Bell's Cathedrals: The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: An Illustrated Account of its History and FabricRoutledge, C. F. (Charles Francis)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: An Illustrated Account of its History and Fabric
Routledge, C. F. (Charles Francis)
St. Martin's Church (Canterbury, England)
There is also, just at the entrance to the Sacrarium, a small cross let
into the floor, which is apparently the one described by Hasted, who
speaks of it as a "Cross of white marble, which has been much noticed by
the curious as of great antiquity. It is about nine inches long and six
wide." He gives a representation of it, which, however, is inaccurate,
for he represents it as of this shape, as fig. 1, whereas in reality it
is as fig. 2, and its dimensions are 18 inches by 6-½ inches. We can
only account for this variation by supposing that the upper part of the
cross had been in his time sunk into the ground, and partially covered
by the pavement.
The largest, and perhaps the principal, monument on the walls is a
cumbrous one on the south of the Sacrarium, to John Finch, Baron Fordwich,
who is described as Advocate-General and Chancellor of Queen Henrietta
Maria, Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, Privy Councillor, and
Keeper of the Great Seal. He is remarkable in history as having been
the Speaker of the House of Commons in the reign of Charles I., who was
held down in his chair by Hobbes and others, in order that the protest
against the infraction of the Petition of Right might be passed.
"Full of offices, full of days, he migrated hence to the Ancient of Days,"
aged 77, on November 20, 1660.
Beneath the monument there used to stand an altar-tomb enclosed with
iron rails, and on a tablet near some Latin verses, composed by Charles
Fotherby in the time of Charles II., "to a very noble and distinguished
man."
The other monuments in the church are not of any general interest. Several
of those mentioned by Hasted have already disappeared, including one to
Giles Talbot, rector, in 1524.
The =Bells= are three in number. One of them has no inscription, the second
bears simply the date 1641, and on the third, in old English characters,
is the legend "Sancta Caterina, ora pro nobis."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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