Cathedral Cities of England

The chief event which took place within its walls was the first great Ecclesiastical Council of the English Church under the presidency of Archbishop Lanfranc. Twelve years afte...

The most characteristic are the records of the burials, attended with great pomp, of St. William of Norwich in 1144, Harold of Gloucester in 1168, Robert of Edmundsbury in 1184,...

The plan is the usual cross. A lofty tower rises from the intersection, and was formerly surmounted by a spire, taken down for safety's sake. The screen and reredos, the pillars...

At that time it is described in "Doomsday Book" as Cestre, and as possessing four hundred and thirty-one houses within its walls. For over two centuries after the Conquest this...

The Cathedral is isolated in the centre of an immense lawn, as it were. This again can be kept private by the Close, the area of which extends to half a mile square. Within its...

At the period of the Roman invasion of England, two British tribes, the Cornavii and Dobuni, were in part ownership of Worcestershire. This British settlement was promptly annex...

A distinctive feature is the existence of the "Close," exhibiting interesting remains of English architecture. To more thoroughly ensure the privacy of the cathedral, its precin...

An interesting account upon the Roman classification of towns in England discloses a very important particular. It adds considerable weight to the description of the city by the...

The Venerable Bede, in his accounts of this city, calls it Licidfeld, being supposed to mean "Field of the Dead." It appears that a large number of Christians, in the reign of D...

Two churches were built in the second century. One of these, in 600, was consecrated by the Bishop of Soissons, and dedicated to St. Martin, for Bertha, a daughter of Charibert,...

With regard to commerce, Rochester has a favourable position on the river Medway, in the creeks and branches of which are the oyster fisheries. The Corporation, assisted by a ju...

In this same year of 1875 much excitement arose over the church-tax. It was called indifferently "dominicals" and "sacrament money," which were said to be of the nature of tithe...

The original Roman city was rectangular in form and of considerable dimensions. It is supposed to have been laid out in imitation of ancient Rome, on the east bank of the Ouse....

No epitaph more noble and impressive can have possibly been conceived than the simple Latin inscription placed upon the modest tomb of Christopher Wren: "If ye seek my monument,...

In the following accounts of the Cathedral Cities of England, technical architectural terms will necessarily appear, and to the end that they should be comprehensive, I give her...

Mainly owing to its central position on the high roads in the south of England, Winchester was from early times a town of great importance. This Hampshire city is first ascribed...