English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century) — John Shaqi
English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century)Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
History
English Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (XIVth Century)
Jusserand, J. J. (Jean Jules)
Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages -- England; England -- Social life and customs -- 1066-1485; Travel, Medieval
In several cases the chapels which placed them under the protection
of a saint and where offerings were collected have escaped the
hand of the restorer and are still extant. There is one, of the
fifteenth century, at Rotherham, Yorkshire, “a chapel of stone wel
wrought,” says Leland[55]; another, a fine small one, is to be
seen on the bridge at Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire; a third, a very
tall structure, stands on the middle of the bridge at St. Ives,
Huntingdonshire; but the finest example by far is the chapel on
the bridge at Wakefield, both chapel and bridge dating from the
fourteenth century. Leland mentions them as “the faire bridge of
stone of nine arches, under which runnith the river of Calder, and on
the east side of this bridge is a right goodly chapel of our lady and
two cantuarie preestes founded in it.” This foundation was made about
1358; Edward III, by a charter dated at Wakefield, settled “£10 per
annum on William Kaye and William Bull and their successors for ever
to perform divine service in a chapel of St. Mary newly built on the
bridge at Wakefield.”[56]
In our century the bridge has been widened towards the west, the
arches being round on that side and having been left Gothic on the
other. The chapel, the foundations of which rest on an island in the
river, was repaired in 1847, but its original style was carefully
respected.[57] The greatest change is in the surroundings, where
nothing recalls either Dr. Primrose or the clear {73} waters
of Plantagenet times; and the smoke and refuse of innumerable
manufactures blacken the bridge, the chapel, the river, and even the
sky itself.
[Illustration 12. THE BRIDGE WITH A DEFENSIVE TOWER AT WARKWORTH,
NORTHUMBERLAND.
(_Fourteenth Century; present state_.)]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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