The Crypt is largely the work of Ernulf; and the diaper pattern and marble shaft by the door that leads from the S. E. corner of the Martyrdom, occur again in Rochester, where Ernulf became bishop (See page 34). A statue of Ernulf, intended for the west front of the Cathedral, is now in his Crypt.
The lower part of the Crypt ends towards the east in a semi-circular sweep of pillars. The end of the Crypt was built by Ernulf in 1096.
The old Benedictine Convent of Christ’s Church that St. Augustine established grew to be of the utmost importance. Portions of the massive wall by which they were surrounded still remain. The monastic buildings were numerous and extensive. The Prior, who had the right of wearing the mitre and carrying the episcopal staff, lived in great dignity. In a set of state chambers, known as the Meist’ Omers and belonging to the Prior, pilgrims of high rank were lodged. Somewhere in the vicinity of the Infirmary and its chapel was the miraculous Well of St. Thomas, which appeared in the Fourteenth Century. A passage and the Dark Entry, haunted by the ghost of Nell Cook of the Ingoldsby Legends, takes us into the Priors’, or Green Court, planted with linden trees, or limes, as the English call them. Here we find remains of the great Dormitory, the Guest House, built by Prior Goldstone, the Norman Almonry Gate and the Norman Staircase, the only construction of its kind existing. The Hall above was built in 1855.
The beautiful Cloisters, the work of Prior Chillenden (about 1400), are decorated on the roof with the arms of Kentish families. In the northwest corner is the doorway through which Becket passed to his doom.
“The cloister occupies the same space as the Norman cloister built by Lanfranc, but of the Norman work only a doorway remains at the north-east corner; there is some Early English arcading on the north side, but the present tracery and fan-worked roof belong to the end of the Fourteenth Century, when Archbishops Sudbury, Arundell and Courtenay, and Prior Chillenden (1390-1411) rebuilt the nave, the cloister and the chapter-house. The latter work cuts across the older in the most unceremonious way, as is seen especially in the square doorway by which we shall presently enter the Martyrdom, which cuts into a far more beautiful portal of the Decorated period. If we take our stand at the north-west corner of the cloister, from which a very fine view is gained of the Cathedral, especially about sunset, we may picture to ourselves the life of the monks. Above the north-eastern side of the cloister are the old Norman arches of their dormitory, now taken in to the new library; on the eastern side is the chapter-house, with its fine geometrical ceiling, where they transacted their business; on the south the great church, the services of which occupied so many hours of the day.”—(W. H. F.)
ROCHESTER
Dedication: St. Andrew. Formerly the Church of a Benedictine Monastery.
Special features: Door of Chapter-House; West doorway; Crypt.
After landing in 567, St. Augustine preached in Rochester, where Ethelbert soon founded the church of St. Andrew for secular canons. In 604, a bishop was appointed,—St. Augustine’s companion, Justus. Justus became Archbishop of Canterbury in 624, and was succeeded in Rochester by Paulinus; and he, in his turn, by the first English bishop, St. Ythamar (644-655). Rochester’s three chief saints in early days were, therefore, Justus, Paulinus and Ythamar.