The Three Choirs: A Handbook to the Cathedrals of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester / A Complete Description of the Buildings, a History of Each Diocese and Biographical Notices of the Bishops

by R. J. King

Beyond this passage a view is obtained of the very plain west front, with its Norman portals and modern Decorated window.

XXII. On the north side of the cathedral, between the north porch and the west front, stood the “Carnerie,” or charnel-house chapel, built by Bishop William de Blois in the thirteenth century, and demolished in 1677. The crypt is still remaining, although no trace of it is visible above ground. The two transition Norman bays on this side had apparently shewn signs of weakness in the Perpendicular period, when the existing flying buttresses were erected. A third occurs between the two transepts, and close beyond it is the entrance to the crypt. [Plate IV.]

This is by no means the least interesting portion of the cathedral, since it is unquestionably the work of Wulfstan, and the only part of the building which can be assigned to him. In 1084 Wulfstan began the rebuilding of the monastery, and in 1094 he held a synod in the crypt of the cathedral, “which he had built from the foundation.” This was no doubt the existing crypt, which extends under the choir and its aisles. The main piers, which are solid masses of masonry, stand immediately below those in the choir. In the central division of the crypt, the vaulting is carried on three rows of pillars, with plain cushioned capitals and

THE CRYPT.

square abaci. There are also semi-detached shafts, of similar character, connected with the main piers on either side. In the aisles of the crypt the vaulting springs from semi-detached shafts on either side, and rests on a single row of columns in the centre. The east end of the central division (which remains entire) is apsidal; and the curious and intricate arrangement of the vaulting at this point (arising “from the complicated slopes which had to be adjusted there”) should be especially noticed. The aisles of the crypt terminate at present nearly at the bend of the apse, but they were originally carried quite round it, so as to form a circular procession-path. “There are but four apsidal crypts in England, which in chronological order are,—Winchester (1079), Worcester (1084), Gloucester (1089), and Canterbury (1096). In all these the side aisles run completely round the apse. Amongst them, Worcester is remarkable for the multiplicity of small pillars employed to sustain the vaults. The side aisle has a row of small pillars running along the centre, which are not employed in the other examples. The central portion has three rows of intermediate pillars, whereas Gloucester and Canterbury have but two rows, and Winchester but one. Yet the width of the central crypt of Worcester is less than the others. The increased number of pillars, by diminishing the span of the arches, and dividing the weight of the vault upon so many supports, enables the diameters of the pillars to be reduced, and gives greater lightness to the architecture. For the height of all these crypts is nearly the same; so that at Winchester and Gloucester the arches are flattened into ellipses, the pillars are low and squat, and the crypts appear as sepulchral vaults; while at Worcester, where the arches are semicircular and the pillars more slender, the crypt is a complex and beautiful temple[91].” It has been compared to the mosque (now the cathedral) of Cordova. We may re-people this crypt in imagination with the venerable abbots and priests of the synod convened by Wulfstan[92].

It is probable that small apsidal chapels flanked the crypt at its western termination, on both sides. On the south side such a chapel still exists, immediately under that which opens from the south aisle of the choir. The western, and part of the southern, wall of this chapel is Norman, as are the central pillars. The square eastern end, however, is Early English, of the same date as the chapel above it.

In the crypt are preserved the ancient north doors of the cathedral, removed about the year 1820. They date from the fourteenth century, and are coeval with Bishop Wakefield’s work. These doors are said to have been covered with human skin. Tradition asserts that a man who stole the sanctus-bell from the high altar was flayed alive for the sacrilege; and portions of skin, which the late Mr. Quekitt, Assistant Conservator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, declared to be human, remain fixed to the inside of the doors, under the iron-work.

The west doors of Rochester Cathedral, and the north doors of Hadstock and Copford Churches, both in Essex, were also covered with skins, said to have been those of piratical Northmen. The Rochester doors have entirely disappeared. Those of Copford have been removed, but portions of them are still in existence. The doors of Hadstock Church remain in place. Fragments of skin from Hadstock and Copford were examined by Mr. Quekitt, who pronounced it human in both cases[93].