How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
The old Benedictine Convent of Christ’s Church that St. Augustine
established grew to be of the utmost importance. Portions of the massive
wall by which they were surrounded still remain. The monastic buildings
were numerous and extensive. The Prior, who had the right of wearing the
mitre and carrying the episcopal staff, lived in great dignity. In a set
of state chambers, known as the Meist’ Omers and belonging to the Prior,
pilgrims of high rank were lodged. Somewhere in the vicinity of the
Infirmary and its chapel was the miraculous =Well of St. Thomas=, which
appeared in the Fourteenth Century. A passage and the =Dark Entry=,
haunted by the ghost of Nell Cook of the _Ingoldsby Legends_, takes us
into the =Priors’=, or =Green Court=, planted with linden trees, or limes,
as the English call them. Here we find remains of the great Dormitory,
the Guest House, built by Prior Goldstone, the Norman Almonry Gate and
the =Norman Staircase=, the only construction of its kind existing. The
Hall above was built in 1855.
The beautiful =Cloisters=, the work of Prior Chillenden (about 1400), are
decorated on the roof with the arms of Kentish families. In the
northwest corner is the doorway through which Becket passed to his
doom.
“The cloister occupies the same space as the Norman cloister built
by Lanfranc, but of the Norman work only a doorway remains at the
north-east corner; there is some Early English arcading on the
north side, but the present tracery and fan-worked roof belong to
the end of the Fourteenth Century, when Archbishops Sudbury,
Arundell and Courtenay, and Prior Chillenden (1390-1411) rebuilt
the nave, the cloister and the chapter-house. The latter work cuts
across the older in the most unceremonious way, as is seen
especially in the square doorway by which we shall presently enter
the Martyrdom, which cuts into a far more beautiful portal of the
Decorated period. If we take our stand at the north-west corner of
the cloister, from which a very fine view is gained of the
Cathedral, especially about sunset, we may picture to ourselves the
life of the monks. Above the north-eastern side of the cloister are
the old Norman arches of their dormitory, now taken in to the new
library; on the eastern side is the chapter-house, with its fine
geometrical ceiling, where they transacted their business; on the
south the great church, the services of which occupied so many
hours of the day.”--(W. H. F.)
ROCHESTER
DEDICATION: ST. ANDREW. FORMERLY THE CHURCH OF A BENEDICTINE
MONASTERY.
SPECIAL FEATURES: DOOR OF CHAPTER-HOUSE; WEST DOORWAY; CRYPT.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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