H. C. Oakden, Photo.]
Joined on to the end of Bishop Burghersh's tomb is the lofty base of a portable shrine. It has three niches, two on the north side and one in the front, for worshippers to kneel in. Over the arches are shields bearing the Instruments of the Passion. It is apparently of the same date as the bishop's monument. The old pavement slab, worn away by the feet of those who visited the shrine, has been left in front. Opposite to the Burghersh monuments, just to the south of the great east window, is the monument of Nicholas de Cantelupe, third Baron Cantelupe, who died in 1355. This warrior was much
occupied in the wars of Edward II. and his successor, Edward III. He founded Cantelupe College, a college of priests to celebrate at the altar of St. Nicholas,[ 10] which stood near the tomb, at the eastern end of the south aisle. Baron Cantelupe's widow, Joan, enlarged the foundation, and probably built the Cantelupe chantry house in the minster yard. The effigy, in armour, is now headless and legless. Round the base, on the south and west sides, are shields of arms in panels, which shew traces of colouring. The monument has a lofty Gothic canopy. Just westward is buried Prior Wimbische (or Wymbysh, d. 1478) "in a fayre Highe Tombe." This monument, like the adjoining one, has shields of arms on the base, and a rich canopy above; the effigy is headless.
Near these tombs, at the south-east corner of the choir, is the monument to William Hilton, R.A. (b. 1786: d. 1839), and his brother-in-law, the famous water-colour painter, Peter De Wint (b. 1784: d. 1849). Hilton lived in a house, still standing, not far from the minster. His friend De Wint greatly loved the level plains of Lincolnshire and the surrounding country, and no artist was better able to depict its peculiar charms. The minster was one of his favourite subjects, and he painted it from several different points. The principal of these is a large water-colour in the South Kensington Museum, taken from near the castle gateway (see illustration, p. [33]). The ancient houses seen near the Exchequer Gate are an interesting record of old Lincoln. The marble relief on the west side of the monument is copied from this picture. On the front are three marble reliefs from pictures by Hilton—the Woman with the alabaster box of ointment, the Crucifixion and the Raising of Lazarus. They are signed "I. Forsyth sculp." The monument is of stone, with Gothic tracery, and has four kneeling angels at the corners. It was erected in the year 1864 by the bereaved sister and widow, Harriet De Wint.
Across the middle of the choir, just behind the reredos, is a row of four table-tombs. The first of these, to the north, was erected by Bishop Fuller soon after the Restoration, to mark the supposed burial-place of Bishop St. Hugh. The saint's shrine was in the centre of the choir, but it is supposed that when the shrine was melted down the body was removed and placed somewhere else, perhaps in this spot marked by Bishop Fuller. The tomb was opened in the year 1886, when the stone coffin was found to contain nothing but decaying vestments. In Leland's time, St. Hugh lay "in the Body of the Est Parte of the Chirche above the Highe Altare." The next monument is that of Bishop Fuller himself, who was summoned ex ultimâ Hiberniâ, as the epitaph records, to preside over the See of Lincoln. William Fuller was a chaplain of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, but, as a steady Royalist, lost his post during the war. At the Restoration he was rewarded with the deanery of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and became soon after Bishop of Limerick. In the year 1667 the bishopric of Lincoln was vacant. There were two candidates for the appointment, Dr. Glenham, Dean of Bristol, and Dr. Rainbow, Bishop of Carlisle. Fuller, hearing of this, suggested that the difficulty should be solved by his own transference from Limerick to Lincoln, and his suggestion was carried out. Pepys, a friend of Fuller's, mentions the fact with delight. The new bishop did his utmost to repair the injuries perpetrated during the Civil War. He restored many monuments, and was meditating other works in the same direction, when he died at Kensington, 23rd April 1675. The third monument is that of Bishop Gardiner, who presided over the see for ten years, dying in March 1704-5. This bishop, in a visitation of the diocese, found a bad state of affairs in several churches where the chancels were disused and left "in a more nasty condition than the meanest cottage," while the holy table was brought down into the mid-aisle. The Latin inscriptions on the monuments of Bishops Fuller and Gardiner are somewhat quaint. The last of the four monuments is that of Subdean Gardiner (d. 1731-2), and his only daughter Susanna, who died a year later. Near the monument of Bishop Gardiner is a slab in the pavement, marking the tomb of "Michael Honywood, D.D., who was grandchild and one of the 367 persons that Mary, the wife of Robert Honywood Esq., did see before she dyed lawfully descended from her." The elaborate stone monument in the third bay on the north side is in memory of Bishop Wordsworth (b. 1807: d. 1885), a nephew of the poet. The base is decorated with Gothic arcading, and has figures of the twelve apostles. On it rests the recumbent effigy of the bishop, clad in a cope and mitre. At his head are two angels, and a dragon lies beneath his feet. Above is a lofty and intricate Gothic canopy, with a figure of Christ in the centre.
A monument to Dean Butler (d. 1894) has recently been placed near the tomb of Subdean Gardiner. It is of alabaster and red marble, with a recumbent effigy of the dean, who is buried in the cloister garth.
In the next bay eastward is a slab which marks the burial-place of Oliver Sutton (bishop of the diocese from 1280 to 1299), by whom the cloisters were built. The slab, of Purbeck marble, was raised in the year 1889 by workmen engaged in repairing the pavement. Beneath was an oblong stone chest, lined with sheets of lead, enclosing the skeleton of the bishop, which lay in a mass of decaying vestments. On the right side of the skeleton a silver-gilt chalice was found, with a paten laid upon it, covered with a piece of fine linen. The chalice stands 4-½ in. high, with a broad shallow bowl, 4 in. in diameter. The foot is circular, of the same diameter as the bowl, and the knop projects ½ in. from the stem. It is entirely destitute of ornament. The paten is 4-¾ in. in diameter, with the Manus Dei in the act of benediction, issuing from conventional clouds. The large finger-ring of the bishop was also discovered. It is of pure gold, with a massive hoop; a large piece of rock-crystal is set in the oval bezel. These extremely interesting relics are preserved in the Cathedral Library, where are also the rings of Bishops Gravesend and Grosseteste. On the left side of the skeleton lay the mouldering remains of a wooden crozier, carved with leaf ornament. In the north aisle is buried Robert Dymoke (d. 1735), a member of the ancient family who held for nearly five centuries the office of King's Champion. It was the champion's duty to ride on his horse into Westminster Hall at the coronation banquet, and three times to challenge to combat any person who disputed the sovereign's title. A member of this family, Henry Dymoke, acted as champion at the coronation of George IV. (19th July 1821), the last occasion on which this custom was observed.
The Cloisters are reached by a doorway in the north wall of the eastern transept. The door is of oak, with some ancient wrought ironwork scrolls on the outer side. A narrow barred window over the door lights a small room anciently used as a watching-chamber. A long, narrow vestibule leads to the cloisters; it has a stone vault, rendered conspicuous by modern colouring; the bosses are carved with foliage and figures. The windows are filled with tracery similar to that in the cloisters, but they are glazed, as the cloister windows probably were originally.