The Churches of Coventry: A Short History of the City & Its Medieval RemainsWoodhouse, Frederic W.
History
The Churches of Coventry: A Short History of the City & Its Medieval Remains
Woodhouse, Frederic W.
Churches -- England -- Coventry; Coventry (England) -- History
Beyond the west door is the north-east buttress of the tower,
strengthened by a mass of masonry, part of which formed part of the
old nave wall. The tower arch is high and very narrow, owing to the
narrowness of the old nave. The interior of the tower is very
effective, both from the height, which is almost 100 feet to the crown
of the vault, and the beautiful lighting of the upper stages. Each of
the large windows of the ground story is set in a recessed arch, and
between the two lantern stages is a range of panelling. The vertical
lines of the various stages are not continuous, a want of regularity,
which would probably not have occurred had it been built a century
later. Upon the floor of the tower are two small brasses, which mark
respectively the centre of the tower and the point below the apex of
the spire, showing that the spire has an inclination of 3 feet 6
inches towards the north-west. On the walls of the tower two very
large brasses record the names of the Vicars of the church since 1242,
and of the Bishops in whose Dioceses Coventry has been included from
the earliest times. Of the latter, four were Bishops of Mercia,
twenty-seven of Lichfield, six of Coventry, thirty-three of Coventry
and Lichfield, thirteen of Lichfield and Coventry, four of Worcester,
and two Bishops-Suffragan of Coventry.
The south aisle is 6 feet narrower than the north at the west end, but
its want of parallelism adds 7 feet to its width at its far eastern
end.
The south-west doorway has its original doors, though these have been
subjected to restoration. The first chapel on the south side belonged
to the Dyers' Company. When the principal trade of Coventry was the
manufacture of woollen and worsted stuffs and the production of a
special blue thread, so excellent that it gave rise to a proverbial
expression, "he is true Coventry Blue", the Dyers were an important
Company.[6] A chantry known as Tale's was probably attached to this
chapel, as the salary of the priest, _£5 6s. 8d._, was paid by the
Dyers' Company of London. An upper chamber for the priest existed as
late as 1607; the floor corbels still remain. A large marble monument
(removed hither from the chancel) has medallion portraits of two
ladies--Dame Mary Bridgeman and Mrs. Eliza Samwell. The former with
her husband, Sir Orlando (Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under Charles
II), both died in 1701. The latter, dying in 1724, "ordered this
monument to be erected as a remembrance of their great and loving
friendship."
The Chapel is now the =Baptistery=. A large eighteenth-century marble
font was removed to the Lady Chapel and a new Gothic one put in its
place, so that there are now three in the church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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