The Antiquarian Magazine & Bibliographer; Vol. 4, July-Dec 1884

by Various

Thursday was devoted to a visit to Lindisfarne and Holy Island, a place associated, as every reader of “Marmion” knows, with the history of St. Cuthbert. Arriving at Lindisfarne, the party made their way to the ruins of the abbey, which stand in a meadow, not far from the water’s edge, a cliff rising between it and the sea and protecting it on the south. The Dean of Chester (Dr. Howson), in obedience to a very general request, gave a short biographical account of St. Aidan and a sketch of his apostolic labours in the propagation of the Gospel throughout the north. After the Norman Conquest, he said, Lindisfarne was again colonised by the faithful, and a Benedictine abbey founded in it, which lasted till the Reformation, when it was granted by the King to the Earl of Dunbar, and the work of its spoliation began; the lead being first stripped from its roof, it soon fell into decay, and is now roofless. As a ruin it is carefully preserved from further decay and injury by its present owner, Sir William Crossman. A tribute having been paid by the Rev. Mr. Lowe to the character of St. Cuthbert, the details of the existing fabric were explained seriatim by Mr. J. T. Micklethwait. Mr. Hodgson, a local antiquary, also commented briefly on the views of the last speaker. After luncheon, the parish church was visited; this adjoins the west front of the Abbey, and has some Norman and early English features, which were duly explained by the Vicar. The company afterwards walked to the castle at the eastern extremity of the island, and from this they had good views of Bamborough Castle and the range of the Cheviot Hills. Shortly before sunset the visitors returned to Newcastle.

On Friday the party set out upon a visit to Bamborough Castle and the adjoining Church. The former rises from the sea on a bluff and bold headland in a princely way, quite worthy of its ancient history, from the days when it was erected by the first Saxon King of Northumbria in the middle of the sixth century; and it is worthy of note that Anglo-Saxon chroniclers style it the royal mansion. Though not so magnificent in its interior, and covering less ground, it is scarcely, if at all, inferior to Alnwick, while its weird situation by the sea imparts to it a character all its own. Some persons compare it to Dover, but the comparison will scarcely hold good, except as to its keep. The castle owes much of its celebrity and of its comparatively perfect condition to Nathaniel Lord Crewe, the munificent benefactor of Oxford, who purchased the fabric, and left it in the hands of trustees to be devoted to charitable purposes, both local and general. It contains a fine library and gallery, schools for the middle classes, and appliances of all kinds for the relief of shipwrecked persons. The fabric of the castle was explained at considerable length by Mr. G. T. Clark, F.S.A., each successive portion being separately discussed, and the whole chronologically illustrated. After the keep had been examined attention was drawn to the outer bailey and other outworks of the castle, which, though of inferior masonry to the central portion, are curious in their structure, and possibly even earlier in date. The members of the congress afterwards visited the parish church of Bamborough, which is dedicated to St. Aidan, and made a pilgrimage to the grave of Grace Darling, whose heroism of nearly half a century ago in rescuing the passengers of the Forfarshire steamer is still remembered. In the evening the various sections resumed the reading of papers promised according to the programme. Mr. Charles J. Bates read the first half of an exhaustive paper on “The Peel Castles of Northumberland.” These were illustrated by photographs of the castles, their keeps, gateways, windows, buttresses, ramparts, battlements, and in many cases their heraldic bearings also, being shown by the help of magic lantern slides. The Rev. G. F. Brown also read an interesting paper on the fragments of sculptured stones which are to be seen at Monkwearmouth and Jarrow. Those members of the Congress who did not go to Bamborough Castle spent the day in examining the contents of the museum at the castle, the treasures of the Literary and Philosophical Society, the Free Public Library, &c.; but what attracted them most was the local museum, partly permanent and partly on loan, which had been set out for their benefit in the rooms above the Black Gate at the castle. Here the Mayors and Corporations of Morpeth, Newcastle, and Carlisle exhibited their regalia, and besides these there was displayed a collection of stone and bronze implements, lent by Canon Greenwell, a collection of ecclesiastical plate, mediæval lacework, illustrated missals, and other manuscripts, prints, &c.

Saturday was one of the most interesting days of the congress, it being devoted by a greater part of the members to a pilgrimage to Monkwearmouth and Jarrow, places well known as the abodes of the Venerable Bede, the earliest of our English Church historians. Before starting, however, the Institute held, as is its established custom, its annual meeting, over which Lord Percy presided in virtue of his office. The balance-sheet and other accounts, which happily showed an excess of income over expenditure, were read and passed, and so also was the annual report, which recorded the fact that during the past twelvemonth, thanks to a committee appointed for that purpose, the Institute had been regularly incorporated—that is, placed under the Incorporated Societies Act—whilst another committee had been engaged on reporting on its books, prints, papers, &c., with a view to their re-arrangement. The rest of the report was taken up with a record of the resignation of the much-respected secretary, Mr. Albert Hartshorne, and the appointment of Mr. Hellier Gosselin in his place; and this was followed by a short obituary notice of some of the members of the Institute who have died since the Lewes congress, including Mr. John Henry Parker, C.B., author of the “Glossary of Architecture,” and the best explorer and interpreter of Ancient Rome; the Rev. Henry Addington, the most learned of Bedfordshire antiquaries; the Rev. James Fuller Russell; and the Hon. William Owen Stanley, M.P. A few alterations in the rules of the Institute were proposed by the Rev. Mr. Spurrell, but were negatived, it being felt by the meeting that such matters had better be left in the hands of the council. It was agreed that next year’s congress should be held at Derby. At twelve o’clock a special train took the members of the congress to Monkwearmouth, where the ancient parish church was the object of a pilgrimage. The tower is by far the most interesting portion of the church, being not only undoubtedly Anglo-Saxon, but of very early Saxon date. It was built towards the end of the seventh century by Benedict Biscop, who employed French workmen on its details, and caused them to insert windows of glass, a luxury till then unknown in churches. Bede gives a long account of this church, and of the monastery adjoining it, which contained, it is said, 600 monks prior to its destruction by the Danes. Like Jarrow, the monastery, on its revival and restoration, became a cell subordinate to St. Cuthbert’s great church at Durham. The details of the structure of Monkwearmouth Church were described at considerable length by the Rev. Mr. Boyle, who pointed out some very curious dwarf figures on either side of the western doorway of the tower, which were repeated in the interior, and remarked on the quaint manner in which the square stones of the early Saxon churches had been worked into the upper part of the tower walls, which he thought might be as late as the Norman Conquest or a little after, though their leading features were distinctly Saxon. Mr. Johnson, a local architect under whom the recent restoration of the church has been effected, added a few remarks on other portions of the sacred fabric. It was proposed by Mr. Micklethwait that the stones should be protected by a lean-to building of wood placed round the lower portion of the tower, and this proposal seemed to gain general acceptance. Mr. Micklethwait also pointed out that, in all probability, adjoining the west front of the tower there was once a baptistery, of which he showed some traces still remaining. From Monkwearmouth the members of the congress made their way by special train to Jarrow, a place which has even still richer memories of the Venerable Bede, for here that historian spent the greater part of his life, in the monastery built by Benedict Biscop in A.D. 680—a few years after Monkwearmouth. The small hill on which the church of Jarrow stands was not surrounded then as it is now by tall smoky chimneys and by odoriferous chemical “works,” but was then, as we are told, green and lonely. It was, and is still, placed on a peninsula formed by a tributary of the Wear, and from the fact of Roman vessels and monuments being found here in plenty, it probably occupies the site of a Roman station. On the death of Benedict, Bede left Monkwearmouth and settled at Jarrow, where he became a monk, and here he passed the rest of his life in study and devotion. He wrote many other books, the “Life of St. Cuthbert,” for instance, but his opus magnum was that Ecclesiastical History which he undertook at the suggestion and request of Ceolwolph, King of Northumbria, a monarch who also ended his days as a monk in the Abbey of Jarrow. Bede died here in May, A.D. 735, and was buried in the church that he loved so well. The inscription on his tomb is recorded by William of Malmesbury. The church itself is very like that of Monkwearmouth in its general features, though its tower is central, and not placed at the western extremity, as is the case there. The chancel here is the oldest portion of the fabric, and the three tiny windows in the south wall, one of them circular are curious from their extreme simplicity and the depth of their “splay.” In the vestry here, as at Monkwearmouth, are very many incised slabs of early Saxon date, if not more primitive still. Inside the communion rails, on the southern side, stands an old oaken chair with a tall straight back, of very rude manufacture. This passes current in the neighbourhood as St. Bede’s Chair; but the tradition was shown to be baseless by the reverend lecturer, Mr. Boyle. The remains of the abbey on the south side of the church were next inspected; these, being of Norman design, were clearly not the buildings once tenanted by Bede, though they stand on the same site. One Norman chimney-piece was very much admired. The members of the congress then walked down to the river and took advantage of a steamer placed at their disposal by the Tyne River Commissioners to make a voyage down the river to Tynemouth, whence the party made their way to the ruins of the priory, on a bluff headland within the castle. A large portion of the western towers, some of the central tower, and the whole of the east end of the chancel are still standing, magnificent specimens of the Early English style, just as it began to pass into the Decorated, but all bare and roofless. The small “Lady-chapel” was repaired and decorated some quarter of a century ago by the late Duke of Northumberland. The time at their disposal was very short, so Mr. Johnson, who had undertaken to read a paper on the Priory within its walls, was obliged to confine himself to a very few historical and architectural remarks. Those of the party who eschewed the voyage down the Tyne went by invitation to Ravensworth Castle, where they were entertained by Lord Ravensworth, who showed them his family portraits and other treasures, and conducted them round the outer walls and towers of the older castle, which has given way to the present modern structure. In the evening there were meetings in the antiquarian and historical sections in the great room at the Castle, when a paper was read by Mr. Park Harrison, and another by Mr. H. S. Skipton, on “Streatlam Castle and its Heroes.” But the chief interest of the evening was centred in a lecture by Dr. Bruce on “The Northumberland Small Pipes and Scottish Bagpipes,” accompanied by musical illustrations. He was assisted by a choir of young ladies and gentlemen, who sang parts of “Chevy Chase” and other local ballads, and by two Northumberland pipers and a Scottish piper, who in turn treated the audience to various specimens of their national airs and marches.

On Sunday there were special musical services at the cathedral of St. Nicholas, where two appropriate sermons were preached, that in the morning by Canon Dixon, and that in the evening by the Rev. E. Venables, preceptor of Lincoln Cathedral. The visit of the archæologists to Newcastle was made the subject of a sermon also at High Mass at the Roman Catholic cathedral, by the Rev. Father Dunn, and the Rev. J. Hirst discoursed on “The Church and Archæology,” at St. Dominic’s Priory Church.

Monday was devoted to an examination of the Roman Wall and the Roman station of Cilurnum at Chollerford. Dr. Bruce, the venerable topographer and historiographer of the Roman Wall, acted as guide. The party proceeded on foot, about 120 strong, to Brunton House, in the grounds of which they inspected a turret of the wall which has been newly brought to light, and which doubtless was one of those which occurred at every mile along the line. Its peculiar construction was made the subject of some remarks by Dr. Bruce, who also explained the course which the wall took along the adjoining hillside down to the River Tyne. Following the course of the wall they came to the river, where they were gratified by the sight of one of the finest pieces of Roman masonry now to be seen in England, the foundations and piers of the bridge thrown by Hadrian or Agricola across the river. The stones are large and square, carefully fastened together with lead and iron, and morticed in a manner which would have done credit to the best builder of to-day. Dr. Bruce also pointed out some round stones which he considered to have been set upright, with chains or wooden bars between them, as guards on either side of the passage. Traces of the bases of the other piers are to be seen in the bed of the river and on the opposite bank. After luncheon the party continued to follow the course of the wall to the Limestone bank, where Dr. Bruce again explained the peculiarities of the masonry. From this they took in their way back Chesters, the seat of Mr. J. Clayton, which stands on the site of the old Cilurnum, and minutely inspected the excavations, which are so well known to antiquaries, and which have been so often described. They were shown the ground-plan of an entire Roman camp, four-sided and square, with its four gates, each protected with a double guard-house; even the doorways through which the Roman soldiers passed in and out could be discerned on a careful inspection. Not far off was the forum or market place; in it also every part could be traced, and so could the general’s residence adjoining the camp outside, and of course on the south side of the wall. Even the bath-house and the bake-house, with the hypocaust and the ovens in situ could be made out. The party were here directed to Mr. Clayton’s magnificent collection of Roman altars and other very ancient treasures which have been dug up under his orders at various times during the last half-century, and are arranged under the entrance portico of the house. Among these are several votive offerings to the Emperors, to the Deæ Matres, &c., and very many touching memorial tablets, implements of war and of agriculture, urns, amphoræ, and bones of men and animals. A similar collection in one of the summer-houses in the garden was also inspected. Here were seen two beautifully carved life-size figures representing respectively Cybele and Victory. A finely carved Corinthian capital and several small works were also explained by Dr. Bruce. Among the altars, Dr. Bruce drew particular attention to one which bore the inscription, “To the ancient gods.” To this altar Dr. Bruce referred in his address in opening the Antiquarian Section, and this, with others of a similar character, he believes is evidence that Christianity prevailed in the North of England during the Roman occupation. Several of the Romans, he believes, embraced the new religion, while others who refused to accept the new faith, raised altars to the “ancient,” or “old,” gods. Returning to Newcastle, the company in the evening divided themselves, part going to the room at the Castle, where the Rev. G. R. Hall discoursed on the “British Remains in Northumberland,” and Mr. R. Pullan on “Some Recent Discoveries at Lanuvium;” whilst the rest repaired to the rooms of the Literary and Philosophical Institute, where Mr. E. Walford took the chair in the Architectural section. Here Mr. C. J. Bates read the second and concluding part of his paper on “The Peel Castles of Northumberland,” which he illustrated by photographs thrown on a sheet by the help of a magic lantern. This was followed by an account by Mr. W. St. John Hope of the recent excavations which he has made at Alnwick Abbey, under the auspices of the Duke of Northumberland and Lord Percy, and by which he has succeeded in bringing to light the entire outline and ground-plan of a religious house, of which, with the exception of one single entrance gateway, every trace above ground had disappeared.

The first halting-place in Tuesday’s excursion was Prudhoe Castle, where the archæologists were met by Lord Percy and by Mr. G. Clark, by the latter of whom the fabric was described in detail. Mr. Clark pointed out seriatim the barbican and the entrance gate, of late Norman work, with the chapel over the latter. This was carefully inspected by all the party, though its access, being at the top of a steep staircase, was not of the easiest. Passing on, the party were shown the remains of the keep, the line of ramparts, with staircases in the walls, the inner and outer baily, and the castle ditch or moat, once full of water, but now nearly dry. Mr. Clark also explained the points in which the strength of the castle as a military fortress consisted, and spoke at considerable length about the De Vescis, the Umfravilles, and former lords. Many of the members present remarked on the obvious resemblance between the north front of Prudhoe Castle and the north terrace at Windsor Castle, with the level fields lying at its foot and reaching to the Tyne, just as the Home Park at Windsor reaches to the Thames. Upon leaving Prudhoe the party went on foot to the parish church of Ovingham, where the Norman architecture was examined. The other places which they visited were the church of St. Peter and St. Andrew, at Bywell, and the still more interesting church and peel tower at Corbridge, and, lastly, the border fortress of Aydon, a most remarkable and picturesque building, now used as a farmhouse. It was built at the close of the thirteenth century, and is an excellent specimen of a building which, like so many on the Scottish border, was at once a mansion and a fortified stronghold. The building is surrounded by an outer wall, pierced with arrow-holes, and enclosing three courtyards. The wall is surrounded on three sides by a shallow ditch, while on the fourth it is protected by a deep ravine. The building in former days was entered by an external staircase, which was covered from above. Over the chimneys in one of the rooms are the arms of the Carnabies, its former owners. From the walls of Aydon the party were able to obtain a fine view over the valley of Hexham; and they left the place with expressions of great regret that both Hexham Abbey and Dilston Castle had been obliged to be left out of the society’s programme. Corbridge, an old town, once large and flourishing, but now reduced to much smaller dimensions, and having only one church instead of four, was the last on the programme of the day. The small square peel tower in the market-place, formerly used as a gaol; the market cross, erected on the site of an older one by the Duke of Northumberland in 1814; and the fine old stone bridge across the Tyne, with its span of seven arches—the only bridge which resisted the great flood of 1771—were in turn inspected by the party, who then returned to Newcastle. In the evening the general concluding meeting was held in the Literary and Philosophical Institute.

On Wednesday the proceedings were brought to a close by visits to Brancepeth Castle and Durham, two as magnificent specimens of mediæval architecture as they had seen throughout the week. The former, the seat of Lord Boyne, is a fine example of a baronial castle of the Middle Ages, fitted up internally in tolerable harmony with its ancient character. It stands on a piece of flat land looking down upon a shallow but picturesque ravine, well wooded and watered, and surrounded by a pleasant and extensive deer park. It shares along with Raby the distinction of having been the ancient home of the Nevilles, though it originally belonged to a Saxon family named Bulmer, whose heiress married one of the companions of the Conqueror. The church, which stands in the park, was first visited, under the guidance of the Vicar of Brancepeth, the Rev. H. J. Swallow, who in describing the building drew special attention to the fine wooden monumental effigies of Ralph, first Earl of Westmoreland, and Margaret, his wife, which adorn the chancel. The Early English tower, the remains of an elaborately carved roodloft or chancel screen, and a chantry chapel now used as a vestry, were duly inspected. In the vestry the party were shown some autograph signatures of Dr. Cosin, sometime vicar of this parish and afterwards Bishop of Durham, whose name is identified with ecclesiastical ritual and post-Reformation vestments. The church is dedicated to an Irish saint, St. Brandon, which renders it highly probable that the commonly accepted derivation of the place from the path of the wild boar or “brawn,” who used to lay waste the country hereabouts, is apocryphal. At the conclusion of the Vicar’s brief address, Mr. Beresford-Hope made a short speech recapitulating the services of Dr. Cosin to the English Church, he being the chief supporter, after Laud, of the Anglo-Catholic tradition which has paved the way for the Oxford movement and for the work of the Cambridge Camden Society. On arriving within the precincts of the castle, Mr. Swallow proceeded to explain the chief features of the structure, which, he said, was built on the site of an earlier Saxon edifice by the Nevilles. It was from this castle that the Nevilles and the rebel army set out to join the fatal rising of the north in the time of Mary Queen of Scots, which led to the deprivation of that great family of both Raby and Brancepeth. For some years after this date Brancepeth was vested with the Crown, but it was sold by Charles I., and after passing through various hands was bought by the late Mr. Matthew Russell, one of the richest Commoners early in the present century, whose granddaughter carried it in marriage to Lord Boyne, an Irish peer, whose son a few years since was created Baron Brancepeth. The exterior of the castle was very expensively and substantially, though perhaps not very tastefully “restored” about half a century ago, when many of its ancient features were swept away and others obscured. The enceinte of the walls remains; but the entrance tower and the outer baily have been sadly altered, and even the baron’s hall, where there is to be seen a large stand of arms, has been renovated. So also has the chapel, though the old walls still remain. The dining-room and drawing-room, with their sumptuous furniture and fittings, were admired; but all agreed that the chief attraction of the castle lay in its underground cellars and dungeons, which the company were allowed to inspect. Proceeding by special train to Durham, and having partaken of a hasty lunch, the archæologists met at the castle, now used as the headquarters of the University of Durham. Here again Mr. Clark acted as their cicerone, and explained all the features of the structure, its central keep, its great hall, its wide black staircase (the work of Bishop Cosin), its common-room, and its gateway. The pictures on the walls and the noble tapestry which lines its walls were examined. The castle was the abode of the Bishop of Durham till 1833, when Bishop Van Mildert gave it up to found a university for the Northern counties. On the conclusion of the inspection of the castle, the Dean of Durham, Dr. Lake, gave, in the nave of the cathedral, a short résumé of its history and a glance at its chief associations. This he did with great skill and taste, touching on the successive eras through which the monastery had passed before it was crowned by the present majestic structure—one which no less an authority than Dr. Freeman had declared to be the finest church in Christendom, except the cathedral of Pisa, and scarcely inferior even to that. He was followed by Mr. Micklethwait, F.R.S., who very briefly described the architectural details of the fabric. The vergers afterwards guided the company round the site of St. Cuthbert’s shrine, the Western Galilee, still rich in frescos and paint, the tomb of the “Venerable” Bede, the library, formerly the monks’ dormitory, with its noble undercroft, and then led them through the crypt (the most ancient part of the entire edifice) into the cloisters. Here they were shown the newly discovered prison or cell for refractory monks, which has been brought to light during the last month. The party then, having inspected the dining-room at the deanery, once the abbot’s chief parlour, passed out into the dean’s private garden, where tea and coffee and other refreshments were served upon the lawn. The main party then returned by train to Newcastle, while the rest travelled southward to York, and the Archæological Congress of 1884 was at an end.

National Society for Preserving the Memorials of the Dead.—On July 30 a meeting of the Council was held at the rooms of the Archæological Institute, in Oxford-mansions, Oxford-street, Mr. Richardson, F.S.A., in the chair, when the project of having the monumental inscriptions in the churches of Norwich copied and printed in extenso was considered. Various reports were laid down before the council on the present condition of monuments at Waltham Abbey, at Milford, Hants, at Kensington, Paddington, Croydon, West Wittering, and North Mundham, Sussex. It was stated that through the agency of friends of the society, some fine brasses had been restored to the parish church of Cheam, Surrey, and a handsome incised stone slab had been saved at Fownhope, Herefordshire. It was also proposed to re-engrave the inscription over the tomb of Captain John Smith, the eccentric voyager, which has always been an object of pilgrimage to Americans, in St. Sepulchre’s Church, London.

Shorthand.—June 4, Mr. T. A. Reed, President, in the chair. This meeting was devoted to the exhibition of stenographic curiosities, of which a large number, chiefly literary, were exhibited. Manuscript and printed Bibles, Psalms, &c., in the systems of Rich and Addy, were shown by Mr. C. Walford, Mr. Reed, Mr. Rundell, and Mr. Pocknell. A collection of the works of ancient authors of shorthand was sent by Mr. Barnett. Mr. Walford exhibited the systems of Ramsay in Latin and French, and of Noah Bridges, and a MS. copy, made by Mr. Pocknell, of Timothy Bright’s book in the Bodleian Library.

PROVINCIAL.