Part 11

The limits of the precinct at Barking cannot now be fixed with any precision, but the general lines are not difficult to ascertain. The great gatehouse probably stood in the neighbourhood of the present Heath Street or the Wharf; but no trace or record of its position is known to exist. The Cemetery Gate, which still exists, and is now commonly known as the “Fire Bell Gate” or “Curfew Gate,” was probably first erected in the time of abbess Sybilla Felton (1349–1419) and subsequently reconstructed (_c._ 1460). The first mention of it appears in a Papal Indult of 1400, when the abbess and her nuns were granted permission “to have mass or other divine offices celebrated by their own or other fit persons in the Oratory called Rodlofte, situate upon the walls of the cemetery of their church; in which Oratory is a certain cross and to which a great multitude of people resorts.”[36] A little later, in the time of abbess Catherine de la Pole (1433–1473), it served as the belfry of the parish church, before the erection of the present western tower. The parishioners petitioned the abbess to be allowed to hang a new bell above the chapel of the “Holy Rood lofte atte gate” and to repair the roof. They were allowed eventually to hang the bell, but were not permitted to do the other repairs, evidently for fear of weakening the rights of the convent over the structure.[37]

[36] _Cal. of Papal Letters_, v., p. 333.

[37] Lyson’s _Environs_, iv., pp. 71–72 (1796).

The gate, as it now stands, is a square embattled building, two stages high, with diagonal buttresses at the corners and an octagonal turret. With the exception of the parapet, it is unrestored, and is pierced on the east and west by a large four-centered arch, above which is a small canopied niche with an ogee-shaped head, much decayed. The second stage of the gate is occupied by the chapel of the Holy Rood, originally lit by four three-light windows, one on each side. The eastern is now the only one left open, the rest being blocked with brickwork.

Set in the east wall, below the window, is a remarkably fine carved rood of stone, with the Virgin and St. John, of twelfth century date. The carving of the drapery is unusually free and the figures well designed. The cross itself is of the “raguly” form, to be seen in some of the St. Albans paintings, and the ground-work is diapered fretty in broad interlaced bands.

At a distance of about 350 feet further north there stood another gate, destroyed about 1885.

The Roding undoubtedly formed the boundary on the western side. The modern mill now standing close to Barking Wharf marks, in all probability, the site of the monastic building; while a narrow watercourse, branching off from the river above the abbey precinct, preserves the line of the cutting which fed the great culvert or sewer of the convent with water.

Owing to the treatment of the building at the Dissolution, when the walls and towers were undermined and cast down, the remains of the church itself are not extensive. Practically the whole length of the south wall was, however, retained, up to a certain level, owing to its forming the boundary of the parish churchyard. In addition to this, a portion of the west front, with the walls and foundations of the whole of the east end, have, fortunately, been preserved, so that the complete plan has been recovered.

The twelfth century church (representing the first rebuilding after the Conquest) consisted of a long nave with aisles and two western towers; shallow transepts, with one apsidal eastern chapel in each arm; and an aisled presbytery of five bays, terminating, in all probability, in three graduated apses, as at Shaftesbury and Chertsey abbeys.

Traces were discovered of the southern of these apses terminating the south aisle.

The bays of the presbytery were unusually narrow, measuring only 12 feet from centre to centre. According to some original pencil notes by Mr. Smart Lethieullier,[38] the columns of the arcades were cylindrical; and, judging from the existing remains of the south wall, the aisles were vaulted in stone. One complete bay of this wall and portions of those adjoining remain standing to about 5 feet above the floor level. The responds supporting the vault are rectangular projections and were apparently once finished with a half-column against the face and two sideshafts. The wall between was recessed for a wall arcade of three arches, resting on small shafts, 5 inches in diameter. The moulded base of one of these remains _in situ_. It is of Binstead stone, and appears to date from about 1150. The axis of the Norman presbytery deviates south of that of the nave, a feature which is still further accentuated in the later eastern additions.

[38] Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 27,350, fo. 124.

About the beginning of the thirteenth century, the east end of the twelfth century church with its three apses was pulled down and an important extension planned in its place. The object of this rebuilding was, apparently, to provide a more honourable position for the shrine of St. Ethelburga, together with those of her successors, St. Hildelitha and St. Wulfhilda. The new portions may be compared to those eastern extensions, erected at the same time, for a similar purpose, at St. Albans and Winchester. The planning of the saint’s chapel at Barking presents certain features in common with both these buildings, together with one marked divergence. At both St. Albans and Winchester, the chapel is of the same width as the presbytery and aisles; but, at Barking, the width is reduced by 22 feet, the eastern arm being 64 feet 6 inches and the saint’s chapel 42 feet. Access to it was obtained by carrying the Norman aisles one bay further east. Mr. Lethieullier uncovered the foundations of a massive wall terminating the presbytery on the east, which must have belonged to this rebuilding and was probably carried up in the form of an open arcade supporting the east gable of the high roofs.

The saint’s chapel was divided by columns into three equal aisles, three bays long from east to west; and, from the centre aisle, a lady chapel projected two bays still further east. The south wall of the saint’s chapel remains standing for some three feet above the floor level; and in the south-east angle is the circular base, in Reigate stone, of a vaulting-shaft, with “holdwater” moulding and chamfered plinth, all in fairly good preservation. The centre aisle of this chapel was probably appropriated to the feretory of St. Ethelburga, while the sides may have been occupied by those of St. Hildelitha and St. Wulfhilda.

The lady chapel was excavated, some thirty-seven years ago. The walls, some 3 or 4 feet high, remain on the east and south sides. The bases of vaulting-shafts still exist, in the angles at the east end. Three interments were found at the west end, one being in a chalk vault.

A list of interments of abbesses and others, dating from about 1420, is preserved at the Bodleian Library; the names of the abbesses are as follows:—

1. Dame Yolente de Sutton qe gist devant l’auter nostre dame de Salue.

2. Dame Maude de Levelaunde qe gist apres lavaunt dce Yolente.

3. Dame Maud la file le Roy Henry qe gist en la chapele de Salue.

4. Dame Maud la file le Roy John qe gist en la chapele de Salue.

5. Dame Alianore de Westone gist devant la fertre de seint Alburgh.

6. Dame Anne de Veer gist devant le fertre seint Hildelithe.

7. Dame Maud de Grey gist devant l’auter de la Resurexion.

8. Dame Alis de Merton gist en une arche devers la cimterre.

9. Dame Isabelle de Basing gist en une arche a la fenestre.

10. Dame Alimie gist en l’arche devant le haut auter qe ad vii. psaumes en genulaut e messe capitale one kyrie par vers et hominum plasmator et offiz.

11. Dame Marie soer seint Thomas le Martye gist en l’arch devant l’auter et Seint Paul en la yle.

12. Dame Mabile qe fist dedier l’eglise gist en l’arche apres.

13. Dame Maud Mountague gist en quer.

14. Dame Isabella Mountague soer l’avant dite dame Maud gist de la parte la prioresse en quer.

15. Dame Christine de Valoyns gist en mylieu del chapitre en la pere du marbre.

16. Dame Katherine Suttone gist en la chapele de nostre dame de Salue en l’arche.

17. Dame Christine de Bosham gist a l’entree del chapitre.

18. Dame Maud Mountague gist en l’arche devant le haut auter encontre la hous del sextrie.

The chapel of “Notre Dame de Salut” is probably the eastern chapel, which would identify the interments discovered as those of Abbesses Maud (_c._ 1200), daughter of Henry II., Maud de Loveland (_c._ 1276), and Yolande de Sutton (1341). The remains found in the chalk vault probably belonged to the first of these. The note concerning Mabel de Bosham (1217–1247) approximately dates the completion of the eastern portion of the church.

The transept was internally 100 feet long by 31 feet wide. The core of the walls of the southern arm is still standing for some few feet above the floor level, but most of the facing is gone. At the south-east corner is the chamfered base of an angle-pier, with traces of benches against the south and west walls. From the eastern side projected a small apsidal chapel, slightly horse-shoe in form and the inner face of the walls retaining much of the original plastering.

The central tower was destroyed in 1541, but Mr. Lethieullier found some portions of the piers remaining in 1724. His rough sketch preserves the plan of one of them—the north-east. It was rectangular, with a semi-circular respond to the choir arcade, and rectangular projections with side shafts to the tower and aisle arches.

The nave with its aisles was 165 feet 6 inches long by 64 feet 6 inches wide. There were, apparently, ten bays to the arcades, with two western towers, making eleven bays in all. The south wall towards the parish churchyard remains standing about 5 feet high for the six eastern bays and is of somewhat unusual construction. The face of the wall remains in places, and there are sufficient traces of three responds of the aisle vault to show that the nave bays were 14 feet from centre to centre.

The seventh bay from the east was occupied by an elaborate doorway communicating with the parish churchyard. Only the base remains, projecting some 6 feet from the external face of the aisle wall. It was evidently of twelfth century work, with a large arch of three or four recessed orders, and was probably surmounted by a lofty stone gable of the type to be seen at Kirkstall, Brinkburn, Nun Monkton, and elsewhere. Portions of the bases of the side shafts remain on the east jamb; but, below this level, a plain raking plinth has been added at a later date, following the line of the recessed orders. A step crossing the porch proves that, in later mediæval times, there was a descent from the churchyard to the floor level of the nave.

The three bays separating this porch from the south-west tower have quite disappeared, and the foundations of the south-west tower are somewhat fragmentary. The south-west angle of a great clasping buttress, however, remains, projecting some 8 feet in advance of the south aisle wall. The core of the wall has been removed, only the outer face remaining. The two “round towers” mentioned in Needham’s accounts probably refer to these western towers; but, as the foundations are rectangular, a circular or octagonal upper stage is the most reasonable interpretation of the expression he uses.

The total internal length of the church was 337 feet 6 inches, making it the longest in the County of Essex of which there is any record. It was some 24 feet longer than Rochester, and 13 feet shorter than Chester Cathedral. The area within the walls was about 21,700 square feet.

The cloister, about 99 feet square, lay upon the north side of the nave, as at St. Radegund’s (Cambridge), St. Helen’s (London), and other houses of Benedictine nuns. Indeed, in monastic houses in the neighbourhood of London, this position is almost more the rule than the exception. The chapter-house, a rectangular structure, 60 feet 6 inches long by 23 feet 6 inches wide, projected from about the centre of the east walk. In the chapter-house were probably buried most of the early abbesses, the last being Christina de Valoyns (_c._ 1214) and Christina de Bosham (_c._ 1258), both mentioned in the list of interments already quoted.

Adjoining the chapter-house on the north, and continuing the eastern cloister range, was a building 53 feet long by 24 feet wide, divided into two unequal portions by the passage leading to the infirmary. In the smaller and southern of these, a small fireplace of early sixteenth century date had been inserted in the east wall. The jambs were of brick and the hearth was laid with plain tiles 9 inches square, with a Reigate stone curb.

The warming house forms the north end of the building. The fireplace, which is in the east wall and is some 4 feet wide, has a hearth set with tiles on edge and traces of a stone curb. In front is an outer hearth, projecting 2 feet 6 inches from the face of the wall and also paved with tiles set on edge.

The frater flanked the cloister on the north side, while the western side was occupied by a long building, measuring 166 feet by 24 feet wide, on the first floor of which was the dormitory. This position (west of the cloister) is of very unusual occurrence, though it is to be found at Durham, Worcester, and in a few other instances. The southern end of this building, adjoining the church, has quite gone; but, further north, the base of the outer or west wall was traced to the end of the building and the northern wall duly located. In two places, one course of ashlar facing in Caen stone was found _in situ_, fixing the date of the structure as late in the twelfth century.

There is little doubt that the ground floor was vaulted, in two spans, with a central row of columns, but no trace of these or of external buttresses was found. The twelfth century piers and capitals in the north aisle of the parish church were undoubtedly brought from the abbey; and, in all probability, they belonged to this building.

The rere-dorter, a building of the same date as the dorter, was situated a short distance to the west, on the line of the great culvert.

The infirmary lay to the north-east of the chapter-house and was approached by a passage starting some 12 feet north of that building. This passage ran in a north-easterly direction, the walls, 2 feet 3 inches thick, remaining just above the floor level. A considerable portion of plain tile paving was found _in situ_. The arrangements of the infirmary building are somewhat obscure, as half the site is covered by the playground of the adjoining school, and could not be examined.

The great hall stood approximately north and south. It was 38 feet wide and a long stretch of the west wall was uncovered, terminating in a massive square pier adjoining the angle-buttress of the chapter-house. This probably represented the original southern termination of the hall; but, in the fifteenth century, it appears to have been shortened by a few feet, and traces of this later end were found. At the point of its junction with the west wall, a small portion of a tile-on-edge hearth was discovered. The opposite or east wall of the hall formed also the west wall of the infirmary chapel, the floor of which was about one foot lower than that in the hall.

The chapel was a fifteenth century building, 19 feet wide and about 45 feet long, though the east wall (being under the school-house garden) was not precisely located. The south wall was heavily buttressed, being divided into three bays. At the south-west corner, a large angular buttress impinged on the area once covered by the original infirmary hall. The chapel was paved with tiles; but, though the screeding and bed on which they lay was practically intact, every tile had gone. The stone altar-step was found _in situ_, but only a few fragments of the north wall remained.

From the north-east corner of the warming house, a wall was found running in an easterly direction and evidently communicating with the infirmary hall. It was apparently the south wall of a small hall, about 48 feet long, lying east and west, of which the north side had been completely destroyed. At the west end was a screen-wall and, immediately within it, there were traces of a large hearth. It is probable that this building was the misericorde, which is generally found in direct communication with the infirmary.

It is unfortunate that the position of the infirmary group lying partially under the playground should render its complete examination impossible, as the walls of these buildings were found to be in a better state of preservation than those of any other part of the abbey.

—A. W. C.

ABBOT’S HOSPITAL, GUILDFORD, AND ITS PREDECESSORS

XIV.

ABBOT’S HOSPITAL, GUILDFORD, AND ITS PREDECESSORS.

The close alliance which exists between architecture and national history is a commonplace, and a review of its connection in each of the several departments into which it is divided is an unfailing and fruitful source of study. The larger classifications of domestic, ecclesiastical, and military building will always absorb the energies of our chief writers, and in them we can see the more important and national movements portrayed, and in no small measure explained. But there are many other ways of pursuing this interesting inquiry, and one of the most attractive is by the examination of a single type of building allocated to a special purpose, which can be traced through succeeding periods, and in which we can see the effect of the larger changes step by step. These sidepaths of architectural history differ from one another in their relative interest and importance, and some lead us only a certain distance, having been deserted by those generations for whom they have had no further use—the blind alleys of a former pilgrimage. Others, however, continue with us to the present day, and furnish in their history a complete and connected story of ancient and modern times.

One of the most complete series of buildings in our own country is furnished by those familiar groups of cottages which we know as almshouses, and which persist even at the present time, impatient though we be of the early traditions with which they are linked. The claims that the almshouse makes upon our attention and our interest are very many. Yet beyond the occasional sketch or monograph, and the modest note in a town or county history, these beautiful buildings have received little of the study and appreciation which they deserve.

From the time of the Norman kings and in almost all the succeeding years the almshouse, or its ancient precursor the hospital, has handed down to us the most charming specimens of the domestic architecture of each period. More than that, the almshouse, being essentially a home for a number of people, furnishes us with examples of the grouping of several units of building and of the methods of composition and arrangement which were successively in vogue. Nor was it merely a domestic structure even after the secularising influence of the monastic dissolution, for in the majority of cases it had its chapel—reminding us of the private chapels which were once in every mansion—and again it partook of the nature of a public building with its common rooms and dining hall. The very nature of the almshouse and the perpetuity of its endowment was a safeguard against the careless destruction to which private property is so often subject, and the humble station of its occupants averted the ruthless hand of the “improver” until the lamented advent of the Charity Commissioners. This same humble conservatism has preserved for us in many cases that most notable mediæval idea of community of living, which was of the essence of monasticism, and the little families or societies, each with its warden, brethren, and sisters, have not yet been wholly swept away, but survive here and there in the very homes which saw their first gathering. With the persistence of the idea remain also many of the objects which were most intimately connected with its ritual or ceremonial: the courtyard with its gatehouses to isolate and defend it, the cloister and the chapel for common life and worship, beside such insignia and furniture as its gowns and corporate seal, its plate, stained glass, pictures, and books. In a hundred different details we can recognise the wonderful story of the past which has not quite died in the midst of the present. Here is the history of an important institution which, in its successive modification or development, and in the gradual secularisation of its early character, provides a running commentary on English social life. It is also the history of an interesting type of building which in the beauty and variety of its forms provides a significant index to the changing modes of architecture and the allied arts.

The pre-Reformation hospital, maison-dieu, bedehouse, or almshouse has had a careful and generally well-informed historian in Miss R. M. Clay, whose work entitled _English Mediæval Hospitals_ was published by Messrs. Methuen in their Antiquary’s Library. Miss Clay’s work is valuable in its examination of the typical life of the hospital and of its status as compared with the monastic institutions of the Church; but beyond the interesting glimpses which she gives into the customs of this earlier period we are still without a proper comparative study of the whole subject. As is so often the case with a settled institution of this kind, the architectural problem contains the key to many outstanding features of its constitution, and until a complete collection of plans is available we shall not have the material for an exhaustive history. Happily, however, enough is known to allow an intelligible outline to be drawn, in which it is probable that most of the examples will be found ultimately to have their place. In the present paper I shall attempt to set down this outline only in its barest form, making of it a slight introduction to a note on the Jacobean hospital of Archbishop Abbot at Guildford, and a further comment on the types which followed the buildings here illustrated.

The aim and purpose of the mediæval almshouse—to afford rest and help to the needy traveller, the sick, and the aged—was an essentially Christian idea, and was from the first definitely associated with the Church. And, indeed, if it had not been officially identified with the Church it could not have avoided the influence and direction of the great spiritual organisation that absorbed the generous impulses of the period. The monastic orders themselves were at first the chief vehicles for charity, and the giving of alms being one of the first principles of Christian life, the nobles and wealthy ecclesiastics seconded the efforts of the monks by their liberal gifts and constantly open tables, as we may read in the pages of John Stow and other writers. But at the same time there were instituted societies of the poor alone, following in a measure the monastic orders, and endowed by individual philanthropists. It was not necessary for these men to subscribe to the vow of poverty (though sometimes required of them), for they were already destitute, and dependent entirely upon the charity of their founders, and no doubt this very circumstance made their foundations have a more deeply religious aspect in the eyes of the mediæval Church. Thus we find the first hospitals formed into small companies of brethren, each with a master or chaplain elected from their number, each clothed with a special gown and under some rule of religious observance.