JOHN GOWER'S MONUMENT.
From an engraving in the Crowle-Pennant Collection, British Museum, 1801.[ToList]
It is placed in an elegant quintuplet arcading, the outer arches of which are blind, leaving the central arches for the three lancets composing the window. It contains the Crucifixion in the central light, with the attendant figures of St. John and the Blessed Virgin at the sides, the whole thus forming a pictorial substitute for the rood-screen that formerly stood before the choir. The design of this window is also by Mr. Kempe, but it shows a certain departure from his characteristic style in that it is more of a picture and less of a kaleidoscope than most of his other windows. In colouring and accuracy of delineation (anatomical and otherwise) it is perhaps more modern and less mediaeval in treatment than we should be led to expect from the artist's better known manner. The predominant tone is blue, relieved by a delicate base and canopy of amber, and the whole composition is full of the devotional spirit of the old masters in stained glass, though obviously subject to modern influences. A complete contrast, in subject and in colouring, is presented in the great West Window, by Mr. Henry Holiday. This window also consists of three lancet lights, which, though considerably longer than those at the east end, scarcely afford room for the many details of the extensive theme that has been chosen. It is a combination of the six "Days" of Creation with the Benedicite omnia opera as a hymn of praise from created nature. In some respects the treatment of the subject suggests the influence of the school that we associate with the names of Burne-Jones, William Morris, and Rossetti. This gift to the Cathedral came from Mr. T.H. Withers. The space beneath the west window, usually occupied by a porch, is lined with two series of arched panels, seven in the higher row, nine in the lower. The latter are less acutely pointed, and much shorter, than the others, and also differ from them in that the shafts are of Purbeck marble.
On the inner south-west wall there are some extremely interesting fragments of the ancient thirteenth-century wall arcade. The peculiar construction can be inferred from the three arches that are left, viz., that in every bay one of the three arches rested on a corbel, while the others were supported by shafts, with moulded bases and foliated capitals; a precedent which has been followed in the new arcading on the west wall.
The South Aisle.—The window in the western wall contains a figure of St. Swithun, in cope and mitre. He is here commemorated as having converted the original "House of Sisters" into a College of Priests, and, as it were, to balance the other conversion referred to in the companion window in the north aisle.
Photo. G.P. Heisch.
THE CHOIR FROM THE NAVE.[ToList]
Above the Early English arcading the westernmost bay contains a window commemorating St. Paulinus. After the defeat of his patron, Edwin, at the battle of Hatfield the saint fled from Northumbria into Kent (circa 633), where he acted as Bishop of Rochester till his death in 644. The connection of St. Saviour's with the See of Rochester, though quite modern and now severed, is fittingly indicated by this memorial. This extreme bay of the aisle constitutes the Baptistery, and the scene chosen for illustration from the life of St. Paulinus represents him in the act of baptizing a large number of people in a river.[23]
The Font stands below this window in its proper place near the entrance. There was a time in the history of the English Church when the symbolism of position was thought of less account than the administration of the initial Sacrament "in the presence of all the congregation" (see the Rubric of 1549, repeated in Elizabeth's Prayer Book), an object supposed to be defeated where the Baptistery was at the west end, and enclosed, as was frequently the case. The font was consequently removed in many churches towards the east, and at St. Saviour's a special pew was provided near to it for the sponsors. It was known as the "Christening Pew," but has long since gone the way of the other incongruous wooden fittings. The new font, in the old position, was presented by Mrs. Barrow in memory of her husband, and designed by Mr. G.F. Bodley. It is made of Verde di Prato marble, octagonal in shape, and rests upon a circular base surrounded by detached pillars, all of the same material. The faces of the octagon are concave, and without decoration, except that towards the east, which displays a star in a sunk gilded panel.