CONJECTURAL PLAN OF THE CRYPT AND PRESBYTERY IN THE TIME OF WILFRID, BY MR. J. T. MICKLETHWAITE, V.P.S.A.
(By permission of the Archæological Institute.)
There remains the question whether this crypt was or was not under the church of the monastery. In Leland’s description of Ripon,[71] “the Old Abbay of Ripon” is certainly represented as having stood on the site which in Leland’s time was occupied by the Lady-kirk, adjacent, that is, to the west side of the street now called St. Mary-gate;[72] and it has been argued with great ability[73] (on the supposition that “the Old Abbay” means the Saxon Monastery) that this crypt, though almost certainly Wilfrid’s, was under a second church outside the monastery wall.[74] It is, however, still possible to suppose that the site in St. Mary-gate may have been that of the domestic buildings only, and that the monastery church stood over this crypt; or that “the Old Abbay” means the Scottish Monastery, the site of which was also probably not far from St. Mary-gate and may have been confused by Leland with that afterwards occupied by the Lady-kirk. Nor in any case, perhaps, are the mere statements of Leland a sufficient foundation for the argument that has been constructed upon them. Indeed, an elaborate confessio like this would hardly have been made for any church other than that of the monastery.
And if, after all, Wilfrid’s monastery church stood above this crypt, there arises a very interesting probability in connection with that part of the south passage which extends 15 feet westward from the doorway opening into the central chamber, namely that it was the original burial-place of Wilfrid himself, whom Bede declares to have been laid juxta altare ad austrum.[75]
The position of the crypt suggests the history of the ground plan of the Cathedral. After the destruction of Wilfrid’s Church, the site of his nave became that of the choir, and a nave was added westwards. Thus it came about that the crypt is now in the centre of the building. The central line or axis of the church in all stages of its history has probably always passed over this crypt.
The Aisles of the Nave.—As no aisles were contemplated when the west towers were built, the east side of the latter shows, of course, the same external decoration as the other sides. At the back of the surviving portions of the old nave there may be seen at the western end of either aisle one of Archbishop Roger’s buttresses, and at the eastern end a roughened surface where another buttress has been removed. The two buttresses that remain have a large set-off near the bottom, and they do not diminish as they ascend; while from their upper portions, which are visible outside the church, it would seem that they rose to the very top of the walls. At a little over 16 feet from the ground there remains upon them a portion of an external string-course, which is not on a level with any of those on the exterior of the transepts. Either aisle opens into the transept with a massive arch resembling those of the north main arcade, and has along the foot of its wall a bench table, from which rise the vaulting-shafts. But though preparation had been made for stone vaulting, the roofs were of wood until the last restoration, when Sir Gilbert Scott put up the present stone groining. The effect is good, but would have been better had there been ridge-ribs and bosses.
Watson, Ripon, Photo.]