Chester Cathedral
There is a porch, with a parvise over it, of Late Perpendicular design, with Tudor doorway, and battlements and pinnacles. The vault is modern; the windows of the aisle are Decorated, and those of the clerestory Perpendicular. This concludes our survey of the exterior, and we now enter the Cathedral and examine the principal features of the interior.
The Interior
Entering by the south porch or the west door, we examine first the Nave, which is small and not very striking in appearance. There are six bays, but the southern arcade is much earlier than the north. The piers consist of groups of attached shafts, with capitals of foliage. The southern arcade is Decorated, while the northern is later. The initials S.R. appear on the capital of the first northern pier. These letters stand for Simon Ripley, abbot (1485-1492). He probably built the upper part of the northern arcade, but the lower part is earlier. The clerestory was finished by Abbot Birkenshawe. The last bay eastward is more ornamented than the rest, and has cusped windows in the clerestory and tracery in the triforium opening. This is earlier, and is perhaps more ornate, because the choir included this bay. The roof is modern, and has a good specimen of fan-tracery vault. Some of the bosses are noticeable, and record the benefactors—the Prince of Wales, Duke of Westminster, and others.
Under the south tower is the Consistory Court, which is separated from the nave by some curious Jacobean stone-work, and contains some good woodwork of the same period. The south aisle has Decorated windows; the north aisle contains some interesting remains of the old Norman church. The north wall is entirely Norman. A Norman doorway leads to the cloisters at the east end, and at the west there are some remains of the Norman tower built by the nephew of the Conqueror. This is now the baptistry, which has a curious font, presented by Earl Egerton in 1885. The dean states that "it came from a ruined church in the Romagna, but it is not known whence it was brought to Venice. It is of a rectangular form, of white marble; and in all probability it was originally a village well-head in early Roman times, and afterwards taken by the Christians and carved with symbols for a font. The work is of the Ravenna type, of the sixth or seventh century." Near here is hung an ancient piece of tapestry, which has been in the Cathedral since 1668. The subject is Raphael's cartoon of Elymas the Sorcerer. The vault of this aisle is modern. The old wall is covered with rich mosaics, representing Abraham, Sarah, Moses, David, Elijah, and other Old Testament characters.
The North Transept is small, and is of the same size as the original church, there being no room for expansion on this side because of the monastic buildings. The lower walls are original Norman, the upper Late Norman. A Norman arch, now blocked up, leads to the canons' vestry on the east. The arches of the triforium are very early, and are rude and massive. On the west there are three Norman windows blocked up. Perpendicular tracery has been inserted in some of the windows. That of the north window is modern. The roof is Perpendicular, and on one of the bosses are the arms of Cardinal Wolsey. A conspicuous monument here is that of Bishop Pearson (1686), the author of the famous work on the Creed. The initiation of the erection of this magnificent memorial of one of the greatest of English divines was due to an American bishop, Dr. Whittingham of Maryland. The organ-loft is very rich, and the instrument itself is a very noble one, and replete with every modern contrivance. Crossing to the South Transept, which until 1881 was the Parish Church of St. Oswald, we notice its great size when compared with that on the north. It was undergoing restoration when we last visited the Cathedral. It has Decorated windows, and Perpendicular in the west aisle. The monuments in the naves and transepts do not possess many features of interest, and may be passed over.
