Prior to the era of the Reformation, Chester abounded in religious institutions and edifices. We have already indicated this fact, in pointing out the localities where some of these religious buildings were situated. There are many convincing evidences, in the lower part of several houses in the principal streets, that they have been erected on the ruins of these ecclesiastical foundations. A remarkable instance in support of this supposition has recently been brought to light, upon clearing out an underground cellar behind the shop of Messrs. Powell and Edwards, cutlers, a little farther up in the street, when the remains of
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.