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CARLISLE CATHEDRAL FROM THE SOUTH-WEST.

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF
CARLISLE

A DESCRIPTION OF ITS FABRIC AND A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
EPISCOPAL SEE

BY

C. KING ELEY

London George Bell & Sons 1900

W. H. White and Co. Limited

Riverside Press, Edinburgh

Table of
Contents

GENERAL PREFACE

This series of monographs has been planned to supply visitors
to the great English Cathedrals with accurate and well
illustrated guide-books at a popular price. The aim of each
writer has been to produce a work compiled with sufficient
knowledge and scholarship to be of value to the student of
Archæeology and History, and yet not too technical in language
for the use of an ordinary visitor or tourist.

To specify all the authorities which have been made use of in
each case would be difficult and tedious in this place. But
amongst the general sources of information which have been almost
invariably found useful are:—(1) the great county
histories, the value of which, especially in questions of
genealogy and local records, is generally recognised; (2) the
numerous papers by experts which appear from time to time in the
Transactions of the Antiquarian and Archæological Societies; (3)
the important documents made accessible in the series issued by
the Master of the Rolls; (4) the well-known works of Britton and
Willis on the English Cathedrals; and (5) the excellent series of
Handbooks to the Cathedrals originated by the late Mr. John
Murray; to which the reader may in most cases be referred for
further detail, especially in reference to the histories of the
respective sees.

Gleeson White.
Edward F. Strange.

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Amongst the works consulted in compiling this handbook may be
specially mentioned Nicolson and Burn’s “History and Antiquities
of Westmoreland and Cumberland,” Hutchinson’s “History and
Antiquities of the City of Carlisle,” Jefferson’s “History and
Antiquities of Carlisle,” Billings’ “Architectural Illustrations,
History and Description of Carlisle Cathedral,” “Guide to the
Cathedral, Carlisle,” by R.H. and K.H.

Much help has also been obtained from the late J.R. Green’s
historical works, as well as the various biographies in the
“National Dictionary of Biography.”

I also wish to record my thanks to my friend, Mr. A. Tapley,
who kindly read through part of the manuscript; and to Mr. A.
Pumphrey for permission to reproduce the photographs used.

C.K.E.

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH-EAST.
From an original Drawing by R.W. Billings.

Table of
Contents
3

CARLISLE CATHEDRAL

CHAPTER I

HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE HOLY AND UNDIVIDED
TRINITY

The details of the founding of the cathedral of Carlisle are
very precise and clear.

When William Rufus returned southwards after re-establishing
the city of Carlisle, he left as governor a rich Norman priest
named Walter. He began at once to build a church to be dedicated
to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was to have in connection with
it a college of secular canons. Walter did not, however, live to
see the building finished, and Henry I. took it upon himself to
complete the good work. It is said that his wife on one hand, and
his chaplain on the other, urged him to do this. By the beginning
of the twelfth century (1123) he founded and endowed a priory of
regular Augustinian canons, making his chaplain the first
prior.

Ten years afterwards—1133—Henry founded the see of
Carlisle, and the priory church became the cathedral. At its
endowment Henry laid on the altar the famous “cornu eburneum,”
now lost. This horn was given, instead of a written document, as
proof of the grants of tithes. Its virtue was tried in 1290 when
the prior claimed some tithes on land in the forest of Inglewood,
but it was decided that the grant did not originally cover the
tithes in dispute. “The ceremony of investiture with a horn is
very ancient, and was in use before there were any written
charters. We read of Ulf, a Danish prince, who gave all his lands
to the church of York; and the form of endowment was this: he
brought the horn out of which he usually drank, and before the
high altar kneeling devoutly drank the wine, and by that ceremony
enfeoffed the church with all his lands and revenues.”
(Jefferson, “History of Carlisle,” 171n.)

4 Aldulf (or Æthelwulf) was made the first
bishop, and he placed Augustinians in the monastery attached to
the cathedral. These were called “black” canons, their cassocks,
cloaks, and hoods being of that colour. A further difference
between them and other monks was that they let their beards grow
and covered their heads with caps. As a consequence of this order
being introduced into the monastery the Episcopal chapter was
Augustinian, other English cathedral chapters being generally
Benedictine.

On some high ground between the west wall of the city, and the
road to the castle the cathedral was built. The site was nearly
square in shape, about five acres in extent, and was the highest
part in Carlisle after that on which the castle stood. This
situation was very advantageous owing to the presence of water
near the surface, its frontage to the city wall, and proximity to
the river. A narrow piece of ground of about half-an-acre,
extending along the walls, and upon which the monastic grounds
abutted, was in after years given to the priory by its owner,
Robert de Eglesfield, who was chaplain to Philippa, wife of Henry
III.

The church was set out, almost due east and west, diagonally
across the north-west part of the site, the west end being about
100 feet from the boundary; and was finished about 1130. Its nave
consisted of eight bays, and was about 140 feet long.

There was a very fine west front with a handsome central
doorway of four orders. The western wall was more than 7 feet in
thickness, and had four flat pilaster buttresses nearly 7 feet
broad, and 15 inches deep.

The nave was provided with north and south aisles covered with
high-pitched wooden roofs, while the north and south transepts
were also roofed in a similar manner, and a small apsidal chapel
projected from the eastern face of each. The archway of the south
transept apse is now the entrance to St. Catherine’s Chapel. With
the exception of the present elaborate entrance to the south
transept and the window above it, the transept is identical with
that of the Norman minster.

The choir was only 80 feet long, reaching to the end of the
present stalls. Eastward it terminated in an apse. Its width can
be judged from traces of the original roof, still perceptible in
the west wall of the present choir. In accordance with a frequent
arrangement, the ritual choir extended westward of
5 the crossing, and included the two eastern
bays of the nave.

In the centre was a low square typical Norman tower, 35 feet
square, of which the lower parts of the piers remain. To allow
for the extension of the ritual choir the eastern and western
arches of the crossing were carried on corbels.

White or grey sandstone from quarries in the district was used
in the construction of the minster, perhaps supplemented by
stones from the Roman wall. Stucco was applied to the exterior,
red lines marking the joints. There is no doubt that this stucco
has materially helped to keep the Norman stone-work in a good
state of preservation.

It will be seen then that the original church was a Norman
minster, of moderate size, consisting of a nave, with north and
south aisles, a small choir, a low square tower, and north and
south transepts.

Thus it remained till about 1250, when, as usually happened,
the clergy became dissatisfied with the smallness of their choir,
and a new one was projected on a much larger scale. Its length
was to be equal to the nave, while in height and breadth it was
to be greater. The increased length allowed room for the ritual
choir on the east side of the crossing.

Any extension of the cathedral on the south was prevented by
the presence of the conventual buildings: therefore the north
choir-aisle was thrown into the choir, and a new one added
northward of the former. One consequence of this alteration is
seen by comparing the entrance to each aisle. That of the south
choir aisle is the original Norman arch, while the entrance to
the north aisle is a beautiful late thirteenth-century arch
(Decorated). The corresponding Norman arch of the north aisle has
been blocked up, but is still easily traced.

Another consequence is, that the extension having taken place
on one side only, the eastern arch of the tower fills but a part
of the west end of the choir. The choir arch consequently is
symmetrically placed with regard to the roof of the nave, but not
with the choir roof; and the central line of the choir does not
coincide with that of the nave; for, though the south wall of the
choir is in a line with the south wall of the nave, the choir
being 12 feet broader than the nave, the axis of the former is to
the north of the axis of the nave. The view from
6 the east end looking towards the nave is quite
spoiled by this want of symmetry.

Not very much remains to-day of this thirteenth-century Early
English choir. In 1292, just as it had been roofed in, a terrible
fire, the most disastrous the cathedral has ever experienced,
destroyed everything except the outer walls of the aisles, the
graceful lancet windows, and the beautiful cinque-foiled arcading
beneath them. Belfry and bells, too, shared in the
destruction.

One hundred years passed away while a new choir was being
built. Bishop Halton (1292-1325), a very energetic prelate, and a
great favourite of Edward I., began the work, and laboured at it
for quite thirty years, and was followed by Bishops Kirkby,
Welton, and Appleby. It was arranged to rebuild the choir on a
still larger scale, a bay being added, and the east end rebuilt
from the foundation. The general plan of the earlier work of the
aisles was followed in the new bay. The glory of the
cathedral—the great east window, which marks a distinct
transition in art—was also projected, but at this time only
carried up as high as the top of the choir arches.

The wall arcade and the lancet windows above were repaired,
and later work of a more elaborate character added. The great
arches, and the groin ribs of the aisle ceilings were underset
with new pillars; so that we get Early English arches of
the thirteenth century on Decorated pillars of the
fourteenth century.

After some years interval, building was resumed about 1350.
The Decorated portions of the choir were now put in hand: the
triforium, clerestory, and upper part of the east end, as well as
the tracery and much of the mouldings of the east window and the
roof. The carving, hitherto unfinished, was now completed; but,
as the style had developed in the mean-time, we once more find
examples of decidedly early work with much later work both above
and below. The roof inside was finished with a very fine panelled
ceiling. The building was finished 1375-1400, and in the roof
were placed the arms of those who had helped in the
rebuilding—the Lacys, the Nevilles, and the Percys.

The material used for the new choir was red sandstone, both
for the interior and the exterior, giving in some cases a curious
patched appearance to the walls.7

THE CATHEDRAL AND PRECINCTS.
From an old Plan in Lyson’s “Magna Britannia.”

8 About 1380-1384 the east window was filled
with glass.

In 1392 the cathedral once again suffered from fire, and the
damage was repaired by Bishop Strickland (1400-19). No efforts
appear to have been made to bring the nave into correspondence
with the extended choir, and the end of the thirteenth century
marks the close of the cathedral’s history in the direction of
its enlargement and beautifying.

On a review of the cathedral we find in the aisles
thirteenth-century work, on a small scale, in its perfection.

The south aisle shows development of window tracery, and the
gradual steps taken towards uniting single lights under one
arch.

Tracery carried to its perfection can be seen in the east
window.

Early English carving is shown in St. Catherine’s Chapel,
especially in the corbels; and the more naturalistic carving
which was developed at a later period, is exhibited in the
corbels of the roof of the choir and the capitals of the piers.
The latter afford the most complete representation of the seasons
known to exist. On the south side (from east to west) are the
first six months, and on the north side (west to east) the
remainder.

About 1401, William Strickland being Bishop of Carlisle, the
tower was rebuilt on its original scale, probably because the
foundations would not permit one to be erected proportioned to
the size of the choir. It was capped by a short wooden spire
covered with lead; this, however, was removed in the seventeenth
century.

The forty-six stalls in the choir, erected on a plinth of red
sandstone, belong to this period (1401-19). The elaborate
tabernacle work by Prior Haithwaite (1433) was originally gilded
and coloured, and the niches were filled with images.

Prior Gondibour (1484-1507) painted the backs of the stalls.
The remains of some screens he added to the choir may still be
seen in St. Catherine’s Chapel.

He had the roof painted in red, green, and gold, on a white
ground; painted the choir pillars white, diapered with red roses
nearly 12 inches in diameter, and with the letters I.H.C. and
J.M. in gold; and no doubt finished whatever decorative work of
the choir still had to be done.

Laurence Salkeld, last prior, and first dean, erected the
9 very fine Renaissance screen on the north side
of the choir, near the pulpit. It bears his initials, followed by
the letters D.K. (Decanus Karliolensis), of his new
title.

The priory was surrendered to the Crown in January 1540, and
the last prior—Salkeld—was made dean of the chapter
founded by Henry VIII. The revenue was at that time estimated at
£481 per annum. Five years later, June 1545, the present
foundation was settled, and the dedication changed to that of the
Holy and Undivided Trinity.

We get a glimpse of the cathedral in the first half of the
seventeenth century, in the record left by some officers who
visited the English cathedrals in 1634. Carlisle they curtly
speak of as “more like a great wilde country church” than a fair
and stately cathedral.

After the capture of the city in 1645 the parliamentary troops
pulled down part of the nave in order to repair the
fortifications. It is very probable that the Norman church was
partly built of stones taken from the Roman wall; and it is
strange to find the western part of the same church being
destroyed nearly six hundred years after in order to repair the
city walls.

George Fox, the intrepid founder of the Society of Friends,
came to Carlisle in 1653 and preached in the cathedral. Some of
the congregation being opposed to him, he was guarded while
preaching, by certain soldiers and friends who had “heard him
gladly.” At length the “rude people of the city” rushed into the
building, and made a tumult, so that the governor was forced to
send musketeers to quell it.

Fox thus describes the scene, in his “Journal”:

“From thence we came to Carlisle.

“On the First-day following I went into the steeple-house: and
after the priest had done, I preached the truth to the people,
and declared the word of life amongst them. The priest got away,
and the magistrates desired me to go out of the steeple-house.
But I still declared the way of the Lord unto them, and told
them, ‘I came to speak the word of life and salvation from the
Lord amongst them.’ The power of the Lord was dreadful amongst
them in the steeple-house, so that the people trembled and shook,
and they thought the steeple-house shook: and some of them feared
it would fall down on their heads. The magistrates’ wives were in
a rage and strove mightily to be at me: but the soldiers and
friendly people 10 stood thick about
me. At length the rude people of the city rose, and came with
staves and stones into the steeple-house crying, ‘Down with these
round-headed rogues’; and they threw stones. Whereupon the
governor sent a file or two of musketeers into the steeple-house,
to appease the tumult, and commanded all the other soldiers out.
So those soldiers took me by the hand in a friendly manner, and
said they would have me along with them. When we came forth into
the street, the city was in an uproar, and the governor came
down; and some of those soldiers were put in prison for standing
by me, and for me, against the town’s-people.

“The next day the justices and magistrates of the town granted
a warrant against me and sent for me to come before them. After a
large examination they committed me to prison as a blasphemer, a
heretic, and a seducer: though they could not justly charge any
such thing against me.”

Fuller, about 1660, describes the building as “black but
comely, still bearing the remaining signes of its former
burning.”

Further mischief was also done to the building by the Jacobite
prisoners who were lodged in it after the defeat of the Young
Pretender.

In the latter half of the eighteenth century some attempts
were made at restoring the cathedral, but they for the most part
consisted of hiding the beautiful choir roof with a stucco
groined ceiling, and plentifully whitewashing the building.

“The roof was ‘elegantly’ vaulted with wood. But this failing
by length of time, together with the lead roof, the dean and
chapter some few years ago new laid the roof, and the ceiling
being totally ruined and destroyed they in the year 1764
contracted for a stucco groined ceiling, and for cleaning and
whitening the whole church. And finding the new lead much torn
and broken by wind for want of a ceiling underneath, the upper
tire of that was done again, and a coping added to the rigging.
And thus proceeding from one repair to another the whole expence
hath amounted to upwards of £1300.”^[1]

Eastward of the stalls the choir was formerly separated from
the aisles by screens of elaborate tracery work. When the
cathedral was “repaired and beautified” as just described, they
were removed to outbuildings, and by far the greater part lost or
destroyed.

11 The cathedral was
restored 1853-7, in good taste, at a cost of about £15,000.
Mr. Ewan Christian, the architect of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, undertook the work, and happily succeeded in
counteracting the “repairing and beautifying” of 1764.

Carlisle is not a large or notable cathedral, but its
delightful Early English choir with its magnificent east window
will ever redeem it from being insignificant or
uninteresting.

Table of
Contents
12

CHAPTER II

THE EXTERIOR

On examining the north side of the cathedral, it is apparent
that more than one plan has been followed in the construction of
the building as it stands.

There are the remains of a Norman nave whose roof is lower
than the choir roof. The choir is Early English with clerestory
windows, and the easternmost bay (the retro-choir) Late
Decorated; while the tower is Perpendicular. In the north window
of the north transept we have a specimen of work of the
nineteenth century. Thus the cathedral supplies examples of
architecture from the Norman period down to the present time.

The moderate height of the Nave (65 ft.), and the
treatment of its details, are quite characteristic of the best
work of the period when it was erected.

The bays of the aisle are separated by flat buttresses about
five and a half feet wide projecting nearly one foot beyond the
wall, and the parapet wall in which they terminate is supported
above the windows by a corbel table of shields and trefoil
heads.^[2]

Upon the string-course which runs along the wall unbroken by
the buttresses there is in each bay a window with a circular
head, flanked by single columns. A ring-like ornament is used as
a decoration for one of the mouldings of the arch.

These windows, except the one above the doorway, are
restorations. The doorway itself, which leads into the nave, is
modern, imitated from the Norman window.

The Clerestory in each compartment has a window which differs
from the aisle windows in having the billet as decoration of its
outer moulding. The string-course at the spring of the round head
runs without a break from one to the other.

There is also an unbroken corbel table above the windows, of
very expressive, life-like heads, no two of which are alike.
13

THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE NORTH.

15
North Transept.—The north window is Debased
Gothic, the tracery of the previous window having been similar to
that of the great east window, while the west window is early
English.

NORTH DOOR OF NAVE.

The Tower, the latest part of the cathedral, was the
work of Bishop Strickland early in the fifteenth century. He
erected it upon the piers of the ancient Norman tower. Its height
is not much over 100 feet, and is very disappointing, because in
England “cathedral towers are apt to be good, and really make
16 their mark” (Pater). In fact, it does not at
all give the impression of being part of such an important
building as a cathedral. This is caused by its having been
rebuilt on the scale of the Norman nave, and not on that of the
enlarged choir. It takes up only about two-thirds of the width of
the choir, and to mask this defect a turret rising to the top of
the third stage of the tower is introduced on the north side, and
another turret is added at the north-east angle.

The tower rises in four stages above the transepts. The second
storey is pierced with loopholes. The third has two pointed
windows lighting a room immediately below the belfry. Between
these, in a niche with a canopy, is the figure of an angel
holding a drawn sword. On his head is fixed a tablet to support
another figure. There is only one window in the fourth storey,
which gives light to the belfry, and is very large. Its labels
are ornamented with very vigorously carved heads, and the cornice
above is decorated very much like that of the clerestory. The
tower terminates in an embattled parapet.

All the windows have been thrown out of centre by the addition
of the lower turret.

Originally the tower was crowned by a leaden spire about
fifteen feet in height, but this was removed at the end of the
seventeenth century on account of its decayed condition.

On the east side of the tower there is a single window in the
third storey. In place of a second window there is an opening
into the roof of the choir. This leads into a passage running
from the tower to the east end.

The bold attempts to veil the inadequate size of the tower by
the addition of two turrets can be best studied from this
side.

The North Aisle of the Choir consists of eight bays,
all Early English, except the easternmost one (the retro-choir),
which is Late Decorated; while the western bay has a
Perpendicular window.

Sometime in the fifteenth century the third bay from the east,
in each aisle, was altered and a large Perpendicular window
inserted in order to admit more light to the sanctuary. During
the restoration of the cathedral these later windows were
removed, and replaced by careful copies of the other Early
English windows.

The basement is composed of bold mouldings with a plain wall
equivalent in height to the internal wall arcade. Over
17 this, a string-course runs uninterruptedly
round the choir just below the windows.

THE SOUTH DOOR. (See p. 21.)

Each compartment has an arcade of four lancet-shaped
divisions, the external ones blank; while the internal divisions
(which are wider than the others) form the window. The
18 slender, banded, shafts are detached, which
is rather unusual, and have moulded bases and capitals. The bands
divide the shafts into unequal lengths, the lower portion being
the shorter. The arch mouldings are good. Owing to the fact that
the blank arches are more acutely pointed, their outer mouldings
terminate higher than the mouldings of the internal arches.

Towards the east end small heads, and bosses of foliage,
ornament the junction of these mouldings. Above these the cornice
and parapet rest upon blocks bearing the nail-head ornament.

ELEVATION OF EAST END.

The second bay from the east is divided into three equal
spaces, with a very narrow acute angle on the right.

A series of fine gabled buttresses gives relief to the
exterior of the choir on each side.

The windows of the Clerestory have very rich mouldings,
and also afford fine examples of flowing tracery. Each bay has an
arch with three divisions, the central one higher and wider
19 than the others. On this side only—the
north—the base is ornamented with trefoils.

There is a cornice above the windows extending from the tower
to the east end. It is richly decorated with heads and the
ball-flower ornament which is characteristic of
fourteenth-century work. It is broken here and there by gargoyles
projecting almost three feet from the wall. The parapet makes but
a poor show in comparison with the rich windows and cornice.

As the choir never had a groined ceiling there was no
necessity for flying buttresses, and their absence gives the
clerestory a very monotonous flat effect. This is further
intensified by the window tracery being level with the wall, the
architraves having no depth of moulding round them.

Some years ago the aisles and clerestory were skilfully
refaced, and consequently the exteriors have a very modern
appearance.

East of the retro-choir is the exterior of a staircase leading
from the north choir aisle to the clerestory parapet. It
terminates in a highly-finished octagonal turret whose parapet is
enriched with a running trefoil ornament resembling that on the
base of the clerestory windows. The north-eastern and the small
east buttresses terminate just beneath, in gables richly
ornamented with minute crockets. The panelling of the former is
rather like the decoration of the central portion of the east
end.

East End.—An irregularity in designing the east
end has been covered by placing the great buttresses so as to
make the pediment appear irregular, and the cross at the apex
seems, consequently, not to be in the centre of the choir; while,
in fact, it is the great east window (with the gable window over
it) that is out of position.

The sill of the east window is unusually near the ground, and
it is flanked by substantial buttresses finely pinnacled. Each
buttress contains two niches with beautifully carved canopies:
the base of the lower ones being a trifle higher than the
springing of the arch. They display full-length statues of St.
Peter, St. Paul, St. James, and St. John.

A staircase crossing over the east window in the thickness of
the wall receives light from the triangular window enclosing
three trefoils which appears in the gable. Immediately beneath
this Trinity window—as it is called—is a
richly-canopied niche adorned with a statue of the Virgin Mary
bearing in her arms the Holy Child.

20 The summit of the
gable is crowned by a large richly-floriated cross; and on each
side are four smaller ones, with crockets of foliage between
them.

THE EAST END.

In spite of the fact that the east end has been almost
entirely rebuilt, it is a remarkably good example of Late
Decorated work, and it would be difficult to find its equal in
England.

The wall of the north aisle is higher than the south aisle,
because of a passage between the staircases. The buttresses
21 do not rise above the parapet, and are
finished off with richly-panelled gables, ornamented with
crockets and finials.

The end of the south aisle is decorated with corbels and
parapet, like the choir, and with pinnacled buttresses.

On the south side of the Choir the first three bays
from the east end are practically the same as those on the north
side.

The remaining windows, including those of St. Catherine’s
Chapel on the east of the south transept, are Early English, but
of later date and not so pleasing as the others. Instead of two
lights they are furnished with three; some of these have small
circular openings in the spandrels over the mullions filled with
stained glass.

The fifth compartment (against which a vestry was formerly
built) shows traces of a door, and over that a passage, probably
connected originally with some of the conventual buildings.

The grotesque gargoyles, “these wild faces, these images of
beasts and men carved upon spouts and gutters,” are very
vigorously executed.

The windows on the south side of the clerestory are without
the trefoil which ornaments the base of those on the north
side.

The blank window next to the tower is also wanting; in other
respects the clerestory presents the same features as on the
north.

South Transept.—The chapter-house and cloisters
formerly adjoined the south transept, and there was probably an
entrance from the chapter-house leading down a flight of stairs
into the transept. Billings says: “The modern casing at the base
of the end of the transept (about 12 ft. high) shews the height
of the Cloisters: and the doorway above, the level of the
chapter-house floor. From this it would seem that the cathedral
was entered at the south transept from the chapter-house by a
flight of steps.”

The foundation of the south wall having been shaken by the
removal of the remains of the conventual buildings, massive
buttresses were added, and a very richly sculptured doorway
inserted between them (1856). It was designed by Mr. Christian
and is the principal entrance to the Cathedral. Its character is
that of the late work of the choir, and is somewhat out of
keeping with this distinctively Norman portion of the
building.

The window over the entrance is of the same date.

22 The west side of
the transept is lighted by two plain round-headed windows, not
quite central.

The outer moulding of the window arch of the south transept
clerestory has billet ornament. Above this is a corbel table of
heads and mouldings which interferes with the upper window
mouldings. The transept compartments differ from those of the
nave by the addition of a flat buttress between each, which
consequently breaks the continuity of the corbel table.

As the side of the nave was covered by the conventual
buildings it was of plainer character than the north, and had no
buttresses between the windows.

The clerestory is exactly the same as on the north.

The foundations of the old west wall are behind one of the
prebendary’s houses to the west of the nave.

The west end, as it stands at present, was restored by Mr.
Christian.

A local sandstone was used in the construction of the
building: grey, or white in the Norman portion, and red in the
other parts. This red sandstone is not so good for exterior as
for interior work, because it is liable to perish by the action
of the weather.24

THE NAVE, SOUTH SIDE.

Table of
Contents
25

CHAPTER III

THE INTERIOR

The cathedral now consists of part of the original nave (the
two eastern bays only) with aisles; and north and south transepts
without aisles, but with a chapel on the east side of the south
transept; the central tower; and the choir with north and south
aisles and ambulatory or retro-choir.

The Nave.—Entering by the modern doorway on the
north, we are at once in the fragmentary nave, of Early Norman
work. Its present length is about 38 feet and width about 60
feet. In 1645 the Scots destroyed about 100 feet of the nave, and
it has never been rebuilt. This mutilation has had a serious
effect upon the proportions of the building, and induces a
feeling of want of balance. The open timber roof, raised to the
original height, was substituted at the restoration for a flat
ceiling which had been put up at a previous “embellishment” of
the cathedral. Bishop Walkelin made use of similar roofs in
Winchester Cathedral (1070-1097).

The triforium (1140-50) has in each compartment a
semi-circular arch entirely without ornament.

The clerestory consists of three arches supported by columns
with carved capitals; the centre arch, which is larger than the
other, is lighted at the back by a round-headed window.

We may say that the nave is

They are massive circular columns nearly six feet in diameter,
and support semi-circular arches. The capitals of those on the
south side are carved with leaf ornament; the rest are plain.
Against the wall between each arch is a semi-circular engaged
shaft reaching to the base of the triforium. The arches near the
tower have been partly crushed owing to the shifting of the tower
piers caused by faulty foundations. About 1870 the west end of
the nave was restored by Mr. Christian. 26 The
window is filled with glass, in memory of the Rev. C. Vernon
Harcourt, canon and prebendary of Carlisle (d. 1870).

One of the south aisle windows—the “Soldiers'”
window—is in memory of men and officers of the 34th (or
Cumberland) [**Transcriber’s note: corrected typo, close
parentheses] Regiment, who fell in the Crimea, and in India
during the mutiny. Three Old Testament warriors appear in stained
glass—Joshua, Jerubbaal (“who is Gideon”), and Judas
Maccabeus. The battle-torn fragmentary regimental colours hang
from the arch opposite. Just beneath this window a doorway (now
blocked up) formerly led from the cloisters into the nave.

Up to the year 1870 the nave was used as a parish church. The
cathedral from its beginning as the priory church, in accordance
with a very common practice of the Augustinian body, contained
two churches belonging to two separate bodies quite independent
of each other.

The choir and transepts formed the priory church, in the
possession of the prior and canons until the dissolution of the
monastery, when it passed to the dean and chapter. The nave
formed the parish church of St. Mary, and belonged to the
parishioners. After the civil wars it was cut off from the
transepts by a stone wall, and furnished with galleries and a
pulpit. A new church to accommodate the parishioners having been
built in the abbey grounds in 1870, all these additions were
removed, and the nave was restored to the cathedral, adding
greatly to the general effect. An interesting event in the
history of the parish church was the marriage of Sir Walter Scott
to Miss Carpenter on the 24th December 1797.

He had made the acquaintance of Miss Carpenter at Gilsland in
July while touring in the Lake district. She had “a form that was
fashioned as light as a fay’s, a complexion of the clearest and
lightest olive; eyes large, deep-set, and dazzling, of the finest
Italian brown; and a profusion of silken tresses black as the
raven’s wing.” Scott was strongly attracted to her, and within
six months she became his wife.

A tombstone under the west window shows the matrix of what was
once a magnificent brass.

The Font, standing on a fine marble flooring close to
the west window, has bronze figures of St. John Baptist, the
Virgin and Child, and St. Philip. It was designed by Sir A.
Blomfield, and presented by Archdeacon Prescott 1891.
27

LONGITUDINAL SECTION, NORTH.

28 The
Organ.—The former organ built by Avery, London, has
been given to Hexham Abbey Church. The present one extends from
one side of the eastern tower arch to the other. It was built by
Willis (1856), and the diaper work was executed by Hardman. About
the year 1877 it was enlarged at a cost of nearly £1000.

North Transept.—The transept is very lofty and
very dark. It is about 22 feet wide, and its length from north to
south is nearly 114 feet.

Standing near the entrance to the north choir aisle, looking
southwards and across the nave, a capital general view of the
remains of the Norman portion of the cathedral can be
obtained.

This end of the transept was rebuilt after the fire of 1292.
Having been greatly injured by another fire that broke out about
a hundred years later, Bishop Strickland rebuilt it (1400-19.)
During the restoration of the cathedral it was once again
rebuilt.

On the west side is a Norman arch, the entrance to the north
aisle of the nave. The sinking of the tower piers has partly
crushed it out of shape. The portion of an arch visible above,
acts as a buttress to the tower arches. To the right is a late
thirteenth-century window filled with glass in memory of the Rev.
Walter Fletcher, Chancellor of Carlisle (died 1846). This window
exhibits plate tracery—tracery cut, as it were, out of a
flat plate of stone, without mouldings, not built up in sections.
It is the transitional link between the lancet and tracery
systems.

The doorway in the corner communicates with the transept
roof.

The north window is very large, and is filled with stained
glass in memory of five children of A.C. Tait, Dean of Carlisle,
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. They all died of scarlet
fever in the short space of five weeks, 6th March to 9th April
1858.

This end of the transept was till quite recently railed off,
and used as the consistory court of the Chancellor of
Carlisle.

Originally the transept had a chapel on the eastern side
opening with a single arch, similar to St. Catherine’s Chapel in
the south transept.

The opening to the north choir aisle is Decorated in style;

above this is a portion of an arch for buttressing the tower-arches.

VIEW ACROSS THE TRANSEPTS IN 1840.

30To the right is the blocked-up entrance of the old Norman
choir aisle, an exact counterpart of the present south choir
aisle entrance.

The roof is now an open timber one of the original pitch.

Near the north-east pier of the tower is a well, completely
covered over. This, it is said, was done by a former dean, on the
supposition that the well, or the water, in some occult fashion,
affected the music in the cathedral.

The Tower was rebuilt by Bishop Strickland (1400-19),
who used the Norman piers, and placed upon them other columns of
about the same length. The Early Norman piers have square-fluted
capitals and are a little higher than the arches of the nave. The
added columns have capitals carved with birds and foliage, and
are carried up to the arches of the tower. This rebuilding was
rendered necessary by the shifting of its foundations. The piers
sank nearly one foot, and the arches near them have been to some
extent distorted. Springs of water are said to run across the
transept from north to south, and this may explain the sinking,
which probably happened before the erection of the present
choir.

Clustered columns uphold the transept arches, but the western
and eastern arches are supported on each side by a single column
terminating in a bracket at about the level of the base of the
triforium. This was arranged so as to increase the width of the
passage between the piers from the choir to the nave.

The decoration of the eastern arch capitals consists of the
badges of the Percy family—the crescent and fetterlock.
Hotspur was Governor of the town and Warden of the Marches under
Henry IV., and it is probable that he aided in the work of the
bishop. The western arch capitals have, as decoration, the rose
and escallop shell alternately—badges of the Dacres and
Nevilles, who also may have been benefactors to the
cathedral.

Across the north transept from the upper capitals is a
depressed arch of stone with Perpendicular tracery.

South Transept.—With the exception of the wall
itself, the south arm of the transept is modern. The ancient
wall, eight feet thick, is quite suitable for a fortress. A
richly-decorated modern doorway has
been made, and above it is a window by Powell, representing the
“Days of Creation.”31

PART OF SOUTH TRANSEPT AND ST. CATHERINE’S CHAPEL.

32The west wall is out of the perpendicular through the shifting
of the tower piers, and the Norman arch, opening to the south
aisle of the nave has also been distorted. To the left is a
round-headed window, filled with glass in memory of the Rev. W.
Vansittart, canon and prebendary of Carlisle 1824.

The triforium has a plain rounded opening.

The clerestory is very much like that of the nave, but is not
so regular in construction, the architecture being merely massive
and destitute of ornament, except in the case of the capitals,
which are very sparingly decorated.

On the east side of the transept, the second arch from the
doorway, is the entrance to the south choir aisle. It is Norman,
ornamented with a simply executed but very pleasing zigzag: the
capitals of the piers are cushioned. On the whole, it is much the
same as the arch immediately opposite, opening on the south aisle
of the nave.

All this side of the transept, with the exception of the small
doorway (which was built a few years later), dates from about
1101.

St Catharine’s Chapel.—Between the choir aisle
entrance and the modern doorway is another Norman arch, which is
the entrance to St. Catherine’s Chapel—a chantry of Early
Decorated style erected on the walls of a former Norman
building.

Jefferson says: “In most large churches, altars, distinct from
that in the chancel, were founded by wealthy and influential
individuals, at which masses might be sung for the repose of the
dead; the portion thus set apart, which was generally the east
end of one of the aisles, was then denominated a chantry: in it
the tomb of the founder was generally placed, and it was
separated from the rest of the church by a screen. In the
fourteenth century this custom greatly increased, and small
additional side aisles and transepts were often annexed to
churches and called mortuary chapels; these were used indeed as
chantries, but they were more independent in their constitution,
and in general more ample in their endowments. The dissolution of
all these foundations followed soon after that of the
monasteries.

“In the year 1422 Bishop Whelpdale at his death left the
33 sum of £200, for the purpose of
founding and endowing a chantry for the performance of religious
offices for the souls of Sir Thomas Skelton, knight, and Mr. John
Glaston, two gentlemen with whom he had been on terms of intimate
friendship, and who were buried in the cathedral. Nicholson
thinks it probable this was the chantry of St. Roch; its revenues
were valued at £2, 14s. per annum.

ONE BAY OF THE NAVE.

“There was another chantry dedicated to St. Cross; but the
period at which, and the person by whom it was founded are not
known. It was granted by Edward VI. ‘with all messuages, lands,
tenements, profits, and hereditaments belonging thereto,’ valued
at £3, 19s. per annum, to Henry Tanner and Thomas
Bucher.

“The chapel of St. Catherine in the Cathedral of Carlisle
34 was founded at an early period by John de
Capella, a wealthy citizen, and endowed by him with certain
rents, lands, and burgage houses. In the year 1366 a portion of
its revenues being fraudulently detained, Bishop Appleby
commanded the chaplains of St. Mary’s and St. Cuthbert’s to give
public notice that the offenders were required to make
restitution within ten days on pain of excommunication with bell,
book, and candle. Its revenues, according to the rotuli, called
the king’s books, which were made up in the reign of Henry VIII.,
were valued at £3, 2s. 8d. per annum.”^[3]

Some very fine foliated brackets can be seen in the arch
between this chapel and the choir aisle.

Dividing the chapel from the transept and aisle is some
exquisite carved screen-work (Late Decorated) dating from the
latter part of the fifteenth century, and attributed to Prior
Gondibour. Its great beauty, and the skilful variations of the
designs, will repay careful inspection. The chapel now serves as
a vestry for the clergy: but it is to be regretted that it cannot
add to the beauty of the cathedral by being utilised for its
proper purpose.

The pointed doorway on the left, originally opened on to a
well which was closed in the course of the restoration of the
building. The position of Carlisle on the border making it liable
to sudden attacks in early times, it is probable that the
inhabitants may have taken sanctuary in the cathedral many a
time, when a well of water would be of great advantage to the
refugees.

Monuments in the Transepts.—North Transept. Near
the entrance to the north choir aisle stands the altar-tomb of
Prior Senhouse. It is covered with a slab of dark blue marble. An
inscription runs thus: “The tomb of Simon Senhouse, Prior of
Carlisle in the reign of Henry VII. The original inscription
being lost, the present plate was substituted by the senior male
branch of the Senhouse family, A.D. 1850. Motto, ‘Lothe to
offend.'”

It was on this tomb that the tenants of the priory were
accustomed to pay their rents.35

SCREEN—ST. CATHERINE;S CHAPEL.

36South Transept.—On a stone in the west wall (now covered
with a pane of glass) is an inscription which was discovered
in 1853. It is written in Norse runes, and is
as follows:—

“Tolfihn yraita thasi rynr a thisi
stain.”
“Tolfihn wrote these runes on this stone.”

The runes are Norse, not Anglo-Saxon. The latter are not often
found, but the former are scarcer still. The runes, perhaps, date
from the eleventh century.

There is also a marble tablet containing a medallion likeness
of George Moore.

“A man of rare
strength and simplicity of character,
of active benevolence and wide influence.
A yeoman’s son
he was not born to wealth
but by ability and industry he gained it,
and he ever used it
as a steward of God and a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ
for the furtherance of all good works.”

George Moore was born at Mealsgate, Cumberland, the 9th April
1806. He went to London in 1825. Two years later he was working
for Fisher, Stroud & Robinson, lace merchants, as town
traveller, and, soon after, as traveller in the north of England.
He was so successful that he was nicknamed “The Napoleon of
Watling Street.” When he was twenty-three he accepted an offer
from a firm of lace merchants, Groucock & Copestake, to
become a partner. He gave up travelling for orders in 1841, but
soon suffered in health. As a remedy he took to following the
hounds, and later (in 1844) went on a three months’ trip to
America. On his return he started on his career of philanthropy
which has made him famous. A few of the institutions for which he
worked, and to which he contributed largely, may be mentioned;
the Cumberland Benevolent Society, the Commercial Travellers’
Schools, the British Home for Incurables, the Warehousemen and
Clerks’ Schools, the Royal Free Hospital, and the London City
Mission. Various Cumberland charities found in him a generous
supporter. He met with his death in Carlisle. Knocked down by a
runaway horse, 20th November 1876, while on his way to attend a
meeting of the Nurses’ Institution, he died the next
day from his injuries. The following was a favourite motto with him:—

37

THE CHOIR, LOOKING WEST.

39There is a memorial tablet to Robert Anderson, “the Cumberland
Bard,” 1770-1833. Born in Carlisle, he had but little schooling,
and at ten years of age he was earning wages as assistant to a
calico printer; later, he was bound apprentice to a
pattern-drawer in his native city. He went to London to pursue
his calling, and he seems to have been led to attempt to write
poetry through hearing some imitation Scottish songs sung at
Vauxhall. He published his first volume in 1798, and his
Cumberland Ballads in 1805. His verses, not altogether destitute
of real poetry, are valuable for the pictures they give of
obsolete manners and customs of the district.

The Choir.—A low doorway in the eastern arch of
the tower gives entrance to the choir. Some of the woodwork of
the stalls fills the lower part of this arch, and the entrance
has been placed towards the north, so as to open exactly on the
centre of the choir. In point of beauty the choir compares
favourably with any we possess in England, and the eye can rest
upon it again and again with renewed satisfaction and delight.
Its superb main arcade, with the boldly-designed and
finely-carved capitals representing the twelve months of the
year—unrivalled in this country; its handsome clerestory
windows; its great east window (the pride of the cathedral); and,
overhead, its richly-coloured roof, unique in shape, afford a
combination not easily to be surpassed.

The choir is about 134 feet long, 34 feet 6 inches wide
between the columns, and 72 feet 6 inches between the aisle
walls.

The nave is not so wide by about 12 feet, and as the columns
of both nave and choir on the south side are on the same line,
the extra width is all on the north.

Looking westward, the view is marred by the tower arch not
being in the centre of the west wall, in consequence of which
there is an ugly space of blank wall between the arch and the
north choir aisle.

There are eight bays, averaging about 18 feet in width.
40 Those at the end, however, east and west, are
not so wide. At the east they probably suffer from the intrusion
of the east wall, which is about six feet thick. The western bays
may have lost the space taken for the choir entrance. They have
very acute arches, and at the west end rest on responds or
half-piers against the tower walls. Those at the east end rest on
brackets, and their mouldings lose themselves in the wall on each
side of the great window.

The presbytery is reached by two steps from the choir, and the
last bay but one (in which the altar stands) is raised three
steps above the presbytery.

The main arcade practically dates from after the terrible fire
in 1292. The arches escaped, and are splendid specimens of Early
English, “of the Pointed style in all the purity of its first
period.” They were underbuilt with Early Decorated piers, while
the capitals were finished at the same time as the triforium and
clerestory (Late Decorated) 1350-1400.

The piers are not equal in diameter to those of the nave; they
measure but five feet and a quarter. Each consists of eight
clustered pillars of red sandstone. The four facing the cardinal
points of the compass are larger than the intermediate ones,
which are filleted. The base moulding is very deep and hollow.
These piers support the Early English arches, with dog-tooth
ornament large in the interior, small in the exterior.
Altogether, these fine arches give a very pleasing impression of
lightness and grace, and make us feel “the fascination of the
Pointed style.”

At the junctions of the arches are small grotesque heads very
well executed. On the north side, where the presbytery begins, is
a queen’s head, and on the opposite side a figure with a dog’s
head.

There are altogether fourteen complete, and two half piers,
the capitals of which are carved with foliage alone, or with the
addition of winged monsters, birds, beasts, and human figures.
Twelve of them represent the domestic and agricultural
occupations of the months. The first capital on the south side
(east end) shows a creature with a man’s head, wings, and a tail
terminating in the head of a serpent, which bites the monster on
the temple. January is symbolised on the next one, and the series
continues westward, then crosses over, and proceeds from west to
east on the north side, finishing at the last pier but one.

ONE BAY OF THE CHOIR.

41
January.—A figure in a loose-fitting tunic, sitting
down. He has three faces—two in profile—and is
drinking with the right and left mouths. At his feet is a third
vessel.

February.—A man in a loose tunic, and head
closely wrapped up. He appears to suffer from cold, for his face
is woe-begone, and he is sitting over a fire, holding out one
boot upside down as if to drain water from it, while he lifts up
one foot to catch the heat. The fireplace is very skilfully
carved.

March.—A man, hood on head, digging with a spade
at the foot of a leafless tree. Other decorations are, a
squirrel, a bear with hands, birds, and a beast’s body with a
mitred head.

April.—A bare-legged man with his head tied up,
pruning a tree. On this capital are also two figures half-human,
half-bestial, clasping each other round the neck.

May.—A woman in a long gown holding in each hand
a bunch of foliage, which she offers to a young
42 man clad in a tunic, with his hood thrown
back. In addition there are three winged beasts with human heads,
one mitred.

June.—A horseman, bareheaded, holding on his
right hand a hawk, and bearing a branch of roses in his left
hand. There are also some half-human figures, and men playing
musical instruments. This capital is more elaborately carved than
any of the others.

July.—A man mowing. In addition there are owls
carrying mice in their mouths.

August.—A man working in a wheat-field. He wears
a conical hat, and grasps a crutch with one hand while he holds a
pruning hook in the other.

September.—A man reaping with a sickle.

October.—A man whose head is tied with a
handkerchief; he is engaged in cutting grapes. A fox carrying off
a goose is also vigorously carved on this capital.

November.—A man sowing grain from a basket. There
is a stag on his right and a horse on his left hand.

December.—A man wearing a loose tunic, who is
about to fell an ox which another man holds by the horns. In
addition there is a man tending swine.

The last capital shows several heads, and a man sitting on a
tree stump.

In each bay of the Triforium there are three arches
with curvilinear tracery. The principal mullions have octagonal
bases. On account of their reduced width, the extreme eastern and
western bays have only two arches.

The courses of stone above the base of the triforium are not
by any means so smooth and well-proportioned as those beneath.
The workmen do not seem to have been actuated by the spirit of
those builders “in the elder days of Art” who

THE CHOIR, LOOKING EAST, IN 1840.

44The
Clerestory consists of two planes. Each compartment on the
face of the choir wall has three high-pitched arches, the middle
one being higher than those at the side, and more than twice as
wide in the opening. The eastern bay has only the central arch,
while the western bay is blank.

The base is decorated with a low parapet pierced with
quatrefoils, four in the centre, and two in each side opening. On
the south, however, the quatrefoil decoration is slightly
different. There are only three quatrefoils in the centre and two
smaller ones on each side. This parapet is in great part a
restoration, the original having been almost entirely removed, in
the vain hope of admitting more light to the lower part of the
choir.

In the other plane the windows are in triplets, three lights
in the central and single lights on either side, decorated with
flamboyant tracery.

The eastern bay has no side lights.

Although the windows seem to be all different, there are but
six varieties, distributed as follows:

On the north side beginning at the east the design of the
first window is not repeated. That of the next window occurs in
the second window on the south side. The third and fifth are
alike. The sixth and the last are like the fourth. The design of
the seventh window does not occur again.

On the south side one new pattern appears in three
windows—the first, fourth, and sixth from the east. The
second is like the window opposite, and the third, fifth, and
seventh are like the third on the north side.

Of all the windows the second from the east is the most
beautiful.

Before 1764 they were filled with stained glass of which some
remains are still to be seen. The trefoil heads above the
mullions have a brown border with the insertion in some cases of
a yellow diamond ornament, and in others of a crown.

The Roof—This unique specimen of a waggon-headed
ceiling, semi-circular in all its parts, is of oak. Bishop Welton
began its construction about 1350. A plaster ceiling, put up in
the year 1764, hid this fine timber roof until its removal
45 in 1856. It was then found that enough
remained of the original to allow a faithful restoration to be
made. But the scheme of colouring—red and green upon
white—was not copied. In its stead Owen Jones suggested
another—a background of blue plentifully ornamented with
golden stars.

The Saturday Review is responsible for the
statement—for the truth of which, however, it does not
vouch—”that on the first occasion when Dean Close found
himself beneath the roof, then glowing in all the brilliancy of
modern painting and gilding, in semblance of ‘the spangled
firmament on high,’ he solemnly ejaculated, ‘Oh my stars!'”

At the triforium base foliated brackets support vaulting
shafts of three clustered columns. At the point of contact with
the base of the quatrefoil parapet they are ornamented with
rings, and their capitals are foliated, but not so naturally as
the capitals below. Great semi-circular rafters spring from the
capitals and cross the choir. Smaller rafters start from the
cornice of the clerestory. These are intersected in the centre of
the ceiling by a longitudinal beam. Small moulded ribs divide the
space between each great rafter and the longitudinal beam into
sixteen panels. The intersections are decorated with carved
bosses.

Hammer-beams.—From the foot of three of the
principal ribs hammer-beams project. They seem to indicate an
intention on the part of the builders to cover the choir with an
open-timber roof like that of the Great Hall at Westminster. But
having decided on the waggon-headed roof, they did not trouble to
remove these beams. Wall pieces and curved struts now connect
them with the vaulting shafts, and they have been decorated with
“carvèd angels ever eager-eyed, with hair blown back and
wings put cross-wise on their breasts.”

More than one hundred carved figures ornament the cornice, and
the following texts in black-letter appear above them:—

North Side.—Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house
of the Lord. (Eccles. v. 1.)

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and bless the Lord. (Ps.
cxxxiv. 2.)

Praise ye the name of the Lord. (Ps. cxxxv. 1.)

Praise God in His sanctuary, (Ps. cl. 1.)

46 Exalt ye the Lord
our God and worship at His footstool. (Ps. xcix. 5.)

South Side.—How amiable are Thy tabernacles, O Lord of
Hosts! (Ps. lxxxiv. 1.)

My praise shall be of Thee in the great congregation. (Ps.
xxii. 25.)

O magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together.
(Ps. xxxiv. 3.)

Holiness becometh Thine house for ever. (Ps. xciii. 5.)

The great East Window is the crowning ornament and
special glory of the cathedral. It is unsurpassed by any other in
the kingdom; perhaps there is not a window equal to it in the
whole world.

Rickman says: “It is one of the finest if not the
finest Decorated window in the kingdom. Its elegance of
composition and the easy flow of its lines rank it even higher
than the celebrated west window of York, which it also excels in
the number of divisions. The window is by far the most free and
brilliant example of Decorated tracery in the kingdom.”

Fergusson, in his “History of Architecture,” also praises it:
“Its upper part exhibits the most beautiful and perfect design
for window tracery in the world. All the parts are in such just
harmony the one to the other—the whole is so constructively
appropriate and at the same time so artistically
elegant—that it stands quite alone, even among windows of
its own age.”

“The stone-work of all this part (the east window) is entirely
new, although it reproduces most minutely the original design”
(King, 202-3).

“The whole of the mouldings, both of the mullions and
tracery, externally are nearly destroyed, owing to the
perishable nature of the stone with which it is constructed”
(Billing, p. 60 (1840)).

This great window almost entirely fills the east end of the
choir, being 51 feet high from the sill to the top of the tracery
and about 26 feet wide in the clear.

Immediately after the fire in 1292, the work was started, and
the jambs with their slender shafts and foliated capitals were
erected. Nothing more was done till about the middle of the
fourteenth century, when the arch mullions were added; and
47 the tracery dates from about the end of the
same century. The mouldings were left unfinished until the
restoration of the cathedral, 1856. The tracery (Decorated) is
composed of eighty-six pieces struck from 263 centres. Some of
the pieces forming the chief divisions are nearly five feet in
length. Although the stone-work is modern, the design has been
most faithfully copied from the original. In the lower part there
are nine lights, no other Decorated window in existence having so
many. The west window of Durham Cathedral (partly copied from,
but inferior to, the west window of York) and the Rose window in
the south transept at Lincoln are of the same character; but that
of York ranks next in importance, and is the only window able to
compete with the east window of Carlisle.

The design consists of two complete compositions united under
one head by interposing a third. The York window, on the
contrary, is altogether one complete design, from which no part
can be separated without breaking the integrity of the
composition.

The width of the opening is the same in both windows, but
while the actual tracery of the York window is more than two feet
higher, the Carlisle window is greatly superior in the beautiful
arch mouldings above its tracery, and also in the side shafts and
mouldings.

Again some stiffness is imparted to the design of the York
window by the central mullion which reaches from the basement to
the top of the arch. The tracery branches outwards from this on
each side, and depends upon the arch for support; while the
tracery in the Carlisle window is not so dependent. Neither in
skilful workmanship nor in variety of ornament is the York window
equal to that at Carlisle. With the exception of four quatrefoils
(placed above each alternate mullion) it is composed of trefoils.
Carlisle, on the contrary, possesses nine quatrefoils, in
addition to four placed like those at York. Nearly all the small
spandrels formed by the various ornaments are perforated, and
this imparts a remarkable air of lightness to the window.

The beautiful stained glass in the tracery is all that remains
of the ancient glass. It is of the time of Richard II., and was
no doubt preserved because of the expense that reglazing its
small intricate forms would have involved.

48 The subject is a
Doom—the Resurrection, the Last Judgment, and the New
Jerusalem.

“We have our Lord sitting in judgment; the Procession of the
Blessed to the Palace of Heaven; the Place of punishment for the
wicked; and the general Resurrection.

“The figure of our Saviour is in the uppermost quatrefoil of
the central compartment; His countenance will bear the closest
inspection; it exhibits evident traces of suffering, but is calm,
severe, and dignified. His head is surrounded by a cruciform
nimbus. Below this are two quatrefoils, easily distinguished by
their silvery appearance. These represent the Procession of the
Redeemed to the heavenly Jerusalem, whose towers and pavilions
are shown in the quatrefoil to the right. St. Peter stands in the
gateway in an attitude of welcome; at his feet flows the River of
Life, which some of the Redeemed have reached. The red glare of
the Place of punishment makes it easy to be distinguished; the
tortures represented are of the most realistic character, and the
devils are very material beings, with tails, hoofs, and
horns.

“The rest of the picture is occupied with the representation
of the general Resurrection:—the dead rising from their
graves—ecclesiastics are vested, but laity rise naked,
though kings wear their crowns: several bishops are among the
crowd, and a pope wearing the triple tiara. Some of the
ecclesiastics are bearded, and probably are intended for canons
of the cathedral, who, being Austin or Black canons, would wear
their beards.

“In one of the quatrefoils, just above the mullions, is a
figure surrounded by a heraldic border; this represents John of
Gaunt, who was Governor of Carlisle from 1380 to 1384. It is said
that he supported the prior, William de Dalston, who refused
obedience to the bishop, and had been excommunicated; and that,
out of gratitude, he was thus represented in the east
window.”^[4]
49

THE CHOIR AND EAST WINDOW.

A “Jesse,” which originally filled the lower part of the
window, was destroyed at the Reformation. The present glass was
inserted in 1861, in memory of Bishop Percy (d. 1856). It
represents events in the history of our Lord. Although the
colours do not harmonise well with the old glass, they are in
accord with the gorgeous colouring of the
ceiling. Like most of the stained glass in the cathedral, this is
by Hardman of Birmingham. 50

MISERERE, SOUTH SIDE OF THE STALLS.

Bishop Strickland (1399-1413) erected the Stalls, which
are of black oak, and occupy the three western bays of the
choir.

51 Our English
cathedrals are far ahead of foreign cathedrals in the beauty and
richness of the tabernacle work of their stalls, which in many
instances are “like a whole wood, say a thicket of old hawthorn,
with its topmost branches spared, slowly transformed into
stalls.” These in Carlisle, if not among the finest specimens in
England, certainly take very high rank.

There are forty-six compartments, divided by fifty columns,
upon which the tabernacle work rests. Each compartment consists
of a large canopy decorated with quatrefoils, and battlemented.
This is surmounted by three smaller canopies and pedestals which
were originally occupied by small carved figures. A large
pinnacle, richly decorated, like the others, with crockets and
finials, finishes the compartment.

Between each stall is a small buttress beginning at the
capital and finishing somewhat beneath the top of the large
pinnacle. These buttresses have, alternately, a pedestal with a
canopy above; and a pedestal supporting a small flying-buttress
terminating in a pinnacle enriched with small crockets.

Prior Haithwaite is said to have added the tabernacle-work
after the year 1430.

The division between each stall shows either a well-executed
foliated ornament, or an angel. In the north-west and south-west
angles the elbows of the seats are carved with the head of a king
supposed to represent Henry IV. The panels of the desks are
elaborately worked, and the stone plinth which supports them is
decorated with quatrefoils.

The stalls at the west end of the choir are wider than the
others, and are used by the higher dignitaries of the
cathedral.

The Dean’s stall is on the left of the choir entrance, and the
Bishop’s on the right. This arrangement is said to have existed
since the time of æthelwulf. He was the first prior, and upon
his elevation to the bishopric he still kept the prior’s
seat.

The hinged seats, known as misereres or misericordes, were
constructed to keep the monks from falling asleep while at
prayers. The carvings beneath these seats are of different
designs, generally grotesque.

The following is a list of the subjects found carved
thereon:—52

The Salkeld Screen.—On the north side of the
choir, the westernmost bay of the presbytery is filled by a fine
wooden screen of Renaissance work, erected about 1542 by Lancelot
Salkeld, last prior and first dean of Carlisle. It is divided
into three compartments; through the central one entrance could
be gained to the choir formerly by an ascent of three steps from
the north choir aisle.

It is very elaborate, and some portions are very beautiful.
The lower part is panelled, each panel having two heads carved in
bas-relief. The upper part is of well-executed tracery work.

Over each compartment is a pediment decorated in the centre
with shields. The western one has been restored. The initials
L.S. and D.K. (Lancelot Salkeld, Decanus Karliolensis) occur on
the screen. The other bays were originally filled with
screen-work similar to that in St. Catherine’s Chapel. In 1764
these screens were removed and stored in the Fratry crypt as
lumber. In the end they were used as firewood; only a few pieces
preserved by the neighbouring 53 gentry escaping
destruction. A stone screen now surrounds the sacrarium on three
sides. The reredos is higher than this screen. It is arcaded, and
its compartments have triangular-headed canopies and some
well-executed figures. The late Mr. Street designed it, and its
cost was £1790.

The Bishop’s Throne, of English and foreign oak, was
also designed by the late Mr. Street. The canopy of the throne is
nearly thirty feet high.

The Pulpit is a memorial of Archdeacon Paley, who is
buried close at hand in the north choir aisle. It is of
richly-carved Caen stone, on a plinth of black Manx marble, and
ornamented with carvings in white alabaster, of scenes from the
New Testament. In shape it is hexagonal, with shafts at the
angles rising into an enriched cornice. The lectern—a brass
eagle—was given in memory of the late G.C. Mounsey,
sometime diocesan registrar.

In the middle of the choir is a monument to Bishop Bell. On a
blue slab under a triple canopy, the centre pediment of which has
I.H.S., and its point the Deity and Christ, is a brass figure of
a bishop in pontificalibus, mitre and gloves; his right
hand holds on his breast an open book inscribed—

Hec mea
Spes in sinu meo

His left hand, over which hangs the maniple, has a rich
crosier. On a semi-circular scroll over his head—

Credo q^d redemptor meus vivit et
novissio die de terra surrectur
su et in Carne mea videbo deu salvatore275;
meu.

Under his feet—

Hac marmor fossa Bell presulis en tenet
ossa
Duresme dudu prior his post pontificatu
Gessit atq’ renuit primum super omia querit
Dispiciens mudu poscendo pramia fratru

On the ledge round the slab—

Hic jacet Reverendus Pater Ricardus Bell
quondam Episcopus Karleolensis qui ab hac luce migravit videlicet
vicesimo Quarto die … Anno Domini…. Et omnium fidelium
defunctorum. per misericordiam dei requiescant in perpetua
pace. Amen.”

54 The ancient high
altar probably stood one bay nearer to the west than the present
altar. There, in the presence of Bishop Halton, Robert Bruce took
an oath of fidelity to Edward I. Ten years later he proved false
to this oath, and the Papal Legate solemnly excommunicated him
with bell, book, and candle.

Very shortly after this, Edward I. dedicated the litter in
which he had journeyed thus far, and mounting his horse at the
cathedral door rode through the priory gateway bent on the
conquest of Scotland. He never lived to reach that country, for
he died in sight of the Scottish coast at Burgh-on-Sands.

North Choir Aisle.—This aisle is entered by a
handsome Decorated arch, a very good example of
thirteenth-century work.

The north wall, with the exquisite two-light lancet windows,
is Early English, and dates from the period immediately after the
demolition of the Norman choir about 1260.

Each compartment of the cinquefoil wall-arcade is
separated by triple columns, and the space divided into four
parts by shafts, barely detached from the wall, supporting
foliated arches. This is the general description for both north
and south choir aisles.

The eastern bay belongs to the retro-choir, and is of later
date.

Above the wall-arcade are the graceful two-light lancet
windows, with their slender columns, deep mouldings, and rich
dog-tooth decoration.

In each bay there are four divisions; the two outer ones
blank, and the two others forming the window. The shafts are
detached from the wall; the central one is higher than the rest,
and its capital is foliated. From the outer columns in the blank
divisions, the shoulder, or hipped rib, after rising a short
distance, sinks to the level of the capitals of the vaulting
columns. At the side of the window columns two small circular
mouldings, decorated with small dog-tooth ornament, continue
without a break round the head of each window. A large blank
quatrefoil is inserted in the space between the lights and the
outer arch moulding.55

NORTH AISLE OF THE CHOIR.

The corner column (north side of entrance) has been inserted
by cutting away part of the east wall of the north transept.
56Like the aisle it dates from about the last
half of the thirteenth century. On its capital there is the
spring of a pointed arch, enriched with dog-tooth ornament
similar to the entrance arch.

Probably it was intended to pull the north transept down, and
rebuild it with the addition of an eastern aisle. This column
would then have been part of it. The existence of an offset on
the north face of the aisle wall, with the return of the
base-course and string-course upon it, seems to add weight to
this theory.

The nearest clustered column to it has also been altered, and
consists of five shafts instead of three. A rib springs from the
additional shafts to the centre of the corner column. There are
also remains of groining like that of the aisle.

The bay near the entrance has a window (Perpendicular) dating
from after the Civil Wars. Beneath this there was formerly an
entrance to the cathedral. This has now been walled up.

The groined stone roof dates from after 1292, although,
perhaps, it is composed of materials of an earlier date.

On the south side of the entrance is a very beautiful foliated
bracket; the foliated boss at its base was at one time ornamented
with a very fine knot.

Monuments in North Choir Aisles.—In the third bay
from the east are two low-arched recesses. Being of the same date
as the aisle, they may have been intended to receive the statues
of the bishops who did their best to repair the ravages of the
fire in 1292. The arches are almost flat, and decorated with a
kind of chevron moulding very rarely met with. In Burpham Church,
Sussex, there is another example of this moulding applied to the
decoration of the south side of the south transept arch.

A bishop’s effigy is in the eastern recess. It is of Early
English date; and before 1292 was situated within the choir.
Afterwards a niche was cut in the fourth bay from the east for
its reception. It was eventually placed in its present position
at the time of the restoration of the cathedral, and the other
niche filled up. It may possibly represent Bishop Silvester of
Everdon. It has suffered damage during its migrations in the
cathedral; and the feet are broken. This was probably done when
it was removed from the choir to the 57 aisle
(1856). Jewels which originally enriched the mitre and the cross
on the breast have disappeared.

In the next bay to the east is a small mural brass plate
finely engraved in memory of Bishop Robinson (1598-1616.) He was
a native of Carlisle, and, entering Queen’s College, Oxford, as a
“poor serving child,” eventually became provost, and proved a
great benefactor to that foundation.

“The bishop is represented in pontificalibus, kneeling,
with one hand supporting a crosier; the other is sustaining a
lighted candle, and holding a cord to which three dogs are
attached, who appear guarding an equal number of sheepfolds from
the attack of wolves. Below the candle is a group of figures
bearing implements of agriculture and peaceful industry; near
their feet is a wolf playing with a lamb; and various warlike
instruments scattered and broken. Each part is illustrated with
appropriate Greek and Latin sentences chiefly selected from the
Scriptures. Behind the bishop is a quadrangular building,
enclosing an open court, and apparently intended to represent the
college which he had so much benefited.

“Over the gateway is a shield charged with three spread
eagles, being the arms of Robert Eglesfield, the founder of that
college; on the college are the words, Invenit destructum;
reliquit extructum et instructum (he found it destroyed; he
left it built and furnished). Above this building is the
delineation of a cathedral; over the entrance is
inscribed—Intravit per ostium (he entered by the
door); on a label across the entrance is Permansit fidelis
(he endured faithful to the end), and below, on the steps, under
a group of figures, one of whom is kneeling and receiving a
benediction, are the words, Recessit beatus (he departed
blessed). Near the top of the plate is the angel of the Lord
bearing a label inscribed in Greek characters, Tois
Episcopois (Unto the Bishops).

“Above are the words, Erant pastores in eadem regione
excubantes et agentes vigilias noctis super gregem suum
(there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field
and keeping watch over their flocks by night). At the bottom of
the plate in the cathedral is a Latin inscription to this effect:
‘To Henry Robinson of Carlisle, D.D., a most careful provost of
Queen’s College, Oxon, and afterwards a most watchful bishop of
this church for eighteen years, who on the 13th Calend of July in
the year from the delivery of the Virgin,
58 1616, and of his age 64, devoutly resigned
his spirit unto the Lord. Bernard Robinson, his brother and heir,
set up this memorial as a testimony of his love.'”^[5]

About halfway up the aisle Archdeacon Paley lies buried
between his two wives, Jane (d. 1791), and Catherine (d. 1819).
On a brass plate in the centre of the stone is the following
inscription:—

Here lie
interred the remains
of
William Paley, D.D.
who died May 25th
1805
Aged 62 years.

Archdeacon Paley wrote both of his well-known works, “Horæ
Paulinæ” and “Evidences of Christianity,” at Carlisle.

Legendary Paintings.—Between the bays east and
west of the Salkeld screen there is a broad stone plinth panelled
in front. The stalls stand on the plinth west of the screen, and
the backs are painted with scenes from the monkish legends of St.
Anthony the Hermit, St. Cuthbert, and, in the south choir aisle,
St. Augustine. A rhymed couplet explains each picture; and the
paintings, though rudely executed, give good examples of late
fifteenth-century dress and ornament. Prior Gondibour caused the
work to be done, and as Richard Bell was bishop at the time he
may have suggested illustrating the life of St. Cuthbert, who was
really the first bishop of Carlisle, and whose body was enshrined
at Durham, where Bell had been prior before his elevation to the
bishopric.

The following is a detailed account of the Legendary
Paintings, with short note of the principal persons therein
represented:—

St. Cuthbert was born in the Lothians; at eight years he was
living under the care of a widow in the village of Wrangholm.

In 651 while keeping watch over his master’s flocks near the
Lauder, which flows into the Tweed, he had a vision of the soul
of Bishop Aidan being carried up to heaven by angels. A few days
after, he heard of the death of the good bishop, and straightway
journeyed to the monastery of Melrose. Here he was accepted, and
in a short time received the tonsure.

59 The Northumbrian
peasants at this time were, mostly, only Christians in name.
Cuthbert wandered among them, choosing the most out-of-the-way
villages, where other teachers would not go. “He needed no
interpreter as he passed from village to village; the frugal
long-headed Northumbrians listened willingly to one who was
himself a peasant of the Lowlands and who had caught the rough
Northumbrian burr. His patience, his humorous good sense, the
sweetness of his look, told for him, and not less the vigorous
frame which fitted the peasant-preacher for the hard life he had
chosen.

“Never did man die of hunger who served God faithfully,” he
would say, when nightfall found them supperless in the waste.
“Look at the eagle overhead! God can feed us through him if he
will”—and once at least he owed his meal to a fish that the
scared bird let fall.

In 664 he was made prior of Lindisfarne. “Gentle with others,
he was severe with himself, and was unsparing in his acts of
mortification and devotion.”

In 676 he retired, first to a cave near Howburn, and later to
Fame Island, where he remained in strict seclusion for nine
years.

He was elected bishop of Hexham in 684, and with much
difficulty was persuaded to undertake the duties. He soon
exchanged Hexham for Lindisfarne.

As bishop, Cuthbert was diligent in preaching, protected the
poor from their oppressors, lived on very little, and fed and
clothed the poor.

Towards the end of 686 he gave up his bishopric and returned
to his beloved Fame Island, where he died in March 687.

St. Anthony, one of the primitive hermits, and the founder of
monasticism, was born at Coma, in Upper Egypt, in A.D. 251.
Before he was twenty years old he lost his parents, and inherited
great riches from them, but within a year he sold all that he had
and gave the money to the poor. He then retired into solitude
near Coma, passing his time in manual labour, prayer, and study.
Later, he went farther into the wilderness, and lived in a cave.
Satan is said to have tempted him by sending spirits to him,
disguised as beautiful women. Finding this ineffectual, it is
related that the Evil One made a violent attack on him, and beat
him so severely that he left him for dead. At the age of ninety
he heard of another hermit (St. Paul the Hermit), and made a
journey to visit him. St. Paul died soon after this meeting, and
St. Anthony, aided by two lions, buried him. In his 105th year he
told some of his disciples that he was going to die; then,
accompanied by a few monks, he retired deeper into the
wilderness, where he died, having first obtained a promise that
they would keep the place of his burial secret.

(In the time of Innocent IV. all hermits who lived under no
61 recognised discipline were incorporated and
reduced under the rule of St. Augustine.)

St. Augustine, the first great saint of the Order, and patron
of the canons of the cathedral. He was born at Tagaste, in
Numidia, A.D. 354. His father, Patricius, was a Pagan, while his
mother, Monica, was a Christian. Patricius, perceiving the
62 ability of his son, “spared nothing to breed
him up a scholar.” When quite young he had a severe illness, and
expressed a wish to be baptized, but on his recovery the wish
vanished. Later, his morals grew corrupt, and he lived a
profligate life until he became a convert of the Manicheans at
the age of nineteen. After teaching grammar at Tagaste, and
rhetoric at Carthage, he proceeded to Rome, against the wish of
Monica. He next became professor of rhetoric at Milan. Ambrose
was then archbishop, and through listening to his preaching, St.
Augustine abandoned the Manichean doctrines, and was baptized at
Easter the following year, A.D. 387. Monica, who had prayed
unceasingly for his conversion, now visited him at Milan, and was
greatly rejoiced at the answer to her prayers. His mother started
to return to Africa with her son, but died at Ostia. At a villa
outside Hippo, St. Augustine passed three years in the company of
eleven pious men. “They had all things in common as in the early
Church; and fasting and prayer, Scripture-reading and almsgiving,
formed their regular occupations. Their mode of life was not
formally monastic according to any special rule, but the
experience of this time of seclusion was, no doubt, the basis of
that monastic system which St. Augustine afterwards sketched, and
which derived from him its name.” He then entered the priesthood,
A.D. 390, and five years afterward was made coadjutor in the
bishopric of Hippo, and eventually became bishop. The rest of his
life he devoted to defending the Christian religion, both by
preaching and by writing. He died in Hippo, A.D. 430, while the
Vandals were besieging it. St. Augustine is called “the greatest
of the Fathers.” His great work “De Civitate Dei,” “the highest
expression of his thought,” engaged him for seventeen years. In
his well-known “Confessions” is given an account of his spiritual
progress, and of his state before he was converted.63

EAST END OF THE FRATRY AND SOUTH TRANSEPT.

64

65

THE CRYPT UNDER THE FRATRY.

66 Between the
compartments devoted to the lives and deeds of St. Anthony and
St. Cuthbert are pictures of the twelve Apostles with the words
which, according to tradition, each one contributed to the
Creed.

At the time of the Reformation these paintings were all
whitewashed. Dean Percy (1778) removed the whitewash from some of
them, and they are now all restored to their original condition
as far as possible.

Retro-choir.—The extreme eastern bay of each
aisle, and the passage behind the altar, form the retro-choir,
which is Late Decorated.

Its acutely-pointed windows are practically of identical
pattern, the mullions and side-mouldings having richly floriated
capitals.

The last arch of the main arcade is supported by a bracket of
foliage. A fragment of rib still remaining was for the
cross-groining of the aisle; but as this would have interfered
with the arch mouldings, the rib was terminated higher up the
wall upon a bracket in the form of a crouching figure.

The wall-arcade has three divisions, the capitals of the
columns are foliated, and the point where the hood mouldings meet
is ornamented with the carving of a human head.

The low doorway forms the entrance to a staircase leading to
the upper part of the cathedral, and the belfry.

67 Beneath the great
east window there is a plain tablet in memory of Archdeacon
Paley, and another in memory of his two wives and infant son.

Another tablet is in memory of Dean Cramer: “Apud Oxonienses
Historiæ Profr. Regius,” died 1848.

Opposite is a monument to Bishop Law, the work of T. Banks,
R.A. A figure of Religion leaning on a cross is above the tablet.
This monument was originally fixed on the pillar behind the
pulpit (“Columnæ hujus sepultus est ad pedem”). It was removed
to the north aisle because of the weakening of the pillar through
having been cut to receive the memorial; and in 1894 was again
removed and fixed here, about as far away from the bishop’s grave
as it could possibly be placed.

Under the great window, a little to the south, is a tombstone,
similar to that of Bishop Bell in the choir, but the brass is
missing.

On the south side the last arch of the main arcade is
supported by a bracket representing a human figure sustaining
mouldings, resembling the one at the end of the north aisle.

The small east window is in memory of John Heysham, M.D.
(1753-1834). He graduated at Edinburgh in 1777, and settled in
Carlisle where he practised till his death. He is famous for his
statistical observations; a record of the annual births,
marriages, diseases, and deaths in Carlisle (ten years to 1788);
a census of the inhabitants in 1780 and 1788. The actuary of the
Sun Life Assurance Office used these statistics as the basis of
the well-known “Carlisle Table of Mortality.” Aided by the dean
and chapter he established the first dispensary for the poor at
Carlisle. He died in 1834, and was buried in St. Mary’s
Church.

One of the heads ornamenting the wall-arcade is said to
represent Edward I.

The South Choir Aisle is in most particulars the same
as the corresponding aisle on the north. The windows of its two
bays next to St. Catherine’s Chapel are Early English of a later
period than the others, but the effect they produce is not by any
means so pleasing. The decorations of the capitals of the Early
English columns are not so elaborate as those in the north choir
aisle.

In the third bay east of St. Catherine’s Chapel, two arches of
the wall-arcade have been thrown into one, forming a
68 doorway. The arch is formed by seven
segments, and its hood-moulding terminates in the cornice
immediately above the arcade.

Monuments in South Choir Aisle.—At the east end
is an altar tomb with recumbent effigy in white marble, of Bishop
Waldegrave, by H.H. Armstead, R.A.

The words “væ mihi si non evangelizavero” (i Cor. ix. 16) are
on the edge of the upper part of the tomb. Below this is the
following inscription:—

A recess with low pointed arch beneath the third window from
the east formerly contained a monument to Sir John Skelton, Knt.
(1413-22).

Outside St. Catherine’s Chapel is an altar tomb with a damaged
effigy in red sandstone of Bishop Barrow (1423-29). Originally it
was painted and gilt, and, although greatly injured, the remains
show that the statue was well executed.

Opposite, under a carved oak canopy, is a bronze recumbent
figure by Hamo Thornycroft, R.A., of Harvey Goodwin. The
following is inscribed on a bronze tablet:

Next to this, under a richly-carved canopy, is a recumbent
figure in white marble, by H.H. Armstead, R.A., of Dean Close.
The monument bears the following inscription:—
69

The canopy, given by his son, bears the words following: “This
canopy was erected by Admiral Close in memory of his father.”

Francis Close was born in 1797, and was educated at St.
John’s, Cambridge. From 1826 till 1856 he held the living of
Cheltenham. He was a liberal subscriber to societies for various
philanthropic purposes whether in connection with the Established
Church or not. In 1856 he was nominated Dean of Carlisle.
Although a very popular preacher his theological views were far
from broad. He was, also, a strenuous opponent of betting,
theatre-going, indulgence in alcoholic liquors, and smoking. The
poor people of Carlisle lost a good friend when he passed away.
His failing health obliged him to give up the deanery in 1881,
and at the end of the following year he died at Penzance, where
he was wintering.

The fourth window is filled with glass in memory of members of
the Mounsey family, and Captain John Oswald Lambert.

The following subjects are represented:—

At the back of the bishop’s throne are some shelves containing
a few standard devotional books for the use of the congregation
before and after divine service. It would be a good thing if this
custom could be generally adopted, and every church in the land
furnished with a small library of the works of such men as Thomas
a Kempis, St. Augustine, Taylor, Law, and Keble.

The low doorway in the north-eastern angle of the retro-choir
opens on a staircase leading to the upper part of the cathedral,
and the tower.

70 If we ascend to the
clerestory we may pass along the ambulatory, and obtain a nearer
view of the great east window (especially the old glass in the
tracery), the choir roof, and the clerestory windows. At the end
of the ambulatory we come to the belfry.

There are six Bells, one of which, bearing the date
1396, was furnished by Bishop Strickland. It is inscribed as
follows:—

In: voce: sum: munda: maria;
sonando: secunda.

Another bell bears the following sentence:—

“Jesus be our
speed.” Date 1608.

A third has on the rim—”This ringe was made six tuneable
bells at the charge of the Lord Howard and other gentree of the
country and citie, and officers of the garrisson, by the advice
of Majer Jeremiah Tolhurst, governor of the garrisson 1658.” This
bell was cracked while ringing during the rejoicings held in
honour of the peace after Waterloo.

On a bell dated 1657 can be read, “I warne you how your time
doth pass away, Serve God therefore while life doth last, and say
Glorie in excelsis Deo.”

Of the remaining bells, one is dated 1659, and the other
1728.

In war time the tower was useful as a watch-tower, especially
when the enemy was approaching from Scotland. The small turret
was used for fire signals.

There is an interesting record in connection with the tower
which is found in an account of the trial of the Governor of
Carlisle in 1745. It is as follows:—

“I desired that two men might be posted upon the high Tower of
the Cathedral with a very large spying glass I had brought with
me, and to send me a report of what they observed in the country.
The Chancellor proposed to the clergy to take this duty, which
they readily did, and were very exact and vigilant, and when the
Rebells came before Carlisle they took up arms as Volunteers most
of whom served under me as aides-de-camp.”^[6]
71

THE FRATRY.

The Monastic Buildings

73The Monastic Buildings were erected on the
land south of the cathedral. The cloisters, enclosing a large
open court, stood west of the south transept, communicating with
the two doors—one in the north-east angle, the other in the
north-west.

The dormitory, built upon an arcade, was joined to the south
transept, and had a door opening into it above the present modern
doorway.

West of the dormitory, and parallel with the nave, was the
fratry; adjoining the east end of which, and stretching to the
south-east, were the domestic offices.

West of the fratry was the prior’s lodging (now the
deanery).

The chapter-house, which was built somewhere in the angle
formed by the choir and the dormitory, has disappeared entirely.
It was octagonal in shape, about 28 feet across, and had a
conical roof.

The great fire in 1292 caused great destruction to the priory
buildings. They were put up again about 1350, and Prior Gondibur
almost entirely rebuilt them towards the end of the fifteenth
century.

There is no reason for doubting that the various buildings
were handed over in good order at the dissolution of the priory.
The destruction which has left standing only the fratry, the
prior’s lodging, and the gate tower (1528), was the act of the
Parliamentary troops and their Scottish allies in 1645, when, in
addition to pulling down part of the nave, they destroyed most of
the monastic buildings, in order to use the materials for the
erection of guard-houses, and to strengthen the
fortifications.

Dr. Todd says: “The Abbey Clois^rs, part of ye
Deanery, and Chapter-House…. they pulled down, and employed ye
stone to build a maine guard, and a guard-house at every gate; to
repair y^e walls, and other secular uses as they thought
fit.”

The Fratry still remains. It was built about the middle
of the fourteenth century, and rebuilt by Prior Gondibour
(1484-1511) towards the close of the fifteenth century. It
contains the canons’ dining-hall, a fine hall, 79 feet by 27. At
the upper end is a beautiful little reader’s pulpit, and in the
north wall there are two handsome canopied niches. The
Perpendicular 74 windows on the
south side are very fine specimens; the tracery, however, is
modern, but that of the west windows is very old. The late Mr.
Street very carefully restored the fratry in 1880, and it is now
used as a chapter-house, library, and choir-school. Beneath the
fratry is a very fine Decorated crypt, with a groined roof. The
boss of one of the pillars bears the initials of Prior
Gondibour.

Near the fratry, to the south-west, is the prior’s lodging,
which, having been enlarged, is now the Deanery. It has an
embattled tower, and was a refuge for the abbey inmates when
danger was near; in fact, to all intents and purposes it was a
“peel tower.” Formerly there was a covered passage leading from
the first floor, over the cloisters, into the cathedral. There is
a remarkable room in the deanery, the priors’ dining-hall, with a
very fine ceiling, put up by Prior Senhouse (1507-1520). It is of
oak, richly carved and painted; and covered profusely with
verses, armorial bearings, and devices. In every third
compartment are two birds holding a scroll between them, on
which, and on the cross beams, the following rude verses are
written in old English characters:—

The abbey gateway is to the north-west of the nave. It is a
plain, round-headed archway, built by Prior Christopher Slee, and
bears the following inscription:—”Ora te p^r anima
Christofori Slee Prioris qui primus hoc opus fieri incipit A.D.
MDXXVII.” Formerly, it was provided with battlements, which have
now been removed.

Near the south transept, two arches of the vestibule of the
chapter-house are still visible.

Table of
Contents
75

CHAPTER IV

HISTORY OF THE SEE

Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, drove the Britons away from
what is now the northern part of Lancashire, and the Lake
district, 670-675. Some years later he granted Carlisle with a
circuit of fifteen miles to St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne
(685-687), and his successors. In 883 Chester-le-street was
chosen as the seat of the bishopric on account of the Northmen’s
raids on Lindisfarne, and in 995 the see was finally removed to
Durham. Carlisle thus formed part of the bishopric of Durham
until the death of Flambard in 1128. This bishop had greatly
displeased Henry I., and in order to curb the power of the
bishops of Durham he reduced the size of the diocese. Carlisle,
owing to its distance from Durham, and because of the laxity of
ecclesiastical supervision in the surrounding district, was
chosen as the seat of a new bishopric, and, with about half of
the present counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, made
independent of Durham. A further reason for the choice of
Carlisle may have been the presence of the priory church begun by
Walter, and finished by Henry I. William Rufus in his lifetime
had definitely made the district of Carlisle part of the kingdom
of England, and “Henry gave the special care of this last won
possession of the English Crown to a prelate, whose name of
Æthelwulf is sure proof of his English birth.” Æthelwulf, the
king’s own confessor and prior of Carlisle, was accordingly
consecrated bishop in 1133.

More than 400 years later, at the Reformation, the priory was
dissolved (1547) and the cathedral re-dedicated to the Holy and
Undivided Trinity.

In 1856, on the death of Bishop Percy, a large part of
Westmoreland was transferred to Carlisle, and the diocese now
embraces all Cumberland (except the parish of Alston),
Westmoreland, and Lancashire north of the Sands.

Aldulf (or Æthelwulf) (1133-1155), Prior of St.
Oswald’s (Nostell); Prior of Carlisle; Confessor to Henry I. He
76 was one of those who elected Henry Murdac,
Abbot of Fountains Abbey, to the archbishopric of York, although
the election displeased Stephen; and received him as his
metropolitan when he came to Carlisle on a visit to David, king
of Scotland, in 1148. He died in 1155.

Bernard (1203), Archbishop of Ragusa. For more than
thirty years there was no appointment made to the see, perhaps
because “the bishop’s revenues were so small that no able and
loyal person would accept thereof.” It is not known how long
Bernard held the bishopric.

Hugh of Beaulieu (1218-1223), Abbot of Beaulieu,
Hampshire, was constituted Bishop of Carlisle by Gualo the Pope’s
legate. Henry III. had complained to Honorius III. that the
canons had elected a bishop against his will and in opposition to
the legate, and had sworn fealty to the king of Scotland, at that
time the enemy alike of Henry and Honorius. So the canons were
banished, and Hugh made bishop. He died at La Ferté,
Burgundy, while returning from Rome.

Walter Mauclerk (1223-1246). This bishop was a
favourite of King John, and was employed by him on many missions;
for instance, in 1215 he was sent to Rome to support the king
against the barons; and in 1228 he went on an embassy to Germany
to treat for the king’s marriage with Leopold of Austria’s
daughter. He was made treasurer of England by charter in 1232.
The following year he was deprived of the office by the
machinations of the Bishop of Winchester, and fined £100.
Mauclerk set out to appeal to the Pope, but was stopped at Dover
by command of the king. The Bishop of London, happening to
witness this ill-treatment, excommunicated all those who were
hindering Mauclerk, and, proceeding to the king at Hereford,
renewed the sentence, in which he was supported by all the
bishops there present. This had the effect of gaining permission
for the release of Mauclerk, and leave to go to Flanders. In 1234
the bishop was restored to favour. He resigned the bishopric in
1246, and became a Dominican friar at Oxford. When this order of
friars first came into England he had stood their friend,
presenting them with land and mills. He died in 1248.

Sylvester de Everdon (1247-1255), Archdeacon of
Chester; Lord High Chancellor. Sylvester was among the bishops
who supported the Archbishop of Canterbury in his
77 opposition to the king’s encroachments upon
the liberties of the Church, particularly in the matter of
electing bishops. He was killed in 1255 by falling from his
horse.

Thomas Vipont (1255-1256). This bishop enjoyed the
bishopric for less than a year. He died in October 1256.

Two years elapsed before the next appointment.

Robert de Chause (1258-1278), Archdeacon of Bath;
Chaplain to Queen Eleanor.

THE ABBEY GATEWAY.

Again there was an interval of two years before the
appointment of

Ralph Ireton (1280-1292), Prior of Gisburne. He was
elected by the prior and canons of Carlisle, in 1278, without
royal licence; so the king (Edward I.) fined the chapter 500
marks, and refused his assent. Eventually Pope Nicholas III.
quashed the appointment on the grounds that it had been
technically wrong, and then nominated Ireton to the vacant see.
Edward agreed to this, pardoned the prior on payment of £100,
and restored the temporalities in 1280. Ireton was
avaricious, and extorted money from the clergy. This he used
78 for building a new roof to the cathedral. He
died in 1292, and was buried in the cathedral; where, shortly
after, his tomb and a great deal of his work was destroyed by the
great fire which occurred in May that same year.

John of Halton (1292-1324), Canon and Prior of
Carlisle; Custos of Carlisle Castle. He defended the city against
Wallace. The diocese suffered so often from the ravages of the
Scots that more than once he had to obtain remission of the Papal
taxation levied on the clergy. He was employed many times in
various negotiations with Scotland, his last embassy being in
1320. He died four years later, and was buried in the
cathedral.

John de Ros (or Rosse) (1325-1332), Canon of
Hereford. He was appointed by the Pope to Carlisle in 1325.
During his episcopate he was frequently non-resident. He died in
1332.

John de Kirkby (1332-1352), Prior of Carlisle, was
bishop during very troubled times, and took part in many raids
made on the Scots. He helped to raise the siege of Edinburgh in
1337. Five years later he took part in an expedition to raise the
siege of Lochmaben Castle. In 1345 the Scots made a raid into
Cumberland, and were defeated. The bishop, while fighting
valorously against them, was unhorsed and nearly taken prisoner.
The following year he was one of the English leaders at the
battle of Neville’s Cross. He died in 1352.

Gilbert Welton (1353-1362). The chapter of Carlisle
had, with the king’s leave, elected John de Horncastle, but the
Pope annulled the election, and made Gilbert Welton bishop. He
was a very busy official of the king; amongst other matters he
was one of the commissioners who treated for the ransom of David
of Scotland, and was also a warden of the western marches.

Thomas Appleby (1363-1395), Canon of Carlisle. More
than once during his episcopate he was a warden of the western
marches. In 1372 he was required by the king, in conjunction with
the Bishop of Durham, and others, to be ready to repel any
invasion by the Scots. He was also one of the commissioners, in
1384, to treat with the king of Scotland for a renewal of the
truce, and, in 1392, to execute that part of a treaty with France
which concerned Scottish affairs. He died in 1395.

Robert Reade (1396-1397), a Dominican friar. In 1394
79 he was appointed by the Pope to the bishopric
of Waterford and Lismore, and, in spite of the election of
William Strickland by the canons, translated to Carlisle, whose
temporalities he received in March 1396. In October, however, he
was translated (by Papal bull) to Chichester, receiving the
temporalities of that see May 1397.

Thomas Merke (or Merkes) (1397-1400). Educated
at Oxford. The Pope, at the king’s request, compelled the chapter
of Carlisle to elect him in 1397. He is said to have been a boon
companion of Richard II., and remained faithful to that king. He
was one of the eight whose safety Richard demanded when
surrendering to Bolingbroke. He is said to have made a strong
protest in Henry IV.’s first parliament (October 1399) against
the treatment which Richard had received. The following January
he was tried for high treason, and, after being deprived of his
bishopric, was committed to the Abbey of Westminster (23d June
1400). Pope Boniface IX. intervened in his favour, and, by
translating him to a titular eastern see (ad ecclesiam
Samastone), prevented his being degraded and handed over to
the secular arm. He died in 1409, having, after his deposition,
held benefices at Sturminster, Marshall, and Todenham, his
eastern see affording him no revenue.

William Strickland (1400-1419), whose election (after
the death of Bishop Appleby) had been annulled, was now made
bishop. He rebuilt the tower of the cathedral, and provided the
tabernacle work in the choir. He also furnished Penrith with
water from the Petteril. He died in 1419, and was buried in the
cathedral.

Roger Whelpdale (1420-1422). Educated at, and Fellow
of, Balliol College, Oxford; Provost of Queen’s College. He
founded and endowed a chantry in the cathedral, and made various
bequests to his old colleges at Oxford, dying in London 1422.

William Barrow (1423-1429), Chancellor of the
University of Oxford; translated from Bangor. In 1429 he was one
of the commissioners for the truce with Scotland which was
concluded at Hawden Stank. He died in 1429, and was buried in the
cathedral.

Marmaduke Lumley (1430-1450). Educated at Cambridge;
Chancellor of the University of Cambridge and Master of Trinity
Hall. In 1447 he became Lord High Treasurer of
80 England. Queen’s College, Cambridge, was
indebted to him for gifts of money towards its building, and
books for its library. He was translated to Lincoln in 1450, and
died in December of that same year.

Nicholas Close (1450-1452), Fellow of King’s College,
Cambridge; Chancellor of the University; Archdeacon of
Colchester. Translated to the bishopric of Coventry and Lichfield
1452, and died two months after his translation. He was a great
benefactor to King’s College.

William Percy (1452-1462), Chancellor of the University
of Cambridge. Died in 1462.

John Kingscott (1462-1463), Archdeacon of
Gloucester.

Richard Scroope (1464-1468), Chancellor of the
University of Cambridge.

Edward Story (1468-77), Fellow of Pembroke Hall; Master
of Michael House, Cambridge, and Chancellor of the University. He
was translated to Chichester 1477.

Richard Bell (1478-1495), Prior of Durham. He died in
1495, and was buried in the choir of the cathedral, where there
is a fine brass to his memory.

William Senhouse or Sever (1496-1502). Educated
at Oxford; Abbot of York. He was one of the commissioners sent to
negotiate the marriage of Margaret, daughter of Henry VII., with
James IV. Translated to Durham 1502.

Roger Leyburn (1503-1508), Master of Pembroke Hall,
Cambridge; Archdeacon of Durham. Died 1508.

John Penny (1509-1520). Educated at Lincoln College,
Oxford; Abbot of St. Mary de Pratis, Leicester, 1496; Bishop of
Bangor, 1504. Translated to Carlisle 1509. Died in 1520, at
Leicester, and was buried there.

John Kite (1521-1537), “a creature of Wolsey.” Educated
at Eton, and King’s College, Cambridge. He was appointed
Archbishop of Armagh, by provision of Pope Leo X. 1513, and in
1521 translated to Carlisle. In 1529 he approved the action of
Henry VIII. in calling in question his marriage with Catherine of
Aragon, and in 1530 he signed the letter to the Pope which
demanded Henry’s divorce. Four years later he renounced the
Pope’s supremacy. His epitaph says that during his episcopate he
kept “nobyl Houshold wyth grete Hospitality.” He died in London
1537, and was buried in Stepney Church.

81 Robert
Aldridge (1537-1556). He was educated at Eton, and King’s
College, Cambridge. Friend of Erasmus; Registrar of the Order of
the Garter; Provost of Eton; and Almoner to Queen Jane
Seymour.

Until the close of the year 1550 his opinion was much sought
after on questions affecting the Sacrament and the mass, which at
that period were much in dispute.

Owen Oglethorpe (1557-1559), Fellow of Magdalen
College, Oxford. Living in the troublous times of Henry VIII. and
Edward VI. he had, somewhat reluctantly, given his adhesion to
the new order and form of service of the holy communion. He was
raised to the bishopric of Carlisle by Mary in 1557. The
following year she died, and the bishop being called upon to say
mass before the new queen, elevated the Host, although she had
expressly forbidden it. “A good-natur’d man, and when single by
himself very plyable to please Queen Elizabeth,” he crowned her
queen when the rest of his order refused to perform the ceremony.
But “when in conjunction with other Popish Bishops, such
principles of stubbornness were distilled into him” that he
refused to take the oath of supremacy, and was accordingly
deprived of his bishopric the following May. His death, which
occurred 31st December 1559, is said to have been hastened by his
remorse at having crowned Elizabeth—an enemy of the “true
Church”—queen of England.

John Best (1560-1570). After the death of Oglethorpe,
the bishopric was offered to “the excellent and pious” Bernard
Gilpin, “the apostle of the north,” but he refused it.

John Best was then consecrated. He was educated at

Oxford. At the beginning of Queen Mary’s reign he had given up
all his preferments and lived privately and obscurely. Four years
after his consecration he had permission from the queen “to arm
himself against the ill-doings of papists and other disaffected
persons in his diocese.” He died in 1570, and was buried in the
cathedral.

Richard Barnes (1570-1577), Fellow of Brasenose
College, Oxford; Suffragan-Bishop of Nottingham 1567; translated
to Durham 1577. In a letter dated 1576 Barnes alludes to Carlisle
as “this poore and bare living.”

John Maye (1577-1598), Master of Catherine Hall;
Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge. He died in February 1598 while
82 the plague was ravaging Carlisle, and was
buried in the cathedral.

Henry Robinson (1598-1616). Educated at Queen’s
College, Oxford, of which college he became Provost 1581. He took
part in the Hampton Court Conference 1603, and was a great
benefactor to his college. He died of the plague in 1616, and was
buried in the cathedral, where his brother placed a brass to his
memory.

Robert Snowden (1616-1621), Prebendary of Southwell.
Died 1621.

Richard Milburn (1621-1624), Dean of Rochester.
Translated from St. David’s. He died 1624.

Richard Senhouse (1624-1626). Educated at Trinity
College, and St. John’s College, Cambridge. Dean of Gloucester.
He preached at the coronation of Charles I. His death, which was
caused by a fall from his horse, took place in 1626, and he was
buried in the cathedral.

Francis White (1626-1629), Dean of Carlisle; translated
to Norwich 1629. He brought himself into notice by preaching
against popery; by a book written in antagonism to Fisher, the
Jesuit; and, further, by holding a disputation with the same man
in the presence of James I.

Barnaby Potter (1629-1642). Educated at, and Provost of
Queen’s College, Oxford; Chief Almoner of Charles I. Potter was
one of the four bishops who advised Charles upon the attainder of
Strafford. He died in London 1642.

James Usher (1642-1656). Educated at Trinity College,
Dublin; Bishop of Meath; Archbishop of Armagh. He visited England
in 1640, and was consulted by the Earl of Strafford in preparing
a defence against his impeachment. Charles I. also consulted him
as to whether he should sanction the death of the Earl. Usher was
present at the execution of Strafford, and ministered to him in
his last moments. In 1641 Archbishop Usher suffered severe losses
from a rebellion in Ireland; and this is no doubt the reason why
he never returned to that country. About this time Charles I.
gave him the bishopric of Carlisle in commendam, but the
Archbishop does not seem to have obtained much revenue therefrom,
as the district was greatly impoverished through the English and
Scottish troops being alternately quartered there. A few years
later Parliament seized on his lands and voted him an annual
pension of £400, which, however, he
probably did not receive more than twice. During the troubles of
these times he resided at Oxford and Cardiff. He came to London
in 1646, and the next year, through his friend’s endeavours, he
was allowed to preach. He visited Charles at Carisbrooke in 1648.
He died in 1656, and was buried, by order of Cromwell, in
Westminster Abbey. He wrote “On the Original State of the British
Churches,” “The Ancient History of the British Churches,” and his
great work on sacred chronology, “The Annals of the Old
Testament.” It is said that Baxter wrote his famous “Call to the
Unconverted” at the Archbishop’s suggestion.83

REDNESS HALL.

85Richard Sterne (1660-1664). Educated at Trinity
College; Master of Jesus College, Cambridge. He sided with the
king on the outbreak of civil war, and was arrested by Cromwell
in 1642 for endeavouring to send the college plate to Charles,
and imprisoned in the Tower till the January following. He was
kept prisoner in various places until 1645. He regained his
Mastership at the Restoration, and soon after was made Bishop of
Carlisle. He was translated to the archbishopric of York, leaving
his bishopric in a very impoverished state. Sterne the novelist
was his great-grandson.

Edward Rainbow (1664-1684). Educated at Corpus Christi
College, Oxford, and Magdalene College, Cambridge; he became
Master of the latter in 1642-3. Dean of Peterborough 1661. He was
very hospitable and liberal. He did not hesitate in years of
scarcity (after he had exhausted his own stores of provisions) to
buy corn which he gave away to the poor day by day. He died in
1684, and was buried at Dalston.

Thomas Smith (1684-1702). Educated at Queen’s College;
Prebendary of Durham; Dean of Carlisle. He was a very generous
benefactor to Queen’s College, Oxford, the Carlisle Grammar
School, the chapter library, and the cathedral treasury. He died
in 1702.

William Nicolson (1702-1718). A very learned antiquary.
Fellow of Queen’s College, Oxford, and Archdeacon of Carlisle.
His most noted work is the “Historical Library” (1696-1699),
which at one time “afforded a guide to the riches of the
chronicle literature of the British empire.” He was translated to
the bishopric of Derry in 1718.

86 Samuel
Bradford (1718-1723). Educated at St. Paul’s School, the
Charterhouse, and Corpus Christi, Cambridge. He was elected
Master of Corpus Christi College in 1716. Dean of Westminster.
Translated to Rochester 1723.

John Waugh (1723-1734). Educated at, and Fellow of
Queen’s College, Oxford; Dean of Gloucester. Died 1734.

Sir George Fleming, Bart. (1735-1747). Educated at St.
Edmund Hall, Oxford; Dean of Carlisle. During his episcopate the
Young Pretender entered Carlisle (1745) and it is said that he
installed one Thomas Coppock, or Cappoch, a Roman Catholic, as
bishop. Coppock was captured, and executed at Carlisle the
following year. Sir George Fleming died in 1747, and was buried
in the cathedral.

Richard Osbaldeston (1747-1762). Educated at St. John’s
College, Cambridge; Dean of York. He was chiefly a non-resident
bishop, and, on his translation to London in 1762, his successor
complained bitterly of the state of dilapidation and decay into
which Rose Castle, the bishop’s residence, had been allowed to
fall.

Charles Lyttelton (1762-1768). Educated at Eton, and
University College, Oxford; Dean of Exeter. In 1765 he was
president of the Society of Antiquaries. He wrote numerous
articles, some of which are included in the first three volumes
of the “Archæologia.” He was very genial and hospitable, and had
a remarkable knowledge of antiquities. He died in London 1768,
and was buried at Hagley.

Edmund Law (1769-1787). Educated at St. John’s College,
Cambridge; Fellow of Christ’s College. He was an earnest student,
and zealous for Christian truth and Christian liberty. He
believed that the human race progresses in religion equally with
its progress in all other knowledge. He is said to have been “a
man of great softness of manners, and of the mildest and most
tranquil disposition.” He died in 1787, and was buried in the
cathedral.

John Douglas (1787-1791). Educated at St. Mary Hall,
Oxford, and Balliol; Dean of Windsor; translated to Salisbury
1791. He wrote many political pamphlets.

The Hon. Edward Venables Vernon (1791-1808), Canon of
Christ Church, Oxford; translated to York 1808. He assumed the
name of Harcourt in 1831.

Samuel Goodenough (1808-1827). Educated at Westminster,
87 and Christ Church, Oxford; Canon of Windsor,
and Dean of Rochester.

In 1809 a sermon preached before the House of Lords gave rise
to the following epigram:—

He died in 1827, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Hugh Percy (1827-1856). Educated at Trinity College,
Cambridge; Bishop of Rochester, whence he was translated to
Carlisle. During his episcopate he established a Clergy Aid
Society (1838), and a Diocesan Education Society (1855). He died
in 1856, and was buried at Dalston.

Henry Montague Villiers (1856-1860). Translated to
Durham 1860.

Samuel Waldegrave (1860-1869). Educated at Oxford;
Canon of Salisbury. Author of “New Testament Millenarianism” (the
Bampton Lectures, 1854). Died 1869.

Harvey Goodwin (1869-1891). Second Wrangler, Cambridge;
Dean of Ely. A very politic bishop. In one of his sermons he used
words to the effect that “he was as high as the church was high,
as low as the church was low, and as broad as the church was
broad.” Died 1891.

J.W. Bardsley (1892). Translated from Sodor and
Man.88

LIST OF PRIORS AND DEANS

PRIORS

DEANS

Table of
Contents
89

CHAPTER V

THE CASTLE

The Castle is built on the highest ground in the city,
a kind of cliff at the north-west angle rising abruptly about
sixty feet above the river Eden. An area of nearly three acres
has been enclosed with walls, the longest side from north-west to
south-east being about 256 yards long, the west side 143 yards,
and the south side 200 yards. Two sides are very steep, and the
south side, which slopes gradually to the town, is defended
outside the wall by a wide moat 10 feet deep.

There are two divisions: the outer ward, and the inner ward.
William Rufus erected the keep, which was at first the only
building on the site, and this was enclosed by a wall on the
north and east. A triangular ward was thus formed, having its
entrance at the south-east. Carlisle was fortified in 1170, and
the city walls were carried up to the castle. At this time the
first entrance was blocked up and the present one made; the outer
ward was also enclosed. The south wall, with its flat buttresses,
is partly Norman, and partly thirteenth-century work; and this
description generally applies to the north and west walls.

About 50 yards from the south-west angle and on the city walls
is King Richard’s Tower, a building of two storeys, where Richard
III. is said to have lived when at Carlisle. It is also called
the Tile Tower because of the thin bricks with which it was
built. A subterranean passage leading to the keep was discovered
here early this century. Entrance to the castle is gained by a
bridge crossing the moat; this has replaced the old drawbridge
and leads to a gatehouse with battlements, a kind of barbican, of
two storeys. The passage is vaulted, and has massive doors of oak
studded with iron; formerly there was also a portcullis.

This leads to the outer ward which is about four times as
large as the inner ward. It is nearly square, and contains modern
buildings for the use of the garrison.

90 The two wards are
divided by a strong stone wall 90 yards in length. A wide ditch
(now filled up) once ran in front. In the centre of this wall is
a building—the Captain’s Tower—which gives access to
the inner ward through its gateway secured at each end with a
strong door.

Some of the masonry of the Captain’s Tower is Norman, but it
is mostly Decorated. A half-moon battery of three guns once
defended the Tower and commanded the outer ward, but it has now
been removed.

PLAN OF THE CASTLE (TIME OF QUEEN ELIZABETH).

The inner ward contains the great square keep, 66 feet by 61,
where the governor had his apartments, and which was the final
resort of the garrison when the place was entered by an enemy.
The walls are 15 feet in thickness, except on the east side,
which is only 8 feet thick. The building consists of a basement
and three upper floors; the highest floor is vaulted to sustain a
platform for artillery. The present height is 68 feet. On a clear
day a fine view can be had from the top, embracing the mountains
in the Lake district, the heights of Northumberland, the Solway
Firth, and the Scottish coast. Several cells have been contrived
in the eastern wall, in one of which Major McDonald (Fergus
McIvor) is said to have 91 been lodged. Some
of the cell walls have been carved at various times with figures
of men, birds, and animals. These were, perhaps, executed with a
nail. In the north wall is the shaft of a well, 78 feet deep.
This is supposed to be the well which was shown to St. Cuthbert
when he visited Carlisle. The dungeons are in the ground floor,
and of course are distinguished by a plentiful lack of daylight
and fresh air.

THE CASTLE.

Queen Mary’s Tower, so called from having been the prison of
Mary Queen of Scots, was in the south-east angle of the inner
ward. It was pulled down in 1835, and a wall built round the
angle. It was in part Norman work of the time of William Rufus,
and partly Early English; and had a large rounded archway
springing from capitals with zigzag decoration. There was also a
portcullis for its defence. A passage used by Queen Mary to pass
out to the Lady’s Walk, which ran eastward from the gatehouse,
has been walled up.

The Long Hall, a fine structure about 100 feet by 40, in which
the Parliament of 1306-7 met, was also situated in this ward, but
was demolished with several other buildings, 1824-1835.
92 At various times the castle has undergone
extensive repairs, notably in the reigns of Richard III., Edward
III., Henry VIII., and Elizabeth.

During the siege in 1644-5 it suffered much damage, and was
patched up by the Parliamentary troops. A hundred years later the
Duke of Cumberland thought very little of its powers of defence,
for he contemptuously called it “an old hen-coop.”

Among the governors, several well-known men figure; for
instance, Andrew Harcla, the Duke of Gloucester (afterwards
Richard III.), and Hotspur. Upon the death of Lieutenant-General
Ramsay in 1837 the office of governor was abolished. The castle
now furnishes barrack accommodation for troops, and serves as a
depôt.

DIMENSIONS OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL

93

PLAN OF CARLISLE CATHEDRAL