth century. The other doorway, to the west, is yet perfect, excepting the shafts of the pillars, which are gone. At the south end of the east cloister, and forming the present entrance from that cloister to the Cathedral, is a Norman doorway of about the same date as the arcade adjoining it. The architrave is very ornate, bearing the billet ornaments, accompanied by a bead which runs between the mouldings; the capitals of the pilasters are foliated, and identical with those already noticed in the Norman doorway of the vaulted passage.”
The dimensions of the Cathedral are as follows:—Length from east to west, 350 feet; nave, 160; choir, 125; Lady Chapel, 65; transept from north to south, 180; breadth of nave, choir, and aisles, 74½ feet; south wing of transept, 80 feet square; height of nave and choir, 78 feet; tower, 127; Lady Chapel, 33; north wing of transept, 39 feet broad.
The following is a list of the Bishops, from the foundation of the see, in 1541, to the present date:—
| John Bird | 1541 |
| George Cotes | 1554 |
| Cuthbert Scott | 1555 |
| William Downham | 1561 |
| William Chadderton | 1579 |
| Hugh Bellot | 1595 |
| Richard Vaughan | 1595 |
| George Lloyd | 1604 |
| Gerard Massie | 1615 |
| Thomas Moreton | 1616 |
| John Bridgeman | 1618 |
| Brian Walton | 1660 |
| Henry Ferne | 1662 |
| George Hall | 1662 |
| John Wilkins | 1668 |
| John Pearson | 1672 |
| Thomas Cartwright | 1688 |
| Nicholas Stratford | 1689 |
| William Dawes | 1707 |
| Francis Gastrell | 1714 |
| Samuel Peploe | 1716 |
| Edmund Keene | 1752 |
| William Markham | 1771 |
| Beilby Porteus | 1777 |
| William Cleaver | 1788 |
| H. W. Majendie | 1800 |
| E. B. Sparke | 1810 |
| G. H. Law | 1812 |
| C. J. Blomfield | 1824 |
| J. B. Sumner | 1828 |
| J. Graham | 1848 |
List of Deans of Chester Cathedral, from its formation to the present time:—
| Thomas Clarke | 1541 |
| Henry Mann | 1542 |
| William Cliff | 1547 |
| Richard Walker | 1558 |
| John Pears | 1567 |
| R. Langworth | 1571 |
| R. Dorset | 1579 |
| Thomas Modesley | 1580 |
| John Rutter | 1589 |
| Wm. Barlow | 1602 |
| Henry Parry | 1605 |
| Thomas Mallory | 1607 |
| Wm. Nicholls | 1644 |
| Henry Bridgman | 1660 |
| James Arderne | 1682 |
| Lawrence Fogg | 1691 |
| Walter Offley | 1718 |
| Thomas Allen | 1721 |
| Thomas Brooke | 1733 |
| William Smith | 1758 |
| George Cotton | 1780 |
| Hugh Cholmondeley | 1806 |
| Robert Hodgson | 1815 |
| Peter Vaughan | 1820 |
| Edmund Coplestone | 1826 |
| Henry Philpotts | 1828 |
| George Davys | 1830 |
| F. Anson | 1839 |
Bishop—J. Graham, D.D.
Dean—F. Anson, D.D.
Archdeacons.
Ven. Isaac Wood, Middlewich
Ven. J. Jones, Liverpool.
Canons.
| Rev. J. Slade, M.A. | Rev. T. Eaton, M.A. |
| Rev. G. B. Blomfield, M.A. | Rev. Temple Hillyard, M.A. |
Minor Canons.
| W. Harrison, M.A. | R. M. Smith, M.A. |
| F. E. Thurland, M.A. | H. Venables, M.A., Precentor. |
Honorary Canons.
| Rev. C. A. Thurlow, M.A. | Rev. Hugh Stowell, M.A. |
| Rev. Hugh McNeile, D.D. | Rev. W. Cooke, M.A. |
Organist—Mr. Gunton.
The hours of service are—Week-day, morning, 7 and 10; afternoon, 4. Sunday, morning, 11; afternoon, 4 o’clock. During the winter months the service begins at 3 in the afternoon.
Through the indefatigable energy of Dr. Anson, the present Dean, many most important improvements have been introduced into the interior of this noble edifice, which have added very much to its decoration and general effect. In 1843, the munificent sum of £4,000 was contributed for the purpose of giving effect to the praiseworthy object of restoring some portion of the ancient beauties of the Cathedral. A new organ has been erected, of great power and richness of tone, the top of which is carved with tabernacle work, in unison with that of the choir. The old pews, which were sadly out of keeping with the rich Gothic woodwork of the stalls, have been removed, and the choir has been new seated in the Gothic style.
The whole of the choir has been vaulted, which has greatly contributed to its improved appearance. A great number of beautiful stained-glass windows, principally the gifts of private families as obituary memorials, have been introduced since the commencement of the improvements in 1843. The large window of stained glass, at the west end, was presented by Mrs. Hamilton, of Hoole, by whose liberality a splendid restoration of the Lady Chapel has been effected.
The interior of the Cathedral excites a general feeling of admiration, which the exterior fails to realize.