Part 1

Produced by Delphine Lettau, Hazel Batey and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

This E text uses UTF-8 (unicode) file encoding. If the apostrophes, quotation marks and greek text [{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER LAMDA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER UPSILON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER TAU~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMEGA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER SIGMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER IOTA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER FINAL SIGMA~}] in this paragraph appear as garbage, you may have an incompatible browser or unavailable fonts. First, make sure that your browser's "character set" or "file encoding" is set to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font.

STONES OF THE TEMPLE

R I V I N G T O N S

London _Waterloo Place_

Oxford _High Street_

Cambridge _Trinity Street_

Illustration: STONES OF THE TEMPLE

STONES OF THE TEMPLE or

Lessons from the fabric and furniture of the Church

By WALTER FIELD, M.A., F.S.A.

RIVINGTONS London, Oxford, and Cambridge 1871

"When it pleased God to raise up kings and emperors favouring sincerely the Christian truth, that which the Church before either could not or durst not do, was with all alacrity performed. Temples were in all places erected, no cost was spared: nothing judged too dear which that way should be spent. The whole world did seem to exult, that it had occasion of pouring out gifts to so blessed a purpose. That cheerful devotion which David did this way exceedingly delight to behold, and wish that the same in the Jewish people might be perpetual, was then in Christian people every where to be seen. So far as our Churches and their Temple have one end, what should let but that they may lawfully have one form?"--Hooker's "Ecclesiastical Polity." {~MALTESE CROSS~}

CONTENTS

PREFACE. _Chap._ _Page_

I. THE LICH-GATE 1

II. LICH-STONES 11

III. GRAVE-STONES 19

IV. GRAVE-STONES 31

V. THE PORCH 43

VI. THE PORCH 51

VII. THE PAVEMENT 63

VIII. THE PAVEMENT 73

IX. THE PAVEMENT 81

X. THE PAVEMENT 91

XI. THE WALLS 103

XII. THE WALLS 111

XIII. THE WINDOWS 123

XIV. A LOOSE STONE IN THE BUILDING 145

XV. THE FONT 155

XVI. THE PULPIT 167

XVII. THE PULPIT 175

XVIII. THE NAVE 187

XIX. THE NAVE 197

XX. THE AISLES 209

XXI. THE TRANSEPTS 217

XXII. THE CHANCEL-SCREEN 225

XXIII. THE CHANCEL 235

XXIV. THE ALTAR 245

XXV. THE ORGAN-CHAMBER 255

XXVI. THE VESTRY 265

XXVII. THE PILLARS 275

XXVIII. THE ROOF 285

XXIX. THE TOWER 295

XXX. THE HOUSE NOT MADE WITH HANDS 311

INDEX OF ENGRAVINGS

_Page_

St. Mildred's Church and Lich-Gate, Whippingham 3

Lich-Gate at Yealmton 5

Lich-Gate at Birstal 7

Heywood Church, Manchester 13

Lich-Stone, Great Winnow, Cornwall 15

Lich-Stone at Lustleigh 18

Church of St. Nicholas, West Pennard 21

Grave-Stones in Streatham Churchyard 23

Grave-Stones in High-Week Churchyard 24

Easter Flowers 28

Stinchcombe Church 33

Grave-Stones 35, 39, 41

Llanfechan Church 42

Godmersham Church 45

Porch of Luebeck Cathedral 53

Porch and Parvise of St. Mary's Church, Finedon 55

Parvise, Westbury-on-Trim 60

Church of SS. Philip and James, Oxford 65

Brass of John Bloxham and John Whytton in Merton College, Oxford 67

Heywood Church 75

Brass of Henry Sever, at Merton College, Oxford 77

Chancel of Whippingham Church 83

Brass of Sir Roger de Trumpington 85

Church of St. John the Baptist, Kidmore End 93

Encaustic Tiles, Brooke Church 95, 97

St. Andrew's Church, Halstead 105

Ancient Wall Paintings in Kimpton Church 108, 109

St. Michael's Church, Gloucester 113

Ancient Wall Painting in Bedford Church 118

Wall Painting 121

Church of St. John, Brandenburg 125

Doorway, St. Stephen's Church, Tangermuende 127

Crowmarsh Church 131

Stained Glass Windows in Great Malvern Church 137, 139, 141

Rose Window, Cremona Cathedral 143

Amberley Church, in ruin, and restored 147

Ancient Font in West Rounton Church 157

Stone Pulpit in Dartmouth Church 169

Church of St. Mary, Henley-on-Thames 177

Stone Pulpit in North Kilworth Church 179

St. Mary's Church, Sherborne 189

All Saints' Church, Bradford 199

Castle Cary Church 211

Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Ringwood 219

Church of St. John, Walworth 227

Sutton Benger Church 237

Llanfaenor Church 243

St. Alban's Church, Holborn 247

Icklesham Church 257

Harpsden Church 267

Church of St. John, Highbridge 277

Keynsham Church 287

Clerestory Window 294

Meopham Church 297

Tower, Saragosa 303

Window, Church of St. Petronius, Bologna 309

"Who is able to build Him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Him? who am I then, that I should build Him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before Him? "Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide. Send me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and algum-trees, out of Lebanon: for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful."-- 2 Chron. ii. 6--9. {~MALTESE CROSS~}

PREFACE

The following chapters are an attempt to explain in very simple language the history and use of those parts of the Church's fabric with which most persons are familiar.

They are not written with a view to assist the student of Ecclesiastical Art and Architecture--for which purpose the works of many learned writers are available--but simply to inform those who, from having paid little attention to such pursuits, or from early prejudice, may have misconceived the origin and design of much that is beautiful and instructive in God's House.

The spiritual and the material fabric are placed side by side, and the several offices and ceremonies of the Church as they are specially connected with the different parts of the building are briefly noticed.

Some of the subjects referred to may appear trifling and unimportant; those, however, among them which seem to be the most trivial have in some parishes given rise to long and serious disputations.

The unpretending narrative, which serves to embody the several subjects treated of, has the single merit of being composed of little incidents taken from real life.

The first sixteen chapters were printed some years since in the _Church Builder_.

The writer is greatly indebted to the Committee of the Incorporated Church Building Society for the use of most of the woodcuts which illustrate the volume.

W. F.

GODMERSHAM VICARAGE, _Michaelmas_, 1871.

_CHAPTER I_

THE LICH-GATE

"These words which I command thee; thou shalt write them on thy gates."

Deut. vi. 6, 9.

"Who says the Widow's heart must break, The Childless Mother sink?-- A kinder, truer Voice I hear, Which even beside that mournful bier Whence Parent's eyes would hopeless shrink,

"Bids weep no more--O heart bereft, How strange, to thee, that sound! A Widow o'er her only Son, Feeling more bitterly alone For friends that press officious round.

"Yet is the Voice of comfort heard, For Christ hath touch'd the bier-- The bearers wait with wondering eye, The swelling bosom dares not sigh, But all is still, 'twixt hope and fear.

"Even such an awful soothing calm We sometimes see alight On Christian mourners, while they wait In silence, by some Churchyard gate, Their summons to the holy rite."

_Christian Year._

Illustration: St. Mildred's Church and Lich-Gate, Whippingham

THE LICH-GATE

Illustration: Lich-Gate at Yealmton

"Any port in a storm, Mr. Ambrose," said old Matthew Hutchison, as with tired feet, and scant breath, he hastened to share the shelter which Mr. Ambrose, the Vicar of the Parish, had found under the ancient and time-worn Lich-gate of St. Catherine's Churchyard. For a few big drops of rain that fell pattering on the leaves around, had warned them both to seek protection from a coming shower. "Ah, yes, my old friend," the Vicar replied, "and here we are pretty near the port to which we must all come, when the storm of life itself is past."

"I've known this place,--man and boy,--Mr. Ambrose, for near eighty years; and on yonder bit of a hill, under that broken thorn, I sit for hours every day watching my sheep; but my eye often wanders across here, and then the thought takes me just as you've said it, sir. Ah! it can't be long before Old Matthew will need some younger limbs than these to bring him through the churchyard gate;--that's what the old walls always seem to say to me;--but God's will be done." And as the old Shepherd reverently lifted his broad hat, his few white hairs, stirred by the rising gale, seemed to confirm the truth of his words.

"Well, Matthew, I am glad you have learnt, what many are slow to learn, that there are 'Sermons in stones,' as well as in books. Every stone in God's House, and in God's Acre--as our Churchyards used to be called,--may teach us some useful lesson, if we will but stop to read it."

"Please, sir, I should like to know why they call the gate at the new churchyard over the hill, a _lich_-gate;--these new names puzzle a poor man like me[1]."

"The name is better known in some parts of the country than it is here; but it is no new name, I assure you, for in the time of the Saxons, more than thirteen hundred years ago, it was in common use; but I will tell you all about this, and some other matters connected with the place where we now stand."

"I shall take it very kind if you will, sir, for you know we poor people don't know much about these things."

"Very often quite as much as many who are richer, Matthew,--but here comes our young squire, anxious like ourselves to keep a dry coat on his back; so I shall now be telling my story to rich and poor together, and I hope make it plain to both." After a few words of friendly greeting between Mr. Acres and himself, the three sat down on the stone seats of the Lich-Gate, and he at once proceeded to answer the old Shepherd's question. "The word _Lich_[2]," he said, "means a _Corpse_, and so _Lich-Gate_ means a Corpse-gate, or gate through which the dead body is borne; and that path up which you came just now, Matthew, used formerly to be called the _Lich-path_[3], because all the funerals came along that way. In some parts of Scotland is still kept up the custom of _Lyke-wake_ (_Lich-wake_), or watching beside the dead body before its burial[4]. The pale sickly-looking moss, which lives best where all else is dead or dying, we call _lichen_. Then you know the _Lich-owl_ is so called because some people are silly enough to think that its screech foretells death. And I must just say something about this word _lich_ in the name of a certain city; it is _Lichfield_. Now _lich-field_ plainly means the field of the dead: and where that city now stands is said to have been the burial-place of many Christian Martyrs, who were slain there about the year 290. You will remember, Mr. Acres, that the Arms of the City exhibit this field of the dead, on which lie three slaughtered men, each having on his head, as is supposed, a martyr's crown. Now, Matthew, I think I have fully replied to your question; but I should like to say something more about the use and the history of these Lich-Gates."

Illustration: Lich-Gate at Birstal

"Will you kindly tell us," said Mr. Acres, "how it is that there are so few remaining, and that of these there are probably very few indeed so much as four centuries old[5]."

"I think the reason is, that at first they were almost entirely made of wood, and therefore were subject to early decay--certainly they must at one time have been far more general than at present. The rubrical direction at the beginning of the Burial Office in our Prayer Book seems to imply some such provision at the churchyard entrance. It is there said 'the Priest and Clerks' are to 'meet the Corpse _at the entrance of the Churchyard_.' But in this old Prayer Book of mine, printed in the year 1549, you see the Priest is directed to meet the corpse at the 'Church-stile,' or Lich-Gate. Now as in olden times the corpse was always borne to its burial by the friends or neighbours of the deceased, and they had often far to travel, their time of reaching the Churchyard must have been very uncertain, and this uncertainty no doubt frequently caused delay when they had arrived, therefore it was desirable both to have a place of shelter on a rainy day, and of rest when the way was long. Hence I suppose it is, that the older Lich-Gates are to be found, for the most part, in widespread parishes and mountainous districts; they are most common in the Counties of Devon and Cornwall, and in Wales[6]. But even where the necessity of the case no longer exists, the Lich-Gate, adorned, as it ever should be, with some holy text or pious precept, is most appropriate as an ornament, and expressive as a symbol. Its presence should always be associated in our minds with thoughts of death, and life beyond it. It should remind us that though we must ere long 'go to the gates of the grave,' yet that it is 'through the grave and gate of death' that we must 'pass to our joyful resurrection.' It is here the Comforter of Bethany so often speaks, through the voice of His Church, to His sorrowing brethren in the world:--'I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live[7]."

"Ah! sir," said the shepherd, "many's the poor heart-bowed mourner that's been comforted here with those words! They always remind me of Jesus saying to the widow of Nain, 'Weep not,' when he stopped the bier on which was her only son, and the bearers, and all the mourners, at the gate of the city."

"Yes! and all this makes us look on the old Lich-Gate as no gloomy object, but rather as a 'Beautiful Gate of the Temple' which is eternal,--a glorious arch of hope and triumph, hung all round with trophies of Christian victory. But I see the rain is over, and the sun is shining! so good-bye, Mr. Acres, we two shepherds must not stay longer from our respective flocks:--old Matthew's is spread over the mountains, mine is folded in the village below." The old shepherd soon took his accustomed seat under the weather-beaten thorn, the Vicar was soon deep in the troubles of a poor parishioner, and the young Squire went to the village by another way.

_CHAPTER II_

LICH-STONES

"Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets."

Eccles. xii. 5.

"Say, was it to my spirit's gain or loss, One bright and balmy morning, as I went From Liege's lovely environs to Ghent, If hard by the wayside I found a cross, That made me breathe a prayer upon the spot-- While Nature of herself, as if to trace The emblem's use, had trail'd around its base The blue significant Forget-me-not? Methought, the claims of Charity to urge More forcibly, along with Faith and Hope, The pious choice had pitch'd upon the verge Of a delicious slope, Giving the eye much variegated scope;-- 'Look round,' it whisper'd, 'on that prospect rare, Those vales so verdant, and those hills so blue; Enjoy the sunny world, so fresh and fair, But'--(how the simple legend pierced me thro'!) 'Priez pour les Malheureux.'"

_T. Hood._

Illustration: Heywood Church, Manchester

LICH-STONES

Illustration: Lich-Stone, Great Winnow, Cornwall

"Good morning, Mr. Acres, and a happy Easter-Tide to you. This is indeed a bright Easter sun to shine on our beautiful Lich-Gate at its re-opening. I little thought on what good errand you were bent when last we parted at this spot. Hardly however had I reached my door when William Hardy came with great glee to tell me you had engaged his services for the work. May God reward you, sir, for the honour you have shown for His Church."

"And an old man's blessing be upon you, sir, if you will let Old Matthew say so; for the Church-gate is dearer to me than my own, seeing it has closed upon my beloved partner, and the dear child God gave us, and my own poor wicket shuts on no one else but me now."

"Thank you heartily, honest Matthew, and you too, sir," replied the squire, giving to each the hand of friendship; "I am rejoiced that what has been done pleases you so well. The restored Gate is in every respect like the original one, even to the simple little cross on the top of it. I have added nothing but the sentence from our Burial Office, 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,' which you see over the arch, and which I hope will bring comfort to some, and hope to all who read it. But the work would never have been done by me, Mr. Vicar, had you not so interested Matthew and myself in these Lich-Gates when last we met. And so, as you see, your good words have not been altogether lost, I hope you will kindly to-day continue the subject of our last conversation."

"Most gladly will I do so; and as I have already spoken of the general purpose and utility of these Lich-Gates, I will now say a little about their construction and arrangement.